Code: Lyoko

Casualty Part 1

Aelita discovered an abandoned journal inside an office. The journal gave reference to someone named Maggie and the writer said that she must be brought back no matter the cost. Meanwhile, Ulrich saved the life of a girl who, perhaps coincidentally or perhaps not, was named Maggie. And this Maggie's father just happened to work at the ADF, the Factory where the scanners and supercomputer that serve as a connection to Lyoko. The gang debated whether or not to reveal the lab to Maggie which ended with everyone not wanting to take the risk. Everyone except Ulrich.

Ulrich stopped at the entrance to the old Factory. He turned and looked at his new companion, Maggie Ristar. "Has your Dad ever brought you here?"

"A couple of times but I was very little and don't remember as much." Maggie seemed nervous to approach it. "Are… are you sure we won't get in trouble?"

"Worse case scenario: I get a month's worth of detention. You probably won't be in as much trouble."

"Okay." Ulrich led his new friend through the front entrance and down the rope to the freight elevator. "This is how we get to the lab and the scanners." As the two entered the freight elevator, they were unaware that a familiar computer entity was watching them through a camera.

"'I must find some way to bring her back, no matter the costs. It's what Maggie would've wanted.'" Aelita read the passage over and over, hoping it would trigger some stroke of familiarity. But so far it hasn't been doing anything since her first vision inside the office. Perhaps if she returned to the office, she would have another vision.

Their computers had not been returned to the students so the students were rapidly running out of things to do. Not that it bothered Aelita, she was used to doing next to nothing. When she was a virtual being she had pretty much nothing to do except run from Xana's monsters. When she became human, she thought that a whole new world was opening up for her, but now she was beginning to fall back into old routines.

Aelita jumped as an outlet sparked. A black smoke baring the Lyoko symbol rose from it. "Xana!" The smoke flew around her before disappearing into the cell phone Yumi and Jeremie got for her. Aelita guessed that Xana had activated a tower to reach her, but why didn't he just beep her cell phone like he always did. Why did he choose to make a personal appearance?

A text message came on screen: INTRUDER IN LAB.

"An intruder, who is it?" Aelita asked. Her cell phone rang. Aelita pressed the receive button and heard Ulrich's voice.

"It might be frightening at first, but don't worry, everything will be fine."

"Okay." Aelita gasped again, it was Maggie, the girl who had the same name as the name on her paper. Despite their decision not to tell her, Ulrich decided to go and tell her anyway.

"The others aren't going to like this." Aelita ran to Jeremie's room and pounded on the door. "Jeremie, Jeremie, please open up."

Jeremie opened the door, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Without his computer, he too was without activities. "What's wrong, Aelita?"

"Listen." Aelita pressed the cell phone to Jeremie's ear. Jeremie took it and listened for a bit.

His eyes were wide open, "This isn't good! I'll contact the others; we have to stop him before our secret gets out."

He said 'him,' Aelita thought. How is he going to stop Ulrich? I hope he hasn't decided to harm Ulrich. Maybe he'll just use the time jump to erase her memory.

"And here's the lab," Ulrich said ushering Maggie into the room. Right away, the giant map of Lyoko turned on and the computer booted up. "The whole virtualization process is performed here. Jeremie gives the rest of us back-up support."

"So you use this to battle a computer virus?" Maggie asked.

"That was the original plan, but since these Invaders showed up, we've all been working together, for survival, if nothing else."

Wow, Ulrich, you're one of the bravest guys I know," Maggie commented. "You're willing to jump into danger to save lives."

"Yumi would call it being reckless."

"Yumi… is she your girlfriend?"

Ulrich blushed for a moment and then looked down at the holographic projection table. After a few seconds, he said, "Yeah, I guess she is."

"That's nice," Maggie said also looking down. "I wish I had someone to care about me that way."

"Don't you have friends? What about your family?"

"My family's great, but as for friends… I have none."

"Everyone should have at least one friend," Ulrich said. He turned to her. "Hey, I can be your friend."

