Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.
This chapter was written by me. It was edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.
I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Kayori Avalon is owned by decode9.
Author's Note: Hi everyone, we're back and with the first chapter of season 3! Just like the show it is a MUCH shorter season. For those of you wondering why I haven't implemented Odd's shield ability, (I may have mentioned this already) but the shield ability will not debut until season 4 however, it will have a "background story," during season 3 of Lila's Journey. Originally it did get revealed in the season 2 episode Temptation. However, in my version of Temptation there's a lot going on so I just forgot to implement it.
Enjoy!
Straight to Heart
POV Lila's
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
I'm in mine and Aelita's room, and I've just unpacked the rest of my things for the new term. Everything is pretty much the same. Mia has caught up a lot from her summer classes. She enjoyed having Sissi's room to herself. She's surprised by how much Sissi had changed from what William must have told about her.
I open my desk drawer and take out my diary. I unlock it with its key. I go to the last page I wrote in and begin to write.
Dear Diary,
Summer vacation went well. I can't believe it, two weeks without Xana! A much needed break, for sure. We're nearing the end of April now. And I've got some news… my blonde hair is back! Ever since Sissi dyed my hair, any time I'd take a shower I would always bring shampoo with me. I found out that if I shampooed a lot per shower, my hair dye would simply fade out over time. And it finally faded out! Mary and I started noticing the hair was fading out only days after I left campus. A good thing, too!
Unfortunately, my hair length remains the same. I gotta admit, though, the hair style grew on me. My hair fringe was really long, and needed a cut anyways. Kayori and I saw each other a lot during break, since Mia had to make up classes since she was a late transfer. And Kayori remained with her family during vacation which is great because they live near by. That's how we were able to spend time with one another. We've mostly been to places that's public and the movie theater. Neither one of us have admitted to our families that we're seeing each other. While I haven't exactly kissed Kayori yet – I feel like we're getting closer and closer. We'll probably have our first kiss soon. Well, I better get ready to greet Aelita, she should be arriving any minute now.
See ya!
Lila.
Closing the diary, I lock it with its key, before putting it, the key, and the pen into the drawer. Closing the drawer, I walk to the door.
There's a knock at the door, and so I open it and see Aelita and Yumi. Yumi appears to be helping Aelita with her luggage.
"Hi guys!" I exclaim happily.
"Lila, it's good to see you! And you have your blonde hair back!" Aelita exclaims happily. She gives me a hug as Yumi brings the luggage in. Aelita and I let go of each other.
"The red hair dye faded away during break," I say.
"Great. Say, Yumi, after we unpack everything, we should head to the lab to greet Jeremy. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see us again," Aelita says. Yumi nods.
"I'm sure he will. Where did you want your clothes to go?" Yumi asks.
"Closet. Lila, you wouldn't mind helping us, right?" Aelita asks.
"I wouldn't mind at all Aelita," I smile.
Afterwards
Inside the lab
The freight elevator's doors open, as Yumi, Aelita, and I walk inside the lab. Sissi and Mia still had a lot of unpacking to do – more of the clothes belonging to Sissi, so Mia offered to stay in their room to help her unpack. Jeremy is sitting on his chair, Yumi is carrying a checkers board with her. Aelita and I walk up to Jeremy, he turns to greet us.
"Hey guys. How was your summer vacation?" he asks.
"It was great! Nice and peaceful, how about you?" I ask.
"Good. Stayed with my parents for the most part. What did you and Aelita do?" Jeremy asks. Yumi sits down as she begins setting up the checkers board.
"I stayed with Yumi's parents. It was nice," Aelita mentions.
"I stayed at Mary's. It was nice, too," I reply.
"That's good. As much as I like the quietness… I'm concerned about our friend Xana," Jeremy says.
"Maybe he took a vacation, too?" Yumi asks. It appears she has her checkers board all set up.
"That's doubtful. He's up to something… but whatever it is, I'm sure we can figure it out," Jeremy replies.
"Say Aelita, how about a game?" Yumi offers. Aelita looks at Yumi and nods.
"Sure thing, Yumi," she replies. Aelita goes over to Yumi and I look at Jeremy. He seems to come to a realization.
