Well, I'm glad we are not lost.
I don't own Code Lyoko, and I think you know the rest.
Odd and Ulrich walked under the arches up to the two members of their gang. Aelita shut the door to the dormitory entrance while Cassidy, who looked like she had been sweating cold buckets of ice the night before, stood at the ready. As soon as Aelita came out, they walked up to the boys. "Hey, Aelita. Einstein isn't with you or Cassidy?" Odd asked.
Aelita cut to the negative and looked at him. "We haven't seen him yet today."
"Plus, I'm so heavy lidded from all these nightmares I've been having that I'm just about to give up dreaming altogether," Cassidy blinked.
"Didn't Jeremie say you have some sort of dream barrier?" Ulrich asked her.
Cassidy sighed. "It is with a heavy heart, yes."
"Did you know that you are now sleepwalking, Cassidy?" Aelita creased a brow.
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"I saw you sleeping in front of your closet with your head against the door. That's not very good for your back. Everything okay?"
"I sure hope so. But during sleepwalking, nothing is dreamed. If what you're saying is true, I shouldn't be dreaming. I remember dreaming and only dreaming."
"Did you have episodes before?" Ulrich asked.
Cassidy shook her head. "No. Not even before I came to Kadic."
"Ah, well, Cat-Lover-Girl, you're still alive, aren't you?" Odd quipped.
She sighed. "As long as XANA or Mr. Hated don't kill me first."
The samurai looked off to the side. "Speak of the devil, look who's here!"
For a second, Cassidy's heart flopped. Did William come out of the scanners to attack her and Aelita again? Then she saw Jeremie amble run over to them, and she sighed in relief.
Jeremie stopped at the post to catch his breath, his arm obscuring something on his forehead. Then he looked to his team. "Hello, everybody."
"Let me guess, you fell asleep in front of your keyboard again," Odd smiled.
"And let's not go any further, okay, Odd?" Cassidy sighed, as if Odd got on her bad side, which was a rarity.
He winced. "Wh—what do you mean, Cassidy?"
"I have a birthmark on my forehead. So I don't see what the big deal is. Harry Potter has a scar on his forehead." She was shaking as if heavily ticked off at Odd.
Ulrich crossed his arms across his chest. "Uh-oh, okay, I think I know someone who needs to air out her neurons a bit."
"My neurons are fine!" Cassidy protested.
"You have been a bit cranky lately," Jeremie noted. "Yumi told me everything that happened before the return trip after we came back. You totally blew a gasket."
"I was venting my frustrations about Mr. Hated and my nightmares, Jeremie," Cassidy tried to be calm to Jeremie.
"Anyway, there's an imprint of your keyboard on your forehead," Odd smiled.
"And, let me guess, you are working on a program to bring Mr. Hated back," Cassidy gave him a bored look.
Jeremie smiled. "Yes, and a way to let you have dreams here while we work on a way to eliminate the dream barrier."
Her eyes widened. "I thought it would be impossible to dissolve."
Jeremie smiled knowingly. "That's what I thought, too. But it's a relatively simple procedure. It is a bit different from the Reverse Schyphozoa. The only difference is we don't need anyone else but you."
"Way cool," Ulrich smiled.
"Yeah, but the procedure's temporary. It will only last about a month. Hopefully, it'll shore up Cassidy's energy so she can at least keep to schooling. She seems energetic on Lyoko. It should keep her from blacking out when having spark-flashes."
"Uh, Ulrich, Cassidy, could I talk to you for a sec," a new voice made Cassidy jump.
The gang turned to see Yumi's brother Hiroki. He was younger than most of the lower-grade students. Ulrich and Cassidy simultaneously smiled. Odd's mouth went agape. Jeremie and Aelita smiled as well.
"Uh, well, if you really have to, yeah," Ulrich turned to his friends. "Go ahead. We'll meet you inside." Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie walked away to the cafeteria. The two turned to him.
"Well, uh, everybody says that girls really like you a lot, Ulrich. Same with you, Cassidy, but with some boys," Hiroki started.
Cassidy looked away. "Um…Odd was the best choice out of my two boyfriends."
Ulrich scratched in between his shoulder blades. "Depends on the type of girl."
"Like my sister, for example, Ulrich," Hiroki smote.
That made Ulrich stop mid-scratch. Why was he mentioning Yumi at a time like this? "Uh, sure…" He blushed. "We are boyfriend and girlfriend."
"That's right," Cassidy nodded.
"And William, too, Cassidy."
Cassidy stiffened and opened her mouth, about to lunge. Then she stopped. She knew Hiroki didn't know about Lyoko and never would. According to her visions journals, she didn't see a vision of him inside the factory, but the burning intuition told her that with her, he might find out someday. She took some deep breaths and counted to ten in her mind. "Okay, um…he wasn't the best choice, Hiroki. He brutally broke up with me on false charges, remember? You were there, Yumi told me." She could feel her innards shaking.
