Code Lyoko:

The Diitto Generation

Part Seven:

The Return to the Past

Author's Note: It took so long to find the time to write this . . . I am really, really, really, really sorry for the delay and will do my best to have the next section up within a reasonable amount of time . . .

Matthias (Section 7.2)

"No."

Matthias curled his lips into an amused smile, crossing his arms over his chest. He was standing below a tree near the two dormitories, glancing into the branches. Valentina had climbed to a spot roughly seven feet off the ground to do her reading assignment. She had used the branches of the decorative tree to brace herself securely, indifferent to the fact that Chorter, the grounds keeper, would scream at her if he found her in the tree.

"Come on, Valentina," Matthias said, doing his best to withhold the silly grin he could feel growing larger upon his face. (Not that Valentina would see him smiling at her since she was determinedly ignoring him or that Matthias cared if she saw him smile at her anymore.) "You know you want to learn how."

"No, I am fairly sure I do not want to learn how to skateboard."

"But it would be fun. Skateboarding is such a rush – you go so fast, and-"

"Non, no, nyet," Valentina said, saying the same word first in French, then English, then Russian before switching back to her accented French. "Really, I have no interest in learning how to skateboard."

"But-"

"Matthias, allow me to let you in on a little secret of mine," Valentina said, voice changing from stiff and stubborn to soft and sweet. Leaning back so that her torso dangled from the tree level with Matthias's head, long, wavy blonde hair swaying gently in the light wind, Valentina beckoned Matthias to her side with one hand, using the other to keep herself from falling. Still smiling, though not nearly as much since Valentina was now looking at him, Matthias moved to her side and allowed Valentina to whisper into his ear.

"I am afraid of skateboards, and most other things that involve me not using my own two feet to move around. I have learned to cope with that scooter, especially in emergencies, but I still am not comfortable with it. Please do not make me get on a skateboard."

Before swinging back into the tree, Valentina lightly tapped Matthias's cheek twice. At her touch, he felt a strange tingling sensation within him. The smile returned.

"Okay then – no skateboarding," he said.

"Yay for me. Now, do not you have to meet Franz soon? Are not you two going to Lyoko to obtain the return to the past?"

"Yeah . . . I should probably go find him," Matthias admitted. He was hesitant to leave Valentina, partly because he was not sure how safe it was for her in the tree and partly because he wanted to continue talking to her. But, he had agreed to meet Franz and go to Lyoko with him that afternoon before dinner. Franz and Waldo had rationalized that because Franz had a weapon he should be the one to go to the core of Lyoko, and the entire Diitto gang had decided that Matthias should go with him because he, as a short-range attacker, complemented Franz's ability to hit opponents from afar. If, on the odd chance that the two of them ran into trouble, they would be prepared for it. "Bye, Valentina."

"Good luck," Valentina called after Matthias as he started to head in the direction of his dormitory. As he approached the Elizabeth building, he watched Franz emerge through the front doors. The blond was wearing his white light jacket and jeans along with his backpack. His disheveled hair, even longer than Matthias's own, seemed to highlight the fact that he was glaring. Bewildered, Matthias stopped and watched as Franz walked past him, heading in the direction of the forest.

"You coming or not?" Franz called back after a moment, not turning to face Matthias as he addressed him. His tone was harsh, and Matthias tensed defensively. Why was Franz pissed at him now? Over the past week, they had gotten along better than they ever had before – in class and in the cafeteria they tended to pretend the other didn't exist as opposed to antagonizing one another like in the past, and in the evening when they were both in their room they managed curt conversations mostly relating to virtual worlds. Matthias had put in special effort to get along with his roommate, seeing as if he didn't sit with Franz and his friends at mealtimes, in the library, et cetera, he had nobody else to sit with unless Valentina came to see him. So much for putting effort into anything . . .

