Chapter 1: A Regular Day

It had been months since the X.A.N.A. attack with Max had occurred. After a long recovery from his operation, Mason was able top keep up with the rest of the group without potential harm to his health. Plus, during the time between then and now, the Lyoko warriors had managed to free William from X.A.N.A.'s grasp. At first Mason and William didn't talk, but eventually they got to know each other. Now, everyone was anxious about final exams, and anticipating summer vacation. Before the final exams occurred though, the teachers decided to let the students relax and watch some of the movies created by the members of the film club.

"Okay students, now we are going to watch a film created by our own Odd Della Robia, and with the help of his friends," smiled Mr. Chardin putting in the film.

Meanwhile, the Lyoko gang were sitting in the front row of the gym. Odd had a bunch of popcorn in his lap, and everyone else just had a soda. Odd had given each of them roles in the movie, but Odd never told them anything about the others' role. All of them were a bit anxious to see what their creative friend had in store.

"This is the best film I have ever created, I promise you guys that this film will never be forgotten!" smiled Odd eating some popcorn out of the giant popcorn bag.

"Yeah Odd I have to agree. This is going to be good," smiled Mason chewing on some popcorn that he stole from Odd.

William followed suit and grabbed a handful from the bucket as Odd glared at Mason, "I tell you, it's good to take some time off from Lyoko!"

"Says the guy who got captured by X.A.N.A.," muttered Jeremy taking a sip of his soda.

"Well Odd, I have to say i'm excited for you. This may be your best film yet!" smiled Aelita.

The gym lights turned off, and the film began to start. It started out with what looked like the Bronx painted onto the canvas in the background. The next shot focused on a window cut out of cardboard, followed by a figure leaning out the window. It was Sissi who was dressed in a bathrobe and had her hair up in a towel which somehow complemented the horrendous amount of makeup she had on, "Son cut that nonsense out and come inside! Your dinner is getting cold!"

"Okay mom, be there in a minute!" said a voice that sounded familiar to Jeremy's.

The whole gym began to laugh at Sissi's actions on screen. Sissi made an evil face at Odd while her face slowly turned a furious red.

The film then cut to a scene with Jim yelling at the camera. It took place in the school's gymnasium, which now included a homemade boxing ring and several pieces of boxing equipment.

Jim, playing essentially himself, paced back and forth in front of someone that camera was behind. He stopped and pounded his fist into his open palm, "Alright you twig! Time to get you into shape! If you lose this tournament, then we lose the prize money to save our gym!"

The camera then turned to face Jeremy wearing boxing gloves several sizes too big and sitting in a chair. His character was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and a black-eye courtesy of stage makeup. Everyone watching began to laugh at the meek figure on the screen while Jeremy slowly sunk into his seat.

"Don't worry Jeremy, you look very much in character," assured Aelita smiling at Jeremy.

One training montage later, Jeremy was arguing with his mentor, "I can't do this anymore Jim! I'm too weak and meager. Plus my huge brain makes my head an easy target! How am I going to get in shape for the big tournament when it's in three days!?

Everyone in the gym giggled at that later line. Jeremy got a little red, and glared at Odd. It sounded as if Odd had clipped pieces of audio together for Jeremy's lines.

Jim's character chuckled and shook his head to both sides before opening the rear door of the gym, "Ha ha! Well good news for you then scrawny! I've found a young rogue from the streets willing to train you!"

The camera slowly panned from the feet up to Ulrich's face. Odd had decided to dress Ulrich's character based on the description he heard about people from New York, "Yo, I'm here to train you for the big tournament...dog?"He did his best to channel is inner troublemaker off the streets only to make it sound awkward.

Everyone in the gym started to laugh again. The film went on, while including other students from Kadic, and it got to final act where Jeremy was in a boxing ring. Jeremy was jumping up and down in the ring throwing some air punches.

Aelita, rightfully so, was cast as the love interest for the main character. She stood near the ring and cheered while swinging her fist in the air, "Kick his head off Jeremy!"

