Chapter 22: Lyoko!

The group of nine went to the tree scanners. "Ladies first, as always." Ulrich said. Aelita, Yumi, Sakura, and Hinata entered the scanners. The wooden-looking doors shut, and the four girls were on Lyoko in about 30 seconds. The scanner doors slowly opened to reveal absolutely no trace of the girls. Then, the five boys stepped into the scanners, and the same process took place.

Hinata took a look at herself. Instead of her light purple and white jacket, she was in her Chūnin outfit. She looked around. Shikamaru looked exactly the same, Naruto was in Tailed Beast and Sage Mode, Sasuke was in his Orochimaru Sage Mode, Sakura was in her 1000 Healings Mode, Aelita had become an elf/angel, Ulrich looked like a ninja, Odd had become a giant purple cat, and Yumi looked like a kunoichi, but without the headband and kunai and shurikens. Instead, she had twin fans. "What happened? Why do we look so different?" she asked.

Suddenly, Jeremie came up. "The outfits that you have on Lyoko are based on memories and affinities… it looks like all of your outfits are based on your memories, I'd say? You aren't really surprised at your Lyoko styles."

"Well, this is what we wore during the Fourth Great Ninja War… well, all of us except for Sasuke." Sakura said.

"But when he fought me, he had that Sage Mode." Naruto said to Sakura.

"What?!" Ulrich and Odd said.

"Remind me to tell you guys later." Yumi said to the other Lyoko Warriors with a wave of her fan and a wink.

"Alright then, no time for chitchat. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and the other two- "

"Hinata and Shikamaru." Yumi said sternly.

"- Yeah, them. You should all have a pouch with kunai and shurikens. Naruto, your powers (attacks) on Lyoko are: Shadow clones, Rasengan, Rasen-Shuriken, Tailed Beast Bomb, and Frog Fu. You have- wait, what is this?!

"What is it, Jeremie?" Aelita asked, looking at the "sky" of Lyoko.

"Naruto seems to have his normal 100 life points, but he has two life point bars…. And the other shows 1,000 life points!"

"Might be Kurama." Shikamaru said.

"Who's Kurama?" Jeremie asked.

"In the Five Great Nations, there are masses of chakra, or energy, called Tailed Beasts. There are nine in total, and when all of the Beasts are combined, they make one LARGE untamed…. Thing that destroys absolutely EVERYTHING. That's how the Fourth Great Ninja War started, by the way." Yumi said.

"Wow, Yumi, how did you know all of that?" Naruto asked.

"Hinata told me!" Yumi said. Naruto looked at Hinata in awe, and she just smiled.

"Okay… Sasuke, you have 300 life points because of your Sage Mode; your attacks are as follows; Chidori, Raikiri, Phoenix Fireball, Mangekyo Sharingan, and Ameratsu." Jeremie said. "Sakura, you have 200 from your 100 Healings; you have chakra punches and you can heal. However, 20 life points will be taken. You can regenerate your life points in towers. Aelita can show you where those are. "Jeremie said.

Aelita walked over to Sakura. "See that cylinder over there with the thick brown vines on it?" Aelita pointed to a tower that was behind a high mountain.

"Yeah." Sakura said. "Is that a tower?"

"Yes. Do you see the blue smoke around the top of it?"

"Yes." Sakura said, as Aelita pointed to the blue aura.

"When the smoke is blue, the tower is neutral. You can regenerate from these towers. Towers with a red aura are activated by X.A.N.A. 2.0. Those towers are the ones that I need to deactivate. Those are also the towers that X.A.N.A. 2.0 will use to get to our worlds. If the tower is green, then Jeremie has activated it. It's also used to dock the Skid, which was- "

"Rebuilt." Jeremie interrupted.

"What?! Really?!" Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita worriedly asked.

"Yep, I rebuilt it." Jeremie said. "I was working while you were gone, y'know! I managed to recover all of the old source codes and rebuild the Skidbladnir."

"Thanks, Jeremie!" The Lyoko Warriors said in unison, as they looked at the sky of Lyoko.

