Code: CONTROL (Code Lyoko x Remedy Entertainment's CONTROL)

[DAIKIZEN]

AUTHOR'S NOTE (3/13/2023):

Yo, guys! It's DΛIKIZΞN! (Originally Sir Europa, I have too many pen names.)

In July of 2021, I began this story after rewatching CODE LYOKO for the fifth time in my life and playing CONTROL, an experience that has forever changed my view and creative writing vision.

When life got a little hard, I couldn't focus on this story as much as I liked, and it kinda fell by the wayside. But I was looking at TV Tropes the other night, and I saw that someone named "Flameal15k" had made a page about it! I was so psyched!

They got a lot of the tropes right on the page, and it's the first time someone's really done something like this for something I've made! It inspired me enough to come back to the project to rewrite and hopefully continue it!

The original chapter was just one big wall of text, so I'm gonna split it into two to three parts for pacing. I've also gone through and fixed mistakes and added a TON of new story elements as I try to rewrite what I had originally wanted to do for this fan work, so not everything's the same!

Again, I don't know how far this'll go – life's been pretty nonstop – but I want to come back to this project again!

Thanks to those that have read and reviewed this story, and I can't wait to start writing new chapters again!

Enjoy!

For SufficientVelocity: The old versions of this story and its chapters will be "deleted" and updated with the new content for their respective chapters. In the meantime, they will be replaced with placeholder text!​

---

It was a warm morning on the campus of Kadic Academy. A coveted boarding school with plenty of promising students and devoted staff and faculty. It is one of the highest-rated boarding schools in Paris, boasting affordable tuition and coverage for room and board. People from all over Europe, Asia, and Africa were able to attend for the chance at higher education.

Nothing was ever out of the ordinary…or at least that is what one would believe.

The students of Kadic roused themselves from their slumber and went about their morning routines. The separated dormitory bathrooms became full of boys and girls showering and cleaning themselves up for the school day ahead.

Ingrid Layton was one of these students. A late transfer student, she tried her best to fit in with everyone else…walking the walk and talking the talk. Anything she could do to not stand out too much.

She stayed in a dorm room with a roommate that she rarely saw or spoke with. They had their own group of friends and weren't too keen on sharing a room with someone else. It made Ingrid feel like a bit of a burden. If she could live off campus she would, but she couldn't afford to miss anything.

Standing in front of the mirror in her room, Ingrid would twirl the two long bangs shaping her face around her fingers. Her jet-black hair grew fast, like her father's. Seeing herself with long hair only made her miss her mother, as they looked almost identical. She tried to keep it at a reasonable length, maintaining a very discreet undercut pixie style with a bit more length than normal, but she never wanted to look too punkish.

Heading to the mess hall for breakfast, Ingrid took a seat at one of the tables after getting a tray of sausage and eggs. From under the table, she pulled out an ornate notebook that was the size of a chemistry coursebook, flipping through pages filled with notes and hastily drawn images of untraceable origin, until she landed on a mostly blank page, where the only thing drawn on it was an ominous eye-like symbol with question marks scrawled around it. Staring at it with contempt, she tuned into a conversation happening next to her, pulled a pen out from under her sweater top, and started writing about anything interesting she heard the students around her say.

Ingrid was very prone to secluding herself. She wasn't a great conversationalist, but she could make small talk when she needed to. She would often smile sweetly while talking to people and respond bluntly but respectfully. Her voice was somehow firm and soft at the same time, and her face would light up when people would ask about her always-closed eyes. People seemed to think she was very approachable.

Though Ingrid seldom went out of her way to talk to people. She preferred to sit back and observe. Quiet, but never ignorant. She would eavesdrop and keep up with gossip, always being in the know.

In fact, she had an affinity for reading the Kadic News, which was a recent undertaking led by two young girls on campus. Amelia Solovieff and Tamiya Diop – a redheaded girl, and her darker-skinned camerawoman. Despite being so young the girls were very talented, and praising their work in person was the only time that Ingrid seemed to break this mysterious air about her, garnering a friendly back and forth between herself and the junior reporters.

Surprisingly, Ingrid even accepted an exclusive interview a few days prior, being asked about who she was and where she was from, and why she wore so much white. She could especially recall that last part as she dug into her eggs and sausage…

"…Ingrid, why do you wear such strange clothing?" Milly asked, pointing the microphone to her interviewee. "The students of Kadic have been talking about it ever since you arrived."

Ingrid always had a particular way she liked to present herself. Ingrid always valued comfort over everything and never liked showing too much skin, though she did admit her outfits were very…striking, but not for conventional reasons.

"Uhm- It's a…different style I'm trying out," Ingrid cautiously answered.

The ensemble was unordinary…a bit too brutalist with a dash of dystopian flair. There were no rounded cuts or playful flairs to any of her outfits; all were angled harshly and meticulously symmetrical and were only a single solid color. No irregular or chaotic designs were found on them. The fashion seemed…functional. Though the one shape that seemed to accent the outfit was white pyramids.

A white sleeveless turtleneck bodysuit and black stockings underneath, white ankle booties. A scarlet midi panel skirt and sweater to wear on top of everything. A pair of white pyramidal earrings that – if one would look closely – hovered close to Ingrid's earlobes…the lobes themselves were never pierced.

"We didn't take you for a fashion guru! Sissi might have to watch out if you become the talk of the school! Do you have a name for this style?"

Tamiya zoomed the camera into Ingrid's face, trying to capture all of Ingrid's emotions. "Yeah, what's your inspiration?" She asked, earning a glare from Milly.

"I call it…White…Pyramid," Ingrid picked apparently random words, passing them off as something niche. "It uses very predictable and basic shapes with mirrored symmetry. It enforces a sense of control and foundational strength."

The sweater was the only outlier. Striped and oversized with sleeves so long that they covered her hands. The hemline was just high enough to show a bit of the bodysuit's midriff in the front but hanging past her knees everywhere else.

The sweater was special to Ingrid. It was one of the last things her mother gave her. Her outfits would revolve around this sweater, and she could never be seen not wearing it, even during the hotter days. A peculiar aspect about the sweater was that it seemed to shift in color depending on whatever other colors Ingrid wore at the same time. That way, it would match no matter what.

Both reporters ooohed and ahhhed at Ingrid's explanation. "Is there a specific place you get these clothes from?"

"Yeah, th-they're all custom-made," Ingrid cleverly replied. "Top secret. I can't give the name of my tailor."

Milly and Tamiya pouted. "Come onnnnn, tell uuuuuss! Our readers are dying to know!"

Ingrid sighed, shaking her head. "Maybe another time. My tailor wouldn't want the publicity."

"Oh, okay…-" Milly finally relented.

Pretty trivial questions for sure, but Milly and Tamiya were desperate for a new scoop and Ingrid felt that she had to oblige them. They were too cute to deny.

"…Those two are always looking for the next big scoop. I have to respect their dedication to upholding the importance of the press," Ingrid smiled at the memory.

After breakfast, Ingrid walked amongst the student body in the courtyard. Her gaze drifted to whatever would catch her attention. There were so many diverse students at Kadic. Even after being a student for two months, she couldn't believe just how well this school was doing for itself, and with such a small faculty, too.

Her mental drifting came to a halt when she was suddenly stopped by a boy, slightly taller than her with dark hair and eyes that seemed to stare through her closed ones.

"You're the new girl…uh, Ingrid, right?" His voice was deep…deeper than someone his age probably should be.

"You would be correct."

"Cool. You hear about the prom tonight?"

"The school dance?"

Ingrid had forgotten about prom. There was a lot of buzz about the night's events, and students were starting to ask others to accompany them.

"'Course. I was wondering if you wanted to go together," the boy asked.

Now including her, apparently. She definitely wasn't expecting that. Hm.

Ingrid enjoyed get-togethers and small parties; they were fun with the right people. Unfortunately, Ingrid barely knew anyone other than her uncle Max and those young reporters very well. It would be difficult for Ingrid to try and ask someone out.

"I'm flattered. But I intend to go on my own," Ingrid replied bluntly.

"Oh, uh-" The boy looked embarrassed, watching Ingrid politely waving at him while walking away.

This happened a few more times, twice by a girl. Ingrid greatly underestimated the reach the Kadic News had. Everyone must have watched her interview. Everyone knew who she was now. She wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing just yet.

Ingrid wandered into the auditorium, hoping that there wouldn't be as many students there. But lo and behold, Milly and Tamiya were there reporting.

"Hello, fellow students of Kadic Junior High! Ace Reporters Milly and Tamiya here with an exclusive cover of the preparation for the annual school prom dance!" Tamiya zoomed her camera to get a closer peek at the interior of the auditorium, which they weren't allowed to enter. From there, Milly continued her coverage.

"Unfortunately, our cameras were not authorized to film the preparation," Milly said with a hint of ire. "…But I assure you from where I'm standing that this will be a grand affair!"

Turning around, Milly spotted Ingrid watching them cover the story. Ingrid waved at them with a big smile. The youngsters were happy to see her and decided to get her into the story.

"And here we have one of our very own special students, the mysterious new transfer, the illustrious White Pyramid, Ingrid Layton!"

"Is that what they're calling me?" Ingrid mused. "I'm more surprised it caught on."

"Ingrid, are you going to attend the dance this evening? There have been rumors going around that you've been asked out by a couple people already! You're a heartthrob with the students, have you decided who you'll be going with?"

Word traveled fast.

"Yes, I do intend on going to the dance, but I won't be going with anyone. I believe I will go by myself."

"But there HAS to be a special someone, right?" Milly pressed further. "The readers of the Kadic News are dying to know who it could be!"

Ingrid smiled awkwardly. "There's no one, honest!"

"Well, could you at least tell us about the secret behind your eyes?"

"My eyes…?"

"Your eyes! We forgot to ask before," Tamiya interjected. "They're always closed, but you never seem to bump into anything or anyone."

"Come on, Tamiya! Who's asking the questions here?" Milly pouted at her friend, who rolled her eyes and continued shooting.

"My camerawoman does have a point," Milly continued. "How do you see?"

Ingrid's eyes had been closed since birth. The doctor that delivered her hypothesized that it could be nerve damage, but after it was discovered that she didn't need them open to see - which the doctors questioned but could never answer - it wasn't necessary to perform surgery.

Participating in class brought up other issues. The faculty assumed that she may be blind or assumed she never got enough sleep. It had been misconstrued so many times that Max would have to write a note to the Principal explaining her strange behaviors.

Ingrid decided to play to her strengths, pressing a finger to her lips and grinning mischievously. "It's a secret for a reason," she teased.

"Aww, come on! One of these days you have to tell all!"

"Okay, okay…I'll tell you," Ingrid looked around, playing up the secrecy even further and leaning close to the girls. "Even with my eyes closed…I can still see the both of you."

"What?!" Milly exclaimed. "You're lying! What do I look like, then?"

"Pink sweater, brown mini skirt with dark brown leggings, black boots, and red hair adorned with pigtails. Very cute, I might add," Ingrid answered matter-of-factly, her last compliment making Milly's cheeks go red.

"Whoa, and you've never opened your eyes once!" Tamiya said in awe. "How do you do it?"

Ingrid laughed enigmatically, playfully returning her finger to her lips. "Maybe I'll tell you two one day. But if I didn't know any better…I think a much bigger scoop is walking in as we speak."

The young girls looked over to the entrance of the auditorium, and in walked the daughter of the principal, Elisabeth "Sissi" Delmas with her two cronies, Herb and Nicolas.

The junior reporters shifted gears almost instantly. "Oh, and look who it is, the girl who's projected to be our crowned Beauty Queen tonight - as she was the year before - our very own Principal's esteemed daughter, Sissi!" Milly introduced Sissi to the camera, egging Tamiya to get a close-up shot of the most popular girl in school.

Sissi looked on with perpetual annoyance at being filmed by these two kids. Milly continued despite this aura of hostility, even Ingrid could feel it from where she stood. "Sissi, can you share a few words with our audience about the prom and what we can expect for tonight's festivities? Has your father prepared anything special?"

Ingrid glanced at Sissi, she's heard quite a bit about her and had run into her a few times when she first transferred to Kadic, though they never spoke or shared more than a passing glare, while Ingrid looked blankly back at her. Sissi had a lot to prove, Ingrid knew. Being a late transfer, and many of the students having their eyes on her, Ingrid was inadvertently taking the spotlight off of Sissi, and the "star diva" of Kadic didn't take very kindly to it. Ingrid did her due diligence to stay out of Sissi's way; she wanted no quarrel with the Principal's daughter.

If anything, Ingrid did agree that Sissi was very pretty. It was no question where her popularity came from. Herb and Nicholas looked precisely what a cute girl's henchmen would, one was scrawny and timid, while the other was more rounded and somewhat distant-looking like he never truly was where he stood - his mind probably being somewhere else.

Sissi dismissed the young reporters condescendingly. "Sorry, munchkins. I only talk to real reporters. I don't have time to waste on a couple of paparazzi wannabes."

Herb reached for Tamiya's camera and covered the lens, stopping any further recording, much to Tamiya's dismay.

"B-But this is for the school news program! H-Haven't you heard about the freedom of the press? We have a right to-"

"Oh, hush it, Milly," Sissi cut Milly off. "You little dipsticks are far too young to know anything about freedom. Who even wants to be talked to by a baby anyway? What do you even know?"

But Ingrid wasn't oblivious to the fact that beneath all that beauty, a rotten shell stirred deep.

"Besides, you still have a problem, don't you? You need a date to go to prom, and who would want to go with a baby like you? I bet if you tried asking, all the boys would turn tail and hide!" She scoffed.

As if cementing her point as fact, Herb and Nicholas displayed exaggerated gestures of disgust when Milly glanced in their direction.

Milly was shaken up by Sissi's teasing. "I-I can find a date to the prom!"

"Then go ahead and get one! Oh, I've gotta see this-" Sissi anticipated Milly's impending humiliation.

Turning back to the auditorium entrance, Ingrid noticed some other kids working inside; one girl was on a ladder hanging up decorations, while two other boys held the ladder steady. Milly's eyes began to well with tears as she got the attention of one of the boys.

"U-Ulrich?" She called out. The boy in question turned to face her. "Will you be my date t-tonight…?"

Ingrid's gaze shifted over to the boy in question and his friends. She knew of them and had seen their group all over campus. Though Ingrid had never been this close to them before now. Even with her eyes closed, she attentively watched them. She's had her suspicions about them…and has several pages of her journal dedicated to sightings and emergencies that – though ranged wildly in premise – seemed to always center around one of the four of them.

That couldn't be a coincidence.

Ulrich was flustered by Milly's request. The other boy heard the question and chuckled playfully towards Ulrich.

"Uh…s-sorry Milly, I…I don't think that'd be a great idea, you know?" Ulrich's voice was careful and finicky as if he wasn't trying to hurt the poor girl's feelings the more. "I'm too old for you...and…I already asked to go with Yumi."

Ingrid watched as Yumi climbed down the ladder. From how she and Ulrich looked at each other and shyly broke their gaze, it was apparent they were infatuated with each other. The boy in purple, Odd, teased them silently as they tried to sweep their moment under the rug, prompting Ulrich to shut him up.

Sissi laughed out loud, thriving off of Milly's despair. "You see, what did I tell you? No one would go out with a baby!" She then stopped short. "Wait, Ulrich. You're going with…her to the dance?! With Yumi?!"

It was no secret that Sissi had a massive crush on him. Ingrid knew this much and had heard about Sissi's incessant flirtatious advances towards him through gossip and the Kadic News.

"Why would I want to go with you?" Ulrich retorted. "You bully little kids for fun. Not very attractive in my eyes."

Milly began to whimper, holding back tears as Tamiya put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her friend. Ingrid was compelled to walk over and kneel in front of Milly, also trying to shield her from Sissi. Milly held onto Ingrid tightly. Ingrid felt a strange warmth leave her and…into Milly. Suddenly, she had a strong, instinctual need to protect Milly from Sissi.

After recovering from her shock towards Ulrich, Sissi continued her verbal assault on Milly, but the spite in her voice was thick. "W-Well, maybe there'll be someone in the 'Sandbox Prom' waiting for you, twerp. So why don't you give up and go play with your dolls?"

Milly had enough. She pushed herself away from Ingrid and sprinted through the exit, crying to herself as she ran away. Tamiya gave chase. "Milly! H-Hold on, wait up!"

"Serves her right," Sissi giggled to herself.

Ingrid interjected suddenly, slowly getting back onto her feet while staring daggers at Sissi. "You really are as cruel as everyone says."

Sissi turned to face Ingrid, her face already judging the latter's fashion sense. "Oh, look who it is…Snow Blind. You shouldn't be wearing all that white, you know. You could blind someone else."

"You should apologize to Milly, Elisabeth. That was not right of you, and you know it." Ingrid replied sternly.

Sissi tried to assert her dominance over her. "As if. And don't call me Elisabeth!"

Sissi hated being called by anything other than her nickname. Ingrid knew this.

"What are you even doing here, anyway, Snow Blind? Don't even think about trying to ask Ulrich out. He's mine."

Ingrid's face remained neutral; Sissi's insults didn't faze her. "I'm going to the dance on my own, Elisabeth. You don't need a date to enjoy yourself. However, it seems to be on some sort of checklist that validates someone in your eyes. Like some sort of depreciated Ritual."

"Ritual…?" Herb mumbled to Nicolas puzzledly, who just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"That's funny; you know you're too ugly to get a date, so you've already given up! You're hopeless," Sissi laughed, the other two lemmings that stuck to her like glue guffawing in unison. "Maybe if you'd actually open your eyes, you'd be able to see that you really don't stand a chance against my beauty!"

"Societal definitions of beauty are flawed, and you are part of the problem," Ingrid crossed her arms. "There are things that are greater than you or I. Things that do not care what you or others see in yourself. Things that if you were to witness them, to discriminate and judge them as you do your peers, you would lose your grip on reality. You will never know just how insignificant you truly are. You are dust, a speck on a planet that no one knows yet is watched by distant eyes."

Ingrid stepped forward, gaining momentum. "Your beauty is only skin deep. You don't hide your true colors because you're so shameless, your mind churns with a foreign and disgusting essence that not even a mother could call their own.

"I will not speak for him, but I'd doubt someone like Ulrich would want to spend his days being fed off by a truly unidentifiable parasite like you."

Sissi was visibly shaken up by Ingrid's dressing down of her character, especially when mentioning her mother. Herb and Nicolas stood there with their mouths hung open in bewilderment. The three friends were just as shocked but were loving every second of Sissi getting a taste of her own medicine.

"You…Y-You talk a lot," Sissi managed to collect herself and retort back, targeting someone else instead.

"B-Believe me, Ulrich just…d-doesn't know what he wants yet, but once he sees what I'm wearing to the dance, he won't have anyone else on his mind. Too bad he's always blubbering around that wretched crow, Yumi."

"Someone belongs in a cave, all right," Ulrich huffed.

