A/N: I like this story so much! I'm glad that its coming along quite nicely.

Bits and Pieces from the Author:

So I would like to have an important discussion with my lovely readers! I recently spent the last three days watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, so I'm debating whether or not to start a story on it...I'm not sure if I'm up to the challenge. Let's discuss!

Did you all read my newest story? Its named Outta Sight, Outta Mind. Check it out on my profile! Its a quaint little story as of now, but its growing!

I have made myself a goal, I wish to obtain at least fifty-five reviews after I publish this chapter. And if I don't, oh well! I still couldn't ask for a better audience!

Also, I'm making up all those hundreds of words that I was short those last chapters! So this chapter...It shall be a long one...

Enjoy!


I had eventually wound up back to the edge of the Forest Sector after walking for what seemed like forever. I sat down between two big trees and hugged my knees to my chest. Everything was so alive on the side that I wasn't supposed to go on. Everything looked so beautiful and real over there, and yet I'm stuck on the side that I tried to escape from.

There was something I couldn't deny though, the view was breathtaking. There were things in the sky, I couldn't place a name on what they were. The things that were in the sky were also in the trees! They're so odd looking...

I stood up from my spot on the ground and contemplated going over to observe them closer. I rested a hand on a tree for support and stretched my leg out of the Forest Sector and over the real (or maybe not so real) grass. The grass slowly withered under my leg's shadow, and then totally disintegrated when I actually placed my foot on the ground.

'This sucks...' I thought, stepping back into the shadows of the forest, the grass quickly growing back. Little white flowers started popping up where my foot was.

"So, when I'm there, everything dies. But when I leave, everything grows back and more...I wonder what that's supposed to mean..."
I pondered, twirling my hair around my pointer finger. After a few minutes of poetically thinking, I reluctantly stepped out of the Forest Sector. The grass around me immediately died, leaving a circle of black around me, and that wasn't even the strangest thing that happened. The grey dress that I always wore, was now a long white dress. It didn't take me long to figure out that my whole appearance had changed as well. My hair was longer and much less bright, I was curvier, and my face was less round. I guess what I'm really getting at is that everything is more...Human.

I continued to walk through the big grass field. Unlike the time when I ran through this field to escape the crumbling building and everything was being destroyed at once, only the things I passed died. But as soon as I passed them, the grass or trees would grow back and more. The dress flowed behind me elegantly, the dress had long sleeves that draped loosely over my hands and a long train that swished to the sway of my hips.

After a few minutes of walking, I figured out that the slower I walked, the slower everything died. Eventually, I stopped and sat down.

Yumi's P.O.V.

I grabbed one of the extra blankets that we kept here for Hiroko in case it became cold, with winter approaching and all, and used it as a cushion to sit on. As of now, it was only Ulrich, an unconscious Hiroko, a dozing Odd, and myself were present here in the factory. Jeremie had to stay after school to tutor a classmate and Aelita had volunteered to pick up dinner for all of us. We had already been here for a few hours, just waiting for Odd to fall asleep so that he could maybe talk to Hiroko and get her to wake up.

I shoved Ulrich's shoulder lightly. "Pretty exciting, huh?" I said sarcastically. He chuckled.

"Exhilarating," he joked. "I hope this picks up soon, the folks'll get worried if I get home late..." he said.

I nodded. "I know what you mean, I can't stay much longer. You know, if Jeremie had just let me hit Odd over the head with that pipe, we-"

"Wait-what?" Ulrich practically yelled, which made Odd twitch in his half-conscious state. I quickly covered Ulrich's mouth with one of my hands and shushed him.

"Its a long story-"

"Nuh it s'not..." Odd mumbled, cutting me off.

I sighed and took my hand away from Ulrich's mouth. "Okay, its not a long story, but I'll tell you later. Now be quiet!"

I turned my attention to Odd to see if he was sleeping yet. To be honest, I really wanted to see what Hiroko will be like now that she's in the real world and how everything will work out for the group, let alone her. Will she be the same, kind and curious person she was in Lyoko? Or will she be a totally new person and be like Sissy? Ugh, Sissy...

Odd's incoherent mumbling broke me from my thoughts. I looked away from my shoes to look at him. "Aw, look!" I whispered to Ulrich, shaking him by his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh!" he whispered, realizing the reason why I was shaking him. Odd had curled up to Hiroko's side, resting his head in the crook of her neck and slinging his arm over her torso. I couldn't help but smile fondly. It was about time Odd found a nice girl!

I leaned my head on Ulrich's shoulder, which was kind of difficult considering how much taller I was than him. Ulrich laid his head against mine. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment. To be honest, I hope it never ends!

'I really hope that one day, Ulrich and I can be together like Odd and Hiro are. Even if they've only known of each others existence up until a couple months ago, they have a bond so strong, its startling.'

Soon Odd's snoring was growing more and more audible. "This is it," Ulrich said.

Ulrich gripped my hand.

Odd's P.O.V.

My eyes snapped open. Everything around me was white, it felt like I was floating and sinking in water at the same time.

'I'm supposed to be with Hiro now. Where am I? I don't have much time!' I thought frantically. Suddenly it was like I couldn't breathe. I gripped my throat with my hands and writhed around. Was I in water? It sure felt like it.

When air bubbles came out of my mouth, they didn't go to the surface to escape. They simply floated within the water, going nowhere. My lungs felt like they were on fire, my mind was hazy...Everything was dimming...

The last of the air in my lungs escaped into the water and my arms drifted away from my throat.

Suddenly, something started to pull me. I could feel my hair loosening up from the hair gel and swishing around my face. It seemed like as soon as I realized that I was drowning, I was being saved. It all seemed to go so fast, like a blur.

