I do not own Code Lyoko or any or their characters!

Chapter 6

"This can't be right!" Aelita yelled, luckily the cafeteria was empty since the other students had to go to class. "This has to be some sort of sick joke!"

Ulrich placed a hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm her down. "It's alright Aelita, we'll go…" Aelita pushed her boyfriend's hand off her shoulder and stared daggers at Ulrich, tears in her eyes. "You don't understand Ulrich, my father sacrificed his life for me and now it was all for nothing." Then in a fit of rage, Aelita ran out of the cafeteria.

"Aelita!" Ulrich tried call out to her before she got out of earshot. "You guys call Yumi and have her meet you at the factory." Ulrich instructed his friends. "Aelita and I will join you as soon as we can." With that being said, Ulrich took off in an effort to find Aelita.

At The Factory

In the supercomputer room, Jeremy and Odd made a surprising discovery. "The computer's already turned on." Jeremy stated after investigating the supercalculator. "What are you saying Einstein?" Odd asked the boy genius. "Someone has already been here and turned the computer back on."

After taking this new information in, Odd and Jeremy made there way up to the lab and Jeremy sat down in his computer chair and typed a program into the keyboard. "I just activated the superscan, in a few minutes we should find out if there is an activated tower."

Just as Jeremy finished his sentence, the elevator doors opened and Yumi walked out with a smile, but she was not alone. William walked along side his girlfriend with a confident smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Odd asked sourly, still a little bitter for what happened last time William was in the computer lab.

"I thought you could use my help." William responded calmly.

"We don't need help, especially from you." Odd crossed his arms and glared at him.

"Be nice Odd." Yumi scolded her fellow warrior. "He's clearly sorry for the way he acted in the past and all he wants is a chance to prove himself.

Before Odd could respond, the supercomputer flashed and beeped, indicating a tower has been activated. Jeremy quickly began to localize the exact location of the tower.

"Stop this useless bickering; you are all on the same team." Jeremy told them. "Now the activated tower is in the forest sector."

"Should we go to Lyoko?" Odd asked.

Jeremy thought about it for a minute before coming to a conclusion. "Yeah, you and Yumi go to take care of the monsters guarding the tower." Jeremy said before turning around to look at William. "William, you standby incase of an emergency."

William just rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Whatever…"

Yumi and Odd both headed for the elevator and pushed the down button to take them to the scanner room. As the elevator door opened, Odd and Yumi both entered the empty scanners then waited for Jeremy to work his magic.

"Here we go." Jeremy cracked his knuckles and began the virtualization process.

"Transfer Odd! Transfer Yumi!"

"Scanner Odd! Scanner Yumi!"

"Virtualization!"

Next thing they knew, Yumi and Odd were floating above the forest sector and both teens landed on one knee as they fell. Jeremy quickly materialized the Overwing and Overboard, which resulted in them boarding the vehicles and taking off towards the activated tower, which was already in site.

At Kadic

"Aelita?!" Ulrich busted open the door to her dorm room only to find no sign of his girlfriend. He sucked his teeth and turned back around to continue his search, only to be face to face with Sissi.

"Hey Ulrich, do you like my new outfit?" Sissi asked, pointing to her purple tank top with a glittered pink butterfly in the middle and her bedazzled jean shorts.

Ulrich rolled his eyes and simpily walked past her, a little frustrated. "Sorry, I'm a little too busy to chat." He didn't go for before Sissi grabbed his wrist.

"Not before you tell me what you see in that pink haired floozie!" Sissi demanded.

"Well for one thing, she's not a spoiled little brat like you, Sissi dear." Ulrich said before pulling out of her weak grip and running off.

Sissi put a hand on her side and growled angrily. "No matter what it takes, you will be mine Ulrich Stern!"

"If she's not in the dorms, where else could be?" Ulrich asked himself as he ran out of the dorm building. "Unless…" Ulrich stopped for a moment, partially to catch his breath but mostly to think clearer. "How could you forget about The Hermitage! Ulrich you idiot!" Ulrich yelled at himself before running towards the woods.

Lyoko

Odd has a big goofy grin across his face has he recklessly piloted his vehicle, as he took pleasure in the rush of narrowly avoided obstacles.

"I really missed this…"

"Stay focused Odd, remember we have a job to do!" Yumi growled as she's quickly getting frustrated with her friends lackadaisical behavior.

"You don't have to worry, I'm as focused a- " Odd was interrupted by a laser, which just narrowly missed him.

They looked down and saw Xana's monsters ready for them, two Krabs and one Kankrelat to be exact who are guarding the activated tower.

"Alright! Time for target practice!" Odd yelled as he shot a couple laser arrows at one of the Krabs, each arrow just missing the eye of Xana.

