97: Past Doubts

“Daddy, no!”

The Mantas continued firing at the brightly lit sphere that was Franz Hopper. Aelita watched in horror, but powerless to do anything.

“DADDY!”

Aelita suddenly woke up, sweating and panting. She sighed.

Sitting up in bed, she looked at the time. 3 o’clock AM.

Why did I just have this vision? Aelita asked herself. Was it only a nightmare, or was it actually a vision?

Sighing and still contemplating her thoughts, she lay back down and went back to sleep.

---

Aelita poked her eggs with her fork, sighing.

Jeremie, sitting across from her, glanced at her. “Aelita, are you okay? You seem…quiet.”

Aelita turned her head up. “What?” she said. “Oh, no…it’s nothing. I just had a nightmare, about…about my father.”

Jeremie gave a start. “Why? It wasn’t a vision, was it?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” Aelita replied. “It just seemed like…well, like it was a nightmare. It was a nightmare of his death,” she said, sighing.

Before Jeremie could say anything else, Odd and Ulrich pulled up chairs, both carrying trays. Odd’s tray was laden with more food than everyone else’s, as usual.

“Morning!” he said cheerfully to Jeremie and Aelita as he sat down. “Looks like it’s gonna be a great day today!”

“You’re only saying that because you got to Level 50 on Galactic Battle last night,” scoffed Ulrich.

“At least I used effort to get there,” Odd retorted. “What’s more, I wasn’t up moping last night because I got another bad grade.”

Ulrich and Jeremie sighed.

---

Aelita, Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich sat down in Mrs. Hertz’s room, taking out their materials and supplies. Suddenly, there was a slight flurry as everyone’s attention went to the door.

A boy they hadn’t seem before was with Mr. Delmas, who was talking to Mrs. Hertz. He was Asian, slightly on the tall side and was carrying books.

“Who’s that?” whispered Odd to Ulrich.

“Probably a new kid,” Ulrich replied.

“Class?” Mrs. Hertz said. There was silence as everyone turned to look at her.

“I’d like to introduce a new student to you today,” Mrs. Hertz said, smiling. “His name is James Lee. He’s just moved here from China and learned English, so please give him a warm welcome. James, you can sit over here, next to Heidi.”

James walked over and sat down next to Heidi. He smiled shyly at her, and she smiled back.

“Today we will be starting the subject biogenetics,” Mrs. Hertz said, walking up to the front of the room behind her desk. “Can anyone explain to me what a gene is?”

Jeremie’s hand rose up. Mrs. Hertz pointed, smiling, but not to Jeremie. “Yes, James, can you tell us what a gene is?”

“A gene is the basic unit of heredity. Through DNA wrapped around histones in supercoils to make chromosomes, it is capable of transmitting characteristics from one generation to another,” answered James. There was a sharp intake of breath from the class. Jeremie put his hand down, slightly disappointed.

“Correct,” Mrs. Hertz said, smiling. “Today we will start off with a lab. But before I give you instructions, I’d like to announce the partners for this lab.”

“What?” Odd said. “We always get to pick our lab partners!”

“Not today, Odd,” Mrs. Hertz said. “I’ve decided to choose lab partners for you, since all of you did so poorly on your last lab report last year.” Odd sighed.

“Here are the partners: Odd, you are with Heidi. Aelita, you are with Ulrich. Jeremie, you are with James. Elizabeth…” she continued, going down her list.

Jeremie glanced at Aelita. “Ugh,” he said. “I don’t want to be stuck with that smarty-pants over there.”

Aelita patted him on the back. “You’ll be fine,” she said. “Just try to make him feel welcome. It’s his first day.”

“Although he acts as if he’s been here long enough to start butting around,” Ulrich said, rolling his eyes.

“And Herve, you are with Azrah,” Mrs. Hertz finished. “Now, will everyone please move next to their partners?”

Jeremie moved to sit next to James. He put his laptop on the table.

James smiled, and held out his hand. “I’m James.”

Jeremie grudgingly took it. “I’m Jeremie. Welcome to Kadic.”

