Sorry guys, this might be my last chapter for a while. I've kind of got writers block, because I was never good at finishing stories. There will be a sequal, and it will be called 'You Can Run, But You Can't Hide' and it will be rated M. This is just a future warning.

By the way, thanks to everyone who has read, and to everyone who has reviewed.

ON WITH THE STORY

Look Before You Seek

Chapter 20

"Yumi," Ulrich called, trying to keep up with her as she ran out of the factory and towards the manhole. He fin ally caught up as she was heaving the lid of the hole. She ignored him until he grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him.

"Yumi listen to me," he said angrily. But she didn't listen; she just grabbed her wrist back and hurried down the manhole and across the sewer. Ulrich chased after her.

"Yumi," he called, out of breath while on his skateboard, chasing Yumi. "We need to talk!"

"No, we don't!" She shouted back at him. Shouting at Ulrich had distracted her for the split second that she skated over a few scatter rocks that acted like marbles, making her skid and fall of her board. Ulrich was quick to catch up.

"Yumi, are you okay?" He looked very concerned.

"I'm fine," she replied bluntly, without looking at him.

"We need to talk," He said, offering her a hand up. She ignored his help, getting up on her own.

"No, we don't. X.A.N.A. has escaped, and it's all because you letting that girl go to Lyoko. We can't do anything now. It's out of our hands." She was still refusing to look at him.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Ulrich replied. "Yumi, you know how I feel about you."

"And I know how you feel about her," she said, finally looking at him. He looked back, confused. "I've seen the way you look at her, and I know you love her, like you say you love me. But you can't have me and her." Yumi had tears in her eyes. "And you can't make the decision now, because one of the options has just left." Yumi turned and ran away. Ulrich wanted to run after her, but his legs wouldn't let him. He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. He kicked the wall with anger.

After a while, the others joined him, Jeremie and Odd supporting Aelita, who was still unconscious, and Minnie walking behind them, her arms crossed and her eyes darting wildly, like she was confused. Ulrich had a sudden urge to comfort her, but he knew it wouldn't be a wise move.

He felt very confused himself, having an internal battle over Yumi and Minnie, although he knew that no matter which one won out, he couldn't have either. Yumi had just made herself unavailable, and she seemed very fond of spending all her time with William. And then there was Minnie, who was so afraid of him that she wouldn't even come close to him. He was hopelessly confused.

Jeremie seemed to preoccupied with thinking to actually say anything to Ulrich, and Odd didn't even glance at him as they walked by, as he was too concerned with Aelita. Minnie seemed to be the only one who noticed him, but that was because she kept her distance and porously avoided catching his eye. So they all walked in silence.

Getting Aelita up though the manhole proved very challenging, as she was still unconscious, and she couldn't climb the ladder herself. In the end, Ulrich climbed up the ladder to pull Aelita up, while Jeremie and Odd lifted her from beneath. The fact that

Aelita was wearing a very short skirt didn't help the matter much, either.

Eventually, they were all safely through the hole, although Aelita was still unconscious. Minnie walked slowly, so she was at least two meters behind the group. It was very dark at this time, as it was getting into the small hours of the morning. Somehow, the group managed to smuggle Aelita into her room without anyone noticing.

The laid Aelita down on her bed as Minnie sat down on her own bed, looking out the window, into the darkness. She hadn't said a word since being materialized, because se was confused, and deep in thought. So deep in thought that she didn't remember walking back through the woods and back into the school. She didn't even register that she was in her room. She shivered, even though it wasn't cold, but Ulrich was the only one to notice this, as both Jeremie and Odd were more concerned with Aelita, as they weren't sure if she was going to wake up.

After a few minutes, Ulrich ushered Odd and Jeremie out, not wanting to be caught by Jim. They were also very tired, and all three boys fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. They didn't even bother to get undressed, and they fell asleep with their shoes on. Minnie, however, did not get any sleep. Her mind was to full of questions that may not have answers, and ideas that she wouldn't have ever dreamt about, and memories that weren't her own. Even though X.A.N.A. was no longer controlling her body, he had left all his knowledge, as well as all of Aelita's memories, in Minnie's mind.

This frightened Minnie, as she had never thought about these sorts of things before. As the sun began to rise, Minnie awoke from her thoughts, and saw Aelita, who had nothing left inside of her. Her memories had been taken and put into Minnie. Although Minnie was still shaken by her experience with X.A.N.A. controlling her, she knew that Aelita wasn't going to wake up unless she got back what X.A.N.A. had taken from her.

Minnie got up, and lifted Aelita from her bed as if she weighed no more than a feather, and walked out of the dorm, out of the school. She walked through the forest and down the manhole, through the sewer, out the other end, and into the factory. Somehow, she managed to slide down the broken cable lines while still holding Aelita.

