Jade itched the back of her neck in boredom as the principal droned on about the new stadium that was being built on campus. Out of her group of friends, the only one who seemed truly interested in the procedure was Ulrich; he was looking forward to schooling more of his classmates in soccer. "This magnificent stadium is being built in close cooperation with the Board of Education," Delmas continued, his bushy mustache bouncing on his aged face. "Soon, you will be enjoying the latest in school equipment, and I am personally delighted, since my duty is to provide you with the finest conditions possible, and in all the areas, both intellectual and athletic." About her, the other students began to whisper and giggle with excitement, the possibilities of the future seeming endless. "Just as many juveniles say, a sound mind, and a sound body…"

"Wow," Odd whispered to his comrades around him, "can he talk! Do we really have to listen to all this?"

"Not really," Ulrich mused, shaking his head. "You could've stayed with Jeremy if you wanted too." He noted the two, huge bulldozers behind his principal; how cool would it be to drive one of those?

"What is Einstein up to, anyway?" Yumi asked inattentively, already knowing the answer.

"The usual," Jade responded quietly, an amused smile on her lips as she thought of her intellectually gifted friend. "He's glued to his computer screen in a big cyber conversation with his darling Aelita." Yumi smiled, glad that her lonely friend was finally finding someone he could connect to in an intellectual manner. Odd began making obnoxious kissy noises, pretending to French kiss his hand to the snickered laughs of his surrounding friends.

"Odd," Delmas called from the front of the group, "mind explaining to the group exactly what you're doing?" As Odd stuttered some explanation, his classmates around him erupted into laughter.

Back in Jeremy's room, the young programmer was hard at work, his fingers whizzing across the keyboard, trying to race time itself as he made his best effort to bring his crush to Earth. "Just a few more calculations to go, and my devirtualization process will be complete."

Aelita's face brightened into a smile as she thought about what it would be like to live on earth… to feel of the wind, to hear the birds singing…to be able to hold Jeremy's hand. "Do you really think that it will work, Jeremy?" she blurted out, her pink head bobbing in excitement. "Do I really have a chance to be dematerialized and becoming someone of your world, someone like you?" Jeremy munched on his fruity candy with a grin, wondering at how even over a digital screen she was still a beauty to behold.

"I sure hope so," Jeremy nodded. "One thing's for sure; I've never been closer to the answer than I am now."

"Honestly, it's so hard to believe," Aelita sighed as her mind began to wander in a common daydream. "We can be face to face in the same room together, we can touch each other, we can even kiss." Jeremy's face had never felt hotter as it burned with a severe blush.

"Uh, yeah," he choked, pounding on his chest to dislodge the candy piece that had wedged itself in his throat. "That, uh would be, um….interesting! Oh, uh… I guess…" God, how could girls express themselves so well? How could they be so comfortable with this kinda' stuff!? As Aelita watched him adoringly through the screen, she grinned in content; sure, he was awkward, but his awkwardness simply added to his charm for her. "Anyway," he continued, shaking his head to clear the visions of their lips touching in his mind, "get ready; I'm starting the test program." He lightly tapped the enter key, and the screen immediately swept Aelita's expectant face to the side of the screen, and in the center, appeared her body's devirtualization profile. Steady beeping and a pulsation of light told Jeremy that the program was being ran. He sat with a moist brow and gritted teeth as he prayed for success.

The screen disappeared, and as the program powered down loudly, a red exclamation mark appeared on the screen, turning about slowly, tauntingly. "I don't get it," Jeremy whimpered, burying his face into the comfort of his arms, which were folded on the computer desk.

"It's not the end of the world," Aelita said comfortingly from across the digital void, her voice heavy with disappointment. "I'm sure that one day, Jeremy, you will succeed."

"Oh, Aelita," Jeremy moaned in frustration, shaking his head furiously, disgusted with his failure, "I'm…I'm beginning to wonder if I'm up to the job, if I'm good enough for such a complicated program." Aelita's face warped in sadness and disagreement; to her, he was absolutely perfect. When Jeremy saw her face, he felt extreme guilt, and looked away from the monitor. "I'm sorry, Aelita, I'm just tired and jumpy, that's all," he assured her. "I better go outside and stretch my legs. See you later." As he left the room, leaving the young lady all alone in her virtual planet, Jeremy felt his disappointment in himself grow; if he was smarter, if he was better, maybe he wouldn't be wandering the grounds all alone. Maybe, Aelita would be there, holding his hand.

