Note: This is the second-to-final chapter. Also, this chapter will have another major change from the actual series so I do apologize if you do not like it. I do have the next chapter semi-based on an episode, but mainly it will diverge from the canon as much as it can. Thank you for reading so far, it means a lot to me. Enjoy.

Additional Notes: Revised and edited as of 10/12/18. Check chapter one's notes for what has been changed.

5. Final Round

"Alright, I'll explain everything."

William frowned, "So all those weird disappearing acts you pulled? You'll explain that?" Having the blonde suddenly come to him spouting a reason why he ran away at weird times was a shock. Especially since he always thought he'd never talk about it. Odd talked about most things, but if they were secrets then he would clamp his mouth shut or change the subject. Reading him was like an open book, but sometimes he thought the svelte teen made it that way for some reason.

"Yup," Odd plopped down next to him on the bench, "All cause Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremie, Aelita, and I fight to save the world. And we're extending you an invitation to help us fight a crazed AI named XANA that wants to rule the world. We fight it in a virtual world called Lyoko. Seems like I'm pretty crazy, right?"

The raven snorted, "It sounds like you're insane, but it does explain the weird dream I had."

Leaning back, the purple clad teen placed his arms behind his head, "Where you had to defuse a bomb for us?"

". . .so you aren't joking," William deadpanned.

"Of course, Will!" At the sharp look of his friend, the amber eyed blonde laughed, "Just had to make sure you understood that I was serious about the whole thing. We need another person to help us and you're the best bet. All of us want you on the team."

The silver-eyed teen ran his fingers through his hair, "One, stop calling me Will. Two, I'll join this team of yours. It won't hurt, unlike how it hurts that all our data's gone."

Odd frowned, "I still don't know how my laptop broke! I swear, I think someone in the class got jealous of our project, snuck into my dorm and busted it! All of that data and work, gone!" He then placed a finger underneath his chin, "But still, at least the Professor switched our full-year game to help plan a dance so we don't fail this semester."

"Which is next week," William reminded, "And so far we came up with nothing. Not a theme, decorations, nor guidelines for it!"

He waved his hand, "Don't worry about that Will, we can make it based around whatever we want! He'll like whatever we come up with, even if it's last minute planning," He hummed, "Do you have any suggestions for what it can be about?"

The raven shrugged, "It could be about nature, I suppose. Like uh. . . the background designs I was coming up with for our game. I still got the rough sketches in my notebook," William sighed, "I swear, the background designs I was coming up with and the characters you were making were perfect! I can't believe someone would do that to us to make our project fall flat so fast!"

"Yeah," Odd quietly added, "The powers they had, the separation from the established law as the backstory... it was really coming in. The main characters were going to develop into a family rather than just a rag-tag group looking to find their place in the world. Presented by the protagonist, a small boy with white hair that feared mankind because of the ways he saw them treat him with his curse..." He then flailed, "Oh crap! I totally forgot!"

"What?!" William jolted, thrown off by the sudden bounce in energy. He was enjoying their conversation, something he always did when it came to the svelte teen. He always had this calming aura that tamed his wild one and he couldn't place a finger on why that was.

The blonde then laughed, "I forgot they wanted to know if you'd accept. They're like right behind us over at a wall there wondering if you'd accept. But I trusted that you would and hey, you did."

Grinning, William stood up, "Then why don't we tell them the good news?"

"Of course!" Odd bounced up. He then paused, his smile turning into a frown, "But can you promise me something, Will?"

"What is it?"

"I want you to promise me that you won't get cocky. It isn't a game on Lyoko. I know you'll be excited and all, but you have to take it seriously." Odd's amber eyes suddenly changed. One minute, they practically glowed with innocence, the next they were haunted by a dark storm of emotions that William simply couldn't identify.

William nodded, "Of course, Odd. You kept your promises to me, why would I not keep promises for you?" A promise was a promise and it'd be horrible of him to deny his close friend this. He would take it seriously for him, even if some things may turn bumpy on the road. He'll try his best though, just for the blonde.

Odd smiled, the shine of light returning back into his eyes, "Good! Come on Will, I bet they can't wait to congratulate you for deciding to join our little group!"

The trip to the factory was by faint memory. He was glad that the rest of the group was guiding him, or else he'd have trouble understanding the rest of the travel. They plied into an elevator before stopping to let Jeremie out in a big, dark green room with a chair and a wide computer monitor. Then the rest of them went down to a room filled with three tubes or "scanners" as Odd chattered about to him while they went.

"You swear not to give away the secret?" Yumi asked. Knowing the rest of Odd's friends did this was a bit of a breather to why they also disappeared at random times. Sometimes, if he thought about it a bit too much he would think they didn't like him.

