Chapter 5:
Rivalry
"Come on, Jeremy, show a little kindness! I just want new gadgets on Lyoko... Not even tiny laser beams that come out of my eyes?"
It was recess and the gang was on one of the benches in the courtyard. Selina was chatting animatedly with Yumi about their favorite book sagas. And Jeremy was starting to get a headache with Odd pestering him for new skills at Lyoko.
"No! Stop insisting!" He exclaimed, fed up with his persistence. "I don't have time to create gadgets. We have more important things to take care of. I remind you that we still have to find out who the creator of Cortex is and what he has to do with Franz Hopper"
Just then William appeared. Seeing how they had been so quiet when he arrived, he rolled his eyes. Were they really going to keep doing this?
"Ok, I get it! Talking about Lyoko? Great... Please, don't mind me" He snorted at the guilty silence of the gang. Selina looked at him puzzled. Then he turned to Yumi. "Yumi, can I see you for 2 seconds please?" Ulrich's jaw clenched, pure jealousy shining in his gaze. "I think I found something cool for our presentation"
Yumi smiled and got up from the bench. Between the mission to Cortex and the chatter with Selina, she had completely forgotten about the History work she had to do with William.
"Well, I have to go, guys, duty calls" She said saying goodbye to her friends, oblivious to William's smug grin and Ulrich's murderous look.
Selina watched the exchange of glances between Ulrich and William. She bit her lip holding back a smile.
"Odd, is it just me or or Ulrich needs some peanut butter for that huge jelly?"
The boy stared at her, then burst out laughing. His laughter rubbed off on her, too. Soon they were two teenagers laughing like crazy. They were in a fit of giggles for a while before they were able to calm down. Selina took a couple of candy bars out of her backpack and tossed one to Odd.
"Come on, try this, it's much better than what they sell in the vending machine" She said as took a bite of her Cadbury's chocolate bar.
Teacher Hertz was undoubtedly the best at Kadic Academy, always willing to talk about any topic related to science. But that day, Ulrich could have been told about the creation of the hydrogen bomb and he wouldn't have given a damn about it. He couldn't get William's smug look out of his head, as if to say You are not able to confess to Yumi how you feel about her, while I do it every day.
"Hey, Ulrich, guess what? I've got a thing going on with Elodie, the eighth grade blonde in class B" The boy smiled faintly as he listened to his best friend talk about another one of his flings. "She doesn't know it yet, but she's crazy about me!"
As he spoke, Ulrich thought again about what had happened between Yumi and William. He was sick of that boy's arrogance, and he was furious with himself for not being so confident when it came to Yumi. Odd frowned at how distracted his friend was.
"Hey, are you even listening to me?" The brunette turned and blinked. "What's your problem these days? It seems as though you're shutting down..." then he realized. "It's because of William, isn't it?"
"I'm sick of him always hanging out with Yumi" He snarled angrily. Odd shook his head in disbelief.
"You're imagining things - carry on and it'll become a 3D movie, with popcorn and everything! They're only working together for their presentation, that's all"
"Yeah, I hope so" muttered as he turned his attention back to the board.
While talking to Odd, Mrs. Hertz had written down a very difficult equation. The teacher smirked slyly at her class.
"So, who will do it?"
Outside, Yumi and William were busting elbows with History work. The girl smiled in satisfaction as she closed her book on the Hundred Years' War. Her friend was a crack at history.
"Cool! We finished the introduction! You really impressed me"
He smiled proudly.
"You know, I always try my best when working with a team... I'm reliable despite what your friends may think" Yumi blushed at the hint. The dark-haired boy grabbed his things and got up. "Anyway, let's postpone this a bit, I need to go train"
"Okay, see you later"
The girl smiled inwardly and stuffed her history books into her backpack. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around to find William.
"William? Did you forget something?"
He didn't say a peep. In a couple of strides, he walked over to Yumi and hugged her tightly. At first glance it might have looked like a passionate embrace, but there was nothing warm and loving about it. It wasn't William, it was a specter.
"Let go of me!" She cried out in fright as felt something leave her. "I said let me go!"
While Yumi tried to fend off the specter, Odd and Ulrich walked through the gallery, with the former talking on the phone to his flirt of the week.
"Elodie? Yeah, it's Odd - Della Robbia! The one and only. Am I bothering you? Oh, okay, I'll call you back later then" He hung up and then turned to Ulrich. "Classical move. She pretends she doesn't like me... like she can't take it anymore"
The boy smiled at his friend's antics, but was petrified to see how William seemed to hug Yumi.
"Woah, is it just me or are they kissing?!" Odd muttered in amazement.
Ulrich clenched his jaw so hard it felt like a filling was going to pop out. He dropped the backpack and started running towards them.
"I'm going to kill him" He mumbled but after a few steps he realized what was really going on. "That's not William, that's a specter!"
With a shove, he threw him to the ground. Yumi practically collapsed into Ulrich's arms. Odd ran to his friend, trying to help the girl.
