It's nighttime in Kadic as everyone is asleep. Well, mostly everyone as Ulrich peeks around a corner from the hallways. He waves Jeremy forward and they run over to the vending machine area. Ulrich shakes a can of spray paint.
Jim is in his room snoring with drool coming from his mouth. Kiwi comes in and pants. He then starts howling a bit. However, Jim doesn't budge and he jumps forward, pulling off the blanket. Jim still doesn't wake up as he turns around. Kiwi sniffs his face and then starts licking his cheek. When that doesn't work, he breathes onto Jim, who finally wakes up. "Hey, what are you doing here, huh?" Kiwi yaps and then runs off. "You dumb dog! Wait'll I get my hands on you!" He chases after Kiwi. "I'll get you this time, you mangy mutt!"
"Yeah, way to go, Kiwi," Odd whispers in encouragement as he and Amy watch them from another hall.
"So Kiwi's your dog, right?" Amy turns to him with a small smile.
"Yup! Uhh, I didn't wanna leave him at home. He gets restless without me," He rubs the back of his neck. She then stands up, which confuses him.
"Come with me. I wanna show you something," She smiles as she walks off. Odd blinks in confusion at her.
Ulrich and Jeremy are spray-painting a wall together when they hear Kiwi. Ulrich runs off to hide while the blond stays there. He stops and turns around as the two go past him. Jim then turns around and sees him. "Jeremy? You mind telling me what you're doing outside at this hour? And that, huh?" He points to the wall. "What's that supposed to be?" It's a graffiti of Jim...with a dumb look on his face as well as rabbit ears. Jim looks in disbelief.
"If I had more time, I could've done the eyes better," Jeremy explains and Jim sees him smiling widely.
Amy reaches the door to her room and Odd flinches. "U-Um...this is your room," He points out as she opens the door, glancing behind her. She sees him looking a little flushed and then smiles in amusement.
"Too scared to go into a girl's room?"
"No!" He exclaims immediately, clearing his throat. "It's just that...I do have sisters, but...I've never been into a girl friend's room before. Not that you're my girlfriend, just a really good friend's roo-"
"Odd," She interrupts in amusement. "If you keep standing out here stammering, we're gonna wake people up. It'll only be for a few minutes. Jim's probably chewing out Jeremy right this second, so he won't even notice."
He shakes his head rapidly to snap out of it and enters her room. She closes the door and walks up to her wardrobe. She bends down to a dresser and removes it to reveal a female dog that looks like Kiwi, having lashes and more fluffier ears as well as a bow tied around her neck. "Hey, she looks like my dog!" Odd smiles as he reaches out a hand and the dog growls.
"Kiki!" Amy scolds and then sighs, bending down to calm her. "She's been my dog for as long as I can remember. I couldn't part with her either, and my parents are...too busy to take care of her," She glances away.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Odd couldn't help but ask, raising a brow. "You knew about Kiwi from the start."
"Well, for one, Kiki takes time getting used to people. I grew up an only child, so I was the only one she was comfortable with for a while. Not even my parents she paid any attention to. And two, she doesn't trust others right off the bat, so I haven't found a way to get her to properly meet you guys."
"I'm sure she'll adjust. She seems well cared for," Odd smiles at Kiki. "Who's a good girl?" He reaches out to her. "Don't worry, I'm a friend of Amy's. I won't hurt you." He then pets her head gently. Kiki barks happily, accepting the petting. Amy blinks down at her in surprise.
"Wow, she's never reacted like that before with any of my previous friends. Guess she sees something about you." Amy holds up Kiki, giving her tiny kisses. "Such a good girl you are!" Odd smiles at the two as Kiki smiles from the attention. "Oh, and don't tell anyone about this just yet. Otherwise, they'd ask questions about how you know about her, and...they might take it the wrong way," She smiles awkwardly at the thought.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Ames," Odd assures her with a wink and she recoils back in surprise. She then smiles as she feels like she can trust him.
The next morning, Odd, Amy, Ulrich, and Yumi sit outside the principal's office. The secretary is typing until the door opens. "I hope this will teach you a lesson, Jeremy," Principal Delmas scolds him. "I don't understand, a model student like you. You should be ashamed!"
"Uh, yes, sir," Jeremy nods and then he closes the door. All his friends gather around him.
"Well?"
"What'd he say?"