The opponent had appeared on the other side of the ring. It was Mason, who was now buffed up due to some rehabilitation exercise and the magic of Photoshop. Mason owned a scar on his chest and back from his operation, and Odd took the liberty to add some fake scars as well. Mason pounded his boxing gloves together, and Odd managed to add in muscle flexing on Mason's chest. Mason, watching his character on screen, sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Bwa ha ha ha! You send little field mouse to tussle with big strong bear? Is this insult?!" laughed Mason. His psuedo Russian accent was very convincing. He pounded his gloves together when the bell rung to signal the start of the match.

Everyone was howling with laughter for Aelita and Mason, and then suddenly Jeremy's computer went off. Jeremy opened it to show that the super-scanner had found an activated tower.

"X.A.N.A.?" asked William.

Jeremy gave a nod, and everyone else nodded back at Jeremy. They all got up, and snuck out of the building without being detected. William and Yumi were especially quick to get out of the gym to avoiding the same humiliation as their friends. They ran across campus to reach the manhole in the forest. Odd opened up manhole, and everyone made their descent into the sewer.

"Ah! Feels good to get to go to Lyoko once again, you know fighting the monsters, saving the world, the usual stuff," smirked Odd waiting at the bottom of the sewer for Ulrich to climb down the manhole.

"Yep, just clocking in," smirked Ulrich climbing down the ladder.

The rest followed Ulrich down and retrieved their scooters and skateboards. Everyone made their way through the sewer system and wound up at the exit. They climbed out of the sewer, and ran across the bridge until they reached the inside of the factory. One by one, each grabbed hold of the ropes and slid down to the floor of the factory. Jeremy pushed the button for the elevator, and everyone got in. They filed out when the elevator took them to their destination. Jeremy jumped into his computer chair and swung around to see the supercomputer monitors.

"Well guys, we have an activated tower in the desert sector," said Jeremy putting his headset in, and then beginning to type in all the information for preparation to transfer.

"Okay then Jeremy, I'll just head down!" explained William, getting ready to follow the others to the scanners.

"No way William. You just got out of X.A.N.A.'s control, and you wouldn't be any good if your possessed by him again," replied Jeremy with his eyes glued to the computer screen.

William gave an irritated grunt. He knew that there was no way that he could argue with the majority, and if he pushed it they might just ban him from Lyoko forever. He figured it best not to toy with the powers that be and leaned on Jeremy's computer to just the action from there.

"Alright, Mason, Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi. You're up first, and if worse comes to worse, Odd and then William," said Jeremy while the others headed to the scanner room.

"Well this will be boring then, let them have all the fun first huh?" asked Odd taking out his handheld video game.

"I would let you go to Lyoko Odd, but think of it as revenge for what you did to me in that film," witted Jeremy giving an evil smile.

"Wait, so you're going to let me on Lyoko still?" asked William.

Jeremy swung his chair around to look at William,"I'm not quite sure yet if you're at risk of X.A.N.A. re-possessing you. Despite that you are still a capable Lyoko Warrior whether we like it or not!"

William gave a satisfied smirk and pumped his fist in excitement.

"Just don't push it," warned Jeremy. William's expression returned to neutral and watched Jeremy start the scanning sequence.

Mason, Aelita, and Ulrich got into their respective scanners and turned as the doors closed behind them.

"Tell me if it gets too tough there, and then I can get sent to Lyoko to teach those creepy monsters a lesson!" joked Odd speaking through Jeremy's headset. Jeremy pushed Odd from the headset before opening the program for virtualization.

"Don't worry, they'll be shaking in their boots once we let them know you're coming!" teased Yumi.

Jeremy did his usual procedure, and then sent the warriors to Lyoko. They soon were virtualized to Lyoko with their vehicles already programmed into Lyoko. After a few moments of waiting, Yumi dropped from the sky as well. Mason then realized that something about him was different.

"Wow Jeremy, what'd you do to my costume?" asked Mason looking himself over.

"You're outfit might have been a little bothersome due to recent events so I took the liberty of changing a few things," explained Jeremy. His pride seeped through his explanation of Mason's updated look, "I updated your weapons and abilities while making sure that you could move around better than in that clunky suit you used to wear!"

Mason patted his sleeker armor down and felt lighter than before. He looked at his fists and by instinct turned on his gloves for fighting hand-to-hand, "Thanks Jeremy, this is so cool!"

