Summary: Jeremy was never told about the rich family he used to live next door to before he moved eight years ago. Not even that the prestigious family housed an Alice. Now this boy has to transfer to Kadic, where things might get a bit too virtual for his liking. Luca Nogi is way in over his head. What does Lyoko have in store for him?

A/N: This fic is rated T for Teen, due to darker themes, harsher violence, slightly more mature themes, bad language, and fake men slash. You've been warned beforehand (:

PS. This takes place sometime in the Second Season, so don't expect things to get extremely exciting with the whole Aelita growing wings and their outfits getting upgraded and stuff - they might, but they might not. Just warning you so you're not disappointed.

Code Lyoko Again

Chapter 1 - Enter The Pilot

Jeremy sat up groggily in his bedroom, listening half-heartedly as the radio belted out a song in the charts. He stretched and climbed out of bed, running his fingers through his hair. Xana wasn't giving him any breaks to figure out an anti-virus for Aelita, and that meant the supercomputer had to stay active, risking the lives of the whole world in the process.

He sighed. And to think they were being given so much homework as well… if he had Odd's brains, he would've keeled over from the stress a long time ago.

He couldn't exactly expect the teachers to go easy on them though - they were in the eighth grade now, so studying for midterm exams were vital in order to stay average. Even Odd was beginning to study on a regular basis.

"And Xana can't even cut us some slack during exam periods," Jeremy grumbled to himself. Though the sunlight gave him a hangover feeling after pulling an all-nighter to cram in extra research hours, he couldn't deny how good the April sunshine felt on his face as it streamed in through the windows. He was beginning to enjoy life beyond the computer screen. He just wished he could share this feeling with Aelita…

His thoughts were broken in an instant as the faint sound of yelling down the corridor caught his attention.

"I'M NOT GONNA SURRENDER HIM TO YOU UNTIL YOU DO YOUR OWN DAMN HOMEWORK!"

"I'M NOT SCREWING AROUND WITH YOU, ULRICH! GIVE HIM BACK RIGHT NOW!"

Ulrich burst into Jeremy's room, holding a squirming Kiwi to his chest.

"You coulda just knocked," Jeremy said dryly, as Ulrich grabbed hold of the frantic dog.

"Help," he gasped, face breaking out in a sweat. "That damn Odd…! I woke up this morning, and d'you know what he was doing? Copying my homework, god damn it! He coulda just asked, but instead he did all this sneaking around… unforgivable!"

"So you kidnapped Kiwi," stated Jeremy, watching bemusedly as Ulrich wrestled the little dog. Ulrich gritted his teeth.

"It's not stealing when Odd is involved," he said, fuming. "He stole my homework, I stole his dog. It was a trade. Equivalent Exchange."

"You watch too much anime," Jeremy commented, pulling off his pyjama top. "It doesn't work like that. Odd copied your homework, so fine, yell at him, scream and rant until he's truly sorry he drove you to it. But don't steal Kiwi. Now you're just as bad as him."

Odd burst into the room, face bright red with fury.

"YOU GIVE HIM BACK RIGHT NOW! GIVE BACK KIWI NOW!" Odd yelled. Ulrich glared at Odd.

"No, not until you do your own homework!" Ulrich shot back. Kiwi whimpered.

"YOU SEE THAT?" Odd spluttered to Jeremy, face like a tomato. "HE'S HOLDING KIWI HOSTAGE!" Jeremy rubbed his temples.

"Why dos this soap opera have to play out in my bedroom?" he groaned. "What wouldn't I give to be in Yumi's shoes right now…" Kiwi squirmed around frantically.

"Look, Ulrich, I'll tear up the paper, get detention, do whatever! Just leave Kiwi out of this!" shouted Odd. "Can't you see how unhappy he is?"

"All right, all right, guilt me, why don't you," Ulrich snapped. He released Kiwi, who retreated to their room. "Just, never copy my homework again!"

"Oh Great God Ulrich, I humbly thank you for sparing Kiwi's life," Odd cried, clinging to his arm. Ulrich looked embarrassed.

"Um, yeah, uh, just please let go," he mumbled. Jeremy stifled a laugh.

Despite his cool and collected appearance, Ulrich really was an awkward guy at heart, and wasn't used to this kind of affection directed towards him. Unfortunately, this wasn't known by Odd, who continued nuzzling against his shoulder in an annoyingly cat-like way - probably due to his Lyoko alias.

"Aww, you're embarrassed - that's so adorable, Ulrich! I bet Yumi would fall for you in a heartbeat if you used that card!"

"Shut up! There's nothing going on between Yumi and me! Why do you keep bringing that up?"

"Aww, this is so cute~ If only I had a camera~"

"Stop joking around!"

As their one-sided argument continued, Jeremy continued to dress, all the while with a silly smile on his face. He had no idea why hearing their voices felt so good to him - this was pretty much the drill of every day. But for some reason, today they were extra comforting.

Little did he know, his world was about to fall right into the cracks.

XXX

"I can't believe this," groaned Luca Nogi for the fifth time that day. "I don't see why they decided to transfer me here! It makes no sense, this isn't a school for Alices or anything… Tell me what the Elementary School Principal had in mind, Narumi!"

Narumi focused on the road, jaw clenched.

"Luca, you know for a fact that I'm no longer one of the higher ups - not that I ever was for that matter. I'm just as low as you are."

