In the lifeless depths of the world's most advance super computer, something stirred. The tyrant that inhabited the core programmed its next move. A new development had arisen, a new strength for its enemies. Strength, it believed, that could become a weakness. It had delayed its last attack to observe, to calculate. Its foes had been distracted; it was this distraction that intrigued it. Unstable, alone; it would be possible. A rising hero, all it had to do was clip its wings. With a new tower chosen to command, X.A.N.A was unleashed.
"So, how many shots do you reckon?"
"One each if we're quick."
"Willing to bet on that?"
"Definitely, but don't miss on purpose."
The Ice sector of the Virtual world of Lyoko was swarming with Kankrelats. The red glow of the tower ahead marked X.A.N.A's presence, this was his kingdom and no intruder would stay for long.
"Time for 'Operation soaring bolt!'" Odd Della Robbia gave a thumbs up to his new battle brother.
They stood away from the ice block they hid behind. Hearing their footsteps, two Kankrelat's pivoted on the spot instantly, but they would have no chance to find a target. The Lyoko warriors dived sideways away from the ice block and aimed their weapons whilst in mid-air.
"Laser arrow!" They shouted in unison. With one laser arrow from Odd and one Lighting Arrow from Andrew, the two Kankrelat's were reduced to virtual dust.
"Nice shot, although mine was more on target." Odd was as far up the modesty scale as Nicholas was on his IQ. "AndI don't need a targeting reticule for a perfect shot!"
"Of course not Odd, you just have to waste four arrows before you hit." He wasn't getting the better of Andrew.
"In case you haven't noticed you two, Ulrich and Yumi are surrounded by crabs and Aelita's not getting any closer to the tower without your help." Jeremy Belpois instructed the warriors from the laboratory back on Earth.
Odd rolled his eyes. Andrew shrugged his shoulders in agreement and the two boys headed off to meet with their friends in peril.
"At least this should give those two some time to make up!" Odd spoke while panting as they ran.
"They're not arguing again are they?" Andrew asked before receiving a laser shot from a pursing crab.
"Andrew you have twenty life point left." The voice of 'God' spoke over the microphone.
"Yep I can feel that thanks Jeremy." Andrew punched the icy floor and stood back up.
"Let the real pro deal with it. Laser arrow!" Odd hammered three shots into the Crabs tough hide.
"Why does their eye symbol have to be on their back?" Odd moaned in frustration.
"So I can do this…" Andrew dived over Odd in a somersault. Pressing his bow he revealed another arrow from its secret compartment, lowered his targeting reticule over his right eye and aimed straight down. The arrow flew the short distance and ended the crab. Andrew landed perfectly behind the pixelated cubes that were once a monster. He stared at Odd.
"Shut up." Odd grunted, turned away and ran to Ulrich and Yumi's aid.
The duo was directly in front of the Tower, as were the remaining two crabs. The huge, red monsters continued to open fire and dodge Yumi's razor sharp fan. Ulrich ran directly underneath one as it stomped at him into the ice. Ulrich was much too quick and with the beast's leg now trapped in the frozen floor, Ulrich pierced its underbelly with his Katana.
"Better hurry or they'll be finished before we get to blow any up!" Odd called back to Andrew as they continued to run.
"Is this always a game to you Odd? Wait, what am I saying?" Andrew pulled out of his question; everything was a game to Odd.
With one crab to go and four warriors still on Lyoko, it looked as if X.A.N.A would have his work cut out for him from now on.
"Leave the last one to me." Odd pushed Yumi aside lightly.
"Laser arr- huh?" The crab had already been sliced by Yumi's fan.
"Better luck next time cat boy." She pushed him back with her elbow.
"Don't diss the outfit."
Lyoko's guardian, the virtual girl Aelita was clear and so headed into the tower.
"Well, another attack dealt with." Ulrich stretched. Even on lyoko you had to keep in shape.
"How long was that one Jeremy?" Yumi spoke towards the virtual sky.
"Four minutes, twenty three seconds. Huh, a new record. Nice one guys." Jeremy clapped.
"I have to admit, since Andrew joined us last month it's almost been too easy!" Odd playfully hit Andrew on the arm.
"You call sludge monsters, electrified fences and gas explosions easy?" Andrew pointed out.
"Well… easy on Lyoko anyway."
