Code Lyoko: Beginnings
The virtual world of Lyoko was created by a small group of scientists originally for military and governmental purposes. Because their work was top secrete they built their laboratory under a factory with the cover of building small electronics. They set it up so that the factory was not on the city's power grid, which would allow them to not have to worry about power outages, or people wondering why the factory was using up more power than it should.
The project flourished for a few years. The scientists had made quite a bit of progress in their work, and had created a virtual plane with which they would be able to build any sort of world for training governmental or military workers. But almost as soon as they had everything ready to build the world the government cut funding for the project.
Lost and forgotten the group of scientists made an attempt to be able to finish their work, on some level. But it was no use, slowly the scientists broke up and went their separate ways. That is until word leaked out about the progress that they had made. Suddenly there were game designers and companies wanting the technology. Funding began coming in again.
Yet some of the scientists did not return, they had moved on to other things and had forgotten their project all together. But the remaining scientists held on and began programming the world to be played as a game. They created monsters, regions, and control points for the game. The control points were in the shapes of towers; the monsters, of which there were five types, were in the shapes of: flying mosquito like things called Frolions, or wasps; blocks with legs called Blocks; smaller versions of the blocks, which looked more like a backward thumb, called Kankrelats or roaches; large flat monsters on giant legs, called Crabs; and the most powerful monsters, giant black balls which contained a powerful weapon, called Mégatanks.
The four regions of the game world were: a region made up of a forest in twilight; a mountainous region; a desert region; and a region which was frozen over. The regions were designed to be made up of twisting paths which floated in mid air and hidden tunnels.
The scientists worked on their new project and were able to finish designing the regions and the monsters. They had begun designing the artificial intelligence of the computer and any non-player characters when suddenly their funding was cut again. The scientists again had every intention of finishing but slowly drifted apart again. As the scientists forgot about their project one scientist remained. He had been working on the project from the beginning; it had been his idea. He knew he had to finish.
The last remaining scientist worked on the artificial intelligence of the computer, which he, alone, had named X.A.N.A. after the other scientists who had worked on the project. He was able to finish most of the computer's AI, and had been working on a young female that would live in the world, when he suddenly found out, with a great surprise that the supercomputer had the ability to affect things in the real world.
The scientist 'played' with this new found ability of the computer, connecting to the outside world through the many connections linking out of the virtual world into earth's networks. As he continued to work on the young girl's AI and the ability to manipulate real-world things, he suddenly realized that he would be able to enter the virtual world.
He now worked on creating a device to allow people from this world to enter the virtual one. He worked tirelessly on it, and as soon as the young girl's AI was complete she helped him. He named the young girl Aelita, after a female Japanese scientist who had helped create the virtual world.
As he interacted with the girl in the virtual world he began to realize that her AI made her almost as human as he himself was. He felt she was so real that he even began to consider her his daughter. And it was because of this that he one day decided to not only make a way into the virtual world, but out of it as well.
The scientist was growing very old, he had been the oldest to begin with, but he was reaching his age limit. He knew that he would die soon, and because of this he was determined to finish the machine that would connect the virtual world with his. He was finally able to finish the connection, and begin working on the method of switching worlds.
He first created the way to enter the virtual world, and began working on the method to get Aelita out of the world, but before he was able to finish the first project a very advanced virus entered the supercomputer. The scientist was able to stop the virus from destroying the world, but he did so by trapping it in the world itself.
The virus, trapped in the virtual world, tried to find a way out, and a way to manipulate the data of the supercomputer, the thing that the virus had been intended to do. But the scientist had been very through in stopping it in the virtual world. It was only able to manipulate anything through the towers. When the scientist realized this he created a password for the towers: Lyoko. The password was the last name of the female whom he had named Aelita after.
The virus and scientist fought an endless battle in the virtual world. The scientist was able to scan himself in, and created an automatic program to determine the strengths of a person and give the person accelerated versions of their abilities in the virtual world. As the scientist and virus fought Aelita was left to work on the world herself. But she did not have the know how to really be able to do anything.
Then one day the virus found a way to use the virtual world's ability to manipulate real-world things. it began attacking the scientist on earth, and thus the scientist had to find a way to undo the things that the virus did. This is how the ability to reverse time was created. Using a theory that the scientist had developed with a friend he was able to turn back the clock on the virus's activities.
It seemed that the scientist had won, he had trapped the virus and made it unable to do anything, but because the virus had been in the virtual world for so long it had begun hacking into the AI of the computer itself. The scientist did not know this, and once the towers began activating themselves the scientist sent Aelita to deactivate them with her password.
