Authors Note: Three years. It took three years to overcome my writer's block. However, I am back, and I'm ready to jump into this awesome new story. Unfortunately, I will not continue my unfinished stories; at least not anytime soon. But, I am super excited about this story, I never wrote a story that involves the group fighting against XANA, so without further ado…..

Rated T: contains violence, suggestive themes, some blood, some frequent use of strong language.

The Undying

Six Months Later…

"I did it. I finally made you human!" A voice exclaimed as he approached a tall, dark figure.

The figure stared down at his hands, then back up at the voice. "I do not wish to be called human Tyron. I would never want to experience the weakness you pathetic humans call emotions."

Professor Tyron nodded his head. "Yes, Xana."

Xana walked over to the mirror in the science lab and looked over himself. As an "in the flesh" artificial intelligence, Xana had midnight black slightly spiky hair. His skin was ghostly pale, and his eye shined a dark evil red. His figure was a bit tall, standing at a 5'9'; and his frame was skinny. He wore a black t-shirt, underneath a black spiked leather jacket. His jeans were also jet black, in addition to black combat boots.

"What do you think?" Professor Tyron asked.

Xana smirked evilly. "Dark, I love it." Xana turned to Professor Tyron and looked at him and up and down. "However, you look like you are going to cause me a lot of trouble."

Professor Tyron looked up at Xana in shock. "Wha-What do you mean?"

Xana lifted his hand toward the professor, as he did Professor Tyron's feet left the ground. "I will never forget that you also tried to rid of me, did you not? Lowell Tyron" Xana closed his hand slightly, causing Professor Tyron to grasp for air.

"Xana, please." Tyrons gasped.

"Hm, you can still breathe. I guess my grasp isn't tight enough." Xana closed his hand a bit more, causing Tyron to cry out in pain.

"I'm...I'm so…" Tyron coughed out.

Xana approached Tyron with impeccable speed and stared deep into his eyes. "You're what Lowell Tyron?! You're what?! Sorry?! Another one of a pathetic human emotion to show sympathy, sorrow, for something he himself did not cause; or to show that they screwed up."

Tyron tried breathing, but Xana's grasp was too strong. He could feel the soul start to leave his body slowly. "Now you listen to me, Lowell." Xana stared deep into Tyron's eyes. "I am in charge now. You may have been calling the shots the past six months. But, I am the captain of this ship now, and you will listen to all my direct orders. Got it."

Tyron stared back into Xana's eyes as if he was in a trance. "I will listen to all your direct orders."

Xana smirked. "Good." Xana dropped Tyron on the floor, allowing him to catch his breath. Xana snapped his fingers. "Now, let's go over the facts. You have five minutes, starting now. Go!"

Tyron rushed over to the supercomputer with Xana following closely behind him. "Sir, as you know we have enemies on our hands." Tyron pointed to the six I.D cards on the screen.

Xana gritted his teeth. "I know them all too well Tyron. But, let's go over it again. We are starting from square one. If I want to win, and take over the world. I need to know of all those who will try to stop me."

Tyron nodded his head. "Very well sir." Tyron pointed to the first I.D card. "Jeremie Belpois. The brains of the group. He knows computers almost inside and out as you do." Xana glared at Tyron with evil eyes. Tyron jumped slightly as Xana's glare. "But not as well as you do sir, in no way shape or form."

"You have three minutes." Xana pointed to the computer. "I need more. While I was busy making their lives hell as much as I could behind a screen without giving myself away; you've had to learn something useful. Did you not? I need to know everything."

"Very well sir." Tyron and Xana huddled behind the computer and studied the warriors in depth.

Xana laughed evilly. "That's great that I acknowledge everything that will have them on their knees begging for mercy. But, one question that floats around my head, where is your wife, Anthea Hopper?"

Tyron turned his head to face Xana, as Xana looked down at him curiously. "Anthea has been taken care of." Tyron turned back on the computer and showed Xana a surveillance video of Anthea Hopper locked up in a cell beneath the laboratory. "Once my wife found out I created an anti-virus to bring you back, she sent extremely valuable information to Aelita's computer. I cannot hack the system from here, and it is not for sure she received the information yet."

Xana lifted an eyebrow and began to pace around the lab. "What type of valuable information are we talking about Tyron?"

Tyron turned the computer chair and looked towards Xana. "One that could make this fight, turn into a war, sir. It will make those kids stronger, almost as strong on you, sir." Xana's eyes glared red toward Tyron, which made him shivers in his shoes. "Xana, it's a complex code, it will allow those kids to possess powers on earth, just like you."

Xana smirked and walked back towards the computer. "Good. I do not wish for you to interfere with that code system."