He reached up, as if he was a small child. Cassidy knew what that meant. She could trust him as her friend's brother. She bent down and gingerly wrapped her long arms around his small body and felt his small arms around her mid-lower back above the scar she had received from the vine attack a few months ago. She found after a few seconds that she could breathe again. She could feel his small hand gently rubbing her back in the spots she could tolerate.
After they released each other, Cassidy blinked and her eyes were a lighter shade of brown. "Let me guess on this one, you have a crush on Milly, but don't know what to say to her."
Hiroki and Ulrich's mouths dropped open. Ulrich knew that Cassidy had powers, but she dropped the bombshell like no other.
"It's okay, I never told her. Besides, the last time I had an interview with her was when Sissi was editor-in-chief, and that was almost two months ago," Cassidy nodded. "Anyway, you need to know that she's into journalism. So I carried my notes from my old school to here." She handed him an old red notebook. "Everything from the Second Amendment to how to avoid libel is in this notebook. Now remember these six words: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How. Every word is super important. Who is around the event? What is happening? When is it happening? Where is the event? Why is the event happening? How is it happening? Give her your first scoop and you'll guarantee a growing relationship."
Hiroki smiled and raced off to find his first scoop.
Ulrich blinked at her. "Uh…"
She looked to him. "You okay, Ulrich? You look like your brain has been short-circuited for a few seconds."
Everything poured out of his mouth. "How did you do that? That, that notebook thing? I thought you said that you didn't have powers before you came here."
"I didn't. I never had powers before I came here. I just brought my note beforehand in case I took a journalism class, Ulrich. I never thought I would need it to give to someone until my powers—then intuition—came."
He simply nodded.
"Let's hit to the cafeteria. Something tells me that the hot chocolate is very good today." She took Ulrich's hand and raced off to the steps.
Once settled with their usual meals, Ulrich and Cassidy met up with Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita and sat down with them.
"What did Hiroki want to talk to you two about?" Jeremie finished drinking to ask.
"Ah, he's flipped over Milly," Cassidy smiled. "Luckily, I had just the thing to help him."
"Well, isn't that cute," Odd quipped.
"What did you give him? Advice?" Jeremie asked out of concern.
"Yes, that, but also a notebook for him to study from to understand journalism." She picked up her croissant.
"But isn't the guy a little young for her?" Odd asked.
Cassidy pointed her index finger, still holding her croissant. "Hey, I went out with you, and I'm older than you."
"That's right," Aelita smiled. "And to answer you, Odd: No, he's not. He's just a little small for his age, and, what's more, he skipped a grade in school."
Odd wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "But he acts even younger than his age."
"Well, around me, he's also sympathetic," Cassidy remembered the hug he gave her earlier.
Ulrich tapped Jeremie's arm with his elbow. "Hey, Jeremie, tell us about these new ideas of yours."
Jeremie put down his bowl. "Well, okay. Whenever a human being is virtualized, he or she emits a binary residue, which, we can say, manifests itself an emanation of his or her physical person re-sequenced into a sort of digital format."
Odd dropped his bowl to his tray. Cassidy nearly fainted in exhaustion.
"Yeah, in English," Ulrich asked. "You just lost Cassidy, as well."
"Sorry, Cassidy," Jeremie blinked.
"When you go to Lyoko, you leave a kind of digital trace," Aelita translated. "Something like a scent."
Cassidy stood up and shook her head to clear itself from the techno-babble. Then she sat down. "Sorry. Lately, paying attention to your talk exhausts my brain."
"It's fine, Cassidy."
"Couldn't you have said that in the first place?" Ulrich took a swig of his hot chocolate.
"Mm…no. Anyway, I came up with a program that is based on Mr. Hated's DNA sequence that I recorded when he went to Lyoko for the first time. If I upload it onto the Skid's sonar, we can hunt for him on the network every time we go there, and finally find out where Mr. Hated really is," Jeremie smiled.
"So, what you're saying is the Skid will become a sniffer-sub," Odd lifted up a piece of his buttered croissant to his lips.
"That's right, Odd," Jeremie adjusted his glasses. "And since we don't have class this afternoon, I was going to suggest we try it out."
"Way to go, Jeremie," Cassidy smiled.
"The second idea is that Cassidy's nightmares could be weakened by way of the Reverse Schyphozoa. Only thing is, Cassidy needs to go in by herself. The solution is temporary, but it should put color into her. People think she is albino and translucent nowadays."
"I'm not albino and translucent, I'm just pale and sweaty," Cassidy protested.
-With Yumi-
Yumi was studying her notes. She had a history test coming soon and she needed to study the concepts of World War I. She walked up to the vending machines and ordered her drink.
Out from the daylight, from the bushes stepped a dog-shaped figure. It jumped onto the stony bench, wriggled into Yumi's bag and grabbed a dark-looking book. It walked out, until, suddenly…
"Kiwi, what do you think you are doing?!" Yumi protested.
Kiwi raced away, book in tow.
"Hey! I don't have time to play, Kiwi!" Yumi yelled as she chased after him. Why did Odd let Kiwi out? Oh, he's doomed to trouble now! "Give that back to me right now!"
