Cher Ami was happy. No, happy was an understatement. He was hyper. It was his 12th birthday. Now, he could finally open the letter that had fallen out of his bag his first day at Kadic. It was a blank envelope. On the back of it were the words: To Cher Ami. Do not open until your 12th birthday. Cher Ami found the envelope at the bottom of his clothes drawer. He paused to wonder if he should ask his twin, Hope, to join him. He decided not to, after all, the envelope was addressed to him. He opened it and out fell three sheets of paper. They read:
Dear Cher Ami,
First of all happy birthday. Secondly you must be wondering who would contact you in such a way. I am your father, Jeremie Belqois. You must also be wondering why I had you wait until today for you to open this letter. You see, I was 12 when I discovered a secret. I will now share that secret with you. I discovered a virtual world. Impossible you may say. Follow the instructions on the next page and you to will discover. I also left instructions on the last piece of paper on how to activate the supercomputer and access my files and a video diary me and my friends made. I trusted only my closest friends in on this secret. I want you to trust their children as well. They are in Kadic already. They are Alvan Della Robbia and Nicole Stern. You are also to share this information with your sister Hope. By this time I must be dead or your mother, Aelita would not have given you this and I would have told you this all in person.
I love you my son,
Your father
Whatever Cher Ami was expecting, it was not what he found. He reread the letter five times before he looked at the other pages. It was easy enough to find the Factory his father had mentioned. It would also be easy to trust Alvan and Nicole with the information. Alvan was his best friend and Nicole was a friend of Hopes. The hard thing would be getting them to believe the impossible story that was unfolding.
"Alvan! Come here a second." Cher Ami pulled Alvan into his room.
"What is it buddy?" Alvan was a hansom young man with a scrawny body and his black hair in a crew cut. Cher Ami gave Alvan the note. Alvan read the note carefully. After he finished he looked up at Cher Ami, his face full of excitement.
"Lets go now! It’s a Saturday and I’m tired of the same old routine we go through every weekend."
Cher Ami smiled. He knew Alvan was trustworthy.
"Ok. Let’s go get the girls."
They ran off and found the girls talking in Nicole’s room. It was hard to believe that Nicole and Hope could be friends at times. Nicole was tall and a tomboy. Her brown hair constantly tied up in a ponytail. She loved the color hunter green and had it on at all times. Hope was more girlie. Her blonde hair was flyaway and never straight. She had so many dresses that Cher Ami lost count. All of them were some shade of pink.
The girls read the letter and Hope was ready to go when Nicole stopped her. Nicole was a year older and felt that it was her job to look out for Hope.
"Hold on. How do we know this isn’t a trick?"
"Trust us Nicole!"
Hope looked between Nicole and Cher Ami. She trusted her brother. Although Nicole was older Cher Ami was her twin and he was pretty levelheaded. The one she had to watch out for was Alvan. He was the prankster.
Not long after Nicole, Cher Ami, Hope, and Alvan were walking through the forest to the manhole that their father told them about. It was right where the letter said it would be. After they traveled a bit they found some vehicles, three skateboards and two scooters. Nicole and Alvan each took a skateboard and Cher Ami and Hope used the scooters. They traveled through the sewers to a metal ladder. They climbed up the ladder and at the top they found an amazing site.
The room was huge. In the center was a chair surrounded by screens with a big one in the middle. Cher Ami sat down in the chair and started typing what his father had told him to. After a few minutes a holographic screen came up. Cher Ami opened a file labeled: Diary. The group sat down on the floor and watched.
First a boy came up. He had blonde hair and looked to be only 12. His voice was only a little higher than Cher Ami’s. The boy began to speak.
"My name is Jeremie Belpois. I am 12 years of age and go to Kadic Academy. I discovered Lyoko, the Factory, the supercomputer, Xana, and Aelita. My job is to man the supercomputer. I have only been in Lyoko once and I am not going back in a hurry. My best friends are Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, and Aelita Hopper."
Next a girl with pink hair came on. Her voice was innocent and sweet.
