The Return of Xana
By Dobermutt
"An "Odd" Intro"
It was a calm, peaceful morning at the French boarding school, Kadic Academy. Two years ago the super computer, also known as Xana, was "destroyed" or shut down. William has been rescued, but Franz Hopper sacrificed himself to save Lyoko. Now everything is back to normal. Yeah, our little group went through a lot to save the world. Oh! Sorry…I forgot. I'm Odd…Odd Della Robbia. Yes that's right! The one and only, just in case you couldn't tell it was me by my voice. Well…I guess not…since this typed after all.
Has anything changed? You bet it has! I'm even more handsome and good-looking than I was two years ago. I'm taller now! 5'4 to be exact. I have big purple eyes and blonde hair. Oh yeah, and I have bangs now, just little pieces of hair in my face anyways. And each one is dyed purple. I'll never out grow purple! Other parts of my hair stick up like it's coming out of my forehead. The rest of my hair sticks straight up like always and I still have the big purple spot in the middle. Right now I'm wearing a purple hoodie with a picture of Kiwi on it and blue jeans. Yeah…I still have Kiwi. He's still as lazy as ever but, he's my little diggity-dog.
Now doesn't this description of me just make you want to faint ladies? If any of you guys faint…go see a doctor or stop reading this…That's just creepy. Sigh…Well I could go on and on about myself, but, the story must go on! So, I'll start back with the peaceful morning. It was the first day back at Kadic. I was 16 (And still am right now) and starting 10th grade. I hadn't seen my friends since Xana was destroyed. After surviving my first two classes I walked around the campus, hoping I would find my friends.
"Once Warriors reunited"
I walked around for a long time. And sure enough, I ran into (guess who) Ulrich! I didn't recognize him at first, he'd gotten taller. His brown hair was in his face and some of it was covering the top of his ears. He had green eyes (It matched his shirt). He was about 5'10; it made me feel like a shrimp. He had on baggy blue jeans that covered his white sneakers. He looked like a younger version of Orlando Bloom or something. Doesn't this picture just make you shiver?
"Ulrich?" I asked him, unsure if it was really him.
"Odd?" He asked back. "I don't believe it! Odd! Man, it's been a long time."
"Two years," I told him. So, we walked around campus together and caught up on stuff.
"Hey," said Ulrich. "Isn't that Yumi and Aelita?"
I looked in the direction of his pointing finger. "Well," I said. "I don't believe it!"
There they were, Yumi and Aelita. Boy, they looked like angels.
Yumi was still taller than me, but she had gotten prettier. Her slick black hair came down to her shoulders and her golden eyes sparkled. She was wearing a black long sleeved shirt with black pants and black boots. Aelita had also grown even more beautiful. She had let her hair grow out down to her shoulders too. She had bangs that went just down to her eyebrow parted to the left. Her bright pink hair brought out her beautiful green eyes. She was wearing a pink hoodie with white hand pockets on the front, blue jeans, and pink flip flops.
"Wow," I mumbled. "That's really them?"
"What?" asked Ulrich after he came back to planet earth. "Of course it is. Just look at her." He stared at Yumi as they walked over to us.
"Hi, guys," said Aelita. She looked like an angel, she smiled like an angel, and she even spoke like an angel.
"Long time, no see," said Yumi. "Aelita spent her vacation with me, so we've seen a lot of each other over the years. How are you guys?"
"Fine!" Ulrich was quick to answer. "Great! Never better! I mean…fine." He blushed after he finished.
"You girls just keep getting prettier," I told them.
They just giggled. "Thanks, Odd," said Aelita. "Um…" She stopped and began looking around.
"Who are you looking for, Aelita?" I asked her. "Jim went that way if that's who you need."
"Oh no one," She said. "I was just…Taking in the sites and stuff. It's been a long time since I've been here."
"Well," said Yumi. "Maybe we should go to lunch together. Catch up on things, you know."
So with that, everyone left for the cafeteria.
"The Return of 'Einstein'"
Lunch was great. All of us ate and talked about our vacations and stuff. Aelita however, looked a little down the whole time. We left the cafeteria and hung around outside.
"Hey," I turned to Aelita. "Are you ok, Aelita? You seem kind of down. Is there something wrong?"
"Oh no," She said. "I'm fine." Then she smiled and looked around again.
"If you say so, Aelita," I told her.
"Alright," said Yumi. "Let's go inside and see if Odd and Ulrich's room has changed any."
We all headed towards the dorm.
"Uh," Aelita started. "That's ok. You guys go ahead. I'll catch up in a little while."
