A/N: At last, I have returned! I'm trying to work more on my stories since it's summer, although at the end, and yeah, I'll have more free time than I'll ever have for the rest of my life or something around that. So blah. The title is after a song I like. It kinda goes with the chapter; otherwise it wouldn't have been called that. And there's going to be somewhat of a plot twist that changes some of it.

Dark Wings (they are descending) Dark Wings (they are descending) Dark Wings

Yumi beamed at Ulrich's response. She was about to lean over and kiss him on the cheek for being so mature, but then she remembered that everyone else was watching. She recovered quickly before adding, "It's just too bad it's Monday."

"Who cares?" replied Ulrich. "We can go now. It won't be hard. All we have left is lunch and Gym. And we can twist things up, so that Gym won't be possible."

"Aw man," groaned Odd. "I'm starved."

"Fine," laughed Yumi. "You and Jeremie to lunch, save us some food, and we'll take care of Jim."

Around the corner, Herb was sobbing dramatically into his hands. Sissy left him there to snivel and sob, while she decided to try and hit on Ulrich. Again. But as she was coming around the bend, she saw the gang split up. She made to follow Ulrich.

'Even if Yumi's there, I can still charm him,' Sissy thought arrogantly. And as Odd and Jeremie passed her, a thought struck her. Yumi and Ulrich were heading in the opposite direction of the lunch room!

"It's time for Super Sneaky Spy Sissy, the Secret Sleuth, to check things out," she whispered softly.

"Hey Sissy, where are you going asked," Nicholas in the same dull, slow tone that made him resemble a troll.

"Silence! Supper Sneaky Spy Sissy, Secret Sleuth's so smashing secrecies, stupid!" cried Sissy, somehow dictating this sentence without taking a second breath.

"Nice nickname Sissy!" called Herb, momentarily forgetting his troubles. A kick from Nicholas reminded him.

"Don't speak to the High Supreme Sissy. You're too low, nerd."

"Aw man!"

Sissy stalked off towards Ulrich and Yumi. As she went, she whispered hints to herself. They were filled with nonsense, just like everything else she said.

"S.S.S.S.S. is sneaky. Be quiet! Or was it 6 S's?" she pondered as she slid across the lockers into shadows. Her targets were joking so loudly they couldn't hear her coming.

They took a left at the History room, and headed for the only place possible: the Gym. Sissy let out a soft sigh.

"Ooooo, they're so busted!" she squeaked in delight. But as they approached the door, Ulrich and Yumi rushed ahead. Sissy made to follow; to confront them before they made it to their location, but the door slammed in her face. She nearly cursed, if it wasn't the fact that someone could be watching.

"F- fiddlesticks!" she exclaimed. If she tried to open it up, it would make a terrible racket. She would have to wait.

"But why wait?" she asked to the silence. "Double-triple S takes action! She should go to Jim and alert him! (A/N: It's so weird how the Gym teacher's name is Jim.)"

"But no!" she cried. "What if they leave? I'll stay here and watch!"

Yumi and Ulrich ran into the Gym. They searched for a bit for anything that could help. Pulling out mats, putting the harnesses into the bathrooms, dumping the tennis rackets and balls into the pool, and whatever else. Yumi found several bottles of nail polish in the locker room, and they had fun smashing them against the walls.

At last they collapsed against a wall in exhaustion. A face at the door caught Ulrich's eye.

"Hey, it looks like the Frog Princess followed us!" he whispered. "I really don't want to get us into any more trouble, but we have to do something."

Yumi looked at him. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Locker room and frame?"

"Oh yeah."

They stood up and pretended to go to the water fountains, which you couldn't see at the door, and then dramatically opened and closed the locker room doors, as if they had gone inside.

"Fools," whispered Sissy. She had been afraid that Ulrich had seen her, but he had simply kept on looking at the opposite wall. And now that they were in the Locker Rooms, she could creep in and hide in Jim's office.

