The third episode in the series. As always, if you did not read the other two episodes, please do so or you will be completely and utterly lost.

This one is incomplete as of right now but I am working on updating it.

Ep.1 Internal Strife

Ep.2 A New Leaf



Odd: Purple
Jeremie: Blue
Aelita: Pink
Ulrich: Red
Yumi: Green
Syrus: Orange
Other Characters Female: Yellow
Other Characters Male: Cyan

“Hey, let me see what classes you have.” Odd said, snatching the piece of paper Syrus was holding with her schedule printed on it.  

“Heeey I was looking at that.” Syrus whined giving him a sad look.

Ignoring her, Odd looked over her schedule.

“Man, this is totally lame!” Odd exclaimed, displeased.

“What’s wrong Odd?” Aelita asked coming up from behind them.

“Syrus only has one class with any of us.” Odd complained limply handing the piece of paper back to Syrus.

“Really?” Syrus asked looking at the paper cheerlessly.

“Hm, we are definitely going to have to do something about that. Syrus doesn’t know enough about our world yet so she needs at least one of us with her most of the time.” Aelita replied.

Syrus shot Aelita a hurt glance but chose to just ignore her comment since what she had said was true, as much as she hated the idea of being thought of as helpless.

“Which one is it?” Syrus asked showing the paper to Odd.

“It’s Science class.” Odd replied pointing to it on the paper.

“Oh... What is Science?” Syrus asked inquisitively.

“Well, Syrus, science is the study of natural phenomena such as biological life like the behavior of humans and animals, and stuff like that.” Aelita replied.

“Aww come on, are you serious? I don’t know anything about living beings.” Syrus replied unhappily.  

“Yeah and it’s got a lot of math in it too. And man do I hate numbers.” Odd grumbled.

“I can do math.” Syrus replied her face lighting up.

“What do you know? I guess there is one thing she knows about our world.” Odd teased.

“You know, Science is what brought you here.” Aelita said smiling at Syrus.

“Really?” Syrus asked.

Aelita nodded.

“So, what are we going to do about her schedule?” Aelita asked.

“Don’t you worry about a thing, I have great charisma and not to mention I’m very charming. All I have to do is talk to Mr. Delmas and explain to him why she should have her schedule changed. It’ll be a piece of cake.” Odd replied, gesturing excitedly.

“That’s great, Odd, but charisma and charm are the same thing.” Aelita replied with a laugh.

“Yeah? So what’s your point?” Odd asked combatively.

“Nevermind, Odd.” Aelita said sighing.

“Come on Syrus; let’s go get this taken care of.” Odd said grabbing her by the sleeve and towing her off.

The two arrived at the secretary’s office and still dragging Syrus along, Odd walked in unannounced.

“Ms. Weber, I need to speak with Principal Delmas right away, it’s an urgent emergency!” Odd exclaimed quickly.

“I’m sorry Della Robbia, but you’re going to have to take your “emergency” elsewhere, Mr. Delmas isn’t in his office right now.” Ms. Weber replied without looking up from her desk which she was organizing papers on.

“What a lame-o. Go figure, right when I need to speak with him the most, he’s not here.” Odd muttered under his breath.

“Did you say something Mr. Della Robbia?” Ms. Weber asked lifting her head up and looking over the tops of her glasses.

“No, no, it’s nothing. Just my life is in peril, but as usual, nobody cares.” Odd said, continuing his theatrics.

“Della Robbia, get a move on.” Ms. Weber said aggravated.

“Fine, fine, I’m going; don’t have to tell me twice.” Odd grumbled as he and Syrus left the office.

“Odd..” Syrus said.

“Huh, yeah what is it?” Odd asked looking in her direct.

“You are very over dramatic.” Syrus finished in an automated tone.

“Hey, I’m trying to do you a favor here; would it hurt to lend me a hand?” Odd replied, slightly irritated.

“Actually it might. My hands are not detachable. Therefore lending you a hand would cause me harm.” Syrus replied tilting her head to one side.

“Uh… It’s just a figure of speech, Syrus. What I meant by that is you could have helped me out back there.” Odd replied giving her a disheartened glare.

“Oh.. I see.. You humans are very strange.” Syrus replied readopting her normal tone.

“Why do you say that?” Odd asked perplexed.

“Because; you say things like “lend a hand” which doesn’t actually mean to lend a physical hand but is actually a request for help. Why can’t you humans just say “help” instead? I would think that would be easier.” Syrus said with a serious look.

“Ok, now you’re starting to scare me. You’re sounding way too much like Jeremie, and that’s not a good thing.” Odd replied.

“I do not understand. Does my voice really sound like Jeremie’s?” Syrus asked, looking very confused.

“No, it’s another figure of speech.” Odd replied frustrated.

“I’m confused.” Syrus said scrunching her eyebrows together in a sad look.

“Yeah, it seems that’s really easy to do. Just forget it. Ok, Syrus?” Odd replied, sighing.

The end door of the hall swung open and a man with gray hair wearing a brown jacket walked through it.

