"No!" Ulrich you… you failed us. The destruction of lyoko began, slowly deteriorating from the core out. After Ulrich was back on earth Jermie immediately turned off the super computer. Ulrich awoke in a pool of ice cold sweat. Wheezing uncontrollably. That moment had stuck in Ulrich's mind ever since "it" happened. It was the most defying moment of Ulrich's life despite that it was also the saddest. He had cost the team everything not to mention giving xana the complete control of the super computer. The gang was forced to shut the super computer down leaving Franz Hopper trapped inside. Aelita cried for 2 days after that. She knew she would never see her father again. Or maybe she would. Years had passed the gang eventually lost contact. Yumi went back home to Tokyo, Ulrich to London, and Odd back home to New Zealand. But Aelita and Jermie stayed together. They just wouldn't lose hope of Aelita's brilliant father. But they too split up after many frustrating years (8 to be exact). Now living on opposite sides of Paris and attending different schools it was impossible to keep in touch.
Ulrich swept the memory from his mind and looked at the clock it was 9:36am and he was hungry. First he took a very cold shower like he always did to get him back to his senses. He wanted to be focused on reality and if he did not take a cold shower his mind would be flooded with horrible memories. He then ate a banana and drank an energy drink. He threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. He was going for his daily jog like he always did on Wednesdays because he didn't have any classes until 2pm. This allowed him to perform a 45-minute workout and keep him in shape.
Ulrich immediately ran to retrieve his apartment keys. He was eager to start his workout. "Damn!" while he was running he clipped the framing of his couch. Now in a sort of premature rage he accidentally picked up his car keys instead. He owned a very old 92-volts wagon. He knew the car was junk but he couldn't afford anything better because of the cost of his tuition. He swamped the car keys for his apartment keys and ran out the door. It was a warm day, typical weather for London. He immediately began to jog slowly at first and steadily increasing his pace. He ran through downtown London and had to dodge many people while jogging. He passed a soccer store where he stopped by every once in a while. Ulrich was still very much into soccer, although his dreams of going pro faded away because of academic probation. He still would play pick up soccer with teenagers in the neighborhood every once in awhile.
After his glance at the soccer shop he collided with a teenage boy. Ulrich Immediately apologized. He said his name was Mike and he was going into the soccer shop to buy new cleats. Ulrich for some reason had respect for the child because Mike some how reminded Ulrich of himself.
Ulrich brushed off and began running by now he was getting tired. He decided to stop at a local coffee shop. While inside he began to watch TV. There was a report of a 5-car pile up on a nearby interstate. Ulrich had just finished his coffee and was leaving when he saw a woman Ulrich's age 21 had been missing for 12 days. She had been last seen at 3pm on Friday. They showed a quick picture and immediately Ulrich thought "Sissi!" He began to watch now with interest. They then stated he woman's name Elizabeth Delmas.
Ulrich had been recently dating Sissi but broke up with her around a month ago. He had really started to care for her but she began to steal from him. At first it was small amounts of money but then it turned into more valuable things like his silver coated watch that his father had given him. Sissi even went to the extent of stealing Ulrich's diary. After he found it was missing he immediately broke up with her. The diary contained things from Ulrich's life at Kadic even the exact location of the factory. Ulrich the Moved to London in search of a new and better life, He wanted to put the past behind him.
The report now went into greater detail saying Sissi had been seen near Kadic Academy. Then 5 minutes after she was spotted near the Seine River. Authorities thought she nay have committed suicide but had no evidence to support it. Ulrich was now to depressed to continue his jog. He began to walk home slouching with his hands in his pockets. Once he got home he decided to sit down and think. He sat for a long time before he had a strange but accurate idea. Maybe Sissi had gone to the factory. After all she had Ulrich's Diary, which gave the location of it. Also she was seen near kadic and then 5 minutes after on the Seine River. "WAIT!" 3pm was the peak of rush hour so she couldn't of taken a car and the Seine was at least a 15-minute run from Kadic. The only way to get to the Seine that quick would have to be the sewers!
