Disclaimer : I do not own Code Lyoko or any of its characters , all copywriting goes to moonscoop
I looked around.
This place seemed so familiar.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing here? You should be in class," a man suddenly said.
I looked around to see where the voice was coming from, and I saw a man with a red shirt, black shorts, and a Band-Aid on his face.
No way, I thought. That's Jim, from Code Lyoko!
"Sorry, I'm… I'm kind of lost," I said. Well, it was the truth, sort of.
"You don't seem to be from around here," Jim said.
"I'm not… I'm from the USA," I answered.
"Good old USA," Jim sighed. "I remember when I was there working for the government as a secret agent. But I'd uh, rather not talk about it. Anyway, how did you get here, kid?"
"To be completely honest, I have know idea," I said. Now that was the truth.
"Alright… Hm. Look, here is what I am going to do: you could be my nephew, and I'll try to get you into Kadic," he offered.
I couldn't believe this.
In shock, I could only manage an "Alright."
"Let's go, then," Jim said.
Checking, I discovered that I still had my stuff. Thank god… I would miss not seeing my little sister's face, even though I ran away.
We approached the office, and after a quick discussion with the secretary and principal, Jim ushered me inside.
"So, Jim tells me that you're a great student from America," the principal said as we walked in.
I couldn't believe it! I was at Kadic Academy and I was talking to Mr. Delmas, the principal.
Still feeling very much overwhelmed; I could only nod.
"Well, Jim talks about you very highly. Because of this, I will enroll you into this academy."
I couldn't believe my ears.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Delmas," I managed.
Just then, a certain girl came in.
I groaned internally. Great, I had forgotten about Sissi.
"Daddy, I need more money for my phone," she said in that annoying shrill voice of hers.
"I'm very sorry Elizabeth, but I just paid the phone bill, and it was 400 dollars," Mr. Delmas said. "You will have to wait a while."
"But-"
"No means no, Elizabeth," he said sternly. "In case you didn't notice, I am busy with the new student."
Sissi turned to me.
"Who is this guy?" the girl asked, sounding for the world as if she could care less.
"I'm Peter, Jim's nephew," I said. "Nice to meet you." I cringed internally at the last part. It is very hard to sound sincere to some one you hate.
Sissi just eyed me disgustedly, as if I were a rotten piece of fruit, and walked out.
"Well, Peter, you should be happy to know that your schedule will be received soon, and Jim will show you to your dorm," Mr. Delmas said.
"Thank you sir," I said politely.
As I got to the dorm, Jim explained all the rules and such to me, even though I already knew them.
"Well, just make yourself at home," he finally said, ending the small speech.
I nodded distractedly as he left, pondering what my future held.
Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich are in that class, I remembered, noting I had science with Mrs. Hertz first.
As I walked into the classroom, surveying the students.
Sure enough, I saw Odd and Ulrich seated by each other, and an empty seat next to Jeremy.
Trying not to stare, I walked over.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked.
"Not at all," Jeremy answered as he sharpened a pencil.
I dropped my bag and made myself comfortable in the chair.
Ulrich and Odd were one seat behind and one over. They seemed to be arguing about something.
I tried to tune them out as the teacher walked in.
She came in and droned on about science, but I was mostly paying attention to a certain group of students.
I kept sneaking glances at Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich. My eyes could see that they were here, but my brain apparently had a hard time believing it.
Before I knew it, the bell rang. I saw Odd and Ulrich talking and went over to them.
"Hello… Are you guys Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robbia?" I asked hesitantly.
Of course, I knew their names, but it would just freak them out if I called them that. They would wonder how I knew, and I already know how suspicious and solitary Ulrich can act.
"Yeah," Odd said. "What of it?"
Ulrich stared at me, suspicion obvious in his expression.
"Well, I uh, just wanted to say hi," I quickly lied. "My name is Peter, and I'm Jim's nephew from America."
"Jim has a nephew?" Odd asked in surprise.
I opened my mouth to answer, but a noise I really did not want to hear cut me off.
"Hi, Peter!"
I groaned internally. It was Sissi.
"I would like to talk to you. Meet me at my dorm tonight at 8:00pm, okay?" she asked, not waiting for an answer before walking away.
"Dude, you're the best," Ulrich said.
"What do you mean?" I asked, caught off guard.
"You're the best for getting Sissi off of my back," he explained.
"Great…" I said sarcastically. "You know, I hear that she's brain dead."
"Yeah? Well, you heard right. She's also a leech," Ulrich snorted.
After that, they both opened up a little bit more to me.
A few minutes later, the bell rang, reminding us of the class we had in five minutes.