He strode down the hall and stared out the window at the end, taking cleansing breaths, trying to calm his frustration. Down the hall, just out of his hearing range, the twins walked by Jeremy's door, on their way to Odd's room. As they passed by Jeremy's room, they saw that the door wasn't all the way closed.

"That's weird," Jade noted quietly.

"Jeremy?" Odd called into the door, pushing it open slowly. As the pair walked in, Jeremy turned at the sound of a door creaking. He began walking back towards his room, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. "What's this? Looks like Jeremy's materialization program," Odd said, sitting at the computer chair. "Oh, look, candy!" Odd quipped, grabbing the bag hastily, popping a few pieces in his mouth.

"Odd," Jade sighed, "That's not yours, you-"

"GUYS!" Jeremy's shrill voice caused the two warriors to jump in fright. Odd's hand squeezed the bag of candy, causing the bag's contents to fly into the air and around them. "How many times have I told you not to touch my computer when I'm not around? There is months of work in there!"

"Relax," Odd smiled, holding up his hands in surrender. "I didn't hurt your little toy."

"Odd," Jade snapped at her brother's snide comment. "Watch your tongue!" Jade and Odd had a secret the other's didn't know; their parents weren't more than kids themselves. With no real mother and father, they were all the other had.

"Oh, no," Jeremy sighed, plopping down into the computer chair. "You're such a cosmic creep," he glowered at Odd. "Now look at what you've done! Those keys are very sensitive." Odd hummed, smirking at Jeremy's over reaction. Jade elbowed him roughly in the ribs, and he grunted in frustration.

"Okay, okay. A little piece of candy isn't going to wreck your keyboard." Jade glared at her brother, irritated with his lack of sincerity. Jeremy wiped the scattered pieces off his keyboard quickly, mumbled in irritation.

Suddenly, he froze, his eyes staring at the computer screen in disbelief. "This is crazy," he whispered. "This is really mega insane!" He shook his head in surprise, eyes wide behind the lenses of his glasses. His hands began flying across the keyboard, pressing the keys deftly. Odd yawned in boredom and stretched, stuffing his face with another handful of sweets, while Jade leaned over her friend's shoulder, trying to see what it was that he was seeing.

"Jeremy, what's happening?" she asked inquisitively. Jeremy remained silent, and quietly tapped the enter key. Aelita's portrait appeared once more on the monitor, and the inquisitive beeping began again.

"Yes, it worked!" Jeremy suddenly shouted, hopping out of his chair and dancing about the room. "Odd, you're a genius, you know that?"

"Hey, make up your mind," Odd sighed with a grin. "Am I a genius, or a creep?"

"You're a creepy genius," Jeremy replied, bending back over the keyboard. "You didn't do it on purpose, but by dropping the candies on the keyboard, you modified and relaunched my program! I don't know exactly how or what happened, but it works! Thanks, Odd!"

"Who's an Einstein now?" Odd grinned, shooting his pal a thumbs up. "So what now? Are you going to materialize Aelita.

"Well…yeah. The problem is I only get one try and that's it. But that's because I didn't see what kind of program the candy typed in."

"Yeah, so?" Odd grinned.

"There's only one Aelita," Jade smirked, winking at Jeremy.

"Go and tell the others," Jeremy said, his grin so wide, Jade was sure he was going to crack his face. "I'll tell the good news to Aelita." The twins dashed from the room, whispering in excitement. To finally have one of their best friends on Earth with them? This had been their goal for months now.

They found Ulrich and Yumi practicing their martial arts in the gym, and wasted no time with words; they simply grabbed each of their friends wrists and began dragging them along.

"Where's the fire guys?" Yumi asked, trying to pull her hand from Jade's iron grip.

"Yeah, cool it! What's going on?" Ulrich grumbled, trying to keep up with Odd's reckless pace.

"No time to explain," Odd said, dragging their friends quickly into the dorm hall. They crashed into Jeremy's room, and the four panted heavily, trying to regain their composure.

