Note: So far, this story doesn't seem to have a lot of attention brought to it. I hope that it changes as time goes on, as I had an idea like this for quite some time. After all, if my other stories can get more attention, why not this one? Anyway, in order to keep myself from rambling on, it's time for chapter three.
Chapter 3: LyokoLand
After walking past the boardwalk, the Lyoko Warriors found themselves in an area where the carnies resided. While they were there, Jeremy looked at the coordinates that were posted below the email the group had received from X.A.N.A. By looking at them, he was able to determine that the location where the email was sent from was close by. Leading his friends out of the area, the blonde had them search for any location that looked like a factory. There were several old buildings that surrounded them, which made finding such a location difficult. With it being dark, reading signs was easier said than done, given how little light was around.
Upon seeing a brick building, Odd signaled for everyone to come to him. Once they were together, the Lyoko Warriors and Sissi had seen what used to be a factory. The door to the building wasn't locked, perhaps not being locked by the employees during its last day of business. However, by looking at the walls of the building, the group could tell that it had a different enterprise than the factory back home. This made it more bizarre for one of X.A.N.A's plans, assuming this was where he was intending to reside to begin with. Given how he was an AI, they expected him to hide somewhere that was far more technologically advanced, but he wasn't.
"A dog food factory?" Aelita asked.
"X.A.N.A must really be desperate if he's contacting us from here." Ulrich said.
"There has to be more to his plan than this." Jeremy said.
"Wait, there's something on the door!" Odd said, pointing ahead of him.
Looking over at the entrance of the factory, Jeremy saw a piece of paper taped to it. Taking it off the door, he took it to the others, having them read it with him. By looking at the page, they saw that it said the following:
The computer lab has just been finished downstairs. It will be an asset to Seymour's Bay once enough people see the project.
"Well," Jeremy said, "it looks like we have our first clue as to what X.A.N.A could be up to."
"Should we go inside?" Yumi asked.
"We're gonna have to!" The blonde said. "If we don't find this lab, then we won't be able to fight X.A.N.A!"
Pushing the door open, the Lyoko Warriors entered the factory. Sissi was the first to enter, being let in by Ulrich. He entered shortly after, with Yumi and Jeremy beside him. Aelita was behind them, wanting to get into the factory as quick as she could. William was up next, intent on seeing what the computer lab looked like. Odd was the last member of the group to enter the factory, leaving the door open.
"Odd, close the door!" Jeremy said.
"Come on, Einstein, we're only gonna be in here long enough to check out the lab." Odd said. "I'll close it later."
Jeremy only rolled his eyes. As much as Odd was a valuable teammate, he could also be very reckless. The group hoped that he would grow out of it sometime soon, but they had a feeling that he wouldn't. Putting that aside, the Lyoko Warriors looked around for anything that would take them downstairs. They were having no success. None of them knew the history of the dog food factory, not even knowing when it had closed. If it had closed before the invention of the electronic elevator, then they would have to take a stairway. Such a thing was an outcome the would happen if they could find one.
As the others looked around, Sissi felt uncomfortable by her surroundings. To her, it was like standing in a horror movie where the main characters would be hunted by the villain. It didn't help that the Lyoko Warriors seemed more concerned with finding something that would take them downstairs. Stepping forward, Sissi caught a glimpse of something that was near the back wall. It was a bookcase, but it looked like it was blocking something. While the brunette couldn't tell exactly what was behind the bookcase, she knew that the others would want to see it.
"Hey, guys, over here!" Sissi spoke.
Walking over to where Sissi was standing, the Lyoko Warriors saw the bookcase that was in their way. Moving it aside, Aelita and Odd saw that there was a door behind it. Without hesitation, Aelita opened the door, finding that it was in front of a staircase that led downstairs. Walking down it, the Lyoko Warriors found themselves face-to-face with another door. Telling the others to stand back, Jeremy turned the knob, intent on opening the door. He pulled back, closing his eyes before the room was even revealed to anyone.
After opening the door, Jeremy opened his eyes. From there, he was able to see what the computer lab looked like. The lab itself was much smaller than the one the Lyoko Warriors had used to enter Lyoko. Wanting to get a better look, the group stepped into the room, which was dimly lit by a greenish-yellow glow. On one side of the lab, there was a ladder that led down to another area of it. On the other side, there were five tubes that were big enough for a person to step into, being made of circuits and other forms of electronics. In the center, there was a computer, but it was a different model than the computer that was in the original factory.
"Five Scanners?" Odd asked.
"Who could've built this lab?" Yumi asked.
"Maybe it was someone with too much free time on their hands." Sissi said.
"Or maybe X.A.N.A built it to boast that he was back." Aelita said, having some fear in her voice.
"Whatever the reason, we need to investigate this lab." Jeremy said, taking a seat near the computer.
Upon looking at the computer, Jeremy saw that it had a different set up than the one at the factory back home. On the screen, there was a black display with white text going down it. There were lines of text, each showing a different operation. The Lyoko Warriors crowded around Jeremy, taking a look at the screen for themselves. Each of them were surprised, being unfamiliar with the computer's operating system. Jeremy, on the other hand, had seen the display before, having read about it in magazines about computer technology of the past.
