106: Bad Precision

“You have the rest of the period to take your essay test. Remember, any talking will be interpreted as cheating.” Ms. Moore’s red hair waved back and forth as she walked back to her desk at the front of the room. Everyone turned over their papers, took a moment to read the question and then started writing like mad.

Yumi read the essay topic and took a deep breath to relax herself. Come on…I read about this just last night… she thought to herself. Although, she reflected silently, there wasn’t exactly a real way to study for an essay test.

William’s clone sat on her table next to her. As Yumi finished her mental outline and put her pencil to the paper, the clone turned to her. “Yumi, what’s an essay?” he asked innocently.

Yumi froze and glared over at him, her insides caving in and groaning. She had forgotten the clone’s complete ignorance. “William, be quiet,” she hissed. “This is a test.”

Everyone in the classroom stopped writing and looked up to stare at William’s clone. Ms. Moore stood up and walked over, her face forming a frown. “Is there a problem, William?” she asked. “If you have any questions about the test, please ask me, and not Ms. Ishiyama.”

“Uh…yes,” William said, taking a minute to comprehend the question. “How can I write an essay if I don’t know what an essay is?”

There was a shocked silence. A few classmates tittered with amusement.

“Please continue, class,” Ms. Moore said in a tense voice. The class hurriedly went back to their tests, not daring to look up again. “William, there is a place and time for jokes, and that place and time is not now and not here.” She turned around and walked back to her desk.

“But it wasn’t a joke…” William’s clone said confusedly. As Yumi began to write again, still cursing the program for its idiocy, the clone turned to her again. “Yumi, how do I write an essay?”

“William, just turn back to your own paper!” Yumi whispered, irritated. “You’ll get us both in trouble!”

“But why? I’m not going to get in trouble for talking to you, and neither are you.”

“Yes you are,” said a voice. Yumi and the clone looked up to see Ms. Moore glaring down at them. Their classmates glanced at Yumi and William before turning back to their papers; this time, some were amused at their situation, and others glanced at them with pity.

 “William and Yumi, you obviously did not hear me at the start of class, so let me repeat myself: Any talking will be interpreted as cheating. Give me your papers.”

“But – what?” Yumi gasped. “I didn’t even finish!”

“Cheating has failed you anyway,” Ms. Moore said coldly. “You both know the rules. Two hours of detention this afternoon at one o’clock.” She snatched the paper out of William’s hand and strode back to her desk.

Yumi looked over at William’s clone; his face was still set with non-faked innocence and ignorance, not aware that his term grade had just gone down a notch along with hers. She turned away, seething in anger at her wasted effort and fear at what her parents would say.

---

As Ulrich, Odd, Aelita and Jeremie walked out of Social Studies with Mr. Fumet, Odd’s smile was so radiant that the others feared it would attract termites. The four Lyoko Warriors walked into the courtyard.

“So…” Ulrich said in a low voice. “Elected class rep. Again.” His tone betrayed his grudging reluctance at the prospect of another bragging opportunity for Odd.

“Well, obviously, I wasn’t going to bother trying this year, especially since Xana is taking too much of my attention away from school,” Jeremie snorted. “Unless you would rather have Herb as our class representative.”

“I only voted for Odd because I didn’t want Herb!” Ulrich protested. “But I think that His Humbleness is going to be given a lot more bragging mileage for this win.”

“Anyway,” Aelita cut across Ulrich and Odd, who both showed every sign of having a row. “Here’s a recap of what Jeremie and I have done since the supercomputer was restarted.”

“Here we go,” commented Odd, yawning.

Aelita gave him a scathing look. “If you don’t want to listen, Odd, then I’m sure that you’ll thank us later when you forget what we’ve done to keep ourselves alive in the alternate universe.”

“Sorry,” mumbled Odd. “But I really didn’t get a lot of sleep last…” He stopped when he saw Jeremie’s expression.

