I know the last chapter was titled XANA Awakens Part 1, but it will be a while before Part 2, where the rest of the Lyoko Warriors will officially learn about Lyoko and Aelita (except for Yumi), and Part 3, where XANA finally attacks with that electrical monster, Yumi learns about the factory and Aelita learns about her real name. Bit of a spoiler, but it is based on the original.


Ulrich was lying down on his bed, his hands behind his head and his eyes staring mindlessly at the ceiling. An hour ago, his roommate's dog was all hyper once his master came back, and once Odd played enough with Kiwi to calm the mutt down, the lanky blonde left for a shower.

His mind wandered back to his experience on Lyoko; how it felt to be in an entirely new world and traversing the sectors and fighting those monsters. It was simply and purely amazing. None of the technology that he managed to understand from Jeremie can close to Lyoko. Though, that begs the question, who created such a high piece of technology that holds a whole virtual world? And why under an abandoned factory? And how does Alice fit into all of this?

And here's one question he has trouble getting over. Was Alice...human?

His line of questions was abrupted when his roommate woke up from his nap. The blonde let out a yawn as he sat up from his bed. He was emotionally exhausted after a headache of a lunch period with the principal and his eccentric daughter, and after that was phys ed. He didn't know which was worst, Sissi's snarky attitude or the principal's strict table manners, which made the whole ordeal worst since he couldn't enjoy the food the way he always has. And this will continue for the next week, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After phys ed, he just went straight back to his dorm room, which Ulrich coming soon after.

Ulrich looks at his roommate from the corner of his eyes, "So, how was your nap? Was it about your date with Sissi?"

"Very funny, Ulrich," Odd said back as he didn't want to be reminded of his punishment, which he will still serve for six more days. "And you were right, that Sissi is pretty much brain dead."

Ulrich smirked as he cracked a chuckle, "And that's why you two go so well together."

If he wasn't so tired and have just woken up, Odd would have thrown his pillow at him.

"Still mad at me for what Kiwi did?"

"You are his owner, so he's your responsibility." He might have fixed and cleaned his bed, but Ulrich still doesn't like the fact that Odd expects him to keep his dog a secret from the beginning.

Odd nervously tapped his finger on the bedsheet as he contemplated. "Listen, you're not going to tell anyone about Kiwi, are you?"

Ulrich would have said yes immediately, but he shakes his head no.

"Forget about it, your dog has already been here for two days. If I told Mr. Delmas, he might think I was part of keeping Kiwi a secret."

Odd smiled a bit when he heard Ulrich said his dog's name and not by mutt, but raises an eyebrow, "Even though it was you who told him about Kiwi?"

"I'm not exactly a model student, and Mr. Delmas can be quite strict, which you should have learned by today." Odd could only laugh sheepishly at that claim. Ulrich sighs exasperatedly, "So in the end, I'm stuck with the both of you."

Odd grinned, "Don't sweat about it, before you know it, you'll miss having me around for even a second."

Ulrich rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't bet on that."

This retort only got Odd to chortle, "Wow! You're funny. You know what, maybe you and I should come up with jokes together? Chicks dig funny guys."

"Great, another ladies' man?"

"Another? You mean you had another roommate before me? And he knew how to pick up chicks like a pro?" Odd asked excitedly as he sat up. He had an awful second day at this new school, but he now learned his roommate bunked with a ladies' man? His day was turning around for him.

Ulrich cracked a smile as he, too, sat up, "Between you and me, he had a better time getting a date with a girl's hand." He lost count of all the times William received a red mark on his face.

"See! You are hilarious, now come on help me with this joke I've been coming up with, it involves a tiger, bananas, and a bicycle."

A dumbfounded look crawled its way up onto Ulrich's face.

"What kind of a joke is that?"

"Even I don't know that, but it'll be funny, I can tell you that."

The young athlete just stared at his roommate for a moment with a deadpanned expression before getting up from his bed.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Odd called out.

Ulrich put on a mock thinking face, "Uhhh... anywhere but here?"

And with that, Ulrich shut his door behind him. Odd got up and ran out to catch up to him.

"Oh come on, I thought we were having a moment there," Odd said, but found that he was too late since the double doors closed. "Geez, he's sure quick on his feet."

The double doors open again and walking into the boys' dormitory was Jim.

