beep-beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep
Odd reached out with his tail and pushed down the button on the alarm clock to make it stop ringing. He sat up slowly in bed. He did not notice anything strange about what he had just done, since he had spent half the night playing video games and was still very, very groggy. He gave out a big yawn, and then looked down.
"That's funny." He said to himself through half closed eyes. "I don't remember going to bed in my Lyoko outfit."
He changed into some regular clothes and went down to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. It woke him up, and looking around, he sensed that something very strange was going on. At first he couldn't place it. But after examining his surroundings for a little while, he concluded that the reason everything looked so strange was that everything had computer-generated graphics. Also he had a tail.
"Urgh. Looks like today is going to be a real problem."
He rushed back to his dorm room, and saw his Lyoko outfit on the bed where he had left it. He also saw Ulrich, still asleep, a familiar yellow headband tied around his head.
"Ulrich, wake up!" Said Odd, shaking him.
Ulrich, taken by surprise, instinctively reached under the covers and whipped his sword in Odd's face.
"Hey! Ulrich! Its only me!" Exclaimed Odd.
"Wha?" Said Ulrich, looking at the sword. "Odd, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure. Just look around you. C'mon! Change into something less conspicuous and then we'll go talk to Jeremie."
Jeremie was still sound asleep. He, like Odd, had spent half the night awake, but he had been doing something useful rather than playing video games. Unfortunately, this meant that he hadn't heard so much of a beep of the computer's tower activation alarm. Odd and Ulrich bursting into the room did wake him up, however.
"Odd? Ulrich? What's going on?" Jeremie said groggily. He looked at the computer, which was where Odd and Ulrich were looking, and shook himself awake.
"Oh no!" Jeremie said, seating himself at the computer. "Five activated towers." He turned to Odd and Ulrich for an explanation of what the attack might be, but stopped short to notice the computerized nature of the objects and people around him.
"I don't know exactly what Xana's up to, but it can't be good. Lets get Aelita and call Yumi to meet us at the factory."
Aelita was already awake. She also had awoken in her Lyoko outfit, but she had already changed and was about to leave the room when Jeremie knocked. She opened the door to find the three of them standing there.
"Xana's attacking, isn't he?" Said Aelita, reading the familiar expressions on their faces. The four of them rushed down the hallway, hearing the gasps and cries and occasional screams coming from the awakening students as they looked at their surroundings. Ulrich took out his cell phone and called Yumi.
Yumi did not answer right away. She was watching the news broadcast with her family, openmouthed.
"The latest breaking news today." Said the announcer, "Is the total, inexplicable disappearance of Kadic Academy. Where once there were buildings, trees, and people, including over 200 children, there is nothing but a wide, circular expanse of barren dirt. Explanations ranging from a strange, new terrorist device to abduction by aliens have been produced, but as of now, the fate of the 238 students and faculty who live on-campus remains uncertain."
The TV screen showed the camera view from a helicopter, showing clearly the neat devastation that had taken place.
"Yumi," Said her mom, slowly. "You're not going to school today."
"We have to get to the bottom of this." Said her dad angrily. "Let's head downtown."
"Take care of Hiroki, will you, dear?" With that, Yumi's parents rushed out the door.
It was then that the phone rang. She answered it, afraid of who or what she would hear on the other end, certain that Xana was behind the school's disappearance. But she was relieved to hear Ulrich's voice.
"Yumi! Xana's attacking. Meet us at the factory, okay?"
"That's what I thought. Where are you?"
"At school. We're almost out of the dormitory building. Why?"
"What! Ulrich! You can't be at school! The school has disappeared!"
"What?"
"They were talking about it on the news. The entire complex has disappeared!"
"But if the school's disappeared," Said Ulrich as they neared the exit, "Then where are we?"
They burst out of the doors of the dormitory building, and gasped at what they saw. They saw the other buildings and trees that had always been there, and they saw other students whispering excitedly and worriedly, but the kids' expressions turned to horror when they saw the sky. It was filled with the eerie floating translucent blue screens of the digital void.