The calm evening was the end to a long night of training for the newest Lyoko member. With a long briefing and a short sparing session, the Lyoko Warriors were alleviated over initial concerns with Urma's novice status. Arising from the sewer grate in Kadic's forest, the group recounted the session.
"Two out of five is not a bad start, Urma," said Odd, "With a little more practice, you'll be wiping the floor with monsters."
"I would have done a better job if Ulrich hadn't cloned himself," said Urma, "Seriously, how'd you do something like that?"
"Every Lyoko form comes with a power or two.
"So do you know what powers I have?"
"I didn't think to check. The Skid finished compiling its core programs during the first match and I needed to finalize them as soon as I-" Jeremy was then cut off by his own body, forcing a large yawn out of him.
"Sounds like you should be getting some rest," suggested Aelita.
"Yeah, I should get back to the dorm."
As the group covered the manhole, Urma's head veered towards the night sky with her now dark-adjusted eyes to a site she had never seen before. Her sight was met with the starry night sky, blanketed fully by its speckled lights. Eventually, the others took notice of her awe.
"You know, I've never noticed how you could see the stars from here," said Odd as he joined in on the star gazing.
Looking upon the vast expanse before her, Urma could feel her world become smaller and be overtaken by the wonder of something greater. As she continued to be enamored by the stars, a thought occurred to her.
"Sorry if this is kinda coming out of nowhere," said Urma, "But what do you guys plan to do if- when you win?"
"Go back to school. Live our lives as normal people?"
"But what about the Supercomputer?"
"We just… turn it off."
"And just leave it there? Where someone else could just… find it? Why not use it to make the world better?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if we introduced the technology to the world? You know, organize a way to use it for the betterment of humanity."
With that suggestion, a nerve was collectively struck amongst the whole group.
"We are not doing that," Aelita firmly stated.
"What- Why not?"
"The Supercomputer can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. An activated tower alone can cause mass destruction and then there is the endless number of things you can get away with using a Return to the Past."
"But think of all the good that could be done with it like… I don't know… reverse global warming."
"Isn't that on the same line of logic Dr. Wagner was using?" asked Ulrich, "I thought you didn't agree with him?"
"Of course not," defended Urma, "Dr. Wagner wants to take over the world to create their idea of a utopia. All I'm saying is that the Supercomputer could still help the world if it was used right."
"Its abilities are too easily exploitable in the wrong hands and the amount of damage one could cause with it can be world-ending," said Jeremy, "Urma, Lyoko was made to be a weapon. It wasn't built with that kind of purpose in mind."
"But what if it doesn't have to be a weapon? What if the Lyoko could be more than that?"
"That's not a risk we can take."
Frustrated by the direction the conversation was going, Urma stormed off to her dorm room,"You know what, just forget it."
With the brief argument over, the other warriors followed suit, taking with them dismissive confusion from the conversation.
Exhausted from today's events, Jeremy quietly snuck back to his room for a well-deserved rest. But as he stepped into his room, he found that he wasn't alone. Rummaging through his room was what appeared to be a robotic house cat digging into a box of robot parts. Noticing Jeremy's presence, the robot turned towards the boy, revealing the hand of Kat on its head.
"Oh no," whispered Jeremy as he realized that it was most likely controlled by Kat.
Despite being puzzled by the scene in front of him, Jeremy moved towards the feline in the hopes of catching it. However, Kat's small body was able to use its life-like movements to outmaneuver its opponent's feeble attempt and rushed out the door.
With the machine out in the halls, Jeremy figured it was best not to give chase and run the risk of drawing attention at this hour; better to use this opportunity to figure out why she was here. The contents of the box that was being searched through mostly consisted of parts for building robots. As far as Jeremy could recall, there was nothing useful until his eyes caught something buried under the box's remaining pile: a small, golden chip with the eye of X.A.N.A. marked on it.
Confused, Jeremy tried to remember where he got such a component. Slowly, he remembers that one Valentine's Day where X.A.N.A. gave Aelita a necklace that possessed her on Lyoko. After saving her, they broke open the necklace to find this very chip. He remembered planning to analyze the data to see what information he could find on X.A.N.A. but he couldn't remember for the life of him what was on the disk.
As he laid on his bed, Jeremy began to recount one of Jim's surprise inspections that startled Jeremy into burying the chip into the box as a reflex. Did his sense of object permeance really slip up back then? The Einstein could only wonder as he slipped into slumber with the chip in hand.
Morning came as the Lyoko warriors had their breakfast and Jeremy explained what happened overnight.
Aelita was furious with what she heard, "You're telling me Kat tried to steal that old chip from one of X.A.N.A.'s attacks that you just… forgot about?"
"Yeah," confirmed Jeremy, "I'm carrying the chip with me just in case he tries to steal it again."
"Why do you still have that thing!?" asked Aelita as she held the rage behind her teeth.
"Honestly, I never ended up pushing it back and just eventually… forgot about it."
"Whoa slow down," interjected Urma, "Who's X.A.N.A.?"
Odd gulped down his food before answering, "Before there was James, there was this evil A.I. called X.A.N.A., took us about a couple years to get rid of him."
"And the chip?"
"Was created by him to possess Aelita."
"So why don't we just destroy it as soon as possible?" asked William.
"That's what we are going to do after classes," said Jeremy.
"Or we can destroy it now," said Yumi, "I mean if it's that possibly important to James, then classes will have to wait."
"I guess you're right. Any volunteers to destroy it?"
Without wasting a second, William took the initiative, "I will."
The group turned their glances toward William. While the idea of putting William and X.A.N.A. together set off all kinds of alarm bells, they knew how much this meant to him. With a collective nod in agreement, Jeremy reached into his pocket, pulled out the chip, and passed it under the table.
"Do it as soon as possible," told Jeremy sternly.
There was no fear or hesitation in William's voice as he took the chip and said, "Believe me, I will."
A while later, William was in a bathroom stall. William pulled out the X.A.N.A. chip and gave a hateful stare. The very thing that took away many months of his life now rested in the palm of his hand as a final vestige of its creations.
With a slowly drawn breath, William gave his last words to the accursed AI, "Goodbye X.A.N.A., you monster."
He raised his arm high and with great force, he smashed the chip onto the toilet's exposed pipes. That is, if a bright, white flash had not stopped him from doing so.