Prologue
The sound of cars echoed through out the streets as the lights from the sky scrappers illuminated the darkness as the sound of footsteps could be heard. Instead of light footsteps, it sounded like someone was speed marching. Instead, it was a teen age girl, sprinting through the streets of Paris. She felt the wind push against her face as she dodged person after person.
"Hey! Watch it!" an innocent man said as she rushed by. Her breathing started to get heavier as she turned around the corner to sprint towards the Embassy. She then stopped saw that it was empty and saw a pair of shadows in the main office up stairs. Her phone then rang.
"Yeah, Jeremy?" the girl asked.
"Sylvia, are you there yet?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah, I'm at the Embassy." she replied. "I just gotta get in."
"No time for a clear plan." Jeremy replied. "You need to disable the bomb and you need to stop XANA's plan."
"Alright, I'll do what I can." Sylvia said, hanging up her phone. She then decided to sneak through the windows of the building, but they were locked. She tugged on them as she grew desperate to get in. She then walked backwards and prepared herself.
"Forget it." Sylvia said to herself. "This is gonna hurt." She sprinted towards the window fearlessly. She leaped towards the window, then breaking through it. Shards of glass flew into the air as she hit the ground, grunting. She then dusted her silver jacket off as she stood straight up. She looked down at her pink shoes and cleared the shards of glass off of the surface.
"Talk about a rough landing." she said to herself. She then took out her cell phone and checked the photo of the Embassy lay out in the phone.
"Alright, lets go find that bomb." she said to herself. She then approached a door, where she can her two Kankrelats patrolling the downstairs area. She then saw an air duct that led to the same room, but was more unsuspected.
"Ah ha." she said, pushing a small table to help her climb up to the air duct. She quietly lifted the cover from the duct and slowly slipped inside. She then took out the 9mm BB gun that Jonas gave to her. She loaded it and cocked it as she crawled through the grey and dark air duct. She then peered through the other side as she saw the two Kankrelats. She then bashed the lid open, jumping down onto the floor. The two Kankrelats turned towards her and fired, missing their first shots.
"My turn." she said, firing her gun at the Kankrelats. The BB pierced the first one on the stair set, making it slide down onto the bottom of the stairs. She then turned to the other and fired, making it back flip into the wall. She then rushed up the stairs, then standing in front of a locked door. She kicked it once. It didn't budge. She then kicked it two more times. Still, it didn't budge. Then, she took a chair from the bottom floor and started to bash the door with it, slowly loosening it. Then, as it was at its loosest, Sylvia kicked the door open, exposing a possessed guard. The guard charged Sylvia, with knight stick in hand. Sylvia dodged to the right and picked up the chair again. She then broke it over the man's head, making him slump to the ground.
"Stay down sir…" she said, approaching a brief-case like case. She then opened the lid, then noticing a complicated bomb. Red wires and blue wires crossed each other as a timer was set for five minutes and forty-five seconds. Sylvia scratched her head as she stared at the bomb, clueless.
"This… can't be good."
Code Lyoko: Rookie 2
Chapter 1: An Average Day
The sun over the school shined brightly into each student's window, shining over those who were sleeping. The birds outside sang lovely melodies of peace and harmony, like a chorus singing to their listeners in perfect harmony and tone and even rhythm. The bright green trees sat still as the wind lightly blew the leaves on those trees. The orange sun peered through Sylvia Meadows's window, shining light down onto her face. Then, as she enjoyed her slumber, the alarm clock started to play music from the local radio station. The radio played The Sub-Digital's new hit 'School's Out'. She slowly sat up as the music continued to play. Her red t-shirt she was wearing wrinkled all over and her black hair, with magenta dye linings, was messy. She then looked at the alarm clock and saw that it was time to get ready for the day. Then, a knock came at her door, catching her attention as she stretched her arms wide.
"Hey, Sylvia, are you up?" a female voice asked.
"Yeah, I'm up, Gwen." she replied, standing up, putting on her red pajama pants and opening the door. In front of her stood her friend, Gwen. She was as tall as Sylvia and did the same things she did. Her green eyes were like bowls of jell-o and her hair was dark brown, almost black. Her long hair was as long as Sylvia's except for the fact that her hair was more cleaner and neater than Sylvia's. Her blue t-shirt was as smooth as the floor and her blue pajama pants sagged onto the floor, covering the top of her feet.
"C'mon, Sylvia." she said. "Let's go."
