The Boy
in the Computer
By Cybra
A/N: Inspired by "XANA Awakens" Parts 1 and 2. Set in the "Switch" universe.
Disclaimer: Code Lyoko belongs to the French.
Aelita lifted the screen of her laptop as it hummed to life and clicked her instant messenger's icon. Quickly typing in her password, she sat and waited.
Would her digital pen pal be on? She hoped so.
"Hey, Aelita," Yumi said, making her look up. "Talking with Jeremy again?"
The older girl had a smirk on her face that made the pink-haired girl blush even as she snorted. "And if I am?"
"You're obsessed." Yumi sat down on the bench beside her, that irritating grin still on her lips. "So did he send you his picture yet?"
The Japanese girl had pointed out how bizarre it was that the boy on the other side of the connection had so freely given her what was very likely to be his real name. Most people online referred to each other by screen name or some sort of alias. She'd suspected a trap, but the open honesty and downright sweetness of Aelita's virtual pal slowly won her over. However, she continually cautioned her younger friend not to get her hopes too high: Mr. Right probably looked terrible if he wasn't some sort of creepy old man.
"I am not obsessed," Aelita huffed. "And, no, he hasn't."
"You didn't send him one of you, did you?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, Mom."
Yumi gave her a shove, not enough to make her drop the laptop but enough that she got the message that the older girl didn't appreciate the comment.
Beep!
"Hello, Aelita," the new window greeted, her virtual pen pal arriving at last.
"Hey, Jeremy," she typed back. "How was your day?"
"Nothing worthy of note. Everything remained within satisfactory parameters. And you?"
Yumi raised an eyebrow, echoing dryly, "'Satisfactory parameters'?"
The shorter girl gave a small smile as she typed her response. "Okay, so he talks funny."
"Sounds like some sort of genius."
"Maybe he is," Aelita pointed out.
Yumi shrugged a shoulder. "Anyway, this guy's got way too much time on his hands if he spends this much time online."
"I've been thinking about that."
"Oh?"
"Well, you know how he always asks me about my day and such?"
"In that vaguely creepy stalker-esque sort of way?"
The pink-haired girl punched her best friend's shoulder, but the black-haired girl grinned without remorse. "Well, what if he's really sick or something? Maybe he can't go to a regular school and all that."
All the while, she continued typing, fielding questions and discussing things with her cyber pal.
"That's more than slightly depressing to think about." Yumi leaned over to obtain a better view of the screen. "Still, if that's true, he's pretty lucky he started talking to you as opposed to some other girl who would've called the police a long time ago."
Aelita absently nodded, pondering a response to Jeremy's latest question. The boy—whoever he was—had a very healthy curiosity.
Jeremy kneeled on one knee, resting an arm on the other as he focused on the screen. All around him, the walls of the cylindrical tower glowed a deep blue, the color only interrupted by the pale blue data that swirled along the curved surface so fast that it looked as if it was staying still.
But as remarkable as all of that would've been to anyone else, the blond boy ignored it. It had long ceased to be something to marvel at. After all, the tower he was currently in—along with the Polar, Mountain, Desert, and Forest Regions of this virtual world—was his home.
Earth, on the other hand, was a constant source of wonder. Lyoko was dead, stagnant. Earth was alive, dynamic. Since discovering how to connect to the internet, he spent hours scouring for more data, lapping up every bit like a hungry dog.
And a great source of it was the girl he conversed with via e-mail and instant messenger.
They'd met because of a message board. He'd been bored and, seeing it as a way humans communicated with each other, he'd joined in hopes of learning more about the species he only glimpsed at via image files. By chance, he and Aelita had commented on the same topic. Impressed by her intelligence—it had been a board on programming—he'd maintained contact.
With her help, Jeremy got a better picture of the world outside of Lyoko.
Words filled the screen in front of him, formulated by his thoughts. He swiftly sent his reply to her query along and waited with slight impatience for her to respond.
"You're lucky you don't have to take Italian," she told him. "It's really pretty boring."
He started to formulate a response when something—not quite sound and not quite some other sense that he had no name for—reached his senses. He sighed and stood. "Sorry, Aelita. I have to leave. I'll be back soon."
"Okay."
He leaped off of the platform, landing with well-practiced ease on the lower platform. Then he jogged towards the wall, easily passing through it.
Yes, his senses had been correct: The ground rippled with pulsations.
"XANA, can't you give me a break for once?" he complained.
Seconds later, a blond fox raced across the empty desert landscape, seen by no one for no one else was there.
Aelita shut the laptop down. Looking up at her best friend, she raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You look so disappointed he left," Yumi teased.
"Oh, shut up."
"Hey, ladies!" came a familiar voice.
She turned her gaze towards the purple-clad boy and his brunette compatriot. "Hey, Odd. Hey, Ulrich."
"Where were you guys?" the Japanese girl asked.
"Talking with Mrs. Hertz. She's threatening to send Odd to eighth grade remedial," the soccer player answered.
"Hey, your grades aren't much better than mine! And I wasn't the only one she was threatening."
