The Abstract Truth: A Code Lyoko Fanfiction

Before note by The MaDmAN: This fanfiction is made under the assumption you have watched the show up to season 3 midway, so I feel there is no reason to describe the characters from the show. This takes place slightly after code X.A.N.A. is entered for the first time, destroying the forest sector. The original version of this chapter has been replaced, as has the second now, and both have been saved as a separate documents.

"It's not often we get a new kid midyear, we really should ." Odd spoke with an upbeat, yet annoyed tone.

Jeremy resisted the urge to facepalm as he looked at his friend, "Odd, I've told you several times now, we've got more important things to do."

"But you know how everyone gets around new kids." Odd began begging.

"Afraid he'll be stealing your girls, Odd?" Ulrich joked, making Odd roll his eyes.

"Would it really be so bad to make a new friend?" Aelita asked, looking between the group, confused.

"I'm with Aelita on this one." Odd whipped around at Yumi's voice, to see her approach the group. "After all, it's not like they're coming to the factory."

"Mr. Belpois, could I have a word with you?" The principal, Mr. Delmas, asked, walking up to the group. Trailing behind him was a kid somewhere in their age group, with brown eyes, short, messy dark brown hair, a small burlap sack slung over his shoulder, a suitcase, and thin wooden box that was about the length of his forearm. He was wearing simple blue jeans, a black and white t-shirt, and a pair of black sneakers.

Jeremy gave the kid a curious look, before looking back to the principle, "Yes, Mr. Delmas?"

"This is our new student, his name is Ivan Miller. I was wondering if you could watch over him for his first few days, since he's been put in your class, anyway."

"Uh... Sure thing, Mr. Delmas."

"Good, now, I'll let the two of you get acquainted." He turned to walk away, "Oh, and be sure he doesn't pick up on your friend Odd's 'study habits.'" He said with a chuckle to himself.

"Well that was interesting," Ivan muttered. "Well, he already told me who you are, and you already know my name, sort of, so I see no real reason for a proper introduction here."

Odd smiled and held out his hand. "That's funny, we were just talking about you."

Ivan smiled back, and took the hand, "Something tells me you're the one Mr. Delmas said never to use the study habits of..." Ivan pulled out a note, and looked at it for a moment, "..Odd, correct?"

"Yeah." Odd smiled and shrugged at the part about his study habits.

"Well, I guess it's nice to meet you." Ivan paused for a moment, thinking, "Hey, Jeremy, I was told I would temporarily be bunking with someone called." he glanced at his note again, "William Dunbar, do you know what room he's in?"

"William? I think he's in room 206." Jeremy said, trying to get a look at the note, which Ivan then crumpled before he could see it, and shoved back in his pocket.

"Thanks... Also, which way's the dorm, anyway?" He asked, looking from building to building.

"That one." Ulrich pointed to the building Ivan was looking at before he spoke out. "Try not to get lost."

"No promises there." Ivan said with a slight grin, before turning to the dorm, and walking away.

"Hey, wait up." Odd chased after him. "I want you to know about some of the kids here."

"Wasn't it Jeremy's job to help him?" Yumi pointed out, making Odd stop in place.

"But that doesn't mean I can't help out, does it?" Odd questioned, looking at his friends.

"No, but I think Mr. Delmas chose Jeremy over you for a reason." Ulrich slightly smiled, crossing his arms as he made the remark.

"Because he's less judgmental." Yumi cut Odd off before he could speak. He then shrugged it off.

"Hey Jeremy, aren't you supposed to be showing him around, anyway?" Aelita asked, "Why did you stay back with us?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm going." Jeremy said as he stood up from the bench, and began to walk toward the dorms.

"Ah, here it is, room 206," Ivan said as he stood outside the door. He raised the Long box off his shoulder, and gently tapped it against the door.

"Hey William, you there?" Odd called out as he knocked hard on the door.

The door opened at a rather relaxed pace, "Oh hey Odd, this the new guy?" William asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Ivan asked, looking down at himself.

"Well, you are the only person here with a suitcase." Jeremy commented.

"A fair point," Ivan turned to William, "You must be William Dunbar, my name is Ivan Miller. I was told I'll be bunking with you for the time being."

"Oh, sure, come in, just don't mind the mess." William said, stepping back and widening the door to reveal a thick layer of trash and rubble scattered everywhere throughout the room.

"Wow, hurricane much?" Ivan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not that bad. Anyway, the desk, bed, and wardrobe on that side are yours." He said, gesturing to the far wall, where Ivan dropped his bags, and his box. "Hey, what's in the box?"