"Yumi. Are you alright? Don't worry, we're here" She nodded weakly. Then Ulrich turned to Odd. "Take care of her while I distract him"
The boy nodded and slipped Yumi's arm around his shoulders, taking her with him into the park. Once they were out of sight, Ulrich approached the specter, whose hands glowed at the possibility of appropriating the brunette's source codes.
"Come on, big bug, I'm filled with codes!" He snarled as he ran past the specter, who began to chase after him, away from where Odd and Yumi were headed.
Odd and Yumi were trudging through the park. As he led her toward the entrance to the sewers, he pulled out his phone and dialed Jeremy's number.
"Jeremy, we were attacked by a specter! Yumi got touched"
"Okay, keep her safe. I'm coming with Aelita"
He hung up and once they were in front of the manhole, he opened the lid and helped Yumi down the stairs. The girl was dizzy and seeing everything blurry, but without knowing how they made it to the lab. Yumi and Odd sat next to the hologram, trying to catch their breath.
Shortly after arriving, the elevator door opened and Jeremy and Aelita rushed into the lab.
"Are you alright, Yumi?" He inquired, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"To be honest, I've had better moments!" She muttered. Her head was spinning like a Ferris wheel.
"And Ulrich? Where is he?"
"We left him in the park!" Odd replied. Aelita approached Yumi and put her hand on her shoulder. "He's having fun with the William faced specter"
Jeremy turned pale and ran off toward the Supercomputer command post. He didn't even want to imagine what his friend was going through.
"We don't have a minute to lose! Get to the scanners!"
Odd grinned from ear to ear, but Yumi shook her head, trying to shake off the dizzy feeling that swept over her. She looked very unwell. Jeremy frowned in concern.
"Yumi, are you feeling up to it?"
The girl nodded and walked with Aelita and Odd to the elevator. Once in the scanner room, she put her hand to her stomach, trying to stop her growing nausea.
"Don't worry" Whispered Aelita. "You won't feel a thing on Lyoko"
I hope so Yumi thought. She, Aelita and Odd went up to the scanners. Jeremy started typing in the virtualization process.
"Starting the virtualization" He typed on the keyboard. "Scanner Odd; Scanner Yumi; Scanner Aelita. Virtualization!"
They landed in the desert sector with a thud. Yumi sighed in relief as she noticed how the spectrum's side effects had disappeared.
"It's okay! Everything's back to normal" Then she thought of a certain samurai. "Jeremy, have you heard from Ulrich?"
"Not a single piece of info. I'm trying to get ahold of him" The blond made a mental note to call Selina as soon as possible. She was the only one capable of standing up to the specters on equal terms. "Meanwhile, hurry to the tower. It's located at 72 degrees East"
Odd rolled his eyes. No way were they going to be able to cover that distance on foot.
"Are you going send us our vehicles?"
"It's as good as done!" He exclaimed as he made the Overwing and Overboard appear.
As Yumi, Aelita and Odd headed for the tower, Odd asked the question that had been gnawing at him for some time.
"Something's bothering me: it's really weird that you couldn't tell the difference between the real William and the specter"
Yumi nearly lost control of her vehicle, but just glared at the purple cat. Aelita looked at him in annoyance.
"Odd, you're a drag" Snarled the pinkette.
"And, if I may ask, Is XANA a good kisser?" He said, giving a sly grin.
Yumi seriously considered the possibility of strangling him. She didn't know if she could do it, but it was worth a try.
"I don't know what's preventing me from devirtualizing you!"
She gave the Overwing full throttle and shot off towards where the tower was. Odd shook his head.
"Fine. Now we can't even have fun anymore..."
Meanwhile, Jeremy's phone rang. Looking at the screen, he saw it was Ulrich. He picked it up on the first note of the polyphonic.
"Ulrich, at last I find you! Odd, Aelita and Yumi are on their way to the tower" He explained, relieved to finally hear from him. "Are you doing okay?"
He was certainly doing very well when it came to breaking a record in the 100-meter dash. The boy was running through the school, dodging classmates and leaving Jim, who was passing by, in awe of his athletic prowess.
"Good Stern, taking advantage of your lunch break to exercise..." He exclaimed, proud of his student. He then turned his attention back to William's doppelganger. He was walking mechanically, with long strides, but still far from catching up with Ulrich. "Come on! Dunbar! Give it all you've got! At that rate, you'll never catch him!"
Away from the gym teacher's sarcastic comments, Ulrich was running like hell. He didn't know if he was going to last much longer.
"I'm fine for now, but hurry up!" He shouted in terror as he tried to pull away from the specter.
"Okay, we're good Jeremy..." Shouted Yumi. "We can see the Tower!"
In Lyoko, they were also playing the races. By pushing the gas pedal to the metal of their respective vehicles, Aelita, Yumi and Odd reached the tower in a matter of minutes. All was quiet, indeed, too quiet. Jeremy confirmed it.
"Be careful! Some monsters just appeared on my screen"
Said and done. Two Tarantulas appeared from behind the tower and started shooting at the teens. Odd, riding the Overboard, did a caper and fired laser arrows at the monsters, who easily moved out of the way. Two lasers from the Tarantulas hit the Overwing and knocked Aelita and Yumi to the ground. From the screen, Jeremy could see a third monster approaching.