"Okay okay! You can thank me later! Just get to the tower! It's southwest from your current location," instructed Jeremy.

Mason got on his Overwheel, Ulrich his Overbike, and Yumi and Aelita got on the Overwing. They all started their vehicles, and made their way to the activated tower.

"So Ulrich, Yumi, does William know yet?" asked Mason driving on his Overwheel.

Yumi and Ulrich looked at each other in confusion, "Tell William what?"

"That you two are dating each other. William likes Yumi right?" replied Mason.

"Well, we haven't gone on a technical date yet, so we're not exactly dating yet. We're just in a relationship as of now," explained Ulrich with Yumi nodding behind him in agreement.

Mason made a face of confusion followed by shaking his head in disapproval. Aelita seemed to share the same feelings as they both looked at each other and huffed in frustration.

"What's wrong you two?" asked Jeremy.

"Are you hearing this conversation? Ulrich and Yumi…..just forget it," sighed Mason speeding up his Overwheel.

"What about you and Emily? Huh?" teased Yumi.

She had managed to trip up Mason's concentration, causing him to become a blushing mess, "W-well…first of all," he coughed to clear his stammer, "we're not in a relationship let alone dating. Second of all, there is no third party that has any proclaimed interest in either of us."

They finally got to the tower, and suspiciously there were no monsters there or anything. Before getting any closer, The Lyoko Warriors surveyed their surroundings of some sort of trick. They concluded nothing was there after thoroughly inspecting the area.

"Huh, I wonder where all the monsters are,"pondered Aelita looking behind the tower.

"I must've scared them off. Since I beat up Max, I guess the monsters are thinking twice about taking me on," joked Mason flexing his arms above his head.

"Yeah, they were scared you were going to either go berserk or bleed all over them," laughed Ulrich causing everyone else to laugh.

"Well, I better go deactivate the tower then," smiled Aelita getting off, and stepping into the tower.

When Aelita went into the tower, Mason looked at Ulrich and Yumi and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" asked Ulrich folding his arms.

Mason tsked and shook his head, "So you two have been together for about three months, and yet you haven't gone on a single date yet?"

"Well, yeah. Ulrich and I decided to take this thing a little slow," said Yumi playing with her fans.

"When you say slow, do you mean snail-paced? Anyway, you know William won't leave Yumi alone Ulrich, so you two need to tell William," suggested Mason leaning on the Overwheel.

William swore he heard his name come up in the conversation despite being muffled by Jeremy's headset; he leaned over and spoke into the microphone, "I heard my name, what are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing William!" the three shouted simultaneously.

"Anyway, I don't think it's any of yours or William's business what happens between the two of us," replied Yumi.

Mason knew she was right and gave a shrug in defeat. He got the last word in when he tapped his foot and huffed. Deciding to change the topic, he realized that something had come up recently that he had to discuss with the others.

"Hey Jeremy, how many vacation days does this job entail?" shouted Mason to the sky.

Jeremy shuttered back at the question just asked, "What do you mean vacation days!? There are no vacation days! Why are you asking?"

"At some point next week I may be gone that's why! I'll explain why later! Unless..." Mason flashed a toothy grin, "Ulrich and Yumi tell William..."

"Pfft, no way Mason. Yumi's right, William doesn't need to know about our relationship status," Ulrich frowned.

"Fine, then I guess what I have to say doesn't need to be known about either," smirked Mason.

"Okay Jeremy, I deactivated the tower!" smiled Aelita.

"Okay that's great, good job Aelita! Let me devirtualize you guys!" said Jeremy typing in more information into the supercomputer.

Odd looked up from his portable game system, "About time, it's starting to get boring out here without you guys!"

"Devirtualize Yumi, Ulrich, Mason, and Aelita!" said Jeremy as the four began to disappear.

Suddenly, the monitor flashed a red exclamation point over Aelita's status and let out a blaring sound. Jeremy nearly fell out of his seat when he saw the error; his fingers began to fly across the keyboard, "Oh no, this is not good at all!"

Odd and William looked over in unison,"What?" both boys asked with concern.

"Something went wrong in the devirtualization process, that's probably the X.A.N.A. attack!" gasped Jeremy opening a recovery program. It took what felt ages for it to open, "Damn, why is this computer so slow! What I would give for this piece of hardware to work at least a few bytes faster sometimes."

