Sorry for Taking so long to write this chapter. Sorry if you hate it. I know, it's not my best work, but I was stuck.

ON WITH THE STORY

Look Before You Seek

Chapter 26

Aelita stood on the cold, cement floor, shivering slightly as a draft blew past her. If she had been paying any attention to detail, she might have thought it was strange that a draft was blowing through a closed area, but her mind was elsewhere. She was waiting for Jeremie's signal to step into the scanner. She wondered whether the anti-virus would work as she shivered again. Aelita was brought back to reality by sneezing. She was shocked. She hadn't sneezed before, not that she could remember. But she had very little memory of her life before the super computer was turned back on by Jeremie.

She was suddenly aware of how cold it was in the room. But she didn't have much time to dwell on it, as she heard Jeremie's voice echoing around the scanner room. "Okay, Aelita, ready to scan." Aelita stepped into the scanner, and it closed before she turned around. Inside the scanner, it was eerily quiet. The scanner then lit up, and a fierce wind blew around her, and then there was nothing. It felt like she was flying through space, falling through time. It was relaxing, and she forgot everything that had been plaguing her mind. She just felt completely and utterly calm.

To Aelita, it lasted close to an eternity, but in reality, it only lasted a few minutes. Although it didn't last long, and it was a very relaxing experience, Aelita was completely drained. She collapsed out of her scanner, but wasn't out for very long. Jeremie came down to look for her just as she was waking up. Jeremie seemed certain that it had worked, and escorted her up to turn off the super computer.

"No, wait," Aelita exclaimed when they had arrived at the control centre of the super computer.

"Wait for what, Aelita?" Jeremie asked, puzzled.

"We should do this with the others," she said. It would be more meaningful if they all did it together, as the Lyoko Warriors. Jeremie saw that too. He left to ring them up.

Meanwhile, Ulrich, who had gone back to his dormitory, was writing in his diary. Well, he wasn't really writing, as more he was sitting at his desk, pen in hand, book open on table, staring into space, and thinking. He hadn't written in it for a long time, and he had a lot to write. But he didn't want to write. He just wanted to think.

Minnie, on the other hand, was scribbling furiously. Sitting in a tree, she was writing her journal as a third person, and changed all the names, so it was more like a story than a journal. It didn't have an ending yet, but it would take her some time to reach that point.

Odd was still in the Lunch room, hoping for an early lunch. His stomach was growling, but the lunch room was empty. He decided to go and get something from the vending machines. He didn't have much money left, but he didn't know that, as he rarely checked his savings.

Yumi was walking to Kadic. Why she was doing such a thing on Sunday is unknown to me, and to tell you want she was thinking at that moment would almost be impossible. She reached the school gates and looked around before entering. There were a few people around the grounds, but she had not noticed one figure looking at her in the school from beside the vending machines.

Odd dialled a few numbers into his phone, and then brought it to his ear. Ulrich's mobile barely rung once before he answered it. "Hello?" came Ulrich's tired voice, trying to sound curious, but failing.

"Yumi's at school!" Odd could barely contain his excitement as he tried to whisper. Hearing these words, Ulrich's dreariness faded instantly.

"What's she doing here?"

"I'm not sure." Odd said, sounding like a suspicious detective. "I'm going to follow her, and see where she goes."

"Odd, I don't think it's really any of our business." Ulrich argued weakly. He was curious to know where she was going too.

"Oh, come on. What if she's going to try something to the super computer? She's been acting horrible to us, maybe she wants to sabotage us?"

"I don't think Yumi would do that," Ulrich said, sighing. "Fine, follow her. Just remember, it was your idea, not mine."

"Fine." And he quickly hung up. Little did either of them know that they had sabotaged themselves, as this phone call had blocked Jeremie's attempted call to both of them, forcing him to call Yumi.

Yumi, who took Jeremie's call without thinking, heard that Aelita was free from the super computer. She didn't want to be angry with them anymore, but she didn't want to see Ulrich. She was glad to hear that he was unable to get through to Ulrich, and that he wasn't going to ask Minnie. He didn't really like her that much, and he didn't feel that she was really part of the group. She was reluctant to go to the factory, because she had had other plans, but she knew this was important to Aelita, and she was finished being angry with her best friend. She wanted to be there for her.

Unknown to Yumi, Odd was following her to the factory. Unknown to Odd, her intentions where strictly honourable. But since they were both oblivious, they were both quick to jump to the wrong conclusion.

Aelita and Jeremie were waiting for Yumi in the control room, and greeted her as they might have before the incident when she arrived. They were all unaware of Odd listening to their conversation through the door.

"Are you ready?" Jeremie asked.

"Shouldn't we wait a bit longer?" Aelita asked.

"I told you I couldn't reach them. Why else should we wait?"

"You could try again." Aelita was very stubborn. She wanted all the Lyoko Warriors there. Of course, Odd didn't know this.

"We should do this now," Yumi countered. "Before something goes wrong."

"Okay." Aelita said, reluctantly.

Unseen to Odd, all three placed their hands on the large switch. They were just about to pull down, when Odd revealed himself from his hiding place. He launched into his theory before letting himself see the situation around him.

"So you're all in on it, are you? Have you got some sort of club or something? Why didn't you tell us or anything? What's this all about?" It was only after Odd had finished his lecture that he let himself see his surroundings. He was shocked, and so was everyone else. Yumi was the first to recover.

"What? What are you doing here? Jeremie said he couldn't reach you! How did… Were you following me? Why would you do that?" After a few seconds, a look of realization came over her face. "Ulrich set you up to this, didn't he? He's so childish. You all are. I hate all of you." She fled from the factory before anyone could comprehend what had happened.

"What's happening?" Odd asked in a small voice, completely out of character.

"We cured Aelita's virus. We were going to try and get all the warriors to turn it off. Yumi wouldn't come if Ulrich was here, and we couldn't get through to you or Ulrich, so…" Jeremie trailed off, but he didn't need to continue. Odd realized what was happening, and what he had caused.

"I guess it doesn't matter anymore," Aelita said, as she pulled the switch off. X.A.N.A. was destroyed, as, even though he was out of the super computer, he was still connected to it. Lyoko was destroyed, and the super computer, disabled. Yumi was gone. Ulrich, Odd, Aelita and Jeremie were still friends, but Minnie was still an outcast. Maybe she always would be.

The End… Or is it?

Don't forget! The story continues in You Can Run, But You Can't Hide.