A/N: Two early chapters? What a lucky day! Hope this makes up for that unplanned hiatus. Expect more early chapters throughout the week!
Aelita was talking on the phone. "Um, I'd love to, but I can't go. I have school and stuff."
"Mr. Delmas says your grades are amazing and he says it's okay if you come with us on tour, so long as we do a fundraiser for the school at the end of next year. He says its too close to the end of this year for that kind of thing, but he'd love to have us next year in exchange for letting you come on tour." Chris, of the Subdigitals, said, his voice coming through clearly.
"But, um, I'd have to ask my parents."
"Okay, Aelita, and don't worry. We'll keep you safe. Life on tour can be rough, but we'll make sure you're taken care of. We'll even pay you for your performances." Aelita bit her lip, torn. She wanted to go -she loved her music- but Xana was out there, ready to attack. She couldn't go, no matter how much she wanted to go, because she had to deactivate Towers. "Goodbye, my Pink Star."
"Bye, Chris." Aelita hung up.
"Do it." Aelita turned to see Odd.
"But you know I can't."
"Well, there might be a way. Where does the tour go?"
"Chris said they will start in London, go to Berlin, then Rome and finally Paris." Aelita sighed, and Odd rubbed his chin.
"What if um, uh, let me think." Odd concentrated, but was interrupted by Aelita's laugh. "What?" She smiled.
"I've never seen you think so hard before."
"Well, it's for something important. I know how much you love your music. I thought I was good, but you blow me out of the water." Odd snapped his fingers. "Jeremie can activate a Tower and send a ghost like he did with me. It'll make you faster and stronger so you can run or whatever back to the Factory."
"That won't work."
"Why not?"
"Even powered up, it could take me hours to get back." Odd frowned. "It's my fault. I started the Super Computer up again."
"And you were right. Franz Hopper is alive. You also have to remember Tyron has his computer, and just because it'll be wrecked with a virus if he turns it on doesn't mean he couldn't attack. We need Lyoko to fight back. And Jeremie said Xana has more Super Computers. Xana might have come back anyway, if someone found them and turned one on."
"What are the chances of that?" Odd smiled.
"What are the chances of Jeremie finding the first one?" Aelita laughed a little. "He shouldn't be mad at you, and you shouldn't be punished like this. We'll think of something." Odd hugged Aelita and her face flushed with color. "If anything, we'll just magically make Xana not attack."
"If only that was possible."
-( ( • ) ) -
In the office of Mr. Delmas, there was a heated argument going on.
"Elisabeth, please, tell me what is bothering you!" Mr. Delmas pleaded.
"I can't! I won't tell on my friends!" Sissi shook her head.
"So it's your friends! Is it Pichon? Stones? Ishiyama? Du'Rona? Perhaps it's that troublemaker, Dunbar." the stern principal guessed.
"I won't tell you!"
"Elisabeth, tell me or I will take your phone, your makeup, your mirror, your CDs, and keep you locked up in a classroom all day, every day, so you won't see your friends!" he threatened. Sissi bit her lip.
"They aren't really cousins!" she blurted.
"Who? Della Robbia and Stones?" Mr. Delmas's eyes widened, and Sissi looked away, ashamed that she'd betrayed her new friends. "But why would they lie?"
"I don't know. Ask her." She looked ready to cry, but a knock rang at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Me, Mr. Delmas." a gruff voice identified itself.
"Come in, Jim." Jim opened the door and closed it behind him. "Jim, my daughter says she overheard Aelita say that she and Odd aren't really cousins."
"Well, sir, I was just looking up something. Remember a few weeks ago when Alex gave us that message from Odd about his Aunt Tia, but we thought he said Antea at first?"
"Yes, Jim."
"Well, the name stuck in my head, and I've been looking it up." Jim turned to Sissi. "Elisabeth, could you please leave?"
"I don't want to. I can't let you punish my friends, Daddy!" Sissi begged.
