Same Difference

As the group finishes being virtualized they find themselves in a rather... remote-looking chunk of the forest sector; since Lyoko's original shutdown, someone had been... busy, obviously; the trees didn't simply tower into oblivion anymore - where some did, some came to luscious tops as most of the ground was covered with grass and other plant-life. It... looked like a forest, now, and thankfully the clearing was surrounded by enough of said trees cloaked them from any monsters that may dwell in the area.

"About time," a voice jumped to attention behind them, standing to his feet. "I was afraid I'd lose some of you. Good to know I calculated incorrectly for once." Still moderately short, moderately blond and moderately dorky looking, Jeremie hopped down off of a boulder he had been resting on; his outfit was simple enough, though he had grown an impish tail and elf-like ears. He smiles, blue eyes aglow, but there's something notably startled about him; he seems out of breath as well. "... W-wait," his long ears fold a bit. "Where's Yumi?" He looks at Ulrich first, of course, as if he's her keeper; apparently something about her not being here was more urgent than seeing his old friends again - good old Einstein and his priority system...

[[ TURN ORDER: Jeremie // Ulrich // Odd // Aelita // Dunbar ]]
[[ POST OBJECTIVE: Open Ended! However, tell us how your character looks now - ten years is a long time for your character's personality and subconscious to change, meaning there's little chance you look the same as you did back then! ^_^ ]]

Ulrich felt a strange hyper-awareness that bordered on numbness as he opened his eyes to see...Lyoko? Not quite; it seemed changed, more filled out than he remembered it ten years ago. If this were an actual forest, that would be on thing, but it was the Forest Sector, a computer program that couldn't exactly be expected to age and grow and change the same way an actual, physical place would. Then again, nothing could ever really be too surprising in Lyoko, he supposed.

Stretching his body to try and get accustomed to the peculiar sensation of physical non-physicality in Lyoko, Ulrich noticed he had changed as well. Rather than the old-fashioned Samurai gi he had worn back in the day, or even the more advanced tech-suit he had taken on during the final days of the fight with XANA, he now wore a flowing golden haori with black highlights along its edges over a skin-tight black armor which was accentuated at the chest, forearms, waist, and calves with samurai-like armor made of a strange futuristic metal with the same colors as his old gi. Most striking of all, he had two high-tech-looking katana hilts tucked away on either side of his waist but no visible blades on either; he could only wonder what that meant.

And then he heard Jeremie's voice.

"Jeremie!" he greeted enthusiastically as he turned around; even as he saw the young genius' new body, it did little to surprise him. At least this form was more dignified than the one he'd had ten years ago! "Thank goodness you're OK!"

He had more to say, but then Jer looked at him so...expectantly, and asked about Yumi. His spirit immediately dimmed somewhat, but dammitall Jeremie was safe, and he refused to let go of the relief he felt at knowing that. "She got a little held up on her way back from Japan," Ulrich answered as calmly as he could. "She wasn't with us when you called."

He wanted to ask how Jer had done that from Lyoko, how he'd activated the Scanners from inside too, but he knew this was better left as calm a moment as possible. Aelita, Odd, even William...they deserved a breath or two after their harrowing trip.

Of course. It had only been 10 years, you'd think Odd would be used to landing on his feet. But no. Odd looked up to everyone from the ground, a big smile on his face. Now that they were in Lyoko he felt more at ease. He wasn't sure why, because it was dangerous there too, Maybe it was because they didn't have anyone chasing after them. He looked around the area, the changes surprised him a bit, but just like Ulrich, he knew how easily things could change there.

Odd got to his feet a coat ruffled as he did so. It was the traditional purple with lighter purple stripes. White fur rimed the hood, selves, and the bottom of the coat. On the left side of it was a kiwi patch, old things really do die hard. He had the purple pants like always and yellow converse. He was really laid back, and his clothes showed it. He still had his ears, tails, and paws, but that was a give in.