"Oh, I almost forgot! During our vacation… I had time to come here to the lab. With Mia in the group now, I figured she'd be going on Lyoko missions with all of you – so she'll use your old overboard, something that I think will work better for her," Jeremy mentions.
"Okay… and what kind of vehicle will I have now?" I ask.
"You'll still have your broomstick, but I gave it a paint job," He replies.
"Awesome."
"Oh, and I'm glad to see your hair is back to its usual color."
"I am too," I smile.
Afterwards
Yumi and Aelita continue playing their checkers game near the freight elevator. I'm sitting next to Aelita, watching their game. The freight elevator makes a noise as it appears someone has arrived. I turn to see the freight elevator's doors opening. Aelita puts her white checker on the board, and we turn to see who it is. It's Ulrich and Odd.
"Welcome back, campers," Aelita greets. Ulrich and Odd walk over to us.
"Two weeks without us, not too long?" Ulrich asks Aelita, reaching her. Odd reaches me, and looks down at us.
"Did you miss me a little, ladies?" he asks.
"Forget it. You could have stayed away for three weeks. Xana attacks – zero," Yumi replies.
"Well, a nice quiet summer, huh?" Odd asks Jeremy.
"Kind of. As I mentioned earlier to the girls, ever since Xana discovered a way to leave the supercomputer and then manage to access the world wide web – we haven't heard anything," Jeremy explains.
"No news is good news, right?" Ulrich asks.
"That's what you think. I trust Xana as far as I can throw him. Which is why I've just reprogrammed the super scan. From now on, we'll know where the big bad wolf is hiding," Jeremy replies.
"That's great, Einstein. But how's that going to help?" Odd asks.
"Well, first of all, we can try and find out how he uses the internet," Jeremy replies.
"Cool. And then you send us in after him, so we can crack a few heads," Ulrich says.
"That's about it," Jeremy says as he starts typing again. "But wait – getting you into the internet isn't all that easy. So first let's get a handle on what his scheme is." Jeremy presses the enter button and we hear a window pop up. Some sort of beeping occurs.
"Yeah!" he exclaims.
Odd clasps his hands together, before separating them. He says:
"Well, let me remind you, we have to pick up our class schedules before lunch. So let's move."
Aelita gets up, I do as well. She and I start walking with Odd to the freight elevator with Jeremy and Yumi dragging behind.
"Ulrich…. Wait a second," Yumi says.
Odd presses the button for the freight elevator's doors to open, and they do. We walk inside the freight elevator and let Yumi and Ulrich talk. She gathers the checkers that she and Aelita were using.
"Lila, nice hair by the way," Odd compliments.
"Thanks. The red hair dye finally faded away during break. So how are things between you and Sissi?" I ask. I had some contact with Sissi during break.
"Huh, you and Sissi? When did that happen?" Jeremy asks.
"During break," Odd answers truthfully. "And… we're good. Delmas wasn't happy about it. Given my history."
"Can you really blame him?" Aelita asks.
"No, I can't. Are you two coming or what?" Odd calls out to Yumi and Ulrich.
"Be right there!" Yumi calls back, then picks up the chessboard before saying something to Ulrich again.
Afterwards
Telling the others I'd meet them in the administration building, I head over to the arches and see Kayori waiting for me. Walking up to her, I smile.
"How was the rest of your break?" I ask her as I give her a hug. She embraces me in return, and we then pull away from each other.
"It was fine, thanks. Wish it was longer though, like back in the States," Kayori replies.
"Yeah, I can understand. Getting used to a schedule like the one Kadic can be difficult. I'm from the States, originally, so it took some getting used to," I lie mostly.
Kayori looks at me. She's probably noticing I'm still wearing my necklace, hiding underneath my black t shirt which is completely zipped up with my father's magenta jacket zipped up.
"Do you think someday you'll tell me about that necklace of yours? I did tell you about my chains…" Kayori trails off.
"You did – and I'm grateful that I'm earning your trust. But this necklace… it's been in my family for generations, and it's something I've learned I can't just show it to anyone... I'll tell you someday," I say.
"Okay," Kayori nods. "Did you get your schedule yet?"
"No, in fact I was going to check on my friends about it after meeting with you. Did you get yours?"
