Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was ok at the beginging it was ok but then -swoosh- I got lost and had no clue what was going on and stuff...

OK, here's the first episode.

Episode 1: BEGINNING

It was the day before the first day of school and Jeremy awoke from a nightmare. He rubbed his hand on hi sweating forehead as the familiar surroundings of his room came into focus. He got up, got dressed, and got ready to head for breakfast in the cafeteria when he slipped and fell on an envelope in his doorway. The letter was addressed to him, so he opened it.

Dear Student,

Due to a shortage of dorm rooms this year, you will be required to share your room this year. A staff member will come by and introduce you to your new roommate later today. We apologize for any inconvience.

Catic Academy Management

"Oh, that's just great!" Jeremy exclaimed sarcastically. Keeping the secret was hard enough now, but with a roommate it would be insurmountable. Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremy were all in Jeremy's room about an hour later, moving things and trying to figure out exactly how to conceal the big secret from the new student.
"Relax Jeremy, how bad could it be?" Yumi said.
"I just hope he not some kind of jock or a huge jerk." Jeremy answered.
"Thanks for the benefit of the doubt." Said an unfamiliar voice. All three of them turned towards the door to see a stranger standing there. He wore a pair of long black pants and a red sleeveless shirt, with a black leather jacket with half-elbow length sleeves. His hair was gelled into solid strands of red, and was each stand was strewn in every possible direction. His hair contrasted with his green eyes to create an unusual effect. Jim stood behind him.
"Jeremy, this is your new room... what are you all doing here?”" Jim questioned Yumi and Aelita.
"We were just helping him get his room ready." Answered Aelita.
"Yeah." Added Yumi.
"Whatever. As I was saying Jeremy, this is your new roommate Zaber Ocrist. I believe you got the letter. Alright, if you don't mind, make sure you explain the rules to him and show him around, I have other things to do." Jim strutted off with even more swagger in his step than usual, as Zaber closed the door.
"He sure acts important considering that he's a gym teacher." Zaber said sarcastically. Aelita let out a small giggle at this remark, and Yumi just smiled. "You're Jeremy right? And who are these lovely ladies?" He asked.
"I'm Yumi."
"My name is Aelita." Zaber froze for an instant, nearly dropping the laptop he had just pulled out of his suitcase.
"Aelita... that was my sister's name..."
"Really? What's she like?" Aelita asked curiously.
"How should I know? Our parents broke up when we we're born, and we we're split up too. She died when we we're both six. I never got to know her." Zaber said in almost a whisper.
"Oh... I'm sorry..." Aelita responded, looking down, clearly wishing she hadn't delved deeper into his first comment. Jeremy hastily tried to change the subject, nodding towards Zaber's laptop.
"You're into computers?" Jeremy asked him.
"I dabble in programming. Mostly simulation and graphics stuff. I can’t really make anything useful. I just design a lot of hypothetical stuff. But the technology for it to function doesn’t even exist, so it's basically a waste of time, but its something to do." Yumi’s cell phone rang.
"Hello? Ulrich? Cool, you're in. We'll meet you at that... uh... you know where... yeah. OK, see you in a bit." She hung the phone up. "Ulrich and Odd are in. We're going to meet them. We'll let them know why you couldn't come." Yumi said as she and Aelita walked out the door.
"See you at dinner Jeremy." Aelita said as she walked out. There was an uncomfortable silence for a short time, and Jeremy tried to restart conversation.
"So... how come you came here from your last school?" He asked.
"That's none of your business." He said, clearly displeased, as he plugged in his laptop and booted it up and turned his back to Jeremy. "Go ahead with your friends. I'll be fine." Jeremy hesitated for a moment, and then left the room and headed for the secret passage to the factory. Zaber stared blankly at his computer screen for a few moments, and a gust of wind blew in Jeremy's window. Several sheets of paper, which had been sitting in one of the boxes they had been packing, blew around the room. Zaber walked over and shut the window, and headed back to the bed. One of the papers was lying on his keyboard, and he quickly brushed it away, but pulled it back in front of him in the same motion. His eye had been caught by numerous hastily scribble notes, calculations, and drafted lines of computer code. He wondered just what they meant.

Roughly half an hour later, the warriors had assembled at the factory. The five of them we're laughing and enjoying their reunion. A lot had changed over the last year, they were now all in the tenth grade, and were still actively doing battle with Xana, but after losing William and nearly all of Lyoko, they also had to contend with FBI agents searching for William for a while. They no longer had to deal with towers or Xana attacks, since there were no towers left. As such, their only job was defending the core of Lyoko and taking information runs to find data on how to stop Xana.

