At the halls, Ulrich, Odd, and Amy are walking together, the couple holding hands. Just in front of them, Aelita closes the door.
"Hi sis," Amy smiles at her.
"Hey there, Aelita! Einstein isn't with you?" Odd notices that he's not anywhere near her. She shakes her head no.
"I haven't seen him yet today."
Ulrich glances away. "Speak of the devil, look who's here!"
Jeremy runs up to them, panting as he stops to catch his breath. "Hello, everybody!" There's a glaring mark on his forehead near his bangs.
"Let me guess," Odd rubs his chin. "You fell asleep in front of your computer again."
"Uh, yeah. How'd you know?" Jeremy stares at him curiously.
"The imprint of your keyboard."
The others laugh as Jeremy rubs at his forehead. "I was up all night working on a program. I came up with an idea for bringing William back!"
"Hey Ulrich? Amy?" Hiroki speaks up behind them. "Could I talk to you two for a sec?"
The two glance at each other, looking back to him. "Uh, well, if you really have to, yeah. Go ahead, we'll meet you inside."
Odd pecks Amy's lips and they turn to the boy. "What seems to be the problem?" She raises a brow at him.
"Well, uh...everybody says that girls really like you a lot, Ulrich. And that boys really like you a lot, Amy."
They step back a bit in shock. "That depends on the girl," He rubs the back of his neck, Amy elbowing him slightly.
"And I really don't notice it..." Amy scratches her nose, looking away.
"Well, like my sister, for example."
"Uh," Ulrich's eyes go wide before he shuts them. "Beep, wrong. Try again. Yumi and I are good friends, that's all."
"Uh huh," Amy replies, glancing at him briefly.
"Yeah, well maybe that's just what she told you," Hiroki moves Ulrich's hand away. Ulrich looks to Amy, who just shrugs. "Anyway, I didn't want to talk about Yumi, but about...uh...Milly."
"Milly who?" Ulrich asks him.
"How many Millys do we know?" Amy crosses her arms.
"Milly Solovieff! You know, that tall red-headed girl in 7th grade."
They look away to see Milly talking to Tamiya in front of the cafeteria. "Oh, little Milly. Oh yeah, of course we know her. So?"
"Well, actually, I...kind of like her, but when I try to talk to her, I can't think of anything to say!"
"Aw, how sweet," Amy smiles at him.
"Just talk to her about the things she likes, her interests. You know, she's got a passion for journalism," Ulrich gives him a small smile.
"It's a 100 percent guarantee. Odd and I would talk about dogs for hours before we got together," Amy nods in agreement.
"Great idea! Wouldn't it be great I could find her a scoop? She'd be crazy about me if I did!" Hiroki smiles happily.
"Uh, yeah, a scoop for the paper, but, uh, just what kind of scoop?"
"It'd have to be really big to get Milly's attention," Amy looks back to the girl.
"Oh, you can leave that to me, Ulrich!" Hiroki looks away with a smirk, which concerns the brunette a little.
In the cafeteria, Ulrich sits down in front of Odd. He looks up as Amy comes in with her breakfast, holding out her chair for her.
"What did Hiroki want to talk to you two about?" Jeremy looks at the both of them.
"Oh, he wanted our advice. He's crazy about Milly," Ulrich replies in amusement, playing with his soup.
"He is?" Odd stops slurping his soup, with the content all over his mouth. "Now, isn't that cute?"
"That's what I said!" Amy smiles, taking a spoonful and eating it.
"But isn't the guy a little young for her?"
"No he's not. He's just a little small for his age, and...what's more, he skipped a grade in school," Aelita points out.
"But he acts even younger than his age," Odd slurps his soup, Ulrich staring at him.
"Odd, that's basically you, and yet Amy still managed to like you first," He deadpans to the boy.
"Hey!" He pouts at him, Amy chuckling.
"Hey Jeremy, tell us about this new idea of yours," Ulrich turns to the blond, who puts down his soup.
"Well, okay. Whenever a human being is virtualized, he or she emits a binary residue, which we can say manifests itself as an emanation of his physical person. Resequenced in a sort of digital format."
The others are silent for a second. "Yeah, in English?"
"When you go to Lyoko, you'd need a kind of digital trace. Something like a scent," Aelita starts off.
