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.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Kristen and Alex are brother and sister, and when Kristen volunteers to go on a mission that could possibly result in her death, Alex gets worried. Worried is an understatement.
Kristen find information about some force on Lyoko, identified as 'chosen'. She, along with the others, is determined to find out who 'chosen' is. But the only information she gets makes no sense at all...
Kristen find information about some force on Lyoko, identified as 'chosen'. She, along with the others, is determined to find out who 'chosen' is. But the only information she gets makes no sense at all...
Chapter End Notes:
Oh dear. The next chapter is already written, so I'll put it right up... much will be explained.