Disclaimer - I couldn't get Jeremie's hacking skills, so no I don't own Code Lyoko.

-continued flashback-

"Aelita, are you still there?" Jeremie's query snaps her out of the meditation trance and her heart soars as she realizes he's back. She closes her eyes to better see him and notices three other puzzled faces besides Jeremie's. "Oh, so these are your friends you mentioned. It's good to meet you all, my name is Aelita. Thank you so much for coming to help." She looks at them expectantly.

Three identical shocked gasps reach her ears right after her pronouncement. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi echo, "Help you?" while Jeremie reddens as he forgot to mention exactly why he brought them here. Jeremie stutters, "We…Well, she is stuck on Lyoko and we need you three to go and save her from some monsters." Aelita shakes her head in exasperation.

Odd, picking up on one word in Jeremie's statement, replies "Monsters? Do we get to kill them?" Jeremie chuckles as he flicks through the scanner program. "Well Odd, that's the plan. You can party and be useful at the same time!"

"Wait, go to Lyoko? But isn't that a virtual world?" Yumi pipes up. 'And I thought Jeremie was on something when he asked us to come here. Then again, he might be anyway.'

"Aha!" Jeremie rapid-fire typed a few sentences into the supercomputer and read the data on the scanners. Falling into his usual role as genius of the group, Jeremie instantly replies: "Yes, you have to go to Lyoko. There are scanners downstairs that will scan your DNA and convert you into digital avatars that can fight off the monsters. Well, that's the theory anyway. If I'm wrong, it could be pretty disastrous. The program looks perfectly fine from my analysis though."

Ulrich finally joins in with a nervous "Disastrous? And you want us to get in that thing?"

"Trust me Ulrich; it won't be a big deal. And the bonus is: if you die on Lyoko, you should simply reappear on earth in your bodies. Unfortunately Aelita is gone if she is deleted so you three will be protecting her." replies Jeremie.

Aelita spies a crack in the tower wall from a laser shot and interjects herself into the conversation. "Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd, I really don't have much time. The tower will shatter within the next ten minutes. Just assume it is true for now and I will show you the reality or virtual reality if you will, here on Lyoko. Please hurry downstairs and put yourselves in the scanners. Jeremie will do the rest." 'I hope that gets them moving. Why do they bicker so much?'

The three teens look at each other and then Ulrich sighs. "Alright, we'll go. Just nudge us in the right direction." Jeremie and Aelita both crack a relieved smile, then Jeremie points at the elevator on the side of the wall "Just hit the down button, and you'll be there." The three kids head into the elevator and sink deeper into the factory.

Aelita turns her full attention back to Jeremie. "Thanks so much, how can I ever pay off this debt?" Jeremie reddens again at her words, which reminds her to ask him what that is. "Oh, and why does your face turn red?" Turning nearly crimson now, Jeremie stutters out "I-I…it's called a blu-blush. Generally happens when I'm embarrassed or I-" He immediately clamps his mouth shut as he realized he was about to end that sentence with a "when I like someone." 'I need to pay attention to the task at hand. Besides, she won't like me.'

Aelita was curious at Jeremie's display but shrugs it off as she feels three entities entering Lyoko. "Jeremie they're here! Where did you drop them off? Wonder how their virtualization process went?"

"Well according to the super computer, they're behind an icy ridge about fifty feet away from the tower." Jeremy stifles a giggle as he sees the three character cards that were created. "They're probably trying to figure out what exactly their weapons are." 'Wow, the outfits were created by their subconscious mind? Poor Odd, he has some serious issues.'

The three teens were shocked as they dropped onto the virtual world of Lyoko. Ulrich resembled a samurai of old with a long katana and a yellow bandana tied around his forehead. Yumi was shocked at her geisha getup and wondered what exactly her weapons were. Noticing two intricately designed fans, she pulled them out and felt a power emanating from them. Odd was the strangest of them all since he best resembled a giant purple cat with claw gloves and a tail. He couldn't find an obvious weapon. Searching his clothing, Odd brushed his claw glove and an arrow flew out and ricocheted off the wall past Ulrich's head. Ulrich jumped a foot in the air and Odd smirked. "Cool. Now if you two are done figuring yourselves out, what say we go rescue a princess in a tower? Just like a fairy tale." Finishing his statement, Odd jumped over the icy ridge and screamed out a battle cry to X.A.N.A.'s forces.

Abandoning their efforts to destroy the tower, the Blocks and Krabes turned to face this new threat. Odd is unable to stop his run across the slick ice and crashes directly into the nearest Krabe. The hapless monster flies towards the edge but its claw pierces Odd's shoulder as it flails for footing before falling into the Digital Sea. "Odd! You just lost twenty life points! Remember, you and Aelita only have 100 to start with! Run out or fall into the Digital Sea, and you're devirtualized!" Jeremie exclaims.

Noticing something Jeremie forgot to mention, Aelita rushes out of the tower and jumps behind a nearby ice spike before the monsters notice. "Also, if you fall into the Digital Sea, you are deleted like me. So one swim down there, and Jeremie can't pull you back. Keep that in mind." She decides to tame her gung-ho attitude and hide behind the rock for the time being.

Pulling himself up a few feet from the precipice, Odd hastily jumps back into a laser shot from a Block. "That's another ten life points Odd," mentions Jeremie.