As Odd fought one of the Krabs, Yumi is currently being teamed up by the other Krab and the Kankrelat. With one drawn fan, Yumi is able it protect her life points from being hit. Unfortunately, the Overwing isn't as safe. The vehicle eventually got hot enough to be destroyed, forcing Yumi to abandon ship. Once she landed, she quickly drew her second fan and got into her battle stance.

"Shield!" Odd yelled to protect himself against a couple of the Krab's bullets. Odd then turned the Overboard around and prepared a dive towards the monster. "Laser Arrow!" Odd yelled as he and the monster exchanged attacks. Odd got hit in the leg, causing him to loss 10 LP but he managed to stay on the board. Fortunately, Odd's arrow managed to hit the Krab right in the middle of the eye of Xana. "Yes!" Odd cheered as he turned around to help Yumi.

"Yah!" Yumi threw her fan with a fierce battle cry. The fan flew past the second Krab but managed to cut through it on the way back around. Then Odd made quick work of the Kankrelat with a single laser arrow.

"That's right! He are the best!" Odd cheered as he did a little celebratory dance on top of the Overboard.

Yumi rolled her eyes, still slightly keeping her guard up in case more monsters showed up.

"Don't get too confident Odd, I have a feeling Xana won't give up that easily." Jeremy said, keeping an eye on the radar.

Odd is now piloting his vehicle while doing a headstand. "Relax Einstein, whatever Xana sends our way we'll knock down!"

"Watch out!" Jeremy warned, when suddenly two Tarantulas appeared from behind the tower.

Not giving Odd time to get up from his headstand, the monsters fired 3 shots at the defenseless Odd, quickly devirtualizing him.

"Odd!" Yumi yelled and quickly drew her fan then tried her best to block the fast and powerful lasers of the Tarantulas.

The 2 on 1 assault soon became too much for Yumi and she eventually suffered the same fate as Odd.

"No way!" Jeremy said to himself loudly.

"Something wrong?" William asked, walking over to the computer to see if anything interesting happened.

"Odd and Yumi are both devirtualized and I still can't get a hold of Aelita!"

"Should I go to Lyoko?" William asked, ready to rush to the scanner room

Jeremy thought about it for a minute but eventually shook his head. "Not yet, wait here for Aelita and Ulrich, who should be here soon."

Jeremy then entered Ulrich's number and decided to see what taking him so long.

Forest

Ulrich is currently running in the forest, the Hermitage now in view. Just as he was about to open the door, his phone rang and when he checked the Caller ID he quickly picked it up.

"Jeremy, what's up?"- U

"It's a disaster over here, Odd and Yumi both got devirtualized and the tower's still activated. We need you and Aelita here immediately!"- J

"Alright calm down, I just arrived at the Hermitage so just wait a couple more minutes."- U

Ulrich hung up and entered the ancient house, he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated as he looked around at all of the knocked over and destroyed furniture.

"Aelita!" Ulrich called, hoping to get some sort of response back. He walked up the stairs and opened the door to a familiar Aelita's destroyed old bedroom. As he walked in, he saw a familiar pink haired girl curled up in a ball on the bed, letting out loud and painful sobs.

Ulrich sits next to her and placed an arm around her. "It's gonna be alright Aelita." Ulrich said softly, trying to comfort her.

Aelita rested her head on his chest as she cried and eventually she calmed down. She's now sniffling as Ulrich held her, feeling safe in his arm.

"I'm never going back to Lyoko…" Aelita said, breaking a short moment of silence.

"You don't mean that Aelita." Ulrich responded, rubbing her back softly. "You're the only one that can deactivate the towers on Lyoko."

Aelita suddenly jumped up, looking in his eyes. "I can't go back, I already lost my dad during this war with Xana, I can't lose anyone else." Aelita teared up a little again. "Especially you."

Ulrich sighed, remembering his father's threat about his grades, but he quickly blocked those thoughts out and held her hand. "You can't go on living like that." Ulrich told her. "You have to face your fear before it consumes you."

"Don't you understand, I can't do that!" Aelita yelled at him suddenly before going back into her sad previously state. "I'm not strong enough…"

"You're a lot stronger then you think." Ulrich told her. "The only thing holding that's you back is yourself."

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked, no longer sad or angry but interested in what he has to say.

"You're a powerful warrior on Lyoko but the only thing stopping you from being the best is your fear." Ulrich said. "You're afraid that you'll let us down, that you'll fail on Lyoko. It's ok to have fear, everyone has it, it's how you conqueror it that determines a real warrior."

Aelita looked down at the ground, digesting what her boyfriend just told her.

"I won't force you to go to the factory with me but you have to make a choice." Ulrich let go of her hand and stood up, towering in front of her in this situation. "You either come with me and we go deactivate the tower together or you stay here and let not just your friends down but the entire world."

"You're right Ulrich i'm scared, I'm scared I'll lose you and the others to Xana." Aelita gulped audibly, but she even surprised herself when she arose from her seat. "But as long as your with me, I will never back down!"

