103: Faulty Transition
“Daddy, no!”
The Flying Mantas continued firing at the brightly lit sphere: Franz Hopper. His form started to fizz, and with a resounding blast, Franz Hopper was devirtualized for good.
“NO!”
Aelita opened her eyes in a cold sweat. As she sat up, she felt fresh tears on her cheeks. She sniffed, rubbing them on her sleeve. This wasn’t the first time bad dreams had haunted her resting consciousness since her father’s passing.
“I just wish they would go away,” she whispered to the dark room, sniffing. She fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes in the hope that she would take a different path of dreams. Her eyes closed, and she hugged Mister Pück tighter.
---
After another hard day of classes, teachers, and schoolwork, Aelita walked up to the Lyoko Warriors’ usual table in the cafeteria. Ulrich, Yumi and Odd were already there, but the trays in front of them were still laden with untouched, steaming food.
“Hi,” Aelita greeted the others, sitting down. Although she wasn’t showing her real mood, she noticed that she wasn’t the only one feeling down. “Odd, Jeremie said you can have his portion. He’s working on something, so he’s not coming down to eat dinner.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think I want it,” Odd mumbled. “I don’t feel very hungry.”
“I’m not even sure if I even want to touch my food,” Ulrich sighed, pushing his tray away.
Aelita frowned. “What’s wrong? Is there something bugging you guys?”
“Yeah,” Ulrich said. “What happened yesterday. William.”
About to start eating, Aelita put down her utensils and shifted to better face the three of them, her shoulders sagging slightly. “Look, it isn’t your fault that William went back to Xana.”
“Yes it is,” Yumi said, burying her face in her hands. “We should have tried harder to devirtualize him, but we were so caught up in our own thoughts that we couldn’t. And if anything, we provided hid motivation.”
“If anything, it’s a burden for all of us to bear equally,” Aelita exclaimed. They all turned to her. “We all should have tried harder, and yet it happened. Some things are too big to prevent. All we can do is try to help him and hope for the best.”
“Xana really struck close to us, though,” Yumi said, sighing. “By possessing him, Xana not only regained his most powerful weapon, but found a way to hurt all of us. I mean, if any one of us fell prisoner to Xana, it would definitely slow our efforts against Xana himself.”
“But all we can do is try,” Ulrich replied.
“See, there we go,” Aelita said, smiling. The other three reluctantly smiled back.
“Jeremie said that we had to meet him in his room after we’re finished,” Aelita said, as they all started to dig into their dinner.
“Suddenly, my appetite is back,” Odd said. “Be right back!” He got up to go and get Jeremie’s portion. The others rolled their eyes.
---
The phone started to ring.
Mr. Delmas jumped, and missed the penguin’s head again. He sighed as the penguin game flashed its usual “Game Over” on the screen. “Hello?” he called into the receiver.
“This is James Dunbar,” said a measured, relaxed voice from the other end. “I’m very sorry for the last-minute announcement, but William has been transferred temporarily to another school closer to home. His mother is very ill, and we would feel that it is better if he temporarily studies close to home so that he can visit her on a regular basis.”
Mr. Delmas frowned. “Which school have you applied William to?”
Jeremie thought hard. “Its name is…North District Academy.”
“I see,” Mr. Delmas said. “Would you like William’s records mailed to you, or would you like to pick them up yourself?”
“No,” Jeremie replied, talking through the voice synthesizer. “Since his mother will hopefully get better soon, it won’t be necessary to have his records on hand. I doubt he will be staying at North District for more than a quarter.”
“Very well,” Mr. Delmas said. “Please give your wife our best wishes, and please let William know that we will await his return to Kadic.”
So will we, thought Jeremie grimly.
“I will inform his teachers. Thank you for letting us know.” The headmaster hung up.
Jeremie sighed in relief. “That’s a wrap, guys,” he said, closing the voice synthesizer.
Ulrich, Yumi and Odd sighed. “Well, guess that’s final,” Ulrich said from his position on Jeremie’s bed. “Now that his parents and Delmas are convinced that William’s been transferred to another school, whether because his mother’s ill or because he’s been awarded a scholarship, hopefully it won’t raise suspicions. Not like last time.”
“But why didn’t you use William’s clone again?” Odd questioned.
“Do you remember all the problems we had with that thing last time?” Jeremie said, sighing. “It was too much work, and we were lucky Delmas and Jim were even convinced for that length of time. I only want to use it as a last resort.”