"And do you know what a group of crows is called, Sissi? Because I'm really tempted to show you." Yumi balled her fists up threateningly. "I hope you're proud of yourself. Couldn't even swallow your pride for a child. How twisted can you be?"

Sucking her teeth, Sissi waved them away. "I-I don't need to waste my breath on low lives like you."

"You know, one day Milly and Tamiya will become famous world-class reporters, and they'll have more viewers than anything you'll ever get. I know I wouldn't watch a brainless zombie if she was on my screen," Odd cackled. "Well, unless she was getting her head cut off…"

Sissi's face burned with anger. "Shut it, dorks! Ugh, come on, Herb, Nicholas. We're leaving. I have a hair appointment in my dorm room!" She quickly stalked off, waving at Ulrich and sticking her tongue at everyone else as her little entourage followed her. The boys turned around to make faces in kind.

Ingrid sighed, shaking her head as she watched them leave.

---

Milly had run off to her room, with Tamiya not too far behind. There, Milly leaned next to her bed, her tears flowing as her friend came to her side, clutching her favorite teddy bear close to her chest.

"Aww, Milly, don't cry…we can still go to prom. Jim said we can stay until nine o'clock! And we can still do the report, too! You don't need a dumb date! " Tamiya reassured her friend. "And then, we can have fun at the dance afterward, huh? How about it?"

"Oh, it's nothing but a waste of time!" Milly angrily retorted through her cries. "The big kids don't care about us. Just because they're older and bigger, they think they can look down on and walk all over us! Don't you get it? Little kids have no rights, just like Sissi said."

"That's dumb, Milly; Sissi was just mean! She's a mean ol' witch…and that's that," Tamiya seemed sure of herself. "Plus, Ingrid was more than ready to come and stand up for you."

"No one cares about our newscast…or about us!" Milly stands up, balling her fists as her tears dotted the floor, her emotions getting the better of her as a part of her knew that wasn't true. "Oh, I hate them…all of them! I hate every single one of them…I…I hate everybody in the world!" She cried out.

Taken aback by her friend's rash proclamations, Tamiya continued to comfort her. "M-Milly, you don't know what you're saying!"

On the monitor of their computer screen, that ominous eye flashed for a split second, clouded by a dark interference. Tamiya thought she saw something, but she blinked and brushed it off as the reflection of the sun beams through the window.

Sharply jerking herself away from Tamiya, Milly moved to the door. "Oh, I'm sick of you too, just leave me alone!" Grabbing her teddy bear and rushing through the double doors, Tamiya could only watch in patient frustration.

"What could Ulrich do…? He already had a date, and he let Milly down easy," She spoke aloud. "…Still, it doesn't mean Milly's not gonna be upset about what Sissi said. She'll be back soon. I-I'll give her some space…maybe I'll ask Ingrid to talk to her."

Running into the woods, Milly cried and cried until she found the old gardener's shed, where the groundskeeper kept all of his tools. Closing the door behind her, she sighed as she clutched her bear tight to her chest, leaning against a large crate of mulch.

"They'll never understand what I have to go through...no one will. But you...you've always been there for me, haven't you?" Milly spoke aloud to her stuffed companion, who remained silent, as normal teddy bears tend to be.

"I'm glad you're here...you're the only one who listens, who understands...I'm just so mad! Why can't life be fair? It's like all the big kids get to have so much fun, and they just walk all over the rest of us little kids...it's just not right!"

The plush bear continued to stay silent as the light above Milly flickered slightly. "I-I didn't mean to yell at Tamiya...she's really my only friend. She cares about me a lot...and I care about her, too."

"And Ingrid's really nice, too. She's always willing to do interviews with us, and loves our stories…and is so encouraging…" She found her face going red again.

Shaking it off, Milly turned to her bear again. "M-Maybe I should apologize...what do you think?" Milly asked her bear.

As if taking its silence as a yes, Milly grinned. "O-Okay, I'll go and find Tamiya and Ingrid, but you have to stay. I don't want people to see me carrying you around and teasing me about you."

The flickering light fell out of its socket and crashed onto the ground. A dark reddish specter oozed from the socket of the light, and slinked its way towards the bear and Milly, covering them in an inky blackness as the once blank eyes were filled with a crimson eye-like insignia, with Milly sharing the same symbol in hers.

"You know what…?" Milly's voice became deeper in pitch and warbled as if she was speaking through a broken radio. "I think apologies can wait. It's time we take our revenge on the big kids…what do you think?"

The bear begins to twitch, and audible tearing could be heard, the bear's head and limbs shift, turn, and twist as it began to grow in size, a possessed Milly standing in front of the bear as it grew.

"Repeat the word, repeat the word, repeat the word…" Milly begins chanting as an unknown power begins to take over her mind. "You want to hurt…you want to hurt…you want to hurt…"

The bear fully stands up, destroying the garden shed with its enlarged body. Blood-red claws grow out of its plush hands, covered in pulsating veins. A red, thick liquid dripped from them and pooled at its feet.

Millie floats on top of its head. "It's time to show them who the big kid on campus is…"

---

"She's even more horrible on prom day," Odd sighed, watching Sissi and her cronies leave before glancing at Ingrid. "Hey, that was pretty cool of you, standing up for Milly like that."

"There aren't many people who find the courage to tell Sissi off. You must be the new girl everyone's talking about," Yumi grinned. "I'm Yumi. That's Odd and Ulrich."

At this point, Ingrid had never spoken to any member of this group of interest. By standing up for Milly, she had gained some sort of respect from them. This was what she was looking for. A way in. She continued the façade.

"I don't do well with mistreatment," Ingrid replied. "I'm Ingrid. It is nice to meet all of you."

"You wanna help us set up the auditorium for the dance? We could use an extra pair of hands," Ulrich asked, holding up a few extension cords.

"Sure, I'd love to help," Ingrid walked into the auditorium, her gaze shifting to all the decorations and confectionery, even the giant disco ball hanging from the ceiling. "You guys have really done up the place."

"It's a group effort," Odd began undoing the microphone wires. "Though you can say I'm the head of this entire operation."

"Yeah, your head is surely bigger than everyone else's," Yumi retorted, getting a laugh out of both her and Ulrich.

"This normal-sized head will be the talk of the whole school at the prom tonight. Just you wait," Odd promised with confidence.

Ingrid giggled at their tongue-in-cheek banter. She must admit that they had a very interesting kind of chemistry.

"So, you're from the U.S., right?" Ulrich asked, having watched her interviews. "What made you want to come to France?"

Ingrid hesitated for a moment before answering. "My uncle got a job at a research facility here, and we had to move because of it," Ingrid explained, helping tape wires to the floor.

"Woah, cool! Your uncle's a super-secret scientist?" Odd chimed in, forgetting he was speaking through the microphone. Yumi swiped it from him and turned it off with a deafening screech. "Maybe that's not something she wants the whole school to know, Odd."

Ingrid reassured them with a smile. "You might as well be right. I know that he's here because of bizarre things that have been reported to be happening around this area and France as a whole, and he wanted to corroborate sightings."

Ingrid sighed. "I've wanted to help him. This kind of stuff is my calling. I'm something of a paranatural investigator."

The trio of friends glanced at each other awkwardly.

"I-I know it sounds strange but hear me out. I've been doing some investigations here at Kadic since I arrived. I always get so close, but I can't seem to hold onto any leads long enough to reach a conclusion. Honestly, I'm beginning to think that there's nothing here at all," Ingrid tore off another piece of masking tape. "It's a little disappointing, but…I'm not one to complain about things being peaceful."

Odd sat over the side of the stage, tugging at his collar. "Yup, nothing weird or crazy going on here, it's just a normal school with normal people and normal prom dances. It's as normal as it can get here. Normal, normal, normal."

"Normal's a good thing," Ulrich sighed, standing up. "The wires are all taped down…Jeremy should be on his way to set up all of this soundboard stuff any moment now."

"Do you know Jeremy, Ingrid? He's got the biggest brains in the entire school. Top student," Yumi said, turning to her.

Ingrid tapped her chin. Of course she knew of Jeremy. "I can't say I haven't heard of him. He is very intellectually gifted. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, Einstein. That's what we call 'im." Odd swiped a candy bar from one of the bowls nearby. "The smartest kid in school, AND he's a tech-whiz. If there was anything strange going on, my money is that he'd know about it first."

"I'm glad my reputation precedes me," a new boy walked up to the group. Ingrid recognized him. Those thick glasses, the short blonde hair, blue sweater, and brown highwaters…that was Jeremy, all right. "Who's this? Someone new?"

Jeremy could have sworn that he'd seen Ingrid around…probably a bit too much. She was a new transfer, and they had never spoken to one another before now, but why was it that Ingrid was always close by or in any area they were in? Was she following them? Was it just him that was noticing?

Maybe he was overthinking things. Maybe not. Jeremy couldn't be too sure, but he knew what he saw.

"She's been all over the Kadic News. She's giving Sissi a run for her money in popularity," Odd said.

"I don't read the Kadic News. It's full of gossip and trashy rumors. Hardly anything intellectual," Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"Well, this is Ingrid; she's cool. She told Sissi to buzz off when she was harassing Milly and Tamiya," Yumi explained.

"Calls herself a 'paranatural investigator,' too. Pretty cool, huh?" Yumi continued, trying to gloss over Ingrid's more serious claims.

"That so? An enemy to Sissi is a friend of mine," Jeremy grinned. "Pleasure to meet you, Ingrid."

"Jeremy, it's great to see you, too," Ingrid nodded, her brows raising a little. "Your friend Odd said that you'd know about any strange happenings that would or could go on here. Have you witnessed any? Say…of a paranatural nature?"

Ulrich gave Odd a glare, who shrugged and chuckled shyly. Ingrid was pretty forward about this.

"Of course not. Nothing happens at Kadic. This is real life, not some sci-fi flick," Jeremy responded laconically. "You shouldn't listen to Odd. He's got his head all mushed up with monsters and mad doctors."

Ingrid didn't answer immediately, only staring at Jeremy, who looked a little uncomfortable. Ingrid's suspicions only mounted. They all seemed pretty eager to dismiss the subject. But Ingrid knew Kadic was not all that it seemed. Either the group of friends was truly oblivious, or they were hiding something. "I see. Well, if you see anything, be sure to tell me."

The friends exchanged a concerned look. They began to catch on that Ingrid really wasn't joking about her little "investigation."

Odd decided to change the subject again, which Ingrid noticed. "Soooo…how are you liking Kadic so far? Classes okay?"

She decided to play along, smiling as she spoke. "It was hard at first, but I think I can manage much better now."

"You seem a little old to be in my grade," Jeremy said.

"I'm 15. I'm in the 10th Grade, according to French education standards," Ingrid answered. "It's been hard…trying to fit in with everyone. French isn't my primary language…so I'm lucky to have some people around who can speak English while I learn."

"Being bilingual has plenty of advantages. However, taking up French would help in the future a lot, especially if you're planning to live here," Jeremy advised. "I'm sure there are plenty of people here that can teach you a phrase or two."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Jeremy."

"I can even teach you some Japanese; being trilingual is even better than being bilingual," Yumi chuckled.

Their banter continued, with Ingrid becoming more and more comfortable with the group's dynamic. She wouldn't talk too much, mainly letting them converse amongst themselves, only chiming in when one of them asked for her opinion.

It slowly became apparent to Ingrid that she wasn't going to get any further with them now. So she made up an excuse to leave, the group seemed comfortable around her, so there was little chance of them rejecting her advances at a later date. "Oh, apologies everyone. I have to go. I need to study for a math exam. I wouldn't want to be a sitting duck at my desk on test day."

Odd shook his head. "Ugh, math…the bane of my existence. Who needs to know how numbers work when you have calculators? Isn't that the reason they exist?"

"Mental math is great for practicing your critical thinking skills, Odd. But, you know, Math isn't just about the answer. It's about being clever enough to know how to find it," Jeremy advised his friend.

"Yeah, and I'm clever enough to know how to slip a cheat sheet past the teacher. Guess I'm good at math after all!"

Yumi shook her head, turning to Ingrid. "Good luck studying. We'll see you around, Ingrid!" Yumi waved after her. "Are you coming to the dance?"

"Of course!" Ingrid asked with a smile. "If you guys are going to be there, we can all have fun together!"

"A prom isn't a prom without Odd Della Robbia! I'll be there."

"It's a 'maybe' for me," Jeremy sheepishly answered. "I have some computer stuff to catch up on."

"I'll be seeing most of you tonight, then!" Ingrid lightly jogged to the door, waving at the group one last time. Ingrid was quite happy; she didn't think she would be making friends so fast.

Walking through the sunny courtyard and into the library, Ingrid knew that they must be hiding something. She wasn't close enough to them to warrant them telling all about any of their secrets, no matter how well-liked she was in the student body. But she couldn't start making accusations from mere hunches. She needed something to confirm her suspicions.

Jeremy was certain in his denial…but "no" didn't always mean that…especially when it came to the unknown.

When Ingrid was finally out of earshot, Ulrich turned to Jeremy with a disparaging glance. "Ain't trying to be the cynical one here, but she might become a problem, Jeremy."

Jeremy nodded as he set up the soundboard. "I don't know how adamant she is on uncovering the truth…but if she's that determined, we should distance ourselves from her. I notice her around often, especially when we're together. She's always just out of sight…I don't know what her deal is."

Yumi crossed her arms. "Maybe you're seeing things, Jeremy. I don't know why we can't still be friends, Jeremy. I mean, she seems like a nice girl. She's cool with pretty much everyone. You know, minus all the paranatural detective stuff."

"X.A.N.A is much too dangerous of a secret to let slip out. It doesn't matter how 'nice' she is," Jeremy cautioned. "I think she's onto us."

"We just met Ingrid. It's not like we can trust her, Yumi," Ulrich said. "Besides, the bigger our group gets, the harder it's gonna be to keep things secret."

"I'm not saying we should blindly trust her. I'm saying it doesn't seem right to kick her out," Yumi said defensively. "But I guess you're right. There's no telling how she'll react if she were to find out about Lyoko."

"Just gotta be careful what we say around her, is all. It's not like we have to be around her 24/7," Odd chimed in. "Who knows? Maybe she can keep a secret, too. Maybe her uncle is super chill. Besides, if she discovers the factory, a quick Return to The Past and she'll be back at square one. Simple."

"No matter what, X.A.N.A and Lyoko are always our top priority. And Ingrid can't fully be trusted. Who's to say she won't figure out a way to bypass the Return to The Past?"

"Okay, Jeremy. Now you're reaching. As long as she doesn't get scanned, she'll never remember anything…right? That's how it worked with you the first time," Yumi said.

"If Ingrid's words are true, then her uncle must work at the CNRS…which might explain her fascination with the unknown. They do specialize in the fundamental sciences, all of which has to do with the expanding of all kinds of scientific theories…many of which can be quite outrageous,"

"You're rambling, Einstein," Odd said.

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm chalking her fascination up to an active imagination, an infatuation," Jeremy continued.

"No one's imagination is more active than Odd's," Ulrich jokes.

"Still, I can't shake off the feeling that she's onto us. If there's even a slight chance that she suspects something or she's more than just some student at Kadic, we should cut her out. We can never be too careful when it comes to the Supercomputer's whereabouts."

"I guess you're right, Jeremy. Well, such are the trials of leading a double life; we must work in the shadows, our heroics never to be seen to the masses," Odd dramatically sighed.

Fixing the soundboard, Jeremy brushed his hands off in satisfaction. "There. That should do it." He suddenly snaps his fingers. "Ah, I forgot to check on Aelita; I had wanted to see if she had felt any pulsations on Lyoko."

Yumi shrugged. "You can go. That soundboard you fixed was the only one that was prepped. As long as the rest are ready before prom, no one'll care if you left for an hour or two."

"I-I won't be long, really. I'll be back."

"Ah, don't be so worried, Einstein. You and Aelita have some catching up to do! Get to it, Casanova!" Odd grinned.

The brainiac's cheeks were dashed with red. "Uhm…-"

"Speed it up, Jeremy. These soundboards aren't gonna set up themselves," Ulrich said, egging Jeremy on to leave.

---

In front of his computer, Jeremy had begun conversing with someone on the screen.

"Aelita, do you read me? It's Jeremy," he called out to her. "Aelita?"

"Jeremy, hello there!" Her voice was pleasant and dreamy, though put through a digital filter. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well. How about you?"

"I'm okay. If you're here to ask about the Towers, I haven't felt any pulsations," Aelita said. "It all seems quiet here. For the moment, at least."

"That's good; X.A.N.A's been quieter than usual lately. I'm still on edge that he might be planning something…" Jeremy spoke cautiously. "Hey, you know, Aelita…I-I'm making a lot of progress with my materialization research, s-so you can come and live with us!"

The pink-haired girl's face lit up in excitement. "The key to materialization? Have you found it at last?!"

Jeremy rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly stuttering. "Uh-…w-well, n-no, not yet. B-But trust me, I'm working on it! Soon, X.A.N.A won't be able to harm any of us, including you. It's only a matter of time, I assure you."

Aelita hampered her excitement a fair bit. Nevertheless, she had all the confidence in the world that Jeremy would be able to materialize her one day. "That's great, Jeremy. Thank you for all of your hard work."

Continuing to work, Aelita could see that Jeremy was pensive from the way he typed on his keyboard. She would listen to Jeremy type away for hours, exchanging small talk and "real-world" advice and trivia as he compiled his programs. But now, his keystrokes were heavy and slow, and he'd press the backspace key a lot more than he would normally, if ever. Something was bothering him.

"Is something the matter, Jeremy?" She asked after a few moments of silence.

Jeremy perked up. "Is it that obvious?"

Aelita smiled. "The way you type on your keyboard. It's changed. I listen, you know."

"Well…there's a new girl in school now, and she's kinda…well…different."

Aelita suddenly became interested in this other girl. "What's she like?"

"Her name's Ingrid. Apparently, she moved to France from the United States. She's become pretty popular in Kadic in a short time, and she's a self-proclaimed 'paranatural investigator,'" Jeremy explained. "She's suspicious about the things that happen around Kadic. You know, the X.A.N.A attacks. I'm a little wary that she might suspect us of hiding something. It doesn't help that I see her everywhere, just out of sight, as if she's following us."

"Hmh, interesting. Is it possible for people to still remember events before a Return to the Past, even if they were never scanned?" Aelita asked.

"That shouldn't be the case. I forgot everything that happened before the first time I ran a Return to The Past. If it were possible to evade The Return to The Past, we'd definitely have been found out already," Jeremy scratched his chin. "But something tells me that Ingrid isn't just some normal girl…call it a hunch, but she gives off such a strange air."

"You don't think X.A.N.A could be behind this? Maybe a possession or maybe a clone?"

"Impossible. X.A.N.A can't materialize or possess people. Plus, she seems decent; she even stood up to Sissi earlier today."

"I see. This Ingrid sounds like a very sweet person."

