Well, here's chapter two! I know I said that it would be up on Friday, maybe even Thursday, but I was too busy to finish editing it until now. Well, actually I was just being lazy...

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This chapter is dedicated to StrugglingArtist, the first one to review this story.

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Chapter 2 – A Change of Homes

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Hazel eyes peered out through the window of the airplane flying above the clouds. They took in the bumps and shapes of the fluffy whiteness not far below. Those eyes belonged to a brown-haired girl of thirteen, who was on her way to France. Unfortunately, she was not very happy about the trip. She turned to look to her right, and saw the woman sitting next to her.

"Mom, I don't want to move to France!" she complained. "I liked living in California!"

"Kirsten," the woman, obviously her mother, replied with a sigh, "I got a better job offer there, and the school there has very high standards. Besides, your French is already flawless."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Um...how high are those standards?" she asked.

"It's a private school," was the reply, "a private boarding school."

"WHAT?!" her daughter nearly yelled. "You never told me I had to go to a private school!" She crossed her arms and sighed, looking out the window again.

"It's okay, there are no uniforms or anything, and the students there are very nice. You should have no trouble making new friends."

Kirsten sighed loudly, still looking out the window. "Well, I like my old friends," she said softly, "and my school, even though it's under construction." That was true. Her school had received more funds due to some new government plan, and was right in the middle of being revamped completely. They already had a new cafeteria, library, Choir building, and video production studio. It was annoying most of the students though, since half of the classes were in portables for the next several years.

Her mother rolled her eyes, fed up with her disagreeable daughter. "Fine," she said. "Have fun getting back to California. I think we're right above the Atlantic Ocean right now, but I'm sure the plane has at least one parachute."

Kirsten just slumped in her seat and looked down. "Oh, forget it," she muttered. "I just wish you had given me time to say goodbye to all my friends, or go to the Homecoming Dance..."

Even though I didn't have a date, she mentally added.

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Kirsten listened to the Principal as he answered any questions she had about the school. When she had asked every possible question she could, and still hadn't gotten him to lose his patience, she finally admitted defeat and said she had no more questions.

"Very well," Principal Delmas said. "On behalf of the staff and students here at Kadic Academy, I would like to be the first to welcome you to our fine establishment."

"Um...yeah," Kirsten muttered during a pause in his speech.

"My daughter, Elisabeth," he continued, "will show you to your dorm. Your roommate, Aelita Stones, is in the same classes as you are, so she should be able to help you find your way around tomorrow. I already had somebody carry your boxes to your dorm."

She nodded and walked out the door, running straight into somebody just as the door closed.

She stepped back and looked at the person in front of her. The girl she had run into had long black hair held back by a yellow headband. She wore a bright pink t-shirt and a dark red skirt over darker red pants.

"Um…are you Elisabeth?"

The girl clenched her teeth. "Yes!" she yelled, already pissed off that some new student had the gall to run into her, of all people. "And call me Sissi. I hate being called Elisabeth."

Kirsten, being the joker she was, couldn't resist a small joke at Sissi's expense.

"Sissi, huh? Are you a sissy then? Sissi the sissy…" she trailed off and started laughing.

Sissi's face, which was already red, turned a dangerous shade of purple. "You…" she muttered. Then she completely lost her temper. "YOU'LL REGRET THIS!" she yelled right into the new girl's face. "I'M LEAVING! GO GET LOST ON YOUR OWN!"

Kirsten laughed as Sissi started to walk away, then suddenly stopped as she realized her mistake.

"Wait!" she called out halfheartedly, but Sissi was already gone. "Damn it. Now I can't find my dorm."

She stood there, completely lost, until she heard a yell out of nowhere.

"COMING THROUGH!" a boy's voice yelled. She looked up from the ground just in time to see a purple and yellow blur run right into her. They both fell to the ground in a heap.

A boy dressed in green ran up a second later and skidded to a stop when he saw what had happened. He rolled his eyes. "Sorry about that," he said. "My friend here was a bit too eager to show me something..." He trailed off as the one who had run into her stood up. "Say," he said a moment later. "Are you new here?"

She nodded, still lying on the ground. "Yeah," she replied. "I'm Kirsten Anderson."

"I'm Ulrich Stern," the green-clad boy answered. "And that guy who ran into you is Odd"

Kirsten looked at her assailant for the first time. He wore a combination of pink and purple. He had a matching spot of purple in his blond hair, which was gelled up into a giant spike.