Ulrich knew now she had read through Ulrich's diary. Including the section with the location of the factory, the location of the sewers with specific directions. Also it had information about the super computer including basic functions. It had told about xana and the super computer, Sissi knew everything! If she had last been seen near the Seine she was headed directly toward the factory and since she had not been seen since then she was probably there. Maybe she was trapped inside the elevator. Without food or water she would be dead. She could have even turned on the super computer resulting in nothing but X-A-N-A. This was serious; it was time for a reunion. Ulrich knew what he was going to do call every single member of the gang. Even if it meant Aelita who still looked at Ulrich with disdain. This could be a chance for Ulrich to redeem himself. He couldn't wait.
" Aelita Stones! I just don't see why you attend this class when you continuously fall asleep. This is the 2nd week in a row! I can't comprehend how you manage to maintain an A average." Aelita, still half asleep sat straight up in her chair. She was having a bad day, not only had she fallen asleep in class but she knew she did horrible on the quiz as well. This was rare for her though and was a direct result of being tired. She was always tired because she worked 2 jobs to pay her college tuition. She had no car, no money and no family. There was no one to help her with her tuition and necessities to live happily. Mrs. Snyder Aelita's French History teacher continued her lecture on Napoleons loss at Waterloo. Aelita sat in her seat biting her nails waiting for the class to dismiss. Soon it did and Aelita dashed out into the hall. She was eager to return home. She had a 2-bedroom apartment about 7 blocks away from her university. Since Aelita had no car she began to walk home.
Aelita enjoyed walking to and from school because it gave her time to make a sort of mental planner. She could sort out what she was going to do and when she was going to do it. Since Aelita had no work today she thought she would go to the west side of Paris to go to one of her favorite stores. When Aelita arrived at her apartment complex she realized she had forgotten her keys. This was normal for Aelita because she was always in a rush and had a tendency to forget keys for some awkward reason. Aelita knew exactly what to do she hopped up onto her air conditioner which was right below her deck. She then jumped and grabbed onto the metal bars that surrounded the deck. Aelita had become much stronger because one of her jobs occasionally had her lift heavy boxes. As a result her arms were somewhat developed but would still be considered " women's arms". She then pulled her self up onto the outside of the railing and hurdled over it. Since she always kept her deck door unlocked she walked right in. She then Put on some more casual clothes and fixed her hair. She wasn't really into perfect hair but she detested "bed hed". She matted down her hair and then straightened it with a brush. Then she put on a black hoodie that said James on the back along with a pair of jeans.
Aelita hobbled over to her kitchen table still putting on her pants. She checked a bus schedule that she had picked up from a nearby gas station. The next bus would be coming in about 20 minutes. The street it stopped on Louis was only a half a block away. In the mean time she decided to check her email. Out of all the things that Aelita owned her computer was her most prized possession (but not sentimentally). It got her out of having to go to a library to do homework. She opened the web browser and typed in her login name Carthagian11. She chose that name because it reminded her of her days at Kadic. Then she typed in her password but she accidentally misspelled it. "Shit!" Aelita muttered. Her 8 years on earth had changed her made her a human. She now knew everything an average human would know about slang and how to act. She knew to act casual around friends and more casual around respectable people. Aelita rarely acted casual because she didn't really have any friends. She was to tied up with work and school so she didn't have time for friends. She barley had time to think lead alone parties and dinners.
Aelita retyped her login information and checked her emails. She had 3 new emails but sadly all but one was junk mail and the other was from Mrs. Snyder about Aelita's attitude in class lately. Aelita was to tired to reply so she got up and went to the bus stop leaving her email logged in. Also she had left her keys at home once again.
Aelita started walking slowly because she still had about 10 minutes until she needed to be at the bus stop. On the way she thought about her life at Kadic. She missed those times and would do anything for the group to come back together. Aelita needed a miracle and maybe she would get one. It was fairly warm outside not to cold not to hot just right. Aelita got to the bus stop 7 minutes earlier that the bus arrived. Once it did she got on and paid the bus fee of 1.50 in euros. Aelita stared out the window look at the Seine River. The Seine river was beautiful so beautiful that it made Aelita doze of for a moment. Shortly after a jostle in the bus made her awake. Then she saw a man that was behind Aelita pulled a sort of rope that signaled that he wanted to stop. Aelita just stared at him as he walked by thinking he was quite handsome. Aelita then realized she was passing her stop and she pulled the silvery rope.
