Chapter 28 Canine Conundrum

A.N. – So, this is another Xana attack chapter, but with a twist. Not much else to say, so let's begin!

Guest – It wasn't you who made William that way, it was me. It could have gone a nicer way, but I couldn't think of a way to do it. 1. Sure I can do that. 2. I'll put it in. 3. Probably not, but I can spin it a different way that the return to the past will fix. 4. I'll add it. 5. I think your referencing episode 92 but give me some confirmation so I can be sure, and I'll put it in. 6. I'll add it in. 7&8. I guess I can use both of those ideas. 9. I just kinda made up the name. The reason behind it is that when it's released, it looks like the blade of a sword, so hence the name sword slash. The slash part is typical because when you attack with a sword, you slash with it.

multiyman37 – Since he didn't have one in the show no. I think William's best chance of finding someone would be after the chapter of being Lyoko Warriors is over. You know, it would be easier, because Aelita would be safe and Xana would be dead (no evolution so we'll go the original idea that Xana was destroyed).

Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko, the plot, or the story idea. The plot is owned by the creators and the story idea was submitted by Voltronblues123.

In the network, Odd is being chased in his navskid. "Yumi, where are you?"

"I can't shake the guy!" Yumi looks behind her as Ulrich is chasing after her in his own ship. He focuses his target on her, Odd following after them.

"Yumi, I'm coming in for you. Watch out on your left."

"I'm on it!" She replies as Ulrich fires a torpedo towards her.

"Fire!" Ulrich says.

Yumi notices them approaching on her radar, gasping. She tilts out of the way, Ulrich still after her.

"Okay Yumi, I'll ride with you," Odd speeds up and presses a button. "Hey good buddy, let Yumi have her space! You can't be smothering her 24/7!" Ulrich looks over his shoulder. "Take my advice."

"Yoo hoo!" Odd bumps into his ship with his navskid. Odd gets Ulrich to go after him. "Cat and mouse, huh?"

The two turn a corner, Yumi looking over her shoulder. "The coast is clear Yumi. You can take off now," Aelita tells her, and she speeds up. A shark is around as Yumi goes back to the skid. "William, Yumi's coming in to take over for you."

"Okay, I'll move out," William heads off as Yumi sees nothing, but William does. "Yumi, torpedoes! Behind you!" She moves out of the way as the shark fires. She goes flying and William flies past it. "Hey Xana, stop picking on her!" The shark goes after him.

"You guys are low on energy. We're gonna have to abort the mission now" Jeremy reports as he looks at all three navskids.

"Already? We didn't even get close to the replica" Aelita tells him.

"That's my point. You still have too far to go, and with Xana harassing us all the time, it's way too dangerous."

"Aelita, I'm coming on your left!" Odd informs her.

"Right. I'll lock on your navskid Odd," Aelita presses a few buttons. "Okay Odd, you're the target now."

"Here we go!" Odd declares, speeding away from Ulrich.

"Now!" Aelita fires two torpedoes and they go flying. Odd flies over them.

"Away!"

She manages to hit Ulrich. "That's fantastic, just like in practice!" Odd pumps a fist.

"Good job. Our fighting techniques are improving, but it doesn't change a thing. You're still too far away. I gotta bring you in" Jeremy explains to the group.

"I gotcha," Aelita tilts a lever. "Rotation." She spins the pilot section around to face the other direction. The shark fires at William and Yumi. "This one is mine…" Aelita fires at the shark and destroys it with the torpedoes.

"Good shot sis. He was a little clingy" William compliments her.

"My pleasure," Aelita comments as the sea turns blue. "Navskids in." She pulls on three levers to allow them to be secured. Yumi and William join back in.

"Hey, wait for me!" Odd spins back to the ship, securing himself.

"Maximum propulsion" Aelita presses a button for them to speed back to Lyoko

The elevator lifts them up into the lab, where they meet Jeremy. "That's another mission down the drain…"

"What was the mission again?" William asks.

