AN: So I'm back from a long hiatus from FFN... And I'm writing a story about one of my childhood cartoons. Go figure.
A Code Lyoko series set in an AU (regarding details behind the origins of XANA, Project Carthage, and XANA itself), along with an OC and a slightly different cast for the Lyoko Warriors (the original crew, plus a few canon characters and our OC).
Yes, I am well aware that I am using the prequel episodes' script to start the story, but there will be noticeable differences even in this chapter.
Italic without quotations - Characters are thinking.
"Sentences within quotations" - Characters are speaking.
"Underlined sentences within quotations." -Characters are speaking a language that is unfamiliar/non-native to the POV. So in our MC's case, French will be underlined (anytime the MC hears or speaks French, it will be underlined). In the other POVs' case, English will be underlined.
Each section contains a third-person from one specific character, so the readers will only see the POV character's thoughts.
"Diary of Jeremie Belpois: Kadic Academy 8th grade student, October 9th. A few weeks ago, I was hunting for parts to finish my miniature robots..."
Jeremie's personal computer dimly lit his dark dorm as he typed away on his keyboard. There were pieces of trash and various personal belongings strewn across the floor, along with a few partially completed robots that guarded the mess. A poster of Einstein that hung above the inhabitant's bed stared off into space as if it was trying to avoid looking at the unsightly room. If the blond minded the disarray within his room, he didn't show it as his attention was focused on his computer screen.
"I couldn't find anything around here that I could use, so I decided to rummage for scrap in the abandoned factory not far from the academy." He leaned back in his chair and looked out the window wistfully, "I figured I could find plenty of cool, old mechanical stuff left inside there that would be useful. And I wasn't disappointed! It was unbelievable! I stumbled into some sort of complex, with an entire computer lab with scanners! And especially this totally intense mainframe. For the moment, I haven't told anyone; it's my little secret. It was the coolest thing that has ever happened to me! And that wasn't all. That night, even though I was scared stiff, I decided to start up the computer."
"That wasn't even the end of it! When I activated the computer, a female AI with pink hair and elf ears appeared on the main screen and started talking to me..."
Nightime flew by quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it was time for classes again. As dozens of students filed into the science lab at Kadic Academy, the room was filled with noise from chatter and laughter as people mingled amongst themselves before class began. Unlike the others, Jeremie sat in his seat quietly and waited patiently for class to begin. He was at the very front of the classroom, sitting just a few feet from Mrs. Hertz, the science teacher. While waiting, he overheard Stern's interesting conversation with his new roommate behind him but tuned out their conversation after Delmas joined in with her haughty attitude. His mind drifted to his plans to visit the factory after school, but his train of thought was interrupted when he heard the chair next to him swivel on its stand.
A quiet Asian boy sank into the chair and nimbly pulled out his textbook and writing utensils. He gave Jeremie a curt nod before focusing his attention on the chalkboard at the front of the room. The young prodigy barely had time to reply with a nod of his own before the Asian youth looked away. Instead of striking up a conversation with the new arrival, he opened up his textbook and prepared for class.
"Alright, class!" Mrs. Hertz announced as she set placed her bag below the counter and pulled out her lesson book, "Settle down so we can begin our lesson for today!"
As the science teacher droned on about the atom and electrostatic neutrality, Jeremie felt something poke his right arm and turned his head to see his neighbor with his index finger pointed out. He scribbled something on his notebook before pushing it to his left. His message was written in English, and his handwriting was elegant.
'What is the definition of electrostatic neutrality again?'
Jeremie rolled his eyes as he scribbled back. His handwriting was worse than his counterpart's handwriting, but it was still legible, 'Since an electron has the same amount of charge as a proton, an atom with an equal number of protons and electrons is electrically neutral.'
His seatmate blinked at the writing for a few moments but wrote 'Thanks' before turning his attention back to the teacher.
"If you give me a few days, I can write down the important points in English for you," Jeremie whispered when Mrs. Hertz turned around towards the chalkboard, "I know you're having trouble adjusting to the school."
Darren Lee, a student that was new to the Academy and France, raised his eyebrows. However, he remained silent as the science teacher turned around to face the class once again. It was only after she turned back around did Jeremie receive an answer. "I think I can handle it on my own."
The blond didn't probe any further and focused on the chalkboard. The pair didn't speak to one another even after the class ended, and the two parted ways wordlessly. That was one reason why Jeremie sat next to Lee in all of his classes; the new student was quiet and focused on his schoolwork, just like him. Unlike the others who were loud and rowdy, like Delmas and her 'friends.' Since he was completely focused during Mrs. Hertz's class, he knew he would quickly finish his science homework. And if he finished his science homework quickly, he had more time to spend on the Supercomputer and the AI. On second thought, maybe it was possible to visit the factory during lunchtime...
Darren exited his History class and trudged through the hallways as he checked his watch. Since it was just before noon, he had over an hour of free time to eat lunch and catch up on his studies. He longingly looked at a pair of girls talking and laughing together as he entered the cafeteria, frowning as he held the door open for them to walk through.
"Thanks!" The two said in unison.
The transfer student weakly waved as they walked away without looking back. He rubbed the back of his neck and quietly joined the line for his meal. While waiting, he checked his phone for any texts from his father, but as usual, his message inbox was empty.
After receiving a tray full of pasta, braised Burgundy beef, and salad, the tall thirteen-year-old looked around to see if Jeremie was anywhere nearby. Usually, his classmate sat and ate by himself at the far end of a table. Since he was the only one in his grade who knew how to speak decent English, he was the only person Darren sat next to during class and mealtimes. They rarely exchanged words, as Jeremie was usually on his laptop during lunchtime, and Darren didn't want to bother him. Even so, the black-haired teen felt comfortable around the computer whiz. Even if he sat next to other students, he couldn't communicate with them since his French was mediocre at best. And he had no motivation to try.
He looked up and scanned the length of the cafeteria to locate his bespectacled classmate. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen, which wasn't surprising since he often spent his lunchtime elsewhere. Letting out a small sigh, Darren took an empty seat at an uncrowded table and dug into his food after saying a short prayer. After finishing his salad, he pulled out a small English-French dictionary and practiced a few French phrases with a mouth full of food.
"Combien ça coûte?" Darren muttered as he carefully shielded his mouth with his right hand. "How much is this? Pouvez-vous m'aider? Can you help me?... God, I wish the English won the 100 Years War."
When his phone vibrated in his pocket, the thirteen-year-old student pulled out his mobile in a flash. His face lit up eagerly when he saw a message from his father, but his mouth twisted into a scowl when he read the content of the message, 'Make sure to pick up Julie from school after you finish your classes and cook her dinner. I'll be home late.'
"What did I expect, for him to actually care about how I was doing?" He asked himself as his dark-brown eyes pierced the screen of his phone. "It's not like he's ever asked me about how I'm adjusting to a French school without being able to speak French. At least when I moved from America to Canada, I could still use English to talk to other people... Here? ''You'll pick up French fast and make a lot of new friends! Don't worry!' Yeah, but what's the point? We'll probably be moving in a few years again. We'll go to a new country and a new school, and I'll be starting with zero friends again. And I'll probably have to learn a new language as well."
As Darren grumbled under his breath, he finished his lunch and slung his backpack over his shoulders. Instead of heading towards the library to study like usual, he walked towards the vending machines, as he needed a cup of tea to calm his nerves.
"You know what I was thinking? You know your girlfriend there, Sissy?"
Ulrich Stern glared at his new 'roommate' Odd Della Robba as he drank a large gulp from his Cola can, "She's not my girlfriend."
"Cool!" Odd looked unphased as he crumpled up his paper cup and tossed it into the nearby trash can. "So that means she's available."
While Ulrich didn't care if Odd wanted to involve himself with the mess of a person that was Sissy, he chewed the edges of the can and muttered out a warning, "I'm telling you, she's lame. Plus, no offense, you're not her type."
The loudmouthed blond gave a cocky grin and crossed his arms, "That's what they all say before they see my charm! She'll like me in no time!"
Before he could continue his boast, a student shouted and collapsed in pain in front of the vending machines, catching Ulrich's and Odd's attention. A tanned Asian kid was slumped over the front of the vending machine. His navy blue jacket and black jeans were crumpled, while his mouth and eyes were wide open in shock.
Ulrich chucked his can to the floor and ran over to the slumped student. He didn't know the boy personally, but Ulrich had seen him in a few of his classes and around campus, "Lee, can you hear me? Are you alright?"
"What happened to him?" The owner of the high-pitched voice kneeled next to Ulrich and helped him lift the victim off the ground. Even as he was lifted off the ground, Lee was limp and unresponsive.
"I dunno, Belpois. I was distracted by my new roommate," Ulrich answered pointedly. "Help me get him to the infirmary. Odd, you go tell the teacher that Lee has been injured."
"Will do!"
Ulrich unintentionally let out a sigh of relief as he watched Odd run towards the Administrative Building, "Let's get going. Lee doesn't look too good."
Unknown to any of them, the vending machine's buttons displayed a symbol that looked like an eye before returning to normal.
Ten minutes later, the three were inside the infirmary, and Lee was sitting upright in a bed. The school's nurse, Ms. Perraduin, used a sphygmomanometer to check his blood pressure and a stethoscope to measure his heart rate. After writing a few notes on her clipboard, she gave the students a relaxed smile, "It's nothing too serious. Just a minor electrical shock and some superficial burns. He should be fine after a little bit of rest."
"I think it's a sign to drink soda instead of tea," Stern mentioned with a friendly smirk.
Lee cracked a small smile at Stern's comment as he shifted in the infirmary bed. He turned to his two rescuers and bowed his head, "Thank you for helping me."
Surprisingly, Lee spoke in French instead of English. His Asian classmate's French was heavily accented, but Jeremie thought it was perfectly understandable since Stern comprehended his words as well, "Don't mention it. Take it easy for a few hours; I'll come to check up on you after I'm done with my classes."
Unfortunately, it seemed like Stern's reply was far too long for Lee to comprehend, as Lee looked at Stern with a blank expression. This prompted Jeremie to translate the brunet's words into English. After listening to Jeremie's translation, the black-haired teen shook his head, "There's no need for that, Ulrich. I have somewhere to go after school, but thank you for everything."
This time, seeing the other boy stare in confusion, Jeremie rolled his eyes and translated Lee's words into French. Stern frowned at the mention of his first name but nodded towards Lee, "Come talk to me if you need anything. Later."
After saying their goodbyes, the two uninjured students walked out of the infirmary and into the hallway. Instead of walking away, Stern turned around to look at the infirmary door and then turned towards Jeremie, "Are you friends with him?"
"Sorta. We sit next to each other in class and during lunch. Lee can't speak French very well, so I help translate French into English for him. It's usually only in class, though; he's a really reserved guy."
Stern scratched his chin as he walked towards the dormitory with Jeremie, "I wish he were my roommate instead of the new guy. That loudmouth that never shuts up, even while he's eating."
"You'll need to learn English to talk to Lee."
"I would rather learn English than hear Della Robbia make one of his stupid pun jokes again."
The two parted ways after a short while and went into their respective classrooms without a second thought. Unknown to them, a shadow filtered out of the vending machine that shocked Lee and discreetly moved towards another building within the Academy...
"Darren!"
