Chapter 6

Hi! A big thank you to everyone who added this story to their favourites or story alerts list or commented on this story! Thank you so much! You guys make this story worth writing!

I know I haven't updated in forever, so please don't kill me! This chapter is extra long to make up for it!

Also, later in this chapter, a few of the characters are talking to voices in their heads. (No, they aren't going delusional. Although, Ellie's sanity is questionable...) The voice will be indicated by ~ symbols.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko or any of its characters. (Sadly…)

Claimer: I own Ellie.

POV: Yumi

Standing in the elevator, it was clear to see that nothing had changed. Standing between Ulrich and Jeremy, Yumi watched as the elevator doors slowly closed. It felt strange, being back here, after Yumi had said her silent goodbyes to it the last time she was here and planned on never returning. But now she was back, Yumi felt a strange connection to this place- like she and her friends belonged here. No, that's not right, Yumi told herself, mentally shaking her head. We don't really belong here. We belong in the real world, far away from XANA and his monsters. Sighing quietly, Yumi pulled her mind of that subject. Shaking her head quietly to herself, Yumi thought back to the announcement in Jeremy's room. When Jeremy stated that they needed to turn the Supercomputer back on, all Yumi could do was stare. She knew that would be the outcome, sure, but she had been wishing it wouldn't be. After he had announced it, Yumi hadn't been able to drag her eyes away from Aelita. Aelita had known before Yumi, Ulrich and Odd that Jeremy was going to suggest turning the Supercomputer back on, but instead of looking like the bright, pink star she usually did, she just looked upset and annoyed and Yumi couldn't figure out why. Now, in the elevator, with the pink haired girl standing only a few feet from her, it was starting to come clear. Lyoko was the place Aelita had lost her memories to after she had been transferred there with her father. It was also the place she had lost her father several times over. Going back there now must have been, well, a little bit like hell for Aelita. But instead of dying, her father had miraculously survived XANA again and again. Going back to see her father again must be like a chain of events to Aelita, Yumi continued silently. Franz Hopper's alive so is an imitation of XANA the Lyoko warriors fight XANA Franz Hopper gives his life to stop XANA imitation XANA dies the Lyoko warriors survive Aelita is left with a gaping hole inside of her that cannot be filled. Oh, and the memories. Let's not forget those. The memories that will stay with her forever where she couldn't do anything to help her father. And the terrifying nightmares that have her waking up screaming every other night.

So why then is she putting herself through the same old torture again, knowing it's going to hurt her even more the next time round? Yumi mentally shook her head. She had no idea why. No idea at all.

The elevator door jerked open then, pulling Yumi out of her trail of thought. Slowly, the five of them stepped out of the elevator as the Supercomputer rose up in front of them. Casting a quick look around the others, Jeremy stepped forward and walked over to it. Looking back to them with a small smile on his face, Jeremy asked a single question.

"Any objections?"

Yumi's throat went dry and she couldn't seem to be able to get her brain to work or her mouth to open. Yumi glanced at the others. Ulrich was glancing her way with a look of sympathy on his face. Beside him, Odd was looking very annoyed. Yumi mentally smiled at Odd, because she knew what he was upset about: missing a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. The group had decided that they would go to the factory later that afternoon, meaning they would miss dinner. Yumi's parents believed she was out studying at school. Yeah, that's totally what I'm doing here. I'm studying the art of turning on a Supercomputer with an anti-virus bent on human domination and putting yourself and your friends in harm's way, just to save the rest of the world, Yumi thought to herself sarcastically. Now that they were adding Lyoko back into their lives, Yumi's grade were going to plummet again. Sighing, Yumi moved her glance down the line to the last person, the only other girl apart from herself in the group. Aelita was smiling slightly, but it didn't fully reach her eyes. Yumi mentally shook her head at her before moving her glance back to Jeremy, who looked tired, but ready. Sending him a small smile, Yumi shook her head at him. Getting her meaning, Jeremy turned his back to them and placed his hand on the lever and flicked it. The Supercomputer sprang to life, shooting light everywhere. Yumi heard a happy sigh from Aelita, and she watched Jeremy shoot Aelita a small smile. Odd looked relieved, at least. He could finally go eat. Yumi mentally shook her head at him. If he had been listening to Jeremy, he would know they weren't going back to Kadic. Not for a while yet. Ulrich turned to her, smiling shakily.

Yumi couldn't help it. She smiled back at him. Despite the fact she knew she should be annoyed and upset about going back, she was happy. Happy to be going back to the place where she got shot by XANA's monsters. Happy to be going back to where her friends and herself had the most fun. Happy to be going back to a world that shouldn't exist. Mentally kicking herself, she smiled wider. Happy to be going back to Lyoko.

POV: Aelita

"Any objections?"