"I am Aelita. I am 12 years old…I think. Jeremie found me in Lyoko. My father, Franz Hopper, was the original creator of all of this. I lived on Earth at first but then the government came after my father and me. My father virtualized us into Lyoko where he was taken prisoner by Xana upon his entrance. I was not captured. My best friend is Jeremie. My other friends are Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich. My job in Lyoko is to deactivate the towers that Xana activates."
After she had finished speaking. A boy that looked a little older came into the picture. He had spiky blonde hair with a purple spot in the middle. He was scrawny and looked amazingly like Alvan.
"My name is Odd. My name is Odd because I’m odd. I’m 13. My best friend is Ulrich but I’m great friends with the others too. Jeremie says I’m suppose to tell about my plans for the future, but I’m not as boring as Einstein is. Although orders are orders so I might as well. I love drawing and would love to have a career in art. I also have a dog-named Kiwi. I fight in Lyoko. I take on the appearance of cat for some reason. I can shot laser arrows from my wrist and I am clairvoyant. Come on Ulrich! Tell them about the big pain that adores you! Sissi and Ulrich sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes-!"
A hand flew over Odds mouth and dragged him out of view. A slightly blushing boy with brown hair came into view.
"Ulrich here. I’m 13 and my best friend is Odd. Because everyone is looking the other way I’ll tell my plans for the future now. I plan on asking YUMI out. I also fight in Lyoko. I have a katana and can triplicate, triangulate, and I have super sprint. That’s about it. Yumi! Your turn!"
The oldest one of the gang came on screen. She had raven black hair and black clothes.
"I’m Yumi. I’m 14 and go to Kadic. Unlike the others I don’t live in a dorm. I live with my parents and younger brother downtown. I too fight in Lyoko. I am telekinetic and have two fans that work like boomerangs."
The screen went blank for a moment before something else came up. It was Odd, dressed like a cat. He looked to be outside during the winter. He was hiding behind a massive chunk of ice. In a quite voice he whispered,
"Welcome to Lyoko. We are in the Ice Sector and I am your guide Odd the magnificent! Xana attacked today. We came here and right now we have all our life points so I should get some good shots. Jeremie doesn’t know I have this so don’t tell him. Ulrich is fighting a hornet. He’s coming close so lets give him a shock."
Odd stepped out from behind the chunk of ice and another boy came into view. He was deflecting lasers with a long sword. The lasers we coming from what looked like a massive hornet. The only difference was on its head. On it’s head there was a big red symbol. It was three rings with four lines coming from the outer circle. There were three on the bottom and one on top. Odd shot the hornet with an arrow and the thing exploded. The boy called Ulrich turned around to find a video camera in his face.
"Thanks Od-Ahh!"
"Say cheese Ulrich!"
"Jeremie! Odd brought your camera in here!"
The tape showed a barren land of ice and air. There were two more hornets. Yumi was fighting both. Alelita was running ahead towards what looked to be a giant computer tower growing from the ground like a tree would. It even had roots. After Yumi and Ulrich defeated the last hornets Yumi turned around.
"How do you get that in here Odd?"
"Brought it in the scanner with me."
"Why?"
"So my future kid can see how awesome his dad is."
Jeremies voice came from above.
"You mean how bad he dresses."
The others all laughed while Odd made a mocking face.
"We’ll see Einstein! You’re not to good of a dresser yourself!"
The camera once again went blank. When it came back on it showed an older Jeremie and Aelita. They were holding hands and smiling. Jeremie spoke first. His voice was much deeper than it had been when he was young.
"I finally did it. I asked Aelita to be my wife. The wedding is this June!"
"And I said yes. Isn’t it grand? I’ll have to have Yumi help me though. I have no idea what needs to be done. That’s after Jeremie explains what a wedding is."
The screen went blank yet again. It too showed a happy couple, only this time it was Ulrich and Yumi.
"Ulrich asked me to marry him! It has been only one year after Jeremie and Aelitas wedding. We are going to be married the day we first met, September 1. My first day of ninth grade!"