"I'm still going to keep an eye on her. I also want the others to keep their distance, too. If there's even a chance of her remembering snippets of the past, it could pose a huge problem should she report the factory to the authorities."

"I agree, Jeremy."

"No matter what, I'm far more intrigued by you, Aelita. Nothing on Earth will change that."

On the other side, Aelita smiled. If she could blush, she would have. "Thank you, Jeremy."

---

Sissi marched to her dorm room, tailed still by Herb and Nicolas.

"How dare that girl talk to me like that?!" Sissi lamented. "She thinks she can waltz into Kadic and embarrass me in front of my Ulrich? Think again! Something has to be done about her."

"She's creepy. I don't like the fact that she never opens her eyes." Nicolas shuddered. "How do you know if she's looking at you or not?"

"If we could find a way to embarrass her instead, she'll never have the gall to talk to Sissi like that again!" Herb cackled deviously. "Her reputation will be tarnished, and Sissi keeps her spot at the top!"

Sissi shook her head. "No, no, no! Tonight, I want to focus on becoming Beauty Queen. I don't want to have to worry about any schemes or pranks or anything that could ruin my standings. Ingrid's day will come, believe that. Besides, when I win the award tonight, no one will care about that blind brat."

Sissi pulled out her phone to look at the time, groaning impatiently. "I hope that girl from science class is ready, I need to have my hair styled before tonight!"

The trio finally reaches Sissi's door. As Sissi turned the knob to open it, Nicolas looked down and gave a frightened yelp. Herb and Sissi jumped in surprise.

"D'oh! What was that for?!" Herb snapped at him.

Nicolas didn't reply, he just pointed at the ground. Herb followed his gesture and gave out a scream of his own.

When Sissi looked down, she noticed the pool of red liquid seeping from the bottom of her door, covering her shoes. "Wh-What…?"

Herb began to back away. "What the heck is this…? Could it be some prank?"

Sissi stomped her feet. "Well, if it is a prank, then it's not funny! When I find out who did this, they'll get in trouble with my father for SURE!"

Opening the door in a huff, Sissi stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening in horror.

Her room was coveredin red ooze, dripping from the ceiling, and ruining her bed, clothes, boy band posters, and all her expensive hair equipment and makeup. Even the brand-new outfit she had her father buy for prom was ruined. The sun shining through the stained window gave the room a bright red haze, making everything sheen with the invasive color.

And standing in the middle of it all…was Milly. Though her head was hung, staring at the ground, not reacting to Sissi opening the door. Sissi was furious.

"Why you!" Sissi yelled. "It was YOU who did this, huh? What do you have to say for yourself, you little twerp?!"

Sissi marched into the room and grabbed Milly's arm. "Oh-ho, just wait 'till my FATHER hears about this, you'll get suspended! No, expelled! I-I'll sue you for all the damages! How am I supposed to get ready for prom now?! You little minx, you've ruined EVERYTHING!"

As Sissi tried to pull Milly out of her room, she realized that Milly wasn't budging. Sissi was far bigger than Milly. Sissi should be able to drag her to the principal's office, no problem. So how could Milly resist so much?

"Hey! Start walking, you idiot!" Sissi used both hands to tug at Milly's arm but ended up falling and ruining her clothes, sending her into a screaming fit. "Oh, you're dead, you hear me?! You're gonna pay for all of this!"

She turned to her two lackeys. "Don't just stand there! Help me drag her out!"

Though the boys were hesitant, they knew what would happen if they didn't obey Sissi. Just when they were about to help take the young girl away, Milly suddenly snapped her head up to face the trio. The three older students visibly cringed from the sound of bone cracking.

Sissi clammed up immediately, disturbed by Milly's erratic movement. "H-Hey…w-what's wrong with you?!"

Milly spoke, her voice distorted and warbled, making the trio panic even more. "We've never been better."

"Who's 'we'…? J-Just what the heck are you talking about?! Why did you mess up my room? What is all this red stuff?!"

Milly giggled. "Elisabeth Delmas. Your purpose in life bears no weight. You are useless. Formless. Your song is a burden on the ears. It needs to be rewritten."

Sissi took offense to that. "Try saying that to my face, you twerp! You don't scare me. And DON'T. CALL. ME. ELISABE-"

Sissi's shrill tantrum was cut short, her gaze drawn to the window. She could see a massive eye peering into the room, staring at her…her pupils shrank in horror.

"We are not to be feared. We only mean bring you a gift," Milly continued.

"W-What k-kind of gift is this?! M-Make it stop! I don't want it!" Sissi yelled, trembling in fright, trying to stand up and run away, but she only kept slipping.

"The choice is not yours to make," Milly said. "We…are your…salvation."

Then, the entire wall of the room buckled in, sending Herb and Nicolas onto their backs from the force and staining their clothes with the red ooze, and covering Herb's face with Sissi's stained prom outfit. They could just catch a glimpse of something like a giant bear reaching its claws into the room, grabbing Sissi, and taking her away. Milly stood with her back to the doorway, watching in silence as Sissi called out for Ulrich, begging someone to help her.

"Holy…-" Nicolas was too frightened to move.

Herb, however, found the courage to pick himself back up and run towards Sissi's door. Before he could step inside, Milly's head turned to face him, her torso locked in place. Giving him one last eerie smile and giggle, the door slammed in his face, knocking him to the ground. Writhing in pain as he held his bashed nose.

Nicolas forced himself up and lunged for the handle, opening the door to save Sissi somehow, but…

They were gone…and the room was intact and clean. Everything was normal, with no evidence of weird red liquids or destruction. It was just…Sissi's room again.

Herb and Nicolas stood there in disbelief, closing and re-opening the door, again and again, to see if what they were seeing was their imagination. After Herb walked into the room and looked around, he confirmed that everything was back to normal.

"What…What happened to Sissi?!" Nicolas finally blurted out.

"I don't know, but we have to tell Principal Delmas and call the Police!" Herb ordered, bolting out of the room with Nicolas awkwardly following him, grabbing Sissi's ruined prom outfit as evidence as the pair navigated their way through the rubble that was left behind.

---

Ingrid had busied herself writing everything she had listened to from the group's conversation…but realized there was nothing of substance. She knew they wouldn't talk about anything sensitive with her around. That meant she could only get valuable information from afar.

Packing her things and walking out of the library, Ingrid's gaze shifts to the group of students gathering near the entrance of the dormitory building. She turned in the direction of the fussing crowd, slowly approaching as she gauged what was going on.

Principal Delmas – Sissi's father – lifted his hands up towards the crowd of students. "Please, everyone, calm down."

"Please sir, you have to believe us!" Herb pleaded with Delmas. "Sissi was abducted! It was that kid Milly's fault! The one who runs the newspaper. Her giant bear covered her room in this red stuff, destroyed the wall, and carried her away!"

"Yeah! A-And when we went to open her door again, everything was back to normal, but Sissi and Milly and the bear were gone without a trace!" Nicolas showed Delmas Sissi's new outfit stained in the mysterious red liquid. "See? Here's the proof! A-And there are pieces of the wall and other stuff around her dorm room, too!

The other kids now had a reason to worry.

"What happened?"

"Is Sissi okay? Where did she go?"

"Was it a monster? Or a kidnapper?"

"Will it come for the rest of us?"

Delmas held Sissi's stained clothes with trembling hands. The visible despair on his face was palpable, making the other students uneasy.

In the crowd Tamiya could only see the red stains on the clothes, covering her mouth in disbelief.

"Milly wouldn't…she couldn't!" Tamiya thought.

"Everyone, go to your fourth period classes and remain with your teachers until further notice. None of you are to leave said rooms until we have gotten to the bottom of this," he tried to assert his authority, but it was hard when he was wracked with worry…A father fretting for the life of his missing daughter.

He gestured to Herb and Nicolas. "You two are coming with me. And if one of you finds Jim, tell him to come to my office immediately!"

Ingrid spotted the ruined clothes, and immediately her body was overwhelmed with an encroaching sensation that prevented her from moving. That…wasn't what she thought it was…was it?

"No…No, it can't possibly be that…!" Ingrid thought in desperation.

The group of friends Ingrid had met before had been eavesdropping on the commotion. They spotted Ingrid standing there and even locked eyes before running into the dormitories. Ingrid went in a different direction. If this was what she feared it could be, then no one should be near the site. It could still be…infected.

"It can't be…it just can't!" Ingrid said as she rushed into the building.

Ingrid now was on a mission. Her "quirky schoolgirl" act was just a provisional pretense she had to keep up...but no longer.

As Herb and Nicolas said, there was rubble and dust all over the halls. Something clearly happened here. The group stepped over the shards of drywall and bricks that were strewn about, finally making their way to Sissi's dorm.

Odd reached for the knob and opened the door. Sissi's room was just fine.

Ulrich was the first to speak. "I don't get it. What did they say happened again…?"

"Something broke into Sissi's room and abducted her," Yumi recounted. "But there's no sign of damage inside the room…but there's proof that the room was damaged at all because of the mess out here in the hall."

Jeremy paced back and forth, looking at the bits and pieces across the floor. "They weren't wrong about the red liquid, either…" He pointed to one of the shards of painted drywall, only to see that it was stained red.

The group was horrified. "That's not what I think it is, is it…?" Odd asked with dread.

"No…it can't be. Sissi can't be…-" Ulrich couldn't believe it.

Yumi – though just as horrified – still maintained a cool head. "Wait."

Odd and Ulrich trained their attention on her. "What is it, Yumi?"

"This…This isn't blood."

"Huh?" Odd gave her a confused look. "Come on, Yumi! That's definitely blood! Sissi's blood!"

Yumi shook her head. "No, blood doesn't look like this," she points to a particular stain. "Look, there are patterns. Repeating patterns, like inkblots."

The others came to investigate, and Jeremy adjusted his glasses to confirm Yumi's claims. "You're right, Yumi! Blood does not look like this…and it couldn't have dried already, it's only been an hour. And when considering the sheer amount of the stuff that's been deposited everywhere-"

"Hold on, hold on, hold on…" Odd cut them off. "Just how do you two know so much about blood?"

"Forensics elective. Yumi and I just happened to take it," Jeremy explained.

"Guys…? Guys, come look at this! The patterns…they're…they're moving."

"What? Give me a break Yumi, that's crazy," Ulrich said.

"See for yourself!" Yumi said, holding up the piece of drywall to Ulrich's face.

Squinting, Ulrich gasps when the patterns in the liquid began to move and pulse as if it was…alive. The motions were almost hypnotizing.

"What the heck?!" Odd exclaimed, taking a look for himself. "T-This is right out of a horror movie! Only thing is, I don't think I want to be in it anymore."

"Jeremy? Do you think it could be X.A.N.A?" Yumi asked.

The blonde genius scratched his head. "I don't know. X.A.N.A's never attacked like this before. And you'd think he would abduct one of us…Why would he go after Sissi?"

"Wait, Milly was there too, and her stuffed bear, apparently. Herb said something like that," Ulrich pointed out. "If Milly really was there, could she have really done something to Sissi?"

"She was really mad at what Sissi said. Believe what you want, there's a motive," Jeremy said. "But she could never be capable of this."

"A little girl like Milly? No. She's harmless. The kid might have a temper, but she wouldn't hurt a fly," Odd said.

"None of this makes any sense!" Yumi growled, punching the wall. "What does any of this mean?"

"You won't be able to understand any of it. You can't."

The group all turn around and see Ingrid standing in the hallway. It's quiet for a moment before Ingrid continues.

"You are dealing with forces far beyond you or me. But clearly, you have the means to try and understand or combat it. Is it this X.A.N.A you keep talking about? What is Lyoko? You must tell me."

"I knew there was something off about you," Jeremy spat. "You've been following us, haven't you? What do you know?"

"Enough," Ingrid bluntly replied, conjuring her notebook out of thin air.

"I've noticed strange happenings going on in Kadic. They're frequent. About two to three times in a single week." Ingrid slowly began to flip through the countless pages in the book.

"And though the occurrences were rarely consistent, the one thing that never changed was your response. Going to a factory. Lyoko. Someone named...Aelita."

Jeremy clenched his fists at the sound of Aelita's name. "Just how do you know so much? You're not supposed to remember anything!"

"That's what confused me, too. But then, I was able to get my hands on this. A book that superimposes whatever is written on it into its own reality, separate from the one you and I inhabit, preventing any information stored within it from being erased or altered.

"If your 'Return to The Past' does exactly what it says on the tin, then whatever I wrote down would survive the temporal regression, allowing me to catch myself up on what I missed in the event that my memory becomes compromised."

Ingrid dismisses the book with a snap of her fingers. "If you know something, you have to tell me. It's far too dangerous for you to handle. I would much prefer you be safe."

"We're not telling you anything!" Ulrich exclaimed. "It's none of your business, so go away."

"It is entirely my business," Ingrid pressed on. "I know what this is. And you will not be able to stop it. It will destroy you, and everything else here if you don't tell me what you've been hiding."

"Okay then. Since you're so knowledgeable on the subject, why not give us a lesson, teach?" Odd retorted. "What's so big and bad about splotches of spooky blood?"

Ingrid exhaled sharply from her nose. "That information is classified."

"Classified? Shucks, pot calling the kettle black."

"How do you expect us to trust you when you can't even be transparent?" Yumi countered.

"You're wasting time. The longer you keep up this charade, the further away Sissi and Milly get," Ingrid said. "And there's no telling who's going to be next. If you could just tell me what you know, I might still be able to save th-"

"HEY! YOU FOUR!" A booming voice came from the other end of the hallway. A voice that the group knew all too well. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"Oh no, it's Jim!" Ulrich said.

The gym teacher. Something of a makeshift enforcer on campus. Ingrid knew not to get on his bad side. Despite his rotund build, the man was surprisingly athletic. He commanded the students as if he was the principal, though he was dull enough to be fooled by someone who knew what they were doing. Getting caught by him wouldn't be ideal.

"What are the four of you doing here? Principal Delmas said that everyone should be in their fourth period classes until further notice!"

"It's not just the four of us, Jim, there's a fifth one right-" Odd pointed in Ingrid's direction, only to realize that Ingrid was no longer there. "…What?"

"Oh very funny, Della Robbia. You must take me for an idiot, huh?!" Jim scoffed.

"But she was just right here!"

Jeremy began to speak. "Jim, we were just leaving-"

"Nope! Not a word! This isn't one of your sneaky pranks or jokes. This is SERIOUS! A student may be in danger, or WORSE! You four need to follow instructions. In fact, I have a great idea. Because you four think you're above the word of the principal, why don't we spend this lockdown in detention?"

"What?! Jim, no!" Yumi protested. "I have to go back home! My parents will be worried sick!"

"Once the police have collected all the information they need, your parents can come and get you. For now, all of you! To the library!"

The kids tried to protest still, but Jim was not having any of it. Defeated, the group led the way to the library with Jim following them in a huff, leaving the hallway empty once again.

Peeking out from behind the corner, Ingrid's suspicions were confirmed. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she approaches the wreckage and sees the "blood." She inspects it and saw the moving patterns. Suddenly, she was overcome by flashes of bloody imagery, crimson splotches pulsing and streaking across a white limbo. Whispers of unintelligible noise fill what was once silent.

Holding the sides of her head, she staggers from side to side. This feeling…like her mind being invaded…a feeling that Max hoped she would never have to experience.

The Hiss.

Clenching her teeth, Ingrid's knees buckled from the stress. After what seemed like forever, she began taking deep breaths, tightening her grip on reality and forcing the whispers away. A cleansing warmth coursed through her body as she felt at ease…but she wasn't at ease. She was panicking.

Ingrid growled, taking a few steps back in fear. "Th-That's impossible…D-Director Faden had g-gotten rid of The Hiss. Wh-What could have happened?!"

Muffled sirens could be heard coming from Sissi's window. Ingrid frowned. This just got more complicated.

"Delmas called the police…" Ingrid said. "This is getting too much attention. It'll be hard to continue my search with officers around. I can't really do much of anything here…

"Calling in the FBC would be risky. An American agency has no reason to operate on French soil, and it's not like we can just get permission on such short notice, either. Not without explaining what we're all about."

Ingrid paced back and forth. "That's it. I just have to figure this out on my own. I'll find Sissi and Milly.

"But there was something else those guys mentioned…something about a factory? What could be in a factory that going there is an immediate response to something like this? And this 'X.A.N.A'…and 'Lyoko'… what are they? Who is 'Aelita,' and how are they related to The Hiss?"

Ingrid shook her head. "So many questions, so little time…rescuing Sissi and Milly can come later. I have to find out how the Hiss returned and destroy it immediately. If I do that, then saving those two will most likely solve itself."

Delmas' voice grew louder – explaining what happened to the police as he approached Sissi's room. Ingrid ran to the exit. She racked her brain, trying to figure out all the places she would have to check. It was nigh impossible to predict where the Hiss could be hiding…and with police arriving, she was trapped on campus and wouldn't be able to find a discreet way out.

As she reached the bottom floor, she could hear someone crying in the corner under the stairs. Turning around, she spotted Tamiya with her knees to her chest, sniffling. Ingrid came over and knelt down next to her.

"Tamiya?" Ingrid called for the junior camerawoman, who jolted with shock. She didn't think anyone would find her.

"Ingrid…?" Tamiya blinked as if trying to make sense of her being there. "W-What are you doing here?"

"You need to go to a classroom, it's too dangerous to be sitting out here," Ingrid warned.

"I've been looking around for Milly everywhere…a-and I can't find her!" Tamiya desperately admitted, holding back her tears. "She ran away to the garden shed in the forest after Sissi humiliated her in front of everyone. She took her bear with her and everything."

Ingrid took a moment to think. "Why would she go to the garden shed? I thought it was off limits."

"It's where she always goes when she wants to be alone. We used to play around there when the big kids would give us trouble – until Jim caught us and forbade us from ever going there again. A lot of the big kids harass us because we run the school paper…we just wanted to write interesting stories a-and keep everyone informed, you know, add a bit of spice every now and then. We don't really mean anyone harm…

"…You see, M-Milly and I…we made a promise to each other. When we were big kids we'd travel the world and start a little blog that would document our journeys in the style of a newscast. S-So we decided it would be best to start practicing now."

Ingrid nodded. "I understand. You and Milly are intelligent and ambitious girls. Getting the facts and finding answers is not easy. People who search for the truth aren't always appreciated and are almost always in the most danger."

"I…I miss her, Ingrid. I don't know where she is, and if everything those two meanies Herb and Nicolas said were true, it means Milly had something to do with Sissi disappearing, and I refuse to believe it." Tamiya took a long sniff. "I…I just hope she's okay."

"Tamiya, I'll bring Milly back. I promise."

"How? Delmas ordered everyone to be in class. It won't be long until someone finds out you and I are missing. I'm just gonna let them come find me…but you? I don't think it'll look good if you get caught snooping around. You're a big kid, so you're bound to get into more trouble."

Ingrid smiled, playfully putting a finger to her lips. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. I can be sneaky too, you know."

