FanFiction.Net - unleash your imagination 
mobile edition
G-Force 4
Author of 6 Stories |
Disclaimer:
Do you guys actually know how hard it is to come up with a witty message each time I do this? Oh well...I DON'T OWN CODE LYOKO!
Special Thanks:
Thanks for continuing to read despite my chapter turnout has gone on the slow side.
Sissy adjusted here yellow headband on top of her head until it fit snugly in place effectively pushing back the stray strands of long black hair that had decided to drape down her face and block her vision. She took her seat in front of her mirror and began to brush her raven locks, untying the knots in her hair that developed the night before.
"Perfect" the girl said to herself while admiring her reflection in the mirror. "Beauty, charm and grace, I have it all." Upon saying that her gaze immediately lowered to the floor. "Well everything...except him."
Thoughts of Ulrich soon invaded the girl's mind halting her brushing as she began to humor the images.
"Why? Why can't he see me for how I truly am? I'm just a troublesome pest to him but he's not the only one who thinks that way."
Sissy was not a stupid girl. She knew that there were as many people who hated her guts as there were people who admired her beauty. Around certain social groups she was perceived as a spoiled little girl who would not hesitate to use her father's authority for her benefit but this was not the case. Sissy knew that she wasn't that evil and manipulative and that see did indeed have a good side. It was just that only Herb and Nicholas saw it on a constant basis. Besides, the student body of Kadic Junior High would never accept her "random acts of kindness" thinking that she was only doing them because her father was forcing her to.
"If only there was a way I could show Ulrich that I am indeed on his side." Sissy lamented to herself. Her lone comment was answered with a knock on her dorm door. Sissy stood up and answered its call.
"Ready for class?" Herb greeted Sissy with a small smile.
"Oh, it's just you." She replied unenthusiastically.
Herb and Nicholas both sighed to themselves knowing full well that was just her way of saying "it's good to see you".
"Well we better get going now" Nicholas said as he quietly entered the conversation.
"Well I'm sure today will be just exciting as always" the girl answered sarcastically once again as she stepped out of her room and began walking down the hallway.
Herb quickly noticed his friend's sense of sarcasm. "Well I hate to break it to you, but today will be just like all the other days."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning it would be just as dull as always."
During the entire conversation Nicholas noticed a slight trace of despair in Sissy's voice.
"You ok Sissy? You seemed like your bothered by something?"
Sissy was taken back by Nicholas's comment as he was able to sense the emotions she was concealing causing them to flood out of here in one loud statement.
"Of course something is bothering me but it would take light-years for any of you two stooges to even begin to comprehend any of my problems!"
Sissy covered her mouth with both of her hands as she did not mean to sound that harsh with her friends. A deafly silence fell upon the group as the two boys silently walked by her side. Sissy always wondered why Herb and Nicholas were always with her despite the fact that she would vent her frustrations on them on a constant basis. Even now, after calling her two friends stooges, they still didn't leave her presence and continued their walk to class.
"Thanks for listening guys" Sissy said with a smile.
"Don't mention it" Her friends replied simultaneously.
"Does anyone here wish to answer the question?" the teacher said while crossing her arms and facing her class.
Herb saw this as a golden opportunity to demonstrate his feats of intelligence to the class and eagerly raised his hand.
Mrs. Hertz acknowledged the boy's efforts. "Yes, Herb"
Before Herb could utter even one word, a symphony of cell phone rings disrupted the classroom. Every student quickly drew out their devices and spoke into the receivers clamoring the room with various greetings. Odd, Jeremie and Ulrich's suspicions were immediately aroused by the act and all exchanged worried glances at each other right before Mrs. Hertz stomped her foot drawing everyone's attention back to her.
Mrs. Hertz was irrate with the class's infraction of the school rules and intended to make an example of one of her students.
"Sissy!' Mrs. Hertz's angry voice called out as she confidently marched towards the girl. "As the principle's daughter I am sure of the fact that you're well aware of our school's policy concerning cell phones in class. Would you please remind the rest of the students about it since it's obvious that they had forgotten."
Sissy clutched her cell phone tightly knowing full well of the consequences for her actions. "All mobile phones must be turned off before entering the classroom or else they will be confiscated."
"That's correct Sissy now hand your phone over now." Mrs. Hertz repeated her order but this time with authority in her voice. "I said hand over your phone to me now!" The teacher watched Sissy comply with her demands before turning her attention towards the rest of the class. "As for the rest of you, I want all of your cell phones on my desk right this instant!"
Mrs. Hertz only allowed her class to groan for a few seconds before silencing them once more with another loud stomp.
"You heard me. Place your phones on my desk!"
By the end of the period Mrs. Hertz's desk was littered with the offending devices of her class much to her liking.
"I SAID, MOVE IT!" Jin warned trying his best to clear a path for his sister.
Yumi weaved in and out of the crowded hallway dodging its occupants effortlessly all while trying to maintain her top running speed and to avoid an accident at the same time. Yumi turned her body sideways and squeezed herself in-between two students walking side by side as she made her way to Mrs. Hertz's class to deliver her urgent message. Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie's bodies occupied her field of vision causing her to slow down and walk at a brisk pace.
"Hey Yumi" Ulrich greeted the girl cheerfully causing her to wave back kindly.
"Something weird happened to our class today." Yumi said while darkening the expression she wore which caught the groups immediate attention. "Everyone's cell phones started ringing for no reason and..."
"The teacher confiscated them" Odd said concluding the girl's statement. "Yeah we know, the same thing happened to us too. It's really strange."
"And I thought we were the only ones who didn't choose to follow the school's policy concerning cell phones." Jin said as he made yet another spectral entrance slightly startling the group.
"Do you enjoy scaring people like that Jin?" Odd asked sarcastically.
A small grin spread across the boy's lips. "Only a little bit. So, what are we talking about?"
"About the incident a few minutes ago that caused both our class and your class to lose their cell phones." Ulrich said answering Jin's question.
"Thanks for the update, continue please."
Jeremie was the next one to speak. "It's strange isn't it? All those calls and no one on the other line. I suspect that this is XANA's doing. I'm going to check this out to confirm my suspicions."
Ulrich and the others watched Jeremie run in the opposite direction leaving their presence. Ulrich rested his hand on his chin a wore a similar expression that Yumi had when she informed them about her class's cell phone troubles.
"We better get this problem solved or else we're going to be in a bit of a jam. If XANA attacks us now then we will have no way of contacting each other. We got to get our phones back now."
Sissy returned to her ill mood that she previously abandoned and vented a portion of her frustration on the rest of her "gang".
"I can't believe that she actually had the nerve to take away all of our cell phones!"
"Well she did have a reason to." Herb said trying his best to calm the irrate girl down. "It is part of the school policy. Even you admitted it."
Sissy stomped her foot and began to speak with newfound determination and vigor in her voice. "Well I think it's about time that policy got changed! No single teacher has the right to confiscate the cell phones of her entire class!"
"Too bad we can't just ask you're dad to change the rules around here." Nicholas said as not to be left out in the conversation.
Sissy's eyes lit up upon hearing her friend's suggestion. "Nicholas, that's a great idea!"
Herb was confused. "What ,you mean you're just going to walk up to your dad and ask him to changed the rules? I know you've gotten away with some things because your father is the principle, but don't you think asking him to change the school rules is stretching a bit too far?"
"It's not going to be just me you dolt! I'm going to have the entire school demand to have their phones back."
"You mean like having a petition?"
"Exactly. And the only way we can get our phones back is if we get the support from all of the students."
Sissy turned her head and caught a glimpse of Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi standing near the doorway to Mrs. Hertz's class.
"And I do mean all of the students."
Odd wasted no time in answering her rectorial question. "Maybe the..."
"Not now Odd." The other three friends said in unison.
"Sheesh, tough crowd today." Odd casually turned his head to the left to see what was going on around him and saw a familiar group of three students walk towards them. "Ah it's Sissy, so unfortunate to see you."
Jin decided to thrown in his own little wise crack for the situation. "Hey look Nicholas is here! All we need is Jim and The Pop Rock Progressives are back together again. Anybody up for playing Mystery Girl again?"
Sissy was used to the insults that the "Weirdo Bunch" threw her way and she can always take it in stride for she really knew that they were just jealous of her status around school and wanted to bring her down to their level of existence. She could have replied with some scathing remarks of her own but would help anyone here today, She was going to get her fellow student's cell phones back and would do it by any means necessary. Even if those means involved her working with the "Weirdo Bunch".
"Look, I'm not here to make fun of you guys. I just want to help."
If Yumi, Odd, Ulrich and Jin's jaws were not connected to the bottom of their skulls then they would have dropped to the floor at that very instant. Sissy saw their shocked expressions and used the time to explain her actions.
"Look the school has to give back our cell phones but we have to get organized."
"Never figured you to be the political activist." Odd said underneath his breath.
"I'm holding a meeting in the auditorium after lunch today. If you want to help, show up."
"Oh don't worry, I will" Yumi replied.
Sissy had to take a step back and allowed herself to blink a few times to comprehend her rival's answer.
"Actions speak louder than words Yumi. If you really are going to help our cause then come to the meeting."
"I'm not the type to go back on my word."
Sissy gave Yumi a nod of acceptance before walking away with Herb and Nicolas right next to her.
"What just happened there?" A confused Ulrich asked Jin wondering why Yumi was so willing to help Sissy out.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Jin said slightly coolly.
Odd placed his hand on his stomach and felt it growling underneath.
"Well right now my only enemy is hunger and I would like to vanquish it with some cafeteria food. Plus I got a backup plan incase Sissy's little "political demonstration" backfires."
"Yumi which is worse? Ulrich scheming or Odd thinking on an empty stomach." Jin asked his sister slightly worried about the trouble Odd was going to throw himself into.
"The only thing worse than those two is you falling on your face."
"Toche"
The group of four made their way to the cafeteria to quell Odd's hunger. However they failed to notice a figure dressed in all black pressed up against a nearby wall.
"A meeting in the auditorium huh?" Dirk chuckled to himself. "Interesting"
"There's been a firestorm of request for me to hand the student's back their phones." The principle after swallowing the bite-sized chunk of meat he had in his mouth. "The students were warned about brining cell phones to the classroom and I will not let them off the hook so easily. Mrs Hertz, where have you placed the confiscated items?"
"In my locker for the time being. After today I'll move them to a more secure place."
"Since this is a widely occurring problem we have to take drastic action. We need to disable the school's antenna so that even with new phones they would be useless. Can you handle that Jim?"
Jim almost chocked on the morsel of food he was chewing. He knew absolutely nothing about electronics let alone disabling them. However a job was a job and he was given a direct order. Better him doing the deed than anyone else. He raised his right hand and gave his boss a thumbs up sign seeing how he was unable to relay the message using his mouth since it was stuffed with food.
"That's good to hear." The principle said. He then set his sights to his food and resumed eating his lunch.
"It's simple really. Ulrich will be on lookout while I pick the lock on Mrs. Hertz's locker."
"You're crazy" Jin said frankly.
"Look who's talking" Odd retorted.
"But isn't that stealing?" Yumi asked ignoring the exchange Odd and Jin had.
"It's not stealing when you're taking something you own back."
"I'm a little uneasy about this whole thing myself." Jin said worryingly.
