"I suppose you all want answers, huh?" Hunter said, smiling very uneasily with all the glares being targeted on him. He was now in the computer lab.

"We do, but first we need to do this," Jeremie said before swiveling around in his chair. "Since you know about us, I don't think the Return to the Past will have any sort of effect on you." He faced the monitor, his fingers tapping keys before he pressed 'Enter'. "Return to the past, now."

A pillar of light rose up as time went in reverse to a preset time Jeremie had arranged for them to begin the day.

The day repeated as usual and once again Odd and Leo had to be lectured about their poor test grades. Back in Yumi and William's class, Hunter could feel himself being closely watched by two oldest Warriors. He knew that they knew his true identity and that there was no way he could weasel his way out of his one except by telling them the truth about himself, his gear and how he knew about Lyoko.

Free period soon came and Ulrich, Jeremie, Leo, Odd and Aelita waited at their usual bench. Their waiting soon paid off as William and Yumi came, bringing along the young man who was also known as the Predator.

"Sit," Yumi said firmly. The tone made Hunter gulp slightly.

"Um…I prefer standing," Hunter said nervously.

"She told you to sit," William insisted, pushing Hunter against the bench as the Lyoko Warriors all surrounded him in a semi-circle. They wanted answers, and the truth, from him and would not let him leave until he gave them.

Sighting, Hunter rubbed the bridge of his nose, "OK, what do you guys want to know?"

"Well, for starters, we want to know how you get to Lyoko without using the scanners," Jeremie began.

Hunter had wanted to keep this a secret, but since he couldn't exactly erase this from their minds, he might as well come clean, "I'm actually the son of a brilliant scientist and computer programmer. I'm gonna keep his name a secret, simply because you guys don't need to know it. I lived alone with my dad, my mom died shortly after I was born. A few years ago, my dad actually stumbled upon Lyoko. He accidentally opened a gateway between Lyoko and the real world, which my dad and I stupidly entered. Unfortunately, the gateway was unstable and began to collapse in on itself. At the last second…" Hunter hesitated. "My dad threw me out through the gateway. The gateway collapsed, locking my dad inside Lyoko."

"Your dad's…in Lyoko?" Aelita stuttered. But how was that possible? Was Hunter's father trapped like hers? Could he still be alive?

"After that, I tried to tell people but they thought I was crazy. I was shipped from one foster home to another until they decided to send me to an insane asylum since I kept insisting my dad was in a virtual world," Hunter continued.

"Heck, people sure don't know how to listen," Odd agreed. It would sound crazy to most people outside their group.

"As to how I actually enter Lyoko…" Hunter held up his wrist showing a small wrist computer, based on the ones the Predators use. "This little baby allows me to digitally transfer myself into Lyoko." He held up a card. "It took me a while, but I managed to transfer all my digital information onto this card. I swipe this card into my computer and I'm transferred directly into Lyoko."

"So, why have you been attacking us?" Ulrich asked accusingly.

Hunter hesitated again, "Uh… Well…" He couldn't really tell them the truth, at least, not until he learned to trust them. "I did base my Lyoko form on the Predator, so of course I'd hunt for decent prey." He noticed the glares he got from the word prey. "Okay, wrong choice of words." He corrected, "A decent challenge."

The group huddled.

"So, what do you think about his story?" Ulrich asked.

"It does make sense," Yumi stated.

"He could still be a polymorphic specter in disguise," Odd suggested.

"Nope, he's human,'" Jeremie said. "I ran a scan just incase."

"So, Aelita, you think it's possible his father and he found Lyoko a few years back?"

"I don't know…" Aelita shook his head. "Maybe…but don't forget, Lyoko was shut down before Jeremie turned it on for me."

"Wasn't that 2 years ago?" Odd inquired. "Or longer?"

"It's possible that Hunter and his father stumbled upon Lyoko as soon as I activated the super computer," Jeremie said.

"But how did he enter the first time?" Aelita asked.

"We may need to ask him more questions," Jeremie said.

"So, you think his story checks out?" Leo asked.

"We should give him the benefit of the doubt, for now," William said.

"Well, I don't trust him," Ulrich muttered.

"Um, guys?" Leo spoke as he looked up from the huddle. "Hunter's gone."

Hunter went back to his dorm room before throwing himself onto his bed. His cover had been blown. Now how was he supposed to find his dad?

There were still plenty of other things to consider. Now that his secret was known, the Warriors would be on the lookout for him. Not that they would see him coming though. His invisibility ability would work in his advantage. The problem was that they would probably attack him on sight if they even suspected he was there. It wasn't hard to learn about his abilities since they were based off the movie alien called Predator. They would figure out all his tricks easy from it. Worse, if the main computer program drained the data from one of them, then the monsters would start getting wise to his abilities.

