Angel: Yo, William Hoenicke,
It's not the end of the world if I update this story late in the day. At best, I try to do it as soon as I wake up, and I'm out of school for the time being. I don't necessarily have to do it in the morning, any time is fair game. I hate it when people come to me asking for an upload, when they should know that I only update three times a week, not at any specific time. So please stop reminding me, I know that it's Monday, but it's also winter break. It's not really something I'd like to see whenever I read my email. I know people out there wanna read it, but it takes patience.
Next Wednesday is Christmas, so I will not be uploading that day.
In the ice sector, there's an activated tower that is being guarded by two Tarantulas.
Out on the road, a police van is escorting a criminal to another one so that he can be transported out of the country. "HQ transfer calling car Alpha."
The officer sitting in the passenger seat picks up the radio. "Car Alpha, go ahead."
"In 3 miles, you'll meet up with escort 2 as planned." The driver glances at the electrocution sign passing by. Suddenly, electricity comes from the fence, one of XANA's ghosts appearing from it.
"Copy that. You happy to be going home, huh Duncan?" The male officer looks past the wire to Peter Duncan, who is cuffed to the wall.
"I don't talk to cops, so save your breath," He retorts back, wanting to be left alone.
"Typical. That's what you get trying to be nice," The male officer puts the radio down as the ghost enters the back of the van. It enters Duncan through his right ear, possessing him as he falls to the ground. The male officer sees a flash through the wires, looking back. "Duncan? Hey, what's going on? What's up?" He sees Duncan kneeling over, looking to be unconscious. "Pull over, he's had some kind of attack."
The female officer comes to a stop as the male officer gets out to inspect. "Car Alpha to HQ, transfer."
"Go ahead, Car Alpha."
The doors are opened. "Duncan? Hey, you okay? What's going on here?"
Duncan opens his eyes and pulls off the handcuffs, to the male officer's shock.
"Following procedure 3. Momentary stop to assess the situation."
The van shakes with electricity flowing through it, the male officer being through right through the wire. "Hey!"
She stares at the unconscious officer. "Roger, Car Alpha. Standing by for information."
There's a thump in front of her and she looks up in shock to see Duncan standing there with a big evil grin. "Car Alpha? What's going on?" She can only look in shock as he laughs evilly. "Come in, please, Car Alpha."
In the courtyard, two students are kicking around a soccer ball while Odd, Amy, Ulrich, and Yumi are talking about Peter Duncan. Yumi had heard the news about him this morning before she arrived at school.
"Peter Duncan escaped from the police transport van without any outside help?" Ulrich asks in shock as Yumi grabs her hot chocolate.
"Yeah, that's what they said on the radio," Yumi replies, Odd looking back at her.
"You know, ever since David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, nothing surprises me anymore," Odd chuckles a bit.
"What bothers me is that the two police officers who were guarding him talked about a supernatural force," She brings up her concerns.
"You think XANA is involved?" Ulrich asks her knowingly.
"Well...with him, anything can happen. Whether we like it or not," Amy crosses her arms.
"Not a chance that he is," They turn to Jeremy and Aelita approaching. "The super scanner doesn't show any activated towers. I just checked."
"I hope you're right," Yumi glances at the others. "Imagine public enemy number one under XANA's control. Talk about double trouble."
"A public enemy?" Odd asks in confusion. "What did this Duncan guy do?"
"Oh, nothing much," Jeremy counts on his fingers, "Fine art theft, safecracking, kidnapping, bank robberies..."
While he's talking, Aelita and Amy hold their heads, Aelita dropping her bag.
"You okay, girls?" Yumi wonders their uneasiness.
"Yes, uh, I just didn't sleep very well last night," Aelita replies, Amy nodding.
"Yeah..."
Odd raises a brow at Amy, silently wondering how she didn't sleep well. She didn't mention having nightmares again as far as he's concerned. In fact, she hadn't had any ever since Aelita stopped having them.
The bell rings for class and Aelita picks up her bag. "Don't forget, we have a math test. You gonna be alright?" Jeremy asks Aelita.
"No problem," She smiles a bit. Math was nothing, and she'd just sleep it off later.
