The Odd clone had been getting weirder and weirder. Ulrich and Jeremie had had to keep it in control but at the moment it was watching TV, laughing loudly. "That was great!" Ulrich tried to keep it quiet.
"It was just a commercial for athletes foot cream, calm down." Ulrich shook his head. "Please shut up."
"Up shut up please up shut up, cream shut up please up." Ulrich put a hand over its mouth. For some reason it would repeat words like that. Jeremie wasn't sure why, and he had tried to fix it but Xana had interrupted.
"Come on. We need to... do homework, or something." Ulrich was getting tired of the clone. He had to do its homework as well as his, which meant twice as much work as before. Jeremie was busy trying to find Odd and work things out with Aelita, who blamed him for losing Odd. Ulrich and the clone left the rec room.
Sissi was watching the two, wondering what was going on. She didn't want to be too nosy, but Odd was behaving very oddly. "Herve, Nicholas, keep an eye on Odd."
"Okay, Sissi." The two followed Ulrich and the clone.
-( ( • ) )-
The next day Ulrich was glad Yumi and William were there with him. The two older students had a history project to do for their class, but Ulrich needed a break. "Just watch him for a couple hours. I'm going to train for a while. Alone." Ulrich stared at the clone. "I can't take him there. He tries to imitate me. We don't need it attacking Jim." Ulrich then left William's dorm room.
-( ( • ) )-
Jeremie was working on the Skidbladnir. Aelita had deleted it along with a few other programs when she thought she was saving her father. The Skid was needed to look for Odd, for sure.
He had apologized and told Aelita what had happened. But when the two looked at the programs, the errors weren't there anymore. It was as if they had appeared just so Odd could be lost, then fixed themselves. It was something Xana was perfectly capable of doing. Of course, Aelita didn't believe that. She thought he was jealous about Odd's liking her, and let it happen. The only way to fix things with her was to find Odd.
Xana noticed the Skidbladnir forming in Sector 5. He activated a Tower and launched his attack.
-( ( • ) )-
The clone started to spark. "Odd, what are you doing?" Yumi set down the posterboard. It morphed into Odd's Lyoko form, as if he had just been translated. "This can't be good." Yumi backed away from the clone.
"We should tell Jeremie about this." William reached for his phone when the clone extended a hand and fired a Laser Arrow, hitting William's hand. William yelled out and dropped the phone, his hand burnt and bleeding.
"Run!" Yumi and William ran out of the room as the clone shot several more Laser Arrows at them.
-( ( • ) )-
Jeremie called Ulrich. "Ulrich! Xana's attacking."
"I'll be there."
"Do you have the clone?"
"No, I left him with Yumi and William."
"Okay, I'll call them, you call Aelita."
"Still fighting with her?" Jeremie's silence answered Ulrich's question. "I'll call her."
"Thanks." Jeremie briskly hung up.
-( ( • ) )-
"Run!" Yumi and William saw some students and warned them as the clone came around the corner, firing Laser Arrows. They had all stared at Yumi and William as if they had grown two more heads each, then saw Odd and dispersed, shrieking and wailing.
-( ( • ) )-
Ulrich called Aelita. "Aelita, Xana's attacking."
"I, I'll be there." Aelita hung up and wiped at her eyes. She was at the Hermitage with several pictures. She had been holding ones with her and Jeremie, and some with and her and Odd. She looked one more time at the ones with Odd, and couldn't help but cry.
He was gone and they couldn't find him. They had tried to use a program like the one they used to save Yumi but it didn't work. They would have to look for him in the Digital Sea, the internet. But first they needed the Skidbladnir.
She set the pictures with Odd in them into a book and put the book on the bookshelf. When she had found Odd she would come back for them. The pictures of Jeremie, she stared at. She was torn inside. She still loved him but hated him for being so jealous of Odd that he would let the cat boy be lost. She set them on a table and used the sewer entrance at the Hermitage.
-( ( • ) )-
Ulrich called Yumi. "Yumi, Xana's attacking."
