A/N: The next chapter! A moment I'm sure you were waiting for.

Chapter 3: Materialization Aelita

Finally. After over a year of slaving over the computer, Jeremy finally finished a working materialization program to bring Aelita into the real world! Everything else was set up. Yumi convinced her parents to let her stay at their place with the pretense that she was Yumi's pen pal. Odd and Ulrich registered her to the school under the alias that she was Odd's cousin. And Jeremy had forged her documents. The look on Aelita's face when they told her he finally got the program to work was forever implanted in Jeremy's memory. She was so happy and excited. He couldn't wait to see that face in the flesh. Now the blond genius sat in the chair at the lab. He had just virtualized the others into the Forest Sector to help Aelita get to the passage tower. He grabbed the CD with the program and inserted it into the supercomputer. "Alright, I'm gonna launch the materialization program immediately, so we'll be ready as soon as Aelita is in the tower." 'I can't believe it. Soon Aelita will be here in the flesh! Just like I always…'

"Break! Break dance!"

'What the…'

"Break! Break! Break dance!"

Jeremy face palmed. On the screen wasn't all the calculations and codes he had done, but a music video Odd made of the song he created. "Aw man! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Something wrong?" Yumi asked.

"I grabbed the wrong CD! It's Odd's dumb video. I need to go back into my room and grab the right one."

"Got it. We'll make sure princess here gets to the tower," Ulrich told him. Jeremy put down the earpiece and ran back to Kadic.


Ulrich turned to Odd. "I didn't know you made a video."

"Yeah, it's great. It goes like this. 'Break! Break! Break dance!" Odd started singing while dancing. Aelita giggled and and even Ulrich couldn't help but chuckle.

"If you're done," Yumi interrupted, "we've got some monsters be beat."

"You're such a spoil sport," Odd said, stopping his little dance. "They're just Bloks and there are only three of them, one for each us."

"Personally, I feel insulted," Ulrich added before turning to Aelita. "Stay here princess. We'll clear the way." Aelita nodded and hid behind one of the large tree roots.

"Time to clean up. Ready boys?" Yumi asked.

"Yes ma'am!" Both replied, giving a mock salute. She rolled her eyes and started down one path while Odd and Ulrich took the other. Once the three Bloks caught sight of them they opened fire. Ulrich deflected with his saber while Odd and Yumi jumped into the air. Yumi took out one with her fans while Odd shot an arrow at the other, taking it out as well. The last one Ulrich defeated with a horizontal slash.

"Too easy," Odd commented.

"Let's hurry before XANA decides to make things difficult," Yumi responded. "Aelita, the way is clear!"

Aelita left her hiding spot and ran into the tower, with the other Lyoko warriors following her in.


Jeremy entered his room and grabbed the case with the right disc. He left his room and shut the door, only to turn and find Jim blocking the way. "Playing hooky, eh?"

"Uh, hooky? Me? N-no. I just, uh, left something in my room. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to class." He tried to step around Jim, but the P.E. teacher moved to intercept.

"Oh no. You're gonna tell me exactly what you and your friends have been plotting since the beginning of the year! And this time, the principal isn't here to bail you out." They stared at each other for a little bit before Jeremy started trying to get around him. Trying to fake him out, the blond succeeded in passing the teacher. "Belpois! Get back here!" Jeremy ignored him and ran down the stairs. Jim continued to order him to stop. But soon, Jeremy slipped and fell down the stairs. "Jeremy!" Jim shouted, this time with concern.

Determined to get back to the factory, Jeremy got up to run, only to fall back down. "Ah, my ankle!" he cried out, drawing the attention of nearby students.

"Oh my god!"

"Are you crazy Jim?"

"Look at what you did!"

Jim looked at Jeremy clutching his leg, guilt eating away at him. 'What have I done?'


"Hey guys. I have a question," Aelita said.

"Hmm? What is it?" Yumi asked.

"Well, I've always been curious about sleep. Tell me, is it normal to talk while doing so?"

"Uh, no," Yumi answered

"Huh, cause one time I connected to Jeremy's computer late at night. I hadn't checked the time so I thought it was morning. I was glad to find Jeremy was keeping his promise to me, but I was confused when I heard him speaking."

