A New Beginning
In the desert region of Lyoko, it is peaceful and the faint sound of a motor is heard in the distance. The sound turns out to be Harris riding on his new vehicle: an Extreme Gear known as the Road Star. The Road Star is a wheel-type Extreme Gear with a brownish red coloration and a crescent-shaped body where the rider leans forward, holding vertical handlebars on the sides. The "wheel" part is a blue, spinning energy ring that goes through holes in the front and back. On the back, there are three small, yellow, spherical engines. Lewis follows behind him in his Extreme Gear: the Shooting Star, a board-type Extreme Gear that is blue in color, with a white arrow on the front going down the middle, two diagonal pink stripes adjacent to it, and is silver where the rider's feet are placed. It has an engine on the rear divided into three parts with the bottom extending into a fin like on a surfboard.
"Woo hoo! You did a great job, Jaden. XANA better behave himself now that we have these!" Lewis exclaimed
"Oh yeah." Harris responded
Jaden is tracking them on the supercomputer screen.
"Be careful all the same."
"No worries, I know how to ride, I won't have Harris beat me." Lewis gets ahead
"Oh no, you don't." Harris pulls on the handlebars and the engines flash, increasing its speed and they both go into a canyon
Lewis rides on the canyon walls and catches up with Harris.
"Ha ha." he speeds ahead
"Lewis, watch it. I haven't perfected the program that calculates trajectory."
Lewis jumps off a ramp but hits the top of a pillar. He falls off his board, but sticks the landing. Harris jumps over successfully.
"Lewis, you okay?" Yumi asked as her and Aelita ride on her Extreme Gear: the Wind Star
The Wind Star is an air ride extreme gear with a vertical base and the sides separate from the base, but connected to the front. It has two pads for the rider to place their knees and tow bent handlebars. Part of the front and sides appear to be cut out and has two engines on the sides. It is mostly green in coloration with silver parts and orange engines. Lewis gets up and dusts himself off
"Yeah, I'm fine. There's still work to be done on the Shooting Star, Jaden."
"Maybe it's the rider that needs work."
"Nice wipeout, bro."
"I'd like to see you on a Shooting Star!"
"I guess surfing's not my thing."
"Sorry to interrupt your little argument, but XANA has spotted you and he is sending a monster. Weird, I can't tell what it is."
They all turn to see an unfamiliar monster heading their way. This monster has a brown spider-like body with a green underbelly, a long white head with a sign of XANA on the face, and four bent, beige legs with silver ends.
"What is that?" asked Yumi
"I don't know, but it looks like trouble." Harris answered
"I've never seen a monster like that before, XANA must have just created it." Aelita stated
"Says here it has more life points than the others." Jaden warned them
The monster stops, gets on one knee and prepares to fire the lasers in its legs.
"Jaden how about reprogramming our Extreme Gears." Yumi requested
"I'm already on it, but it will take time."
Aelita retreats and Harris, Lewis and Yumi ready themselves.
"On my mark." said Yumi
"I'll go first." said Harris
"And I'll keep it busy." said Lewis
"Now!" Harris throws his blades into his hands and deflects the rapid-fire shots from the monster
Yumi somersaults behind it and throws one of her fans at it, but it turns around and blasts it away.
"Aelita, there's a deactivated tower near you, north by northwest. Get out of there and meet me. Hurry."
"Hey you overgrown spider, looking for me." Lewis said as he draws his sword
Lewis climbs up a pillar as the monster fires at him. The top of it collapses as he reached it and Lewis took a hit.
"Lewis, you just lost twenty life points, it's got a powerful laser."
"What does it take to destroy this thing?" Lewis asked
Aelita runs towards the tower and the screen shows Harris about to take it on. Harris deflects its shots. Harris looked to see if she was safe, and the monster hit him with a few shots and devirtualized him.
"Extreme Gears ready."
"It's about time." Lewis said
"Hey, I'm doing my best here." Lewis and Yumi jump onto their Extreme Gears
"I'll take him on." Lewis stated
"Go for it."
Lewis charges at and dodges its blasts. He tries to throw his sword at it, but he missed. He flies past it and retrieves his sword. Aelita reaches the tower and enters it.
"This thing's really tough." said Lewis
"Need a hand."
The monster fires two charged shots. Lewis dodges one, but the other hit Yumi's Wind Star and it is dematerialized. When she landed, the monster fires at her again and devirtualizes her. Lewis tries to throw his sword at it but fails again, he is hit by its blasts and is devirtualized. The monster roars. They all regroup in the lab and Aelita is wearing new clothes: a dark pink dress over a light pink hoodie and pink knee boots.