Tamiya cracked a smile of her own. "Thank you, Ingrid. Be careful…please."

Patting Tamiya's head in an embrace, Ingrid peeks out the exit doors of the dorm building and rushes into the woods. She would start her investigation at the garden shed. Maybe clues to the Hiss' revival hid there.

---

Ingrid weaved in and out of the dense vegetation in her hasty search for the garden shed. She shuddered as she spotted splotches of that Hiss-born liquid staining the dirt and foliage. She grits her teeth. Just seeing traces of the Hiss was enough to put her in a horrible mood.

"X.A.N.A…" Ingrid pondered. "Jeremy and his friends spoke of this acronym as if they were familiar with it. Could this X.A.N.A be behind it…? And why does that acronym sound so familiar to me? Could I have read about it in our records?

"I wish Director Faden was still here…she'd know exactly what to do when it comes to the Hiss." Ingrid lamented.

"I have to attack this situation as she would. Faden would have made the Hiss her top priority. Expelling it is always the most important thing. If it were left alone long enough, it could spread to others and infect them, too, making the job exponentially more difficult. As far as I know, only Milly and Sissi might be infected after spending so much time being directly exposed. All I can hope for now is that they're able to resist long enough for me to rescue them. For it not to have infected everyone here already means that it has been weakened somehow…but how?"

She could see the garden shed in the distance…or at least what she thought was a garden shed at one point. The entire building was destroyed, covered in red liquid. As Ingrid approached, she spotted gardening tools and torn bags of mulch strewn across the perimeter. She could see massive indents in the ground, like giant footprints.

"I guess Herb and Nicolas were right about it being a monster…and huge," Ingrid knelt down to run her fingers across the sunken earth. Another group of footprints could be seen a short distance away. Ingrid knew that whatever this monster was, it returned here at least once. Maybe this was its makeshift home.

"Should I stake it out?" Ingrid wondered aloud. "Maybe it'll come back if I wait…but just how long could that take?"

Ingrid approached the remains of the shed, looking for any evidence of Milly or even Sissi being there. But other than the copious amount of Hiss remains, she found nothing. But Tamiya was sure that Milly had gone here…and with her bear, too. So, when she stepped on something soft, her suspicions became a little more assured.

"Stuffing…?" Ingrid murmured, kneeling down to pick up a tuft of soft, white cottony material. "…Tamiya said that Milly went here with her stuffed bear. Could it have been damaged when the shed came down? Maybe Milly tried to escape…whatever was chasing her. Milly must have run away before Sissi was abducted."

Ingrid walked around the remains of the garden shed, lifting up broken equipment and brushing dirt off of things. She couldn't find anything else…but she was certain that there was something that she was missing.

"Maybe…there's something Polaris can see that I'm not looking at." Ingrid took a deep breath. "Polaris…let me see through your eyes. Show me the path to the Hiss' demise."

A wave of powerful resonance burst from Ingrid's body, draining the world of color. Ingrid slowly opened her eyes, looking around for anything she had missed. That's when she began hearing voices.

"They'll never understand what I have to go through...no one will. But you...you've always been there for me, haven't you?"

Ingrid turned around. An echo. Something playing through her mind as if it was being projected onto her. She could see the shadow of a small girl pacing back and forth. "Milly?" Ingrid whispered.

"I-I didn't mean to yell at Tamiya...she's really my only friend. She cares about me a lot...and I care about her, too. M-Maybe I should apologize...what do you think?"

Ingrid listened to Milly speak to her bear as she did earlier that day. Was this power unique to Ingrid?

Suddenly, the world around her began to shift and corrupt, as if she was viewing it through a camera and the feed was tearing. Red filled her vision like a thin film over her eyes. She saw it – reaching down for Milly and her bear, covering them in it, digging its way into her skin.

"Repeat the word, repeat the word, repeat the word…

"You want to hurt…you want to hurt…you want to hurt…"

An incantation Ingrid was familiar with. No way…Milly had been possessed?!

Ingrid backed up as she watched the shadow of the bear grow to almost ten times its height. Milly's shadow floated to perch on its head.

"It's time to show them who the big kid on campus is…"

The bear and Milly walked out of the shed, right towards the school. As they left, the red film began to fade, and the color returned to the world as Ingrid eyelids became heavy and shut once more.

"Milly's become possessed by the Hiss…no, no no! This can't be!"

Ingrid was so wrapped up in her inner turmoil that she didn't notice her arm being grabbed by someone. Looking up, she was met with the face of a policeman.

"Just what are you doing here, young lady?!" The policeman demanded to know. Another one stood close by.

Ingrid didn't respond at first. She was too busy trying to figure out what she was going to do about Milly. "If Milly really has been taken by the Hiss, then she must have been the one to take Sissi away. It would explain the rubble that was left behind because the bear destroyed her room…then the Hiss covered everything up. But why would it do that…? Unless it was trying not to get caught…"

"Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?! Answer me! Were you the one that destroyed this shed?!" The policeman continued to harshly question Ingrid. The more levelheaded policeman gave the other a look of exasperation. It was his first big job, and he might have been taking it a little too seriously.

Ingrid gasps. "It has to know that I'm here. If it knows I'm here, why would it not come after ME instead? Why attack Sissi? It shouldn't be interested in Sissi…"

"That's it, I'm taking you to the station for questioning!" The eager policeman reached for his cuffs. The other one stopped him.

"Frank, what the hell are you doing?"

"B-But, Mr. Tenant, she's not answering any of my questions, a-and she's resisting!"

"She's a kid," Mr. Tenant was quick to point out. "Look at her, she's passed out standing up 'cause of your screaming."

"…Oh."

Ingrid finally snapped back to reality, pulling her hand away from Frank's grip and backing away. Mr. Tenant was cautious but firm.

"Hey, hey…calm down, little girl. We're not here to hurt you. We just want to ask you a few questions," Mr. Tenant said.

"But I don't have time for questions. I need to find Milly and that bear!"

"…She still isn't responding, Mr. Tenant. Maybe we have to be a little more assertive," Frank suggested.

"I'll do the talking from here on, okay Frank?" Mr. Tenant retorted.

"I'm sorry, officers. But I'm in the middle of an investigation of my own," Ingrid said.

Sticking her hands out to point at the officers, she says one word. "Seize."

Before Frank could reach for his gun, he could feel his mind being overwritten. Something was taking control of it, same with Mr. Tenant. Their eyes became glossed over and they stood straight, looking blankly into the forest as if they were waiting for orders.

"Stay here, and don't move a muscle," Ingrid commanded them.

The policemen nodded, doing as they were told while Ingrid made a mad dash back towards campus in a different direction. She had a lead. A MASSIVE lead.

Milly was taken by the Hiss.

---

I hope you guys enjoyed this rewrite so far! I'm trying to treat these episodes as mini-arcs, and have a lot more mystery and action in them, mixing with the school drama the show's known for and the eldritch horror found in Control (though played up a little more).

I'm glad you were able to make it this far. Chapter Two is coming very soon, I'll try my best to get it out as fast as possible. There are new powers, and mechanics that'll affect combat on Earth AND Lyoko and tie the dimensions together. I can't wait to expound on that in Chapter 2 and beyond, as well as the power of Polaris and Ingrid discovering what it truly means to be the Director.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Comments and Criticism are always nice! See you in the next chapter! ​

 

[DAIKIZEN]

AUTHOR'S NOTE (3/23/2023):

Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter!

I don't have much to say here, aside from hoping that you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Three will be the final chapter in this introductory "mini-arc" of sorts. After that, chapters will be a little shorter so I can update a little more frequently!

Alright, I'll see you at the end of it! Enjoy!​

---

TWO WEEKS AGO

In the flickering lights of the garden shed, Milly sat in the corner, clutching her bear as she cries softly. Her plush bear and sweater were soaked with tears. When she could finally calm down enough to speak clearly, she finally looked up and held her bear to her face.

"At least you don't care how old I am, Berengar…" Milly talked to her bear softly. "You're there for me, you always have been. We understand each other. In fact…you're the only one that really understands me."

Berengar didn't respond – as a plush bear normally wouldn't be able to – but Milly knew he didn't have to.

Milly loved Berengar. The stuffed bear used to belong to her grandmother, and when she died Milly inherited it. She used to carry Berengar around everywhere, especially when she went to Kadic. She would walk Berengar around campus and show him all of her favorite places. She'd take him to lunch so they could eat together.

Unfortunately, Milly was bullied by everyone because of how attached she was to Berengar, and her teachers would constantly berate her about the bear not being allowed in class, and that she was too old to be toting a stuffed bear around. Milly had to leave Berengar in the dorm room she shared with Tamiya, who was one of the only people on campus who didn't give her a hard time about Berengar. In fact, she thought it was really nice to have something to remember her grandmother by. The two became close friends not too long after that.

"The big kids always push me and Tamiya around…and Jim's always on our case…" Milly continued. "They think that just because we're young and small we don't count at all…just worms on the sidewalk."

She could feel the tears coming back. "I just want to be older! I want to be a big kid! I wanna look like all the pretty girls in the magazines and show that witch Sissi that I'm not ugly! S-She's the ugly one! N-Not me! If she wasn't around, I-I bet that I could win that Beauty Queen award! D-Don't you think so, Berengar?"

The bear nodded yes. In Milly's imagination, of course.

"A-And Jim! He always thinks he can push me around…If I was older and bigger, I could push him around instead! I-I wonder how he'd feel if he was being looked down on and yelled at all the time! Just a taste of his own medicine…that's all he needs to see it my way!"

The garden shed was Milly's special place; the only privacy she had on campus. Away from the big kids, away from Jim and the disparaging teachers, just her and Berengar and no one else…she liked it. She could talk to Berengar for as long as she wanted to and not be scared of someone walking in on her.

"If for once…just once…if we were older – a lot older than them? Then they wouldn't laugh at us, would they? I'd…I'd make sure they never laugh at us again…" Milly said, her innocent voice taking on some darker tones. "Never …EVER again."

Milly began to break down again. "O-Oh who am I kidding…I'll never be able to show them…I really am ugly...a-and worthless…! Just something to be kicked around and walked over like the kid I am…"

"Is it so much to ask of myself…to become a better version of me?" Milly asked, sitting in silence because of how strange such a mature sentence like that coming out of her mouth was. It made her think, touching her lips with her fingers.

"Do you want to fight back?"

Milly stood up, clutching Berengar close. "W-Who's there…?"

The shed was silent. Milly grew scared…

"Do you want to show them who you really are? Do you want to stop the teasing?"

Milly hesitated to reply… "Y-Yes. I-I don't want to be teased anymore…! I want it to stop!"

"Then we shall be your…salvation."

Sharp knocks on the windows startled Milly, sending the voice away. Milly turned around to see Tamiya peering through at her. The voice that had come to her had suddenly left. Who was making that voice? Could it have been a ghost? Maybe…Berengar was finally speaking to her?

"Milly…! Are you there? Someone told me they saw you running this way. I'm here to come and get you before you get into any trouble! Jim said this place was off limits!"

"S-So? What does he know?!" Milly retorted, still a little startled. "This is the only place in school where I can be by myself. I like it here…"

"Milly, I know it can be hard out there. Believe me, you're not the only one that gets teased…"

Milly rose her head. "You too, Tamiya?"

"You're never there when it happens. It sucks…really it does. But you have to learn to just take the punches. My mom taught me that words can never hurt you if you just don't let them break your bones…or I think that's how the saying went."

"That sounds painful," Milly deadpanned.

"It's just a saying, Milly. No one's actually going to break your bones," Tamiya said. "Come on…let's leave before someone finds out you've been in here."

Milly sighed. "O-Okay. B-but just one more minute, Tamiya? Pleeeeaaase?"

Tamiya pouted. "Okay…fine. One minute! Not a second longer!"

"Thank you!" Milly turned back to Berengar. "I love you, Berengar. I always will. Maybe one day, when I grow old and have grandchildren, I'll give you away so you can keep them company and protect them too."

Milly gave her bear a big hug. She felt a warmth coming from it, like nothing she had felt before. Her heart felt at ease. "Okay, Tamiya, I'm coming out!"

"About time…come on, let's go before-"

"HEY! Just what are you two thinking you're doing there?!"

"Oh no!" Tamiya smacked her forehead. "Not Jim…! That's exactly what I wanted to avoid!"

Milly only glared at Jim as he approached.

"Don't you two know the rules? The garden shed is off-limits! Adults only, you hear?"

"Yes, Jim" Tamiya was quick to try and smooth things over. "We're sorry, Jim. It won't happen agai-"

"With you, Jim…everything is off limits!" Milly's loud voice cut through Tamiya's apology. All Tamiya could do was give Milly a face that read, "what the heck are you doing?!"

"I'd watch my mouth if I were you, little girl!" Jim retaliated.

"Little girl…LITTLE GIRL?!" Milly snapped, causing Jim to reel back a bit.

"Milly! C-Calm down! I-I'm sorry, Jim, she's just a little worked up-"

Milly stood her ground. "No, Tamiya, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind!"

"Oh ho! You want to give me a piece of your mind, huh? Okay then, let's hear it!" Jim said.

Tamiya held her head in her hands. "We're gonna be grounded for a month."

"You big kids and teachers think just because you're bigger and older, that you can just walk all over people like me, huh? Well! No more! I won't allow it! I'm sick of being pushed around!"

"Ah, so you think you're a big kid now, don't you? Well, then, I think the only fitting thing to do is give you a punishment fitting for a big kid, wouldn't it!"

"Do your worst!" Milly exclaimed, defiant until the end.

"Fine!" Jim shouted back. "You and Tamiya are grounded for a week! I want you in your room right after classes end every single day this week! You can put your little 'school paper' on hold for that time, too!"

"I…! I HATE YOU!" Milly burst out in anger, clutching Berengar.

Suddenly, a slashing noise could be heard, like a blade cutting through the air. Behind them, a tree could be seen falling over. Jim froze in place, diving away but forgetting to get Milly and Tamiya out of the way.

"Run, kids! The tree will fall on you!"

The girls were too paralyzed to move. The tree raced to the ground, coming closer and closer…

The tree crashed down, and Jim shielded his eyes from the dirt and rocks that were kicked up from the impact. He opened his eyes, not wanting to look at the damage.

"M-Milly? Tamiya?!" Jim knew that if the girls were still under that tree, he would lose a lot more than just his job.

Then, a different voice spoke out from behind the tree. "They're fine, Jim. I've got them."

Jim stood up, seeing Milly and Tamiya in the arms of an older girl.

"Layton?" Jim said. "H-How did you get here so fast…?"

Putting Milly and Tamiya down, Ingrid held a finger to her lips. "I'm a great runner," she replied with an enigmatic smile.

"Th-Thank you for saving us!" Tamiya thanked Ingrid while Milly was a little more apprehensive, standing away from Ingrid. Tamiya nudged Milly as if to remind her to say thanks.

Ingrid brushed the girls off the best she could, making sure to get the dirt off of Milly's cheek.

"It's nothing, really. You two make sure you listen to Jim, okay? All he wants is for the both of you to be safe."

Milly locked eyes with Ingrid…well, more so her closed ones. Ingrid smiled at Milly. "Anything hurt?" She asked.

Milly could feel her face get hot. "N-N-Nothing, I-I'm good!"

"Great," Ingrid said.

"Jim…?" Ingrid asked, turning to Jim. "Do you think you could let this slide this once?"

Jim growled. "There's no way! Milly can't talk to her superiors like that."

Ingrid held her finger to her lips again. "I promise to keep the tree thing a secret.~"

Jim stammered. He knew he couldn't let this get out. "Nnnnh…fine! I won't punish the girls. But now they know that the garden shed is strictly off-limits. I won't be so lenient the next time I catch the two of you playing around here, understand?"

"Yes, Jim," Milly and Tamiya said in unison.

"Now beat it, the three of you! And if anyone asks…I didn't come here until after the tree fell! I-I found it like this!" Jim said in a huff as he walked away. "I gotta get the groundskeeper to come and get this tree outta here…gotta think of a good excuse…"

Ingrid turned to the girls, squatting to be at their level. "You two will stay safe, right?"

"We will! I-I'll make sure of it. Th-Thank you…uhm…"

"Ingrid. Ingrid Layton."

Milly's face brightened up. "Wait, you're the new girl! The one that came in from America, right?"

"Yes, that would be me," Ingrid sheepishly answered.

"Can we…Can we interview you?"

"In-Interview me?" Ingrid asked in surprise. "Wh-What for?"

"Everyone will wanna know about the new transfer student from the United States!" Tamiya said. "Please? C-Consider it as thanks for saving us back there!"

Ingrid pondered this for a moment. Her schedule was cleared for the day…why not?

"…Oh, o-okay! Sure! You can interview me. I'm free all day if that's something you can work with-"

"Perfect! Let's get back to our dorm so we can get our equipment!" Milly said excitedly, already leaving Ingrid and Tamiya in the dust as she sprinted full tilt to the dormitories.

"M-Milly, wait for us!" Tamiya called after her friend, giving chase. Ingrid was just about to follow them but glanced at the base of the tree.

Red splotches stained the bark and the grass the tree fell onto. Ingrid stared suspiciously at the stains for a while before running to catch up with the junior reporters.

---

PRESENT DAY

Jeremy furiously worked at his laptop. Ulrich tapped on his desk impatiently. Odd tried to balance a pencil on his nose. Yumi combed through a book about occult history while sipping a cup of water. The group of friends was very tense. Nothing could be quite as bad as being stuck in the library during what they believe is a X.A.N.A attack.

Sighing in frustration, Jeremy laments. "I knew it. I just knew it. I had a hunch. Ingrid knew, she KNEW!"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, too. And it wasn't just me that saw that book she was holding disappear into thin air, right?" Odd looked for confirmation, not wanting to be seen as the crazy one. "That's like…witchcraft and wizardry type of weird."

"You're not alone, Odd. That freaked me out. Are we sure Ingrid isn't some creation of X.A.N.A's?" Ulrich said.

"I highly doubt it. Ingrid is different…that's much I'm certain. If she does have 'powers' of some sort, and if she were affiliated with X.A.N.A, wouldn't she have come for us by now? She seemed pretty confident when she approached us on her own – like she knew we wouldn't be able to stop her – yet all she wanted was answers...I don't know, guys. I think we have to be a little more reasonable here," Yumi replied.

"Not to mention all the times she's spied on us. She could have taken us out then, too. X.A.N.A doesn't care about making a mess. But Ingrid definitely has her own secrets to hide."

"What do we really know about what happened to Sissi?" Odd changed the subject. "I just can't get a grasp on it."

"Herb and Nicolas think Milly was involved somehow. I don't know exactly what they saw, but it sounded serious when they brought out Sissi's stained clothing," Ulrich said. "And none of us have seen Milly since Sissi yelled at her this morning. If Milly didn't have any part in this, then wouldn't we have seen her and Tamiya reporting when everything was going down? It's kinda their thing."