Tyron's mouth dropped. "But sir, if you give me time. I can erase it from the system before-"

"Silence!" Xana yelled. "This will make it all the more interesting. Besides, I love a good fight to the death."

"Wha-what do you mean sir?" Xana rolled his eyes at Tyron's question.

"Tyron, did you receive the last five percent of the code needed so that I will be fully immortal?" Xana questioned.

"Yes Xana, that is why you standing in the flesh here today," Tyron answered, unaware of where this was going.

"So those kids will not be able to stop me. Without those codes, Aelita cannot enter the towers." Xana crossed his arms over his chest. "Right?"

Tyron swallowed. "No, because Aelita is the daughter of the Hopper's, and because she is human; she contains their genetic coding. Meaning, she can still deactivate the towers, and stop your attacks."

Xana nodded his head. "Hm, interesting. Well, I can only rely on one thing then." Tyron and Xana both smiled evilly. "The return to the past, each time those idiots launch one, I become stronger. They'll have to pick and choose who lives, and who dies."

"Precisely." Tyron agreed.

Xana's eye glowed bright red once more, as he turned his back to Tyron. Xana walked toward the elevator of the lab and pressed the button. "It's time I announce my arrival, shall I?" Xana smirked as the elevator doors closed behind him.

"I can't believe summer is over." Odd cried out, as he and Ulrich headed towards the showers to prepare for the first day of classes. "A month summer vacation should be illegal. I demand we have a two and a half month summer vacation, just like they do in America."

"Yeah, I rather not be around my father that long." Ulrich sighed and grasped the towel around the back of his neck.

"Did he give you hell again?" Odd looked up at his now -six feet even- best friend. Ulrich had grown over the six-month hiatus from Xana. His hair was a bit longer but stayed the same nonetheless, and his facial features were more defined. However, there was an apparent scar on his left eyebrow that stopped on the corner of his eye. Odd has asked about it, but of course, with the personality Ulrich had; he refused to answer. The only answer Ulrich gave Odd after a million questions were he received the scar the first week of summer.

"Uh, you could say that." Ulrich opened the door towards the men's common bathroom. "I was held against my will trying to get ahead of all my classes."

"Sounds rough man." Odd patted Ulrich's shoulder.

"Nothing surprises me with him," Ulrich stated as he and Odd went into their separate showers. Ulrich turned on his shower and allowed the water to adjust itself to the perfect temperature. Ulrich stepped underneath the shower and allowed the water to run over his now muscular frame.

Ulrich ran his hand over his chest going over the healed, but visible thin scar going diagonal from his chest to his rib cage. He also had a couple of bruises that now could be mistaken as birthmarks on his upper arms, and back. The seventeen-year-old closed his eyes as he allowed the shower to run over his hair before he began washing off.

"Did you watch that new horror movie this summer?" Odd asked as he met with Ulrich who was brushing his teeth.

"Wit one?" Ulrich asked with a mouthful of toothpaste.

Odd grabbed the big tub of hair gel and began styling his hair into his usual style. Nothing has changed over the past six months with the carefree friend of the group; expect the fact puberty finally found his way around to him. Odd stood at five foot nine, however, when he styled his hair he made him seem taller than he actually is. Odd could no longer be considered "scrawny" by his peers, as he finally filled out his body some.

"Us." Odd answered as he continued perfect his hair.

Ulrich spat of the remaining toothpaste in his mouth and wiped his face. "No, I haven't. I was locked away from society remember."

Jeremie soon walked into the men's bathroom with a smile upon his face. Jeremie placed his shower caddy on the sink and pulled out his toothbrush and toothpaste. "Good morning Odd, Ulrich."

"Why are you so happy?" Ulrich asked curiously.

Odd grinned. "I know why, he just met up with his girlfriend."

Jeremie blushed. "Aelita and I are not dating, we're just, taking things slow, I guess."

Odd rolled his eyes. "You two known each other for seven years, faced off an evil entity, cheated death, and you want to take things slow" Ulrich chuckled at Odd's statement, as Odd began brushing his teeth.

Jeremie shook his head. "I mean, it's not really something I want to rush. I don't want to mess things up with her. She deserves everything after what we all been through."

"Yeah, and your heart should be that everything you give her, Jeremie," Ulrich added.

Odd spat toothpaste out and glared at Ulrich. "You're one to talk Stern. How're things with you and Yumi?"

Ulrich sighed, as a faint blush began to creep upon his face. "We're just go…"

Jeremie held his hand up. "Before you give us that we're just good friends, and that's all statement to avoid telling us the truth, how about you be honest with yourself first."