"Mr. Delmas! Just the man I wanted to see!" Odd exclaimed trying to sound mature.

"Della Robbia, there's always something with you, but I haven't the time right now." Mr. Delmas replied continuing down the hall.

"W-wait! I know your time is very valuable and all, but it will only take a second!" Odd continued desperately.

"Fine.. What is it then?" Mr. Delmas inquired frustrated.

"Well you see. My friend here got her schedule and she only has one class with me or my other frie.."

"Della Robbia, if this is just another one of your schemes to get all your friends in the same classes as you, then we have nothing further to discuss." Mr. Delmas replied, frustrated.

"No! I-its just. You see, my friend, being from Scotland and all, doesn't know much about our customs and all that. I just think it's in her best interest that if she was in a class with me or one of my buddies then she would start to feel more at home here. You wouldn't want her feeling edgy or uncomfortable at your school.. Would you, Mr. Delmas?" Odd said trying to convince him.

"Well.. No... Oh alright... If that is what she wants, and if it will get you to leave me alone, then I will consider doing something about it." Mr. Delmas said, sighing.

"It will! You want to be in the same classes as us, right Syrus?" Odd asked.

"Uh, wha? Oh, uh, I mean, yes, yes of course! I would greatly appreciate that uh, sir." Syrus replied nervously looking up at Mr. Delmas.

"I see. Alright then I really must be going, I will see about your schedule Ms. Allen." Mr. Delmas said and he exited the hall.

Syrus blinked.

"Why did he call me Allen? I thought my name was Syrus." Syrus asked looking at Odd confused.

"That’s your last name. Yumi made it up for you so that you could be registered." Odd explained.

"Why do I need two names?" Syrus asked puzzled.

"To be honest with you, I’m not really sure, but your last name is that of your family." Odd replied.

“I see. So, since I do not have a family, we had to make up one.” Syrus replied.

“Yeah, that’s right. But we’re kinda like your family now. We’re you’re friends, and we’ll always be there for you.” Odd said trying to comfort her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syrus turned to leave the hall but stopped a few feet from the door.

“We should locate Aelita.” Syrus said quietly then left through the door.

“Hey wait up!” Odd replied rushing out the door after her, only to find Syrus standing on the other side waiting for him.

“Well, I thought we were going to find Aelita.” Odd said.

“You asked me to wait.” Syrus replied simply.

“Oh right…” Odd replied.

Odd and Syrus got back to the arches where they had been not too long ago with Aelita but she was nowhere in sight.

“Hm, I guess she already went to class. Come on lets go.” Odd said, gesturing for Syrus to follow.

The tardy bell rang as they came to the science building making Odd groan.

“Why does that high pitched alarm keep going off?” Syrus asked trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.

“It tells you when class is over or when you’re late to your class. In this case, it means we’re late.” Odd replied.

“How can you tell?” Syrus asked, bewildered.

“You don’t see anyone leaving the class do you? If no ones rushing out of the classrooms, then class isn’t over. Simple as that. Come on, maybe we can sneak in without Ms. Hertz noticing us.” Odd replied tugging Syrus along by her sleeve again.

Odd carefully turned the handle of the door and slowly slipped inside followed shortly by Syrus.

Ms. Hertz was lecturing the class about chemical compositions when she noticed Odd sneaking along the side wall trying to avoid her detection.

“Della Robbia. Is there a reason that you and you’re friend are tardy to my class?” Ms. Hertz queried, pausing right in the middle of her previous sentence.

“Oh, don’t mind me Mrs. Hertz I’m just going to sit down at my desk now.” Odd replied evasively.

“Not so fast Della Robbia, and Ms. Allen, I would have thought better of you than to be tardy on your first day of class.” Ms. Hertz said shaking her head slightly.

“Now, both of you, I expect an explanation from you and I don’t want any funny business, Mr. Della Robbia.” Ms. Hertz continued giving him  a cold look.

“W-we were speaking with the Principal.” Syrus replied.

“And what about, may I ask?” Ms. Hertz asked skeptically.

“I needed my schedule changed so Odd took me to see him.” Syrus replied, twitching just a little.

“Hey she’s not looking so good.” Ulrich whispered to Odd as Odd sat down next to him.

“I know. I’m kinda worried.” Odd whispered back.

“Take your seat Ms. Allen. I will speak with Mr. Delmas later, and if I find out that you were not in conference with him then it will be detention for the both of you.” Ms. Hertz replied resuming her lecture but Syrus was so petrified that she didn’t hear any of it as she took a seat in a nearby empty desk positioned near the middle of the room.

“Now. Can anyone please tell me what the chemical formula of water is?” Ms. Hertz asked.

Odd quickly raised his hand.

“Della Robbia. Do you even know the answer?” Ms. Hertz said.

“Yes ma’am.” Odd replied simply.

“Alright then, go ahead.” Ms. Hertz said expectantly.

Odd cleared his throat.

“Simple. It’s HIJKLMNO.” Odd replied, grinning.

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Ms. Hertz asked, puzzled.

“Well you said it was H to O!” Odd replied bursting into laughter.

