Chapter 1: Prologue Plus One (Part 1)

Authors Note Part 1: Alright. Well, here we are again. I decided to take another look at this, and edit a few things that I figured might have been either lacking, or didn't fit in too well. But, the pairing is going to stay the same. For those of you who didn't read the first version of this story, here are a couple things that I changed. (Note that these were changed from the last version as well)

1: Instead of this beginning during eighth grade for the Lyoko Warriors, this instead takes place during ninth grade. Because of this, they will all be in the same grade as Yumi, but they will still be in separate classes for some subjects. However, it also means that it is possible for me to make them have the same classes for some subjects if I want to.

2: The ages for the Warriors will all be fifteen. I'm basing this off the mentality that they all missed a deadline where they had to be a certain age by a certain date to enter kindergarten. So now they're all technically a year behind. Know that this is based off an actual school system around the area that I live.

Alright, I think that's enough of the authors note. So, without further ado, here's the re-write of this story!

John POV

"Jeremie, could you remind me again why it is that we're walking through the sewers in the middle of the night?" I ask my best friend and roommate at Kadic Academy, Jeremie Belpois. Granted, I had an apartment to myself and at the beginning of the year I'd insisted that I didn't want to be a burden, but since the school was also a boarding school, I eventually relented and the agreement ended up being that I would room with him during the week so that I didn't need to get up a six just so that I could make it to school, and on weekends and holidays, I would stay at my apartment so that I could work a few of my own things, and not have to worry about the curfew that the academy implements. Not only is Jeremie really nice, but he's also the smartest kid in the entire academy. His usual dress wear is black shoes, brown jeans that go just past his knees, and a blue sweater-like shirt. He also has blond hair and black glasses since he can't see without them. Unfortunately, when he loses them, he ends up acting like a certain orange sweater wearing mystery solver.

As for me, my name's John Hopper. Although in reality, my last name isn't really Hopper. I've just stuck with it through all the different foster homes I've been sent to over the past few years. To tell the truth, I don't know my real last name. But the Hopper's were the first family to take me in, so I kept theirs. Unfortunately, they disappeared at one point without a trace, and I got moved on to a different family. I never knew what happened to them, and I might never know. But, back to the present. I have black hair that looks like it had a fight with an angry raccoon and lost, cobalt colored eyes, and Caucasian skin. My usual dress wear is a white T-shirt underneath a black jacket, and I always wear blue jeans that reach down to my ankles, stopping just before the black converse that I wear. Currently, me and Jeremie are walking through the sewers underneath the city towards an unknown location. At least it's unknown to me. Jeremie keeps walking, but looks over his shoulder to answer my question nonetheless.

"Do you remember how I told you that I was looking for machine parts to finish my miniature robots yesterday?" He asks me. I nod my head in response, remembering how he usually goes looking around for random bits of metal and machinery to apply to his personal mini-robots. "Well, I found a great place. It's the abandoned factory not far from the academy." He continues. I think over what he says, and nod a bit when I realize that a place like that would have plenty of pieces for Jeremie to use.

"Yeah, I suppose that would be a good place to look. But still, why are you bringing me along to see this place?" I ask him, confused as to why it is that he's bringing me to a place that's good for him, but doesn't seem to have any reason for me to visit.

"Well… I found something that I thought you'd find interesting in the factory." He tells me as we reach a ladder leading up to a manhole cover. We climb up and push aside said cover, and I find myself on a bridge with the factory Jeremie was talking about to my right. We walk over to it and when I look in, I don't really see anything special about it. We're in the storage section with random boxes strewn about, and the only thing that confuses me is that the steps only go down a few feet, and then suddenly cut off with ropes dangling from the ceiling for people to slide the rest of the way down.

"Uhh… Jeremie, why do the stairs stop at ropes?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow. He shakes his head and grabs ahold of one of the ropes.

"I don't know." Is his response. I recoil at his answer in shock and confusion.

"The great Jeremie Belpois not knowing something…? The world is coming to an end! Grab your family, friends and pets and hurry to the nearest NASA station to board the space shuttles! We must leave the earth immediately!" I exclaim, waving my arms around while trying hard not to fall to the floor laughing. After I've finished, Jeremie just sighs at my antics and slides down the rope. Then he walks over to a lift on the other side of the room without looking back. I lean over the edge of the stairs to look down at the ground that's probably about 20 feet away, and shrug.

