Code: HIKARI Chapter 1: New Frontier
Jeremie Belpois yawned. It was 9:47 PM, but instead of sleeping, he was at the supercomputer, actively double-checking on Lyoko. After XANA managed to steal the other Key to Lyoko that Aelita possessed, he was no longer linked to the supercomputer. And thus, twice as unpredictable. Jeremie felt like he needed to be absolutely 100% assured of XANA's activity before he could sleep soundly. Perhaps it was a hopeless effort, but he could never be too sure.
Just then, a blinking red exclamation point opened up on the screen.
"What the...who could be on Lyoko at this hour? And for that matter, how?"
Jeremie opened up the simulated map for Sector 5, which displayed a small triangle. Normally, these triangles represented his friends in their virtual forms. What confused Jeremie was that the triangle onscreen was blue. None of the group members had triangles that were blue. Not even Jeremie himself, when he had been virtualized onto Lyoko to increase his resistance to XANA. (Which was arguably the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him.) He double-clicked on the triangle. The digital manila file that opened had a lowercase letter I, which meant that the file was new, and a lot of information within the file aside from lifepoints was listed as unknown.
Jeremie instantly dialed his friends' numbers. "Yumi, it's Jeremie. Can you call the others and meet me at the factory? It might be an emergency…"
What Lan Hikari experienced was, quite literally, breathtaking. He had felt his entire body painfully reconstructing itself into data, all while being propelled through what he guessed was the Internet at a rate of mere milliseconds. Before he knew it, he finally landed on hard ground. On his rear end, no less, which was quite painful. Then he felt a sudden, alien sensation: Lan's head turned to observe his surroundings, but he wasn't the one controlling it. He found his setting to be what looked like a blue room. Large dark-blue walls surrounded him like a huge dome, and there didn't appear to be an exit. He noticed he was standing on a glowing white circle, which made up the center of a much larger eye-like symbol that stretched across the entire floor.
"What is this place?" he asked. The voice startled him, because even though it was him talking, the voice was somewhat different. In fact, it sounded a lot like his Navi's.
"Megaman?" Lan asked, in his own real voice.
Lan's head whipped around, out of his control once again. "Lan?" the other voice asked. He saw nothing. Strange, the other voice echoed inside Lan's mind, I could've sworn I heard Lan calling me.
I did call him! Lan thought.
"Lan?" asked the other voice. "Was that you? Where are you?"
I'm standing right here! Lan's voice echoed inside his own mind. Is that you, Megaman?
"Yes, it's me," the other voice replied. "Where are you?"
"I'm right here!" Lan said in his normal voice.
"Where? I can't see you, and I have absolutely no idea how to find my way around this place."
"I'm in some kind of blue room, standing on a white symbol. Looks kinda like an eye."
"What? But that's where I...am..." Megaman did a double take once he caught his own reflection in the glossy floor. His appearance had changed slightly; his suit had light blue accents around his insignia and across his legs, a green and yellow marking on his helmet, more-pointed shoulder pads, and a green accent on each glove and boot.
"Lan...what happened to us?" asked Megaman.
The reflection's eyes became a familiar chocolate brown. "I don't know. I was inside that booth thing trying out Dad's experiment, you were with me in the PET, then things got out of control."
Brown eyes became green again. "Do you remember what went wrong?"
Neither had time to answer as they heard a noise approaching. Lan regained control of his body-was it even his?-and turned around to see what the noise was. Coming towards them was a strange creature with eight tentacles, a transparent plate over what Megaman assumed was its brain, and the same eye-like symbol as the one on the floor. Lan tried to back away, but he bumped into the wall and was soon wrapped up in six of the creature's eight tentacles. The creature placed its two unoccupied appendages on Lan's forehead.
Green-colored data began to seep from Lan's mind into the creature's tentacles. Lan felt sharp pains throughout his entire body, as though a part of him was being violently torn away.
Lan... Megaman? What's happening? It feels like I'm being ripped apart...everything hurts so much! It's getting dark…I can't even hear my own voice… Try to hold on! I can't…I'm getting weaker… NO! I won't let this thing take you away!
"LASER ARROW!"
The creature holding the boys' body suddenly let go of them, letting them fall to the ground. Lan looked up to see the creature being hit with a barrage of exploding arrowheads and what looked like a fan. Weakened, the creature phased through the walls like a ghost and disappeared.
"Odd? Yumi? Is everything alright over there?" asked another new voice, one that Lan couldn't find the source of.
"It is now, Einstein," said the first voice. "We found that new guy you were talking about." The boy who owned the voice, with the purple-splotched blonde hair, could only be described by Lan as a purple cat-boy.
"He was being attacked by the Scyphozoa," said a feminine voice, "But we took care of it." The short-haired Asian girl who stood beside the cat-boy looked like a geisha in her red and black costume.