"Tell us!"
"Aw, he gave me detention for the whole week of vacation..." Jeremy laments to them.
"Cool! He really let ya have it," Odd compliments Jeremy once they're outside the office.
"And as punishments go, you're a champion!" Ulrich adds in.
"I'm sure we couldn't have done better than that," Yumi speaks with a smile.
"Nice job, Jeremy. Couldn't have done it better myself," Amy crosses her arms with a grin. He got in trouble on purpose so that he can watch out for XANA during the break. He wouldn't put it past XANA to launch an attack during the vacation...
"Anyway, XANA won't get any vacation this time," Jeremy smirks at them. Then the five leave, Nicolas staring after them as he and his friends heard the whole thing.
"Am I dreaming or does Jeremy look happy to be punished for the vacation?" He asks skeptically, Herb joining his side. No student, not even Jeremy, would be glad to be staying at school for a whole week of vacation.
"Yeah, it sure is weird," Herb comments while rubbing his chin. "You'd almost think he did what he did cuz he wanted to be punished. I don't get it."
"Me neither. And who's this XANA he was talking about?" Nicolas wonders while staring after the group.
"Herb is right," Sissi comes out of hiding, her arms crossed. "It's even weirder than weird. I'm gonna find out just what's going on."
"Huh? What are you gonna do? Don't you have to leave with your dad after school?" Nicolas asks since she has her own plans for the vacation.
"A little change of schedule," She informs, hatching a plan since she can be very persuasive when it comes to her dad.
Mr. Delmas is writing something when Sissi comes in. "Daddy, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Well, Sissi dear, I'm very busy."
"Oh, I won't take long," She smiles, hands on her hips. "Well, you see, there's this girl I know," She jumps onto his desk. "Whose grades aren't very good and the best thing for her would be to study over the vacation. But she's supposed to go to see her grandparents."
"I see, and who is this, uh-"
"Shh," She interrupts him. "I'm coming to that. She knows that when she gets to her grandparents' house, she won't feel like studying, so what do you think she should do? She needs your advice as a principal." She leans in towards him, waiting for an answer.
"...Well, my advice would be to give up her vacation and to stay home and study for her own good," He walks around the office while giving her his answer. "Uh, what's this girl's name? Perhaps I could talk to her."
"You just did, Daddy!" She hugs him tightly. "It's me!" She kisses him on the cheek. "Thank you for the advice!" She throws open the door and runs out of there. "I promise to study hard, kiss Grandma and Grandpa for me!"
Odd, Amy, Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremy are all walking through the park together, discussing what they're doing for the vacation. "You get to go and see your parents at the other end of the planet. Yumi's off for a vacation in the mountains, and what do I get? A whole week of math tutoring," He complains, earning a laugh from Odd. He places a hand on Ulrich's shoulder.
"If they think they could make a good student out of you in one week, well I say good luck to them! It sounds like Mission Impossible, if you ask me." Ulrich just smiles in amusement.
"Well, anything's possible...though in this case, maybe not," Amy murmurs that last part to herself.
"You sure you can manage on your own without us?" Yumi wonders to Jeremy as they come to a stop.
"No sweat! And if XANA leaves me alone, I'll be able to work on Aelita's materialization," Jeremy answers her, grateful for the extra time. At the very least he isn't in too much trouble with his parents...
"Oh, don't worry. He's not gonna be alone," Sissi speaks up, suddenly standing in front of the group. "I'm staying at school too, and I'll look after him. I'll be his guardian angel."
"Wow Jeremy, are you lucky," Odd smiles in amusement at Jeremy. Amy raises a brow, she doesn't buy that Sissi has good intentions staying at school with him. She couldn't help but feel that Sissi has another motive...
"Alright young man," Jim speaks up nearby. "You think this wall's gonna clean itself?" His friends just look on in confusion. "Get to work NOOOOOOOOW!" Sissi just laughs at this. "Go on, laugh while you still can, young lady. Your father told me to monitor your studying and that's what I intend to do!" She gasps in surprise. "Okay now, get to work and clean that up!" Jeremy walks off, Sissi trailing after him in annoyance.
"I don't know why, but...all of a sudden, my math tutoring doesn't seem all that bad," Ulrich comments to the others.
"He's stuck with Sissi and Jim, I'd take the tutoring if I had to choose," Amy admits with a shrug. "That is if I didn't already have a good grade in math right now."
