Chapter 4- Another One? (10.19.07-10.21.07)
A window appeared on the screen of the computer, showing a square focused on a sphere with a small entrance gate jutting out of the bottom.
“Yes!” Jeremie said, giving Franz a high-five. “The Super Scan worked. We’ve just located another Replika, guys!”“Another one?” Odd asked. “Jeremie, is this some kind of joke?”
Jeremie stopped. “Huh?”
“I mean, think about it,” Odd continued. “This is the second Replika we thought to be the ‘Last Replika’. There could be others, or this Replika could be a trap for us.”
“When I thought that other full Replika was the last,” Jeremie reflected, “we didn’t have access to the Network plans. The Network plans don’t hide anything in the Network. Well, they can, but I don’t think XANA has gotten that far in cloaking security. And this Replika is the last, because we can’t locate any others.” Jeremie wiped his glasses on his shirt.
“As for it being a trap,” Franz continued, “XANA thinks we’re all dead at the moment. Even if it had been a trap, like the other Replika, I don’t see why he would keep it that way. It would be like setting a trap for a tiger when you know the forest is empty.”
Odd sighed. “Okay. We might as well go.”
The tower turned back to white. This made Aelita remember something. “Dad?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Remember how you activated the tower to use two polymorphic specters as decoys? Didn’t you have to deactivate the tower to use it to access the Network plans?”
Franz rubbed his eyes. “Aelita, I see your point. Yes, I did have to deactivate the tower, but by the time I deactivated it, I’m fairly sure XANA was looking away from the ‘bodies’. I doubt he noticed that we disappeared, because he probably had a lot more on his mind.”
There was a pause. Franz exhaled. “Aelita and Odd, it’s okay to be paranoid about our security at the moment. It’s very natural. But the time’s coming when we’re going to have to reveal ourselves to XANA to destroy him. There’s no other way.”
“Okay, Dad,” Aelita said, “we’re ready.”
“Teleport.” Aelita, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi reappeared in the Skid.
“Ignition powering vertical.” Aelita deanchored the Skid from the tower. The Skid rose up through the hole in the ceiling, and then exited the hangar.
---
The Replika gate closed behind them. “Dad, Jeremie, I’m ready for the coordinates.”
“Okay,” came Jeremie’s voice. “I’m entering it into the Skid.”
An interface opened on the Skid. “Coordinates received. Engaging turbo crop and auxiliary engines.” The Skid moved gracefully forward.
“Last Replika, hopefully,” Odd said, “he we come! XANA, I hope you’re ready for us, because you are going down hard!”
“Aelita,” Jeremie said, a little worried, “the Hub is a little more north of your position, but be careful. There are a few monsters in the surrounding area.”
“Should we give away ourselves to XANA just yet?” asked Yumi. “This may not be the right time.”
Jeremie and Franz pondered the thought. “You guys should probably wait until you’re in the Replika,” Franz replied. “It’s too dangerous right now. If you get devirtualized in the Digital Sea, we won’t have any means of materializing you.”
“Okay,” Aelita said. “We’re nearing the Hub.”
“Careful, Aelita,” Jeremie said, his voice faltering. On Aelita’s side, five red dots appeared on the Skid’s sonar. “Three Kongres and two Rekins starboard of you. But if you get past them unnoticed, it’s smooth sailing to the Replika. I repeat: No monsters between the external Hub and the Replika.”
The monsters were nearby, weaving in and out of another Hub’s beam structure. At the sound of the Skid, they suddenly froze in anticipation.
“Aelita,” Franz said, “they may have spotted you. Be careful.”
Aelita quickly took the Skid around the opposite side of the Hub field. The monsters started to turn away.
The Hub was about twenty meters in front of them. Aelita took action. “Engaging engines…”
The monsters had finally turned their backs to them. The Skid inched forward toward the Hub.
“Hyper-fluid aspiration!”
The Skid shot forward, rotated, and dove into the Hub. But in the split second between rotating and diving into the Hub, Ulrich saw one of the Kongres look straight their way. Ulrich knew that XANA knew of their escape and continuing existence.
---
The Skid shot out of the other end of the Hub. “Whew,” Aelita sighed. “That was a close one.”
“Great job, Aelita!” called Yumi.
“Well done, Princess,” Odd said. Franz and Jeremie also submitted their words of support.
Ulrich only halfheartedly joined in. When it had quieted down, he said, “Aelita, it’s not your fault, but I know one of the Kongres saw us right before we dove in. XANA knows where we are, and that we’re alive.”
Everyone groaned. “Ulrich, why did you have to ruin the moment?” Odd asked.
“We needed to know, Odd,” Jeremie said. “XANA was bound to notice us sooner or later.”
Aelita sighed. “Well, there’s not much to do now but fight. Digital Key activated.”
