7: Return to the past

Ever notice that the more you wish for school to be over, the longer it takes for the bell to ring?

Some would say that it was because Kronos, the almighty lord of time, had gone off for an executive lunch. Or perhaps he was depressed from time to time after losing a war to his children eons ago; being beaten by the things you've ingested was kind of humiliating.

Of course, the five LYOKO warriors could care less about Greek mythology. They were just waiting for their classes to end so that they could hear what their new blue-haired ally knew about LYOKO and the supercomputer. After all, Bryan Green did start his academic tenure at Kadic by thwarting XANA's latest attack in style.

That was an understatement. First, he took apart two Blocks by himself, destroying his tennis racket in the process. Then, he rescued Aelita from the Scyphozoa before he near single-handedly took out all of XANA's monsters, save for William.

His powers were unlike anything the group had ever seen. In addition to being able to call forth multiple 'bodies' that could absorb laser blasts or manipulate attraction and repulsion forces, Bryan could also use the abilities of the others, including Aelita's energy field. Clearly, he had a lot of explaining to do.

So when the clock struck four, Aelita, Odd, Jeremie and Ulrich met up with Yumi and they headed for the abandoned factory. Bryan had told them that he'd meet them there, since he had to finish some administrative procedures and unpack his belongings. Therefore, the proactive LYOKO warriors decided to tackle their new math assignments to pass the time.

As usual, Jeremie had already completed all of his homework and was browsing the internet. Half an hour later, he took his eyes off of a Wikipedia article.

"So, what do you think?"

"The answer's 47."

"Not the math homework, Odd. I'm talking about You-Know-Who."

"Looks like Jeremie's a Harry Potter fanboy," Ulrich smirked. Yumi sniggered.

"What?" the boy said, eyebrows raised.

"While we're on the subject, did you hear that the last book is coming out next year?"

"Yeah. Apparently two main characters are supposed to die," said Aelita. Apart from Kingdom Hearts, she was also an avid fan of J.K. Rowling's magical world ever since the others took her to see The Goblet of Fire last November. And for the next two months, if you were to stalk Aelita Stones – which would be very creepy – you would find her eyes always poring over one of the six novels.

"Personally I don't care who dies, so long as Dobby lives through it all," said Odd. Despite the former house elf's lack of screen time and exclusion from the fourth movie, Dobby was his favourite character. Carefree, comedic and loves socks. What's not to like?

Not wanting to dive into another great Potter debate, Jeremie cleared his throat and attempted to steer the conversation back into his subject. "Seriously. What do you make of our new classmate?"

"Catherine?" asked Yumi.

"Who?"

"Oh, right…Bryan. Our class also got a new student today, Catherine."

"Is she hot?"

Aelita and Yumi glared daggers at Odd, while Jeremie and Ulrich just shook their heads as if they were both thinking along the lines of: you're truly an idiot.

"Anyways, Bryan Green…there's no info on him anywhere."

"Dude, that kind of sounds like stalking. That's kind of bad and creepy. You're also stalking guys…hmm, Einstein, are you sure you're not–"

"Shut up Odd," his friends exclaimed in unison.

"The supercomputer has nothing on him. Nothing on his background, not even his date of birth…" Jeremie continued.

"April 7, 1990. Do I get sixteen years' worth of presents then?" came Bryan's voice as he stepped out of the elevator.

"Hey you, everything went smoothly?"

"Yeah, thanks Aelita. Sorry I took so long."

"Some fancy bit of fighting today," said Yumi with a smile.

Bryan laughed, rubbing the back of his head as though his first trip into LYOKO wasn't anything worth noting. He sat down beside Aelita and Ulrich. "Alright. Who goes first?"

"How about we settle it with this," Odd took out a silver coin.

"Uh, okay. Heads for me." He tossed the coin. Tails.

"Best two out of three?"

"Don't be silly. So, what would you like to know?" Jeremie asked Bryan.

"Okay. For starters, tell me how you guys found the supercomputer and helped Aelita escape LYOKO?"

