Episode 1, Part 1: Xana Returns:

The sun was a clear peach hitting various buildings in the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris, France.

In the distance, Kadic Academy lays with it's green and brown hues which reflected themselves from the sun.

Then, a fairly subtle school bell rings, with many students coming out of the many classrooms of the school, particularly, five students in general.

These students are the former Lyoko Warriors, who have risked their lives every day to save both their world and Lyoko from the tyranny of XANA. But now, Jeremy Belpois, Aelita Stones, Odd Della-Robia, Ulrich Stern, and Yumi Ishiyama are now just your average Kadic students, with no longer nothing to hide.

"But guys," Odd persisted. "it's not my fault I keep sleeping in class! You can't blame me if class starts too early!"

"Well maybe if you hadn't been trying to beat the 32nd level in Galactic Warriors, then you wouldn't be sleeping so often." Ulrich retorted to his roommate.

"Hey, I was this close to getting it!" Odd made a pinch gesture.

As the group headed for the cafeteria, they noticed William in the distance, with Sissi and her friends, out of all people. As William saw the group, he gave out a wave, with the others giving him a wave back. The group and William haven't really talked to each other since the whole possesion incident in Sector 5, But when they did come across each other, it was a relatively peaceful atmosphere between them, but not when both Yumi and Ulrich were alone with him, then things started getting more tense.

Just as the group was entering the cafeteria, Jim Morales stopped Ulrich dead in his tracks.

Jim Morales has proven himself useful to the now former Lyoko Warriors occasionally, if not, some of the time. The Lyoko Warriors even considered making Jim a warrior himself.

"Stern," Jim began, putting a hand on his shoulder.

His friends looked at him from behind in confusion. "You guys go on ahead." Ulrich looked from behind them and gave them the okay to do so.

"Okay, fine," said Odd. "But I'm taking your portion."

Jim and Ulrich waited for them to be gone, then they finally spoke.

"Ulrich, the principal wants to see you. Something about family relations, or something." Jim explained.

"What do you mean, 'family relations'?" Ulrich questioned.

"Beats me," Jim shrugged. "And besides, you should probably start heading to the office."

Ulrich nodded and began to head over to the principal's office. Great, he thought to himself. Just great…

Knock, knock, knock. The sound at the door to the principals office lightly pounded.

"Oh, yes, come in." Said Principal Delmas.

Ulrich Stern then made his way to Principal Delmas and took a seat in front of him.

"Oh, Ulrich, there you are. A letter was sent in to you today from a person named Gregory Stern," Mr. Delmas handed over the envelope to Ulrich. "who claims to be you're uncle."

What? Ulrich thought. I thought my dad was an only child.

"Now, if it's not too much trouble, mind if I ask if there's anything wrong at home?" Mr. Delmas asked in a slightly concerned voice.

"Uhm, no, not that I know of." Ulrich responded.

"Oh, good. Well, you can be with your friends now." Mr. Delmas said.

Ulrich left the office feeling confused. He decided to open up the letter on his way back to the cafeteria:

Dear Ulrich Stern,

You probably haven't heard of me before. I'm Gregory Stern, your father's brother. I know this is sort of a big realization to you, but most of the questions you probably have right now will be explained another day in the future. Me and my daughter Solana have moved here to Boulogne-Billancourt solely because I need to work out things between me and your father. In the meantime, Solana will be attending Kadic as a day student starting tomorrow. It would really help if you would show her around the school tomorrow and introduce her to your friends. She might have bit of trouble settling in because me and my wife have home schooled her up until this point. I can already tell that you two will get along with one another just fine.

Sincerely yours,

Gregory Hoffman Stern

Ulrich read through the paper numerous times until he entered the cafeteria and found his friends at the regular lunch table they were at, and sat down beside Jeremy.

"So Ulrich," Yumi wondered. "What did the principal want that was so important?"

Ulrich wondered how Yumi found out about that, but he decided to mentally shrug this off. He then handed over the letter sent to him, which Yumi read, and passed onto the others when she was done with it, until it came back to Ulrich again.

"This Gregory guy seems nice," Yumi said.

"Let's just hope he is." Ulrich responded.

"Wait, you don't even know these guys?" Odd questions. "What's wrong with you? They're your family."

"Odd, just shut the trap. I've only heard about these guys today."

"He's right, Odd," Aelita spoke up. "Just because he didn't find out that fact until now doesn't mean you have to rat him out for it."