"Della Robbia!" He called with a scream before setting his eyes on the said student. "There you are! Now come on, you still have your punishment for dinner." The gym teacher did not give Odd a moment to reply, and grabbed the new student by the alarm, and started dragging him to the cafeteria.

"What? B-but I'm not hungry." He complained, as much as he was hungry, he really did not want to sit next to Sissi and her father one more time today. His growling stomach betrayed him, which Jim took note of.

"Nonsense," Jim shot back, feeling appalled that a student will be wasting perfectly good food, especially how Rosa the lunch lady preps them. "Your parents paid for your tuition, and part of that money pays for your share of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Skipping on any of them, then you're just taking your parents' generosity for granite."

"Uh... I'm pretty sure it's 'granted.'"

Jim took a moment to stop and scratch the top of his head, "It is? Well anyway, it doesn't matter, you still have to face your punishment like a man."

"Nooo!" Odd cried in despair. Anyplace that provided food was always a safe haven for him, but add Sissi and her father into the mix, it's just pure torture for him.


"Hey, Jeremie?"

"What is it, Ulrich?"

"I think I heard this from you, but what is artificial intelligence?"

"I remember that conversation, but what makes you bring this up?"

"Just curious."

"Well, to start off there are actually four kinds of artificial intelligence, the first is..."

"There's four?" Ulrich cut him off in surprise. "Um... which one that's borderline human intelligent?"

"Oh, that's self-aware, it's..." An amused expression wormed its way into Jeremie's bespectacled features, "wait, are you asking about this to see if A.I's like those you see in those movies that try to take over the world and dominate the human race are possible?"

"...Maybe?" Ulrich put on a fake sheepish smile while crossing his arms. This way, Jeremie would not suspect anything.

Jeremie chuckled as he crosses his arms, "William is right, you do have bad tastes in movies."

"Hey!" Ulrich cried in response and tried to defend himself, but quickly decided against that. He wanted to learn more about A.I's, not talk about movies. He calmed himself down, "I'm just curious to see if computers can act and be anything like humans."

"Whatever you say, Ulrich," Jeremie said. "If you're actually serious, let me tell you what I think."

"Well out with it, Einstein," He urged the genius. "I'm dying to know."

"I was going to start by saying that life can be measured by mathematics, but you're just going to ignore that, aren't you?"

Ulrich smirks, "How'd you guess that?"

Jeremie shakes his head with a smirk, "Alright, let me try to dumb it down for you. Human thoughts are actually formed by electrical signals created by neurons, and computers run on electricity."

"So if there's electricity, there's life?" Ulrich guesses with a raised eyebrow, "Is that the basis for Frankenstein?"

"Frankenstein's monster, and no." Jeremie argued before continuing, "Anyway, computer coding is essentially the computer's own language that they can understand and will through down to the letter, and, although it would be very, very, VERY, complex and complicated to explain, it's theoretically possible to make a program to have a mind of its own and allow it to think for itself." (1)

Ulrich thinks this over, before asking, "Would you say an AI's life is just as valuable as a human's own life?"

That made Jeremie stop and think.

"I... I can't say for sure, but I guess it depends on how you feel about an AI and how they act. If they act and respond to things like any other person, then I would say they are very human."

Ulrich nodded before putting on a sly smile.

"So would you say that AI's would actually try to take over the world?"

Jeremie cracked out a laugh. Of course, he would joke like that; he and William would always ask him questions regarding some stuff they have seen in movies to be possible.

"If an AI considers humans inferior to technology as its own personal opinion, then yes," The model student went along with the joke. "After all, it's human nature; why do you think we had all those wars?"

Ulrich just chuckled as his mind wandered back to his digital friend, Alice. Actually, his mind has been on Alice ever since he left the factory. She was a computer program, yet so human. She got scared of those monsters, feels appreciation from his support, worried for his safety, and was curious about a human concept, school. So, from what he could understand from Jeremie's explanation and his interaction with Alice, she is genuinely and fully human in his eyes.

He grabbed his cup of water before taking a sip. He just hopes that Alice could actually become human and that he was enough to help with that goal.


