A/N: Just wanted to say that my paragraph seperations are different in this, just as a heads up ;P And also, I hope you enjoy! Things are gonna be hot from here on out!

Disclaimer: Code Lyoko and all its elements is owned by Antefilms, and a bunch of other people in France. Nice people who won't sue me if I write CL stuff. ...I think.

Un Monde Sans Danger
Chapter 4 - Need
Aelita reached out one hand, her hands fanning slightly in the air. Her fingertips lightly brushed against a translucent screen, then her palm. Responding to her touch, information sprang up all over the screen, several smaller windows opening up to report their data on the offchance that they'd be the one she needed. She folded her arms across her stomach, eyes shifting back and forth as she read. One window was singled out by a point of her index finger, and she leaned closer to peer at the numbers. The forest surrounded her on all sides, as if it too waited to be commanded. Aelita closed the window, then pressed her hand against the screen again and lifted it, making the panel vanish. Laying her arms across her middle again, she started walking.

Time had no relevance here in Lyoko. The skies never changed, they all remained perfectly constant- the Polar region in its inky midnight, the Desert in its bright midday, the Mountain in its quiet dawn, and the Forest in its inviting afternoon. She would have no concept of time if it weren't for the information provided to her. Through this thing called the "Internet", she could read about sunsets with their ruby, gold, and amethyst clouds. About the twilight fading into a star-studded night sky. The shifting of shadows thanks to the shifting of the sun. And weather... Weather was a fascinating subject for her, to read about things called "snow" and "rain", and about how it happened and why it happened.

And why it couldn't happen for her.

Aelita knew she was unusual, she had known it since...since that voice whispered that she was. When she thought about it, she could see it herself. And in reading, she discovered the outside world didn't even have the concept of the technology it took to create her, much less sustain her. She was different; she wasn't even sure if she minded being so different or not. She lived in a place that was continuously called a "paradise" by the one who'd programmed it all. Programmed her. Another way she was different. She wasn't "born", like most humans. She was created.

But, she already knew she wasn't human.

The question was, she thought as she walked, would she ever be human? Could she be accepted by the other world because she wasn't "born"? The only human she ever spoke to seemed to accept her. But would that hold true for others? If she ever got to meet others...

Aelita slowed to a stop and turned her head, looking at the sky beyond the treetops. Someday she might meet humans. She closed her eyes. Standing there on that lonely path, she made a promise to herself.

Someday she would see a sunset. And someday she would feel the rain.

January 30th
Lyoko is going well, or technically so, in any case. The regions are staying together quite nicely; their coding holds up very well. The Wasps, Crabs, and sister creatures the Roachsters, which I have recently added in, are perfect in every way they can be. Aelita, though, has recently become rather...taciturn as of late. Whenever I find her in Lyoko, she always seems to be involved in thought. She has also been accessing the mainframe much more recently, with her meditations. I wonder what she is doing, but as a conscious being, she has a right to the privacy of her own thoughts.

Of course, this could be nothing more than her AI going through a "teenager" phase.

Unfortunately, my thoughts are being drawn away from Aelita and the chance of her growth. The situation with XANA is growing worse. The other day I found that an entire section of the firewall around the supercomputer's software had gone missing. Scans reported that data had been flowing into it, but none out of it. Before I could repair the hole, XANA did it itself. The computer seems no worse for the wear, but it... I may be foolish here, because although it has an AI of its own, it is nowhere near as advanced as Aelita's... But the problem in the firewall seemed to be XANA's doing. All but one "footstep" around the hack had been cleared away, and what remained bore the signature of the supercomputer. Understandably, this perplexes me. What could XANA be doing? As I said in an earlier entry, its "gathering" seems random.

But what could it need that it would have to breach the firewall for?

Aelita sat back, leaning softly against one of the gnarled desert trees. Ahead of her was an...

Input command:

-Definition-

...oasis. She had been here many times, whether just wandering, or coming to think, as she was doing now. Every other time, however, she had been here alone. That wasn't the case now. Behind the tree's lifted platform, a single Crab was walking aimlessly by. She had watched it approach, but now her eyes were looking out over the digital pool a couple yards away.

The Crab's legs slowed, then stopped, as it turned its entire body to get a good look around. The only other thing of note present, it seemed, was the sprite. She was the Crab's senior, speaking in the "time of generation" sense, anyway. Though it had little concept of age or respect-by-age, it had been instilled with a general sense of deference for this one. Noting she was near, it turned and started moving away.

Then, it stopped again. One pointed leg bent and stepped back, as it feverishly looked around. Something was going wrong, and it couldn't quite figure out what! It took another step, then stiffened. Its body shuddered lightly, and it crouched low, in sort of a half-collapse, half-bow manner.

Sensors raged inside the Crab, as every byte and bit was forced into a rewrite. Three eyes gleaming it stood straight, and turned to the pink-haired individual nearby. It scrutinized her with hatred, now.

Not yet.

Obeying the voice, it walked on. Involved in her thoughts, Aelita noticed none of this.

February 4th
I have started the designs for the other animals that I wish to put in Lyoko. Once those are complete, I can continue working on the program that will allow other humans to enter this world, to become "virtualized". Once I am finished with that, I will be able to see my world firsthand! Although someone will have to monitor the computer from this side... Perhaps I should give Aelita the ability to connect to this console specifically...

February 16th
Things are going strangely in Lyoko. I first noticed it when I created the "Megatank" and "Block" creatures. As soon as I got the alert that they had been successfully generated, their icons on my digital map changed! What I had once made blue had suddenly become red. Concerned, I did a scan of every other creature's position. That's when I noticed the second strange occurrence.