"Mr. Delmas, this is important. I think it should stay a secret." Jim nodded.
"Elisabeth, please leave." Sissi remained mostly silent, save for a few sniffles and a sob as she closed the door behind her, mortified.
"What is it, Jim?" Jim handed Mr. Delmas a folder, and he opened it. "Who is this?" Mr. Delmas was suprised to see a woman with pink hair. "Aelita's mother? What is so important about that?"
"That's Antea, the wife of a former teacher."
"Wait a minute. Yes, the old science teacher, Franz Hopper. I knew he had a daughter, but he quit more than a decade ago."
"Nine years. But how did he quit? I looked it up and it says he just stopped showing up."
"Well, yes. He moved from an old house near the campus." Mr. Delmas shook his head.
"But why would he send Aelita here?"
"Wait, you think he sent her here? His daughter, or more likely, granddaughter."
"Mr. Delmas, I...I shouldn't talk about this."
"Spit it out." Mr. Delmas ordered.
"At the Christmas party, two years before he disappeared, he invited me to his house. His daughter was asleep already. We talked and I was telling him about some of the things I've done in my past careers."
"And?"
"He told me he once worked for the government. But he was on the run. His real name isn't Franz Hopper."
"Wait, the government? Which one?"
"He didn't say. He probably wouldn't have told me anything, but he was probably drunk."
"Then how can you trust anything he said?"
"Because he sounded scared when he told me. Why be scared of something that wasn't true? He was on the run from them, and hoped a life here in France would give him a new start. When he first disappeared I thought maybe the government got him. But now I think something else happened."
"What?" Mr. Delmas leaned forward, enthralled in Jim's story.
"What if the government did find him, but he ran? He and his daughter could have moved somewhere else to hide."
"But that doesn't explain his granddaughter being here or being Odd's cousin. I'll call his mother."
"Wait. Mr. Delmas, maybe while running, Franz met the Della Robbia family. If he was running, it's possible he ran to New Zealand. Maybe they became friends. But then he decided to move again, or something."
"That doesn't explain Aelita."
"Well, maybe he left something behind."
"What?"
"I don't know. If the government was after him he had to have something they wanted. When I was working for the special forces-"
"You worked for the special forces?"
"I don't have time to talk about it. But when I did work for them, we always had a mission. There was a reason for what we did. So there must be a reason for them to be chasing Franz. Maybe that reason was left here at the school, and he sent his granddaughter to Kadic Academy to find it."
"But she's from Canada, and her last name is Stones."
"He changed his name once, he could do it again. Maybe she is from Canada. I doubt he would have stayed in one place for very long if the government was after him. I looked up his past address, and it was in Russia, and before that, Liechtenstein. The KGB could still be after him if he was working on a top secret project. Maybe it ended when the USSR fell, or that may have been when he decided to run."
"But Jim, I...I'll call Odd's parents."
"Good. I'll bet they say they have no idea who Aelita is."
"Why would they do that?"
"The Russian government could be watching the school. If they link Aelita to Odd's family, they may go after them."
"But, her paperwork and the references."
"Franz was a computer genius. He could have done it." Jim pulled a piece of paper out of the file. "I think he sent Aelita here to find what he left behind. The school could be in danger if the Russian government comes after her."
"Jim, this is preposterous."
"What if it isn't? What are the chances of a woman with pink hair having a daughter that just happens to have a daughter that comes to Kadic Academy, all after her grandfather worked there then disappeared?" Mr. Delmas looked through the file. "We have to protect the school."
"Jim how many hours have you spent on this?"
"Days, weeks. Antea, the name stuck in my head. I still can't get it out."
"Jim, this is unbelievable. I, I'll look some things up, but we can't ask Aelita or Odd about this. If what you say is wrong, they may say something to their parents and get the school in trouble."
"And if I'm right?"
"Franz may come on his own. If the Russian government is looking for him, it will only put the school in more danger."
