Author's note:


The Next Day

Jeremie sat in class with apprehension building up inside of him. Ulrich did not return to his room last night, and he has not yet heard from him. Also, the brunette has yet to appear for the first period. Even though the brunette does not have the best grades in Kadic Academy, he was always punctual, mostly thanks to that annoying alarm clock that his father gave him. The blonde genius was worried that something had happened at the abandoned factory.

The science teacher, Suzanne Hertz, has just started taking attendance. Each time the elderly teacher called out a name, Jeremie would look at the door, hoping his friend would walk in soon. Thanks to his name being 'Stern', Ulrich is among the students who are usually called last, which the brunette is grateful since he sometimes cuts it close to being marked late due to oversleeping when he forgot to set his alarm. Jeremie really hope that was the case

"Stern?"

Sadly, it was not so.

Jeremie gulped as he bowed his head down. His friend was late.

"Stern?" The female teacher looked up from her clipboard to look at Ulrich's assigned seat. He was not there. She sighed while shaking her head in disappointment. "First failing my class, now not coming to it?"

Jeremie frowned from the tone of her voice. Even though the brunette boy does not have the best grades, but he is not that bad as the female teacher perceives him to be. He saw that she was about to mark him absent. He decided to take a stand.

"Mrs. Hertz, ma'am?" He called out. This caused some of the students to look at him since the bespectacled boy rare speaks up other than to answer a question.

The teacher stopped what she was about to do to look at her outstanding student.

"Yes, Jeremie. What is it?" She asked with curiosity in her voice along with some tenderness to show her liking for the blonde genius.

Jeremie shyly lowered his head, but kept eye contact with the teacher.

"Ulrich Stern, he...uh...he went to the infirmary, I believe." He told her the lie that he just came up with.

"You believe? What do you mean" She asked, wondering what he meant by that?

Jeremie cringed a little; he did not mean to add that last part. With all his mental strength, he pushed back his nerves before he continued. "I saw him on the way here, but he didn't look well. So logically speaking, he must be in the infirmary."

Mrs. Hertz believed him. In her mind, Jeremie Belpois is a splendid and brilliant student. There is no possibility he would stain his reputation by lying to the teacher; especially to cover for one of her troubled students. She marked Stern late rather than absent before continuing with the class attendance.

Jeremie took a big sigh of relief. He then looks back at the door, wondering if Ulrich came back last night at all.


Ulrich did actually come back last night to his designated dorm room. When he got back on school grounds, he spotted Sissi searching for him, no doubt to harass him for missing their 'scheduled date.' Luckily, he managed to evade her. When he finally came back to his dorm, he saw his new roommate snoozing away with his dog next to him. Also, his side of the room was cleaned up along with fresh clean sheets for his bed.

At least his new roommate was considerate.

After seeing the girl inside the computer, his brain took a considerable long moment to process it. He soon decided to leave the area and forget what had occurred at the abandoned factory. He left the factory, but he has yet to forget the girl. The last thing he heard from her was her calling out to him, asking him to wait. His mind was on rewind, going back to that very moment of meeting the girl face to face, albeit through a screen, and him leaving soon after.

"Who-who are you? Where am I?" Her words repeated over and over again in his mind.

She sounded so confused. It worried him.

How the hell does he deal with this situation? He asked himself.

The brunette did not sleep when he got back. He just could not get his mind out of the girl, and before he knew it, it was already morning. Odd has already left for class, so now it was just him and Kiwi in the room. Ulrich was thankful that the dog was being quiet the whole time his master was gone.

Speaking of being gone, he should also leave the dormitory. Jim, doing his job, will be coming soon to check the dorm rooms, to see if any students were still there. The brunette really does not want to deal with classes right now.

He quickly and silently left the building before the gym teacher appeared.


Not wanting to be seen, Ulrich sneaked out into the woods by the park. He wandered around the trees for a good half-hour. Comically, he finds himself walking into some trees because his mind was still on the girl inside the computer.

Why was his mind so worked up on this girl? For all he could know, it is just some kind of computer game. In the back of his mind, he knew that probability was false. He also knew that this will continue if he does not confront this. After contemplating for another moment, he headed towards the manhole.

"I hope I'm not going to regret this." He prayed.

As he continued towards his destination, the girl's face flashed into his mind. He frowned as he remembered seeing and hearing her confused and scared voice. He may not know much about computers, but he knows when someone is in distress.

He quickened his pace.


After the boy left, the girl inside the computer was left completely alone, where ever she was. From what she can tell and from what she knows, she is currently inside a tall and cylindrical structure, like some sort of tower. The tower was empty save for the platform, that covers mostly the area of the structure, she was on. The wall of the structure was decorated with what appears to be computer screens with codes of 1's and 0's, which disappear as soon it was filled up with said numbers before another one replaces it. Other than that, she has no clue why she was there and who that boy was.

She tried calling out for the boy in the hope that he comes back, but he never did. She did not know long since she was left alone, and that fact alone frightened her. She just came into consciousness not knowing who she was and where she was. Afraid of what to do, she just sat on the platform with her knees against her chest. Every time and then, she calls out with a-

"Hello?"

The girl let out a small gasp as a screen appeared in front of her, the same screen that appeared when she first woke up. Like last time, the same boy was also on the screen, and instead of having a confused look, his expression was very stoic.

The pinkette stood up, and the screen rose up with her to level with her eyes. She tried to come up with words to say, but they all died in her mouth.

Ulrich was also hesitant, but he manages to speak up. "Just say, "Hello." He kindly told her, noticing her distress.

The girl snapped out of her small confusion and nodded. "Hello." She greeted with a small wave of her hand before continuing. "Who... who are you?"

The young man took a moment to consider answering that question. After seeing that there will be little consequences, he answered.

"Well to start, my name is Ulrich."

"Ulrich?" The pinkette repeated in order to memorize his name and to see if she heard him correctly.

Said boy nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, that's my name. Now that I told you mine, it's your turn."