"Nothing." Ivan said calmly, opening the suitcase and moving out a laptop computer, a small stack of games, and some clothes, putting them in the according places, before picking back up the wooden box. "Shall we go?"

"Are you sure you don't want to tell us?" Odd stepped in as he looked at the box.

"I'm sure." He said quickly, putting the box in his wardrobe, and putting a bike-lock on the handles. "Anyway, which way's the lunch room?"

"Now you're speaking my language." Odd grinned as he looked to the hallway. "I'll show you."

"Wow, your school's food is surprisingly good!" Ivan said, finishing his dinner right before Odd.

"I'm glad we didn't have brussel sprouts today." Odd smiled and leaned back in his chair

"If you make them right, brussel sprouts can actually be pretty good. All food comes down to the spices in the end."

"I'll believe it when I taste it." Odd looked at Ivan. "I think I'll ge-" The sound of Odd's phone going off cut him off. He pulled it out of his pants pocket and looked at the short text that read. X.A.N.A.

"Something wrong?" Ivan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, I just need to leave for a moment." Odd hastily stood up.

"Ok, I'll head back to my room then." Ivan muttered, suppressing a yawn, "Dang jet-lag."

Odd headed out the main doors and cut through the courtyard then met up with Yumi and Aelita. "So what's Xana up to this time?"

"He's attacking the core again. And he's activated the tower in sector 5." Aelita said, breaking into a run for the woods.

"Jeremy's already there and Ulrich is ahead of us." Yumi broke into a sprint behind Aelita. Odd sprinted beside them.

Ivan watched the group run off, before standing, and putting the trays away, I wonder what that was all about. Eh, I'll just ask later. He thought to himself, sluggishly moving for the door.

"At last, I thought he'd never leave." Sissi walked up to Ivan and put her hand on his shoulder. "He didn't bother you too much did he?"

"And you are?" He questioned, giving a curious look.

"Sissi." Sissi came around to the front of him.

"Oh, yes, your father mentioned you, I think." Ivan said, Especially how bad your grades are.

"Didn't he put Jeremy in charge?" Sissi questioned as she raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah, why?"

"Maybe I can show you around since he's gone." Sissi smiled.

"I know enough for now. I was just on my way to my room, I'm rather tired right now." Ivan said, suppressing a yawn.

"But-"

"Maybe some other time, sorry." Ivan said, before walking out

"Well, that was a weird moment. I feel a bit bad for that actually, she wasn't exactly being mean..." Ivan said to himself as he unlocked his door with a spare key he had been given earlier that day. "At least now I can..." He trailed off as he saw the inside of the room, which looked like something had charged through breaking everything, "Wha... How?" He muttered, looking around.

"Miller!" A voice shouted behind him, "Just what are you... Woah, what happened here?" Jim asked as he stepped by, looking into the room.

"Wish I knew." Ivan said, not really moving for a few moments, before going to his dresser, and opening it, as the lock on it had physically burst. "Let's see... Shit!" He shouted, as he found his wooden box, open, and empty.

"Hey! Watch your language!" Jim shouted.

"I know, sorry, it's just that whoever was in here stole something of mine." Ivan said, holding the box up.

"Well, I'm sure that whatever was in there, it'll show up eventually. What was in that, anyway?"

"A couple practice weapons." Ivan muttered.

"Weapons?" Jim asked, with raised eyebrows, "You do know that weapons aren't allowed on campus, unless permission is given in advance, right?"

"I did get permission." He said with a roll of his eyes. "Mr. Delmas gave me the ok on it before I even showed up."

"Well, I'll tell him someone stole your stuff, in the meantime, clean up this room." He said, before walking out, closing the door behind him.

Why would someone steal my stuff? In fact, how did they even know what to steal? I swear, today keeps getting weirder and weirder. Ivan thought to himself, beginning to pick up the debris of his lock, and of everything else that had broke, and putting it all into one pile. Ok, now to... Wait, why am I even doing this when someone is going around with MY weapons? He walked over to the door, and opened it up, storming out.

Ok, if I were to steal a weapon, where would I go directly afterward... Probably a place with little to no people around, maybe hide them. Maybe a room nobody uses, or... Ivan's head turned toward a window, Maybe the forest? He thought, breaking into a run,

"Hey where do you think you're going?" Jim grabbed his arm just before he made it out the door.

"Umm..." Ivan's brain stopped short, not even bothering to help him come up with a response.

"The principal will want to hear about this." Jim looked at him as he lightly pushed forward.