Finally the scientist found a way to get rid of the virus altogether. He and Aelita began to plan how they would do it. They came up with a plan to destroy the virus by putting it into a sort of sleeping state. They were about to initiate the plan when the virus struck the scientist directly. The virus was able to kill the scientist, but the scientist was able to implement the first part of the plan.
When Aelita went and deactivated the tower, and reset time she expected to see the scientist alive again. But when he did not appear to her again she realized that reversing time would not bring back people if they died. Mourning the scientist she fell into a depression.
Seeing its chance the virus began to take over the rest of the virtual world, including the monsters designed years before. The world became so infested by the virus that Aelita realized that she had to do something. She began her quest to destroy the virus herself.
She was able to deactivate most of the towers, but suddenly the virus, which had now become the computer, began using the monsters. Aelita was unable to defend against the virus infected monsters and was nearly killed. But the virus, X.A.N.A. didn't kill her, instead it infected her. Seeking a way to save herself she sent an uninfected copy of herself into the internet to be found by someone who might help her.
A year before Yumi Ishiyama had entered the Kaidac boarding school. She was Japanese, and she had been raised as a Japanese person, but because she had been brought over into France when she was very young she had learned French. And even though she knew the language and the customs, the other children still looked at her as a foreigner. They were not as comfortable around her as native born people, and thus didn't treat her like natives. Because of this Yumi suddenly found herself having to keep to herself and began to create a thick outer shell.
When she entered school she had already become use to people not treating her kindly and pushed everyone away. And because she had no friends she was left to work on school work. Some boys still admired her because of her natural beauty, but she always pushed them away.
She spent an entire year alone, but when a year after she had been in that school a new set of students entered it, she finally began watching people. She watched them from a distance, and not as enemies, but as possible friends. She had finally gotten over her fear of other people.
This was of course the year that Ulrich, Jeremie, and the headmaster's daughter, Sissi, entered the school. At first Ulrich and Jeremie stayed away from others, Jeremie being the computer 'nerd' that he was, and Ulrich preferring to be alone for the moment. Sissi on the other hand was more social than she should have been, and often got on some people's nerves.
Believing herself to be the popular person she thought she must be she acted like it. Oddly enough it worked, partly. Some of the students came to believe that she really was as popular as she said herself to be, and because of this she was able to sneak up the social ladder.
Ulrich found his passion for soccer as soon as they started playing it, needing a way to impress his father, because his grades weren't very good, he put his all into it, and quickly became very good at it. Because of his skills, and his attitude, he rose on the popularity chart as well; without even knowing it. The girls found him attractive, and the boys found him cool. But still he refused to open up to anyone.
Sissi sensing Ulrich's popularity came to believe that she should win him over, and of course because of her popularity she believed that he should be hers easily. When she tried to get his attention, however, he ignored her, still being unwilling to interact with anyone that he didn't have to. Ironically this made her like him even more, believing him to be playing hard-to-get. She would often watch him play soccer, and once there was an incident, the ball was kicked far too hard and fast. It headed toward Sissi, and Ulrich, in pure kindness, saved her from getting hurt. This was the thing that solidified Sissi's feelings for Ulrich.
Because of Ulrich's unwillingness to communicate with anyone else Yumi noticed him. She also noticed him because they went to the same martial arts class. She had watched him ever since he had entered the school, and she liked what she saw in him. She saw in him what she was hiding in herself, and that began to attract her to him much more.
Ulrich had also been noticing Yumi, he had seen in her, what she had seen in him. Because of this they began to, without ever actually talking to each other, become very close friends. And what made them finally talk to one another was one incident when Sissi was harassing Ulrich constantly and would not let up.
"Come on Ulrich, I know you want to talk to me." Sissi said swishing her hair in the way she usually did. "Why are you playing hard to get so much?"
Ulrich had been trying to loose her for the entire day, but had been unable to. He was beginning to become very irritated with Sissi, but was trying not to show it. Yumi, on the other hand saw it plainly, and she felt that she should do something about it, but she was also afraid of interfering.
"Ulrich, dear, please talk to me." Sissi said. "I just don't understand what you are playing at…"
Finally Ulrich broke. "Look, Sissi, all I did was stop a soccer ball from hitting you. I don't understand what makes you think that that makes me like you."
"But, Ulrich, we were meant for each other." Sissi insisted.
"I don't see what makes you think that either." Ulrich said. "Now, for the last time, would you please leave me alone."