Ulrich glared between Odd and Jeremie and sighed. "I'm honestly not so sure. I thought things were going well, but summer vacation started, it was almost radio silence. I don't know if it had anything to do with limited access to my phone because of my father."

"Well, you're here now, many miles away from your dad, and I think you two need to talk about it. She's a senior this year, so you only have but so much time to tell her you are madly, deeply in love with her." Jeremie spoke.

Ulrich felt his face becoming hot with embarrassment. "Who said that I was madly, deeply in love with her."

"You did, good buddy," Odd stated. "Because you didn't deny it."

Ulrich rolled his eyes and grabbed his shower bag "I don't want to talk about this anymore." Odd grabbed his shower bag and tossed it to Ulrich who caught it with ease. "I'll meet up with you guys after I drop these off."

Jeremie and Odd both nodded their heads as the door shut behind Ulrich. "He still didn't tell you where he got that scar on his face from?" Jeremie questioned.

Odd sighed sadly. "No, just that it happened the first week of summer."

"Odd, do you feel like things have been off during summer break, like, a weird vibe, feeling, or sensation around you?" Jeremie questioned.

Odd lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Jeremie shrugged. "Tyron was a volunteer at the computer camp I stayed at during break." Jeremie looked around and made sure he and Odd were alone.

Odd's eyes widened slightly. "What the fu-, why didn't you tell anyone and didn't he disappear from the face of the earth?"

Jeremie pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I mean, yes. But, he was never really gone." Jeremie looked into the mirror and examined himself. Not much has changed physically with Jeremie over the six months. His hair grew out a bit, but not much. He was still the shortest male of the group standing at five foot seven. Like Odd, he filled into his body more, but not enough to be considered muscular.

"I felt like I kept seeing him everywhere when I was at computer camp," Jeremie explained. "When I did, I felt as if he was watching me. It was creepy, stalkerish almost. But he was only there for that first week of summer then he disappeared."

"I mean, I can agree with you that some weird, strange things have been happening." Odd sighed sadly and grasped the edge of the sink.

"What happened?" Jeremie urged his friend to continue.

Odd shook his head and forced a smile. "Nothing let's go get some food. I'm hungry." Odd gave Jeremie a friendly slap on the back as the two left the men's common room.

"Good morning." Aelita waved to Ulrich and Odd as they approached, and gave Jeremie a small smile.

"Morning Mrs. Einstein." Odd grinned, as he noticed the longing look between the love birds. Aelita slightly blushed and looked down at the ground. "You look great by the way, new look to impress a certain someone?" Aelita's pink hair stopped just at her shoulders and was slightly curly. Since it was still the dog days of summer, Aelita wore mid-thigh white shorts, a pink sleeveless tank top, and white shoes.

Aelita blushed and looked down toward the dirt on the ground. "Anyway, you two look great as well. Did you have a good summer?"

Ulrich shrugged and put his hands in his cargo shorts. "Could've gone without it."

Aelita gave Ulrich a sympathetic look. "That bad, huh?"

"You could say that." Ulrich nodded and kicked a small rock that was below his shoes. "Well, at least you two would have some competition for the highest grade in classes this year, judging by how much my face was buried behind books." Ulrich nudged Jeremie.

Jeremie rolled his eyes and smirked. "Doubt it."

"Rosa! My favorite woman in the whole world. I hope your summer was as beautiful as you are." Odd grinned as he made his way up to the food line.

Rosa rolled her eyes and gave Odd his breakfast. Odd looked down at the plate of food, which consisted of two pancakes, a small portion of scrambled eggs, and one piece of bacon.

Odd groaned. "Ah, come on Rosa, don't go bacon my heart. I need all the protein I can get, I'm still a growing man you know."

Rosa rolled her eyes and gave Odd two more pieces of bacon. "Obviously your sense of humor hasn't matured using puns like that. Now move along Odd."

Odd grinned and moved down the line, and met up with his friends at their usual table. "How was your summer princess?" Odd asked as he began cutting into his pancakes.

Aelita shrugged. "I did a lot of summer reading mostly, nothing extravagant."

"You mean to tell me you and Jeremie didn't meet up over the summer?" Ulrich asked looked between the couple -or soon to be a couple- across from him.

Aelita felt her face heat up slightly, as did Jeremie. "So is this what it is like when we teased you about you and Yumi, Ulrich?" Jeremie muttered.

"Pack backs a bitch isn't it?" Ulrich smiled. "Now fill us in, what did you two do. Someone in this group had to have a good summer."

Aelita looked over toward Odd, slightly confused. "You didn't have a good summer Odd."