"No," she shakes her head.
"Could… we grab our schedules together?"
"Sure," I nod. Kayori smiles. We walk together to the administration building.
Inside the Administration building
Students pass us as we go through the open air corridor. Seeing Mia and Sissi with the others, we walk up to them. Odd has a gloomy face, and the others notice Kayori with me.
"What's wrong?" I ask them.
"Odd's not in any of our classes," Jeremy replies.
"And neither is Sissi," Mia adds.
"Great… just our luck. Um, everyone, this is Kayori. Kayori, these are my friends. Two of them are my sisters, both adopted. Aelita is my roommate as well," I introduce.
"Hi Kayori," Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Aelita, Mia, and Jeremy say.
"Hi, nice to meet you all. Lila's told me a lot about you. I'm sorry to hear about your schedule conflicts," Kayori says.
"Thanks… I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out. After all, Sissi's father is the principal. And since I'm dating her, he might be more understanding to our conflict," Odd explains.
"And… you're Sissi?" Kayori asks looking at her. Sissi nods.
"I am. So how long have you known Lila?" she asks.
"Well we've been dating for two weeks now and-" Kayori replies before I can stop her.
"Wait – you two are dating?" Ulrich asks. Kayori turns to me awkwardly.
"Um… didn't you tell them?"
I shake my head.
"No… um… I haven't gotten the chance to."
"Oh gosh… I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"It's okay… I've been meaning to tell them for a while now, anyways," I say, then turn to the others.
"Um, well, you guys… I'm bisexual."
"What does that mean?" Aelita asks, confused.
"It means Lila likes both guys and girls," Yumi replies.
"Likes? Wait you mean that's allowed?" Aelita asks.
"Yeah it is. As long as you make Lila happy, Kayori, our lunch table is always open," Yumi replies.
"Thanks… I'm...um... going to go and get my schedule now. I'll see you in a few. Okay?" Kayori asks, looking at me.
"Okay. See you soon."
Kayori smiles and starts walking toward Delmas's office.
"Um, guys, back to our other problem?" Jeremy asks. They turn to him.
"What are we going to do? Not only does Odd have a schedule conflict, but I do too. It was difficult to get things organized with just Yumi. Now it's going to be impossible," he sighs.
"Look, Jeremy, Odd and I will talk to my father. We'll find out what happened," Sissi decides. The bells ring signaling lunch time. I guess this is something they're doing now for the first day only since it's the beginning of the new term.
"Well, while you two do that, the rest of us will go to lunch," Jeremy says.
"We'll meet you as soon as we're done," Sissi nods. Jeremy, Odd, Aelita, and I walk away, but it seems Yumi and Ulrich are hanging back to talk about something. Turning to Aelita, I say:
"Say um… I hope this doesn't make you feel any different about me. Me, being bisexual and all."
Aelita shakes her head.
"As long as you're happy Lila. That's all that really matters," she smiles. I smile back at her.
Afterwards
Inside the cafeteria
Aelita and I are sitting next to each other at our usual table. Jeremy is sitting next to us. Mia is sitting on a chair by the front end of the table, Ulrich is sitting on the right side.
I've finished most of my meal, consisting of mash potatoes… and something else. Some sort of vegetables, I gather, and I still have a cup of tea left to finish. Ulrich appears to be upset about something but he doesn't speak about it. He simply picks at his vegetables.
"Jim wants to start up a basketball team this year. Apparently, he's played pro ball. But he'd-" Ulrich starts to say, and all of us chime in, including Yumi who's just arrived with her tray: 'Rather not talk about it.' We take a collective laugh, and Yumi sits down next to Ulrich. Ulrich whispers something to Yumi, and just as it looks like she's about to speak, two young boys walk over to us. One I recognize as Hiroki, Yumi's younger brother, but I have no idea who the other one is.
"Hello," Hiroki greets. He's wearing a yellow turtleneck sweatshirt. He wears ankle high brown shorts. His friend has brown hair, wears a red sleeved long shirt with a white center on the front and back. He is also wearing blue jeans.
Yumi groans, annoyed by the presence of her little brother. She puts her hands on her head.
"Ugh, Hiroki, what do you want?" Yumi asks.
