Angel: Not gonna lie, when I first thought about doing a remake for this one, I almost didn't go through with it. Mainly because I didn't see the reason OUTSIDE of the messed up timeline that this show gives and doesn't elaborate on. But as time goes on...yeah, there are other reasons that definitely stand out and get pointed out to me, but I tend to ignore them. And that was because I still loved the way this was written.
And...yes, I still feel that way, but not as much as I did before if that makes sense. It's not as old as my first story, which I did eventually remake as well, but it's still got the same level of cringe from my older stuff, even though I still love the directions I took with the first story of this and the show as a whole.
It's still the same formula, I'm still following the show like I did with the first one, but I'm definitely making major changes to stuff. Not everything will be different in this, some episodes will most likely stay the same with just a few fixes or stuff I possibly missed. No, I'm not changing the major reveal in season 2, because there's no point, I thought I personally did it well done. Not to mention that if I take that away, it erases all the subtle hints throughout the entirety of the second season, and people loved those. No, I'm not changing the relationships either, but there will be some changes with them. Season 2 will probably have the least changes.
I'm not gonna say this is gonna be perfect, because no story is, but...hopefully done better and tighter than the last one. Take from that statement what you will, if you're not okay with re-reading this, that's fine. But hopefully I don't need to spell it out on why I'm doing this.
A boy with blonde hair and glasses sits in front of a computer, which turns on. It starts to record him so he can recollect what happened a few days prior. "Diary of Jeremy Belpois, Kadic Academy, Eighth Grade Student, October 9th." His room is a mess as trash is everywhere, and his bed is unmade. "A few weeks ago, I was hunting for parts to finish building my miniature robots." He sits at his desk, typing everything he was reminiscing. "I couldn't find anything around here I could use, so I decided to rummage for scrap in the abandoned factory, not far from the academy."
He climbs out of the entrance from the sewer to the bridge of the factory. It's nighttime as he runs across the bridge to head inside.
"I figured that I could find plenty of cool, old mechanical stuff left inside there that would be useful." The factory is located outside town, resting alone on the water. Jeremy sneaks in, grabbing a rope. "And I wasn't disappointed." He slides down the rope carefully. "It was unbelievable! I stumbled into some sort of complex, with an entire computer lab with scanners!"
He peeks outside of the elevator to make sure no one had seen or heard him, but thankfully, he's still alone. "And especially this totally intense mainframe. For the moment, I haven't told anyone." He uses the button to close the elevator. "It's my little secret. It's the coolest thing that's ever happened to me!" The panel for the lever opens and he stands in front of the mainframe. "And that wasn't all that night! Even though I was scared stiff, I decided to start up the computer." He slowly takes hold of it, silently wondering if this is the right thing to do...but his curiosity is getting to the best of him.
"I hope I'm not gonna regret this in a minute..." He says to himself. "Okay, go!" He pulls the lever, and the mainframe shines bright, turning on. He steps back after getting over the initial shock, pushing up his glasses. He rubs his chin and goes down the elevator, stumbling upon the computer lab once the doors slowly open.
He steps inside and sits in the chair. He turns it around, cracking his fingers. "Now...let's see what you've got underneath the hood, my friend." He starts it up, and everything loads...and then a girl appears on the screen. She has pink hair, elf ears, one earring from her left ear, and pink streaks on her cheeks. "Wow!" He says in awe upon seeing her. He had never seen anything like this. "What's all this, a video game?"
His voice wakes her up and she glances around in confusion, before finally landing her eyes on him. "Who...who are you? W-Where am I?" She asks him, baffling the boy. He didn't know she could speak! In fact, he had never seen anything like this in his life.
He gasps in alarm after hearing her, his glasses dropping a bit.
The school bell rings at Kadic Academy, the boarding school that Jeremy attends. All the students walk into Ms. Hertz's class and she takes out her materials from her bag. She briefly glances up as Jeremy sits up front, a boy with brown hair nearby and he sits down as Jeremy pushes up his glasses.
"Um," A new voice speaks up and the boy turns to look at a new student. "Are you Ulrich Stern?" Just by appearance, Ulrich wasn't sure about this...He looks pretty short, and his hair is just downright weird as it has a purple splotch on the front.
"Uh, that depends. Who wants to know?" Ulrich wonders, looking away with crossed arms.
The boy takes a seat. "Odd Della Robbia, his brand-new roommate!"
"What?!" Ulrich questions in alarm, he wasn't told about getting a new roommate. Up until that point, he had been using his room alone.
"I'm new at the academy and the principal told me to move in with you," Odd answers in an honest way. Ulrich raises a brow.
"Uh, latch onto me sounds more like it," He makes his feelings on this very known.
"Relax, I'm totally cool," Odd assures him, turning face-forward. "Trust me, you'll see. You won't even know I'm there."
"I sure hope so," Ulrich remarks to the new boy. "Look, we don't exactly go way back, so just for now, let's take things nice and slow, okay?"
Odd turns to him with a small smile, holding up his hands. "Okay, nice and slow." A black-haired girl with her head held up high approaches their table, her textbook behind her back. Odd leans back in his chair while she has a small smile.
"Hi there, Ulrich sweetheart. I've got something very important to tell you," She starts off.
"Important like, uh, 'I lost my mascara' or 'my pink t-shirt ran'?" He mocks her a little bit.
"No, nothing as serious as that," She apparently doesn't get the hint that he wasn't interested in hearing what she has to say. "It's something about you and me, Ulrich. If you wanna know more, come by my dorm tonight at 8. I'm counting on you~!" She walks off, a boy with glasses giggling a bit at her. Odd glances back at the girl, his arms crossed.
