102: Turning Point

“Wheeee!”

Like a maniac, Odd flew toward the army of Kankrelats surrounding the tower, in a handstand on his Overboard.

“Odd, you’re going to get yourself killed!” Aelita called out to him, flying in the air behind the Overboard, the Overbike and the Overwing.

“What difference would that make?” Ulrich said, rolling his eyes. “He’s going to die someday thanks to some daredevil stunt; why not sooner?” Far below them, the Mountain Sector’s Digital Sea glowed a light bluish color.

“You’re supposed to be killing the Kankrelats, not yourself!” Yumi called out from behind them.

Odd flipped so that he was right side up once again. “Okay, okay,” he said crossly. “You guys never have any fun!” He circled the tower and caught the attention of the thirty-or-so Kankrelats that started firing shots at him.

The Overbike landed on the path leading to the tower. Yumi and William on the Overwing hovered down to sit in front of him. William jumped off of the Overwing.

Yumi turned to Ulrich, William, and Aelita who flew in and hovered a meter off of the ground. “Ulrich and William,” Yumi ordered, “go and help Odd get the Kankrelats’ attention, and try to clear a path to the tower. Aelita and I will follow you in a minute.”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” Ulrich and William called, saluting her. Ulrich drove off on the Overbike, and William followed him toward the army of Kankrelats, wielding his large sword.

Ulrich turned the Overbike on its side, still going toward the Kankrelats. He jumped off of it at the last minute. The Overbike cleared a path to the tower, destroying the Kankrelats in its path and exploding as it collided into the tower.

“Thanks, Ulrich!” Aelita called as she flew through the open path into the tower.

William, trying to block shots from the Kankrelats, stumbled backward and fell to the ground from the force as five of them fired at him at once. He lost grip on his sword as it flew out of his hand. He watched it tumble to the edge of the plateau just a few meters away from him. It teetered precariously on the edge, about to fall into the Digital Sea.

William quickly got back on his feet, but just as he started to run toward his sword a Kankrelat fired at him. He fell to the ground again, facedown. He turned his head up to see a Kankrelat fire at his sword, just centimeters out of his grip, and watched it fall off the edge of the plateau.

“William!” shouted Yumi. Halfway to help Ulrich, she changed directions and headed toward William. She threw a fan that bounced off of a rock and swiped all five of the Kankrelats advancing on him.

“Wow!” Odd called as the tower behind them turned back to blue. “That was some show, guys! That’s the best fight I’ve seen since Ulrich destroyed those two Megatanks in one shot a while back.”

Ulrich, still fighting the remainder of the Kankrelats, destroyed the last few, to find that the others’ attention was on William. He sighed. What was the use of using his fighting skills if they would be wasted to have everyone’s attention directed at William?

“Great job, you guys,” congratulated the voice from the sky. Jeremie entered the necessary codes. “I’m bringing you guys in.”

“Thanks for saving me back there, Yumi,” William said, smiling at Yumi as the six of them crossed the river back toward the city via the bridge.

Yumi turned, seeming like she hadn’t expected the praise, but smiled. “You’re welcome,” she replied. “Anything for a friend.”

A muscle in Ulrich’s jaw twitched. There were a bit too many feelings between Yumi and William.

---

“Morning, sleepyheads,” Yumi greeted Ulrich and Odd when they sat down for breakfast. “Sleep well last night?”

“Not really,” Ulrich commented, although not really paying attention, distracted by his mood. “Someone here had to play Galactic Invaders 4 throughout the whole night.”

“Hey, it wasn’t the whole night,” Odd protested. “I didn’t want a relapse of what happened last time I stayed up playing a video game and overslept, so I only stayed up till 2.”

The others laughed, but Ulrich didn’t join in. He merely blinked in recognition of the humor.

“Are you okay, Ulrich?” Aelita asked, noticing Ulrich’s mood.

All five heads at the table turned to Ulrich. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he mumbled, his expression contradicting his words, but only to those who noticed it. “I’m just bugged by something.”

“That ‘something’ doesn’t happen to be my feet again, does it?” Odd questioned. “Because I’ve had enough complaining about my feet, thank you very much.”