-( ( • ) ) -
Aelita slumped against a tree in the woods, wondering what to do. She rubbed her fingers against the keys on the face of her phone, feeling the creases between each number. A small, hazy wind was blowing, taking water particles like small clouds through the woods. Suffice to say, it was a foggy afternoon. She wanted to go on tour, and she had permission from Mr. Delmas, but Xana forced her to stay. She wouldn't get to take the opportunity of a lifetime to play for thousands of people. A tear rolled from her eyes and plopped onto the screen, taking its place among the condensed droplets of water from the fog.
"I hate you, Xana." Her bitter words matched the bitter sting of the cold wind. It took every ounce of strength she had to keep a river of tears from following the first drop as she hit the call button, Chris's number already dialed, to break the bad news.
-( ( • ) ) -
In the Desert Sector, a Tower took on a sinister red hue.
-( ( • ) ) -
Jeremie was finally in the Control Room. He had to take his chance when Patrick went to the bathroom, as his cousin had been following him like a lost puppy everywhere he went. Jeremie was working on a program when the Super Scan beeped. "Super Scan," He looked at the screen. "What are you planning this time, Xana?" Jeremie pulled up the phone window.
-( ( • ) ) -
A black, hazy mist, not unlike the fog in the woods, rose out of a control panel in a helicopter, sparking the controls to life and taking the aircraft over. Two other helicopters at two other hospitals recieved the same treatment.
"Huh?" A crew member was obviously confused as he tried to regain control of his craft. The mist lanced out and invaded his body through his mouth, traveling to his brain and taking over the electrical currents. In each plane, each crew member's goggles morphed into black sunglasses with red Eyes of Xana in the lenses, and their uniforms morphed into black suits with matching ties and white shirts. The helicopters all morphed into stealthy black crafts as they took off, into the air.
-( ( • ) ) -
"I'm sorry Chris, they said no." Aelita wiped her eye.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Pink Star. Maybe I could talk to them."
"They said no. I don't think anything could make them change their minds." Aelita fought back the urge to burst into sobs. She knew was denying herself the experience of a lifetime. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Aelita. Nico, Benoit and Sophie will be disappointed."
"I'm still sorry."
"Well, I guess it means we'll just have to wait to be in Paris before listening to your music."
"Um, I guess. I knew you were doing the school fundraiser if Mr. Delmas agreed to let me go, but I'm not going, so..."
"He still gave you permission. Besides, if it means getting to hear your rocking beats, we can take some time to play at a school."
"Okay Chris. Um, good luck on your tour."
"It's only a week. We have to spend most of our time on an airplane getting to the different locations."
"Sounds really boring."
"It is, but it's still exciting stepping off, knowing you're going to play for a new crowd."
"I wouldn't know...won't get to know."
"You will one day, Aelita, my Pink Star." She hung up and stared at the phone's screen for a moment. She started to walk back to the campus when she heard the sound of blades spinning. Aelita turned her head skyward and saw a black helicopter zooming toward the school.
"What's going on?" Another helicopter trailed behind the first. "Was someone hurt?" She continued walking towards the campus.
The third helicopter arrived soon, and long ropes dropped from them above the school.
"What is going on here?!" Mr. Delmas stormed outside from his office. His combover was absolutely ruined and his glasses almost flew away as the helicopters lowered. Two agents rappeled down the ropes to the campus below. "Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?!" he barked.
"Are you Jean-Pierre Delmas?" A woman with black sunglasses in a suit stepped forward, her hair strung tightly in a bun. She had a thick Russian accent, though her voice sounded distorted.
"Yes, now answer my question!" demanded the principal.
"Where are Aelita Stones and Odd Della Robbia?"
"Wait, how do you know their-" Mr. Delmas stopped when he noticed that he was surrounded by agents. "The Russian government." he breathed.
"Ja." The woman grabbed Mr. Delmas by the arm. "Tell us where they are."
"I don't know where they are right now. Unhand me!" He pulled away.
