Post-production note: all my stories were written based on season 1 and what was learned during that time period. Conflicts and plot holes are due to not knowing what would happen and taking a wild guess.

10-1: Exposed

Well, I had no idea college would be this busy. And it's likely to get busier. Anyway, I'll try to keep updating at least until this story is finished. Only God knows what'll happen after that. Now where was I? Oh yeah!
So far X.A.N.A.'s Pawns have been defeated, but they still pose great danger mainly b/c of the undetectable connection to Earth. Since the connection also allows the gang to use their Lyoko powers in real life, they're not complaining…except for one or two of them.

(((-1-)))

The countdown was initiated. Only one of them could make it in time. Ulrich gritted his teeth and tried to move faster, but there was a limit to even that. Odd tried to edge ahead of his buddy, dodging spikes and other traps along the walls and floor. They were nearly neck to neck, racing for their goal before the clock could run out.

Five seconds, four, three, two—

Out of nowhere someone flipped over the two rivals and reached the finish line a split second before them! Both boys dropped their jaws as happy little music chimed from the TV. Jeremy smiled smugly at them as he put the controller down and leaned back on the bed, hands behind his head.

"Someone owes me five bucks."

Odd grumbled as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a crumpled bill. "I want change. That's a twenty, you know."

"I'm aware of that," the blonde boy snickered as he pulled out his wallet. "Ulrich, cough up your share."

"Hey! I didn't bet against you! I know better."

Odd looked over as Kiwi stared yapping at the window. Ambling over, he noticed Janika and Aelita sitting on a bench going through their notes for class. But even from this distance, Odd could tell his girlfriend was distracted, biting her pencil and staring at the grass.

The punk frowned. "Hey, you guys notice anything strange about Janika's behavior lately? She was fine this morning and now she's…edgy."

The other two boys looked at each other in surprise and Ulrich blurted out, "What? You mean she didn't tell you?" The dark-haired teenager wanted to snatch the words back as soon as he said them, but it was too late.

Odd looked at him with confusion. "What did she forget to tell me that she obviously told everyone else?"

"Well…you remember earlier today when she compared Jim to a blue whale, right? After school he made her work out in the gym, bench-pressing—"

"Whoa! Hold up! Janika was bench-pressing?"

"Stop interrupting me, Odd," Ulrich said tersely. "It was just the bar anyway. You know how girls are."

"Yumi better not catch you saying that," Jeremy advised.

"Whatever! The point is, Jim said something snide about the reason she was sent to Kadic and all of a sudden the bar she was lifting snapped in half and…well, let's just say both pieces are embedded in the gym wall. Millie and Tamiya already took pictures, so it should be in the school paper tomorrow. I think the headline has something to do with Jim being attacked by a rabid squirrel."

"Huh?"

"Well, Jim didn't want anyone to know he said what he said to Janika and she didn't want to get in trouble for damaging school property, so she gave all the credit to him. His excuse was something about being startled or whatever. The girls just filled in the blanks."

"Okay, so why did she tell you guys and not me?"

"We thought she had," Jeremy inserted. "I don't know why she wouldn't. The rest of us thought it was pretty funny."

Odd had to admit he would have wanted to see the look on Jim's face when Janika broke a bar she was having trouble picking up, but something about the story wasn't right. He just couldn't put his finger on it…

(V)

If X.A.N.A. had had a physical body, he would have been wringing his hands. The Pawns should have worked. Any one of them should have been more than enough to destroy the Warriors, but not a single one had prevailed. Which meant that somewhere his calculations had gone awry.

How could he be wrong? What had he overlooked? Those questions and others had to be answered before he could release the newest Pawn. He couldn't risk losing her too.

But an instant later, warnings flared in his circuits. No, not yet! The defenses protecting his rewritten code inside the altered Tower that allowed his creations access to Earth was collapsing! The Warriors would be aware of the weakness in mere hours and he had no way to prevent their meddling!

There was no time left. The questions were irrelevant. This Pawn was his last hope. Perhaps she would succeed somehow.

(V)

Janika chewed on the eraser of her pencil, the sight of a bar quivering in the wall a foot from Jim's face flashing through her mind.

"Janika!" Aelita chided, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah—no…I just…think I'm coming down with something." She paused and glanced guiltily up at the dorms toward Odd's room. There was a flash of blonde hair with a shock of violent purple and she quickly averted her eyes. "Look, I'll just study with you later, okay?"

