Author's Note: Hola everyone! It's been a while since I last updated, like I promised it would be. I hope you aren't too mad and I hope no one has "died" from suspense out there. I'm sure you would hate to not see what happens at the end. Thank you very very much for all my wonderful reviews. Son of Xana, thank you for making me feel like a bumbling idiot! But that's okay. You certainly are very nit-picky, a trait which I also share. But thank you for pointing out all my errors. I'll be sure to do some...er...scientific research on air pressure, forces, and the like the next time I write a fan fiction (although wouldn't you agree that that would be hassling?)! Great minds think alike, DanMat6288 (jkjk, I'm not quite sure at the moment that I have a "great mind"...)! But sorry if I took your idea! I'm also going nuts about the hurricanes in Florida, CodeLyoko, so don't worry. Mornstar, it sounds lovely! You have truly outdone yourself! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I love sapphires...(I agree it is a very large awkward cookie...)
Anyway...here is you next chapter! Hope you devour and enjoy, as always!
Oh, and I promised my friends (and myself) I would ask this to the next people I see (well I don't techinally see you, but it still counts, right?). And if you think its random and scary, get over it, cause that's the way I am. So the question (clears throat): What's you favorite kitchen appliance? Review with response!


We emerged on an elevated pathway. The pathway was raised up out of the water by ice as white as snow. Odd ran forward first and I followed with Ulrich bringing up the rear. We stopped when we reached two icy columns coming out of the water, one shorter than the first, evidently for the purpose of jumping to the lower pathway ahead. I looked over my shoulder at Ulrich and smiled at him. "What do you know, Ulrich? More jumping!" He groaned.

After some quick leaps, we continued on our way across the white tundra. The only sound that I heard was our quick footsteps and harsh breathing. After a while, we ran across an ice bridge and found ourselves in a dead end. But it was a beautiful dead end.

The icy bridge suddenly opened out into a circle. The circle of white was lined with a wall all the way around except for the entrance to the almost room-like structure. And as I stepped into the walled premises, I discovered that the walls actually alternated from solid ice to cascading waterfalls. Water crashed all around us, seeming to create a momentary shelter.

"Now what, genius?" Ulrich asked irritably, glancing at an awestruck Odd. Odd didn't hear over the water's din and continued to stare at the serene area we had stumbled upon.

"I never knew a place like this could exist in Lyoko," Odd breathed in wonder.

I walked over to one of the walls. "This can't just be a dead end. The path from the tower led in only one direction and that was to here. There has to be something beyond this."

"Like what?" Ulrich asked, kicking at the ice beneath his feet.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I said, leaning against the cold ice wall and looking at the closet waterfall. I straightened up when I noticed something. "Actually, I think I just might have found it."

Cautiously, I made my way toward the waterfall. I carefully edged onto a little ledge behind the waterfall, pressing myself flat so I could get past the sheet of water. I breathed out in relief when I had slipped all the way behind the waterfall. Then I turned to see a slick winding ice tunnel that had been concealed from view by the waterfall. Odd appeared to my right and Ulrich came up on my left.

I smiled. "Shotgun."

Odd smiled also. "I'll go first," he volunteered quickly and without another word jumped forward and slid down the tunnel. I heard his whoops of delight echoing on the slick walls.

"You go next, Yumi," Ulrich offered. I nodded and jumped in.

Immediately, I was sliding at high speeds down a steep slope. I screamed, half in fear and half in excitement as I raced down the tunnel. The ice walls went by in a shiny blur as I skated around and around. Suddenly the tunnel dipped down and changed directions to go upward. I started losing my momentum. With a futile scramble to regain my footing, I started slipping downward. I reached out to grope for anything I could hold onto but before I could, Odd crashed into me. With loud yells and curses, we tumbled back the way we had come in a tangled heap. Then, to make matters worse, Ulrich crashed into us from behind. Groaning was added to our mix.

"Oh man," Odd lamented balefully as he extracted himself from our fall. "We have to climb up the rest of the way?"

I rubbed my head and sat up. "Apparently so, but these walls are slick."