The group fell into an awkward silence. No monster was in sight and there was nothing else left for them to do. This strange peace was unheard of to them. It was true that Andrew's presence in the group had meant X.A.N.A attacks were stopped at a much faster pace. Unfortunately because of this, X.A.N.A had upped his game. The Lyoko warriors looked towards the tower as the dome of light covered the virtual world, sending it into the past.
The group was smothered by the return to the past and the rest of the world followed. Before they knew it they were all enjoying a warm drink by the dispenser on campus, just as they had the morning before.
"I think our recent victories call for a toast!" Odd held up his cup of hot chocolate.
"Figuratively or literally Odd? I never can tell with you." Ulrich asked him before raising his.
The group tapped their cups together, a couple spilling some onto the floor in the process.
"To X.A.N.A's latest pest!" Odd said before grinning. "Let's hope he has many monster mashing days ahead of him."
Jeremy was not so wishful.
"Let's hope not Odd, by my calculations I'm only weeks away from finishing Aelita's virtualisation program, and when she's on Earth with us it's bye-bye X.A.N.A." Jeremy took a sip of his drink.
"You said that last month Einstein." Ulrich noted.
"Yes, I did, but that's before I discovered the flaw I'd made in the D.N.A matrix. This time I've re-routed Aelita's D.N.A sample to be more compatible with-" Jeremy was cut off my Yumi.
"Not to be rude Jeremy, but I have Biology next and that's going to be boring enough."
Jeremy would often get sucked into his own little world and forget that everyone around him had no clue what he was going on about, besides Andrew of course but even he only had the faintest idea.
"Anyway…. It's nice to see the change in you Andrew since when we first met last month." Jeremy changed the subject.
Andrew thought back to how he had eventually become one of the group. He was alone then and had never known what it was like to have a friend, and suddenly four, and a virtual one had come along at once. Over the past month he had also learnt more about the group he now spent most of his time with. It had been Jeremy that had found the super computer over a year ago when he was looking for spare parts for his DIY robots. It was Jeremy that had awoken both Aelita and X.A.N.A on Lyoko (curious enough Aelita had no memory of her creator or even who she was) and it had been Jeremy that had brought the group together united against a common foe.
Andrew had also learnt a lot about the relationship between his friends. Ulrich and Yumi both had a 'thing' for each other but neither was brave enough to admit it. Jeremy was developing a fondness for Aelita, something that the group found cute, sad on Jeremy's part and just a tad creepy. Even still, Aelita had expressed her joy of talking to Jeremy just as much as Jeremy had about talking to her, so maybe Aelita was capable of more emotions than they knew. In the case of Odd Della Robbia, well he had asked almost every girl at Kadic out and eventually been rejected or dumped by all of them. The most infuriating relationship however was Sissi. She had developed a crush on Ulrich ever since she had met him at the start of their first year. The group had tried to shake her off but her self-obsessed manner always brought her back, even if Ulrich was rude to her.
"You alright there Andrew?" Ulrich shook him on the shoulder lightly.
He had fallen into a day-dream for a second.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking of how we first met."
It had only been a month but the bond X.A.N.A's attacks had formed between them had never been stronger. Even Jeremy was now comfortable with Andrew being in the group and touching the super computer. He had even started to show Andrew how to use the virtualisation software in case of emergency. His first attempt was less than impressive and was something Odd wished he could erase from his memory…
"Even with a new warrior in the group I have to say X.A.N.A has been on the assault more than often as of late." Jeremy was concerned of how it could be possible. X.A.N.A had always taken his time to reawaken and launch an attack, everything had to be perfect and he had to find a way of hacking into or bypassing certain security systems depending on his motives.
"Maybe X.A.N.A's getting more powerful? Or maybe he feels backed into a corner now there are four of us?" Yumi suggested.
Jeremy puzzled for a moment.
"I don't know Yumi, but whatever it is we should all be on our guard. We have no idea what X.A.N.A could be up to next."
They all downed the rest of their drinks.
"Well, seeing as the return to the past has skipped past our lessons to the end of the day, I'm heading up to my room to work on the virtualisation program." Jeremy looked in his backpack to make sure his laptop was safe as Odd cheered about not having to repeat maths.
Afterwards Odd yawned loudly and stretched outwards. "And seeing as I'm exhausted after all that crab cooking, I think I might take a quick nap in the dorm."
"Quick? Make that three hours by last times count." Ulrich followed him off towards the dorms, as did Jeremy and Andrew.