"So how's your new roommate Jeremy?" Asked Ulrich.
"I'm not sure yet. He seems nice enough, but from what I understand he's got a history." Jeremy replied, as he sat at the supercomputer console, hacking into the academy student records. "Here's his file... he was kicked out of his first school after a big fight; same thing for his second school. It says here the third was for armed assault... but it also says in the margin he was in defending someone else. I don't know... but it still doesn't sound reassuring." Jeremy sighed.
"Don't worry about it Einstein. If he gives you any trouble, just let us know." Said Odd, as he cracked his knuckles.
"More trouble is the last thing we need Odd." Interrupted Yumi.
"“Well, we should probably all head back. School's starting in the morning." Aelita said as she headed back to the elevator.
"Yeah. I’ll see you guys tomorrow." Yumi said as she stepped into the elevator as well. They all left the factory, and made their way back to school. When Jeremy arrived back at his room, Zaber had already fallen asleep. What Jeremy hadn't noticed was that many of the papers filled with Xana-sensitive information were missing from the crate.

The next morning, they all sat in the cafeteria eating breakfast, and Zaber had met the others. It was peaceful in general, but none of them we're particularly happy about the day of classes they had ahead of them. The first class was Science, which encompassed all of them but Yumi, but included Zaber. As Mrs. Hertz began to go over the rules of the class, their minds all drifted in different directions. Meanwhile, at the factory, the screen began to fluctuate with static energy. A window popped up, which displayed a tower, and the symbol of Xana appeared next to it.

"Now then... let's begin the lessons." Mrs. Hertz continued from her long-winded rules lecture straight into a science lesson, describing at length the parts and functions of cells. Jeremy and Aelita took detailed notes, Ulrich and Odd tried to pay attention but struggled to get it, and Zaber simply sat there, not making any effort to take in the material, his eyes closed. Mrs. Hertz seemed to notice this after a while. "And why aren't you taking notes? I don't know what kind of school you used to attend, but I expect my students to pay attention!"
"Sorry. But this is useless." Zaber replied in a cold tone, his eyes closed, leaning back in his chair.
"What did you say?"
"Look, mankind has existed for thousands and thousands of years. All this junk was discovered only a few hundred ago, but it's always worked the same way. I don't care how or why it works, just so long as it works."
"You are here to learn Science!" she said, becoming flustered.
"Yeah... and this kind of Science is useless." Zaber finished, still in the same tone he had begun with.
"Two hours detention and a trip to the office should change your mind!"
She yelled, pointing to the door. Zaber stood up, picked up his things, and walked out of the room. No one had witnessed such a direct opposition to a teacher before. Odd nearly applauded.

An alarm sound went off from Jeremy's laptop, which he quickly opened. Two windows had popped up. The first was a warning that the core of Lyoko was under attack. The second was an activated tower warning.
"But that's impossible..." Jeremy muttered.
"An activated tower?" Said Aelita, staring in awe at the display. "But all the towers are gone!"
"I don't know how Aelita... we'll need everyone for this. There's only a minute until the bell rings. We'll slip out then." The bell rang. Jeremy and Aelita met Odd and Ulrich in the back of the room. "We've got double jeopardy today."
"Xana's attacking the core, and he's somehow activated a tower." Aelita finished his explanation.
"I thought the towers were gone!" Odd exclaimed.
"I did too." Jeremy responded. "Get Yumi. We'll meet you at the factory." They split up as Ulrich and Odd ran towards the library where Yumi was about to have study hall. Aelita and Jeremy bolted across the main grounds towards the forest and the secret passage.
"How do you think he did it Jeremy?" Aelita asked, referring to the tower.
"I have no idea. He hasn't launched any attacks since the last tower vanished. If he was able to, I don't know why he waited until now to strike. We need to... Gah!" A blot of red light struck Jeremy in the chest.
"A tarantula!" Aelita yelled as she tackled Jeremy, knocking them both into the alcove in which the vending machines were located, but before they were in it's safety Aelita took a hit to the arm and Jeremy was shot in the leg. They both gasped in pain, their skin where they had been hit burned profusely, and the singed edges of their clothes where they had been shot. "Xana got control of the scanners again. What are we going to do?" Aelita said, wincing in pain.
"I don't know..." said Jeremy, clutching his chest and gasping for breath. The tarantula let out a shriek and began to open fire on every one in the area, and pandemonium ensued. Nearly everyone got clear of the area safely, and when no more targets were in sight the tarantula dropped on all fours and sidled it’s way quickly over to the alcove where they were hiding. They we're still in too much pain to run.

As it rounded the corner, it locked its sight on them, and reared up on its hind legs, it's front blasters aimed at them. It let out another shriek and... BANG! The tarantula jolted slightly to one side, as if struck by something. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Five ear splitting sounds later, the tarantula toppled onto one side, six puncture wounds riddled its head and upper torso. Aelita cautiously looked around the corner, and saw a lone figure silhouetted against the nearest building. Zaber stood there, a smoking revolver in his hand, breathing quickly, but due to adrenaline, not fear.
"Zaber?" Aelita called out quietly. Zaber noticed Aelita and ran over towards them, sliding the revolver into a concealed pocket in the inside of his jacket.
"Aelita... Jeremy... what the hell was that?" He asked quickly.
"It was a tarantula..." Aelita tried to answer, but knew it would be futile to try and explain the entire Lyoko scenario to him. "Listen... we need to get somewhere. There's a factory on the outside of the town. If we can get there we can stop anymore of those things from showing up."
"But you're both hurt..." Zaber said concerned.
"I'll be fine", said Aelita, standing up, still holding her hand over her now throbbing arm. "If you can just help Jeremy..." Jeremy had moved from clutching his chest to his leg, which had also been hit. "Please..." Zaber reflected for a moment, conflict showing on his face.
"Alright, but you two have a lot of explaining to do after this." He heaved Jeremy up onto his back. "Lead the way."

