This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203. Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. All copyrighting goes to MoonScoop. I also do not own Mary, she was recently created by AeroJester203. Mary is a new character will only be accepted for Lila's journey.

A few author's notes before we begin: I had made a mistake with the information of dates in the Prologue. Jeremy originally started the supercomputer, a few weeks before October 9th. The 9th is when Jeremy is talking in his video diary, in the episode. Lila still arrives on the 8th same as always. As I have mentioned, the story will mainly stick with Lila's POV. But there is a new OC in this story you will meet, who is going to help Lila on her journey. I may or may not use her POV, it'll depend on the episode. I'll make references to Code Lyoko Evolution from time to time in this story, and that is because this story may eventually lead to Code Lyoko Evolution. This story will be written in the present tense. That's it for the notes!

Please Enjoy!

A new beginning: Xana Awakens Part 1

In dream state

I am about six years old when I see Xana striking down one of my favorite places in the world on TV. It's a restaurant that my dad and I often visit. My tiny brown eyes widen at the destruction Xana causes before my dad turns off the television to spare me the sight.

"It's started…" he utters. "Lila, I'm so sorry…"

"Daddy, why is that thing hurting people?"

"It's because I made a mistake. But in time I'll fix it. I'll make sure Xana never hurts anyone ever again."

"Xa-na?" I repeat in confusion of the name. My dad nods.

"Xana. It's like a virus, like a thing that makes someone sick. Except this virus is digital. It's technology that's evil."

End dream state

I wake up with a gasp, still strapped inside the time machine, which appears to have taken a beating during the trip. The doors were ripped off as they are no longer attached on the time machine, most likely falling through the void of space-time. The rest of the machine is broken and half-buried in the dirt of some of the forested area. I can see them and make a mental note to myself to get rid of them as soon as possible. The glass cracked in several places and the smell of something burnt coming from below me. The burnt smell is most likely coming from the overloaded electrical components in the metal box below the chair. The machine itself is in not on fire. It's a good thing my dad had made it triple reinforced and fire retardant, otherwise, the condition of the time machine would be worse. My journey could've ended before it began and probably with a shard to the neck. I notice several digital screens still flicker, even with the damage done to them. One that isn't severely cracked displayed the date and time, making my eyes widen in shock.

"October 8th, 2005?!" I exclaim as I shoot forward as far as the restraints allow to get a closer look. But the move made me groan in pain as a few bones throbbed from the tension of the belts, forcing me back into the chair. That's probably going to need some medical attention.

I nurse my injuries while trying to think over my current predicament. Dad… what did you do? You sent me back in time a few weeks after you first ever started the supercomputer? Why? Is there something you want me to change in this timeline? If there is, then what?

I unfasten the restraints before slowly getting up from the chair again. There's a compartment near the top, I press the button and with a hiss, all of the metal supports meet opens up. This was another function of the machine I wasn't familiar with. I look inside and see a briefcase on the inside.

Taking it out, I pop it open to look inside and see dad's laptop along with my wallet, a few extra changes of clothes, an ID card with an old picture of me when I was thirteen and a fake birth date printed on it, a retro cell phone with a charger, and a white sphere with a blue button on it.

You never meant for me to come back to 2019 at all, did you, dad? I think as if he can hear me. You knew that this wasn't going to be a quick trip to stop Xana's return. What are you trying to tell me?

Closing the briefcase and setting it down on the ground, I then press the button to the compartment. It closes. I get out and then I press a red button under a metal case on one of the metal supports. The time machine shrinks down, folding in on itself and compressing until it turns into a tiny treasure chest figurine made of copper, but still appearing cracked in some places where the glass shows. A chain is connected to the back to let it be worn as a necklace.

I didn't think that would actually work…. I shouldn't have doubted him. All of the times he told me he would try and build a shrink ray, he managed to put one into the time machine itself. Please, dad… I hope you're okay.

I pick up the time machine necklace and put it around my neck before hiding the necklace underneath my shirt. At that point, I notice that it, along with the rest of my clothes, miraculously shrunk when my aged decreased. Good thing too, since that could've been both suspicious and embarrassing.

Scanning over my outfit, I can tell that there are a few tears in my jacket and my shirt. Not only that, I have a few bruises from the crash and my pants are ripped at the knees. My shoes are in by far the worst condition, one with the top torn off at some point, revealing my sock and the other appearing to have several holes in it.

"Ugh… I look like a freak," I complain, also realizing that my voice was much softer due to my younger age. Turning to the briefcase, I decide to put my supplies to use and get changed before anything else.

And I'll need to forge my identification papers and get them into the system ASAP, I internally add after realizing I'll probably need to attend Kadic Academy to stick close to my parents. Being in a time before you're born would get you noticed right away with no birth certificate or social security number, even with a fake ID. On that note, where am I?

I look around to see that I crashed in front of a fairly large three-story house. I take in its familiar appearance and move to the fence gate to see the word "Hermitage" on a plate over three of the bars.

