100: A Work in Progress

“Odd, I’m telling you that the value of x is less than the square of y, not more than the root of z!” Ulrich said exasperatedly.

“And I’m telling you that the value of x is more than the root of z!” Odd retorted crossly. “If you don’t believe me, check my work!”

“Oh, how fun that’ll be,” Ulrich sighed. “I hate quadratic functions. I don’t even see the point of solving for a variable when there’s no numeral value to solve for.”

“That’s because we’re trying to solve for the function,” Odd said, sticking his tongue out.

Ulrich sighed in frustration, whacking himself with his Algebra book. “Ouch…okay that hurt.”

“Good job, Ulrich,” Odd laughed. “9.5 out of 10 for that one.”

“Why…9.5?” Ulrich said, scrunched up in pain and rubbing his head.

“To give you room to knock yourself out,” Odd replied.

Suddenly, Ulrich’s cell phone rang. Still glaring at Odd, he grudgingly answered it. “Hello?”

“Ulrich?” Jeremie’s voice said.

“Yeah, Einstein?”

“Can you and Odd come over to the Factory right now? It’s urgent.”

“But we were trying to finish our algebra homework…” Ulrich said, rather lamely.

Odd snorted. Ulrich glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

“It can wait,” Jeremie replied. “This is more important. Try to be here in ten minutes.” He hung up.

Ulrich put his cell phone back in his pocket and started to put his shoes back on. “Meeting at the Factory,” he told Odd.

“What?” Odd said. “Just when we were about to finish our algebra homework,” he said, fighting back a smile. “I don’t think you were anywhere close to finishing.”

“One more comment about my homework, and you’re toast,” Ulrich said, glaring at him.

“Okay, okay,” Odd said.

---

“I hope this is important, Einstein,” Yumi said, drumming her fingers on the floor. “I still have homework to finish.” Everyone was sitting on the floor, except for Jeremie sitting in the chair and Aelita leaning against it.

“See?” Ulrich said to Odd. “I’m not the only one that’s having trouble with being interrupted while doing my homework.”

“This is important,” Jeremie said. He glanced at Aelita, looking like he was trying not to smile.

“Spit it out, Jeremie,” Ulrich said. “What’s so important?”

“Yeah,” William said. “It sounds like you have some sort of surprise.”

“Dang,” Jeremie said, sighing. “Apparently you guys guessed that.”

“Well, what is it?” Odd said. “Come on, Einsteins.”

“Well,” Aelita said, clearing her throat. “As all of you know, Jeremie found out yesterday that Xana wasn’t only able to regenerate because of the bug in the multi-agent system; he also regenerated because of something else. He had a supercomputer that was disconnected from the Network, because he never used it to create a Replika, which seemed to be his strategy for evading his destruction for. And the Replika that he recently created is under power of that supercomputer.”

“And as long as that Replika exists,” Jeremie continued, picking off from where Aelita ended, “Xana will still be powerful and will still be immune to anything we do against him. I also determined yesterday that the Replika also contains the necessary codes for him to recreate a Replika; the Keys to Lyoko.”

“You mean, those codes that he stole from Aelita’s memory way back when?” Ulrich asked.

“The very same,” Jeremie replied. “We didn’t bother to tell any of you, but yesterday Aelita went to Sector 5 herself alone and accessed the interface. She determined that Xana wasn’t storing the Keys to Lyoko in Sector 5’s database. And, since those codes must be at hand to create a Replika, since they’re not in Sector 5, by logical reasoning, Xana must hold the codes in the other Replika.”

“But why wouldn’t he store them here?” Yumi asked. “It’s not like you guys can block access to him from that.”

“Actually,” Aelita replied, glancing at Jeremie, “we can. Do you remember that message that my father sent us after Lyoko was destroyed? It contained the full version of the Keys to Lyoko, which allowed us to recreate Lyoko. And since we were the ones who recreated it, we now control who or what can access the Sector 5 database and what can’t.”

“But why not restrict access for Xana?” asked Ulrich. “Wouldn’t that make it harder for him?”

“Well,” Aelita said. “Not really. On the good side, he wouldn’t be able to activate towers on Lyoko anymore, if we did that, but on the bad side, activating that restriction would make us not able to access any data linked to Xana in the database, a risk we can’t take if we want to destroy him.”

“So, you’re saying…” Odd mused, thinking. “If we can just destroy that Replika, then it’s adios to Xana?”

“Not for good,” Jeremie replied, “but it’s a step closer to getting rid of him. Which is why we called you guys here tonight. We have a surprise.”

“I hope it’s not a surprise birthday party,” Odd said. “I forgot to bring cake!”

“No, it’s not that, Odd,” Aelita said. “Come over here.”

Yumi, William, Ulrich and Odd got up and gathered around the screen, curious to see what Jeremie and Aelita had been working on.

Aelita nodded to Jeremie, and he winked. He pressed the enter button.

A radar window appeared, showing a hangar-like room with five support beams.

“Isn’t…isn’t that the Skidbladnir Hangar?” Yumi asked.

“It sure is,” Jeremie replied, smiling.

