Imprisoned II: Sacrifice

Chapter 5

William opened his eyes and took a quick glance around. He was about 15 feet in the air! He braced himself as he fell and he landed cleanly, feet first on the ground. What is this place? He took a look around. He was in some sort of desert area. He took a look at himself. What is this I'm wearing? He was wearing a dark blue outfit that looked somewhat like what an ancient Arabian bandit would wear. He found, to his delight, that he carried two long scimitar-like swords. Whoa. So he brought them out and began to swirl them around violently. Before he realized what happened, his noticed that hands and the swords disappeared. About 30 seconds later, everything because visible again. I can turn invisible? Cool, but how do I control it?

After much trial and error, William discovered that if he put the two scimitars together like an X, that he, along with his clothes and weapons, turned invisible. If he clanged the swords together as an X again, he became visible again. He couldn't see himself, but after playing with it a little bit, he figured it all out. Wow, this place is amazing! I wonder if anyone else comes here.

Meanwhile, back at the school, Jeremie decided that today would be a great day for a mission to Sector Five. Everyone agreed and so they headed out to the factory. Once they got there, Jeremie noticed that something was amiss. "That's weird," he said, "I'm sure I left the manual right there, but it's gone."

"Here it is, Jeremie!" said Aelita.

"Good, I was getting a little worried-hey! Why is the chair here? I left it over there!"

"Hey, Einstein," said Odd. "You better get over here!"

"What, now, Odd? Huh? Why is the monitor on? And why is there a 5th character card there?"

Yumi gasped. "Jeremie," she said, "Someone's been here and they must have gone into Lyoko!"

"That's imposs—huh? That's weird. There is someone down there, in the Desert Region.

Ulrich came running in from the elevator. "Jeremie!" he panted, "someone used the scanner while we were gone!"

"You're right, Ulrich, there is someone in the Desert Region. But who?"

"We'd better check it out, and fast!" said Aelita with a hint of panic in her voice.

Jeremie took charge. "Okay, head to the scanners. I'll send in Ulrich and Yumi first."

Ulrich and Yumi stepped into the scanners, and Jeremie started up the process.

"Transfer Ulrich, transfer Yumi! Scanner Ulrich, scanner Yumi! Virtualization!"

William looked up just in time. He put his swords together and disappeared just before Ulrich and Yumi finished appearing.

"Jeremie," said Ulrich, "There's no one here!"

"What? There has to be," replied Jeremie. "He's right across from you by that far wall."

"Jeremie," said Yumi, "I don't see anything either. I wonder if this guy can turn invisible."

Jeremie scratched his head. "Yumi, you and Ulrich take a closer look at the area by that wall. I want to be sure it's safe before I send in Aelita and Odd."

William could hear Jeremie talking. Is that Jeremie Belpois? Yumi? Ulrich? Is that really them? I don't believe it! The other two Jeremie mentioned, Odd and Aelita? Oh, it all makes sense now! This is the reason why Yumi and her friends always seem to be scheming or snooping around. They come to this place! But why? I'd better reveal myself to them so I can find out more. William quietly touched his scimitars together and reappeared while neither Ulrich nor Yumi were facing him. "Yumi," he whispered, "It's me, William." Yumi wheeled around and gasped when she saw William standing there.