"Someone want to explain to me why I was just dragged like Kiwi on a leash across campus?" Ulrich finally growled, frustration coating his voice.

"Jeremy has some exciting news," Jade sang, bouncing on her toes, nodding in encouragement to her be-speckled friend. While her brother, Ulrich, and Yumi flopped onto Jeremy's bed to catch their breath, Jeremy spun around in his chair, the giant grin still in place.

"I did it. I made the materialization program, and I can now bring Aelita to Earth." The room was still, and no one dared to breath for several seconds. Finally, with a frown, Yumi shook her head in denial.

"Jeremy, hold on," she cautioned, her lips taunt.

"Yumi, it's now or never, we may not get a second chance!" Jeremy argued, leaping from his computer chair. "What if there's some kind of bug?" he mused, pacing the room heatedly. "I'll never be able to set up the program again!" Jeremy's cheeks flushed; he hated how his voice cracked. It made his argument sound weak, childish, and invalid.

"Listen, you can't just materialize Aelita like that without making a lot of preparations." Jeremy growled in anger, his hands fisting in his hair. Jade gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze, but he swatted her hand away in anger, not wanting the groups comfort, just wanting their conformity.

"I've boosted all the scanners. I've got the program going, everything is ready." Jeremy glared at each of his friends in turn, before whipping back to the monitors and sitting rigidly in the chair.

"Yeah, in your head," Ulrich scoffed, unimpressed with his scrawny friend's show of force. "Come back to Earth, Jeremy. Try to be practical for once; Aelita has no parents, and she hasn't got a birth certificate. What's more, she isn't enrolled in any school."

"She could come here. No one knows anything about the Della Robbia family, their so distant," Jade pipped in, want to be proactive. "We could say she is our cousin or something."

"Okay, fine," Ulrich nodded. "But all those other things together means she doesn't exist in our world."

"Imagine," Odd smirked, ever less serious than his sister. "Hi, I'm Aelita, and I just got here from a virtual reality." Odd batted his eyelashes flirtatiously at Jeremy, imitating Aelita's higher voice. "That's a one way ticket to the nut house," he chuckled, giving Jeremy a thumbs up.

"Cut it out," Jade growled, glaring at her twin. Odd rolled his eyes and avoided his sister's gaze, finding a fleck of paper on the carpet suddenly very interesting. "Jeremy, although my bone headed brother is a moron, he has a point," she continued on softly.

"You know, Jeremy," Aelita's soft voice came over the computer speakers, "it doesn't have to be today." She had listened quietly to the groups argument, and despite wanting to get to see the world they lived in, she agreed with Ulrich and the others. "I can wait…" Jeremy growled in anger, throwing his hands into the air and staring at the ceiling.

"Well, what do we do now?" he shouted, removing his glasses heatedly and rubbing at his eyes.

"I could put her up at my house, my folks wouldn't mind," Yumi offered. As Jade watched, she saw a shadow of sadness in her Japanese friend's eyes; no one in the group knew of the trouble Yumi had at home.

"And you could plug into the city hall computers!" Ulrich smiled, encouraged by Yumi's trailblazing attitude. "You could create a phony identity for her. Find her a new name, ya' know, all the stuff she needs."

"Then all you have to do is enroll her in our school," Jade smirked, bouncing her own suggestions off of her secret crushes.

"Try and enroll her in our classes," Odd winked at Jeremy, "That'd be really cool, huh?" The room fell silent once more, and only Aelita could see the dejected glaze that had coated Jeremy's eyes. He wanted her with him that very second, but he could see the wisdom in his friends' advice.

"Okay," he finally surrendered, "we'll get started first thing tomorrow. The other's agreed that was best, and each wandered off to their own rooms, excited for the work ahead of them.

Jeremy awoke suddenly late that evening, and after glancing about in the dark recesses of his room a moment, his slid on his glasses and hopped onto his computer chair. "Aelita," he called, putting on his headset hastily. "Are you asleep?"

"A few seconds passed, and suddenly the pink haired girl's flawless face appeared on his screen. "Am I asleep?" she giggled sweetly. "Come on, Jeremy. You know that virtual beings never sleep." Jeremy squashed the butterflies in his stomach; he felt they were so unnecessary. I mean, every time she laughed, smiled, even said his name, he could feel his control slipping. Although he wanted to maintain control over himself… he hoped that this feeling never vanished.