It took Jeremy a second to realize what had transpired, and so many things had happened at once, he needed a moment to keep everything straight. He tried to organize his thoughts into a list. A: Zaber had been carrying a handgun all along. B: He had shot down the tarantula. C: Aelita had just temporarily recruited him and D: He was now being carried to the factory. Jeremy had opened his mouth to ask several questions to Zaber, but he was stopped.
"Save your breath. I know what you’re going to say. I read a lot of the notes you left lying around your room. I get the geist of this whole "virtual universe" stuff."
"You figured that out just from my notes?"
"Just because I get profiled as a thug doesn't mean I'm not a genius. I told you I was a programmer. I created those programs on my computer as simulations and my curiosity was peaked, so I skimmed through the logbook on your computer. I figured it might just be some story you were righting, but I guess it is real."
"You read my logbook?!?!?!"
"Calm down. I said skimmed. I don't know everything, but my curiosity is definetely stimulated now."

They then converged on the underground passageway and ran smack into the other three. The others we're shocked to see Zaber with them.
"What's he doing here?" Odd asked Jeremy, but before Jeremy could answer, the lid was blown off of the passageway. The heavy metal cover flew a few feet before landing in a tree, and several kankralots climbed out of the tunnel and opened fire, as everyone took cover behind some trees Ulrich, Jeremy, and Zaber we’re behind the same group of trees.
"Now what?" Ulrich said. Zaber gently dropped Jeremy next to Ulrich, and reached into the folds of his jacket.
"Watch him for a second." Zaber said, and drew out his handgun and two cartridges. He loaded one cart and rolled out from the trees, brining down two of the kankralots with four bullets. He dashed behind another tree without being hit, and looked between the tree’s forked branches to find his target, and then leaped from behind the tree and used one bullet to defeat the third. There was one left, but before Zaber could try and shoot it, Odd grabbed the top of it and threw it in the air, it's legs flailing wildly. Zaber shot it in midair, and a small shower of mechanical parts struck Odd’s head.
"Ow... nice shooting, Tex. Where'd you learn that?" Odd asked.
"Experience. But I'll tell you more later." Zaber muttered as he reloaded his revolver.
"And what's he doing here?" Yumi said to Jeremy, emphasizing the "he".
"He saved up from a tarantula as we we're leaving the school. He already seems to know about LYOKO." Aelita answered.
"Less talk, more action people!" Odd yelled, already at the bottom of the shaft.

They made their way quickly to the factory and swung down to the elevator, with which they quickly descended to the control room.
"So, you can still materialize up even though Xana's got the scanners?" Ulrich questioned.
"Yeah. The only thing is that after I do it he might materialize more monsters and destroy the scanners." Jeremy responded as he sat down at the computer. "Get down to the scanner room. We just need to deactivate the tower as quickly as possible. It's actually in sector five, split into two teams, one to defend the core and the other to deactivate the tower. I'll drop you right into Sector 5." They all turned and entered the elevator, but Ulrich stopped Zaber.
"Look, we appreciate your help and all, but you can't come with us." He said.
"Why not?" Zaber asked.
"If you go to Lyoko, we won't be able to erase your memory. You'd be a liability." Jeremy said.
"What? Do don't trust me?"
"Well… let’s see, you have a criminal record, an attitude problem, and have been carrying an illegal weapon this whole time. So, no."
"Damn. Fine." He said, sitting on the floor with his arms crossed. "But I do have a permit for this thing!" He muttered while brandishing his gun.

"Transfer: Ulrich. Transfer: Aelita. Transfer: Odd. Scanner: Ulrich. Scanner: Aelita. Scanner: Odd. Virtualization." Jeremy said as he tapped the enter key. The three of them appeared in the arena on Sector Five. "Yumi will be joining you shortly. Guys, start looking for that key. Transfer: Yumi. Scanner: Yumi. Virtualization." The four of them on Lyoko ran out of the Arena and into the labyrinth.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Zaber tried to pick up a conversation.
"So, just how long have you people been up to this?" He asked.
"It's a waste of time to tell you anything. You won't remember anyway."
Jeremy replied, as he readied vehicle programs for when they reached the Celestial Dome.
"Oh yeah, you're little "return in time" thing. Certainly comes in handy, but I guess it was useless to try and help..."
"Would you just shut up!?"
"I skimmed the whole logbook. I know you're the ones behind the disappearance of William Dunbar." Jeremy went silent. "I'm just going to find it again. It's a waste to keep erasing my memory." Zaber said quietly as he stood up, and walked over to the supercomputer to watch.