"Come on, I know you don't mean that…" Sissi said. "Why are you hiding your feelings?"
"What am I hiding?" Ulrich asked irritated.
"You like me, I know you do."
Finally Yumi decided to step in. "He asked you to leave him alone, so why don't you just leave?"
Sissi and Ulrich stopped shocked that someone else was entering the argument. They both looked at Yumi in surprise. When they realized who it was that was talking to them they were even more surprised.
"Who do you think you are telling me what to do?" Sissi asked obviously annoyed with Yumi.
"Well, you heard him; he wants you to leave him alone." Yumi repeated herself. "So why don't you just leave?"
"Do you realize who I am? I am the headmaster's daughter. How dare you talk to me like that?" Sissi yelled.
"Just because you are the headmaster's daughter doesn't mean that you have the right to harass students." Yumi said.
Ulrich just stood there surprised that someone was helping him, especially Yumi, who was usually quiet. He was also glad that Sissi was being distracted enough to leave him alone. He decided to just sit back and ride it out till it was done.
"Why don't you go away? No one asked you to be here." Sissi said.
"And you are being asked to leave." Yumi said.
"Why are you helping him anyway? Do you like him or something?" Sissi asked. "Because if you do get in line, I was here first."
Both Yumi and Ulrich blushed. They had not been expecting that, and neither of them knew how to handle it. Ulrich decided to keep quiet, and not say anything that might be used against him. But Yumi on the other hand said:
"Well, that may not be so, but I wouldn't have to step in line, because you obviously aren't even part of it."
Yumi was good with her wits, and quickly able to counter anything that Sissi threw at her. Sissi realized that, and finally gave up and walked away muttering to herself.
"Thank you." Ulrich said. "Um, have we met somewhere?"
Ulrich asked that to make sure that Yumi didn't know that he had been watching, and admiring her from a distance. He didn't want her to know, not yet at least. He wanted to know a little more about her.
"My name is Yumi," Said Yumi. "And we go to the same martial arts class."
"Oh, yeah, I remember now." Ulrich said. "You are one of best students."
Yumi blushed. "Well, as I remember it, so are you."
The walls that the two of them had put up had been broken and they had each passed through. They had solidified an unspoken bond between each other; they now knew that they would make good friends. They talked a little bit, at least until they had to go to class. Then when school was over they met again.
"So, what room are you in?" Ulrich asked blushing slightly.
Yumi blushed too, but said: "Actually I live with my family."
"That's cool," Ulrich said blushing a little more. "Can I, um, can I walk you home?"
"Sure." Yumi said.
As they walked to Yumi's house they talked. They found out a little more about each other. Yumi told Ulrich that she was Japanese, and that she had come over from Japan when she was still very young. Ulrich told Yumi that he had lived in France all his life, and didn't remember being anywhere else.
They reached Yumi's house and had suddenly stopped talking. They looked at each other, and blushed. Neither of them knew what to do, they had both been loaners for so long and had kept out of social situations, but they knew that it would be awkward to just up and leave.
Suddenly Yumi's father opened the door surprising both children. They jumped and Yumi acknowledged her father's presence. Yumi gave Ulrich her cell phone number, and he gave her his. As Ulrich walked away and Yumi entered her house they both smiled.
Jeremie had been working on his computer. He wasn't that much of a social person, which was consequential to his chosen hobby. He mostly studied for school, and worked on computer things. He was very intelligent, and he strived to be better, but he was also lonely. It seemed that most of the people in that school didn't like the same things that he did. And even though he wasn't really interested in girls—yet—he was still saddened by the fact that none of them even gave him a second glance.
But he felt that it was ok, he had his computer. He was use to not having a social life and only working on computer things and school. He was after all a genius. He even thought a few times that he should be moved ahead a grade, but passed the idea off.
He had been watching Yumi and Ulrich for some time now. It seemed as though they had the same situation. But when he noticed how popular Ulrich was becoming he felt almost betrayed. It was as if a friend had dropped their friendship so that they could become popular. At least that was how he felt until he realized that Ulrich didn't accept his popularity.
From watching Yumi and Ulrich, Jeremie soon realized that they were watching each other. He also began to deduct that they might like each other. And when Yumi helped Ulrich get rid of Sissi he realized that he was right. He watched as they talked for the rest of their break, and then after school.
He was glad to see that two of the kids who looked loneliest were finally able to get together. Yet, he was still without a friend, and he whished that he would be able to join their newly found group. During the days after their encounter Jeremie looked for any opportunity to join their group. Yet he only found the two talking to each other shyly. He began to wonder if he should just leave them alone and look elsewhere.