"Well it's better than nothing Jeremy, at least we can run a recovery program," sighed William.

Jeremy lept off his chair and ran towards the elevator, "Come on guys, to the scanner room!"

The two followed and all three headed to the scanner room. They met with Mason, Ulrich, and Yumi who had just gotten out of the scanners.

"What's wrong?" asked Yumi.

"Something happened with the devirtualization process; it's saying that Aelita didn't devirtualize correctly!" panicked Jeremy tapping his foot waiting for the scanner to open.

"If it makes you feel any better Jeremy, it looked like she devirtualized properly from our end," explained Ulrich. He helped Yumi up to her feet before walking over to the scanner with Jeremy.

Everyone focused on another scanner as the door opened and smoke emitted from inside. Aelita came out in her usual fashion as the smoke settled onto the scanner room floor. Everyone began to calm down seeing Aelita, except for Jeremy who nearly ran over Odd to get over to her scanner, "Aelita! Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm perfectly fine, why? Did something happen in the supercomputer?" asked Aelita. The others blew a sigh of relief.

Odd was able to catch himself from being shoved to the ground and dusted himself off, "We saw something happen on the computer screen upstairs, but it might have just been a fluke in the sensors or whatever."

"Odd, understand that the supercomputer doesn't 'fluke' with devirtualization... it has to be X.A.N.A. or something!"

Yumi let out a yawn, "Well nothing seems to be happening right now and there is no attack. Is this something that can wait until the morning then?"

Jeremy looked at Aelita and then to the rest of the group- it was evident that they all wanted to head back to campus. They all went back upstairs while Jeremy ran another scan just to be sure that there wasn't an attack, "Well, if you're sure that you feel fine Aelita, then I guess there's no harm in heading back. I do want to double check everything tomorrow!"

"Okay then!" cheered William clapping his hands together, "Good work team Lyoko!" he finished by giving two thumbs up.

While hesitant to do so, Jeremy left the computer on idle and jumped down from his chair. They all went into the elevator and left the factory, hoping to get back to Kadic before film night ended. Yumi and Ulrich strayed from the rest of the group in the middle of the woods to talk. Making sure that William hadn't seen them split from the group, Ulrich put out his hand towards Yumi, "So? Going back to your house then?"

Yumi smiled and took his hand with her own. They began to walk away from the group towards her house, "Yeah, if I head over now, i'll at least arrive at the house before curfew. I'm a little worried about Aelita though, what if something really is wrong and we just can't see it yet?"

"It'll be fine Yumi, like Odd said, it was just probably a little glitch in the supercomputer that caused it to happen, but I will be sure to call if something happens before Jeremy can check tomorrow," smiled Ulrich taking Yumi's other hand.

"Okay then, I can't wait to hear from you," blushed Yumi.

The two shared an embrace before Yumi pulled away to head home. Ulrich beamed with delight and waved to Yumi as she walked off towards the sidewalk. Ulrich began to hum a melody as he turned to meet back with his friends. Upon heading back over, he noticed Mason leaning against a tree.

Ulrich, while not surprised, frowned seeing his friend had waited for him, "You know you're too nosy for your own good at times."

"I just couldn't help it you two are just so adorable!" Mason leered, "So when are you and Yumi going on a date?"

"Last time I checked, I was dating Yumi not you," said Ulrich proud of his clever remark.

"Hey I'm just asking, I bet Yumi would like it if you took her somewhere nice," suggested Mason. He pushed himself off the tree and walked with Ulrich back towards the school, "I'm told that girls appreciate a guy who takes initiative and plans things for her."

Ulrich gave a shrug and then just kept walking. He decided that since Mason was getting into his business, it was justified to see Mason squirm as he did the same.

"So how about you and Emily then, since you can't seem to stay out of me and Yumi's business," gleamed Ulrich.

Mason saw through his friend's poor attempt at prying and played cool, "Eh, we talk, I mean, it's been kind of awkward for me since the incident about me and Max. Me being gone for most of my spare time with the surgery hasn't helped my chanced very much either."

