Quick note before you start reading, I don't know what was up with the chapter before, it just wasn't showing up. I hope it stays this time and I'm sorry this happened. I hope you enjoy anyway!


"It was nice of XANA to allow us to figure all that out." Odd points out. Dimitri swipes the bracelet and the wings appear. He flutters them, looking them over a bit and smiles fondly before taking flight.

"Don't expect he'll wait much longer." Yumi mentions, circumstances aren't often in their favor.

"Never expect that of him, there's an army of Kankrelots headed your way!" Jeremie announces, about when they expected.

"Kankre-whats?!" Shiro questions. The New Generation of Lyoko warriors have never learned the names of these creatures created by XANA.

"Ask Odd, he's the one who came up with all these names." Ulrich answers.

"Hey, you guys decided to accept them! Clearly they're not all that bad." Odd reminds. He takes aim and waits, firing at the Kankrelots ahead, missing due to being out of practice. Akira rushes forward, stopping and throwing her fan at the little critters.

"Hornets at nine o'clock!" Jeremie warns. As if on cue, shots come from their left, devirtualizing the Overwing and causing Anna and Yumi to plummet.

"Ann!" Gio shouts. Both girls plop onto the ground, a little dazed, but getting back up.

"Alright. Now I'm in a bad mood." Yumi's voice is low, the twins knowing that tone to mean she's angry, grabbing out her fans and throwing them both at the same time with a shout. She takes out three in one shot.

"Nice one, mom!" Shiro compliments. Anna aims and shoots down a kankrelot. In that moment, Dimitri is shot down by another group of hornets. He shouts as his wings fail and he starts to fall. His father panics immediately.

"No! Someone catch him!" Jeremie shouts. Without another thought, Shiro starts to glow and so does Dimitri. He stops falling, having been too far off land and would have wound up in the digital sea. Shiro tries to maintain focus as he brings Dimitri over. A Kankrelot shot hits his shoulder and forces him to lose focus. Dimitri starts to fall again, this time Yumi catches him with her telepathy and he's brought over safely. "Dimitri?! Are you ok?!"

"Quit worrying, Einstein! He has seasoned Lyoko warriors guarding him!" Odd shouts up, kind of getting back to his old roots more and more.

"Yea, one being a terrible shot." Ulrich comments, having seen Odd miss time and time again, Ulrich getting back to his old roots too.

"I'm ok!" Dimitri assures. With Irony, he's shot in the back, falling forward with a shout.

"You're down twenty life points! Guys! Protect him!" Jeremie orders. Shiro jumps off the Overbike and runs to Dimitri, he too having super sprint and blocking another attack on him.

"Don't forget, Di, you have those weird magic ball things." His friend reminds him.

"Oh, right!" He climbs back to his feet. Akira too runs and stands guard over her "cousin". Giovanni blocks an attack on his dad with his shield. Anna keeps shooting and aiming at the kankrelots, they're easier to hit.

"You've got three mega tanks coming!" Jeremie sounds worried, very, very worried.

"When will this end!?" Akira questions loudly, obviously pretty fed up already.

"Oh it's been worse!" Yumi comments. She throws another fan and it hits one of the mega tanks. Shiro moves in front of Dimitri, blocking a ray from a megatank, but he's starting to slide back. Ulrich runs over, helping him push to keep it back, much stronger than when he was Shiro's age. Anna aims just right and hits the Mega tank right on target.

"Even your daughter has better aim than you, Odd." Ulrich jokes, though relieved they don't have to keep pushing the beam back.

"What do expect of a Della Robbia?" Odd questions, he's very proud of his little girl.

"Can't we try to inch closer at all?!" Akira yells. Just in time for a mega tank to shoot at them from behind and devirtualize her.

"No!" Shiro shouts, he turns around. "Now I'm mad!" He starts running off at the Mega Tank, super sprint. He dodges the next ray, as do the others. He throws the blade just before it shuts, using his telepathy to make it move faster and it is struck down. He makes the blade come back to him. He suddenly feels light headed and dizzy, stumbling backward to the ground unconscious. Ulrich wastes no time super sprinting over to him and checking him over.

"Is he ok?!" Yumi asks, starting to rush over as well.

