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(at school, at the vending machines)

Jeremy, Odd, Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, and I were hanging out, trying to drag out the time between classes as much as we could. Jeremy was excitedly telling everyone else about finding an anti-virus, but I was only listening with one ear, not really paying attention. It wasn't until Jeremy said something about Lyoko that I included myself in the conversation.

"…and then we will be able to shut down X.A.N.A. once and for all," Jeremy had said.

My eyes widened in shock, "What? Why are you shutting down Lyoko?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Yumi asked. I shook my head.

"Once we have given Aelita her anti-virus, she'll be free from X.A.N.A. and we can shut him down. He won't cause us trouble anymore," Ulrich summed up for me.

"What will that do to Lyoko? Will we still be able to go?" I asked, worried.

Before they could answer, the bell rang for class. They all ran off, not wanting to be late for class, and since none of them had class with me this hour, I would just have to wait for my answer.

(F.F. to end of the school day, on the school grounds)

"We'd better get going," Aelita said to us.

"Wait. Where's Odd?" I asked. No sooner had I asked than the boy came sprinting out of the school.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to get out of a detention with Jim," he said once he had regained his breath.

"How did you manage that?" Yumi asked with a look of surprise on her face.

"I just didn't go," he said with a grin on his face. "I'll have to do a week's worth to make it up. This last trip to Lyoko had better be worth it. So are we going or not? I don't want Jim to spot me."

"Well, we were waiting for you," I said, a hint of annoyance seeping into my voice.

"But we'll leave now," Aelita quickly said.

We went the same way as before, and I was following them on my skates. We got to the warehouse, and I slid down the cable, much easier than the last time, and followed them into the elevator. At the first stop, Jeremy stepped out, "I'll send you guys to the Forest Region."

We continued down. When we got to the scanner room, everyone, except me, stepped out of the elevator.

"Aren't you coming?" Ulrich asked.

"I'll meet you there," I smirked.

The doors to the elevator closed, and once again, I touched my wristband. It glowed white in color, and as I had been before, I was transported to Lyoko. I knew that they would be heading to the transporter, so that was where I sent myself. I found a nearby tree and sat in it, knowing it would be a few minutes before the rest of them showed up.

I dosed off, and old memories crept into my dreams. First, I saw my old house. On it, there were still Christmas lights hanging from the roof. I turned to look down the street, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

I saw myself, but I was younger, seven years old to be exact. Walking down the snow-covered street was my seven year old self, and, I was more surprised to see, my older brother and twin sister walking along side her, or me rather.

No sooner had I realized it was them that I found myself in Lyoko, but not in the tree, I was in a sector that I recognized, but wasn't sure where from. I saw my brother and sister again, walking alongside a ten year old me.

Then everything went black. I saw my brother and sister drifting farther away from me, screaming, "Nara! Nara!"

I woke up suddenly to Odd's voice, "Nara! Wake up!"

"Sorry, I dosed off," I said, adjusting my eyes.

"Well, let's go," Yumi yelled from below me. That was when I realized I was still in the tree, and Odd was up there too. "The transporter should be here any moment."

"Hey, are you okay?" Odd asked in a concerned voice, seeing the sadness on my face.

"Yeah, I think so. Just a bad dream, reliving old memories," I answered.

"The transporter's here," Aelita called to us.

I jumped down from the tree, and stood on the edge of the Forest Region with the rest of them. A white sphere with X.A.N.A.'s mark appeared and took us away.

Why does this seem so familiar? I asked myself. When we stepped out of the sphere, I immediately knew why. I just saw this place in my dream! Maybe this is where--

"Nara! You okay? You seem a bit pale," Odd said to me.

"Ye…yeah, I guess," I told him in a shaky voice.

"The corridor is about to open, guys," Ulrich called to us.

"I'm fine, Odd. Don't worry about me," I reassured him. He didn't seem convinced, but he let it go.

"Okay, guys," I heard Jeremy say after the corridor opened, "you have three minutes to find the key."

We ran to the end of the corridor at his last word. When we got there, there was a large blue room, with many different sized, blue towers populating it.

"X.A.N.A.'s going easy on us. All we have to do is climb the towers up to the key," Ulrich said, jumping onto a low, nearby tower.

"Don't be so sure," Aelita said, pointing to the tower Ulrich was currently standing on. Not only was Ulrich's tower moving up and down, they all were.

"This just got a whole lot more difficult," I said to them.

"Why's that? The towers are just moving now," Yumi said.

"Yeah, I know, but there are some Creepers over there, and they look ready to attack."

"Guys, you have two minutes left to get to the key," Jeremy's voice said.

"I'll get to the key, you guys watch my back," Odd called, already jumping from tower to tower.

The rest of us started running and jumping across the sea of towers to the best of our ability. Ulrich and Yumi were ahead of me, starting to fight the Creepers, and Aelita was running behind me.

I was hanging back, keeping an eye on Aelita, when out of nowhere I was hit with a laser. I was knocked away from Aelita, and towers immediately rose around her, trapping her.

"Aelita! Get out of there! The Skipozoa is there!" I heard Jeremy yell. I could tell from the tone of his voice that something was very wrong.

The towers surrounding her were too high for me to climb, so I shot an energy blast through one of them.

Before me there stood a large squid-like creature. I hesitated, but I wasn't quite sure why. I shook my head to rid myself of my doubts, and then I stepped forward.

The tentacles of the Skipozoa were wrapped around Aelita, streams of red pulsing out of her through the tentacles. I aimed an energy blast at the tentacles, and they were severed. I ran to catch Aelita as she fell, and the Skipozoa drifted away into the shadows.

At that moment, the towers around us started to fall, "Odd must have gotten to the key," Aelita pointed out as I set her down.

Once all of the towers sunk, and the floor was perfectly flat, we sprinted to the other side of the room where the others were waiting. We walked out of the room, and came to an opening. It was then that I heard a faint rumbling noise, which was steadily getting louder. Whatever is causing that sound must be getting closer, I thought.

"When we say now, jump off the side of the ridge, okay?" Odd told me. I nodded in response.

"Ready," Ulrich said, as if anticipating the start of a race, "now!"

We all jumped as a white platform came and scooped us up. When it stopped, we ran to the end of the arm, and came out an opening that led to outside of the sector. Aelita ran up to a screen, and started downloading some files. I walked over to the edge and sat down, thinking.

Odd noticed, and he walked over and sat next to me, "Why don't you tell me what's bothering you."

"When we shut down X.A.N.A., Lyoko will be gone, won't it, and we won't be able to come back," I said with a sigh.

"Yeah, that's right," he confirmed for me.

"And anything on Lyoko at the time why be gone forever, right?"

"Right."

"Even if they belong on Earth?"

"Nara, what's this about?" Odd asked, looking at me.

"Odd, the thing is—"

But before I could answer him, I was hit in the back by a laser. I was knocked off balance, and I fell over the side of the ridge.

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