“They are stinky,” Jeremie said, rolling his eyes. “Would you rather that I asked all the girls in the grade?”

Odd was silenced, and resolved to spooning hot oatmeal in his mouth.

“Anyway,” Jeremie said, moving the conversation along, “Aelita and I have some work to do at the Factory this afternoon.”

“What for?” Yumi asked.

“Work on the Skidbladnir,” Aelita replied. “We just have to check some of its structure.”

“But why?”

“We have to make sure that the it’s stable enough,” Jeremie said. “Do you remember last time, when the first Skidbladnir was destroyed?”

“How could we forget that?” asked Ulrich, a bit edgy.

“Well, now that I look back on it, it could have been prevented,” Jeremie said, sighing. “When the Kolossus hit it and it skidded across the plateau, its core shield went down. That means that it was able to be subjected to the Network’s data scattering.”

“Say what?” Odd said, confused.

“The whole point of creating the Skidbladnir was so that you would be safe in the Network,” Jeremie said. “The Network scatters data. The Skidbladnir was made to be immune to that, but it wore down when it was hit by the Kolossus and slid across the plateau. The only exception to the Network’s data scattering is Xana, and Franz Hopper had the power to overcome it as well. Both had immunity to the Network’s data scattering, and both could also recompile scattered data. That’s how Franz Hopper was able to bring Aelita back that time. We, unfortunately, cannot recompile data, at least not until we find a way to.”

“I did some calculating,” Aelita said, continuing from where Jeremie left off, “and the Skidbladnir’s core shield may wear down overtime. So Jeremie and I are going to try to fix that, so that our next mission to the Network won’t be our last.”

---

The bell rang.

Ulrich sighed. “Well, looks like break’s over, guys,” he said. The others groaned and picked up their stuff, heading away from their courtyard bench back into the academic buildings.

“Ulrich?” Yumi turned to him before he walked away. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Ulrich inwardly sighed. “I guess. What is it?” he asked in an inexpressive tone.

“You just seem…” Yumi tried to search for the right word. “Apathetic. I mean, more than usual. Is there something bothering you?”

A nail seemed to pierce Ulrich’s muscle. He debated whether to bring it up to Yumi or not. “Well…yeah. There is,” Ulrich replied, looking down at his feet. “Do you remember when Jeremie shut down the supercomputer for good?”

“Yeah, of course. How could I forget something that major?” Yumi said, raising an eyebrow.

“And…” Ulrich held his breath, praying to himself that he would find the right words. “When…when we met here in the courtyard before the Return to the Past was launched? In fact, at this very bench?”

Yumi, caught off guard, blinked. She hadn’t expected this; she had assumed it would have been that Ulrich was just mad at Odd for some stupid reason or something. “Yes, I do,” she replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well…” Ulrich sighed. “What did you mean when you said it? You know…’”

Yumi flushed, not meeting Ulrich’s gaze. “I really don’t know,” she said, studying her shoelace in intricate detail. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because I just feel…” Ulrich was struggling to even get the words out of his mouth. “I just feel that we’ve drifted apart since then.”

“How so?”

“You know…with William.”

Yumi sighed. By now, the courtyard was empty; it was only a few minutes before the next class started. “It’s just…” She was trying, with immense difficulty, not to make an excuse, much less a lame one. “Why do you want to know this?” Not able to find the right words, she tried to change the subject.

A chill ran through Ulrich’s bloodstream. “Fine. I get it,” he said coldly, picking up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. “If you can’t answer the question, fine. If you don’t want us to be together, just say so. I can take a hint.”

He turned and started to walk away, not glancing back.

A hand caught his shoulder. “Ulrich, wait,” Yumi said, looking down at the ground, not able to meet his eye level. “I’m sorry that things have been rough lately, and it’s my fault. But can you forgive me?”

Ulrich turned back around. “And what?” Ulrich said. He felt his eyes watering; he hated making confrontations, but months of the same old thing, the same old situations, had worn down his patience. A single tear rolled down his cheek. “Have to wait another month or so before there’s any progress?”

