It's a late night at the factory as the Lyoko Warriors are in the lab. "Okay," Jeremy speaks up, Aelita sitting nearby. "The connecting blocks have been configured. Now we have to compile the structural intermediate data. Did you scan the random distortion components?"
"It's done," Aelita smiles at him, Odd throwing a tennis ball.
"Okay. I'm programming the axonometric vectors to browse the dipolar coordinates."
"Jeremy, how's the virtual submarine going?" Odd wonders, tossing the tennis ball. "I can't wait to go on a XANA hunt!"
The ball hits the wall near Amy, who's reading a magazine. The ball goes flying past Jeremy, who looks over his shoulder.
"Odd!"
He just shushes the boy genius. "You don't wanna wake up our sleeping beauties," He jerks a thumb to Yumi and Ulrich, the girl rested on his shoulder. Amy silently squeals at the two.
Jeremy's laptop goes off and Aelita looks up. "The coordinates have been recognized by the supercomputer."
"That's great teamwork, huh Aelita?" Jeremy smiles at her. "I couldn't have done it without your help!"
"The programming is complete. Time to launch the construction phase. I'm ready."
Yumi suddenly wakes up, noticing her position. "Just a few more seconds, and I'll be all set too." She smiles at the boy, gasping when she notices his eyelids moving. She moves away just in time as he lets out a yawn, unaware of what just happened. "Okay, I'm ready. Now?"
"Yeah, now!" The two tap enter at the same time, and the hub that'll hold the ship is created. Yumi walks up to the computer.
"Hey, what's that room? It's new to me."
"It's new to everyone. Aelita just programmed it into the Core Zone. We use it as a sort of hangar for our sub."
"We've gotta christen it, give it a name," Odd suggests to him.
"Odd, we don't christen a ship until the building is over, that's when it get its real name!" Jeremy looks away with a sly smile. "But nothing says we can't give it a codename."
"Good idea...what if we call her Melanie?"
"Melanie? You mean like that redhead you were so mad about once?" Aelita asks him. Odd giggles sheepishly as he looks towards his girlfriend, who stands next to him.
"You had a crush on a girl who reminds you of a submarine?" Ulrich questions Odd playfully, who pouts.
"You know, it's pretty late. Why don't we talk about it while we're walking?" Yumi suggests as she heads for the elevator. Her parents might start asking questions again if she breaks curfew. Slowly, the ship starts to form on the screen.
"The rest of the calculations should keep running by themselves until tomorrow afternoon," Jeremy explains as they walk through the foggy night. "By then, the atomic layers of the virtual external structure will be complete, at 4 PM sharp. Aelita will be launching phase 2 of the programming operation. The construction of the core. And we're gonna have to be on time because if we're not, the kinetic dipolar distortion energy will enter a dangerous and destructive chromodynamics sinusoidal phase."
"Mind saying that in English?" Ulrich wonders in confusion. They have to remember that the others don't speak their Einstein language.
"If we're not in the factory by 4, the core will collapse into itself. Kind of like a black hole."
"A-Are you saying Melanie will be destroyed?" Odd stammers nervously at the thought.
"Yeah, it sure will," Jeremy pushes up his glasses. "And it's gonna take months before we can reprogram it. Months during which XANA can continue doing his dirty work without any interference from us."
"Relax, you two have got this," Amy waves it off.
"Jeremy and I still have some technical stuff to work on before we go to sleep."
"Just make sure you don't stay there too long. Ever since Jim almost caught me in Odd's room, he's getting more cautious by doing TWO night inspections before the next morning," Amy holds up two fingers.
"Hey, Ames?" Odd asks her suddenly. "Are you mad I called our ship Melanie?"
"Not really," She shakes her head. "You're over her, aren't you?"
"Of course!" He takes a hold of her hand. "It's always been you, Ames."
"Aww," Aelita smiles at the two as Amy blushes bashfully.
"I can't believe it!" Jeremy exclaims once they're in his room. "Pretty soon, we'll be able to track XANA on the network!"
"We might even be able to localize my dad," Aelita grins, glancing at him.
A flashlight is looking around the hall, hearing the two voices in Jeremy's room. "But we better not get our hopes up. Even if it's possible, it's not gonna be easy."
"I know, but I completely lost hope when XANA destroyed all of Lyoko."
Jim suddenly bursts the door open. "Belpois!" He shines the light in their eyes, Aelita cringing at the brightness. "What are you doing here?"
"Uhh, I'm...this is my room," He replies dumbly.