“Now all we have to do is free William again,” Yumi said. Her expression looked as though it was having trouble deciding between grimness and sadness. “I have a feeling that it isn’t going to be too easy the second time around.”
“You’re probably right,” Aelita said. “By now, Xana has probably gone to greater lengths to control William, so that we can’t use the other program that Jeremie used the first time.”
“Until then, I’ll work on gathering data,” Jeremie said. “You guys get to bed. Tomorrow’s another day.”
“And what about you?” Yumi said as they stood up, stretching, and filed out of Jeremie’s room.
“Me? I’ve got another sleepless night ahead of me,” Jeremie said, cracking his knuckles and resuming typing. “I want to get a jump start toward freeing William.”
“Always working, huh, Einstein?” Ulrich said, grinning.
Jeremie winked. “Back to the old grind,” he replied. “Just like it was before.”
---
“Della Robbia?”
“I didn’t do it,” Odd said automatically, looking up from his omelet.
Jim rolled his eyes. “You’re not in trouble this time. Mr. Fumet would like to remind you that the film club is meeting tonight. He wants you to be there by seven-thirty to set up for your movie’s screening.” Jim walked away.
Odd smacked his head. “After all that’s been happening in the past few days, I totally forgot!” he exclaimed. “Tonight I’m supposed to be screening my movie!”
“What is it?” Jeremie asked, taking a sip of hot chocolate.
“It’s an autobiography. Of…well, guess who!” Odd said, snarfing down the rest of breakfast and talking with his mouth full of eggs. “I have to rush through finishing it,” he said as he stood up, his mouth still laden with food.
“Well, if you say an ‘autobiography’, there’s only one answer,” Ulrich called after his retreating form, rolling his eyes.
---
Breathless, a blonde figure ran into the auditorium. The room was almost completely packed with students..
“I can’t believe that I forgot,” Jeremie panted to himself as he searched the room for empty seats.
“Hi guys!” called a female voice. Sissi waved at him, and pointed to the last empty seat next to Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita, who nodded in greeting.
“Thanks, Sissi,” Jeremie said, smiling. He plopped into the last empty chair, still exhausted from the run over from his room.
“What were you doing?” Yumi asked, raising an eyebrow and turning to Jeremie. “It seems like you’re always late to every single function we attend.”
“Sorry,” he replied. He lowered his voice and murmured, “I was working on thinking up ways to free William. The sooner he returns, the less of a chance Delmas has to get suspicious.”
“Hm?” Sissi said, unfortunately still within earshot.
“Oh, did you hear?” Yumi said. “William’s mother is ill, and he transferred schools to be able to visit her.”
“First I’ve heard of that,” Sissi pondered. “I hope she gets better. I rather miss having someone like–” She stopped, a trace of pink on her face. “Someone like him around,” she finished lamely.
Yumi was amused, but decided not to pursue the subject.
“Anyway,” Aelita said, have you heard what Odd’s movie is on?”
“Yeah, I heard,” Sissi replied, whipping her hair in a show-off motion. “And it just happens to be guest-starring yours truly.”
“Is this thing on?” said a voice. Everyone turned to the front as Odd made sure that the microphone was working. “Welcome, welcome, welcome!” Odd called. “Far and wide, this is the only place to see the latest works of Odd Productions! Thank you all for coming tonight!”
Yumi leaned toward Ulrich. “I wonder why Chardain didn’t give his usual rambling introduction,” she whispered to him.
“Probably because everyone was getting tired of it,” Ulrich replied. “It didn’t make sense, anyway.”
In the world residing in a parallel universe to Earth sat a tower with a blue aura. The bright yellow-and-green landscape decorated with tree trunks suspended in midair surrounded the tower.
The tower suddenly changed from blue to red. Xana was attacking.
Back in Kadic’s auditorium, the audience rolled in their seats laughing as a picture of a demented-looking Mr. Delmas, Jim and the rest of the Kadic teachers appeared on the screen, labeled “Rowl Moduls”. The projector made a whirling sound as Odd’s movie continued.
“This next scene is dedicated to a certain someone,” Odd said, winking to Sissi as the audience’s laughter gradually died down. Sissi smiled, and leaned forward in her chair slightly.
Suddenly, the screen flashed white. Random images could be seen, but only for less than a millisecond. The audience frowned.