He noticed that Yumi was shaking slightly. Regretting his outburst, his expression slackened. “I didn’t mean to say that,” he said, immediately regretting his actions. “It’s…just…”

“No,” Yumi said, wiping her face with her sleeve. “You had a right to say that. It’s my fault, and I can’t take back what’s been done in the past.”

“It’s not your fault,” murmured Ulrich, shamefaced. He was again struggling to find the right words. “It…it’s not your fault that we make mistakes. Things just happen.”

“Then I hope this will prove that,” Yumi said. In one move, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Ulrich. Her eyes closed. Their lips met.

Ulrich, caught completely off guard, didn’t know what to do. Should he pull away; was this too far to go, too soon? But he closed his eyes and kissed back. He didn’t have any objections.

William was walking along the arches, looking for Yumi. “Yumi?” he called. “Class is about to start, and Mr. Fumet-”

He suddenly caught sight of the two teenagers wrapped in each other’s arms.

The pencil in his hand dropped to the ground.

His expression hardened with dark creases; he felt his blood turn to ice. Emotions hurtled at him out of nowhere: jealously, hate, rage, sadness…he couldn’t decide which emotion to feel.

He needed to be alone. Away from the people that had betrayed him, away from the people he rivaled, away from everyone. He turned and ran back the way he had came, suppressing a sob and wiping his now-wet face with his sleeve. He didn’t look back.

Ulrich and Yumi broke apart. Both rather red in the face, Ulrich glanced at his watch and jumped. “We’re going to be late for class,” he said, turning to Yumi who was picking up the rest of her books and putting them in her bag.

“Tell…tell the others I said hi,” Yumi said, talking just to try and keep the awkward silence away. Ulrich mumbled goodbye, and ran off toward the Science building.

Yumi rushed into the history classroom. Mr. Fumet, who was just about to start his lecture, broke off and looked at Yumi with the rest of the class. “Why hello, Yumi,” he said, frowning. “So nice of you to join us.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Fumet,” Yumi said, apologizing. Suddenly, glancing around the room, she noticed something. One dark head of hair was missing in the room. Where was William?

“Do you happen to know where your friend Mr. Dunbar ran off to?” Mr. Fumet said crossly. “He ran out of the room a minute ago, saying that he was going to go and get you so that you wouldn’t be late.”

“I…didn’t see him…” Yumi said. A thought came to her mind that made her blood run cold.

“Yes, I assume he didn’t do what he said he would,” Mr. Fumet replied, peering at Yumi through his round-rimmed glasses. “Because you were still late. Anyway, getting back to today’s lesson…”

---

The wind blew through the streets of the nearby town. Many people were indoors because of the cold weather. Clouds could be seen outlining the sky in the distance.

A boy in a brown jacket was running across a bridge that crossed a dark river and entered an abandoned factory.

Tears still decorating his face, William jumped off the platform and clung on to the rope as he jumped to ground floor. He ran into the elevator, and pressed the red button.

As the elevator door closed, he considered what he was doing. Was he doing the right thing? What would the consequences be?

He wiped his face again with his sleeve, sniffing. He pondered the thought. He didn’t think that there could be a lot of bad things that could happen.

The elevator door opened. He walked into the lab and sat down in the chair Jeremie so often occupied. He closed his eyes, thinking, and then opened them once more and started typing in the code. His photographic memory had served him well in many cases.

A window with the name “Big Fat Cheesehead” appeared on the screen, displaying a countdown window. He rushed back into the elevator and took it a floor down.

The hum of the scanners slowly started. He stepped into one of them. The door closed.

He sighed, thinking about his planned actions. There was no going back. He didn’t care what everyone else thought. If they didn’t want him in the group or in their lives, there was no use staying. He knew a certain artificial entity that would welcome him back graciously.

---

Yumi caught up to the others as they entered the cafeteria. “Hey,” she said to them. “Have you guys seen William?”

“No,” Ulrich said, raising his eyebrows. “Why?”

“He wasn’t in History class,” Yumi said to them. Lowering her voice, she leaned toward Ulrich. “You don’t think he saw us…you know, do you?”

Ulrich’s eyes widened. “I sure hope not…” he said, his voice trailing off in worry. “Because if he did…”

“Saw what?” asked Odd as they got in line to get their food.