"Well hey there Einstein!" with his usual smile he approached Jeremie, he patted him on the shoulder. "You didn't really change much, huh?"He laughed a little, looking over at the others.

It was a two-way shock of sorts for Aelita as she opened her eyes. Long-forgotten familiarity of the most intimate sort mixed with surprise at all the ways her former home had changed mixed together for a truly disorienting sensation. Indeed, just the general feel of Lyoko seemed...different, somehow. She had thought returning would be like riding a bicycle; even though she'd been away for a decade, she thought the adjustment would be easy, natural. But instead, it was like going from learning how to ride a bicycle to learning how to drive a car (which had indeed been a tricky transition for her in the real world). The overall function was the same, but the mechanical specifics were completely different.

Furthering the oddity of it all was her new appearance. Physically, she looked more or less the same; pointed elf-like ears, pristine pink markings on her face...but her garb was entirely new. On her legs were skin-tight white pants with dark-purple boots bound in golden bands, looking much like the cuffs on her forearms. Likewise, her arms were covered in a skin-tight cloth, but these were black. It was all centered by a pink, short-skirted tunic with golden bands running across it horizontally and vertically, punctuated by circular pads on either side. There was even a gold-banded necklace now with a single, pink-purple star-like gem in its center. Last, but far from least, there were four small orbs of glowing pink light floating around her, almost as if magnetized to her body.

But all of that, all of it, faded in importance when she heard Jeremie.

It was all she could do not to tackle him to the ground with the most loving hug ever given just to see him again. To know he was safe and well. Indeed, his new Lyoko form only added to the excitement; he was...quite attractive like this, from her perspective. Still, for all that, Aelita kept her composure as best she could. Better to show Jeremie her well-earned maturity for now. "J-Jeremie...!" she said warmly, hands clasped together thankfully. "You're here! You're OK! Oh Jeremie, I was so scared for you...! I thought...I thought the worst had happened. But you're OK, and it's just...it's the most wonderful thing to see you again."

She forcibly cut herself off there, lest she start gushing a bit too much.

William looked around, there was no change to him since the only sector he had visited before his possesion was the Carthage sector. However, even if he couldn't tell if it was just because it was a different sector if it was because the sector had changed, there was a distinct non-Lyoko feel to this place. It felt more...real. As for the other's outfits he didn't know their changes either except for Aelita's, so he figured all of them had changed. And all of them meant him as well.

Looking over his outfit William noticed it was very similar to his outfit from his first trip to Lyoko. There was the familiar red sash and light blue theme. However now the blue was accompanied by black instead of the greenish color of the past. There was a spiked gotlet on his left forearm which was an unfamiliar but welcome change. Along his costume their where red marks, marking him as scars from the past. An unpleasant reminder of his screw ups. His blade now had a serated edge and had a slightly damaged look as well. Overall William's look gave of an anti-hero vibe. The young man shifted uncomfortably hoping no one would notice.

William wanted to say something at the mention of Yumi, and to greet Jeremy. But didn't want to call attention to himself. Besides there wasn't much he could say that Ulrich hadn't already and Aelita had said hi enough for two people.

Jeremie's ears drooped a bit at the realization Yumi was missing and would continue to be - he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as if trying to physically discard his worry; he greeted everyone as warmly as possible in response to their own greetings - including William - before he paused for a moment, rubbing his forehead.

"I'm glad you're all here - Yumi isn't in any danger, at least, so she can wait a little while; now before I tell you why you're all here, I need to tell you something kind of important, I guess," Jeremie cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm... uh, well, okay, okay! Let me start from the beginning -

I was getting ready to teach class one morning when my laptop's connection to Lyoko went off. I was pretty surprised, but I also knew the government had sent a few agents to poke around the factory and make sure it was clean for demolition; of course, I feared for the worst, that they had turned on the Supercomputer. I went to tell them to turn it off, which was a huge mistake." Jeremie rolled his eyes, biting his lip. "They assumed I had something to do with the computer and demanded I tell them what all it was for, but... I was stupid and decided to keep my mouth shut - I told them I'd talk if they turned the computer off, but they didn't listen and decided to force it out of me."

