Code Lyoko: Eezo

This story takes place in the future…thirty years after the discovery of the mass relays. Five friends fight an evil virus named XANA, but a much greater threat is coming…

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure, non-profit fanfiction. Code Lyoko is the property of Antefilms, Moonscoop, France 3, Canal J, Cartoon Network, Tania Palumbo and Thomas Romain. Mass Effect is the property of BioWare, Electronic Arts and Casey Hudson. Please support the official releases.

1

Chapter One

"XANA Awakens"

Diary of Jeremie Belpois, Kadic Academy 8th Grade Student – October 9, 2183

(A/N: Jeremie Belpois – Sharon Mann)

A few weeks ago, I was hunting for parts to finish building my miniature mechs. I couldn't find anything around here I could use, so I decided to rummage for scrap in the abandoned factory not far from the academy. I figured that I could find plenty of cool, old, mechanical stuff left inside there that would be useful. And I wasn't disappointed. It was unbelievable! I stumbled into some sort of complex, with an entire computer lab with scanners, and especially this totally intense mainframe. For the moment, I haven't told anyone. It's my little secret. It's the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. And that wasn't all. That night, even though I was scared stiff, I decided to start up the computer.

Jeremie Belpois ran through the grounds of his school, Kadic Academy, until he reached a manhole in the middle of the wooded area. He opened the hatch and descended into the dark sewers. He brought up his omni-tool and activated the flashlight function. He made his way through the sewers by the light, but kept his hand over the bright orange interface, ready to deactivate it if he was spotted.

Eventually, he reached another manhole at the end of the passage he had taken, and took the ladder up. When he reached the top, he pushed the cover off and jumped onto the bridge to which it led. He closed the cover, turned off his omni-tool and ran into his destination at the end of the bridge: the factory he had spoken of in his diary.

Once inside, he grabbed onto one of several strands of rope hanging from the ceiling and slid down to the main floor, where he walked over to a large elevator and held up his omni-tool. The tool whirred for a few seconds before the door opened and admitted him. It closed and brought him down to a lower level in the factory, where he found the core of a large computer. A switch presented itself, and Jeremie stepped forward and took hold of it.

"I hope I'm not going to regret this in a minute," he said.

He pulled down on the switch, activating the large, tower-like structure. The device powered up, letting out a great flash of light and a gust, which ruffled the boy's hair and startled him.

"Now, let's see what you've got under the hood, my friend," said Jeremie, cracking his knuckles and tapping away at the interface.

The screen for the device activated, showing a number of windows, one of which depicted the sleeping form of what appeared to be a girl with pink hair.

"What is this?" asked Jeremie. "Some kind of game?"

Apparently, his voice had an effect. The girl woke up with a start and seemed to look at the frames of the window she occupied. Then, she looked straight at Jeremie.

"Who…who are you?" she asked. "W-where am I?"

Jeremie gasped and recoiled from the screen.


Not far from the academy, an Alliance shuttle was starting to descend on the town.

The shuttle held a small group of soldiers, sitting at either end of the craft and each doing a different thing. One sat near the door, fiddling with an omni-tool. Near the door opposite him was another one talking to a turian soldier situated between them. On the other end of the craft was another one laying back against the wall, not being jostled thanks to the shuttle's inertial dampeners. Another sat leaned forward with his hands folded under his chin. And the sixth and final one, a female, sat in the middle seat, cleaning a set of weapons.

The one speaking to the turian groaned for what seemed like the fifteenth time to the other passengers.

"I still can't believe we're being sent to guard a school!" he said. "How long before we get sent off on a real mission? I'm ready for some real action!"

(A/N: Tommy Dillon – Blake Swift, A.K.A. Shadyvox)

"We are still young Tommy," said the turian. "We shouldn't be too eager to run into danger. And besides, these are our orders. We should follow them."

(A/N: Villick Actius – Chris Guerrero, A.K.A. GeneralIvan)

"You know, I have to admire you, Villick," said Tommy. "You have, like, infinite patience or something."

"I've had to rein it in, thanks to my abilities," said Villick. "If I'm not careful, I could accidentally send someone flying up a tree."

The one resting against the wall kept his eyes closed as he responded.

"Name the time and the place, Actius," he said. "We can put that to the test."

"I was not issuing a challenge, Broot," said Villick. "You shouldn't treat every word out of my mouth as such."

Broot chuckled.

"Can't help it," he said. "It's in my nature."

(A/N: Brennan "Broot" Stan – Curtis Arnott, A.K.A. Takahata101)

The one who leaned forward looked at the one who fiddled with his omni-tool. He put his hands down and stood up. He walked over to his comrade and leaned against the door.

"Hey," he said. "Are you alright, Eddie? You look nervous."

"Sorry, sir," he said. "This is my first actual assignment. All I've done so far have been perimeter patrols."

(A/N: Eddie Barnes – Spike Spencer)

"Don't worry so much about it, Eddie," said their female comrade. "You're going to do fine. And anything you don't get, we'll help you with."

"I appreciate that, Lexi," said Eddie.

The young lady giggled.

"We're happy to help," she said.

(A/N: Lexi Rook – Tia Ballard)

"Just follow our lead and you'll be fine," said their commander.

"Understood, sir," said Eddie.

"And you don't have to call me sir," said their commander. "Just call me Derrick."

(A/N: Derrick Savage – Matthew Mercer)

"Sorry, Derrick," said Eddie.

"And for God sakes, stop apologizing," said Derrick, smiling.

He went back to his seat and put his chin back in his hands.

Before he had the chance to close his eyes, he heard a click over the shuttle's intercom.

"We're reaching our destination, sir," said the pilot's voice.

"Go ahead and set us down," said Derrick. "And…stop calling me sir."

The shuttle made touchdown at a landing zone outside of Kadic Academy. Not far from there was their new base of operations. They grabbed their gear and walked away from the shuttle as it took off back into the sky.

"Hey, Villick," said Lexi. "Did you pack enough dextro food packs?"

"I should be good for a week, but after that, I'll be pushing it," said Villick.

"I'll requisition a shipment later," said Derrick.

Soon, the group made it to a building that was vacant, but somehow still in good condition. They didn't bother to count how many floors the structure had, and instead went inside and found the floor they were looking for.

"Eddie, bring up the intel package on this building," said Derrick.

Eddie brought out his omni-tool and cycled through some data until he found the floorplan of the building, along with instructions on what to do once they arrived.

"And check your omni-tool and see if the package on this school has arrived yet," said Derrick.

Eddie did as he was told.

"I don't see it, si- Derrick," he said. "And I set my omni-tool to ping when something new comes in."

"Alright," said Derrick. "Then just tell me what the package says about our accommodations."

Eddie looked through the data.

"According to this, there are some crawlspaces hidden throughout the building that are perfect for stowing equipment and hiding if we come under attack," said Eddie. "The package says that scenario is highly unlikely, but to remain open to the possibility."

"Anything else?" asked Derrick.

"Other than tearing the place up and making a lot of noise, we can do whatever we need to here," said Eddie. "The building's power is off the grid, and can be shut off with a simple command from our omnis."

Derrick nodded as he and his group continued through the building. They eventually found some stairs and used them to ascend to the floor they were looking for.

"I still don't understand something," said Tommy. "Why all the specifics for such a simple job?"

"I gotta agree with Tommy on this," said Broot. "We don't need a place like this if we're going to guard a school. What's wrong with…I don't know…the school's main office?"

"The school's main office doesn't have an armory," said Villick.

"Hm, good point," said Broot.

"Guys, try to keep in mind what's important here," said Derrick. "I don't know about you guys, but to me, Eden Prime was no joke. The geth have made their first appearance outside the Perseus Veil for centuries. Their appearance at Eden Prime wasn't something we expected. We have no idea what they're up to, so we have to be ready for anything, including an attack on something as unlikely as a school."
"Alright, alright, alright!" exclaimed Tommy. "Christ. We know they could attack anywhere. But, you said it yourself: a geth attack on a school is unlikely."