"Too much Telepathy, probably. He's not used to it yet. You guys go, I'll watch him!" Yumi stops running, almost halfway there, but listens to Ulrich and turns back, running to Dimitri and blocking just in time, as a laser was racing toward him. He uses one of his energy fields to take a hornet down.

"Akira isn't in one of the scanners! It didn't even start up! There's not enough power to run them anymore!" Jeremie screams.

"What?!" Both her parents question, their hearts rushing in fear for their little girl. Yumi makes a realization.

"Could it be possible XANA waited to weaken the scanner's power until we all got here?" She asks.

"With XANA, just about anything's possible… I'll try to do what I can, I promise!" Jeremie tries to assure them, but he's not confident. All but Anna and Gio can tell when Jeremie is truly frightened.

"We need to get that tower deactivated quickly!" Dimitri shouts.

"Aelita used to have Creativity, she could make objects form from nothing. Maybe you have it. Just envision what you want to create and create it." Yumi tutors. Dimitri nods and closes his eyes, focusing. A large rock forms and hits the last mega tank, knocking it over the edge. "Nicely done, kiddo!" She ruffles his hair, then starts running. Odd and Giovanni are still on the Overboard. Anna runs with Dimitri, but stops a moment, glancing back at Shiro and Ulrich, then her eyes go blank, no one else notices since she's behind them. She snaps to, coming back to reality, blinking a couple of times.

"Um, Mr. Belpois?" She calls up.

"Yes, Anna?" Jeremie calls back.

"What's the creature that looks like a weird jelly-fish?" She asks.

"It's called the Scyphozoa. Why do you ask?" How she even knows it exists, he has no clue, but he's about to find out.

"Because I had a weird vision. And I saw it, and I saw Mr. Stern be grabbed by it." She explains.

"Future Flash…?" Jeremie trails off. How can she have future flash…? The moment Odd hears future flash, he stops the Overboard.

"What about Future flash?" He questions, not hearing what Anna said.

"Anna says she's having visions and saw one of the Scyphozoa attacking Ulrich. I'm bringing him and Shiro in now!"

"But they won't appear in the scanners, right?!" Yumi asks worriedly, she could lose her entire family… Right then, the Scyphozoa appears.

"It's already there… Ulrich! Grab Shiro and run!" Ulrich heard everything and is lifting Shiro immediately, he starts running away, but can't use Super Sprint while carrying Shiro. Anna starts rushing to meet up with them. Odd watches from a distance.

"Dad?" Gio asks, seeing the blank expression of shock on his father's face, something he's rarely seen.

"Anna has future flash…" He looks back at Giovanni. "Do you…?"

"I don't think so…" He pauses. "What is it?"

"It's a sort of vision of the future. And it's… it's never wrong…" Odd mumbles. He lowers down, climbing off. "Go, protect Dimitri." Odd starts running, shooting at the Scyphozoa.

"The lack of power is making it difficult to run the devirtualization process!" Jeremie freaks out. "Akira hasn't even come back because of it!" The Scyphozoa wraps its tentacles around Ulrich, forcing him to drop Shiro.

"No! Ulrich!" Odd shouts. He aims as he runs, trying to devirtualize him himself. The scyphozoa starts whatever it is XANA wants with Ulrich. His eyes go wide from fear, and he feels breathless, like he's suffocating. His mind is screaming, he's never known how terrifying this was until now. Odd hits his target, devirtualizing Ulrich. So the Scyphozoa tries going for Shiro instead.

"NO!" Yumi shouts. There's nothing she can do since she has to keep Dimitri safe, in fact, she barely manages to block a laser headed for them when she loses her focus. Shiro opens his eyes just as the tentacles reach for him. He screams in horror at the thing in front of him as it grabs him. The little scream coming from her boy makes Yumi's heart break. Dimitri runs around Yumi and books it for the tower, they're not too far from it. He has to try something to save his cousin and he doesn't trust his aim enough to hit the damn thing or Shiro. The Scyphozoa starts to do something to Shiro. They have yet to figure out what. If he could cry, he'd be crying right now. Yumi throws her fans, trusting her aim and manages to cut the tentacles holding her boy. He falls to the ground just as Anna reaches him.

