I am very sorry for the extremely long delay. This chapter is long overdue and I never intended for you, my readers, to have to wait this long. I hope you all can forgive me and continue reading and reviewing my story. To make a long story short, the reason I haven't updated in forever is because I lost my cell and barely got a new one. It's the only way I can update my story so that's the reason for the long wait. If you are reading this, thank you so much for following me this long.

My sincerest apologies,

NobodyheartXIII (Amber)

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Code: |

Code: SCIPIO|

Aelita smiled as she watched over Odd's shoulder while he typed.

"When did you learn about that?" She asked.

"I told you, I've done my research." He smiled at her. The code prompted a transport orb to show up in the tower, ready to take them away to their destination. It was the quickest way for them to get there. To Carthage. They had walked back to the tower they had talked to Ulrich in earlier, the one they were standing in now. The trip so far had been pretty easy. No monsters, still highly unusual especially since there was a virus running.

They all stared out at the data tunnel surrounding them as the orb took them to Carthage. The data moved quickly in undeterminable amounts. It made its way to the core in a rush. Seeing this made Aelita extremely uneasy. What if that data was headed straight for deletion? What if that data was pieces of Lyoko? She shivered in anxiety.

They were all obviously on edge, waiting for any little thing to happen. Carthage had never seemed so big until now. They felt as if they were traveling in one large maze. Especially with all the blocks moving and rearranging themselves around the teens. A new path was made with every step they took. How were they supposed to know what part of the digital sea they were supposed to dive into? They couldn't just try out the whole sea. For one, they could die if they did and two even if they didn't die, they surely didn't have the time to check every part of it.

Then, Ulrich asked what was on everyone's mind.

"Where's the tower?" They all stopped walking for a moment. Aelita looked to Odd who showed no emotion. He stared out in front of them. The sector seemed to stretch out forever. Sure he knew it was in Carthage, even better, he knew that it was in the secret sector, but he didn't know where that secret sector was or how to access it. He turned to face Ulrich and answered.

"I don't know."

"So you don't know where the sector is either?" Aelita asked. Odd shook his head in silent thought.

"All I know is it's somewhere in the Digital Sea."

"Hey, guys, doesn't something in this sector seem a little...off?" Yumi spoke up. Something was really strange about all this. She had the weirdest dejà vû sensation.

"Besides the lack of monsters?" Odd asked. Yumi nodded solemnly.

"It's fading..." Aelita mumbled,then repeated herself, louder," Odd, Lyoko is fading!" The tone of her voice screamed urgency. Ulrich and Yumi gave each other a knowing stare.

"The virus is spreading fast," Ulrich stated worriedly.

"What do we do?" Yumi asked. Odd couldn't concentrate.

"We're wasting time!"Aelita hurried ahead.

"Aelita!" Odd ran after her. He could see her just ahead of him. Lucky for Odd she wasn't much faster than him. He kept calling after her, repeating her name but she wouldn't stop. He sped up a little almost close enough to touch her back. Aelita didn't seem to be running of her own power though. Surely she would have gotten tired by now.

"Odd! It's happening!" She shouted. 'What's happening?' he thought to himself. Blocks started shifting out of nowhere it seemed, blocking Odd's path. He leapt over them and slid under them and kept his eyes locked on Aelita who was just ahead of him. She was dodging blocks too. Though it seemed she had an advantage. She was the one making them move. A black energy surrounded her and the blocks she was moving. He caught up to her just in time to see her stop at the edge of a platform, teetering, about to fall over.

"Aelita no!" Odd's heart was pounding in his chest. 'What is she doing?' he yelled to himself. Aelita turned to face him. She flashed him a wicked smirk. The black energy surrounded her hands, taking the place of her usual pink energy balls. He jumped forward to grab her but she fell back, straight into the digital sea. His hand grasped air and he fell to his knees. His heart fell into his stomach. Ulrich and Yumi finished dodging the obstacle of blocks just in time to see Aelita fall and Odd on the ground. He hit it with his fist.

"Aelita, what were you thinking?" Odd looked over the edge and cried out. Yumi stood next to him, eyes wide searching the stream of data for any sign of the girl. Aelita couldn't have just dissappeared like that. No. She kept staring into it as if that would bring her friend back.

Odd felt as if something was tugging on him. Aelita. Right? She didn't just do something totally stupid. He just imagined all that and now she's trying to help him up. He turned to look at Yumi. Silent tears streamed down her face. No, not Aelita. He wasn't imagining. She did jump. Then the tugging felt stronger. He stood up and continued staring into the data. He jumped into it.

"Odd, NO!" Yumi caught his wrist.

"I have to go in after her! She's in there!" Yumi had a pained expression on her face because of the loss of her best friend.

"I can't lose you too, it's too risky!" Odd returned her expression.

"I said no matter what, we're all coming back together!" She let go reluctantly. He continued to fall. She stared after him until she could no longer see him.

Without hesitation, Ulrich grabbed her hand and jumped in after him.

"Ulrich!" She yelled.

"Trust me!" Yumi closed her eyes and felt her stomach drop as they fell. How many times had she almost fallen into the digital sea? Too many to count. She had fallen in once though. What had happened to her when she did? Yumi tried her hardest to remember. It was all a fuzzy memory.

They landed on a platform with a soft thud. Yumi opened her eyes. Every digital code that made up Lyoko surrounded them.

"We were supposed to be deleted," Ulrich saw Odd a few steps ahead of them. He was speaking aloud to them.

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"What a great show...Too bad it won't last long." Jeremie sat at the computer screen, the sedative worn off long ago. X.A.N.A. was in complete control it seemed. The tremors above ground grew stronger. Lyoko was being deleted in a lovely manner. Everything was going perfect.

Download at 95%.

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