Final round

After the team introduced William to the computer lab and the scanners, Sissi lugged along with him for the majority of the day. She was silent, often glaring at the back of his head like a predator about to jump her prey. She, Odd, William, and Ulrich talked at the schoolyard. "So are you ready for your tournament, dog for brains?" Sissi asked.

"Of course, you know yours truly will take the show away," Odd smirked.

"Cockiness favors the fool," The girl snarked back.

"That's why I'm court jester. By the way, where's Jeremie?" Odd asked.

"He said something about making a program with Aelita," Ulrich replied.

Sissi sighed, "Then I should probably be over there to relieve Aelita. There's only so much of Blond Brain that she can handle."

"Ha ha ha ha! Blond Brain! That's a good one, Sissi!" Odd laughed.

"Anyway, we should get going to the tournament. You coming with?" Ulrich asked William.

"No, I want to get some fighting practice in," The dark-haired boy smirked, punching the air. Sissi's smile disappeared.

"Before you can stand, you need to learn how to walk," She said heavily. The very air couldn't be lifted. Sighing, Sissi quietly said, "Please don't get cocky."

"Oh come on, you don't have to worry about me," William smiled. "Say hi to Sam for me, Odd." Sissi shook her head as the teen walked off.

"Huh? How does he know Sam?" Odd asked.

"She didn't tell you?" Sissi asked. Odd shook his head. The Mechanist glanced to the side before smiling wide. "Don't worry about it. You'll find out soon enough."

"Oh come on, please!"

"Nope," Sissi smiled, walking away. "See you later, Odd." The blonde daredevil crossed his arms in a pout.

"Women," He muttered.

"Something you seem to have a consistent problem with," Ulrich smirked. The two boys walked to the gym tournament. Things started to get complicated pretty quickly. First, Jeremie and Sissi realized that they had to do an interview with Milly and Tamiya. Because of this, Aelita volunteered to go to the factory while the two geniuses did their interview. Meanwhile, Odd shredded down the half-pipe ramp at the tournament. He grabbed the edge of his board and rode back to a standstill at the bottom of the ramp.

"That was awesome, Odd," Ulrich celebrated.

"I told ya. Nothing can knock the graceful Odd off his incredible balance," Odd smirked.

"Wow, Odd. You were amazing," Said a familiar voice.

"S-S-Samantha!" Odd tumbled onto his back. Sam and Ulrich looked at his fallen body.

"Incredible balance, huh?" Ulrich smirked. He helped his friend up.

"What are you doing here?" Odd asked her as he sat on the bleachers.

"I signed up for the tournament. I'm only spending the day. After that, I'm off to the coast," Sam smiled. "I wanted to surprise you." William and Sissi's strange actions suddenly made sense. Odd grumbled for only a moment before Sam's turn came up. The blonde watched her intently.

"You seem smitten," Ulrich smirked.

Odd sighed, "I am, but... I don't know what to do."

"Huh?"

"You see, Ulrich. I'm torn between two amazing girls. Sam is cool and pretty."

"And the other girl?" Ulrich asked. Odd paused for a while.

"I can't tell you. It's just... Sam and I have chemistry, but the other girl... I would never think I'd see myself with her... but I do."

"She is your age, right?"

"You have the worst timing to joke around, you know that!?" Odd snapped.

"Alright, alright," Ulrich laughed, "Sorry for touching a nerve." The blonde pouted with his head in his hands. "So what's the matter?"

"What if I choose wrong?" Odd asked. Just then, his turn came up again. Sam took his seat.

"Wow, I forgot how cool Odd was," Sam smiled as she watched the blonde nibbly run the ramp like his own playground.

"Beauty in the eye of the beholder," Ulrich said. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know Sissi or William, would you? They mentioned you."

"Hehe," Sam grinned as she lightly bit her lip, "I know William. The hot-head and I have duked it out before. And Sissi is probably one of my best friends." Ulrich rose an eyebrow. "I taught her how to skate."