"Without it, you'd basically be a chicken with no head," Amy adds in, Jeremy staring at the sisters blankly.
"Couldn't you have said that in the first place?" Ulrich deadpans, sipping his drink.
"Mm, no," He rubs his chin. "Anyway, I came up with a program based on William's DNA sequence that I recorded when he went to Lyoko for the first time. If I can upload this onto the Skid's sonar, we can hunt for him on the network every time we go there! And finally find out where William really is."
"So what you're saying is the Skid will become a sniffer sub!" Odd deduces, holding some bread with butter to his mouth.
"That's right, Odd, and since we don't have classes this afternoon, I was going to suggest we try it out!" He smiles at everyone.
Yumi is sitting near the vending machines as she stands up, walking over to get a drink. Hiroki peeks around the corner, running over to where she was sitting. She puts in the coin as he goes through her bag. He grins at a little book, and she comes back to see him.
"Hioki, what do you think you're doing?"
He attempts to hide the book, but she sees it, and drops everything. "Hey, give that back right now!" She chases after him.
"You sure look far away, Ulrich," Odd glances at him as they're walking out of the cafeteria.
"It's nothing, just thinking about something Hiroki said."
"Oh yeah? What was that?" Odd asks curiously.
"Uh, nothing. Forget it."
Hiroki slides in front of them, running up to the duo. He pushes right past Amy, and she spins around, yelping in alarm. Odd catches her, and they look to the boy in confusion.
"Oh! Sorry," He runs off past them towards the park.
"What's wrong? Does Sissi wanna go out with him or something?" He jokes, to the amusement of the two. Yumi suddenly runs past them.
"Hey! Yumi, hold on!" He calls out, but she ignores it and keeps running.
"Whoa..." They look towards each other, wondering just what is going on. Ulrich picks up a little book with flowers on the front.
"Is this yours, Odd?"
"Huh? You kidding me?" He asks while adjusting his hair. "A notebook with a dark cover and a flower is not my style."
They look to Amy, who holds up her hands.
"Nope. Mine's in my room."
Hiroki pants as he hides behind a tree, sweating in fear. He looks behind him and smiles, pumping a fist. Yumi suddenly grabs his collar, lifting him up angrily.
"Give it back right this second, you brat!"
"Aw come on, sis, I was just kidding," He smiles nervously. "It-look, here it is," He lifts up his shirt where he hid it, but it's no longer there. "Well, it was here."
"WHAT?!" She exclaims, dropping him.
"Um...well, you're gonna laugh, but uh, I dropped it, I think..."
"You'd better be kidding!" She glares at her brother.
Ulrich flips through the book...to see a picture of him inside. He freezes and Odd looks over his shoulder. "Hey, that's a pretty good shot of you. Who's your secret admirer, let me see."
He stands up, closing it. "It's Yumi's right?"
"It's her diary," He stares at the book. "That's why she was running after Hiroki."
"He must've stolen it from her to give Milly that scoop..." Amy sighs, pinching her nose.
"If you ask me, this is a great chance to see what she thinks of you," Odd suggests, to the two's immediate disapproval.
"Oh no. What's written inside here is not my business! And don't forget that Yumi and I are just good friends, that's all!" Ulrich states to him.
"Not to mention, you're gonna suggest that we read Yumi's diary right in front of her best female friend?" Amy puts her hands on her hips, staring at Odd in disbelief.
"Are you sure about that, Ulrich?" Odd asks him with a small amused smile.
"Well...actually, I'm not sure at all."
"But it's reading her personal diary. As in, wrong? When you lost your diary, she said so herself that she didn't read it when she gave it back to you. What good is it gonna do if you didn't do the same courtesy?" Amy gestures to the book.
"But he could find out if she really likes him."
"Oh, okay. So invading privacy is all well and dandy if it's about her feelings for him!" She retorts back.
The bell rings, letting everyone out for class. The boys step out, Amy following close behind. They look up ahead to see a stressed out Yumi.
"Hi Yumi!" They step in front of her.
"Hey Yumi, what is it? You look angry," Ulrich casually asks.
"Oh, my stupid brother. He stole..." She turns away. "Something important to me and he lost it."