The white beam once again pulsed from the Skid to the Entrance Gate.
“I’ve got the signal,” Franz said. “Opening Entrance Gate.”
The beam dissolved as the gate swung open.
“Ready or not, XANA,” Odd said with a grin as they entered the Replika, “here we come!”
---
Jeremie pressed the enter button. “Holoweb system connected.” The holomap displayed could have been mistaken for Lyoko.
“Another full Replika, guys.”
The Skid rose out of the Digital Sea into the Mountain Sector of the Replika.
“We’d better get going,” Jeremie said. “Aelita, there’s a tower at seven o’clock.”
“Roger,” Aelita said, piloting the Skid toward the tower in the middle of a cavern surrounding every part of the tower except the front entrance. Yumi recalled that the tower looked exactly like the tower the Xanafied Aelita had ran into to destroy the Mountain Sector back on Lyoko. If only I had been able to stop her, Yumi thought, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Or XANA would have at least been delayed.
A voice shook Yumi out of the memory. “Docking.” The purple sparks appeared and orbited the Skid and the tower, holding the connection.
“Activating tower,” Jeremie said. The tower glowed green. “Who’s up for a Translation?”
“I am!” Odd said. “I want to be the guy to destroy XANA once and for all!”
“Actually, Odd,” Jeremie said, “even if we destroy this Replika, XANA will still exist in the towers of Lyoko. We’re going to have to deactivate all of the Lyoko towers eventually.”
“What?” Yumi said. Before she could continue, Franz cut her off.
“Not now, Jeremie,” Franz said. “We need to focus on one thing at a time. Destroying this Replika is our priority now. Anyone else besides Odd?”
“Me,” Ulrich said without thinking. He knew that he gave an unspoken implication that he wanted to be away from Yumi, but it was to give her time to think, not to feel awkward.
“Okay,” Franz said, typing. “Good luck to you both. Translation.”
Ulrich and Odd disappeared.
“Well?” Jeremie said after ten seconds. “Are you guys on Earth?”“I think I know where we are,” Odd said. “I’ve seem it in certain space movies. I think we’re somewhere in Washington, D.C.”
“Really?” Jeremie paused, giving Franz time to run a search to test Odd’s hypothesis.
“You are in Washington, D.C.,” Franz said. “Near NASA headquarters on 300 ‘E’ Street, Southwest. You should be able to see the U.S. Capitol.”
“We can,” Ulrich said. They were on an empty street on a corner. Not far away, they could see the dome of the Capitol, Congress’s headquarters. At least, it had been.
“Einstein,” Ulrich said, thinking hard, “remember the first time you reprogrammed the Super Scan to track XANA after he left Lyoko?”
“Yeah? I do. What about it?”
“He was located in North America, remember?”
Jeremie’s eyes widened. “That means that this could have been the first Replika he made! Wow. And this could be the last one for us to find.”
---
“Jeremie,” Yumi asked, “are Ulrich and Odd near the supercomputer?”
“Yeah, they are,” replied Jeremie. “The supercomputer is in NASA headquarters.”
“In North America…” Aelita was thinking the same thing as Ulrich without knowing it. “Jeremie, remember the first time you reprogrammed the-”
“Super Scan? Yeah, I do. And Ulrich said that as well. We think that this Replika was the first one XANA built.”
Yum couldn’t help but grin. “It seems like your brother is as smart as you.”
Aelita blushed. Who would have known that we think so very much alike? she asked herself.
A sudden laser shot took Yumi and Aelita’s attention. Yumi looked out of her NavSkid. “Aelita, it looks like we have a welcoming committee.”
A group of Krabes, Megatanks and Tarantulas stood waiting for them. In the middle of the group was William. The Scyphozoa slinked behind him.
“Teleportation,” Aelita said in response, pushing buttons. They rematerialized in front of the Skid.
“I’m programming your vehicles,” Franz said. The Overwing and the Overboard materialized in front of them.
“Why does XANA need the Scyphozoa here?” asked Aelita.
In response, William suddenly disappeared in wisps of light blue, along with five Hornets that had appeared. Yumi knew that they had just been Translated by XANA. And the Scyphozoa would take William’s place in attacking the Skid.
---
“Ulrich? Odd?”
“We’re waiting for instructions, Franz,” Odd called.
“Find the supercomputer. From the map I’ve downloaded from the Internet, it looks like the supercomputer’s a few levels below you. Expect a welcoming committee.”
“I love fighting normal people weaker than us!” Odd grinned as he and Ulrich ran into the lobby.
Ulrich caught Odd’s shoulder. “I don’t think XANA is using normal guard dogs this time.”
“What makes you say that?”
Ulrich pointed. Odd turned toward the direction Ulrich was indicating and winced.
William, along with a horde of five Hornets, was waiting ten meters in front of them.