Ulrich covered his mouth in a poor attempt to hide his laughter. The others looked at him funny. "I slept over in his room one time," he explained. "Well, actually I didn't really sleep 'cause he was being loud. So I know what she heard."

"Yes, I remember he kept calling out my name." Now the other two started snickering as well. Aelita looked at them strangely. "What's so funny? Does that mean something?"

"Just that he dreams of you," Yumi answered as she composed herself.

"Oh, well, that makes me happy."

"Really?" Odd asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. It's nice that he cares a lot about me despite being only a program," she responded, smiling sadly.

"Hey, you're not just a program," Yumi assured her. "You're our friend."

"Yeah. In our eyes, you're already human," Ulrich told her.

"Einstein's just giving you the body to look the part," Odd added.

Aelita smiled. "Thanks guys. I can't wait to spend time with you out there."

"Just wait! I'll give the the gourmet tour," Odd told her.

"Not a good idea if you actually want to eat," Ulrich joked with the others except Odd laughing. "Tell me I'm wrong," he dared. Odd opened his mouth to retort, then shut it. "Thought so."

"Don't worry Odd. I'm sure there's something you can show me once I'm out of here," Aelita assured.

Odd snapped his fingers. "I got it! Music! I can show you all my favorite songs! Wait til you hear the Subsonics!"

"I look forward to it."

"Hey, shouldn't Jeremy be back by now?" Yumi asked.

"You're right." Aelita lifted her head. "Jeremy? Jeremy, are you there?" No response.

"I'm getting worried. You don't think something's happened to him, do you?" Yumi asked.

"Oh quit being so pessimistic," Odd said. "I'm sure at worse, he got caught and sent to class. He'll be here soon. Everything's fine."

Outside the tower, a ball rolled it's way to the tower. It stopped, with multiple Eye of XANA symbols showing the shell before the two halves separated, revealing a larger Eye of XANA symbol inside. It started charging its attack.


Jeremy sat on one of the cots in the infirmary, bandages over his ankle, wondering how things went so wrong after things started out so well. First XANA sends monsters to stop Aelita from getting to the tower, then he finds out he grabbed the wrong disc, then while grabbing the right disc, he encounters Jim, who chase him, and now he's stuck in the infirmary with a sprained ankle, unable to leave the room. According to the nurse, he'd have to wait a week before he could walk without crutches, which she hadn't given him yet as she wanted him off his feet for awhile. Meanwhile, he had no doubt XANA would continue to attempt to thwart their attempts at bringing Aelita out of Lyoko. He had to get out of here and back to the factory. 'But how?'

"Jim, you've gone too far this time!" He heard Mr. Delmas sat outside the infirmary.

"I know, sir," Jim replied sadly.

"You're paranoia has caused one of my students to get hurt!"

"I'm really sorry."

Mr. Delmas sighed. "Not as sorry as I am Jim. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to let you go."

"W-what?" Jim asked, shocked.

"You're fired, Jim. You have the rest of the day to clear out your stuff and leave." Jim felt his world shatter as the principal walked away.

He entered the infirmary and sat next to Jeremy, who crossed his arms and looked away. The nurse had left to get Jeremy something to eat. "Listen, Jeremy, you have every right to be angry at me. I'm not looking for forgiveness. I do want to say I'm sorry though. I thought for sure you were up to something, but I went too far." Jim sighed and walked over to the window. "I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I deserve to be fired." He started to walk out. "I'm really gonna miss you guys."

Jeremy suddenly had an idea. It was risky, but it had to be done. "Jim, wait." Jim turned around. "You... weren't exactly wrong in your assumption. We are hiding something."

Jim rushed to Jeremy's side. "So I was right! I'm not crazy!"

'Not sure about that last one,' Jeremy thought as he nodded. "And I'm willing to tell the principal so you can get your job back. But first, I need you to take me somewhere. I'll explain on the way."

Jim's face lit up at the prospect of getting his job back, but then frowned in confusion. "Why are you doing this? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful. But it seems to me you've worked harder to keep your secret secret. Why reveal it now?"

"Three reasons. One, I feel bad we made you lose your job. Two, the secrecy of what we've been doing will soon be irrelevant. And three, what I need to do is really important, to me and a friend."

Jim thought for a moment, then nodded and sticking out his hand. "Great. Shake on it." Jeremy reached out and shook Jim's hand. "Alright, climb on my back and tell me where to go."

