The group was having a meeting in the Control Room. "But how did Xana know where he was and why did he lead Alex there?" Aelita wondered. She was clearly worried about her father and Odd.
"I don't think he knew where they were. He had an idea but didn't know where exactly. He led Alex in their general direction and took advantage of Kiwi to pinpoint where they were." Jeremie hypothesized.
"Which means if we find Franz and Odd, then Xana finds them and will try to destroy them." Ulrich guessed. That put the group between a rock and a hard place. Ulrich wanted to get rid of the clone but if they got the real Odd hurt or worse, he would never forgive himself. "But we need to get Odd and Franz to Earth."
"Without Xana getting them." Aelita looked at the monitor. "Maybe if I tried to contact him?"
"But he talked to me...at least, I think it was him." Alex crossed his arms; he wasn't sure. "The voice didn't sound like a middle-aged man."
"You don't know what Franz sounds like, so you can't be sure. And you said you heard it in your head." Yumi pointed out.
"I know, but it just sounded weird, like a little kid's and an old man's at the same time. Don't ask me how it could sound like that, because I don't know. Maybe because I had Kiwi merged with me? A dog's hearing is better than our own."
"Well, it has to be Franz Hopper. No one else knows about Lyoko or could go to the internet like we do." William affirmed.
"Unless it's Antea." Everyone turned to Jeremie.
"Aunt Tia? You said that was a diversion Odd made up to keep Aelita out of trouble." Alex frowned.
"No, Antea, Aelita's mom."
"But she's working for Tyron. She's his wife now. She might not even be there willingly. He probably has her locked up." Aelita sighed.
"Aelita, you know that everything we found turned up a dead end at when the government got her and tried to use her to get Franz to turn over the Super Computer blueprints. Then she magically appeared married to a guy who is trying desperately to capture or kill us, and we haven't heard from her or that guy since. I highly doubt, even if he really is married to her, that he cares about her at all." Aelita stared at Jeremie.
"If they had another Super Computer, even after our virus, then they wouldn't need this one." Jeremie pointed out, and the two started to argue.
"Maybe he forced her to help him build his Super Computer in exchange for getting into contact with me, maybe that's why he tried to take me. She did work with Carthage, she might know some things about the Super Computer. It could be Tyron in that ship for all we know." Aelita shot back.
-( ( • ) )-
The group sat and listened for a few minutes, then interrupted the two. "This isn't helping us!" Yumi's yell shut the two up.
"It doesn't matter who it is, they have Odd. We have to find the craft and Odd again. Maybe we can find a way to get Odd into his old Nav Skid." Jeremie insisted.
"But if we do that, Xana will find them, Jeremie. I don't like having the clone around but if we lead Xana to Odd, we might not be as lucky as we were last time." Ulrich looked at the time on his phone. "It's almost time for curfew."
"You guys go. I'll work a little longer."
"Jeremie, you've spent almost all your time here. Are you even doing your homework?" William pried.
"That isn't important. I can make up for it with my test scores." Jeremie started to work on the control panel, ignoring the others. They got on the elevator silently and the doors closed.
"Aelita, you have to help him." Ulrich chided, garnering a stare from the pinkette.
"If Yumi said she wished you never existed, then tried to get rid of one of your friends like Emily or someone, then had the gall to get mad if you merely said someone looks good in their Lyoko uniform, would you want to work with her?" Aelita burst as Alex flinched beside her.
"I...Yumi and I are just really good friends." Ulrich stammered as he and Yumi blushed.
"Whatever. I wasn't even talking about you two being more than friends." Aelita rolled her eyes. With that, the elevator doors opened and she and the others left the Factory.
Jeremie ignored the time and worked well past midnight. He had to find Odd to save the relationship with the woman he loved. Even if Odd was a rival for her heart...he had to find him.
-( ( • ) )-
The next couple days, Jeremie was doing worse in school. Mr. Delmas called his parents to notify them, and they called him. "Jeremie, we're worried. What's going on?"
"Nothing. I've just been busy."
"With what? Your schoolwork is very important to us. You used to do so well, but your grades have dropped. Tell us, please?"
"It's nothing to worry about. I've just been busy." Jeremie was on his way to the Factory. "Don't worry."