"Just wanted to say hello. Aren't you going to introduce me?" Hiroki asks.
"No!" Yumi exclaims, slamming her hands onto the table. Hiroki puts his hands up, in an effort to calm Yumi.
"Cool it, sis, I was only kidding," he assures her as he puts his hands down. "I was going to introduce you to my new pal Johnny."
Johnny laughs and waves at Yumi.
"Listen Hiroki, just because you're in junior high now doesn't mean you have to follow me around. Okay bro?" Yumi asks.
"Better be nice or I'll rat on you if you come home late," Hiroki replies, crossing his arms.
"Ugh!" Yumi exclaims at Hiroki. Hiroki and Johnny starts walking away from the table.
"Yumi, as far as I'm concerned, he's not that bad of a brother. Could be worse," I say.
"I suppose," Yumi grumbles.
Mia takes a sip of her coffee, and I spot Kayori coming into the cafeteria. Getting up from my chair, I look at the others.
"I'll be right back," I say. They nod and I go to Kayori. She looks pleasantly happy.
"I take it you have a good schedule?" I ask her. Kayori nods.
"Yeah, I do. Hey, um… I'm so sorry about earlier. I had no idea you didn't tell your friends about us."
I shake my head.
"No… no I'm sorry. It's fine. I should have told them sooner."
"You sure?" Kayori asks.
"I'm sure," I reply, nodding.
Mia, Jeremy, and Aelita walk over to us. Jeremy is holding his laptop.
"Say, um, Kayori do you mind if we borrow Lila for a bit?" Jeremy asks.
"Sure. I'll see you later," Kayori replies, before going to see Rosa. I look at Jeremy.
"What's up?"
"Jeremy's super scan found Xana," Mia informs.
"And we were just heading to the lab to check it out," Aelita adds.
"Great, I'll join you," I say. The four of us start heading to the lab. As we're walking, we see Odd and Sissi walking to the cafeteria.
"Did you two get your schedules fixed yet?" I ask. They shake their heads.
"No," Sissi says.
"But we're working on it," Odd says, sighing a little. They pass us, and enter the cafeteria. The four of us look at each other, confused. We shrug and keep going.
Afterwards
Inside the lab
Jeremy is typing on the keyboard, as an alert pops up on the monitor.
"Uh-oh," Jeremy says.
"What's wrong Jeremy?" Aelita asks.
"We've got company. Xana has sent a ton of monsters to Sector Five," Jeremy informs. Mia looks a bit concerned… I wonder if she knows something?
"He's probably mad that we found him," Aelita surmises.
"Well that could be it. But then what does he plan to do there with all of his troops?" Jeremy asks.
"I'll head to the scanners," Aelita replies.
"Me too," I say.
"And make that three," Mia adds. The three of us start walking to the freight elevator.
Afterwards
Inside the scanner room
All three scanners are opened, and Mia was already virtualized first.
"Ulrich and Yumi should be arriving any second now. If you want to wait for them, you can," Jeremy informs.
"We will," I say. We wait for a few seconds.
The freight elevator's doors open with Yumi and Ulrich. They appear to not be talking to each other.
"Is something the matter you two?" I ask, concerned.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Ulrich replies. Yumi and Ulrich walk into the scanner room as we all get ready to virtualize.
Lyoko's Ice Sector
Having decided to be virtualized last, I touch down on the ice and land perfectly. Looking at Mia she's still looking over what she's wearing. Mia is wearing a full body ninja suit – except it's white, with blue stripes around it. Her hands are partially bare since she is wearing black gloves, that cover just one side of her hands. She's wearing a belt, and attached to the belt is a long whip in a holster. The belt also has a buckle. Attached to her leg is a pouch, and opening it Mia discovers there are some sort of metal weapons inside.
I check my hair and I sigh in relief. It's blonde again on Lyoko!
"Aw neat Kunai! Shuriken too! Sweet, ninja tools!" Mia exclaims. She twirls the Kunai in her fingers before putting it back into the pouch, and closes the pouch.
"Vehicles are materializing."
Our vehicles materialize. Mia's Overboard, my old one, has been given to her. I smile when I see my newly upgraded broomstick.
