Code Lyoko: Revolutions and Evolutions

Chapter 47

This chapter was made possible after a prayer for productivity, and I couldn't be happier with the results. I thank you all for your continued support and your reviews. I mean this sincerely as without your viewership and feedback, I couldn't achieve the progress I have attained. I hope you all have enjoyed what you have read so far, and you enjoy this chapter and what is to come. See you next time.-Pagliacci-11.

Jeremy was walking through the dorms, a thought bubbling within his mind. He knew he had to let it out somehow, and thankfully he knew just who to go to.

He knocked at the door, and Aelita's voice came from within, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Aelita," Jeremy replied.

Aelita opened the door, "Oh, hi Jeremy." She looked at his face, "What's going on? You seem a bit troubled."

Jeremy nodded, "I need to talk to you."

Aelita nodded, and she came out, "Not here. Your room."

They headed to Jeremy's room, and once inside, Aelita sat on his bed, "What's on your mind?" she asked as Jeremy sat beside her.

Jeremy sighed, "Where to begin? Here's a question for you. Did you ever feel you avoided a horrible fate on some instinctual level, but you were too afraid to announce it?"

Aelita shook her head, "Not exactly. Why?"

Jeremy was silent as he looked at the blank wall across the room, "I have an awful feeling about Jacqueline. I don't know what it is, I just can't shake it."

Aelita looked at him, "Continue."

"I went to the rec room this morning, and she was there at my usual spot; a game of checkers had been set up. She asked if I would play with her, and I told her that I didn't see it as challenging, that I'd need a form of incentive to play her. She took five minutes, and she literally designed a game that can only equate to Death Checkers. I disarmed her, or so I thought when I told her that the manifestation of lives on a board did not serve as an incentive. She took literally three seconds and asked, "What would incentivize me?" I laid out a casual bet of cherry cobbler for dessert today, and she accepted."

Aelita nodded, "Jeremy, why are you uneasy? What happened?"

Jeremy sighed, "A few things. First, the simple fact she saw this death-checker function as a form of incentive is what directly scared me. Aelita, you, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and I have been through a lot. I would not dare say we haven't been hardened by what we've been through with XANA and what we're going through with Sylvia. But what normal teenager outside of a really twisted person would appraise twelve pieces to equate to the lives of people pending not only the face that was face-up but the number of jumps? Secondly, it was the fact she had played this game so much, as was evident when I played her, she literally was just a few pieces away from victory. It was playing her game, very much in her court, on her rules. Thirdly, and this is perhaps the worst part, I never told her this but every checker-piece I moved literally felt like I held raw life in my hands. It didn't feel that way at first, I admit. But what got me scared was how casually and yet how seriously Jacqueline was taking all of this. As if I were participating in something that I didn't take as seriously as I should have."

Aelita put her hand on Jeremy's shoulder, "Jeremy, look at me."

He looked at her, and she continued, "Never have I seen you so unnerved. Do you really think that she was that serious about a simple game?"

He looked back at the wall, "I—I don't know. I want to say I am going crazy, maybe overthinking. But there's this feeling in my gut that I'm on point."