The tower was still far away from our heroes, but no monsters seemed on the way.
"Watch out, X.A.N.A is very silent" said Jeremie through the headset 'What could he be planning...?'
Just as the blonde finished the sentence, a swarm of hornets appeared from the bright desert sky.
"Good deal, Einstein" joked Odd, dodging a laser "What other surprises do you have for us?"

After some laser arrows, sword slashes and fan cuts, just one hornet was alive. And it was heading for Aelita.
"Help!" yelled the pink-haired, after getting hit by a laser. Ulrich and Yumi were very far from her, so Odd immediately began chasing the flying monster When he had the hornet at his shooting distance, something weird happened. He couldn't shot any arrow.

"Er, Jeremie? Are you still angry from my little joke?" "Nope, seems like you have no arrows left. Let me charge up some"
Even before he started the sentence, Odd had jumped from his overboard. He landed perfectly with his claws on the hornet, dematerializing it.

"Great move, Odd!" shouted Ulrich from the distance. Odd landed perfectly in front of Aelita "Haha princess, so, how was my entrance this time?" Aelita laughed "Better than others, I suppose"
"Boys, stop the party already. We don't know what was X.A.N.A doing, but it surely wasn't good business. Get to the tower Aelita"

'See you later, princess'

It was morning at Kadic, again. Odd's alarm clock was silent, again. And when he woke up, breakfast had almost finished (You guessed, again)
"Hey Jeremie, why did you do a return to the past? We didn't see any X.A.N.A attack on earth" asked Yumi. She had to suffer another boring history class. Egypt was not her business.
"Yeah, I had to suffer that wall climbing thing again" said Ulrich, biting his cheese sandwich.
"I just wanted to make sure. You never know what could X.A.N.A be doing" answered Jeremie "Hey, where is Odd?"
"Just here, Einstein" said the boy in question, gasping and with his clothes very untidy "Why on earth was my alarm clock silent?" Ulrich and Yumi winked at each other.
"Seems like Aelita has something to say!" Shouted Ulrich, winking to her also.
"Wasn't I supposed to steal his left shoe?" answered her "Shhh!" said the boys "Oh, I'm sorry" said Aelita, blushing a little bit "Aha! You were cheating me!" said Odd "I almost let my delicate stomach miss a breakfast"
"Maybe we should ask your 'delicate stomach' how are you so svelte" said Ulrich, exploding in laughter as his friends.
"Ok, I forgive you, just because Aelita opened her mouth. Next time you will know" said Odd, grabbing his second sandwich. The bell rang, and they headed to their classes.

"So, Odd" said Mrs. Hertz, heading to the boy who was speaking loudly "Seems like you know more about physics than me. What is the average of earth's gravity acceleration?"
He thanked Jeremie in his mind for making the return to the past. After being embarrassed last time for saying 'the acceleration of a stone falling', he now had his opportunity.
"9.81 metres per second per second, Mrs. Hertz" said the boy. "Wrong! Completely wrong! Absolutely... eh? That's... correct!" she said, not believing it.
"Horray! I'm a genius!" shouted him, jumping from his seat. A burst of applauses has heard in the classroom, just as the bell rang.

"Well well Odd, I must say you that the result you gave wasn't correct, because..." Jeremie began.
"Oh, stop it. He got enough with the alarm trickery" said Aelita. "At least someone understands me" answered Odd, hugging her.
"Hi there!" said Yumi, arriving from her class "At least this time I knew my maths exam answers. What about your classes?"
"Meh, more of the same. At least Odd surprised us answering something correct" said Ulrich. Odd gave an angry stare to him.
"Speaking about maths, we have an exam tomorrow" added Jeremie. The angry stare was now replaced by a confused face.
"Hey guys, stop the jokes now. Marks are something serious" said Odd "Is it a joke, true?" He gave nervous looks to his friends.
"I'm afraid is true, Odd. How are you going to study?" said Aelita "I don't know... Hey, what about if we study together?" answered Odd 'Where did that come from? Good idea although'
"Okay, what about if we meet at the library at 6? We have classes up to 4" said Aelita.
"I don't like the library. Too much knowledge for my delicate brain" answered Odd. Aelita giggled "Okay, in your room at 6"
Jeremie mumbled something, but no one noticed. The recess was over, so they headed to their classes again.

"Hey Aelita" whispered Jeremie in the middle of biology class "Weren't we supposed to work in finding a way to beat X.A.N.A after school?" Aelita looked down, she had forgotten it "I'm sorry Jeremie, it will be just one day. Furthermore, we have almost finished" answered Aelita.
"I know but, X.A.N.A can attack anytime. Are you sure you want to help Odd?" Aelita thought for a moment.
"Yeah" she said. Thinking about him made her blush a bit 'This is odd. Hehe, like him'
"Aelita, I..." said Jeremie, interrupted by Ulrich "Hey, both of you, can you explain me what on earth is an organelle" 'Hmm... this class is going to be veeery long'

After a break, some sodas, a surprise exam and a couple of bad jokes, the clock showed 6:00.
"Ok guys, I'm off. I need some study for tomorrow" said Odd, heading to Aelita "Unless our little princess has any regret"
She giggled "Nope, let's go" They entered the building, heading to Odd's room.
"Psst Jeremie" The boy shook his head "Is there something wrong with you?" questioned Ulrich.
"Nope, I'm fine" answered Jeremie, getting off from his train of thought. Yumi had an idea in mind "Guys, want to go and watch a movie?"
But Jeremie had another plans "I'm afraid I have a lot of work to do. See you later" The boy headed to his room.
"So, it's you and me, Yumi" said Ulrich, blushing a little as the words escaped from his mouth.
Yumi smiled "Yeah, let's go" 'Hehe, just as the old times'

