Diclaimer: disclaimer? what's that?

I think this chapter is better, we had a snow day today so ive spent all morning writing it. it's longer and there's some more action too.

Sithking Zero - thanks, that's good to know.
American-Kitty- yay! im not missing anything if theyre just reruns. i had a wonderful thought...NETFLIX: ) but they only have part of the first season. : ( neways, thank you and have a nice day.
kikofreako- thnx, all of that thinking stuff last chapter was mostly for me (so i could getback into their heads) but im glad you like it! is It's Pretty Nice the name of a story i should read?

Ze Chapter...


Jeremie held his head in his hands, "Ahh! No! how could we have let this happen?"

"Calm down Jeremie, we'll get her back" Ulrich assured, he and Yumi were standing back to back against a small army of krabes circled around them. Aelita had already been caught by the scipizoa.

"Yumi, cover me!" called Ulrich as he tried to perform a special attack. Yumi regarded him out of the corner of her eye, but resumed her own attacking of the monsters.

Ulrich was hit hard on his left side and his back.

"Ulrich! You barely have any life points left! Be careful!" called Jeremie.

"Yumi!" snapped Ulrich, "I thought I told you to cover me!"

"uh, sorry, I didn't hear..." Yumi stated simply as she back-flipped away from oncoming lasers.

Ulrich leaped atop a krabe, driving his sword into its eye. The krabe bucked back and forth viciously, attempting to through off the boy, but exploded instead.

Ulrich land on the ground with grace and faced Yumi, "I thought we were leaving our personal differences behind."

Yumi cast one of her fans, which caught her krabe in the eye as squarely as Ulrich's sword. Using her other fan to block an attack from a different krabe. "I told you Ulrich, I didn't hear you. Speak louder next time!"

Ulrich stared at her, completely disregarding the krabe standing behind him, "Speak louder? I was already speaking loud enough, you were ignoring me on purpose!"

"Ulrich, PAY ATTENTION!" Jeremie cried. Too late, The krabe had already shot and devirtualized their swordsman.

"Good riddance," muttered Yumi, destroying the krabe that destroyed Ulrich. She turned around to face three more of them.

"Don't even think about it," she told the monsters. She deepened her fighting stance, two fans at the ready, "I'm not letting you get past this point. Jeremie, how's Odd doing?"

"That's what I'd like to know" Jeremie muttered.

--

"You know, this ain't exactly easy," Odd informed.

"Just hurry up! There's not much more time until the scipizoa has obtained all of Aelita's memories!" Jeremie urged, stress seeping into his voice.

"Gotcha," said Odd. He carefully eyed his enemies. The scipizoa caught Aelita right before she was entering the tower. Unfortunately they were too far ahead for Odd to do anything about it. Surrounding the evil squid was a pack of literally thirty or so kankrelats.

"Ok," sighed Odd, stepping up onto his hover board, "guess I'll just hafta wing it."

With that he took off over the heads of the midget monsters, aiming his arrows at the jellyfish. Suddenly two tarantulas popped out of nowhere and were firing at him.

"No!" Jeremie cried as Odd's hover-board de-virtualized and the warrior fell to the ground, smack dab in the middle of the army of kankrelats. "Owww" He complained, rubbing his head. He looked up to see the scipizoa directly in front of him.

"Perfect shot," Odd commented, firing a few rounds at its head. As expected the scipizoa dropped Aelita. Jeremie leaned back in his chair, it wasn't too late.

Odd helped Aelita off the ground, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. What the-" she and Odd looked around them. The krankrelats were all facing them, but none of them were firing, or showing any signs of hostility. In fact, they had made a clear path for them to the tower.

The tarantulas, however, were showing no such signs of mercy. "Let's go," said Odd, grabbing Aelita's arm, "I'll cover you."

They ran for the tower through the parted sea of kankrelats, a barrage of lasers hot on their trail.

"C'mon," urged Jeremie, little droplets of sweat forming on his forehead.

