Chapter 25: Not seen

At an unknown place…

It was dark in the room. There were no windows, it was dark outside too, there was almost no light falling in that room and the only serious light source was the screen of the computer. There also was a boy in that room. At first sight it didn't seem to special, but he shouldn't leave the room and wasn't willing to leave the computer all alone. He didn't know what would happen if he left the computer lone, and he wouldn't want to take the risk. The boy also wasn't sitting still, because he was busy continuously typing in different codes to keep the thing he started up running. It had stopped once, but when it stopped the next time, he wouldn't be able to start it up again.

Then, he heard a sound at the door and stopped typing codes to listen carefully. He let his thoughts think up every possibility XANA made to keep him away from the computer. The boy sat there for a minute before he slowly started to type in codes again, and he silently cursed the A.I. It was because of XANA his newest program had failed once, and because of XANA he had more haste in everything he did, and a lot of stress too. He didn't know what the damned virus did, but he knew it could have great consequences.

"C'mon guys … Wake up…" he breathed, not looking away from the screen. Something happened to his friends, also at the same location, and they wouldn't wake up for some reason while they were perfectly able to do so. The boy blamed XANA, off course, because he was very certain it had been XANA's doing and blamed XANA to be the sole culprit. He didn't know anyone else who could have done it – nobody except for XANA…

He almost didn't notice how a part of this program he was trying to keep running demanded an upgrade. Quickly, he made sure this upgrade was made and immediately ran some more scans to see if XANA was still detected inside this program. These scans were needed to keep XANA from making major damage. And the boy hoped all would be well at the end of the night, hoping his friends would ever wake up.

Close to the factory…

Nicholas could have cheered out of joy when he finally could see the factory. Sissi was glad as well when they finally reached a safe place to take a break and rest as long as she wished. Even Odd allowed himself to wear a small smile on his face when he saw the place where the biggest adventure of their lives began… where XANA once slumbered, but had been waked… the place XANA had escaped from and now held the country in his hold … They noticed how two or three Mantas flew constantly over the factory, and not much later Nicholas noticed something else – an important detail.

"Odd, where's the bridge?" he asked, "I remember there was a bridge leading from the mainland to the factory." Odd nodded.

"You're right. There is a bridge, but who says this is the front? It's too risky to go in through there, a small army is growing there every day, ready to attack anyone coming close. That's why we go in via the back – a small entrance and hallways Jeremy knows nothing about. That's how we'll enter." Then, he knelt on the ground and put together a few bigger stones in a neat circle. "But first, let's have a meal." Sissi shook her head, confused.

"Why here? We could eat in the factory, once we're there!" Sissi wanted to know how it felt to finally having found shelter and live underneath it. Odd looked patiently at her.

"Because out here, we might have our last decent meal." With the knowledge they wouldn't be able to go against Odd's 'logical phrases' – he would deny anything against his logic – they sat down and helped Odd making a fire. Odd picked a pack of cards out of one of his pockets, so he and his companions wouldn't be bored to death before the final battle. It was, despite the current circumstances, quite nice being in their company, sitting around their fire, so nice they might almost forget in what for danger they were and how they could be discovered by those Mantas any minute, or by a small scout in the bushes. Slowly their worries disappeared, and time went by both slowly and quickly while they were playing silly card games and the sky above them darkened.

At one moment, Odd just put down his set of card, moved himself to a nearby tree, lay down and rested. Nicholas looked at it suspiciously – the last time that happened, it had been sudden and Odd had been death for a couple of minutes. Only when Nicholas clearly saw the boy was breathing, he was partly satisfied. He looked at Sissi, who was looking tired, but also ready to get to action. The thought of them almost being there – just crossing half the river – could have given her the power to do that one last effort.

"This is exiting, isn't it?" Nicholas said, trying to start a conversation with her. The last time, she had not said much, and he had been the one talking more. An invasion did a lot, both physically and mentally.

"Yes," she said, "I just wonder when we'll pass the river." Nicholas nodded.

"Me too. I hope we'll go quickly." he said, and the rest of the time they spend in silence, waiting for the right moment to pass it. It's just that they didn't know when that right moment was, but luckily Odd did. And that guy now was resting, so who was there to say when they could cross the river? But after a while, Odd decided to stop with resting, so he stood up and started to pace around. With this, he really annoyed Nicholas.