"Eh, why the hell not?" I ask out loud with a shrug before I slide down the rope to the floor below. I reach the bottom and walk over to Jeremie, who's waiting for me in the lift. I walk in, and he presses on the big, red button to descend. It goes down for a few seconds, and then it stops. When the doors open up, I find myself in a room with white walls, a grey floor, and a giant black and yellow object in the center. It has a wider, but shorter, cylinder on the bottom, and a thinner, but taller, cylinder reaching out of the middle. We walk into the room and I look around in wonder that it was right below the rundown factory. And from the looks of things, it was kept in good condition. Meaning either someone else knows about this place, or it was sealed off really well from the outside world. "So… This is what you found yesterday?" I ask Jeremie. He nods his head in response and adjusts his glasses as they slide down his nose slightly.

"Yes. I believe that it's a super-computer mainframe. I haven't started it up because I thought that you might want to be here for it." He tells me with a small smile. I look over at him, raising an eyebrow at his question.

"No shit Sherlock. Of course I want to see this thing powered up!" I exclaim with a large grin. He smirks at my response, and then walks towards the mainframe and presses a button. A panel that has a yellow symbol on it slides apart to reveal a lever. The symbol looked kind of like a dart board with two rings that surround a filled in circle. But it had three large rectangles on the bottom that reach out from the furthest ring, and a smaller one that reaches out of the top. But I dismiss it and look on as the lever pops out for Jeremie to pull. He grabs onto it and pauses for a moment.

"I hope we're not gonna regret this in a minute." He mutters, before taking a breath to steady himself. "Okay… Go!" He exclaims as he pulls down on the lever. The yellow parts of the mainframe start to glow until me and Jeremie have to shield our eyes so that we don't go blind. When the glow finally fades, and a steady humming is heard, Jeremie steps back towards the lift and adjusts his glasses again since some air was released from a fan built into the ground as the power core started up. We glance at one another, before Jeremie enters the lift again and we go up a couple levels. The doors open to the new room, and my eyes widen at the sight.

"Holy… Shit." I mutter as we walk out into the room. There's a circular table-looking object in the middle of the room, and above that is something that looks suspiciously close to Glad0s from Portal hanging from the ceiling. The only difference is that in place of where her face would be, there are a few computer screens and a keyboard. There's also a chair that looks like it can completely move around the "table" in the middle of the room and look at it from all angles. The walls, ceiling, and floor are all tinted green and are made out of metal plates. Though, some of the plates are missing and you can see the wires that are hidden behind them. We walk towards the set up, and Jeremie hops into the chair before he swivels it around so that it's facing the computer. Then he cracks his knuckles, and starts typing away at the keyboard.

"Now, let's see what you've got under the hood my friend." Jeremie says with his usual tone of voice whenever he finds something that interests him. The different screens start to turn on, with constantly changing numbers appearing in tabs. Then, a different tab pops open on the main screen, and shows a pink haired girl with elf-like ears. But she looks like she was made using CGI.

"Woah." I say as I lean towards the computer, putting a hand on the swivel chair so that I won't fall. "What is this? Some sort of video game? Can I play?" I ask Jeremie as we look at the screen. But I don't get an answer from the blond because the CGI girl decides to speak up at that point.

"Who…Who are you? Where am I?" She asks us. Jeremie gasps at this and leans back in surprise, causing his glasses to fall down his nose once again. While he does this, I just stare at the girl on the computer screen in shock. At the girl in the video game who just talked to us. And more than that, she sounded just like her. But… That couldn't be. They disappeared when I was just a kid! So how could she be here?!

"This is gonna be a long night." I say with a sigh as I finally get over my shock. Looking down at the ground and shaking my head. Still not quite able to believe what's happening.

The next day, me and Jeremie walk into our classroom and sit down at our lab desk. As we start to take out our books to get ready for class, I notice a kid with blond hair wearing a purple jacket over a pink shirt. He also has on purple jeans and purple shoes. As I notice this, he walks over to Ulrich, another friend of mine, and starts to talk to him. The only weird thing about Ulrich being another friend of mine is that despite both Ulrich and Jeremie being my friends, they don't really talk to one another to become friends themselves. But whatever, it's up to them. A few seconds later, the bane of Ulrich walks in and starts towards him. I lean towards Jeremie with a small smirk appearing on my face. "Don't look now, but here comes the drama queen." I whisper to him. He looks towards Ulrich and gives a smirk of his own as Sissi stops walking and stands in front of Ulrich. She's wearing her usual pink T-shirt with the yellow heart on the front. She also has on her usual yellow headband, and the lighter purple pants which she wears a pink skirt over for some reason. Don't ask me why. No one knows. And she doesn't explain it to anyone either.