"Strange. I wonder what the Scyphozoa would want with him…"
The purple cat-boy held out a hand to Lan. "Need any help?"
"Thanks," said Lan. He accepted the cat-boy's hand and got to his feet. Are you okay, Megaman? I'm fine. A little shaken up, but I'll be alright. It felt weird, though, when that creature attacked us. You were in pain. We both were. But hopefully, it's over now.
"So who are you?" the girl asked.
Unsure of how to explain the fact that he had somehow fused with his NetNavi, Lan chose the simple way out. "I'm Lan, Lan Hikari. Do you know where exactly I am?"
"You're in an artificial, virtual world known as Lyoko," said the invisible voice. "More specifically, you're in one of the sectors that make up Lyoko: Carthage, also known as Sector 5."
"And who're you guys?"
"I'm Odd," said the cat-boy, "And this is Yumi."
"You see, Jeremie?" said Yumi. "He's not some kind of new XANA monster."
"As far as we know, that is." said Odd. "I don't see the symbol on him. You don't have a sudden urge to destroy Lyoko or wipe out humanity, do you?"
"Uh...no," said Lan. "I didn't even know where I was until like five seconds ago."
"How did you get to Lyoko, Lan?" the unknown voice asked.
"I was at SciLabs, where my dad works."
"SciLabs?"
"Yeah, you know: the company that created NetNavis?"
"What's a NetNavi?"
Lan was unsure how to respond. To him, knowing about NetNavis was common knowledge. "How can you not know? They're everywhere! They're in Sky City, Dentown ACDC Town, they're practically everywhere across Electopia!"
"I'm sorry, but no such places exist."
Lan dropped to his knees. No...how can that be?! Unless… Lan, you don't suppose we might have crossed… Dimensions?! But that kind of stuff only happens in movies! It's the only idea I can think of.
"Lan?" asked Yumi. "Do you feel okay?"
"…This might sound crazy to you, but…I think I'm from another dimension."
Odd raised an eyebrow. "Another dimension?"
Lan nodded. "I used to live in a place called ACDC Town before I moved to Cyber City. Where I'm from, we have artificially-intelligent beings called NetworkNavigators; NetNavis for short, or just Navis. They help run the Internet, which powers our technology. I even have a NetNavi of my own named Megaman."
"I'm sorry, XANA, but I'm afraid that lie isn't going to work on me."
"Jeremie, will you quit it?!" Yumi yelled.
"Isn't there some way to prove that I'm not lying?" asked Lan.
"Yeah, Einstein," said Odd, "He might not be with XANA, but maybe he has some memory problems. Can't Aelita help him out with that?"
"Not that I know of. But if you guys insist on helping him, I'll bring up the transporter and perform a digital analysis. Please step into the center with Odd and Yumi, Lan."
Lan did as instructed, standing between Odd and Yumi. He saw a circle with the eye symbol come down and enclose itself around the three of them. After that was a complete and total rush similar to Lan's earlier trip, but far less painful. The circle reappeared in a new region and vanished in a flash of light.
Lan's eyes widened. This place was entirely different. The surrounding area was a bright mix of yellows and oranges, almost like a desert, floating far above a digital sea. He also found two more people here. One was a brunette samurai leaning against a tower-like structure, and the other was a sitting pink-haired elf with an angelic air about her. Both were near the tower-like structure, which had a blue glow emanating from the top.
"Is this him?" asked the samurai, a hand placed on his sword handle.
"Yup." said Odd.
"He says his name is Lan Hikari," added Yumi, "And that he's from an alternate dimension."
"Einstein still thinks he's in cahoots with XANA, but we think he might just need a little refreshing," Odd tapped the side of his head with a clawed finger. "If you know what I mean."
"I'll run a digital analysis on him to see if he's telling the truth, on one condition. One of you has to go into the tower with him, just in case my theory happens to be correct."
"I'll do it," the samurai said. "If it makes you feel less paranoid, Jeremie." He stood up and headed down the narrow path to the tower. Lan followed close behind.
"Wait, there's no door. How do we get in?"
He was surprised to see the samurai walk through it similarly to the way that creature from earlier had moved through the walls. He followed suite, but ended up missing the platform and tripped. He would've fallen into the unknown black abyss, had the samurai not grabbed his hands.
"Thanks...um..."
"Ulrich." He pulled Lan onto the platform. Lan noticed that this one was smaller than the floor of Sector 5, but had the exact same glowing eye symbol.
"Stand in the middlemost circle, Lan."
Lan did as instructed.
"Now just relax, close your eyes, and try to remember how you got to Lyoko."
Lan could feel himself lifting about a foot into the air. A blue digital ring ran itself over him repeatedly. As Jeremie analyzed Lan's data and coding, several memories began flashing within Lan's mind. Memories of ACDC Town, his friends and family, school, net-battling, Megaman…but there was a recent one, one that had been stopped and slowed down at a regular pace. Jeremie must've been observing it for himself.
