Well, what do you know? I DID write the next chapter! This one's a bit of a lead-in as well, but some weirdness should be popping up soon. Or maybe I'm just stalling even more. It's all up to you! And many sweet, sweet thanks to the people who reviewed! Because if there's anything I write this for, it's my own health! Just kidding. I love this story.

Chapter Two
Perception Filtre

Kadic Academy Cafeteria
7:30 AM

It was a lousy day at Kadic Academy. The starry sky had given way to clouds at about 5:30, and a pungent spring rain was falling just hard enough to soak anyone that went outside. Unfortunately, much of a Kadic student's routine involved going outside, so the cafeteria trailer was full of wet, smelly teenagers eating wet, smelly food.

First in line was William's clone, who was twice as wet as anyone else. He stood silent for a whole minute while Rosa asked him what he wanted, and finally set the whole line laughing with rage when he said he didn't want to make such difficult decisions – he wanted to go out and play in the "sky water" some more. He finally walked to an empty table, stumbling and humming on his way there. Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita, who were sitting two tables over, entirely failed to notice him – they were far too busy torturing each other.

"Well…I can't go all day without asking," Aelita said curiously to Odd, who was piling ketchup on his scrambled eggs. "How was your date? Or sleep? Or…date with sleeping involved?" Ulrich laughed again, and Jeremie beamed with pride at his own creativity.

"Fine," Odd said, though it sounded more like "Fhnn," as he had thoughtfully filled his mouth with scrambled eggs while Aelita had been talking. Not only did this muffle his speech, it also disguised his facial expression.

"Ready to tell us her name?" Jeremie picked up. Odd made a loud, meaningless noise in reply. Jeremie's facial expression did not change. "That's not a very common name. Is it Basque?"

"Wait, you're dating Goizañe Ramos?" Ulrich said, with a far-too-large smile on his face. "Odd, that's sick! She's ten years old!"

"Nhhhh!" Odd swallowed his scrambled eggs in a lump, and took a breath before talking back. "Guys, I'm trying to eat!"

"Did it not go well?" Aelita said. She was the only one at the table that sounded worried – Jeremie and Ulrich, who lived in closer proximity to Odd, were still sniggering.

Odd winced, trying to make a decision, and then put down his fork. "Guys," he said, putting on an air of a professor, "Do you know the difference between me and all of you?"

"We're not spazzes?" Ulrich joked.

Odd went on, ignoring him. "I don't let my personal life affect my social life. See, sometimes I hang out with you guys and save the world on Lyoko, and sometimes I go out on dates with girls. Odd as a friend and Odd as a boyfriend don't get mixed together, and everyone is happy." He brightened as though he had never said anything, and gave a double thumbs-up.

His conviction was met with awkward looks; Jeremie in particular looked a little uncertain. Just as he opened his mouth, however, Ulrich stepped in. "You know what, that's true. The only time we ever find out that Odd's dated someone is when they come over and slap him after the breakup." He was grinning; he did not consider these relationships sacred enough not to make fun of them.

"But what about Brynja?" Aelita said, trying to get in on the snarkier side of the conversation. "You brought her to the supercomputer…"

"Brinchit who?" Odd said with a dead serious look. Jeremie and Ulrich looked similarly confused. "Never mind. The bottom line is, whatever I do when you're not looking never has to reach this table if I don't want it to, and maybe if I want to pretend a certain night never happened…wait, you know what? 'I'd rather not talk about it'! There, you can't make me say anything else! Here, have some ketchup, it goes good on cardboard." He offered the ketchup bottle to Ulrich, who was only fazed for about three seconds.

"It didn't go well, did it?" Odd didn't even bother to talk to him through the scrambled eggs he'd re-stuffed himself with. Ulrich shrugged. "Figures. If it had we would've heard every detail by now," he muttered into his cup.

Jeremie and Aelita gave short, awkward laughs. Aelita happened to look up as a group of girls made their way past the table. One of them, a girl she recognized but did not know the name of, looked back at their table, careful not to look Aelita in the eye. She mouthed a few words while making a very rude gesture at the back of Odd's head. Aelita's eyes narrowed. She looked down at her own hand, and repeated the gesture curiously on the table. No one else saw either event.

A smirk worked its way across Odd's face. He swallowed loudly and turned to look Ulrich in the eye. "Hey, just because I don't wear my heart on my sleeve like you do –"

"For someone that didn't want to talk you're really stretching this conversation," Ulrich said quickly, as if it would stop the table from seeing his blush.