-With Ulrich, Cassidy, and Odd-
"You seem far away, Ulrich," Odd noted as he, Cassidy, and Ulrich were walking. "And so do you, Cat-Lover-Girl."
"It's nothing. It's something Hiroki said to us," Cassidy sighed.
"Oh, yeah? What was that?" Odd asked.
"Eh…nothing. Forget about it."
Suddenly, Kiwi burst out from around the corner and bowled Cassidy over. The two fell to the ground with a thud. "What's Kiwi doing here?!" Cassidy yelled. She heard a thick object hit the ground.
S-Sorry, Cassidy, I gotta run!
Her heart hammered. "Kiwi, what the heck did you do?!"
However, little Kiwi had dashed by in a flash.
"What's wrong with Kiwi? Did Sissi find him chewing her underwear or something?" Odd asked as he grabbed Cassidy's hand and pulled her up.
Suddenly, Yumi raced up. "Your little dog is so in for it, Odd," she muttered as she passed by.
"Hey! Yumi, hold on!" Ulrich reached for her, but she was already a few feet from him.
"What in the world was Kiwi doing out of the dorm?" Cassidy raised a brow.
"I remember locking the door," Odd shrugged. "Maybe he wanted to play a game."
"He's suffering loneliness? I play with that diggity dog every day. He shouldn't feel lonely," Cassidy whispered heatedly.
"Maybe he got bored."
"I entertain him every day as well. Tug-of-war, fetch in the park, everything. He fills the void in my heart because I can't access my own cat Thunder!"
Odd's eyes suddenly widened, as if withholding some bad news.
"Odd, what's wrong?"
He blinked and shook his head. "It's nothing, Cat-Lover-Girl."
She looked down and saw a thick-bound book. Ulrich picked it up. "Is this yours, Odd?"
Odd shook his head once again. "Are you kidding me? A notebook with a dark cover and a flower is not my style."
"I have a 'feeling' that Kiwi is in trouble now. And since killing him would break you, Yumi would go over and yell at you, Odd," Cassidy suddenly gasped. "ODD! You gotta hide!"
Ulrich thumbed through the pages.
"Ulrich, don't! That…"
But it was too late. Ulrich found a page with a picture of him. He gasped at his almost growly expression, the way the sun hit him just right, and his sitting position. His photo self had an elbow on his knee. The other hand was balanced on what he assumed was the ground.
Odd looked over his roommate's shoulder. "Hey, that's a pretty good shot of you. Who's your secret admirer, huh? Let me see."
Ulrich jumped and rose to his feet. Cassidy reached for the book when he whipped it away. "Ulrich! I know who that book belongs to! Now give it to me so I can give it to its rightful owner."
Suddenly, a gust of wind opened the book to show a picture of Cassidy. Her eyes were white and her hair was wild, as if her mind was troubled and she was trying to hide it.
Ulrich quickly snapped the book shut.
"It's Yumi's, right?" Odd couldn't help be curious.
"It's her diary. That's why she was running after Kiwi," Ulrich realized.
Odd's mind started to get into a devious plan. "If you ask me, this is a great chance to see what else she thinks of you."
"Oh, no! What's written inside here is none of my business. I don't want to risk our relationship just because I invaded her privacy."
Cassidy growled. "I can rally this back to Yumi's place if you just allow me to have her diary."
"And risk getting caught by Yumi's mom?"
"Yumi's mother has no qualms against me."
"Qualms?" Odd quirked a brow.
"Has no unease—she's not uncertain about me. I can tell her almost anything—school, writings, dreams."
"Not about Lyoko, right?" Ulrich asked.
"Never about Lyoko. I wouldn't EVER do that."
Odd shrugged, a devious smile growing on his lips. His tone was enticing. "Are you sure, Ulrich?"
"Yes, Odd the Bajo!" Cassidy yelled.
Odd went up on his tip-toes and gave her a Gibbs-slap. "Watch your Spanish! There are other students present."
"Hey, Odd, cool it. Cassidy's had a bad couple of months. First Will—I mean, Mr. Hated—kisses her on Lyoko, lands her in shock, returns and attacks her and Aelita, then flirts with her every time she and he are alone no matter what her defense, then we find she's having difficult nightmares, adding to her pile of stress, plus school and everything…" Ulrich listed. "And when she and Aelita are alone with him, he always wants to throw them both into the digital sea."
"Okay, okay, but her Spanish hurt that time," Odd sighed, and then turned to Cassidy. "I'm sorry. It just threw me into the offended line, that's all."
"I'm sorry, too, Odd. Just what Ulrich said, plus Jeremie being right about me being a bit cranky…? At least I'm able to control myself around the teachers. I truly tried to go to Mr. Klotz about my nightmares, but instead, he kicked me straight out. Apparently, Emily mentioned his fear of rats to his face that day."
After morning classes, Odd, Ulrich and Cassidy came out of their class to see Yumi chewing on a fingernail. "This isn't good," Cassidy shook her head. "When Yumi repeats an old habit that died young, she's stressed."
The two boys were already ahead of her as they stepped into the older female's line of vision. "Hi, Yumi," Odd said.