At this point, I decide to listen in on their little conversation. It turns out that Sissi has something "important" to tell him. So Ulrich decides to make a wisecrack joke. "Important like, I lost my mascara or my pink T-shirt ran?" He asks in a sarcastic tone. I can't help but chuckle at his joke, which causes the two to glance at me. Sissi looks at me with annoyance, while Ulrich gives a smirk. Then Sissi simply turns away from me with a "Humph" and turns back to Ulrich.

"No, nothing as serious as that." She tells him with a small smile. I have to hold back another chuckle at her response, otherwise I may end up actually laughing outright. "It's something about you and me. If you want to know more, then stop by my room tonight at eight. I'm counting on you." She finishes in a cheery tone and starts to walk away towards her own seat. I just chuckle at the interaction as Herve shoots his usual annoyed glare at Ulrich for getting Sissi's attention. Honestly, I don't get what he sees in that girl since she ignores everyone except Ulrich. Although, to my immense displeasure, it seems that she's started to take an interest in me as well. Ugh. But, I digress. After Ulrich and Sissi's "conversation" is done, I turn my attention to the front of the classroom as Ms. Hurtz starts the lesson. I don't really want to be called on for a question that I didn't hear, and I'd rather not get detention either.

At currently lunch time, me and Jeremy decide to visit the factory again. When we enter the computer room, Jeremie sits down in the chair as I lean against the back of it for support. He starts up the program that allows him to talk to the girl on the computer, and starts a conversation. "Hello? Artificial Intelligence? Can you hear me?" He asks the computer. The same tab as last night pops up with the same pink haired girl.

"Yes. But would you mind calling me something else please?" She asks him. He crosses his right leg over his other one and nods as he closes his eyes.

"Alright. How about…" He trails off, trying to think of a name for the girl. I decide to help him.

"What about Maya?" I ask him. He turns his head to look at me. "I knew a Maya once. Nice girl. Almost like a sister to me." I explain not wanting to think about the possibility that the girl in the video game is actually her. So I think of a different name to give her for the moment. Until I have valid proof that "Maya" is who I think she is, I'm not gonna get my hopes up high only to have them crushed when it turns out she isn't. Jeremie turns back to the screen and faces the girl after I tell him about the Maya I knew before.

"How about that name? Maya?" He asks her. She seems to think about it for a minute before smiling and nodding.

"Maya… I like that name." She tells us. "But what I would really like is for you to tell me what I'm doing in this virtual universe." She tells him. He nods his head and starts to tell her about what we've… Well, he's learned. How the virtual environment she's in is called "Lyoko", and how she should looks around for a door to get out of the little area she was in. She nods her head in response, and then the screen goes away as her icon on the same screen starts moving. It moves forwards for a few seconds, before stopping. Maya's voice coming through the speakers a second later. "Jeremie. I don't see anything. I- ~gasp!~" She cuts herself off as she gasps in surprise. We stare at the screen for a moment as her icon moves forwards even more.

"What? What is it Maya?" I ask her. She's silent for a minute before she responds.

"Jeremie! John! I… This is weird. You have to see this." She tells us.

"We'd love to." Jeremie replies as he leans in towards the screen. "Do you think you could give us a visual?" He asks.

"I can try." She responds. We stare at the screen and wait. A few seconds later, a new tab opens up and shows what looks like a forest. The only thing is that there are no branches on the trees, and thus no leaves. The trunks go up high into the sky, which isn't the usual blue color. Instead, it's a bright yellow. The ground isn't completely filled in either. There are grassy paths that weave all over the place, but in between them there isn't anything that could support Maya. Instead, it's just a drop into what looks like a sea of pixels.

"Woah." Both me and Jeremie say with a wonder at the same time. Then, a new tab opens up on a different screen and the circular "table" in the middle of the room lights up. Suddenly, there's a glowing sphere that starts to hover above it, and in the middle of the large sphere is a smaller orange sphere. Around it, four different looking terrains appear. "Woah." I breathe out in surprise again, moving to walk around the hologram. Jeremie turns towards the sphere and gasps as he notices it.