That was until one day… Jeremie and Ulrich were in science class, Jeremie was sitting up in the front and Ulrich in the back. The teacher asked a question that Jeremie knew, but the teacher called on Sissi. Sissi tried to answer the question but she was unable to give the correct answer. The teacher turned to Jeremie and Jeremie easily gave the correct answer. Apparently he made it look too easy and insulted Sissi.
After class Sissi began harassing Jeremie about showing her up. Jeremie tried to explain to her that he had not meant to, that he had only been giving the 'correct' answer. But that really set Sissi off and she began yelling at him.
"What do you mean 'the correct answer'? Are you saying that I don't know anything?" Sissi yelled.
"No, that's not what I am saying." Said Jeremie desperately. "Look, I'm sorry that I showed you up. I'm sorry; I did not mean to insult you."
"Oh, and I am supposed to believe that?" Sissi asked. "Well I don't."
Ulrich and Yumi were walking together near by and they heard Sissi yelling. They looked at each other and grimaced. They knew how annoyingly persistent she could be. She had been annoying them about becoming friends ever since the day after, but then they blushed remembering that that was how they had been brought together.
"I wonder what ticked her off this time." Yumi said.
"I don't know, but she sounds really angry." Ulrich said.
"Shall we go see?" Yumi asked.
"Why not, to see her get told off again…" Ulrich agreed.
They went and stood back watching Sissi yell at Jeremie. Ulrich recognized him and explained what had happened to Yumi. They continued to watch expecting someone to come and help Jeremie out, but no one did.
"No one is helping him." Yumi said disappointed.
"You are right, and at this rate that kid might break down at any moment." Ulrich agreed.
"Do you think we should go and help him?" Yumi asked.
"Yes, no one deserves a Sissi attack." Ulrich said.
They both walked up to Sissi and Jeremie together. Sissi was holding Jeremie by the collar, nearly shaking him, and it looked like she might punch him at any moment. They realized just how good it was that they got there before that happened for the both of them.
"Sissi, leave him alone. He has already apologized." Ulrich said.
"If it isn't our little couple…" Said Sissi mockingly.
Yumi and Ulrich blushed slightly and turned away slightly. Then they both looked back at Sissi and Yumi said: "What do you think your father would say if he knew what you were doing?"
"Yeah, not even you are immune from punishment." Ulrich agreed.
Sissi suddenly realized what she was doing and dropped Jeremie. She brushed herself off and walked away. Sissi had realized that she was abusing the fact that she was the headmaster's daughter, and she needed to stop…
"Are you ok?" Ulrich asked extending a hand to Jeremie.
Jeremie took the hand and stood up. He then adjusted his glasses, and said: "Yes, thank you."
"It looked like we came just in time." Yumi said.
"You did, I thought she was going to hit me for sure." Jeremie agreed.
"Well, if you need help again, we are willing to help you." Ulrich said.
"Um, thank you." Jeremie said.
They then parted ways and Jeremie went to his room. He got onto his computer and noticed that something was different. He checked his e-mail, and found a very large file. He scanned it with an anti-virus and then opened it. Suddenly his computer screen went blank, when it came back up it had the words: 'Loading Aelita Program' on it. Shocked Jeremie tried to stop it but his computer wasn't responding.
When the program was finished loading a small window came up. It had green characters running down it. Suddenly a person appeared on it. The person was a young girl. She had red hair, long ears—like an elf's—and pink marks below her eyes. The girl appeared to be in three dimensional animation.
"Hello, my name is Aelita," she said. "And I need your help."
"What is this?" Jeremie asked. "Some sort of movie?"
"No, I am not a movie." Aelita said. "I am an artificial intelligence program."
"Wait a minute," Jeremie said. "You responded to me."
"Of course I did. I can see and hear you." Aelita told him.
"Ok, if you really are an AI, then you should be able to repeat anything that I say. My name is Jeremie."
"It is nice to meat you Jeremie." Aelita said.
"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting, but it still answers my question." Jeremie said.
"Jeremie," Aelita said.
"Yes, what is it Aelita?" Jeremie asked.
"I need your help. I am in very serious trouble, and I believe that you are too."
"How are you and I in trouble?" Jeremie asked.
"I was created in a virtual world, but also in this virtual world is a virus, which has completely taken over the computer called 'X.A.N.A.' The virus has already killed my creator, and I had to make a copy of myself and send it out into the internet to save myself."
"That sounds bad." Said Jeremie. "But how can I help?"
