Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor and AeroJester203.

Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.

Defeated

Lyoko's Forest Sector

POV Aelita's

One by one we attack Cameron. We go at him from all sorts of angles, close combat, sniping...the other kinds… Even Jeremy tries to fight him, though his aim is, well, worse than Odd's. That's just a lack of combat experience, though. Something tells me even if Jeremy had more experience, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Cameron has incredible evasion.

Suddenly, Jeremy freezes.

"My feet are stuck to the ground! I don't understand, it's as if they're magnetized!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Ha, bad luck for you, then," Cameron mocks. Cameron unholsters a long pistol in one hand and uses his other hand to pull the trigger. He lets several bullets fly and they hit their mark, right into Jeremy's chest, he devirtualizes.

"Jeremy!" We exclaim. We go at Cameron again, but his evasion skill is off the charts. We have to try something else...maybe use a little...Creativity.

I lift my hand and start to sing, concentrating on my creation. Cameron immediately catches on to my plan and aims his pistol at me to try and break my concentration. Well, it's supposed to be a threat, but I know it's a bluff. I am still connected to Xana. There is no way Cameron would kill me. However, while he concentrates on me, Yumi takes the opportunity to throw her tessen fan, which connects this time and disarms him. The others take the opportunity to swoop in and do some damage, and I finish the job by dropping a giant rock on his head.

Cameron devirtualizes.

"Nice work, Aelita," Yumi says.

"It was a team effort," I say, deflecting the praise. An attack during a funeral. Xana had no respect, no decency…

"Glad that's over with it," Odd sighs, sitting on the ground.

"Hey, uh, Jeremy? We could use a materialization," Ulrich says.

"Right, I'm working on it. Good job dealing with Cameron, you guys. That devirtualization was rough."

"Not as easy as it looks, huh Einstein?" Odd asks.

"That's an understatement. Aelita, there's a tower close by, just north of you. Yumi, you should be able to take Lila's empty jar back with you."

"Okay, Jeremy," Yumi says, picking up the jar.

"Materialization: Ulrich, Materialization: Odd. Materialization:Yumi."

I watch my friends materialize, then hop on Lila's broomstick and head to the tower for my own materialization.

Afterwards

Back in the scanner

When I finally materialize, I barely even bother to catch my fall...I was exhausted. But I do get up, and I do head up to the lab with the others.

Inside the lab

"Now what do we do?" Ulrich asks. Jeremy holds his hands under his chin.

"Well, there aren't any classes. I'm not sure."

"Maybe we should see a movie," Odd suggests.

"You go ahead if you want. I'm going back to my room," I say.

"How come?" Yumi asks, still holding Lila's empty jar.

"There's something I need to check," I reply. They look at me suspiciously, but let it go.

"I'll go with you," Yumi offers.

"No thanks, Yumi. We took care of Cameron. Since he's gone now, he's not much of a threat. It's just Xana." I really just want to be alone right now…

"But, Aelita-" Yumi starts to say. I shake my head.

"Please go to the movies with the guys. All of you deserve it."

"Okay…" Yumi trails off. I smile a little, just to put her mind at ease.

"I'll be fine, Yumi. Enjoy the movie, ok?" I say. I look at the jar Yumi is holding.

"Um... do you want me to take care of that before I go to our room?" I ask. Yumi looks down at the jar and nods. Walking over to me, I hold my hands out. Reaching me, Yumi looks at the jar one last time, and she gives it to me. Holding it, I look at it.

Where should I bury this? I think.

Inside Aelita and Yumi's room

Once I get back to mine and Yumi's room, I close the door behind me very carefully, and then, just...slide down the door. Tears want to come to my eyes, but they seem to have lost their way. Burying Lila's jar in the Hermitage's yard was a smart move, but difficult. And the fact that I found an old shovel in the house made things easier, so I didn't have to clean myself up too much. At least I could use the gym's shortcut to the sewers, and then use the sewers to the Hermitage. None of us wanted to use the park to get the woods, despite the woods being reopened. For myself and the others, it was far too heartbreaking for us to go there. And burying Lila's jar was heartbreaking too but I guess I'm just out of tears. Since there's no point in sitting here if I can't release my emotions… might as well do something.