"...Look, Yumi, I, uh-" Ulrich is about to give it to her when Jeremy and Aelita walk up to him.
"Okay, I got it. I upgraded the Skid's sonar, we're all set!"
"All set for what?" Yumi raises a brow at him.
"Oh, right, you don't know yet. I'll tell you all about it. I might have found a way to bring back William!"
"Oh, cool," She'd be happy if Hiroki didn't steal her diary.
"Uh, Yumi-"
"Yumi?" Hiroki walks up to the group next. "I've been looking for you. I...I wanted to apologize for this morning, I had no right to take your diary."
"Did you find it?" She doesn't even look at him.
"No...but I...I looked everywhere, I swear."
"Well, until you find it, you can consider yourself an only child!" She declares, walking away. Amy gasps at her. Hiroki frowns and Amy places her hands on his shoulders.
"Give her some time to calm down, Hiroki." She knew that the two aren't usually close, but if Aelita had taken her diary (which, in hindsight, she'd never do), she'd forgive her...having Aelita a year younger than her isn't exactly the same, though.
They watch her walk away, Hiroki leaving dejectedly.
"What happened?" Aelita asks, turning to the others.
"Oh, nothing. Some diary straights. We'll tell you about it. Ulrich, Ames, can I see you for a minute?"
"Mm," Amy walks after them, wondering just what he had to say this time...
"Well, so what do we do now?" Aelita raises a brow at Jeremy.
"We go to lunch."
"So what's the deal?" Odd raises a smug brow once they're a few feet away. "I thought you were gonna return the diary."
"Well, you saw how crushed Hiroki was. If I'm the one who gives the diary back, Yumi will still be angry with him."
"Yeah, so?" Odd turns to him. His sisters were just as bad.
"Amy, you give it to her."
"No way!" She shakes her head rapidly. "And say what, that you gave it to me? No. We make it so that Hiroki is the one who did it. He stole it, after all."
"Hey, yeah! What if we fix it up so that Hiroki finds the diary and gives it to Yumi himself?" He smiles at the plan. "That's two birds with one stone. She gets her diary back, and he gets his sister back. Pretty good idea!"
"Yeah, great. But how do you plan to do it?"
"Easy. You two can handle it. Odd can go hide it, while Ulrich gets Hiroki," Amy gestures to the two. Ulrich takes the book out of his bag, looking to make sure that nobody's watching.
"Hide the diary under a pile of leaves in the park, near the garden shed." Odd takes the book and puts it into his bag. "I'll go take care of Hiroki."
Odd looks around. "Okay, but give me a few minutes. I've gotta go get Kiwi first, I forgot to walk him this morning."
"Oh! I have to go get Kiki too. We can walk them together," Amy runs through the door.
"Deal," Ulrich nods at Odd, who follows after Amy. Ulrich walks away and approaches the saddened boy. He kicks his legs for a little.
"I totally messed that up, Ulrich..."
"Relax, Hiroki. Yumi will calm down and forgive you. Especially when she gets her diary back," He rubs his chin.
"I know, but I've looked everywhere for it. I even retraced my steps back to here, nothing! I don't know what to do!" He holds his head.
"Oh, by the way, this morning I thought I saw Mr. Riley raking up some dead leaves on the park grounds," Ulrich looks at him smugly.
"So what? He's a groundskeeper, that's his job."
"What if he raked up the diary at the same time?" He smiles in amusement.
"Well, that's dumb," Hiroki looks at him in confusion. "Why would he do that?"
"Hm, he might have raked it up by accident."
Hiroki suddenly smiles. "Hey, the diary could be under a bunch of leaves! Let's go check!" He runs off, Ulrich grinning to himself.
Yumi walks up the steps of the cafeteria, Hiroki running past. "Wait up, Hiroki!"
She happens to hear Ulrich's voice, seeing the two run. She narrows her eyes, wondering just what they're doing together.
Hiroki searches the pile of leaves near the garden shed. "Well? Find anything?"
"No, nothing," Hiroki frowns sadly.
"Keep looking."
Odd should've hidden it by now, so he knows it's here. He watches Hiroki run to another pile, Odd and Amy appearing behind him.
"Which one did you put it in?"
