Ulrich's POV
It was a snowy day in Kadic Academy. Ulrich was looking trough the window, imagining him and his friends outside, playing in the snow. Instead, he was stuck in Ms. Hertz's class.
"Okay class, can anyone tell me what happens when an atom gives up electrons?"
"It dies of boredom" Ulrich snorted, making Odd laugh. Unfortunately he had said it a bit too audible, and Ms. Hertz had heard him.
"Very funny, Ulrich. If you have time to joke around, then you can answer my question, can't you? What happens when an atom gives up electrons?"
"Umm..." Ulrich looked at Odd for help, but only got a shrug back. He heard a quiet voice behind him: "Oxidation-reduction reaction."
"O-oxidation re-reduction reaction Ms. Hertz" Ulrich stumbled, trying hard to remember all the words.
"Hmm. Very good, Jeremy. I'll let it slide this time, because the winter break starts-" She couldn't finish her sentence, for just then the bell rang and there were no more classes that year. Everybody got up as quickly as they could and all but ran trough the door hoping for an extreme snowball fight outside.
Ulrich was about to follow them, when Jeremy's laptop began beeping.
"Oh no, not now", Ulrich groaned.
"I'm sorry but Xana doesn't care about our holiday plans. We need to go to Lyoko now." Jeremy put his laptop back into his bag. "Ulrich go get Yumi and Aelita, Odd come with me to the factory"; he continued. Odd gave a nod and off they were. Ulrich went outside where Aelita and Yumi were already enjoying winter break. Ulrich and Yumi's relationship wasn't as awkward as it used to be. Ulrich had gotten over his crush on Yumi and the two were good friends.
"Change of plans, we're going to Lyoko", Ulrich announced to the duo. Their smiles fade and they ran to the sewer that led to the factory.
—
In the factory Jeremy was already on the computer.
"Ulrich, you and Odd go first. Aelita and Yumi will follow you shortly." Ulrich, Aelita and Yumi went down, where Odd was already waiting.
"Took you guys long enough. I was starting to think you forgot about me", he said frowning, yet obviously joking.
"We couldn't forget you if we tried. And I have", Ulrich replied, punching the other boy gently on the arm and they went into the scanners.
"Transfer Ulrich", Jeremy's voice said. "Transfer Odd. Scan Ulrich. Scan Odd. Virtualization." A red exclamation point appeared on Jeremy's screen.
"Ulrich! Odd! Are you alright?!" Jeremy shouted in panic. For a second, there was no response. Then Jeremy heard the familiar, cheery tune in his ear
"Relax, Einstein. We're fine" sounded Odd's high-pitched voice. He gave a small sigh of relief and continued to virtualize Yumi and Aelita.
—
"There's the tower", Ulrich pointed out to Odd. There was a small tower in the horizon.
"This will be a piece of cake!" he answered delighted.
"Don't you think it's a bit too easy?" Ulrich pondered.
"Maybe all of Xana's monsters are on vacation?" Ulrich wasn't convinced, but decided to drop it, since Aelita and Yumi arrived.
"Ready?" Aelita asked.
"As soon as Jeremy hurries up and gives us some vehicles", Odd said impatiently.
"Hmph. Fine, here are your vehicles." Jeremy send the Overbike and the Overwing. Aelita and Yumi got on the Overwing and Ulrich on the Overbike.
"Odd can run, right?" Jeremy continued, sounding very smug. Odd looked at Ulrich in horror and he signed at Odd to ride with him. Odd skipped happily to the Overbike and they followed the girls to the tower trough the icy landscape.
Yumi was waiting at the base of the tower. Aelita had already gone inside. There were no signs of monsters, which made Ulrich more nervous than battling monsters made him feel. Soon enough, Aelita exited the tower.
"Okay, I'll send you home", they heard Jeremy's voice. Yumi and Aelita devirtualized. Then went Odd. Ulrich had to wait a minute for the others to exit the scanners. Then was his turn.
—
Ulrich stepped out the scanner. He saw no one. He went to the elevator and pressed "up" button. He arrived at a room with a big computer.
"Hi, Ulrich!" Aelita waved at him.
How does this girl know my name?
"Umm... hi?" Ulrich replied awkwardly, not sure if he was supposed to know her. He looked around. There were three other people with the girl. One was a blond with glasses. He was sitting on a chair in front of many screens. He seemed to be talking about something to an Asian girl. The girl had short, black hair and black clothing. There was a short boy standing awkwardly beside the blond. He had blond hair with a single purple highlight on the front and he looked just as uncomfortable as Ulrich felt. The girl, who had talked to Ulrich, had pink hair and looked worriedly at him.
"Are you alright, Ulrich?" she asked, which made everyone else in the room to shift their eyes at Ulrich.
"Y-yeah.. I'm just... I'm just gonna go back home", Ulrich stumbled and took a step back towards the elevator.
"Wait, Ulrich!" the blond called at him. "Something might have gone wrong when I virtualized you. I don't know what it is, but you need to stay here until I figure out what it was."
"My what now?" Ulrich was very confused. Who were these people, where was he and what they were talking about?
"Ulrich, I'm starting to be worried too..." the Asian girl said. "How are you feeling?"
"What is this place?! Who are you people?!" Ulrich snapped at them. His outburst surprised everyone. The blond turned back to the computer, trying to find something furiously. The girls looked at each other confused. After a while the blond turned back to Ulrich.
"How much do you remember, Ulrich?"
"My name is Ulrich Stern and... that's it? I can't remember anything else", he looked at the blond apologetically.
"This is worse than I thought..." the blond sighed. Then he suddenly turned to face the other boy. "I suppose you only remember your name too, right?" The boy gave a small nod. Silence that filled the room made Ulrich anxious. He didn't know what these people were up to and he would have left, but there was something familiar about the short boy. He seemed shy, but somehow Ulrich knew that he had the funniest jokes and the loudest laugh he had ever heard. There was something about the boy that filled him with a nice, warm feeling.
"Well, to starts things off, I'm Aelita, and these are Yumi and Jeremy", the pink haired girl said in a sweet voice. "We are the Lyoko Warriors. Lyoko is a virtual reality, where we fight against Xana, an evil computer program that controls Lyoko and can attack the real world." Ulrich was suspicious of her. He couldn't recall anything from her or the others.
"Does any of that ring a bell?" Yumi asked looking from Ulrich to Odd.
"Sorry", Odd answered and Ulrich shook his head. Jeremy sighed again.
"It's almost curfew, we need to get back to school, we'll explain everything you need to know on the way.