"Watch out, Yumi!"
Too late. Two lasers hit Yumi and devirtualized her on the spot. The girl came out of the scanner feeling as if she had been punched in the gut. Jeremy looked at the screen in bewilderment.
"There's something I don't get..."
Aelita somersaulted backwards trying to dodge the lasers that seemed to be coming from everywhere. There was no Tarantula in sight, however, it seemed that she was going to be devirtualized at any moment.
""Where are all those shots coming from?"
Without even giving her time to squeal, Odd grabbed her by the arm and pulled her onto the Overboard.
"I don't know, but we need to get away from it" He shouted as drove her toward a rock wall. Once he was able to catch his breath, asked Jeremy. "Jeremy, can you tell how many monsters are there on your screen?"
"Three! I see three"
Odd peered out from the rock wall. There were two Tarantulas.
"Then we have a big problem, because I can only see two"
That said, two shots that seemed to come out of nowhere were about to hit him. It was then that Aelita realized.
"Odd. The third monster... is invisible!"
The boy frowned, furious. How could he defend himself against a threat he could not see?
"Where are you hiding, you nasty cockroach!"
At that moment, Jeremy's phone rang. It was Ulrich.
"Ulrich?" He asked, scared.
"Jeremy, anything new?" He asked, hiding behind a pillar. "Because I don't think I'll be able to hold much longer..."
"Don't worry, we're almost done"
He looked up from his hiding place. The specter was approaching at a slow but sure pace. It was relentless.
"Gotta go, he noticed me!" He shouted, before running away.
Jeremy hung up and exchange a glance with Yumi. Things were going from bad to worse.
"We need to hurry!" He shouted through the headset. "Ulrich's now having an emergency!"
"Oh wait, are you kidding?" He replied, hiding with Aelita behind a large rock. The Tarantulas didn't stop shooting at them. "We're doing all we can!"
Ulrich closed the gym door behind him, placing a vaulting horse to block the door. But when he turned around, he almost fainted from shock when he saw William hitting a punching bag.
"Oh, I see... You can walk through walls now?" The dark-haired boy looked at him in bewilderment. Ulrich threw his backpack on the floor, ready to defend himself, to kick. "Come on, let's go! I've dreamt about this for a long time"
He lunged at him, ready to give him a good punch, but William stopped him.
"Ulrich, what the hell are you doing?"
Ulrich blinked. It wasn't the specter, it was the real William.
"William?"
"Yeah! Who did you think it was?"
"There's a specter - he looks like you and has been chasing me around for a while now!"
"A specter?" He repeated in disbelief. Then a look of realization came over his face. "Wait, does that mean the others are on Lyoko?"
Odd and Aelita were behind the rock, safe from the Tarantulas' shots, but that was the same as a snail hiding in its shell for fear of being stepped on. They had to find a way to get out of there. Then Odd had an idea.
"Aelita! Throw an energy field towards the shoots!"
"What?"
"Trust me, I've got an idea!"
He came out of his hiding place and began to shoot laser arrows at the Tarantulas, which retreated. At that moment, Aelita launched a huge energy field towards where the shots were coming from. A Tarantula appeared out of nowhere, and at that moment, Odd pounced on it, shooting laser arrows at the monster, which exploded on the spot.
"Go on, I've got your back!" Shouted the boy as Aelita activated her wings.
He ran toward the tower, firing laser arrows left and right. A laser nearly hit him and he took cover behind a nearby rock.
"Odd, we're in a hurry!" Shouted Jeremy. "You're right next to the Tower! Go! You also can deactivate it!"
"Why me? I hate entering the towers!"
"Odd, stop talking and go!" Shouted Aelita as she threw an energy field at a monster.
Odd emerged from his hiding place and fired laser arrows at the remaining Tarantula, which exploded. He ran to the tower, took a deep breath and went inside. For the first time, the tower welcomed him as an old friend.
"That's it then" Snarled William enraged. "I'm definitely not a Lyoko Warrior anymore, right?"
Ulrich clenched his jaw.
"We already talked about it. You don't belong with us anymore. You act on your own too much"
"Oh, really? I'd say it's more that you're afraid of competition!"
He tensed at the dark-haired boy's scathing comment, but before he could give a proper retort, there was a terrible crashing sound, typical of a door that had been kicked down. The specter had arrived.
Odd landed on the top platform of the tower and a screen appeared in front of him. He put his hand on it, but was shocked to see an error triangle appear.
Ulrich and William slowly backed up until their backs hit the back wall. They had no escape.
"Odd, can you could hurry a little?" Jeremy shouted in concern.
"It's fine, don't panic!" He responded. He then turned his attention back to the screen. "Okay. This isn't so hard..."
He put his hand on it again, and this time, it worked. He smiled inwardly.
"Ok, now I just need enter the code..."
He put his hand on the screen and typed CODE LYOKO.
