He Who Calls

Chapter 42

Journal of Aelita Hopper

Blunted Sword

The Lyoko Warriors are like a blunted sword. We were striking deadly while we were sharp, but now we're tired and the two hardest bases still lie ahead. It reminds me of the last time we were tired, which prompted this whole trip to Majorca. But no one has been out of the house in weeks. No one talks about anything happy except what they'll do when Xana is dead. Odd insists that I wrote a whole page in my journal just repeating Mrs. Aelita Salian. I said if he didn't shut up I'd make him dig us an Olympic pool with a toy shovel. He shut up after that.

"5Base," said Milo. "Two more and Xana is gone for good. This one, this will be easy. I'll make it easy." Everyone was going again. As Jeremy chanted the words that gave them headaches, they appeared in the bronze-colored 5Base. Ten of the strange Creeper-Tarantulas stood in their way, but no Xanadores. Milo didn't talk. He jumped over them and started flipping through the hallway extremely quickly. The rest of them battled the things passionately, but they were all eliminated while only destroying two of the things. The monsters chased Milo, but he was almost to the door. He had sworn to make it easy. And that was when he saw Bella at the door.

"Go in," she said. She swung open the great door. "Yumi isn't dead. William isn't dead. King isn't dead. I'll be dead soon, though." She threw herself in front of the creatures as Milo went through the door. It shut behind him. The ugly beasts tore Bella apart. She didn't catch fire or liquidize or become a matrix. She had put all of herself into this, and she was torn to shreds. For the first time on Lyoko, a human being died.

Milo had sworn to make it easy. He shouldn't have. Everyone had been devirtualized quickly, but he made it to the Fragment so no one particularly cared. But Bella was dead. Gone forever. Xana had stolen her soul, and she had given her life. Because Milo wanted it to be easy for him to do his part in destroying Xana. If he had done it the hard way like everyone else, the creatures wouldn't have been able to kill Bella because they wouldn't have survived. Milo reaped his bittersweet reward. He threw his hat into the niche in the Fragment. He fell and wept for his old friend as 5Base collapsed in on itself. But he also cried for joy. Because King, Yumi, and William were not dead. And Bella had proved that it was possible to escape from where they were being held. All life was not destroyed. Only Bella's. And Milo could have prevented it. He didn't. He would fight Xana harder then ever. He would make up for this. That is what Milo decide as he wept for Bella and returned to reality.

Yumi Ishiyama

Data Entry # 3

Bella went on a suicide mission to help Milo destroy the Fifth Fragment. Unfortunately, she did die. But Xana is now spending all his power on defending 6Base. He doesn't scan out logs anymore. Bella used the same strategy as me for escape. She targeted 5Base. I targeted 6Base, meaning tomorrow I will be free again. Tomorrow Xana will die.

Ulrich Stern

Alive

Yumi is alive! We have physical proof that Yumi is alive! For the first time since Yumi was abducted I feel good again. And I've turned my eye to the future. I'm not going to be a loser in school anymore. I'll ask Milo or Jeremy or Aelita to tutor me. If I can just bump up my grades a little I can get into a good college. Everyone is thinking about it now. It's the next big step.