Whoops, it seems that i've just translated and uploaded the 3rd Chapter. I've luckily just found DeepL, a site wich translate WAY better than Google Shitty-Translate. So i revised the text more times and apart from little modifications to make it smoother and more correct, it's 98% correct english. So, here's chapter 3! Enjoiy and Review!.

P.S: there are 1 or 2 reference to books, movies or pop cultures; there will be in quite every chapter, so try to find them!

Jacket: "You're just a little late."

Ed: "... Well, I had an urgent commitment."

In response, Jacket looked at him with an unconvincing glance; they were on school holidays, apart from a few things about moving to Paris, what commitments could he possibly have?

Jacket: "... Oh well, now follow me, so you can see it with your own eyes."

The duo went inside the dirty, damp room. The sandbags had been moved.

Ed: "Oh tell me, is this your "epochal discovery"? A cellar in an abandoned building?"

Jacket: "I never said my discovery was right here in this room" he said, and then pointed to the open hatch "Come on, we're going downstairs."

Ed: "What, are you crazy? What if the hatch closes underneath us, and blocks it?".

Jacket: "What is it, are you scared?... come on, if I came back alive and well from there, there's no need to worry" so he went down by himself

Ed: "... Well, I can't leave you down there alone, so I'm going down there too. And I'm not scared, I'm just very cautious!"

As soon as they got off, they continued through the tunnel until they got in front of the door (the supercomputer activation had also turned on the lighting in the tunnel). Before crossing the threshold, Jacket asked Ed one last thing.

Jacket: "Okay, we're almost there. Before crossing this door, do I have your word that you won't say anything to anyone, especially the authorities?"

Ed: "Uff... I promise, can we come in now?"

Jacket: "Okay okay, what a rush..."

So he made Ed move in before he did.

As he crossed the threshold, Ed felt that his brain was ready to burst: in front of him, science fiction movies were a reality.

Ed: "W-wha...what the hell is this place!?"

Jacket: "Oh nothing, just a quantum supercomputer simulating a virtual world we can physically enter, thanks to that big scanner" he said, pointing to the supercomputer and the scanner respectively. "Just everyday stuff, huh?"

It took another handful of seconds for Ed to recover from the shock. All this could not be false: Jacket certainly would never have enough money to create all this, just to make a joke. And it wouldn't have been part of his kind of jokes anyway.

While Ed was still shocked, Jacket woke up the supercomputer from the standby phase in which he left it two days ago.

Jacket: "So...do you want the short explanation or the detailed one?"

Ed: "...I'll choose the detailed one."

Jacket: "Okay, then come here, because you'll get the explanation directly from the creator of all this: Waldo Schaeffer."

So he showed him all the video recordings of the scientist's diary.

Ed: "So: that person in the clips says he's the creator of a military project, funded first by terrorists and then by the Italian and French governments, about two supercomputers containing virtual worlds?"

Jacket: "Exactly".

Ed: "...If it's a joke, it's really well done. Come on, this is pure science fiction! How can you prove to me that all this is true?"

Jacket: "And this is where I wanted you! Are you ready to make a nice trip to paradise? Or rather, Xanadu?"

Ed: "Are you asking me to get into that giant thing?" he said pointing to the scanner.

Jacket: "Yeah" he said, and then opened and drained a can of soda he had brought with him.

Ed: "Oh, no no no no no, not even dead. It's potentially dangerous, not to mention that (if this story is true) we're breaking government laws! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble we're in danger of going through?"

Jacket: "If I have any idea? Yes, indeed. If I'm interested? Not. Even. A. Little. Oh, come on, I can assure you that it's not dangerous; I'll keep an eye on you from this monitor station, and as soon as something strange happens I'll bring you back here in one piece, okay? I may be crazy, but I've never left you alone in trouble, and you know that."

If there was one thing Ed wasn't capable of, it was not trusting his friends: in the end he knew that Jacket, apart how reckless he was, had always helped him, as a true friend as he was.

Ed: "... All right, I'll trust you. Open that scanner and let's get it over with."

Jacket: "Thank you, Ed." He then took a long breath

"Good, Ready to go!"

Jacket, in the grip of adrenaline, began to perform the process of virtualization, exclaiming out loud every step taken.

"TRANSFER: INITIALIZED!"

Edward then entered the open scanner, which shone with light from the inside. Once he layed inside it, the scanner doors were closed. Inside Ed the nervousness increased more and more.

"SCANNER: INITIALIZED!"

A gust of hot air hit Ed's body as he was slightly lifted from the steel wall of the scanner.

"VIRTUALIZATION!"

Suddenly Ed felt that his body was being sucked in as he lost the sensitivity of each limb.

Then a flash of white light blinded him, and he felt a pain in his backside shortly afterwards, as he regained his senses.

Once Edward recovered, he felt first that he was not breathing. Or rather, he didn't feel the need to do it. Then he opened his eyes, to understand where he was.

The name Xanadu translated into "paradise". And never was the name more appropriate for the show that Ed saw around him.

A landscape consisting of a high white mountain on the horizon, while the ground was covered with lush vegetation, and large trees whose shape was identical to that of the bonsai. Also to his right was a huge lake whose water was perfectly clear.