"Call them and tell them to come here. If you resist, you will be considered an enemy of our government and will be treated as an accomplice." Another agent handed Mr. Delmas a cell phone.
"I...I don't know their numbers. We have them saved in the school's computers." Another agent grabbed his other arm as the woman took her grip again.
"Take us." Mr. Delmas led them into the main building and to his office.
"This is bad." Aelita backed away from around a tree when her cell phone rang. "Jeremie?"
"Xana's attacking."
"Okay, um, we'll need a return." Aelita hung up and started to run.
-( ( • ) ) -
"There, just don't hurt the other students." An agent sat down at the desk and typed away.
"Her signal. Give me the device." An agent pulled a small black box out. The other agent took it and inserted it into the front USB port.
"What are you doing?" Mr. Delmas hollered. "Listen, that is my computer and I will not allow a foreign government with no jurisdiction here to walk all over my establishment. This is France and you cannot stay here without showing me a warrant!"
"Shut up." The woman from before barked and shot him a glare. The computer beeped and the agent took the device out. "Come on." The agents left the office.
"Jim was right." Mr. Delmas slumped against the wall and slid to the floor. "This is very bad."
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich was running towards the sewer entrance in the woods when he saw the six agents. "This is bad." Ulrich waited for them, doing some stretches behind a group of trees to ready himself for the fight. I could get one of them with a roundhouse, then spin into a back kick and get another, and one more with a second roundhouse after that. He planned a strategy in his head, calling upon his years of Pencak Silat training. They climbed down into the sewers, and after a moment to give him a chance to get a surprise attack on them, he followed them into the sewers. He noticed Jeremie's scooter and Aelita's skateboard were missing. "If they're the only two at the Factory, those six will tear them apart. Gotta stop those agents." Ulrich took off after the agents, kicking off the ground to gain momentum on his skateboard.
-( ( • ) ) -
Alex sprinted through the woods, vying to take the above-ground route after seeing the agents before Ulrich had. His digital camo attire he had asked Franz to program for him did a decent job of camouflaging him as he sprinted at a higher speed than he normally could without upgrades, his muscular arms and legs pumping and swinging. "I love my life..." he sighed, questioning himself as to whether he was being sarcastic or not. "And these upgrades." He knew bragging on himself was a flaw, but he couldn't help himself. His physique was his thing, but running never was. With Franz boosting his leg muscles and making him overall more robust and burly, and in his own vain opinion, strapping, he could run for a lot longer than before.
-( ( • ) ) -
Odd was running on street level, down the sidewalk. With his upgrades, he was much faster than normal. "Move!" He dodged an older couple and nearly crashed into a trash can. "Watch out! Lyoko Warrior coming through!" Odd sprung over a baby stroller and leapt over a cat.
-( ( • ) ) -
William and Yumi were quite frustrated as they conversed in his dorm. "You realize those helicopters were probably the attack." William sighed.
"Which means we'll have to go over a bunch of the project again." Yumi ran a hand through her hair, noting her geography project.
"Again." William grunted his irritation as he ran along side Yumi toward the sewer entrance in the woods.
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich caught up to the agents. "Stop right there!" Three of the six turned around. "I meant all of you." Ulrich knew the numbers were against him, and was ready to turn and run. "But I can handle the three of you."
"Ulrich, prepare to die." Three agents lunged at him, and he turned on his skateboard and pushed away.
-( ( • ) ) -
Yumi and William were climbing down the ladder and about to mount their skateboards when Ulrich streaked past them. "Ulrich!" Yumi shouted out, but Ulrich ignored her. She opened her mouth to yell again when the agents ran past her and William, ignoring the two.
"That's not good." William observed as the agents, fixed on Ulrich, sprinted down the passage.
"They ignored us. Why?" William shrugged at Yumi's inquiry. "Don't you have any idea what Xana might be planning? You were in his mind for a while."