"Huh? Ah...I know that," Jim closes his eyes once inspecting the room. "As I was saying, Miss Stones, what are you doing in here?"
"Well, um...mm," She closes her eyes, unable to come up with a reasonable explanation.
"You ought to know that the girls have to stay upstairs, which is their floor, and they're not allowed downstairs where the boys are down here! And so tomorrow, you can repeat word-for-word what I just said about downstairs and upstairs to the principal!"
And with that, he slams the door shut.
The next morning, the two are in Mr. Delmas' office. "Now listen to me, both of you. Kadic is a highly respectable institution. The rule is strict. Girls have no right to be in the boys' rooms, and vice versa, and especially after lights out. There's no excuse for your conduct."
"We didn't do anything bad," Jeremy opens his eyes.
"He's right, we were just studying," Aelita chimes in, hoping to get out of this.
"Well, since you like to study so much, you'll be glad to know that that's what you'll do in the library for the entire afternoon. I hope that's clear. Jim, you're in charge."
"Mr. Delmas, you can count on me to take care of them," Jim replies confidently, to the two's dismay.
"Shakespeare's work has been divided into a number of categories. Comedies, tragedies, history plays, and dark comedies. We're going to work on his most..."
"This is a disaster!" Jeremy whispers to the others sitting behind him and Aelita. "If we're not back in the factory by 4 sharp, it's so long Melanie!"
"I told you to watch out for Jim," Amy whispers back knowingly.
"So what are you gonna do?" Ulrich murmurs to them.
"Skip out. No matter what the consequences are," Aelita closes her eyes.
"What?! But you can't do that. You leave the library, they'll throw you out of school for sure," Odd tells them.
"Yeah, and then what would we do?" Amy gestures to herself, "I can't run the supercomputer by myself if you let yourselves get kicked out."
"We absolutely need the submarine to travel through the network," Jeremy replies back.
"What if you guys get expelled? Amy's right, how do we fight XANA?" Ulrich murmurs in concern.
"I have an idea!" Odd says, out loud for everyone to hear.
"Yes Odd? We're listening," Ms. Kensington turns around, hands on her hips. "What do you find so much more interesting than Shakespeare?"
"Um...Ames?"
"Hm?!" She blushes deeply as some people laugh, others just smiling at the two.
"Actually, Melanie as a code name is pretty lame," Ulrich comments to Odd.
"You prefer Sissi?" He retorts back.
"At least you saved yourself in English," Aelita smirks in amusement as Amy has said nothing since class. "You've also made Amy go mute!"
"Honesty with my favorite girl: it's my specialty!" He puts an arm around her.
"Come on, that's enough! Melanie or not, we've still got a pretty serious problem," Jeremy changes the subject.
"What about using lunchtime to get away?" Odd suggests to him. "We can just tell Jim you're in the infirmary cuz something you ate didn't agree with you."
"Is that really gonna work?" Amy raises a brow skeptically.
"Huh? Are you sure about that?" Jeremy turns to Aelita.
"What's on the menu for lunch?"
"Ravioli," Ulrich answers her.
"Oh yeah, it's bound to work," Jeremy states, both of them suddenly hearing laughter.
"Belpois! Stones!" Jim chuckles, approaching them. "We're gonna have lunch together. That way, I can get you to the library right on time."
Jeremy frowns towards the pink-haired girl. Amy sighs a little towards the boys. Jim is definitely not letting them up this time around...
Yumi arrives just as Aelita and Jeremy are leaving. "Well, what's happening?"
"They've got company for lunch..." Ulrich looks in their direction.
"We've got to find a way to get them out of there by 4 o'clock!" Yumi whispers as they're watching the two across from Jim.
"Yeah, but how?"
"I don't think he'll ever let this go until their punishment is over," Amy murmurs to them.
"Hmm..." Odd looks to his phone, dialing.
"And that was when I had to bail out, little little big storm over the North Atlantic. Well, I made it, but then I realized that I wasn't going to get back in time for dinner!" His phone suddenly rings, the two glancing at each other. "Yeah, Jim Morales sp-oh! Oh, would you repeat that? What? I won the lottery? HOORAY!" He cheers loudly, getting everyone's attention. The students all stare at him and he smiles in embarrassment, sitting back down.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely! But if you don't come to claim your prize immediately, we're sorry, but it's going to be given to the runner-up," Odd muffles into the phone.
"Hey, just a second..." Jim narrows his eyes suspiciously. "I never bought a lottery ticket in my life!"