"Look Jin" Ulrich answered. "We really don't have a choice here. We have to bend the rules a bit around here if it means keeping the world safe from XANA."
"You have a point there."
"Good luck" Yumi said to the boys as she watched them leave their table.
- Vafer
"V, again?" Tamiya asked referring to the mysterious sender by the nickname she had given the person.
Vafer was a mysterious case indeed. Ever since the school started an opinion section of the school newspaper that allowed average students of Kadic Junior High to submit guest articles, Milly would keep getting submissions by this person and would always put them into the school's paper. Aside from Vafer's alias and the fact that the person was a gifted writer, the staff didn't know much about this mysterious individual.
"So Tamiya, how does the rest of the people who work on the paper feel about V?"
"Well we consider him to be part of the team now even though we don't know who Vafer really is."
"Did you hear about the meeting Sissy is organizing right now?"
"Not really, we both cleared out of the classroom pretty quickly and didn't stay to socialize. How did you find out about it?"
"V sent us a message."
"Man that person is everywhere."
Milly chuckled at the fact that their mysterious benefactor was able to get wind of a juicy story before her and Tamiya.
"Care to read the latest article that we received?"
"Sure why not."
Milly clicked the link in Vafer's message and displayed the article.
So why am I pointing out one of the many flaws that inhabit the nature of human beings? This is just a simple aspect that I noticed when I personally witness my entire classroom's population lose their cell phones. Consequently, they have organized and are now trying to overturn the school's policy and want to get their mobiles back. Human beings decide to take action once they themselves have been victimized. Do you think that the students of our classroom would have protested the rule before this incident? If we really want to create change in our society then we have to start righting the wrongs that we have created as a whole before they can cause any harm instead of just waiting for a problem to occur and change it only to maintain the status quo. Then and only then can you truly continue to fight for the future.
- Vafer
"So Tamiya, will this be in tomorrow's paper?" Milly asked knowing full well the answer she was going to receive.
"When have we not published V's writings?"
"Good point, but what about Sissy's meeting?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well it's like what V said. We can either report the story or become a part of it. Unlike our classmates, we actually turned off our mobiles and avoided our teacher's wrath."
"I saw we join the meeting Milly!" Tamiya said excitedly.
Milly was taken back by her friend's suggestion. She knew Tamiya was a bold person but she had no idea that she possessed such audacity.
"What?"
"Come on Milly. It's like what V said, people only get involved when they themselves have been victimized. Let's go to the meeting not as Milly and Tamiya the news reporters, but Milly and Tamiya the concerned students."
"Vafer would be so proud of you." Milly said off handedly. "Can we at least get some food at least? I'm getting pretty hungry."
"Me too"
The two girls left their dorm and walked towards the cafeteria still trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious writer.
"How are things looking outside?" Sissy yelled across the room to her friend Nicholas who was currently positioned near the auditorium's doors to keep the students at bay while she and Herb prepared the site for the meeting.
"There's a lot of people Sissy."
Under normal circumstances Sissy would have relished the attention she was going to receive but now she meant business. She had a policy to overturn, a father to defy and a cell phone to be returned to her now was not the time to please her ego.
"Ok Nicholas, let them in"
Nicholas opened the doors and soon the auditorium was flooded with eager students to help Sissy with her cause and quickly crowded around the surprised girl. Herb was fed up with the bedlam that the rest of the student's were causing, hearing their mindless chatter, listening to their pointless words swirl around him creating a black vortex of chaos and stagnation that was threatening to suck him into its dark void. Herb squeezed the grip he had on his pen even tighter, almost snapping the plastic object in two and decided to take a stand against the pandemonium. He stood on top of the table that Sissy was sitting at and began to speak
"EVERYBODY HOLD IT!" Herb's voice rang out like thunder in the auditorium catching everyone off guard. Sissy too was surprised by Herb's actions but was also relieved that he was able to quell the crowd before the meeting got out of hand.
"Look people. In order for us to complete our goal we got to get organized here. The principle of this school would not even give us the time of day if we continue to behave like an unruly mob. We have to show the faculty of this school that we're serious and that we do mean business!"
"Who died and my you king?" An unknown student shot back at Herb.
"Listen, do you want your phones back or not? This is exactly the kind of mind set that's going to kill our movement. I'm just a concerned student like the rest of you and I don't want to see Sissy's plan fail. So you can either help work with us or get the hell out!"
Herb's accuser bowed his head in shame as he began to see the truth in the boy's words and quietly stood in the auditorium's corner to avoid the accusing eyes from the other students. The occupant's attention shifted towards Herb which put him at a state of unease.
Herb stared at the crowed wide-eyed. "Me and my big mouth" he thought to himself. "Sissy's is SO going to kill me."
Herb was about to plead to his audience to stay and forgive him for his emotional outburst but then something strange happened...
They started clapping.
The entire auditorium roared with applause as Herb eloquently summed up the student's opinions and goals in one heartfelt speech. Herb gave a small bow to the student's before proudly stepping off the table that he recently converted to be his stage.
"Thank you so much Herb!' Sissy said while hugging her friend. "Now all the students are on our side."
Herb was released from Sissy's embrace and tried his best to fight back an oncoming blush but was only sightly successful. He shook his head a couple of times to bring himself back to reality before confidently standing up with a renewed sense of energy and vigor.
"It was nothing Sissy." He said confidently. "Now let's get that petition started!"
"Ok Ulrich let's review one more time what we're going to do to avoid any screw ups."
Ulrich looked around the area to see if there were any teachers in the vicinity before nodding.
"Here's the plan, I'll sneak into the teacher's lounge and pick the lock on Mrs. Hertz's locker. In the meantime, you'll stand watch and see if any teachers come my way."
"Suppose somebody wants to go in the teacher's lounge. How would I warn you?"
"I don't know, be creative. Just do something that would attract my attention."
"Fine"
"And don't forget to stall for me Ulrich. I'm not as fast as I am in Lyoko so you'll need to buy me some time so I can make an escape."
Ulrich was a little uneasy with all the time they were wasting going over Odd's plan and spoke out loud. "Just go Odd, we don't have all day."
"Alright then, seesh, chill out."
"Let's just get this over with."
"Such the impatient one."
Odd disappeared into the doorway and made his way towards 's locker. He didn't have to memorize a complicated series of numbers to locate the container that the woman used since all of the lockers were labeled with the teacher's name instead of a complex code on the tiny bronze placard. Odd quickly drew out the hairpin that Yumi let him borrow for this occasion and drove it into the lock's opening before twisting the crud lock pick around. He gritted his teeth as sweat dripped from his brow forcing him to struggle even further to unlock the container. Odd's inexperienced played a major role in the delay but another element was about to be introduced that was going to make his take much more difficult...
Time.
"Hello there Mr. Leemer"
"Oh hello their Ulrich, how can I help you?"
"Come on Odd get a grip on yourself." The boy thought within the confines of his mind. "Yeah there is a lot riding on your success but that's still no reason for you to be mentally kicking yourself around the place. All you gotta do is just focus and hope for the best."
Odd opened his eyes and now wore a serene smile on his face. For the first time, ever since he stepped foot inside the teacher's lounge, he was able to control his racing heart and divided concentration. With one final turn of the hairpin Odd heard a click from the locker and watched the door swing open effortlessly revealing the mother load of cell phones neatly organized inside. He quickly rummaged through the plastic communication devices until he found the three phones he was looking for. Just when he was about to clean up the mess he made he heard Ulrich's voice through the doorway once more.
"Wait, Mr. Leemer, there's more stuff I need to talk to you about."
"Can it wait Ulrich? I need to take care of some quick business in the staff lounge, but I'm sure I can talk to you after that."
This was bad. Apparently Ulrich was unable to hold back the teacher anymore and he was making his way inside the room. Odd couldn't leave the room since the door was the only entrance and exit. He had to hide. Thinking on his feet, Odd ducked underneath a nearby table and scrunched himself into a ball to minimize the amount of space he took. Mr. Leemer's footsteps grew louder with each second telling Odd that he was only inches away from his current location.
The teacher removed a pen from his jacket pocket and scribbled a quick reminder for himself on the notepad he carried around. The middle-aged man moved his had too quickly and forgot to compensate for the writing utensil he was holding causing the pen to slip from his grasp.
"Whoops" the teacher said to himself as he watched the pen roll underneath the table he was standing in front of.
Odd saw a small purple pen roll underneath the table he was hiding in.
"This can't be good" he thought to himself as he pondered any other escape plans but only drew up blanks. Odd was stuck in-between a rock and a hard place and braced himself for his inevitable discovery. His nervousness returned to him tenfold as he gritted his teeth and had sweat drip from his brow once more.
Whether is be fate, karma or just plain dumb luck, Mr. Leemer never caught wind of the notion that there was a student in the staff lounge. Before today, he had slightly injured his back and did not want to bend over to pick up his pen out of risk of the pain he might experience and decided to forget about the object completely.
"I'll get that thing later." He said out loud in the room that he perceived as empty. "I need to get back to class soon and wait for my students there."
Odd listened for the door to the staff lounge close before he allowed himself to let out a huge sigh of relief.
"How did you..."
"Hid underneath a table." Odd said calmly preempting Ulrich's question.
"So did you get them?"
"But of course. I have all three of our cell phones right here." Odd pointed to his backpack to illustrate his comment.
"What about Yumi and Jin?"
"That's a big negative. I could only get to Mrs. Hertz's locker before I was interrupted by Mr. Leemer and had to go into hiding but I would have busted into their teacher's locker too if I had enough time."
"Did I ever tell you that you're crazy before?" Ulrich said sarcastically.
"But of course."
"Then I'll just say it again, you're crazy."
"Why thank you." Odd said, taking Ulrich's insult as a compliment.
The two friends set off to Jeremie's room, eager to let them know of their success.
"This is a very easy lock you can use in a fight whenever somebody throws a punch at you" Yumi said with a smile on her face.
Jin struggled to free his appendage from Yumi's grasp but found that all the pulling and tugging in the world would not release release himself from the girl's strong grip.
"Remind me why I even agreed to this little lesson."
"Well Aniki you need to diversify your combat tactics. Flashy kicks can only get you so far. It's about time you added in some defense in your style."
"I can thank Master Fong for teaching you that AHH!" Jin's statement was cut off with his cry of pain as Yumi applied pressure to the outside of his elbow causing his arm to bend slightly in an awkward direction.
"Oops. Sorry Jin, guess I kinda got carried away." Yumi apologized innocently.
Jin saw a golden moment to turn the tide in their small exchange when he saw Yumi not paying attention to the fight. Jin forced his left arm downward with his right hand and caused his sister's hands to follow suit leaving her head unguarded. He then raised his right leg and stopped his kick short so he wouldn't hit the girl.
"Mistakes like that are going to kill you sis." Jin said as he lowered his leg.
"Will you two find somewhere else to practice?" Jeremie said from the back of his dorm where Yumi and Jin were holding their impromptu lessons. "I'm trying to figure out why XANA would be interested in a bunch of cell phones and it's pretty hard to concentrate with you guys decide to use this area as your dojo."
"Sorry Jeremie" the two twins said in unison as the walked closer to the computer that the boy was sitting in front of.
"Speaking of sparing practice" Yumi said recalling all of of their previous training sessions. "You have been missing quite a few lessons yourself."
