Sorry for not updating quickly. Heres the new one, Enjoy!

ON WITH THE STORY!

Look Before You Seek

Chapter 23

But he didn't make it in time, and Odd never got a chance to shoot, as they both were witness to Odds vision coming true; Aelita, pushed by Minnie, tumbled off the platform and down into the darkness below, Her scream echoing throughout sector 5.

"Aelita!" Odd called, running to where Aelita had fallen, in a desperate hope to save her. But Minnie was in no mood for last minute rescues. With just a flick of her hand she sent Odd flying backwards. She didn't even have to look at him; she had her eyes fixated on Aelita, falling into the darkness.

Minnie then created a force field around he open platform, preventing any of the Warriors to gain access to it, keeping her completely safe. Both odd and Ulrich tried using their abilities to get through the yellow energy shield, but Ulrich's sword couldn't cut through it, and Odd's arrows were just reflected. Ulrich's last feat against it was his super sprint, only to be thrown back, losing his remaining life points, de-virtualizing him from Lyoko.

Ulrich materialized in the real world soon enough to see Jeremie climbing into a scanner, somehow virtualizing himself with a little device on his wrist. Ulrich didn't have much time to dwell on this, though, as he hurried up to the super computer to see if he could be any help there.

Meanwhile, on Lyoko, Odd was still at a loss at how to get through the barrier. His arrows didn't work against the shield, and he had no other way of getting through. Aelita had fallen less than a minute ago, and he was still firing randomly at the yellow energy shield, half angry, half sorrowful, but he knew it would be impossible to help her now.

He didn't notice the appearance of the Transport Orb just a few hundred feet behind him, carrying Jeremie. He was suited up in a light blue, almost white, tight fitting body suit, almost as if he were a spy. The gadget on his left wrist added to this stereotype. His footsteps were silent as he walked towards where Odd was standing.

"Where's Aelita?" He asked, oblivious to the current situation. Odd jumped slightly, startled that Jeremie was in Lyoko. Jeremie snickered, but restrained himself from laughing.

"I didn't know you were a spy on Lyoko!" Odd exclaimed, not answering his question.

"What did you expect, a walking computer?" Odd almost said what he had been expecting, but though better of it, as he didn't know what Jeremie's abilities were yet.

"Where's Aelita?" He asked again.

"She- she, uhh," Odd stuttered as his words gathered in his throat, unable to reach his mouth. He swallowed before continuing. "She fell," he finally managed to choke out.

"What, how?" Jeremie seemed to be both shocked and disbelieving.

"Minnie, well, X.A.N.A. pushed her." Odd wasn't sure whether to refer to Minnie as Minnie or X.A.N.A. at this point in time.

Jeremie didn't ask any more questions, knowing that Odd wouldn't be able to answer them. He typed a few things into his wrist gadget. Odd was immediately curious about what it was, but said nothing, as Jeremie wouldn't want to be disturbed when working. Suddenly, Ulrich's voice was filling the sector.

"If there's anything I can do…" He said uncertainly.

"Keep a look out for any monsters," Jeremie said immediately. "We don't know if X.A.N.A. can command any through Minnie. Also, see if you can get Yumi on the phone, we'll need her help."

"How do you do that?" Ulrich asked, in a voice that also asked why he had to do it.
As Jeremie sighed and gave Ulrich the instructions to work the phone from the super computer, Odd watched through the Yellow haze as Minnie/X.A.N.A. knelt down in front of the screen, doing something that would most definitely be harmful.

Suddenly, without any warning, Jeremie completely disappeared, without a trace. Just here one second, and then gone the next. Odd panicked.

"Where are you?" Odd almost yelled out.

"Calm down," Jeremie said over the commotion that Odd was making. "It's just one of my skills; camouflage."

"What, so you can become invisible?" Odd asked curiously.

"No," Jeremie said. "I can just blend into the background." Neither of them knew that actual invisibility was impossible. "Now, stay quiet. I don't think that she's noticed me yet," Jeremie said, motioning towards Minnie. "I might be able to get through the barrier. Just stay where you are, and don't draw attention to yourself." Odd nodded, and Jeremie nodded back, as an understanding, suddenly realizing, with some embarrassment, that Odd couldn't see him.

So Jeremie started off towards the barrier. Odd couldn't see what was happening, so he just stood still, still in shock from Aelita falling. He couldn't get the image out of his head. He had seen it, why hadn't he done anything to stop it? He could have, but he just stood there, staring dumbly.

But in the material world, Ulrich was fretting calling Yumi. He did want to hear her angry voice, not again. He wanted it the way back it was before they had met Minnie. She had made things complicated. She had ruined everything. He almost despised her, but he really knew it wasn't her fault. He wanted to blame her; he wanted to blame someone else. He didn't want it to be his fault, because he didn't know how to make things right again. He didn't know if things would ever be the same.