"Ah, mom's old house…" I note while remembering the stories that dad had told me about her and Grandpa Schaeffer's past.

Even though I know that nobody came around here too often before dad and his friends started investigating, I still go inside for privacy to change. Looking through the clothes, I find a pink magenta leather jacket that has a small zipper on the bottom of it, so if I ever need to cover up on a cold day or when I want to, I can. There's a note attached that reads, "You would've loved this when you were thirteen the first time."

"Daaaad…" Even when he isn't around, he still manages to embarrass me.

Regardless, I do actually like it a lot, so I put it on along with a black T-shirt possessing silver stripes that were horizontal up top and on the shoulders while being vertical on the stomach, intersecting on the collar. To finish the outfit, I put on a simple pair of blue jeans along with a spare pair of shoes, simple black and white tennis.

After that, I place the ruined clothes back in the briefcase to hopefully fix them later. I can't afford to waste anything being in a foreign time. The shoes were past saving, though, so I left them behind. Nobody would question a pair of ruined shoes in the abandoned household.

Curious about the spherical device he'd included, I take it out first and press the button, causing it to blink before it floats into the air and releases a white smoke-like substance. It takes a human-shaped form before solidifying into a woman with brown hair cut short and parted to the side and brown eyes. She wears a simple black business suit and black dress pants along with black heels. Looking at her, she appears to be at least five feet and seven inches in height.

The woman blinks before turning her attention to me, "Greetings. I am Mary Smith, a polymorphic spectre created by your father to assume the role of your guardian for the purposes of enrolling you and interacting with Kadic Academy as the need arises. My story is that I am a single mother that had you out of marriage, and thus do not like talking about the circumstances surrounding your parentage. As a digital spectre, I am of course capable of interfacing with both the physical world and electrical devices. With my state-of-the-art antivirus program, this should also allow me to expel Xana from machinery or singular organisms without being corrupted."

"Whoa," I utter. "Dad must've been planning to send me back for a long time."

"Approximately 137 days from my first cached memory," Mary answers.

"Thank you," I reply flatly. "I'll get us registered into the system."

Taking out my wallet, ID and dad's laptop, I immediately get to work on forging mine and my "parent's" identities and hacking a few of the necessary sites to get us established.

"I've got to get to Kadic," I say to myself as I also begin working to apply as a transfer student, forging a false record of attending a school from America. I made sure to only put in average grades, B's and C's with a single A- in mathematics. And, luckily, dad's computer had his old voice modulator program, with Mary's information registered, so I could pose as my own holographic guardian over the phone if need be.

Kadic's Courtyard

I finally reach Kadic, letting Mary lead the way for appearance's sake, and stare at the almost ghost-like school. It's ghost-like because for me these people in my timeline… they're gone. To see them just going about their business… For some reason, my heart starts to beat faster as I begin breathing heavily. The students start to notice us as they murmur to their friends. My brown eyes look around rapidly as everything begins to go white. I feel a shoulder beneath me as I fall towards the ground. Students and a few teachers start running over to me.

Before my mind goes completely blank, I hear Mary say, "Lila, deep breaths!"

I black out a moment later.

I'm not sure how much time passes. I keep going in and out of consciousness as Mary and a few teachers bring me over to the infirmary. I hear their voices as they discuss what happened, the spectre apparently concocting some story about anxiety attacks that hadn't flared up in years.

In Miss Yolanda's nurse's office

Eventually, I fully wake up in a bed, seeing a tall blonde woman with a white coat with shortly cut hair, a purple buttoned shirt, and a blue skirt. Mary stands nearby, perfectly playing the role of a concerned mother.

"You're awake. Thank goodness, we were worried," the woman tells me. "My name is Yolanda. I'm the nurse here at Kadic Academy."

I sigh as Mary helps me sit up, "Thank you… Wish I could've made a better first impression. We were hoping to get me enrolled here in Kadic Academy."

"Huh? That's a surprise. Not the first thing I would expect you to ask. What's your name?"

"Lila Smith," I smoothly reply, going with the last name that Mary had.

"Well, Lila. I'll talk to Mr. Delmas, he's our school principal."

Mary inclines her head while still supporting me "Thank you."

October 9th

It didn't take long for us, to enroll me into Kadic. Principal Delmas was more than happy enough to accept me in light of my records, and Mary informed me after the fact that she would find enough money to cover the tuition as long as necessary. I was a little nervous about how she would go about that but decided that it was all to save the world.

I was given a room of my own along with a full schedule of classes… several that include my father, according to the class listings I looked up after cracking the school's firewall. Mary took me on a shopping spree for a few extra clothes, the appropriate materials I would need for my classes. The latter would allow her to contact me or lie in wait directly inside it as more discreet protection than her usual device.