When she got off she immediately went into her favorite store it sold various items including things for computers also books and cloths. When she entered the store she immediately went into the computer section since it was her favorite section out of the choices. Then she saw a man wearing a white shirt with a maroon tie and blue pants. She thought he might work at the store so she asked him about a RAM upgrade card. The man slowly looked at Aelita and politely said he did not work at the store but he might be able to help her. Aelita thought he looked familiar he had blonde hair and blue eyes. He was also very thin and scrawny. The man seemed to have recognized he also. At exactly the same time they yelled who the other was and filled the store was with a slur that sounded like "Jerlita!"
It had been 1 year since they had seen one another but they still recognized the other. Aelita pulled Jermie toward her almost violently and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then for one hour they talked in the middle of the isle until the store announced that it was closing. Jermie had become somewhat rich because of his intelligence. He helped repair computers at a local computer store and his pay was surprisingly high. Aelita told Jermie what she was there for. Then Jermie helped her find an even better RAM card and bought it for her. He then told her not to worry about it. After they went though the checkout line Jermie invited Aelita over his house for dinner. Jermie had a somewhat nice car that he drove to his house for dinner. There was definitely some catching up to do and Jermie's house was the perfect place to discuss it.
Jermie drove for 15 minutes. He didn't like to talk while he drove because he was to focused on the road. He was terribly horrified of getting into an accident. As a result the car ride was very quite. Aelita was so tired that she fell asleep within 4 minutes. Jermie just stared at her while she was asleep admiring her beauty. Jermie woke her up when they arrived at his house. Aelita was still a little drowsy but was woken up when she got out of the car because the air was cool.
Aelita then walked down the pathway and entered Jermie's home. It wasn't to fancy, a 3 bedroom house. It was very lightly furnished partly because he wasn't home much. Jermie's house was very messy though. It reminded Aelita of how messy his room was at Kadic. He was always out or on his computer and never had time to clean. His research papers, junk mail, and manuals piled up to create huge stacks of paper. Jermie did well hiding the papers though, he kept almost all of the junk in one of his spare bedrooms. Jermie could afford the house because he had received a computers degree at a local college. However he still had a thirst to learn and had a chemistry class every Wednesday. When he was in college full time most of his classes were computer related with the exception of one calculus class.
Aelita and Jermie sat down on Jermie's red leather couch and discuss Aelita's idea of getting the group back together. Jermie thought it was a great idea but it was very complicated. The discussion moved on to talking about there times at Kadic, Jermie too missed those times. As they were talking Jermie's phone rang. "Hello" said the voice Jermie replied "Hi, who is this?" the voice said, " It's me Ulrich!" Jermie chuckled to himself and immediately told Aelita. The call couldn't have come at a better time. Ulrich told Jermie everything about Sissi and the super computer. He even told Jermie about his ideas to get the group back together. Jermie told Ulrich that Aelita and himself were thinking the exact same thing. The discussion resulted in Ulrich agreeing to call Yumi if they would call Odd. Jermie agreed and hung up the phone after saying goodbye.
Jermie was overjoyed he told Aelita everything and soon she was wide-awake. Aelita sadly said she had to return home and Jermie offered to drive. Aelita accepted the offer and they hopped in Jermie's car. Jermie was so happy he didn't mind talking this time. Aelita and Jermie then discussed their ideas for the reunion. They talked about each gang member possibly moving to Paris permanently. Both Jermie and Aelita thought that this would be a good idea. Soon they were at Aelita's house. "Wow that went fast it seems like I just ran into you and her we are saying goodbye." Aelita agreed and thanked Jermie for everything. Jermie drove off hurrying home to get some sleep himself. Aelita once again had to break into her own house using the climbing method. But soon enough she was inside sound asleep in her bed.