"Maya. It isn't just a forest out there." He tells her. "There's an entire world." He says with surprise and wonder. "I count… Four sectors. Each one looks different, and seems to be a different type of terrain." He tells her. But she doesn't respond to what he tells her. Instead, she says something that surprises us.

"Um… Guys. I'm not all alone here." She tells us. "There are some animals." We look back at the tab that shows what Maya is looking at and see two weird looking creatures on the screen. They have human skull shaped heads, and four mechanical legs that remind me a bit of an insect's. There's also a red lens that's pointing at Maya from between the legs and the head. But what really surprises me is the symbol on the things head. It's the same one that was on the panel of the computer mainframe.

"That's great!" Exclaims Jeremie as he leans towards the monitor. "That means that this virtual world has an entire ecosystem with virtual living creatures! Can you get any closer?" He asks her. But then, the screen shows the creatures red lens suddenly getting brighter. Then, a laser blast similar to the ones from blasters in "Star Wars" shoots out of it. And it's aimed at Maya! The girl in question turns around and starts to run back to the area that she left so that she can avoid the lasers the creatures are shooting at her. It looks like a white tower with black goop at the bottom with grey wires leading into it. There's also this white aura surrounding it.

"Guys! They're attacking me!" She exclaims with fear present in her voice.

"Shit!" I yell out in surprise and fear as I lean towards the monitor, placing a hand on the chair so I don't fall. "Run Aeli- I mean, Maya! Run back to the tower!" I yell at her, almost calling her, her. Suddenly, Maya gasps and the screen shows her falling to the ground. A tab pops up with a picture of Maya. It shows a lot of stuff that I don't understand. Except for one thing. A life bar. And that life bar just lowered! Even though it wasn't by much, it still means that she was hurt.

"Maya! Hurry up!" Jeremie yells out as he leans in towards the monitor and puts his hands on the screen. Apparently not noticing my slip up earlier. The girl gets back up again and runs towards the tower, only to be hit by another laser just as she enters. Yet again, her life bar lowers. As she falls into the tower, we can see that the walls are blue and have multiple screens on it. Binary code runs along each of the screens before they drop into a dark abyss below. The floor that Maya is on is like the symbol that we've seen on the panel and the creatures. But we don't pay attention to any of this at the moment. What we pay attention to is that Maya isn't moving.

"Maya!" We exclaim with slight fear. But then I notice the little tab with her life points on it, and that said life points are regenerating on their own. "Woah." I mutter in surprise for the third time in a matter of minutes. "Her… Her life points are regenerating." I tell Jeremie with wonder. He also stares at the card-like tab with wonder as the life bar slowly increases towards the top. I just shake my head as I attempt to make sense of what's happened over the course of the past couple days, before giving up when I realize that I can't.

After leaving Jeremie to talk with Maya on his own, I made my way back to the academy so that I could meet up with Ulrich. After I met him, I found out that the person who was talking to him during class was a guy named Odd, who was his new roommate. So now, we're all standing in a little alcove near the academy's cafeteria. A girl wearing black pants, a black sweatshirt over a black T-shirt, and black combat boots, along with black hair walks past me to grab something from the vending machine. "So I was thinking." Begins Odd. "You know your girlfriend there? Sissi?" He asks Ulrich. Ulrich turns to him and lowers the soda that he's holding to give the teen a slight glare.

"She's not my girlfriend." He tells Odd with annoyance clear in his voice. The teen just crumples up the plastic cup he had and throws it away. Unfortunately, it happens to land on my head and bounce off into the trash. I grumble in annoyance at Odd while I rub my head at the nonexistent pain.

"Cool!" He exclaims. "So that means she's available." He says as Jeremie walks past us and over to the vending machine. Me and Ulrich just sigh in annoyance at the teen's statement. Odd was… Well… Odd. His jokes weren't exactly the best, and he could get annoying after just a couple of minutes. But other than that, he seemed like a pretty cool guy.

"I'm telling you, she's lame." Ulrich tells him before taking a sip of his soda. I decide to do the same and start drinking my Sprite. After a few gulps, I wipe at my mouth and turn to face Odd.