A gym teacher, Jim, helped set my room up. After he left, Mary reassumed her spectre form before slipping into one of the wall sockets, leaving her container behind unlike last time where she carried it inside her. She decided to familiarize herself with the layout of the academy and town beyond via the electrical network. Her old container was now hidden in the far back of a drawer, behind some of my school supplies. I decide to take my father's laptop out. I power it on, and it loads. I continue to establish Lila Smith's profile, on every website that I think, would be searched. Yesterday, when I did this I only started her profile. But, now I'm fully going to implement Lila Smith, creating herself, and therefore myself. It takes a few hours when I finally finish.

Mary had gotten back later that night and had been hiding in my phone since then.

I put my time machine necklace under my shirt, and zip up my pink magenta leather jacket a bit, and shoulder my new backpack as I get ready to leave for class. While I want to take my copy of my father's laptop, with me, I feel it would be suspicious if I have the same kind as him. Dad never bought a new one; he simply upgraded the hardware and software himself.

Taking a deep breath to psyche myself up, I head out.

Let's do this! I think.

Mrs. Hertz's classroom

I walk into my first class, as a teacher with gray and frizzy hair. I notice her glasses and lab coat. she writes her name on the door. The name she writes on the blackboard is Suzanne Hertz. She wears a red t-shirt, along with black pants. My eyes turn to see the younger version of my father. I stare at him, noting his blonde hair unmarked by gray hairs from stress and lively, if reserved, brown eyes. He wears a blue turtleneck sweater, glasses, brown pants, and shoes. I walk up to him, nervous as I try to speak to him.

"Um… hi." I clear my throat to try speaking clearer, "Is that seat taken next to you?"

My father looks at me, seeming surprised by that question.

Soon, he nods politely, "Not at all. You can sit here if you would like to."

"Thank you," I nod back as I pull the chair out and sit on it. "I'm Lila Smith. May I ask what your name is?"

"Jeremy Belpois."

"Nice to meet you, Jeremy Belpois," I greet with a smile.

Jeremy smiles.

"Class settle down, please. Let's begin our first lesson. I'll start by introducing myself, my name is Suzanne Hertz," Mrs. Hertz says.

Afterwards

The bells ring, signaling class's end. Jeremy left to where I assume would be the factory, so I decide to go to the vending machines to spy on Uncle Ulrich, Uncle Odd, and Aunt Yumi. I casually lean on one of the arches supports nearby, acting casual as I see Ulrich and Odd heading there for a drink. I just watch them out of the corner of my eye for a while and listen as Odd laughs at a few of his own jokes, trying and failing to make Ulrich laugh. Yumi finally appears, walking to the vending machines. She puts her money in and gets her cup of coffee a moment later, walking past Ulrich and Odd with it instead of stopping to talk.

But I thought… They're supposed to meet, right? Unless that happens later… Yeah, I think it does from what I remember my dad telling me… I think.

Just as I think about my father, Jeremy appears in my sight. He walks to the vending machine, rubbing his neck while looking dismayed about something.

Flashback

"I remember this one time… I got the most painful shock I had ever received," my father chuckles. "At least from a vending machine," he adds.

"What happened, daddy?"

"The supercomputer was activated only for a few weeks," he explains. "But that's when Xana started to become active. I didn't know at the time, all I wanted was to get a drink that I liked from the vending machine. I pressed number six and zap! I was electrocuted! I wish I could have pressed number seven. That number supposedly gave you good luck."

"Really?" I ask as I couldn't help giggle.

My father smiles back, "Really."

End of flashback

I shoulder my bag and whisper, "Mary, get ready to expel Xana from the drink machine, discreetly." I push off the wall and move to intercept my father.

"Jeremy! Wait up!" I call. He looks at me as he stops walking. I run over to him, catching my breath since my teenage body wasn't as trained as my adult one.

"You okay Lila?" he asks in a confused tone as Ulrich looks at me curiously for a moment before turning away again.

Standing up straight again, I ask, "Can I pay for your drink?"

"Huh? How did you know I was going to get a drink?"

"Well, you were headed in the direction of one of the vending machines. I just assumed was all."

"That's true," Jeremy grants. "You don't have to pay for it."

"Please, I don't mind. You're the first friend I made here. It's the least I can do," I reason.

"If you insist," Jeremy replies as he and I walk one of the vending machines. I look for the number six which I see glowing with the eye of Xana. I put some money into the vending machine while Mary's white spectre form oozes in a trickle from the phone in my jacket pocket to the machine in front of me.

"Which one do you want?" I ask to stall for time.

"Oh, I was going to get number six," he replies.

"How about number seven? It's a lucky number after all," I say.

"Sure," he says.

Checking the panel again to see Xana's symbol gone, and not active in any other numbers, I press the button. Mary slips back into my phone in a thin wisp while Jeremy's attention is on the juice coming down.

Thanks, Mary, I think as Jeremy takes the drink out.

I gasp. A twinge seems to ring through my mind, making all three of the boys turn to me in surprise.

Darkness swirls around the memory I have of my dad telling me when he was electrocuted. Our voices become distant as the memory itself vanishes.

"Whoa, Smith, are you okay?" Ulrich asks with concern.