"If XANA can program new monsters, our troubles have only just begun." Jaden said worried
"Yeah, but one thing's for sure: you need to program our Extreme Gears faster. Otherwise, we don't stand a chance against one of those Tarantulas." Lewis replied
"What?" Yumi asked
"Tarantulas, the new monsters. I like to give my enemies a name."
"What bothers me is that XANA has figured out a way to get more powerful." Jaden added
"Think XANA is still evolving?" Harris asked
"Maybe so. From now on, we need to be ready for everything and anything." Jaden replied
"Maybe I should go back to Lyoko. If XANA activates a tower, I need to be there." Stated Aelita
"Should we tell her?" Jaden asked
"Of course, why keep good news like that a secret." Yumi answered
"Keep what a secret?" Asked Aelita
"Over the past few weeks, I have spent all of my free time developing the Extreme Gears, an anti-virus program to free you from XANA, and a new way to detect activated towers." Jaden explained
"A super scanner. Much more accurate than the old one." Lewis added
"With instant detection, so you don't have to stay on Lyoko anymore." Jaden continued
"Then I can live…"
"Here, with us." Harris said reassuringly
"We already enrolled you as a border at the school. Everything is set. We wanted to surprise you." Yumi added
"I… I… This is unbelievable."
They go to the school and Jim shows Aelita around.
"And this is your room. It's not very big, but you'll like it here miss… uh."
"Stones, Aelita Stones. And I'm Harris and Lewis' cousin from Canada."
"Ok, Aelita. Breakfast starts at 7 AM and dinner is at 7 PM. You are forbidden to be in your room between 8 AM and 4:30 PM. You can ask your friends: the Ryos and Corvex to fill you in on the rest of the rules, if they remember them." Jim walks away
The students are gathered for a field trip and Lewis has Kiwi in his bag with his head sticking out. Kiwi fidgets wildly.
"Five more minutes, Kiwi. Then, you can run around all you like." Aelita walks up to them
"Hey, Aelita. Everything cool?" Jaden asked
"I'm all settled in and I love my room. What's the field trip about?"
"Mrs. Hertz wants us to make a biodiversity scrapbook. We need to take pictures and draw plants and flowers. You and me are paired up"
"Hey, you guys seen Harris?" Asked Lewis
"He's under the arches; I think he's waiting for Yumi."
Harris is under the arches pacing and talking to himself.
"Yumi, we need to talk about something, no that's not good. Yumi there's something serious we need to discuss, no she'll freak out if I say that." He turns around and sees Yumi
"Yumi, we need to… Yumi? I have something to tell you."
"Yo, Yumi." Someone else calls out and she turns around
"Mrs. Hertz said we can work together." A teenage boy calls out
This boy is a little taller than Yumi, has messy hair dyed scarlet, and is wearing a light blue jacket over a black shirt, blue jeans, and green sneakers.
"Hey, Damian. Do you know Harris?"
"Oh, you're Harris Ryo, Yumi mentioned you. You ready to go, Yumi?"
"Coming. Didn't you have something to tell me?"
"I'll tell you later."
"See you later." She walks away and Lewis walks up to him
"Hey Harris, you coming? We need to be back by six, let's go."
"Who is that guy?"
"Oh, that's Damian Anderson. He's a new guy. He got kicked out of his last school. Don't worry, he's cool." Harris glares at Damian distrustfully and they leave the school and go towards the forest.
"Hey, did you know that trees grow new branches every year by an exponential ratio of 1.6?" Jaden asked
"1.1618 to be exact. Hey, do you think nature obeys non-linear equations?" Aelita replied and Sissi walks up behind them.
"Who do think they are? Mr. and Mrs. Einstein."
"Who?" Nicholas asked and Sissi turns elsewhere
"Sissi, where are you going? The woods are this way." Herb asked
"Yes, but the stores are that way."
"But we're supposed to be drawing plants."
"There's a florist in the shopping center."
Aelita and Jaden walk through the woods.
"There aren't any monsters in these woods. That only happens in fairy tales and crazy horror movies. The kind that Lewis likes." Said Jaden
"You don't like horror movies?"
"I find them scientifically inaccurate. I don't have time for movies anyway, I have my work cut out for me with XANA." He looks in his backpack and sees his laptop missing
"Oh no, I forgot my laptop. What if XANA attacks?"
"Run back and get it."
"What about the field trip?"
"We already have a lot of pictures, I'm sure we'll get the highest grade."
"Yeah, you're right, I worry too much." He runs back to the school
Meanwhile, Harris is spying on Yumi and Damian and Lewis is playing with Kiwi with a stick.