Almost…almost…they made it! Aelita entered the tower at the exact moment Odd was devirtualized painfully from behind.

Jeremie was more than relieved, sufficed to say, as Aelita entered the code and the attack stopped.

"I'm bringing you home," he told her, devirtualizing her body. As she felt herself leaving Lyoko, one thought was in her mind.

Home.

When Aelita stepped out of the scanner, she found Odd waiting for her, grinning.

"That was a close one," he commented.

"Yeah," she half-heartedly agreed.

--

Back at the main room they found Ulrich and Yumi already there, arms crossed, facing away from one another.

"Jeez, what happened this time?" Odd asked.

Jeremie shook his head, "Nothing to be concerned about." He walked into the elevator with the other two and turned around to face the two ex-lovers.

"I expect you two to get over yourselves cleaned up your acts before the next Xana attack. Or else you're off the team." Jeremie announced as the elevator door closed.

"Yes mother," they could hear Ulrich mutter.

As the three walked their way slowly to the sewers, Odd slapped Jeremie on the back, "Nothing to be concerned about, huh Einstein? You know we can't fight Xana without them," he said, "both of them."

"I know that," Jeremie replied, using one finger to push up his glasses, "But right now as they are, they're completely useless. They stop fighting Xana's monsters just to fight themselves, and then get each other devirtualized on purpose for vengeance," he stated matter of factly as they walked upon the sewer entrance.

They rode their various vehicles back to the school grounds, then climbed the ladder upto the surface.

"J-Jeremie," Aelita called out softly, as he was about to leave for the dorms. He turned around. Odd stopped as well, a little distance away from the two.

"What is it, Aelita?" he asked.

"I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to do something…together," she looked down shyly at her feet.

Jeremie smiled gently, "Sorry, but I promised Amelie that I'd spend time with her on her website."

Of course, thought Aelita bitterly, "I-I see." She turned around, trying not to let her arriving tears show.

"But Aelita!" Jeremie started, "We're almost done. So, if you want, maybe some other time?" he smiled hopefully.

"Y-yeah," Aelita whispered as Jeremie left for his dorm, "right."


Ulrich did it. He told Yumi exactly what he wanted from her. A definite yes or no. And now he waited patiently, the butterflies ripping his stomach apart.

Yumi stared at him thoughtfully. And stared, and stared, and stared and stared and stared and stared and stared.

Ulrich swore inside his head, Dammit when is she going to stop staring at me like that! I can't take it anymore! How hard is it to just say Yes? Or No, but hopefully Yes!

Finally Yumi cleared her throat to speak. "I need more time to think about it."

Ulrich bit his tongue in order to keep himself from screaming at her. Girls! Why do they always have to torture you like this every single time you want a simple straight answer?

"I understand," he lied and began to walk out of the factory, "I'll be waiting."

-

Yumi watched him leave, turning things over in her mind. She didn't know how long she stood there, thinking, only that it was the cell phone that brought her out of her reverie.

"Hello? Hey. Yeah, I'm done. Thanks. No, you don't need to tell my parents, it's still early. Thanks though. Alright. Yeah, Love'd to. Yeah, See ya. Bye." She hung up.

Her dilemma with Ulrich was still fresh in her mind, although she couldn't help but to feel excited to spend another afternoon with William.


Jeremie double-clicked on the mouse. "You see? That's how you change the skin on your forums.

Amelie's eyes grew big, "Wow! That's so easy! I'm surprised I didn't figure that out by myself!"

"Yeah, me too, actually…" Jeremie stated hesitantly.

Amelie giggled, "You caught me, Jerie! you know I just wanted another excuse to spend time with you."

Jeremie blushed profoundly as he pushed his glasses back on his nose, "But you should really learn to do these things by yourself," he muttered.

"But what fun would that be Jerie?" Amelie teased, then her face grew more serious, "But I really wanted to thank you Jerie. You're my only friend here and you've helped me a lot and been so kind to me! Even when I make stupid mistakes, you're so patient and you don't scold me or anything."

