Code Lyoko: Reincarnated

Chapter 19- Wrong Exposure

(This chapter quotes a lot of the episode)
We sat in the cafeteria and Odd looking kind of glum. "Odd you only took two rounds of seconds. Are you sick?" Yumi asked.

"No, I'm okay," he replied, mouth full. He looked over to a girl on another table. "Incredible. I can't get her to notice me, whatever I do."

"We'll you could try growing a few inches," Ulrich suggested with a laugh.

"You wanna try wearing today's lunch?" he retorted.

Aelita walked by and sat next to me. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," she said flatly. "Jeremie's in his room. He's not hungry. He thinks there's something in an old picture we found."

"A picture!" Odd said, sitting up. "Now why didn't I think of that before? I just have to send her a picture with my best photo and my killer smile and she'll be head over heels for me!"

"If you ask me, you should send a picture of Kiwi," Ulrich said in his usual playful tone. "She loves little dogs."

"How do you know that?" Yumi asked angrily. Aelita and I began laughing.

Later that day, we were walking with the group. Jeremie explained that the photograph wasn't anything special and that it was just a programme to reboot the supercomputer.

"So it's not much of a top secret?" Odd asked. I started to get worried. Isn't everything real red to Lyoko a secret?

"No," Jeremie bluntly replied. "But we'd better keep it a secret. I wouldn't want a picture of Aelita with her father to fall into the wrong hands."

"You mean like... Sissi's hands?"

"Oh no, Odd! You couldn't have." We all realised what this meant.  I pulled out my journal.

Jim came running to us. "Stones, Della Robbia. The principal wants to see you in his office on the double. And Belpois, Stern, Ishiyama and Renaud, you go with them. I'm sure Mr Delmas has a lot of questions for you too."

"But... uh... we got a class right now," Yumi countered.

"You heard me. Get going." I could feel the regret and worry oozing off of Odd.

We stood in the corner as Jim 'calmly' asked Aelita to confess. "I've had tougher nuts to crack! So! Last name! First name! Occupation!"

"Um... Stones. Aelita. Uh... Girl?"

"You think I'm an idiot, don't you?"

"Calm down Jim," Mr Delmas interrupted. "It's just a few questions." I held my journal to my chest. I didn't have a chance to read it yet. And I was just thinking, launch a return to the past!!! If you have a time machine, use it!!!

Mr Delmas pulled out the picture. "What intrigues me about this photograph is the presence of both Franz Hopper and Aelita Stones, and they seem to be very close too. And so the obvious question is whether your name really is Aelita Stones." He looked up at her and she tried to hold a neutral face.

"Yes sir. Aelita Stones is my real name. I'm the daughter of... Franz and Anthea Stones." We exchanged glances. That's the best name she could come up with?

"And are you really Canadian?"

"Yes I am."

"And are you really an orphan?"

"I am."

"And is Odd Della Robbia really your cousin?"

"Yes sir," at this point, she was mumbling. Come on XANA; if you want to attack, now's your chance!

"With your permission, Mr Delmas," Jeremie interjected. "Aelita looks about twelve or thirteen."

"Yes and what of it?"

"We'll you said that Franz Hopper taught here about nine years ago so if that really was Aelita in the picture she would be twenty two years old. Not thirteen. But as you can see, Aelita is thirteen years old. Not twenty two. So that can't be Aelita in this photo. We can therefore conclude that she is not related to Franz Hopper, that she is in fact Canadian and that she really  is Odd's cousin."

"Very well then. While I'm checking this identity business, you're all confined to the library for the rest of the day, under Jim's supervision." I groaned quietly and I wasn't the only one.

I finally had a chance to check my journal. We didn't do anything but the silence was killing all of us. My eyes widened as I realised that Delmas would be xanafied.

Jeremie's laptop went off. Delmas came in. "I need to talk with miss Aelita Stones, privately. Jim, make sure no one leaves this library."

I looked at the rest of the group. "It's Delmas!" I whispered. "I'll keep Jim busy. Go when I start talking to him." I cleared my throat. "Jim. Could you help me? I heard that you were once a professor of mathematics. I really can't get my head around surds. Can you explain it to me?" I put my book in his face. Odd and Ulrich literally jumped over the table as they ran to the door.

"Hey!" Jim shouted.

I grabbed his hand and pulled back, putting with all of my weight. "Go save her!" I slipped and hit my head, still refusing to let him go. I saw the floor was covered a little red. "I think I'm bleeding..."

He was a little flustered on what to do. Who took priority, me who was bleeding or four kids? Me. He picked me up and took me to the infirmary which was right across the corridor. They'd better pay me back for this.

Just before we entered, I jumped out of his arms and sprinted out the doors. I ran as fasts as I could to the factory, which was proven very difficult with a bleeding head. Without much choice. I pulled out my phone and called Jeremie who thankfully picked up.
He filled me in Aelita's xanafication to which I replied: "reboot it! You have the code!"

Someone pulled the phone out of my hand and I came to a sudden stop. "Belpois! You'd better come back here right this minute, you here!"

"Reboot it!" I screamed over Jim's shouts.

"As for you," he said. "You'd better tell us what he's going to reboot or I'm calling the police."

I thought about what would happen if something like that did happen. We always feared it, but it never really happened. We were so close. I can't ruin it now. "Fine, follow me. But first..."

I ripped a part of my shirt and tied it around my bleeding head. We jogged to the factory, stalling for as much time as possible. We jumped down to the lower levels and saw Odd being brutally attacked by Delmas. I grabbed the nearest piece of scrap and charged at him. He fell forwards. "Odd! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. How about you? What's I'm with the ripped shirt? Is it some new fashion trend?" he joked.

"I hit my head." I stood up. "Let's deal with Delmas first."

"What do you mean deal with him?!"Jim retorted. He began walking to us.

I looked around for the cameras. "Jeremie? Any time now!"

I blinked and found myself back to that morning. My head wasn't bleeding anymore either!

Aelita explained how Delmas couldn't possibly know her since she was homeschooled and since her real name was actually Schaefer. We all agreed that Aelita always and forever be known as Aelita Stones, that is until she marries Jeremie.

"Anyhow," I said. "I want a favour. I got Jim to let you go, even for a second."

"Well what is it?"

"I want you to help me retrieve my digital code from the way towers and sector 5. You owe me after all."