The last rays of the sun slowly slipped behind the familiar contours of Kadic Academy's buildings, painting the sky in a soothing golden hue. Yet, the atmosphere carried a deceptive tranquility, especially in a place where XANA's attacks were no longer exceptions but regular occurrences.
Yumi was sitting alone on a bench in the park, absorbed by the dancing shadows cast on the ground by the setting sun. She tried to convince herself that the day was like any other, but a latent anxiety gnawed at her from within. In recent days, minor but troubling incidents had accumulated around her: a book inexplicably falling off a shelf, a door slamming shut with no breeze in sight...
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her restless mind. You're imagining things. It's probably just a coincidence...she thought, attempting to rationalize her fears. But a part of her knew that something wasn't right.
Suddenly, a slight vibration under her hand startled her. Looking down, she saw a small pebble she had absentmindedly picked up gently floating above her palm. A cold shiver ran down her spine. She let out a small cry of surprise, and the pebble dropped to the ground. Yumi remained frozen, staring at her hand in horror.
"No, this can't be happening…" she murmured, her heart racing. She stood up abruptly, her legs trembling, searching for a logical explanation. Maybe I just... imagined it? But even that thought failed to reassure her.
The school bell suddenly rang, breaking the oppressive silence of the park. Yumi realized she needed to hurry back to class. She shook her head, as if to dispel the troubling thoughts, and headed toward the main building.
As she entered the classroom, she was greeted by Aelita's smile, who waved at her from their usual table.
"Yumi, are you okay? You seem a bit... out of it," Aelita observed with a gentle touch of concern.
Yumi forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just... a bit tired, I guess."
Aelita looked at her with empathy. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"Yeah, I know," Yumi replied, sitting down beside her. "It's just a bad day, nothing more."
The teacher then entered the room, cutting their conversation short. The math lesson began, focused on quadratic equations, but Yumi's mind was elsewhere, caught up in the incident at the park. Her pencil, lying on the table, suddenly started rolling by itself, then stopped abruptly. Yumi, her heart pounding, reached for it, but the touch felt scorching.
"Miss Ishiyama, are you with us?" the teacher inquired, slightly annoyed.
Yumi jumped and withdrew her hand from the pencil. "Yes, sorry, sir…"
The teacher eyed her for a moment, skeptical, then returned to the board. Aelita gave her a worried glance, but Yumi avoided her gaze, too disturbed to talk.
At the back of the class, Odd couldn't resist whispering to Ulrich, "You think she's going to cast a spell on the teacher with her magic pencil?"
Ulrich suppressed a smile, but his attention remained on Yumi. He sensed that something was really wrong.
"Odd, you're incorrigible," Ulrich murmured, a smirk tugging at his lips. "But seriously, she doesn't look too good."
"Maybe she's just stressed. Or maybe she's practicing to become Kadic's next great magician. Watch out, she might turn you into a toad!" Odd joked, nudging Ulrich.
Ulrich shook his head, amused despite himself, but his concern for Yumi only grew. Something was definitely off, and he was determined to find out what.
The end of classes couldn't come soon enough. As the students began to pack up their things, Yumi's phone vibrated. The message from Jeremy was clear: a new attack from XANA. A tower had been activated in the Mountain Sector.
Yumi knew that this attack from XANA couldn't have come at a worse time. But she had no choice: her friends were counting on her.
She turned to Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd, who had also received the call.
The looks on her friends' faces were serious, filled with the usual determination when it came to thwarting a new XANA attack. Aelita, with her brows slightly furrowed, was completely focused on the mission ahead. Ulrich, beside her, was already in combat mode, ready to rush in and protect Aelita while deactivating the tower. As for Odd, his face reflected the excitement and carefree attitude he maintained even in the most perilous situations.
"Are we ready?" Aelita asked, her voice soft but tinged with gravity, her eyes searching for a sign of agreement in those of her teammates.
Yumi took a deep breath, trying to suppress the worry gnawing at her. The image of the levitating pebble still haunted her mind, but she knew she had to stay focused. Her friends were counting on her, as always.
"Of course," she replied, attempting to mask her doubts with a façade of confidence. "Let's go."
Odd, ever relaxed despite the gravity of the situation, couldn't resist cracking one of his typical jokes to lighten the mood.
"Ready for another adventure? I hope this time, XANA's got something a bit more original than his usual Bloks. Like, fire-breathing dragons or giant dinosaurs!" he exclaimed, a mischievous grin on his face.
"Focus, Odd," Ulrich replied, rolling his eyes, though a slight smile betrayed his amusement. "We've got better things to do than face your action movie dreams."
"Come on, admit it, that would be cool," Odd insisted, his grin widening as he imagined increasingly outlandish scenarios.
The group made their way to the factory, their footsteps echoing through the deserted halls of Kadic. Odd continued to joke, trying to ease the tension as he so often did, a way of masking his own anxiety. But despite his efforts, a palpable tension hung in the air, like an invisible mist growing thicker with every step.