Ulrich and Yumi exchanged a quick glance before saying at the same time, “Nothing.”

“Oh, come on,” Odd said, prying. “You can’t pull that one again. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Ulrich said, although the color of his cheeks gave it away.

“Uh…” Yumi wildly tried to invent something. “We have to go and…study Roman history. Bye!” She and Ulrich rushed away.

Odd curiously raised an eyebrow as they ran out the door. “What’s up with them?”

“I have a general idea,” Aelita said, smiling slightly.

“Huh?” Jeremie said, turning to her. “How do you know?”

“Female intuition,” Aelita replied, smiling and nodding to Rosa, who spooned mashed potatoes onto her plate. “But if they don’t want you guys to know, I can’t tell you.”

“Oh, come on!” Odd said, sighing exasperatedly. “If you have the ability to find things out, you’re required to tell us! At least me, that is.”

“Which rule book is that in?” Aelita questioned.

“The rule book of…female abilities!” Odd said.

Aelita sighed, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly, Jeremie’s laptop started to beep. Walking over to the nearest table and opening hit, he frowned. “That’s strange…” he said, frowning.

“What?” Odd said. “Did Odd the Magnificent score higher than Ulrich in the stats on our last mission? Because that shouldn’t be a surprise.”

“No, it’s not that,” Jeremie replied. “I’ve got activity in the supercomputer.”

“You didn’t activate any updates or programs, did you?” Aelita asked.

“No,” Jeremie said. “And what’s even stranger is that apparently someone just activated a virtualization countdown.”

Aelita frowned, contemplating the possibilities. “It’s not any of us three,” she said, thinking out loud. “And there’s no way Ulrich or Yumi could have gotten to the Factory in a minute. Is there an activated tower?”

Jeremie quickly opened the Super Scan. “Nope.”

“William’s out of the question, because he doesn’t know how to operate the supercomputer,” Aelita said, counting off on her fingers. “So who could it be?”

“Wait,” Odd said skeptically. “Don’t be too sure of that. William could have learned how to virtualize someone just by looking over Jeremie’s shoulder.”

“What?” Jeremie said. “He can’t have a memory that good, can he?”

“Well…” Odd said, frowning in thought. “Remember that time our friend Xana almost set off a bomb in the Factory? Well, he was the one that deactivated the detonator, and that was only from watching his uncle at a construction site. Once.”

Jeremie’s eyes widened. “But why would he want to virtualize himself?” he asked.

“Maybe…if he saw something to make him angry,” Aelita said. A thought came to her mind; a chill ran through her body with the realization. “Oh no…”

“What is it, Princess?” Odd asked. But Aelita was already walking out the door at a fast trot.

“Aelita!” Jeremie called. Exchanging a puzzled glance with Odd, they both ran after her.

Jeremie and Odd caught up to her, and Aelita started to run. “What’s going on?” Odd said, his voice bouncing with their running.

“We have to call Ulrich and Yumi right away,” Aelita said, taking out her cell phone and dialing a number. “Yumi?”

Yumi, who was walking with Ulrich in the park, took out her cell phone. Glancing at the number, she frowned. “Yeah, Aelita?”

“We need you and Ulrich at the Factory right now,” Aelita said, her voice rushed. “Jeremie just got a notification that someone just virtualized himself or herself, and we think it may be William.”

“What?” Yumi said, taken aback. “But why would he do that?”

“I don’t know,” Aelita replied, “but if there’s someone on Lyoko, we need to be there right now.”

“Okay,” Yumi said. She motioned to Ulrich, and they started to run toward the manhole cover. “I’ll call William’s mobile just to make sure.” She hung up, and quickly punched in a number. She put her mobile back to her ear.

“What’s going on?” Ulrich asked, a worried expression on his face.

“We have to get to the Factory right now,” Yumi said. “Someone just virtualized himself or herself to Lyoko, and it may have been William.”

“What?” Ulrich gasped.

“Come on, William, pick up…” Yumi sighed, stowing her mobile back in her pocket as she got his voice mail. “William’s not answering.”

“You don’t think he would have virtualized himself, do you?” Ulrich asked.