He paused for a moment, scratching himself behind one of his ears, looking at Aelita - he frowned at her, his eyes going a bit dim.

"They overestimated how much I could take, let's put it that way." He shrugged his shoulders, forcing himself to look away from the lot. "So they didn't get the information they desired which is why the computer is still on." The elvish man licked his fangs, disappointed in himself in reminiscence. "When I first figured out Xana wanted to kill me, however, I installed something in my laptop to record my coding and my journals and bundle them if my vitals would cease so I could live on and advise you all from Lyoko." He looked back at them tiredly, smiling a little. "The good news is it worked - but the bad news is I'm dead and the government is poking around the Factory; it's only a matter of time before they either turn off the computer or screw it up - I don't have to tell you what'll happen to me if they do." He frowned. "I'm not a native Lyoko program - if they shut it off, I'm gone for good - but that's not what I'm getting at here. When push comes to shove, I'm not as important as the matter at hand. Xana is awake and there's... more than one, to put it mildly; oh, also? Xana is pissed. Not mad, not angry - pissed."

He decided to cut himself off to let them absorb that information, trying to smile, feeling a bit relieved now that they knew - he looked at Aelita moreso than the rest, looking terribly sorry with himself.

It took Ulrich a minute to even register what Jeremie was saying, the poor guy was just powering through it all so fast. When it was all said and done...all out in the open...it still seemed like too much to even take in. To process all that at once? How did Jeremie think anyone was going to DO that? Still, someone HAD to, and it may as well be him. Even though he didn't entirely know what he was going to say as he spoke, speak Ulrich nonetheless did. "That...certainly doesn't sound good," he started with something easy. "And...I'm sorry. About what happened to you. And this place. And everything else you were talking about."

Odd just stared at Jeremie. He was speechless, he had no idea what he should have said. He looked over at Ulrich as he spoke. He agreed with Ulrich, "Yeah Einstein, i'm sorry too.."He was too busy trying to take everything else in to find any other words to say. He stayed silent and looked at his feet, then over at Aelita. He felt bad for her, he didn't even want to imagine how it felt to be back here. He walked over and gave her a hug. He didn't know what to say, but at least he could be there for e everyone.

"That's impossible."

Even as her voice trembled weakly, Aelita blurted those words out abruptly in front of Odd and Ulrich. She took a tentative step towards Jeremie, the orbs floating around her seeming to pulsate more and more, like a heart beating faster and faster. "You're here, Jeremie. We're talking to you, you're right in front of us and you're safe. It's not possible that you're dead."

Everything else, the government and XANA and all of it, she could believe. She could deal. They'd faced enemies before, they would do so again, and they would win. But Jeremie could not be dead. Jeremie was not dead. Because if he was...if he had died and she had not been there to help him, to even try to help him...

William continued to stay silent though his mind raced with questions. How was Jeremie here? was he really dead? Would Yumi be soon? Or maybe she was already dead...he shook the last thought off it was too terrible to even think. What did the government want? What about Xana? Xana...would he end up the way he had the last time he had come to Lyoko. No,William was smarter now, he knew better, he was stronger. But so was Xana, and the way his subconcious had reconstructed his outfit made him uneasy. But the biggest question he had after hearing Jeremie's story was.

What now?

His fear of calling attention to himself and getting judged by the others kept this question silent.

Jeremie opened his mouth to continue spewing information but paused as his eyes skittered across the various expressions of the group - he closed his eyes, the information off of his shoulders but the emotion of relief missing continually; even when he looked at Aelita, disturbingly, he couldn't feel a damn thing.