Ulrich and William stuck against the wall, unable to escape. But just at that instant, the specter's silhouette began to tremble and exploded into thousands of fragments of greenish light.
They let out a sigh of relief. They had been saved by the skin of their teeth.
"I'd say that if I hadn't gone heroically through that horrible wall, our friend Ulrich wouldn't have a single line of code left!" Bragged Odd. "Nothing! Nada!"
The whole gang, with the exception of William and Selina, was in Jeremy's room. Odd was boasting about his timely deactivation of the tower, a deactivation for which Ulrich was very grateful, but a certain blond genius was not entirely convinced that Odd should claim victory.
"Don't speak to soon, for I fear the specter did a lot of damage" Jeremy replied as he activated the source code measurement process. "Ok, starting the procedure"
When the process was complete, he showed the results to his friends. The results weren't very encouraging: Aelita had 90% of her source codes left, Odd had 81%, Yumi had 73% and Ulrich had 80%.
"I lost even more code than I thought..." Muttered Yumi.
"Let's check how far XANA is now"
The boy typed some more and saw the power bar rise to 65%.
"Sixty-five percent?!" Exclaimed Odd. "That's a lot!"
"XANA is trying to become more powerful" Jeremy said as he shook his head in concern.
"Well, now I'll be even more careful when a girl jumps on me" Quipped Odd. "Because you never know"
Yumi cracked a smile at her friend's joke, but then got up and prepared to leave.
"Well, I'm leaving you now, to meet William. We have a presentation to finish"
Yumi closed the door and Ulrich watched her leave. The boy took a deep breath and got up as well.
"As for me, I'll go let off steam" He said trying to smile, but it looked like he was trying to hold back the urge to puke. "It'll make me feel better"
He almost bolted out of the room. Aelita and Jeremy looked at each other quizzically. What the hell was happening to Ulrich?
William strolled through the park, trying to clear his thoughts, but he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened with Ulrich. It was bad enough that he hadn't been warned that a specter was doing its thing and that the others were in Lyoko. But what he thought was the last straw was that Ulrich had despised him (and even speaking on behalf of the group) in such a hurtful way. It was worse than rubbing salt in a wound.
Furious, he slammed his fist against the trunk of a tree, and a pile of leaves fell on him. He didn't care if anyone saw him. He was so angry.
"William, what happened?" A soft voice inquired behind him.
The boy turned around. It was Selina. She was wearing her red hair pulled back in a ponytail, a black crop top, black jeans and black military boots. She looked worried.
"Nothing" He said dryly. He didn't want to talk to anyone.
The girl shook her head. Now that he had her closer, he could see that she looked quite faded. She had lost the color in her cheeks and the sparkle in her light eyes.
"Nothing" She repeated. "I guess that nothing has nothing to do with the fact that they don't quite accept you into the group. Or an argument with Ulrich, who by the way, is a crazy jealous guy"
William almost choked on his own saliva, but disguised it with his usual cocky smirk.
"What a danger you are, girl. You're a real witch" Said the boy, laughing, but it was a bitter laugh. "If you had lived in the Middle Ages, they would have burned you for sure"
Selina looked at him sadly. She understood that William used arrogance and sarcasm as a defense mechanism. But behind his cocky facade, all she saw was a angry, sad boy.
She walked over to him and took his hand. William felt his throat dry.
"Look, I have no idea what's going on between you. But here's my advice: don't be afraid to express your emotions and be honest with yourself and the others" At the boy's stunned silence, she paused before continuing. "But never, ever swallow your anger. Believe me if I tell you that accumulated resentment and anger are far more dangerous than any psycho AI"
The boy stared at her. He realized that she was speaking from experience, and that scared him, because what experience had she had to go through to have that sad shadow chasing her everywhere?
"The same thing happened to you, didn't it?"
Selina nodded, her blue eyes regaining some of their usual sparkle.
"Yes. And I don't want something like that to happen to you" She toyed with her crescent pendant. "By the way, there's been some XANA attack? I have several missed calls from Jeremy"
"A specter with my appearance attacked Yumi and nearly did the same thing to Ulrich."
"Goddamn shit" Mumbled the girl. "Why do migraines have to come on me at the most inopportune times?" At William's concerned silence, she added. "Yes, I do get migraines from time to time. Sometimes I go months without getting them, but when I do, I can't get out of bed for hours. If I didn't have this problem, I could have spotted the specter on the first try and beat the crap out of it."
"Don't blame yourself for it" The dark-haired boy told her. "You can't always save everyone's ass"
The girl cracked a smile, finally regaining the sparkle in her electric blue eyes.
"I know. I'll have to get used to it. Well, I'm off to school, I can't wait to get some ice cream. You in?"
William blinked. He didn't know how, but the agitation he had felt with Ulrich had faded into nothingness as he talked to Selina, and he found it much easier to focus. His mind felt cleared and confused all at the same time.
He shook his head to get rid of that unexplainable feeling, and he once again wore his usual crooked grin.
"Ladies first" He said as they made their way back to the Kadic academy.
"Don't you think Ulrich is acting kind of weird lately?" Aelita asked as she, Jeremy and Odd walked through the corridors of Kadic.