This natural paradise, however, had a unique element: here and there stood out the imposing white towers, surrounded by a pearl white aura, while from the black base departed huge cables, similar to roots, which crossed the entire territory; the highest and most impressive tower was at the top of the mountain.

At this point Edward, remembering to have a body, he looked at himself: his usual clothes were replaced by a metal corset, located on top of a tabard, which he had depicted on top of a phoenix that had a fleur de lis in his beak; his feet were worn by leather boots and his hands by gloves, reinforced by small metal plates. Finally, he had a perfect replica of a long sword at the scabbard; the knob was completely gold, with something that looked like a sapphire stuck in the hilt. On the long blade, on the other hand, there was an inscription reciting "Ad Maius Bonum".

Ed: "... Fantastic".

Suddenly a voice spoke out of nowhere; the intonation was strangely familiar...

"So, Ed, you're there? You're all whole?"

Phew, that was Jacket's voice.

Ed: "er... yes, I think I'm fine..."

Jacket: "YES, FUCK! I did it! So Ed, now do you believe me?"

Ed: "..I think so! This place is amazing, it's incredible!"

Jacket: "Okay, now just give me a second" said Jacket euphoric, and then type in various commands on the keyboard; a window opened on the desktop showing what Ed saw in first-person; in particular Jacket saw the huge tower located above the mountain.

Jacket: "Wow... That Waldo Schaeffer, when he created all this, remembered perfectly the face of his father!"

In addition, a map was opened showing Xanadu in his entirety. It was practically a large island suspended in thin air.

Jacket: "Okay Ed, it's time to give you some information: first of all, on my screen you're represented by a kind of card, similar to the tarot cards, which names you "The Protector".

What a shitty name.

"Also this kind of card tells me your... hit points, the weapon you have with you, and a special skill called "Heal"? Strange, the map doesn't show about any other entities..."

Ed: "So on Xanadu I'm a sort of paladin... Cool!"

Jacket: "Oh, you mean that RPG character for the pure innocent Samaritans? Oh well, if you're fine with it..."

At that moment the map began to highlight the tower above the mountain, marking it with the name "Lyoko Link".

Jacket: "Uh... Ed, the map tells me about the tower on the top of the mountain, calling it "Lyoko Link". Do you mind checking it out?"

Ed: "And you ask me? I want to explore everywhere. I'm going!"

It took about the equivalent of 10 minutes on earth for Ed to reach the base of the tower.

Ed: "Okay Jacket, I'm in front of the tower, what do I do now?".

Jacket: "Mhhhhhh...well, it's a virtual world, isn't it? Try to go through the wall."

Edward was initially unbelieving: how can you go through objects? But that wasn't the real world, so he might try it as well.

Ed, despite his scepticism, managed to pass through the black wall, like in Harry Potter, thus reaching over a circular platform that illuminated the entire interior of the tower. The platform had drawn above a symbol similar to an eye made of concentric signs. And then he decided to go ahead, positioning himself in the middle of the platform. As soon as he got there, a screen appeared out of nowhere, suspended in the void, showing only one inscription:

CODE: _

Ed: "Um, Jacket? I'm inside the tower and in front of me there's a screen that says "CODE:_". What do you think I should do?"

Jacket: "Yeah, I can see that too. ... You know what? Try touching the screen, like on a smartphone touchscreen."

Ed: "Are you sure? All right..."

He hesitantly pressed his hand on the screen: at that moment the sentence shown on the display completed itself, becoming:

CODE: LYOKO LYNK

MEANWHILE, IN SPACE...

A satellite circling the Earth's orbit seemed to receive a very powerful signal from Rome; this caused the satellite's antenna to rotate, and then send a second signal, of equal strength, in France, to Paris.

PARIS, ABANDONED FACTORY

That room had been dark for 16 long years. Until now.

From nowhere, a series of huge metal cylinders, whose circuits shone gold, rose from the steel floor.

In another room upstairs, the now dusty monitor had been turned on again after a long time.

The supercomputer, hidden beneath that abandoned factory, had been rebooted.

PARIS, SCEAUX

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!"

That's what a 13-year-old girl said when she crossed the threshold of her house, located in a quiet street in Sceaux. Since it was summer, there was still enough light outside to clearly see the girl's physical appearance: her characteristic feature was her straight pink hair, long up to her shoulders. The rest of her face was made with emerald green eyes and small nose and mouth. His clothing consisted of a dungarees under which there was a soft pink T shirt. The feet were worn by sneakers, completely white.

"Welcome back, Maya!"

To reach her on the threshold came a young woman of 30 years, whose hair, pink like that of her daughter, were shorter, reaching the base of the neck. Always like her daughter, she had green eyes. Her clothing, on the other hand, consisted of light blue jeans and a white blouse.

After welcoming her daughter, the woman said aloud, facing upstairs:

"Dinner is at the table!"

And in response she received:

"I'm coming, Aelita, just give me a second!"

The phrase was spoken by a blond, bespectacled man, intent on writing up the new school schedule for the new students who would arrive this year.

