Abby

Today is my first day at Kennedy Junior High. A boarding school, as usual. Funny thing is, it’s in Canada. Why would a Canadian School be names after an American president?

 

 

My parents just don’t want me, I guess. They always send me off to one of these boarding schools and pay extra for me to go to summer camp. I haven’t seen them since… well, about five years.

I put on simple clothes- a black tank and black capris, with my black ankle chain and bracelet. I pull my red hair back into a ponytail.

 

Of course, I don’t apply makeup. I never do. My parents say maybe they’ll let me have some when I’m eighteen. That’s about four years from now.

 

I grab my new books. I’m only a week late for this school’s start, so probably I didn’t miss much. My clock shows it’s 8:00- time for breakfast. I reluctantly open the door.

 

Alex

 

I sit with my friends at breakfast, as usual- Opal, Dan, Kristen, and Mark. Now, why would boys be sitting with girls? Because we’re not ordinary kids.

 

We’ve been in contact with Aelita for a long time, when we found the factory. We learned about Lyoko… and the fact that in France, there’s a group just like us. Their names are Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi. And somehow, Jeremie managed to materialize Aelita. So we don’t get a lot of contact… except for when we meet on Lyoko. Because I, the ‘genius’ of the group, know how to use the supercomputer, just like Jeremie.

 

I never go to Lyoko, I went only once so that I can remember returns to the past. But I work with Jeremie on finding Aelita’s anti-virus.

 

There’s a new girl at school, she walks in five minutes late. She’s wearing plain black, but she’s definitely not goth or emo- her hair is a soft red. She carefully picks her way through the crowd to the breakfast line. When she gets out ten minutes later, she looks lost. Then I realize, she has nowhere to sit. Thinking what I’m thinking, Kristen gets up and goes over to the girl.

 

Abby

I look around, lost. Where am I going to sit? I identify the snobs and popular girls and vow to avoid them.

 

A girl with long, dark hair and glasses walks up to me.

 

“Hi, what’s your name?” she seems friendly enough, so I reply.

 

“I’m Abby Lerexon, you?”

 

“I’m Kristen Laei (AN: Pronounced ‘Lay-eye’). Nice to meet you. Do you want to sit with me and my friends?”

 

“S-sure,” I stutter. Already, somebody wants to be friends? This might actually be a good school. Kristen leads me to a table, with four others sitting there.

 

“This is Dan,” she says, pointing to a short boy with blonde, curly hair. He waves. “This is Mark,” Kristen points to a thin, medium-height boy with short brown hair. “This is Alex, my brother,” this time she gestures to the guy with black hair like her own, and glasses. “And this is Opal.” Finally, the girl with long brown hair in pigtails smiles, and waves. She’s exceptionally pretty. “Everyone, this is Abby Lerexon.”

 

“Hey, Abby.”

 

“Hi, Abby!”

 

“Nice to meet you, Ab.”

 

“Hello, Abby.” They all scoot over to make room for me, and I awkwardly sit down between Kristen and Dan. I look at my food and somehow lose my appetite.

 

“Uh, not to offend anybody, but who’s shoe did they scrape this off of?” everybody laughs and I’m glad they didn’t take it as an insult to their school. I try to eat my food, but end up choking on it. Kristen thumps me on the back and the food flies out. “Heh,” I giggle weakly.

 

Somehow, Dan is gobbling down the food. “Dan will eat anything,” Mark explains. “Once, he actually ate Surprise Loaf on Meatloaf day. He ended up barfing like crazy for a week.”

 

“Meatloaf day?” I ask, panicked.

 

“Yes, once a month is Meatloaf day. Stinks.” I open my mouth to agree, but then the bell rings. In unison, everybody in the cafeteria stands up and throws out their food. I take my schedule out of my pocket. My first period class is math. I groan inwardly. Math is my least favorite subject. Then I notice Kristen leaning over my shoulder.

 

“Math? That’s what Opal has: go catch up to her.” I’m glad at least somebody friendly is in my class. I really do like Opal; she seems really nice. She’s quiet, but I can tell she’s kind, trustworthy, and honorable. I catch up to her.

 

“Hey, Opal. I have math too, with Ms. Starle.”

 

“Okay, I’ll show you where to go. Just follow me.” I take in sights as I follow her, memorizing the scene and coming up with landmarks so I can come to the classroom myself if I need to. We arrive at class number 513, and Opal enters. I follow. At the desk is a lady with lots of makeup and blond hair. I know that this teacher is not going to make me like math any better.

