The Mechanist

Franz Hopper

A couple of nights after that incident, Sissi yawned as the team stumbled down the factory elevator. "Five towers activated. Doesn't XANA have bedtime?" Odd asked.

"We have to be on our toes guys," Jeremie said.

"This is probably some kind of trap. The Earth would have been shaking by now if XANA really used all five towers," Sissi grumbled. As the door opened, there, to everyone's surprise, was a man at the computer interface chair, typing. Sissi and Jeremie looked at each other speechless. The man turned his head back. He had gray hair and a beard, a little longer than Sissi's father's beard. His round-rimmed glasses made his eyes hard to see under the artificial light. He wore a white lab coat with a dark red turtleneck and black pants. "Um... what are you doing here?" Sissi asked.

"I'm deactivating the towers," the man replied.

"Without going to Lyoko? But how?" Jeremie exclaimed.

"Oh, that XANA always leaves some holes."

"But... who are you?" Aelita asked. The man turned to her, furrowing his bushy eyebrows.

"Haven't you figured it out? I'm Franz Hopper."

What?!" the gang shouted.

"I'm the creator of Lyoko and XANA. But... that pesky XANA managed to get out of control and wreak havoc on the world. It was originally supposed to counteract a military program through a multi-agent system."

Sissi crossed her arms, playing with her cane through her fingers. "And where have you been all these years."

"I've been a kinda prisoner of XANA, but I managed to escape," Franz said.

"And me," Aelita asked. "Why did you create me?"

"I created you to fight against XANA, but I never thought I would see you here on Earth. I have this young boy to thank for that, I guess," Franz said, patting Jeremie on the shoulder. Aelita and Jeremie smiled. Hopper turned to Sissi. Her face was neutral, devoid of any emotion whatsoever. Hopper's eyebrows furrowed, "What's that matter Sissi?"

"Nothing, my head just hurts for some reason," Sissi gently rubbed her cranium.

"That accident you had with the computer could have damaged your brain. Tomorrow, we'll run some tests."

The next day, Jeremie got a phone call from his dad. "Hello, Dad?"

"Hey, big guy. You know why I'm calling right?"

"Uh... no?" Jeremie said. His room door silently opened. The blonde turned and Sissi, Yumi, Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich all shouted,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY EINSTEIN!" The team ransacked him with love and affection while Jeremie struggled to keep on the phone with his dad.

"By the way," His dad continued, "You should call your mother more. She's been worried about you. Jeremie?"

"Uh, yeah dad! I'll call you more. I love you, bye!" Jeremie sighed and smiled. Odd presented a big wrapped box to the genius blonde. Opening it, Jeremie pulled out a hand-drawn picture of the whole team.

"Ya like it? I drew it all from memory. Pretty good, huh?" Odd smiled.

"I still think you made my nose too big," Sissi griped, leaning her back against the wall. Odd stuck out his tongue as did Sissi.

"Thanks, guys. This was amazing! And to end it, let's get to the factory and end XANA once and for all.

"Right," Odd smiled. As everyone walked out of the door, Sissi silently gazed at the floor. "What's wrong, your Highness? Is your headache still hurting you?"