"We know! He's controlling the clone!" Yumi and William had split up and it had chosen her. It fired Laser Arrows and one hit her in the shoulder. She cried out and dropped her phone in pain.
"Yumi! Yumi, are you okay? Yumi!" Ulrich yelled but the clone stepped on her phone, crushing it underfoot. "I have to hurry. William better get to the Factory." Ulrich ran at top speed to the Factory.
-( ( • ) )-
A Laser Arrow pierced Yumi's left calf. "No, have to keep going." Yumi limped and the clone caught up to her. It kicked her hard in the back, sending her flying. "No, please." Yumi struggled to get up.
"You leave her alone right now!" A stick hit the clone in the back of the head and it turned around to see Sissi. "Odd?" It raised an arm and fired a Laser Arrow at Sissi. She feebly raised the stick, which promptly snapped in half when the Laser Arrow impacted it and exploded. "What's wrong with him?!" Sissi backed away nervously.
"Get away, Sissi!" Yumi tackled the clone from behind and knocked it to the ground. She threw a punch at its face, but it promptly caught her fist and pushed her off of it.
"Hey Nicholas! Beat him up while I help Yumi!" Sissi beckoned. Nicholas ran out from behind a tree, holding a shovel from the garden shed, and promptly bashed the clone in the back of the head. Yumi watched Xana's symbol appear in its eyes as it went limp.
"Thanks, Nicholas." He helped Yumi up.
"What's wrong with him?" Sissi kicked at the clone.
"It's not Odd. One of Jeremie's robots went crazy." Yumi cringed as she stepped with her injured leg. "We have to get out of here before it turns back on."
"Good idea." Sissi and Nicholas helped Yumi get away.
-( ( • ) )-
Ulrich, Aelita, and William made it to the Factory within a few minutes of each other. "What's the attack?" Ulrich breathed, and William answered.
"Xana possessed the clone. I seem to remember him doing the same to me, well, my clone."
"He tried to. We have to hurry. I don't think I can take control back." Jeremie replied.
"Why?" Aelita tilted her head, her voice dripping venom.
"Because you deleted the program used to do that. I mean, the program," Jeremie stopped. "I'm sorry." Aelita ignored him and got back on the elevator. William and Ulrich got on and took the elevator down to the Scanner Room. The three's cards all appeared on the screen and started to fill up with color. "Transfer Aelita, Transfer Ulrich, Transfer William, Scanner Aelita, Scanner Ulrich, Scanner William, and virtualization." They landed on Lyoko in the Desert Sector. He sent the vehicles next. "Go east, it isn't far."
"Got it." Ulrich mounted the Overbike with William on the Overwing. Aelita stared at the Overboard, remembering Odd for a moment, before mounting it as well.
-( ( • ) )-
Yumi, Sissi, and Nicholas were in the woods when the police showed up at Kadic Academy. The clone reactivated and started to get up when the police saw it. "Freeze!" They pointed their guns at it. The clone didn't follow their order; it charged with energy, becoming stronger than before, and fired Laser Arrows in their directon without hitting any officers.
"Freeze or we'll shoot!" The clone aimed and took out the windows. It put holes in the doors. "Last chance!" Several officers took aim.
"Fire!" Six shots rang out. All six hit the clone and it fell backwards. "Paramedics, check on the shooter while we look for other shooters." The police started to come out from behind the cars when the clone sparked with energy. The wounds healed and it stood back up.
"What is that thing!?" The police moved back behind their cars.
"Call for backup."
"Call who?"
"More police, the military, or citizens with bigger guns, it doesn't matter, we have to stop that thing." The police opened fire and hit the clone. This time it sparked with energy immediately and fired back.
-( ( • ) )-
The group waited behind a rock formation, watching the activated Tower and the guards in front of it. "Tarantulas, but no Dark Angel. Xana is up to something." William grabbed his Zwiehander and prepared to fight.
"We're lucky." Ulrich drew his swords. "Aelita, be careful."
"I can't be." Aelita prepared an energy orb. "Energy Field!" She threw it and missed a Tarantula.
"Triplicate!" Ulrich split apart and his two clones used Super Sprint to stay by his side as he drove on the Overbike.