The Next Day

Ulrich went to all of his classes this time, and like always, he tried with much effort to listen and note down every word of all of his teachers' lectures while excelling in physical education. As he sat in class on the final last minutes before the final bell, he realized one problem with helping Alice, he would have to find a balance between going to Lyoko and trying his hardest in his classes. He never realized how much of a time constraint he is in until now after spending hours in class. Sighing internally, he pulled out his planner which has his class schedule for the whole year.

Perhaps he could sneak out and go to Lyoko at night for a few hours? He should be okay with weekends, though he would have to sacrifice sleeping in, which he enjoys like many other teenagers his age. Holiday vacations? He could convince his parents to let him stay during such times by telling them that he would like to improve his studies with a quiet and mostly isolated school, though they will probably deny him during Christmas. His eyes lingered on the last month of the year. (2)

"Eager for that week-long vacation, Ulrich?" Jeremie, who sat next to the athlete, asked with a smile. "It's not until more than a month from now, and staring at your planner won't make it come sooner."

Ulrich could only sigh at this as he said this to mostly himself "I just don't have enough time on my hands."

He can only hope that things will turn out well in the end. Preferably before winter break comes, he has no idea how long Alice could stand being alone on Lyoko without any form of contact.


The young man got a few hours before dinner, so he immediately headed towards the abandoned factory. He slipped out of campus grounds without anyone noticing; fortunately, he was not that social around his peers, so not many will bat an eye at his disappearance before his return.

"Note to self, bring my skateboard next time," Ulrich told himself as he ran through the underground storm drain. An athlete he may be, but even he has a difficult time maneuvering such unknown terrain as fast as possible.

Soon enough, he got to the abandoned factory before reaching the elevator via the rope. When he got to the lab floor, he put on the earpiece and spoke through the microphone.

"Alice?" He called out. "Can you hear me?"

A line appeared on the screen before expanding into a full window where the pinkette's face appeared.

"Ulrich!" She exclaimed in delight, sounding very relieved. "I was so worried when you were gone so long."

"Hey, Alice," Ulrich politely greeted. "Yeah, when you go to a school like mine, you'll find most of your time occupied."

"Really?" Alice said in curiosity. "Interesting, the people at this school must really make sure you have the proper knowledge to prepare you for life."

"I wouldn't...exactly agree with the 'proper knowledge' part." Honestly, there are some classes that were completely unnecessary in his opinion. "But yeah, our teachers really try to cram as much stuff as they can into our heads."

Alice blinked in surprise before widening her eyes, "You mean they actually beat the information into your heads?"

Ulrich looked at her with a bewildered look before realization struck. He chuckles at her innocents.

"No, no, not literally. It's just a phrase, " He assures. He only got a confused look from the digital girl, "let's focus on our search. Did you find anything useful from the data you collected from scanning my avatar? Like how to make a, how did you put it? A materialization program?"

Alice solemnly shakes her head, "I was hoping it would, but even with the data I collected, I'm not even able to start on the program."

Ulrich shakes his head with a frown.

"Okay, not the best start." He tried to stay optimistic. Inwardly, he sighed in relief when Alice gave him a smile.

"However, I did find something that will help you in your future battles with those monsters."

"Oh? What did you find?" Now he was curious and eager to learn what she has found.

"You are going to love this, Ulrich," Alice assures him with a pretty smile. "From what I have analyzed, your virtual avatar has abilities."

A smile, bigger than any he usually forms in a year, wormed his way onto his face.

"Abilities? What kind of abilities?" Ulrich asked with eagerness evident in his tone. Other than facing tough creatures in that virtual world, going into Lyoko is an amazing experience. He felt physically stronger and faster than he is in the real world, and wielding that katana was a cherry on top. And now he is hearing that he has abilities he did not know he has on Lyoko?

Alice giggled at his eagerness, "It's better that you experience it first hand than me explaining it to you." Honestly, the pinkette has been separated from her friend for like a day already and is feeling quite lonely, especially from being essentially locked up in the tower. She was eager to have him back on Lyoko.

Ulrich nodded as he got up from the mechanical chair, "Okay, I'm coming in." He heads towards the elevator before stopping and turning back to the screen "Oh! This time, make sure to virtualize me near the tower this time."

That was a problem he forgot to mention to the virtual girl, which she also realized while she was waiting for him to come to her. Though he would have to face the monsters waiting at the tower early on, it would have saved him the trouble and time of finding said tower.

"I'm not really accurate with the location that I can virtualize you in," she says honestly, "but let me see if I can virtualize to a location where you can least see the tower."