 

To my dismay, we have assigned seats, and I’m supposed to sit next to a girl called Mona. She has blond hair like the teachers and way too much makeup. She’s wearing a short miniskirt and spaghetti strap, with flip-flops. I can tell she’s one of the popular girls.

 

“Like, hi, I’m, like, Mona, the like most popular girl in like the entire school.”

 

“I’m Abby,” I mutter, just as Ms. Starle says to the class,

 

“We have a new student. Please stand and introduce yourself.” Slowly, I stand, and say,

 

“I’m Abby Lerexon.”

 

“Thank you, Miss Lerexon, you may sit.” I do just that: sit. “Okay, today is the first day of your second week in school of the eighth grade. We have finished our introductions and you know the rules. So now we can begin math. You all obviously have a basic understanding of algebra, you learned that back in fifth grade, so we’ll review that. If the variable n equals…”

 

A note hits the back of my head. I look behind me, but it’s not visible who threw it. “…Miss Lerexon! Pay attention! Would you be so kind as to tell me the answer?”

 

“Umm, 34, Ms. Starle.” I take a wild guess.

 

“That is correct. When the variable n is equal to 29, and 5 is added to n, the answer will be 34.” I can’t believe my luck!

 

The teacher drones on and on, and I uncrumple the note. It says:

 

Abby,

Please, meet me outside at the vending machines at 2:00. Don’t ask any questions, please, just do it. I have something for you.

- A Friend

Who can this ‘friend’ be? Opal is sitting next to me so it can’t be her. She hasn’t moved and is paying full attention to the math teacher. I’m just not like that- I can’t focus for even ten minutes on math.

 

Sooner or later Ms. Starle lets us out of the classroom, everybody bored. Math is not a good way to start the day. I look at my schedule- five more classes until lunch and break, which is 2:00. I have Science with Mark, Phys Ed with Kristen, Latin with Alex, Reading with Dan, and Writing with Opal again. After lunch/break I have Home and Economy with Dan, Computers with Alex, and Art with Kristen. That’s all I know.

 

I race through the day to lunch, I can’t wait to meet this person. I look at the food- anchovie pizza- and decide I’m not hungry. I grab a cookie from the stand, it’s crummy but something, and run out to the vending machines.

Introductions (I forgot Opal last time)

Opal- Pretty, mysterious, LWC.

 

Just to clear things up, Every character I have mentioned so far is a Lyoko Warrior besides Abby and Ms. Starle. Sorry, I was a bit out of it when I wrote the last chapter. So, the Complete list of Lyoko Warriors:

 

Odd Della Robbia (LWF)

Ulrich Stern (LWF)

Yumi Ishiyama (LWF)

Jeremie Belpois (LWF)

Aelita ‘Stones’ (LWF)/ (LWC)

Alex Laei (LWC)

Kristen Laei (LWC)

Mark Herman (LWC)

Dan Weyir (LWC)

Opal Jadenne (LWC)

 

The LWFs have not been met yet. Sorry I left Opal out in the first intros.

 

It’s confuzzling now, but it’ll get better.

 

            Mark

 

            Abby seems really eager to get up from the table and go to break. I don’t blame her, with the anchovie pizza being served. However, Dan seems delighted and gobbles it up. I decide Abby is just nervous.

 

            Then all of our cell phones vibrate, and each of us looks… to find the same message:

 

            Opal and Aelita in the moutain sector alone at 6:30, or Abby dies.

 

            (Normal P.O.V.)

 

            What the LWCs do not know is that the LWFs are getting the same message, except with a different hostage.

 

            Opal and Aelita in the mountain sector alone at 6:30 Canada Time, or Yumi dies.

 

            Jeremie and Alex immediately flipped open their laptops and though they didn’t know it, they spoke in perfect unison- “XANA attack.”

 

            Jeremie

 

            I immediately call Alex, regardless of the fact that it’s pretty much night here.

 

            “We just got a message that said-”

 

            “Opal and Amber in mountain sector. We know. So what are we going to do?”

 

            “We may as well send them. Opal can fight whatever XANA wants, while Aelita runs to deactivate the tower.”

 

            “I guess. Look, we’re at lunch right now, it’s 2:30. So… shouldn’t we look for Abby?”

 

            “Who? Abby?”