"I can't sleep a wink," he choked, trying to keep his voice even. "I can't stop thinking about your materialization program. I can't imagine all the things you're going to discover in our world."

"You mean like sleeping?" she winked, sending another shiver through his wiry frame.

"That's right," he chuckled, smiling at his virtual friend. "That and all sorts of things."

"Tell me more," she whispered excitedly, trying to keep a handle on her own emotions.

"Well, when you touch an object with your fingers, you have, uh, a kind of sensation. It could be a feeling of softness, or of heat… it can even be cold."

"Oh, I see," Aelita grinned, mulling it over. "I thought you only sensed with your brain."

"That's right, but it's a little more complicated than that," Jeremy sighed, trying to find a new way of explaining things. How could you explain the senses to someone who hadn't been born with the wiring to comprehend it? "Here on Earth, everyone has five senses. You, Aelita, well, you only have two of them; hearing and seeing. I mean, you can only see and hear."

"Speaking of hearing…"

"Soon you'll be able to touch and…" Jeremy bulled over Aelita's interjection, missing the sound of alarm in her voice.

"Jeremy!" she suddenly gasped, cutting off her partner mid-sentence. "I think I just heard X.A.N.A. He's up to something." Outside, Jeremy heard engines revving, wheels crunching over the ground.

"What's all that noise out there?" he stuttered nervously.

"Oh, Jeremy," Aelita cried, irritated beyond belief that their time together was interrupted again, "X.A.N.A's launched an attack!"

"Okay," Jeremy quavered, standing up from the computer chair. "Listen Aelita, go and hide inside a deactivated tower. I'll contact you from the factory." He dashed out of his bedroom door and slammed open the door across the hallway. "Odd, wake up, X.A.N.A's attacking! Odd, WAKE UP!" Odd's eye cracked open slowly.

"Wha…what did you say about carpet jacking?" he yawned, rubbing at his eyes. Jeremy shut the door behind himself, then began shaking Ulrich's sleeping form roughly.

"Ulrich, wake up!" Jeremy shouted. Ulrich swatted his hands away, grumbling to leave him alone. "It's a X.A.N.A alert!" Jeremy shouted directly into his drowsy friend's ear.

"Ahhh!" Ulrich screamed, shooting up in bed. He quickly extracted ear plugs from his ears, before looking at his younger friend in bewilderment. "What did you say?"

"I…said.." Jeremy started slowly, angrily, "IT'S A X.A.N.A ALERT,X.A.N.A IS ATTACKING!" His shrill scream rang about on the room's close walls. After Odd and Ulrich finally removed their hands from over their ears, Odd tilted his head, appraising his roommate.

"Hey, do you always sleep with those things in your ears?" Odd asked, pointing at the ear plugs.

"Yeah, Odd, always," Ulrich sighed, standing up and shaking his head. "And one of these days, I'll tell you why." The trio tiptoed down to the female floor, and slunk down the hallway. Ulrich slipped into the selected room, while Odd and Jeremy kept watch outside.

Ulrich shook the sleeping girl's shoulder gently, and when Jade rolled over and saw Ulrich above her, she could have sworn she was dreaming. "Ulrich?" she sighed dreamily, hopeful that, if it was a dream, she would never have to wake up.

"Come on, Jade, we gotta go, our friendly digital hacking program is at it again," Ulrich whispered, smiling apologetically. Jade sighed and rose out of bed, and as Ulrich slipped out, Jade threw on a bra and a jacket before joining the other's in the hallway. She glanced at her twin brother's messy hair, then smirk over at Ulrich.

"How's his snoring doing so far?" she chuckled.

"What snoring?" Odd growled defensively.

"Oh, nothing," Jade grinned innocently.

"Listen here, punk..." Odd began before he was cut off by Jeremy. Outside, the mechanical rumbling grew louder. The four dashed outside, and saw a confounding sight; two bulldozers, driving themselves.

"No need to look any further, guys," Odd huffed, "this time he picked a real winner. He's attacking us with bulldozers. Way to go X.A.N.A, real subtle."