"What's with the computer?" Odd asked. "Why does it look like it's in sleep mode?"
"It's powered by MS-DOS." Jeremy said. "It was the primary operating system of personal computers during the 80s and the 90s."
"So X.A.N.A was so desperate for a rematch that he got a computer with an operating system that no one uses anymore?" Ulrich asked.
"I wouldn't say that DOS isn't used anymore." The blonde said. "You can still get computers that carry it online, and that's not counting the websites where you can buy the games that were compatible with it."
"But how will we know where to find Lyoko?" Aelita asked.
"Type in 'Games', Jeremy." Yumi spoke.
After typing in "Games", Jeremy was greeted by several different titles. A majority of them were well-known games that were hits around the MS-DOS era, such as DOOM and Jazz Jackrabbit. Continuing down the options, Jeremy tried to look for something that could potentially have ties to Lyoko. The search was proving rather fruitless, as he didn't know where it would be located on the list. No matter where he searched, the blonde couldn't find anything in the games that were presented to him. He was just about to give up and go back to the primary DOS display, until he heard Aelita gasp.
"Jeremy," she spoke, "stop scrolling down, I see something!"
"Where?" Jeremy asked.
"There!" Aelita said, pointing at a certain area on the screen.
Looking where Aelita was pointing, Jeremy saw a suspicious title in the library of games.
"LyokoLand." Jeremy read the title.
"LyokoLand?" Odd asked.
"X.A.N.A turned Lyoko into a retro computer game?" Yumi asked.
"Hold on," Jeremy said, "we don't know if it's any different than Lyoko, or if it's the same one."
"If it's the same Lyoko we entered before, then we have another portal to it." Ulrich said.
Selecting LyokoLand from the list of games, Jeremy waited for it to boot up. After a few seconds, the game had started. Upon seeing it, the Lyoko Warriors saw that it had a similar layout to the supercomputer that they had used to enter Lyoko before. It was in much lower resolution, looking like a game that was released during the mid '90s. However, no one doubted that it was the same virtual world that they had accessed before. Sissi was unsure of what to think, but it all looked familiar to her.
Before Jeremy could do anything, something flashed on the screen. It was a window displaying how to start a new game on LyokoLand. The window showed one of the tubes that were standing to the left of the Lyoko Warriors, being the Scanners for this new lab. Knowing what it wanted them to do, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita went for the Scanners. William was about to go to one, but Yumi gestured for him to stay out of it. Once they were inside, the four teens told Jeremy to begin uploading them to the computer.
"Alright." Jeremy said. "Scanner, Ulrich!"
The Scanner Ulrich was inside came on, downloading an avatar of him to the supercomputer. Once it was done, Jeremy moved on to the others.
"Scanner, Yumi!" He said.
With the Scanner activating around her, Yumi waited for it to scan her. Her avatar was uploaded, adding another person to the supercomputer.
"Scanner, Odd!" Jeremy said.
Upon being scanned, Odd felt thrilled that he would be entering Lyoko again. Even if Lyoko was much different than how it was back home, then he wouldn't have minded. The blonde's avatar came up on the screen, showing that he had been added. With only Aelita left, Jeremy moved onto her.
"Scanner, Aelita!" The teen said.
Aelita stood still as her body was scanned, waiting for it to get done. Her avatar had been added to the supercomputer, giving LyokoLand another player. When that was out of the way, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita came out of the Scanners. The four of them looked ready to be virtualized again, intent on fighting X.A.N.A's forces yet again. Jeremy smiled at them, knowing that feeling. William and Sissi were quiet, with the former looking a bit dismayed that he couldn't join them.
"With your avatars on this supercomputer, you can be virtualized in no time." Jeremy said.
"Hopefully, X.A.N.A didn't rig the new Scanners to blow up the moment we're in Lyoko." Odd said.
"From what I can tell, he hasn't." The blonde said. "I don't even know if there's an activated Tower on here."
"If there is, we would know." Aelita said.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" William asked. "Won't you need an extra hand?"
"Maybe next time, William." The pink-haired girl said.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want X.A.N.A to get ahold of you again." Yumi said.
"Understandable." William said, knowing that his last mission on Lyoko ended with X.A.N.A possessing him.
"So, what do we do now?" Ulrich asked.
"I suppose we should head back to Wagstaff." Jeremy said. "We've still got to prepare assignments for the students we'll be teaching."
"Boy, will that be fun." Sissi said out of sarcasm.
"C'mon, Sissi, we're the teachers now!" Odd said.
"That's easy for you guys to say!" The brunette said. "At least you're not trying to teach some stupid kids how to read!"
"We can complain later." Yumi said. "In the meantime, we should get out of here before someone gets suspicious."
One by one, the group walked out of the lab, going up the staircase.
"Jeremy, is it really such a good idea to leave this place unattended?" Ulrich asked.
"The lab back home was always on when we were at Kadic, so I wouldn't be too worried." Jeremy said. "But, just to be safe, someone should close the door to the factory."