Duncan uses his newly acquired speed to travel to a nuclear power plant. He stares at it, as he was looking for something here...
"As you all know, the exam covers the principles of division. I hope you've studied hard," Mrs. Meyer announces as she gives out the test papers.
"Hey Ulrich?" Odd turns to Ulrich sitting next to him. "What's the last digit of the number divisible by 2, huh?"
"0," Mrs. Meyer answers for him.
"Oh yeah, that's the answer," Ulrich silently cringes at Odd, who turns to the teacher. "Well done, ma'am."
"No, that's the grade you're going to get if you keep trying to cheat," She corrects him.
"Oh," He says in dismay. Amy rolls her eyes as she sits across Ulrich, getting started. Odd turns back to his paper, Mrs. Meyer walking across the room and looking at everyone. They seem to be working, everyone except Jeremy, that is.
Mrs. Meyer stops next to his right. "Well, Jeremy? Is there a problem?"
"I finished, ma'am."
"I see," She picks up his paper. "Good work. Excellent, in fact, Jeremy."
The whole class gasps as Jeremy smiles at the teacher. Amy gives him a thumbs up.
Duncan holds his head while he's in the woods, falling to the ground.
Aelita holds her forehead, Amy rubbing a temple. Something inside her didn't feel right. "Aelita? Are you okay?" Jeremy asks in concern.
Duncan starts to have a headache and then he passes out right in the middle of the forest.
"Aelita!" Jeremy gasps as Aelita's on the ground.
"Amy!" Odd runs over to the still brunette, bending down to her. Everyone gasps at the two in concern.
The two are taken to the hospital in separate ambulances, still unconscious as they lay on the gurneys. Amy's hair rests on the pillow and over her shoulders as she tries to open her eyes, failing to do so.
"Okay, what do we got?" The doctor runs out of the hospital.
"Adolescents, 12 and 13 years old unconscious. Very weak pulses, irregular heartbeats," One of the paramedics say as the two are quickly ushered inside the building.
"Put them in the same room." They usher the two into the ICU, Jeremy and Odd following until they had to stop, since they couldn't go in. The doors close in front of them as they wondered how this might've happened. The two blondes glance at each other in worry.
The doctor looks up at their heartbeats on the IV. "They've gone into fibrillation!"
"10 mils of adrection." Another doctor inserts a syringe into the both of them, looking up again.
"Hearts failing."
The doctor pushes the syringe further into their arms, but their hearts still slow down. "They're going down! Cardiac unit!"
The doctor rushes over and puts one defibrillator onto their chests. "Clear." He shocks them with it, but their lifelines go flat.
"Nothing. Clear!" He tries again and there's nothing from either of them, the two gasping in shock. They had no idea what could happen to result in this, and now, they'd have to tell their friends they couldn't revive them...
Duncan wakes up in the forest, sitting up.
Suddenly, the girls' heart rates go back up, bringing them back to normal. The second doctor looks at them, truly amazed. "They've got a real guardian angel, that's for sure."
Amy and Aelita slowly open their eyes.
Jeremy, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich are in the waiting room, sitting together silently as Jeremy looks up. "So how are they?" Jeremy asks as he sees the doctor approaching them, hopefully with good news.
"They're fine, don't worry." Jeremy and Odd smile in relief. "They'll be alright, but they're extraordinary cases."
"Can we see them?" Yumi wonders.
"I don't see why not, but not too much noise. They need to rest," He walks away.
"Don't worry, doctor, everyone knows I'm quiet and calm!" Odd smiles a bit. He's holding a stuffed peacock for Amy, along with a few snacks and some 'get well' balloons.
"How are your test results?" Yumi is sitting between the girls. Amy hugs the stuffed peacock, her gifts sitting near her.
"Completely normal," Aelita tells her.
"Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that you're not really human," Ulrich points out.
"It could be the virus that XANA implanted in me," Aelita suggests.
"But why would it affect Amy? Come to think of it, a lot of stuff has been happening to her that shouldn't," Odd looks at the brunette. "Like when the Marabounta went after you or when we found that picture from the Hermitage that got there somehow."