"Not really. He just gave me orders and I followed them. I barely have any memories of when I was possessed." William and Yumi continued towards the Factory, hoping Ulrich could get away.
-( ( • ) ) -
Alex burst out of the woods and took off down the sidewalk to the Factory. He passed Odd on the way. "Wanna race?" he shouted to the purple-clad boy, slowing down a bit as he sidestepped to avoid a woman.
"You're on!" Odd sped up as Alex resumed his full sprint.
-( ( • ) ) -
Aelita climbed out of the sewers and replaced the manhole cover. A few seconds later, both Alex and Odd nearly crashed into her on their way to the Factory entrance.
"Beat ya!" Odd chirped happily.
"Yeah, right. I could beat you in a race any day, and that's just before my upgrades making me the best athlete at Kadic."
"Oh, please." Aelita walked up. "Xana could be causing immense havoc right now, there's no time to argue." she scolded as she passed the two and swung down to the elevator.
"Sorry, Princess." Odd blinked, but a smile spread across his face. "I still won, no matter how much of a muscleman you are. You gotta have lean muscle to win a race." Odd rubbed his stomach as the two walked into the elevator.
"Lean muscle does no good if you don't practice and you don't have good calves and a good core." Alex tilted his left leg, causing the muscle to show through the digital camo pants.
"You just want to brag on yourself. You have a good and incredibly buff body, I'll give you that, but I'm nice and svelte. And your looks are subpar compared to mine. Nobody likes a braggart."
"Hypocrite much?"
"Did you guys see those helicopters?" Aelita interrupted as the elevator slowly went down.
"Yeah, is that the attack?" Odd tilted his head.
"Probably. But I don't know what they're doing." Odd and Alex both looked up, their upgraded ears picking something up.
"I think the others made it." Alex noted. There was a large thud, some creaking, and just as the elevator doors opened, an agent shot a ball of energy into the elevator from the other side of the room. Aelita dove to the ground as Odd and Alex sprung to the side.
"Aelita! Get to Lyoko!" Odd prepared to fight, taking on a basic stance, as Alex took a shuto uke stance.
"Don't get hurt." Aelita pleaded.
"Trust me, Princess." the two boys said in unison, both shooting a look at the other.
"I do." Aelita noted Jeremie slumped in a corner as she took a dove for the ladder to the Scanner Room. The nearest agent clawed at her arms but she let go of the top rungs, and caught the lower ones.
"Come on, MIB, try on the BIP." Odd joked.
"BIP?" Alex blinked as he exited the elevator and began circling the room.
"Boy In Purple." Odd waited for the agent to lunge at him, then hammered the elevator button, causing the doors to shut. The agent growled and sprung up to the Factory floor, phasing through the ceiling and using Xana's powers to jump unnaturally high.
"Jeremie, wake up!" Alex shook him, and Jeremie groaned.
The first agent joined two other agents as the elevator doors opened on the top floor.
"Lucy, I'm home!" Odd unleashed a flying kick.
-( ( • ) ) -
Yumi and William made it to the Factory and saw Odd fighting three agents near the elevator. Thinking they were the same three the duo had seen chase Ulrich, Yumi gasped and cringed. She let a war cry ring out as she jumped from the upper floor and tackled an agent, as opposed to taking the rope down. She crawled up and kicked an agent from behind, sending it crashing into the remaining one.
"Thanks!" Odd sprung at the two agents Yumi had caused to collide, and kicked the first one, hard, in the chest. It crashed into the second one, and they both began to spark, phasing through the wall and ending up in the river outside. "Hurry, you two. I'll play with them until Ulrich gets here." Odd turned to face the remaining agent.
"They already got him." William explained.
"Then let's go." Odd spun and kicked at the agent's head, but his foot went through. He ran for the Elevator as the other two Lyoko Warriors joined him, just as the two agents phased back into the building and lunged. Yumi screamed and kicked them away.