"I never asked, what are you planning on doing for your vacation, Ames?" Odd grins at her and she raises a brow with a smile.
"Are you gonna call me that all the time?"
"Maybe," Odd shrugs casually, hands in his pockets. "It's cute."
Ulrich and Yumi hum a bit while smiling at each other knowingly. They had a feeling that there was something there between Odd and Amy. As in, they would work well together as a couple, but so far, they've acted like best friends and seemingly nothing more than that.
"Well? Am I gonna get an answer?" Odd smiles and Amy falters a bit.
"Oh, um...it's not that complicated," She waves it off. "Just gonna go see some family back home. Nothing more than that." Though notably, she didn't seem too enthusiastic about her vacation and the three notice this, glancing at each other.
"Aren't you happy about seeing them? I'm sure they miss you," Yumi tells her and she walks on ahead.
"Yeah well, it's not like that for me," She murmurs to herself and they stare after her in confusion.
Jeremy uses a wet sponge to wipe the wall. Jim opens a soda, sitting in a lawn chair. Jeremy wrings out the rag, groaning as he continues scrubbing. "Come on! You can do better than that. A little more elbow grease. Keep scrubbing, go on. You can do it. How's that math problem?" He glances over his shoulder. "Making any progress solving? I sure hope so."
"Um, well, I'm a little bit stuck here," She looks up at him after writing in her workbook. "Maybe if I give Jeremy some help? My father always says that manual labor is good for the brain," She suggests and he stands up.
"Huh, I guess all kids aren't lazy after all. Good idea, Sissi. Stay there, I'll go and get you a sponge," He walks off and she turns back to Jeremy.
"Oh, what a shame to have to wipe all that off. I guess I'm not the first one to recognize your talent," She starts off and he just stares at her. "It's really well done, a work of art. By the way, did you do it all by yourself or did your friend XANA help you a little? Huh?"
He says nothing after her accusation, silently wondering how she knows the name.
Jim walks off to the gym to get the sponge. He opens the door and walks down the hall of the boiler room. He then walks into the supply closet, grabbing the sponge and a scrubber. As soon as he's gone, an electrical outlet near some barrels of oil sparks. A specter emerges from it and then knocks down all the barrels, spilling the oil and creating a purple smoke.
"I overheard you talking to the other kids about XANA, she your girlfriend?" Sissi teases a little. "Maybe I know her." Jeremy glances back nervously as he still doesn't answer her. "Come on, Jeremy. Tell me," She presses him, thankfully having the wrong idea.
"XANA is the name of a rock group," He finally acknowledges her. "But with all that junk you listen to, there's no way you could possibly know them."
"What do you think I am, an idiot or something?" She accuses him.
"Uh, you said it, not me," He hands her his sponge. "Here, since you volunteered to help me. It's time I took a break," He sits in Jim's chair. "A little more elbow grease! Go on, keep scrubbing. You can do it," He mimics Jim, watching her scrub. "Come on, you can do better than that."
A shadow looms over him and they clear their throat. He looks back awkwardly to see Jim himself, and he does not look amused. Jeremy gives a wide smile while giving a peace sign.
It's now nighttime as Sissi sits in her room. "Oh, I ache all over," She complains to Herb over the phone as she and Jeremy spent almost all day scrubbing the wall. "I swear. I'm telling you, I'd have never thought it was possible to be this sore. It even hurts to blink."
"Sissi, you should go to sleep," Herb advises her.
"Are you kidding?" She sits up in bed. "I can't. What if Jeremy tries something tonight?" She walks over to her door with her handheld mirror.
"Oh yeah? What?"
"I don't know, but he's up to something, I'm sure of that. And I'm almost sure that this XANA is in on it," She holds up the mirror so that she can look at the doors without being noticed. "Tonight's the night, I'm gonna play super spy! At last, I'm gonna find out the secret of Jeremy and his weird friends!"
"I know I'm on the right track," Jeremy states to Aelita in his room. "But I need the computer in the lab to check out the figures. I'm gonna head over to the factory."
"You should go to bed, Jeremy," Aelita encourages him. "XANA seems to be stable. I don't feel any pulsations," She reports since she doesn't want him to work himself too much. "And you know, it's not the end of the world if I stay virtual one more day."