Finding and striking the key had been easy.
"Yumi, you and Aelita go after the tower. Odd and I’ll handle the core." Ulrich said, and the four split up at an intersection. Odd and Ulrich jumped onto their vehicles and headed out for the core. Aelita and Yumi began to make their way towards the tower.
"The tower isn't far away Aelita. Ulrich, Odd, the first shield just blew, pick up the pace." Jeremy updated them.
"You’ve got this down to a routine, don't you?" Zaber commented.
"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Jeremy replied without even looking at him.

Ulrich and Odd reached the core and began to battle the monsters. Ulrich leapt from one of the upper stories and hopped between several flying mantas, slowly brining them down. Odd began to bring down Creepers with his laser arrows. Ulrich was riding on the last manta, but was finished off by a blast from a Creeper combined with a steep fall into the crushing passage to the core. Odd blasted the Creeper that had defeated Ulrich, which left Odd with the single flying manta to deal with, and his LP were already low.
"Just you and me ugly..." Odd muttered cockily as he aimed his wrist at the creature which began to charge. "Laser Arrow!" The two shot each other at the same time and both were slain. The core was save, but Aelita and Yumi were on their own. Ulrich and Odd stepped into the computer room out of the elevator.
"Well, we got our job done." Odd said happily.
"We're not out of the fire yet Odd." Ulrich said with his arms crossed.

Yumi and Aelita entered a long open hall. The activated tower stood on the opposite end of the room. Two tarantulas and six creepers blocked their path. Yumi drew out her fans.
"Any plans?" Yumi asked.
"We don’t have to kill them all, I just have to get in the tower." Aelita said.
"I'll see what I can do..." Yumi replied as she flung both her fans, successfully bringing down two Creepers.
"Energy Field..." Aelita shot a blast from her hand into the head of another Creeper, but was hit in the shoulder by a blast. All but one Tarantula and Creeper we’re left when Yumi was struck from behind and devirtualized. As Aelita drew into a defensive stance and prepared to dodge the attacks, but the creatures suddenly backed off.
"Aelita, what’s happening?" Jeremy asked her.
"They just backed off... this must mean..." Aelita began to respond, and Jeremy finished her sentence.
"There's a Schipzoa on my map! You've got to run Aelita, there's no one else left!" Jeremy yelled.
"AHEM!" Zaber loudly cleared his throat to indicate that he was still there. Jeremy gave him a cold stare.
"Still not happening." Jeremy said.
"I can't get away Jeremy! I..." Aelita suddenly stopped talking. The Schipzoa had her.
"If Xana possess her now he could use Code Xana to destroy Sector Five using the tower! That must have been his plan all along!" Yumi exclaimed.
"Damn it!" Jeremy slammed his fist on the console.
"Uh..." Zaber began.
"FINE! IF YOU WANT TO GO THEN GO!" Jeremy shouted, angry at having to let Zaber into the group, but he had no choice.
"You won't regret it." Zaber said as he quickly descended the ladder to the scanner room. He stepped into one of the scanners.
"Transfer: Zaber. Scanner: Zaber." Jeremy began.
"Jeremy?"
"What?"
"You still don’t trust me do you?"
"No... not really." He pressed the enter key.

Zaber appeared in the arena. His small black jacket had grown to a full-length longcoat with long sleeves. His hair was no longer askew, it was smooth, neat, and shoulder length. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses.
"Which way?" He said.
"I'll guide you. Head straight, then left, go forward about 100 meters, then turn right..." Jeremy began to instruct him, and Zaber followed his commands exactly, his jacket rising up behind him as he ran at top speed. He finally came into sight with Aelita and the Schipizoa. "You have to sever the tentacles that are attached to Aelita before Xana takes over her mind. Hurry, there’s not much time!"
"How?"
"What? You don’t have a weapon!"
"Hold on..." Zaber opened his jacket in the front. Four unique handguns were holstered within, each gun was other a various design, and we’re inscribed with a name. The guns were named "Styx", "Cocystus", "Phlegython", and "Lethe". "This just got a whole lot better..." He drew Cocystus in one hand and Styx in the other and fired a shot with Cocystus into the general vicinity of the Schipzoa’s tentacles. Rather than sever them, the tentacles froze in chain reaction into a giant block of ice. Zaber fired six shots from Styx at the mass of ice, which crumbled to the floor, the tentacles breaking like brittle tree branches. Aelita fell to the ground, rubbing her forehead, but she was not possessed.
"Zaber, your LP just dropped. Using guns other than Styx drains your LP. I tried to avoid it if I were you!" Jeremy relayed to him. Zaber had felt some of his strength leave as he had attacked.
"I'll keep that in mind." He said, as he deposited Cocystus back into his jacket. "Come on, we have to get you to that tower." He said as he helped Aelita up.
"Jeremy broke down and let you come huh?" Aelita asked him, having no idea what had transpired.
"Yeah... sort of..." Zaber shot the last remaining Creeper as they ran through the door into the hall with the tower. Zaber stared the tarantula down. "Aelita... when I make my move... run to the tower." Zaber moved his index and middle finger to his forehead, and then drew a square in front of him in the air, which began to grow blue. He pulled his jacket open and the four guns flew from his jacket and floated in the air at the Four Corners of the square, and he then thrust his forearm into the center of the square. The square began to move along with Zaber's arm and spin at a high speed, along with the guns. Zaber jumped high into the air, did a flip, and then aimed his arm at the Tarantula. "Quadragram Killing Sky!" All four guns began to instantaneously fire in a machine gun like manor. Cocystus shot spears of ice. Phlegython shot flames. Lethe shot electrical charges, and Styx shot ordinary bullets. The tarantula was destroyed almost instantly, but Zaber was devirtualized before he landed, his LP drained away by the rapid use of his assorted guns. Aelita ran into the tower and entered Code Lyoko. Outside, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Jeremy cheered.