Swinging open the door as softly as she could, Sissy tip-toed in across the old, creaky wooden floor, wincing every time a squeak echoed in the Gym. She only had to get past the Locker Rooms, and she'd be home free. Just as she was passing, two figures tackled her to the cold wood floor.

"Gotcha!" Ulrich cried triumphantly as they flattened their stalker to the ground.

Sissy glared up at them. "Double-triple S won't go down without a fight!" She tried to punch at Yumi's face, but the girl grabbed it and twisted the wrist without doing any real harm.

"Since when do people refer to themselves in third person view?" asked Yumi as they threw her into the Girl's Locker Room.

"Please can't you just force me into Jim's office?" whined Sissy. "It at least has a moldy couch! These benches are rock hard!"

"Nope," replied Ulrich. He snatched the key ring from Jim's office and locked it up. Tossing it back onto the desk, he glanced at the wall clock to see how much time they had left.

"Whoa! We only have 7 minutes left until the bell rings. Let's head back before someone sees us!"

They crept sneakily back to the lunchroom, where Jeremie and Odd congratulated them on a job well done. Odd cracked up especially when he heard about Sissy's fate.

"That's just great guys!" he exclaimed as Ulrich and Yumi scarfed down the rolls Jeremie had given to them. "Begging for Jim's sofa before the end, too bad they don't have security cameras in there!"

Ulrich and Yumi froze. The security cameras, which they had forgotten all about, would reveal what happened when the administrators checked them.

"Oh no," Odd groaned, seeing their expressions. "There are security cameras in there?"

They nodded slowly, eyes still wide with shock.

Jeremie grinned. "No problem. I'll fix it up. I saw something like that in National Treasure (don't own that), checked it out, and it turns out to be accurate."

He grabbed his laptop from out of his bag. Laying it carefully on his lap, he logged it, and easily hacked into the school. The others watched amazed as Jeremie did wonders with the technology.

It didn't take long to replace the file with an old one, and they decided to watch what happened. When Ulrich and Yumi locked Sissy up, Odd wanted to save it to a disk and-

"Use it for blackmail, my fine fellow," replied Odd, answering Jeremie's question to why he would want it.

"No way," answered Yumi and Ulrich at the same time.

"If you send it to her, it's proof," hissed Ulrich.

"Yeah, and my parents would kill me if they found out," breathed Yumi.

And so Jeremie deleted the file, closed his laptop, and returned it to his bag. No one had overheard or seen them whispering suspiciously to each other.

"Hey Jeremie, why do you carry around your laptop to Gym Class?" asked Yumi.

"I like to be prepared if a Xana attack comes up, of course," Jeremie spoke far too quickly, and his cheeks flushed a deep shade of red.

"That's not it, is it?" asked Ulrich, an evil grin spreading on his face.

The bell rang, and Jeremie continued on the way there. "You see, back then when I was so close to cracking the devirtualization problem, I used to describe what things were like. I'd sneak into a stall and tell her how stinky it was in there. And when I realized it would be a while, I decided to just talk to her, and sometimes we got carried away."

"So that's why you were never on time!" exclaimed Odd.

"Exactly. And to tell you the truth, it feels a bit better to get that off my chest. I was so afraid someone, especially you or Ulrich, would walk in on me, and tease me about it."

"Good idea Einstein. Ya know, my cousin owns a T-shirt customizing shop. I could probably get a shirt that says 'I Love a Computer Program' for you."

Jeremie spun around, eyes blazing. "She's not just a computer program! She's a real person, with thoughts and feelings about the world! And you shouldn't be joking about that since she's gone!"

The Lyoko gang worried for a moment that tensions would rise again, but then Jeremie sighed and apologized. "Sorry Odd. I'm just a bit stressed. But if you can change that shirt to 'I Love Aelita', now that would work."

