Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world sparkled .

Sunlight seemed to ignite every grain of sand and every wave on the endless sea, and Ulrich squinted into the scorching beauty of it all as he stepped off the bus. Feeling the heat even through the soles of his sandals, he hurried down the stone steps onto the beach. His classmates trailed after him, Jim Morales ushering students onwards in a clamorous line.

“Off the bus now, no dawdling or dilly-dallying! I want everyone applying sunscreen and I want absolutely no shenanigans! You stay within three hundred metres of this bus at all times, or I’ll be making everyone run laps, you understand?!”

His voice was drowned in chatter. Ulrich shifted his beach bag onto his other shoulder, automatically accepting the extra towel that Odd handed to him.

“Want to race down to the sea?” his roommate asked, a grin playing about his lips. “I bet I can… beach ya there!”

“It is far too early for your lame jokes, Odd.”

“Suit yourself. Just do me a favour and try to have some fun today!" His expression turned more gentle. "I know things are stressing you out more than usual. This is a good time to relax, buddy.”

"Yeah. I guess you're right. Thanks."

Yumi passed by him and waved as she did so. She wore a black, high-necked swimsuit and dark green flip-flops and William, beside her, wore bright red swim shorts. They didn't stop, deep in a discussion about a band Ulrich hadn't heard of. It was a rare novelty for both of their grades to be on an outing at the same time. Poor Jim really did have his work cut out for him.

As Odd vanished in a spray of kicked-up sand, the cartoon cat face on the back of his shorts staring back at Ulrich, Aelita threaded through the crowd of students towards him.

“Let’s find a good place to sit,” she said. “I can see a spare beach umbrella just over there.” She fell easily into step with him, and they embraced the cool patch of shade under which to lay out their towels. “It’s a pity Jeremie couldn’t make it,” she said. He had to agree, it was always strange when one of their group was missing. Someone had to stay behind at Kadic to keep an eye on things after all.

Ulrich sighed, rolling out the tension in his shoulders with a pleasant series of cracks and pops. Truthfully, he was glad of the chance to relax. Yesterday’s gruelling phone conversation with his father still weighed heavily on his mind. Lately it felt like every day was another opportunity to fail, whether it be in school, family affairs or even on Lyoko. Ulrich desperately wanted to forget it all, even if it was just for a few moments. He looked out at the beach, a wide expanse of golden sand with a rocky cliff face on side, peppered with tufts of coarse grass. Past the steps was a small seaside town filled with shops and kiosks. On the beach itself was an ice cream truck, a crepe stand and a small pier where boats and jetskis were tethered. Ulrich had never seen anything quite so perfect.

“Ulrich dear!”

He groaned. Almost perfect.

“Go away, Sissi.”

“Don’t be like that,” she said, and he could practically hear her fluttering her eyelashes. When Ulrich turned to face her she stood with a hand on her hip, swishing her hair. “What do you think of my new bikini? Don’t I look cute?”

“I’d like it much better if you were as far away from me as possible.”

“Hmph! There’s no need to be so rude. Aren’t you at least going to help me put my sunscreen on? I’m sure you wouldn’t want my delicate skin to get burned.”

Ulrich looked around desperately.

“Uh–”

“Maybe you should stay out of the sun altogether,” said Aelita. “Wouldn’t want your brain to get fried more than it is already.”

Ulrich let out a bark of laughter. Sissi’s mouth opened in a small, scandalised ‘oh’ and she huffed. “Suit yourself. One of these days you’ll stop playing hard to get.”

“Isn’t that Herve over there?” said Aelita. “He looks more than happy to help you.”

Herve was already slathering sunscreen onto his palms, shoulders hunched as Nicolas helped apply the coconut-scented liquid to his spotty shoulders. He looked up with a hopeful, dopey grin.

“Eww!” said Sissi. “You two had better not try to bother me at all today, do you hear me?”

“Sissi–” said Herve.

“I mean it! I won’t meet any cute boys at this beach with you two following me around!”

“Sure, ummm…. sorry, Sissi. Nic, want to go get some ice cream?”

They shuffled away, and Aelita and Ulrich giggled behind their hands. They applied their own sunscreen, Aelita marvelling at the sweet smell coming from the bottle. She wore a pink bathing suit and a pair of light, floral-patterned shorts, the pockets of which she turned inside out to rid them of sand.

“Don’t bother,” Ulrich told her. “Sand gets everywhere. You’ll be finding it in your clothes for weeks.”

“Oh. I get to take some of the beach home with me!”

Odd strode back up the sand towards them, his hair wild and dripping wet. He immediately scoffed at Sissi, who was now laying herself out to tan.

"Trust you to waste a perfectly good day at the beach just laying around doing nothing, Delmas."

She peered over her sunglasses at him. "You're blocking my light. I'll have you know there's plenty of health and beauty benefits to a good suntan."

"I guess you need all the beauty you can get!"

Sissi stood up once more and jabbed her finger squarely into Odd's chest, teeth clenched with fury. "You're just jealous!"

"Of what ?"

Sissi sputtered.

"Exactly," said Odd. "Have fun being bored and burned to a crisp. We're going to have some actual fun."

"Yeah, doing what? Making sandcastles ? Like the baby that you are," said Sissi. "Typical."

"Actually, making sandcastles sounds like a great idea. Aelita's never done it before." Ulrich reached for a nearby bucket, smiling at Aelita as he did so.

Sissi's mouth dropped open. "Oh," she said. "W-Well! If you're building sandcastles, Ulrich dear, it can't be all that bad."

Ulrich didn't say anything, just rolled his eyes and passed a spade to Aelita. She dug into the sand, sifting the golden grains and watching them fall back into a pile with complete fascination and too absorbed to notice Sissi’s sneer.

"Herve! Nicolas! Get over here!" They hurried obediently over from their spot by the ice cream truck. “Make yourselves useful. We'll build the best sandcastle ever, you'll see!'

"Right, maybe if you can scrape three brain cells together between you, you might come up with something," said Odd. "I'll believe it when I see it!"