After class, all three of us stood outside the classroom.
"Hey… you know your girlfriend, Sissi?" Odd asked.
"She is not my girlfriend," I said, faking a gag.
"Cool! So that means she's available, right?" he asked excitedly.
"Be my guest," I snorted.
"No offense, but I don't think she's really your type." Ulrich said.
"Unless you like brain-dead leeched," I added.
Ulrich chuckled.
"Hey, I'm going to get a drink," I yawned lazily.
"Okay," Odd and Ulrich answered.
Heading over to the vending machine, I saw Jeremy walking behind me.
I put my money in, suddenly remembering what happened to him.
Flashback…
After slipping his coin in, Jeremy distractedly pushed the number 6, deep in concentration.
A sudden jolt of electricity raced up the length of his spine, yanking him out of his thoughts. Without more than a scream, his consciousness fled into the darkness.
End…
He pressed 6, I thought to myself. I didn't actually want to get electrocuted, but I suppose it would be better myself than Jeremy.
Preparing myself, I pressed the number 6.
I felt electricity shoot through my arm, across the width of my shoulders, through my other arm, down the length of my spine, and finally down to both legs. It all happened in a second or less.
Letting out a small cry, I tried to stay upright, but was unable as my knees collapsed and I slumped against the drink machine.
Sounding like it was far away, I heard Jeremy's voice, gasping, "Oh no!"
Then I felt arms hook under me and try to bring me to my feet, and Jeremy once again calling for help.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked. His voice dwindled as I fought to stay conscious. "Are you okay…?"
Now it was just a faint drone.
Blackness invaded me, clouding my vision and swamping my mind. The last thing I felt was a person pulling me up, and the dull throb of electric shock before blackness took over completely and my consciousness fled.
Of course, I didn't know how long had passed before I started hearing voices, as one never senses anything, much less time, when they are unconscious.
"-Too serious, just a minor electrical shock and some burns," said Dorothy's hazy voice.
I opened my eyes, two blurry figures slowly getting more defined.
I tried to sit up, but the room spun, so I lay back down on the pillow.
"How are you feeling?" Jeremy asked tentatively.
"A little dizzy, but otherwise fine," I said, suddenly aware of a blood pressure cuff on my arm.
"Good. You really gave us a scare," Jeremy sighed.
"You wanted juice, you got some," Ulrich smiled.
"Ha-ha, very funny. Thanks a lot, anyway," I answered. "You're Jeremy Belpois, right?" I addressed the question to Jeremy.
"Yes."
"I'll come check up on you later, after my martial arts class," Ulrich said.
"Okay. Oh, and Ulrich? Good luck. I think you'll need it," I said, a large grin appearing on my face.
He frowned in confusion. "Uh, okay, thanks," the brunette said, looking at me strangely before walking out.
"What's up with the freaky grin?" Jeremy asked.
"Oh nothing," I said, my grin growing larger, if it was even possible. "I just think that he'll find out that tonight will be a night to remember."
"How come?" Jeremy asked suspiciously.
"Oh, you'll see."
I wanted to thank Jeremy for helping me, so I decided on helping finish his robots.
"Okay. Hand me that, next to the bed," Jeremy ordered, still working with his right as he held out his left hand.
I grabbed the tool and handed it to him, then I noticed that the computers turned off, and the eye of Xana flickered on it. Not good, I thought.
"Uh, Jeremy, I think there's something wrong with your- ouch!" I exclaimed suddenly as the robots started shooting electricity.
Jeremy let out a yelp and backed away as a robot jumped on him. He kicked it away, and we both backed against the wardrobe as the three robots closed in on us.
"It's not very good to make electrifying robots!" I yelled as I felt a jet of electricity go up my arm when I hit a robot with a metal piece. "It can be dangerous to your health- like now!"
I quickly kicked a robot away from him, but crumpled to the ground as two robots electrified me.
"I had nothing to do with this!" Jeremy yelled back. We must have been yelling pretty loud, because at that moment, Ulrich came barging in.
He immediately went into action, hitting them with the metal piece I had dropped on the floor.
After three hits and twice as many electric shots-courtesy of the robots, of course-they had been knocked to the floor and turned off, the strange symbol disappearing off the screen.
"Wow... Your little buddies are pretty dangerous. Maybe you should tune them down a bit?" Ulrich asked as we panted lightly.
"I told you they were dangerous," I said.
"Really, I had nothing to do with this. The robots were just programmed to merely fetch a ball, nothing more. They just attacked me all of a sudden," Jeremy said, frowning in confusion as he turned to stare at the blank computer screen.