"Alright Zaber... there's some ground rules to lay out..." Ulrich began a few minutes later as they all stood in the computer room.
"Don't bother Ulrich. Just because he's been to Lyoko doesn't mean he's on the team." Jeremy interrupted him.
"But, we can't erase his memory now. We don't have much of a choice, and I think he did a good job so..." Odd said.
"Enough Odd. We can't risk another William. This is our burden to bear, we can't let him get involved." Jeremy stopped him. Zaber stayed quiet for a moment and groaned.
"Fine. If that’s the way you want to play it... see if I ever help you again..." Zaber muttered angrily as he walked into the elevator. "Your secret is safe... but if this is the thanks I get I'm not helping you again. Thanks for nothing!" The door closed and the elevator rose.
"What's gotten into you Jeremy? He didn't do anything wrong, and he saved us all." Aelita questioned.
"We'll discuss this later... return to the past now." Jeremy adjusted his glasses as he entered the command.

The return to the past had carried them deep into the night before Zaber's arrival. The return in time had not changed Jeremy's nightmare. But after the events of the attack, he realized it might not just be a nightmare, but rather a premonition. He was in a dark room, frozen with shock. A lone light in the room was a gently swinging pendulum light that swung back in forth between two figures. The first was Aelita; her arm's extended as if she was protecting someone. Someone was huddled behind her, but Jeremy could not see him. The other figure had been unfamiliar to Jeremy the first time through. The boy was about fifteen, wore a long black coat, black sunglasses, and had long red hair. He had his gun aimed at Aelita. The light swung away from Zaber and Jeremy heard a gunshot... but the dream was cut off as he woke up.

LOGBOOK ENTRY: AUGUST 27, 2007
There is no way to explain my dream. Before I even knew him, I had a nightmare of him killing Aelita. Is it a coincidence? A premonition? I can't be sure. But until I do know, I can't take any chances. The others must think I am paranoid or crazy, but I know that something is up. I just hope I can figure out what before it's too late.

Jeremy applied a new layer of encryption to the logbook so that even if Zaber went looking for it again, he couldn't read it.

Episode 1: BEGINNING… END

I think it might work better if you use Notepad or Wordpad...

Wow, that was really good. I can't wait to read the second part!

((Alright, I did this in Notepad. Sorry if any of it comes out garbled...))

EPISODE 2: DEADZONE

When Zaber dropped into his and Jeremy's room after the return to the past, Jeremy was not there. He simply sat down on his bed and repeated his unpacking process. There was little left to do but wait, as he booted up his laptop once again and logged into his e-mail. After a few minutes, there was a knock at the door.
"Jeremy?" Aelita's voice rang through the door.
"Come in." Zaber said. Aelita opened the door and looked at Zaber.
"Have you seen Jeremy?" Aelita asked him.
"No. He was gone when I got here."
"Oh... look, Zaber, I just wanted to apologize for the way Jeremy acted yesterday. I don't know what got into him. I've never seen him so angry and negative before." Aelita said as she sat down on the bed opposite Zaber.
"You mean he's not like that all the time?"
"No. Normally he's really nice; I mean; he's normally very shy and caring. But yesterday he was angry and he seemed to hate you for some reason."
"I mean, I did look at his files. But there wasn't anything in there that should have sent him flying off the handle." Zaber said, but he was lying. There had been a great deal of private information regarding his feelings for Aelita. Despite the animosity that had risen between them, he decided not to embarrass him.
"I know. I've talked to the others. They're all grateful and we want you on the team. We just need to figure out how to convince Jeremy. Just hang loose for now... I think I can convince him with a little time." Aelita stood up to leave.
"Aelita... thanks." Zaber said, as he returned to his computer.