"Hey, Yumi. What is it? You look angry," Ulrich tried to act.
Cassidy walked around so she could be in the middle. "Was it Kiwi?"
Yumi nodded solemnly. "He stole…something important to me, and he lost it."
Her heart pounded so hard. She wanted to tell her best friend what had happened and that her diary was in a safe and secure state. Ulrich looked to her and gave her a soft but slight shake of the head. Cassidy made a face as if to say, "Why not?!" but Ulrich turned his head back to Yumi.
He then opened his bag and reached inside it. "Look, Yumi, I uh…"
"Okay," a familiar voice made him stop in his track. He looked to see the blonde genius and his pink-haired sweetheart come up next to him. "I got it. I upgraded the Skid's sonar and made the program for a solo Reverse Schyphozoa. We're all set."
"All set for what?" Yumi's eyes locked onto Jeremie.
"First, Einstein made our Skidbladnir into a bloodhound to find Mr. Hated, and may have found a way to temporarily cure my nightmares," Cassidy summarized.
"Oh, cool," Yumi said drily.
Ulrich had to pitch in. "By the way, Yumi…"
"Cassidy!" A newer, younger voice made Cassidy jump. She whirled to see Hiroki.
"Hey, Hiroki," Cassidy smiled. "What's up?"
Hiroki scratched at the back of his head. "Well, I gave Milly my scoop."
"And, did she like it?"
"Let's just say she loves me for it," Hiroki smiled.
Cassidy's heart lifted in joy. "You mean like, right?"
"No, she told me in these exact words: 'Hiroki Ishiyama, I love you for this scoop. We were looking for one for two days. Thank you.'" He turned around to leave. "I'm going to look around for another one. Thank you, Cassidy!"
"De—I mean, you're welcome, Hiroki. Godspeed, my friend's brother!" Suddenly she felt a hand at her hair. Then that hand patted it. "That'll do, Cassidy. That'll do," Yumi's voice was warm.
"Ulrich, Cassidy, and I have to talk about something—over there. We'll talk to you guys later." Odd took the two by the hand.
Yumi nodded. "We'll be in the lunchroom."
The three assembled deeper near the arches. Odd quirked a brow. "So, what's the deal? I thought you were going to return the diary."
"I would've done it if somebody didn't give me the shake-head gesture," Cassidy looked at Ulrich crossly, spraying the unfortunate boy with saliva. "I keep telling you, I'm not the prying girl type! I'm not like Sissi!"
Ulrich wiped a bit from his cheeks. "Well, you saw how Hiroki came in and gave the good news. He was very satisfied. If I had given the diary back to her then, he would've thought that I stole it."
"Yeah, so?" Odd's brow was at the peak.
"What if we fix it up so Kiwi finds the diary and you give it to her yourself, Odd," Ulrich smiled.
Cassidy gasped. "That—might not be such a bad idea after all, Ulrich."
"That's two birds with one stone. She gets her diary back, and you get to keep your dog a secret," Ulrich smiled. "Pretty good idea, huh?"
Odd frowned. "Yeah, great, but—how do you plan to do it?"
"Just listen to maestro Ulrich here," Cassidy gestured to her not-too-close friend.
Ulrich grabbed the diary from his pack and, from behind him, handed it to Odd, who stowed it away into his shirt. "Hide the diary under a pile of leaves in the park, near the garden shed. Then get Kiwi. Cassidy and I will deal with—no wait, I will deal with Yumi. Cassidy, you get Kiwi."
"Done," Cassidy smiled. "Battle stations, guys, we're going to go a bit sideways."
Ulrich could only snort.
-With Yumi-
Yumi walked up the steps to the lunchroom when she saw Cassidy and Ulrich race off into the park. Cassidy's pink backpack was wiggling, but she looked to be ignoring it.
Yumi cocked a brow. What in the world was going on now? First, her diary gets stolen by Kiwi, and now Cassidy and Ulrich look to be having fun. Then again, why was Cassidy's backpack wiggling?
-Back to the plan-
Kiwi dug through the leaves. I hope I find Yumi's diary. She's going to skin me if I don't.
"Hey, don't worry about it, Kiwi," Cassidy smiled. "A dog's nose is stronger than a human's."
I don't see it here. I'll go check another pile. Kiwi romped off to another tree.
"Good idea, Kiwi," Cassidy whispered.
"You can still read his mind?" Ulrich asked.
Cassidy jumped. "I can't help myself. I gained the power to read minds for a purpose, I believe. My powers have me in all sorts of directions. I tried to get new management, but it just got worse."
I think I found it—Ah, no, wait, it was a dead snake. Its head is chopped off. Garter snake.
Odd walked up to the two as Ulrich looked behind him. "Which one did you put it in?"
"Ah, Kiwi will find it soon enough. You'll both see," Odd smiled.
I found it at last! Kiwi woofed.
"Way to go, my little diggity dog!" Odd cheered.
"Way to go, my friend's little diggity dog!" Cassidy cheered at the same time.
Kiwi raced back with the book in his mouth. I'm so happy, yes! He dropped it at his master's feet, panting so jovially.