"Hm? Uh, that's fine for you, but if you don't come soon, I'm gonna have to spend my vacation with Sissi and Jim! I'll never survive," He gets out of his chair.
"Jeremy," She speaks up gently. "Thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing for me."
"That's okay," He replies while blushing, a small smile on his face. He tiptoes out of his room down the hall. Sissi has fallen asleep and he goes around the corner. He then goes into the oiler room, looking around. As he walks, he hears a crash from another room. He opens the door, seeing all the gas and gasping in shock. As soon as he inhales it, he coughs, closing the door. He continues to cough as someone approaches him from behind. A hand touches him and he screams in alarm, turning around to see Jim.
"Now don't try to tell me you were sleepwalking because I've been working here for 20 years, and I've heard that story about-"
"Jim, something awful has happened!" Jeremy interrupts, pointing at the door. "Have a look, in there!"
Jim opens the door to see the mess, but no smoke. "Huh? It looks like there was a hurricane in here. This had better not be your doing."
"But the smoke, it's disappeared!" He blinks in disbelief. "That's weird, not even a trace. It's XANA!"
He sits on his bed, looking towards the door, as Jim has escorted him there. "Don't even think about leaving this room. Tomorrow, I'm calling your parents!" Jeremy looks down at the floor in dismay. "You've got some explaining to do. I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes!" He then slams the door, Jeremy looking to his computer. He then boots it up to connect to Lyoko.
"Aelita, come in. Please, hurry. We've got a big problem."
"You're not the only one," She starts off. "XANA's woken up, but I don't know which tower he's activated. But the pulsations converge in this direction," She looks up ahead while in the desert sector.
Early the next morning, the purple smoke starts traveling through the school's vent system. Sissi is still asleep in her room, snoring.
Jeremy had woken up early to reach the factory before Jim could get him. He closes the elevator after pushing the button. He goes down to the lab.
The smoke starts heading to Sissi's room, which has a vent above her bed.
"It's even worse than I thought," Jeremy says after looking into the spilled cans. "The spilled bottles contain an extremely poisonous substance. If the data from the computer is right, the gas can...even be deadly in cases of extended inhalation!"
The smoke goes into Sissi's room, the girl still fast asleep.
Jim storms over to Jeremy's room, stopping in front of his door and opening it. "Get up, young man. Time to face the music." He recoils in shock to see Jeremy nowhere. "Jeremy?!"
Sissi wakes up to see that her room is covered in smoke. "Oh...what's happening? Where am I?" She rubs at her eyes. "Jeremy! Can't see, I'm totally out of it. W...what's going on?" She looks up and screams in terror. Jim looks up as he hears her, running back up the stairs. Sissi rushes down the hallway in fear. Jim comes in from the other direction and they bump into each other. She gets up and hugs Jim. "Jim! Over there, smoke with arms!"
"This has gotta be contagious," He looks down at her in confusion since Jeremy also mentioned it. "What's all this about smoke anyway?" The very same smoke appears right next to them. "Come on, I don't see any-" He looks to his right and screams upon seeing it. He runs away with Sissi and they rush down the stairs.
An alarm beeps and Jeremy looks up. He then turns to his screen as the map of Lyoko appears, showing an activated tower. "Bingo. Aelita, I found it. 37 degrees south in the forest area."
She appears on the computer screen. "Okay, I'm on my way, but I'm nowhere near it. And I'm gonna need some help," She states since a, she's still in the desert area. And b, she'd definitely come across some monsters.
"I know 4 volunteers who'll be happy to cut their vacation short and help."
Ulrich sits in boredom at his house, listening to the tutor. It feels like he's in school all over again just listening to her, on his week off. "You'll soon learn that mathematics is actually quite easy, young man. All you need is a sense of logic, a little bit of common sense, and of course, if you have good concentration, skills, and if you have..."
While she's talking, Ulrich's phone had gone off. He picks it up to see a message from Jeremy. "SOS, XANA, Jeremy," He reads the message to himself.
"Analysis, that will help as well," The tutor goes on. "But I assure you, if you apply yourself, it's not at all complicated," He stands up and leaves, and with the woman not noticing it at all.
At the airport, Odd is getting his bag checked...and of course he brings Kiwi with him, and they see the skeleton inside from the dog. "Hey, come and have a look at this, Charlie."
"What is it?" Charlie looks over his shoulder. "Wow, that's incredible!"