“That’s the surprise?” Ulrich said. “You’re showing something that already exists? Some April Fools, Einstein.”

“It’s not even April,” Jeremie said, sighing. “Just watch.”

Suddenly, an object appeared in the middle of the support arms. It resembled, through close examination, a naval ship.

As Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd gaped, William failed to see the point. “What is that?” he asked, confused. “Why are you guys so amazed?”

To answer his question, another window opened on the screen. It showed a familiar shape, with the words SKIDBLADNIR II across the middle in white.

“You guys were able to recreate the Skidbladnir?” Odd said excitedly.

“We spent a few sleepless nights reconstructing the programming,” Aelita said, smiling.

“This is great!” Yumi said. “I can’t want to go off in it again! It’s been so long.”

“But…” Ulrich said. “Wait. It doesn’t look like it’s complete yet.”

“Unfortunately,” Jeremie sighed, “we still have to launch that crucial second phase later, because all the data can’t be compiled at once. And without it, Skidbladnir II won’t have updated shield layers, better NavSkid autonomy, and a lot of other necessary updates.”

“But this time we’ve been able to change something,” Aelita said. “Remember last time how Jeremie and I got stuck in detention, and we barely made it in time? Well, this time we’ve been able to increase the window of the second phase’s launch, meaning that we have between tomorrow at 5 PM and two days after that to launch the program, to avoid any last-minute complications that will prevent us from getting here.”

“But what about Xana?” Yumi asked. “Won’t he just attack it like he did last time?” Everyone decided not to mention that it had been William under Xana’s control leading that attack.

“He probably will,” Jeremie said, “but we prepared for that.”

A Super Scan window appeared. Once the window had refocused onto the tower, the tower flashed green.

“We’ve activated the Sector 5 tower to increase the shield layers’ power,” Aelita said. “Just temporarily until the second phase can be launched. Also, in the second construction phase, the passage towers in each sector will be activated to complete the construction. We’ve also decided that one of us should stay at the controls of the supercomputer, so if anything bad does go wrong, then we’ll be alerted at once and be able to get down here fast.”

“Even though we have until the end of the week to launch the second phase,” Jeremie said, rubbing his eyes, “I’m still planning on launching the second phase tomorrow if all possible. Just in case. I don’t want to give Xana the opportunity to do something bad to the Skid again. We are not letting the Skidbladnir be destroyed twice.”

“That would set a world record,” Odd joked. “Most times for a virtual submarine used to destroy an artificial intelligence to be destroyed.”

“Really, how many of those are there in the world?” William said.

“Anyway,” Jeremie said. “I guess I’ll take the first shift. Someone can come to take the next one in the morning.”

“No,” Yumi said. “You and Aelita deserve a good nights’ sleep. You can’t expect to defeat Xana tomorrow. I’ll take the first shift; someone come in the morning.”

“But won’t your parents notice that you’re gone?” Ulrich asked. “And what about your homework?”

“I should be back before they wake up,” Yumi said. “They usually sleep in late anyway. As for my homework, I’ll just finish that later before class. It’s not that hard.”

“That’s what I said to Ulrich,” Odd said, winking, “but he didn’t believe that it wasn’t that hard.”

---

“I can’t believe that we’ve actually done it,” Jeremie said, walking with Aelita down the hallway to his dorm. “Skidbladnir is actually coming back.”

“A lot of things seem to be coming back from the ‘virtual dead’,” Aelita said, winking at Jeremie. “First Xana, and then now Skidbladnir.”

A thought occurred to Jeremie, but he decided not to say it out loud to prevent possibly hurting Aelita’s feelings. “Yeah,” he agreed instead. “It seems strange, doesn’t it? It’s like the same thing all over again.”

Nicholas was up listening to music in his dorm. Suddenly, he frowned, hearing Jeremie and Aelita’s voices. “What are Jeremie and Aelita doing up at this hour?” he wondered aloud. He walked over to the door and quietly opened it.

“Just to clarify,” Aelita was saying to Jeremie as they arrived at his dorm, “you did activate the system protocols that were supposed to even out the virtual compensation, right?”

Jeremie froze. “Oh no,” Jeremie exclaimed, whacking himself on the head, “I forgot to do that! And even after you reminded me to a little earlier tonight!”

“Am I hearing voices?” a stern voice said, sounding far away but getting closer. “I hope no one’s up at this hour, or they’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”

“Great,” Aelita said, sighing, “it’s Jim. You or I will just have to go sometime tomorrow before the first phase finishes, which is between 2 and 5. We’ll probably have to cut class.”

“Anyone up at this hour is getting detention!” Jim called, only a little bit down the hall, on the other side of the swinging doors.

“You’d better get to bed,” Jeremie whispered. “You don’t want to get caught up here.”

Aelita nodded, and hurried in the opposite direction, away from Jim’s increasing voice. Nicholas closed the door; he had heard enough. Jeremie and Aelita planning to skip class? Something was up, and it was definitely worth it to see them get caught.

Jeremie quickly closed his door as Jim came through the swinging doors, looking around for the source of the noise. Jeremie opened the door a crack to see Jim walk past, still looking suspicious but moving on, obviously not finding the source of the noise. Jeremie sighed in relief. Detention was the last thing he needed; he didn’t want a repeat of the last time when the Skidbladnir construction had barely been completed.