Odd’s eyes widened. “Oh no…” he whispered. “I forgot to save the project after I edited in the last…”
He straightened his posture and reached out to the microphone. “Sorry guys, it looks like we’re having some technical difficulties,” he sighed. “I’m going to continue to play the movie while I try to find out what’s wrong.”
The gap between Sissi’s eyebrows became almost invisible. “Fine,” she muttered under her breath. “Odd, if you don’t think my scene was good enough, then just tell it to my face.” Casting another hard glance at Odd, she stormed out of the room.
Odd frowned. “Sissi doesn’t think I…” He trailed off, and he groaned inwardly. He quickly took the stairs off the stage and sprinted after Sissi.
“I wonder what that was all about,” Jeremie said, glancing toward the door as Odd rushed out of the auditorium. “Sissi looked pretty upset.”
Suddenly, something beneath Jeremie’s seat started to beep. Jeremie pulled his laptop out of its case and sighed. “Activated tower,” he said to the others as he closed the laptop.
“Okay, we’re out of here,” Ulrich said, as the four of them stood up to leave.
Suddenly, a crackling sound drew the four teenagers’ attention to a corner at the back of the auditorium. A huge black specter exited an electrical outlet, and glided along the floor. The Lyoko Warriors turned back to see every single person in the room get Xanafied.
“Oh no…” Yumi groaned. As the audience started to get up and turn toward them, eyes flashing, the Lyoko Warriors sprinted toward the door.
“Why does it feel like we’ve been through this already?” Ulrich said to the others, irritated.
Odd caught up to Sissi as she was going up the stairs. “Sissi, wait!” he called upwards as her figure rose higher. “It was an accident! I didn’t mean for your clip to get cut out!”
“Yeah, right,” Sissi said, glaring one last time at him and heading into the dormitories.
“Sissi!” Odd called, his expression sagging in frustration. He sighed, and turned back to the auditorium.
Aelita and the others rushed out of the auditorium and made for the door to the courtyard. “Come on, Odd!” Yumi called, waving at him.
“What’s going on?” Odd asked, starting into a run. He turned as the Xanafied army followed the students out of the auditorium. “…Oh.”
He quickly caught up to them, sprinting his hardest. “I take it there’s an activated tower?” he asked Jeremie.
“Forest Sector,” he replied, already panting. “Was everyone in the auditorium?”
“Just about,” Odd said. “Except…” he stopped in his tracks. “You guys go deactivate the tower, I have to protect Sissi!”
“What? No!” Ulrich called as the others stopped. “Odd, it’s too dangerous!”
“And the consequences will be even greater if Sissi or someone else is killed!” Odd retorted. “You guys go. I’ll be fine. I managed pretty well last time, didn’t I?”
Aelita sighed. “Good luck!” she called as they ran toward the entrance to the sewer in the park.
---
“Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Aelita. Transfer Yumi. Scanner, virtualization!”
Three virtual forms landed on the green Forest Sector path, spraying a cloud of brown dust as they landed.
“The tower is north by northeast of your position,” Jeremie instructed as the Overwing and the Overbike materialized. “Take a right at the next junction along the path to your left, and straight on to the tower.”
“Got it, Einstein,” Ulrich called, as the three of them jumped onto the vehicles. “Here we go!”
The two vehicles turned and sped off down the path.
A blonde boy with his hair in a large spike and wearing a purple jacket and pants ran into the dormitory. “Sissi!” Odd called out. He stopped by a door on his right and knocked.
“What do you want, Della Robbia?” called an expressionless voice.
Odd opened the door. “Sissi, I’m sorry,” he said. Sissi put down the magazine she was reading and frowned at him. “I forgot to save the movie after its last edit, and your part accidentally got cut out.”
“Or did you do it on purpose, just because you think I’m not good enough?” Sissi replied furiously. She sighed, and her expression relaxed. “I’m sorry, I’m just really angry at something else.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Odd asked. He shook his head, as if to clear it. “Wait, Sissi, we have to hide. Now.”
“Why?” Sissi asked, raising an eyebrow. “And from who?”
“I can’t explain it,” Odd replied, taking her hand and pulling her out of the room. “But the audience has gone mad, and they’re trying to attack everyone else. If we don’t move, we’re going to get attacked!”
“Did your movie do something to them?” Sissi said as they ran down the hallway out of the dorms.
“You could say that,” Odd grimaced.
---
A window appeared on the screen. Jeremie frowned, and then gasped. “Guys, we’ve got a problem…a big one.”