"You're not making any sense. I may not be a genius, but I sure know that robots aren't supposed to just attack and electrify people willy-nilly, unless the person that programed them was completely crazy, " I said, making circular motions with my fingers on each side of my head.
"Jeremy, are you-"
"No, I am not crazy!" Jeremy interrupted irritably.
"Well, you lost me. Mind explaining?" Ulrich asked.
"Well... No, forget it. It's all crazy,"Jeremy sighed, shaking his head.
"Aw, come on. Maybe I can be of some help. You know... what if you suddenly get attacked by a hair drier, or maybe a curling iron, and I'm not around? " Ulrich asked, putting on a solemn face before cracking into a lopsided grin.
"Ha-ha, very funny," Jeremy said, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, well, I'm not leaving this room until I know what's up," Ulrich said, making himself comfortable as he sat in Jeremy's chair.
"Uh, yeah, me either," I added, perching myself on his bed.
Jeremy looked at both of us, apparently decided we were determined, and sighed. "Fine... what have I got to lose? I'm already way in over my head, so I might as well tell you... This is so crazy."
Jeremy walked over and was careful to close the door.
"First, let me know if you two can keep a secret," he began.
"I can. It's not like I have anyone to tell, anyway," Ulrich said, mind momentarily flashing to that Della-Robbia boy. He shook the thought away.
"Same here," I added.
"Okay. You guys will have to follow me," Jeremy said, taking a deep breath.
Both Ulrich and I looked at Jeremy, then at each other, and I resisted the urge to grin, knowing what was ahead.
"That tunnel in the gym is a great way to be curfew," I said as I climbed out of the sewer, closing it behind me.
"Yep. There's even another, right on campus, as well," Jeremy said, jogging to the huge, old-abandoned factory ahead. He came to a stop at stairs. Well, they were... kind of stairs. They only had a few before stopping in the air, only a rope to swing down with.
Without hesitation, Jeremy and I grabbed a rope and swung down, bending our knees to absorb the force of the impact.
I looked up, noticing that Ulrich was still there. "What's wrong? Are you afraid of heights?" I asked.
"Uh, no," he said, sound a bit forced as he grabbed the rope and closed his eyes and slid down. We got into the elevator and waited as it descended, stopping, then opening as Jeremy punched in a number code.
"This, is a supercomputer," Jeremy said, walking over to a giant machine with three monitors, two on the side, and one big one in the middle.
"It has an immense amount of power. Somewhere inside of it is a whole virtual world, called Lyoko," he said, pressing some buttons, causing the screen to whir to life.
"You know what, Belpois? I think your little robots electrified your brain," Ulrich said. "It's probably just a control program for the factory or something."
Jeremy smiled smugly as a window popped up, showing a virtual like, pink-haired elf.
"Oh yeah? And what would you call this; a program for spray painting doors?" he asked.
It's Aelita! I thought in amazement. She's even more pretty in person... No, don't think like that. Jeremy is sure to fall for her sometime, and I don't want to mess it up. I shook the thoughts from my head.
"Hello Jeremy. Who are you?" Aelita greeted Jeremy, then directed the question toward Ulrich and I.
"Who's the girl with the pink hair?" Ulrich asked, ignoring Aelita.
"That's Mia, a form of artificial intelligence that lives on Lyoko. I'm not sure why she's there, at least not yet. She doesn't know either," Jeremy said.
"You've got to be kidding. You programmed her, right?" Ulrich asked.
"No," Aelita intervened, shaking her head. "When Jeremy restarted the supercomputer, I woke up, but now I don't remember why I'm here, or who I am. In other words, my memory has been erased."
Ulrich shook his head in amazement.
"Mia has to hide in some kind of tower, because as soon as she leaves it, she gets attacked by monsters. You've got to believe me guys, this is an incredible discovery," Jeremy pleaded, voice practically dripping with excitement.
"I believe you, Jeremy," I said.
"Well... What if ... what if this is just some giant video game?" Ulrich asked.
"Then it's a very dangerous one. You saw; my robots just tried to kill me a few minutes ago, and they're only programmed to go fetch a ball! What's more, I saw the same ingsignia on the monsters in Lyoko as the one on my robots when they tried to kill me," Jeremy said thoughtfully, pacing with his finger on is upper lip, almost talking more to himself than us.
"So, what you're saying is that whatever is trying to kill Mia, is trying to kill you too...?" Ulrich asled.
"It sure looks that way," Jeremy said distractedly.
"Great... This just gets better and better," Ulrich said, voice laced with sarcasm. "You know what? If this is all true, and if this is really that dangerous, I think we should just shut the thing down and call the police."