"Well, why don't you try to get close again? I would put money down she's at least interested," suggested Ulrich.

"I guess, but I mean, I asked her out during Valentine's Day. I can't even remember most of what happened after because of having to deal with Max. I get paranoid whenever I try to be alone with her; as if X.A.N.A. is waiting for another opportunity to do one of us in. Worst part of all during that attack Max tried to harm Emily due to my naïveté. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I caused something to happen to her or anyone else."

"Wait, you asked her out before we used return to the past? Then it definitely wouldn't hurt to give it another shot." smiled Ulrich.

Mason decided to keep the detail of him nearly kissing her out of his explanation but continued on, "Yeah, like I said though. Before anything could happen Apollo showed up to warn me and then things went south."

Mason gave a shrug as he and Ulrich walked up to Odd who had slowed down while playing his game. The three walked back to campus together, and conversing all the way there about final exams. When they got back to the school, the film club had finished showing all the films, "Aw man, we missed the scene where Jeremy gets another black eye!"

"Why did you even give him a black eye in the first place?" asked Ulrich.

"Well I gave him one with makeup, it gave him a more masculine look," defended Odd. The others laughed at Odd's defense.

The boys turned to the sound of oncoming footsteps to see Sissi and her goons stomping towards Odd. Her intent seemed to be malicious by her deathly glare and stomping up to Odd and poking him on the chest, "You thought that was so funny huh? Making me the cranky and hideous mother of the inspired boxer in your film huh?" asked Sissi.

"Yeah that was ideal, I tried to capture your real-life looks in my film," joked Odd making the picture frame with his two hands, "After all, you did say you wanted a role in the film!"

"Very funny Oddball, but I would have been better off as the girlfriend of the rebel, huh Ulrich?" Sissi looked at Ulrich hoping for some kind of confirmation.

"Pft, whatever" huffed Ulrich walking past Sissi.

Mason and Odd tried to hold back their laughter from Ulrich's cold shoulder to Sissi. Now that Ulrich was officially dating Yumi, he didn't have to put up with Sissi's harassment any longer. Sissi took Ulrich's cold shoulder as a hint, stomping away with her two cronies. Meanwhile, Yumi had just gotten to her house, and opened the gate. In doing so, William had just turned the corner on his skateboard and went up to Yumi stopping a few inches in front of her. She swore under her breath.

"Hey Yumi what's going on?" asked William picking up his skateboard, and holding it under his arm.

She didn't even look at him, "Nothing much, just about to head in for the night."

"Good to know that you're getting home before curfew. You know Yumi, we haven't seen each other like this since I got possessed by X.A.N.A.-" smiled William.

Yumi rolled her eyes, "Just get to the point William"

"So I know a guy who got these extra tickets to the Subdigital's concert tomorrow, and I was wondering if-" went on William.

"William I can't," interrupted Yumi brushing a few strands of hair from her face.

"Well why not?" asked William.

She hated it when William wouldn't accept a simple response. Luckily Yumi had a legitimate excuse this time to not be near him, "I was planning on staying home and doing homework. Also I have to study for our exams coming up."

William remained persistent hoping to find some way to hang out with her, "Oh well, how about the day after then?"

"No William, I'll be busy that day as well," she replied, slamming the gate behind her.

William couldn't help to feel a little insulted by Yumi's excuses to not go anywhere but decided not to linger on it for too long. As he skateboarded away, he began to feel as if Ulrich had something to do with why Yumi was being so cold towards him, "I don't know what's going on Stern, but I will find out what."

Yumi opened the door, and went inside to see her father and little brother in the main room. She closed the door behind her and walked into the main room. She slid off her shoes, acknowledging her mother who was finished cleaning up in the kitchen.

"Hi dad," smiled Yumi placing her bag on the floor.

"Ah Yumi, it's nice to see you home on time for once," said Takeo playing koi-koi with Hiroki.

"What's wrong? Did Ulrich not show up today?" teased Hiroki placing a card down on the table.

"Ugh! Hiroki!" gritted Yumi blushing.