"The place where the virtual world in which I lived is located in an abandoned factory, I need you to go there and help me regain control of the computer. My creator had created a way to stop the virus by putting it to sleep and he had only managed to do part of it. If we can finish using the program we can stop the virus."
"Ok, but why did you choose me?" Jeremie asked.
"Because I sent out my copy to someone who had very good computer skills, and someone's computer that could run my program." Aelita told him.
"Ok, I'll help, but you will have to tell me where this abandoned factory is."
"It is on a small island in the industrial sector of Paris, which, according to your computer information, you live in."
"Yes, I live in Paris, and I know what factory you are talking about." Said Jeremie. "Now, how exactly can I help?"
She told him to go to the factory and take the elevator down to the first basement floor, once there enter a pin number into a keypad that would be in the elevator. Once in the room he should activate the computer and she would help him from there.
He left his room and went to the factory and did as she had asked him. Once in the super calculator room he activated the computer and she appeared on the screen. She told him where the file was and how to use it. He followed her directions exactly and activated the program. Once the program was activated the screen Aelita was appearing in flickered and she told him that she had entered the virtual world. She went to the tower and found the monsters still guarding it.
"Jeremie, it's no good, there are monsters guarding the tower, and I can't get through. We will have to get someone to enter the virtual world and help me."
"But how will we get the person into the virtual world?" Jeremie asked.
"If you go another floor down you will find a room with three metal tubes in them. My creator had built them to 'scan' people into this world, he had also intended to materialize me, but he never finished the program to do so." Aelita told him. "If you can get a friend of yours to come to this world they will be able to fight the monsters and I will be able to deactivate the tower, hopefully shutting X.A.N.A. down forever."
"I would, Aelita, but I don't really have any friends…" Jeremie said depressed.
"Oh, well, if we get out of this I'll be your friend, but until then we need someone who will be able to enter this world. You see the computer X.A.N.A. is capable of effecting things in your world, and if someone dies, not even deactivating the tower will bring them back."
"What do you mean? What happens when you deactivate a tower?"
"My creator was able to make the machine capable of reversing time to a point before what ever had happened started. Thusly erasing any trace of it having ever happened in the first place, and only the people who have entered the virtual world ever remember what happened."
"Wow, so time travel is really possible?" Jeremie asked.
"Yes, but with this machine it can only go one way. And if I don't deactivate the tower who knows what X.A.N.A. will be able to do in your world."
"Alright, I'll see if there is anything that I can do. There might be some people who can help us."
Jeremie was referring to Yumi and Ulrich. They had said that they would be willing to help him if he needed it again. He was sure that they hadn't meant in this way, but he would try anyway.
Jeremie went back to school, and found Yumi and Ulrich practicing their martial arts on one another. At first he thought that they were beating each other up, but then he realized what was going on. He approached them carefully.
"Um, excuse me." Jeremie said.
Both Yumi and Ulrich reacted in surprise. They hadn't known that anyone was there. Yumi tried to stop the move that she was using but ended up falling into Ulrich knocking him over and landing on top of him. They both blushed, and Yumi helped Ulrich up.
"What do you need?" Yumi asked.
"You are never going to believe this," Jeremie said, and he explained the situation to the two.
When he was done Ulrich said: "You were right, I don't believe it."
"But it's true. I'll show you." Jeremie said.
"But why should we trust you?" Ulrich asked.
"You have a point, but why shouldn't you trust me? What have I done to earn your distrust?" Jeremie asked.
"He has a point, besides, if he is lying we can just come back to school, and if he is telling the truth, it might be an adventure." Yumi said.
Yumi and Ulrich followed Jeremie to the factory, once at the factory Jeremie showed them the super calculator room and the scanner room. Yumi and Ulrich were still skeptical about entering the virtual world, but when Jeremie said that he would go with them they finally agreed. Jeremie told Aelita what he was doing and she agreed to scan them in.
The three children entered the three scanners. And one by one Aelita scanned them in. The scans took a little longer than they normally did because the computer was calculating how what their forms, weapons, and abilities would be. Once they entered Lyoko they saw what they were.
Yumi had taken the form of a geisha girl, or a Japanese girl educated in dancing, conversation, and music to become hostesses. She pulled out her weapon which appeared to be a metal hand fan. Ulrich was a Japanese samurai, with a sword for a weapon. Jeremie, on the other hand was some sort of medieval Japanese priest, he had a walking stick for a weapon.
"Well this is interesting." Said Ulrich.
"What are we?" Yumi asked.