"Fine," Jeremy said. He hung his head, seeming to be staring at the ground abashedly. "But first I want to help Mia understand why she's here, and maybe even materialize her right here on earth, if I'm correct." He looked back up at us. I was tempted to accuse him of affection to her, but I restrained myself.
"No way... What makes you think you can?" Ulrich asked.
"You'll see Stern, you'll see," Jeremy said.
"I would like to report someone missing," a woman said.
"Okay... M'am, who is it?"
"My son... he has gone missing," the woman answered quietly, feeling her eyes go moist.
"Attention students and staff, this is principle Harrington. Unfortunately, a student from this school is missing."
Usually the morning announcements were boring, but this time, the student body listened intently.
Nick got his phone out and texted his friend Christine, telling her to meet him after homeroom.
"You heard the news, right?" he asked.
"Yeah... I did. I can't believe he's missing... I wonder how Patrica is taking doing."
"I didn't see her in homeroom... I think she's taking this a lot harder then we are," Nick said.
"It's no surprise. He is her brother, after all. Look, there she is. Let me go talk to her," Christine said.
Ulrich was still unbelieving, so Jeremy took us down to the next floor.
"What is all of this?" Ulrich asked, looking around the room.
"Scanners. I still haven't found the program that could bring Mia back to Earth, however, I did manage to dig up the one that sends you to Lyoko. In fact, the supercomputer analyzes your molecular structure through these cabins," Jeremy stepped inside a cabin, "and then breaks down your atoms before digitalizing them and recreating a digital incarnation in the virtual world."
"So... In English?" Ulrich asked.
"You go inside the cabin, and then you're teleported into the virtual world."
Ulrich frowned thoughtfully as he leaned against the scanner, knocking it with a finger, seeming to test it's reliability in existing. "Jeremy, these things don't exist yet... There's no way," he finally said.
"You still don't want to believe me, huh?" Jeremy asked with a sigh.
"I would love to, but virtualization is straight out of science fiction."
"Okay, well I guess I've got to show you. I'll virtualize someone on Lyoko, but first I want to test it on a, uh..." Jeremy trailed off.
"A guinea pig?" I guessed.
"Right. How did you know?"
"Uh, male intuition. Now, Ulrich, why don't you..."
I leaned over and whispered into Ulrich's ear, causing his face to transform into a smile.
"Hey, that's perfect! I'll go get- hey, wait. How did you know he had a dog?" the brunette asked suspiciously.
Oops, I thought.
"Uh, male intuition...? Now, go on," I urged him, trying to change the subject.
He jogged over to the ladder, soon disappearing from our sight.
"Where's he going?" Jeremy asked, obviously confused.
"To get what you need: a guinea pig."
"Patrica... are you okay?" Christine asked tentatively.
She didn't answer.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I understand how hard it can be for-" Christine started.
"NO!" Patricia suddenly exploded, whirling to face her. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears.
"No, you don't understand! You don't understand what it's like to suddenly lose someone you love. I don't want anyone's sympathy! I want Peter!" she cried, whipping around and running off.
"Alright Jeremy, the mutt is in the scanner," I said.
"Good, then we're all set. I'm starting up the procedure," Jeremy answered.
Just then Odd and Sissi came down.
"Peter?"
"Odd, Sissi, what are you two doing here?" I asked.
"Kiwi, are you okay boy?" Odd asked, ignoring me as he stepped inside the scanner and picked Kiwi up.
The scanner began to close and Kiwi jumped out of his arms.
"Oh no, he's being mummified," Sissi exclaimed, genuine fear on her face.
I rolled my eyes and refrained from telling her what a big idiot she was.
"Scanner guinea pig, transfer guinea pig. Virtualization."
Upon climbing up the ladder, I saw a red exclamation point pop up on the huge monitor.
"Hey, that's one weird looking dog," Jeremy mused.
Ulrich gasped. "That's no dog! It's my roommate, Odd Della Robbia!" he exclaimed.
Jeremy gasped and tried pressing a few keys. "I don't know how to stop the procedure," he said frantically.
"Help!" Sissi yelled.
Ulrich and I came down, and I had half a mind to tell Sissi to stop screaming her stupid head off. The look on Ulrich's face told me that he was thinking pretty much the same thing, or at least close to it.
"Sissi, what are you doing here?"
"That's what I asked her," I sighed in exasperation.
We suddenly heard Jeremy's voice. "It's okay, Ulrich, Odd is safe and sound on Lyoko... Uh, correction: Odd is going to be needing some help," he changed his mind.