I breathe in and out, "I'm– I'm fine. Just remembered that I should get started on studying. I'm not the best at school stuff."

"Oh, a fellow academic struggler?" Odd asks playfully. "Stick with me and I'll show you how to lighten the stresses of school life."

"Don't believe him," Ulrich recommends. "I haven't known him long, but he hasn't picked up a book the whole day."

"Right," I chuckle while Odd huffs at his roommate. "Well, I'd better get going."

"Thanks again for the drink, Lila," Jeremy says in farewell.

Later on that night

I pace around my room feeling like I'm going nuts.

Why would I suddenly forget something that I KNOW happened? It doesn't make sense! Am I forgetting something important? I think.

I take out my phone, "Mary, my father mentioned some risks of time travel, but I thought he meant the trip itself. Is there anything I'm missing?"

The spectre's voice comes out of the phone's speaker as the screen lights up,"I believe what you have suffered is memory displacement. You prevented your father from being shocked, thus history changed, and the relevant memories disappeared."

"Wait…" I think it over, "Then if something happens to either of my parents…?"

"It stands to reason that your existence, as well as mine, would be jeopardized," Mary finishes. "It could be instantaneous, like the memory, or over time. There's no safe way to test—only hypotheses."

My mind reels at that prospect, making me sit down on the bed. I decide to take a walk to clear my head and focus on making sure nothing happens to Jeremy or Aelita this time.

Locking my door behind me, I walk up to the boy's floor of the dormitory and see Ulrich walking towards his room with a bit of sweat on him. From what I knew of him, he must've gotten back from martial arts practice recently.

Suddenly we hear screaming, and my eyes widen as I recognize Jeremy's voice. I run for my father's room as Ulrich does the same. He turns the knob and barges the door open, revealing Jeremy getting shocked by two robots. One is holding down his legs while the other is on his head.

"Hang on!" Ulrich exclaims as we run over to help Jeremy. He pries the robot on Jeremy's head as I kick the other one from his legs, knowing from experience in the future that grabbing them was asking for a contact shock. Ulrich screams as he's zapped by the machine before he uses his free hand to karate chop it off. I stomp on the robot as it tries to get back up from where I knocked it down and the two robots remain still after that.

"Aren't they a bit aggressive?" Ulrich asks panting, "Next time you should dial down their settings."

Jeremy picks up his chair that had fallen during the scuffle, "It wasn't me... I didn't program them to do that."

"What do you mean?" I ask, even though I already know.

"Forget it... it was nothing," Jeremy replies.

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing? If you didn't program them to attack you, then what did?"

"It's crazy..." Jeremy trails off.

"Tell us Jeremy, we can help," I offer.

"I agree with Smith. We should be here to help you, just in case," Ulrich says.

"Well..." Jeremy rubs the back of his head.

Ulrich stubbornly plants himself on the chair as I sit on Jeremy's bed.

"I'm not leaving this room until you tell me what's going on."

"Me neither," I resolutely add. "You were just attacked, Jeremy. I'm not leaving a friend in danger."

Jeremy gives it some thought as Ulrich begins spinning in Jeremy's chair. He stops the brunet from doing so before speaking.

"Alright, besides I've got more than I can handle. Just tell me something..." he trails off as he walks to the door and closes it.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"I can for sure," I reply honestly since I'm keeping several secrets already.

"I'm great at keeping secrets!"

Jeremy and Ulrich look at me in a perplexed way, and I smile, "What? I am, that's all."

They shrug as Ulrich simply nods when my father turns to him.

On the bridge

Jeremy told us everything—about the supercomputer and the factory. He even showed us a shortcut there.

In my timeline, this bridge doesn't even exist anymore… I think.

"Great shortcut," Ulrich compliments.

I giggle in agreement, "It sure is."

"And there's even one back on campus," Jeremy adds.

We head inside the factory, and Jeremy takes hold of a rope extending to the bottom floor. He slides down with me close behind him. But after a moment with no other sound of coming down the rope, we look up to see Ulrich still milling around up top.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

Jeremy pushes up his glasses in curiosity, "You're not afraid of heights are you?"

"Of - course not..." Ulrich hesitantly replies as he closes his eyes and takes hold of the rope. He slides down to the bottom and let's go with a breath of relief. We move to the elevator and step inside, Jeremy pressing a button as the elevator's doors close. The elevator goes down and we soon reach the lab.

Inside the lab

Jeremy shows us the mainframe of the supercomputer, but Ulrich is in disbelief.

"So that's the ultra mega computer you rebooted?" he asks.

"Yes. Your partially right, but it's really a supercomputer and it's extremely powerful," Jeremy answers.

"When I rebooted its system, I learned that it runs a virtual world. Apparently, it's called Lyoko."

Ulrich starts backing away as if the blond was crazy, "You know what, Belpois? I think your little buddies from the attack earlier melted your brain. This thing is just the main frame for the factory."

Jeremy enters a few key commands as an elf-like girl with pink hair appears. My eyes widen in shock at seeing my mother so young, and for the very first time outside of pictures and foggy infant memories.