"Uh, really, are you sure?" Odd asks while the gym teacher is looking around. "Ah...you wouldn't by any chance have a twin brother who could have bought one?"
Jim looms over the boy and Amy cringes, tapping her boyfriend's shoulder.
"Della Robbia, you're the one who's gonna wish you had a twin brother to do the detention I'm gonna give you!" He threatens Odd, who smiles nervously.
Aelita and Jeremy close their eyes in dismay.
Jim plants his feet on the desk, glaring at the two. "Uh uh, not together. Separate desks. You know what they say about dividing to...multiply...to conquer, I meant, uh—Belpois, over there, and Stones over there."
She walks all the way down to the right upper corner.
Odd walks into his room, going over to his dresser. Kiwi barks, joining his side. "Kiwi, I just came to borrow something from you, so calm down, okay? You can play with Kiki."
He looks up at Amy holding her dog, who lets her walk onto the floor. The two dogs bark happily at one another, wagging their tails. "Ah," Odd smiles once he's found it. Amy steps up to him and stares at the object.
"Odd...you can't be serious..."
"I am!" He looks up at her with a pout.
"Pudding pop...it's not gonna work."
"You'll see!" He points up at her.
Jim is reading a sumo magazine, Jeremy looking at his watch nervously. It's already 2:30.
The door opens behind him, Odd planting a toy mouse. Jeremy watches it roll past him. "Red alert! Red alert! Ms. Hertz's mice have escaped from the lab! They're taking over the whole school, we have to catch them right now!"
Jim sees the toy, seeing it hit the edge and gives a deadpan look. "Do you really want to know what has to be caught, Della Robbia? An idiot in a purple outfit and a dumb, ridiculous haircut and who's gonna be in big trouble if he and his toy mouse don't get out of here pronto!"
"Ridiculous, my haircut?" Odd asks furiously. "I bet you're jealous, huh?"
"Della Robbia," Jim says in a warning tone.
"Okay, okay...have you seen a mouse made of plastic?"
"Out! Go on!"
Odd reluctantly leaves, Amy leaning against the wall nearby. "Aw," She hugs him, patting his hair. "If it helps, I don't think it's ridiculous or dumb. It's...unique."
"What about the idiot part?"
"...Well..." She looks away slightly, giving him his answer.
"You're lucky that I love you," He puts his hands into his pockets, walking past Ulrich.
"How'd it go?"
"A fiasco. I even got Kiwi mad...and we can't use the door next time!" Odd tells him.
"I told you it wasn't gonna work!" Amy shrugs at the two. "Jim may be dumb sometimes, but he's not that gullible!"
"Well," Ulrich stands up. "How bout the window?"
Jeremy gasps at his beeping laptop, glancing towards Jim quickly. He opens it up and sees the hangar under attack.
Creepers are heading right towards it, using the elevator.
Jim lowers his magazine, seeing Aelita use her phone to message the others. "Confiscated!" He snatches her phone away. "You're here to study, and that's all! Meaning that there's no gabbing your head off on your mobile. Your cellphone, Belpois."
Jeremy slides his phone over and he takes that too. "And your thing that goes beep, shut it immediately or I'll throw it in the garbage."
He dejectedly closes his laptop. "Now look, I was not born yesterday, so don't think you can fool me. Whatever game you wanna play, remember, I can beat you at it."
"Any luck?" Odd and Amy are helping Ulrich stand at the window.
"The window's locked," He informs them. Jeremy blinks as he sees the boy outside.
"Okay, then come down here. You're not that light!"
Jeremy waves a little, flashing his watch. "Hold on! I think Jeremy's trying to give me a signal!" The light from the watch hits Ulrich's eyes, causing him to fall onto the grass.
"You mean his message wasn't clear?" Odd wonders as the boy is rubbing his eyes.
"It was a little bit too clear..."
"Well, are your bright ideas working out?" Yumi approaches them, hands on her hips.
"No, but speaking of bright ideas, Jeremy just tried to blind us with one of his."
"Let me have a look," Yumi states and together, the three get her to the window. She notices the flashes.
"Come on, it's simple. Concentrate!" He hisses as she focuses on what he's trying to say.
"...It's Morse Code, turkeys. Well, not you, Amy."
"Gee, thanks," The girl deadpans towards her.
"Morse code turkeys? Sounds pretty scrumptious!" Odd smiles at the thought of food, Amy elbowing his arm.
