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"NOOOOO!" Odd screamed as he saw his feet turn into a wireframe. Just before he faded away, a faint red shield glowed around Kirsten and she hit the Digital Sea with a small splash.
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Chapter 10 - The Missing Member
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It was morning. The Sun was still rising, shining down upon France with a warm orange glow. The day was just beginning. Adults were at work or on the way. For the most part, teenagers and kids were still fast asleep. However, in one dorm within Kadic Academy, a sleeping boy shifted slightly and opened his eyes.
Ulrich glanced around the room in a daze for a moment, until his mind caught up with him. When he remembered what had happened the day before, he quickly glanced at his spike-haired roommate.
"Odd?" he asked. The blond boy was not asleep, as Ulrich had expected. Instead, he sat on his head with his back against the wall and his knees pulled up to his chest. His arms were wrapped around his legs, and his head rested on his knees. The morning sunlight streaming through the window seemed to stop just before reaching him. He was in shadow, and not because there was something between him and the sun.
"What?" Odd asked dejectedly.
"Why are you already up?"
"Never slept," the blond muttered. "Been awake since we got back. She's…she's really gone, isn't she?"
Ulrich glanced at his friend again as the boy raised his head enough to look him in the eye. He was startled by Odd's appearance. His skin was pale and his bloodshot eyes were surrounded by dark rings.
He looked like a ghost.
Ulrich clenched his fist to stop his hand from trembling and took a deep breath. "No, Odd," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "She's not gone. She'll never be gone."
"How can you possibly know that?" Odd asked, horrible sadness apparent in his voice. "How can you know?"
"I don't," Ulrich said. "You just have to believe in her. I bet she's already trying to fight her way out!"
Odd looked up into his best friend's hazel eyes. "Yeah," he said. "I guess you're right…"
"Come on," Ulrich said, grabbing Odd's arm. "Let's get you some food. You always feel better after a meal."
Odd didn't resist. He just stood up and let himself be dragged from the room.
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First, there was nothing. Everything was black.
"Where am I?"
A question was asked, but never answered. Slowly, hearing and sight returned, but revealed nothing new.
"Where am I?"
The unanswered question was repeated, but silence was the only answer.
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"So, let's start with what we know," Jeremie said as they all ate breakfast. Of the remaining five people in their group, the only member not present was Yumi, as she ate breakfast at home before walking to school. "First: XANA activated a tower and used it to possess Kirsten. Since she's been to Lyoko several times, she should have been immune. However, she wasn't. Also, when she was possessed, her clothes changed…"
"So XANA used a different type of possession, right?" Aelita asked him.
"Exactly. So XANA either discovered a new method to possess people, or somehow Kirsten was special for some reason."
"Special how?" Ulrich asked as he tried to coax Odd into eating. The blond's usual exuberance had disappeared when Kirsten did, as had his appetite.
"I don't know," Jeremie admitted. "Anyway, let's move on. Next: XANA seems to have left Lyoko."
"What?!" Ulrich exclaimed. His eyes widened and he looked around hurriedly, hoping that nobody had heard his outburst. Luckily, the noise level in the Cafeteria was high enough to drown out even his yell.
"He's right," Aelita explained. "XANA left Lyoko and the supercomputer altogether, right before Lyoko was deleted. We think it retreated somewhere on the Internet, though we don't know where."
Odd tuned out the next few parts of conversation, staring instead at the empty sixth seat at their table. He could see Kirsten sitting there, laughing at something or drinking far too much coffee. He could hear her talking and laughing. Still, she wasn't there. She was missing.
She was gone.
"And last: there might be a way—" Jeremie started to say, though he was interrupted by a high-pitched voice from behind him.
"Hey Odd, where's your girlfriend?" Sissi asked mockingly. "Did she break up with you like everybody else?"
"Odd," Ulrich hissed to his friend. "Don't do anything! Just ignore her!"
Odd clenched his fists and started shaking with suppressed anger.
"Oh, you're shaking!" Sissi exclaimed delightedly. "Are you scared of something? Are you scared that you're precious girlfriend might not like you any more? Huh?"
"Shut up, Sissi," Ulrich said. "He's not exactly having the best day. None of us are."
"So you did break up!" she screeched. She would have probably gone on, but Odd cut her off when he stood up, spun around, and punched her in the face as hard as he could.
"You're wrong," he snarled at her. "You're such a—"
"ODD DELLA ROBBIA!!!"
Odd's angry expression remained on his face as he turned around to face Jim.
"I have never seen you do something like that! You may be the worst prankster in the entire school, but you've never gone that far!"
Ulrich sighed and rested his forehead in one hand. It hadn't even been a day, and already everybody was getting all wound up. Odd was obviously the worst, for the most obvious reasons. Still, Kirsten had been their friend, and they were all angry. He glanced up at Aelita, who had been half-way out of her seat when Odd punched Sissi. Maybe she would have done the same, if Odd hadn't beaten her to it. She had been very close to Kirsten too. Ulrich knew that Odd would only be the first person to take out their anger, frustration, and sadness on someone else, unless they did something soon.
