Okay, I've finished this chapter and made sure most is explained. Sorry for the cliffhanger but last chapter was already too long. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I have to revise my plot line to organize the next few chapters well.
Yumiulrichlovers, thank you for your review. And yeah, some YxU and I will add another surprise later on. Don't worry, no cliffhangers on this chapter.
Chapter 12: Searching
William's POV
I woke up today early for classes. I walked to the showers. Everyone would be there in half an hour. I always knew when to come in and no one would be here. It was before dawn. I took a shower and brushed my teeth. As soon as I walked out a few students rushed in. I chuckled lowly and walked back to my dorm. I got ready and picked up my backpack from the corner and walked out. It was still six but at least I could find something to do today.
The bell rang at the right hour and it was time for class. But when I walked into the room I found out that Yumi wasn't here. Probably sulking over Odd's lost. It's not that I'm not sad, because I am, but the fact that I don't know him well…
I'm still looking through the codes that are programed on my mind. Ever since that thing of the multi-agent system I've been experiencing different things that aren't normal. I can look through my mind for codes and identify them like if I had a library. But there were so many codes.
Last night I had barely slept looking through them all. There are even codes for enabling new weapons and upgrades. I even found the codes for the Kolosus but I had to activate a few towers. I had that code too. But all my codes were slightly different from Xana's. All of them were controlled by me instead of him and that made their appearance change. That is why all my monsters are white, silver and black, those are my colors. Xana has no color, so the monsters look as they do because that's how they are projected on Lyoko. That is another code, the illusion bubbles, I can even turn an area invisible with these codes.
A vision blurred my sight when I sat down. "Urgh," a headache accompanied it. Then I saw something. One of my creatures that still lurked around Lyoko… It was Yumi and Ulrich on sector five. What were they doing there? The vision was colorless. But then I saw a creature behind, a creeper. "No," I said and my creature attacked and destroyed the creeper. I was snapped out of my vision and looked around. No one had noticed. I had identified my creature as a manta.
I walked out of the room without another word. I had to get to the factory. At least from the interface I could reach them. I could use my same codes to help them out on Lyoko.
Yumi's POV
I heard a laser and started running. Ulrich did the same. We got to the elevator and stood there waiting for it but ready for any attack. We had none.
We arrived at the Celestial Dome. There was a creature near the interface. It was white and silver with a bit of black and I identified it as William's. What was it doing here? Ulrich stood on guard while I accessed the interface. I won't deny that this was something different and that I barely understood how this worked but apparently I could manipulate the programs even better. I started looking through the data trying to find anything about the digital sea. I found little data concerning on what was the digital sea. There were only a few data. The rest was fragmented and I was unable to process it. I was looking through some more data when a voice broke the silence and sent me jumping.
"What are you doing in Lyoko?" It was William's voice. He was on the Lab room by the sound of it.
"Looking for any sign of Odd," Ulrich replied not happy to hear William's voice. William had acted against us yesterday and didn't show any sign of hurt by Odd's fate.
"Listen, Lyoko is now more dangerous than ever," William said. "I am not joking. It is dangerous, especially where you are."
"We haven't seen any monsters," Ulrich replied.
"Because mine wiped them out before you had a chance to show up. You know what it is to have a vision about you on Lyoko and almost attacked by this creeper?"
That information took my attention. "What?" I asked him.
"Too late, Skiphosoa," William warned and effectively a jellyfish like creature started towards us. "My manta may help but I will send in my megatank to that part of the sector." The manta started to shoot at the Skiphosoa and sent a missile at it. The jellyfish creature only retreated a bit. "I'll bring you in," William said.
"Not yet," I said. "Keep the program ready but don't bring me in just yet. I'm close to find something," I started looking again through the data. I stopped when I saw something. A program was running this program was different from the others. This one ran a… It couldn't be. I think I might have misread. This was impossible.
Aelita's POV
Jeremy was finished typing. This program would open a gate to the digital sea and convert the fragmented data into a new sector. What it would look like was still a mystery. We knew that with this program we could access the digital sea and not be affected by it. In fact it wasn't even the digital sea. It was more like a lost and found area. Things that were once in Lyoko but now aren't. Like a recovery sector. I think we might call it that way. Maybe not, it depends on what it may contain.
