Jeremie gently guided Aelita back to the conference room and shut the door behind him before following her back to the table. With something like a sigh, he sat down heavily and glanced around the room, noticing the disappointment that dominated all the other displayed emotions. His mind was racing, analyzing the meeting and all the ways it had gone wrong to look for openings that were missed or alternatives that could have been tried. Across from him, Yumi silently seethed over how that 'man' had treated her and, more importantly, her friends. Beside her, Ulrich sat with his eyes downcast, studying the scuffed and occasionally scratched wooden tabletop as though it could provide answers. Across from Ulrich sat Aelita, whose cheeks had regained their normal color even though she still looked quite unsettled.

Like Jeremie, she was lost in thought, although not on the meeting but rather on how they might cope with the aftermath. Lifting her gaze up she looked across from her and to the side to see Odd spinning around in his chair like it was come kind of ride. A faint smile tugged at her lips but it did nothing to ease the stifling silence that pervaded the room. From her position beside Aelita, Sissi could do little more than glare at Odd as he spun, the noise and motion grating on her mind. William muttered something about the guy being an asshole but not loudly enough for her to know which guy. Either would fit at this point. "Odd! Would you stop that?" She snapped.

"Huh?" Odd answered, stopping himself by grabbing the table with both hands.

"Thank you."

Odd simply shrugged.

"So what now?" William asked before Odd could launch himself into another spin.

Everyone looked around the table as though expecting a suggestion from anyone but themselves. Eventually, all eyes settled on Jeremie.

It was Sissi who spoke up, though she was hesitant. "How about the go back to the past thingy?"

"Return to the past." Jeremie instantly corrected. Leaning forward, he looked at her across the table, "We'd need a plan as to how win this meeting first." He glanced at Odd, "Because winging it didn't go very well."

"Ulrich's father had the outcome already planned, he was just looking for whatever he would need to make it happen." William answered. "Plan or no plan, this would be the outcome again."

"Then we keep trying." Odd said in an aggravated tone. "We can't just give up."

"We can't try forever either." Aelita's sullen voice reminded them.

"There's a limit to the return to the past function?" Sissi questioned.

"No." Jeremie answered, "Not really."

"But there is a limit to our ability to endure the stress of repeated returns." Aelita finished.

"We can probably do this again and if we are all well rested right now maybe even a third or fourth time but after that…" Yumi's voice trailed off leaving Sissi to wonder exactly how they knew that. Based on the way they all nodded though, she was certain that it was more than a theory. William leaned closer and explained how the first week of daily return trips went to Sissi and she too nodded. The oppressive blanket of silence returned, settling heavily over the gathered teens while they turned to their own thoughts once again.

It was shattered by a loud slap of flesh on wood followed by the sound of a wheeled chair being propelled backwards to crash into the wall. Everyone's head snapped around in time to see one of the few public emotional outbursts that Ulrich had ever had. "You are not doing this me to dad." He said angrily at the door before quickly marching to it. The rest of the assembled teens collected their dropped jaws and scrambled up to go after him. They followed him through the halls of the administration building and through the courtyard then to the parking lot where Ulrich's father was just getting into his very expensive, and rented, german sports car.

"DAD!" Ulrich shouted across the lot, managing to catch the adult's attention.

Henric Stern turned to see his son storming towards him, flanked by his friends and looking intent on murder. He smiled darkly at the boy's bravado and wondered how long it would last. Odd walked with Ulrich and noted that the group was slowly fanning out as they approached the adult to give the appearance of cornering him in a trap. It was like something out of a gang movie he'd watched once, only there were no guns and Ulrich's father didn't look the least bit intimidated. In fact, it sort of looked like he was on the wrong side of the movie.

"Come to beg me to let you stay here with these," He swept his arm out to indicate Ulrich's friends, "people?"

"My threat still stands."

Henric glared harshly, "The military has broken harder men than you'll ever be and they don't take kindly to slackers or to those who pose a problem to teamwork, unity and discipline."

Jeremie stuck his hands in his pocket and felt for his phone, lightly tapping a few well known commands on the screen once he had found it.

"I don't think that's a reputation you want your family to have."

Henric smirked and his voice was calm and perfectly collected as he spoke, "A training accident is easy to stage and your record of problems will perfectly deflect any inquiry." He sent a cold stare at each member of the group, "I was involved in a few." He returned his gaze to Ulrich, "I think we're all done here, so you can go and pack so when I send for you, you'll be ready to leave."

Ulrich looked to the ground and then to Jeremie when he spoke up. "Not quite all, Mr. Stern," Jeremie said smugly. He pulled the phone from his pocket and pressed a couple more commands, ignoring the withering stare the adult was giving him. "I doubt you want people to take a closer look into your academy records given your earlier statement."

"What statement?" Henric demanded calmly.

Jeremie played back the conversation he recorded and Ulrich's father narrowed his eyes, anger zeroing in the boy like a laser. "The phone. Now." He ordered as he hunched down and held out his hand.

Jeremie stared back, seemingly unafraid. "You might be able to take the phone but it doesn't really matter. The recording is on a cloud server and a program there will send it out if I don't stop it."