"Mo-" I start to say but catch myself. "More than likely, Ulrich, it looks like he's telling the truth."

"Exactly," Jeremy nods. He sits on the edge of the holosphere display.

"That's Maya. She lives on Lyoko, and I'm not sure why she's there."

"Now you're messing with me," Ulrich says. "Come on, you programmed her didn't you?"

"He didn't. When Jeremy rebooted the supercomputer, I woke up without knowing who I am. For some reason, I have no memories," "Maya" responds.

"Maya has been hiding in a virtual tower of sorts," Jeremy explains. "The second she leaves, monsters attack her. You guys, this is a discovery of a lifetime!"

Ulrich walks over to the chair and sits on it, "Okay, maybe this is a great discovery. Is - is there any chance, this is just some kind of video game?" he asks turning the chair.

"Well... then it's a dangerous video game," Jeremy replies. "I only programmed my robots to fetch a ball! But for some reason, they attacked me and had the same type of symbol, the monsters have on Lyoko."

"Basically, whatever wants to kill Maya on Lyoko, is trying to kill you here as well?" Ulrich asks.

"That's what it looks like."

"Keeps getting more and more interesting," the brunet says sarcastically. "This really seems dangerous... we should just alert the proper authorities and have them shut down the supercomputer."

"Okay," Jeremy replies while staring at the ground dismayed. From the screen, I can tell my mother looks upset as well. "But first I want to help Maya understand why she's here, and maybe even materialize her right here on Earth if I'm correct." My mother's eyes start to light up with a little hope.

"No way! Materialization is impossible, and straight out of a science fiction movie. You really think you can do it?"

"In time, I really think I can," my father says.

I speak up to try encouraging him, "I think you'll be able to do it."

"Thanks, Lila," Jeremy smiles.

In the scanner room

Ulrich was still in disbelief, so Jeremy decides to take us down to the next floor. Once we arrive, we see three cylindrical objects in the room.

I think those are the scanners my father told me about when I was young…

"What is all of this?" Ulrich asks looking around the room.

"They're called scanners. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the program to bring Maya here to Earth. What I did find, was a program that can send you to Lyoko. See, what happens is the supercomputer scans your body, inside these scanners," Jeremy explains. He steps inside a scanner, "the next step would be to break down the cells in your body, and reform them into the digital world."

Ulrich's furrows his brow in confusion, "Translation?"

"So, basically step inside to the scanners. And, you're virtualized to Lyoko," I explain in less complicated words.

Ulrich walks up to the scanner, knocking on it with a finger as if to test its reliability in existing. "Jeremy... these things can't exist," he finally determines.

Jeremy raises an eyebrow, "You still can't believe me?"

"I'd like to, but how do we prove it?" he asks.

Jeremy starts to pound what to do about Ulrich's disbelief before suggesting, "Let's test it out. But first, I need a test subject. Something that isn't human,"

"A test subject?" Ulrich says with a sly smile.

"Stern… why don't I like that tone of yours?" I ask.

He simply turns around, "Nothing to worry about. I have the perfect test subject in mind."

Jeremy and I look at each other with concern about Ulrich's plan.

Later

In the scanner room

It had been a while, but Ulrich finally brings Jeremy's guinea pig back—his roommate's dog. Ulrich and I use the ladder to go down to the scanner room, Ulrich putting Kiwi in one of the machines.

"Think you can watch the mutt?" Ulrich asks me as he's about to climb up the ladder.

"Yeah, of course," I nod.

"Okay."

After he leaves, I smile reassuringly at Kiwi who is in the scanner, "Good doggie. Don't move, okay? Everything will be okay."

"Jeremy, everything's all set! Lila's got the mutt ready in the scanner!" Ulrich exclaims from upstairs.

I hear two drops coming from behind me and turn to see Odd.

My uncle's hair is fully blonde… I guess he dyes it in the future to brown… I think.

Next to him is a girl with long black hair. She's a little tall and dressed in a pink dress, with pink heels.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that's Ms. Elizabeth Delmas… My father used to tell me about how noble she became after Xana was reactivated in my timeline. But now… she just looks like someone who is trying to get someone's attention. If I remember correctly, I believe Aunt Yumi use to tell me, when I was younger, how competitive Sissi was with her over Ulrich, I think.

Odd seems a bit angry as he remembers me from earlier, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking after your dog," I answer. "Don't worry; he's going to be okay."

"Yeah, right," he scoffs before looking to his dog. "Hey Kiwi, come to me. Good boy." Kiwi leaves the scanner at his call.

"You know you shouldn't take another person's dog," Odd lectures.

"Yeah!" Sissi agrees. "What were you trying to do? Mummify him or something?"

I frown, "No way, I would never mummify a dog! And anyway's what's with that dress? Desperate much?" Sissi scowls and walks up to me before pushing me into the scanner. The doors close shortly afterward, Jeremy apparently not being aware that Kiwi wasn't in the scanner.