"Not gonna argue with Ulrich here. He's right on this one. And no offence Odd, but you aren't really her type." I say with a slight chuckle. Ulrich joins in with my laughter as Odd just shrugs at my comment.

"Oh yeah, I hear that a lot-" He cuts himself off as Jeremie is suddenly shocked by the vending machine after pressing on one of the buttons. His glasses go flying off his face and onto the ground as he cries out in pain.

"Jeremie!" I yell out in shock. (No pun intended.) Me and Ulrich toss our sodas away and rush to his side as he slides down the front of the machine in a daze from the electricity. Ulrich grabs his glasses and pushes them back onto his face as I kneel by his side and put a hand on his shoulder. "Jeremie? Are you alright buddy?" I ask him. All I get is a low moan in response. "Crap." I mutter. Then turn to Odd. "Would you mind going to tell one of the teachers about this while me and Ulrich bring Jeremie to the infirmary?" I ask him while me and Ulrich drape one of Jeremie's arms over our necks each. Odd nods in response, and then goes running off to tell a teacher like I asked. Me and Ulrich make our way to the infirmary, and place Jeremie down on one of the beds. Ulrich goes to tell the nurse what happened, while I sit down in a chair by Jeremie's side. After a couple of minutes, Ulrich comes back into the room with the nurse.

She does a few tests on Jeremie to make sure he's okay, before nodding her head. "Alright. There's nothing that's too serious. It was just a minor electrical shock and some superficial burns." She tells us. Ulrich scoffs and turns away.

"You wanted some juice. Well it looks like you got some." He says. I snicker at this while Jeremie just smiles.

"Very funny Stern. But thank you all the same. You too John." He thanks us. I give him my traditional mock two fingered salute while Ulrich nods. On his way out the door he turns to face us.

"I'll come and check up on you after my martial arts class tonight." He says as he closes the door. The two of us nod as the door is closed and the nurse turns to look at us.

"Well. Seeing as it isn't too serious Jeremie can rest here for a little while and then he can go." She tells us. We thank her as she walks out of the room. When the door closes, Jeremie turns to look at me.

"John? What was that about earlier in the factory?" He asks. I sigh in acceptance before turning to look at him.

"You're talking about earlier in the computer room, right? When Maya was running away from those creatures?" I ask him. He nods his head in response. Alright, so he did notice my little slip up. Great, guess there's no use trying to hide it now. "Well, earlier in my life, back when I was a kid, I was in the care of a foster family. Something happened to my own parents and I was made an orphan. Not really sure what happened though. But anyways, I was taken in by the Hopper family. They were the best." I tell him with a reminiscent smile on my face. "Franz Hopper was the father. He lived there with his daughter, Aelita, and me. He would constantly play "twinkle-twinkle little star" on the piano. Aelita loved that song, even if she was thirteen. It was probably just because it was her father playing it, but still. And whenever he wasn't at the piano, he would be up in his room. He would have his door locked and the only person allowed in and out was him." I tell Jeremie. He nods his head, and then looks at me with confusion.

"But what does this have to do with Maya?" He asks.

"I was getting to that." I reply with a sigh. "As I was saying, I lived there with Franz Hopper and his daughter Aelita. Aelita had pink hair, and was always the person you could count on to bring smiles to all those around her. The reason for that little outburst in the computer room earlier was because… Well it's because Maya looks exactly like Aelita." I tell Jeremie. He recoils at that with wide eyes, but lets me continue. "The Hopper's ended up disappearing about ten years ago. When Aelita was fourteen and I was just five. When they disappeared, these men in black suits came to the house we were living at and brought me to an orphanage." I tell him.

"These guys are with me whenever I swap out of orphanages. The last time I saw them was when they swapped me out of my last one to the family that I'm now a part of. The only thing is that they want a son, nothing else. Probably so that they can say they have one, and go to fancy parties that require one, but they don't want to be anywhere near me. But, I'm not gonna question it if it gets me out of an orphanage." I say with a shrug, before glancing at Jeremie and see him looking at me in confusion. "Right. Kinda got a little off topic there didn't I? Well anyway, I just don't know what to think about Maya in all this. Could it be that she is Aelita? And that she's been "uploaded" into Lyoko? But then how is that? And why?" I ask out loud. Not really caring if Jeremie is listening in on this anymore or not. But I do care after he says something that grabs my attention.