 

            “Yeah… the one XANA threatened to kill. She’s a new girl. Why, who did he want to kill for you?”

 

            “Yumi. This stinks… we have no idea where she is.”

 

            “Try calling her cell. Uh oh, that’s the bell, I gotta go. Call if you get anything.”

 

            Alex hangs up. I take his advice and dial Yumi’s number. I let it ring for a very long time, still no answer. I hop out of my chair, and text message the others-

 

            We have to look for Yumi. You all got the text message. In Canada it is 2:30. Hurry! –J

 

            Abby

 

            “Wha…?” I’m on a jet. Next to me is a girl with short black hair, dressed in all black. She’s Asian, I would guess Japanese. I shake my head.

 

            The last thing I remember is going to the vending machines, and seeing some boy there. He punched me and I fell out cold.

 

            The girl stirs. “What? What am I doing on this plane?”

 

            “I don’t know,” I answer. “I was going to the vending machines, and… some guy knocked me out.”

 

            “What school did you go to?” She looks at me curiously.

 

            “Kennedy Junior High, in Canada,” I respond. It can’t hurt, she seems just as confused as I am. But then her eyes light up.

 

            “Do you happen to know anybody called Kristen, Opal, Mark, Alex, or Dan?”

 

            “I actually know all of them. I’m just friends, though, I haven’t even known them for a day.” The girl suddenly adapts a friendly demeanor.

           

            “My name is Yumi, by the way. What’s yours?”

 

            “Abby.”

 

            “Well, Abby, we can’t really do anything about being here… can you see out the window?” I look.

 

            “Yeah… that’s weird. There’s some strange mark on the plane’s wings!” The mark has a dot in the middle, and looks somewhat like a target with some lines sticking out.

 

            “Xana,” breathes Yumi. What’s that?

 

            “Huh?”

 

            “Oh, um, nothing. All I can tell you is that we need to get off here… fast. What time is it?”

 

            “Well, I only know Canada time. In Canada it’s 3:00 in the afternoon.” Yumi closes her eyes.

 

            “Fine. Let’s just try to relax. Everything will be fixed in a few hours. But let me explore up front…”

 

            “I’ll come with you.” We attempt to get up, but then the jet goes into a barrel roll, throwing us backwards.

 

            “Crud!” I peel myself off the floor.

 

            “Okay, let’s crawl,” I suggest. So we get down on our stomachs and inch our way toward the cockpit. But suddenly, the jet starts going backwards.

 

            I get thrown forward into the wall, breaking a few teeth and spraining my ankle. Yumi, however, flies right through the curtains into the cockpit.

 

            I spit blood, having bit my tounge with sharp, broken teeth, and crawl toward the front. And I get a big surprise- there’s nobody flying the plane. Yumi is on the windshield, sliding down. I catch her and place her on the floor.

 

            “There’s nobody flying this darn plane!”

 

            “Well then, we’ll have to.” She sits down in the chair and tries to move the throttle. Nothing. “It’s stuck!” Yumi tries every control. Nothing, everything is jammed.

 

            Aelita 4:00 PM Canada Time

           

            I’m nervous, to say the least. We still haven’t found Yumi. But, I’m also curious- why does XANA also want Opal? Usually it’s me, to give myself up to the sciphozoa. But that’s not the case. XANA knows Opal can fight…so why?

 

            I check the boiler room again, my job is to patrol between the boiler room and the cafeteria. I’ve seen nothing so far. My cell phone vibrates, breaking the stillness. I pick up quickly.

 

            “Jeremie?”

 

            “Yes, Aelita. We should go to the factory, see if we can find out what XANA wants with you and Opal. It’s weird, why does he want Opal? She can fight.”

 

            “I was thinking the same thing. I’m on my way.”

 

            “Okay. Bye, Aelita.”

 

            “Bye, Jeremie.” I hang up my pink cell phone and break my patrol. I sneak out through the cafeteria and run to the forest. On the way, I bump into Jeremie.

 

            “Oh, hi Aelita.”

 

            “Hello, Jeremie… what time is it?” he checks his cell phone.