"I don't know either. There was nothing from the recent scan I had to suggest anything wrong," She touches the fluffy and soft feathers. "And I've asked my parents a bunch of times already. They don't know a Franz Hopper or the Hermitage. It's so weird."
"Did you find anything, Jeremy?" Yumi looks at the genius.
"Dead calm as far as XANA is concerned. No activated towers, although the superscan seems to reset itself. It's not giving the right results," Jeremy looks at his laptop in frustration.
"Kind of like me. I guess it didn't study either," Odd smiles at Amy in amusement and she giggles.
"No class this afternoon. I'm going to pay a visit to the factory and check it out," Jeremy closes his laptop.
"We'll go with you," Ulrich offers, putting an arm around Odd's shoulders.
"I'll stay here. We can have a girl-to-girl talk for once," Yumi smiles at the girls and they smile back in relief.
"I'll come back with your sketchbook," Odd places a hand on Amy's shoulder. "To pass the time."
"Thank you, Odd...and also for your gifts. That was really sweet of you," Amy smiles softly at him. He smiles back, relieved that she's okay.
I'm really glad that she got through this. I hope that nothing else happens to her while I'm gone.
A truck from the power plant drives away.
Ulrich lifts the manhole cover and Odd grabs his skateboard. He skates down the tunnel, jumping off the railing. Ulrich does the same, Jeremy cringing at the stairs up ahead. He jumps over the stairs and reaches the ladder, Odd and Ulrich already up ahead. They wait for him as Jeremy reaches the bridge, running across it and grabbing the rope. They land in front of the elevator.
The truck from the power plant makes a left, but Duncan is standing in its path. "Hey! What the—this guy's crazy!" He tries to stop, but he phases through Duncan, thinking that he ran him over. Duncan is perfectly fine as his body goes back to normal. He turns his attention to the truck, using his electricity to crack the simple code of 123456.
The back opens and the two guards are ready to deal with the intruder, guns pointed at him. "Don't move."
"Put your hands in the air!"
Duncan just grins at the simple request, the driver hearing someone getting beat up. He gasps, looking at the rearview mirror to see a hand disappearing back into the truck. He gets his gun and sneaks over, slowly moving so as not to alarm Duncan. He then points his gun.
"Hands up!"
All he sees are the two unconscious guards and no Duncan. Peeking inside, he sees that an Uranium rod is gone...
Jeremy examines the superscan program at the lab. "That's exactly what I was afraid of."
"What?" Ulrich asks.
"The superscan bugged up. I'll find out why in a minute."
Odd walks up to him. "The real question is, can you fix it?"
"Well normally, yeah, but the debugging phase takes time. I don't know if it's a minor bug or something more serious-"
"Okay, okay," Odd interrupts, holding up his hands. He did not want to hear another explanation from Einstein. "If XANA's activated a tower, we'll find it much faster by going directly to Lyoko. You coming, Ulrich?"
"Mmhm," Ulrich follows after Odd. He only wanted to do this faster so he can go back to Amy and make sure she's comfortable.
Jeremy silently agrees, as XANA could've activated one and he had no time to fix the bug right now. It could take hours, and that's something he couldn't risk.
Odd and Ulrich walk inside the scanners. "Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Odd. Virtualization!"
When they land in the ice sector, they don't see any towers. "All clear here. We're gonna have to search all the sectors."
"Don't panic, I'm calling up your vehicles, guys." He materializes the Overboard and the Overbike. Odd backflips, landing on the board as Ulrich sits in his bike. They take off at the same time as Jeremy attempts to fix the bug.
"Jeremy, how's it going with the superscan?" Odd asks.
"Not too great."
The boys' search isn't long before they find something. "Anyway, you might as well forget it. No wait, we found it!"
"Activated tower dead ahead."
"Right, I've got it," Jeremy puts a lock on the tower so that he can find it when he transfers the others. "25 degrees north northeast. Nice job, you guys."
Odd and Ulrich come to a stop in front of the tower. "Now all we gotta do is bring Aelita here to deactivate it," Ulrich looks at Odd.