"It was a simple procedure: we construct an intermediate digital sinusitis with intergalactic lyrical context, all multiplied by the virtual factors of the theorems of Thales and Pythagoras. Piece of cake!" Odd states to everyone's surprise, as that was his impression of Jeremy.

"That was a pretty good job! Put on some glasses and it will be perfect!"

"Yeah, what do you say we go to sleep?" Jeremy asks them.

"Great idea!" Yumi smiles slightly.

Odd and William step into their room, cringing. "Odd! I'm about ready to kick you and your dog out!" William threatens, seeing that Kiwi destroyed his pillow.

Odd has an embarrassed look on his face, and he still has that expression the next morning. "There was no need to get carried away" Odd pleads.

William is standing behind Jeremy and Aelita. "Hi everybody," Yumi greets as she arrives, seeing Odd's face. "Let me guess. No seconds in the lunchroom? A prank that backfired? Girl trouble?"

"No, the dog" William says with anger.

"Hey William, come on, he's not that terrible, is he?" Odd wonders.

"From what I heard, yeah. Ulrich wasn't on board with it, and I can see why now." Kiwi jumps onto the bed, and William cringes when Kiwi peed on it. "Next time, I'm putting it on your bed. One little responsibility that you can't take care of."

"Put yourself in his place. The poor thing's locked up all day!" Odd defends.

"The poor thing," Jeremy mocks odd. "And me, how do you think I feel?" Jeremy moved his book away as Kiwi had chewed on it in his room.

"By the way, paper makes Kiwi sick, so if you don't leave your books all over the place, huh, right Aelita?" Odd looks to her, thinking that she'll back him up on this.

"And what about my stuff? Is it because I leave them around that Kiwi steals them?" Aelita asks. Aelita dug around the grass near the garden shed. "I spend my life digging through the campus ground. Mr. Riley thinks I'm a nutcase!"

"Look, I'm really sorry Odd, but something's gotta be done. He oughta be punished and that's that" Jeremy states as it looks like 4 to 1.

"Objection, your honor! Before sentencing, my dog had the right to a lawyer!" Odd points at them. He walks up to Yumi with a pleading look. "Yumi, you're an animal lover," he holds her hands. "You've gotta help me and defend my little diggity dog!"

She rubs her neck awkwardly. "Well, I wouldn't mind, but after what he did to my new shoes last week? No" she crosses her arms, the others glad that she's on their side.

"Okay, I get the picture. What's the sentence?" Odd closes his eyes.

"To make Kiwi understand his bad behavior, he's gotta stay in the factory for two weeks!" Jeremy decides for the dog.

"What?! Two weeks in the factory? But how could you do that to him?" Odd pleads with him.

"It was easy!" The four say in unison.

"Odd, he'll be fine there," Aelita looks over his shoulder. "The factory's not so horrible."

"Not so horrible? Staying for hours in a computer lab may be fine for Jeremy, but not for my dog!" Odd mutters to himself.

Kiwi barks at his home for the next two weeks have been set up. "I even remembered your froggy," he hands the dog his favorite toy. "No one understands you, especially our so-called friends. Be brave, my little diggity dog!"

Kiwi whines as he watches Odd leave. As soon as he's gone, the computer beeps as Xana activates a tower. In Jeremy's room, a ghost comes out of the outlets nearby, going to a box on the top shelf. It falls onto the floor and red eyes beep from inside.

"Hello there! I'm glad to see many of you here in my Penchak Silat class," Jim addresses the class which involves Yumi, Sissi, Hiroki, and Johnny. William is watching in the bleachers. "Penchak Silat, as its name indicates, is a combat technique. Which is half aesthetic of self-defense and half spirituality." He starts doing some ridiculous poses. "Yes, well, uh, these three halves could save your life, especially if you have a parachute in the middle of the Burmese Jungle at the height of the monsoon season."

"Well, I see we've got an extra student today" Yumi mutters under her breath.