"Milly's tantrums don't last too long…she would have been back from wherever she ran away to by now," Yumi said. "Tamiya was still on her own when everyone was crowding around earlier. She looked shocked as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing or hearing. Something just isn't right.

"Like I said. A potential motive," Jeremy muttered.

"Ingrid seems to know more about this than we do," Yumi continued. "Maybe we should try and hear her out. If we know X.A.N.A can't possess people, then this has to be something else, right?"

Jeremy scoffed. "We can't trust someone who's been stalking us for months. Obviously discovering our secret must benefit her somehow. She wouldn't be trying so hard otherwise."

"But she could know about something just as dangerous as X.A.N.A, or maybe even worse. You can't say that isn't terrifying to think about," Yumi argued. "We can't just ignore her warning, even if we don't completely trust her."

"Ohhhhh no, there's nothing good that comes out of trusting a witch," Odd warned. "You've ever read a fairy tale before, Yumi? Hansel and Gretel? Wizard of Oz? Harry Potter?"

"I'm surprised that you even know those stories, Odd," Ulrich joked. "I thought you hated reading…wait, Harry Potter isn't a fairy tale."

"My sisters would never stop talking about 'em. Especially that Harry Potter kid. And one thing I learned is that nothing good ever comes from a witch."

"Did you forget Glinda?" Yumi retorted. "She was literally the good witch."

"Hermione," Jeremy said without looking up from his computer.

"Yeah ok, but, normally they're not good," Odd countered. "All I'm saying is, we have to figure out what kind of witch Ingrid is, and we have to find out fast. If we have to deal with her and X.A.N.A causing trouble, We're not going to be able to spread ourselves that thin…and I might get turned into a pie or start puking slugs, or something else horrible that I don't even want to say out loud."

"…If only we knew more about her. Maybe if we knew her secret, then we could deter her from investigating us," Jeremy said. "Birth certificates, identification, lab reports, her family…anything that she wouldn't want anyone else knowing."

"Okay, Jeremy, that's a bit much," Yumi said. "Sure, we're trying to keep X.A.N.A a secret, but that's just a blatant invasion of privacy. Besides, it took her months to come to any kind of conclusion and granted she still doesn't know the full story, but she's getting close. A Return to The Past may not make her forget everything because of what she writes in her magic book, but it'll give us more time. We might even be done with X.A.N.A before she ever suspects anything again."

"She knows about Aelita, Yumi. The entire reason we're even keeping the Supercomputer on. If she shuts it down then everything we've been through will have been for nothing, and Aelita will be gone forever. We can't take that chance."

"Yeah, we're aware, Jeremy," Ulrich says. "But we can't do that to Ingrid. That's not cool."

"Just calm down, Jeremy. We're gonna get through this. No need to dox her," Odd discouraged, putting a hand on his pensive friend's shoulder. "Your precious princess will be just fine, no need to start your villain arc."

Jeremy took a deep breath. "Fine. But I won't take it off the table. We have to keep the Supercomputer safe at all costs. In the meantime, I'm gonna try and get in contact with Aelita. Maybe there's an Activated Tower and this is just a different kind of attack."

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi exchange concerned looks.

The library grew silent as the minutes felt like hours. Jeremy was tapping away on his laptop, desperately trying to establish a connection to Lyoko. Odd leaned over to check on him out of boredom.

"Anything from Lyoko yet?" Odd asked.

"Nothing yet. No activated Tower and no Aelita," Jeremy answered. "Something is wrong. Very wrong. I fear the scanning program I made for locating activated Towers might be bugged up.

"We need to go to the factory. I might have better luck with the Supercomputer."

"Easier said than done, Einstein. As we are now, we're not going anywhere. Not with our vigilant guard Jim on duty," Odd glanced at the gym teacher, chortling at whatever he was reading in his magazine.

"We could make a run for it. We're faster," Jeremy said.

"Jeremy, I hate to break it to you, but you're not the most athletic genius on campus. Jim'll get you for sure."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "I can keep up with you guys!"

"I hope you also haven't forgotten that this place is swarming with police. If we get caught, they'll definitely question us!" Yumi warned.

"Yumi's right, going through the forest will be too risky with police guarding the perimeter. We have a better chance of getting to the factory through the boiler room," Jeremy said.

"It shouldn't be hard to trick Jim. He's not known for being super clever," Odd eyed Jim as he chortled at whatever he was reading in his magazine. "We should be able to get by him if we do it right."

"Okay, then what's the plan? We gotta distract or slow Jim down somehow," Ulrich said.

Odd beat his chest with the side of his fist. "Let me handle that. Yumi, cover for me, okay?"

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Yumi asked.

"Just distract Jim. Keep him talking while I do my thing.~"

Yumi rolled her eyes and stood up from her seat, walking up to Jim and started chatting him up about stuff she knew he cared enough about to talk about. Stealthily, Jim made sure to hide his magazine under some papers.

While Yumi made conversation, Odd slid out of his seat and crawled under Jim's table. He went to work untying Jim's shoes and retying them together to prevent Jim from running after them. Odd stylishly took his seat again, and with a cough from Ulrich, Yumi thanked Jim for the short story and took her seat again.

"So, what exactly did you do?" Yumi asked Odd.

"I tied his shoelaces together," Odd said. "Oldest trick in the book, a classic, if I say so myself."

"You've gotta be kidding," Ulrich groaned.

"If it works, it works," Jeremy sighed. "We'll get enough of a head start on him to escape to the boiler room."

"So do we just make a run for it?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi prepares herself to run. "Let's hope he's too busy tripping over himself to catch us."

"On the count of three," Ulrich began counting down. "1…2…-"

"Wait!" Odd stopped him.

"Odd, I swear to god-"

"Do we go on three or after three?"

Before the others could chastise him, a familiar voice came from the end of the table.

"Hello everyone!"

Milly. Standing on the table without a care in the world, staring blankly at Jim. She towered over him for once.

The friends looked on with confusion. How did Milly get here? When did she get here? No one heard any footsteps, nor were any doors opened…it was as if they blinked, and she appeared out of nowhere.

Jim rose his voice to speak first. "Milly…you've been missing all day. Where exactly have you been? I hope you haven't been going back to the garden shed again. Go on and beat it."

Milly's brow furrowed at the sound of Jim's voice, veins popping through the skin for a split second in what was violent anger. But she took a breath and continued to smile, giggling instead of answering him, but she still maintained an eerie kind of eye contact.

Ulrich broke the silence. "Milly…h-how did you get here?"

"The door was open," Milly smiled in Ulrich's direction. But Ulrich was overcome with an immense dread, like his heart was clenched by an uncaring fist, ready to crush it at any moment.

"Herb and Nicolas saw you when Sissi disappeared," Jeremy accused. "They said your bear…broke into her room and took her away."

Yumi stood up in a huff. "Where did you take Sissi to? And why?! I know she hurt you, but this is too far! You could get into a LOT of trouble! For god's sake, Milly, the POLICE are here because of you. Principal Delmas is worried sick!"

Milly finally broke her gaze from Jim and shifted it to Yumi, who looked like she immediately regretted opening her mouth at all.

Milly began to giggle again. "It was nice talking to all of you, but there's a promise that I still have to keep."

"Promise? What promise?!" Odd asked. "Someone out you up to this?"

Milly didn't answer. Instead, the library began to shift and distort and light up with a vivid ambient red hue. Milly's body rose from the table as she began to recite that poem again.

"You've always been the new you…You want this to be true…We stand around while you dream…You can almost hear our words, but you forget…"

With thundering crashes and the scraping sounds of bricks against concrete, the walls began to slide out, pushing bookshelves all over the place, knocking and scattering textbooks across the library. The kids dove under a desk or table, trying to take cover from the chaos.

"RUN FOR IT!" Odd exclaimed.

"Oh, so now's a good time to not do a stupid countdown?" Ulrich retorted.

"It was your idea, genius!"

"Can we focus?!" Yumi shouted as she just barely dodged an algebra textbook coming straight for her head.

Once the coast was clear, everyone made a mad dash towards the door, while Jim immediately fell onto his face. Looking down at his shoes, he yelled Odd's name, who chuckled anxiously as he immediately knew what happened.

Jim stood up but groaned in pain as he had hurt his leg from the fall. Despite his injury, he pulled himself up and hopped as fast as he could out of danger, barely dodging a computer monitor punted across the room by a growing brick pillar that would have surely taken his head with it.

Yumi tried to break a window by throwing a chair at the glass, only to be denied by the shifting walls. All of the exits were blocked off, trapping everyone inside.

Ulrich pushed against a wall blocking an exit to get it to move away, but to no avail.

"Darn it, Odd! Did you really have to stipulate on what number we'd start running on?!"

"It's IMPORTANT, Jeremy!" Odd stubbornly held his ground, helping the others push the wall back into place, but it wouldn't budge.

"We're stuck in here!" Ulrich shouted in despair. "What are we going to do?! This is crazy!"

"There has to be a way out…we've just gotta find it!" Jeremy screamed.

"Stay close to the wall, kids!" Jim ordered, using a loose rock to break through a glass case holding a fire axe, wielding it tightly with both hands as he severed his shoelaces. "I'm gonna get us out of here!"

Yumi pressed herself up against the wall, trying to avoid the flying books and debris. "But where can it be, Jeremy?!"

"I don't know!" Jeremy replied, covering his head and face from being battered by the flying books.

Suddenly, Milly stopped her incantation, and everything fell to the ground at once. In the silence and thousands of soft whispering forces, no one dared move a muscle.

"Is it over…?" Odd whispered.

At that point, the ground began to shake. Something was approaching. The earth began to crumble under their feet. Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremy all gave Odd annoyed looks as the tremors became more violent. Jim begged the kids to get behind cover as the wall exploded from the outside.

"Here comes Berengar…~" Milly cooed.

---

Tamiya still sat behind the stairs in the dormitory building. She opened her eyes, still racking her brain about where Milly could have gone off to. She missed her so much, and Ingrid had been gone for a long time.

"Milly…where are you…?" Tamiya sighed with worry. She pulled herself up and looked around. All still was quiet. Having some of Milly's impulsivity rub off on her, Tamiya was filled with a determination that could have only burgeoned for someone she cared deeply about.

"I can't sit around here anymore. Milly's my friend…I need to find her!"

Ignoring Ingrid's warnings, Tamiya left the dormitory and fled into the woods to the garden shed. Maybe Ingrid was still there.

Heaving in and out, she could see the shed in the distance – or what was left of it – but she could also see two policemen standing in the wreckage. She quickly hid behind a tree. If she were caught, she would be in big trouble, for sure.

But as Tamiya waited for them to do something – anything, really – she began to suspect that something was amiss. They didn't even waver from side to side or scratch their noses or talk to each other…they just stood there, still as statues.

Tamiya emerged from the tree and approached them carefully. They didn't even notice her. She tiptoed closer until she was right behind them.

"What's wrong with them?" Tamiya thought to herself. "Are…are they okay? Can they see me?"

Tamiya took a gamble and walked around to their front, and she let out a quick scream in shock. The policemen were completely blank-faced, their eyes glazed over and lacking pupils. No signs of any emotion or even activity crossing through their faces.

"This is…SUPER creepy. If I wasn't half-scared to death right now…this would have made for an amazing scoop."

Tamiya reached out to Mr. Tenant, poking his leg, and tugging at his sleeve to get some kind of reaction out of him. She did the same to Frank, but the outcome was the same. No response, not even a twitch.

"Just…what's going on here…?" The journalist part of Tamiya's brain kicked in, already wanting to know the full story. Just as she was racking her brain, the two police officers collapsed without warning. Tamiya screamed again, jumping backward with her hands up as the bodies crumpled to the ground. Leaning in, Tamiya wondered if they were even alive…

A harsh snoring cut through the ambiance of the forest. It was coming from Mr. Tenant. Tamiya sighed, half out of relief, and half out of disappointment. They were just sleeping. But what was happening with them moments before? What could have made them sound so still? This was turning out to be just like those detective shows she'd watched with Milly over the summer. The memory only made Tamiya miss her friend even more.

She was brought out of her daydream by the ground shaking under her feet, sending Tamiya falling onto her back. Groaning and rubbing the bruise slowly forming on the back of her head, she turns around to see a giant teddy bear walking through the trees. Immediately she knew it was Milly's…though it meant that whatever Herb and Nicolas were talking about was true. Sissi really was taken away by Milly's bear!

She crouches, holding her hands to her mouth to stop her from screaming as the tears began to flow. She didn't want to believe it. Not even for a moment. But her best friend…somehow learned to make her bear into a giant killing machine and kidnapped the Principal's daughter. If Milly was caught, she'd get put in jail for a long time…maybe even forever!

But Tamiya vehemently refused to believe it. Something else was at work here. She wanted Milly to be innocent. Maybe something was taking control of her, making her do things against her will by…using some kind of mind control! It had to be it; after everything that's happened today alone, she felt justified that movie logic could be applied to a situation as fantastical as this. If she was going to get any answers…she had to follow that bear and clear her friend's name.

"Milly, I don't care what happens, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. I-I'm going to free you! A-And when I find the person that did this to you…I'll-I'll get them arrested!" Tamiya promised, wiping her eyes, and sniffing deeply as she gave chase.

Tamiya tailed the bear, moving and hiding from tree to tree as it stalked through the canopy. Tamiya realized that it was heading toward the school. For what? Could it be heading back to…

"It's owner…Milly?! She must be back at the school!" Tamiya began to sprint as she could see the walls of Kadic through the foliage.

The bear stopped right in front of the wall as if it was waiting for something. For permission.

Tamiya was smart enough to hide behind a trash can nearby to remain hidden. "What is it doing…?" She whispers.

Tamiya had no clue of what was going on inside those walls, but she could take a wild guess of what was going to happen next as she watch the bear raise its paws high in the air.

"Wait…what? Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait-!" Tamiya exclaimed before the walls came crumbling down.

---

The library's wall exploded, sending bricks and mortar flying onto Jim and the kids. Taking cover behind tables and desks, only minor injuries were sustained. Odd, covered head to toe with fine dust and shattered bricks, looked back as the dust settled. His eyes widened at the gargantuan sight before him.

Milly finally touched the ground, standing in front of her favorite plush toy as it towered menacingly over her, entirely at her beck and call.

"Uh…g-guys?" Odd managed to get out. "R-Remember that horrible Godzilla knock-off movie?"

"You've gotta be kidding…that's…that's MILLY'S BEAR! It's here!" Ulrich yelled.

Berengar was armed with sharp, red claws coming out of his fingered paws. His head turned to survey the room, and no one was ready to move. Then it locked eyes with Jim.

"Run, kids! I'll distract it!" Seeing an opportunity, Jim took his axe and threw it at Berengar. The blade cut through the fabric, a spurting of blood erupting from the new wound. Jim looked confused and horrified. Teddy bears didn't bleed.

Milly was instantly enraged, exploding with anger. "DON'T HURT HIM!" Her voice was shrill, her body cutting through the air towards Jim, violently pushing anything in her way to the side like a ship cutting through the ocean.

Jim felt a searing pain in his chest, looking down at his ruined tracksuit, three claw marks dripping with his own blood. Milly hovered above him, staring down at him with a look of death in her eyes, claws growing from her hands almost twice the length of her entire arm. She grabbed Jim's collar and tossed him effortlessly, sending him crashing into several desks. Berengar would pick him up and do the same, the pair taking turns throwing the gym teacher across the library. Jim could do nothing but take the punishment.

"Jim, no!" Yumi exclaimed, Ulrich holding her back.

"Yumi, we have to go!" Ulrich pulled her away by her wrist. Their escape effort was cut short when Berengar cut them off and blocked the exit, those claws hovering close by, keeping the four friends huddled up against each other.

"Ah-ah-ah…I still have a promise to keep. You're not going anywhere," Milly said, before turning back to Jim.

Jim couldn't even scream, everything felt like it was broken. He couldn't lift his hands or move his legs, or even his head. His wounds dripped with blood, and he knew he was losing too much at once.

The axe dislodged from Berengar's arm, and Milly picked it up in her petite but murderous hands. She dragged it across the ground as she approached Jim, a wicked smile on her face, giggling as she could see the fear in Jim's eyes, being too weak to defend himself.

"I've always wished that one day…that all adults would just disappear," Milly began, raising the axe up high. "But right now, in this moment…there's no one I'd want gone more than you."

Jim accepted his fate, shutting his eyes as he screamed for someone to help him.

From the outside, Tamiya couldn't watch anymore. Springing up from behind the trash can and running toward the chaos. She screamed Milly's name at the top of her lungs and through her tears.

Odd turned to see the young girl running into danger, right past Berengar and right up to Milly. "Tamiya, what are you doing?! You can't be here, it's too dangerous!"

Milly suddenly dropped the axe. Something prevented her from going forward with cleaving Jim's head in. Hearing the voice of her friend calling out to her…

"Milly, you have to stop! This isn't you! I know it isn't! Who did this to you!? You have to tell me!" Tamiya screamed at her friend demanding to know what – or who – drove her to this.

"T-Tamiya…?" Milly's voice cracked at Tamiya's begging her to stop.

Milly looked at the broken Jim, tears brimming in her eyes. "No…no…no, I didn't want this…n-not like this…!"

Milly seemed to be coming back to her senses…but it was a fleeting moment. She was fighting against something…somehow, in her mind. But Milly was not strong enough to resist. The damage had been done. The deal was struck. She couldn't deny it.

Milly wanted this.

Gripping the axe again, she turns it on Tamiya, who could only watch as the blade rocketed toward her.

Just then, a gust of wind zoomed into the library, stirring up the loose particles and objects in a swirl of force.

The axe was firmly planted into the ground. Milly realized that she missed Tamiya, somehow. In fact, she wasn't even standing in the same place.

Tamiya was now in the arms of Ingrid, who showed up just in time, but Tamiya sustained a deep gash in her upper right arm.

Yumi and the others looked on in shock. She was so fast…

Tamiya looked up to her savior. "Ingrid…?"

"I thought I told you to go back to the classrooms," Ingrid replied calmly. "You could have been killed!"

"I…I needed to find Milly. I didn't want to think she was a monster…but she…she hurt Jim, she hurt Jim very badly. And she was…a-and she was going to…!" Tamiya couldn't get that last part out, and she began to cry.

Milly stood there, staring at her crying friend…she let go of the axe, something stirring inside of her, begging to get out, but was suppressed just as quickly as it came.

"Stop it. Stop crying…Stop it!" Milly's voice became more and more distorted as her aggression rose. "I SAID, STO-"

A chunk of concrete rocketed towards Milly, slamming into her face and disintegrating on impact. The attack knocked her across the room, silencing her immediately.

Ingrid's outstretched hand had guided the projectile to its target. Berengar suddenly became active again, rushing Ingrid as larger chunks of concrete were sent flying into the bear's face, making it fall onto its back and lay still.

"S-Stop hurting her, Ingrid!" Tamiya exclaimed. "You can't do that!"