Jeremy sat in front of the supercomputer, staring at a display. A video played on one screen, footage from when Zaber had appeared on Lyoko the day before. A second screen displayed a rotating model of Zaber's form on Lyoko. A third side-screen displayed an array of statistics next to Zaber's weapons. Jeremy had continued to dig deeper since that morning. There was no question that Zaber was the one who had killed Aelita in his dream. But his appearance had been that of his Lyoko form, but the dream had been in the real world, and Aelita was not in Lyoko form. Jeremy observed Zaber's attack once last time before closing the windows, then closing his eyes and trying to concentrate. He stepped to his first line of defense... shear logic. Dreams were simply images made up on the spot by the brain and played while he slept. The match could have been an absolute coincidence. But it was too much of a coincidence.

Jeremy thoughts were interrupted as the phone rang on the computer. Aelita's icon appeared on screen. Jeremy pressed a key and picked up.
"Aelita?"
"Hello Jeremy. Listen, we need to talk... about yesterday." Jeremy groaned. He still had no idea how to explain his motives to anyone, much less the person most directly involved.
"What about yesterday?"
"You know what. Why did you act like that to Zaber? You'd hardly known him for a day and you acted like he was Xana himself."
"That's a bit of an exaggeration..."
"No, it isn't. He saved us from the tarantula. He defended us from the Kankralots. And he saved me from the Schipzoa. He did nothing but help and you flat out banished him. Why?"
"Aelita... I just have a really bad feeling about him."
"Well, get over it. He's your roommate and the two of you can't go on like this all year. And with thing's the way they are we could you an extra teammate."
"That's what we said when we let William in. I'll talk to you later." Jeremy disconnected the line.
"Jeremy, I'm not done talking to you!" Aelita yelled into the phone as the disconnected tone began to play. "Hmph." She hung the phone up, crossed her arms, and walked down the hall.

Ulrich and Odd were both settling back into their dorm room, as Kiwi tugged on Odd's pant leg.
"I think that Zaber guy wasn't that bad." Odd said. "I don't know why Jeremy went psycho on us."
"The way he was acting you'd think that Zaber was trying to romance Aelita or something." Ulrich muttered as he shoved a stack of pants onto a shelf in the closet.
"That's a laugh. We all know Aelita's crazy for Jeremy and vice versa." Odd replied. Aelita walked in the room through the open door an instant later, still fuming.
"Jeremy's getting a swift kick next time I see him." Aelita muttered, her arms still crossed. "I was trying to talk to him about the way he acted yesterday, and he hung up on me!" Ulrich glanced causally at Odd.
"You we're saying?" He said with a chuckle.

Jeremy walked on the streets back to the academy. He had run every possible check, trying to find a way to make Zaber vulnerable to the return to the pasts again, but he had come up empty handed. He was now stuck with a roommate who hated him. Even his genius intellect had hit a brick wall when it came to dealing with the situation. He stayed out as late as possible, even skipping dinner, as he returned to the school right before curfew. As he rounded the corner of the hallway, he felt a sharp pain in his shins. Aelita stood in front of him, and quickly retracted her leg.
"That's for hanging up on me earlier." She said, and simply walked away.
"Aelita, wait..." Jeremy called out to her while clutching his shins, but she ignored him.

Jeremy walked into his room limping and saw Zaber sitting on the bed opposite his.
"Listen... about yesterday..."
"Look, your secret is safe so long as you stay on my good side. If you don't want my help, then fine."
"Alright." The two of them hardly spoke for the rest of the day.

The next day began much like it had before the return to the past. At Science class, Zaber walked to and sat in the back of the room instead of next to Jeremy and Aelita like the day before. When Aelita came, into the room, and Jeremy gestured the seat he had saved for her, she let out a distinct "hmph", turned up her nose, and walked right past him, heading to the back of the room and sitting next to Zaber.
"Aelita?" Jeremy called to her.
"She said she's not talking to you until you apologize to Zaber and let him back on the team." Odd said as he sat down at the table. "And the way you acted yesterday, I personally can't blame her."
"Odd's right for once. You we're a huge jerk yesterday." Ulrich said as he took a seat next to Odd.
"Alright... I'll go apologize." Jeremy groaned. At the end of the class he went to the back of the room. "Look, Zaber, I was a big jerk yesterday... and I'm sorry. If you still want to be in the group, you can."
"I'll have to think about that." Zaber said. In his mind he had already decided to accept the apology, but he had to maintain his point. Aelita sighed and stood up to leave.
"Just make sure you don't pull something like that again, Jeremy." She said rather coldly as she left the class.

Later that day at lunch, everyone was sitting together, although there was still an uncomfortable silence between Jeremy and Zaber. The silence was broken when an alarm went off on Jeremy's computer. Xana had activated the Carthage Tower.
"Tower alert. We need to head to the factory." Jeremy stood up, spilling the half-carton of chocolate milk he was drinking. As the group stood up, Zaber remained seated.
"Aren't you coming?" Yumi asked him.
"I'm not sure yet. Call me if things get out of hand." He replied, taking a swig from his Coke.
As they left the lunchroom, Jim stopped them.
"You three. Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, the principal wants a word with you. It should only take a minute."
"If it'll only be a minute, don't cause any trouble. You can catch up to us." Aelita whispered to Odd.
"Alright Jim, we're coming." Odd said, as the three walked off with him. Aelita ducked back into the cafeteria and returned dragging Zaber behind her. The three of them headed for the factory passage.