"What do I do?" he sighed to himself. He grabbed a set of headphones and plugged them into his iPod. He chose the song 'Seize the Day' by Avenged Sevenfold and turned it onto full blast, losing himself in the music.

Yumi walked into her house with a sigh. Hunter had escaped without being questioned further. "I knew we should have tied him up," she mumbled to herself. She looked into the living room and saw that several boxes had been packed as well as several bags. She saw her mom and dad walk into the living room, each carrying a new box. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Yumi…We're moving back to Japan," answered her father.

Yumi's eyes widened with a mixture of shock and terror. What would this mean for the team? What would this mean for her and Ulrich? "W…What?" she stuttered.

"I can make better pay if we move back. We leave in two days. He sure to be packed and ready to go by then," he replied.

"I… I HATE YOU!" screeched Yumi as she stormed off to her room. She spent the rest of the day in there, and that night she slowly cried herself to sleep.

Yumi tried her best to avoid the others that day, at least until free period. She even went as far as to skip class. If her parents asked she'd blame it on their decision to uproot her and take her away from her friends. When that fateful time arrived she met her friends in their normal spot. She'd miss their meetings. She'd miss them even more though. Her friends…

"Hey, Yumi," said William said to the girl he still had feelings for. She still saw him as a friend, and only a friend, "Where were you? I didn't see you in class today. I was getting a little worried."

Yumi was trying her best to hold back tears. Her budding relationship with Ulrich was about to come to a screeching halt. "I'm moving," she said quickly and quietly.

"What?" asked Aelita. Yumi had said it too quickly for anyone to really understand what she had said, but that's what she hoped. She also hoped no one would ask what she had said. No such luck.

"Our family's going to move back to Japan," Yumi finally admitted. Everyone was in stunned silence. "I don't want to, but I don't have a choice…"

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" shouted Ulrich. "I refuse to believe that you're just going to up and leaving! I can't believe that you'd make up something like this!" He began storming off.

"Ulrich, wait!" cried Yumi.

Ulrich turned and glared at her. "I never want to see you again." He then turned back around and stormed off, hoping Yumi couldn't see the tears in his eyes.

Yumi fell down to her knees and finally broke down in tears. Aelita tried to comfort her, but Yumi pushed her away and ran off.

"Damn, harsh, man," Leo said, arms crossed.

"I think I should go talk to him," Odd volunteered.

"I'll go with you," William added. "Someone has to set Ulrich straight." William had admitted that Ulrich had won their little fight over Yumi, but now the Samurai Lyoko Warrior was just giving up. No way!

As the two left, Jeremie sat down on the bench, frowning. What would this mean for the team?

KAI was suspended in his control centre, watching the events of the world play out. As a multi-agent system similar to his 'mother' KAI was omnipresent. He could see and hear all. Unfortunately, he was currently trapped in this area with only the vid-windows giving him a clear look of the real world.

One of the Lyoko Warriors, Yumi, was going to leave. Smiling, KAI planned on making this departure a permanent one.

The Next Day….

Yumi stood in front of the boarding gate for her flight. She stood there with her family. Her younger brother was fazed by the move, but not as much as her. She looked around, hoping to at least see her friends before she left. Hoping to see Ulrich one last time.

"Now boarding Flight 618 to Tokyo, Japan," blared the PA.

Yumi let out one last depressed sigh as she turned to enter the plane and leave her life behind. All she could hope for now was a safe flight.

"Yumi, wait!" Yumi heard and turned to see all her friends running towards her. Well, almost all of them.

"Guys, you came!" Yumi said happily, hugging Aelita.

"Hey, we're your friends," Leo said, smiling, "We would be no good if we didn't at least see you off."

"Where's Ulrich?" Yumi asked. Odd and William frowned.

"He's still sulking," Odd said.

William crossed his arms, "Couldn't even get out of bed to come with us."

Yumi turned to look at her parents and her brother, who were waiting. "Guys, I really need to go now."

"Well, but first, take this," Jeremie said, handing Yumi an envelope. "Open it when you get onboard."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Yumi said, digging into her pocket and pulling out a folded sheet of paper. "Can you…maybe give this to Ulrich for me?"

"Sure," Leo said, accepting the note. "I'll make sure he gets it."

"Thank you," Yumi said, wiping a tear, "I'm gonna miss you guys."