“Odd that was probably the lamest joke you have ever made.” Ulrich whispered.

“What else is new? You think all my jokes are lame.” Odd replied stopping abruptly.

“Yes, very funny Mr. Della Robbia.” Ms. Hertz said sarcastically.

Syrus stared distractedly at the blackboard completely unaware of what was going on around her.

“Ms. Allen, are you feeling alright?” Ms. Hertz asked.

“Uh y-yes?” Syrus replied realizing that Ms. Hertz had been calling to her repeatedly.

“Are you sure? Do you need to go to the Infirmary?” Ms. Hertz asked worriedly.

“Uh, yes?” Syrus replied, unsure what she had been asked.

“Very well. Will someone please accompany Ms. Allen to the Infirmary?” Ms. Hertz asked, announcing the question to the class.

“I will.” Odd said, quickly raising his hand. Ms. Hertz nodded and Odd walked up to Syrus’s desk.

“Come on let’s go.” Odd grabbed her by the hand and helped her up.

Ulrich turned around in his chair to face Jeremie.

“Hey, what do you think is wrong with her?” Ulrich asked.

“I’m sure it’s just the shock of everything she’s going through. I bet its overwhelming her. She ought to be fine once she gets a little fresh air.” Jeremie replied.

“Yeah you’re probably right. You know? It still creeps me out just thinking about what she really is.” Ulrich said looking back to the front of the room so Ms. Hertz wouldn’t catch them talking.

“Yeah I know what you mean. Everything that has happened with her seems so weird, almost too coincidental.” Jeremie replied in a hushed voice.

“What are you saying, Jeremie? You think she might still be evil?” Ulrich asked

“Not necessarily. All I’m saying is I’m hoping you guys aren’t right about X.A.N.A. setting this whole thing up.” Jeremie replied.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really trust her. I mean, she seems harmless enough, but you never know with X.A.N.A.. And her being a Krabe means we should probably keep a close eye on her, at least for awhile.” Ulrich said with a serious look.

“Not a bad idea. And it definitely couldn’t hurt anything. And if she is harmless as you say, then there won’t be anything to worry about.” Jeremie said.

“And if she’s not. All I can say is I feel sorry for Odd.” Ulrich said almost laughing.

“What do you mean, Ulrich?” Jeremie asked.

“What I mean is, I think Odd is already crazy for her.” Ulrich said with a quiet chuckle.

“You can’t be serious. I know Odd practically falls for every new girl that comes along, but I don’t think he’s desperate enough to go for a Krabe.” Jeremie replied.

“I don’t know. He seems to really like her.” Ulrich said.

“What are you guys talking about?” Aelita whispered leaning to the side of her desk nearest the two boys.

“Ah uh, nothing, just that we think we should keep an eye on Syrus.” Ulrich replied.

“What? But why?” Aelita asked.

“Because, being a Krabe, we can’t be sure of her true intentions as of yet. Yeah, she may seem perfectly nice right now, but it can all easily be a ruse to lower our guard. And then she may very well be Ok, but I think we need to keep our guard up for now. If she is still on X.A.N.A.’s side, we need to be ready for anything.” Jeremie replied.

“You have a point. I guess there’s no harm in being careful.” Aelita said.

“Hey, I wonder what’s taking Odd so long. He should have been back from taking Syrus to the Infirmary by now.” Ulrich said looking at the clock on the wall.

“You’re right; he has been gone awhile now. Do you think someone should go check up on them?” Aelita replied.

“I think someone should, something could be wrong.” Jeremie said.

“I’ll go then.” Aelita replied.

“Are you sure Aelita? What if it’s a trap?” Jeremie asked.

“Then I will call you. Hopefully it’s nothing.” Aelita replied, raising a hand into the air.

“Ms. Stones, do you have a question?” Ms. Hertz asked looking in her direction.

“Actually ma’am I’m not feeling well. Can I please go to the Infirmary?” Aelita asked.

“That’s two kids in one class period. Alright, Ms. Stones you are dismissed.” Ms. Hertz replied.

Aelita stood up and quietly left the room.

She walked out of the Science building and quickly removed her mobile from her pocket.


“Hello?” Odd’s voice was heard from the phone.

“Odd, you two have been gone quite some time now, is everything alright?” Aelita asked heading for the Infirmary.

“Yeah. Well I think so. Syrus has been in the girl’s room awhile now. Come to think of it she hasn’t said anything for awhile.” Odd replied leaning against the wall.

“What? You didn’t take her to the Infirmary?” Aelita asked.

“Well I figured all she needed was a little fresh air and to go wash her face or something. So I took her over here and I’m waiting for her right outside.” Odd replied looking over at the door.

“Well why don’t you check on her, I will be there in a minute.” Aelita said changing the direction she was going.

“What? I’m not going into the girl’s bathroom!” Odd exclaimed.

“I’m not asking you to go in, just knock on the door or something.” Aelita replied, frustrated.

“Oh.. Right. I knew that.” Odd replied and hung up.