"My first day of eighth."
The next couple to come on was of Odd and a young lady with long black hair.
"And Ulrich said I was hopeless with the girls all those years. Ha! Well see here Ulrich; I’m going to marry Sissi tomorrow!"
The girl giggled.
"I better go. I would love to stay on longer, but I have to try on my dress."
The girl left leaving Odd by himself.
"Whatever I said about Sissi when I was a kid – forget it!"
Something totally new came on next. I showed Yumi holding a baby. She looked into the camera and spoke.
"This is Nicole Stern. She was born today at 5 AM, just like me. Ulrich says she has my face but his hair. I think her hair will be black, but we can’t tell yet. It may be brown. I hope she ends up being just like her dad. Ulrich would come on and say hello but he had to run an errand."
The girl named Sissi came on next. She to was holding a baby.
"Say hello to the camera Alvan." She picked up the baby’s small hand and waved.
"This is Alvan Della Robbia. He was born today, April first, at 1:11PM. I hope he has Odds sense of humor. That man can make anyone laugh. He’s taping the video now so you can’t see them but he can say hi. Say hi dear."
A voice came from behind the camera.
"Hi dear!"
Next was Aelita. She was holding up two small babies. One in each arm. They both had blonde hair and were sleeping.
"This is Cher Ami and Hope. Jeremie and I were only expecting one child, but I like two much better. Yumi is taping because Jeremie is in the bathroom. He was a little grossed out by the whole process. I’m so happy they look like Jeremie."
Once more the screen went blank. A much older Aelita came on. She looked sad and tired. When she spoke she sounded how she looked.
"Because this has opened I must think that you are here Cher Ami, Hope, Alvan, and Nicole. I know you must all think you are orphans but as far as I can tell, you are not. I have reason to believe that all your parents are alive. I am going to try to find them after I drop you off at Kadic. I had better fill you in on everything. You will not remember your parents because they are believed to be dead. Odd was suffocated by Xana, Yumi was killed in a car crash, Sissi fell into the digital sea and was deleted, Jeremie died from some illness, and Ulrich was killed by one of Xanas clones."
"You are probably wondering who Xana is. Xana is an artificial intelligence who wants to destroy the human race. Your job will be to stop Xanas attacks on Lyoko and Earth. I know that is asking a lot, but your parents did that at your age and I have faith in you. To stop Xana you go into a virtual world called Lyoko. Cher Ami and Hope, you should be able to access your fathers files and figure it out. I trust in you all and I love you. Farewell."
The screen went blank and the movie ended. The group didn’t move. They couldn’t; they were in shock. Cher Ami got up. He went over to the computer and started bring up his fathers files. It was incredible. At the same time he wanted nothing to do with any of it. It was too impossible. Their parents – alive. He couldn’t believe it; it would be to hard to get everyone’s hope up just to bring them crashing back down. The only thing that kept him searching was that his fathers note had not been wrong yet. The factory, the diary; everything. Alvan was the first to speak.
"Someone say something funny before I have a heart attack."
Nicole spoke up.
"This is some sick joke right? I can’t believe you guys are that mean."
Hope turned to her.
"I don’t think their joking Nicole. Those people looked just like us. Plus, I have proof."
She reached down her shirt and brought up a locket. She opened it and showed the picture to Nicole. In it was a woman and a man. Jeremie and Aelita. Each of them held a little baby in their arms. The babies from the video diary. Cher Ami shot a look at Hope.
"Where did you get that?"
"It fell out of my bag on the first day. It came in an envelope saying: To Hope. Do not open until your 12th birthday. I just opened it this morning. I didn’t know the names, but I knew they were our parents."
Alvan spoke up.
"At least your mum may be alive. Both of mine are dead. I always knew something happened to them, but I always hoped I could find them one day. I thought that maybe they couldn’t afford to keep me and that now they would be looking for me. Now all I will ever find are graves. It’s hopeless."