"Are you ok?!" She asks immediately. He doesn't say anything, trembling too much to trust his voice. She kneels to his level and hugs him tight. He latches onto her immediately. That is probably the scariest thing he's ever experienced. Dimitri enters the tower and floats to the top. He presses his hand to the interface.

DIMITRI

CODE
LYOKO

Dimitri closes his eyes, once again feeling his mother's presence, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Everyone, go into the tower where it's safe while I try to figure out how to get Ulrich and Akira back…" Jeremie orders.

"Can't you just do a return to the past…?" Yumi asks. She's beyond worried.

"I don't know what the scyphozoa managed to do to Ulrich or Shiro, I'd rather be safe than sorry." Jeremie states, afraid that any damage done may remain with them. Yumi reaches Shiro and Anna, she hugs him tight as well. Anna backed off to allow the mother and child their moment.

"You're going to be ok…" She tries to assure him as he still trembles even in her hold. She helps him to his feet and guides him to the tower. Odd and Gio have done all the clean up, but they still keep their guard in case XANA sends the cavalry. Yumi and Shiro enter the tower. Shiro sits down and Yumi paces back and forth, waiting for news about her husband and daughter, hoping for good news. Dimitri lowers to the bottom platform and steps up to Yumi, hugging her.

"It's going to be ok, Auntie. Dad will find them and save them, I'm sure of it." He tries to assure her. Yumi hugs him. Odd, Gio and Anna enter the tower.

"I know… I'm just worried… I can't imagine what I'd do if…" She trails off, unable to finish. Odd sighs, looking down.

"Maybe I shouldn't have devirtualized him…" The blond comments, he's terrified as well, for many reasons…

"We don't know what XANA might have done to him if you hadn't." Yumi tries to assure. Odd nods.

"So… Can I be told how our kids managed to become Lyoko Warriors?" Odd asks. Dimitri lets Yumi go and turns to him.

"It's my fault." He starts. "I found this place on a list of abandoned buildings. I saw this one was nearby and exploring an abandoned place is something on my bucket list because, well… I saw videos about it online. I found the Super Computer, I turned it on, and… I asked my friends to join me. They brought Anna along and then Gio came along when we found out that XANA wasn't going to stop if we just turned off the computer. The school caught fire, we did a return to the past, but I guess that wasn't enough to stop him. He's still here… And we have to stop him."

"Don't blame yourself." Odd states. "This was bound to happen anyway. XANA was bound to show up, eventually despite the computer being shut off, and would wreak havoc. Things work out the way they do for a reason. I know this is how I made my friends, my friends are everything to me…" He explains. Yumi's a little shocked by him, the level of maturity mostly. Dimitri nods in understanding.

Jeremie returns.

"I don't have enough energy to do anything but a return trip thanks to the energy from the tower… If I reroute power to just one scanner, there won't be enough for a return trip and any damage done would be permanent. The Supercomputer won't have the power to bring any of you back to earth for a long time…"

"Then do a return trip. If there's something wrong with Ulrich, we can figure out what to do to help him." Yumi suggests.

"Alright… Return to the past now…" Light travels up the tower and toward them, engulfing them, the computer, the factory, the school, everything, in a blinding light.

Everyone is where they were before the attack, Giovanni sitting in his desk chair with his homework in front of him. Shiro sitting absolutely bored in the Library. Anna and Dimitri waiting in line to make their purchase. Yumi at home reading, she lowers her book and looks around. She gets up and calls Ulrich immediately, but receives no answer.

Ulrich is with Akira, they were placing mats in storage, but Ulrich had collapsed the moment they all return. Akira looks around and sees Ulrich lying on the ground.

"Dad?!" She rushes over, shaking him. "Dad, what's wrong?! Wake up!" She starts panicking. His eyelids twitch, close tight and then open ever so slowly. He closes them almost immediately, but tries opening them again.

"Kira…?" He mumbles. She whimpers a bit and pulls out her cell phone, luckily she's good at memorizing numbers

"Hello?"

"This is Anna's dad, right? I can't remember your name, but can you help me?"

"What do you need?" He asks, a sinking feeling in his chest.

"My dad collapsed and I don't know what's wrong with him and I can't carry him. I don't know who else to ask since uncle won't be able to carry him by himself, I'll call him next to help you out, but can you come here?"