Odd picked it up, but when he opened the book, his eyes widened. The inside pages were missing.
"'Mind telling me what you're doing?" Yumi's voice came over the two boys and only girl's shoulder.
Cassidy cringed. "We were trying to find your diary for you, since Kiwi lost it. He found it on his own, but seemed to uh—lost the…"
Yumi's eyes found the empty shell of the book.
"I know this looks bad, but, the thing is, we will not give up until later on to get your diary back, okay? There will be restitution," Cassidy tried to sound reasonable, but her shaking body made her words sound weak.
"Okay…" Yumi then walked away.
Ulrich looked at Odd crossly. He looked back innocently. "Don't look at me like that. It was all there when I hid it."
Later on at the factory, the elevator opened to the lab. Only Jeremie walked out. "Get to the scanner room. I'll start up the virtualization process. We'll do the Dream Barrier Destroyer after the mission."
Odd lifted his elbow and hit the button. The elevator closed on them. Suddenly Cassidy blinked a few times, shivering a little.
"What is it, Cassidy?" Aelita looked to her.
"Something is about to go wrong on this mission. I just have the feeling," Cassidy sighed.
"Don't worry. We'll find Mr. Hated, bring him back, and everything will go back to almost normal," Ulrich walked around to pat her on the back.
Cassidy whispered to herself, "Mr. Hated is going to be there."
Soon, the elevator stopped at the scanner room. Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita each walked into a scanner. Jeremie sounded from above them. "All set? I'll launch the procedure. For once, it won't be ladies first."
The scanners closed around them. "Transfer, Ulrich, transfer, Odd. Scanner, Ulrich, scanner, Odd. Virtualization."
The two boys descended onto Sector 5's Arena. Odd looked to Ulrich. "Yumi's in a foul mood. We need to find the rest of her diary."
"And how is she going to react when she finds out you hid it in the first place?"
"Hey, this was your idea, Mr. Steady," Odd pointed a claw at him.
They heard a soft whooshing sound and three girls dipped onto the floor. Cassidy rose up first. "I think I'll share Yumi's NavSkid."
"Sounds good to me," Yumi nodded. "I sometimes hate to be alone."
"I'm with you," Ulrich smiled at her, his virtual heart going aquiver.
"I know, but Cassidy already called dibs."
"What's more, with the bad feeling I had today, I think it's best if I go with her," Cassidy nodded.
The wall opened up. "Let's go," Yumi said as they all raced to the access hall. They didn't look a second time as they dashed to the edge of the platform and smoothly came to a halt. Then, they heard Jeremie's voice. "Ladies, tomboys, and gentlemen, your elevator's waiting."
An elevator descended for them. As soon as it landed in the right spot, the Lyoko Warriors each walked onto the floor. Everyone was smoothly lifted onto the second floor. Then, the elevator stopped at the hangar where they rushed off.
"Everyone, get on a teleport spot," Jeremie ordered.
They raced to get onto one. Cassidy and Yumi shared one, thanks to the spacious design plans dutifully made by Aelita.
"Energize."
One-by-one, bright, white columns flashed up from the teleport spots, making the occupants disappear. Aelita energized into the captain's hub. Odd and Ulrich each appeared in the single NavSkids while Yumi and Cassidy materialized into the double.
"Everybody ready? Stand by for lift-off. Releasing supports now."
The docking supports released and the Skid was green-lit to go. Aelita gingerly pushed the red button and grasped the thruster. "Vertical propulsion operational."
On the outside on the wings of the Skidbladnir, four little engines went from the side to the top of a sort of C. Virtual fire shot down from both.
Inside the cockpit, Aelita pulled back on the thrusters. "Lift-off!"
The Skid shot up through the North Pole.
"Get ready to dive into the Digital Sea," Jeremie ordered.
Soon, the Skid went outside of Lyoko, dove to the digital sea, hovered for a moment, and then dove in.
"Holoweb system, connected."
The Skid floated outside of the Lyoko network. "We left Lyoko, Jeremie." Aelita gently pulled at a lever. "Rotation. Turbo propeller launched."
The Skid glided smoothly through the Digital Sea.
-In the lab-
Jeremie inserted a CD and typed on some keys. "I'm running the program. Stand by to receive initial coordinates."
"Roger," Aelita replied as he hit the enter key.
A window popped up on the screen with a red exclamation point. Jeremie threw his hands up to his face. "Oh, no!"
-Back in the Skid-
Aelita pulled up a blue holographic screen. Three parts of the ship were blinking crimson red. "What's going on here?"
"Is there a bug?" Cassidy asked.
"A problem, Princess?" Odd asked from his NavSkid.
Aelita typed on the screen. "We've got a system error. I think the Skid has a malfunction apart of its sensory capacity."
"Yes, I see, Aelita. It's my program that bugged up the Skid's sonar. The mission's too dangerous without sonar. You gotta end it now."
"Roger, returning to dry dock," Aelita said as she turned the Skid around.
Odd cracked his knuckles and rubbed an eye. "Okay, the next mission: dive under my pillows and bury myself under the covers. Objective: A good night's sleep to clear my head."