"You will see," she said, grabbing a bucket and throwing it at Herve, who promptly dropped it. "What are you waiting for? We need to find the best spot." The three of them headed down to the shore to set up camp on the wetter sand.

"At least that'll keep her occupied," said Aelita.

"Right. But if she builds a better sandcastle than us after all, we'll never hear the end of it," said Odd. "Besides, beating Sissi at anything is always fun. She needs to be taken down a peg or two."

"Whatever." Ulrich slouched down to the shore, putting a deliberately large distance between Sissi and her group. He passed Jim, who was deep in conversation with a young and bored-looking lifeguard.

"Odd held his hands in front of him, fingers positioned in a frame as he envisioned his masterpiece. "All right, I'm thinking we have at least three storeys, and a moat - definitely a moat, going all the way around, deep enough so the whole thing won't be ruined when the tide comes in. And uh--' he snapped his fingers "--Seashells! We need seashells! I'll be right back."

He sprinted down the shoreline, laughing and wooping as the waves smacked at his calves, leaving Ulrich and Aelita alone.

Aelita giggled as she watched Odd faceplant into the water.

"Who knew a beach could be so fun. The sand, the sea, the taste of salt in the air. It's magical. There’s nothing like this on Lyoko, except perhaps the Desert sector... "

"I guess so," said Ulrich. He piled damp sand into a bucket and patted it down with the flat of his spade. He didn't see Aelita move closer until her hand was resting on top of his.

"What's wrong?"

She was used to seeing Ulrich solemn and serious. She'd known him first and foremost as a warrior on Lyoko, after all. Since arriving on Earth she'd come to see a different side of him, a wry humour, a hard working athlete, someone who loved pranks almost as much as Odd did. Seeing him lost in thought like this, on such a wonderful sunny day, didn't seem right.

"Nothing," said Ulrich automatically. Then a moment later, "Everything just feels... off today, somehow. I can't put my finger on it."

"Didn't your dad call you yesterday about your grades again?"

"You heard about that, huh."

"Jeremie mentioned it."

"Ah. Aelita, it's complicated--"

"I know. I can't even imagine, after all I don't even have a father."

"You're not missing out on much," said Ulrich, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "I’m wondering if he’s got a point. Maybe I shouldn't even be here, maybe I should be like Jeremie, studying..."

"I'm glad you're here. Who else is going to show me the best way to enjoy an Earth beach?"

Ulrich glanced automatically to where Odd, now completely distracted, appeared to be trying to convince one of the lifeguards to let him rent out a jetski. He looked out over the beach as he collected his thoughts, watching his classmates having fun without a care in the world. Sissi had returned to sunning herself, a magazine in hand while she called out orders at Nicolas and Herve who were putting their all into building an enormous sandcastle. Heidi and Christophe were making out in the shade of some trees, the other girls in their grade already making the most of the sea. Yumi was stretching on the beach while William inflated a beach ball, calling out to some of their classmates to start picking sides.

“Yeah,” he said absently.

“I’m serious, Ulrich. It’s okay to relax once in a while. Besides, even if your grades aren’t all that, you’re saving the world on a regular basis. Please don’t be so hard on yourself.”

She looked at him with such earnestness that it was impossible not to smile. “Thanks, Aelita. I’ll make sure you have a great day at the beach, don’t worry.”

“No problem. She wriggled her toes in the sand and smiled at the sensation. “I’m getting pretty used to life on Earth but it’s still full of surprises.”

Even with Odd’s early disappearance, their sandcastle turned out rather well. He returned just as they were adding the finishing touches. They’d modelled the sand sculpture after a traditional fairytale castle, studding the walls with pebbles and glass shards and bits of seaweed. Odd dumped two huge piles of shells from his pockets and Aelita immediately set to decorating the turrets with them. Herve and Nicolas had created a sprawling geometric thing - Herve had even produced a protractor from somewhere and was practically eye-level with the sand as he carefully measured one of the sides. Nicolas was in conversation with Sissi, who still had half an eye on her magazine.

“Hey, Jim,” said Ulrich as the Phys Ed teacher walked past. “Want to judge who has the best sandcastle?”

“Not now, Stern. Those girls are too far out at sea.” He scowled towards where Noemie, Caroline and Daphne had become smaller and smaller dots on the horizon. “You three, get back here right now! Argh! Reminds me of the time I worked on a TV show about lifeguards on the beach–”

“Really, Jim?” asked Aelita, curiosity piqued.

“--But I’d rather not talk about it. YOU THREE STOP SWIMMING RIGHT NOW.”

There was a whistle around Jim’s neck which he blew with a long, sharp, shrill burst. Ulrich, Odd and Aelita grimaced and held their hands to their ears. As Jim strode into the surf, Odd smirked.

“Looks like poor Jim isn’t having too much fun today. Shame he had to get tide down with all the responsibility, right?”

Ulrich threw a seashell at him. Odd caught it easily.

“Looks like your sense of humour got con-fish-cated today, huh?”

“Do not make me hurt you…”

Odd threw back his head and laughed. Aelita pressed a hand to her mouth, hiding her own smile. Yumi appeared, jogging lightly over the hot sand, and stopped beside them.

“Quit those terrible jokes before you give someone a sea -zure.”

Odd punched her in the shoulder. “This girl gets it.”

“That’s my only pun,” said Yumi. “You have been warned. You’ll have to carry us from here on out.”

“A terrible burden,” said Odd, clutching his chest dramatically. “But I shall bear it. How’s it going, Yumi?”

“Pretty good. I came to ask if anyone wanted to play volleyball? We’ve got a couple of spaces.”

Beating William at volleyball did sound like a great way to pass a couple of hours.

---

"You call that a volley, Stern? Let's see how you handle this one!"

William Dunbar tossed the ball high into the air and leapt up after it, slamming it across the net...

...And directly into the face of Paul Gaillard, who wasn't even playing. He shouted out in pain and clutched his face. The outpouring of blood from his swollen nose onto the scoresheet was a definitive sign that the game was over. At last count, Ulrich's team had been winning, so he wasn't about to complain.