I gasped as I broke through the surface of the water. I gripped the hard surface that I was pulled against and coughed violently. After I had caught my breath, I cracked an eye open to see who had saved me from my own dream.

"Odd! Are you okay?" Hiro yelled, trying to pull me out of the water.

I coughed a few more times before answering. "Ugh...Where am I?"

"I'm not sure, but I think its a pool of some sort." she explained, or well, tried to anyways. Remembering why I was here in the first place, I scrambled to my hands and knees. Before I could explain anything to her, I was engulfed in a bear hug. "I missed you," she said.

I returned her hug and nodded into her shoulder. After a moment, I pulled away. "I think I know how to wake you up," I said, holding her shoulders tightly.

"How?" she asked quickly. I filled her in on what we had to in order for her to wake up.

"Got it?" I asked.

"I guess, but what do these scanners look like?" she asked.

"They're really big and you-you'll know them when you see them, okay? All you have to do is step into one of them." I explained quickly and climbed to my feet. I still felt light headed from my rather unpleasant experience with the water. I leaned heavily into Hiro, who thankfully half held me up.

"Are you gonna be okay?" she asked while adjusting her grip on me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry. Let's just find the scanners." I said as we walked away from the water. Soon we were at the soccer field were I was attacked by the possessed golf cart. We stopped walking so that I could try to think of an idea of what could possibly lead to the scanners. I let go of Hiro and took a few steps forward; pinching the bridge of my nose in thought. After a moment, I turned to Hiro, who was standing in a circle of dead grass.

"Well?" she asked, lightly swinging her arms at her sides, shrugging off my obvious stare at the dead grass around her.

"I'm stumped, my best answer is just...Explore and run around until we find it?" I said.

"But what happens when you wake up and I'm alone?" she asked.

I shrugged. "You could look for the scanners on your own while I'm awake, I'm sure you know what to do." I reassured her, stepping forward and placing a hand on her shoulder. She gave me a small smile and then took my hand.

"We should get going," she said, I nodded and we walked on. After a while of walking, we reached a familiar and strange spot in the woods. It was strange because unlike the rest of the woods, it was real, from the real world, not Lyoko. I pointed to the slight clearing.

"There," I said and led Hiro to the hidden manhole that led to the sewer system in the real world. "Climb in," I said. Hiro gulped down her urge to protest and climbed down the hole.

When we reached the end of the ladder, we didn't end up somewhere random like usual, instead, it was exactly where it would have lead! "We're getting close, I can feel it." I said happily, squeezing her hand. I couldn't help but smile, I really felt like we were getting close! We walked along the river of sewage, and when we entered the next area of the sewer system, I...I just couldn't believe it.

"Oh..." Hiro said, putting her unoccupied hand over her mouth.

Anger and disappointment boiled inside me as we stepped into the school gym. Hiro let go of my hand as I stepped forward.

"Dammit!" I yelled. "We were so close...!" I fell to my knees. Dramatic, I know, but I had my hopes set so high that I would get Hiro out of here. Its like I take one step forward and three steps back! I hung my head down.

A hand placed itself on my shoulder, I looked over it and saw Hiro giving me a kind, hopeful smile. "Its okay Odd, we'll find the scanners eventually." she said, bending down to my level.

"Its just so frustrating!" I said, looking away from her.

"I know," she said and hugged me from behind, burying her head in my fallen hair, for the water had washed all the gel out of my hair. I swiveled around so that we were facing each other. I sighed and leaned my forehead against hers.

"I didn't think it would be this hard," I admitted, closing my eyes.

"Me either Odd. This whole thing is terrifying."

I shifted my head upwards so that I could kiss her forehead. When I did, she sighed contently. Then she shifted her head and we kissed a few times. My hands drifted from the back of her neck to her shoulders, pulling her closer to me. After a few moments, I pulled away from her.

"Ya know, when you wake up, we could do this all the time." I said, rather huskily. Hiro blushed and looked down, not knowing what to do next. Chuckling, I put a curled finder under her chin and pulled her face back up to mine.

Suddenly, Hiro gasped. I pulled away from her quickly. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She whipped her arm away from around my back so fast that I could her her elbow joint crack. "Look!" she yelled. I turned around to look at what she was pointing towards. "What is that?" she asked quietly, mystified. We were both looking at a set of gym doors that were, in the real world, supposed to lead outdoors, but instead, light beamed through the cracks much too brightly for it to be natural light.

My heart skidded to a halt for a second before it went into a frantic rhythm. "That's it Hiro! We found it!" I yelled, jumping up, and pulling her with me.

"Are you sure?" she asked, putting her hands on my shoulders to keep me from jumping all around. I deflated a little bit, and turned to face her.

As soon as I saw her face, I knew that Hiro didn't expect me to give an answer. She merely smiled, shrugged, and kissed my cheek as she headed for the doors. I quickly followed her.

When we opened up the doors, we were greeted with the tantalizing glow of the scanners. I gave Hiro a reassuring look before gently pushing her into the middle scanner. When she stepped inside it, she turned to me. "Odd, I'm scared..." she said. I gave her a small smile.

"Don't be scared, I'll be right by your side when you wake up."

"Promise?" she asked, her voice rising as the scanner doors started to close.

"Promise." I said as the doors closed. I sat down on the floor as light started to fill the room, practically blinding me.

My body became lighter and my mind became fuzzy, soon I felt like I was floating. Hopefully I would wake up before Hiro so that I could be the first to hug her.


A/N: Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep!

Just lovely!

And to the reviewer who wanted to know how this whole dealio ends...I am only a couple chapters in! I have planned this story out to it's end from the beginning! I still have allot of typing to do! Allot.

Read and Review my lovelies!

You're adoring author,

DyeFatahasii