The group was sitting in the lunch room after the last Xana attack, discussing what they would do now that Odd was gone, his clone was tweaked and Yumi was leaving for Japan.
"I don't know what to do without Odd. I can't imagine what he might be going through right now, and that last Xana attack was so difficult without him! We need to look for him in the Skid!" Tears started to well up in Aelita's eyes.
"No, Aelita, it's too dangerous to go right now. I need to keep working on the Skid. Its shields are too weak." Jeremie was trying to think of an alternative, but drew a blank.
"We've gone there how many times without any problem. We might find Odd or my father. I'm going whether you all do or not." Aelita persisted, the first tear falling.
"Jeremie is right, Aelita, if Xana senses you're alone on Lyoko, he'll attack, and you can't hide in a Tower while you're in the Digital Sea." Ulrich shook his head.
"Ulrich is right. And that's if the Skid even holds up in its current state. We'll work something out, Aelita. I'll just have to keep tweaking your Code: Earth program. If you really want to, maybe Yumi, Ulrich and William could go with you to look in a few days." It was the best Jeremie could come up with at the time.
"No way, guys, sorry, but me, my parents and Hiroki are getting on the plane to Japan first thing tomorrow morning." Yumi shook her head and sighed.
"At least we got permission to let you spend the night in my room." Aelita smiled sweetly.
"I think we should recruit some sort of temporary member. Is there a way to wipe the memory of someone after a Return to the Past even if they were immune?" William offered.
"We managed to do it with Laura. I guess you're right. But who? After what Laura did, she's a big no. Sissi? Milly or Tamiya? Alex or Jim?" Jeremie thought out loud.
"You want to replace Odd?" Aelita gaped.
"Odd want want no you replace to Odd." Odd's clone babbled.
"No! We could never replace Odd. It's a temporary member to fill his and Yumi's spots just long enough for them to get back."
"Yeah, and what happens whenever you magically can't find Odd as soon as you find a new member? You're so jealous for no reason! I cannot believe how disgusting you can be sometimes, Jeremie Belpois." Aelita shoved her chair back as she stood upright, taking her tray and leaving the cafeteria.
"But I..." Jeremie watched her leave, a frown painted on his face.
-( ( • ) )-
"Well, we need to take a vote on who to recruit." Jeremie, with Yumi, Ulrich and William, was sitting in his room that afternoon after classes.
"But what about Aelita?" Yumi crossed her arms. "She deserves a vote as much as the rest of us do."
"She won't even get near me if I bring up the subject of a temporary member." Jeremie countered with a sigh.
"What if she's so opposed to this, she decides to not go to Lyoko as long as the temporary member is involved?" Ulrich crossed his arms.
"I hope not. Xana's way too dangerous to get all pouty about." William shook his head disapprovingly.
"It's too dangerous, Jeremie, if she won't go to Lyoko, then Xana wins, hands down." Ulrich disagreed.
"We don't even know if that'll happen!" Jeremie exclaimed.
"We really should just take a vote. You could send out a text to everyone, including Aelita, except with her, just ask her which of the choices she likes most. Don't imply it's for Lyoko, think something up." Yumi suggested.
"Yeah, you could say it's for a project for class where you have to have three members, and ask her who she wants the third member to be. You could tell her that Ulrich, Odd's clone and someone else are already a group, and Yumi and I don't have that assignment since we're a grade higher. That way, she doesn't ask why we aren't choices." William added.
"But that means we have to recruit someone within the next five hours before lights out. And that group project excuse rules out anyone like Alex or Christoph, since they too are in Yumi's grade and wouldn't have the assignment." Ulrich noted. Jeremie sat there, his hands clasped together, watching the idea evolve.
"I would rather not be here whenever the decision is made. I'll cast my vote as soon as we arrive at my grandmother's house, it's a 12-hour flight and I'm leaving at 5:30 in the morning. Don't worry, though, I'll be back in Boulogne-Billancourt on Saturday night." Yumi explained.
"Trying to get out of being here to break the news to our recruit, huh?" Ulrich scolded.