"I'm just saying, for a guy that can't spit it out you do an awful lot of talking…"

"Odd, I'm done. I'm trying to eat."

"Did you know he pours his soul out to my bedpost almost every night?" Odd said, now turned to Jeremie and Aelita. The two of them exchanged awkward grins – this, they knew, was Odd's revenge.

"Odd, I'm sorry, okay? I was joking-!" Ulrich's tone was growing darker with every word.

"Just last night I came back and there he was, all long-faced and pouty, and I knew what was coming –"

"He's exaggerating-!"

"Oh, I just don't know if Yumi likes me!" Odd trilled in falsetto – an achievement for his voice. "Do you really think she's kissed anyone else? Does the cheek count? What if she's kissed William and I don't-"

Jeremie and Aelita's smiles had already faded – even before Odd started imitating Ulrich they knew he'd gone too far. In the span of four sentences Ulrich had gone from stern to murderous – his entire face was flushed red, and his lips were straining as if holding back a torrent of abuse. This wasn't what cut Odd off, however – that was taken care of by a brand new visitor entirely.

"Wow, I don't believe it! More than two people actually like Yumi?" Odd felt a hand brush him and twitched in shock. Sissi was standing next to him, holding her lunch in one hand, his shoulder in another, and a triumphant, malicious grin on her face. Nicolas and Herb were several feet behind but still present, echoing her grin with varying degrees of success.

"Oh for – Sissi! Could you leave us alone for one day?" Aelita glared at her with dislike. She wasn't the only one – Ulrich, if possible, looked even madder, but seemed to be locked in an inner struggle as to who to lash. Odd was at a loss for words – he never wanted to talk before he had come up with a perfect comeback.

Only Jeremie kept his head long enough to talk. "Sissi, this is a private conversation–"

"I know, that's why I could hear it from across the room." She cast Ulrich an obvious glance, and then made a show of kneeling down to Odd's level. "Anyway, this is an interesting development! I never expected that from you, Odd. I thought you only dated pretty, empty-headed girls."

"Yeah, that's right, and from the look of things, I missed one!" Odd snapped quickly, grinning. "I mean, everyone knows you're pretty empty-headed!"

He started the laughter, and soon Jeremie and Aelita joined in. Ulrich gave a chuckle before he realized that he was supposed to be mad and withdrew again. Herb and Nicholas even laughed a little. When they realized that Sissi hadn't tried to stop them, they laughed harder.

"What – stop it! Stop, all of you!" She looked angrily at every one of them, as if the abuse was their fault. Halfway through, she realized that she could still hear laughter, and whirled around, surprised. Herb and Nicholas shut up immediately. "What do you two think you're doing here?"

"Uh…" Herb started, and then gave up.

Nicholas took over. "We're your moral support!"

"I don't need 'moral support'! You two dumbbells already know I'm right about everything, so take my advice and get lost!" They nodded, and she turned back to the table without making sure that they had left – which they hadn't. Her eyes went right to the taciturn Ulrich, who did not look back. She sauntered over to the empty seat next to him, and placed her tray down. "Ulrich, why so down in the dumps? Are these three sourpusses bothering you?"

Ulrich didn't answer. Jeremie acted a little faster – he jumped up from his seat and started over to Ulrich's side. "Sissi, you're only making it worse –"

"Hands off, Jeremie, you're invading my Ulrich-only bubble," Sissi said, holding a finger to his face before turning back to Ulrich. "You know, Ulrich, I may as well say it – Yumi isn't much of a prize to lose. Odd may as well take her. I've said it before and I'll say it again – I'm here whenever you need me…"

Aelita and Odd were up at this point – at any signal, they were ready to intervene. Ulrich was the only thing holding the tension together. Slowly, he turned to actually look at Sissi, and gave her the ugliest look he could muster. Her smile faltered at the sight.

"Sissi," he began, calmer than his face would suggest, "Do you have anything better to do than insult my friends?"

Sissi had clearly been expecting a more straightforward insult – and she might've known how to respond to one. She opened her mouth to sputter a bit – "Well, I, uh…what do you know? I…" – but it came to no practical end, so she closed it again. She stood up, took her lunch, and walked away with a humph.