She nodded before opening her mouth to answer, but soon stopped as a question popped into her head.

What is her name?

"I... don't... know."

Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean I don't know my name." She told him with sadness in her voice that matches her frown. She was so scared of her unknown location and being alone, it never occurred to her what her name was. Ulrich broke his stoic expression, he lets out a frown. She continued with panic in her voice, "I don't know where I am! Why am I here? Who am I?" Her voice grew frantic with each question.

This almost made Ulrich teared up.

"You're asking the wrong person." He told her with a sigh. "I don't even know who or what you are."

That appeared to have been the wrong thing to say at the moment as it only made the girl even more depressed. She started shaking, and instinctively, she hugged herself in order to calm herself. Her mind was a complete blank, she did not know what to think or even do at the moment.

Ulrich did not make her feel worse, but she deserved to know. "I...might know WHERE you are." Although he was not so sure with the answer to that question.

The pinkette's eyes widened, giving him a clear view of her emerald green eyes. "You do?"

Ulrich nodded. "Yeah... but you'll probably not going to believe me." The girl inside the computer gave him a pleading look. "You're inside a computer."

The girl's widened in complete shock, "What?"

"You're inside a computer." He repeated, even though it pained him to say that. The distraught look on her face was too much for anyone to bear.

"I... I don't understand." She questioned, trying to make heads or tails with her situation.


Back at Kadic Academy, with Jeremie

Suzanne Hertz's science class just ended for the day. The students immediately started to leave her class to enjoy their small break. Jeremie was the last one out of the classroom, and once he left the room, he started calling Ulrich. He texted him earlier during class, which thanks to being an outstanding student he was not caught with his phone, to inform him of his attendance situation, but the athlete has yet to reply to his text.

His call did not go through. The blonde sighed as he put away his phone

"Hey! You!"

The volume of the scream made Jeremie jolt in freight. Turning his head, he saw the commotion, which has already attracted a large crowd. Curious, he joined the crowd after weaving his way to the front. From the voice alone, he can tell the one who screamed was Sissi, but he did not know the poor fellow being screamed at.

"Hey! What's your problem?" Odd said in confusion. One minute he was heading to the quad, and the next thing he knew a hand grabbed his shoulder, which turned him around to an enrage female. Now that he got a good look, he recognizes the girl. The girl who seemed close to his roommate. "Aren't you Ulrich's girlfriend?"

Jeremie stuck his tongue out in disgust. He may not have any experiences with crushes, but any male who is interested in the headmaster's daughter must have low standards. "The day she gets together with Ulrich is the day when the world ends." He commented with a whisper.

The person next to him chuckled along with a few others who heard. "Heh~ Good one, Belpois."

"You damn right, I am," Sissi said to Odd. "Now, what have you done with him?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb." Sissi continued. "It isn't just a coincidence that the day after you enrolled in this school, Ulrich just so happened to get sick."

This only confused Odd more. "So you think I have something to do with Ulrich not coming to class? That's crazy talk!"

"No, that's Sissi talk." Jeremie joked, which brought more laughter into the crowd. He received complimentary pats on the back, which made him blush out of embarrassment.

Sissi did not hear Jeremie, but the laughing crowd did irk her. She decided to ignore them, and continue with her interrogation. She grabbed Odd by the collar and pulled him close to her.

"I swear if you had anything to do with this, I'll have my father expel you!"

"Okay, I was wrong! You're not Ulrich's girlfriend!" Odd shouted with anger in his voice, not liking this girl anymore like everyone else in school. Well, almost everyone. "I mean, who would go out with a wackjob like you!"

"WHAT'S WITH ALL THE RACKET!" Came the booming voice of Jim Morales.

His appearance to the scene caused the crowd to quickly disperse, everyone running to avoid getting punished. Due to not having a physique body, Jeremie could not run fast enough, but he did hide behind a trash bin which he manages to do thanks to his small frame. Both Odd and Sissi were then taken by Jim roughly by their arms.

"Hey! I'm totally innocent here! She's the crazy one." Odd protested.

"Don't listen to him, Jim." Siss insisted. "He's the reason that-"

"Quiet! I don't want to hear another word from both of you until we get to the principal's office. You can tell him everything you need to say." He stopped for a moment to look behind him. "Belpois, as a witness, you'll be coming with us."

Surprised, Jeremie jumped up from his hiding spot before following Jim to the principal's office.


Meanwhile at the Factory, with Ulrich

Ulrich has told the girl in the computer everything he knew about her situation despite how little it was. He told her about the supercomputer that she was apparently in, where he found it, why he came there in the first place, and what he has seen so far. Right now, he was leaning back on the mechanized chair, waiting for the pinkette to process everything while he was looking around the room to pass the time.

"So what does that make me?"

Ulrich looks back at her. "Huh?"

"If I'm a being inside a computer, what exactly does that make me?"

The athlete took a moment to think up an answer. This is a question that Jeremie would perfectly respond with a long and detailed answer, but the blonde genius was not there. However, over the times he got to know the blonde genius, he learns a thing or two about computers from that alien rabble that Jeremie speaks fluently.

Now that he thinks about it, Jeremie always brings up this phrase whenever he talks about advanced robotics and supercomputers.

"An artificial-intelligence."

His answer made the girl inside the computer widen her eyes. She does not feel comfortable with that answer at all.

"A-artificial intelligence?" She repeated.

Does that mean she is not real?

Ulrich noticed her distress. "Hey...it's okay."

She looked at him with a distressed expression, looking like a lost little puppy that was harshly kicked. Ulrich sighed, he honestly does not know what to do here. Thinking quickly, he asked her.

"Where are you?" He got a confused look from her, "I mean, I know you are inside a computer, but where you INSIDE the computer?" Hopefully, this should shed some light on her situation.

He brought up a good question. Where is she in this supercomputer? Maybe they could look for information that is stored inside this supercomputer, perhaps even information about her. Looking around, she took her time to analyze her surrounding.