Yumi rolled her eyes. "Like you wouldn't do the same thing if you had an excuse."
"So what? I'm not doing it so it doesn't matter." Ulrich shot back.
"Guys, calm down! That was actually a really great idea. Tomorrow night, I count all the replies to the voting text, then me, Ulrich, William and maybe Aelita go and talk to the new recruit. If they don't want to be in the group, then we revote. Since there's more than one option, it doesn't have to be unanimous unless someone just can't stand whoever wins. Sound good?" Jeremie interrupted.
"Don't you feel bad about going behind Aelita's back?" Ulrich demanded.
"Of course, but we have to. We barely survived that Laser Arrow shootout of Odd's clone last time, and if Yumi wasn't there, more people would have been hurt, since the clone wouldn't track her in the woods if she wasn't. We might have even lost since it would go after William instead, and without him, the Tower wouldn't be deactivated. Imagine only having one person with Aelita and one to stay on Earth to divert the attack." Jeremie explained his point of view.
"I'll vote, but don't you dare think I like this. I can't believe you'd support this, Yumi." Ulrich shook his head. They all became quiet when Sissi, with Herve and Nicholas, knocked on Jeremie's door and he opened it.
"Hello Jeremie. Is Ulrich there? I was hoping he would come with me to the new Hunter vs Johnny vs Steel Man Act Three movie. I have tickets already, and there's enough for Yumi or whoever to come along too." Sissi asked in a surprisingly polite tone, and Ulrich stood up.
"I would love to go with you, Sissi. Don't worry about Yumi, she already has her mind set." Ulrich quipped.
"Great! Want to go right now so we can catch the 5 o'clock showing?"
"Sounds excellent." Ulrich looked over his shoulder at Yumi before walking away with Sissi, passing Milly and Tamiya in the hall. The two popped into Jeremie's room.
"Jeremie, do you have time to answer a few questions?" Milly jogged up to him and asked, with her microphone in his face.
"Well, actually, I was-" Jeremie started.
"Great!" Tamiya burst out.
"Is it true that you and your group of friends are psychic?" Milly barked, "We have sources that claim you and your friends, on some days, seem to know what's going to happen before it does."
"That's crazy, what makes you believe that? We just have good intuition." Jeremie stammered.
"Are you sure you aren't just saying that so you won't have your secret revealed?" Milly pressed. Just then, Odd's clone flung open his dorm door and waltzed right out, carrying Kiwi and a game controller.
"Go in, I want to play!" The clone tried to get the plug to go into Kiwi's mouth. "Maybe it goes in the other end."
"Um, I have to go, bye!" Jeremie ran out and took Kiwi away from the clone. "We do not put controllers in dogs!"
"Controller do in not dog put controller in in we dog." The clone babbled stupidly.
-( ( • ) )-
At dinner, the group plus the Odd clone sat at their usual table, Aelita at the far end from Jeremie. The Odd clone held a banana up to his face, looking at it. He then shoved it up his left nostril.
"No, Odd, the banana goes in your mouth, not your nose." Aelita leaned on her elbow and rolled her eyes.
"Banana Odd mouth your go nose."
"Jeremie, haven't you fixed his babble speak yet?" Ulrich groaned.
"Nope, it's just another emergent quality, like my clone's flirtiness and William's clone's stupidity. Anyway, Aelita, if you want, tomorrow night we could spend the night at the Factory in Sector 5, working on the Skid and maybe checking Xana's memory for Odd in the Celestial Dome. We could just get back to school in the morning and skip breakfast." Jeremie suggested, and Aelita brightened up a bit.
"I'd like that a lot." She smiled.
-( ( • ) )-
Outside of the principal's office the next morning, at 4:30 AM, Mr. Ishiyama checked Yumi out from her little sleepover with Aelita so they could catch their flight. Yumi was walking to the gate to get in the car, when, much to her surprise, Aelita, Ulrich, William and Jeremie emerged from around a corner.
"What are you guys doing up so early?" She blinked, surprised.
