Chapter 5

Yumi was accustomed to acting under pressure- this certainly wasn't the first time she had had to fight William, nor would it be the last if X.A.N.A. had anything to say about it. But the situation seemed completely different, now that she was on her own, without even Jeremy to help direct her in battle. Still, that could only mean he must have been in trouble, and that he and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors were all counting on her. So, face to face with William, she withdrew her tessen fans and braced for attack.

"For X.A.N.A.!" William exclaimed, raising his zweihander skyward. On his command, the three Tarantulas accompanying him began firing in Yumi's direction.

Yumi was ready: with a swipe of her fans, she reflected their lasers back at them, destroying one of them in the process. But the two remaining Tarantulas were closing in quickly, and with no one to back her up, she was left with no choice but to retreat. Hurriedly she leapt behind a nearby rock, hurling her fans behind her. By some stroke of luck, one of them struck the Manta William was standing on, and it exploded, sending him plummeting to the ground.

Enraged, William picked himself up before spotting Yumi, and with a cry of "Super Smoke!" he dissolved into a trail of darkness headed in the girl's direction. Yumi gasped as she turned to find herself facing William standing right in front of her, weapon drawn.

"Nice to see you again, Yumi…"

…

"What are we supposed to do now?!" yelled Odd.

"Just give me a second," Jeremy grumbled. "I'm trying to find Aelita and Ulrich on the radar!"

"Maybe if you stopped playing video games and actually bothered helping us out, Jeremy, we could get out of this a lot easier!" Mike snapped.

"Yeah? And maybe if you care to live you won't question what I'm trying to do right now!" Jeremy hissed.

"Come now, Mike, let Mr. Edinburgh do his thing," Mr. Ferdinand agreed, his voice cracking with hysteria. "Because I don't want to die…"

"I got it!" Jeremy announced at last. His moment of triumph, however, was short-lived. "Uh-oh…"

"What? What is it?" asked Odd.

Jeremy gulped. "From the looks of things, they've got an even bigger robot problem than we do!"

"Yeah, well ours is pretty bad as it is," Odd groaned. "We gotta get your earpiece back!"

"That animatronic doesn't seem to be affected by the flashlight, though…" said Jeremy. "What can we- ACK!"

In a flash, Mangle had descended from the ceiling, still clutching Jeremy's earpiece in its fangs, and seized hold of him, attempting to suffocate him. Not a second later, Odd had leapt high into the air like a gymnast and socked Mangle hard, ripping its head unit clean off. Odd landed gracefully, while Jeremy and what remained of Mangle tumbled to the ground with a thud.

"Thanks for the save, Odd," said Jeremy as Odd helped him back to his feet.

"I try, Einstein," remarked Odd.

In an instant, Jeremy yanked his earpiece free of Mangle's detached head unit and flung it on his head. "Aelita? Ulrich? You guys still there?"

"Jeremy!" came Aelita's voice. "Are you alright? We were getting so worried!"

"Well, don't worry about me," Jeremy answered. "From the looks of things you guys have quite the robot problem on your hands!"

"You don't say!" growled Ulrich. "None of our attacks can make a dent in these things! We're running out of life points over here!"

"Hey Jeremy," interjected Odd. "If the flashlight worked against these animatronics, wouldn't it work against whatever Aelita and Ulrich are fighting too?"

"You're right! Great thinking, Odd!" exclaimed Jeremy. "Okay, guys, you need to find some way to flash them with bright light! That should take them out!"

"Thanks for the tip, Einstein, but where are we going to find bright light in a deserted warehouse?!" spat Ulrich.

"I don't know! You'll just have to improvise!" yelled Jeremy frantically. "Hang on, I'm checking up on Yumi right now!"

…

"Bright light, huh? What are we supposed to do about that?" Ulrich grumbled, as his katana collided with the metal arms of an animatronic endoskeleton.

Instinctively, Aelita took aim with an Energy Field, striking the robot before it could come any closer to Ulrich. Then, as if curious, she summoned another Energy Field, and held it aloft, examining it. The orb of energy cast a faint glow on the walls of the warehouse.

"That's it!" she yelled. "Ulrich, I know what to do!"

"I'm all ears," answered Ulrich.

"Okay, when I give you the signal, run in a circle around me with your Super Sprint! Don't stop until I say so!"

"But what if that doesn't-"

"Trust me, just do it!" she snapped.

Ulrich sighed- you never knew with Aelita's ideas, but their regular means of fighting didn't seem to be working either. He crouched down on the ground, ready to sprint, as the X.A.N.A.-tronics began closing in on them again.