"Ulrich, sweetheart?" He questions curiously, his hands behind his neck as he winks. "Who's the good-looking babe?"
"Sissi, she's the principal's daughter," Ulrich informs Odd. "Guys flip over her, but she's only flipped over me..."
"That's pretty cool," Odd leans forward, playing with his chair.
"Cool?" Ulrich doesn't seem to think so. "She's totally brain dead and a leech as well," He places a fist against his forehead. She's been chasing him for so long that he could still remember it...and also all the times he's rejected her.
"In that case, it's pretty lame," Odd smiles a little.
"Alright class, before we start, I'd like to introduce another new student, Amelia," Ms. Hertz gestures to the door, and someone steps into the open doorway. People murmur in awe as Amelia, or Amy, is a girl with light brown hair, lighter than Ulrich's at least. She has fair skin and is standing at 4 feet and 11 inches tall. Her hair is loose and curled up at the ends, but has one smaller ponytail tied to both sides of her head. Her hair ends at her waist, and her bangs are completely pink. She has a baby pink blouse with a baby blue sleeveless jean jacket over her clothes. She has a black belt around her waist. She has on a pink flowing skirt with a black rim, a blue necklace over her neck. Her shoes are grey boots and has on black tights. She has a pink bag in her hands. She smiles and walks over to the teacher's desk.
"Hi. Nice to meet you all. You guys can call me Amy for short," She greets them and Ms. Hertz turns to her.
"Why don't you tell everyone where you're from?"
"Oh, well, I'm from the US. California, to be exact," Amy elaborates, earning sounds of awe.
"Wow!"
"Cool."
"I've never known anyone from the States before..."
Sissi glances around at all the people talking about Amy, looking annoyed. "Settle down, class. Amelia, take your seat next to Jeremy, please."
Jeremy raises a finger and she walks over, taking her seat next to him.
"Wow!" Odd murmurs to Ulrich in awe, feeling intrigued by the new girl already. Her bangs look cool, and she's from the States, very far from France. Not to mention she's cute and friendly. "Now she's a babe."'
The bell rings, and Ulrich opens the door, hearing bad jokes from Odd. Well, not bad, but he's not laughing. "And the wiener says, 'I don't have frog legs, that's just the way I walk'!" He laughs, but his new roommate doesn't. "Ya get it?"
The two walk down the steps together, Ulrich coming to a stop. "No," He answers quickly. "But what I am beginning to get is that you're determined not to give me a break."
"We're gonna have to get to know each other," Odd reminds him. "And you'll see by the end of the day, you won't be able to do without me."
"Why don't you try that on her, then?" Ulrich jerks a thumb behind himself, Odd looking at the direction he gestured to see Amy walking out of the building. She adjusts her skirt while clutching her bag a bit.
"Fine, I will," Odd huffs a bit, running over to her. "Hey, new girl!" He calls out with a wave and she looks up to see him approaching. She smiles and waves back, and then he holds out a hand to her. "Odd Della Robbia, at your service, my lady!" He grabs her hand and kisses it.
Ulrich raises a brow at this as she chuckles, moving her hand away. "Just Amy will do. You act quick, don't you?"
"Quick, slow, we can take this anywhere you want!" He winks at her as Ulrich joins them, but only to say hi to her.
"Welcome to Kadic, Amy. I'm Ulrich," The brown-haired boy gestures to himself. "Don't mind him, he's just crazy."
Odd grunts at him as the girl snickers. "No, no, it's okay. I can handle crazy."
At the factory, birds fly by and Jeremy plants himself into the chair. He scoots forward and looks up at the screen. "Artificial intelligence? Can you hear me?" He attempts to get in contact with the being he encountered from there. A few seconds later, she appears on his screen.
"Yes, but...would you mind calling me something else, please?" She asks, as being called 'artificial intelligence' would get old quick.
"Okay...how do you like the name...Maya?"
"Maya?" She thinks about it for a few seconds. "I like that. But what I'd really like is for you to tell me what I'm doing in this virtual universe."
"That's not so easy," He starts off; he definitely doesn't know her real name or how she got there and what her purpose was there. "But I've already got a couple of answers. You're part of a virtual environment called Lyoko, and you've gotta try to get out of there." Wherever she was, she's standing on a platform, surrounded by a bunch of codes and data on the walls. "Look around for a door or something like that."
She slowly stands up, only seeing a pathway that leads to somewhere. She slowly walks across, and when she reaches it, there's no sense of a door. "Jeremy? I can't find anything, I-" Her right hand touches the surface, and some circles appear. The same thing happens with the other hand, and she suddenly phases through the wall. She steps out into the open, seeing herself in a forest-like area, with a bunch of trees that go all the way up to a bright light. What she stepped out of was an actual tower, with a white aura around it. "Jeremy, I...this is weird, you have to see this!"
"I'd love to. You think you can give me a visual?" He asks her.
"I'll try."
He waits for a few seconds and then is surprised. "Huh?" A screen appears, so that he can see everything that Maya's seeing. "Wow!"
Then a map of the area appears and he glances to the holosphere appearing nearby the computer. "Maya, there isn't just a forest out there. There's an entire world!"
She glances around while he's talking to her. "I count four sectors. Each one is different."
Maya suddenly comes to a stop as...two weird identical creatures with weird eyes from the front approach. They stop and look at her, causing her to flinch. "Uh, Jeremy?" She starts off to him. "I'm not all alone out there. There are some animals." If she could call them that, she didn't know what to make of them.