"You… want to be my friend? But what about Yumi…?"

"It's okay to have more than one friend, especially when that friend originally had no friends to begin with. Jeremie originally had no friends but then he met Aelita. Now they along with Yumi, Odd, and me are all friends. And we all look out for one another."

"Wow, that's great!"

"So what do you say, want to join our little troupe?"

Maggie smiled, "Yeah."

"Hey, I think this is the first time I seen you smile. It looks good on you."

Her cheeks grew a bit red. "Thank you."

The hum of the freight elevator startled the two of them. They turned to see the door open and Kiwi, Odd's dog, appeared. Kiwi walked around Ulrich and Maggie before barking at Ulrich. "Kiwi? This isn't good," Ulrich said.

"What do you mean?" Maggie asked.

"If Kiwi's here, then the others must've found out that I told you about Lyoko."

"Oh no!"

Ulrich sighed, "Don't be so worried, Maggie, I'm the one who's going to be the blunt of this, not you. Well, might as well get it over with." Ulrich picked up Kiwi and together they rode back up to the Factory.

Ulrich's worst fear was realized as the door to the freight elevator slid open and Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita all staring at him. Yumi and Jeremie looked especially upset. Kiwi jumped out of Ulrich's arms and scampered over to Odd.

"How'd you guys know we were here?" Ulrich asked.

"A little birdie told us," Odd said sarcastically motioning to the camera above the doorway.

"Xana," Ulrich moaned slapping his forehead.

"Is Xana the computer virus you were talking about?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah."

Yumi stormed forward and pressed her index finger to his nose, "You told her after we all agreed not to tell anyone!"

"That's right, I did," Ulrich returned swatting her finger away. "The Invaders are growing more powerful each day we're going to need all the help we can get!"

"And Xana, a mysterious player and all kinds of upgrades aren't help?" Jeremie asked sarcastically.

"Don't you remember when Jeremie accidentally revealed our secret to that exchange student? We were almost shut down for good! How do we know she won't do the same thing?" Yumi asked.

"Because she promised me she wouldn't," Ulrich replied.

"That's true," Maggie confirmed. "I promise I won't tell anybody. Besides…" Maggie's head lowered. "Even if I wanted to, there was nobody I could tell it to."

"Maggie doesn't have very many friends," Ulrich revealed. That softened up Odd and Jeremie's faces to those of empathy and surprise respectively.

But Yumi still wasn't convinced, "And you think that just makes it all right to reveal Lyoko to just anyone? Honestly, Ulrich, I thought you were smarter than that." She turned her back to him.

"Calm down, Yumi," Odd said. "Getting mad certainly won't solve things."

So that's Yumi, Maggie thought. "Please don't be mad at Ulrich," she pleaded. "He meant well and I do promise to keep what he's shown me a secret." She lowered her head, "I've been keeping secrets my whole life. This is just one more to add to the mix."

"Well it's too late," Yumi said. "Ulrich broke a promise and once a promise is broken, so is trust and trust can not be so easily rebuilt!" She turned and stormed from the Factory. The others turned to follow.

"Wait," Maggie called. Jeremie, Odd, and Aelita turned to face Maggie. "I'll tell you what I already told Ulrich. Six years ago, there was a fire in one of the offices in the ADF. A life was lost. Because of that, the Factory was shut down and all its workers including my father were laid off. My Father had reached retirement age so we were okay but a lot of the workers became homeless. And the owner just vanished. I'm sorry, but I don't know any more details. Does that prove I'm trustful?"

Jeremie smiled, "It's a start," he said.

If what Maggie said was true, Aelita thought. Then the office where I found the journal might be where the fire was held. That might be why I was so afraid of it… but wait, I wasn't in the office… was I? Just one more mystery to add to the equation.

The others left. Maggie stood before Ulrich, "Ulrich, I'm sorry you got in trouble with Yumi."

"Don't apologize, I had it coming."

"Do you… still want to be my friend?"

Ulrich patted her shoulder, "More so than ever, because I probably just lost one friend."