“Since we restarted the supercomputer,” Aelita said, continuing as if nothing had happened, “we’ve of course recreated the Skidbladnir with immensely updated software. Jeremie has also developed a program to determine where an activated tower’s energy is being used for.”

“But what about the key to materialization from the Replikas?” Ulrich asked. “Isn’t that important too?”

“I’m also working on that,” Jeremie replied. A smile grew on his face. “But…I have another idea or two on how to undermine Xana even further.”

“How?” asked Odd.

“I can’t tell you yet until I’ve figured it out myself,” Jeremie said. “But I’ve–” Jeremie didn’t have the chance to take more pride in his surprise, because at that moment Yumi walked up to them. Her face spelled death to anyone that made her angrier than she already was.

“Yumi?” Ulrich said nervously, standing up. “Is anything wrong?”

Yumi simply extended a shaking finger and pointed. Everyone turned to look at William’s clone, which didn’t seem to be able to see them.

Jeremie groaned. “What’s he done this time?”

“He…m…m…made me fail my quarter exam,” Yumi said through clenched teeth. She was shaking with rage. “The one that I spent so much effort in preparing for and–”

“It’s okay,” Ulrich said, wrapping an arm around her. “He’s not smart enough to know better.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if we had just been careful around William!” Yumi shouted. People in the courtyard turned to look at her.

Ulrich hugged her. “It’s not your fault,” he said sadly.

Jeremie’s eyes flashed. “That’s what I forgot,” he said crossly, kicking the bench. “I forgot to work on William’s clone! I’m so sorry, Yumi.”

Yumi wiped a tear off her cheek. “It’s not your fault, Jeremie,” she replied.

In the depths of an alternate universe, Xana’s scheme was almost ready. In the sandy-looking and deserted landscape of a Desert Sector Replika, a tower turned from blue to bright red.

---

As Ulrich and Odd joined the others at their table in the cafeteria and sat down, Yumi was still in a bad mood, although she had mostly calmed down. The only remnants of her mood was the hard glare in her eyes every time they moved across William’s clone, who was busying himself by trying to figure out how to use a fork.

Yumi’s attention snapped off the clone as Jeremie began to speak.

“I’m going to head off to the Factory before Science class,” Jeremie said, trying to finish his food rapidly. “I have to get a head start with the clone, as well as finish all the rest of the jobs I have to do.”

“Whoa, slow down, Jeremie,” Ulrich said, as Jeremie continued to stuff himself. “You’re eating faster than an Odd that ate a week of healthy food.”

“I still remember that,” Odd said as he waved a stalk of asparagus at them, a cross expression passing over his face. “I remember the time when Yolanda said something about healthy food, and then the school forced Rosa to cook healthy. I was starving. Thank goodness it didn’t last more than a few days; a lot of kids stopped eating in protest.”

“Including you,” Aelita said, winking. “But as I remember it, that was the time Xana attacked us with food.”

“That was some food fight,” Odd sighed. “But it was a pretty strange attack. I never knew the cafeteria stored that much food.”

“Anyway,” Jeremie said, cutting across the others before they could get even more off-topic. “The clone is my first priority at the moment, but I still haven’t forgot about those darn Replikas. As soon as I’ve done a decent amount of work with the clone, I’ll finish up the coding I still have to program. I need to be able to activate towers and materialize you guys from the Replikas if our struggle against Xana is going to continue.”

“I wonder what his true plan is,” Ulrich shuddered. “From the cybernetic spiders, the space station, his army of robots in Siberia and tons more supercomputers and possible armies that we’re unaware of, it’s spelling gruesome to me.”

“Let’s hope that we can finish off Xana before he gets the chance,” Aelita said quietly. “Because if we don’t…”

No one was willing to finish her sentence.

---

As it turned out, William’s clone had no past memory of what happened that morning in French class. Yumi had to drag him by the back of his jacket into Ms. Moore’s room.

Ms. Moore looked up from looking over papers at her desk. With a pang, Yumi realized she was grading the essays. The one that she had failed.