"What is that, kid?"
"Uhh," Odd peeks at the computer. "It's, uh, looks like a skeleton."
"Yeah, that's right, but uh, don't you see anything strange?" Charlie looks down at him.
"Your skeleton is moving."
Odd gets a closer look. "Uhh, oh, that's Kiwi. Kiwi's my dog!"
"You do know that dogs are only allowed in the luggage compartment," The man reminds him.
"Well, yeah, sure, uh...I don't know what happened," Odd shrugs innocently at them. "He was supposed to stay here...with my grandma, but..."
Charlie rubs his chin in confusion.
"Odd?"
He turns around to see Amy in line, holding her bag. "Ames!" He exclaims in surprise and she scratches her cheek awkwardly. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, my dad arranged my flight, so here I am," She looks a bit annoyed to mention that, however.
"You know...if you're not comfortable going home, you could just tell him. You don't seem that excited to see your parents, why is that?" Odd narrows his eyes defensively. "He's not doing anything to hurt you, is he?"
"N-No!" She shakes her head rapidly. "It's not like that with him or my mom at all. I just...I don't like talking about it. Things at home are just...always a mess for me to deal with."
Suddenly Odd's phone rings and he picks it up. "Oh, it's Gram. We were just talking about you."
It's actually Jeremy on the phone. "What are you talking about, Odd?" He asks in confusion. "It's me, Jeremy."
"Yes, of course I know it's you, Gram. I'm sorry, I know you told me a hundred times that you don't like me to call you Gram. Yeah, okay. I'm on my way, right. I'll bring back the dog. Bye, Gram!" Odd then turns to Amy and whispers in her ear. She nods as she listens.
Jeremy just scratches his head in confusion over the phone call...he had no idea what that was all about, but he'd rather just forget about it.
At Yumi's house, they haven't even left for their trip because apparently her mother forgot some dress that she couldn't leave without. "We should have left over two hours ago!" Her dad complains from the driver's seat.
"You know how much she loves that dress," Yumi looks at him from the back.
"I don't even know what dress she's talking about!"
Yumi's mother opens up a window to look down at them. "I'm coming! I'll be down in two seconds!"
"Yeah, I doubt that," Yumi mutters as her phone rings.
Mrs. Ishiyama walks up to her husband once she's finished. "You're gonna laugh, darling, when I tell you-"
"No, I don't really feel like laughing. Have you noticed someone is missing in the back seat?" Yumi's seat is now empty with the car door opened.
Jim and Sissi are hiding in an alcove of the hallway, the girl shaking in fear. Jim is on lookout as the smoke moves past them in another hall. He shushes Sissi and looks again...and the smoke reappears in front of them. "Oh no!" Sissi cries out and Jim coughs. He sees a door right across.
"Over here!" He grabs her arm. "Hurry up!" They run into a supply closet. Jim takes off his sweater and plants it at the bottom of the door. The two are now trapped inside.
Aelita makes it to the way tower, slowly going in through the door. She then walks to the side so that she can stand at the edge of the platform. She holds out her arms and lets herself fall. She flies past the data stream and then lands on the platform again. She steps out into the forest sector, looking around for any signs of the activated tower. "Jeremy, I'm coming into the forest area now," She informs him.
"Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Amy should be there very soon," Jeremy tells her. "Be careful, Aelita. There are bound to be monsters around there. I better go back to the school. Jim and Sissi might in trouble. I've gotta warn them."
"Help! Help us!" Jim and Sissi cry for help inside the closet, but since they're the only ones in school, no one can hear them. Both of them start sweating from the lack of heat.
"It's no use...we're finished!" Sissi says in terror.
"No, no, we're not finished," Jim turns to her, trying to encourage the girl. "Be brave now. Jeremy can't be far away. He'll help us out of this."
"Jeremy?!" She scoffs at this. "That's pretty reassuring. It's nice to know the closest thing to Bruce Willis is coming to the rescue!"
Jeremy arrives in the courtyard, looking around as he doesn't see anyone. "Sissi? Jim? Where are you?" He gasps as he suddenly finds himself surrounded by the purple smoke, unable to leave. Yumi and Ulrich arrive from the entrance.
"We'll cut across to the boiler room, it's faster!" He calls out while Jeremy coughs from the smoke, bending down. Yumi and Ulrich slide to a stop as the path to the boiler room is blocked off by all the smoke.