"Um…" Eddie started to speak. "Well…"

He paused.

Derrick and company stopped and the whole group looked at Eddie.

"Go ahead, Eddie," said Derrick.

Eddie opened and closed his mouth a few times, but didn't let anything out.

"Eddie?" asked Derrick.

Eddie cleared his throat.

"Well...um…I was going to say it's not as unlikely as you would think," said Eddie. "However improbable it might seem, the geth could be here right now and we wouldn't even know it. They know how to stay silent, even when moving, and they don't need to breathe."

Eddie pulled up a schematic of a geth infiltrator on his omni-tool.

"You would think the lights they have on their heads would make them easy to spot," said Eddie. "But if they stuck out as much as one would think, Eden Prime might still have its security detail."

"Which means we have to be very careful," said Derrick. "It's as simple as that."

Derrick led his team to where they were to set up base. They stowed their weapons in the crawlspaces Eddie found all over the building. He synchronized his omni-tool with the others so they could find the compartments as easily.

After stowing all of his equipment, Villick squeezed his eyes shut and rested a hand on his head.

"Are you alright, Villick?" asked Lexi.

"Fine," said Villick. "I just need to sit for a minute."

He found a nearby stool and sat down.

"Perhaps we should take you to a doctor," said Lexi.

"When was the last time you saw a turian doctor on Earth?" asked Villick. "Besides, that's what you're here for, remember? If I had to have anyone not of my species operating on me, I would prefer you."

"How can someone be so sweet and yet so racist at the same time?" asked Lexi.

"I meant no offense," said Villick. "I just get nervous around human doctors."

"It's fine, Villick," said Lexi. "I was only teasing you."

"What a relief," said Villick.

He remained seated for a moment, then breathed out a long sigh.

"That's better," he said. "We should get going. Derrick is probably wondering where we are."

"Okay," said Lexi.

She followed Villick out the door and into a deserted lounge area the group had found. There, Derrick remained standing while the others were seated. Villick and Lexi joined their comrades on chairs at the back of the room.

"Eddie, has the Kadic Academy package come yet?" asked Derrick.

"Yeah," said Eddie, activating his omni-tool again. "It pinged while we were stowing our equipment and food stores."

He opened the schematics for the school, along with the instructions they received.

"Tomorrow, we're to report to the principal, Jean-Pierre Delmas, and inform him of the situation," said Eddie, pulling up a picture of the principal, an older, bearded man wearing a suit and glasses. "As far as the higher-ups are aware, Delmas is not happy about our placement at his school, but he's willing to cooperate if it means his students are safe. They expect part of it is because his daughter is one of said students. Regardless, we may encounter minimal resistance from him in our duties, but we shouldn't have too much trouble with him. Anyhow, after we've reported to him, we're to coordinate with Jim Morales, the school's physical education and health teacher, dorm supervisor and activity coordinator. We're to let him know of our presence if Delmas hasn't done that already and let him know what to expect with us around."

"Seems simple enough," said Tommy. "Talk to Dumbledore and Donkey Kong and get to work."

"Anything we should know about the school itself, Eddie?" asked Derrick.

"A 3D floorplan is available of the school itself, including the dorm rooms, the gymnasium, the cafeteria, what have you," said Eddie. "It doesn't appear as though there's anything out of the ordinary. The floorplans are updated once every few months or so. We can expect them to come in fairly frequently, and so we'll always know what's what about wherever in the building."

"Anything else?" asked Derrick.

"This is all I have on the school itself," said Eddie. "If you'd like me to, I can do some research on surrounding buildings, points of interest and things like that."

"It can wait till morning, Eddie," said Derrick. "For now, let's all go get some sleep.

"I second that motion," said Broot. "The principal might call us gun-toting pyjaks tomorrow. We might as well be well-rested pyjaks."

With that said, the team left the lounge and went to their rooms. Each of the rooms had a bed and desk, and little else. Derrick stripped off his armor and stowed it in a case under his bed. When it was all put away, he opened another case he brought with him and pulled out his alliance dress blues, which he intended to put on for when he met the principal the next day. He imagined his teammates were doing the same.

Once he had everything arranged, he pulled off his day clothes and turned off the light. He got into bed and closed his eyes, waiting for the sandman.


The next day, Kadic Academy resumed its normal routine of students coming from the dorms and going to their classes for the day.

Among the people taking their seats in the science lab was a young boy with brown hair. As he was about to take his seat, he heard a voice nearby.

"Excuse me?" asked the voice. "Are you Ulrich Stern?"

The boy turned and faced the source of the voice, and saw a boy about his age with the weirdest selection of clothes imaginable. Pants that were half purple and half black, a pink long sleeved shirt under a purple short sleeved shirt, and a strange hairstyle: blond hair, swept back, long enough to reach the neck, and a splotch of purple in the center.

"That depends," said the boy, Ulrich. "Who wants to know?"

(A/N: Ulrich Stern – Barbara Weber-Scaff)

"Odd Della Robbia!" replied the other boy, taking a seat next to him. "His brand new roommate!"

(A/N: Odd Della Robbia – Matthew Géczy)

"What?" said Ulrich, incredulous.

"I'm new at the academy, and the principal told me to move in with you," said Odd.

Ulrich emitted a light groan.

"'Latch onto me' sounds more like it," he said.

"Relax," said Odd, smiling. "I'm totally cool. Trust me. You'll see. You won't even know I'm there."

"I sure hope so," said Ulrich. "Look, we don't exactly go way back. So, just for now, let's take things nice and slow, okay?"

The smile didn't leave Odd's face.

"Okay," he said. "Nice and slow."

Just as they finished their conversation, an attractive girl with dark hair kept back by a yellow headband and wearing various "cutie" clothes walked up to Ulrich and Odd's table.

"Hi there, Ulrich sweetheart," she said, in a high-pitched, flirty voice. "I've got something very important to tell you."

(A/N: Elisabeth "Sissi" Delmas – Jodi Forrest)

Ulrich turned to face her with noticeable annoyance.

"Important like, uh…'I lost my mascara' or 'my pink t-shirt ran?'" he asked.

"No!" exclaimed Sissi. "Nothing as serious as that. It's something about you and me, Ulrich. If you want to know more, come by my dorm tonight at 8. I'm counting on you!"

With that, she turned and went to her own desk.

"'Ulrich sweetheart?'" asked Odd. "Who's the good-looking babe?"

"Sissi," said Ulrich. "She's the principal's daughter. Guys flip over her, but she's only flipped over me."

"That's pretty cool!" said Odd.

"Cool?" asked Ulrich. "She's totally brain dead and a leech as well."

"In that case, it's pretty lame," said Odd.

As Ulrich and Odd went through their class, Derrick and his crew met with Delmas and Morales.

"I will be frank with you, Mr. Savage," said Delmas. "I was not happy with the idea that Alliance soldiers would be coming here as a protection detail, but I realize it was an unavoidable necessity in light of the incident on Eden Prime. However, there are two things about your group I cannot ignore: your small number and your fresh faces."

(A/N: Principal Jean-Pierre Delmas – Alan Wenger)

"You trying to say we don't know what we're doing?" asked Broot, more than a little bit aggressively.

"Easy does it, Broot," said Derrick. "The principal has a right to be concerned."

Derrick then turned his attention to Mr. Delmas.

"Mr. Delmas," he said, "I can assure you my team is ready for anything that might happen here. We can respond quickly and effectively to whatever we encounter. These five are the best soldiers I've ever worked with, and they have a respectable amount of experience. Especially Villick, here."

He indicated their turian comrade.

"That's…another point of concern," said Mr. Delmas.

Tommy's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Is it really the best idea to have a turian guarding a human school?" asked Mr. Delmas.

"You might want to rephrase that," said Tommy.

Derrick held his arm out. This time, to Tommy.

"Tommy, let me handle this," he said. "Mr. Delmas, before I answer, I would like to know what you mean by that."