Odd snorted. His friend might be a whiz with computers and a mind-blowing DJ, but she was so blind to other people's feelings and emotions that it was almost endearing.
"That's the William double-effect: seeing two of them in the day must have messsed with his head" He explained, earning a laugh from Jeremy and Aelita. "Anyway guys, that's not all I have something cooking" He took out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Elodie? Yeah, it's Odd. Odd della Robbia, you know" Jeremy and Aelita smiled helplessly. You had to hand it to him: he never gave up hope with the girls. "Oh, am I disturbing you again? You know, I love busy girls! What a coincidence, because I'm a bit busy at the moment..."
A shock in his ear caused Odd to drop the cell phone. As he picked it up, he saw reddish electricity coursing through him.
"What the ...?"
With a tremendous gut feeling, Jeremy pulled his phone out of his pocket. The same reddish electricity was also coursing through it, and the XANA symbol glowed on the cell phone screen.
"How did XANA manage to attack so quickly?" He muttered in disbelief. "We need to warn the others"
"I'll take care of it" Said Aelita, taking her own phone out of her backpack, but she was very disappointed to see that her cell phone was also unusable. "It can't be, mine too!"
"We need to go to Lyoko, and fast!"
"Yeah, but we have a problem" Replied Aelita. "We can't return for twelve hours"
"There's Ulrich left, but he's definitely not going alone"
"What's the solution, then?" Asked Odd.
Aelita knew what the solution was, but she doubted her friends would get a kick out of it.
"William"
Odd couldn't believe his ears.
"William?! Are you out of your mind? You know perfectly well, we can't trust that guy!"
Jeremy bit his lip. Although he shared Odd's misgivings, they had no choice.
"I think Aelita's right, we don't have a choice" He muttered, lowering his head.
Ulrich was in the gym, practicing with the punching bag as if it were William, when Aelita burst in.
"XANA launched another attack" Said the girl.
"Do you know that cellphones exist?"
"Not for long, I think. XANA's hacking the whole phone network"
"I guess specters attacks aren't enough for him anymore?" Ulrich mumbled. "What about the others? Do they know?"
Aelita tensed. The look on Ulrich's face when he found out she was planning to send William to Lyoko!
"They went looking for William, so you can both go on Lyoko"
Ulrich's jaw almost unhinged.
"William?! This is absolute madness! No way!"
At Aelita's nervous silence, he ran out of the gym, heading for the park. No way was he going to let William go to Lyoko. In a matter of minutes he was through the sewers and into the factory. He called the elevator and jumped in.
Arriving at the lab, he ran to the Supercomputer. He had never tried to virtualize himself at Lyoko, but desesperate cuts need desesperate measures. Wracking his brains to remember the lessons on how to operate the Supercomputer that Jeremy had given them last year, he activated the delayed virtualization program. The coordinates: 49 degrees West, Mountain Sector.
He went down to the scanner room and stepped into one of the scanners. This time Jeremy wasn't going to announce the steps of the process. He smiled as he felt the familiar tingle run through his body.
Aelita burst into the lab, just in time to see the delayed virtualization countdown reach zero and Ulrich virtualized at Lyoko.
The boy landed on one of the walkways in the Mountains sector. He looked around him. The tower was far away, but not far enough for him to see it perfectly. He broke into a run, ignoring Aelita's protests.
"You're really lame, Ulrich. You're doing exactly what you blamed William for! Going solo!" She exclaimed as Ulrich ran toward the tower. "Only you can still deactivate the tower. If anything happens to you, we can't do anything to stop XANA's attacks! Ulrich, can you hear me? Ulrich! Answer me!"
"So basically, I'm only called when things are going wrong" Snarled William.
They were at Kadic Academy, and Jeremy had filled him in on the situation. Yumi and Odd were embarrassed about having to ask him for help after treating him so coldly, while Selina watched the exchange with a frown.
"William, we don't have time to discuss this" Begged Jeremy. "We really need your help!
"Why should I say yes?" Said coldly.
Selina couldn't believe him. Although they were quite hypocritical to ask for his help when they had previously sent him to hell, she understood that Jeremy, Odd and Yumi were in dire straits. To her, not helping Ulrich was tantamount to being as bad as them.
"William, I understand that you're pretty pissed off with them, but Ulrich is all on his own" She said indignantly. "I also understand that you and Ulrich are always at each other's throats, but I don't think you're so petty that you don't care what might happen to him if he goes to Lyoko alone"
William wanted to glare at her, but when his eyes met Selina's sharp, proud ones, he suddenly softened.
"You're right" He shrugged. "He's not cut out to do it alone anyway"
Jeremy, Odd and William ran into the park. Once Yumi and Selina were alone, the redhead smiled deviously at her.
"And now, Yumi, you're going to explain to me in great detail why you treat William like a jerk!" She hissed.
Ulrich was running through the Mountain sector, heading towards the tower, when a laser shot dangerously close to him stopped him in his tracks. As he pulled out his katanas and looked around, he realized that XANA had sent him the welcoming committee: two Bloks and two Krabs.