"I'll be right there. Stay with him. Check his eyes, make sure there's no mark of XANA."

"O-Ok. Bye." She hangs up. Ulrich fell back unconscious. She lifts his eyelid, but sees no mark of XANA, just sees his brown eyes. She sighs with relief, but is very confused as to what's going on. She calls her brother next. His phone is in his pocket and starts ringing loudly. He freezes up, knowing he's about to get in trouble, but it could be important. He grabs out his phone anyway and answers.

"Hello?" He answers. The librarian, who's watching over him, clears his throat, but he doesn't pay attention.

"Brother… Something's wrong with dad!" Akira explains. His heart sinks instantly.

"Do I have to tell Principal Delmas to give you more detention, Mr. Stern?" He warns the teen. Shiro stands and looks at the man, pulling the phone away.

"A family emergency. You can try to tell her, but I don't care!" He places it back. "Where are you?"

"The gymnasium!"

"Alright, I'll see you there in a minute." He clicks his phone off and grabs his bag, running off.

"Hey!" The librarian shouts.

"I don't care!" He shouts back. He really doesn't. His father could be in trouble, or his sister if Ulrich is possessed.

Odd storms out of his hotel room and to his rental car, his first call is to Anna, knowing she's out and about with Dimitri and Dimitri probably has Yumi's number. Anna answers the call.

"Dad?"

"Anna, I'm coming to pick you up on the same street as last time. Also, ask Dimitri if he has Yumi's number. I need to get ahold of her."

"Ok. What's happening?"

"I don't even know. Akira called me and said something's wrong with Ulrich."

"Oh no…" There's a pause. "Um, I'll text you the number real quick. Hold on." She pulls the phone away, Dimitri rattles off the numbers she needs and she types them, sending the text to her dad. "There. I'll see you soon."

"Ok. I love you, sweetheart. See you soon." The call ends. Anna looks to Dimitri, both share the same worried face.

"Something's wrong with Mr. Stern…" Anna says to him, though he kind of figured.

"You know you can call him Ulrich when we're not in class…" She nods a little. They walk out of the store and wait for Odd. Odd meanwhile calls Yumi.

"Odd?!" She answers.

"You said that already." Jokes aside, he gets serious. "Listen, Akira called me, Ulrich is unconscious in the Gym, I'm going there to help her out, do you want me to pick you up?"

"No, I'll drive myself there, I don't want to sit waiting."

"That's understandable. I thought I'd offer. I'm picking up Anna and Dimitri and I'll meet you there. I don't know if he has to go to the hospital or the factory so Jeremie can do a scan…"

"I guess that's up to Jeremie… I'll give him a call on my way over. Goodbye."

"Bye." He hangs up with her. He sees Anna and Dimitri and stops for them to climb in.

Shiro runs into the gym, finding his father and sister near the storage room.

"What happened?"

"I have no idea… When we got back, he was just… like this…" She gestures to their father.

"That damn scyphozoa… That Odd person I think his name is managed to devirtualize him, but then I guess it came after me… I-It…" He stops, unable to finish, his voice growing shaky. He sighs, trying to relax himself. "I don't know what it wanted with us…"

"I guess we'll see what happens with dad…" She mumbles. He kneels down and hugs her. Soon Jeremie arrives, rushing in.

"What happened?" He asks. Akira explains what she told Shiro moments before. He kneels, checking Ulrich's pulse. His heart beat is slow, but not very slow. More like a resting heartbeat. "We have to get him to the factory, do a scan, and find out what's wrong with him, what XANA managed to do."

"I already called Anna's dad. He'll be coming to help." Akira explains. Jeremie nods. Odd and Dimitri eventually run in, Yumi not too far behind. Anna had taken the presents back to her dorm. Odd rushes over, maneuvering him so that he can be carried on his back.

"Don't strain yourself too much." Yumi warns.

"I'm ok. He's lighter than I expected." Odd admits and starts walking for the red door. "Anna is going to get Gio and they'll meet us at the factory."

"How did you know I was going to suggest that?" Jeremie asks.