"That's fantastic!" He smiles after hearing this. "This virtual world has an entire ecosystem with virtual living creatures, can you-"
As he was talking, they were powering up something, and they suddenly shoot lasers near her feet. She turns around and runs. "Jeremy! They're attacking me!" She cries out as she heads for the tower.
"Run away, Maya," He says in worry. "Get back to the tower."
As she's running, she gets hit in the back and lands right in front of the tower. An ID card is in front of Jeremy, which tells him how much health she has, and it depletes. "Maya!" It blinks red and sounds an alarm. "Hurry up!"
She gets up and enters the tower, getting hit again and landing on the platform. She looks to be unconscious, but her ID card stops blinking. He sighs in relief and then notices something. "Your...your life points are regenerating!"
A tall black-haired girl puts in a coin for the vending machine and takes her drink. She stirs it for a bit and then walks past Odd, Amy, and Ulrich. The trio are leaning against the wall, Amy with her hand behind her back.
"You know what I was thinking?" Odd speaks up as Ulrich stares after Yumi.
"Mm?" Amy glances at him and then smiles knowingly, sipping her hot chocolate.
"You know your girlfriend there, Sissi?"
"She's not my girlfriend," Ulrich corrects the boy.
"More like girlpain," Amy mutters to herself and the brunet boy points to her.
"Yes, exactly, thank you."
"Cool!" Odd remarks, apparently ignoring them as he tosses his smashed cup into the trashcan. "So that means she's available."
Amy rolls her eyes at this as Jeremy walks up to the machine. "I'm telling you, she's lame," Ulrich grumbles while sipping his soda. "Plus, no offense, but you're not her type."
"I could be Amy's type," He glances up at her and she spits out her cocoa into her cup.
"What?! Hey, we just met, that's kinda fast, isn't it?" She protests to him, a small blush on her face.
"That wasn't a no!" Odd winks up at her, pointing a finger.
"You kiddin'? That'll be the day," Ulrich just scoffs at them and Odd turns back to him. Amy couldn't help but think that Odd wasn't really a bad guy to go on a date with, but she barely knows him. Both of them are new students, after all...
"Oh yeah? I hear that a lot-"
Jeremy taps the button on the machine and suddenly gets electrocuted, getting their attention. "Belpois!" Ulrich calls out as he falls down.
"Oh my gosh," Amy bends down to him, Ulrich tossing his can as he rushes over to help her.
"Hey, Belpois, you okay?" He puts the boy's glasses over his face. Amy waves her hand in front of his eyes, glancing up at the two.
"He's not responding."
"We'll take him to the infirmary," Ulrich tells Odd while holding onto Jeremy's shoulders. "Tell a teacher, okay?"
"Mhm," Odd runs off to go find one. The two put one arm from Jeremy over their shoulder, dragging him away from the machine. As they do so, none of them see black smoke from the machine, with the buttons going haywire...
The nurse is checking Jeremy's pulse. "Nothing too serious. Just a minor electrical shock and some superficial burns," She reports to the three.
"You wanted some juice, well you got some," Ulrich jokes to the blond.
"Very funny, Stern," Jeremy gives him a teasing smile. "But thank you all the same. You too, Smith."
"Don't mention it," Ulrich replies while at the door, Amy walking up to him. "I'll come by to check on you tonight after my martial arts class."
He closes the door and Amy glances over her shoulder, waving. "Glad I could help, Belpois. I've gotta do some unpacking. I'll talk to you later, bye," She closes the door. She glances to the side to see Odd approaching from the hallway.
"How is he?" He asks in concern and she smiles, hands behind her back as she leans against the door.
"He's doing alright. Kinda weird that the machine shocked only him, and not the girl from before," She raises a brow before shrugging. "Oh well, guess that's just bad luck..." She starts to walk off and he stares after her.
"Hey, Amy?"
"Hm?" She looks at him while holding the door open.
"Um, I'm just wondering...and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but...am I really your type?" He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. She blinks for a few seconds and gives a small smile at her friend.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She responds simply and then closes the door as she leaves. He stares at the door, his heart beating a little as he thinks about what she said.
"Huh..." He murmurs at her answer.
"How are you all?" Jim, the...gym teacher and the supervisor of the school, greets Ulrich...and only Ulrich. "I'm happy to see so many of you here tonight. Kalaripayattu! Coco sukui jutsu. No, these are not dishes served at the Golden Dragon Chinese restaurant," He looks to a black-haired girl, the one from before, walking up to them. "Ha ha ha, eh, no offense, Ms. Ishiyama."
"None taken, sir," She raises an amused brow. "I'm Japanese."
He rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, whatever." She takes a seat next to Ulrich. "These are combat techniques that can save your life! As they did for me when I was a Forest Ranger in Quebec."
"Really? What happened?" Ulrich asks with intrigue.
"That night? Well...I was quietly enjoying a waffle with maple syrup by my campfire when I was attacked by a vicious beaver!" The boy gives an amused smile. "Its razor sharp teeth were going for my jugular, but I was able to save myself thanks to my perfect mastery of the Raging Hand of Lei Fu Chang!"
The two burst into laughter of how ridiculous it sounds. "What's so funny about that?" He demands to the duo.
"Excuse us, sir," The Japanese girl giggles.
"Honestly, I think you would've been better off not talking about it!" Ulrich adds in.
"Right. Okay then. Enough laughing. Let's get into groups of two!" The two stand up and walk right past the man. He turns around to look at them, the girl bowing her head. They get into stances and the girl strikes first, kicking her leg up. Ulrich dodges and attacks back, but then she flips as he's trying to kick her. She holds up her arms, flipping her hair back. He hums as he bounces a bit.