Without thinking, Jeremie said "Of course Aelita, I'll always be here for you."

"Aelita?"

Jeremie stuttered, realizing his mistake, "I-I mean Amelie!"

Amelie laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Oh Jerie, now you've got your head in the clouds! Welcome to my world!" she giggled and Jeremie fell backwards.

"Thank you so much, "she whispered.

Just then the entire room shook terribly. Jeremie's lamp fell off his desk and shattered. Once the shaking had ceased, the two jumped up and looked around nervously.

"W-What's going on!" Amelie cried out.

"Xana" Jeremie his under his breath, "C'mon!" He grabbed Amelie's hand and rushed out of the room. They made their way past the other kids who had come out of their rooms to see what the commotion was about. Every now and then the structure of the building shook violently, throwing them from one side of the hall to the other as the lights above them flickered and blew.

As they ran through the mass of panicking children, Amelie yelled out, "Where are we going?"

Jeremie called back, "To the boiler room!"


Odd and Aelita walked peacefully outside. Odd had his hands folded behind his head as he stared up at the setting sun in front of them. Aelita was trudging quietly, focusing on nothing but the ground in front of her.

"You know," Odd started, "I'm sure he doesn't mean it intentionally. Jeremie just sometimes gets…distracted, if you know what I mean, like when he's working on your antivirus."

"I know," said Aelita, "That's the problem, it's an honest mistake."

"What do you mean?" asked Odd curiously.

Aelita shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it."

Odd shrugged and they continued to walk in silence for awhile. Aelita mumbled something that Odd didn't catch.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I asked if you ever got lonely…" she restated.

"Huh?"

"On normal days, Ulrich has Yumi and I have Jeremie, don't you ever feel lonely or left out?" she asked

Odd stopped walking and looked back at her, Aelita continued, "I mean, Ulrich always swore that he'd protect Yumi and be there for her, and I know – knew – that Jeremie would always be there for me, and you always seem to be the odd one out…"

At this point Odd began to laugh out loud. Startled, Aelita looked up at his grinning face.

"What are you talking about?" he laughed, "I'm luckier than both you and Ulrich!"

"Why?" she asked quizzically.

Odd pulled his trademark grin, "Because I have all of you to look after me!"

And that was when the ground began to break apart, sending them both flying onto their butts.

"What's going on?" asked Odd, surprised.

Aelita pointed towards the school, "Look!"

Odd look and saw that the building was…swaying, like rubber.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again, "No way!"

"Xana!" Aelita cried. Odd nodded in agreement.

"You go to the factory, I'll make sure everyone gets out ok," Odd indicated towards the mass of middle schoolers running away from the abnormally moving building.

Aelita nodded and headed off to the factory.

--

Only to find that when she arrived, Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie were already there….with Amelie.

"Jeremie what-?"

"No time to explain, get into the scanners!" Jeremie interrupted.

"She's not going into the scanners Jeremie, she can't!" Aelita started frantically.

Jeremie spun around and looked her in the eye, "I know that Aelita, her memory will be erased once we've deactivated the tower," his eyes grew a sudden distant, forlorn look to them, "Just like always."

"Where's Odd?" Yumi asked, already standing next to the elevator.

"He's taking care of the kids at school," Aelita informed.

"Then let's go" said Ulrich. The three entered the elevator.

Amelie had watched everything, "W-What's going on Jeremie? What's happening? Where are they going?"

Jeremie smiled at her and took her hand, "It's ok, everything will be over with soon."

Amelie seemed comforted by his words, "And everyone at the school?"

"They'll all be alright too, don't worry." Jeremie led her gently to the corner of the room, "I want you sit right here until everything is alright again, ok?"

Amelie nodded, tears in her eyes. Jeremie couldn't help but smile again, she was so innocent.

Resuming his task at the computer, Jeremie called to the others, "Is everyone ready?"

"We've been ready, Einstein," Ulrich muttered.