From outside the abandoned dog food factory, the Belcher siblings watched as their new tutors walked out. Seeing them at a location like that surprised the three, as they heard the teenagers claim that they were going back to Wagstaff. They knew that they were lying, but they didn't expect them to head to a factory. While Tina thought that the teens were just trying to turn the factory into their new hangout, Gene and Louise sensed that something was up. Why would a bunch of teens, let alone a group of assigned tutors, head to an abandoned factory in the dead of night? This was rubbing the Belcher children the wrong way.
"Okay, Louise, now that we've seen where they went, can we go home?" Tina whispered.
"No, I want to know why they came here!" Louise quietly said.
"And if it's not because they were talking to Mr. Frond in there, I will be greatly disappointed!" Gene whispered.
Once the tutors were out of sight, Louise led her brother and sister over to the factory. The door was closed, but it was nothing that they could get through. Louise turned the knob on the door, pulling it outwards. When the factory was open, she gestured for her siblings to enter it. Before anyone could step inside, they heard someone walking up to them.
"What are you guys doing?" A familiar voice asked.
Turning around, Tina, Gene and Louise saw Henry Haber walking up to them. He was an overweight eighth grader with brown hair. Despite that, he was very intelligent, being one of the smartest children at Wagstaff, if not the school's lead genius. While the boy had been perceived as boring and nerdy by his peers, there was more to him than meets the eye. Among his feats in the past was manipulating everyone in order to become the Student Body President. It was enough of a grand scheme that Louise was impressed, even saying that Henry would be a great President.
"We were just wondering why the new tutors came here." Gene said.
"You mean the tutors who arrived at school today?" Henry asked.
"No, we mean the tutors that showed up on Study Island." Louise sarcastically said.
"We only wanted to see what they were doing, because they looked familiar!" Gene said.
"And not like the familiars that witches use in certain stories." Tina stated.
"I know what you mean." Henry said.
"Then why are you here?" Louise asked.
"Because I've been having dreams where I'm stuck in a tundra of some kind, with large white pillars being the only things that were near me." He said. "Every time I had these dreams, I wound up being surrounded by creatures that resembled spiders. As I attempted to walk away from them, the freaks chased after me. In order to escape, I walked near one of the pillars, only to somehow go right into it. While I was inside, I saw a platform that took me up. I don't know how to explain, but it was a strange symbol, being the same one that was on the spider-like creatures."
"What did it look like?" Tina asked.
Pulling out a notebook, Henry began to draw on one of its pages. After he was done, the boy turned it to the Belcher siblings. Seeing the symbol that was drawn shocked them, as it had appeared in their dreams as well. While Tina couldn't always remember what it looked like, Gene and Louise couldn't get it out of their heads. It was the kind of thing that no one would ever forget, even if it was something from a dream. With the dreams that they had been having, Tina, Gene, and Louise now knew that they weren't the only ones who were having them.
"That symbol!" Gene said. "I've seen it as well!"
"When?" Henry asked.
"In one of my recent dreams!" The preteen said. "During that dream, I was in school when the computer lab started acting up. Each of the computers were glitching out, with one having the symbol on it. Then a monster jumped out of the lab and attacked me."
"Wasn't there a virus in the computer lab a week ago?" Tina asked.
"There was," Henry said, "but I don't see what it has to do with Gene's nightmare."
"What about the symbol?" The girl asked.
"I think I know where it came from." Louise said, gesturing to the factory's door.
"You think it came from the old dog food factory?" Henry asked.
"Not from the factory," she said, "but from somewhere else. I think the tutors said something about a computer lab that's downstairs."
"What's say we go check it out?" The eighth grader asked.
Nodding in agreement, Louise walked over to the factory, pulling the door open. Once the entrance was open, she let Henry in. Gene and Tina were reluctant to go in, but their sister reassured them, reminding them of the promise she had made. Wanting her to honor that promise, the two older Belcher siblings entered the factory. Unbeknownst to them, however, one of the tutors overheard the door to the factory opening and closing.
"Uh, Jeremy?"
Upon entering the factory, Henry and the Belcher siblings found themselves in darkness. That was until they saw a door on the back wall with a faint glow coming out of it. Seeing it as a clue as to where to go, Louise went over and opened the door. Doing so caused the light to glow brighter, which was almost blinding for Gene and Tina. Henry closed his eyes, but had enough vision to see what awaited him. He led the Belcher children down a staircase, even gesturing for Tina to close the door behind her. With that out of the way, they were able to enter the supposed computer lab.
Stepping into the lab, the Belcher children got a glimpse of something they thought they would never see. By seeing the giant tubes that looked made of all sorts of technology, they were awestruck. Henry was rather disappointed by it, as he hoped that it would be much bigger. In addition to that, the spectacled preteen was expecting for there to be more computers, but there was only a single one. The computer itself didn't even look high tech, looking like a model that was sold in the mid 90s. Either way, there was something more to the computer lab, even if it didn't look like much.
"This is the lab?" Gene asked.
"It's huge!" Tina cried.
"All of this extra room for a single computer and five pillars?" Henry asked.