The group took turns in recapping everything that had happened in the past year. From their first encounter with XANA, to Code EARTH and the 'discovery' of CARTHAGE – the fifth sector. They also recounted more humorous events, such as the time Ulrich overshot the underground pathway on his skateboard and ended up in the drenched in sewage water.

"Wow."

That was all Bryan could say when they had finished. Yet, that three-lettered word pretty much summarized Team LYOKO's inaugural first year.

"I know, I'm amazing."

"Of course you are, Odd – Italy's Boy Wonder," remarked Ulrich sarcastically, to which Odd took several deep bows.

"So no one else ever found out about this place?"

Yumi shook her head. "It's our secret," she said, to which Bryan appeared satisfied.

"I always thought I just had enter some passcode like 'open sesame' to free Aelita, then turn off the supercomputer and that was that. But, to come up with an entire complex program…damn, you must be a genius Jeremie."

Odd grinned. "Einstein's the man to go for all your technological needs."

"It was nothing really…" Jeremie said bashfully, before adopting a serious tone. "Anywyas, how did you learn about all this?"

Bryan scratched his blue hair. "It's a long story–"

"Excellent, storytime!"

He noted that Odd seemed to be the flamboyant optimistic member of the group. Which was good, considering what they've been through, they needed someone to brighten their day.

"Basically, my father worked on the supercomputer with Dr. Hopper."

The bombshell was dropped as the LYOKO warriors gasped.

"On my 16th birthday, I got access to this large file from a safety deposit box of my father's. It had his will, among other things, in addition to a set of instructions for me. A task for me to complete, in the event that he passed away…"

Bryan stared down at the ground. Aelita understood what he had gone through, having lost all connections with her own parents, if they were even alive still. She looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that. What about your mother?"

He shook his head. "I was told that they were both returning from a New Year's Eve party and collided with a driver on the wrong side of the road. My dad was instantly killed. My mom died shortly later in hospital from her injuries."

"That bastard," Ulrich muttered under his breath. He had also lost relatives, loved ones due to reckless driving.

"Since then, I've been living with my grandparents. It took a while for me to believe everything's that happened. But my dad's stuff in his safety deposit box told me all about Project CARTHAGE."

"Franz Hopper's top-secret project for the French government, right?"

"Sort of. You know of it?"

"Not really," Jeremie admitted. "We had previously retrieved some files from sector five pertaining to the operation."

"Okay. Well, in short the supercomputer was part of a counter-Soviet operation during the Cold War in the 1970's."

"Ah Cold War…Red Alert 2, Allies versus Soviets."

"Odd, it's a real event too," said Ulrich. He was knowledgeable of the conflict that had split his home country and family in two; his mother's side of the family had been living in Berlin at the time. They had endured the hardships of nearly two decades of Communist rule.

Yumi scooted closer to Ulrich and gently placed her arm over his shoulder. "You alright?"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to turn this into a dark history lesson," said Bryan.

Ulrich shook his head. "No, it's fine. Go on." He noticed that Yumi still had her arm rested on him and felt his cheeks turn red. He had to admit, it was comforting.

"The Cold War was a staring contest between the Allies – specifically NATO, the military alliance of western democratic nations – and the Soviet Union and its satellite states. Both sides tried to outdo the other; who could be the 'best'. Technology was one of the key conflicts."

Team LYOKO always thought that the supercomputer was only a product of the French secret service. But now, it seemed like a global dilemma.

"Didn't each side try to outdo the other by building nuclear weapons?"

"It's more than the nuclear arms build-up, Yumi. For instance, there was the Space Race," Jeremie added.

"And another thing was computer technology. Machines that could do work much faster than humans. Both sides were finding ways to exploit this, transform computers into a form of weaponry."

"And I guess that's where Project CARTHAGE comes in."

Bryan nodded. "The idea of constructing a supercomputer involved several NATO countries: the USA, Britain, France and Canada, under the codename of Project CARTHAGE."