"That would explain a lot." Just then, Ulrich's cell rang. Aelita called him to come to the factory, but as Ulrich got up to go-

"Ulrich Stern! A visitor has come to see you," said Mr. Delmas.

"D-Dad?" The brown-haired teen stepped down to his father. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk about your grades, son," Mr. Stern replied coldly.

"Can't this wait, I was just about to-"

"No." He wasn't budging. Ulrich looked at Sam and spoke quickly to her.

"Listen, I want you to give a message to Odd. Tell him to meet me at he knows where, ASAP, okay?"

"Yeah sure," Sam agreed. With that, Ulrich solemnly walked after his father.

Sissi sat on a chair while the blonde woefully talked about the genus of fungi. The black-haired mech-head yawned and fanned her wide open mouth before stretching her limbs. Finally, Jeremie's teaching session was finished, but Milly and Tamiya started arguing over whether it was a good idea to ask Jeremie to do the interview. While the two newies bickered, Jeremie's cell rang, alerting Sissi.

"Aelita? Yeah. William? He's right, Lyoko is a top priority. I'll get Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi online once Sissi and I get over there," Jeremie hung up the phone. He nodded to Sissi. The mech-head jumped up and walked over to the squabbling girls.

"Girls, girls! While you figure out what to ask, Jeremie and I will take a bathroom break," Sissi smiled.

"Okay, but make it quick," Milly crossed her arms with a pout. The Dragon Queen's steady cold glare made Milly gulp. "Hehehe, take all the time you need."

"Thank you," Sissi kindly smiled. The two reporters waited outside while Jeremie and Sissi climbed out the bathroom windows. "Okay, let's get going."

"Oh, Sissi. You have to teach me that power you used on Milly," Jeremie laughed.

She smirked, "It's called confidence, and it's different for every person. Come on, let's get going. Did you call Yumi?"

"Not yet."

They ran to the factory while Yumi picked up Sissi's call.

Yumi answered, "Yeah, I know. I've been trying to get out of the house but Hiroyuki won't let me."

"Are you at your door?" Sissi asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Give the phone to Hiroyuki." Sissi stopped running and cleared her throat. She made several strange notes until one sounded pretty close to Yumi's mother. "Hiroyuki!" Jeremie's eyes widened. "I don't care, young man. I did not give you permission to bother Yumi. Now let her out of the house, you hear me."

"Okay," whined the small brother. He gave the phone back to Yumi, and the teen ran out the door.

"That was amazing, Sissi! How did you do that?" Yumi asked.

"I thought learning how to do different voices would come in handy, so I've been practicing. Now get to the factory." Sissi hung up the phone. "You said that Aelita and William went onto Lyoko?"

"Yeah, why?" Jeremie asked.

"That means we have to get there in half the time before it's too late."

"You think XANA will-"

"I don't want to know," Sissi muttered. They ran to the factory, raced down the elevator, and Jeremie jumped onto the computer. "Well?"

"Bad news, they got separated," Jeremie said.

"Not good. It's possible that XANA might use Aelita OR William to destroy the core. And if they plunge into the Digital Sea-" She stopped. Just then, Yumi appeared in the elevator. Sissi furrowed her eyebrows. "Aelita said she called Ulrich and Odd, right?"

"Right, they're at the tournament, remember?" Jeremie said.

Sissi grumbled under her breath as worry grabbed her leg and painfully sunk its claws into her bone. "Come on, dog for brains. Where are you?"

The blonde finally got off the half-pipe and walked over to Sam. "What happened to Ulrich?" Odd asked. She froze. The words couldn't come out of her mouth. She remembered the words, too clearly actually. But not now. Not this soon. After this, when was she going to see him again?

"He...he said he would be back... he needed to talk with his dad," Sam said. Odd looked her straight in the eye. He sat down next to her.

"Why are you lying?" he asked.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"How would you know?"

"I've been around Sissi long enough. You know how she is."

"Paranoid," The two of them laughed. It was probably the heaviest laugh they ever shared.