"I swear." William avowed.

"Good answer, William," Jeremie's voice spoke from the above floor, though it was a bit hard to hear him, "Now for the final step, the scanner. We're going to record a virtual image of you in the supercomputer. After that, you'll be immune to the returns to the past. That'll really make you a part of the group." The scanner in front of him opened, showing the lit insides of nothing but smooth metal.

"Are you ready?" Ulrich asked, wearing a snarky smile, "You scared?"

"Me? No, why?" Chuckling, he added, "Were you scared the first time?

Immediately the brunette denied it, "No!"

Odd snorted, "Don't believe it! It's more like you put poor innocent Kiwi in there and I got to be virtualized instead when I came to his rescue. If that doesn't scream scared I don't know what does!"

Glaring, Ulrich scoffed, "I was making sure I didn't get hurt or anything."

"But my diggity dog deserved whatever the scanner would have done to him?"

"It isn't like that," Ulrich dismissed, "And I went after you when you got in there. What happened has happened."

Yumi peered at the raven, "You sure you don't want to change your mind?"

"Are you kidding?" William entered the scanner, a blank look on his face. He faced the group of four as the doors slid shut in front of him. A boiling hot feeling slid over his body immediately as strange winds picked up. It dug deep into his skin, like an acid waiting to burn. He shuttered as a voice echoed from afar, "Scanner: William." The prickling, warm sensation over his skin began to decrease as the light became too intense for his eyes. He shut them with a wince, "Welcome to the club, William!"

The doors slid open once he laid his hand against the wall, suddenly feeling as if all his energy was taken away. Silently, he swore that the machine was supposed to make him feel that way. He hoped not.

"Well, tell us how you feel now!" Odd voiced calmly, wearing with a serious expression.

"Ready to take on XANA and his monsters," He smirked, "And I just can't wait to see what I look like on Lyoko."

Yumi raised a finger, "Get real! XANA is much more dangerous and devious than you can imagine."

"Plus, before you can put up a decent fight on Lyoko it's going to take time. A lot of time." Ulrich added.

"At first you better just hang back to check things out," Aelita pulled the skin under her eye for a moment before continuing on, "And to try to learn."

William laughed a bit nervously, raising his hands in a placating manner, "Okay okay, don't flip out. I'm not the guy who tries to steal the show." Odd suddenly burst with laughter, forcing him to correct himself, "Well, not all the time. Just call me out on it when I'm doing that."

As quickly as the initiation went, William found himself following the gang back out. Odd was the first to break the silence with his usual babble, "I really hope that XANA doesn't go on the attack tomorrow. I signed up for the inter-academy skateboard championship!"

Aelita smiled, "Think you're gonna win?"

The blonde with a purple splotch shrugged, "Have to gauge the competition before I say something."

"You should always aim for the top, though," William added on.

Ulrich snorted, "Why not? When you fall back down you'll crash a lot harder." The raven couldn't help it, he laughed at the brunette's joke with the others. Even if it was something small as cracking jokes but silently, he swore that hanging with them was going to be fun.

The next day came after a good night's sleep. William quickly met up with one happy-go-lucky blonde who carried a bag of skateboarding equipment and a slightly tired brunette, "I'm glad you guys came to cheer me on!" Odd chirped.

Ulrich lazily smiled, "Anything for you good buddy, Yumi's stuck watching Hiroki anyways," He then placed his hands behind his head, "And she doesn't like it when both him and I are around each other. Let's just say. . . things go wrong when it's like that."

William snickered, "You team up against her or something?" He would admit, he did have feelings for the Japanese girl. But that was back then when he hung out with her, he didn't really hang out with her much anymore because she spent most of her time with the brunette. He respected their decision to become a couple but if something went sour—most likely it wouldn't, they look too happy for anything to go wrong—then he'd sweep in and take Yumi from Ulrich. But he wouldn't make it a competition, that'd be foolish of him to pull that when two people are happy.

"Nope!" The brunette casually answered, "It becomes a total war zone at her house. Him versus me for her attention. Turns out she doesn't like it when we get to stage two."

Odd grinned, "Stage two is full on puppy eyes from you, let me guess that Hiroki has his own too."

"Ding ding ding!" Ulrich waggled his finger in the air as Odd opened the gymnasium doors, "We have a winner!" The room was crowded with people that either came to watch the competition or participate. In the middle of the wide room lied a giant half-pipe for the skateboarders and close to it was the pulled out bleachers. They walked to the bleachers, where Odd set down a bag of equipment and began to don his helmet and his pads.

