Author's Note: I do not own Code Lyoko or any of its characters. I only own any and all OCs in this story. This is my first story, so I would love to hear your feedback. Without further adieu, here is Code Lyoko: Chaos Reigns…
Chapter 1: Earth's Gaurdian.
Rain. Those jet black nights when all that you can hear is the little drum outside of your window and wonder, "Where do all of these small little drops go?"
On this particular night of rain, one of those drops makes a journey into a dark abandoned factory outside of Kadic City in France.
The small bit of water runs itself down the wall, and into the lower levels of the factory. It finally curves off to the flat ceiling and good old gravity begins pulling the little drop down, until finally...
"Drip..."
The drop decides to land straight on a small wire, which just happens to be an electric cord, which, of course, sends sparks through the entire room, and sends a jolt of electricity running along the cord, right up to the tube that it was hooked up to.
A flash of light...
A cloud of steam...
And... a small cough?
As the long shut scanner doors finally opened, a figure stepped out.
A boy about the age of 15, with blizzard white, scraggly hair. He wore completely white clothes with gold inlays in the form of an ancient computer code, a white robe of the same description flowing behind him, and carried a long, white staff of some sort. He emerged from the doors into a room that hadn't seen a soul, or light, in many months.
He seemed out of place almost, as the bright white of his clothes almost shone in the darkness of the room.
Despite it being his first trip to Earth, he wasted no time gathering himself, already knowing where he must go.
Kadic Academy. At night it seemed almost a frightening place, considering its hospital like architecture.
The strange boy took no notice of this however, he simply kept walking towards the building, carrying his staff as if it was normal to just have one with you when walking around. The boy marched up to the front door of the school and already knew that it was locked.
As he continued to walk towards the door, he raised the end of his staff, pressing a button that sent a magnetic pulse through the door, instantly unlocking it.
He continued to walk, emotionless.
He walked along the halls as if he didn't care who he woke up, or was seen, as long as he made it to the room at the end of the hallway.
Finally, he reached the correct room, and very quietly opened the door. The first thing that he saw was a large computer, and a picture of Albert Einstein.
He turned and closed the door, and as he did so he noticed the one reason that he was there... Jeremy Belpois.
The boy in white leaned down to look at Jeremy, staff in hand. After nearly a minute, he reached over, and punched him clean in the face.
Utter knockout was an understatement in this case. First of all, the blizzard white boy punched harder than a brick wall, and Jeremy was asleep at the time, so he was out long enough for the boy to throw him over his shoulder and carry him back to the factory.
As Jeremy awoke, he held his head and took in his surroundings. He was in his computer room in the factory, sitting in the chair that he had so dearly missed all of those months.
As he looked around the room he spotted a boy, dressed completely in white, even his hair was the empty color. Jeremy shot out of the chair and threw a punch at his kidnapper. The boy lazily grabbed his fist in mid-swing, and used his free hand to push him back down to the chair.
"Who are you?" Jeremy asked, out of breath, afraid to know the answer.
"I am without a name, Franz was nearly there when he was thrown into the digital sea. I am simply called 'The Sentinel', the guardian of Lyoko." The white shadow said, in a voice as cold as ice.
"You're from Lyoko?"
"Yes, and I see that there are many questions to be answered, continue."
"Why did you bring me here, and why did you have to punch me to do it?" Jeremy asked, holding back his anger.
"I brought you here because I must speak with you about a matter of dire importance. It was deemed necessary that you co-operated and were silent, so incapacitating you, although barbaric, was a wise choice at the time. I apologize for any pain that I may have caused you." The Sentinel said, his silver eyes staring right through Jeremy.
"Franz created you?" Jeremy said, still out of breath from the knockout.
"Who else?" The Sentinel said, as if it was obvious. "A genius, he was. I was to protect him and Aelita when they finally arrived on Lyoko, I was captured by the Scyphazoa while defending Aelita, and later, Xana used me as a key to access Sector Five. I was finally free when you and your band of warriors defeated Xana. You're sure that she never mentioned me to you before?"