Odd looked up from his food and nodded his head. "Oh, you know the torture of being bullied by my sisters, that's about it." Odd lied.

Jeremie lifted an eyebrow, as Aelita stared right through him. "I don't know why, but I'm not convinced," Aelita stated, as Odd just shrugged.

"What up guys." A somewhat deep voice spoke from the end of the table. The group looked toward the voice and noticed the one and only, William Dunbar. Not much has changed over the months with William, expect he was now the second tallest out of the group, with Ulrich being the tallest. William and Ulrich were, for lack of better words, cordial, but far from friends.

Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita all greeted William with a warm welcome, while Ulrich merely nodded his head on William's direction. "What's up Dunbar, you have a good summer man?" Odd asked as he chewed a pancake.

Willam sat down across from Ulrich. "Uh, boring, to say the least. My parents and I hiked some, and visited family." William looked across and saw the scar on Ulrich's face. "What happened to your face." William pointed.

Ulrich sighed. "Nothing."

"A gash like that?" William slightly laughed. "Come on man, if you got in a fight you can tell us." Ulrich rolled his eyes and dropped his fork.

"I'm not hungry anymore, I'm going to go get some coffee. I'll meet you guys in the courtyard." Ulrich shoved his unfinished food toward Odd and removed himself from the table.

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Was that really called for William?"

William shrugged. "It's not my fault the guy can't have a simple conversation. Maybe I was worried, that looked like a deep gash."

Jeremie nodded his head. "There are better ways to ask, you know you two don't have the best friendship. Besides, I think you would be the last person to know what happened to him."

"Yeah man, if he'll tell anybody what happened, it'd be Yumi." Odd smiled. "She has a way of breaking down those barriers of his and vice versa."

William rolled his eyes and sighed. "I don't have a single shot with Yumi, do I?" William asked, looking mostly toward Aelita since she would be the person Yumi would open up too.

Aelita nodded her head. "I'm sorry William, but no. She's in love with Ulrich, and there's no changing that."

William poked at his pancakes. "She told you that?"

"Well, not in those words exactly, but actions speak louder than words." Aelita turned towards Odd. "Is Kiwi here with you this year Odd? I know last year he stayed with your sisters."

Odd felt his heartstrings tug at each other. "Uh, no. Not this year."

"Aw, why not. I miss the little guy." Aelita sighed.

Odd suddenly lost his appetite and pushed the food away from him, much to his friends surprise. "Okay, is there something you're not telling us Odd?" William asked.

Odd looked up at his friends, then back at his food. "Uh…" Odd shook his head. "He uh…"

Aelita's eyes widened and placed her hands over her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh Odd, no." Jeremie sighed sadly and shook his head in disappointment.

Odd held his emotions back, as he tried to hold the tears that threatened to fall down his cheeks. "It was so sudden, it came out of nowhere." Odd's voice cracked. "We had gone to sleep that night, and the next morning he wouldn't wake up."

"Did the vet say what caused it?" Jeremie questioned.

Odd nodded his head. "No, they were even speechless. It was so sudden. Kiwi was still young and healthy."

William shook his head, thinking to himself. "How long?"

Odd leaned across his folded arms on the table. "It happened the first week of summer, ever since then, I've just felt empty, lost, confused. I just need answers. Kiwi was my best friend."

Aelita fiddled with her fingers. "I have to tell you all something, but I'd rather wait until we are all together, and after classes."

"What is Aelita?" Jeremie placed his hand over Aelita's, causing his face to heat up slightly.

"I'd rather wait, Jer. Everyone needs to hear this." Aelita looked at Jeremie, and then toward Odd and William.

"Right, well. Let's go meet up with Ulrich. We still have a couple of minutes before classes start." Jeremie took his and Aelita's trays to dump them, followed by William.

"You coming man?" William asked as Odd's butt remained planted in the seat.

"You guys go ahead, I'll meet up with you in a second." Odd waved William off.

William shook his head. "Alright then."

Ulrich pressed the button on the coffee machine in the middle of the courtyard and waited for his coffee to drop out. "Hey, stranger." A delicate voice spoke behind Ulrich, a voice Ulrich knew too well. "Machine still as worthless as ever?"

Ulrich slightly smiled and turned his whole body to the voice. "Hey, Yumi."

Yumi returned the smile and looked up at Ulrich. "Hey, Ulrich. I see summer treated you well." Yumi looked over at Ulrich's tall frame.

"Uh, yeah. I guess you could say that." Ulrich looked down at the love of his life who used to be taller than him years ago, but now he stood over her frame a good five inches. Ulrich studied Yumi for a couple of seconds, before looking back into her eyes.

