Author's Note 1: I do not own any part of Code: Lyoko, the show characters, or anything else.
Author's Note 2: The only thing within that I claim as my own is the created characters Maethus(aka Project Element), Legacy(aka Project Shadows), and Daemon(aka Project Demon).
Arrival
The scientists gather around the large tube that held their experiment. Mastery of the Old Elements, the project had been started twenty years ago, but none of the subjects lasted more than three moths with the enhancements. That is, until this one. The boy in the cylinder had been wandering the streets when the scientists had found him nearly a year previous. Nothing they knew of the Old Elements could prepare them for what happened next. The boy's eyes opened slowly, revealing the same grey that always acompanied thunderstorms. "He's awake." one scientist says. The boy's eyes glow blue, and the water is pushed outward from his body, shattering the glass and flinging it into electrical equipment, walls, and even the scientists themselves. He hears their screams of pain, but does not care. One hits a large red button on the wall. "Emergency! Project Element is loose!" the scientist then drops to the ground. The boy walks over to the button and smashes it in with his right hand, causing cracks to spiderweb out from the button across the wall. As he leaves the building, he grabs the clothes they had made for him, grey pants, shirt, vest, and cape. He takes one final look around and sees a metal plaque on the cylinder. 'Maethus, Project Element'. He rases his left hand and some of the water floats into the air. The water then pounds on the plaque until the words are all eroded by the water.
Maethus sits in the waiting room of a private school he'd found in a nearby city. The principal's secretary entered the room and handed him a clipboard with enrollment forms on it. "Sign those, and then we'll see what the principal says." the secretary says. Maethus reaches for the clipboard, and the secretary raises and eyebrow at the symbol on his hand. He quickly hides his hands from the secretary's view, and begins filling out the papers. A few minutes pass, and a black-clothed girl enters the office.
"The principal wanted to see me?" she asks.
"Ms. Ishiyama, the principal is expecting you." the secretary nods and points to the door. The girl enters the room and Maethus goes back to his paperwork. He finishes and hands the clipboard back to the secretary, making sure he keeps his hands covered. "He'll let you know when he's done with Ms. Ishiyama." Maethus nods and sits down again. Within seconds, the Principal opens the door and takes the clipboard from the secretary. He motions for Maethus to follow him. Maethus does and sits next to the Ishiyama girl. After a few minutes, the principal speaks.
"Maethus, is it?" he nods. "Alright. Everything looks good. Ms Ishiyama will show you the school. Your classes will officially start tomorrow morning. You two are dismissed." the two leave the principal's office, Maethus crossing his arms across his chest.
"What a waste of a morning." Maethus says. The girl notices part of the mark on his right hand.
"Jinshin..." she starts, and Maethus pulls his sleeve over his hand.
"I wouldn't read that if I were you. Could cause problems." he continues walking.
"I'm Yumi. What's with the hair?" she asks.
"Maethus. A mark from a past experience."
"You don't talk much, do you?" Yumi takes bigger steps and is alongside Maethus.
"No." he agrees.
"How about I introduce you to some of my friends?" he shrugs. "Alright, I'll take that as a yes. Follow me." Yumi says. She leads him to the lunch room and over to her table with Jeremy, Ulrich, and Odd. "Hey guys."
"Who's your new friend?" Odd asks as the two sit down.
"Maethus." he answers for himself.
"Cool hair."
"Not too bad with your own."
"That's Odd. He's Jeremy." Yumi nods toward the blonde. "And Ulrich." he half-waves.
"How'd you get your hair like that?" Jeremy asks. "It looks natural."
"It is. Naturally synthetic." Maethus grabs a roll off Ulrich's plate.
"Huh?" Odd looks at Jeremy.
"He means it's man-made with natural materials. Strange way to make hair." Jeremy explains. Maethus shrugs, not really caring. "Gee, you're really talkative."
"I could've told you that." Yumi says. Maethus shakes his head and bites into the roll.