"How reassuring," Luca said sarcastically, trying to hide the tears pricking his eyes. "And why was I the only one? What about Natsume, or Imai? This doesn't make any sense, damn it!"

"I don't have a clue why you're the one chosen to come here… But it could be something to do with the fact that you originated from France so you'd know the language."

"That doesn't make any sense, though. What's so special about Kadic Junior High School, anyway? Do they have connections with Alice Academy?" Narumi shrugged.

"I don't have a clue… But you'll soon find out, huh?" Luca shifted uncomfortably. He couldn't stop thinking about the fear he'd felt as the Elementary School Principal had called him out that day.

"Where am I going?" Luca asked, frightened. After what had happened to Mikan Sakura, he knew he couldn't take any chances with the Elementary School Principal. He was treading on thin ice here, so he had to be careful.

"Don't sound scared shitless, you're just going to listen to me." The Principal's voice had been cold, sending shivers down Luca's spine.

"Then tell me what's going on!" Luca had cried, even though his presence of mind was screaming at him to stay silent. The Elementary School Principal turned around sharply and struck him across the face.

"You do not speak to me like that!" he spat, furiously. Then he regained his composure. "You don't speak to your elders like that. Learn a little decency and respect, Nogi."

Luca stood up shakily. He'd been so shocked and in pain his legs had given away without him realising and he'd fell to the floor with a harsh thump. His breaths came out ragged and fast, as his heart was racing. In retrospect, he should've seen it coming. But the pain tearing through the left side of his face was enough to make anyone keel over.

"Are you done with your pitying performance?" Sneered the Elementary School Principal. Luca nodded, swallowing. He couldn't risk answering back now.

"Good. Now I have to make an announcement. As of next week, you will be transferring schools. I feel like your Alice is stable enough as a graduate. Therefore I am removing you from this school and sending you to Kadic Junior High School in France, where you will be placed in the eighth grade classes. Do well there, otherwise you won't even be there to protect Natsume the next time I decide to lay my hands on him."

Luca stared for what seemed like an eternity.

"…I'm transferring schools?" He cried. "Wh… Why? This isn't right, I'm just a kid! Why would you bother going through all this trouble to transfer me?"

"My decision is final. Pack your things. We'll be leaving on Monday."

Luca's head jerked up as the car slowed to a halt. Narumi turned around.

"You hanging tough there, soldier? We're here now." Luca bit his lip and unstrapped his seatbelt. It still felt weird to think they were in the place he called home so long ago. His mothering country. His origin.

As he climbed out of the car, he stared up at the school's walls. It looked quite old, but fancy too. He hoped the kids weren't going to be stuck up. That was the last thing he needed at a time like this.

"What does he expect me to do?" Luca asked, his face falling. "I have no idea what he wants from me." Narumi patted his shoulder. If this world hadn't fallen out of shape, Luca would've shrank away from that hand, felt creeped out, awkward. Now it was one of the most comforting things in the world.

"Don't worry, Luca. No matter what happens… If he touches anyone, and I mean anyone… I won't forgive him for that. Especially if it's you, or Natsume, or anyone else in Class B. You're all my pride, and my joy. I can't thank you enough for all you've done to hold the class together… But for now, Luca, you can't do anything but your best."

"But what if my best isn't enough?" Luca cried, clenching his fists. "What if he's not happy with what I do? What if he tries to hurt Natsume? I can't just sit around like this, I need to be with Natsume, to protect him…!"

"You're trying, Luca. I'm sure Natsume would want you, at least, to try and live this new life normally." Narumi let his arm fall to his side. "Now, lets go and meet the principal. I'm sure you'll want to settle in right away." Before Luca had a chance to protest, Narumi pushed him in through the gates and marched him through the courtyard.

Luca glanced around nervously. Everyone was in class, which meant that the whole yard was empty. He dreaded to think what it would be like when lunch break began.

He sighed deeply and tried to slow his heart race. If he was going to make a good impression on this principal, he didn't want to come clammy-handed.

XXX

Jeremy frowned, ignoring Miss Hertz as she droned on about amplitude - he'd heard it all before. For the moment, it seemed, Xana had been totally quiet… oddly quiet. It was strange to think that instead of enjoying this peace, he was stressing out over it, but he couldn't place his finger on why he thought today would be the time Xana would strike.

Beside him, he watched as Odd was drawing a complicated and detailed picture of a knarled tree and bent over to get a closer look. Then he sighed half-heartedly. Underneath the tree were Yumi and Ulrich, holding hands and napping in the sun. He smiled inwardly.

They were going to kill him for that.

"Hey, Odd," he whispered. Odd looked up from his masterpiece.

"What's up?" Odd asked. Jeremy leaned over.

"I was thinking about your… Precognition." Odd blinked.

"My what now?" Jeremy sighed.

"Precognition, you know… Your "Future-Flashes"?" Odd sat up excitedly, his mushy drawing suddenly forgotten.

"Oh, yeah? I miss those little guys, coming and going like they owned the place… what about it?"

"I'm thinking of bringing it back… I was wrong to say that they were useless, because they're not. They helped you out quite a few times. And… I think it's high time I make an upgraded version."

"That's awesome!" Odd exclaimed. "Does that mean I'll be able to bring on the Future-Flashes?"