So it was in a merry mood that they entered the gym to see it destroyed. They gasped convincingly like all the others, especially Odd and Jeremie. Seeing it from a scratchy security tape was something, actually seeing it was another thing.

"What's going on, peo- augh! What happened?" Jim had been coming up from the rear when he saw his beloved gym ruined. He walked to the front, dumbfounded, and then spun around to glare at the students.

"Now which one of you twerps did this to the gym!" he roared, and everyone cowered back in fear. After examining each kid's face, he drew back. None of them looked guilty.

Suddenly a teenager from the back walked through the crowd. "I say we do a forensic search! Look for fingerprints, footprints, and any trace elements!"

Everyone rolled their eyes. "Come on Carl," said some, while others just sighed loudly and obviously. Carl glared at them before Jim spoke.

"I think it's a great idea! Split up, all of you!"

And so they looked around, searching for anything that might give away the suspect. Reports of random items in random places kept one coming up, but nothing happened until a girl and her friends found a foot print near the locker room doors.

All of them surrounded the scene and gazed at it. The footprint was barely visible, since it had been smudged and made with nail polish. Jim reached out to open the boy's locker room, and slipped it. Nothing was suspicious, save some equipment. When he went to the girl's, it wouldn't open.

"Stupid thing won't budge," he muttered, and grabbed the keys and unlocked it. And there he saw Sissy, sitting on the bench, looking distinctively annoyed.

"Sissy!" cried Jim. "Did you do this?"

"No, of course I didn't! Don't be silly, it was her!" she pointed at Yumi.

Yumi looked surprise and upset. "But why would I do it!"

"I saw you!" spat Sissy. "This case is closed. I'm off to put on some nail polish… hey, it's all gone!"

"Aha!" cried Jim. Who he was referring to, no one knew.

"But why would I do this?" asked Yumi, trying to act innocent.

"She has a point," agreed Jim. "She has no motive. Yumi's almost the best gym student here. Where Sissy, on the other hand, is failing this class."

Sissy gasped and dropped her purse with a large clunk. She tried to speak, but all she got out was stutters. Finally, her tongue worked.

"I'll have you know Jim; you're accusing an innocent bystander in this."

"Accusing, yes. Innocent, no. Starting tomorrow, you're having a month's detention. It's not going to be hard to put away the equipment, but that nail polish with be tough to scrub. You'll be spending all your afternoons until 7 here, scrubbing. And that means lunch too!

'Until the month is over, you can't leave. If you finish before then, you'll spend it in the library, studying. If it takes longer, let it!

'Since someone has destroyed the gym room, you get a free period. Spend it wisely, and if I see any of you misbehaving, you can join your friend here!"

The gang left for the door, and Yumi winked at Sissy as she went by. Sissy blood's started to boil, and she saw red. Leaping out, she was ready to fasten her fingers around Yumi's slim neck and choke her until she died or confessed when she suddenly stopped. Her eyes became blank, and her mind was wiped of all thoughts.

"Heh heh heh, have fun," said Sissy, smiling.

When they left the room, Yumi spoke first. "That was weird."

Jeremie spoke next. "You're lucky she got to her senses. She really could have hurt you."

"She probably remembered that Jim was watching," agreed Odd.

"Besides, whoever heard of her hurting me?"

But Yumi's voice was high and shrill. She looked out of the windows for the rest of the walk, and Ulrich glanced concerned at her. If Sissy had been able to actually hurt Yumi… well he didn't want to think about it.

As they got closer to the school's doors, Yumi began to look cheerful again. Their pace quickened, and by the time they had burst through the doors they were at a sprint. Dodging the branches and bushes, they feet led them instinctively to the sewer grate.

Ulrich jerked it out of the way and simply leaped it, forgetting the handlebars. Yumi followed, and then Odd and Jeremie, who closed the grate so that no one could tell they'd been there.

Ulrich landed in a graceful crouch, and immediately leaped on his skateboard, recklessly speeding along the sidewalk. A moment later, Yumi's skateboard was right next to his, matching him move for move. As Odd prepared to follow, Jeremie asked a question he had been trying to hold back.