"The decisive battle between the Romans and Carthaginians in the Third Punic War," said Aelita as-a-matter-of-factly. She had researched the topic with Jeremie upon learning that 'Scipio' – the name of the famous general that led Rome to victory in the Second Punic War – was the passcode into the fifth sector.

"You got it, Aelita." The girl beamed before Bryan continued.

"Similar to how the Battle of Carthage resulted in a decisive Roman victory and destruction of the Carthaginian Empire, the Allies believed that this project was crucial to eliminating the Soviet threat. The main goal was to develop a system that could intercept and disable potential Soviet attacks."

"Well, that does make sense," Jeremie agreed. "I mean, disrupting one's communications and knowing their strategies beforehand would be highly advantageous."

"What about XANA?"

"XANA was the program intended to achieve the objectives of Project CARTHAGE. Essentially, it's the world's first computer virus."

"Really? Because lately, it seems like it's bent towards destroying everything," Jeremie mumbled.

"Hmm, I've noticed. Maybe XANA evolved while it was inactive, believing that all of humanity was a threat."

From an anti-Soviet agent to total annihilation? Seemed like a major evolution.

"So how did my father get involved?"

"I believe he was a computer engineer in the public sector before getting the call-up from NATO to spearhead this project. He had two engineering grads working directly under him. One was from the USA, and the other was my father."

"Who was the American?"

"I think…it was a physicist by the name of Dr. Peterson. There was also a whole team of off-campus staff. But it was those three who dealt with the supercomputer. And it wasn't long before something unexpected happened."

"LYOKO…" Aelita said softly. Bryan nodded.

"I'm not sure how they did it, but they created an entire virtual world. Like Tron, but more colourful and vibrant. You mentioned that it even had time travelling capabilities?"

Jeremie nodded. "'Return to the past', it's how we restored everything back to normal after XANA attacks in the real world."

"I see. Not really sure how it works, but it's definitely a…magical and unprecedented aspect, like something from science-fiction."

"We haven't been using it as much lately though. Jeremie thinks XANA gets stronger whenever we go back in time."

"That's possible – it's like a giant reset button, giving XANA a chance to re-assess its tactics."

"How about the scanners?" Jeremie pressed on.

Bryan looked to be in deep thought. "I don't know much about that either. I assumed there were only three of them, one for Dr. Hopper, Dr. Peterson and my dad to use. I was really surprised that you can all get into LYOKO. I guess like XANA, the supercomputer has also changed to allow anyone to get in."

"Alright, let's talk about your LYOKO form."

"Is it true you're Luke Skywalker?" Yumi asked interestingly.

"Sort of…except that I only look like one. I don't have a Lightsaber or anything like that."

"And your eyes."

"What about his eyes?"

"They were purple, with multiple dark rings," Ulrich told Yumi.

"Ever heard of the manga called Naruto?"

"The one about ninjas?"

"Yep. That's where my eyes came from. The Rinnegan."

"So instead of a stick that cuts through all, you got the most powerful dojutsu in the Naruto universe," said Yumi, an avid manga reader.

"What?"

"They allowed the owner to use any jutsu – or technique."

"Including a bulky guy that absorbs lasers?"

"Yes Odd. He's one of the Six Paths of Pain."

"There's six of those orange-hair dudes?"

"Yeah, each with its own ability."

Yumi turned to Bryan. "You know, I've always wondered how Nagato controlled multiple bodies. How does that work?"

"Well, it's kind of like looking through multiple surveillance cameras and playing a video game at the same time. I can control their movements and share their field of vision."

"Amazing." Ulrich shook his head in disbelief.

"Looks like beating William's no longer a problem."

"Who?"

"Some cocky kid that XANA managed to possess."

"Isn't that kind of bad?"

"Not really."

"Oh."

"There's one more thing Bryan. Your life points kept going down…even when you weren't hit," noted Ulrich.

"We thought it might've been a glitch," added Odd.

"No, it's not." All eyes turned on Jeremie.

"It appears that every time you did something, your life points dropped. And I think the amount lost is relative to the power of the technique used."