"My next mission: Use the Dream Barrier Destroyer and hopefully have some sweet dreams for once," Cassidy growled. "Having same nightmare number umpteen is really annoying. Objective is in the mission statement."
The azure sea changed into a crimson color.
"Sorry, but you're going to have to postpone your nap, Odd. And we're going to have to postpone the Destroyer, too, Cassidy. I've got three Kongres heading straight for the Skid."
Aelita pulled down three little levers. "NavSkids away."
Yumi and Cassidy's NavSkid shot up and out first. Then Ulrich and Odd followed close behind. Yumi gasped at what the two were seeing. A Kongre was coming up right in front of them. Then she pulled back on the thruster and pressed a button, her expression a growl. "Take this, Fish-face!"
The torpedo fired and hit it. It was gone within a second.
Odd looked at the bright display. "Not bad. Yumi's very effective when she's mad." Suddenly, a laser hit him from behind. It was almost like some unimaginable force was about to launch him through the windshield. He sat back up and shook his head. "I got one on my tail." He took the joystick and maneuvered it left and right to avoid another one. "It's sticking to me like glue."
Somehow, the second Kongre was able to evade the torpedo fire coming from Ulrich's NavSkid. With a few manipulations of the levers, He finally hit his mark. "Yeah, bull's eye!"
"Nice one, good buddy," Odd smiled at his charge.
Ulrich looked at the NavSkid, an idea forming in his head. "Wanna team up for the last one?"
Odd's voice was jubilant as he flipped his around. "Yeah, let's do it!"
They each fired their torpedoes. "FIRE!" they cried simultaneously. Ulrich and Odd missed as it fired its laser at them. They split apart, causing the monster to swim around in confusion. Suddenly Ulrich's NavSkid turned around and then Odd's. They both fired at the same time, and the monster imploded.
"YAHOO!" Odd cried in victory.
-Back in the Lab-
Jeremie smiled and nodded his head. "Nice job, guys. Time to come home now."
-Back to Aelita-
Aelita pulled on the tiny levers again. "NavSkids in!"
Odd and Ulrich returned to their position on the Skidbladnir.
Suddenly a red dot appeared where the top NavSkid would've been. "Hey! Where are Yumi and Cassidy?" Aelita asked.
-Back to the lab-
Jeremie blinked. "Huh?" The screen wasn't issuing off an answer for him. "I don't get it. I don't have any trace of them." He took off his glasses and leaned his head back. "I lost them."
-Back to the Skid-
"They must've got hit by a Kongre," Aelita worried.
Ulrich's eyes were wide. "But…that's impossible."
This time, Odd's voice was soft. "Einstein, you think they've been virtualized for good?"
-Back in the lab-
Jeremie looked at the data from the fight. "No, I—I don't think so. The data recording doesn't show any sign of them having been eliminated." He kept typing on the keys.
"That means they're still on board their NavSkid. Somewhere in the middle of the Digital Sea," Aelita concluded.
"Right, but the Skid is in no condition to find them. You guys have to come back in for me so I can launch a repair program."
-Back to the Skid-
Ulrich pounded the side of his NavSkid with his right fist. "What?! No way!" He withdrew his fist. "We can't just leave them behind, even if Cassidy's annoying at times."
Aelita closed her eyes, thinking profoundly. "Ulrich, no one is leaving anyone, but all of us run the risk of being virtualized forever with the Skid's systems down."
Ulrich closed his eyes, and then said, "Yeah, you're right. We better go."
-Later-
The elevator opened up and Ulrich rushed out. "How long will it take you to fix it?"
"Reprogramming the sonar is linked to balancing the bi-polarity of flux on the one hand. On the other…" Jeremie began to elucidate.
"Just tell us when we can go back, okay?!" Ulrich sounded tense.
"Soon, as long as you let me concentrate," Jeremie looked at him annoyed.
He didn't seem relaxed when a warm hand met his shoulder. "Don't worry, Ulrich. I'll help him. I'll call you as soon as we know."
Ulrich only nodded while Odd smiled.
In the crimson sea, a voice called out, "Can anybody hear us? This is Yumi."
"And this is Cassidy. Oh, no, I knew it was going to go wrong. Why didn't I trust my spark-flash?"
"We don't know where we are." Then, Yumi spotted the energy level on their screens. "We're in trouble. We're almost out of power. Can you hear us?! Answer us! Somebody, please answer us!"
Cassidy started to shiver. "I'm getting a bit cold."
Yumi wrapped an arm around her friend and brushed her hand through her hair, humming the tune Chase the Morning.
Meanwhile, Kiwi sniffed around. He knew he had to find the middle part of Yumi's diary. He just needed to follow his nose.
Ulrich, however, leaned against a tree. "What a nightmare!" he lamented. He had lost his girlfriend and his friend in the same NavSkid at the same time.
Odd smiled, optimistic. "Oh, relax. You heard what Einstein said. They aren't gone from the network. We'll bring Yumi and Cassidy back, don't worry."
Ulrich held some of his hair. "But—Cassidy was one of your girlfriends."