As William - flushed with embarrassment - tried to placate the furious Paul, Ulrich went to see what his friends were up to.

All in all, it was shaping up to be pretty good day.

With ice cream on their minds, Ulrich, Aelita, Odd and Yumi joined the queue at the truck. Odd ordered an enormous towering triple scoop of obscenely colourful flavours, which wobbled precariously as he took a huge open-mouthed bite out of the top. Aelita was just stepping up to order her strawberry cone when they heard Jim call out.

"He does not sound happy," said Odd, gleefully.

"Enjoy that month of detention." Yumi smirked over her cone.

"Guys, maybe I just don't fully understand Earth beaches yet," said Aelita, "But is the sand supposed to do... that?"

They looked over to where she pointed, as the sand grew and swelled into a towering wave, Jim's face peering out from the heights of it. He looked very small, very far away, and very much a mixture of angry and terrified.

"What is going on?" he yelled. "Someone get me down from here!"

"That's not supposed to happen," said Ulrich. Anxiety spiked through him. It was too good to be true, getting this far through the day without anything bad happening.

"It might not be XANA," said Odd hopefully. The others glared at him. "Okay, okay! I was just trying to be optimistic!"

There was no Jeremie to confirm the superscan alert, and no one had their phones immediately to hand. As the sand crashed down and engulfed the beach, swallowing up the ice cream truck and parasols, it was beyond obvious what was happening. As it curled into tendrils and reached for the Lyoko warriors, any last shreds of doubt vanished. Jim was dumped unceremoniously into the sea and spluttered through a mouthful of salt water. There was no time to check on him as the sand raced towards them.

"Someone needs to call Jeremie," said Yumi, sprinting back along the shoreline as the sand lashed out at her.

Ulrich and Aelita raced to the pile of clothes they'd left beneath the parasol, Ulrich's heart sinking as he found his pockets empty.

“I can’t find my phone! I swear I’d put it right here… argh!”

“Doesn’t matter, you probably won’t have signal.” Aelita held up her own phone with its blank screen. “I knew coming to the beach was a bad idea. We should have tried harder to get detention.”

"You never once said that!"

"Well you didn't either!"

"Did any of us? Why didn't someone say anything?"

"Don't blame me!"

"Are we seriously arguing about this? There's no time!"

"Right!"

"Everyone, off the beach!" said Yumi, guiding the students up the stone steps. The sand changed direction, a solid pillar of it spiralling towards Odd this time. He ducked and rolled, grabbing Aelita as he went and pulling her out of harm's way. Jim waded back to shore and ushered students along with him, trying to regain some sense of dignity and control.

"Stern!" he called as Ulrich ran past. "Mind explaining what's going on here?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I tried, Jim! It's just a shame you don't remember!"

"What?"

But Ulrich ran past with no time for explanations. He bumped into Sissi, who still had ice cream drying in her hair and looked pale with fear. She clung to him and he had no choice but to run with her as the sand crashed down inches from where he stood.

"First ice cream, now sand in my hair!" she wailed. "This is the worst day ever!"

"Not the time, Sissi," he said through gritted teeth.

Aelita met up with him, kicking through the sand and splashing out into the shallows. They regrouped once more, Yumi, Odd, Aelita, Ulrich and Sissi, still clinging tightly to Ulrich's arm. Yumi was wielding a beach umbrella like a sword, and hacked and slashed at the thrashing sand while they tried to figure out a plan.

"Wh-what are we gonna do?" Sissi asked. "I don't want to die like this! I didn't even get to tan the back of my legs!"

"We could get into the water," said Aelita, pointedly ignoring her. "It won't be able to follow us there."

"I bet that's exactly what XANA wants. Once we get tired out there, we're done for."

Odd shivered. "Good point. I've never liked the idea of drowning. I guess there is another option--" he pointed towards the rocks that formed a series of natural steps up to the cliff face.

Ice water ran through Ulrich's veins. He'd rather take his chances in the sea, but Odd had a good point. Unless...

"You might just get to do something you've been wanting to do after all, Odd," said Ulrich pointing to the cluster of vehicles moored to the jetty. Odd cheered, picking up on Ulrich's meaning immediately and running flat-out for the nearest jetski. The others followed suit. They'd barely set foot on the jetty, however, when the giant crab began to emerge slowly from the water.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" exclaimed Odd.

Sissi screamed directly into Ulrich's ear. Why did he always have to get stuck with her? He saw Aelita trembling, staring in shocked awe at the creature easily as tall as a house that was moving towards them, salt water sloughing off to splash heavily onto the beach. Ulrich reached out for her - this might not be Lyoko, but he was still going to do everything he could to project her.

Though, now that he thought about it... Ulrich screwed his eyes shut, thinking hard. "XANA never does more than one thing at once! This is ridiculous!”

Odd just laughed, leaping over the fast-moving sand and abandoning his jetski to retreat back up the beach. “Right! Almost as ridiculous as a beach in the middle of Paris.” He kept ducking and diving, but the expression on his face changed as he considered the implications of his words. “Wait, there isn’t a beach in the middle of Paris… is there?”

Ulrich rubbed his temple with one hand as he dived out of the way, sand just barely grazing his calves. “Now that you mention it, there isn't, and… Why are we here? Do you even remember how we got here?”

“I guess we were on the bus, but I can’t….” Odd’s face scrunched into a frown. “I don’t…”

Yumi had paused with a frown on her face. “There’s something off about this whole thing. The nearest beach is two hours away from Kadic, there’s no way we’d leave the school or the factory for that long. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“That’s why Einstein stayed behind, right?” Odd shrugged.

“On his own? Without at least one of us for back up? Something is very wrong here you guys.”

Now that they were actually thinking about it properly, this entire situation seemed very strange indeed.

“Yumi’s right,” said Aelita. “Not to mention XANA launching two completely different attacks in one sitting. Now that I'm thinking about it, trying to remember, the last thing I remember with any clarity is--"

"--Stepping into the scanners," Ulrich finished. "That's right! I don’t think we’re in the real world at all. I think we might be trapped on–”

As he spoke, a very strange thing began to happen. The world around them flickered and blurred, the sea and sand beneath them changing to flat and featureless yellow. Parasols blinked out of existence. The beach huts, the ice cream truck, their fellow students and Jim flickered and morphed into slanted rocks. The world lost its myriad of textures, becoming blocky and digital until the Desert Sector stretched out around them, vast and barren beneath a colourless, empty sky.