Not too much has changed with Yumi over the past few months. Yumi's hair grew out a couple of inches, which she had in a perfect messy bun at the moment. She was also a tad bit curvier since anyone last seen her. Yumi wore blacks shoes with white stripes, black mid-thigh shorts, paired with a black off the shoulder crop top, and underneath her shirt was a white bralette.

"You uh…" Ulrich stumbled on his words, before shaking his head. "You look great, by the way…" Ulrich turned his head away, to hide the blush spreading across his face.

Yumi bit the bottom of her lip trying to conceal the blush creeping across her face. "So do you…" Yumi looked everywhere but Ulrich's face. She then walked up to the coffee machine and gave it a swift kick. Ulrich's cup fell from the cup holder and began to pour coffee into the cup.

"I was about to do that." Ulrich pointed.

"Right." Yumi smiled, she then looked over back at Ulrich, and suddenly saw the scar across his brow. "Oh my god, Ulrich. What happened?"

"What're you talking about?" Ulrich looked around, trying to avoid the topic. Yumi grabbed his face and gently ran her thumb across the scar. Her hands were comforting against his skin, almost as if Ulrich forgot about the scar.

"Here." Yumi pointed. She then quickly pulled her hand away from his face and scratched the back of her head.

"I uh, I fell...off my bike, and fell into a couple of trees." Ulrich lied.

"Bull." Yumi shook her head. "You of all people should know how to ride a bike, Ulrich."

"Well, it's the truth." Ulrich sighed and looked around. "Anyway, how was your summer, I barely heard from you at all…"

Yumi looked away from Ulrich again. "Uh, Uneventful, and I could say the same thing about you."

"My father made sure my communication sources were scarce," Ulrich answered. "I tried writing you a couple of times to let you know."

"Yeah, my father found your letters before I could." Yumi lightly kicked the coffee machine again. "He didn't want me getting distracted this summer. so he had me busy preparing for my future by shadowing a bunch of doctors around."

Ulrich chuckled a bit before shaking his head. "Sounds like our fathers could be the best of friends."

Yumi smiled but looked back up at the scar on Ulrich's brow. "Be honest with me, what really happened?" Yumi stared into Ulrich's hazel greenish eyes, hoping he would tell her the truth.

Ulrich stared back into Yumi's brown eyes, before breaking the gaze by looking down at the ground. "Yumi, something…"

"Hey there, Yumi!" William exclaimed and wrapped an arm around Yumi's shoulder. "How was your summer."

Ulrich rolled his eyes, as he snatched his coffee from the machine. Yumi removed William's arm from around her as she took a couple of steps away from William. "One, please don't touch me. Two, my summer was dull."

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. But sorry to hear about your summer being dull." William stated. Ulrich smirked under his coffee at William begin rejected, but continued to sip his caffeine.

"Yumi! You're finally here." Aelita ran up to run and gave her a big friendly hug. Yumi laughed and returned the hug.

"Hey, Lita." Yumi pulled away from the hug. "How're you?"

"I'm okay, how're you?" Yumi asked Aelita and gave Jeremie and Odd a fist pump as the two approached.

"I'm good." Aelita smiled.

"I'd imagine, last time we spoke you and Jeremie were a thing." Yumi grinned. Aelita and Jeremie blushed and looked down at the ground.

"We're, just taking things slow Yumi," Jeremie responded.

"Yeah, okay." Yumi nodded her head, but then a somewhat tense silence fell upon the group.

"You can cut the tension with a knife, do we all have a first week of the summer story?" William asked curiously. Everyone looked between each other then back at the ground. "I'll take that as a yes," William added.

"Look, I'll admit that some strange things have been happening over the summer, but that doesn't make it a coincidence," Yumi stated. "Does it?"

"Depends, what happened to you," Odd asked Yumi. Ulrich felt his body tense up a bit, hoping Yumi didn't have as bad as of summer as he did. Ulrich noticed Yumi's actions, she was debating whether or not, to tell the truth.

Yumi nodded her head, shaking her nerves away. "Nothing, my parents just fought a lot, that's all." Yumi glanced at Ulrich, but she quickly looked away. He could read right through her.

Soon enough the bell rung signaling all the students on campus that they have five minutes to get to class. Yumi picked up her shoulder bag from the ground, "Well, I better get to class. I'll see you guys later."

"Hey wait up, I'll walk you." William laughed slightly. "Since we're going to the same class...and all."

Yumi looked back at William. "Uh, sure, okay." Yumi glanced at Ulrich, who rolled his eyes while shaking his head at William. Yumi sighed and began walking away towards her class with William following closely behind.

"Dude, why didn't you save her from him." Odd punched his best friend in the arm.