"Don't misunderstand my bringing up the subject, Mr. Savage," said Mr. Delmas. "I personally hold no animosity towards the turians or aliens of any kind. However, I cannot speak for the rest of my staff, and I especially cannot account for the opinions of my students here. We have students whose relatives were veterans of the First Contact War. Having a turian on your team has the potential for negative repercussions here, as much as I hate to admit it."

"With all due respect, Mr. Delmas, that's why Villick is here," said Derrick. "Villick has been serving with my team as part of a joint Alliance-Turian Hierarchy project aimed at improving relations between us and the turians. He came to me as a newly-enlisted soldier. We traded one of our own soldiers for one of the Turian Hierarchy's. Truth be told, I think the Alliance got the better end of the deal."

Villick clicked his mandibles.

"You flatter me, Derrick," he said. "What Derrick says is true, Mr. Delmas. I am not here to stir up any trouble, even though my mere presence may do so. I come in the interest of improvement. I was surprised to make such good human friends in my time working with them. Perhaps as part of this security detail, I can bring more trust to your people for my people."

"I admire your dedication, Mr. Actius," said Mr. Delmas. "Even so, I cannot afford to take any risks. I realize I cannot restrict your operations, what with me being the principal of a school and you being soldiers, but I must ask you kindly not to draw too much attention to yourself if you can avoid it. And please believe me when I say it's nothing personal toward you."

Villick stepped forward.

"I understand your concern," said Villick. "The last thing I want is for any of your staff or students to feel uncomfortable. If at all possible, I will do my best to make myself unseen. In the meantime, I guess I will just have to hold onto the hope that your staff and students could eventually warm up to me."

"I nurture that hope as well, Mr. Actius," said Mr. Delmas. "I appreciate your understanding of the situation. I still have concerns, but perhaps in the coming days you will show me your prowess. I hope it matches your assertions, Mr. Savage."

Mr. Delmas turned to the P.E. teacher, who had been silent thus far.

"Jim, show Mr. Savage and his comrades around the campus," he said.

"Right away, sir," said Jim.

(A/N: Jim Morales – David Gasman)

Jim led the Alliance soldiers out of Mr. Delmas' office and took them on a tour of the campus.

As the soldiers were led around by the teacher, Odd and Ulrich got out of their class and came out into the courtyard.

"…and the waiter says, 'I don't have frog's legs. That's just the way I walk!'" exclaimed Odd, laughing. "You get it?"

"No," said Ulrich. "But what I am beginning to get is that you're determined not to give me a break!"

"We're going to have to get to know each other," said Odd. "And you'll see. By the end of the day, you won't be able to do without me!"

Unbeknownst to Odd and Ulrich, Jeremie had snuck off the grounds and made his way back to the factory, where he was seated at the supercomputer he had activated the night before. He looked at the window and spoke.

"Hello?" he called. "Can you hear me?"

The girl with pink hair popped up on the monitor again.

"Yes, I can hear you," she said.

"I've got a couple of questions, um…" he started.

"Yes?" asked the girl.

"Well, I guess I should start with your name," said Jeremie. "What is it?"

"I…don't know," said the girl, looking perplexed.

"Alright," said Jeremie. "I suppose I could come up with something. How about the name...Maya?"

"Maya?" asked the girl, smiling. "I like that."

(A/N: Maya – Sharon Mann)

Jeremie smiled as well.

"But what I'd really like is for you to tell me what I'm doing in this virtual universe," said Maya.

"That's not so easy," said Jeremie. "For one thing, I can't tell what you are, exactly. You don't seem like a VI, and you're not like any AI I've ever seen…not that I've seen many."

"I'm sorry," said Maya. "I don't even know what an AI or VI is."

"Don't worry about it," said Jeremie. "Anyway, I do have a couple of answers. You're part of a virtual environment called Lyoko and you've got to try and get out of there. Look around for a door or something like that."

Heeding Jeremie's instructions, the girl stood up in the tower in which she was speaking to him, and took a look around.

The interior of the tower only seemed to consist of two things: the platform on which she stood, which had an odd eye-shaped insignia on it, and an endless, tubular outer wall covered in code segments and windows. Maya went to the end of the platform and touched the wall.

"Jeremie?" she asked "I can't find anything, I-"

She was interrupted by the strange phenomenon of her hand suddenly phasing through the wall. With curiosity, she stepped forward and out of the tower. Once outside, she saw a forest-like area. Trees with no branches reached up from the ground and seemed to go on forever. The landscape was floating green platforms to which the trees were attached.

"Jeremie!" asked Maya. "I-…This is weird. You have to see this."

"I'd love to," said Jeremie's voice, which seemed to emit from the sky. "You think you could give me a visual?"

"I'll try," said Maya.

With that, a window popped up on Jeremie's screen, showing the environment through Maya's eyes.

Jeremie gasped.

"Wow!" he interjected.

Just then, another window popped up on the screen. Then, suddenly, a hologram was projected to Jeremie's right, showing an X-shaped map of what appeared to be four different landscapes, surrounding a central sphere.

"Maya!" exclaimed Jeremie. "There isn't just a forest out there! There's an entire world! I count four sectors! Each one is different!"

Maya continued to walk through the virtual environment as she listened to Jeremie speak. She stopped when an odd sight caught her eye. Two small creatures with four legs and weirdly-shaped heads with the same symbol as the inside of the tower stamped to their heads, came out to greet her.

"Uh, Jeremie?" asked Maya. "I'm not all alone out here. There are some…animals."

"That's fantastic!" said Jeremie. "This virtual world has an entire ecosystem with virtual living creatures. Can you get closer?"

As he was saying this, the two creatures started to charge up some sort of energy, then fired it at Maya's feet, prompting her to run.

"Jeremie!" called Maya, as shots whizzed past her head. "They're attacking me!"

The two odd creatures started chasing her.

"Run away, Maya!" called Jeremie. "Get back to the tower!"

Just as Maya was a few yards short of the tower, one of the creatures' shots hit her in the back, sending her to the ground with a yelp.

On Jeremie's end, there was a notification on the screen saying that Maya's life was in danger, complete with a red flash on the screen.

"Maya!" Jeremie said, worried. "Hurry up!"

Maya got back up and ran back into the tower, where she fell onto the platform. Meanwhile, back in the computer lab, Jeremie's screen stopped flashing, and Jeremie let out a sigh.

"Your…your life points are regenerating," said Jeremie.


Back at the academy, Jim had just finished showing the team of Alliance soldiers around the campus.

"Right," said Jim. "You need any questions answered, don't hesitate to come see me."

Tommy tapped on Broot's shoulder.

"I won't be coming to him for an exercise regimen," said Tommy. "I can tell you that."

Tommy and Broot both stifled a laugh.

"I have a question," said Eddie.

"What is it?" asked Jim.

"Will it be an issue if we have our weapons with us?" asked Eddie. "As a patrol unit, we need to be able to defend ourselves."

"He's right," said Derrick. "We can't go running to our base for equipment when an attack happens."

Jim grumbled.

"They shouldn't be a problem as long as you keep them sheathed and disable any firing mechanisms," he said. "I'm like Mr. Delmas. I know you guys need to be here, but I also don't want to see any of our students hurt."

"We understand, Mr. Morales," said Derrick. "But like I told Mr. Delmas, we're trained to protect civilians however we can."

"Jim is fine," said Jim. "And I hope you're as good as you claim."

"Between you and me, Jim," said Derrick, "I hope you never get the chance to find out."

As Derrick and Jim finished their conversation, Odd and Ulrich were by the vending machine, each enjoying their own treat.

As a tall girl wearing all black finished at the vending machines, Odd looked at Ulrich and spoke.

"You know what I was thinking?" he asked.

Ulrich watched as the girl walked away from them.

"You know your girlfriend there?" asked Odd. "Sissi?"

Ulrich whirled around to Odd.

"She's NOT my girlfriend," said Ulrich, taking a swig from the can in his hand.

"Cool!" exclaimed Odd, crumpling up his paper cup and throwing it in the trash. "So that means she's available."

At that moment, Jeremie crossed over to the vending machines in front of them.