I get up and go over to one of the boxes. I pull out Lila's copy of Jeremy's laptop. I think it's time I finally looked through this laptop thoroughly. After Cameron's disruption during Lila's funeral on Lyoko, I need to find a way to defeat Xana. Turning it on, it boots up and then loads to the home screen. I start looking through the files. There's nothing out of the ordinary at a cursory glance. A few seemingly innocent videos of Older Jeremy, I look deeper and eventually find… under the cover of at least five different folders...a restricted folder!

But it wants a code...code...LYOKO! No, that would be way too obvious and stupid. This was something Lila was not meant to find, something I was meant to find...so...I blush. There's only one thing I could think of.

Yep, I type in the words "Big Fat Cheese Head" and the folder unlocks. Even in the future, he remembered our private joke.

Anyways, the file opens and it's a series of what looks like Jeremy's video diaries from 2005-2008, which meant some of these are from the future...Do I dare glance into the future?

Yes, yes, I do. I click on a video from sometime this year of 2007. I'm not sure of the month the video diary was made. Jeremy is sitting in front of his computer, he is fixing his headset.

"Aelita has recovered her memories, and in doing so she has discovered she is, in fact, human. Not just that, but she's Franz Hopper's daughter. The man who created the supercomputer."

"I'm – I'm sorry, what?!"

"It all began with a trip to Sector Five. But that trip was a trap. Xana stole Aelita's memories, all of them! He took the keys to Lyoko… and she was dead. That's what he was after this whole time! She was only dead for a few minutes… before Hopper came out of hiding and revived his daughter. He sacrificed himself to save his daughter, but Xana escaped into the internet. We haven't heard from Xana since." I stop the video, my mind flooding with emotions.

I pause the video. That is...a lot to dump on a person at once… I- I'm...human? Not an artificial intelligence materialized into a human body? I was human the whole time and the daughter of the man who created the Supercomputer...I have...family? I am… This is too much to process. I let the video continue playing.

"If it weren't for Hopper's sacrifice, we would have lost everything. I'm very grateful to him. Aelita means the world to me. Without Aelita… I'd be lost. One thing does confuse me. If Xana kept Aelita's memory to keep her connected to him, and then get the keys, then it's safe to assume Xana kept Aelita's memory in his memory. Meaning they were in Sector Five… we probably could have found them through the terminal the entire time."

That's the end of that video. Jeremy has a good hypothesis, an easily tested one, too. We could go check that and save some trouble. I scroll down to the bottom of the list of videos, there are many… and I'll be sure to look through them all, later. For now, I want to skip to the end. He's wearing different clothing than he usually does. His shirt is this weird brown red color? He sits cross-legged in front of the supercomputer.

"Well, it's done. Franz Hopper has, once again, sacrificed himself to power the multi-agent system. It turned out he didn't die when he gave Aelita her memory back. Aelita was able to launch the program in Sector Five. The program was a success, unlike Marabounta. Today, we also freed William who was under the control of Xana. The clone I made of him, by activating a tower on Lyoko, was starting to make everyone suspicious. Today, we'll be shutting down the supercomputer after lunch. I doubt Xana will ever return, but I'm backing up the details on how to create my multi-agent system on a restricted part to my laptop and the program Aelita and I could have used to bring Franz Hopper back. Just in case we need to. I doubt I'll ever forget the password… but the password is Big Fat Cheese Head.

The file will be labeled 0X586. I'll also put it in a restricted part of the supercomputer, for safe keeping. I hope in time we can just move on from this life. Aelita has lost too much. For once… I'd like to try and see if I can admit my feelings to her, now that we can live normal lives."

"Huh? Feelings?" I blush. The video stops there.

"0X586," I say to myself, and enter the name into the file search bar. A file comes up containing several documents. I quickly read over them.

"Jeremy – this is just fantastic!"

Afterwards

I rush back to the lab with this newfound information. As I head down the elevator shaft, I realize my mistake. They went to a movie, didn't they? But, as the doors open, I find that...everyone is still there. That is...confusing, but convenient, I guess.

"Aelita we just decided which movie to watch. Did you change your mind?" Odd asks.

"Not exactly, Odd," I reply, carrying the copy of Jeremy's laptop in my arms.

"Aelita, why do you have my laptop?" Jeremy asks.

"It's not your laptop, Jeremy. Well, it is, but it's the copy from Lila's future," I answer. Ulrich's eyes widen.

"You didn't…"

"I did! And it was worth it…" I trail off.

"What did you find, Aelita?" Yumi asks.