"Hiroki will find it soon enough, you'll see," Odd smirks in amusement. The two dogs start barking up at their owners. "Kiwi, there you are! How are you, my little diggity dog? Get in?"
Kiwi jumps inside in the bag, Odd closing it. Amy opens up her purse and places Kiki inside, petting her on the head.
"You all done with your break?"
She gets a bark in response.
"I found it!" Hiroki waves the book in his hand...but when he opens it, all the pages are gone. "Huh?!"
"You mind telling me what you're doing?" Yumi walks up to them from behind, the three turning to her in alarm. Then she gasps sharply at the empty book. "I'll never forgive you for this, Hiroki!" And with that, she storms off.
"I don't understand. What could've happened?" Amy turns to the book. Ulrich looks at Odd for answers.
"Don't look at me like that, it was all there when I hid it!" He protests at the accusing look.
The elevator descends down to the lab, Jeremy stepping in. "Get to the scanner room. I'll start up the virtualization process."
Odd silently elbows the button and the doors close. He puts on the microphone. "All set? I'll launch the procedure. For one, it won't be ladies first."
Ulrich and Odd look to each other in concern over Yumi's heated silence. It was so present that Amy could feel it from the opposite wall!
"Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Odd. Virtualization," He taps the key and they virtualize in Sector Five. They land in the center.
"Yumi's in a foul mood," Odd stands up. "You'd better tell her the truth about her diary."
"And how do you think she'll react when she finds out that you were the one who hid it?" He points a finger at him.
"Hey, this was your idea, Casanova!"
They look up to see the girls arriving, and they land in front of the open door. "Let's go," Yumi tells them and they run off.
They all run into the wall, minus Amy who uses her wings, and arrive at the Skid hangar. The five go across the path, Amy landing in front of them as her wings disappear.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your elevator's waiting," Jeremy taps the key, the elevator stopping in front of them. They step on slowly and go upwards to the Skid. Amy glances at Yumi's look in concern, hoping that she'll be able to forgive Hiroki. They can see the Skid as they arrive in the room, stopping in front of their stations. They run forward.
"Everyone get on a teleport spot." They do so and wait. Jeremy looks at the right screen. "Energize!"
One by one, they teleport in their respective spots. Aelita takes hold of the levers once she's in the pilot's chair. The others appear in their Nav Skids, falling into their seats.
"Everyone ready? Standby for liftoff, releasing support now!"
The supports holding the ship move away from the Skid, leaving it open for launch. Aelita presses a button, grabbing a lever.
"Vertical propulsion operational." The wings turn vertical. "Liftoff!" The Skid flies forward, going out into the open.
"Get ready to dive into the Digital Sea," Jeremy rubs his chin. They go out to the desert sector, hovering above the Digital Sea. The ship dives straight in.
"Holo web system connected," Jeremy looks up at the map that appears. The entrance to the network opens and the ship goes inside.
"We've left Lyoko, Jeremy. Rotation," Aelita tilts a lever, and the ship turns horizontal. "Turbo propellers launched." The Skid goes forward, Jeremy smiling a little.
"I'm running the program. Stand by to receive initial coordinates."
"Roger," Aelita replies back. However, an error screen appears.
"Oh no!" He holds his head.
Aelita's screen appears in front of her to show images flickering. "What's going on?"
"A problem, princess?" Odd asks while looking outside.
"We've got a system error. I think the Skid has malfunctioned a part of its sensory capacity," Aelita states, tapping a button.
"Yes, I see it, Aelita," Jeremy looks at his screen, seeing the problem. "It's my program that bugged up the Skid's sonar. The mission's too dangerous without sonar. Gotta end it now."
"Roger, returning to dry dock." Aelita turns the ship around and it goes in the opposite direction.
"Okay," Odd cracks his fingers together. "Next mission: diving into my pillow with Ames and burying myself under the covers," He rubs an eye. "Objective: a good night's sleep to clear my head..."
"I can't believe you're thinking about sleep at a time like this," Amy's face appears in front of him on a screen.
"If it involves you, then you can!" Odd winks at her and she smiles bashfully. Over a year and he can still make her blush, even if it's not possible.
Everything turns red. "Sorry, but you're gonna have to postpone your nap, Odd. I've got three Kongres heading straight for the Skid."
