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--Gang's P.O.V.--
Just as the bell rang, Jeremy, Ulrich, Aelita, and Odd slipped into class and took their seats in the back.
"That was a close one," Ulrich whispered to the others.
"Good morning class," Mrs. Hertz started. "Today, we will be learning about--" before she could finish, the door flew wide open, and a girl came running through it out of breath.
She was beautiful. She had long, jet black hair that reached her mid-back. Her eyes wear a stunning crystal blue. Her face was flawless, even without the help of make-up. She wore a red short-sleeved top and dark, navy blue jeans, with a white studded belt. She wore white sneakers that looked worn down from use. She also had a strange blue wristband on her left wrist. She had a toned body, with curves in all the right places. The girl had just moved to town and had enrolled at Kadic Academy earlier that week.
"Am... I...late...?" she asked.
"Yes, you are, but since you are new, I'll let it slide this one time," Mrs. Hertz told her.
"Thank you, Ma'am."
"Now, for some reason, your desk needed to be repaired, so for now, why don't you have a seat next to Mr. Della-Robbia?" the teacher said to the girl, pointing to Odd.
As the girl walked over to her seat, she looked at Odd. "Do I know you?" she asked. "You seem really familiar, but not from school. I can't place it, though."
Odd would have normally used a one-liner on a girl as beautiful as her, but for some reason, he thought she was familiar too. "I don't think we've met, but you seem familiar, too. Hey, Jeremy, do you recognize her?" Odd turned to Jeremy.
"No, I've never seen her before," he whispered back.
--Your P.O.V.--
The second I heard the voice of the kid with glasses, I knew who they were. "You were the guys who were on Lyoko! I knew you guys looked familiar! But wait, where's that other girl that was with you?" They all looked at me with faces that showed both horror and surprise, but the pink-haired girl was the one who figured it out first.
"So you were the girl who helped us out with those Blocks this morning," as she said it, the three boys seemed to relax a bit. "Hi, my name is Aelita. You're sitting next to Odd. Ulrich is the brown-haired one, and next to me is Jeremy."
"Cool, my name is Nara. I moved here last week," I answered them. "What about that other girl?"
"Is there a problem, Miss Sorori?" Mrs. Hertz had finally caught us talking.
"Ah…no Ma'am, no problem at all," I blushed.
"Good, and if I catch you talking during my lesson again, you'll have a detention."
"Yes Ma'am," I sunk back into my seat, a hint of red still in my cheeks. One minute she's nice, and the next, she's biting my head off.
"The girl you were asking about earlier, her name is Yumi," Odd whispered to me once the teacher had returned to the lesson.
"After class, do you want to meet us at lunch?" Ulrich asked.
"Sure. Will, um, Yumi be there?" I asked, anxious to meet the last of the group.
"Yeah, and class is almost over, so we'll head to lunch, then give you a tour of the school," Aelita suggested.
"Sure," I answered. Wow, these guys seem to be the first friends I've had in a long time. Since they seem to have been to Lyoko a lot, maybe they can help me find... my thoughts trailed off when I heard the sound of the bell. "Hey guys?" I turned to them smiling. "Does anyone know what the lesson was about?"
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(F.F. to lunch, you, Aelita, Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich are already there, waiting for Yumi)
"You're going to love it here, Nara" Odd said to me, "but there are some things you won't like about it."
"Yeah? Like what?" I asked.
"Well, you won't like the teachers, and they don't allow dogs, so I have to keep Kiwi hidden all of the time," Odd answered. "And, the person that will always get on your nerves is Sis--"
He stopped just as a girl with black hair, followed by two nerdy-looking boys, came up to the table, "Well, what do we have here? Oh, you're the new girl aren't you?" she said, looking at me, I nodded.
"Hi Sissy, we were just about to talk about you," Odd said, stealing a glance at me. I giggled, trying to be unnoticed, but I was heard.
"You think that's funny, new girl?" she glared at me.
"No," I said, trying to think of something to say. "The only thing funny around here is what you're wearing." As soon as I said it, everyone at the table burst out laughing. Sissy stormed off, and the two boys quickly followed.
