It was a dark night at Kadic Academy. Our heroes slept, weary from a day that had brought nothing but trouble. If only they what was going on at the factory only a short ways away. The events that would soon unfold would shape the course of the future and determine the fate of the world itself.

                              Chapter 1: "Death is only the beginning" 

Our story starts the that morning when Aelita awoke not to Jim's shouting, but to Sissi crying in the hallway. The other girls were already around Sissi trying to console her, Aelita, curious asked one of the girls what had happened.

"Principal Delmas died last night of a heart attack," the girl replied.

Aelita's mom had died when she was young, but she knew she could be of no help to Sissi. After standing there for a while, Aelita decided to go tell the others the bad news. She got dressed and went to the cafateria for breakfast. Jeremie,Ulrich, and Odd were waiting at their normal table.

"Did you guys hear, Sissi's dad died last night," Aelita said

"Yeah, Jim told us all this morning. They were going to cancel the classes, but they thought that work would take our minds off it," Jeremie replied.

They all sat in silence until Yumi walked up. She kissed Ulrich (they had been going out for a while) and asked what was wrong.

They told her about Sissi's dad, but before she could say anything the bell rang for class. They day went by with a solemn feel to it, even Odd who always had something to say was speechless for most of the day. Sissi didn't come out of her dorm all day, even to eat, so Odd went to see her later that night.

"Sissi are you there?" Odd said when he got to her door.

"Just go away Odd," Sissi said.

"I wanted to say, if there's anything I or the rest of us can do to help, we're here for you." Odd said.

At this Sissi opened the door. She tried to look mad at Odd for not leaving, but her eyes were red where she had been crying so much. Odd expected a remark, or in the worst scenerio to get slapped, but instead Sissi burst into tears. Odd held her close and put her head on his shoulder, they stayed like this for a while until Sissi was calm again.

"You need me to stay for a while?" Odd asked.

"I'd like that," Sissi said.

This was only the beginning of Odd's new relationship with Sissi Delmas.

The next morning was a Saturday, so Odd woke up and got dressed, he was skipping breakfast (a big feat for Odd) to take a walk through the woods with Sissi. They walked along the path holding hands, ocassionally resting in the shade of a tree. Before either of them knew it it was time for lunch. Sissi went back to her room because she wasn't hungry. Odd, now starving from lack of breakfast, went to sit with his freinds. He easily scarfed down two plates of food.

"You seem to be spending a lot of time with Sissi lately," Yumi teased.

"She just neeeds someone to be with while she's greiving," Odd said.

Aelita giggled because Odd's face was turning REALLY red. Sissi came in the door of the cafeteria and spotted Odd at his table.

"Hey Odd, are you ready to go?" Sissi asked.

"Where are you two headed?" Ulrich asked.

"He's taking me to the movies," Sissi replied happily.

"Let's get going, if we get there early we can get good seats," Odd said.

He said goodbye to the others and went off campus to the movie theater. Odd took her to a funny movie and she laughed half the time. Odd could really see she enjoyed the movie and he enjoyed being with Sissi. Aftewards they strolled back onto campus and Odd's cell phone rang, Xana had launched an attack.

Odd hadn't thought about answering it in front of Sissi and as soon as he hung up she started to ask questions.

"Who was it Odd?" Sissi asked.

"Um, it was Jeremie. Look Sisssi I gotta go, get inside and hide. I'll be back as soon as possible." Odd replied.

"Wait Odd, what's the matter? Is something wrong?" Sissi asked.

" I really hope I can tell you one day Sissi, but for now you'll just have to trust me." Odd replied.

"Ok, but you have to promise you'll be back." Sissi said.

"I promise." Odd replied as he sprinted off for the factory.

"Be safe Odd." Sissi said to herself as she watched Odd run away.

Odd was deep in thought as he ran through the sewers. Part of him was relieved that Sissi was safe, but the part of him that had fought Xana time after time knew no one was truly safe until they had deactivated the tower. Before he knew it he was at the ladder that led to the bridge outside the factory. He climbed up only to find a squad car blocking the factory's entrence. Just as he was about to cross the bridge Yumi and Ulrich showed up.

"What's that police car doing at the factory?" Yumi asked.

"I don't know," Ulrich replied, "but I have a feeling we're about to find out."

The car door opened and a policeman stepped out.

"You need to move, we have to get across," Yumi yelled.

"Uh Yumi, I don't think he's listening," Odd replied.

Then he flickered and she figured it out too, he was uder Xana's control. Ulrich's cell phone rang as the man lunged at Odd, who jumped out of the way just in time.

"Where are you guys?" Jeremie yelled through the headset.

"We're outside on the bridge. Xana's taken control of a policeman and we might be a while." Ulrich replied.

"Aelita's already here. Send Yumi and Odd as backup for Aelita, and hold the policeman off as best you can." Jeremie said and then hung up.

"Yumi, ou and odd get inside and help Aelita. I'll stay here." Ulrich said.

"Alright, we'll be back as soon as we can." Yumi replied.

Then the two of them ran full speed into the factory. Once inside they swung down the chains and hurried into the elevator, then Jeremie's voice came over the intercom.

"Alright, get down to the scanners as fast as you can. Aelita's waiting for you on Lyoko. Oh no!" Jeremie said

"What's the matter Jeremie?" Yumi asked.

"It looks like William's finally come out of hiding." Jermie replied.

Xana had taken control of William weeks earlier and had been trying to kidnap Aelita, push Yumi into the digital sea, and make their job much harder. He had been badly baeten in a recent fight and hadn't been seen since.

"We're in the scanners Jeremie." Odd said.

"Ok. Scanner Odd, Scanner Yumi, Scanner Aelita, Virtualization." Jeremie said as he pressed enter.

With the push of a button he sent his freinds through the scanners and into the virtual world of Lyoko.

Jeremie waited for them to show up on the screen, but they never did. Before he could even guess what had happened a window came on the screen, Xana had corrupted the process.

"Oh no, Aelita!" Jeremie yelled.

As they came to the three noticed that they were in the ice sector, the strange thing was the activated tower was in the desert sector.

"Jeremie, what happened? Why did we end up here?" Aelita asked.

When Jeremie didn't reply she knew something was up, then as if sensing her realization everything started to turn red.

"Like the new place?" a voice said from behind them.

"William!" Yumi said as she turned around.

She had spent plenty of time with William before and could tell it was him just by his voice.

"So, now Xana's making it easier to kick your butt, seeing as we didn't have to waste time finding you." Yumi said.

"Xana had nothing to do with it, I brought you here. Though I'm sure he's having fun with the rest of your pathetic group." William replied.

"Jremie!" Aelita said.

"and Ulrich." Yumi added.

"How did you break free of Xana's control ?" Yumi asked.

"He found a way to bind me to this world of his, so there was no reason to keep my mind locked up like before. After all, the human mind is like your own personal computer. In light of this Xana decided to use all my abilities, including my intelligence." William replied.

"You are NOT WILLIAM!" Yumi yelled as she spun around. Yumi began spining rapidly toward William, her fans cutting away until what they thought was William exploded. It had been a polymorh.

"How did you know that it wasn't him?" Odd asked.

"Easy, William would never talk like that. Couldn't you guys tell it wasn't him?" She asked. But as she turned around it was not her freinds who she saw but monstrosities that were all but human.