“What is it?” Ulrich called, pulling to a stop beside the Overwing.
Jeremie took another look at the screen, just to be sure. “Xana’s attacking the Core of Lyoko, and he’s also attacking Skidbladnir II!”
“What?” the three Lyoko Warriors shred disbelievingly.
“You three are going to have to split up,” Jeremie told them. “Ulrich, you’re going to have to go to protect the Core, and Yumi, you go to protect our ship. Either of their destruction spells total disaster for us. Aelita, you have to head on to deactivate the tower.”
“Okay,” Aelita replied as the Overboard appeared in front of her. She jumped onto the virtual board, extending her arms to balance herself. “Good luck!” she called as she turned and went along the path leading to the tower.
“You too!” Yumi replied, as she and Ulrich turned their vehicles and headed toward the edge of the sector.
---
There was a rustling sound.
“Careful!” Odd whispered as Sissi quickly moved her foot out of the pile of leaves. He opened the garden shed, and Sissi rushed in. Odd closed the door behind them. “If we’re going to hide, we have to be quiet.”
“I know, I know,” Sissi muttered.
They heard voices just outside the door. Odd and Sissi jumped and sprinted into the corner filled with tools. They ducked down behind a few crates, hoping that they would not be found.
“Have we checked here yet?” sounded the voice of Jim, thicker from his Xanafication.
“I don’t think so,” the voice of the Xanafied of Mrs. Hertz replied. Odd and Sissi scrunched their bodies into smaller positions.
There was a creaking sound as the door opened. A light flooded the building as Jim held a hand out, spitting purple sparks. “It doesn’t look like he’s here,” Jim observed crossly. “Let’s check somewhere else.” The creak sounded again as the door closed behind them.
Odd and Sissi breathed a sigh of relief. “That was way too close to call,” Odd whispered.
---
As Aelita neared the tower, she spotted a hollow tree trunk. She directed the Overboard toward it and zoomed inside of it, skidding to a halt.
She jumped off of the virtual board and peered out the side. “Jeremie,” she whispered into the shadows. “It looks like the tower is well-guarded.”
The sounds of the four Tarantulas could be heard even from her distance. They surrounded the tower in formation, sitting in positions that would only take them a split second to switch to firing positions.
“I see,” Jeremie’s voice said. “Hang on for now; if either Yumi or Ulrich finish, they can come back to help you.”
Ulrich jumped off of the Overbike and onto the blue platform. As he pressed his hand to the three-dimensional blue Xana eye, stairs materialized, leading up and circling around. He quickly started up to the chamber above him, intent on taking care of his job in a heartbeat.
Ulrich jumped onto the platform: the floor of the Core of Lyoko Chamber. He glanced up and groaned as he saw three Mantas and three Creepers firing at the blue sphere with a model of the five sectors of Lyoko. “Jeremie, this could take a while.”
“Do your best,” Jeremie said. “But try to hurry if you can; if Lyoko is destroyed, Skidbladnir II will be down the drain as well as the three of you. And the first shield layer is just about to go!”
“No pressure, huh,” Ulrich commented. He started up toward the Core of Lyoko to get into a better location to fight.
The outer cubic shield layer glowed red, and the room flashed a bright whitish-red for a second as it exploded.
On the other side of Sector 5, the elevator reached its destination. Most of the room was bathed in a light blue from the Celestial Dome’s intense glow. Yumi stepped off of the elevator to see five snake-like creatures firing at Skidbladnir II.
“This shouldn’t take too long, Jeremie,” Yumi called up to the ceiling. She drew her fans as two of the Creepers turned and slithered toward her, firing their lasers. The other three continued to direct their lasers at the virtual submarine, and its shield flashed blue every time it was hit.
As the Creepers continued toward her, still firing, she spun on her heel repeatedly and launched her fans. The two fans connected with a Creeper apiece; both exploded.
“Nice one, Yumi,” Jeremie congratulated.
Suddenly, a red dot appeared behind Yumi’s green marker on the radar window. Jeremie frowned, and then his eyes widened. “Yumi, behind you!”
As Yumi turned, she heard a whooshing sound, as if it was from smoke on the wind or something gliding along the cold ground.
A boy clothed in a black suit with red stripes jumped out of the purple-and-black smoke that vanished into thin air. A blue eye of Xana shone upon his chest, and another white Xana eye pulsed in his forehead. With a single move, he summoned his cleaver-like sword in a wisp of smoke.
