98: Talent Act

Odd’s phone rang. Odd groaned, woken up, but turned over and faced away from the phone, trying to block out the ringing with his pillow.

His phone kept on ringing. He finally opened his heavy eyelids and looked at the time. “6 o’clock in the morning?” he groaned.

He picked up the phone and hit the answer button. “Jeremie…why are you calling us this early?” Odd said sleepily. “And on a Sunday, too.”

“Sorry,” Jeremie said. “But I need you guys here at the Factory now, before breakfast starts. Can you guys make it? I’m already here, and the girls are on their way.”

“This had better be important,” Odd said, groaning as he sat up in bed. “Ulrich,” he said, walking over to him and shaking him. “Jeremie wants us to meet him at the Factory.”

Ulrich sighed, grumpily getting up and scratching his head. “This had better be important, Einstein.”

---

The elevator door opened. Ulrich and Odd, stretching and yawning, walked into the lab.

“Morning,” Yumi said. “Have a good sleep?”

“Until ten minutes ago,” grumbled Odd. “Einstein, this had better be important.”

“It is,” Jeremie said, rubbing his eyes. “I spent the night at the lab.”

“What’s so important about that?” Ulrich asked, yawning again. “You’ve pulled off overnighters before.”

“I stayed at the lab over the night trying to find out how Xana came back,” Jeremie said. “But unfortunately I wasn’t able to find anything. That’s why I need you guys to go to Sector 5 and get data from the interface for me.”

“Anything in particular to check?” Aelita asked Jeremie.

“Just check the system and data logs in the subsystems,” Jeremie replied. “With a little luck, you guys will be back before breakfast.”

Ulrich sighed, as everyone started toward the elevator. “Okay, we might as well get going.”

Jeremie turned back to the computer and started typing as the elevator door closed.

---

“We’re in the Celestial Dome,” called Yumi as the four of them ran out onto the blue platform jutting out of the enormous blue sphere that was Sector 5.

“Okay,” Jeremie said. “Aelita, you know what to do.”

The interface appeared. Aelita stepped forward and started pressing windows on the interface. “I’m starting up the data collection,” Aelita said.

“Careful,” Jeremie said. “There are some Mantas hatching, and they’ll be on the way soon to attack you.”

“Same old, same old,” Odd said, winking. “It’ll be nice to see our friendly flying friends again. I almost missed them over this past year.”

Aelita, still working on the interface, frowned. “Jeremie, I think I may have already found the problem,” she said.

“Already?” Jeremie asked, surprised. “Well, what is it?”

“It’s rather simple,” she said. “The multi-agent system didn’t work.”

There was silence. “What?” Jeremie finally asked, in shock. “Even with Franz Hopper’s data he sent us and the energy he sacrificed himself to give us?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Aelita said, sighing. “The multi-agent system was supposed to destroy all of the Replikas and Xana's core programs stored in his hundreds of supercomputers, right?”

“Yeah,” Jeremie responded. “Why?”

“That last bit didn’t work. The multi-agent system failed in eradicating the core programs. Xana was able to regenerate from a flaw in the multi-agent system. There was a glitch in programming that bugged it up, and didn't let it do its job properly. The glitch prevented the system from destroying the core programs. And Xana was able to regenerate because of that. The programs acted like "chains" or "hooks" to life, and brought Xana back…well, from the virtual dead."

There was silence yet again.

“Then…” Yumi said, disbelievingly, “…Franz Hopper sacrificed himself for nothing.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Aelita said, in an empty voice. Odd and Ulrich gaped.

Suddenly, there was a laser shot fired at them from their right. Ulrich jumped out of the way to avoid it, and blocked another one with his sabers.

“Careful,” Jeremie called. “Squadron of Mantas on the way.”

Yumi drew her fans, and Odd started firing Laser Arrows at them. Aelita threw an Energy Field. Odd missed, but Aelita hit her target, and one Manta fizzed pink and then exploded.

“Don’t worry about them,” Jeremie instructed. “Aelita, you can log off now, and then I can bring you guys back in.”