A broomstick braided from two long lengths of ornate black wood twisted together with silver decorations at the end, including a crown-like band near the tip of the handle. Two wire-like strings of silver extend from the underside to the base. A symbol of a key is emblazoned on the side and a mass of gears lay near the bundle of streamlined bronze bristles. It even includes a saddle now.
Getting onto our vehicles, I say:
"Nice paint job Jeremy."
"Thanks. Odd and Sissi just texted me. They aren't going to make it, so I'd get going if I were you."
"Is everything okay?" Aelita asks, as she hops onto Yumi's Overwing with her.
"They're still dealing with Delmas apparently," Jeremy replies.
"Alright then, let's go," Yumi says. The others revs up their vehicles and take off. Mia tilts her weight and takes off. I kick my broomstick into the air. Urging it to go faster, it does, and I catch up to the others. All of us travel along the icy path.
"That broomstick really suits you," Aelita compliments.
"Thanks," I smile.
"Yeah you really got the whole my hero thing down," Ulrich jests. I look at him.
"It's not my fault my time machine necklace decided to turn me into a maiden knight," I say.
Not that I'm complaining. Since Future Xana is responsible for the reason and all, I think.
"Relax, I was just joking. I meant it in a good way," Ulrich says.
"Okay," I say. Reaching the end of the path at the edge of the sector. We dismount our vehicles and walk up to the edge.
"We're here Jeremy, we're at the edge of the sector," I inform. Jeremy says:
"Great. Now get into position, and I'll enter the Code: Scipio."
As we get into position, we look to see the Transporter Orb floating down. It opens up and scoops us away.
Sector Five
Arena Room
The Transporter Orb drops us off, and leaves. The walls of the arena room starts spinning. The walls soon stop spinning, everything aligning itself and they open.
"So, where are all of these monsters?" Ulrich asks, unsheathing his Katana.
"Well what do you know? They're all in a room just below your feet. I've never seen that one before. We haven't been there yet," Jeremy says.
How strange, wonder what's there? I think.
"But… what are they doing in there?" Aelita asks.
"How am I supposed to know? You're the ones on site. Listen, instead of talking, head for that room guys," Jeremy replies.
"Can we access the room through here?" I ask.
"No. Access is through the Celestial Dome. Hurry up!"
All of us look at each other before running through the doorway. Exiting the doorway, we reach the second set of walls. The walls open up in block like formations and we resume in running.
"Don't forget to deactivate the countdown. Or you'll be home a lot sooner than you think."
"Without my visions, this isn't going to be as easy," I say.
"You had visions?" Mia asks. We continue running.
"I did," I reply.
"You've only got a few minutes to find the key," Jeremy reminds us. We stop at the end of the hallway.
"Take a look at that! It looks like we won't be needing your visions!" Mia exclaims. She points over to the key, that's blocked by a huge gap with only a few platforms to jump on to get across.
"Huh, that makes things easier. Too bad Sissi and Odd aren't here. How do we get to it?" I ask.
"I've got an idea," Ulrich replies. Ulrich starts backing up, he shouts:
"Super Sprint!" Ulrich takes off, leaving a trail of yellow behind and he jumps off the edge. He makes his way toward one block column, and with both hands he grabs a hold of the column. Getting up to it, Yumi looks concerned as Ulrich takes his charge again before jumping off this one with his super sprint.
Aelita looks at Yumi and then at me, before she decides to take the initiative. She backs up a bit as she then starts running to jump to the first block column Ulrich had landed on. She continues jumping, as she makes it to the second one Ulrich is on. She says something to him as he then gets up. She resumes by jumping off from that one and continues doing so with the others. Mia, Yumi, and I look at her shocked as Aelita is nearly there already.
Aelita reaches the last column, as she jumps off it.
"Five," Jeremy begins counting down. Aelita rolls down to the platform where the key is, and gets up. "Four. Three." She runs over to the key, and jumps into the air. Readying her hand, Jeremy continues the countdown.
"Two, One." Aelita trips the key. It lights up, forming the eye of Xana.
"Zero!" Aelita exclaims, touching back down.
"Nice one Aelita."
A door to the side of the key opens, but Aelita looks to the floor.