"Um, Odd, do you think I could, maybe… try out your skateboard?" he let out nervously.

"Jeremie, we don't want the chances of you falling and breaking your neck or drowning in the sewer water."

"But the water's only a foot de-"

"Exactly."

But seeing the depressed look on Jeremie's face, Odd promised, "If we get out of this okay, then I teach you how. Besides, this isn't really the best time."

Jeremie nodded, and then started out on his scooter. Odd streaked past him a second later. His words came back to the techno-geek… would they be okay? Aelita had been an important part of their lives, and if things didn't turn out well, they may have to close down the factory. Forever…

It took little time to arrive at the factory, and soon Jeremie was sitting down at the computer chair, logging in and preparing the scanners. He was like Beethoven, but with a keyboard. Grabbing the headset from next to the screen, he put it on and spoke into it.

"Okay guys. Get ready to go."

Without any more persuasion, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich stepped into the scanners. Closing their eyes, they prepared for the remarkable sensations that would meet them in mere moments.

Transferring to Lyoko was like nothing else. You knew it was coming when the air pushed against your face and pulled your hair skyward; but then came the flashing light that set them off.

You would drop for what seemed like a very long time, but it went very slowly and it was almost as if you weren't moving at all, or obeying the laws of physics. And soon you begin to think it will never end, something went wrong and you're stuck in this position when you begin to fall up.

This was probably the oddest part of the journey. It's like going on a small bump on a smooth roller coaster; your heart gets stuck in your throat and you can't help but feel excitement and delight even in the worst of times. And that was usually what happened with Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi.

Finally you would feel a tingling sensation, and then a plunge. Instinctively you hold out your arms to try and break it, but the Lyoko gang was so used to this they can land on two feet, unlike most people if they ever tried.

And so Jeremie said, "Scanner Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Yumi. Transfer Odd. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Yumi."

And so they felt the swooping of their stomachs and landed in Lyoko.

A solitary figure walked across the bridge to an abandoned factory. The person was neither short, nor tall, and certainly not wide or muscular. In fact it resembled an ordinary teenaged girl.

They moved at a fast stride, and entered the factory in a great haste. Stairs were to its left and right; but there was no time to waste on such inferior things. Ropes were ahead; they could use those. Confidently they grabbed the first one and tried to swing down. Their tight hold slipped, and they plunged towards the concrete floor.

Curses! This body is not fit for such abilities. Why did not I take the girl?

And so thought Xana. He had taken over Sissy's mind quite easily, and so that is what he had done in the gym. In fact he had been floating right near them, by the outlet in the wall. For Xana was not of a human shape; he was made of shadow and fog, and was no solid so that he could stand.

He was in the form of a tall, lean being, with deadly claws if they could pierce flesh. All that they could really do is make a person sick or ill, if swiped in the right place. The worst was if they were hit in the head, a coma would come to them for a week or two. He had no legs, just a stereotype curl at the end. Burning eyes to anyone who made eye contact, but these would just make a person feel light-headed. It was a surprise no one had noticed him there.

Anyway, he had been prepared to corrupt Yumi, which explains the strange actions of Sissy. She had jumped in the way, and Xana did not know it was not his target until it was too late. When he had found out he had taken the body of an imprisoned, innocent girl, he had struck the captor hard and took off. The human man's face had been filled with fear; he had not known that Sissy was not herself, and he had also seen the eye of Xana upon her forehead, along with blank, pupil-less eyes.

But the body showed its purpose; it could easily follow them since after racking her mind, he had found out that the girl had a motive to. What disgusted him is that she was attracted to one of his nemesis. But it was no time to worry about foolish teenage crushes. He had business to do.

Yumi landed last, and joined Ulrich and Odd. All together they ran out on the path in the desert region. It was almost like being toddlers again. They scampered around, and tested out their weapons. Ulrich nearly slew Odd once, and Yumi did the same and almost severed his neck with her metal fan.