Ulrich got up and offered me a hand. "Well, I hope they aren't hard." He unsheathed his sword and smashed his blade into the ice. His sword sunk into it with only a little resistance.

Odd nodded understandably. "Okay, I'll put my cat skills at work."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh great. I'm sure this means we'll need to have someone rescue us soon." Odd glared at me heatedly before running up the slope and digging his claw-like hands into the soft ice. I ran up and followed him, whipping out my fan and slicing into the ice to create a handhold. Ulrich followed, leaving little indentations in the ice where he had sunk his sword into it.

In this painfully slow way, we climbed up the last part of the tunnel and emerged on a little ice island in the middle of the ocean. And there hung Aelita in the fiery ball of a guardian.

Odd took a big whiff of the icy air. "Yumi, its show time." I nodded and dropped to my knees. A few minutes later, an exact replica of Aelita was hovering next to me. The guardian quivered with uncertainty and finally decided to go for the bait. It dropped the real Aelita and went to smother the fake one. Odd sprang forward and snatched up the real Aelita in one swift motion.

"Now how are we going to get back?" Ulrich asked. "Apparently the tunnel we went through went a little ways underneath the ocean, but I don't think we're up to climbing with an extra load."

"We have to wake her," I said swiftly. "Aelita can use her powers to create another pathway to link up to the main land."

"I have an idea," Odd said, swishing his purple tail and looking out at the ocean. He dragged Aelita close to the edge of the patch of land we were on and cupped a handful of water in his glove. Then he turned and sprinkled Aelita's face with the icy cold water before it slipped between his fingers. Aelita sat up with a start.

"Aelita?" I said, kneeling at her side. "I can't believe its really you!"

She shook her head and then smiled at me. "It's me Yumi."

"But how did you survive...well...I mean when I dropped you..."

Aelita's smile widened and she placed a forgiving hand on my arm. "Its okay Yumi. After I fell, I lost all my life points and I..." she dropped her voice to a whisper, "I materialized."

"You what?" the rest of us exclaimed at the same time.

Aelita grinned brightly but then the expression dulled when she caught sight of the still jiggling orange blob of the guardian. "We have to get off this island and quick. I'll tell you later." She walked to the edge of island and closed her eyes, placing her fingers up to her temples. Then she took a step forward. Instantly, white solid ground appeared at her feet. She walked forward again and the same thing happened. One footstep at a time, she created a slender path for us to walk on. But soon a horrible buzzing sound filled the air with a promise of only one thing.

"Hornets. Geez, I hate these horrible pests," Odd exclaimed, cocking his wrist for a shot as three hornets swerved into view. "Laser arrow!" Odd cried while shooting four arrows. All of them missed.

"Nice, hot shot," I mocked, jumping out of the way as they took aim and fired.

"Hey, I was trying my best," Odd said, cart wheeling out of the way and precariously close to falling off the pathway. He flipped up to shoot two more laser arrows. This time one of them found their mark and blew the nearest hornet to pieces. "There, better?"

"Much better," Ulrich confirmed, slashing at one of the hornets. It buzzed up to a safe distance only to get slaughtered with my whizzing fan.

"The last one's yours, Ulrich," Odd panted as he made way for Ulrich to move. "I don't want to use too many arrows."

The last hornet swerved low to get at Aelita, but Ulrich ran up and threw his sword right in the middle of the hornet's Xana symbol. "Bull's eye." The hornet exploded and Ulrich sword landed on the newly created ground. Aelita continued walking forward, as if nothing had happened.

After the counter with the hornets, no other monster showed up. Aelita finally connected us to the main land. The tower was just ahead on another little circular island of ice with little ice pieces to get you there, like stepping-stones. We ran toward it. "Jeremy's in the mountain region, I'm sure of it," Aelita cried as she ran and then she sprang up to land on the first ice piece gracefully.

All four of us bounded across the ice stepping-stones and phased into the tower.

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As always, the mountain region was stark and uneventful. Lazy clouds drifted by, momentarily obscuring the visibility but always clearing up a little while later. Odd rock formations protruded from the pathways and sometimes from parallel pathways that ran underneath the one we were running on.