"All of you, GO!" Ingrid ordered. "I'll handle this. Go and get to your factory!"

Jeremy began to run. "You don't have to tell us twice," he murmured. The rest followed behind as they finally made their way to the factory, barely escaping with their lives.

Tamiya ran back to hiding behind her trash can. Jim was able to drag himself into a different room, leaving a trail of blood behind him. It wasn't long before he would lose consciousness.

Now Ingrid was left to deal with this threat all on her own. But with everyone out of harm's way, she could fight against the Hiss unabated.

"…Director," Milly spoke, floating back to her feet. Berengar followed suit.

Ingrid turned to face Milly with her fists clenched. The Hiss never spoke like this before, right? Was it really Milly saying this? Milly couldn't have known enough about her to refer to Ingrid in that way.

"Get out of Milly's mind," Ingrid demanded. "You have no right to turn her against her friends!"

"No. She is part of us now," Milly spoke. "She made a deal. Her song has been rewritten. The melody is perfect. Do you wish to ruin it?"

"If it'll bring Milly back, I don't care what I have to do…even if I have to cut you down to end this 'deal' of yours."

Milly giggled. "I guess sacrificing your own brother wasn't enough for you, was it, Director?"

Ingrid's stomach lurched at the sound of that. What was it talking about? As far as Ingrid knew she was an only child.

"Dylan…our greatest manuscript. It is such a shame. A shame we lost him. You took him away from us. His sound was perfect. Delicious. He would have made a great Director. Don't you think…Faden? He was the one that put an end to you…before you became…this."

Ingrid was confused…but the anger in her was swelling. She began hyperventilating.

"Look at that, she's reacting to words that shouldn't apply to her…We knew she still lingered. Faden has become one with Polaris. Unfortunate. Even from death…your sound still plagues us."

"Don't you dare talk about my brother…" Ingrid growled. "I'm going to kill you. I don't care if you're a god, resonance, or a friend or foe of The Board…this is between all of you, and me. I WILL kill you for what you did to Dylan!"

…But Ingrid was certain she wasn't the one speaking.

"…Where has your power gone, Director? You are weaker. You look different. You sound different. You are not the Director. You are not whole. Allow us to fix your melody."

Ingrid recklessly ripped a large chunk of brick from the wall, flinging it towards Milly. The rock shattered before making any impact. All Milly did was dust herself off.

"Weak."

Ingrid snarled, putting her telekinesis into overdrive, pelting Milly with books, shelves, computers, anything her telekinesis could fling at her. But the result was the same. Milly walked out of the dust unharmed.

Ingrid could feel her head aching. Using this much power at once was dangerous, but the only thing on her mind – or on Jesse's mind – was revenge.

Milly wasn't even trying or even attempting to fight back. If anything she looked unamused. She lifted her hands, and the bear came rushing towards them. Ingrid readied another bookshelf, but she was punted aside by the bear, her body slamming against the wall.

"AUUGH!" The wind was forced out of her lungs. Ingrid gasped for air as she pulled chunks of concrete from the ground as a barrier, watching the bear raise its paw and smack her through it.

Milly decided to join in, rattling Ingrid with punches that she couldn't dodge.

"Is this really all you can do?" Grabbing her hair, Milly threw Ingrid into another pile of books, watching with glee as she struggled to get back up.

"Faden was stronger. Faden had more conviction. You do not," Milly approached Ingrid as she berated her for her weakness. "The Board has gotten soft. It must have been desperate. Were there really no other candidates?"

"You haven't won yet-" A swift kick to the face sent Ingrid reeling back as she staggered to the ground again, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth as she spits some of it out.

"Shut up," Milly deadpanned. Another kick to the gut made Ingrid cough up more. "You are broken. You are not whole. You are not the Director."

Ingrid gasps for air in between coughing fits. "I…*cough* *cough*…I am…t-the Director."

Milly grinned again, her hands behind her back as she paced around Ingrid. "Where is your gun? The gun you use to silence what you don't understand? The gun The Board gives to its slaves."

Ingrid slowly reached for the pen under her sweater. Holding it in her hand she gripped it tightly.

"Pitiful. The pen? Mightier than the gun?"

Ingrid's hand quivers with the pen in her grasp. She was never sure why it looked like a pen. All the Directors before her wielded the same gun…but she never wielded that. Come to think of it…she had never used the Service Weapon at all before now. The time never called for it…and from what she heard, The Board was apprehensive…she was only bound to it right before she left for Kadic.

"Go ahead. Try and wield the power of the Service Weapon. See if The Board still sees you as its chosen warrior," Milly put her hands behind her back smugly, her bear standing over its owner with the intent to protect. "Or…Or maybe it has abandoned you. Just like it always has."

Ingrid clicked the pen. She clicked it again, and again, and again…nothing happened.

"…What? I don't…understand."

"And such as fate would have, The Board chose poorly yet again," Milly hissed. "You are not their Director. You never were."

Ingrid stared at the pen in disbelief. Only the Director could use the Service Weapon. And this was what the gun turned into…was she doing something wrong? Why couldn't she use it?

"You would be of much more use to us…if you allowed us in. You are weak now…and you want to be more. You know this. You want this."

Milly watched as Ingrid locked eyes with her as if Ingrid was hearing her out. Was Milly getting through to her?

"Allow us in. Let us write a new song for you. A beautiful melody. One that all of creation will sing. Let us be your salvation."

Ingrid staggered to her feet, finally being able to stand up straight despite her injuries. Ingrid stared Milly down, no discernable expression could be found on her face, but Milly stood there parading a smug smile. Ingrid wouldn't resist. She couldn't resist. Humans only wanted power, they wanted to be in control. How could Ingrid pass up as good of a deal as this…?

Milly didn't refuse.

Ingrid watched as the once young and innocent reporter stuck her hand out for her to shake. Ingrid stared at the hand, sweat beading on her forehead. The Board abandoned her? Was she really the Director?

"You want your time to come, and it will. We have special things planned for you. You will never want to leave. You will want us to rewrite your song. Like Jesse and Trench before you."

Ingrid slowly began reaching out to take Milly's hand. It was like time came to a crawl as she considered her options. But s voice yelled at her to stop.

"Snap out of it…Snap out of it!"

"…Jesse?"

"Get out of there, now!"

Ingrid felt her hand thrust forward…but not to shake the hand given to her.

The wall caved in, bricks and stone landing on top of Milly and Berengar. But the bear was far more vigilant, shielding Milly from the falling scaffolding and catching Ingrid off guard.

Milly thrust her own hand forward, making Ingrid gasp as she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Ingrid looked down to see Milly's claws shredding her internals as she was impaled further.

Tamiya, watching from afar, covered her mouth. Tears streaked down her face as she witnesses such a mortal injury.

Milly ripped her claws out and let Ingrid collapse to the ground. However, through some miracle, she was still alive…but just barely, coughing and spluttering blood.

"…Hmmh. That should have killed you immediately," Milly scoffed. "Polaris is trying to hold you together. But don't worry, you won't survive your injuries for much long-"

"OPEN FIRE!"

A volley of bullets rained down on Milly and Berengar, gunning Milly down as Berengar put himself between Milly and the police officers. Ingrid tried to pull herself out of their line of sight.

The shooting eventually stopped; bullets scattered across the floor. Even with hundreds of small holes peppering Berengar's fabric, he still stood tall, protecting his owner from further injury. Milly, even though she had been shot several times, only floated back up to her feet. Her face was contorted with a violent rage, staring down her aggressors.

"Stand down!" One of the police officers yelled. "You and your…uh…teddy bear!"

Milly could only giggle as she lifted her hands toward the officers. The police officers held their heads, their minds being attacked by an invasive resonance, one that completely overwrote theirs. Their bodies began to snap and turn in impossible ways, the color draining from their skin as they were outlined with an eldritch crimson glow. Their ribs popped out from their backs like wings, spines severing themselves and snaking about on their own within the body. Their sunken faces pushed out their old teeth and rapidly growing sharper ones.

"The name of the sound. It resonates in your house," Milly angrily whispered as the grotesque transformation unfolded in front of her. "We build you until nothing remains…The egg cracks and the truth will emerge out of you…"

Ingrid could only watch and listen in horror as the officers' screams of agony faded into silence.

"You all have been given an impossible opportunity. An opportunity for receiving salvation," Milly continued to speak in a preachy tone. "We will write a new manuscript. One song, one resonance. One final and beautiful melody."

The physical forms of the plush bear and corrupted officers crumbled away, turning into a red plume of smoke and ash, warping reality around it like a corrupted video file. Milly outstretched her arms towards the crimson cloud, and the miasma of resonance entered her body. The little girl sighed. "Such a delightful song. Soon all of creation shall sing it."

Milly turned back to a barely conscious Ingrid, her claws growing out of her fingers once more. "I am afraid The Board has no more lines of defense. When you die, your Bureau will follow suit. And The Board shall sing.

"As for this school…we are far from finished. A power stirs deep within this place…We will be sure to attend your dance. There are more disorganized sounds that must be revised. Sleep now, 'Director.' Your end has come."

Ingrid reached out for Milly before one last stab through the chest sent her unconscious. Ingrid's body went limp as she couldn't find the strength to move anymore.

Satisfied, Milly disappeared, along with any destruction brought upon the library as if nothing had ever transpired there. Like a sound wave, an invisible corruption washed over the school…and a quiet but foreboding heartbeat echoed across campus.

---

The boiler room was one of the only safe places the group could hide away in. They struggled to catch their breaths as they tried to make sense of what they were just barely able to escape from.

"I can't believe we made it out of there in one piece…" Ulrich said.

"Ingrid was right. This isn't a X.A.N.A attack. This…this isn't something we can handle," Yumi said. "It's too dangerous!"

"Did any of you look at the bear's eyes? None of you at all?!" Jeremy exclaimed in frustration. "The Eye of X.A.N.A…it was in the bear's eyes! X.A.N.A has something to do with this, and X.A.N.A is our responsibility, not Ingrid's!"

"But did you see what Milly was doing? What she did to Jim? Jeremy, you can't deny that this is getting out of control! We were right to suspect Ingrid of something, but now we can't deny that she knows more about what's going on and might be better suited to handle it than we are. Other things are happening at Kadic, things we don't understand!"

Jeremy groaned, taking off his glasses and rubbing his temples. "Ugh…this is all so confusing!"

"At least we know for sure Ingrid's a witch," Ulrich muttered.

Odd snaps his fingers, probably only tuning into the conversation at that moment. "So we do agree she's a witch!"

"Would you stop it with the witch stuff, you two?" Jeremy retorted in irritation. "This all has to be a trick. Some new kind of attack that X.A.N.A is trying out. Maybe Ingrid's in on it!"

"What kind of conclusion is that, Jeremy?" Yumi asked skeptically. "She could do all that, but she didn't attack us. If all of this can really only be explained away by saying 'X.A.N.A did it,' then why didn't Ingrid crush us right then and there when she had the chance?"

Jeremy couldn't answer that. "I…I don't know. Ingrid lives up to her mystery, that's for sure. But she knows of Lyoko, and she's suspected us to be behind it or know something about it. She must have kept us alive to get us to confess later on. It's the only reason I could think of."

"Look, Jeremy. Ingrid's a good person. Sure, she might be nosy, but I know she must have her reasons at least," Yumi said. "Look at how she protected Milly from Sissi this morning and how she saved Tamiya and the rest of us back there. If it really is all an act, then she's super good at lying. But something tells me that she actually cares about people."

"You seem really keen on defending Ingrid, Yumi. What's up with that?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi sighs. "We knew how dangerous the Supercomputer was. Jeremy still hasn't been able to bring Aelita back yet, we've been putting up with X.A.N.A for months, and with each attack things get more and more dangerous! We've been lucky so far, but how long do you think that'll last? Especially with what we've just witnessed?"

Jeremy kept silent. He felt useless for not being able to find Aelita's materialization faster. He's always felt like one discovery led to an even greater challenge. He wasn't sure how much longer it would take him, and Yumi's concerns were valid.

"Okay, let's focus on what we do know for now," Odd interjected. "Regardless of which side Ingrid is on, we still have to get to the factory. She's fighting both Milly and her bear on her own, and we don't know how long she can last or if she can win – or what a 'win' means to her. If the worst happens, then a Return to The Past won't bring either her or Milly back. No matter what Ingrid can do, we still have the power to stop X.A.N.A. before it's too late."

The group agreed. They still had their responsibility as Lyoko Warriors. No matter what, they should see to it that their mission is complete. A Return to The Past will set everything back to the way it was. Then they could deal with these new revelations about Ingrid.

*BANG! BANG…BANG! BANG! BANG!*

"The police!" Odd shouted, holding his hands to his head as the sound of gunfire rang out. "They must have freaked out about Milly and Ingrid!"

"Oh no, no no!" Yumi exclaimed. "Are they really that trigger-happy?"

"We can't all go to Lyoko. Some of us need to stay behind and evacuate the rest of the school," Jeremy pointed out.

"I'll go to Lyoko," Ulrich volunteered. "I don't want to run into Milly again. I don't know if any of you caught onto this, but she went after Sissi and Jim, two people we know have given her a hard time. Considering I rejected her invitation to the dance, I feel that if she finds me-"

Odd gasped, turning to Ulrich. "She'll come after you, too…"

"Exactly. I saw the way she stared at me back there. I'm not gonna take any chances, I don't wanna end up like Jim," Ulrich huffed. "I'll be safer on Lyoko."

"You and Odd can go to Lyoko. The more of us that are helping Aelita, the better," Yumi said. "I'll stay here and try and figure things out. If I can get everyone to evacuate, I will."

"Not alone, you're not," Odd contested. "I wanna get to the bottom of this mystery too. I'm gonna start asking questions. Milly's made this personal."

Yumi knew that trying to change Odd's mind was useless. She shrugged her shoulders in nonchalance.

"Then it's settled," Jeremy concluded. "Find out what's going on, you two. And try and see if Ingrid is okay…Milly, too if you can. We can't afford to lose either of them. And if Milly's still…weird…get out of there as fast as you can, but don't lead her to the factory. Keep me posted, okay?"

"You got it, Jeremy," Odd gave him a thumbs up. Yumi nodded in agreement.

Jeremy smiled. "Alright everyone, good luck and…stay safe."

At that moment, the four were suddenly overcome by a strong tingling sensation. Dizziness wracked them for a few minutes before the feeling suddenly faded away. Now, the distinct sound of a slowed heartbeat could be heard faintly.

Ulrich held his aching head. "What the heck was that?"

"I don't know, but…it's weird that we all felt it at once, right?" Odd tiredly replied. "Man, that took a lot out of me."

"We can't waste any more time," Jeremy found his footing again. "Ulrich let's go. I don't like this."

Ulrich and Jeremy dashed through the boiler room exit into a pathway that led directly to the sewers, steadily closing in on the factory.

"To think we'd become paranormal investigators, too, huh?" Odd joked.

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Pssht. Yeah…all of this is still so insane. I can't even begin to wrap my head around any of it."

"Maybe if we find Ingrid, we can convince her to fill us in. If there's a small chance that this isn't X.A.N.A's doing, I'd kill to know what's really happening."

"Probably. But we still can't tell her anything about the factory, remember that," Yumi said.

"As if I'd ever reveal our spot," Odd chuckled. "It's the only place I can walk Kiwi without getting any judgmental looks. It's like no one understands my little diggity dog."

Yumi and Odd ran back up to the courtyard and past the repaired library…wait. Repaired? Odd and Yumi stopped short, staring at the once-destroyed wall in bewilderment.

"There's no way….The police were here. We heard them shooting not even five minutes ago. There was a giant hole in the wall! What?" Yumi spoke in confusion.

"Well, I guess it must have been all in our heads, 'cause it looks like nothing ever freakin' happened!" Odd screamed. "Okay, Ingrid, you'd better have a good explanation for this, 'cause I don't wanna get locked up in the insane asylum!"

"Odd, no one's gonna believe us if there's no proof," Yumi said, thinking for a moment. She then snaps her fingers. "Wait. Ingrid, Tamiya, and Jim were the last people here. They must have seen something."

"Jim was hurt badly. He's gotta be in the infirmary," Odd said with certainty. "Tamiya might be a little harder to find, though. I'm certain she ran away after Ingrid saved her. Though, I…have no clue where Ingrid could be," Odd said.

"I'll find Jim. You find Ingrid and Tamiya. Ask them about what they saw then report to Jeremy."

Before they could split up, an announcement blared through the PA system.

"Good evening students and staff. I am pleased to inform you that the police have wrapped up their investigation and have cleared the campus to resume normal operations. Today's school prom will continue as planned at 8:00 PM. Teachers and staff, you may release your students from your classrooms at this time. Those who are in charge of setting up the auditorium for prom should return to the auditorium."

Yumi was the most confused. "What's Delmas talking about? Doesn't he know that Milly and her bear are still on the loose? It's too dangerous to let up the lockdown now!"

"Come to think of it, where did all the police go?" Odd asked. "Did they really just let out a few shots and call it a day?"

"Talk about incompetent law enforcement…" Yumi rolled her eyes.

Sure enough, students began walking out of their classes, acting as if nothing had ever happened.

"I'm going to the infirmary; you go see if Ingrid's still in the library!" Yumi began running in the opposite direction. Odd walked with his hands on his hips, inspecting every inch of the library for damage. It really was like nothing ever happened…

"This is so insane," Odd grumbled.

Entering the library, Odd found it completely empty. Not a soul could be found inside.

He snooped around, trying to find any trace of Milly or Ingrid there at all.

"Nothing. I can't believe this. They couldn't have just up and vanished like that," Odd scratched his head. "Just what is going on…?"

"Well, there's no way I'm gonna find out anything here. Best start looking for Tamiya, then."

As he ran out the door, Milly appeared, leaning against a bookshelf while clutching Berengar close to her chest. She looked as if she had aged a year or two. Her bangs and pigtails were longer, yet her outfit still stayed the same. A soft heartbeat reverberated throughout the library as she giggled to herself.

"Like moths to a flame."

---

Yumi, however, had somewhat better luck. She walked into Nurse Yolanda's office.

"Yumi, how are you?" The nurse greeted. "Is there something wrong?"

"Uhm, maybe," Yumi replied. "Is Jim here by any chance?"

"Why, yes," Yolanda said. "Do you happen to know what injured him so badly? He sustained deep serrations across his chest. An ambulance is on the way, but I did what I could to stop the bleeding. Thank goodness he's got a strong will-"

"Thank you, nurse. Can I see him?"

"Oh, uhm…sure, I would assume the students would be worried about their favorite gym teacher. Though I don't think he'll be very responsive. He needs his rest above all else."

"It's fine. I just want to see if he's okay. I won't be long," Yumi said.

Yumi walked into Jim's room and stood next to the cot he was lying in. "Jim?"

Jim's eyes slowly opened, glancing over to Yumi. "Y-Yumi? You…You're okay?"

"Yeah, we all made it out safe and soundly."