"I'm really trying to get Aelita's materialization done and I guess I lose track of time whenever I work. Besides, I'm the intellectual type, I'm no fighter."
"Hey, you deserve more credit than that." Jin said patting Jeremie on the back. "You totally wiped the floor with Burno when we got into our first fight with Dirk and Clayton. Man that brawl was just nuts!"
"Look Jeremie" Yumi said in a reassuring tone of voice. "We're not trying to turn you into a warrior or someone that you're not. We need you to operate the factory's computer whenever we go to Lyoko. It's just that we think you should know how to defend yourself since Dirk and Clayton perceive you as the weak member of our group, which isn't true I might add. Just try to remember that there is indeed another world out there and that we don't want to see you coped up in your dorm all day."
"'I'll keep that in mind but I really would love to just materialize Aelita now so we can stop fighting XANA once and for all."
"Don't we all Jeremie. Don't we all."
Jeremie's door opened revealing Odd and Ulrich in the doorway.
"Guess what we got." Odd said slowly with his hands behind his back.
"What?" The other three occupants asked at the same time.
"Here!"
Odd threw his hands in the air and allowed the three cell phones he was holding to rain down on Jeremie's bed.
Jeremie, Jin and Yumi stared at the plastic objects wide-eyed.
"I scored the cell phone jackpot baby!"
Yumi and Jin noticed that there were only three phones on the bed yet there was five people in the room."
"Umm Odd" Yumi said uneasily not wanting to destroy the boy's enthusiasm. "Looks like the casino shortchanged you a bit back there."
"That's because I couldn't break into Mrs. Hertz's locker and your teacher's within the span of five minutes. I'm no lock picking master or anything like that."
"Well at least you got three cell phones back instead of none."
"So who's going to make the first victory call?" Odd asked excitedly.
Just then, a series of small beeps, omitting from the boy's cell phones were heard causing them to look at them to look at the display screen on their mobiles. It was then they saw a familiar looking black eye surrounded by dark rings stare back at them radiating an eerie green glow.
"XANA" Jeremie said quietly to himself.
"Ok guys, this is seriously freaking me out here!" Jin said slightly frighted by XANA's emergence in this time of day.
"How is XANA able to gain access to the our cell phones right now?" Ulrich asked Jeremie.
"THE SCHOOL'S ANTENNA!"
"What?" Yumi asked confused.
"XANA must be using the school's antennae for something."
"What, so he can make long-distance calls without fear of paying the phone bill?" Jin asked wondering about their enemy's actions himself.
"I don't know Jin, but intend to find out!"
Jeremie ran to the closet in his room and pulled out a small electronic device and slipped it into his backpack.
"What's that for Eienstein?" Odd asked curious of the machine's purpose.
"This will allow me to track the radio waves being released from the school's antenna."
Ulrich was just as eager to find out about XANA's plan of attack as Jeremie was. "Well standing around here in Jeremie's dorm is not going to get us any answers. Let's get going!"
Yumi was the first to depart from the party. "I'm heading over to the auditorium to the meeting I promised Sissy that I would attend.
"I'll tail my sister and lend Sissy my support."
"You're going there for a good laugh Jin?" Odd asked being the inquizitive one once more.
"Not when she's on our side." Jin then faced Yumi and prepared to go to the meeting. "Let's go sis."
"Alright Aniki."
Yumi and Jin departed from Odd, Jeremie and Ulrich's company and ran straight towards the auditorium.
"Ok, which wire do I cut now?" Jim asked himself and he readied the wire cutters.
"Jim stop!" Jeremie yelled as he Odd and Ulrich made their way to the rooftop.
"What are you three doing up on the rooftop? You know this area is off limits to students."
"I know Jim but don't cut the wire, it's really important that the antenna still works."
"What are you talking about now?"
Jim subconsciously moved his arm back and allowed it to brush against a live wire sending volts of electricity to shoot through his body. Jim was unable to control his movement as he stumbled backwards and tripped over the rooftop's raised ledge sending him plummeting to the floor below.
It took the combined strength of Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie to lift the their large teacher to safety.
"We'll take Jim to the infirmary. In the meantime you use that little, whatever-you-call-it and scan the school's radio waves and see what's XANA is up to." Ulrich said as he slung one of Jim's massive arms over his shoulder and watched Odd do the same.
"Check your phone to see if it still works."
Odd and Ulrich gently set Jim down and drew out their cell phones which still displayed XANA's trademark symbol. Ulrich quickly dialed Yumi's number which he memorized by heart but heard nothing on the other end of the line.
"Looks like our phones are useless right now."
"Great I was afraid of that. Get Jim to the infirmary and wait for me in my room. I'll be there shortly to tell you of my findings."
"Ok Jeremie, we will."
"Hey Jim, can you hear me?" Ulrich said loudly trying to bring the man back to the world of the living.
"You know Ulrich, considering that Jim is our P.E. teacher, he was pretty heavy when we dragged him over here and placed him on the infirmary's bed. Looks like he could practice what he preaches so he could lose a couple of pounds."
Ulrich ignored Odd's last remark and continued with his efforts to bring Jim back to consciousness.
"Jim, wake up!"
"Man, is it just me or do I smell roast chicken?"
"What are you two boys doing here?" Dorothy asked her latest visitors.
"Jim got hurt and we dragged him here so you can help him recover."
It was then when the nurse saw Jim's body and became worried for her co-worker's health.
"Jim! What happened?"
"Oh you know Jim, he's a regular live wire." Odd answered back jokingly.
Ulrich decided to give the woman and more straight forward answer. "We were on the rooftop um...helping him with disabling the school's antenna when all of a sudden he accidently touched an exposed wire and was electrocuted on the spot."
"Thank you for brining Jim into my care. I'll see what I can do to help him recover from his injuries. You've done all that you could. Now leave me to my work."
Odd and Ulrich stepped out of the infirmary's doors and heard it close behind them.
"Well I'm glad Jim is safe." Odd said with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, I would really hate it if he got killed back there. Jim might be a little mean at times but I can tell that he really is a nice guy."
"Man Ulrich that was really corny of you." Odd slightly scoffed.
Ulrich said nothing more and began to walk in the direction of Jeremie's room.
Jeremie set down his book bag on the floor and gently removed his tracking device from the backpack's pocket. The blonde-haired boy turned his ear towards the machine's speaker as it released a series of loud clicks, beeps and wails all while pointing the curious individual towards the direction the radio waves were going. Jeremie's search concluded once he found the waves converged in one area, an area that yielded more questions then answers.
"The city's TV antenna?"
"I hope you succeed with your petition."
"Thanks" Sissy said with a genuine sense of gratitude as she watched Milly take her place amongst the throng of people. Sissy heard the auditorium's doors open and saw a figure dressed in all black and another one wearing a combination of the first color along with white and red.
"Ah Yumi and Jin, have decided to finally grace us with their presence. Where were you two when we came up with the petition?" Sissy held up the piece of paper to Yumi's face to punctuate her accusation.
Jin leaned over to Yumi and whispered something in her ear so that only she could hear it.
"Man this plan has holes so big I think I can put my fist through them."
Just then, the big double doors opened once more and two more people made their way to Sissy's table. The entire student body that was present was immediately silenced once they saw the two people who decided to pay them a visit. Jin took one good look at Sissy's latest "supporters" and smiled at his sister.
"Speaking of putting my fist through something" Jin said slyly.
"Quite a meeting we have here." Clayton commented.
A circle began to form around the four students as they watched Jin and Yumi stare a hole through the troublesome duo.
"Listen you two." Yumi said sharply. "I have no time to be playing games right now."
"Neither do I" Dirk said calmly as he casually used his shoulder to shove Yumi out of his way.
The Japanese girl was only slightly upset with Dirk rudeness and gave him a peeved look while Jin was less forgiving. He reared his fist back and aimed his punch at the back of Dirk's head but found his arm being pulled back.
"Not now" Yumi said softly as she held onto Jin's fist preventing him from starting a fight in the auditorium. The boy listened to her words and dropped his arm and allow Dirk and Clayton to walk away forever ignorant of the favor that Yumi did on their behalf.
The rest of the students who witnessed Dirk and Clayton's callous attitudes felt their tempers began to flair in a similar fashion.
"What do you two want to do?" Sissy said with her arms folded across her chest bracing herself for whatever evil the Troublesome Duo had concocting in their minds.
Dirk didn't even get a chance to respond to Sissy's question as Nicholas stepped forward so that he stood toe-to-toe with the potential threat and looked him square in the eye.
"Don't you even think about hurting Sissy or disrupting her plans in any way!"
Dirk was not intimated by the fiery look in Nicholas's eyes for he had seen more threatening gestures in his life.
"I said I'm not in the mood!" Dirk repeated but this time more harshly.
Herb too confronted the smaller half of the Troublesome Duo.
"Do you have any idea who you're messing with cause obviously you don't! That's the principle's daughter sitting behind that table and if you do anything to her she will personally make sure that you won't be able to get near this campus without getting hauled away in a police car!"
The remaining students in the auditorium rallied behind Herb and Nicholas as they saw this as a golden moment to strike back at the two school bullies as retribution for their unlawful acts at the school. They all closed in the gap they originally created and gave the two boys a series of menacing looks.
"You might be good at fighting Dirk and you man have one of the strongest kids in school with you." Nicholas commented. "But do you really think you can take all of us on at once?"
Dirk and Clayton were put on the defensive. Thirty versus two were not good odds. Especially if those thirty individuals were all people you wronged in the past.
"You think we should get in there Aniki?" Yumi asked not knowing what to make heads or tails of the sight.
"Naw, I think Sissy and the other's have this one under control." Jin said with a smile. "Just sit back and watch the show."
Jin waited for a moment when his sister looked away and faced the girl and looked at her. "Good job Sissy" Jin said with a smile happy to see the principle's daughter embrace her good side out of her own free will.
"HOLD IT!" Clayton's loud voice roared throughout the auditorium silencing their potential attackers momentarily giving Dirk ample time to explain himself.
"Spare us the theatrics. We are not here to cause any trouble."
"WHAT?" Said every student within the area of Dirk's voice as the all stepped back giving the two some breathing room.
Dirk reached into his shirt's pocket and withdrew a black pen and made his way to Sissy's desk where he promptly signed his name. Clayton then took the pen from Dirk and applied his own unique signature to Sissy's petition.
"Don't let this be a waste of our time." Clayton with a serious look on his face.
Sissy answered back with a grin of her own before taking back the piece of paper from the large boy.
"Don't worry, it won't."
"What is the meaning of this?" Came an elderly voice from the other side of the room which Sisssy recognized as her father's. "A teacher that was passing by told me of your "little meeting" and I came to investigate. Now you better have a good reason for what you're doing here."
Now was the moment that would make or break Sissy's movement. Father or no father, the principle of Kadic Junior High had committed a transgression against his students by enacting such an unfair policy concerning cell phones, and if it required his own daughter to point out his tyrannical practices then she would gladly bear any punishment she would have to endure.
"Oh yeah" Sissy said confidently after regaining her composer in front of her supporters. "What is the meaning of this?" Sissy marched in front of her father and number one adversary and presented to him her petition filled with the signatures of countless students."We signed a petition so you have to give our cell phones back!"
"Incase you have forgotten." Sissy's father had adapted a similar business-like-attitude that his daughter had. "You attend a school where the teachers make the rules for the students to follow, not the other way around.."