Both him and Ulrich plopped down on the second to third row of bleachers, "Good luck, Odd," Ulrich chuckled, "I don't want to have to pick you up and dust you off every time you face plant!"

William snorted, "I would also say knock them dead, but I think the term make them flip out from your flips would work better! But all the same, good luck Odd!"

Odd saluted, practically radiating with joy, "At least I know my good friends have my back!"

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Jim shouted, bringing the chattering students in the gymnasium to a silence, "Kadic Academy is very proud to welcome you all today to this grand skateboard championship. I'm sure all of you are going to knock us out with your nollies, your kick-flips and other smith grinds."

"That's incredible that you're really up on your skateboarding Jim." Ulrich commented.

Jim nodded, "Yep, I sure am. Actually, I was a roller derby champion way back in the seventies."

The brunette shrugged, "Oh, what a shame that you'd rather not talk about it?"

"Actually, I'd be glad to but I. . . don't have the time." Jim lifted his whistle and blew, "Okay! Into the pipe, all of ya!" Odd snagged his skateboard, walking away to the ever-growing line of participants. William placed his arms behind his head, leaning back into his seat. Ulrich rested his hand on his chin, placing his elbow on his leg.

They watched the competition as kids either made their flips or failed horribly. As the line dwindled, Ulrich turned his gaze to him, "So... how's your day been?" The casual question was horrible and welcomed at the same time. The duo never really talked outside of being with Odd or Yumi. William never really hung out with Odd's friends and even if he did, they were secretive. Probably because of Lyoko, but still. William didn't know how to speak with them. Heck, he rarely even talked with Yumi outside of classes. Odd was the only one insistent of talking with him and that's how they became great friends in the first place.

"Good." William winced at his tone, which was clipped and void of continuing the conversation, "How's Yumi?" He slapped his hand to his face. Bad question.

Ulrich wore a smile, either from William hitting himself of imagining Yumi the raven didn't know, "She's great. I'm thankful we get along well, even if there is a couple of bumps in the road. Really, I have to be thankful of you talking to me with the whole pool incident back then or else I wouldn't know how to have repaired our relationship."

Silver eyes widened, "Oh. . . It's no problem." He didn't even know that his words kept them together. At the pool and all with Ulrich's worry and jealousy it left both the Japanese girl and the German boy in a bad situation that he was pretty sure wasn't supposed to be brought up. But the brunette brought it up, so William didn't know what to do, "I'm glad you're happy."

"You'll find someone for yourself," Ulrich pushed on his knees to sit straight, "It'll just take time, that's all."

William sighed, he didn't even want to touch the subject even if he did bring it up. It was his fault, really, "Don't worry about that," He dismissed, "I'll figure it out for myself. But thank you for the advice."

Ulrich gazed back at the half-pipe, "No problem," He smirked, "Looks like Odd is having a bit too much fun on the half-pipe." He pointed to where the blonde was continuously flipping around on each side, folding his hands into peace signs and two-finger salutes. William couldn't help it, he began to clap at his friend's crazy flips. The brunette followed along as well before jumping out of his seat and cheering with the rest of the crowd.

After another minute of skating around, the boy finally skated to a halt, "And there you go! The perfect combination of exceptional skills and incredible elegance!" Grinning, he folded his arms, "In a word, classy." A dark-skinned female skated over, her back to both William and Ulrich.

"Hey Odd!" She cheerfully chirped, "Great run out there!"

"S-S-S-Sam?!" Odd immediately lost all composure of "classy", for his cheeks became tomato red and he slipped of his skateboard, hitting the middle of the half-pipe. He raised his finger, cheeky smile on his face, "How are you?"

"Not bad."

Ulrich snorted from beside him, sitting back down with a whimsical smile on his face, "Now that was real class."

Odd giggled, raising his hand, "Would you like to help a gentlemen like me up?"

She chuckled as she yanked him up, "Of course."

William raised an eyebrow, "Who's that?"

"That's Samantha Knight," Ulrich murmured, "The only girlfriend that really made Odd act like that. She used to go to another school, but I thought she was living out on the coast now. Maybe something changed? I wouldn't know."

As if Odd knew the duo was talking about the subject, he began to question the lady as they sat down a row ahead of him, "I'm really glad to see you Sam! But, aren't you supposed to be living somewhere out on the coast?"

She leaned back, smiling, "I am, but I also signed up for the championship. I'm only here for the day."

"Samantha Knight!"

"My turn! Don't move, I'll be right back!" Beaming, she threw her skateboard down and took off towards the half-pipe.