"I'm a broken program - I'm sorry if I rushed into any of this," he muttered, rubbing his forehead, his tail swatting at his own leg in irritation. "From what I can tell my emotional process is really damaged; the program is ten years old," he began to spill information again before his bit his tongue, ears tucking behind his hairline. "I - I'm sorry, I really am," his eyes widened. "B-but I had to get you here... I'm stranded on Lyoko, I'm damaged, and Xana is awake."

He hissed a bit, rubbing his head as if physically in pain; his form phased in and out for a moment, the elven man slumping against the aforementioned boulder.

"I... I can't do any of this alone," he admitted. "If Xana finds me again, she'll wipe me out. ..." He paused, eyes lighting up as his 'emotional process' began to shine once more. "Oh! Xana is a girl!" He smiled as if it was the best news in the world before realizing why he brought her up at all, frowning.

That flicker of Jeremie's body was all Ulrich needed. He still didn't entirely understand the situation, but it didn't matter anymore; Jeremie...what was left of Jeremie...was in danger, and needed their help. And whenever a friend needed help, he would give it if he could. They all would. No matter what else had happened, no matter what had changed, that much remained the same.

Oh, and apparently XANA was a girl. That...would take some getting used to, he suspected.

"OK, Jeremie, there's still a lot of talking to do about all this," he said sternly, stepping toward the blonde "program" (a way of thinking about his friend that was ALSO going to take some getting used to) and again taking charge of the situation as best he could. "But it sounds like it can and should wait until we've resolved the immediate danger. So. What do we need to do?"

Odd's face fell. It took a minute or two but it finally hit him that his friend, their "Einstein" wasn't alive anymore. He shrugged it off, he didn't want to see the others upset. So, being his goofy self, he tried to lighten the mood a little, "Xana's a girl huh? Well, that explains why she liked you so much Einstein." He put his arm around what was left of his friend and smiled his usual big smile.

He nodded as Ulrich told Jeremie his plan about solving the dangerous situation, "Yeah, Ulrich is right, not that that's new or anything!" He smiled at his friend, he hoped that all of this meant that they would keep in contact. He missed all of them, but he really missed Ulrich, even after the years he still considered him his best friend. He never wanted to lose any of them, not after all they've been through.

It still seemed impossible for Aelita. It was like what had happened to Father all over again, taken away from her without her knowing, without her even being able to try to intervene. Random, unjust, and irreversible. Even with the ability to rewind Time itself, Jeremie...the full Jeremie, the sweet young boy who had woken her up and given her a name and was the one lifeline she had to the real world while she was trapped...was gone. Forever. And she would never get that back. And neither would he.

Even with Jeremie's urgent information, even the flicker of his body, could not rouse Aelita out of that cycle of sadness. This thing...it wasn't really Jeremie. It was a piece of him, perhaps, but it was only just. A shadow.

Eyes fixated glumly on the ground, the orbs around her dim and still, she stepped away from Jeremie, sinking to the back of the group.

William couldn't stand it anymore, their where too many things to deal with. And Jeremie-or what was left of him- was wasting time.

"So what do you want us to do? Deactivate a tower? Gather information?" William didn't know Jeremy very well but it seems the others where used to him not giving straight answers.

Jeremie's form flickered again as he pulled up a map, seemingly from nowhere - his eyes lit up as the blue hologram took shape - the scanner room. Three armed men, one in front of every scanner; a slender woman was leaving the room - Jeremie paused the feed, making a face; this wasn't predicted.

"It looks like they've set up a guard. In the real world," he rubbed his forehead, the map hovering in place as he did so. "This is awful; really awful, but I need you guys to uh, do something about them?" His form flickered once more, the man letting out a somewhat pained hiss. "I can devirtualize you outside of the scanner but it's a risky procedure and I'm running out of energy, so it'll probably be the last thing I can do for you guys until I rest." His eyes flickered in and out before fixing on William.

"I'm afraid it's a little more serious than that."

The elvish man rose up, banishing the map and taking a deep breath. "If you want it cut and dry, you need to get those forces out of the factory before they destroy the computer with us in it; I'm the least of your concerns, to put it mildly!" Jeremie almost bared his teeth at William before he backed off, shuddering. "I-if the computer is shut off, there's no way for me to figure out what's going on with..." He stammered, letting out an exhausted sigh.

