Having taken up photography, Lily came to school with a digital camera around her neck and a guilty expression on her face.
"What's wrong Lily?" Yumi asked immediately.
"You don't want to know." Lily replied truthfully, slipping her camera off her neck.
"Tell me." Yumi insisted.
"It's about Ulrich." Lily hesitated. "Are you sure you want to know?" Lily repeated.
"Yes." Yumi insisted with dread in her heart. Lily turned on her camera and flicked through people pictures of people Yumi didn't know.
"I took this yesterday. I didn't know who this was until last night, I am so sorry Yu." Lily mumbled, her eyes downcast as she stopped at a cute picture of a couple kissing under a rose arch.
"Okay, so what?" Yumi asked confused as Lily zoomed in on the couple. The boy's features came into view: brown hair, his eyes were closed in the kiss, the thin body, his favorite hunter green T-shirt and cargo pants. "No." Yumi whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the picture. Denial rose up inside of her, but then it was quickly replaced with anger.
"I am so sorry, Yu." Lily repeated at the end of the day, but Yumi barely heard her. "I know it's not the time, but can you meet me at the corner of Lee and Oko on the north side at 5:00?" Lily asked, and handed Yumi her camera.
"Sure." Yumi seethed, and headed off to the Kadic boarding school. Her friends were sitting at an unused picnic table and laughing as she approached. "Ulrich!" Yumi shouted, barely containing her anger.
"Yumi!" He called back as if everything was okay. The lying, cheating, loser. Yumi thought hatefully.
"We need to talk. Now." Yumi hissed, and a little unnerved by her behavior Ulrich got up to follow Yumi to another bench. Sitting down, Ulrich watched Yumi carefully, unsure of her motives.
"What's wrong Yumi?" He asked cautiously.
"You know perfectly well what's wrong." Yumi hissed. "You're cheating on me." She explained at his confused expression. "At Riverside Gardens with some girl."
"I've never cheated on you!" Ulrich exclaimed and looked hurt that Yumi could ever think that of him.
"I have proof!" Yumi yelled, and shoved the camera into his hands.
"That's not me, Yumi!" Ulrich denied vehemently.
"Liar! Look, we're over!" Yumi cried, getting up and running away, the tears streaming down her face. She headed to Lee and Oko, a section of town that was virtually abandoned. The whole time Yumi fumed over Ulrich, How could he?, being the most predominate thought. Standing exactly at the corner of Lee and Oko was a tall lamp post with a broken walk sign.
"Sorry I'm late!" Lily exclaimed as she ran towards the waiting Japanese girl, a small box in her hand. "Put these on." Lily instructed, pulling out to cherry red stud earrings. Silently, Yumi put on the earrings and noticed Lily was wearing the same thing, except hers was yellow. When both girls were wearing the earrings, Lily went and pressed the walk button. The light from the lamp automatically brightened, and Lily led Yumi to stand under the light.
"What are we doing?" Yumi asked confused.
"Shh." Lily whispered. Suddenly Yumi's body began to disintegrate, but she was used to it. It was how it felt to be transported to Lyoko. "Welcome back to Lyoko, Yumi." Looking around herself, Yumi found herself surrounded by trees.
"The forest sector." Yumi breathed in shock. Turning to find Lily, Yumi found her friend now wearing a yellow side skirt with a black tank top that had a bright yellow lightning bolt slashing through the middle. Lily's black hair had been piled into a bun with some tendrils on the side of her face slightly curled. To top off Lily's odd outfit, a black sword sat on her hip. Yumi looked down at herself. She was wearing her first outfit on Lyoko, the traditional Japanese outfit with black pants for room to fight in. "I-I'm in Lyoko." Yumi breathed, looking about her in shock and amazement. The trees were as tall as ever, and everything had a calm air of solitude. "How-How is this possible? Who are you?" Yumi demanded.
"I have three names. My earth name, as you know me, is Lily Blast. But my birth name is Lily Lightning, and my battle name, Lighting Blast. As for how this is possible, Lyoko is not yet dead, Yumi. All but 1 portal remains open, the one on Lee and Oko. Why did you think it was called that? It was left as a clue to bring people back to this world. But you see, Lyoko is like a person. As planets are called 'she' we shall call Lyoko a 'she' as well. She knew her life was close to over when you were shutting down the control center. But she could not die, she still had 1 more virus within her."
"But if she had a virus, shutting down the control center would have killed it!" Yumi interjected.
"No Yumi, it would not. RITA escaped into the internet."
"What?" Yumi gasped. It wasn't possible, there couldn't be another XANA virus! Right?
"XANA knew he'd be defeated, so he made RITA his virus daughter and launched her into the internet to cause chaos. Theo and I got out as well with the jewels in our earrings and Theo's rings. Yes Yumi, we inhabited Lyoko just like Aelita did, and remained undiscovered all the times you ventured into our world. If we weren't wearing these earrings when we teleport here, we're stuck in here. Whatever happens Yumi, you must wear them!" Lily insisted. Suddenly 5 black ninjas dropped from the trees and started attacking the girls. "Fight Yumi!" Lily cried, raining lightning bolts down on the ninjas. Remembering her steel fan, Yumi boomeranged it towards the red R on a ninjas outfit. 'R' for RITA. Yumi realized. Her fans flew back to her and Lily stood up as the ninjas disintegrated around them. "As I was saying." The lightning girl continued smoothly, like they hadn't just been attacked by evil ninjas. "The ninjas are the equivalent of XANA's blocks. Since RITA connected to the internet, her monsters are usually worse. Now the reason you're back on Lyoko." Lily shot a lightning bolt at a new ninja that had just dropped out of a tree. "After everything died down here, with only only the corner of Lee and Oko as a portal, a prophecy was found: 'The only girl Lyoko warrior can defeat the new evil. She must be here, in this realm, when all portals to Lyoko shut down. With this sacrifice, RITA 1.0 will die.'" Lily recited. None of this made any sense to Yumi, none what so ever. "I am so sorry about this. Theo, NOW!" Lily yelled, and she disappeared, returning to Earth. Lyoko started dimming, and Yumi began to understand the dumb prophecy. The only girl warrior was her, Yumi. Aelita was more of a princess than a warrior here, the warrior princess. Yumi remembered with a smile. The new evil was RITA 1.0, and the sacrifice...being inside Lyoko as the last portal into Lyoko was shut down forever. Lyoko was dimming faster and faster, and it was beginning to turn black. Lily wasn't my friend! Yumi thought suddenly. She was just using me, which meant Ulrich hadn't been cheating on her! Lily lied! Yumi thought happily. That thought turned out to be her last one as Lyoko went dark.
Permanently.