The Core

Chapter 7: The Core of Lyoko

So Dawn is the core of Lyoko, but what really does that mean?

Dawn's POV

I was the core of Lyoko? But that couldn't possibly be possible, could it?

"Jeremy?" I asked and he just continued to stare at his computer screen.

"What happened?" Urich asked looking from me to Jeremy.

"I read the screen, it said Dawn Nova, is the core of Lyoko." Everyone looked at me confused aside from Aelita, who rushed past me and looked at the screen.

"How is that possible? The core of Lyoko can't be a person, could it? I mean if the core has been stuck in Lyoko for ten years, wouldn't it have been messing with Lyoko?" Aelita stated.

"Not necessarily, Aelita. I mean when you think about it, maybe that's why Xana kept her in Lyoko. When Franz Hopper created the core, maybe the barriers around her were too strong for Xana to break. So in order for him to weaken the barriers he..." I cut Jeremy off.

"He trapped me in Lyoko, he used that tower of light to weaken the barriers around the core inside me. But if that were the case, then why did Xana open the door to the chamber? He could have easily gotten rid of me and Lyoko. But unless that wasn't his goal. He wanted to find Aelita before me, because there has to be something in Aelita's memory that takes priority over destroying the core of Lyoko, because if he destroys Lyoko now, then he'll be destroyed along with it..." I continued and then trailed off thinking about what Xana could possibly need from Aelita's memory. Unless she was the key to freeing Xana from the supercomputer and then everything would make more sense.

"Well save that for another day, good work today. Dawn if you wouldn't mind staying a few extra minutes there's some questions I wanna ask you." I nodded and waited until everyone, including Aelita were gone.

"What is it, Jeremy?"

"You know a little bit more about what's in Aelita's memory don't you?" I sighed.

"It's only a guess, but if I'm right then we have a serious problem on our hands. But for now all I'm going to say is, Aelita needs to be kept safe." I headed towards the elevator with Jeremy. "The core will be safe with me." I hope...

~

The next morning I woke up dripping in a cold sweat. I couldn't remember what I had been dreaming about, but judging from my body's reaction to it, it couldn't have been good. I pushed the covers away and stood up as a necklace fell from my lap.

What was this?

I picked it up and saw it looked like it had a digital code inside it. But the more I tried to read it the more my head started to hurt. Instead I simply put the thing around my neck. Got ready and headed out the door. I had to meet everyone, aside from Yumi, because she was only a day student for breakfast. When I walked through the door I could see Odd already stuffing his face with food, Urich looked like he was about to make fun of him as I walked up to the table with my food.

"Morning." I said smiling.

"Morning." Aelita said with a smile back.

"How did you sleep last night?" Urich asked me as I sat down.

"Okay I guess, I mean I did just find out that I hold the keys to keeping the virtual world alive. You know normal teenage stuff..." I said trying to laugh, but couldn't bring myself to even crack a smile. Aelita touched my shoulder.

"It's alright. We'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Dawn." I sighed and shook my head.

"I'm more worried about you, Aelita. Without whatever your memory holds Xana can't destroy the core. But what I don't understand is why would Xana try to steal my memory without Aelita's, unless..." My mind wandered and another memory flashed before my eyes.

"Now Dawn, with this core inside your body you have to be especially careful. Xana will stop at nothing to destroy it which means destroying you. So I created memory barriers, now that is only if you at some point have to go to Lyoko, but that's highly unlikely. I know this is a huge task I'm asking you to do my dear, but if there comes a time when Aelita and I cannot be with you, then you hold the keys to saving the entire human race." I looked up and saw Franz Hopper sitting there.

"I promise, daddy. I won't let you down." He hugged me tightly in his arms.

"I know you won't."

I shook the memory away and put my head on the table thinking about what he said.

"Memory barriers..." I muttered quietly.

"What was that, Dawn?" Odd asked looking at me concerned. I wasn't feeling well.

"Memory barriers, I remembered a little bit of what my father said to me. He told me that when I was in Lyoko there would be memory barriers in place in my mind to block Xana's way to the core of Lyoko, which means Xana has to break those memory barriers before he can come close to the core." I explained and Jeremy leaned forward.

"So what you're saying is that Xana needs the memory barriers to disappear before he can steal and destroy the core?" I nodded. He got up quickly with his tray.

"I'm off to the factory. See you all later." He went to walk away.

"By the way Dawn, that's a beautiful necklace, who gave it to you?" Aelita said and I saw Odd stop eating and look at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Actually it was just laying in my lap when I woke up this morning. I admit it's beautiful, but there was a digital code inside of it. I couldn't read it though. I wish I knew what it said." I reached up touching it gently.

The second I touched it, I could feel my legs going numb. I looked down at them and saw them disappearing. Aelita looked down too and noticed the same thing.

"Dawn, what's happening to you?" She asked shocked.

"I don't know, but if I had to guess, it's me being virtualized into Lyoko." The rest of my body disappeared, my theory had been correct. When I could see again, I was in Lyoko.

Great just my luck...