And then they came to a dead end, and their spirits died. There was a bad aura around the place, and it would have sent shivers up their spines if they had the option of being able to feel in here.

"Okay, according to my readings this is where Aelita… where it happened. Investigate and see if anything's weird."

Yumi examined the smooth surface of the road, trying to find anything that may help. Ulrich looked over the sides to see if there were any signs if she fell off the side. And Odd latched his claws onto the wall and crawled up there.

There was no clue of anything until a few minutes after their order.

Sissy did not have to try hard to find what she was looking for. Xana's plan was to take over the robots the gang had made and use them to cause chaos, but the batteries had died out. And no student had the specific brand of them in their lockers or anywhere else. And all the cabinets that the teachers may have had them in were locked.

But the factory was his domain, and no one knew it better than perhaps the children who faced him. And those batteries had been stolen from right under his nose, but there was a larger stock farther off. After going through the labyrinth of hallways and tunnels, she arrived to their destination. A handful of batteries tucked in her purse were all that he needed before forcing her to go back to the school. His plan was ready to be taken out.

"Hey guys! I found something!"

The boys crowded around the space Yumi was examining. They gasped at it. If she hadn't noticed it, none of them would have.

"Give me a visual," commanded Jeremie.

Yumi closed her eyes and mentally sent a picture of what they were looking at to Jeremie. A window came up on the screen, and Jeremie saw that there were many small indents in the path.

"Roachers," he snarled. It was no accident. Xana must have sent them without activating a tower. Usually the pulsations and the dark feeling of the activated tower, with some of Xana's malice, created the beasts.

"And there's something else, over here by this rock!" Ulrich was crouched down, looking at a drop of moisture right next to an orange chunk of soil.

"That's odd," agreed Yumi. There was no moisture in Lyoko, no real water. What could have possibly made this?

But their answer was cut short. Odd's sharp cat ears picked up a pounding of drums. And the ground began to shake slightly with the tension.

"Jeremie, I think Xana's launched an attack!" he cried in dismay.

Just then, another window popped up. It was a live news bulletin, and a blonde news reporter began to speak.

"At a local boarding school, several of the students have started to attack others and the building. Already some of the school is on fire, and several students are severely injured. So far nothing very damaging has happened, but if something doesn't happen soon there will be."

Jeremie closed out of it and spoke into the speaker. "Guys, you have to get to that tower. It's in the mountain region. There's a deactivated tower nearby, get to that."

The next moment he spoke again. "Wait! There are half a dozen roachers coming your way! Be prepared!"

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi got ready. Odd locked in his arrows, Ulrich unsheathed his sword, and Yumi pulled out her fan. They walked slowly towards the fork in the path, ready for the roachers to appear any moment.

A red blast was suddenly shot at them. It was heading towards Odd, and he was knocked backwards. The roachers came into view and faced them. 3 on each side.

Yumi and Ulrich charged forward with a yell, and faced off with two of them. Ulrich ran at one, and even at his brilliant speed he wouldn't be able to strike the monster before it hit him. But he ignored probability, and was preparing to slash it down its center.

The blast came before he was ready. A figure suddenly knocked him to the ground, and the beam passed over him and Yumi only by a few inches. Yumi jerked out her wrist, and the roacher was ripped in half by her fan.

It sped back to her, and Yumi used it as a shield while she and Ulrich got up. Ulrich managed to kill one of the foul beasts, and deflected many blasts with his samurai sword.

Odd was more careful, and had to leap around for a bit to avoid the attacks, since he had no shield of his own. Finally he shot two laser arrows, and managed to kill one. The next three missed, but he still hadn't been hit except for the first time.

Jeremie gulped into the speaker, and Odd asked what was the matter.

"We have two crabs coming our way."