"But we will, honey. It's our job." His mother tried to get Jeremie to talk but he just kept telling her not to worry.
-( ( • ) )-
Xana was ready to attack. He activated a Tower and sent a specter to Earth.
-( ( • ) )-
"Stay here, you stupid thing." Ulrich cuffed the clone to Odd's bed with some toy handcuffs one might get at a dollar store. "I'll be back in a couple hours, okay?"
"Back couple in a hours okay." Ulrich sighed and left the room.
Sissi, being suspicious, had been listening. It almost sounded like Ulrich thought Odd wasn't really Odd, but something else. She knocked on the door, and recieved no answer. She waited a few seconds, then came in. When she stepped into the room, the specter floated out of the ceiling light and possessed her.
"Hello, clone." She smiled evilly as Xana's symbol appeared in her eyes.
"Hi Sissi. Normal acting others front."
"Don't worry. I know you're a clone. You're going to help me." Sissi sparked with energy and destroyed the cuffs that had been holding the clone to the bed. "Come with me."
"With me come okay yes." The clone followed Sissi out of the room.
-( ( • ) )-
Jeremie, in the library, heard the Super Scan beeping and pulled his laptop out. "Ice Sector. What is Xana doing?" He got his cell phone out and called Ulrich. "Xana's attacking."
"Man, I just got the clone out of my hair." Ulrich was ready to spar with Yumi. "Yumi's here, I'll call Aelita, and Yumi can call William."
"Thanks. I'll call Alex." They hung up and made their calls.
-( ( • ) )-
Sissi led Odd to the middle of the campus. "Now, clone, you're going to do as I say."
"Play Sissi says?"
"Yes. Sissi says hit me." The clone swung at her, stunning the people around them with sheer shock. Sissi whispered again, "Sissi says tackle me and beat me."
"Tackle and beat me says Sissi." The clone tackled her and started to beat on her. Sissi screamed.
"Help! He's gone crazy!" Sissi, controlled by a specter, wailed, pretending as if the game of Sissi Says had never taken place. "When my father hears about this, you'll be expelled!" Students crowded around the clone they thought was Odd Della Robbia.
"You bully!"
"How could you?!"
"Jerk!"
"Crazy gone help?" The clone was dragged away from Sissi by several students. "Father hears expelled when this?" The clone sparked a little.
"Whoa!" Tamiya was hit with a spark, and she rubbed where it landed.
"Odd!" Ulrich saw the clone and ran over to him. "What happened?"
"He attacked Sissi!" Milly squealed from the crowd.
"What? He wouldn't do that." Unless he was possessed by Xana again. "Odd, you're in trouble."
"Trouble? She told me to tackle her." The sparking must've included a spark of brilliance in the clone's head. "I did as she said." It sparked again.
"What the heck is he doing?" Students backed away from Odd.
"Heck his the what?" The most recent spark was a spark of stupid, apparently.
"What is going on here!?" Jim confronted the group of students.
"Odd attacked Sissi." Azra Urgup chirped.
"That doesn't sound like him."
"We saw it!" Anais Fiquet wailed.
"He hit me for no reason." Ulrich narrowed his gaze at Sissi, suspecting Xana possession.
"Odd, is this true?" Jim bellowed.
"She was asking for it." The clone answered perfectly honestly, albeit in a way that could be taken in the wrong way.
"Whatever she said or did to you does not give you the right to hit her or any other student." Jim grabbed Odd's arm and dragged him to the office.
"This is bad." Ulrich peeled off from the group of kids and ran off, with Sissi's Xanafied eyes watching him.
"Sissi, are you okay?" Herve and Nicholas ran up to her, the smaller of the two being out of breath. "What happened?"
"Fools! He could have killed me! Aren't you supposed to be my friends? Where were you?"
"Enjoying a wonderful afternoon experience."
"Fishing again? Get William, Alex and Yumi! I need them to know what that idiot did to me!"
"Where would they be?"
"At the Factory by the river you fish at. Where you saw Odd and Aelita run off to and kiss in." Herve and Nicholas ran off, and Sissi chuckled as she sprinted into the woods after Ulrich.
