Classes had just ended for the day, Alex, Odd and Ulrich decided it was perfect time to hit the gym and get ready for region basketball. Setting their stuff on the bleachers, Alex opened the equipment room and grabbed a ball. Passing it to Ulrich he asked "You guys want to play some one on one?" That's when William walked in. "How about we make it two on two?"

Odd chuckled "I'm game. Anything to get ready for friday." The guys started their little game. Alex and Odd versus William and Ulrich. 10 minutes in, Alex and Odd were up 6-0. William and Ulrich were too busy butting heads. "Alex stepped back to Odd "These two are completely different on the court during an actual game, but they can't work together in a simple game of 2-on-2? William and Ulrich baffle me sometimes.

The game ended after Ulrich let Alex slip by and score. They split up and Alex headed for the rec room. He sat down in front of the TV, pulled his laptop out, plugged it in, turned on a game and put his headphones on.

Alex heard a scream from Kai's room, "ODD!"

Removing his headphones, Alex looked up "What in the world?"

A VERY Ticked off Kai came down to the rec room. It was understandable he was upset considering he was wear light pink t-shirt with the word superstar on it and skinny jeans.

Kai shouted, "WHERE IS ODD?!"

Alex rested his headphones on his shoulders "I have no clue man."

Kai growled, "He is dead when I see him."

Alex's eyes narrowed, his face becoming more serious. He closed his laptop, set his headphones down, looked Kai dead in the eye and said "First of all, cool it Kai. Second, think. Odd may just be the pawn in this prank. Think about it. Odd wouldn't do something of this caliber alone. It's too well thought out, Odd's tricks are simple gags. He's not the mastermind behind this."

Kai sighed, "I guess so. Maybe it was Sissi? I mean she would be able to pull it off being the principal's daughter."

"Sissi is a possibility, but I can't see her doing something like this. Way too nice for her. She likes complete humiliation, this is minor embarrassment. I'll go talk to Odd, see what he knows, it'd be best if you just stayed back."

Kai nodded, "I'll be in my room if you need me. Maybe there is something in there that can lead us to the culprit."

Alex nodded, "I'll call when I've talked to Odd." He shoved his stuff back in his bag and handed it to Kai, "Put that on my bed for me." He walked off to go find Odd.

Kai picked up the bag, "I'll see you later." He heads to Alex's room and puts the stuff down. In his room he found a piece of cloth. He asked to no one in particular, "What is this?"

In the gym, Alex found Odd working on his three point shot. "Della Robia, over here for a sec." Odd set the ball down and jogged over. "What's up Alex?" Alex looked him in the eyes "I need to know about that little prank you were the pawn for. Who gave you the ideas to pull it off?"

Odd shook his head "I wish I knew good buddy, if you want to check the note that I got, it's in my locker in the locker room. Combination is 32-01-26." Alex nodded and jogged off. In the locker room, he dialed Kai's number.

Kai picked up, "Hey Alex. I found a clue in my room but I don't know who it belongs to. Its a piece of cloth.

Alex looked at the note in his hands "I found a note in Odd's locker. I'll bring it by and you can check it out."

Kai said, "Alright see you later."

Alex pocketed the note, closed Odd's gym locker and walked towards the dorms. He reached Kai's room and knocked "Kai, you there? I got the note."

Kai opened the door, "I'm here and can I see this note?"

Alex nodded and handed it over. "I looked at it several times and compared it to a threat note from Sissi to Yumi. This isn't Sissi's handwriting."

Kai sighed, "Is it Lily's? I haven't seen her writing in a while, but it might just be hers."

Alex nodded "Alright, you confront her about that. If you need backup, any of us can help."

Kai thanked him, "You guys are great friends. Odd might wanna come since he was the one who pulled it off."

"The puppet betraying the puppetmaster. I like it. Give me a few minutes and I'll have him here." Alex pulled out his phone and stepped over to his room. Kai could hear him through the wall "Odd, you were used as a puppet, how would you like to betray your puppetmaster? Alright, come up to my dorm as fast as possible." Alex stepped back into Kai's "He's in, come on over to my room, that's our meeting point."

Kai sighed, "Why do I feel like I'm gonna regret this?"

Alex shook his head. "You won't regret this Kai. Now come on over to my room. We'll wait for Odd there." Alex walked to his room, checked the pepper plants in his window and sat down in his computer chair.

Kai arrived, "Alright what are you planning?"