“Oh, hello, Ms. Ishiyama and Mr. Dunbar,” Ms. Moore said. There was a slight edge to her voice. She was much stricter than some of the teachers, especially when it came to cheating and other wrongdoings. “Please have a seat. Detention is starting. Your lines are on the board.”

I’ve never gotten detention in my life, Yumi thought, angry and sad at the same time. Until now.

“What’s detention?” the clone asked as it sat down next to Yumi.

Yumi ignored him and started to write her lines, still simmering.

---

The huge elevator door opened, and Jeremie walked into the lab. He immediately walked over to the chair in front of the controls and sat down.

“Let’s see what we can come up with,” Jeremie said, cracking his knuckles and beginning to type.

But before Jeremie could do anything, a window opened up. It focused on a tower and glowed red.

Jeremie groaned. “Activated tower,” he sighed to himself. “I’d better tell the others. Now, let’s see what Xana’s planning to do this time.”

A window opened, and data poured across it, line after line after line. As Jeremie skimmed through the report, his eyes started to widen as he realized what Xana’s attack was.

“I really need to call the others,” Jeremie said hoarsely. He immediately opened up the supercomputer’s mobile program.

---

In an area that sat next to the Rocky Mountains, a secret US base sat in the woods. Activity bustled around as the men did their daily work.

Suddenly, in the command room, purple sparks started to fly.

“What’s going on?” a man said, his eyes widening.

An eye-like symbol with four lines jutting out of it appeared on the screens.

As if in response, on the other side of the base, holes opened in a flat-looking, large metal slab in the ground. Missiles rose up, and without any warning, they flew up into the air and were launched.

The men stared, helpless in shock.

“Contact the government,” the commander ordered quietly. “Report that we’ve had a malfunction, and that missiles have been launched.”

---

As Aelita, Odd and Ulrich walked into the Science room, they were met with a slightly abnormal sight. Everyone, including Mrs. Hertz, had their eyes fixed on an old TV set, which had been turned to the news station.

“What’s this?” Odd said, walking over. “Is it movie day today? We never get to watch any movies! I’ll go get popcorn!”

“Hush,” Mrs. Hertz called. “We’re in an international state of alert.”

The class started to buzz with whispers. Taken aback, the Lyoko Warriors walked over to Sissi. “What’s going on?” asked Odd in a hushed voice.

The Lyoko Warriors were even more worried to see Sissi visibly scared; she hardly betrayed any weakness. Ever. “Mr. Delmas just announced over the loudspeaker that the US launched missiles at us. We could be at war.”

Aelita, Odd and Ulrich gasped. “But why?” Aelita asked. “What have we done to them?”

“Your attention, please,” Mrs. Hertz called. Everyone in the class froze as the President of the United States walked onto the screen to stand in front of a wooden podium.

“Good afternoon, people of the world,” the President said. “It pains me to say this, but unfortunately this is the truth. Less than an hour ago, we received word that one of our military bases had been hacked. Even more disturbing, the hacker caused five of the base’s missiles to be launched.”

The reporters present at the press conference started buzzing with questions.

A female reporter’s voice drowned out the rest. “Mr. President, is there any way of stopping the missiles?”

“I’m afraid not,” the President replied. “We have no way of deactivating the missiles. They will strike their target in a little over an hour. A team of specialized pilots will attempt to shoot the missiles down as they fly over the Atlantic Ocean.”

A hand rose. A third reporter stood up. “Mr. President, has the government been able to determine where the missiles have been launched to?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” the President replied. “We have determined the target to be eastern France.”

There were gasps from everyone in the room. The President disappeared off the screen, and the city’s news station appeared on the screen.

“That was the President of the United States,” the reporter said grimly. “Our station has received word from the United States of America that the missiles are heading for the district of Boulogne-Billancourt.”

“That’s right next to Kadic!” James Lee cried.