"Seeing you off. Have a great trip!" Aelita beamed. William hugged Yumi briefly as Aelita and Jeremie smiled in a friendly manner. Ulrich hugged her after William let go, for a tiny bit longer than the first hug Yumi received that morning.
"Ulrich, can I talk to you for a second or two? I think we should talk." Yumi smiled to dissipate any worry he might garner from the dreaded 'we need to talk' phrase many people feared.
"I know Yumi, you're leaving for what'll seem like forever, and I wanted to apologize for being so rude about the temporary member thing."
"It's alright." Yumi smiled.
"I also wanted to tell you something before you left."
"I do too, Ulrich, you go first." Yumi twisted her arm behind her back, both excited and terrified.
"Well, you see…" Ulrich stammered, "I wanted to know..."
"Yes?"
"So...are you...are you and William, like...together?"
"I can't believe you, Ulrich! I don't like William that way!"
"Then how come every time I see you two, you're flirting?"
"He flirts with me Ulrich, and even if I did, at least I haven't kissed him!"
"Sissi has nothing to do with this, Yumi. Just because I went to a movie with her doesn't mean I like her."
"Then how come you kiss her all the time?"
"I do not! I've only kissed her three times, and one of those times was a Xana clone!"
"Three times? I knew you kissed her twice, but three times? You're even worse than I thought."
"The third time doesn't count, she kissed me, I didn't kiss her back! And the first time was to get you out of trouble!"
"You were all good and ready to kiss her though, weren't you? Couldn't think of another way? Or didn't want to think of another way?"
"Yumi, I had to act quickly, and that was the quickest way. I didn't want to, but to get you out of trouble, I would do anything." Ulrich blushed. "I didn't want you to leave like this. I'm sorry, Yumi."
"Fine, look, I'll come to school on Monday."
"You be safe, Yumi, Xana could attack you."
"He could, but at least I know what to expect from an attack by Xana." Yumi walked away, back to the others and her father, leaving Ulrich still stinging from the tongue-lashing, and grieving that he didn't get to say what he wanted to say to her.
-( ( • ) )-
At the airport, the Ishiyamas had just put their bags on the conveyer and gone through the metal detectors. Her father rounded the group up to make sure they know what was going on. "We fly from here to Moscow, where we land for refueling, then to the airport in Kyoto."
"Come on, Dad, we flew all the way out here when we moved, I think we know what is going to happen."
"Hiroki, you were a toddler when we flew." Mrs. Ishiyama laughed.
"I still remember! I'm so excited to get on. I'm so close to beating the Zombie Wizard on Tales of Esmerelda. Why can't I just play right now?"
"Now Hiroki, you know I don't like you walking around staring at a screen. Calm down when we get on the plane and make sure you keep the sound down on your Game Pad." Mr. Ishiyama warned.
"I know, that's why I brought headphones. But Yumi! Aren't you going to miss your bo-o-o-oyfriend?" Hiroki crooned.
"Shut up Hiroki! He's not my boyfriend!" Yumi received several disapproving looks, from both her parents and people around them, and blushed.
"Hiroki, keep quiet about your sister and her boyfriend, you will have a girlfriend when you get older." Mrs. Ishiyama scolded.
He's not my boyfriend. Yumi scowled.
"A girlfriend? Ew." Hiroki wrinkled his nose.
"What about Milly? You don't think she's 'ew', now do you?" Yumi teased, happy she got her revenge.
"Shut up!" Hiroki blurted.
"Hiroki!" Mrs. Ishiyama chided furiously.
-( ( • ) )-
They soon boarded the airplane, taking their seats. In the cockpit of the plane, a flight attendant dissolved into a black mist and dove into the controls of the plane. The pilot and co-pilot soon walked in and took their seats. Doing the usual pilot checklist and informing the passengers of the trip and to fasten their seat belts, they soon lifted the plane off without any trouble, despite Xana's presence.
-( ( • ) )-
In Jeremie's dorm room, they sat around, talking about the mission to Sector 5. "We'll go tonight, and also go through with our plan." Jeremie winked at Ulrich and William, but Aelita didn't notice.