But he still had to call her, because they needed her help. He slowly brought up the programme on the super computer that allowed you to make phone calls, and slowly typed in Yumi's number. It rang eight times in total before she answered.

"What?" It was obvious she was not in a good mood.

"Yumi," he began, but he didn't know what to say.

"Ulrich? I thought it was Jeremie! What are you doing on the super computer?" Yumi was too surprised to sound angry.

"Yumi, we need your help," he said as quickly as possible.

"You seem to be saying that a lot lately," she said flatly. When Ulrich stayed silent, he continued. "Why do you need me? You have Minnie now, don't you?" Ulrich thought he heard a small falter in her voice, but he couldn't be sure.

"She's been possessed by X.A.N.A. He's still in her. We need you Yumi, we really do." Ulrich's voice was small and quiet, almost a whisper.

"Well, I don't really care about Minnie, and I don't really care about you, and right now, I have better things to do." And she hung up, leaving a sad and slightly shocked Ulrich on the other end.

But he soon recovered from this shock, as something strange was happening to the supercomputer. He wasn't touching the computer, yet the windows were closing gradually, one by one. He watched, puzzled for a few moments, before alerting the others of this current predicament.

"Uh, guys?" He said into the microphone on the end of the head set. "The super computer is acting weird. Things are disappearing."

Odd, who was still standing still in Lyoko, heard his words, but they didn't register. He was still reflecting on his actions, or rather, when he didn't act at all, and the words went in one ear and out the other.

Jeremie, on the other hand, listened to every word Ulrich said, and it suddenly hit him. X.A.N.A. wanted to destroy Lyoko, along with then Lyoko warriors. He was two inches away from the shield, and was currently going through the procedures of taking down the shield, but it was taking a long time. He hurried things along as he heard Ulrich's words. He finally typed in the last codes into his wrist-computer and the shield slowly came down.

Odd noticed this, and ran forward as fast as he could, in a blind rage for revenge. He didn't know what he would do when he reached Minnie, but it didn't really matter, because he never reached her. He stopped, staring in surprise as Aelita rose from the darkness in a blue orb of light. Jeremie suddenly appeared beside him, staring, but Odd was too fixated on Aelita to notice.

"Franz Hopper," Jeremie whispered. It was Franz who saved Aelita.

Minnie still hadn't notice what was going on. Odd tore himself away and walked cautiously towards her, trying to figure out what to do. Aelita hovered over the platform for a few seconds, and then the blue orb disappeared. Jeremie caught her before she hit the ground. Odd tried not to notice her in his arms, so he focused on his target. He crept steadily closer, then, when he was close enough, he grabbed her arms and held them behind her back, and so she couldn't bring up her defensive shield or shoot anyone with the yellow laser things, or do anything else on the transparent computer screen in Lyoko. Minnie struggled and fought hard, but Odd did not release his grip.

Aelita had become conscious in his arms. They had said nothing to each other, but they didn't need to. They had a connection, and both of them felt it. Aelita slowly stood up, and, seeing Odd holding Minnie's arms tightly behind her back, took control of the situation. He started to call out commands to Ulrich, calling out codes to type in. Finally, Lyoko faded around them, and they emerged from the scanners, exhausted.

Ulrich went down on the elevator to meet them. When he arrived, they were all stepping out of their scanners, slightly tipsy. All of them, except Minnie, who stood stock still in her chamber, hands still behind her back in the position Odd had held them in. She stared straight ahead, unblinking.

They all stared at her for a few moments, before Ulrich went to her to see what the problem was. He put his hand lightly on her shoulder, and she screamed. It wasn't one of those quick, startled screams, either, but a long, loud, ear-splitting, skull shattering shriek that almost didn't sound human. They all put their fingers in their ears to try and muffle the sound, but it wasn't successful.

When she finally stopped screaming, she collapsed to her knees, sobbing. Ulrich knelt down beside her, and pulled her into a hug. She tried to struggle away from him, beating his chest with her fists, but he didn't release her. Eventually, she stopped struggling and sobbed into Ulrich's shoulder. Ulrich stroked her hair and made soothing sounds. They sat there for an hour, until Minnie fell asleep, still in Ulrich's arms.

Hope you Enjoyed it. This is the second time that Minnie was possesed by X.A.N.A., but Lyoko warriors aren't suppose to be vunerable to X.A.N.A. What's her weakness? Will Yumi forgive the group? Will Ulrich sort out his feelings for both Yumi and Minnie? Will Odd admit his feelings for Aelita? What will happen? Find out in Chapter 24, coming soon.

Cya Later

OcyTaviAh