The said boy smiled as he watched his younger sister, who was six years younger than him, run towards him. Julie energetically leaped into the air and swung on his arms, letting out a childish laugh as she climbed onto his back. Thankfully, he had dropped off his backpack at home since it was closer to Kadic Academy than Des Blagis Academy, Julie's primary school. If he had brought his bag along, then it would've been smothered by Julie, as she was riding his back like a cowboy.
Despite his relatively unpleasant day, Darren laughed along with his sister and waved to her teacher before setting off for a nearby supermarket.
"How was your day, Julie?"
"It was great! I read a book about frogs!"
"You read it?" Darren asked incredulously.
"Nope!" Julie beamed as she hugged her brother's neck, "I could only read a few words, so I asked my teacher to read it for me!"
Darren furrowed his brows as he carefully balanced his sister, "Was any of the kids mean to you?"
"A girl named Veronica. She called me a bad word in French. I know it was a bad word because the teacher scolded her after she said it. The word sounded like "co-nice' or something like that."
The older Lee sibling clenched his fists but relaxed as he saw his sister perk up. Julie was a bright girl and was most definitely not an idiot. Yet, she was called connasse, an idiot, by her classmate because she couldn't speak or read French. It reminded him all too much about his first two years in America. The kids acted nicely in front of him but called him an idiot behind his back because he couldn't speak English, "Julie, do you like living in France?"
"Yep! It's fun!"
"Do you miss your friends from Canada?"
Julie tapped her nose for a few seconds before answering, "Sorta, but I have new friends here! Did you make any friends today?"
Darren chuckled as he placed her down and walked with her hand to hand, "Sure, I think. Now, what do you want for dinner? I'm cooking tonight's dinner since dad's going to be home late again."
"Ooh! I want hamburger steak!"
"Sure thing. Dad texted me a list of groceries to pick up, so we'll get those too," The Kadic Academy student reached for his phone in his front pocket but discovered that his mobile was missing. He bit back a curse in Korean as he rummaged through his back pockets, but his phone was nowhere to be found, "Or I guess not..."
Yumi Ishiyama let out an exasperated sigh as she left the locker room and walked across the gymnasium. Her thoughts drifted to the annoying brunet that she bested during the evening Pencak Silat session. After she kicked him onto the floor, her opponent had refused to bow after their fight and robotically walked away, leaving Yumi bowing awkwardly by herself.
Is it because I'm a girl? Yumi bit her lips at the thought. No, it's probably because I never showed up to any of the school's Pencak Silat sessions before. He called me 'a beginner,' after all.
She was a beginner in Pencak Silt but attended a nearby Karate dojo; she was more than capable of fighting and defending herself.
Or maybe it was that roundhouse kick to the face... That would explain a lot, actually.
"I would be sore if I taunted my opponent, and they proceeded to kick me in the face. But it wasn't my fault that he wasn't prepared," Yumi muttered as she walked under the basketball scoreboard and headed towards the exit.
Before she realized that something was amiss, the scoreboard groaned and fell off the wall. She moved quickly and managed to dodge it, but a pair of loose electric wires tangled themselves onto her legs, knocking her to the ground. They wrapped themselves up as if they were alive and proceeded to shock her with an intense amount of electricity.
The Japanese girl had felt pain many times in her life, but electrocution was probably the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. Everything on her body stung, and she writhed in pain and to escape the wires. It only lasted for a few seconds, but by the time it was finished, her arms and legs felt numb. She tried to loosen the wires off her legs, but they started electrocuting her again, this time much harsher than before. She writhed in agony and gasped as the pain made her scream.
Yumi's throat felt dry and burnt as she shouted, "Is anyone out there? Help!"
She shouted two more times before her cries were answered. A boy wearing a vest with a shirt over the top and cargo pants entered the gym from the boy's locker room and noticed her getting electrocuted. He immediately reacted to the situation, wrapping his vest around his hands and pulling the wires off by force. He was also electrocuted in the process, but he managed to untangle her and dropped the wires immediately after. Yumi leaned onto a nearby wall for some reprieve and smiled at her savior, "Thanks."
"No problem."
It was only then that she realized that her rescuer was the same brunet that she had fought in the Pencak Silat session earlier, "Why are you still here? You left earlier than me."
The boy shrugged, "I just finished changing."
"Oh," Yumi replied as she sank onto the floor.
"Anyways, what was that?"
"I have no idea. The wires on the scoreboard attacked me like they were alive! They literally wrapped themselves up around my legs and electrocuted me!"
"Alive, huh? You sure about that?"
"Why would I lie?" Yumi fumed. "I could've been killed, you know!"
"Sorry, it's just hard to believe that the wires were alive," Her counterpart's eyebrows furrowed as he inspected her, "Are you injured anywhere?"
Yumi watched as his cheeks redden as his eyes looked below her shirt's cutoff line and her face heated up as well. She stood up and moved away from the wall, "I'm fine; I'm just a bit sore."
The brunet placed his hands in his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. He tossed it to Yumi, who caught the object easily, "Add your number in there."
"Asking for my number already? I don't even know your name yet." Yumi deadpanned.
"It's Ulrich. And I'm asking for your number to check up on you tomorrow. Add my number to your phone after you're done."
She narrowed her eyes at Ulrich but typed in her number and called herself with his phone. Once she had his phone number, she added his contact onto her phone, "It's done. I didn't take you to be the caring type."
Ulrich shrugged, "Well, you were electrocuted hard enough to scream in pain. I'm just worried that you won't be healthy enough for a rematch tomorrow."
"If you want me to beat you again, I'll be more than ready tomorrow for another rematch," Yumi hid a wince as she walked towards the exit, keeping her head raised despite the stinging pain from her neck. "See you around."