She sat next to her brother on the plane, staring out the window. Yumi's attention was on the envelope in her hand now. She opened it and pulled out a photograph. It was a picture of her and her friends in front of the factory and there was her and Ulrich, hugging.

A tear dropped on the photo. Had she been paying attention to the safety video, she would have seen the purple skull in the corner of the screen…

Everything was calm inside the air traffic control tower. The computers were running without a hitch and all planes were on schedule for a change. One of the guys in control of the system walked in with some cups of coffee.

"How are we doing?" he asked.

"Pretty well, Bob," another man answered. "Seems we're right on schedule."

"Good," Bob nodded. "Then let's get some birds in the air."

Several people at their consoles were prepared to send some planes into the air when their headsets suddenly began emitting screeches. The people groaned in pain as they removed them.

"What the heck was that?" cried a guy next to Bob.

All the radar screens began to flicker and shut down. Several of the attendants tried to get them going again, but what they got was a large purple demonic skull appearing on the screens. On another monitor, some words began to appear.

ALL FLIGHTS WILL BE GOING AS SCHEDULED

As the Lyoko Warriors watched as Yumi's flight went into the air, Jeremie's laptop, which he'd bought with him, started beeping, alarming them. Now with Yumi gone and Ulrich wallowing in self-pity, they had to handle KAI without them.

"Great," Leo muttered, "KAI sure picked a time to attack."

"We better get to the factory?" Jeremie said.

"And Ulrich?" Odd inquired.

"I don't think he's in the right state of mind for this mission," Aelita shook her head sadly.

Jeremie spoke, "Now, come on. We better stop KAI from doing what he's doing."

Hunter was in his room. Now with his identity out to the Lyoko Warriors he couldn't very well just do as he pleased. However, he had a mission and…

His phone beeped. With a sigh, he said, "Looks like it's time." He took out his card and swiped it through. "Digitize."

Yumi looked out the window and sighed, sadly. Suddenly, the plane began to shake. "Huh?"

Her mother, who now sat next to her after switching with her son, calmly said, "Just a bit of turbulence, Yumi. Nothing to be scared of."

"Right," Yumi smiled slightly and looked out the window again. Her mother frowned.

"You miss them already, huh?" she asked her daughter.

"I do," Yumi frowned grimly. "But, we need to move on, right?"

Mrs. Ishiyama shook her head, "Yes, we do, but we shouldn't forget the people who are important to us."

Yumi opened up the envelope in her hands. In it was a picture of all the current Lyoko Warriors. After Leo'd joined, they decided to take a photo together in front of the factory. She was, as always, standing between William and Ulrich, but her hand was clutched in Ulrich's hand.

A tear fell from her eye as she gazed at the picture. The tears dropped on Ulrich's image.

It was pandemonium in the air traffic control tower as the workers tried to get control of the situation. All the planes were in the air and out of reach. They couldn't even do anything as the computers worked on their own, the demonic symbol flashing and laughing at them.

"We have to get back control!" one guy shouted. "Those planes shouldn't be up there right now!"

"I'm trying!" Bob shouted but he was knocked out suddenly by an electrical jolt.

"Bob!" his partner, Glen, shouted, but he was too knocked out by a jolt through his headset and collapsed.

KAI watched in amusement as his plan came to pass. This would surely draw the Lyoko Warriors to Lyoko and Aelita would be in his grasp. Also, it would kill a lot of people if it succeeded. A few dead humans were worth it. They were just stains on this world anyway. A disease. A plague.

He looked towards his other screens and smiled. Those so-called Warriors had arrived.

Leo was the last to be virtualized before landing in the Mountain Sector. His accessories turned to yellow as he assembled his Gasher into an axe formation.

"My strength shall make you cry!" he announced, earning strange looks from Odd, William and Aelita.

"Where's the tower, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"It's in the west and KAI has several monsters guarding it," Jeremie reported.

"Any ideas what he's planning?" Aelita asked.

"I'm not sure but I doubt it's anything good," Jeremie sent back. "I'll try to see where the tower's signal is leading to. I might be able to figure it out from there."

"Right, and we'll take care of the monsters!" William said confidently, hefting his large sword over his shoulder.

"We'll make them cry!" Leo exclaimed, earning off looks from, well, Odd.

"I've programmed your vehicles," Jeremie said.

The Overwing, Overbike and Overboard all appeared in front of them. As usual, Odd hopped onto the Overboard and Leo got on the Overbike. William got on the Overwing and pulled Aelita onboard.

"Let's go!" Odd yelled out, flying ahead as the Overwing followed. The Overbike raced after them.

