Chapter One

The darkness of smoke outside of the bus was almost blinding. Odd shifted nervously in his seat, feeling his duffle bag against his foot. Glancing al all of the other people on the bus, he sighed. These people looked just as old as he was. Most of them had just gotten out of high school. As for him, he was supposed to be a freshman at Kadic Academy.

But there was no Kadic Academy anymore. It was a pile of ashes now. The only building that Odd had seen standing in the last three months was an old factory by the river bank. The factory held XANA, a super computer virus. When he had gotten the keys of Lyoko, it was all over for the Lyoko Team. Yumi was kept prisoner, Aeleta and Jeremy ran off, and Odd and Ulrich fled home.

The smoke outside grew thicker. Odd looked from the window to the drivers seat. He was an old, fat man, who looked tired. The military had had so many under budgets, which was why they were riding to boot camp in a school bus.

The smoke seemed to lessen as the driver screeched the bus to a small base. It was a sorry looking base. It had some green tents with tables outside and men lining up. Most of them men were in there early twenties and teens. Odd figured there would be a lot of young people there. Most of the older men were already gone.

"Come on, maggots," said the officer in the front of the bus. "Move it. The war isn't going to win it's self."

No, XANA will win it for us, Odd thought. He grabbed his bags and tried to squeeze through the narrow isle and out the door. It was hot, and he felt some rain drops on his arms. It felt strange, because they were supposedly in a desert. He looked at every person, looking for a certain brown-headed boy.

"Odd!" the shout made him jump and he was tackled from behind.

"Ulrich?" he asked.

"Odd, you idiot! I tried to call you a billion times!" Ulrich yelled and slammed his fist into Odd's stomach.

Odd began coughing. "What was that for?"

"For not bothering to come sooner. We lost a whole platoon yesterday. We need more people."

Odd nodded. "Come on. I'll help you get your things together," Ulrich said and lead him through a mob of guys in green uniforms.

"The younger kids stay here," Ulrich told him, pointing to a saggy old tent with some kids climbing out of it. "It's for the fourteen-year-olds and fifteen-year-olds. They gave us the worst tent."

"That's because we're the worst solders," Odd said. "What can we do? We're fourteen."

"We can do a lot of things. We can fight just as well as any other person in this camp."

Odd shrugged. "Whatever." He studied Ulrich's face, searching for signs of a reaction.

"Any news on Yumi?" he asked in a whisper.

Ulrich's face hardened. He scowled. "No."

"Is she ok?"

"Still alive, if that's what you mean."

Odd looked at the ground. "What about Jeremie and Aelita?"

"Took off somewhere. Who knows?" Ulrich began to sulk. "They don't care about us, or about Yumi. The two love birds just took off and left us. Ha! If Jeremie thinks I'm talking to him again, he's insane."

Odd nodded. He did agree that Jeremie and Aelita had took off, leavening everyone behind. But he didn't like blaming Aelita, because Jeremie probably convinced her to go. She was a little naive, meaning her could convince her to do anything.

"Hurry up," Ulrich said, jumping onto his cot. "Sarge hates it when we're late for any meal."

"Meal?" Odd asked. "It's like 4:30."

"We train all night, so we have to be ready by six. It gets darker then."

"Oh."

Ulrich stared at the ceiling. Odd grabbed some of his cloths and stuffed them in a small box.

"That goes under your bed," Ulrich said. His eyes returned to the ceiling.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Odd asked, smiling. He took his picture of his family and jammed it in his pocket, out of site.

"Do you think Yumi's ok?" Ulrich asked. "I mean, she's been with XANA ever since summer started. Do you think she's alive?"

Odd smiled weakly. "Yeah, of course!"

"Tell the truth."

Odd frowned. "To tell you the truth Ulrich, I don't think she's ok. I think XANA would have killed her by now, or at least tortured her to death. But that's only what I think."

Ulrich looked away. "I can't take it, Odd. This whole war started because of us. Maybe, if we had been better fighters, we wouldn't have let Aelita's get to the scyphozoa."

"Or," Odd said. "Maybe, if Jeremie had took his lazy but into the scanner, he would have saved his lovely girl friend."

Ulrich nodded. "I just can't believe it happened, you know. I mean, it seems so strange." Tears welled up in his eyes, and he looked away. "I want her back, Odd."

Odd looked at the ground. "We have to go to that briefing, right?" he asked. "We don't want to be late."

Ulrich wiped his eyes on his sleeves. "I'll say I got sand in my eyes."

Odd nodded. Ulrich had tried to get Yumi back many times, but each one had failed. For all they knew, Yumi was probably dead, like half of the American army. And Jeremie and Aelita were probably safe and sound. Odd suddenly got mad just thinking about it. Aelita loved Jeremie, who had been to scared to step foot in a scanner to save her?

Ulrich stood up. "She's alive," he said. "I know she is, Odd."

Odd nodded, but didn't reply right away. Instead, he draped his arm around Ulrich's shoulder.

"I believe you."