"I think I'm in some sort of tower."

That did not sound much help. "Is there any way I can see what you see?" He can see the artificial girl, so should he at least see her surroundings? He thought of pressing some buttons but was afraid of what might happen without any insights. He considers himself the least tech-savvy person in the whole world, only knowing how to use a mobile phone and send emails.

The artificial girl thinks for a minute. If she is a part of this supercomputer, then she could at least interact with it, right?

"Hold on, let me see what I can do." She told him. Closing her eyes, and as if on instincts she connected her vision with the computer interface that Ulrich was using.

A screen popped up, which shows the cylindrical room with data appearing and disappearing constantly. Ulrich sweatdrops a little as he sees the codes forming around the tower, he at least knows that those numbers form something, but he has no idea to decipher them. Looking further, he noticed that the platform she was on had a path towards one side of the tower.

"Hey-uhhh."

"What is it?" The girl asked.

"Nothing, it's just...it's hard to communicate with you when you don't have a name, ya know?"

The artificial girl sees the conundrum in that. She frowns and her eyes were focused on the ground for her lack of name."You're right."

Ulrich grunted, realizing that he made her sad again. Thinking quickly, he thought up a name.

"Alice (1), how does that sound to you?"

The eyes of the now christened Alice perked up. She repeated the name, "Alice, sounds nice." She smiled.

He returns the smile with a smirk before focusing back on the task at hand.

"Alice, do you see that path?"

"Path?" She looked at the small path that leads to the wall of the tower. "But it leads to nowhere, Ulrich."

"Just trust me on this, Alice." She was in a virtual world, so things might not be as they seem at first sight.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, she proceeded to follow the short path to the wall. Once she was near, she raised her right hand to place on the wall, but once her hand was on the wall, it immediately phases through the wall and ripples formed around her hand.

Startled, she retracted her hand back. "Ulrich! Did you see that?"

He was just as startled as he also witnessed it on the screen. "Yeah, but don't be scared. It's some sort of door, just walk through it."

Understanding why she needs to, she nodded. Calming herself, she slowly walked through the unusual door, taking small steps one by one. Once she was through, she was almost blinded by the outside world. It was a direct contrast to the inside of the tower, which was dimly lighted by the data and the platform

"Woah..." Ulrich awed. He saw the virtual world was full of tall trees, the ground she stood on was covered in green grass and the sky was an oddly bright light green. This supercomputer is bigger than he thought if it has something like this.

Alice continued walking, taking in the world she is in. "Ulrich, are you seeing this?"

"I'm seeing what you're seeing Alice, but I'm having trouble understanding exactly where you are," Ulrich replied.

He continued to watch the visual screen as Alice continued walking around. When she was a good distance away from the tower, a beeping sound started as another screen popped up. In this one, it has a what appeared to be a 3D map and a digital ID card of Alice. On the 3D map, it shows three individuals, one of which Ulrich can easily guess is Alice, but what of the other two?

Looking back at the visual screen, Ulrich and Alice saw two weird and identical creatures come walking around a tree. The creatures had some sort of weird deformed head on metal legs with a symbol on the said head along with appears to be a red lens that is between the head and legs.

"What are those?" Ulrich asked the first thing that came in mind. "Weird looking bugs."

Alice was about to say her own thoughts but was cut off when the red lens of the creatures started to glow. Before she knew it, she was shot. The bug-like creature shot at her with a laser.

"Ah!" She screamed in pain, as she cradled her injured shoulder while Ulrich also gasps in shock. Not wasting a second, she started running back while holding onto her shoulder. "Ulrich! They're attacking me!" She heard more lasers being fired that missed her. The creatures did not stop firing as they chased after her.

"Alice! Get back to the tower! Hurry!" Ulrich panicked as he saw the ID card of Alice flashes red.

Alice continued to run and was nearing the tower when a laser bolt got her on the back, which sent her forward crashing into the ground. Ulrich grew more worried as he saw the number on Alice's ID card lowered down more, not really wanting to think what would happen if it hits zero. The pinkette picked herself back up and noticed that she was just inches away from the tower. Hearing the creatures charging up the laser, she instinctively jumped into the tower. She landed on the platform on her side.

Ulrich sighed in relief once he saw through Alice's visual screen that the virtual girl was back in the tower. He then saw the number in Alice's ID card go back to a hundred after a moment.

"Alice, this thing is saying your life points are being restored, but are you okay?"

The virtual girl picked herself up before sitting down, "Yes, I think I'll be all right."

"Those monsters stopped chasing you?"

Alice looked back at the entrance with a weary look before calming a bit after a moment once she realized those monsters were no longer after her.

"I think so. They must not be able to enter this tower if they stopped chasing me."

"Well, that's good," Ulrich commented as he relaxed. Sitting back, he started thinking. He may not know much about computers, but this supercomputer is not a giant videogame, that he knows. And this virtual girl is trapped in this virtual world with monsters roaming around that want to end her. She's basically in a prison. This may sound crazy to him, but he needs to help her. In any way possible.


Kadic Academy

Jeremie let out a sigh of relief once he was out of the headmaster's office. He was only brought as a witness by Jim, and after telling Jean-Pierre Delmas his side of the story about the incident between the new student and the principal's daughter, he was free to go. Once he was out the door, he immediately went to the dorm rooms, destination: Ulrich's room.

Unfortunately, though, he found the door locked.

"Ulrich? Ulrich? You there?" The blonde genius calls out as he knocked on the door. After a moment of silence, he pulled out his mobile cell and called the missing person.

No answer. And no ringing of a cell phone from the other side of the door. It either means that Ulrich turned off his phone or he just was not in his room. Now he was getting worried, and this all started when he mentioned that abandoned factory to him. What exactly happened there?

Whatever it was, he just hopes that Ulrich gets back to campus soon.


"Alice, is there anything else you can see in there?" Ulrich asked her after giving her a moment to mentally recover from her encounter with those monsters.