The table was silent for a good long time. No one even ate. Ulrich, determined not to look at anyone, stared out the window. William's clone, who had finished his lunch ten minutes earlier, was alone in the middle of the Quad. He didn't seem to mind the rain – in fact, he was running around in circles in it, arms spread wide to catch the wind. Sometimes he stopped to do a dance, splash in a puddle, or marvel at the droplets falling on his sodden jacket. All of the other window tables had noticed him – they stared as if hypnotized, pointing and murmuring.

"Uh…" Odd said, turning to Ulrich, "That was a good one. You stumped her dead!" Ulrich grunted in response. Amazingly, Odd looked confused. "Uh, buddy?"

"I wouldn't expect him to say anything," Aelita said in an undertone. "You know he's sensitive about Yumi."

"Well, yeah, but I figured he could take a joke!"

"Some people can't brush off their emotions as easily as you think. Yumi, too," she went on. "I know you're…upset, but that doesn't mean you can take it out on them-"

"I'm not upset," he said, treating the word like a disease. "It's the rain. I hate the rain," he finally said. "It makes everyone a lot harder to deal with."

"Not him," Jeremie said. "He looks pretty happy." He looked out at the clone. A younger student had come to watch him out of curiosity, and had been swept up into some sort of dance. They were both soaked – soaked and smiling.

Anger, abuse, and anguish, again and again and again. Is it always like this in your world, Jeremie? If I had known, I never would have let you leave my sight.

Jeremie started, then did a double take back at Aelita. He wasn't sure he'd heard that right. "Huh – what?"

Aelita looked calm, but slightly surprised. She raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that right?"

"What…I mean, no, what did you just say?"

"I said he'd catch a cold out there if he wasn't a computer program. Why?" She stared right past Jeremie's blank face. "Oh, guys! Yumi's here!"

"Yumi!" Odd, now sounding a little brighter, looked up at the window. Sure enough, Yumi was walking across the Quad toward the clone, who had gathered something of a crowd. She shook her head, grabbed his hand, and started pulling him back toward the cafeteria. "Can't we meet her in here?"

The bell rang as he spoke, and the whole room groaned. "You have to get wet sometime," Jeremie said, stating the obvious. Without much conversation, the four of them picked up their things and joined the throng, which was not rushing at all to get outside. Ulrich was last – he took a long, lingering look at Yumi before losing his place in line.

10th Grade History Classroom
10:30

"Yumi, look!" William's clone said, with a grin a mile wide. "I'm wet!"

"That's nice," Yumi said in an undertone for the seventh time. No, the sixth. The first time, two periods ago, she had to remind him that the term for being covered in rain was "wet", not "full of sky water." He had taken to the new word like he had to no other before it – it was almost the only thing he'd said all period. Twice Yumi had had to put his hand down to stop him from announcing it to Mr. Fumet. Handling the clone was always a full-time job, but it was far harder on rainy days than not.

And then, she thought, her mind wandering away from the clone and the lesson, handling her friends was just as hard, with or without Lyoko. They had been oddly silent when they met her in the rain – but one thing they had talked about had been their run-in with Sissi at breakfast, and that was enough to leave them in an excusable bad mood all morning. Deep down, she wasn't sure whether she had wanted to be there or not. While she was happy to avoid any kind of interaction with Sissi, Yumi found herself thinking that they hadn't been hard enough on her. She just knew she would've stepped in the second she had started harassing Ulrich. Or even Odd – but probably Ulrich.

[Do you hear it?]

[Hear what?]

[The echoes of words that no one can hear, but only see.]

[Ah. Thinking. Too easy.]

Yumi started, pausing her train of thought for just a second, but then went on, scratching at her paper with her pencil. Ulrich hadn't talked to her at all that morning. She'd gotten used to that by now – some days he'd be friendly but distant, other days cold as stone. This was a stone day. A stern day. Ulrich Stern, with the stern eyes. They didn't look right in his face. It was a face that looked so much better when it was smiling, or even flushed with sweet embarrassment. Not when it was so sad…or angry. She couldn't tell sad from angry, and she was too afraid to guess wrong to guess at all. She should've said something, but she was too afraid. She'd faced death a thousand times and she was more afraid of a fourteen-year-old boy.

If Sissi ever tried to touch him again she'd make her regret it. Oh yes, yes she'd regret it. And then maybe, just maybe…

[Then this: Everything in a man's world stored in a man's box.]

[The same.]

[No, that is memory. Look, her face is changing. See! How twisted.]