"Through the park!" Yumi directs them, but then they look back as they hear coughing. Jeremy crawls out of the smoke, to their shock.
"Jeremy!" Ulrich shouts as they rush over to help tend to their friend. They help him up, dragging him away from the smoke. He then passes out for a bit, Yumi and Ulrich looking over him. He opens his eyes a few seconds later, remembering why he left.
"Jim...a-and Sissi," He manages to tell them. "Are still inside. We gotta find them."
"I'll go," Ulrich offers while staring at the building. He then runs off, Yumi staring after him.
"Ulrich, wait!" She shouts, but he disappears.
"Yumi," Yumi turns around to Jeremy, still concerned about Ulrich. "The factory...you gotta go and...help Aelita."
She helps him stand up on his feet. "Hang on, Jeremy." She helps him walk through the bushes and as they do, Odd and Amy jump down from the trees. Odd is noticeably carrying Amy on his back piggy-back style. Yumi gives a look of relief to see them. "Odd, Amy, you guys got here in the nick of time! ...Why are you carrying Amy?"
"Because why not?" Odd shrugs as she jumps down from his back, dusting herself off. "I couldn't deny my favorite girl a ride." Amy rolls her eyes at his response.
"I never asked for one...we saw what was going on from the trees and got away in time," She explains to her friends.
"Where's Ulrich?" Odd questions the black-haired girl.
Ulrich walks up the staircase of the dorms, and the area is covered completely in smoke. He runs through the hallways, using a napkin to cover his nose as he searches rooms.
Sissi leans against the wall of the closet. "I only stayed at school to try and find out the secret of Jeremy and his friends cause the truth is that I've been wanting to be part of their group for ages. But it seems so hopeless," She laments to Jim. "Do you understand what I mean?"
"Huh? No," He turns around to her. "All I understand is that there's no ventilation in here! We're gonna run out of oxygen soon."
"I better stop talking then, right?" She questions, earning silence as he sweats nervously. "Okay, I can take a hint."
Well, he definitely didn't mean to sound that stand-offish about it...
A news report is documenting the smoke. People are being tended to outside due to the effects from it. "A strange and toxic smoke whose origins are unknown. The elderly and children are advised to remain indoors."
Yumi turns off the broadcast from the computer, as they've all arrived in the lab at this point. "Odd...Amy, help me get over to the computer," Jeremy calls out weakly and they just stare at him. He coughs a bit while supporting himself using the wall. "And get ready to dive in. Stop looking at me, come on. There's no time to lose!"
"We're just concerned about what could happen if we leave you alone here. We don't know if the smoke has long-lasting effects," Amy defends while crossing her arms.
"My concern is that Aelita's all alone on Lyoko," He argues back and she sighs in defeat.
After helping Jeremy, the trio stand in front of the scanners. "Transfer Yumi. Transfer Amy. Transfer Odd," He holds his forehead as he gets Amy's doubts. It feels like his head is splitting right now from the smoke.
Yumi turns around as a scanner closes in front of her. Odd and Amy step in as well. "Scanner Yumi. Scanner Amy. Scanner Odd." The doors close in front of the two. "Virtualization!" He presses enter, the three closing their eyes and letting themselves be scanned. Their hair flies and then the whoosh occurs.
All three virtualize into the forest sector, landing safely. They search for Aelita, but there's no sign of her. "Where do we go now?" He asks his friends and Amy smiles as she turns to the side.
"Ask our guide," She chuckles as she's looking at a tree.
"The activated tower is over this way," Aelita pops out of the same tree Amy's looking at, waving at them. Odd glances between Aelita and Amy in surprise. He had no idea how Amy knew that Aelita was behind that tree in particular.
"Hi Aelita!" Yumi waves back to her. "Have you seen any monsters?"
"Not yet," Aelita answers and Odd snaps out of it, deciding to question it later.
"Guess you didn't look very hard," Odd points up ahead as three Kankerlots approach, stopping in front of them.
"Ulrich," Jeremy has already contacted him at this point. "Do you copy?" He's sweating a little, either from nervousness or from the effects of the smoke. "How's it going?"
Ulrich coughs while leaning against a wall, the napkin still in front of his face. "Still nothing. I've been through most of the building," He reports back to Jeremy, coughing.