Alex looked at him "Just a simple plot of revenge." He dug in his desk drawer and pulled out a watch. "Jeremy and I spent months on these and we've got five developed and ready for use. Thing is, they're for me, Odd, Yumi, Ulrich and Aelita." He paused "these are real world virtualization watches. They allow us to virtualize into our Lyoko forms without going to Lyoko. My plan is to convince Odd's puppet master into thinking that Odd is a were-cat."

Kai asked, "Isn't that risky?"

"Everything has it's risks Kai. I've run every possible scenario in my head. And in all of them, Odd's freed from his puppetmaster."

Kai sighed, "If you say so."

Odwas standing in the doorway "Toss me that watch Alex." Alex reached into the drawer and pulled out a watch with a purple face a silver paw print and tossed it over to Odd. "Remember Odd, the sequence is Start/Stop, Start/Stop, Mode. Keep it discreet."

Odd nodded "I'm with you. Get her to me, I'll scare the crap out of her."

Lily was in her room reading.

In Alex's room, Alex gave Kai his options. "Kai, you can either get in on our plan, or you can stay back and watch. Either way, Odd and I are going to go through with it."

Kai sighed, "I'll watch."

"Fine by us. Let's go Odd." Kai watched from a distance.

Night fell and Lily met Odd under the arches. The two started walking towards the park. Alex watched from the trees in silence. The moment was perfect. The full moon was hidden behind the clouds. Just as they reached the park, the moon came out and Odd went into his act.

"Oh no, not again." Odd whined as he grabbed his head. With this, he was able to work with his watch. Lily was only able to watch as Odd "transformed" into a purple furred were-cat.

In his tree, Alex smiled. "Good going Odd. I'm seeing a look of pure horror on her face."

Lily screamed and passed out.

Odd laughed, returned to normal, and helped Alex get her back to her room. The two guys then quickly slipped back into their dorm rooms, changed into their bed clothes and jumped into bed.

The next morning, Alex was alone at the breakfast table. He picked at his pancakes and

bacon, sipped from his apple cider and read from the manga he had brought down with him.

Lily was talking to Jim, "Sir I'm serious Odd Della Robia turned into a were cat."

Jim laughed, "Yeah right the only thing he is a kid who eats way too much."

She everything but whispered, "I AM NOT CRAZY!"

Jim said, "I'll talk with Della Robia and find out whatever happened did happen." He muttered, "If Della Robia doesn't confirm this we need to send her to the loony bin ."

Lily sighed and sat down next to Alex, "You believe me right?"

Alex marked his page and closed his Highschool of the Dead manga before looking up "Depends on what I'm believing. Spill."

Lily replied, "I saw Odd Della Robia turn into a were-cat. No doubt about it. And I could've sworn I saw someone who looked like you in a tree nearby."

"Lily, you've lost your mind. I was in bed all night. Odd was too. Ulrich can vouch for Odd, my room cam can vouch for me."

Lily mumbled, "I know what I saw." A glint appeared in her eyes and she went to Kai's room.

Kai saw her coming, "What's going on sis?"

Lily smiled, "Oh I was just wondering if you were looking for some of your clothes."

Kai nodded, "Yes I am sis and I know you have them."

Lily smirked, "I'll give them back if you explain why Odd turned into a were-cat." Kai flinched and he spotted Odd out in the hall.

Odd poked his head in "Hey Kai, your sister trying to make you believe that bogus rumor that I'm some kind of monster?"

Lily growled, "I know what I saw Della Robia and until I get an explanation I forbid Kai from talking to you, Alex, or any of your friends. Don't say I can't control him as his older sister I have a right to decide if he is hanging out with the wrong crowd. Besides my parent gave both me and Bella the responsibility of taking care of him and I can boss him around." Lily drags Kai off to the cafeteria.

Odd watched, when they were gone he said to himself "Wow, over-reaction much? Let the guy have his freedom." He shrugged and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Jeremy had sent a text to everyone, Code: XANA, all hands on deck for this one. I'm heading to the factory, meet you guys there. Alex's response was the next message Looks like XANA materialized some tarantulas, kankrelats, and blocks. We'll need some people to stay back and fight them off. Ulrich, Yumi go into my dorm. Open the top drawer and pull out the wooden box, find the watch that corresponds to your symbol on Lyoko.