The others stared at him. It was not like Alvan to be depressed. Usually he was always smiling and full of energy. Now however, it was as if all his energy had been drained. He felt tired and empty. Hope turned to him.
"I read once, ‘Things are only hopeless when you loose hope.’ Also, I thought my name was Hope? And as far as I can tell, I’m still here."
That got the group smiling. It was ironic; talking about being hopeless when Hope was sitting right beside them. Hope continued, "Also my mum said that she thought they were all alive."
"What happened to them then?"
"Xana."
Everyone turned around. Besides accusing them of it all being a joke, Nicole had yet to talk. "That Xana thing. Our parents were it’s worst enemies. It captured them. I bet anything that’s what happened. Their still in Lyoko." A tear trickled down her cheek.
"What have you found in your father’s files Cher Ami?"
"Lots. The most interesting thing is Lyoko itself. There are many sectors each with it’s own dangers. And then there is the digital sea, and our powers in Lyoko."
"IN Lyoko?"
"Yes. I can virtualize you all into Lyoko. You will all have health points. If you run out you are sent back to Earth. You will all have weapons and powers there."
"Lets go now."
"Ok. Go down one floor in the elevator and you will see some pillars, each of you walk into a separate pillar and wait."
Alvan, Nicole, and Hope did as Cher Ami told them to. When they were all in a pillar, which Cher Ami said was called a scanner, the doors closed. They heard Cher Amis voice from above.
"Scanner Hope. Scanner Alvan. Scanner Nicole. Transfer Hope. Transfer Alvan. Transfer Nicole. Virtualization!"
The three friends opened their eyes to see a strange sight. They were in what looked to be a forest with roots sticking up in strange places. Even stranger was their appearance. They all looked like their parents. Alvan took on the cat appearance that Odd had. He silently thanked Cher Ami for not giving him his father’s hair. Nicole looked like her mother, Yumi. She took out two fans from behind her back and was examining them. Hope looked exactly like Aelita. She even had her pink hair. She noticed and was wondering how she could ask Cher Ami about it when his voice came from above.
"Welcome to Lyoko – Forest Region."
The group jumped. Hope smiled and stated her question.
"You have your parents DNA and so you will have your parents traits. I thought it would only effect your clothing though."
"Oh well."
"I’m tracking our parents now. Watch out. I think you might have some monsters coming your way."
"Monsters?" The group spoke in unison.
"Just hit them on their eye. It’s a big red thing. You can’t miss it. This will give you some practice to."
What looked like a big metal ball came rolling into view. Hope backed away.
"What is that thing Cher Ami?"
"Describe it."
"It’s a big ball."
"It’s called a Mega-Tank. ‘They open up and shoot lasers from within. They have fake eyes on the outside that are used as decoys.’" Said Cher Ami reading from his father’s notes. He continued.
"It may take me a while to figure this out. My father left five volumes of notes."
Alvan rolled his eyes.
"What? Little notebooks are too hard for you to read Cher Ami? That’s not like you."
" Try five little notebooks the size of two dictionaries. Each."
"Oh. Never mind. That is like you."
Cher Ami type vigorously at the keys. Only a few more codes to enter and he should have their signals locked.
Meanwhile in Lyoko the others were attempting to destroy the Mega-tank. Alvan knew his father had laser arrows, but had no idea how to work them. Nicole was finding it a little easier to fight with the fans. The hard part was catching them and throwing them hard enough to reach her target. Hope was hiding behind a tree. Cher Ami had told her that she could change the Lyoko landscape. Only problem was it would cost her half her life points. She realized that it was to early so she sat back and watched the others dodge lasers and attempt to kill their source wishing that she could join in.
"Cher Ami! How do I work these things?"
"Um…Let me see…"
Cher Ami flipped through the pages in the book. A scribbled note gave him what he was looking for.
"It’s says you imagine the arrows."