"At will? Sure, if you want, I'll try," Jeremy said. "I'll work on making it more reliable too, so that you can understand more about what's going on in the future."

"Excuse me," Miss Hertz snapped. "Is my class really so boring you two boys feel like you can talk through it?"

"N-No, Ma'am," Jeremy said quickly. "W-We're sorry."

After a distraught look, she spun on her heels and continued writing on the board. The two breathed a sigh of relief.

After a brief end to their conversation Odd went back to his drawing, while Jeremy stared out of the window. As he was drifting off into an uneasy daydream, something caught his eye. Or rather, someone.

He watched intently as a man, accompanied by a boy their age, trudged along the path in the direction of the principal's office. A new student, he supposed - but this only made him more uneasy.

Why… Why did he feel such a strange wave of nostalgia as the boy crossed the courtyard?

XXX

"I hope you will like your new school, Luca Nogi," the principal said, smiling pleasantly. "You are fluent in French, it seems - very good. I'm impressed. I hope you find it easy to communicate with your fellow classmates, and if you have any problems you know you can always come to me."

Luca nodded, feeling conflicted. Part of him was relieved that the principal was so nice - way more friendly then the ones at Alice Academy. But part of him also knew that this was the easy bit. It was the actual "making friends" part that was going to be hard.

He'd already been the new kid once, but that was okay, because Natsume was there, and they understood each other. Now, Luca had no one.

"Now, I'll be leaving… Thank you for everything, Sir," Narumi said politely, standing up. Luca looked up quickly.

"You're leaving?" he asked. His voice sounded sad and pathetic, and he hated himself for sounding so weak. Narumi nodded.

"I'm afraid so. But don't worry, Luca. I'll come back soon. I'll find the money somewhere. For now, hang in there. You'll be fine."

Luca doubted that things would be fine, but he knew there was no point in arguing. He fingered his new silver cell phone in his pocket - a parting gift from Class B snuck into the academy from outside the gates. He bit his lip. He wanted to be there so badly.

"Right, well, if you'll excuse me…" Narumi gave one last sad wave before shutting the door behind him.

Luca was alone.

"…Now, Luca, if you don't mind… please allow me to show you to your room." The principal stood up and left the room, holding the door open for Luca to follow him through. Luca trailed after him miserably, holding his luggage.

"This will be your room," he said, motioning to a door in front of them. "You'll be sharing your room with another student in your class, Jeremy Belpois. He's an exceptionally bright boy, so if you run into any trouble you can always talk to him. This period is almost over, so lunch will start in ten minutes. Try and get settled down then, and I'm sure Jeremy won't mind taking you under his wing until you make some friends."

Luca nodded, not actually soaking up much of the information. He held his new cell phone tightly, not wanting to let go.

"Natsume… if you were here right now… what would you want me to do?"

XXX

Jeremy packed up his books.

"Where are you heading now?" asked Odd.

"I'm going back to my room for a bit to check Xana hasn't launched an attack. Wanna come with me?" he asked, smiling. Odd shook his head.

"No offence or anything, Einstein, but in case you didn't notice, it's lunch now, and I, like most people, hafta eat. It's meatballs today."

"Okay, okay. Save a seat for me at lunch, okay?"

"Will do!" Odd rushed off. Ulrich grinned.

"He never changes, does he?" he said. Jeremy shook his head, smiling.

"Change is a bit weird sometimes. Odd is the type that shouldn't change, otherwise he'd turn them crazy."

"I'll come with you to your room if you want," Ulrich suggested. Jeremy nodded.

"Yeah, please."

As they approached the room, they heard something. It sounded like… a guy.

"Natsume… if you were here right now… what would you want me to do?"

"Who's that?" whispered Ulrich. "And is he speaking Japanese?"

"No idea. You reckon it could be Yumi's little brother?" asked Jeremy. Ulrich shook his head.

"Not unless Hiroki's aged overnight." They opened the door. A head shot up, startled. He was blonde, with crystal blue eyes, fair skin, and wearing a black blazer, white shirt and blue checked trousers.

"…Who're you?" Jeremy asked, eyes wide with surprise. The boy rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

"Um… My name's Luca Nogi. I'm new and everything, so… Well, you get the picture. I'm your new roommate."

Ulrich and Jeremy stared.

"N-New roommate?" he gasped. "No one told me about this!"

"Well it's not like I'm exactly thrilled to return to France either," Luca snapped, frowning. "I hate being so far away from Japan. I can't believe he thought my Alice was stable… What was he thinking?" he murmured to himself. Jeremy looked up.

"Did you say, Alice?" he asked. Luca hesitated, before nodding.

"Um… Yeah, I did. Er, well, the thing is-" At that moment, Kiwi burst into the room, and Luca's face softened.

"D-D-Darling… Ah, mon belle, mon belle, ça va?" He crouched down next to Kiwi and pulled him into a warm embrace.

"Um… Is this guy… someone to be reckoned with?" murmured Ulrich, eyes wide with amazement.

"I-It's hard to say," whispered Jeremy. Suddenly the illusion ended and Luca grabbed a hold of himself. Kiwi slowly trotted off, unsure of why he had the sudden urge to lick the boy's face. Luca buried his head in his hands.