"Sorry, dude," Odd said apologetically, with his voice having some regret for saying the comment he did.

"It's okay. I just wish I would have known about this sooner." Ulrich forgave Odd for the remark.

"Hey, if this Solana's like anything like Greg said in the letter, then there's no doubt that you'll have nothing to be nervous over." Jeremy encouraged Ulrich.

"Thanks, Jeremy."

THE NEXT DAY:

The school bell wrung for the whole school to hear. Dorm students from all ends began to go to the cafeteria for their breakfast.

Except for Ulrich, who was waiting by the gates for Solana. The principal had informed all of his teachers to excuse him if he was late for any of his classes ahead of time, since his grades were slowly, but significantly getting better ever since XANA was destroyed, so he was perfectly covered. It was like a reward for his effort.

Ulrich began to slowly tap his foot and look at the watch on his left wrist. He was a bit nervous for the arrival of his long-lost cousin, and the fact that his uncle Gregory could possibly be just like his father made him even more nervous.

Then, a dim yellow car pulled up to the gates. The back door facing Ulrich opened up, and then a girl with chocolate brown hair with Dodger blue highlights and pupiless Columbia blue eyes, who was wearing a collared button-up emerald green jacket with cyan blue stripes on it, a cyan blue top underneath with International Klein blue stripes, white loose fitting shorts that reached her knees, and auburn converse shoes climbed out of the car. Along with her, she carried a brown sling bag.

She must be Solana. Ulrich thought to himself.

"Goodbye, Solana!" Someone called out from the car.

The girl outside waved to the woman in the car as she drove off.

The girl noticed Ulrich and walked up to him. "Hey, do you happen to be Ulrich Stern by any chance?" She asked.

"Yeah, I am." Ulrich responded. "And you're Solana, aren't you?"

"Yep." Solana smiled calmly.

The two began to walk towards the cafeteria together, and on the way the two began a conversation with one another.

"So, Solana, where were you originally living at anyway?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh, I lived over in America in the state of Rhode Island." Solana responded obediently. "Me and my parents would occasionaly come back here to France to visit some of my mom's old friends and my God mother, Giselle."

"I see." Ulrich listened intently. "So, uh, were you a big fan of the whole 'home schooling' thing, or were you forced to do so? No offense if you liked it that is."

Solana giggled softly. "Yeah, I was used to being schooled at home. It's more quiet and you can focus more in the safety of your own home, you know?"

Ulrich smiled at Solana, while Solana did the same, vise versa.

"Anyway, enough about me," Solana spoke up. "What are things like here, anyway?"

"Well, even though the teachers here can be a pain at times, it's a relatively nice place." Ulrich answered.

By the time the two were at the dormitory, the tour of the school officially began.

"Ove there are the dorms. There are separate ones for both the guys and girls." Ulrich explained.

Solana observed her surroundings intentively as her cousin explained where everything was to her.

Then, they both headed over to the cafeteria.

"My friends are in here," Ulrich said. Solana followed Ulrich into the nearly bustled cafeteria, which exposed many different faces and voices. Then he guided her to his friends.

"About time you got here." Odd mumbled fairly loudly.

"Guys, this is Solana," Ulrich said, clearly ignoring Odd's statement. "Solana, this is Jeremy, Aelita, Yumi, and Odd." Ulrich pointed out.

"Hey."

"Hello."

"How do you do?" Various greetings came to Solana.

Solana smiled shyly. "Heya." she waved.

"So, Solana, how do you like Kadic so far?" Aelita asked.

"I've got to say, I like it so far." Solana responded.

"Glad you like it," Odd smiled at Solana.

"Has his hair always been like that?" Solana whispered to Ulrich.

"Hey, I heard that." Odd commented. "And besides, it's natural."

"Oh."

MEANWHILE:

The sky was a deep crimson red, in the very depths of an unknown territory only known to one being, and also the possibility of another entity. There is a deep, haunting groan heard all over the region. Bits of digital red waves are all over the place, them protecting the entity deep inside the core.

Here, one eye keeps closed. There is only one single eye on the face of this being. This mysterious entity could not take being suffocated in a small space forever. The area around it has begun to rumble, the rumbling sound is heard all over.

The menacing eye quivers, it shakes, it rumbles.

Then, it happens.

With the force of a thousand men, the red eye opens in an instant showing the mark of a familiar villan.

It is XANA…..

He is back….