"Hey, this class is open to everybody, isn't it?" Sissi defends, closing her eyes. "And besides, I wanna learn pinching skillets too."

"It's called Pencatch Silar" Johnny whispers to her.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Yumi turns around to the boys.

"We came here to be with you. I love hanging out with you sis" Hiroki smiles, giving peace signs with his fingers. She sighs in annoyance at him.

"Alright, enough talking and let's get to work. Hey, where's Stern?" Jim asks.

"Uh, he has a lot of homework. Teachers bombard us these days" Yumi covers for him.

"Okay, well since you're more experienced Ishiyama, you can sit out of this exercise. The rest of you, in groups of two for a short little warm-up-"

"Um, excuse us," Tamiya interrupts as she and Milly enter the gym. "Jim?"

"Hey! Just what are you two doing in here?" Jim demands.

"We wanna do a story on punchy muskrat. Ishiyama said you wouldn't mind at all" Milly explains to him.

"Huh?!" He turns to Yumi. "Did you say that?"

Yumi stammers nervously, never telling them that.

"No, not her. It was him" Milly points to Hiroki, who blushes in embarrassment.

"Uh, well, I, uh…" Hiroki looks away bashfully.

"Well, go on, Jeremy" Aelita encourages as they're playing a game together in the rec room.

"Who looks kinda of lost. Ha ha gotcha!" Some students are playing a foosball game nearby.

"Take your time Jeremy."

"It's impossible to concentrate with all that racket going on behind us!" He gestures to the two boys behind them.

"That makes 13 to 2!"

"Hey," Jeremy turns around in annoyance. "Would you guys mind making a little bit less noise, please? We're trying to concentrate."

"Concentrate," Julian mocks them. "That's all you bookworms do. Why don't you try something important like foosball?" Jeremy shushes him as his laptop goes off. "Are you talking to me Belpois?"

He walks up to his bag and pulls out his laptop. The superscan shows an activated tower. "Oh no! Xana's launched an attack."

"Which sector?" Aelita whispers to him.

"In the desert sector," he looks up at her. "We better hurry up."

Odd climbs through the passage in the park as his phone rings. "Yeah Einstein? What?! Oh no. Kiwi already has a hard time whenever I leave. Now I have to go to Lyoko?! Okay, okay, I'll see you over there."

"Are you ready?" Jim asks the small class. "Begin!"

Sissi is sparring with Johnny, who attacks first. He steps back, moving away from her. Tamiya is recording and Jim eyes them.

"Sissi, what you tried to do is a basic lung kai, which is complicated for a beginner. Yumi demonstrate with me," Yumi swings her leg towards him. She tries again, but Jim knocks her down. "Get the idea?"

Sissi and Johnny stare in shock as Jim helps her up. Her phone rings and she picks up. "Aelita? Hm? Xana, okay." Yumi nods towards William to leave. He nods in reply.

"Ow!" Sissi holds her head. "Can't you watch what you're doing, you dork?!"

"Deep breaths Sissi," Jim holds up a finger. "As my Burmese master said, serenity is filing in order to stay calm." He turns around to William and Yumi, who are about to exit through the door. "Dunbar! Ishiyama! What are you doing?"

"Uh, we have to leave. Something came up for both of us" William smiles sheepishly.

"Have a good training class!" The two run out the door.

"Huh?" Sissi looks confused.

"Yumi…" Johnny says with a frown.

Kiwi 2, Jeremy's robot from the competition, is standing in front of the two. "Hey…that's Kiwi 2! I wonder what he's doing here" Yumi says.

His eyes are red as he growls at them. "Kiwi 2?" William asks.

"Back when Xana made robots, Jeremy made his for a competition. It was a while before you came."

"You guys don't give me a full rundown on everything."

"You wanna talk for five hours. We'll tell you everything," Suddenly, the eyes show the sign of Xana. "I think we found Xana's attack though."

"Get to the factory! I'll take care of this bucket of bolts!" William tells her, but suddenly the Kiwis multiply into 2. "On second thought, stay with me."