"You can say that again," she muttered.

Odd sighed, used to that reaction. He offered his hand to her. "So are you going to lie on the floor all day, or will you let me pull you up?" he asked.

She grinned and accepted the hand, already liking the boy. She let herself be pulled up and held on perhaps a moment longer than necessary, though neither of them noticed. Ulrich grinned once she finally let go.

"And for your information," the spike-haired boy said, "my name is actually Odd, Odd Della Robbia. Fitting, huh?"

She smiled. "You can say that again. That's a funny name, but not as funny as Sissi."

The boy who had called himself Ulrich smiled. "Ah, so you already met her. Hate her all you want, nearly everybody else in the school does."

"Ah," Kirsten muttered, understanding. "She's one of those, huh? Anyway, she was showing me around, but she didn't seem to like it when I called her a sissy for some reason. Can't imagine why...her name is Sissi, after all."

Odd grinned, already liking the girl. "So, she was going to show you to your dorm, right?" he asked her. She nodded and Ulrich sighed.

"Odd," he said, "you show her around. I've still got homework to do. And please leave me alone this time, just show me whatever you were going to show me after I'm done, okay?"

"Sure," Odd acknowledged. "Kirsten, what's your dorm number?"

"Um...I think it's one-ninety-four," she replied, suddenly curious when Odd grinned.

"That's Aelita's dorm!" he exclaimed.

"You know her?" she asked.

He rolled his eyes. "No, of course not," he said with a sarcastic voice. "I just talk to her on a daily basis."

"Oh, just bring me to her dorm," she told the master of sarcasm.

"Okay," he replied. "It's also your dorm now."

She just rolled her eyes and followed him down the hallway,

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During science the next day, Ulrich stared out the window and watched clouds go past. He was deep in thought, and didn't notice as Odd poked him several times. Kirsten, who was sitting behind Odd, snickered slightly. Finally Odd decided to go with his foolproof method of gaining his friend's attention.

"Oh Ulrich," he whispered, "thinking about Yumi, right?"

Ulrich twitched and whirled around to face his friend. Kirsten started giggling quietly at their antics. Aelita, who was sitting next to her, joined in.

"Am not," Ulrich whispered back. "Just zoning out!"

Odd just looked at him with a smile on his face as the girls behind them continued to muffle giggles. Ulrich sighed.

"Is it that obvious?" he asked, cringing as he waited for his answer.

"Yes," Odd replied. "If you love her so much, go tell her!"

Ulrich started to roll his eyes, then stopped as a grin lit up his face. Odd's face paled as he saw the grin. Ulrich's "evil grin" was never a good sign.

"Fine, I will," the brunette said. He then raised his voice, "Mrs. Hertz? May I please go to the bathroom?"

She looked up, slightly distracted as he had just interrupted a lecture, and nodded. "Of course," she told him.

Ulrich stood up and walked out while Odd, Kirsten, and Aelita stared at him. Jeremie, who was sitting one table over from Odd and Ulrich's table, was too absorbed in his laptop to notice.

"I didn't mean right now," Odd muttered as Kirsten and Aelita giggled again. He turned to the girls and sighed.

"Would you stop that?!" he nearly yelled, remembering to whisper at the last moment. "It's getting annoying!"

The girls really tried to stop laughing, but they couldn't. Aelita was laughing just because that's who she is, and Kirsten was laughing because she'd had one too many cups of coffee that morning.

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Ulrich stood outside the door of Yumi's classroom, trying to work up the courage to do what he was about to do. This would also be a test of his powers in the real world. He whispered, "Supersprint."

Yumi was sitting in her desk in math class, working on a practice problem, when she suddenly heard the door creak open. She looked up just in time to see a flash of yellow and feel a gust of wind. She looked down at her desk and saw a folded piece of paper that hadn't been there a moment ago. She smiled as she unfolded the note from Ulrich.

Yumi, meet me after school. I have something important to tell you. –Ulrich, as if you didn't know.

She smiled as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

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Ulrich came back from his trip to the bathroom, sitting down at his desk as Odd just gaped. He just grinned at his blond friend. He went to pick up his pencil, but was surprised to find it already floating above a blank sheet of paper, about to write.

Just as Odd managed to close his mouth, he saw the floating pencil and his jaw dropped again. The pencil began to write on its own.