"Sounds great. You know, I'm glad to see you weren't serious about a temporary member, but that you are serious about getting Odd back." Aelita beamed. William and Ulrich exchanged an uncomfortable glance.
"Plus, the Super Scan shows nothing, and that is a good sign."
"Or a sign that Xana is doing his bidding with Odd, like making him my replacement." William warned.
"I hope not." Ulrich shook his head. "Fighting on Lyoko will be hard enough without Odd and Yumi. Imagine without Yumi and with Odd, except he's on the other side."
"That's why I've been working on the Skid harder than ever, and why we're going to Sector 5 tonight." Jeremie nodded.
"Last time we lost someone, we couldn't find them on the Skid. We needed a special program." Ulrich glanced at William.
"That's only if Xana has him."
"If Xana has him, I feel bad for Odd. Maybe you could come to Lyoko with us." William suggested.
"He's right, Jeremie, you need to come to Lyoko with us. I know you don't like it, but surely you can fight a little."
"I will never go back there, I look absolutely ridiculous." Ulrich laughed; he had been there for the few occasions Jeremie was virtualized. He was, indeed, ridiculous.
"You did it to save your friends before, so don't say you would never go back there." Aelita scolded playfully.
"And to apologize to you, there are some things important enough for me to go there, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Jeremie shook his head no.
"Come on, Jeremie, give me and Ulrich time to train you. You could become a great Kankrelat Killer." William laughed.
"If you hate your clothes so much then give them a redesign like you did for ours." Aelita offered.
"No way, that's just not happening and that's that." Jeremie crossed his arms and set his jaw.
"Whatever you say, Peter Pan." Ulrich gave one last jab. "I wonder if Yumi is in Japan yet." He dialed her number.
-( ( • ) )-
On the airplane, Yumi ignored her phone, for something serious was going on. The pilot's voice filled the air. "Uh...we seem to have hit some turbulence, please keep your seat belts on until notified otherwise."
"Hiroki, for the millionth time, get down!" Yumi hissed.
"Aw, come on, it was just getting fun." Hiroki hopped off of his perch, the folding panel used to hold food, or in this case, a young Japanese boy in the ninth grade, from which he could see his surroundings better.
"Hiroki, that was dangerous, now get your seat belt on." Mrs. Ishiyama scolded. She and Mr. Ishiyama were in the seat in front of the two kids, trusting Yumi to keep an eye on Hiroki. He had told Hiroki and Yumi to behave, not that he was worried about Yumi, but Hiroki could be hyper at times.
"Listen to the pilot or I'll leave you in Moscow." Mr. Ishiyama growled. Hiroki put his seat belt on. He knew his dad wouldn't really leave him in Moscow, or at least he hoped so, but once they got to Japan, he knew he might get grounded.
"Okay, please remain calm, what is happening is normal, you may notice the plane has turned north and is moving towards Orly Airport. This is...uh, don't panic."
"What is going on?" Yumi looked out the window; the sun was to the left, instead of behind them. She got her call phone out and saw that Ulrich called, but she had no SOS XANA messages. She called him back. "Ulrich, is it Xana?" She whispered it secretively.
"Is what Xana?"
"The plane just did something weird, and the pilots keep telling us not to panic."
"I don't know, let me ask Jeremie." They hung up and Ulrich turned to Jeremie. "Yumi says Xana is attacking her, are there any towers activated?"
"Of course not, Ulrich. The Super Scan would have popped up if there were."
"Then how do we stop it?" Ulrich's words were caught in his throat. If Xana was attacking Yumi and they couldn't stop it, would Xana succeed?
"If she says Xana is attacking, maybe…" Jeremie turned around and started typing. Yumi heard clicking and clacking in the background.
"What? What are you doing, Jeremie?" Ulrich looked over Aelita's head.
"Well, maybe Xana is using a different signal, like how used to, I couldn't detect when Franz Hopper activated a tower. I've changed the range of frequency that the Super Scan looks for. If it doesn't find anything, then Xana isn't attacking."
"Then that means there's a problem with the plane itself and we can't do anything about it. There'll still be a problem with it even if we go to the Factory right now and launch a return."