They had all lost someone important when Kirsten had been taken by XANA.
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She took a moment to observe her prison. That's what it was: a prison. It was her jail cell. Never mind the fact that it was easily the size of a high school gym. There were no entrances, no exits, and no windows. There was light, but it came from nowhere and equally illuminated the cavernous room.
Kirsten looked down at herself and saw that she was dressed in her usual Lyoko clothing. The naginata was strapped to her back. She glanced back up and noticed that the room looked a little like Carthage did, but the walls, floor, and ceiling were black instead of blue, and light blue indented lines ran around on all surfaces. Small dots of white light traveled on each line.
In the center of the room was an odd contraption. On the floor was the familiar XANA symbol, etched in glowing red lines. Above it, a small metal ball floated in the air, with four segmented "legs" protruding from it.
She stood up slowly and continued looking at the machine. She felt a strange tugging sensation and gasped when she saw that her feet were slowly sliding forward. She was moving towards the thing in the middle of the room, and she couldn't do anything about it!
Finally, her feet stopped directly on top of the central circle of the XANA symbol on the ground. It flashed a brighter red, and she heard a lot of loud clicks. Soon, she knew why. The four legs of the metal ball floating above her began to move, extending down to touch her wrists and ankles. Each pole attached to one of her limbs, holding her in place just a few inches above the symbol.
"XANA…" she hissed as a black cloud materialized in front of her. She tried to move, but she could barely squirm at all.
"You cannot escape,"said a voice from within the cloud. It echoed around the room and made her head ache with its intensity.
"Oh yeah?" she asked. "Watch me."
She tried to move again, but the legs holding her sparked and sent electricity coursing through her. Even though she was virtualized, she could still feel horrible pain. It felt like her body was being ripped apart! Her body lost all of its texture and changed into a simple wireframe, like she was about to be devirtualized. She didn't notice as she screamed in agony. She had only one thought before she succumbed to the darkness.
I'm sorry...everyone...
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Jeremie sat in front of the supercomputer terminal, completely stumped. He had no idea how to get everybody into the Digital Sea. They had to be protected from the sea itself or they would be deleted, but they also needed to be able to access their weapons in case there were other enemies in the Sea.
The computer beeped, and a file opened. Jeremie looked up and pushed his glasses back into place. He looked closely at the rotating wireframe on the screen.
"That's it! I've got it!"
"Got what?" Odd asked immediately, full of hope.
"I know how you can get into the Digital Sea!" Jeremie exclaimed. "It'll just take a bit of work…"
"How did you figure it out?" Aelita asked as she came over to look at the monitor.
"Well, somehow, Franz Hopper sent this file to me. If we just add this to the vDNA conversion program…"
Aelita listened intently, while the other three gave up trying to understand what Jeremie was trying to say and just waited. After a few moments, Aelita nodded and agreed that his plan might work.
The four Lyoko Warriors wasted no time in running to the elevator and going down to the scanner room. They all wanted to find their missing member.
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Ulrich was the first to appear in the virtual world. He landed on a small, metallic, circular platform a few feet above the Digital Sea. He looked down at himself and saw that he was dressed in a jumpsuit with his usual color scheme, with dark gray gloves, boots, and shoulder pads. Instead of just one sword, he had two sheathed blades attached to his back.
He drew both blades and spun them in his hands. "I'm good to go, Jeremie," he said, "but how will this help us in the Digital Sea?"
"You'll see," Jeremie said as he virtualized the others. Soon, Aelita, Yumi, and Odd appeared and fell to the platform. They were all wearing jumpsuits as well. Aelita's was in several shades of pink. Yumi's was dark red, and Odd's was, of course, purple. He still had his tail as well. However, he also had—
"Oh, your ears are so cute!" Aelita exclaimed. Odd had two purple cat ears poking out from his hair. His eyes widened and he reached up to feel them as Ulrich and Yumi started laughing.
"Guys," Jeremie announced, "we should hurry. Anyway, all of you, look at your right glove."
Ulrich held up his right hand and looked at it. "And what?" he asked. "All I see is a white dot."
"Press it."
Everybody shrugged and did as they were told. A wireframe appeared around their heads and materialized into helmets with visors that covered their faces. They matched the color schemes of their suits.
"There," Jeremie said. "Now your bodies are entirely covered, so you should be protected from the Digital Sea."
"Only one way to find out!" Odd exclaimed before jumping into the Sea. The others shrugged and followed him into the unknown.
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I am SO sorry it took so long. Rest assured that the next chapter will take much less time. The next chapter, however, is the final chapter of Code:Changes Reloaded. Before you start yelling and screaming though, let me tell you that I am planning a sequel story to pick up right where this one ends. I just wanted to separate it into two parts. I'm warning you though, I plan to introduce some more major OCs. I'm sorry, but I had an idea and I decided to run with it. You'll see when I start writing part two of this story, which has no title at the moment. I'll let you know what the title is when I finish the final chapter of Reloaded.
Anyway, please review! I'll have Chapter 11 up some time between later today and New Years, hopefully. I'm going to try to finish it before Christmas Day, or I'll be too distracted.