"Looks like the computer lab is all lab, and no computer." Louise snarked.
"There is a computer, Louise, it's just in the middle of the room." He said.
Looking over to the sole computer in the lab, Tina, Gene, and Louise were dumbfounded. Despite all of the fantastic technology that could've been in the room, there was only a single computer. The thing was old, coming from a time before any of them were born. They had used old computers before, primarily at Wagstaff, but this one looked older than those ones. Henry shared their disappointment, but seemed to be more fascinated by its retro elements. Sitting down next to it, he got a better look at its hardware.
"What kind of computer is this?" Louise asked.
"It's an old PC, most likely from the 90s." Henry said. "From what I can tell, it has MSDOS built into it."
"But how will we know what the tutors are up to?" Gene asked.
"Sometimes, Gene, you have to do some digging." The older boy said.
Seeing the options that were in front of him, Henry began to search the computer. To begin with, he looked through the DOS interface, trying to find programs such as Word or Access. Believing that such programs wouldn't provide much in terms of clues, the brunette moved on to saved files, only to find a few lines of text that were titled in gibberish. Deciding not to enter any of them, he went back to the main screen. He surmised where he would find something, given how his previous searches seemed to yield no results. At the moment, it seemed like Henry was at a dead end.
Wanting to put off the search, Henry decided to enter the games that were more than likely saved into DOS. Once he entered it, the brunette saw an extensive list of game titles, including ones he had never heard of before. The computer's previous owner, whoever that may be, seemed to be a proud user of older computers and operating systems, not that Henry minded. He would occasionally read about certain computers and the games that were released on them. But, there was something off about the whole thing. The brunette scrolled down the list of games, hoping to find something interesting.
"Hey, what's that?" Tina asked, pointing at the screen.
Looking at the screen, Henry saw an interesting title in the middle of the list of games: LyokoLand. Having never heard of such a game, the brunette selected it from the games, hitting the y key as confirmation. Once the game came up, he and the Belcher children were surprised by what they saw before them. They expected the game to be some obscure, poorly-made game, but it was something completely different. On the screen was a layout that looked like something from an online game that was popular among teenagers and computer nerds, complete with small windows showing different portions of data. Henry, Tina, Gene, and Louise couldn't believe their eyes.
"That's incredible!" Louise said.
"It looks like some kind of primitive MMORPG!" Henry stated.
"Big time!" Tina gasped.
"But how do you play it?" Gene asked.
As if to answer Gene's question, a window came up on the screen. The window displayed the tubes that were on the other side of the room, albeit with people inside of them. It was clear to the kids that they would have to enter said tubes in order to play LyokoLand. Louise was willing to do so, while Tina and Gene were a bit reluctant to do so. The girl practically dragged her siblings to the tubes, having them enter the ones she would be between. Before stepping into hers, the nine-year-old turned back to Henry.
"Henry, are you coming?" She asked.
"I'm just going to stay out here." Henry asked. "I'll try to get you guys in there."
The tubes closed up with the Belcher siblings inside of them, each door shutting slowly. Once the three were ready, Henry looked for a way to get them into LyokoLand. A window came up on the screen, instructing him on what to do in order to enter the game. Typing what he needed to, the brunette was taken through a tutorial for logging into it. As he did so, the tubes came on, illuminating around the Belcher children. Puzzled by this, Henry continued on, wondering what would happen next.
While Henry was working on getting them into LyokoLand, Tina, Gene, and Louise were going through some sort of process. To begin, the tubes were blowing air upwards, hard enough to propel them to the top of each one. After that, they saw huge metal rings going down, with bright lights shooting out of them. Worried about being blinded, the Belcher children shut their eyes, ignoring the rings coming down at them. All while this was happening, strange noises were coming out of the tubes. They sounded like a printer that was in the process of copying something that was on the computer.
As the Belcher children were getting ready, Henry saw something odd on the screen. There were three cards that looked almost like ID cards, but were completely blank. Without warning, they filled up, as if they were having data saved to them. The cards gained the faces of Tina, Gene, and Louise, signaling that they had been saved into the game. Once that was out of the way, all Henry had to do was press something that would get them into LyokoLand. Seeing the Enter key, the brunette figured that that would be it.
"Stop!" A voice rang into the computer lab.
Startled by the shouting, Henry turned around and saw the tutors standing in the way. Each of them looked afraid, almost having looks of concern on their faces. They ran towards Henry, their eyes focused on the computer. In response, the brunette gave them a suspicious look. Now that the teens were here, he was intent on asking them some questions on what he thought was a video game. Little did he know, it was something else.
"Whatever you do, don't touch anything!" Ulrich said.
"Why?" Henry spoke. "All I'm doing is trying to find out what's happening at the moment!"
Pressing the Enter key, Henry allowed the computer to load Tina, Gene, and Louise. After that, the Belcher siblings felt a gust of wind blow upwards, followed by a bright light. The light consumed them, as if it were teleporting them to somewhere else. As it happened, the three screamed, unsure of what was going to happen next. They shut their eyes, but it didn't distract them from a painful sensation that overcame them. It felt like they were being disintegrated and sucked up into something.