"Jeremy's trying to communicate! Three short, three long, three short. SOS!"
"How'd you learn Morse code?" Ulrich wonders, struggling to hold her up on his end.
"Hiroki and I keep secrets from our parents that way. Fac...tor...y. Factory!"
"SOS factory? Not a word about Melanie?" Odd looks up at her.
She jumps off, getting a blank look from Odd. "No time to lose. We've gotta get to the factory. The message ended with the word William!"
"Uh oh," Amy's eyes widen, glancing to the boys.
William is flying on a Manta towards the hangar, which is at the top of the Celestial Dome. He enters into the hangar, scoffing at the sight. He jumps off the Manta and lands on the platform. "Attack..." He orders all the Creepers.
They charge up their lasers, preparing to fire.
"Fire!"
Together, they hit at the ship's shields, William just watching.
Odd, Amy, Ulrich, and Yumi approach the bridge at the factory.
Jeremy nods to Aelita, who nods back and stands up. "Uh, Jim, is it true you're a math teacher in the tropics?" She asks curiously as she approaches him.
"Uhh, affirmative," He drops the newspaper, looking at her quizzically.
"I can't figure out what the square the hypotenuse could be. Could you help me, please?" She opens up her book to him.
"Yeah, but, uh, it's not all that easy," He scratches the side of his head. "Because, um...in the tropics, the hypotenuse is, um, was variable."
"Yeah! Because the heat," She laughs a little.
"Right."
While she's distracting him, Jeremy opens his laptop to see the ship in trouble.
The four arrive in the lab, running up to the computer. "Einstein left us a message!" Odd points to the screen.
"XANA's attacking Melanie. Yumi, take over for me. Odd, Amy, and Ulrich, off to Lyoko," The Japanese girl reads, glancing at the three nervously.
"Okay, go on, Yumi, you've done it before," Ulrich smiles at her.
"Yeah, but what if I make a mistake?" She's definitely done that before.
"We have no choice. We can't afford to lose Melanie," Odd walks off to the scanner room.
"He's right, remember what Jeremy said? It'll take months to do it all over again," Amy holds up a finger.
"You can do it, Yumi, I have faith in you," Ulrich informs the taller girl, who smiles a little. The brunette winks at her, giving a thumbs up.
"I would even say that the hypothermia, they have a hypotenuse. Depends on the hyperactivity of the nuse..." Jim looks up at Aelita after reading the book.
"Oh! Who would have thought? You know, you're a walking encyclopedia, Jim!" She compliments and he smirks smugly.
"Well, you see, Aelita...when you're out there all alone in the tropical jungle with nothing more than a cigarette lighter, if you don't know all you need to know, zap! You're dead meat," He slices a finger in front of his neck.
"Wooow!" She clasps her hands together. "You're incredible!"
Jeremy continues messaging Yumi via laptop. "We've got a huge problem. Once the protective shields are gone, nothing can stop XANA from totally wiping out Melanie! And according to Jeremy, it can't be reprogrammed! So as soon as you get to Sector Five, you're gonna have to work fast!"
Amy, Ulrich, and Odd step into the scanners.
"And try not to mix things up because I don't wanna find myself with my arms where my legs should be and my nose in my navel," Odd gestures to himself. "Can you imagine that?"
"...No," Ulrich says after a few seconds, causing Amy to laugh.
"Well, are you ready?" Yumi closes her eyes, hoping that she can pull this off.
"Do your stuff, Yumi."
"Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Transfer Amy," The scanners close around the trio and Yumi sees their ID cards popping up. "Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Odd. Scanner Amy. Virtualization."
One by one, they feel the whoosh from the tiny compartment and land directly into Sector Five, landing back-to-back.
"Two arms, two legs, one head, one tail...all present and accounted for!" Odd turns to Amy, picking her up and spinning her around. Her hair twirls around her body. "And so is my little Ames!"
"Odd!" She laughs, staring down at him as her hands are on his shoulders.
"It worked, Yumi. We're in the arena," Ulrich reports to her.
She sighs in relief. "Thanks Jeremy..."
He smiles, typing another message while Jim is still talking with Aelita.
"Energy level...Melanie...window. F9."
The trio stop in front of the wall, which opens up. "Keep going until you reach the access hall. Then take a platform elevator to the hangar."
"Got it!" Ulrich calls out as Amy flies over them.
"Wow...Aelita did a fantastic job..." Odd comments in awe once they come to a stop, seeing the room.
The boys run forward, Amy taking flight as they stop in front of the entryway. The elevator lowers itself in front of them.