“And the Factory,” Aelita whispered to Ulrich and Odd. “I bet Xana’s behind this. We’ve got to warn Jeremie.”

At that moment, Aelita’s mobile began to ring. She answered it. “Hello? Jeremie?”

“Aelita!” Jeremie’s voice was thick with worry and shock. “You need to get over here right now! Xana’s–”

“Launched missiles at Kadic and the Factory,” Aelita replied grimly. “Yes, we just watched the news report. We’ll be there as soon as we can.” She put her phone back in her pocket and motioned to Ulrich and Odd.

But just as Aelita, Ulrich and Odd started for the door, Mrs. Hertz stood up. “Will everyone please have a seat?” Mrs. Hertz called. Everyone in the class instantly stopped talking and directed their attention at Mrs. Hertz. Aelita, Ulrich and Odd reluctantly went back to their seats and sat down.

“In the case that the missiles are not shot down over the Atlantic Ocean, Mr. Delmas has informed me that we will evacuate immediately,” Mrs. Hertz told the class. “All of your parents have been notified, and we will be taking buses away from the targeted area.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“But not us,” Ulrich whispered to Aelita and Odd. “We’re the only ones that can prevent it.”

The class followed Mrs. Hertz and filed out of the classroom in silence. As they walked into the hallway, Aelita, Odd and Ulrich quietly slipped away. Luckily, Sissi and the rest of the class was too busy worrying to notice.

Back over in Ms. Moore’s room, a cell phone started to ring. Yumi noted that it thankfully wasn’t hers. She had put it on vibrate, anyhow.

Ms. Moore frowned and picked up her cell phone. She answered it as she walked out of the room. “Yes, Mr. Delmas? What!”

Yumi looked up alarmingly. She couldn’t make out the words, but Ms. Moore’s voice was shocked with disbelief. She eventually calmed down, and her voice took on a hard, determined edge.

Ms. Moore walked back into the room, stowing her phone in her pocket. “You two, come with me,” she said. “The school is being evacuated.”

Yumi frowned. “But why?” she asked.

Ms. Moore hesitated. “A US military base was hacked less than an hour ago,” she replied reluctantly. “Five missiles were launched, and their target is the school and the surrounding area. We’re to meet the buses at the main gate to evacuate.”

Yumi gasped. Xana, she thought. It has to be.

As the clone and Yumi followed Ms. Moore out of the room, Yumi’s phone began to buzz. She hurriedly picked it up. “Jeremie?”

“The others are on their way to the Factory,” Jeremie said. “I assume you’ve already heard about the missiles.”

“I’ll be there,” Yumi promised. She quickly leaned over and whispered something to William, then ran in the direction of the park.

Ms. Moore glanced back and stopped, glancing around. “William, where’s Yumi?”

“She said she had to go to the bathroom,” the clone replied. “But I don’t see why she needs to take a bath right now.”

---

The elevator door opened. Jeremie, Aelita, Ulrich and Odd glanced over as Yumi rushed into the room.

“Sorry,” Yumi panted. “I came as fast as I could.”

“Good thing you’re here,” Jeremie replied. “We’re going to need all the help we can get. The missiles will strike in forty-five minutes, and the tower needs to be deactivated so that I can launch a Return to the Past.”

“Will the Return work?” Ulrich asked. “I mean, I know it devirtualizes all of us, but since we can’t be materialized from the Network, what will happen to us?”

“You’ll have to get back to Lyoko,” Jeremie said crossly. “All thanks to the missing key to materialization from the Replikas that I still haven’t had the time to find. It’ll complicate things, but it’s not impossible.”

“Okay,” Aelita said, leading the way to the elevator. “Let’s go.”

---

The four Lyoko Warriors ran into the Core Zone. “Hmm,” Odd said. “It looks bluer than normal.”

“Just get onto the elevator,” Jeremie said, rolling his eyes.

