Code Lyoko Season 5 Episode 7 – Foundation Lost – Part 3/3

Inside the hub room hosting a large white floor with a XANA symbol covering the majority of it neatly, a wireframe appeared over the air before rendering. Landing on his feet, Gohann fell to his hands.

"Augh!" Seeing the white glowing ground under him, he then looked to his hands. Lifting one off the ground, he lifted it up slightly to examine it. Standing up, the boy looked at himself to find he was clad in a form fitting suit composed of dark purple and gray colors. Hanging off his hips seemed to be extensions of some sort of hard gray polyester. A thick purple robe was draped over his being like a large jacket, fused into the form fitting suit. Looking over himself, he then looked around. "Hey, uh, where am I?"

"You're inside, Lyoko. No time to really gawk, you have to move fast." Gohann turned upwards, looking for the source of Jeremie's voice. "Ahead of you there should be a large opening. Follow that and keep headed straight until you come up to a conjunction. Make a left turn there and just follow the path until you reach a stairway."

Gohann stared ahead before walking forward and slowly going into a sprint.

O-o-o

Jeremie watched him carefully, holding a hand to his mouth. "I hope he can make it alright..." The marker that indicated Gohann's position was moving along the path Jeremie had told him to do so, and upon coming to the intersection, he made the left turn and was on the path towards Aelita and the others.

O-o-o

Odd backflipped and landed next to William. He quickly took aim up and shot forth. "Laser arrow!" Firing a series of three shots, the projectiles flew quickly over towards Mia and the three creepers. The monsters easily dodged the long coming projectiles before resuming their own firing.

Ulrich slashed his swords, blocking every shot coming at him, and William blocked the one that strayed his direction.

"Darn." Odd exclaimed. "They're too far away to hit, we'll never make it out of here."

William stepped forward. "Let me try something." Taking the front, he held up his sword and blocked every laser coming at them with his sword. With every laser it absorbed, the blade gradually turned a hue of hot pink. Taking aim, he slowly cast his sword behind him before giving a mighty swing, unleashing a massive blade like energy disk which flew towards the monster.

Seeing the energy coming for them, the monsters merely moved a good ways back and avoided the energy disk that exploded against the roof ten seconds later.

William shook his head. "Odd's right, they're too far away. Our projectiles have to fight gravity to reach them while theirs just rain down on us." A laser suddenly hit him on his right bicep, making him wince loudly and taking a couple of steps back. "Agh, geez!" He looked up at them along with Odd and Ulrich.

Aelita looked down. "If this keeps up, we'll never make it..." She closed her eyes sorrowfully. "Jeremie, how is that key coming along?"

"Gohann just entered the key chamber."

o-o-o

Coming down from the vent-sized hole, Gohann slowly landed on his feet and looked around. The floor seemed to be fallen over in a good amount of places. Stepping towards the edge, Gohann carefully looked down to see nothing but bright white far below. He looked back forward and across the long chasm, the shape of some sort of large white button protruded from the opposite wall.

"Wow... Is that the key, Jeremie?" He looked upwards. "Is that what I have to press?!"

"Yeah, see if you can get to it without falling in the process."

Gohann just nodded and faced around. It looked like most of the flooring in the middle section of the room had fallen off, but along the left side of the wall, there were tidbits of solid foundation still left. Walking towards it, Gohann stepped up onto an elevated flooring. Upon pressing his full weight on it, the floor made a massive shake before the new recruit could feel himself falling down slowly. Shocked, the boy took a jump back and watched as the massive floor fell down. Grimacing almost like he wrecked a new car, he looked back forward towards the wall. A small narrow beam was the only connection towards the wall.

Gulping, Gohann slowly walked to it and upon approaching it, he placed one foot directly in front of the other and slowly balance-walked himself forward.

Audibly wincing nervously, he slowly but surely crossed the narrow walk almost like a log over a large ravine. "This is so nerve wracking." His weight suddenly shifted all to his right. Screaming in a panic, Gohann began to wave his arms in an attempt to get back on his feet securely.

