Ahem, I have every intention of actually writing a story based on the 'hints' that I made earlier to the world of the Lyoko Holy Lands, but I am finding it a little more difficult to do so. It will be a completely original fiction with only a few things based on the original Lyoko. I will write it, and if I can find the time and energy I may even be able to animate it into a web comic... But that is unlikely. In any case, I have a few things in the works, including all the other original things I have yet to finish, so look around for them, eventually... Sorry for the delay, but making completely original concepts is just a tad more difficult than writing a fanfic... no offense.

Ulrich:

"Taking your first lesson? You were gone for an hour, and I mean gone. We looked all over the school for you and couldn't find you." I said a little angry.

"That's because I wasn't in the school... I wasn't even-" She stopped and appeared to think for a moment. "I wasn't even on school grounds."

"Then where were you?" I asked intimidated by the pause.

"I was at an abandoned factory that is on an island in the river." She said. "I can show you where it is."

"What factory?" Jeremie asked suddenly. "There isn't an abandoned factory on the river."

"No there is, I am sure of it." Yumi replied. "I can show you and prove it."

She paused for a moment and appeared to thing again. Then she began heading off into the park within the school grounds. We followed her, out of curiosity and concern. As we followed her we suddenly came to a manhole that was in the middle of the small forest. She opened it and slipped down into it. As we followed her we realized that we were in a sewer drain that ran off into the river. For some reason it seemed so familiar to me; as we passed three skateboards and a scooter I suddenly got a small flash of something. It was us riding them down the drain to somewhere. I had no idea where the memory came from; as far as I knew none of us had ever done it.

Yumi took one of the skateboards and jumped on it. We followed her, Odd and I taking the other two and Jeremie and Aelita taking the scooter. We followed Yumi down the small tunnel that the sewer made until we reached an end in it. Yumi jumped off of her skateboard and began climbing up a latter that was next to us and as she did so I got another flash of memory. I saw a factory sitting on a little island in the center of the river with a little bridge going out to it. The memory was so strong that I began feeling sure that we would see the factory as we exited the hole.

Yumi climbed out of the manhole, and I followed. I turned to see... nothing. The factory, which I had begun to believe was actually there, was not. It was just an empty space in the river. Oddly enough though, Sissi was standing there as though she had been waiting for us. As soon as the others climbed out of the hole she began to speak.

"So you finally came back to see the factory?" she asked. "Well, as you can see it isn't here. I heard that it was torn down because it was getting too old... but I am not sure if that is true."

"It isn't." Yumi said quickly. "I know that is a lie, a cover up. Someone doesn't want us to..."

She began walking towards where I was sure it would have been. She reached the edge of the pavement but instead of stopping she continued as if there was actually a bridge there. Shocked I began running to stop her. I didn't want her to fall into the river, which would be nothing but bad. Seeing that she had no intention of stopping I quickened into a mad dash to stop her.

"Yumi, stop!" I yelled, but she ignored me.

I managed to get to her before she placed her foot down and lost balance, but instead I lost balance and began falling. I looked down at the rushing water below me and began to panic, I was falling forward with enough speed that I would probably land a quarter of the way in. A quick glance up at Yumi made me realize that she was acting as if nothing was happening. My heart sunk as quickly as I fell, and suddenly... Thud! I landed on something solid.

"What the?" I asked the air as Yumi placed her foot next to me.

"Ulrich, what's going on?" Jeremie asked.

"There is something here." I replied hitting my hand against the ground.

The others walked over and placed one foot against the invisible material. They all seemed as shocked as I felt. All of them except Sissi, she walked over onto it as though she could see what ever was there.

"It's just as I thought. It isn't really gone, it was just made invisible." She said. "And you knew so, didn't you Yumi?"

"No, I really didn't know." Yumi replied. "I just had this feeling."

We continued to walk across the invisible bridge, following Yumi and Sissi. They continued onwards a few feet, about ten in all, when they suddenly disappeared. I had no idea where they had gone, but I followed and the others followed me. As we reached where they had disappeared we suddenly found ourselves inside a large building. It was mostly empty, except for two things.