The blond nodded and did as he was told. "Ok, head to the forest. Meanwhile, I'll tell you about our secret. It all started when I was looking for parts for my mini robots in the abandoned factory."


"Everything's fine, right Odd?" Ulrich remarked sarcastically as he dodged the Megatank's circular laser.

"Come on, it's only one," Odd said as he launch a laser arrow at the monster. The Megatank closed up, the arrowhead bouncing off it's shell.

"Can it you two and focus!" Yumi shouted as she threw her fan. "We can't let XANA take out the tower!" The fan bounced off it's shell same as Odd's arrow. It opened up again and shot at them.


Jim had a hard time wrapping his head around it all. A virtual world? An evil AI? Fights to save the world? Sounded like a TV show to him. Having heard plenty of nonsense other students tried to use as an excuse, at any other time he wouldn't have believed it. But here he was, at the abandoned factory, waiting for the elevator that would take him to the supercomputer Jeremy claimed to have found, and he found himself believing Jeremy's crazy tale. "So you and the others save the world fighting monsters in a virtual world and turning off towers with the help of some computer program called Aelita?" Jeremy, who was currently holding on to Jim's arm as he stood on his good leg, nodded. "And how do you plan to stop this XANA thing."

"Simple. We'll turn the supercomputer off. But we can't do it with Aelita in there or we'll lose her too."

"So you're willing to risk the world in order for a program?"

Jeremy looked at Jim in anger. "She is not just some program! She my friend! She's our friend! And she's more human than some people I've meet! We know what we're doing is risky! We've each nearly died at XANA's hands! But none of us have ever even considered abandoning her!"

Jim was shocked for a second at Jeremy's words before laughing. "Wow! You kids are something else! Well I for one am proud of you guys." Now it was Jeremy's turn to be shocked. "Never leave a man behind! That was my squad's moto when I was in the commando unit! But I'd rather not talk about it right now." The elevator arrived and the two entered it. "So, you've got your little, uh, program thing to make her real, right?"

Jeremy held up the case with the disc. "Right here." They arrived at the floor of the lab. Jeremy entered the code and the doors opened.

"Wow." Jim looked in amazement. Any lingering doubts he had vanished. "Who da believed something like this existed?"

He helped Jeremy into the chair. The blond grabbed the earpiece and put it on. "Aelita, I'm back. Everything alright?"

"Jeremy?" Aelita's voice came before she appeared on his screen. "XANA sent a Megatank to take out the tower. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi are out there fighting it right now."

Jeremy looked at the map. "I see it."

"Um, Jeremy? Who's that man behind you?" Aelita asked, pointing at Jim.

"Oh, this is Jim, our P.E. teacher," Jeremy answered.

"Uh, hi there." Jim said, waving.

"Nice to meet you, Jim." Aelita said, waving back.

"I'll explain everything later, when we're face to face."

"I look forward to being with you." Jeremy blushed, which did not go unnoticed by Jim.

"Ok, I'm starting the program." Jeremy inserted the disc. Taking a moment to see if it was the right one, which it was, he directed his attention to the others. "Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, I've started the program, but it'll take time. Keep defending the tower!"


"Really? Cause I was thinking of taking a cat nap," Odd remarked sarcastically. He imagined Jeremy was shaking his head.

"Odd, with me," Yumi ordered. Odd nodded and followed behind her. The Megatank fired and Yumi was hit and devirtualized. Odd managed to close in and was about to fire at the monster at point blank when he was blasted and devirtualized as well.

Ulrich tried to distract the tank by using Triangulate, trapping it in a triangle created by him and his clones as they run faster between corners. It worked for a moment before the Megatank fired at one of the clones, disrupting the technique. The second clone was defeated just as quickly, but Ulrich used the opening to stab the monster in the eye, destroying it.

"Ulrich, behind you! Another Megatank!" Ulrich turned to see another Megatank about to shot at the tower. "I'm almost done, but I need a little more time!"

The tank shot the tower, causing it to shake. "The tower's not gonna last much longer!" Aelita cried from inside.

Ulrich positioned himself between the tower and the Megatank. It fired once more and Ulrich used his sword to block it. But the laser pushed against him, slowly forcing him back and draining his life points.

"Aelita, get into position!" Jeremy order.