"Well, as for why? I don't really know. But I think I can answer the "how" question." He tells me. I whip my head up to look at him so fast that I think I might have given myself whiplash. "While you were with Ulrich, I looked around to see what I could find. On the floor between the computer room, and the mainframe room, there's a scanner room. There are three scanners in there that scans you all the way down to your atoms, and then uploads your atoms into Lyoko in a digital incarnation." He tells me. I stare at him with my mouth gaping.

"So then it's possible that…" I trail off and don't finish the sentence. So Jeremie does for me.

"Yes. It's possible that Maya, or Aelita, was digitalized into Lyoko." He tells me. I feel myself starting to tear up. And wipe at my eyes.

"No." I mumble. "I can't let myself get my hopes up. If it isn't her then all that'll happen to me is more heartbreak." I mutter to myself. I wouldn't let myself believe that it was really Aelita. Not until I had some valid proof. Which it didn't look like I would be getting any due to Maya not having any memories before being "woken up" by me and Jeremie.

We return to our room from the infirmary and I close the door behind us. Jeremie walks over to his computer and starts to type away, while I sit down on my bed and open up the newest book to a series that I've started reading lately. It was about this zombie apocalypse that took place in Europe. Yeah, turns out I have a thing for the apocalypse. I actually think that it's possible and what-not. You can tell just by visiting my apartment. But more on that another time. Anyways, we relax in our room for about half an hour before I hear yelling in Ulrich's room a few doors over. I sigh, knowing that Odd must have done something to upset him. But then, almost a minute later, something strange happens to Jeremie's computer. Suddenly, it starts to fizzle, and the same symbol from the creatures on Lyoko appears on his screen.

"What the? What's going on?" Jeremie asks in confusion, before he notices the symbol. "Hey, I've seen that logo somewhere before…" He trails off. Then, the same symbol appears in the lens of one of his robots and it starts driving towards him. Suddenly, it slams into him and knocks him to the ground. I jump out of the bed, book completely forgotten at the sight of my friend's robot attacking him, and run over to help him. I help him to his feet, but more of his robots attack us not seconds later. They drive all over the place, shocking our ankles, feet, and sometimes driving up our legs and torsos to shock our shoulders.

"Gah! Jeez Jeremie! Why the hell are your robots attacking us?!" I yell out in anger and pain, throwing a few of the robots away. Only for them to drive back over to us and start shocking us again.

"Gah! How should I know?! Gaaaahhh!" Jeremie yells out as one of them shocks him again. Suddenly, the door slams open to show Ulrich standing there. He takes in the scene for a moment, before rushing over to help throw away the robots. A few of them shift their attacks to him and shock his ankles.

"Hey!" He yells out. He lifts his leg, and then kicks one of the robots away. As soon as the robot slams into the ground, the symbol disappears from Jeremie's screen and the robots stop moving. Ulrich looks at the robots for a minute, before looking up at us. "Your little friends are kinda aggressive. Maybe you should check their circuits or something." He says as I pick up the chair that Jeremie was knocked out of.

"This had nothing to do with me." Jeremie responds. "They just attacked me and John all of a sudden." He says. Ulrich reaches up and scratches the back of his neck.

"You lost me. Would you mind explaining?" he asks. Jeremie and I share a look, before we turn away and look at his screen.

"Nah. Forget it." I tell him, waving my hand at him.

"Oh come on. What if you two are suddenly attacked by… Hair dryers and I'm not around?" He asks. I turn around and face him.

"Well then we'll look more stylish than you. Although I could do without the attention that I would get from Sissi because of it." I say with a chuckle. Ulrich chuckles with me, but then walks over to the chair and sits down with a confident smirk.

"Well I'm not leaving this room until I know what's up." He says. Jeremie and I share another look at his declaration, before I shrug.

"What the hell? We've got nothing to lose and even we don't really know what's going on." I say with a sigh. Jeremie nods in agreement.

"Yeah. It's all just so crazy." He continues with his own sigh. A few seconds pass, then he walks over to the door and closes it. "First tell us this. Can you keep a secret?" He asks Ulrich, raising an eyebrow.

"That tunnel in the gym is a great way to beat curfew." Ulrich comments as we make our way across the bridge towards the factory.

