Chapter 14- Return of the maidens

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So much had happened in the span of twenty minutes. For starters, someone had tampered with the video recording. Secondly, the necklace had a sailor's knot and the letters W and A incarved in it. And lastly, Ulrich got a call. Yumi and Miss Renaud had appeared at the Ishiyama household.

We were all shaken from the video and had absolutely no idea what was going on. So without much choice, we Junior Warriors headed to go get them, along with Ulrich- since Mum was still taking in what happened and Dad and Odd didn't have enough stamina to run.
Kyoko opened the door and we found Yumi and Miss Renaud sipping on tea in the living room!

"H-How? What happened? Are you alright?" Kyoko asked.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Yumi replied. Kyoko jumped to hug her but the woman dodged skilfully. "What are you doing?"

As she sat up, she replied: "Hugging my mum?"

Yumi and Miss Renaud looked shocked. "I don't have a daughter."

Our faces all dropped. Then Ulrich slowly approached Yumi, stuttering: "Yumi. Do you- do you remember me?"

"You're that guy from Penkat Silat class, right?"

Woah... Did she completely forget who her husband is? And her middle child? I've heard that parents tend to forget about the middle child but, this seems extreme! "What's the last thing you remember?" Daze asked.

She took a while to think. "I went to sleep that night after my Penkat Silat class and then... I'm somehow outside with... Ruby, right?"

She addressed Miss Renaud as Ruby, and our teacher hesitantly nodded, almost as if she forgot her own name. I crouched down beside our teacher, Rick and Daze did the same. "What's the last thing you remember?" Rick mumbled quietly.

She didn't reply, almost as if she was searching for an excuse. "Uh... Nothing. I don't remember anything."

"This is bad. Miss Renaud doesn't remember anything. How is that even possible? How are we supposed to fight XANA now? She was our guardian angel!" I said.

"Did you just say XANA?" she asked. "Are you also a Code Lyoko fan? But then does that mean that she's a cosplayer or something?" She gestured toward Yumi.

"So you remember Lyoko?" Daze confirmed. "And what else? What's your name? And how old are you?"

"Uh... I'm Skylar Thorn. I'm sixteen and the last thing I remember is... dying." She seemed horrified. "I'm dead? Then, is this heaven? Or is this hell? Why am I an adult?"

"Calm down," I urged quietly. "Firstly, this is the world of Code Lyoko. You were reincarnated here about thirty five years ago as Ruby Renaud and in the mid-2000s, you befriended the Lyoko Warriors. Now, you're a maths teacher at Kadic Academy."

She gave me a slight nod. "How well do you remember Code Lyoko from  your previous life?" Rick asked.

"Let's see... I remember each Code Lyoko episode word for word and everything in Code Lyoko Evolution and the novels."

"Then would you write down everything you remember?"

"Sure, I don't mind. But why? Wouldn't this information be outdated now?"

"It's a long story," I sighed. I found some paper and made her write down everything and anything she remembered about 'Code Lyoko Evolution' and the 'Code Lyoko Chronicles.' In the meantime, I checked with Alex about the progress they had made with Yumi.

"She remembers everything until the day she first found out about Lyoko," he explained. "Did the men in black jut kidnap them to remove their memories? That makes no sense."

"Well, we've had better luck with Miss Renaud. She completely forgot everything in this life but remembers everything from her previous life. Right now, we're getting her to right down everything. She probably has a clearer memory than she did when she wrote this." I held up the Lyoko journal.
Once she was done, she handed me the pieces of paper.  "Thanks. We haven't introduced ourselves, have we? I'm Mia Belpois. That's Rick Della Robbia. The one with black hair is Alex Dunbar and the one that looks like Aunt Yumi is Kyoko Stern. The one with glasses is Daze Winters, he's new to the whole Lyoko thing. He only found out today."

She blinked a few times. "This feels like a huge fanfiction." I gave her a little shrug. "So... now what? Mind filling me in?"

I handed her the Lyoko journal in hopes of bringing our teacher back. She spent around two hours just reading, jotting things down and making a timeline. "Did that help?" I asked as I led her back to the Hermitage.

"Kinda," she replied. She spoke less formally, probably because she had the mind of a sixteen year old. "This feels so surreal. This diary, this world, everything. And Lyoko? It's still intact right? Can we... can we go see it?"

"You'll get a chance when XANA attacks," I reassured. I silently opened the door to the Hermitage. We decided that Miss Renaud should stay with us, but Uncle Odd decided to ask Sissi to stay at the academy.

Mum was sitting on the sofa, staring at the pendant. "Waldo and Anthea," she mumbled. She noticed us after we walked towards her. "Ruby! You're alright!"

"I guess," she muttered. "But it's going to take a while until I get used to that name. All of my memories from this life have been erased. So I'll be staying with you until I get my memories back. Sorry to intrude!"

Mum gave her a small smile. Something tells me things are going to be really hectic from now on.

My electronic wristwatch and phone both went off, indicating a XANA attack. "You wanted a XANA attack and you got one. To the factory!"

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