A Long Time Coming

by Laura Rola

Nine years have passed since X.A.N.A. was defeated, and yet, the past refuses to let them go. Each team gains a new ally as the two blindly fight each other for the same goal.

1. Chapter 1

Code Lyoko: A Long Time Coming

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or any of its characters, locations, etc, only the original content included. This story includes the series and prequel episodes in its canon, ending at episode 95 of the series, so the novels and other official works are not considered.

Chapter 1:

His eyes opened, and before him, a frozen place awaited. The land looked cold, but the young man felt no chill as he took a quick look around him. The ground shone brightly, but a short look upward made it obvious that there was no visible sun in the sky. Where am I, the black clad man thought to himself, though such a question would be the obvious response of anyone who ended up lying on a giant ice sheet wearing a completely different outfit than they were wearing the last time they were conscious. All the man knew was that he had stepped into a large cylinder with wires coming from it while looking around an abandoned building on the way home. He had followed an animal, perhaps a cat or squirrel, into the building, and… slowly, it seemed that his memories were growing fuzzy. However, that meant nothing at the moment. Wherever he was, the young man had to return to where he had come from. Luckily, it seemed that this wasteland wasn't a lonely place. Standing up and adjusting his feet slightly to maintain balance, he slipped and fell right back as soon as he saw another person standing in front of him. A small boy stood quietly before the black clad man with the sore behind, looking innocent, as young children often do. The boy smiled at the man, and turned, waving his hand to beckon the stranger to follow. Again standing, the young man obliged the boy, if for no other reason than to alleviate the boredom that would come from sitting in the middle of nowhere with bad memory.

As they walked, neither of the two travelers spoke, though not for lack of trying on the part of the young man. Unfortunately, it seemed that he just couldn't get the words to come whenever he tried to speak. The thought that this was a dream had crossed his mind moments before, and being unable to talk could occur in a dream, right? Either way, the boy seemed to know where he was going, moving briskly on the frozen terrain, but not so fast as to lose his tail to the slippery surface. The two continued their journey, coming to a narrow path of ice floating on what was now shown to be not water, but air. Any thoughts that this fanciful journey could be anything more than a dream dissipated as the young man became more accustomed to traveling on the frozen ground. Looking past the boy, the man saw a large white pillar in the distance. At its base, a mass of brown was present. As the pair reached this pillar, the texture of the brown mass became clearer; having a shape not unlike vines or roots. Also, the size of the pillar became obvious, towering far above the young man. He noticed that the boy had turned to him, looking up at him patiently before beckoning him again. This time, however, the boy walked straight into the base of the tower. Now, finding a young boy on an ice field floating in mid-air was already strange enough, so seeing him walk through the wall of a large tower with no noticeable entrance point was just the frosting on the cupcake. At this point, logic seemed irrelevant, so the black clad man just went ahead and reached toward the spot where the boy had passed through the wall. Sure enough, his hand went right in, along with the rest of him as he stepped forward.

"It's bigger on the inside," stated the black clad man, feeling suddenly much smaller than even the imposing outside had made him seem. Surprised that he could now speak, he felt a tug on his hand, and looked down to see the smiling child looking back. Without letting go of him, the kid jumped off the circular platform they were standing on. Bracing himself, the young man tried with all his might to pull the child back up, but for some reason, this boy weighed much more than it appeared. Tumbling after the boy, the very confused and disoriented young man began to feel weightless as he fell, but the sensation of where "up" was located seemed to change. As the pair now moved, the gravity within the apparent tunnel seemed to shift about them, although that neither slowed nor stopped their progress. Eventually, the flight ended with the pair landing on a circular platform just like the last one. Considering all that had happened so far, it made much sense that the lost young man now just followed the child without a single question or strange thought. Exiting the tower, the two stepped into a somewhat different place. Another desert lay before them, but this one was of the more traditional variety; flat ground as far as the eye could see. Although the scenery wasn't much of a change, it still fascinated the lost man that he somehow ended up in a sandy desert after just moments before being in a wasteland of ice. Such a shift was further compounded by both environments feeling identical, temperature wise. The boy tugged again, and the young man followed after, leaving his fate to the child.

