Hello, this is my second story, and I think I am going to go back and forth writing chapters. The second one will probably take a while to get on. I know that there is no dunes in the actual desert region, I just made a section that had them for the sake of the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Cody Lyoko or any of its characters only the parts I invent.
THE OTHER SURVIVOR
Chapter 1, an Encounter Unexpected
Lyoko: Desert Region
Ulrich walked over to a sand dune and sat down on it, followed by Yumi. Shortly after was Odd and Aelita.
"Well, another day of patrolling Lyoko for XANA's next outburst is over." Jeremy said through the headset into Lyoko.
"Yeah, Einstein, get us out of here with that new stuff you made." Odd said to him.
"It's called a program and it is in experimental stages, I can't just use it on all of you and what would happen if you all disappeared when I use the program?" Jeremy's outburst was expected, and was met with laughter from his friends.
"Hey! You want to make fun of me, I might- wait. There's an enemy due south a half a mile, behind a large dune."
"Jeremy, they're all large dunes." Yumi told him.
"You'll know it when you see it, don't worry."Jeremy told them. They made their way down the way Jeremy told them, and at first nothing out of the ordinary struck them, just the dunes in that area of the desert. After a few minutes they saw the biggest dune around and stared at it.
"You guys are right next to it. You can you see the dune, right?"
"It's the only thing we can see. You weren't kidding; we knew when we saw it." Aelita laughed out loud.
"Be careful, there is an enemy behind it." Jeremy warned them. They walked around the dune cautiously, but when they came around all they saw was a stone dome about the size of half the large dune.
"You're right next to it!"
"Uh…Jeremy, your scanner must have a few bugs, because all that's here is a rock dome." Ulrich informed Jeremy.
"What! Give me a visual." He requested, and a few seconds later the scene appeared on his screen.
"This is crazy! I just rescanned, and it says that there is someone inside! Ulrich, maybe your katana can cut through." They heard the tech-head say.
"I'll try, but it looks pretty solid." Ulrich replied as he took his sword and stabbed the dome. He ran around it slowly, and after a few revolutions he broke through.
"Hey Odd, come give me a hand with this." He called to his pal and together they lifted the dome and flipped it over. When they saw what was underneath, all of them gasped. In what used to be directly under the dome, was a boy! He was about as old as those around him, and he wore a black skin-tight suit with a robe over him, covering him like a blanket. Yumi removed the robe, revealing he also wore a red shirt with billowing sleeves and a dark grey pair of shorts. Though the most shocking thing was the three swords strapped to him, one on his back, one on his side and the last across his waist.
"Who is this?" they all said, waiting for Jeremy's answer
"I'll look through the supercomputer to try and find out." He said, typing madly on the keyboard in front of him.
They all snapped back to attention when the boy stirred, as if the talking had woken him. He sat up, rubbing his eyes groggily. He then got up and stretched, then snapped awake and looked at the staring faces around him, his eyes falling on Aelita last. He stared at her for a shocked moment.
"A…Ae-aelita? Aelita, is th-that really you?"The boy said, hoping it was her.
"You know my na-" She started, when she suddenly found herself in the strangers embrace, his head on her shoulder.
"Oh my God, it really is you. I haven't seen anyone in a long time." He looked at the girl he held, and suddenly remembered something that made him bury his face in her shoulder again.
She felt her shoulder get wet as he started sobbing.
"All of them, they were all killed. The workers, scientists, even Mom and Dad! XANA killed them all!" he almost screamed in between sobs.
"Dad sacrificed himself for us, and you, you were covered in blood and looked like you were dead! But you're here and look better than ever!" he yelled after a moment and stayed silent for a few minutes.
He quickly pushed her away and backed away from the lot of them.
"Wait. You can't be here; you weren't ready to enter Lyoko! XANA, I'm going to say for the last time, there is no override code, you are the ultimate villain and there's no way to get rid of you except the manual shutdown. Please, don't play with my-" He was saying as he looked at a bewildered group of kids.