Since they both have fighting experience, they use it to defeat the Kiwis. Yumi kicks one and another heads for William. He ducks and the robot destroys itself. William opens the door. "Yumi, hurry!" He shuts the door as one gets inside. It rushes towards Johnny, biting him.

Johnny screams as he waves his arm around, shaking him off, but then it bites Milly. William kicks him off and it turns to pieces. The main Kiwi 2 is still outside and multiplies into a small army.

"Now I want a clear explanation of what's going on!" Jim stands up after checking on the kids. "Where'd all those mechanical dogs come from?"

"We don't have time to explain! The only chance we've got is if William and I can get out!" Yumi tells him.

William peeks out the door to see the army of Kiwis. There's only one way out the door: fighting.

He closes the door and calls Jeremy. "Jeremy, I hear you made a robot dog? Well, looks like it is starting a robot revolution! There's a small army outside the gym!"

"What re you talking about?" Jeremy asks as him and Aelita are in the elevator. "I only built one Kiwi 2. It's just programmed to play basketball!"

"Well, Xana seems to be fixing this game against us. Me and Yumi are gonna try the boiler. Meet you and my sister at the factory" William says as Jeremy and Aelita enter the lab.

"Good luck" Jeremy replies walking up to Odd and Kiwi.

"What's the matter?" Odd asks them.

"Kiwi," Jeremy replies in annoyance.

"Hey, don't try to pin anything else on him!"

"No, not you Kiwi, it's mine. Kiwi 2. He's been Xanafied and multiplied by Xana. William and Yumi are stuck in the gym. They're gonna try and get out, but I don't know if they will" Jeremy rubs his chin.

"You take me for a nitwit Ms. Ishiyama?" Jim points to himself as they try to explain to him how they can help, but he won't listen.

"Absolutely not! You've already been to the factory a few times. Of course, we had to erase your memory everytime by returning to the past." He stares at her in confusion. Of course, he wouldn't remember that his memory was erased.

"Yeah, and after the tower is deactivated, another return to the past happens and you'll forget" William adds.

"Craziest story I've ever heard! You watch too many stupid Japanese mongos!" Jim responds.

Yumi places her hands on her hips, offended at that.

"Uh, that is to say," he scratches his cheek. "Can you prove that what you're saying is true?" Jim tries to take back his earlier comment.

"Well, how do you explain all those robot dogs out there?" Yumi points to the door. "Do you think Jeremy built them all by himself?"

"Uh…" Jim was unsure.

"Listen," William speaks up. "Trust us. We've got to get to the factory to help my sister, Or Xana will win and if Ulrich shows up, well we can kiss her goodbye."

"I don't usually trust Yumi, but for today, I'm gonna trust her. Better than getting mangled to death by those dogs. But just for today!" Sissi says.

"Me too! I trust William and if stopping Ulrich will help save us then so be it. My sister should be dating him anyways!" Hiroki points to her. She facepalms at this. "I keep telling her, but she doesn't listen."

"You didn't tell him, did you?" William asks.

"Let's have Ulrich out of Xana's grasp first" Yumi responds.

"Well," Jim rubs the back of his neck. "You mind telling me how you plan on getting to this factory?"

"We got two options: fight them or get to the sewers from an air duct. But we need a diversion or Xana will figure us out."

"Uhh, too dangerous," Jim backs away immediately. "Why shouldn't I be the one who tries to get out through the air ducts? Tell me that!"

"Because you're too…u-um," Yumi didn't want to say anything offensive. "Because you wouldn't know where to go afterwards!"

William smiles in amusement behind her.

"Well, it seems pretty clear we have no choice…"

Jeremy is starting up the process to virtualize the two onto Lyoko. "Okay. I'm launching the process. Are you ready guys?"

"Ready!" Aelita replies from a scanner.

"Do your stuff Einstein" Odd says, hands in pockets.