 

            “Darn it, it’s 4:20 in Canada!…Yeah, I set my watch to Canada time. Let’s get going!” We take off running, to the sewer hole. “I’ll call Alex…”

 

            Alex

 

            You may be wondering how there can be two supercomputers and two labs. Well, to put it simply, the supercomputer is split into two parts. Jeremie’s half can shut down and turn on the computer, and my half can shut off specific parts, like a single sector. Franz Hopper lived in France, and Calvin Gertsel lived in Canada. They cooperated. They both found one half of the supercomputer, and concluded it was blown in half ten years ago and had been slowly reforming itself to the point where it could function, which is when Franz Hopper ‘made’ the supercomputer- and the virus XANA. His old friend Calvin Gerstel helped him fight XANA, and so transferred half the virus into his part of the Supercomputer. Aelita could be on either side.

 

            Yes, it seems complicated, but if you read it a few times you’ll get it.

 

            As I contemplate and remember, daydreaming in English as usual, when my phone vibrates. Praying the teacher didn’t hear, I open up my cell and cup my hand over it. It looks as if I am resting my head on my hand.

 

            “Jeremie?!” I hiss.

 

            “Yes, is there a problem?”

 

            “I’m kind of in math,” I continue in a low voice. “Make it short.”

 

            “I’m going to the factory with Aelita. We’re going to try and find out more.”

 

            “Thanks for the info, but I can’t skip school.”

 

            “I’ll activate a return to the past!” That’s another downside to our part- only Jeremie’s half can activate returns.

 

            “Okay, fine, Jeremie. After Math, I’ll ditch school with the others.”

 

            “Thanks, the current supercomputer password is t.y.v.m. Got it?” We need a password to get into the supercomputer, it’s really annoying. Jeremie has it so much easier.

 

            “Get it. Bye, Jeremie!” I hang up. I can’t afford to be caught. I silently message the others to ditch school after their class ends.

 

            Go 2 fact. after class. Try 2 find out more about Opal+Aelita. – Al

 

            Class lets out soon, and I slip out the commons doors. I dash to the coniferous forest and duck underneath a tree to find a door. Yes, a door in a large tree. I type in the regular code- XANA- and the door opens. As I enter, it slams shut behind me, but I know where I’m going. I find the ladder and climb down… to the Control Room. Opal, Kristen, and Mark are already there.

 

            “About time, Archimedes,” That’s Mark and Dan’s nickname for me, since Jeremie already is called Einstien.

 

            “Sorry, you know I’m no good at gym,” I huff, out of breath. I plop down in my chair, and type in the code- T.Y.V.M.

 

            Immediately the dark screen lights up, and data streams in, data only me, Jeremie, and Aelita can read. It’s obvious XANA is attacking. I check my cell phone for the time- and my mouth drops open.

 

            “What! It’s…5:00! That’s impossible, it hasn’t been 5 minutes!”

 

            “I’ll check the position of the sun,” offers Kristen. My sister climbs up the ladder, and after a moment comes back down. “Strange… it looks like it jumped a bit!”

 

            “And now the time is 5:25! Something weird is going on…” I type in a few codes, and look for the information. “It looks like XANA is making time speed up! But it’s like he wants to kill Abby and Yumi more than he wants Opal and Aelita. I need to call Jeremie!”

 

            Jeremie

 

            Something weird is going on. Time appears to be jumping forward. Then, as if a confirmation, I get a call from Alex at his side of the computer.

 

            “Jeremie! Time is jumping, no time to discuss, because if I calculated this right, in two jumps it’ll be 6:20! We need to send Opal and Aelita now!”

 

            “You want us to sacrifice them?! We don’t even know what XANA wants!”

 

            “It’s that or let XANA kill Yumi and Abby!”

 

            I consider. We have no choice. “Fine. I’ll send Aelita now.”

 

            Yumi

 

            I have no idea what XANA wants, but it’s probably an ultimatum like there was some time before. But why did he pick a random girl from the other school? Abby is nice, but it’s hard to not reveal the secret to her. If I know XANA, he would have captured Opal.

 

            I shake another one of the controls in frustration. “Hey, Abby? What time is it?”

 

            “Yumi, I think my watch is malfunctioning, because the pointers are jumping around. Right now it shows 6:10.” Suddenly, the plane jolts. I have the padded pilot’s seat, but Abby isn’t so lucky. She gets tossed backward, throwing out an arm to stop her fall, but only breaking the arm. “Ow,” she moans.

 

            “Abby!” Great, this is just what I need. An injured girl on board a plane controlled by XANA. I get out of the seat and run to Abby. “By the way, I like your choice of color.”

 

            “Thanks,” she smiles weakly. “Black rules.”