"I think I would have remembered something like that. Why?"
"She helped design me. She chose how I would look on Lyoko and what you see now. Of course, she had no idea what Lyoko was at the time, it was just a project for her and her father, but they worked together for more than a year on me. I was meant to be the perfect warrior, and Franz made that happen. Xana couldn't best me with any of his monsters, no matter how many, so Franz started making new monsters that got closer, but I still won, every time. Sadly, that perfection is gone now. When I was being held by Xana, he destroyed most of my programming. My advanced battle tactics program, defensive maneuvers, martial arts. You name it, I was programmed to do it, and Xana erased it, all of it. But this is not why I came here. I have come to deliver a message, and to help fight in the war that will come with it. Xana... He has returned."
"But-But-But... That's not possible! We saw him die, the multi agent system wiped him out. He was destroyed!" Jeremy said in complete shock.
"No virus goes long without duplicating, and Xana was smart enough to copy himself and keep it hidden, so if you eventually bested him, then he could take control of the duplicate, and essentially be reborn. Trust me when I say that he will make no mistakes this time, and if he does, he'll have another body waiting for him." The Sentinel said, still far too calm despite the terrible news he delivered.
"So there's nothing we can do?"
"I never said that. In fact, the answer is quite obvious, actually. You must first find Xana's clone, destroy it without him becoming aware of this, and then you can deal the utter final blow. But remember, he will most likely have new tricks this time around."
"I can't believe that this is happening, we worked so hard to destroy him last time... just to have to go through this to beat him again. What if one of us is finally thrown into the digital sea? What if we fail?"
"I said that the answer was obvious, not that it would be easy to accomplish. And It will be no easier this time, but I will help, if you can reprogram me to fight once again."
"I can try, but first we have to tell the others." Jeremy said, just remembering his friends' part in this.
"Yes, and you do realize that I will not be enrolling in your school, I will hide myself as long as possible here in the factory. Bring your friends here, and we will discuss the matter."
At this, the Sentinel stood back and held his staff vertically, resting the end on the ground.
"Go" He said quietly
Jeremy didn't hesitate in the slightest. He nearly leaped from the chair and into the elevator.
More than an hour later, Jeremy finally returned with his friends, giving them a recap on the way there.
"-And he says that he's called 'The Sentinel'. This is all really strange isn't it?" Jeremy said, still telling his friends of his nocturnal visitor while they walked across the bridge to the factory. He hadn't noticed that Aelita had stopped in her tracks at the mention of the name.
"Aelita, what's wrong?" Yumi had realized that she had stopped following them and turned toward her.
"I need to see him." She said, jumping up and running for the elevator.
"Aelita, wait!" Yumi cried out as she began to run after her.
"Where's Princess going?" Odd asked as confused as ever
"Just follow her!"
But they were all too late. She reached the elevator first and pressed the red "down" button, closing the doors before her friends could follow.
When she reached the bottom, she leaped from the elevator and shut it down. She turned to see a boy dressed in all white clothes and holding a matching staff standing with his eyes closed.
"Memory code: 77902" she said hopefully.
"I need no code to remember you, creator." He said opening his eyes.
She ran out and hugged him, to his surprise. He did not move, he just stood there, eyes straight ahead.
"You were a great warrior, and just as brave." She said, stepping back. "I thought that you were gone forever when the Scyphazoa took you. But here you are."
"If only I could still fight like before" The Sentinel said, still as emotionless as earlier. "You have grown since we met last, but of course, that was on Lyoko."
"So is it true? Has Xana returned?" She said, making her hope to the contrary clear.
"Yes, and he is smarter than before. I must ask though... do you happen to remember my programming code?" He said, keeping his hope to himself. "If you do... I can help you."
