Hello! This is the first section in a three- part series called XANA's Daughter. It features- and stars, in later chapters- my OC Villainess Magenta. Thank you for reading this, and I hope you enjoy it!

"High school. Oh, the madness. Hormones and homework, never a good mix, right?"
"Heh. Yeah, Odd, try adding 'save the world' to that, and you might, just might, understand what real madness is."
"Oh, come on, Yumi." A sigh, a roll of purple eyes in the direction of the comment. When the commenter, a girl with jet black hair and a small smirk on her face, simply shrugged, the eye roller glanced to his left, at the brown-haired boy currently trying to ignore the conversation. "Wasn't you who couldn't stop being a hero, Ulrich?"
Ulrich rolled his eyes back at the purple-eyed, purple clad boy next to him. "Sure beats studying for math class."
"No wonder you're failing," Yumi joked, lobbing her now empty can of soda at him. Ulrich caught it, tossed at Odd's head instead.
"Hey!" Odd winced as the can hit his forehead and the other two sniggered. "Can I get a break?"
"Talking about a break," Yumi interjected suddenly, looking at Ulrich. "Have either of you heard from Jeremie or Aelita lately?"
Ulrich blinked, and looked at his roommate. "Uh...not since breakfast."
"Princess mentioned something about trying out a new program Einstein came up with," Odd explained, using nicknames for the two other teens in question. Glancing back at Yumi, he noticed the small grin on her face. "What?"
Yumi shrugged. "They've been hanging out together a lot lately."
Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "And this is any different from normal because...?"
Yumi rolled her eyes and sighed, shaking her head. "You guys don't notice anything!" Still shaking her head, she turned and walked off. Odd and Ulrich looked at each other, nonplussed.

Half a mile and a world away, a pink-haired girl looked up at a grey, digital sky. She smiled slightly, cocking her head to one side.
"Are you sure this will work, Jeremie?"
Through the sky, back on earth, Jeremie fiddled nervously with his glasses as he stared at the displays on the massive computer screen in front of him.
"No," he answered honestly, his fingers flickering over the keyboard confidently even as his nerves faltered. "But even if it doesn't, you'll be alright, Aelita, I've made sure of that."
Even though he couldn't see her fully, Jeremie could hear the smile in her voice as she answered, "I would never doubt that, Jeremie. I know how hard you've worked on this." Jeremie blushed but ignored it. He had far more important things to concentrate on then mentally celebrating the compliment she had paid him.
"You've worked just as hard, Aelita," he replied, then began to type in the files to start the program. "Now, Aelita, close your eyes and focus on something."
On Lyoko, Aelita turned obeyed, still smiling. No matter how many years they had been doing this, excitement still raced through her at the idea of discovering something new. She could hear in it Jeremie's voice that he was just as nervous as she was. Forcing the thoughts of nerves- and the genius currently gently guiding her vocally from a world away- out of her head, she took a breath, and imagined what she knew was in front of her- the huge empty plain of the Mountain Region, stretching out before her.
"Can you see it in your mind?"
"Clearly. It's hard to forget, Jeremie."
A pause- Aelita could clearly imagine Jeremie rolling his sky blue eyes at her teasing sarcasm- and then Jeremie said, "Good. I'm gonna start the program now, okay? Three...two...one..."
Aelita heard the click of the enter key echo in her own ears. And waited.
And waited.
"Uh...Jeremie? What exactly am I supposed to feeling?"
"What are you feeling?"
"Absolutely nothing."
Jeremie sighed out an annoyed breath. "Again? What...what am I missing?" Aelita relaxed her body, opening her eyes again.
"Jeremie, don't worry about it," she said, hoping her voice sounded soothing. She could already hear the frustration in his voice. He would start berating himself any second now, she knew it. "Jeremie-"
Anything she was about to say was cut off by a gasp as pain suddenly exploded in her back. Aelita cried out, falling forward. Catching herself, she stood back up, spinning around at her attacker.
"Aelita?"
"Jeremie, I'm not alone here!" Green eyes wide with surprise, confusion and fear, Aelita backed up, spheres of pink energy in her hands. The single creeper moved forward, it's ugly head to one side as if as confused as she was.
"What? Nothing shows up on the screen! What is it?"
"A creeper, but..." Aelita's narrowed, slowing down. Was the thing going to attack her at all? XANA's monsters usually never hesitated.
"But? Aelita, what's going on?" Panic pitched Jeremie's tenor voice up at least an octave.
For a moment, girl and monster stared at each other. Then, suddenly, the creeper lunged at her.
"Energy field!" Aelita cried out, but the energy attack missed. Instead, the creeper collided with her, knocking her back against the ground.
"Aelita?"
Without thinking, Aelita let out a sound, half shout, half sung note and another energy field flew from her fingers. It hit the face of the creeper, only a few feet from hers, straight on. Aelita winced, expecting the monster to explode.
Instead, to her shock, it simply vanished.
"Aelita?"
Jeremie's panicked voice echoed in her ears, but it took a moment for Aelita to register. Still staring at the place where the creeper had been seconds earlier, Aelita stood slowly.
"I...I'm alright," she managed after a moment. "But...but that..."
"What happened? Are you okay?"
Aelita nodded, her heart finally slowing down to a normal speed. "Never mind. It's gone now, so, if you' d like to try again, Jeremie-"
"No, we're done for now," Jeremie said quickly, still sounding frightened. "I'm bringing you back."
Aelita sighed, looking over her shoulder. Perhaps that was a good idea. She couldn't shake the sudden feeling that she was being watched.