"Figures." Yumi sighed and went to hang up. "Bye."
"Good luck." Ulrich hung up. If this wasn't Xana's doing, then Yumi would die. A return to the past wouldn't change that. Ulrich turned his phone back on and called Yumi. "Yumi, you are positive it's Xana?"
"Yes! The pilot finally gave up, and told us the controls, well, he's not controlling them! We are flying towards Paris right now and if we don't stop we might crash!" Yumi was frantic.
"Jeremie can't find any towers activated, he's doing something else now but if we don't find an activated tower…"
"Then there's nothing we can do to stop this."
"Hey Ulrich, ask her who she voted for. If this is Xana then we absolutely need a temporary member to stop this attack." Jeremie barked.
"What?!" Aelita stood up as Ulrich relayed the message to Yumi. "I told you I don't approve of a temporary member, because Odd can never be replaced! Is that why you asked me who I like the most?!"
"Then we'll be adding a member and then taking them back out if Odd comes back!" Jeremie shot back.
"Not if! When!" Aelita screamed as Yumi's choice came through to Ulrich.
"That's my vote. But if this isn't Xana...Oh Ulrich, I don't want to die, Ulrich, make it stop!"
"I can't Yumi, I, I..."
"Oh no, two jets just came up alongside us!" Ulrich heard some weird noises, some screaming, and then nothing.
"Yumi! Yumi!" He heard a click.
"Uh no, I found a Tower. Xana was just masking the frequency using the Tower to get to the Super Scan long enough to give him basic control." Jeremie explained as Aelita pouted.
"Good for you." she growled, prompting a glare from Jeremie.
"Xana won't be able to do this again, though, I just locked him out of the process the same way I did with the Return to the Past program. Fool me once, shame on you, Xana. There won't be an opportunity to fool me twice."
"Fine. I guess you already have my vote. I'm going to the Factory, Ulrich, you come with me. We can go to Lyoko and get a head start on that Tower. You two can go get our new member to come to Lyoko.
"Alright, William, so the choices were Sissi, Jim, Milly Solovioff and Tamiya Diop, Alexandre Du'Rona, Heidi Klinger, Christoph M'Bala and Hiroki. Hiroki's out of the question since he's not here. There's...one vote for Sissi, one for Alex, one for Jim..." Jeremie counted them off on his phone.
-( ( • ) )-
"We've got to hurry! I lost Yumi last time I called, she said something about jets flying up and then there was screaming." Ulrich panted as he and Aelita ran across the grounds.
"Jets? What could Xana be up to this time?" Aelita wondered, still annoyed.
"Xana took over the plane Yumi was on! They're flying towards Paris. Maybe the military is going to shoot them down, keep them from flying into the Capital Building." Although Ulrich was already worried, he seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation as his sprint took an increase in speed.
"Let's take a taxi. It doesn't matter if we get caught leaving school grounds, we need to get to the Factory, fast!" Aelita and Ulrich turned out the gate and ran over two streets to the nearest major street. They stood on the curb and hailed a cab.
-( ( • ) )-
A few moments later, they arrived in front of the Factory. Ulrich pulled out a wad of Euros and gave them to the driver. "Keep the change!" The duo burst out of the cab, leaving the taxi driver with fifty when the cost wasn't even twenty. They took the elevator down to the control room, giving Aelita time to check the Super Scan.
"Okay, the tower is in the Ice Sector. I'll get us as close as possible." Aelita sent the Overwing and Overbike and started the countdown. They took the ladder and waited in the Scanners. The powerful wind drifted upward within the Scanners as they floated upward and spun. The wind blew with more force than before, and their molecular structure broke apart and recomposed on Lyoko in the form of two wireframes. They landed by the vehicles, got on, and flew over the ice floes quickly, with no immediate resistance.
"Looks like two Tarantulas, the Dark Angel and a Megatank guarding the Tower." Aelita observed as the duet waited behind a large ice formation.
"I wish I could call Yumi, see if the jets are still there."