Jeremy's voice called out, sending a wave of butterflies over her. Her eyes briefly met Jeremy's before glancing away again. In his eyes she had seen many emotions all at once. Sadness for seeing her hurting like this. Sympathy for putting her through this again. Pain for not being able to do anything about it. Determination for-

She shook her head silently. Stop, she told herself mentally. You're making this worse than it already is. It's bad enough that something similar to XANA is alive. But it's even worse that I'm moping about like this. I should be happy. My father is alive! He's out there, somewhere, in the internet. And Jeremy promised to help me find him and materialise him! So why am I moping?

~It's because you think that your father is going to disappear again before you can save him~, a voice shot through her mind.

Aelita drew a quick breath. That's not it, she replied quickly. I'm upset because… because… I… Because I don't want to go back. To Lyoko, that is. What if this XANA substitute steals my memories? What do I do then?

~Yes, that's true as well. But you are also very excited to go back. Lyoko was your home, remember?~

Yeah, I do, Aelita replied irritably. How could I forget? But going back now seems so… She sighed quietly to herself, hoping the others hadn't realised she was facing a war with a voice in her head. You are right, voice, I do think my father is going to disappear again, that's why I don't want to go back. But a part of me does want to go back. What should I do?

The voice didn't respond. Sighing, Aelita glanced at the others. They all looked like she felt. Unsure. Sighing again, she faced Jeremy, probably making the quickest decision in her life. Jeremy's eyes were on her, waiting for the final person in the group to give him an answer. Giving him a small smile, she mouthed do it. Returning the smile, Jeremy turned and placed his hand on the lever and flicked it. The Supercomputer came to life, shooting light everywhere.

Aelita sighed happily. When it came down to it, she had decided that the only way to get her father back was turning on the Supercomputer. And by turning the Supercomputer back on, the five of them had just volunteered to save the world.

And that, she told herself as she skipped over to give Jeremy a hug, is what the Lyoko warriors planned to do.

"What do you mean, we aren't going back yet? We're missing dinner!" Odd whined pathetically.

Aelita shook head slightly, a smile on her face. "Odd, if you had been listening earlier, you'd know that we were going to do this."

The five of them were up in the lab while Jeremy fiddled with the computer from the yellow chair. Odd was voicing his opinions about going back to Lyoko during dinner, while Aelita and Jeremy were doing their best to oppose him. Yumi and Ulrich were staying unusually quiet.

"But why? Can't this wait?" Odd whined.

"No, Odd, it can't. I want to check this all out now and send you guys on a run. And Aelita wants to check on something in Sector 5," Jeremy replied, his eyes not leaving the computer screen.

Odd turned to glare at Aelita, since Jeremy had his back to Odd. "Can't I just go to dinner? You don't need me to go with you," Odd grumbled.

Sighing, Aelita opened her mouth to tell Odd that he could go back, but Yumi cut in, before Aelita could say a thing.

"I think we should all go. We all agreed to turn the Supercomputer back on, so we're all going to Lyoko," said Yumi, sending Odd a glare.

Odd sighed in defeat as he looked at Yumi. She had sent him a strange look, one she didn't understand. "Fine, I'll come," he replied, staring at the ground.

After shooting Yumi a thankful look, which Yumi grinned at, Aelita moved to Jeremy's side. "Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yes, everything's good to go," Jeremy replied, sending Aelita a smile. "Head down to the scanners and I'll virtualise you."

Grinning, Aelita ran to join the others in the elevator. Ulrich was leaning against the wall beside the button, while Yumi was standing beside him. Odd was on the other side of the elevator, looking pretty annoyed. Once she was in, Ulrich hit the button and the doors closed.

Aelita watched as Odd, Ulrich and Yumi stepped into the scanners, feeling quite joyful. We're going back! We're going to save my father and stop the XANA recreation!

The doors closed on the others and Aelita listened quietly as Jeremy virtualised them. Smiling happily, Aelita skipped over to one of the scanners as it reopened. Saving the world, huh? She thought to herself. We're the Lyoko Warriors. It's our job to the save the world. Grinning happily, she looked up to where she knew Jeremy was and stepped into the scanner. And we love doing it!

POV: Ellie

Taking her seat at the group's regular table in the cafeteria, Ellie looked around, hoping to catch a glance of the five missing group members. Unable to see them, Ellie turned back to the table. Opposite her was Sissi, who had her back turned, who was talking to a raven hair coloured boy who Ellie remembered being introduced to her as William. Ignoring the two of them, Ellie's eyes raked the room again, again finding nothing. Sighing, she began pushing her meal of spaghetti and meatballs around her tray. Where were they? Ellie hadn't seen any of them since school ended a few hours earlier. And before that even, Ulrich, Odd and Aelita had snuck away to some unknown destination during lunch, leaving Ellie all alone with Sissi. And then when Ellie tried to trail the two boys as they left the cafeteria, she got caught by the two roving reporters of the school, Milly and Tamiya, and was made give an interview about herself.