"I'm telling you," said Ulrich. "She's lame. Plus, no offense, but you're not her type."

"Oh yeah, I hear that a lot," said Odd.

At that moment, they heard Jeremie start to yelp next to them. His glasses fell off his face and his hair started going in all directions. His body was also lit up with electricity from the machine.

"Belpois!" exclaimed Ulrich.

He ran over to Jeremie, who had collapsed against the vending machine.

Hearing the commotion, the school's guests from the Alliance ran over to see what was the matter.

They saw the two boys low to the ground, by the vending machine.

"Hey, Belpois," said Ulrich, setting Jeremie against the wall and putting his glasses back on. "You okay?"

The other boy was too stunned to answer.

Derrick and his team approached Ulrich and Jeremie.

"What happened?" asked Derrick.

Ulrich looked up at the soldiers and indicated Jeremie.

"Belpois was trying to get something from the vending machine and got zapped!" he exclaimed.

Lexi got down on the ground and took a closer look at Jeremie. She brought out her omni-tool and did a quick scan of his body.

"What are you doing?" asked Ulrich.

"It's okay," said Lexi, smiling. "I'm a paramedic. I can take care of him. Don't worry."

"We can vouch for that," said Tommy, getting on his own knees and looking at Jeremie. "What do you see, Lexi?"

"Nothing too serious," she said. "Just a minor electrical shock and some superficial burns."

"You wanted some juice?" asked Ulrich. "Well, you got some."

"Very funny, Stern," said Jeremie, grinning. "But thank you for your help all the same."

"No problem," said Ulrich.

"I did say it was nothing too serious," said Lexi, "but it wouldn't be a bad idea to take him to the infirmary just in case."

"Okay," said Ulrich. "I'll bring him to the infirmary and come check on him again when I get done with my martial arts class."

With that, Ulrich got down on one side of Jeremie and hoisted him up. Villick saw him do this and went to Jeremie's other side, slinging his arm over his own shoulders.

"Come on," said Villick.

The two brought Jeremie out of the little dugout that the vending machine rested in.

"Eddie," said Derrick. "Take a look at that vending machine. There could be something wrong with it. We don't want this happening to anyone else.

"Yes sir," said Eddie. "Right away, sir."

Eddie walked around his comrades and their patients and examined the vending machine with his omni-tool. Meanwhile, Derrick and company escorted Ulrich and Jeremie to the infirmary. In the meantime, Odd went to find the nearest teacher to tell them what happened to Jeremie. Once at the infirmary, Ulrich and Villick set Jeremie down on one of the cots. Derrick went to the school nurse, Yolanda Perraudin and let her know of the situation.

"Thank you for bringing him here, um…is it Captain?" asked Yolanda.

(A/N: Yolanda Perraudin – Jodi Forrest)

"Derrick Savage, ma'am," said Derrick. "Just Derrick Savage."

"I see," said Yolanda. "Well, I appreciate you and your men bringing him here. I can attend to him here if you have something you need to do."

"Much obliged, ma'am," said Derrick. "Thank you."

Derrick turned to leave and signaled for his men to follow. Villick gave Jeremie's shoulder a gentle pat before following his comrades out the door. Just as the group was leaving the infirmary, Derrick heard a chirp, followed by Eddie's voice.

"Um, Derrick?" he asked. "Are you there? Can you hear me?"

Derrick put his hand to his ear as he continued to walk down the hall.

"Loud and clear, Eddie," said Derrick. "What's up?"

"Well, I finished taking a look at that vending machine," said Eddie.

"Hang on one sec, Eddie," said Derrick. "I'm patching in the others."

Derrick tapped his omni-tool in a few spots and spoke again.

"Okay, Eddie," said Derrick. "Go ahead."

"Okay, I finished scanning that vending machine," said Eddie. "I can't find anything wrong with it. I don't see anything that could have caused a short circuit like that. No conductive fluids, no tampering with the machine, which surprises me for a middle school, and no problems with the outlet. I also can't find any trace of tech damage."

"Okay," said Derrick. "Stay there. We'll meet you and further assess the situation."

"Yes, sir," said Eddie.

"And stop calling me sir," said Derrick.

Derrick cut the feed and led his team to the door, where they exited and rushed over to the vending machine.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, Eddie?" asked Derrick.

"No," said Eddie.

"Do you have any guesses about what exactly happened yet?" asked Derrick.

"Not at the moment," said Eddie. "I would say it was a simple short circuit, but I'm not even finding any evidence to support that."

"Save a scan of the machine and do a more intensive analysis of it back at the base," said Derrick.

Eddie swiped his omni-tool over the machine one more time, and then let the orange interface vanish before rejoining his teammates.

"What do we do now?" asked Eddie.

Derrick looked around the area.

"Well, we have to insure the safety of the students and the professors above all else," said Derrick. "Morales patrols the halls in the dormitory buildig already, but it would perhaps be best for two of us to patrol the dorm buildings. One on each floor. So, Eddie, you take the boys' floor. Lexi, you take the girls' floor."

"Are…you sure, Derrick?" asked Eddie. "I can do something else, if you want."

"I think you can handle the dorms, Eddie," said Derrick.

"What do you want us to do?" asked Broot. "I already know I'm not gonna get to knock some heads anytime soon, so let's hear it."

"Broot, you and Villick should patrol the perimeter," said Derrick. "Me and Tommy will head back to base and make sure our defenses are well set up. After that, I'll join you on perimeter while Tommy will patrol the teachers' quarters."

The team broke up and went in their designated directions. Derrick and Tommy left the grounds and walked the block or so it took to get to their base.

"Let's review what we have set up, Tommy," said Derrick.

"Before we do, let me just ask: do you really think it was a good idea to let a krogan-raised dude rig explosives around our base?" asked Tommy.

"Not my best idea, but far from my worst, Tommy," said Derrick. "If there's one thing that krogan know, it's explosives. Besides, no matter what you think of Broot, he's not stupid. A little crazy, sure, but smart enough not to let civilians get hurt by something we could easily prevent."

"Okay," said Tommy. "That's a fair point. But I still have to disagree with you on letting him cook our meals. Last time, I swear to God he marinated our steaks in ryncol!"

Derrick Nodded.

"No argument there," he said. "Anyhow, since we're mainly worried about the geth, I had him rig EMP charges around our base in case the geth get too close."

"Right," said Tommy. "Then you had Eddie program the sensors to recognize our signatures."

"Correct," said Derrick. "I also had Broot rig some traps around our rooms that will go off if anyone without our authorization gets too close to our quarters. Thanks, once again, to Eddie."

"How do we check to make sure that they're working?" asked Eddie.

"We'll make sure that they're set up the way they should be," said Derrick. "After that, it's in God's hands. I don't like leaving things to chance, but in this case, we might have to."

Derrick led Tommy around the base to check their setup. After a good hour or so, they determined all the charges and security precautions to be properly set. Derrick gave Tommy a nod of approval, and led him back to the academy, where they split up to do their duties.

While Derrick went to join the perimeter patrol, Villick was making another pass around the campus. His attention was caught by the gymnasium, which had its light on. He inspected the building more closely and through the window he saw Jim and Ulrich. This time, Ulrich was dressed in what he could only assume were human sparring clothes. He glanced left and right to see if he could spot any potential threats. Finding none, he returned his gaze to the interior of the gym. For a moment, he pondered the odd coincidence that the "gym teacher's" name was "Jim." He shrugged and paid attention to what was happening.

Jim looked over Ulrich.

"How are you all?" asked Jim. "I'm happy to see so many of you here tonight!"

Villick's mandibles twitched. He only saw Ulrich there, and briefly wondered if Jim was delusional.

"Canari paya!" called Jim. "Kogusoku! Jutsu! No, these are not dishes served at the Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant."

He laughed as a tall girl wearing sparring sweats came out to join them.

"Uh, no offense, Miss Ishiyama," said Jim.

"None taken, sir," said the girl, Ishiyama. "I'm Japanese."

(A/N: Yumi Ishiyama – Mirabelle Kirkland)

The girl took a seat to Ulrich's left.