“Today’s lab will be on fruit flies,” Mrs. Hertz said. “Over the next two weeks, you will be breeding fruit flies and looking at the traits that are passed on, and recording any patterns you may see. One person, please come up here to the front table and get a vial of two fruit flies, one male and one female. The other can go back to the room and get one microscope for your team.”

James got up and started walking toward the front of the room, with the first half of the class going to get their flies. Jeremie walked over to the back of the room, opened the supply cupboard and took out one of the heavy microscopes.

James returned to the table as Jeremie was plugging the microscope in. Once he had, he flipped the switches to turn on the lights. Nothing happened.

Jeremie frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “The microscope should be working, unless there’s something wrong with the light bulb.”

Suddenly, a few people screamed. Purple sparks flew from some the electrical outlets in the room. The sparks went along the power cable on Jeremie’s table and onto the microscope. They suddenly directed themselves at Jeremie. He was electrocuted, and fell to the ground with a thud.

The lights went out throughout the whole school.

Everyone crowded around Jeremie. Aelita, Odd and Ulrich pushed through so that they were next to Jeremie. “Are you okay, Einstein?” asked Odd nervously.

Jeremie slowly sat up with help from Aelita. “I…think I’m okay,” Jeremie said, shaking as if he was not sure. “Why did that thing just electrocute me?”

“I don’t know,” Odd said. “But our microscopes almost electrocuted us, as well. We were lucky that we weren’t that close to them at the time, but unfortunately you were.”

“Excuse me,” Mrs. Hertz said, making her way through to Jeremie. “Jeremie, are you okay?” she asked.

Jeremie blinked. “I think I’m okay. I didn’t get electrocuted too badly.”

The lights came back on. Everyone looked around and blinked as the room was filled with light once again.

“Hmm,” Mrs. Hertz said. “Good. But just to be safe, I want you to go to the Infirmary. Are there any volunteers to take him?”

“I’ll go, ma’am,” Aelita said quickly. She helped Jeremie up and to the door.

“All right everyone, back to your seats,” Mrs. Hertz said. “This lab is still continuing, you know.” Everyone quickly took their seats and continued their work.

Ulrich passed by Odd’s table casually. “Does it seem suspicious to you?” Ulrich whispered out of the corner of his mouth. “That we were the only targets?”

“You think it could be Xana?” Odd whispered back.

“I’m not sure,” Ulrich replied, “but it sure seems like it.”

---

Aelita knocked on the Infirmary door.

“Come in,” Yolanda called. Aelita opened the door, and helped Jeremie into the room.

Yolanda came out of her office room. “Well, what have we here?” she asked. “What’s wrong, Jeremie?”

“He got electrocuted,” Aelita said, helping Yolanda lay Jeremie on a bed. “It wasn’t too serious, but Mrs. Hertz just wants to be sure that it’s nothing.”

“I feel fine,” Jeremie said, rather sulkily. “I don’t see what the fuss is all about.”

“Now, now, Jeremie,” Yolanda said, feeling his heart rate, “it’s always better safe than sorry. Aelita, you can go back to class. I’ll look after Jeremie.”

“Thank you,” Aelita said, turning to leave.

Suddenly, Yolanda screamed. Aelita whipped back around to see a specter suddenly spurt out of a lamp nearby Jeremie’s bed.

Aelita quickly looked around for an object to throw. She spotted a glass cup and a clock radio on a bed stand nearby. She quickly picked them up and threw them at the specter.

Both objects made direct contact with the specter. It fizzed, and suddenly vanished.

Aelita rushed over. “Are you okay, Yolanda?” she asked tentatively, helping her up from the floor.

“I…I think so,” she said shakily. “What…what was that thing?”

“I don’t know,” Aelita said, not telling what she suspected. “Do you want to sit down? Can I bring you a glass of water or something?”

“I…I’ll be fine,” Yolanda said. “I’ll finish Jeremie’s checkup, and then I’ll send him back to class if there’s nothing wrong. You had better get back to class in the meantime.”

“Okay,” Aelita said, turning to the door. She glanced back over her shoulder. Jeremie, though obviously shaken, seemed fine as Yolanda took his blood pressure.

---

“There was a specter in the Infirmary?” Yumi gasped. Odd dropped his spoon filled with mashed potatoes, and Ulrich and William stared.