"Tell me about it." I say with a smirk. "Jeremie actually found another one on the campus as well in the forest." I tell him as we walk up to the ropes that lead down to the factory floor. After we slide down, I look up to see Ulrich just standing there. "What's the matter Ulrich?! Scared of heights?!" I yell up to him.

"Uh, no." He replies, before gritting his teeth and sliding down the rope with his eyes squeezed shut. I chuckle about that all the way to the elevator, until he punches me in the shoulder as it begins to descend. I grumble as I rub the sore spot, Ulrich having a smug look on his face as he watches me. Then, the doors open up and we walk into the computer room. "So that's the mega-computer you guys started up?" Ulrich asks as Jeremie turns on the computer.

"It's actually a super-computer. It's ultra-powerful. And while I was studying it, I found out it runs a virtual universe called "Lyoko"." Jeremie tells Ulrich.

"You know what Belpois, this morning's electrical shock fried your brain. This thing's just the control center of the factory, that's all." Ulrich says, scratching his forehead before crossing his hands behind his back.

"Oh yeah?" I ask with a confident smirk as Jeremie types away at the computer.

"Well then explain her. What would you call her? A program for spray-painting doors?" Jeremie says as he gestures to the computer. A tab now open, showing Maya.

"Hello Jeremie, John." Maya greets us.

"Yo." I reply with my mock salute, leaning against the holographic projector with Jeremie.

"Who's the girl with the pink hair?" Ulrich asks us.

"That's Maya. She's… A form of Artificial Intelligence on Lyoko." I tell him, pausing before I accidentally tell him "She's my sister that somehow got transferred into the virtual universe". Making me sound crazier than I already do.

"We're not really sure what she's there for yet-" Ulrich cuts Jeremie off before he can go any further.

"Don't mess with me. You programed her didn't you Belpois? And you're going along with it, aren't you John?" Ulrich asks the two of us, only for Maya to speak up.

"No." She tells him, making his head whip over to look at her. "I woke up as soon as the two of them started up the super-computer. I don't know who I am. My memory has been erased." She continues.

"Maya has to stay in some kind of tower. If she leaves, she gets attacked by some kind of monster. You have to believe us Stern, this is an incredible discovery!" Jeremie exclaims.

"Alright, let's say it is." Ulrich says, walking over and standing next to the swivel chair. "What if… What if it's all just some kind of video game?" Ulrich asks with crossed arms.

"Well then it's a very dangerous game." I tell him with a bit of a frown, crossing my own arms.

"Yeah. My robots are programed to go and fetch a ball. And they just tried to kill me and John don't forget. You were there." Jeremie tells him. "What's more, when they started to attack, a sort of logo appeared. The same logo that is on the monsters in Lyoko." He continues as Ulrich sits in the chair and turns it slowly via the controls on the arm rest.

"Heh, this just gets better and better. Do you mean then, that… The thing that's attacking Maya also wants to kill you guys?" Ulrich asks us, pointing at the two of us.

"That's what it looks like." I reply with a shrug.

"You know, if that's true John, Belpois, if it's that dangerous. I think you two should shut it down and call the police. Or get the government over here." He tells us. Jeremie and I share another look, the third one this night, before nodding.

"Okay." Jeremie replies. "But first we want to help Maya understand what she's doing on Lyoko." He tells Ulrich, who stares at us in confusion.

"Say what?" He asks.

"We do. And If Jeremie's right. We'll be able to materialize her right here on earth." I tell him with a smirk, pointing at the ground for emphasis.

"Oh that's rich. What makes you think you can do that?" Ulrich asks, spinning the chair around yet again.

"You'll see Stern." Jeremie replies.

I walk around the scanner room as Jeremie talks to Ulrich and describes the scanning process to him. "In English please." Ulrich asks after Jeremie tries to explain it his way.

"You go inside the scanner. You're teleported to the virtual world." I say, simplifying it for Ulrich, who taps the scanners in question before responding.

"Guys, these things don't exist yet." He says, before leaning against said scanner. "There's no way." He continues, shaking his head.

"You still don't want to believe us." Jeremie says, his voice echoing from inside the scanner.

"I would love to. But virtualization is straight out of science fiction." Ulrich says, before looking at Jeremie as he sits down in the scanner. Jeremie thinks about it for a minute, before responding.

"Why don't we try it out then? Virtualize something into Lyoko. But we're gonna need a guinea pig." Jeremie says as he stands up and places a hand on his chin. Ulrich and I think about it for a minute, before Ulrich seems to think about something.