The man was named Jeremy Belpois, 32. A man dressed in khaki pants and a red-brown t-shirt (in winter he usually wore a blue sweater, as he did as a boy). By profession he was a computer teacher at Kadick boarding school, where he had studied as a boy, and had met his wife Aelita.

But the strangest part was how he met her.

Well, it all started when he found her trapped in a supercomputer hidden under an abandoned Renault factory near the boarding school. Jeremy then decided, along with his 3 other friends, to get Aelita out of the supercomputer and defeat the artificial intelligence that hindered them: XANA.

All of this was been over since 16 years now, and now the Belpois family was enjoying the quiet worldliness of life.

But this tranquility was interrupted by a bizarre fact: suddenly all the lights, appliances and Jeremy's computer went out suddenly, and so it happened in all the houses; A gigantic blackout had hit the whole city of Paris.

Jeremy: "What the..."

Even more bizarre was that, just as the blackout had suddenly come, so too had the current returned, rekindling the lights of the city of love.

So Jeremy decided to go downstairs, both because it was time for dinner and because he wanted to talk to Aelita about this anomaly.

Jeremy: "Aelita, this is bizarre..." he said as he sat down at the table.

Aelita: "Yes, this blackout is particularly...unusual".

That's when Maya took the floor:

Maya: "Well, there's definitely a logical explanation: the problem must have happened at the main control unit, and they simply solved it quickly."

Jeremy and Aelita, after a few seconds of scepticism, calmed down: surely there was a completely normal explanation for the blackout. After all, XANA had been defeated, so it couldn't have been him.

So they started talking of this and that while they were enjoying dinner; the Belpois family had immediately returned to their usual serenity.

Jacket saw that a new writing appeared on the screen:

"LYOKO" SUPERCOMPUTER REACTIVATED

Jacket: "Oh, shit..."

Ed: "What happened?"

Jacket: "I'll explain later, now I'll take you back to earth." he said, and then type in the commands to devirtualize Edward.

After about a minute, the scanner doors reopened, and from there came Ed, who was breathing anxiously, before he put his feet on the ground and checked that everything was fine. He was still alive and well.

Jacket: "Are you all right over there?"

Ed: "Yes, I'm fine... Wow, that was great! Well, what did you want to tell me?"

Jacket didn't say anything, but he motioned to come to him. Edward reached him and, to his surprise, he read the sentence that appeared on the screen.

Ed: "You mean that..."

Jacket: "Yes. When you touched the screen, you must have entered a code that remotely reactivated the supercomputer in Paris."

Ed: "Really?"

Jacket: "I think so."

The duo decided to turn off the prototype supercomputer and go back up, before continuing to talk about what happened.

Back on the street, they noticed that there were many people outside the house: on the balconies, on the sidewalks, everyone was talking about an anomalous fact: the whole Rome had suffered a total blackout, but lasted only a few seconds. And the same fact has occured in Paris, at the same time.

Jacket and Edward didn't take long to do two plus two.

Ed: "Do you think it's due to...?"

Jacket: "Yes, totally."

So they grabbed their bikes and started to pedal along the way. For a few minutes, there was complete silence between them, a silence that was then broken by Edward.

Ed: "So... what do we do? About the whole thing..."

Jacket: "...I'm not intentioned to abandon everything. I need to know more, to see that French supercom-"

Suddenly Jacket had a flash of genius comparable to a Eureka exclaimed by a Greek coming out of the bathtub.

Jacket: "Tell me Ed. Since you're moving to Paris, what school are you going to?"

Ed: "Well, my parents enrolled me in a certain Kadick boarding school as an internship student. Why do you ask?"

Jacket: "Because according to Waldo Schaeffer's diary, that boarding school is very close to the abandoned factory where the supercomputer is located. It's even connected to the sewerage system under the school".

Ed: "You're not gonna ask me to go to that factory, are you?"

Jacket: "And leave all the fun to you? No fucking way! I think we'll meet again at the Kadick."

Ed: "Oh and tell me, how do you plan to get you transferred there? I don't think your cousins want to move."

Jacket: "I know, in fact, they're not moving in with me. Let's just say it's time to.. stabilize a couple of relationships..."

Ed: "You mean... your parents, who are in Paris?"

Jacket: "More precisely, my father; my mother...well, you already know the whole mess. Anyway, don't worry, I'll do it".

Edward initially seemed incredulous, as usual, but then he showed a big smile

Ed: "All right then, I'll see you in Paris. After all, am I or am I not "The Protector" who will have to protect you... from yourself?"

Jacket: "Hahaha, don't make me laugh..."

Riding the bike, while the sun was setting on the horizon, the two friends gave each other a sound of five.

Jacket: "Anyway, as for that little bet on the phone... you know what? It's still my treat."

Ed: "Are you sure?"

Jacket: "You entered a virtual world, more or less risking your neck bone, didn't you? I won't respect the law and i'm often being an asshole, but I do have the sense of merit!"

Ed: "Thanks Jacket, and anyway...who arrives first will give the other 10 euros!" Edward said and then shoot at full speed on the bike.

Jacket: "You say so? Well, we'll see about that!", so he shot too.

In the end, neither of them won the bet...