---

“Morning,” Yumi said rather sleepily as she sat down, greeting the Lyoko Warriors in the cafeteria eating breakfast.

“Morning, Yumi,” Ulrich replied, smiling. “Have a good night?”

“Well, if you define ‘good’ as missing 90 percent of your usual sleep time,” Yumi replied, yawning, “then yes. But other than that, nothing really exciting. No activity from Xana. William came in to take his shift about half an hour ago. I had to rush through my homework when I got back home.”

There was a pause in which Yumi used to catch up to the others with only half of their breakfasts left.

“I was up late last night too,” Jeremie said, looking about to fall asleep himself. “I had to work on some of the programming. But as Aelita reminded me last night, I forgot to install one component, and it’s crucial that it’s installed before the second phase is ready to be launched.”

“Can you go over now?” Ulrich said. “Or you could call William and dictate the instructions to him, since he’s already there.”

Jeremie shook his head. “I can’t. I either had to install it before the construction was launched, or later today between 2 PM and 5 PM. And I don’t think having any of you install it is a good idea because, no offense, but you guys aren’t the most proficient when it comes to working the supercomputer. Though I have to give it to you guys that you can transfer yourselves to Lyoko rather well,” he said, taking a sip of milk.

“Thanks,” Odd said, grinning to the others. “Nothing like a complimentary remark. And none taken; all of us except for you and Aelita are clueless when it comes to quantum junk.”

“So what are you going to do?” Ulrich asked.

“Well, either of us can go to install that component,” Aelita answered, “but only Jeremie can activate the second phase. That’s because Jeremie was able to memorize the extremely long activation key; I didn’t have the time to do it. Jeremie spent a lot more time on it than I did,” she said modestly.

“Oh, come on, Aelita,” Jeremie said. “You’re the one that activated the dipolar coordinates-”

“That’s all very nice,” Yumi said, interrupting Jeremie, “but what if you can’t get away between 2 and 5? What will happen to the Skidbladnir then?”

“It won’t be functional,” Jeremie replied, shrugging. “Bugs will most likely develop, and we’ll have to start all over again. And remember, time is completely crucial this time around; it matters the most more than anything else. The more time we idly waste is the time Xana could take to regain his full power.”

“Okay,” Ulrich said. “Well…we have…ugh, we have that quiz in Science with Mrs. Hertz at 1:00, and Phys Ed with Jim that goes from 3:30 to 5:00. How are you going to get out of that?”

“I’ll find a way,” Jeremie said, drinking more hot cocoa. “It’s crucial that the component is installed, so I’ll have to cut either Science or Gym Class somehow.”

“Gonna try cutting class, huh, Einstein?” Odd said, elbowing him in the ribs lightly. “Becoming the daredevil like us, eh?”

“Hi,” Sissi said, walking up with her tray laden with breakfast and sitting across from Odd. “Sorry I haven’t been hanging out with you guys lately; I’ve been working on poetry in my free time.”

“Poetry?” asked Odd, sounding a little amazed.

“Yes, poetry,” Sissi said, casting a look at Odd that plainly said Duh! “As in lines of words that rhyme and have patterns? Anyway, what’s this talk about cutting class?”

“Uh…” Ulrich said, trying to think fast. “Odd’s dog, Kiwi, is sick,” he invented wildly, “and we’re all taking turns watching him. We can’t really call for a vet, or Mr. Delmas and Jim might find out about him.”

“Ah,” Sissi said, obviously believing it. The others breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks,” Odd said. “He’s sick with…pneumonia.”

“I hope he gets better,” Sissi said, apparently sincerely expressing her concern.

“Thanks,” Odd replied to her. When she turned back to her plate, Odd mouthed at Ulrich, Next time think of something more believable! Ulrich rolled his eyes, as if to say You try improvising under pressure, see if you can do a better job.

---

There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Mr. Delmas called, working on his computer.

Nicolas and Herb opened the door and walked into the headmaster’s office. Mr. Delmas turned from his computer and turned to Nicolas and Herb. “Poliakoff and Pichon?” he said, as the two of them sat down in the chairs in front of the desk. “To what do I owe my attention to you today?”

Nicolas and Herb glanced at each other. “Uh…” Nicolas said, clearing his voice. “Mr. Delmas, sir, I’d like to report something.”

Mr. Delmas nodded. “And what would you like to report?”

“Last night, sir,” Nicolas said, “I heard Jeremie and Aelita talking late last night after curfew.”

“Up after curfew again?” Mr. Delmas said, sighing, making a note of it. “I’ll have to talk with them again.”

“But that wasn’t the only thing,” Nicolas continued. “I heard them talking about cutting class sometime this afternoon.”

“Cutting class?” Mr. Delmas said, frowning. “That isn’t like them at all. I’ll have to tell the teachers to keep a lookout for them. Well,” he said, turning back to his computer, “thank you, Poliakoff and Pichon for your report. I’ll see what I can do. You may leave.”