"Ouch." Yumi winced.
"So other than Odd and me getting in trouble with Mrs. Hertz," Ulrich began, ears red with embarrassment, "what all's new?"
"Aelita was just talking with her online boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend!" the pink-haired girl protested, blushing but seriously annoyed. "How many times do I have to tell you guys that?"
"A lot more than that," Odd chirped, a toothy grin on his face that made him vaguely resemble the Cheshire Cat.
Rolling her eyes, the Canadian girl crossed her arms and looked to one side.
Green eyes widened as she saw a wall of white light approaching them. "Hey, what's—?"
She never finished her sentence as the light swept over her and her friends.
The teacher continued to babble away in Italian as Aelita mechanically took notes and dutifully let her mind wander. She supposed it was a fascinating lecture on the Roman Empire, but her lack of caring knew no bounds at that moment.
All the while, she had the vague feeling of déjà vu, as if she'd heard the lecture before somewhere.
Jeremy waited in the tower he'd just deactivated. It would be some time before Aelita logged in. And while it would be the exact same conversation they'd had before, he didn't mind. There was still so much from their discussion that he'd wanted to ask.
Ordinarily, the wait would've annoyed him. However, at the moment he was glad for the break. XANA was either getting stronger or more ruthless if not both. The other artificial intelligence had sent four krabes this time.
He lie down on his side, gazing blankly at the wall of data. He closed his eyes but didn't sleep, allowing his mind to drift in lazy meditation. All the while, he felt more and more rejuvenated as the seconds passed. Now in the safety of the tower, his life points were regenerating.
He didn't know how long he lie there like that before his internal clock screamed for attention. Aelita would've just logged in.
He debated getting up to talk to her but simply narrowed his meditation's focus onto the instant messenger. Mentally, he sent the message, "Hello, Aelita."
Her response appeared in his mind, almost as if he could see it behind his closed eyelids. "Hey, Jeremy. How was your day?"
"Nothing worthy of note. Everything remained within satisfactory parameters. And you?"
A rather large lie. He'd come close to being deleted that day. And while whatever emergency that had taken place on Earth no longer existed—its effects removed when he'd reversed time—he still felt the effects of his fight.
Well, "fight" was a bit of a stretch. Claws versus lasers never did end well. He'd spent most of his time running and dodging.
"Boring on my end, too. More classes. I don't mind the math and science so much, but Italian's going to kill me."
He allowed a smile to form on his face. So he lived in a world full of danger. However, having someone to talk to made saving the day without anyone's knowledge worth it.
The boy had contacted someone.
The other artificial intelligence felt annoyance and a twinge of worry. It could not access Jeremy's data link. The child had shielded it from XANA's sweeps, but he had been sloppy on shielding where the link connected to, possibly due to his weakness after their recent clash.
It paused, thinking. The threat assessment could range anywhere from nonexistent to considerable.
Finishing its probability computations, XANA came to a decision:
Once it replenished some of its energy, it would destroy the probable threat.
"I'm telling you, guys: Jeremy and I are just friends."
Ulrich chuckled at Aelita's irritation and Yumi and Odd's constant pestering. All the while, he debated joining in. Yumi had that privilege as the other girl's best friend. Odd did it since he was Odd and could do it.
The pink-haired girl set the open laptop down on the ground before digging around in her pockets for some change. Popping a few discovered coins into the soda machine, she looked over the choices before glancing back over her shoulder with a frown on her face.
"Come on, Aelita. You know we're just kidding," Ulrich said, attempting to soothe the girl's ruffled feathers. She could be either incredibly sweet or incredibly vindictive depending upon whom she spoke to and what they had done to her in the past.
"Well, how would you like it if I teased you about you and Yumi? Hmm?"
The brunette sputtered as the Japanese girl stuttered, "Wh-What do you mean?"
"Oh, please," the purple-clad boy said, rolling his eyes as a broad smile crossed his features. "Any idiot can see what's going on there!"
Ulrich opened his mouth to protest but halted as his eyes were drawn to the laptop. He didn't even hear Yumi's response to his roommate as what looked like a trail of black smoke curled out of the USB port and drifted towards the vending machine. "Um...Aelita? I think something's wrong with your computer."
She glanced down, finger hovering over the button, just as the smoke disappeared into the soda machine. She looked back up and raised an eyebrow. "It seems fine."
"But…But it was just smoking…" he said, sounding unsure as he debated whether or not he had seen what he just thought he'd seen.
"Uh huh." She pressed the button. "Tell me another ONE!"
The last word was half exclamation/half scream as electricity coursed from the machine, up her arm, and into her body. Ulrich stared in horror as she froze up, unable to move away from the source of the shock.
"Aelita!" Odd tackled her, forcing her finger off of the button. He got off of her, but she lie stunned on the ground.
"We better get her to the nurse." Ulrich wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder as Odd mirrored him on her other side, holding the laptop—now closed—awkwardly beneath one arm.