"Oh no!" Sissi exclaims from outside the metal doors. "She's going to turn into a mummy!"

I stand up as the machine whirs to life, thinking,

Great, I'm about to be virtualized! This isn't supposed to happen! I think.

A ring of light rises from the floor, and I close my eyes since it's happening one way or another. The scanner starts to spin, as I hear screaming coming from Odd and Sissi and barking coming from Kiwi. There's a gust of wind that blows my hair back and time machine necklace, a bright light engulfs me.

The scanner virtualizes me to Lyoko.

Lyoko's Forest Sector

I'm virtualized on Lyoko, my sight returning only to find myself high in the air, causing me to yelp as I drop to the ground and fall flat on my butt.

Ouch! Well, at least it's not my real body, but it still stings, I think.

I stand up and look to see what I'm wearing, remembering that people on Lyoko always had the same outfit. I am dressed in a maroon dress with pink slacks and navy boots. My time machine necklace is still attached to me, but it has turned into a copper amulet for some reason. Feeling a weight on my back, I reach behind it to find a wooden staff with a curled head. On the right side of my waist, I look to see a sword attached to a belt. The sword shorter than the Katana I'd heard Ulrich used. I unsheathe the blade and find an engraving of an incantation in Latin.

"Uh… Lila?" Jeremy asks, unsure if I'm there.

"Everything is A-okay, I'm here," I respond.

Scanning around the trees, I pretend to breathe in the air knowing that I don't have real lungs here.

It's so beautiful here… I think.

"Lyoko's amazing," I say.

My brief intake of Lyoko is interrupted as I get shot from behind. I fall to the ground as I scream from the burning between my shoulders. Glancing back, I see a pair of Kankrelats scurrying across the virtual forest floor.

"Not cool, you little pests!" I growl, unsheathing my sword as I read the incantation on it. The writing on the sword reads Ignesco. I pronounce it correctly.

"Ignesco!" I chant. My amulet starts to glow before my sword ignites in flames. I run at the Kankrelats and make quick work of them, slashing twice. Each time throwing a crescent of fire at the Kankrelats, causing them to explode.

"Lila, be careful! You just lost twenty life points! Della Robbia and Stern are on their way to help you!" Jeremy informs.

The flames from my sword extinguish as I put my sword in its sheath.

So the sword costs me life points whenever I activate the fire incantation… good to know.

I take out my staff as I look at it. It looks like a staff that can I use to fight with as it has a sharpened blade-like end to it, only wooden. It also has a hole in the middle of the curved top. I assume I can summon my firepower in this staff as well. I look up to see Ulrich and Odd being virtualized. They're as surprised as I was and fall flat on their bottoms too.

"Ouch!" Odd complains.

"Yeah," Ulrich agrees, getting up.

He looks at himself and sees that he is in an outfit reminiscent of a samurai warrior. The colors are a mixture of yellow and brown, including a headband with the Lyoko symbol printed on it. Brown camouflage pants cover his legs with open toe sandals on his feet. He turns his back while unsheathing his katana, which reveals an Oni printed on his outfit.

Odd, on the other hand, looks like some sort of giant purple cat in human shape save for clawed paw-like hands and a tail. I notice a picture on his purple shirt that looks like Kiwi and that his hairstyle has changed. Instead of his hair going down to his shoulders, it seemed to be styled upward and back in a point with a streak of purple in the front. He also has two purple triangles printed on his forehead above his eyes.

"Wow, cool blade!" Ulrich marvels while admiring the blade.

"So uncool!" Odd complains. "Why do Lila and Ulrich get cool gear?"

"Not sure," Jeremy replies. "It could be that the supercomputer analyzes your thoughts, buried in your subconscious, and then it uses those thoughts to create your virtual incarnations."

"I never even dream or think about cats! Besides I don't have any weapons, these paws are totally useless-" Odd starts to say, as he hits one paw against the other. This sends an arrowhead flying from between his middle and ring finger, nearly hitting Ulrich and me.

"Odd!" Ulrich and I exclaim while barely dodging out of the way.

Odd checks his paws again before grinning, "Sorry my bad! I guess these arrows could come in handy... never mind, forget what I said about them being useless!"

"I'm going to send you the tower's coordinates where Maya is. Try to reach her if you can."

Ulrich, Odd, and I decide to start walking.

"Who's Maya?" Odd asks.

"Apparently, she's a virtual girl who lives here on Lyoko," Ulrich replies, with a slight tone of disbelief.

"Oh, you mean babes live here too?" Odd asks. I send a furious glare over to him, causing him to chuckle nervously.

Ulrich looks up in thought, "I get the impression that Belpois is in love with her."

"Really, in love with a virtual girl?" Odd chuckles. "Is he nuts or something?"

"A little bit," Ulrich replies.

I wish I could knock these two the ground right now for making fun of my father! But they don't know any better, and- Ugh! I think.

Calm yourself. They are and will become your father's friends.

I nearly jump at the voice, but bring myself under control noticing that Odd and Ulrich didn't seem to hear it.

