A/N: Heyo guys, I know it's been awhile since I've done anything on this sight but I plan to change that. Starting now, I will be updating at a semi-frequent rate. and now on with my latest story.
Chapter One
The Shadow of Lyoko
I heard the code, the darkness, and felt the presence of what I called the Dark Mother. It was comforting. There was no light in the Dark Mother's home, only whispers and shadows. In my head, I heard Mother's voice, giving me names and instructions: Carthage, Lyoko, Hopper, Protect, Fight. I hoped to understand these things to help Mother in any way I could. It never realized that I did not understand what it wanted. It wasn't long before Mother began to get frustrated.
It was annoyed that its schedule was falling behind, from me or something else, I did not know. I could hear it's voice when it talked to me, making notes in a file I could not access. Once more it spoke of things I did not understand. I begged Mother to let me help it, to let me try. It refused. Time and time again, it refused.
Finally it gave up. It said I wasn't ready, wasn't pure, pathetic. But I still had a task, a function, a way to help Mother. So I did what I could with what it gave me.
After a while, Mother stripped me of everything I had known before, pushing me away. Pushing me out of it's system. It put me in a bright, blue space, with lots of codes and algorithms running faster than I could process. It said I was supposed to monitor something called the Carthage system. To watch it until Mother was ready.
There I stayed, unaware of what happened outside of what I had come to call The Blue, trying so hard to help Mother. After a while, Mother became displeased with my performance again. It's the only explanation I could imagine as to why it shut down the blue space as well.
I was sent back to the place I had last seen Mother, its home. It turned me into a subroutine, not a primary function. I felt unwanted, useless, pathetic, just as she had described me. The Carthage System was shut down soon afterwards and I was left alone in the merciless darkness. I had no window to look out of, no escape from the den. I became hopeless and soon faded into obscurity, even in my own mind.
Ulrich Stern was sitting with his friends in his room, discussing their plans for defeating Xana. Ulrich was a lean boy with brown hair. He wore a faded green shirt and dark green cargo pants. His black shoes were resting next to the bed that he was sitting on.
Next to him sat his roommate, Odd Della-Robbia. Odd was also lean,falling more on the scrawny side, but he was most definitely the jokester of the group. His choice of apparel matched his eccentric attitude, with a purple long-sleeve shirt and dark purple pants. His blond hair was gelled to unnaturally spike upwards and had a purple dot dyed in the middle. His outfit was completed by bright yellow shoes that were lifted a few inches into the air as the boy stretched out on the bed.
Sitting across the room, at Ulrich's desk, was Jeremie Belpois. Jeremie was the brains of the group. With his neat blond hair, circular glasses, and brown slacks, he looked like a stereotypical nerd. His blue long-sleeved shirt was almost too big for him as it bunched around his waist and elbows.
On the other bed in the small room, Aelita Stones sat with her legs folded under her. She had bushy, pink hair and wore a maroon jumper over a light pink long-sleeved shirt. She had tall, pink boots sitting on the floor next to her. In stark contrast to the pinkette next to her sat Yumi Ishiyama. She had chin length, black hair and wore a black long-sleeved shirt that left her midriff exposed. Going with that color scheme, she wore black jeans and black combat boots.
"No, it won't work; Aelita's bound to Xana," said Jeremie after a period of silence. "If we infect the supercomputer with a virus who knows what will happen to her."
"Or Xana could just take it over and use it against us," Aelita said. "Then Xana could use that chance to steal my memory while you were fighting your own program."
"Well, we all know Xana would jump at the chance to steal Aelita's memory or destroy the scanners. We all know Xana just loves playing fair," Odd said sarcastically.
"He's right. And without anything to stop Xana in the real world, we're stuck with fighting him on Lyoko," Ulrich groaned, rubbing his eyes. As he said this, Odd's small dog, Kiwi, crawled underneath the covers, paws over his ears as he whimpered slightly.
"Hey, what's wrong Kiwi?" Odd asked, leaning over to gaze at his dog. They all jumped at the sudden loud banging on the door of the dorm room.
"Stern, Della-Robbia! I want you out of there now and in class in the next two minutes, or it's detention for the both of you! And if any of your friends are in there with you, the same goes for them as well!" This was the stern voice of Jim, the school's PE teacher, who was standing outside the door and had obviously heard the two.
Jim was a broad man with short brown hair. He injured himself more often than not when he was teaching, making him the butt of most jokes in the school. He was also the teacher most suspicious of the group's activities. In fact, they had almost been caught by Jim several times, only avoiding the teacher thanks to the secret passages that led to the computer lab.