Alvan concentrated on an arrow flying out of his wrist and hitting the Mega-tank. He felt a swish and heard an explosion. He heard Nicole and Hope shout something to him. He opened his eyes in time to see what was remaining of the Mega-tank vanish. Hope and Nicole were rushing up to him. Nicole was the first to speak.
"How did you do that?"
"I just imagined the arrow coming from my wrist and hitting the Mega-tank. It felt very strange though."
"It would. I can’t catch my fans."
"Practice makes perfect."
"Got it!" Cher Ami shouted.
They looked up towards the sky. Cher Ami had the location of their parents. It was fairly easy. His father had left him all the necessary codes and by using their parent’s digital codes he could track them.
"Our parents are in Sector 5. You need to go to the edge of the region, which is to the north. Watch out though. Xana will try to stop you now that he knows you’re there."
The group started running. They didn’t know what Sector 5 was or what was ahead of them, but the news of their parents being alive was enough to keep them going. They ran and ran for what seemed like all eternity. Suddenly the ground ended in a steep cliff. They all skidded to a stop. Alvan scanned the area.
"What now Cher Ami? I don’t see anyth- whoa! What is that?"
Nicole pushed the button just as the timer hit zero. Cher Ami let out a relieved sigh. He entered a few more codes to find their parents exact location. The Creepers had left and a new door opened. Cher Ami gasped.
"Through that door is our parents guys."
The three friends looked at each other. They couldn’t believe it; they were so close. In unison they took at deep breath and slowly walked into the room. They stopped after only three steps.
The room was dark; the only source of light came from the red glowing chains that imprisoned the seven people before them. It was as if they were looking at themselves. They recognized five of the beings as Odd, Yumi, Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich. They looked as if time had done nothing to them; they still looked like the kids from the diary. The other two people, a man and a girl, they did not recognize. Hope slowly walked over to Aelita in a stunned trance. She placed a hand on the girl’s cheek and whispered one word.
"Mom?"
Aelita looked up. She had not heard the group walk in.
"Hope?"
Hope nodded. Tears rolled down the two girls’ faces.
"Jeremie! It’s Hope!"
Jeremie looked up. His eyes grew wide with disbelief.
"It is you. Odd! Ulrich! Yumi! Sissi! We’re saved!"
With that Alvan and Nicole walked into view. Alvan ran up to Odd and hugged him around the middle.
"Dad! Where’s mom?"
Odd laughed.
"Good to see you to. She’s right there."
Alvan looked at the young girl he was unable to recognize. She had long black hair that was tied up into a bun. She was wearing a white flowing dress. She looked up and smiled. Nicole meanwhile was in a conversation with Ulrich and Yumi. She was talking fast and the other two were trying to keep up.
"I can’t believe what I’m seeing! We found the video diary you guys made and then we came right here after hearing Aelita say you were alive. How are you two still kids? Shouldn’t you be older now?"
Yumi finally got a chance to speak.
"Well we are older. When we came to Lyoko we just kept our kid appearance. You look just like me, only with your father’s hair. We missed you so much. We always thought about you."
Cher Ami wiped a tear from his eye. When he started speaking, his voice was shaky.
"I hate to cut this short but you guys have to get a move on."
Nicole took out a fan and started hacking at the chains. She broke Yumi’s first and started working on Odds while Yumi worked on Ulrichs. Alvan and Hope walked over to the man who did not lift his head when they announced their presence. Unlike the others he looked was elderly. His hair and eyebrows white and his face full of deep wrinkles. Odd lifted up on of the man’s eyelids. A mutter escaped the elderly man’s lips.
"Yes?"
Odd and Hope jumped back. Sissi turned towards them.
"Do not be scared of him. That’s Franz Hopper. You know; Aelitas father? He’s alive, just old."
When their chains had been destroyed and Hopper was slung carefully over Ulrichs back the group walked out. Cher Ami said he had no idea how they were to get out of there. Aelita told them they had to get deverualized and he could do it when they were out of Sector Five. The procession made its way out of another door and out of Sector Five to the data bank.