Jeremie sat watching the screens, typing vigorously. "What are you up to, KAI?" he questioned, though wasn't expecting an answer. Suddenly, KAI's emblem appeared on the screen. "KAI!"

"Don't panic, fleshling. I'm not going to hurt you, yet," KAI voice from the speakers. It was distorted but was clearly male. It sounded much like the voice of a person possessed by XANA.

"What are you up to?" Jeremie questioned, wanting to know the reason behind KAI's attack.

"Oh, straight to the point. That's good," KAI laughed. "Well, let's just say I took control of the skies."

"What?"

"You better hurry. I'd hate to see that female of yours going out in a fiery blaze," KAI said before his voice vanished.

Jeremie racked his brains, trying to figure out what KAI was talking about, 'Taking control of the skies? What did he mean? And what did he mean going out in a fiery blaze?'

He then got his answer and his eyes widened in horror, "Oh…no…" He then called up Aelita, "Aelita! Aelita!"

The monsters: which were Krabes, Tarantulas and Hornets, were being taken care of by Leo, Odd, William and Aelita. The monsters were standing as a barricade between the Warriors and glowing purple tower. There were dozens of them and they were adamant in making sure the Warriors did not succeed.

"Aelita!" Jeremie shouted.

"Yes, Jeremie?" Aelita said as she received his voice. "What's happening?"

"KAI's taken control of air traffic and he's going to make Yumi's plane crash!"

"WHAT!?" Aelita gasped.

"Hurry and deactivate the tower!"

"I'm on it!" Aelita nodded before flying for the tower but the Hornets continued to shoo at her, to stop her. She blasted them with her Energy Fields.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd called, firing his arrows at the Krabe and destroying it.

"Dynamic Chop!" Leo called out as he swung his axe down, slicing a Tarantula's head in half.

William sliced Krabes and Tarantulas left and right with his sword. "Man, they just keep coming!"

"Well, we better stop them and make sure Aelita gets to the tower!" Odd relayed. "I mean Yumi's life depends on it."

"We shall make KAI cry!" Leo called out.

William gave a deadpan comment, "Dude, what's with you and crying all of a sudden."

Leo shrugged, "Sorry, but I was channeling Kintaros."

"Who?"

"It's from Kamen Rider Den-O. I'll tell you all about it."

Yumi felt the plane tremble again but it wasn't stopping as soon. "Mom, I don't think this is turbulence!"

The stewardess stumbled inside the shaking area, "Please, passengers, remain calm! This is only turbulence!" Suddenly, the alarms blared. "Or not!"

The oxygen masks fell from the ceiling and the passengers hastily put them on. Yumi was scared and so were the rest of her family. She looked out the window to see the engine had blown out. Her eyes widened in horror.

Only one thought crossed her mind.

'Ulrich…'

Ulrich shot out of bed, eyes wide. "Yumi!" He put on his shoes and ran out the door. He had a sudden feeling that Yumi was in danger, but she was in a plane! What was happening!

His cell phone rang and he pulled it out of her pocket. "What's happening?"

"KAI took control of air traffic and I think he's planning to kill Yumi along with her family!"

"I'm no my way!" Ulrich hung up and ran out his dorm room, heading straight towards the factory.

A shot in the back devirtualized Odd. William found himself surrounded by Krabes and before he could shout "Super Smoke" he was overwhelmed by laser fire and devirtualized in an instant. Leo was the only one left, facing monsters before him and Aelita was fighting more Hornets.

"I sure hope Ulrich gets here," Leo muttered, gripping his axe.

Suddenly, 5 monsters in front of Leo exploded and the Predator came into view. "You?" Leo questioned.

"You wanna question help when you get it?" Predator asked.

Leo shrugged. "Um…no." He then cried out, "NAKERU ZE!!" before charging at the monsters.

Ulrich showed up in the computer lab. Odd and William were looking over Jeremie's shoulder. William noticed Ulrich and sneered.

"So, you decided to show up," William stated.

"Virtualize me," Ulrich said, eyes narrowed in determination.

"Gotcha," Jeremie nodded as Ulrich went down the elevator again to the scanners.

"Where does KAI get these monster!?" Leo shouted out as he and Predator continued to wipe out KAI's army.

Aelita was flying around, trying to avoid her pursuers. These Hornets were pretty much honed in on her and firing at her rapidly. The pink haired and winged girl zigzagged to dodge them. They were driving her away from the tower.

Ulrich was virtualized in the middle of the battle and quickly drew his swords. "Super Sprint!" He went fast and took down monsters equally fast.