"I'll go on and tell Yolanda what happened." Yumi dashed ahead.
Nobody noticed the black smoke leaving the machine and entering the USB port.
She still hadn't responded.
Jeremy frowned deeply and tried not to panic. One of her friends had probably diverted her attention. Nothing to worry about.
Just to be certain, he scanned the data link. No, nothing out of the ordinary.
However, he felt a malevolent presence pass him by as he reached for the girl's laptop.
XANA.
This was surprising. Ordinarily, the other AI would be sleeping, resting and rejuvenating itself. What had roused it from its slumber?
Or was this simply a part of XANA that was supposed to help it seek out new targets?
"I'd better check to see if it's awake," the blond mused aloud, opening his eyes and exiting the tower.
He didn't feel any pulsations. However, it wouldn't hurt to look around.
He focused inward for a moment, becoming the distance-running wolf. He ran across the desert landscape, passing close to towers. All of them glowed blue with inactivity.
All was quiet in this sector. But what about the other three?
He changed direction, turning towards the transport tower. Stopping just outside of its walls, he changed back to his human form before passing through. But instead of ascending, he turned upon entering and dove off the edge into the data stream.
Landing on the lower platform of the new tower, he passed through this one's wall. The Polar Region spread out before him.
Nothing here either. Still, better to be safe than sorry.
Shapeshifting swiftly, Jeremy continued his run. All the while, he kept a mental eye on the instant messenger.
Feeling came back to Aelita's body. Only it was the lovely pins and needles type of feeling. Very unpleasant, and she winced.
"You okay?" Yumi asked.
"I'm fine, but I don't think I'll be taking anything from that soda machine any time soon."
The nurse frowned deeply. "It should be reported to Mr. Delmas right away. More students could end up hurt."
"I'll do it," Odd offered, leaving the nurse's office.
The pink-haired girl sat up, but Nurse Perraudin pushed her back down. "You get some rest. I want to make sure you didn't suffer any ill effects from your shock."
"Lucky. If I knew it only took minor electrocution to skip class, I probably would've done it before Mrs. Mayer gave that last math test," Ulrich said, the words joking but the voice worried.
"I wouldn't recommend it. It really hurts," Aelita said. She paused, eyes widening. "My laptop!"
"Right here," Yumi held it out to her. "Odd picked it up before we brought you here. You probably didn't see it since you were pretty out of it."
"Thanks."
The nurse quietly coughed.
The Japanese girl and the brunette looked up before Yumi said, "Okay, we'll get going. See you later, Aelita."
"Bye."
Her two friends left, leaving her alone with the nurse.
"Um…do you mind if I work on my laptop?" She smiled sweetly. "Since I'm going to be here for a while, I might as well get a head start on my essay for literature."
"I don't see why not," the blonde woman told her. "But if you start to feel tired, shut it off."
"Yes, ma'am."
Nurse Perraudin walked over to her desk and sat down, looking through some papers on her desk.
Sighing a little with relief, the pink-haired girl turned off the sound on her computer before turning back to the message window. She typed, "Jeremy? Are you still there?"
"Nothing," the virtual boy said with a frown, gazing about the last of the four sectors: the Forest Region. "No pulsations, no activated towers…"
He felt his human friend's message in the back of his mind. "Jeremy? Are you still there?"
The wolf lie down on a log, tail swishing slowly. "Yes, I'm here. What happened?"
"The weirdest thing. I tried to get some soda, and the machine shocked me."
He sat up, alarmed. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. It was just a little shock. Nothing to be worried about. The vending machine probably malfunctioned."
His tail curled around his hind legs. Ordinarily, he would've taken the explanation at face value and calmed down, but after sensing XANA near her computer, he wasn't going to blow it off. It could've been a malfunction or something far more sinister.
But how to warn her? He couldn't just say "I think you might be the target of an evil artificial intelligence bent on destroying the human race." She'd think he was crazy and probably never talk to him again.
Instead, he told her, "Be careful, Aelita."
A pause. "It was just a little shock, Jeremy. Nothing to be worried about. :)"
"But I do," he said aloud, not sending the message along.
Because after finally finding a friend, he didn't want to lose her.
There were two more incidents in the days following her mild electrocution. The first was another mild shock. The second was far worse.
"Somebody, help me!" she yelped, kicking at the robot she'd built in her spare time.
It whirred in a vaguely threatening way as it resumed its attack, backing her into a wall before reaching its claw arm towards her. A strange symbol glowed malevolently on her computer monitor.
She gave a yelp, fighting with her mechanical assailant's remote control to get it to turn away or shut down. However, it was almost as if it was ignoring the remote's commands.
Doo doo doo doo! The little vacuuming robot her parents had given her as a way to keep her room clean suddenly sprang to life. It revved its little wheels and zoomed towards the threat, ramming it and knocking it away.
Ulrich and Odd—possibly having heard her screams—burst into the room to see the beginnings of a war between the animatronic and the vacuum.
"Uh…Aelita? What're you doing?" Odd raised an eyebrow as the UFO-shaped vacuum raced backwards to avoid the claw that came down where it had been moments before.