After feeling an untold amount of pain, Tina, Gene, and Louise found themselves in a strange world. The place was desolate, as if there was no signs of life for miles. By looking around, Gene could see that the area he and his sisters was in was surrounded by trees and vines. Once Tina got a look, she saw that there was a long way down from where they were standing. Fortunately, there was a body of water below the area, meaning that the Belcher children would be safe if they fell down. However, something told them that they were not alone.
"Wow, this place is beautiful!" Tina spoke.
"Are we in the game?" Gene asked.
"Yeah, obviously!" Louise said. "All that's left is to get out of here!"
"How do we do that?" The boy asked.
"I'm sure Henry knows how to get us out." The girl said.
Looking ahead of him, Gene saw that Tina and Louise weren't wearing the clothes they had on before. Rather, they were wearing outfits of some kind. Tina was wearing a blue bodysuit that had black streaks going down it and leather combat boots. Her outfit even had a silver pole on the back, being a holster for a weapon perhaps. As for Louise, her bunny ears had been replaced with a red bandana that covered the top of her head. For her outfit, the nine-year-old had what looked like the outfit of a soldier from the United States Army, but with no visible weapons. Gene then looked at himself, only to find that he was now wearing an outfit that made him look like a cowboy.
The Belcher children's new appearances seemed to confuse them, as they had no idea what to do. They examined themselves, finding that they each had a weapon. Tina pulled out a weapon from the holster on her back, finding that she now had a bō staff. Gene looked at his outfit, finding that he had a gun holster. However, the gun itself resembled a blaster from a science fiction movie. Louise reached into her pants pockets, pulling out a couple of throwing knives.
"This is some pretty cool gear!" Gene said.
"But we still don't know what to do." Tina said.
"Maybe we're supposed to use the weapons on each other." Louise said, intent on using her knives.
Before they could do anything, a laser was fired at Tina, Gene, and Louise, causing them to back away from each other. Looking to the side, the three saw a few weird creatures moving towards them. They looked like cockroaches, but with four mechanical legs and a robotic red eye. Something that the Belcher siblings noticed was that the eye was the same symbol that Henry had drawn for them. Knowing that the creatures weren't friendly, Tina was ready to run. However, Louise and Gene looked at each other, then at the monsters, intent on fighting them.
Back in the real world, the Lyoko Warriors, Sissi, and Henry were speaking with each other. The teens weren't happy that he had virtualized Tina, Gene, and Louise, saying that they weren't ready for it. Jeremy in particular didn't want them to be victimized by X.A.N.A, as he would no doubt see them as new meat. His fear was proven true when he looked over at the supercomputer, as several monsters were moving in for an attack. Much to the blonde's relief, the monsters weren't some of the more difficult ones.
Picking up a headset that was hidden underneath the desk, Jeremy spoke into it, hoping that the Belchers would hear him.
"Hey, are you in there?" He spoke.
"Jeremy?" Tina's voice came out of the headset.
"Yeah, it's me." Jeremy said.
"Well, where are you at?" Louise spoke. "We can hear your voice, but you're not near us!"
"That's because I'm in the real world while you're on Lyoko." The blonde said.
"Lyoko?" The nine-year-old responded. "Don't you mean LyokoLand?"
"Actually, its real name is Lyoko." The teen said. "It's called LyokoLand because someone masked a portal to it as a video game."
"I knew that it wasn't a video game." Gene spoke.
"Now that you're in, are there any weird creatures approaching you?"
"Yeah, there are a few cockroach things firing at us." Louise said.
"But nothing's working!" Tina shouted. "We keep firing at these things, but we keep missing!"
"Don't worry, I'm sending help right away!"
Putting down the headset, Jeremy turned back to the others. His eyes focused on Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi and Odd, intending to virtualize them. While the blonde was thinking of sending William to Lyoko with them, he figured that the mission wouldn't get to that point. After all, there were already three on Lyoko, so adding four would help it move faster.
"Ready to be virtualized, guys?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah!" Ulrich said.
"It's about time!" Yumi spoke.
"I can't wait to fight again!" Odd said.
"We'll head to the scanners, Jeremy!" Aelita said. "Get the Virtualization process ready!"
Running to the Scanners, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita stepped inside four of them. Once they were inside, Jeremy got the supercomputer ready for the Virtualization process. Before he could start it, the blonde made sure to check where Tina, Gene, and Louise were at. From what he could tell, they were in what amounted to LyokoLand's version of the Forest Sector. Knowing that, the teen would have no problem sending his friends to save the Belcher children.
"Transfer: Ulrich!" Jeremy said, typing on the keyboard. "Transfer: Yumi! Transfer: Odd! Transfer: Aelita!"
The Scanners activated, with Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita being put through the Transfer process.
"Scanner: Ulrich!" Jeremy continued. "Scanner: Yumi! Scanner: Odd! Scanner: Aelita!"
