"Hey Ulrich!" Odd greeted his friend as he and Aelita walked toward them. "Feeling better?"

"Not really." Ulrich replied, throwing another glance toward Yumi and William.

"Well, regardless, it’s better if you spend your time with your friends rather than off by yourself." Jeremie replied. He turned his head slightly so that Ulrich wouldn’t see him wink at Aelita who blushed in response.

"Hey, want some hot chocolate?" Odd asked Ulrich as he flipped a coin into the air.

"No way." Ulrich replied, only half aware of the question asked of him.

Odd shrugged as he reached down and pressed the button. Once the product was dispensed, he took a sip. He began to choke and sputtered when he tasted it. "Yuck! That is the worst hot chocolate I have ever tasted…it’s even worse than the gym sock soup! Why is it that the school can’t ever have some decent food around here?"

He threw the cup away. The others shrugged as they walked away. The electrical outlet continued to spark furiously.

"You know, XANA’s been pretty quiet lately." Jeremie commented as they sat down on a bench near the vending machine. "Makes me wonder what he’s up to."

"You can never enjoy any free time we get, can you Jeremie?" Odd asked.

"That’s because he hardly ever gives us a break!" Jeremie retorted. "Usually when he’s really quiet, he’s up to something major."

"Well, until he does something, there isn’t much we can do about it." Aelita pointed out.

"Exactly!" Odd agreed. "So relax and enjoy-"

He was cut off by the faint sound of an alarm. Jeremie glanced down at his bag and pulled out the laptop inside. He opened it. "I guess XANA knew we were talking about him…he’s activated a tower in the Mountain Region."

Jeremie closed the laptop and glanced at the three around him. "Better warn Yumi."

He looked up at where she had been moments ago only to find that she was no longer there. "Great…" he muttered as he grabbed out his cell phone. Quickly, he dialed Yumi’s number only to receive her voice mail. "Guess we’re going to have to go without Yumi…she’s not answering her cell phone and we don’t have time to look for her."

"That’s because she’s much to busy with William!" Ulrich spat angrily. He folded his arms as Jeremie stood.

"It doesn’t matter now. Let’s get to the factory. I left Yumi a message to meet us there."

The four immediately sprinted off toward the passage in the park and made their way to the factory.

*~*~*~*

Yumi glanced around at the spot where she had seen Ulrich and the others moments ago only to find that they were gone. She sighed and turned her attention back to William who was going on about something or other…she hadn’t really been paying attention.

"Doesn’t that sound cool?" he asked her.

"Huh? Oh, I mean, yeah sure." Yumi replied with a small smile. She turned her head back to the bench as if hoping Ulrich would reappear there.

"Yumi, are you sure nothing’s wrong?" William asked as he grabbed her chin and turned her face toward him.

"Positive." Yumi replied.

"You don’t seem like it." William replied as his hand dropped from her face. "Have you been thinking about Ulrich?"

"Yeah…" Yumi responded automatically. Then, realizing what she had said, blushed before quickly adding: "I mean, because I haven’t talked to him - or the others - in a few days now."

A hurt look had crossed William’s face, but it immediately passed; that or he hid it well from her. "Well, if it will make you feel any better, we could go talk to them."

Yumi shook her head. "No, that’s alright. I’m fine. Really I am."

"If you say so." he responded putting his arm around her shoulders.

"You know William," Yumi started suddenly. "It’s getting late. I should be heading back to my house."

"Oh…you want me to walk you there?" William asked.

"Uh…no thanks. I have something to do first." Yumi replied.

"Alright." William replied, eyeing her suspiciously. She didn’t see however as she ran off toward the dorms. Being away from her friends for so long was killing her. She needed to talk to them…especially Jeremie. She always considered him like a younger brother that she could tell anything to, and she needed to talk to him about this whole ordeal.

She found the dorms empty…no surprise there, after all no one was supposed to be in their dorms at this time of day. That hadn’t stopped Jeremie or the rest of them however. She quickly made her way to Jeremie’s dorm and knocked on the dorm, hoping that he’d be in there working on something - like finding the anti-virus for Aelita.

However, there was no answer.

"Jeremie?" Yumi asked as she tried opening the door. It was locked. He wasn’t anywhere in the dorm then…he never locked the door unless he wasn’t around.

She sighed as she turned and began to walk away from his room. So much for talking to him, but perhaps Aelita was around. She quickly found that that wasn’t the case either. As she was walking down the hall out of the girls‘ dorm, the lights that lit the hallway began to blink. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up. "XANA?" It seemed that whenever he attacked the lights wigged out.

She began to sprint down the hall, only to find that the doors on the end were shut tight…no matter how much she strained against them, they just wouldn’t budge. "Oh no."

*~*~*~*