“Okay,” Aelita said. She quickly pressed a few windows, and the purple load bar with a Xana eye behind it quickly filled. The interface disappeared.

“Materialization,” Jeremie said, pressing the enter key.

“It’s your lucky day, guys!” called Odd as they disappeared. The Mantas turned back and flew off away.

---

Jeremie sighed, rubbing his eyes. “I really messed up big time.”

“Why?” Aelita asked, startled. “You had no idea that the multi-agent system wouldn’t work.”

"The reason it didn't work properly could be that I only took about a week to develop it, even with the data from Franz Hopper,” Jeremie said. “I rushed through making it in the hope that we could defeat Xana quickly before he got too powerful. The problem was that he was always powerful, much more powerful than us. We underestimated him severely, and I hope we never do that again. And consequently, Franz Hopper paid the price for my mistakes."

“It’s not your fault,” Yumi said. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s a mistake that anyone can make.”

“Yes, but the result of my mistake was Franz Hopper’s death,” Jeremie said sadly.

“But why did you take such a short time to build it, then?” Odd asked. “And why did you take so long to come up with the idea?”

“I guess…it was just that I wanted to defeat Xana as soon as possible,” Jeremie replied. “I didn’t check my work enough, and I rushed. And as to why it took me so long to think of building a multi-agent system, I guess I never stopped to think what we could do besides destroying Replikas to weaken Xana. When the Kolossus appeared, we found out about Xana's 'hundreds of Replikas' in our mission to that Ice Sector Replika. That's when I stopped to wonder about it."

"If that’s the case,” Yumi said, “we may need the Skidbladnir again to collect data in the Network, especially if Xana has new ideas on how to use his Replikas.”

“Fortunately, Xana still doesn’t have enough power to recreate them,” Aelita said. “But that’s why we need the Skidbladnir. We have to destroy the other Replika, and then we can destroy Xana once and for all before he regains all of his power.”

“Aelita and I are working on it,” Jeremie said, winking. “So don’t worry for now. Right now, let’s get to breakfast.”

“I’m starving!” Odd said, as his stomach rumbled.

---

“Quiet down!” Jim called. The cafeteria fell silent.

Mr. Delmas cleared his throat. “As all of you know, or should know, this afternoon we will be holding our annual talent show. The deadline has already passed for act signups, but we already have many wonderful acts from talent. After lunch is finished, please head immediately over to the auditorium and be seated. It is mandatory that all of you be there, so don’t be late. Oh, and Mr. Chardain would like me to remind the eleventh years that they are required to be there, or it will be marked off of their participation grade for the semester.”

“I forgot about the talent show,” Jeremie said, as the noise level rose back up to its normal loud. “I was planning on using this afternoon to work on launching updates to the supercomputer.”

“Oh well,” Odd said, grinning. “At least we’ll get to see some great acts this afternoon.”

“Did anyone sign up?” asked Ulrich to the others. “I didn’t.”

“I did!” said Sissi, walking over with her tray and sitting next to Odd. “But my act’s a surprise, so you guys will have to wait until after lunch to see it.”

“It’s not a runway walk, is it?” Odd said, as the others laughed.

“Hmph,” Sissi said. “No, it’s better. And it’s a show stealer, I’ll tell you that.”

“I heard that Jim may be doing something,” Yumi said, winking to the others. “And I bet that we can all guess what it’ll be.”

“Another Paco the King of Disco act?” Odd asked. “Well, I’m definitely bringing my camcorder to record that. Maybe he actually still has some youth in him.”

---

“Jeremie, are you done yet?” Odd asked impatiently into his phone, as he, Ulrich and Yumi sat down in their seats in the auditorium. “The talent show starts in three minutes, and you heard Mr. Delmas, we all have to be seated by then in the auditorium! Ulrich, Yumi and I are already here”

“Okay, okay,” Jeremie said. “Aelita and I are almost finished with our work on the supercomputer software. And we absolutely need to finish this update, because leaving now means that all of the data will be lost and we’ll have to start all over again!”