"What are you talking about? What override code?" Jeremy's voice rang from above.
"That's the console intercom." He said, looking at the sky before looking back at Aelita, "And if you where created by XANA they you would have broken down crying at what I said. You really are her, and… Aggggg, I am such an idiot! You survive; lose your memories and wander-like me- through Lyoko while the programs kept us from ageing any further! I just need to check." He said, walked over to Aelita and placed his palm on her forehead.
Then from around his hand the air warped and streams of code came out and turned into light, collecting in his palm.
I got him! Whoa, his life points are dropping incredibly fast, what's going on?" Jeremy asked as he looked closer at the window that held the video feed.
As the light collected, his hand grew brighter and brighter until he screamed and tore his hand from Aelita's forehead. She fell down; eyes wide and he held his hand, which was smoking.
"No… memory at…all." He said as he collapsed.
"Whatever happened, he only has ten life points left!" Jeremy told them.
Why don't you materialize him like Aelita?" Odd asked.
"Because the program only works with Aelita, I would have to reconfigure it before even thinking about using it on him!" Jeremy barked at Odd.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch; there is another way to do that. I can tell you, but you have to pay close attention to what I say." He called out, "Search file '23d'* and open it."
And after a few seconds, "Wow, this has all the DNA of everyone who has used it!" Jeremy gasped.
"Highlight files 'smpl1e5a-smpl8x34m'** and right click." He directed Jeremy, and paused so he could perform the actions.
"Then go to action and type '3'*** and then click 'initiate action'. This will cause all of us to appear in the chambers." The boy told him a few moments before his body disappeared and just the body form stayed a few seconds longer.
The chamber doors opened and the boy coughed a few times before stepping out and almost falling back in.
It's been so long since I have used my legs in this world.
He climbed around the cylinder as more people climbed out of the three chambers. When the whole gang got out and looked at the stranger.
"Who are you?" Yumi demanded.
"Me? I am Aelita's older brother, Mamoru." He said.
At that moment Aelita grabbed at her head as memories flashed through her mind.
"Mamoru!" she yelled and a boy came running over and asked, "Aelita, what's wrong?" "My jacket's cold." She shivered and he took off her jacket and put his own on her. "That's better, right?" "Yeah." /A man and woman holding each other stood outside a familiar house, "Mamoru, Aelita! It's time for dinner!" and two children came running out of the forest surrounding the house. "Yay, dinner!" "I'm starving!" they yelled as they ran to the house. As they ran past the couple, they turned around and went into the house. / The boy with a large shadow on top of him. The shadow moved, and two screams were heard, one by the boy, who had been bitten by a wolf and Aelita, who got sprayed with Mamoru's blood when the wolf moved.
"No!" Aelita screamed and started falling, but before she could, in a movement so swift no one saw it Mamoru was catching the falling girl and cradling her in his arms. His body was so weak that when he did this his face paled and he shook a little before almost falling himself.
After a moment Aelita looked up and told him, "I remember you. Not completely, but I know you from before." And she stopped, not knowing what to say. She didn't have to, because right then he looked at her and said, "If a small amount of your memory returning does this, then maybe a gradual return would be better." He said softly to her.
He let her go and the group went over to the elevator, looking back when they saw Mamoru walking in the other direction.
"What are you doing?" Yumi asked.
At first, each step was exhausting, but after a few steps it got easier, and soon he was running across the room at a wall. When he got to it, he started running up it, then jumped and spun so he could grab onto a low-hanging cable. He swung from that one higher into the dense mass of cables above their heads. When they could no longer see him, they piled into the elevator and went up. Jeremy heard the doors open, and when only four people came out, he asked the obvious question.
"Where is-" he managed to say before a voice came from the other side of the room
"I am right here." Mamoru said as he stepped out of a secret passage.
"What did you do?" they all asked.
"I made a secondary elevator in the ceiling of the virtualization room. I haven't used it in, let's see…ten years, so it was a bit slow." He said and walked over to the super computer.