The spark was gone. She was all ready to change everything right that second, and then the motivation was gone.

"Yumi, look, I'm wet!"

"Thasnice," she said hurriedly, giving the clone a glance. "Now, be quiet…"

"But I'm not quiet," the clone insisted a shade louder. "I'm William. No…I'm wet. I'm wet…but I'm William. I'm William…but I'm wet. I'm wet, but…I'm…" He gave up. "Yumi, look, I'm full of sky water!"

He was smiling wide, but none of it reached his eyes. There were no real thoughts or feelings there – only basic senses and program logic. Just yesterday, she'd seen death in those same eyes…and then, even further back, there might have been something else, an actual human mind. She wasn't sure just how much of that mind she missed – he scared and excited her, even now – but she couldn't bear the thought of it being gone. William gone. Franz Hopper gone. XANA torturing everyone else he could. And here everyone was, pretending not to be distressed. And Sissi, thinking she was so important, so terrible…

"I'm a Lyoko Warrior. And that's what a Lyoko Warrior does. They do the impossible." Aelita was right, but maybe not in the way she thought. Lyoko and the monsters were simple enough to handle, but the psychological effects were the worst of all. She wished the monsters were the only things she had to fight. Comparatively, she liked them more. They didn't have a face to look into and reason with and remember and disappoint. If Sissi ever tried to touch him again she'd make her regret it.

[But how can a face be changed, and stay so beautiful?]

Two faces blended together in her mind. She shook her head to push them away – no, that was the last thing she wanted to think about…

[The answer is simple: confusion and pain, disjointed thought.]

[No, Brother. The answer is us.]

"What?" Yumi turned to the clone, confused – even more so once she realized that not only had the clone not spoken, but he was crying. There were no tears on his cheeks – his program was not quite that complex – but he was definitely, and loudly, upset. "Uh…are you okay?"

The clone sniffled and looked up at her, not at all blotchy-faced. "I'm not wet anymore," he said entirely too loudly. "I want to go outside again."

On the clone's left side, Matthias Burel choked with laughter. Yumi glared at him, which he brushed off with an apologetic wave. Mr. Fumet spotted them both, but before he could even begin an accusatory name drop, the bell rang. The clone gave a screech like an over-stimulated child, jumped out of his seat, and raced out the door. Yumi jumped up to call after him, but it was too late. By the time everyone was done laughing at him, he was back outside, rolling in the mud.

[Did she hear us? Did she really hear us?]

Eventually everyone forgot him and started for the door, chattering casually. Yumi sighed, shook her head, and closed her empty notebook. She had to go collect the clone before –

[She always hears us, Brother. Just never with her ears.]

Yumi stopped, and turned around. "Uh…hello?"

She may as well have been talking to a wall, though she was in fact talking to several empty desks. She looked around, but nothing about the scene changed. She could have sworn that she'd heard two voices…

[Do we take her now?]

But, thinking again, they had probably only been in her head. She shook her head, and left the room with the rest of her class. Mr. Fumet followed after her; he turned the light off as he left, leaving the classroom dark.

[No. We wait. She learns now, and she will learn later.]

Science Building
1:30

Ulrich looked down at the white paper in front of him in horror.

In terms of mortal danger, it wasn't anything to be afraid of. It was 8.5x11, stapled at the top to another sheet, and covered in black ink shaped into words and letters. Of course, it also happened to be labeled "SCIENCE TEST," but middle-school science tests have almost never been known to kill.

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead," Odd repeated over and over to himself. With forty clueless minutes to kill, Ulrich stared at Odd's breakdown out of the corner of his eye. It was always entertaining to watch in a pinch, if not helpful at all for the test. First, he looked around wildly, trying to focus on anything but the paper. Eventually, he came to accept that the paper existed, but continued to deny that it was a test by doodling pictures of Kiwi all over it. Once in a while he would look up and look around, further reminding both of them that Jeremie and Aelita were across the room and thus not available to save them.

Hey, Ulrich, he scrawled suddenly on the side of his paper. Do you remember what the magnitude of a nanometer is?

No, he wrote tersely. He wasn't lying, but he also didn't feel like talking yet. Difficulty was never something he liked to share with others – and especially not now, not to Odd.

Didn't care anyway, Odd scrawled back on one of the answer lines. Ulrich glanced at the paper, but didn't answer. They each glanced through their tests, filling in easy answers where they could, but both ended up staring back at half-empty sheets full of half-assed chemistry.