So Aelita just sat there under a tree and we went to our rooms. About half an hour later Aelita ran into me and Ulrich's room.
"Guess who I ran into!" She said with excitement.
"Let me see," I said. "If it's not Jim than it's got to be a blonde headed geek with glasses and a really big vocabulary, right?"
"Man, Odd," Yumi looked at me weird as she drank her soda. "Things haven't changed around here much, have they?" She sipped her drink.
And right after she said that, Einstein himself walks in the room behind Aelita. I only remember a short, squeaky geek with big glasses. I would never have guessed it was Jeremy! He was almost as tall as Ulrich, like 5'9. His shaggy blonde hair was in his face and covering his ears. He still wore glasses and his eyes were so blue that they were almost white! He was wearing a white long sleeved t-shirt with navy blue sleeves. It was also navy around the collar. He had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had on dark blue jeans and flat black and white shoes. As if Ulrich looking like Orlando Bloom wasn't enough, Jeremy looked like…like, well Zac Efron (Only with blonde hair and glasses).
Yumi spit out the soda from her mouth onto my sleeve as soon as Jeremy walked in the door.
"Eww, Yumi! You just spit on me!" I yelled.
"I take back what I just said," Yumi wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
"Hey, guys," Said Jeremy. He had a deep voice, no, it wasn't squeaky any more. "It's been a while, huh?"
"I'll say," Aelita just stared at him in a dreamy way. Ewww.
"Well," I said. "If it isn't Jeremy! Man, I feel really small. But, it's good to see you again."
"Thanks, Odd."
"Yeah," said Ulrich. "You should feel small, Odd. You're only as tall as Aelita. Ha ha!"
"Well thanks a lot, Ulrich! At least I have good looks." Oh yes! I know how to make a good come back.
Jeremy just laughed. "Nothing's changed around here."
"A New Threat Occurring"
Again we sat around and talked; catching up with each other and stuff, you know. And yes, in case you were wondering, I did get the stain off my sleeve. That has nothing to do with this story…I just wanted you to know. But, as we sat around and talked I noticed that one thing was on everybody's mind, including mine. No one brought up the topic; even though we would have liked to say at least one thing about it. Yep…Our digital world was still in the back of our memory. After the years we never let it go.
There was always a silence in the room after we finished a conversation. After awhile we ran out of things to talk about.
"So," I said twitching my fingers. "What about…Um no wait…Remember…Uh…Never mind." I sank my head down low and remained in silence.
Just at that moment, Jeremy's laptop began to beep. Yes, he still has his faithful laptop.
"What?" Jeremy said in a faint whisper.
"What is it, Jeremy?" Aelita asked. "Something wrong?"
"Maybe it's his report card on the first day of school," Ulrich joked. "Come on Jeremy, B's aren't that bad."
"No," Jeremy brought himself around to speak. "It's a message."
"From who?" Aelita had a puzzled look on her face.
I could feel a drop of sweat roll down the side of my face. I don't know why I was nervous.
"It's…uh…"Jeremy hesitated to say who it was. "Franz Hopper."
"What!?" Aelita jumped from her seat and ran over to Jeremy. "Stop playing games with me, Jeremy! You know that's not funny!" She slapped him on the shoulder.
"But," Jeremy rubbed his arm. "I'm not. It's true…Look for yourself."
He turned the computer around to show her. Aelita looked pale after reading the message.
"Well," said Yumi. "What does it say?"
"It says," Aelita read from the screen. "Though I sacrificed myself, I'm still here. I was able to save myself and you, but I fear that a new threat is rising. Something much worse than William and more fearful than darkness. Xana will return in greater power and the world will fall apart to this new darkness. You are the last surviving hope. This time, you must be stronger, because Xana will be…" Aelita stopped reading.
"The message doesn't finish," said Jeremy. "This new threat must be very powerful. But, what bothers me is that we don't know anyone else who's discovered our secret. No one could use the elevator I locked it up two years ago. As far as I know Xana has been taken care of and is still shut down."
"Do you think it's a fake message?" Ulrich asked.
"Maybe," Jeremy answered. "I'll look into it."
"Yeah!" I shouted. Everyone looked at me funny. "Sorry…It's just, we finally mentioned Lyoko."
"A Familiar Place"
So we finished up our classes for the day and all five of us took a walk in the woods. Aelita stopped and looked around and then stared at the path to her left.
"Why did you stop, Aelita?" Ulrich asked as he walked over there to her.
Aelita looked at Jeremy and smiled.