"Alright then." Sylvia replied. They walked down the dorm hallways as the others started to wake up, too. They rubbed their eyes and yawned and started to chat with each other as they met in the middle of the hallways.
"So, how did the match go last night?" Gwen asked.
"It was… alright." Sylvia replied. "Those idiots flying the helicopters really need to pay attention to those guys in the buildings. How was your match?"
"Same… but with tank noobs." Gwen said. "I can never understand them."
"You're telling me." Sylvia replied, the two laughing as they entered the bathroom, noticing Sissi Delmas brushing her teeth already. Gwen and Sylvia grabbed their tooth brushes and started to brush as Sissi spat out her water. Some of the water splashed onto Gwen, who got irritated a little.
"Hey, be careful when you spit, Sissi." Gwen said, spitting out her tooth paste.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Gwen." Sissi said sarcastically. "I'll be a little more careful next time so that I won't get water all over your precious face." Sylvia grabbed Gwen and stopped her.
"No, don't. It's not worth it." Sylvia said. "She's barely worth it when she's already beat." Sissi got irritated and stormed out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind them.
"Man, she's pushy." Gwen said.
"You're telling me." Sylvia replied. After they finished brushing their teeth, the two dressed into their school clothes and packed up. Sylvia slid on her silver jacket that had 'BF 2' on it, which was the front logo. The '2' was filled with a red color and it was outlined in black with the letters 'BF'. She then laced her shoes on, which had pink outlines and the rest was in silver. She slid on her pink wrist band and fixed her hair. She then zipped up her back-pack and left her dorm room. She waited outside of Gwen's dorm room to wait for her. She then walked out and headed to Mrs. Hertz's science class. As the class went on, Sylvia leaned next to Gwen, who was taking notes.
"Hey, Gwen?" she whispered.
"Yeah, Sylvia?" she whispered in reply.
"Who was that guy that can help people with computer issues?"
"Jeremy Belpois." Gwen whispered back. Sylvia nodded.
"Ms. Meadows." Mrs. Hertz said, catching her attention. Mrs. Hertz looked angrily at Sylvia. "Can you repeat what I have said, Ms. Meadows?" Sylvia looked confused.
"Well, you said that the matter cannot be converted nor destroyed." Sylvia replied.
"Very good, Ms. Meadows." Mrs. Hertz replied. "I hope everybody else heard that." Then, the bell sounded, with everyone else getting up and packing up.
"Ms. Meadows, can I see you for a minute?" Mrs. Hertz asked Sylvia.
"Yeah, sure." Sylvia replied.
"Ms. Meadows, you are doing pretty well in my class." Mrs. Hertz said, delighted.
"I am?" Sylvia asked, surprised.
"Yes, you are." Mrs. Hertz replied. "You're in the top five students in my class and that includes Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Stones." Sylvia smiled, glad about the news.
"Well, thank you, Mrs. Hertz." Sylvia said joyfully.
"No… thank you, Ms. Meadows." Mrs. Hertz said.
Chapter 2: Histoire D'un Ancien Combattant (A Veteran's Story)
Later that day, after school, Sylvia hopped onto her computer in her dorm room and checked the Battlefield 2 servers. She quickly typed in her favorite server's name, "Fast Guns and Play! All Welcome!". As she scanned the list of names active in the server, she did not see Gwen's name on the list. Sylvia shrugged her shoulders as she closed the server list, then exiting out of the game. She stretched her arms as she lightly yawned. She then looked outside and noticed that it was almost six. The sun was setting and the orange sunlight lit the courtyard and the rest of the school. Sylvia quickly opened her footlocker in her room and took out a small guitar case. She then closed quickly and rushed down stairs. As she turned the corner, she ran into Jim Morales, one of the teachers and supervisors at school. Sylvia fell as the case fell beside her with a thud.
"Be careful young lady." Jim said as he helped Sylvia up. "You need to slow down or you'll get hurt. Besides, where are you hurrying off to?"
"I'm going to music practice." Sylvia said. "It starts in a minute."
"Oh, then you better hustle, Ms. Meadows." Jim replied. "Get there on the double." Sylvia nodded and rushed over to the class room where English was held. Why the English room? It was the best place to be. Plus, it was easier to get to. Sylvia rushed into the room, closing the door behind her as she approached Gwen, who was sitting down and readying herself for practice.
"Hey Sylvia." Gwen said. "What happened? You look like you ran across campus."