"Well I think it's about time we made some changes. We want our cell phones back this instant!"
"Listen here, during the lunch period a student went into the staff lounge and forced Mrs. Hertz's locker open to reclaim their mobile along with the phones of some other students. This is more the reason why I shouldn't return your phones to you."
"Odd" both Yumi and Jin whispered to themselves.
"Well who could blame them?" Sissy countered. "Everybody needs their mobile or else they'll just go crazy if they don't have it."
"My decision is no, and that's my final answer."
"Don't think you got us beat so easily. We will come back, stronger than ever!"
"Who knew the girl had it in her?" Jin said stunned by the girl's emotional outburst.
"I'm equally as surprised as you are Aniki. But never the less we should join the others now and see if Jeremie found anything about XANA."
The Ishiyama siblings both walked outside and saw Ulrich and Odd casually strolling down the campus's grounds.
"Hey Ulrich, what happened?" Yumi called out to her companions.
"Well Jim was trying to cut the power off to the school's antenna but ended up electrocuting himself in the process."
"Is he alright?"
"Don't worry about him. Odd and I dropped him off in the infirmary and Nurse Dorothy is taking care of him."
"Well that's good to hear"
"Jeremie told us to meet him in his room and he'll tell us about his findings."
"Sounds like a plan to me" Jin said while clapping his hands together and rubbing them in invisible soap.
"So Jeremie, what did your little machine tell you?"
"Well according to the readings, XANA is using our school's antenna to gain access to the TV station nearby. From there, he could take control of any satellite that's in orbit and..." Jeremie stopped speaking at let the open end of his statement to hang in the air.
"And what?" Ulrich asked gesturing with his hands waiting for Jeremie to continue.
"And that's all I have so far."
Ulrich threw his hands up in the air. "Are we going to get any answers for today? All we keep getting are more and more questions!"
"What's going on?" Odd asked as he opened Jeremie's door with one arm while using the other one to hold his precious dog against his body.
"XANA is trying to get a hold of the city's TV station so he could control any satellite circling our planet but Jeremie doesn't know why." Ulrich responded coldly.
"Maybe XANA want's some good quality programing in Lyoko since he's really bored down there."
Jeremie was about to give a counter point at Odd's wise crack but was halted once he saw Aelita's face in his computer monitor.
"Jeremie! XANA has just activated a tower in the polar region!"
Jin slapped himself in the forehead with his palm. "Man not the polar region AGAIN. This is the third time we're going down there. For such an advanced super computer, XANA likes to reuse ideas frequently."
Odd slowly set Kiwi down on Jeremie's bed and gave him a strick command to follow.
"Kiwi stay!"
Odd was the last one to leave the room and he made sure that his dog was inside before he closed the door. The tiny dog was not in the mood was not in an obedient mood that day for he pounced on the door's handle and gripped it with his teeth, opening it in the process and allowing him to follow his owner without any problems.
"Ok people, looks like we have to go to Plan B. We will wage an all out strike against the school. Are you with me?"
The students cheered in their support.
"Ok, looks like we have our signs ready now all we need is a chant and then we'll be ready. Anybody have any suggestions?"
The students were at a loss of words and could not come up with a saying that was worthy of their cause. All the students...except Nicholas.
"How about no more cell phones no more school?"
Sissy pointed her finger at the boy and was ready to snap back another insult but was immediately charmed by the simplicity and straight forwardness of her friends suggestion.
"I like it! Ok people you heard him, repeate after me. No more cell phones no more school! No more cell phones no more school!"
Sissy's supporters rallied behind the slogan and began chanting along side with the girl as they made absolutely sure that the entire faculty of Kadic Junior High was able to hear their demands.
"I'll stay at the school incase XANA tries to attack it." Yumi said once again removing herself from the front line in Lyoko.
"I suggest that the rest of us head to the factory. Since we do not know what XANA is planning we might as well focus as much resources we can in deactivating the tower so we can end this quickly. Jeremie said while looking at the remaing members of the group.
"Good thinking Jeremie." Ulrich said while nodding.
"I'm always itching for a fight in Lyoko" Odd replied excited for the upcoming battle.
"You know your idleness is not helping us in anyway" Sissy accused while making her presence known in the conversation. "If you say your on our side then let's see it Little Miss Yumi." The overall stress of the day were having a negative effect on Sissy as she spoke with a little hint of arrogance in her voice.
"Don't worry Sissy, I'm with you one-hundred percent." Yumi marched her way to the protest line waving her fist in the air. "No more cell phones, no more school! No more cell phones, no more school!"
"What about you Jin? You in or not?"
Jin really did want to stay at the school and guard his sister from the forces of XANA but Jeremie was right. XANA had be real meticulous in covering his tracks and concealing his plans. Jin had absolutely no idea what to expect and would only offer his enemy another ignorant target.
"I'd love to stay and help but my arm is killing me right now" Jin bluffed as he remembered his previous training session with his sister in Jeremie's dorm just a few minutes ago. He rubbed his left elbow to complete the charade.
Sissy was suspicious with the elder Ishiyama's injury. "How did you manage to hurt yourself within the span of half-an-hour?" She asked slightly shocked.
"Do you know who you're talking to? I'm Jin Ishiyama, The Master of Disaster, but if you must have a straight faced answer I'll give you one."
"Go on, I'm listening."
"My sister was teaching me a new lock to use that was ideal for countering punches and kind of got carried away with her lesson and worked a good number on my arm."
"Oh really?" Sissy said placing her hands on her hips still skeptical of Jin's explanation.
Fortunately for Jin, Yumi did not manage to venture too far off and was able to hear the conversation between her brother and Sissy.
"Sorry Sissy" Yumi apologized making Jin's claim seem more convincing. "Aniki isn't seriously hurt but I think it's in his best interest if he was to go home and rest up."
The gaze Sissy gave Jin soon softened as a wave of concern washed over her body driving away most of the business she was harboring when she first confronted Yumi. She couldn't force an injured person into her protest, that would just be inhuman and barbaric of her. Sure she wanted to change the school's policy concerning mobile phones but if it meant that she had to force students to help her against their will then the cost of her movement would be too high.
"Hope your arm feels better soon." Sissy said with a smile on her face.
Hearing her words of sincerity, Jin flashed Sissy a small smile which she interpreted it as another insult.
"What's so funny Jin? Ready to crack a joke about my efforts in restoring the school's mobile phones to their rightful owners?"
Jin slowly shook his head side to side."You've come a long way."
"What?" Sissy examined not sure what to make heads or tails about Jin's last remark.
Jin said nothing more and walked away to join Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie's company. That was the real Sissy he saw today. The Sissy that was more concerned with helping others and not her superficial looks. The same Sissy who was willing to risk her life to help him when the giant teddy bear attacked during the school's prom on the first day he came back. The first day he saw the good side of her.
"Shall we get going gentlemen?" Jeremie asked while gesturing towards the forest.
"But of course" Odd replied frankly.
The four heroes made this way to their hidden manhole cover and began their decent into the sewers depths. Odd was the last one to take hold of the ladders iron bars when he noticed a certain four-legged partner patiently waiting for some one to care for him.
"Kiwi, what are you doing here. I specifically told you to stay in Jeremie's room."
"Wait a minute, Kiwiw is here?" Jeremie said perplexed who was right underneath Odd.
"Yep and he won't go away. Look, go back Kiwi."
Kiwi's only response was to sit on the ground and blankly stare at Odd.
"Ok, you can come."
"For such a small dog, he can be as stubborn as a mule."
"Ok, now let's see what's XANA wants to do with all of the satellites in space"
Jeremie brought up a display of the city's television antenna and launched a program to track the radio wave's progress as they were fired into space. With that out of the way, Jeremie turned his full attention to Odd, Ulrich and Jin who were about to enter the scanner room.
"Ok guys, we don't know what we're up against so be extra careful when you're on Lyoko."
"Don't worry Jeremie, we were thinking the same thing down here." Ulrich said looking at one of the many camera's that littered the factory.
"Get ready to take the plunge."
The friends entered the tall brown cylinders and prepared themselves for another trip to Lyoko.
"Ok here we go. Transfer Odd. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Jin."
The all three scanner doors closed at Jeremie's command and began to release their loud mechanical hum.
"Scanner Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Jin."
Jeremie then uploaded all three characters into the computer making sure that the transfer process went by smoothly. He then struck a single key with his index finger and started his friend's trip into the virtual world.
"Virtualization"
"No more cell phones, no more school!" "No more cell phones, no more school!" The students chanted with their voices united.
Yumi was wary of anything suspicious tricks that XANA was pulling while at the same time trying her best to fit in with the crowd. Yumi soon conformed to the movement.
"No more cell phones, no more school! No more cell phones, no more school!" Yumi chanted along side the others.
"Now let's see which satellite XANA has selected to use."
Jeremie scrolled down the list of potential satellites that XANA could control until his program located the desired machine.
"Now let's see here" Jeremie said while reading a brief description about the satellite's capabilities. "V-4668...OH NO!"
"All we have to do is follow this pathway and we'll find us there in no time."
"Guys, I have finally found out what XANA has been up to all this time!" Jeremie communicated to the Lyoko party. "He's taken control of satellite V-4668!"
"You gotta explain these sort of things to us Einstein. I don't believe the three of us known much about satellites." Odd answered back slightly peeved by the lack of information he was getting.
"V-4668 is a highly technological and destructive military satellite."
"MILITARY SATELLITE?"
Ulrich turned towards the direction of the tower that XANA had activated and faced the three individuals behind him. "Then we have no time to waste. Lead the way Aelita!"
Aelita ran down the ice bridge with Odd, Jin and Ulrich following closely behind her.
"So what is XANA going to have the satellite shoot at?" Ulrich asked, trying to get a general understanding of XANA's scheme.
"Well he's not going to fire at the factory." Odd threw his two cents in. "He wouldn't shoot at himself."
"If XANA were to shoot at the school, there would be countless people that could be injured and killed!"
"Don't forget Ulrich." Jeremie butted in. "Yumi is still there so most likely that's what he'll do."
"We have to find a way to get in contact with her so she can evacuate the school and get the students to safety." Ulrich suggested.
"That's an excellent idea Ulrich, but without a mobile phone we can't notify her about the danger she's in."
"WELL THINK OF SOMETHING!"
Jeremie desperately searched the factory's computer room for anything that could be used to contact the stray girl. His solution came to him in the form of a sleeping animal lying near his feet.
"You two foucus on protecting Aelita so she can deactivate the tower. Don't worry about Yumi and the school, I'll handle this one."
Jeremie reached into his backpack and drew out a small piece of paper and a black pen and scribbled a note for Yumi to read and stuffed it into Kiwi's red collar.
"Listen Odd, I have to use Kiwi to deliver a message to Yumi. Do you think he can handle such a task?"
"Kiwi is a smart dog. I'm sure he'll pull through."
"Ok here goes nothing. I'm off to send Kiwi back. Wish him luck."
"Ok Kiwi, make sure you find Yumi ok?"
Kiwi let out a small bark of agreement as he sensed the threat that loamed over the girl right before his disappeared from Jeremie's sight.
"Smart dog. Stubborn, but very smart." Jeremie commented as he watched the dog run towards the school.
"I will not let this happened!" Jin yelled out while quickening his pace in Lyoko.
