XANA had finally been defeated, the demonic AI stopped once and for all and closing the final chapter of the children's adventures. They then returned to their normal lives.

Ulrich finally had time to improve his school work. He could finally rake up some solid A's with the help of his friends. His father was still stern and expected the best of him but had started to mellow out. This maybe because of Ulrich's improved performance or that both of them had started to understand each other. Of course, with William in the group, he still had problems, especially since both of them were after the same girl.

William felt guilt for all the things that he'd done to the because of XANA and attempted to make things right. Of course, he wasn't going to give up anytime soon and made sure Ulrich and Yumi knew that.

Odd was still, well, Odd. He was still a flirt and loved dating girls and a jokester. He still kept his playful attitude and sense of humor. Though, he was starting to mature a bit. Well, a bit.

Aelita was still depressed over her father's sacrifice but with her friends, especially Jeremie, by her side she didn't feel so lonely as she used to be.

Jeremie was still their computer expert and tutored Odd and Ulrich, despite the former's lazy attitude. Odd usually lost focus and fell asleep after the first 5 minutes.

Yumi still played big sister to the group. However, her feelings for Ulrich had grown. She did want to tell him but she was nervous and couldn't bring out the nerve to just ask him out. William still flirted with her, much to her chagrin and Ulrich's ire. He was a friend through so she tolerated his attempts, despite the number of times Ulrich would imagine him being at the end of his swords.

With XANA gone they could return to their normal lives…or at least, that was what they thought.

The factory, now completely abandoned after the Lyoko Warriors' final adventure, stood eerily. Nothing had changed much since. This was where the Lyoko Warriors would counter all of Xana's attacks and save the world before using a 'Return to the Past' to undo all of the damages plus erase the memories of other people.

Deep underground was the computer lab and console where Jeremie would monitor the others and deeper still was the scanner room. Finally, at the lowest levels was the deactivated super computer where it all began and now ended.

Or did it truly end?

A purple surge of electricity traveled through the wires that were connected to the supercomputer and then straight into the machine itself. It glowed purple as the switch flipped itself.

Back in the lab, the monitors all turned back on and on them were a familiar malevolent eye symbol. Slowly, the eye morphed into a different symbol, this time resembling a purple demonic skull with sharp fangs and horns.

Suddenly, there was an ominous laughing sound before all the monitors faded out.

It was the weekend and a good time for rest, and relaxation. Down on the field, a soccer ball sailed past Nicolas' head and straight into a goal where a brunette boy missed catching it.

"Oh, yeah!" William cheered as both he and Ulrich shared a high five. "Another one for the team!"

Smiling, Ulrich agreed, "You said it."

After XANA's destruction, both William and Ulrich had a bit of a chat. They both knew that the other had feelings for Yumi. Heck, everyone else knew but never commented. However, after what they've been through, they had started a sort of truce. Plus, they'd gained some sort of mutual respect for one another. Odd was leaning against the goal post, yawning as neither Harve nor Nicolas had scored a goal since the beginning of the game.

Meanwhile, Harve and Nicolas were receiving a verbal lashing from Sissi.

"Can't you two do anything right!? Honestly, I wonder to myself why I hang around you two!" Sissi scolded.

"Sorry, Sissi," Nicolas apologized, rubbing the base of his neck.

"Sorry does not cut it!" Sissi growled. She picked up the ball and threw it aside angrily.

"Well, some things just never change," Yumi commented as she stood on the sidelines with Aelita and Jeremie, the latter two on a bench. Jeremie, as usual, had a computer on his lap. "Jeremie, you can just take your eyes off the computer and watch the game."

"Sorry, Yumi, but old habits do die hard," Jeremie chuckled. "I'm just doing some surfing, that's all."

"Jeremie, XANA's gone, the Earth is safe," Yumi told him. 'Plus, you got the girl,' the Japanese girl added in her mind.

"I'm just trying to see if we may be able to save Franz Hopper," Jeremie said.