"Yeah," said Jim. "Right. Whatever. Anyway! These are combat techniques that can save your life, as they did for me when I was a forest ranger in Quebec."

"Really?" asked Ulrich. "What happened?"

"That night," said Jim, "well, I was quietly enjoying a waffle with maple syrup by my campfire, when I was attacked by a vicious beaver! Its razor sharp teeth were going for my jugular, but I was able to save myself, thanks to my perfect mastery of the Raging Fist of Lei Fu Chang!"

There was silence for a brief moment, until both teens burst out laughing. Villick nearly did, too, for he had read about Earth wildlife and, while admitting he didn't know for sure, sincerely doubted that "beavers" would be that much of a threat.

"What?" asked Jim. "What's so funny about that?"

"Excuse us, sir," said Ishiyama, still laughing.

"Honestly, I think you would have been better off not talking about it," said Ulrich.

"Right," said Jim. "Okay, then. Enough laughing. Let's get into groups of two."

Ulrich and the girl Ishiyama did as instructed and paired up. The two bowed to each other before assuming defensive stances. The two circled each other momentarily before starting to trade blows. After one unsuccessful strike, Ishiyama performed a perfect backflip that left Villick slack-jawed. As she landed, she immediately resumed her pose.

"Hmph, pretty good for a beginner," said Ulrich.

At that moment, the girl let out a loud battle cry and performed a spin kick, which hit Ulrich square in the cheek, sending him to the ground. She then jumped on top of Ulrich. The two struggled or a few seconds, but then stopped for some reason. The duo's cheeks turned a light red.

"Not bad," said Jim. "But you could both use a lot more work. That'll do it for tonight, kids. Bow to each other now, and go get some beauty sleep."

He indicated the gymnasium door.

The young sparring partners stood up from their spot on the floor. The girl bowed slightly, while Ulrich ignored the gesture, about-faced and walked out of the gym, leaving the girl appalled.

"Well," spat the girl. "Nice to meet you too."

As he watched the display, Villick shook his head, chuckling lightly under his breath. He looked about the area once again to see if anything had changed, and then moved on with his patrol, all the while keeping a look out for Broot.

Meanwhile, Ulrich had walked into his room on the boys' floor. A mere second after opening the door, he recoiled.

"What the-?!" he exclaimed.

Inside, he saw Odd laying on his side of the room, while his own side of the room was utterly destroyed. The culprit made itself known when it popped out from under the covers: a small, weird-looking dog.

"What is with this mess?!" demanded Ulrich. "Where did that mutt come from?"

Odd sat up on his bed.

"That's Kiwi," he said. "My dog. He just had a little fit, that's all. You understand. The poor thing's not used to being cooped up."

"I mean, look at this!" exclaimed Ulrich, gesturing to the mess the dog had made. "My CD's, my clothes, he's trashed everything, and- Ugh! Did you see what he did in my bed?"

Odd recoiled from the sight.

"Uh…well, sorry, but I couldn't take him out with everyone around," said Odd. "There are no dogs allowed at Kadic."

"No kidding!" said Ulrich. "I bet the principal's going to be interested in hearing about this!"

With that, he slammed the door and walked away. He was about to go to the principal's office when he heard what sounded like yelping and wailing. He looked in the direction of the noise and realized that it was coming from Jeremie's room. He opened the door and charged into the room, immediately catching sight of Jeremie being attacked by two small, crudely-built robots.

"Hang on!" exclaimed Ulrich, grabbing at one of the machines.

As Ulrich worked to remove the one on Jeremie's head, one came up and zapped his leg. Ulrich kicked his leg, sending the little robot flying, and finally managed to pry the one attacking Jeremie off of him.

"Your little friends are kind of aggressive," said Ulrich. "Maybe you should check their settings."

Jeremie moved his desk chair back into place.

"I had nothing to do with it," he said. "They just attacked me all of a sudden."

"You lost me," said Ulrich. "You mind explaining?"

Jeremie looked away.

"No," he said. "Forget it."

"Come on," said Ulrich. "Tell me. Maybe I can be of some help. What if you suddenly get attacked by a hair dryer and I'm not around?"

"Very funny," said Jeremie.

Ulrich sat in Jeremie's chair.

"I'm not leaving this room until I know what's up," he said.

Jeremie leaned against his desk momentarily, pondering. Finally, he got away from the desk.

"Okay," he said. "What have I got to lose? I'm already in over my head so I might as well tell you. This is so crazy!"

He went over to his door and closed it before looking back at Ulrich.

"First, tell me if you can keep a secret," he said.

While Jeremie led Ulrich out to the gymnasium, Broot stomped his foot on the ground in frustration for what must have been the fifteenth time since starting his patrol. He used the flashlight function on his omni-tool to look through what few tree bordered the academy.

"Nothing," he said. "Of course there's nothing, Broot. Your luck's not that good."

He looked down at his omni-tool and deactivated he flashlight function before turning back toward the academy. He then opened a communication channel.

"Could one of you PLEASE tell me you found SOMETHING?!" he growled.

"What's got your quad in a knot?" asked Tommy.

"I haven't found a single Johnny Five wannabe out here," said Broot. "This assignment's feeling more and more like bullshit."

"You should have listened to me," said Tommy.

"Guys…" came Derrick's voice in a dangerous tone.

"Yes?" asked Broot.

"What did I say?" asked Derrick.

Broot sighed.

"Broot out," he said.

"Tommy out," said Tommy's voice.

Broot stomped again and continued toward the academy.

By that time, Jeremie had led Ulrich through the sewers and to the bridge that led to the abandoned factory.

"That tunnel in the gym is a great way to beat curfew," said Ulrich.

"Yep," said Jeremie. "And there's another one on the campus as well."

He led Ulrich inside, where the bridge ended, and in front of them was a cable that stretched all the way from the ceiling to the floor. Jeremie grabbed hold of the cable and used it to slide all the way to the ground floor of the factory. Once on the ground, he looked up at Ulrich, who hadn't made a move yet.

"What's the matter?" asked Jeremie. "Scared of heights."

"N-no," said Ulrich, grabbing onto the cable and closing his eyes.

He use the cable to slide down to the floor, at which point, he couldn't detach from the cable quick enough.

Jeremie and Ulrich got into the elevator nearby and rode it down to one of the lower levels. Inside the door was the room where Jeremie had talked to Maya. It was a room lit with dim green light and equipped with a large computer with what appeared to be a holographic interface.

"So, that's the mega computer you started?" asked Ulrich, walking over to the computer.

"Yep," said Jeremie. "It's actually a supercomputer. It's ultra-powerful. And while I was examining it, I found out that it runs a virtual universe called Lyoko."

"You know what, Belpois?" asked Ulrich. "This morning's electric shock fried your brain. This thing is just the control center for the factory, that's all."

Jeremie leaned onto the keyboard and typed a command. A window then popped up, showing Maya smiling at her guests.

"Oh yeah?" asked Jeremie. "And what would you call this, huh? A program for spray-painting doors?"

"Hello, Jeremie," said Maya.

"Who's the girl with the pink hair?" asked Ulrich. "Friend of yours talking over webcam?"

"That's Maya," said Jeremie. "She's not from Earth."

"Okay," said Ulrich. "Is she from one of our colonies?"

"No," said Jeremie. "She lives on Lyoko, but I don't know what she's there for yet."

"Don't mess with me, Jeremie," said Ulrich. "This is some VI you programmed, right?"

"No," said Maya. "I woke up the moment Jeremie restarted the supercomputer. I don't know who I am. My memory's been erased."

Suddenly, Ulrich's eyes widened.

"Wait…" he said. "You mean to tell me this thing is a full-on AI?"

"I know what you're thinking, Ulrich," said Jeremie. "But Maya's not dangerous."

"Oh yeah?" asked Ulrich. "How do you know?"

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" asked Jeremie.

Ulrich shook his head.

"Whatever, Jeremie," he said. "I'll play along for now."

