Chapter One: The Flood
It's another day at Kadic Academy. Middle Schoolers from all over the world came to attend this prestigious school. While some Pokemon focus on their education, some have to focus on that and much more. As students hussle and bussle to class, a young Buizel sits in the principal's office, getting lectured by his father.
"I just don't understand Light. We just had a talk at the end of last year. You told me that THIS wouldn't happen again." A Floatzel holds up the report card, showing his teeth and snarling at the teenager as he says, "I told you to try harder. Mz. Hertz is already talking about transferring you to 8th grade Remedial. I didn't pay for this expensive school for you to fool around like this."
Light, the young buizel looks down at his paws as his father's word pierces him. He gritted his teeth as if he just really wanted to come clean with him. But how could he? Not even the most creative of Smeargle would believe such a story. A Virtual World inside a supercomputer where you fight monsters to save the world? He didn't take his father for that much of a fool.
"Light! Answer me!" His father shouted, which snapped him out of his thought process. "Why do you have such horrible attendance? Where could you possibly be going?" Light's mind spiraled as he searched for an answer. "Well…. I-" His father interjected again. "Light, you're usually so witty with your words! Now, you've turned into a Pikachu at the first question I asked you!" There was silence in the room.
"Listen." Light's father says as he stands up. "If it doesn't straighten up, I'll have no problem taking you back home and enrolling you at school there. Light, this is your final warning. Get to class."
As the door closed, an Alakazam walked in and put his paw on Light's shoulder. "It's time for class now, son. Run along." Light got out of his chair, and made a slow silent walk back to class. Light arrived in a class led by a Gothitelle. This Gothitelle was Ms. Hertz. She was a Chemistry Teacher at the school. The staff members call her Suzanne. She's extremely strict, she may have the appearance of a Gothitelle, but she has the demeanor of a Snorlax who hasn't gotten to eat in an hour or two.
Mz. Hertz was mid lesson, she took a glance at Light but didn't really comment on his demeanor. She knew exactly what happened, she's the one who called his parents. She made a small grin as Light walked with his head low.
Light took a seat next to a Riolu, who was already struggling to keep up with Ms. Hertz class work. This was his friend, Calvin. Calvin was extremely clever, but never put his cleverness forth to actually try in school. The only thing he really cared about was the girls. As a matter of fact, since Light and Calvin met, Calvin has dated 15 girls, each relationship shorter than three weeks.
Calvin looked up from his books towards Light and leaned in and whispered. "Hey, buddy! I was looking for ya earlier. Where'd you go?" Light continued to still be in his thoughts, and when Calvin, one of his best friends talked to him, it actually annoyed him a little. "I was minding my own business, now leave me alone."
Calvin looked shocked. What happened to Light to make him so snappy? He knows this usually happens when he gets into fights with Sherayz. Sherayz is a Snivy who's in the grade above her. She's extremely introverted, but she's incredibly intuitive. One time, she called down to the T, the exact moment that he and a girl he was dating were going to break up. Sherayz also was a close friend to Calvin. He usually found himself teasing Sherayz and Light about their complicated relationship. "What's the matter with you?" Calvin asked innocently.
"He's probably sulking." A voice from them says. Calvin looks up and sees Shell, an Oshawott, who seems to always be glued to his computer. Shell is the brains of the Lyoko operation. Somehow he's always doing something Lyoko-related. "I'm working on Maria's remateralization!" His voice ringed in his head. Maria was a Ralts, who seemed to be stuck on Lyoko. Although every other Ralts seems to be able to hit you with a strong psychic move, Maria can barely give you a headache. Even then, Maria was still so crafty. Calvin had a flashback to when a Megatank barreled towards Maria and she just stood there. Calvin remembers watching the holomap with Shell in horror. Just then, at the last second. Maria blinked out of the way, causing the Megatank to go rolling into the digital sea. Shell let out the biggest sigh of relief ever.
Just then, the bell rang. The three group up. Calvin being the first, he was the most excited. It was lunch time, meatball and gravy time. Shell took his laptop and waved to the Riolu and Buizel. "I'm gonna head to the factory, I've got some programs to work on with Maria. See ya!" Shell begin to waddle-run away. Light also walked in the same direction as Shell. "I'm not all that hungry." He said bluntly. Calvin wanted to follow, but he knows when Light's like this to just give him some time to chill.
Just then a feminine voice is heard. "Hey Cal. Where are Light and Shell?" Calvin turns around and sees Sherayz. "Hey Sherayz. Light is sulking, and Shell is headed to the factory. You wanna go eat?" Sherayz seemed worried about Light, but she decided to also give him time. Sherayz and Light both head to the lunchroom.
Shell sits at the supercomputer. "Maria? Can you hear me?" A screen pops up and it shows a smiling Maria. She waves. "Nice to see you Shell. How are you?" Shell smiles back, everytime he speaks to Maria he feels all warm. "I'm good. Everything good on your end?" Maria nodded. "No pulsations for the time being."