“Are you sure?” asked Ulrich.

“Well…” Jeremie said, spooning some mashed potatoes into his mouth. “It was black, it looked like a solid wisp of smoke, and it fizzed. There weren’t a lot of other things it could be.”

“And on top of that, the blackout over the whole school earlier?” said William. “I heard from someone it was city-wide.”

“Actually, there were two,” Aelita said, frowning. “There was another power outage during History class just a little while ago.”

“This is way too fishy,” Odd said. “And I don’t see any scales or water or smell any cod. There’s got to be some Xana activity somewhere.”

“How?” Ulrich said. “There are no virtual worlds on the Network anymore, as far as we know. And the supercomputer can’t just turn back on by itself and bring Lyoko back to life. Or can it?”

“No, it can’t,” Jeremie replied. “But I’m getting worried. All these strange incidents seem to be directed at us. I mean, the electric sparks that were flying around right before the power outage were directed at all four of us, and I got electrocuted. And then there was the specter in the Infirmary. It may have seemed like it was going for Yolanda, but I’m almost sure it was going for me.”

“Let’s go over right now to the Factory,” Aelita said, finishing her water. “It’s Saturday, and there aren’t any classes after lunch. I want to check the supercomputer to make sure. And if somehow it miraculously is Xana, then we need to do something.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Jeremie, standing up with her. He glanced at everyone else. “Well?”

“Well, not like I have anything better to do than finish my mashed potatoes,” Odd grumbled, as everyone else stood up and followed Jeremie and Aelita toward the door.

Sissi was getting her lunch just now, and noticed her friends leaving. She frowned, and quickly left her tray to go and talk to them.

“Oh, no, here comes trouble at three o’clock,” Ulrich said to the others.
Everyone turned. Some of them groaned.

“Hi, everyone,” Sissi said. “Where are you guys going? You haven’t even finished your lunch.”

“We’re going to go to the - oof!” Odd said, as Ulrich elbowed him in the stomach.

“Uh…” Aelita said. “We’re…going to go and help Ulrich and Odd study the materials we learned in Science class today.”

“And we’re going to go and study our Roman history,” Yumi quickly said.

Sissi frowned again. “But…we didn’t learn anything new today in Science. We didn’t even have a lecture, we only did our lab.”

“You can never be too careful,” Jeremie said in a rushed voice. “Well, see you!” All of them almost sprinted out of the cafeteria.

Sissi frowned with suspicion, but she decided not to follow them. They were now her friends, and she didn’t want to upset them.

---

The elevator opened. Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and William walked into the supercomputer room.

“You guys ready?” Jeremie said. Everyone nodded.

“Let’s go,” Jeremie said. He walked over to where the supercomputer was covered, and he opened up a panel on the ground. He flipped a switch. Immediately, the three-part cover slid open. Up rose the supercomputer.

Jeremie took a deep breath. “Hopefully, it’s nothing or just a random bug and it’s not Xana.” He took hold of the switch with two hands and pulled it up.

There was a flash, as the supercomputer lit up and roared back to life. Jeremie stepped back to watch it with the others in awe.

After a short while, Aelita motioned to them. “Come on,” she said, turning towards the elevator. “Let’s go up.”

They got into the elevator. As it rose up to the lab, Odd frowned at Ulrich. “Why did you stop me from telling her?” he said. “She’s our friend, and she deserves to know about the secret.”

There was a collective sigh. The elevator door opened, and they walked into the lab. Jeremie sat down in his chair and started to type. “Odd, do you ever bother to think before you act?” Jeremie asked. “It’s too dangerous to involve other people right now. If anything, we have to decide as a group, not individually.”

“She deserves to know!” Odd argued. “She’s now our friend, and we can trust her, I’m sure of it!”

“And how do you know that she won’t go running to her father if she doesn’t get her way?” Ulrich retorted. Odd opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn’t find a reply.

“Anyway,” Jeremie said, “I’m starting a scan on the Network. We’ll know in a minute if Xana has-”

Suddenly, the computer beeped. A Super Scan window opened, and it was running.

The group walked over. “Hey, that’s strange,” Aelita said. “Did you activate a tower for the scan?”