"I'm not doing it!" she yelled, spreading her arms and showing that her fingers were nowhere near the buttons on the remote. "Both of them are moving by themselves!"
Ulrich kicked the arm robot, smacking it into the wardrobe with such force that pieces broke off of it. The little circular vacuum cut in between the armed monstrosity and its mistress, beeping in challenge.
However, Aelita's creation suddenly shut itself down, black smoke curling out of it and into her CPU.
The vacuum seemed to take this as its cue to return to its docking station.
Yet Ulrich pointed to where the smoke had disappeared, eyes wide. "That smoke! Your laptop starting smoking before the soda machine shocked you!"
The pink-haired girl kneeled down to pat the circular vacuum in gratitude before looking warily at her CPU. "It happened before?"
"Yeah. Only it was going from your laptop into the machine."
"This is too freaky," the purple-clad boy said, nudging the armed robot with his toe to make sure it stayed down. "Like some kind of weird nightmare."
"It's no nightmare," Aelita said, shuddering. "There was also some kind of symbol on my screen. What could it mean?"
"Maybe the computers have all started to revolt and are planning to turn us into their organic slaves," Odd said.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ulrich and Aelita had to roll their eyes.
Jeremy leaned against one of the rocks in the Mountain Region, panting. He could—like XANA—use the system to possess objects, but it took a lot out of him. And his choice of weapon hadn't been particularly complex like the robot his counterpart had selected.
Still, he was thankful that he'd decided to keep a closer watch. If he hadn't been on alert, who knows what XANA could've done?
"This is getting insane," he gasped. "Why does it want to kill her specifically?"
Could XANA have realized that he'd contacted the human world? Did it think that he was seeking aid in destroying it?
He berated himself. He'd gotten her involved in his war. How could he have been so—
The ground started to pulse beneath him.
He moaned, "Not now. Anytime but now."
Wearily, he shifted to mountain lion and ran, following the ripples on the ground.
'Please let XANA be as exhausted as I am,' he begged. 'Maybe even too tired to launch a serious attack on Earth.'
But as the tower came into sight, he saw the multitudes of kankrelots and blocks waiting for him.
He skidded to a stop before turning the opposite direction. All the while, laser fire flew towards him.
He cried out as one shot hit his left hind leg. Running to one of the tunnels, he was hit three more times before he ducked behind some of the rocks, switching back to human.
Forty life points down, sixty to go.
'I can't do this by myself anymore. XANA's getting far too powerful.'
That left only one option, as much as he hated to do it.
He reached for Aelita's computer…
It had been about three hours since the incident involving her robots. Cautiously, the pink-haired girl sat down at her desktop, eyeballing the screen in case the strange symbol appeared again.
A window suddenly popped open to reveal the 3D image of a blond boy with black-rimmed glasses.
She jerked back in surprise. "Who are you?" she demanded.
"Aelita, please. I need your help," he begged.
"Who are you?" she repeated, growing alarmed. "And how do you know my name?"
"I'm Jeremy."
She stared, stunned. However, she snapped, "Prove it!"
"You're Aelita Stones, age thirteen. You attend Kadic Academy with your friends Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi. You hate Italian and wish you didn't have to take it since you find it boring. Last week you had a test in Mrs. Mayer's class on the basic principles of geometry."
She gaped but shook it off. "Anyone could've known that with a little research."
"You called Jim a 'large, overbearing oaf' a few weeks ago since you were really irritated with him."
Her eyes widened. She had only told that to one person as she'd vented her frustrations over the man. It had been a bad day in gym class.
And nobody could've overheard her since she'd been typing it on instant messenger.
"Please, Aelita. I need help."
"Where are you?" she asked.
"At the abandoned factory a few blocks from you. My schematics of the area tell me that there's an entrance leading from Kadic Academy's boiler room to the factory."
Another window opened up to show a map, highlighting the route.
He gazed with begging blue eyes at her. "I can't last much longer. You're my only hope."
Making a mental note to get answers later, she nodded. "All right. Where will you be?"
He looked relieved. "Take the freight elevator down. You'll need the pass code '168' in order to get into the lab. Use the headset on the keyboard to tell me when you're there."
A little confused, she answered, "Okay. Just hang on."
He nodded, and the screen winked out.
She leapt out of her seat and ran to the door. Opening it, she nearly plowed into her three friends.
"Hey, what's the rush, Miss Einstein?" Odd asked.
She paused for only a moment before saying, "Come on. I'll explain on the way."
Jeremy slid down a little lower in his hiding spot, trembling as what sounded like three kankrelots passed him by. He could hear the mechanical sound of their legs as they moved.
He fought the urge to squeeze his eyes shut. If they did spot him, he'd like to know before they started firing.
Fortunately, they passed the cluster of rocks, not seeing him. He shoved down the urge to sigh with relief in case they came back.
It had been three minutes and fourteen seconds since he'd last heard from Aelita. Not once did he allow the thought of her deciding that he'd been trying to fool her and not coming to enter his mind.