“Odd? Hello?” Aelita repeated into her phone. Her mobile beeped and she looked at it; the lighted screen was now displaying the call duration time and a “call ended” message.

“Well that was rude, he hung up on me.” Aelita mumbled.

Syrus stood in front of the mirror staring at it with her right hand placed on it.

Before now, she had not seen her own face and seeing her reflection now puzzled her.

Her fingers slipped over the smooth surface and finally rested on the glossy knob of the sink in front of her.

She disdainfully turned it allowing water to flow out of the faucet; the sound alone was enough to make her cringe.

She removed her gloves and slowly reached out to touch the rushing water but it suddenly stopped coming out.

Confused, Syrus began twisting the knob with frustration and a black smoke-like figure soon poured out of the spout.

Syrus fell backwards as she scrambled to get away from the ghostly mass coming after her.

The specter engulfed her body and she soon found herself unable to scream for help.

Syrus gasped for breath as it began to take over her and a familiar presence crept into her mind.

“You have betrayed me AO 15-3.” The message was implanted into her own thoughts as a distorted electronic voice.

“Syrus? Hey are you ok in there?” Odd asked worriedly, knocking on the door.

No response.

Struggling to fight the control Syrus stood up but wound up being forced up against a wall.

“It is useless to fight. You belong to me.” The same warped voice rang out in her mind.

“Leave me alone!” Syrus hissed.

“I should have destroyed you long ago when I still had the chance… You will not escape me again.” The voice reverberated and Syrus’s body grew limp.

“Pathetic…Human…” The voice mocked.

“Syrus! Come on! I really don’t want to have to come in there!” Odd called from the other side of the door.

Still, no response came.

Odd hesitated for a minute then turned the knob and flung the door open to find Syrus lying on the floor.

“Syrus!” Odd shouted and ran to her side.

Odd knelt to help her up but backed up in surprise when her body slowly moved one hand underneath it for support and raised its right hand to Odd’s face and shot a medium sized ball of electricity at him sending him sprawling towards the wall behind him.

Odd collided into the wall hitting his head on it full force.

Syrus’s eyes opened to reveal black eye-like symbols as she stood up slowly.

She strode over to where Odd was lying unconscious and watched him for a moment to make sure he wasn’t going to get back up to oppose her.

When Odd didn’t move, Syrus grinned malevolently and phased through the bathroom door. Syrus looked around and spotted Aelita coming down the hall.

“Syrus, there you are. Are you feeling better now?” Aelita asked.

Syrus grinned and replied in a garbled variation of her own voice. “Just fine.. Aelita..”

Syrus closed her eyes for a moment then reopened them and the symbols disappeared.

“Syrus? Are you sure you’re Ok? You don’t… Sound so good.” Aelita said warily.

“Never better.” Syrus replied.

Aelita looked around the hall.

“Where’s Odd?” She asked, noticing he was nowhere in sight.

“Sleeping.” Syrus replied her voice sounding as though two people were speaking the same thing both at the same time and she took a step closer to Aelita.

Aelita started to back up slowly.

“Syrus… This isn’t like you at all… What’s wrong with you?” She asked, fearing that what Jeremie had said might actually be true.

Syrus only continued to walk toward her.

Aelita fumbled for her mobile in her left pocket.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Syrus said, closing her eyes and lifting her right hand up.

She opened them again and the symbols reappeared.

Sparks shot around her fingers and she sent a small bolt at the hand Aelita was holding her phone in.

Aelita screamed as Syrus approached her and pried the phone out of her electrically bound hand.

Syrus took the phone and flung it against a wall smashing it into pieces.

“No! Jeremie, help! You were right, it was a trap.” Aelita pleaded in vain.

In class Ms. Hertz was handing out worksheets and Jeremie was drumming nervously on his desk.

“Ulrich. Something is wrong, Aelita has been gone a really long time now and Odd and Syrus still haven’t returned either.” Jeremie whispered.

“Don’t worry so much will ya? She said she would call if something goes wrong, didn’t she?” Ulrich replied taking the worksheet Ms. Hertz handed him.

“I know, but I have a bad feeling that I was right, Aelita may be in danger.” Jeremie said beginning to sound panicked as he took his worksheet as well.

“I haven’t heard your laptop sound the alarm for an activated tower yet so I’m sure everything is fine.” Ulrich said trying to ease him.

“That’s because it’s still in my room.” Jeremie replied.

“What? You forgot it? That’s unusual; you’re usually conjoined at the hip with that thing.” Ulrich replied, surprised.

“Very funny, Ulrich, but there’s no time for that now. If X.A.N.A. is up to something we don’t have any time to lose.” Jeremie said.

“Gotcha, I will make a distraction so you can sneak out.” Ulrich replied. Jeremie nodded his response.

Ulrich sat quietly at his desk while he thought of a plan.

Ms. Hertz wrote an equation on the blackboard then turned to face the class.

“Can anyone please give me the answer to this equation?” She asked pointing to the blackboard. There were some murmurs in the class but no one volunteered.

Thinking fast Ulrich raised his hand.