"I think all of you better get here asap," Aelita says. The block columns are now moving up and down, as Ulrich resumes in super sprinting his way over to Aelita. Yumi, Mia, and I get onto one of the blocks. It goes up, and we then jump down to the next one. Ulrich appears to have finally gotten to Aelita. We continue doing so, as Yumi reaches Aelita first. I'm the second one to reach them, as Mia jumps onto a block as it then brings her up. She jumps off it, and reaching my hand toward the edge, I grab it. I pull her over, she then gets her feet to the floor.
"Thanks," Mia says.
"No worries. Let's go!" I exclaim. All of us nodding, the floor brings us down. We run to the room.
Afterwards
At the elevator access point
We reach the elevator access point, and it still hasn't arrived yet. It should soon.
"Jeremy, we're at the elevator," Yumi informs.
"That's good," Jeremy says. "There are more and more monsters in that mysterious room. I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Now!" Aelita exclaims. All of us jump as the elevator picks us up.
Afterwards
The elevator brings us up to where the entrance of the bridge is. The elevator fixes itself and connects with the floor. The door to the entrance of the Celestial dome opens.
Celestial Dome
On the bridge
All of us run onto the bridge, where the data interface pops up.
"We're here Jeremy, Now where do we go to crack some monster's heads?" Ulrich asks.
"Head for the south pole of the dome. That's where you can get into the chamber. Aelita, I'm going to need to you to find and upload Mia's materialization code. I have a feeling she's going to need it."
"Right!" Aelita exclaims. Backing up a few feet, Aelita puts her hand up on the data interface. She starts touching the interface, as she begins looking for Mia's materialization code.
"I'm concerned. We haven't seen any signs of Xana's monsters," I say.
"Yeah you're right," Ulrich agrees. Suddenly we hear screeching coming from afar. Looking at the dome, we see two flying Mantas. They must have hatched from their nest earlier.
They start heading towards us, and I see one of them beginning to charge their lasers. Taking the hunter's knife out from its sleeve, I quickly charge it with electricity and go over to Aelita. My amulet glows letting me know it's ready, and the Mantas fire their lasers at us. I block the laser aimed at Aelita, as Yumi twirls towards Mia and opens her Tessen Fans, saving Mia from the other laser. The Mantas fly away from us as they turn to come back at us.
"I've nearly got the code. I'm uploading now," Aelita informs.
"Thanks," Mia says.
"We still need to take care of the Mantas. They're coming back!" Ulrich exclaims. Putting my hunter's knife in its sleeve, I grab my bow and an arrow. Putting my arrow on the bow, I channel my electricity powers. My amulet glows and I let them flow to the arrow itself, charging it.
Aiming the bow at the eye of Xana on one of the Mantas, I release the electrically charged arrow and it flies incredibly fast at the Manta. It hits the target eye, shocking it, and the Manta explodes. With the other Manta getting closer, Ulrich takes his Katana and throws it to the Manta. The katana flies to the Manta, hitting the target eye, and the Manta explodes. The katana falls down to Ulrich and he catches it.
"The code's been uploaded!" Aelita informs, as she stops using the interface. It disappears.
"Great. Move out."
Our vehicles materialize and we get on them. Ulrich revs up his Overbike as he takes off.
Aelita gets onto Yumi's Overwing.
"Let's go Aelita," she says and Yumi takes off with her. Kicking my broomstick into the air, Mia and I take off at the same time. All of us make our way to the south part of the dome.
Afterwards
Inside the chamber of the core of Lyoko
Reaching the key to open the chamber, all of us get off our vehicles. Aelita goes to the key and she trips it, it forms the eye of Xana. Suddenly we hear a strange noise, and we look to see large stairs forming. Getting to the first stair, we jump on it. We continue jumping, as we get higher and higher. Looking up, we continue running up the stairs and we finally make it to the chamber.
"Jeremy, I think we're here," Yumi informs.
Reaching the final step, Yumi does a bit of a twirl as she jumps into the air and lands on the floor reaching us.
"Can you see the monsters? What are they doing?"
Looking up at the Mantas and Xana Bots, they appear to be firing at a Sphere. A sphere that looks like it has some sort of dating spewing out from it in different directions.