"I have to have some powers." William remembered the ones he had under Xana's control. He focused on his Zweihander and felt it start to vibrate. He pulled it back then swung it like a bat and an energy blade arced out. "Rosetta!" he yelled on a whim, trying to name the power. It cut a Tarantula in half, destroying it.
"William! You just lost thirty life points." Jeremie warned.
"I did? My powers take life points now? Great." William dodged lasers as the last two Tarantulas aimed at him.
-( ( • ) )-
The clone had the police pinned. An armored truck drove up and several armored officers deployed out, ready with shotguns. "What is that thing?"
"We don't know, but it won't go down." Most of the officers were low on ammo after emptying several clips into the clone.
"This will." An armored officer raised a shotgun, aimed, and fired a slug into the clone. It stumbled backwards as a hole was torn out in its chest, revealing a wireframe. But energy sparked around it and it healed. It aimed and fired, hitting the armored officer in the chest and sending him flying backwards. "Ow, even with the flak jacket that hurt."
"Aim for the head!" Three armored officers aimed. The clone fired Laser Arrows and hit one of the shotguns, damaging it. The other two fired, hitting it in the head. The clone's head instantly became a flickering wireframe as it crumpled to the ground.
-( ( • ) )-
Yumi, Sissi and Nicholas heard the gun fire and cringed. Yumi didn't know what Xana was up to. Sissi was worried about her father and Nicholas was worried about his best friend, Herve. "I hope they're alright."
"They will be." Yumi stumbled and fell to her knees. "I, this is far enough." She turned and sat. She pulled her pant leg up to see crusted blood around the wound where the Laser Arrow had entered and disintegrated. "I'll be okay."
"Are you sure? That looks really bad." Sissi took a closer look. "I can't believe you aren't crying."
"I've been hurt worse." Yumi bit her lower lip. "I've been hurt a lot worse than this." She sweated as she worried about the others, and the students still at Kadic Academy.
"Nicholas, give me your shirt and find some sticks. I need to make a splint for Yumi in case her leg is broken, and even if it isn't, I can tie the shirt tight enough to apply pressure and keep her from bleeding too much if the wound reopens." Sissi barked.
-( ( • ) )-
Aelita spun on the Overboard, dodging lasers. She leapt off of the Overboard and activated her wings as it crashed into a Tarantula and destroyed it. "Only one left." Aelita created an energy orb.
"Wait a minute, there is something above the Tower." Aelita looked up.
"I don't see anything, Jeremie."
"I see it on the map, be careful. I'll try to figure out what it is."
"There's nothing up there." Aelita threw her energy orb at the last Tarantula and missed it.
"Aelita, there is something there!" Jeremie saw it move. "Look out!" Aelita looked up and saw the Dark Angel, falling towards her with claws outstretched.
"Energy Field!" She created the orb but didn't have enough time to throw it. She held it out in front of her, blocking the Dark Angel's claws. It continued to fall until it landed on the Sector floor.
"Super Sprint!" Ulrich took off as the Overbike continued into the Tarantula, destroying it. He and his remaining clone attacked the Dark Angel.
William tried to do what Ulrich and Aelita did and used the Overwing as a weapon. The Dark Angel dodged it and the Overwing hit the clone, devirtualizing it.
"What are you doing, William?!" Ulrich shouted.
"Sorry!" William ran at the Dark Angel with his Zweihander raised over his head like a flag. He swung it like an axe and missed. The Dark Angel spun around, dodging Ulrich's attack, and bashed William in the chest with a metallic wing.
-( ( • ) )-
The Odd clone was being carried away on a stretcher, its head still a strange wireframe. Several students were shaken up, but not injured. Mr. Delmas worried as he noticed several students were missing. "Has anyone seen my daughter? Or Ulrich Stern? Yumi Ishiyama? Jeremie Belpois? Aelita Stones? Nicholas Poliakoff? Odd Della Robbia?" He asked around but no one knew.