Leo called out, "Clock Up!" and moved at such a speed that he was invisible. More monsters were taken down by his axe at this speed.

KAI watched his monsters as they were being taken down by the Warriors. He was angered but then remembered that he could at least get rid of one of them. With a smile, he continued to watch.

The second engine blew out and smoke began to come out of it. The plane started to fall and Yumi clutched her seat as the plane descended, in a straight line, to crash.

'Please, guys…hurry…'

Aelita entered the tower and flew up to the platform. The holographic panel showed up as Aelita touched it.

AELITA

She then entered the code with the palm of her hand.

CODE

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated."

"Return to the past, now!" Jeremie commanded, pressing down the 'Enter' key.

The group, once again, stood at the airport watching as the plane flew into the air. Ulrich was there this time. He sighed and turned to his left, "So, you're staying."

"Yep!" Yumi smiled. "Soon, all my stuff is getting moved into the dorms." After pulling some strings, Yumi was allowed to stay in Kadic with Hiroki while their parents returned to Japan. It was a fair arrangement and Yumi couldn't be happier.

"I'm glad," Ulrich smiled, blushing. "And, um, Yumi…I'm sorry about what I said."

"You were upset," Yumi said as she slid her hand into his. "I understand." She then kissed his cheek.

Their friends stood not too far away, smiling. Leo then spoke up, "Looks like a happy ending."

KAI frowned. His plan had failed and he'd failed to gather data from Aelita. However, he'd gotten data from the battle. He could use such information to his advantage for future endeavors. All this was for his mother.

The Following Day...

Both Leo and Odd were the first at the group's table with their trays. Leo noticed his friend's frowning face. "Hey, Odd. What's wrong with you?"

"You know, it's not fair," Odd spoke up, arms folded. Leo quirked an eyebrow.

"OK, this is not the usual upbeat Odd Della Robbia I've considered my best friend," Leo replied. "What's going on?"

"OK, let me list it out for you," Odd counted with his fingers, "Ulrich and Yumi are together. Jeremie and Aelita are together. Who am I paired with, huh?"

"So…you're upset because you can't get a date?"

"I'm upset because I can't get a girlfriend!" Odd leaned back on his chair, his arms hanging limply by his sides.

"Didn't you date like nearly all the girls in your grade a while back?" Leo asked, having heard of Odd's reputation.

"And look what that got me. After the first date, they dumped me," Odd moaned.

"Ouch," Leo said as he chewed on a fry. "Well, it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." He eyes Odd's tray, "So…you gonna eat that?"

"I may not be in the mood to eat, yet, but I am not giving away my tray," Odd said with a glare.

"OK," Leo nodded. And then he got an idea. "Hey, I know what would cheer you up!" Leo dug into his pockets and then pulled out his hands to reveal. "Sock Puppet Time!" The sock puppets he had on his hands were made to look like Ulrich and Yumi.

Leo started doing their voices, starting with Ulrich's "Oh, Yumi, I love you so much." And then he did Yumi's voice, "Kiss me, handsome." He then meshed the two puppet's 'mouths' together while doing kissing noises.

Odd laughed out loud at the spectacle. His best friend sure knew how to make him laught. Leo laughed too but then he realized something.

Odd suddenly stopped laughing. And thus, Leo stopped too.

"They're right behind me, aren't they?" Leo asked. Odd nodded. Turning his head around, Leo could see an angry Yumi and an angry Ulrich, glaring at him. "Um…hi, guys?"

"Leo," Yumi spoke calmly through her anger, "Kindly put those things away before I break your hands." Gulping, Leo put the two sock puppets back in his pockets, quickly.

"So, where are Einstein and the Princess?" Odd asked, "And where's William and Hunter?"

Hunter had been made a member, only so they could keep an eye on the wayward Predator. He had yet to earn their trust. Of course, Leo already trusted him.

"I don't know about William and Hunter," Ulrich shrugged as he took a seat after pulling a chair out for Yumi, "But Jeremie said something about him and Aelita working on something."

"Wonder what it could be," Leo commented.

In the blonde genius' room, Aelita watched in deep interest as Jeremie typed several commands with his keyboard.

"You know Leo's going to be happy about this," Aelita smiled. "It's sweet that you decided to take his suggestion."

"Well, the design is sound, so why not. Besides, I was hoping to recreate the Skid, but this looks better," Jeremie replied.

On the screen of his computer was the Lyokomotive Leo had designed. What would this mean for the Lyoko Warriors?

Easy; it would mean a way to fight KAI and once again enter the network in search of clues to KAI's origins.