"Will Angelo and Hunter be okay at school?" I asked Jeremy.
"I gave them the tour yesterday. They know where to go and when to go. I explained every detail. Even how to flush the toilets and how the showers worked. I warned them that I would ditch school today," I said.
I sighed. "It will look wrong that both of us are absent, you know, everyone knows we're a couple and may have the wrong idea."
Jeremy blushed, "Uh, well we say that we over slept, maybe?"
I shook my head, "They maybe have already searched our rooms. And you were expected to be with them today."
"It's barely the first period," Jeremy said. "Just a few minutes more and then we will go back."
"I will head back right now," I said. "I want you over at the school no longer than fifteen minutes after I arrive. If not you know what will happen," I threatened. "We have been here since five in the morning," I added before walking out of the room and up the stairs. I then made my way to the school.
After fetching my backpack on my room I headed towards the classroom. "Sorry I'm late," I said when I walked in. "I over slept," I said and walked to my usual seat. The seat next to me was empty, Jeremy was supposed to sit here but of course I would probably have to wait for next period for him to arrive.
"And your friends too?" the teacher asked. Just then I noticed that Ulrich wasn't here and of course Odd was missing. We still hadn't called to school or anything. Could Ulrich still be hurt? I mean, I am hurt for what happened but does he feel it more than I do? He did spent more than just classes and friendship together. I know Ulrich had seen Odd like a brother for being roommates.
"Uh, I do not know," I said sincerely. "I didn't see any of them at my way here. I just woke up half an hour ago."
"And if you woke up why do you come late?" the teacher demanded.
I shrugged, "I'm not going to come in my pajamas to class. I'm not that out of my mind." Everyone laughed in the room. Somehow I couldn't feel proud of my joke. I knew that Odd would congratulate me for it. But Odd wasn't in the room and not because he had over slept.
Ulrich's POV
"I'll bring you in now," William said from the Lab room.
"Not yet," Yumi hissed.
I rolled my eyes. "You are sounding like Aelita, Yumi," I said.
"Yeah, well now I understand her," she replied still searching through the interface.
"Lightning," I called and zapped the Skiphosoa. I heard it screech.
"Ulrich, you are using too many life points on your lightning. I'll give you something but it will only be matter of time before it wears out. After it does you tell me and I'll bring you both in," William said. "Get ready."
"Okay…" I said unsure of what he was talking about. My blades disappeared and my old blade appeared. A long, silver blade that had a faint glow appeared on my right hand. It was modified. There was electricity running through it and I remembered the time when Xana took the shape of Franz Hopper. "William, how?"
"Codes, attack, you only have a few minutes," he informed. I started attacking the Skiphosoa. It was just matter of time until it was gone.
"I'll send over something," Yumi said and pushed something on the screen and then took a few steps back.
"Power gone," I called at William. Then I walked out of the scanner feeling drained. Yumi was beside me on the next scanner. We took a moment to recover before heading to the upper room.
When we got there William was analyzing the data Yumi had sent. "What is this?" he asked Yumi when we arrived.
"Odd's memory," Yumi replied. "It's a start. I found it all in three big fragments. That is all his memory. Just the DNA structure to go and some other data and we could have Odd back."
"Him or a clone?" I asked Yumi.
"Him," she assured. "I took Odd's memory, not a copy. The real data that holds that part of him."
I sighed. "Should we tell Jeremy?"
"Of course," she smiled. "But let's wait until lunch to tell him. Let's go to class."
William's POV
At Lunch we sat together. Lucky there was enough space on the small table for Hunter and Angelo. They were poking their food; they still hadn't taken a bite. Guess food is not the same in their planet. None of us had said a word about the expedition.
"Angelo, the food is going to eat you if you don't eat it first," Aelita said breaking the silence. Angelo stared wide eyed at his tray. Aelita chuckled, "It's an expression. Food's not going to eat you," she said.
"Well that's good to know," he picked up his fork full of food and plunged it into his mouth. He began to chew, and then swallowed. "Hmm, not bad," he said and started eating. Hunter started right after. Guess they weren't sure if it would be good or not.