Slowly, Matthias began to follow Franz. The pair of them slipped unnoticed into the woods and moved to stand in the clearing where the manhole was hidden. Matthias watched as Franz took his phone out of his pocket and began to text someone.

"Really, dude. What you're doing isn't cool."

"And what, exactly, am I doing?" Matthias asked, his tone matching Franz's in stiffness.

"You know what."

"If you say so."

Matthias turned away from Franz, annoyed by his superior attitude. It really wasn't worth the time to be decent toward him and his friends. He, Kokoro, and Katja were all the same. Waldo was slightly better, but he was one of the weirdest, smartest kids in the school, so Matthias still didn't trust him too much.

A few moments later, Waldo walked into the clearing. The small boy's green eyes darted between Franz and Matthias before locking onto his older brother as he spoke.

"Nancy's almost here." Matthias guessed that had been who Franz was texting earlier.

"Cool," Waldo muttered in response. Matthias looked away from him, once again letting his gaze drift through the tops of the trees around him. There was really only one thing he could imagine Franz being mad at him for, and if that was the case there was absolutely no chance that he would simply back off.

Silence filled the clearing until Nancy arrived, throwing a nervous glance over her shoulder. "Sorry I'm late – I had to go and see Delmas for a minute."

Matthias's eyes widened, and he turned to face his red-haired sister. "What did you do?" he asked her, wondering what the timid little girl could have done to get in trouble. The only thing he could think of was related to a virtual world or two . . .

"I am, apparently, not in enough extracurricular activities," Nancy said, heading to the manhole and reaching down to struggle the heavy plate to the side. Matthias bent down to help his sister, easily revealing the entrance into the sewers. "He wants me to join another after school club."

"You're in the pencak silat club – or you're supposed to be," Matthias said, muttering the second half of his phrase. Nancy had signed up to be in the club, which Kokoro led almost every Wednesday afternoon after school under the guidance of Coach Zachary. Matthias had been making a point to attend, and since learning that he could shoot lightning he was even more determined to learn martial arts than he had been before. (Before, Matthias had mainly wanted to be able to hold his own against Franz if the opportunity ever arose.) However, Nancy had only come to two meetings thus far, usually forgoing them to work on something related to computers and Diitto by herself or with Franz.

"Yeah, I told Delmas that. But since it doesn't meet too often Delmas thinks that I should find another club to join as well. He has given me a week to find something."

"We'll figure out how to deflect Delmas's wrath later," Franz said hastily, moving before Nancy and Matthias to climb into the sewers. Matthias noticed Nancy flinch at his words, unusually curt to be directed at her. He felt a flash of anger toward his roommate – it was one thing to be pissed at him, but that did not give Franz a reason to snap at his little sister.

Matthias waited until Nancy and Waldo had climbed into the sewers before following, pausing at the top of the ladder to reach back up and drag the manhole cover back into place so that nobody would notice it had been moved. He then headed for his skateboard, shooting down the sewer after the others. They all arrived at the factory and silently made their way to the old scanner room. There, Waldo and Franz proceeded to plug their respective laptops into two of the three scanners.

"Who's sending whom?" Waldo asked his brother, glancing at Nancy briefly as he spoke.

"You send me," Franz told his brother. "Nancy can monitor Matthias. She knows how to bring someone in – if anything she can't cope with happens she can just bring him in."

Matthias watched as Nancy twitched in response to Franz's words. Another flash of anger surged within him – Franz really did need someone to show him that he wasn't the center of the universe.

"I'd rather be sent by my sister anyway," Matthias said, moving to stand in the scanner she was standing by as she waited for Franz to finish starting up the program on his laptop. Nancy's eyes softened slightly, and her pale lips broke into a slight smile.

"Then everything works out perfectly," Franz grumbled, moving to stand in the scanner connected to Waldo's laptop. "Okay, guys, send us to the core."

"Okay," Waldo and Nancy replied in unison. Matthias watched as the scanner doors enclosed him within the narrow tube, and closed his eyes to wait for the transfer. The strange sensation of virtualization engulfed him.

