Chapter 5 of old ver.
"Hey Jeremy, you okay?" William asks walking over to Jeremie after getting a cup of water.
Said person was sitting against the arches cross-legged.
Jeremy was on the laptop seemingly typing away. William guessed the others might've gone back to their dorms as the sky slowly turned a deep bright orange. While Yumi obviously went home earlier after classes finished.
William walks over to Jeremie who doesn't respond to his arrival.
"Yo Jeremie… how're you doing?"
Still no response. William sighs, resting his back against the opposite pillar while facing Jeremie then places his left foot against the pillar.
"Its about what she said yesterday... right?..."
Jeremie stops whatever he was doing and peers up at him.
"Yeah... well... I guess..." he replies "I mean... XANA's making a new monster, it could be programming this one to be... to be... something that could seriously overpower us, we should prepare for this shouldn't we?..." he was lost for words about what to say next.
"Jeremie why are you worrying" he says raising a brow "XANA might be making a new monster but it's not something we can't face I mean we alw-"
"How would you know!?" Jeremie yells at him gripping the sides of his laptop harder then usual "Its not like you faced a new monster that took you a while to destroy. When you became part of our group you got caught on your first journey because you were acting reckless, acting like you can take it out easily but no, since you couldn't listen to us you got caught. Not to mention getting caught a second time because you and Laura went without any of our permission!"
A second of silence falls between the two before William had the courage to speak again.
"But... unlike my first trip... I actually tried to escape if it weren't for Laura who was hardly helping at all" he states, calmly keeping his tone soft "And well...I was kinda dumb for not using my supersmoke back there; you guys still had my back" he grins rubbing the back with a nervous smile.
Jeremy looks back down at his laptop slightly regretting his outburst.
"Well... we better get back, it looks like it might get dark" he causally states looking over at the school building.
Jeremie nods silently closing his laptop. He takes William's hand while holding the laptop under his arm.
"Anyways... what're you planning to do about it anyways?" William asks, about the new monster issue, as he and Jeremy walk towards the dormitories.
"Well... I thought about it for a while and... I decided to remake the Cortex..."
William looks at him with wide eyes. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, pretty much" Jeremy replies with a serious face "Me and Aelita done stuff like this before, we just finished recreating the Forest and Ice sector and we may be able to do it again, the Cortex almost has the same functions and layout as Sector 5 so it won't take us long as before"
"But wouldn't XANA-"he questions as they enter the building.
"But wouldn't XANA escape from the cortex? Is what you're saying, right?" Jeremy looks at him as they walk "But it already had a chance to save itself, remember? Last week? Which is why we need the Cortex to find information concerning XANA as well as a way to destroy it once and for all"
William just shrugs as they continue to walk together until they arrive at the boys' floor. They go their separate ways.
...
"They still haven't come down for lunch?"
"Yeah... they're still working on what they told us earlier today"
"I wish they would take a break once in a while"
"Well... when a sentient AI threatens to take over the world you can't just rest"
"Odd I'm serious"
"Okay... sorry Ulrich but you can't deny can you? Jeremie works harder than any of us to stop XANA; it's not like any one else in this school can programme a computer like him or have the will to keep it on just for a girl"
He rolls his eyes spearing a potato and breaking it.
"Whatever... I just hope the two are fine"
*A few hours earlier*
During 10:00 in the morning Jeremie and the others (minus William and Yumi) were outside the cafeteria. Aelita told the others that they were going to the factory to start working on the cortex. The others looked surprised.
"Really? Well... I better tell William-" Ulrich started to reach for his phone when Jeremie told him he didn't need to.
"We already talked yesterday, when I was working on my laptop underneath the arches, so he knows" Jeremie informed them holding the laptop under his arm.
"OK then see you" he waved as the two left for the gym.
The two decide to go off to the rec room and call William once they got there.
...
Both Jeremie and Aelita continue to work on the Cortex after arriving at the factory as well as getting more information on this new XANA monster. Aelita currently being on Lyoko doing the latter. Jeremie was multitasking: trying to keep an eye on Aelita and do the former task. Just as he was calculating the area of the cortex a XANA alert pops up on screen.
"Just what we needed" he groans.
"Is something wrong Jeremie?" she asks now in the celestial dome approaching the interface
"XANA's attacking, I better call the others" he tells her now calling them on the supercomputer putting his project on hold.
Aelita pauses and then steps away from the interface.
"Jeremie, I think I should go help them"
Jeremie (after telling Odd to come) was about to say something back but in the end agrees.
"Yeah you're right, it's best you don't stay alone"
Several minutes later Odd and Ulrich arrive in the scanner room.
"We're here Einstein" Odd informs him as he and Ulrich stand in front of two individual scanners "You can virtualise us"
"Where is Yumi and William?" Ulrich questions as he and Odd step into the scanner
"Yumi's coming; as for William he hasn't responded" he replies wondering what might've happened.