-( ( • ) )-
Yumi called just as Jeremie was about to state the results to William. "Please tell me you found the Tower!" Yumi was no longer worried about being quiet, for everyone else was far too busy begging whatever god or gods they believed in to spare them.
"We did, Ulrich and Aelita went to the Factory and me and William were about to give the lucky winner the news."
"The pilot told us to call our loved ones if they weren't on board; he said the jets will shoot us down if we get too close to the Capital Building. Please, if you guys don't deactivate the Tower in time, tell Ulrich…"
"He already knows, Yumi."
"Good bye, Jeremie."
"Don't say it like that, Yumi, they will deactivate the tower in time." There was a click, and Jeremie hung his phone up. He turned to his desktop and brought up the news.
"As you just saw moments ago the hijacked airplane is being escorted by two jets. Reports say it was not a violent takeover, but someone has taken control of the plane by remote. Whoever you are, whatever reason you are doing this, please stop! There are innocent people on board, if you are an engineer who has a grudge against the airline, please give control back to the pilots. The military has been given permission to shoot the plane down if it gets within one kilometer of the Capital Building."
"Hurry up, guys...you only have a few minutes before the plane gets shot down..." Jeremie begged the two on Lyoko, although they couldn't hear him.
-( ( • ) )-
Ulrich was busy blocking the lasers being fired from a Tarantula but still had his mind on Yumi. Aelita was firing off Energy Fields but the Dark Angel kept keeping her away. "Aelita, could you use your Creativity to take out one of them?"
"I don't know, Ulrich, I haven't used it since the Ice and Forest Sectors got corrupted and recreated. They might be different now." Aelita closed her eyes and began the humming to try to split the ground beneath a Tarantula.
-( ( • ) )-
"Do you swear to keep the secret?" Jeremie crossed his arms and looked at the person on the other side of the hallway.
-( ( • ) )-
Nothing happened at first. "I'm sorry...I can't do it." A few seconds later, the ground below the Tarantula was suddenly deleted, and the monster fell through. "Nevermind!"
-( ( • ) )-
"Great. Now, do you understand that when you are virtualized, I will add a small failsafe that, if triggered, will erase your memories on Lyoko and of Returns to the Past? And do you understand that, when Odd comes back, we might let you keep your memory, but if you betray our secret or become too much of a nuisance, we will activate the failsafe?"
-( ( • ) )-
Ulrich blocked the Dark Angel's continuous lasers, and was forced to take on all three monsters at once when the Megatank shot a blast and the remaining Tarantula turned its sights from Aelita to him. He made a valiant effort to block all three, but soon succumbed to the onslaught.
-( ( • ) )-
"Good. Welcome to the team, for now. Let's go." William interjected, and the three took off.
-( ( • ) )-
"Ulrich, are you there? I need to get to the tower and I know how." Aelita breathed as she jerked the Overwing aside to dodge a Megatank blast.
"Aelita! Don't do anything stupid! If you get devirtualized, Yumi..." Ulrich warned.
"Just trust me!" Aelita was zooming around, dodging the lasers. Ulrich watched her on the map.
"Just be careful, please. For Yumi's sake." Aelita, on the Overwing, kept flying around and dodging lasers. Finally, she flew away and the Tarantulas stopped firing.
Jeremie arrived in the Control Room. "The other two are going down to the Scanner Room, what's going on?" he confronted Ulrich.
"I don't know what she's doing, but she isn't abandoning the mission, she won't let Yumi die...will she?" Ulrich was obviously worried as he handed Jeremie the headset.
Aelita turned around on the Overwing then charged the tower. "Aelita, no! You're going to get devirtualized if you take just three shots!" Jeremie cautioned as he brought up William's ID Card as well as a blank one, ready to begin the transfer as soon as Aelita would turn around, if she did at all.
"Exactly. I can take three hits." Aelita gained more and more speed, not worried about the lasers flying by her. "Jeremie, when I say so, dematerialize the Overwing."
"If you say so, Aelita." Jeremie hoped her plan would work. If it did, Yumi would be saved. If Aelita was hit by the Tarantulas or the Megatank, Yumi wouldn't make it, nor would all the other innocent people. Hiroki, the Ishiyama parents, the pilots...