-( ( • ) )-
Ulrich sprinted through the woods, and soon stopped at the sewer entrance. As he lifted the lid, Sissi leapt from behind and tackled him. "No, Xana!"
"Yes!" Sissi pulled her hand back and it sparked. "Goodbye, oh Ulrich dear." she mocked with an evil grin.
"No!" Ulrich tried to block the punch with his right arm, but Sissi's fist shattered the bone. He screamed out in pain as Sissi pulled her hand back and tried to crush his skull again. Once again, he feebly blocked with his left arm, and once again, the bone shattered.
-( ( • ) )-
Aelita ran into the Factory, with the prying eyes of Herve and Nicholas watching her, but waiting for the other three as Sissi had commanded them.
-( ( • ) )-
"Good enough." Sissi climbed off of Ulrich. With broken arms, he couldn't climb down or up a ladder, or get up from the ground very easily either. He couldn't make it to the Factory as easily as Herve and Nicholas had, and that was all Xana needed. Sissi descended into the sewers.
-( ( • ) )-
Yumi, Alex and William rose out of the sewers and saw Herve and Nicholas dashing up the stairs of the waterfront. "Uh, what are you doing here?" Yumi backed away, thinking they were possessed.
"Sissi told us to tell you that Odd attacked her." Herve blurted.
"What? But he wouldn't do that." Alex gaped, and Yumi began to worry. The last time the clone attacked, it nearly killed her, not to mention Sissi and Nicholas.
"He did! Everyone saw it. Jim took him to Mr. Delmas." Nicholas insisted.
"That's not good." William was anxious. "We um, have to go in there." William pointed at the Factory.
"Wow Yumi, you're into having two guys at the same time? And here I thought you liked Ulrich." Nicholas marvelled, and all three of them flushed bright red.
"They're just really good friends." William forced a smile. "If you two don't mind the three of us would like to be alone."
"William, don't, just shut up." Yumi stared at him, angry at how he made it sound. Alex's face was buried in his palm.
"Let's go." the blonde suggested. He and Yumi ran past Sissi's lackeys and William, and went into the Factory.
"Must be going. Can't let Alex have all the fun." William gave a goodbye salute and ran after Yumi and Alex.
"Wow! Sissi is going to want to know about this." Nicholas shook his head in amazement. He and Herve ran back to the school to look for Sissi.
-( ( • ) )-
Jeremie tapped the Enter key, sending Aelita to Lyoko. Yumi, Alex and William stopped at the Control Room. "Who made it already?" Yumi breathed.
"Aelita. Wasn't Ulrich with you?"
"No, but I think Xana possessed the clone again."
"Not good. What did it do?"
"Attacked Sissi."
"Not Ulrich?" Yumi shrugged her shoulders. "Let me call him." Jeremie made the call.
Ulrich tried to reach for his phone in his pocket, but ended up screaming out and leaning back against a tree.
"I guess he's not coming. Hurry, you three." Jeremie commanded, and William punched the button as Yumi got back on the elevator.
"I'm sorry, you guys. I just acted like that to make sure they didn't think about following us." William explained sheepishly.
"Not into that crap." Alex murmured.
"Whatever." Yumi growled as they stepped off of the elevator and got in the Scanners.
"Transfer Yumi, Transfer William, Transfer Alex. Scanner Yumi, Scanner William, Scanner Alex. Virtualization." They landed in the Ice Sector, a few meters away from Aelita.
"Where to, Jeremie?" William got on the Overbike as Yumi got on the Overwing. Aelita was already on the Overboard.
"You're close. Go north. It should be there."
"Um...I don't have a vehicle." Alex glanced around, as if a fourth Overvehicle would magically appear just out of his field of vision.
"You could try to figure out what your movement power is, or you could ride with someone else." Jeremie suggested. Yumi shook her head no, still annoyed at William's remark about two guys simultaneously, and Alex simply didn't want to ride with William. He slowly walked over to Aelita.
"May I?"
"Hold on tight." She nodded in the affirmative. Alex smiled to show his gratitude and got on.
-( ( • ) )-
"There's nothing there, Jeremie." Yumi drove skyward to get a better view, and still saw no activated Tower.
"But, the Super Scan shows it is there." Jeremie checked the coordinates again, then looked at the map. "The Super Scan says it is there."