"Oh yes, because I'm sure he's got nothing more important to do than hear a student was running in the halls, is that what you're saying?" Ivan asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't get smart with me!" Jim retorted. "After he hears about the damages, we'll talk about that smart mouth of yours."

"Doesn't that seem a bit counter-productive?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope." Jim pulled Ivan as he walked through the hall.

Great, now whoever stole my stuff is going to get an even bigger time gap, that's just freaking great. Ivan thought bitterly, but kept his mouth shut, and obliged.

"Come on Jeremy, pick up." Ulrich dodged as the specter swung at his head.

"Ulrich, is that you?" Jeremy's voice said over the phone. "What's happening out there?"

"I'm being attacked by X.A.N.A." Ulrich jumped back as the tonfa the specter was using hit a steel beam. The weapon left a large dent, bending the beam outward several feet. "He created a spectre, and this one's armed."

"Really? What's it using?" Jeremy asked, as electricity crackled across one of the tonfa.

"Metal nightsticks, two of them." Ulrich sidestepped the specter as it tried to jab one into his chest.

"Where are the others?"

"Arriving now." Ulrich said as he saw the others approaching. In the moment he was distracted, a bolt of electricity shot out of one of the tonfa, hitting him in the chest, and knocking him out cold.

"Ulrich!" The specter turned to look at Yumi as she called out. It faded into a mist, and went right into the midst of their group, carrying the tonfa with, and slammed one, charged with electricity, into her back. She stumbled, and shouted in pain, but didn't fall.

"Hey ugly!" Odd shouted, pulling the spectre's attention to him, and grinned "Bet you couldn't hit me if you tried!"

The Spectre grunted, and began to chase Odd, who ran into the forest.

"Guys, what's happening out there?" Jeremy's voice shouted frantically from Ulrich's phone.

"Jim, I don't see why you brought the person who's stuff was stolen to me, rather than trying to find the thief, and vandal." Mr. Delmas said, rubbing his temples. "Miller, you're free to go, and if you find out who it is, be sure to tell me."

"Thank you, Mr. Delmas." Ivan said, before walking out calmly.

"As for you, Jim." The principal's voice said as soon as the door was closed. "You keep getting so paranoid about that group. All this talk of secret passageways, and now you bring me someone who was robbed for trying to find the robber?"

Ok, I guess I shouldn't be hearing this. Ivan thought to himself as he went off quickly. Ok... where was I... Ok, forest. He turned the moment he left the building, and went toward the forest at a quick jog.

Three minutes later:

Great, just great. I'm lost. Ivan thought grimly as he trudged between a couple trees. This has been probably one of my worst ideas.

"Come on, I know you can do better!" Odd called out as he lead the specter away from the factory. It growled and roared as it ran across Ivan's field of vision, carrying his tonfa.

"... Wait... STOP! THIEF!" Ivan shouted, breaking into a full sprint after them.

"Who's a thief?" Odd looked back and saw Ivan's face twisted in rage.

"GET BACK HERE WITH MY TONFA!" He shouted, diving into the specter, and trying to pull the weapons away from it. A quick jolt of electricity sent him flying back.

"Ivan!" Odd slid to a stop then turned to run towards specter had dropped the tonfa and ran towards Odd.

"I'm fine." he muttered, using a tree to help him get up. "That bastard is dead. I'd be more worried about yourself." He broke into a run for the dropped tonfa, sliding under the specter and somehow managing to trip it.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Odd questioned as the specter got up and looked at Ivan.

"It's basics for most fighting styles." Ivan said, picking up the tonfa, electricity running down it and back up, and charged the specter head on, an explosion ringing out as the two electrically charged nightsticks collided.

"Transfer;Yumi. Transfer; Aelita." Jeremy said as the two remaining Lyoko warriors stepped into the scanners. "Scanner; Yumi. Scanner; Aelita." He then hit the enter key, "Virtualization." The two went to the virtual world in the arctic sector of lyoko.

"Ok Jeremy, we're here." Aelita said, looking around, "Do you see anything."

"Not yet, the tower should be northeast of your position. I'm sending you the Overwing now." Jeremy said into his mic, and almost three seconds later, the grey metallic vehicle was in front of them.

"Thanks Jeremy." Yumi and Aelita got on and raced for the tower. "Any monsters yet?"

"Yeah, two tarantulas and some kankrelats. Though something seems off about them."

"Where, I don't see anything." Yumi looked to the left then to the right.

"Look, there!" Aelita said, pointing to a dark grey kankrelat with yellow stripes.

"Well that's new." Yumi looked around then threw her fan at one of the kankrelats.