"Pretty good for a beginner," He mocks and then she kicks him across the face. He lands on his back and she tackles him. After a few seconds, they realize their position and freeze, blushes on their faces.
"Not bad," Jim interrupts the moment. "But you could both use a lot more work. That'll do it for tonight, kids. Bow to each other now and get some beauty sleep," He jerks a thumb behind him. The two kids stand up and the girl bows to him. However, he just huffs a bit and turns around, walking off.
She gives a shocked look for a few seconds before raising a brow. "Well, nice to meet you too..."
Ulrich walks down the hall to his room, his bag over his shoulder when he opens the door. He then flinches and drops his bag, seeing that not only is the room a mess, but that there's a dog in his bed. "What is with this mess?! Where did that mutt come from?" He demands, Odd sitting up from his spot.
"Uhh, that's Kiwi," He points to the dog. "My dog. He just had a little fit, that's all. You understand, the poor thing's not used to being cooped up."
"I-I mean look at this!" Ulrich stammers in disbelief as he steps further inside, looking at the discs and clothes on the floor. "My CDs, my clothes, he's trashed everything! A-and he...oh! Did you see what he did in my bed?!"
Odd walks over and sees it, wincing. "Uhh, well, sorry, but I couldn't take him out with everyone around. There are no dogs allowed in Kadic."
"No kidding! I think the principal's gonna be interested in hearing about this!" Ulrich declares, slamming the door shut.
"That's okay, Kiwi," Odd turns to the dog, who tears apart Ulrich's pillow. "My little diggity dog!"
Amy walks out of the bathroom after having to pee, walking up to the boy's dorm just to go past. She has a notebook in her hand, and it's Jeremy's, but she's returning it after finally getting herself in her room.
Jeremy is typing at his computer, one of his robots nearby. Suddenly his computer screen turns to black. "Hm? What's going on?" He taps a key from the keyboard, and then the screen flickers, showing a weird symbol. "Hey, I've seen that logo before..."
His robot suddenly comes to life and he glances at it. "Hm?"
The same logo from the computer appears on the camera lens and he shouts in alarm. "Ah!"
His scream is heard by Ulrich, who was on his way to the principal, and also by Amy, who was right next to the door leading to their hallway. "Huh?!" She turns around as she recognizes the voice. Ulrich comes to a stop as she opens the door. Ulrich and Amy burst into Jeremy's room, seeing the robot attack Jeremy with electricity.
"Hang on!"
They both attempt to pull the robot off of Jeremy, but another robot rolls up to them and shocks the duo. "Ah!" Amy flinches in alarm.
"Hey!" Ulrich stomps on it with his foot while the brunette grabs a nearby heavy textbook. Ulrich uses his karate skills to knock it into the air in front of Amy. She then swings and the robot hits the closet. She pants as she watches it fall into pieces, the computer screen going back to normal.
"...Sorry, I'll build you a new one," She looks at the now broken robot.
"No need," Jeremy groans at her, Ulrich looking up at him.
"Your little friends are kind of aggressive. Maybe you should check their settings..." Ulrich suggests while Jeremy picks up his chair.
"Talk about raging against your master..." Amy tosses the book away.
"I had nothing to do with it!" He insists to them. "They just attacked me all of a sudden!" He blinks as he realizes that Amy's standing in his room, in the boys' dorm. "Smith, what were you doing here? The girls' dorm is downstairs."
"I came here to drop off your notebook, you left it in the infirmary," She quickly explains, holding it up. "But don't change the subject."
"I'm not, they really did attack me," He tells her and she glances at Ulrich.
"You lost us. Do you mind explaining?" The boy puts his hands in his pockets, wanting more information.
"No, forget it," Jeremy dismisses him, looking back to his desk. There's no way he could tell them this stuff...they'd never believe him.
"Come on, tell us. Maybe we can be of some help," Ulrich suggests with a shrug. "What if you suddenly get attacked by a hair dryer and we're not around?"
"Or maybe an electric ball monster or something," Amy snickers a bit.
"Ha, very funny," Jeremy remarks and Ulrich sits down in the chair.
"We're not leaving this room until we know what's up."
Amy nods in agreement, sitting down on Jeremy's bed. "You know you wanna~" She sings a little bit. Jeremy sighs and debates it, leaning against the desk. They were already involved enough seeing how they both just saved him...and did he really have a choice? He couldn't handle all of this alone... Ulrich turns around in the chair and Jeremy stops him.
"Okay. What have I got to lose? I'm already in over my head, so I might as well tell ya. This is so crazy!"
"You've already been electrocuted and attacked by your own robots, we've gone past crazy," Amy reminds him, her hands on her knees. He glances at the duo and then walks off towards his door. He closes the door so that no one listens in.
"First, tell me if you can keep a secret..."
He leads them to the factory through a tunnel in the gym. "The tunnel in the gym is a great way to beat curfew," Ulrich remarks to Jeremy as they walk across the bridge.
"Yeah, and there's another one on the campus as well," He explains to them and they reach the first floor, seeing that the only way to get down is through sliding down a rope. "Ladies first," Jeremy gestures to the rope and Amy grabs onto one, sliding down safely to the floor. Jeremy follows her and then looks up at Ulrich. "What's the matter? Scared of heights?"
"Uhh, no," He clasps the rope and climbs down.
They go through elevator into the computer lab. "Okay, so that's the mega computer you started up?" Ulrich questions, as Jeremy's told them everything already.
"Uh-huh. It's actually a supercomputer. It's ultra powerful, and while I was examining it...I found out that it runs a virtual universe called Lyoko," He explains to the both of them.
