Chapter 3

The Truth

After returning to the dorm I slid my sheath of arrows and bow into a drawer, slipped into my pjs, and climbed into bed. I heard Aelita walk in but wasn't ready to find out the truth. First off I had no idea how to start, 'Hay I was just wondering why you guys are all on a card on this computer in an abandoned factory?' Yeah, that'll go over really well. Ok I'll think of something to say, hopefully good.

Waking up to the Subdigitals again I grabbed my outfit and immediately headed to the bathroom. Having reached the bathroom I ran into none other than Sissy.

"I just want to make one thing clear."

"And what exactly is that Sissy?"

"Ulrich is mine." Wow, she is seriously deluded if she thinks Ulrich would ever date her. I see the way he looks at her and even though she tries to hide it I see the way she looks at him.

"Maybe in your dreams, but it's time you join the rest of us in the real world." At this she huffed, walking awa,y but turned around to say one last thing.

"You may think I'm living in the dream world but so are you if you think you're something special to Odd. He's dated every girl he can. All you are is the next girl on his list." What? This can't be true can't it? It's Sissy saying it so it must not be true. "I saw you sitting next to Heidi. Just ask her if you don't believe me." At this point a group of girls had started forming around me.

"Oh look she's blushing! What's wrong can't handle the truth?" One girl said. They all started to snicker except for the kind few who said something along the lines of 'leave her alone' or 'stop being such a jerk'. Trying to keep whatever dignity I had left, I ran into the shower stall. I blasted the water to drown out the comments and let myself sink into my own little world away from Sissy and everyone else.

As I returned to my room, I found Aelita waiting again for me. I guess now is as good a time as any to ask.

"Ok I know that there's an abandoned factory with computers and that everyone except Jeremie has a card on there. I also know that there is this overgrown hard drive and these big tubey things. Oh and I know it has something to do with Xana." Aelita stared at me with an expression of shock and pure horror on her face.

"I guess I… I mean we can't keep it a secret anymore, can we?"

"No. I want the truth, the real truth please." Sighing, she sat down on her bed and motioned for me to sit next to her. As I sat down she continued with an explanation.

"You're probably not going to believe this but I'll explain it anyway. I'm not exactly human." She's kidding right? You know what? I'm going to listen to the whole story before I judge her.

"I came from this world, Lyoko."

"Wait does it have a mountainous region in it?" I asked cutting her off. Once again she looked shocked.

"Yes there are four sections; forest, mountain, desert, and ice. Then there's the digital sea and heart of Lyoko."

"In my dream I was there with you and this man was there. You both shouted for me to run to this tower, it was glowing red, and that Xana was coming."

"Is that why you asked me who Xana was?"

"Yes. So who is Xana?"

"Xana is a computer program, a dangerous program that activates towers on Lyoko to gain access to our world. I'm the only one that can deactivate it."

"What about the others what do they do?"

"Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi go on Lyoko to help protect me because I can't get devirtualized and I don't have any weapon. Jeremie controls the computers sending us to Lyoko, warning us about monsters, and he programs vehicles to help us get to the tower faster."

"Wow, that's honestly really cool, but I'm gonna have to ask you to prove it to me. Please." I sounded like a little kid begging to play with the new toy but I didn't care. Aelita hesitated slightly before answering.

"Ok: at lunch so the others can come with us."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed. I jumped up and hugged Aelita. She smiled and looked to the clock beside her bed.

"Looks like we missed breakfast, but if we run we can still make it to class on time." Grabbing our stuff, we ran out of the room sprinting down the hall.

Thankfully we weren't late to class. Odd had left a seat open next to him but I pretended not to notice. Instead I sat next to a girl named Claire. I asked her if she dated Odd and she went on a whole rant about how he was dating her and another girl at the same time. I looked over to Odd who flashed me a smile. Despite what I had just heard, I blushed and hated myself for it. How could this Odd, the one I've talked to for hours straight, be the one that Sissy and Claire had described? Ugh… this really sucks as of right now.

After what felt like years, it was finally lunch time, which meant Aelita was going to prove to me Lyoko exists! Finding Aelita in the crowd of people leaving class and heading for lunch, I quickly spotted her bright pink hair. Pushing past people I latched on to her arm like I thought I might get lost. She giggled and the others soon joined us.

"You want to take her to Lyoko?" Jeremie asked Aelita.

"If that's ok with everyone but I should warn you she already knows everything and even if we did a return to the past she would still figure us out." Jeremie let out a sigh and turned to face Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi.