"Happy to hear that. We've got time to work then. So, I'm going to work on making sure the scanner program, making sure it can accommodate the amount of energy it's going to need doesn't cause us any problems. Why don't you work on the program that converts digital sequence codes into DNA? We have to make sure there aren't any issues with that either." Maria nods. "Okay."
Just then, outside the lunch room, the sky flashes before it begins raining. Calvin is too busy stuffing his mouth to notice. However, Sherayz does take a look and notice the random occurrence, but she doesn't put too much thought into it. She's too busy being disgusted about Calvin's eating habits and also what's wrong with Light.
Light is in his room looking up at the ceiling. "Am I really that bad of a son? Am I stupid or something? Maybe… I could ask Shell for help on lessons? He seems to keep up with schoolwork well. I can't wait till this Lyoko stuff is over. I miss my regular life." Light thinks to himself, taking an inhale. He hears the pitter pat of rain on his window. The sound kind of relaxes him. That is, until the rain becomes harder.
Back at the factory, Shell is going on a monologue about how he set up the materialization program to Maria. Maria seems to have stopped responding. She seems to feel some vibrations that usually aren't normal. She freezes to actually make sure it is what she thinks it is. After a moment, she finds out she's absolutely correct. It's Pulsations. "Shell!" She cuts him off. "Pulsations. XANA's woken up!" Shell also falls off the chair in surprise. "O-okay! I'll start the scan and let the others know." He pulls up the phone program and calls Sherayz.
Sherayz feels her phone vibrate and picks it up. "Shell? Hm? We're on our way." She looks at Calvin. "Xana has launched an attack, we've gotta go." Calvin stands up and takes one last gulp before walking to the door. Sherayz followed him. As they get outside, they notice that the rain is already up to their ankles. "We better hurry or we won't be able to go through the sewers." Sherayz and Calvin begin running, kicking up water as they go.
Light hears his phone ring but ignores it. He really isn't in the mood to talk to anyone. With his luck, it's probably his dad again. "Pick up will you? He sure picks the wrong time to sulk!" Shell says. Just then, the scan stops and begins glowing red. "Maria, the tower's in the northwest corner of the Mountain Sector!"
Maria nods and becomes serious. "I'm off!" She cuts off the window which shows her face.
Sherayz and Calvin find running harder and harder. The rainwater is almost up to their wast. As they walk through the park, Sherayz gets a light bulb moment. "Calvin, the water's too high, we'll never make it into the sewer! We have to go through the city." Calvin nodded as the duo ran past the sewer and through the forest towards the city.
Light's blank stare into the ceiling is interrupted by the sound of crash and screaming. He quickly gets up and runs towards the noise. What he finds is the door to the main entrance of the dorm swung open and the first floor has already flooded. He looks and notices students in a group huddled together staring at something. Light turns his head and his eyes widen.
A Charmander, which seems to be a lower classman, has been caught in the flood. Her tail is the only thing above water. The students are too frightened to move, but Light acts quickly. He leaps into the water, the buizel's tail swirling like a propeller as he makes a splash. He swims through the water and hoists the charmander on his back. He swims forward but also makes moment to moment glances back at the fire lizard to make sure its tail hasn't gone out. He gets back to the stairs and lays the Charmander on one of the landing sites. Light then feels the Charmander, knowing that if their body temperature lowers it could be fatal. The Charmander seems to have the same temp as himself. It's okay for Light, but a fire type being that cool? It's not good. "His temperature is dropping! Quick, someone, we need something to heat him up with."
As Shell watches the new reporter talk about the flash flood, he gets a call from Light. "Light? I've been trying to reach you, you do know that XANA is-" He gets cut off by Light. "Yeah yeah I know, XANA's attacking. The only thing is the dorm is flooding and I'm kind of busy doing rescue. Go on without me!" He clicks off and goes back to trying to heat up the Lizard.
Calvin and Sherayz seem to be on top of a submerged car, jumping from car to car in the road making sure they can get to the factory. Sherayz is already annoyed. She loves water, but not when it's on her clothes! After a while they get to the factory and make it to the scanners.
"Shell, we're here."
Shell begins typing. "Alright, I'm starting the process. Destination: The Mountains."
The scanners close on the Riolu and Snivy. "Transfer Calvin. Transfer Sherayz." Shell presses the enter key as he watches both of their digital avatar load. "Scanner Calvin. Scanner Sherayz." The white circle goes over their body from top to bottom, scanning every inch of them. "Virtualization!" Calvin's floppy ears fly up before he and Sherayz are sucked into the Virtual World.
They soon find themselves suspended in air and after a second, land in the mountain sector. They look around at the mountainous area covered with fog. They soon see a girl with short green hair with a horn on it, and a white dress covering them waving at them. "Hey Sherayz! Calvin!" Sherayz turned and smiled seeing her friend. "Hello Maria! Any idea where the activated tower is?"