"You know what, Belpois? This morning's electric shock fried your brain," Ulrich points to his head.
"Ulrich. Come on, indulge in the fantasy at least a little bit," Amy nudges him, not seeming to believe it either.
"This thing's just the control center of the factory, that's all," She gives him a raised brow, she doubted that all this ran the factory, but she also couldn't believe it runs a virtual word either...
"Oh, come on. It's not that unbelievable," She tries to justify Jeremy's explanation for all this. "I mean, that stuff can only happen in science fiction, but..." She tries to think of anything that could possibly explain this whole thing aside from what's been told, but she doesn't have an answer. "...Yeah, I got nothing," She gives up trying to come up with a reasonable excuse.
Jeremy then pulls up Maya. "Oh, yeah? And what would you call this, huh? A program for spray-painting doors?"
"Huh?!" Amy flinches in shock at her.
"Hello, Jeremy," Maya greets him.
"Who's the girl with the pink hair?"
"Speaking of hair, I love your bangs. They look just like my hair," Maya tells Amy, who smiles.
"Thanks. Your hair's pretty cool, it looks like they're the same color."
Jeremy glances between Amy and Maya, noting to himself that her bangs and Maya's hair are the exact same color, but he already guessed that besides that, the two have no connection to one another. "Huh...anyway, that's Maya, a form of artificial intelligence who lives on Lyoko. I don't know what she's there for yet."
"Don't mess with us; you programmed her, right?"
"No, I woke up the moment that Jeremy restarted the supercomputer," Maya explains to Ulrich and Amy. "I don't know who I am. My memory has been erased."
"Maya has to hide in some kind of a tower," Jeremy informs the duo. "As soon as she leaves it, she gets attacked by monsters. You've gotta believe me, you guys! This is an incredible discovery!"
"I don't know, Belpois..." Amy confesses in doubt. She wants to believe, but she's still not sure. Stuff like this doesn't happen in real life, and yet here they were...
Ulrich grunts while Amy sits down, watching him. "Let's say it is...what if...what if it's just some kind of giant video game?"
"Then it's a very dangerous game," He glances over his shoulder. "My robots are programmed just to go and fetch a ball. And they just tried to kill me, don't forget. You saw them! What's more, the moment they attacked, a kind of logo appeared on my computer screen. The same one that the monsters had on Lyoko." Ulrich spins around the chair by hand.
"Better and better. Do you mean then that...that the virtual thing that attacked Maya also wants to kill you?" Ulrich points at Jeremy.
"That's what it looks like."
"I mean, with an explanation like that, it can't be coincidence...but you were the only person aside from Maya who's seen the logos. So what exactly do you want us to believe?" Amy points out, crossing her arms.
"She's got a point," Ulrich jerks a thumb to her.
"Oh, they'll appear again! Trust me, you guys!"
The brunet boy just scoffs. "You know what? If that's true, Belpois, if it's that dangerous, I think you should shut it down and call the police."
"Okay...but first I wanna help Maya to understand what she's doing on Lyoko," Jeremy explains to the duo.
"Say what?" Ulrich raises a confused brow.
"What do you mean?" Amy adds in, crossing her arms.
"I really do, and if I'm right, we can materialize her right here on Earth!"
"Oh, that's too much. What makes you think you can?" Ulrich argues back, Amy spinning around in the chair.
"You'll see, Stern and Smith," Jeremy smiles at them. Amy rubs her chin in thought before looking at him.
"You know what, Belpois? I'm...actually gonna roll with this," She admits with a small shrug.
"You are?" The two boys ask her in shock.
"Well, we can't just leave her there," She points to Maya. "And Lyoko does seem interesting, if a little...confusing. Not to mention that there seems to be a connection between Lyoko and you getting attacked and all the monsters. So if you wanna help Maya, I've got your back."
"Thank you, Amy!" Jeremy smiles happily at her, Ulrich still a little skeptical himself...
Sissi holds up a dress in her room, other clothes discarded on the floor. "This one is absolutely perfect!" She smiles, a mud mask on her face. She examines herself in the mirror. "Tonight, my dear Ulrich, you're all mine!"
Jeremy walks up to a scanner, showing them to the two. "What's all this?" Ulrich wonders as there's three of them in the room.
"Scanners, I still haven't found the program that can bring Maya back to Earth, but I dug up the one which allows someone to be scanned and sent to Lyoko," He tells them as they examine the scanners. "In fact, the supercomputer analyzes your molecular structure through these cabins, and then breaks down your atoms before digitalizing them and recreating a digital incarnation in the virtual world," He's standing inside a scanner while they stare at him.
"Hm, in English?" Ulrich scratches the side of his head.
"so...the gist is that when we use these scanners to go to Lyoko, we become different?" Amy blinks as she slowly speaks.
"Exactly," Jeremy points at her, giving two thumbs up. Ulrich knocks on the scanner a little.
"Jeremy, these things don't exist yet. There's no way," He shakes his head and Jeremy crosses his arms, a little annoyed.
"You still don't wanna believe me," The boy points out the obvious.
"I would love to, but virtualization is straight out of science fiction."
"And what would you call tonight, huh? This whole thing is out of science fiction," Amy says, leaning against the scanner from the other side.
Jeremy sits in the scanner, wondering how to get Ulrich to stop doubting. It seems as if the only solution...is to get someone to test it out for themselves. "Why don't we try it out? That way, you can see for yourself. But we're gonna need a guinea pig."
"A guinea pig? No problem," Ulrich has just the guinea pig in mind...or dog, really. And it'd be nice for a little payback after the bed stunt from earlier...