He needed to at least believe that help was on the way. With his current situation, hope was all he had.
"We're almost there!" Yumi gasped as the quartet of students raced across the bridge.
She saw Ulrich glance over his shoulder. "Oh, no."
A squeal of tires as Mr. Delmas's car hastily turned. Apparently, it had known exactly where they'd been headed and had decided to attempt to cut them off.
The car, not Mr. Delmas. After all, nobody was in the driver's seat.
They stopped as they entered the factory.
"There's the elevator!" Aelita said, pointing.
"Last one down's a road kill pancake!" Odd yelled, jumping and grabbing hold of one of two ropes that dangled from the ceiling. Aelita was only a second after him.
Yumi saw Ulrich hesitate. "C'mon!"
The pair jumped and grabbed hold of the ropes, sliding to the ground. The car screeched to a stop to avoid driving off the edge.
"It'll just come down the ramp," her best friend said. "Let's go."
The Japanese girl held her breath as they entered the elevator and Aelita pressed the button. The door closed, and they descended.
When they came to a stop, a keypad and a strange airlock greeted them. She watched the pink-haired girl punch in the numbers 1-6-8, and the door opened to reveal a bizarre computer system.
"Whoa…" Odd said, giving voice to the slack-jawed awe all four of them had.
"So…where's Jeremy?" Ulrich asked, still stunned.
Aelita ran over to the keyboard and picked up a headset. She slid it onto her ear. "Jeremy, we're here!"
Yumi and the two boys went to stand behind her. She jerked back as a 3D representation of a blond boy appeared. He looked rather relieved.
"I knew you'd make it," he said, his smile a bit strained.
"These are Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich," the girl with the headset said, motioning to each in turn. "What do you want us to do?"
"On the level below you there are three scanners. You all need to step into them, and I'll virtualize you here."
"Where are you exactly?" the brunette asked.
"On a virtual world called 'Lyoko'. Listen, I don't have time to explain. You'll just have to trust me."
"You're going to transport us into a computer?" Yumi asked, shifting from foot to foot, not quite comfortable with this.
A nod.
"Is it dangerous? Have you ever done this before?"
"I know how to do it, but, no, I haven't actually done it before." He gazed pleadingly at them. "I know it's hard to believe and I'm asking a lot of you, but I need your help. I don't have time to argue. You have to make a decision now."
The four students looked at each other before nodding.
"Odd and I'll go first," Ulrich offered. "You two can follow after."
"Right," the two girls said.
"We'll be right with you, Jeremy," Aelita told the virtual boy.
"Okay. I'll start the procedure once you're in position."
Jeremy stretched his mind to take control of the supercomputer. Using the cameras, he saw Odd and Ulrich enter the scanners.
"Transfer Odd…Transfer Ulrich…"
The doors closed, sealing the two humans inside.
"Scanner Odd…Scanner Ulrich…"
The supercomputer began reading and processing their DNA before beginning the conversion to data.
A whine drew Jeremy's attention. He opened his real eyes to see a kankrelot that had finally spotted him. He cried out as it scored a direct hit to his bent knees.
However, it was too late to stop. The procedure had to be finished.
"Virtualization!"
He heard a strange sound that was vaguely reminiscent of the crackle of electricity. Yet he ignored it in favor of the kankrelot and its three new buddies as they warmed up their lasers to blast him to digital bits.
Too slow. Help wasn't going to make it in time. He squeezed his eyes shut.
He heard the four shots…
…and the four rebounds.
Shocked, he opened his eyes to see a brunette samurai standing in front of him, saber in hand. The blade glowed blue from when it had deflected the attacks.
"Hey there!" came a voice from above. The digital boy looked up to see a purple cat crouching on a rock over his head. "You must be Jeremy! Aelita's told us a lot about you!"
"Forget the pleasantries," Ulrich grunted, deflecting more attacks. "Right now, how do we get rid of these guys?"
Recovering his wits, the virtual boy said, "Hit the symbol that looks like a target. That'll delete them."
"Okay. Odd, can you do anything?"
"How should I know? All I've got are these claws!"
Mentally scanning the new profile that had been created, Jeremy told him, "You have projectiles in your gloves. Will that do?"
"I guess so. But how do I—" A metallic arrow-shaped projectile launched itself towards the kankrelots, catching one of them by surprise and striking it solidly in the XANA symbol. It exploded immediately. "Cool!"
"Odd, you and I will take care of these things. Jeremy, can you bring the girls here?"
The blond boy nodded and closed his eyes again. This time, he ignored the sound of laser fire as his two new friends gave battle cries.
"Transfer Yumi…Transfer Aelita…"
An explosion. Quickly followed by a second explosion. Very, very comforting sounds. It seemed that Odd and Ulrich were fast learners.
"Scanner Yumi…Scanner Aelita…"
"Wahoo!" he heard Odd yell as something whooshed overhead. The feline must've leapt from his perch to go head to head with the kankrelots.
"Virtualization!"