"We went to sector five this morning," Yumi said.
Jeremy's fork fell on his plate. "We?"
"Ulrich and I," she said. "And then William came but he didn't come to Lyoko. He just worked on the Lab room. Um, we found something interesting."
"What could that be?" Aelita asked looking up a Yumi.
"Odd's memory," Yumi said and everyone froze.
"Complete?" Jeremy said after taking in the information. Yumi nodded. "Well Aelita and I found something too. It's a new sector, one that can't be accessed without the transporter. It's a part of the digital sea. It's a safe part where we can go and check out what there is. We called it the recovery sector though we don't exactly know what it looks like. We just know that most of the things that fall in the digital sea go to that sector. The problem is that the data that appears there is all fragmented. We would have to put it back together."
"Not to mention that we have to search for the right data first," Aelita said. "We were planning on going this afternoon."
"What if it's a trap?" Ulrich asked.
Jeremy shook his head. "We found it on Franz's office. The other access to that area is by the interface in sector five. The problem is that Xana always attacks us there so we will go directly into the data bank."
"I'm not sure of this," I said.
"Scared?" Yumi taunted.
I shook my head, "Not scared but concerned."
"Anyway, if you don't want to come no one is pushing you," Jeremy said. "But we'll keep you for backup in case. I'll give you a call unless you change your mind and come over. We will do the expedition this afternoon by six." Everyone nodded.
"I'm curious to know about this area. Can I accompany you?" Angelo asked.
"Of course," Jeremy replied.
"Not sure either," Hunter complained. He looked at me as if concerned of what would happen.
"Sorry but I'm going," Angelo said. "With or without," he assured.
I stood up and walked out. I was headed to my dorm for a moment. I was walking up the stairs when I heard something from the upper floor where the girls dorms were. I decided to go up and see what was happening.
"What are you doing in here you freak?" Sissy's voice came into my hearing range. "Hey out."
I spotted her tugging Herb out of her room. "Hey Sissy," Herb complained.
"What were you doing in my closet? Creep, get out of here or I'll tell my father," she snapped.
"Something going on here?" I asked seriously as I walked up to them. I crossed my arms over my chest waiting for a reply.
"This creep won't leave me alone," Sissy complained as she kept tugging at Herb who refused to move.
I sighed. "Herb, leave her alone," I said.
"Yeah? And what will you do?" he taunted. I needed no more excuse. I took Herb by his shoulder and threw him against the wall. His back slammed against the door opposite to sissy's.
"Go, away," I commanded. He stood up with his fists balled up and obviously it was evident he didn't know how to fight. He threw me a fist. I caught it and the next second I had him pinned against the wall. "Listen," I said, "If I catch you bothering Sissy one more time you will have a nice tour through town in an ambulance and trust me, I am not joking." I let go of him. As a coward he started running away. I turned to look at Sissy.
She blushed. "Thanks, William," she said.
"What was that that you said? About him being in your closet," I asked.
She sighed and walked into her room and started picking up clothes. I stood by the door and leaned against the door frame. She started talking, "I came into my room as I sometimes do during lunch and I feel this thing of being watched. You know, girls have six senses. Men have five and only use four and," she stopped when she saw my look. "Most of men," she corrected before continuing. "When I opened my closet I saw a perverted looking Herb in there. At first I didn't actually understood what was happening. Then I saw him well and understood that he was searching through my clothes and thank goodness you came, I thought he would, I don't know, do something," she said throwing her hands up. She threw some clothes into the closet. "I'll put this in order after classes."
"He has his hormones all messed up?" I questioned.
She stopped and looked at me. She nodded, "Seems so, should I tell my father?"
"Do you want to tell him?" I raised an eyebrow.
She shook her head. "Not really, dad almost never does anything for me. He does protect me but he too expects to hear as less from me as possible. And I don't know what he might say if I tell him Herb had been looking around my room," she confessed.
"Well then?" I asked.
She finished and sat down on her bed. She sighed, "I really don't know," she said. "A few days ago he was one of my friends. I wake up today and everything is upside down."