"Hurry!" William got into the elevator first. Yumi boarded and William pushed the button just as Odd ran and slid under the door.
"I hope Ulrich's okay." Odd dusted himself off.
"I do too." Yumi bit on a nail in worry.
The elevator went straight down to the Scanner Room. The three stepped off and approached each Scanner. "Ulrich's not coming, Einstein." Odd steps into the middle Scanner.
"Okay." Jeremie pulled up the transfer bar. "Transfer Odd." The cards all zoomed past a selector, stopping on Odd's. "Transfer William, Transfer Yumi." The cards zoomed forward to William's, and then back to Yumi's. Three windows with wireframes, with the respective cards beside each, appeared. "Scanner Odd, Scanner William, Scanner Yumi. Virtualization." They landed in the Desert Sector.
"You guys better catch up. Alex and Aelita went ahead on the Overbike. The Tower is due west. You're pretty close, the other two didn't get far." Jeremie warned.
"I call Overboard!" Odd ran over and hopped onto it. Yumi and William got on the Overwing. Odd zoomed away first, but the other two soon caught up.
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich vaulted over a gap in the sewers. He landed hard on the other side, and fell off of the skateboard. The three agents sprung across and thudded near him. "I won't give up, Xana." An agent growled and kicked Ulrich in the stomach, forcing him to roll over onto his back. Seeing a vulnerable spot, the woman who had ordered Mr. Delmas jammed her heel into his solar plexus, squeezing a scream from his lungs.
The Lyoko Warriors were reunited when Odd stopped by Aelita and Alex, who were hiding behind a rock formation on the Overbike, with Alex driving.
"So that's your upgrade? More muscle and a jacket, and face paint?" Odd blinked. "It does make you look good, I'll grant you that. Are you trying to be the hottest guy at Kadic? Because you're still behind me, but I guess you're getting close. I mean, you either love bulky guys or hate them."
"...Are you hitting on me?" Alex backed away with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"No!" Odd cried. "No! I was trying to make you feel good about yourself. A peace offering to make up for beating you in that race."
"Thanks." Alex said flatly. "I hear you were a giant purple kitty for a while. Now you're just a neko, I guess?"
"Neko, I like that! See, this guy knows." Odd glared at Yumi, who rolled her eyes.
"Ulrich isn't with you?" Aelita tilted her head, her earring swaying. Yumi shook her head in response.
"I bet the agents went after him." Alex stared at the Tower. "We gotta get that Tower deactivated."
"They did. He might be hurt." William nodded in agreement.
-( ( • ) ) -
Jeremie heard the elevator run back on Earth. "I think Ulrich just made it. He must've got away."
"It's not Ulrich!" Odd, Yumi, and William yelled out at the same time.
"Jeremie, get out of there." Yumi cried. Jeremie ran to the passage that would lead him out of the Control Room. The Lyoko Warriors finally emerged from their hiding spot, putting the Tower and the monsters guarding it into view.
"What is that?" Alex squinted. "You guys didn't describe a monster like that."
"That's because we've never seen it before." Aelita leaned to look over his brawny shoulder. There was a new monster in front of the Tower. It was large with a green body, and it had two large legs coming out from its chest, fleshy red ankles and metallic feet, one iron toe on each side of the foot. Swaying between the legs was a large, sinewy tail with a flat fin-like tip. Its neck was muscly and sinewy, and its bony head was long and slender and had what looked like a beak under its Eye of Xana. Metallic spines along the back reminiscent of a stegosaurus gave it a bit of extra protection. The monster, stirred by the sounds of the approaching vehicle, raised its head, pryed its beak open, and fired a laser.
"Watch out!" Odd flew down and tried to knock Aelita off the Overbike to protect her, spraying exhaust and heat onto her and Alex, but the newly-upgraded pilot veered to the left to avoid the laser. The laser hit the Overboard and destroyed it, and Odd plummeted to the ground.
"Odd, are you okay?" Aelita cried frantically.
