A/N: Well, it looks like everybody is confused with Tristan. Technically, he's not an ACC (author created character). If you go to the official CL web site and click on Lyoko Universe then click on characters and then on secondary characters (at the bottom), from there go to the 6th grade and you can see the a picture of Tristan. He's a minor character in season 1 and I decided to use him but I had to take some author's privileges and fill in the gaps of his personality that the show doesn't give. Anyway, that's who he is!

thesuperdot: Nope, he didn't die in Lyoko. It's much more dramatic than that.

Janika: Thanks for pointing that out. Anyway, I decided to explain things in this chapter instead of that last one.

Renayumi: It sounds horrible because I made it a cliff hanger but aside from that, it actually is pretty tragic.

Raptork: Yeah, Odd's gone. Don't worry about what a Boolean is. It's a computer science term for a specific type of memory.

Purpletiedyedshoelaces: He's dead. If you read this chapter you'll find out why and how.

Chinesechic: Your question will be answered today. Yeah, he isn't that dumb but sometimes he just acts like he is.

JLyoko: I update every 4-5 days with a few exceptions. Don't worry, this chapter doesn't have a very big cliff.

Yuri Nishidera: Nope, he didn't. Yes, there is a good reason for it.

Tellemicus Sundance: I'm glad to hear that I got another reviewer. One thing in this world that I like a lot is figuring out things and puzzles. My other big story is totally like that. This story will just get more intriguing, I think.

Little Vili: Yep, it is. Don't worry about Tristan. You'll get to know more about in the next chapter. This one explains what happened in the paradox that the younger gang is in.

D Wolf Falls: A lot of the ideas will be shown in the next chapter. This one just explains things like your questions.

Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Jeremie and Aelita lounged around the floor of the 2nd basement sub-level listening to Tristan reveal the paradox that they were in.

"You know Tristan it's really weird that you can be so calm about this whole mess," Odd criticized, leaning on his side with his hand propping his head up, "I mean, this day can change our lives forever!"

Tristan smiled and chuckled once, his first smile in at least a day. Odd was right. He could see that his actions were a bit strange for them even though they seemed normal to him and the others.

He responded, "Don't forget Odd, I've had four years and some-odd months to think about what I'm going to say today." Tristan knew that this day would come so to be totally unprepared in what he and the others were going to share with them was foolish.

The unusual kid mimicked his last statement by twisting his words in a very childish and obnoxious accent. This made him mad. A low growl came from within him.

However, he refrained and turned his attention to the more respectful members of the group. "I'll start from the beginning. It all started just after my group went into the future…," he started.

When the older versions of Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Aelita went into the future they didn't met their future selves. Instead, they only saw a much older version of Aelita still in Lyoko. All she did was tell them the date, what the situation was, gave them the disk with the program on it and then they went back home. The whole trip lasted just under a half-hour.

Once they got back, they materialized Aelita for the three day weekend. All went well with her.

However, just before the gang escaped Sissy's clutches out the window the day they went into the future, Odd left a note for her. The note made the drama queen so angry that she vowed to get vengeance against Odd. That was where the trouble began.

"Hold on," Ulrich interrupted and turned his head to look at Odd, "You left her a note?" The smiling kid nodded and snickered.

"What did it say?" asked Yumi.

"Oh, nothing much," Odd replied happily, "…just that if she doesn't stop asking Ulrich out then Kiwi's going to do something nasty in her bed. If you get what I mean." In addition to Odd's laughter, there was a combination of head shaking and eye rolling that followed the end of his comment.

Tristan sighed. He wondered how something so serious could come from something so trivial. Maybe it was better for the gene pool if Odd did die. "I'll continue…," he said, scornfully.

The next week, Sissy did what she promised herself she'd do and got Odd in trouble during gym class. As a result, he had to serve several detentions and sit in the front of the bus on a school field trip that same week so Jim could keep an eye on him.

The ride started out just as any other bus ride would. Ulrich sat next to his best friend for company. Nobody knew of the impending doom. However, when the bus crossed the Washington and Franklin intersection the driver of the bus was caught in a yellow light. Not wanting to stop he sped through the cross-section only to be met with another car whose driver also had the same mind set.