"Wow, Nara, that was a good one," Odd said to me.
"I wasn't trying to be funny. Girls like that tick me off, and besides, I was telling the truth. Her outfit was horrible. I mean, who does the skirt over the pants look anyway?" I said, trying as hard as I could to sound serious. Everyone started laughing again as a familiar girl ran over to our table.
"Hey Yumi," Ulrich said to the girl as she sat down.
"Hey. What's everyone laughing about?" she asked panting.
"Nara was just giving Sissy some fashion advice," Aelita told her, with a smirk on her face. "Nara is the girl who helped us on Lyoko," she added, seeing the confusion on Yumi's face
"Well, we have some problems that she might need to help us with again. X.A.N.A.'s attacking," she said so only we could hear her. "I saw it on the computer screen in Jeremy's room when I was looking for you guys."
"Then what are we waiting for?" I asked, standing up. "Let's go! But, wait a second, how do you guys get to Lyoko?"
"We shouldn't talk about this here, we'll head to the factory and fill you in," Jeremy said, also standing.
I followed them outside and they brought me to a clearing in the woods. Odd went over to a man hole and lifted the cover off. "Don't tell me we're going down in the sewers," I said with a look of disgust on my face.
"Okay then, we won't tell you," Ulrich smiled at me.
They all climbed down the ladder, and I reluctantly followed. When I got to the bottom, I saw them all getting on either a scooter or a skateboard. Odd looked over at me and said, "You can come on my board if you want."
"No, that's okay," I answered, leaning over to touch the sides of my sneakers. As I did, wheels popped out from the bottom of their soles, turning them to roller blades. "I have my own way of getting around. I'll just follow you guys."
"Okay, whatever you want," Odd smiled at me.
I followed them until they reached another ladder and got off their rides. I touched my shoes again and they turned back into sneakers. I climbed up into the street and saw a bridge leading to an old warehouse. I couldn't understand why they were heading to a beat up old factory, but I went with them anyway. The closer we got, the more familiar the place seemed. When we got to the entrance, below us I could see a vast room that had some empty cardboard boxes around the perimeter, and an old elevator sort of thing in the center. I still couldn't figure out why we were here, "Um, guys, why are we here?"
"To stop X.A.N.A., why else?" Yumi told me.
"I dunno, this doesn't seem like the place where you would go to a virtual world," I said, still scanning the area, trying to dig up memories that would help me remember this place.
"Well, it is," Aelita said to me, smiling slightly.
"But how do we get down there?"
"Like this," Ulrich said while grabbing hold of one of the wires hanging in front of us. Once he had a firm grip on the wire, he jumped of the edge and slid down the wire, landing gracefully on the ground. The others followed suit, and I hesitantly took a wire and jumped down.
"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," I said walking over to where the others were waiting for me.
"Come on, get in the elevator," Jeremy said to me.
"What?! Get in that old thing? You must be joking. It looks ancient."
"Don't worry, it's perfectly safe, we use it all the time," he told me reassuringly.
I stepped into the elevator, and Jeremy punched in a number on a code pad. When he finished, the elevator started to move down, and after a couple of moments, it stopped, and the door opened.
I was amazed at what I saw. This is some serious deja vu... (a/n: sorry, but I'm not going to bother with a description because I am horrible at them. Besides, most of you have probably seen the show and know what it looks like anyways, so I'm not going to even get into it) "You guys come here all of the time?" I asked.
"Yup," Jeremy said, getting into a large chair. "First, we need to know what X.A.N.A. is up to."
"No, first, you need to tell me how you guys get to Lyoko," I said, knowing it couldn't possibly be the same way I do.
"We'll show you, we have to go down there anyway," Aelita said heading back to the elevator.
Great, we have to go in the stinkin' elevator again, I thought. When we were in the elevator, we went down even farther. How much farther does this thing go? When it stopped again, and I got out, I saw three cylindrical capsules with wires attached to it top and bottom. I got closer to the nearest one and started inspecting it closer.