In the center of the room there was a symbol burned into the floor. It was still emanating light even though it had long since been put out. It had an 'S' engraved within the center circle, but around the 'S' there were other markings. An 'N' was placed directly on the center of the center line, and something that looked like a 'T' was engraved on top of the lower right hump of the 'S'. There were other symbols around it that I didn't recognize.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"This is the abandoned factory that once held a way of getting from our world to another." Sissi responded speaking in a knowledgeable way her arms crossed. "But I believe it has become much more."

As she finished speaking we heard a piece of rubble fall and when we looked to see what had caused it we saw a green wolf-like creature walking at us. It was bearing its teeth menacingly and I could hear a low growl. Suddenly it made a dash at us and I prepared to run but Yumi said, "Wait!" She put her right hand out and suddenly a light purple flicker went across the air in front of us. The wolf kept going and slammed right into it. As it backed off I saw an extreme look of shock in its face.

A small breeze blew and I saw a spiral of light form next to us. Another green wolf appeared, but this one was a slightly lighter shade, and generally looked healthier. It bared its teeth and made a dash at the other one. With a quick pounce it leapt onto the dark one and threw it to one side away from us. When the other one landed a dark cloud of black smoke rose up out of it and it disappeared. For a second I thought that we had 'won' or something but I quickly realized that we hadn't as the smoke began moving at us in one quick motion. The smoke engulfed the light wolf and stopped at the barrier that Yumi had created.

Yumi closed her eyes and suddenly rushed forward through her barrier. On the other side I saw a bright flash and the smoke was cut in half. It began dissipating and despaired in a puff. I thought it was gone but I realized that some of it had remained. That small amount grew larger and made an attack at Yumi. She flinched back, and in blind determination I rushed forward and grabbed her. Together we focused and a small light appeared in her hand. I looked down at mine and saw that I had a small light as well. We both squeezed on our lights and a sward was formed for me. Yumi's light made a Japanese stile fan, which she spread out into a circle.

Quickly I slashed at the cloud and Yumi threw her fan. The smoke was again dissipated and this time it fully disappeared. Our weapons disappeared as well and we began to fall. As I fell to the ground I felt someone catch me but I was too tired to see who it was. Slowly I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up I saw that I was lying in my bed in the dorm. I looked around and saw that Jeremie, Aelita and Odd were in the room with me. Looking a little further I saw Yumi lying on Odd's bed. She appeared to still be asleep.

The others noticed that I was awake and came over to me. "Are you ok?" "You were out for a few hours." and "What happened?" were my welcomes.

"I'm fine, now." I said. "But I am not sure what happened. I saw that Yumi was in danger and I rushed to help her. I have no idea how I created that sward or what that cloud was."

"As I know it," came Sissi's voice. "It is the X.A.N.A. cloud. It is what he used to take over things and control them."

"What?" we all asked in unison.

She sighed. "It is beginning to get a little dangerous to keep you five out of the loop." She said. "Eventually you are going to have to remember..."

"I know, but I can't do anything about it." Came Professor Giis's voice from by the door. "It isn't my decision; it's my... brother's. And until he decides it is time, well there is nothing I can do about it."

"What are you two talking about?" I asked getting up. "How are we out of the loop? What loop?"

"Yeah, what aren't you telling us, Sissi?" odd asked.

"It wouldn't matter if we told you; you wouldn't remember it for long." Sissi said. "I doubt you would remember even longer than a day. For that matter you will probably forget this much as well."

"So then what should we do?" Jeremie asked. "You can't expect us to just lay back and relax can you?"

"Unfortunately yes." Professor Giis said. "Gwydion has gone through quite a bit of work to try and allow you five to live a normal life. You should just accept it and try to have fun. If you do so you may even make it more than one day..."

"So that's it then?" I said. "We just sit back and relax? We just play video games, attend school, and..."

"Go on dates?" came Yumi's voice.

I looked over and saw that she had woken up. She was sitting looking at me and smiling. I saw that she had begun blushing after that comment, and I believed that I was as well. We had gone on dates before but I was still a little shy about our love life...

"Well, that's just about it." Sissi said. "And Ulrich, dear, I have finally given up... I see that you and Yumi really are meant to be..."

The children decide to give in and not press for more information about this war that is going on around them. They choose to live life like 'normal' children, but when Odd take Sam on a date they soon find out that they aren't going to be left alone. They suddenly find themselves... dead. Find out what happens and who comes in in the next chapter Romance and Tragedy.