Ulrich looked down at himself. He was no longer dressed in his swimsuit, but instead his samurai outfit with a sword at his hip. Odd was a purple cat, Yumi was a geisha and Aelita was an elf. Amongst the rocks were cacti, simplistic virtual structures with red flowers blooming amongst their spikes.

The crab that had surfaced on the beach was still there, except it was now very digital, very powerful and very Krabbe-like. It bore down on the group as its laser began to charge.

“Oh no,” said Ulrich.

Chapter Text

Earlier that day…

The group gathered around the supercomputer interface. It was particularly cold in the factory and they stood with arms crossed and shoulders hunched, watching as Jeremie swivelled in the computer chair. He didn’t seem to notice the chill, only swinging his legs with giddy anticipation.

“It’s finally time. I can show you what I’ve been working on over the last week or so, a new addition to Lyoko.”

“Another one of your crazy experiments, Einstein?” Odd was grinning but there was a nervous tilt to it. “We just finished dealing with the Marabounta…”

Ulrich nudged him sharply in the ribs. That fiasco was still a sore point. Jeremie had sulked for an entire week afterwards and spent even more time than usual working through the night at his computer. It looked like they were about to find out why.

“It’ll be different this time, I promise!” said Jeremie. “Listen, what I learned from, well, that incident , is that the most important thing you all need is more ways to attack and defend yourselves on Lyoko. Especially Aelita. I’ve had some ideas about how I might reprogramme and redesign your Lyoko forms to include upgraded weapons but it’s going to take a long time to go through each individual line of code and work out what I can modify in order to–” and he continued on in a string of barely intelligible technobabble.

“Jeremie,” said Yumi at last, cutting in when he paused for breath. “You’re rambling.”

“Ah. Right.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I was inspired by what I’ve been able to decipher so far of Franz Hopper’s diaries. I suspect he originally intended to have more organic elements on Lyoko, but for some reason or another he never finished that project. You ever notice how the sectors are sort of… empty? There’s only one variety of tree in the Forest, for example.”

“Where are you going with this, Jeremie?” asked Ulrich. He caught Aelita’s eye and they matched raised eyebrows.

“I was thinking about Aelita’s Creativity ability and wanted to give her more terrain to work with. What could Aelita do with flowers for example, or cacti? There’s endless applications for offence and defence.”

“Coding pretty flowers for Lyoko, huh? Didn’t think you were the aesthetic type, Einstein.”

“I’ll have you know I can be creative sometimes!”

“I’m sure it’ll be great, Jeremie,” said Aelita, smiling at him. “I guess you’ll want to virtualise us so we can check out the new developments.”

“That’s right,” said Jeremie, turning back to the computer screen. “I was thinking this would be a good time to do some training on Lyoko. We’ve had a few too many close calls lately.”

“Easy for you to say,” muttered Odd, then yelped as Yumi stepped on his foot and Ulrich once again elbowed him in the ribs. He grimaced and rubbed his side as the group headed to the elevator.

“I’ll be sending you to the Desert Sector,” he said. “Aelita and Ulrich, you two go first. Then I’ll transfer Odd and Yumi after that.”

“Sounds good, Jeremie.”

The four gathered in the scanner room, Odd giving a cheerful wave as the scanner doors closed on Ulrich and Aelita. “See you on the other side!” Turning to Yumi he said, “You know, I’m actually kind of excited. Kicking Ulrich’s butt in a training session is always a good way to let off steam.”

Yumi smirked. “I like how you always focus on beating Ulrich because you know you don’t stand a chance against me.”

Odd laughed.

—

Lyoko was as quiet as ever. One by one, the group’s digital avatars materialised into existence, their bodies dropping lightly onto the digital plane. Ulrich drew his sword out of instinct and saw Yumi unfold her fans in much the same way.

“No welcoming committee for us today, Jeremie!” called Odd. “Maybe XANA’s taking a little nap.”

“Let’s not push our luck,” said Aelita.

“She’s right,” came Jeremie’s voice over the intercom. It was always strange to hear his disembodied voice echoing over the sky. “If you’ll head about 200 kilometres south-west you’ll reach a plateau with some of the cacti I’ve programmed.”

They headed off at a light jog, Odd bounding ahead on all fours and Ulrich and Yumi flanking Aelita behind and soon enough they reached a perimeter of rocks within which was nestled a brand new sight to them on Lyoko - a clump of desert cacti. Like everything else on Lyoko, each looked a little too uniform, thick columns of low-poly graphics with two precisely curved arms and with spines peppered at perfect intervals. They gathered in a thick clump with just room enough to walk through, the bright green a blip on the otherwise muted landscape. Jeremie had done a pretty good job. There were even flowers sprouting from between the spines, each a perfect, geometric splash of red.

“Wow,” said Aelita. “These are really impressive, Jeremie.”

“Thanks,” he said, the pride unmistakable in his voice. “They’re quite safe to touch, though I’m working on developing the programme so the spines can damage XANA’s monsters if they make contact. There’s also a feature with the flowers’ pollen that I haven’t quite perfected yet. Anyway, Aelita, why don’t you use your Creativity and see what you can do?”

Aelita knelt on the ground and clasped her hands. She closed her eyes, envisioning the cacti sprouting additional arms, the spines lengthening, the vines of the flowers twirling and expanding to wrap around anything in their path. She heard the sounds of her friends moving out of the way, the clink of virtual metal as Ulrich adjusted his grip on his sword, Yumi’s light footsteps.

“Wait a minute,” said Ulrich suddenly. “Jeremie, is this supposed to be happening?”

“What’s going on?” The click of computer keys could be heard, increasingly in speed and ferocity along with Jeremie’s anxiety. “Oh no… Uh, don’t panic but it looks like there’s some kind of bug in the cacti’s flower sub-programme. Why does this always happen?”