"My father sacrificed himself, I know," Aelita spoke sadly, "But I still feel that he may be out there somewhere."

"Well, never lose hope," Yumi said.

Suddenly, loud hip-hop music began to play, catching everyone's attention.

"Hey, cool song!" Odd snapped his fingers.

"But where's it coming from?" Ulrich asked.

William looked over and pointed, "I'm thinking that guy." Everyone turned to look.

Jumping, more like dancing, into the scene was a kid they'd never seen before. He wore a black t-shirt with red Japanese writing on it over a blue hoodie, camouflage cargo pants and sneakers. He also had an iPod clipped to his belt with a pair of headphones around his neck, music blaring from them. The music was loud and fast, not to mention Japanese. His hair was red, messy and spiky and his eyes were emerald green. The ball rolled to his feet and he stopped dancing. At the same time the music stopped.

He looked up at everyone and snapped his fingers, pointing at them, "Can I play with you now?" The rest of the kids stared at the new one with curious and strange stares. He tilted his head to the side, cupping his ear, as he waited for an answer. He then said, "I don't hear an answer!"

"Hey, the more the merrier!" Odd said, smiling. "Sides, I need to get back to my room for some stuff." Actually, he wanted to go check up on Kiwi, his pet dog.

"I think I prefer playing offense," he said, "So, can I?"

"What's your name?" William asked.

"Leonard Drake," the boy, Leonard, introduced himself, "Friends call me Leo. Just transferred here." He then asked, "So, can I? I don't hear an answer!"

In the city, things started to go a little haywire among electrical appliances. Vacuum cleaners, shavers, lawnmowers and basically anything that ran on electricity began to attack their human users. On numerous television screens and computer monitors flashed XANA's eyes which slowly morphed into the purple demonic skull. The skull cackled at the humans' misfortune as it continued to cause chaos by possessing electrical appliances.

"And GOAL!!" Leo cheered as he sent the ball flying into the goal again. The ball smashed into the net and rolled onto the ground. "And Leo Drake does it again!"

Ulrich had taken Odd's place as the goal keeper but since neither Herve nor Nicolas could keep the ball, he just squatted down and relaxed. Actually, he was getting a bit bored. "Ha…" Ulrich sighed as his eyes wandered over to Yumi. He smiled a bit at her. She took notice of this and smiled back, a bit of pink on her cheeks.

Herve growled at Leo. The new boy didn't seem to be taking the game seriously and was laughing childishly from his victory. William slapped Leo on the back.

"Hey, sweet moves!" William congratulated.

"Thanks," Leo said. "Hey, how about we take 5 before the second half?" Nobody complained. Leo decided to see with the Lyoko gang. Yumi read the writing on Leo's shirt as he drank from a bottle of water.

"Ore sanjou?" she said, quirking an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" William asked.

Leo translated, "I have arrived." He added, "Which I have, haven't I?"

"So, you're into hip-hop, huh?" Ulrich asked, remembering the way Leo danced his way into the field. He pointed at the iPod and the headphones around Leo's neck.

"Hey, the music is fast and fun to dance too. I ain't into those classical stuff and rock and roll is just too loud for me," Leo replied. "So, anything else to do around this place?"

"Not much," Ulrich shrugged. "But you might wanna check around."

"OK," Leo said. He checked his watch. "Oops, sorry about that. Looks like I won't be able to play anymore."

"What?" William questioned.

"Why's that?" Aelita asked, curiously.

Leo winked and said, "Well, cutie-pie, I got things to do!" He leapt onto his feet and did a twirl, "See ya later!" He then pushed the play button on his Ipod before dancing away towards the dorm. The rest of the Lyoko gang looked at him strangely.

"Strange guy," Ulrich said.

"We have Odd," Yumi reminded.

"Two Odds," William shuddered. "Scary thought."

The door swung open and Leo jumped into the room before heading towards his computer. He sat down and did a bit of a spin on it before stopping to face his computer. He turned it on and it began to start up.

