Hello everyone to this special moment as the last chapter for this part of the story is now up! With XANA trapping Odd in one of the many tombs, will the other Lyoko Warriors be able to deactivate the tower? Which warrior will be the unlucky one to go out first? Read on to find out the epic conclusion of the first of part of my story (which I honestly don't know how long I'll make, most likely until I lose inspiration).

Note: The release deadline for "The Change of Our Unfortunate Lives" will be at the middle of August if worst case scenarios happen like writer's block, inability to get access to the Internet, and/or emergency family issues. This does not mean the story comes out on August 15th or 16th but hopefully BEFORE that date. I'll try to aim for the 1st to the 5th for the new story upload.

Secondary Note: With my (last!) school year starting on the 15th of August, story updates MAY be affected, but if I keep to my schedule and constantly find inspiration, uploads should keep their tempo intact. But as I've said several times before; Personal life takes priority.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko in any way. I only own Sero.

(Sero's P.O.V, First person.)

After our emotionally uplifting cheer to help Odd, we slowly made our way through the many traps of the Sector. We decided to split off into two groups, mine including Ulrich and William. The two gave brief looks at each other, namely from Ulrich. "So has anything happened between you two since Odd got his mind messed up by XANA?" I asked to the two. "No, happened at all." They said in near unison. They gave the other a slightly surprised glance before moving on, carefully avoiding barely noticeable tripwire which I called out. "Hey Ser, do you have any special powers on Lyoko besides those wings I saw earlier?" William asked me as he slightly sped up his walking to my pace.

"Two others in particular, but one is more of a drawback; The main ability is to become an invisible ghost, which decreases my 'Sanity' meter. One of the effects causes me go into a bloodlust, making me attack the closest living thing." I said, momentarily popping in and out of my ethereal form to show William. Even in that short second of time, the voices clawed at my mind and insecurities, making me shudder. "Aelita and I can confirm the bloodlust part by personal experience." Ulrich commented, gaining an unseen smirk from me. "The other 'power' which Jeremie hasn't been able to figure out is that I start with only 50 Lifepoints instead of the usual 100, which makes me rely on my wings and short uses of my ghostly form for protection." I added as we successfully lept over a suspicious pile of dead leaves gathered between two large tombs.

"Not to sound off-topic, but didn't Aelita also mention a certain fog that tried to stop her near the tower?" Ulrich said, pulling my attention away from me talking about my powers. As if on cue, a mysterious fog started to form from all directions. Ready for possible combat, the three of us put our backs facing each other with our weapons ready in their owner's hands. As the fog suddenly thickened around us, I couldn't see anything. Backing up for protection, I gasped slightly when I didn't bump into either William nor Ulrich. Surely they couldn't have gone far, right? I heard unfamiliar voices coming from the fog, but never from the same direction.

'You are always a failure...'

'Who wants a loner?'

'You never had true friends or love...'

That last voice got on my nerve. I slashed angrily at the fog, letting my frustration guide my attacks when the last slice was blocked by a metal object, judging by the clanking sound. 'You are a puppet to both XANA and the other Lyoko warriors, and have never been anything better in your short life...' There was no way I would let some fog get the best of me. I pulled my scythe back from the fog into the safety of my barely visible area of vision. "Get out X-" "Take that, you damn fog!" I got interrupted by what was definitely Ulrich's voice in front of me as a familiar katana pierced my chest. The fog suddenly scattered into thin air, showing William right behind Ulrich, who had his katana up to the handle inside of me. "Um, whoops. Sorry, Sero." Ulrich simply said as I started to scatter into blue data. "No probl-" I started to say before the devirtualization caught up to where my head would be.

As I gathered my conscious, I found myself in my scanner which just opened up. Maybe I'm starting to get used to devirtualization, hence the lack of me going unconscious. As if life wanted to hate me more, I felt a sharp pain start in my chest, most likely from Ulrich stabbing me. I made my way to the elevator holding my chest with my right hand. Pressing the button, the doors closed as the elevator made its ascent to the Supercomputer Room. When the door opened, I saw only Jeremie's feet while the rest of him was obscured by his chair. Was I the first one to go? I walked to him to see if he had anything to share, removing my hand from my stomach as my adrenaline numbed the pain away.