Ulrich rubbed the back of his neck as he watched her walk out of the gym. He checked his phone and saw the new contact was named 'Yumi.' After checking her contact information, he placed the phone into his pocket and walked to the administrative building to explain that the scoreboard was now broken.
"This is the third time I had to rescue someone today," Stern said as he looked at Jeremie with a raised eyebrow. "Were you trying to turn them into combat robots or something?"
Jeremie's room was in total disarray, even more than before. Partially broken robots were scattered all over the floor, while the PC's keyboard was hanging off the desk from its cord. His chair was flipped over, and his bed was littered with pieces of metal and screws. The room's owner quickly made his way to the computer to check the monitor, only to find a black screen instead of the eye logo that was present moments before. He frowned as he looked at his broken creations, which attacked him out of nowhere after the eye logo appeared on his computer screen.
"No, they're programmed to fetch balls, not to attack people! They just attacked me out of nowhere!"
"Well, do you have any idea what's going on? Cause I'm starting to think these attacks aren't coincidences."
The blond hesitated for a moment before turning his back towards Stern, "Who were the other two that were attacked?"
"Lee and this girl named Yumi. She's in my martial arts class."
"I don't think Lee was attacked; he received an electric shock from the vending machine."
Stern shook his head, "Your robots weren't supposed to shock you, right? But one of them just shocked me in the leg. Vending machines aren't supposed to shock people either. Also, that Yumi girl? The basketball scoreboard electrocuted her."
Jeremie adjusted his glasses and wiped them with his shirt, "Maybe you're right... Three people being electrocuted by three different sources is clearly not normal."
"So, do you know what's going on or not?"
"Yes... No, forget it." Jeremie answered as he placed his keyboard back on his desk.
"Come on. Maybe I can help? Whatever this thing is, it's already attacked three people today. Who knows how many people will be attacked tomorrow?"
"Ok," The young prodigy answered as he shut the door, "What have I got to lose? I'm already in over my head anyways; I might as well tell you. But first, can you keep a secret?"
"Easily."
"I think I'm the one that accidentally set off these attacks."
"You what?" Stern took a step back and reflexively held up his hands in front of him.
"Hold on a minute. I'm not saying I'm the one causing these attacks. Let me take backtrack a bit..."
As the two walked out of Jeremie's room and towards the gym, they came across a familiar student leaving the Administrative Building. Stern waved him down before he walked away, "Hey Lee! You feeling alright?"
"A lot better," The transfer student answered in French. He smiled and nodded towards Jeremie, "Where are you guys going?"
Stern pulled Jeremie aside and whispered in a low voice, "Do you think we should bring him along too?"
"What? Why?" The bespectacled boy asked.
"The more, the merrier. You said that the mega computer is the thing behind all these attacks."
"Supercomputer, but yes."
"Then what if it tries to attack us while we're there? Having an extra person with us could help us a lot. And besides, I don't think Lee is going to tell anyone about the Supercomputer."
The blond glanced over at Lee, whose face had darkened while he and Stern were whispering to one another. The Asian student was softly tapping his right foot, which placed pressure on Jeremie to decide.
Stern was right; Lee was nice and reserved. He seemed very courteous and studious, which were both pluses in Jeremie's book. However, all the conversations he had with Lee were about schoolwork, and the bespectacled boy knew almost nothing about him personally. Not to mention, Lee was giving him a really dark look for some reason. Then again, Jeremie didn't know much about Stern either...
After a moment of silence, Jeremie shrugged, "Sure, why not?"
"Great! Now you tell him."
"Wait, why me?"
"Because I can't speak English," Stern answered as he pushed Jeremie towards Lee.
Jeremie cleared his throat before speaking to his seatmate, "Are you free right now, Lee?"
The said boy's shoulders relaxed a bit after Jeremie spoke, "Kinda. I was getting my phone from the infirmary since I accidentally left it there during my visit. Right now, my younger sister is at home by herself, so I need to go back quickly."
"How far is your house?"
"It's a five-minute walk. Why?"
"We're going to the source of all the attacks that happened today, including the attacks on you and me. It's a Supercomputer in a nearby abandoned factory, so you should be able to return home in an hour or so..."
Lee held up his right hand, "Hold up. I was electrocuted accidentally, not attacked."
"So was Stern, by robots that weren't programmed to electrocute things."
An awkward silence passed between the two of them as Lee looked up at the cloudless night sky, "Will it be dangerous?"
"We don't know, which is why we're hoping that you would come along."
The black-haired teen cocked his head, "Why not contact the authorities? They could do a lot more than the three of us."
"It's... complicated, but there's something I need to do on the Supercomputer: something that needs to remain a secret."
"Something important?"
"Very."
Lee sighed and ruffled his jet-black hair, "Alright, I'll help just this once. Let me call my sister first..."
"By the way, Belpois. How are you so good at English?" Ulrich asked as he climbed out of the tunnel and onto the bridge.
"My mother is from England. She moved to France when she was twenty, so I grew up learning French and English," Belpois explained as he led them to the entrance of the abandoned factory. "We just need to take a lift down to the lab, and we'll be at the Supercomputer."
The trio arrived at a small ledge with a rope hanging from the ceiling. To Ulrich's surprise, Belpois swung off the rope and landed on the floor softly. The brunet looked towards Lee, who copied Belpois and touched down onto the floor without a hitch. Before Ulrich followed suit, he peered over the ledge and noticed that the floor was much further than he had expected. His feet remained rooted as his hands shakily grabbed the rope.
"What's the matter, scared of heights?" Belpois asked.
"No!" Ulrich immediately shouted back. I'm not afraid of heights... I'm afraid of vertigo.
After he took a deep breath, he closed his eyes and slid down the rope. When his feet touched the ground, Ulrich exhaled in relief; his world wasn't spinning, and he was firmly on his feet. He dusted his hands and smiled at the duo that was waiting for his arrival, "See? Not afraid at all."