"Aelita told me that the scanner finds the highest qualities of a person and uses that information to generate a virtual body." Jeremie said.
"Wow, it's like we are really here." Ulrich said.
"Hello," Aelita said. "I assume that you are Jeremie."
"Um, yes." Jeremie said getting a little nervous around Aelita. He didn't know why, but he suddenly found himself very nervous.
"Ok, and you must be his friends." She said looking at Ulrich and Yumi.
"My name is Ulrich." Said Ulrich.
"And mine is Yumi." Said Yumi. "Your name sounds Japanese, is it?"
"Oh, yes, it is." Said Aelita. "My creator named me after a Japanese coworker he had worked with."
"Oh, ok." Yumi said.
"Um, where is your creator?" Ulrich asked.
Aelita got a sad look on her face and said quietly: "He was killed by X.A.N.A."
"Oh," said Ulrich shocked. "I'm, sorry."
"Anyway, we have to help her get to a tower." Jeremie said.
"Yes," said Aelita cheering up. "But I need to warn you. You all do have life points, and according to my creator it would be very bad if you fall off of the edges of these platforms."
"What will happen?" Ulrich asked.
"I don't know for sure, but I believe that you may disappear for ever." Aelita said. "In other words you won't be rematerialized in your world."
"We'll just have to be careful of the sides then." Yumi said.
They started off in the direction that Aelita had come from. They soon realized that they were able to run much faster in the virtual world than they were in the real world. They also noticed that their abilities were much higher than normal.
They quickly reached the tower and saw the monsters that were guarding it. It was a couple of Kankrelats, three to be exact. They decided to each go after one. That way they would be able to get rid of them the quickest.
Ulrich took out his sword and began running at one. The Kankrelat shot a laser at Ulrich narrowly missing him. Ulrich continued running and slashed the monster. The monster moved backward but stayed up, it shot at Ulrich again and hit him in the chest. Ulrich fell over but got back up.
"Ow, that hurt." He said.
Yumi threw her fan, which had become like a Frisbee. It hit her Kankrelat directly on the symbol on the front of its body. The monster exploded into many pieces and disappeared.
"Oh, hit them on the symbol that looks like an eye." Yumi said.
"You mean the X.A.N.A. symbol?" Aelita asked.
"I guess it's that one." Yumi said.
Ulrich hit the monster on the symbol and it exploded. Jeremie ran at his and slashed at it with his staff; a light purple cloud escaped the staff and hit the monster. The monster began spinning and exploded.
"Well that was easy." Jeremie said. "Now what do you have to do Aelita?"
"I have to enter the tower, go to the second platform and enter the code: Lyoko." Aelita said.
She began entering the tower when suddenly a large black ball appeared. There was no visible symbol on it, but it suddenly opened and they saw where the symbol was; on the inside. The Mégatank charged up and fired directly at Jeremie, he was hit directly and was thrown back towards the edge. He had made an attack at the Mégatank as well and just as he was about to narrowly miss the edge the explosion from the Mégatank hit him sending him further. He flew over the edge and out of view.
Just then Aelita had finished entering the code and time was beginning to reverse itself. Jeremie stopped just before he was destroyed forever. He suddenly found himself lying in his bed the morning before. His first thought was that he was dead, and his second was that it was a dream.
That day, when the three children next saw each other they didn't mention the virtual world that they had been in just a few hours ago; none of them even knew if it really existed or was just a figment of their imagination. Fearing the others would think them crazy when they saw each other on the way to class they didn't say anything.
When Jeremie and Ulrich entered their class they soon found themselves to be having déjà vu. Everything they remembered from the day before was happening again exactly as it had before. They were shocked, but dismissed it as just in their imaginations, at least until the teacher asked the same question and Sissi gave the same answer. Then they knew that it wasn't coincidence.
During their lunch break Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie met at the same table. They began discussing what had happened to them, the day before, and that day. They weren't surprised when all of their stories matched.
"This is too strange." Ulrich said. "So then this virtual world, what was it called? Lyoko, was it?"
"No that was the code, it was 'Code: Lyoko to reset it all'." Jeremie corrected.
"That's right…" Ulrich said. "Well, what ever it was called, does it really exist?"
"Let's call it Lyoko for now," Yumi said. "And there is only one way to find out."
"What's that?" Jeremie asked.
"To go to the factory." Yumi and Ulrich said in unison.
The three of them went to the factory and found everything just as they expected it. They were even able to get in contact with Aelita. They ran everything by her and she confirmed what they believed. They were even able to come up with a name for the nameless world, Lyoko.