"Nav Skids away," Aelita pulls down all the tiny levers, releasing them. Yumi gasps as one approaches her straight forward.
"Taste this, fishface!" She releases the torpedoes, hitting it dead on.
"Not bad. Yumi's pretty effective when she's mad!" Odd looks over his shoulder, and something hits his Skid from behind. "I've got one on my tail! They stick to you like glue!"
A Kongre is right behind him, Ulrich and Amy firing at it. He hits it dead on.
"Yeah! Bullseye!"
"Nice one, good buddy!" Odd compliments him, the three flying side by side.
"Wanna team up for the last one?"
"Yeah, let's do it!" Odd agrees, flying upward.
"Time to see if this Skid can really use all my powers," Amy smirks, flying towards the monster.
"Fire!" They all exclaim at the same time, the fairy firing an ice flame from her Skid. They all end up missing the monster, who turns around and aims for them instead. Suddenly, all Skids are gone and it looks around for them. The three Skids appear from three different directions, firing at the same time again and this time destroying it.
"Yahoo!" Odd cheers as they fly away.
"Mmhm," Jeremy nods in approval. "Nice job, guys. Time to come home now."
"Nav Skids in," Aelita pulls four of the levers. All of them return except for one up in front. "Hey...where's Yumi?"
Jeremy attempts to locate her, but doesn't find anything. "I don't get it. I don't have any trace of her," He takes off his glasses, looking upwards. "I've lost her!"
"What?!" Amy exclaims in alarm.
"She must have gotten hit by a Kongre..." Aelita deduces, the fairy frowning sadly.
"But...that's impossible!" Ulrich replies in disbelief.
"I can't even get into contact with her," Amy shakes her head.
"...Einstein...you think she might've been virtualized for good?" Odd asks slowly.
"...No, I...I don't think so. The data recording from the fight doesn't show any sign of her having been eliminated..."
"That means she's still somewhere onboard her Nav Skid, somewhere in the middle of the Digital Sea!" Aelita realizes, but there is one thing...
"Right, but the Skid is in no condition to find her. You guys have to come back in for me to run a repair program," Jeremy pushes up his glasses.
"What?!" Ulrich punches the window of his Skid, but it doesn't break. "No way! We can't just leave her behind!"
"What do we say to her brother? To her family?" Amy frowns in disapproval of the choice.
Odd frowns deeply. Now he feels bad for having left the girl when she fell in the Digital Sea. He didn't have a choice...they had to go to Sector Five to be able to bring her back...but he left her all alone there...If they hadn't been able to, they would've had to tell her mother, Jackson about what had happened.
"Ulrich, no one's leaving anyone, but all of us run the risk of being virtualized forever with the Skid's systems down!" Aelita tells him. She doesn't like it either, but they didn't have a choice, just like back then with Amy. She could understand his reluctance to leave. After she found out that Amy was her half-sister, she had the same feeling when she got Amy to come with her to Lyoko...
"...Yeah, you're right. We'd better go," Ulrich says dejectedly. He just hoped that it wasn't too late to save her.
They sadly come back into the lab, Ulrich rushing over. "How long will it take you to fix it?"
"Reprogramming the sonar is linked to balancing the by polarity of flux on the one hand. On the other-"
"Just tell us when we can go back, okay?!" Ulrich asks urgently.
"Soon, as long as you let me concentrate!" Jeremy replies quickly, the brunet smiling happily.
"Don't worry, Ulrich," Aelita places a hand on his shoulder. "I'll help him. I'll call you as soon as we know."
He stares at the screen and nods.
"Can anybody hear me...?" Yumi asks weakly, her Nav Skid floating astray. "This is Yumi. I don't know where I am...oh, I'm in trouble! Almost out of power. Can you hear me? Answer me! Somebody please answer me!"
Kiwi and Kiki are walking around their owners, who are leaning against a tree. Ulrich is on the opposite.
"What a nightmare..." He says in dismay.
"Relax. You heard Einstein. She isn't gone from the network. He'll bring Yumi back, don't worry," Odd assures the both of them, placing a hand on Amy's. She smiles weakly, Kiki placing her paws on Amy's feet. The brunette picks up her dog, who licks her face.
"At least I have you two to make me feel better. Thank you," She places her cheek on Odd's shoulder, and he leans his head against her hair.