That strange sound drew his attention. This time he looked up to see two female humanoids appear midair before dropping to the ground. They landed hard and quickly climbed to their feet.
Yumi jumped to her left to avoid a laser shot before glancing about herself. "I don't have a weapon." The handle of a fan presented itself. She pulled it out, unimpressed. "That's all?"
"Try throwing it," Odd suggested, firing at another kankrelot. Unfortunately, the little monsters had gotten smart and dodged.
Unfurling it, she threw it like a discus. It sliced neatly through the two remaining monsters that were currently distracted by the two human boys. She caught it easily with a grin, snapping it closed. "I think I'll keep it."
Jeremy stood, rubbing at his sore right arm. "Thank you."
"Was that it?" Odd asked, tail swishing merrily. "That was kinda fun!"
"Unfortunately, no. It's all downhill from here. First, I need to get to a deactivated tower. My life points are low, and I need to regenerate them before we try to make a run for the activated tower."
"What happens from there?" Aelita asked.
"Big trouble," he said flatly.
"Aelita, watch out!" Jeremy warned.
The pink-haired girl jumped up an impressive height as two kankrelots opened fire at her position. She flipped and landed in a crouch as Yumi finished them off with her fans. To her left, Jeremy—currently in the shape of a house cat of all things—ducked behind Ulrich for cover.
"Ally oop!" Odd hollered.
Somehow guessing what he wanted, she remained in her crouch to allow the cat to leapfrog over her, firing at three more of the small monsters. It took him a few tries, but he got them.
"Next time, try aiming!" Ulrich joked as he slashed at another one.
Aelita turned at Jeremy's call of "Ten more coming in!"
She felt absolutely useless. She had no weapon at all. How was she supposed to fight?
Then, like water bubbling to the surface of a well, something came to her. Like Yumi's telekinesis, Odd's precognition, and Ulrich's triplicate.
She closed her eyes and reached out a hand towards the oncoming fleet, singing a note.
"What're you—?" the cat next to her started to ask.
A rock formed above the kankrelots. When she finished singing and opened her eyes, it dropped, squashing them all.
"Cool!" her feline friend praised, wagging his tail.
"I have to say, that is most impressive, Aelita," Jeremy said, shifting back to human.
She smiled but stumbled as she rose to her feet. "Wh-Why do I feel so tired?"
The virtual boy's eyes lost focus for a moment before he paled. "You've lost half of your life points. Apparently, you can't perform this feat without sacrificing that much of your life."
"Still, it's pretty useful," Ulrich pointed out.
"You'll have to come with me into the tower. It should restore you as well."
"Hey, what happens if we lose all of our life points here?" Yumi asked warily.
"Since you're human, you'll simply be returned to Earth via the scanners," Jeremy explained, shifting back to human.
"And you?" Aelita asked.
"Well…I get deleted," he admitted reluctantly.
The four humans gasped.
"Okay, so how're you doing on life points right now?" Ulrich asked.
"I'm currently down to forty. That's why I need to get to a deactivated tower. There's a small army in front of the activated one."
"How far are we?" the pink-haired girl asked.
"Not too far." Jeremy pointed towards a cylindrical construct nearby that glowed blue. "XANA should stop sending monsters after us fairly soon. However, it'll resume its attack once we approach the activated tower again."
He broke into a run, Aelita and her friends swiftly following.
On Lyoko, it was easy to run and talk. Therefore, it was simple to get her questions answered as they made their way across the stony landscape. "What exactly is XANA?"
"XANA is another artificial intelligence. My senior actually. It runs Lyoko. However, it wants to destroy humanity."
"Why's that?" Yumi asked.
"As far as I can tell, it finds humans to be too chaotic. Computers value order above all else."
"So how come you're trying to help us? You're a computer program, too," Ulrich pointed out.
"I was programmed specifically to interact with human beings. You humans fascinate me. I find your chaos intriguing, not repulsive."
"Okay, so what's up with these towers?"
"XANA can only launch major attacks on your world by activating towers. I'm the only one who can deactivate them and put XANA back to sleep. It's kind of a never ending cycle."
"So how come nobody's ever noticed any strange disasters like cars driving by themselves before? I mean, it's kinda obvious!" Odd called, loping along on all fours.
"Because after I deactivate the towers, I activate a program called Return to the Past that reverses time. It undoes all of the damage, and nobody remembers that anything ever happened."
The group came to a stop outside of the blue tower. Aelita gazed up at the softly glowing structure, amazed by it.
What was the difference between a deactivated tower and an activated one? Was it something only Jeremy could sense?
Before she could ask, the virtual boy turned to them. "Aelita, if you would please come with me…"
"We'll wait out here," Yumi offered. "Just in case XANA decides to send more monsters."
"Good idea. Also, keep your eyes on the air. It might send hornets." Jeremy winced. "Those are among the worst. Not only do they have lasers but acid, too."
"Swell," Ulrich said, placing a hand on the hilt of his katana. "Anything else we should know?"
