Lyoko Accelerated Online:
A Sword Art Online and Code: Lyoko Crossover
Chapter One:
Time to save the world
September 2008
"I made no sense of even those words. I heard a voice from somewhere, somewhere far away, a moment before I was robbed of my ability to think. [Kirito-kun... Kirito-kun!] It had a ring so nostalgic, it made me want to cry; a ring so dear I almost went mad. That was—whose voice, I wonder…?"
-Sword Art Online Volume 14: Alicization Uniting; Chapter 13: The Divisive Battle
Jeremy yawned as he walked into his Kadic dorm room, late at night. The Lyoko Warriors were busy with a "Beginning of School Year party," having invited many of their friends. For the main group, however, it was a celebration of a finally normal school year. Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, William, and Jeremy were all privately celebrating the demise of X.A.N.A. They were excited to actually experience school as it was meant to be.
Now, Jeremy was excited to hit his bed and sleep. It was a long night, and while they didn't have school tomorrow, he was still ready to sleep. But as he opened his door, his computer went off beeping like a maniac. Cursing his luck, he quickly walked over to it, and shut off the volume. As he did so, he realized what it was, and it disconcerted him.
It was the X.A.N.A. alarm, one that he had set up, just in case of his return. Strangely, however, it didn't seem to be reacting to anything X.A.N.A. had done. It had reacted to an email he had received, from an unknown source. Hesitating, he opened it. What was written in it shocked him to his very core…
Ulrich knew that his life was about to get flipped upside down when Jeremy walked into the cafeteria with dead eyes. The same kind of eyes he had while they had taken on X.A.N.A. Quickly, he stood up and walked over to him, startling Odd and Yumi, who hadn't seen Jeremy enter. He walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Jeremy sighed as he moved through the line getting food, speaking to Ulrich, who was outside of the line, "Remember the problem we thought we fix?" Ulrich froze, then nodded. Jeremy continued, "Well, it seems that we had eliminated most of it, but not all of it." Ulrich gritted his teeth.
"Well, what do we have to do to get rid of it forever?" Ulrich asked, but Jeremy didn't immediately respond. Instead, he finished walking through the line and headed over to the table. Ulrich followed. Ulrich understood Jeremy's plan. He wanted to talk about whatever he learned with the rest of the group.
When Jeremy got to the group, however, he noticed they were missing a member, "Where's Aelita?" The rest of the gang looked at each other, raising their eyebrows at each other. They were too busy goofing off earlier to notice that she was gone.
She wasn't gone for long, as Aelita quickly arrived, skipping the breakfast line, "Sorry I'm late. I was asked by the Principal to show a transfer student around. She thanked me by getting me some breakfast." She sat down, and immediately picked up her not-boyfriend's expression, "What happened?"
Jeremy sighed, then reached into his pocket. Pulling out a page he had printed out, he looked right at Aelita, "Listen, before we begin, I need you to brace yourself. You, more than anyone else here, will be affected. I will leave the decision to you. Do you want to get involved with this?"
Aelita paused at that statement. Whatever Jeremy had found, it had shaken him. He didn't know what to do. That scared her more than anything. Jeremy always knew what to do. That really should have made her say that they wouldn't get involved. But, something was calling to her. Something told her to ask for it. Something told her that she wouldn't be truly happy without the knowledge Jeremy had.
So, she asked, "What's going on?"
To: jeremybotics12
From:_
Subject: X.A.N.A.
Dear Jeremy Belpois,
Thank you for reading my e-mail, this is extremely urgent.
Because we have no time for dallying, I'm going straight to the point. Have you noticed on the news about random power outages, people suddenly disappearing and then reappearing with no memory on where they've been, and the random web sites just shutting down? Doesn't it seem a little familiar? Almost as if X.A.N.A. was back?
I hate to tell you this, but he is.
I work for another lab with a quantum supercomputer up in Switzerland. In our supercomputer, we have a digital world called the Cortex. About a week ago, X.A.N.A.'s monsters started attacking the experiments that we have there. We can't fight it off; our own monsters are too weak, and we don't have the virtualization equipment needed to go in ourselves.
Why am I telling a 14-year-old kid about the goings on of a cutting-edge tech firm? Because I know you found Franz Hopper's supercomputer and notes on how to use it.
This is not a bad thing, quite the opposite really. You have been fighting X.A.N.A. for at least two years, possibly longer because of the Time Reversions you have used to wipe the minds of those who don't need to know.
However, you guys are not ready for war. X.A.N.A. is back, and he hates the fact that he was defeated by a group of teenagers. He is looking for the first opportunity to turn on the supercomputer to eliminate you, by killing you.
Knowing that, this is going to sound counter-intuitive, but you need to turn on the supercomputer first. This is because we have a digital warrior from the future coming there. While you have been fighting admirably for two years, this warrior has been fighting for over 5 years straight. And, unlike you, he has fought with death on the line, and seen others fail. He has witness the deaths of his friends, and has persevered, knowing that that's what they would have wanted.
When he is satisfied, send a replay, with simply the word Cortex in the subject bar. I will then send you the coordinates to the Cortex.
Help us,
Anthea Schaeffer
Aelita gasped, shocked to her core, "My mother, is alive?" Jeremy nodded. "She's okay? She's working on a super computer? She's…" Her head whirled from all of the questions. She had long thought that her mother had been killed by the Men in Black. How was she okay?
Jeremy didn't have answers. Neither did Odd, but something was a bit more concerning to him, "Um, didn't she say something about our great old grade killer X.A.N.A. being back?" The rest of the group suddenly developed a headache. They had worked so hard, and yet X.A.N.A. may be back.