Henric straightened up and retracted his arm, aware of the awe that the other kids were sending Jeremie's way. "It's a dangerous game you're playing Belpois."

"It's not a game." Jeremie replied seriously.

Mr. Stern focused his attention on Aelita, "I wonder what would happen if I went to pull your records from a certain orphanage in Canada."

It took all of Aelita's will to not cringe at the words.

"They'll send you her digital records." Jeremie answered with more confidence then he felt.

"If I want the paper ones?" He challenged while still looking at Aelita.

"The orphanage had a fire. As I understand all the original records burned."

"Convenient," Ulrich's father answered, glancing around to see the expressions of the people who were pointedly not interrupting this line of questioning. "It's a good thing no one died, wouldn't you agree?" Rather than give either Jeremie or Aelita time to answer he continued on, "because I'm sure someone would remember such a lovely pink-haired girl."

Jeremie's expression faltered and Henric's smile turned predatory, "I'm not interesting in ruining lives here, just looking out for my son's future. So the recording goes away, Ulrich goes to the school I choose and you and your little pink-haired girlfriend don't have to explain to the police how you put together her identity and why."

"They'd be more understanding of that than of murder." Odd charged.

"Of which you have no real proof," Mr. Stern answered calmly, "while I have conclusive evidence that your cousin is not who she says she is."

Odd balled his fist and thought of the disdainful way the man had looked him over at the meeting. "I understand the police don't take kindly to foreigners entering the country to commit hate crimes."

Ulrich's father laughed, "What do you intend to do, show off your wounded pride?"

Odd stalked closer and started hurling insults at the man, berating his manhood, his parenting style, his looks and anything else he could think of. The tirade went on for a couple of minutes before Odd figured out that he wasn't going to goad the attorney into a fight. After that he charged forward intent upon landing a blow to provoke a physical fight. Ulrich leapt forward and restrained him, "cameras," he hissed angrily into Odd's ear. "They'll show my dad acted in self defense."

Odd nodded and Ulrich slowly let him go, leaving the purple clad teenager to stand on his own and control his anger. Henric nodded at his son and then addressed the group. "Are we done now."

This time Yumi spoke up, her voice giving away her discomfort but having an edge that said she intended to back up her threat. "No, we aren't. Because actions aren't the only way to provoke a threat and all of us will testify that you verbally abused and threatened Odd to the point that he was beyond reason. And," she added, feeling slightly nauseous "the cameras here don't record audio." She glanced to Jeremie who nodded.

"That would still be your word against mine and I'm sure that, even if the investigator doesn't realize it, a jury will see through your collusion."

Yumi fought against the urge to vomit, "Not after seeing what your internet records turn up..." She glanced to Aelita.

Aelita about turned green as her stomach revolted at what she knew Yumi wanted. Using her computer skills this way was an abomination but backed into a corner, what else could she do? Putting on her bravest face she went ahead and backed up Yumi's threat. "Jeremie and I are quite skilled at hacking…" She mentally cursed herself when her voice faltered.

Jeremie took over, ignoring the bile that seemed to want to rise from his stomach. "So we could give you very strong ties to hate sites, forum accounts. Maybe even make you up to be a closet Nazi."

"You wouldn't dare!" Henric yelled.

Jeremie sighed, his resigned answer simple, short and honest. "I would, if I had to do so to defend those I loved."

Ulrich's father looked straight into the boy's eyes and despite the resignation with which he spoke there was unflinching strength and conviction in the young man's gaze. He turned to glare at Aelita who, despite her weakness in the conference room earlier, now met his eyes with a haunted but utterly determined expression. Balling his fist he turned towards Odd who met his gaze evenly, ready to end up on the losing side of a brawl even if it meant losing his life. He turned to glare again at Yumi and was met with a warrior's expression, something he recognized from his time in the marines.

Slowly, he let out a breath and unclenched his fists. "I see." He let the statement hang in the air and though the silence dragged on, the will of the teens gathered in front of him did not diminish. All looked uncomfortable but determined. "You'll fail. You realize you can't win."

"But neither can you. We might go down," Ulrich stated, "but not before our accusations are slathered all over the media."

"False accusations." Henric retorted even as he felt his confidence in coming out on top of this situation wavering.

Elizabeth spoke up this time, knowing as she did how the rumor mill and media worked. "The accusation will be front page news and everyone will run with it. The apology will be buried in the section nobody reads."

"My name would eventually be cleared and you would end up separated and in prison." Henric responded. "But the damage in the meantime would be considerable," He admitted. Smiling slightly he looked over the group, "It seems I may have underestimated your friends. Though how much remains to be seen." He looked back to his son and pointed accusingly, "You however, are still a disappointment. Standing there cowering while your friends fight for you in the most dangerous way possible. Think of how well they'd do amongst real criminals." Satisfied that he'd gotten his point across he again turned to enter his car.

"Wait." Ulrich called, taking a step forward. "I can show you what my friends and I have been doing… And why they would go so far for me."