"You're telling me." Said Jeremy "X.A.N.A. seems to have given them an upgrade. Their lifepoints are a lot higher than they should be. At least the tarantulas seem normal."

"How's Ulrich?" Yumi throes her fan again after getting it back.

"He's still out cold." Jeremy said, before opening up the phone-program on the supercomputer, and entering Odd's number.

After two rings he picked up. "Yeah?"

"Odd, where are you? The others need backup, and Ulrich's still unconscious." Jeremy said rapidly.

"Headed back with Ivan and the specter." Odd ran to the ladder.

"Ivan? What's he doing there?"

"Long story short, he was looking for something in the woods, the specter had it." Odd said, with the phone held in place with his shoulder and ear. A loud boom echoed through the tunnels as the tonfa struck the specter again. "And so he's beating it down."

"He's actually fighting the specter... and winning?" Jeremy asked in disbelief.

Odd pulled himself out of the manhole outside the factory as he spoke. "Well actually the specter is chasing me while Ivan chases it and smacks it right now. I'm almost there"

"I see." Jeremy switched back to chatting with those on Lyoko, "Ok, you two, help is on the way."

"And just in time." Yumi said gladly from the chasm she and Aelita were hiding in.

A couple minutes later:

On the security cameras, Jeremy could see Odd entering the scanner room, after successfully evading the Spectre, "Transfer; Odd." He began, typing in the appropriate codes, "Scanner; Odd. Virtualization."

Odd virtualized behind the monsters. "Didn't anyone teach you manners?" Odd aimed his wrist at a kankrelat. It turned around and Odd shot it in the 'eye', killing it instantly.

"Nice shot Odd, now... hey, something's happening to the tower." Jeremy said, as the glow of the tower went from red to white. "It deactivated itself."

"What do you think happened?" Odd questioned as he aimed his wrist at every corner.

"I don't know, but X.A.N.A. must have a reason for it, he wouldn't just deactivate a tower for no reason." Aelita said curiously, his words followed by the appearance of a different monster.

"Jeremy, Scyphozoa!" Yumi blocked it's path to Aelita and drew out her fan, only to be hit from the side by two energy bolts from one of the tarantulas, instantly devirtualizing her.

"Aelita, get out of there!" Jeremy shouted, but it was too late, the Scyphozoa's tentacles had already grabbed Aelita in their grip.

"Tentacles away from the girl." Odd shot two arrows as he stood atop the chasm, one passing by it's head and the other almost hitting the tentacle in front of Aelita, if a Kankrelat hadn't jumped in the way and returned fire before getting hit. The laser fired hit Odd directly in the chest.

"Odd, you just lost 30 lifepoints!" Jeremy said into the mic.

"That's a new trick." Odd got to his feet and carefully inched towards the edge, only to have a Kankrelat come up and shoot him in the back twice, devirtualizing him instantly.

Ivan was staring at where the thief had been only moments before with wide eyes, "What the hell?" he asked nobody, taking heavy breaths, "Did he just... disintegrate?" As he looked around, at the surrounding machines. "Eh, it would be a shame if I didn't look around a bit first." He said before walking to an elevator shaft, and slamming his hand on the 'elevator call' button, and a whirring sound began to pass through the room as the thick wires and the pulleys began to work.

"Ok, so that works. Not that I'm using that deathtrap." Ivan muttered as he walked to a nearby set of stairs, and went through the first door he could find.

"Hey guys?" Jeremy said into the mic, which was aimed at the scanner room, "We have a problem."

"Like we haven't even noticed." Yumi said, sarcasm dripping from the words.

"I mean we have another problem, someone is in the factory, and they're not that far from finding us out."

Odd came out of the scanner just in time to hear what Jeremy said. "That's probably Ivan."

Jeremy paused for a moment, carefully evaluating the security footage that was being shot, "Seems to be." He said, before noticing where Ivan was. "He's just on the other side of the wall from me."

"Okay, I'll take him the long way around." Odd smiled and climbed the ladder out of the computer room.

"Ok, I'll devirtualize Aelita as soon as XANA leaves her body." Jeremy said, presetting the devirtualization codes.

"Hey, Wait up!" Odd called as he raced after Ivan.

Ivan whipped around, holding the tonfa in a defensive stance, before recognizing Odd, "Oh, hey, what are you doing here?" He asked

"Finding you." Odd slowed to a stop and smiled as he put his hands behind his head.

"Why? It's not like I'm missing anything."

"The disease ridden rats make this place a dangerous place."

"That's probably just a rumor. If that was the case I'm sure I would have seen rat droppings by this point or maybe a corpse of one." Ivan muttered, a bored look around the room confirmed what he had said; there wasn't a single thing to insinuate there had been rats.