"Got it."


Like before, Ulrich got into a scanner before it closed, a bright light enveloped him, and soon enough, he was back on Lyoko. Recalling from his first experience, he positioned his body so he would not land on his butt like the last time, and instead landed in a superhero landing. Standing up, he looks around his surroundings, and sure enough, he saw the tower where he left Alice.

Not wasting any more time, he sprinted towards his destination. On the way there, he carefully looked around to make sure there weren't any monsters in hiding among the tall trees or if any were following him. Fortunately, he made it to the tower without any problems. Once he was close, he saw Alice coming out of the tower. He called out to her.

"Alice!"

The said girl turned her to the sprinting samurai. A smile appeared as she gave a wave.

"Ulrich!" She yells out in delight. Her expression turned to worry when she saw him running at her, with a golden streak following behind, without any sign of slowing down. She gave a small scream while raising her hands in front of her head and ducking her head down out of instinct.

Ulrich smirks before stopping directly in front of her. He looks at her defensive postures, before leaning down.

"Hey Alice, " He said to her with a teasing tone, "there are no monsters, you can put your hands down."

The digital girl opened her eyes before looking up to see Ulrich's smirking face. Embarrassment filled her before glaring at him.

"You scared me!" She screams at him.

This only made Ulrich chuckle. He raises his hands up.

"Chill, princess," he told her, which calmed her down somewhat. "Didn't mean to scare you like that. Like I would ever run you over."

The glare on the pinkette's features finally waned.

"Well, you scared me since I didn't think you have complete control over your powers yet."

Her words surprise him, making him slightly raise an eyebrow. "Powers? You mean one of my abilities is speed?"

"Yes," Alice confirmed with a smile, eager to teach him. "you didn't notice the last time you were here, but I saw you using one of your abilities, even though you didn't notice. I checked the data I collected, the ability is called Super Sprint, which increases your running speed."

"Super sprint?"

"Mm-hmmm, " Alice hums in the affirmative before motioning him to their surroundings. "Since you already used this ability, let's see fast you can really go."

Ulrich nodded before crotching down into a running starting position. So far before, he ran with a purpose, speeding around the forest sector as fast as he would be on earth while keeping good control over it to avoid any mistakes that would prove disastrous. What he first came here, he quickly learned that he does not tire easily, now he will see how much faster he is in this world.

Once he was mentally prepared, he screamed out, "SUPER SPRINT!"

A golden light exploded behind Ulrich before it became a trail behind the speedy samurai as he dashed around the tower, already completing laps around it in a minute. Alice smiled to see her friend and protector's success in using his ability to its full potential.

Ulrich could only grin at this as his surrounding became almost a became blur to him if he didn't focus so much on his sight. Looking around, he singled out a tree before running towards it. Once he was a good distance away from it, he jumped as far as he can with the momentum he gathered, which got him almost halfway up the towering tree before continuing to run on it upwards.

Alice's jaw opens, shaping her mouth into a large opened O. "Amazing," she could only softly say in awe.

Once he reached a sufficient height, Ulrich jumped out before doing mid-air summersaults before coming back down into a superhero landing. Although he did felt some pain when he landed from such a great height, he may have lost some life points there, but it was good to see his limits. And Alice was left very impressed as she ran up to his side.

"That was incredible!" She exclaimed with her smile wide. "Where did you learned how to do that?"

"From my martial arts training," He answered her before thinking back to what he just did. He is good, but not that good in the real world, and he would have surely died with broken bones after falling back down from that height. It would be stating the obvious, but his skills are boosted greatly while in this world.

"Martial arts?" The digital girl said with curiosity, urging him to answer. Alice was keen to hear more about the real world her friend lives in.

Ulrich took a moment to how to explain the said subject. He notices his friend's eagerness to learn, so he decided to explain it beyond words.

"To simply put it, martial arts is the...uh... art of fighting," he started while internally berating himself, he could have worded that better. He then took on a stance before performing some well-trained punches and kicks. "And there are many forms of it, each style focusing on a different form of combat such as offense, defense, or going for certain points of your opponent's body, or focus on using different parts on your body such as your hands or feet to fight with primarily." He did another round of punches and kicks, doing such things as an uppercut and an ax kick.