"Gohann, what are you doing!?" Jeremie's voice called out.

Moving sporadically, Gohann took a jump forward and extended his arms out. Barely grabbing hold of the ledging against the wall, he locked his grip on the floor, panting wildly. "Just... surviving..."

He pulled himself up easily and quickly stood up. Planting his back against the wall, Gohann shimmied slowly over to the other side of the room. Soon reaching wide open flooring, Gohann looked around before turning towards the switch ten meters away from him. Furrowing his eyes, Gohann made a dash for it. Stepping on a large cube, it began to shake and sink into the floor. Growling in determination, he sprinted forwards and climbed up the higher end of the descending land mass before taking a wild leap up.

Landing securely on his feet, the boy stood straight and walked to the key before pressing the most extended section of it. With a glow, the device began to sink into the wall one level at a time and was soon flat. Gohann smiled to himself. "Hey, Jeremie, I pressed it!"

o-o-o

Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and William watched as new wireframes composing new sections of the floor began to materialize all over the chasm. It wasn't long before the entire floor materialized.

Mia gasped. "What's going on?"

A loud hiss sounded from the wall her opening resided on. The teens all faced it to see sections of the walling sink in and creating a nice stairway up to the area Mia and the three Creepers were stationed. Smiling, Ulrich was the first to dash off.

"Super sprint!" Ulrich left a golden trail of light behind him as he quickly approached the stairway and began to ascend it, with Aelita, Odd, and William not too far behind.

Mia's eyes widened and she turned to face towards the entrance to see Ulrich quickly come up and stand there. The monsters made a loud roar before each took a shot at him. Blocking one laser after the other, Ulrich sprinted towards the closest one before slashing his sword through it effortlessly. The creeper exploded into a pile of guts with nothing but its long tail left behind. The other two roared and charged their cannons as Odd and William appeared behind Ulrich.

"Laser arrow!" Odd quickly aimed and shot at the furthest creeper, hitting it dead in its mark as William charged forward and annihilated the last creeper with a swing of his sword.

Mia screamed and began to run in the opposite direction. Ulrich merely smirked and dashed after her. "You aren't getting away, Mia!" She came to a stop as Ulrich quickly blocked her escape. Looking around as fear shook her system, she then made a run for the ledge of the room. A large silver sword swung in front of her, making her yell out and take a step back. Looking towards the stairway, she could see Odd aiming at her.

"Oh no-no-no-no, let me go." Mia slowly took steps back, arms up in defense. The girl backed into a wall at the opposite of the ledge as Ulrich, William, and Odd closed in.

"This isn't going to hurt." Ulrich said as he pressed a lone blue button on the device connected to his right arm. Activating and opening up, the samurai faced her and reached for her forehead. Her eyes widened as his hand calmly placed itself against her skin and he gripped. The machine lit up a bright blue. Mia's eyes shot wide open and her mouth froze.

Odd took a look around as Aelita approached from behind him. "Where's Yumi, Jeremie? I don't like her being all alone in here."

"She's far below you guys, after we're done extracting all the information we need from Mia, you'll go rendezvous with her. I'm right now busy shutting down the signal of the alterated Artifact program so you guys can devirtualize normally. After I'm finished, I'll materialize you guys."

o-o-o

Gohann stood on the lone platform the key was host on next to the wall. Continuing to look himself over, he could see he hadn't really changed much, he was just in some sort strange uniform. He could see no kind of weapons on him, and he wasn't sure what he could do.

"Hey, uh, Jeremie..."

He looked upwards.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

A loud screech sounded. Gohann's eyes widened.

"Hey, Jeremie! I heard something strange!" He looked around. "What was that?"

o-o-o

Jeremie looked over from the terminal hosting Mia's draining information towards the map hosting Gohann's position. A red marker was found under him. He narrowed his eyes. "It would seem there is a flying manta under you."

o-o-o

Gohann squinted his eyes. "What, you mean like a floating manta ray or a-" The large form of a blue and white manta appeared and flew up fast in front of him with a loud rush of wind, making him fall back in surprise. "Okay, I see what you mean!"