They talked for a little while, they found out that the virus was indeed still in Lyoko and it still had hold of X.A.N.A. Jeremie tried everything that he could think of to get rid of the virus but he was unable to, he simply had to let it sleep.
"We have to do something about this, we can't let this virus, X.A.N.A. exist." Ulrich said. "Not if it could wake up again, and start causing havoc."
"We could pull the plug." Yumi suggested. "If the computer doesn't have power then it won't be a threat."
"No, you can't! Aelita is still in there, and even though she may be an artificial intelligence; she is still a person." Jeremie said. "We will have to deal with this a different way."
"Well, my creator was going to materialize me, but he wasn't able to." Aelita said. "If we could do that now, we would be able to get rid of X.A.N.A. then."
"But that means that if we leave X.A.N.A. running then we will have to come back every time the virus wakes up and shut it down again." Yumi said.
"I can't go back in there." Jeremie said.
"Why not?" Ulrich asked.
"I almost died. I can't go through that again." Jeremie told him.
"Then Yumi and I will have to do it…" Ulrich said.
"Please, will you guys do this for me?" Jeremie asked. "At least until I am able to find a way to materialize Aelita."
"You will do that for me?" Aelita asked.
Jeremie realized what he had just said. He blushed, not yet understanding why he kept feeling this way. Then he said, "I will try my best to do so, Aelita."
"Thank you!" Aelita said.
"Ok, I will fight X.A.N.A." Ulrich said. "Besides it might be fun."
"I'm in too," said Yumi, "I wouldn't mind being able to go back a day every so often."
And that was how the group began. Every time X.A.N.A. woke up Aelita would inform Jeremie through his laptop. Then the group would go to Lyoko and fight X.A.N.A.'s monsters so that Aelita could get to deactivate what ever tower X.A.N.A. had activated. Eventually they discovered the special talents that Yumi and Ulrich had. Mostly by accident, but Jeremie would always give support to them over the super calculator.
Everything seemed to go symmetrically, and unchanging, at least until one day when a new student arrived from the States. He was taking the second bed in Ulrich's room. This made it a little more difficult for the group, they now had another factor to deal around in the fight against X.A.N.A.
"You are new around here aren't you?" Jeremie asked.
"Yeah, I just arrived, I'm Odd." Said Odd, the thirteen year old boy who was joining the school somewhat late into the school year.
"I'm Jeremie and he's Ulrich." Jeremie said nodding his head toward Ulrich who was standing with his arms crossed leaning against the desk in front of the window. Ulrich nodded at Odd. "You know something, Odd, your dog, looks really dumb."
Odd's dog was lying on Jeremie's bed next to Odd nearly asleep. Its legs were hanging out in front of it and its eyes were barely open.
"Don't say that, he's very sensitive, and he can get real mean." Odd said picking up his dog.
"Oh yeah, really?" Jeremie asked backing away.
"Naw," Odd said grinning his wide mouthed grin.
Ulrich shook his head. And asked: "What's his name?"
"Kiwi," Odd informed them.
"Sounds like a fruit," Jeremie said, and then added. "You know you can't have dogs in this school right?"
They left the room and gave Odd a tour of the school. They showed him every place he would need to know, and a little more. Then they returned to the courtyard.
"It's really cool here," Odd said. "And are there cool chicks too?"
Yumi waved to Jeremie and Ulrich. Ulrich waved back, and Jeremie said: "That's Yumi, the girl who trains every day with Ulrich."
Suddenly Yumi made a punch for Ulrich and Ulrich blocked it. Then Ulrich made a pass at Yumi, who dodged it, caught his arm and threw Ulrich over her shoulder onto the ground, but Yumi tripped and fell over Ulrich.
"So you better not give her a hard time."
Yumi caught herself just before she made contact with Ulrich's body, and paused there for a moment breathing heavily. Ulrich was breathing hard too, they had gone through the whole routine, and they were able to take a break now. Ulrich was looking up at Yumi and Yumi down at Ulrich. They both began to blush, and got up.
They went up to the roof to talk a little more, and Yumi introduced herself to Odd. They talked for a little bit, until the bell rang. Then they got ready to go, but Jeremie, who was sitting on the guard rail, had paused. He had seen something on his computer. Suddenly the black cloud that X.A.N.A. used to possess things came out of Jeremie's computer and headed straight for Jeremie. It went over him and started off for something near by.
"What's that thing?" Odd asked.
Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich watched as the cloud moved off into the distance, but not for long because Yumi realized that Jeremie was still on the edge of the building. "Jeremie," she yelled.