Ulrich smiled and motioned towards the door. "Come on, the others are expecting us."

Aelita nodded and smiled back as the couple ran out of the house and towards the factory.

Factory

Jeremy's eyes are glued to the computer screen, staring at the 2 red dots that represented Xana's monsters.

Odd and Yumi are sulking by the holomap, mentally kicking themselves over their most recent failure. While William is waiting impatiently by the elevator.

A few seconds later, the elevator door opened up revealing Ulrich and Aelita inside. "Sorry we're late." Ulrich said with a smile.

"At last!" Jeremy turned his chair around to face the couple. "Head to the scanner room, you three are headed to the forest sector."

"Three?" Aelita asked the boy genius.

"Yeah, i'm gonna help you out." William stated, which surprised the couple.

Aelita looked up at Ulrich, who didn't look upset at all. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go." Ulrich told him, which surprised everyone in the lab.

William nodded and accompanied Ulrich and Aelita in the elevator, pressing the down button as he entered.

The three teens soon arrived in the scanner room and they each entered an individual scanner.

Transfer Ulrich! Transfer William! Transfer Aelita!

Scanner Ulrich! Scanner William! Scanner Aelita!

Virtualization!

The three warriors materialized above the Forest Sector and fell to the ground, landing on one knee. Jeremy quickly materialized the Overbike and Ulrich ran to board it with Aelita right behind him.

"Sorry William, but I have no more vehicles left for you." Jeremy told him through the head piece.

William, who has the same attire from when he was under Xana's control except with no eye of Xana in the middle of his bodysuit, smirked. "That's fine, I have my own way of travel anyway." Suddenly, William's virtual body transformed to smoke and accelerated down the path leading to the activated tower, leaving Ulrich and Aelita in a state of awe before they followed him.

At the site of the activated tower, the Tarantulas quickly noticed the super smoke and fired their powerful lasers at the smoke with no effect. One of the Tarantulas noticed the Overbike speeding towards the activated tower and began firing at it.

Ulrich drew one of his sabers and began deflecting lasers, buying Aelita enough time to activate her wings and abandon the vehicle in order for her to make it to the tower alone.

William then appeared in his solid form on top of one of the Tarantulas with one foot on its head and the other on its arm, he then summoned his Zweihander and stabbed the eye of Xana with his brute force. William finally jumped off the monster before it exploded, smiling at his work.

Ulrich dodged and blocked lasers with his saber before finally pushing a trigger below one of the handles of the Overbike, causing the bike to drive automatically. He then did a back flip off of the Overbike and landed perfectly on both feet. The bike soon rammed into Tarantula, destroying it as well as the vehicle.

Ulrich looked back at William and noticed that he made quick work out of the other

Tarantula, causing him to smile. He soon heard a rumbling, which caused him to turn around and draw his two sabers.

A Megatank began rolling down the path they came for and appeared right in front of Ulrich, it opened it's shell and quickly fired one of it's massive lasers at him. This forced Ulrich to cross his blades and block the blast. Ulrich is already having trouble blocking, the power behind the laser is slowly pushing Ulrich back, even while he's trying his best to stand in place.

Acting quickly, William activated his super smoke and accelerated to the side of the Megatank and gave it a powerful shoulder block when he returned to his solid form, the force caused the monster to fall off the edge and into the digital sea.

William then walked up to Ulrich, who is on one knee after he became exhausted after blocking the Megatank's laser.

He soon stood up and nodded at William. "Thanks."

William smiled and nodded back.

Aelita finally arrived at the activated tower and entered the tall structure. She walked to the middle of the first platform and looked up, causing her to levitate to the second platform. She then walked to the middle of that platform, causing an interface to appear. Aelita placed her hand on the middle of the interface and entered the code LYOKO. "Tower deactivated!" Aelita said to herself as screens fell behind her.

After the devirtualization, the gang decided to have a brief meeting in the lab to discuss the future of William.

"What's gonna happen to me?" William asked the others simply. "Am I a Lyoko Warrior again?"

After glancing at each other, Odd, Aelita, and Ulrich nodded at in approval. Jeremy sighed and stood up from his computer chair. "Alright, but this is your last chance." Jeremy informed him. "So if I were you, I wouldn't blow it."

William smiled and placed his hands in his jacket pockets. "Don't worry, I learned from my mistake from the past and they not only made me a better person but a better warrior."

Jeremy smiled back and crossed his arms, going back to thinking about who would come here to restart the super computer and revive Xana.

"Now, let's get to class before Mrs. Hertz gives us detention for missing her test." Aelita said as the gang headed to the elevator.

"That's today?!" Odd moaned and bit his lower lip. "But I didn't study!"

"Some things never change." Ulrich commented, causing the group to erupt in laughter.