 

            “Sorry about this, but I have to get you a cast.” I tear off a bit of her tank, just near the belly button, so no awkward parts are revealed. I tie it into a sling and drape it over her. “Here, keep your arm in this. Sorry I couldn’t do much.” Abby smiles, but it’s a sad smile, and it’s like she understand’s what I’m thinking- we may not live through this.

 

            Alex

 

            I press the enter button, virtualizing Opal. And then I wince, because the countdown is at thirty seconds. Opal and Aelita need to move fast.

 

            “25…24…23…22…” The girls run out of the waytower they just entered, now they are in the mountain sector. I tell them where XANA wants them, and they run towards the place. “10 seconds! 9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…” And that’s when Aelita and Opal completely disappear off the screen.

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

Alex

I stare at the screen in shock. Okay, something is definitely not right here. And as soon as I gather my thoughts, Lyoko starts to delete itself.

“WHAT THE-” I frantically call up the other half of the supercomputer. “Jeremie, WHAT is going on?! Opal and Aelita just disappeared, and Lyoko is deleting!”

“I have no idea at all! This is so wrong! We have to bring Lyoko back first! But… that will involve sending somebody to Lyoko, and they’ll fall into the digital sea if we try!”

“We still need to try it. We virtualize the person as far away as possible from the digital sea, right in the center. Are all the sectors deleting themselves, or just one? My readouts say that Sector Five is already gone, and the mountain sector is in the process of being deleted.”

“That’s not good… so who’s the lucky duck that gets to be virtualized?”

“I’ll do it,” Kristen says softly. “Send me, Alex.” I stare at my sister.

“Are you…sure?”

“Positive. I’m not afraid of Lyoko or anything on or near it.” With a heavy heart, afraid for Kristen, I tell Jeremie:

“Kristen’ll do it. I’m sending her. Do you have any ideas of coordinates?”

“Send her to the Ice Sector, it’ll be deleted last- coordinates 24 North, 53 west. It’s right in the center. That’s the most time we can give Kristen.”

“Okay,” I uneasily consent. “Kristen, go on to the scanner room… after this.” I get up from my chair, and kiss Kristen right on the lips, not romantically, but as brother-sister. She hugs me back, and we’re both shocked, but it feels right. I don’t care what the others say.

“I’ll be fine, Alex. You know I will,” she winks. “Love you.” Then she climbs down the ladder for what could be her last time. I take a deep breath. Could my next words be Kristen’s death sentence?

“T-Transfer, Kristen.” I bring up her profile and run a systems check. Everything is fine. “Scanner, Kristen.” I type in the coordinates, and say the words which could be the last Kristen every really hears- “Virtualization!”

Kristen

I land in the Ice Sector, in my porcupine outfit. There are spines all over me, which I can take and throw if I need to. It seems ridiculous, but it works well.

“Okay, Kristen,” Alex’s strained voice comes from above. “The info I need is in the tower, about 2:00. Go for about a kilometer. I’ll send you the overwing.” It virtualizes, and I hop on, using my brown gloves to grab. I put the vehicle on full blast. There’s no time to waste.

“Hey, Jeremie, Alex? How much time do I have?”

“Right now, the mountain sector is almost completely finished,” Alex supplies.

“The Desert Sector is next, then the forest. Then all the towers in the Ice Sector will be deleted, and then the final deletion will begin.”

“All in all, you have about half an hour.”

“Half an hour!” I yell in shock. “Isn’t there some way to delay it?”

“Well… I got it!” snaps Alex. “We have to create a new sector, or duplicate one!”

“Good idea Alex… but creating a sector isn’t that easy.”

“It’s not a new sector entirely, just a clone! That’s easy enough, isn’t it?”

“Yes. But we’ll have to disconnect a few wires, such as the one that enables Kristen to be devirtualized regularly.” A whistle.

“That’s not good.” I see the tower in the distance.

“Do it, I’m almost there!”

“Kristen…” Alex sounds really worried.

“Trust me, Alex. Do you trust your own sister?”

“Yes,” he whispers. “More than anything else.”

“Then trust that I can do this. Just watch my back and I’ll be fine.” I’m trying to act brave, I need to give Alex and the others hope that this will be solved. Even though inside, I doubt it will work. I’m willing to sacrifice myself… but I don’t want it to be in vain.

“Okay. Jeremie, I’m disconnecting the parts we need to.” Suddenly, everything around me dims. The static disappears… I’ve lost contact. Once I get into the tower, I’ll be able to do something. I’m not Aelita, I don’t have the code, but I can still access certain data. Hopefully the data we need.