"No problem, Princess." Aelita quickly glanced over at Odd, who rolled over as a laser flew overhead. "We better be careful."
"Right." Aelita agreed as Alex veered to the right to avoid another laser, and she charged an energy field.
"Lita, can you drive the Overbike?" Alex glanced over his shoulder.
"Yeah, I have before." She nodded.
"Good." He jumped off, and just before he hit the ground, began to glow green. "Lightspeed!" He charged ahead, quickly nearing the new monster. "Die!" He sprung into the air, firing bullets from his pistols down the beast's spine. The monster reeled back a bit, but wasn't destroyed.
"How tough can this thing be?" Aelita wondered as she slowed down, the green blur that was Alex mounting the Overbike once again.
Yumi spun her fans at the new monster, but only cut it across the shoulder. "Where's the Eye?"
"Is that it on its head?" William raised his sword and blocked a laser. "Whoa!" He had to grab onto Yumi to stay on the Overwing, the force of the new monster's laser being enough to launch him away.
"Watch it, William." Yumi warned, leaning away from William's grasp.
"Sorry, but that thing has powerful lasers." William saw it charging another laser, and prepared to to block it.
"Laser Arrow!" Odd blasted it on the leg, but it did nothing. "Princess, this thing is really strong."
"We have to be extra careful. We don't know what it will do." Aelita watched the new monster shot at Yumi and William on the Overwing. William braced himself and blocked the laser, this time holding his ground. Yumi yelled out and threw her fans again, and the monster swiped its tail at one. The fan fell to the Sector floor harmlessly as the other one cut it on the leg. The monster was mostly unfazed.
-( ( • ) ) -
Jeremie was running across the bridge when the three agents appeared, obviously done with Ulrich. The one who had kicked him, the woman with the tight bun and Russian accent, blocked Jeremie's path. "Stop right there, Belpois!"
"What do you want?" Jeremie growled, looking for a way out.
"I want Aelita and her father." the woman barked.
"Like I'd give her to you." Jeremie backed away when the other three agents, the ones that Odd, Ulrich and Yumi had distracted, rose out of the ground behind him. He was surrounded.
"You will. Why not give them to us? Like she cares about you, now that Odd Della Robbia has come back and she flirts with Alex just to spite you."
"She does care. We love each other. She was just hurt."
"Then why does she ignore you?"
"She doesn't ignore me!"
"Doesn't she?" Jeremie heard crackling behind him, and turned around to see an orb floating in the air. Inside, it showed Aelita and Odd's kiss in the elevator, Alex giving her roses, her commenting on his outfit, and Odd hugging her in the Factory.
"I deserved those comments and that hug after what I said. The roses were just a friendly gift. The kiss was a cover-up. She and Alex are friends, and she and Odd are just closer friends. Anything that was particularly 'bad' was deserved. I brought them upon myself."
"Did you? Even after she released me, you still couldn't hate her. You may have been mad, but did you run off with another girl? No, because you still loved her. She went straight to Odd."
"I pushed her away so hard, I'm lucky she came back."
"Did she? She was with him earlier."
"They're friends, cousins."
"You know that's a lie."
"It doesn't matter. She still cares for me." Jeremie tried to jump over the edge of the bridge to swim away, but an agent tackled him to the ground. "Let me go!"
"Give us Aelita and Franz Hopper!"
"Never!" The agents fell upon him.
-( ( • ) ) -
William was off of the Overwing and attacking the new monster. "For a big guy, he sure is fast." He swung his sword but missed.
"Laser Arrow!" Odd hit the monster several times, but did no damage. "Princess, try your attack."
"I'm concentrating." Aelita had two orbs in her hands. She clung to the Overbike with her legs as she combined them. The new energy orb grew larger and larger. "Energy Field!" She flung it at the new monster, but missed. The energy orb exploded and damaged a pile of rocks.