"Do you think you can send me, Sissi, and Peter to Lyoko?" Ulrich asked.
"Yep," he said.
"Send us to where, Ulrich?" Sissi asked in a small voice.
"To a virtual world where monsters want to massacre you. Well, you have the chance to go out with him, so you might as well take it," I said.
"Um, no thanks. I prefer real worlds. Besides, I couldn't have possibly missed cheer leading practice," she said.
"See you later, chicken," I smirked as both Ulrich and I got into a scanner.
"Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Peter. Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Peter. Virtulization."
Knowing what was to come as we got on Lyoko, I was able to land on my feet, but Ulrich fell flat on his butt.
I looked at Ulrich. He still had the same costume that I remembered.
He stared at me. "That's a lot of red."
"Red is my favorite color," I shrugged. "Anyway... Jeremy where's Odd?" I asked.
"Right here," a voice said.
We turned around, trying but failing to stifle our laughter.I had already seen his outfit, but it was way funnier in person.
Odd inspected our outfits. "Aw, no fair! I'm the only one on Lyoko that looks like a nitwit."
Searching for some sort of weapon, I felt my back, finding a bow and a quiver of a dozen arrows.
"Nice weapons," Ulrich said appreciatively, unsheathing his own saber.
"Yours isn't too bad either," I said.
"All I got are these great, big, useless paws," Odd complained, waving them in the air.
Remembering what had happened, I jerked to the side just as a laser arrow came out of each of his wrists.
I swear I hear the whistle of air as it passed my ear, and Ulrich narrowly avoided the one by him.
"Hey, watch it!" both of us exclaimed in unison.
"Hm... Well, arrows are kind of cool. I take back what I said," he decided.
"Well, try not to devirtualize yourselves," Jeremy snorted, slightly disembodied voice sounding from above.
"Come on Jeremy, we're not that stupid," I grinned.
"Jeremy, are you going to give us those coordinates yet?" Ulrich interrupted.
"Hey, I see a tower. Maybe it's that one," Odd said, pointing to a tower in the distance.
We went to the tower, and pushed on it, trying to find a door. Suddenly all three of us fell in, managing to grasp the platform.
"You guys are too heavy," I grunted as Odd grabbed my waist and Ulrich grabbed my foot.
My grip failed and we fell, down into the darkness...
Suddenly we were on another platform, and soon got out of the tower.
"Hey, where did the forest go?" Odd asked.
"How should I know? Look, there's another tower," Ulrich said.
"Weird, how it's not the same color, though," Odd mused. "Those creatures are kind of weird, too."
Just then the blocks started shooting lasers.
"Might be a good idea to beat it, you think?" Ulrich asked.
"That seems like a pretty good option," I agreed as we all bolted off.
Soon, the monsters spread out, closing us in.
Odd started shooting some arrows while Ulrich repeatedly dashed in and out, hitting the blocks with his sword.
"How are we supposed to kill these things?" Ulrich asked in frustration, giving his fourth hit.
"Beats me! Hey, you wouldn't happen to know how many life points I have...?" Odd asked just as he was shot and devirtualized. Then Ulrich ran up and jumped, sticking his sword in the eye of the block. "Impact!"
He was devirtualized immediately after.
I tried to nock an arrow, but also got devirtualized.
"Well, at least we're alive," I groaned, rubbing my neck as the scanner opened.
Just then, we heard Sissi screaming and we hurried up the ladder to see what the commotion was about.
Jeremy started screaming as he was picked up by several thick, huge cables that electrified and waved him in the air.
Ulrich tried cutting the cables with a sharp piece of metal, but just crumpled to the grown as he got shocked. The cabled then picked him up too, and started waving it's 'prizes' both about.
"Sick um' you dumb mutt! I said sick um," Sissi ordered from the elevator, waving a shoe in Kiwi's direction, foolishly urging him to go after the cable.
I tried to do something, but the cable just hit me, causing me to fly through the air and smash into the wall. I let out a groan and stay on the floor.
Suddenly, the cables stopped waving. Odd had cut it. "And it works the second time! I told you, that by the end of day you wouldn't be able to do with out me," the blond yelled before cutting the final part off.
The wires fell to the floor, dropping Ulrich and Jeremy.
They came to help me and, and then we all (Except Sissi, who was still waiting, terrified, in the elevator) went back to the monitor.
"Mia, are you there?" Jeremy asked.
"Yes. Is everything alright on your side?" she asked, voice full of concern.
"Well, we're a bit shaken up, but it can't really get worse." Jeremy said.
Oh, how wrong he was. Unbeknownst to him, of course, Jeremy had been wrong. He had been very, very wrong...