“No, I didn’t,” Jeremie said, frowning and continuing to type. “But-”

There was a gasp from every person in the room. The Super Scan window had focused on a tower that was blinking red. To the left of the tower image, there was a red symbol. With a dot in the middle, it was enclosed in two rings. Protruding from the third outer ring were four lines, one on top and three on the bottom.

“Xana…” Aelita said, gaping.

“But…” Odd stuttered. “But how is that possible? There’s no way Xana could have revived!”

Jeremie immediately started typing again. A window opened up. It showed a virtual world, as it looked from the Network as a sort of dark blue sphere, with an entry gate at the bottom.

“It looks like Xana was able to create a new Replika,” Jeremie said, sighing. “And he’s been using a tower on it for attacks to gain power. The log shows five attacks over the past few days.”

“What do we do?” asked Odd. “We can’t get to the Replika without something like the Skidbladnir, and we don’t have it anymore.” No one mentioned to William that it had been lost because they focused their effort and attention on saving him.

“For now, we’re going to have to go deactivate that tower,” Jeremie said. “It just activated on Lyoko. It’s in the northern part of the Ice Sector. The four of you will go and deactivate it.”

William frowned. “You mean the five of us,” he said. “Right?”

Everyone glanced at each other, reluctant to reply. “Well…” Odd said.

“The last time I was left, here, you recall,” William said, upset, “I was Xanafied again.”

“Because you weren’t strong enough,” Ulrich retorted, cutting in. “And you still aren’t.” William flushed, narrowing his eyes.

Jeremie sighed. “We don’t have much of a choice, it seems,” he said. “William’s right. We can’t take the risk of him being Xanafied here on Earth. The last time that happened, Xana almost ruined our mission.”

“Okay,” Aelita said. “Let’s go.” She led the way to the elevator.

As they were walking, Yumi turned to William as if she were about to say something. She narrowed her eyes, and seemed to think better of it.

William sighed, turning and following them.

---

“Virtualization!” Jeremie called, pressing the enter key.

Ulrich, Odd and William’s forms appeared over an ice plateau. They landed on the ground, spraying the icy mist.

Odd smiled. “It’s great to be back on Lyoko,” he said, stretching. “I’ve been starting to miss this place.

Aelita and Yumi winked. “Let’s get going,” Aelita said.

“I’m bringing up your vehicles,” came Jeremie’s voice. The Overwing, the Overbike and the Overboard appeared.

Ulrich jumped onto the Overbike. Aelita and Odd jumped onto the Overboard.

“Come on, William, you can come with me,” Yumi said. William smiled, and jumped onto the Overwing behind Yumi. Ulrich sighed.

Odd and Aelita glanced to see if he was okay, but he had already taken off and followed Yumi and William. Odd shrugged, and they sped off after them.

“The tower’s not too far,” Jeremie said. “Go a little farther north, and you should be able to spot it.”

“Hmm,” Aelita said, as she and Odd caught up to the others. “We can already see its aura.”

“That was fast,” Ulrich said as tower came into view on the next plateau over.

The others glanced around at their surroundings as they whizzed by. “Nothing in sight, Jeremie?” Odd said. “Because we can’t see anything on our end. It’s quieter than it was when James showed you up in class today.”

“Which reminds me,” Ulrich said. “While you were in the Infirmary, in the rest of Science and also in History James showed you up again. Well, he couldn’t really since you weren’t there, but it was like you had never left the room.”

“He did not show me up,” Jeremie retorted. “Mrs. Hertz just called on him to be nice, and he just happened to know the answer.”

“It’s okay, Jeremie,” Aelita consoled. “You can’t be best at everything.”

“Yeah,” Jeremie replied. “Except that intelligence was all that I was ever good at.”

Suddenly, several red dots appeared on the radar window. “Be careful!” he called. “Some monsters are closing in on you.”

“We can’t see anything for now,” Ulrich said.

There was a laser shot, fired at Odd and Aelita. The Overboard swerved in the air, and Odd and Aelita shouted and tried to maintain their balance.

“I guess I spoke too soon,” Ulrich called out, braking. Seven Kankrelats were just ahead of them, getting ready to fire again.

“Hi, you little creeps!” called Odd, waving. “We haven’t seen you guys in a while.”