"Yeah, anyone could've read that save me look," Jeremie added.

Ulrich threw away his coffee and began the hike to class. "Wouldn't have changed anything, William was still going to be close behind."

"So, he's probably trying to butter her up now." Odd pointed at the two fellow Lyoko warriors walking the opposite direction towards their class.

"Guys, leave Ulrich alone." Aelita defended Ulrich.

"Thanks, Aelita." Ulrich shook his head.

Aelita smiled. "Besides, we all know Yumi has eyes for Ulrich, we all saw that look they gave each other right." Ulrich sighed loudly as he approached their first class of the day.

"Yumi, can I tell you something?" William confessed as he and his long-time crush walked to their class.

"What is it, William?" Yumi looked up at William, she secretly hoped that he would not try to make a move on her.

"I have a bad feeling something is going to happen. I don't know when, but sooner than we think."

Yumi stopped in her tracks and fully faced William. "What do you mean?"

William hesitated and looked down at his feet. "During the first week of summer, I kept feeling like something was trying to take over my body." Yumi continued studying William before she picked up her feet to continue their commute to class. "Yumi, I don't think Xana is gone. I keep feeling this connection to him, a connection that never was lost when he had control of me."

Yumi stayed quiet and stared straight at the path in front of her. "You know something is up. Don't you?" William placed a hand on Yumi's arm, stopping her in her tracks.

Yumi held her hands up defensively. "William, please! I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, okay," William responded. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you okay."

Yumi forced a smile. "I'm sorry, it was just a rough summer for me. I didn't mean to snap at you, I know you're only trying to help. But really, I'd rather not talk about it."

William nodded his head, "Okay well when you are ready to talk about it…" William swallowed his pride. "Ulrich...should be the first to know."

Yumi stopped in her tracks as she stared at William in shock. "Wha..why…"

William laughed. "Please, spare me the excuses Yumi. I saw the two of you in the courtyard before the rest of us showed up." William stopped and turned his attention to Yumi. "Tell me when I'm wrong, okay."

Yumi hesitated but nodded her head. William stepped a bit closer towards Yumi. "You're in love with Ulrich." Silence. "I never ever really had a shot with you." Silence. "Every move I attempted to make with you, and the ones you accepted in the past were just to make Stern jealous." Silence. William chuckled and took a step back away from Yumi. "I knew it."

"William, I'm-I...I don't know what to say." Yumi fiddled with her shoulder bag.

"Well, I know what you could say." William walked into their sociology class, a new class that was offered to students. Yumi took her seat and dropped her bag on the ground, as William took a seat next to her. "Tell him everything, including your feelings towards him."

"It's not that easy." Yumi sighed.

William scoffed. "Why not, it's a simple "I love you" then boom you two kiss each other from there, and then become official boyfriend and girlfriend and do whatever boyfriend's and girlfriend's do with each other."

"Ulrich's different." Yumi blushed. "You wouldn't understand."

"Hm, well. You two need to grow a pair." William stated, earning a glare from Yumi. "Why did you throw him into the depths of the friend zone anyway when the two of you had your little talk years ago."

Yumi bit her bottom lip and looked out of the window towards Ulrich's class across campus. "Xana was so strong back then, I felt that if I put my heart where my head is, I would lose him to Xana and that William." Yumi looked away from Ulrich through the window and looked at William. "That's my worst fear, ever. I can't lose him."

William slowly nodded his head. "Wooooooooow. I really didn't have a shot with you. Crazy."

Yumi laughed slightly. "I'm sorry."

William nudged Yumi. "No you're not," William stated, making Yumi smile.

"You're right, I'm not." Yumi agreed and turned her attention towards the teacher who began the first lesson of the semester.

"Good morning, and welcome to Physics class, eleventh graders." Mrs. Hertz spoke. "As eleventh graders, I expect a lot from you all as this is the most important year of your high school careers."

Odd rolled his eyes and rolled his head back. "Blah blah blah, I feel like high school is just a waste of time if you ask me, a set up for us to become slaves to the work system and live paycheck to paycheck." Odd whispered next to Ulrich.

Ulrich laughed quietly. "Try telling that to my father and the rest of the world."

Odd shrugged. "If it were up to me school should be an option. I feel like everyone should have their own opinion and become their own person."

"Who are you and what have you done with Odd." Ulrich looked over at his best friend.

"I'm still the same old me who doesn't give a rat ass about this school," Odd stated. "I'm just here 'cause it's the law."

Ulrich shook his head. "Not really, you could get a G.E.D if you wanted."

"But where's the fun in that?" Odd questioned.

