Some author rambling to start things off~ If you want to just get to the story, feel free to skip this.

Alright so, if you've read this story before, you might be a bit confused right now. This story had plenty of chapters, but they've just disappeared. This year, 2024, it will become 10 years since I first published this story. I wrote it more or less actively for about a year and then stopped. Life kept throwing stuff at me year after year. I lost interest in many things, writing being one of them. But I always wanted to eventually get back to this story and see it until the end. In the recent couple-ish years things have been settling down slowly but surely and I found myself wanting to be creative again. I thought that I'd finally get back to writing this story that I loved to write.

But I ran into a problem. Past me made story decisions and set up some mysteries and plot points. Past me thought her conclusions to said mysteries and plot points were great and unexpected. Present day me thinks they were lackluster at best and outright dumb at worst. So, my problem was that I had unsolved mysteries set up, but couldn't figure out a way to solve them in a way that I was happy with. Plus, some smaller details here and there that I couldn't agree with anymore. I tried continuing where I left off, but it didn't feel right.

You might have guessed it already, but my solution to this problem was to start over. I plan to remove a lot of things, and to add plenty of new stuff that I believe flesh out the characters and story more. Also, I'd like to think my writing and English skills have improved as I've gotten older. Despite the changes, I hope the "heart and soul" of the story will feel the same as it used to. I won't make any promises on an update schedule, but right now I'm enjoying bringing the story to life again. I hope you will enjoy it as well.

Welcome to the revived and revamped "Girl of Electricity 2.0"

It had been a completely normal morning for the Lyoko warriors so far, though Aelita was still getting used to life on Earth. It had only been a couple months since she got out of Lyoko thanks to Code: Earth. She was overwhelmed but incredibly excited about everything. The colors, the scents, the new information she was learning. Even the smallest of things, such as feeling a light breeze in her hair, seemed to impress her. She was happy.

School was almost over for the day. Only a few minutes of Mrs. Hertz's class until they were free to go. Jeremie was busy being the genius that he was. Aelita was turning out to be quite talented as well. Odd and Ulrich were struggling as usual.

In the middle of that silence Jeremie's laptop began alerting. The gang switched knowing gazes among themselves. XANA had activated a tower. A soundless message was passed: "Run to the factory as soon as the bell rings." Ulrich also sent a text to Yumi telling her about the tower.

"Seriously! Can't XANA give us any free time?" Odd asked right after the bell rang and they made their way towards the factory. "I mean, my shoulder still hurts because principal Delmas threw me at the wall last week."

"Has someone called Yumi?" Aelita asked, completely ignoring what Odd just said.

"I sent a message. She'll be there," Ulrich answered while Odd mumbled something about everyone having no sense of humor since they didn't even react to what he said.

Before too long Yumi caught up to them and they reached the factory. It was all routine by now and before they knew it, they were greeted by the cold blue of the Ice Sector. Jeremie told them the tower was to the northwest. Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd hopped on their vehicles, Aelita sharing Yumi's overwing, and they headed for the tower.

They continuously looked around them, completely alert. But they saw nothing. No monsters in sight. No suspicious sounds. They were already starting to see the red tower in the distance.

"This is really weird," Ulrich said, breaking the piercing silence.

"What's weird?" Jeremie asked, slightly concerned. He re-checked everything on the screen but couldn't see any threats.

"Yeah, Ulrich, what's the matter?" Odd asked without a care in the world. "There are no monsters nearby. The tower's over there. Just treat this like a walk in the park in warm sunshi-"

"That's my point. It's way too quiet," Ulrich interrupted Odd. "If I know XANA, I'd say it wouldn't let us just dance our way to the tower this easily. Something's definitely wrong. Everything ok on your end, Jeremie?"

Jeremie looked around carefully listening to every tiny sound he could hear. "Yeah. Nothing's wrong. But you're right. Be extra cautious out there. I'll alert you right away if I see something." He squinted his eyes at the screen. What are you planning this time, XANA? he wondered.

Barely a minute passed when Aelita asked: "Jeremie, we're almost at the tower and still no signs of any monsters. You see anything?" She was very clearly worried. All of them were getting more and more paranoid by the second.

"I still see nothing. Could it really be that XANA would let us deactivate the tower without putting up a fight? No way. He always has something planned out."

"Could it be that XANA's just toying with us? Trying to confuse us?" Yumi suggested, trying to make some sense out of the situation.

"Could be," Jeremie said. "But I honestly don't know."

They stopped their vehicles at a safe distance from the tower. Even if they saw no monsters, one reckless move could get Aelita devirtualized and leave the tower active. XANA would be free to do whatever it wanted. They didn't want that. Best to proceed with caution. They spent several minutes looking around while guarding Aelita, making sure nothing would surprise them.

Still, nothing.

"I think I should just go to the tower. Maybe XANA truly doesn't want to stop us, as weird as it sounds," Aelita said. The others thought for a moment, looked around them one more time, and agreed. Aelita walked towards the tower. She didn't rush but instead took her time since they weren't sure whether XANA had a trick up its sleeve or not.

XANA did have one.

Aelita was halfway to the tower when she saw someone coming out of it. A girl with long blue hair. Some of her hair was covered by the wide hood of her sleeveless black coat. It was shorter on the front and longer on the back. Her forearms were protected by wide metallic black bracelets and her boots almost reached her knees.

"Jeremie, do you see this?" Aelita asked slowly backing away from the tower and the girl.

"I see something, but I have no idea what it is. Can you describe what it looks like?"

"First of all, it's not a what. It's a who," Odd pointed out matter-of-factly.

"A girl. She has blue hair and a black outfit. I can't explain it, but she seems somehow… electric," Yumi provided a much more useful description. Ulrich was nodding at what she said.