Yumi's mind then trailed off to Ulrich. Ulrich, her first boyfriend, and hoping to be her only one. Some time had passed since Ulrich had gained enough courage to ask Yumi out. Then, Yumi made a shocking realization- she hadn't told her parents that she had started dating Ulrich. She had a small panic attack. She had better come clean quick before her parents found out. Yumi went into her bag and grabbed paper and a pencil. She sat at the table, and looked at her brother, she took her pencil and began tapping Morse code on the paper for Hiroki to hear. Hiroki's head perked towards the direction of the noise, and realized that Yumi was speaking to him.

"Hiroki, I have something important to say"

Hiroki then started to drum his fingers on the table to respond to Yumi.

"What is it Yumi?"

"Well, me and Ulrich started to date…"

Hiroki then started to laugh, and this caught the attention of his mom and dad. Yumi gave a mean glare at Hiroki thinking that he had blown her cover.

"Is… everything alright son?" asked Takeo.

"Sorry, I just remembered a funny joke Johnny told me this morning," said Hiroki rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Okay then, Koi-Koi!" announced their father placing the cards in a pile.

Hiroki gulped while Yumi glared daggers at him; both then continued on with their Morse code conversation.

"Gee, thanks Hiroki!"

"Sorry Yumi, I'm glad that you two finally are dating, but what's the problem?"

"Um, we've been dating for awhile, but I haven't told mom or dad yet,"

"You're going to be in so much trouble when you tell them!"

"I know, should I just tell them that I just got asked out tonight?"

"Yeah, and then tell Ulrich that. Also, dad might not be too happy about you dating anyone he hasn't met,"

"That's a good point. I'll tell them now and see how it plays out,"

"Good luck," ended Hiroki in Morse code before putting full attention back in the card game.

Yumi gave a sigh, and then she cleared her throat. She thought that this would be the perfect time to give her announcement since the family was there together.

"Hey mom, dad, I have something important to tell you," said Yumi.

"Yes, what is it dear?" asked Akiko, Yumi's mother, as she cleaned up after dinner.

Yumi swallowed and began to explain, hoping for the best, "Well, remember when I told you why I was staying out so late? It has to do with that."

Takeo and Akiko immediately swung their heads around to see what Yumi had to say. Akiko then came into the main room and sat down.

"Go on?" eagerly said Takeo pushing the card game to the side.

"Hey! I almost had a Koi-Koi!" protested Hiroki folding his arms.

"Well, like I said awhile back, I kept coming home late because I really like a boy. Now that boy has asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes," explained Yumi.

Takeo and Akiko looked at each other with the look of "our little girl has grown up" and then they turned around to look back at Yumi.

"Okay, who is it? Come one don't keep me waiting!" smiled Takeo now happy to have an explanation of Yumi's poor behavior.

"Um, Ulrich Stern?" said Yumi.

Takeo's smile turned into a frown, and then he stood up and paced the room for a moment. He stopped pacing and then looked back at Yumi with a stern look on his face.

"Is this the same Ulrich that Hiroki keeps teasing you about?"

"Yes sir."

"Really? How long have you known him?" asked Takeo.

"Since I first went to school here dad," smiled Yumi.

"What are his grades like?" asked Takeo putting his arms behind his back.

"Pretty decent," lied Yumi.

"Does he take part in any sports?" asked Yumi's father now rubbing his chin.

"He plays soccer, and he's also into Penak Silat," explained Yumi.

Takeo paced the room for another minute, and then looked over at Akiko who nodded at her husband. Takeo gave a sigh, and then looked back at Yumi.

"Hmm, okay Yumi this is what I'm going to do. I won't say anything until I meet him, but I would like it if he would come over for lunch tomorrow so I can talk to him," said Takeo.

Yumi smiled. She was expecting her father to sharply reply with "No way! I will never let you date!", but this is definitely better than expected. She stood up and hugged her father while giving a little giggle.

"That's great daddy! Oh thank you, thank you thank you!" smiled Yumi kissing her father's cheek, "I promise you'll like him; he's a really great guy!"

"I sure hope so, for his sake," replied Takeo, looking over at Hiroki who was now holding back laughter.

"Okay Yumi, now go off to bed, and if your boyfriend calls tonight tell him what your father had said," smiled Yumi's mother. She returned to the kitchen to finish cleaning up.