In one swift fluid movement, he unsheathed his sword, which further awed Alice.

"Or use an actual weapon, like my saber." He explained as he went into an offensive sword stance before performing some katas with his weapon. "As useful as it is, it doesn't have much reach, but with my super sprint, it makes my job protecting easy."

Alice could only smile at this, happy to see that her friend and protector's powers complement him well.

"Then your other power would be very beneficial to you, Ulrich."

"Right," Ulrich realized as he sheathed his weapon. "You said I have more than one, well, what is it?"

"You are going to love this," Alice said with glee, "say 'triplicate'."

"Triplicate?" Ulrich repeated with confusion in his voice. Suddenly, two copies of him appeared by his sides, making him jump in surprise. "Woah! Now, this is cool."

For once, a childish tone appeared on the usual stoic teen.

Ulrich admired his clones for a bit but was slightly taken off when he notices that they hardly moved an inch. They stood like statues. He waved a hand in front of one of them.

"The triplicate ability is a useful ability, but they come with some costs," Alice informed him. "As you noticed, they are mere shadows of you, and need vocal or telepathic commands from you before even making a move."

"Really? Well, it would have been too easy." Ulrich commented on the downside before focusing back on his clones. Telepathic? From the comic books he read, he guessed that means he has to transit his commands through his mind. He focused on one clone, before mentally thinking of it to use its own katana. To his surprise, his clone did just that but was almost slashed at. He narrowly avoided the bladed weapon. "Okay! Obviously, I need to think carefully before...I think."

His blunder got some giggles from Alice as she covered her mouth and turn her head away in a vain attempt to hide it. No sooner, her giggles blew into full-blown laughter, and she was not even trying to hide it now. Ulrich raised an eyebrow at her before looking at his other clone. He had it do something simpler which was just to unsheath its own sword this time. It did just so before Ulrich had it to go on a sword stance with its sword aimed away from its creator. The clone did a sword thrust, then a horizontal slash, and lastly a downward slash.

Ulrich nodded. This ability was a bit complicated to use. At most right now, he can use them as decoys before he could even sic them at those monsters. They can only perform simple tasks, such as this.

"Get her!" He shouted as he pointed at the still giggling girl, which caught her off guard.

"Huh? Ahhh!" Alice looked back at Ulrich in confusion before being tackled down by the clone. "Hey!"

The digital samurai chuckled, "Now so funny now, huh princess?" To show he wasn't cruel, he had his clone get off her before having it pick up the digital girl by offering her a hand.

Alice accepted the clone's assistance begrudgingly. When she got back to her feet, she pouted at the real Ulrich. Wanting some revenge of her own, she took on the martial arts stance that Ulrich showed moments earlier. She reeled her fist back before punching the clone, which did nothing to defend itself. However, her punch just lightly tapped the clone's abdomen.

That was cute, Ulrich thought as he shakes his head with a smirk as he watches the scene of Alice trying to do a real punch on the clone, but most likely being her avatar is not programmed to be that physically strong, her efforts were futile as the clone barely even moved an inch.

Just like a child would do, Alice started to rapidly punch the clone with both of her arms but was now just swinging her punches sloppily at the clone's chest as she sorted to punch the clone as much and fast as she can. Like she was trying to achieve something.

Still nothing. Trying to put a stop to this, Ulrich put his hands on her shoulders in a comforting manner, which actually calmed her down as she stopped with her punches.

"Relax," Ulrich said with a calming tone as Alice visibly relaxes, "take a deep- you know what? Let's skip that part." He forgot they don't even breathe here.

"What?" Alice looked at him with a confused look.

Ulrich chuckles as he quickly said, "Nothing forget about it." His sheepish look got some giggles out of Alice. "Now, repeat after me."

He went into a stance that Alice tried to copy as best as she can.

"To put some strength behind for your punches, you have to keep your stance firm to the ground(3)" He explains while looking down at his feet, which he shifted to keep himself firm. Alice followed his footwork to keep herself firm as well. "Next, you wind your fist back and shift your body with it."

Alice copied that perfectly as she eagerly wanted to punch the clone right now.

Ulrich punched the digital space in front of him, "And when you punch, you swing your body back as well,"

The pinkete swung her fist at the clone, and to her delight and to Ulrich's surprise, the clone disintegrated into digital bits before they completely disappearing from sight.