The monster screeched and made a wide circle far across the chasm to turn and face him. Upon doing so, the monster screeched at him and looked at him almost like it was bewildered. Gohann just blinked at it, looking towards it.

"Um, hello?"

The two virtual beings stood facing one another, Gohann's eyebrows arching down curiously. Gohann questionably groaned as he stared at the monster before it screeched again. Gohann narrowed his when a loud, almost hypnotic shrill sounded in the distance. Gohann's eyes widened.

"What was that?"

On the far side of the cavern, a loud mechanical whir could be heard before a large block in the wall started to rise. Emerging from the new entrance, a large floating creature composed of transparent tentacles protruding from a dark purple cone-shaped solid body appeared. Resting on that body is a large blue transparent bubble like head, and a long narrow teal-green diamond with the eye of XANA acting as binding for the two segments. Gohann gulped, taking steps back as the large jellyfish creature locked onto him and rapidly approached.

"Hey, Jeremie, what is this thing!?"

o-o-o

"Hmm?" Jeremie looked onto the screen before his eyes widened. "Oh no, Gohann, get out of there! Now!"

o-o-o

Mia's body twitched, completely unable to move as Ulrich maintained a connection to her forehead. "Jeremie, what's going on? Are you done yet?"

"Change of plans, go after Gohann, the Scyphozoa has gone after him!"

William growled loudly. "I knew it! Come on, we have no time to waste!" Being the first to run off, Aelita watched him sprint towards an open corridor on the right at the edge of the opening. She turned to Ulrich and Odd before taking off after him. Ulrich let go of Mia and started sprinting away as Odd began to follow.

"Jeremie!" William called out. "How do we get to Gohann?"

"He's two levels below you, just keep headed down the corridor you're in until you come to a drop. You should drop into a side room next to the staircase you guys climbed up."

o-o-o

Gohann backed against the wall, his teeth gritting in fear as the large monster came upon him, stopping a short ways in front of his body. It gave another low cry as it lifted two tentacles up. The boy's eyes widened.

"Gohann, get away from it!" Jeremie's voice cried.

"Where do I go!? I can't defend myself, I have no weapons, no anything!"

o-o-o

The others dropped down into a hallway, landing on their feet and knees in various positions. Looking towards the stairway, they immediately ran for it. "Ulrich!" Aelita yelled.

The boy nodded. "Super sprint!" Gaining a great increase in speed, Ulrich quickly ascended the stairs. Running at an amazing speed, he could see the indention in the walls pass by like a blur.

"Ulrich, stop. To your left there should be a hole, crawl into it."

He looked around and found the hole. Running to it, he jumped up to grab the ledge and pulled himself inside.

O-o-o

The Scyphozoa reached for the boy quickly. Gohann made a leap to the side, landing with a slide. Looking at it, the monster made another lunge for him. Gohann yelled loudly as the tentacles of the monster wrapped around his body.

O-o-o

Jeremie looked on in despair as a new window hosting images of Gohann's head and brain appeared on the screen. "Oh no..." He pulled the mic to his mouth. "The Scyphozoa has captured Gohann, you guys need to move it before he is Xanafied."

o-o-o

Coming from the vent, Ulrich landed on his feet and looked towards the opposite end of the room seeing the platform was completely unreachable. He narrowed his eyes as he looked upon the form of Gohann staring in shock at the monster as its tentacles glowed a bright red. "Alright, I have only one idea." Ulrich looked towards the manta. Kicking off the ground, Ulrich ran fast for the wall. "Super sprint!" Taking a vast burst in speed, Ulrich leaped onto the wall and began running across it. Taking both of his blades out, he waved his arms back and threw them.

The blades flew fast and quickly impaled Gohann's body through his chest. The jellyfish instantly let go of him as Gohann's form fell backwards, disappearing into tiny square particles.