It's just one test, Odd wrote, hopefully. Then, a glance later, Hey, I didn't study either. We're failing buddies!

I didn't even know there was a test, Ulrich finally wrote.

Same difference. He turned away from Ulrich, wrote one answer (which, as Ulrich could clearly see, was "Here it is"), and then looked back. His eyebrows flew up. He erased all the lines he'd written before, and in their place, did a small doodle. It was a cartoonish caricature of Yumi, winking and blowing a kiss. Don't worry about it! was written next to her in a word balloon.

Ulrich looked unsure whether to smile or not, but he did feel a strange, warm feeling that did nothing for his concentration. He looked up at the clock, which helpfully reminded him that he only had twenty minutes left to live, and then looked back out the window to forget about it. The outside was hardly as deadly as the test – all that was out there was the rain, the grounds, and the man.

The man? Ulrich did a double take, but the man was gone. He arched an eyebrow – there was no way the man could have walked away that fast. He could only just remember his appearance. He was pretty sure he'd been in a suit, but couldn't remember anything about his face. Eventually he decided it didn't matter and went back to staring at his test. Yumi's caricature winked up at him from Odd's paper.

"I wish I didn't have to worry," Ulrich said in an undertone, smiling at the picture. He looked back at his own paper, and then had a flash of inspiration. 1 nanometer = 1x10 ^-9 m!

Cool! Remember anything else?

Nope…

Rec Room Awning
3:05

The rain got heavier as the afternoon wore on. At three o' clock, when classes ended, all the day students rushed out the school gate to waiting cars, while all the boarding students rushed into the Rec Room to jostle for a place at the foosball table. With over a hundred boarders and one foosball table, however, most of the kids did nothing but make crowds. No one could get into the Rec Room, and no one could get out without much bodily contact.

Jeremie and Aelita, being the smart ones, waited outside in the awning for their friends to meet them. Odd and Ulrich had been called into a meeting with Jim and Ms. Hertz about the "incriminating marks" on the sides of their Science tests, while Yumi was in the library, picking up an extra set of books for the two research papers that had to be written – one for her, and one for the clone. For the moment, Jeremie and Aelita had all the time in the world and nothing to spend it on but each other. Fortunately, this was their favorite way to spend time in the first place.

"Brrrr…" Aelita shivered, huddling against the side of the building. "I thought winter was over already…"

"It always depends," Jeremie said, both concerned and informative. "You know what they say about March – 'in like a lion, out like a lamb'. You'll see; in a few weeks, it'll be warmer."

"Yes, maybe," Aelita replied. "I'll try to remember that." She smiled, but still hunched her shoulders closer to her neck. Jeremie found himself reminded of the first time he saw her shiver, on the first night he saw her in person. With that memory fresh in his mind, something inside him was stirred to action. "Um, here…you don't have to wait so long." With some hesitation, he inched closer to her and put his hand around her shoulder. "See?"

I never knew your hands were like heaven.

"Um…" Jeremie leaped back and blushed beet red – he had no idea how to respond to such a flowery compliment. "Th-thank…you?"

To his surprise, Aelita looked more bemused than grateful. "You're welcome, I guess…" Her voice dissolved into giggles. "You're so funny sometimes, Jeremie."

"Yeah, yeah, I can…be funny sometimes," he said awkwardly. He kept eye contact for just a little longer than usual, looking the slightest bit suspicious of the conversation he had just had. It wasn't the first time that day that Aelita had reacted oddly to something he'd said – he just couldn't figure out what the problem was.

Aelita did not catch on at all. "Don't look so surprised," she said, holding the hand he'd taken away. "Some days, you just say something out of the blue that's funnier than Odd could ever come up with."

Jeremie blushed a different way. "Are you making fun of me?"

Never, Aelita said with a big grin. "Oh, there they are! Ulrich! Yumi! Odd!"

The couple didn't have to wait long for their friends – they dashed under the awning as fast as they could. Odd had a copy of the Kadic News held over his head; Yumi had resorted to her bulging backpack, while Ulrich was just as soaked without the effort. Odd was the first one to arrive. He put down his newspaper, looked into the Rec Room, and swore. "Aww! There's no room?"

"Why are you complaining?" Ulrich said, running in after him with Yumi. "There doesn't look like there's any room for fun in there anyway. And that's why we're friends with the smart people." They waved at Jeremie and Aelita, who waved back.