As Nicolas and Herb left, Herb looked at Nicolas. “And why did you want me there? I didn’t even have to say anything; you told Mr. Delmas, and that’s it.”

“But the teachers may not be able to stop them,” Nicolas said, as they left the administration office. “If the two top students in our grade-”

Herb coughed, obviously wanting acknowledgement for his intellect as well. Nicolas ignored him. “If the two top students in our grade are talking about cutting class, something’s up. And I want to catch them red-handed.”

“If I recall correctly,” Herb reminded him, “last year, when we saw them at the old abandoned Factory, it wasn’t exactly very exciting.”

“But it’s still worth seeing them caught,” Nicolas continued, “to prove that they’re not the good students everyone thinks they are.” Herb mumbled agreement.

---

“Abulabbus?”

“Here!”

“Belpois?”

“Here.”

“Della Robbia?”

“Present, Jim,” Odd said, running from the dorms and making it to the dorms just in time as his name was called. Jim frowned at him, but made no other acknowledgement of his almost-tardiness, and went back to taking roll.

“Delmas?”

As Jim took attendance, Odd made his way over to Jeremie and Aelita. “I forgot that we had gym,” he said, putting his hands on his knees and panting. “I wonder how Ulrich’s doing; he’s been there for an hour now. I’ve got his absence excuse covered. He wanted to remind you, Jeremie, that you’re supposed to be taking the shift after him.”

“How could I forget?” Jeremie said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, since Phys Ed doesn’t end till 5, I’m going to have to try to get away early. We can’t risk the component being left out of the structure; it’s crucial.”

Meanwhile, at the Factory, Ulrich was growing bored. “Maybe I should have brought a book or something,” he said. “I can’t believe I have to stay here for another hour or so.” He sighed, then laughed at the prospect that he would consider reading when bored. “Maybe I should have just brought Galactic Invaders 4,” he said to himself.

Yumi and William, meanwhile, were in History class, and both were quite as bored as Ulrich.

“I can’t believe Mr. Fumet is going on and on about this medieval history junk,” William whispered to Yumi, looking really bored and about to sleep as Mr. Fumet continued his lecture. “How can anyone stay up with him rambling like this?”

“Everyone who’s trying to take notes and concentrate on getting a good grade on the next test,” Yumi said, not looking at him but at her notes, and still scribbling down lines here and there. “Which is basically everyone in the class except you.”

“Oh,” William replied, glancing around rather guiltily. “Oh well. History’s history; it’s not like we can actually learn from it.”

Yumi rolled her eyes, reminding herself that it was no use trying to convince William that it was important to try to do well in school.

---

“It’s 4:30,” Odd reminded Jeremie, as he ran across the finish line, panting as he completed the 2-kilometer run. “I hope you’ve thought up an excuse to get out of class.”

“Relax, already done,” Jeremie replied. Odd shrugged, and resolved to watch. Jeremie went over to Jim, who was supervising the rest of the people completing their runs. “Jim?” he called, panting. “I really feel like I’m about to collapse; I have a lot of side pains. “Can I go to the infirmary?”

“Of course not,” Jim replied. “Everyone else has side pains; you don’t have to go to the infirmary for it. All you have to do is rest for now; there’s no reason to have Dorothy look at you for something that’s going to be gone in the next twenty minutes.”

“But-” Jim cut him off, turning back to the track. Jeremie, sighing in irritation, went back to Aelita and Odd.

“Any luck?” Aelita asked as he sat down on the benches next to them.

Jeremie shook his head, wearing an irked expression. “I think I’m just going to have to try and sneak away.”

“What?” Aelita said, aghast. “They’ll catch you for sure!”

“It’s vital that the component is installed, and you know it,” Jeremie reminded her. “I’m going to try and sneak away.”

Herb ran in, panting, and lumbered over to where Nicolas was sitting and lay down, clutching his stomach. “I feel like I’ve ran halfway across the world.”

“You say that every time you finish the run,” Nicolas said. “Anyway, look at that!”

He pointed, and Herb rolled over onto his side to see what Nicolas was indicating. Jeremie looked like he was trying to sneak away, which was proving easy since Jim had his back turned away from him.

“He’s sneaking away!” said Herb, immediately sitting up. “Just like he told Aelita last night!”

“I’ll go tell Jim,” Nicolas said, “and you go and follow him.”

“Why do I have to follow him?” Herb whined. “You already finished the run and look fine, and I still have side pains…”

“Just go before he gets away!” Nicolas said. Herb sighed, and went after Jeremie.

Jeremie was running toward the park. “Just when I thought I could get out of running,” he sighed, and sprinted for the park.

Suddenly, he heard someone shout something. He stopped by the dorm hall. Alarmingly recognizing the voice as Jim, he could vaguely hear him shouting something that sounded close to “BELPOIS!”

He quickly ran into the dormitory entrance and hid to the side of the doorway. He heard Jim getting closer. Hearing him slow down, he stood completely still so as not to make any noise. Jim, not hearing him, ran off down the hallway.

Jeremie breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, what do we have here?”

Jeremie froze. Mr. Delmas was walking up, with Nicolas and Herb coming up behind him, triumphant looks on their faces.