"Okay, I'm bringing you in," Jeremy reports until the map of Lyoko disappears altogether. "That's great. Now what's up?" The screen shuts down, leaving his friends stuck on Lyoko. With the supercomputer shut down, he was unable to bring them in since the scanners are offline. "Oh no! Can you hear me? Hey! Ulrich, Odd!"
"Jeremy, not that we're in a rush, but uh...Jeremy?" Ulrich notices that it's silent. "Taking your time there. Jeremy?"
"Hmm, must've forgotten to pay his phone bill."
Yumi, Amy, and Aelita all laugh together as Yumi's telling a story about her family. "Great, funniest part is Hiroki says to my father, 'Papa, when I grow up, I'm gonna look like you, but with muscles!' Heh heh."
The two girls giggle until they feel something break down, closing their eyes. "Aelita? Amy?" Their flatlines are dead as she gasps sharply. "Oh no, I don't believe it! Get a doctor, quickly!"
Duncan falls down, dropping the uranium he stole. Because of the supercomputer shutting down, it was affecting Duncan since the tower is on Lyoko. And with the supercomputer falling at the seams, Aelita and Amy were suffering the effects as well.
"What's wrong with this darn supercomputer?" Jeremy grumbles as he descends to the lowest room. He enters the Supercalculator room as the battery ascends from the ground.
Odd and Ulrich continue to wait as it's been several minutes. "Uh, Jeremy, are you gonna bring us in or not?"
"We'll have to manage without him," Ulrich pulls out his sword. "Get ready."
Odd points his arm at Ulrich, the two attempting to devirtualize themselves. "1...2...3!" Odd fires at the same time that Ulrich swings his sword at Odd's shoulder. Ulrich gets hit twice with the arrows, but they don't disappear like they should've. It did hurt, though.
Ulrich picks up his sword as Odd stands up, walking over to him. "W-We can't be devirtualized!"
"The scanners must be offline," Ulrich guesses as he puts his sword away. "What is going on around here, anyway?"
"I have no idea, but we've got a real problem," Odd says in worry.
"That's the understatement of the year," Ulrich agrees with him. Without Aelita, they can't deactivate the tower, and if they couldn't do that, Duncan would be on the loose.
Jeremy walks up to the supercalculator, pulling the lever to restart it, but it's a no go. "Ugh, this is really bad!"
Suddenly, the land in the ice sector starts disappearing into a wave, which will eventually leave nothing but the Digital Sea.
"Huh! What is that?!" Ulrich exclaims in horror.
"How about a gigantic invisible eraser?" Odd suggests as they stare at it.
"Let's get out of here!" They run to their vehicles. "Jeremy, do something fast, huh? Before it's too late!" Ulrich jumps onto his Overbike, Odd flipping to his Overboard. They quickly get away from the tower, flying over to the other side where it's potentially safe. The tower disappears as well, but it's not deactivated.
"Come on," Jeremy tries again. "Start up, will you?"
"Jeremy, can you hear us?" Odd calls out as the erasing gets closer. "We have a big bug here!" He looks to Ulrich, only to see that his Overbike is disappearing. He starts falling towards the Digital Sea once it's gone. "Ulrich!"
"Help!" Ulrich calls out as Odd dives towards him, spinning his board around. He flies in and captures Ulrich on his board. "Thanks."
Suddenly, the board starts disappearing too. "No!" They start falling towards the Digital Sea.
The doctors try pumping the girls' hearts, Yumi looking on in worry.
Jeremy's finally gotten the Supercomputer working, but not for long. "Oh, finally!"
The land reappears, breaking the boys' fall, but just barely as they hold onto the edge. They crawl up to their feet, Odd looking down at their feet as the edge turns into a platform.
"Looks like Lyoko's recharged its batteries," Ulrich replies as the activated tower reappears. The boys smile at each other in relief.
The girls' heart rates go back up, to their shock. "In all my years as a doctor, this is the first time I've ever seen that."
They open their eyes to see the hospital ceiling again.
Duncan also wakes up, still in the forest. He looks down at the Uranium and picks it up, continuing on to his destination.
"Hey, we're doing okay," Jeremy says in relief, noticing something as the battery is depleting. "Oh no, the nuclear battery's going dead!"