Odd leaned forward, placing his hands against his cheeks as they began to redden, "How weird is it to run into her! I'd almost forgotten how cool and pretty she is."

"And how you're really in love with her," Ulrich added.

The blonde threw his hands into the air, losing his composure once again, "Come on! Can't you like somebody without being in love?"

William decided to add on, "Maybe I can, but that's a no to you."

He stuck his tongue out, "You two are jerks."

"Jerks that came to cheer you on, good buddy," Ulrich snickered.

Odd huffed, turning away to watch Sam on the half-pipe. William chortled as the brunette next to him cackled, holding his stomach as he laughed. The joke was pretty funny, probably more funny to Ulrich for some reason rather than him. The raven never even heard about Sam but after watching her talk with the blonde he could safely conclude that Odd was in love with her.

After a moment of her skating, Odd went off back to the half-pipe. She sat down in Odd's place, watching him with a pleased smile, "Oh that Odd he's so," She looked at a loss of words, "He's so-"

Ulrich grinned, "So messy! You wouldn't believe what his room looks like!"

"He's like me," Sam giggled, "My room's a permanent disaster zone."

William hummed, "He's also such a klutz. You wouldn't believe how much of a mess he gets into because of his carelessness."

She placed a hand on her heart, "You wouldn't believe how much trouble I get into because I'm a klutz as well!"

"Seems you two were made for each other." Ulrich joked. William actually agreed with that one. Sam was totally in love with Odd and Odd was foolishly in love with Sam. They were totally meant to be together and if the raven had to figure out a way to pull a few strings to make them hook up, he wouldn't hesitate to do so.

Ring! Ring!

Ulrich blinked, digging his hand into his pocket. He yanked out his phone and quickly answered it after he looked at who was calling him, "Aelita?" Chocolate brown eyes met silver and the boy grimaced, "No problem. I'll tell Odd and William and we'll be right there."

William raised his eyebrow, "What is it Ulrich-?"

"Ulrich Stern!" The brunette immediately pulled his phone away from his ear. He hung up and from William's gaze he could tell the boy tensed up all of a sudden, "Someone here would like to see you." Looking at the principal, William quickly stared at a man dressed in a business suit.

"Hello Ulrich," The man's tone was calm, but the gaze he sent to the brunette was filled with disappointment.

William wanted to ask who this man was, but clearly he could tell. Especially with Ulrich's words, "Dad! But-" He shook his head, hopping down the steps to quickly face the man, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm worried about your grades, son. That's the reason why I came. I think you and I have to talk."

Ulrich shook his head, "I'm sorry but today-" He rubbed his head, "Today isn't a very good time."

The man stared at Ulrich, "And I think the time is long overdue."

"It's just that I wasn't expecting to see you-"

"-And I wasn't expecting to receive a report card as bad as yours was. Come with me now, Ulrich. Mr. Delmas was kind enough to lend us his office." The brunette looked conflicted, raising his hand to his mouth. He grunted, fleeing to sit next to Sam. William leaned down, needing to hear this as well, "Sam! Can you give Odd a message for me?" He then pointed to William, "He has to leave early so he wouldn't be able to do it."

She smiled, "Yeah, sure."

"Tell him to get to he-knows-where right away." William immediately caught onto the line, understanding it after the whole thing he went through the day before. He needed to get to Lyoko and when Sam told the blonde, he'd be with him too.

"Okay." Ulrich fled back to his dad and with that, William hopped off the bleachers and took off out of the gymnasium doors.

He quickly met up with the pinkette in the supercomputer room. She was sitting in the seat and looked puzzled when it was just him, "Where's Odd and Ulrich?"

"Odd was skating when I took off, Ulrich got in trouble with his father about his grades. Sam should tell him about Lyoko," William then took out his phone, "But as a backup in case she forgets, I texted him the situation. He should check his phone when he gets done."

Aelita nodded, "Alright then, thank you William." She then pointed to the screen, "If XANA's monsters destroy the sphere inside the virtual world, Lyoko is gone for good! Without Lyoko we don't have any way of fighting XANA!"

William leaned over the armrest, frowning, "I read you loud and clear, Aelita. We need to head to Lyoko now, we can't wait for the others."

"We have to. It can't just be us." She shook her head, "Plus, Ulrich and Yumi don't know how to self-virtualize themselves."

"But does Odd?"

Frowning, she rubbed her temples, "Yes, but that doesn't mean we should just go on without them."

He clapped his hands together, "We'll be the first wave. Even if I'm inexperienced, we can still do some damage together. Then when all three of them get here, they'll finish off whatever is left! We shouldn't waste time like this arguing about it, Aelita. We need to make our move now or else everything will be over for Lyoko. Wasn't the reason you guys recruited me was for situations like this?"