---

“No, not again!” Aelita said exasperatedly. “Are you sure?”

“Well, I looked through the window and saw Jeremie in Mr. Delmas’ office,” Odd said, sighing, “and Jim was there as well. They both looked rather angry. I’m not sure it could get any clearer.”

Aelita sighed in frustration. “I can’t believe that Jeremie has detention…again.”

“Are you going to head over to the Factory, Princess?” Odd asked. “It’s 4:45.”

“I guess I’d better,” Aelita said. “Send Yumi a text message and tell her what’s happening.”

Suddenly, just as Aelita was about to start running to the park, her phone started to ring. She looked at the number and frowned, answering it. “Ulrich? Is something wrong?”

“We’ve got a problem here, princess,” Ulrich’s voice said, sounding rather worried.

Ulrich glanced at the window on the screen, showing a single red dot in the Skidbladnir Hangar. “The Scyphozoa is attacking the Skid!” he said, sounding slightly shocked, as the second window displaying the Skidbladnir’s remaining shield layers started to drop down from 100%. “The shield layers are decreasing. Wasn’t Jeremie’s tower supposed to prevent that?”

“Yes, it was,” Aelita said, alarmed. Odd heard Ulrich as well; his eyes widened in shock. “I’ll be right there. I have to install the component, because Jeremie has detention.”

“What?” Ulrich yelped. “Again?”

“Yeah,” Aelita said, motioning to Odd. “You can call Yumi; we’ll tell Jeremie. Go to Lyoko; I’ll come over to install the component, and then I’ll join you there. Odd is going to stay to try and get Jeremie out of detention.” She glanced at Odd, checking to see if he agreed, and he nodded.

“Okay,” Ulrich said. “See you on Lyoko.” He hung up.

Aelita stowed her cell phone back in a pocket of her jacket, and then turned to Odd. “I’m off to the Factory. Good luck.”

“You too, princess,” Odd said, as Aelita sprinted off.

---

Yumi felt her cell phone vibrate; it was an incoming call. Since she and William were sitting at the back of the room, all she had to do was turn her head so that Mr. Fumet wouldn’t see her answer her cell phone. “Hello?” she whispered. “Ulrich?”

“Yumi!” Ulrich said, his voice sounding rushed. “Xana is attacking the Skid, and Jeremie’s tower isn’t working! We need you and William over here at the Factory ASAP. Oh, and Jeremie has detention again.”

“What?” she whispered, shocked at their dilemma. “Okay, William and I will be there as quickly as we can. Mr. Fumet,” she said, raising her voice, and standing up, slipping her pink cell phone back into her pocket. Mr. Fumet stopped lecturing and turned to her. “May I take William to the infirmary?”

“What’s wrong, William?” Mr. Fumet said. “Can it wait a few minutes? Class is about to end, and the lecture will be finished quickly.”

William cast a quick glance at Yumi, who although wasn’t looking at him shook her head back and forth a fraction of an inch. “No,” William said, immediately clutching his head. “I’m sorry sir, but it can’t.”

Mr. Fumet sighed. “Very well, then,” he said. “Please come by my office later if you need to get the rest of the-”

But Yumi and William had already rushed out the door.

Meanwhile, in a virtual universe parallel to Earth, Ulrich appeared in the Arena, a few meters in the air. As his form finally came completely solid, he landed on the floor.

“Looks like I still remember how to set up a delayed virtualization countdown,” he said to himself as the wall opened. He quickly sprinted through the Corridor and into to the Core Zone to take the elevator.

Back on Earth, in an old-fashioned wood office, a blonde boy was sitting in front of a desk, at which one adult sat and another adult stood behind.

“Jeremie, please answer the question,” Mr. Delmas said sternly. “Why were you trying to cut class? You very well know the consequences.”

“I had to…” Jeremie was finding it rather hard to improvise a believable alibi under pressure. “I had to finish a Science essay in my room before dinner, because I had to have it in by 5:00.”

“Well, I’m sure that Mrs. Hertz will punish you fairly for that,” Mr. Delmas said, “but that still is no excuse. Two hours of detention, starting now.”

“What?” Jim said, looking at Mr. Delmas and sounding disappointed. “Only two?”

“Yes,” Mr. Delmas said, “and it will be resumed with four hours tomorrow afternoon. I can’t punish you for staying up late by keeping you up later. Besides, both of you need to eat dinner after that.”

Jeremie nodded, sighing. He hoped Aelita had gotten to the Factory by now. It was already 4:50.

---

With a creak, the elevator stopped in the Hangar. The Skidbladnir, almost ready for its second phase to be activated, was completed as far as its cockpit, its wings, and the long beam that the NavSkids attached to. The rest of it, including the four NavSkids, was only a white outline.

At the sound of the noise, the six Creepers positioned evenly around the near-completed Skid turned toward the elevator. Seeing Ulrich, they sounded their groaning calls.

“What, missed me, you slimy slugs?” Ulrich called, drawing his sabers.

Three of the Creepers turned and started advancing toward him, “spitting” their laser shots at him, but the other three continued to fire at the Skid. The Scyphozoa still stood in its position above the Skid, sucking power from it with its tentacles.