As laser shots fired at them, Yumi turned to Odd and Aelita. “You two have to go deactivate the tower,” Yumi said. “Ulrich, William and I will finish when we’re through over here.”

“Are you sure?” Aelita asked.

“Watch out,” called Jeremie, sounding worried. “More monsters are closing in on you!”

Suddenly, there was a sound of wings. They all turned to see five Hornets flying toward them from the path they had just come along, from the opposite direction of the tower. Two Blocks appeared out of nowhere and started to close in on them from the left side, and two Krabes came from their right to enclose them in a square.

“Go!” Ulrich said forcefully. “Get going. We’ll clean up over here.”

“Okay,” Odd said. “Good luck!” The Overboard rose into the air, high above the monsters, and they flew toward the tower. The Hornets flew after them, firing their shots.

“Now…” Yumi said, turning to the other two. “Ulrich, take care of the Krabes,” she instructed. “I’ll take care of the Blocks, and then we can get rid of the Kankrelats together.”

“What about me?” William said. “I want to do something too.”

“Um…” Yumi glanced at Ulrich quickly, and then turned back to William. “I guess you can take care of the Kankrelats,” Yumi said to William. He nodded, and jumped off of the Overwing and ran towards them. Ulrich rolled his eyes, and he set off for the Krabes while Yumi turned and went for the Blocks.

Aelita and Odd sped toward the tower. “We’re almost there,” Odd called out.

A laser shot appeared from behind them and shot toward the Overboard. Odd and Aelita shouted, and jumped off as the shot hit the Overboard. The Overboard fizzed and disappeared.

Aelita activated her wings and glided to stop above the ground, and Odd landed, spraying ice mist. He turned to see the Hornets flying toward them.

“Hmm,” Odd said, jumping out of the way as it tried to roll him over. “Xana’s brought our old friends back to throw us a reunion! How kind of him.”

More shots fired them. A shot hit Aelita. She cried out as her wings disappeared, and she fell to the ground with a thud.

“Odd, don’t let Aelita get devirtualized!” Jeremie reminded. “If she is, then we’ll never be able to deactivate the tower!”

“No sign of any attack on your end?” asked Odd as he ran toward her.

“No,” Jeremie said, still typing. “But I’ve used a program to determine the attack. It seems that Xana is just rerouting power from computers over the world to try and gain power for himself. Fortunately, it’s not affecting us. But we still have to deactivate that tower fast, because we can’t destroy Xana at the moment!”

“I’ll cover you,” Odd told Aelita. She nodded, and ran toward the tower. Suddenly, an elliptical laser shot came from her right. She quickly jumped forward out of the way to see a Megatank rolling toward her.

“Odd, I feel like going bowling for once,” Aelita said, winking. She fired an Energy Field at the Megatank, which promptly closed so that the field was blocked by its armor.

Ulrich blocked a laser shot from the last Krabe. Just as the Overbike was about to go under it, he jumped up off of it. He somersaulted in the air, and as he turned to face down he stabbed the dark red Xana eye with one of his sabers.

He landed on the Overbike just as the Krabe exploded. “Take that, you out-of-season shellfish,” Ulrich said.

Yumi threw a fan at the last Block from the Overwing, and it made contact. It exploded as well. They turned to see how William was doing.

Surprisingly, he had already taken out four of the Kankrelats and was fighting the last three. “These things remind me of spiders,” he said, shuddering. He blocked another shot with his cleaver, and dodged another.

Yumi quickly threw her fans, and Ulrich threw a saber. The fans spun and hit one Kankrelat each, while the saber made contact with one. As they exploded, William ran forward and slashed at the last one.

“Jeremie, what now?” asked Yumi. “We’re pretty much done here.”

“Go and help Aelita and Odd,” Jeremie said. “They’re having trouble with some monsters that don’t seem to want them to deactivate the tower.”

“Got it,” Ulrich said. He sped off on the Overbike toward the tower, and Yumi and William followed on the Overwing.

Aelita shifted her balance, standing close in front of the tower. Between her and the tower sat the Megatank, which seemed to be waiting for Aelita to make a move.

“Be careful, Aelita!” called Jeremie worriedly.