Aelita grimaced, clicking away at the supercomputer, "Let me call Jeremie one more time." William huffed, tuning out the conversation the pinkette would be having with the genius. He just didn't understand. He hated that he may have sounded impatient because it was his first time, but still. They needed to make their move right now or everything would be over. And with how Aelita sounded nervous earlier when she showed him the core on the screen, he would think they would take off without any hesitance.

"Come on William, let's go." He snapped back into the conversation once his name was said, She typed away at the keyboard once again, hopping out of the chair, "I've started the virtualization process to bring us directly into Sector Five. We only have a few seconds to get to the scanner room and go in."

William started off to the elevator, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Once the pinkette entered the elevator, William pressed the down button. The elevator went down a floor before opening, showing off the scanner room he was just in a day ago. Heading to the left scanner, he entered it and quickly faced Aelita who stood in the right scanner. The doors slowly shut in front of him, allowing winds to pick up inside it once it had sealed itself closed. An eerie hum echoed around him before a cold, icy feeling consumed him. Suddenly, as quick as it was there, it disappeared in favor of a calm, empty one.

His vision of the lit scanner disappeared in a quick blink. Once he opened his eyes again, it was to a big, blue and white room. The walls spun around in a pattern that almost made him dizzy and he hit the ground with his feet. Something heavy rested on his back as he caught sight of Aelita who looked like an elf and dressed in pink and white.

Silver eyes looked over his own body, which was dressed in a long sleeved grey shirt with black at the ends of the sleeves, even with red spikes outstretching from a bracelet on his left wrist. He also wore black for his pants with jagged red lines and white-black boots. He grinned at the sight of a long, white sword with red lines decorating it, "Wow... that's some pretty classy gear." He turned to Aelita, tilting his head, "And you? No weapon? You fight with your bare hands? No superpower?"

She clenched her fists together, "This isn't a video game, William," Aelita glared at him, "Let me remind you that we have an important mission to accomplish."

That certainly got him to focus on the real problem at hand, "Sorry about that Aelita," He couldn't blame the fact that it was his first time or else she'd be regretting the decision to go on ahead, "So, where do we go first?"

"Follow me," She walked off, "We only have a couple of minutes to trip a key that gets us into the chamber to the Core of Lyoko." Picking up his sword, William followed along. If he kept expressing his excitement of his first time, he would think he'd make the pinkette even more angry at him. She needed to focus on getting them to the Core, not be angry with him.

The room around them finally stopped spinning, opening an exit for them. Aelita ran off into it and as fast as he could, William kept up. Even with the sword being as heavy as it was, surprisingly he was faster than the elf-girl. They reached the end of the tunnel to a room filled with blue blocks. It was empty as Aelita stepped forward, her apple green eyes roaming around the room, "The key! It's over there!" She pointed to a weird thing on the wall that looked like an eye. Much like what was on the bottom of the first room they entered in, but this one was blue.

William took off, "I'm on it!"

"No, wait!"

A block raised itself from the ground, halting his run. Suddenly, a groan erupted from another side of the room, "What's that noise I hear?" He muttered, looking around the wide blue room.

Aelita looked left, "Creepers!" She shouted as a weird, brown and grey thing crawled out from a hole that suddenly opened from the ground. It quickly faced him, its arms skinnier than the rest of its body as it dragged itself along the ground, its silver tail following along. More came along, emitting their groaning noises.

Grinning, William heaved his sword up, "You take care of the key, Aelita. I'll handle the monsters!" He strutted forward, sword out ready to swing.

"Watch it, they can be really tough!" Aelita voiced her concerns.

"Works for me, I'm tough as well." He charged at the monsters. One of them opened its mouth, shooting a red laser. William raised his sword, flinging the laser back at the creature. It exploded once the laser hit its head and the raven grinned. He sliced the closest one with his big sword, watching it explode in a white blast. One by one, the number of monsters dwindled until there were two left.

Aelita finally spoke up, "William! It's okay, come over here!" Another Creeper exploded in his face and William gazed at the pinkette. The key looked like was flattened against the wall, making it look like time was up for his Creeper destroying spree.

Although he knew he should have continued the mission, he couldn't help but protest, "Wait! Just one or two more and we can go." He grinned as two more crawled over, "I want to make sure none of them give us trouble once we take off!"

"William!" Suddenly her voice had gotten softer and the raven perked up. Silver eyes caught sight of a giant blue wall that sprouted out of nowhere.

"Huh, Aelita?" He walked to the wall, placing his hand along it, "Why is this here?"