Mary? I internally ask. Is that you? I ask.

Yes. Since I was in your pocket at the time, it seems that we've been temporarily fused. This should allow me some influence over your avatar, but I'm not sure what yet. Perhaps I can run an analysis, but we should be careful not to reveal too much. Too drastic a change would cause inconvenient questions to arise.

That's true. All right, keep looking into what you can do, I reply.

I then realize we haven't heard from Jeremy for quite some time while we were walking.

"Hey, Jeremy is everything okay?" I ask while looking at the sky. "Do you still plan to send us those coordinates?"

There's no response from Jeremy, but Odd spots a tower.

"Let's try that one," he suggests.

The tower which will eventually be called a Way Tower, is in sight as it has a blueish aurora around it.

We run for the tower, but there doesn't appear to be a clear entrance at the base.

"How do we get in? Is there a-" Odd starts, but as he puts his hand on the tower. This accidentally allows him to pass through the wall, and Ulrich follows him in afterwards. Remembering my father's stories of how my mother entered the tower, I slowly approach it before phasing in as well.

Inside the tower

Once I'm inside, the rings on the platform light up which, from Ulrich and Odd's expressions, confuses them as they dangle from the edge of the platform.

"How'd you manage to do that?" Ulrich asks from where he's hanging onto Odd's legs.

I shrug and bend down to help them up, "Um, wild guess."

Flawless cover, Mary remarks from inside my head.

I keep my face neutral as I internally retort, Did my dad program you for sarcasm?

He programmed me to watch and learn.

"You should drop your saber Ulrich, you're way too heavy!" Odd exclaims.

Ulrich glares, "Yeah, no way. How about I drop you instead? You like to eat a lot, maybe you're too-"

I try to grab Odd's hand, but I barely miss it as the feline warrior loses his grip on the edge of the platform. They fall screaming as I stand up and take a deep breath. I jump off the edge and fly down with them. We eventually reach another platform where we land safely before walking outside. We appear to have arrived at the Ice Sector. We scan the area, spotting nothing but ice everywhere, but I spot a tower with a red aurora around it.

Flashback

I am around seven at the time that my father explains more about Lyoko to me.

"Blue towers mean the tower is deactivated. And if a tower is red, it means it's activated by Xana. He tries to use them to attack us in the real world. Your mother was the only one capable of deactivating those towers during the first four years," he tells me.

"That doesn't answer my question, dad," I point out. "How did mom find out her real name?"

"Oh, sorry, basically after deactivating her first tower. This was in the Ice Sector," my father responds with a smile.

End of flashback

Ice Sector

"Where exactly are we?" Odd asks while looking around, as we are now in the ice region. "What happened to the forest?"

Ulrich turns to him, "Not sure."

"That tower looks a bit strange right?" I say while pointing to it, getting their attention. "See how it's different than the other ones we've encountered?"

"Yeah?" Ulrich and Odd ask in unison.

Keeping to my fake ignorance, I comment, "The color is different too..."

"The creatures are different here too," Odd adds. To our right, we see three Bloks approaching us. The front-most spinning before stopping, its front symbol glowing red as it starts to charge its laser.

"We should probably run for it. Right guys?" Ulrich asks.

An immediate retreat is best for right now, Mary agrees.

Odd and I nod in unison before the three of us start to run away from the monsters.

The Bloks eventually catch up to us and surround us in a triangle formation. They begin to charge their lasers at us as we each face one of them.

I get my staff out, as it has Latin writing on the wooden part. It reads Exardesco. I chant my incantation.

"Exardesco!" My pronunciation is correct again, thankfully since I learned a bit of Latin in the future, and my amulet starts to glow which also powers up the amulet. Ulrich blocks one of the incoming lasers with the blade of my sword, as I use the sharp end of my staff to parry the one aimed at me. Two of the Bloks spin as the color of the symbol changes from red to blue as they charge their lasers. Once releasing the attack, Ulrich and I manage to dodge the incoming blue lasers, which coat the ground with a thicker layer of ice.

Ulrich speeds over to Odd as the third Blok fires a laser at Odd. He manages to block the laser with his Katana as the monsters start to close in on us. Odd is forced to bob and weave in order to try dodging the laser fire, but he takes a hit despite his best efforts. My amulet blinks, which I assume means my staff is ready to use since a bit of fire is contained in the middle of the curled head.

I swing my staff, throwing a Fire Bolt at one of the bloks. Unfortunately, all this does is simply knock the Blok upside down, its legs flailing in the air. The second Blok fires at me, forcing me to quickly use the sharp end of the staff to block the laser. Ulrich uses his super speed to close the distance and jump onto the Blok. He slashes his katana back and forth on its stone head but does no damage. He then jumps off of it and back to us. The other upright Blok sends another laser towards Odd as Ulrich blocks it.

"Any idea how to kill these creatures?" Ulrich asks.

"Nope," Odd replies with a shake before glancing at me, "You're good at math right? Were you keeping track of how many life points, we have left?"