"Yes." The blond walked to the edge of the walkway and gazed down at the clouds. The pink-haired girl followed his lead, the others beside her. "Whatever you do, don't fall."
"Why? If we die here, we just end up back on Earth, right?" Odd said with a shrug.
"If your life points reach zero, yes, but down there's the Digital Sea. Whatever falls into it is automatically deleted." Aelita swallowed at the grave look Jeremy gave them. "And it doesn't matter if you were originally digital or biological. Oh, you might land on a lower walkway if you're lucky, but I wouldn't bet my life on it."
"Okay, important safety tip: No swimming on Lyoko. Got it," the samurai said. "So if one of us falls, Odd, Yumi, it's up to you two to blast them."
"Roger dodger," the feline said, saluting while the geisha nodded firmly.
Jeremy motioned to Aelita as they walked towards the tower again. She followed him but paused as they drew close to the structure, realizing that there was no entrance. "Um…Jeremy? How're we supposed to get ins—"
She stopped mid-word as he walked straight into the wall and seemed to melt right into it. The surface rippled for a moment as it allowed him to pass.
"Whoa," Yumi commented from behind her.
"Um…never mind, I guess."
Taking a deep breath, Aelita stepped up to the wall and moved to walk through it. To her surprise, it let her pass, seeming to absorb her in an almost welcoming embrace.
She gasped as she saw the interior: a dark blue space with pale blue data. The floor was a platform with the symbol she'd seen several times now. In the center of the platform, standing in the middle of the glowing symbol and facing a little away from her, was Jeremy.
Now that they weren't on the run, she was allowed to study him. He wore a blue tunic with white leggings that mirrored the tunic and leggings that she wore…only hers were in pink and white respectively. He also wore a pair of blue moccasins like her pink ones. But aside from his attire, he looked like a perfectly ordinary human boy with his unassuming face, blond hair, and black-rimmed glasses.
As if sensing her gaze, he opened his blue eyes and turned to look at her. He smiled warmly at her. "Your elfin avatar suits you, Aelita."
She blinked, reaching up to feel her ear. She knew what the others looked like but hadn't realized that she'd changed more than her clothing. However, she was startled to realize she couldn't feel it.
Upon reflection, she realized that she hadn't felt the ground when her hands had been pressed against it earlier either. "You don't have a sense of touch, do you?"
He cocked his head to one side, clearly confused by the sudden conversation change. "Touch?"
"This." She walked over and took his hand, placing his palm against the palm of hers. She looked into his blue eyes, searching for a reaction. "You can't even feel that, can you?"
He shook his head.
"But you feel pain when the lasers hit you. We don't. When Ulrich got hit earlier, he said he yelled since he was more surprised than anything. It was more of a dull ache." The elf looked at their joined hands. "What senses do you have?"
"I have full auditory and visual capabilities," he said, voice laced with confusion.
"That's all?"
"What else is there?"
"Well, there's touch for one thing. And taste and smell."
"Humans have…five senses?"
She nodded and looked back up again. "You must've noticed when you shapeshifted into your animal forms."
"My canine forms do have the capability to detect the monsters' code with their noses, but it's more of an extension of sight."
"Dogs have an incredible sense of smell. The computer must be compensating for the actual sense."
She looked down at their hands again to see that Jeremy had wrapped his fingers around hers. She had a feeling that she was blushing even if she couldn't feel her cheeks.
"Why is your face all red?" he queried, curious.
"Um…I…"
Glancing up, she saw his eyes glaze over before he sighed. "I'm sorry, Aelita, but we'll have to finish our conversation later. Our life points have finished regenerating. We must be on our way before XANA gathers enough strength to activate more towers and wreck more havoc on your world."
Relieved for the change in topic, she nodded. "Let's go get the others."
Yumi nearly jumped out of her skin as something vibrated beneath her feet as they ran. "What was that?!"
"Pulsations," Jeremy said calmly but not slowing his pace. "The activated tower's nearby."
"How're we supposed to tell the difference between an activated tower and a deactivated one?" Ulrich asked, running just ahead with Odd.
"Believe me, you can't miss it," the blond snorted. "XANA doesn't talk much, but it's a bit showy."
The geisha exchanged a glance with the elf that ran alongside her. The quartet of humans had decided to form a square around the virtual boy in order to protect him better. After all, he was the only one who knew how to stop the other artificial intelligence.
"We've got a welcoming committee!" Odd called. "Real blockheads, too!"
With her height advantage, Yumi could easily see the cube-shaped creatures approaching on their spindly legs. And there were quite a number of them approaching. "What are they?"
"Blocks," Jeremy supplied.
"Let me guess: Hit the XANA symbol, and they explode."
"Correct."
The geisha unfurled her fans as the samurai drew his sword and the feline cocked a glove.
"Here we go!" Odd yelled, firing three shots.
The first two missed, but the third was dead on. However, no sooner did the first block explode than a second came to take its place, returning fire. Ulrich sprinted forward, deflecting shots even as he ran.
"Think you can keep Jeremy company, Aelita?" Yumi asked.