"A guinea pig? No problem." He replies. I don't like the look in his eyes when he says that.

Why do I think it has something to do with what happened earlier when he was yelling at Odd? I think to myself with a sweatdrop.

"Oh God." I mutter with my head in my hands. Ulrich had just placed Odd's dog, Kiwi, which apparently Odd brought into school, into the scanner, and we were about to virtualize it. I only say "it" because I don't know its gender. I'll ask Odd if everything goes well in the end.

"Right. We're all set and I'm setting up the procedure." Jeremie tells us. "Transfer, Guinea Pig. Scanner, Guinea Pig. W-wait, what?" Jeremie asks as a CGI image starts to load up. But it's not in the shape of Kiwi. Oh no, it's,

"That's no dog. That's Odd Delerobia!" Ulrich exclaims, having just climbed up the ladder to stand next to us.

Oh great. Only us. I think to myself as I put my head into my hands and groan in annoyance.

"I-I don't know how to stop the procedure!" Jeremie exclaims, grabbing onto his hair in panic. Then we hear a scream.

"Heeeellpppp!" We hear from the scanner room below.

"Oh man." Ulrich mutters as he climbs down the ladder.

"Of course Sissi and Odd follow Ulrich here. Cause life wouldn't have it any other way. Would it?" I ask while rolling my eyes. I continue to think about how life just loves to screw with us as Jeremie starts talking to Odd. I'm broken out of my musing as Sissi starts talking to Jeremie. Or rather, interrogating.

"Who's this Maya? And what's that thing?" Sissi asks, talking about the computer.

"It's the mainframe to a super-computer." Jeremie replies, before the same symbol that's been popping up all over the place appears on said super-computer.

"Woah!" I yell out in alarm as Kiwi begins barking at the sparking wires that rip out of the ground of their own free will. Sissi promptly runs towards the elevator with Kiwi, while Jeremie and I stay by the computer. The wires aim for our position, before shooting towards us. We promptly hide behind the chair and stay there as the wires hit into it. Great. More electrical attacks by whatever this thing is. I think to myself as more electricity zaps the chair, Sissi yelling at Kiwi to "Sic it", Kiwi decides that it likes living and decides to bark at the wires instead of actually attacking them.

"Gah!" I yell out as one of the wires gets past the chair and knocks me and Jeremie back. Jeremie grabs a piece of metal, and holds onto it as the wire wraps around him. I think he'll use it as a weapon, but instead he tries to use it as a shield when one of the wires attacks him. Thus getting him electrocuted in the process. Me? I grab onto the wire that tries to attack me with both hands, holding it back successfully while I grit my teeth at the strain. At least, until another wire comes up from my side and zaps my waist. At that point, I pass out from the pain.

"Maya. Are you there?" I hear Jeremie ask as I start to wake up from my unconscious state.

"Yes. Is everything okay on your side?" Maya responds.

"Well, we're a little shaken up. But it could have been worse." Jeremie replies. At his response, I groan, sit up from my place on the ground, and rub my head.

"Speak for yourself Jeremie. I feel like I got struck by lightning… Which isn't that far from the truth." I tell them, getting help from Ulrich to stand up, and walk over to the chair to stand with the group. We spend a couple hours going over what happened, in which time I learned the Kiwi's a boy, before going back to the academy to sleep. Of course I occasionally twitch from the electrical shock I got, but nothing to serious. I can only hope things wouldn't get any worse than they were now.

Author's Note Part 2: Alright, so this story has actually been on my computer for a while now, and I only just got the inspiration to finish writing it. It took a while for me to think about how I wanted to write it out, and all the extra stories that I'm writing at the time didn't help either.

(Update Jan. 10th, 2015:

Alright, so like I've been saying, I'm going back through my stories and updating them all. This is just one of them. Now, you may notice that when I'm updating this one, only two chapters are out at the moment. This is because I'm editing all the others at the moment, and for some reason, it doesn't show that I've updated the story if all I do is "replace" a chapter. So, I've replaced this one with the edited version, and re-uploaded the second one. For all the others, I'll re-upload the chapters as I finish editing them, and then hopefully get to work on writing a new chapter. After that, I'll most likely start on another one of my stories to update. So, just hang in there for the future chapters!)