Maria frowns and shakes her head. "No, not yet." She then turns and motions to the cables that seem to be alive, a red light flowing through them, as the ground vibrates leaving pulsations behind him. "But it can't be that far according to the pulsations." Sherayz begins running in the direction, her tail brushing up against Maria. "Then we should really get going!"
Back at Kadic, Light seems to have found a towel to wrap the Charmander in. He makes sure to not put it nowhere near the Charmander's tail. We don't need a fire and a flood. Just then he notices that the stairs are starting to become submerged as well. He looks up. "Okay, everyone to the second floor! Come on!" Light says before he picks up the Charmander and runs up the stairs.
Shell sits at the lab and looks at the camera of the factory. He notices that the bridge is completely submerged and water is beginning to fill the top area of the factory. "Hey guys, it seems XANA's trying to flood the factory. You'll have to make it fast so the supercomputer doesn't short circuit and you all end up disappearing forever."
Back on Lyoko, Calvin runs in between the two girls. He looks up listening to Calvin. "Great, is there any good news coming?"
"Yup." Sherayz says, stopping and pointing. "There's the tower." The Tower is surrounded by a cave that goes up to its height. Infront of it, there's three bloks. They slowly rotate looking both ways, waiting.
"Okay, let's make this quick. I'll start." Sherayz brings out her vines and wraps them to a small tree nearby, she swings back and forth on the tree, gaining momentum before she swings forward, making one big leap and landing in the path in front of the bloks. The Bloks rotate to charge a laser and unleash them at Sherayz. Leaves begin to wrap around Sherayz 'tail, getting bigger and bigger, they seem to be swirling around her tail at this point. She swings her body, unleashing the leaves. "Leaf Tornado!" The Leaf Tornado goes straight towards the three bloks, engulfing the lasers. The Two Bloks move to the side, as one stays there and is engulfed by the tornado. Once the tornado ends, leaves fall to the ground, showing the Blok having cuts all over its XANA symbol. It then begins to writhe before it explodes.
"Great job, Sherayz!" Shell says.
Just then Calvin's ears begin to lift and he closes his eyes. "Huh?" Calvin notices another blok crawling on the underside of the path about to fire at Sherayz from behind. Calvin dashes, all he can see is the outline of the three bloks and Sherayz' female figure. As the laser comes out, Calvin jumps up and his leg engulfs in flames. He lands, intercepting the laser. "Blaze Kick!" Sherayz gives Calvin a nod in appreciation.
Back at Kadic, the small Lizard seems to have awoken. "What happened?" The Lizard said, looking at the towel he's wrapped in. "The school flooded and you almost drowned. Luckily I was here." Light says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Before he can finish, the Lizard embraces him. "Thank you so much!" Light smiles and pat his back. "It's no problem, but it's no time for thank you's right now. We've got to go to the third floor." He then pulls his phone out. "Shell? How's everything going?"
"Maria is almost to the tower! Calvin and Sherayz are doing amazing!"
Back on Lyoko, the Blok that tried to shoot Sherayz unleashes lasers at Calvin. Calvin jumps to the side and ducks and weaves the lasers. The Blok then spins and shoots out his freeze ray! Calvin jumps to the side and then puts his hand to Blok's side eye symbol. "Bye bye!" He Unleashes a Force Palm, the blast blows the Blok off the path into the digital sea.
Meanwhile, Sherayz is fighting two bloks. She uses Leaf Blade to block one of the blok's lasers before the other Blok shoots her in the back, knocking her over. As she stands up, another Blok shoots her square in the chest knocking her on her back.
Shell panics. "Sherayz! Get out of there! You've only got 50 life points left!"
The two Bloks charge up their laser as Calvin runs up beside the blok. Calvin and Sherayz 'eyes met as they both grinned. As the lasers unleash, Sherayz rolls back, then flipping up, slashing the Blok's eye with a Leaf Blade. As that happens, Calvin quick attacked the other Blok to knock it off target. The Blok stumbles before charging its laser again.
Back at Kadic, Light and the other students cling to the room of the dorm, as the water has risen all the way up there. The cries and panics of students is all Light can hear. He gritted his teeth, hoping that the others prevailed. Thinking back, this might really be the worst day of his life.
On Lyoko, the Blok charged up and fired at Calvin, devirtualizing him. Sherayz looks up. "Cal!" She swings her tail, letting out a bunch of leaves which home in on each eye of the blok destroying it. "Magical Leaf!"
Just then, Maria goes running into the tower, the platform segments light up quickly as she gets to the middle, and looks up, floating. She does a flip before landing on the top platform. She touches the interface as her hand is recognized by the interface.
Maria_
Code_
Lyoko_
The data in the tower falls down into the void, before rushing up in a white light.
Shell presses enter. "Return to the past now!"