"Did everything go well with Hertz and Jim?" Aelita said, concerned. "They didn't sound too happy about your tests…"

"Not in trouble," Ulrich said tersely. "Failed anyway."

"Oh, it took a while, but I managed to convince them that they were problem scratch work," Odd said, emphasizing the "I" heavily. "At least they didn't think we were cheating, right?"

"You might have gotten a good grade if you had cheated," Yumi deadpanned, trying her hardest only to look at Odd. She gave Ulrich a reassuring smile that died before Ulrich, who looked sullen again, had the chance to realize what was going on.

"Hey! I only study for things I think I can use for the future," Odd continued after the moment had run its course. "As long as chemistry keeps working, why do I need to know how it works?"

This set everyone laughing for a bit, even Ulrich, who had calmed down from at least one moping spell. Jeremie took the ensuing quiet to turn the subject in an all too common direction. "So, about Lyoko…after last night's victory Aelita and I were thinking we could get another Replika taken care of tonight…"

"So you go ahead and do that," Odd said. "I'm not running to the factory in this weather!"

"He has a point," Ulrich added. "We'll drown in the sewer, and the city's just as bad. If XANA's not attacking I'd really rather stay inside."

"Me neither, but I do have a better excuse," Yumi said, checking inside her bag. "The History paper is due tomorrow, and it'll be hard enough writing one paper from scratch, let alone two." She gave Jeremie a look.

"I think the teachers already check to make sure I don't write anyone's papers," Jeremie said with an all-too-humble shrug. "Sorry."

"Fair enough. Either way, I gotta run." She did run, right back out into the rain. "See you guys tomorrow, if I'm still awake!"

"Bye," Ulrich said all too quietly. Once she was gone, he turned back to a nonplussed Jeremie. "So…you're not going to make us go to Lyoko without Yumi, right?"

"Oh, go do whatever," Jeremie said, shrugging. "We have plenty of work to do right here, anyway. Right, Aelita?"

Please, Jeremie, can't we go home?

Jeremie's eyes widened – was it just him, or did her mouth not match her words? "Uh, okay…just chill for a second. Anyway, you're welcome to join us…"

"Hmm…" Odd put a hand to his chin. "I think we're going to leave you two to do your smart people thing. Besides, I need to go air out Kiwi…" He turned to Ulrich. "Coming?"

"I don't like the sound of it… but as long as I'm dry and I can forget today, I'm good."

"Then what are we waiting for? To the Odd-cave!" Odd sprinted out into the rain with his newspaper over his head, heading for the dorms. Ulrich went after him just as quickly, followed by Jeremie and Aelita. Ulrich did a double take once during the journey, but otherwise they were all very focused on getting to their destination as quickly as possible.

[Yumi.]

"Yumi, look! I'm wet!"

"What – aaaaah!" William's clone grabbed Yumi's arms and swung her in a circle, much to the delight and terror of the sixth graders gathered in a circle around him. Yumi winced as mud splashed her bare ankle, but couldn't help but laugh a little – just a little – from the experience. But not very much.

"Okay guys, William…" She stepped away, holding her hands forward in surrender. "I really have to go now…do any of you know if Hiroki went home?"

"Uh…yeah, a long time ago," one girl said. "He said you were taking too long."

"Figures. Uh, bye." The sixth graders waved shyly – they were all plum terrified of her – but the clone jumped up and yelled enthusiastically until he couldn't see her anymore. She tried to ignore his voice ringing in his ears while she ran for the gate. She still held her bag up over her head, and tried not to focus on anything but getting home to get her work over with.

She was just passing the tool shed when she heard a shout – "Quick, Jim, everything's getting wet in here!" Her curiosity got the better of her immediately – she stopped and looked in the direction of the sound, and her jaw dropped open. The tool shed's largest window had a hole smashed in the right side, just large enough for a person to crawl through. Jim, standing on a comically tiny stepladder, was placing plywood over the hole. The door was open, and Yumi knew from the voice she had heard that Michel Roullier, the gardener and groundskeeper, was probably inside.

A few mumbles came from the inside of the shed before Roullier yelled an expletive. "I knew it – we've been robbed!"

"Robbed?" Jim wobbled a little on the ladder, jumped off, and ran through the door, leaving the project half-finished. "No wonder! So, what's missing? Power tools? Chainsaw? Lawnmower?"