"I guess it's like an energy constraint for me then," Bryan concurred, taking note of Jeremie's analytical skills.

Aelita spoke up. "While we're on this topic, something happened when I tried using my energy field. Instead, I got some invisible pushing force…kind of like what you did to knock over the Tarantulas."

"Yeah. You're just the power of the wind," Bryan replied as if it was obvious.

"Aelita has more abilities?"

"Of course. She's got the most powerful LYOKO avatar." Aelita tilted her head, blushing.

Ulrich suddenly remembered. "That's right. She has psychic powers."

"Not quite. She's an Elemental."

"You mean like fire, earth, wind and water?" Bryan nodded.

"So when she alters LYOKO's landscape or creates a rock barrier, that's because she's using the earth element, I guess?" said Jeremie.

"And I assume my ability to fly is also from manipulating the wind power. But Jeremie was the one who programmed in my wings. I couldn't fly before."

"It's likely he made it more accessible, Aelita. But you were always able to fly."

"And she can also use fire and water techniques?"

"Yes, they're harder to control though. Of course, when you combine the four elements together, you get pure energy; her energy fields."

Aelita was in awe with herself, she never thought she was the 'best' of anything. Ulrich and Yumi were much more agile and she could never match Odd's sharpshooting skills. In fact, before Jeremie gave her 'energy field', she'd always leave the fighting to them.

She still had one big question. "Bryan, I was also wondering if you knew how my father and I ended up on LYOKO. I can't remember what happened…"

Bryan's face darkened despite Aelita's hopeful look. He opened his mouth but no words came out, as if he decided to retract what he was about to say in the last moment. "Um, sorry…I don't know."

The girl gave a soft 'oh'. Jeremie was more aggressive though.

"Why not?"

"Jeremie–"

"And another thing. What happened to Project CARTHAGE in the end? Was it abandoned by NATO?"

"I…I don't know."

"I think you're hiding something. Aelita lost her parents and her childhood. How would you feel if–"

"Well, unfortunately I can't understand how that would feel because my parents are dead," Bryan replied angrily, catching Jeremie off-guard

"That's enough," Aelita yelled, silencing the two.

Ulrich looked at Yumi, who looked at Odd. Jeremie felt slightly ashamed: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Bryan felt his anger leaving him. He took a deep breath. "It's fine. But I honestly don't know about the outcome of Project CARTHAGE, or why Aelita became trapped on LYOKO."

Aelita looked crestfallen. If he didn't know how she and her father ended up on LYOKO, he probably didn't know anything about her mother.

"Let's move onto something else," Odd suggested quickly.

"Fine by me," said Jeremie as he turned once more to Bryan. "Do you know anything about the involvement of the French government with Project CARTHAGE, specifically its secret service?"

The others knew where this was going. The fabled agents of France that dressed in expensive black suits.

For the first time, Bryan looked confused.

"Huh? I don't think they had anything to do with it. Project CARTHAGE was strictly under NATO's wing; the French government didn't have much to do with it, other than maybe providing resources."

"What about the men in black?"

"The movie starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones?"

"No! The government agents who were after Franz Hopper and the supercomputer."

"…What are you talking about?"

"One time, XANA materialized two spectres wearing black suits – like government spies – who tried to kill Aelita and me," Yumi explained.

Aelita remembered that quite well. Yumi was driving a car. Without a license. And it was an old British Leyland 'Princess'. One of the worst cars in history, due to the fact that workers spent more time on strike than making cars. She didn't know why, but since that encounter, she's always had an innate fear of the black-suited men.

"Let me get this straight, you guys think the spectres XANA created were related to the French agents who were after Dr. Hopper and his supercomputer years ago," Bryan said with one hand rested on his cheek. Jeremie nodded.

"I'm…I'm pretty sure those aren't French spies."

"How so?"

"Well…it might look good in movies, but don't you think it's odd for secret agents to be wearing black suits while on duty? They'd stand out too much, making recon useless."

"I guess…that makes sense," said Yumi.

"And…France is one of the good guys – it was and is still with NATO. Why would it go against a group it was part of?"

