Code: Lyoko and all related characters, settings, and plotlines are not mine. I feel so creative and not boring right now. You have no idea.
Photographs
Chapter 1: Goodbye Lyoko
There was a crack like lightening that echoed through all of Lyoko. A tremor passed through the crust of the facsimile of Earth, sending the four virtual beings standing in the Forest Area to the ground.
"What the—?" asked Odd (of nobody in particular) about two seconds later, as the first to recover…his voice at least, before being abruptly cut off by a scared, frantic voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"Get out! Right now!" it screamed.
Ulrich's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Why? What's the mat—"
But Jeremy's panicked screaming cut off further inquiries.
"You need to get out of Lyoko, right now! Something's wrong!"
Trusting in Jeremy's verdict, Yumi immediately withdrew her fan and tossed it at Odd, whose life points were already low. He disappeared to the real world the same second an upheaval in the ground not unlike an earthquake threw the remaining three characters to the dirt.
"Okay, Ulrich. Your turn." Yumi said calmly as her fan returned to her hand.
"Wait! You should go fir—" But his protests were in vain, and were abruptly silenced when Yumi's fan lodged itself in his chest, immediately transporting him to the real world.
Then the sky darkened, and the ground disappeared. Yumi opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Ice-cold fear shot up her spine, numbing her mind. Lyoko was gone!
And then, as quickly as it had vaporized, Lyoko reappeared. Yumi's feet were planted firmly on what she was sure was 'virtually solid' ground.
The black haired girl turned to Aelita.
"What will you do, Aelita?" she asked. Her voice was steady, but the fan once again clasped firmly in her grasp was fluttering. Yumi was scared.
"I will have to stay here. Materialization is not yet possible for me. Go." Aelita closed her eyes and bowed her head, as if accepting a death sentence.
They both knew that something horrible was happening to Lyoko, and that Aelita was doomed. There was absolutely no way to save her, but Yumi could still escape.
"I can't go. I can't leave you here," Yumi said, almost regretting the words leaving her mouth. Why was she throwing away possibly her life for a computer program? Because Aelita really was, in truth, nothing more than pixels on a screen.
Lyoko flickered out of existence again. Not expecting it, Yumi squeezed her eyes shut and opened her mouth in preparation to scream, and was surprised when sound issued from her parted lips.
With her fists clenched and brought up to her face—as if to protect herself—she opened her eyes to find Lyoko had come back into existence…temporarily.
"You must go. I am nothing more than a part of this world." Aelita stated evenly, as if reading Yumi's mind.
A passing thought occurred to Yumi—what if Aelita really could read minds? She was a computer program…what if she had access to the thought patterns of all virtual individuals in Lyoko? Yumi hoped not…she'd thought some things in here she wouldn't want anyone to see, real or not.
"But Jeremy—he—"
"No. Really. You have to go. You have so much to live for, and if you stay here there is a good chance you may never be able to return to your world."
But at that moment Lyoko dissipated into nothingness.
And no amount of waiting would ever bring it back.