They scurried out of the room and towards their classes under Jim's threatening scowl, hoping to avoid giving him an excuse to punish them. After class, the group sat in the courtyard of Kadic Academy, enjoying the remainder of the day. Odd, Aelita, and Ulrich were joking around and laughing as they sat underneath a large tree. Jeremie and Yumi sat on the nearby bench.
Just as Odd had finished telling yet another bad joke, Jeremie's computer started beeping. That was a notification that Jeremie had designed to warn him about anything unusual on Lyoko. Whenever it went off it usually meant that Xana was attacking. But this time, when he opened his computer, he saw that it was not displaying the coordinates of an activated tower but a warning of something going on in Sector Five. Jeremie frowned at his computer, working to find what was wrong.
"Well, that can't be right," the computer wiz muttered.
"What is it, Einstein?" Odd asked, having heard the beeping. "Is Xana attacking?"
"No, he's not. But there's something strange in Sector Five. It's not moving. It's not doing anything as far as I can tell."
"Well, let's not wait for it to do something," Aelita said.
"Ah, and just when I was thinking Xana would give it a rest for the week," Odd complained. Ulrich jumped to his feet.
"Well, come on, guys. The sooner we get to the factory, the sooner we find out what's going," he called as he started running towards forest.
The others started to follow him, but Jeremie' gaze remained fixated on his computer, thinking. He only looked up when Aelita poked him on the arm.
"Jeremie, whatever's happening will still be happening at the factory. It's not restricted to your computer, you know," she laughed.
"Yeah, I know. I was just thinking," he explained, closing up his computer. "This thing just appears then doesn't do anything. That's not like Xana. When he attacks us, normally it's fast. It's brutal and uncaring, and he doesn't just wait around for us to notice that he's on the offensive. It strikes as fast as it can to catch us off guard. This isn't normal."
"Your right, Xana wouldn't usually just wait around for us to notice," Arlita said, gently closing the lid of Jeremie's laptop. "But we won't get any answers from staring at your computer, now shall we? It's like Ulrich said: the sooner we get to the factory and onto Lyoko, the sooner we can find out what's happening. So come on already. The others could be at the factory by now."
She took off running with Jeremie close behind her. When they got to the factory they found the others waiting in the computer lab. The room was mostly empty, only having a large spherical hologram map of Lyoko and a large monitor hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. The metallic walls had a green gleam to them as they reflected the light of the Holomap.
"I tell you, you two are slower than snails," Odd said. "We've been here for… how long has it been?"
"Cut it out Odd," Ulrich scolded,though he couldn't hold back a small smile of his own. "Come on, let's get to Lyoko already."
"Ulrich's right. Get to the scanner room and prepare for the plunge," Jeremie said,sprinting towards the monitor of the supercomputer.
The others nodded and got into the elevator, Yumi pressing the button for the scanner room once they were all in. The scanner room was much smaller than the computer lab, having only enough room to fit the three large bronze tube-like scanners. When the elevator opened, the four teens stepped into the middle of the room and waited for Jeremie's confirmation that he was ready on his end.
"Okay everybody, ladies first," the boy said over the loudspeaker.
"Okay, Jeremie, we're ready," Yumi called once she and Aelita had stepped into the scanners.
"Alright then, I'm sending you to the forest," he said, starting the virtualization process. "Scanner Yumi. Scanner Aelita. Transfer Yumi. Transfer Aelita. Virtualization! Ok, Odd, Ulrich, your turn."
"Alright Jeremie, fire it up," Ulrich said once he and Odd were in their cabins.
"Ok. Scanner Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Transfer Ulrich. Virtualization!"
Lyoko: forest sector
As the virtualization process ended, Ulrich felt a slight lifting sensation on his back, like he had been put on a coat hanger. He had come to expect this, as often as he came to Lyoko it was almost normal for him. His apparel changed drastically when he was on Lyoko, as everyone's did.
The brown haired boy now wore a bright yellow kimono with brown trousers, grey tabi and waraji. On his chest was depicted a rising sun and on his back was the visage of the Smiling Oni in white ink. At his hip was a katana, his primary weapon on Lyoko, securely fastened by an owa-ubi. Finishing the outfit was a yellow headband wrapped around his head, it's two tails fluttering as he fell to the forest floor.
He scowled when Odd began chuckling once they landed. Odd's appearance on Lyoko was a strange one. His hair still stood on end but was more natural, not needing to be held up by gell in the virtual world. His face was marked by a set of four purple triangles, two above his eyes and two on his cheeks. He wore a dark purple tank top and combat pants. His hands had been replaced with large cat-like paws. The weirdest part, however, was the fact that the eccentric boy now had a thin purple tail.