Got your note. These powers are very useful, huh? How about we meet in the gym? It'll be empty after school. –Yumi, obviously

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"So, Ulrich, what did you want to talk about?" Yumi asked him as he entered the empty gym.

"Um…well…" he muttered, unsure of what to say next. "I wanted to talk about…us."

"Hmm?" she muttered, not daring to let herself hope. She'd been disappointed too many times before.

"Well…you're…the best friend I've ever had…" he started to say, trailing off again. Her shoulders slumped.

Best friend? she asked herself, That's all I am to you? What if I want to be so much more?

"But I want you to be so much more," he said in a whisper, almost impossible to hear.

Her mind was jerked back to the present. He had said exactly what she had been thinking. She took a moment to casually pinch her arm.

Ow...okay, I'm not dreaming...

"I…" she couldn't say anything. She was completely speechless.

Ulrich sighed. "I understand if you don't," he said, his words beginning to come easier. "I just had to get it off my chest."

"But, I do," she whispered as he leaned closer to hear her. "I love you too."

He leaned in even closer, and their lips barely touched. Then Ulrich's cell phone rang. He pulled away from the almost-kiss to answer it, as Yumi cursed her luck.

"Odd," Ulrich said, sounding pissed off, "now is not a good time. What do you want?"

Yumi just waited, blushing, and more uncomfortable than she had ever been around Ulrich before.

"Yeah, she's with me…oh, really? Damn. Okay…right…be right there," he said. He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket.

"What did Odd want?" Yumi asked him, still blushing. She noticed that he was blushing too.

"It's XANA, as usual. We have to head straight to the factory right now. He, Jeremie, and Aelita are already there."

Yumi smiled. "Horrible timing, huh?"

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "No kidding…" he answered. "Come on."

He grabbed her hand, both blushing at the touch, and ran with her to the boiler room and on to the secret passage.

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The elevator door opened to reveal Ulrich and Yumi, standing closer than usual and holding hands.

Odd was the first to look up. The moment he did, he grinned. "Finally did it, eh?" he asked them. "You've only been pining after each other since you first met all those years ago. It didn't take you long."

"NO! I mean…well…maybe…yeah…" they replied in unison.

Jeremie turned away from the computer screen. "We'll talk about it later," he said. "XANA's in the middle of an attack, so let's get onto Lyoko and stop it as fast as possible!"

There was a loud rumble in the room. Everybody wondered what it was until they saw Odd with his hand on his stomach.

"Um…" he muttered. "I second that. Tonight's soup night!"

Jeremie looked awkward suddenly. "Well, we might need a return to the past," he told them. "Because XANA's attack involves the soup."

Odd raised an eyebrow, confused. The others had similar expressions. Jeremie sighed and continued.

"XANA possessed Rosa, the cook, and started hurling steaming soup surprise at people," he stated quietly.

Complete silence reigned for a whole thirty seconds. Then Odd burst out laughing. The others, even Jeremie, followed soon after. Once Odd had calmed down enough, he tried to speak.

"Is that…" he started to ask before pausing for a quick chuckle, "all it could think of?"

"I guess so," Ulrich said with a chuckle, "but everybody knows how toxic that stuff is."

"Yeah, I know," Odd said, disappointed that they would have to return to the past. "let's just get to Lyoko."

Jeremie began typing as the other four went down to the scanners.

"Ready," Jeremie's voice said over the intercom as Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi got in the scanners. The doors closed, leaving Aelita alone in the room for the moment.

"Transfer," Jeremie said. The scanners came to life and began the process.

"Scanner," he said next. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi floated up into the air in their scanners.

"Virtualization!" There was a rush of air, and all three scanners opened to reveal that they were empty.

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The three warriors appeared in the mountain sector. Odd glanced around, smiling.

"Man, I wish XANA would choose this sector more than the desert sector," he said as he continued to look around. "I love the scenery here!"

Yumi rolled her eyes. "You can appreciate the scenery as you become the first of us to be devirtualized," she told him.

"Hey!" Odd exclaimed. "That's not nice!"

"Continue your argument later," said Jeremie's irritated voice, which came from the empty sky, as usual. "I'm sending Aelita in."

They waited until Aelita was deposited at their feet. "The tower is due north," Jeremie said as she stood up from the crouch she had landed in. "Here are your vehicles."

As he finished talking, the overboard, overwing, and overbike appeared in front of their respective users. Odd backflipped onto the overboard and was already far ahead by the time Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita were on their vehicles.