Mr. Stern turned back towards the teens and noticed their shocked expressions. "Explain quickly." He said with an air of impatience.

Ulrich took a breath. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, I can only show you."

Hernic only shook his head and turned back to the car. He opened the door and climbed inside, then glowered at his son when he found the boy preventing him from closing the door. "Ulrich, I really don't have time for this. There are calls to make and paperwork to take care of for your transfer."

Yumi joined Ulrich in holding his father's car's door open. "What we've actually been doing would make you proud of your son. Aren't you even a little bit curious?" She asked angrily.

Henric sighed. "I suppose if I don't, you'll just call your mother and she'll make me miserable." He pulled himself back out of the car while Yumi and Ulrich retreated. Slamming the door he glared at each teen. "This had better not be a waste of my time."

The result of that statement was worried murmurs of understanding and a long, mostly silent walk through the city. Jeremie, naturally, expressed his worry over how a full telling of their story was going to end. Aelita though, whispered back hopeful reassurances. William and Sissi seemed content to be silent and nervous. In the front of the group, Yumi and Ulrich walked close together but not quite touching. In the distance the abandoned factory loomed and Ulrich's father was focused on it, wondering just how much trouble his good for nothing son had gotten into and who led them all to that deathtrap. "Are we going there?"

"Yes." Ulrich answered coolly, "There's a lot hidden there."

"Like?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"So you said." Mr. Stern replied with clear annoyance. "Which one of you found that place?"

"Everyone knows the factory is here." Ulrich replied.

"Yumi and I." Jeremie spoke up.

That earned a surprised grunt from the lone adult and he evaluated the nerd and the girl walking with his son. "And you went here why?"

Yumi smiled, "Jeremie needed a few parts for his robots. I showed him a place where he could scavenge what he couldn't buy. We never expected what else he'd find." She glanced over to shoulder to Aelita "Or rather who."

Mr. Stern now looked over Aelita with his critical eye, deciding that there was no way she grew up on the streets. Frowning severely he turned a critical eye to Yumi and then to Jeremie. "Aelita lived there?"

Aelita chuckled nervously, "In a manner of speaking."

"Meaning?"

Aelita's smile fell at the humorless tone of Ulrich's father.

"No, I can guess the answer," He started harshly, "I wouldn't believe you if you told me."

Jeremie squeezed her hand supportively as Aelita turned back towards the factory. "Yeah."

That deeply uncomfortable silence came back and remained until the group arrived at the elevator via the route that did not involve sliding down ropes. It was finally broken by the sound of the corrugated metal door rising to reveal the surprisingly well looking elevator that the kids piled into without a second thought. "It's safe." Odd taunted with a smile.

Hernic glared a moment longer then stepped into the elevator. Jeremie expertly pried off the control panel and keyed in the security code, bracing himself as the elevator lurched into motion. Over the din of the moving lift he cautioned the adult to step back from the door as they arrived at the computer lab. Electricity sheeted over the circular lock only a moment after the car halted with a slight jerk and then the doors parted, revealing the familiar confines of the lab, complete with sickly green florescent lighting.

With an unimpressed frown, Henric stepped into the circular room, taking note of the modern looking computer monitor, tracked chair and the raised lip around the hole in the very center of the room. He jerked back when the holographic projector came online, showing a slowly rotating view of some kind of computer generated landscape. Turning away from what would probably be pricy technology some day, he swept his eyes over the rest of the facility. There were some sort of plastic storage containers which appeared to hold bedding or possibly sleeping bags. Another one that was also full, a trash can, something that looked like a large cooler, and a few other items that suggested someone had tried living here. For short periods, at least.

He turned towards the group of teens who'd brought him here and noted that Jeremie was on the large chair and sitting at the computer terminal with Aelita standing by his side. Everyone one else seemed to have gathered by the elevators. Impatiently tapping his foot on the hard floor he looked at this son. "Well?"

Ulrich explained, getting help from Jeremie and then Aelita for the more technical aspects of the story. Mr. Stern listened with an almost expressionless face, his mind analyzing everything that was said. His conclusion was obvious, though before he could voice it Jeremie spoke up. "We can prove all of this. Go down one more level and you'll see the scanners. I can transfer you to Lyoko."

"Even if I believed that was possible," Mr. Stern said, "why would I take the risk. You said yourself, in defending your cowardice, that it was possible to ensure someone wouldn't be able to come back from this… Lyoko alive."

"You shouldn't call someone a coward," Odd mocked, "when you're too afraid to go to Lyoko yourself."

"What exactly do I have to gain by going into this Lyoko?" Mr. Stern responded.

"Proof that you aren't too afraid." Odd responded smugly.

Mr. Stern stared back, completely unmoved by the childish taunt. When's Odd's smile finally disappeared the man turned towards his son. "Now that this foolishness is over, I'm going to be leaving and you should be getting back to Kadic and packing your things."

There was, of course, a chorus of 'you can't do this' which drowned out the omnipresent clacking of keys. The elder Stern ignored all of it as he pushed his way to the elevator. Its door opened at his approach and Jeremie's voice cut through the noise, his command simple: "Let him go."