“I’m seeing pollen,” said Yumi. “It’s coming out of the flowers all around us, there’s a huge cloud of it.”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” said Jeremie, devolving into frantic muttering. “I haven’t perfected the programme yet, the hallucinatory properties of the pollen are only supposed to affect XANA’s monsters!”

“The what ?”

“Whatever you do, don’t breathe it in !”

That was the last Jeremie was able to communicate to his friends before the interface stalled and glitched out. In its place on the screen appeared the superscan, beeping and flashing red. Jeremie almost screamed in frustration.

“An activated tower? Now ? XANA, you sure know how to pick your moments!”

He hammered the enter key and desperately tried to unfreeze the interface, sputtering and cursing over several long minutes as the supercomputer failed to respond. So focused was he on the task, that he practically leapt out of his chair as a hand clamped on his shoulder. It was a man. Someone perfectly ordinary, with brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed in a raincoat and heavy boots, an innocent passer-by obviously having been on a walk along the Seine. Jeremie trembled as he met the man’s eyes, staring up into the inevitable.

The man’s pupils were flickering, concentric circles.

He had been possessed by XANA.

The grip on Jeremie’s shoulder tightened and he yelled in pain as he was lifted into the air. The man was tall and broad-shouldered, with large hands which held Jeremie’s skinny shoulder in a vice-like grip. Jeremie kicked and writhed as his body sagged and his muscles strained. If he wasn’t let down soon, he thought with horror, his shoulder was going to snap.

The man’s arm drew back, hurling Jeremie with brutal force. He flew through the holomap and crashed hard against the opposite wall, shouting with pain as his body blossomed into a dozen bruises. Jeremie opened his eyes, blinking to clear his vision. I must have hit my head pretty hard , he thought, trying to bring the world back into focus. His stomach sank as he ran a hand over his face, finally registering the absence of his glasses, which had fallen off as he was thrown across the room. He saw the world as smudges of colour, peering through his sweaty fringe as the possessed man walked towards him. There was no time to search for his glasses; he was just going to have to make a break for it.

With a gasp of pain, he heaved himself upright. His entire body shivered with protest as he braced himself against the wall and climbed to his feet. Keeping his palm on the wall, he felt his way along until he found the rungs of the ladder that reached up to a plateau above. From there he would be able to reach the main floor of the factory and, hopefully, a good place to hide. Adrenaline rushed through him, forcing him past the pain as he scrambled up the ladder with the man behind him. A hand grazed his ankle and Jeremie kicked out, hauling himself up onto the plateau.

Near-blind and in excruciating pain, Jeremie ran.

He could only hope that the others were doing okay on Lyoko, and that they could deactivate the tower without him.

—-

The Krabbe let out a mechanical roar. Two others appeared alongside it, picking their way across the ground on their pincer-sharp legs. The four Lyoko warriors leapt away on instinct and took cover in the thicket of cacti, their bodies reacting while their minds emerged sluggishly from their collective hallucination. All that movement, all that action, when in fact they’d been standing here, staring vacantly into space on Lyoko this entire time.

Or, well… Had Ulrich imagined the exact same thing as the rest of them? He couldn’t be sure, and now certainly wasn’t the time to ask. The Krabbe went for Aelita but Yumi got their first, flipping through the air with her fan drawn to deflect its laser fire. It had all felt so real, the sand and sea beneath his feet, the sun on his back. The fact that Jeremie could programme something like that, even partially by accident, was a terrifying notion.

At the same time, Ulrich couldn’t help but laugh. The return to reality (at least, virtual reality) was jarring, and he already felt wistful for their day at the beach. Odd’s ridiculous puns and Sissi’s… well, Sissi-ness included. “Once all this is over, we’ll do a real beach trip,” he told Aelita, before spinning to attack the nearest Krabbe with his katana.

“Laser arrow!”

“Impact!”

“HiiiiiiYAH!”

Aelita ducked out of the cacti and took shelter behind a large rock formation. She watched her three warrior friends fight, a flurry of claws and swords and arrows and fans. Her chest swelled; they were so brave. At least there were only a handful of stray monsters to deal with. The only way things could be worse were if XANA had….

The ground trembled beneath her.

…Activated a tower. Great.

Her hands clenched into fists, small mouth pursed in frustration. This was probably XANA’s plan all along! That, or it was just doing a great job of capitalising on Jeremie’s glitched software. Either way, the pulsations were overwhelming.

Aelita crouched on all fours, her palms planted flat against the ground as she tried to reconcile the sudden break from their collective hallucination with the way the pulsations ran through her. She loved her Creativity and her connection to Lyoko but, when XANA tapped into that connection too, the sensations could be almost unbearable. Aelita gritted her teeth as the landscape shuddered.

Ulrich’s voice was low and gentle by her ear as he crouched beside her.

“You okay, Princess?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Just needed a minute. XANA’s activated a tower, I can feel the pulsations.”

“Talk about bad timing,” said Ulrich. “Can you sense where it is?”

“It must be close. I think–” and she tilted her head to the left “--that way. Jeremie will know for sure.”

“Bad news, he’s not answering.”

Anxiety surged through her. She’d spent long enough on Lyoko, unable to fathom what was happening to her friends on Earth during XANA’s attacks. Since being materialised and able to see the horrors for herself, she felt an even greater fear for Jeremie in this current moment. The others often debated whether being on Lyoko or Earth was the worse side to be on. Aelita couldn’t help but think that, either way, the true horror was not knowing what your friends were going through, and whether you were going to deactivate the tower before it was too late.

With that thought in mind she pushed herself to her feet, automatically taking Ulrich’s hand and pulling him upright as well.

“Thanks, Princess. You okay?”

“Never better,” she said with a wry smile. “Except for all the mortal danger, of course.”

“We need to get you to the tower. Before it’s too late for Jeremie.” Ulrich’s hands tightened on his katana. The same anxiety Aelita felt was etched across his own face. They looked back to the cacti cluster, where Yumi and Odd were facing down two Krabbes and a very persistent Blok. Yumi performed an impressive series of flips, avoiding a torrent of laser fire, and Odd yelled out something neither of them could hear.