In the lab, Aelita turned as she heard the elevator open. It was Jeremy, Odd, Yumi and William. The blond genius made a sprint toward Aelita, and gazed with wide eyes at the screen.
"He's on Lyoko?!"
"I'm sorry" Replied the pinkette. "There was nothing I could do"
William almost burst out laughing at the situation. Indeed, Ulrich, apart from being a jealous jerk, was a top-class hypocrite.
"And you tell me I'm the one playing solo!"
Jeremy clenched his jaw. This was no time for jokes.
"William, go to the scanner! We don't have a second to lose"
William glared at him, but called the elevator. In less than a minute he had been virtualized at Lyoko. Unaccustomed to the landing, he almost fell flat on his face. He looked around and smirked, an idea forming in his mind.
"Jeremy, can you send me the Overbike please?"
"Woah, the Overbike?" Odd exclaimed, understanding the reason for his request. "I think someone's not going to be happy about that"
"Not my problem!" Jeremy replied as he prepared to materialize Ulrich's vehicle for William.
Sitting in a secluded corner of the park, Yumi had filled Selina in on everything that had happened to William. She explained to her the first time William discovered the existence of XANA and that he single-handedly defused a bomb that threatened to blow up the factory, and that some time later they decided to accept him as a Lyoko Warrior. But that on the first mission, even though he had outstanding skills, was too confident, was possessed by XANA and stayed that way for months, being a real nightmare every time they went to Lyoko.
"Now do you understand why we don't trust him at all?" Yumi finished explaining. "He's a good person, but he's too impulsive and a bit arrogant"
Selina bit her lip. She understood Yumi and the group's reasons for distrusting William, but she understood William even more. He had been carried away by his impulsiveness and had paid a very high price, and after that, all he wanted was to be forgiven and given a second chance.
"That's my point. It was his first mission and he got carried away too much by his impulses, but haven't you ever been carried away by your impulses with disastrous consequences?"
Yumi blushed. In fact, her inability to manage her emotions about Ulrich had put her in more than one predicament on Earth and in Lyoko.
"I don't dispute that, but let's see how you convince Ulrich and the rest of the group of that"
Selina shrugged with a smirk.
"Ulrich is just like a jealous child who doesn't want to be robbed of being the center of attention and the girl's attention" She laughed when she saw the look on Yumi's face. "But the rest... I think what you should do is to give William a trial period" She paused, trying to find the words. "With a malevolent AI doing his thing, having in the group a boy who was his liutenant for months and who surely understands the inner workings of XANA's mind might be a good idea"
Yumi pondered Selina's words. The girl was right: with XANA's comeback, accepting William back into the group wasn't such a bad idea. A rustle of footsteps interrupted her musings. Turning around, she saw that it was Nicholas and Herb, Sissi's friends/lackeys.
"What's going on?"
The boys approached without a peep. Yumi was puzzled. There was something very strange about them. Could they be...
Selina didn't hesitate. Without wasting a second she pounced on Nicholas and kicked him in the balls, almost at the same time she punched Herb in the stomach, who fell to his knees, his and Nicholas' silhouette glitching as if they had a bug. They were specters.
Yumi grabbed Selina by the arm and they started running towards the school. Their goal was to head towards the sewers past the boiler room. They ran through the corridors, but stopped dead in their tracks as the specter with Herb's appearance cut them off. Out of pure instinct, Selina pulled her phone out of her pocket, but almost threw it to the floor when it gave her a electric shock.
"XANA has hacked the entire phone network" Whispered Yumi.
Selina shuddered. Without being able to communicate with the rest of the group, they were going to have a tough time. XANA's attacks were identical to a full-blown military attack, using electromagnetic bombs to destroy electronic communications.
Electromagnetic bombs. Electronic communications.
The morning migraine had probably fried her brain, but she let out a laugh. XANA controlled electronic devices using electromagnetic waves. But she could also control electronic devices, and therefore, be able to use electromagnetic waves.
She remembered the explanation Jeremy had given her about specters: that they were energy fields very susceptible to electromagnetic waves. If she could hack any electronic device, why couldn't she control the energy they gave off?
It was a crazy idea. Selina could hack any electronic device, but not by sheer force of will.
However, over the past few months she had learned that nothing was impossible. Her rage had possessed the electrical wiring in her house, with almost lethal consequences. She sensed the specters and could hit them as if they were normal humans.
So why not give it a try? She had nothing to lose.
Before the specter with the appearance of Nicholas could cut them off, Selina grabbed Yumi by the arm and ran into a hallway full of students who were chatting among themselves, because their cell phones were unusable. They ran down the hallway, but the end was a dead end. In a matter of minutes, the specters were going to catch them.
"Have you gone crazy?" Shouted Yumi frightened. "But what are you doing?"
"Give XANA a taste of its own medicine"
She closed her eyes, trying to feel the cell phones around her, and her brain almost exploded from too much information. She could feel every electric current coursing through each cell phone, soaked in XANA's influence. But two could play the same game.