At lunch the next day, they all sat at their usual table, all except Yumi. When she saw Ulrich, she scowled at him and went to sit by William LeChon.

"Wow, I haven't seen Yumi this upset since… heck, I've NEVER seen Yumi this upset," Odd commented.

"Guys, I'm going to check on Maggie's story about the fire," Jeremie said. "Her story is logical, but I think there was something more to it."

Aelita decided that she couldn't hold it in any longer. "There is something more to it. I was actually in that room."

"No way," Odd said shocked. "That room scared the pants off of you."

"At first, yes, but I overcame my fear and entered. It was an office, and I think I know who it belonged to."

"Who?" The boys asked.

"Amon Lyoko."

"And the mystery heats up," Ulrich said twirling his spoon in his fingers.

"I also found this." Aelita showed Jeremie the paper. "I tore it out of a cloth book."

"A journal no doubt," Jeremie concluded. He looked at it and his eyes widened. "No way!"

"That's why I think there might be a connection between the Maggie on the paper and the Maggie that Ulrich was with."

"Let me see," Odd said taking the paper. "No way, this has to be a coincidence."

"The odds that it is must be bigger than Odd's stomach."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Odd."

"At this moment, we can't risk leaving Lyoko unchecked," Jeremie said. "I'll look into the Maggie angle. You three be ready to dive into Lyoko just in case. With that Phantom Player running around, we'll have to be prepared for anything."

"What about Yumi?" Aelita asked quietly.

Jeremie looked at Ulrich. Ulrich just picked up his tray and returned it to the kitchen. "I'll tell Yumi later," Jeremie said.

In Lyoko, the leader of the Invaders stood before a Tower. He was poised to transform it when a red spear pierced right through him. Xana descended before him. He held out his hand and the spear returned to him. The Invader formed a spear of its own and the two computerized entities clashed. The battle was fierce and neither party was willing to give up. Suddenly the Invader transformed its hand into a scythe and swung across Xana's symbol cutting its chest. Xana groaned.

In the real world, Aelita also groaned as she felt a stabbing pain in her stomach. It was so bad that she actually fell onto both knees.

Sissi saw it, "Are you okay?" She asked but her voice didn't sound a bit sincere.

"I'm fine," Aelita replied. "Just a stomach ache." But in her mind, she was thinking, Xana's in danger.

Aelita got up and ran for the manhole cover.

"Thank you for walking me home, Ulrich," Maggie said. "It's too nice of you."

"Any time, Maggie, it actually feels good to talk to someone normal for a change."

"But your other friends seem nice."

"They are, but some of the stuff we do is outright abnormal. Like I said, it feels good to talk to someone who has a normal life."

"A normal life," Maggie said with a sad chuckle. She then saw Aelita run for the park. "Ulrich, isn't that Aelita?"

"Hey, you're right." The two ran to catch up to her. "Hey Aelita!"

Aelita looked behind her, "Ulrich, Maggie!"

"What's wrong?"

"Xana's in danger. We have to get to the Factory fast!"

"If Xana dies, then Aelita dies and then we'll be up a creek without a paddle!" The three descended into the sewers. Maggie rode on the back of Aelita's scooter. As soon as they were in the freight elevator, Ulrich said, "Aelita, upload me as quickly as possible."

"But I need to be uploaded too. I'm the only one who can input the code to transform the Obelisk back into a Tower."

"But somebody has to back us up at the terminal," Ulrich said. "I'm calling Jeremie."

"By the time he gets here, Xana could be gone!"

"But both of us need to go!"

"I know, but who will stay behind and monitor us from the terminal?"

"Show me," Maggie volunteered. "Show me how to work it. I'll upload you guys."

"I don't know," Aelita said slowly.

"Aelita, we don't have many options," Ulrich pointed out.

Aelita sighed, "Okay, I'll show you the quick way to upload us into Lyoko. I only hope Jeremie doesn't become mad at me the same way Yumi is mad at Ulrich."

