"Blah" – French/Lyoko language

"Blah" – English

Blah – thoughts

Chapter Two: The Core

Harry Potter was standing right in front of her. Aelita could hardly believe it. Not that she was finally meeting him, but that he was on Lyoko. A digital world. Why was he there?

"Aelita!" Jeremie shouted. She jumped and stared into the royal blue sky. "More monsters are coming after you!" True enough, five Krabs were marching their way. "You need to reach Sector 5. Odd and Ulrich are almost to the mysterious room."

"What about me?" Harry asked. He kept glancing at the monsters nervously as he patted his pockets. He was looking for something.

"Harry, stay there," a girl's voice echoed. Aelita recognized that voice. It had a distinct British accent. She'd heard that voice dozens of times in the library at Hogwarts. "We don't know what's going on here, and I sent Ron to go find you."

"Wait, repeat that, in French," Jeremie insisted. Aelita cocked her head to the side. What was wrong?

"I told Harry to stay. We do not know what is going on here, and I sent Ron." Why did the girl do that? Then she remembered; the supercomputer didn't translate English to French or the other way around. The girl obviously knew French. Aelita always spoke French when she talked to Jeremie.

"You did what?" Jeremie shouted. Harry winced. Aelita glanced at her feet. Why hadn't she been more careful? It was because of her that they were in this mess. She heard Jeremie sigh. "Okay. I'll launch a scan and search for him. Aelita, you and Harry go to Sector 5."

Aelita grabbed Harry's hand and dashed for the Overwing hovering only ten feet away. She heard the Krabs behind her firing. She watched the lasers land only inches from their feet. The pinkette climbed onto the Overwing and turned as Harry jumped on. She grabbed the handles and willed it forward. It obeyed her as they flew over the sector. Aelita heard Harry gasp at the sudden speed and felt him wrap his arms around her waist.

"Okay, why am I hearing English?" Harry asked.

Aelita smiled. She'd been expecting something more demanding. "We're on a virtual world, where everything is made up of data. That includes words. You hear English while I hear French. Jeremie and your friend hear their own language. Right then, she was speaking French."

"I didn't know you knew French, Hermione," Harry shouted at the sky.

Aelita heard the girl, Hermione, wince at Harry's loud voice. "Harry, no need to shout!"

"Sorry." Harry was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Aelita… That name's familiar. Who are you? What is this place?"

"I know who you are!" Hermione said excitedly. "You're Aelita Stones, a Ravenclaw! I've studied with you before in the library. You started coming to Hogwarts in our third year! What are you doing here?"

"I'll explain later," Aelita said. She slowed the Overwing and stopped it. They stepped off and stood on the ice at the edge of the sector. Before them was nothing but blue sky and blue water. "Jeremie, we're here."

"Okay. Here comes the transporter." Aelita didn't have to wait long. An enormous white orb with the blue eye of XANA descended from the sky. Half of the orb disappeared, revealing white light. It came closer, and the light enveloped them.

Aelita felt the familiar spinning that she'd grown so used to, her stomach never even protested, for which she was thankful. She knew the transporter was flying through the edge of the sector and was entering the fifth one. Finally, at long last, the orb slowed down and stopped. The white light enveloping them vanished as the orb deposited them on the floor.

Aelita watched Harry put a hand to his stomach. She smiled faintly. She still remembered the first time she'd used the transporter. She could still remember that slight queasiness she'd felt.

"What is this place?" Harry muttered as he looked around. The arena was shaped like a hemisphere. The ceiling was dark blue in color. The floor beneath their feet was royal blue with a white eye of XANA, splayed on the floor.

"This is Sector 5," Aelita explained. "It's the center of Lyoko, and where XANA's most dangerous monsters live."

"What're Lyoko and XANA?"

"This world we're in is Lyoko. It's made up of five sectors, and this is the fifth."

"Really?" Harry asked sarcastically. His arms were crossed. "Well now that I have that figured out, what am I doing here?"

"But Hermione just told you," Aelita reminded him. She sighed. "I'll explain everything later."

"You'd better hurry," Jeremie said. "Odd's been de-virtualized, and Ulrich is losing life points. The countdown's already started. Hurry!"

Aelita nodded. "C'mon!" The wall of the hemisphere opened, revealing a narrow corridor. Aelita ran. She could hear Harry just behind her. She strained her ears, listening for any sign of trouble. As far as she could tell, there was nothing.

At the end of the corridor was an enormous room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were blue. Random blocks of various shades littered the walls and floor. Here and there were gaps in the floor, revealing nothing but white space.

"Look for a key, or something that looks like a button, like that sign you've been seeing, like-"

"Like that?" Aelita turned and saw Harry pointing above the door they'd just come through. There, at the top of a series of blocks, was the key, which was shaped like the eye of XANA and with the middle sticking out. It was just waiting to be pushed.

"You're down to 2:30," Jeremie warned. "You'd better hurry it up!"

"Well, how do we reach it?" Harry asked.

Aelita ignored him and reached up for the lowest block. She climbed up and jumped to the other one. Her arms were already straining a little. She thanked her stars that Hogwarts was so enormous that she received a workout just going to class. Her only problem was that her arms were weak.

She pushed aside the straining and pulled herself up again. The next block was low enough that she could jump onto it. Finally, after a few more blocks, she reached the key. She pressed it in, and it glowed. She relaxed a little. A door on the other side of the room opened.