“Ulrich?” Aelita’s voice said. “I just got here. How’s it coming?”

“Well…” Ulrich said, blocking more shots and throwing a saber at a Creeper, “things could be going better. What time is it, and how long will it take you to install the component?”

“I have ten minutes,” Aelita said, typing. “I’m setting up the installation, and it should only take a little less than five. I’m also sending more power to the shield layers from Jeremie’s tower. Right now, there are still 80% of the shield layers left. After that, I’ll join you there. For now, just try to hold out for as long as you can. And if you get the chance, destroy the Scyphozoa, because it looks like it’s taking the most power from the shields.”

“Got it,” Ulrich said, destroying two Creepers in one slash, and blocking more shots from the other one. “Why did Jeremie get detention?”

“Jim didn’t buy his alibi, and he tried to sneak away,” Aelita said, sighing. “And if the shield layers are going down, then we need him here to complete the construction. I hope Odd’s plan is going well…whatever it is.”

Odd ran through the dormitory hallway, and opened the door to his and Ulrich’s dorm. He quickly knelt down next to his bed and opened the drawer. Kiwi lazily was sitting on a pile of his clothes. “Come on, Kiwi,” Odd said, trying to lift him out of the drawer, “get up! Jeremie needs you!”

Kiwi growled, and went back to sleep. When Odd tried to lift him out of the drawer, Kiwi growled again and tried to bite Odd’s hand. Odd withdrew his hand, sighing.

“What else can I do…?” Odd said, racking his brains for ideas. “There’s always the flying fish one…no wait, that was on the list of my bad ideas. Wait…Jeremie’s voice synthesizer!” He closed the door and sprinted over to Jeremie’s dorm.

Odd closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair in front of the computer. “Let’s see now…how do I open the voice synthesizer…? I’d better call Aelita,” he said, taking his cell phone out of his pocket and dialing Aelita’s number. “I don’t want to break Jeremie’s computer.”

Back at the Factory, Aelita’s cell phone started to ring. Almost finished with installing the component and transferring more energy to the shields, she picked it up. “Hello? Odd? How’s your plan coming?”

“Uh…” Odd said. “Technically I haven’t really put it into action yet. How do I activate Jeremie’s voice synthesizer?”

Aelita pressed the enter key, finally finished with her work. She glanced at her watch; it was 4:59. She sighed in relief. “Ulrich,” she said, talking to the computer, “I’m finished with my work. I’ll be there in a second.”

“Okay,” Ulrich called, battling the other three Creepers, “because I could use some help here, and I think I’m almost out of life points.”

“Good luck,” Aelita replied. She took her hand off of her cell phone’s microphone. “Odd,” she said as she headed over to the elevator, “are you ready? I’m going to guide you.”

---

Jeremie sat at the far end of the long table in the Library, drumming his fingers. He was thinking about going to sleep, but there wasn’t any use of that.

Suddenly, his cell phone started to buzz. He quickly answered it, trying not to make any noise or motion, as Jim’s head was hidden behind a Sumo-Mag magazine. “Hello?” he whispered.

“Einstein,” Odd said. “You’ve got to get over to the Factory, quick. Aelita managed to install the component, but Xana’s attacking the Skid, and your tower isn’t working!”

“What?” Jeremie gasped.

“Aelita and Ulrich are already over there,” Odd continued, “and Yumi and William are heading over there right now. But we need you to activate the second construction phase before the Skid is reduced to toast!”

“Okay,” Jeremie said. “Well…what’s your plan?”

“Belpois?” a voice said sternly from behind him. Jeremie jumped; he hadn’t heard Jim move. “Hand over that phone right now. As you very well know, there are no cell phones in detention.”

“But…” Jeremie stuttered. “It’s important!”

“Important, my foot,” Jim said crossly. “What’s important is that you sit here through your punishment, and nothing less.”

“Don’t worry, Einstein,” Odd whispered. “I’ve got it covered.” Jeremie reluctantly handed over the phone.

“Who is this?” Jim said, answering the phone sternly. He frowned. “Yolanda?” he said, surprised, stuttering a little. “Why were you talking to Belpois? He’s in detention right now!” Jeremie raised his eyebrows; Odd had thought up a plan.

“I needed to tell him something,” Odd said, using the voice synthesizer to pass by as Yolanda. “Aelita would like to see him; she’s here with a very high, 105 degree fever. Her cousin Odd is already here.”

Jim’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “How did you have Jeremie’s mobile number?” he asked.

“Because…” Odd stuttered, trying to improvise under pressure. “Because I’m…smart?”

“Della Robbia!” Jim said crossly, recognizing Odd, even through the synthesizer. Jeremie smacked his head. “Quit your voice imitations, and stop trying to get your buddy out of detention! You have four hours with him tomorrow afternoon, and don’t let me catch you doing anything of this sort again!” He hung up and stormed off back to the desk.

Jeremie sighed. It was going to take a lot more to get out of detention this time.

---

Ulrich was battling his hardest, and he was still slowly loosing. He had managed to destroy one of the Creepers, but three more had arrived, making a total of three Creepers still attacking him while two helped the Scyphozoa attack the Skid. “Come on, Aelita,” he said under his breath, blocking a shot, “where are you?”