“Don’t worry, Einstein,” Odd said, firing laser arrows at the remaining three Hornets flying circles around him. “Your princess is fine.”

Aelita shifted her weight, trying to time her plan right. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

Aelita suddenly lunged to the right. The Megatank immediately rolled to her. Just as the Megatank was about to hit her, Aelita jumped out of the way to the left and ran straight toward the tower. The Megatank, confused, quickly changed its direction and rolled after Aelita.

Just as it seemed like Aelita would get run over, she made it into the tower. The Megatank hit the tower and rolled backwards.

Aelita quickly ran to the middle of the platform and rose up to the second. The interface appeared. She pressed her hand to it. “Aelita” appeared on it, and then “Code Lyoko”.

“Tower deactivated,” Aelita called out. The tower turned to blue.

Jeremie smiled. “Great job guys. I’ll bring you guys in.”

“What?” Ulrich said, as he, Yumi and William arrived and Odd shot the last Hornet. “We’ve missed the party?”

“Too bad for you guys,” said Odd, grinning.

“I’ll bring you all back in,” Jeremie’s voice came.

---

Jeremie sighed, rubbing his glasses with his shirt. "We made a grave mistake in turning the supercomputer back on," he said, turning his chair to face the group. "From it, Xana was able to gain even more power for himself. But it's too late now, and it's too late to change it."

"Jeremie, I was wondering about something. Before we turned off the supercomputer last time, deactivated towers were white, but how come the tower turned blue after Aelita deactivated it?" Yumi asked.

"It's because when Franz Hopper brought Lyoko back to life after Xana escaped from the supercomputer into the Internet, he revived Lyoko using his energy. Plus, Xana used the Keys to Lyoko when he started creating Replikas for himself. I guess when Franz Hopper was…killed by Xana, the towers returned to their normal state because Franz is no longer…" Jeremie took a deep breath. "No longer alive."

"How can you be so sure?" Odd asked, slightly surprised.

"I was there, Odd," Aelita said, rather quietly. "I saw it with my own eyes, when Xana killed him. My father…is gone. It's…" She sighed. "It's impossible that he survived." Her voice was hollow, as if she was tired from mourning the now-empty spot in her life.

"This battle has gone on for too long," Yumi said in frustration, sighing. "Xana's just too persistent."

"But so are we," William said, his eyes burning. His enmity for Xana was very deep from his long-term Xanafication.

Jeremie cleared his throat as slowly turned to look everyone in the eye. "This time around, we don't only fight for ourselves. We fight to end what Franz Hopper sacrificed himself for, and to finally end this three-year battle."

"Thank you, Jeremie," Aelita said quietly. "My father would have been disappointed if we didn't fight to end what he started and what he sacrificed himself for. We fight for him."

There were nods around the room.

"For Franz Hopper?" Yumi said, as everyone arranged themselves in a circle and took hold of the hands of the people around them.

"For Franz Hopper," came the response from everyone in the room.

Everyone knew that Jeremie and Aelita's words were true: they would continue fighting, in name of and for the late Franz Hopper. This battle would not end until Xana was completely defeated and left no loopholes or keys to survive, however long it would take them.

---

As they walked back across the bridge to the city, Jeremie sighed. “I guess I should forgive James for acting that way,” he said to Aelita. “I mean, I kind of did unfairly flip out at him.”

“Yeah,” Aelita replied. “Although he does seem slightly stuck-up, as shy as he is.”

“Well, Einstein,” Ulrich said, “there’s one thing for sure.”

“What’s that?”

“We wouldn’t replace you for anything or anyone,” Ulrich said, winking, patting him on the back.

“Not even for that false Franz Hopper all the way back,” Odd said, grinning. “Or that clone that bugged me and Yumi up so that Aelita could destroy the Mountain Sector. And there was that one time when Nicholas-”

“I get the point!” Jeremie said, rolling his eyes as everyone chuckled. “Besides, those times you guys didn’t really have a choice.”

“Yeah, because you didn’t have the muscle to stand up to them,” Odd said, laughing. “You may be a complete Einstein in Mathematics, but in Phys Ed you do a mean string bean man impersonation.”

Everyone laughed.