“Stern, do you have the answer?” Ms. Hertz asked.

“Uh yeah, sure.” Ulrich said shrugging.

“Alright. Why don’t you come up to the board and write it down for us.” Ms. Hertz replied gesturing to the chalkboard.

Ulrich stood up and made his way to the front of the room.

He picked up a piece of chalk and held it up to the chalkboard before looking back at Jeremie from the corner of his eye.

Jeremie nodded to him and Ulrich looked back at the board.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He found a hard edge on the chalk and raised it up as high as his arm would reach, pressed it firmly on the board and slowly scraped it down the board creating a piercing shriek making everyone in the room cover their ears and shout in confusion.

Taking his chance, Jeremie slipped out of his desk and carefully made his way to the door and snuck out.

Making sure Jeremie had successfully gotten out of the room undetected Ulrich stopped and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“Stern, what in the world do you think you’re doing?” Ms. Hertz asked recovering from the ear splitting noise.

“I dunno.” Ulrich shrugged.

“Well, whatever it was, you will be serving detention for it later. Now get back to your seat.” Ms. Hertz replied pointing at his desk.

“Jeremie, you had best hope X.A.N.A. is up to something because I’m not going to be too happy with you if I get detention for no reason.” Ulrich fumed to himself.

Outside the classroom Jeremie hurried to the boy’s dormitories.

He opened the door to his room and ran to his desk to retrieve his laptop.

Setting it on the bed he lifted the top of it and on its screen was the image of a tower.

“No! I was afraid of this! X.A.N.A. has activated a tower!” Jeremie exclaimed to himself. He took out his mobile and dialed Aelita’s phone.

The phone rang continuously and Jeremie began to grow frantic.

“Come on, Aelita. Answer the phone.” Jeremie begged but no one answered.

“I knew it was a bad idea to send her over there.” Jeremie mumbled to himself as he dialed Odd’s number next.

“Oh come on. Not you too.” Jeremie moaned when no answer came right away.

Odd’s phone continuously rang finally waking him from his unconscious state. Odd struggled weakly for his phone and put it to his ear.

“Hello?” He groaned into it.

“Odd! Thank goodness I got a hold of you! X.A.N.A. has activated a tower!” Jeremie exclaimed.

“Yeah thanks for pointing out the obvious, Einstein.” Odd replied still in a half lying down position.

“What? What’s going on? Is Aelita ok?” Jeremie queried quickly.

“Love the concern there Jeremie, I just got knocked against a wall but no worries I’m perfectly fine, though I can’t say the same for your girlfriend.” Odd replied.

“No! Aelita! Odd, Tell me what’s going on!” Jeremie yelled, blushing a bit.  

“Calm down calm down, Aelita may be fine, I just hope I find her before Syrus does. She's possessed by X.A.N.A.”  Odd said and got to his feet.

“Odd… I don’t mean to crush your faith in your new “friend” but Ulrich and I both think she might still be on X.A.N.A.’s side.” Jeremie said in a calmer tone, trying to make it as easy as possible to say.

“No! You’re wrong Jeremie; s-she’s being controlled.” Odd replied defensively trying to fight back the lump now forming in his throat.

“Were you able to see here eyes?” Jeremie asked.

“Well no… Her eyes were closed at the time so I couldn’t see them.” Odd replied.

“Then how can you be sure she’s being controlled? She could very well be acting on her own. She fooled all of us Odd.” Jeremie replied with a grave expression.

“No. I won’t believe it... Syrus is.. different…” Odd replied solemnly.

“Odd.. I’m sorry... She’s a Krabe. She's just like the rest of her kind. You’re just going to have to accept that there is a high possibility that she’s not what we first thought.” Jeremie replied, his face somber.

“You said possibility! That means it’s not definite that she’s evil!” Odd exclaimed getting his hopes up.

“Yes, but it’s a very small chance, one that is very unlikely to be true.” Jeremie replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a sudden scream, a scream that Jeremie quickly identified as Aelita’s even over the phone.

“Odd! That was Aelita! She’s in trouble!” Jeremie panicked.

“Don’t worry about a thing Jeremie! I’ll save her!” Odd trumpeted and he charged out the door.

Syrus had thrown Aelita to the ground and bound her arms and legs to the ground with electricity, her right foot on Aelita’s chest ready to fire electricity at her.

“Odd! Help!” Aelita pleaded when he came out.

Syrus stopped charging electricity and looked behind her.

“You should have stayed put, human.” Syrus growled and shot more electricity at him causing him to fall.

“Syrus? W-what’s going on? Why are you doing this?” Odd ask sadly and got back up again.

“Odd!” Aelita screamed.

“You have to snap out of it, you’re being controlled.” Odd said gloomily.

Syrus grinned.

“I act on my own free will.” She replied in the same distorted voice as before.

“Odd, forget about her and help me!” Aelita screamed.

Odd looked around quickly and saw a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall.

He raced to get it and charged towards Syrus spraying her with its contents then ramming the extinguisher into her side.

Syrus collapsed and Aelita’s bindings weakened allowing her to move again.