"Hey, it's still in testing mode."He said as he took a pair of glasses out from his pocket and put them on.
"Computer, LAN connect cable for Super Computer, please." And out of the arm of his glasses, a wire sprung out. He grabbed it and followed the headset cord to its plug-in spot. It was an ordinary headphone jack, with a square on about the same size next to it. It was the same shape as the plug from the glasses, and when he plugged it in, the lenses darkened and windows appeared on them.
"The link is stable." A different voice came from Mamoru.
"Computer, I told you, use the wrist speakers when you talk." He said, rubbing his nose.
"Sorry about that." The voice then came from his watch on his right arm that no one noticed until now. Everyone looked at him wondering what was going on, and Mamoru noticed these looks.
"Computer-" he started, when the voice said, "Al.'
"Ok, Al, switch hardware to visible mode and open AI visualize." And suddenly Mamoru's right arm was covered in almost flawless, skin-colored metal plates. There was a part where the metal didn't cover, and that had what looked like a solar panel on it. And on the panel, was the hologram of a thirty year old man in jean shorts and a t-shirt. He had short hair and looked handsome, even at six inches tall.
Everyone stared at him, as he turned around to face the group of kids.
"Hi, I am Alexander Isando, made to look like Franz Schaeffer, father of Mamoru and Aelita Schaeffer, and co-creator of the wonderful factory we are standing in." It said. Jaws dropped as it said this and after a moment Jeremy managed to say.
"F-fra-franz Schaeffer? You mean the one who signed the papers and who showed me how to make the headband?" Jeremy asked.
"You made the headband? Was there side affects like the one we tried?" Mamoru asked him, looking straight at him.
"It worked perfectly, but it seemed to suck away my energy and ate away at my health."He recalled, shivering
"Likewise, but with sometimes greater and more prominent side effects." Mamoru said, looking back at the screens.
"Computer, recognize and hologram visualize the super computer AI, will you please?" he asked the hologram.
"Ok." It replied before opening holographic hologram screens and looked at data for a moment. Then the metal on Mamoru's arm moved to reveal another solar panel-like projector. And from that came the hologram of a twenty year old woman wearing a blue button up shirt tucked into black dress-pants.
"Hi, Beth." Mamoru said to her.
"Hello again, Mamoru, it's been a long time since you have been out of the system." She said.
"Yeah, thank you for the anti-aging time programs." He said to her.
"You're welcome, but I know that you didn't show me just for that, so I would like to know what you are going to ask for." She said, arms crossed and foot tapping.
"You know, I might just delete your emotion receptor software. But anyway, what are the data usage, storage, and collection patterns over the years. With voiced results, if you please."
"Just a moment… Ah, so the storage and usage have dropped in the story and area development. It has grown in the core and related areas. It has grown the most in enemy AI and player abilities with the use of the machine by the people in the room. Hardware change dropping to zero has stiffened the outsider ability to interact with insiders."
"So initiate change 'ultra computer'." He commanded
"Change initiated." She said, and the entire room changed.
The walls parted and revealed screens and the holomap went into the ground and one came out of the ceiling. Next to it a tube came down and the AI appeared in it. More lights turned on and the chair turned into an egg shaped chair that you stand in with a clear door to get in.
"Metamorphosis complete, outside connection increased 50% due to hyperchair." Beth said to the astonished group through the visualize tube.
"Th-this is amazing! This is the craziest thing I have ever seen! This is straight out of a sci-fi flick!"
"Well, the original idea for the game was a sci-fi, but the scientists changed the concept after a few polls." Mamoru said nonchalantly.
"Game!" The entire group yelled, except for Mamoru, who had been checking wires behind a panel. He slammed the panel back in place.