"Maya has to hide in some kind of a tower," said Jeremie. "As soon as she leaves it, she gets attacked by monsters. You've got to believe me, Stern. This is an incredible discovery!"

"Let's say it is," said Ulrich, going over to the chair and sitting down. "What if…what if it's just some kind of giant video game?"

"Then it's a very dangerous game," said Jeremie. "My robots are programmed just to go and fetch a ball. And they just tried to kill me, don't forget. You saw them! What's more, the moment they attacked, a kind of logo appeared on my computer screen; the same one that the monsters had on Lyoko."

Ulrich chuckled wryly

"Better and better," he said. "Do you mean, then, that- that the virtual thing that attacked Maya also wants to kill you?"

"That's what it looks like," said Jeremie.

"You know what?" asked Ulrich. "If that's true, Belpois, if it's that dangerous, I think yo should shut it down and call the police."

"Okay," said Jeremie. "But first I want to help Maya to understand what she's doing on Lyoko."

"Say what?" asked Ulrich.

"I really do," said Jeremie. "And if I'm right, we can materialize her here on Earth."

"Oh, that's too much," said Ulrich. "What makes you think you can?"

"You'll see, Stern," said Jeremie, who then led Ulrich to the elevator once again and used it to take him down one level further.

When they left the elevator, Jeremie showed Ulrich three tubes lined up triangularly in the room, each starting at the floor and almost touching the ceiling.

"What's all this?" asked Ulrich.

"Scanners," said Jeremie. "I still haven't found the program that can bring Maya back to Earth, but I found the one that allows someone to be scanned and sent to Lyoko. In fact, the supercomputer analyzes your molecular structure through these cabins, and then breaks down your atoms before digitalizing them, and re-creating a digital incarnation in the virtual world!"

Ulrich scoffed and scratched his ear.

"Translation?" he asked.

"You go inside the cabin, you're teleported to the virtual world," said Jeremie.

"Jeremie, these things are really old," said Ulrich. "You can tell. There's no way."

"You still don't want to believe me," said Jeremie, exasperated.

"I would love to," said Ulrich. "But virtualization is still being perfected."

Jeremie looked up at Ulrich.

"Why don't we try it out?" he asked. "That way, you can see for yourself. We're gonna need a guinea pig."

Ulrich looked up in thought.

"A guinea pig?" he asked. "No problem."


Back at the dorm building, Eddie was running another patrol. He had his omni-tool out, but kept the flashlight function deactivated. He snuck along the halls, on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. He saw nobody in the halls. He had not run into Jim since he started his patrol, and was starting to get worried. After a moment of thought, he pointed his omni-tool up at the ceiling and activated his flashlight. Geth stalkers had been known to attach themselves to walls and ceilings, and so he thought he might spot one.

He saw nothing where the light touched the walls and ceiling. As such, he deactivated the flashlight and went about his business. He went for one more cycle through the halls when he caught sight of one of the students. It was Ulrich. He was running in Eddie's direction. Eddie ducked behind the nearest corner and peaked around it. Moments later, Ulrich came running by him, carrying what appeared to be a small animal. Ulrich ran past the corner Eddie had hid behind and started to run to the dormitory exit. Moments later, the boy Odd and a female student ran by him as well. Eddie took off after the three kids, and as he was running after them, he opened a communication channel and patched in Lexi.

"This is Barnes to Rook," he said. "Do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Eddie," said Lexi's voice. "What's up?"

"We've got a problem," said Eddie. "A few of the students just started running from campus. I'm in pursuit, but I could use a bit of help."

"Roger, Eddie," said Lexi's voice. "I'll be joining you in a minute."

Eddie continued to run after the kids. He hid behind a tree every once in a while to make sure the kids didn't find out they were being followed.

"Eddie," said Lexi's voice again. "I just ran into Villick. I'm patching him in."

"This is Villick," said the turian over the communication channel. "I left Broot on patrol of the perimeter. Where are you, Eddie?"

"The kids just ran into the gymnasium. Meet me there."

"Understood," said Villick.

Eddie crept up to the gymnasium door and waited for his comrades. Moments after the communication had been cut, they rendezvoused with him at the door.

"Let's go," said Eddie. "The door to the gym isn't locked, unless they locked it behind them."

Eddie opened the door and the three looked about the room. There was nobody there.

"Where did they go?" asked Lexi.

Villick clicked his mandibles.

"I don't like this," he said. "Search the place, but first, get out your weapons."

Eddie brought up his omni-tool again, while Lexi pulled out her M-4 Shuriken machine pistol and Villick drew his Phaeston assault rifle.

"I'm not picking up any life readings," said Eddie.

"I don't think that scanner will help you with finding organics at the moment, Eddie," said Villick. "They're probably long gone."

Lexi opened a door in the corner of the gym, which seemed to lead into a seemingly disused boiler room.

"Guys," she said. "In here. Let's take a look."

Villick and Eddie followed her into the room.

"Nothing in here that would make a very good hiding spot," said Villick.

Eddie swiped his omni-tool around the room.

"This is weird," he said. "I'm detecting a temperature change behind that door over there."

He pointed to a red door on the other side of the room. Eddie approached it carefully, while Lexi and Villick kept their guns trained on it. Eddie opened the door and looked inside. Lexi and Villick lowered their guns. Inside was a tunnel that went lower and curved to the right.

"A subterranean passage," said Villick.

"Didn't Commander Shepard report something like this on Eden Prime?" asked Lexi.

"No," said Eddie. "The Prothean beacon had already been dug up by the time the geth attacked. There was no need for any tunnels."

"It doesn't seem likely that the geth are involved in this situation," said Villick. "Still, keep your guard up. I'll run point."

He went ahead of them and started to run down the passage. He led Lexi and Eddie to the end of the passage, at which point they came into a sewer.

"Which way, Eddie?" asked Villick.

Eddie immediately brought up his omni-tool and turned on a different colored light than normal. It found disturbances in the sewer passage.

"That way," said Eddie, pointing to their left.

Villick and his comrades followed the path that Eddie had found. Eventually, they found a ladder that led up to a manhole. Villick popped the manhole open and found himself on a bridge that led into an abandoned factory some distance from the academy. They crossed the bridge and finally wandered into the factory.

"Why is he taking Kiwi to this factory?" they heard a voice say.

Villick peeked over the railing and saw the boy, Odd and one of the female students, who he recognized as the principal's daughter, Sissi. He made a motion to Eddie and Lexi to lower their weapons, which they did.

"Who knows?" said Sissi. "Maybe he wants to use him for some horrible science experiment."

"You watch too many horror movies," said Odd.

"Yeah, you're right," said Sissi. "That was pretty dumb. It's probably more like some sort of ritual sacrifice or voodoo thing."

The three soldiers watched Odd and Sissi descend down the ladder that occupied the same shaft as the elevator. After that, Villick signaled for Eddie and Lexi to follow him. Suddenly, Villick tensed his muscles and a thick, bluish purple mist surrounded him. He jumped off the ledge and onto the factory floor, but the fall was a slow one. As he floated down to the floor, Lexi and Eddie took the cable hanging from the ceiling and slid down. He walked over to the elevator shaft and looked down. He could see the two students climbing down after the elevator.

Meanwhile, in the room with the scanners, Ulrich had set the weird-looking canine in one of the gigantic tubes.

"Nice puppy," he said. "Don't move."

As the dog sat in the scanner wagging its tail, Ulrich climbed the ladder up to the computer lab. Once in the room, he addressed Jeremie.

"Everything's cool, Jeremie," said Ulrich. "The mutt is in the scanner."

"'Kay, let's see how it goes," said Jeremie, tapping on the keyboard. "It's not going to be a piece of cake."

Back in the scanner room, Odd and Sissi had climbed down and found the dog in one of the three tubular structures.

"Those things look like coffins," said Odd.

"You're right," said Sissi. "Maybe it's the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh, huh?"

At that moment, Villick and his comrades had climbed down the ladder. He signaled Eddie and Lexi to go into the computer lab while he went into the place Odd and Sissi had dropped.