"Could you please stop doing that?" the redhead asked, but ignored him completely and kept pacing. After a while, he stopped and instead walked to the river, and Nicholas and Sissi followed him, hoping they were finally going. They didn't expect Odd would walk into the river until the water level was knee high. He stood there a few minutes before he turned his head to the two comrades .

"We can cross it," he simply said, and he walked deeper into the river until all he could do was to swim to the small island holding the factory. So Nicholas and Sissi also walked into the river, and they shivered when they made contact with the water. Apparently, Odd had forgotten to tell the two the water was continuously streaming and the water was ice cold. Despite this, they were determined to cross the river and be safe in the factory.

It was hard to swim when your muscles were almost frozen and when a sideways force was trying to pull you out of course constantly, and when your clothes also started to feel quite heavy in the water. Sissi had the exact same problems as Nicholas. And when those two were halfway there, Nicholas spotted Odd standing at the shore of the island. If Nicholas had the power to sigh, he would now. Whatever Odd had done the past few days, Nicholas respected it greatly. He was stronger, faster, smarter… just better in everything, playing dead inclusive.

When Nicholas almost had reached the shore he desired to sit on for hours on end (exhaustion), Odd already jumped back in the cold water and swam back. And when Nicholas was actually on the shore and could turn back his head to see what was happening, he saw what Odd was doing. He swam straight to Sissi, who was having trouble to keep her head above the water's surface. And when her head didn't come up again like it did before, Odd dived into the water and also disappeared out of sight. Nicholas hoped they would make it. He already lost Herve to saving their lives, he didn't need to lose Sissi and Odd, too.

At a fortunate moment, he noticed Odd and Sissi in the water, both of them looking alive, and Odd helped Sissi swim towards the factory. Nicholas waited patiently until they were close enough, and he reached a hand out to Sissi, who almost immediately grasped it. Sissi panted when she no longer needed to swim, and she crawled out of the water, with Nicholas helping her to stand up. She just needed to look at him for him to know what she was thinking: I am not going to do this a second time. And if it were up to Nicholas, he wouldn't want to cross the river like that again – no, next time, they would take the bridge.

When Odd thought Sissi had rested long enough, he walked towards the wall of the factory. While doing so, it had started to blow around them, making them feel cold with the river water still on their clothes and body. If they weren't inside soon, they'd catch the flu or something. And now the fear of drowning was gone, the fear of XANA returned. He still kept a good eye on the factory, and so the chance still did exist they were going to be caught. They walked behind Odd, who had stopped at a part of the wall that looked exactly the same as the entire wall. It still was amazing how Odd could find the back entrance with the wall at every place being the same dull grey. Odd pushed a bit of the wall, and a secret door opened. Sissi and Nicholas looked surprised while Odd was already waiting inside. The stone door only closed when Sissi and Nicholas were also inside and it didn't even look lie there was a secret door anymore. They stood at the end of a long, small corridor and the only way to get out, is to go ahead. And even though Odd had told them it was safe in the factory, he decided to be silent and careful anyway.

"Be silent, and be quick," the Lyoko Warrior said, and they started to walk. During their journey throughout the factory, they were indeed silent and quick. Nicholas and Sissi could only just follow Odd while he led them through the factory as precise as possible. More than once, Nicholas and Sissi wondered who they were going to, and where exactly they had to be. But they had to be silent and knew they'd better not ignore advise from him, so they kept their mouths shut.

Eventually, they had reached a rusty old door who looked like every other door they had come across so far. Despite this, Odd was fairly sure they had to be at this rusty door, and not any of the others. The two trusted on his sense of direction, and hoped Odd was right.

"Why are we here?" Nicholas whispered, "And why do we have to be silent and quick?" Odd just shrugged.

"I wanted to have the advantage of the surprise. Besides, it's the middle of the night, and everybody should be asleep – I didn't want to wake them." he said, and with these words, he opened the rusty old door; with this, he also revealed who he had wanted to see as first.

Okay then... I should've updated yesterday, but I was bus with other things and I sort of forgot, but here it is! Besides, exams are over, meaning I got a lot more time to write now! So far the good news! Who is it Odd wants to see first? And will Jim ever take action against XANA? What parts do Yumi, Jeremy and Aelita play in this? We're getting closer to the end now, and everything will be clear once this is finished (I hope)! New update at Jim's next Thursday; the 26th of June. Let's reply to the review!

Bluedog197 (Well, I do my best for every chapter and indeed, they are running on supercomputer energy. And I thought that about Ulrich was clear... oh well, I thought I left enough hints. Thanks for the review!)

See ya next time!

-Dutchwriters2