"Mhm..." Belpois mused as they entered the elevator together. He pressed a button in the lift, and a minute later, they arrived in a spacious room with futuristic-looking equipment. Ulrich saw a chair, a vast computer with a support structure connected to the ceiling, and a machine that looked suspiciously like a hologram projector in the middle of the room.
Lee said something in English, and Belpois replied in kind. Ulrich stared at them blankly as they conversed in rapid-fire English, only understanding a word or two in passing. Is this how Lee feels when Belpois and I speak in French?
"He asked me how the computer was related to the attacks. I'll tell you what I told him: it runs a virtual universe called 'Lyoko.' It's home to the program that caused the attacks today, and it carried out attacks in Lyoko as well," Belpois said.
"I think you lost Lee and me," Ulrich said as he jerked his thumb towards his non-informed counterpart, who was scratching his head. "A virtual universe, Belpois? That's something out of science fiction! This looks like the control center for the factory."
"Oh yeah, then what do you call this?" Belpois asked as his hands swept through the keyboard and activated the center machine and the computer screen. The machine was an actual hologram projector, and it displayed a map of sorts.
Meanwhile, the computer screen revealed a pink-haired girl tilting her head towards the trio, "Hello Jeremie. Who are they?"
"What is that?" The brunet asked as he leaned in to take a closer look at the screen.
"That's Maya, a form of artificial intelligence that lives on Lyoko. I'm not sure what's there for or how she got there, but..."
Lee spoke again, but this time, 'Maya' answered his question, "No, Jeremie didn't make me. I woke up when he reactivated the Supercomputer."
"Hold on, did she just understand what Lee said?" Ulrich asked.
"Yes. Was I not supposed to?" The pink-haired AI responded.
"Apparently, she can understand English," Belpois stated as he sat down and typed, "Maya, can you respond to him with the same language?"
"But I just did, Jeremie."
"No, that was in French."
'Maya' paused for a few seconds and responded, "How about now?"
Ulrich was terrible at speaking English, but he understood that much. Lee's jaw went slack as the AI began to speak to him in English, to which he responded timidly.
However, before the conversation went completely off-rails, Ulrich tapped the side of Belpois's chair, "Ok, so let's say that you and 'Maya' are telling the truth. If this Supercomputer really controls a virtual world called 'Lyoko' and there is this dangerous program on Lyoko that's causing all sorts of trouble in the real world..."
"And creating monsters on Lyoko," 'Maya' mentioned.
"Then why keep it plugged in? Why not just shut it down and call the police?"
Belpois looked conflicted by Ulrich's words, but the Pencak Silat practitioner couldn't see the reason why the computer whiz was so conflicted. He still had difficulty believing in Belpois since his story was absurd, but his gut told him that his classmate wasn't lying. Even so, it was strange that he wanted to keep the Supercomputer on, even though one of its programs tried to injure him or even potentially kill him.
"Sorry, Maya, but can you translate my conversation with Ulrich to Lee?" Belpois turned to Ulrich and gripped the edge of his seat, "I'm trying to help Maya to understand what she's doing on Lyoko. If I figure that out, I might be able to materialize her here, onto Earth."
"Say what?"
"Materialize her, from Lyoko to Earth."
"I don't think that's possible, Belpois."
Instead of looking discouraged, the blond leaped out of his seat and lifted his head, "Follow me."
Ulrich and Lee followed Belpois into the lift and arrived at a lower level, which contained three hollow, metal pillars. Their guide stepped into one of the pillars and touched the inside walls, "This is a scanner. I haven't found the program to materialize Maya onto Earth, but I dug up one that allows people from Earth to be scanned and virtualized into Lyoko. The Supercomputer analyzes your molecular structure through these scanners and then breaks down your atoms before digitalizing them. Once that's complete, it creates a digital reincarnation of yourself on Lyoko!"
"In basic French?" Ulrich asked as he leaned onto the 'scanner' that held Belpois inside.
"You go into one of these scanners, and you come out in the virtual world."
Lee, who remained quiet throughout the ordeal, spoke up, "Have you tested it?"
"No..." Belpois admitted as he stepped out of the 'scanner.' "But I'm almost certain that it works! I could prove it if I had a guinea pig..."
Ulrich looked at Lee, who was staring right back at him. A common language wasn't needed to understand that the two of them wanted their counterpart to enter the scanner as the guinea pig. Lee nervously laughed as Ulrich stepped up to Belpois, "I think I have a guinea pig we can use, that isn't Lee..."
He could almost see her... She was hidden behind a cloud, but his gut told him that it was the person that he was looking for. As he made his way towards her, he could make out her silky, raven-black hair and tanned skin. He yelled out to her, and right before he could see her face...
*Blingring Blingring*
Odd Della Robbia rubbed his eyes and fumbled for his phone near the edge of his bed. His right hand touched his phone, but it wasn't vibrating. Instead, the sound was coming from a phone directly behind him. He turned around to see Ulrich holding his dog and smirking before sprinting off with the pet.
"Hey!" Odd cried as he shot out of his bed. Nobody, not even his new roommate, was allowed to snatch Kiwi and run off like that!
He sprinted out of his room and barely caught a glimpse of Ulrich's back before chasing after him down the hallways. While making a sharp turn around a corner, he crashed into an unfamiliar girl wearing a dress and landed directly on top of her. Odd didn't blush because he had been in this situation many times before. Surprisingly, instead of blushing, the girl pushed the boy off her and pointed to her right, "Look, he's running away!"
Odd's attention snapped back towards his thieving roommate, and he growled as he ran after him, "Ulrich, stop! Where are you taking Kiwi?"