Since Ulrich and Odd were at the front of the vehicle they received the full force of the collision. Ulrich escaped with only a few injuries: a twisted knee and some scratches, nothing serious. However, Odd was dead. His skull had been fractured and split open by the impact.

The younger teens were in shock at what happened. They had no idea that it would end up like this. Tristan stopped his presentation to allow it to sink into their minds.

Aelita started crying. Although she knew what death was, she had no idea what death was like. To her, death is being devirtualized or deleted. The naive girl didn't know what happened if a person died in the real world but unlike Lyoko, it would seem that death was permanent.

"Like I said," the future gang member reminded, "What happened in my time might not necessarily happen in yours."

"So, there's a way to prevent Odd's death?" Aelita chocked out of her tear-stricken face. Jeremie pulled a white handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Aelita. She thanked him.

"I believe so," Tristan answered. "If Ulrich would ask Sissy out the night you go back then I believe that Odd won't be condemned to that bus seat."

"What!" Yumi protested, surprised.

Ulrich shock his head immediately, "There is no way I'm going to do that! Never! There has to be another way."

Tristan informed him, "I don't think there is but in all seriousness you must think it over. Odd's life is at stake here. Going out with her is the only for-sure way to prevent his death." Ulrich sighed and agreed to ponder the idea.

Odd had gotten up from his horizontal position and sat cross-legged with his arms in the same manner. "What!" he exclaimed. "My life is on the line and you're going to think about it! I don't think so!" The trouble maker added in a matter-of-fact voice while pointing at Ulrich, "You're going take Sissy to the movies when we get back."

Ulrich knew that Odd had no idea what he was really asking. If he did take her out then she wouldn't leave him alone for a very long time probably until he got married…to someone else, anyone else. In a way, doing what Tristan said was a death wish for him.

Odd had some understanding of this so Ulrich simply replied, "Like I said, I'll think about it."

"Some friend you are," Odd muttered.

Tristan didn't want this annoyance to go any further so he continued his narrative.

After the accident, Sissy kept her distance from Ulrich for a while. Everybody mourned Odd's death but Ulrich took it the hardest. He would be traumatized for years to come for his best friend died quiet literally in his hands.

Ulrich never did blame Sissy for Odd's death though. He accused the drivers who were both later convicted of driving recklessly and manslaughter for his friend's passing away.

About two weeks after Odd's passing, the first person died at the hands of X.A.N.A. It was a person without any family so not too many people noticed. However, the root cause of the person's death could be attributed to Ulrich's lackadaisical performance in Lyoko that day. Even though nobody blamed him for the death, he took it personally and slipped into a depression.

As a result from the depression, his grade plummeted too. After school, with Odd's cheerful mood gone, Jeremie busy on Aelita's antivirus and Yumi at her home Ulrich felt very lonely and just stopped caring about things.

Since he couldn't keep his grade up, Jim had no choice but to suspend him from soccer practice. His parents became increasingly worried when he did that.

Ulrich also kept his promise to not tell anyone about Lyoko so whenever he talked to his parents or anybody really he was just at a loss for words. He didn't want to talk about Odd who was always the topic because he knew that it would eventually lead to discussing X.A.N.A. Due to his silence, his concerned parents sent him to a therapist.

Once Yumi noticed his depression, she helped Ulrich with everything she could. She helped him study, do homework, work on projects and to put it simply, live.

With Odd gone and Jeremie locked away in his room, Yumi and Ulrich had more time together during lunch and between classes than they had ever had before. About a month after the tragedy, the two were going out and dating each other.

Odd was filled with excitement. He couldn't believe that the two actually went out. The overzealous match-maker exclaimed, "I knew it! I knew you two were perfect for each other!"

The lack of mentioning his death prompted Tristan to sigh once more and shake his head. Maybe Odd's death is really a blessing in disguise. Look at what happened: two people got together, Tristan joined the group, Sissy stopped going after Ulrich for a month or so and the teachers would certainly rejoiced at the lack of interruptions during class.