“It’s okay,” Aelita said, standing up. “I can finish up here.”

“But…” Jeremie said. “If you’re not down there, you’ll get marked down.”

“It’s okay,” Aelita said. “You’ve already had a worse record than me, and you don’t need your participation grade to go down further. Besides, you were always the one last year absent the most from class, and they’ll get suspicious if you’re absent again this year.”

Jeremie sighed. “Okay,” he said. “But go as quickly as you can.”

Aelita winked. “Don’t worry, I won’t take that long.”

Jeremie smiled, walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

Aelita turned back to the computer and sat back down. “Okay,” she said, stretching. “Let’s finish up this program.”

---

“What did I miss?” Jeremie whispered, rushing in and sitting down next to Odd. The audience was applauding to a bowing Jim.

“Jim just finished his act,” Odd said, “and it was so much better than the first Paco the King of Disco. He should sign another contract and make a sequel!”

“Where’s Aelita?” Yumi said.

“She had to stay in my room and finish the program,” Jeremie replied. “And she was right that I can’t keep on being absent, because the teachers might get suspicious if last year’s absences happen all over again.”

Jim bowed to the continued applause. “Thank you, thank you,” he said, smiling. “It feels good to be on stage and young again.”

As Jim walked off the auditorium stage, Mr. Delmas walked up to the podium. “Now, for our fourth act,” he said, “is what some people may call a reprise. Elisabeth is experienced in baton cheerleading, but there was a point in which…” He coughed. “Anyway, for our next act, Elisabeth Delmas will be throwing the baton.”

Everyone clapped. “Break a leg,” Ulrich said, as Sissi got up from her seat close to them.

“Thanks, Ulrich,” she said, smiling.

Once she was out of earshot, Ulrich turned to the others. “That way she won’t be able to get up on stage.”

“No one needs another head injury,” Odd said, winking. “especially Jim.”

---

Sissi stepped off the stage. The students in the audience were still covering their heads in protection, because Sissi had accidentally let go of the baton at the wrong moment when she was twirling it around.

“Hmph,” Sissi said, pouting as she walked offstage.

“Nice act, Sissi,” Jim said, walking up, still in his white Paco coat. “Although it’s definitely going to be me walking away with first place.”

“Not even, Jim,” Sissi said. “My act was a real show stealer.”

“More like show stopper,” someone close by whispered. Luckily, Sissi didn’t hear.

Back in Jeremie’s room, Aelita was still typing on the computer.

Her phone rang. Aelita took it out of her pocket and answered it. “Hello?”

“Aelita?” Jeremie asked, with noise of applause in the background. “Are you almost finished with the program? You’re taking longer than I expected.”

“I’m putting the finishing touches on it,” Aelita said, holding the phone between her head and her shoulder and typing with both her hands. “I’ll be down in five minutes.”

“Okay,” Jeremie said. “See you then.”

Back at the auditorium backstage, Sissi and some other students, along with Jim, were waiting for the final acts to end so that the winners could be announced.

Sissi was sitting next to Jim. “So what made you feel the pull to the disco stage, Jim?” she asked him.

“Oh, a few things,” Jim said, obviously wanting to tell others about his life for the first time in a while.

But he never got the chance to finish. As all the attention of the students except Sissi was focused on listening to the current act, an electrical control box near Jim and Sissi started sparking purple. Something black shot out of it.

---

Aelita pressed the enter key. “Done,” she said, getting up and stretching while smiling to herself. “I’ll just close up and-”

Suddenly, beeping started coming from the computer. A window appeared on the screen. A Super Scan window.

Aelita turned back to the computer and frowned. “Oh no,” she exclaimed, “an activated tower.”

She took out her phone and was about to dial Jeremie’s number, when suddenly the door behind her opened.

She quickly turned to see Jim and Sissi in the doorway.

“Jim? Sissi?” said Aelita, frowning. “What are you doing here? I thought you two were participating in the talent sho-”

She was cut off when Jim and Sissy’s bodies fizzed black. The eye of Xana flashed in their eyes.