“Odd, Yumi!” Ulrich called over. “XANA’s activated a tower. I’ll go with Aelita, you two catch up as soon as you can. Also, Jeremie’s out of action so be extra careful. That means you, Odd - don’t waste too many arrows.”

They nodded acknowledgement and Ulrich and Aelita turned and ran. Ulrich took Aelita’s hand and activated his Super Sprint, moving them across the Desert at breakneck speed. Yumi and Odd became specs in the distance and, on the horizon, a tower came into view, red smoke curling menacingly around it.

It didn’t take long for more monsters to arrive. Four Bloks materialised directly in front of them, already charging their ice blasts.

“Dive left!” said Ulrich and Aelita did so without a second thought, landing on her shoulder and rolling as Ulrich did the same in the opposite direction.

He was a true warrior, she thought, watching him navigate the ensuing laser fire. Aelita saw how his pencak silat training manifested itself on Lyoko in every graceful spin of his heel, every deliberate movement of his hands. Odd was scrappy and tenacious but Ulrich and Yumi were nothing short of beautiful to watch as they fought. Ulrich spun his sword one-handed and deflected attacks into the air, and Aelita stared down at her own empty hands with a frown.

Maybe Jeremie would be better off programming her a weapon of some kind. She wasn’t sure she’d really suit having a weapon though, and found it difficult to imagine. Some kind of spear, or a bow and arrow, perhaps? She’d like something that allowed her to attack from a distance or something to improve her defensive capabilities. Maybe a shield…

Aelita, focus! she admonished herself.. Ulrich sprang effortlessly through the air, throwing himself directly at the nearest Blok and stabbing it in the eye. He was thrown backwards as the Blok shattered into a dozen virtual pieces and as he struggled to right himself, the other Blok descended upon him.

She didn’t have a weapon and she didn’t have the cacti. The nearest rock formation was too far away to work with. But Aelita did have Creativity and she had a spiritual connection to Lyoko, with instincts to guide her to tell her what to do.

For the second time that day she sank to her knees and clasped her hands before her. Retreating from the chaos of the fight, Aelita closed her eyes and allowed her mind to expand within the darkness. It became a lake, clear and perfectly still, reaching further and further into every aspect of Lyoko. She felt every plane of the Desert, every tree in the Forest, every stalagmite in the Ice Sector and every cliff face in the Mountain. They were her, she was them. This was Lyoko. Her kingdom. Her home.

Her mouth opened of its own accord and the chorus of song flowed from her lips. Her focus retreated from the vast everything and returned this singular point in front of her. She urged the landscape to grow and it obeyed without question, the sandy floor of the Desert erupting into an enormous slab of rock. The rock wobbled, unable to stand on its edge, and began to fall.

The Blok didn’t see it coming.

Ulrich grinned as the monster broke apart into virtual dust. Aelita’s heart fluttered with pride.

“That’s two Bloks down,” she said.

“Yes, but where are the–”

The ice-blast answered his sentence for him, slamming through Ulrich’s chest and freezing him solid. The Blok’s mechanical legs clicked and whirred as it lined up alongside its counterpart, the two of them standing between Aelita and the tower, at a distance too far to run without coming under fire. Odd and Yumi were nowhere to be seen.

She was alone.

–

Jeremie was, unfortunately for him, not alone.

He’d gained some ground on the possessed man, who struggled to fit through the crawl space above the holomap room. Jeremie made a sharp right, heading around a corner that he knew lead to a series of smaller rooms within the factory. There were footsteps heavy behind him and Jeremie fought against the ache in his lungs, his body struggling against the pain and working steadfastly against him. His left shoulder was swelling painfully, making it difficult for him to move his arm.

"Come on, come on," he said, pulling various doors. They were locked, or jammed in place, and he felt a shadow pass over him as XANA's latest human vessel began to catch up once more. He grunted in frustration, heaving his good shoulder against the last door in the hallway and finally forcing it open. As Jeremie fell through, just barely keeping his balance, the possessed man gripped the back of his shirt. Jeremie flailed, just about freeing himself. Purely on instinct he leaped forward, taking cover behind a series of empty boxes which formed a sort of maze throughout the room.

It was a large space, swamped in darkness, and Jeremie couldn't work out what it had been used for in the factory's previous life. The storage boxes were all but rotted away and he traced his fingers over them, feeling his way through the dark and praying he wasn't making too much noice. XANA was behind him, its footsteps slow and deliberate as it stalked Jeremie through the room. At least the darkness limited both of them; Jeremie was no worse off for having lost his glasses.

He crouched, trying to keep his breath quiet, and waited.

Jeremie said the voice. I know you're here, Jeremie. Let's end this now.

Jeremie pressed a hand over his mouth, tasting blood and raw skin. It was rare that XANA spoke directly to him. He thought of the time he'd been trapped in the ghost channel, moments away from losing his friends and everything, when XANA had used Jeremie's own face to threaten murder and destruction.

Boxes shifted, footsteps trod heavily. Jeremie knew he couldn't stay here; he was moments away from being caught. In the time he waited, his eyes had adjusted to the light and he could pick out more shapes. Further back the darkness lessened, as though the room backed onto an open door or a window, and Jeremie tried to place this particular room within his mental map of the factory. He'd turned down a hallway from the storey above the holomap, and given the direction he was most likely facing now...

He had a hunch as to where the light might lead.

Moving as quickly as he dared, Jeremie crept onwards. The air was thick with a foul, damp smell, and there was something damp and sticky on the floor, but Jeremie barely noticed these things. Even the aches in his body were muted beneath the pressure of survival. Behind him XANA felt through the dark, clearly trying not to give away its own position either in case Jeremie saw an opening to slip past. Occasionally a heavy box or piece of metal would fall and Jeremie clamped his hands over his mouth to suppress any sound.

Finally, he crawled towards the light, his palm coming up against a filthy glass viewing window. Without his glasses it was difficult to tell, but he thought he could make out the main factory floor below.