Leo's room was like the other ones in the dorm room. He didn't have a roommate so he had the entire room to himself, much to his delight. He had more space to dance. On the walls were posters of his favorite super heroes, the Kamen Riders. His bookshelf was filled with DVD's of all the Kamen Rider series, from the classics to the current. The carpet on the floor seemed tie-dyed as well.

Rap music began to play from his computer's speakers as his fingers typed all over the keyboard. However, this time, something else happened.

On his screen flickered an eye symbol that he'd never seen before. "Huh? What's that?" Suddenly, his computer began to spark and then he was thrown across the room, slamming against the wall with a loud thud. "Ow…" he groaned as he looked up at his monitor to see the strange eye morphing into a demonic skull. "OK, not normal."

Oh, Leo, you have no idea.

Jeremie and Aelita gasped when they saw the eye of XANA on Jeremie's laptop. The others were surprised as well.

"XANA!?" William exclaimed, shocked.

"No way!" Yumi added. "We destroyed him."

"Let's get to the factory," Ulrich said. "If he's back then we got trouble."

"Call Odd too," Jeremie said. "We're going to need him." If he had taken time to look at his laptop again, he would've seen a purple demonic skull staring right at him before the screen went blank.

Leo watched though his window as the Lyoko gang headed into the woods withing Kadic, fast. Meanwhile, electrical malfunctions continued to occur. Some poor kid just got attacked by his own electric toothbrush. Also,

"Where are they going?" Leo asked himself. There was a sudden impulse telling to follow them and being the kind of guy he was he would always follow said impulses. He ran out the dorm room and locked the door.

He followed them from afar and watched as Odd lifted up a manhole covered. They then went down the hole with Odd being the last to close the hole. Leo waited for a few minutes before doing the same. He ended up in the sewers and could hear where the group had gone. Following his gut, he ran after them.

Somewhere in the woods was someone sitting alone, strumming a guitar. Most of his body was cloaked in shadows. A strange beeping came to his attention. He pulled out a PDA from his pocket. He saw XANA's eye morph into the demonic skull. The man's shadow covered face gave a smirk. "So," he began, "It looks like things are starting to get interesting." He looked around to make sure he was alone. He moved his wrist into the light. There was a strange metallic device on it. "Time for the hunt to begin." He pulled out a card and swiped it through the device. "Digitize!" he exclaimed as his body slowly vanished.

Leo found himself in the abandoned factory. He had been following the others but now lost track of them. He went towards the elevator and pressed the button, thinking, 'Maybe they went down here.'

The doors closed and he went downwards. The elevator door opened again and this time he heard a flurry of tapping echoing in the room. It took him some time but he finally found the source, and needless to say, he was shocked. There was Jeremie sitting in a chair in front of several monitors with a holographic projection next to him. "Jeremie? Jeremie Belpois? What's going on here?"

"Leo?!" exclaimed the shocked Jeremie. "How did you get here?"

"I followed you," he said bluntly. "Now, what is this place? What's going on?"

"Right…" said Jeremie. "You may think I'm crazy but here's what's happening…" He then began to explain to Leo what exactly was going on.

In the virtual world called Lyoko, The Lyoko Warriors were battling an army of XANA's monsters in the mountain sector. There were Krabes, Bloks, Megatanks and Hornets firing at them Odd fired with his laser arrows as Yumi threw her fans at them. Aelita fired several energy fields at the monsters.

"OK, this is bad!" Ulrich grunted as he stabbed a Blok in the eye, destroying it. William was easily slicing through them, a look of glee on his face.

"Man, this feels great!" William smirked as he charged and slashed with his large sword.

There was an activated tower, but instead of red it glowed purple. Regardless, they had to deactivate it to stop whatever it was that was happening in the real world.

"OK, so you've been fighting a demonic AI bent on world domination and finally defeated it," Leo summarized Jeremie's explanation. "You're right, it is crazy."

"Well, we thought we beat XANA, but the super computer has reactivated somehow," Jeremie said.

"What if it's not XANA?" Leo asked. "Ever thought of that?"