"Transfer Aelita. Transfer Odd. Scanner odd. Scanner Aelita." Jeremy scans them and virtualizes them. "Virtualization."

They close their eyes as the virtualization commences. Odd lands first, followed by Aelita in the desert sector.

"Come on Xana! Fight like a man!" Odd challenges with no one around.

"The activated tower is northwest of your position. Keep your eyes out for unwanted visitors. Here are your vehicles. Overwing and Overboard."

The two vehicles materialize in front of them. Odd flips onto the Overboard, Aelita jumps into the Overwing. They take off towards the tower.

William removes the cover for the air duct. Yumi crawls in first, followed by William. She slowly moves forward along with him, hoping that this idea would work.

Aelita and Odd are approaching the tower. "There's the tower," Aelita states. "That's weird. No one's around." She looks around.

"Let's go while the going is good! The faster we save the world, the sooner we can get back for lunch!" Odd states confidently.

Jim and Sissi hold make-shift weapons as they've locked themselves in the locker room. Pounding comes from the door.

"Now," Jim nods at Sissi. "Are we all set? Let's be careful kids."

There's a noise from the door and the gym teacher opens it. The mechanical dogs come charging in. Hiroki throws some weight balls, Jim swinging his golf club.

"Take that, you filthy beast!" Sissi shouts as she swings her baton at one.

"Come on, little doggies! Come and get it!" Jim exclaims, hitting several with his golf club. Hiroki continues throwing weight balls while Sissi swings her baton again. A Kiwi 2 jumps towards her, but a weight ball stops it. She turns to find the winking Hiroki.

A panel from above drops onto the floor of the boiler room. Yumi peeks in from the air duct.

Suddenly, the eyes from the robot's flash and they take their leave.

"Oh no! William and Yumi!" Sissi calls out as she realizes when they're going. William lands in front of Yumi.

"No time to waste," William says. The door bursts open with the robots jumping into the room. "Go help my sister! I got the robots." Yumi runs up to the door. She opens it and runs down the path. She emerges into the sewers, coming to a stop. Right behind her is two robots.

"Uh oh…" Yumi says.

"Aelita, look out!" Jeremy warns her. "On your right."

Her vehicle suddenly gets hit, Odd turning to the source. "We were expecting you!" Odd says to Ulrich. "Laser arrow!" Off fires on him repeatably, but he deflects with both sabers.

"Manta!" Ulrich calls out. A flying manta arrives behind him. Aelita looks up from the ground. Ulrich jumps onto, the manta, flying towards Odd. He fires an energy laser at the Overboard (like the one in episode 62). Odd jumps into the air.

"Laser arrow!"

He destroys the manta in mid-air, Ulrich lands behind him. He draws the second saber. Aelita stands up. Odd backflips over the sabers. Aelita activates her wings, flying in the air. She heads for the activated tower.

Yumi watches as the dog's ears lift up. They run towards her, and she takes off on a skateboard. She glances over her shoulder to see them running after her.

William has bite marks on him as he's surrounded by the robot dogs, throwing one to the wall.

Aelita continues to head for the tower when a noise is heard. "Better be careful Aelita. I see tarantulas" Jeremy notices them from his screen.

They start firing at her and she avoids them, heading in the other direction.

William slides around a corner, being chased by the robots. A door opens and he's suddenly pulled inside. Jim drags him inside and William smiles at him in relief.

"Yumi made it…" William mutters.

Sissi covers her mouth in horror, worried for him.

He doesn't know that she's being chased by robots herself. She jumps off her skateboard and lands back onto it, skating further into the tunnel.

Aelita notices that there's another tarantula hiding behind a field of rocks. It fires at her, hitting her wings. This sends her flying over the edge.

"Aelita!" Jeremy exclaims.

"It's okay Jeremy, I'm gaining altitude again" she tells him.

"That's great Aelita," he sighs in relief. "I'll try to find out how Yumi and William are doing." He calls William first.

His phone rings and Jim bends down to his pocket and takes it and answers it.