Adrenaline pumped through Jin's veins causing his eyes to narrow and his muscles to tightened. He was going to protect his sister at all cost. Even if he had to risk immediate death to do so.
Jeremie was slightly out of breath once he returned to his computer chair positioned in front of the monitor and wasted no time to inform his friends of their latest enemy.
"Ok guys, according to the holomap, the tower should be roughly twenty feet away from you, but be careful, the area is most likely guarded..."
"By the waspsters, we know." Ulrich finished off Jeremie's statement as he faced down the five enemies hovering in front of him. Ulrich stood on the left side of Jin and gripped his sword handle ready for the upcoming battle.
Odd too readied himself for the confrontation and raised his wrist and pointed it at the enemy. The hornets on their part made no effort to attack or even move as the stared down the three heroes who just wanted to rid themselves of their existence.
"What are they waiting for?" Odd whispered wondering why the waspsters were so inactive.
"They're probably just trying to stall you" Jeremie concluded. "Find a way to get past them."
"Now you're talking my language. Laser Arrow!"
Odd took it upon himself to instigate the upcoming fight and launched the small yellow dart at the crowd of hornets and watched the group dispersed.
"Watch out for their acid. It will eat through your lifepoints." Jeremie warned the others.
Ulrich unsheathe his sword and brandished the deadly weapon at his adversaries. "Thanks for the heads up Jeremie."
The hornets took their turn on the offensive and fired two lasers at the group which Ulrich swiftly blocked with ease. It was then he saw out of the corner of his eye Aelita run ahead and take shelter behind a nearby boulder..
To bad XANA's monsters also noticed the girl's carelessness.
"Aelita, NO!" Jeremie screamed into his microphone as he saw the hornets fly towards the defenseless girl and release five deadly streams of acidic green liquid.
Just before the toxic substance came into contact with Aelita's body, she felt a strong force tug at her arm. She turned her head and saw a familiar pair of black sunglasses and a warm smile looking back at her.
"You might not want to touch that sort of stuff. It's bad for your health you know." her rescuer warned.
Aelita noticed that both of Jin's hands were empty. Meaning that he had yet to select a weapon and was currently unarmed. Jin pulled Aelita away from the hazardous ooze and watched her take cover behind Odd and Ulrich before he himself reclaimed his original position in between the two fighters.
"Aelita, don't worry about the enemies. That's their job."
"Looks like we'll just have to go to Plan B now" Odd remarked.
"What's Plan B?" A confused Jin asked.
"I'll let you know when I think of it."
Yumi felt something soft brush up her leg and spotted the dog who was so desperately trying to get her attention.
"Kiwi, what's wrong?" Yumi knew something was seriously wrong if Odd was willing to send his dog into the fray. "Hey there's something stuck in her collar." Yumi began to realize why Kiwi was here in the first place. A realization that she wasn't able to elucidate thanks to outside interference.
"What is the meaning of this?" Came the principle's voice, choosing that exact moment to first venture into the protest group. It was then he noticed two unusual features within the demonstration. Number one, Yumi Ishiyama, a normally well-behaved student was in the circle with the rest of the students, and second, there was a dog near her leg.
"Is that a dog? Yumi, you know that is a direct violation of school rules! Come to my office right now."
"Hey did you just see that?" Sissy interrupted. "The dictator is taking Yumi away." Sissy strengthened her resolved and faced her comrades. "We're not going to just stand here and let him do this. Free Yumi! Free Yumi!"
The principle did not pay heed to their request.
"Yumi I don't understand what's going on. Mysterious cell phone calls, a strike, a dog. All of this madness has to end!"
Yumi still remembered the small note that was stuffed in Kiwi's collar and waited for an ideal opportunity to seize the piece of paper.
"I just don't know what to make of this. You were always such a sensible student."
Yumi watched the principle throw his arms up in the air wishing for the answers to just rain down upon him. This was the moment that Yumi had been waiting for. Concealing her unnecessary movement as her tying her shoelace, she quickly grasped the small note and read it silently. The principal noticed Yumi's body hunched over and demanded her attention.
"Yumi!" The man said sternly.
Yumi crumpled the note before leaving the office.
"Where are you going!" The principle spoke as if he was giving an order rather than he was asking a question.
"I'm sorry sir but I have to go and I suggest that you do too. In fact, all of the students in this school should get as far away as the building as possible!"
The principal heard the door slam shut and reacted by leaning back in his chair.
"This is going to be a real long day."
"Ok guys, I've come to a decision" Jeremie communicated through the intercom. "There are too many hornets for you to fight. One of you guys has to make the sacrifice and create a diversion so that the others can get to the tower."
Odd wasted no time in fulfilling Jeremie's request and stepped forward while raising his arm towards the hovering group of adversaries ahead of him.
"Laser Arr..."
BANG!
Odd's attack was cut off by a loud gunshot behind him. The bullet flew through the air and clipped the middle hornet's left wing causing it to temporally lose balance in mid-flight.
"Next time I'll make sure that my next shot hits" Jin said as he walked beside Odd with both of his pistols drawn.
"Jin what are you doing?"
"Getting myself killed so you don't have to. Look Odd, my sister is in some serious danger back at the school and if something bad happens to her I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life. I need to get out of Lyoko so I can warn her of XANA's true plans. Plus I'm still a rookie here while both you and Ulrich have plenty more experience than me. You would do a much better job with covering Aelita then I could ever do."
"Jin stand down" Jeremie ordered from the confines of the computer room. "I know your character was made to disorient the enemy but you're far too weak to take on five hornets by yourself. Besides, the only way you can stand a chance with fighting those things is if you use you're power but I don't think they'll let you stay still long enough for you to even activate it."
Jin had already factored in the waspter's unwillingness for him to use his trademark move and thought of a suitable counter measure for it.
"If my sister's life is at stake, then I'll just have to change things up a little bit more than usual huh? Ok XANA, let's rock!"
Jin planted his feet firmly into the snow-covered surface of the polar region and threw both his arms back.
"Ready, PSYCHO CRUSHER!"
"Psycho Crusher?" Odd asked not knowing what to make heads or tails of what was going on.
"Believe me when I say this Odd" Jeremie answered. "I did not program a "Psycho Crusher" into Jin's character."
"That's because this is something I came up with myself." Jin replied, filling in the blanks in Odd and Jeremie's explanations.
"On no" the two said simultaneously.
The Lyoko gunner dove headfirst towards his enemies and began to initiate his special technique. Jin outstretched both of his arms in front of him and used the enhanced agility he received while occupying the virtual world to spin his body in the air sideways. The boy's unique dive proved to be a hard target for the hornets to handle as their lasers passed harmlessly by his twisting form. Jin chuckled to himself as he pictured the destruction he was going to cause.
"Now for the real fun to begin" he thought to himself.
Normally the act of diving forward coupled with spinning in the air would prove to be a difficult position for the average person to aim a gun straight...
but then again, Jin was blessed with some unique talents that the average person did not possess.
"Bullet Barrage!"
The waspters were at the mercy of Jin's rampage for they were unable to respond accordingly while the fighter was in the and helplessly watched him take cover behind a nearby boulder. Jin reached into his white over shirt and produced his last two clips of ammunition that he had in Lyoko and replaced the spent magazines that had already been discharged before diving out of his hiding place and running away from his friends to draw the hornet's fire away from them.
The waspters were not going to let their opponent utilize the same trick on them twice and took appropriate counter measures to put an end to the boy's assault and gain the upper hand in the five on one battle. The hornets deduced amongst themselves that the first step in victory in this exchange was to cripple the elder Ishiyama's movement so that he would be an easier target to overpower. The lead hornet adjusted it's aim to compensate for its moving target before firing its own laser into it's adversary's leg.
Jin's only warning of the oncoming attack was a high pitch wail produced by the hornet before it fired but that alone did not give him ample time to dodge the attack. Jin's left leg was struck by the beam of red light as scalding pain was being registered by his brain. He holstered his pistol in his left had and tightly clutched the injured limb and continued to limp onward.
The lead hornet was only slightly impressed with its enemy's display of endurance, but only used that fact as justification to deal yet another devastating blow. It ordered two other waspsters to unleash another deadly stream of acid at their opponent.
The burning sensation in his arm was the only feeling that Jin payed heed to after the deadly liquid came into contact with his left arm. He cradled the damaged appendage with his right arm dropping his gun in the process. The two attacks proved to be too much for Jin to handle as he collapsed on one knee to unable to move another inch.
"Jin, between the lasers and the acid you only have twenty lifepoints left!" Jeremie yelled at him.
"Well you said someone needed to make a sacrifice so I really should of expected something like this to happen."Jin said through his teeth.
"Staying in the prone position is not going to do anyone good. Get moving!"
Jeremie was right, the hornets saw a golden chance to finish off one Aelita's defenders and were intending not to let it go to waste.
"Yumi, did my father let you go?"
The tired girl took a few crucial moments to catch her breath before she faced the student advocate leader.
"I escaped while he wasn't looking because..." Yumi was about to reiterated the message she read on Kiwi's collar about the rouge satellite threatening to destroy the school but cut herself off so that she wouldn't alert the outside world about XANA and his threat to the human race.
"Because?" Sissy asked.
Yumi realized that she had yet to complete her explanation. Thinking quickly on her feet she thought of a way to both evacuate the school and conceal the truth but she needed Sissy's "cooperation" for her plan to work.
"Because getting our cell phones back is more important than anything else!" Yumi surprised herself on how convincing her lie really sounded. "In fact I think it's time for use to take this demonstration to a whole new level."
"Whole new level?"
"I say we march into town and get all of the schools on our side. Who's with me!"
Sissy nodded in agreement with Yumi's suggestion and motioned her arm towards the street.
"Come on guys, let's go!"
Aelita's curiosity got the best of her as she stopped and watched the battle on the adjacent platform causing Odd and Ulrich to follow suit. The three friends then saw Jin take a stream of acid collide into his leftt arm causing him to fall on his knees yielding to the punishment he was receiving.
"JIN!" Aelita cried out as she felt a certain sense of obligation to go back and help the boy in his desperate fight for survival.
Odd placed his hand on the girl's shoulder and slowly shook his head from side to side.
"There's nothing we can do now Aelita. Jin knew the risks by accepting to be the decoy. The only thing we can do is deactivate the tower so that his sacrifice was not wasted."
Despite the volumes of truth that Odd's words contained, Aelita couldn't help be continue to watch the exchange hoping that Jin would find some way of overcoming the situation victorious.
But that wish would never come true.
"Jin, you need to get up and fight back!" Jeremie screamed into the computer's microphone trying his best to motivate the lone fighter to continue his onslaught.
"Believe me that's kinda hard to do when my entire left side is just killing me right now. Where the heck is that pain killing program you have? I'm getting slaughtered out here and the last thing I want to do is to let them kill me like this!"
"Don't worry, it will activate soon"
"How soon? I don't think those waspsters will be kind enough to wait and let me get up and walk all of this off!"
"Just give it some time."
As if on command, Jin felt the pain that was once consuming him instantly reduce to nothing more than a mind-numbing ache. Jin didn't need to be told twice what to do next. Not wasting anymore time, Jin quickly rolled out of the path of the incoming lasers that were just destined to take his life and picked up his discarded firearm.