Kiwi seems to be digging for something, and he barks, coming back to the two dog lovers with something in his mouth.
"Hey, what do you got there, Kiwi?" He holds the packet, Amy gasping. "Ulrich! This is Yumi's diary!"
"What?" He turns to them in shock, Odd nodding.
"I can confirm that. It's her handwriting on the first page," Amy points to the page.
"Oh, I get it. Kiwi saw me bury it, but he thought it was a game, so I guess he dug it up and buried it here, right where we're sitting now!"
"That's great," Ulrich deadpans, holding the papers underneath his arm. "We found her diary, but now we lost Yumi."
"How's that for irony..." Amy pinches her nose. All of this was just a mess...
"Let's not forget you suggested we do this," Ulrich turns to her and she opens her mouth in disbelief. "If it wasn't for your stupid idea, Yumi might not be lost!"
"Hey," She stands up, clenching her fists. "What happened to Yumi isn't my fault! And neither was hiding the diary! Would you rather have her be mad at Hiroki forever? And besides, you're the one who said Milly has a passion for journalism! If you hadn't suggested that he get a scoop, he wouldn't have stolen the diary in the first place!"
"He's a kid, he doesn't know any better! But you just had to have the idea the he give it back! You should've just given it to Yumi herself!"
"You know what?" She takes her bag, putting it over her shoulder. "If you wanna sit there and blame me for all of your feelings with Yumi, go right ahead. But don't blame me for Yumi being lost at sea just because you can't handle the fact that she's not gone permanently!"
The brunette storms off with Kiki, Odd staring at his best friend. He notices the look. "What?"
"Ulrich, that wasn't cool, you know," He narrows his eyes. "She's right, you can't blame other people for what happened to Yumi."
"..." He lets out a small sigh. "I know...I just...I just want her back."
"I get it. I felt the same way when I had to leave Ames behind when she fell into the Digital Sea," Odd closes his eyes. "I've never even told her...that I didn't stay for her. Do you know how awful that is? And it's been a long time since then."
"...Why didn't you tell her?" Ulrich sits down next to him. Odd pets Kiwi's tummy.
"I just...I didn't want her to be disappointed. So I stopped thinking about it. But now with Yumi...I feel like I did the worst thing possible to Ames. And that doesn't even top being lied to about her real father, or her parents getting a divorce."
"It's not too late, good buddy," Ulrich pats his back. "Amy loves you no matter what. I'm sure she'll understand."
Yumi's Nav Skid is still spinning around, the power very low. "Jeremy? Aelita? Can you hear me? This is Yumi. "I'm almost out of power..." The last bit is hanging on, but not for long... "If I could feel temperature in here, it'd be cold...and...I feel all alone..."
A Kongre heads straight for her and she gasps. "Okay Yumi, you've got only one torpedo left, so don't waste it..." She pulls the lever and presses the button. The torpedo doesn't launch on account of the low power.
"Oh no...not enough power! I'm not done yet!"
She moves the Skid to miss the laser. "If I reduce power in my shield, I should have enough." She does so, seeing the power bar go up. "Yes!"
The monster fires, but she dodges it. "Okay, you and me. Fire!" She fires it with enough power, destroying the monster.
Jeremy types away and gasps, smiling happily. "What was that?" Aelita asks next to him.
"An explosion. By a Nav Skid torpedo!"
"Yumi," She smiles in relief, pulling out her phone to call the others.
Kiwi sleeps on the grass as Ulrich's phone rings. Odd is sleeping just like his dog...like pet, like owner. "Yes, Aelita? Huh? Okay, we're on our way, but Amy stormed off...I got mad at her for what happened with...something. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'll go apologize."
He hangs up, turning to Odd. "They found Yumi!" He then notices that the boy is no longer in his spot. "Odd?"
"I have to go get Ames first!" Odd runs towards the school. "Don't wait up for me!"
"I wanna go home..." Yumi murmurs slowly. Despite her brother being a pain at times...she can still remember happy memories with him.
Her mother and her brother were nearby as she was laying down nearby. "Yumi...who am I gonna play with if you go away?"
Some tears fell down her face.
"No, Hiroki," She instructed him as she was helping him with his homework. "Foot becomes feet in the plural.'