One by one, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita were Scanned. The process gave them an entry to Lyoko, with their avatars ready for use. With the four teens having gone through the Scanning process, all that awaited them was Virtualization. Knowing that they had little time to spare, Jeremy set his friends' destination for the Forest Sector. He wanted to be quick, as the Belcher children could be thrown into the Digital Sea at any moment (assuming that LyokoLand had it).
"Virtualization!" Jeremy said without hesitation, hitting "Enter" on the keyboard.
Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita were then virtualized onto Lyoko. After that, Jeremy watched as they arrived in the Forest Sector. The process was shown to be slower on the new supercomputer, unlike how it was on the supercomputer at the factory near Kadic. Perhaps it was due to the new one being far less advanced than the original supercomputer, given how it was an MS-DOS PC. It didn't matter to the Lyoko Warriors, as they were intent on getting Tina, Gene, and Louise out of it.
"Jeremy," Yumi spoke, "we're heading to where the kids are! Is there anything coming towards us?"
"Not from what I can tell." Jeremy spoke into the headset. "The monsters seem to be going after the Belcher children, though, so get to them before they get knocked into the Digital Sea!"
"On it, Einstein!" Odd said.
Meanwhile, Tina, Gene, and Louise were still surrounded by the roach-like creatures. They were having no luck trying to fight them off, as their weapons were doing nothing to the monsters. Even worse, the weird creatures were continually firing at the Belcher siblings, not showing any mercy. As they had no way of avoiding the onslaught, the three only had one option left: jumping into the water below. They didn't know what was going to happen, but they hoped that doing so would take them back to the real world. It was the only option they had, as the monsters wouldn't stop shooting at them.
"Laser Arrow!" A familiar voice screamed.
Turning around, Gene saw one of the monsters explode. Something hit it, but the preteen couldn't tell what. Before he could wonder for much longer, he saw two pink lights hitting two of the roach-like creatures. A whirring noise accompanied a rotating glow in the air, working like a boomerang. This was followed by a quick-moving yellow light, along with three more of the monsters exploding. Convincing Tina and Louise to turn around, Gene watched as something killed all of the roaches. To their surprise, their saviors turned out to be four of the tutors.
Now that the monsters were gone, the Belcher siblings could see what the four tutors were wearing. Ulrich was dressed in a yellow and black outfit that came with two sabers. Yumi's outfit was a dark burgundy with magenta accents, magenta sneakers, and capsules on top of her eyebrows. Odd was wearing a purple outfit, which had hints of a cat, from the claws to the ears. As for Aelita, she was wearing a pink and pale green outfit. It even had a star-shaped watch, though Tina, Gene, and Louise didn't know what it was for.
"Are you guys alright?" Aelita asked.
"Yeah." Louise said.
"We're not dead, so we're fine." Gene said.
"Yes!" Tina said, frightened.
"Do you have any idea how hurt you could've gotten?!" Odd asked, crossing his arms.
"None of you should be in Lyoko!" Yumi said. "We need to get you out of here!"
"Yeah, especially since the three of you can't take down a group of Roachsters!" Ulrich said.
"Give them a break, guys!" Jeremy's voice rang out. "They're still new at this!"
"But they've still got a lot to learn." Yumi stated.
"Aside from that," the blonde spoke through the headset, "do you see any activated Towers, Aelita?"
"Not yet, Jeremy, but I have a feeling that we're getting close." Aelita said.
Before Tina could say anything, a strange noise filled her ears. It sounded like something solid was rolling on linoleum. This sent a shiver down her spine, as if she were in a horror movie. The fact that no one else seemed to notice the sound made it worse.
"Does anyone else hear that?" Tina spoke.
"Guys," Jeremy's voice rang out, "keep your eyes open! There's a Megatank coming your way!"
"Don't worry, Jeremy, we'll have it destroyed in no time!" Yumi said.
Having had enough of being left in the dark about the world they were in, the Belcher siblings approached the four tutors.
"What the heck is a Megatank?" Louise asked.
"And why do we have to destroy it?" Gene asked.
"Because it's one of X.A.N.A's monsters." Odd said. "They try to prevent us from reaching the Tower whenever we need to have Aelita deactivate it."
"Towers can be activated and deactivated?" The middle Belcher child spoke. "Where has this world been all my life?!"
"We should really give you guys the full story." Ulrich said.
"But, for now, all you need to know is that X.A.N.A is trying to attack Seymour's Bay." Aelita said. "If I don't deactivate the Tower, then the attacks will persist!"
"In that case," Louise said, "we need to get you to the Tower!"
With their priorities changed, Tina, Gene, and Louise decided to look for the Tower with Aelita. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd followed them, knowing that the Belcher children were still inexperienced when it came to fighting on Lyoko. As they searched for the Tower, the three teens could hear the Megatank approaching. This made them want to get away from it as fast as possible. If the Megatank devirtualized one of them, then there wouldn't be much of a problem. However, if Aelita got devirtualized, then they would be unable to deactivate the Tower.