"Any reason you weren't talking to us on Lyoko after that cheer Jeremie?" I said to him as I put my hand on his shoulder, looking over at the computer to see what he was doing. The computer had several screens of moving data with the main display of Odd's Lyoko figure with a large red exclamation point over the avatar's head. I looked down to Jeremie, wondering why he didn't react to my touch, only to see him unconscious and slightly slouched over. My breathing and heart sped up suddenly at the sight of my knocked-out boyfriend. Looking all around the room, I saw another Jeremie, which I hoped was the real one, waiting by the elevator. "Don't even think about warning your band of misfits, lest you want to suffer worse than your 'love'." The Spectre said, seemingly indifferent about what was happening on Lyoko.

Revenge built up inside of me, making me thoughtlessly rush at the Spectre, only for it to extend its arm and shock me in the chest. One of the stray lightning struck my glasses, snapping them cleanly in half. I gasped at this as my world suddenly blurred, something which the Spectre noticed to some extent. "Useless objects to hide imperfections. Why try to improve something, or someone, which is imperfect when you can make it better?" The Spectre said as he let me go of his electric grasp, but not before two of the lightning bolts jumped up to my eyes, causing me to go nearly blind. I hoped with all my willpower that this was only temporary, if not at least curable.

I weakly fell to the ground, only aware of the faintest outlines of my surroundings. I wanted to cry but each movement of my eye stung me, forcing me to hold my emotions back. I heard the Spectre chuckle to itself as it pushed Jeremie out of the chair, forcing me to hear him hit the hard floor. "Now it's time to introduce the bug." The Spectre said as it made the sound of fingers touching keys. My body calmed slightly when I heard a scanner below me open, knowing that someone would help soon.

But who was it?

(Ulrich's P.O.V, First person.)

"Stay together William, or else we'll get lost like Sero just did." I whispered to William, who made sure that we kept physical contact. Sure it was a bit awkward, but we needed to stay together. Voices called to both of us, judging by William's shivering, but these voices were rather different from the ones Aelita described.

'Your friend is far away...'

'Trapped in a prison of death...'

'Isolated from the once-living branches of life...'

'Sacrifices must be made...'

"Did the fog just tell us where Odd was?" William said, keeping his back against mine. I found this increasingly confusing since Aelita described the fog as "Manipulative" and "XANA-influenced", not helpful or informative. "Whatever the fog told us, I'm not comfortable about the 'sacrifice' part." I replied, watching some of the fog condense into an unknown figure. I watched as the figure motioned some fog to transform, becoming a large, crook, which rested in its left hand. I watched the figure as it swung almost randomly, as if it was trying to scare me. When the crook came close, I blocked it with both katanas. I got confused at the sound of a 'clang' as much as the foggy figure, who drew his weapon back, holding it close to his chest. I took this opportunity to ready myself, looking for the weakest point. I took my chance and quickly stabbed the figure in the chest, plunging my katana up to the hilt inside of my target.

"Get out X-" "Take that, you damn fog!" I interrupted the menacing figure when the fog suddenly dispersed, showing Sero. In the moment before I said anything, I heard the fog's voice echo back into my head 'Sacrifices must be made...'. I silently cursed to myself that Sero was the one that had to go out. After the short time of less than an instant did all of this happen. I looked to where Sero's eyes would be, my face still holding the surprise. "Um, whoops. Sorry, Sero." I said innocently to Sero as his body was already scattering into vanishing data. "No probl-" Sero started to say before the devirtualization caught up to his hood. I sighed as I saw the tower closer than before the fog caught up to us. The sky took on a slightly harsher tone of black as if the Sector could become any darker. "William, you there? The fog is gone." I said as I turned around, putting my hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly at the contact, turning around to meet my gaze.

"Sorry Ulrich, I was spacing out for a bit there." William said with barely noticeable hesitation. I simply looked at him briefly before we continued our way to the Tower, which slowly became more activated each second.

(Odd's P.O.V, Third(-ish) person.)

Odd looked at his surroundings, which still consisted of a sealed tomb. The only 'light' came from the small cracks in the aged stone. He didn't know how long he was crying for, but he remembered hearing Jeremie say something a few minutes ago, implying that his friends were coming to help him. Wanting to escape, Odd went to the largest crack in his stone prison, which the opening was barely larger than a €2 coin. He tried his best to peer out of the crevice of the dusty stone, which barely gave any reasonable vision. "There's nothing I can do to help my friends on Lyoko..." Odd muttered to himself as he walked around, keeping his muscles loose and ready for a surprise. Odd's mind kept repeating the last two words.