Their path passed through the bright landscape until they came to another tower. There was something different about this one, though. It seemed to almost glow with a faint greenish color. The boy again stepped into the tower, followed by the young man. However, this time, instead of going down, the child pulled the lost man into the air. Upon landing, the pair saw something rather strange. Lying in the center of the platform was another person, this time a woman, curled up with her eyes closed. She was wearing a robe of white, and had long brown hair, with a sheen from the strange light of the platform below her. The child pointed to the woman, and it was as if he spoke clearly to the young man: Take her back with you. Picking up the unconscious woman, the young man watched as a flat clear rectangle, like a sheet of glass, appeared in front of him. The boy placed his hand upon the glass thing, and an imprint of it formed under his palm, visible from the side. On the screen, a few words appeared, first the word Efix, then the word Code. Slowly after that, letters appeared, one by one. E. A. R. T. H. The floating screens within the tower began to close in upon the young man. Surrounding him, they swirled faster and faster, and started glowing brightly. Just moments later, darkness.

-Cafeteria-

"That's some dream you had." Sitting at the table, a rather average girl with long brown hair poked at her cafeteria tray, though not where there was food. Her green eyes remained fixed on her fellow diner. The diner was a rather particularly androgynous woman, discernable mostly by her clothing, a rather standard uniform for a private school student. Beyond that, there was little to define her by appearance, although the lack of something is often as important as the presence of that same thing.

Brushing a bit of her short hair behind her ear with her hand, she responded, "That's just it. It doesn't feel quite like a dream." At that moment, a fellow student walked past the pair, her tray hovering just at the height of the short-haired girl's head. Almost instinctually, she ducked under the tray. The green eyed girl across the table stopped poking at her tray with a fork, as it was a little difficult to do so after she dropped the fork in surprise at what she saw. "And that's another strange thing that's been happening today. I feel like I've lived this exact moment before."

The girl across the table had more or less regained her composure, as evidenced by her response. "That's called déjà vu, Erin," she stated, proceeding to stab a carrot with her fork.

Sighing heavily, Erin was annoyed by the simplicity of her friend's answer. "Louise, this isn't déjà vu. It's much stranger, as if this entire day has already happened," she said, watching Louise put the carrot between her teeth and bite. Erin never did understand why she liked watching mundane activities.

Chewing the carrot, Louise asked, "So, you know what questions are going to be on the lit test today? I'd love to know if I studied enough of the material, and it could serve as a kind of proof for this feeling you have."

Quickly, Erin grabbed a notebook out of her bag, and pulled out a pen. Jotting something down quickly, she then folded the paper up and handed it to Louise, smiling a little inside knowing exactly what the look on Louise's face would be after she read the note. "Open it after class, and walk with me after class when I head out into town to pick up some things."

Louise smirked a little. "What kinds of things?"

"Just stuff." Erin said. A quick glance at her watch told her it was time to go to class, so the pair stood together, separating to head to class. At that moment, Erin stopped in her tracks, and stepped back as a fellow student tripped and fell to the ground in front of her, spilling a glass of water all over the ground in front of her.

Louise walked over to her, a quizzical look in her eyes. "Did you know that..."

Stopping her, Erin put her index finger up in front of her friend's face. "After school."

-The Road Home-

"The first five questions, verbatim." Louise spoke as the pair walked, her eyes not moving from the note in front of her eyes. "I have to admit, this is a cool trick."

"It's no trick, Louise," Erin replied, wearing an annoyed look that she was certain her companion was not seeing. "I told you, it feels like I've literally lived this day before."

Finally looking up, Louise gave an annoyed look right back at Erin, though her eyes seemed to drift a moment later. "Hey, look at that."

Turning to whatever it was that caught Louise's attention, Erin saw something unfamiliar about the familiar building nearby. The old complex the two were looking at had a side door open on it. The door had a handle that could be seen, but nothing that looked like a lock, despite being closed all the time in the past. Erin's feet began to move before her mind did, pulling her toward the door to the old building. More and more of this felt familiar, almost predestined. Going with the flow of her feelings, she burst into a sprint toward the open door, not really noticing if Louise was following after her. Reaching the building, she saw a small cat walk through the open door. 'Is it leading me on?' she wondered as she followed the cat inside.

Beyond the door, there was a staircase, leading deep into a basement. There appeared to be a light in the basement, though it wasn't close to the bottom of the staircase, but farther in. As she descended, Erin heard footsteps behind her. 'That didn't happen before,' her mind told her, sparking her to turn toward the sound.

The figure behind her was that of Louise. "Why did you run off like that?"

"I just..." Erin couldn't believe she was even doing this, but she understood why she was following the path in front of her. "I just need to know what's going on."

Shrugging, her friend finally relented. "Alright, déjà vu girl, lead the way." The pair continued down the stairs, each one made of the same cold, loud metal as the last. The decent took some time, but a few moments later, the pair stood before a lighted room.