After nearly thirty minutes, the Belcher children and the Lyoko Warriors found themselves in front of a massive white pillar that had black cables coming out of it. The pillar seemed to have a lid on it, despite not looking like anything that would contain something. In addition to that, there was a red glow on the upper area of it, which occasionally turned green. It didn't take long for Tina, Gene, and Louise to figure out that the pillar was one of the Towers that their tutors had mentioned. And, considering how the Megatank seemed to be getting closer to the group, they knew that they had to get Aelita into the Tower as soon as possible. Everyone stood around her, deciding to protect her from the monster that would be arriving in no time.
Before anyone could do anything, a massive black ball rolled towards them. It had two of the same symbols that were on the roach-like creatures, but it had a line running down the middle.
"Aelita, get in the Tower, quick!" Jeremy shouted.
"On it!" Aelita said, phasing into the Tower.
"Wait, this is the Megatank?" Louise asked, sounding disappointed at the orb that rolled towards her.
Without warning, the ball split in half. This allowed the Belcher children to get an idea of what the Megatank was. Upon splitting in half, the monster revealed itself to have metal framework and pink flesh connecting its halves. In the middle of the Megatank was another ominous symbol, much like how it had them on its outside. While Tina, Gene, and Louise were somewhat sickened by what the creature looked like when unfolded, they knew that they had to destroy it. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd were immediately up for the fight, taking out their weapons.
The Megatank began to glow in the middle, looking like it was charging up for something. Knowing what was about to happen, Ulrich and Odd got Tina out of the way. Yumi did the same for Gene, pulling him out of the Megatank's range. Louise didn't move, thinking that she would be able to take it on. While she was able to throw her knife at the monster, it fired a plane of energy in a circular path, which hit her head-on. This caused the nine-year-old to fall over, her body pixelating and disintegrating as it slowly exposed a wire frame copy of it.
"LOUISE!" Gene screamed.
"It killed Louise!" Tina cried.
"Don't worry, she only got Devirtualized." Jeremy calmly said.
"Why shouldn't we worry about that?!" Gene shouted.
"Louise will come back to Earth in no time!" The blonde stated. "As she's coming back, you should try to destroy that Megatank while Aelita deactivates the Tower!"
With newfound determination, Tina and Gene rushed towards the Megatank, intent on attacking it with their weapons. Odd attempted to fire at its middle, only for it to fold back to normal. As such, Ulrich signaled for the Belcher siblings to get out of the way. They did so, avoiding being crushed by the Megatank. It unfolded again, allowing the Lyoko Warriors and the preteens to attack it. Even if they couldn't destroy it, at least Aelita would've been able to deactivate the Tower.
Back in the real world, one of the Scanners activated. Its doors opened up, with steam coming out of the machine. Inside of the Scanner was Louise, who was slumped against the wall. She felt exhausted, but she was able to pick herself up and leave the Scanner. William ran to the nine-year-old's aid, helping her over to the supercomputer. Sissi tried to sit her down, but Jeremy signaled for her not to do so. As they did that, Henry watched the progress of Tina, Gene, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita while they were on Lyoko/LyokoLand.
"Well, it's official, I'm training in martial arts!" Louise spoke.
"Oh, hey, Ulrich's going to teach that!" Sissi stated.
"Hopefully, he goes easy on me." The nine-year-old said.
"I'll try to tell him when the mission's over." Jeremy said.
Henry watched as the others fought the Megatank, trying everything they could to destroy it. From what he could tell, Odd was firing something at the monster, aiming for its middle. Yumi and Ulrich were trying to strike the same area, but they wound up having to dodge when it fired again. Tina was using the weapon that came with her avatar, but she wasn't having any luck. With everyone unable to destroy the Megatank, it seemed like Gene was the only one who would be able to do it. He was firing his gun wildly, desperate to do damage to the creature. However, the eleven-year-old then pointed the weapon forward, firing a few rounds.
"Guys, check it out!" Henry spoke, having gotten a glimpse of something he never thought he would see.
Upon hearing his voice, William and Sissi went over to the supercomputer, wondering as to what Henry could've been talking about. Jeremy followed suit, having taken the headset off when Louise was Devirtualized. On the supercomputer, it showed that the Megatank had been destroyed. While Henry was awestruck, Jeremy, William, and Sissi were wondering what had happened. Given everyone's positions on Lyoko/LyokoLand, it didn't seem like they would've destroyed the Megatank from where they were standing. If anything, it seemed like another one would've been Devirtualized.
"Who destroyed the Megatank?" Jeremy asked.
"You guys won't believe it, but Gene was the one to destroy it!" Henry said.
"The little fat guy killed that monster?" Sissi asked, doubting what she had heard.
"Great!" Jeremy said, putting the headset back on. "Aelita, you can deactivate the Tower now!"
"On it, Jeremy!" Aelita's voice came out of the headset.
Inside Lyoko/LyokoLand, Aelita was standing in the Tower, ready to deactivate it. She walked to the middle of the platform, posing as soon as she reached it. The pink-haired teen floated upward to another platform, where she would've gotten access to the Tower's data. A holographic screen formed in front of her. Aelita typed into it, inputting the text "Code: Lyoko". This allowed her to deactivate the Tower, freeing it from X.A.N.A's control.
From outside the Tower, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Tina, and Gene watched as the glowing light on top of it changed from red to blue, signaling that it had been deactivated.