"Della Robbia, Stern." Mrs. Hertz glared at her two least favorite students. "Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?"

"No, ma'am." Odd and Ulrich answered simultaneously.

"Good, I wouldn't want the two of you to start the year off in detention now pay attention!" Mrs. Hertz demanded.

"Last time I checked our tuition money pays for her attention, not mine." Odd snicked under his breath along with Ulrich.

"Now class, what is physics, ?" Mrs. Hertz asked the class. Some students refused to answer, some students looked half-dead, while some students genuinely paid attention -specifically Jeremie and Aelita- the bookworms of the eleventh-grade class. "Yes, Jeremie," Mrs. Hertz pointed to her star pupil who had his hand raised.

"Ma'am, physics is the study of matter, energy, and the interaction between," Jeremie stated proudly.

Odd coughed quietly. "Nerd." Ulrich and Odd laughed quietly between themselves, earning a glare from Jeremie. Aelita heard the comment, but a smile crept upon her face nonetheless as she shook her head.

Mrs. Hertz smiled. "Precisely, excellent Jeremie." Mrs. Hertz pressed the button on her clicker which showed the definition of physics on her powerpoint that Jeremie stated. Mrs. Hertz pressed the button on her clicker again which showed "Lesson One" in bold letters.

"For our first lesson, we will be reviewing vectors and scalars." Mrs. Hertz pointed at the powerpoint with her laser pointer. "Now students I recommend you take notes on your laptops or whatever you use to store your notes for you to refer back to. We will have a quiz at the end week of this lesson." Mrs. Hertz announced.

The majority of the class sighed as students pulled out notebooks, laptops, and tablets to begin taking notes on the lesson. "You're not going to take notes?" Ulrich questioned his roommate as he saw Odd playing Fortnite on his iPad.

Odd nodded his head, "Nah I can just copy the notes from you later."

Ulrich rolled his eyes and pulled out his laptop and attempted to take notes on the lesson in front of him. It wasn't long before Ulrich gave on taking notes, and began looking out the window. A couple of seconds later Ulrich received a notification on his computer notifying that someone sent him an iMessage.

"You should be taking notes." It was a message from Yumi.

"As should you." Ulrich typed back.

"I'm not the one who's going to get my ass kicked if I receive an A- on a test."

Ulrich chuckled to himself and looked out toward the window at Yumi's class. Yumi looked back over toward him and smiled. She then pointed to Mrs. Hertz from behind her computer signaling Ulrich to pay attention. Ulrich turned his attention toward his computer and began typing.

"Low blow." He responded to Yumi's message.

"Yeah well, what're you going to do about it?"

"Spar later?" Ulrich typed.

"Oh, so you want your ass kicked by me too, sure."

Ulrich smirked and shook his head. "What're you smiling about?" Odd looked over at his roommate.

"Nothing, just build your fort." Ulrich shooed Odd's attention away before he responded to Yumi's message. "Well, I think Aelita wants to have a meeting with all of us after classes are over, it sounded urgent."

"Really, What do you think it's about?"

"Not sure." Ulrich sighed, hoping he did not have to go into detail about where he received his scar.

"Oh, well alright then. I'll let you get back to your class then."

Ulrich's hands hovered over the keyboard as he debated with himself if he should try to continue with the conversation. Ulrich shook his head slightly and responded with, "Okay, see you later."

"Della Robbia!" Mrs. Hertz called out.

Odd jumped slightly in his seat and looked up at his teacher. "Yes?"

"Since you seem so invested in your notes on your tablet, mind telling me the difference between a scalar and a vector?" Mrs. Hertz rested a hand on her hip and awaited for Odd's answer.

Odd hesitated for a moment before he noticed Aelita message him the answer on his tablet. Odd read over the message quickly before answering. "Mrs. Hertz, a scalar can only be described by magnitude or numbers only, while vectors can be described as both magnitude and direction."

Mrs. Hertz eyes widened, while some students looked over at Odd in shock. "Uh yes, that is...that is correct Odd. Good job." Odd grinned and gave Aelita a silent high-five once Mrs. Hertz back was turned.

Jeremie rolled his eyes and shook his head. "What would you do without us Odd."

Odd glanced over at Jeremie. "You?" Odd questioned, "Princess bailed me out, not you."

Six hours later

The final bell of the day rung, signaling the end of classes for students until tomorrow. The gang met up at their usual bench in the middle of the courtyard.

"How were your classes guys?" Jeremie asked as Yumi and William approached the bench.

William shrugged. "Boring."

"They're okay for the most part, I guess," Yumi responded, as she made her way over and stood between Ulrich and Odd.