"The uranium in the nuclear battery's almost all used up, so the supercomputer keeps failing," Jeremy explains once he's returned to the hospital with Odd and Ulrich. "And pretty soon, it'll turn off altogether."
"Oh, is that all? Then we just have to change the battery," Odd replies nonchalantly.
"A supercomputer is not the same as a Gameboy, Odd. You can't just pick up a bar of uranium at the corner store," Jeremy replies sarcastically.
"But isn't there a kind of emergency backup battery?" Ulrich wonders, as getting uranium as teenagers wouldn't be successful, not to mention impossible to obtain.
"No," Jeremy shakes his head solemnly. "I checked."
"XANA is dying."
"And so are Aelita and Amy," Jeremy says sadly, the girls listening in on them. They glance to each other, Amy trying not to cry. She's dying, and she doesn't even know why... "And all account of that miserable virus and I don't know what is going on with Amy! I guess we'll...never know..."
They all sigh in despair, Odd holding his head. "I'm gonna get something to drink," Jeremy replies slowly, walking away. They say nothing as they glance at the hospital door.
Jeremy holds his full cup of hot chocolate in the waiting room, sighing to himself. If only he could figure out why Amy. What exactly is there that she has to be affected by this too? There's nothing in Hopper's dairy, nothing new from her parents, and nothing to suggest a connection to Lyoko.
Her parents hadn't even shown up. Yeah, that's what a real parent would do.
He hears footsteps and looks up to see Duncan approaching him. He shouts as Duncan grabs him.
"Hey princess," Odd leans towards Aelita, who's turned away from them. Amy has done the same, opening her eyes as tears run down her cheeks. She's losing her life, and her parents don't even care... "Is this the best TV set they could find?" He jerks a thumb to the machine behind him.
"Don't bother trying to cheer us up. We heard what they said in the hallway."
Odd closes his eyes, wishing he could do more for them. He walks up to Amy, whose back is turned to him. "I can try calling your parents and try to get them down here."
"They're not gonna come. They're already going through enough," Amy looks away. "So don't even try..."
Odd clenches his fists, pulling out his phone and walking out of the room. Amy needed family to be there for her, but she's getting squat. All of this wasn't fair. She hadn't done anything and there was nothing there that would have her going through this. Why her? Why his best friend?
"Yes?" A man answers the phone.
"Hi sir. My name is Odd Della Robbia. I'm a friend of your daughter, Amelia," He starts off seriously.
"Oh, the hospital called. A friend, you say? My daughter doesn't need friends. What she needs is to get her head straight and focus on graduating right now."
"Graduate?" Odd asks in disbelief. "She's only in 8th grade, and she's in the hospital! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"The only thing that matters is that she assumes her role as CEO of the company! I'm the president of SafeTech, and I don't step foot in where...commoners are gathered. Dying or not, she shouldn't be wasting her time at some hospital when there's more important things to be done."
Odd narrows his eyes, one of his fists turning white. "Commoners? Wasting her time? You could LOSE your daughter, and all you care about is your company? Now I see why she doesn't go home to you!"
"You watch what you say, young man. I put Amelia into that school; I can easily take her away from it if I want to." And with that, he hangs up, Odd glaring at the phone. Should he say nothing about this conversation to Amy? If he did, she'd call her father and then he'd take her out of school. The last thing he wanted to do was for Amy to possibly leave. They needed her...
He needed her.
Duncan has an unconscious Jeremy over his shoulder as he runs across the bridge.
Yumi walks into the room, noticing a scowling Odd. "Jeremy's disappeared," She reports.
"But he can't have left just like that," Ulrich says. He knows Jeremy, he wouldn't leave Aelita without saying anything. Suddenly, Amy and Aelita's heart rates slow down again.
"Aelita, Amy!" Yumi calls out, Odd looking down at Amy as he gasps in shock. He's heard of this happening to Amy, but...to actually see it? It was awful. He doesn't like this feeling of dread, this feeling that Amy's in pain. And it killed him that he didn't even know why. He puts a hand to Amy's head.
"Amy, come on. Stay with me. Stay with me, Ames," He urges for her to open her eyes.