"Here we go," Ulrich glances at them both. Amy flies above the platform and drops her wings, landing on the elevator. The boys step on and it takes them upwards.
"Well, everything's cool up to now..." Yumi murmurs slowly, hoping that nothing goes wrong from her end.
"Yumi, we're almost at the hangar." Ulrich's voice snaps her out of her thoughts.
"Okay, I'll let Jeremy know."
He smiles once he's gotten the message, failing to hear someone step up behind him. Mr. Delmas closes the laptop.
"Belpois!" He scolds, the boy frowning. "You've been punished for not having obeyed the rules, but it seems you never learn! No computer communication!"
"Huh?!" Jim looks up, Aelita giving a look of disbelief over today. "Uh, Mr. Delmas, I didn't know you were here."
"Bravo for your surveillance, Jim!" The principal replies sarcastically.
"I, um, was helping Aelita here with some hippopotamus—that is, uh...hippapotnuse problems...
"I'm confiscating this for the rest of the day!" He holds Jeremy's laptop in his hands.
"No, please sir!" Jeremy begs with him. "You can't do that! You see, I must have my computer, it's urgent!"
"He's right, Mr. Delmas," Aelita speaks up behind him. "It's really..."
"Vital," Jeremy finishes for her.
"Vital?! Ridiculous! Would you like to know what's vital? Listen, it's vital to be aware that there is no one in life who can go unpunished for being disobedient!" And with that, the man walks off with the laptop. Jeremy tries to go after him.
"No!"
Jim slides in front of the door. "Sorry about that, Belpois, but you still have a little punishment time left and until then, I'm gonna stand between you and that door!"
Both of them frown at their bad luck.
The three reach the ship, looking up at it in awe. "You grab William's attention, while Ames and I handle the Creepers," Odd whispers to him, taking a hold of Amy's hand and rubbing his thumb across it. She smiles towards him and he returns the gesture. "Ames, fly me over there."
"Okay," She nods at her boyfriend. When the elevator comes to a stop, it's only Ulrich there. He steps forward, seeing William right next to him.
"Yo, big shot."
William lowers his sword, seeing his opponent. "Wanna mix it up a little?" Ulrich pulls out his swords, ducking from William's swings. Meanwhile, Amy is flying underneath the platform, Odd hugging her from behind. She flies to the platform and he jumps off, landing near a monster. Amy soars into the air and lands next to him.
The Creeper turns around, only for Odd to fire one of his arrows. "Laser Arrow!"
Amy flings her spear and it goes flying. Both of them hit the monster dead on. Odd smiles at his girlfriend and she smiles back as she catches her weapon. Then they see the two other Creepers, Amy flying into the air. Odd lands on her back, not using his claws to hang onto her since that would hurt. The Creepers fire to where they were standing, Odd jumping off her and landing on the platform. He fires twice as Amy tosses her weapon again.
William flings his sword at Ulrich, who dodges his attempts. He suddenly finds himself at the edge, looking over his shoulder...
It's not an easy fall that he'd be able to bounce back from. He jumps onto one of the thin components of the platform, clashing swords with William. He ducks from another swing, spins around, and kicks William onto the ground. He swings his saber, only for William to block it with his arm. He pushes Ulrich back, and he backflips back onto his feet.
William looks up at something. "Mantas!"
Three Mantas fly into the north entrance of the Celestial Dome.
The Creepers continue to fire at the couple, Odd backflipping. He narrowly misses a laser as he lands back on his feet. Amy looks up at the sky and gasps.
"Guys...we have Mantas in the house..."
"That's all we needed, XANA's air force," Odd mutters under his breath, shaking his head.
"Answer, Jeremy, come on!" Yumi urges, unaware that Jeremy's laptop has been taken away. "Oh, what is the matter with him?!"
"Jim, if you let us go now, we promise to do double detention, starting tomorrow! Or, well...or triple! We'll do triple detention for a whole week, okay?" Jeremy pleads with the gym teacher, desperately trying to get out of the library. He didn't care what the consequences were, their friends needed their help.
Jim simply shakes his head.
The Mantas start firing at the ship's shields.
Ulrich approaches William, clashing swords again. Ulrich swings his foot to try and kick his opponent, who ducks and jumps away. Ulrich throws one of his swords, William narrowly dodging out of the way. The sword heads right towards Amy and she looks over her shoulder, yelping and leaping away. The sword hits the wall instead.