Odd is snoring in bed, Kiwi looking up at Ulrich, who has just snuck in. "Well, got a surprise for you, doggy. You're gonna be virtualized," He smiles, hands behind his back. Kiwi just sticks out his tongue while panting, not knowing what he was being set up for.
Meanwhile, Sissi is waiting in her room for Ulrich, huffing impatiently. She looks at the time on her phone, checking for any messages, but there is none.
Ulrich scoops up Kiwi when Sissi calls him, and Kiwi's whimpers also contribute to waking up Odd. He sits up to see his roommate leave the room with Kiwi. "HEY!" He protests, chasing after them.
Sissi snaps her phone shut and then stands up with a grunt. She storms out of her room and down the hall, Ulrich rushing past her. She looks back in surprise and then Odd comes in out of nowhere, tackling her to the ground. She blinks in shock, looking up at him.
"Hey!" Odd emerges in front of the staircase, running down the stairs. "Ulrich, come back!"
"Wait up!" Sissi shouts as she follows them. Ulrich runs towards the gym, running into the boiler room. When Sissi and Odd open the door that leads to the tunnels, they see Ulrich disappearing with Kiwi. "Where's he going? I'm sure there's another girl behind all this!"
"No, look, it's not a girl. It's Kiwi, my dog," Odd informs her, and upon hearing that, she faints.
Ulrich presses his back against the elevator wall, panting from the running he just did. He slams the button to make the elevator go down. Odd and Sissi catch up to see the elevator descend. "But why is he taking Kiwi to this factory?" He couldn't help but ask.
"Who knows? Maybe he wants to use him for some horrible science experiment," Sissi suggests to him.
"You watch too many horror movies," Odd dismisses that possibility...even though that is what was happening, sort of.
"Yeah, you're right, that was pretty dumb. It's probably more like some sort of ritual sacrifice or voodoo thing!"
That actually gets him thinking for a few seconds, since Ulrich was pretty steamed over the bedroom being a mess earlier...
Kiwi sits in the scanner. "Nice doggy. Don't move," Ulrich advises him as he climbs up the ladder that leads to the lab. Odd and Sissi climb down the ladder that leads to the scanner room.
Amy glances at Ulrich as he arrives, Jeremy sitting in the chair. "Everything's cool, guys. The mutt is in the scanner. You're gonna explain everything to Della Robbia about this, right, Amy?"
"Ahh, by explain everything, I mean I might knock him out and pretend nothing happened?" She asks helplessly; she had no idea how she was gonna straight up say to him 'hey, we used your dog to see if he could be sent to a virtual world'...She could be straightforward, but probably not given how much Odd cares about his dog...
"Good enough for me."
"Okay, let's see how it goes," Jeremy holds out his fingers to the keyboard. "It's not gonna be a piece of cake."
Odd leaps and lands in the scanner room. Sissi swings a bit before landing safely. She walks up to the boy. "Those things look like coffins," He comments on the scanners and she flinches in realization.
"You're right! Maybe it's the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh, huh?"
He just gives a 'really' look at her suggestion.
"Okay. We're all set," Jeremy prepares everything, Ulrich and Amy standing behind the chair. "I'm starting up the procedure."
"Kiwi!" Odd exclaims happily upon seeing his dog. "Are you okay, boy?" He stands inside the scanner while holding him. Jeremy hits enter and then Kiwi jumps out just as the scanner starts up. "Hey!" The doors close, locking him in.
"Oh no! You're gonna be mummified!" Sissi shouts in horror, pointing at the scanner.
"Transfer guinea pig. Scanner...guinea pig." An alarm beeps from the supercomputer as an image of Odd appears instead of Kiwi. "Hey, wait...that's a weird-looking dog."
"That's no dog. That's Odd Della Robbia!" Ulrich exclaims in realization.
"Wait, how'd he get here?!" Amy turns around to Ulrich. "He followed you here, didn't he?"
"...Maybe?" The boy glances away awkwardly and she scoffs, crossing her arms.
"Everything's cool, huh?" She remarks back sarcastically.
"Uhh..." Jeremy holds his head in a panic. "I don't know how to stop the procedure!"
"HELP!" Sissi shouts from the scanner room, getting their attention.
"Is there anyone else we should know about?" Amy wonders in disbelief before Ulrich rushes over to see what's going on.
"Man..." He mutters to himself at this.
Odd is virtualized onto Lyoko as a giant purple cat. "Ouch!" He says in pain once he lands on the ground. "What's going on around here?" He murmurs in confusion, looking around to see that he's in a forest area. "Where am I...?" He looks down at his hands, seeing that they're big purple claws. "Huh? And why am I dressed up like a giant purple cat?"
"Uh, Odd Della Robbia?" Jeremy wonders cautiously while Odd looks at his tail. He's speaking to the cat boy through the headset back in the lab.
"Uhh...who's calling me?" Odd looks around as he can't see Jeremy.
"It's me, Jeremy Belpois."
"Is this a joke or something?" Odd wonders as he looks up to the sky.
"Uhh, no."
Ulrich lands in the scanner room, where he sees Sissi and Kiwi. "Sissi?!"
"Oh, Ulrich!" She turns around in relief.
"Ulrich, it's okay. Odd is safe and sound on Lyoko," Jeremy reports back to them, confusing Sissi.
"Am I...in a video game?" Odd wonders to the boy genius. "It looks like the set for Babylon Ninja Fighters Three."
"Actually, I don't really know," Jeremy answers truthfully. "It's a virtual world, that much I'm sure of."
"Odd, it's Amy. Are you okay?"