"Do you two have any idea what you're going to do after this year is over?" Aelita asked curiously.

"I don't think I'm going to go to college straight away. I may find me a small job and go from there." William stated and sat down on the bench.

Yumi sighed. "Um, well. I want to stay close to here. Maybe go to community college or something…"

"I'm sure that went over well with Mr. Ishiyama." Odd laughed as he earned a push from Yumi.

"Yeah, he was thrilled. I might as well poured salt instead of sugar in his coffee when I told him." Yumi rolled her eyes at the thought.

Aelita looked up at her best friend confused. "Why do you say that Yumi?"

Yumi took off her shoulder bag and placed it down by Aelita feet on the bench before crossing her arms. "My father wants me to go into the medical field. He says you're not doing nothing in life unless you're making six figures or more."

Odd shook his head and rested his elbow on Yumi's shoulder; as he was now a tad bit taller than her. "Wow, that sounds like another father we all grown to love. Right, Ulrich?"

Ulrich scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "If you love him so much you can have him. What's worse our grades are uploaded weekly on the school's site, so I can expect to hear a lot more from him."

"Well at least you can try to win him over with soccer, you're trying out this year right?" Jeremie asked.

"I'm doing soccer for me Jer, not to win him over. But yes, I am trying out." Ulrich answered.

Aelita sighed and played with the hem of her shorts. "I need to tell you all something, but we can't talk it here." The gang stared at their pink haired friend intensely.

"Then where would you like to talk?" William questioned.

Aelita and Jeremie stared at each other before looking at each of their friends. Jeremie decided to speak for Aelita. "We'll need to head to the factory for this."

Yumi shifted from one foot to the other and bit the inside of her cheek nervously. Ulrich shook his head in disbelief as he kicked the dirt on the ground. Odd removed his resting elbow off of Yumi's shoulder and stared between the two geniuses in the group. William tore his attention away from Aelita and Jeremie and looked everywhere but his friends.

"I know this is so sudden but something also happened to me the first week of summer," Aelita stated as she gained the attention of her friends back. Aelita took a deep breath before continuing. "I received a message from my mother, but I was too scared to open it. I wanted to wait until we were all together, so we can all listen to it together."

"You can't open the message from here?" Odd questioned.

"No, it's highly encrypted….only the…" Aelita was cut short.

"Only the supercomputer can open it, right?" Yumi finished. Aelita nodded her head sadly.

"We'll have to turn back on the supercomputer." Jeremie kept his voice down.

"Isn't that was he would want though?" William questioned. "He was never really gone, right; he shut himself down before the virus was complete?"

Jeremie and Aelita looked between each other, before nodding their head confirming the assumption. William sat back in disbelief and shook his head.

"What happens if it gets turned back on, does he return too?" Odd asked.

"I-I don't have an answer for that Odd," Jeremie stated. "He may already be back, and turning on the supercomputer could mean nothing. Or he could be gone for good, and all we have to do is just read the message and then never step foot in the factory again."

"Guys, I know this is asking for a lot." Aelita felt tears threatening her eyes, but she shook them away. "It is a lot taking a risk turning on the supercomputer and not knowing what'll happen after. But, I need to know what my mom sent me, it could be important like a warning or something about Tyron, or even Xana."

William nodded his head. "I'm in, you deserve to know what your mother said."

"Thanks, William." Aelita smiled then looked towards her other friends.

"You know I'd do anything for you Aelita." Jeremie placed a comforting hand on Aelita's hand. Aelita blushed slightly before placing her hand on top of Jeremie's. Aelita took a deep breath before looking between Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich.

"Oh, what the hell. I'm in." Odd smiled. Aelita returned the smile, it just left Yumi and Ulrich now.

"I can't do this without the two of you. If there is even the slightest chance Xana could be out there, we won't be able to fight him without the two of you. We can all say that you two are the strongest and when you fight together nothing can stop you both." Aelita spoke truthfully.

Ulrich and Yumi slightly blushed, as they avoided one another's gaze. Yumi inhaled deeply before giving Aelita her answer. "Okay, I'll come with you." Aelita jumped from the bench and gave Yumi a hug. "Thank you so much." Yumi nodded her head and returned her best friend's hug, Yumi and Aelita then turned towards Ulrich.

The brown-haired warrior lifted his head from the ground and looked between Aelita and Yumi, but mainly locked eyes with Yumi. He knew that if there was even the slightest chance Xana was still out there, things between him and Yumi would more than likely make things complicated, yet again. But he knew if he backed down from helping Aelita it would make matters difficult as well.

Ulrich broke his gaze with Yumi and stared up at the sky. "Okay, let's go."

FIN 1.