"Argh, I'm such a moron… Why did I let myself get so unstable…?" He looked up at Ulrich and Jeremy miserably. "Well, I guess there's no point hiding it anymore. I have the Animal Pheromone Alice. Which, as you can tell, attracts animals. I thought I would be safe seeing as pets aren't allowed here, but…?"

"That was Kiwi. He's a dog belonging to our friend Odd." Jeremy stared in awe. "So you really are an Alice?" Luca nodded.

"Wait up - what's an Alice?" asked Ulrich. Jeremy turned to face him.

"It's a person born with a special ability that defies human laws - it's like special powers. Scientists are still trying to figure out why Alices occur and how people can obtain or destroy them, but they haven't been too successful. I've always wondered about it. Even though most cases are from Japan, did you know France has a high Alice rate too?"

"Well, no, seeing as I didn't even know what an Alice was," pointed out Ulrich. He pointed at Luca. "So lemme get this straight, this guy has an Alice that makes animals fall in love with him? That's kinda weird."

"You think I don't know that?" growled Luca. "Look, I'm just gonna say this once. My Alice is a total freak show. Therefore, I don't want anyone hearing about it. It'd totally freak them out, and make my life a living hell. Do you see why I wanna keep it quiet?"

"We understand… We won't tell a soul," Jeremy promised. "Now, Luca… what do you say we all head down to lunch?"

XXX

Odd was eating his third helping when Ulrich and Jeremy walked in, Luca following close behind. He waved to them, then stopped as he saw Luca. Luca noticed this and flushed red.

"Hey, guys. Who's the blondie?"

"You're blonde too, you know," Ulrich pointed out. "This is Luca Nogi. A transfer student from Japan."

"Ooh, a fellow foreigner, huh?" Odd grinned. "Nice t'meetcha! Odd Della Robbia's the name!" Luca blinked.

"F-Fellow foreigner?"

"Odd's Italian," Jeremy said quickly. Odd nodded, grinning.

"Oh, sweet, sweet Italy," he said dreamily, before tucking into his meatballs once more. "So, you in our class? How do you know Jeremy, anyway?"

"I'm his new roommate," Luca said quickly. Odd leaned towards Ulrich.

"Has he seen Jeremy's hook-up to the supercomputer?" Odd whispered. Ulrich shook his head.

"Not as far as I know. He'd only been there about ten minutes or something when we came in."

"That's a relief. I was worried we'd have to do explaining."

"I can't imagine you seriously worrying about anything," Ulrich replied, exasperated. Odd shrugged, popping a meatball in his mouth.

"Think that way then, if it floats your boat," he said simply. Luca went to pick up a lunch tray.

"Okay, so he knows nothing about Lyoko. That's good. Say, any of you two seen Yumi?" Ulrich shook his head.

"She's probably in the library or something. She has exams too, you know."

"How could I not when you're reminding me all the time?" Odd replied. "Honestly, Ulrich, how many times are you gonna repeat yourself? Are you on a tape recording or something?"

"Cut it out," Aelita said, wandering over to them. She had a small smile on her face. "Who's the new boy?"

"His name's Luca Nogi," Jeremy said. "He's a transfer student from Japan, and he's my new roommate."

"Oh, how exciting," she grinned. "I can't wait to talk to him!"

"Well, he's not feeling all that sociable right now," Jeremy said, so Aelita's feelings wouldn't get hurt if he was cold towards her. "He's not settled in properly yet, so we should probably give him some space."

"Okay, I understand." She sat down next to Jeremy with her lunch tray and began pushing her food around her plate like a little kid.

"Hey, Aelita, if you're not gonna finish those potatoes off, d'you mind if I have them?" Odd asked hungrily. Jeremy threw him a look.

"Let her finish off her food, Odd. She's barely even started."

"Fine," he said sulkily. Then he remembered something and sat straight. "Hey, Einstein, about Precognition-"

"What's that?" asked Ulrich.

"It's my Future-Flashing power," Odd grinned. "Jeremy's been talkin' about bringing it back!"

"Really?" Ulrich looked surprised. "I thought you didn't like that power. That's why you got rid of it, right?"

"I've decided to try and revive it," Jeremy said. Determination flashed in his eyes. "Because it's actually really useful, we just didn't need it back then."

"Like how?" Ulrich asked. Odd glared at Ulrich.

"Like it was awesome, very much like myself," he retorted. Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"It could be used to predict danger in the near future, or even Xana attacks," Jeremy said seriously. Odd gasped.

"I could predict Xana attacks?" Jeremy nodded.

"It'd take serious concentration, and I still don't know what the outcome might be. With that much power, it might affect your health, or your mood. I just don't know yet cause I haven't had a chance to work on developing the ability."

"You're worrying too much," Odd said breezily, stealing a meatball off of Aelita's plate. "I'm sure everything will be just dandy by the end of the day."

As he finished his sentence, Luca walked over to their table with a tray of food and sat down opposite Aelita, who smiled.

"It's nice to meet you," she said. "My name's Aelita. What's yours?"

"U-Um… Luca Nogi," he said, blushing. Jeremy frowned.

"Uh-oh. I sense jealousy on the horizon," grinned Odd, pointing out Jeremy's sour expression.

"Wh-What is this?" Luca asked, prodding the meatball with his fork. Odd stared in horror.

