CHAPTER 8: AN END AND A BEGINNING

Aelita and the others were getting to the tower, they were close but there were still too many monsters for just her and two newbies. This was demonstrated when Yumi was devirtualized by a Krab.

In the real world, she hoped out of the scanner and fell to the floor, gasping for air and with terrible pain on the areas she was hit. She felt like her adrenaline was up to the clouds, she was dizzy and couldn't think properly, but still, she liked this emotion. Somehow, she felt like home.

Then she saw a hand trying to help her stand. It was Odd, that now was willing to enter the scanner.

- Where does this take me? -asked the blonde

- I don't know, but you'll like it -answered Yumi

Odd fell on a strange ice land. It didn't seem to realistic, but he thought the graphics were pretty good compared to the ones on his games. Behind him, he heard some gunshots, so he headed into that direction, thinking that's where all the action was being held.

When he arrived, he saw a ninja fighting some giant crabs and a pink elf flying and shooting some cubes. One of them, he saw was going to attack the elf, so he instinctively took his hand and shot him an arrow.

Aelita, impressed, turned around to face him.

- Odd!

- How did I do that?

- Please, help me get into that tower.

- Usually princesses want to get out of the tower, but as you say.

With the aid of the two guys, Aelita finally was able to clear a path and enter the structure. While Ulrich and Odd prevented the monsters from destroying the tower, she very slowly deactivated it, placing the CODE: LYOKO

On Earth, suddenly all the events ceased: the rats calmed down, the electricity went back to normal, the robot lost its energy and Jim regained consciousness, but still fell dizzy and with no memories of what had happened.

XANA's remaining monsters then proceeded to leave the area as fast as possible, some even jumping to the digital sea. Aelita got out of the tower and told Jeremy how to devirtualize them.

At the lab, the four teens looked at their teacher with confused and judging eyes. They didn't know what had just happened or why she wanted them there, but they surely wanted some explanation.

- Okay, I know you want answers, so I'll give you answers. But promise me you'll believe everything I say as crazy as it sounds.

- I've gone inside a videogame. How crazier can it get? -said jokingly Odd

- What we've encountered was XANA, an artificial intelligence created by my father. Although it's trapped on the computer, it's unleashed and can do a lot of harm to our world.

- So why don't you just turn it off? Or destroy the computer? -asked Ulrich

- Because it would explode. Everything in a 3-mile radius -said a sad and guilty Jeremy- it uses nuclear power, so you cannot destroy it. And as it's just been turned on, we can't switch it off yet.

- You're telling me that I'm going to have to fight those monsters for whoever knows how? – asked an irritated Ulrich

- Sounds good for me -exclaimed Odd

- Why do I know you?

All heads turned to Yumi, who had remained silence until this moment.

- Why do I have the feeling that we've met before? And how come you've asked us from all the people on the planet? Us, that barely know each other, what makes us so special? And how it is that I somehow remember how to combat and how to destroy those monsters?

- That's right. Even though I didn't know what I was doing, when I saw that Blok trying to hit you, I knew exactly how to shoot the arrows and where to point them at, to that dreadful eye.

Aelita started to feel anxious. She had imagined this conversation along these 10 years, but she hoped to do it more comfortably, in a space of calm, consideration and trust. But now, she was trapped. She had dragged them into this massive problem and now she didn't know how to respond.

- I… I have an explanation for that. But here comes the weird part, so please: don't interrupt me till I'm done. Listen carefully, because you won't believe it at first. I lived it and I almost don't believe it myself.

YEAR 2005 (ORIGINAL TIMELINE)

The Lyoko Gang had just defeated XANA. There was just a month left of school before the summer holidays and everyone was planning what to do in those free months.

- I think I might go to Japan and visit my family there -said Yumi happily.

- I'll do the same in Italy. I think it's the first time in years that we'll have a proper relaxing vacation. What about you, princess?

- Well, Jeremy and I -said Aelita grabbing Jeremy's hand- are going to Geneve. We've been contacted by a lab and they've given us a scholarship to work over the summer.

All the group started clapping, this was a huge opportunity for both. They were going to work on quantum physics, something that, as they had worked on the supercomputer, they were totally familiar with.

- What about you Ulrich -asked Jeremy.

- Me? The same thing as always. Coming back to Germany to listen to mom and dad fighting again -suddenly he changed his sad tone and grinned-. But that's just July. On August I'm flying to Japan with Yumi. We'll be learning martial arts from the best Senseis of the nation.

- Oh, my, god! -yelled Aelita- THAT'S AMAZING! But how did your parents agree to do that. Especially yours Yumi? Are they really going to let Ulrich sleep there?

- Well, you know it's just for the martial arts. And they couldn't say no to bring my boyfriend right? -said Yumi as she blushed.

The other three awed in surprised, yelling, cheering and looking at each other from the statement that had just been done.

- It was finally time -said Jeremy.

- I actually knew it, but you know, it was a secret -said Odd bragging of his best friend privileges.

Little they knew, that was going to be on of their few peaceful conversations.