"Ready… GO!"

Ulrich leapt to his feet, and the moment he began his Super Sprint Aelita created an Energy Field, holding it high above her. The light it gave off was intensified by the spinning blur surrounding her, throwing vivid streams of light in all directions. Using Ulrich's Super Sprint, Aelita had turned one of her Energy Fields into a makeshift strobe light.

It had the desired effect: instantly, the waves of advancing robots began to drop like flies, their smouldering endoskeletons flickering with electricity. Wave after wave the robots collapsed, until the warehouse had been cleared of its infestation.

"Stop!" Aelita yelled, her voice barely audible over the rushing sound of Ulrich's sprint.

Finding himself unable to rid himself of his inertia on his own, Ulrich charged up a nearby wall and leapt back down to Aelita's side.

"Wow… that was some idea, Princess," said Ulrich as he took in the sight of their handiwork.

"I knew it would work!" she exclaimed happily. "Now let's bust that supercomputer and get out of here!"

"Leave it to me!" Ulrich answered, charging back up the wall and to the cubicle where the warehouse's computer laid waiting for him.

…

The last thing Yumi needed, during the heated fight with William that was currently underway, was a distraction. Unfortunately for her, Jeremy had decided to make his triumphant return then and there.

"Yumi! Are you alright? What's going on in Lyoko?"

"Ugh… Jeremy, where have you been?!" Yumi yelled as she narrowly dodged a swipe of William's sword.

"Sorry… we had a slight complication-"

"Hyaaah!" screamed Yumi, launching her fans at William, who easily deflected them. "Look, Jeremy, now is not the time, okay? William means business today!"

"Well, whatever you do, make sure he doesn't reach the Skid!" Jeremy answered. "If it gets destroyed, we'll lose Ulrich and Aelita!"

"Right… the Skid," muttered Yumi, glancing back at the submersible behind her. "Don't worry, Jeremy, I'm on it- ARGH!"

Yumi's attention snapped back to William's zweihander- as it produced a hole in her chest. "Oh no!" she screamed, helpless to watch as William resumed his advance towards the Skid, leaving her to devirtualize. A moment later, she tumbled out of the scanner, winded.

Then the Skid began to move, breaking free of its connection to the tower, and William's triumph turned immediately to rage at the sight of its passengers pulling away.

"You know, what, William? I think it's time X.A.N.A. let you take the day off," retorted Ulrich as he and Aelita sped away, leaving the Mountain Replika behind them to dissolve into nothing.

…

"Oh no!" Jeremy cried out. "William just devirtualized Yumi!"

"That's not the only problem on our hands, Einstein!" warned Odd. "Looks like Fuzzy Lumpkins came back for revenge!"

Jeremy, Mike, and Mr. Ferdinand glanced down the hall, horrified, and found the face of Freddy Fazbear looking back at them.

"All right, Freddy, let's see how you like… this!" yelled Jeremy, pointing the flashlight square at Freddy's face. But nothing happened: no matter how hard he hammered the button, no light would turn on.

Jeremy dropped the flashlight, too horrified to even speak. Of all the times the batteries could have run out, it had to be now…

Then, as the foursome braced themselves for the inevitable, the clock struck 6 A.M… and Freddy's flickering body fell to the ground.

"Replika destroyed, Jeremy!" Aelita's voice came from his earpiece. "Another one down!"

Breathing a massive sigh of relief, Jeremy threw his earpiece back on. "Way to go guys! Yumi, are you okay?"

"I'm here, Jeremy!" answered Yumi. "I've got a return to the past ready for you. Just say when!"

"Wait!" exclaimed Mr. Ferdinand, hurrying to Jeremy. "Before you launch this time program thing of yours, son, I'd like you to have this… for, uh, your service to our establishment and all that."

The restaurant owner handed Jeremy a slip of paper. It was a check for $100, personalized with the smiling face of Freddy Fazbear. On it was written the name: Jeremy Fitzgerald.

"Eh… thanks," Jeremy replied, wincing. "…But it's Belpois, not Fitzgerald. Okay, Yumi, hit it!"

"Wait, what exactly is about to happen here?" started Mike.

"Don't worry!" Jeremy answered, as a wall of light engulfed the restaurant. "Like I said- you guys won't remember a thing!"

And yet, as the immense wall of light swallowed up the pizzeria, the factory, and all else in its path, a voice, inhuman yet not quite mechanical, could just barely be made out from over the commotion.

I am still here…