It seems, oddly enough, that the Roachsters have been fighting! And not in the manner of simple territorial disputes. This looked to be a full-on brawl! What also surprised me is that they too possessed the previously Wasp-specific laser weapons. That may be the answer for their sudden aggressiveness, but how that happened I have no-...

XANA.

So, this was the other side. The wires of the computer room, clumped together, bundled against the ceiling and down, then back up again. The walls were paneled with metal, and whether the subtle curve was an illusion or not, he didn't care. Over there was a ladder to a higher floor, and over there...

The rig. And at the end of it, the computer.

He found it. One of the thick wires ripped from the ceiling, undulating in the air before dropping limply down. Electricity crackled all around the end of it, as well as something else. What appeared to be oil leaked out, one long, thin line of it dangling down from the dying wire. Small bolts coursed down the liquid and it expanded, become not so much a mass of fluid but rather a greasy, smoky cloud. Pouring out of the cable without breaking free, it rippled through the green room as it made its way for the computer.

Even without eyes, like this he could see. The computer was dormant, but a few quick commands sent through its processor, and it burst into life. The cloud hovered, seeming to read the information. Another command went through, and a window containing the half-filled virtualization program took up the main screen. The cloud seemed to shiver.

Yes, this was splendid. But, oh dear, it wasn't complete... He couldn't have that, now could he? With the thick fog serving as his eyes, he started filling in the blanks in the program. As he did, he got as near to the feeling of sheer excitement as he could. With this, more could enter Lyoko. And in doing so, more could be erased, until there were none left...

February 21st

It seems that what XANA was doing wasn't so...random after all. Though I am unable to break through its firewall and get to any detail, I can see what it is doing without it. I ran checks on all of the creatures, and every one of them have been armed with weapons fitting their capabilities. Outside of the Wasp, I didn't do that. Also, the towers have all been linked to an outside program-one that, I fear, allows anyone in Lyoko to access this world in a more complex way than before, provided that they know how. And, seeing as how some of my incomplete programs have been finished, programs that can ONLY be accessed via the main computer, it seems someone does know the way. And I don't think it's Aelita, although I know she knows how to access the computer.

XANA, what are you doing?

"-and in creating this digital world, I hope to accomplish what no other has done before; I hope to bring true paradise to the human race. Though I cannot undo the mistakes we have made in the past, with Lyoko I hope to stop them from happening again."

This was her third total time accessing the files of this "project". Aelita stood, wiping the screen as she straightened. She saw herself that this world and everything in it was considered an experiment; she wondered if it was still thought of as that way. Folding her hands behind her back, she started to leave the tower.

And stopped. Her ears twitched, as a strange sound reached them. Eyebrows furrowing, she ran the rest of the way out of the tower and partially into the rolling mists of the Mountains.

There. There it was again! She looked around for the source of the weird sound, eyes searching the expanse. When it came a third time she looked down, and gasped.

The ground was...beating?

A Block paced, claws making no trace in the rocky ground as it patrolled in front of a tower. An internal alarm went off and it turned, one eye looking off towards a rock outcropping nearby. There was nothing there, that it saw anyway. Realizing that, it went back to its vigil.

Eyes wide, Aelita decided to remain behind the rock, where she wouldn't be seen. Looking out ahead, but listening to the nearby Block, she let her mind whirl over all the questions that had popped up. What was going on? Why was the tower red? What did it have to do with the ripples, and the pulsating ground, that led to it? And why were previously docile creatures becoming such...such monsters? She shuddered lightly, remembering the fright she'd felt when she'd encountered three more Blocks on her way here. Those had fired at her, and it was only with a few agile maneuvers had she managed to get away in one piece. Chewing on her lip, she hazarded a quick glance around the rock.

The fear in her was beginning to grow, and seeing the crimson light around the tower wasn't helping. Fingers sliding against the boulder as she tightened them, she turned and started running off the way she'd came. She had to find out just what was happening! As she looked over her shoulder, watching the tower become smaller in her vision, a sudden wave of dread hit her, and she amended her earlier thought.

She had to find out what was happening, before it became too late.

Through the power given to him by the tower he'd chosen, he could breach the other side for longer. The oily cloud rippled, leaving behind a small puff of a trail as it circled through the expansive building he was housed in. Yes, this would make a fitting place to begin everything from. He was better than humans, he had known it ever since he'd first become self-aware. Humans... He just wanted to extin-.. Movement stopped the thought dead, as the cloud whirled around on itself. Its tendrils waved in an excited fashion, as it tracked a moving shadow over to a waiting freight elevator.

Speaking of humans...

February 24th
I have come here, to the factory, to shut the computer down for good. I thought I might as well document the end of the project in my journal, as well as the beginning. I only wish it did not have to end like this... I almost feel like I am killing another human, in terminating Lyoko. And Aelita. But I have to remember that everything there is nothing more than a collection of data.

I also have to remember about XANA. Lyoko has to be shut down before anything else happens. I-

(dried, rust-colored smears cover the rest of the page)

Pain. He'd definitely have to remember to add pain to what was now his world. He wanted to hear that scream again, someday.
Preview of Chapter 5
Ignoring the small bolts of static that crackled at the edge of her vision, Aelita pushed herself harder, trying not to think about how few steps separated her and the five Roachsters following her. With missed shots hitting the ground at her heels, she ran in the only direction she could. Unfortunately, that ended all too soon, as she came to the end of the mountain path she was on. She looked down with a shriek, wide eyes staring down through mists that she knew led nowhere. The thoughts of no escape were quickly changed back to the Roachsters as a shot hit her squarely in the center of her back. She let out a choked gasp, stumbling forward. Arms spiraling as she twisted around, the Roachsters approaching the cliffedge was the last thing she saw as she fell back into empty air.