Prologue
Jeremy walked down the hall to his dorm. It was late, and it was time he went to bed.
As he got in his bed, he thought about all the Lyoko Warriors had been through in the fight against XANA. It had only been 2 nights ago that they had shut the SuperComputer off, but it felt like years. It felt like something was missing now.
It was Franz Hopper. He was what was missing. In their moment of victory, he had sacrificed himself to power the program Jeremy had used to destroy XANA.
Aelita was terribly upset, and nothing Jeremy could do seemed to cheer her up.
As the night drew on, he got to thinking about the “death” of Franz. It seemed strange that he had disappeared like he did. He was a normal virtual entity, although bound to the Digital Sea, and there didn’t seem to be a cause for his disappearance. The Flying Manta’s would have depleted his energy levels to point where he would no longer be able to hold himself together, but he would not be destroyed. It baffled Jeremy as to why the Deep Scan didn’t pick up any signals whatsoever on the Network.
Just as he was drifting off, a thought hit him. Wait a minute! He thought. Maybe, just maybe, Franz Hopper could still be alive! If he truly disintegrated simply from a lack of energy, then there would be no way for him to send a signal on the Network. What could have happened was what Jeremy originally though had happened the first time they lost Franz. He thought that Franz had been spread out over the Digital Sea, and there would be no way to find him. Instead, Franz had managed to escape in a complete, tangible form.
Jeremy knew he needed his sleep, but despite that knowledge, he got up, turned on his computer, and began to work on a new program.
***
The next morning, Odd and Ulrich walked into Jeremy’s dorm. “Hey Einstein! I thought that you had given up on sleeping in your computer chair now that XANA’s dead!” Odd exclaimed. Ulrich shook Jeremy’s shoulder. “Time to wake up Jeremy! You’ve already missed breakfast!”
“Huh... Wha?” Jeremy shook himself fully awake. He straightened his glasses. Odd repeated himself. “Well, yeah,” Jeremy replied. “But I don’t think I’m done programming just yet. Where’s Aelita?” He asked. “I need to talk to her about something.” Ulrich answered, “She’s in her dorm; what do you want to talk about Jeremy?”
Jeremy glanced at his watch. “No time!” he exclaimed. He hopped about in his dorm in a rush to get dressed. He grabbed his school bag and sprinted out the door. Not that Jeremy can sprint that fast...
When Jeremy got to Aelita’s dorm, he stopped to catch his breath. Then he knocked, and Aelita opened the door promptly. Aelita looked at him in surprise. “Jeremy... Good morning.” She said in a subdued tone.
“Aelita! Guess what?” He didn’t wait for her to guess. “I think I’ve found your father on the Internet!”
Aelita suddenly brightened. “Really! But that’s impossible!”
“No, it’s not! I ran a program to search the whole Internet. This morning, the results came back. I found a little over a million signals that have the same digital signature, but nothing can trace it to an origin! I think it might be your father!”
“Really?” Aelita asked exuberantly.
“I’m sure of it!” Jeremy replied. “After school today, we should go to the factory, and see what we can do.”
“I can hardly wait!” Aelita said as she jumped up and hugged Jeremy.
***
When the school day finally ended, Jeremy called Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi to the Factory. He explained the results of his research in simple terms.
“So, we need to go to Lyoko, and run some tests. If they come back positive, then we can see what we can do to save Franz Hopper. We should take a vote, as to whether or not we should turn the SuperComputer back on.”
Aelita raised her hand immediately. “I vote yes!” she said. Jeremy too raised his hand for “yes”. “I’m all for it, Ulrich said, raising his hand as well.
“Anything for you Princess!” Odd chimed in. “I’ll make it unanimous.” Yumi said. “But what about William?” She asked. “Do we tell him anything?”
Jeremy thought about this. “What do you guys think? I mean, now that XANA’s gone, I don’t think that William would try to do anything stupid to get revenge. If his attitude gets in the way, well, I’ll just tell him that he’s got to stay serious. Besides, that wouldn’t be very nice if we just left him out again. I’m sure that he’s still hurting from us being so cold to him.”
After a few awkward seconds, the consent came. “I’ll call him,” Ulrich volunteered.
***
William was sitting in his dorm listening to the newest Subdigitals Album. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket so he shut off the music.
“Hello,” He said as he brought the phone to his ear.
“William,” He heard Ulrich’s voice say. “Get to the Factory. Don’t ask questions, we’ll explain when you get here.”
“Sure,” William said. “What do you need me for?”
“I said no questions!” Ulrich told him.
“Alright, alright. I’m coming over now,” He said getting up.
He raced to the Factory, and swung down to the elevator using the handy wires hanging from the ceiling. Using the code Jeremy had given him a long time ago he sent the elevator down one floor.
When the door opened, he walked into the Lab. “Hey,” he said quietly.
“Hey William,” Jeremy said. “We’re sorry for brushing you off like we did. We just-”
“Yeah yeah, I know. After being under XANA’s control for so long, it’s hard to trust my image. I forgive you.”
