Straight to Heart

Straight to Heart
Air Date (US)	October 4th, 2006
Air Date (France)	September 9th, 2006
Written by	Françoise Charpiat
Storyboard by	Paul Beneteau Lionel Allaix Alain le Dong
Season	3
Episode #	53
Production #	301
Preceeded by	X.A.N.A. Awakens (US airing-wise) The Key (Season 2) (chronologically)
Followed by	Lyoko Minus One

Straight to Heart is the first episode of Season 3 and the fifty-third episode of Code Lyoko.

Plot

After a two-month summer break, the Lyoko Warriors gather in the Factory, where it's revealed X.A.N.A. has not launched an attack since he escaped from the Supercomputer, a fact that Jeremie finds to be ominous. Ulrich expresses an eagerness to continue fighting X.A.N.A. and Jeremie successfully tests an updated Superscan program that allows him to track X.A.N.A. around the world through the internet. When the five friends decide to return to campus, Yumi asks to have a private conversation with Ulrich, but decides her timing is poor, and promises they will talk later.

That afternoon, Jeremie and Aelita discover the new class schedule they share with Ulrich is different from Odd's, which could pose a problem when organizing counterattacks against X.A.N.A.. Odd decides to see the principal about rearranging his schedule while the others go to lunch. Ulrich stops Yumi in the courtyard and asks to have their talk, but they are interrupted by William. They try to talk in the cafeteria, but are interrupted once again when Hiroki, Yumi's younger brother, arrives to introduce his new friend Johnny to her. She tells him that even though they go to school together now, he cannot stalk her like that, to which Hiroki threatens his sister that she must be nice to him or he will snitch on her. Shortly afterward, the Superscan detects X.A.N.A.'s presence somewhere in North America, and Jeremie and Aelita leave for the Factory. When Yumi and Ulrich are interrupted a third time by Sissi, Ulrich becomes impatient and takes Yumi into the park, where they finally get to talk in peace.

Yumi tells Ulrich that they keep going around in circles in their relationship, saying how "one day they're together, the next day they're not, one day he's jealous and the next day she is" and she just wishes to finally clear up their relationship. Yumi then declares that they can be friends, but nothing more; wanting a purely platonic relationship. This choice visibly leaves Ulrich horrified, but he reluctantly agrees to it. The agreement begins to put a strain on their undefined relationship.

Meanwhile, Odd asks the principal about different schedule between his and his friends and find out that it was changed under the request of Jim, the gym teacher, as he finds Odd disruptive and specifically requested that he be separated from his friends. Odd goes snooping in Jim's living quarters and discovers that he was once the star of an obscure 1970's film called Paco, The King Of Disco. Odd burns a copy of the film to a DVD and attempts to use it to blackmail Jim into changing his schedule. At the Factory, Jeremie and Aelita discover a large number of monsters have congregated in a single chamber of Sector Five and notify the others. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd make their way to the Factory and are sent with Aelita to the Ice Sector. On the way to the sector's edge, Odd announces to the group that he started blackmailing Jim in order to be in the same class as Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich. However, the group point out that blackmailing somebody else is a bad idea but Odd doesn't care what they think defending his action that the ends justify the means.

Jeremie activates the Transport Orb, sending the four of them into Sector Five. Inside the Arena, Jeremie points out that all of the monsters are in the chamber beneath the Arena and in order to enter it, they must use the entrace on the south pole of the dome. Once they enter the Core Zone, a 6-minute countdown begins and Aelita traverses the uneven floor of the room to reach the key on the opposite wall. After Aelita manages to trip the key, the group gains access to the Celestial Dome. Jeremie informs them that the chamber containing the monsters can only be accessed via a passage at Sector Five's southern pole. He calls up their vehicles, and Yumi escorts Aelita into the passage while Ulrich and Odd battle a swarm of Mantas, who enter the passage a short time later.

Aelita, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich enter the room with the monsters and notice they seem to be attacking "some sort of blue ball" hovering in the center on the room. Jeremie says that if X.A.N.A. wants it destroyed then it must be something important and decides to research the object while the others move in to protect it from the monsters. In the ensuing battle, both Yumi and Odd are both devirtualized, and Ulrich is left to fight on his own. Jeremie then discovers that the blue sphere is the Core of Lyoko, meaning if X.A.N.A.'s monsters destroy it, the rest of Lyoko will disappear as well.