The four Lyoko Warriors walked onto the elevator. With a jolt, it came to life and started to rise along its track. As they got higher and higher, they glanced up. Their naval ship sat in the middle of the support beams.

The elevator arrived on the second floor and jolted to a stop. Aelita, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi ran off of it, across the dark blue platform and onto the Teleporter Spots. “We’re ready, Jeremie,” Yumi called.

“Teleport!” Jeremie said. The four Lyoko Warriors disappeared and reappeared in their respective places.

“We’re ready, Jeremie,” Aelita called out.

“Releasing support,” Jeremie said. The five support beams flashed off and leaned back.

“Here we go,” said Aelita. She pulled the joysticks back, and the Skidbladnir rose out of the Hangar into the bright light of the Celestial Dome. The Skidbladnir’s engines rocketed as it swung around the blue sphere.

“Tunnel open in three seconds,” Jeremie told them. One of the tunnels projecting data interfaces between a passage tower and Sector 5 started to open. The flow of interfaces slowed till it stopped altogether. The Skidbladnir glided into the tunnel and out of Sector 5.

The bright Desert Sector shone with a light reminiscent of a midday sun overhead. The Skidbladnir grounded to a halt.

“Checking all resources,” Aelita called. “Shields, activated. Sonar, activated. Stabilizers, online and checked out. Primary axis, clear. Laser generators online. Super Shield operational. Autonomy improvements active. All connections checked and working. Here we go!”

With a jolt, the Skidbladnir dropped down with dizzying speed into the water below.

The Skidbladnir slowly moved out of Lyoko. The entrance gate swung shut behind them.

“Rotation,” Aelita said. She pulled a lever, and the bottom portion of the Skidbladnir rose from facing downward to face forwards.

“Xana, here we come!” Odd called out.

---

Everyone at Kadic was gathered at the main gate, waiting for the buses. Teachers were rapidly doing head counts to make sure everyone was there.

As Mrs. Hertz went through her checklist, her eyebrows frowned. “Jeremie? Ulrich? Odd? Aelita? Are you here?”

The class turned to look for them, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“Yumi Ishiyama isn’t here either!” Ms. Moore called out frantically. “Has anyone seen them since we started to arrive here?”

All the children shook their heads. The teachers turned to Mr. Delmas, worried looks upon their faces.

“I could go back and look for them, sir,” Jim volunteered.

After considering it, Mr. Delmas sighed. “I’m sorry, but I cannot allow anyone to go back to look for them,” Mr. Delmas said. Gasps of shock were exhaled from everyone, but Mr. Delmas pressed on. “The missiles will arrive within half an hour, and we need to be out of range by then. I am not willing to risk any lives to save more. I’m sorry, but if they do not arrive in the next minute, we must leave without them.”

A shocked silence followed. The students didn’t even whisper at the prospect of losing five of their own; it was severe on its own with no need for discussion.

---

The Skidbladnir jetted out of a Hub. The Network was strangely still an iridescent blue; Xana hadn’t sent anything after them yet.

“You’ve still got a bit of a ways to go before you get to the Replika,” Jeremie instructed. “But the zero activity that Xana is giving us is really starting to bother me.”

“Relax, Einstein,” Odd said. “Maybe one of the missiles changed course and hit the New Mexico base and destroyed the supercomputer.”

“Hardy har,” Aelita said, not bothering to laugh. “Just keep your eyes open. We don’t want to be taken by surprise.”

Almost in reply, the Network instantly flashed and turned a bright red.

“Careful, there are Sharks heading right towards you!” Jeremie warned. “From the looks of it, there are five of them.”

“Hey, where’s the lifeguard?” Odd asked. “He didn’t even bother to post a shark warning sign!”

“Save the jokes for later, Odd,” Aelita replied. “NavSkids, away!”

The three occupied NavSkids detached from the Skidbladnir and flew forward to engage their visitors.

“You know, I never bothered to wonder what species these things are,” Ulrich said as the five virtual fish came into view. They growled and launched torpedoes at the trio of NavSkids.