"A lot of things! Like the fact that I'm really human and how we can find a way to unlink me to Xana. Jeremy, we've been going about this all wrong! There's no need for an antivirus, we need to go Sector Five!" I exclaim. The words just come tumbling out of my mouth, like if I didn't get it out, it would be gone.

"You're – you're human Aelita?" Jeremy asks, shocked. The rest of them look shocked, too. I nod.

"I am. Xana took specific memories from me, Jeremy. The memories of when I lived here, on Earth. That's why I've always felt such a strange connection to France. Like, I've lived here before. And that's why – it's why it felt like I was being held back when you first used Code: Earth."

"Amazing, then we can really-" Odd starts today and nodding, I confirm it.

"We can recover my memories and defeat Xana! Instead of turning the supercomputer off… I found a program that Jeremy had built. A multi-agent system."

"A multi-agent system? Didn't we already try that, when Jeremy created that horrible Marabounta?" Yumi asks.

"He did, but I have the plans all right here for one that works. And using it… we can defeat Xana… and maybe even leave the supercomputer on afterwards," I smile.

"Amazing! Can I see them, Aelita?" Jeremy asks, walking up to me.

"Sure," I reply and hand the laptop to Jeremy. He sits on the holosphere case and opens the laptop to where I left the file open. He scrolls through the file, reading the details. He fixes his glasses, pushing them to bridge of his nose.

"This is my work, alright. Incredible, the other me really found a way to defeat Xana. Xana won't be expecting this, he won't know what hit him!" Jeremy exclaims.

"How long will it take for you to recreate your own program?" Ulrich asks.

"It'll take a day...or two. The other me really laid out the groundwork, so it's only a matter of following it to the letter."

"Jeremy, there is one thing. We're going to have to account for power we need to run the program," I tell him. He puts his finger on his chin.

"Hmm… what if," he snaps his fingers. "I got it! There's this new program I've been working on. It isn't fully developed yet, and I wanted to test it out on one of you, but if I change it just a little bit and I put a rush on it, I can activate more than a few towers on Lyoko in different sectors, and redirect their power to Sector Five. After all, every time you use the tunnels to leave Sector Five, they bring you back to Lyoko, meaning Sector Five is connected to Lyoko. Or at the very least... has some sort of connection I can find."

"That'll work, I'm sure of it," I nod. I'm not sure the power can be redirected like that just because they are connected, but I believe in Jeremy.

"Okay then, two days from now… will be our final mission against Xana!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Here, here!" All of us exclaim. This is for you Lila… if you do have a soul, then I hope this will help you rest in peace.

Two days later

April 10th

Inside Aelita and Yumi's room

It's a sad thing about losing someone you love, the day of their death, the day of their funeral... Every day without them by your side...seems to go on forever. It seems as though tomorrow will never come...but it does come, and it comes without them, and you think you are going to wake up and they'll be back...but they are not, they never are. But tomorrow comes, whether you want it to or not, tomorrow comes…

I think the person in my room is Lila, and for a moment, my heart lifts...only to be crushed again when my exhausted mind figures out it's Yumi… I really wish I could have convinced Lila to have brought her cane that night. It's still hanging in mine and Yumi's shared closed closet. If I had convinced her… maybe she could have used it against Cameron… and gotten away. It's like I've forgotten that yesterday, and the day before that, Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and myself watched a lot of episodes from one of the TV shows Odd liked, while Jeremy worked in the lab since he mentioned modifying that new program of his, and working on recreating the other programs his future self-created. He took breaks when necessary, and slept in his room when he could. I brought him some food from the cafeteria when he was working in the lab. Rosa didn't mind since she thought I was only bringing the food to Jeremy's room. She was devastated to hear about Lila when she first found out. She figured bringing food to Jeremy under the circumstances, would be allowed. Odd had eaten a little bit of food yesterday, just enough not to be concerned. Yumi and I were about the same.

Getting up from the bed, Yumi offers to help me get rid of the black dye in my hair for this final battle, but I want to keep it like this. I'll channel all of my sadness into fury, and I'll use it to kill Xana.

Inside the lab

There's a tension in the room charging us with energy that I almost think is wrong to feel directly after losing Lila.

Jeremy takes a deep breath before addressing us, "Okay, you guys, this is the home stretch. I've recreated the multi-agent system, and I'll have it ready to launch as soon as Aelita's memories are recovered. I've also developed a program that will allow my towers on Lyoko's sectors to redirect their power to our trump card. But Xana's starting to sense trouble. He's relocating his troops to each of the towers I activated. We won't have a lot of time."