"We don't see it." Aelita closed her eyes, then opened them, wondering if Xana was playing a trick. She activated her Second Sight, as she had the last time Xana made a Tower invisible. "Nothing. Jeremie, you're messing up."
"No, I'm not!" Jeremie insisted.
-( ( • ) )-
Sissi collapsed as the black mist left her.
-( ( • ) )-
On Lyoko the ground shook. Red rings, meaning pulsations, appeared in a fading trail.
"Whoa." Alex blinked. The activated Tower faded into existence, as did its guards. Seven Tarantulas, three Kankrelats, and the Dark Angel.
"Whoa is right." William was shocked. "How did Xana do that?"
"I don't know." Aelita bit her lip. That kind of power could be more than they could handle. Not only that, but now they were dealing with an army of Xana's monsters without Ulrich or Odd.
"Be careful. I...Aelita, this might be it." Jeremie knew his friends were outclassed. Alex had never fought on Lyoko before, and Ulrich and Odd were two of their best fighters. Xana was well-calculated.
"We'll do this. We always do." Yumi withdrew her fans and threw them at a Tarantula with a war cry. Another Tarantula shot them out of the air.
"Surrender now and give Xana the girl, or be destroyed." The Dark Angel flared its wings out from its body in its equivalent of a fighting stance.
"Never!" William summoned the Zweihander from silver mist. "We'll destroy you, and him too! Rosetta!" William charged his sword and swung it. The energy blade flared out, but the Dark Angel dodged it. It continued and hit a Tarantula, cutting it in half and destroying it.
"Energy Field!" Aelita threw but missed a Tarantula, instead hitting a Kankrelat.
"Um...Electrokinesis!" Alex pulled a hand off Aelita's waist, the green bolts crackling over his fingers. He turned it outward, a green bolt lancing through the air, and got lucky when the bolt struck a Kankrelat in the Eye of Xana.
"Then so be it! Destroy them!" The remaining Tarantulas and the Kankrelat opened fire as the Dark Angel charged William.
-( ( • ) )-
The Lyoko Warriors battled the Dark Angel and Tarantulas, but were losing. "Yumi, you just lost another twenty points!"
"I know, Jeremie!" Yumi could barely do more than block lasers with her fans. "We need help!"
"I tried calling Ulrich again, but he won't answer his phone." Jeremie got more and more worried. His friends were losing. Would he have to go to Lyoko to at least try to help?
"Energy Field!" Aelita threw the energy orb and hit the remaining Kankrelat. Alex aimed with a free hand, using one of his pistols, and took a shot, but missed as well. His bullet landed harmlessly in the ground, the cyber blue capsule cracking apart and giving off a small explosion as it was destroyed. He had already run out of ammo on the other pistol, and Jeremie had yet to make a reloading program for his pistols like Odd's Laser Arrow reloader.
A laser hit the Overboard and it devirtualized. As the two fell, Aelita passed her hand over her watch and her wings appeared. Alex, however, fell, and without Aelita and the Overboard to keep him safe, the Tarantulas turned their sights on him. Aelita zoomed across the Sector, flying low. "Energy Field!" She threw two energy orbs and destroyed two Tarantulas as she flew by them, leaving Alex to only be hit by two lasers.
"Alex, you only have ten Life Points left!"
"Ugh..." He groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. "I wish I could move at lightspeed so I wouldn't have to worry about getting hit." As the words escaped his mouth, he started to move in a speedy green blur with a similar green trail, at least as fast as William and Ulrich when using their Super Smoke and Super Sprint, respectively.
"What just happened? You're losing Life Points. Seven, six..." Jeremie read.
So I can run fast by saying Lightspeed. Good to know. Better make these Life Points count. "Eat metal!" Alex vaulted into the air and fired the rest of his clip into a Tarantula as it fired a laser into his gut, devirtualizing him.
"Goodbye." The Dark Angel devirtualized William with its claws almost simultaneously with Alex's devirtualization.
"No!" Jeremie saw both ID Cards flash on the screen and drain of color. "Not good."
"Send me back, Jeremie." Alex breathed from the Scanner as he rubbed a hand inside his shirt against his abs, where the final laser had hit.