Yumi ran up the stairs and got ready for bed. She heard her phone ring as she got into her pajamas. To her relief and satisfaction, the caller ID showed up as Ulrich. She answered the phone and put it up to her ear.

"Ulrich?"

"No Yumi, it's Odd," joked Ulrich with a tinge of sarcasm. He was laying in bed watching Odd play with Kiwi.

"Okay, Odd, what'd you call for?" asked Yumi.

"Just wanted to call to see what you were doing," smiled Ulrich.

Odd was making kissing faces in the background at Kiwi. Ulrich rolled over to face the wall, ignoring Odd's gestures.

"I'm doing fine thanks for asking. I told my family about you and my father wants you to come over tomorrow," smiled Yumi.

"Really? Did your dad say anything about it?" asked Ulrich.

"He asked a few questions but wants to meet you before he says anything," said Yumi.

"Well, that's better than expected. I'll come over then," said Ulrich.

"Okay well I got to go now, I'll see you tomorrow at school," yawned Yumi.

"Goodnight Yumi," smiled Ulrich. He pushed the end call button and tossed his cell onto his bag.

"So, what'd she say?" asked Odd playing with Kiwi.

Ulrich rolled back over to see Odd tossing his dog in the air, "Her dad wants to meet me tomorrow during lunch."

"Well that's better than expected. I was thinking that her dad would have planned to put you on a stake in the front of their yard to warn all others," smiled Odd.

"Very funny Odd," said Ulrich picking up his soccer ball.

"You think William harassed Yumi tonight?" asked Odd.

"Probably, but Yumi would have turned him down. Hate to say it but Mason may actually be right about us coming clean to William," the boy admitted tossing his ball up and down.

"What do you mean come clean to William?"

"To tell William that Yumi and I are dating now, but I don't want to make a big deal out of it. Plus, I'm worried that telling him would make him just harass Yumi more," replied Ulrich dropping the ball on the floor.

"A good point there Ulrich," said Odd falling back on his bed, "But on the other hand, William can be a cool guy most of the time. If he knew that Yumi wasn't available maybe it'd make things easier on both of you."

"Perhaps, but I'll think more on it tomorrow. Right now I'm too tired to worry about anyone else," he replied. Ulrich grabbed the covers and pulled them over himself before laying stomach up in his bed.

Odd thought about today's mission, and the fact that X.A.N.A. hadn't bothered to put up a good fight. Then, he suddenly thought about something which was worth asking Ulrich as part of one of their many midnight conversations.

"Hey Ulrich," said Odd.

"Yeah?" asked Ulrich.

"What do you think happened on Lyoko today with Aelita?" asked Odd.

"Nothing happened...just a glitch like we talked about at the factory. I bet Einstein is looking into it now even though he said tomorrow," replied Ulrich.

A moment passed by before Odd piped up again, "Hey Ulrich?"

"What Odd?" asked Ulrich beginning to get annoyed at his friend.

"What would you think would happen if the world knew our secret?" asked Odd putting down Kiwi on his bed.

Ulrich was silent for a minute, "Everyone would want to shut down the supercomputer, and try to get us into trouble. Then we'd get arrested for all the illegal things Jeremy has probably done for the sake of our secret and Aelita. Even worse than that is that they could take us from our parents. Then imagine the trouble our parents could be in...why are you asking that Odd? You know we're not really supposed to talk about stuff like that."

"Sheesh Ulrich, just wondering. Sometimes I catch myself wondering if the world will ever discover our secret life of crime fighting and world saving," sighed Odd looking over at Ulrich, "I just want to be appreciated...even if it's just for a little bit."

"Well that's what we signed up for, life endangerment and thankless job opportunity," snickered Ulrich fluffing his pillow.

"Okay then goodnight,"

During that time, Mason had just climbed the stairs to get to his new dorm room with Jeremy. Mason was thinking about the mission to Lyoko today, and his thoughts slowly took him back to remembering his encounter in the woods. Sweat began to form on his forehead as he accidentally bumped into someone- snapping him out of his trance.

Mason spat out a quick apology before looking up to see that it was Emily, "Oh, hello! What are you doing here so late?"

Emily lifted up his backpack, "When you disappeared during the film, you forgot this in your seat."