"How do you know all that, sis?" Hiroki looked up at her, and she just smiled in amusement.
Hiroki tapped his fingers against the table. "Oh, what are you children up to this time?" Mrs. Ishiyama looked at the two.
They just laughed together.
Yumi finished timing the boy at the pool, and he lifted his head out of the water. "Well? How long? Oh, at least ten minutes!"
"Wow!" He exclaimed in awe, and she gave him two thumbs up in return.
Amy opened the door, Odd looking over her shoulder. Yumi was holding Hiroki's hand.
"Guys, can you do me a favor and watch my brother for me? I have to take an exam, and he doesn't have any classes right now. I'll come pick him up afterwords."
"Are you sure, Yumi?" Hiroki looked up at her.
"Trust me," She winked at him. "They're my best friends. You can trust them too."
"Sure we can, Yumi," Amy smiled at the boy. "Come on, Hiroki, we can draw together."
"Hiroki..."
"I had no right to take your diary..." Hiroki murmured sadly to Yumi in his apology.
"Until you find it, you can consider yourself an only child!"
He gasped as he looked up at her, holding the empty diary.
"I'll never forgive you, Hiroki!"
Now she wishes that she could see him again...A thud is heard and she gasps, looking around.
"Come on, come on..." Jeremy whispers to himself, the elevator opening behind him. The two turn around to see the trio, though they can definitely sense the tension between Ulrich and Amy particularly. "Yumi sent us a message, guys."
"Great, we'll go and get her!"
"I have to finish the calculations first. I've isolated the area, but it'll be impossible to find her exact location before I fix the Skid's sonar," Jeremy explains to him.
"But if she fired a torpedo, that means she's in a jam," Ulrich frowns in worry.
"I've transposed the data from the explosion into the hollow web to get her position by a triangulation," Aelita states and they manage to find her.
"There she is! She must have gotten sucked into a hub. That's why we lost all trace of her. But the sonar is still down, guys. So going under right now is gonna be a big risk."
"Of course it is," Amy rubs a temple.
"Hm...I'll go!" Odd states first.
"Count me in. And Amy...I'm sorry for what I said. It wasn't cool of me to blame you for what happened to Yumi."
"You wanna make it up to me? ...Let me help," She smiles in amusement.
"Well, what are we all waiting for?" Aelita smiles towards the others.
Once they're back in the Skid, they move towards Yumi's location. "There's a hub dead ahead!" Aelita reports and they move towards it.
"I read you, Aelita. I'm entering the coordinates from where Yumi fired her torpedo."
The Skid moves from horizontal to vertical. "Aspiration into hyper fluid in 3 seconds. Hang on tight." The ship teleports inside.
Yumi is flying away from a Kongre, which appears right next to her window. She moves her Skid forward as best as she can, but bumps into a pillar and starts spinning. The monster reappears in front of her.
"It's all over..." She notices that he hasn't attacked. "What's he waiting for?" The monster moves away...as William in his own Skid is approaching. He fires two torpedoes and she gasps. The Skid appears right next to Yumi, Amy pressing her hands to her levers.
"Aqua Shield!"
A large bubble appears around the Skid and Yumi, protecting both from the torpedoes.
"So, Yumi." She gasps at Aelita's voice. "Thought you'd wander off without telling us where you were?"
"It took you long enough to get here! And Amy, was that a new power?"
"Mmhm~" Amy hums with a nod. "Figured I'd surprise you. Trust me, I've got more up my sleeve."
The Kongre reappears, the other Nav Skids already deployed. It fires at the three, but Amy uses another Aqua Shield to deflect them. William fires straight at them, and they separate.
"I wouldn't mind a little fish soup!" Odd fires at the monster, but misses. He locks on his target. "Guess I better cook it, though, first!"
He fires his weapons, a flicker of ice appearing from the other side. "Frostbite!" Both of them hit the Kongre dead on.
"I kinda like your new powers," Odd comments to Amy, his face appearing in front of her. "Just don't become an ice queen, though."
"Ha ha," She rolls her eyes in amusement.
"Ulrich, behind you!" Odd warns, and he looks over his shoulder. He fires and misses towards William. Odd and Amy appear from both sides of his Skid. "We can't leave you for a minute, huh, Ulrich?"