Odd grabbed Aelita’s hand and pulled her to her feet.

“Are you ok Aelita?” Odd asked. “Yes I’m fine now. Odd, we need to get out of here before Syrus wakes up.” Aelita replied.

“Right.. I can’t believe she is doing this.” Odd said heartbreakingly as they hurried down the hall.  

Aelita shook her head.

“I don’t know; I wish I could say it’s not her. This behavior just doesn’t seem like her. But when I saw her eyes I didn’t see the eye of X.A.N.A. in them.” Aelita said sadly.

“I really hope Jeremie’s not right that she really is evil...” Odd said sadly, ducking behind a tree before continuing deeper through the park.  

Syrus moaned and slowly got up. She checked all directions and discovered that Odd and Aelita had escaped.

She growled and darted off to intercept them.

Jeremie was already in the laboratory at the factory when Odd and Aelita arrived in the elevator.

“Aelita! You’re safe!” Jeremie exclaimed.

“Yes, but just barely. Syrus is..” Aelita sighed.  

“Possessed.” Jeremie finished.

“Yeah, Odd has already told me though I still think she may be acting on her own accord. You two get down to the scanners and I will try and contact Ulrich and Yumi as soon as possible.” Jeremie said and began typing on the keyboard as Odd and Aelita entered the elevator.

The school bell rang releasing students to go to their next class.

Yumi picked up her book bag and left the room barely making it to the other side of the door before her mobile started to ring.

She quickly removed the phone from her pocket and when she realized it was Jeremie she lowered her voice into a whisper.

“What’s going on Jeremie?” Yumi asked putting a hand over the phone for a second as some kids passed by her in the hall.

“Nothing good, there’s an activated tower, Odd and Aelita are already on Lyoko but we need you to head over to the factory as soon as possible.” Jeremie replied.

“Alright I’m on my way. I’ll call Ulrich and let him know too.” Yumi said and placed her mobile back in her pocket.

“The activated tower is in the Ice Sector.” Jeremie said to Odd and Aelita as they stepped into their scanners.

“Scanner Odd. Scanner Aelita. Transfer Odd. Transfer Aelita. Virtualization!” Jeremie said as two stat cards blinked onto the screen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aelita’s body virtualized first then Odd’s whom managed a back flip before landing.

“Show off.” Aelita rebuked.

Odd only shrugged and looked around at the barren landscape.

“Man, the Ice Sector is looking a bit like a ghost town. I don’t see a single monster out here.” Odd complained.

“We had better keep an eye out just in case X.A.N.A. has planned us a surprise party.” Aelita said.

“Party? I love parties. I sure hope he remembered to send out invitations.” Odd joked.

“Alright guys the tower is directly north-west from your current positions.” Jeremie’s voice said.

“Ok Jeremie.” Aelita replied.

She and Odd took the left route of the forked drift of ice toward the tower.

“Man this is going to be a piece of cake; I still don’t see even a single monster!” Odd laughed as they continued down the path.

Aelita stopped suddenly and Odd whom was running behind her nearly bumped into her.

“Hey! What’s the big idea? Couldn’t you have at least warned me if you were going to stop?” Odd shouted.

“Jeremie? Are you sure the tower is in this direction?” Aelita said, ignoring Odd as she stood looking at a huge wall of ice with no passages to the other side.

“Yes Aelita, its right here on my screen, the tower is only 100 yards in front of you guys.” Jeremie’s voice replied.

“Uh, you sure, Einstein? I don’t see it anywhere.” Odd said.

“Not only that but we don’t even have 100 yards between us and a wall of ice.” Aelita replied, gesturing to the wall with her left hand.

“What? My readouts don’t show anything about a wall of ice dividing the path between you two and the tower.” Jeremie replied perplexed.

"Well we've got solid ice here Jeremie. So unless you can virtualize us a digital snow plow we need another way through." Odd replied running his palms against the wall making sure it really was solid.

“Alright, give me a minute to figure this out.” Jeremie replied.

“Sure, Jeremie, take your time. At this rate we’ve got all day.” Odd replied lightly with his hand out in front of him as he leaned against a side wall.

Yumi looked around to make sure she hadn’t been spotted as she made her way to the park.

The sound of a twig snapping startled her and she held in her breath.

An unknown figure lingered in the shadows of the trees behind Yumi and she could feel she wasn’t alone.

“Is somebody there?” Yumi asked shakily as she spun around, startling some birds feeding in a patch of grass next to her and they flew off, leaving the area completely silent all except for the sound of Yumi’s breathing.

“Phew. It was just a bunch of birds.” Yumi sighed and relaxed a bit.

“I hope Ulrich will be able to escape the detention Ms. Hertz gave him.” She commented to herself.

Leaves rustled despite there not being any wind, and the sound began to take the beat of steady footsteps being drug carelessly through them.

Yumi paused for a moment and the sound stopped.

She decided it was nothing, and continued on, but the sound resumed.

A shadowy form emerged from the foliage and stared straight at her.