"It's all taken care of, Jeremy." Ulrich spoke.
"Alright, then we can consider this mission over." Jeremy's voice rang out.
"Should we do a Return To The Past?" Odd asked.
"We don't have to, considering how X.A.N.A's attack wasn't something that couldn't be fixed." The spectacled blonde said.
"Can we come back to the real world now?" Gene asked.
"Yes," the teen spoke, "but I can only Devirtualize five of you at a time. I'll start with you, then I'll Devirtualize Aelita."
Typing into the supercomputer, Jeremy began a Devirtualization process for Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Tina, and Gene. One-by-one, their avatars were pixelated and disintegrated, meaning that they would be coming back to Earth at any moment. Sure enough, the Scanners opened up, revealing the Lyoko Warriors and the older Belcher children inside. All of them were exhausted, but they were able to get out of the Scanners before Jeremy could start Devirtualizing Aelita. They walked up to the supercomputer, seeing that Louise was sitting nearby, watching how it worked.
One of the Scanners closed, showing that Aelita was about to come back to Earth. After a few seconds, the pink-haired girl was Devirtualized, appearing inside the Scanner. She walked out of it, meeting up with everyone. With the mission over, the Lyoko Warriors and Sissi led Henry, Tina, Gene, and Louise outside of the lab. The moment they were out of the room itself, the group had a conversation.
"So, could someone explain to us what's going on?" Tina asked.
"If you couldn't tell, X.A.N.A is now targeting your town, and if we don't find a way to stop him for good, he'll attack the entire planet." Jeremy said.
"Alright, I know that we just got done with a mission, but what the hell is X.A.N.A?" Louise asked
"X.A.N.A is a malignant AI that we have been fighting for quite some time." Aelita said. "We thought that he was destroyed when Jeremy unleashed his multi-agent program, but he survived it."
"Could he be the cause of that virus in the computer lab?" Henry asked.
"That's not far-fetched, but the computers could've been old." Jeremy said.
"And don't think that X.A.N.A's just confined in the supercomputer, because he can do all sorts of stuff." Yumi stated.
"He can possess people, manipulate electricity, send specters out into our world, and cause all sorts of bad things to happen." Ulrich said.
"To make a long story short, X.A.N.A is practically a demon that can cause chaos whenever and wherever he pleases." Odd said.
"Which is why we have to fight him and prevent the next catastrophe." William said.
"Can we go back to Lyoko and fight again?" Gene asked.
"We can't go back there for twenty-four hours, so that's out of the question." Aelita said.
"Then what are we gonna do?!" Louise asked.
"You guys are going to go home and get some rest, so that we can tutor you tomorrow!" Odd said, looking at Henry and the Belcher siblings.
"While you're doing that," Jeremy said, "Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, William, Sissi, and I are going to head back to Wagstaff so that we can get stuff ready. Got it?"
"Okay." Henry, Tina, Gene, and Louise groaned.
"Good," the blonde said, "now head home!"
Back at the Belcher house, Bob and Linda were wondering what was taking their children so long. It wasn't that far of a walk to Wagstaff, so it made no sense that they would get lost. Knowing that the kids were likely speaking to the tutors, the grownups figured that they were discussing something with them. However, they started to worry that something else could've happened. Nighttime always seemed to be the time of day when crime was especially bad. With that in mind, Bob and Linda hoped that Tina, Gene, and Louise hadn't been attacked by any criminals.
The door to the house came open, which caused Bob and Linda to go downstairs. Much to their relief, it was Tina, Gene, and Louise. While the kids looked alright, they also looked worn out. Seeing that, their parents couldn't help but wonder what had happened.
"Where have you kids been?!" Linda asked.
"And why do you look exhausted?" Bob asked.
"Oh, Mr. Stern was just showing us some impressive martial arts skills." Louise lied.
"And we learned how to do somersaults." Gene added.
"Is it okay if we go to bed immediately?" Tina asked.
"Sure." Bob said, not buying what they were saying.
"You kids get all the sleep you need, because you have another day of school tomorrow." Linda said.
Groaning, Tina, Gene, and Louise went upstairs, intent on getting to sleep as quickly as possible. Bob and Linda watched as their children staggered upstairs. Neither one of them said anything to the three, seeing as they were tired. However, they had a small conversation.
"Aw," Linda gushed, "my sleepy babies!"
"Those tutors better be ready to teach our kids, because this might be a challenge for them." Bob said.
"Oh, Bobby, they're just teenagers." The woman said. "I'm sure they got this."
Meanwhile on Lyoko/LyokoLand, a voice echoed through each sector.
"So," it spoke, "the children who thought they had defeated me have come back? And it seems they've brought a few new ones to Lyoko. This should be interesting."
Note: That's it for that chapter. Not only did the Belcher children have their first trip to Lyoko, but Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita returned in time to help them. What will happen next? Will Louise ask Ulrich if he can tutor her? Which Lyoko Warrior will connect with the kids at Wagstaff the most? What will X.A.N.A's next attack be?
Until next time, guys, this is Newcomer24, signing off. Peace!