Instead of making any movements to acknowledge Odd, the brunet ran out of the dormitory and towards the gym. The blond jokester raced after him as fast as he could and was surprised that the girl he ran into earlier was only a step behind him, "Why are you following me? Is it because I didn't say sorry? Or do you want a date?"
"I don't want a date with you," The girl, who Odd recognized as Sissi, hissed, "I already have one with Ulrich. He's just running away from me because he's embarrassed, but I'm not letting him get away!"
"Well, if he was really 'embarrassed,' then why did he steal my dog?" Odd asked as he sped up to follow Ulrich down a flight of stairs next to the dirt soccer field. "Also, I didn't know that my roommate was into possessive types, but now I know!"
The pair witnessed Ulrich run to the back of the maintenance basement and open a bright red door that led to a hidden underground tunnel. Just before the door closed, Odd ripped it open and continue to tail the fleeing brunet. Behind him, his 'chase partner' huffed loudly, "Why is he running away from me? Is he trying to meet another girl in private?"
"He's not running away from you; he's running away with my dog!" Odd sniped as he carefully maneuvered on the rocky floor. Or maybe he's running away for both reasons because even I would run away from this girl.
Odd finally stopped after running for five consecutive minutes, watching an elevator carrying Ulrich and Kiwi close and head downwards. He placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward, panting heavily as he considered his next move, "Why would he take Kiwi to an abandoned factory?"
"Who knows? Maybe he found some sort of science lab in the factory and wants to use your dog for some terrible science experiment!" Sissi suggested.
Odd rolled his eyes, "You've watched way too many horror movies."
As Sissi rambled on with her conspiracy theories, he spotted a ladder on the elevator shaft and climbed onto it carefully. As he descended to the lower levels, he heard the obsessed girl shout, "Wait, what are you doing? What if the elevator comes back up while you're climbing down?"
"I'm not going to wait for the elevator. Kiwi needs saving!"
Thankfully, he managed to find an opening after climbing down for five minutes. He placed his body through the opening and landed on the ground nimbly, taking in the sight of a strange room with three objects that looked like coffins and an Asian teenager. The teen was inside one of the coffins and was placing Kiwi inside of it, causing Odd to clench his jaw and approach him with a scowl, "Hey, that's my dog! Get away from him!"
Odd pushed the guy out of the way and entered the coffin to grab Kiwi. He held up his dog in his arms and smiled, "Kiwi! Are you ok, boy?"
Kiwi barked happily and jumped out of his arms, but before Odd could follow him, the coffin closed and trapped him inside. He banged the doors of the coffin and looked around desperately, "Someone help!"
"Oh no, you're going to be mummified!" Sissi screamed from the other side of the doors.
Suddenly, a rush of air swept through the compartment, and Odd felt himself dissolving. His pounding grew weaker and weaker until it disappeared completely... along with Odd himself.
Darren watched with sick fascination as the doors of the scanners trapped the unknown blond boy inside. The girl that came with him collapsed on to the hatch in the center of the room, and it took the black-haired teen to realize that he should probably tell the others about this situation. He quickly climbed the ladder that led to the computer room and ran up to Jeremie, while the unknown girl followed his steps, "I think we have a problem, Jeremie."
"You mean how Della Robbia got scanned instead of his dog?"
"Is that his first name? Certainly a mouthful."
"No, that's his last name," Jeremie answered as he leaned into his computer screen, "Wait, it looks like the program worked! He's in Lyoko!"
He conversed with Della Robbia in French, which left Darren out of the loop as he watched the French-speakers converse amongst themselves. From the sounds of their conversation, it seemed like Ulrich and Jeremie were excited, while the girl in the dress was confused.
"Why can't you understand them, Darren?"
While the other two were distracted by Odd's materialization, the pink-haired AI spoke to him through a side screen. It seemed as though she noticed his exclusion from the group's festivities.
"I can speak English and Korean, but not French," Darren replied, avoiding eye-contact with the virtual character.
"How many languages are there in the world?"
"Can't you search it up on Lyoko? I mean, you're an AI that's connected to a powerful computer. You can search the internet for that stuff. It's probably why you can speak English."
Maya shook her head, "No, I can't. And I don't even know what the internet is. I'm not sure how I know how to speak 'English' either."
"If that's true, then you were probably programmed to speak English."
"Maybe you're right, but my memories have been erased. I don't remember anything at all."
Daren glanced sideways at Maya before shaking Jeremie's shoulders, "Jeremie, have you considered something... odd about Maya?"
"What about her?"
"Well, she 'appeared' after you reactivated the Supercomputer, and the attacks started to happen soon after. What if she's the one behind the attacks?"
Jeremie's eyes widened as he looked down at his classmate, "Are you saying that Maya is the one that caused the attack on you and me?"
"No, I'm saying it's possible. What if she's unconsciously causing these attacks?"
"But the monsters on Lyoko attacked her before. I saw it!"
"What if the 'monsters' know that she's the problem and is attacking her to shut her down?"
The blond's face flushed as he turned his attention back to the computer screen, "No. I'm certain that Maya is not behind the attacks. You should apologize to her for that; she's been going through a lot after she woke up."
"'Maya' is an AI, a program," Darren facepalmed. "'She' doesn't exactly have feelings, Jeremie."
In the corner of his eyes, he saw Maya looking downcast at Darren's comments. If Darren didn't know that she wasn't an actual person, then he would've been convinced that she was living and feeling. But she wasn't. She was an AI, and no matter how good an AI was, it wasn't human. Jeremie was refusing to see that this AI was probably the cause of the attacks in the real world, which meant that she was a danger to actual people.
"Save it for another time, Lee," Jeremie retorted, "I've got some sort of unknown enemies attacking Della Robba inside Lyoko. He might need some help until I can manage to de-virtualize him."