"That's, because, pest control removed them before they get rid of the live ones." Odd replied nervously.

"I see. On another note, the thief I was chasing disappeared. As in he disintegrated in front of my eyes."

"Really, are you sure you didn't imagine it?" Odd watched Ivan, becoming more nervous by the second.

"No, I'm sure, he just... one moment he was there, I felt my tonfa hit him... and then he was gone a moment later." Ivan said, thinking it over, "I suppose it is possible it was my imagination, and that my muscles simply were reacting to nothing, but still. It isn't likely... Also, why was it chasing you?"

"We may never know." Odd smiled. "Come on, lets get back to school before someone notices we're gone."

At mention of the school, Ivan's eyes widened, "Shit! That guy destroyed my room to get these!" He shouted, holding up his tonfa at the last word.

"Just one moment, I need to make a private call." Odd gave a slight grin and inched backwards.

"I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead..." Ivan began quietly muttering to himself.

Odd walked out of Ivan's earshot behind him. "Jeremy? It's Odd. The specter did a little damage at the school."

Jeremy let out a sigh, "I see. I'll launch the return to the past."

"What happened?" Ulrich groaned as he began to come to.

"Ah, you're awake, I'll fill you in on it later." Jeremy said as he inserted the last few parts of the code. "Return to the past now." With that, and a press of the enter key, a white light came out of the center of the supercomputer, growing in intensity, before exploding outwards, covering everything as time reset.

"I still don't get it." Jeremy said, "Why would the specter go through all the trouble of stealing the weapons of one guy? And how did he manage to fight back against it with any affect?"

"It might be because he wanted to kill one of us along with deleting the polar region," Yumi answered. "It's only a thought though."

"It could have killed us without weapons, they've come close to doing it in the past." Aelita said, "But Odd, what exa-"

"Mr. Belpois, could I have a word with you?" Mr. Delmas asked, with Ivan following behind him.

Jeremy felt a small hit of deja-vu, "Yes, Mr. Delmas?"

"This is our new student, his name is Ivan Miller. I was wondering if you could watch over him for his first few days, since he's been put in your class, anyway." Mr. Delmas said, exactly as he had the day before.

"Of course I could, sir." Jeremy said.

"Good, now, I'll let the two of you get acquainted." He turned to walk away, "Oh, and be sure he doesn't pick up on your friend Odd's 'study habits.'" He said with a chuckle to himself.

"Well that was interesting." Ivan said in a tone that seemed a bit closer to a monotone than it had before. "Well, I already know who you are, and you already sort of know who I am. So there is no real need for a proper introduction."

Odd smiled and held out a hand. "Did the principal describe us that well?"

"That's one way of putting it, 'Mr. Della Robbia'." Ivan said, smiling as he took Odd's hand in his own.

Odd unknowingly cut off Jeremy, who was about to say something, as he shook Ivan's hand. "I'm have a feeling we'll become good friends."

Ivan gave a smile, "I feel as though I know you already."

"But we've only just met." Ulrich stated looking at Ivan.

Ivan gave Ulrich a look of understanding, "Before, after, it's all the same." He said in a fake accent

"Let's think about it later." Odd smiled and pointed to the cafeteria. "Come on, lets get some grub."

Ivan's stomach answered an instant before he had a chance, pulling a chuckle from him, "Well, at least part of me agrees, but I really should put my stuff in my room first. I was told I'm bunking with William Dunbar, room..." he thought for a moment, trying to remember the number "206, is that right?" He asked, pulling out the note from his pocket, "Yup, 206. I'll meet you in the lunchroom as soon as I'm done." This time, Jeremy saw what was on the note. It was just two lists of names, oddly enough, the only people on one side, labeled 'go to if you have questions,' was the five of them, William, and a couple names he didn't recognize. The other was just a list of teachers, room numbers, days of the week, and times. Next to William's name on the note was '206' in a slightly different handwriting.

"Okay, later." Odd let go of his hand and walked to the cafeteria.

"So, Ivan, where are you from?" Aelita asked.

"I'm an American." He said, re-adjusting his backpack. "And you?"

A small twinge crossed Aelita's face, "I'm from Canada."

"Ah, I see," Ivan said quietly, before his voice picked up, "If you don't want to talk about it you don't have to." Ivan suppressed a yawn, and blinked twice "Well, I guess I'll talk to you in a bit, see ya!" He lifted his suitcase by the side-handle, and walked quickly to the dorms. They seem like nice people. He thought to himself.