Jeremie stared at the screen. This made no sense. According to the readings on the screen, X.A.N.A. had created a scanner, somewhere far outside the factory.

At that moment, the elevator opened behind him, and Yumi stepped in.

"Do they need help on Lyoko?"

"No, actually. They're managing just fine. I have another job for you." He pointed at the screen. "See here? This shows that X.A.N.A. has created a new scanner that has direct access to Lyoko."

"You think he's going to materialize some monsters?"

"Could be. I need you to go there, now. Make sure the area is safe."

Yumi nodded, and Jeremie programmed some directions into her phone.

"Good luck!" Jeremie called.

"Same to you and the others!"

Yumi exited the elevator. Grabbing her skateboard, she quickly made her way. It was a good thing she was a fast skateboarder, she had a lot of ground to travel.

Though not as stylishly as Odd would have, she arrived at the location the scanner was within fifteen minutes.

"Yumi," Jeremie's voice rang out on the earpiece that was connected to Yumi's phone, "X.A.N.A's starting up the scanner, make sure that everyone stays clear. Oh, my readings also report that the scanner isn't in the form of a regular scanner, but is somehow disguised to fit in with the surroundings."

"Gotcha Jeremie," Yumi said. She looked up to find herself at her destination. A supermarket parking lot.

Around her mothers with their children milled about. "You are evil, X.A.N.A." Yumi whispered to herself. "Attacking a place filled with so many innocents."

Back on Lyoko, the monsters kept coming. But nothing too hard, just legions of kankrelats.

Aelita manipulated, Odd fired, and Ulrich's copies attacked while Ulrich blocked the shots aimed at Aelita.

Yumi ran around the store, before she got a message that it was not in the actual building.

Yumi left, looking around. Nothing near her resembled a scanner. Mothers pushed shopping carts, a little Chinese boy begged his mother to buy him caramel ice-cream, an Arabic couple put their young daughter on a mini carousel.

"Excuse me!" Yumi called out to an employee, who was taking a break. "Excuse me, but could you tell me what here is-" Yumi struggled for the words "new?"

It was the only way she could think of finding the scanner. If Jeremie's computer hadn't picked up on it sooner, then it meant the disguised scanner was newer to the establishment.

The employee took it the wrong way. "Well, we have a new shipment of tilapia, and some great new apples. We've just subscribed to this new farm and-"

"No, I mean like, things."

He stared at her.

"Never mind," Yumi said.

Then she heard a gasp.

Yumi whipped around to find herself watching the mother of the girl on the carousel. The little girl, who looked about two, had been riding around, when all off the sudden, walls began descending from the top of the carousel.

"NO!" Yumi and the mother cried at the exact same time. The little girl's eyes widened with shock, before the walls closed completely.

There was a whirring, mechanical sound, and then the walls retracted.

The little girl was gone.

On Lyoko Odd was flipping around, taking out the last of the kankrelats.

Aelita headed for the tower.

Ulrich had just been devirtualized.

Suddenly, an outline appeared in the sky, indicating a new arrival.

"Thanks for the help Einstein," Odd called, assuming Jeremie had sent Yumi in, "but as you can see, we're all set here."

"What are you talking about, Odd?" Jeremie's voice rang out.

Odd looked back at the figure being virtualized. Odd could see that is was not Yumi.

The figure landed on the ground. She looked like an Arabian princess, with long ribbons tied around each arm. She looked up at Odd, and he ran closer. Up close he could see that she was little, no older than two.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita's voice rang out.

"Uh, Jeremie," Odd yelled, as the little girl began to whimper. "We have a problem."

Back on Earth, the Lyoko Warriors looked down at the crying girl.

Jeremie had materialized her, but the damage was done. "What are we going to go with her?" Yumi asked.

"What's wrong with returning her home?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremie and Aelita exchanged worried glances. "She's been scanned," Jeremie said. "She knows about Lyoko, the factory, and our identities."

Aelita bent down and picked up the distraught toddler. "Don't worry, don't worry," she whispered soothingly. "Everything's going to be alright, alright." The little girl stopped crying slightly, and contented herself to whimpering sadly. "I'm taking her outside. She could use some fresh air."

Outside, Aelita took her on a walk. "Poor baby," she said. "Poor little girl. Don't worry, we'll find out everything." She texted Jeremie, telling him to call her when they had reached a decision, and then took the girl on a walk through the town.

Back in the factory, Ulrich shook his head. "Look, she's what, two! There's no way she'll say anything. We'll just bring her home, and she'll think it was a bad dream."

"She's not stupid, Ulrich," Jeremie said.

"Well, what's she gonna do?" Odd said. "I think we should send her back."

Ulrich and Yumi seconded him. Jeremie hesitated. "Alright, I'll run a return trip. She'll come to at home, think it was a bad dream, and then forget all about it."

Back in the town, Aelita was showing the girl around town. "My your precocious! Aren't you!"

A white light flashed, and everything reverted.

But not all was well. The little girl may have been in shock when by the others, but once she was back at home, she cried nonstop.

Her parents, worried, brought her to the doctor a few towns over, into the same town the Lyoko Warriors lived in.

The doctors had suggested that something was bothering their daughter, and that they should try and find out.

So they let their daughter down, and, having a memory like an elephant, she led them straight to the factory.

The parents followed her into the elevator, and found the Lyoko Warriors at the computer.

Soon the place was swarming with cops, so Jeremie ran a return trip, and further guarded the factory.

But now, she had even further experience, and it took her quicker to alert the authorities to their hideout.

Four more times, return trips were run, and each time they were found out, each time quicker than the last.

Aelita suggested changing doctors, but by the time they tried that, the little girl was already so knowledgeable about the factories location, that the authorities were there within hours of the latest return trip.

Jeremie even tried getting them to move away, but they were still found out.

"Of all the little kids to accidentally scan," Odd wailed, "we get the one with parents who would follow her to the end of the Earth, and the most precocious kid on Earth."

The group was sitting in the factory, after a new return trip.

"What do we do, Einstein?" Yumi asked Jeremie.

He looked up at her. "Here's the conclusion I've come to. You're not going to like it, so let me have my say before you all jump down my throat." He took a deep breath. "She will not, ever forget, and we can't return time any further than we already have, so each time we rewind time, she'll just drag her parents and the authorities to the factory. So, we can't return her to her parents."

There was a slightly stunned silence. "What are you suggesting, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

Jeremie looked at them. "We have no option. She can't stay with her parents, or anyone else who would report us to the authorities."

A very long pause followed this.

Then,

"You're saying you want to kidnap her," Yumi said.

Jeremie's eyes welled with tears. "No! More than anything no! The last thing I want is for anyone's family to be torn apart! I would never ever ever want that!" He took a deep breath. "I'm not saying I want to do that. I'm saying we have to."