"Continue the story Tristan," Ulrich complained in a mono-tone voice.

Eventually with Yumi's help, Ulrich did get back on track in life but for the time being he and the gang still needed more help. The team was still short-handed in Lyoko so one day just after the two decided to get together they all met in Jeremie's dorm and decided, Aelita included, that they needed to get another hand in Lyoko.

Tristan at that time wore an orange sweatshirt with a matching hood and brown khakis. He was a person who kept to himself for various reasons and didn't really talk to people in general. In addition, he was also athletic, being on the soccer team. The group thought that he could be trusted with their secret.

Once Tristan was told about Lyoko he agreed to help. As the group got to know him they learned that he was desperately in need of a roommate and a friend.

A few weeks later, Tristan moved in with Ulrich due to Odd's absence and his own loneliness. Like Jeremie, he too was and still is interested in computers so in the years to come he greatly helped out Jeremie in his quest to materialize Aelita.

Jeremie sat patiently in an old over-used piece of furniture in the waiting room of a hospital in Paris. His feet were firmly planted on the ground and his elbows were resting on his knees, supporting his head. He hadn't been there too long but with all the frequent trips to this place he quickly became bored.

This was the fifth time that Aelita had to be admitted and all for the same reason. The firewall program wasn't complete. Jeremie would never come to terms with that fact. Whenever he saw Aelita in the real world everything seemed to stop for him and he was always quick to conclude that Aelita would be here for good.

He hated to admit it but Tristan was right, again. Jeremie came here on a hunch that he was. The young computer genius thought about apologizing but pushed the idea out of his head as a nurse told him that he could see his princess.

Jeremie followed the nurse to the door that lead to Aelita's room, along the way filling him in on her condition. Her friends, Yumi and Ulrich, dropped her off here and told her that she had a bloody nose and they feared that it her brain cancer was acting up again.

It was determined during the first visitation that X.A.N.A.'s virus was implanted in the pre-frontal cortex of her brain. That is, the area right behind the forehead. It moderate emotional responses. However, her brain functions aren't affected until later but the virus does impede the organs around it, the easiest one being her nose. Her brain cancer wasn't exactly a lie but the meaning was clear. The nose bleed was the first of three signs that the virus was taking over.

She warned him to not let anyone else in for she could only see one visitor at a time. He agreed and entered, closing the door gently.

At the sound of the door shutting Aelita realized that there was someone else in her room, "Jeremie?" she guessed, knowing that he had always been her first guest.

"Yeah, it's me," he replied. She smiled, resting comfortably in her bed dressed in a light green hospital gown. "How are you feeling?" She didn't seem in pain but he wanted to ask anyway. There were the standard wires going in and out of her body: the heart monitor, the glucose drop and the urine collector.

"Fine, I'm not in any pain," she answered, reassuring him. "Ulrich said that I lasted a lot longer than last time."

"Well, that's good," Jeremie said in a dire attempt to keep the conversation going. He was too troubled by Tristan's accurate predictions to continue talking with Aelita.

Aelita noticed his sudden drop in his attention and asked him, "Jeremie, what's wrong?"

The young Einstein answered, "It's just that…Tristan…." At the very mention of his name Aelita knew what was happening. "He's…" Jeremie sighed. "He's…being insensitive again."

She took his right hand in hers and rubbed it gently, stroking his fingers and his silver ring-band.

Aelita too had a matching silver ring around her right ring-finger but unlike Jeremie's hers was smaller and had a small pink gem in the shape of a heart. Both rings weren't very ornate or fancy and were some-what old.

"Don't let him get to you. You know how he is," Aelita said.

"I know. It's just that…I wish he'd be a little more optimistic."

"Jeremie, can you make sure that he and the others will come by?"

"Sure."

A/N: Well, that's how it went with the older gang. Anyway, I'd like to tell you guys that this week is my finals week so I WILL NOT BE UPDATING until next Sunday at the earliest. That's one reason why I didn't give you a horrible cliffy. So to make you drool with anticipation, in the next chapter you will meet the olderUlrich and Yumiand find out whateverybody does (it will surprise you). Don't forget to review. Enjoy!