Said virtual girl started to look around the tower again. Left, then right; all she saw was data codes that were forming before disappearing so new codes could be formed on the circular wall of the tower. She looked down at the platform she was standing on, and notice nothing new on it that is worth investigating other than it is in the shape of the same symbol as those monsters have. Finally, she looked up and notices another platform that is near the top of the tower.

"Yes, I think I found something, but I'm not sure how I can-!" Alice said before she squealed in surprise as she suddenly started levitating up the tower.

"What's happening?"

"I saw this platform at the top of the tower, and when I was thinking of how I could get up there, I started...flying?" Alice informed him as she noted that she is also glowing for some reason. She continued levitating upwards until she reached the upper platform, her feet lightly landing on it as the platform glowed with the same symbol as those monsters. She steps forward to the center and was spooked when an interface appeared in front of her. Curious, she placed her fingers on it before she started interacting with the data that was on it. Soon she gains access to some information. "Hmmm?" She hummed as she looked them over.

"Hmmm?" Ulrich mirrored, "What did you find, Alice?"

"I find out where I am." She told him as she continued scanning the information. "I'm in a virtual world called Lyoko."

"Lyoko? So that's what it's called." Ulrich said, relieved that they are finally getting some information about this supercomputer and the virtual world it contains. "Weird name for a forest though." He commented, despite not knowing what the name might actually mean since it sounds foreign to him.

The young athlete then saw Alice shake her head on the screen. "Lyoko is not just a forest, Ulrich. In fact, according to this, Lyoko has four sectors."

"Four sectors?" Ulrich repeated, surprised to hear that this virtual world is a lot bigger than he thought.

"Yes, and the other three sectors are different from this forest sector that I am in." She continued, "The other three sectors are the mountain sector, the desert sector, and the ice sector. And the tower I am in is not the only one; there are towers in all the sectors, and they have more than just one."

A thought came to Ulrich's mind when he learned there was a lot more than just one tower.

"What are the towers used for?" They all must have a purpose if the towers were numerous, and probably not just to store more digital information.

Alice searched the answer to that question but came out empty. "It doesn't say, but if I have to guess, they might contain more information about the supercomputer other than the ones I'm accessing right now."

"What about those monsters we saw earlier? Does it say anything about them?"

Again, Alice shook her head. "It doesn't say, but if I go to another tower and access the information it has, I might be able to answer that question."

"Let's think of a way to safely get you there first," Ulrich told her.

Alice nodded in agreement, not wanting to see those monsters very soon. "Okay."

"So what else did you find?" Ulrich asked, continuing their little investigation about the supercomputer.

Alice looks over the other information that she found, which was a program, and a rather complicated one to most people with her being one of the few possible exceptions.

"A program about virtualization."

"Virtualization? What does that even mean?" Ulrich asked with a confused tone, already feeling a headache coming on. He may not pay attention when Jeremie talks in the computer language, but he never heard of virtualization before.

"Well, what this program basically does is to send a living person into Lyoko."

That took Ulrich by surprise. Sending a person into a virtual world? Does such technology actually exist? In under an abandoned factory no less. He wonders what Jeremie's reaction would be if he found this out first.

"Sending a living person into the supercomputer, is that even possible?" Despite everything he has seen and heard so far, he still has some doubts.

"Yes, and it is done by using scanners. Have you seen them?"

Ulrich's mind flashed to one of the other underground floors in the factory, mainly the room with the three large metal tubes.

"So that's what those are for." He thought as another thought came to mind. "Yeah, and if those scanners can send a person from the real world into Lyoko, is it the same in reverse? Send a person from Lyoko into the real world?"

Alice blinked in realization to that possibility. If that was true, then she can just leave this virtual world full of monsters through one of the scanners with no problem! Unfortunately, as she looked through the program again, all that it holds is the procedure to send someone into Lyoko, not finding anything that does the opposite.

She shakes her head with a somber look. Ulrich banged his fist on the armrest.

"Damn it." Just when he thought he found the answer to her problem. He took a moment to calm himself as he thought over what he learned so far. "Okay, that was a dead-end... but it just means that the tower that you're at doesn't have the program to send you into the real world. You just have to find the right tower," He reasoned.

Alice nodded, "I agree, but it will be hard to find the right one with all those monsters out there." She said solemnly.

"Not if I can help it," Ulrich declared as he stood up from the mechanical chair. "Send me into Lyoko."

Alice's eyes widened, "What!? But Ulrich, it's dangerous here!" She tried to change his mind.

They may have just met each other, but one does not want the other to get hurt. One is willing to put himself in danger to help her to get out of a world filled with monsters, while the other does not want him to endanger himself for her sake.

"I know, I saw what you saw." He said with a hardened expression. "And I'm not afraid. It's going to take a lot more than a couple of cockroaches to scare me."

"But what if something happens to the virtualization process? I-I've never done it before! Something bad could happen to you. There's a very good possibility!"

"And there's a possibility that it'll work." He countered as he shoved his head near the computer screen, which startled the virtual girl a bit. "And that's a possibility that I'm willing to take."

Alice could only blink at Ulrich's conviction in awe. She could not help but nod to his plan of action.

"Okay...just...just let me look over this program for a bit. Better to be safe than sorry."

Ulrich nodded as he sat back down.


It took almost an hour, but Alice finally got the procedure of the virtualization program memorized into her mind down to the last detail.

"Okay, Ulrich, I'm ready to virtualize you." She told him with a small hint of hesitation. She was confident of initiating the program, but the small chance of a computing error can still occur, which frightens her.

Ulrich nodded, "I'll see you in a minute, Alice."

Said virtual girl blinked when she heard that line as she watches Ulrich disappear on the hologram screen on her end.

When the young athlete went to the floor below the computer lab, he saw one scanner that was opened up. Feeling a bit nervous, he tightened his fist to steal his resolves before stepping into the scanner. Once it closed, small dots of lights flew up around him as he also started levitating. Then out of nowhere, a bright light engulfed him, making him close his eyes.