Yumi gasped, and started to draw her fans. A single name came to her mind. As it came out of her mouth, the surprise, sorrow, and guilt running through her head hurtled out with it, and her eyes widened in shock.
“William!”
---
Aelita shifted her position leaning against the side of the hollow tree trunk. Ahead of her, a path lead from the edge of the plateau she was on to the plateau that the tower sat on, still glowing red and being guarded by the Tarantulas. “Jeremie, what’s going on?” she called, rather bored. “I’m just waiting here like a sitting duck.”
“Yumi and Ulrich are fighting to protect the Core of Lyoko and Skidbladnir II right now,” Jeremie said. “If you can just wait a little while longer, maybe one of them can join you.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Aelita replied, slightly nettled. “I’m just wasting time right now, and if I had already tried, the tower could be deactivated by now and Odd would be safe!”
“It’s too risky!” Jeremie said, alarmed. “If you’re devirtualized, the tower will never be deactivated, and Odd and the rest of the people that aren’t Xanafied at Kadic will be helpless!”
“And if I don’t at least try, then Xana will have a better chance of killing someone,” Aelita retorted. “Jeremie, I’m going to go right now, and you can’t do anything to stop me.”
Jeremie sighed. “Fine,” he replied, reluctant to oblige. “Just be careful.”
“Don’t worry,” Aelita said, smiling as she jumped onto the Overboard and headed toward the path leading to the tower. “I’ve got a plan.”
Back on Earth, Odd wasn’t sure that he had a plan. “We could try to sneak back into the dormitories,” he whispered to Sissi.
Sissi shook her head. “No, it’s too risky,” she whispered. “We have to go somewhere else; somewhere they won’t think of looking.”
An idea occurred to Odd, and although reluctant to divulge the secret, if only temporarily, he couldn’t think of a better idea. “Well…there is somewhere else,” he replied. He felt the stiffness in his bones and joints as he stood up.
The door creaked open. The two teenagers, after checking if the path was clear, left the safeness and security of the garden shed and rushed into the thick clutches of the trees.
“So, remind we where we’re headed?” Sissi asked Odd as they ran through the trees. “I don’t feel safe going somewhere I don’t know.”
“Think of it as an abandoned building,” Odd replied. They exited the grounds and started running hard down the path to the woods, where Odd knew was their safest bet to hide.
Yumi edged away from the figure approaching her. As William summoned his long and heavy sword, Yumi drew her fans. “Sorry, William. You won’t get sympathy from me,” she said, not caring whether the real William heard her or not. “I’ve made my choices, and you’ve made yours.” The three Creepers, ignoring the exchange made between the two, continued firing at Skidbladnir II.
“On the contrary,” William replied, his dark eyes boring into her, “I didn’t have a choice. But you will bow down to Xana, or you will loose.”
“I’ll never bow down to you,” Yumi replied, and threw her fans at him.
William slashed at them both and ran towards her, wielding his sword and shouting a battle cry.
Yumi extended her arms. Letting herself fade out of the real world for a moment, she summoned the powerful energy within her body. A bright radiance emitted from her body as she frowned in concentration.
The fans, flying toward the other side of the room, suddenly turned in their path. William was getting closer and closer to her.
Just as William came within lethal reach of her, Yumi opened her eyes and jumped out of the way, swinging her arms in his direction as if she was throwing a strong rush of air at him. William skidded, trying to change directions, but just as he turned toward her, he was thrown forward by the impact of the fans.
The two bright fans flew back toward her, and Yumi caught them in midair. Estimating that William would take only seven seconds to recover from the attack, Yumi focused her attention on the Creepers. She threw her fans at the three Creepers. The fans missed; the Creepers turned toward her and started firing lasers, intent on taking her out to leave Skidbladnir II without defense.
A sharp metal-on-metal noise sounded from behind Yumi; William had stood up and picked up his sword. Yumi, surrounded on one side by the Creepers and the other side by William, sighed and prepared to be devirtualized.
William seemed to focus on something else, and shouted “Super Smoke!” and retreated into his smoky form. He streaked out of the Hangar through the Sky Portal and off to a location that was obviously not the Hangar.
The three Creepers prepared to fire at her. Yumi back flipped and avoided the shots. Just as they charged up again, the two Creepers on the outside ends were thrown forward, with what looked like white marks on the back of their heads, made by thin and sharp objects. The last Creeper glanced at its companions as they exploded, confused at the turn of events.
