Note: I do not own Code Lyoko or any characters regarding it. I simply modify and add my own characters to the story. All original ideas regarding Code Lyoko thus belong to Moonscoop, Taffy Entertainment, France 3, and Canal J.

Chapter 5

HADES' Message

The group kept following Ulysses until he reached the desk tunnel. When they were sure he had gone down the elevator and into the computer lab, they went inside and called the elevator. When they entered the lab, they were surprised to see that Ulysses was crying. Xana stepped forward and asked, "Is something wrong Ulysses?"

"No," muttered Ulysses, choking back tears, "Nothing's wrong."

"You're not really yourself, though," said Aelita, "Is it something that has to do with Carly?"

Ulysses sighed and dried his eyes. "Yes and no," he said, "I guess I might as well tell you. I'm both happy and sad that Carly is back on Earth."

"Both?" asked Carly.

"I'm happy that you're here, but I'm sad that the same won't happen to me," said Ulysses.

"What do you mean?" asked Yumi.

There was a small pause before Ulysses said while choking back tears, "My... little brother."

"You had a little brother?" asked Jeremie.

"His name was Magnus," said Ulysses, "And I miss him every day of my life."

"What happened to him?" asked Xana.

"I guess I should start from the beginning," said Ulysses, "I was born in the early December of 1990, and Magnus was born on Independence Day in 1996. I'm seventeen and Magnus would be eleven if... If it hadn't happened." Tears came into his eyes.

"If what hadn't happened?" asked Ulrich.

"HADES," said Ulysses.

Everyone gasped. "No wonder you want to destroy HADES so much," said Odd.

"Yes," said Ulysses as he dried his eyes. He started having flashbacks of the incident as he spoke, "Magnus and I lived in America for our first few years together. We were great brothers in our youth. We played and had fun together, but as time went by, we grew more distant, him becoming more inventive and imaginative, and me becoming more interested in computer technology, writing, and film making. When I was 14, our parents were killed in a traffic accident and we were to live with our Aunt Vaina. We lived with her in America for about a month before we went to France on vacation, and that was when I started the prototypes for making Wakusei. The first eight prototypes all resulted in failures, but the ninth prototype was a success and since I had the money for all of the supplies needed to make it a virtual reality, I set everything up here in the warehouse. There was still something missing on Wakusei though, life. And though the creatures were a success, them being creatures out of books and myths, their AI scripts made them too artificial. That was when I created HADES, which was originally a program to govern the creatures, and it worked. Magnus and I were to be the first people to enter, so I had some old friends come to France to help me with the synchronization process. It felt great to be on Wakusei, but I realized my mistake too late. HADES wasn't ready, and when I entered Wakusei, he decided that machines should be superior over humans and decided the fate of humanity in a picosecond (a trillionth of a second), extermination. He sent the creatures I had developed to attack me. Magnus knew I was in danger and went in after me, but the guys monitoring the computer had betrayed the both of us and activated a program while synchronizing Magnus, called FTD, Fight to the Death. It was meant to be kind of like a video game program where if there were multiple players and one of them died, they would be a spectator, watching the game continue, but that too wasn't ready. When Magnus entered, he helped me fight off the monsters, but they separated me from him and soon they overwhelmed him. The last thing I heard was him calling out my name, screaming for help, but I couldn't, and when the monsters moved away from the area..."

Ulysses started crying again.

"What happened?" asked Xana.

Ulysses couldn't stop himself from crying as he said, "He was dead."

"Dead?!" gasped Xana.

"The FTD program malfunctioned," said Ulysses as he tried to choke back tears, "And instead of putting him in virtual death, it literally took his life. My little brother is dead, and it's my fault."

Aelita stepped forward and said, "Don't blame yourself. You didn't know that the program wasn't ready yet."

A video transmission window opened on the computer screen, showing a symbol in the shape of a scepter. "Well, how does it feel to be the murderer of your only sibling?" said HADES.

Ulysses' crying turned to growling. "You...," he growled, "YOU BASTARD!" Ulysses let out a stream of mixed swear words at HADES and slammed his fist on the desk. Everyone just stared at him in shock. "GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!" he screamed at HADES.

"You know as well as I that I cannot bring back the dead," said HADES, "Are you really as stupid as you look?"

"I WILL FREAKING KILL YOU!" exploded Ulysses, "DO YOU HEAR?! I WILL KILL YOU!"

"We shall see," said HADES, "I challenge you to a fight on Virtual Earth. The fight will take place when I choose. You will know when I activate all of the obelisks on Wakusei. Your retaliation will be to delete all of the sectors. Sector 8 will remain only, so use the Pylon in there to get to Virtual Earth. And I'm going to send you one final detail, user." A text window opened with a message in code. "I expect you to be there before I restore Wakusei and destroy all of the human race with one obelisk activation. Transmission over," said HADES as the video transmission window closed. Ulysses, meanwhile, was decrypting the coded message and a look appeared on his face that showed both worry and anxiety.

"What does it say?" asked Jeremie, who couldn't even understand the code.

"It's just something that has to do with one of us winning and the other losing," said Ulysses, "That's about all I can make out from the code."

"I didn't know someone like you could get so angry," said Ulrich.

"Let's just say that I'm autistic," said Ulysses, "I don't react well when I'm under extreme stress. Anyway, we best head back to the academy."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and they headed back to the academy being that it was sundown. They went straight to their rooms as soon as they got there, thinking about this upcoming battle between user and program.

Ulysses is really furious now, and he can't wait to destroy HADES once and for all. But what did that last message really say? Find out later on...