"Way to go Jin!" Jeremie cheered on, relieved that the gunman still had enough fight left in him.
"Now is not the time to celebrate" Jin said seriously before firing four quick shots into the group of hornets and managing to destroy one of them. He quickly flashed a quick smirk at the four remaining survivors and twirled his pistols around his index fingers.
"That's more like it."
"That was wonderful!"
Jin expected that congratulatory comment to come from Jeremie but instead those words of encouragement came were from a female and originated behind him. The Japanese boy quickly turned around and saw a pink speck of color out in the distance.
"Aelita, what are you doing here? Get to the tower! I can't keep these hornets away for long!"
Jin shifted his attention back towards the fight and pointed his weapons of choice at the crowd of flying insects.
"You know the drill XANA. LET'S RO.."
The waspsters did not even let him finish his quote as they eagerly watched their four lasers collied into their opponent's chest.
Aelita saw Jin's body slowly fade into nothing more than a three-dimensional outline of its former self before it completely evaporated completely from existence.
"NO!"
Odd then noticed that the remaining four waspters had just centralized their attention upon them and were now currently flying in their direction.
"Guys I really hate to spoil such an emotional moment but it looks like our friend had only managed to destroy only one of those things. We gotta get moving now!"
Ulrich rested his hand on the hilt of his blade and stared down the incoming assailants.
"Jeremie, where do you say the tower was again?"
"Just follow the ice path. It leads to a clearing to where the tower is."
"Odd, cover Aelita. I'll take the lead. Things could get messy here."
Ulrich sprinted ahead and prepared himself for the dangers that the frozen patch of ground held in store for him and his friends.
What sort of destruction was this satellite capable of?
The possibilities, endless. The speculations, numerous. Each and every potential answer that would dare creep into his subconscious was instantly noticed, all the while driving his interest up the wall. He just had to find out if he wished to maintain a certain level of sanity. Jeremie's fingers quickly brushed against several keys on his keyboard and hacked into the satellite's targeting system overlooking the world map.
"Now let's see what this thing can do."
A small white box zipped across the map's display and zeroed in on a small country before zooming for a more detailed look giving off a relatively accurate display of buildings and the general scenery. This sight alone did not generate any excitement from the anxious boy. In fact, it received the opposite reaction. All of that money the government spent putting this satellite in orbit and the best it could do was get an overhead shot of the city.
"Looks like this thing dose not live up to all of the hype it's been generating...WHAT THE?"
Jeremie's eyes traced the pathway that the small white box had etched on the screen while it honed in on a building in far horizon which later turned out to be that of Kadic Junior High.
"Looks like I made my judgment a little too soon concerning V-4668. For it to pinpoint one building out from space is insane! I just hope Yumi got my message."
Unfortunately satellite V-4668 still had more surprises in store for him.
Jeremie watched the white targeting icon zoom in again locating several heat signatures moving towards the city in one swift pass.
"I don't believe this!"
The satellite magnified its field of vision one last time before selecting its desired target. A target that Jeremie knew fairly well.
"YUMI!"
Just then the elevator doors began to hiss loudly, letting a thick cloud of steam to escape from its cracks. Jin staggered into the computer room and readjusted his cordless head phones so they fit snugly around his ears.
"Got any news for me?"
Jeremie did not skip a beat in reporting his latest findings.
"Jin, the satellite is after Yumi and is going to fire in a few minutes!"
"No rest for the wicked" Jin scoffed before riding the elevator to the surface.
Yumi was happy that Sissy played into her plan and agreed to march into town. A bluff that would even make Dirk Kap Hwan proud. She didn't even mind Nicholas's latest chant that he supplied to the rest of the protestors for it was very simple and straight forward. It was just that the throng of students was moving a little too slowly for her taste.
"Come on" She yelled to urge the rest of the people to walk faster.
There were times in Yumi's life where she just wished she could just throw cation to the wind and openly tell people the truth about XANA for that would make evacuations like this one a whole lot easier.
This was one of those times.
If things didn't change anytime soon, Sissy and her followers would soon be vaporized by a single laser shot from the heavens. This was not something Yumi would allow to happen so easily.
"You will not leave the school grounds!" The principle ordered from the school's gate.
Of course fate always had some way of interfering and complicating the circumstances even more.
Yumi was the first to speak. "Sir you gotta listen to me. We need to get away from the school as soon as we can!"
"Yumi, ever since I saw you involved in this act of defiance you have been nothing but trouble. You are now suspended for an entire month taking effect immediately! You and your little dog are to leave the school right this instant!"
"Sir you don't understand, we have to get to town. It's a matter of life or death!"
Yumi's pleadings with the principle caught Sissy's attention. If she continued to behave in this manner, their whole movement could be broken down. She was running a tightly organized counter operation that wished to return the cell phones to the students of Kadic Junior High. Not a traveling Broadway production.
"Don't you think you're being just a little over dramatic with this whole thing?"
"SIS!"
There was only one person on the face on this Earth that would care Yumi sis.
"Aniki?" The girl asked wondering why Jin was in the forest rather than fighting alongside his friends while on Lyoko.
"Get to the factory now! It's you that the satellite is after!"
Yumi scooped Kiwi into her arms and fled into the thicket of trees leaving the others behind to fend for themselves.
"Ready to fire" came a robotic voice from the computer's speakers.
"NO!"
A thin blue light crashed into the forest's surface, shaking the very Earth from underneath them.
The principle blinked his eyes a few times and almost slapped himself in the face to see if he was dreaming or not. Once it was confirmed that he was still indeed within the realm of reality, he decided to take evasive action.
"Students, get away from the building as far as you can! We need to leave now!"
"I said it's in a massive clearing at the end of the pathway."
"Well I'd really hate to correct you but it's not here."
"It can't be!"
"He's right Einstein" Odd confirmed. "I don't see a tower here. Unless XANA has found some way to miniaturize these things, all I'm staring at is an empty area."
The two living real world counterparts were indeed not lying. A gigantic black and white tower that had a glowing red aura would indeed be an easy sight to see so for one not to notice such a spire within the nearby vicinity must mean that no such pillar existed.
"The holopmap doesn't lie" Jeremie rationalized. "It just has to be there, I know it should."
Odd heard a buzzing noise behind him that grew louder with every passing second causing him to turn around.
"Well there's something I do see. Hornets!"
Ulrich was the faster of the two to respond. He swiftly dashed towards the gathering of enemies and sliced his sword through the air creating an opening in the crowd large enough for him, Odd and Aelita to safely pass through. Odd soon stopped his run and came to a skidding halt so that he could face the oncoming attackers.
"Odd, what are you doing?" Asked a shocked Ulrich.
"XANA's monsters forgot to RSVP for our little get together and right now our guest list is full. I'm going to see if I can "persuade" a few of them to leave."
Ulrich was not entirely sure of what his best friend was planning but he respected his judgment well enough to trust his decision.
"Knock them dead Odd"
"Would you expect any less from me?"
The waspsters had enough with the mindless chit-chat that their targets were exhibiting and just wanted to fulfil their objective without any incident. They too enrolled themselves in the discussion but chose to communicate with their laser cannons instead of the spoken word.
"Ulrich, get Aelita to safety pronto! Leave the waspsters to me."
Ulrich and Aelita ran to seek haven from the endless supply of laser that they were being harassed by. Their escape was cut short when they reached the island's cliff side.
"Looks like we don't really have a choice here huh?" Ulrich comment on the recent turn of events.
Aelita closed her eyes and gazed at the floor. "Don't worry Ulrich, I trust you."
"Then let's get going!"
Odd witnessed the two leap over the ledge and resumed his gaze at the hovering insects.
"Laser Arrow!"
Odd's single projectile managed to pierce a hornet right in its weak point destroying it right on contact.
"Hmm, one monster down, and on my first shot. Sometimes I even amaze myself."
Odd slowly backed away to the edge of the platform and smiled.
"Odd!" Jeremie screamed into his microphone. "One more step backwards and your taking a huge tumble downstairs"
"Don't worry Jeremie. This is all part of my plan."
"Plan?"
"Just wait till Jin gets a load of this" Odd thought to himself before jumping backwards and fell over the edge headfirst. The hornets followed in pursuit which is what he secretly them to do. As they flew downward to try to catch up with his high-speed decent, Odd extended both of his fist in front of him and pointed his wrist straight ahead.
"Arrow Barrage!"
Odd parodied Jin's attack and released his own burst of darts into the unsuspecting swarm adding yet another kill to Odd's death tally for the day.
Ulrich and Aelita waited patiently at the bottom of the cliff and watched in amazement Odd's feat of agility and skill. The virtual girl could not help but stare in awe at his elegant backwards dive but this feeling of wonderment would be short-lived. As Odd continued to fall, Aelita saw that he was just inches away from the floor and if he didn't correct his fall anytime soon, he would smash his head against the surface of the polar region.
"Odd!" Aelita warned. "Watch out for your landing!"
"Don't worry princess, I have this whole thing figured out."
Just seconds before impact, Odd raised both of his arms above his head and planted them firmly on the ground before re-launching himself in the air to perform a graceful backflip that would be able to put any gold medal gymnast to shame.
"Ta-da!" Odd said in celebration all while dusting off his purple Lyoko outfit.
"Please don't make any jokes about cats always being able to land on their feet, because that would be so cliche." Ulrich said sarcastically.
"Fine I won't."
"Never a dull moment with you."
"Guys" Jeremie barged in. "If you haven't forgotten, there are still two hornets left and they coming right at you!"
Ulrich held onto his sword tightly and sliced it through the air to warm himself up. "Looks like it's my turn to turn the unwanted guest away."
"Haven fun" Odd said playfully before leading Aelita down a nearby decline in the glacier's floor.
"TRIPLICATE"
"As ok as one would be after narrowly dodging a laser fired from a satellite in space." Yumi dead panned.
"And how's Kiwi?"
Kiwi opted to allow himself to answer Jin's question rather that having Yumi do so.
BARK! BARK!
"That's good to hear. Now let's head to the factory. I believe we have a little score to settle with XANA."
-Target Analysis-
Wields a tradition Japanese katana and specializes in close range combat. Target has just created two exact replicas of self. Probability of destroying intended objective.
CALCULATING...
CALCULATION COMPLETE
PROBABILITY: 33 PERCENT
CLOSE CALCULATION
TARGET ACQUIRED
RUN SYSTEMS CHECK
LASER CANNONS: ONLINE
FLIGHT STABILIZERS: ONLINE
COOLING SYSTEMS: ONLINE
POWER BATTERY: 80 PERCENT
ARMOR INTEGRITY: 50 PERCENT
SCANNING DAMAGES
-Result-
Moderately damaged by unit specializing in traditional human ballistics and long rang combat. Internal systems functional. Able to function at full efficiency.
CLOSE SYSTEMS CHECK
RESUME ATTACK MODE
COMMENCE FIRE
-Results-
Attack successful. Enemy injured.
WARNING! WARNING!
-Threat Assessment-
Enemy's remaining clone still functional and is attacking.
ACQUIRING NEW TARGET
LOCK ON: APPROXIMATELY 4.5 SECONDS
TARGET LOCKED
WARNING! WARNING!
-Threat Assessment-
Target is gaining ground. Moment of impact, 1.5 seconds. Chances of surviving.
CALCULATING...
CALCULATION COMPLETE
PROBABILITY: 0 PERCENT
"IMPACT!"
