Challenge #107 - Reflections
New Years Eve Reflections: Over the last year, did things go pretty much as you'd expected or planned, or did your life take a significant, unexpected turn? Overall, was it a good year or one that you want to put behind you as fast as you can?
Where to begin? This year was full of ups and downs for my friends and I.
After spending what felt like an eternity alone on Lyoko, Jeremie finally created the program that would materialize me on Earth as a human. Unfortunately during the process, XANA infected me with a virus (or so we thought at the time) that formed a link between us - when we shut down the supercomputer to destroy XANA, I would also die. Jeremie would spend the next several months searching for an effective anti-virus, and I was limited to materializing on Earth for only brief periods of time.
Then Jeremie invented his superscanner program to detect active towers, which allowed me to leave Lyoko and stay out. This proved to be the catalyst for many breakthroughs for both sides of our battle with XANA. I started having nightmares and visions that seemed to be linked to an abandoned house called the Hermitage and its owner, Franz Hopper, which led to our discovery that he was the creator of Lyoko. XANA unleashed new monsters on us, including one designed to specifically steal my memory, and we found out that returning to the past actually made XANA stronger. In addition to his new monsters he was also now capable of using "ghosts" to possess people or create clones. And all of that led up to our final battle on Lyoko, in Sector 5.
And now here it is, the end of the year. XANA has been out of Lyoko for several months now, but he hasn't attempted anything against us; Jeremie feels that he's biding his time, learning more about our world to make sure that we have less of an advantage when he does attack. My friend has been poring over my father's journals trying to find anything that might be helpful. He's been getting so little sleep I'm surprised he hasn't keeled over in class yet from fatigue.
Ulrich and Yumi have been trying to come up with ways for us to protect ourselves now that we don't have the advantage of the weapons, powers and vehicles we had in Lyoko. They've been teaching Odd, Jeremie and I how to fight, and Yumi even gave me replicas of her Lyoko fans for me to practice with. On a few occasions Odd has suggested adding a new member to the team; he won't name any names, but I have a feeling he wants to let Sissi in on our secret. Something happened between the two of them during this past summer break but Odd won't say what.
We do still journey into Lyoko. Even though XANA has escaped, my father Franz Hopper is still there. We've established that he is still alive, in a way. All we need to do is locate him and figure out a way to free him. It hasn't been easy; Lyoko has become more dangerous since XANA left. Without him around, his monsters wander around Lyoko wild and uncontrolled. They'll attack anything, even each other. But we won't let that stop us. I spent ten years trapped on Lyoko alone, and I'm not going to leave my father to the same fate.
As for myself, I've slowly been getting used to having all of my memories back. The toughest thing has been adjusting to having the mind of a college-age student in the body of a pre-teen. I have to be careful now more than ever not to blow my cover; for all we know, the government may still be searching for my father and I. Most of the time I manage to think and act like a twelve year-old (Odd calls it 'acting my age'), but sometimes I do slip up.
I must go now. There's a New Year's Eve party in the cafeteria tonight, for all the students staying at Kadic over winter break. My friends and I are attending as a group. Hopefully this upcoming year will finally bring us peace with XANA...and bring my father home.
Where to begin? This year was full of ups and downs for my friends and I.
After spending what felt like an eternity alone on Lyoko, Jeremie finally created the program that would materialize me on Earth as a human. Unfortunately during the process, XANA infected me with a virus (or so we thought at the time) that formed a link between us - when we shut down the supercomputer to destroy XANA, I would also die. Jeremie would spend the next several months searching for an effective anti-virus, and I was limited to materializing on Earth for only brief periods of time.
Then Jeremie invented his superscanner program to detect active towers, which allowed me to leave Lyoko and stay out. This proved to be the catalyst for many breakthroughs for both sides of our battle with XANA. I started having nightmares and visions that seemed to be linked to an abandoned house called the Hermitage and its owner, Franz Hopper, which led to our discovery that he was the creator of Lyoko. XANA unleashed new monsters on us, including one designed to specifically steal my memory, and we found out that returning to the past actually made XANA stronger. In addition to his new monsters he was also now capable of using "ghosts" to possess people or create clones. And all of that led up to our final battle on Lyoko, in Sector 5.
And now here it is, the end of the year. XANA has been out of Lyoko for several months now, but he hasn't attempted anything against us; Jeremie feels that he's biding his time, learning more about our world to make sure that we have less of an advantage when he does attack. My friend has been poring over my father's journals trying to find anything that might be helpful. He's been getting so little sleep I'm surprised he hasn't keeled over in class yet from fatigue.
Ulrich and Yumi have been trying to come up with ways for us to protect ourselves now that we don't have the advantage of the weapons, powers and vehicles we had in Lyoko. They've been teaching Odd, Jeremie and I how to fight, and Yumi even gave me replicas of her Lyoko fans for me to practice with. On a few occasions Odd has suggested adding a new member to the team; he won't name any names, but I have a feeling he wants to let Sissi in on our secret. Something happened between the two of them during this past summer break but Odd won't say what.
We do still journey into Lyoko. Even though XANA has escaped, my father Franz Hopper is still there. We've established that he is still alive, in a way. All we need to do is locate him and figure out a way to free him. It hasn't been easy; Lyoko has become more dangerous since XANA left. Without him around, his monsters wander around Lyoko wild and uncontrolled. They'll attack anything, even each other. But we won't let that stop us. I spent ten years trapped on Lyoko alone, and I'm not going to leave my father to the same fate.
As for myself, I've slowly been getting used to having all of my memories back. The toughest thing has been adjusting to having the mind of a college-age student in the body of a pre-teen. I have to be careful now more than ever not to blow my cover; for all we know, the government may still be searching for my father and I. Most of the time I manage to think and act like a twelve year-old (Odd calls it 'acting my age'), but sometimes I do slip up.
I must go now. There's a New Year's Eve party in the cafeteria tonight, for all the students staying at Kadic over winter break. My friends and I are attending as a group. Hopefully this upcoming year will finally bring us peace with XANA...and bring my father home.