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"Guys," Jeremie warned, "There are two tarantulas, a megatank, and three blocks guarding the tower."

Odd grinned and pulled back the glove on his lower right arm, hearing a satisfying click as the arrow launcher was loaded. "Well, it looks like XANA has gone all out on this one," he said. "What are we waiting for?"

Ulrich answered by revving his overbike and retracting the wheel, flying over to one of the tarantulas. Yumi, and Odd went for a megatank while Aelita jumped off and hid behind a rock.

Ulrich's overbike touched down in front of one of the tarantulas as he pulled out his katana. He continued moving straight towards it, dodging the lasers it was shooting by swerving back and forth. Just before he reached it, he leapt off the overbike. It continued moving while he flipped up and over the tarantula. When he was completely upside down, he thrust with his sword and sliced the head of the tarantula. It exploded as he landed back on his overbike and zoomed towards the other one.

Yumi threw her fans at the megatank, but it closed and they both glanced off and returned to her hands. Odd shot five laser arrows after it opened again, but missed every time. Meanwhile, their opponent finished charging and shot a laser at Odd. He swerved away and dodged it at the last second, but it caught the edge of his overboard, which devirtualized and dumped him on the ground. He grumbled as he stood up and dodged lasers from the blocks, deciding to go after them for now.

Yumi dropped her fans onto the ground and flew over the megatank. It followed her, still closed after the last shot. When it began to open, Yumi concentrated and used her telekinesis on her fans. The tank fired just as her fans lifted up and hit it. The laser hit Yumi just before it was destroyed, devirtualizing her overwing and dropping her to the ground. She rolled and landed back on her feet, then ran over to help Odd with the blocks. She flipped up into the air to sail over the blocks. However, she didn't see a stray shot from a tarantula, and was devirtualized in mid-air before tossing her fans.

Ulrich was back on the ground and looping around the remaining tarantula to avoid its lasers. He shouted "Triplicate!" as he leapt off the overbike, which slid towards the tarantula and caused it to stumble over it. He and his two clones supersprinted towards the monster, swords already out. When they got close, they started weaving back and forth in different directions. The tarantula managed to take one of them out, but it was just his clone. The other two both leapt up and stabbed the tarantula. It exploded and destroyed his other clone.

Odd, meanwhile, had his hands full fighting the blocks. He had managed to get a shot in on one of them, but he still had two left and he just couldn't hit the cursed things! He kept running around and leaping over them to avoid laser fire. A yellow blur zoomed past and destroyed one of the blocks just as Odd got a lucky shot in and destroyed the other.

Aelita looked out from behind her rock and saw that the coast was clear. She was about to run for the tower, but she was snagged around the waist from behind. As she was lifted up in the air and turned around, she yelled for help. She had been captured by the Scyphozoa. She saw the three tentacles point at her head, and suddenly felt a part of herself begin to drain away.

Ulrich and Odd heard her cry and raced to rescue her, while Jeremie yelled at them, telling them to hurry up. They finally reached the Scyphozoa as Jeremie announced that Aelita's memory was nearly gone. Ulrich hacked off the tentacles holding her and she crumpled to the ground. Odd shot a couple laser arrows at it for good measure as it floated away.

"That thing is getting annoying!" Odd exclaimed. "I wish we could just destroy it or something."

Ulrich nodded as Aelita stood up and shook her head slightly. With a wave, she ran towards the tower. The other two watched as she melted through the tower wall, then relaxed as they waited for the return to the past.

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Aelita ran to the center of the platform. She rose slowly to the top, then walked to the center of the upper platform and placed her hand on the screen.

AELITA flashed on the screen. She took her hand away as the word CODE appeared.

LYOKO appeared below the word, and all of the many screens that were on the tower's wall fell to the darkness below. A bright white light rose from the bottom of the tower and expanded until it covered the entire virtual world.

Then the light came out into the real world, consuming it as well.

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Well, that's it for this chapter! It's more than 3000 words!!! Not only that, but it's not even the entire original Chapter 2. The rest of it will be added on to chapter 3, since I thought this was a good place to end this chapter.

So, good? Bad? I want your thoughts here! Please review! I know that there are tons of people who read without reviewing. I have this nice little stats page that tells me that. Please review, even if you don't have an account! I accept anonymous reviews, you know...

So please review!