Chapter 2: Aelita's News

RING! RING! The Kaddic Academy bell sang out freedom to the weary students trapped within the school's endless rounds of classes. One, a boy with blonde hair that was spiked up and had a dyed purple pattern, sighed in relief. "Finally!" he said, smiling. "I thought I would die."

"Really, Odd," replied another boy, also blonde and wearing large glasses. "That science exam was nothing."

"Easy for you to say, Einstein!" came the quick reply. Before the two could continue their discussion, however, a girl with green eyes and pink hair came running up to them. "Odd, Jeremy!" she called excitedly, out of breath.

"What is it, Aelita?" Jeremy, the boy with glasses, asked.

"Thre's something I think you should see," she replied, half out of breath. "I already called Yumi, and she said that she'd tell Ulrich."

"All right," said Jeremy. "At the factory?" Aelita nodded.

About ten minutes later they all were riding an elevator to the basement level of a seemingly abandoned factory. Two more people had joined them: a brown haired boy in baggy cargo pants and a dark-haired girl wearing all black.

"So what is it you wanted to show us, Aelita?" asked Yumi, the girl in black.

"I can't explain it. You'll have to see for yourself," she answered, shaking her head.

The elevator took that exact moment to stop, opening onto a room containing a high-tech computer and a holographic display of a strange land. The land consisted of four long platforms of platforms, each with a different characteristic, ringing a large central sphere, plain in comparison to the landscapes surrounding it like the energy rings in an atom. Aelita walked up to the mainframe and typing frantically while explaining, "Something just came in from Sector Five. Its sender code is…"

"Yes?" prompted Ulrich, the boy in baggy pants.

"…Stara."

"WHAT?" all of them exclaimed together. They crowded around the computer, eager to see. Aelita typed a few more things, and a video started to play.

A dark-haired girl with blue eyes was sitting in a small, non-descript room, presumably in front of a computer screen. "Hello," she began amiably. "If you've received this message, it means that what I fear might happen truly has. It may be nothing more than a suspicion ast the point of recording this message, but rest assuredthat if you are listening to me, it has. This is a plea for your help, Warriors of Lyoko, and any and all you can give will be tremendous. Step into the scanners at exactly 7:00 your time the day you receive this, should you choose to come to my aid. This is not a trap." The message blinked out.

"Well," said Yumi cautiously, "It was definitely a good imitation."

"Yeah, I think it's real," said Odd. "And she's gotten us out of quite a few scrapes. I say we do it."

"Hold on a minute," Aelita cautioned. "Despite her assurance, we can't be positive that it's her. We must be careful."

"We have to," Jeremy said. "For her sake. What if it isn't a trap, and we don't go?"

"Yeah," agreed Odd.

"Alright," Aelita finally conceded. "We prepare. We have two hours."