"What about the key that we have to trip in Sector Five? How do we deal with that?" Odd asks.

"I've thought about that. Since this is the final mission, Odd, I've reprogrammed your Future Flash ability," Jeremy explains. "You'll be able to use it and track down the key."

Just like Lila used to… are the words he doesn't want to say.

"Alright!" Odd exclaims while holding up a fist in determination. "I won't let you guys down!"

"What about you? Are you coming to Lyoko with us?" Ulrich asks.

Jeremy shakes his head, "No. I'm of much better use behind the screens, like usual."

"Let's go," I say. We nod and head down to the scanner room.

Inside the scanner room

The four of us exit the elevator and head towards the three open scanners.

"By the way, I'll be virtualizing all of you directly into Sector Five."

"Whoa, really, Jeremy?" Ulrich asks.

"Yeah. Another program my future-self developed. It'll take less time this way."

"Fantastic! I guess if Xana's playing dirty then we need to, too!" Odd exclaims.

"Right," Jeremy agrees, then proceeds to virtualize us. "I'll send you three first and then Aelita after you."

In Sector Five

The Arena Room

I appear above and land directly in the receiving point for Xana's home sector, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd already there. The floor and room spin, just as always.

"Aelita, are you there?" Jeremy asks.

"Yes, Jeremy, I'm here. The virtualization was a success," I reply. Idly, I check my hair by bringing some into view with my hand to see that it's still black. And seeing my sleeve, I notice that my outfit is all around darker in color. The magenta of my top, skirt and shoes has changed to a slightly deep red, while the pink accents on the main pieces of clothing are now light grey. My cream underclothes and arm coverings weren't spared either, becoming slate in color.

Since this wasn't Jeremy's doing, I can only guess that my state of mind influenced my avatar's appearance, especially with my desire for the black hair to stay.

"It's weird without the transporter," Odd comments. "But easier on the stomach."

"Yeah," Ulrich agrees as the room starts slowing down.

"The door is about to open. Get ready!"

The room's rotation comes to a stop, and the walls open the way to the rest of Sector Five. We waste no time running through the gap and down the hallway. We're on a time limit, after all.

"The countdown has started! Remember, you have a minute and thirty seconds to trip the key. Odd, anything yet?"

"Nothing ye-" he starts to say but is interrupted by what I assume is a vision. He stops with a gasp, and he looks like he's in shock. He snaps out of it almost a few seconds after.

"Never mind! Follow me!" he urges. Odd turns a different direction, and we follow him. He leads us down a specific path through the corridors.

"Up ahead!" Odd he calls as we exit a specific doorway. But he holds his arm out to stop us as we enter a room with a gaping chasm in the floor preventing us from reaching the key on the opposite wall above a narrow ledge.

"Great! What do we do now?" Ulrich asks.

"I have an idea," Yumi answers. She puts her hands at her temples, becoming enveloped in the pink aura signifying her telekinesis. The glow covers me as well as I levitate into the air.

"Yumi… you think you can make it?" I ask.

Jeremy chimes in, "She can, Aelita. But hurry, there's only 50 seconds left."

I'm brought closer to the edge before my body is thrown across the empty space. I scream in surprise as I fly in the air, getting closer to the wall where the countdown key is. But I start falling.

"Aelita!" Jeremy exclaims the same as the rest of my friends do.

I barely manage to catch myself on the edge and force myself to climb up.

"35 seconds!"

Getting up, I run across the ledge to the section of the wall where the key is.

"30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25." I press my hand on the mechanism, and it sinks into itself to form the Xana sign with its glowing lines. The room reconfigures as a section of the wall opens into another doorway.

"Nice work Aelita. Great throw Yumi, but a little too close for comfort."

"Sorry Jeremy," Yumi says. Looking over the edge, blocks start to appear from below, locking together to form a bridge between the two ledges.

"Let's go!" I exclaim.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi nod as they run across the newly formed path to rejoin me.

At the lift for the elevator

"Jeremy, how are your towers doing?" I ask as we wait for the elevator to come down.

"Not too well. Xana's obliterating them one by one. There's more than enough left, you just need to step on it!"

"Right," I say. Hearing the elevator coming, I call to the others, "Now!"

All of us make the leap and the elevator brings us to the entrance of the Celestial Dome.