“I don’t know,” Yumi said, as they lifted the manhole cover off of its place, stepped into the sewers and replaced the cover over their heads. “But if he did, I don’t know why he would want to. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Ulrich said, as they jumped onto their skateboards and started toward the Factory.

“Unless he’s virtualizing himself to try to go back to Xana.” Yumi wasn’t sure, but she wanted to put the thought out there.

“But that’s crazy!” Ulrich blurted out. “Why would he want to?”

“Well…” Yumi replied, having a shrewd idea. “If he saw us…well, you know, kissing…he may have been angry enough to be driven solely by his emotions and not common sense.”

“Let’s just hope it isn’t true,” Ulrich said grimly. “But…I don’t regret what we did.”

“Neither do I,” Yumi replied, turning back and sharing a small smile with Ulrich.

---

Ulrich and Yumi ran into the lab. Yumi sat down and started to type. “Okay…let’s see. Wait, how do we locate William?”

“Search me,” Ulrich said. “We’d better call Jeremie; I don’t want to break the supercomputer by accident.”

Yumi took out her cell phone and dialed Jeremie’s number. “Jeremie?”

“Yeah, Yumi?” a rushed voice answered.

“We’re here in the lab,” Yumi told him. “We have to find William, or whoever it is that virtualized himself or herself. How do we locate the person?”

“Can you wait for about a minute?” Jeremie replied. “We’re close to the Factory.”

“How close?”

The elevator door opened again. Yumi and Ulrich turned to see Jeremie, Aelita and Odd emerge.

“This close enough?” Odd said, grinning.

“Always the joker, huh,” Ulrich said, rolling his eyes.

Jeremie sat down at the controls and immediately started typing. “Okay…let’s see.”

A radar window opened, showing a green dot surrounded by what looked like floating mountains.

“It is William,” Jeremie said. “He’s in the Mountain Sector.”

“Can you just materialize him?” Ulrich asked. “Because he shouldn’t have any reason for being there.”

Jeremie’s brow furrowed. “I…I can’t materialize him! I don’t know why.”

“Well, then it looks like we’ll have to bring him back the old fashioned way,” Aelita said grimly. “Or at least find out why he’s there. Let’s go.”

Ulrich, Yumi and Odd followed her back into the elevator.

A minute or so later, they appeared amid the purple mountains of the Mountain Sector.

“William is just along the path to the right,” Jeremie’s voice said. “You have to go through the hollow mountain, and he’s just a little further.” They glanced down the path; it was long and winding, and ended as it met a hollow mountain.

“Okay,” Ulrich said, as the Overbike, the Overboard and the Overwing appeared. “Let’s go.”

Ulrich jumped onto the Overbike. Odd jumped onto the Overboard, and Aelita boarded the Overwing behind Yumi. The vehicles sped off down the path.

---

“Come on,” William said to himself impatiently, extremely bored. “It’s obvious that I’m here, Xana. Just send the Scyphozoa already so that I can have something else to do besides having to go back to stupid Earth.”

He heard a noise behind him. He groaned as he saw the three vehicles coming toward him along the path.

“William!” shouted Yumi, as they pulled up to him. “Why are you here? What are you doing?”

“So many questions,” William replied, cynical and cold. “And you already know the answers.”

Yumi stopped. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said truthfully.

William gave a mirthless laugh. His fake grin immediately turned into a snarl. “You know what you did,” he said, malice glowing brightly in his eyes. “And you don’t even seem to regret it?”

“Fine!” Yumi said, loosing her patience. “I’m sorry that I’ve made my choice, and that it wasn’t you. I’m sorry that I’m human and have the right to make my own decision. But running away won’t solve anything, and you know that.”

“I’m not trying to run away,” William said, strangely calm. “And like all of you here, I’m human as well. And I make the choice on whether I want to go back to Xana.”

Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi gasped in horror.

“You can’t be serious!” Ulrich said, his eyes wide.

“Unfortunately for you, I am,” William replied coldheartedly. “I have the right to make my own choices.”

“And we have the right to stop you if you make the wrong ones,” Odd retorted.

“Do you know how much time and effort we spent trying to free you from Xana?” Aelita said, not believing the situation. “And how would you like that to go to waste?”

“William, this is just stupid.” Jeremie’s voice came from the sky. “There is no way that you’re going back to Xana, not after all the efforts we’ve put in to save you from him last time.”

“Frankly, I don’t care,” William said, shrugging. “I don’t see the point of it, really. Taking actions like you have. I don’t think you even want me on your side.”

“What?” Yumi said, flabbergasted. “How can you say that? We care about you a lot, William, whether you realize it or not!”

“Funny way to show it!” William shouted. “Kissing Ulrich? That’s a fine way to show that you care about me!”

Odd and Aelita looked at each other incredulously, and then back at Yumi. “I do care about you!” Yumi replied, starting to shake. “I just don’t care about you in that way, and I’m sorry!”

“It doesn’t matter,” William replied indifferently. “You’ve made my choice; I’ve made mine.”

“We can’t let you do this, William,” Ulrich said, drawing his sabers. Odd got into a firing position. Yumi summoned her fans, and Aelita charged an Energy Field. “We can’t let you do this.”

“You.” William’s expression turned positively cold, displaying hate in every feature. “What right do you have to force me to do anything?”

“It’s not a right,” Ulrich replied. “It’s the right thing to do.”

William laughed again. “The right thing to do? Funny that you should saying that.”

His expression focused to something behind them. All four of them turned and ducked as a blue-and-white Manta flew low, straight toward them.

William, smiling, back flipped onto the Manta as it flew past. It sounded its bird-like call, and headed away.

Before any of them could give chase, shots suddenly started firing around them. An army of twelve Hornets was surrounding them, firing in a crossfire.

“Jeremie!” shouted Yumi. “What do we do?”

“You have to stop William at all costs,” Jeremie said grimly. “He’s heading for the Scyphozoa! His materialization code has developed a bug, and I’m trying to fix it. But once he’s Xanafied to the high degree…”

“Got it,” Ulrich said, understanding Jeremie’s unspoken words. Trying to continue to block the shots, they jumped onto their vehicles and gave chase to William and the Manta. He was already disappearing into the mist. The Hornets followed them, still surrounding them and attacking them.

“Ulrich! Odd!” Yumi shouted to the loud noise of the shots flying through the air. “We’re going to have to split up! Aelita and I will divert their attention; you two go after William!”

“Okay,” Odd said, saluting the girls. He and Ulrich swerved off to their right, while Aelita and Yumi zoomed to the left. Nine of the Hornets continued after the Overwing, but three of the Hornets separated and went after Ulrich and Odd.

Yumi and Aelita swerved and whooshed through the air. Yumi drew her fan and tossed it into the large mess of Hornets. It surprisingly made contact with four of them, and they exploded.

“On our left!” shouted Aelita. Yumi looked to her left and drove the Overwing straight down as three of the Hornets tried to push them off the Overwing.

The Overwing spun down, spinning. Aelita and Yumi hung on for dear life.

Amid the confusion, Yumi drew her fans again and threw them towards the Hornets tailing them. Two of the Hornets exploded.

“Good one, Yumi!” Aelita congratulated. Yumi managed to pull the Overwing out of its dive, and they flew straight back up to the paths above them; the three remaining Hornets continued to follow them.

Suddenly, one of the Hornets flew past them, and then turned around in midair and flew straight toward them from the front. Yumi tried to turn the Overwing, but it was too late. The Hornet pushed Yumi off of the Overwing, and she fell toward the Digital Sea, screaming.

“Yumi!” shouted Aelita. She took the controls, and then, still flying straight upward, she turned back and fired an Energy Field. The three Hornets easily avoided it, but they weren’t the targets. Yumi took the Energy Field in the stomach, and disappeared just as she came within a meter of the waterline.

Aelita sighed. She changed directions and headed the way William, Odd and Ulrich had taken off in.

Odd and Ulrich were continuing their chase of the Manta, and had almost caught up to it. Odd was firing Laser Arrows in vain, but couldn’t hit the moving target. William glanced back and glared at them, and then faced forward again.

“Careful!” called Jeremie worriedly. Ulrich turned and quickly ducked as a shot flew past him, narrowly missing his left ear. He drew a saber and blocked the shots that were being fired at his back from the three Hornets following them. He rebounded one of the shots, and it made contact with one of the Hornets. Odd fired Laser Arrows over his shoulder, and the last two Hornets were destroyed.

“That’s what I call a good fight!” called Odd. Ulrich grinned.

“Uh…guys…” Jeremie called again. “Look in front of you.”

The two of them turned to see a squadron of three Mantas flying at them in a triangle. More importantly, the monsters had distracted them long enough. William was flying away on the Manta, and was far away in the distance.

“Just great,” Odd exclaimed, sighing. “Ulrich, I’ll take care of our friends here. Go after William; he’s more important.”

Ulrich nodded, and the Overbike did a full sideways turn in midair as it flew through the space between the three Mantas.

“Ready, guys?” Odd called to the Mantas and Hornets. They followed him as he flew off to their right, towards a cluster of mountains. “Here we go!”

Odd wove in between the mountains that were almost placed like traffic cones. The Mantas, much too large, sounded their calls crossly and gained altitude. The Hornets, small enough to maneuver in the conditions, followed Odd’s path. Two of them didn’t make it and bounced off of the sides of the mountains, exploding, but one made it through. It circled the final mountain to be hit by a Laser Arrow.

Odd grinned, turning back to the Mantas. His expression dropped. “Oh no…” he said, getting out of the way. The three Mantas were flying straight toward him, dropping Flying Mines to make a minefield.

“Oh great, just when I thought it couldn’t get worse,” Odd said, sighing. “Don’t go inviting your little friends, you bird…manta ray things! I don’t have enough energy to play with all of your hatchlings!”

The Mantas turned course and flew away, leaving the mines hovering in midair; Odd was surrounded.

“Hey!” he shouted. “I’m charging extra for babysitting!”

“Odd, be careful,” Jeremie said. “If you’re devirtualized, that’s one less person that has the power to devirtualize William. And Ulrich’s not exactly having the time of his life right now.”

“Okay,” Odd said, starting into the minefield. “Be sure to tell him that the Mantas are heading for him, though. I don’t think he’ll appreciated unexpected guests.”

Ulrich was having trouble following William; he had already lost him into the mist. “Wiliam…where are you?” he called. Ulrich sighed. “This is like hide-and-seek, just worse. Jeremie, which way did William go? It looks like the fog is starting to rise.”

“He’s at ten o’clock,” came Jeremie’s voice through the mist. “He’s not too far away. Wait, be careful!”

Ulrich turned to see a shot fly out of nowhere at him. He turned and groaned to see the three Mantas coming back for him.

“Here we go,” he said, heading in the direction toward William. The Mantas followed him.

“Okay, there’s a path not far below you,” Jeremie directed. “William is at the end of it. Better hurry though, because the Scyphozoa is almost there!”

Ulrich glanced down and landed on the path, and continued toward the place Jeremie had indicated William was.

The Mantas suddenly overtook him and swooped low to the path. Ulrich had to duck and swerve the Overbike on its side to avoid getting knocked off the path. “Hey!” he shouted, as they circled to tail him again. “That wasn’t very nice!”

“I’ll take care of them,” called a voice from the right. Aelita emerged on the Overwing, and rose up to the same height as Ulrich. He nodded, and she did a U-turn and flew toward them, throwing an Energy Field that hit one of them.

Ulrich could see that there were rocks on both side of where the path met the flat, round plateau. He drove onto the plateau, braking to a halt. He jumped off the Overbike. “Jeremie?” he asked, glancing around him. “I can’t see William. Where is he?”

“Right here,” a voice said from behind him. Ulrich turned, taken by surprise, to see William walking up towards him, sword in hand.

Ulrich drew his sabers. “William, just surrender and end this nonsense,” he said calmly. “I don’t want to do this.”

“Perfect,” William replied, snarling. “It’ll make my job all the easier.”

Ulrich suddenly heard a bird call from behind him. Just as he turned, he fell to the ground as a shot caught him in the stomach. The Manta that William had ridden on flew toward them, and stopped to hover above close to the two of them.

Ulrich stood up, shaking the fuzz out of his head. He looked around, surprised, to see William nowhere within sight.

“Ulrich, behind you!” shouted Jeremie. Ulrich turned and cried out as William slashed him with his sword from behind, cutting cleanly through his body.

As Ulrich devirtualized, he turned toward William and slashed his sword at him to try and take him with him, to no avail. Ulrich disappeared as his saber stopped an inch from William.

There was a strange sound of a monster behind William. He turned and smiled to see the jellyfish-like creature bobbing toward him.

“William, no!” shouted a voice from behind him. He turned as a pink sphere of energy flew at the Scyphozoa. The Scyphozoa easily dodged it as Aelita jumped off of the Overwing, leaving it where the path met the plateau, and ran towards them.

“William, this isn’t the right way to solve a problem!” Aelita said, trying to convince him as the Scyphozoa slinked closer and closer toward him. “You can’t just run away from your problems! You have to solve them yourself, and switching sides isn’t a solution!”

“It is for me,” William growled. The Scyphozoa was meters away from him, and its tentacles flew toward William.

“No!” Aelita shouted.

A blast of realization hit William like a bullet. He realized what he was trying to do. How would going to Xana solve anything? Leave spite in his friends, perhaps, but nothing more. He was only being driven by his rage, and he wasn’t thinking straight. He turned back toward Aelita, remorse moving onto his face.

Too late. He had forgotten about the Scyphozoa.

The Scyphozoa picked him up in its tentacles. Before William could do anything, he was paralyzed.

Aelita groaned. Suddenly, just as she charged up an Energy Field, two shots caught her in the back. She tumbled forward, heads over heels, as the two Mantas closed in on her.

“Aelita!” Odd flew in on the Overboard and hit one of the Mantas on its eye of Xana.

“No, Odd!” Aelita called, standing up and waving her hands. “Go and free William!”

Odd nodded, and switched directions. He fired Laser Arrows at the Scyphozoa. It dropped him. William fell to the ground, his eyes closed.

“William!” Odd called as the Scyphozoa left. “Are you okay?”

William got up, his back turned to him. “Just fine,” he growled.

Odd sighed as he saw the eyes of Xana in his eyes.

“Aelita, Odd, there’s a Megatank on its way!” warned Jeremie. They turned to see a Megatank coming along the path. Still rolling toward them, it opened and fired a shot that caught the Overwing and Aelita in one hit.

“No!” Odd shouted. Turning back, he looked around for William, who was no longer in front of him. William was already on a Manta, flying towards a nearby tower.

“It’s up to you, Odd!” Jeremie said. “If William enters the tower, Xana will be able to Xanafy him to the higher degree, and devirtualizing him won’t save him!”

“I’m on it, Einstein,” Odd called. He went after William as the Megatank fired one last shot at him and missed.

William, still on the Manta, turned back and swung his sword in a slashing motion. A purple-and-blue energy blast flew at Odd.

“Hey!” Odd shouted, flipping to avoid the shot. “That’s cheating!” He fired Laser Arrows in response. One of them hit William’s Manta. William jumped off of it as it exploded.

Odd groaned as he landed on the plateau in front of him, the tower just meters away. William started to run toward the tower.

Odd overtook him and swerved in front of William, blocking his path. “I don’t think so, William,” he said, shaking a finger at him.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a shot being fired at him. Odd looked to his right to see another Megatank fire at him. He shouted in vain as he and the Overboard were devirtualized.

“NO!” shouted Jeremie in vain as William ran into the tower.

“Oh no…” Yumi said, burying her face in her hands. Ulrich walked over and hugged her. A single tear dropped from Aelita’s eye and ran down her cheek.

The elevator opened. They turned their heads as Odd walked into the room, his head down. “I’m sorry,” Odd mumbled, walking over to them.

“It’s okay, Odd,” Jeremie said sadly. “It wasn’t your fault.”

They all turned to look back at the radar window, and sighed as they saw a large red dot come out of the tower.

Back on Lyoko, William walked out of the tower, the dark black suit upon him once more. He smiled, and the blue Xana eye on his chest shone orange. He ran over to the edge of the plateau and jumped off. The sword with the Xana eye upon it in was in his hand as he plunged into the Digital Sea.

Xana’s most powerful weapon was now under his control once more.