"Just because I've been away for eighteen years doesn't mean I forget a good buddy's mannerisms." He smiles a little playfully, trying to lighten the mood. After some time of travel, they reach the factory. As mentioned, Anna and Gio meet them there. By then, the computer was turned back on, Ulrich had already been placed in the scanner and Jeremie begins checking him over. Giovanni glances at Akira who sits along the wall, waiting to hear what's going on, he walks over and kneels in front of her.

"It's going to be ok, Akira. I'm sure. It'll all work out. I can't tell you how yet, but it will. You've just gotta hold on, keep your hope because sometimes that's all you have." She nods a little, not commenting at all.

"Nothing is showing up on the scan. I don't understand what's going on… Or why he's not waking up." Jeremie explains. He sighs, turning to Odd. "Go get him, we'll take him to a hospital." Odd nods and heads down. The scanner opens, but Ulrich is standing, leaning on the side. He looks up at Odd, fear in his eyes.

"Odd…?" Ulrich questions.

"Ulrich?" Odd questions back. Ulrich stumbles out, Odd is by his side immediately to keep him supported.

"D-Did we win…?" He asks

"Yes. We won. Do you remember what happened to you?"

"The scyphozoa got me…" Ulrich mumbles just loud enough for Odd to hear.

"Do you feel any different?" Odd asks further

"No… Just tired… I want to sleep…"

"You can sleep later…" He keeps Ulrich supported, bringing him back up. "He's awake, for now." Odd announces. Ulrich is able to walk on his own once they reach the top. Yumi rushes to hug him.

"Thank goodness you're ok…" She leans in and kisses him passionately. After they pull away, he smiles softly and lovingly.

"Well, that's one way to wake up…" Ulrich mumbles more. She giggles and looks to Odd.

"Now that we're all here and conscious and there's no threat of a XANA attack, care to tell us where you've been these past eighteen years?" Odd sighs, looking away.

"It's a long story…" He starts. "So be prepared, all of you…" He breathes in and out, relaxing himself to tell the story. "As you guys know, I left France to go back to Italy to be with my parents, I wanted to help take care of my dad after his accident. One day, I had a vision. It was like my future flash except I wasn't on Lyoko. I tried to tell you guys about it, but you all thought I dreamed it since I couldn't have future flash here in this world. Even in Lyoko it doesn't exist for me anymore. In the vision, Aelita was XANAfied and we were all lying at her feet. We were completely at her mercy… I knew that moment that XANA was going to come back, but none of you listened to me. Jeremie, you even said you checked over the supercomputer several times to make sure XANA was gone and you found no trace. I still don't know how XANA came back, all I know is, I wanted to prevent it… So I cut ties with all of you in hopes it'd protect you… I thought if I was gone from your lives, XANA couldn't do it… It all got so bad that I… I almost…" He looks back down again, clutching his fists tight. Ulrich steps up to him, wrapping his arms around him tight. Odd hugs him back. All other adults do the same. They stay like this for a moment and let him continue.

"My reason for not… doing it…" Odd continues, he points to Giovanni. "That boy right there… S-Samantha was pregnant and I couldn't leave her to raise our son alone. So, I kept living…" Gio's heart sort of races a bit, not knowing any of this of course, but he's surprised to hear so many things may not have happened had he not existed… "We eventually had Anna, and they came here to Kadic because they heard stories about my life here. Anna wanted to have the same schooling experience. So I allowed it, not thinking XANA would come back since I've been keeping my distance. Though as you can see, here I am… And now we have that risk of my vision coming to life."

"No… It won't ever come true…" Jeremie starts. "Aelita…" He breathes in and out, trying to say it. "Aelita's dead… She died when Dimitri was very young, Maya was just a baby. She suffered blunt force trauma caused by a man who wanted the money in her purse…"

"Sh-she's dead…?" Odd's voice wavers. He places his hands to his face, starting to cry at last. Dimitri looks down. Anna takes his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way…" Jeremie says.

"I'm sorry you lost her… You spent so much time, energy, life, effort, just to bring this girl back to Earth and help her to live a normal life… And then someone kills her…?! It's not fair…" Odd is clearly upset.

"When is life fair…?" Jeremie mumbles. "Regardless, there's no hope of your vision occurring. We're missing the key part of it."

"Dad…" Dimitri mumbles. "Every time I deactivate a tower, I feel mom's presence." He admits again.