"You're welcome!" Jeremie said with a proud voice.

"Well, finally, the towers with a white aura are called Way Towers. You can regenerate from these, and they are the transport to each sector of Lyoko." Aelita said. "Any questions?"

"What are sectors?" Sakura asked.

Before Aelita could say a word, Ulrich answered. "Sectors are like the lands of Lyoko. There are 5 sectors in Lyoko; Forest, Desert, Mountain, Ice, and Cortex. Right now, we're in the Mountain sector. We'll take you to the other sectors in time."

"Wow, Ulrich, I never expected for you to answer." Odd said.

"We'll look like idiots, Odd, if we don't talk." Ulrich said. "But, you're pretty much an idiot anyway, so it won't really matter if you don't talk." Everyone laughed.

"Good one, Ulrich." Yumi said.

"Hey!" Odd yelled. "I'm not that dumb!"

"You can't even get an "C", Odd!" Aelita said. Only the Lyoko Warriors (besides Yumi) laughed this time.

"What's wrong?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, you see, Naruto didn't do so well in school either." Yumi said. "I might have only known him for five years, but even I know that."

"Oh. Sorry to insult you." Aelita said.

"Hey, why do you sympathize him, and not me?!" Odd furiously asked.

"You see, Odd, Naruto and I are known for our ninja skills in all of the Great Nations, and even the smaller villages." Sasuke said, looking at Naruto. "He managed to get Jiraya's help and get stronger."

"Yeah, you haven't done anything, Odd. Naruto tried." Sakura said.

"Aw, man!" Odd said.

"Does you right." Ulrich said with a smirk. "All you can do is sleep." Everyone laughed yet again.

"Okay, now, the insults were funny, but we have people who don't know the theory of Lyoko." Jeremie said. "Let's get down to business."

"Okay, dad." The Lyoko Warriors said (except Jeremie, the 'dad'), depressed.

"Hinata, you have the normal 100 life points. Your attacks are; Byakugan, Gentle Fist, and Twin Lion Fists. Shikamaru, you also have the normal 100; you have Shadow Manipulation, but it can only work in the dark. Effective for the Cortex, but not so much in the other sectors." Jeremie said.

"I'll find a way." Shikamaru said. "This is going to be a real drag though."

"Oh, really?" Jeremie said.

"Jeremie, Shikamaru has an I.Q. over 200." Yumi said. The other Lyoko Warriors were all shocked be what the old kunoichi had said.

"Really?! But that's impossible!" Jeremie said.

"Nope, it's true." Shikamaru said.

"Wow…." Jeremie was left speechless.

"I think Jeremie found a new idol!" Odd said. "Someone is actually smarter than him!"

"Jeremie, before you explode, this guy has like, zero motivation whatsoever." Yumi said, worried that she'd hear some sort of fangirl explosion. She had enough of it from Hiroki over basketball stars and all that.

"Oh…" Jeremie said. He wasn't so overjoyed anymore.

"Um…. Are we on a plateau?" Hinata asked, her Byakugan activated. "Why do I see a river of just…. chakra?"

"Chalk-what?" Odd asked.

"Chakra." Yumi said. "Our equivalent: energy."

"OHHHH!" Odd said.

"We're on top of an…. Ocean called the Digital Sea." Aelita replied.

"Yeah, and you don't want to fall in there. You won't devirtualize, and you'll be stuck in there FOREVER. You can't go back home from there. If you fall in, it's THE END for you." Odd said.

"OH MY GOSH!" Jeremie hollered, right after Odd had explained.

"What is it Jeremie, surprised that Odd actually answered a question?" Ulrich asked with a smirk on his face.

"No, it's not that!' Jeremie yelled, surprised.

"Calm down Jeremie! What is it?" Aelita asked.

"Aelita, you and Naruto are…."

"Are what?" Naruto asked with concern. He was utterly worried.

"Re-related." Jeremie said.

"WHAT?!" Everyone asked, VERY concerned.