“Over here,” called a voice. The Creepers turned to see two Energy Fields come straight at them; two of the Creepers attacking Ulrich exploded. Ulrich smiled, and took advantage of the distraction to destroy the third one. “How’s it going, Princess?”

“Okay right now,” she said, smiling back. Suddenly, her expression changed. “Ulrich!” she called, pointing upward, “look out!”

Ulrich looked up to see three Mantas entering the Hangar through the sky portal. He fell to the ground as he caught a shot in the stomach.

Aelita quickly formed an Energy Field shield as a Manta fired at her. Another Manta went to attack Ulrich, while the third went to help the other monsters fire at the Skid.

Ulrich groaned in dismay. “We can’t do this alone!” he called to Aelita. “We need more backup!”

“It’s always nice to feel needed, isn’t it?” said a voice.

“Yumi!” Aelita said, looking up. “We need you and William here right now; we need all the help we can get. Odd is trying to get Jeremie out of detention.”

“Does he need help?” Yumi asked.

“I’m not sure,” Aelita replied, blocking and dodging more shots, and throwing an Energy Field in vain. “But for now, it’s more important to protect the Skid so that it will still be here when Jeremie arrives…whenever he arrives. How many of the shield layers are left?”

Yumi checked the window. “40 percent,” she replied, “and it’s going down fast. William and I will be there in a nanosecond.”

Ulrich managed to rebound a shot toward his Manta, which caught it in the Xana eye. “Hang on, Aelita!” he called as he started to run toward her to help her. “I’ll be right there!”

“No!” Aelita said, waving her hand to stop him. “The Skid is more important, don’t worry about me!”

“Okay,” Ulrich said. He ran towards the Creepers, who turned to fire at him.

---

There was a knock on the door.

“Who could that be?” Sissi said, putting down the magazine that she was reading. “Come in.”

Odd quickly opened the door. “Sissi, you have to help me,” he rushed. “I can’t tell you why, but it’s vital that Jeremie gets out of detention right now. Can you help me? Try to convince your father that Jeremie has to get out?”

Sissi pondered the thought. “Okay,” she said.

Odd frowned. “Really?”

“It’s not like I have anything better to do,” she sniffed. “Besides, that’s what friends do.”

“Oh,” Odd said, as they started walking out of the dorms. “Uh…thanks!”

Back in the Library, Jeremie was trying to think of an excuse to get out of detention, to no avail. Every time he opened his mouth, he reconsidered the idea, dumped it, and tried to think up another one. Jim’s head was still hidden behind the Sumo-Mag issue, and he hadn’t said anything to Jeremie since he took his phone away.

Jeremie started to hear voices from the hall. He turned around and looked down the hallway. “Who could that be?” he wondered.

Jim frowned, putting his magazine down. “Who’s there?” he called.

Jeremie’s expression suddenly changed from curiosity to mingled shock and surprise as Mr. Delmas and Sissi walked into the room.

“I had no idea, Elizabeth,” Mr. Delmas was saying to Sissi, “that Jeremie was trying to leave to tutor you.”

“I didn’t want you to know that I needed tutoring,” Sissi mumbled, shifting, not meeting her father’s gaze. Jeremie noted in his brain that he had never been happier that Sissi was the greatest actress at Kadic.

“Ah,” Mr. Delmas said. “Well, in that case,” he said, turning to Jim, “Jeremie is exempt from detention, both today and tomorrow.”

“What?” Jim said, shocked. “But you can’t expect Belpois to just…”

Jim stopped, seeing Mr. Delmas’ gaze. He sighed. “Belpois, you might as well tell your friend Della Robbia that he doesn’t have detention tomorrow either. You’re free to go and help Sissi…study, I suppose.”

“Thanks,” Jeremie said to Sissi, as soon as they had walked out of earshot of her father and Jim.

“Don’t mention it,” Sissi said, giving a sincere smile. “But you might want to go and help Odd with…whatever you guys have to do. He sounded like it was urgent.”

“Right,” Jeremie said, turning toward the park and sprinting away. “Thanks again!” he called, waving as he ran toward the park.

---

Aelita dodged another shot, glancing toward Ulrich, who had destroyed the two Creepers and was now battling with the Manta. “Ulrich, I can’t hold out for much long-” She was cut off as her Manta fired another shot. She disappeared.

“Aelita!” shouted Ulrich in dismay. Now he was up against two Mantas and the Scyphozoa, alone, and with barely any life points left. “There’s no way I can finish this alone,” he said to himself, as he started to block shots from both Mantas.

Suddenly, two fans flew toward the Mantas. Both hit their targets, and both Mantas exploded in a blast of red.

“Yumi!” Ulrich called delightedly, as she caught her fans next to William.

“Let’s finish this for good,” Yumi called back. She threw her fans toward the Scyphozoa, and they made contact with its tentacles. The tentacles, cut off, dropped to the ground.

William, with a stupendous effort, threw his cleaver sword at the monster. It caught it directly in the Xana eye, and exploded.