I reach the tower and hope off. I devirtualize my vehicle with a single spine- I won’t need it anymore- but then I remember nothing can be devirtualized, or it’s gone for good. And I don’t want to lose the overwing for good. Instead, I leave it outside as I rush into the tower.

I slowly float up, chubby porcupine arms spread out. I slowly land on the platform. I press my hand on the panel.

KRISTEN LAEI

RESTRICTIONS ALLOWED

CODE:

The code is entered on it’s own, I do not type it in. The code is ACCESS, not LYOKO, since the tower isn’t activated.

The text is translated into English, not that weird gibberish that only Alex, Jeremie and Aelita.

ERROR DETECTED

I press the ‘enter’ tab that appears with one of my claws.

XANA: PLAN: Take Ishiyama and Chosen to plane as hostage. Demand Jadenne and Aelita. Take Jadenne and Aelita to… FOLLOWING INFORMATION DENIED.

“Crud!” I hit the ‘back’ icon, and click ‘describe error’.

DESCRIBE ERROR: Lyoko deletion in process. New Sector Created. Devirtualization disabled. Communications cable cut. Wherabouts of 3 Lyoko Warriors Unknown. Disturbance in time fabric.

“What? Disturbance of time fabric? Does that have something to do with ‘chosen’” I wonder aloud. Then I type in a command: Restore Communications. Text rolls down the screen, and suddenly…

“Finally, Kristen!” Alex’s panicked voice. “We have only 10 more minutes… but something else seems to be creating sectors- it’s unknown! Can you try to research? Type in the command ‘Describe Chosen’. The computer only calls it ‘chosen’.”

“Hey!” I realize. “XANA’s plans said ‘Take Ishiyama and Chosen to plane as hostage!”

“All the more reason to research,” he urges. “Do it!” I bring up the search again and type the command. And before my eyes…

Chosen: Has been on Lyoko for as long as it existed. Possible fragment of XANA. Appears to oppose XANA. Current wherabouts unknow- disappeared off Lyoko. Possibly on Earth. Further access restricted.

“Alex? Look at this.” I send him the information. “Who did XANA capture on the plane along with Yumi?” A long silence.

“Abby.”

Abby

I sit on the plane with my head in my one good hand. Even Yumi seems to have lost hope. It feels awful, knowing you’re going to die and have nothing to do about it. A single tear rolls down Yumi’s cheek.

“Abby… have you ever had a boyfriend?” The question startles the heck out of me. I jump, then wince from my arm.

“Umm… once. His name was…lemme think… oh yeah, Odd. He was a really ‘odd’ guy, but I liked him. A lot. He liked me back.”

“What was his last name?” Yumi asks, suddenly it seems she’s more alert.

“Uh,” I stall, trying to remember. “Odd… Della-Robbia! That was it!”

“Oh god,” the raven-haired girl moans. “How old were you?”

“It was about three years ago. Then he moved to France or whatever. It was Kedac Academy or something…”

“Kadic,” Yumi corrects. “Where I go.”

“Wow!” I say. Suddenly, questions fill my mind about Odd. “Does he have a new girlfriend? How does he look, does he still have his hair with a purple splotch? Are YOU his girlfriend? Tell me all about him!”

“Woah, woah! Calm down,” giggles Yumi. “He wears his hair differently now. He does have the purple splotch. And he’s tried numerous girls, but none of them like him back. His love life is like something out of a soap opera.”

“Well then, do you have a boyfriend?”

“I…yes. Well… what I mean to say is… I don’t know whether he’s a boyfriend, best friend, or enemy.”

“Woah, you have two?” Yumi lowers her head in defeat.

“It’s not like that.”

Author’s Note:

This takes place in season four, and William is XANAfied. Both troops of Lyoko Warriors know this. For the moment, William hasn’t attacked too much, Jeremie is trying to put up a firewall. To be more specific, this takes place after Double Take and then another mini episode I didn’t write and MoonScoop didn’t produce… yet.

“Well then?”

“It’s hard to explain.” I sigh, knowing she won’t tell me anything. I go back to my previous position, trying to concentrate on what is happening. But I feel nothing. I can’t do a thing.

Alex

I tell the others to get back to school. If we’re all gone, teachers will get suspicious. For me, it’s usual to miss gym and art, but not science. I’ll just have to take that chance.