It was like they had set that up or something, Ellie thought quietly to herself, changing the direction she was pushing her meatballs slowly. As if they were trying to keep a secret from me. From us, she corrected herself, glancing across the table to where Sissi was sitting. If there was a secret the five were hiding, they definitely hadn't told Sissi.

So that left it up to Ellie to find out what it was the 5 were hiding. That was when her subconscious and her inner voice decided to wage war on each other inside her head.

Wait, what? No it doesn't. It's their secret, not mine. I shouldn't be trying to butt into their business.

~Uh, yeah, yes you should. They're acting suspiciously. That gives you a right to go investigate.~

No it doesn't! I don't know where you get your facts from, but that's completely messed up! Their business, not mine. Case closed.

~Fine. Just watch on the sidelines for now. But sooner or later, curiosity will get the better of you. The truth will appear right in front of you, as well as the evidence.~

Whatever.

Sighing quietly to herself, Ellie pushed her meatballs around her tray once more before forcing herself to eat them.

POV: Ulrich

It hadn't taken long to get to Sector 5, Ulrich thought to himself as he leaned against his Overbike. The four of them were in Sector 5, at the platform where Aelita usually retrieved information for Jeremy. Sighing slightly, Ulrich looked at his friends. Aelita was moving items around on the blue-tinged screen, talking to Jeremy as she did so. Odd was sitting cross-legged on his Overboard while Yumi was sitting on her Overwing, her legs hanging off the side. Catching her eye, Ulrich grinned. Yumi sent him a smile back. That shocked him, but Ulrich didn't show it. Moving his gaze out towards the walls, Ulrich let his mind wander. Yumi's smiling. At being back in Lyoko. Why? She was so against keeping the Supercomputer on, and now she's smiling because she's back in it again? What's going on? Ulrich shook his head be told, Ulrich was very happy to be back. Despite the fact it had only been shut down for a few days, Ulrich had missed it. The fighting, the monsters, the towers, even XANA. The fun times Ulrich and his friends had had here were always circling his mind. Also, Ulrich thought to himself, without Lyoko, we wouldn't all be friends. We wouldn't have found Aelita, for that matter, either. Maybe-

"Is it just me, or is it way too quiet here? I feel as if we're missing something. Or someone," Odd wondered aloud, snapping Ulrich out of his trail of thought.

"Odd, there's no monsters. That's why it's so quiet. XANA's not here, so there are no monsters," Yumi reminded him in a bored voice.

"Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that. But now they're gone, it's really boring just sitting here now. No eggs hatching or anything," Odd replied.

"Sorry guys. Not long now," Aelita cut in, moving her fingers rapidly across the screen in front of her. "Jeremy, I'm sending you the information now."

"Ok, good. Then I'll devirtualize you all and we can go off to dinner," Jeremy replied, his voice echoing around Lyoko. Odd made an irritating sound of relief, which both Ulrich and Yumi glared at him for.

Suddenly, Aelita made a surprised noise. Ulrich glanced at her and pulled himself up straight from his Overbike.

"What's wrong Aelita?" the tone of his voice made Yumi jump up as well. Odd just stayed where he was, cocking his head to one side.

Aelita acted like she hadn't heard Ulrcih. "Jeremy, are you seeing this?" her voice carried a tone of surprise and discomfort. Hearing the tone, Ulrich tried to move to see her screen, but his feet wouldn't budge. Scowling, Ulrich looked up, waiting for Jeremy's answer.

"I…. yes," Jeremy answered, his voice, too, held the sound of surprise.

"Aelita? Something you wanna tell us?" Yumi asked the pink-haired girl, her face holding small smile, but her eyes were concerned.

Aelita turned and faced Yumi, before turning to look at Ulrich and Odd. As she glanced at Ulrich, he could see many emotions in her face, but one stood out to him the most. Fear.

Aelita glanced at the floor. "I…," she began, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Whatever had just happened must have been very serious, Ulrich thought to himself. Opening her eyes, Aelita started again. "Guys, um… duplicate XANA's here."

Oh yeah, Ulrich thought to himself, surprise settling over him, very serious.

And this is one of those moments where I say 'inset dramatic music'.

Ok, so that's Chapter 6. I'm sorry I haven't updated for a really long time, but my life has been to hectic recently. I just handed in a massive Chemistry assignment, so I was able to finish this chapter and upload it. Don't expect another chapter for about at least 3 weeks because of my exams coming up. SO NERVOUS! If I manage to fit in a chapter during that time, that will be because I got really lucky and managed to get some writing done. But that will be highly unlikely.

So, until next time! :-)