"Gee thanks, I would have been in trouble if I had lostmy backpack," chuckled Mason slinging the bag over his shoulder.

Emily gave a little smile. Mason returned the smile and then squinted as if to inspect something about her.

"What's wrong?" asked Emily as she started to feel a little flustered by his stare.

"There's something different about you today, and I can't put my finger on it," replied Mason walking around Emily in a circle.

"What? I bet it's the dark circles under my eyes, I haven't been able to sleep lately,"she joked.

Mason was about to turn the doorknob to his and Jeremy's room before getting hung on the last thing Emily had said, "I was thinking that you parted your hair differently. Wait, why have you not been able to sleep?"

"I think its because I've studied really hard for final exams recently, and not to mention that I had this recurring nightmare the last few days," replied Emily shaking her head.

"Oh really? Care to share what your dream is?" asked Mason.

"Well, I was the forest, with you. Then, someone came out of the woods with a gun, and shot at you. I couldn't recognize the person who shot you, but he seemed oddly familiar," replied Emily trying to remember the horrific dream, "I usually wake up before he tries to shoot me though."

Mason eyes widened. He thought that the return to the past erases all memory of what happened in a X.A.N.A. attack. He just had to play it cool, and then he could talk to Jeremy about it.

"Oh, really? That's a strange dream, but as you can see, I'm alive," smirked Mason flexing his arm muscles.

"Yeah that's nice," smiled Emily, "I mean...nice that you're clearly alive and...well good night!" she darted towards the stairs before she could tangle her words even more.

"Yeah, good night," replied Mason closing the dorm door.

"Have a nice talk with Emily lover-boy?" smirked Jeremy typing on his computer.

"Har-har Jeremy. Say, do you know if people can dream about past X.A.N.A. attacks?" asked Mason.

Jeremy recalled his previous experience with that particular situation, "Yeah we've seen it happen before, William mentioned it happening before we let him into the group. Why do you ask?"

"Emily said she had a dream about the incident with Max and I."

"Oh, well, as long as nobody says anything it'll be just a dream to her. She'll probably get over it and forget about it once exams are over with," explained Jeremy.

"Ah, I see, well goodnight," Mason said getting into his pajama wear.

"Goodnight, I'll be up for a while doing a super scan for our good old friend X.A.N.A, so don't expect me to get to bed anytime soon," said Jeremy opening the super scanner program.

"Great, another night of bad sleep caused by Jeremy's monitor," thought Mason to himself as he turned in.

Everyone accept Jeremy went to sleep. In the girl's hall, things were beginning to get bad for Aelita. As she fell deeper into slumber, her nightmares became more intense. This nightmare was no longer with Mr. Puck, but now she herself was in the dream. She was in the middle of the forest, and when she turned around, a massive black wolf was behind her growling and flashing the eye of X.A.N.A. in its eyes. Suddenly the voice of her father could be heard echoing throughout the woods.

"Run Aelita, Run away from here!" yelled her father's voice.

Aelita did what she was told, and started to run into the forest. The wolf ran behind trying to grab a hold of her, but Aelita managed to hide behind a rock. The wolf then disappeared, and when Aelita came out from hiding, the wolf lunged at her with intensity. Aelita woke up in terror, and she was sweating. She looked around and found Mr. Puck on the floor, and held him tightly.

"It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare, nightmares aren't real!" denied Aelita holding Mr. Puck close.

When Aelita came to her senses, she did what Yumi had suggested and opened her journal and wrote down the nightmare in great detail. She then closed the journal, and would share it with Yumi tomorrow. She then got up and went to the bathroom. She turned on the faucet to let cold water gather in the sink, and then splashed it on her face. She looked in the mirror and then behind her to make sure the wolf didn't follow her, but then she realized she was being ridiculous. A few minutes passed as she continually splashed the water on her face before she felt calm enough to go back to her room.

She walked down the hall until she came to her dorm room door. She caught herself being paranoid again as she looked down both parts of the hallway. She shook her head, opened the door and quickly closed it behind her. Aelita then got back into her bed, and snuggled into the sheets. She saw Mr. Puck sitting nearby, and held him close.

"Goodnight Mr. Puck," smiled Aelita to herself as she closed her eyes.