"What?" Jeremy said looking kinda confused. Then he looked to his left. "Oh…" He turned back to Aelita.
"Please, Jeremy?"
He turned towards me and I gave him the puppy dog face.
"Eww," He said and turned away from me. (Come on! I'm not that hideous.)
Yumi and Ulrich had the look of happiness on their faces. They both turned towards Jeremy and smiled.
"Come on," Yumi begged. "Please?"
"Well…" Jeremy started. "Ok. I guess we could go look."
"Yes!" I shouted with joy.
We walked down the path and found ourselves standing in front of a rusty, old sewer top. It was in the middle of the grass in a little area surrounded by trees.
"Well," I said. "Who wants to go first?"
"I guess I will," said Jeremy.
He reached down and lifted the sewer lid off. Dust flew up everywhere. The sewer lid was rusty on both sides; even the stairs that went down into the sewers were rusted.
"Alright." Jeremy went down the steps and reached the bottom. One by one we followed him down.
"Wow," I pointed at our skateboards that were leaning against the wall. "Those are still down here? I don't believe it! And they still work."
"Let's go," Aelita jumped on her skateboard.
"Yeah!" said Ulrich.
Everyone got on and rolled down through the sewer. We jumped from platform to platform, zoomed past rushing water, and finally got to a familiar spot in the dark tunnel.
A couple of stairs laid there in front of us; a small crack of light shown through yet another sewer lid. Jeremy went up first and moved the lid. We all just stood there and looked at the big entrance to a big, abandoned factory. Jeremy laughed under his breath; no one could believe that it was still there.
"Come on, Jeremy," Aelita took his hand and walked towards the factory.
I was still amazed. I had to slap myself a couple of times while walking into the factory to make sure that I was still awake. We slid down the ropes and landed on the ground in front of the elevator door. I smiled the whole time I was inside.
"Let's see if I can remember the code for the elevator door," said Jeremy.
He opened the control panel and punched in some numbers. To my surprise, the elevator started to come up.
"Wow!" Jeremy was amazed. "It still works. Cool!"
What was even more amazing to me was that Jeremy actually used the word "cool". We all got in the elevator and, with the push of a button; we were on our way down to re-visit our virtual world.
"Virtualization"
I ran out of the elevator as fast as I could. (I didn't even care that I ran over Ulrich's foot.) Everyone else came out of the elevator; everyone accept for Jeremy. Jeremy pushed the elevator button again and left.
"Wait!" I shouted. "Where's he going? Don't tell me he's chicken!"
Aelita looked devastated that Jeremy left us, tears started filling her eyes.
"Why would he just leave us?" She asked.
As soon as I walked over to the computer, it turned on.
"Ahhhh!" I jumped backwards onto Ulrich.
"Ouch!" He yelled. "Watch it, Odd!"
"What?" Yumi looked around kinda confused.
Just then, Jeremy came back.
"Hope I didn't scare you guys to much," he smiled.
"Well…" Ulrich started.
"Nope," I interrupted.
"You mean," Aelita looked at him. "You didn't leave us?"
"No," he replied.
Then he walked over to the computer and sat down in the seat. This time though, he didn't look funny sitting in that big chair (Since he had grown so much). But, he was still smaller than the chair.
"Alright," he said. "If any of you are brave enough to step back into the scanner, than I'll send you to Lyoko."
All four of us rushed to the elevator with lightning speed. What's the worst that could happen? I mean Xana is gone so that means no monsters. I let everyone else go in first, not because I was scared.
"Ok Odd," I heard Jeremy's voice through the speakers. "Step into the scanner."
It had been a while since I had stepped into one. I was taller than last time…But, not by much. I watched the door close; everything went pitch black.
"Transfer Odd."
Suddenly beams of light came all around me.
"Scanner Odd."
I went up into the middle of the scanner, as if there wasn't any gravity.
"Virtualization!"
Jeremy pushed the enter key. The force made my hair and shirt fly up. I felt my atoms and molecules becoming un-attached. After going through beams and waves I was reassembled up in the air on a life-less world. I dropped down from the sky and landed on a brown platform. I was still dressed like a big purple cat. I took a deep breath and smelled nothing.
"Is everyone ok?" We all heard a familiar voice.
"Yes Jeremy," Aelita answered. "We're all here safe and sound."
"I'm still a cat though…" I told him.
"That's because I haven't changed any of your outfits since your last trip to Lyoko. All of you have your same outfits still."
"And oddly," I said. "I'm ok with that."