The pink-haired girl tugged her sleeve as Janika stood to leave. "What's wrong? I know something's bothering you. It's clear as day. Is it about earlier?"

The other girl fingered her long brown braid with one hand, slowly nodding. "That…and something else I'm worried about. Just don't tell Odd I'm having trouble, okay? He'll try to help me and that'll just make things worse."

Her friend rose to her feet, a serious expression on her face. "I'm not promising anything. You do need help. Don't even try to deny that."

Anger flashed in Janika's sudden catlike green eyes as she turned to face Aelita squarely. "I don't need help! Just get off my case and give me a little privacy. You know, sometimes I just hate you people!"

Feline claws sprouted from her fingers and the materialized girl slowly took several steps back, holding her palms out disarmingly. "Just calm down, that's all I'm saying."

Janika looked down at her hands and visibly flinched. Without another word, she ran away, leaving her schoolbooks on the bench. Aelita rubbed her arms to make the goose bumps go away and gathered together Janika's things. She'd drop them off at her friend's room later. She had to tell the others something else was wrong with their friend.

(V)

Yumi saw Odd come out of the dorms and waved at him, but he didn't seem to see her as he jogged toward the gym. Nettled by his indifference, she frowned and headed in a different direction.

She was nearly to the cafeteria when a certain someone suddenly appeared at her elbow. "Oh Yumi! I'm so surprised you bothered to show up. You know, there have been some awful rumors flying about lately concerning you."

Her curiosity slightly peaked, the Japanese girl wondered what Sissy had come up with this time.

"And what sort of dreadful things have people been saying about me?" she asked, mock-offended.

"Only that you and the new boy are dating."

Okay, now her curiosity was really peaked. "Who? William?"

The principal's daughter nodded coyly.

"Who said I was dating him?"

"Everyone. Even Ulrich mentioned something about you spending too much time with your new boyfriend."

A headache pulsed powerfully through her head as her anger blazed. She stepped back, eyes closed, and massaged her temples to try relieving the stress. It worked, a little. But it still felt like someone was trying to split her skull with a jackhammer.

"Yumi, I know how hard it can be when you first start dating someone worth your time. Personally, I think you're better off with a guy your own age instead of Ulrich."

"You don't know anything!" she yelled.

With that last word, Sissy flew back as if she'd been punched. Landing several meters away, she laid on the grass, unmoving. Yumi stared dumbly at her in disbelief. Had she done that?

With surprise she realized her headache had vanished competely!

(V)

Odd walked into the gym. There was Janika against the back wall, one hand touching the end of a metal bar protruding from the bricks. She turned her head slightly so that she could see him, but said nothing.

Slowly he meandered over, trying to act as though he had just realized she was there. "Hey. I heard about the little tantrum. Want to tell me about it?"

"…No," she muttered.

"Why?"

"I just don't. Isn't that good enough for you people?" she demanded tartly.

Instead of backing down, Odd stamped his foot solidly on the cement, frustrated. "No! I'm not gonna let this breeze by unless you tell me what's wrong! How am I supposed to help if you won't let me know?"

"You can't help, that's why!" she snapped right back, but her voice cracked.

Though the muted metamorphosis of Bloodlust swept over her features, Janika's attitude appeared more intimidated than enraged.

"I don't want to go," she murmured before dashing out of the gym.

The blonde boy stood there, her words sinking in. "Go?"

(V)

Sissy placed another ice pack on her head and sat down at her desk. She knew Yumi would try to make it sound like she just happened to be standing there when…when a fistful of nothing hit the smartest, beautiful, most popular girl in school!

Well, she'd figure out something.

The principal's daughter fingered the photos of Ulrich in her diary. She smiled faintly, wishing he would at least look at her. Well, one day she would die of a broken heart and then he'd be sorry! He'd come to her funeral and lay a rose on her coffin and say he regretted ever insulting her.

As she sat there, her lamp flickered and went out. If she had been more wary she might have been able to get away, but Sissy didn't even notice the foggy reddish figure as it drifted slowly behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up as she felt a cold touch, but before she could even turn around, she lost all feeling in her body.

Ah, now! I admit this one is moving pretty quick, but there's a lot of stuff I have to cover. Oh, and anonymous comments are back, peoples! No use letting everyone suffer for the sake of one idiot. Poll time! What was the last movie you saw in theaters? (I watched Yours, Mine & Ours, and next week I'll see Narnia)