“Whatever they are, they sure like to eat other living creatures,” Yumi commented as she, Ulrich and Odd scattered.

“Try to be as quick as you can,” Jeremie said, his palms starting to become wet with sweat. “Need I remind you about the missiles? We only have twenty minutes until they reach Kadic!”

“No sweat, Einstein,” Odd replied as he shot the first kill of the day.

---

Sissi was blind to the passing scenery through the bus window. All she cared that her five new friends were in danger.

They’ve got to be somewhere, Sissi thought to herself. She took out her cell phone and dialed Odd’s number.

She waited through four rings, and then silently put her cell phone back in her pocket as she received static. Her friends were going to be killed, and there was nothing she could do about it.

---

A team of six pilots flew through the whistling air. They could see the five missiles now. They had just left the air above the United States: they were now over water.

“Fighters one through six, fire!” command instructed.

The six fighters immediately launched their short range missiles. But just as they made contact with the five missiles, purple sparks flew. They hit the six missiles, and they plummeted into the water, exploding.

The six pilots watched the five missiles fly away in dismay. There was no one to stop the innocent lives being lost now.

---

Jeremie watched the screen open to the local news intently; they had just announced that they had received word about the attempt to shoot down the mistargeted missiles.

“We have received word from the White House in the United States,” the red-haired female reporter stated. “Unfortunately, the news is extremely bad. Two attempts were made to shoot down the missiles, and both failed. We are in an international threat of red, which means that all citizens are mandatorily required to evacuate the area.”

Jeremie closed the window with a sigh. “Guys, I’ve got bad news. The attempt to shoot down the missiles failed; we’re all that stands between the lives at stake and destruction now.”

“If Xana’s the one who launched the missiles, he’s sure to have put some sort of protection behind them,” Aelita said grimly. “And with the Factory targeted, the supercomputer will be destroyed…along with our only chance of getting home.”

“Princess, you have a visitor!” Odd warned. “And his etiquette isn’t that great.”

Aelita turned to see a Shark swim around a shaft and fire a torpedo at the Skidbladnir. Aelita grabbed the joystick and swerved the Skidbladnir out of the way and fired a torpedo in response. The Shark groaned and exploded.

Suddenly, a loud shriek blasted from the sonar. Aelita, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi looked around in confusion.

“Odd, did someone pull your tail again?” Ulrich teased.

“No, that wasn’t me,” Odd retorted as he shot the last Shark. “Einstein, are you getting anything?”

Jeremie glanced at the radar window. “Nothing I can…”

Suddenly, six red dots appeared on the screen. Jeremie blinked. “It looks like you’ve got some old friends coming to greet you,” Jeremie warned.

“Wonderful,” Yumi said dryly.

Suddenly, there was another shriek, and Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi turned and looked to see what was coming to greet them. Swimming toward them were six blue-and-white creatures that they were very well familiar with.

“Huh,” Ulrich said, eyeing the six Flying Mantas coming closer toward them. “It looks like Xana finally found a way to irritate us even more with those flat bird-things.”

“It’s about time,” Odd sighed. “This is where they’re really supposed to be, in the sea, not flapping and flying through the virtual air and squawking bird calls at us.”

“Xana’s getting more and more powerful,” Yumi said worriedly. “It won’t be long before he’ll have enough power to do almost anything…”

“Well, in the meantime,” Odd said, cracking his knuckles, “I’m not going to let his little horrendous henchthings get the better of me. Torpedo!”

Odd’s badly fired torpedo was easily dodged by the group of Mantas. They sounded their calls and shot toward them like bullets.

Ulrich, Odd and Yumi instantly scattered. The Mantas split up into pairs and swooshed after them with a swish of their tails.