"Aelita!" Jeremie's voice rang from above. William looked up at the sky, backing away from the wall slowly. Was that how people in the real world talked with them? "What's going on? Where are Ulrich and Yumi?"

Unable to hear Aelita's voice any longer, William backed away from the blue wall. He frowned, heaving his sword over his shoulder once again as he looked at his side of the room. He had to find a way out and get back to Aelita and with that, he tried to take off. What stopped him though, was a weird creature that reminded him of a sea creature. Deciding to try to speak to the blonde genius, he spoke up, "Hey, Jeremie! There's this weird looking creature that just showed up! Like some kind of uh. . . giant jellyfish?"

"What?! Aelita! You have to get to William! Odd, you head to the Core and try to stop XANA from destroying it! Both of you hurry! You know the way Odd, so get going! Aelita, you have to go around the outside!" William grimaced as he backed away from the creature that kept on trying to get close to him. Hearing Jeremie direct the pink elf was humorous, in a way, "Take the next hallway on your left! No, left! Faster before the Scyphozoa goes after William!"

William glared at the creature, "So you're called the Scyphozoa?" He raised his sword, carefully watching the creature. If it made any sudden moves at him, he'd surely slice at it.

"Take the corridor on the right, go on! William, you get out of there! Hurry up! William, do you hear me?!"

"I'm not afraid of some dumb jellyfish-"

'I want you to promise me that you won't get cocky. It isn't a game on Lyoko. I know you'll be excited and all, but you have to take it seriously.'

He backed away from it, albeit slowly, "I take that back. I don't want to run away but is that the only option?"

"William, just do what I say! I don't know what the Scyphozoa's wants with you but it can't be good!" The raven flinched as the creature slammed its tentacles into his hands, forcing him to drop his sword. It skidded away along the ground, coming to a stop at the other side of the room.

"Looks like it doesn't want me to have my weapon," William muttered before facing off the creature once again.

"Aelita! Take the next hallway on your left. It's not much further! Odd, your Overboard will appear in just a second. Get ready to battle the swarm of Creepers in there! And William, you have to get out of there right now! William, do you read me?!"

He walked to his sword, picking it up. With one last glance at the creature, he took off, "I hear you, Jeremie! I'm going- ah!" He shrieked, a cold feeling encasing his body. He felt himself lifted and his sword fell from his limp hand. He couldn't move, couldn't fight, couldn't do anything at that moment. Everything became quiet all of a sudden, like there wasn't anything around him he had to worry about. His limp body didn't protest as two tentacles touched his head, nor did it when he felt the icy clutches consume his body. He had thought he couldn't feel anything in the virtual world but at that moment, everything was cold.

William didn't even recognize his body touching the ground, all he could see was the blue of the room. His body clawed itself into a stand and it grabbed his sword. Sound reached his ears after a moment, and it was Aelita's voice, "William, are you okay?"

The raven's body was panting all of a sudden before it roared and looked at the pinkette. The room was blurry but Aelita's pink and white outfit stood out from the blue. Pink orbs appeared in the palms of her hands and she shot at him but all his body did was raise its sword and absorb them. He suddenly shot forward and his sword sank into her body. A dark green exploded all over the elf and her scream snapped him back into reality. He couldn't control his body, he couldn't stop her screams as she exploded in green pixels.

A shiver raked through his body as it shouted some sort of battle cry, like it was pleased she was gone. Then it shot off with its increased speed, reaching some sort of wall before it phased through. There was Odd, dressed as some sort of purple cat-boy. The room was empty and from a floor above, the blonde frowned at him, "So, XANA. Taking a good friend of mine's body? Just like Ulrich that one time," He tutted, tail twitching behind him, "How low can a computer virus get?"

His body roared at the cat-boy and he took off jumping upward. Odd continued to sit in his spot, frowning before he raised his paws, "Laser arrow!" Small, golden pieces launched from his paws, heading for him. William watched helplessly as his body gripped his sword and positioned it in front of him. The arrows immediately bounced off the big red-white weapon and the cat-boy fled from his perch to dodge them.

William's possessed body heaved his sword above his head and chucked it. Odd's amber eyes widened and he pounced away from his new perch. The blonde with a purple splotch flung himself into the older male and both hit the ground. Odd wrapped his paws around his wrists and pinned him to the ground, panting even though the virtual world shouldn't have made him winded, "This'll go from bad to worse if your Creepers get in there soon," Odd murmured. William continued to hear every word even if he couldn't move any part of his body, "But can I safely say that you lose?"