"Yes! Yes-yes-yes!" Alice jumped for joy. After so much failed attempt, she finally got the clone!

"I- uh he certainly can't take a punch," Ulrich commented before turning to the cheering pinkette. "It just takes that much to get rid of them?"

Alice stopped cheering before frowning a bit at the downside.

"Yes, unfortunately, your clones only have 1 life point each, so they are very fragile."

Ulrich nodded, feeling a bit down by that fact. An idea came to mind. He turned to his remaining clone, which he mentally sent a command to. He watches the clone run around him and Alice super fast with a gold streak trailing behind him.

A smile returned to Alice's face. "At least your clones still have your speed."

"Yep, they break like glass, but with them, it'll be hard for those monsters to get rid of me," Ulrich said as he came up with some basic tactics he can have his clones perform. Testing one more idea, he sent another mental command.

"TRIPLICATE!"

Nothing happened.

Ulrich sighed in disappointment while Alice pats his back.

"Well, it was worth a shot." Alice could only giggle at this. Ulrich quickly got out of his state of blues. "Alright, is that all my abilities?"

Alice thinks for a moment, "Hmmm, not really, although you can return your clones back into you by saying "fusion."

"So I have speed and I can clone myself, a good combo I guess." He said before turning back to his last clone. He pointed at a path that goes to the deeper part of the forest sector. "Okay, you scout go ahead of us and return to me immediately when you encounter any monsters."

The clone nodded and left immediately without any question.

"You're ready to head out now?" Alice questions. "Shouldn't you practice with your abilities first?"

"I think I got the speed down, I am part of the soccer team," His favorite sport did require quick speed and able to main it. "that only leaves my clones, and I think a fight with some monsters will help with that. Let's go, Alice, get on."

"Get on? What do you mean?" Alice asks innocently before Ulrich crouches down. She cracks a small smile, "Oh. Are you sure?" As fun as the idea is, she does not want to be a burden on him.

"It's better this way, Princess." He didn't mind actually. While his clones scouts ahead, he can ensure Alice's safety at the same time, and if a monster appears, he can bring her somewhere for cover while the clones distract the monsters as best it could provide.

"Okay," She replied with a smile, appreciating the gesture. She carefully climbed on him from behind

Ulrich kept a secure grip on her thighs before speeding off.

"Supersprint!"

Alice would have fallen off if Ulrich has not held onto her tightly enough; she was not prepared for the sudden acceleration. When she recovered, excitement filled her as the forest sector just become a green a blur to her as the virtual air hit her face. She out

"Pretty cool, huh?" Ulrich asked after hearing her laugh in excitement. If there weren't any problems with this place, he would be enjoying himself. Might as well enjoy the short quiet time for the meanwhile. Until that scout of his returns, that is.

A thought came to Alice's mind.

"Soccer?"

Ulrich realized he mentioned another real-world aspect. How can he explain this?

"It's...a favorite sport of mine," He answered.

"Sport?"

Ulrich would have grunted in exasperation, but the cutely asked questions made by the digital girl only got the young teen to chuckle.

"Let's save that one when we get you out of here." There was a lot to show her about that topic. Too much to cover.

If Ulrich turned his head to face Alice, he would see her cute pout. She really wants to learn more about where Ulrich comes from.

"Okay," Alice replied softly with a dejected tone. That would have ended the conversation, but another question popped up. "How about this one, what was that you called me? Princess?"

Ulrich thought carefully about the answer to that question. He really does not want to go into the extensive detail of royal titles. So he went with the abridged version.

"A princess is someone whose future is to look after and lead the people who follow her and in return, they stay loyal to her."

"But... I only have you." To her, it sounds like a very big title. She does not think she can live up to it.

"Then your job as a princess is a lot easier than any other princesses," Ulrich continued jokingly before slowing down to walking speed. He looks ahead of them towards the forest path "It's just you and me against this virtual world, Alice. I won't pretend to know what we will face here or what to expect, but I do know that we need to depend on each other. I will protect you and you relay to me everything you learn about this world to make it easier for me to do that."

Alice did not know what to think but realize that he is right. Of course, she can do more than just pass on information. She nodded with spirit in her heart and a smile on her face.

"Alright then, my only people."