Yumi, walking slightly behind, let her thoughts wander. Her fingers absentmindedly brushed against her palm, where the pebble had levitated earlier. That sensation of uncontrollable energy, latent beneath the surface, haunted her. What if she lost control at the worst possible moment? How could she protect her friends if she became the threat herself?
As they arrived at the factory, Yumi's anxiety intensified. The group hurried to the elevator, descending into the depths of the factory until they reached the lab. Jeremy was already there, as always, focused on his screens, his fingers dancing over the keyboard with almost supernatural speed. The lights from the monitors flickered, casting bluish reflections on his tense face.
"The activated tower is near a cliff in the Mountain Sector," Jeremy explained, his voice resonating with calculated calm. He projected the image onto the main screen, revealing a rugged and perilous terrain. "Aelita and Ulrich, you go first. Yumi and Odd, you'll join them afterward."
Yumi nodded silently, but her mind was still clouded. The images of the rocks, the steep slopes, and the violet sky of Lyoko overlapped with that of the levitating pebble, fueling her sense of isolation. It was as if a chasm was opening beneath her feet, ready to swallow her whole.
Jeremy, used to Yumi's quick reactions, immediately noticed her unusual lack of response. "Yumi, are you okay?" he asked, a hint of concern piercing his professional tone.
Yumi made an effort to pull herself together, offering a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Oh, um... yeah. Just... a bit tired," she lied, trying to reassure her friends as much as herself.
Ulrich, who had been watching Yumi with discreet attention, stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Yumi. Once we deactivate this tower, we can all rest," he said, his voice full of the quiet confidence that defined him.
Odd, always on the lookout for a chance to lighten the mood, added with a grin, "And who knows, maybe we'll have time to stop for a virtual pizza!"
Aelita couldn't help but smile, even though she never fully understood Odd's humor. "Odd, I don't think we can eat on Lyoko," she gently pointed out, her smile turning into a light laugh.
"That's because we've never tried!" Odd shot back, winking playfully at his friends. "After all we do to save the world, we deserve a little reward, don't you think?"
Jeremy, though focused on his screens, couldn't suppress a smirk. "Focus on the mission, Odd. We'll talk about food later," he said, amused by his friend's eternal lightheartedness, a lightheartedness that always managed to ease even the tensest moments.
Finally, they all positioned themselves on the virtualization platform. Yumi felt a shiver run down her spine as Jeremy began the procedure. The familiar words echoed in the air, carrying a growing tension.
"Virtualization!"
The next moment, Yumi materialized on Lyoko, landing gracefully on the rocky terrain of the Mountain Sector. The landscape, though familiar, seemed strangely hostile that day. The jagged rocks and steep cliffs that characterized this zone appeared more menacing, as if the virtual world itself was mirroring her inner turmoil.
Ulrich and Aelita were already engaged in a fierce battle against several Bloks, their luminous shots creating a deadly dance in the still air of Lyoko. Shaken from her unease by the immediate need to fight, Yumi drew her fans with determination.
"Yumi, cover Aelita while she deactivates the tower!" Ulrich ordered, his sword slicing through the air with precision to take down an approaching Blok.
Yumi nodded and charged into the battle. Her movements were almost mechanically precise, each strike calculated for maximum efficiency. But she could feel that strange energy within her, a force growing with every move, every action, threatening to explode out of her control.
The Bloks were numerous and fierce, but Yumi fought them with a new intensity, fueled by this unknown energy. Each time she threw a fan, she felt a surge of power, an electrifying current coursing through her veins. Her fans flew through the air like flashes of lightning, taking down enemies with an almost unsettling ease.
"Yumi, watch out!" Aelita suddenly cried out, her voice tinged with panic.
Yumi turned just in time to see a Blok firing directly at her, the laser beam glowing with deadly light. But instead of simply dodging, Yumi instinctively raised her hand, and before she could comprehend what was happening, the shot froze in mid-air. Time seemed to stop: the entire universe reduced to that single frozen moment where the impossible became reality.
Under the stunned gazes of her friends, the laser beam suddenly fragmented into countless glowing particles, dissolving into soft, shimmering light before disappearing completely. The silence that followed was almost palpable, as everyone tried to grasp what had just occurred.
Yumi remained frozen, her heart pounding.What did I just do?Her eyes were locked on her hand, unable to comprehend how she had stopped that shot. It was as if another force within her had taken control, a force she hadn't known existed until this moment.
Aelita, wide-eyed, tried to make sense of it. "Yumi… how… how did you do that?" Her voice trembled slightly, betraying her disbelief and concern.
"I… I don't know," Yumi murmured, her voice barely audible, as if she feared confronting the reality of what she had just done. It had happened on its own, an instinctive reaction, but where had that power come from?
Odd, true to himself, attempted to lighten the mood, though his tone carried a hint of worry. "Wow, Yumi! If you could do that with the cafeteria food, you'd be our hero of the day!"