"It's a meatball, my friend! A part of Italian culture, meatballs! I'll let you off for today because you're from Japan, but really, don't they have meatballs in Japan? You'd think they would!" As Odd continued to rant about his mothering country, Luca stared down at his tray of food and pushed it around, not feeling very hungry. He wished Natsume was here. He was so different to them all.

He was calm and cool and Luca's best friend. They were clowns that joked around and didn't take much seriously who he barely knew. But for some reason, he felt comfort, for the first time since Narumi left, as he watched them laugh and joke about the Italian boy's culture.

He let a small smile play on his lips, before taking a bite of his first dinner at Kadic Junior High.

It wasn't so bad, after all.

XXX

Jeremy felt a familiar feeling of uneasy stabbing in his gut as he sat in History, spacing out. He just had to check to see if Xana had launched an attack. He just had to.

Careful not to disturb the lesson he was in, he reached for his laptop and slowly opened it up.

Just as he suspected.

A tower had been activated.

He nudged Odd, who was sat next to him, continuing his detailed drawing of Yumi and Ulrich.

"Odd," Jeremy hissed. "A tower's been activated." Odd groaned.

"At this rate, I'll never finish this picture off, will I?" he complained. "I've been working on it for almost a week!"

"We need to get out of here," Jeremy murmured to Odd. "How're we gonna get out of this?" Odd let a grin creep over his face.

Leave it to me, he mouthed. He then bent over and made vomiting noises into his schoolbag. The teacher looked up, startled. Odd was a convincing vomiter at the best of times.

"Jeremy, is Odd… throwing up?" Jeremy nodded, also surprised by the convincing retching noises.

"Y-Yes… Should I take him to the infirmary?" Jeremy asked. The teacher nodded.

"Come back once you've handed him over to the nurse," their teacher warned.

"Okay," Jeremy said. When Odd's face emerged from the bag, he had drool on his chin and his face was white. Jeremy glanced at Ulrich, who's face was alarmed. He really thought Odd had been sick, Jeremy thought with a grin. He let his gaze wander over to Luca, who was sat next to Aelita for that lesson. She had concern written all over her face, and Luca looked shocked. He probably believed it too, after seeing how much Odd had eaten at lunch.

With one of Odd's arms over his shoulder, Jeremy staggered out into the corridor. Odd grinned and wiped the drool from his chin.

"Pretty convincing stuff I had there, huh?" he joked. Jeremy nodded.

"Even Ulrich thought you'd really puked then," he said. Odd shrugged.

"Hey, what can I say? I have skills. Now lets head over to the factory quickly, before Xana gets too far ahead of the game." They began to run into the woods, careful to avoid the watchful eye of teachers like Jim lurking around.

"We don't have much time. As soon as I get down there, go to the scanner room and get ready to be de-virtualized. I'll talk to you when I get to the supercomputer, so be ready in the scanner."

"Okay, captain," he grinned, grabbing his skateboard. Jeremy unfolded his scooter and followed Odd down the tunnels.

Once he arrived in front of the supercomputer, Jeremy sat down and turned on the main power source.

"Odd, you ready?" Jeremy asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Einstein," came his chirpy reply. Jeremy started the de-virtualisation program.

"Transfer - Odd." The scanner sprung to life.

"Scanner - Odd." Jeremy scanned Odd's body.

"Virtualisation!"

Odd was thrown onto the dusty terrain of the Desert Sector. Shaking his head, he looked around only to realise something.

"Hey, Einstein. We forgot Aelita," he pointed out. Jeremy nodded.

"I realised on the way to the factory. For now, take cover, cause you'll need those life points when she arrives. I'll call her cell."

He rang her number. Almost immediately she picked up.

"Hey, Jeremy. How's Odd doing?"

"He faked the whole thing," Jeremy said quickly. "Xana launched an attack. A tower was activated so we used that to get out of the classroom. Could you drop by and de-activate the tower?"

"Sure thing. I'll be on my way."

XXX

Luca watched as Aelita fished her cell phone out of her bag, worried. She pressed it to her ear.

"Hey Jeremy. How's Odd doing?" Luca frowned. That had really startled him when the short boy had started retching into his bag.

Aelita nodded, although Luca was pretty sure Jeremy couldn't tell she was nodding.

"Sure thing. I'll be on my way." She stood up. "Sir, I don't feel well… can I go to the infirmary?" The teacher frowned.

"Is this some kind of virus going round? Well, okay. Would you like someone to go with you?"

"I'll take her!" Ulrich and Luca said in union.

"V-Very well. You can both accompany her. But I want you back as soon as possible."

"Okay." Aelita looked puzzled. The second they left the room, Ulrich turned to Luca.

"What the hell are you doing? This isn't a playground!"

"I should be asking you that! Give me one good reason why you should be allowed to just leave the lesson and I'm not!"

"Because we're actually doing something important!"

"Just shut up, both of you," Aelita said sharply. "Lets get to the factory. You too, Luca," she added as he began to walk away.

"Are you serious?" hissed Ulrich. "We haven't even known this guy a day!"

"We might need back up. There's no guarantee we'll be able to get Yumi out of classes, and we might have to seriously rely on him. Plus," she smiled, "he's part of our group now. He hung around with us, and we let him in more then we do with just normal classmates. He's our friend now. One of us."

"…Fine, fine, just lets get on with this, before Odd gets de-virtualized before we even arrive."