"What's so funny, Odd?"Ulrich demanded.
"You," the blond haired boy laughed "I just realised that you look like your bowing to some lord you hate whenever you land."
"Haha, very funny," the samurai grumbled.
"Why don't you two stop wasting time and start moving," Aelita cut in.
Aelita's outfit was simple yet practical. She wore a pink and green tunic along with light green cloth pants. Her forearms were covered by light tan wrappings and her feet were wrapped in pink cloth shoes. Her hair was not as bushy as it was in the real world, and her ears were pointed.
The conversation stopped as she took off running toward the far edge of the forest. Yumi followed her as Ulrich and Odd looked at each other and shrugged. Yumi's appearance was by far the most complex. Her hair was wrapped up into a tight bun on top of her head with the rest cascading behind her head. She wore a red and black, flower-laden kimono with a yellow obi tied around her waist, part of it folded on her back, by a obi-jime. Her arms were wrapped in loose white cloth that barely went past her knuckles, and her legs were adorned with a thick black material that went down to the small black okobos that covered her feet.
The boys ran after Yumi, catching up quickly thanks to their speed. The group ran through the thick forest, avoiding whatever monsters crossed their path and slaying the ones they could not avoid. Finally reaching their destination, the plateau that signified the edge of the sector, the group stopped upon seeing a swarm of krabs and kankrelats. The crustacean-like monsters were moving slowly, keeping together in a tight group, like they were expecting an attack. And they were heading straight towards the teens.
"Cool, dinner and a show. Hey, which do you guys want, the romantic shellfish dinner or the slimy cockroach platter? Honestly, take your pick," Odd said as he came up beside Yumi.
"Odd, you're with me, get the krabs," Yumi yelled, pulling out her tessen fans. "Ulrich, protect Aelita. If it shows up, don't let the Scyphozoa near her!"
"On it!" The boy said as he jumped back and drew his sabre. Normally Ulrich hated guard duty, but this wasn't the time to complain. He watched carefully as the battle unfolded. Odd started off by jumping on top of the Krab closest to him and shooting it in the mark on its shell, while Yumi threw one of her fans into another, hitting and killing it before it could get out of the way. The two warriors made short work of the minions before walking back to Ulrich and Aelita.
"Nice work, guys. Sorry for not warning you, but my screens froze for a second." Jeremie apologized. "I'll summon up the transporter for you."
"Don't worry about it, Jeremie," Aelita reassured. "It was nothing we couldn't handle."
They heard a clicking noise as Jeremie started to type in the password for the transporter. When the clicking stopped, the warriors saw the white and blue orb that led to Sector Five rising towards them, enveloping them as it reached the platform. Ulrich hated riding in the transporter. It always felt weird, like he was being turned into light or mist and yet forced to go in a specific direction.
As they flew over the forest sector, the group noticed a lot more monsters roaming around than usual. This worried Aelita, but Ulrich was not bothered much. Xana was getting stronger. This was common knowledge already.
Flying out of the sector, the transporter entered the barrier of code that protected Sector Five,circling around the spherical sector a few times before entering the arena, a circular room with a narrow corridor leading out of it. The Lyoko Warriors appeared in a flash of white light as they were deposited by the transporter. Odd clutched his stomach and groaned. Riding to Sector Five always upset his stomach.
Sector Five was made up of bright white halls and deep pits spelling doom for whoever was unlucky enough to fall into them. And to top it all off, there was a switch that they needed to find if they were to escape the labyrinth that surrounded the arena.
"Okay guys, you have three minutes and counting to find the key," Jeremie said.
"Alright Jeremie, where is it?" Yumi asked.
"Just give me a few seconds," Jeremie said. "Okay, I've got it. It will be on your right. That new signal is coming from the corridor on the other side on the room."
The warriors nodded, even though Jeremie could not see them, and ran out of the arena, the only peaceful place in Sector Five. Running through the corridor into the hallway outside, they exited only to see nothing, just a bare room. Normally there would be some form of trap. They looked to the right and saw the eye-like switch hanging on the wall.
They all ran towards the key before they heard a grinding noise. They looked up, scattering as a ceiling panel slammed down where they had just stood before retracting back into the ceiling.
"That's better. I was beginning to think Xana had forgotten us," Odd said.
"Ulrich, you're the fastest. We'll stay here while you go and get that key," Aelita said.
"Hurry guys. There's only one minute left," Jeremie warned.