There was no door, which was surprising considering the contents of the room. Above the doorway, there was a simple light, but nothing else in the room was simple at all. On the floor, a number of large cables crossed one fantastical machine to another. On one side of the room, a large, semi-futuristic door was waiting. It had a circular center, with golden plating over the whole of it. Next to the door was a large button and a small keypad. In the center of the room, there hung a masterpiece of futuristic computer design. Hanging from the center of the ceiling over the edge of a circular base, a chair and a set of flat screens made up an advanced looking terminal. Whoever had left this behind was a very rich genius, it would seem. However, there was one more strange thing in the room. Sitting opposite the large gold door, there were a trio of cylindrical things of some kind, like bank tubes. Inside one of the tubes was the cat Erin saw earlier. Its eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, but an almost faint red color, rather than the typical yellow one might expect to see.

"Oh, you came after the cat, I see," Louise said, apparently missing the point of how much insane technology appeared to be in the room. Walking toward the cat, Louise got closer to the large tube.

"Um, Louise? I don't think you should try to grab the cat. I mean, it could be a dangerous stray," Erin advised, noting the single entrance and small size of the tube. It was a little late for that, as her overeager friend nabbed the animal, pulling it to her chest and petting it gently. At that moment, the door on the tube jarred sharply, sending the cat running from the now stunned Louise. As she appeared to regain her bearings, the door slammed in her face before she could move.

As the tube closed, Erin turned to the central console. At that moment, a large projection of a globe appeared in the center of the circular base. To say this was all moving pretty fast would be quite the understatement, but Erin seemed to be taking it well enough. After all, with the exception of Louise being trapped in a giant bank tube, none of this was actually new. Erin finally remembered: She had been here before, but not before this moment. It was almost like she jumped back in time a little bit. Turning to the tubes behind her, she walked to the furthest right one. Standing inside, she looked at the cat. As if sensing a silent goodbye from the cat to the strange girl, the door on the tube closed, bringing on the lights inside. With the lights up, a low, soft hum built up under Erin's feet, as little lights rose up in front of her eyes. Almost hypnotically, they wanted her to close her eyes, and she obeyed their request. As the hum built louder and louder, the girl remembered everything. Her dream was real, and she was going back to that dream world once more.

-Paris, France, Kadic Academy-

"Well, your credentials are as expected. That is to say, far higher then would be expected for this position, Jeremie." The woman across the desk placed the manila resume folder on the desk, fixing her gaze on the man in front of her. She was wearing a professional demeanor along with a grayish pantsuit. With her hair pulled back and a stern look about her, she seemed so distant to Jeremie. Time does fly, and nine years is kind to no one's past perceptions. Jeremie himself was simply what one would expect to see from an intellectual professional, a formal uniform of a simple shirt and tie, clean and pressed, glasses balanced upon his nose, the small lenses sitting just high enough for his pupils to come through.

"How strangely informal of an interviewer, Miss Delmas. I would not expect such pleasantries from you," Jeremie replied, dodging what he was indirectly being asked.

The woman smiled a little. "It's Elizabeth, Jeremie. And you can't avoid explaining yourself when it comes to this." Elizabeth turned her chair a little ways to the right, putting her right side toward the interviewee. The lack of formality didn't seem special to Jeremie, however. Somehow, he figured she was always this way. "I agreed to hire you on, since I knew you were more than qualified for anything I would ask of you, but I'm curious as to why you came back here." Turning back, Elizabeth leaned in just a little bit, not far enough to be provocative, though Jeremie doubted that anyone could be very provocative in that outfit. "Why are you here? Is the jobs market that bad?"

"Not at all. I just haven't decided exactly where I want to go yet." Glancing down for a moment, Jeremie felt his body held down by something. It was little more than a feeling, but a powerful one. He couldn't tell her that he was here because he felt like something just wasn't right. Only a few hours ago, he had found himself on the same street corner for the second time in the same day, and this was the second time he had gone over his reasons for staying to Elizabeth. His hunch may have been right, and he needed to stay here a little longer to find out if it really was. "It's likely just temporary."

A sigh escaped Elizabeth's lips, but it seemed less from Jeremie's statement than from fatigue. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to sound disingenuous. I'm glad you are willing to do this job so soon after the last professor left. I've got finances and administrative paperwork up to my eyes, and along with visiting my father, I haven't slept much these last few weeks."

"I see. Sorry to be more paperwork then, but I imagine it is easier than shopping around for qualified people to hire."

"Yes, indeed it is. Thank you for that, Jeremie." Elizabeth extended her hand across the desk, and Jeremie took it appropriately. A handshake, and that was that. Now, all that was left was to move the rest of his things into his living quarters. Jeremie stood and turned, walking away from the desk. A quick glance back confirmed that his new boss was hard at work finalizing his paperwork. Continuing out of the room, Jeremie walked past the secretary, reaching for the door handle. It turned in front of his hand, and the door opened swiftly before him.