Upon their arrival a laser hit Nicole and she vanished. Alvan cried out her name. He turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Ulrich looking at him.
"Don’t worry Alvan. She was just deverualized."
"How Ul-I mean Mr. Stern?"
"Mantas." He pointed to a group of flying Manta rays.
"Oh. At least those things are better looking than the Creepers."
"Haha. I guess. Jeremie you better explain to Cher Ami how to get us our rides while we take care of these guys."
As Jeremie gave commands to Cher Ami Ulrich laid his burden on the ground. Odd, Yumi, and Alvan shot arrows and threw fans at the monsters as Sissi tried to gain control over the beasts. At one point Alvan tripped over the man who was propped up against the wall. He fell backwards just as a vehicle materialized behind him. He looked down to see what looked to be a skateboard. Hope jumped on with him.
He saw Ulrich load the elderly man on a kind of unicycle. Odd and Sissi boarded another skateboard while Yumi and Jeremie got on a hovercraft.
"A tunnel is open to your right," came Cher Amis voice.
The group, dodging lasers, flew out of the tunnel and found themselves back in the forest region.
When they were safe Jeremie started giving Cher Ami instructions on how to deverualize them. Hope saw something in the distance.
"MONSTERS!"
Ulrich also looked out; his eyes became wide.
"A fleet of them! HURRY CHER AMI!"
Cher Ami began typing madly. He was unable to get them out in time however. The screen started beeping.
"Dad! A bunch of codes I can’t make sense of are coming up!"
Jeremie looked up in alarm.
"What!? That’s impossible! What type of codes?"
"Codes for everything. Even Lyoko itself. NO! The codes are being deleted one by one!"
The ground below the group in Lyoko started to disappear. They ran for their life. Nicole came up behind Cher Ami.
"What’s wrong?"
"XANA’s destroying Lyoko. He knows he’s beat. He sent a fleet of monsters after them and the codes are being deleted. If the monsters don’t recapture them they will fall and be deleted forever. I HAVE to make sense of this!"
Nicole looked at him not bothering to hide her alarm.
"WHAT! They can die! You NEVER told us people could die in Lyoko! You just said to watch out for the digital sea! We thought you meant that we would be sent back. Cher Ami you IDIOT!"
Cher Ami’s eyes became wide and his face red.
"WHAT! You’re blaming ME?! I’m just as confused and scared as you are Nicole! I can be minutes away from losing my best friend, mom, dad, sister, and grandfather! Now SHUT UP AND LET ME THINK!"
Nicole became silent. One part of her felt Cher Ami was being selfish. Another told her that he was right. She wasn’t the only one who would lose someone. When she spoke again her voice was calm.
"What can I do to help?"
Cher Ami didn’t look up from the screen.
"Hope I can get us through this."
Back in Lyoko the monsters were gaining on them. An idea came to Hope.
"Wait! If we get hit with the lasers we will be sent back right? So lets just go up to the monsters and let them fire away."
Yumi shook her head.
"It won’t work like that. They aren’t shooting. They’ll recapture us and we’ll be in more trouble then ever. Just run. WATCH OUT!"
Yumi pulled Hope away from a newly formed cliff. They continued on their vehicles. Cher Ami managed to get enough codes fixed to slow down the process of Lyoko’s disintegration. Tears ran down his face from frustration.
"I’m sorry Dad. Mom. Hope. I’m letting you down."
Aelita looked up.
"Cher Ami you can never let us down. It’s like Jeremie once told me: ‘It’s not your problem; it’s all of ours.’"
A tear ran down Jeremie’s cheek. He quickly wiped it away. "I’ve got an idea." He grabbed one of Yumi’s fans from her belt and threw it at Hope. It hit its mark. Hope gasped with pain and shock.
"Dad what are you doing?"
"If Cher Ami can’t bring us back. I will."
He kept throwing the fan at Hope with Yumi’s help; he was having a difficult time catching the fan once it came back around. When Hope vanished he turned on Alvan. Alvan flew away from him.
"No. Get our parents out first.