And then they saw them coming from the horizon, two large, towering crabs stumbled into view. They seemed oddly unbalanced compared to the roachers, but their power was much greater. Already they were charging up for a big shot…

Yumi threw her fan into the air, and blocked the ray that had been fired towards them. She caught it was ease and then started to use her telekinesis. Several large rocks were raised into the air and created a shield around them, so that they could discuss their options. They were all weak, and needed some time to plan.

"So, what should we do?" voiced Ulrich.

"I'll distract them the roachers. Laser arrows aren't much good against crabs," replied Odd.

Yumi stayed silent. She was nervously eyeing the cracks that were forming in the rocks, and soon the shield would be destroyed.

"Yumi?"

"Okay, let's do it."

And then the shield shattered, making the perfect timing. Odd shot several laser arrows in the chaos, and some how hit one as it was coming through the smoke.

Yumi and Ulrich leaped over the smaller monsters, and landed right in front of the crabs. They moved like figure skaters, desperately trying to dodge the many blows that were coming their way.

Finally Ulrich leaped into the air and forced his sword down into the crab unexpectedly. It stuttered around for a bit, and Ulrich tried to jerk his sword out. He was now panicking, any minute now it would-

BOOM! The crab self destructed, and Ulrich was flung backwards back towards Odd. He had finished up the roachers with 5 laser arrows left, and 40 life points. Ulrich slammed into him, and seemed to be unconscious.

"Ulrich!"

Yumi came from behind the crab, and threw her metal fan into it. It too exploded, and after reclaiming her weapon, she rushed to her friend's side.

Sure enough, he would not wake up. Yumi wanted to shake him, to scream in his face for him to wake up, anything. But all she could do is ask a question on her mind.

"How many life points does he have left?"

"20. You better get him to the tower; he may be able to recover some of them."

Odd and Yumi dragged the unconscious warrior all the way to the fork. They had to rest for a moment, before squinting through what seemed to be fog to see which path to take. As it cleared up, Odd noticed that the tower was to their left.

"Onward!" he cried, and they continued to drag him until they arrived.

Clearing their minds of all expression, they managed to lug him in. They closed their eyes, and tried to sleep, although it was impossible to.

Minutes crawled by, and finally Ulrich awoke.

"Ugh, what happened?" he asked. He felt queasy, and pain shot through his chest area, as if there were needles sinking into his flesh that would after a few seconds come out and dig themselves into a different area.

"Finally!" exclaimed Odd. They all stood up, and looked to the top of the tower. "Hey Einstein, how much life points have we got?"

"Odd, you have 70, Ulrich has 50, and Yumi has 80. You guys have to be careful, there are bound to be more monsters coming to stop you. Now get ready to go to the Mountain region."

All of them walked to the edge of the floating platform. They leaped off, and a numbness over took them. When they had opened their eyes, their feet touched the next platform, and they landed.

They ran through the tower, and started to run down the path. They feared whatever may be happening in the real world, and now needed to move faster than ever.

"Okay, the activated tower isn't too far away. Keep running, and you'll be able to find it. I'll keep you up- oh…"

"What is it?" asked Ulrich.

"You're facing an army here. Three mega blocks, 5 blocks, 7 hornets, and a whole lot of roachers…"

"How wonderful! Got any more good news?"

"Yeah. I'm going to see if I can refill your arrow supply. Give me a sec."

They rounded the corner, and saw a horrible sight. In front of them, between a glowing red tower, was truly an army of monsters. They spent a moment gaping at it, before their eyes narrowed and they focused on their goal.

"Let's do this," said Ulrich, and ran forward, sword at the ready.

The monsters responded, and ran forward too. Odd fired an arrow and a roacher burst into pieces. Luckily, another one of them had been right next to it, and due to that fact, it exploded too.

Yumi aimed for a block. It had a blue aura surrounding it, and shot blue beams instead of red ones. She ducked and strafed, avoiding all of the ice rays. When she was a couple feet in front of it, she leaped onto it.

