Author's Note: Due to some very crabby parents, I haven't been able to get on in forever. I feel so bad about leaving you guys in the lurch though! This chapter also has a semi-cliffy ending, but the story is progressing rapidly and it is about to get way better fast! Thank you, new reviewer Miko Yamaguchi and I MUST CONGRATULATE KIKO KAMIA AT ONCE! I'm so happy for you! J-lyoko, I'm afraid your next review will be full of even more questions and CBIzumi, suspenseful is how I write! Thanks for the info, dantheman7777, but I'd rather not employ that fact just for the simple reason that everything would get way more complicated. Thanks for informing me though. And now onto the chapter...ENJOY!

Even if Yumi and Ulrich wanted to try their hand at jumping over to the island Aelita and Odd were on, they weren't handed the chance. As soon as the last of the wild horses galloped away (retreating because they knew that they couldn't stand a chance without strength in numbers), the other, more familiar Lyoko monsters rolled out their personal welcome. Roachsters surrounded Yumi and Ulrich before they had a chance to congratulate themselves for dispatching over fifty wild horses apiece (of course, they wouldn't know this because they were a bit busy with no time to spare for counting). However, these roachsters seemed different from the last ones they encountered.

Please be the same old stupid roachsters that they were before. Please, begged Yumi in her mind. Her eyes fell back into their old routine of darting around alertly, taking in everything with detail and accuracy. Her fan slid open slowly. The three roachsters directly in front of her shifted uncomfortably. Yumi allowed a small smile to play on her lips. Are you scared, my little roachster sweethearts? Well, you better be!

"YAH!" Yumi screamed, crouching down to spring up high into the air. With all the changes Lyoko apparently had, she was grateful that she still could defy the laws of physics, just a bit. She sprang high up into the air and zipped her fan violently below her, aiming for the roachsters. One exploded on impact, but another one scuttled backward, firing lasers rapidly. Yumi flew back in midair, stunned by the newfound intelligence of the roachsters and hurt from the impacts the lasers made.

"That was ten lifepoints, Yumi. Aelita and Odd are coming…err…slowly."

"Yumi, be a little more careful, will you? Lyoko is different, couldn't you tell? We have to get readjusted to it all over again." Ulrich expertly back flipped over the side of the circle the roachsters had made around them, slashing one with his sword when he landed. You still know your strategies, he thought to himself, smug inside. Keep all your enemies in sight and on one side of you. Never get caught in between.

"Well, fine, Mr. Know-it-all. I'll keep that in mind." Yumi was a bit miffed by Ulrich's mini-lecture. She knew what she was doing. She sliced her fan low, killing another roachster. The one behind it fired into the gap that was created, but Yumi caught her fan in time to block the shots. The roachster, however, did not approach and stopped shooting. Yumi quickly realized why when another slipped in front of the previous roachster, and started continuing the volley of lasers at Yumi. Yumi quickly readied herself for more lasers.

Ulrich realized with growing frustration and despair that all the fighting knowledge he knew, the roachsters seemed to know as well. No matter how hard he tried, they always managed to trip him up from behind, shooting at his ankles and knees. And whenever Ulrich did get hit, he always felt it more profoundly than he remembered he should have. What has Xana done? He kept thinking, over and over.

A few minutes later, when all the roachsters should already have been dead, there were still five left. Yumi and Ulrich were panting and pissed off. They had pulled every trick in the bag and nothing had worked. And these were only roachsters! They looked around and their eyes met, each pair mirroring the other. Suddenly, Yumi saw from behind Ulrich's shoulder a roachster charging up, almost ready to give Ulrich a nice smart blow to the back. At the same instant, Ulrich saw the same right over Yumi's shoulder. They both started at the same time, yelling to each other, "Watch out!"

Suddenly, two huge red tinted boulders flew into view, slamming the roachsters into mechanical dust. The boulders ripped up the ground, burying itself pretty deep because of the high speed it was traveling at. Rocks and dust instantly formed and rose up into the air. Yumi and Ulrich both coughed, watching in shock as the dust settled again. Then they heard a welcome sound. "Laser arrow!" The last three roachsters still in front of them, swiveling around and around in shock, exploded in quick succession.