Across campus, Alex was running for the forest, he saw a tarantula, pulled out his pocket knife, snuck up on it and jabbed the knife into the target. "One down. About two dozen to go." As he reached the manhole cover, his phone buzzed. He read it out loud "Scanners destroyed, hook up and use the scan pads. I'll virtualize you remotely." Alex turned on his heels and booked it back to the dorms. He ran into Jeremy's room, grabbed the scan pads out of Jeremy's dresser and hooked them up.

After establishing a remote link to the factory, everything was ready to go. Pulling out his phone, he let everyone know that he was heading in ahead of them. With that, he stood on the scan pad and waited. Across town in the lab, Jeremy virtualized Alex.

The desert sector came into Alex's view as he dropped down to the digital sands below. "I made it Jeremy. Time to do some scouting." With that he took off running.

Back on campus, Yumi and Ulrich had strapped on the watches. They keyed in the sequences and they transformed. Yumi looked at Ulrich, he nodded and they ran out of the dorm buildings.

Odd ran into Jeremy's room, closed the door and stood on a scan pad. Jeremy sent him in to join Alex.

Kai had received the text and hid it from Lily. Kai thought to himself, dang it I can't get away from Lily and help. He texted Jeremy back, "sorry Jeremy I can't get away from Lily. You guys are by yourself on this one. Wish I could help, but once my sister has an eye on me I can't get away."

On Lyoko, Alex and Odd had met up and continued onward. The duo had just finished off a pack of krabes and were getting close to the dark tower. Hey Jeremy, we need an update on the situation at school."

Jeremy accessed the school's security cameras and checked each feed "Looks like Ulrich and Yumi are doing really well. There's not very many monsters still running around on campus. Hurry up and finish the job though, I'll have a return trip ready to go." Odd's audio card lit up "You bet Einstein, plus we really need to re-think that prank Alex and I pulled."

Jeremy wanted to ask, but decided against it. "I'm going to keep an eye on the school from here because there's a tarantula in the factory."

Back on campus, Yumi and Ulrich had just finished clean up and had found a place to hide so they could revert back to their normal selves. Ulrich chuckled "Well, that was fun. Lot better than the other times XANA has brought monsters into this world." The two got up and walked back out into the recess yard and looked around. They saw Kai basically being held hostage by his sister.

Ulrich looked over his shoulder and saw an approaching wall of white light. "Looks like Alex and Odd took care of things. Here comes the return trip."

Things reverted back to the previous night. Odd led Lily out to the edge of the park, but instead of transforming again, he got her to put what appeared as normal wrist and ankle bands on and started chuckling.

"What's so funny Della Robia?" She asked him. Odd smirked "Oh, nothing." He paused "Now!"

Lily felt a tugging sensation at her wrist and ankles. Alex and Odd's new trick worked perfectly. Lily was now a human marionette with Alex controlling her movements. Odd pulled out his phone and started taping everything. Odd looked at Lily "Try to prevent Kai from hanging out with his friends and this video hits the internet, as well as everyone in mine and Alex's contacts lists."

Lily growled but gave in when Alex pulled the strings to make her do the chicken dance. "FINE! I'll leave Kai alone when he's with you guys."

Alex stepped out from his hiding spot "Shut off the video Odd. We got what we need." He turned to Lily "Not just when he's with us Lily. You're his older sister, be that to him. Don't be a controlling egotistical psycho-bitch. Kai will come to you for guidance in life, but you need to let him be himself, not who you want him to be. His choices aren't yours to make."

Lily gave up "Fine, just release me." Alex nodded "Odd, get the bands off of her." Odd did as he was told and the guys ran off for the dorms with Lily following them. Alex knew Kai was in bed, but he sent him a text message.

Odd and I rethought our prank, don't worry about your sister trying to control your life. We handled it. Text Odd if you want the video.

~Alex

Alex got into his room and jumped into bed. "That worked perfect, little 200 lb fishing line, some leather strips and some wood, and we made a human marionette. The puppetmaster became the puppet." He smiled, took off his glasses, popped them into the drawer in his bed and fell asleep.

A/N:

Ulrich-Stern3277: These chapters are getting better with our time for collaboration. IcyPika have been working whenever it was possible for us to so we could bring you this chapter. Hopefully chapter 5 gets up faster seeing that I have winter break coming up after my final exams for the semester. Remember, if you want to try making a co-op fanfic with me, PM me and we'll discuss the details.

Icypika: Yeah hope you enjoyed the chapter. Do you guys want to see more of Lily or Bella? Leave your thoughts in the review.