Here's chapter three!

Jeremy was already at the computer, typing away when the elevator arrived, dropping his three friends out.

"Hey guys," he said, not looking away from the screen. "That was fast."

"Uh, yeah," Ulrich said, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Jeremy looked like he had been at the factory for a few minutes at the least, and they had been fast? Ulrich shrugged off the comment and came to stand behind Jeremy, leaning against the blonde's chair. "Any idea what Xana's up to yet?"

Jeremy shook his head. "None. He's still jumping between towers, which doesn't make any sense. He can't attack us that way."

"That's what Aelita told us," Yumi said, standing next to Ulrich.

"Do you think it's some kind of evasive thing?" Ulrich asked, "Maybe Xana thinks that by jumping between towers he can confuse us and have you send us to the wrong sector."

"No, I don't think that's it," Jeremy said. "He's following a pattern. I don't think that's what he would do if he wanted to confuse us. Besides, he's not just hiding in the towers. He's taking information from them."

"What for?" Aelita asked curiously. Jeremy shrugged.

"No clue. But I'm sure whatever it is, it won't be good for us."

"So why don't we go to Lyoko and stop him?" Ulrich asked.

"What could you do?" Jeremy asked, turning to look at his friend. "Xana keeps jumping from tower to tower so fast that, by the time I send you to one sector, he'd be in the next one. And yes, you could wait to intercept him when he returned, but how would you attack him? He isn't a physical being for you to see and fight. He's just data that's entering the tower."

"So what do we do?" Yumi asked.

"For now, nothing."

"Nothing?" Ulrich said, "For all we know, Xana is putting together his most dangerous plan yet, and you want us to do nothing!?"

"Yes, I do," Jeremy said, his voice firm. "It's like you said- 'for all we know'. We don't know that much. And even if we did, we still can't do anything about it yet. Sending you three to Lyoko would only put you in danger, and personally I don't think this group needs to lose any more members."

The look in Jeremy's eyes silenced any further argument from Ulrich. This resulted in a rather awkward silence among the group.

"So, Jeremy," Yumi said, not liking the silence. "You said that Xana was traveling around the towers in a pattern. What did you mean?" Jeremy gave Yumi a small smile, thankful for the change of topic, and turned back to his computer.

"You know how the towers are arranged, fifteen to a sector, in straight lines all pointing the Carthage, with the last tower in Carthage itself, right?" Jeremy's question was met with blank stares. "Well they are," he said. "Xana started with one of the towers at the edge of Lyoko and moved in a circle around the four end towers. Then he moved on the next row, like in a spiral. I assume he'll go Carthage last."

"So how does this help us?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm not sure. Although, it did lead me to find something that supports my theory about Odd being captured."

"Really?" three voices asked in unison, their owners becoming immediately becoming more attentive.

"How?" Ulrich asked. Jeremy began tapping away at his keyboard again.

"I was wondering why Xana might leave Carthage till last, so I decided to take a look at the sector," he said, pulling up the holographic image of Lyoko's hub sector. What the image showed had everyone gasping. "I thought you might be able to tell me what it was."

"Jeremy, that's a Guardian," Aelita whispered, staring at the great orange sphere that encircled Carthage.

"You mean those monsters that trapped you and Yumi?" Jeremy asked. Yumi nodded.

"The very same, although those ones were only big enough to hold a single person. That thing is enormous!"

"Maybe this thing is why Xana's going around all the towers," Ulrich suggested. "He needs to find a way around it." Jeremy shook his head.

"I don't think so. Xana does control the Guardians, after all. No I think this Guardian, while bigger, is doing just like the other ones did. It's got someone trapped inside it."

"Odd!" Aelita said. Jeremy nodded.

"Exactly. I think that Xana has…uh, what is he doing?"

"What?" Ulrich asked, "What is who doing?"

"It's Xana," Jeremy said, all his attention focused on the computer. "He's been in that tower longer then he should have been. I think he's realized that we're watching him."

"So does this mean we have a tower to deactivate?" Ulrich asked; sounding, in Jeremy's opinion, a bit too excited.

"Yes. Get down to the scanner rooms, I'll send you to the tower. And guys," he added as the group headed for the elevator. "Be careful." He gave them a meaningful look.

"Don't worry Jeremy, we will be," Aelita assured him. Yumi and Ulrich nodded in agreement, and then the three disappeared into the elevator.

The small group rode down to the scanner room in silence, Jeremy's parting words hanging heavy over them. Eventually the elevator banged to stop, jolting the trio from their thoughts. They spilled out of the machine, each heading for a scanner and climbing in.

"Ready?" Jeremy asked, his voice echoing strangely in the scanners.

"Yes Jeremy," Aelita said.

"Whenever you're ready Einstein."

"Alright. Transfer Aelita. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Yumi."

Ulrich took a deep breath as the familiar rush of air burst from the floor of the scanner, blowing his hair back.

"Scanner."

He could feel the machine scanning him, reading who he was and preparing the proper form for Lyoko.

"Virtualization."

Ulrich shut his eyes as a stronger burst of air hit him and he felt his body being pulling apart and sucked into the world of Lyoko.

Okay, there it is. Just wanted to point out how I didn't have Jeremy say everyone's names when he said Scanner. I'm taking some creative license here, because I have parts where I feel like all those names kinda mess with the flow of action. And I know today was short, but you get some (longer) action tomorrow.