"I'll go," Ulrich volunteered immediately. He said a few more sentences in French, but this time, Maya and Jeremie did not translate his words into English.
"I came to put an end to the attacks, so I guess I'll go. But if we can't find a way to stop the source in Lyoko, we might need to pull the plug, Jeremie. After all, materializing a virtual AI is not as important as the lives of people on Earth," Darren vocalized.
Jeremie rested his hand on his forehead, "We'll see. Go down to the scanners so I can virtualize the two of you."
Darren climbed into the scanner room while Ulrich struck up a conversation with the girl that came with Della Robbia before entering the scanner room. As they stepped up to the empty scanners, the brunet stopped him and spoke in slow, simple French, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just worried."
"About?"
"Everything."
Ulrich patted Darren's shoulders and pointed his thumb at himself, "Don't worry. I'm here."
The Korean student let out a weak chuckle as Jeremie's voice boomed overhead in French, "Is everyone ready?"
"We are now," Darren responded as he and Ulrich entered the scanners.
"Transfer Stern. Transfer Lee. Scanning Stern. Scanning Lee..."
Jeremie said something else in French, but Darren didn't understand him. What he did understand was that a gust of wind picked up within the scanner itself and caused his hair and clothes to whip up into a frenzy. He closed his eyes and felt himself moving at a dizzying speed. When he opened his eyes after the feeling stopped, he saw that he was in mid-air. Darren had no time to stop himself from falling as he crashed onto the ground face first.
"Ouch!"
That didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I swear that I was at least twenty feet up in the air...
He picked himself up and realized that he was no longer in the scanner room. Instead, he was surrounded by trees that went as far as his eyes could see, and there were dozens of them within his immediate vicinity. Darren glanced to the side and saw that he was standing on a grassy platform floating miles in the air. When he looked down, he noticed that his hands looked different. It was difficult for him to explain in words, but he looked more like a 3-D video game character than a 'real' person. His attire was different as well; he was wearing some sort of red traditional Korean dress with a black, metal helmet.
"Woah, it worked."
Darren turned around to see a boy dressed in light samurai armor and a sword. Judging by his face and hair color, it wasn't difficult for Darren to figure out that the samurai in front of him was Ulrich, "I look stupid."
"No. Looks... ok?" Ulrich declared after he inspected his counterpart. He continued to speak in French, but Darren only understood bits and pieces of it. After recognizing that Darren didn't understand his words, the brunet pointed to the Korean's back. It took a few moments for the transfer student to understand that Ulrich was pointing at something on his back, not at something behind him. When he finally reached for his back, he felt a smooth, wooden stick and whipped it out in front of him.
The stick was actually a long, sharp glaive with a red tail attached to the part that connected the blade with the stick. Darren swung it around a few times, noting its perfect balance and relative lightness. Ulrich pulled out his katana to compare it to Darren's glaive. He pointed at his sword and proudly swung it around, while Darren answered with a mighty side swing with his glaive, which caused a small wind that hit Ulrich's face. The brunet pointed at him accusingly, while the tanned Asian shook his hands in denial.
While they were fooling around, Jeremie's voice suddenly echoed in the ears. He was speaking rapidly in French, which left Darren both confused and in the dark. However, Ulrich noticed his partner's plight and motioned for the black-haired teen to follow him. The two of them ran rapidly through the platforms with their weapons drawn and arrived at the scene of the battle just a minute later.
Della Robbia was locked in combat with half a dozen crab-like creatures. Or, to put it more accurately, he was dodging the lasers that the crabs shot at him. He was dressed in a cat costume, complete with a tail, and had paw-like hands. Darren almost stopped at Della Robbia's stunning appearance but quickly snapped out of it as Ulrich charged with a yell.
Ulrich grazed the top of one of the crabs with his sword, but it merely knocked it off its legs. A crab behind Ulrich fired directly into his back, causing a ripple to appear and knocking him onto the ground. Della Robbia tried to help him up but was also hit by a laser shot that hit him in the arm. Jeremie yelled something in French, which caused Darren to shout back, "In English?"
"Della Robbia just lost twenty life points and has fifty points left! Stern just lost fifty!"
"We have life points?"
"Yes! Now hurry and help them! If you don't, then I won't be able to lead you guys to Maya!"
"Well then, let's see what this thing can do," Darren mumbled as he rushed in swinging his glaive. He managed to strike a crab's side but failed to destroy it and was hit in the shin by a shot from another crab.
"Darren, you just lost twenty life points!"
"Well, it's going to drop faster if we don't figure out how to kill these crabs! How do I kill them?" Darren asked as he used his weapon's metal surface to deflect a laser heading towards him. "That's pretty cool, I guess."
"I have no clue! You have to figure that out on your own."
The virtualized teen managed to deflect another shot out of pure reflex and dodged another as he slammed his glaive down on another crab from behind. The crab didn't die, but it struggled to get back onto its legs after being flipped multiple times. Are my senses enhanced when I'm in this world? I shouldn't be this fast.
"I got it!" Ulrich shouted, prompting Darren to back up and turn towards him. A crab with a cut across its eye symbol exploded a second later, and Ulrich held up his sword triumphantly. Unfortunately, he was shot in the chest and disintegrated into pixels.
Della Robbia hopped over to the remaining survivor and hid behind a tree. Darren followed suit as a laser shot whizzed past him. "So, just you and me. What's your name?"
"Darren, and I can't speak French." Being able to say 'I can't speak this language' in the said language was useful. Darren discovered this after he moved to the United States from Korea at the young age of seven.
"Great! I'm bad at writing French! We're a great team already!" Della Robbia answered happily.
"Sure?" Darren asked.