"Watch where you throw your swords!" She warns him angrily. "I could've been a goner!"
"Sorry," He calls out sheepishly as he notices Odd's glare towards him.
Amy looks up at the Mantas and flies up towards them. Odd jumps, swings from a pole, and spins around, firing at the Creeper in front of him. He hits the target dead on and does a handstand. Another Creeper fires, and he swings around the pole to avoid the projectiles.
The Mantas notice Amy and two of them start focusing on her instead. She flies around in a circle.
William takes a stance as Ulrich runs up to him. He flips over William's sword and lunges forward, sliding onto the ground. With his legs, he knocks William off the platform, getting back onto his feet. He looks over the edge for William, who has disappeared. He had landed on a Manta, who hits Ulrich in the side, and this also causes him to lose his second sword. He watches it fall off the platform.
"Yumi, we need back-up. We can't go it all alone."
"Ulrich, I...I've lost contact with Jeremy. Oh no, the submarine shields are getting weaker!" She exclaims in worry.
"Improvise. Aelita and Jeremy have to get here now, regardless of Jim!"
She sighs a little, pulling out her phone. She calls her younger brother, who takes the phone from the living room table. Johnny is sitting nearby. Hiroki is now wearing a blue shirt over a turquoise blue long-sleeved shirt, and green pants.
"Yumi? Do you a favor, huh? Like what? No, because Johnny and me are playing Babylon Ninja Fighter 5 right now-"
"Hold on," Johnny places his hand over the speaker. "She's so cool! Come on, let's give her a little help!"
"If you let me get to level 5 first," Hiroki looks at him with a small smile.
"Okay," Johnny agrees happily, removing his hand.
"You got it, sis, but on one condition. You do my homework for a month."
"You're a real crook, Hiroki, but okay," She agrees reluctantly. "And make it fast! I'll deal with Amy later."
Hiroki hangs up, getting onto his feet.
"Hey, don't forget to tell her it was me who convinced you to change your mind," Johnny grips the end of his friend's shirt.
"Yeah, sure," Hiroki shrugs at him. "...But I already told you, you got no chance against Ulrich."
Johnny sighs a little, sagging.
William lands back on the platform, readying his weapon. Ulrich steps back a bit, ducking underneath the weapon and hitting William in the stomach. He recovers a second later, only to be struck again by Ulrich's foot. He narrows his eyes, getting annoyed now.
Yumi worriedly looks at the ship, hoping that her friends were here soon. "Amy, you've gotta stop those Mantas, and now!"
"I'm trying, Yumi, but they're pretty tough! And we both know that me not having my powers puts me at a disadvantage," Amy throws her spear, the Manta ducking out of the way.
Jeremy looks at his watch, glancing at Aelita. "Just 15 minutes of detention to go," He whispers at her. Both of them don't know that the two little boys are outside the library, holding the two dogs. He had picked the lock to Amy's room. They nod to each other and Johnny opens the door. They both place Kiwi and Kiki inside. The two dogs walk around, Jeremy staring in confusion. He silently wondered how they got here, but decides to ask later.
"Huh?" Jim notices the two. "What's going on around here? Oh, I get it. The mouse didn't work, so now they're mechanical dogs. Pretty good imitations, Della Robbia..."
The two dogs start barking and that's when he realizes that they're real. "But...hey, they're the real things! Mangy mutts!"
Kiki growls at him, biting the man in the leg for the insult. "Ow!"
Aelita giggles a little at the sight. One thing that Kiki hates is being called a mutt. The two dogs run out of the library.
"Hey! Stay where you are! Get back here!"
The two stare at each other for the unexpected distraction.
Jim runs down the steps, hearing the barks. "I gotcha!"
When he's out of sight, Aelita and Jeremy quickly head out of there.
The Creeper in front of Odd fires, but he keeps swinging around the lasers, letting go and landing safely on a pole. He backflips and lands in front of the monster. He fires straight at it and watches it be destroyed.
"They're just like sitting ducks! Uh, sitting Creepers, that is!"
He suddenly gets hit in the back, landing on the platform.
"Odd!" Amy screams, Odd looking up at the Manta. It's suddenly destroyed and he looks in the direction it came from to see the fairy flying past.
"Thanks, my little Ames!" He grips onto the platform and flips back up, firing at the second Manta. Amy lands next to her boyfriend, both of them dealing with the last one.
Across from them, Ulrich is still weaponless, ducking from William's swings. He glances behind at his sword, backflipping and landing above it. He grabs his weapon back and speeds towards William, managing to get him in the shoulder. William jumps up and clashes swords with him again, both of them glaring at each other.