"I'm sorry," Maggie apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Ulrich said. "The problem isn't yours." The three arrived at the Lab. Aelita showed Maggie Jeremie's notebook which contained instructions on how to upload people into Lyoko should he ever become incapacitated for some reason.

Maggie studied the control panel, "That's strange."

"What's wrong?" Ulrich asked from the scanner chamber.

"Nothing, it's just that this operating system is kind of like the one my Dad has on his computer at home."

"Whatever, just start the process," Aelita said.

"Right, sorry," Maggie said. "Transfer Aelita, transfer Ulrich." The scanner doors opened and the two stepped in. "Activating scanner… scanning Ulrich… scanning Aelita. Here we go virtualization!"

Ulrich and Aelita appeared in the forest region of Lyoko.

"Is everything all right?" Maggie asked. "Did I do a good job?"

"Excellent, Maggie," Ulrich concentrated.

Aelita nodded, "A text book drop as Jeremie would say. Now upload our weapons."

"Right, give me a minute to look it up."

"Don't bother, just repeat the virtualization commands for the weapons," Aelita instructed.

"Right. Okay, upload weapons… oh no, I think I did something wrong!" Maggie was right, the wand appeared in Ulrich's hands and the swords appeared in Aelita's. "I'm sorry, guys, I screwed something up."

"Not a problem," Ulrich said as he and Aelita exchanged weapons. "Other than that, you did pretty well for a first timer."

"Thanks, Ulrich, what do I do now?"

"Just watch the monitor and tell me how many enemies there are."

"Right… uh… I can't tell which mark is the enemy?"

"What colors are they?"

"One is red and the other's… purple I think."

"That isn't good," Aelita said. "That means there's an ultra-powerful Invader battling Xana."

"Be careful, Aelita."

"Right, I…" Aelita gasped and dropped to one knee. "Ulrich, let's hurry."

"Right." The two took off towards the Tower.

Xana leapt back as the Invader made another attack with its arm scythe. He tried to take control of it but it only burst apart and came back together. The Invader made a double attack with its twin weapons.

"Hold on, Xana," Ulrich called as he and Aelita ran up to him.

"Help is here," Aelita added.

Xana actually looked relieved.

"Energy Wave!"

"Gravity Bind!" The two attacks didn't faze the Invader. "Oh no!"

"Figures it wouldn't work. Let's attack it from all sides." The three split up and surrounded it. As one they moved in to attack but the Invader jumped out of the way and they only ended up attacking each other."

"Maggie, give us a status on how many life points we have left," Ulrich requested.

"Let's see… Ulrich has 85 and Aelita has 70."

"That was stupid of us," Ulrich said. "Maggie, listen, I need you to call Jeremie and tell him what's going on."

"What's Jeremie's phone number?"

"555-6738," Aelita said automatically. Ulrich looked at her shocked. Aelita blushed, "we talk on the phone a lot."

"Figures," Ulrich moaned. "All right, Maggie, make the call."

"Right." Maggie took out her own cell phone and dialed the number.

"Hello?"

"Is this Jeremie?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is Maggie Ristar, Aelita gave me your number. Ulrich says to tell you that he and Aelita and Xana are battling a purple Invader in Lyoko. They need help."

"The Leader! All right, Maggie, stay where you are. I'll be down in five seconds." The phone line disconnected.

"Five seconds?" Maggie questioned as the hum of the freight elevator began to move. The doors opened and Jeremie ran through. "You weren't kidding."

"I was already in the Factory when you called. May I?"

"Oh, of course." Maggie got up from the chair and Jeremie sat in it. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that Aelita showed me how the virtualization process worked. I know you don't want me to find out any of your secrets…"

"Couldn't be helped," Jeremie said. "But you handled the system very well for a beginner. And besides, I know what it's like to feel like you could do nothing right."

"You can?"

"Ulrich, Aelita, can you hear me?"

"Jeremie, thank goodness you're here," Aelita said.

"Jeremie, are the others on their way?"

"I'm calling them even as we speak," Jeremie said as he contacted Yumi and Odd.