Ulrich shot Odd a disapproving look before turning to Yumi, his seriousness quickly returning. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
Yumi nodded, but the trouble in her eyes was evident. "I… I'm fine. But I don't understand what just happened."
"We'll talk about it later," Aelita interjected, her voice regaining its firmness. "We need to deactivate the tower first. XANA won't wait for us to be ready."
Yumi nodded, trying to steady herself. She had to focus on the mission, but the fear of what she might be becoming continued to haunt her.
The tower had been deactivated, and the group had once again managed to escape XANA's clutches. But what had happened on Lyoko, the sudden and inexplicable manifestation of Yumi's powers, left a heavy shadow hanging over them.
Back in the real world, the team regrouped in the control room, still shaken by what they had just experienced. The dim light from the screens illuminated their faces, revealing the worry etched into their features. A heavy silence reigned, each of them trying to understand what had just occurred.
Odd, true to his role as the silence breaker, suddenly burst out, "Hey, what was that thing you did, Yumi? That was insane! Do you have superpowers now?" His tone was meant to be light, but the concern was palpable in his eyes.
Yumi, still troubled by the experience, shook her head in denial. "I… I don't know. It's like… it just triggered on its own." Her voice was weak, almost trembling, as she tried to put into words the inexplicable. She still didn't understand what had happened, and that ignorance terrified her.
Ulrich, his face marked by sincere concern, approached her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, trying to offer some reassurance. "Yumi, if something's wrong, you can talk to us." His voice was gentle, but there was an underlying urgency, a call for truth that he felt was necessary for everyone's safety.
Yumi turned to him, but her usually confident gaze avoided his. "I'm fine. It was just… a reflex," she replied, but even she felt that her words lacked conviction.
"A reflex that stops a Blok's shot in mid-air? That's some reflex!" Odd exclaimed, trying to bring some lightness to the conversation, but his words fell flat.
Jeremy, who had been observing in silence until now, finally intervened, his voice grave, contrasting with Odd's usual enthusiasm. "This isn't funny, Odd," he replied, his tone conveying his concern. "Yumi, we need to understand what's happening. We can't afford to take risks with XANA constantly after us." He didn't want to scare Yumi, but the situation demanded answers. XANA was a constant threat, and any anomaly, even within their own group, had to be taken seriously.
Yumi felt a growing pressure in her chest, a tension that threatened to overwhelm her. They were right, of course, but how could she explain something she didn't even understand herself? How could she share her fears when she felt so lost in this whirlwind of uncertainties?
"I'm telling you, I'm fine… really," she insisted, her gaze drifting away from Jeremy's, trying to appear convincing despite the panic she felt inside. "It was probably just a stroke of luck." But as she spoke these words, she knew she was lying to herself as much as to them.
Jeremy frowned, clearly skeptical, but chose not to press the issue for now. "Alright. But if it happens again, you have to tell me. There's probably an explanation. Who knows, maybe XANA's behind this." His tone was firm but filled with the kindness that was characteristic of him. He understood that Yumi needed time to process what had happened, but he was determined not to leave this situation unresolved.
"Promise," Yumi murmured, though deep down she knew it was a lie. She wasn't ready to face this reality yet, nor to share her fears with her friends. Not until she knew exactly what was happening to her.
The group began to disperse, each returning to their own activities, but Yumi lingered behind, her eyes fixed on the computer. The flickering lights of the screens seemed to dance before her, but she paid them little attention. A deep sense of unease was creeping into her, like a growing shadow threatening to engulf her.
She didn't want to worry her friends, didn't want to become another source of anxiety in their relentless fight against XANA. But she couldn't deny the obvious: something inside her was changing. And worse yet, she had no control over it.
Odd, who had noticed her unusual silence and the worried look she wore, turned back one last time before leaving the room. "Hey, Yumi, if you ever want to talk, or even just laugh a little, you know where to find me. And just so you know, I've got a new stash of jokes ready!" he said with a smile meant to be reassuring.
Yumi looked up and offered him a weak smile, lacking real conviction. "Thanks, Odd. I'll remember that." But her mind was already elsewhere, swept away by her troubling thoughts.
She left the factory in silence, her footsteps echoing in the metallic corridor. Outside, night had fallen, wrapping Kadic in a cloak of darkness. The cold wind bit at her skin, briefly pulling her back to reality. She buried her hands in her pockets, trying to shake off the growing worry inside her, but it was like trying to grasp smoke.
As she headed towards the dormitory, a dark thought crossed her mind, one she couldn't ignore:What if I become a danger to the others? What if XANA finds a way to control me through these powers?The idea that she could become a threat to her friends, the very people she was desperately trying to protect, chilled her to the bone.
Doubt assailed her, gripping her heart with an icy hand. Yumi clenched her teeth, determined not to give in to panic. She couldn't afford to be a weakness for her friends. They were counting on her. But for the first time since she had joined this fight against XANA, she felt a fear she had never known before. A fear of what she might become.
