A/N: Hey! Hope you guys liked last chapter! I have a lot of midyears going on, but I think that shouldn't stop me from updating, do you?
Well, here's the next chapter!
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Ring! Ring!
Yumi opened her eyes. Her cheeks were stained with tear marks. She looked at her backpack, which was also on the floor of the girl's bathroom.
Ring! Ring!
Yumi sighed heavily. She finally gathered enough strength to shuffle over to her backpack.
She reached in and rummaged around for a bit before producing her cell phone. She looked at the caller ID.
'Odd? What could he want?' She thought as she pressed the 'talk' button.
"Hello?"
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Outside, Odd stood under an oak tree in the courtyard.
He taped the cell phone he had to his ear as the number speed dialed.
"Come on, come on." He said as he waited for an answer.
Then finally… "Hello?"
Odd brightened up, but only for a short second. "Yumi? Gosh, you don't sound good is everything alright?"
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Yumi grabbed some tissues with her free hand and wiped her nose.
"I'm fine, I just…hit my head…" She lied into the phone as she tossed the used tissues into the trash.
"So, what's up? Is everything alright?" She asked as she switched the phone to her other ear so she could use that hand to wet a paper towel.
"No, actually. X.A.N.A.'s launched an attack; a tower's been activated. Can you come to the factory ASAP?"
Yumi's eyes widened. She turned off the water.
"Why haven't we felt the effects yet?" Yumi asked Odd.
"I dunno, maybe it's still early in the attack, it's good thing we caught it before any real damage happened."
"Yeah." Yumi said quietly. She brought up the wet paper towel to her cheeks and she began to dab them lightly with it.
"Jeremy and Aelita are already at the factory. And I've already called Ulrich, don't worry."
Yumi laughed.
"Why would I be worried?" She said with a hint of anger.
"I-um- never mind, just, can you come?" Odd tried to get the subject off of Ulrich.
Yumi sighed. She had finished cleaning her face. She tossed those paper towels into the trash as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked perfectly normal again.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
"Okay, I'll meet you there."
Odd smiled.
"Awesome, I'll tell Jeremy you're on your way!"
"Bye" Bleep! His connection was severed.
Odd pressed another button on his phone. His phone automatically went to speed dial to Jeremy's cell phone. He put the phone to his ear and he began to run towards the woods.
"Yes Odd?"Odd panted as he ran. "Yumi's on her way Jeremy! I just called her."
"Whew, at first I thought she wouldn't come…"Odd smirked. "Well Einstein, looks like the whole gang's gonna be there."
Odd heard some laughter on the other end. Then Jeremy finally spoke. "Good thing to, remember, X.A.N.A.'s even more powerful than before after he gained access to the keys to Lyoko…" He trailed off.
Odd reached the manhole. "Yeah, but we'll defeat X.A.N.A. just like we used to."
"I hope so Odd, see you soon."
"Yeah," Odd said as he hung up. He picked up the cover and climbed into the manhole. He pulled the cover back in place. And began to climb down…
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Pssssh! Ching!
Yumi walked out of the elevator. As she did the rest of the gang, who were all standing by the computer, turned their heads to her. Yumi gave a small smile and walked over to them, she made sure not to stand near Ulrich. Jeremy turned his chair to face her and smiled.
"Good! We're all here now! Everyone head to the scanner room! There's not a moment to waste!
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita all stood in the scanner room.
Yumi and Ulrich were keeping a distance from each other, and Aelita and Odd exchanged looks. They could practically feel the tension between the two.
Jeremy's voice rang out of the loud speakers in the room.
"Okay everyone, get into your positions."
Odd, Ulrich and Yumi stepped in front of the three scanners.
"Scanner Odd, transferring Odd"Odd stepped into the scanner. The doors shut with a clang. He turned around and before long; he could feel himself beginning to lift into the air. His feet began to tingle and he shut his eyes…
"Scanner Yumi, transferring Yumi" Yumi turned in the scanner. She could feel the electric currents manipulating her molecules so she could enter Lyoko. She shut her eyes as her hair began to toss… "Scanner Ulrich, transferring Ulrich"Ulrich took his hands out of his pockets. He stepped into the scanner. He felt the air currents in the scanner changing. He began to lift in the air and shut his eyes as the machine began to climax…
"Scanner Aelita, transferring Aelita"Aelita went into the scanner Yumi had been in. She felt the machine turning her, processing the data for the virtualization. She felt a tingly sensation all over her body and she shut her eyes before lifting into the air…
Upstairs, Jeremy stared at the super computer. He hit the space bar.