"We need to stall long enough for Yumi and Odd to get here," Ulrich said.

"I have an idea," Aelita said touching her staff to the ground. She closed her eyes and started her song. A rock dome formed over the Leader. Aelita concentrated harder and a second dome covered the first one and then a third dome covered that.

"Good thinking, Aelita, but it cost you almost all your life points."

"I don't think… that will hold him… for very long," Aelita said, panting from having to use her power so much.

"Just so it's long enough," Jeremie said. "Transfer Yumi, transfer Odd." No sooner had he brought up the two avatars, then Yumi and Odd themselves came in.

Yumi immediately noticed Maggie, "What's she doing here?"

"She managed to upload Ulrich and Aelita all by herself," Jeremie explained.

Odd whistled, "Well, I'm impressed."

"Be impressed later; right now get down to the scanners now!" The two headed back to the freight elevator.

"Will they make it there in time?" Maggie asked.

"They have to. Ulrich and Aelita won't be able to hold out forever. Scanner, Yumi… scanner, Odd… virtualization!"

Yumi and Odd appeared right near the others.

"I'm guessing you guys met our newest program genius," Ulrich said sarcastically.

"Yup, hey maybe it was a good thing you told her after all," Odd said.

Yumi just stepped forward and made a symbol with her fingers. "Mystic Aura… imprison!" The mist surrounded Aelita's stone prison. "That should keep him at bay for a little bit longer."

"Give me a minute and I'll restock Ulrich's and Aelita's life points," Jeremie instructed.

"Ulrich, it's bad enough that you shown her the lab, but now you showed her how the virtualization process works? Has the last jump back in time warped your brain or something?" Yumi asked.

"I'm sorry, Yumi, it's my fault," Aelita said. "There was no time to call Jeremie or set a timer. She actually did well; the only problem we had was that she uploaded our weapons wrongly."

"Have you all flipped your lids? There's no way we can trust our lives completely to a total stranger no matter what she may know!" She turned and started to leave. "Jeremie, log me out, I'm done."

"Uh… Yumi," Ulrich called quietly.

"Not now, Ulrich, I'm still mad at you," Yumi huffed.

"Yumi, this is kind of important."

"Forget it! I'm not talking to…"

"YUMI!" Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie all called out at the same time. Yumi turned in time to see Aelita's stone prison crumble and the Invader leader break free. He shot energy blasts at the mystic prison and quickly dispersed it.

"Oh," Yumi said.

The Invader leader laid his hand on the ground. Purple energy traveled through the ground to the Tower and transformed into an Obelisk. The Obelisk produced a surrounding labyrinth and started shooting green mist into the sky.

"The Invaders are launching an attack," Odd announced.

"Hold on, guys and I'll try to track its flow… that's strange, the stream seems to be close-range, what could they be…"

Maggie saw something out of the corner of her eye. The table map was sparking. Electricity was dancing from one emitter to another. Her eyes gasped as a spark of electricity lanced out towards Jeremie. "Jeremie, watch out!" She cried pushing him out of the way.

The electric blast hit her instead.

Maggie screamed.

"Jeremie, what's going on?" Ulrich asked. "Jeremie? Maggie? What's going on back there?"

"Something's not right," Yumi said. "I think it was a set-up."

"Yumi, this conspiracy theory of yours is getting kind of old," Odd said.

Jeremie got up and dusted himself off, "Maggie, why did you…?" Jeremie turned and saw Maggie on the ground, her body convulsing like she was having a seizure. "Oh no, Maggie!" Jeremie looked over at the table map and realized it was sparking. He quickly donned his earpiece. "Guys, I need to bring you back."

"Why, what's going on?" Odd asked.

"Something happened to Maggie!"

In Lyoko, everyone gasped, but none more so than Ulrich.

Maggie reveals a terrible secret about her history. With the global computer network once again in turmoil, the Lyoko Team, Xana, and even the Phantom Player must all join forces to return the tower to normal and beat the Mega Monster inside. But doing so will change one of the kids forever.