Jim shepherded the three of them into the principal's office, and then locked the door behind him.
"Hey Jim, why'd you lock the door?" Ulrich questioned. In response, Jim's eyes blurred and his pupils we're replaced with the Eye of Xana. The principal stood up behind his desk, his eyes also Xanafied.
"Oh crap!" Odd shouted as the three of them we're slammed up against the wall by blasts of lightning from the hands of the two educators.

Jeremy sat down at the supercomputer terminal as Zaber and Aelita descended further to the scanner room. As he prepared the virtualization, he dialed Ulrich.
"Jeremy?"
"Ulrich, what's wrong?"
"Xana's possessed Jim and the Principal... gah... we can't get away!"
"Hang in there you guys, we're going to handle the tower now."
"AGH!" Ulrich's phone exploded as it overloaded from a power surge from the lightning.

"The other's are under attack... take care of that tower as fast as you can. Transfer: Zaber. Transfer: Aelita. Scanner: Zaber. Scanner: Aelita. Virtualization." Jeremy tapped the enter key and the two appeared in the arena.
Zaber drew his handgun Styx from his jacket.
"Let's raise some hell." Zaber grinned as he dashed out into the labyrinth, with Aelita a short distance behind him. When they entered the labyrinth they found none of the usual obstacles guarding the key, but rather a small army of Creepers, which they both began to snipe using their ranged attacking abilities.
"We have to hit the key." Aelita said.
"Key?" Zaber hadn't been present on Lyoko when they had his the key before.
"Over there." Aelita pointed to the key, which was roughly 8 ft in the air on the wall opposite them.
"No problem." Zaber switched Styx for Phlegython and ran straight for the key, practically ignoring the Creepers. The Creepers took this opportunity to shoot him a few times, but he survived the hits easily. When he got close to the wall he shot the ground with Phlegython, which shot a stream of flames that propelled him up to the key, which he kicked in using the heel of his foot. In the same fluid motion, he crunched up against the wall like a spring and drew Cocystus in his other hand. He launched like a spinning rocket off the wall, firing the dual fire and ice guns. "Blue Crimson!" The attack wiped out all but one remaining Creeper, which Aelita wiped out an instant later. But using the guns had expended a large amount of his HP, and Zaber was devirtualized when he hit the ground face-first.

Zaber walked into the computer room out of the elevator about a minute later.
"What's our status?"
"Thanks to your hot-dogging, Aelita is alone on Lyoko. Way to go." Jeremy said.
"Oh, not this again."
"Relax Jeremy. I can handle myself. I'm at the tower." Aelita relayed to them as she entered the tower. She entered Code Lyoko. Back at the school, Jim and the Principal dropped unconscious. But the others had already been knocked out, and their pulses were fading fast. Jeremy tried to dial one of them, but of course got no answer.
"Aelita, I'm going to launch a return..." Jeremy was interrupted as he heard Aelita scream. His screen showed that a Schipizoa had snuck up on her.

"DAMN IT! WE LOST!" Jeremy pounded the console repeatedly. There was no one left. Zaber couldn't return to Lyoko for almost an hour after being devirtualized. Everyone else was M.I.A. Soon, Aelita would be possessed, and Xana would use her to destroy the core unopposed. Jeremy ran over and grabbed Zaber by his jacket angrily. "If you hadn't wasted your LP like that you'd still be there to help her right now!" Zaber shoved back.
"How was I suppose to know this would happen?" He yelled back at Jeremy. Jeremy slumped miserably into his seat.
"It's over... Aelita... I'm so sorry..." Tears began to form in Jeremy's eyes.

"What are you talking about? This isn't over! You're still here!" Zaber said as he lifted Jeremy up by the shirt collar. It took Jeremy a moment to process what he was implying.
"But...I... I'm useless on Lyoko! I've been there one time before and I couldn't even beat a crab!"
"So you're not even going to try?"
"If I go to Lyoko and I can't stop Aelita I'll die too!"
"Now listen here Jeremy, you have two options. You can either sit here, cry like a baby, and let them all die; or you can suck it up and be a man by risking your life to save their's. So what's it gonna be? Just remember that if you take the first option, you'll spend the rest of your life in your own personal hell; living every day knowing that you could have saved them, but they died because you were a coward!" This caused Jeremy to snap. He broke Zaber's grasp. Tears streaming from his eyes, he dashed to the computer and programmed a time-delayed virtualization. He slid down the ladder and ducked into the scanner just as it closed. As the scanner began to rev-up, Zaber's eyes started to water. "Good Luck..."