Yumi caught her fans as they flew past, and as the Creeper threw a shot at her, she rebounded the shot, and the Creeper bent backwards and discharged in a blast of white particles.
“Great job, Yumi!” Jeremie called, happy that at least one out of their three missions had been completed.
“No problem,” Yumi replied, putting her fans away. “How are the others doing?”
“Both Aelita and Ulrich are in need of help at the moment,” Jeremie replied grimly. “I think it would be better to help Ulrich first, as we definitely don’t stand a chance if Lyoko is destroyed again.”
“Okay,” Yumi replied. She rushed back to the elevator and stepped onto it, and headed father down into the Core Zone to help Ulrich.
---
The four Tarantulas sitting idly in front of the tower groaned impatiently, waiting for someone to appear.
Suddenly, a figure clad in pink appeared from behind a tree not far from the edge of the platform. They immediately started firing at her, but the figure disappeared behind another tree.
The Tarantulas looked at each other and then back at the spot where Aelita had appeared, confused as to where she had vanished.
Aelita, hovering on the Overboard right below the path, smiled at hearing the Tarantulas’ confused sounds. “Here we go,” she whispered to herself, concentrating and closing her eyes. A second clone of her appeared, and just as it materialized and started to fall, it grew its wings and floated back to level with the real Aelita, joining the first clone.
“You know what to do,” Aelita said. Both clones winked at her and flew away from her.
The Tarantulas shouted and aimed their cannons as a clone appeared. They fired at it, but it dodged their attacks, and disappeared behind a tree. Not a second after the first clone had vanished, the second clone appeared from behind a tree on the opposite side of the path. The Tarantulas turned and started firing at it, and it dodged their attacks.
Aelita sighed; this was almost too easy. The Overboard flew toward the other side of the plateau.
A shot flew out of nowhere at Ulrich, and he jumped to the side out of its way. Another shot fired at him, and he reflected it back at the Creeper that had fired at him. Ulrich grimly surveyed the situation: he had now taken out all of the Creepers, but the three Mantas still remained, and he had lost more life points than he could count. He was also three-quarters of the way up to the top of the room, where it would be easier to finish the job because of the advantage of higher ground, but until then he was stuck.
Two of the Mantas flew down, firing shots which Ulrich easily blocked, and headed down past him. With ideas running out of his head, Ulrich chose a plan at random and sprinted forward to put it into action. “Triplicate!” he shouted, running toward the edge of the platform and jumping off of it.
As the Mantas changed their direction and flew back up, they shouted surprised calls as they saw three figures hurtling down toward them. One Ulrich headed in entirely the wrong direction and devirtualized upon hitting the hard floor many meters below them, but two of the Ulrichs headed down and latched onto the Mantas by driving their sabers into them.
“Here we go, guys!” an Ulrich called. They dropped down further, driving their sabers through the large navy-blue Xana eye upon their bodies. They back flipped off of the Mantas as they exploded. One of the Ulrichs managed to land safely on a platform, but the other Ulrich missed the edge of the platform. He drove one of his sabers into the thick platform as he tumbled downwards.
“Argh!” the Ulrich called as he lost grip of the saber and flew down to the ground. Ulrich quickly drew a saber and flung it at him, and it devirtualized him just as he was about to hit the ground, the saber flashing blue as it lodged into the floor. Ulrich jumped off of the side of the platform, and still facing upwards, managed to brace his feet flat against the wall and pull out the saber stuck in the side of the platform. He back flipped upwards and landed once more on the platform.
“Two down, one last stinking Manta to go,” Ulrich counted. He sprinted around the upward-spiraling room and stopped, drawing his sabers as the last Manta turned from its task to face him. With only one shield layer left of the Core of Lyoko, this fight would matter the most.
The Manta charged and fired at Ulrich. The impact of blocking it threw him backwards out of balance. As he lost grip on one of his sabers, the Manta charged up again and aimed. Ulrich rolled to the side, dodging the first shot, and changed the path of the second shot. The Manta spiraled downwards and exploded as it was destroyed by its own shot.
“Nice job, Ulrich,” Jeremie congratulated. “But you can celebrate later; Aelita needs your help right now.”
“Okay,” Ulrich replied, and sprinted toward the bottom of the room.
Yumi, exiting the large, round, blue sphere, jumped off of the platform jutting out of Carthage into the Celestial Dome and landed on the Overwing. As she zoomed away, she heard birdcalls from behind her.
