Author's Note:To all those who think Xana is Master: This chapter is for you. On with the show.

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Rain. That was all that could be said about the day. Not just any rain. It was the kind of rain that came down in sheets. The meteorologist had claimed the other day that it would be "sunny, with a high of 75". Only one came true. Now the same person was on again apologizing to the town and claiming it was a computer glitch. Now many disappointed (and slightly irritated) people had to cancel or redo their plans. The 4 inside Jeremy's dorm were no different (except irritated). At the moment, they were tossing a small ball to each other.

"You can look at this as a way to save your self the embarrassment, Odd." Said Ulreck, tossing the ball to him.

"Yeah?" The purple hair boy challenged. "I'll simply play soccer against you tomorrow." He threw the ball to Yumi.

"You're going to lose horribly." The star player retaliated. Yumi threw the ball to Jeremy.

Jeremy, who was looking at Ulreck, didn't react in time. "OW!"

Yumi laughed. "Oops. Sorry, I thought you saw it." Jeremy picked the ball up.

"Don't worry about it." He threw it back to her, and turned to his computer. "Hey, Alieta." He called to the screen.

A pink hair girl appeared in a window on his computer. "Hello, Jeremy. How are you?"

A round of hello's greeted her. Jeremy followed up by saying: "Pretty good. How's Lyoko?"

"Quiet."

"That's good. Hey Alieta," said Odd, "How about you come out of there? Xana hasn't attacked in quite awhile."

Alieta though about this for a moment. "I don't know, Odd. He's up to something, I just know it."

"Ah, you're just being paranoid."

She looked at Odd curiously. "What's para…." She paused. And everything got quiet.

"What's wrong?" Asked Jeremy.

"Xana is attacking!" She cried out.

"What? Where?" Asked Jeremy.

"I am not sure, but I can feel pulsations."

"Hm. We better get to Lyoko. But how do we get past Jim?" Said Odd.

Yumi turned to look at him. "Huh? No need. It's summer."

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"Okay, Alieta, where's the tower?" Jeremy said. He and the others were in the control room to Lyoko.

"It's in the Desert Region. I'm about 5 km to the north away from it."

"Roger. Ulreck, Odd, and Yumi are on their way."

Tapping a few commands in to the computer, he prepared to send them to Lyoko. One floor below, Ulreck took a moment to reflect on something.

"We should be very careful. He doesn't seem to be attacking the real world."

The others agreed with him. "What do you think he has planned?"

He didn't know himself. Jeremy opened the scanners for them. "Ok, We're ready."

They got in, and Jeremy performed the ritual to send them to Lyoko. "Scanner, Ulreck. Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Yumi. Virtualization!"

After a successful virtualization, and a few uneventful kilometers later, they came upon the most obvious of traps.

"This is suicide!" Exclaimed Ulreck as he looked down to the tower. The trap in question was deviously simple. There was a very straight, slim corridor to the tower. It was so slim, that they could only go down it single file and also did not allow them any room to maneuver during a fight. Instead of them just going around the corridor, the two walls circled the tower and met in the back thus rendering the corridor the only way in or out.

But the good news didn't end there. Oh no.

"Guys," called Jeremy. There is a Mega-Tank at the tower. He seems to be waiting."

"Yeah. For us to go down there. Is there any other way around it?" asked Ulreck.

"Let me check….. No, sorry, there isn't."

"Well now what?" said Odd.

"Why don't you go down?" Ulreck responded.

"NO WAY! I'm not gonna get my self killed!" he yelled.

Yumi walked up to the entrance. "How far do you think they'll let us go down before firing?" She said thoughtfully.

The others looked at her. "I dunno, probably half way down." Said Ulreck.

"Huh. Hey, Odd, how far can you fire your laser arrow?"

"Pretty far, actually. Why….?"

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Odd crept down the long corridor. "YOU OWE ME! YUMI? YOU HEAR ME? YOU OWE ME BIG!"

"You're doing fine! Keep going!" Called Yumi.

No matter what, Odd was forced to go down the corridor. He just had to choose how it was happening. Yumi, who came up with the entire plan, tried to give Odd a choice. "If you go do this," she had said, "We'll pay for your lunch for a month."

Odd had expressed a dislike of the plan. "No way! It's suicide!" Which was all that was needed to make Yumi and Ulreck grab Odd by the shoulders and throw him into the corridor.

The plan itself, like the trap, was deviously simple. Odd, who had the greatest distance with his weapon, would proceed down the corridor. Jeremy, who would be Odd's eyes so to speak, would tell Odd when the Tank opened up to fire. Accuracy was everything, timing was critical.

Closer and closer Odd crept, extending his arm to fire when needed. A fourth of the way down, then he was half way down. "It's opening!" Shouted Jeremy. "SHOOT IT NOW! Now, now, now, now!"

"Alright! LASER ARROW!" Odd bellowed and right as it emerged from his wrist, the Tank fired off its blast.

No one moved. All were transfixed on the path of the arrow. When the wall and the arrow were three feet away, everyone held their breath. It was uncertain if the arrow would be knocked off course by the wall. It passed without incident.

'Wait…' was all Odd thought. He had completely forgot about the wall, and at the precise moment the arrow hit the Tank, the wall hit Odd. And as the Tank rolled back into the tower and exploded, Odd was tossed like a rag doll when he finally landed face up at the entrance.

"Ugh…." Was all that was managed by Odd Yumi, Ulreck, and Alieta stood over him. Yumi smiled.

"You okay, Odd?" Asked Yumi.

He had his eyes closed. "Not really. I have a really big headache, so if you don't mind, I'll just lie here while you shut the tower off."

They laughed, except Odd. "Okay." Yumi said and ran off toward the tower. But then she stopped and looked at Odd. "Hey, Odd?"

No response.

"Nice work, and thanks."

He raised his and in a half-hearted wave.

Alieta got to the tower, and shut it down.

"Return to the past NOW!" Said Jeremy and everything rewound.

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Just before time rewound, Jason emerged from the office at the warehouse. In just 10 minutes, he had a job and was in the same rank as Stephanie.

He was beginning to like Master.

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Author's Note:First day of school and Jason's new job, NEXT! See ya!