Jeremie never really considered it like that. Bryan's reasoning created further mystery on who the men in black really were, or if they were actually real. But according to Aelita's dreams…

"Wait, so could the men in black just be XANA trying to interfere with Aelita's memories?"

"…It can do that?"

"Yes. In one of my dreams, I was running away – with my father – from…these two men in black suits. It seemed so real to me…as if it actually happened," Aelita recalled.

"Hmm…that's disturbing. If someone's really after the supercomputer, it could be quite dangerous," said Bryan.

"They'd be able to go back in time…gain foresight to fix mistakes."

"Alter history," Ulrich muttered in agreement.

Bryan got up. "Then I guess…that's why my dad wanted me here. Not only to rescue Aelita and defeat XANA, but to also prevent the supercomputer from falling into the wrong hands."

"I'm still amazed you five managed to hold XANA at bay and keep it a secret," he smiled. "I think I'm going to like it here… and…if I could join you guys…"

Aelita waved her hand. "Don't be silly, of course you're welcome to join us."

"Yeah. It'll be great having you with us," Yumi said with a warm smile. She liked him; he was bright but modest as well, and very laid-back.

Odd jumped up. "Indubitably! Welcome aboard Captain B! I'll just need twenty Euros and if you could fill out a Team LYOKO application form before you go… You'll receive your badge within a day, and then you're officially part of our squad!"

"He's kidding," Ulrich told Bryan, who had already taken out his wallet.

Jeremie's mood also seemed to have lifted. He still felt that Bryan was keeping something from them…but at least he seemed like a nice guy. And he was definitely a key asset in the fight against XANA.

Odd looked down at his watch. "Guys, it's getting late, and it's Tortellini Thursday."

"Yeah, I should probably be heading home as well. My mom would kill me if I was late for dinner."

"Would you like a geographically-adept companion to walk you home?" Ulrich offered.

Yumi smiled. "Much appreciated, Captain Sense of Direction. We'll see you guys later. And it was nice meeting you, Bryan." And with that, the not-a-couple-but-clearly-should-be duo headed for the elevator.

"Are those two...?"

"It's painstakingly obvious to everyone except them," sighed Odd, shaking his head.

"We should get going as well. You too Jeremie," said Aelita.

"Dinnertime!" exclaimed Odd as he dragged Jeremie away from the room, leaving the two LYOKO children to follow suit.

"Hey–"

"Thank you. For saving me on LYOKO. And for clarifying things with us today."

Bryan felt a pang of guilt. Aelita had the right to know about his speculations and what he had been involved in. But to be the bringer of depressing news and to get his new friends involved in something even more dangerous…

She stared into his dark blue eyes, perhaps expecting to see the ripple pattern like on LYOKO. Bryan smiled and rested his hands over her shoulders.

"I know you want to know more about what happened. So do I. I'm still piecing together the fragments of the past. We both want to put an end to XANA, and have a normal, high-school life. You know, good times, homework, good times doing homework…"

Aelita laughed. "Nice that you enjoy doing homework, you can do mine too then."

"We'll see. Anyways, I'm sure that in the end, everything will surely be alright."

Everything will surely be alright. Aelita had heard of this phrase before, but from where? Nevertheless, she found comfort in Bryan's words. They both shared something in common – their lives were intertwined with LYOKO and Project CARTHAGE. Bryan may have secrets that he wanted to keep to himself, but she trusted and accepted his enigmatic character.

"Getting all corny now, are we?" Aelita said teasingly.

The boy grinned as they went after the others. "Of course! Corny is in this year."

Fragmented Legacy Fun Fact 007:

For new readers, main characters are introduced with brief profiles inspired from Scott Pilgrim. Some fun facts will be important later on in the story =D

A|N's:

I wanted to include more stuff in the Team LYOKO + Bryan Q&A session (i.e. Project CARTHAGE, Aelita's past, etc.). But then this chapter would be super-long.

Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =) [There's a looooong way to go before The End, and I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing skills =)]