"I don't have time to explain thoroughly and I'm sorry," he looked to Odd and Ulrich with a little nod. "The guards are armed and dangerous; however, there's a bonus - I know they want us alive." He seemed a little hopeful about that. "Odds are the guns aren't loaded with bullets, but once you get on Earth it won't matter. You in or out?" He positioned himself so Aelita was behind him, the boys before him; he curled his tail around her wrist firmly, biting his lip as he waited for them to respond.

"So those are the creeps behind all this...." Ulrich mused grimly, feeling himself tense to finally put a face, or faces he supposed, to the enemy they now faced. "Don't suppose there's any way you can send our Lyoko powers with us this time?" he asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

He was prepared to do what needed to be done in any case, of course, but the only way to make sure they actually succeeded was to know before hand what tools they would have to work with.

Odd nodded toward Jeremie, then put his arm around Ulrich. "Whatever it takes Einstein, we're in."He smiled and pointed a thumb at himself with a smile. He was looking forward to the excitement, but was a tad bit afraid. He didn't know what tricks these people held, and he didn't really want to find out, but he knew his friend needed their help. He winked at Jeremie, "Don't worry Jer, you got the best distraction right here." He laughed a little and smiled at Aelita. He looked over at William, he wondered if he was going to return with them.

"We aren't gonna get knocked on our asses are we?"He laughed,"We better figure out some sort of plan then, eh?"

Aelita remained quiet, but at least now she was actually looking at Jer...the Jeremie program again instead of the ground. Even in her depressed state, she could not help but notice the way the program positioned itself in front of her, though she was also unsure how to feel about that. If this were Jeremie...really Jeremie...it would be comforting. But the Program? It was unfair to hold anything against it, Aelita knew; it wasn't the Program's fault that all of this was happening. Nonetheless, however, it was here, and the Jeremie she knew wasn't, and she could not help but have that weigh on her mind.

"I'm in" William confirmed, he wasn't to keen on the idea of going to earth and facing those goons. But someone had to-three people in fact. And he wasn't about to let Aelita face whatever awaited them on earth. William wasn't sexist, he knew Yumi could easily knock him down-or at least she used to be able to-but not Aelita. She didn't even have a weapon on Lyoko, her nature is mild. Plus even after all these years William still had his hero-complex and therefore wanted to be part of the action.

Not to mention Yumi is on earth, she might even be in the factory...

Jeremie looked at Ulrich, his elvish ears perking and flicking a bit at the tip. "... I - I suppose so," he made a bit of a face, biting his lip. It would be hard on him to do something like that from Lyoko - on Earth, he had a computer to process complex actions... but here...? He was his own computer; he didn't have that luxury of seeing the screens, seeing the RAM and CPU usage...

"I can give it a shot, but I really can't promise anything," Jeremie took a deep breath and let it out in a deep exhale, rubbing his forehead between his brows. "Aelita will stay here with me for safety's sake. The three of you..." He narrowed his eyes a little as he thought - it was doable, but it would be rather difficult... and strenuous. "I'll send the three of you back, but you need to hurry. I'll be in contact."

Jeremie didn't give them much chance to respond; as he was still presumably one with the supercomputer, he snapped his fingers and executed the devirtualization protocol, sending them to Earth in a flash.

Jeremie winced after the action was complete, leaving only him and Aelita. "... So." He looked over his shoulder at her, giving her an attempt at a tender smile. He offered her a hand. "We have some catching up to do, don't we?"

[[ Ulrich, Odd, William: Post HERE. ]]

Aelita snapped back to attention as the others disappeared leaving her alone with the Program, in a Lyoko she no longer felt at home in. The orbs hovering around her fluttered around her as if in a fit of panic, eventually settling tensely near her shoulders, pulsing anxiously.