Odd ran to the blond genius' side and watched disbelievingly as he continued to type rapidly. Turning to Aelita he begged her, "Have Jeremie keep him down here. We need to convince him to let Ulrich stay." She looked at the screen, noticing the power usage stat go up and a new set of status and command windows come up with some familiar coding.

"Jeremie's right, we can't keep Mr. Stern here against his will." Gesturing towards the elevator, Aelita continued, "we should probably see him back to Kadic while Jeremie finishes shutting down the transfer program."

Odd opened his mouth to protest and Aelita lightly hit him to keep him silent. Grabbing his arm she led him to the elevator. Off to one side, Sissi and William whispered their disbelief about being ordered to give up. Yumi discreetly took and squeezed Ulrich's hand then let it go before walking into the elevator. The geniuses obviously had a plan and she trusted them enough to go with it. William and Sissi exchanged worried glances then hurried into the elevator, stepping inside just as Mr. Stern jabbed the up button. The elevator stopped at the top of the shaft with a final jolt and the metal door opened up to reveal that the factory floor wasn't as empty as it should have been.

Standing in the middle of the gallery was Jeremie and as the gang approached him, he had his eyes squarely on Ulrich's father. Aelita nudged Odd who nudged Ulrich who alerted Yumi. She turned to William and Sissi then preceded to follow Aelita's lead and carefully back away from Ulrich's father. Henric noted with slight amusement the kids backing away as if expecting trouble. The thought that Jeremie could threaten an ex-marine was laughable however.

"You aren't leaving the factory without understanding our fight," Jeremie challenged, taking a fighting stance.

"Watch me." Henric growled. He strode forward confidently and Jeremie stood his ground, watching the man approach with little emotion. When Henric had come close enough Jeremie shoved him back, surprising the larger man. He now looked threateningly at the kid and balled a fist. "Out of my way." He ordered.

Jeremie wasn't impressed and didn't move a muscle.

Hernic again tried to walk around only to be shoved back by a surprisingly strong Jeremie. From well behind the developing action Yumi couldn't help but smirk. William and the others had also figured out what Aelita had apparently known all along while Sissi stood with her mouth agape.

"Ok, now you're asking for it." Henric warned.

Jeremie shoved him back again, showing no signs of exerting himself despite having pushed the larger man back three times. Henric moved impressively fast and threw a punch. Sissi covered her eyes, thus missing the fact that Jeremie caught Henric's punch in mid air and stopped him cold. She opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of the well muscled Stern struggling with the shock of what had happened.

In the computer lab, Jeremie watched with a smile and typed in the specter's speech. "Since you wouldn't go to lyoko, I figured I'd bring Lyoko to you."

On the factory floor the specter released the adult's hand and resumed his stance. Henric lunged, throwing another punch from another angle. Again Jeremie's hand shot out like lightening and caught the punch in mid throw. This time Henric was better prepared and twisted around, catching this Jeremie square in the side with a powerful kick. The specter rippled and phased, releasing Henric from its iron grip.

"Well done." It said in Jeremie's voice after a moment's recovery. "Of course it's a pyrrhic victory." Far too quickly for any human to react, the specter phased through Henric, solidified as he turned around and struck Henric in the back, knocking him to the ground. It jumped on top of the man and pinned him to the ground.

Ulrich's father struggled to get up, fighting in vein against the projection's superhuman strength. Conscious of Ulrich and his friends watching he finally relaxed and the specter released its hold. Before it could get up and away Henric pushed with all his might, exploding off the ground and sending the specter up and then down onto the floor. Pivoting into a spinning kick Ulrich's father didn't give the Jeremie clone time to recover as his foot connected. The Jeremie clone went flying and landed in a flickering heap a few feet away.

Henric charged at it, catching it just as it regained its footing and slamming it into one of the metal support pillars with a resounding clang. Instead of spilling down the column though, it phased through; emerging on the other side and quickly regaining coherence. In the computer lab, the real Jeremie changed the specter's objective and processing power allocations.

Ulrich's father, panting very lightly from the exertion of fighting, came around and saw the specter standing undaunted. "Going to give up?" He sneered at it.

It shrugged and Aelita had to suppress a giggle. What she heard it say made everyone smile though.

"No pain, no gain."

Henric lunged again, throwing a furious combination of punches and kicks. The specter simply dodged them all as though the adult it was fighting was moving in slow motion. Ulrich's father continued to attack, growing increasingly frustrated and tired as the minutes wore on. After a good ten or so minutes of not even scoring a grazing hit on the specter it bolted away in a streak then turned towards Henric again. This time the specter raised a hand that crackled with purple electricity. Henric realized too late what the light in the specter's hand was and went down with a strangled cry as electricity arced out from the outstretched hand and connected with his body.

"DAD!" Ulrich shouted, running towards his father. He hunched down and led with his shoulder in what looked like an American football style tackle, crashing into the specter and sending it flying away. Confident that Jeremie wouldn't send it back to attack again he crouched down by his father to help him recover.