Ulrich manages to defeat all but one of the remaining monsters before being devirtualized, leaving Aelita alone. It is then revealed that Aelita developed combat abilities for herself during the vacation, and uses an Energy Field to trade blows with the last Creeper, saving the Core, but being devirtualized in the process. Jeremie becomes panicked by Aelita's devirtualization until they realize that the scanner has just activated. They run downstairs to the scanner room and see Aelita safe and sound. Jeremie deduces that since Aelita is no longer linked to the Supercomputer when she gained her human memories and now is a full human, the Code: Earth program is not needed to bring her back to Earth anymore and she can be materialized like other Lyoko Warriors. She adds that this is very useful since X.A.N.A. wants to destroy Lyoko now.

Later that day, Odd and Ulrich discuss Ulrich's relationship with Yumi, and Ulrich advises Odd make right with Jim. Odd then leaves their dorm and goes to find Jim, who is still upset with Odd over the attempted blackmail. Odd gives Jim the DVD copy of the film and apologizes. Jim has mercy on Odd for doing the right thing and agrees to rearrange his schedule because he realizes he was doing this to be together with his friends.

Trivia

• The original French name for this episode is Droit au cœur.
• It is the first episode where the Code Lyoko logo turns green in the intro, instead of orange.
• Ulrich's line "two weeks without us" at the beginning of the episode has lead to some confusion over how long Kadic's summer break is, since it is normally two months in France. Sophie Decroisette confirmed in an interview that the group alternated between watching X.A.N.A. over the break, so Aelita's preceding line confirms Odd and Ulrich had merely went camping for two weeks. Decroisette also revealed Kadic's dorms close during summer break, and at least Aelita and Jeremie had stayed at the Hermitage during that time.
• At the beginning of the episode, Yumi and Aelita can be seen playing Go, a popular East Asian board game that originated in China roughly 2,500 years ago.
• First appearance of Johnny.
• Ulrich and Yumi's disapproval of blackmail may be due to their own past experiences within Log Book.
• This episode introduces Paco, The King Of Disco, which becomes a running gag throughout the third and fourth seasons.
• From this episode on, Jeremie receives a new voice in the English dub that is higher pitched and less nasally, similarly to how it was in Teddygozilla and Log Book, however he is still voiced by Sharon Mann. This change was done by series director Jérôme Mouscadet, who disliked Jeremie's previous voice and asked Mann to change it.
• Yumi's decision for her and Ulrich to be "friends but that's all" was partially the result of the producers wanting romance subplots to be phased out of the show due to American audiences not liking them. Decroisette later revealed she was warned several times over the course of the series to not focus on romance too much, as "[the producers] didn't want Code Lyoko to become a soap opera".

Errors

• Odd runs out of arrows, something that seems incredibly unlikely since Jeremie's program usually loads him with 10,000.
• The security countdown has a timer of 6 minutes instead of the usual 3 from the previous season.

Gallery

Aelita and Yumi playing a game.

Ulrich and Odd back in the Factory after the vacation.

Hiroki introduces his friend, Johnny, to Yumi.

Odd complaining about being in another class this year.

Odd begging to see the principal.

Jeremie looking at his laptop.

Yumi and Ulrich talking about their friendship.

Odd laughing because of what Jim is doing in the video.

The Superscan finds X.A.N.A. in New Mexico.

Monsters seen in Sector 5 as seen on the computer.

The Countdown.

Aelita back in the scanner.

Lyoko Warriors on their vehicles in the Ice Sector.

The Transport Orb about to bring the Lyoko Warriors to Sector Five.

Ulrich saving Odd just in time.

The Lyoko Warriors being shot by the Mantas.

Odd about to jump from the Manta.

Manta being destroyed.

The Core of Lyoko!

The Core being attacked.

There goes Yumi.

There goes Odd too.

Ulrich Super Sprinting to Aelita.

And there goes Ulrich.

Aelita creating her first Energy Field.

Finally, Aelita is devirtualized.

Yumi congratulates Aelita for becoming a full-fledged Lyoko Warrior...

...which she is flattered by.