Meanwhile, Xana had taken complete control of Aelita. She had made her war to the core of Lyoko, and had already broken the first shield with repeated hammering from her Energy Blasts. The second shield was near the breaking point. Aelita charged up final blast to destroy the second shield and fired it at the core. A blue metal rod knocked the orb back like a baseball, and the orb struck Aelita, causing her torso section to partially fade out for an instant. The rod was being yielded by Jeremy, who, as Odd had once said, looked truly ridiculous. He wore a pair of brown parachute pants, and a blue shirt with sleeves that we're a foot wide at their opening. The lenses of his glasses had acquired a green tint, and a black bandanna with red decorations topped off his ensemble.
"Aelita, you have to fight Xana!" Jeremy called to her. Two energy blasts were the response. Jeremy knocked one away, but was struck in the shoulder by the second.
"Jeremy, she can't hear you! Just beat her!" Zaber urged him through the uplink. Jeremy rushed forward with a powerful overhead swing, but Aelita blocked the attack with two energy orbs from her hands, and the two we're stuck in a saber lock of sorts. As Aelita pushed harder, Jeremy's grip on his weapon began to fail. Seeing an opening, he slid the rod downward, and the rod stuck Aelita in the foot. Her concentration broken, Jeremy released a roundhouse swing at elbow height that knocked her over and drained her LP severely.
"I'm sorry about this!" Jeremy shouted as he ran forward to try and devirtualize her, but he was blasted by an energy blast that knocked him off the edge of the platform. The staff emitted a white glow, and one end of it became a sharp spear. He thrust in into the wall, where it stuck and prevented a fall to his death. As he struggled to keep his hold and regain his balance, Aelita shot the core once more, the second shield broke, releasing a vast tremor across Lyoko.

Aelita charged up a final shot towards the core. Jeremy finally got his grip, and his legs pushed perpendicular to the platform, he pushed himself up and out, causing his weapon to dislodge and him to rise several feet. Aelita fired her energy blast, which was intercepted by Jeremy's torso, causing him to devirtualize. But with his last breath, he hurled the now sharpened spear at Aelita, and it passed right through her, resulting in a double knockout. The two scanners burst open downstairs and they both collapsed face-first out of them. Zaber threw up his arms and revel when he saw them both disappear from his screen. He quickly searched Jeremy's manual and launched a return to the past.

The return carried them back again, and Odd and Ulrich found themselves in their room, their hand's buried in their suitcases.
"Damn that Xana! Unpacking once is bad enough, but three times goes to far!" Odd exclaimed as he threw a stack of his pants over his head, scattering them about the room.
"Xana must not have put up much an effort if they won with just Zaber and Aelita." Ulrich said, as he brushed off the pants that had landed on his head. Unlike before though, Aelita didn't walk in at this point.

She was still in Jeremy's room, talking with Zaber.
"So... Jeremy actually went to Lyoko to save me?"
"Yeah. After I ran out of LP and the Schipizoa caught you, he virtualized himself and devirtualized you before Xana could use you to destroy the core."
"I... just can't believe Jeremy actually went to Lyoko... he could have died..."
"He wanted to save you. That's all there is to it." Zaber said as he laid back down on the bed, quietly omitting what he had said to Jeremy.
"I'd better go talk to him." Aelita said as she stood up and walked out of the room. She ran into Jeremy around the corner, the same place where she had kicked him the day before.
"Aelita!" Jeremy said surprised.
"Jeremy... Zaber told me what happened." She said, feeling a mixture of shame for being so hard on him and happiness that he was at least all right. "Thank you." She pecked him on the cheek and Jeremy turned a bright shade of red, his jaw dropped speechless. Aelita saw his face, and said. "Sorry... I guess that was out of line." She walked down the hall. Jeremy's shock finally wore off as he turned around quickly.
"Aelita! Wait up!" The two of them went down the hall to meet the others and recount the events of the attack. Jeremy also omitted the Zaber speech.

Zaber lay in his bed, fingering the silver chain around his neck. He undid the clasp and held the pentagram shaped pendant in the palm of his hand. He pressed three separate points that caused the locket to open. Inside was a photo of a woman in her early 40's, with long hair. Next to her sat a grinning, brown haired boy about five years old. Tears welled up behind his eyes. "Mother... I don't want any of them to have to go through what I have. Everyone always told me there was nothing I could do... I couldn't save you... I couldn't save my sister... but one way or another... I'm going to save them."

Episode 2: DEADZONE... END

I'm glad it had the desired effect. The real deal with the dream will surprise a lot of people. After a while, Jeremy ultimately stops thinking about it when months pass with no sign of an evil Zaber, but when he has another dream which comes true the next day (Episode 4, You'll see)... he begins to doubt again...

Glad it's well liked. I'm writing pretty fast right now, but my writing habits get kind of erratic. Some times (like now), I'll type up five or six pages a day. And then there are dry spells where I won't right anything for months. But don't fret... I don't plan on having one of those any time soon, but I will be slowing down shortly. I plan on having the series done by Christmas.

I'm also adding a new feature. If anyone wants, I can add them to a mailing list where you can receive the new episodes of the story in your inbox. Just post if you want to be added. Episode 3 will be online in a few minutes.