When Matthias opened his eyes again, he was reforming in the air above the ground. White walls, the top of a dome, surrounded him. Falling through the air, Matthias caught himself, and then became aware that the strange room he had landed in was spinning. He took another glance at his surroundings, watching Franz out of the corner of his eye as the other boy landed and straightened up. He wore a costume identical to his Diitto costume on Lyoko (a quick glance had assured Matthias that his Lyoko costume was also identical to his Diitto one) though the color-changing edges had blackened in the core.

Franz stole a quick glance at Matthias then fixed his gaze on the spinning walls. "We arrived safely. We'll be entering the core as soon as the door opens."

"Be careful." Waldo's voice rang through Matthias's ears. "Mom told us to expect the unexpected here. The core was originally Xana's home, and Lyoko has been online for a while now. There's a chance that Xana has taken over – it wouldn't be outside his power to create monsters here via the programs that once allowed him to dwell here."

"Yeah, I know," Franz muttered.

"We'll be careful," Matthias added, earning a cold stare from the other boy as the room the two of them were in finally slowed to a stop. A doorway began to carve itself out of the wall, and Matthias and Franz began to run. Matthias didn't know what to expect, but he tensed, ready to summon his sword at a second's notice, as he passed Franz to lead the way through the tunnel.

The two boys soon came to a large room constructed of blue-gray core blocks. The blocks were constantly shifting, moving up and down, traveling at various speeds. Matthias hesitated before advancing, wondering how they were supposed to cross the room as he scanned the area in search of the path they were supposed to take.

"Really, Matthias," Franz began, his voice barely above a whisper. There was a chance that Matthias could only hear the other boy because of his enhanced hearing. He began to wonder why Franz was whispering; knowing that only dialogue shouted or spoken would transmit back to the computers monitoring their transfer.

Matthias turned to look at Franz, eyes narrowed defensively at the shorter boy. Franz's gaze was equally stiff, his green eyes seeking out Matthias's own dark pupils and locking onto them. "Lay off Valentina. I . . ." Unable to keep eye contact, Franz's gaze drifted to the platform beneath them – a zone free from speeding blocks that might slam into a person and de-virtualize them. "I like her," he finished, practically choking out the phrase.

A strange feeling surged within Matthias. Not unlike hatred, it tightened his insides, quickened his heartbeat, and triggered an alertness typically summoned for self-defense. But there was something more, a fluttering feeling within Matthias's insides dominated, nearly drowning out the other symptoms for a moment before sliding to the back of his mind.

"I don't see how that gives you the right to tell me to back off," Matthias hissed softly in response, not feeling that Nancy and Waldo needed to hear his words.

Franz shot Matthias a bitter look and then, suddenly, looked away from the other boy. Something else had drawn his gaze – a strange creature, similar to the supercreeper that Matthias had seen on Diitto though of a much more reasonable size and with arms-like things aiding in its slithering movement, was riding one of the moving blocks in their direction. Franz prepped his bow, going through the motions of his attack, and then shot at it before leaping out of the way of the monster's laser. A second laser struck Matthias in the back, and he twisted around to see two more creepers coming at him from behind.

"Mom was right – there are things here!" Franz shouted, beginning to jump from block to block to both avoid being slammed into neighboring blocks and avoid the lasers aimed at him by the three monsters. He shot at the creeper for a second time, hitting it so that it was destroyed instantly. Matthias shifted his gaze to his own attackers. He took advantage of his speed to land beside one, then used electrify to strike it on the mark of Lyoko so that it was also destroyed.

"Matthias, behind you!"