"I was a little late. I accidentally bumped into Jim." she explained.
"Ahem." the instructor said lightly. "Can you take a seat please?" he then asked politely. Sylvia sat down and got herself ready, taking out a guitar.
"Okay then, since everybody's ready, I'd like to introduce myself." he then said. "My name is Mr. James Hunts. You can call me James, or Mr. Hunts."
"Yes, sir." the two girls said. Sylvia's eyes then widened. She looked at Mr. Hunts' shirt and she saw that he was wearing a Purple Heart, a medal awarded to US and Coalition soldiers that were wounded in action.
"Mr. Hunts?" Sylvia asked.
"Yes, Ms. Meadows?"
"Are you wearing a Purple Heart?" she then asked. James looked down onto his shirt, looking at the medal.
"Yes, I am." James replied.
"Where did you get it?" Sylvia asked.
"I got it in my service years in the Iraq War." Hunts then said. "This ended my career, when I suffered a serious injury. But, lets get back at the lesson at hand, huh?" The two girls then nodded and started to practice what Mr. Hunts had given them. The strummed and strummed as the sun started to slowly set. The beautiful sound of the guitars playing were only noticed by the students and the teacher themselves. Then, after thirty minutes of continuous play of the piece Mr. Hunts gave, he stopped them. His cell phone was ringing as he reached inside his pocket.
"Hold on, girls." Mr. Hunts said, checking his cell phone. "I got to take this important call." The girls nodded as Mr. Hunts answered his phone and got up to exit the room.
"Hello?" he asked. "John, what is it? Is it that 'business' thing you've been talking about since a few months ago?" He closed the door behind himself, leaving the two girls in the room alone.
"So, what do you think he's talking about?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know, Gwen." Sylvia replied. "But, I wouldn't worry about it."
"I want to know how he got that injury." Gwen replied.
"Yeah, but, I don't think we want to ask him a question like that." Sylvia said as Gwen got up, staring at the picture on Mr. Hunts' desk. She picked up the photo and stared at the two soldiers in it.
"What are you doing, Gwen?" Sylvia asked.
"Looking at this photo."
"Are you nuts?" Sylvia asked, worried. "He'll come back any second."
"Look at this." Gwen said. The two stared at the man at the right of the photo, who was smiling along with Hunts, wrapping an arm around each other's backs. The tag on the right soldier's name tag said 'Rutherford' and the other one said 'Hunts'.
"These two look like they were the best of friends." Gwen said."
"We were." Hunts said, making the two girls jump. They turned around to see Hunts smile lightly. "In 2003, this photo was taken. We were in the same squad together. We were in the same patrol together. We were in the same unit. Together."
"What happened?" Gwen asked lightly. Mr. Hunts took a deep breath.
"One day, were patrolling down the streets of an Iraqi city, keeping an eye out for any Al-Qaeda targets. As we were about to finish our patrol, they jumped us and destroyed our Humvee. They killed one man and took everyone else as prisoner. For the last three days, we were tortured under their captivity. Then, help came when they abandoned the building escaping with their lives. I was dragged out into an ambulance and separated from John, who was brought to another field hospital and sent home. My injuries ended my deployment in Iraq. And there was a lot of other weird crud I'd rather not talk about." Hunts told, telling them his story of war. The two girls stood their, feeling sorry for themselves.
"Don't be sorry, girls." he said, hugging them. "You did not mean to. Plus, I had to tell you one day."
"No you didn't." Sylvia said.
"But, it relieves the pain oh so much." he said, tears falling from his eyes. "It reminds me of the days before the war." He then looked up at the clock and realized that practice was over.
"Practice is over, girls." he then said, patting them on the back. "Pack up and go. Have a good night." The girls packed up and left, leaving Mr. Hunts to grieve and to remember the good times to drown out the bad.
Chapter 3: A Weird Situation
Later that day after practice, the two girls went to Sylvia's room, chatting and hanging out. The sun was barely over the horizon now, emitting whatever sun light it could as it slowly descended. The orange light was dimming and the sound of the wind and the swaying trees quickly picked up a little bit. The lights in the school turned on as the night slowly approached. Sylvia sat on her chair in front of the computer, searching something up for Gwen on Google.
"So, what are you looking for, Gwen?" Sylvia asked, waiting for Gwen to tell her what to search.