The possessed raven's mouth opened with a roar and bucked the cat-boy off. Familiar groaning echoed from above and suddenly his sword tumbled next to him. He picked it up and his limited field of vision caught sight of Creepers climbing to different blocks. The one closest to him pulled its slim arm back and if the silver eyed boy had to guess, it must be the reason why his sword came back to his body. The thing that possessed him picked up his sword and quickly positioned it under Odd's chin and the blonde quickly halted himself from getting up, "Shoot it." His voice was deeper than before and the monsters let out a chorus of groans.

"Why don't you devirtualize me before you do it?" Odd stared up at him and if he could flinch, William would've from the cold look in his friend's amber eyes.

He felt a sick, twisted grin grow on his face, "You're mine, cat-boy." The Creepers began to have red glows appear in front of them, "Fire!" As one, they shot the two cubed thing that surrounded a sphere.

Odd stared at the core, eyes wide, "The first shield, gone already..." William's limited gaze left the cat-boy in favor of staring at what the Creepers shot at.

"Fire!" His voice yelled again. Red consumed the only other clear cube that surrounded a glowing orange sphere.

"WILLIAM!" Ulrich's voice roared from below and suddenly, the sword positioned at the cat-boy's neck left it. Odd immediately raised his paws, shooting at the raven. William gladly accepted the attack but his body did not, for it raised his left wrist and the red spike bracelet allowed it to deflect and hit the wall. Scrambling away from him, Odd took off and continued to climb up.

William watched, unable to do anything as his body gazed at the cat-boy and pointed, "Get him!" Then he threw his sword below to the ground and jumped off to face both Ulrich and Yumi. Ulrich was dressed as a samurai, carefully looking at him. Yumi, on the other hand, was dressed as a geisha and was hopping up the blocks. It looked like those two were simply made for each other.

"You don't look happy to see me," Ulrich muttered, chocolate brown eyes staring at him as he walked to his sword, "Just like me when I saw my dad." William picked up his sword from the blue ground, heaving it over his shoulder. The brunette charged first, running at him in an yellow blur. Once he got close to him, he pulled out his sword from a sheathe along his hip, "It isn't nice to keep people captive. Then again, it isn't nice to destroy a world either." William raised his sword, whipping a weird beam from it. Ulrich raised his sword to meet it, absorbing one but the other quickly flung it away.

Ulrich stared at it for a moment but it was a moment the raven's body used against him. Charging at him, he stabbed his sword through the samurai's gut. A heart-wrenching scream left the boy as green covered his character. Once again, much like what happened with Aelita the boy exploded in green pixels. William's body snarled, dashing to the blocks to quickly chase after the other fighter than ran off.

His body swiftly landed behind the geisha after just a few seconds and much like how Ulrich went out, his sword stabbed through the geisha and turned her into green pixels. Her own painful scream reached his ears. Coiling at his gut were emotions that scared the silver eyed boy and a deep wave of guilt hit him. If he hadn't have been so foolish this wouldn't have happened. The cloudy vision of his gazed along the room, seeing that there were no Creepers left nor sign of Odd.

"Hey XANA!" Odd's voice echoed around, "Have a load of this! Laser arrow!" The raven's body roared as two arrows hit his right shoulder, electricity sparking from the damage. The monster that took over him whipped his head around, trying to locate him until it stopped at the block next to him. Odd grinned, tacking him to the ground. His sword slid away, falling off of the block they were on. Odd raised his paws, amber eyes staring at him, "I'll see you on the other side, Will."

Arrows rained at his chest and even with his murky vision, William watched as his virtual form disappeared in blue pixels. The last thing he saw in Lyoko was Odd, who suddenly looked horrified. The cat-boy's body began to disappear in blue and white pixels as the sense of emptiness swallowed him. William tumbled out of the scanner, clutching his throat to try to breathe.

The raven took his fingers away from his neck, squeezing them, "I-I. . . I got my body back." He muttered, disbelief on his face. Something hit the ground nearby and he gazed at Odd, who laid on the floor. He crawled to the purple clad blonde, grabbing his hand, "Odd! Say something!"

"Something," The words were quiet, solemn for some reason. William watched as his friend sat up and buried his hands into his face, "I screwed up, Will-"

"You didn't, I did. I didn't listen to you, and I'm so sorry."

Odd shook his head, "No, you did. From what Jeremie kept telling me when you took out Aelita, it sounded like you were going to leave but the Scyphozoa got you. I failed because there was one Creeper left and I focused on getting you out of there and forgot to get it. Lyoko is gone, William." He pulled away, grabbing the side of the scanner to lift himself up, "And it's my fault."