“…Oh,” Aelita said.

---

Jeremie frowned, looking at his watch again. “I don’t get it. Aelita should have finished by now and should be here.”

“I’ll go check on her,” Yumi said. “I could use a good stretch.”

“I’ll go with you,” Ulrich said. She smiled, and they quickly made their way out of the auditorium.

Meanwhile, Jim was running with inhuman speed toward the park. Aelita was being carried on his shoulder, unconscious.

Ulrich opened the door. “Princess?” he said. The room was empty.

“She’s not here,” Yumi said, frowning. “Where could she be?”

Ulrich took out his cell phone. “I’m calling Einstein.”

Jeremie, feeling his phone vibrate, quickly took it out. “Ulrich?”

“Jeremie, she’s not here,” Ulrich said.

“She’s not with us,” Jeremie said, frowning again. Odd glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

Yumi was typing on the computer. Suddenly, the window switched to the Super Scan window that had opened when Aelita was there a few minutes ago. “It looks like there’s an activated tower,” Yumi called.

“That would explain it then,” Jeremie said. “Xana must have taken Aelita to the Factory. Odd and I will meet you there.”

“Okay,” Ulrich said, putting his phone back in his pocket. He motioned to Yumi, who stood up. “Let’s get going”.

“Good thing William isn’t with us,” Yumi said. “He had to study to get a better grade on the next test, apparently.”

“I still don’t trust the guy,” Ulrich said as they ran out of the building. “He’s just…well, not strong enough like us.”

“Added to the fact that he’s been Xanafied twice,” Yumi said. “He just doesn’t have the immunity like the rest of us Lyoko Warriors.”

---

Aelita slowly got up, still feeling a little woozy. “Where am I?” she said, standing up.

She glanced at her surroundings. Green paths, brown tree trunks all around her, a light greenish yellow sea flowing beneath the four-way intersection plateau she was on. I’m in the Forest Sector, she said, looking around her. Jim and Sissi must have virtualized me, probably so that Xana can push me into the Digital Sea again somehow.

Suddenly, a shot fired at her. Her eyes widened, and she dodged the shot.

Four Tarantulas, sounding their battle calls, were walking toward her. She started to back away, eyes wide. “Jeremie?” she called. “Are you there? Jeremie?”

---

Jeremie and Odd ran into the lab.

Jeremie immediately sat down and started typing at the keyboard. A radar window appeared. “I’ve located Aelita. She’s in the Forest Sector, which is also where the activated tower is.”

 “Jeremie, we’re here in the scanner room,” came Ulrich’s voice.

“Okay,” Jeremie said, as he nodded to Odd, and Odd ran over to the ladder and started climbing down. “I’m transferring all of you to the Forest Sector. Get into a scanner.”

Odd jumped down and ran into a scanner. Ulrich and Yumi stepped in.

“You guys ready? Transfer, Ulrich. Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Odd.” The scanner doors closed.

Jeremie typed in more codes. “Virtualization!”

“Aelita?” Jeremie asked, switching audio frequencies. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Aelita said, sounding worried, “but I could use a little help right now. I’m in a rather big jam!” She dodged another shot from a Tarantula.

“Okay, don’t panic!” Jeremie said.

“Where’s the tower?” Aelita asked, cart wheeling out of the way from a few more shots.

“The tower isn’t that far,” Jeremie replied. “Take the path to your left. Sorry, I can’t send you a vehicle because I already sent the others all of them. But they’re on their way to help you, so try to get to the tower in the meantime. They’ll catch up to you.”

“Okay,” Aelita said. She turned to face the Tarantulas. She waved her hand across the star bracelet on her left wrist and rose into the air with her wings. “Catch me if you can, ladies!” she called, turning and taking the path that lead to the tower in the distance.

Ulrich, Yumi and Odd appeared above a winding path and landed next to their vehicles. They mounted them. “We’re here, Jeremie,” Yumi said. “Where’s Aelita?”