For what felt like a few minutes, he felt as if his mind was disconnected from his body as he could hardly feel like moving a finger and all that he sees was white nothingness. When his sight came back to him, he saw the colors forest green and the bright green color of the sky of the aptly named forest sector. And just when he felt that he could move his body again, he realized too late that he was falling down.

He landed hard on his butt, "OW!"

Grunting, he stood up to his feet. As he looks around, observing and taking in the scenery of the forest of tall trees. After a moment of sightseeing, he finally notices his change of attire. No longer was he wearing his casual clothing, now he was wearing what appears to be a samurai outfit without the armor save for the leather armguard on his right arm, along with fingerless gloves. Feeling around his forehead, he found out that he was also wearing a yellow headband.

And the final piece to his attire, a sheathed katana strapped to his left hip. In one swift motion, he unsheathed it.

"Cool." He awed at his new weapon as he did some slashes with it, getting a feel of it. "This sword rocks, and it's going to come in handy."

With those buggy monsters, of course. Remembering why he was in that world in the first place, he sheaths back his sword but did not let go of the handle. He looks back to his surroundings, his eyes trained for any hints of those monsters he saw earlier.

"Alice? Alice?" He called out, but he did not receive any replies. Letting out a sigh, "Yeah, of course, it would be too easy. Well, I guess I have to look for her the old fashion way."

Just when he finished that sentence, a laser flew past him, an inch away from his ear. Startled, he turned to the direction to where that laser came from, and he saw the mechanical cockroaches. Two of them.

"Hey! Don't you know it's rude to shoot at people behind their backs!" He bantered, trying to see how these virtual creatures react.

Their response? Charging up their lasers before firing at him. Reacting accordingly, Ulrich parried them rather easily. Not wanting to give them time to charge up again, he charges up to them. When he was directly in front of one of them, he angled his katana to go for a sword thrust.

He stabbed the monsters on its deformed head, which apparently made it explode, and all that was left was its legs before it disappeared from sight.

"That's one down-AH!" Ulrich managed to say before being shot at on his shoulder by the remaining monster. He narrowed his eyes at the virtual creature before sprinting at it and destroyed it by slashing at it he ran by it. "That takes care of those two. Now, to find Alice."

He looked around to see any sight of that tower, he just hopes the first one he finds is not a different tower. He immediately started running around the Forest Sector, occasionally looking left to right before continuing running forward. This went on for what felt to him was forty-five minutes all the while running without any breaks, which lead him to learn that his virtual body does not tire easily or not at all.

Ulrich then stopped when he heard a familiar mechanical sound. More monsters were around where he was, and it sounded like they were coming towards him. He took cover behind a boulder that was covered in moss.

He kept a hand on his sword as he heard the monsters coming closer to him...

and then started moving away from him as they passed by the boulder. Ulrich took a peek to see the three of the bug monsters keep moving forward away from him, oblivious to his presence.

"Hmmm," Ulrich hummed. If those monsters were not after him specifically, then they must be after Alice! He smirked before following them, being careful to not get too close while occasionally hiding behind trees and large boulders that littered the paths of the sector.

In no time, the monsters helped lead him to a tower, no doubt it is the tower where Alice is hiding. Seeing them circle around the tall tower helped support it.

From behind a tree, Ulrich took a moment to calm his head. He does not want to be reckless, especially in a world he barely has any information about. And just when he moved around the tree and partially unsheathed his sword, he heard buzzing.

Then he felt pain in his back as he was propelled forward. He landed on a few feet away, landing on his face. From the pain, he could tell that he was hit by a laser again.

"Ahhh, shouldn't have let my guard down behind my back." He was so focused on following those monsters, he did not realize that he himself might have been followed as well. Standing back up on his feet, he saw the three monsters, that he was following, were now focused on him rather than on the tower, and looking up from behind him, he saw a new monster.

It resembles a large bee, a hornet even, green in color, with multiple pairs of thin wings, and a large proboscis protruding from its head that has the same bullseye-like symbol.

"Great. More bugs?" Ulrich unsheaths his sword before pointing it at the new monster while taking glances back at the land-locked monsters that were behind him. He was completely surrounded and outnumbered. Not only that, if Alice has a life point meter, then he must also have life points and no doubt he would be sent back to the real world if he loses all of them. He would have to start all over again if that happens.

He trained his eyes at the tower.

"Monsters can't enter, but maybe I can!"

Before running off, he blocked three lasers from behind before ducking to evade the one that was shot by the giant hornet. He ran up to the cockroach-like monsters before jumping high over them.

"Yeah!" He screamed before landing. He landed elegantly on a three-point landing before running off towards the tower. The monsters started firing in a frenzy, but they all missed and failed when Ulrich phased through the tower. "Alice!"

He called out her name, which got her attention. She was standing on the bottom platform of the tower. The problem was though, he was not! He was just a foot away from the narrow path that connects the platform to the hidden door.

"Ulrich!" Alice screamed when she saw the virtualized boy fall after stepping on nothing. Luckily, Ulrich managed to grab onto the edge of the platform with one hand while his other hand was still holding onto the katana. He did not have a good grip and he was not keen on losing the one weapon he only has. She went over to help. "Hang on!"

She gripped his hand with both of her hands and tried to pull him up with all of her strength, but it only ended with her falling down with Ulrich. They both screamed as they fell down through what appears to be a data stream. After falling for quite a while, they expected to land on the very, possibly dark, bottom of the tower, but somehow they were thrown back up the tower and landed on the platform.

Ulrich landed hard in the middle of the platform.

"Ah! Uhhhh." Ulrich grunted.

"Ahhhh!"

Then Alice came up from the bottom before also landing in the middle of the platform...where Ulrich was still lying on his back. If he had his real lungs right now, then all the air in him would have been squeezed out when she landed directly on him. He still felt the pain nonetheless.