"What makes you say that?" Jeremie asked and Leo pointed to one of the monitors, which displayed the eye of XANA morphing into a purple demonic skull. "Oh."

"You said XANA's logo was an eye. THAT does not look like an eye," Leo said to him.

Jeremie now became alarmed and attempted to contact the others, "Guys! Fall back! It's not XANA! It's something else!"

"What?" Ulrich's voice came out. "You're kidding, right?"

"Are you sure, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"Don't joke, Einstein," Odd said, worriedly.

"I don't care if you believe me or not," Jeremie said. "If this is a new threat then I need to pull you all out," Jeremie tapped furiously on the keyboard. "I'm starting the materialization process now." However, something went wrong.

"Any minute now, Einstein," Odd said.

"Something's wrong!" Jeremie panicked. "I can't rematerialize you!" His eyes went towards the screens. "Oh, no."

"That does not sound good," Yumi said.

"This thing just sent a virus that disabled your materialization," Jeremie informed.

"What does that mean?" William asked.

"It means that if you lose all your life points in Lyoko, you could disappear, for good!" The purple demonic skull laughed before vanishing from the screens. "Damn it!"

"Jeremie, you said that they need to deactivate the tower, right?" Leo asked. Jeremie nodded, but didn't see the point. "Well, if they deactivate it, they can stop everything that's going on."

"But how!?" Jeremie asked, "The others are taking a huge risk now. They've been through it before and I almost lost them. I need time to make a new anti-virus program!"

"Then do it!" Leo said and then he volunteered, "And send me to Lyoko!"

"What?" Jeremie stared.

"They need help, Jeremie!" Leo urged. "Send me there, now!" He was really insistent. The blonde genius looked at the screen. His friends' life points were going down dangerously low and if Aelita didn't deactivate the tower in time then they'd be lost forever, deleted permanently. "Jeremie, you need to trust me!"

"Alright!" Jeremie finally gave in. "Take the elevator and go down to the scanner room."

"Alright," Leo nodded. "And you won't regret this."

"I sure hope not," Jeremie sighed as Leo went down to the scanner room. Once there, he found the three cylindrical scanners. One of them opened and Leo entered before the door closed. Jeremie started the procedure.

"Transfer: Leo," Jeremie said as the scanner rings rose up Leo's body a 3D diagram of Leo's virtual form appeared on Jeremie's monitor. "Scanner: Leo." Jeremie then finished the procedure, as a gust of wind blew Leo's hair upwards."Virtualization." There was a bright flash as Leo's world turned white.

The Bloks, Megatanks and Krabes continued to rain fire on the Lyoko Warriors. Both William and Ulrich were both protecting the others by using their swords to deflect the shots.

"You tired yet, Ulrich?" William asked, teasingly.

"Not a chance, William," Ulrich retorted as they continued to block the shots. Odd and Yumi were with Aelita as they headed towards the tower. A swarm of Hornets were coming after them. Aelita got shot in the leg and fell.

"Aelita!" Yumi cried as she picked the pink haired girl up.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd commanded as he fired at the Hornets, deleting them as his shots hit. "Yup, I still got it!"

"Celebrate later!" Yumi scolded. "We need to get Aelita to the tower!"

"Gotcha!" Odd nodded before they all dashed towards the tower.

"I sure hope Jeremie can send some help," William huffed as he sliced a Krabe in half before slicing a Blok apart. "I don't know how many I can take."

Ulrich boasted, "I can do this all day," as he stabbed a Blok and watched it explode. A Megatank rolled up behind him and opened up before aiming. It was ready to fire a shot when…

"Rider Kick!" a new voice shouted as something fell out of the air and smashed into the Megatank, blowing it to pieces. Ulrich and William were surprised and stopped fighting. The monsters did the same as an unknown variable had entered Lyoko.

The boy was about their age and dressed in a black shirt with a red chestplate and matching black pants. He wore elbow length red gloves and matching knee high boots. There was a belt around his waist with a metal buckle housing a fan inside. Around his neck was a red scarf that went down to his waist. Worn over his eyes was a pair of red goggles that resembled insect eyes. A pair of antennae stuck out of his head. They recognized the red hair.