"I know, but she is still a friend," Odd smiled.
Kiwi dug into the leaves again. Suddenly, he started barking jovially. He brought over what looked to be a bound pack of papers to Odd. "Hey, what have you got there, Kiwi?" He looked at the packet and his eyes widened. "Ulrich, this is Yumi's diary."
"What?"
Odd nodded. "I get it. The diary and the binding got separated, and Kiwi dug it back up right where we are sitting now."
Ulrich grabbed the diary from Odd's hands. "That's great. We found her diary, but now we lost Yumi and Cassidy."
Back into the digital network, Yumi called out, "Jeremie, Aelita, can you hear us? This is Yumi and Cassidy. We're almost out of power…" Then Yumi felt the temperature drop. "It's cold here, and… We feel all alone…" She pulled Cassidy close and huddled with her, closing her eyes.
On the other hand, Cassidy visibly shivered. "I want to go back to Earth, Yumi. I don't know where to go to get back to Lyoko…"
"Everything will be okay," Yumi tried to be positive. "The cold is probably messing with your powers, like how your Time can."
Suddenly a Kongre swam in close to the girls. Yumi gasped, opening her eyes. Her right hand grasped the thruster in between them. "Okay, Yumi, you two have only one torpedo left, so don't waste it." She pressed the red button, but nothing happened. "Oh, no, not enough power."
Cassidy typed on her side of the keys. "We sh-should be able to g-get more power if one of us deactivates half of the shield."
"There's a double shield on this NavSkid?" Yumi looked to her.
"Since this is a double, yes. Same with the other double NavSkid. It's stronger that way. The two single NavSkids have standard shielding," Cassidy whimpered a little near the end.
The Kongre fired, but Yumi spun the ship around. "We're not done yet."
Her stomach spun. "Yumi, warn me next time you do that, please?"
"Will do. Sorry."
Cassidy finished typing in the code to deactivate some of the power in the shield. Sure enough, the shield strength flourished to about half the power they needed.
The monster fired again, but Yumi moved the ship to the right. "Yes. Okay, you and us." She moved the thruster around and pressed the red button again. "Fire!" She murmured.
The torpedo made its way to the monster, and hit it squarely.
Suddenly, in the lab, there was a red circle on the location screen. Jeremie typed as Aelita stood by, running program after program, when… "Huh?!" He sounded elated.
"What was that?" Aelita asked.
"An explosion by a NavSkid torpedo!" Jeremie answered.
"Yumi and Cassidy!" she rejoiced as she whipped out her cell phone, typed in a number, and put it up to her ear. She had to hug herself to keep from going too excited.
-Back with Odd and Ulrich-
Kiwi snored, glad to have found the pages, Odd slept, and Ulrich was awake when his cell phone rang. He rose to his feet and placed it on his ear. "Yes, Aelita?" he sounded desperate. After a pause, he said, "Huh? Okay, we're on our way." He hung up and looked back at Odd. "They found Yumi and Cassidy." But then he gasped when he realized Odd was gone like the wind. "Odd?"
"Well…?" Odd stood by the open sewer, tapping his foot, having his hands in his hoodie pocket.
Back in the NavSkid, Yumi and Cassidy started to look tired out. Cassidy sighed. Her mind was racing. She couldn't believe that she had come all this way to end up being virtualized for eternity. Even her powers, always telling her of good and bad events to come, were of no comfort. Pity the backseat, she thought.
A voice came through the dark clouds of despair, making her jump. "I want to go home."
She looked back at Yumi, now looking down.
Inside Yumi's mind, she flashed back to the day Yumi had had enough of her parents arguing. Her mother had come upstairs to calm her down, though she was crying. She had proposed to go live at Kadic, fed-up with the false promises that they would stop fighting soon. Then a little voice carried itself to her ears. "Yumi, who am I going to play with if you go away?"
More tears fell from Yumi's eyes that day.
Another flashback happened in which Hiroki needed help with his English assignment. "No, Hiroki, foot becomes feet in the plural."
Hiroki looked to her. "How do you know all that, Sis?" he asked innocently.
Yumi merely smiled.
Another flashback involved lunch at home. Yumi tapped out a message to Hiroki. Then he tapped one in a reply. Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama turned their attention to their children. "Oh, what are you children up to this time?" Mrs. Ishiyama asked.
All of a sudden, Yumi burst out laughing, and Hiroki followed suit. They were happy that their parents didn't know of their secrets.
The next flashback was at the pool. Yumi was staring at her watch when Hiroki surfaced. "Well…? How long?"
"Oh, at least ten minutes," Yumi smiled.
"Wow!" He smiled.
Out of her flashbacks, she whispered, "Hiroki."
Cassidy couldn't flashback the way that Yumi could.
Suddenly, a laser hit them wayside. They gasped when they looked to the side.
At the Lab, Jeremie muttered to himself. "Come on… Come on…"
The elevator opened to reveal Odd, Ulrich, and Kiwi. Without looking back, the genius said, "Yumi and Cassidy sent us a message, guys."
"Great, we'll go and get them," Odd smiled.