"Virtualization"-X-X-X-X-X-X-
The Desert Region.
Rough scans of Odd and Yumi appeared a few feet above the ground. A mini circle scanner went over their forms and their colors and weapons appeared. They dropped to the ground.
Thump! Thump!
Ulrich and Aelita's rough scans appeared right after. Their colors and Ulrich's sword materialized.
Thump! Thump!
Yumi and Odd turned to Ulrich and Aelita.
"Did you guys make it alright?" Jeremy's voice rang throughout the area.
Yumi smiled. "Yeah Jeremy! Everything seems the same as it did before."
"That's good, can any of you spot the activated tower? We need to be as quick as possible, I don't know how powerful X.A.N.A has gotten, but I do know that he has cloaked the tower from my scanners, plus you guys have been out of the action for awhile…" Jeremy's voice trailed off.
Aelita looked around. She smiled. "Look there!" She pointed and the rest of the group turned to see.
There was the activated tower, not even 300 feet away. It was on what it looked like some sort of hanging valley with a path of rock leading up to it.
Yumi smiled. "So much for X.A.N.A being all powerful! That was easy!"
Ulrich crossed his arms. "It's to easy if you ask me. Whenever it's this easy it's normally a trap."
Aelita turned to him and smiled. "Maybe things are finally looking our way Ulrich, and besides, X.A.N.A is even more powerful than before. Why would he waste his time setting traps?"
Ulrich shrugged and looked away from the group.
"I can't seem to get the vehicles online, do you guys think you can walk it?" Jeremy's voice saved them an awkward silence.
Odd looked up. "No sweat Jeremy!"
"Rrrraaauuugggggghhh!"
They all turned their heads towards the noise. Aelita gasped.
"Uh oh, Jeremy I think we've been spotted." Odd said as he readied his arrows.
Jeremy's voice was again heard, but this time it sounded urgent. "It's a group of tarantulas! Be careful there're all heading your way!"
Yumi whipped her fans out. "So much for this being easy." She said as she got into a fighting pose.
Odd readied his arrows. He got down on one knee and aimed. "Wait a minute, the tower is behind us, why aren't they guarding the tower?"
"I don't know! But I think it would be good to inform you that X.A.N.A.'s reprogrammed these monsters, and to their benefit to!"
Ulrich unsheathed his sword. "How so Jeremy?" He eyed the monsters as they came closer. He counted five of them.
One of the monsters went down on two of its legs and held out its arms. It began to fire lasers at the gang.
Ulrich began to block them with his sword, but there were too many.
"AHH!" Ulrich grabbed his shoulder where he had been hit. His shoulder sparked as he heard Jeremy from above.
"Ulrich! X.A.N.A.'s upgrade made those monsters to be a lot more powerful than they used to be! You have 5 life points left!"
Ulrich did all but gaped. "Are you kidding me? They almost took me down in one hit!"
Odd turned to Aelita. "Go to the tower! We might not make it!"
Aelita nodded. "Right." She turned and sprinted towards the tower.
"Will she be alright by herself Jeremy?" Odd asked as he turned back to the battle.
"I should believe so. Remember, X.A.N.A.'s already gotten what he wants from her, I don't think he would have any reason for going after her now."
"Right, okay Jer." Odd smiled and held up his arm. He began to fire his arrows.
"Hah!" Yumi cried out as she unleashed one of her fans. It twirled at a very fast speed towards the monster, but it moved out of the way before it could impact.
Yumi gasped. "No way!" The monster again went down on its two legs but this time fired at Yumi.
Yumi held up her fan and blocked the on-coming shots.
Jeremy's voice was once again heard. "X.A.N.A.'s definitely gotten better."