William shook his head, holding it as a wave of dizziness consumed him. He pushed himself off the ground, standing up in the bright room, "Odd, you did your best. You didn't know what that thing could do with my body."

". . .you're right, I guess." Odd muttered, shutting his eyes. "But right now, let's try to head back up. If they say anything to you. . ." He trailed off. He looked out of it for just a second before he shook his head, "Never mind." The cat-boy of Lyoko let go of the scanner, his movement limited.

William held out his hands a couple of times, "Don't fall," He murmured quietly.

"Right," Odd responded, falling into a slow walk to the elevator. With guilt weighing him down, William followed along. Silently, he swore to never let that happen again. . .

. . .even if they make a decision to kick him out for his mistake.

The supercomputer room's aura felt cold. William stared at the ground, huddled close to the elevator, "With what happened today, we can try to report our losses." Odd was sitting next to him, the only comfort that he could welcome. Odd saved him. The raven couldn't have been more thankful of it, even with what happened after. Ulrich also sat close to both of them, but sat on Odd's other side. He could tell the brunette was worried, especially when both of them stumbled in like they were drunk. Yumi stood close to the holo-sphere and Aelita stood near Jeremie at the supercomputer.

"Lyoko and the chance of re-materializing my father," Aelita spat. She covered her face, "I knew I should have waited, I just knew."

William buried his head into his knees, unable to find his voice. Odd continued to defend him, "Even if you waited, we still would have ran into some problems, Princess."

She thew her hands into the air, "Like what?! We could have stopped the Scyphozoa from getting him if we had waited! We could have stopped his attack if we hadn't have gone ahead! Who knows what XANA's doing right now, knowing that he's gotten rid of his enemies?!"

Odd shot up, "It doesn't change what has happened, Aelita! Could haves are different things than reality. There's nothing you can do to undo what has happened. We can only grow from this."

"How?" Jeremie muttered, face buried into his hands, "There's nothing we can do to fight XANA now."

"There's always a light at the end of the tunnel." Odd stated, "I firmly believe that before, and I believe it now too. We've just hit a bump in the road, that's all."

"My father is a bump in the road?" Aelita snapped.

Yumi raised her hands, "Aelita, that's not what he said-"

"Stay out of this, Yumi!" She cried, apple eyes alight with anger as she glared at the blonde, "It's just our chat right now. Why are you so sure that everything will be okay, Odd!?"

William finally looked up, seeing the purple blonde clutch at his own chest, "Because I for one don't want to seem pessimistic. I'm optimistic of the situation at hand. If your father survived giving you back your memories, he survived this. He can help us, Aelita. All we have to do is wait for him to step in. He trusts us with protecting you, Princess. We're doing what he couldn't have done back then. We're fighting the monster he created. And I for one, believe that one day we will win against it," She stared speechless at the svelte teen, "Playing the blame game isn't going to help, Aelita."

". . .I'm sorry, William." Aelita apologized softly.

The silver eyed boy stared at her, "I'm sorry too. I took things too far and treated it like a game, I made a mess of things, and I'm sorry."

Silence consumed the room for a couple of minutes until Aelita finally spoke up again with a suggestion, "Why don't we go to the Hermitage?"

The Hermitage as it turned out was Aelita's childhood home. Each room he saw was filled with destruction and he stopped himself from asking the pinkette why it was like this. She might not want to talk with him, especially with her fight with Odd earlier. He sat down on the ground next to the couch as Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi sat themselves on it. Aelita stood away from them, viewing a photo. Jeremie walked close to the four, addressing the room, "We have no other way to fight XANA now. The entire world is in danger."

Ulrich sighed, "It's impossible to even imagine it."

"With all that's happened, do you think XANA's plotting something to get rid of us for good right now?" Yumi murmured.

William covered his face, "This is all so horrible."

"I was really hoping," Aelita chimed in from afar, "I'd see my father again."

Jeremie turned towards her, "I'm sorry. I did everything I could."

"I know you did, Jeremie." She set the photo back down on the table.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

All six whipped their heads to Jeremie's laptop, which began to beep madly. The boy genius opened his computer, "Hey!" He sounded shocked, "What the!? . . .This is incredible!"

Odd leaned forward from his seat, "Well, tell us! What's going on?"

"I just received a coded message," Jeremie confessed, "A message directly from the internet and it's signed. . ."

"Who!?" Aelita stood still, "Tell us, Jeremie!"

"...Franz Hopper."

The gang gasped, even William who quickly concluded the man had to be important. He wasn't fully informed about the situation but if it left them shocked like this then it had to be something important. The room was left speechless until Aelita spoke up, her voice filled with relief, "My father is still alive?"