"I'm going to head off home and do my maths homework." The group waved to Yumi as she headed off campus.
"I might as well follow you guys; I left one of my drawings in Jeremy's room anyway." Andrew decided to spend some more time with his new friends before heading off.
"Which one was that? The scanners? The control room? The factory one by chance? You draw so many I can never keep count." Secretly Ulrich saw Andrew's drawings as a waste of time; then again he never was the artistic type besides martial arts.
"The scanners, I've got the other two you mentioned in my sketch book." Andrew still carried his handy sketch book around with him wherever he went. It was because of his love of art that he had finally found friends and discovered the super computer, so he had made a promise to keep it on his person almost at all times to remind of him that.
As they walked across campus, they came across Jim the P.E teacher. As usual he had his white sweat band and red kit on as well as the plaster just below his left eye stuck on diagonally that never seemed to go away.
"Belpois, just the man I wanted to see. I just wanted to check that you will be attending my lesson tomorrow, which of course would be the first time this term."
Jeremy froze on the spot.
"Errr…"
"Good! It's time I stretched that bag of bones you call a body into something like Ulrich's here, strong and athletic." He noticed Andrew's sketch book under his arm.
"I see you're still doing that artwork Fairbrace. You know, I used to be bit of an artist myself."
The group could smell a rat.
"You used to be an artist Jim?" Andrew asked him, not believing him in the slightest.
"Oh sure, back when I was in the army. It was in Iraq where I was commissioned behind enemy lines with the rest of the platoon; that was until the… well, I'd rather not talk about it." Jim's catch phrase came back to bite them as usual.
Jim's stories would become more and more ludicrous by the day. If they were to believe him then in his youth he had been everything from a cosmonaut to a fireman. A bad P.E Teacher, now that they could believe.
"Right then, I won't keep you any longer, some people have a P.E lesson to prepare for and Jeremy is looking forward to it, aren't you Belpois?" Jeremy shrugged, causing Jim to frown at him and walk away.
Students were starting to flood the campus now as they all prepared to go home or back to their dorm.
"Let's get back to the room before Sissi shows up." Ulrich said miserably with his hands in his pockets.
"Next time she shows up just tell her to pi-"
"Oh, Ulrich dear!" Sissi cut Andrew off.
"What does she want this time?" Ulrich sighed.
"So I was walking through town yesterday and a movie at the cinema caught my eye and I thought it would be so romantic if we could both go and see it together."
The two members of the Sissi fan club, Herb and Nicholas, still followed her around. Herb looked less than impressed about Sissi's desire to watch the film with Ulrich.
"Sorry Sissi, I'd loved to go with you but, oh wait, no I wouldn't. I'd rather shove hot onions in my eyes." Ulrich looked away and grabbed the door handle to the dormitory.
"Oh not so fast. If you don't go with me tomorrow afternoon then I'll just tell my father the principle about all the times you have snuck off campus this month. That goes for the rest of your little gang."
It looked like Ulrich had no choice. One's again, Ulrich would have to take one for the team.
"Why does X.A.N.A ruin my life so much?" Ulrich asked under his breath.
"Fine, I see you're stupid… I mean, I'll see the movie with you." Ulrich stared at the floor.
"Oh that is just great! I have a new dress and everything! I'll meet you at the school gate at four! See you then!" She walked away with her stalkers and waved. Ulrich reluctantly waved back.
"Ulrich, you know how much we appreciate you and what you do for us." Jeremy tried to take the heat of them.
"Save it, I didn't have much of a choice anyway." Ulrich was now even more glum than he usually was, like every second, of every day.
"I vote we throw her in one of the scanners and let X.A.N.A tear her to pieces." Andrew acted out pulling her apart.
"Err… I think her father might miss her if we did that." Jeremy ruined the idea.
"Or if he has any sense he'll give us a medal." Ulrich finally got to open the door and enter the dormitory.
Odd was already laying in a star shape across his bed fast asleep, in fact he had reached his room before Sissi had shown up, slipping past Jim when the group could not. Nothing got in the way of Odd and his food or his sleep, except perhaps Tetris or his Tamagotchi.