"No way… that's! We need to protect it, don't let the monsters destroy it!" Mia exclaims. She opens her pouch. She gets her Kunai out, and another weird looking ninja tool.
"Why? What is it?" Aelita asks.
"That, everyone…. That is the heart of Lyoko. It's core so to speak. If it goes, we can kiss this sector and Lyoko itself goodbye!" Mia exclaims. The others gasp, Mia and I don't since we figured out what it was.
"Are you certain?" Aelita asks.
"Yes I am! And besides, Xana's attacking it!" Mia exclaims.
"Jeremy?" Aelita asks, looking up.
"I'll try to find out more about the core. But she's right nonetheless. The monsters should be your priority."
"We're on it!" I exclaim.
All of us start running on the stairs. Two more mantas fly down and start firing at us. Dodging their lasers, I take my hunter's knife out of its sleeve.
"You're getting on my nerves!" I exclaim. Concentrating my electricity to the soles of my feet, my amulet glows, and I start charging at them.
"Lila!" Aelita exclaims in shock.
Leaping off the edge of the stairs, my electricity gives me a boost into the air before I pull my hunter's knife upward and then as I fall, I reach the head of the Manta. Plunging the hunter's knife into the target eye, I pull the hilt so it begins to rip into the Manta. A shine starts emanating from within the Manta, but I use my hunter's knife to guide the manta upward. As I let it guide me, I hear Ulrich's super sprint. Guiding the Manta closer to high level stair, I release my hunter's knife. Quickly getting up, I jump off the Manta and onto the stairs. The Manta finally explodes.
Putting the hunter's knife away, I see at least six Xana Bots firing at the sphere. Taking my bow, I grab my arrow and put it on the bow and fire. This gets me the unwanted attention of two Xana Bots as they fly to me, stopping their assault on the core.
"Lila, Ulrich, Mia, Aelita. I just ran a check on the Sphere. Mia was right, it is the core of Lyoko. And you need to protect all three layers, because, like she said, if you don't, then it's game over for good. And the first one just blew!" Jeremy informs.
Rolling to the side, I barely just avoid the laser that came at me. I lose my bow during the process.
I charge up my electricity and my amulet glows. Guiding the electricity to the soles of my feet I jump into the air and I take out my hunter's knife from its sleeve. I twirl in the air as I use the hunter's knife to redirect the lasers which hit the target eye on the Xana's Bots. I fall down and land on the floor, the Xana Bots explode.
I run over to pick up my bow, and I see Yumi is nowhere to be found as Ulrich is protecting Aelita.
She must have been devirtualized, and where the heck are Odd and Sissi? They better have a good excuse for missing this mission! I think. Mia is using her whip on a Xana Bot, it sparks with white energy. It appears the white energy somehow paralyzing the Xana Bot.
Looking up, I see three other Xana Bots firing at the Sphere. Putting the hunter's knife away, I grab two arrows and I put them on my bow. Drawing them back, I release the arrows at two of the Xana Bots that's attacking the core. The Xana Bots explode.
"Mia! Ulrich!" Aelita exclaims. Looking down, I see another Xana Bot has entered the room. I'm about to grab an arrow from my quiver, when the final Xana Bot that was attacking the Sphere, flies to me. I throw my knife as it fires at me, and the attacks connect at the same time. I start to devirtualize, but as I do, I hear a strange energy that must be coming from Aelita, since Mia and Ulrich doesn't have a power like this.
Back inside the scanner
Opening my eyes, my knees give in as I'm back in the scanner. The scanner's doors open, and I nearly collapse to the ground. Since the laser was shot at me from such a close range, it seems it had a bigger impact on my body. Mia catches me just in time as I see the freight elevator's doors opening.
Jeremy and Yumi climb down from the ladder shoot. Mia and Ulrich help me help. We look at the middle scanner.
"What's going on?" I ask.
"Aelita… she saved the core just in time… but she was devirtualized by the Xana Bot," Jeremy replies.
My heart feels like it's going to break but then the scanner starts making a noise. It opens, and Jeremy runs to the scanner. He pants heavily.