"I just wanted to spend some more time with you before I leave. This'll probably be the last-" She stopped herself. It's not the end of the world, Sissi had said. Sam sighed and gave a wide smile to Odd. "It's okay. We'll see each other again someday. I know it." She gently kissed his helmet and whispered something in his ear. Odd's eyes widened as she pulled away. "Ulrich said to meet up with him at You know where. His dad wanted to talk with him first."

"R-R-R-Right. I'm sorry, Sam."

"It's okay. Now get going. Ulrich made it seem like it was important."

"It is," Odd nodded with a smile. As he ran off, Sam watched the blonde rush out the double door. She sighed and went to the half-pipe.

"Okay, first Aelita's de-virtualized, now Yumi's after him. Where the heck is-" Before Sissi could finish, Odd came down the elevator. "You're here! Wait, you're here," Her eyes narrowed. "What about-"

"We'll worry about the tournament later," Odd said, "What's the situation?"

"William's been possessed, Aelita's de-virtualized, and Yumi's after him. They're heading to the core," Jeremie replied.

"And what about you?" Odd asked Sissi.

"I'll be the backup. Getting you all here is the issue right now," She groused, "Get going and don't worry about the other creatures. Just focus on de-virtualizing William."

"Right!" Odd shot down to the scanners.

"Tell me again why we shouldn't worry about saving Lyoko?" Jeremie asked.

"We can figure out a way to recreate Lyoko when we need it, but if William is possessed by XANA, he holds us hostage."

"Right," Jeremie sighed.

"Okay, where the heck is Ulrich?" Sissi grumbled as she called his cell.

"And another thing, I don't think those friends of yours are a good influence on you," said Mr. Stern.

"What would you know? Huh? You don't know anything about them, and you don't know me!" Ulrich shot back. He had been silent for the most part, but when his dad talked about his friends, it was time for him to fight.

"I know what's best for you! Need I remind you that your subpar performance is costing me a small fortune!"

"Subpar? I've been pulling up my grades and-" Just then his phone rang. "Sissi?"

"Where the heck are you?"

"I'm with my dad talking about my 'subpar' grades and my bad influence friends and-"

"WHAT!?" She roared loud enough for both Ulrich AND Mr. Stern to hear. Even Jeremie flinched at the computer chair.

What happened next was weird because Ulrich didn't know if it was fate or just an accident. The teen pulled his phone away from his ear but he didn't realize he accidentally hit the speaker button. And the Dragon Queen was not done breathing fire. "Why on earth is your cold-hearted rod-up-his-butt father worried about your grades!? If it weren't for your friends, you would be a friendless dropout! What does he want from you?! Glory and honor through his son?! Gosh! If he's so worried about finances, then why'd he put you in the most expensive school?! You're actually happy, and he's upset! Your grades are up, and he's worried that you're hanging around three of the smartest people in the school, probably smartest in France?! If he wants you to be cold, distant, and unloving like he apparently is, then he'll have to find someone else! As far as I see, you're actually doing much better than he is because you're happy and he's... he's... ridiculously Stern!" She paused for only a moment. "Now get your butt over here! We need you."

"Alright, I'm on it." Ulrich hung up. The teenager looked at his jaw-dropped father. Mr. Stern dropped into the seat and sighed. Without another word, Ulrich calmly walked out.

Sissi felt a cold shiver. Eeeee, I feel like I killed someone, she thought to herself. Soon, Ulrich came into the scanner room and Sissi joined him. "Alright, Let's go!"

"Virtualization!" Jeremie said. Sissi and Ulrich dropped onto Sector Five.

"Sprint to the center, I'll catch up. Remember, take down William, we can worry about Lyoko later." Ulrich nodded and raced ahead.

"Hurry up. Odd just got de-virtualized," Jeremie said.

They made it into the southern tip of the dome just in time to see Yumi get de-virtualized. "This is gonna be interesting," Sissi sighed. William's huge sword sliced the air. The two ducked. The possessed teen swiped his sword and nearly cut Sissi clean through the chest. The Viking ran up to Will and suddenly stopped.