RUN SYSTEMS CHECK
-Result-
Armor integrity at critical low level. Sustained internal damages. Unable to operate all inner mechanics.
EXECUTE SELF REPAIRS
REPAIRS FAILED
TOTAL SYSTEM SHUT DOWN
"Hey XANA, I'm talking to you! First you knock my sister into the virtual void, make an evil clone of her, almost killed her with a movie alien and NOW you're tying to blow her up with a laser beam! What the hell is this? Pick on Yumi Week! I swear, if I ever get my hands on you, I'll personally destroy every single square-inch of your electronic body with a baseball bat!" Jin's voiced picked up causing him to speak even louder and with more rage as he envisioned each and every single attack XANA had placed in front of his beloved sister. "YOU HEAR ME? A FREKIN BASEBALL BAT! And remember XANA, I don't make threats, only promises!"
Yumi did not share her brother's rage towards the rouge computer for she had other thoughts in her mind other than revenge. Thoughts that included the safety of her brother and the other students of Kadic Junior High. There was only one way she could think of that could save everyone and that solution rocked her to the deepest core of her very being.
He only had the air to comfort him as he plummeted from the glacier's ridge.
Odd was having a less exciting time on Lyoko as Ulrich was experiencing at the given moment. Instead of dodging laser beams and renegade hornets, he was playing a gigantic game of hide-and-seek with XANA's tower. An activity that left more to be desired within the realms of thrill seeking.
"Jeremie, are you sure we're even in the right region? For all this time I've been on Lyoko I haven't even once caught a glimpse of the tower."
"Like I said before Odd, the holomap does not lie. You're in the right place. You just have to look harder."
Odd's ear twitched as he heard a loud thud behind him. Assuming the worst, he spun on his heel and looked at the source of the noise. lying motionless on the floor was a familiar looking figure clad in black and yellow.
"ULRICH!"
"Aelita, what's going on?" Jeremie yelled wanting to get a better mental picture of the events that had just unfold in Lyoko.
"Ulrich fell from the platform above us and is out cold!"
"Odd will make sure if he's ok. You gotta find that tower soon Aelita. Yumi and Jin can't be dodging lasers all day."
Aelita slowly raised her head and surveyed her surroundings just as Jeremie wanted her to do. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The only thing out of place were her, Odd and Ulrich occupying the region. As she watched Odd slowly lift Ulrich to his feet to get him into a more comfortable position, she heard a low rustling in the air.
"Jeremie, are the waspters still after us?" Alieta asked assuming the worst case scenario.
"Fortunately not. Jin, Odd and Ulrich had managed to destroy all five of them so it's now just you three. Why did you ask?"
"Because I'm hearing something right now."
"Hmmm"
Jeremie temporarily withdrew himself from the conversation he was having and raised the three-dimensional map of Lyoko on his computer screen.
"According to the homomap there's a waterfall nearby. That must be where the noise is coming from."
"Waterfall?"
Aelita looked around the area more carefully this time and indeed spotted the body of moving water. To the untrained eye, one would easily dismiss the sight as nothing more than just another landmark but Aelita's keen vision picked up one piece of key evidence that allowed her to cut through XANA's shroud of invisibility.
"Jeremie!" She yelled in delight. "The waterfall, it's glowing red!"
"That's the same color that the tower radiate when it's activated!" Jeremie replied equally as estatic.
"The tower must be behind that waterfall!"
Aelita looked behind her and saw Odd rest Ulrich's body against the glacier's surface.
"Is Ulrich ok?"
"He'll be alright. I think he's coming around."
"That's good because Jeremie and I think we have located the tower."
"Well don't let us stop you. Do your stuff princess!"
Aelita answered back with a simple smile and ran at full speed towards the possessed spire.
Or in Aelita's case to undo it.
AELITA
"Kiwi, stay with Jin and don't follow me." Yumi whispered into the dog's ear while she knelt in the grass. The dog complied and quietly strolled to Jin's position where he was pressed up against a tree.
Jin said his goodbyes once when he made a similar decision back when he intentionally let go of her hand to save her. Now it was Yumi's turn to recite her own farewells.
Jin took a quick peek at the school before sneaking his head back behind the tree he was hiding behind.
"Ok sis, we're right across the boiler room. If we run now we can..."
Yumi did not let Jin finish his statement and ran right in front of him.
"SIS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Yumi looked behind her and saw that Jin was following her. She closed her eyes tight and willed her legs to move faster all while trying to put as much distance between herself and Jin as she could.
"Aniki, it's too late for me. Save yourself!"
"You're not going to do this sis!"
Yumi knew that she could never persuade Jin to just leave her be. She had to find a way to slow him down so that he would not get hurt when the satellite prepares for its next shot. Yumi abruptly halted her run and waited for Jin to get close before balling her hand into a fist.
"Sorry Aniki" Yumi apologized as she threw her elbow back. She could feel Jin's jaw just shake in shock from the tremendous impact it received from the powerful strike. Her brother was knocked off his feet and placed his right hand over the area to drive out the pain he was feeling. Jin only stayed on the floor for about a second before he quickly picked himself up and resumed his frantic chase for his sister extending his left arm out as far as he could to try to close the shortening gap in between them.
"YUMI STOP!"
Trying to stop Jin was a harder task then Yumi originally anticipated but it was something she had to do to keep him safe from XANA. She swiftly turned in place and grabbed Jin's outstretched arm only to flip him over her shoulder and viciously slam him against the floor without a shred of mercy.
Jin could feel all of the breath he had stored in his body escape his lips in one violent exhale. He stared at the clear blue sky and saw his sister walk slowly up to him.
"If you're not going to listen to reason then maybe you'll respond to brute force!" Although Yumi tried her best to sound cold and collected, she couldn't force back the tears that were forming in her eyes.
"We won't be able to defeat XANA if both of us get us killed. I'm sorry Aniki but that's my choice and you are not going to change my mind."
A single tear cascaded down her cheek and fell to the Earth before she regretfully turned her back towards him.
"Goodbye Jin."
XANA choose to respond by firing yet another deadly blue beam from his instrument of death floating safely in space. Yumi could hear the projectile rip through the very fabric of existence, barreling towards her at unprecedented speeds never before experienced by man. A slight nudged was felt in her foot signaling that her black boot struck against a rock hidden amongst the blades of grass in the field that she was running across. Her body tipped over and tumbled across the floor in a releasing a flurry of rolls, and flailing limbs kicking up a small cloud of dirt in the process.
Jin rolled on his belly and pushed against the ground with all the strength he could summon from his tired body but only managed to support his upper body by resting on his right forearm only to see Yumi is a similar position just a few feet ahead of him. Jin watched the ray of light boomed through the sky threatening to destroy the very heavens reverberating back feelings of pain and anguish.
"NOT AGAIN!"
"Return to the past now!"
His body was swallowed by a gigantic sphere of white light which later took hold of the factory and the city shortly after.
"Not again?" The rational portion of Yumi's mind pondered, trying to figure out the personal significance of her brother's quote. She was too busy in thought and too ravaged by fear to see the fast approaching white light coming straight forward.
"A reminder of school policy to all students." She read off the yellow sheet of paper. "All mobile phones must be turned off before entering the classroom or else they will be confiscated."
Sissy could only see the amused grins that her rival counterparts were now wearing managing to frustrate her to no end.
"Arrg, you guys are such teacher's pets! I would love to see them try to take away mobile phone!"
Yumi only allowed herself to chuckle at the girl's expense for a few moments before speaking once more. "By the way Sissy, thanks."
Sissy had absolutely no idea of the greater impact she caused that day and as a result, did not have the appropriate reply for Yumi's words of gratitude.
"Thanks? Since when do I get a thank you from the darling Yumi?"
"You're more helpful to us than you give yourself credit for. I'm just letting you that I'm grateful of what you've done so far."
Now if hearing a simple thank you from Yumi was surprising enough, hearing those words almost knocked Sissy right off her feet but she couldn't let arch rival know how startled she really was.
"Humph, looks like you guys live up to your name as the "Weirdo Bunch" once again" and with that said Sissy opened the doors to the cafeteria with Herb and Nicholas right behind her.
"Oh well, it's that thought that counts right guys?" Odd said cheerfully finding a treasure trove of humor in Sissy's confused reaction.
Yumi once again resumed her humorous mood but notice Jin quietly walking away from the rest of the group with his head hung low.
Yumi broke away from her laughter and waved to the rest of her friends.
"Well that was fun guys but I gotta take care of something. See you later"
"See you later Yumi" Ulrich replied.
"Hey Aniki" Yumi said softly.
"Hey sis." Jin answered with downcast eyes.
"About what happened in the field I'm..."
"Don't worry, I understand. You don't need to apologize. You were just looking out for me."
Yumi was relieved to see that her brother held no ill feelings about the beating he received for, ironically, for his protection.
"Jin, can I ask you something?"
"Shoot"
"When I was about to get hit by the laser you screamed out "not again". Did you mean not again as in me being in trouble once more or did you mean..."
"I said not again and it means just that, not again."
Yumi placed her hand on Jin's shoulder and slowly walked away from him to leave the boy alone with his thoughts.
END
Well of course I'm going to plug my site and deviantART account here so that's real obvious. Plus there are two things I would really like, more voice acting auditions and some more Dirk and Clayton fan art (if they even have fans). Or, if you just have to draw Jin because he's such a cool character (that was sarcasm, not an ego trip) then try his Lyoko outfit. Info on the first part will be posted later.
Ok time to be answering those burning questions and responding to some reviews here we go!
Starwave: Man my hats goes up to you first of all. Within the span of two weeks you unleashed a barrage of reviews for each and every single one of my chapters. I'd like to thank you for that and to let you know that I do indeed notice these sort of things.
Briar Noir: You raise a good point by saying that Jin is overshadowing the other characters so I'm not going to be using this time to start chewing you out and saying how you know nothing about fanfiction writing, I would be a big fat jerk if I did that. I know for one your referencing his thoughts in "Image Problem" and all of the other moments where he gets some major screen time. I usually use those scenes as a means to beef up the other character's development. For example, when Jin cut his hand up by punching through the bulldozer's window in "Cruel Dilemma" that was used as an instrument to show more of Yumi's character Also, in the same episode when Odd kicked Jin in the face, that moment was used to show how Odd wanted to better himself as a real world fighter so he could protect his friends both in and out of Lyoko. But don't worry, the other characters will have their moments I promise. It's just that the episodes that really flesh out their characters happen much later in the series.
Fallen Angle: Apology accepted. I can't stay mad at people for a long time (but then again I was never mad at you in the first place). Just try to leave the review board open for reviews unless I'm getting really lazy then you can yell at me.
After becoming a member of the Voice Acting Alliance, I found out how to really do one of these things so I'm going to be starting a whole new process. First of all, there will be specific lines for the characters to eliminate all confusion and to provide equal playing grounds for all participants. Here are the rules for submitting lines.
1. Lines must be recorded as separate files. (I.E. line one is not in the same file as line two) and zipped up.
2. Lines should be labeled yourname-charactername-Line#
3. Zip files should be labeled as yourname-charactername-retellingseries
4. When I say name I don't mean your real name, just the name you use for or whatever alias you go by.
5. Send your lines to my e-mail address specified in my website6. Please save your lines in MP3 format to save me space.
If you can't zip up your files and have to send them into me separately or if you have any questions just let me know on my site and don't post your comment here unless it's a review and I'll be more that happy to let you slide.