"Now!" Jeremie devirtualized the Overwing. Aelita got hit, once, twice, then she disappeared from his map, just before reaching the tower.
"No! She didn't make it!" Jeremie screamed, and Ulrich practically collapsed. Aelita disappeared off of the map; her planned suicide dive into the tower must've failed.
"I made it, Jeremie; just give me a few more seconds to deactivate the Tower." Her voice came from within the Tower.
-( ( • ) )-
In the airplane a father held his kids in his arms. His wife was crying but he wasn't. He had to be strong for his family.
Mr. Ishiyama looked out the window and saw a jet prepare to fire a missile. He closed his eyes, and a tear rolled out. Suddenly there was a jerk and the plane shot upward. At first the passengers panicked, thinking the missile hit, but there was no explosion.
"We have control of the plane again, please don't shoot us!" The jet stayed by the plane but didn't fire again. The plane slowed down and flew away from the Capital Building. "We are planning on landing at the nearest airport; please remain seated with your seat belts on."
"Thank you." Mr. Ishiyama said back to the pilot, though he couldn't hear, too relieved that their family would live.
"What was that, Honey?" Mrs. Ishiyama asked.
"I...I'm thankful we're safe."
-( ( • ) )-
Aelita was transferred back to Earth, and the group watched the news. The new member hung back in the shadow of the Holomap, the 3D image casting a silhouette over their frame.
"You saw it here first, a jet fired upon the airplane but missed when the airplane shot up into the sky. The airplane seems to be back under control of the pilots. The jets have not received orders to stand down yet but are escorting the airplane to the Orly Airport to get the passengers off and to let investigators find the device used to control the airplane by remote. Whoever did this, thank you for releasing control. You will be punished when caught, but you won't have murder on your soul."
"We did it. You did it, Aelita." Ulrich congratulated gratefully. She stopped staring sadly at the new member, stopped thinking of Odd being replaced, and smiled.
"It was close. I was hit and I didn't even know if I was going to devirtualize."
"But you did it, Aelita. It was reckless, dangerous, but it worked." William put in. Ulrich got his cell phone out and called Yumi.
"She isn't answering. Why won't she answer? We stopped Xana, didn't we?"
"According to the news, we did. Maybe she turned it off after I got done talking to her." Jeremie suggested.
"You talked to her? What did she say?" Jeremie smiled at Ulrich.
"Good luck."
-( ( • ) )-
The next day, Yumi and her family returned to their home after canceling their flight to Japan. After unpacking their luggage, Mr. Ishiyama got his family together in the kitchen.
"Children, you will be going to church this Sunday. Your mother will take you." he ordered.
"Uh, why, Dad? I heard how boring church is. It's just some old guy droning on about another old guy who died then came back to life and flew off into the sky. If I want to see flying zombies I'll watch Zombie XDS on Saturday mornings."
"You will start going this Sunday, Hiroki. You too, Yumi."
"Will you come with us too, Honey?" Mrs. Ishiyama tilted her head.
"I can't, not this Sunday. I have to deal with work and tell them I won't be taking my vacation time after all." he explained.
"Dad, can I go to the school really fast? I want to see my friends, let them know I am okay." Yumi pleaded.
"Yes, Yumi, but you will go to church this Sunday with your mother and brother." he affirmed.
"I will, Dad, don't worry."
"It's my job to worry about you, Yumi." Yumi left the house while simultaneously calling Ulrich, who was with the others; they agreed to meet in Jeremie's room.
-( ( • ) )-
She arrived and knocked on the door, opening it to a surprise. After she opened it, Ulrich practically ran and jumped to hug Yumi.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Yumi." Yumi blushed, but noticed Ulrich didn't.
"It's okay, Ulrich, you did it."
"The Princess is the one who saved the day; we were just there for the show." Ulrich let go of Yumi and closed the door behind her.
"Hey, so who's the lucky winner who gets to come to Lyoko?" Yumi looked from face to face, noting Aelita's was scowling at the subject.
"Oh, didn't Ulrich tell you on the phone?"