We spotted where Jeremy was relatively quickly but we were stuck on how to get there. He was being suspended in a guardian on a little piece of rocky land that was below the pathway on which we were standing. To get there, we had to jump over another harrowing set of moving platforms and then take a nasty little detour in which one had to jump to a moving platform underneath the first set of moving platforms that were level with us. Then after jumping over the platforms below, one would finally discover after all that hard work that one couldn't step onto the little island Jeremy was on after all, because the little island was just big enough for only the guardian.

And if one did actually manage to create a clone of Jeremy on one of the other moving platforms, one would have to do it at the right moment because then one would have to sweep in and wake Jeremy.

In other words, the task was nearly impossible except to one determined individual. That would be, of course, Aelita.

"But Aelita, going down there is like committing suicide. You can't possibly make it all the way down there," Odd protested, gazing down himself at the terribly risky passage.

"I know Odd, but I've got to try," Aelita said calmly. I watched her impassive face stare at Jeremy. It contained a sorrow in it and a determination I knew none of us could break. For the first time it dawned on me that Aelita just might have the same feelings for Jeremy as Jeremy had for her.

"Okay, Aelita," I said, clapping her gently on the back. "We've got your back." She looked me in the eye and nodded before taking off to the first set of moving platforms.

"I hope she knows what she's doing," Odd said nervously, cringing as she performed the first jump that would take her off the pathway and onto the moving platforms.

"Geez, Odd, chill out. You look like you're the one doing the rescuing," Ulrich teased. I laughed as Odd's face turned a shade of red in anger.

"Oh yeah, tough guy," Odd taunted. "Bring it on."

I laughed harder. "Come on guys. Both of you, chill out. You look like the time when Ulrich got amnesia."

I watched, meanwhile, as Aelita jumped like a gazelle over the next few platforms and then dropped down a few harrowing feet to land on the next set of platforms. Ulrich and Odd abandoned their little skirmish to watch her progress.

She jumped with ease and grace to the next platform and then as soon as her feet brushed the ground, she jumped again to land on the platform that would bring her as close to the little piece of land on which Jeremy was situated on as she could get. Then she dropped to her knees and started humming, concentrating her energy on Jeremy.

About that time I heard the familiar sound of mechanical gears grinding. I looked around, suddenly alert and wary. Odd and Ulrich looked around as well. Then I spotted two blocks on the top of a huge boulder a little ways away. Just as I was about to point them out, Odd gave a shout and pointed the opposite direction. Roachsters were making their way over the set of moving platforms and were coming toward us as well.

Meanwhile, the clone of Jeremy was just starting to shimmer into view.

Odd immediately bounced into a ready crouch position. "I got the blocks. You go take care of the roachsters." Ulrich and I nodded and started running toward the platforms. The roachsters suddenly looked up and swiveled around to get a better view. They spotted us and charged up to shoot.

I whipped out my fan and sent it flying into the closest one. It exploded as the one behind that one started to shoot. Ulrich stepped in front of me and absorbed all the shots with his sword. I poised my hand to throw again.

"Jeremy!" I heard two voices call out. Ulrich and I instantly abandoned the confused roachsters to go see what was happening. I looked down just in time to see two more blocks clinging from the side of a nearby boulder. They started shooting just as Jeremy was starting to awake. All of the lasers hit their mark as they hit Jeremy's body with alarming accuracy. I watched with a strangled gasp as Jeremy de-virtualized immediately.

A hot wave of anger washed through me along with a stream of adrenaline. I backed up and with a scream, I leapt off the pathway and twisted my body sideways, throwing my fan with all my strength. One block was sliced clean through. The other, in panic, lost its grip on the boulder and tumbled into the void below.

I knocked into the side of the little island Jeremy had just been on a little while ago. The impact knocked all the wind out of me and I clung onto the side with one hand, wheezing and trying to get my breath back. Aelita screamed my name and jumped onto the island. I already knew it was too late. She reached out and grabbed my hand but my hand had already slipped off the edge. With another scream, this one full of fear, I tumbled after the block I had just killed.