"I'm okay to hear your voice, if that's what you're asking," He winks in a playful way and she blushes. Jeremy raises a sly brow, but she pushes his face away, clearing her throat.
"Real smooth..."
Odd smiles after taking another look around. "Cool!" He's suddenly hit from behind, turning around to see the same monsters that attacked Maya from before. He rubs his back. "Uh, that's a lot less cool. Uh, there are these giant cockroaches attacking me. Is that normal?"
"Uh, yeah," Jeremy replies as he looks at the map.
"Oh, nothing to worry about, then."
"That's...not what I meant. You've gotta get out of there. Ulrich, Amy, Della Robbia's in danger." Sissi gasps as she hears this. "And I need time to devirtualize him. I don't know what to do!"
"He needs help. Do you think you can send Sissi, Amy, and me to Lyoko?" He wonders, Sissi wincing at that question.
"Well, I can always try."
Amy runs over to the ladder, climbing down to the scanner room to join them. "What? Send us where, Ulrich?"
"To a virtual world where weird monsters wanna massacre you. You wanted to go out with me, now's your chance!" He informs her just as the brunette jumps down from above.
"No thanks, I prefer real worlds. I'm not into the other kinds. Plus, I couldn't possibly miss cheerleading practice tomorrow morning!"
As she's talking, Amy and Ulrich hop into the scanners, turning around. He has a smirk on his face. "See ya, chicken! Jeremy, we're ready to go."
"We're on the way, Odd!" Amy pumps a fist.
"Okay, I'm starting the procedure."
Sissi watches as the doors close around the both of them. They look around as the lights turn on in both scanners. "Transfer, Ulrich. Transfer, Amy. Scanner, Ulrich. Scanner, Amy." He doesn't notice some electricity forming from some of the wires nearby... "Virtualization."
"Odd, hang in there." Odd comes to a stop. "Ulrich Stern and Amy Smith are on their way to give you a hand."
"Great, I was starting to get bored here all alone," Odd remarks just as the two are virtualized in front of him. Odd stares at the two land roughly on the ground.
"Ouch!"
"Ow!"
Ulrich and Amy slowly stand up, examining themselves and their environment. Amy has a sweetheart-shaped blouse, but a pink rose with leaves overtake it, her puffy white sleeves ΒΌ in length. Her skirt flows out like a flower petal, being colored cream and stopping at her knees. A dark pink overskirt is behind her main one, which goes to her shoes. She has on pastel pink gloves that go all the way to her elbows. A flower headband with three pink lilies rests on her head. Her hair has grown to her knees, her bangs now to her waist rested over her shoulder in a curl at the end. She also seems to have some makeup, but just some hot pink lipstick over her mouth. Her shoes are emerald colored that have straps wrapping around her legs. And finally, she has big pink butterfly wings, with white and green on the border of them. She feels something on her waist and pulls it out to see that it's a scythe staff of sorts as it has a slightly curved blade at the top.
"Wow! This sword rocks!" Ulrich says in awe.
"And my wings look really cool," Amy smiles as she touches them lightly, along with her hair. She looks down at her skirt, twirling a little.
"Hey, that's not fair. How come he gets to be a samurai? That's so much cooler!" Odd complains at Ulrich, blinking at Amy. "Wow...Amy, you look..." He couldn't even put it into words and he snaps out of it. "Never mind...but you're a fairy? Totally unfair!"
"Okay?" She raises a brow while she glances at Ulrich.
"I have no idea why," Jeremy speaks up, still not noticing the wires. "Maybe the computer just reads into your own subconscious desires and projects them onto your digital incarnation."
"Well, I did dream about being a nature fairy when I was a girl, and I dressed up as one for Halloween several times," Amy rubs her chin. "Maybe that stuck with me."
"But I don't dream about giant purple cats!" Odd argues back; if anything, he dreams about his dog. "What's more, I'd rather have a weapon like Ulrich and Amy. Not these great big useless paws!" Suddenly an arrow fires out of one of them, flying towards the duo. It barely misses Ulrich's cheek, Amy holding up her spear to deflect it.
"Hey, watch out!" Ulrich warns him. He hums as he looks at his paws.
"These arrows are pretty cool. I take back what I said."
Sissi appears in the computer lab, Kiwi walking in. She gasps at the room. "Wow!"
"Try to hook up with Maya in her tower. Hold on, I'll give you the coordinates," Jeremy informs them.
"Will do," Amy replies back.
"Who's this Maya?!" Sissi demands to him, surprising the boy. "And what is that thing?"
"It's...it's the mainframe of a supercomputer." However, suddenly, the same logo that appeared before the robots attacked appears again on the screen. He gasps in alarm, Kiwi barking at the electrifying wires. They shoot up from the ground and Sissi screams in horror. The two gasp as the wires all shake, electricity shooting from them.
"Who's this Maya?" Odd wonders as they walk around.
"A virtual girl who lives on Lyoko," Ulrich answers to the cat-boy.
"Oh, you mean there are more babes here too? Great!"
"Not why we're here, Della Robbia," Amy rolls her eyes at this.
"Aw, what? I'm back to last name now?" He pouts at her, Ulrich chuckling to himself.
"We'll see," The brunette smiles playfully at him.
"Yes, but changing the subject, I get the impression that Belpois has flipped for her," Ulrich adds in.
"For a virtual chick?" Odd wonders, a hand on his hip. "Is he nuts?"
"Kinda."
"I mean, with what he's discovered, I guess some people would assume he is," Amy answers, crossing her arms, looking up at the ceiling. "Speaking of Jeremy, he's taking a while just to give us an exact location for Maya."