[Yumi.]

"More like garden trowels and lead spikes," Roullier replied. "See that board? There used to be all those rusty old tools all over it. Look, they're all gone."

To Yumi's surprise, Jim laughed uproariously. "Well, look at that! We haven't just got a criminal, we've got a colossal idiot! Probably just grabbed what he could carry without looking once at it. There's no way anyone could sell rusty crap like that! I mean, if anything like that came into my hands when I was a scrap metal dealer, there's no way I would be able to –"

"You used to be a scrap metal dealer, Jim?"

Whether Jim ever elaborated on his past Yumi never knew; their voices dropped too low for her to hear the rest of the conversation. Her curiosity spent – and definitely not wasted on another one of Jim's careers – she walked on. Later on she would have to call Ulrich and Odd and ask if they'd heard about the break-in. Sure, it would be all over the campus by morning, but it would be a painless conversation topic.

[Yumi…]

[Yumi…]

A deadly silence seemed to fall on the campus. Yumi stopped in her tracks, turned around slowly, and raised an eyebrow at the scene before her. Nobody was there – just the trees, the road, and the silent shed. Satisfied that she had imagined whatever she had thought she had heard, she turned back around and continued on just a little more slowly.

[She hears us now. Is it the time?]

[Patience. There are no commands now.]

Yumi frowned and whirled around. "Aha!"

There was still no one there. But Yumi was sure now that she had heard voices – very distinct ones, at that. They had said something about a command; that was all that she could remember. They were familiar voices, too. One was more masculine, the other more feminine, and neither was immediately recognizable.

"Um…hello?" she said, with some hesitation, stepping backward. "Jim? Mr. Roullier?" Yumi was starting to get a little worried. She was lucky never to have heard disembodied voices before, but now was not a good time for them to start. She had no time to sleep them off – she had two papers to do. Determined more than ever to get home, she turned back around, but found that she somehow lacked the strength to move.

[Wrong, the answer is wrong!]

[Look, the face, it's twisted again!]

The voices were stronger now, and even if they weren't hallucinations, then they definitely weren't figments of her imagination. She turned around again, hands clenched into fists. "Who are you? Show yourself!" She was prepared for anything now – any attacker, human, XANA, or otherwise. Disembodied voices didn't scare a Lyoko Warrior.

[Look, Brother, she wants to see us. Is this our command?]

This voice, the feminine one, came from further away. Rather stupidly, Yumi ran away from the gate, toward the voice. "What are you talking about? What command?"

[It is an offer. A challenge. The Challenge, the one that Cannot Be Refused.]

"This isn't funny! Who are you! Stop – stop making me chase you!"

[Then The Challenge is accepted. Now there is only for Yumi to Decide.]

"What are you-" Before Yumi could say anything else in reply to this riddle, she felt something slimy twist around her leg. Instinctively, she looked down - and found herself too shocked to scream. A long, thin, and very real tendril, something like an octopus's tentacle, had wrapped itself tightly around her boot. Even as she watched, it was curling its way further up her leg.

The shock was gone – and now she screamed. Her bookbag fell and was forgotten; she grabbed the tendril with both hands to try and pry it off her boot. This was wholly unsuccessful – a fact that hit home when a second tentacle appeared in her line of sight and quickly wrapped itself around her wrists, tying them together. With a misaimed kick, she fell to the ground. Down there, she could see that the tendrils stretched far - very far - all the way back into the campus woods.

"Rrrgh…let me go! Let me go! Let me –" A third tentacle wrapped itself around her mouth, silencing her. She still punched and kicked against her bonds, but all to no avail. There was no way for her to escape – and the tentacles seemed to know this. Slowly, but gathering speed, they began pulling her across the sodden gravel. In time, they would pull her onto the grass, and then into the trees - and there was no way for her to escape.

For reference, this is what Aelita was saying when the MYSTERIOUS DISEMBODIED VOICE was dubbing her over:

Anger, abuse, and anguish, again and again and again. Is it always like this in your world, Jeremie? If I had known, I never would have let you leave my sight. / "He's never seen rain before, I think. At least as a computer program, he can't catch a cold. That would just ruin the fun."

I never knew your hands were like heaven. / "You're right…that is a little better."

Never. / "Always."

Please, Jeremie, can't we go home? / "With you there's always work to do. Sure, why not?"

And, uh, thassit. Enjoy the plot, kids!