Aelita nodded and ran towards the woods, Luca and Ulrich in tow. Before long, they reached the tunnel leading down to the pipes connecting the school to the factory.

"Wh-What this hell… is this?" Luca looked bewildered as Aelita opened up the tunnel and began to climb down the sub-style rungs. Aelita bit her lip.

"You wouldn't believe us if we tried to tell you. You'll see for yourself if you just come down too." Uncertainly, Luca began to climb down the stairs. Ulrich followed after, pulling the lid down so not to attract attention.

"Woah!" Luca stared. They were in… a tunnel?

"No time to explain. Lets get going."

XXX

Jeremy looked up as they appeared from the elevator and sighed in relief.

"Has Odd lost any life points yet?" Ulrich asked.

"Aww! You really do care~" came Odd's voice from the supercomputer. Ulrich rolled his eyes.

Luca stared at the room in complete shock. It was like the labs at Alice Academy. There was a seat around a huge chunk of machinery he could only assume was the source of their problems, from the way everyone was staring at it in concern. The whole room had an artificially-lit glow to it.

"You guys need to get to the scanner room- h-hey, what's Luca doing here?" Jeremy looked puzzled.

"He followed us here… or rather, Aelita invited him." Ulrich pointed to the pink-haired girl, who had a rather defensive look on her face.

"He wanted to know what was going on, and he's your roommate, Jeremy! He'll find out everything sooner or later!"

"Well, given the current situation, I'd probably choose later," Ulrich snapped. "But now you've already brought him here, I guess we're gonna have to go on anyway."

"Right. We don't have any time to lose… Go to Lyoko now, I'll start up the scanning process."

"Whatever you say," Aelita said, heading towards the scanner room. "Come on, Ulrich."

Ulrich followed her into the elevator.

"Aelita… Is what we're doing really the right thing? We don't know this guy very well. What if he reveals everything?"

"…I can tell he won't. I have a good judge of character, Ulrich, and right now every fibre of my being is saying we can trust him." She watched him with determined eyes. "Please believe me."

Ulrich held her gaze for several long seconds.

"…Fine. I'll believe you for now. But don't think I agree with any of this until I see for myself what kind of guy this Luca Nogi really is."

XXX

"Uh, Jeremy… How much longer until the others arrive?" Odd groaned. "Cause, well, they're practically surrounding me here, and I don't think I'll have any ammo left if I start shooting my laser arrows now!"

"Just hang on a moment," Jeremy pleaded. "They'll be here any moment now."

"You're damn right they're gonna be here any moment now, cause if not, I'm gonna have something to say about tha-" He was cut off when a blok began to shoot at him, only narrowly missing his head.

"Er, Jeremy… I hate to rush you and all, but I don't think these guys are gonna wait any longer… Could you hurry it up please?"

"Odd, I'm doing the best I can," Jeremy said quickly. "Dear god, guys, are you ready yet?"

"Come on, Jeremy," Aelita's voice came, surprisingly calm. "Just scan us. We're ready and in the scanners."

"Right… Okay…" Jeremy started up the scanning process as Luca stared at the screen.

"The… The guy from before… His voice is coming out of the computer," he said, eyes fixated on the supercomputer.

"Uh, right… About that," Jeremy said, distracted. "It's really hard to explain, but-"

"Wait a sec, guy from before?" Odd complained. "Great. The new dude doesn't even know my name."

"Well, you don't seem to know mine either," retorted Luca.

"Can we save this for another time?" Jeremy pleaded, breaking up the feud. "Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Ulrich."

Their Lyoko forms materialized on the screen.

"H-How are you doing that? Is this some kind of creepy Invention Alice at work?" cried Luca, confused. Jeremy shook his head.

"I wish. But it's not. It's actually a really long story that I'd prefer to tell you once this fiasco's over…" He turned back to the screen. "Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Ulrich."

"This isn't real… This is all insane." Luca stared in disbelief as the two were materialised on Lyoko.

"It's about time," said Odd as they dropped to the floor. "Honestly, you guys, you sure take your time with these kinda things!"

"Quit your complaining," Ulrich said bluntly. "We need to de-activate the tower before Xana affects Earth in one way or another."

"…Fufufu… And to think I used to think you cared about my well-being, Ulrich," came the crocodile-tearing voice of Odd.

"Come on, we don't have much time," Aelita said urgently. "We need to get to the tower. Jeremy, can you send us the co-ordinates?"

"Uh… yeah…" Jeremy searched the location. "…Aha. Head south from here. You guys should be able to see it easily if you keep heading south. It'll come into view if you just keep walking."

"Sounds easy enough… We'll have to finish off these bloks first though," Odd said, smiling grimly.

"You ready, Odd?" asked Ulrich through gritted teeth.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he replied. "Aelita, take cover! Things are about to get real ugly."

Aelita ran to duck behind a sand bank.

It all seemed to happen so fast then. Lasers were fired, yells echoed round the skies, as Odd and Ulrich fought for Aelita's sake against the bloks.

"Triplicate!" Ulrich triplicated and began to fend off three bloks at once, while Odd dodged in between lasers, determined to tire the offending blok out, or at least confuse it so he could take the upper hand.

"Good going, Ulrich!" Odd yelled as two of the three bloks were destroyed.