"These are the scanners," Yumi said, stepping into one. "They get us to Lyoko."
"Why don't you head back up to where Jeremy is and he'll tell you more, since you can't get to Lyoko this way," Aelita said, while stepping into another.
"Why not?" I asked confused.
"Jeremy needs your genetic code for the scanner to work for you," Aelita answered before the doors to her scanner closed.
"I'm sending you guys to the Ice Region," I heard Jeremy's voice.
"Okay, I'll just get to Lyoko my own way," I said to myself, getting back into the elevator, supposedly heading back up to Jeremy's level.
Oh my God...I knew I had been here before. We used to go to Lyoko this way, but I haven't needed to come here ever since I got this...
I touched the side of my wristband and it glowed white. A second later, I disappeared from the elevator and appeared in the Ice Region of Lyoko. A moment later, Aelita and Yumi materialized in front of me, and were soon followed by Odd and Ulrich.
"How did you get here?" Yumi asked confused.
"I have my ways," I smirked.
"Okay guys, the tower is a couple of minutes away, direction, north northeast," I heard Jeremy's voice. "I'm uploading the overbike, overwing, and overboard." As he said it, a snowboard appeared hovering in front of Odd, a motorcycle appeared in front of Ulrich, and a platform thing appeared in front of Yumi. They each got on the same vehicle that was in front of them, and Aelita got on the thing that Yumi was on. Jeremy then came back on the air, "You'll have to get on with Odd or Ulrich, Nara."
"That's okay, I've got my own way of transportation, Jeremy," I waved my hand and a black board materialized in front of me.
"First the skates, and now this?" Ulrich said, amazed. "Who makes all of this stuff?"
"My--" I stopped myself. I don't want to tell them about my past just yet. "Um... I do."
"Wow, Nara. You might be smarter than Jeremy," Odd joked. I smiled, imagining the reaction Jeremy just had to Odd's remark.
"You should get moving guys, we don't know what X.A.N.A. is up to, and we don't want to give him time to carry out his plans," Jeremy said, desperately trying to change the subject.
I giggled, "Don't worry, Jeremy, you're much smarter than I will ever be. And besides, I don't know where we're going, I'm following them!"
"We're going, let's go," Yumi said, accelerating her vehicle. Odd and Ulrich went to catch up, and I did the same.
Once I caught up with them, Aelita asked me the question I had been dreading to hear since I met them, "So, Nara, how did you find out about Lyoko?"
I frantically started to search my head for stories. I can't let them find out, not yet, um...um...um..., "Um... I... uh..." luckily, I was saved from answering, "Odd! Look out!"
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"Odd! Look out!" I yelled as a Krab shot a laser at him.
He dodged just in time and was about to launch a counterattack, "Laser arrows!" he shouted as two darts came out of his wrists. One missed, but the other hit its mark, and the Krab shattered.
"Good shot, Odd!" I shouted to him as we continued along. Odd smiled and gave me a peace sign.
"Guys!" I heard Jeremy's voice again. "Get to the tower quickly! X.A.N.A.'s attack has finally started."
"What's going on, Jeremy?" Aelita asked.
"He's flooding the city, and that's not good for us," he told us.
"Why's that?" Ulrich asked.
"Because the factory is near the river, and our equipment is below ground, including me, so—"
"Since water flows down, it will pour into the factory, and eventually drown Jeremy," I finished for him.
"That's not all. The water on my level is already ankle-deep, so if one of you gets de-virtualized, you are going to have to swim your way up here."
"Don't worry, Jeremy, we'll hurry," Aelita assured him.
"Um, guys?" I asked uncertainly. "Is that the tower we're looking for?" I said, pointing at a red-glowing tower in the distance.
"Yeah, that's it, and it looks like X.A.N.A.'s sent us a welcoming committee," Yumi said.
I looked in the direction of her gaze, and I saw three Krabs and five Hornets in front of the tower, "I'll take the hornets and you guys take the Krabs."
Ulrich nodded, "Stay behind us, Princess," he said, looking at Aelita. She jumped off the overwing and went to stand behind a ridge. I saw Yumi pull out two fans, and Ulrich unsheathe a sword.