Twisting around, Matthias counted three more creepers in addition to the one that was just a few jumps away from him. But the creepers didn't cause him to raise his eyebrows in alarm – the monster floating behind him sent the shiver down his spine. It resembled a gigantic jellyfish, for lack of a better description. Matthias didn't have time to come up with a better description – he focused on dodging lasers by leaping from one moving block to another. Landing beside the third creeper to arrive, Matthias summoned his sword and slashed at the creeper, severing its head from its body and destroying it. He then turned to see that the jellyfish was drawing nearer – the creepers guarding it had turned on Franz, who was firing arrow after arrow in their direction. Two were destroyed, and then Matthias heard Franz shout at Waldo for more arrows to shoot.

So, Franz was out of ammo, and the creepy jellyfish thing was reaching out for him. Matthias gripped the handle of his sword with both hands, leaping at the creature. But, as soon as he was within striking distance, he felt himself go limp. His sword fell through the air, de-virtualizing as a block smashed it, and Matthias's gaze blurred as the jellyfish wrapped its tentacles around him.

Though, just as quickly as the creature had managed to get a hold of Matthias, it released him, making an odd shrieking sound as it retreated back the way it had come. Matthias fell through the air and landed on a moving block, quickly jumping to a different one when he realized that his present ride was headed for the ceiling. What had just happened? What was that jellyfish thing? Why had it released him so quickly, and what would it have done to him otherwise?

Then, Matthias became aware of the fact that he was glowing. A pale white light engulfed him, fading slowly until his skin was its usual peachy tone. He jumped to a different block then looked around in search of Franz. The other boy had made it safely to the other side of the room, having destroyed the last of the creepers. Matthias leapt from block to block until he was able to join him.

"Franz, you have forty life points left," Waldo pointed out. "Are the monsters gone now? We don't hear fighting anymore."

"For now," Franz replied bluntly.

"Matthias, you have sixty life points left," Nancy called.

"See if you can find your way out into the celestial dome – you might have to go through several more rooms before you find an exit," Waldo said.

"Okay," Franz said as Matthias couldn't help muttering, "I have twenty more life points than you and I had to escape a jellyfish."

Again, Franz met Matthias with a cold stare, his eyes positively frozen with ice. "Dude, you don't understand-"

"Oh, I think I do," Matthias said, not caring whether or not Nancy and Waldo heard his words as he raised his voice. "You don't understand. I like her, too, so I don't see why I should just lay off. It's not my fault if she likes me better than you-"

"She doesn't like you – she feels bad for you!" Franz snapped, eyes livid with anger. "You're pathetic and have no friends, so she's humoring you! Can't you see that?"

"I'm going to kill you!" Matthias hissed, lunging at Franz. He grabbed the other boy by the shoulders and rammed him into the ground. Franz said "Timewarp" and then managed to break free, relying on his program to see what Matthias intended to do to him a moment before he could act. He used his advantage to elbow Matthias in the chest and then kicked him across the platform so that he hit the wall of the room.

"Franz-"

"Matthias-"

"What are you two doing?" Waldo asked. Both he and Nancy began to scream at Matthias and Franz, though Matthias was oblivious to their words. He stood again, ruing the fact that he had lost his sword, and then used the program electrify to bring a ball of thunder to his hand. Then, he lunged at Franz.

"Stop fighting!"

Matthias aimed at Franz but missed; Franz kicked him again, sending him to the edge of the platform. Leaning precariously over the edge, Matthias managed to regain his balance before turning back to the other boy. He prepared to lunge, though as he moved forward he watched two lasers strike Franz. The blond began to fade into a thousand white panels, and, suddenly free of the rage that had consumed him a moment ago, Matthias turned to see that three more creepers had arrived. They had taken advantage of Franz's distraction to strike.

"Damn," Matthias muttered, centering himself in the platform and waiting for the creepers to shoot him down. He didn't deserve a painless return home from Nancy. The mission had failed – he had been supposed to protect Franz on their way to the interface in the celestial dome, and instead he had been the cause of his de-virtualization.

Matthias was struck once, twice, three times – and then he melted into a thousand white panels.