“Jeremie!” Yumi shouted, as two Mantas flew up behind her. “You might want to tell Ulrich that I may be a little late.”
“He’s finished,” Jeremie replied. “Ulrich’s on his way, and he’ll be there to help you in just a second. In the meantime, I’m opening the east tunnel going to the Forest Sector; try to go and help Aelita.”
“Okay,” Yumi called. She glanced behind her and swerved the Overwing out of the path of laser shots.
“Yumi!” She looked downward to see Ulrich gaining altitude on the Overbike.
“Anything new with you?” Ulrich grinned as he drew level with her.
“Not really,” Yumi said. “The usual fans,” she replied, motioning behind her at the Mantas tailing them and rolling her eyes.
“Something tells me they don’t want autographs,” Ulrich observed as the birdcalls sounded again.
“Jeremie, don’t these creatures usually travel in squadrons of three?” Yumi called to the sky.
“Yes, usually,” Jeremie replied, “but there are always exceptions.”
A third red dot appeared, heading toward the two green ones. “Never mind,” Jeremie said as he glanced at the radar window, changing his mind. “Be careful; the third is right in front of you!”
Ulrich and Yumi directed their gaze in front of them as the third Manta flew toward them, hatching Flying Mines in midair.
“Careful of the mines!” Jeremie warned.
“We see them,” Ulrich said, his brow furrowing. He leaned the Overbike out of the way as three Flying Mines flew toward him. Ulrich did a somersault with the Overbike in midair, dodging the mines. They turned and conceded to tailing him.
Yumi, unfortunately, wasn’t as lucky. A Mine caught the Overwing in midair, and as she jumped off of the Overwing as it exploded, a shot caught her in the stomach.
“Yumi!” Ulrich shouted, as square-like particles spewed from her virtual form. Her white structure finally blinked and disappeared as she devirtualized.
“Ulrich, you’re there!” Jeremie shouted hurriedly.
Ulrich glanced back in front of him and leaned a hard left as the open tunnel approached. He entered the tunnel, and the Mantas turned back, sounding their frustrated calls at their inability to follow him.
“Jeremie, I’m exiting the way tower,” Ulrich called as he zoomed out of the tower, the blue circles disappearing from the tower behind him as he forged ahead. “Which way is the activated tower?”
“Just a little west of you,” Jeremie said. “Hurry up! Aelita’s just about to get an uninvited guest! ”
Aelita jumped off of the Overboard and landed on the plateau on the opposite side of the Tarantulas. Glancing at the Tarantulas, occupied with the clone, she ran towards the tower.
Aelita heard a whooshing noise on her right, and recognizing the sound, widened her eyes in shock and doubled her speed. A jet of thick, purple-and-black smoke flew onto the plateau and stopped meters in front of her. Aelita skidded to a halt as William jumped out of the smoke.
“Uh…Jeremie?” Aelita said, cautiously starting to back away as William swung his sword to the ground out of a mist of smoke and started toward her. “I could use a little help right now…any updates on my backup?”
“Just hang on!” Jeremie said, close to chewing his fingernails in worry. “Ulrich’s almost there!”
---
Odd opened the door of the old house. The round glass window of the door was shattered; Odd remembered that the first time he had entered the house. A moving cupboard had almost smashed him; he had dodged out of the way, and it instead smashing the glass on the door he had just opened. He walked into the house, guiding Sissi into the musty old rooms of the Hermitage.
“Are you sure that they won’t look here?” Sissi asked Odd uncertainly as he shut the door behind them.
“Ninety percent sure,” Odd replied.
“And the other ten percent?”
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that,” Odd sighed. “Let’s go to the second floor; there’s a window there, and it’ll be easier to spot our guests there.” They headed toward the staircase on the other side of the room.
The two teenagers entered Aelita’s old bedroom and immediately went for the window. They glanced out of it, thankfully not able to see anyone coming toward them.
“Coast is clear for now,” Odd sighed, relieved. As he turned away from the window, he didn’t see the five figures blink black and head toward the Hermitage’s entrance.
As Aelita backed toward the edge of the plateau, trying to avoid the sharp edge of William’s sword, a thought suddenly came to her. “Jeremie…” she slowly called to the sky. “I think I have an idea of how to free William.”
Jeremie froze. “How?” he asked uncertainly.
“Remember my father’s supercomputer reboot program?”