"That's probably because of all the time she spent on Lyoko, at least some part of her is going to leave a trace. Nothing is ever truly deleted from a computer." Jeremie explains. His son sighs softly. "Everyone head home, I'll stay here, set up programs I need so I can be notified when XANA attacks."

"I'll stay and help." Dimitri offers.

"Don't worry about it, ok? You have homework you need to get done. The super scan is child's play compared to other programs I've managed to make. Go home, I'll be there soon."

"We call him Einstein for a reason." Odd mentions, trying to convince Dimitri to leave with them. "He's got this. Besides, you and Anna have that project of yours, right?"

"What project?" Shiro questions, a hint of upset in his voice.

"It's a secret project…" Dimitri mumbles loud enough for them to hear, glancing at Anna then Akira, then Anna again. They start for the elevator.

"Hey, Odd, where are you staying?" Ulrich asks. The button is pressed for them to go up.

"At the hotel just off of-" He states the street. "My plan is to find a job at Kadic and maybe live on campus again, keep an eye out, you know?" Ulrich turns to Yumi, asking her an unspoken question. Yumi gets the hint and looks to Odd.

"Would you like to stay with us?" Yumi asks.

"I couldn't do that to you guys." Odd protests immediately

"It'd be better than living on campus with a bunch of rowdy kids." Ulrich points out. Dimitri, Shiro and Akira nod in agreement.

"It's hell." Akira says.

"Definitely." Shiro agrees.

"No doubt about it." Dimitri too agrees.

"It's hard to focus if you have a roommate that just doesn't shut up…" Giovanni mentions.

"Definitely wouldn't know that feeling at all." Ulrich says with sarcasm.

"How ironic a Della Robbia complaining about a noisy roommate." Yumi laughs.

"I have a feeling my work will be cut out for me." Akira mutters. Anna looks down.

"Or you could get your head out of your ass." Giovanni sasses, seeing Anna's upset.

"And you can shut up!" Akira shouts. Shiro hits his palm to his forehead.

"And you can come up with better insults." Gio points out.

"Well at least my teachers aren't afraid of my last name." Akira remembers. The elevator reaches the top. Most step out, except those two.

"At least my name doesn't sound like the English word for a killer."

"At least my name isn't so complicated that it gets misspelled all the time!" Odd presses the button for the elevator to go down.

"It's not that hard if you have some form of intelligence!" The door shuts.

"When's lunch? I'm hungry." Odd asks.

"When aren't you?" Ulrich questions

"Hey, I've really calmed down with my eating habits." Odd points out. Anna shakes her head immediately. Ulrich smirks, crossing his arms.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Lose one Stern Della Robbia argument, gain another." Dimitri points out.

"Those two have always gone at it ever since Odd moved here." Yumi reminisces.

"I honestly didn't expect to make friends so quickly when I moved here as a kid." Odd admits. Just a day at Kadic and he made four forever friends.

"Neither did I… But I'm glad for the friends I have now. Even if some are a little mean sometimes…" Anna mumbles, trailing off.

"Akira's just got a lot of attitude. She's actually really nice when she wants to be." Shiro points out. "You've just gotta know how to handle her when she turns all tiger."

"But coming from her, its more of a rawr rather than a roar." Dimitri smiles playfully. The kids laugh. They leave the factory and get in their cars, but wait for the two bickerers to come up.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay with us?" Ulrich asks. "We have a guest bedroom. It'd be safer too and you don't have to keep paying for a room."

"I'll consider it. I just don't want to infringe on you guys." Odd replies.

"I think Ulrich's just missed having his old roommate." Yumi jokes, but isn't entirely joking.

"I think it would be nice to get to know the uncle we never had growing up." Shiro mentions. "Dad sometimes would talk about his old roommate, that he's a pain in the butt, but still a great friend who always has your back." Odd looks at Ulrich. Ulrich looks away, blushing from embarrassment.


Now we know why Odd disappeared and what happened to Aelita. Pretty sad, right...?

Sorry for the delay! Stressful personal life. Between work issues and I fight with my now ex, I didn't really feel like writing... But I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll get to work on the next one soon. I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Leave a review if you so wish. Feel free to PM me and I'll get you guys a preview!

See ya!

TGB127074 :D