"Was he ever your friend?" I questioned knowing what she would say.
"Well no," she said. "But still, one of the few people that would talk to me and not make fun. I guess I've been a spoilt brat then. Wish I could start all over since the first day that I stepped foot on this school," a tear escaped. "Um, William, could you please close the door after you go?"
I nodded, "Do you want me to go?"
"You're from Ulrich's group, I doubt you would want to spend time with me," she replied.
"Why not?" I said. "You aren't that cold blooded as they say. You seem nice… if you want to be nice that is." There was no other way of explaining it.
Sissy smiled. "Thanks William." She looked up at me and we kept talking until the bell rang and we had to go back to our classes. She wasn't that bad. She just needed to realize that she wasn't the center of the universe.
Ulrich's POV
We were on Lyoko. Korran was here with Angelo. William and Hunter were at the Lab room with Jeremy who had stayed back. Aelita and Yumi were just a few steps back.
"We're here Jeremy," I said. We were on the end of the ice sector.
"Okay," Jeremy said. "I'm typing the code. S-R-I-T-I-A. Hmm, seems like Franz wanted to be sure he remembered the codes he made."
The transporter arrived and took us all within it. We descended into the digital sea but stayed close to the surface while we traveled. The transporter took us fast through the digital sea before it submerged deeper into it and then an area came to view. This one was different from any of the others. You could call it Atlantis. The sky here was deep blue. The floor was different. There was a pattern of green lines making squares along the black floor. There were trees that rose up to the sky and rocks like the ones on the mountain sector that were suspended on the air. There was the rush of a waterfall but it was only water falling with no ice or rock to hold it, just a program of water.
"Creepy," Yumi said. "Looks like all the prototypes for Lyoko are here."
"Effectively," Aelita agreed. "These look like things father did but are here. Look at tower," Aelita said pointing at a cylinder that stood tall further away. It wasn't silver. It was black with blue lines making the same patterns that were on the ground. "Maybe this one has a terminal to search for."
"I don't know Aelita," Jeremy said. "William wants to go in and check it out. I'm sending him over right now."
"You think you can send him directly?" I asked.
"Actually he put his own coordinates and, what's this? Oh no," Jeremy said.
"What?" we all said together waiting for his reply.
"William programmed his virtualization and will fall just about you over the digital sea," Jeremy exclaimed.
"Nut head," I heard Hunter say.
"William," Jeremy said and his voice faded.
I looked up at the sky and then saw a break. William came down holding his blade firmly in front of him as he concentrated. He descended and landed in front of us.
"Are you crazy?" Aelita was the first one to speak. "You could have died."
"You would have probably just found me here," William replied. "We have to get out of here, though."
"Why?" I demanded.
"Because," William said. "This is where Xana usually took me to hang out," he confessed.
I frowned. "How do you know?" It was Yumi who spoke.
"Because," he paused. "I don't know. I just remember some things and others are just a big blur for me to even remember. This was my training area. All that you see here is actually part of Lyoko but Xana's favorite place. Look, this is where Xana experiments for his new monsters. There is something you have to know. There is a Kolosus guarding this area."
"Then we have to act fast," Aelita beamed. "Is there a terminal in the tower?" William nodded and Aelita started running towards it.
Aelita's POV
I got to the tower and walked in. To my surprise it was pretty much the same as the others in the inside. The floor was the same and so were the walls. I started looking through the interface and searching. I activated the tower and Jeremy took over.
"Alright," Jeremy said. "I've accessed it. I'll let you know if there is something wrong." I sighed and sat down waiting for him to tell me to come back. This was all too much in so little time. I needed a break from all of this. I was used to being on Lyoko but the fact that so much has passed in the last week makes me want to close myself up in my dorm and stay there for a day or two. And then continue looking for Odd's fragments through Lyoko.
"This will take some time. Stay on guard," Jeremy said.
I nodded, "I will," I said but instead I just sat back and waited. I just wanted to relax while he works. Maybe I can't rest on the real world but Lyoko has always been a good place to feel peace. At least you do when an AI isn't attacking.
Liked it? Next chapter will be up soon. I just have to update my other story before I can update this one. Thanks for reading.