Ulrich's phone rings and he takes his phone out of his pocket, Yumi looking over Aelita. "Ulrich." It's Jeremy, who's wearing an orange suit. "It's me."
"Jeremy, where are you? The girls have just had another attack."
"That figures. I just turned off the supercomputer. But this definitely confirms my suspicions now," Jeremy's hand is holding the lever that has just been switched off.
"What?!" Ulrich exclaims in shock that Jeremy would do that.
"Peter Duncan is under XANA's control," Jeremy explains as the uranium sits near his feet. "He kidnapped me to make me replace the battery."
"That means that Aelita and Amy are saved too then!" Ulrich exclaims in relief, Odd looking at Amy in worry. He gently caresses her forehead. "Fantastic!"
"Yeah, except that once the new battery is in...Duncan's gonna try to kill me." Jeremy glances at Duncan, who's lying on the ground since the supercomputer affects him too. He just hoped that he had a good plan of fending him off once he does the switch...
Room 117 beeps red and one of the doctors looks at it. "It's room 117, little Aelita and Amelia."
"The only way to get rid of Duncan is for you to go to Lyoko and deactivate the tower. Get the girls out of the hospital and get here ASAP," Jeremy presses a button for the panel to separate. He sees a hole where the uranium goes.
"Their hearts can't take an awful lot more of this," Ulrich looks at the two.
"I know, so hurry."
When the doctors arrive, they're shocked to see that the girls are gone. Ulrich carries Aelita on his shoulders, Odd doing the same with Amy as they're almost at the bridge.
"This oughta do the trick," Jeremy carefully pulls out the drained uranium. "Easy..." He puts the new one in just as slow, to be careful in case anything happened. "Yeah." He closes the panel. "Please let them soon be alive..." He pulls the switch, quickly getting out of his suit and making a run for the elevator. Duncan's eyes open as Jeremy had done it, both fortunately and unfortunately.
Duncan chases after the boy. "You won't get away from me!"
Jeremy presses the button just in time as Duncan is locked out. The elevator takes him to the lab just as Duncan opens his eyes, sitting up.
Jeremy puts on the headphone. "Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, are you there?" He says, hoping that they've arrived. "Tell me you're there."
"You're there," Odd jokes, Jeremy sighing in relief.
"We're in the scanner room," Yumi explains. He just had to know if it worked or not.
"Are the girls okay?"
"Couldn't be better," Aelita smiles softly.
"Yeah, thanks Jeremy," Amy winks and all of them are there except one.
"Launch the procedure for Yumi, Aelita, Amy, and me. We're gonna deactivate that darn tower!" Odd glances at Amy, wondering if he should tell her or not about her father. On one hand, she'd get to stay if he didn't. But if he said nothing, he'd be lying to her, and he didn't want to do that to her. It was better for her to learn the truth than to lie, no matter how much it could hurt.
"But where's Ulrich?" Jeremy asks and the doors open to reveal him.
"Here I am," He smirks at Jeremy. "You didn't think we'd let you have all the fun with Peter Duncan, did you?"
Jeremy peeks over to see him. "The girls will go first. Transfer Amy. Transfer Aelita. Transfer Yumi. Virtualization."
The three girls are virtualized into the ice sector. "You should see the tower," Jeremy tells them as Odd lands behind the three. Yumi points ahead to see the tower not too far away.
"Over there."
Odd looks at Amy, who's staring at the tower. "No monsters, huh? Obviously it shouldn't be this easy."
"Hey...Ames?" Odd calls out and she turns to him curiously. "I have to tell you so-"
"Amy's right. Watch out!" Aelita points to behind him. They turn around.
"Oh, Kankerlots," Odd looks at the five of them. "We haven't seen you guys for a while. I missed you!" He glances at Amy. "We'll talk later."
"Um, okay," Amy agrees in confusion. He sounded pretty serious, she hoped that nothing was wrong. Though, she couldn't help but feel that she felt his hand on her forehead when she was unconscious. Maybe it was just her imagination...but if that were true...
Amy, come on. Stay with me. Stay with me, Ames.
Why did she hear him pleading for her to wake up? It was his voice, right?