The pink-haired girl nodded with a grin and a thumbs-up.
Taking that as her cue, Yumi ran forward and, using one fan to block, threw the other fan towards the hordes. It neatly sliced through one block and nicked another before Ulrich finished the wounded one off. She caught the fan on its return trip.
Odd continued laying down cover fire, jumping about as if he'd been doing this for years. The geisha folded her fans, sliding them back into their storage spot before somersaulting forward to avoid laser fire from two different blocks, forcing the pair to shoot each other.
"Nice one, Yumi!" Ulrich called, stabbing another block.
"Ulrich, behind you!" Aelita warned, reaching out a hand. She opened her mouth and sang.
Yumi drew her fans and turned to see the ground disappear beneath a small fleet of kankrelots…which quickly plummeted to their destruction. "Good job, Aelita!"
Ulrich ran over to stand back to back with her, striking out at some of the blocks. "Jeremy, go!"
The virtual boy shifted to cheetah. He crouched for a moment, aiming at a tower that glowed a malevolent red. Then he sprang forward, racing along at a blistering seventy miles per hour.
Unfortunately, the movement attracted the attention of several blocks that swiveled, warming up their lasers.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Odd shouted, firing upon the monsters.
He took out two of them, but another four remained. He wouldn't be able to destroy the rest before they shot Jeremy.
Yumi watched as Aelita reached out and sang again. "Aelita, wait!"
A wall rose up between the blocks and the blond cheetah, blocking their attack. Unfortunately, it cost the pink-haired elf the rest of her life points. She broke apart and disappeared from Lyoko.
"Aelita!" the purple feline yelled.
"She's fine!" the brunette shouted, running another block through before moving on to slice up a kankrelot. "Remember what Jeremy said? When we run out of life points, we go back to Earth."
"Yeah," the geisha agreed with a grunt as she blocked several shots from a rather persistent little kankrelot. She then rewarded it by splitting it in two.
The scanner doors opened with a hiss, and Aelita leaned out, panting. She walked over to the elevator and pressed the up button, going to the supercomputer room. Once there, she went to the chair and put on the headset. "Guys, how's it going?"
"It's going pretty good," Odd reported. "How'd de-virtualization go?"
"Kinda rough but survivable." She glanced over a tactical readout. "Jeremy's almost to the tower, but he's being held up by some more blocks."
"I'll help him out," Ulrich offered. "And I'll bring a few buddies."
Her lips twitched as she caught his meaning. "Right then. Odd and Yumi, you think you two can finish playing with your friends and then join Ulrich?"
"I think we can do that," the feline warrior chirped.
"Okay. I'll tell Jeremy help's on the way." She studied the computer for a moment before tapping a few commands. She grinned in victory as a channel opened up to the virtual boy. "Jeremy?"
"Aelita? I thought you were with the others!"
"I was de-virtualized. Ulrich is on his way to help you. Odd and Yumi will join him shortly. You just try and get to the tower."
"All right."
Sitting back, the pink-haired girl watched as Ulrich's character card joined Jeremy's and then started the face off with the block character cards. The tactical screen showed three green Ulrich triangles as the yellow Jeremy triangle dodged about, moving towards the red tower.
Finally…"Okay, everybody, Jeremy is in the tower."
"Sweet. Now what?" Odd asked.
"Well…" The pink-haired girl scratched her head. "I really don't know."
Apparently, Jeremy could still hear her since he said, "Just leave everything to me."
The virtual boy placed his hand to the screen, leaving a palm print.
JEREMY
"What's going to happen?" Aelita asked him.
CODE
He smiled. "As far as your world's concerned, nothing happened."
LYOKO
He heard the tower shut down around him. He reached up and started tapping the controls, calling up another program.
"What're you talking about?"
"Just this."
He tapped one final command:
EXECUTE
"Return to the past now."
White light flooded up the tower, and time moved backwards.
Aelita blinked, gazing around in shock. She had been in the factory in front of the supercomputer. Only now she was sitting on a bench in the middle of campus with her laptop on her lap.
Yumi sat next to her, equally bewildered. "Hey, wait a second. We were doing this a few days ago."
Odd and Ulrich walked up, flummoxed looks on their faces.
"Are we going crazy, or is it Monday again?" the brunette asked.
"You're not going insane," a now familiar voice laughed.
They looked down at the laptop screen to see a communications window with the virtual boy smiling at them.
"It really is Monday again, back before all of the XANA-related incidents happened."
"And nobody remembers but us?" Ulrich asked. "How come?"
"Because all of you have your data in the supercomputer due to the scanners, you're immune to the Return to the Past program's effects."
The pink-haired girl sat silent for a moment.
"Um…Aelita?" Jeremy looked worried.
She gazed sternly down at the blond artificial intelligence. "You know, you really should've said something a while ago. Honestly! Why is it that you guys always wait until it's a dire emergency before you ask for help?!"
Her other three human friends started to laugh as she ranted while Jeremy could only sheepishly endure the lecture.