A familiar voice came forth. "I'll get that for you, Einstein." Turning around after leaving the room, he saw a rather tall, blonde guy in a purple jogging suit. The nickname and the stupid smile were the real giveaway as to who it was.

"Odd, what's with that outfit?" Jeremie looked at his lanky friend standing before him. He seemed healthy, though the two hadn't actually seen each other in 3 years to Jeremie's memory.

Odd continued smiling as he followed the now moving Jeremie down the hall from the administrative offices. "Oh, she didn't mention it? I swear, she really needs to get a good night's sleep. I told her to mention my temporary position as the Phys Ed teacher here at Kadic."

"What, did Jim finally retire?"

"Nah, just screwed up his back again. Pretty bad this time, they might try to force him to retire this go round." Odd looked over at his old friend. "So, need any help with anything? I'm free for the rest of the day, in case you wanted to go check the factory."

Jeremie stopped cold. Turning to his friend, who had stopped at the same time, he saw that the smile had vanished from his face. "You too?"

"I've been checking the factory every so often since I came back about a month ago, but nothing. Then, today, I felt that shift." Odd's serious look made Jeremie uneasy. "A Return Trip. There's no mistaking it."

Jeremie began to move again, remembering that even now, the battles against XANA were a secret, to prevent anyone from actively trying to recreate the AI without regard to the consequences. "Yeah, let's go tonight after I finish moving my stuff."

Odd bounced back from his serious state, cheerily walking forward beside his old friend. "You want help with that? I may as well help you out. I'm kind of interested in how you live these days."

-Factory, Paris, France-

"I'm just saying, I wouldn't put your computer by the window," Odd said, giving his shoulder a rub. For the life of him, he didn't know how Jeremie could have packed up such heavy boxes when he still looked as weak as ever.

"And I'm saying that just because you can't concentrate on something when it's beautiful outside, doesn't mean that I can't," Jeremie replied. As the two reached the ledge, Odd grabbed hold of one of the ropes that hung from the ceiling. Jeremie gave him a stern look. "Odd, is it safe to be swinging on the ropes that have been hanging there for over 10 years now?"

Smiling back, Odd said, "No. But these aren't those ropes." He took a leap from the ledge, swinging through the stale air of the factory as he neared the elevator. Looking back, he caught a glimpse of Jeremie as he followed Odd's lead. Stepping aside, Odd smiled at Jeremie's bold act. "So," he said, on the verge of laughing, "trust me enough to just believe it's safe?"

"No." Expecting a further explanation, Odd was left hanging, as Jeremie didn't continue his thought. Shrugging, Odd followed Jeremie into the elevator. The pair descended into the familiar depths, bringing back the old feelings of excitement within Odd's heart. Then again, it looked as though Jeremie wasn't feeling anything at all as the elevator stopped, and the large door opened to the console.

The system was humming along as it once had, seeming untouched by the passing time. Jeremie walked to his familiar chair, and sat before the keyboard. As he began to type away, Odd watched on over his shoulder, everything looking and feeling nostalgic. He remembered playing the hero while his boring life at Kadic dragged onward. It was a place to be free from the boring things of consequence, like classes and studying. He smiled, though the smile didn't exactly last. On the screen before him, a map of various spheres appeared, with a pair of red spheres standing out among the sea of green and black.

"Its worse than I had thought," Jeremie said, pointing to the red sphere on the periphery of the screen. "This is the source of the Return Trip."

Looking on, Odd was somewhat confused and baffled, yet intrigued. "Good to know... what is it?"

Jeremie bore a noticeable scowl at Odd's question. "Odd, if it takes a quantum supercomputer as powerful as Lyoko to do a return trip, then what would that sphere have to be?"

"Oh, a Replika." Odd's answer betrayed his disappointed feeling toward Jeremie's abrasive attitude. "So, need me to go there and take a look around?"

"Yeah, actually, I will need you to do that." Turning to Odd, Jeremie read his emotions clearly. "You really want to go back in there, don't you?" Odd smiled sheepishly, shrugged, and turned to the elevator. After a quick ride down to the scanner room, it dropped him off before the scanners. One of the three opened before him, and he accepted its invitation to enter. "I'm sending you to the Forest Sector," Jeremie said, his voice booming over the intercom. It made Odd cringe a little, sparking a mental note to get Jeremie to turn the volume down a bit. "There's an unusual reading in that area, so I want you to investigate." As the sentence was finishing, the golden doors before Odd closed, thrusting him into pure darkness. As the lights came on inside the scanner, Odd closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply. A smile came across his lips as his hair stood up on his head. "Scanner, Odd. Transfer, Odd. Virtualization."