Blocks nor roachers can change the height of their shot, and so could not get at Yumi. She hurled her fan at several of the hornets, and one was it. Like a boomerang, it returned to her.

The blocks and hornets could sense Yumi's location. They shuffled around, trying to get at a better angle, and then shot. Six in all came flying towards Yumi's steed, and just before they hit, she leaped from one to another, and avoided being hurt like Ulrich had been. The moment she landed, she would throw her fan into the air, and try to kill a hornet, before catching it, and flying to another block.

Since Odd had the roachers, Yumi had the blocks and hornets, Ulrich decided to deal with the last enemy. While he couldn't face hornets, Odd couldn't face crabs, and Yumi could face mega blocks, these were the right target for him.

"Triplicate!" he cried, and two more of him were forced from his sides to join him. Each one faced off against a mega block. There was a silence before they all charged.

The first clone died quickly. A mega block aimed, and fired just as Ulrich #2 leaped into the air to land on it. Two were left to battle three.

Odd shot his last arrow, and a hornet collapsed onto the ground, dead. But there were at least ten more, and he was completely out of weapons. All seemed lost, and he dodged around the corner to hide. It wasn't like him to run, but it would be difficult to win with nothing to protect himself.

Picking up a smooth rock, he raced around the corner, and made a fast throw. The large pebble collided with one of the roachers. It blew up, and Odd ran back again. Finding another rock, he smiled. It may seem like a weak technique, but at least he had one.

Yumi leaped off the current block she was standing on, threw her fan at the hornet that had fired, and landed on the ground. The weapon got stuck in it, and when it self destructed, it returned like a loyal dog to her side.

Two hornets buzzed around in the air. They had been the only ones who had survived Yumi's strategy, but not for long. The next moment, one was gone. The same fate happened to the next one, and now Yumi focused on the hornets. She noticed Odd, trying to kill them off, but was having little success. After a while, when he hadn't come back from around the corner, the remaining 7 roachers marched after him.

Yumi followed, and killed one off. Another observed the destruction of its comrade, and unexpectedly fired at Yumi. She was knocked backwards off her feet, and lay still before managing to get to her feet. Blocking a few more shots, she scrambled onto the large rocks that surrounded the path, and climbed catlike over them.

She gasped at the sight. Odd had been cornered, and was now about to be shot at by the roachers. At the last moment, she dived down and protected both of them from the attacks.

"Thanks a lot Yumi."

"Don't mention it. Hey Jeremie, can you refill Odd's supply? He's all out!"

"Give me a couple more seconds, I can't do everything!" Jeremie cried from the computer. His fingers were dancing across the keyboard, and his forehead was covered in sweat. "I have to test something out, and I don't know… yes, got it! Refilling arrow supply… All done!"

Odd immediately leaned out from behind Yumi's fan and shot three arrows at the roachers. Two of them were destroyed.

It didn't take long to finish them out. They were hit only once each by the end, and then they rushed to assist Ulrich.

He was not fairing so well. All of the clones had been destroyed. The second had gone down in a valiant fight, almost log-rolling on its mega block before the monster had made an unexpected jerk, and the clone had gone flying off the path.

Now all of the mega blocks focused on Ulrich. Each one of them charged up, and fired. Their three separate beams created one huge one, and went speeding towards him. Diving out of the way at the last moment, he held on for one more minute,

"Hiya!" Odd came flying towards the one on the right, leaping like a cat. He sprang onto the open, weak part of the mega block and was going to fire an arrow when it started to charge up. He flipped backwards off, and the blast went soaring into the sky.

The mega block adjusted itself, and closed up. It rolled around to get a better shot, where it could hit both of the boys. Odd ran forward, and shot an arrow.

"Laser arrow!" he shouted, but the arrow hit the hard armor and had no effect.