"A New Enemy Rises"
Lyoko was visited several times during the first week of school. We talked about it at lunch, during breaks, in between classes, and even in our sleep. Well, it was starting to get late (about ten o'clock or so) and we were all getting in bed. Jeremy however, stayed up late and looked at the message that Franz Hopper had sent earlier in the week. It became even later in the night and Jeremy was still working.
"Why is this so difficult? I can't seem to figure out how to find the rest of Hopper's message," he said. "Darn it…It's getting late. Ok, I'll run one more program and then go to bed."
He typed in some more stuff and let the program run while he fixed his bed. His computer beeped, signaling that the search was complete. Jeremy walked back over to the computer and looked at the screen. One file showed up in the folder. Jeremy opened the file and began reading the content inside. His eyes lit up in amazement as he read the file.
"I don't believe it!" He said. "I've got to tell Aelita!"
He got up from the chair and turned to the door. Just as he turned around, a creepy figure stood in front of him. Jeremy slightly jumped from being frightened.
The character was much taller than Jeremy (even though Jeremy is 5'9) and much bigger. His eyes had red Xana symbols in them and he had sharp pointy teeth like a dog. He was wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt, black baggy pants, and black boots. Even his shaggy hair was black. He was wearing black wrist guards with spikes on them and black finger-less gloves.
"Hello Jeremy."
He spoke with such a creepy voice that would make Xana himself shiver. Jeremy scooted back as the guy came a little closer. Finally he scooted back into the desk, the guy stood there, towering over Jeremy. A long sharp nail shown in the dark from his hand. The nail had a long pointy end to it.
"Who are you?" Jeremy hesitated to ask.
"Your doom…" He replied in a low whisper.
Suddenly all of his nails came out on one hand. Jeremy was trapped! He reached for the off switch of his computer so that he could save the message from falling into the hands of Xana.
But, he didn't act fast enough. This guy had super lighting speed. Whoosh! The Xana creep shoved his "claws" in Jeremy's gut right before he could reach the off button. Jeremy screamed in pain. It was so loud that everyone in the school could hear him. With a hard hit on the head Jeremy was knocked out. Jim ran into the room. Jeremy was laying there on the floor and his computer was turned off.
"An Old Friend"
The sun finally shone again and everyone was awake. Ulrich and I didn't sleep very well because of the strange sounds we had heard that night.
"Who was that?" Ulrich asked me.
"No idea," I answered. "It was really loud though."
We had no idea that it was Jeremy; I forgot that his voice had changed over the past years.
"Hey guys," Aelita and Yumi walked over to us.
"You look tiered. Didn't sleep well either huh?" Aelita asked.
"Oh," I said. "You heard it to? Have you girls seen Jeremy today?"
"No," Aelita replied. "He was up late last night working on something. I wouldn't be surprised if he was still up in his room working. Well, I guess it's time to go to class."
We entered the classroom (We had Mrs. Hertz first). Class had been going for a while. Still no sign of Jeremy. Class ended and we all met up outside.
"I don't get it," Aelita said. "Where's Jeremy?"
"Oh," Jim stopped as he heard Aelita speak. "Are you looking for Belpois? He's in the infirmary, uh, not exactly sure what happened to him. He's been out for hours. He was the one that screamed last night. And just a reminder…Don't be late for gym class." Jim walked off after informing us.
"What?!" Aelita yelled. "Jeremy!"
She ran faster than I had ever seen her run before. Aelita burst through the infirmary door.
"Ah!" Yolanda, the school nurse, jumped back in fright.
"Aelita," She said. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."
"Where's Jeremy? Is he alright? What happened?" Aelita asked.
"Whoa," Yolanda answered. "He's fine. I don't really know what happened. But, you can go see him if you want."
The rest of us came in at this time. All four of us went to see Jeremy.
"Jeremy?" Aelita spoke to him.
"Huh?" He turned around to face us; he was standing up putting his shirt back on (He wasn't a scrawny kid anymore). "Oh, hey guys. Weird huh? I wake up and there's Yolanda standing over me. I don't really remember anything, accept for pain. But yeah, no idea what just happened." He put his shoes on and stood back up.
"So," Ulrich started. "You're ok then?"
"Yeah."
Just then Yumi walked in with William behind her.
"Hey," said William. "Long time no see, right?"
"Yeah," mumbled Ulrich. "Long time no see. Could have been longer," he whispered in my ear.
William had grown too. His hair was still a dark blue and still the same (only with more bangs). He was really tall! Like 5'11. He was wearing a black t-shirt and baggy blue jeans.