"Jeremy," Ulrich breathed heavily, "rush over to the factory and call Yumi. Odd and I are going to try to stop these monsters."

"I'm… I'm going with Einstein," Jade said, sounding rather unsure. "There's two dozers, so only you two need to be here, and Aelita could use all the help she could get." The two boys nodded and began sprinting after the machines while Jeremy and Jade headed for the man hole in the forest. Jeremy yanked out his phone and dialed Yumi's number as they clamored clumsily down into the sewers.

"Jeremy, it's three in the flipping morning…" came Yumi's electronic voice over the speaker.

"Yumi, get up! We really need you!" Jeremy shouted into the receiver.

"Do you realize what time it is?" Yumi hissed once more over the phone. They argued for a short time longer, before Yumi confirmed she was on her way to the factory. Jeremy and Jade jumped when a hand shot in between the elevator door and the elevator shaft, stopping it from closing fully, until they saw who it was.

"Ulrich and I couldn't stop the bulldozers," Odd gasped, collapsing against his sister in the elevator. "He stayed behind, to see where their headed." They stopped at the computer room, dropped off Jeremy, then continued to the scanner room.

"Aelita," Jeremy said as soon as he got his headset on, "Jade and Odd are on their way, Yumi should be there soon."

"Hurry!" she cried in his ears. "The pulsations are getting stronger." As he began virtualizing the twins, a cell phone ringing filled is ear piece.

"Ulrich?" Jeremy called tentatively.

"Jeremy, bad news!" came his friend's voice, full of static. "I'm on the riverbed, and X.A.N.A's targeted the factory."

"No more factory means no more computers, and that means no more communication with Aelita…and the scanners! Without them, I can't virtualize her!"

"Well, hurry up and send us to Lyoko!" Jade's panicked voice said through the speakers from the scanner room. "We have to deactivate this tower!" Jeremy proceeded to send his friend's into the virtual world, and Odd suddenly felt himself land heavily on the Lyoko ground. The twins stood up wearily, their cat ears twitching, listening for trouble.

Jade's ear picked up on a kicked pebble, and she whipped about, paws raised to fire an arrow, until she saw it was her friend. "Hi, guys," Aelita waved tentatively, a taunt smile on her mouth.

"A pleasure to see you, mi'lady," Odd said with a extravagant bow.

"Focus, Odd," Jeremy's voice called from above. "We don't have long, get a move on."

"The tower is this way," Aelita said, pointing to the north.

"Then let's get a move on," Jade said as she fell to all fours, dashing across the ground, her tail streaking out behind her. After a few seconds of sprinting along, the mechanical whirring of metal legs rubbing together sounded before them. Ahead, a duo of Kankrelats crawled out from behind a pile of forest rocks.

"Talk about a reception committee," Odd mused, rising to his hind legs and placing himself strategically in front of his charge.

"Kankrelats usually travel in groups of five," Aelita said studiously. From behind, a trio of Kankrelats blocked their exit.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Jade sighed drily, before placing herself behind Aelita, using her body as a shield and sandwiching Aelita between herself and her brother. There was a calm before the storm; the Lyoko atmosphere was tense and apprehensive.

Then, a whirring, that steadily grew louder, filled the air, and the lead Kankrelat shot its first laser at the trio; the battle commenced. The Warriors dodged clumsily, and Jade grabbed Aelita's wrist roughly, throwing her meeker friend behind a tree. "Take cover!" She ordered.

Odd cried out as a laser embedded itself in his leg. Jade slid between his spread legs, shooting a trio of arrows at the attacking monster. The second arrow in the volley found its way into the very center of the monster's Eye, and after stumbling about in pain, it exploded. Odd yanked his sister up by her right paw, and the two back flipped to avoid the retaliating arrows that followed.

Odd landed gracefully from his aerial endeavors, only to be thrown onto his back as another laser slammed into his chest.

"Hey, cool it, would you, Odd? Your mission is to protect Aelita, remember?" Jeremy's pompous voice sounded from above.

"Lay off, four eyes," Jade shouted back, shooting and killing the Kankrelat that had hurt her brother. "Would you like to trade places with us?" Odd rose, wincing, and Jeremy groaned from above, nervous. Odd catapulted his body off of his sister's shoulders, and shot a single arrow at the third monster, and deftly it was destroyed.