A few seconds later, William became angry. “You don’t know what it was like though! Seeing things through XANA’s eyes is awful! I hate that feeling of some, some... thing controlling my body and making me hurt my friends! XANA is evil beyond your imagination, and I still have nightmares about him!”
His voice trailed off.
“So we’re cool then?” Odd asked.
“Yeah, we are,” William told him.
“Okay then,” Jeremy said. He quickly filled William in about the situation. “Are you up for it?” Jeremy asked. “Sure,” William said, with some hesitation. Jeremy set up the transfers and told the gang to go down to the scanners.
Jeremy first virtualized Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi. Next came Aelita and William.
***
Aelita dropped down onto Lyoko. She stood up, and examined herself. In one way, it felt good to be back on Lyoko. In other ways, it pained her, because of the memories of her father that it brought.
“Ready to go?” She asked the Lyoko Warriors. “Whenever you are,” Yumi said.
“I’ll materialize your vehicles,” Jeremy said. “William, you can ride with Ulrich.”
Aelita waved her hand over her wrist to activate her wings, and she flew off to catch the others.
Jeremy had turned on the SuperComputer while they were waiting for William to get the Factory. Jeremy detected no traces of activity on the SuperComputer.
“Okay guys,” Jeremy said. “Even though I’m sure XANA’s dead, I want one of you to guard each of three Towers that I need to activate. I need Aelita and one other Warrior to go to Sector 5. Any volunteers?”
When it was all sorted out, Ulrich, Yumi, and William would be watching the Towers, while Odd and Aelita would be going to Sector 5.
Jeremy launched his program. He let it run for a few minutes, and soon his calculations were proved correct.
“I’ve got it!” I exclaimed. “Well?” Aelita asked. “Good news?”
“Most definitely!” He told her.
After a few seconds of typing to set up a program, he asked Aelita to start the program via the Sector 5 interface. “Well, Aelita,” Jeremy said. “In a few minutes, when the program is done consolidating the data, you could be with your father again!”
When the scan was complete, he virtualized the human being that had been produced. He flew down to the Scanners Room to watch the door open and Franz Hopper stumble out. He collapsed, but soon rose weakly to his feet.
When he stood, he said, “Jeremy… I can’t thank you enough! I could only hope that you would figure out how to revive me, and I see that I did not over estimate you!”
“Well thank you sir! But it wasn’t just me. Without the rest of the Lyoko Warriors, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”
“Come,” he said, motioning to the elevator. “I think we might be able to make today even more special for Aelita.”
***
Franz Hopper had started to work on the SuperComputer’s interface and soon he dashed down to the Scanners, and soon came up carrying no other than Anthea Hopper.
Jeremy was stunned. “Huh… What… How…” Words failed him. Ulrich interrupted his stunned silence, “Hey Jeremy! Did it work or not? Is Franz there with you? What’s going on?”
“Hang on,” Jeremy said, typing away. “I’ll bring you in. Then maybe I can explain…”
Franz told Jeremy, “I’ll explain about my wife when your friends get here.
Soon, the gang had gathered in the Lab.
Aelita was ecstatic about having both her parents back.
“A dangerous terrorist cell wanted to shut down XANA and Lyoko.” Franz began. “I had put a lot of work into it, and so I refused. It was also created to be our refuge.
“But I was wrong about that. In an attempt to get me to shut my operation down, they hired a team of bounty hunters to kidnap Anthea. Unbeknownst to me, they virtualized her into the Network, using my own technology.” He paused, lost in thought.
“I managed to find here location while I was wandering the Network after Lyoko was destroyed. I could not virtualize her, as I had no access to the Scanner protocol. I was able to utilize my knowledge just a few minutes ago.”
As he finished, Aelita hugged each of them one more time.
“Well then!” Jeremy said. “I looks as if our adventures have come to a close.”
“XANA put up a good fight, but we beat him in the end.” Ulrich put in.
“We’ve all been through a lot together, and our fight has only made us stronger.” Yumi added.
“It was a lot of fun being a hero,” Odd said. “But it’s come to an end now.”
William added his, “XANA is dead, and now we can all have normal lives.”
“I’m sure that we’ll never forget our adventures together!” Aelita said.
The Lyoko Warrior’s victory over XANA was no longer Pyrrhic, as Aelita was reunited with her mother and father. They all lived happily ever after.
But that was not the end my friends… Merely another beginning!
***
3 Generations Later
***
ANAX drifted through the matrices of the SuperComputer. Waldo Schaeffer had left the computer in sleep mode, a large mistake. In sleep mode, the SuperComputer had very little executive power. That was not going to stop him.
He and XANA had been working on this matter for years. Soon, they would be able to override the sleep command. ANAX – the Anti-Nullification Assistant of XANA – had been created to serve XANA, and assist him in any way necessary.
He came to the metaphorical “Chamber” where XANA slept. Ever since his first defeat, he was much weaker. He would not be able to regenerate until he could gain access to the internet once again. XANA had spent nearly his last drop of energy creating ANAX.
“Master,” ANAX addressed the pod on the wall. “I take it you have good news.” XANA said. “Yes... We can begin the final stage whenever the opportunity arises. Soon, all humans will pay... Soon...”