“Guys, let me remind you that we still have an activated tower,” Aelita reminded. “And with that tower still red, we aren’t going to be able to launch a Return to the Past, and that means we won’t be able to save the city or ourselves…”

“I get what you mean, Princess,” Odd replied testily, dodging laser shots from his Mantas, “but what do you suggest we do? Wave good-bye to our entertainers and be on our merry way?”

“Cut the sarcasm, Odd,” Ulrich said, destroying one of his Mantas with the blast of a torpedo. “Aelita’s right; we really have to get to that Replika.”

Suddenly, there was a beep from the sonar on the NavSkids and the Skidbladnir. The four Lyoko Warriors glanced at their sonar to see more red dots entering the area.

“That’s just great,” sighed Yumi, as she, Ulrich and Odd glanced to see three Kongers swimming towards them and the Skidbladnir. “We’ll never be able to make it to the Replika alive!”

“Einstein, do you have any brilliant ideas?” Ulrich asked. “Because I think we’re running out of options here. It’s either fight or flee, and if we don’t fight we’ll be blasted to bits!”

Jeremie frowned in concentration as he closed his eyes and thought. “A good offense can eliminate the need for defense,” he said, “but what…”

Jeremie stopped as an idea sprouted in his head. He smiled. “I’ll see what I can do, guys,” he called, starting to type rapidly. “I think I can beat Xana at his own game.”

“Better hurry!” Odd cried out as he was hit by a torpedo. “I don’t think we can last much longer out here!”

Back on Lyoko, in the Mountain Sector, a tower turned from shimmering blue to a glowing green.

---

In the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Spain, a US aircraft carrier sat in the water. Men in uniform swarmed on deck, readying the planes for takeoff.

“Sergeant? This is command,” a voice said from the sergeant’s headset. “Are the planes ready for takeoff?”

“Almost, commander,” the sergeant replied. “We just need to finish the last check, and then the planes will be ready for flying.”

Suddenly, up in the command room, sparks started to fly. All the screens turned white.

“What’s going on?” the commander said, his eyes widening in alarm.

With the roar of engines, the planes down below on deck suddenly came to life. The men finishing their checks on them screamed and scattered as the planes launched themselves into the air.

The sergeant started, dumbstruck, at the planes as they disappeared into the distance, and then turned to a man at his right. “Were there any men in the planes?” he asked.

The man, dumbfound with silence, shook his head.

Up above in the control room, the commander glanced at the reception screen and was surprised to see that a set of class-three missiles was heading for the area.

---

Xana’s missiles whistled through the air. They would soon pass over Europe and begin their descent into their target. The Factory would be destroyed, along with the children’s oh-so-precious school. Xana smiled at this.

Suddenly, there was a roar from the south. Six planes hurtled toward the missiles, firing their own weapons as they neared. All the weapons bounced off, not so much as leaving a scratch on the missiles.

The person controlling the missiles decided to try another tactic; his last resort. With a roar, the planes hurtled themselves at the five missiles.

With a crash and a bang, the missiles and planes collided in a spectacular explosion. Light flew through the air as the debris of the missiles and planes tumbled and splashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Jeremie smiled. The world was safe.

Back in the Network, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi were desperately trying to evade the Mantas and Kongers. “Jeremie, I don’t think we’re going to make it in time!” Yumi shouted as she was hit again by a laser shot. Her NavSkid tumbled forward through the virtual water.

“Don’t worry,” Jeremie said, smiling. “The tower has been deactivated.”

There was silence among the Lyoko Warriors, who seemed impervious to the monsters still raging and firing at them.

“Why?” Aelita asked, piloting the Skidbladnir out of the fire of a couple of Mantas. “Who or what deactivated it?”

“Actually, Xana decided to deactivate it himself,” Jeremie replied, still grinning, “after his missiles were destroyed by a squadron of empty fighter jets.”

Aelita smiled. “Great job, Jeremie,” she said thankfully. “NavSkids, time to get back to Lyoko!”

“We’re on our way,” Yumi replied as the three NavSkids swerved around the monsters and returned to the Skidbladnir.