Ulrich scoffs with a chortle before saying, "I'd rather be your samurai, my princess." He can be her knight if being traditional, but he prefers samurai since its a more fitting title due to his avatar. Ulrich went back to sprinting with his super speed. Admittedly, he did not prepare for that speech, but when the opportunity struck, his protective side came up, like the times he saved Jeremie from Nicholas and Herb from picking on him, and thought that maybe an inspiring speech could mentally prepare her for those monsters.

"Samurai?"

"I thought that was obvious," Ulrich said with a smirk and would have continued if he did not see his clone running back at him.

Looking further, he saw a whole new monster chasing after it a good distance away. From what the both of them can see, this new one was entirely red and reminded Ulrich of a crab minus the pincers, however, the monster's legs greatly resembled scythes. Better be careful with those, he thought. Just like with the other monsters he encountered, it fired lasers.

The clone was struck by the laser bolt and was soon gone.

A smirk made its way to Ulrich's face.

"But I guess you never saw a samurai fight," Ulrich said as he dodged a laser before running off. He ran as fast as he can, looking for a hiding spot for Alice. The best he could find was a big boulder covered in moss, large enough for Alice to hide behind. "Stay here, and if you can, enjoy the fight." He smirked at the last part.

"Okay, but be careful Ulrich."

Ulrich nodded before turning his putting on a stoic expression as he did.

"Yeah," He sighed out. This monster was pretty big, so it would not be easy as before. He pulled out his sword before heading towards the crab monster.

A few laser bolts were fired, which Ulrich either parried with his katana or dodged. When Ulrich got up close and personal with the monster, it started using its scythe-like legs by swiping at the samurai. Ulrich moved to the left when it tried to hit him with its right front leg. It missed, and it embedded its own leg into the ground, which it tried to pull out. While it was distracted, Ulrich took the moment to dismember it by striking its joint, which was effective in disabling the monster.

"Game over, crabby." Ulrich taunted, but grunt in shock when he saw the monster was still present and still moving. The dismembered leg disappeared, though.

Even with one leg missing, the crustaceous creature started to move again, trying its best to balance and move on three legs. Its lenses started to glow, which warned Ulrich.

"Tough guy, huh?" He manages to say before dodging the charged-up laser by jumping to the side. Ulrich did not stop moving and started running circles around the monsters, figuring it will have a hard time keeping track of him with its mobility impaired, which it did and made the monster confused. Ulrich then made a big leap before landing on top of it.

Looking at the top of the monster, Ulrich saw the very same symbol again that the other monsters all have.

"Just what makes this symbol so special, big guy?" He rhetorically asked the monster before spinning his sword around before holding it in a reverse grip to stab the sword down at the very center of the symbol. When the hit landed, the monster started jerking around in a disorienting way, which prompted Ulrich to jump off right away. Luckily that he did since the monster exploded soon after.

After landing on the digital forest floor, he pumped a fist in victory.

"Yes!"

However, he celebrated too soon as he was ambushed by a surprise attack from behind. A laser hit him square on his back, knocking him down and making him his sword as he was not gripping it tightly enough.

Ulrich grunted as he tried to get back to his feet. "I let my guard down." He berated himself as he started searching for his dropped sword.

While searching, he saw yet another new monster, and this one has to be the weirdest looking yet. So far, all the monsters he had encountered resembled real-world animals, but this one? The best he can describe this monster that it was a cube on legs. The box-shaped monster slowly prowled at him while also spinning its cube-shaped head, and when it stopped, Ulrich saw the same symbol again at the center of the monster, and if he was paying attention enough while it was spinning, it had a symbol on each of its sides.

Ulrich noticed that this monster was heading towards his sword and had its lens glowing.

"Oh no, you don't!" He screamed before sprinting off to grab his sword.

To the samurai's complete surprise, the monster did not fire a laser bolt, but rather a chilling blue beam that hit him on his legs, freezing his legs in ice, completely stopping him on his tracks before he can even reach his sword.

"What!?" He yelled in astonishment before looking back at the monster, which started spinning its head again. Once it stopped, its lens started to glow again, which Ulrich was sure was a laser time when he saw the lens glow red. He quickly concluded this monster had a different form of attack for each of its sides.

"Ulrich!" He heard Alice screamed from her hiding spot.