-Forest Sector, Lyoko-

"Yahoo!" Odd's yell of jubilation rang out through the trees. His Overboard zipped and darted between each obstacle, bringing back that old familiar rush he had missed from his youth. The air rushed past him, though really, there wasn't any air to feel. Odd kind of figured that it was an illusion created by his eyes and brain, creating a feeling of rushing air, but allowing him to keep his eyes open regardless of his speed.

"Stay focused, Odd," Jeremie said. His voice sounded much like a man calling in to a radio program. "The disturbance is about 200 meters ahead."

Odd glanced skyward, as if to look into Jeremie's eyes as he spoke. "Thanks for the heads up, Einstein." Turning his eyes forward, he saw a peculiar sight. The "air" ahead of him seemed heat-distorted, as if the ground were on fire up ahead. "Whoa."

"What is it, Odd?"

"The air up ahead is acting strange. I'll send you a visual."

Odd waited a moment, deciding to stop his approach until the smart guy had a chance to look at what he saw. "That is definitely unusual. Please stay there for a bit while I ponder this," Jeremie requested. Odd yawned a bit, then proceeded to do a bit of stretching. Patience wasn't necessarily a problem for him, but having a goal to achieve weakened that resolve.

"Sorry, Jeremie, but the sooner I check this out, the sooner it ends." With that, Odd leaped onto the Overboard, and zipped onward to the target location. Upon arrival, he stood quietly, looking upon a shifting...thing. Sending Jeremie a visual, Odd began to look closely at the strange phenomenon before him. Around its edge, a purple glow encircled it. The center shifted, moving like an ocean meeting the beach, ripples seeming to wash over the edge of the purple glow, yet disappear the instant they exceeded it instead of receding. Seeing his reflection shift with the waves, Odd reached his hand slowly toward the surface of the water. Then, remembering what often happened to movie characters who did similar things, he pulled back, shaking his head. He had to admit, it was very, very difficult not to touch the beautiful thing before him.

"I can't seem to do a proper analysis on the disturbance," Jeremie said. Odd continued to stare into the waves, wondering what this could really be. Reaching out, again, to touch the surface, Odd gently placed the tip of one of his claws upon the reflective surface. Upon contact with it, ripples emanated from the point he had touched, prompting him to pull his claw back out of the waves. "Well, looks like it won't hurt you," Jeremie said, revealing his prediction of Odd's actions.

"Well then, may I perhaps posit a theory about the nature of this phenomenon?" Odd said. He could swear he heard Jeremie's jaw fall onto the keyboard.

"First thing, Odd," he stated, "never talk like that again. It throws off my concentration. Second, what is your idea?"

Odd laughed a bit, and continued his thought. "I think its a portal to somewhere."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, it didn't hurt me when I touched it," Odd explained. "Then, there's the fact that a Replika has reactivated and we no longer have the Skid, so if someone wants to hack Lyoko, they would need a way in. But mostly," he said, looking back at the wavy surface, "it kind of looks like a portal from a sci-fi movie."

Jeremie sighed. "That's your main reasoning, isn't it?" Not waiting for an answer, Jeremie continued, "We can't test your theory without sending something through that we can trace."

Odd rested his chin on his hand, pondering the situation. "Well, I could go."

"Not a chance. If it isn't stable, you could end up lost in the digital sea." Odd continued to think, and came to a solution.

"We could..."

"Overboard." Jeremie interrupted, stealing Odd's thunder. "Send the Overboard through, and I'll track it."

"Will do." Grabbing the board with one hand, Odd placed it near the portal, pointing toward it. Placing his foot on the back of the board, he gave it a good strong push, propelling it through the surface. The board pushed the waves higher as it penetrated, disappearing almost instantly upon going all the way through. Odd waited as silence around him began to make time run slowly. Sitting on the ground, he thought about the times he had spent here, fighting monsters and protecting his friends. The group had saved the world dozens of times, but now he was alone in the machine. Maybe he would have to fight again, alone this time, against XANA, or worse, an unknown force. Am I really up for this again, he silently asked himself. Looking up, he then asked, Is HE really up for this again, after all it's cost us?

"Found it." Jeremie said, startling Odd a bit. "Your hunches may have been right."

"You mean..."

"Yeah, it's in the Replika." Odd stood, clinching his fist as he stared into the portal before him. Without a word, he rushed forward, jumping full force into the waves.

End Chapter One

The next chapter will be up soon, if you liked or disliked this one, you can leave a review on the site or email me at aurora-dot-chance73-at-gmail-dot-com. Have a good day, all!