"Oh why won't this stupid thing work!?" A frustrated Jeremy pushed the keyboard across the table.

The same failure message taunted him on the screen; the red exclamation mark pierced his temper like a blade. For over a year he had tirelessly worked to bring the program to perfection, but even for him it was proving an impossible task. It was way past midnight already and yet Jeremy typed away as he always did. The rest of the students at Kadic Academy were fast asleep, well, say for Ulrich Stern whose snoring roommate sounded like a jet engine.

"What if I adjust the DNA signature to this…?" Jeremy would not stop even when his friends fought furiously to persuade him to sleep in his bed for once instead of using the keyboard as a pillow.

Jeremy ran the test program again. On his screen a complex set of codes were activated. The Avatar of a pointy-eared, pink-haired girl was displayed with her arms stretched out. The program scanned every element of her body, translating human DNA, Amino Acids and Organs from computer code. At the time what Jeremy was attempting to do was pure science fiction to anyone else, but then again, so were most of the events in their life. The scan aborted itself in the same place it always did, resulting in the death of the test version of Aelita.

"Damn I'm such an idiot! I'm never going to get this to work." He put his hand through his blonde hair and took off his glasses with the other.

His chemistry text book next to his elbow reminded him of the science test in the morning. Even with his lack of sleep, Jeremy Belpois' 98% grade average had never faltered, unlike the 75% grade average of two of his friends. Grades or school didn't matter to him at times like that though. Ever since he discovered the super computer over a year prior, the lives of him and his friends had become ones of constant danger. It was then that the malevolent Artificial Intelligence X.A.N.A was once again released upon the world. Using the power of the super computer, X.A.N.A worked unendingly to bring destruction and death to the world and ultimately, take control of planet Earth. His motives were unknown to the group, if he even had one. That is what made them fear X.A.N.A even more.

And then there was Aelita, the guardian of Lyoko. In meeting here Jeremy's life changed forever. From that day he continued to find a way of giving her a new life on Earth. To Jeremy Aelita was already human, a person with emotions like everyone else, one he shared his own emotions with, and even affection for…

Jeremy finally gave in. He left his swivel chair and began to undress into his pyjamas. He could hear his friend Odd snoring down the corridor and felt sorry for Ulrich, and just a tad smug that he had his own room. His third friend, Yumi Ishiyama was a day student at the Academy and so went home in the evening. This made meeting up in the event of X.A.N.A attacks more frustrating and fraught with danger.

With unfortunate timing, Jeremy was taking off his shirt when his screen shot back into life. Aelita's avatar appeared on the screen leaving him panicking and blushing.

"Aelita! Quick, look away!" He threw his top over the screen to conceal himself, and his embarrassment.

"Is everything alright Jeremy?" She asked in her sweet voice.

"Err, yeah, sorry. I'm just getting dressed for bed." He answered quite sheepishly.

She giggled, more from the confusion of him throwing his shirt at the monitor than at what he was doing; she didn't yet understand his feeling of embarrassment.

"Right… there we go." He was now dressed and sitting in his chair where he pulled the top from over his computer. Her head was sideways and looking towards the bottom of the computer screen as if to look under the thrown top.

"Oh! There you are!" She answered him.

"Sorry about that Aelita, I didn't expect you there. I was… just getting dressed." His cheeks were quickly turning red.

"You mean you are actually going to sleep in your own bed tonight?" She joked. "I've seen you drooling on your keyboard sometimes." He blushed even more.

"No I don't." He wiped his mouth with his sleeve almost by instinct. He looked at the clock beside him. It was 12:30, if Jeremy was caught awake at that time of night he would be punished. Still, Aelita was 'in the room' so he didn't care.

"Anyway, is everything alright on Lyoko? Has X.A.N.A activated a tower?" He was concerned. He always hated attacks at night above all others as it was the most difficult time to slip out.

"No. Actually, X.A.N.A has been strangely quite recently. I think he might be planning something. What I called to tell you is… something else."

Jeremy was confused and slightly embarrassed… again. He would rehearse in his mind how he would tell her how he felt, but maybe he thought it would sound better when she is finally on Earth. Was she about to say it to him? He was disappointed.

"Earlier on today, someone came into the factory." She didn't know how to tell Jeremy. This meant their secret was out. The group and maybe even the entire world were at risk.

"Someone… was in the factory? Did they find the lab? Do they know about you?" Well of course they found the lab Jeremy, he thought to himself, otherwise how would Aelita know?

"I'm sorry Jeremy. I couldn't do anything. He was in the lab and was asking questions." She looked apologetic and felt that she had let the team down. She was innocent and saw no bad in anyone besides X.A.N.A, what if the person she spoke to meant them harm?

Jeremy couldn't believe it. Whoever it was he needed to know.

"What were they like?" He asked her.

"He didn't tell me his name. He looked about your age and had black hair. He seemed fascinated by me and the super computer. He reminded me of you on the first day we met. Also he was wearing a blue hoodie and jeans."

Jeremy thought of everyone at the academy. If he lives in the town then it is possible that he goes to Kadic. But there wasn't anyone at the school that resembled her description. In a couple of days the school would be greeting three new students. He decided to wait and see if this 'intruder' was about to join the academy.

"What did he ask you? Did he say anything noticeable?"

Aelita thought for a moment.

"He asked me who I was and who created me. Wait! He also said 'see you soon' when he left. Someone called him on his cell phone but he didn't reveal anything."

Someone was approaching the room outside in the corridor.

"Sorry Aelita. Got to go. Warn us if X.A.N.A wakes up again and thanks for telling me about today. Goodnight." He ran to his bed and hid under the covers.

"Bye." Aelita switched off the computer.

Whoever was in the corridor didn't walk in, much to Jeremy's belief. He assumed it must be Jim the P.E teacher skulking around again. When the coast was clear he sat up and thought about what Aelita had said. Someone had found their way into the factory and discovered the super computer. Until he found out who it was, they would all be in danger.

…

Andrew looked out of his window at the full moon. His parents and sister were all asleep but he couldn't sleep a wink. He had made an amazing discovery and even then was doodling away. He looked at the piece of paper in front of him, the moon being the only source of light. The Pink-Haired virtual girl was roughly drawn in front of him, along with the computer monitors that surrounded her. Whoever she was, he would find out, as well as the identity of this 'Jeremy' person. He had limited time though, as he began his first day at Kadic Academy in three days. He decided that he would go back to the factory again in the morning and draw the machine properly. After all, he did promise Aelita that they would see each other again soon…