"This was supposed to be the videogame revolution, the only game that you are a part of. Aelita's and my father was the lead designer and creator. The project was a large part of our lives, and what wasn't that was family. We grew close to the other designers and their families. XANA was the arch nemesis AI, and we created all the other aspects of it before the main villain was created and they allowed the beta testers to try it. The testers were mostly the families that created it. At first we thought it was running smoothly, but after a while the intensity of the AI and its ideas grew stronger, so we created a time jump feature. The addition seemed to stop him for a while, but it did not stop him forever. He came back strong, and we added more safety protocols, but in the end it didn't stop him. One day, a tester was on when he died. We monitored vitals to see the reactions of the body to the system. When he died in the game, his vitals flatlined unexpectedly. We didn't know what was going on until the attacks started. The entire factory was under XANA's control and we couldn't stop him. We tried to shut him down, but anyone who went to the center or Lyoko died. We had no choice but to try to hold him off in this room. A lot of people died, and my dad stabilized the way to Lyoko. I used the secondary elevator to the virtualization room to get people down. After I got everyone to the room, I went to look for Aelita, who was wandering around the factory earlier. I hadn't been able to go for her earlier because of the attacks." He paused in his tale, and his eyes watered, "When I found her, she was in a room, with a hole in her chest." Tears fell down his face. "She was covered in her blood, and I carried her back and put her in the chamber, hoping she would survive. She was badly hurt, and the machine might not have accepted her. I then went for my dad, and came through the door to see him drenched in blood." His body shook from the force of the tears, and his voice trembled slightly, "He had been stabbed by a lot of things, and he told me to go and he would make sure that I got safely to Lyoko. For years, I searched for him, but he didn't make it." Mamoru finished, sobbing.
He sat on the ground, wiping away tears.
"He probably succeeded in shutting this down, and though you turned it back on, I don't care." He said looking at Jeremy.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start anything, I was just curious." Jeremy said back.
"Speaking of curious, could I see the program you used to materialize my sister?" he looked up at Jeremy with a curious stare.
"Of course, you can see anything here, and what are you going to do with yourself?" He asked back with a questioning look.
Mamoru got up and walked over to the tube and Beth.
"Hey could I get a holo-graph of the information I asked from you with the numbers."
"Okay." She said and the holomap disappeared and was replaced with a moving line graph of the data usage and storage over the years.
"Okay, so the story development and area engineering has dropped from 896 terabytes to 430 terabytes^. And," He said, looking over at the next set of numbers. "The enemy database and AI intelligence has increased from 899 terabytes to…1770 PETABYTES^^!" he looked wildly at the group.
"How did you manage to hold XANA off for all this time?" Mamoru asked the teens.
Well, we always seemed to cut it close, and it only got harder after I finished the materialization program. Even though that took a lot of time and late nights, I did it." Jeremy said and he and Aelita's face reddened a little, for different reasons.
Wow, he risks health to make her real and she feels bad that he did it for her. They must like each other a lot, maybe even lover each other.
Mamoru looked at them, his mind trying to put them together mentally. They looked at him funny when he succeeded and smiled to himself. They were even more surprised when he walked over to the two and pushed them together into an embrace. They put up a little struggle, but Aelita's arms went around Jeremy's neck, and his arms went around her waist and they pulled themselves close against each other. They only let go of each other when the other three started clapping after a long moment, their faces burning red.
What just happened? I was against Aelita and it felt amazing, being close to her, her body against mine. It was right.
Did that just happen? Did we really hug like that? His body, it was so warm.
"There we go. I hope I just started a good relationship. If not I will question my sanity, but it is obvious there are couples here." Mamoru pronounced.
"You said couples, and there are three other people here, who is the other couple?" Jeremy asked, confused.
"Well, you I started, but the other one is too complicated for a rough push."
*DNA code sample list 23 D
**sample5a-sample8x34m
***materialize override protocol
^terabyte=1024 gigabytes
^^petabyte=2048 gigabytes
I had to look that up so I could use it in here. I might be wrong about the petabyte, so if I am wrong, please tell me. Also if you have anything to tell me, please comment, now.