Slowly Mr. Stern's muscle control began to return and Ulrich breathed a sigh of relief. His father hadn't lost consciousness and appeared to simply have been hit with nothing more damaging than a taser. Henric coughed, "What was that."

"A specter." Aelita supplied.

"A tame one, compared to the ones XANA would send after us."

"Tame?" Mr. Stern asked.

"Well, it didn't hit you hard enough to break bones." Odd answered.

"It didn't shock you hard enough to render you unconscious for a period of time." Yumi stated.

"It didn't kill you while you were pinned down and entirely at its mercy." Ulrich finished gravely.

"Tame." William finished.

The specter walked up calmly and remained at a respectful distance as Ulrich and William helped the adult up. "I hope you understand just what kind of odds we prevailed against. You son is stronger and more responsible than you give him credit for."

"You call taking on something like that responsible!?"

Jeremie cringed in his seat and typed up another response for the specter. "More so than leaving it to rampage freely though the world?"

Henric stabbed a finger at the clone, "You could have shut it off at any point and just destroyed the computer. No more XANA."

"And no more Aelita." Jeremie's clone countered.

He turned to glower at the pink haired girl. "What makes her worth risking, as you claim, nothing less than the entire world for."

Henric's tightlipped smile turned smug when no response was forthcoming. Yumi and Odd did close ranks around the girl and Ulrich stepped between her and his father. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, but we couldn't just let her die trapped in that thing and alone."

"Then let the police or the military handle it."

Jeremie's clone quickly spoke up. "They'd use her as a lab rat." Henric snapped his head around to glare at it, having not heard it walk to the rest of the group.

"Not to mention how dangerous the technology is." Ulrich added. "Think about an army of those specters."

"They can be defeated. Anything can be beaten."

"Yes." Aelita answered. "By going to lyoko and having the codes necessary to override the tower that runs the specter, or by destroying the computer projecting it." She stepped forward from between her two protectors. "No amount of physical force will ever stop a specter."

"Unlikely." Henric grunted, opening his stance into a fighting stance.

Ulrich's eyes widened. "You're going to challenge it again?"

"It's nothing more than a solider." Henric explained, "It probably can't think for itself so it is beatable."

The clone seemed to look appraisingly at Ulrich's father and then its form shivered and distorted into the pixilated black smoke that stabbed fear into all of the warrior's hearts. A moment later it was the spitting image of Ulrich's father. "It doesn't just have to be a solider." The thing said in a perfect reproduction of Henrics voice. "Any digital lock can be hacked directly from the supercomputer so long as the specter is nearby. With the current power of this machine it can bypass any biometric lock mechanism in less time than it takes to try the lock twice. And any code lock with a short sequence can be bypassed in microseconds."

"So it can be a spy and a solider. It's still a coward's way to fight."

"That may be," The Henric clone replied, showing no emotion at all. "It's still stronger, faster, and more durable than a human solider. Not to mention that all of that barely scratches the surface of what we've seen XANA do with the technology. With the right program this specter can even wrap itself around you and make you act against your own will."

"So you said when you mentioned being possessed by XANA." The clone reverted to Jeremie's form and stood still, as if waiting and silently daring him to attack.

Henric's father steepled his fingers and the group of Lyoko warriors raised their eyebrows. "This specter thing of Jeremie's isn't going to make the first move, is it?"

"No." The clone replied. "It can't attack you of its own initiative and I'm trying not to have it hurt you."

Henric nodded, "It seems I can't dispute the existence of the specter technology. I still have no evidence of XANA and if you really had the ability to go back in time you should have done much better in your studies. What's more, I still don't see how any of this helps Ulrich build a future. Since they are as powerful as you say, the concept of fighting something like that specter is recklessly irresponsible."

"Yes." Aelita answered quietly, "It was."

"It was worth it though," Ulrich answered firmly.

"Explain."

Ulrich looked up at his father and smiled nervously while trying to think of something useful to say.

The clone of Jeremie spoke up instead. "The holographic projection you saw in the lab. I have schematics of it. It needs some polishing but Aelita and I can make it into a viable product."

"That would probably be a gold mine." Henric said appreciatively, "If you handle all the legalities properly." He turned towards Ulrich and continued more sternly, "That however, does nothing for my son and I will not have my son living off your gratitude and generosity."

"Then what do you want from me?" Ulrich yelled.

Henric Stern stared at his son in a shocked stupor for a full ten seconds before he roared his answer. "I want you to be a man! I want you to be a success! I want you to stand on your own feet and make your own way in life with the strength to push out of your chosen path everyone who won't get willingly out of your way." He turned to lance the clone with an angry glare. "You should have been the one to come up with using the clone to make me see what I wasn't going to. You should have been the one defending yourself at our meeting." He turned back to Ulrich and pointed at him. "You were given every opportunity. When you got distracted and were too weak to handle it, I removed those distractions."

"Sir, Mr. Stern, He's learned-"

"Nothing!" Henric cut off Yumi, "nothing except how to cower behind others."

"Everyone needs-"

"To rely on themselves first," Henric cut off Odd with a scathing look, "Because if you can't rely on yourself and your own strength than you can't last long enough to be rescued by your squad and you can't be depended on to save your squad."