"Is it really that simple?" Odd said mentally to himself, thinking about his insane (Normal for him, though.), but slightly logical plan. XANA never said anything about a potential risk if Odd got devirtualized, but if Odd offed himself on Lyoko, the others could fail due to being one purple cat short. XANA's voice hasn't said anything before Odd started crying, so he assumed that the evil computer was busy with the others. Odd looked at his left paw as he cocked it back, smiling slightly as he heard the sound of his Laser Arrows being reloaded. Pointing his left arm to his chest, he was about to fire when he heard some voices gather by him. "Are you sure this is where Odd is being kept?" A voice similar to Aelita's said near the door of the tomb. Who was she talking to? Odd tried to yell in hopes of them hearing him, but his voice failed when he heard the next person talk.

"Ulrich and I are sure, that's what the fog said to us, although it did cost us Sero." Another voice said, causing his mind to go haywire. Odd's subconscious XANA forced him to choke on his words, making non-suicidal escape impossible. Odd brought his arm back pointing at his chest, shooting three times. The last shot came right when the door to the tomb crumbled into dust, making him look at the group, which consisted of Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, and a fourth person with only his rather large weapon visible. Odd devirtualized right in front of them, gaining surprise from them. Odd simply smiled as the blue squares caught up with his face.

(Odd's P.O.V, First person.)

I felt my body back on Earth, inside of the scanner which I virtualized myself in. I absentmindedly put my right hand on my chest when the pain from my Laser Arrows wanted to become known. When the scanner door opened, I noticed the elevator sparking with electricity. "Did XANA attack Jeremie and Sero?" I quietly said to myself as I chose the ladder as a safe alternate. Climbing up the ladder, sounds of frantic clicking and pressing of keys entered my ears. I sped my ascent up since even Einstein couldn't type that fast (Knowing him, he would wish for that.). When I dismounted the ladder when I reached the Supercomputer floor, I saw Jeremie unconscious on the floor while Sero aimlessly crawled around without his glasses. Looking at the chair, I saw an obvious Spectre of Jeremie doing something to the computer. Since the evil Einstein (Hopefully.) didn't notice me yet, I quietly made my way to Sero.

"Sero, what are you doing on the floor? I know your eyesight isn't that bad." I quietly said to him as I kept a wary eye on the oblivious Spectre. "Odd, is that you? I can barely see anything since the Polymorph nearly blinded me." Sero said as he stared at the direction of my voice, giving me a scare. His green irises were cloudy and unfocused, similar to what a blind person's eyes would look like, except that Sero's eyes kept his color of green instead of an emotionless gray. If this was permanent, Jeremie would go crazy or something. I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I refocused on Sero. "What happened to y-" "Don't worry about me Odd, just get the Spectre. That's the most important thing now." Sero said, interrupting me. "Besides, I'm slowly regaining my sight. But I still won't be much help for now, the Spectre doesn't know that I'm conscious so Jeremie and I are safe." Sero continued, putting his head back on the hard floor. He gave me a thumbs-up, assuring me that he was alright.

"Hey XANA! I heard that you like being beaten on Lyoko and on Earth, so can you tell me which one you prefer the most?" I shouted to the Spectre as I got into a fighting pose. The Spectre glanced at the source of the noise, dismissing me as if I wasn't there. Whatever the Spectre was doing to the Supercomputer, it was important enough for it to ignore me. "Okay Odd, time to go a bit crazier than normal..." I said to myself, moving into a suitable place for attack while the Spectre continued ignoring me. "ATTACK!" I yelled as I dived at the surprised Spectre, making it nearly fall on Jeremie. While the Spectre flickered below my body, I saw Sero near the wall on his knees, using his hands as his guide. 'Are you crazy!?' I mouthed to him before remembering two things about Sero: One, he can barely see at the moment and two, he can't read lips.