A laser from a Kankerlot interrupts her thoughts as it fires straight at Odd's feet. He jumps into the air, crawling on all fours as he dodges the projectiles. He backflips and aims his arm. "Laser Arrow!" He destroys the one in front, landing behind the remaining four.
"One down."
Two of them turn around while the other two deal with the girls. They fire at Aelita and Amy stands in front of her. "Frosty Vine!" She thrusts up her arms to create vines made of ice. They then form into a shield to deflect the shots. "Aelita, stay behind me."
She nods, standing behind her, but the other Kankerlot comes around the shield and fires. Yumi steps in and blocks it with her fans.
"Jeremy, we're gonna need our vehicles!"
"Your rides are on the way," Jeremy gets to work on materializing them. The Kankerlot in front of Amy fires and it starts to crack the shield. Yumi suddenly gets hit in the stomach from the left Kankerlot. "Yumi, you're down to ten life points. The vehicles are materializing."
The Kankerlots advance forward at Odd, but he takes care of one by a laser arrow. "Hurry up, guys!"
"We're doing our best. It's no picnic out here."
"There's no time, Odd!" Yumi calls out as she flies up to him on her Overwing, Aelita hanging onto her. "Let's go!"
Amy skids to a stop in front of him and he backflips onto his Overboard. "It's your lucky day, you little Kankercreeps!"
The fairy revs up her race car and takes off, riding between Yumi and Odd. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Odd?"
"Not now," He tells her gently. They've almost reached the tower. "Tower dead ahead!"
"Great," Jeremy smiles a bit just as Duncan appears through the elevator and into the lab. He cringes nervously at the possessed man. "Can you handle 'im?" He turns around to Ulrich.
"I love entertaining guests," Ulrich waves it off as he approaches Duncan.
"Two monsters in view," Yumi sees the Tarantulas up ahead. Odd and Amy separate from her as the Tarantulas prepare to fire. Aelita waves to them as Yumi passes by, winking. One Tarantula turns to the other, who gestures for him to go follow the girls. Aelita chuckles at their plan, the Tarantula standing up and firing. The last one hits the Overwing. "Aelita, jump!"
She does so, Aelita rolling to a stop. Yumi lands on her feet, glancing back at the monster approaching her. "Run to the tower!" She tells the pink-haired girl, who follows her order. The Tarantula looms over Yumi, walking over to her.
Ulrich ducks Duncan's punch, sweeping to the side, but he gets elbowed in the gut.
"Ulrich!" Jeremy cries out in worry as the boy lies on the ground, gritting his teeth. Duncan picks him up by the back of his shirt.
Odd and Amy swerve as they approach the Tarantula guarding the tower. "Ready for our strategy, Ames?" Odd glances at her.
"Ready when you are, Odd!"
The Tarantula fires at them and Odd swerves out of the way, Amy driving away from the lasers. Odd flies above the monster while Amy charges at it. Odd holds his board, flying around the tower. The Tarantula continues to fire at him, but Amy drives in front of him. It sees her and she waves with a smile, driving off. The monster follows after her.
Yumi continues to block the lasers, flipping away from them. Odd and Amy look behind them to see the monster still chasing after them. Odd comes back around, firing straight ahead at the Tarantula, missing. Amy swerves as he turns around, driving straight for the monster. She pulls out her spear, but the Tarantula fires it out of her hand.
"That's not cool!" Odd exclaims at the Tarantula.
Yumi jumps and throws her fans, hitting the mark and landing behind the Tarantula as it explodes.
The other one is still firing at the duo, Odd trying to get a shot at it. Eventually, his overboard is hit and he falls.
Amy gasps and swoops in, with him landing behind her. "Ames, you're my hero!"
"Don't mention it. Now it's Plan B."
Ulrich is thrown to the wall, Duncan growling at him. He then turns his attention to Jeremy. "Now it's your turn."
Aelita can't reach the tower as the Tarantula is still there. Amy drives past it and it follows her, firing at the two. Amy glances behind her and swerves, but Odd gets devirtualized from behind.
"Odd!" Both Amy and Aelita call out.
Jeremy backs away slowly as Duncan approaches him, his foot eventually hitting the wall. "Stay away!" He tries to look away as Duncan's shadow looms over him.