"Jeremy, are you gonna give us those coordinates or not?" Ulrich asks, also a little concerned that they've heard nothing back. "Jeremy? Are you asleep or what?"
Jeremy hides behind the computer as the wires are still attacking. Sissi kicks at Kiwi. "Sic him, I said. Sic him, you dumb mutt!" A zap occurs and Jeremy screams.
"I guess we're on our own? Weird," Amy murmurs at getting no answer. Odd looks to his left.
"Huh? Look," He points at something up ahead. "I see a tower. It could be that one." Up ahead was a tower glowing blue. They run up to it, but see no doors. "Is there a door?" He touches the surface with his claw, falling in. But he ends up falling a few feet away from the platform and he grabs it. Ulrich and Amy follow after him, hanging onto his feet. "I can't hold on for much longer! You're too heavy! Drop your saber and spear!"
"Nice try, but forget it," Ulrich tells him. "Amy, can you use your wings?"
"Uh, that would be a no," She looks down nervously before all of them fall, screaming as they head for the dark abyss. Suddenly, they step into an ice area, and one thing that is apparent is a red tower.
"Okay, right. Where are we?" Odd asks the duo. "Where did the forest go?"
"How should I know?"
"I think what happened is that when we fell from the tower in the forest...it took us here," Amy explains, gesturing to the area. "So maybe there are other places in Lyoko that Jeremy didn't know about, and these towers are ways to change areas." At least, that was how she saw it. "If that is true, finding Maya is gonna be harder than we thought..."
"Mm, good point," Ulrich agrees with her, seeing the tower. "But you see the tower over there? Weird how it's not the same color."
"Hmm..." Odd murmurs in thought. "And those creatures," He looks to his right. "They're kind of weird too."
"What cre-" Amy turns in his direction and sees what he's seeing. Three creatures that look like blocks with legs go up to them. The one in the middle stops and then powers up a laser. "Oh. Those creatures..." She says nervously.
"It might be a good idea to beat it, don't ya think?" Ulrich suggests to them.
"Mhm!" The two nod at him and lasers are fired at them. They turn around and run in the other direction. "Those wings could be really useful right about now!"
"I don't know how to get them to work!" Amy exclaims at Odd.
Sissi holds Kiwi close as she whimpers in fear. Jeremy falls to the ground in pain. He's then lifted up into the air, being electrocuted. He screams while holding a panel.
The trio are surrounded by the blocks, Ulrich glancing around. One of them moves and powers up, Ulrich turning around and deflecting it. Another one fires at Amy, who holds her arms in front of her face. Her hands suddenly glow and a vine made out ice sprouts from the ground to protect her.
"Whoa...cool," She smiles down at her hands.
Another Blok fires an ice laser of its own and Ulrich ducks from it. "Alright, it's not cool anymore," Amy winces as Ulrich dashes to block another laser. Odd uses a shield to deflect a laser while Amy spins her spear to avoid the next shot. Ulrich jumps up into the air, landing on top of the Blok. He tries chopping away at the block, but nothing happens. He leaps and lands behind Amy and Odd. Another laser fires, Amy deflecting it this time.
"So how do you kill these things?" Ulrich wonders to them, Odd pointing his arm.
"I wish I knew! Hey, you wouldn't know how many life points we have?"
"No," Ulrich deflects more lasers with his sword. Odd gets hit by a laser and then disappears into pixels.
"Odd!" Amy exclaims, wondering what happened to him before Ulrich leaps and aims for the eye, this time striking it and it explodes. The girl blinks in awe and Ulrich pumps a fist.
"Yes!" He gets hit from behind and disappears.
Amy turns around to deflect another laser, leaping back as another comes in from the left. She looks back at her wings, thinking that they can get her out of this. "Come on, come on..." She murmurs before they start flapping. She laughs as she lifts up from the ground, looking at them with a smile. "I did it! I'm flying!"
The blocks fire just before they couldn't reach her and she disappears just like the boys.
Ulrich appears from the scanner once the doors open up, smoke coming from it. "Great. At least we're alive," He mutters while rubbing the back of his head.
"Uh, alive? Well, if you say so," Odd comments as he and Amy are fine as well, relatively. "I think I'm about to throw up."
"You? I feel like I just got zapped..." Amy mutters while rubbing at her back.
"Ahh, help us!" Sissi cries out from the lab. She whimpers in fear, tears appearing in her eyes. She watches Jeremy still in peril from the wires.
"Uh oh," Odd comments once the three see what's going on.
"Ulriiiiich!" Sissi cries out, her tears falling down her cheeks.
"Jeremy!" Amy shouts while they look up at him.
"Hang in there, Jeremy!" Ulrich looks around and sees an object. He hits the giant wire holding Jeremy, but it electrocutes him. He falls to the ground, a wire falling towards him. Suddenly, it stops and he looks to see Odd and Amy had hit it with the same object.
"It works the second time! I told you that by the end of the day, you wouldn't be able to do without me!" He then slices the wire in half, Ulrich blinking in shock. Amy stomps on the other wires with her shoe and they slowly drop Jeremy before they go away. Sissi looks up to see everything back to normal, stepping back into the lab.
The supercomputer starts back up, the others surrounding the computer. "Maya?" Jeremy wonders, and gets no answer. "Are you there?"
She reappears on screen. "Yes. Is everything okay on your side?"
"Well...we're a little shaken up, but it could've been worse!" Jeremy responds with a small smile.
"A little?" Amy remarks, hands on her hips.
However...there's still the issue of the red tower in the ice area of Lyoko...