"Hello?"

"Jim, how come you answered William's phone?" Jeremy asks.

"Because he's in no condition to talk. Your robot and his clones sicced him in the leg. Just like they did Milly and Johnny. Now listen here Belpois. I don't know whether you and your strange gang are capable of doing anything, but if you can, do it fast!"

"Odd, Aelita," Jeremy squeezes his eyes shut. "We've gotta shift into high gear right now."

"Super sprint!" Ulrich runs away from Odd.

"It seems William's hurt pretty bad. And Milly and Johnny aren't much better" he informs them.

"We're not exactly in paradise either Einstein!" Odd calls out.

Yumi reaches the bridge, running across it. Suddenly the two robots that were chasing her appear on the bridge.

Aelita lands on the ground as Ulrich approaches her. She fires a pink orb quickly. "Energy field!"

He absorbs it with his sabers. "Be right there Aelita! Just a little unfinished business to attend to" Odd looks to the tarantula.

Yumi swings a rope, landing in front of the elevator. She's about to press the button when tow robot Kiwis appear in front of her. They run towards her.

"NO!" She shouts at them.

Odd slides, coming to a stop. He flips, firing a laser arrow at a tarantula, destroying it. "Sorry my little buggy friends, but I'm the buzz from now on!" He's about to fire again but realizes that he's out. "Huh? Uh, I was just kidding." He runs away from the monster. "Hey Einstein, reload me!"

"Coming up!" Before he can, the elevator opens behind him. "Ah Yumi! A good thing that you-" he turns to see her hurt, and two robots looking at him. "Yumi!"

Odd dodges lasers from the tarantula. "Hey Einstein, where are my arrows?" Odd looks up. "Jeremy, are you still there? Or did you take Kiwi out for a walk?"

Jeremy backs away from the clones, touching the wall. They run towards him, tackling him onto the ground and biting at him. They chase him around the lab. Kiwi jumps onto the keyboard and taps a button, reloading Odd.

Odd gets hit, landing on the ground. He fires at the monster. "Hey, what do you know? I'm reloaded!"

He jumps into the air, getting on top of the tarantula. He fires as he leaps from behind. "Laser arrow!" He destroys the monster and lands on his paws. "Nice one Einstein!"

Jeremy cringes as he looks at the robots.

Jim tries to hold the door back, the kids looking in fear.

"Please be okay William…" Sissi stares at him as his eyes are closed.

Ulrich tries to slash at Aelita. Aelita fires and orb, and Odd comes in. "Just you and me Ulrich!"

Odd fires an arrow and Aelita fires an orb. Ulrich ducks and both projectiles miss him. Aelita gets hit, and accidentally devirtualizes Odd.

"Hey!" Odd exclaims.

"Oh no! What have I done!" Aelita exclaims back.

"Good shot princess. Odd was right, it is just you and me" Ulrich says laughing.

Aelita attempts to fight back and fires another energy field for Ulrich to absorb it into his saber. It glows pink as he reels back before swinging to unleash a pink energy beam. It hits Aelita and sends her to a rock. Aelita drops on her knees struggling to get up as she watches Ulrich slowly approaches her. She quickly makes a run for it and hides within the rocks.

"You can't outrun me Aelita. I know where you are and I'll be watching, waiting." Ulrich laughs.

Jeremy moves away from the robot dogs.

"I can't believe it! I called the police about ages ago, and they still haven't come!" Jim glances to the door behind.

"Forget it," William mutters from the ground. "Xana won't let anyone stop him. The only one who can help us now is my sister."

"Listen Dunbar, I don't know what to believe right now. For now, we're trapped and I'm becoming chief officer of this unit! Hiroki, Tamiya, take all these floor mats over to the door. Sissi, you're gonna help me pile up. We're gonna build us a barricade!"

She nods at him.

"And all I wanted to do was spend the afternoon with Milly" Hiroki whispers, but she still heard it.