"Hehe, thanks," he called back, facing the third. Odd jumped high enough in the air so he could get a full view of the blok he was after.

Perfect. I have you right where I want you.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd shouted, shooting a single arrow from his clenched cat fist.

The blok stood still for a moment, bewildered, before completely exploding.

"And that's how you do it Lyoko style," grinned Odd, dusting off his paws.

"You're such a show-off," Ulrich commented.

"Ya jealous?" grinned Odd. Ulrich opened his mouth to say something - and suddenly disappeared.

"What happened to Ulrich?" cried Aelita.

"Crap, he's been de-virtualized," muttered Odd.

"ODD, LOOK OUT!" she shrieked. Odd turned around just in time to dodge a laser aimed at him speedier then light.

"Krabs, just great," he groaned. "Jeremy, you could've warned me there was a Krab coming!"

"It didn't show up on my scanner! Look, Odd, there's no way you'll be able to take it down on your own. Take cover with Aelita - I'm gonna send Luca down."

"What! Are you crazy? With all due respect, Einstein, you'd have to be nuts to let the new guy into Lyoko!"

"Well you guys need help. What other choice do we have? We can't get Yumi, her parents said so themselves that she can't afford to skip out on any more classes! You can't finish one of those things off by yourself, that's like a death wish!"

"You think I don't know that?" snapped Odd. "Look, Jeremy, I know you like this Luca guy, but he isn't going to help at all on this mission! If you're gonna let him in the group, we've gotta give him training and get him used to fighting!"

"You think I don't know how to fight?" Luca yelled. "I have fought for my life, more times then you could count! I've been in a lot of dangerous positions you guys couldn't even imagine! So don't tell me how to fight!"

After an awkward moment of silence passed, Odd finally spoke.

"Okay, we have no idea how many rocky situations you've been put in. But this isn't the same kinda fighting. It isn't guns, or fists, or feet or knees or anything else you can hit or injure with. These are giant monsters that zap you with lasers. Are you up to that?"

"Are you saying I'm chicken? You need help… I don't like using what strength I do have to hurt others. But this is a different story. They're virtual! They can't feel a thing!"

As the elevator opened up and Ulrich emerged, Luca ran past and pressed the button to proceed down to the scanner room.

"What was that all about?" Ulrich asked.

"The new guy just lost his marbles," Odd remarked. "Now, Jeremy, if you don't mind, until Luca gets here I'm gonna dance with the Krab."

"Odd, wait!"

XXX

The elevator doors opened and Luca suddenly found himself in a room similar to one he'd see in a horror show, or a pokémon movie. There were pods all around that he could only assume were the scanners, and wires trailing all over the floors. Taking a deep breath, he entered the nearest scanner.

"O-Okay… Do the scanning thingy. I'm ready."

"Right, okay then, Luca… Now, don't worry. It'll take some getting used to, but we know what we're doing-"

"Can you give me the pep talk later? Odd needs me right now," Luca said quickly.

"Whaddya know… The kid does know my name this time," grinned Odd.

"And if you have any class, you'll remember mine," Luca retorted.

"Enough, you two. Transfer, Luca." The doors closed on Luca. He suddenly felt just a slight flutter of panic in his chest - being so confined like this made him feel like he was in a cell.

"You doing okay, Luca?" asked Jeremy.

"Peachy," he said through gritted teeth. "Now get on with it."

"Scanner, Luca." Luca felt waves cruising down his body and his stomach lurched. He could feel it all. He could feel his body being torn apart, right down to the last strand of DNA, and then reconstructed again. It was by far one of the strangest things he'd ever experienced.

"H-Hey-" In a second, he was wiped from the Earth, and it felt like he'd faded into nothing.

And then suddenly, he was being taken apart all over again, like a toy that needed fixing. And then merged back together again.

As he was about the scream out in pain, suddenly he could see a bright light… then, a desert terrain.

"What the…?" He fell to the ground and lay flat on his face, twitching slightly. Wait a second… what was twitching?

"Oh my god, Luca's a bunny!" cackled Odd, cracking up. Luca blinked and took in his appearance. He was wearing a tight white shirt, black skinny jeans and black combat boots, with… aw, crap. Rabbit ears.

"What the hell is up with this outfit?" he demanded.

"W-Well, uh… I think it focuses on your inner thoughts, kind of?" Jeremy offered, stifling a laugh.

He felt his face flush red. Of all the things, he thought of the cutesy image and nickname Sakura used to give him…

Luca-Pyon.

Even now, he felt an ache in his heart as he remembered her face.

"Luca-Pyon! Luca-Pyon! Hey, Luca-Pyon, Natsume, listen to this! Hotaru told me a really funny story today, and-"

"Hey, watch out!" Luca felt himself being dragged out of the way.

"Luca, you almost lost some life points then! You gotta stay focused on Lyoko!" Jeremy warned. Odd was holding into his arm, his eyes widening as they locked gazes.

"H-Hey… Why do I feel… So god damn attracted to you…?" Odd's face was beginning to flush. Luca snapped into action.

"God damn it, Jeremy, why are my Animal Pheromones affecting Odd?" he yelled. Jeremy shrugged.

"I-I don't know! I-It might be because he has a cat-like form on Lyoko…? I know less about Alices then you do, Luca, so you tell me," Jeremy stammered.