Yes! Good work, Belpois, he told himself.

Upon entering the factory the usual way, through the main entrance over the bridge, one could see a series of viewing windows overhanging the factory floor - presumably back in the building's heyday, supervisors would use these as offices so they could oversee production whilst they worked. Now they were serving an even more valuable purpose - Jeremie's escape.

Provided, of course, that he could smash the windows... he realised with a sinking dread that the glass was very thick, and sealed into its frames with no latches in sight. He'd been thinking of his dorm room in Kadic, of his window with a handle that could easily be opened. Of course a glass panel made solely for viewing wouldn't function the same way!

He pushed against the glass with both hands, his shoulder alight with agony. The panels would not give way, and he didn't have to turn around to know that XANA was now directly behind him. A large hand grabbed a fistful of Jeremie's hair and slammed him against the glass.

He was doomed.

–

With a final shout, Yumi hurled her fan. It arced through the air and speared the eye of the final Krabbe. Odd sprung over for a high five, his huge paw engulfing her hand.

“Yeah! This surf can eat my turf!”

“What does that even mean ? We don’t have time to joke around Odd, we need to get to Ulrich and Aelita.”

“Right. And it’s still quiet on the intercom.”

“I really hope Jeremie’s okay.” Yumi bit her lip. She reached up without looking to catch her fan, folding it and tucking it beneath her sash. “Come on, hurry.”

Odd’s keen eyesight picked out a handful of silhouettes across the landscape. He frowned.

“I can't see clearly enough from here, they're too far away even for me. If I had to guess, I'd say our Princess is in serious trouble. What I wouldn’t give for some vehicles right now.”

“We’ll just have to do without. Listen, Odd. I’m really worried about Jeremie, I think you should send me back.”

He turned to her. “Are you sure?”

Yumi nodded. “I’ll be more useful on Earth. Do it, quickly.”

Odd set his stance wide and held his firing arm in position. “I never feel good about doing this,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t hurt too much.”

“I’m a big girl, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

He fired then turned away before the arrow hit. Yumi spread her arms and embraced the sharp pain as her body disintegrated into pixels. Odd was already running.

–--

Yumi fell out of the scanner, clawing stale factory air into her lungs.

She yelled out into the quiet but got no response. With a heavy heart she stepped into the elevator, squeezing her eyes closed in despair as she found nothing but an empty computer chair, a discarded headset and a pair of glasses.

“Jeremie,” she breathed. She picked up the glasses and put them in her pocket, then stepped back into the elevator. There was no telling where he might have gone, or where XANA might have taken him. She would have to search the main floor of the factory. Her face was set and solemn. As the door closed, her hands clenched into fists at her side. If anything happened to him… XANA wouldn’t survive what she was going to do to it.

The factory was almost silent. In the great echoing space of its main floor, Yumi felt on edge. She still didn't know what had happened and her mind was racing with possibilities; there was no limit to what kind of attack XANA could do. She felt sick with worry, but called on every second of pencak silat training to reset her mind and body to a state of calm.

"Jeremie!" she called. "Jeremie, please answer me!"

Nothing. Yumi looked out into the open space, as much as the fading daylight would allow. She scanned the walls, then looked upright into the rafters.

And then she saw the windows.

Yumi hadn't thought much of the factory floor before; it wasn't like they stopped to see the sights whenever they were here, since they usually had more pressing matters to deal with. At this moment though she saw the overhanging rooms, their walls dominated by large panes of grimy glass. There was a shape within there, barely distinguishable through the layers of dust and dirt, little more than a blur of blond and blue.

"JEREMIE!"

She cast about frantically for a way to reach him, heading first for the rope they often used to swing down into the factory.

And then, something extraordinary happened.

A bloodied fist exploded outwards from the other side of the glass. There was a shout that was unmistakably Jeremie, followed by heavy movements and the sound of something being swung against the pane. Again and again it hit, causing hairline fissures to run up and down the glass, which Yumi now realised was holding XANA's stolen body in place.

Finally, the entire glass panel fell out, bringing with it Jeremie, a man in a raincoat who Yumi had never seen before, and the hammer that Jeremie had used to smash the window with. They fell from above in a hailstorm of shards, Jeremie's small body bouncing as it hit the floor. She ran as fast as she'd ever ran towards him, hoisting him up over her shoulders. As Yumi backed away from the mess of broken glass, she stared down at the man XANA had evidently possessed. He fought to free himself from what remained of the glass, his arm a wet mess of wounds.

XANA snarled, an entirely demonic sound. Despite the heightened strength and speed possession lent its victims, the human body must still have been dazed from the fall. Yumi didn't hesitate; she hid with Jeremie behind a pile of old equipment and focused on bringing him back to consciousness. Here in her arms, she was reminded of how young he was. Just two years older than her brother Hiroki. The thought of losing him was - as it always was - unbearable.

"Wake up," she said, tapping the side of his face. "Hey, Jeremie. Please."

“Yumi, is that you?” His throat was hoarse.

“Hey,” she said, her voice gentle. “It’s me. You okay?”

“Tower… XANA…”

“I know, I know.” she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “The others are handling things on Lyoko. It’s going to be fine.”

A strangled cry of relief croaked out of him. "Thank goodness. I--" Whatever he was going to say was lost in a torrent of wheezing breath. Yumi frowned; the strain his body must have been under was all too relatable. One shoulder looked painfully swollen beneath his blue sweater and there was a large scrape on the palm of his left hand. His trousers were smudged and scuffed at the knees. She gently placed his glasses back onto his nose, watching him blink through the welcome surprise of sudden vision.

“It’s unbelievably good to see you,” he said with a wan smile.

“Right back at you. Can you walk?”

He gritted his teeth and straightened. “Yeah. Come on, there’s no time to waste. I need to get--” another wheezing cough "--back to the computer."

Yumi nodded, still holding onto Jeremie as they headed back to help their friends as fast as his injuries would allow.

They reached the elevator. Someone else did too.

“There you are,” the man growled in XANA’s voice. “You can’t get away.”