"Nice shot!" Jade smiled. Odd turned with his own smile, and opened his mouth to say something when three laser's sliced through Jade's body. His sister fell to her knees, a cry of pain filling the air and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the throb.

"Come on," Aelita cried, tugging on Jade's elbow, dragging her to her feet. "Let's make a run for it!" The trio began their retreat from the battlefield and began heading towards the tower, the path now cleared. Behind them, they could hear the grind of mechanical legs in pursuit.

"Odd?" Jade gasped, as she ran along with the others. When her brother glanced over at her, she gave him a wink. "Take care of Aelita for me." With that, she spun around to face the Kankrelats, and began firing off the remainder of her arrows.

"No, Jade, don't!" Aelita called, skidding to a halt and turning to return to her friend's side. Odd slammed into her and threw her forward with a grunt.

"Get a move on!" he growled, shoving Aelita forward again. "She can handle herself, she knows what she's doing!" The duo continued running, and with a final cry, and a quiet tinkling, the pair knew that Jade had been devirtualized. The pair continued to fly through the sector, and after some time, Odd grew rather impatient.

"Jeremy, I'm starting to get a little lonely out here," Odd sang in a sarcastic sing song voice. Jade, who had just returned to the computer room, was able to smirk through her pants of exhaustion as she looked at the computer monitor in front of Jeremy.

"Really, Odd, can you go three seconds without a crowd to entertain?" she teased, speaking into the mouth piece on Jeremy's headset.

"Oh, beloved sister, I had grown oh so worried about you," Odd sang again. Jade opened her mouth to snap back, but Jeremy hushed her.

"Odd, Yumi is on her way. As for Ulrich…well, let's just say he's fast asleep," Jeremy grinned. Slumped in the corner of the room was Ulrich, unconscious and also unharmed.

"He is? Well, that must be tough, I mean, without his earplugs," Odd mused through the virtual static. Jade tapped Jeremy on the shoulder, getting his attention,

"I'm… I'm gonna go sit with Ulrich, make sure he's okay," Jade stuttered, biting her lip with anxiety. After Jeremy waved her off, she dove to the floor beside Ulrich, checking his pulse, his breathing…everything. She couldn't hide her worry, but to Jeremy, it looked like just a worried, platonic friend.

Yumi was quickly virtualized into the forest sector, and her heels had barely made contact with the sector floor before she was knocked off them. "Get down!" Yumi coughed as the full weight of Odd's body crashed on top of her. The two were behind a tree, and on the other side, the Kankrelats were firing away, hoping to smoke them out.

"Yumi, thank goodness," Aelita sighed, pressing herself nervously against the tree's side, clinging to her cover.

"Aelita, run for it," Yumi commanded before she and Odd darted out from behind the tree. Aelita ran around the other side, heading for the tower, while the two remaining Warriors dealt with the trio. Odd and Yumi rolled and dodged lethally, and just as Yumi killed the first of the three, Odd froze in place. The Kankrelat's shot the feline hero in the chest, and with a gentle tinkling, his virtual molecules fell apart into white wisps as Yumi shouted in frustration.

"Jeremy, we got all the Kankrelats, but it's game over for Odd," she growled, throwing her fan and destroying the last two in one fell swoop. "I'm going to run after Aelita, in case she needs help."

"I don't want to stress you out or anything, but if the scanners are destroyed, you're on a one way trip, Yumi," Jeremy sighed into the headset. Jade's head whipped up from where she sat, cradling Ulrich's head against her shoulder.

"What?" she barked, shocked.

"I don't mind, I'll hurry," she panted, already following the pulsations. "I wouldn't mind a little nap before class." Her joke fell on flat ears; everyone, including Odd who had just came up from the scanner room, was far to worried to laugh at her weak comedy skills.

"Jeremy!" Odd gasped, limping over to Jeremy's master chair and leaning on it for support, "it isn't the scanners she has to worry about. I just had a vision; Yumi falling into the Digital Void."

"Virtualized forever?" Jade squeaked in disbelief.

"I'll… go and help her." Ulrich roused stiffly from his stupor, holding his head as it throbbed in pain. Jade helped him quickly to his feet as the other two boys discouraged him.