She pressed the button of the old, rusted elevator, and they went down noisily. Minnie stopped at the room with the super computer in it, and walked straight to it. X.A.N.A. was no longer trapped inside, so it would make the process easier. She quickly typed in a few codes, as she had the combined knowledge of Aelita and X.A.N.A., and then took Aelita down to the scanner room. It is unclear how both Aelita and Minnie entered Lyoko without anyone operating the super computer from the outside, but they did enter Lyoko.

Minnie, somehow knowing exactly how to give Aelita her memories back, walked straight up to a now inactivated tower. Now that X.A.N.A. had escaped, there was no reason for them to stay activated, as he no longer needed the towers to launch his attacks.

Minnie entered the tower, still holding Aelita, and walked to the centre. She was then lifted to the higher platform, where a transparent screen appeared. Minnie, having to lay Aelita on the ground first, placed her hand on the screen. The word Entremêlé appeared on the screen, under the word Name. Then the screen went blank, only to let the word Code be typed in on the top of the screen, underneath, the word written was Exode des Cerveaux.

Very suddenly, Minnie felt very queasy and weak; she almost collapsed, but not quite. She half sat, half laid down, her face over Aelita's. The queasy weak feeling begain to spread throughout her body, making her shake violently. Very slowly, something left Minnie in a stream. It looked curious, almost like wisps of clouds, except the colour of roses. They floated down to Aelita, until they stopped emerging from Minnie, and she collapsed.

Nobody had seen it, but the tower that Minnie had activated hadn't turned into a fixed colour, as the other activated towers did. It shimmered between red, white and yellow, making an orange colour at one point. It was very strange indeed, although no-one was there to see it. The tower deactivated itself after Aelita memories returned to her. Aelita woke up almost instantly, dazed and confused, not remembering where she was.

She soon realized where she was, and tried to call out to Jeremie, who was always at the supercomputer when the virtualized. But he didn't answer, because he wasn't at the super computer. He was down at the Lunch room, eating breakfast with Odd and Ulrich. They were all eating silently, as they didn't have much to say. Suddenly, Jeremie's laptop, which he always kept o him, started beeping, alerting them to an activated tower in Lyoko. He picked it up and opened it, confused that a tower could be activated.

"What is it?" Ulrich asked, being the first person to say anything all morning.

"I'm not sure," Jeremie replied, typing fast. "It says there's an activated tower, but it's probably a dud that reactivated itself. It might deactivate itself." Just as he said this, the tower deactivated, and he closed his laptop. "I'm going to go down the factory, just to be safe," he said, getting up from his half eaten breakfast of strange smelling eggs and what may or may not be toast.

"Okay," Odd said, his mouth full of eggs and the mysterious toast. "I'll go check on Aelita, see if she's woken up yet."

"I'll come too," Ulrich said to Odd. The he turned to Jeremie. "Call us if you see anything." Jeremie nodded and headed off towards the factory, while Odd and Ulrich went to the floor of the girls dorms. They walked in silence, not knowing what to say to one another after what happened the previous night. Both boys gasped when they reached Aelita's dorm, as the door was wide open, and neither Minnie or Aelita were to be seen.

Unfortunately, Ulrich standing in the corridor of the girls dormitory floor, staring startled into Aelita's dorm left him an open target for Sissi, who had just woken up. She opened her door, and saw Ulrich a few doors down. She ran up to him enthusiastically.

"Ulrich, dear, you've come to visit me!" She cried, flinging her arms around his neck. Ulrich was so startled by this that he stepped back and fell over, bringing Sissi down on top of him. This was the worst timing for Ulrich to be clumsy, as Jim was walking around the corner to wake anyone that was still sleeping, and he spotted Sissi on top of Ulrich, and immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion.

"Stern," he barked as he lifted Ulrich up by the collar of his shirt. "What do you think you are doing?" And, without wait for an answer, he continued. "You shouldn't be on this floor at this time of day, let alone…" He paused, trying to think of a way to put what he was thinking into words. "Let alone doing what you were! And with the principals daughter? Detention!" Then, spotting Odd staring at him, he pointed his finger at him. "You too," he barked. "Now get back to your own dormitory, Now!"

Odd and Ulrich quickly made their way back up to their dorm, only to have Jeremie call them on Ulrich mobile.

"You guys need to get down to the factory, and quick," he said.

"Why?" Ulrich asked, still annoyed at getting detention because of Sissi.

"Aelita and Minnie are in Lyoko, and I don't know how to get them back out!"

Might not update for a while, so please be patient with me. There will be some Odd Aelita romance in the next few chapters, though.

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