"So what?" Ulrich demanded angrily, "Were they supposed to let me punch your lights out in the school's conference room."

Henric looked down on Ulrich, muttered "what a disappointment," and turned away, heading for the factory stairs.

"How was I supposed to win?" Ulrich yelled after his father.

"By speaking up for yourself," Aelita said sagely. "By arguing your case until you couldn't instead of letting us argue for you."

"So we go back and do the meeting again."

"He'll see right though it." Sissi spoke, reminding everyone that she was still present. Ignoring the hurt she still felt at the sight of Yumi trying to comfort Ulrich she continued. "If questioned over how he achieved his turn around, what can we say? How long until the lawyer finds the cracks in your lies?"

"So we let him leave and take Ulrich with him?" Yumi glowered at the girl.

"The cracks?" Jeremie's clone asked before its operator realized why Sissi was right. He quickly typed up a follow-up response. "His father will think we've done too much of the work for him."

"So then what do we do."

"Nothing," Aelita answered Yumi apologetically. "Ulrich is the only one who can win this argument and the more direct support we give him, the worse it gets for him." She glanced at the clone of her boyfriend, "You can shut it down Jeremie, there isn't anything more the clone can do." She walked towards Yumi and hesitantly gripped her arm to show support. "Ulrich, go after your father and convince him any way you can. We'll be waiting on campus for you. Just… Don't get violent. Show you can stand up for yourself without promising to be self destructive and I think you'll get to stay." With that said she stepped away, waiting for the elevator to bring Jeremie up from the depths of the factory.

William watched Ulrich as he watched his father leave the factory. "Come on guys, let's go with Aelita and give the coward some time to save goodbye to the girl he doesn't deserve."

"What!?" Ulrich snapped, whipping around to face William with clenched fists.

William huffed a short laugh. "You. Are. Afraid."

"I'm afraid of nothing, especially not of you." Ulrich answered. "I'll kick your ass right here."

William shrugged, "I'd take you up on that any other time."

Shaking with rage, Ulrich stepped forward to attack.

"Ulrich!" Yumi snapped, "Stop."

He halted his advance and William outright laughed in his face.

"William." Yumi warned through clenched teeth.

He glanced at Yumi nonchalantly and then reached out and patted Ulrich's had as though he were nothing more than a child. Ulrich slapped William's hand away and stepped up to him. "Try that again." He said in a low growl. Yumi looked dismayed and moved to force herself between the two before their standoff could come to blows.

"You deserve being separated from Yumi, you aren't worthy of her and she'll see that sooner rather than later."

Yumi pushed her way between the two boys before Ulrich could react and placed her hands on his rock hard shoulders.

"You want to prove you're worthy of Yumi?" William challenged from behind her, "Then go after your father and make him understand what everyone else here thinks they see in you."

Ulrich tried to move and felt Yumi push back. With an aggravated sounding growl he moved his head to glare at William through her shoulder. William took advantage of her shielding him to taunt him some more. "You want to piss her off more, be my guest; she's your girlfriend so you'll have to deal with it." His voice got even more condescending "Until you're out of Kadic because you didn't change your father's mind that is."

Ulrich pulled in a rage filled breath then abruptly turned and ran several strides towards the stairs. He stopped and turned back towards William. "This isn't over Dunbar!" He shouted. Turning he ran after his father.

Yumi looked dangerous as she turned towards William and he shot her a self satisfied, smug grin in return. Raising his hands and backing away he answered the silent question with "It worked didn't it?"

"Dad Wait!" Ulrich yelled as he sprinted out of the factory and headed for the bridge that his father was crossing.

Henric stopped and turned around with a wary sigh, waiting impatiently for the boy to reach him. "Haven't you wasted enough of my time?"

"Is that all I am, a waste of your time? Is that what this is about, finding another way to get rid of me?"

"No. This is about you growing up and making sensible choices for your future."

"Sounds more like you making me who you want to be."

Henric shook his head, "someday you'll understand."

"What I understand," Ulrich said angrily, "is that you want me where I can't reflect badly on you."

"What I want," Henric roared, drawing himself up to full height and puffing his chest out, "is for you to take responsibility for your own future! Why can't you figure that out? I didn't spend a small fortune to send you here to go and risk your neck for some worthless girl. I sent you here for an education. Away from all the crap that distracted you at home and where you could have some leeway to develop. And what did you do with that leeway? You formed it into a noose and damn near hung yourself and your future with it. So here I am again, forced to rescue you from yourself so that you may be able to succeed as an adult."

Ulrich stood stock still as his mind reeled, trying to wrap itself around the idea that he hadn't been exiled to Kadic as a punishment. "You… You didn't just send me away? But you said…"

Henric turned away from the shocked boy, "Don't stand there and cry, it's disgraceful." After a moment he started walking towards the city side of the bridge.

"Wait."

This time he didn't stop. Ulrich's voice was too thick with emotion and as such he wasn't worthy of the consideration.

"Dad."