Yumi assumed a defensive position in case whatever it was decided to attack.

It continued forward and Yumi sighed with relief.

“Syrus, what are you doing hiding in the bushes? You really scared me there.” Yumi said resuming a normal posture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syrus stood motionless, her head tilted toward the ground.

“Syrus? Come on its ok, I’m not mad at you, it was just a simple question.” Yumi said giving her a stern look.

Syrus moved forward and shifted her head up as though to look at Yumi.

“Anyway Syrus, there’s an activated tower on Lyoko. One of us would have told you sooner but you don’t have a phone so we could…n’t… call….” Yumi said watching Syrus who seemed to not be listening.

“Hey what’s wrong with you?” Yumi asked worriedly and stepped back.  

Syrus advanced and growled.

She opened her eyes and the symbols that had been hiding beneath her eyelids flickered.

“Uh oh.” Yumi said under her breath. Syrus’s hands lit with electricity and she bolted forward to attack; Yumi crossed her arms in front of her in an attempt to block but Syrus grabbed Yumi’s wrists engulfing her in electrical charge.

Yumi stood limply, trying to recover from the shock.

“S..Syrus…” Yumi moaned weakly and her legs gave under her.

“Guys, I’ve analyzed the ice wall dividing you two from the tower and it appears to be some kind of a gate.” Jeremie finally said.

“Great Jeremie, so how do we get on the other side?” Odd replied.

“You two are going to have to go to Sector 5 and find the key that corresponds with the ice gate.” Jeremie said as a grid popped up on his screen and a red cursor began moving seemingly randomly across it.

“That will be like finding a needle in a haystack!” Odd exclaimed.

“Don’t worry; I’m scanning Sector 5 right now to find the right key to deactivate the gate. You two will have to make your way across some stray ice drifts to make it to the end of the sector. When you get there, use the transport orb to get to Sector 5.” Jeremie instructed.

“Alright Jeremie.” Aelita replied.

The two of them turned around and backtracked the way they had come and they approached the broken up path.

“Cool, it’s like virtual hop-scotch!” Odd exclaimed as he jumped carelessly across to the first ice block.

“Odd, be careful! The last thing we need is for you to fall into the Digital Sea.” Aelita warned.

“Yeah, yeah.” Odd replied as he started across the rest of the platforms.

“Whoa!” Odd exclaimed as he lost balance when he landed on one of the drifts in the middle of the “bridge” between the two large sections of the sector.

The ice dipped and swayed under Odd as he flailed his arms in his struggle to keep from falling off.

“Odd, try not to fall in, I’m coming to help!” Aelita shouted to him from the opposite side.

“That’s easy for you to say!” Odd remarked as the ice beneath him began to move more violently, threatening to toss him into the Digital Sea.

Aelita carefully moved across to the floating ice next to Odd, and distributing her weight so she wouldn’t fall, she held out her hand to him.

“Grab my hand!” Aelita said, and Odd immediately reached out to grab her hand, but a laser seemingly came out of nowhere and hit Aelita’s hand causing her to retract it quickly throwing Odd more off balance than before.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Odd yelled shakily.

“Something hit my hand.” Aelita replied and a Hornet flew into view.

“Great! Just what we need! I’m having enough problems without you buddy!” Odd yelled, shaking a fist at the Hornet then fell on his hands and knees because the ice he was standing on tilted until it was almost floating on its side.

He gripped the edge of the ice and shifted his weight to the side still above the water and he pushed it back down, creating a splash as the drift finally settled itself.