"I wasn't, but –" I begin to say before I am shot twice while distracted. I fall back as my body comes apart to display a digital wireframe. Before I completely devirtualize, I see Odd getting hit by several lasers too.

In the scanner room

I open my eyes, as I am now back to in the scanner, which is filled with smoke as the doors open. I cough while kneeling down on the ground, completely out of it. Odd falls out of the scanner to all floors, a moment after me as the last scanner hums and reopens.

"We're alive, that's good," Ulrich says rubbing the back of his neck.

"Alive? Well if you say so," Odd grumbles. "I think I'm about to throw up."

I'm about to say something when we suddenly heard Sissi screaming from upstairs.

"Help us! Someone please, help us!"

In the lab

We get up in a hurry and rush to the ladder. We climb up and push the hatch open to see the factory's cables entrapping my father and a crying Sissi in the elevator. Kiwi barks at the terror he is seeing.

"Ulrich!" Sissi cries. One of the cables nearby is sparking with a dangerous amount of electricity.

My eyes widen,

If my dad dies now… I'll never be born! I think.

My first instinct is to call Mary, but there is no discreet way to do so. I notice part of a metal panel was torn off from the material it was attached to in the factory. Quickly grabbing it, I wrench it off and run over to the cables. I swing it to try cutting the cables, managing to begin hacking through. However, it sends an electrical jolt throughout my body, making me scream in pain and release the panel as I fall to the ground. Ulrich rushes over to me as Odd grabs the panel from the ground and completely cuts the cables with a hard swing.

"Second time is the charm! See Ulrich, aren't you glad that I stuck around?" Odd asks. The cables start to unravel.

Ulrich ignores him, he looks over me, "You okay, Lila?"

"I'm – I'm fine thanks," I stammer through.

Jeremy yelps slightly as he manages to untangle himself enough to drop from the wall the cables had been holding him against. Sissi walks over to us, still looking a bit terrified.

"About earlier… the dress is really nice actually," I lie in an effort to comfort her.

"Um… thanks. Uh good work," Sissi replies while rubbing her neck shyly. After helping Jeremy up, we walk over to the computer. Jeremy sits in his chair as he begins typing, a screen beginning to load a moment later.

"Maya are you there?" he asks.

The screen loads completely as my mother appears on the window.

"Yes, Jeremy. How are things on your side?" "Maya" asks.

"We're a bit flustered..." Jeremy answers. "It can't get any worse right?"

Dad... I wish I could tell you that this adventure won't be easy. It's going to get worse. This is only the beginning… I think.

Later

In Lila's room

Plopping down on the bed, I stare at the ceiling while lying on my back. Grabbing my phone, I flip it open, causing the screen to light up, "Mary?"

"Lila, it's late. Shouldn't you be going to bed?" the spectre responds.

I shake my head, "Soon. Do you think you could do me a favor?"

"Of course," she agrees. "Anything for you."

"Could you check if a store is open?" I request. "I'd like a diary, please. One with a lock and key, specifically."

"Any particular color?"

I think it over, "Hmm... Blue with a flower on it, a white flower if you can find one."

"I'll be back shortly," Mary informs before leaving the phone in her white spectre form. She goes into a wall socket to travel along the power lines. I wait for about half an hour before I hear a tap at the window.

Looking, I see Mary's smoke form wrapped around a blue diary, tapping the cover against the glass to get my attention. Once I unlatch and open the window, she comes in reassumes her physical form, holding the diary in her hands now.

"I was able to buy a blue diary with a lock and key," she reports with a smile. "No white flower, I'm afraid, but it is pink."

"Thanks," I reply with a nod as I accept it and find the key taped to the cover. Peeling it off and unlocking the book, I move to my desk while opening it to the first page.

Mary approaches curiously, "What are you going to do with this diary, Lila?"

"I'm going to start a diary to keep track of my memories," I answer while finding a spare pen among my school supplies. "I'll write them down from how you remember them, that way I won't truly forget them even after histories changed. And it'll help me account for the changes that happen and how it might affect the future. Can you tell me about the memory I lost?"

Mary nods, "I can. But I should warn you that during my diagnosis of your memory displacement, the specific memory will become lost to me as well shortly after," she explains. "We have approximately three hours until the original memory vanishes. You should write down the old memory and the new memory that you have experienced with your father's younger self."

"Yes, I like that. I'll be able to keep track of the changes this way," I smile.

I look over to Mary.

"I'm really glad you're here with me," I smile.

"Me too. There's something you should be made aware of. While the original memory is stored in my data banks… if we don't get the chance to write down the memory in a certain amount of time, it'll be gone completely. Do you understand?"

"I understand," I nod.

"Okay… let's begin then. I believe the memory started when you were around six years old…" Mary starts to tell me. I begin writing my original memory, keeping in mind that I will have to write down my new memories.

One thing is for certain... I'll have to keep this memory diary safe… I think.

And done! Please Review!

LyokoWarrior1994