"Not…Not all of you."

Yumi rose her eyebrows. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I was there. I hid in the corner. I watched Milly and that other new girl fight. It was the most insane thing I'd ever watched. They were flying around and throwing rocks at each other but like…without touching them? It was crazy, I tell you, crazy!"

Yumi nodded. "Just as I suspected."

"And the giant bear! Did you see the giant BEAR, Yumi?! I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks."

"And Milly? What happened to her?"

"She attacked me…with long sharp claws that grew out of her fingers. Nnnh…it still stings even now. It's weird…it reminds me of a time I was scolding her a few weeks ago. Suddenly a tree was cut down not too far away from her almost immediately. Fell on an animal too; a squirrel or something, and there was blood everywhere. Or I thought it was a squirrel, I couldn't really tell. Damn shame, poor thing."

"Did you see anything after Milly hurt you?"

"I crawled to the infirmary just as the police began firing. I wasn't trying to be caught in the crossfire. I don't know if those girls made it out there in one piece. I haven't been able to check on the library since. And what's Delmas thinking…? Releasing the kids while those…those monsters are still around! It's too dangerous. I-I'd tell him myself…but…I'm in a bit of a bind."

"Don't worry, Jim. I'll let the right people know. For now, just rest, okay? And thank you for saving us back there, it was really brave of you," Yumi smiled, reassuringly patting Jim's forehead.

Jim tries to hide his bashfulness. "Ah, it was nothing, Yumi. I-It's my job to protect you kids. N-Nothing to it."

Jim began to weave in and out of consciousness. Yumi pulled his sheets up and smiled. As big and blockheaded as he was, the man had a heart, and Yumi couldn't overlook that. Though she knew she wasn't going to get anything else out of him.

Yumi went to leave the infirmary, but Nurse Yolanda stopped her.

"Yumi, do you think you or one of your friends could check on Tamiya? She had a nasty cut on her arm. I patched it up and she insisted that she go back to her room. I was apprehensive but she seemed adamant. Just see if she's doing well for me?"

"No problem, Nurse. I'll send Odd to go see her."

After saying goodbye to Yolanda, she called Jeremy to update him.

---

The old factory was built on an island in a river passing through the city. It had been decommissioned for years, only recently discovered by Jeremy and his friends only a few months ago. It could be conveniently accessed through the sewers that were connected to the school. That's where the Supercomputer had sat dormant for years. The very same Supercomputer that Ingrid has been trying to locate.

Jeremy and Ulrich bolt down the only stable bridge connecting the mainland to the factory. They reach the loose ropes leading to the ground floor, which both boys have to slide down to reach the only functional elevator.

"You'd think I'd get tired of having to scramble to the factory every time X.A.N.A attacks, but I think I'm finally getting into a rhythm," Ulrich says.

"Believe me, if there was an easier way of getting here, I'd love to find it," Jeremy huffed as he pressed a button on the elevator, the metal screen rising up with mechanical screeching noise.

"You gotta start going to gym classes again, Jeremy. How do you expect to do all this running if you're not in shape?"

"I'd much prefer to keep my brain active. All that physical stuff isn't going to help me figure out Aelita's materialization. Waste of time if you ask me."

"Suit yourself, Jeremy. But what's Aelita gonna think when she comes to Earth and all you've got to show her are noodle arms?" Ulrich teased as Jeremy sent the elevator into the depths of the factory.

"A-Aelita's not gonna care about that!" Jeremy stammered warily. "I…I think-"

The side of the cabin rose up, revealing a different door, a far more technologically advanced door that sparked and turned and jolted as it slid open, the hydraulics letting out a cloud of smoke as it parted into the laboratory.

"You know the drill, Ulrich. Get to the scanners. I'll virtualize you near Aelita's last known location. She might be trapped in a Tower nearby. You'll have to go in there and see if she's okay."

"Hmh, you know, it's been forever since I've gone inside a Tower last. I wonder how Aelita stays in one all day. Must be boring."

"All the more reason to bring her to Earth. Now get moving, I'm starting up the virtualization process. You're heading to the Desert Sector."

Ulrich rode the elevator to the next lowest floor, the door opening to reveal a room with three chambers connected to a plethora of wires coming from the ceiling, directly connected to the Supercomputer. These scanners were how the Warriors traveled to and from Lyoko.

Stepping into one of them, Ulrich turned to face the open chamber as the sliding doors met in the middle, sealing the chamber with Ulrich inside. Up in the Laboratory, Jeremy jumped into a massive chair that rode along a circular track right up to a suspended computer interface. He began typing away, putting command after command as the scanners below roared to life.

"Transfer, Ulrich."

Ulrich could feel the fans start to turn, the chamber subtly shaking as the wind rushes upward, blowing his clothes and hair up as he closed his eyes to protect them.

"Scanner, Ulrich."

A ring of light traveled up and down the chamber several times, scanning Ulrich and converting his body into data the Supercomputer could read. The wires sparked with electricity, powering the marvel of technology as a blinding light overcame Ulrich from below.

"Virtualization."

The feeling of being virtualized can't really be described. It was best compared by Yumi to floating in a quiet and empty limbo. She was terrified of the feeling, but the procedure only lasted for a few seconds. Any longer, and Yumi probably wouldn't be able to handle it. Odd, however, thought he was floating on clouds. Similar to Yumi, but far more optimistic. Ulrich never really noticed, often he'd be so focused on getting to Lyoko that the moment between virtualization and appearing on Lyoko was like a blur. He probably didn't care enough to communicate his sensations, anyway.

"Aelita? Aelita?!" Jeremy fitted an earpiece to his ear to try and communicate with Aelita, but still with no response. Jeremy was getting more and more worried. What could have happened to Aelita that she couldn't answer him? "Aelita, answer me!"

"Jeremy? Jeremy, she's not here," Ulrich's voice rang into Jeremy's earpiece.

"Good, you made it safe and sound," Jeremy sighed in relief. "Ulrich, head east. There's a Way Tower near there that Aelita had been staying in before she went radio silent. She might still be there, but I've never thought of a Tower being used to trap Aelita. They've always been safe spaces for her."

"We'll see what's really happening when I get there," Ulrich replied. "Make sure you look out for calls from Odd and Yumi."

"I will. Just focus on getting to the Tower for now! We still don't even know what Tower X.A.N.A's activated. I'll keep looking though."

Being on Lyoko was an entirely different feeling. Ulrich had grown used to it, but he had always been off put by the lack of certain senses, especially touch. Even though he was running through the desert, he wasn't sweating. Ulrich wondered how he could function without having some of his senses. The thought was chilling – ironically – and he pushed it out of his mind to focus on the mission.

As Jeremy busied himself with locating the activated Tower, he receives a call from Yumi.

"Any news so far, Yumi? What's the scoop?" Jeremy asked.

"I spoke with Jim. He's okay, but he's really hurt," Yumi explained. "He saw Milly and Ingrid fighting but left when the police came. He doesn't know how the fight ended. He did say something about witnessing something strange happening a few weeks ago. Do you remember that tree that fell down near the garden shed a week or two ago?"

"Yeah, I heard…what about it?"

"Jim said he found blood all over the tree, but he couldn't find any animals caught by it. If I were to guess, I think it might have been those red stains we found near Sissi's room, though I can't be 100 percent sure."

"This problem may have been affecting Milly for far longer…but if that's the case, then this couldn't be a X.A.N.A attack. He never attacks the same way twice, and never for this long," Jeremy said. "Have you heard anything from Odd yet?"

"No, nothing, but he's looking for Tamiya to get her side of the story."

"Any sign of Milly or Ingrid?"

"None. And the craziest thing out of all of this is that the library that we saw get destroyed has somehow miraculously fixed itself, and Delmas is letting up the lockdown and continuing prom as normal. It's crazy!"

"Are you serious? The library's back to normal? That's simply impossible, you're pulling my leg."

"Can't really keep using that word anymore, Jeremy," Ulrich called out. "Everything that's happened today has all been far from impossible."

"Can you connect to the camera on my phone? I'll prove it to you!" Yumi said.

"Sure, go ahead. I'll establish a link."

With a few button presses, a live feed of the academy was sent through the Supercomputer. Yumi could be seen waving her hand at the library. "Look, Jeremy! It's like nothing ever happened!"

"This is unbelievable!" Jeremy stared at the restored library. "You can't be serious… The library was a glass floor when we left!"

"Yeah, Odd and I couldn't believe it, either. Have you heard anything from him yet?"

"No, nothing yet. I sure hope he's not getting distracted…"

"Same here," Yumi sighed. "Anything from Aelita yet?"

"No, nothing. Ulrich heading over to her last known location. We think she might be stuck in a Tower. And from what I'm seeing, there are no pulsations around…it's like the Supercomputer can't even determine the status of certain Towers. It's so weird."

"Don't sweat it, Jeremy, Ulrich's got this. Just keep at it, okay?" Yumi encouraged. "I'll call back with more info when I can. Oh, and let Odd know that Tamiya's in her room. The Nurse told us to check on her."

Yumi hung up as Jeremy rested his head on his hands, watching as Ulrich approached the Tower. He suddenly sat up in his seat as two Monsters appeared to stop Ulrich's advance.

"Ulrich watch out! There are two Bloks dead ahead. It looks like they're guarding the Tower. Aelita must be inside. You know what to do."

Ulrich dashed behind a small boulder, peering over the cover to get a better look at the two Bloks. Everything definitely looked normal…so far.

"Alright Jeremy, I'm going in."

"Be careful, Ulrich. X.A.N.A's gotten stronger. These Bloks are two levels stronger than you are. You hit hard, but your Life Points won't protect you for long. Remind me why you decided to be a glass cannon again?"

"I'm balancing everything out. If I hit hard, I won't have to worry about my Life Points."

"Just stay out of their line of fire. Remember, you gotta get Aelita out of that Tower."

"Got it. I'm gonna engage."

Ulrich takes a breath and emerges from the boulder with immense speed. The Bloks spot him approaching and begin to charge and fire their lasers. Ulrich's Super Sprint is fast enough to evade their attacks, and he gets close enough to one of them to slash at their eye-like markings, which doubled the damage dealt to them, despite dealing immense damage, the Blok still survived, shocking Ulrich.

"What? I got 'im right in the Eye. Just how much damage can these things take now?"

"X.A.N.A's been pushing his monsters to the limit. Don't worry, its Life Points are low. One more hit ought to do it," Jeremy said. "Try and use your saber to reflect their lasers back at them."

Ulrich took a defensive stance with his sword in front of him. The Bloks fired their lasers, and Ulrich would snap his blade to various positions to block them. "Alright, here goes."

The damaged Blok fired one more laser, and with a perfectly oriented slash, the laser bounces off of Ulrich's blade, and right back at the attack Blok, reducing its Life Points to zero as it exploded violently, dealing some damage to the only other Blok standing next to it.

"Nice one, Ulrich! The explosion damaged the other Blok. Just hit it in the Eye and you'll take it out."

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich dashes towards the final Blok, but instead of charging head-on, he jumped on top of the creature, driving his blade into one of the four Eyes of X.A.N.A embedded onto its outward-facing sides. Leaping off of the staggering Blok, he shielded his face away from the impending explosion.

"Right on, Ulrich! You've gained some experience. A few more monsters, and you'll gain another level. And please would you invest more in your Life Point maximum?"

"I'll think about it. What do I do now?"

"Try and enter the Tower. Aelita should be there, you can't miss her."

Ulrich sheathed his sword and stepped through the digital envelope of the Tower…only he couldn't. When he tried to walk through, he bumped his head.

"Ow! Hey, what gives?"

"What's going on, Ulrich?"

"I can't enter the Tower. Something's stopping me."

"That's strange…the Tower should let all of you in. Unless it doesn't recognize your digital code."

"Hmh. How else do you think I should get in?"

"Give me a moment. I'm performing an analysis on the Tower…"

Jeremy tapped away on the keyboard, initiating a scanning program of the Tower, and while he waited for the results, he was surprised when the scan stopped halfway through reporting an error.

"Invalid entity…? What?" Jeremy puzzledly spoke to the computer. "But this program can only scan Towers. If it's not a Tower, then…wait…Ulrich! Do you see any cables that connect to the Tower close by?"

Ulrich spots a line of cables not far away from him. "Yeah, what about them?"

"I need you to use your saber and sever those wires. The Tower isn't a Tower…it's…it's a Monster!"

"What?!"

"Some sort of structural polymorph…I don't really understand it yet, but a fake Tower is a dangerous Tower. Cut the cables!"

Ulrich brings his sword down upon the metallic cables, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. Immediately, the Tower begins to glitch out and explode violently, and lo and behold, Aelita fell from the top of the Tower. Ulrich was quick enough to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Jeremy, you were right, Aelita's here, and she's okay. Unconscious, but okay."

"Her Life Points are dangerously low," Jeremy said. "…There's another Tower due east. She can heal up there. You have enough Energy to make the trip with Super Sprint. Don't dawdle, Ulrich."

"On my way. Super Sprint!" Ulrich ran at top speed across the sands of the desert, weaving through loose rocks, cacti, and over sand dunes on his way to the Tower…hopefully, this one was real.

---

Odd ran into Herb and Nicolas as he was looking for Milly. He approached them, casually. This is the first time he could remember seeing them without Sissi leading them around.

"Hey, you two!" Odd called after them. The boys looked over, Herb becoming slightly annoyed.

"What do you want, Della Robbia?"

"You guys know where Sissi went off to? You know…what happened to her?"

"Sissi? Who's Sissi?" Nicolas curiously asked. "Is she your new date or something?"

"Sounds like a dumb name," Herb sneered.

Odd was visibly stupefied. "What? What do you mean 'who's Sissi?' Elisabeth Delmas? The principal's daughter?"

"We don't know a Sissi. And Principal Delmas doesn't have a daughter. You must be off your rocker or something. Did you hit your head pulling yourself out of bed this morning?" Herb snickered.

"Come on, Herb. You're the one always fawning after her! Don't think I don't see the way you look at her!"

"Pssht. I'd much rather work on proving my superior intellect to Jeremy than follow some girl around campus," Herb rolled his eyes. "Talk about a waste of time."

"What about you, Nicolas. You gotta know Sissi, right? Come on, don't tell me you don't remember!"

"You're weirding me out, Della Robbia, stop bothering me about a girl I don't know! Now, that new girl, Ingrid? She's a lot more my type."

"Like she'd ever waste her energy on you. She'll prefer a brilliant mind. Not whatever you've got going on up there."

"You callin' me dumb, you washed-up nerd?!"

"I'm not saying you're intelligent."

"That's it! You asked for it!"

Odd held his forehead as Herb and Nicolas began to fight. "You can't be serious."

Did they forget Sissi? How is that even possible? Those two have followed her around like poodles to their owners for what felt like years.

To justify this, he began asking several other students about Sissi, and none of them had heard about her before.

"How is it that the most popular girl in school can up and vanish, and suddenly no one remembers her...?! Holy moly, I can't believe this…!" Odd said in disbelief. "Wait. Principal Delmas has to remember her. He's her father! A father can't forget her daughter!"

Odd dashed through the principal's lobby, ignoring the secretary and bursting into the principal's office.

Principal Delmas wasn't expecting anyone, so he jumped when Odd came rushing in.

"Odd Della Robbia, what's the matter with you?!" Delmas exclaimed. "You can't go rushing into my office like that!"

"I'm sorry sir, but this is super important!"

"Let this not be another one of your schemes, Della Robbia."

"I promise it isn't! I only want to ask you a question."

"Ask away then, and make it quick, I have to prepare for tonight's prom!"

"Do you have a daughter?"

The principal wasn't expecting a question like that. "…What?"

"Elisabeth Delmas? Everyone calls her Sissi? You have to remember your own daughter, right?"

"What is this, some kind of rumor? Odd you must tell me who has been spreading this lie to the students! Was it that darned news group?"

All Odd could do was sink down to his knees in defeat. No one remembers Sissi, not even her own father? How could something like this be possible?

"Odd? What's wrong with you? Have you fallen ill?"

"No, no, sir. It's okay, I'm fine…I think."

"About these rumors-"

As Principal Delmas went on, Odd received a text from Jeremy letting him know that Tamiya was in her room and to check on her immediately.

"Oh, sorry sir, I just remembered! Something came up, I have to help one of my friends with a project they're working on. It'd be horrible if I was late! Bye, see ya!" Odd quickly dashed out of Delmas's office, leaving the befuddled principal to sink into his office chair with a sigh.

"Me having a daughter? Preposterous…" He muttered.

Odd walked around in circles. He couldn't believe it. Nobody remembers Sissi at all…this is…this is getting scary. Could it be that when Milly abducted her, she erased any memories about her from everyone? But that's impossi-…oh, who am I kidding, that word's lost all its meaning now."

Odd began to think. "First the library gets repaired…then no one remembers Sissi and if they don't remember Sissi, that means no one would have the memory of the accident either. Something is going on here, but what?"

Odd folds his arms. "I need to find Tamiya and Ingrid. They're the only other people who can help me now. And if they've both lost their memories, too, then it's all over."

He made a mad dash to the dorm building, bursting into Milly and Tamiya's room. Odd was glad to see Tamiya safe and sound but was more worried when he saw that she was crying. He went over to her side to comfort her.

"Tamiya? Tamiya, are you okay? What happened?" Odd asked.

"You know exactly what happened!" Tamiya snapped. "Turns out my best friend is a monster who hurt me and Jim and tried to kill everyone else! Even the police officers…I can still hear them screaming…I still remember their bodies turning in weird ways…it was so horrifying…!"

"So she does remember…! Oh, thank god!" Odd sighed gratefully.

Odd noticed the bandage on Tamiya's arm. "Is that where Milly cut you…?"

"Yeah. The axe got me good, even after Ingrid saved me. If she was a minute late, Milly would have…would have…" Tamiya started to sniffle again. "I don't understand, Odd! What could have happened to Milly to turn her into this? Was it a demon or something?!"

"Honestly, at this point that's a pretty good guess," Odd lightheartedly replied.

"My mother always warned me about the trickiness of demons. They're never straightforward, they always plan out their attack and get you to indulge in the worst aspects of yourself. They thrive in your inner chaos. Then, once you can't go any lower, they pounce and make you destroy everything you ever loved. Friends, family, your dreams…they're really scary and crafty, Odd. I don't want that to happen to Milly, not my Milly!"

"'My Milly' is cute as heck…holy moly-" Odd snapped out of his impulsive thoughts and continued to comfort Tamiya. "L-Listen, my friends and I are working on figuring out what's going on. We're gonna bring Milly back."

"No! No! Don't do it! It's too dangerous! You guys cannot go against whatever's possessing Milly! It…It…It killed Ingrid."

Odd felt his skin run cold. "What?!"

"I saw it…I saw it with my own eyes. Milly grew her claws out and impaled Ingrid straight through. She survived the first time, but…not the second…I heard the claws go through her…it…it was a horrible sound. Then, everyone disappeared and then I got dizzy and blacked out…when I woke up, the library was fixed. It was something right out of a movie, Odd!