"I can't until the cooldown period is over. Your profile is damaged from losing your Life Points and it takes time to reintegrate." Jeremie sighed.
"How long is that?"
"12 hours max."
"Damn it."
"Man, I should have dodged that last attack." William sat down and waited.
-( ( • ) )-
Aelita was dodging lasers as the Dark Angel chased after Yumi. There was no fighting, just running away. There was nothing they could do. Xana was going to win, and it would be the end for them.
Jeremie was about to give up all hope and send himself, when something appeared on the map. "Not another monster!" Jeremie pulled up the countdown to virtualize himself.
"Jeremie, there's something coming this way!" Aelita saw it first; it was a conical craft, not entirely unlike the Skidbladnir. Yumi recognized it.
"Franz Hopper!" she yelled. Jeremie hesitated.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Yumi saw something launch from the craft, some sort of large missile-like metal capsule. It soared through the air, then crashed and bounced across the Sector floor. The Dark Angel sailed over it as it bounced nearby, instead allowing it to destroy a Tarantula.
"That was helpful but we need more." Yumi mused as the Dark Angel recovered. She flung her fans, but it dodged and dashed forward to attack her.
"Back off, ugly!" Something, someone, vaulted out of the object. "Laser Arrow!" It missed the Dark Angel, but he fired more.
"Odd!" Aelita was stunned. He attacked the Dark Angel up close and managed to hold his own.
He looked like Odd, sure, but he was an inch or two taller, a bit more fit. His tail was longer, and his ears more resembled actual cat ears. His conical hair was a bit shorter, and the purple spot appeared to grow from the roots. A sharp tooth stuck out from his mouth, like a vampire, and the 'eyebrow' marks were gone. He had his old gloves from his first time on Lyoko, but they transitioned into his arms as if they were part of his skin. His old pants with kneepads were back as well, with two yellow spikes sticking out from his toes. His shirt from his first outfit was now more skintight, with a pink line down the middle, the Kiwi emblem over his heart, and purple regions in an upside-down triangle over his shoulders and neck, as well as on the side in a thick line.
"Watch out!" Yumi's warning rang out, giving Aelita time to dodge the laser a Tarantula had fired at her from behind.
"Energy Field!" Aelita destroyed the Tarantula that had just tried to shoot her down. Yumi flung her fans and destroyed the last one. Odd and the Dark Angel had been fighting in front of the Tower, and she waited for them to move. She was about to fire an Energy Field, but Odd got in the way.
"Come on, is that the best you've got?" Odd mocked. He dodged a slash and jumped to the side to avoid an eye laser. He spun on his right foot, kicking out in a roundhouse. The Dark Angel effortlessly blocked it and caught Odd with another eye laser.
"Oh, that's the best you've got!" Odd flew back and groaned, humbled, as he got up. Aelita flung her energy orb, but the Dark Angel dodged. Odd charged and punched the Dark Angel in the stomach. The Dark Angel pointed its claws and fired the continuous laser streams.
"Laser Claws!" Odd's claws glowed bright blue. He slashed at the Dark Angel's eye and destroyed it before it could devirtualize him with its draining lasers. "Odd one, Ugly zero." He boxed the air in front of him.
"I wouldn't get too cocky, Odd. Don't forget that the Dark Angel has beat you several times and almost had you gone for good. It's more like Odd one, Ugly four. Be careful." Jeremie warned, annoyed at Odd's reckless attitude.
"Odd!" Aelita finally ran over and hugged him.
"Hey Princess." Odd pulled away. "Great to see you and Yumi." He took a few steps back and spread his arms. "What do you think of my new duds and my new Laser Claws skill?"
"But, how?" Yumi was obviously impressed, although wary. This was too easy.
"I don't know. Ask whoever it was on the Nautilus."
"The what?"
"The ship. They told me it was called the Nautilus."
"Who are 'they', was it my father?" Aelita breathed.
"I think so. I heard two voices, maybe three, not sure. One was an old guy, one was a little kid and one was like a machine. I was out of it until...I think a couple days ago?"
"Wait Odd, what happened?" Jeremie pulled up Odd's card and found that he had an extra twenty Life Points added to the usual 100.