The door opens, and we run on the bridge, with me leading the way to the data interface. As the screen appears, I start moving my hands through the files I've seen in the past.

"I'm looking through them now, Jeremy. Once I find my memories, I'll upload them to my mind." I turn my head slightly towards my shoulder to address Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich along with Jeremy while still keeping my eyes focused on the holographic panel, "It might render me unconscious; if that happens, I'll need you three to protect me. If I'm not here to launch the program, then…"

"We'll protect you, Aelita. Don't worry," Ulrich reassures me.

Glancing up, I don't see any Mantas hatching. I almost pause, but can't afford to right now.

"Jeremy… there are no Mantas appearing here. Where are they?" I ask while continuing my search.

"On Lyoko! They've just destroyed all of the towers I activated in the Forest Sector! They're moving on to the Desert Sector! Any luck?"

"No, nothing…" I trail off, continuing to look through the files. One folder that I press expands into a firewall, numbers streaming across the screen in a similar manner to the walls of Sector Five.

Knowing that Xana wouldn't have security for no reason, I use my link with Lyoko to reach into the window and start decoding and bypassing the firewall.

Xana, for an emotionless AI, putting such a weak security as the only prevention measure was an arrogant mistake, I muse. The firewall disappears and reveals a window with a glowing sphere.

"Jeremy! I think I found them, I found my memories!" I exclaim.

"Okay, upload them quickly! Xana knows we're here now! You have Bots coming your way!"

"Cover Aelita!" Yumi exclaims to the other two boys, taking out her tessen fans while Odd and Ulrich ready their own weapons.

As they cover me, I press the sphere and it begins fading from the hologram as my memories load into my mind. Once it completely vanishes, I hunch over. Feeling the mental backlash, I pass out.

Inside Aelita's mind

I'm in the snowy country of Switzerland, rolling a ball of snow for a snowman. Looking at my parents on the porch of our house, a small cabin, my daddy waves to me with a warm smile. He's an old man, somewhere in his fifties with a beard that's starting to go gray along with his hair. A pair of tinted glasses covers his eyes, and he's wearing an orange winter jacket to shield against the cold.

My mom, who has short pink hair, is wearing a heavier brown coat.

"Don't go too far, sweetheart!" Mommy calls to me.

"I won't, mommy!" I exclaim, turning back to her and daddy, smiling.

Christmas time

Months passed by, and now I'm in the Hermitage in Paris, France. It's Christmas time, and I open up a wrapped box my parents laid out for me. It's an elf doll in cute clothes with a pointed hat and a long sash, along with pointy-toed boots.

"Aww, he's so cute," I say. "What should I call him?" I ask my parents.

"What about Mister Puck? It means 'Goblin,'" my daddy suggests.

"Do you like him?" my mommy asks. Her pink hair has grown a lot longer.

I wrap my arms around her in a hug, "Yes, I do! Thank you, mommy!"

Months later

Some time has passed and I'm with my dad at the piano in his work study.

"It's like math," he explains. "Let me show you." He starts playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Looking at him, I look at my mom. She's reading a book with a content smile, and I listen happily to the tune. For some reason, she suddenly disappears as the melody grows slightly sad.

"Mommy?" I ask.

Years later

I'm older now, eleven years old. I ride my bike home to the Hermitage through a well-worn path in the small forest around our home. I open the door to see my dad is playing the piano. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, the same song he always plays when I get home. It was never as cheerful as it used to be, though.

"Daddy?" I call to him. He turns his head slightly but doesn't face me. "I'm going to my room."

Inside Aelita's room

Upstairs, I'm lying on my bed and listening to my dad who is still playing the piano downstairs. But it abruptly stops, and I sit up in confusion as the last note fades.

"Alright, come out of there!" someone exclaims from outside.

Running to the window, I gasp at the sight of two men wearing black suits.

"Daddy!" I call as I turn away from the window, hearing my father's footfalls up the stairs. Meeting him at my doorway, I say, "The men in black are here."

"I know," he replies. "Do you remember where Mister Puck is?"

"Yes," I answer, glancing at the poster of the forest in my room.

"Come quickly," he urges. Nodding, I follow him, and we run down the stairs.

The men in black enter our house as we reach the ground floor, and I gasp.

"Take my hand," my daddy instructs. I do so, and he helps pull me along, so I don't fall behind as we're chased by the men in black.

Outside

We make it into our garden, and my dad closes the door behind us. He wedges a plank of wood under the doorknob to slow down the government agents.