"Well what's the verdict? Is Harmony in or is she out?" I looked at my feet, trying not to stare versus looking at them and looking as if I'm trying to intimidate them.

"Yeah! I'll give you the tour myself!" I looked up and followed the voice to a smiling Odd. I smiled back even though I knew it wouldn't mean anything if the others didn't agree.

"Of course" Yumi said.

"Really?" I asked, surprised by her willingness to have me join.

"Yeah, why not?" then everyone turned to Ulrich and Jeremie.

"Well someone's got to go to keep Odd in check." He joked. Odd elbowed him and I could feel my face warming up. Then I looked to Odd who smiled shyly. This, however, surprised me considering his personality.

"I'm cool with it," Jeremie added, "It'll give us an upper hand on Xana having a warrior he hasn't seen before."

"Wait, me a warrior? Really?" I couldn't help but question it, just in case it was a dream. Overall, I was extremely excited though.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I screamed. I ran over giving everyone a hug which of course earned me a few laughs and stares from kids passing by. Absent mindedly I lingered at Odd. The group, however, did notice.

"Um… earth to Odd and Harmony? If you're going to get a tour of Lyoko we better go now before lunch is over." Jeremie commented as he looked at his watch.

"Ok so just step into one of the scanners and Jeremie will send us there." Odd instructed.

"Ready guys?" Jeremie called over the speakers inside the scanners.

"Ready." We said in unison.

"Ok Odd you'll go first to make sure the way I clear. Harmony doesn't know how to fight just yet so I don't want to take any chances."

"Thanks Jeremie!" I said grateful for his concern. Odd stepped into the scanner. I waved a quick good bye even though I would see him in just a few minutes. Then the doors shut on us and Jeremie's voice came over the speakers.

"Scanner Odd. Transfer Odd. Virtualization." A few minutes later Jeremie's voice called out over the speakers once more.

"Your turn Harmony. Oh, be careful though because you're in the air when you're virtualized onto Lyoko which means if you don't land right you'll fall on your butt." I giggled.

"Thanks Jeremie."

"Scanner Harmony. Transfer Harmony. Virtualization."

The process felt strange, one minute I was in the scanner the next I was in Lyoko. I started to fall when something stopped me. Looking over I realized Odd had caught me.

"Thanks!" He smiled and blushed all in one. Setting me down, I examined my outfit the best I could. Slung across my back was a sheath of arrows and a bow, no doubt my weapon. Looking down at my feet I was wearing salmon colored foot wraps. Making my way up, I was wearing a skirt about the same color with tan leggings that met up with the wraps. My top was salmon as well but had yellow detailing. It was also sleeves and resembled odd's shirt except that mine was, well, a girls' shirt. I had salmon and yellow fingerless gloves that reached up to my elbows.

"Nice." Odd said making me blush, which he no doubt noticed. Suddenly a purple and pink board appeared. Odd ran towards it, did a flip landing perfectly on the board.

"Jump on!" Odd gestured behind him. Giving me a hand I stepped on behind Odd and wrapped my arms around his waist so I wouldn't fall. I could feel him smirking. Looking around I noticed we were in an icy area, though it wasn't at all could. There were no smells either. The change actually started to give me a headache.

"It takes some getting used to." Odd said.

"I guess I'll have to come more often." I joked. Taking off I held on even tighter to Odd. He laughed. We passed a couple of towers and finally we came to the tower that would take us to another section of Lyoko.

"Hang on!" Odd yelled. Then just like that, we were through the tower. Going down we flew past all sorts of numbers, different programs I assumed. Flying out of the tower I saw an area full of trees.

"This is so cool!" I couldn't help but squeal. Odd once again laughed. He insisted on flying right into trees then turning at the last minute. Any other person would have been freaked by this, but I thought it was fun. Odd slowed down and hopped off the board, what I now know to be called the overboard. Jumping off, he caught me and set me on the ground. I doubt he did that for Aelita or Yumi.

"Why did you stop? Is something wrong?" I could hear the worry in Jeremie's voice.

"Uh no. I just wanted to talk to Harmony. so if you don't mind can you, uh, not listen in?"

"Uh, sure." Jeremie agreed but Odd and I knew very well they would all be listening in.

"So," Odd said turning to face me, "Sissi convinced her dad to let the school have a dance to, you know, kick off the new school year."

"Cool!" I loved to dance and wasn't bad at it either but nobody at my school ever asked me so I ended up sitting at home with a book. Odd started to blush.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?" Before I could answer three monsters appeared. Two of them looked almost like spiders and the other resembled an overgrown jellyfish. No matter what they were I knew it couldn't be good.