"Huh," William grunted. Ulrich jumped over Sissi and smashed his sword with Will's from above. Sissi punched William's side. He stumbled backward, growling.

"Don't let up. Don't get cocky," Sissi reminded. The ninja nodded and charged towards William. The two clashed swords while Sissi launched her Punch Rings. William jumped back, clutching his right shoulder.

"Great! Just another hit and he's down," Jeremie said.

"Get ready to rematerialize us on the first notice," Sissi shouted. William growled, knocked Ulrich back, and sliced right through him. Ulrich vanished under De-virtualized lines. Just then the first shield around the core blew. "Crap." Sissi ran to him. William threw his sword at her. She slid under it and kept running. His sword stopped in mid-air and pointed back at her. Just as it was about to slice through her, Sissi jumped over William and landed right behind him. The huge sword pierced through him and Sissi. William dropped to his knees and slowly vanished. Sissi fell to the floor. She couldn't help but smile as her head hit the blue floor. She looked up at Lyoko's naked big blue core. "Hehe, it is pretty," She sighed as she disappeared and finally woke up in the scanner with Ulrich, Yumi, Odd,... and William waiting for her.

Lyoko was gone.

They were at the Hermitage in Aelita's room. All of their sad faces only added to the despair. Save William, who was downstairs, the whole gang couldn't rock the dread off their face. But everything changed when Jeremie's laptop received a message from Franz Hopper that could help them win the war against XANA. Sissi broke the silence. "Even though we lost a lot, I think we can say this wasn't as bad."

"Why?" Yumi asked.

"If XANA managed to throw William into the Digital Sea, it would have been worse trying to locate him AND fight XANA," Sissi said. "But now, we took one of XANA's hostages. Now, all we have to do is find Hopper, who's alive! With his help, we'll be able to recreate Lyoko."

"And with more people at our side, we'll be able to win," Yumi finished.

"Maybe even faster," Sissi smirked. She looked around the small pink room. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Downstairs. Don't be too hard on him, okay?" Aelita asked.

"Me? You should tell them," Sissi pointed to Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Jeremie. "When William was 'gone', they treated him like an outcast."

"So what are you going to do?" Ulrich asked.

"Help him," She smiled as she walked down the stairs with her cane. Odd made a small smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Ulrich asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about what Sam told me."

"What's that?"

"I'll tell you later," Odd whispered to him. Sissi found the teen sitting on the steps of the Hermitage, sadly yet angrily staring at the floor.

"You don't mope very well," She said, sitting next to him.

"What do you want?" William muttered back.

"To tell you it isn't your fault."

"But it is!" He shot up. "You were right! I was a stupid idiot. If you didn't stop me, I would have been destroyed forever."

"Not forever, just for a while."

"I put everyone in danger because of my stupid rash decisions and now Lyoko is gone because of me," He sighed and took his seat again. "I made probably the biggest mistake in my life. Now the others will never trust me, and Yumi won't look at me ever again." A short silence passed between them.

SMACK!

"OWW! What was that for?" William rubbed his bruised head.

"I believe in rough care," Sissi smiled. "Listen, you made a mistake. Yes, a big one, but not one that you can't walk away from. Do you know what you just learned? Humility. You weren't confident, you were cocky. The only way to fix that is through discipline and training. No one gets to be like Einstein by pure talent. Jeremie, Aelita, and I all had to read books, study, and practice. You want to make sure you never become the victim again? Work for it. Part of learning from your mistake is realizing you never knew anything in the first place." William slowly nodded. "Come on, we should get back to school before they start looking for us."

"Thanks. Hey, you fight, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"You think you could teach me how to fight? That way, I don't have to worry about getting possessed by XANA again."

Sissi stared at him. Then a long wide grin came to her face. "I think so. Ulrich has been wanting to do the same thing. I think I can arrange something for both of you." William smiled innocently. He had a lot to learn about the Dragon Queen.

Continued...