NOTE: The ONLY thing I own in the entire story, again, is the plot. EVERYTHING ELSE is courtesy of Antefilms, Inc. and Moonscoop, Inc.
NOTE: This story will not be a long oneshot as was my first story (XANA, the Serial Killer); rather, it will be divided into chapters.
XANA
RETURNS
Part I
Sequel to XANA, the Serial Killer
Part 1: Aelita
"So, Odd, how're you doing in Mrs. Hertz' class?" the blonde computer genius asked the small, skinny boy in purple. The end of the semester had come like the wind, and as usual, everyone was nothing but nervous about their report cards . . . and Mrs. Hertz' final exam. That test was hard even for Jeremy, and he's smarter than half our class combined!
You can imagine the utterly sarcastic look on Jeremy's face when he saw his report card. Straight A's, as usual. And ditto for the look on Ulrich's face: almost all D's and F's. I seriously wonder sometimes how he has stayed out of the special education program all this time! Odd was a different story: he had slept through every single final exam he had — save for in English, for the new teacher made Mrs. Hertz look like a walk in the park, and believe me, she's basically the polar opposite — however, he had somehow come out of this with all B's and C's, a record for him.
Maybe it was because of XANA's recent disappearance. In the year since he and Lyoko had kissed existence goodbye it seemed like the only thing any of us had felt was boredom. It was like fighting XANA was our only excitement in the world.
Or on Lyoko, for that matter.
Jeremy had left his laptop and the supercomputer to the dust mites, instead carrying around a conventional notebook. I had never seen him with a notebook before, so I had no idea he was literally ambidextrous. (That is, he was able to write in his notebook with both hands simultaneously.) Ulrich and Odd had been forced to moved to different rooms. As for Yumi . . .
The bell rang before I could reminisce any further and I bolted down the hall to the math class of Ms. Meyers. Of course, Odd and Ulrich took their time and Jeremy stuck right with me, staying as far away from the room of jeopardizing his perfect record, and the beating his mother would surely give him if he slacked even the smallest bit, as he could.
The cafeteria that day during lunch was overflowing with kids. The lunch line was so long it had to be split in half, and even then both lines were at least a mile long. Odd settled down at our taple with his tray full of vegetables, and Ulrich appeared moments later with THE largest cheeseburger I'd ever seen. (Actually it was the only one I'd seen; but let's not stray too far off topic, now, shall we?)
Even though my day had been as boring as usual with a lack of XANA, I couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right . . . and as it turned out, my hunch would become a horrible truth . . .
"I really miss fighting XANA, don't you?" Odd asked randomly. It was one of his boring moments, whose frequency had more than quadrupled practically overnight since the elimination of XANA. I was too tired to see anything clearly at the moment but I could have sworn I saw Ulrich nod slightly and Jeremy flash a lazy-looking thumbs-up. Before I knew what was happening I slumped backwards onto Jeremy's bed and my eyes slowly slid closed, and I entered Dream World.
Lyoko was just as I remembered it, back to its all-out virtual glory. The ice shown as beautifully as ever; the leaves of the trees could never have been greener; the snow-capped mountains were more beautiful than ever. And the desert sector still showed the giant hole where that planet-sized Scyphozoa had revealed itself through the thin surface. The virtual sun shone brighter than ever, bathing the whole spectacle in a glittery glow.
Odd and Ulrich danced around and around the Ice sector, overjoyed at XANA's defeat after years of fighting him. Yumi and I strolled through the lukewarmth of the Forest sector, reminiscing about past adventures. And Jeremy and Franz Hopper talked over their calculations from the base of the Mountain sector's tallest mountain.
Then all at once everyone and everything froze, as a large shockwave rolled through Lyoko. Yumi toppled to the ground and I grabbed onto a nearby tree, praying for my life. Odd and Ulrich dropped their weapons, falling head-first to the ground; and Jeremy and Hopper stopped in mid-conversation. Then a second, harder shockwave rolled through, the ground undulating beat for beat to its pulse. The tree I had begun to climb toppled over, and I dived off of it, landing flat on the ground. Then, one by one, more shockwaves rolled through Lyoko, the ground undulating more and more with each one than with the one preceding it. And the whole system of shockwaves seemed to emanate from the giant crater that had been the Desert sector.
Slowly but surely, the giant hole began to ignite with brilliant red-violet flame, and the flame twisted itself into familiar letters. Slowly but surely, words and a familiar symbol appeared within the giant hole. I screamed when I realized what the words were:
XANA LIVES
And underneath them: the Eye of XANA.
I screamed again . . .
And bolted upright in bed, my pink nightgown glued to my skin with perspiration. A puddle of something ahd formed with my pillow, and my face, hands, and even my hair were soaked with sweat. It was like I had just emerged from a dip in the factory sewers and decided to go to sleep for the night. The full moon hung like a werewolf beacon in the sky, which had begin to cloud over and darken.
My door flew open just then and out of nowhere I screamed:
"XANA!"
"What are you talking about, Aelita?" the person who had just entered whispered loudly. "What about XANA?"
I opened my mouth to scream again and grabbed my book off of the nearby night stand, preparing to use it as a weapon . . . but then froze, dropping the book, when I realized that it was just Jeremy.
"Aelita, tell me," he repeated his earlier demand, "what about XANA?"
"I . . . I . . . thought I eliminated him for good when I . . . deactivated that Tower . . . in Sector Five . . . but now I'm not so sure about that . . . " I allowed my voice to trail off into nothing, then proceded to tell Jeremy about my dream. Halfway through he stopped me in mid-sentence.
"That's impossible, Aelita. First of all, I shut down the supercomputer after school last year, you know that. Second, even if the supercomputer hadn't been shut down, then how come I was on Lyoko?"
"It was . . . " I let my voice trail off again, then started to say something else, but stopped when a deep voice, manacing yet familiar, rang through the hallway outside my room.
"BELPOIS! GET YOU BUTT BACK TO BED NOW!"
"Oops, gotta go," Jeremy said, and stood up. "We'll talk in the morning!" With that he turned and bolted out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
A million questions rang through my mind as I allowed myself to drop backwards onto my bed. Was my dream some kind of vision or premonition? Had XANA really come back to life? What the heck was Jeremy doing on Lyoko in my dream? The answers to all of my questions would reveal themselves in time.
In due time, Aelita. In due time I will have you and your pathetic friends right where I want you. In due time I will have your keys to Lyoko. In due time, my dear girl.
In due time . . .