"Well," he said. "I was just coming to say hi and make sure that Jeremy was alright. See you guys later." He left the room and soon after, so did we.
"Fight For the Tower"
"Great," Jeremy sighed as he looked at his computer. "All my documents are gone. I wish I could remember what happened."
It was later in the day (getting dark again). We were all asleep again. Suddenly Jeremy's computer begins to beep.
"No way!" He said putting on his glasses. "Xana attack? That's impossible! Xana was destroyed two years ago."
He picked up his cell phone and called Aelita. My phone began to ring. I was fast asleep with Kiwi in my lap.
"Huh? Wha…What's that? Oh, it's my phone." I picked up my phone and answered. "What!?" I yelled so loud that it woke up Ulrich. "A Xana attack? Okay. We're on our way." I hung up my phone. "Come on, Ulrich."
All of us met up at the factory.
"Get into the scanners quickly!" Jeremy told us. "It's time for another trip to Lyoko!"
We were all transferred to the ice sector on Lyoko.
"I see the tower!" said Yumi.
"Let's go!" Ulrich ran in the direction of the tower.
Jeremy typed on the keyboard back at the factory.
"I just don't understand. How is this possible?"
"Anything's possible, Jeremy."
Jeremy turned around and saw the creepy Xana guy standing in the corner. Jeremy quickly got out of his chair. The guy just smiled, revealing his sharp teeth.
"How did you become Xana possessed if Xana was destroyed?" Jeremy asked him.
"Oh," He replied in a creepy way. "I'm not Xana possessed."
"Jeremy?" I asked while battling monsters. "Who are you talking to? Whoa!" I jumped back dodging the lasers that came flying at me.
Ulrich ran towards the crab that was firing at me. "Triplicate!" suddenly there were three Ulrichs. The two replicas of Ulrich took out the crab's legs and then the original Ulrich attacked the front. The crab was quickly de-virtualized.
Battling monsters was a lot of work. Meanwhile, back at the factory, Jeremy was having his own battle with the new Xana.
"Who are you?" Jeremy asked as he laid on the floor with the guy on top of him.
"I've already told you," He put his spiked wrist guard up to Jeremy's neck. "Oh wait! You don't remember. Or do you?"
"What are you talking about?" Jeremy said. "I've never seen you before!"
He kicked the guy off and quickly stood up. He turned back towards the supercomputer. Pow! The guy threw his arm at Jeremy's face. The spiked wrist guard flew across his face leaving a huge scratch.
"Arrggghhhhh!" Jeremy yelped in pain as Xana slammed him into the wall with his fist.
"Jeremy?!" Aelita asked nervously. "What's wrong? Why are you screaming?! Guys," she said turning towards us. "We have to de-activate the tower quickly."
"Pain and Victory"
"Alright Mr. Block," I said swishing my tail back and forth. "Prepare to meet your match!"
I fired some laser arrows at the monster. Three of them missed and the last one was a direct hit! Aelita ran to the tower. I wish it didn't have to end, but, we had to de-activate the tower before the earth fell to Xana. Though we didn't quite know what Xana was planning to do with the tower, it couldn't have been good.
"I'm almost there, Jeremy," Aelita said. "Jeremy? Jeremy?" He didn't answer.
If she could, Aelita would have started crying, but we were on Lyoko.
"Uh," Jeremy was tiring out quickly from being beaten up. He hit the ground again, but, didn't get up this time. Aelita entered the tower and went up to the top of the tower. Ulrich, Yumi, and I got de-virtualized purposely by the monsters to go back to earth.
"Huh?" The Xana guy stopped attacking Jeremy. He let out a growl and then vanished into smoke. Aelita returned to earth and we all went back to Kadic. Nothing had happened on earth thankfully, Jeremy was the only one Xana damaged. By the next day Jeremy was fine.
We all talked about the new threat that worked for Xana.
"So," said Yumi. "He's not Xana possessed?"
"No," Jeremy replied. "I don't know where this guy came from."
"I want to see what he looks like," said Ulrich. "Then I want to fight this Xana creep!"
"Me too!" I said. "Fighting on Lyoko is the best!"
"Yes," Aelita sighed. "But, I want to know why Xana has come back. I thought he was gone for good."
"So did I," said Jeremy. "But the only way to figure out what happened is to read the rest of the Franz Hopper message."
"Which means?" I asked.
"We'll have to track down the rest of the message from Lyoko and the network," Jeremy told us.
"Xana might have grown stronger," I said. "But he's gonna find out that we have too!"
THE END