"You're not gonna win, William...Better let your master know!" Ulrich warns his opponent.
The elevator opens up and Yumi turns around in relief. "Hey, it's about time!"
"Okay, Yumi, Aelita, head for the scanners! Only 8 minutes to go," Jeremy looks at his watch.
"Get over here, sweetie. I'm gonna need you!" Odd calls out to Amy. She clears her throat bashfully at the nickname, standing in front of him. Odd jumps onto her back again and she flies towards the Manta.
Jeremy puts on the microphone. "Ulrich, Odd, Amy, backup is on the way."
"Great, things are heating up around here!" Odd replies as Amy looks down at the monster, following its every move from above. He points his arm and hits the monster on the target. He then sees one in front of Amy. "Oh no..."
She gasps and turns around, but the Manta hits her in the back, devirtualizing her wings. She falls, looking towards the harsh landing and screaming.
"Ames!" Odd pulls her into his arms bridal style and she hugs his neck. He jumps onto a pole and spins around, landing on the platform again. Amy looks up at him in relief.
"Thanks..." She murmurs to him as he puts her down, smiling. She smiles too, and then the moment is ruined as he gets devirtualized by a Manta. "Odd!"
Once he gets out of the scanner, he kneels down in exhaustion.
William pants as he stares down his opponent, the Manta knocking Ulrich off his feet. William is about to finish him off when a fan and spear go flying, knocking his sword out of his hands. He turns towards Aelita and Yumi arriving.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, ladies," Ulrich tells them in relief, standing up. Yumi holds up her hand and catches her fan.
"Thank goodness!" Amy stares at them happily.
"It's always nice to feel needed, isn't it?"
"It's about time!" Odd exclaims once he's in the lab. "Do you realize it's five minutes to 4?"
"I know, Odd, I know. Only 5 minutes to run Melanie's core program," He types furiously. "But even more important, all of our protection shields are just about down to 0!"
The Manta focuses on the girls, who do their best. "You were right, they are tough," Yumi comments to Amy.
Ulrich swings his sword towards William's head, who ducks from every single swipe. With his hand, he knocks the sword out of Ulrich's hand and into his. With one last hit, he devirtualizes Ulrich, smiling wickedly. He takes his own sword back, looking up towards the ship. He leaps, landing on top of it. He hits the shield with his sword.
Ulrich steps out of the scanner up with a deep frown. "Hurry, ladies! The sub only has 7 percent of its life points left!"
The Manta fires and the three split up. The Manta looks to Yumi, who lightly tosses her fan, missing. Amy spins around, throwing her spear, but misses as well. Aelita fires a pink orb.
"Energy field!" She manages to destroy it, Odd gasping towards the screen.
"Yumi, Aelita, Amy, the sub shield is almost totally gone. One more hit, and it's all over for Melanie!"
The three look up at William, as there are no more monsters to deal with. Yumi throws both fans, which William deflects. He then fires a slash from his sword, hitting Amy and devirtualizing her in one go.
Amy groans as she steps out of the scanner. "Jeremy...we really gotta work on powers in Sector Five..." She pinches her nose.
"Agreed."
Aelita prepares one big energy field just as William prepares to deal the final blow to the ship. "Energy field!" She throws it and devirtualizes him. That big one took a bit of energy, but other than that, she's okay.
"You okay, Aelita?" Yumi asks her and she nods.
"3:59 and 45 seconds...46...47..."
Jeremy taps enter, smiling. "It's done. The programming for phase 2 is underway."
"Wait...so it worked?" Amy asks as she enters the lab via the ladder.
"Yeah it did!" Odd runs up to her, hugging her waist and spinning her around again.
"YEAH!" The two girls cheer, high-fiving. The watch the ship as the programming finishes.
"Jeremy, our ship is finally completed."
Ulrich arrives in the lab via elevator, holding his head. "Oh wow!" Odd comments as he steps forward. "Close call for Melanie, huh?"
Later, they meet at the Hermitage to discuss ship names. They didn't want to take the chance of being at school and getting in trouble all over again. "But Melanie's a great name. Why don't we keep it?"
"It's a nice name for a girl you used to be interested in, but not a submarine," Yumi points out.
"Well, for a ship that's gonna hunt down XANA on the network, we need a name that's got some punch, don't you think?" Jeremy asks him.