Ulrich decided, rather than interrupting Odd's nap, to follow the two into Jeremy's room. His room was still a mess. His poster of Albert Einstein above his bed was starting to show crinkles in the corners. Andrew had printed off a target and stuck it up on the back of Jeremy's room door (when he wasn't looking) and Jeremy had decided to keep it. It acted both as a target for Jeremy's stress ball when his materialisation programs tests failed and for Andrew's foam arrows and bow which he had bought to practice for Lyoko trips. Jeremy sat at his desk, Ulrich sat on the side of the bed and Andrew decided to lie down across it. He grabbed his small bow and foam arrow and started tinkering with them.
"I think we've been going to Lyoko far too often thanks to X.A.N.A. It's starting to change us." Andrew said.
"How can you tell?" Jeremy span round and asked him.
Andrew gave a simple answer. In a split second he armed one foam arrow into his bow and shot it backwards. It ricocheted off the ceiling and landed perfectly on Jeremy's head. Andrew hadn't even been looking and was facing away from him.
"Please reframe from doing that again…" Jeremy joked.
"He has a point though. You've been too tired to work on Aelita's program for the last few days, Odd's always tired, if that's a change at all from the usual, and…" Ulrich hesitated.
"And you and Yumi have been fighting again." Andrew finished the sentence for him.
"Don't talk about me and Yumi." Ulrich snapped back.
Andrew sat up and looked at Jeremy. Jeremy did the same thing
"You know you should just talk to her and clear things up. I'm surprised neither of you have made a move yet." Andrew smiled at him.
"What…? A move on what?" Ulrich panicked.
"Oh nothing, just a move on the fact you are both crazy about each other!" Andrew and Jeremy laughed.
"We are not! Well… I don't know how she feels…"
"Yes you do. She feels the same way. That's why you're both stuck in the friend zone and can't open the door. This ain't Lyoko, you can't expect Jeremy to enter a code and the door swings open for you, you have to try." Andrew imitated a door opening with his hands.
Ulrich was starting to get angry with the two boys.
"And what do you know about it? Just a month ago you didn't even know what it felt like to have a friend, let alone lov… like some… oh whatever!"
Ulrich stood up and headed towards the door.
"That hurts Ulrich." Andrew decided not to mention it from now on while he's in a mood.
"Besides, what gives you the right to lecture me when you won't admit the same thing to Aelita." He was addressing Jeremy now.
"What? That's different! I care about her in a protective sense. You know X.A.N.A would have full access to Earth if Aelita was deleted…" Jeremy was blushing as much as Ulrich was now.
"Rubbish. Yeah she's virtual, but that doesn't stop you from thinking about her the same way I do about Yumi… well the way you think I think about Yumi." Even Ulrich was starting to confuse himself.
"Well that's settled! Ulrich, you tell Yumi how you really feel and don't botch it up like you usually do and Jeremy, you confess to Aelita how you feel about her through Skype or whatever you use to talk to her." They both just stared at him.
"Say what!" They shouted in unison.
"Who put you in charge?" Jeremy asked Andrew.
Instead of answering, he simply stood up, grabbed his sketchbook and the art work he had left in the room and walked out the door, muttering behind him as he left.
"Think it over tonight. As for me, I'm going home." Andrew left the door open behind him for Ulrich.
"Can you believe him? I'm starting to wonder who our real enemy is!" Ulrich complained to Jeremy. Jeremy just shrugged, too embarrassed to say anything else.
Before they could continue, Jeremy's computer monitor flickered into life, displaying Jeremy's pink haired love interest.
"Hi Jeremy. What are you up to? Your face is all red." She asked.
"Nothing!" They both replied.
Andrew was sitting on his bed as he usually did after school, surrounded by various sketches and other pieces of art work. He looked at his now completed drawing of the super computer. It was the drawing that had started it all for him and it always put a smile on his face. Other subjects were scattered across his bed, such as the completed colour pencil drawing of Aelita, the rest of the gang huddling up outside the Gymnasium, Odd snoring his head off whilst lying on the floor of his room and another showing Jim whilst explain his past life as a lawyer, just before stating that he'd rather not talk about it.
He kept the pictures of the super computer hidden from his family but the others he showed off like prizes. His parents were so relieved that he had finally come out of himself, and it was all thanks to Jeremy and the others, not to mention a certain super computer. His dad's role in his latest movie was also going well and thinking about it reminded Andrew of the interview he gave for Milly and Tamia explaining about his dad's work. The interview itself was to be released in the next issue of the academy newspaper. That would make for… interesting reading in the morning. Andrew also thought about how amusing it should be to see Jeremy attempt Jim's P.E lesson.
"Try programming yourself out of that one Jeremy."