"I'm sorry, Alice." Ulrich apologized softly as he closed his eyes and waited to be devirtualized by this monster. That thought did not scare him, but rather the thought of what will happen to Alice without him protecting her across Lyoko. He can only hope that she makes it back to the tower, from before, in time.

Suddenly, he heard singing. Angelic singing.

Opening his eyes, he searches for the source, but when he looked in front of him, at the monster, he noticed the ground below the monster started to despair as he saw digital bits becoming transparent before disappearing completely. Once the ground was gone, the monster fell. After a moment, a huge, blinding beam of light appeared from the hole that lasted for a few seconds.

"Ulrich! Are you alright?" Alice called out to him as she ran over to him, crouching down and placing her hands over his frozen limbs.

"I'm okay, Alice." He assured her before turning back to the hole. "Did you do that?" He saw no one else present.

"Yep," Alice nodded with a smile, "it's my power."

"Really? It's a cool power," he complimented.

Alice looks away shyly. If she was in the real world, she would have been blushing.

"It's my only power though." She adds while examining the frozen limbs, trying to think of ways to free her friend and protector. However, the ice suddenly broke apart, freeing Ulrich.

"It's still a cool power," he tells her as he went to pick him his sword. Easily a lot more useful than either of his own powers, but he quickly deduces that her power takes some time to take complete effect. "Thanks, Alice."

The pinkette stands back up, "No problem. After all, a princess looks after her people."

Ulrich could only chuckle at this, "I couldn't agree more, Princess Alice."

Alice returned the chuckle with a giggle. After sharing a laugh, the two continued on with her journey to find a new tower.


Later that day

The time for Kadic students to gather at the cafeteria to enjoy dinner was nearing, but Jeremie did not notice, even though he could just look down at the bottom of his computer screen to see the current time. He was just too engrossed with everything else on his computer monitor. Practicing and learning more about codes, and occasionally looking up the latest computers and anything relating to it.

A message suddenly appeared in the middle of his screen.

"Hmmm, an email?" The blonde genius rarely gets any emails. Looking at the email address, it was from his dad. He clicked on it.

Dear, Jeremie

I hope this email gets to you. Hehehe, you know how I am with computers. Never really could understand these modern computers. If you weren't for your pointers, people would think I was from the stone age, and it would definitely help you in the long run. Although don't spend all your time on screen, it's not really healthy.

That last part sounded familiar to him. Oh right, it's what Ulrich and William would say to him on weekends before pulling him from his computer and out of his room and then taking him somewhere to do in town. But all that stopped when the older teen left Kadic, and Jeremie saw Ulrich less and less outside of classes. He continued reading.

Anyway, I'm sending this email to tell you some great news, your cousin Patrick is coming to your school soon! His parents are still sorting things out but he should be there in a week. Hope you two have a great time at Kadic!

I'll talk to you again soon, son.

Jeremie's eyes widen.

"Hey, Jeremie." Ulrich barges into the genius's room without consent. "It's dinner, and I can see that you are still in your room."

The blonde turned to him after closing the email. He knows that tone. It's the same tone he and William always share when they make sure Jeremie gets his nourishment before, sometimes, forcing the genius from out of his own dorm room.

"Oh, hey Ulrich! I'm...I was just about finished," Jeremie quickly said back to him before putting his shutting his desktop off.

Ulrich raises an eyebrow,

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just hungry." He said quickly before leaving his room.

Ulrich stood there, looking at Jeremie's retreating form with a questioning look before following him. He closed the door behind him.

After a moment of silence in the dorm room, the computer booted back up. Black filled the screen with a red symbol flickering. After a while, the symbol finally becomes clear enough

It was the same symbol that Ulrich has been slaying.


(1): I failed at computer coding, so I hope what I just wrote is at least somewhat correct.

(2): I know the show is based in France, but I'm going by with the American school year since that's what I'm most familiar with. Except with the two-week vacation before the start of a new school year.

(3): I'm no fighting expert, this is mostly from what I observed

I hope the casual interaction between Ulrich and Aelita was good. We have hardly seen them interact in the show outside of fighting XANA, which made it a bit weird writing them like this, but I hope. Also, Ulrich is a bit OOC, but I call it a factor of knowing William first before meeting the other Lyoko Warriors, who probably had an influence on him for being older of the two.

Also, is Patrick becoming a Lyoko Warrior? Well... what do you think? Should he?