"That would be amazing! And it just so happens, that I wrote the code in my diary." Aelita said. "I just can't believe that my father sacrificed himself for nothing."
After thinking about that, Aelita broke down sobbing on the floor. Completely out of character, the Sentinel knelt down next to her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and shushed her.
"Come on, it's going to be fine." The Sentinel said, looking up as he heard footsteps running down the stairs. "Your friends are here."
At that, Aelita sat up, wiped her eyes, and accepted an outstretched hand from the Sentinel to get up.
The group finally made it down the stairs... and instantly started attacking the Sentinel.
"What do you want with Aelita?" Jeremy asked as he pulled her back. "Why did you shut down the elevator?"
"I did nothing." The Sentinel replied as he ducked under a kick from Ulrich. "I merely spoke and listened." He spun and pushed Odd back as he tried to sneak up on him.
"I thought you couldn't fight." Yumi asked after being tripped mid-kick.
"Not as well as before. No, if I was my normal self, most of you would be unconscious." The Sentinel said, not bragging, but meaning every word as he flipped Ulrich over him.
"Stop!" Aelita yelled out, stopping everyone in their tracks. "I was the one who shut down the elevator. I wanted to speak with him alone."
The Sentinel reached over and helped both Yumi and Ulrich up at once. "Now that that's been set aside... I do believe that we haven't yet been introduced, although it seems that you know much about me." He said, looking at Jeremy during the last part.
"This is Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd." Aelita said to the Sentinel. "Guys, this is the Sentinel, my father and I designed him."
"No wonder you're such a good fighter." Ulrich said, calmed down enough to laugh.
"Can't we come up with a nickname for you? Like 'S-man', or 'White Thunder'?" Odd asked, being as air headed as ever, for which Ulrich slapped him in the back of the head.
"A human name would be appreciated greatly, creator." The Sentinel said, looking to Aelita.
"Well then, we'll call you..." Aelita said, putting all of her heart into finishing her father's work. "...Drake." She finished with a smile. "Digitally Rendered Adamantine Keeper of Earth."
"Thank you... for completing me... at long last." And for the first time that day, he- Drake-actually smiled. "Now... you know what must be done Jeremy. It's high time Lyoko saw a familiar face once again, and had its guardian back."
At that, Jeremy walked over to the ladder in the floor, and proceeded down, into the Supercomputer room.
"Remember that as soon as you turn that machine on, there will be no turning back. You will be bound to this path until Xana is destroyed, understood?" Drake said, turning towards the others as they nodded in agreement.
"Turn it on, Jeremy." Aelita said in a soft voice.
"Alright... here goes nothing." Jeremy said, as he reached over and pulled down the switch, instantly restarting the supercomputer.
"I can feel her coming to life, Lyoko that is..." Drake said. "...She's taking a deep breath, sighing in relief. Yet she knows that he who wants her dead has returned. But she knows that I-We- will protect her."
As Jeremy climbed back up the ladder into the computer room, he heard a faint, familiar beeping.
"No!" Jeremy cried out. "Not already! Xana has launched an attack on the desert sector."
"Well that took all of two seconds." Odd joked. "I'll stay behind to see what Xana has planned."
"Good. Now the rest of you head to the scanners. You know how this works, right Drake?" Jeremy asked as the group boarded the elevator.
"Yes, of course. Oh, and I think that you'll find a surprise waiting for you on the computer." Drake smirked as he pushed the elevator button and the doors closed before him.
"What do you think he meant by that?" Odd asked
"I don't- wait a second!" Jeremy yelled as he stared at the picture of Drake's Lyoko form on the computer. He looked up at the monitor from the camera in the scanner room and saw Drake grinning at him.
"Surprise." Drake said very nonchalantly as Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi stepped into the scanners.
After the trio was on Lyoko, Drake slowly stepped into a scanner. "Send me home Jeremy." After a blinding flash, Drake was on his way to Lyoko, his birthplace, his home.