Lexi and Eddie popped out in the computer lab in time to hear the boy Jeremie from the infirmary speak.

"Right," he said. "We're all set. I'm starting up the procedure."

Meanwhile, Villick came down the ladder to the lower level just in time to see Odd pick up his dog.

"Kiwi!" exclaimed Odd. "Are you okay, boy?"

The dog yipped in response. It then leapt out of Odd's hands. As it did so, the doors surrounding Odd closed.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Sissi. "You're going to be mummified!"

Villick ran toward the structure that now trapped Odd.

"What is going on here?!" he exclaimed.

Sissi looked up at the turian, even more startled now.

"Who-who are you?!" she asked.

Back in the lab, Jeremie was still working with the computer.

"Transfer: Guinea pig," said Jeremie, tapping a key. "Scanner: Guinea pig."

On the screen, instead of a dog, they saw the figure of a young boy.

"Wait," said Jeremie. "That's a weird-looking dog."

"That's no dog!" exclaimed Ulrich. "That's Odd Della Robbia!"

Jeremie's eyes widened as he put his hands to his forehead.

"I-I don't know how to stop the procedure!" he said.

"What procedure?" asked Lexi.

The two boys turned around and saw two of the soldiers who had helped them earlier. For a moment, the boys froze. With no answer, Eddie brought up his omni-tool and opened a communication channel.

"Villick," he said. "You'd better get up here."

"I'm a little busy at the moment," said the voice of Villick, followed by a few grunts.

"I have to insist, Villick," said Eddie. "Something odd is happening."

"Wait!" exclaimed Jeremie. "Please, you don't understand!"

Shortly after Jeremie said that, they heard a scream. Ulrich ran over to the ladder on the side of the room, having recognized the voice as Sissi.

"Man," he sighed.

As all this was happening, Odd was experiencing an interesting sensation: that of being digitized. He materialized in mid-air and fell hard on the ground of what appeared to be a forest, face-first.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What's going on around here?! Where am I?"

He looked around his point of arrival, seeing nothing but trees and floating platforms. He then looked down at himself, and noticed that instead of hands, he now had cat-like paws, complete with claws.

"And why am I dressed up like a giant purple cat?" he said, taking hold of a protrusion coming out of his backside.

Back in the computer lab, the occupants had all heard Odd's voice, and it seemed to be coming from the terminal. Eddie and Lexi crossed over to where Jeremie sat.

"Uh…Odd Della Robbia?" asked Jeremie.

"Who's calling me?" asked Odd's voice.

"It's me," said Jeremie. "Jeremie Belpois."

"Is this some kind of joke or something?" asked Odd.

"Uh…no," said Jeremie.

As the two were conversing, Ulrich dropped into the lower level, and found Sissi, the dog Kiwi and Villick. Villick was standing near one of the scanners, seemingly trying to pry it open with his hands.

"What the…?" asked Ulrich. "Sissi?"

Sissi looked at where Ulrich had landed.

"Ulrich!" she cried.

As she cried out, the turian soldier rounded on Ulrich.

"You," said Villick. "What's going on here?!"

Before Ulrich could respond, he heard Jeremie's voice come over an intercom system.

"Ulrich, it's okay!" said Jeremie. "Odd is safe and sound on Lyoko."

Back on said virtual plane, Odd was looking around.

"Am I in a video game?" he asked. "It looks like the set from Babylon Ninja Fighters III."

"Actually, I don't really know," said Jeremie. "It's a virtual world. That much, I'm sure of."

Odd looked at the landscape behind him.

"Cool!" he said with a smile.

His joy was short-lived, however, as he felt something hit his back, hard. He cried out, then turned to see two short, quadrupedal creatures with weirdly-shaped heads, a red eye just below, and what appeared to be an eye-like emblem on the head.

"Uh…that's a lot less cool," he said, rubbing his back where he had been hit. "Jeremie, there are these giant cockroaches attacking me. Is that normal?"

"Yeah," said Jeremie.

"Oh," said Odd. "Nothing to worry about, then."

"That's not what I meant," said Jeremie, seeing a map of the area Odd was in, along with two markers that must have represented the monsters. "You've got to get out of there."

Villick, Sissi and Ulrich heard Jeremie's voice come over the intercom in the scanner room again.

"Ulrich," said Jeremie. "Della Robbia's in danger, and I need time to de-virtualize him."

"He needs help," said Ulrich. "Do you think you could send Sissi and me to Lyoko?"

Sissi noticeably tensed at Ulrich's mention of the virtual world, while Villick stood with his mouth agape.

"Well," said Jeremie, "I could always try."

"What?" asked Sissi. "Send us where, Ulrich?"

"To a virtual world where weird monsters want to massacre you," said Ulrich. "You wanted to go out with me. Now's your chance."

Sissi backed off a fraction of an inch.

"No thanks," she said. "I prefer real worlds. I'm not into the other kind. Plus, I couldn't possibly miss cheerleading practice tomorrow morning."

Ulrich walked past Sissi and into another scanner, smiling.
"See you, chicken," he said.

"Now, wait a minute," said Villick, placing his hands on the sides of the scanner. "Just what is going on here?"

"Look, just go upstairs and talk to Jeremie," said Ulrich. "He'll explain everything. Jeremie, I'm ready to go."

"Okay," said Jeremie's voice over the intercom. "I'm starting the procedure."

The scanner doors closed. As they did, Villick growled and led Sissi and Kiwi to the elevator, where he pushed the "up" key.

The elevator brought him up to the computer lab while Jeremie started the process for sending Ulrich to the newly-discovered virtual universe.

"Transfer: Ulrich," said Jeremie.

Lexi and Eddie stood watching nervously and waiting for whatever explanation could be managed.

"Scanner: Ulrich," said Jeremie. "Virtualization."

Back on Lyoko, Odd was running through the forest.

"Odd," said Jeremie. "Hang in there. Ulrich Stern is on his way to give you a hand."

"Great," said Odd. "I was starting to get bored here all alone."

As he spoke, he looked up and saw the body of Ulrich materializing on the virtual plane. After materialization was complete, he fell to the ground, no more gracefully than Odd had.

"Ow!" said Ulrich as he made contact with the ground.

Odd examined Ulrich's virtual form. It was Ulrich in a yellow and black training gi with a headband, and a sword in a scabbard on his left side. Ulrich drew his sword and swung it from side to side.

"Wow," he said. "This sword rocks!"

"Hey," said Odd. "That's not fair! How come he gets to be a samurai? That's so much cooler!"

"I have no idea why," said Jeremie. "Maybe the computer just reads into your own subconscious desires, and projects them onto your digital incarnation."

"I don't dream about giant purple cats!" declared Odd. "What's more, I'd rather have a weapon like Ulrich, not these great, big, useless paws-"

Odd was cut off as his hands accidentally came in contact with each other and a projectile of some sort came shooting out of one of them. It was a small arrowhead. It whizzed past Ulrich and far out into Lyoko.

"Hey," said Ulrich. "Watch out."

Odd scratched his chin.

"These arrows are pretty cool," he said, smiling. "I take back what I said."

Back in the computer lab, Villick and Sissi arrived on the elevator and while Sissi stood gawking in the transport, Villick walked toward the computer and holographic display with purpose.

"Try to hook up with Maya in her tower," said Jeremie. "Hold on. I'll give you the coordinates."

"And who's this Maya?" asked Sissi.

Jeremie nervously turned in his chair toward the three Alliance soldiers, the dog and the principal's daughter.

"And what is all of this?!" Villick demanded.

"It's…it's the mainframe of a supercomputer," said Jeremie.

Right as Jeremie was about to explain further the computer glitched out, and on the screen appeared an eye very similar to the ones on the monsters' heads on Lyoko.

Before any of them could react, they heard a crackling sound and some barking. Looking past the supercomputer, they could see that Kiwi was barking at a bunch of wires that, for some reason, seemed to be moving all on their own.

Shortly after, the wires burst out of the floor, prompting a scream from Sissi.

"Damn!" exclaimed Villick. "Attack positions, everyone."