Shaking their heads in exasperation at Odd's foolhardy charge, Ulrich and Yumi engage the two Blocks closest to them. A barrage of laser fire lands all around them but nothing manages to hit. "Good thing these guys are lousy shots!" exclaims Yumi as she flicks open a fan to throw. Ulrich was reminded to not tempt fate by two lasers hitting him in the chest in quick succession. "There goes twenty points for you Ulrich, watch out." says Jeremie. Ulrich shrugs it off and neatly slices through the Block that struck him. 'Oh how sweet revenge is. Take that you weird cube.'

Yumi tenses her arm to throw and with a"Haiii!" she releases the fan into the air. It slices across the Block's X.A.N.A. symbol and the monster explodes into pieces that flicker out of existence. Yumi neatly snatches the fan out of the air as it returns. Elated at her first kill, she doesn't notice the Krabe that sends her flying into the wall with a large pincer. Jeremie winces as he reads her character card after that blow. "Wow Yumi, you got hit pretty hard. That move halved your life points." While one Krabe and the remaining Block engaged the Lyoko warriors, the last Krabe advanced on Aelita's position.

Aelita peeks around the icy barrier to observe the battle and immediately takes a laser to the head from the incoming Krabe. The voice gleefully states its reaction to that little stunt while she rubs her sore head. 'Oh you're a genius. Did you get to learn anything from that besides the fact that the Krabe is a good sniper? Headshot!' Sighing at her mental abuser, the elfin girl ducks around the rock as the Krabe strikes down over it with its sharp appendages. Aelita cries out as a pincer gores her arm but recovers and kicks out at one of its supporting legs. Bereft of support the pink crustacean tumbles into the ground. Suddenly she hears a whistling sound past her head and watches the Krabe explode. "Nice shot Odd!"

Smiling at the compliment while simultaneously wincing at yet another laser hit, Odd replies "No problem princess. You really need to avoid those pincers. By the way, Einstein, where are our life total counts at?"

Jeremie quickly scans the character cards with a frown. "Your little Leroy Jenkins maneuver cost you 70 life points. I give you kudos for actually asking where you're at though. Yumi and Ulrich both have 50. Aelita is down to 40, protect her!" As if to prove his final command wrong, the last Krabe sends Ulrich sliding into the tower then takes a shot at Aelita in the open. Yumi's fan and Odd's arrow burst it apart a second later. The laser sends Aelita to her knees and sparks play around her shoulder. A note of panic in his voice, Jeremie yells, "Ulrich, you're down to 20 and so is Aelita. Focus all! Remember we still need to get the tower deactivated!"

Shrugging off the anxiety she feels, Aelita flees the last Block and hopes her protectors manage the job. Yumi stands guard while Ulrich and Odd charge the defending Block from both directions. Arrows fly past the Block and Ulrich swings his sword at the strange eye on the monster. The Block fires three shots at Odd before Ulrich's gleaming katana shreds it into oblivion. All three lasers hit Odd in the chest while an errant arrow strikes Ulrich. Both warriors gasp in shock as they flicker apart and disappear. Feeling strangely drained Odd and Ulrich fall out of the scanner in the factory then run for the elevator to join Jeremie.

"This is not good, not good at all!" Jeremie moans with his hands in his hair as he watches the screen. Odd and Ulrich look over his shoulder at the unfolding events. Aelita is in critical condition with only Yumi to guard her. "Aelita and Yumi, you're going to have to rush to the activated tower before X.A.N.A. marshals more forces! It's to the north of you. Hurry!" Nodding their agreement, the two girls set off at a brisk run towards a cragged glacier and the activated tower inside.

While Aelita and Yumi approach the tower, Jeremie scans the surrounding area for any monsters. "Okay, some good news. With his main force dispatched X.A.N.A. could only muster up two Blocks for defense. You better not get hit!" Yumi nods and motions for Aelita to stay back. The geisha peers at the two Blocks wandering around the tower. 'I hope I can strike them from here. Now to see how far these fans really go.' She walks into the open and throws both fans at the surprised Blocks. Recovering fast, one Block shoots off an icy ring while the other fires a laser.

The gleaming fans whirl through the air and slice neatly through both Blocks. Twin explosions accompany a disintegrating Yumi as the ice ring and laser strike her simultaneously. "Run, Aelita!" she yells before materializing on earth. Aelita immediately sprints into the safety of the red tower and soars to the top platform. She grins at how it turned out and places her palm on the interface. AELITA. CODE: LYOKO. "Tower deactivated."

The group clustered around the supercomputer screen utters a collective sigh of relief as Aelita's smiling face appears on the screen. "Thanks so much, I couldn't believe how well you did! Do you believe Jeremie now?" Odd laughs as the three warriors nod their heads. "That we do Aelita. What happens now?" asks Yumi.

"Well, Jeremie can launch a return to the past. I don't know if I'll see you again, but I appreciate you protecting me for that battle." The four humans shake their heads immediately. Aelita doesn't notice as she turns her head aside in disappointment at losing her newfound companions.

"No Aelita, we aren't abandoning you. We'll be here for whenever you need us," says Jeremie quietly. Happiness wells up in the pink-haired girl's face as she realizes the impact of those words.

"But why? I'm just a program," says Aelita. Jeremie shushes her gently. "No you're more than that. Aelita, you're our friend." With that statement, Aelita knew that her life couldn't be any better.

'I have friends!'

-End Flashback-