Disclaimer: As one might expect, I do not own Code Lyoko or any of the characters contained within.

The clack of a keyboard and the whir of machinery filled the computer lab. A blond-haired boy sat at the console of the sophisticated supercomputer, fingers flying across the keys. A young girl with pink hair stood behind him, watching the boy work. The blond paused for a moment, sighing in frustration. The girl placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Is it as bad as all that?" She asked him, hoping for the best. The boy turned to face the soft-voiced pinkette. He would have to dash her hopes. The damage had been done and was practically irreversible.

"I'm afraid so," he replied, crestfallen. "It's just as we feared - Xana's corrupted most of the files on my database. The vehicles are a mess and as for the superscan...I wouldn't even know where to start." The boy's shoulders slumped. Without the superscan, Aelita would have to return - and stay - in Lyoko to keep an eye out for Xana's attacks. Aelita looked at her dispirited friend. She understood how he felt. She didn't want to be separated from him either. She took one of his hands and held it.

"Don't worry, Jeremy," she consoled the young genius. "Together we'll be able to fix this."

"But it'll take time," Jeremy replied, shaking his head. "The superscan is beyond repair. I doubt we'll even be able to salvage anything. We'll have to program a new one and that'll take months."

Aelita pressed her lips together. She knew that the boy was more upset about her having to return to Lyoko than having to reprogram the superscan. She let out a small sigh. She had only been virtualized a month, but she had enjoyed every (well, almost every) bit of it. Now she would have to leave this new world and be alone in her own. Jeremy was still looking down at his hands. Aelita placed a finger under his chin and raised his eyes to meet hers.

"Don't worry, Jeremy. We'll find a way. It'll take Xana a lot more than this to tear us apart. We'll still be in contact, and I'll see what I can do from my end while you're at school."

Jeremy nodded his head in agreement with a small smile. Aelita smiled back, glad to see that the genius was back to his old self. Suddenly, the blond cried out in realization. Aelita looked at him puzzled, wondering what the outcry was about.

"What is it?" She asked. Jeremy looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

"School!" He replied. "What am I going to tell the teachers about your absence? We've managed one or two classes before - even a day - but this could last for months!"

Aelita smiled, closing her eyes in relief. At least that was all Jeremy was worried about. She shook her head at her friend's outburst. Sometimes he could be quite excitable.

"Don't worry," the pinkette calmed Jeremy down. "We'll just tell them that I have some family matters to attend to and I'll be gone indefinitely. We could have them send me homework as if I were really away. As long as it's not hands-on I can do them easily on Lyoko, and you can turn my homework in as if I had sent it to you."

Jeremy thought about it for a moment. Aelita's plan could work. He'd have to fake another letter from his parents, either that or write one from Aelita's 'parents'. Then they could send him home with Aelita's homework, which he would then 'send' to her. If all went well it would be the perfect cover up.

"Okay," he agreed, much to Aelita's delight. "But we'll have to find another solution in about a month. Our excuse for your absence probably won't hold up much longer than that."

Aelita nodded, figuring it would best to get this all over with as quick as possible. "Okay then, I'm ready to go to Lyoko."

"What? Now?" Jeremy asked, caught off guard by Aelita's readiness. The pinkette just nodded.

"Better sooner than later," she quipped confidently. Jeremy turned back to the computer screen.

"Well, first I'll have to debug and reboot the supercomputer. The superscan and the vehicles aren't the only things messed up. Lyoko's a bit buggy too, and before I send you there I want to make sure that you'll be alright."

"Alright, I'll wait," the girl nodded in agreement. Jeremy entered a command into the console. His hand hovered over the return key. "You might feel a bit drowsy, so you'll probably want to sit down."

Aelita nodded, taking a seat in her chair. The two had brought it into the lab so that Aelita wouldn't have to stand up all the time while Jeremy worked. As Jeremy pressed the key, Aelita began to feel sleepy. Content in the knowledge that everything would be alright, the girl let the darkness engulf her as she slumped over in her chair.

Jeremy looked at her. She looked so peaceful when she slept, even more peaceful than she was while awake. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Jeremy turned back to the screen to monitor the rebooting process. 20% Data Repaired, the computer screen read. Jeremy looked with surprise at the holographic projection of Lyoko. 'Weird,' he thought, glancing again at the screen, which now read 40% Data Repaired. 'It looks like all of Lyoko's recovered and yet it's only at forty percent.'

But Jeremy shrugged it off. There were many mysteries surrounding the Lyoko Supercomputer. The most likely reason for this particular occurrence was that Lyoko had a lot of supporting data that didn't manifest itself directly within the virtual world. In fact, as he thought about it, he became sure that this was indeed the case. He leaned back in his chair as the supercomputer continued to reboot.

60% Data Repaired.

The samurai's eyes shot open. He jumped to his feet, looking around in confusion. He appeared to be in a tower of some sort. The walls were covered in panels made of binary code. He was standing on a brightly lit platform, the lights on the floor forming a strange eye-like symbol. The samurai looked down at himself. He was dressed in a strange black and orange garb. 'Who am I?' he wondered as he rested his arms by his side. His left hand landed on something. Glancing down, the warrior saw that on his hip was strapped a sword. He pulled the sword out of its sheath. It rang slightly as he swished the weapon through the air in front of him. The blade looked wickedly sharp. 'At least I'm not defenseless,' he thought, sheathing it. He began looking for a way out. Part of the platform seemed to form a path. That path ended in a wall, however. Placing a hand on the wall, the samurai attempted to feel for a weak point or perhaps a hidden door. As he touched it, the samurai cried out as his hand slid through the wall, blue light emanating from where his hand had gone through. Curious, the samurai pushed himself through the wall and into the burning light of the world outside.

80% Data Repaired.

The tower stood serenely among the snow drifts. Its domineering presence seemed to silence the landscape. That was, until a purple cat-like shape burst out from within. The figure fell hard onto the icy ground. It hadn't expected the wall of the tower to give way. Tail twitching, the blond-haired boy pulled himself out of the snow drift he had careened into. Brushing himself off, he paused to look at his hands - or rather, paws. He spent a while inspecting himself before taking notice of his frozen surroundings. He whistled at the sight of the barren, ice-covered wilderness that lay before him. 'I wonder what this place is?' He thought as he started to walk in no particular direction. Suddenly the ground gave out from under him. With a shout of surprise the human-cat hybrid plummeted into the chasm that had opened up beneath his feet. Landing hard on his back, the blond found himself sliding down a tunnel of ice. "Woaoaoaoaoah!" He yelled as he spun and flipped through the underground passage. After some time of this, the purple-clad feline noticed a light at what appeared to be the end of the tunnel. The hybrid was then flung into the open air of the icy land before disappearing into a snow drift. The moment of silence following the hybrid's collision with the snow bank was broken by a whoop and two arms and a head exploding from the pile of snow. The boy smiled in exhilaration. 'Now that's what I call a rush!' He thought, eagerly looking around for other tunnels he could slide through.

100% Data Repaired

A figure made its way down the side of the mountain. Staying close, the geisha edged her way along. She had found herself on the top of the higher of two peaks when she had emerged from her tower. Determined to find out where and who she was, the raven-haired girl had begun to make her way down the enormous floating chunk of rock. Making it to the bottom, the geisha noticed a pathway leading deeper into the floating mountain range. She glanced up at the tower she had come from. 'How did I get here?' She asked herself silently. Receiving no answer, the girl began walking across the bridge that led to the nearby plateau. Perhaps somewhere among these misted peaks, perhaps, she would find the answers to her questions.