She looked at the Program's hand, then into his eyes. She held her gaze there looking, silently, for some sign of a spark. Of the person she had known. "...yes," she said softly, though her hands remained pointedly at her side for the moment. "We do."

Jeremie looked at her; realizing her expression was far from what he expected it to be. He lifted his brows a bit, but bit his tongue, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess I understand." He gave her a light chuckle, trying to hide the sinking feeling in his chest. All these years and he had been alone; then he was gone. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. T-there was nothing I could do and-" His tail stiffened; he lifted a hand to adjust his glasses, changing the topic before he began to cross his own wires. "I... I need to get to a tower."

He managed to tear his eyes away, wincing; he wasn't sure what was emotion and what was damaged reaction programming. He wasn't human anymore - he was like Xana, of sorts, having no real origin and no real end; he cast out an arm, attempting to open a map - a blue spark shot out from his fingertips before shorting out.

"... Great." He flexed his hand. "That's broken too, I guess." His fingers continued to spark. "This sector has changed too much for us to rely on your memory, so we're going to have to do this the hard way." He didn't wait for her to respond - he didn't want to hear her say anything else. He began to trek out of the clearing.

Aelita really wasn't sure what she would have said, even if she'd had the chance. The wince of pain, the spark of energy...even if it wasn't Jeremie, the Program still seemed capable of feeling pain, of being harmed, and as such deserved empathy, if not entirely sympathy. His...its continued inability to offer anything like a straight answer, however, or even just to give Aelita time to absorb anything it said or did, was just so intensely frustrating that, coupled with her natural discomfort with the Program holding Jeremie's image, made it difficult for her to follow her natural instinct to try and provide some degree of comfort to it.

Nonetheless, even now, Aelita recognized that there was greater importance to finding a Tower and working toward stopping XANA than indulging her frustration. She thus followed after the Program, feeling the orbs around her warming her body, as if responding to her mental want for speed. Something to pursue later, she supposed.

"How 'hard' is the 'hard way' going to be?" she asked as she caught up with the Program, hoping a conversation might help her reconcile her feelings.

"Well, I'm shorted out," Jeremie said quietly, keeping his eyes on the path ahead, occasionally lifting a hand to rub his forehead or roll his shoulders, equally conflicted and lost; he wanted to talk about what had happened but it seemed so... unimportant, given how swell their reunion had went - he ground his teeth a bit, fighting the almost deafening urge to have an emotional overload. "I'm too broken to guide us anywhere, so we're going to have to find one on foot and I can't tell you where monsters are or... or anything," he rubbed an eye, snorting a bit to disguise his irritation.

"So, as usual, I'm useless as ever here." He thought bitterly, his tail flicking.

He wasn't sure what to do at all; he had no display, no computer to rely on, no warning sights or sounds... Aelita would have no warning if something attacked and when it came right down to it that bothered him as much as it had years ago. He thought hard as they walked along the almost swampy area outside the coveted clearing; his mind was still too juvenile, he supposed, assuming there would be emotion somewhere for him in someone he hadn't seen in quite some time. Who was he kidding?

It just made him more bitter, more withdrawn; his form flickered as he paused, this one worse than those before, sparks flying.

"C-crap," he muttered. This program was too damaged; too old to keep up with Lyoko's ever-evolving code - it was a distinct possibility the world itself was slowly wearing him down. When he got here he could take on XANA on his own - now he could barely open a map... "W-we need to find one soon," he began to sweat, panicking, honestly growing more and more terrified with the knowledge that if the program fell apart... he'd die. This time there was no forgotten backup and there was no DNA data for him to be devirtualized with. "If I fall apart you'll be stranded here and I'm not going to have that," he said in passing, beginning to sprint down the singular path, keeping his eyes peeled for anything around.

With or without a map, however, the Tower was thankfully somewhere up ahead, but judging by the sounds emanating from the concurrent paths below and above, they wouldn't be on their lonesome much longer...