Aelita got to the center of the tower. "In position. I'm ready to join you Jeremy."

"Alright, here goes nothing." He hit a few keys and pressed enter. "Code: Earth!" Aelita levitated up the tower and slowly disappeared. Outside, the laser overcame Ulrich and devirtualized him.


"Quick! Get me to the scanner room!" Jeremy barked.

"What happened to your ankle?" Yumi asked with concern whe n she saw the bandages.

She and Odd noticed the guilty look on Jim's face but before he could say anthing Jeremy cut him off. "I fell, now I need to get down there!"

"You want the first thing she see to be you eh?" Odd teased. Jeremy blushed but didn't deny it. The two Lyoko warriors helped him to the scanner room followed by Jim. Ulrich was waiting for them their. He was surprised to see Jim, but before he could question it, Jeremy told him he'd explain later. They heard one of the scanners hum and glow before it opened up. Jeremy threw himself off Odd and Yumi to the scanner, holding himself up with it. He looked down. "She's… She's..." He whispered with tears threating to leave his eyes.

Aelita felt strange. Many strange, foreign sensations penetrated her body. She felt something enter and leave through her nose, felt her chest go up and down, and the way her hand felt against whatever they were touching. 'Wait, felt? I'm feeling? And this sensation I feel through my nose, is it smell?' She opened her eyes. She saw a leg, with many other pairs of legs behind it. She looked up and her breath hitch. Staring right back at her, unhindered by a screen, was Jeremy. He seemed to be in a trance, looking at her. She tried to get up, but her arms felt weak. She was not used to this new body. Jeremy seemed to see her predicament and held out his hand to help her up. She took it and basked in the feel of it. She couldn't put words to it, not yet anyway. All these senses were still new to her. It would take time before she could identify them. He helped her up as best he could. She gripped the scanner and to allow her legs time to get use to the function of standing. She looked back into Jeremy's eyes and whispered, "I'm here."

Jeremy nodded, wiping a lone tear and smiling brightly. "You're here."

"I'm here," she repeated, smiling back. "I'm finally here!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, catching him off guard. But he hugged her back with one arm, using the other to keep them up. "Thank you. Thank you so much Jeremy." She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him harder, enjoying how she felt in his arms and having him in her's. It was better than she could have imagined.

Jeremy blushed red. "Yo-... Y-you're welcome," he managed to stutter out.

"Hey! What are we, chopped liver? We helped too," Odd said he hugged Aelita too.

"Welcome to Earth," Yumi said as she too joined in for a group hug.

"About time you got here, princess," Ulrich added, a little reluctant to join in until Odd and Yumi pull him in.

"Thank you all so much!" Aelita told them. It was tight, but she didn't mind in the least. She was finally here, on Earth, with all her friends. Nothing could have made her happier. It was then she noticed the water coming from her eyes. "Jeremy? Why am I crying? I thought people cried when they were sad?"

"They also do this when they're really happy too," he pointed out.

"Well, I've never been happier," she replied as she snuggled deeply into the group embrace. Jim watched from behind, not wanting to interrupt the moment. Jeremy told him this was over a year in the making.

Eventually, everyone reluctantly backed away, with Ulrich supporting Jeremy. It was then that Aelita noticed Jeremy's ankle and gasped. "Jeremy, what happened?"

"Yeah, you've got some explaining to do Einstein," Ulrich added. "What happened to you and why is Jim here?"

"Alright alright. I'll tell you what happened."


Alpha: Ah, the moment Aelita was first materialized. Such a touching day, I'm sure.

Aelita: Yeah. It was great seeing everyone for the first time.

Sissi: Where am I?

Alpha: Pardon?

Sissi: You left me out! Me! I'm just as important to the show as the others!

Alpha: Huh, I have, haven't I? My bad. But next chapter I guarantee you'll be in it.

Sissi: Good.

Odd: I don't know. I like this story without her.

Sissi: Shut it, Oddball!

Odd: Make me!

Alpha: Oi! Play nice, both of you or I will make this an OddSissi fic!

Odd: You wouldn't.

Alpha: I don't know. I think you two would look cute together. (I actually really do. Don't know why.)

Sissi: Ew! No way! We'll behave!

Odd: Yeah, we will!

Alpha 'Why didn't I think of this sooner?'