Code Lyoko: Revolutions and Evolutions

Chapter 8

It was a quiet mid-afternoon as the Ishiyama household had settled down to dinner. Yumi's transfer to one of the finishing schools had gone through successfully, and she was prepared for what was to come as she had learned from the rest of the Lyoko team earlier in the week, and Jeremy's own best estimate that in time the major institutions of the city would most likely be under the Amber and Reese security system. However, after testing a few of the ins and outs, even though the system's implementation was in its infantile stages, Jeremy and Aelita had hit upon a plan to circumvent the loopholes in the system that they were able to spot.

"You see," Jeremy has told Yumi over her cell, "the system while it is very well-designed. It does not account for a few things, and the very liberties that it grants to us under its directives are where the chink in the armor is."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Oh, it's quite simple. See, whoever designed this system very much anticipated that all this clamping down on our freedoms so close to an event would be too much. Therefore, the designer has allowed us to schedule dates to see movies or go out to eat and the like. With those allowances, we will very much see gaps which we can take advantage of to meet up as not even the best system is without infallibility."

Yumi thought on these things as she was adding garlic to the shrimp gentling searing in the skillet before her. So much had happened just in the past few days, the bombing, a generalized sense of panic and then in the result of that panic, new methods were emerging, new techniques, new voices, new stances that hadn't been there before. It was all taking a turn that step-by-step could be traced back to a singular event.

Focusing on her cooking, Yumi took a plate and then cut a piece of aluminum foil from the package to serve as a covering for the shrimp. She had defrosted the meats for the rest of this stew. A stew that her father had come across on his travels. Using the time that was left, Yumi finely sliced the sausage and gently rolled the hamburger into pristine golf-ball sizes and put them aside. As she performed these functions, she continued to think, "All this is happening so quickly, why can't we rewind time? I know we can, we've done it how many times before?"

Freshly grinding pepper onto the hamburger balls and sausages, Yumi heard a door close. She turned her head to the left and saw her mother come in. She set down her purse and then proceeded to sit comfortably in a chair.

"How was your day?" Akiko asked as she checked through Hiroki's pamphlet for school.

"Fine. No more than the usual," Yumi replied, "the school is thinking about integrating this thing called the Amber and Reese overwatch system. In the wake of everything that's happened, I can't blame them."

Akiko nodded as she got up, "Yes, they installed a similar program at your brother's school and from their leaflet, it's quite good, quite solid. However, I can foresee a few problems. That said, it's the same with any system."

Yumi placed the shrimp on the plate and covered it with foil as she put the sausage and hamburger into the skillet. As the sizzling searing was heard, Yumi asked, "And what do you think, mom? Do you think such a thing is warranted?"

"Warranted, forgive me, went out the damn window when someone blew up a TV station and killed who knows how many," Akiko replied as she rose from her seat to oversee the cooking, "Good. Just turn down the burner slightly you don't want scorched sausage."

Yumi nodded, and she made the adjustment and then said, "You don't think it's a bit...much? The security I mean?"

Akiko shook her head, "No. Nothing is too much when it comes to the security of children. However, you must make peace with the element that this system, as with all systems is new. A system no matter how well-meaning must have a foundation somewhere if it desires to make any degree of improvement."