"Leo!?" William and Ulrich let out in surprise. It was the new kid.

"Talk later, fight now!" Leo shouted as he charged at the Bloks. They fired but the boy had the agility of a grasshopper as he leapt over the shots. The fan in his buckle began to spin as he pulled back a fist.

"Rider Punch!" he called out as he smashed his fist into the Blok, destroying it as it shattered apart. He turned to look at Ulrich and William who went back into fighting. "Well, hurry up you two. Aelita, Yumi and Odd are going to need us!"

Aelita was already close to the tower with Odd and Yumi's help when a hole opened up in front of them. A Tarantula and Creeper crawled out.

"Oh, not these things again," Odd groaned as he aimed and tried to fire, but no arrows came. "Hey, I'm out of arrows."

"Then it's up to us," Yumi said as she brandished her fans. She threw them but the Tarantula batted it away with one of its legs before firing at her.

"Energy Field!" Aelita called as she fired a counter shot, deflecting the shot and sending the Tarantula staggering. The Creeper opened its mouth and fired at the trio. William jumped in the way and deflected the shot back at the Creeper, blowing its head off and destroying it.

Ulrich shouted, "Triplicate!" and now there were three of him. The Ulrich trio dashed at the Tarantula and slashed it. It blew up in an instant.

Leo stayed behind and faced off against the remaining monsters. He reached down to his belt, where black objects were stuck flanking his belt, and detached them. He ducked under shot to his head before joining the two pieces together and throwing them into the air before reaching down to the final two pieces. He then leapt up and then combined the two joined pieces in between of the final two. A red blade appeared as he gripped his new sword. He landed a sliced a monster in half. "Here's my sure-kill attack! Part One! Extreme Slash!" Leo called as he swung his sword. The blade detached and then sliced at the monsters. He continued to swing as he decimated all of them. Satisfied, he rested the sword on his shoulder. He then said, mockingly, "From the beginning to the end, I am always at my climax!" He then ran towards the others.

Aelita had already entered the tower and floated up to the platform where a touch screen appeared. Her name appeared on it.

AELITA

She then touched it with her palm.

CODE

LYOKO

The tower then deactivated.

Outside, Leo was being welcomed to the group, much to Odd and Yumi's surprise.

"You followed us?" Yumi said in an accusatory tone.

"Hey, I was curious," Leo said playfully. "And I'm glad I did. Always wanted to be a superhero."

Aelita exited the tower, and was surprised to see Leo. "So, you know, huh?"

"Well, Jeremie just gave me the gist of it, but I knew I had to help," Leo said, touching one of his antennae. "Man, I look good."

"For a bug," Odd quipped, "But, hey, least you don't look like a big purple cat."

"But you have to swear to keep this a secret," Yumi said sternly to Leo.

"I swear," Leo said, raising his hand, "Or do you think I'm just stringing you along?" Yumi didn't respond.

Jeremie's voice came through, "Guys, after Aelita deactivated the tower, the virus keeping you there just deleted itself. I'm ready to rematerialize you all."

"Looks like everything-" began Odd before he was cut off. Everyone looked at him in shock. There was a large hole in his chest. His body then de-virtualized. Everyone was looking around in shock, trying to see where the attack came from. They then saw something approach them. They couldn't tell what it was, but they could tell it was humanoid. Its invisible body distorted the world around it. They then lost 'sight' of it. Yumi felt something stick to her back. William and Ulrich looked at it in shock. It appeared to be a bomb. They bomb then exploded, taking all three Lyoko Warriors out in one blast. Aelita and Leo looked around. They were the only two remaining.

"What's happening!?" asked Aelita, afraid. She felt a small prick in the back of her neck. She fell forward and devirtualized. Leo was now all alone, but not for long. He felt a piercing sensation in his stomach. He then felt it all through his body as twin serrated blades extended through his virtual body, causing him to devirtualize. The rippling figure who in a matter of moments dispatched all the Lyoko Warriors became visible. He was physically identical to one of the Predators from the film of the same name.