"I don't blame him. Since when did William get a ship?" Amy asks in disbelief. The boy looks up ahead, seeing a Skid speed past. He growls, the XANA symbol flashing on his forehead. He suddenly turns to the left.
"Huh? Okay, he's behind Odd. Hey Amy, come try out another power for our friend here."
He flies after him, Amy appearing above William. "Big mistake, William! Fire!"
"Bubble bomb~!" She sings, dropping a bunch of bubbles onto William's ship from the bottom of her Skid. Ulrich hits him from behind with his torpedo, and once William's hit, he disappears. "Ha! I could do this all day!"
Everything turns back to normal as the three Skids fly back. "Mission accomplished, Jeremy."
"Hey, great job. Now anchor yourself to the Skid and head back in. Ah, they're all coming home..."
"Not everybody..." Aelita looks towards the ground. "But one day, we'll bring you back, William..."
It's now nighttime as Yumi has returned home. She steps into her room, where she notices the open window. She looks at the pages of her diary sitting on her bed. Hiroki shuffles into the room, head down. "Yumi...I wanted you to know just how sorry I am for what I did."
She smiles, turning to him. "Thanks for bringing it back..."
When she turns around, he gasps in surprise to see the pages of the diary. She bends down, placing a hand on his shoulder. They don't notice Ulrich smiling behind one of the bushes. "You know, I understand now that what we have is more important than some old diary. I forgive you."
"...Are you in love or what?" He looks at her in confusion.
"Ah!" She gets up. "Get out of here," And with that, she closes the door, some cherry blossom petals falling. Ulrich hums as he walks away, smiling.
Amy knocks on the door, opening it. She sees Odd sitting on the bed with a serious look on his face. Ulrich has yet to return.
"Odd, I got your message. Did something happen to Kiwi?" She closes the door behind her, having been careful in case Jim was checking in.
"No...he's okay," He looks to Kiwi sleeping in his drawer.
"...Did you need a snack?" She rolls her eyes in amusement.
"Not tonight, no."
The girl raises a brow, sitting next to him. "Then I don't understand, why did you text me saying that it was an emergency and that I had to come over right away?"
"That was just to get you here," He closes his eyes. "We need to talk."
She recoils back in slight horror, not wanting to experience this. People kept telling her this was going to happen, and she's fought back so hard to disprove that. "A-Are you...?"
"No, no!" He shakes his head rapidly, looking up at her in slight alarm. "I'm not breaking up with you! And I definitely didn't find a better girl, either! The day I do that is when all food is gone!"
She sighs in relief, placing a hand on her heart. "Thank goodness...with the way you worded it, it sounded that level of seriousness. So, ignoring the fact that you almost gave me a heart attack, what is it?"
"...Remember when you fell in the Digital Sea?" He asks slowly.
"Yeah...I remember. But not much," She kicks her legs a little. "It felt like I was stuck between two places for most of the time. I couldn't really move or do anything else."
"Yeah, well...I never told you what I did that day..." He takes a deep breath. "Ames...the only way to get you back was to go to Sector Five and get the data. And so...I had to leave you there in the desert sector...all alone..."
She blinks, staring at him as he doesn't look at her, eyes towards the ground. "I wanted to tell you, but...I wasn't sure whether or not you would...hate me for doing it. So I pushed it aside, and then we finally became more than friends...but now with what happened with Yumi...I should have told you. And I'm really sorry I didn't. I was just so happy that you were back that...I hid my feelings...and I understand if you wanna...never speak to me again."
She pauses, staring at him sympathetically. It took a lot of courage for him to come clean after all that time...was she mad? Not really. After all, she was still standing and no permanent harm was done to her...
"...Odd..." She takes a hold of his hand and he looks up at her. "I get why you never told me. But you never left me...you just went to go help me."
"But-"
"I'm not mad for you keeping this for so long, or for you having left me alone. If anything...I wouldn't want for you to go through the pain and sorrow of staying. And besides...I appreciate you coming clean to me about it. I'm truly happy with you, Odd Della Robbia..."
He smiles at her and she returns it. "I love you, Ames."
"I love you too..." She leans in and captures his lips with hers. He squeezes her hand lightly as he returns the kiss.