"I know what you mean. Can't really make sense of it, but I noticed the same," he said.

"Jeremie, what should we-," Aelita tried to ask him but Jeremie interrupted her.

"Does she have a weapon?"

"Doesn't seem like it, but you can never know for sure," Yumi answered.

"Try talking to her," Jeremie suggested. "But keep your distance in case she attacks you."

"Doesn't seem that chatty to me. She's just standing there in front of the tower," Odd said. The others agreed with him, for once. But Aelita thought for a moment and started to walk towards the tower again.

"Aelita, no," Yumi stopped her. "I'll go first. What if she suddenly attacks you? We can't take that risk."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Aelita admitted and walked next to Odd and Ulrich who were a little further away, while Yumi approached the blue-haired girl. She kept glancing back at the others who were very clearly alert for any surprises and the air was filled with uncertainty.

"Hi," Yumi said to the girl once she was only a few meters away. The girl still hadn't done or said anything. "Can you hear me?" Yumi was almost sure she wouldn't answer. But she did.

"I can hear you. Actually, I heard everything you said back there." Her voice was quite monotonous but had a pleasant and soft ring to it. Again, Yumi looked back at her friends for reassurance. Ulrich nodded, as if to tell her to keep talking to the girl.

"Who are you? Do you know why you're here?"

"Yes. I know exactly why I am here." Silence followed.

"And the reason is…?" Yumi asked.

"To get to know all of you better."

After saying that she lifted her hand and immediately a scythe appeared. Before Yumi could even react, the girl sprinted forward, striking the blade right through Yumi's stomach. Her life points depleted from 100 to 0 in an instant. The next thing she saw was the familiar sight of the scanner room.

"That was so not fair!" Odd yelled and dashed towards the girl shooting laser arrows like a madman. She dodged most of them like it was nothing, some she reflected with her scythe, and a couple hit her shoulder and leg. Her movement was elegant and light. Her spinning allowed the others to see the decorative blue and grey skull at the back of her coat.

Once Odd ran out of arrows, she hit the ground hard with her scythe and quickly drew an arc. The arc grew and formed a blue see-through wall that was heading in Odd's direction with high speed.

"Oh, no, no, no." Odd desperately tried to react in time and jump out of the way. But in his surprised state he didn't jump quickly enough. The wall hit him and he fell on the ground. It only cost him 20 life points but it did leave him dazed and unable to focus. Before he knew it, more similar walls came at him, each throwing him back more and more until he was devirtualized.

"That was so. Not. Fair!" Odd screamed and punched the scanner out of frustration, swearing to himself that next time he would get back at her.

At the same time on Lyoko, Aelita and Ulrich were quickly making up a plan to get Aelita to the tower. Ulrich was feeling relieved that he didn't join in on Odd's reckless attack since protecting Aelita was priority number 1.

"So, I'll distract her while you get to the tower, okay," Ulrich said to Aelita, to which she nodded. Aelita moved to the side, to a safe distance from the girl and Ulrich, while Ulrich drew his katana and began walking ahead.

"Hey, you!" he called out. "I find it kinda rude how you ignored Yumi's first question. Who are you?" The girl's attention seemed to be fully on Ulrich, so Aelita used the opportunity to sneak towards the tower behind some icy spikes to the side.

"My name is Olivie," she answered and bowed lightly.

"Well, I'm Ulrich and I'm guessing I'm your enemy," he responded, mirroring her bow.

"It does seem like it," Olivie said. "Would you care to fight with me? Since the first one did not know what was coming and the second one did not stand a chance. I admit, that was very unfair of me. But you will get a more equal fight. What do you say?"

I have a strong feeling she's only toying with me. But I must keep her busy until Aelita gets to the tower. Also, I'm kinda eager to see if I can defeat her, Ulrich thought.

"Fine then. We'll fight," he finally replied.

He sprinted forward, his katana aimed straight at Olivie. At the last moment she stepped to the side, tripping Ulrich with the end of her scythe. He stumbled a bit but quickly regained his balance and turned back to face her. Is she really just messing with me here?

He jumped back into the fight, trying to land a blow. With the same graceful movements as before she kept dodging or parrying each and every one of Ulrich's strikes, though some of the blows did set her back a little. Occasionally, she replied with a swing of her scythe, but Ulrich was able to parry them fairly easily. He noted that her attacks were more sluggish and slower compared to before, which he guessed she was doing on purpose. Ok, she's definitely just messing with me. But why?

In the midst of the fight Ulrich heard a cheer coming from Jeremie, Yumi and Odd and noticed the tower turn from red back to blue. Olivie didn't even seem to notice it and continued the fight like nothing had happened.

"Why do you bother fighting?" Ulrich asked her. "You already failed. The tower's been deactivated."

"Protecting the tower was not the objective I was given. I see no reason not to continue our battle to the end. Besides, this is still just practice."

"What do you mean, practi-" Ulrich didn't get the chance to finish his question as Olivie suddenly upped her speed and started mercilessly striking at him. Ulrich parried the blows as quickly as he possibly could, but his focus had been thrown off. His grip on the katana was getting poor. Olivie turned her scythe and twisted the katana out of Ulrich's hands, sending it flying. Ulrich was left weaponless and was forced to admit defeat.

"It was a pleasure fighting with you, my lady," Ulrich said joking.

"Likewise," Olivie answered in the same manner and devirtualized him with a single fast strike. Ulrich swore he could see a hint of a smirk on her face.

I am proud of you. You keep exceeding my expectations every day. Today was no exception and it seems like you enjoyed it, a voice echoed inside of Olivie's head.

"You are right, it was fun fighting them. But they seemed like nice people, and I am getting kind of lonely here," she said.

They are not nice people. Humans could never understand you. They are not needed. Understood?

"Understood XANA."