"I don't know. I remember falling into the Digital Sea then I woke up on a submarine. I was hooked up to a bunch of machines. There were voices in my head, but I never saw anyone. There was a window, and they drove past what they said was a Replika we missed."
"What? I was sure Xana made more, but we missed some?" Jeremie was incredulous.
"They said Xana disconnected them from the internet after making them, just in case. Smarter than you thought, huh, Einstein?"
"I never thought of it."
"Neither did they, until the Replikas appeared. They showed them to me and upgraded me to help us fight Xana."
"You know, Alex did say the voice sounded like both an old man and a little kid." Yumi noted. "Maybe he heard two of the three."
"Alex? You replaced me?" Odd looked hurt.
"No, of course not. We could never replace you. We took a vote on who to recruit, and we let him in to help us fight Xana, since Yumi was going to Japan for a week and you were gone. We couldn't have won without him, and he even helped protect the Nautilus. In a way, he saved you." Aelita smiled.
"Well, we don't need him anymore. He's dead weight." Odd growled. "He may be a friend, but I don't think he's ready to be a Lyoko Warrior, if he ever will be. On the Nautilus, they made me better. There's no reason to have him." His voice was void of any gratitude or understanding.
"But who are they?" Odd shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry that we let that happen to you." Aelita hugged him again.
"Don't worry, Princess. Xana almost had me. Einstein, you really need to work on keeping Xana out of the Super Computer's main programs. One of the voices said they would help you with that soon and told me to tell you so."
"Wait, he, you mean Xana did something to your programs?" Aelita looked at Odd, her eyes wide.
"Well, yeah, Princess. What, did you think Einstein would have just let me fall into the Digital Sea? Kind of hard explaining my disappearing." Aelita looked away, feeling terrible for the way she had acted towards Jeremie.
"We didn't have to. We made a clone." Yumi put in. "But I'm sure Ulrich will be glad to get rid of it."
"Speaking of Ulrich, I still can't get in contact with him. He may be hurt." Jeremie debated with himself whether to do a return or not.
"Herve and Nicholas said the clone attacked Sissi. Odd will be in trouble if we don't do a return."
"Okay, one second." Jeremie brought up the program. "Return to the past, now!" The white bubble reversed time.
-( ( • ) )-
The group was in the Control Room, since Odd was still on Lyoko.
"Materialization Odd." A few moments later, he came up in the elevator. They were impressed. Odd, like on Lyoko, was a bit taller and a bit more fit. He wore a short-sleeved purple V-neck with yellow trim, and a long-sleeved pink shirt underneath. His pants were indigo and his sneakers purple and white.
"You look good." Aelita commented.
"So guys, what do you think? Not so scrawny now, am I?" Odd flexed his slightly less puny muscles. "But I am hungry. I wonder how much I can pack in now."
"Odd, people will wonder." Yumi sighed.
"I know, I told them that. They said not to worry and claim I had a growth spurt." Odd smiled. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"But how?" Aelita blinked.
"I don't know. But they said they could do it to all of us."
"Do what, upgrade us?" Yumi gaped, and Odd nodded. "I don't know if I'd want that."
"Scared, Yumi?" She stared at Ulrich but William answered for her.
"So what if she is? I am too. The last time I was upgraded, it was by Xana. We'd be putting our lives in the hands of people we don't know are really allies or not. And it took them a long time to upgrade you, Odd. Could one of us be gone that long?"
"I couldn't let a clone be around my family." Yumi shook her head.
"And I'm needed to deactivate Towers." Aelita shrugged.
"I don't want to do it." William refused.
"It could improve my performance on Lyoko, get me up to you guys' level. I could protect Aelita better that way." Alex mused, prompting a glare from Odd.
"I'll do it too. Have you deal with a clone." Ulrich quipped, wondering what he would look like after being upgraded.
"Cool. It should be within the next few days. They just said they'd send Jeremie some stuff when they could. Xana's after them so they have to be careful." Odd walked back into the elevator. "I'm ready for dinner."
"Let me deactivate the Tower controlling your clone so he won't steal your meal." Jeremie smiled. Odd had confirmed that Xana messed with his programs, not to mention the mere fact he was back. Now he could focus on destroying Xana and maybe work things out with Aelita.