A Krab shot a laser, and it hit the overbike. It faltered for a second, then it de-virtualized. Ulrich fell to the ground as the Krab advanced on him. Ulrich quickly stood up, "Triplicate!" I heard him say, but I wasn't sure which one said it because there were now three Ulrichs.
I guess that's why he shouted 'Triplicate', I thought.
"Nara! Watch out!" I heard Aelita scream. But it was too late; a laser from a Hornet had already hit me.
Next time, fight first, and then watch others fight, I scolded myself.
I was knocked off my board, and with my loss of concentration, the board disappeared.
"Nara, be careful. You just lost 20 life-points," Jeremy yelled.
I concentrated and a small dark energy ball formed in my hand. I wound up, and threw it like a baseball pitcher throws a ball, and the Hornet was my catcher. Unfortunately for the Hornet, it didn't catch very well, and the Hornet shattered upon impact with my energy ball. After hitting the Hornet, the energy ball came soaring back to my hand.
I kept this up, throwing "pitch after pitch", until I destroyed the other four Hornets. As I got the final Hornet, I looked around to see how the others were doing.
Ulrich was just about to finish off his crab. I noticed that one of his clones had disappeared. As the second clone vanished, Ulrich jammed his sword into the Krab's back, and it shattered.
Odd was doing okay as well, that is, until he got hit with a couple lasers.
"Odd, don't get carried away. You only have ten life-points left," but Jeremy's warning came too late, and Odd disappeared. Ulrich went over to help Yumi, and I went to finish Odd's monster.
--Odd's P.O.V.--
The Krab hit me with a laser, and I was de-virtualized. When the scanner doors opened, I didn't have time to be tired, because water rushed into the scanner, and I just barely had time to get a breath. Jeremy wasn't kidding when he said the water was filling fast, I thought. I swam up through the top, where the ladder would lead, and I found Jeremy chest-deep in water.
"How…-cough-…are you…-cough-…holding up…-cough-…Jeremy?" I asked, still trying to get some breaths in.
"Not too good," he answered. "The water in here is filling up fast."
"Don't worry, they'll be done in no time…I hope."
--Your P.O.V.--
I was still fighting my Krab, and Ulrich and Yumi were fighting their Krab. Jeremy and Odd must be running out of time. We have to get to the tower, and fast. "Aelita! Get to the tower! We'll cover you!" I shouted to her.
She nodded and sprinted to the tower. My Krab spotted her and took aim, but I took the hit for her and I was de-virtualized.
--Aelita's P.O.V.--
When I reached the tower, I walked through its wall. Inside it, there was a platform with X.A.N.A.'s symbol in the center. As I stepped on each ring, it glowed. I got to the center, and slowly started to rise. Halfway up, I did a flip, and then I came up to a second, smaller platform. A floating screen was there, and as I placed my hand on it, my name appeared on the screen. As I lifted my hand away from it, my name was replaced with "Code: Lyoko", and my job was done.
"Tower deactivated," I said as the sides of the tower fell away.
"Return to the past, now," I heard Jeremy say.
--Your P.O.V.--
(Rewind to the beginning of that day, at class)
"So for now, why don't you have a seat next to Mr. Della-Robbia?" Mrs. Hertz told me, pointing to Odd.
I walked over to him, sat down, and smirked. "How's Mr. Catman?" I asked, referring to his clothes on Lyoko. He blushed a bit, and I giggled.
"So, you remember going to Lyoko with us?" he asked me. I nodded in response. "Good. Nara, you're officially part of our group."
I smiled. So these guys really are my friends, "Glad to know it. How come the day's starting over?" I asked.
"After X.A.N.A. attacks, we have to launch a return to the past if something really bad happens. So, everyone who goes to Lyoko, and Jeremy, remember what happened, but no one else does," he explained to me.
"Oh, okay, I think I get it," I answered.
"Is there a problem, Miss Sorori?" Mrs. Hertz spotted us, as she had the last time.
"No, Ma'am. No problem at all."
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