“Congratulations with being the first human ever to destroy Mr. Ugly Fish of Jelly,” Ulrich said, walking over to them, giving William a high-five.

Suddenly, a shot fired out of nowhere. William, taking three at the same time, fell backward, devirtualized. Ulrich and Yumi looked up to see three more Mantas entering the Hangar. A groan sounded, and they turned to see five more Creepers arriving.

Ulrich and Yumi sighed. “And just when we thought it was over,” Yumi said, drawing her fans. “You take care of the Creepers; I’ll go after the Mantas.” Ulrich nodded, and ran off to greet the ugly newcomers.

“Please hurry up!” Aelita’s voice said desperately. “Skidbladnir II only has 10% of its shield layers left, and they won’t hold out for much longer!”

There was a creak of gears and machinery. “Then I guess we should just end it,” a voice said. William and Aelita turned to see the elevator open with Jeremie and Odd inside of it.

“You’re here!” Aelita said happily. “What took so long?”

“Not too much,” Odd said, smiling. “You?”

“We’ll explain later,” Jeremie said, running over to the controls. Aelita obediently jumped out of the chair, and Jeremie sat down. Odd pressed the button on the side of the elevator, and the elevator closed.

“Jeremie?” Ulrich called, as he battled the two remaining Creepers. “It’s about time. We kinda need you to run the second phase before the Skidbladnir is destroyed…”

“I’m on it,” Jeremie said, the sound of keys being pressed and codes being typed at an incredibly fast speed in the background. “Just hold out for a minute longer, and then I’ll be able to increase the shields’ power.”

“A minute is a lot to ask right now!” Yumi called, blocking shots from the Manta firing at her. The other remaining Manta was firing at Skidbladnir II.

“Time always goes by slower when Odd the Magnificent is around!” called a voice. “Because time is willing to wait for him!”

“Ha,” Ulrich said, teasing Odd but relieved that they had more help. “I can disprove that statement in a lot of ways, but I’d rather save my breath.”

“Go ahead,” Odd said, firing Laser Arrows at the Creepers from behind. They groaned, and exploded. “Time will still go by slower!”

“Mhm,” Yumi said, rolling her eyes, amused. She threw her fans at the Manta, and it exploded. “Anyway, what took you guys so long?”

“We got held up by Jim,” Odd replied. “I managed to convince Sissi to get Jeremie out of detention.”

“Sissi?” Yumi said incredulously. “What’s the catch?”

“There wasn’t one,” Odd replied. “I think she’s really starting to turn good now.”

“Not that drama queen anymore?” Ulrich said, raising his eyebrows at Odd.

“Oh, she still has the drama,” Odd said, “but she’s using it a lot more effectively right now.”

“Guys?” Yumi called, throwing her fans at the last Manta; they missed. “A little help over here?”

“Oops,” Odd said, as he and Ulrich ran over to help her. “I guess we forgot about you for a minute. Sorry about that, Yumi.”

“Always nice to be appreciated, huh?” Ulrich said, throwing a saber at the Manta. About to fire at Yumi, the Manta flipped in midair, but failed to dodge the saber completely. It caught it in the eye and exploded.

“Nice one,” Jeremie commented. “Here we go!” he said, pressing the enter button.

A large window appeared on the screen. Four Super Scan windows appeared, and as they refocused on the towers, the towers blinked green. The second phase had been launched.

Skidbladnir II began to give off a radiant white glow. Ulrich, Yumi and Odd watched as the NavSkids slowly formed, one by one. As the second construction phase finished, a white ring appeared at the bottom of their naval ship. It slowly rose up, and thin white wisps rose upward with it.

Yumi felt a hand brush across hers. She glanced at Ulrich, who sheepishly looked in the other direction; it had obviously been an accident.

Yumi smiled at him, and took his hand in hers. Ulrich felt like his hand had slipped into a warm oven. Fortunately, Odd was too focused on gazing awestruck at the Skidbladnir II.

“Time to bring us in, Einstein,” Odd called as the ring disappeared.

“It’s not finished yet!” said Jeremie, smiling. Ulrich, Yumi and Odd frowned.

Jeremie pressed the enter key. White particles suddenly started to form below the cockpit window on the right. They slowly formed into readable letters.

“Skidbladnir II,” Ulrich read, with certain finality to his voice.

“Great job everyone,” Aelita called. There were high-fives both on Lyoko and on Earth.

“Time to bring you guys back in,” Jeremie said. “Materialization!”

As they walked back to Kadic, Aelita sighed. “Well, another step toward defeating Xana,” she said, stretching. “Now all we have to do is take Skidbladnir II to destroy that Replika.”

“Maybe,” Yumi said, smiling. “But surely it can wait a night? You guys deserve the rest.”

“Ahem,” Odd said, clearing his throat. “And what about me? Who got Jeremie out of detention?”

Ulrich rolled his eyes. “Didn’t Jeremie say that your first plan using the voice synthesizer to pass by as Yolanda failed?”

“Hey!” Odd said defensively. “If you think acting and improvising under pressure is easy, why don’t you do it yourself?”

“I’ve already done improvising,” Ulrich said, winking at the others. “And I’m certain that Sissi is way better at you at acting under pressure.”