(After class in Jeremy's room)

"So, what you're saying is, it didn't work." Odd said, looking at Jeremy who was sitting cross-legged on his bed.

"Sort of, it's not really that simple." Jeremy said, pushing his glasses up. "The data we've gained will be useful, just not as useful as we thought. Trying to stop X.A.N.A. this time is much harder than before now that I have a fuller understanding of X.A.N.A.'s abilities. This time, I have to access every computer server on the planet, and off it when you consider the ISS and all the satellites in space."

"So that's a lot harder than the first time?" Ulrich asked, standing between Odd and Aelita.

"Here's an example. Let's say the first time we beat X.A.N.A. it would be as hard as Odd trying to eat 1,000 pies in ten minutes. This time, it's more like 10,000 pies in one minute."

Odd spoke up in his usual care-free tone: "Well, depending on the flavor that shouldn't be too hard."

Jeremy's door opened, the hinges creaking slightly. Yumi and William walked in together, Yumi holding her phone.

"Hey Jeremy, I got your text. Yumi said, closing the door behind her and William. "What happened, I thought this was gonna work?"

"Well, I just explained all about that the them, but to sum it up, the results were worse than we expected, but still helpful. The major problem with the program not working is that we still have a long way to go before we actually get a working one."

"How long do you think it will be before you and my dad get working model ready?" Aelita asked.

"Honestly, I don't know." Jeremy sighed and scratched his neck, his glasses sliding down on his face. "It could be a couple of weeks, a couple of months... I hate to say it, but if we find that we've been following the wrong path this whole time... It could be years before we defeat X.A.N.A..."

Aelita walked up to Jeremy, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Jeremy. I know you'll get there soon."

"Yeah," Odd said, "and until then, the super epically powerful and awesome Lyoko Warriors will defeat X.A.N.A. every time!"

This got a giggle out of everyone in the room, a laugh that turned into a glowing smile on everyone's faces. It was just what Jeremy needed: a feeling of assurance. Jeremy and Aelita looked into each others eyes, and blushed momentarily until Yumi broke the silence, attracting their attention.

"Well, Ulrich and I gotta go to Pencak Silat practice in the gym." Yumi said, looking at Ulrich.

"Yeah, Jim gets a bit angry when we're late. And by a bit angry I mean he makes us run laps while he blabs on his life. At those times, I wish he would "rather not talk about it"."

"Haha, that's Jim for ya." William said, stretching his arms out and yawning. "Well, I've got a date with my bed. Good luck Jeremy."

William opened the door and walked out, followed by Yumi and Ulrich.

"Well, I gotta go study for out biology test tomorrow. Wanna help me, Jeremy?" Odd asked.

"Sorry, Odd, I think I'm going to do some preliminary work on a separate program for the rest of the day." Jeremy replied.

"Okay, Aelita?"

"Sorry, but I think I'm gonna stay and help Jeremy." Aelita replied.

Odd crossed his arms. "Well fine, I guess I'll just fail." He said, walking out of the door, closing it behind him.

"Do you think he really cares about the test?" Aelita asked as Jeremy got off his bed and stood up.

"No, what Odd calls "studying" is just him listening to music while his notes are scattered around his room." Jeremy powered up his computer, stretching his right arm behind him, his hand open. "Shall we begin?"

Aelita smiled and took his hand, both of there faces lit up from the luminescent glow of the computer screen.

—

Franz sat at the helm of the Supercomputer, his focus having been unbroken for hours in which he preformed tedious work.

'I can't believe how advanced X.A.N.A. has truly become, ever since he started self-programming his power has been vastly expanded.'

Franz's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an alarming sound, the superscan had picked up an activated tower.

"I see, the beast has decided to rear his ugly head. X.A.N.A., you were meant to do so much good, to stop those who would otherwise do harm, but all you have done is cause destruction. I created you, and I promise, one day, I will kill you."

Well, this episode certainly took forever. Not because it's long or anything, or extremely thorough, just because of bad timing, illnesses, Criminal Minds marathon, all that Jazz. So for all those people out there wondering what I did during the time I should have been writing, here's a list:

Watched YouTube,
Ate delicious food,
Got sick (twice),
Watched more YouTube
Preformed ventriloquism,
Played "To the Moon", the most emotional Indie game I have ever played, look for it on Steam,
Watched all of Code Lyoko season 1 (I called it research, but I wanted to anyway),
Procrastinated... Like, a lot,
And finally, re-watched some old Flipnotes on my DSi that I had saved on SD cards (Shoutout to the first reviewer who's heard of the series "Gravity" on Flipnotes, it has taken up so much of my time recently.)

Wow, a lot of author's notes. I think I'll end it there. Thanks for putting up with my imperfect scheduling and review your thoughts!