Eddie and Lexi followed Villick's command, with Eddie bringing out his omni-tool once again and Lexi drawing her Shuriken again.

"Loading with disruptor rounds," said Lexi.

"Preparing tech overload," said Eddie.

Back on Lyoko, Ulrich and Odd were walking through the Forest Sector.

"So, who's this Maya?" asked Odd.

"A virtual girl who lives on Lyoko," said Ulrich.

"Oh, you mean there are babes here, too?" asked Odd. "Great!"

"Yes," said Ulrich, "but I get the impression that Belpois's flipped for her."

"For a virtual chick?" asked Odd. "Is he nuts?"

"Kind of," said Ulrich, looking at Lyoko's sky. "Jeremie? Are you going to give us those coordinates or not?"

All was silent. After a few moments, Ulrich spoke again.

"Jeremie?" He asked. "Are you asleep or what?"

Again, there was no answer.

"Hey, look," said Odd. "I see a tower. It could be that one."

Ulrich shrugged and followed Odd to it. The two stopped short of the tower and approached it carefully.

"Is there a door?" asked Odd.

He placed his hand up against the wall of the tower, only to be surprised when his hand phased right through it, along with the rest of his body, thanks to the weight he had rested against it. When he was inside, he noticed he was about to fall straight down, and just barely managed to grab onto a nearby ledge. It wasn't long after that that Ulrich fell through the tower wall himself, and narrowly managed to take hold of Odd's legs, preventing him from falling.

"I can't hold on much longer!" cried Odd. "You're too heavy! Drop your saber!"

"Nice try, but forget it!" said Ulrich.

A mere second later, Odd lost his grip on the ledge, and the two fell, screaming, into the dark abyss below the platform.

However, the two eventually came out of their fall, not a scratch on them. And when they did, they found themselves in a land of ice and snow. It was visibly darker than the previous sector. They took a look around.

"Okay, right," said Odd. "Where are we? Where did the forest go?"

"How should I know?" asked Ulrich. "But you see the tower over there?"

He pointed to a tower somewhat like the one they occupied, which was glowing with a red mist.

"Weird how it's not the same color," said Ulrich.

Something caught Odd's eye, and he turned towards it.

"And those creatures," he said. "They're kind of weird, too."

He indicated a trio of block-shaped monsters that were on four legs, and had the same eye-like symbol on each of their faces.

One of the creatures stopped, spun its head around, and charged up one of its eyes with red energy.

"Might be a good thing to beat it, don't you think?" asked Ulrich.

Odd shook his head in the affirmative, and the two boys fled from their attackers, who were now all shooting blasts of energy at them.

Unbeknownst to Ulrich or Odd, Jeremie was protecting himself with the supercomputer's chair while the three Alliance soldiers began to attack the live wires that sprung from the ground. Meanwhile, Sissi stood in the elevator, trying to coax the still barking Kiwi to do battle.

"Sic 'em, I said!" exclaimed Sissi. "Sic 'em, you dumb mutt!"

Lexi started to fire shots at the wires, hoping to disrupt the flow of electricity to them. Villick brought out his Phaeston and started to fire at the lower part. His shots dug in, but seemed to have no effect.

"Deploying tech overload!" exclaimed Eddie waving his omni-tool.

A flash of electricity exploded around the wires, and seemed to hinder them for a brief moment, but then the wires came forth and took hold of Jeremie. Electricity coursed through the boy. He picked up a nearby loose tile and used it to try and stop the electricity, but the tile instead conducted the voltage. Villick put his assault rifle away and waved his arms, causing two short blades to extend from the armor on his arms, near the place where his elbows would have been.

"Alright," he declared. "Hard way it is."

His body once again glowed with the bluish purple mist from before. As he got close to the wires, they attempted to jab at him, but Villick dodged, using his biotics to teleport out of the way of the attacking wires.

"Keep firing at it, Lexi," said Villick. "But don't hurt the boy!"

Lexi kept firing at it while Eddie deployed a combat drone. The drone wandered over to the wires and started to sap the electricity it was pouring into Jeremie. Meanwhile, Villick charged toward the wires and swiped at them with his arm blades. He received a bit of a shock, but was able to disconnect one or two here or there.

Back on Lyoko, Odd and Ulrich were eventually surrounded by the odd creatures and instead decided to make a stand.

One creature tried to fire an energy blast, but Ulrich deflected it with his sword. The second one fired a blast of ice at him, which he dodged. Then, the third one tried to hit him with a regular energy burst, which he again blocked with his sword. This time, though, he used a sort of super speed ability, which made him a passing blur.

"Wow," said Odd.

The three creatures fired at them again. Ulrich blocked with his sword, and Odd somehow brought up an energy shield that absorbed the attacks. Ulrich charged at one of the blocky creatures and jumped on top of it, delivering several hard slashes with his sword before jumping off.

Ulrich blocked yet another energy blast before groaning.

"So, how do you kill these things?" he asked.

Odd got ready to fire one of his arrows.

"I wish I knew!" he said. "Hey, you wouldn't know how many life points we have?"

"No," said Ulrich, blocking another attack.

One of the laser blasts, however, hit Odd, and he started to disappear. Momentarily, Ulrich panicked, but then he ran forward and did a jumping attack, jabbing the sword into the eye-like emblem on one of the block-like monsters. He pulled the sword out and jumped off with a triumphant yell in time for the monster to explode.

Ulrich landed on his feet and pumped his fist.

"Yes!" he said.

However, his triumph was cut short by a shot from one of the monsters hitting him in the back, making him disappear too.

The two boys didn't know how, but the next moment, they were in the scanners they had went into in the first place. Ulrich rubbed the back of his neck.

"Great," he said. "Well, at least we're alive."

"Alive?" asked Odd. "Well, if you say so. I think I'm about to throw up."

"Hel-help us!" came the voice of Sissi.

The two went back up the ladder to the computer lab, and found Jeremie suspended in the air by several moving live wires, and the three Alliance soldiers trying to rescue him. He saw the turian charging at the structure with tremendous speed and trying to cut at the wires bit by bit.

"Ulrich!" cried Sissi, who cowered in the elevator.

Ulrich looked up at Jeremie.

"Hang in there, Jeremie!" yelled Ulrich.

He picked up one of the loose pieces of metal and used it to try and cut one of the wires. The electricity from the wire flowed through the plate and shocked Ulrich, causing him to scream in pain. Eventually, it overwhelmed him, sending him to the floor. As he was recovering, the wire was about to come down and attack him. However, Ulrich's body was illuminated in a flash of bluish purple and a barrier erected itself in front of him, protecting him. The act put a lot of strain on his head, and he felt something warm start to drip from his nose.

The barrier did not need to be up for long, as the wire halted its attack for some reason.

"It works the second time!" exclaimed Odd.

Ulrich looked over to see Odd with the same tile he was using, jamming it through the attacking wire.

"I told you that by the end of the day, you wouldn't be able to do without me!" he said.

He cleaved through the rest of the wire, which fell limply to the ground.

"Now's our chance!" said Villick, going for the wires that held Jeremie.

"Keep going, Troy!" exclaimed Eddie.

His decoy continued to absorb as much energy as possible while Lexi kept shooting at the base of the wires. The decoy eventually self-destructed.

"No!" exclaimed Eddie.

However, that was exactly the opening Villick needed, and he charged forward, slashing with both of his elbow blades, causing the wires to collapse and leave Jeremie back on the ground, unharmed.

No sooner had Jeremie touched the ground did he wander over to the computer and reboot it.

"Maya?" he asked. "Are you there?"

On the screen appeared the familiar pink-haired girl.

"Yes," said Maya. "Is everything okay on your side?"

Jeremie smiled.

"Well, we're a little shaken up, but it could have been worse," he said.

"Yes," said a voice.

The children all turned around and noticed the three Alliance soldiers standing there with their arms crossed, except for Eddie, who looked somewhat curious.

"It very well could have," said Villick. "And it might have, if we hadn't been here. Now, I believe you all owe us an explanation."

To Be Continued…