Jeremie frowned, typing codes into the supercomputer. “Well, it worked for you when you were Xanafied,” he said, opening up the program. “But William… He’s been Xanafied to a much higher degree, and I’m not sure if it will work.”
“If anything, just try to see if it will,” Aelita said desperately, as she glanced behind her and saw the edge of the plateau only meters away. Behind William, the four Tarantulas had realized they had been duped, and walked to the other side of the tower and charged their laser cannons, facing her and William. “I’m not exactly in a position to fight!”
“Okay,” Jeremie agreed. “Here we go!”
Aelita saw a blue barrier appear far behind the tower and smiled.
The blue, transparent barrier swept across the sector, and engulfed the Tarantulas ready to fire. Before William realized what was happening, the barrier moved across of him as well, as well as Aelita. Everything froze in time.
After a few seconds, with a gust of energy, the barrier moved across them again. Aelita felt her head get a little fuzzy, and crouched as she lost her balance. She glanced up at William and gasped.
William was on the ground as well, but he was apparently in more tension than she was. His form suddenly started to flash: for seconds at a time, his black uniform disappeared, to be replaced by…his old white-and-blue one.
“Jeremie?” Aelita asked. “Did it really work?”
“I can’t tell,” Jeremie replied. “It may have, but so far, my indications are saying otherwise.”
Suddenly, the flashing stopped. William slowly stood up and grabbed his sword again. Aelita gave a start. “Jeremie…I guess it didn’t work.”
“Sorry, Aelita,” Jeremie said sadly. “It didn’t work. Apparently, this time Xana has also stolen William’s DNA Sequence Code to even further bind him. Until we can find the right program, he can’t be freed…”
“Great,” Aelita sighed as she backed away from the oncoming William and felt her right foot leave the plateau. It was all lost now; the tower wouldn’t be deactivated, and Odd would be lost.
Suddenly, there was a growing, roaring sound: the sound of a vehicle. Ulrich drove the Overbike around the tower. As the Tarantulas turned and got into positions to fire, he steered the Overbike toward them and jumped off at the last second. The virtual one-wheeled motorcycle knocked into two of the Tarantulas, and they exploded from the impact.
Aelita smiled. As William crossly turned around, a saber flew at him. He caught it in midair, and it glowed red and exploded.
“Hey, that was my favorite one!” Ulrich shouted, annoyed. He rushed at William. “Go on, Princess!”
Aelita nodded and ran toward the tower as William and Ulrich’s blades met. She dodged the Tarantulas’ shots and ran through the gap between them and into the tower.
Sissi heard a noise from the hallway. She walked over to the door and glanced out, unable to see anything. “Hmm…” she said, walking back to Odd. “I thought I heard something; there wasn’t anything there.”
There were sounds of footsteps. Odd and Sissi whipped their heads back to the door and gasped as Mrs. Hertz, Jim, Mr. Delmas, Nicolas, and Herb entered the room.
“I told you I saw them in the window,” Nicolas said triumphantly, his voice Xanafied and blurred.
“Prepare to meet thy doom, Della Robbia,” Mr. Delmas said, extending his arm in the direction of Odd; sparks glittered from his hand.
“Daddy, no!” Sissi shouted.
Aelita landed on the platform and pressed her hand to the interface. “Tower…deactivated,” she called, as the interfaces lining the walls rushed downward out of sight.
Outside, as Ulrich fended off William’s last attacks, the tower turned blue once more.
The five people who had just entered the room dropped to the ground, their eyes fading out of focus.
Odd gave a huge sigh of relief. “Thanks, Aelita,” he murmured.
The bright wall of light moved across the room as the Return to the Past moved across the Earth.
---
As the “Rowl Moduls” picture moved across the screen, Odd grinned, winking at Sissi. “This next scene is dedicated to a certain someone, who has greater acting talents than anyone I know.”
“I hope he checked the rest of the movie,” Ulrich whispered to Yumi. “I don’t think that it’ll do him well to get anyone else’s scenes cut out, especially not ‘The Rusty, Squeaking Gym’.”
Yumi chuckled.
Story Notes:
09.27.08 – 10.20.08
Sorry for the very long wait. I always seem to drag fillers along for some reason.
Chapter End Notes:
For those of you that recognized the line, yes, that was a reference to Peter Pan.
Sneak peek at the next episode's title picture: http://lff.lyokofreak.net/stories/257/images/104.png
Sneak peek at the next episode's title picture: http://lff.lyokofreak.net/stories/257/images/104.png