“No way, Archimedes,” Dan contradicts. “It’s safe, because of this ‘chosen’, so why don’t you send us, too? We can find out more about Opal and Aelita.”

“That’s what Kristen is doing,” I sigh. “But fine. You can stand guard. But Dan, you’ll be missing art…”

“It’s one art lesson, Alex. I can miss it.” I hit my head once on the keyboard, frustrated.

“What…?” Suddenly, readouts come dashing up the screen. I translate them, reading them aloud. “Chosen virtualization ready. Yumi virtualization ready. XANA files open. Opal materialization ready.”

“DO IT!” They all yell. I send the info to Jeremie, quickly, then hit the enter button.

Abby

All of a sudden, I feel a whirl. And in a split second, I’m stepping out of a weird closet thing, a cylinder shape, and leaning for support on a strange wire.

“Abby?” Yumi, too, steps out of a cylinder, her knees buckling. “The Canada factory,” she hisses. Some doors open, an elevator, and Alex, Dan, and Mark step in. “Alex! What happened? And why are you showing Abby the factory?”

“Because she is ‘chosen’.”

“What?”

And then it seems that all time stops. Everything is perfectly still. Yumi stands to support herself, and whispers something into Alex’s ear. He nods, and goes back through the doors.

A minute later, the cylinder smokes, and slowly opens. And there, in front of me, is Odd. His eyes widen.

“Abby? No way!” As he breaks into a grin, I notice that his hair is spiked up. The purple splotch is still there, and he is still wearing all purple, as always. I hug him, wordless. Then, he holds me at an arm’s length. “You’ve changed. Wearing all black, like Yumi. You used to like red…”

“Yeah, well, I got sick of being color coordinated,” I laugh. It’s so good to see Odd again, after all those years. We were never sure whether we were friends or boyfriend and girlfriend. But now, it’s a mix of the two. “You, young man, haven’t changed at all,” I fake-scold. We start laughing, and Mark, Alex, and Dan stand by, having no idea what’s so funny. That’s the thing between me and Odd- we have our own sense of humor.

“Ya know, I had a dream of you. And you had a hot pink splotch in your hair,” Odd’s grin widens, taunting me.

“Would I ever stoop to that level? It’s not my fault I’m a redhead… blame Mom and-” I stop at the unpleasant memories. My parents don’t care about me at all. One summer, I had to stay at Odd’s house, for the pure reason that my parents didn’t want me at home. When I was small, my parents got a full-time babysitter and went to the movies whenever they could. Sure, Mom cooked for me and fed me, but other than that I was on my own. Odd knows all of this, and is not happy about it.

“What?” Dan asks curiously. Knowing that he doesn’t know a sensitive spot when he sees one, I answer the question.

“My parents just don’t want me, I guess. They always send me off to one of these boarding schools and pay extra for me to go to summer camp. I haven’t seen them since… well, about five years.” There’s a shocked silence. Well, Odd isn’t shocked, but he stays silent. “Umm, anyway… how did Yumi and Odd get here? They’re both from like…the other side of the planet…”

“Um, Abby? France has less than a seven hour difference. We don’t live in Japan,” Odd chides.

“How would you know?” I retort playfully. “Your brain is so scrambled we may as well be on Mars for you!

“But, you still haven’t answered my question. What’s going on?” They all stare at eachother.

“We can’t do a return. The tower hasn’t been deactivated yet, and it can’t be deactivated without Aelita,” Alex says in a low voice.

“We can still do a return… how does that change anything?” interrogates Mark.

“Think about it. A return makes you-know-who stronger, and an activated tower is a display of strenth. So if we feed his strength, who knows what he’ll do?” Mark utters a word I’d rather not repeat.

“Woah, what are you talking about now?”

“After all… you saw the readouts. She is ‘chosen’.”

“What?” asks Odd. Alex whispers something into his ear, and he whispers it to Yumi.

“What is it?!” I cry, frustrated.

“Abby, do you have any memory of…a virtual world…” suddenly, a voice echoes through the room.

“Alex, there’s some kind of form approaching! It doesn’t look like a monster…”

“Come on!” yells Alex. We all gather into the elevator, which lifts us to some weird place. There’s a monitor in the middle of the room, with a keyboard and mouse. There’s some weird colorful sphere hovering over some hole. “It’s…Abby!”

Slowly, every eye turns to look toward me.