“She’s just north of you,” Jeremie instructed. “She’s not very far. She’s at the next intersection heading toward the tower. Go along the path you’re on right now to catch up with her.”

“Okay,” Yumi said, as the three of them started running.

Hearing the sounds of the oncoming vehicles, two of the Tarantulas turned around and assumed firing positions. The other two continued going after the flying Aelita.

The two Tarantulas started firing as their targets came into sight.

The Overbike and the Overwing pulled up and glided to a stop. Odd jumped off the Overboard in midair, and shot at one of the Tarantulas waiting for them. The Laser Arrow hit its mark, and the Tarantula exploded.

Odd glanced at the other two. “I’ll stay here and get rid of this small spider,” he told Ulrich and Yumi. “You two go after Aelita.”

“Are you sure?” asked Yumi.

“Why not?” Odd replied. “I could use a good warm up. I’ll meet you at the tower.”

“Okay,” Ulrich said, as he and Yumi headed off past the Tarantulas. “Good luck!”

Odd waited and watched till the other two were off away, and then he jumped back on his Overboard. “Ready?” he called to the Tarantula. “Here we go!” The Tarantula sounded another battle cry and started firing at Odd again.

---

“Jeremie, I’m almost at the tower,” called Aelita breathlessly. The two Tarantulas were still behind her, although she was gaining speed and beating them.

“Great,” Jeremie said. “Wait…who exactly was Xanafied and captured you and sent you to Lyoko?”

“It was Sissi and Jim,” Aelita replied. “They came into the room and knocked me out just as I was finishing the program.”

Something stirred in Jeremie’s mind. “Was the program still open when they knocked you out?” he asked her worriedly.

“I…don’t think so,” Aelita said, sounding unsure. “I was closing it just before they arrived. I…think it was shut down, though I’m not sure.”

“This is bad,” Jeremie said, closing his eyes and rubbing his head. “If the program was still open, Xana can mess with it, and then we’ll have to start all over again!”

“Worse still,” Aelita said, thinking fast, “is if Xana uses the update program to access files in the supercomputer. If he gets in, he can mess with the entire database of the supercomputer!” Jeremie gasped.

“I’m sorry,” Aelita said. “It’s my fault. If I had finished quicker we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” Jeremie said, starting to type again. “It could have happened anyway. I’m checking things out right now.”

“Okay,” Aelita said. “I’m here at the tower,” she said, changing the subject. “Although it looks like two more of our long-legged friends are here to greet me.”

“Okay,” Jeremie said. “Ulrich and Yumi are on their way to help you, and Odd will head over as soon as he’s finished with another one of our good buddies.”

---

“It looks like you’re hungry,” Odd said to his Tarantula, as it continued firing at him. “What’ll it be, a clawed-knuckle sandwich, or a good healthy serving of arrows?”

The Tarantula bobbed its head in a circle. Odd shielded himself from more shots.

“Serving of arrows it is then, my good sir,” Odd said, gliding closer to the ground. He circled the Tarantula. Just as it tried to turn around, he fired an arrow. The Tarantula turned to catch it on its Xana eye.

“See you later, pal!” Odd called, turning the Overboard down the path to the tower.

---

“Hello, my friends,” Aelita called, swooping down over to the Tarantulas sitting in front of the tower. The Tarantulas took firing positions.

“I’m glad to see you guys too,” Aelita said, rolling her eyes as they started firing. “Haven’t your parents taught you how to greet someone nicely?” She fired two Energy Fields from both hands. One missed, but the other hit the Tarantula right on target.

Suddenly, more calls sounded from behind her. She was hit by a laser shot fired from behind her. Her wings closed, and she plummeted to the ground. She turned and sighed. The two Tarantulas that had been following her had caught up. They walked over and positioned themselves so that all of the Tarantulas surround her in a triangle.

“Jeremie,” she asked, dodging shots as they started firing at her from three different directions. “Where are Ulrich and Yumi? I could use some help right now.”

“Here we are!” called a voice. She turned to see Ulrich steer the Overbike into a Tarantula and jump off the last second. Both the Overbike and the Tarantula exploded.