Ulrich watched his father continue walking and forced himself not to cry. He couldn't, not if he wanted to stay at Kadic. So he made himself walk towards the monster, quickening his pace to catch up. With effort he pushed back the urge to cry, held back the tears and held his tongue until he felt he could speak without sounding like he was going to break down at any moment.

"Dad."

Henric looked down scornfully at his son, inspecting his face and finding only faint traces of tension from his emotion. "Finally managed to remember you have balls and not ovaries?"

"Yumi's the strongest woman I know and she's stronger than most of the boys at school."

Henric snorted, "Right. The marines will show you what it really means to be tough."

Ulrich answered that forcefully. "What if I don't want to be a marine? I'm going to be who I want to be. Not the person you tell me I should be. I can't be someone I'm not, and you're just going to have to deal with it, because I won't change for you or anyone else."

"Now you decide that you have a pair huh? Well it's too late, the decision's made."

"Then change it." Ulrich demanded, "it's not like you can't."

Henric stopped and turned to face his child. "I don't trust you to not squander another shot at Kadic."

"Without XANA there would be nothing to distract me from my studies and my effort has pulled off of probation so I can get back on the soccer team."

"No distractions? What about Yumi?"

Ulrich blushed, "She wouldn't let me skip out on my work."

"How about Odd? How much time will you have to spend dealing with his bad habits? He certainly wouldn't be interested in making sure you were academically successful. He looks like the losers that enjoyed college right into the unemployment lines."

Ulrich took a breath, buying time to defend his best friend. "Odd is serious when it comes to his art and-"

"Art?" Mr. Stern asked incredulously.

"It's no worse than soccer." Ulrich said defensively.

"Soccer is about teamwork and physical effort. It punishes laziness, stupidity, and inattention. Art does none of those things. Just like your friends, it actually encourages all of those bad traits."

"Soccer only encourages that in those who play it," Ulrich said smugly, "For everyone else it seems to encourage exactly those traits." Henric smiled ever so slightly then quashed it, pressing his lips into a thin line as Ulrich continued. "Odd's drawings require great attention to detail to get right. In order to make music videos he needs to understand the video editing packages and all their various settings and options to get the effects in his videos entered correctly and timed to the music properly."

"What about the pink-haired girl? How much time will you be spending with music groups while she performs?"

"Aelita has only a short contract with the Sub Digitals. She won't be doing performances during the school periods, only during breaks. It was actually the band's manager's idea." He stopped and thought for a second. "…Sophie said that the music industry was no place for a girl with little education."

Henric nodded. "What about Jeremie?"

Ulrich looked confused. "What about him?"

"How many more stupid, reckless, dangerous distractions will he be pulling you and everyone else into?"

"First off," Ulrich answered with a pointed finger, "I volunteered to fight with him against XANA. Second, Aelita will kill him if he tries to go the route her father did. Probably with Yumi's help."

"What about getting roped in to help with more mundane projects? His robots for example."

Ulrich couldn't help it, he actually laughed at his father's suggestion. "You have never seen Jeremie in the school's lab or machine shop. I'd slow him down more than help him."

Henric frowned at that and, finding it a little more impressive that Ulrich was now standing up for his friends rather than hiding behind them, resumed walking towards Kadic without a word. Ulrich followed his father, growing increasingly worried as the silence stretched. When he couldn't take it anymore he spoke up. "Am I going to be allowed to stay here?"

"No."

"What!?"

"Why should I trust that you haven't just been using those return-to-the-past things to play out this conversation again and again until you said exactly what I wanted to hear?"

Ulrich stared dumbfounded at his father's back.

"I wouldn't know if you had been after all."

The words jerked Ulrich's mind back into gear and he rushed to catch up with his father.

"No, you wouldn't." He made a face as he thought about William, "Though stubborn minds have a chance to remember fragments of the erased timeline as a sort of flashback."

"What sort of chance?"

"We don't know. No one besides William has shown signs of that. Besides, how tired do I look right now?" Without giving his father a chance to answer he barreled on. "After we made our deal Jeremie ran a return to the past every night for over a week. We were dead on our feet by the end of it so I'd say if it took more than a few times to do this conversation over again you'd be able to tell."

Henric nodded, scrutinizing Ulrich's face and body for any signs that might give away his fatigue. "You mentioned using Lyoko as a classroom. Were you doing that as well?"

"Yes?" Ulrich answered, unsure of where he was going with this.

"William mentioned feeling drained when coming out of the Lyoko."

It took all of Ulrich's willpower not to facepalm upon realizing the dots his father had connected. The return in time probably did take a toll, but if it was solely responsible for their fatigue that week then Franz would never have been able to survive years worth of return trips.

"The trips to Lyoko combined with the jumps backwards in time…"

"Yes." Hernic said with another very slight smile. "Without trips to Lyoko you should be able to repeat days indefinitely."

"Then we'll scan you." Ulrich responded feeling very small, "and you'll remember the trips in time."

"No one should have that sort of power."

Ulrich stared slackjawed at his father once again.

"It's why I am not going to report your little band of miscreants. One of them will crack and give away the technology you have. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you ruin your future."