"Hey, do you realize you almost gave me a heart attack?" Jeremy asks. Aelita leaps into Jeremy's arms. She gives him a hug. She laughs gleefully.
"Can someone tell us what happened?" Ulrich asks.
"Now, please," I reply, letting myself relax.
"From what I can tell – not only does Aelita have her own powers now, it seems that if Aelita uses up her life points, she won't disappear forever," Jeremy explains.
"She won't?" Ulrich asks
"How come?" Mia asks.
Jeremy and Aelita stop hugging, but continue to hold each other's hands.
"Of course! I was too dumb to think of it before," Jeremy says looking at us. He then turns to Aelita. "Ever since you've recovered your human memory, you're exactly the same as us. We don't need Code: Earth now to bring you in."
"That'll really help, now that Xana is determined to destroy Lyoko to prevent us from finding him on the net," Aelita says.
"That's great, Aelita! You're a full-fledged Lyoko Warrior from now on," Yumi smiles, giving her a thumbs up. Aelita smiles and blushes. The freight elevator's doors open, and we turn to it. Odd and Sissi walks in.
"Hey guys, sorry we're late," Odd says.
"Did… we miss anything?" Sissi asks.
Mia can't help but laugh a little as the rest of us smile at them.
I really hope they have a good excuse, I think.
Afterwards
Back in the dorms
As it turned out, it took this entire time for Odd and Sissi to convince Principal Delmas to change their schedules. That's why they were missing... so I guess that's a good excuse. At least they got it solved. I imagine they must have made some sort of deal they all agreed on, I think.
We're all walking back to our rooms going up the stairs, Yumi said she'll meet us for dinner later. Ulrich and Odd are pretty quiet as we walk up the staircase. Aelita, Mia, and Sissi went ahead of us already. Jeremy did too. Ulrich and Odd wanted to talk to me about something, but we haven't said anything to each other yet.
"You know," I say, breaking the awkward silence, "my hair is blonde again on Lyoko."
"Ulrich mentioned. I told Sissi and she's happy about that," Odd says.
Ulrich rubs his head nervously.
"Say, um, Lila… about the thing I said earlier? That I'd rather not talk about?" Ulrich asks.
I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah Ulrich?" I ask.
"I talked to Odd earlier about this… but I wanted to let you know Yumi and I are just going to be just friends from now on," Ulrich informs. "And that's it," he adds.
"I see… I'm sorry to hear that. Are you going to be okay?" I ask, frustrated with myself for not being able to tell him he and Yumi get married in my future world. I know better though.
"Yeah, I will be," Ulrich replies.
"Of course you will be! You've got me and Kiwi as roommates after all!" Odd exclaims, smiling. Ulrich can't help but chuckle.
Don't worry Ulrich. This "just friends and that's it," phase won't last forever. You'll see, I muse. We continue making our way up the stairs.
Afterwards
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
I open the door and I'm surprised to see a bulky computer setup along with a keyboard, mouse, and router on Aelita's desk. She looks at me and smiles while typing on it.
"What's all this?" I ask her, closing the door behind me.
"During the summer break Yumi and her parents figured we'd need a computer. They were kind enough to buy one for me and Jim had delivered it here sometime today. I took the liberty of setting things up just now. It was pretty easy," she explains.
"Wow, that's great," I smile.
I wonder what other surprises await me this term? I think.
Fun fact: Aeita's computer isn't shown until a much later episode in season 3. I had to put this part in after the chapter was already written.
Author's Note:
A small mention about Mary and Future Xana. During season 3, Mary and Future Xana will have what I'll call a "Guest Star," appearance. They will appear when there is room for them.
AeroJester203 created the details for Lila's new broomstick.
Odd and Sissi are now officially a couple! :D Their relationship will be throughout Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! .
Mia's outfit is actually a ninja's outfit! I'd thought it would be funny for her to stand out as a ninja since they are classically dressed in black clothing, but figured white might work better for Mia.
One last thing about our update schedule for Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey!, the fanfiction will be updated every two weeks as usual. However because it is a shorter season there will be times where I'll upload a chapter every three weeks.
Error detected by Finalcool720, overboard was a typo as Yumi and Aelita share the Overwing.
Until the next chapter!
Don't forget to review!
LyokoWarrior1994