As the two are virtualised into the mountain sector. Jeremie opens a tunnel for Aelita who was still in the celestial dome currently fighting off a hoard of mantas while flying around dodging them.
"Aelita the tunnel has been opened it should be nearby"
"Finally, thanks Jeremie"
Just as Aelita went through the tunnel he told her to help Odd and Ulrich. A minute later the elevator doors opened.
"Sorry I took so long my parents wouldn't let us leave, I had to leave after the two went out shopping"
"Well you better go help the others quick"
She nods as the doors close leading her down to the scanner room.
Everyone was in paranoia mode, worried that XANA might bring this new monster out of the blue when they're at their most vulnerable so while fighting they keep their wits about them. He scans Yumi into Lyoko just as a tarantula devirtualises Odd. Yumi makes it to the scene and destroys the tarantula with her fans.
As the others try to defeat the remaining three megatanks Odd climbs back up to the computer room to see Jeremy trying to call William again.
"Chill out Jeremie, the others will take care of it, they only got the megatanks left"
"Yeah, I know" he said "What worries me is that XANA might have intervened thus why he is unable to pick up-"
"Well if you're concerned I'll go find him" Odd reassures him before walking towards the elevator.
After climbing up the ladder into the forest he dashes towards the school dormitories.
"He might be in his room. I need to check" he says worried as he approaches the building.
...
William was currently in the school building evading a spectre that appeared when he was approaching the forest. He remembers seeing Ulrich and Odd run towards the forest earlier as he leaned against the door to catch his breath. The spectre - in the form of Yumi - continued to follow him and with no choice he retreated inside. As he ran down the hallway he saw the real Yumi running towards the forest.
"Well I hope the others are able to deactivate it quickly" he panted as he stopped to look back. The spectre was still walking towards him.
"Damn. If only I didn't leave my phone in my room"
...
"Oh great he's not here" groaned Odd as he arrived at his room, as he left he spotted his phone and quickly grabbed it. After he left William's room he called Jeremy.
"Is William with you?" he asked
"Nope" he replied "He must have been chased out of his room, I'll go find him. Also what about the others?"
"Erm, Yumi got devirtulised and Ulrich and Aelita are left to destroy the two remaining megtan- wait no one left, oh no Ulrich got divirtualised"
Seeing Jeremy was busy Odd carried on walking and left the building.
"Come on Will, where are you?"
...
William had no choice but to run upstairs and evade the spectre. Thankfully, there were no students in school, only a few teachers on their classes marking classwork; as he ran round a corner he found himself at a dead end.
"Dammit"
He turned around to see the Yumi spectre just arriving round the corner as well now smiling. He didn't know what to do as it stopped a short distance away from him.
"Should I?..." he thought to himself
He decided to risk it. He quickly ran round but the spectre was quicker. It grabbed his arm before he had the chance to get away. It told him it had something to say to him and it didn't have enough time as Aelita was going to deactivate the tower. He looked hesitant for a second but sighed.
"Okay... what is it?"
...
Odd walked up the stairs of the school building and called Jeremie again. He told him that Aelita was able to deactivate the tower in time.
"Hmm probably should-"
He was stopped as William crashed into him.
"Will?" said Odd surprised "Are you OK"
"Yes, and don't call me that"
"What about-"
"Don't worry XANA left"
Odd just shrugged in reply. "Okay then..."
The two walked out together back to the factory. As they did William thought back to what XANA asked of him. He didn't know why he didn't want to tell the others but wanted to check something out once they finished remaking the Cortex. He needed to know if XANA was going to lead them into a trap.
...
"William are you OK?" piped Aelita as they arrived in the computer room.
"Of course he is" grinned Odd.
"Yeah... he's right" agreed William smiling slightly "Like I'll let anything get to me"
"Well... we managed to deactivate the tower in time" said Jeremie pushing his glasses up "I had a hard time trying to help as XANA was also trying to corrupt my cortex files at the same time but I managed to back them up"
"We should go back now" said Yumi.
"I'll stay here" Jeremy told then still sitting. "I need to carry on rebuilding the Cortex"
Aelita was about to argue when Ulrich intervened.
"There's no point Aelita" he told her.
She sighed and followed the others but as they entered the lift she suddenly changed her mind and decided to stay with him.
"I'll help you as well and don't stop me Jeremie there is no point"
Everyone decided they might as well leave them. As they walked over the bridge William stared on the ground still thinking about earlier.
Jeremie and Aelita watched the other Lyoko warriors leave before turning around again.
"Err before we start... I'd like to say... thanks... for staying with me you know..."
"No problem" she smiles "I can't leave you working on all this by yourself"
He smiles back as he swivels his chair round to face the computer.
"Okay, lets continue"
F and S