"Mark Collie's song, 'In Time'." she replied while Sylvia typed in the song name. Hundreds of links were listed down from top to bottom, probably worth about over hundred pages. She then found a music sheet for playing it on the guitar. The page was blown up to full screen and Gwen grabbed her guitar, sitting on Sylvia's seat as they switched, with Sylvia sitting on her bed.
"Do you think you'll be able to play it?" Sylvia asked.
"Yeah, I think so." Gwen replied, readying herself to play the song. She took a deep breath and played the first note, which was a strum. She waited a few seconds and sang the first part of the lyrics with a beautiful voice.
"I can hear what you're thinking." Gwen sang. "All your doubts and fears." she continued to sing and play. "If you look in my eyes, in time you'll find the reason I'm here. But, in time all things will pass away. In time, you may come back someday."
She then took another deep breath. "To live once more, or die once more. But, in time, your time will be no more." She then stopped as Sylvia sat in silence. Gwen spun around to face Sylvia, smiling.
"How was that?" Gwen asked happily.
"Gwen… that was awesome!" Sylvia said, smiling and clapping as Gwen stood up and took a bow. "Where did you learn to sing like that?"
"I've been doing it for a while." Gwen replied. "Ever since I was in the fourth grade."
"How come you didn't tell me?" Sylvia asked.
"Well, honestly, I don't know." Gwen admitted. "Well, now you know, right?"
"Yup, now I know." Sylvia replied, giggling with Gwen. Gwen sat down next to Sylvia smiling and handing the guitar to her.
"So, now what do you want to do?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know." Sylvia replied. "We've done our work, we went to practice, and we had fun. I honestly do not know."
"Maybe you can hop on Battlefield 2 and see what's up." Gwen said, trying to give Sylvia an idea what to do.
"Nah, not tonight." Sylvia replied. "After last night, I do not want to."
"Ah, I see." Gwen said. "I hate those freakin' campers on the top of those towers."
"You tell me." Sylvia replied. "They say WE are campers." The two laughed as they sat on the bed, spending time with each other. As the two girls enjoyed each other's company, the computer screen quickly turned dark. This attracted Sylvia's attention.
"What is it, Sylvia?" Gwen asked.
"How did the computer automatically turn off on it's own?" Sylvia asked in reply.
"Well, just leave it." Gwen said. "After all, we're having fun right now." As Sylvia walked closer to the computer, a red insignia appeared on screen. It glowed as Sylvia approached.
"What in the world?" Sylvia asked, reaching for the mouse. As she made contact with the mouse, static electricity struck her, electrocuting her. She screamed in pain as the violent waves of electricity flowed into her. As she was about to fall unconscious, Gwen pulled her away from the computer. Sylvia fell to the floor unconscious after Gwen pulled her away.
"Sylvia?" Gwen asked, shaking Sylvia. She then laid Sylvia down onto her bed, then looking at the computer with a confused look.
"How is that possible?" Gwen asked herself. Then, Gwen decided to help Sylvia into Aelita's room for safety. Gwen held Sylvia, with Sylvia's left arm over her back, dragging Sylvia upwards to Aelita's room. Gwen knocked on the door.
"Aelita?" Gwen asked.
"Who is it?" she asked in reply.
"It's me, Gwen. Gwen Ford?" Aelita opened the door to the Gwen holding Aelita over the shoulder. Aelita gasped.
"What happened?" Aelita asked.
"Sylvia was electrocuted." Gwen replied. "Can I set her down in here?" Aelita nodded as she quickly closed the door behind them. Gwen laid Sylvia down carefully as she sat beside her unconscious friend, wiping off the sweat she received from carrying her.
"How did this happen?" Aelita asked Gwen.
"Well, the computer electrocuted her." Gwen replied.
"How?" Aelita asked.
"Well, the computer screen turned dark and Sylvia went to investigate. Some kind of logo appeared on the computer screen and, when Sylvia touched the mouse, she was electrocuted to unconsciousness." Gwen explained.
"What did the logo look like?" Aelita asked.
"It looked like an eye." Gwen replied. Aelita's eyes widened as Gwen said those words.
"Oh no." Aelita said.
"What's going on?" Gwen asked.
"I got to call Jeremy." Aelita said.
"Jeremy Belpois?" Gwen asked. "Why, what's going on here?"
"C'mon, there's not time to lose!" Aelita said, rushing Gwen. Gwen picked Sylvia back up again and left the room with Sylvia.
"This does not sound good." Gwen said as the door closed behind the three girls.