The Tarantula fires at Aelita, but Yumi's fan flies in front of her, stopping it. "Aelita, time to pull out all the stops!" While she's distracted, the Tarantula devirtualizes her.
"Time for Plan C," Amy murmurs to herself as she looks behind her.
He hears a whistle and turns to Amy, who's near the edge. "Hey, focus on me!" The Tarantula chases after her and Aelita runs to the tower. Amy drives off the edge.
"Amy, no!" Aelita cries out. The Tarantula looks over the edge, only to get multiple arrows hit on the symbol, destroying it. Amy flies from underneath the land, smiling at Aelita. She smiles back at Amy's strategy.
"Aelita, now!" Amy tells her and Aelita nods, running into the tower. She starts floating to the top.
Duncan grips Jeremy's collar, threatening to electrocute him.
Aelita is almost at the top.
Jeremy screams at Duncan.
She does a flip and then lands at the top, walking up to the middle.
Jeremy clenches his fists above his head.
Aelita signs in.
Aelita
Code
Lyoko
"Tower deactivated."
The tower deactivates, Amy smiling in relief.
Duncan goes back to normal, Jeremy slamming his fists over his head. He's dropped to the ground as Duncan falls, unconscious. Ulrich sits up.
"Hey, you okay?"
Jeremy gives him a silent thumbs up.
"Peter Duncan was found unconscious in front of police headquarters," Yumi reads the newspaper the next day. "The police are investigating, but for the moment, don't have any leads as to how the escaped prisoner ended up outside the police station."
"Even if we did tell them the truth, they'd never believe us," Ulrich speaks up.
"You're right. That's how it is for unsung heroes like ourselves. We gotta act in whim and remain in the shadows. I guess that's what being a true hero is all about. But someday, everybody's gonna know just how brave we are. And we'll reap the real benefits and rewards true heroes deserve..." Odd says, closing his eyes in content.
"Hey, speaking of rewards, I just saw Mrs. Meyer."
"Uh oh," Odd opens an eye.
"She gave me the results of the math test."
"Hey great, what did I get?" Odd asks curiously.
"8,650 plus 51 minus 10,000 plus 1,299," Jeremy simply says, Odd doing the math in his head. Amy cringes when she finds out the answer.
"You mean I got um...uh...wow! I got 100?"
"No. Zero," Jeremy tells him the answer, Odd sagging with a small frown.
"Don't worry, Odd," Ulrich places a hand on his shoulder. "One day everyone's gonna know how brave you are by not studying. And you'll reap the rewards that an unsung hero like you deserves."
"But don't hold your breath!" Yumi adds in, the others laughing. Amy pats his back.
"I'm sure you'll do better on the next one, Odd."
"Thanks, Ames, but uh...I kinda talked to your father on the phone while you were at the hospital," He rubs his neck.
"Oh no," Ulrich facepalms at this.
"You did what?" Yumi demands, Amy frowning a little.
"You called him? What did he say?"
"I was just trying to get him to actually care, I don't know why your mom didn't come," Odd frowns as he remembers the threat he got. "And I took it too far and I kinda yelled at him. He said that if I spoke to him again, he'd get you kicked out of school. I didn't tell you because I thought you'd be upset. I'm sorry I kept it from you."
"Odd..." Amy smiles softly, hugging him to his surprise. "I'm not upset. Heck, I'm not even mad. I'm just glad to hear that you were looking out for me, and I'm happy that you did that for me. At least I have friends like you guys...besides, when my mom's at work, she turns her phone off, but I'll be okay."
The five all smile at each other, silently vowing that they'd never leave her behind when it came to her father.
"Anyway, me turning off the Supercomputer proves it. Amy and the Supercomputer are linked somehow; but I don't know how," Jeremy rubs his chin. "It's obviously there, but we just haven't found it. And if you're linked to Lyoko, that means XANA might try to attack you, Amy. So just be careful from now on."
"Guess I'm not out of the woods yet..." Amy murmurs to herself, hoping she'd get her answers soon. She wouldn't be affected for no reason...obviously there was something about her that connects her to Lyoko, something just as significant as Aelita's memory.
And it seems that XANA wants it.