The purple-costumed boy didn't answer and instead, peeked from the tree he was hiding behind and shot a dart out of each paw-hand. One of them missed widely, but the other landed perfectly on the eye symbol on a crab. The crab exploded and disappeared, earning a whoop from the shooter.
Della Robbia said something that Darren didn't understand, and Jeremie wasn't saying anything, so Darren just nodded his head as if he understood. He motioned towards his glaive and mimicked a charge towards the remaining crabs, which Della Robbia seemed to pick up on. He stated something in French again, this time quicker than before, but Darren shook his head and repeated what he stated earlier, "I can't speak French."
"You run. I, shoot," The blond passed on as he acted out a little mime of his own. "On three."
The moment he said 'Three,' Darren rushed from his cover and swung his glaive towards the nearest crab. He cleanly sliced it on the eye symbol and struck another with the dull end of his glaive. Surprisingly, both of them exploded, though his inner celebration was cut short by two consecutive blasts that hit him in the shoulder and chest.
Darren felt his body fade away limb by limb. His legs disappeared first, followed by his arms, his torso, and finally, his head. He felt as if he was being disassembled painlessly and then shoved through a pipe. Before he knew it, he was hanging out of the scanner like a gaping fish and gasping for air. The last part of the naturalization process made him feel as though he was on the verge of drowning. The unpleasant feeling passed over after a second, and he inspected his body once he could get his bearings.
He was fine and still in one piece.
That was when he heard the screaming coming from the computer lab.
"Jeremie?"
"Help! Someone help!" A female voice cried.
"Christ, is that thing attacking them?" Darren whispered to himself as he climbed up the ladder to the lab. Inside, he found a pair of thick electrical wires wrapped around Jeremie and Ulrich, while the girl from before was crying and leaning on the elevator's walls. He spotted a loose panel on the floor, along with a cut in the wire that was constricting Jeremie.
He hesitated for a moment, looking desperately towards the elevator shaft and the ladder within. Then Darren looked back at the constricted boys and rolled up his sleeves, "Here goes nothing."
Another wire sprang out from the floor as he charged, but Darren dove past it and grabbed the panel with his right hand. He kicked the aggressive wire away from him, using his Taekwondo training to deliver a solid roundhouse kick. Before it had a chance to recover, he swung the panel into the existing cut and sliced away Jeremie's restraints. The blond tumbled onto the floor in a heap but remained conscious, albeit barely.
As he turned to loosen Ulrich, something grabbed his left foot and swung him off the floor, "Holy mother of..."
Instead of constricting him like the others, the wire hung Darren upside down and proceeded to electrocute him. He had a sudden flashback to the vending machine that electrocuted him as his body registered the familiar pain, which lasted much longer than before. All he could do was helplessly scream as he looked at the floor, "AHH!"
Just before Darren's legs started to grow numb, a loud clang vibrated throughout the wire and loosened its grip on him. He braced himself for the fall with his arms and landed with a loud thud. When he looked up, Della Robbia was standing above him with a cocky smile on his face as he held out his hand, "We're a team."
"Sure," Darren returned the smile as he took the boy's hand and helped himself up. After helping him up, Della Robbia's legs gave out, and the boy sank onto the floor. He saw Ulrich sprawled out on the floor with limp wires and the crying girl next to him. Jeremie was resting on his computer seat, though he looked shaken as the rest of them. The black-haired teen shook his legs to regain some feeling in them and limped over his seatmate, "So about what I said earlier."
"No."
"Jeremie, I'm going to unplug the computer on my own if you don't do it yourself."
"But Maya..."
"We nearly died!" Darren yelled. "You and I nearly died twice today! She's a program, an AI! Are you saying that her 'life' is more important than ours?"
"I'm not! Just... Give me a week, and I'll be able to materialize Maya. After that, we can shut it down, I promise."
Darren glowered at Jeremie and was about to refute his claims when Maya appeared on the screen of the Supercomputer, "I think he's right, Jeremie. It's too dangerous to keep the Supercomputer running. Especially if it endangers you and your friends."
"One. Week. By then, I'll have the materialization program ready. So until then, don't tell anyone or try to shut down the Supercomputer, please," Jeremie pleaded as he grabbed Darren's hands.
"I... Fine. One week. I don't like going behind people's backs, so I won't tell anyone about the Supercomputer. But if I get attacked, I'll come back and actually unplug the Supercomputer. Until you're done, I'm going to stay away from this place as far as I can and hope I don't get attacked," Darren snapped, looking at Maya on the computer screen.
Jeremie took in a sharp breath, "You mean?"
"Yeah, I'm not coming back,"
AN: This is basically what I had in mind for Darren's design, without the beard, of course.
(Imgur URL)/gallery/PzjesxB
And welcome aboard to my new Fanfic! Where did I get this idea? I have no clue. I just got a random source of inspiration and wrote out 9k words over the course of four days.
I always wanted to write a good OC/SI story, so I read through many websites and threads about writing a good and balanced OC/SI story. This is the final product of my research. I'm not sure how well I did, so feel free to leave comments/criticism in the reviews section as always. If you have issues with my story, please be constructive in your review. I can't edit or fix parts of the story (or future plot points) if you only say, 'This story sucks.'
Character POVs will be much less cluttered in later chapters. This chapter was more of an introductory chapter to re-introduce the canon characters (and some of their inner thoughts and conversations missing from the prequel episodes) and introduce our OC. Usually, I will only have two or three POVs per chapter, though this is subject to change.
Also, I finally got Grammarly, and I'm proof-reading everything before posting. So the story should be (relatively) error-proof, and I won't repeatedly edit out mistakes as time goes on.
Well, where will this new crew go from here? And how will this story be different than canon? Find out in the next chapter of Code Lyoko: Reforged.