“Whew, that was close.” Odd said.

~~~~~~~~~~~Continuing from here on out without colour...~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you ok Odd?” Aelita asked.

“Yeah I think so.” Odd replied.

“Now, where is that Hornet? I have a bone to pick with him.” Odd looked around and he spotted it flying over a nearby iceberg.

“Ok buddy, take this! Laser Arrow!” Odd yelled and an arrow flew out and hit the Hornet dead on.

“Alright! Bulls-eye!” Odd exclaimed, then continued to cross the ice platforms, this time being more careful.

Aelita came across shortly after and walked up beside Odd then the two walked to the edge of the sector.

“Ok Jeremie we made. Barely though.” Aelita said glancing at Odd.

“Ok, I will call up the transport orb.” Jeremie said and a white orb with a bluish-black X.A.N.A. symbol rose up and closed around them.

The transport orb landed in the middle of the arena of the Celestial Dome and opened to allow its passengers out.

Odd and Aelita waited in the center until the section of the wall slid down, creating a pathway for them into the next area.

“You have 3 minutes to get to the key to deactivate the security system, then, I will direct you to the key that will deactivate the ice gate.” Jeremie’s voice said as Odd and Aelita ran through the corridor.

In the lab, the elevator doors opened and Yumi staggered into the room, her clothes scuffed and covered in dirt.

“Yumi! What happened to you?” Jeremie asked, alarmed.

“It’s Syrus. She’s being controlled by X.A.N.A. and she’s headed for the factory. Actually, I’m surprised she isn’t here already; I don’t know how long I was out for when she electrocuted me.” Yumi replied between heavy breaths.

“Are you Ok Yumi?  Hey, where’s Ulrich?” Jeremie asked.

“Yeah I'll be fine, as for Ulrich, Ms. Hertz gave him detention for disorderly conduct. I doubt he will be able to make it to the factory.” Yumi replied.

“Well Odd and Aelita haven’t run into too much trouble, so hopefully we can do Ok without him. Anyway, I will try to handle Syrus if she gets into the factory. Do you think you can make it to the scanner room?” Jeremie asked taking a glance away from his screen to look at Yumi.

“Yeah, I think I can make it, Jeremie.” Yumi said as she straightened up and walked into the elevator. She pressed the button on the left of the elevator and with the clang of the doors being locked together it began to move down to the sub levels of the factory.

Yumi strode across the room and stepped inside the middle scanner.

“Ok Jeremie I’m ready.” Yumi announced from the scanner room.

“Alright, Scanner Yumi, Transfer Yumi, Virtualization!” Jeremie said as he pressed the necessary keys to start the transfer sending Yumi into Sector 5.

Yumi landed inside the Arena and as the others did before; she waited in the center for the wall to open then ran through the now open path.

“Laser Arrow!” Odd exclaimed and he fired at another creeper, killing it.

“All right I’m on a roll today! He cheered then began looking around the room for the key.

“Guys you only have 45 seconds left hurry! The key should be just above a high platform approximately 35 degrees from where you’re standing.” Jeremie’s voice called out.

Aelita looked up at the overhang above Odd.

“I think I see the platform, and it looks to be approximately 65ft above us.” She said, pointing it out to Odd.

“No sweat princess, I got it!” He called back and on all fours, started leaping up the blocks resting beneath the platform.

He reached the upper-most block but it stopped just short of his reach of his target. Odd dug his claws into the wall and quickly bounded up it.

He positioned himself a little above the platform and vaulted himself from the wall toward the platform but he had misjudged the distance which caused him to barely catch the edge.

“You only have 5 seconds left!” Jeremie announced, franticly into the microphone of his headset.

Odd hung to the platform and swung his feet into the air making him flip onto the outcropping.

Odd stuck his foot out and kicked the cylinder shaped peg of the deactivation key into its X.A.N.A. eye shaped key plate and the timer stopped just as it was about to hit 1.

“Whew.. Way to cut that a little close there Odd..” Jeremie sighed.

“Hey! Did I get the key in time or what?” Odd questioned. Jeremie drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair as his only response.

“Hey, I didn’t miss out on anything did I?” Yumi said upon entering the room.  

“Yumi, I’m glad you made it.” Aelita replied when she saw her.

“Nah, not unless you count my awesome move I used to trip the switch.” Odd said still lying on his back on the platform.

“Well. It seems you didn’t need my help after all.” Yumi retorted.

“Actually Yumi, we still have another key to find.” Aelita said walking calmly toward her.

“A second switch? What for?” Yumi asked.

“I will fill you in on the details on the details later.” Aelita replied.

“I’ve located the key that will deactivate that ice wall. Aelita, a path should be opening up behind you. Follow it and take the first left then turn right two corridors down from that point and you should find yourself in the correct room.” Jeremie explained. Large blocks started moving down in a domino effect in a small section of the wall behind Aelita. Seeing the new path open, Odd left his perch and jumped down beside Yumi and Aelita then turned and headed through the tunnel; Yumi and Aelita quickly joined him.

Standing on the bridge to the factory, Syrus growled fiercely and held her head tightly between her hands.

Her nails dug into her scalp as she struggled to take back control of her body, but she felt no pain for the specter X.A.N.A. had used to take control of her was numbing every inch of her body.

She couldn’t feel anything in her current state, she couldn’t even tell the difference between hot and cold anymore, not even a single emotion was able to manifest in her.

X.A.N.A. had blocked all of it out.

It was as if her entire body had been changed back into a machine although she still retained her human shape.

Still clutching her head, Syrus swayed back and forth as a drunkard would after having too much to drink.

X.A.N.A. was sapping all of her strength little by little and she knew she wouldn’t last much longer before he reclaimed her body.

Still, she fought him, hoping to give her friends enough time needed to stop him and deactivate the tower.

Her thoughts were shrouded by X.A.N.A.’s evil presence, the only thing able to surface her mind now was her desperation to free herself from him, but her attempts were wasted.

Syrus’s mind was soon pushed aside and X.A.N.A. regained full control of her once again and he moved her body slowly step by step, toward the elevator.

Awesomeness! I really like your series!

BTW, does this series have a name?
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I live inside Kadic Forums! I am the ultimate power! I am...The Administrator! Fear my power and tremble! HA HA!

Actually... Not really.. I haven't been able to think of anything good.. Got any suggestions?  

Not at the moment. *sigh* I'll think about it.
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I live inside Kadic Forums! I am the ultimate power! I am...The Administrator! Fear my power and tremble! HA HA!

Ok lol. I've been thinking about it myself and nothing I come up with sounds good for it. XD

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