Putting every ounce of willpower into it, Selina commanded the cell phones to act on her orders, to stop being under XANA's control. A burning sensation ran through her entire body, but the girl didn't hesitate. She felt something break inside her, like a dam giving way before a tidal wave of pure energy.
All the phones in the area started ringing at once. Yumi, puzzled, pulled out hers and was stunned to see how now the red flash of XANA's influence had given way to an intense purple glow.
"What the..."
She looked at Selina. Her fists were clenched, jaw tense, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that they were shining like two stars.
"Yumi" Her voice was strangely calm. "When you see the specters walking through the hallway area filled with students, you give me the signal"
"What do you plan to do?"
Selina reached out her hand and ordered all the mobiles she could sense around her to start accumulating electromagnetic energy, more and more powerful. She didn't want to tell Yumi that even if her plan worked, it would most likely fry the entire school's electronic devices.
"Destroy the specters, at least long enough for Ulrich to deactivate the tower"
"Say WHAT!" Yumi thought the girl had gone nuts. But Selina's eyes were as hard as sapphires.
"I know what I'm talking about" A bead of sweat slid down her forehead. She didn't know if she could keep control of the cell phones and make them accumulate electromagnetic energy for much longer. "Remember, when the specters pass through the hallway area filled with students, you give me the signal"
Yumi didn't understand anything, but nodded. Selina kept commanding the mobiles to accumulate electromagnetic energy, but she felt as if every cell in her body was about to explode. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the specters rounded the corner and ran into the hallway. She shared a glance with Yumi who nodded, giving her the signal. It was now or never.
Just as Nicholas and Herb's doppelgangers raced through the hallway filled with students, Selina ordered all the mobiles around her to launch all the electromagnetic energy they had accumulated toward the specters. Exhausted, she fell to her knees, but just before her world melted to black, she could see the spectres' shocked expression, bursting into thousands of greenish light fragments.
Ulrich was fending off the shots of a Krab with his katanas when the unmistakable sound of the Overbike startled him. When he turned around, he could hardly believe his eyes. It was William.
"What are you doing on my bike?"
The dark-haired boy smirked cockily and leaned on the handlebars of the Overbike.
"Nice welcome" He commented wryly. "So? I think you're going to have trouble doing this all alone"
"Oh yeah?"
Ignoring Jeremy's protests, Ulrich did a Supersprint and went underneath a Krab, jumped on it from behind and drove his katanas into its shell. The monster exploded instantly.
In the lab, the elevator doors opened and when Aelita turned around, she saw that it was Yumi and Selina. The latter looked visibly exhausted, as if she had just run a marathon.
"Selina, are you all right? You look awful"
The girl nodded, trying to smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired" She walked a few steps and sat down next to the Holomap. Then she turned to Odd. "By the way, how are things going in Lyoko? Have Ulrich and William buried the hatchet or are they acting like two kindergarteners?"
The latter was what was happening. William, realizing that Ulrich wanted to compete with him to see who could kill the most monsters, gave the Overbike full throttle and launched himself toward the battle line. He jumped out of the vehicle and lunged at a Krabe, slashing it up and down with his sword. Meanwhile, the Overbike had crashed into a block, blowing it up on the spot. William had taken out two monsters in a matter of seconds. Then, he used his Supersmoke and came face to face with Ulrich. The dark-haired boy smirked at him.
"Happy now?"
In the lab, those present didn't understand what the hell Ulrich and William were doing.
"What are they playing?" Muttered Yumi in bewilderment.
Odd shrugged.
"If you ask me, it's who has got the biggest sword..."
Selina, catching the double entendre of the phrase, almost fell to the floor with laughter.
"Is it just me or does that sound really bad?" She said, holding back her laughter.
Odd let out a laugh as he understood what she just said, while Yumi shook her head resignedly. Those two were hopeless. Meanwhile, Jeremy was trying to make peace between Ulrich and William before things end in disaster.
"Guys, concentrate and stop screwing around!"
Jeremy, spare me the mental images, do me a favor! thought Selina, desperate. But that was nothing compared to what could happen if Ulrich and William didn't save their arguments for another time.
Ulrich advanced toward a block and parried the shots with his katanas as if he were giving William combat lessons.
"I'll teach you one day!" He bragged as he looked at William.
Ulrich had made a fatal mistake: never lose sight of the enemy. A shot from a Blok took him by surprise and threw him over the edge of the platform. He tried to get up, but the next shot threw him into the void. Miraculously, he managed to hold on to the edge with one hand. In the lab, everyone started to panic.
"Jeremy!" Aelita shouted in concern. "You have to devirtualize him before he falls into the Digital Sea!"
"Yeah, but then nobody will be able to deactivate the tower!"
Selina nearly strangled Jeremy. They could deactivate the damn tower another time, but the first thing was to get Ulrich out of there.
Using his Supersmoke, William dodged the Blok shots and approached the cliff. Ulrich's hand began to slip. In the lab, everyone held their breath, terrified.
"Jeremy, devirtualize him!" Yelled Yumi frightened.