"You could at least say thanks." Ulrich watches Odd steal some of his lunch.
After lunch, Yumi leads Maethus to his dorm. "Since you don't have a roomate, your dorm is over here near Jeremy's. If you ever need to contact one of us, then you can go through Jeremy. I've got to get to class, so I'll leave you alone now." Yumi says.
"Have fun." he opens his door and looks inside. Looking around, Maethus spots the computer and logs into the internet. He types in a url, and he instantly is swamped with moderator messages. "Damn it. Too many new messages." He quickly skims through them all and creates a new topic in the 'Forums' area. "'I have just returned, and believe me that you would not want to be in my shoes at the moment.'" He posts the topic and then checks his personal messages. One catches his eye and he reads it aloud. "'Have you gotten out yet, Element?'" he clicks the reply button. "'Finally, after five months. But they have done something to me. I have not fully found the extent of their tampering. Let me know when you get out, Shadows.'" he sends the reply and turns from the computer. "They still hold her, and even if I must return, I WILL free Shadow." Maethus opens his door at a knock.
"Hey kid. Here's your stuff." the gym teacher, Jim, hands Maethus's five suitcases to him. "Sheeze, what do you have in there? An army?" Jim asks. Maethus shrugs and tosses the suitcases onto his bed. "Well, don't be late to my class tomorrow. Running's the punishment." Jim gives Maethus a thumbs up and leaves, closing the door on his way. Maethus begins unpacking, taking a short sword from a suitcase and hides it under his mattress.
The final class bell rings, and Maethus makes his way outside to watch the sky. He practically runs into Sissy in his rush. "Hey, watch where you're going!" she yells at him. He ignores her and continues, sensing a storm brewing in the cloudy sky. Yumi sees him and waves.
"Hello again." Maethus says, a big grin on his face.
"What's got you so happy?" Ulrich asks.
"Storm coming."
"And that's a good thing?" Odd looks at Jeremy, as if expecting him to answer. Jeremy gives him a 'don't look at me' expression.
"Rain, and lots of it. Thunder, stronger than ever seen before." Maethus climbs the tree and sticks the upper half of his body out the top, watching the clouds darken, feeling a few raindrops on his face. "It's coming! It's coming!" he spreads his arms, letting the sleeves uncover his hands, and Yumi gets a look at both his hands.
"Now that's really strange." she says.
"What? How he's acting?" Jeremy looks at his friend.
"No, his hands. Jishin, Kazan, Doshaburi, Hariken."
"Aren't those japanese words?" Ulrich asks.
"Yes. Earthquake, Volcano, Torrent, and Hurricane. But what I can't tell is if they are birth-marks or tatoos or what." Yumi shakes her head. "He's so strange."
"Come, Lighting! Strike upon me! Grant me your power!" as if answering his call, a blood-red lightning bolt falls from the clouds and strikes Maethus in his chest, burning a hole in his shirt and knocking him to the ground beneath the tree, knocking him unconcious. The rain starts, at first slowly, then gaining in strength. Soon everyone is forced to retreat inside, to the safety of the brick walls of the school. Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Odd carry Maethus to the infermary.
"What happened to him?" the nurse asks.
"He climbed a tree and got struck by lightning." Odd says as they lay Maethus on one of the beds.
"He did WHAT?!?" the nurse looks in shock. "By all truth, he should be fried because of where it hit." she notices Maethus's chest rising and falling slowly.
"But he's not, and that's strange enough on it's own." Jeremy says. He and the others leave Maethus in the nurse's care. "I'll see you guys later. I'm going to check in with Aelita." Jeremy heads off towards his room, leaving Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi to find something to do on their own within the school.
"Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremy asks. The virtual resident of Lyoko appears on the screen.
"Hi Jeremy." she says with her usual smile.
"Aelita, have you sensed any pulsations lately?"
"No, why?"
"There's this new kid. He seemed to have called some lightning and rain. I'll start a scan in case there IS an activated tower." Aelita nods and dissapears from the screen.