"Come on, Ulrich, take a look at yourself! In the shape that you're in, that would be crazy," Jeremy lectured, shaking his head.

"Jade, help me," Ulrich grunted, ignoring the others. Pulling his arm over her supportive shoulders, she began hauling him to the elevator, under the gaze of a disapproving Jeremy and worried Odd. Jeremy began to open his mouth to chastise and berate the two further, but something stopped him.

"Jeremy?" came Aelita's fragile voice through the headset.

"Hold on, Yumi is on her way to help you. Give me a visual." On the screen, so both Odd and Jeremy could see as she did, a Megatank filled the screen, across a hole in the forest floor, with but a sliver of land connecting the island where the Megatank and Tower stood, and the mainland, where Aelita was.

"That's it!" Odd cried, pointing at the screen. "That's right where I saw Yumi fall!" Jeremy wasted no time, and at that moment, began virtualizing Ulrich. Jade ran into the room and began to watch with her two comrades as Aelita dodged around the Megatank's laser attacks. Again and again, the monster fired, and Aelita lucked out each time, being missed by a fraction of an inch. Suddenly, Aelita made a run for the tower, which was still a long ways away.

"No, Aelita, it isn't safe!" Odd shouted angrily at the screen.

"She isn't going to make it," Jade wailed. Aelita could hear the wall of light approach her; the twins were right, she wasn't going to make it, this was it. Aelita squeezed her eyes shut, and braced her impact.

A metallic clang and a shrill of fear and pain filled the air, and as Aelita turned, she saw a terrifying sight; Yumi, using her body as a bullet and slamming into the Megatank's armored side, spinning it on its axis and causing the laser attack to miss Aelita, before the two of them, monster and Warrior, hurdled of the edge of the earth. In the nick of time, Yumi's palm shot out and grabbed the very edge, and as she dangled precariously, a glorious beam of light shot up into the Lyoko sky as the Megatank was completely virtualized.

She could feel her elegant fingers slipping from the edge, and Yumi's heart began to pound in her ears. "Jeremy, I can't hold on any longer," she said, her own voice already sounding clogged and far away, as if she was on another planet, or being held under water.

"Just hold on, Yumi! Aelita's in the tower," Jeremy reassured her, his voice hysterical with worry. To Yumi, his electric voice sounded… quiet, like a glass wall was in between her ear and his words. She knew she wasn't going to make it.

"Yumi, I'm coming!" Ulrich? Ulrich was on Lyoko? No matter. What's done was done.

Her grip slipped, and she fell, fell, fell, fell through time, space, and virtual reality, until her programed molecules touched the Digital Sea, and she fell apart by each atomic bond painlessly. Ulrich's screech of disbelief and pain was suddenly wiped clean as his eyes filled with a blinding white light, and everything he knew fell away.

It was back to the beginning; back to the past, and everything was as it should be. Birds were singing, bulldozers weren't driving themselves, and the principal was droning on about the new equipment the students would be receiving as part of the expansion. However, this time, things weren't as they should be, and Odd, Jade, Ulrich and Yumi weren't listening to the poorly given monologue again.

"I…I never thought that it would become possible. One of us being…" Jeremy stopped unable to finish the sentence. Odd let silent tears fall loosely onto his purple shirt, staring blankly into the distance of the dark computer room, swathed in blue light.

"it's all my fault," Ulrich wailed. "If I had been faster, she'd still be here."

"There's a solution," came Aelita's soft, sad voice over the computer speakers. "And Jeremy knows what it is."

"The materialization program," Jeremy said, eyes wide. His vision suddenly clouded over, and his mouth, which was an "o" in awe, twisted into a bitter frown. "It's operational, but Aelita has to give up her spot here on Earth to Yumi."

Ulrich swallowed hard, and wiped angrily at his eyes as they began to water with hope. "Can you," his voice breaking with sorrow, "can you bring her back here?"

"Yes, but I can only materialize one person," Jeremy sighed. "One and only one." Silence filled the room, save for the computer's clicking and whirring, until Odd began to sob quietly. Jade pulled her brother into a tight, rough hug, trying to bury his face in her neck. Ulrich tore at his hair angrily; it just wasn't fair!