"Ulrich, get out of there," Jeremy warns him. "You can't stay in that smoke any longer, it's too dangerous. And they may be outside already."
"I'll try one last room, then I'll go," He says while approaching the supply closet where Jim and Sissi are. He coughs while jiggling at the doorknob. "Jim? Jim, Sissi, are you in there?" Jim can barely hear him as he's trying to save up oxygen.
"Ulrich, get out right now!" Jeremy exclaims, but gets no answer. "Ulrich! Come on, what's going on?" However, Ulrich has already passed out, as the smoke effects have proven to be too much for him. "Ulrich, answer me!" He presses a button to reconnect with the others on Lyoko. "Look, I don't wanna rush you, my friends, but it's getting kind of urgent here."
"What about us?" Odd asks back while flipping away from lasers. "What do you think we're doing, huh? Getting a suntan?" He questions while flipping past lasers and firing a laser arrow.
"This isn't exactly a cake walk, Jeremy," Amy adds in while Yumi throws her fan. She manages to destroy a Kankerlot, and one of them fires at Odd. He flips to the side and lands, but it approaches and prepares to fire.
"Odd, watch out!" Yumi warns and Odd flips again to avoid more. However, on the last landing, he gets hit and lands on the ground. The lasers fire towards Amy next and she flies up to avoid them, but a stray laser gets her wing and she lands roughly on the ground. Aelita goes to check on Odd, only for the Kankerlot to fire. She looks towards it with a gasp, Yumi pushing her out of the way. She takes the hit instead.
"You okay, Yumi?" Jeremy asks in concern while checking her life points.
"No broken bones yet!" She answers as Amy stands up, holding the shoulder that her wing got hit from.
"Take good care of Aelita," Jeremy tells his friends.
"You alright, Ames?" Odd looks up at her and she nods with a small smile.
"It hurts a little, but I won't let that stop me from our goal," She replies plain and simple.
Back with Ulrich, he suddenly gets pulled into the supply closet by Jim. He quickly shuts the door so that no more smoke gets in. "There, you see, Sissi? I told you he'd come and rescue us." He thought it was Jeremy, but when he turns Ulrich over, he realizes who it is. "What the—Ulrich!"
"Oh, he came for me," Sissi says happily, which isn't entirely untrue, but not for the reasons she's thinking. "Oh, he came to save me, it's just like I always dreamed!"
Odd, Amy, Yumi, and Aelita hide behind a tree as the Kankerlots continue attacking them. "Only way to access the tower is via a tree bridge. But it happens to be behind the monsters. And so you're gonna have to find a way around them," Jeremy relays to the group. Amy slightly glances over her shoulder standing between Aelita and Odd.
"It'll be too easy for them if I fly," She looks at the monsters. "Not that I can, anyway." Whenever her wings get devirtualized, they work the same way as they do when she herself is devirtualized. Therefore, she can't use them again until she's re-virtualized.
As soon as Yumi looks back, she has to dodge her head from a laser. "I might have an idea for blocking the monsters," She stares at the two. "You two take care of Aelita."
"Laser flash!" Odd destroys the second one with ease. Aelita smiles at him in relief, Amy stepping forward. "Wait," He stops her before she could move; in reality, he didn't want her getting hurt since he knew she can fight the monsters herself. But he also needed her to protect Aelita if he happens to get devirtualized himself.
Yumi presses her fingers to her temples to use her telekinesis to move a rock. The Kankerlot comes over, staring at the tree. The rock starts to move, lifting it off the ground just as another Kankerlot joins in to fire. The first one fires, only to get the rock dropped on it. Yumi jumps onto the rock and tosses her fan, but it moves to the side for her to just barely miss. It fires again, getting another hit on her. While Aelita, Odd, and Amy are running, they watch Yumi take another hit.
"Yumi! If she gets hit one more time..." Jeremy states in worry as Yumi's life points are almost gone.
"Jeremy," Aelita says just as Yumi is hit one more time to be devirtualized. The three run across the tree bridge towards the tower.
The scanner opens and Yumi appears in the lab via elevator. "Welcome to Earth, Yumi," Jeremy greets the black-haired girl.
"Hey look," Jim takes Ulrich's phone from his hand. "A cell phone. Now we'll be able to call for help."
"Jim, is that you, huh?" Jeremy questions as soon as he gets the phone call.
"Jeremy!"