Just as Ulrich's hand let go, William grabbed him by the arm. The brunette's eyes widened in shock, but he let himself get up, and now safe, he dropped to the ground, trying to recover from the fright. In the lab, everyone smiled in sheer relief. If it weren't for William, Ulrich would have taken a dip in the Digital Sea.
"Thank you" Said once he was on his feet. A few shots took him out of the awkward task of apologizing.
William stopped the lasers with his sword and turned to Ulrich.
"I think you've got a tower to deactivate" He said before using his Supersmoke.
Ulrich smiled and supersprinted toward the tower, who welcomed him as an old friend.
When Ulrich and William returned from Lyoko, they were greeted as heroes by the whole gang. Especially William, who if it hadn't been for him, the whole thing would have ended in tragedy.
"You were really good there, dude!" Odd congratulated him. "Without you, we'd be done for!"
William smiled proudly, exchanging a glance with Yumi. Selina gave him a thumbs up, and the dark-haired boy smiled warmly at her. Ulrich lowered his head, embarrassed.
"I'm really sorry" He whispered. He had screwed up to the bottom. "I... shouldn't have acted like that"
"It wasn't serious, you just completely cracked" Said Odd. "It could happen to anyone" Took out his cell phone and saw that it was finally working. "Yes, it's working again! Now we can get back to business" He announced. Then he went back to his flirt of the week. "Elodie, find a slot in your datebook, Odd is back!"
"Are you ok Jeremy?" Asked Aelita when she saw his worried expression.
"I'm worried. XANA's still weak, but getting stronger every day"
Yumi understood what he meant.
"It's clear he wants to regain control of the network"
"If you want my opinion, I don't think that the six of us would barely be enough to fight against XANA" Jeremy said. Then he turned to William. "How would you like to become a Lyoko Warrior once again?"
William held back a smile, euphoria pouring out of his ears.
"I don't know, I'd have to think about it" he laughed at the look on their faces. "Just kidding, of course I'd like that. I'm glad to be back"
The drive back to the Kadic Academy was filled with laughter and jokes. Now that William had been officially accepted back into the group, a huge dark cloud seemed to have disappeared from the gang dynamic. Yumi smiled fondly at Selina: in the end she was right about giving William a second chance.
"By the way" Said Jeremy interrupting the rampant chatter. "XANA had activated the tower to send two specters to the school. The data indicates they had the appearance of Nicholas and Herb" He turned to Yumi and Selina. "How did you two manage to escape?"
Yumi had no idea what exactly the redhead had done, but tried to explain as best she could.
"Selina made the school's cell phones temporarily under her control, escaping XANA's influence. And then... I don't bloody know, but she had the mobiles destroy the specters"
Jeremy frowned. Yumi's story had no head or tail. How could Selina destroy two specters before Ulrich deactivated the tower? Unless...
"Hey guys, I've been looking all over for you!"
It was Sissi. The girl had had a growth spurt over the summer and had Californian highlights in her once dark hair, but it was her.
"Sissi?" Asked Aelita as she recognized their old enemy, and now friend. "Long time no see! The summer break has done you a lot of good"
"Thank you" She replied, grinning from ear to ear. Then her eyes fell on the unfamiliar red-haired girl. "And you are...?"
"Selina. Selina Levesque."
"Nice to meet you, Selina" Then she returned to the matter that had brought her there. "I was coming to tell you that classes have been suspended for a week"
"And why is that?" Inquired Odd, doing his best not to smile.
"All of the school's electronic devices, specifically those in the classroom building, have broken down. So we're going to have a week's break. Isn't that cool?"
"Of course" Said Odd, unaware that Jeremy had gone chalk white. "Well, happy holidays!"
The girl smiled and left for the cafeteria. Once he was sure no one could hear them, Jeremy turned to Selina, dumbfounded.
"You had the cell phones become electromagnetic guns and then shoot the specters with an EMP?"
"Yeah" She shrugged. "You told me yourself that the specters were very sensitive to electromagnetic waves"
The blond genius looked at her in disbelief. This girl was the real deal. Odd snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Hey, what's an electromagnetic pulse?"
"An electromagnetic pulse is an emission of high intensity electromagnetic energy over a short period of time" He explained. "It's often used to destroy electronic communications, but it's clearly also a very effective weapon against specters" He paused before continuing. "And what Selina did was have all the cell phones in the school shoot an EMP toward the spectres. It's equivalent to dipping a human in sulfuric acid. XANA will not be able to attack the school until the effects of the electromagnetic pulse wear off"
"And how long is that?" Inquired Yumi.
"If what Selina did was an EMP with non-durable effects, XANA isn't going to bother us for a week"
Everyone was quiet, trying to process what Jeremy had said. But Odd's excited cheer broke the silence.
"So, other than destroying two specters, you gave us a week without classes?" He ran to the girl and hugged her almost to the point of breaking her ribs. "Girl, you're officially my hero!"
Everyone burst out laughing. Odd was a lost cause. And on the other hand, things weren't looking bad at all: a week without classes and without XANA attacks. What more could you ask for?