Ulrich comes to a stop in front of the rocks, Aelita hiding behind one. She uses her creativity to do something, running away. Ulrich throws his saber at her, and she goes over the edge.

"It's done master. Aelita and William's father will arrive soon" Ulrich says.

Jeremy kicks away a clone, running over to the computer, "Aelita!" He watches her life points deplete as Odd emerges from the scanner room.

"What's going on Einstein? My dog's a genius, but I wouldn't give him your job" Odd comments, noticing Kiwi in the chair.

"Odd! Aelita just fell into the digital sea…"

"Huh?" Odd's mouth opens in shock.

"They're getting in!" The kids shout to the door.

"Bring 'em on! The more, the merrier! Takes more than tin cans to scare Jim Morales! Ha!" Jim exclaims.

Ulrich waits for Franz Hopper to arrive but doesn't show up.

"Did you expect our father to show up to bail me out?" Aelita asks next to the tower. "He won't be coming today! Surprise! I can duplicate myself too!"

Ulrich throws his saber, but it hits the tower as Aelita enters inside. Ulrich just growls in disappointment.

Aelita runs up to the center. She starts floating towards the top.

Jim growls as he and the rest of the students face the doors. Aelita does a backflip before reaching the top. Aelita steps up to the interface.

Jeremy backs away from the dog in front of him. The other one bites at Odd's arm. "Ow!" Jeremy cries in pain, clutching his leg. Aelita presses her hand to the interface.

Aelita

Code

The students inside the locker room scream as all the robot dogs barge in. Sissi hugs William in fear.

Lyoko

"Tower deactivated" Aelita declares.

Sissi opens her eyes, everyone looking up to see all the clones disappear into thin air.

"Nice one sis" William mutters.

"Are you okay Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

He puts on the microphone. "Aelita, but-"

"You mean you haven't launched a return to the past yet?"

"Return to the past now!"

Time is reversed back to a day ago.

Everyone reappears in William and Odd's room.

"When I saw how the Kiwis multiplied themselves, I decided to do the same," Aelita explains how she evaded Ulrich. "The rest was easy."

"Aelita, you are really amazing" Jeremy applauds her.

"Hey, she's not the only one," Odd speaks up holding Kiwi. "She managed to get away because Ulrich was distracted.

"That was an accident" Jeremy protests.

"Still, what if he hadn't been there? So, who do we have to say thanks to?" Odd points out.

"To you Odd?" Aelita smiles at him.

"Me?! No, to Kiwi. Who do you think reloaded my laser arrows?"

"Okay, so he's a hero. What are you trying to say?" Yumi asks, hands behind her head.

"Just that heroes don't sleep in abandoned factories" Odd defends Kiwi.

"Well then William," Jeremy turns to him, since it was his idea. "It's your call. After all, you're the only one who shares a room with him, for now."

"He can come back, but you have to train him better or get him a met. Because next time I find wet sheets, there will be some consequences" William agrees.

"I will take care of it, don't worry" Odd responds.

"Then why am I worrying?" William asks rhetorically.

"You'll see. He's a brand-new dog!" Odd pumps a fist. "He's much more common, much better behaved."

"Hey Odd," Yumi looks to the ground. "Your pants, look at them."

They've been chewed on a little. "Oh, that's just…well, ventilation! It gets so hot here at school."

"You're sure it wasn't Kiwi and his old tricks?" Aelita teases, Jeremy laughs next to her.

"I told you it wasn't him! Can we go eat now?"

They all just laugh at him in amusement.

A.N. – And thus ends the Xana attack with a twist. Next time will be a one-time replica visit and supercomputer destruction in SPACE! Just one little side note, this may or may not be uploaded next week. I am going on vacation on Friday. I will have my laptop with me, but the state of research on the episode is unknown. So, if nothing is uploaded next week, it might be two weeks until the next chapter. Until then… PM me with story ideas if you have any! Don't forget to review with questions or comments! I will respond! Stay safe and healthy out there! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97