But Jeremie had lost his balance and was about to fall over the edge of the building. Quickly Yumi and Ulrich ran to help him, but they were too late, Jeremie was already out of their reach. Suddenly Yumi focused on Jeremie's body as it fell and he stopped in mid air. Then suddenly he began to rise back up to the roof. As Yumi turned around and saw the horrified look on Odd's face she said: "Odd, can you keep a secrete?"
"You can levitate objects?" Odd asked shocked.
"Yes, but only for a short time, and I can't do it very often." Yumi said. "But that isn't the secrete."
Yumi looked at Ulrich, and then at Jeremie, they both nodded. Yumi told Odd about the factory, and they brought him to it. Ulrich told them that he was going, and headed to the scanners. He was scanned in and met Aelita. She told him that a tower had been activated, and he told her what had happened, and that Jeremie was alright.
Jeremie told Ulrich were to go, and as Ulrich made his way to the tower they were met by five blocks. Ulrich pulled out his sword and used triangulate around the center one and as the others fired at Ulrich they hit one another. Only two of them were destroyed. Suddenly a swarm of Frolions came in to attack.
"Ulrich look out." Jeremie said.
"Come on Odd," Yumi said and pulled Odd down to the scanner room.
Jeremie scanned Yumi and Odd in. Odd's scan took longer because it had to calculate what he would become. When they appeared in Lyoko Odd was a purple—the same color as his cloths—cat-boy. He looked around Lyoko impressed for a second until he saw the monsters.
"What are those?" Odd asked.
"They are wasps, the enemy." Yumi told him. "You need to hit the target, or the thing that looks like an eye."
"Odd, you have one hundred life points and your weapon is 'laser arrow'." Jeremie told him.
"How do I use them?" Odd asked.
"Just point and say laser arrow, I assume." Ulrich said. "You will also have a special ability, but we won't know what it is yet."
Odd aimed at the monsters and said laser arrow, an arrow flew out of his right arm and hit the monster, which exploded. Odd then aimed at another monster. He shot and hit it. There were only a few of them left and they were easily taken out.
"So what is this place?" Odd asked.
"This is called Lyoko, it is a virtual world within a supercomputer called X.A.N.A. We don't know why it was created but we do know that there is something wrong with it." Jeremie said. "Aelita will be meeting with you soon."
"So, wait, if it's dangerous here, why are we in here?" Odd asked.
"Because our world is in danger too," said Jeremie. "The thing that attacked me was X.A.N.A. and X.A.N.A. is able to affect our world. We don't know why, but it wants to destroy us."
"Then why don't you turn it off?" Odd asked.
"Hello," Aelita said. "Oh, you have a new friend."
"This is Aelita, she was created in Lyoko." Yumi said. "She is trapped in Lyoko, and Jeremie is trying to find a way of materializing her in our world."
"Oh," said Odd. "It's nice to meet you."
"Aelita this is Odd, he is new to our school." Ulrich said.
"It's nice to meet you Odd." Aelita said.
"The activated tower is not to far away." Jeremie said. "I still don't know what X.A.N.A. is up to though."
They headed off in the direction that Aelita had come from. The rout to the tower was very direct. There weren't any challenges that they had to get through, just a straight path leading to the tower itself. Once they got to the tower a block which had been hiding from them suddenly attacked. It hit Odd in the back, and the others didn't have enough time to react before Odd was devirtualized.
Odd suddenly found himself back on earth, and pulled himself up from the floor. He felt as though he had just gotten over the flue. The trip back to the real world wasn't very easy on a person's mind or body. Odd walked back up to the super calculator room.
"Sorry Odd," Jeremie said. "I forgot to tell you about that. If you loose to many life points you will be devirtualized."
"I feel like I was hit by a truck." Odd said.
"You'll get use to it. Anyway, Aelita entered the tower and we are about to make a trip into the past."
"What?" Odd asked.
"I'll explain later." Jeremie told him. "Return to the past now."
Suddenly a bright white light emanated all around them. Then for a moment Odd felt as though he were spinning. Suddenly Odd found himself back in his house with boxes everywhere, just as it had been the day before. When time caught up and he met up with the others they explained everything to him. He promised to not tell anyone and he agreed to join the group.
And so it continued… All members of the gang had arrived, they each knew of Lyoko, and they had entered their relationships with the others of the group. The story continues only on Code: Lyoko.
With thanks to: ; http:home.tele2.fr/codelyoko/US/index.htm and of course Code Lyoko itself.