"There." Grabbing my hand again, he leads me to another door. We move through it and run down a hidden staircase into the sewers.

Inside the lab

Reaching what looks like a very advanced lab with several monitors near a chair my dad sits on. He starts typing and what I think is a podium at first displays a holographic sphere.

I look around, "Where are we?"

"In my laboratory," he answers before turning to me. "Come on."

He gets off the chair and leads me to the elevator we came in.

"Where are we going?" I ask him.

"To a world where we will be safe. You and I, forever."

Inside the scanner room

I'm in a cylindrical cabin, and I look to the middle one where my daddy is.

"See you in a minute, honey," he says.

I nod, trusting that he knows what he's doing, "See you in a minute, daddy."

The cylindrical cabin's doors close, and the inside is lit. It's too bright for my eyes, and I close them. Inside the cabin, the machinery starts spinning. As it picks up in speed, it starts humming. A bright flash of light and gust of wind are the last things I register.

Afterwards

Lyoko's Forest Sector

Opening my eyes, I see myself falling in some sort of forest area. I land on the ground safely.

"Daddy, where are you?" I ask, looking for my dad. A strange sparkling ball appears in front of me.

"Aelita," his voice says from the sphere. "Something's gone wrong with my virtualization. I have to go and talk to Xana to convince him to let us live here in peace."

I tilt my head, enunciating, "Xa-na?"

"He's an artificial intelligence that lives here on Lyoko."

Hearing a strange noise, I look to my right and see some sort of cockroach-like creature with robotic legs and an eye-like pattern on its front.

"What is that thing?" I ask.

"Run, Aelita! Run!" daddy urges. The roach creature starts firing a laser. I run, following my daddy as he tries to lead me to safety.

"Xana's become too autonomous!" he exclaims. "I'm going to have to shut him down."

"But what will happen to us?" I ask, and continue running along the forest path.

"You'll be safe from Xana once I shut the supercomputer down. I'll try to hide myself somewhere… if that's possible. You'll be safe in the tower," my dad explains as he continues leading me towards a tree-like structure with a blue aura over its bare top half. "Once the supercomputer is off, it'll be as if you were sleeping."

More creatures show up as we get closer. This time they're ugly flying bugs with the same symbol in the middle of their eyeless heads. They start shooting lasers, and my father shields me with his orb body, pixels coming off with each hit.

"Daddy, no!" I exclaim.

"It's going to be okay Aelita; get inside the tower! You'll be safe there!" he calls back. Nodding, I rush to the tower, but I hear one of the creatures firing a laser. It hits me in the back and I'm thrown into the tower, phasing into some sort of doorway.

I stumble across a narrow walkway and fall onto a round platform, a glowing circle lighting up from my body touching it. But before I can wonder why, my eyes start becoming heavy. I fade into unconsciousness, but I hear my daddy's voice.

Never forget me Aelita. Never forget who you are.

2005

My eyes open. I look around, seeing that I'm on the center of some sort of floating platform with a symbol reminiscent of an eye. I have no memory as to why I'm here or even who I am.

"He-hello?" I stammer, hoping for an answer.

I try to get up. It seems I've been asleep for some time. Where is here, anyway? When I get to my feet, the symbol on the platform lights up and I jump a little out of fright.

"Is–is anyone there?" I ask.

Surprisingly, another voice answers, "Uh, hello. Is someone there?"

"Who are you? Why can't I see you?" I ask. It's a boy that just spoke, though I don't know how I'm so sure since I can't remember anything else. By the person's tone… I think they're a boy. Their tone doesn't sound anything like mine.

"Jeremy. Jeremy Belpois. I turned this supercomputer on. It's in an abandoned factory. Are… are you in the computer or something?"

"I – I think so." Looking at myself, I see I'm some sort of elf-like creature.

"Do you have a name?" Jeremy asks.

Trying to think of one, I shake my head as if he can see me doing that.

"No, sorry."

"Well, I can't call you 'artificial intelligence.' Doesn't seem right. Everyone deserves a name. How about… Maya?"

I put my finger on my chin, thinking about it, "Maya… I like that a lot. Has a nice ring to it. But what I'd really like to know is why I'm here in the first place."

End of memories

Waking up in Sector Five, I look above as Mantas are flying around my friends. They seem to be back in this sector, with the Xana Bots nowhere in sight.