A sudden roar broke through her thoughts. She looked down and saw slug-like creatures on spindly legs with brown skin, wide mouths, long tails and the eye of XANA on their foreheads. The Creepers had found them. They were climbing from the floor.

She jumped to the ground and summoned another one of those orbs of pink electricity. I wonder what these are called. She dismissed it and threw the orb and caught a Creeper. She threw another at one that was about to fire, but she missed. She dodged the laser and dove out of the way of another. Another orb appeared, but not in her hand, but in Harry's.

This orb was bright green. Harry stared at it for a second before aiming his hand at a Creeper and throwing the orb. Bright green electricity crackled all over the monster, before it exploded into red bits of data.

"What was that?" Harry asked. He stared at his hand like it was going to explode. "Why am I doing the same thing as you?"

"You're going what?" Jeremie pondered. Aelita heard him typing. "You are! But why? Why are you using energy fields?"

"Energy fields?"

"Aelita, that's your new power. You developed it during your latest stay at Hogwarts. But why does Harry have it?"

There was one Creeper left. Aelita formed an energy field and threw it at the last one. "We'd better hurry before XANA sends more monsters."

"You're right," Jeremie decided. "Ulrich's running low on life points. But what does XANA want to get rid of?"

"Well," Aelita heard Odd say, "maybe it's like that one episode where the zombies were after Doctor Shrank's monster. And then, Doctor Shrank created this huge laser that got rid of the zombies, and-"

"I don't think so, Odd," Yumi chided. Aelita shook her head. Odd was such a goofball.

Aelita ran to the door. Harry was still following her. On the other side was white expanse with the outer shell of the sector on the other side. Harry glanced around curiously. "Is there supposed to be a bridge, or-"

"Now!" Aelita shouted. She grabbed his hand and jumped. Harry yelped and stumbled after her. The elevator they stood on was black in color and supported by rails. Glancing around, Aelita saw what looked like a grid embedded in the inner and outer spheres. This was what the elevator used to traverse the sector. The elevator curled around the underside of the sector. It slowed down and finally stopped as another passage opened. There was bright light emanating from it.

Aelita ignored the brightness and charge through. Past the passageway was a sight that always made her breath catch. The celestial dome was the blue mess of data that created the borders of Lyoko. She always shuddered when she thought of what would happen if she were to fall into it.

The Overwing materialized just off the platform. Aelita hopped on and waited for Harry, who immediately put his arms around her. She laughed to herself. He wouldn't forget that first time. She willed the Overwing forward.

"The entrance is at the south pole of the sector," Jeremie informed. "Hurry up!"

"What are they trying to – er – protect?" Hermione asked. She was having a little trouble with her French.

Jeremie gasped. "It's the core of Lyoko," he finally managed to choke out.

"What?" Yumi gasped.

"So, what's important about it?" Odd asked. Aelita smiled and shook her head. The poor boy was oblivious.

"The core is what holds Lyoko together. Destroy that, and-"

There was silence for a second, possibly Ulrich speaking. Aelita couldn't hear what he was saying. But she could guess what he was saying.

"Lyoko is gone," Hermione finished. "What happens if Lyoko is gone?"

"Then that whole world vanishes, with Aelita, Ulrich, and Harry with it," Jeremie answered.

"Merlin's pants," she muttered in English.

"Aelita, hurry up!"

"I'm there!" At the south pole was an opening oscillating between opening and closing. She would have to time it perfectly. Right as it closed, she sailed upwards, catching it just as it opened.

Aelita and Harry jumped off and glanced up. The room was blocky and blue, and the ceiling was the floor of the arena. Towards the top was an orb of light with a white cube frame around it.

Flashes of red light sailed towards it. There were only a few Creepers scattered around the room. Aelita climbed the stair-like blocks, forming an energy field as she ran. She threw it and missed. She summoned another and hit a Creeper that time.

Ulrich glanced down from where he stood. Aelita and the new guy – Harry – were climbing the blocks. He had to focus again as a laser burst sailed by his face and nearly grazed his cheek. He instinctively edged away. He heard another laser blast. The brunette turned and blocked. There was another from the same Creeper. Ulrich swung his katana and reflected the beam. The Creeper exploded.

He activated his Super Sprint and hopped to a higher block. A Creeper stood before him, focused on the core. It turned, but before it could fire, it crackled with green electricity. It destroyed the Creeper!

Harry had his arm outstretched, like it had been he who'd thrown that green electricity.

Huh.

This guy wasn't bad.

Aelita climbed up next to him. She summoned a ball of similar electricity, except colored pink, and threw it at another Creeper.

"Not bad, Princess," Ulrich commented. He blocked another laser. There were only three Creepers left. Harry, from below, destroyed another. Two.

Ulrich turned to block another blast, but didn't notice a second headed straight for him.

"Ulrich!" Aelita shouted. She jumped in front of him and threw an energy field. The Creeper exploded. The laser hit her square in the chest. Ulrich caught her. But she was dissolving into pixels.

"Aelita!" he cried.

He could only stare at his empty hands.

A/N: Most of the plot is going to remain the same. Other points, not so much. You've noticed (obviously) how I've decided to change the language things. Code Lyoko is French, so all of those characters know French. Hermione spent a few weeks there the summer before third year (I believe). I bet that she would have wanted to learn French while being there.

This problem will be solved, but not for a few chapters.

I was not expecting this much popularity already! Thank you!

Original word count: 735

New word count: 2,051

God Bless!