"Virtualization!"

When the three simultaneously arrived in mountain area, they found no trace of any of Xana's monsters.

"Xana must be concentrating all of his power on the attack in the real world," Aelita hypothesized. Jeremie and the others murmured their agreements.

"Where's the tower Jeremie?" Yumi asked.

"There's two of them, one North, one South. The South Tower is the closest to your current position." He announced.

"Two? That figures," Ulrich swore, "let's get the South one first."

Their vehicles virtualized in front of them and they set off at top speed.

But in the lab the factory shook violently. In one corner a piece of metal came crashing down, bringing down a few electrical cables with it. Amelie let out a yelp.

Jeremie spun around, "Amelie, are you alright!" he shouted.

"I-I'm fine, it just scared me, that's all," she said weakly.

"Come over here by me," He told her. She stood beside him and gripped his shoulder gently. She was shaking.

"It'll be ok," he whispered again, and refocused his attention on his friends in the virtual world.

Aelita and the others were gaining ground quickly on the tower. A flock of hornets came speeding up behind them.

"Yumi, behind you!" called Ulrich. Yumi swerved her vehicle around, just missing the laser fired at her head.

"You guys go on, I'll take care of these losers!" She yelled.

Ulrich gave her an acknowledging nod and sped up on his motorcycle, Aelita gripping him tightly around waist from behind.

"Ulrich, the tower should be just around that bend," Jeremie informed.

"Gotcha. Get ready" he told Aelita as they approached the bend quickly. Ulrich turned sharply on his vehicle and…there it was, the tower. No monsters were anywhere. For a second the two virtual beings sat perfectly still, waiting to make sure it was safe. Nothing happened.

"Get going" he whispered. Aelita nodded and ran into the tower.

"South Tower accounted for." He told Jeremie.

Jeremie lifted his hand to cover Amelie's still shaking one on his shoulder.

"It's almost over," he told her.


Odd rushed through the school building. He stopped a short light brown-haired fifth grader who was trying to leave the building, "Are you the last one?" he asked.

The girl nodded just as another tremor went through the building. The ceiling above them began to cave in. Odd grabbed the girl and the down out of the way just in time.

The younger girl was trembling so hard that she could barely stand.

"Are you ok?" he asked her.

She shook her head, "I, I think a bunch of kids went into the gym earlier, th-they said it would be safer there."

"What! Really!" He got up to run towards the gym, but the younger girl grabbed his arm before he could leave.

She was looking at him sternly now, "My best friend is there, please, you have to make sure she's ok! She's my height and she's blonde and she-she" the girl's voice started cracking in her panic for her friend's safety.

Odd told her that he would make sure she would be safe and ordered her to get out of the building as fast as possible, and rushed off towards the gymnasium.

Sure enough there was a group of younger fifth-graders huddled in the middle of the building.

"Are you sure we'll be safe here, Sandra?" Tamiya asked her fellow student. The girl nodded her head nervously.

Milly looked over and was the first to spot him, "Odd!" she cried out.

"What are you guys doing! This place is going to collapse any second now! You have to get out of here!"

"I told you," Tamiya told the girl Sandra, before leading other students toward the exits.

Another tremor ran through the ground, and just like Odd said, the metal beams of the ceiling began to fall.

"Hurry!"

The children ran past him. He looked them over, but didn't see the blonde girl the other fifth-grader was talking about. He looked back into the room and saw her; she had tripped on her way out.

"C'mon!" he yelled. The blonde tried to stand up, but fell right back down again as yet another tremor ran through the gymnasium, loosening the giant metal beams above her head.

"LOOK OUT!' he shouted and tried to rush forward and if it weren't for the purple electric waves that washed painfully over his body, immobilizing him, he might have been able to do something other than watch as the gymnasium ceiling collapsed onto the younger girl's body.


"Alright Jeremie, she's there" Yumi called out as Aelita entered the North Tower.

Jeremie nodded, "Good, you guys ready then? Return to the past, Now!"


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