"You can't pull me out of Kadic."

Henric let out a frustrated noise, "We've been over this already. Yes. I can."

"Not without ruining my future," Ulrich replied confidently. "Not the future you have planned out for yourself but the one I want to live."

"You aren't going to give up fighting me on this."

"No. Even if you make me go into the marines, I'll find ways to stay in touch with my friends, my family here. I'll face everything they throw at me. I'll beat every single one of your records just to wipe your name from that place. I'll stay in the military if that's what it takes to get away from you."

Finally, after several minutes of an appraising glare that Ulrich refused to back down from, Henric Stern smiled at his son. "I think I believe you. You can stay here at Kadic then. BUT! Your progress will continue to be monitored. You will take on the tougher classes and you will maintain excellent grades. If you fail, you fail yourself and those friends you just elevated to family. If you fail I will send you packing without a word of warning or a thought of sympathy and there will be nothing that you or anyone can do to stop me. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good." Henric eyed the gates of Kadic academy. "Then you've got a new semester to prepare for and I've paperwork to recall."

It took a little more than an hour of working with Mr. Delmas to fashion an acceptable curriculum and class schedule and then another several minutes to make the walk from the administration building to the dorms. When he got there, he found the entire gang waiting and worrying in his room. Jeremie, Aelita and Yumi were sitting on his bed while Odd, Sissi and William were on Odd's bed and Kiwi was in Odd's lap. The quiet conversation stopped the moment he opened the door, the mood lifting as the assembled teenagers took in the smile he just couldn't hide. "I get to stay."

The reaction was immediate, loud, and bone crushingly tight as Yumi, Aelita, Jeremie and Odd all jumped from the beds and rushed to engulf him in a group hug. Excited squeals and shouts of congratulations rung in his ears and even William and Sissi managed to chime in with happy thoughts while he suffocated inside the embrace. "Air." He somewhat jokingly croaked out, causing the group to loosen and then disperse into what became a celebration in his dorm room.

The impromptu party lasted into the evening though eventually it had to stop. William and Sissi started feeling out of place as it got quieter and the flow of other students, who were either curious about the ruckus or happy to have their star soccer player back, stopped and so they were the first to excuse themselves. Conversation continued for a little bit longer until Jim came around to make sure everyone knew curfew would be enforced. Catching a discreet look tossed her way by Yumi, Aelita asked Jeremie and Odd to help her with something she had forgotten to do and led them from the room. As soon as they were out the door she and Jeremie grabbed Odd, forcing him to give Yumi and Ulrich some much needed and deserved privacy.

Now left alone with Ulrich she glanced nervously about the room, feeling and hating both the butterflies in her stomach and the warm blush spreading color on her cheeks. "What William said in the factory, you know that it isn't true."

William had, thankfully, kept his grubby paws away from her throughout the party and he'd honestly forgotten about that. Now his jaw tensed and his answer sounded worse than he'd wanted it to. "Yes."

She frowned, "It wasn't nice of him but it gave you the push you needed."

"I know."

She observed the darkness in his face and the depth of his frown and reached out, turning his head so that he was looking right into her eyes. "He's not going to give up on goading you so I'm counting on you to be the bigger man. Got it?"

He nodded.

"Good." Her features softened somewhat, "Can I ask you a question? Personal question?"

"Sure," Ulrich answered nervously.

"What made you finally stand up to your father?"

"He… accused me of being weak, like a girl. I uh… Thought of you and how strong you are and I thought he was insulting you. I couldn't let that stand."

"Chivalry saves the day?" Yumi laughed, "Can I tell you something?"

"Yes."

She punched him lightly in the shoulder, "I don't need to be defended." Resting her hand on the shoulder she had just hit she continued, "But I'm glad it was me that gave you the strength."

He smiled. "So am I."

She looked into his eyes, feeling fluttery and unsure of exactly what she wanted to do for only a moment. Then she moved forward, firmly pressing her lips to his in a hard, lingering kiss. When she pulled back, he had a happy, if slightly dazed expression and just couldn't help it. She leaned in, kissing him just as hard and being delighted when he pressed against her and kissed back. It was over much too quickly and she felt tingly, giddy and higher than a damn kite. It was a feeling so foreign and yet so welcome that when Ulrich took the initiative for a third kiss she returned it gladly.

Then it was over, the sound of Jim announcing 10 minutes to curfew bellowing through the halls, filtering through the mostly closed door and shattering their moment. Her and Ulrich separated with a bang, said an awkward goodbye and she left at a dignified walking pace. Hidden from the world though, she felt light as a feather and fought to keep her outward composure. If Aelita ever found out this was how she felt after kissing Ulrich, the pink-haired girl would never again allow herself to be teased about her mood when coming back from a particularly good date with Jeremie. One thing she wouldn't hesitate to admit to however, was that it felt good to be past the uncertainty.

Author's notes: I finally finished it.

A big thank you goes out to Moonlitxangel for her encouragement and assistance in helping me map out this chapter.

Second, to someone special, I hope you're doing well out there.