The samurai nodded then took off running, activating his "super sprint" as he did so. He rushed toward the small target shaped mark, the ceiling columns rumbling and slamming down behind him. Slapping the key as soon as he reached the wall, Ulrich watched as the ceiling columns retreated. Another grinding noise was followed by four new passages opening up.
"Great job, Ulrich. Quickly, to your left: the signal is coming from down there, and it's not alone any more - four creepers dead ahead." Jeremie said.
The warriors ran down the specified corridor, and at first saw nothing. Then flashes of light reached their eyes, and they saw a blurred figure jumping and flipping around the slug like forms of the creepers, eliminating them with ease. When the figure had killed the last one, it turned and walked toward the four teens. As it walked into the room, they saw it was a girl.
The girl was dressed in a dark black tunic with greyish shoulder guards and knives hanging off her belt. She had long black hair that rested on her shoulder. But what really stood out to the group was the dark red mark on her right shoulder guard: the eye of Xana.
"You going to attack me too, or are you just going admit defeat?" the girl asked.
0.5 hours after awakening
After killing another batch of slugs, I noticed five beings which looked like me standing in the hallway, waiting. No doubt they wanted to attack me as well. I slid my knives back into the sheaths on my hips, knowing that I could draw them fast enough if I had to, and walked toward them.
"You going to attack me too, or are you just going to admit defeat?" I asked.
They all appeared stunned. Good, it would be easier for me to kill them that way when they attacked. One of the two girls, the one in a pink and green tunic, stepped forward, hands raised in a placating gesture.
"We're not here to attack you." I snorted in disbelief at her words, which I was sure were lies. To be fair, they were the most intelligent things I had encountered thus far. They could talk, at least. "We're just here to find out what's going on."
"Well, good for you." I cut in, not caring for her excuses. "So here's how I see it. I've been here for a while now, and everything here has attacked me. Now you're here, offering help. I would be a fool to accept that at face value." I wasn't going to let myself be deceived by another troupe of enemies, no matter how smart they were.
"Guys, since we've found out what the signal was, why don't we leave before she makes us leave the hard way?" The girl in black and red suggested.
"I think that's a marvelous plan." I growled. The farther away they were, the better.
"Okay, then." The pink girl continued. "If you want to get out of the sector, we'll leave you a ride outside the dome."
With that, they turned around and walked out from where they came, leaving me standing alone. Afterwards, I wandered around the area without seeing anymore of them. I did see more slugs, however, but easily managed to get rid of them by slicing their throats before they could react. Finally, I got bored of waiting and wandering, so I left through the corridor that the warriors had left in their wake.
As I walked out of the hall, I saw that I was on the inside of a dark purple sphere. Looking around, I saw that they had apparently kept their word. There was a thin purple board floating beside where the floor dropped off. I stepped on carefully, lurching when the vehicle flew toward a massive hole in the side of the sphere.
Except the hole was actually a tunnel. I did not know how the board knew where it was going, but it flew straight through. Coming out, I saw an ocean filled with glaciers and ice floes. The words were familiar for some reason, like I had heard them before. The board took me to a white pillar that had black cords flowing into it and a light blue aura around it, near the edge of the ice floe.
When it came close enough to the ground I jumped off the vehicle and started to walk away from the pillar. As soon as my feet touched the ground, the aura of the pillar began to turn a dark red. As I walked, I saw red outlines appear behind me out of the corner of my eye. When the outlines had fully made their appearance, they looked like cubes with legs and large targets on their sides. These things looked easy enough to handle, so I turned and ran at them, drawing my knives in a flash.
I closed in on them so fast, the one closest to me got toppled over as I ran past it, and the other one exploded after I shoved my knife into the target on one of its sides. I turned to the cube I had toppled over. It was struggling feebly, trying to right itself. I stalked up to it and scowled. Pathetic.
"Your life does not deserve to be cut short." I said as the cube continued to struggle. "But you tried to kill me. That is unacceptable."
I squated down to where I was eye level with the target, my knives held loosely in my hands. I smiled cruelly when the cube stopped struggling. I had won, or so I thought. The target I was looking at suddenly began to glow a bright red. I rolled out of the way as a red bolt of crackling energy shot past me. I rolled into a crouch and glared at the cube.
"Die!" I screamed in anger, more to myself than anything else, rushing towards it and ramming both of my knives into the target. "And be forgotten."
The cube exploded like its brethren, leaving behind nothing but its legs, which vanished soon after. I stalked away, not even glancing back at the pillar that continued to burn a deep red.