"Hey, Dad!" Lan called as he entered his father's laboratory at the SciLabs building. "I brought my friends with me like you asked. Can we see your new invention now?" "Of course," said Professor Hikari. "Your father says it's still a work-in-progress," said Mrs. Hikari, "But he thought you all might want to see it and let him know what you think." "Well we're ready, Professor," said Lan's friend Maylu. "Alright then." The man stepped over to an object that was covered by a white sheet. He pulled the sheet off to reveal his mysterious new invention. It looked like a telephone booth, but instead of a phone, there was a sleek built-in keyboard with a screen above it. "What is it?" asked Dex. "Be patient," said Yai, "He'll tell us!" "This is the SciLabs InstaPort. This device was created to make long-distance travel easier. This prototype is designed to hold one person at a time and will transport them to the next nearest InstaPort, which is one floor above us." "Can it transport people and Navis?" asked Lan. "I'm not entirely sure about that, Lan," said the professor. "I would assume since Navis are a separate being there would be no harm, but—" "Then why don't Megaman and I test it out?" "Lan, are you sure about this?" Megaman warily asked from inside Lan's PET. "I'm positive. Can I test it out, Dad? Please? I really want to!" Professor Hikari sighed. "Fine. After going over the calculations twice and testing the InstaPort with inanimate objects, I suppose using a person would be alright." "Yes!" Lan eagerly stepped into the booth and closed the door. "So how do I work this thing, Dad?" As the professor explained the workings of the InstaPort, a thick smoke-like being slinked unnoticed along the wires of the machine. It seeped into the keyboard and briefly flashed an eye symbol on the screen. "Okay, so I just type in Cyber City SciLabs…Floor 15…and I push this green button?" Professor Hikari nodded, signaling Lan to push said button. The machine began to whir and activate, when sparks suddenly began to fly in different directions. "Lan?!" cried Haruka. "Yuchiro, turn it off!" "I can't! Something's overriding the controls!" Lan began to panic. Why was the machine malfunctioning? His father had told him that the machine had been tested numerous times! Just then, an eye-like symbol flashed on the screen above the keyboard. "What the-?" Suddenly, a thick gray smoke wrapped itself around Lan, squeezing the air out of him like water from a rag. "Lan!" Megaman cried. Lan began to grow faint. He couldn't even feel his legs. Then he realized why: his legs were dispersing, breaking up into what looked like tiny blue pixels of data. It wasn't long before half of his body, and Megaman, were gone. Lan managed to choke out one last scream before he had disappeared completely.
In the real world, Jeremie slumped in his seat, absolutely flabbergasted. Not because he was wrong about Lan being evil, but because he was shocked at what exactly had happened to bring him here. This kid had a life, family, and friends, and in a matter of seconds he was taken away from it by XANA. "Lan, I…I'm so sorry about what happened…and for not believing you."
"Don't be. You had no idea I'd wind up here, and even if you did, I doubt you'd be able to stop it from happening."
Ulrich could have sworn that, for a split second, Lan's eyes were green and his voice had changed. But when Ulrich blinked, they were brown again. He stood up and walked out of the tower, figuring he had imagined it. Lan followed close behind. When they emerged from the tower, the three others looked at them impatiently.
"Well?" asked Yumi.
"He's telling the truth. His name is Lan Hikari, he does come from an alternate dimension, and he got here through a malfunction with a transportation experiment, courtesy of XANA."
"So what do we do now?" asked Odd.
"It doesn't look like XANA has anything planned at the moment, so I guess we're done. I'll materialize you back to the real world."
"What about Lan?" asked Aelita.
"I went over his file. He does have human coding, but…"
"But what?" Ulrich asked.
"Nothing. I'll just use Code: Earth on Lan, until it's safe to say otherwise. Materialization: Odd! Materialization: Yumi! Materialization: Ulrich! Materialization: Aelita!"
One by one, Lan and Megaman's new acquaintances dispersed into data and vanished before their eyes.
"Lan, head back into the tower. I'm going to try to bring you into the real world."
Lan headed back to the tower, hoping that he and Megaman could finally get some help. He entered the tower carefully this time and stood in the middle of the platform.
"Here we go. Code: Earth."
Lan rose several feet above the platform, his arms spread out. Several blocks of data pulled themselves from the walls of the tower and enclosed themselves around Lan until he eventually vanished. The splitting sensation returned once again to his mind and body, but this time, he barely felt it…
The scanner finally opened, releasing pressurized air and the true, unconscious Lan Hikari. Ulrich and Odd propped the boy onto his feet and slung his arms over their shoulders.
"We got him, Jeremie," said Ulrich. "Everything is-"
Ulrich was interrupted by the sound of a second scanner whirring and opening up. The four Lyoko warriors turned to look and could not believe their eyes.
"Wait," said Odd, "There's two Lans?"