Ulrich groaned after recovering from having someone land roughly on him. Alice was disoriented but quickly recovered her bearings. Lifting her head, she realized her head was on his chest. Ulrich looked and saw Alice was on top of him and notices a familiar situation.

A girl was on top of him. Like when he first sparred with that Japanese girl.

"Jeez, I know girls fall for me, but I didn't think William meant that literally." Usually, jokes are not his forte but considering the situation, he thought he could give some laughter for the virtual girl.

Alice blinked, "What?" Her eyes showed confusion. Being this close, Ulrich thought her puzzled look was cute.

He chuckled as he shakes his head, "Nothing, don't worry about it." He flashed her an assuring smile. It seems she does not understand the concept of jokes, not yet anyway he thought.

Still confused, but she soon returned the smile to show her appreciation, which was the least she could do for him coming to her aid in a world that both of them barely have any knowledge of.

"Ulrich, thank you for coming."

"You're welcome. It's the least I could do for you, I only wish I could do more." He could not do coding but fighting those monsters this world has, he was all up for that. He let out a sign in relief, "Boy, those monsters outside just keep coming. There was even this big wasp. Luckily I made it on time to get to you.

A look of worry appeared on Alice's face, "You should stay inside the tower for a while, you'll regain your life points that way."

Ulrich nodded, "You're right." He went to pick up his sword, which he dropped when he crashed onto the platform. He sheathed it before sitting down with Alice joining him. "So, find anything useful while I out there trying to find you?"

"No, I'm sorry." Alice frowned.

Ulrich placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, which Alice stared at in response before looking up at Ulrich.

"Hey, don't worry about it." He assured her. "Once I'm ready to get out there and get you to another tower, I'm sure you'll find something. Maybe find a way to get you to Earth."

Alice hesitant on that notion, "Do you really think it's possible for me to be real as you?"

Ulrich gave her a look that basically screamed "are you kidding me?"

He gave her a hardened look, "Alice, an hour ago, I was all just flesh, blood, and bones, and I'm now made of 1's and 0's." He retorted as he looked at his digital hands for exaggeration. "What I have seen so far with this supercomputer, I'd say it's possible."

Alice was still skeptical but did think the possibility was there. She nodded, "You're right. We should at least find a program to get me out of Lyoko."

"Easier said than done," Ulrich stated the fact, "First, I have to take care of those monsters outside before we can do any searching. Speaking of..."

Feeling that he stayed inside the tower long enough, he pulled out his sword from its sheath before running out of the tower with a battle cry. Alice raised a hand up to get him to stop but did do so fast enough, so all she could do was to watch her friend, now apparently self-appointed bodyguard of hers, run out of the tower.

She slowly walked up to the entrance, hesitant to go outside herself, but had the urge to help in fighting those monsters in any way she can. The problem was though, she was not armed with a weapon as Ulrich.

That got her to stop and think: why did she not have a weapon? Did the supercomputer give Ulrich that weapon he carries? If so, why and how? Plenty more questions came to mind. This is something she would have to investigate later. The results could be quite worthwhile if it will help with their current goal.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Ulrich came back inside.

"Alice," He pointed at the entrance, "You got to see this."

Curious, she followed him to the outside. She was expecting to see trees, but instead of seeing green of varying shades, all she saw was rocky terrain. She saw very little vegetation, if any, around the area and mostly mountains of a dull and dark color of purple. The sky was blue and there was fog around the area.

"Looks like when we fell down the tower, we got sent to another sector," Ulrich deduced. "Welcome to the Mountain Sector, Alice."

Alice looked around, taking in her surroundings. Althought it was an accident, they just learned something new about Lyoko.

"It seems the towers are what connect the sectors to each other."

"Is it two-way? Or do the towers take us to a sector randomly?" Ulrich wondered. He shakes his head, "Let's not test that right now, this place is better than where we were."

No more monsters in sight. Not now at least.

Alice nodded as she heads back into the tower. "I'll check if this tower has any new information." She might get the same information as before, but it would not hurt to just check what this tower holds.

Ulrich agreed with her; best to be thorough. Speaking of which, he gripped his sword. "I'll look around to see if there are any monsters nearby."

"Okay. Just be careful, Ulrich," Alice said with worry.

Ulrich did not say anything but nodded to her before running off as Alice entered the tower.


Almost half an hour has passed, and Ulrich has yet to find any monsters in the area. All he saw was more mountain formations and fog with occasional greenery. And the scenery was beginning to look sci-fi, apparently, this entire sector was floating mountains above an ocean. Also, all he heard was simulated air, no mechanical sounds, or buzzing at all.

Feeling certain with his search, he heads back to the tower.

"Alice!" He called out as he entered. He looks up to see Alice descending down gracefully with a glow surrounding her. Once her feet touch the platform, he asks, "Find anything to get you out of here?"

Sadly, she shakes her head. "No, nothing new from what we already know."

Ulrich did his best to hide his disappointment. He has to keep a brave face, for her.

"Well, that's two towers, I'm sure we'll get lucky with the next one." He said with the best smile he could muster. Smiling was never his thing. Alice returned the smile. His face then became solemn. "But that'll have to be another day, I need to go back now."

Alice's smile melted away into a frown. "Do you really have to go now?"

"I'll be back," He promised. "It's just that I need to go back to school."

An eyebrow raised on Alice's confused look. "School?" She repeated.

"Oh, you don't know what school is." Ulrich realized as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well long-story-short, school is any place where kids like me go to learn to prepare them for the real world. The kind of school I'm going to is where I actually live at for most of the year, and the people who work there are very strict with the students staying on school grounds most of the time."

"Oh! So that's why you need to go back." Alice was quite happy to learn something about the real world, which Ulrich took note of. Perhaps he should bring up simple things about the real world to the virtual girl. She nodded in understanding, "But before you go, I need you to do something for me."

Now it was Ulrich's turn to raise an eyebrow. "What do you need?"