Odd, Ulrich and Yumi continue to fight them, the brunet mainly on defense while standing near me with his katana while his long-range fighting teammates fight the flying enemies. Yumi is nearby, throwing one tessen fan at a time while keeping the other one for defense. Odd, meanwhile, is flying around on his Overboard, both acting as a distraction and shooting down any monster he can with his Laser Arrows.

Getting up, I run over to the interface, "Jeremy, they've been uploaded. I remember everything."

"That's great Aelita, the program is ready to launch! Please hurry, you were out for a while and all of my towers are almost destroyed! There's only a few left in the Mountain Sector."

"Right!" I exclaim. But before I can reach the screen, another manta hatches from the wall and flies at me. I roll to the side as it fires at me, and I start to feel a tingling sensation in my hand. A deep purple ball of spiraling energy forms in my palm, and I throw it at the monster. The Manta is unable to dodge it, and the energy ball destroys it after impact.

"Awesome, Aelita!" Odd exclaims from afar.

Going back to the interface, I see Jeremy's program on it. Pressing my hand on the interface, it accepts my hand print and a mass of white spheres begin emerging from the holographic screen.

They fly for the Mantas, engulfing them in an instant. The monsters screech before exploding. Going up to my friends, we watch Jeremy's multi-agent program as it disperses to deal with Xana's monsters, going down all four tunnels to the other sectors and into the sphere of Sector Five itself. With the threat removed, Odd pulls his Overboard alongside us, hovering nearby.

"Woah…" Ulrich trails off, he sheathes his Katana.

I can almost feel something shift in Lyoko, "Jeremy… something's happening."

"It's working Aelita… Xana's dying…"

"Serves him right," Yumi says with no regret.

As a high-pitched screeching gets our attention, we look around until Odd points, "Giant jellyfish at eight 'o clock!"

Looking to where he indicated, we see the Scyphozoa being attacked by the white spheres, its body deteriorating all the while. The Scyphozoa screeches one more time and disintegrates under the assault, leaving a vapor like substance that is also removed by the multi-agent system. After the smoke clears and the spheres clear away, we see someone falling. My eyes widen when I see that it's Mary.

"Odd!" I urge.

Odd dives down on the Overboard with a quick reply of "On it!"

His steep dive manages to outpace Mary's freefall, and he pulls up underneath her to catch the friendly spectre on the board before decelerating and beginning to fly back up towards us.

I sigh in relief, and he arrives soon after with her draped over the front portion of his vehicle. Ulrich and Yumi help me bring Mary off the Overboard and we gently lay her on the ground. Her Lyoko outfit is near identical to the one she wears in the real world, save for the more digital appearance, her suit neatly pressed and with a silver trim on the sleeves and lapels. Her avatar seems slightly emaciated, an odd sight on Lyoko, but her nature as a spectre probably means that anything that affects her reflects on her avatar and being in Xana's possession can't have been any good experience.

"Is she okay, Aelita?" Jeremy asks. Bending down, I look at her. She starts groaning in pain, and her eyes open. She looks at us.

Once she manages to gain her bearings, she asks, "What are all of you doing here?"

"We've defeated Xana, Mary," I answer her.

"You – you know my name?" Mary asks. She apparently doesn't recognize me with the differences in my avatar. Then her eyes narrow in recognition, "Wait… that's right, now I remember. You were there in that room with Lila. You're... Aelita. What happened to your pink hair, Aelita? And your outfit…"

She starts looking around, I assume for Lila, "Where's Lila?"

"Mary, um… A lot's happened…" Ulrich says, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

Odd asks, "Is there a way we can devirtualize you and talk to you back on Earth?"

"There's no need to," Mary responds somewhat shortly. "I can exit the supercomputer at will because of my shapeshifting abilities."

She struggles for a moment before getting up without our help. She stands and looks at us with a serious gaze.

"You didn't answer my question: Where's Lila?"

Looking at Mary, I can tell that this is going to be a difficult moment to get through. How am I going to tell Mary that… Lila is dead?

TO BE CONTINUED...

IN Chapter 4 of 5 of The Dark Saga

Author's note: I hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter. With two chapters left to go until The Dark Saga is completed, I still have a lot more surprises in store for this fanfiction. While Xana has been defeated, this is certainly not the end of this fanfiction. More chapters will be uploaded after The Dark Saga is completed.

As you've noticed I'm trying something different for the author's note, credits for my editors and the disclaimer. I hope this new format is more organized for you my readers.

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994