O-o-o

"Great job, Ulrich." Jeremie said. "I'm pulling you all out of there right now." He began typing keys. "Materialization Ulrich. Materialization Yumi."

o-o-o

Standing in front of the large terminal in the factory, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and William faced towards Gohann, who only looked down in shame, his hands at his sides. Jeremie had his arms crossed. "Well, for a first trip, you seemed to be not only useless, but you acted like a scared child. Why didn't you do anything? Don't you realize what would have happened if the Scyphozoa could have completed its task?"

"I'm sorry." Gohann said. "I didn't know what to do, I..." His eyes widened briefly before closing solemnly. "I panicked..."

"Hey." Aelita stepped forward. "It isn't his fault, it was his first time to Lyoko, and he wasn't even mentally prepared for the whole ordeal." Her arms fell to her sides. "Look at all the times I was captured by the Scyphozoa, Jeremie."

Jeremie just looked away. "I know, but still..."

"Still nothing." William said. The group turned to him. "I warned you XANA would take advantage of the opportunity."

"The point is..." Ulrich said loudly, "we stopped it in time before anything could happen. The returns to the past won't work on him anymore, so I say we make use of it. Starting today, Gohann is an official Lyoko Warrior." He turned to the crazy haired blond. "Look at me."

Gohann's head lifted.

Ulrich faced him with a serious expression. "You didn't deserve what happened to you in there, you were unprepared and you had no idea what you were stepping foot into. But you've saved us, all of us." Aelita nodded soundly, as did Yumi and Odd. William crossed his arms and a smile came across his face. "You've already helped us out a lot, you just don't remember it."

"Don't beat yourself up over this." Yumi came and patted him on the back. He looked up at her. "Tomorrow after school, we're coming over here so we can give you a proper training lesson. If you're going to fight alongside us, you'll need to be familiar with how Lyoko works."

"Fighting?" Gohann said, his eyebrows lifting as excitement crossed his features. "What am I fighting!?"

"Calm down." Jeremie said, lifting hands up. "You'll be fighting alongside these guys here to save the world, is that a good enough answer?"

"Save the world?"

Aelita patted him on the back with a wide grin. "I'll explain it all to you. Just show up at our table tomorrow for breakfast, okay? You'll get all the answers you need."

Jeremie nodded. "The best thing for you to do is get comfortable here." Jeremie took a seat into his chair and turned to face the computer. "Right now though, I'm going to launch a return to the past."

"Why?" Ulrich asked, the others following him towards the computer.

"Because Yumi's home, that's why." He turned to Gohann and smiled. "For once, you're going to remember everything. I hope you're ready for your first return trip."

"Uh..." Gohann looked up at him question as Jeremie pressed a single key. In an instant, a large blinding beam of white light fired into the sky and began to devour everything.

O-o-o

The time was around eight o-clock PM. The front door to the Ishiyama house opened up and Yumi casually walked inside with a sound shut of the door. Takeo, Yumi's father, looked up from his newspaper in surprise as Yumi walked into the living room and took her boots off. "Hey, dad."

"Oh, you're home?"

She only nodded with a "mmhmm". Walking towards the stairs, she turned around. "Hey, when's dinner?"

"Uh, about ten or so minutes..."

"Alright." She took off towards her room. Opening the door, she threw her bag over to the bed and then shut it quickly, intent on getting to her cousin's room so she could go over all sorts of things. She smiled to herself.Her intentions were to clear the mysterious air about her friends to him, knowing he was very confused and probably nervous about the whole situation, but upon opening her door, she found the boy just staring at his hands, his eyebrows furrowed seriously. He was slowly clenching and unclenching his fists before he looked up at Yumi.

"So..." she started, closing his door. "Do you remember?"

He looked down. "I remember the factory, unfortunately, I can't remember the other times I supposedly "helped" you guys..."

She chuckled briefly. "Of course you don't. Look, this is all that has happened since you got here..." Taking a seat on his bed, Yumi began to go over the events that unfolded since his arrival. It was easy to tell that most of it he couldn't believe. Tomorrow was going to be a hard day.