"Huh, not much of a hunt," said the Predator. He looked at his wrist computer. "He's not here." He swiped a card through the computer. "Return!" he exclaimed as his body devirtualized.

The scanner opened and Leo fell out of the machine, gasping. He saw that the others didn't look too pleased and he exclaimed, "What the hell!?"

Jeremie then decided it was time for a Return to the Past. They would discuss things later when the day restarted itself, "Return to the past, now!" he said before pressing down on the Enter key. A pillar of light rose up before engulfing everything in white.

The figure from before reappeared in the forest. He picked up his guitar and began strumming it again. "He wasn't in the mountains either. Damn," he cursed. He reached into his shirt and pulled out an onyx watch. "I'll find him… I have to." He then watched as the light came and engulfed everything. However, unlike others, he would not forget.

"Can't you two do anything right!? Honestly, I wonder to myself why I hang around you two!" Sissi scolded.

"Sorry, Sissi," Nicolas apologized, rubbing the base of his neck.

"Sorry does not cut it!" Sissi growled. She picked up the ball and threw it aside angrily.

"Well, some things just never change," Yumi commented as she stood on the sidelines with Aelita and Jeremie, the latter two on a bench. Jeremie, as usual, had a computer on his lap. "Jeremie, you can just take your eyes off the computer and watch the game."

"Sorry, Yumi, but old habits do die hard," Jeremie chuckled. "I'm just doing some surfing, that's all." They've had this conversation before. "And now we got a new threat."

"And a new member," Yumi told him. "Which should show up right now." Suddenly, loud hip-hop music began to play, catching everyone's attention. Yumi smirked. "Right on time."

"Hey, cool song!" Odd snapped his fingers. "And look who's here!" Leo was dancing into the scene, holding his boom-box on his shoulder.

The ball rolled to Leo's feet and he stopped dancing. At the same time the music stopped. He put down the boom-box.

He looked up at everyone and snapped his fingers, pointing at them, "Can I play with you now?" The rest of the kids stared at the new one with curious and strange stares. He tilted his head to the side as he waited for an answer. He then said, "I don't hear an answer!"

"Hey, the more the merrier!" Odd said, smiling.

Leo said, "So, can I?" he then added, "And by the way, I'm Leo Drake! So, can I play? I don't hear an answer!"

After the game, which they won, Leo and the others got together behind the school building.

"So, you're one of us now," Odd said.

"That's right!" Leo answered. "When I woke up I got this strange sense of déjà vu. I thought it was a dream but then when I saw you all I knew it wasn't." He asked, "So, what happened?"

"Jeremie here launched a Return to the Past," Aelita said, gesturing to the blonde genius.

"Return to the past?" Leo questioned, tilting his head in confusion. "What's that?"

"Basically, we can go back in time by one day. It undoes all the damage caused by XANA," Jeremie explained, "Only this time, we're not dealing with XANA anymore."

"A new threat, but same tactics," William said. "Taking control of towers to cause havoc on Earth."

"Well, if you need help, you can count on me," Leo grinned. "Let me tell you this; I am VERY strong."

"Strong or not, does anyone remember what devirtualized us?" Odd asked.

Jeremie told them, "There was something else but it just vanished from the monitor."

"Well, whatever it was, it was fast," Yumi said.

"And brutal," Ulrich said, remembering the explosion that devirtualized all three of them.

Now, the Lyoko Warriors had gained a new teammate, as well as a new enemy that has taken XANA's place. But, what of the mysterious Predator that devirtualized them. Well, if you want to know more, stay tune for the next chapter of…CODE RIDER!

"Hey, we haven't done your initiation yet!" Odd said, pointing at their newest member.

"There's an initiation?" Leo asked, blinking. William, Ulrich and Odd all shared evil grins. "Um…is this going to make me cry?" Leo whimpered.