Truth is out
Aelita disappeared into the activated tower. Humming filled the air as the remaining hornets swept around for another attack.
"Hurry, Einstein." A worried Ulrich said, pulling his sword out of his sheath again.
"I'm going as quickly as I can." A voice filled the air.
Ulrich used triplicate. The hornets were taken back, with three Ulrichs. The lead Ulrich executed a perfect slash on the front hornet. With this last movement, Jeremy initialised Ulrich's devitalisation programme; Aelita appearing from the tower.
The guys raced off back to school not knowing what had happened to Yumi. Ulrich and Odd waved goodbye to Jeremy as they entered their dormitory.
Ulrich reached for his phone on his bedside table. He speed dialled Yumi's cell phone number.
"Hi," Yumi, who had finally got back to sleep, yawned.
"Man, I hate these late night adventures," came the reply.
"Yeah, how are we going to focus on Mrs. Hertz lecture on seismic waves?" interrupted the half naked Odd.
"Oh my God! You can't seriously be going back to sleep; it's 6.00am."
All Ulrich got in reply was Odd's disastrous snoring.
"Yikes! What is that noise?" asked Yumi down the phone. 'It is worse than hornets."
"The reason why I sleep with earplugs" Ulrich explained.
"I guess you want to know what happened. I think XANA possessed the phone box near my house."
"What happened? Surely, a phone box is harmless." Ulrich yawned.
Yumi was so engulfed in her convocation she hadn't heard her brother's door open and his soft padding of his feet, heading towards her room. He wanted comfort from her teddy bear.
"It was strange, my phone kept on ringing. When I finally answered," she said, twiddling a stray piece of hair, "I heard a deep voice telling me to mind my step, he was watching me. After that I got text suggesting I was in danger. The last message read:
Your friends may have defeated me this time but the damage is already done. Send your love to dear Ulrich. XANA.
"Oh dear. Hope you can get some rest. See you at school, later." Ulrich chucked the phone at Odd.
With that Ulrich decided to get an early shower. He closed the door on the grunts of Odd.
Hiroki pushed his head around Yumi's slightly open door.
"Yumi can I cuddle your teddy please?" a puzzled boy in cowboy pyjamas asked.
"Of course, did you have a bad dream?" Yumi pulled Hiroki into her open hands.
"Yes" Hiroki smiled, looking into Yumi's tired eyes.
"What is Lyoko & who is XANA?" enquired Hiroki.
Oh flip. Yumi nervously twiddled some hair.
"Look, I'm tired. Take the bear and leave." Yumi was shocked at her aggressiveness. Hiroki left fighting back tears.
"Why do I act like this? I hate what Lyoko is doing to me." A deflated Yumi pounded on the table.
Ulrich wiped the suds of his face; the cold water refreshing his pondering mind.
Could that voice Yumi heard really be XANA'S? Ulrich wrapped a towel around histoned body. Is XANA more than a computer program?
As he padded down the corridor, leaving footprints behind, he bumped into a round man.
"Stern, what do you think you are doing, dripping down this corridor?" a sleepy Jim mumbled.
"Nothing, Jim" Ulrich saw his footprints whoops.
"Get back to your dorm then. You're a walking hazard." Jim barked, regaining his composition.
Yumi found Hiroki curled up on the sofa pulling the bear's ears.
"Why did she shout, Toki?" Hiroki sobbed pulling at the bear's ears.
"How many times do I have to say it's called Samsami." Yumi called from the door frame.
"Oh hi, Yumi." Yumi saw a tear streaked face staring at her.
"Look I'm sorry. It is just that I have had lots of pressure from Jeremy." Yumi started to explain.
"Will you tell me about Mr. Lyoko and what a XANA is, please?" looking up to Yumi. "Wait a second…do baby's come from XANAs?"
"No, they don't. I'll tell you what a XANA is, just promise me you won't pull Samsami's ear off as I get ready for school," she said, pointing at the ear he was absent-mindedly pulling at.
"OK." he cheered up greatly, a toothy grin spreading across his face. Yumi crept up the stairs, checking that her parents were still asleep.
Jeremy was in his room, trying to connect to Lyoko. A pink hair sprite popped on to his screen.
"Hi, Jeremy," the soft speaking sprite said.
"Hi, Aelita," Jeremy blushed; she had caught him changing his pants.
"What are you doing, Jeremy?" Jeremy had tripped over his pants legs.
He rubbed his head "Getting ready." Jeremy said recovering his composition.
"The last mission seemed odd. When I entered the code I felt the tower resist almost and XANA's monsters seemed to be toying with us," Aelita inquired.
"My systems didn't register any anomalies though." Just then the bell rang. "I'll long in at 12pm GMT. See you later." Leaning over his chair, he closed the window. Jeremy caught a last glance of Aelita's radiant smile, before she disappeared of the screen.
Yumi explained to Hiroki all about what Lyoko was, her role there and what XANA did.
"How come I don't remember any of it?" Hiroki thought out loud.
"Our computer has a little ability that allows us to go back in time."
"So you will never die then?" rejoiced Hiroki: he really cared for his big sister.
"Unfortunately, not," Wondering if she should tell him about her near miss. "If someone dies during an attack, we can't revive them. That would be playing God." She decided not to worry her little brother too much.
They sat together, allowing Yumi a chance to talk finally open up to someone different. As the clock struck 8 o'clock Yumi got up to go to school. As she closed the door, she whispered,
"Don't tell mum and dad, Hiroki, please." Yumi got thumbs up as she stepped onto the gravel path. As she walked down the road, he called back, "It's not like they'd believe me if I did tell them!"