"Well, basically, if he's affected by my pheromones I can practically hypnotise him if I wanted to - but in any case, the least I can do is communicate, which is exactly what I need for dealing with a nut job like him."

"You can really do something like that? That's incredible," Jeremy said, surprised. "If you can guide him through the whole mission, I'll give you serious brownie points."

"I'm not gonna manipulate him!" snapped Luca. He glanced over at Odd, who was still in a lovesick trance. "I'm just gonna use this to my advantage and get him to listen to what I'm saying."

"Look, I don't know if you guys had noticed, but there's a Krab right next to you!" shrieked Aelita. Luca's eyes bugged out as he drank in the sight of the Krab. It was huge.

"Holy shit, we're supposed to fight that?" he whispered.

"Luca! Odd's still dazed, so tell him what to do and just get Aelita to the tower," Jeremy said, voice high and panicky. Luca grabbed Odd's shoulders, causing him to quiver and the blush on his cheeks to deepen.

"L-Luca… You're holding my shoulders…" He was starting to grow limp in his arms.

"Dammit… I should've packed Pheromone Guard with me," Luca growled. He shook Odd by the shoulders. "Wake up, you weirdo! Come on, wake up! Listen to me! You gotta stay here and fight that thing, while I take Aelita here to the tower! You got that? Now, calm down, and take that thing to hell!"

"G-Got it," Odd said, still a bit flushed. He turned around and clumsily aimed his fist at the Krab. "Laser Arrow!"

"This is a crisis," Jeremy said, face-palming. "Odd's even clumsier then before thanks to the dumb pheromones!"

"Hey, don't be hard on him, I was a mind-slave once," Luca said defensively. "It's complicated! You're not thinking straight half the time cause you're thinking two completely different things… It's just hard, okay?"

Luca grabbed Aelita's hand and flashed a smile.

"Such a terribly cute girl, Aelita… Now come on. Lets get you to the tower." Aelita's face flushed.

"Hey! Stop seducing Aelita with your pheromones!" Jeremy complained. Luca pulled a face.

"I'm not. It only works on animals, you dimwit. Or are you one of the contradicting people that would argue about humans being animals? There's a pheromone specially for people - but that's not mine. You don't have to worry about me stealing your girlfriend."

"Hey- come on now, Luca, don't be like that. I didn't mean it that way!"

"You people, all you people without Alices, you're all the same!" Luca yelled, pulling Aelita along with him as they marched south towards the tower. "You think that just cause I have one Alice means I have all of them. That I'm going to use it for my own selfish reasons… You know, you sound just like Leo! I let him manipulate me, and it almost cost my friends their lives. He said that us Alices were all the same, that we were curses, and that we needed to overthrow the Academy we trained in. It was awful, dammit!" He started to pant, out of breath after storming forward for so long. "…This is why I didn't wanna come here. Once the truth got out, everyone would think the wrong things and I'd never be treated right. Back at Alice Academy, it was normal for Alices to walk around campus! You guys were the outcasts!"

"Luca," Aelita said gently, squeezing his hand. "Jeremy was rash. He jumped to a conclusion, which was wrong, and something he should work on." Just as Jeremy was about to correct her, she continued. "Likewise."

"…Huh?"

"You guys are more alike then you think. You're both eager to point the finger, and it's not right so it should be stopped. Please, promise me you guys will work on that."

Waving, Aelita entered the tower.

AE

LI

TA.

AELITA.

CO

DE:

CODE:

LYO

KO

LYOKO.

"Good job, Aelita. Now, lets get you guys back home."

XXX

"So, let me get this straight… I was in love with that guy?" Odd demanded, pointing at Luca. Jeremy nodded.

"But don't stress. It was just my Alice at work," Luca explained. Odd breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank god. I have way too many girls to date in the future to start looking at guys!"

"So… Why didn't you just tell us you had an Alice?" Aelita asked. "You gave me a bit of a shock the way you had Odd wrapped round your pinkie."

"Stop making it sound like we were getting it on," snapped Odd.

"I wonder how Yumi's gonna react… She still doesn't know about Luca, does she?" murmured Jeremy. Ulrich cracked a smile.

"Speak of the devil. Hey, Yumi, what's up?" Yumi approached them, smiling.

"Not much. I'm sorry I didn't see you guys around today, I was in the library… I had an exam today so I was freaking out a bit over it. What'd I miss?"

"Well… Jeremy's got a new roommate, who's also an Alice transfer student from Japan, he's now a part of our team."

"Damn bastard," Odd frowned sulkily.

"What's his problem?" Yumi asked.

"Luca seduced Odd in Lyoko," Ulrich said, summing up the traumatic experience in as few words as possible. Yumi stared.

"I-I-It wasn't like that!" spluttered Odd. "It was his god damn Animal Pheromone Alice that brainwashed me! I was a victim. A victim!"

"You say that, but…" They all began to laugh. When they eased up a bit, Yumi held out her hand in front of Luca.

"Fellow Asian girl, Yumi Ishiyama. It's nice to meet you… Hajimemashite, Nogi Luca." Luca gazed for a moment at her outstretched hand, then turned his attention to her face, turned up into a smile.

She… She reminds me of Natsume.

He took her hand and shook it, squeezing it tightly for comfort.

"Hajimemashite… Ishiyama Yumi."

{ Chapter One - Enter The Pilot / End }