Yumi was the first to recover, "Well, we just will have to deal with him again. It's not like we never considered the possibility. We just need to be stronger, more aggressive. We beat him once, we can do it again, right?" She looked around the Lyoko Warriors, who all nodded optimistically.
"Then it's settled then." Ulrich stated, looking right at Aelita and Jeremy, who both nodded, "Let's go beat X.A.N.A. just like the old days. With the five of us."
"How about with the six of us?" a dark shadow loomed over Ulrich with a smirk. Ulrich snapped his head to look up at his older classman and rival for Yumi's affections. William Dunbar. William just smiled at Ulrich's angry gape, "You think I will let you guys go and take down X.A.N.A. without my help? I owe him some serious pay back."
Before Ulrich could object, Jeremy nodded, "Yes, he can join back up, but only if the new guy says so." Everyone looked back at Jeremy, who quickly pointed out something they had all missed, "Did you forget that we got a new member? Anthea is sending us some sort of future warrior."
Yumi raised her eyebrow at that, "Wait, who could that be?"
July 2026
Kirigaya Kazuto, otherwise known as Kirito, had the biggest migraine as he woke up. Well, that was the wrong term, but it best fit his situation. It was just like when he first logged into Sword Art Online at launch, except if he had been sleeping right before. He was more confused at what he was wearing, however. It looked like it had originated from Aincrad, but he had never seen it before. It was a black leather jacket, with silver and gold trim. He also had a chest plate, with a black t-shirt. His pants matched the jacket, but connected into big boots. "Where am I? How did I get here?"
"I brought you here, Dual Blades." Hearing it from behind him, Kirito turned around and faced the man that had both ruined and saved his life. The one who had trapped 10,000 players in a death game to satisfy his urge to become a God of a new world.
Akihiko Kayaba.
Though he wasn't dressed like the scientist he was in life, rather, he was dressed in his red armor that signified that he was the Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. He also had scars across the armor, as if he had involved in a giant fight. His face was grim as he spoke, which disturbed Kirito to his core. Kayaba was a sociopath. If he had a grim expression, something was wrong. "What's going on, Kayaba?"
Kayaba sighed, then opened a menu like he did in Sword Art Online, and instantly, screens flashed around Kirito. He looked at all of them, raising an eyebrow at everything. He then looked back at Kayaba, "What's with all the old CGI models? You brought me here to watch a cartoon?"
"No, I brought you here to send you back in time." Kayaba smirked at the shocked expression. "What you are seeing is the World Seed in one of its earliest incarnation, from 2008. Lyoko, a place designed to be a world without danger. However, a powerful virus, X.A.N.A., infected the system, and sought to destroy the world. These teenagers," Kayaba gestured at the models, "Choose to virtualize their own bodies into the world of Lyoko to take down X.A.N.A., and they almost succeeded."
"What happened?" Kirito was intrigued. He shouldn't be. He should be trying to get back to Asuna, and he knew that. But, these kids, they reminded him of SAO survivors, except they were willing. They were willing to take on the dangers of the virtual world.
"They created an anti-virus, and shut down most of X.A.N.A.'s plans. However, X.A.N.A. survived by locking himself out of the internet, while he created and deployed a counter-anti-virus. Once that was taking care of, he decided to strike at the Lyoko warriors, raising the stakes. That is where you come in."
"Wait, what? Why should I help you?"
"If they perish, the internet will fall in 2010, well before Sword Art Online's launch. Instead of your current happiness in the real world, you will fight in a rebellion against X.A.N.A.'s monsters. The worse tragedy," Kayaba smirked, "You will never meet Asuna."
Kirito narrowed his eyes, "Fine, how do I help? I mean, they fought back in 2008. We are living in 2026 if I recall correctly." In response, Kayaba slammed his shield down, and the room lit up. It was a blue dome, with a strange symbol on the floor. It reminded Kirito of an eye, for some reason.
"Welcome to the Carthage Sector of Lyoko. Well, sort of. This is really just a back-up I found. But, it has the one function of the Super Computer I need." Seeing Kirito's puzzled face, Kayaba shot Kirito a smug look, "Yes, Kirito, this computer can travel back in time. I will send you back to 2008, then immediately transport you to the real Lyoko. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the Lyoko warriors, and train them how to fight better, and aide them against X.A.N.A. Do you accept?"
Kirito sighed, "Since you're forcing my hand, yes, I will help. Send me their way, and I will end X.A.N.A.'s existence." Kayaba smiled, then activated his menu. A few swipes later, the room was spinning, charging its power for the jump back in time. This made Kirito realize something, "How am I supposed to get back?"
Kayaba shrugged, "Well, you'll figure it out." Before Kirito could object, the mastermind behind the Sword Art Online incident called, "SYSTEM CALL: INITIATE LYOKO COMMANDS; CALL: RETURN_TO_THE_PAST_NOW!"
Two beings sat in the lobby of a grand castle. One was sitting properly. He was dressed in blue samurai armor, with a single katana strapped to his belt. He was partially mediating. His companion, however, wasn't. He was slouching in his black armor, scrolling some web page across his face.
Finally, the time they had waited for had arrived. They both stood up, just as a man arrived in the room. The man was dressed in red armor, and held himself regally, "Are you ready to continue to the next phase?"
The black knight tilted his head, "Does that mean he has accepted his role?" After seeing Kayaba's nod, the black knight cracked his knuckles, "Good. Are we ready to head out, then?"
"I wouldn't be here if we weren't." The red knight stated. The three of them opened a portal, then headed out to their destination.