In response, Alice points at the very center of the platform, which Ulrich easily guessed that she wanted him to stand over. He did so without hesitation. He stood there with his arms at his sides. He watches Alice stand on his side, motioning her hand across in front of her to make a holo-screen to appear.

"Uh...what are you doing?" He asked, a bit nervously, as she typed on the holo-screen.

"I may not learn anything new about Lyoko right now, but I can learn about you." She answered as she continued to type. "To be more specific, your avatar."

"My avatar?"

"Uh-huh. If you're going to fight those monsters, I believe it's best that you know all about it as much as possible, which is why I'm running a scan to learn about your avatar."

Ulrich nodded in agreement. He already has some fighting prowess from his martial arts and his virtual katana certainly helps, but who knows what else this virtual body provides him in combat. It certainly got his interest.

"Of course, that's not the only thing," Alice continued. "With the information that I'm gathering, I might be able to start making a materialization program if it teaches me anything about virtualization."

"Materialization?"

"It's the opposite the virtualization," Alice explains the athlete turned samurai. "which is a process that turns physical matter turned to digital data. Materialization turns digital data into physical matter."

"Which will happen to me if I lose all my life points?" Ulrich asked curiously.

Alice shakes her head as she informs of everything she has learned so far from the information she has gathered from the towers.

"No, Ulrich. You'll just be devirtualize, which is different from materialization. Your life points keep you virtualized and connected to Lyoko, lose them all and the process will be undone. Unlike you, I'm made of digital codes, and as such, I don't have a human body. If I lose all my life points, then I'll be just like those monsters you destroy."

Ulrich tightens a fist, which went unnoticed by Alice as she was busy with getting the program ready.

"Okay, start when you can, Alice." He told her as he stood perfectly still. Admittedly, he finds it a bit concerning that she is essentially probing him like what a scientist would do to study a living creature, but he finds comfort in the fact that it is his virtual body she is scanning, not his actual body. Besides, this is for a good cause.

Alice finished setting the scanning program. She gives him an assuring smile, having a feeling that he would find this weird.

"This should only take a moment. Starting scan." She announced as she pressed one final key. She watches as Ulrich's avatar body levitated above the platform as a ring appeared that scanned him from head to toes.

"That...felt weird," Ulrich commented once it was over. He was conscious and aware of his surroundings during the whole procedure, but he found out that he couldn't even move and his virtual body was numb.

Alice ignored him, more interested in the data she collected.

"The scan was a success," She announced with a smile. Their search was slow, but they certainly have progress.

"Well, at least we have that," Ulrich said as he stared at the holo-screen. He may not know what it all means, but it was certainly his virtual body. He turned to her before motioning to the edge of the platform, "Ready to see if this tower only connects to the forest sector?"

His companion nodded as she made the holo-screen disappear after saving the data she just gathered directly into the tower. She followed him to the edge.

After looking down at the bottomless hole, Ulrich said to Alice, "On three?"

The pinkette appeared apprehensive as she gazes down at the abyss. She turned to him, giving him her hand. "Together?"

This tower may send them back to the forest, or it will send them randomly to one of the other sectors, separately even.

Ulrich took her offered hand, "Okay,"

With their hands linked together, they counted down.

"One," Ulrich started.

Then Alice said, "Two." They crouch down.

"Three!" They jumped off the edge.


Turns out the tower they were on only connect the forest and mountain sectors together, acting as a bridge between the two. Ulrich checked outside the tower, and sure enough, he was welcomed back to the greenery, and the monsters that were waiting patiently for him.

He ran back inside before they could even charge up their lasers.

"That proves it, this tower connects to the mountain sector," Ulrich said to Alice, who nodded in acknowledgment. "I'll be back soon, Alice. I promise."

"And I'll be waiting here," Alice nodded with a smile.

Ulrich smiled before running out of the tower like a bat out of hell. It was then that Alice noticed a yellow streak trailing behind him. That piqued her interest, perhaps she'll learn about this from her scan on Ulrich.

When Ulrich confronted the monsters outside, he didn't give them any free shots. He dodged most of the lasers coming his way with only one hit on his chest, but he tanked through it. He noticed those cockroach monsters were spread out, so he went after the nearest one, which he made quick work of. That cost him three laser hits on him, two from the remaining Kankrelats, and one from the giant wasp.

He eyed the flying monster. Making up his mind, he decided to take out that giant wasp before they could send him back into the real world. He dodged a barrage from the two Kankrelats before going after the Hornet. In response, the flying monster changed tactics and went flew at Ulrich for a tackle.

Ulrich saw it coming, and reacted in time to dodge it; just as it flew by him, Ulrich manages to slice off one wing, making it unable to fly effectively with uneven pairs of wings as it stumbles around in the air. The giant gasp appeared to have become desperate as it started firing lasers, sending bolts in every direction. One manages to destroy one of the landlocked monsters, while Ulrich let one hit him. He was running low on life points for sure.

Shaking off the simulated stinging pain on his shoulder, Ulrich focused back at the flying monster, which started dive at him. Positioning his sword at the right angle for the right time, he thrust it forward just before it could tackle him.

Just as he would at the end of a martial arts match, Ulrich put on a solemn look as he sheathed his sword and relaxed from his stance. The last monster walked up to him, its lens glowing. Ulrich looks back at it.

He raised his right, motioning at it. "Give me your best shot."

The last thing he saw was seeing his virtual body disintegrating into digital code.


Ulrich wasted no time getting back to school grounds; he took the same route he came from: the factory to the sewers to the park, and then back to Kadic Academy. Checking the time, he noticed that he missed all of his classes before lunch started for the day, and it was just fifteen minutes before the bell for lunch period rings.

Was he worried that he might get in trouble? It would be the first time he got in trouble in school, not relating to his grades. The principal will probably give him detention for skipping classes, and he might expect a call from his father. He rather takes the detention by itself.

He sneaked back into his dormitory so he could gather for his stuff for class. Once he was ready, he headed out just as the bell rang throughout the school. On the way to the cafeteria, Jeremie met up with him.