The clone was loaded into a truck to be carried to the morgue when it started to spark. "Back off!" Several officers pulled their weapons out as an Eye of Xana appeared at the base of the clone's neck, rotating horizontally and moving upwards, filling the wireframe of its head back in. The clone sat up with an outstretched arm, ready to fire Laser Arrows.
"Fire!" The officers unloaded their clips as the clone sparked with more energy, becoming stronger than before.
Yumi flinched every time she heard a gun shot. Each one could be someone getting hurt or worse.
The clone sprung out of the truck, firing Laser Arrows. An officer was hit in the arm and even his flak jacket wasn't enough. He screamed as the arrow nicked his skin and cauterized it, disintegrating upon contact, and clutched at it to give it pressure.
"Pull back, pull back, pull back!" The officers darted around and hid behind cars and buildings, now focused on hiding from and surviving this person, machine or whatever harbinger of destruction it was.
-( ( • ) )-
Ulrich and William battled the Dark Angel. It dodged and blocked their swords with its claws. Aelita almost flung an Energy Field, but the two boys were in the way.
-( ( • ) )-
The Odd clone ran away from the officers and into the woods. "Follow it! It's trying to escape, someone call for a helicopter!" Several officers rushed after it as others called for more backup, but the majority of them were still hiding.
Yumi and the other two heard footsteps. "Haven't they stopped that thing yet?" Sissi was getting more worried with every second.
"No, run!" Yumi shouted as she saw the clone.
"Come on." Nicholas tried to help her up but she accidentally put all of her weight on her bad leg and fell over in pain.
"Get out of here!" Yumi saw the clone aim at them.
"He's going to lobotomize us!" Sissi squealed, flailing her arms as she and Nicholas ran. The clone fired a Laser Arrow and hit Nicholas in the back. He fell forward immediately.
"Nicholas!" Sissi stopped running and turned around, kneeling to drag him, but the clone fired four more arrows, each one narrowly missing Nicholas and Sissi. She panicked, screaming, and ran away, briefly faltering and looking back at Nicholas one more time as she ran.
"Leave them alone, Xana." Yumi sat up, facing the clone. "I'm the one you want." She slowly stood up, making sure to use her good leg for support. "I might be hurt but I can still fight." She got in a Kokutsu Dachi stance with her injured left leg forward, and her right leg back with all her weight on it.
"There it is!" The officers burst through the woods into the clearing and aimed at the clone.
"Wait! There's someone behind it." The others saw Yumi, who was spinning around, putting her weight on her bad leg for just a moment. "Get down!" Yumi's good foot impacted the clone's gut and she gasped in pain from being on her bad leg, falling over. The clone flew back but was hit dozens of times in the back and head. It fell to its knees, sparking with energy.
"Fire!" Three officers with shotguns fired, hitting the clone in the back. One of the slugs passed through it and hit Yumi, who was laying on the ground, breathing heavily, in the lower back. She screamed in agony as the clone fell backward. It continued to spark with energy, Eyes of Xana forming over all the holes to close the wounds, trying to heal itself.
"She was hit, get the paramedics!" Several officers rushed over and fire point blank range at the clone. Dirt and sparks showered them but they continued firing until the clone was just one wireframe, for they had seen it resurrect far too many times for comfort.
-( ( • ) )-
"Rosetta!" William swung his Zweihander like a bat and fired an energy blade. The Dark Angel bent backwards and the energy blade passed over it, and hit the activated Tower. "Energy Field!" Aelita threw an energy orb and hit the Dark Angel before it could recover from dodging William's attack.
"Hurry, Aelita." Jeremie saw her blip on the screen disappear into the activated Tower.
"Tower deactivated." The screens fell around Aelita.
-( ( • ) )-
Yumi groaned from the wound in her back. The paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher. "Blood pressure dropping, someone get that wound closed!" They rushed her to an ambulance as she passed out.
"Return to the past now." The white bubble expanded out, reversing time.
Jeremie worked on protecting the Tower used to make the Odd clone. He had wanted to work on the Skidbladnir, but they couldn't risk Xana possessing the clone again. Yumi had told them what happened. An Odd shooting could not be allowed again.