"Will you relax, you know Yumi's crazy about you."
"Actually, I don't"
"I don't get you guys, are you going out or aren't you?"
"Right now, I don't know. It's complicated." He goes back to spying
"I wouldn't call myself a rebel. I'm just a little rebellious." Damian stated
"Well, you managed to get yourself kicked out of your last school for putting posters up everywhere."
"I object your honor, overwhelming circumstances, they were love notes."
"Love makes you crazy?"
"It makes me totally insane." Yumi blushes at that statement
Aelita continues walking through the woods and hears rustling.
"Monsters only exist in fairy tales, monsters only exist in fairy tales."
She hears a wolf howl and starts running. She hears it again and starts hallucinating a wolf in front of her. She drops her notepad and runs away. Meanwhile on the ice sector of Lyoko, two Tarantulas come out from behind a tower and its haze turns red. Jaden is in his room getting his laptop and on his computer screen, a window comes up, scanning all of the towers on Lyoko at once and shows that one is activated.
"Just what I need, XANA's attacking."
"Need I remind you that we haven't done a single drawing since we got here. I can't imagine the grade that we are going to get." Lewis said annoyed
"Fine, you draw. You're a better sketch artist than me." His cell phone rings
"Jaden?"
"Harris, I'm at the school and XANA's attacking. I'll head for the factory, but you guys need to pick up Aelita on the way."
"No problem, we'll get her."
"I left her on the red trail. Is Yumi with you?"
"No, I'd rather you call her yourself. See you in a minute"
Yumi and Damian continue their conversation.
"No, I don't do anything halfway. It's all or nothing for me. I just can't bring myself to be sensible. But being sensible is just not sensible." Damian stated
"You stole that line from the Subdigitals."
"You listen to them?"
"They're really good." Her phone rings
"Yes?"
"Hey, it's about time we got to work. Don't you think? Yumi?" He looks around and sees Yumi is gone
Aelita catches her breath and sees a small, old house. She walks up to it and looks at the plaque on the gate.
"The Hermitage." She starts seeing another vision of when it looked newer and walks up to it
"Is… is anybody home!" She yells out and a security camera sees her, controlled by XANA as she enters
Harris and Lewis find the spot where Aelita left her notepad.
"You sure that this is the place?" Harris asked
"I'm positive." Kiwi sniffs the notepad and walks away
"Let's follow him."
"You sure about that."
"He may be small, but he has a good nose."
Harris hears something and does a roundhouse kick. When he turns around, he sees Yumi.
"Nervous, aren't we. That's a warm welcome."
"Yumi, we can't find Aelita." Lewis filled her in
Aelita walks into the house and XANA follows her. She walks into the living room and has another vision; seeing the room newer and sees a man with short gray hair, a gray beard, wearing a white lab coat over a brown turtleneck, blue jeans, brown shoes, and glasses with gray lenses. She sees XANA and screams. Jaden is at the factory talking to Lewis.
"Don't tell me you haven't found her yet. What have you guys been doing? She could be in danger!"
"Chill, Jaden. We're doing everything we can. Maybe she went back to the school. Kiwi led us to an old house in the forest. We're going to take a look inside. We'll call you if we find her." He hangs up and they enter the house, watched by XANA
"Aelita!" Harris calls out
The door shuts behind them and Lewis tries to open it.
"It's locked."
"No signal." Harris looks at his phone
A rolling desk comes at them.
"Guys, look out!" Yumi warned them and they move out of the way
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Harris asked
"XANA." Yumi answered
"That means Aelita is here." Lewis added
The furniture around them starts to float and attack them. They retreat by going into the basement.
"Looks like XANA is trying to lead us somewhere." They see Aelita in the boiler room, unconscious
"Aelita!" They all said in unison and Harris walks up to her and picks her up
"Don't worry, princess, we're here."
"Harris, it's a trap, XANA is…" The door suddenly sliding closed interrupts her; Lewis holds it open with his leg
"Get Aelita out of here." Lewis said as he struggled to keep it open
Aelita crawls out, but Lewis looses his balance and the door closed, trapping Harris and Yumi. The room fills with steam and they all try to force it open, to no avail.
"You'll be cooked alive if we don't get you out of there!"
"Lewis, hurry to the factory with Aelita and deactivate the tower." Harris said and Lewis and Aelita run down the hallway.
They approach another door, but it was locked as well.
"Should've known." Said Lewis and a shelf rolls towards them
"Watch out!" He pushes Aelita out of the way and jumps onto and off of the shelf
The shelf smashes the door and they see Kiwi outside. Aelita sees a metal door and has a vision of her and the man she saw in her previous vision go through it and into the sewers.