Odd leaned his head and questioned once again "So, you say this bunch of lines are numbers?" Aelita began to cry of laughter "Yes, Odd, those are numbers!"
"I feel tired, let's rest a minute" suggested Odd. "If you are tired with this, there is no way I can teach you equations" answered Aelita.
"Equations? Is it food?" Aelita giggled "Hahaha, Odd, you're always thinking about food!"
Odd showed his signature smile "How do you think I can keep this svelte body?" Aelita giggled and answered "Maybe exercising more, hehe" She bit her lips unconsciously.
'Man, her lips are beautiful...' Odd thought, letting himself drift away 'Hey, what am I thinking about!'

"Did you enjoy the movie, Ulrich?"
Actually, he was asleep from the beginning to the end of the film, but he didn't want Yumi to find out. "Er, yes, it was quite good"
"What was your favorite part?" The boy turned to stone. He didn't want to hurt Yumi. He immediately had a great idea "The part when the boy asks the girl if she wants an ice cream"
"Hahaha, ok, let's go for one" said Yumi smiling 'Now I'm totally sure. He is still the one'

"Okay Odd, now let's learn how to divide" Odd immediately draw lines in some numbers that he had written, splitting them. Aelita giggled "No, Odd! Not literally"
"Then why do they call this division? Why do maths exist?" asked Odd in a philosophical way. He was learning, but it was somewhat boring. At least he was having a fun time with her friend.
"Aelita, how can you know all this boring stuff?" Aelita thought for a second "I learned all of this in Lyoko after my father sent he and me there" She let go a drop from her eyes.
"No! Don't cry" Aelita rested her head on his chest, crying "I just can't..."
Odd took her hand "I'm sure your father would want you to be strong and carry on" answered Odd, receiving the girl in his arms. She felt warm and cozy there.
"Thanks. You always make me feel better" was all that she could say before giving him a bear hug.

"Odd, how many times I must say..." Ulrich was interrupted by what he was seeing. Odd and Aelita hugging in a somewhat strange position. The couple immediately let go of each other, blushing.
"Did I spoiled something?" questioned Ulrich "Nope, but anyway, you couldn't wait a little more to come? I still haven't learned all about tomorrow's test" answered Odd, trying to hide his face.
Ulrich took his cellphone and spotted the hour "Odd, do yo know what time is it? Is half past midnight. I was very lucky not finding Jim in my way to the school. If he sees Aelita in the corridor she will really get into a mess"
12:30! But how? For Odd it only passed as a couple of minutes. Aelita decided to go "Ok, I'm going to bed. Bye!" Just before closing the door, she winked to Odd. He returned a smile.

'Until tomorrow, princess'

After changing to their pajamas and getting in their own beds, Odd opened his mouth.
"How was your date with Yumi" Ulrich blushed heavily "Er, it wasn't a date. We went to the cinema and then took an ice cream" "By the way, how was your evening with Aelita"
"Good. Well, we didn't study much because I didn't understood everything, but we had a very good time together" He felt something weird in the last word 'together?'
"Yeah?, why so?" asked Ulrich very intrigued. He noticed something strange that day between them.
"Er... I... We spoke about many things and, I don't know, we just made fun of each other" Then, Ulrich answered just what Odd was thinking about.
"You aren't interested in her, are you?" Odd blushed, but turned away so his friend couldn't see him, but it was late. 'Perhaps I can help him'
"Nope, why do you think that? Friends can chat, make jokes, hug and... You know, it's nothing bad" answered the purple clothed boy 'Furthermore, her heart belongs to Jeremie'
"Ok, maybe we can continue tomorrow. Night Odd!" 'I hope he doesn't do anything stupid. At least not for now'
"Night Ulrich..." said Odd, falling asleep. He was very tired 'Maybe Aelita needs a rest from all that computer hassle that Jeremie is doing'

"Odd, are you all right?" The boy wasn't eating, in fact, he was staring at the window.
"Well, I bet he is thinking about today's exam" answered Ulrich to Yumi's question "Are you, Odd?"
"Eh? Oh, sorry friends. I didn't sleep well and I was just resting a bit" 'I hope Ulrich doesn't tell the others about our talking'
"Hi there!" greeted a happy Aelita, walking to the table "Hi, Aelita" answered the others.
"Hey, where is Jeremie?" asked Ulrich "I hadn't seen him since... er... the evening" Yumi smiled.
'Oh no. The program. He must be asleep in front of the screen' Thought Aelita "I think that he is in his room. I'll go to see if he wants to eat"

Aelita knocked the door. No answer. So she entered.
"Jeremie?" The boy was asleep with his head resting on the keyboard "Jeremie, wake up! It's breakfast time"
He mumbled something and sat on his chair. 'Aelita, you broke your promise...'
"Jeremie! Please, stop doing this to you! Stop doing this to us! Stop doing this to..." She hesitated just a second "Stop doing this to me..."
"Aelita, I... I just want the best for all of us. I we destroy X.A.N.A, all of this will be over" Aelita began to cry "But I don't want you to destroy yourself..."
Jeremie gave an angry stare to the girl "Just let me work. If you got nothing more to say, go out"

She ran Ran as far as she could
But as soon as she stopped
Images flooded her mind

Images of a digital trap
And a boy who saved her

But the boy was now imprisoned
In the same digital trap