"I have to finish the calculations first. I've isolated the area, but it'll be impossible to find their exact location before I fix the Skid's sonar," Jeremie informed.
"But if they fired a torpedo, that means they are in a jam."
Aelita showed him a look. "I transposed the data of the explosion into the Holoweb to get their location via triangulation."
Then the location device picked up a green arrow. "There they are! They must've gotten sucked into a Hub. That's why we lost all trace of her." Jeremie smiled.
Ulrich, however, looked solemn.
"But the sonar is still down, guys," Jeremie frowned. "So going under right now is going to be a big risk."
Odd smiled. "I'll go."
"Count me in," Ulrich agreed.
Aelita came in. "Well, what are we all waiting for?" She turned around and smiled.
A few minutes later, the Skid was off on the hunt to find their missing members. "There's a Hub dead ahead."
"I read you, Aelita. I'm entering the coordinates from where the girls fired their torpedo."
They hovered over the Hub. "Hyper fluid aspiration in 3 seconds. Hang on tight!" They dived in.
Meanwhile, Yumi and Cassidy were trying to get away from the new Kongre that came after its brethren died. Suddenly Cassidy's eyes sparked in a flash that was shown this time to Yumi. It showed the Skid going into the Hub.
"Our cavalry's arriving?" Yumi asked.
"I think so," Cassidy shook out of it.
It came close, but Yumi sped up. Cassidy tried to hold on tight. She was used to high speeds, but sudden stops would make her super tense. Another laser connected to their NavSkid. Cassidy gripped the thrusters tightly as it spun around. The girls let out yelps as it stopped. Soon they were face-to-face with the monster. "It's all over. What's he waiting for?"
It looked off to the side and swam off. In the distance, William was in his vehicle, the Rorkal. He fired his torpedoes.
Yumi and Cassidy held each other, bracing each other for impact when, unbeknownst to the girls, the Skidbladnir rose up. The three torpedoes hit it instead of the damaged NavSkid. Yumi opened her eyes. Why weren't they eternally virtualized? She looked to the side to see the Skid. "Well, Yumi and Cassidy…"
Cassidy and Yumi gasped in joy. The brown-haired purple cat warrior's brown eyes twinkled. "Aelita, thank God!"
"…thought you'd wander off without telling us where you were?" Aelita asked.
"It took you long enough to get here," Yumi breathed.
Cassidy's calf muscles tensed in excitement. "Aelita, you are the best!"
Meanwhile the two other NavSkids were out and running at William and the Kongre.
"I'm glad we can rest easily for now, Aelita," Cassidy smiled.
The torpedoes hit the NavSkids in the nose. The Kongre and William kept firing their stuff. Odd and Ulrich maneuvered their way back and forth, dodging lasers and torpedoes. Then they split up.
Odd moved his thruster. "I'm in the mood for some fish soup." He pressed the red button. The torpedoes glided toward it, but it ducked. Using a targeting scope, he fired again. "Guess I better cook it down, first." He finally hit it. It disintegrated. Then Odd turned back around.
To Ulrich, Odd yelled, "Ulrich, behind you!"
Ulrich looked back and heard two torpedoes firing. He dodged and evaded. He groaned.
A NavSkid met up with him. "We can't leave you alone for a minute, huh, Ulrich?"
William growled menacingly.
They sped off in two different directions. William looked back and forth, and then growled. Where did they both go? XANA would be disappointed.
Ulrich looked at the positioning device between his legs. He sighed. "Okay, he's behind Odd." He turned around so he was behind William. "Big mistake, William!" He pressed the red button. "Fire!"
It hit him from behind and his Rorkal disintegrated. The two rallied to the Skid. "Mission accomplished, Jeremie," Ulrich said.
"Hey, great job. Now anchor yourselves to the Skid and head back in. Ah, they're all coming home."
Aelita looked in the cockpit. "Not everybody. But one day, we'll bring you back, William," she said softly enough to not get heard by Cassidy.
Once out of the scanners, Cassidy looked to Yumi. "Is it okay if I go sleep over with you?"
"Yep. We're all set," Yumi nodded. "Plus with what happened today, a sleepover will be fine."
"Okay, Cassidy. Are you ready for the Dream Barrier Destroyer test?" Jeremie asked.
Cassidy nodded. Odd looked up. "She's ready, Einstein."
She walked into the tubular scanner, hands shaking. "There are no side effects, right, Jeremie?"
"Right. Don't worry."
The scanners closed. As she was scanned head-to-foot, she felt more and more energy be put inside her. Her eyes went alight with life. A smile grew on her face. Her color went back to a pinkish tone. When the scanner doors opened, she jumped out, ready to conquer whatever XANA put in front of her. "Man, that was AWESOME!" Cassidy roared excitedly.
That night, Cassidy and Yumi made it back to the Ishiyama Residence. On her bed was the middle part of Yumi's diary. "There was restitution!" Cassidy's heart leapt in joy. Ulrich, you dog.
"You seem better," Yumi smiled.
"I'm feeling better."
Outside, Ulrich was walking to the school, humming a tune.