"Lewis, there's a hidden passage over there. I think it leads to the sewers."
"No time for jokes, Aelita."
"I'm not joking, Lewis. I'm sure." They enter the door
"Wow, incredible. How did you know about this?"
Harris and Yumi are still in the boiler room and it keeps getting hotter inside. They sit on a bench.
"Yumi, I… um."
"Forget it, Harris. I should have told you about Damian sooner."
"Yeah, that would have been better."
Lewis and Aelita arrive in the factory and take the elevator to the lab.
"Aelita, you're safe." Jaden said relieved
"No time to lose. If we don't hurry, Harris and Yumi will be like dumplings."
"Then head down and I'll start the process." They go down to the scanner room and enter the scanners
"Transfer, Aelita." Aelita is elevated
"Transfer, Lewis." Lewis is elevated
"Scanner, Aelita." Aelita is rotated
"Scanner, Lewis." Lewis is rotated
"Virtualization!" They are virtualized and land in the ice sector and Jaden materializes the Wind Star and the Shooting Star
"Aelita, the Wind Star is for you."
"Our taxis are here, let's roll." Lewis said and they get onto the Extreme Gears and go towards the tower
"Tower, dead ahead."
"Be careful, you've got two Tarantulas guarding the tower." Lewis and Aelita hide behind an ice pillar.
"I can't fight two of those terrors." Lewis said with worry
"Maybe I can lure away one of them." Aelita smiles deviously
"I get you." Lewis returns the devious smile
"Aelita, what are you planning?" Jaden asked
"She's going to steal the show." Lewis replied
Meanwhile, Harris and Yumi are still in the boiler and are sweating and panting, as the heat gets worse. Harris takes off his shirt.
"Go ahead, I'm not looking." Harris said and Yumi took off her shirt, revealing a pink bra
Back on Lyoko, Aelita charges at the Tarantulas.
"Hey there, my monster friends. Did you miss me?" She turns away and one of the Tarantulas follows her
Aelita speeds up and the Tarantula fires at her while running. It hits the Wind Star and it dematerializes. Aelita falls and continues fleeing on foot, but reaches the end of the plateau.
"Surprise." Lewis comes up from below and throws his sword at the Tarantula, destroying it
"They're not that invincible." He sees his sword is gone
"Uh oh, looks like I lost my sword in the explosion."
"Hang on, I'll get you another one, be patient." Jaden opens a program that shows a digital model of Lewis and a new sword forming in his hand.
"We're going to have to keep them busy, wait for my signal." Lewis suggested
"Right." Lewis goes towards the tower
In the Hermitage, it is getting even hotter in the boiler room and Harris and Yumi appear to be losing consciousness.
"Yumi… What's really… going on… between you and… Damian?"
"Nothing at all… He's just… A friend." Harris collapses
Lewis is flying over the Tarantula and does quick maneuvers to avoid its shots.
"All right, Lewis. You're all set, go for it."
"Great." Lewis pulls a new sword out of his scabbard, jumps off his Shooting Star and impales the Tarantula's head and it promptly explodes
"All yours, Aelita." She enters the tower
The thermometer on the boiler looks like its ready to break. Aelita ascends to the upper platform and Yumi collapses. She puts her hand on the interface and enters the Code: Lyoko.
"Tower deactivated." The data panels fall to the bottom of the tower and a white light comes up; Jaden hits a key on the supercomputer
"Return to the past now." The light engulfs the area
The students return from the field trip and Sissi shows Mrs. Hertz her drawings.
"Congratulations, Ms. Delmas. You found a Brazilian wild flower here at our woods?"
"Yes."
"Well it's going to be much easier grading your work, zero."
Harris and Lewis regroup with Jaden and Aelita.
"So did you get some drawing done this time?" Asked Jaden
"Yeah, but I had to drag Harris far away from Yumi and Damian. Going back in time didn't change anything for that." Yumi walks up to them
"About that house: the Hermitage. Nothing to report, it's back to being a normal house. Abandoned, but normal." Jaden pointed out
"It was so weird, the visions I was having." Aelita stated
"Not to mention the underground passage that you knew about." Lewis added
"It's as if I had already seen that house in a dream."
"A new mystery to solve for us." Said Yumi
"By the way, Aelita. This is for you. It's to keep us one step ahead of XANA" Jaden hands her a wrapped box
"For me?" She unwraps it and reveals a brand new cell phone
"This way, we can keep in touch. I thought pink would suit you."
"Wow, it looks cool. It matches your hair." Said Lewis
"Thank you, Jaden." She hugs him
"You're just like a normal school kid now." They all laugh