William made his way out of the infirmary, Odd fastened loosely on his right shoulder as he walked. The wind howled behind him, the noise becoming quieter as he left the room and entered into the hall, but still ever-present, as though it were looking over him, reminding him of the hopelessness of the situation.

William placed Odd on the ground, his shoulder in pain from the weight it had just carried.

"Odd, can you hear me?" William asked, looking at the unconscious boy. As the wind grew louder outside, so did he. "Odd, wake up! We gotta get out of here!" He tried to wake his friend through speech for minutes before giving up. He couldn't go and get help, that would mean leaving Odd here alone.

He thought for a few moments before he was interrupted by his phone vibrating in his pocket. William instinctively pulled the phone from his pocket and looked at the caller ID: Jeremy.

"Hello?" William asked, a custom that continued through the ages even with caller ID.

"Finally!" Jeremy said, his voice full of excitement and accomplishment. "I thought the phone lines were down for good. I've been trying to get through to you or Odd for the last few minutes. I think this freak storm is X.A.N.A.'s doing. I need you to get to the factory with Odd."

"There's a problem with that. Odd is knocked out, he hit his head earlier. I tried carrying him, but I guess he's not as scrawny as we thought." William said, turning to look at Odd. "Also, the sewers must be overflowing. How am I supposed to get to the factory?"

"I guess I hadn't thought of that." Jeremy thought for a moment, leaving the line eerily blank. "Oh, you could go..."

Silence. William sat through the quiet for a couple of seconds before saying, "Jeremy, you there?" No reply. He pulled the phone away from his ear and noticed an error message, reading, "CALL DROPPED. REDIAL?". William tried redialing the number, but all he got were strange noises.

"Well, I guess this one is up to me." William said, looking back down at Odd. "Let's hope I can figure this out, for your sake."

—

"Everyone, stay calm!" Jim yelled, attempting to stop the outcry of fear and horror coming from the children. "We are doing everything we can. Our drivers have all agreed that we have a pretty good chance of making it back to campus before the river floods over, so just relax and enjoy the ride."

"Some comfort." Ulrich whispered to Yumi as Jim sat back down. Ulrich turned to Jeremy who sat with Aelita to his left on the other isle and asked, "Jeremy, you really think this could be X.A.N.A.?"

"I'm positive. A storm like this doesn't just pop up, it has to develop. In a couple of hours all of France started flooding from a storm that wasn't supposed to happen, that has X.A.N.A. written all over it." He said, looking down at his now dying phone. "And I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get through to William and Odd again."

"How are we going to get to the factory?" Yumi asked, leaning forward so she could see past Ulrich. "Aelita has to deactivate the tower, without her them being there won't help."

"I still haven't figured that one out. The sewers will be flooded, so we can't go that way." Jeremy said, looking hopelessly at his shoes. "And odds are the water will get so high it will flood the factory, leaving us with no way to stop this."

Jim stood up from his seat, his eyes perplexed and full of fear as he watched a torrent of water come rushing towards the bus at an alarm rate.

"Everybody get down, now!"

—

Odd looked out, seeing a faint light in his mind. He slowly moved closer to it, the light growing brighter and brighter as he approached it. His mind was as peaceful as his body, all he could focus on was the light in front of him. Soon his while field of view was encompassed by the light, the center as white as he could imagine and then it seemed even more, something that enchanted his mind.

As he reached what he guessed was the end of the light, the point where he could no longer move forward, he reached an arm out, a great desire to pass through the light coming over him, moving him towards it.

Then, abruptly, the area he was in began to distort, his body moving away from the light. His outstretched arm moved further, the desire still with him, until he heard a peculiar noise. It was a faint voice, growing stronger as he strained his ears to listen.

"Odd." He heard. "Odd." His name was repeated as he grew so far from the light that all was beginning to darken.

"Odd." This was noticeably louder than before, allowing him to clearly hear it. "Odd!" The voice now yelled, as Odd fell to his knees, unable to see in the utter darkness.

"Open your eyes." The voice said. "Open your eyes." Odd did as commanded, and slowly opened his eyes. Above him he could make out a figure, shadowy as it was, and a roaring noise raged on all around him, his ears feeling extremely sensitive for reasons he didn't understand.

"Odd!" William yelled as he witnessed the miracle he just witnessed. Odd's eyes had opened slightly, as did his mouth. "You're awake!"

Odd at first was unresponsive, unsure what was happening. He began to remember, the recent last hitting him in pieces, his mind taking the time to sort them as though they were forming a puzzle.

"William..." Odd murmured, his head tilting up slightly. As he lifted his head, a thick sheet of rain brushed across his face, the wind feeling as fire on his face.

"Odd, we gotta get inside." William said, pointing behind him. Odd peeked his head further up to see the factory behind him. "Jeremy said that this freak storm could be caused by X.A.N.A., we need to get to Lyoko." William said, helping Odd up.

"Hold on a second... What happened?" Odd asked, rubbing his throbbing head.

"You were blown down and landed on your head. You've been knocked out for at least thirty minutes if not longer. I had to carry you to the factory, but that's enough explaining, let's get inside." William said, helping Odd walk into the factory.

"Where are the others?" Odd asked, limping slowly as William carried most of his weight.

"I have no idea. Last I heard they were still on the buses, but who knows what might have happened out there." William took a moment to pause, looking out at the storm which covered the sky, as though it were a blanket, it's only job to smother all life that find itself below it. And it was doing its job well.

Hey, here's some news: I like where this episode is going, so I decided to make this a mid-series special episode. So this episode will have another chapter, making it longer than any other episode before it. Enjoy the suspense (: