The current time is about a week later. It’s the beginning of December. This year, France is having a warm winter with temperatures up in the 50’s and absolutely no snow. We find our first view back in Jeremie and Chad’s room. It’s a Saturday and both are busy at their computers. All of a sudden we hear a knock at the door. The two look up.
Chad: “Who is it?”
Odd: *outside* “Its XANA and I want to eat your brains!”
Chad: *giggles* “Come in.”
The door opens and Odd and Aelita are the first to enter. Behind them are Ulrich and Yumi carrying a fairly decent sized box.
Jeremie: “What’s going on?”
Yumi: “Its Christmas time silly. And your room is the biggest and cleanest compared to Odd and Ulrich’s, so we figured we’d set up the tree in your room.”
Jeremie: “But where are you going to put it? There isn’t enough room for a huge tree.”
Ulrich: “It’s not that big. It should fit over in that corner, no problem.”
Ulrich proceeds to point to the corner at the foot of Chad’s bed.
Later that evening, the tree is finally decorated. Just as Ulrich mentioned earlier, the tree is not very big at all. It is barely any taller than Jeremie or Aelita. The whole group is now hovering around the tree, looking at the work they did.
Chad: “Looks nice. But where did you find all these cute decorations?”
Yumi: “They were old decorations my parents were going to throw out.”
Chad: “Well, I think it looks nice. Thank You.”
They all look around at each other with blank stares.
Ulrich: “You do know that we are going home for the holiday’s today, right?”
Chad: “Yeah.”
Yumi: “If there is anything you need, just call me. I live just down the road.”
Chad: “Ill make sure to do that. Thanks.”
Chad smiles. Everyone except Jeremie get ready to leave the room.”
Ulrich: “I guess we should start packing. Our parents are going to be picking us up in a few hours. I guess we will see you after vacation, Chad.”
Chad: “Wish your family Happy Holiday’s for me.”
The group smiles as Chad waves them off. Meanwhile, Jeremie is busy packing his things.
Chad: “So where is Aelita staying?”
Jeremie: “With Yumi. It seemed appropriate at the time.”
Chad: “Oh. Ok.”
Jeremie: “What’s wrong?”
Chad: “Oh. It’s just that this time of year is very big for our family. It’s really the only time our family ever gets together out of the whole year.”
Jeremie: “I’m sorry, but I am going as fast as I can to find out how to get you back home.”
Chad: “Oh. I understand. I guess I'm just a tad homesick is all.”
There are a few moments of silence. Then Chad gets up.
Chad: “Do you need any help getting packed?”
A few hours later, Jeremie is all packed and ready to go. A knock comes at the door and then a voice could be heard from outside.
Person: “Jeremie?”
Jeremie: “Dad? Come In.”
The door opens to reveal Jeremies dad who apparently has come to pick up Jeremie. He enters the room and notices Chad sitting there.
Jeremie: “Dad, I would like you to meet Chad. He was the roommate I told you about before.”
J’s Dad: *shakes hands with Chad* “Hello Chad. Glad to meet you. Jeremie has told me so much about you.”
Chad: “Likewise.”
J’s Dad: “So are you all ready to go, son?”
Jeremie: “Yep.”
J’s Dad: “Well, we better get going. I left your mother in the car. You know how restless she can get sitting still. Once again, it was nice meeting you Chad.”
Chad: “Same here. And Happy Holidays!”
On that note, Jeremie and his dad leave the room and Jeremie pulls the door closed behind him. After a few moments, Chad sits back down on the bed, Indian style. He snatches his laptop from the end of the bed and slips on the headphones that are still connected to the machine. With the laptop now open, Chad opens up a folder located on the desktop titled ‘pics’. The files that are in there show up in slideshow form in front of him. We see these pictures show Chad with his family. They all seem very happy together. We get a close-up shot of Chad and notice that some tears are welling up as he flips through each picture. He slams his laptop shut and throws it and the headphones to the corner of his bed. At this point he slams his head down against the pillow and sobs to himself. After a while, he cries himself to sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, Chad is awoken by a knock at the door.
Aelita: “Hello? Jeremie?”
Chad: “Huh? No, it’s Chad.”
Aelita: “May I come in?”
Chad: “Sure.”
Aelita opens the door just wide enough to creep inside. She softly closes the door behind her and sits on the bed opposite of Chad’s.
Aelita: “Are you ok? I heard you crying in here.”
Chad: “Oh.”
He gets up and wipes the tears from his eyes
Chad: “I guess I’m just a little homesick is all.”
Aelita: “Are you sure you don’t want to come stay at Yumi’s house during the break? I’m sure the Ishiyama’s wouldn’t mind.”
Chad: “No. I’m fine. It’s thoughtful of you though. I appreciate it.”
Aelita: “Well, remember that if you need anything, you can call me or Yumi.”
Chad: “Ok.”
Aelita gets up and leaves the room. After a few moments, Chad gets up and looks out the window at all the cars leaving school grounds as the kids head home for the holidays. As the last of the cars leave, Chad lies back down on the bed and tries to get some sleep.
Later he is awoken by the loud howling of wind at the window. He wipes the sleep from his eyes and glances at his watch. It is 3 in the morning. He looks outside the window and notices that there is a terrible blizzard happening outside. Dumbfounded, he gets on Jeremies computer and pulls up the news broadcast.
Meteorologist: “This storm was really unexpected to say the least. Up until a few minutes ago, the radar was dry as a bone. Now we have a fairly dense snowstorm on our hands. Due to the wind gusts and the continuing drop in temperature, we are advising that everyone stay indoors until this storm passes…”
All of a sudden, Chad hears a beeping noise coming from his laptop. He scoots the chair over to his bed and grabs the laptop and headphones. He opens the laptop to see he is getting a call from Jeremie. Chad slips on the headphones and slides down the attached microphone.
Chad: “Jeremie? What’s going on?”
Jeremie: “I just called to make sure you are alright.”
Chad: “Yeah. I’m fine. But did you see this storm? The weatherman said it literally came out of nowhere. Do you think this is XANA’s doing?”
Jeremie: “I don’t think so, but the super scan was giving me a lot of false alarms earlier. But what really puzzles me is that if it is XANA, he has tried this kind of attack before and failed. Why try it again?”
Chad: “Maybe because he’s got this holiday vacation at his advantage?”
Jeremie: “How so?”
Chad: “Everyone in the group is nowhere near the school, let alone the factory, except for me, Yumi, and Aelita.”
Jeremie: “But what are we supposed to do? It’s too far for me to walk and I obviously can’t get my parents to drive me there at 3 in the morning for some arbitrary reason. Especially in this weather.”
Chad: “Ill think of something. Meanwhile, Ill try contacting the others.”
Soon the phone application on screen closes. Chad closes his laptop and slides it in his carry bag while keeping the headphones on. But he realizes that he’s going to need some warm clothing so he slips of his headphones and puts them and his carry bag on the bed. He digs through the dresser and the closet but can only find clothing for someone of Jeremie’s stature. Empty handed, he picks up his carry bag once again and slips the headphones back on and exits the room.
Outside the dorms we watch as Chad leaves the building and makes his way towards the school. Due to not having any heavy clothing on, he is forced to use his carry bag as protection against the blowing snow. Meanwhile, we hear him speak a command into the microphone:
Chad: “Call Ulrich!”
Computer: “Dialing…RING…RING…”
Ulrich: “Hello?”
Chad: “Hi Ulrich. It’s me, Chad.”
Ulrich: “Where are you? I can barely hear you.”
Chad: “I’m outside in this nasty weather. I’m trying to get over to the school, but even that seems to be difficult. Listen to me: Jeremie thinks this may be a XANA attack. Do whatever you can to get to the factory. I also need you to contact Odd, Yumi, and Aelita for me.”
Ulrich: “Ok. Be Careful.”
On that note, Chad had made it under the arches at the school and is doing everything in his power to stay huddled to the wall and make it into the building. Soon enough he makes it inside and starts running in the general direction of the principal’s office.
From inside the office, we still see Mr. Delmas there apparently watching the news on a small portable television. After a few moments, the door opens and we see Chad enter.
Mr. Delmas: “Mr. Rains? What are you doing here?”
Chad: “This may seem strange Mr. Delmas, but I need to borrow your car. It’s an emergency.”
Mr. Delmas: “Well, my keys are hanging on the hook behind you, but what’s going on?”
Chad: “I’m sorry Mr. Delmas, I will explain it all later.”
Chad quickly turns around, snatches the key’s off the hook and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
Outside: Once again, Chad is trying his best to barricade himself from the cold while trying to locate Mr. Delmas’s car.
Chad: *mumbling under his breath* “Would have helped if I had asked him what car he drove.”
Then he notices the remote start keychain. He looks out into the parking lot as he presses the start button. In the distance he hears an engine roar to life and a moment afterwards, a set of headlights. As he sees this, he quickly runs in that general direction. As he gets within a few paces of the car, he presses the unlock button and quickly tries to open the driver’s door. As we look at the vehicle, it has a large resemblance to a Jeep Cherokee. He quickly opens the door and climbs in.
Meanwhile, back at the Ishiyama household, we see Yumi, her parents, and Aelita sharing the couch as they watch the news as the updates come in about the weather. Soon enough, Yumi’s phone rings.
Yumi: “Hello? Ulrich? What’s going on?”
Ulrich: “I don’t have a lot of time to explain. All I know is that Jeremie thinks this weather is all one of XANA’s attacks and we need to get to the factory ASAP.”
Yumi: “Ok, but its going to be pretty difficult to get out without my parents finding out.”
Ulrich: “Why? Aren’t they asleep?”
Yumi: “No. We are all awake watching the news about this weather. Anyways, I will figure something out. I will be there soon.”
The call ends and she slips the phone back into her pocket.
Yumi: *whispering* “Aelita. We have a situation. It’s XANA.”
Aelita: “What?”
Yumi: “Just follow my lead.”
Yumi proceeds to get up and makes a nice loud yawn in front of everyone.
Yumi: “Well, I think I'm going to go back to bed now.”
Aelita: “Me too. I am very tired. Goodnight Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama.”
Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama: “Goodnight.”
The two girls head up to Yumi’s room. But instead of heading off to bed, Yumi grabs some heavy clothes out of her closet and motions Aelita to put some on. After the two have bundled up, they proceed to sneak out the bedroom window. Yumi goes first, with Aelita clumsily slip-sliding out the window.”
Aelita: “Ahh!”
Yumi just barely catches Aelita and sets her back on solid ground.
Aelita: “Thanks.”
Yumi: “Don’t mention it. We need to get to the factory, now!”
Back at the school parking lot, we meet back up with Chad. We are in Mr. Delmas’s Jeep. Interior lights are on, Chad is trying to warm himself against the heater vents, and the radio is currently tuned to a local station which is currently covering the weather reports.
Radio meteorologist: “It appears as if there is no end in sight for this storm. For whatever reason, it has come to a dead stop over Paris, France and the temperature is continuing to drop at an alarming rate. Here at the studio we are currently reading 15 degrees Fahrenheit and dropping. This does NOT include the wind chill.”
Chad turns off the radio and prepares to drive off. Before he does, he pulls out his laptop, opens it up, and sets it on the passenger seat. Once that is done, he puts the vehicle in drive and slowly pulls out.
Chad: “Call Yumi.”
Computer: “Dialing…RING…RING…”
Yumi: “Hello?”
Chad: “Yumi! Where are you?”
Yumi: “Just outside my house. And I've got Aelita with me.”
Chad: “Stay right there. I will come by and pick you up.”
Yumi: “What?”
But before they could exchange any more communication, the call was disconnected. Chad checks over at his laptop and the phone dialer reads “NO SIGNAL”
Chad: “Oh great. What a perfect time to lose phone service.”
Chad continues to drive off down the road. As he notices the low visibility, he fishes around for the fog lights and high beams. Meanwhile, the windshield wipers are going full blast and the heater is loud enough to wake the dead. Chad watches out the windshield and tries to make heads or tails of the street signs. But he soon notices a few figures up ahead. As he spots the house they are standing by, he realizes they are Yumi and Aelita. He slowly creeps to a halt by the sidewalk. Yumi and Aelita hurriedly climb into the rear seat. Chad continues to drive off.
Yumi: “I couldn’t understand you over the phone. What’s going on?”
Chad: “Jeremie thinks this is all a XANA attack. So right now, we all need to get to the factory. Speaking of which, where was Ulrich staying at?”
Yumi: “He was staying at his Aunt’s house across town. But it’s nearby the factory so he should already be there. What about Jeremie? Where is he?”
Chad: “I was gonna ask you the same thing. Where was Jeremie at?”
Aelita: “His parent’s house is pretty far. Somewhere up in the hills.”
Chad: “And he was gonna try to walk THAT far?! He’s going to get himself killed!”
Chad quickly slams the brakes which cause the vehicle to slide a good distance before grinding to a halt. The vehicle makes a U-turn and they head in the opposite direction towards Jeremie’s house.
We head back to Jeremie’s house now. In the living room, we see Mr. and Mrs. Belpois asleep on the couch along with nothing but static on the television. Meanwhile, Jeremie tiptoes out the front door with nothing on but his usual school outfit. He proceeds to walk down the side of the road while rubbing his arms, trying to keep warm.
Back in the Jeep, Chad has turned the radio back on. Once again, the latest breaking news comes on.
Radio Meteorologist: “What a strange turn of events we have here. The storm has suddenly picked up speed and is slowly heading in the direction of the mountains. Our current temperature here at the studios is 10 below. Stay bundled up out there.”
Chad turns off the radio.
Aelita: “Oh my. And Jeremie is out in this. We need to find him fast before he freezes to death.”
Back at the factory, we see Ulrich and Odd all bundled up and now entering the elevator to the lower levels. During his ride, Ulrich tries to reach the others, but his mobile reads “NO SIGNAL” as well.
Ulrich: “Isn’t that just great.”
The elevator reaches the main control room. But there is no one there. Ulrich and Odd decide to camp out there and wait for the others.
Meanwhile, back in the Jeep, the 3 are making their way up the mountain road towards Jeremie’s house. Soon they spot a figure in the road all covered in snow. Chad stops near the figure to get a closer look. Chad climbs out and soon notices it is Jeremie. He is covered in snow and is frostbitten all over. The rims of his glasses are totally white from the accumulated frost.
Aelita: *inside the vehicle* “Jeremie!!”
Aelita quickly rushes out to help.
Chad: “Help me get him into the passenger seat.”
Between of Chad and Aelita, they manage to coax Jeremie into the passenger seat. Chad climbs back into the driver’s seat and Aelita back into the back seat with Yumi.
Aelita: “Jeremie. Jeremie, are you alright?”
Jeremie: *weak and groggy* “Ae..Aelita?”
Aelita: “Jeremie. I’m here. You’re going to be fine.”
Chad: “I’m going to take us all to the factory. Ulrich should already be there.”
Back in the factory, Ulrich and Odd are half asleep on the floor of the control room. But they are soon wide awake as they hear a strange, loud noise from below. After a few moments, we can hear the elevator creaking up the shaft.
Ulrich: “What the?”
Later we see the Jeep approaching the bridge to the factory.
Yumi: “Stop! I see something ahead…Is that Ulrich?”
Chad strains to see what is ahead of them. He sees the form of a large sphere. Then the sphere splits in two and the halves spread apart.
Chad: “A Megatank?”
All: “A What?!”
Chad: “Hang On!!”
Chad hurriedly shifts into reverse and jams the accelerator. Initially the vehicle doesn’t get any traction, but soon the tires dig below the snow and ice and finally grab asphalt and lunge the car backwards. As the car leaves the bridge, it veers off to the side. Just in time too as we see the large laser from the megatank fire down the bridge. The megatank then closes and rolls down the bridge.
Chad: “I’ve got an idea.”
Chad shifts the vehicle into neutral and starts revving the engine. Soon the megatank stops in front of them, turns to face them, and opens up. At this point, Chad shifts the Jeep back into drive and jams the accelerator once again.
Chad: “YAAAH!!!”
The Jeep makes contact with the megatank and proceeds to roll the megatank down the edge of the river like a rolling pin. Chad then sets the cruise control.
Chad: “Ok. It’s set. On my count, we jump…1…2…3!”
The group then piles out and watches as the Jeep and the megatank veer off into the river with a large SPLASH!
Yumi: “I swear, you seem more like Odd every day. That was totally reckless!”
Chad: “It worked though, didn’t it?”
Yumi: “I guess.”
Jeremie: “We need to get to the factory and quick!”
The four huddle together as they strain to make it back towards the factory. As they make it near the entrance, enough snow has barreled out of the sky to where our group is now covered. They shake off the snow and proceed to swing down the ropes hanging from the rafters. When they make it to solid ground once again, they meet up with Ulrich and Odd who are now waiting for them in the elevator.
Ulrich: “What took you?”
Yumi: “Jeremie wasn’t even in town.”
Jeremie: “My parents have a vacation home up in the mountains that we go to every Christmas.”
As they finish up the conversation, our heroes make their way into the freight elevator and continue their way down to the lab. Once the elevator reaches the control room, Chad and Jeremie step out. Meanwhile, the rest of the group continues to the scanner room.
Jeremie climbs in the chair and soon it rotates around the holo-map to where the console is currently positioned. Meanwhile, Chad walks over and stands behind Jeremie and watches him work.
Jeremie: “Ok. The tower is in the polar region. Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich: I will send you three first.”
Down in the scanner room, we watch as the three step into the scanners while Aelita stays back by the elevator.
Back in the control room, we watch as Jeremie proceeds with the all too common virtualization process.
Jeremie: “Transfer Yumi, Transfer Odd, Transfer Ulrich…Scanner Yumi, Scanner Odd, Scanner Ulrich…Virtualization!”
As the three arrive on Lyoko, Aelita enters a vacant scanner and awaits Jeremie’s command.
Jeremie: “Aelita is on her way…Transfer Aelita…Scanner Aelita…Virtualization.”
Meanwhile, back in the control room, we see Chad has his head slumped over on the headrest of the computer chair as he eagerly watches Jeremie work.
Jeremie: “The tower is about 40 degrees north of your position. I’m virtualizing your vehicles now.”
As Jeremie ferociously types away, we see the vehicles pop up on the screen. Meanwhile, back on Lyoko, the vehicles have fully materialized. Odd hops on the overboard in his usual catlike fashion. Ulrich leaps onto the overbike, and Yumi and Aelita simply step up onto the overwing. With that, they were off. But before they could even make it a few hundred feet towards the tower, a megatank had rolled in fast from behind and was gaining on them ever so closer.
Jeremie: “You have two megatanks closing in. 1 behind you and 1 in front.”
Odd: “Nice warning. But I only see the one behind us. Where is the other one?”
Aelita: “There!”
Then Aelita points at a megtank rolling from behind a fairly large pillar ahead of them. It stops, opens, and gets ready to fire on our heroes. But just before the megatank has a chance to fire on the group, they all dodge it just in time and the laser blast ironically destroys the other megatank that was previously following them.
Odd: “Wow. XANA must really be slipping today. He destroyed one of his own monsters.”
Yumi: “Yeah. But we still have one more to take care of.”
Jeremie: “Make that two.”
Up ahead, the group notices another megatank in front of the activated tower, ready to fire.
Odd: “Hold back. Ill take this one.”
Then Odd goes flying in towards the megatank near the tower. The camera view switches back and forth between Odd and the megatank as they simultaneously prepare to fire. Odd shoots a laser arrow first, but it is soon blocked by the megatanks blast which then hits Odd and forcefully de-virtualizes him and the overboard.
We meet Odd back in the lab as he emerges from the elevator in the control room. As he makes his way over to Jeremie and Chad, we see Jeremie is, of course, still at the console and keeping an eye on the situation. We see Chad sitting on the edge of the holomap device and working on his laptop which is now in a Tablet mode. Chad then looks up to see Odd returning.
Jeremie: “You still have two megatanks on your hands.”
Yumi: “Make a run for it Aelita. Ulrich and I will take care of the megatanks.”
Back on Lyoko, we see Aelita jump off the overwing while it’s still in motion. She lands rough on her knees, but quickly gets up and starts running towards the tower. Meanwhile, Yumi handles the nearby megatank while Ulrich heads towards the megatank placed by the activated tower.
Chad: “Do you think you can virtualize the overboard again?”
Jeremie: “With time, but why?”
Chad: “I’m going in just in case.”
As he says this, he flips his laptop back into a standard laptop mode, closes it, and jogs off to the elevator. Chad soon makes it to the scanner room and is about to enter a vacant scanner, but he is interrupted by Jeremie.
Jeremie: “Where is your Lyoko outfit?”
Chad: “Umm. Check my laptop.”
Back in the console room, Jeremie leaps out of the chair and grabs the abandoned laptop which is being propped up against the holomap. He opens the laptop to reveal the file he is looking for right in the middle of the desktop. With a few keystrokes, the player card appears on the super computer console. He closes the laptop and gets back to the console.
Jeremie: “Ok. I’ve got it. Ready?”
Back in the scanner room, Chad eyes the scanner and cautiously enters while he nervously awaits what is going to happen.
Chad: “Ready.”
Jeremie: “Transfer Chad…Scanner Chad…Virtualization!”
Moments later, Chad virtualizes on Lyoko and lands rough on his feet. As he stands up, we get a closer look at his Lyoko form. His whole body looks to be covered in neon blue electrical circuits on a dark grey background.
He finally regains his bearings and gazes around at the strange new world. Soon Jeremie’s voice could be heard.
Jeremie: “Yumi and Ulrich are 20 degrees west of you.”
Chad: “I see ‘em.”
And with that, he runs off. He reaches Yumi just as she finishes off the first megatank.
Yumi: “Need a lift?”
Chad immediately jumps onto the Overwing and grabs hold of Yumi’s waist, preparing to move. Both blush for a few moments before taking off. As they near the activated tower, they notice Ulrich still fending off the remaining megatank while Aelita holds back behind a nearby ice formation.
Chad: “Hold on. I’ll take this one.”
Chad then jumps off while the overwing is still in motion and lands in the general path of the megatank. The megatank then disregards Ulrich and takes aim on Chad. Our new fighter ignores this and continues with his plan. He holds out his left hand as if he is holding something. A wireframe of a staff-like device appears in his grip. Moments later it fully materializes. The staff appears to be a bright yellow and on the very top is a bright orange orb closely resembling that of a guardian, but in a much smaller form. Inside of this orb is the symbol of Lyoko.
Meanwhile, the megatank has been charging up for the attack. Before he can do anything, the megatank fires its laser and manages to hit Chad square on. This causes Chad to fly back a good 20 feet and on his back. A short moment later, he is de-virtualized.
Yumi then flies in on the overwing and proceeds to toss a fan straight at the megatank before it gets a chance to fire again. It hits the target and the megatank violently explodes.
Yumi: “Ok Aelita. Coast is clear.”
Aelita then proceeds to run towards the tower.
Back on Earth in the scanner room, we see one of the scanner’s open. After the steam clears, we see Chad standing up in the scanner. After a few moments, he leans back against the back of the scanner and slides down till he is sitting on the bottom.
Chad: “Ow…”
Back on Lyoko, Aelita is now ascending to the top level of the tower.
In the control room, we see Chad emerge from the elevator and slowly walk towards Odd and Jeremie who are currently overlooking the situation on Lyoko.
Chad: *as he rubs the back of his head* “That was painful. How are Ulrich and Yumi doing?”
Jeremie: “Coast is clear. I don’t think a return is necessary this time, do you?”
Chad: “Eh. I think it might be a good idea.”
Odd: “Why?”
Chad: “Well…heh…I destroyed Mr. Delmas’s car back there.”
Odd: “You what?!”
Jeremie: “That was Mr. Delmas’s car?!”
Chad: “Hehe. Oops?”
Jeremie: *sighs* “Ok. Ill enter the coordinates.”
Jeremie starts typing away at the console as Odd and Chad watch over his shoulder.
Jeremie: *as he strikes the enter key* “Return to the past now!”
Back in Jeremie’s room, we see the group has finished putting the tree up for the second time.
Yumi: “Come on Chad, you are going to come stay with us. I’ve already talked it over with my parents and they said it was okay.”
Chad: *in a kind of cheery tone* “Oh, ok. I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”
Yumi: “Now that’s more like it. I will come by and get you in about an hour.”
Ulrich: “I also have to get going. My parents are going to be picking me up anytime now.”
Yumi, Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd all exit the room leaving only Jeremie and Chad. Jeremie is currently packing up his things while Chad is working on his laptop.
Chad: “I’ll be right back. I have to go cover something with the principal.”
Chad quickly gets up and exits the room, taking his laptop with him.
A short while later, we return to the room just as Chad returns. It appears as if Jeremie has already left. Chad proceeds to pack up what few belongings he has while he waits for Yumi. As he finishes packing up, Yumi enters the room.
Yumi: “You ready?”
Chad: “Yep.”
Chad straps the carry bag over his shoulder and picks up the box he packed and proceeds to follow Yumi out the door. On his way out, he shuts off the light and closes the door.
Back at the Ishiyama household, it is now Christmas morning. Chad is sitting with Yumi’s parents on the couch while Yumi and Aelita are kneeling by the tree, ready to unwrap gifts.
Yumi then reads the tag on one of the gifts. It reads “To Yumi, from Ulrich.” She pulls it from under the tree and reads the tag on another fairly small package. It reads “To Aelita, from Jeremie.
Yumi: “Here Aelita. This one is for you.”
Yumi then passes the gift over to Aelita. The two then start unwrapping their gifts. Yumi’s gift is the latest Subsonics album. Aelita unwraps hers to reveal what looks like a ring box. The two girls look at each other and then Aelita quickly opens the box. Inside the box is a gold locket. She opens it up to find one of the pictures she had taken with Jeremie when she was first materialized.
Aelita: *In a quiet tone* “Jeremie…”
Author's Chapter Notes:
This chapter is probably one of my longest and most indepth chapters of this story. Enjoy!