He tried again, but instead Odd leaped onto it. Firing an arrow, the half cat, half boy sprang off, not wanting to be in the middle of the monster's downfall. The creature rolled backwards along the open area before exploding.

Ulrich dodged another ray of power from the two mega blocks. He then decided to aim for the one in the middle. With his sword prepared for a fight, he sprinted forward. With super human speed, he strafed back and forth in order to confuse the mega blocks so they couldn't fire.

Samurai sword glinting in the sunlight, it prepared to bite into the mega block. In one swift, smooth movement, Ulrich leaped onto the open mega block, jammed his sword in, and then leaped off. It too exploded, and now one remained.

Suddenly a giant rock rushed by Ulrich's head, missing him by inches. It flew to his left, and collided hard with the remaining mega block. The enormous creature was forced off the path, and went flying down into the abyss below.

Ulrich turned around to see Yumi. She was smiling weakly, and had trouble standing. He rushed to her side and supported her. Together, they rejoined Odd, and all of them stumbled towards the entrance of the activated tower.

"Well you've guys made it this far. Now just to figure out how to deactivate the tower," Jeremie said into the speaker.

"Yeah. Do you think one of us could do it?" asked Ulrich.

"Maybe. We just have to see."

Just as they were about to step into the tower, something flashed into Odd's head. It was in shades of brown, and there was Aelita, laughing at something.

'No, it can't be possible. She's dead…,' thought Odd, and he pushed it into the back of his mind to rot.

He joined his friends inside the tower, and as they stepped to the center of the eye, it started to glow.

"What's going on?" asked Yumi, who could now stand.

"I don't know…"

And then all three of them rose into the air. Another platform was above them, and they landed on it safely. A screen popped up in front of them. There was a faint outline of a handprint on it.

"Do you suppose we should each try it?" asked Ulrich. Odd and Yumi nodded.

Ulrich tried first, and his was a fail. It was the same with Yumi, and Odd's too. They glared at the screen for a bit, before an idea struck each of them. All of them placed their hand onto an area of the screen. The two on the left and right zoomed together with the middle and the word 'AELITA' appeared over it.

The message vanished, and the word 'CODE:' replaced it.

"Let's all focus on the word Lyoko. If all of out hand prints together did it, then all of our minds together can do it," said Ulrich. All of them closed their eyes, and focused on the word 'Lyoko'. But then the vision popped up again in Odd's head, and for one moment, he lost concentration.

The tower started to rumble and shake. All of their eyes snapped open, and looked around. And then, without warning, a scarlet beam shot down from the top of the tower, and struck them.

Their bodies were surrounded with the red light, and horrible pain spread through them. Their eyes were shut in pain, and they were lifted into the air.

And all Jeremie could do is watch while his friends were being obliterated.

Dark Wings (they are descending) Dark Wings (they are descending) Dark Wings

A/N: All done! Been working on this all week, and finally finished the chapter. If any of you are confused about the gym, sorry, but when I tried to upload this, the lines I used to make it got demented, and didn't show up. I'll try to describle it: It is recangular shaped, with the bottom and the top side larger than the sides. On the bottom of the left side is the door. Towards the top of it is the boy's and girl's locker rooms. There is a little mini indent in the wall after that, and in there is water fountain. Where the indent ends, along the top side, is Jim's office, and inside that is a supply closet. On the right side wall, only a little down, is the door to outside. And on the bottom side, a little in from the corner of it and the right side wall, is the hallway to the pool. Sorry if some of you are still confused, but I tried,

And there's going to be a contest!

Contest Rules

Okay, I need a design for Jeremie's outfit when he goes into Lyoko. Shirt, pants/shorts, shoes, and what his weapon would be. The winner has their entry in the story, and also gets a special mini chapter about what happened to Aelita. The losers find out, but in two chapters, 'cause she will be returning.

Also, I have counted my chapters and there will be 4 or so left. All of them will be pretty long, so don't worry. Okay, be good people and review now!-sorinslayer4eva