"Then choose Yumi." Everyone froze, staring at the screen, where a sweet, innocent, blameless girl was condemning herself to another minute hour day, week, eternity, in a false world, where she was alone. "She's part of your world already." Jeremy removed his glasses and rub his eyes roughly, hating X.A.N.A and all he did. "It's okay," Aelita chirped, trying to hide her sadness for the sake of her friends. "I can wait a little longer."

"Aelita…no," Odd whimpered, clinging to his sister sadly.

"It's okay, Odd," Aelita reassured with an unconvincing smile.

"Yeah, you'll get to see Aelita here in the real world real soon," Jade continued. Odd shook his head angrily, but buried his head in his sister's neck once more, relinquishing his argument.

"Aelita…I don't know…I mean…" Ulrich stumbled over his words, disgusted with himself. How could he say thank you to her? Thank you, Aelita; although I love you too, I am grateful that you are willing to sacrifice yourself for Yumi, because I love her more. Thank you for agreeing to stay possibly forever on a virtual hell, even when you have the train ticket out of it. Thank you for giving your ticket to Yumi, who agreed to being a Lyoko Warrior, and who went to Lyoko willingly, knowing she might have to sacrifice herself to save you. Thank you, Aelita, for saving the one who was supposed to save you instead.

Aelita shook her head to Ulrich, cutting him off, before nodding to Jeremy. Jade and Odd ran to the scanner room, to await Yumi's return, while Ulrich strolled over to a dark corner, slamming his forehead against the cool, metal wall. Had he been faster, had he woken up sooner, no one would have to be stuck on Lyoko. Yumi would still be here, and Aelita would finally get to taste what it meant to be alive; he felt repulsed with himself.

Yumi collapsed out of the scanner, and Odd and Jade caught her clumsily, cooing and hushing her, trying to keep her calm. "But…but how did you get me back here?" Yumi stuttered, tears of relief springing to her eyes. The twins looked at one another, and Jade was the first to look away. Odd finally sighed, and looked down at his Japanese friend, still resting in their arms.

"Aelita said to use the materialization program for you," he finally whispered. Yumi's eyes narrowed with confusion, then widened with grief. She collapsed to the floor, wailing in guilt, in pain, in sorrow, to her friend still trapped in her technological prison. As Odd and Jade cradled her, stroking her hair, telling her it was okay, she felt, deep down, that it really wasn't; Aelita was finally coming to Earth, and Yumi had robbed her of it.

Above, Jeremy and Aelita whispered sadly to each other over the monitor; Ulrich was already walking slowly back to school, alone. He couldn't bear to stand where Aelita could see him, maybe judge him, hate him, but he also couldn't see Yumi yet; he'd let her down, and if he'd just been quicker, both girls would be home, safe and sound.

"I'm happy, but sad at the same time," Jeremy sighed, his cheek in his palm as he stared at his pink haired friend on the screen.

"At least you know the program works," Aelita offered, ever trying to brighten Jeremy's day. "You just have to set it back up again."

"Yeah, nothing to it," Jeremy scoffed in frustration.

"I believe in you, Jeremy," Aelita whispered softly to him across the digital void. Despite his sadness, Jeremy felt a flutter of those nuisance butterflies once more in his stomach. "I know you will get me there, someday." Jeremy smiled at her, and she at him, before she disconnected, the screen turning black, signaling that she could no longer hear him.

"For you, Aelita," he said, removing his headset, "I'll never stop trying." He rode his scooter slowly through the sewers, and even though he could hear the skateboards' wheels gaining on him, he didn't glance up to see who it was. Ulrich, who had circled back to give a sheepish greeting to Yumi, patted Jeremy on the back while Jeremy smiled welcomingly at Yumi, letting her know he didn't begrudge her. When he was offered candy by Odd, Yumi gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze.

"Come on, Jeremy, have some, candy can heal anything," she smiled, rubbing his back. "Even a broken heart."

"If you say so," Jeremy sighed weakly, before popping a few pieces in his mouth. The five friends walked slowly through the sewer, leaning on one another. Sure, the candy helped eased the pain, but all five of the Lyoko Warriors could feel the bruising of their hearts.