"Ulrich! There you are!" The blonde genius called out as he joined him on the route to the cafeteria. "Where were you?"

"Hey Einstein," He greeted back, as he gave Jeremie a look over and noticed that he seems tense, "Something wrong?"

"I should be asking you that." Jeremie retorted, "if you must know, I was worried that I might get in trouble for covering for you."

"You've been covering for me?" Ulrich said in shock, not expecting the model student to lie on his behalf. "You lied to our teachers? Jeremie, you didn't have to do that, what happens to me shouldn't matter to you."

"Well, I'm sorry that I was feeling guilty that sending you to that abandoned factory might have caused your disappearance today," Jeremie stressed out.

Ulrich looks at Jeremie for a moment before taking a deep breath of fresh air. Should he tell him? His understanding of computers will certainly be a big help, but... maybe not at the moment. He will see how he handles this, and if the situation calls for, he would swear Jeremie to secrecy.

"It's...not your fault, Jeremie," Ulrich started to come up with a lie, "I just have a lot of things going on, you know?"

When he means by 'things', he means his average grades and dad problems. Thanks to a certain older raven-haired teen, the model student of Kadic Academy learned about Ulrich's strained relationship with his father.

"Oh," Jeremie let out with his eyebrows raised. He soon became silent, realizing that Ulrich doesn't want to talk about something personal.

Ulrich saw his lie worked, he continued forward. Before they entered the cafeteria, Jeremie had this to say.

"I can't say for absolute certain, but there's a good chance the school nurse won't learn about my lie."

"Oh? How come?"

"Well for starters, around this time of year, not many students go to the infirmary due to any illnesses," Jeremie started with the first reason before continuing, "and second, I believe our Jean-Pierre will be too busy with making sure Sissi gets properly punished."

"Sissi? What did she do this time?" Ulrich asked curiously as he pushed open the door to the cafeteria, letting Jeremie walk inside first.

Jeremie shakes his head, "For the life of me, I'll never figure out how Sissi's brain functions. For some strange reason, she thought your new roommate is the reason why you disappeared."

"The guy drives me crazy," Ulrich commented, "but he's not exactly the kind of guy to make someone disappear. And all honesty, I'd rather be in a room with Odd than with Sissi."

Both grabbed a tray and went in line. Looking around the lunchroom, Jeremie found what he was looking for.

"Looks like you won't have to tolerate them for today, and probably for the next couple of days or so," Jeremie said as he pointed at Sissi and Odd's direction. "Get a load of that. If you're lucky, perhaps even a week."

Turning his gaze to where he was pointing, he saw the aforementioned students sitting together at the same table with the school principal and gym teacher. The two students were frowning as they rested their heads on their palms.

"Good," Ulrich said with a sigh as he gathered some food. He had a feeling those two would be giving him a headache at lunch once he returned but was glad he was wrong.

Ulrich sat down at a table with Jeremie sitting across from him. He didn't eat, he just absent-mindedly poked and played with his food, his mind wandered to the abandoned factory and Lyoko. Wondering how Alice is faring with her scans and hoping she was okay.

Lyoko was certainly big, full of strange monster roaming around, and seems to be full of unexpected surprises.

He just hopes any of these surprises won't be too much to handle.


Mountain Sector

*BUMP*

*BUMP*

*BUMP*

Alice was analyzing the data of Ulrich's avatar, carefully trying to decipher the text. From the amount gathered, there was certainly plenty of information to learn from, giving hope for Alice. She did not let this excite her too much though, she knew that there couldn't be any room for error, especially when analyzing computer codes.

*BUMP*

Alice's eyes widened. Her eyes turned from the holo-screen and in the direction of where she felt that...presence. She couldn't describe it, but she felt like she was being watched by some entity. She looked around the tower and found that she was the only one there, but she could still feel this presence. Her mind raced a mile a minute as she tried to make sense of an entity that she can't see, and knew it was there in the same tower. Fear and worry consume her.

A moment later, the presence was gone, and the weight on Alice's shoulder was lifted as she calmed down.

What was that?


(1): I actually searched up german names for Aelita's "Maya" name, and Alice came when I search up famous female german names. It's not only a nice name for a female, but I learned that it means noble, which is fitting since Aelita is famous for being called Princess by the other Lyoko Warriors.

Feel free to ignore everything below this sentence that does some explaining.

Regarding the lack of an electrical monster in this remake of XANA Awaken, let me explain. I think XANA sent that electric monster mostly because it immediately deemed Jeremie as a threat because of his apparent intellect in computers, and then Jeremie got help in the form of Ulrich, and then Odd when he was brought as an unwilling guinea pig, and possibly Sissi (we know how that went), that gives XANA enough reason to get rid of them ASAP. Ulrich has stated plenty of times in the show that he is not tech-savvy, as the same in this fic, so XANA has no reason to eliminate him immediately in the real as it did with Jeremie in XANA Awakens, and so currently it will only observe Ulrich help Aelita and take action when necessary. So far, Ulrich has only shown to be a threat only against XANA's monsters, not a threat directly at XANA. Also, since Ulrich wasn't attacked directly by XANA in the real world, yet, like with Jeremie when he was electrocuted, he believes he does not need any help from others yet.

I know they are two types of towers, the way-towers and the towers which XANA uses to launch attacks on Earth, it's just they haven't learned that yet since they have only been to two towers, which were way-towers.

I'm having trouble writing Aelita (Alice). I'm trying to stay true on how she was in XANA Awakens. Honestly, if you compare Aelita in XANA Awakens to Aelita from any of the early season 1 episodes, it's like they are completely different characters. This is probably a side effect of how the story writer changed Aelita's core character; pre-season 2, Aelita was an A.I with no human origins, but after some changes done during the break between season 1 and season 2, Aelita was changed to being a human who was trapped on Lyoko.

I'm sorry that this seems half-baked, but I really wanted to finish this chapter.