“Actually I think you’ll find-- I just did. Not so good at hide and seek, are you?” said Jeremie.

Yumi stepped protectively in front of him, grabbing a rusted pipe from the factory floor and shifting the weight of it in her hands. “Go! Now! I’ll hold him off.”

There was no time to argue or insist otherwise. A fraction of hesitation could cost them their lives. Jeremie made a break for it. He heard a vicious clang of metal as Yumi swung down with the pipe, a shout as she was lifted into the air. Another sound, a grunt of exertion as Yumi did something to free herself, and the sound of a boot connecting with a jawbone as she launched her whole weight behind a kick. If anyone could buy him time, it would be Yumi. Jeremie had complete faith in her.

He ducked into the elevator. XANA’s howl of rage ripped through the throat of his human vessel, swallowed up as the metal doors slammed closed.

In the holomap room, Jeremie sank into the computer chair and jammed the headset onto his ears. Sounds of battle greeted him, laser fire and hurried footsteps.

“I’m here!” he said. “What’s going on? Aelita, are you okay?”

“Jeremie–” she gasped. “I’m so close to the tower but the monsters– I can’t–! Ulrich's frozen and Odd's just been devirtualised!”

Jeremie was in so much pain and shot through with adrenaline, but as it happened these were the conditions he’d become used to working in. His left arm was swollen beyond use, but he didn't need two hands to type. He thought of nothing else as his fingers glided over the keyboard, automatically opening up the last used programme. In fact his mind was eerily calm.

“Hang in there just a few more seconds, Aelita!”

She gasped out his name.

It so often came down to moments like this, Jeremie thought. Would he type fast enough? And if he didn’t, would he ever forgive himself failing, or for the mess that he’d created? The thoughts skimmed the clear surface of his mind. He didn’t have time to grapple with them right now.

He pressed the Enter key.

A cluster of desert cacti, resplendent with low-poly red flowers, sprang into being on Lyoko. They formed a ring around the Bloks, trapping them within and crushing them slowly. Ulrich was released from his icy hold just in time to see Aelita gain the clear path she needed, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Aelita didn’t waste a second. She flung her arms wide and sprinted into the activated tower.

Jeremie leaned back in his computer chair, his palms trembling.

Odd emerged from the scanners, clutching his sides. 

Yumi screamed in pain as the possessed man delivered a solid blow to her stomach. She crumpled to the ground and rolled out of the way, just in time to avoid another devastating blow.

In the tower, everything melted away. The soft air currents bore Aelita up to the higher platform, her hand reaching out in a movement she knew all too well. The interface appeared beneath her waiting palm.

AELITA

CODE: LYOKO

The entire world seemed to exhale, an explicable something reshifting in the tower as XANA’s presence left it. The interface vanished once more, and Aelita’s entire body sagged with relief. It was over… until next time.

Jeremie didn’t want to take any chances. He entered one final programme.

“Return to the past, now.”

–

The previous day was Friday. Ulrich found himself back in History class, once again unable to answer the question about Henry VIII which he’d been asked the first time around. Go figure.

Jeremie and Odd looked shaken, probably as much as he himself did, but acting normal after a trip back in time was second nature to them by now.

As soon as the bell rang they hurried up to Jeremie’s room. He’d raced ahead of them and was already slumped in his desk chair, Yumi there too with an arm around him. She smiled at them as they entered, beckoning them in. Jeremie actually seemed more upset about the failed cacti programme than the life-or-death game of factory hide-and-seek he'd just endured. Strange, Ulrich thought, that that was just the way of it these days.

“You were great, Jeremie,” she was telling him. “Saved the day in the nick of time.”

“I ruined it in the first place,” he grumbled. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Hey, don’t be so down on yourself, Einstein,” said Odd. He clapped a hand on Jeremie’s other shoulder. The cacti were cool and the pollen was a great idea in theory. If they’d actually worked, XANA’s monsters wouldn’t have stood a chance. Also, we had a great day at the beach. Bet you’re jealous you weren’t there!”

Jeremie slumped even further. “I’m serious. That’s the second project in the last two weeks that’s failed. Maybe I’m just… not good enough.”

“That’s not true at all, Jeremie and you know it.”

“Do I, though, Yumi?” He clenched a fist and slammed it onto his desk in an uncharacteristic display of anger. “I just… argh! I thought I had such good ideas. If only there was a way to become more intelligent…”

“You’re more than intelligent enough. Now come on, get your shoes and your jacket.”

“What? Why?”

“School’s out for the day. We’re going to my house and on the way we’re going to stop at the store. There, I’m going to buy your favourite flavour of ice cream and those potato chips you like. Then you’re going to switch off that big old brain of yours and watch Hospital of Horrors with me.”

“Yumi, I–”

“I’ve already called my parents. It’d be rude if you didn’t show up for dinner.”

Jeremie knew when he was beat. One did not simply argue with Yumi Ishiyama. “If you insist,” he said, with a wry smile.

“I do. Now come on,” she said, pulling him upright. “It’s been a long day and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to think about beaches for a while.”

That left Odd, Ulrich and Aelita.

“Despite what Yumi just said, I really am curious about visiting a real beach one day,” she said.

“You’ll get a chance, don’t worry.” Ulrich smiled, just slightly. It had been a long day, and he made the decision then and there to not beat himself up about any of it, at least for the next few hours. Besides, he didn't think his friends would let him. Aelita leaned into his shoulder and pulled Odd into the hug with her.

“I’m sure I will. The big question is, while Yumi’s forcing Jeremie to relax off-campus for the evening, what do we do?”

Odd had a million ideas which he began to reel off in earnest. “There's video games and foosball and all the zombie movies we haven't seen yet. I'm working on a new movie script, I can read it aloud and see what you think. Or you could both help me walk Kiwi? Wow, there really is so much to do and so little time! I’m glad we got a do-over of the weekend after all. Though, it does kind of suck that we’re not back at the beach. Because if we were–”

“Odd –” said Ulrich in warning.

“---Every day would be a sun day! Ha ha!”

Aelita burst into laughter. Ulrich rugby tackled him.