Suddenly, Odd could be seen, jumping up from behind his cover of a few boulders nearby. "WOO!" he whooped, punching a fist the in air. "Did you see that? Yeah, that was me all right here, baby. Uh-huh. Uh-huh." He started to do a victory dance.

Aelita's pink head popped out from behind another nearby boulder. She had a stern look directed at Odd. "And who planned the attack?" she asked politely, glaring at him.

Odd stopped midway through doing the moonwalk and glanced down humbly. "You did," he mumbled quietly, looking suddenly very defeated. Then a slow grin spread across his face again as he jumped up and looked about ready to do some jazz hands. "But did you see those laser arrows? Bang, bang, BANG! You got to give me credit for those."

Aelita's straight face melted. She laughed heartily and then said, "You're right, Odd. You get credit for those."

Odd nodded knowingly, finally cracking up Yumi and Ulrich because of the look on Odd's face.

Jeremie on the other end smiled at Odd's little victorious outburst. "Congrats, Odd," he said into the communicator, "that was a very impressive show. And to you also, Aelita. No one could have done better." However, Jeremie could not be deterred from why they were there. "Now, gang, remember what your original mission was? Start looking for real now."

"Sure thing, Jeremie," Yumi said. Then she looked around. "Well, should we continue looking in the desert region or find a tower and get out of here?"

Jeremie checked his computer and found nothing to help them with. "It's hard to say. I'd say get out of there and come back to it. All right? I see a tower not too far away from where you guys are standing. Make a break for it."

"Back to work, team," Aelita said with a smile. She started off in the direction Jeremie was directing them.

After a time of running, they spotted the tower coming into view. It was still a little ways away when they came to a stop to rest and catch their breath. Jeremie found this a little strange. He found the whole of Lyoko a little strange at the moment. Everything was the same, yet slightly different. Jeremie could practically have screamed it out at that moment; it came to him so quickly. Xana had created everything to be more life like. How he found out about what life was like, that didn't come to Jeremie, but the truth was obvious.

"Hey, gang, if you haven't noticed, Lyoko's a bit different. I have a feeling that somehow Xana manipulated the program to make it more life like. That would explain the appearance of the wild horses. Anything is possible now in Lyoko. Be careful."

"Old news, Jeremie," Odd's voice came through the communicator. "Thanks for the late warning."

"Hey, I'm just trying to be helpful over here." Jeremie clicked back to the screen that showed dots for where his friends were. They were still standing in the same point they were in last time he checked. "You guys going to move anytime soon?"

"We are just a little bit tired from running halfway across Lyoko, Jeremie, but we'll be around in just a sec." Ulrich's sarcastic voice caused Jeremie to chuckle softly. Jeremie sighed and leaned back in his chair only to shoot back up straight when he looked at the screen. "Hey, guys, you better watch out. There's something moving…I don't know what it…"

"Jeremie! Jeremie, help! Jeremie…"

Jeremie flinched at the instant clamor of sound. Everyone was yelling and screaming at once right into his ear. He immediately gained control of the computer screen and scanned the area of Lyoko for his friends. They were nowhere to be seen.

"Hello? Aelita? Yumi? Ulrich? Odd?" The last name came out as almost a desperate scream. Jeremie slammed his fist down on the keyboard. It creaked and the keys shook a little. The whole room went silent.

Jeremie couldn't believe this was happening. Why was Xana so cruel? His mind stayed calm, however, as his brain ran over the possibilities. He knew, no matter what, that he was going to find his friends and bring them back. That was his only and ultimate goal. Now, he knew he had a couple of ways to reach this goal and he didn't like any of them. One was to go in there himself, but with no one else capable of running the controls, he didn't want to risk it. The only other way was for him to send the new group of teenagers. He swiveled around in his chair and looked at them sternly. They were all sitting on the floor in a group, all of them staring unflinchingly back. He sighed and gave up. This was the only way.

He turned back around to face the computer. He cleared away the unneeded windows and opened up some new ones, readying himself for his explanation.

"Kids," he said, and almost as if they had been anticipating it, they all clamored up and surrounded him, staring at the computer screen. "May I introduce you to Lyoko."