“Sorry we took so long,” Yumi said. “Jeremie, I think it’s time our vehicles had a mileage or a speed upgrade. They’re starting to get kind of slow.”

“Or it could be that you guys are too used to the fast NavSkids,” Jeremie said. “But I’ll take a look at them when I have time. For now, focus on the mission. Aelita, I found out that the program shut down in time. Sissi tried to hack into the program under Xana’s control, but I installed a new firewall to prevent it.”

“Great,” Aelita said. “Now all that’s left is to deactivate the tower.”

“But do you know where our good buddy Jim is?” asked Ulrich.

Suddenly, Jeremie heard a noise behind him. A specter came out of one of the thick cable wires behind him and formed into Jim.

“Uh…” Jeremie said, widening his eyes. “I think I just found him. Rather, he just found me.”

“Don’t worry, Jeremie,” Ulrich said running toward the Tarantula closer to him. “We don’t have a short attention span like Odd does, so the tower will be deactivated in the next minute.”

“What was that about me?” Odd called, aiming the Overboard and jumping off at the last second before it hit the second Tarantula. “I happen to have a longer attention span than some people here.”

“Hey,” Ulrich said, walking over to Odd to argue with him. “It wasn’t me who got distracted in History class yesterday after the first five minutes by an ant.”

“You know that I hardly ever pay attention in History class!” exclaimed Odd. “Except for a few occasions.”

“Apparently Odd isn’t the only one with a short attention span,” Yumi said, winking at Ulrich as she threw both her fans at the Tarantula in front of the tower. The Tarantula redirected one with a laser shot but was unable to dodge the other, and the Tarantula exploded.

Aelita ran into the tower. She ran to the middle of the platform and rose up to the second platform. The interface appeared, and she pressed her hand to it. “Tower deactivated,” she called.

Jim, trying to electrocute Jeremie, suddenly froze. As the specter left his body, he slumped over and fell to the floor.

Jeremie got back to the controls. “Thanks, Aelita,” he said, starting to type. “I’m bringing you guys back in.”

“I don’t think we need to launch a Return,” Yumi said, as Aelita walked out of the tower. “We can manage Jim and Sissi on our own."

---

Backstage, Jim and Sissi woke up.

“What happened?” Jim asked, feeling rather woozy as he got up. “Sissi, are you okay?”

“I think so,” she replied, rather shakily. “I feel as though I’ve been electrocuted.”
“It must have been this power box,” Jim said, getting up and looking at the box, the very one in which the specter had come out of to possess them by Xana.

“And now, may I all have your attention?” Mr. Delmas said. Silence gradually fell over the audience. “The judges have finished voting, and I would like to call the participants up so that the winners can be announced.”

Jim and Sissi slowly made their way out to the stage behind the others.

“In third place, we have Julian Xao on the euphonium,” Mr. Delmas said, reading off a paper. There was a round of applause as Julian walked up with his heavy brass instrument.

“In second place, we have Elisabeth Sissi Delmas with her charming baton act,” Mr. Delmas announced.

“More like a baton act attempt,” Odd said, winking to the others. They chuckled.

“What!” Sissi shred. Luckily, the only people close enough to hear her were Jim and the other participants. She walked up, smiling, and received the plaque.

“And last, but not least…”

Silence fell.

“Taking home this year’s first place for the Kadic Talent Show is…” Mr. Delmas paused. “Jim, with his wonderful Paco the King of Disco performance!”

“Thank you, thank you,” Jim called to the audience as the applause became thunderous. “Better luck next time, all of you,” he said, winking to the other participants.

“Apparently Jim will always be the show stealer,” said Yumi, shaking her head. “I guess some things never change.”

“Oh, definitely,” Odd said. “But it helps when you decide to revive something after 20 years or so. I should really ask Jim to teach me the new moves he made up!”

“And we’ll be waiting with a video camera to post it up on the Internet,” Ulrich said as the others laughed.

“Why not?” Odd said, grinning. “I might actually like Internet fame.”