"Just die already!" Alex aimed with a pistol, using the other hand to control the Overbike, and fired three bullets. The monster swung its tail in front of it, deflecting two of the bullets. The other impacted its head, but just missed the eye. "Damn!"
"Take this!" William charged his sword. "Rosetta!" He swung it, hard. The energy blade flared out and sliced the monster across the chest. It took a couple of steps backwards, but wasn't destroyed. "No way! This thing can't be destroyed."
"It can by the Eye is on its head." Aelita created an energy orb. "Energy Field!" She threw and missed. The monster fired a laser and destroyed the Overbike, and fired another into Alex, launching him off the edge.
"No!" Yumi screamed out and used her telekinesis to pull him back up. As he was about to be set back on his feet, another laser lanced into his chest, finishing him off.
The Scanner doors opened and he fell out, panting. "So close..." Alex slammed a fist against the Scanner wall. "Gotta help Jeremie." He shot out of the Scanner and into the elevator.
"Watch out!" Aelita cried as the monster roared and charged William. William thrusted his Zweihander forward, but the monster used its tail to knock it out of the way, then slammed into William. William sailed backwards and landed hard on the Sector floor. He started to get up, but the monster blasted him with two lasers, devirtualizing him.
"Laser Arrow!" Odd fired and missed the Eye.
"Energy Field!" Aelita threw it and hit the monster, but missed the Eye. That was their main problem; hitting the monster but not the Eye. The monster roared, but wasn't destroyed like other monsters. Yumi screamed and threw her fans again at the roaring monster, which was too busy roaring in surprise and pain as pink energy from Aelita's energy field distracted it. A fan cut it across the Eye, destroying it.
"Just have to hit the Eye and it'll go down." Yumi observed.
"Easier said than done." Odd turned to Aelita. "Your Tower awaits you, Princess." Aelita walked into the Tower.
-( ( • ) ) -
William was sitting on the floor of the Control Room when he heard the elevator running. The doors opened to reveal a beaten Jeremie, six agents, and a restrained Alex, who was groaning and pulling against the superhuman hold. Jeremie was bleeding in several places, and Alex had a huge bruise on his forehead, his bright blonde hair falling out of place.
"No, you better not have killed Jeremie!" William could see Alex struggling and was less concerned for him than the unmoving Jeremie.
"We will unless you join Xana again, William."
"Never." William attacked the agent holding Jeremie's shirt collar. The three agents not holding either boy tackled him, slamming him into the floor and pummeling him as well as their captives.
-( ( • ) ) -
"Tower deactivated." The screens fell around Aelita. "Return to the past now!" The white bubble came up.
-( ( • ) ) -
Aelita was talking on the phone. "Um, I'd love to, but I can't go. I have school and stuff."
"Mr. Delmas says your grades are amazing and he says it's okay if you come with us on tour, so long as we do a fundraiser for the school at the end of next year. He says its too close to the end of this year for that kind of thing, but he'd love to have us next year in exchange for letting you come on tour."
"But, um, I'd have to ask my parents."
"Okay, Aelita, and don't worry. We'll keep you safe. Life on tour can be rough, but we'll make sure you're taken care of. We'll even pay you for your performances." Aelita bit her lip, torn. She wanted to go-she loved her music- but Xana was out there, ready to attack. She couldn't go, no matter how much she wanted to go, because she had to deactivate Towers. "Goodbye, my Pink Star."
"Bye, Chris." Aelita hung up.
"Do it." Aelita turned around to see Odd.
"You know I can't."
"I know, but you should still do it. Forget Xana and Lyoko." Odd walked over to her. "I'm sorry you can't go."
"It's my fault. I released Xana."
"And you proved your father was still alive." Odd hugged Aelita. "You were right, Princess."
"It doesn't help me, though. I still can't go." Aelita hugged Odd back, trying not to cry as a once in a lifetime opportunity passed her by.
-( ( • ) ) -
In another part of the school, Jim knocked on the door to Mr. Delmas' office.