Nonetheless, the Spectre was very mad about the wonderful svelte body laying on top of it, sending out a sudden shockwave, knocking me off him. "Note to self: Remind Einstein to make some non-conductive clothing for the group." I said as I got back to my feet. Looking back at the annoyed Spectre, it transformed into a remarkably similar person, wearing his clothes purple and his hair pointing high and over-gelled. "Really XANA? You have to make me hurt such a beautiful person?" I said with sarcastic negativity as I noticed Sero sneaking behind the Spectre, hopefully with better eyesight than a minute or two ago. The Spectre simply looked at me as it charged an electric ball aimed for my chest. "I have done enough damage to both of you, former slaves. Use that ridiculous program that rewinds time if you think it will fix anything anymore, my task is complete." The Spectre said as it transformed into a black fog, letting the electric ball fizzle out of existence. I watched the evil smoke as it fled from view.

"Jeremie, are you there? It looks like the Tower deactivated itself!" I heard Aelita say from the microphone, which was on the keyboard. I looked at Jeremie who had Sero trying his best to wake him up, which left me to answer my friends at the Grave Sector (I need to see if the others like that name.). Attaching the mic to my ear, I talked to the group "Odd here, something weird happened up here so I'm materializing all of you. Side note though; The elevator may still be electrified so use the ladder." I said as I reached for the 'basic' Supercomputer manual that Jeremie and Aelita made for us in case of situations like these. After a good two or three minutes, everyone on Lyoko came back safe as usual. Ulrich was the first to come up by the ladder while Aelita and Yumi shortly followed. At this point, Jeremie was awake and was told of what happened along with the others excluding the person waiting below. "So how's your sight Sero, still blind as a bat?" I said to him as he picked up his glasses and fixed them with some spare tape he had in his pocket (Don't ask me why he carries tape...). He looked directly at me as if his clouded irises couldn't move.

"Much better than a while ago, but I think I got a mild case of Tunnel Vision now." Sero said as he cleaned his glasses with the bottom of his shirt. "But let's return to the past and get this done." He added on as he put his glasses back on. Jeremie only nodded as he typed in the proper codes. "Return to the past now." Jeremie said as he pressed the last key, which caused the hologram of Lyoko to emit a reassuring white light. The light covered all of us, the factory, and everything else in sight.

(Sero's P.O.V, First person.)

After the return to the past, I found myself waking up to my alarm clock, which said 6:00 AM, MAY 10th. As I looked around my room, I still had a small border of pure black in my vision. This is bad, the time reversion didn't remove my Tunnel Vision. I tried looking around while keeping my head still, but my eyes strained in discomfort against such an action. I looked into my room's mirror and inspected my eyes. My eyes retained their green tone, but each iris had a blurry, unfocused look to them. I definitely now have Tunnel Vision, which made my mind echo back to what the spectre said in the factory 'Use that ridiculous program that rewinds time if you think it will fix anything anymore...'.

That was XANA's true motive behind the attack, using Odd as a distraction while he tampered with the return to the past program. If Odd wasn't there to stop the Spectre, XANA most likely would've removed the program completely. Nonetheless, a bugged time reversion could spell disasters such as possibly fatal wounds not being healed. I quickly grabbed my phone and readied a voice message to the group, including William. If the Tower in the Sector got deactivated, then Odd should have no more problems with William. Pressing the button to start the message, I managed to say the following words;

"We have a big problem, meet in the cafeteria at our usual table as soon as possible."

Almost immediately did everyone, excluding Odd and I, started getting edgy with William, It was Odd out of the group who stopped the conflict. Yumi and (Especially.) Ulrich were slightly shocked by Odd defending William, who knew the true events firsthand. After that got resolved, I told Jeremie and the others about what happened; The Spectre tampering with the time reversion program, and my Tunnel Vision which still affected me even though it shouldn't be happening to me. Despite this being urgent, we decided to wait till after classes to start fixing the program, mainly because XANA can't start another attack so early.

After another boring day of class, we went to the Factory. After we waited for Jeremie to do whatever he had to, he told us the grim news. The program was tampered by XANA, and it could easily take several months to fix the return to the past. This indirectly told me that I would have to live with Tunnel Vision for the rest of my life. Even with all the events that have happened I looked back at what I was: Alone, friendless, isolated, an orphan. I found out something about my life; the Lyoko warriors are more than my friends, they are my family.

AN: And it is truly complete! With the return to the past program tampered so that people keep their injuries, the group will have a new priority along with getting rid of XANA. This will most likely become the main plot of 'The Change of Our Unfortunate Lives.', with a good possibility of another side-plot or two happening for several Lyoko Warriors (no promises though. :P).

Review, favorite, and follow! Each little bit of constructive criticism helps the new story come out faster!