Ok the radio plays can not start until I have roles for all of the necessary characters. Once that is completed then we can begin. Necessary characters will usually be in almost every radio play while minor ones will be in only a few depending on the scene. So far only Aelita and Sissy have been cast the rest is fair game for all of you. I'm still waiting for auditions from D.D.Z., xana-nightmare, mornstar and Green Rose. Please send me your lines real soon, I can't wait to hear them!
Cast List
Necessary Characters:
Odd
Ulrich
Aelita - Naki
Sissy - Trillinka
Jeremie
Dirk
Clayton
Jin
Yumi
Minor Characters:
Herb
Nicholas
Jim
The Principle
Milly
Tamiya
Mrs. Hertz
One-Shot Characters (Will add to list as story progresses):
James Finson
Here are the lines for the characters that you will use for your auditions. If you guys notice my name is not next to Dirk and Jin which means gasp their open for tryouts. If you feel like you can play a good Dirk and Jin then by all means go for it. Only necessary characters have audition lines. If you want to be a minor character then just let me know and submit an audition file of yourself and I'll see if you can fit the role. However if I these auditions do not live up to my expectations, I will cast myself for Jin and Dirk once more. Now when you guys try out, I am not looking for people who can impersonate the existing character voices but more of people who can encompass the already existing traits that the original voice has. For example, Odd's voice actor does not have to sound like Odd from the TV show but his voice should sound like he's always goofing off and ready to crack a joke at any moment.
Ulrich
Voice Persona: Somewhat distant but at the same time caring and sincere
Line #1: "Thanks for the advice, or is that a threat?" (Logbook)
Line #2: "I'm not ignoring you. I'm just allergic to people who are stuck up and conceded. And in that category you win hands down." (Big Bug)
Line #3: "You're absolutely right Jeremie, he is. Pretty soon I'll be rolling up my jacket sleeve and start wearing my headphones twenty-four-seven just like how he does." (Holiday in the Fog)
Odd
Voice Persona: Good-humored and light-hearted
Line #1: "Aniki? What the heck does that mean? Sounds like...sounds like...whatever it sounds like it's not too familiar with me." (Teddygodzilla)
Line #2: "It's official, Hell has just frozen over." (Logbook)
Line #3: "Suuuuuure celebration, so that's what they call it these days." (Deja Vu's Recruit)
Jeremie
Voice Persona: Intelligent but also good-natured and friendly
Line #1: "I think the very laws of nature have been compromised to allow this anomaly to occur." (Logbook)
Line #2: "What do you mean too early? Everything is ready, the scanners are running and the program is working. Yumi, we only get one shot at this so let's get it over with. Why do we need to wait? Everything here is fine." (Cruel Dilemma)
Line #3:" Return to the past now!" (All episodes)
Jin
Voice Persona: Very sarcastic and somewhat panicky at times.
Line #1: "Jin Ishiyama, at your service" (Various episodes)
Line #2: "Ulrich, you only mentioned going through the boiler room...YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT TOXIC CLOUDS OF SMOKE!" (Holiday in the Fog)
Line #3: "Man a samurai would be so cool to have right now. No wait, a ninja. Wait, even better, a samurai ninja." (End of Take)
Yumi
Voice Persona: Mature yet caring
Line #1: "Oh come on Jin, I'm your sister. You can tell me anything." (Deja Vu's Recruit)
Line #2: "That's my Aniki, the Master of Disaster." (End of Take)
Line #3: "You know, candy can fix anything. Even a broken heart." (Cruel Dilemma)
Dirk
Voice Persona: Calm and collected and is always in control.
Line #1: "Let me make one thing clear here Ulrich. Dirk Kap Hwan is an accomplice to no one! I call my own shots! I am doing this out of my free will."(Logbook)
Line #2: "Such a shame that you think of those two so highly. You hero worship will yield you nothing but pain and misfortune." (Logbook)
Line #3: "I'm here to get that window open so you and the rest of the students can get off of this death machine. I'm no hero but then again I don't want this bus to be the result of my early demise." (Logbook)
Clayton
Voice Persona: Typical tough guy, The kind of person you don't want to meet in an alleyway after dark.
Line #1: "That's it? I heard your were a tough guy Ulrich. Prove it! I'm waiting." (Deja Vu's Recruit)
Line #2: "You just can't beat me with your reputation. COME ON PUNK, LAY ONE ON ME!" (Deja Vu's Recruit)
Line #3: "So Ulrich, got any last words?" (Deja Vu's Recruit)
Before I begin with the humerous outtakes, there was a scene that I originally had in mind but changed it at the last minute since it didn't really fit well with the story.
START SCENE
"Laser Arr.."
BANG!
Odd's attack was halted as he felt a deadly projectile whizz by just centimeters from the side of his head. However, this attack was not produced by the waspsters...
It came from behind him.
"Next time Odd I won't miss."
"JIN? WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Odd screamed deeply upset that his own friend would do something like that.
"Let me take on those hornets."
"No way Jin. You are far too weak to fight them. I know you're worried about your sister but if you stay behind, you won't do us any good."
BANG!
Odd felt another bullet graze by his head causing him to slightly flinch.
"I'm not kidding Odd, I will use my gun on you."
Ulrich had enough with Jin's double crossing ways and quick drew out his sword. Jin responded kindly by swiftly removing his pistol from his other holster and aimed the silver weapon at his other ally's head.
"Ulrich don't make me do this!"
"You think that little handgun can beat me?" Ulrich said angerily.
"You're right Ulrich, my weaponry can't defeat you. But then again who said I was going to fight you in the first place."
Jin slowly moved his gun that was originally aimed at Ulrich and placed the barrel of the gun to his temple.
"Look you guys got two choices. One you let me fight the hornets so I can rescue my sister or two, I just pull the trigger right here and now and leave you two without fighting at all."
END SCENE
I got rid of this scene for a multitude of reason. Sure it's emotional and tense but it doesn't accomplish anything and causes to many problems for me to consider. For one, I don't think Odd and Ulrich would be two happy to work with someone who attempted to kill them on Lyoko so their relationship with Jin would greatly be strained. Plus, the character development in this scene is repetitive. It just shows Jin risking his neck for Yumi and how he is willing to go to any lengths to accomplish that task. Yawn We've only seen that like a bazillion time already so it's just redundant.
"So how are we going to communicate with each other now?" Ulrich asked.
"Don't worry guys I thought ahead and have already developed an alternative means of communication for us" Jeremie interjected.
"Good work Einstein, now what is it?"
Jeremie reached into his backpack and removed two tin cans with a really, really, REALLY long piece of string tied to the ends of both of them.
"With this."
"God help us all" Odd and Ulrich said in unison.
"Oh yeah" Sissy said confidently after regaining her composer in front of her supporters. "What is the meaning of this?" Sissy marched in front of her father and number one adversary and presented to him her petition filled with the signatures of countless students."We signed a petition so you have to give our cell phones back!"
The principle quickly read over the piece of paper and raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"You want me to wear a tutu to school and stuff my socks with mash potatos?"
"What? It doesn't say that!"
Sissy grabbed her precious petition from her father's hands and read over the title.
"OH MY GOD IT DOES!"
Sissy crumpled the now useless note and tossed it into the trash can.
"Note to self never and I repeat NEVER allow Nicholas to write your legal documents again."
Jin and Yumi heard a loud roar come from the sky as it brightened giving off a false sense of divinity when in reality it was carrying out the wishes of the devil himself. The two siblings leapt in opposite directions and could only pray that the reacted quickly enough to save themselves.
When the dust cleared Jin and Yumi were unscratched and begain to inspect their surroundings.
"Wow for such a powerful weapon, it sure didn't cause a lot of damage to the scenery" Yumi said.
"Yeah I know. Freaky huh?"
Jin suddenly noticed a white flag with a note attached to it and picked it up.
"Don't hurt us, we surrender. I wonder what that means?"
Off in space XANA mentally kicked himself for taking over a French satellite instead of a Japanese or American one.
"NOT AGAIN!"
The satellite's attack zoomed over Yumi's head and touch downed in an unknown location missing the girl by miles.
"Wow XANA is a really lousy shot. You think he was aiming for something else?"
In a far off used car lot, two individuals were having an intese argument regarding about prospects of a future purchase.
"I say your car is crap!" The first man yelled.
"And I say it isn't!" The other responded with just as much hostility.
"Well if my car isn't worth as much as my asking price then may I get struck down by a gigantic laser from outer space."
A loud rumbling could be heard in the air which caused the first man to run away to safety.
"Now what could that be?"
BOOM!
See kids, even XANA has a sense of humor. It may be a warpped, demented, screwed up sense of humor but it's a sense of humor none-the-less.
"Brandon, what happened to you?" Finson asked
"A teenager did this to me. He was wearing all black"
"Dang it!" said Finson as he began to dial his cell phone. "It was the Men in Black again and their new recruits" Dial Tone, man answers "I thought I told you guys it was a FAKE alien!"
"Sorry man, dang newbies, we'll try to get the alien back to you, please wait a few minutes.." Men in Black theme plays on phone.
Finson's anger rises as he says "God this is the fifth time this week!"
Once again I used a non-favorite episode of the Code Lyoko community to beef up the character development of quite a few people. I really tried to make it so that Sissy was really trying to fight for the students of Kadic Junior High out of the goodness of her heart rather than just trying to get her phone back. Also speaking of Sissy, I also gave Herb and Nicholas scenes where they contribute to Sissy's movement by maintaining order with the students and even picking a fight with Dirk and Clayton. I know I'm bending Herb's characterization just a little bit by giving him a bit more spine than he originally had but he seems like the type of person who would do something crazy like that if he was pushed around enough. Plus, I showed in "Image Problem" that he was willing to "mix it up" with the others if he felt like he should.
The hornet's computer scene was something I wanted to try out just for kicks. In the original episode you saw that particular exchange through the hornet's point of view so I decided to take it one step further and that's the result. I got the idea from Phamtom 1's fic "The Next Level".
Now onto the Psycho Crusher. First off, it is not another power Jin has. It's more of a special technique that he developed on his own. First off, one of the reasons why I gave him that particular move was to further separate his fighting style with Odd's If you notice, aside from their different weapon properties they fight the generally the same except that Jin is slightly less acrobatic then Odd but then again who isn't? The Psycho Crusher is just a way for Jin to lay down the fire while dodging the enemy's attacks so he could close the gap in between himself and his targets. Also I did not bite off of the Enter the Matrix video game I specifically chose a special source for inspiration for the attack and you can guess the name of it by the name of the attack. Don't worry folks, Jin will reveal his inspiration in later chapters so don't try to lose too much sleep thinking over it.
Regarding the scene when Yumi runs out so she could save her brother. I truly believe that in the original episode, she ran in front of Odd so that he wouldn't get blasted if they didn't make it to the factory in time so I wanted to just amplify the drama presented to us by tenfold by having her do what she did to Jin to protect him.
Finally there's Vafer. OooooOOOooOO, whenever you guys get more answers, I just keep piling on the mysteries in the story. You'll be hearing a lot more from him (or her) in later chapters so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Well that's all for today thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review behind.
|
Review this Chapter |