"Where are you?" The boy asks while Yumi is standing next to him. "And Ulrich?"
"Jeremy, we really need help. We're starting to run out of oxygen in here," Jim explains as the smoke starts to seep into the room. "Oh noooo!" He panics while dropping the phone.
"Jim? What's happening? Jim! Odd, Amy, hurry up!"
They arrive at the tower, but there is a moat blocking the tower, with no way to get across without getting devirtualized. "Well, what do we do now?" Odd asks the girls and Aelita turns around.
"You take care of the monsters," She says as another Kankerlot appears, walking onto the bridge. Odd crouches down, aiming his paw at it.
"I can help out Aelita," Amy turns around, holding out her arms. "Glowing Ivy," Long vines grow as he hands glow green, making a ramp for Aelita to use. The Kankerlot sees this and fires, hitting Amy in the back. She grunts as she tries to keep her balance so that she doesn't fall into the water. She manages to stand up, taking a deep breath. She clenches her fists, focusing her power even more as the ramp is fully formed. Odd fires, but he misses by just a smidge. The monster fires lasers once again at the girls, but Odd jumps in front of them to get hit.
"Odd!" Amy bends down to him, glaring up at the monster. Aelita stands up, gasping at him. The brunette turns around and waves her forward. "Don't worry about us, get to the tower." She nods and walks up the ramp slowly. The Kankerlot chases after her, the two standing up.
"Hey!" The Kankerlot focuses on Amy instead. "That's right, you're ours." They stare each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. Aelita is almost at the tower, Amy pulling out her spear.
"Laser flash!" Odd shouts just as Amy swings her spear. The three end up taking each other out as the two get devirtualized. Aelita walks into the tower, walking over to the middle. She stops at the center and floats to the top.
Meanwhile, the smoke has overtaken the closet.
She lands at the top, walking up to the interface. "Let's hope it's not too late," Jeremy says to Yumi as Aelita signs in.
Aelita
Code
"Aelita, hurry up!" Jeremy urges her as she's about to put in the last word.
Ulrich is still unconscious on the ground, with no signs of waking up.
Lyoko
The smoke stops and the tower is deactivated. Jeremy then launches the return trip. "Return to the past, now!" White engulfs everything, including the school yard and closet.
Time rewinds to before Jeremy was caught by Jim. But this time, Ulrich was helping him spray paint the wall. "I don't understand why you insist on getting punished with detention again," Ulrich states in confusion. "Come on, XANA's not gonna reactivate this soon. You could give yourself a short vacation."
"Not as long as Aelita stays virtual," Jeremy insists to his friend. "And this time, to tell you the truth, considering what we've painted, Jim can't be too angry." This time instead of making Jim look stupid, he looks like a king now. They hear barking, meaning that Kiwi isn't too far behind. Ulrich glances back, about to leave when he stops, remembering what he's spending his vacation doing.
"Come to think of it, I'm gonna stick around. Anything is better than another one of Miss. Schmitz's math lessons." Jeremy smiles at Ulrich sticking by his side. "Even Jim."
They look to the side to see Jim running past them chasing Kiwi. "Get back here!"
After once again getting punished, this time a lighter sentence, Odd and Amy still in the entryway of the dorms. But this time Kiki is actually with her asleep, Amy petting her. Odd turns to her curiously. "By the way, Amy, how'd you know where Aelita was on Lyoko?"
"Huh? Oh, that?" Amy just shrugs cluelessly. "I just had a small feeling, you know? Maybe it's girls instinct or something."
He looks away with a small hum. "Ames?" He suddenly asks in a comforting tone and she turns to him in confusion. "I don't know what your family situation is, but...you know, you can always talk about it with us whenever you wanna vent. Or if that's too much, you can just tell me. And...whatever it is you're going through, you're not alone," He states while placing a hand on her shoulder.
She looks down at Kiki with a smile, petting her stomach. She always keeps it secret from almost everyone, but never once was she actually encouraged to speak about it. Not even at her old school did she let her friends visit her because of her...dilemma. "Thank you, Odd. It's still too a bit complicated to tell you right now, but I promise I'll take that advice to heart someday."
The two smile at each other and he stands up. "Come on, I'll take you to your room. Kiki's probably gonna wake you up earlier than you need."
"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," She chuckles as they walk away and she starts telling him stories about her dog.