Odd fired his arrows repeatedly. "Really Jeremy? We haven't noticed." He dived out of the way just as one of the monsters fired at him.
Ulrich panted. "Okay, no more Mr. Nice triplet." And two other versions of him appeared on either side of him. "Go!" He yelled. And all three of them sprinted towards the monsters.
Three of the five monsters got down on two legs and fired at him and his clones.
"Ahh!" One Ulrich disappeared within a few seconds.
The two remaining jumped ahead to lightening speed and zig zagged their way towards the monsters. When he reached one, an Ulrich jumped into the air, swinging his sword to cleave the monster in two. But a stray shot hit him from behind and he disappeared. Then Ulrich came down swinging his sword on the monster's head. The monster roared and fell to the ground, then blew up. Ulrich stood and blocked more on-coming shots. One of the monsters snuck up behind him and shot him in the back.
Ulrich gasped as he felt himself devirtulize.
"Raugh!" Odd jumped in and rapid fired his arrows. He killed two monsters right on the spot.
He landed where Ulrich's form was disappearing and at once continued shooting his enemies.
His felt his knee buckle and he knew he had taken a hit. But he paid no mind to it and continued to shoot. By now the remaining monsters had formed a circle around him.
Another shoot to the back and he dematerialized. As the monsters watched Odd disappear, a fan flew by and stuck into one to the monsters forehead. It writhed for a bit and then blew up.
The last remaining monster turned to Yumi.
She caught her fan and got into a fighting pose.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Aelita ran up the path that led to the activated tower.
Her arms pumped at her sides as she ran up the slope. She slowed down when she reached level ground again.
She walked up to the side of the tower, spread out her arms, and entered.
She appeared inside of the tower and began to walk down the narrow path that led to the middle.
"Aelita!"Aelita looked around. She stopped in the middle of the circular room.
"Jeremy?" She asked gently as she looked up. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, but, wow that's just so weird…"Aelita cocked her head to the side. "What is Jeremy?"
"The tower! It's just deactivated itself!"Aelita's eyebrows rose in confusion. "What? That's impossible!"
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Jeremy leaned forward in his chair.
He scanned the tower again to find any trace of X.A.N.A. but could find none.
Odd and Ulrich both stood next to Jeremy, looking at the super computer.
Ulrich's eyes narrowed. "The tower deactivated itself?"
Jeremy leaned back in the chair and held his chin, contemplating.
"It was a false alarm. Aelita, stay there I'll devirtulize you."
"Alright Jeremy." Aelita answered.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Yumi flung another fan. The monster moved out of the way and fired at Yumi.
"Ahh!" She collapsed as she grabbed her side.
"Yumi!" Jeremy's voice called to her. "The tower's been deactivated!"
Yumi panted on the ground. "Good thing." She said as the monster shot her again and she devirtulized.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Ulrich, Odd and Jeremy waited in the scanner room. The doors of two of the scanners opened and Yumi and Aelita fell out of the scanners. Jeremy and Odd ran over to help them up. "Thanks guys." Yumi said after regaining her balance.
Aelita frowned. She crossed her arms. "What happened back there?"
Jeremy nervously repositioned his glasses. "I'm not sure. Why don't you guys go back to class? I'll stay here and try to figure out what happened."
Yumi nodded. "Maybe there was a bug in the super computer."
"Yeah..." Odd trailed off. But all of them knew that it certainly wasn't the super computer.
Ulrich nodded. "Right, we should uh, get to class, we don't want to be late…" The rest of the group nodded their heads.
Jeremy waved them off. "Okay guys, see you shortly."
Aelita turned around before walking into the elevator. "Will you be alright by yourself?"
Jeremy reassured her by smiling. "Yeah, I'll be fine, cover for me with the teachers?"
She laughed as she turned and ran into the elevator before the doors closed. "You got it!"
Jeremy's smiled faded after they left. He didn't like lying, but sometimes he had to. For he knew exactly what had happened on Lyoko.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
A/N: Muhahahaha! Yes an evil cliff hanger! Uh oh, what's Jeremy hiding from the gang? Well come back next chapter and find out! I'll be waiting! Also review and tell me what you thought of this chappie! Until next time!
DMT