"There's no way I'm gonna get on a ship named Melanie, this is serious business," Amy holds up a finger.
"Yeah, like, um...Nautilus for example."
"Hmm, that's pretty original," Odd narrows his eyes at him. He's sitting on the floor behind Amy, hugging her waist.
"Find a better one, then!"
"Aelita, are you coming?" Ulrich calls out as she's upstairs.
"I'll be right there!" She takes a book from the shelf. "My father used to read this book to me when I was 5. Do you remember that, Amy?"
"No...I think this was after I stopped visiting," Amy rubs her chin in thought. "But he did send me a copy that my mother read to me when I was 6."
"Viking Gods and Legends?" Jeremy asks at the title.
Aelita shows him the pages. "Look at that. It was a mythical tall ship that could even sail on land and it always reached its destination, no matter what kind of wind it was blowing."
"The Skidbladnir...?" Jeremy says slowly.
"Skid-ski-blah-ski-skid-ski-ski...ka-what?!" Odd asks in confusion.
"I really like that name," Yumi comments with a smile.
"Yeah, I like it too," Ulrich agrees with her.
"That perfectly describes our new ship!" Amy smiles up at her sister.
"Okay," Jeremy stands up. "Our new ship's name is now Skidbladnir!"
"The Skid, what about Skid for short?" Odd suggests, as there's no way he could pronounce the full thing correctly from now on.
"Hey, what about Jim? How did he react when he found out that you guys were gone?" Ulrich wonders curiously.
"Well, we haven't seen him since, so...maybe he forgot about us," Jeremy smiles slyly.
"I haven't seen him on campus at all! He must have other things on his mind."
He's still chasing the two dogs in the park. "Where are you, you little doggie? I know you're around here. Come on now, Uncle Jim's got a little snack for ya! Come on now...you won't get away from me, you hairy hounds, you!"
They just bark in response.
Odd and Amy are both laughing as she's holding Kiki in her arms, walking to her room. They had managed to find their pets standing in front of Odd's room, and now the girl was bringing Kiki back to where she belongs.
"You sure gave Jim a run for his money. Good girl," Amy pets her dog, who barks happily, wagging her tail.
"Ames' cute little diggity dog!" Odd pats her head as Amy opens the door, looking around the room. Aelita is nowhere in sight. "Aelita isn't here?"
"She mentioned going to Jeremy's room to make sure everything is running smoothly with the Skid. And maybe seeing if they can do something about me having no powers on Sector 5," She bends down to Kiki's drawer, placing her inside and closing it. "They'll be back in time for dinner, but he's gonna lock his door just in case!"
He chuckles, closing the door behind him. "So...we're totally alone?"
"Not technically," Amy glances to her closed drawer, standing up. "Something on your mind?"
"Yeah..." He strides up to her, cupping her chin. "You."
She blushes, playing with a strand of hair. Before she could say anything, Odd smashes his lips onto hers. She enters a dream-like state, slowly kissing him back. Her fingers start to knot into his hair.
"Ames..." He gasps out between the kiss and she smirks. He loves it when she plays with his hair. To her surprise, he pushes her onto her bed. She snakes her arms around his neck while his embrace her waist. He has to scooch up a bit so he could be at level with her forehead. They part for air, looking into each other's eyes with a smile. They both have rosy shades on their cheeks. She hugs him again, burying her face into his shoulder. She feels how his arms tighten around her waist.
Odd inhales her flowery scent, nuzzling into her soft hair. She squirms a bit when she feels Odd's lips on her neck. He trails kisses from her jawline to her shoulder. Her breath hitches and she closes her eyes. Amy feels him going back up to her jawline. He kisses to her chin and smoothly transitions to her lips. She kisses him passionately as he holds her hands, bringing them up to her head.
He licks at her lip and she grants him permission, his tongue slipping inside her mouth. Both of their tongues swirl around each other, their hot saliva mixing.
They both part, panting and catching their breath.
"One of these days, one of us is gonna have asthma," Odd whispers, pressing his forehead to hers.
"I'd still love you," She smirks a little and he chuckles.
"Ditto."
"Come on. Let's go eat. I'm hungry and a little birdie told me she's making your favorite," She murmurs, opening her eyes.
"Aww...but..." He pouts, placing his cheek on her chest and hugging her. She blushes profusely as it felt like she was a teddy bear. "You're all nice and warm."
"Y-You can cuddle me later. Rosa promised me that she'd give you a second portion."
"Okay, I'm up!" He gets onto his feet and she giggles.