Tamiya covered her face with her hands. "But when I went back inside to see if Ingrid was okay, I…I couldn't find her. It was like nothing had ever happened. The police were gone, the bear was gone, and even Milly and Ingrid, and Jim too! Odd…I don't know what's happening, and I don't know what to think…I'm so confused and scared…I just want Milly baaaaack!"

Tamiya cried even harder. Odd let her cry on his shoulder, patting her back as she let everything out. Ingrid was dead. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at ALL. If Ingrid was gone, then there was no way they'd be able to figure out what was really going on… and the Return to The Past won't bring her back, it was too late.

Odd's fist tightened in anger. They were out of their element here. How could he have let this happen? Maybe if he was there, maybe if he stayed behind, he could have saved Ingrid somehow…anything would have worked! But now they have to deal with the consequences. The only hope that they had now is to find whatever Tower might be activated on Lyoko and pray that deactivating it will fix all of this.

"Tamiya, we're gonna fix this, okay? We're gonna get Milly back, and you two will be reporting for the Kadic News again before you know it!" Odd promised.

"But what about Ingrid…? People are going to notice that she's gone. It won't be long until everyone knows what happened. Sissi's still gone, too!" Tamiya stammered, wiping her eyes between her sobbing.

"That's the thing, Tamiya. I did some digging before I came here, and no one seems to remember her," he gasps. "But wait…you do."

"How could I forget?"

"I asked everyone else that already," Odd sighed. "Hold on, I need to call Jeremy."

"Where did they run off to, anyway? W-Why are you still here, Odd?"

"Don't worry about them, Tamiya. They're somewhere safe. I'm doing some detective work, is all."

"Odd?" Jeremy's voice rang out from the other end. "We were just talking about you."

"Hope you only had good things to say, Jeremy," Odd said. "Too bad I've only got bad news on my end."

"Bad news? Oh no, what happened?"

"Well, I'll tell you the worst of it now, Ingrid's dead."

"…You're kidding, Ingrid's dead?"

"I found Tamiya…she saw the fight between Milly and Ingrid. Ingrid didn't stand a chance."

"Oh my god…no, this can't be! This is the worst thing that could have happened! She had crucial information! She can't be dead! She just can't! She's too valuable to our mission for her to just die!"

"I know, Jeremy, it sucks. But we can't do anything about it. There…There isn't even a body. Tamiya went looking for her after the library reverted to normal, and nothing was there. I can confirm that, too."

"No way…okay. We have some good news. We've found Aelita. She was trapped in a fake Tower. We think it's a new monster or something similar. That's why we couldn't contact her. Ulrich just reached a real Tower and she's healing. We should be able to hear from her soon."

"Is there anything about an activated Tower anywhere?"

"No, but we'll know for certain when Aelita wakes up."

"Jeremy, another thing. Tamiya said something interesting while I spoke to her. Things about demons making deals with people and taking control of them."

"Sounds like a bunch of mythological hogwash," Jeremy replied. "Your point?"

"I'm starting to think that we should shift our perspective on this. We know X.A.N.A can't possess people, right? Then…what if something else is possessing Milly and X.A.N.A's taking advantage of the chaos? It could explain why we saw those Eyes of X.A.N.A on Milly's bear, but not on Milly herself."

"We can't be sure about that last part. None of us got close enough to see Milly's eyes."

"…Tamiya did," Odd countered, turning to the sniffling girl.

"Tamiya," Odd called for her. "When you were standing close to Milly before she attacked you, did you notice anything about her eyes?"

Tamiya shyly nodded. "H-Her eyes were glowing red…it was faint, but I couldn't see any pupils. But th-they were completely empty."

Jeremy listened to Tamiya's testimony. "Hmmh…"

"Well, there's your proof, Jeremy. We have to at least consider this."

"Okay, okay, Odd. I hear you," Jeremy resigned himself. "For the meantime, I'll humor…'demonic possession.'"

Odd continued, turning his head as if he was straining to hear something. "Say, Einstein, you haven't heard anything like a…heartbeat recently? Like a really loud one? Kinda like the pulsations on Lyoko?"

"No, I…wait. I-I think I might have. I knew I heard something similar when we all got dizzy back in the boiler room," Jeremy said. "You think there might be a connection?"

"Considering a majority of the school's been brainwashed, I think that whatever the source of that heartbeat is might be the reason for it," Odd said.

"Don't go looking for it, it's far too dangerous. We have no idea what it is or what it could do to anyone if someone got too close. Standby and wait for Aelita to deactivate the Tower."

Before Odd could reply, he heard the faint heartbeat again. He couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, but it creeped him out no less.

"Odd? Are you there?"

"…Yeah, I'm here, Jeremy. Listen, I have to check something out. I'll keep you posted."

"Wait, Odd! Don't investigate the noise!"

But Odd had hung up before Jeremy's warnings could be heeded.

Sitting in silence, Jeremy sat back and thought about Odd's words. They held some merit, and at this point, he might as well consider anything. The situation was only getting more and more dire.

Yumi called on the other line. Her voice rang out, hoping there'd be some good news.

"Jeremy? How's it going? Did you guys find Aelita yet?"

"Ulrich's taking her to a Tower to heal as we speak. Other than that, we've got some horrible news."

"Yeah, Jeremy, what happened? Were you talking with Odd? I wasn't paying attention," Ulrich chimed in as he approached the Tower.

"Milly killed Ingrid…" Jeremy answered.

"Ingrid's dead?! N-No way, you can't be serious."

"She fought Milly to give us time to escape…I still can't believe it."

"No, this can't be happening…!" Yumi spoke on the other line. "How are we going to explain this to her parents?"

"We don't have to explain anything…but I can't help from feeling guilty. This is my fault; I should have never turned on the Supercomputer!"

"Jeremy-"

"No, Yumi! This is my fault. I'm so selfish! You were right. Putting millions of lives and the lives of my friends on the line for what!? To materialize an artificial intelligence by the process of which I can't be sure is even possible?"

"Jeremy, we can't abandon Aelita. You said you could materialize her, and that's why we're fighting against X.A.N.A. Computers and technology is complicated stuff, and you're still so young. We all are!" Yumi said.

"Yeah, Einstein. This was gonna take a while, we knew that. Besides, Aelita's one of us now. We owe it to her to bring her in, or at least try," Ulrich concurred, finally entering the Tower and gently placing Aelita onto the platform.

"I've only made incremental steps in progress. Whoever designed all of this was some sort of…super genius! I'm nowhere near that smart. Now because of me, Sissi's missing, Jim's in the hospital, and Ingrid's gone forever!" Jeremy slammed his fists onto the chair's armrests. "We…I…I can't keep doing this. I thought I could do it, but I can't!"

"Jeremy, you can!" Yumi was practically yelling into the phone. "We know you can! Think about it, if Ingrid knew so much about us already, she must have known how important it was for us to stay alive! She…had to have sacrificed herself so that we could stop X.A.N.A. Jim could only do so much. Ingrid saved us all. We can't let what she did be for nothing!"

Jeremy couldn't respond.

"Ingrid gave us a second chance. We need to make sure that we don't waste it. As soon as we find a way to get Aelita to Earth, we can shut down the Supercomputer and end all of this. You're the only one that can do this, and we believe in you, Jeremy."

"We don't call you Einstein for nothing," Ulrich said.

Jeremy exhaled, on the brink of tears he wiped his face and glasses, trying to regain his composure. "…Okay. We won't let this be in vain. We have to save the school. For Ingrid."

Though Jeremy couldn't see them, Yumi and Ulrich nodded in agreement, though Yumi was the only one that let out any tears. Death was always something that Yumi could never truly face head on…even though she knew Ingrid for a short time, she could only imagine how horrible it must have been in the moment, and the grief her parents are going to go through when they find out.

Ulrich suspended his silent grief to the sound of pained moaning. Turning to Aelita, he watched as she began to stir. Aelita had finally awakened.

"Aelita!" Jeremy was so grateful to see her awake. "I'm so glad you're okay…"

"Welcome back, Princess," Ulrich said, helping Aelita to her feet. The virtual girl staggered, trying to keep her balance.

"Is…Is it over…?" She asked.

"Is what over, Aelita? W-What happened in that Tower you were stuck in?"

"Jeremy? Oh, Jeremy, it was horrible!" Aelita spoke in distress. "I couldn't move or think or speak! I felt like I was floating in black limbo…I couldn't feel or perceive anything! All I could hear were soft voices, reciting a poem over and over and over again! Jeremy, I thought I was going to go insane!"

"You mentioned a poem…?" Jeremy asked. "Aelita, I don't mean to make you remember what you just endured, but do you think you can recite some of the poem back to us?"

"I couldn't forget it if I wanted to…" Aelita replied. "It went something like this…You are a worm through time…Happiness comes…You want this to be true…We stand around while you dream…You can almost hear our words, but you forget-"

"Th-That's enough, Aelita…even hearing it gives me the creeps. But yeah, it's definitely the one…"

"I'm sorry, Jeremy. It's just so…strangely catchy."

"How can something that makes no sense be catchy…?" Ulrich asked.

"Jeremy, I just realized something," Aelita spoke up again. "The incantation, it's a solid example of a Dadaist poem. Those poems are deliberately made to not make sense immediately."

Jeremy rose his head, Aelita was onto something! "…Aelita…you're…you're right! The whole point of Dadaism was to highlight the flaws in logical human reasoning and challenge conventional and social norms! They're not meant to be understood, they were made to enrage and confuse people. Exactly something I can see X.A.N.A taking some inspiration from…"

"Could this be the philosophy he was programmed with, Jeremy? It would partly explain his abhorrence of humanity," Aelita suggested.

"I can't be sure now, but what we can confirm is that this same poem was being recited by Milly when she attacked us in the library. There's not a doubt in my mind…this…strange new power or entity must be connected to X.A.N.A somehow…but we're still missing pieces."

"Aelita, do you remember feeling any other pulsations recently?"

"Yes, I thought the fake Tower was the activated one, but…it wasn't," Aelita answered. "However, I'm still feeling more pulsations….due north of here."

"Then get a move on, you two…things are getting hairy back home, and none of us know what's going to happen next. And considering my last conversation with Odd, it's only a matter of time before he gets himself into trouble."

---

The sound got louder and louder. Odd was certain now that the noise was coming from the boys' dorms. Climbing the stairs and barreling through the hallways, the thumping noise became so loud that it was almost deafening.

He skidded to a stop in front of the room that he and Ulrich shared. His own heart began to race…Kiwi was still in there…

With a trembling hand, Odd opened the door, being met with the sight of a large, blood-red mass of throbbing flesh hovering in the center of the room, with weblike veins sticking shooting out from the walls keeping the…"heart" suspended in the air. He walked into the room, approaching it. The heartbeat became softer, almost serene, but there was no doubt that this was where it was coming from.

"Just…what is this…?" Odd asked in horror. Kiwi's bark was able to calm him down. "Kiwi! Oh, you're safe, my little diggity dog! I thought the worst happened…"

Odd looked back at the heart. It freaked him out for sure. He couldn't begin to think where it could have come from…nor why it was in his room. Standing up, he began to walk towards it. His hand slowly reaches out to touch it…

"I wouldn't do that if I knew I wanted to live."

Odd turned around to see a girl sitting on Ulrich's bed. The girl was about Yumi's age. Tall, redheaded with long pigtails…and…wearing Milly's clothes?

"Who…?" Odd pointed at the girl, actively suppressing the urge to ask if she was single.

"Take a seat, Odd. I want to talk. I have an offer for you.~"

"An offer…?" Odd questioned, remembering what Tamiya said about deals with demons. "No, you're Milly!"

Milly let out that same chilling giggle. Kiwi growled at her, ready to pounce at any moment.

"You make an astute observation. The mark of a true reporter."

"Cut the cheese, Milly! How could you?! You killed Ingrid! You hurt Jim and Tamiya! You kidnapped Sissi! You talked about making a promise to someone before. Did you…Did you make a deal with a demon? Is that why all of this crazy stuff is happening?"

Milly laughs in Odd's face. "What are you talking about? Odd, you're overthinking this."

"I don't think I'm thinking enough, Milly! Do you think this is some kind of joke? You killed someone, even police officers! You've gone too far!"

Milly gripped Ulrich's sheets at Odd's listing of her offenses, she trembled before she forced another grin, giggling again.

"How do I look? Do you think Ulrich would like me now that I'm older?"

Odd grit his teeth. "Ulrich would never go out with you. Not after what you've done."

Milly shuddered, gripping Ulrich's sheets until they tore from the mattress. Her breathing became heavy as if she was preventing herself from breaking down.

Odd noticed this…could Milly still be in there?

"Milly, you have to listen to me. Whatever's going on in there, you HAVE to fight it! You can't keep letting yourself be controlled by…by this monster!"

"SHUT UP!" Milly shouted, the force of it slamming Odd against the wall. He shook off the stun and glared at Milly once more, who hung her head in shame.

"Milly. You can still stop this. You can bring Sissi back and return everyone's memories. We know this isn't you. Tamiya misses you, Milly!"

Milly let out a gasp, tears streaming down her face. Her body trembled violently. Odd slowly approached her, reaching a hand to her shoulder to comfort her…but before he could get any closer, Milly's hand gripped Odd's neck, raising him from his feet as Kiwi could only bark in defiance.

Odd grabs Milly's wrist, his legs kicking as he could feel her grip tighten. Milly looked up to Odd with bright red eyes.

"You are going to listen to us," Milly spoke calmly. "You will hear our demands. You will not resist. You will not deviate. You will follow our instructions."

Odd hastily nodded, his face turning blue as he began to lose consciousness. Before he could black out, Milly dropped him. Odd clutched his neck and chest, coughing as he gasped for air.

"Sit," Milly demanded. Odd quickly clambered onto the bed to heed her instructions. Milly returned his obedience with a smile and giggle.

"You see? That wasn't hard, was it?~" Milly's more mature and normal voice returned like a switch had been flipped in her mind.

Odd could only catch his breath as he tried to find his words. "What…are your…demands?"

"Tonight's prom will be very interesting," Milly began. "And now that Director Layton is out of the picture, everything will go just as planned."

"Director…Layton? Is she talking about Ingrid?" Odd pondered. "What could Ingrid have been the Director of…?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss it, Odd. You are the life of the party after all."

Odd could only glare at her. How dare she use his self-proclaimed title to belittle him?

"You must be wondering what that pulsating mass of beauty is over there. I'll tell you," Milly smiled.

"That is a Hiss Nexus. A very powerful paranatural artifact. You were right to suspect it, Odd. That's the reason everyone's memories are all mixed up. With every beat, it releases a wave of resonance that can affect everyone in a very specific area in many different ways. I can choose to omit any memory from any one person and replace it with whatever I want…just as long as they're within the area of effect.

"Though, I am surprised that some of you were able to retain your memories…it's very fascinating. But I have much bigger things to focus on right now. Now that I'm a big kid, I can go to prom without having to get permission from Jim. I can finally steal Sissi's spot as Beauty Queen! No one will laugh at me anymore. Never again…isn't that right, Berengar?~"

Odd watched as the plush bear walked out from behind Milly and hugged her. Milly pulled the bear up and gave it a big kiss. "I'll always love you, Berengar. You're the only one who listens…~"

Milly turns to Odd again. "…But something is missing. Or should I say…someone. The only thing that would make tonight the best night of my life, would be getting a dance with Ulrich..."

Odd bit his tongue to stop him from talking back.

"…But I haven't seen him," Milly continued. "You wouldn't happen to know where he is…would you, Odd?"

Odd hesitated to answer. He couldn't tell her about the factory, there's no telling what kind of damage she could do to the Supercomputer if she discovered it. He had to come up with an excuse.

"Come on, Odd…think! THINK!"

"W-Well, the last thing I heard from him was that he was going to head into town and find something nice to wear. H-He wanted to go on his own, and he didn't say where! He might be planning a surprise or something…!"

Milly only stared blankly at Odd as if she was processing what he had said. Odd could only stare back at her, trying his best not to emote or give any tells.

After what felt like forever, Milly grinned again. "Okay!"

Odd took a huge mental sigh of relief. She may be super powerful now, but Milly's still just as impressionable as any girl her age would be.

"All I ask is for Ulrich and all of your friends to come to prom. I want you to watch Ulrich and I dance together!"

"O-Of course, Milly! I'll m-make sure the others show up! You can count on me!"

Milly clapped her hands in twisted excitement! "Oh boy, oh boy! I can't wait! I'm gonna wear my best dress and everything, oh, it'll be so much fun!"

Odd nervously chuckled as Milly displayed a level of excitement he had never seen before. Just what kind of sick joy was this?

"Oh, and I should mention…" Milly abruptly stopped clapping. "If I see any sort of conniving or backstabbing or any reason for me to believe that you aren't going to hold up your end of the deal…remember the Hiss Nexus?"

Odd nodded his head cautiously.

"I can detonate it at any time. The explosion will affect everyone within its area of effect, permanently corrupting them and morphing their bodies painfully into grotesque monsters. I'll unleash them on Paris and make the entire country sing a beautiful song for eternity. I hope you understand what that'll mean for you.~"

"You're c-crystal clear…M-Milly-"

"DON'T CALL ME MILLY!" Milly's voice warped out of pitch. She calmed herself down before correcting odd. "…It's Amelia. 'Milly' is a childish nickname for stupid little kids. I don't want to be called that anymore."

"Crystal clear…Amelia," Odd said.

"Good…Have you any more questions for me?"

Odd sat up to speak. "…Do you know of a X.A.N.A…does that have anything to do with this?"

Amelia giggled. "…Oh…he sounds familiar. Yes. In fact, X.A.N.A was the one I made a promise to. A promise to kill you and your friends. But that will have to wait. Not until after my prom goes exactly how I want it."

"…Do you know who Ingrid truly is?"

Amelia began to laugh harder. "You truly want to know? Well…I guess it doesn't matter since she's already dead. Fine, I'll tell you. But the rest you will have to figure out for yourself…

"Allow me to tell you about the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Control."

---

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Things are getting a little dire, aren't they?

The third chapter is going to probably be the longest one so far! I'm gonna work hard to try and get it finished soon!

Reviews, Favs, Follows, Comments, Stars...all are appreciated - since I'm posting this story to several different sites, just do what applies to you! Let me know what you think! I'm always excited to answer anyone's questions and critiques!

Take care, and I'll see you in the next chapter!​

 

[DAIKIZEN]

[ CHAPTER 3 UPDATE COMING SOON ]

 

[DAIKIZEN]

Hello everyone! Long time no talk!

I just wanted to quickly let everyone know that this story is currently being rewritten! I had originally made this story around two years ago, and I've gotten the creative drive to continue it!

The original first chapter has been split into three chapters that expand upon the events of the first episode and add several new story elements and character perspectives. I think you guys will enjoy what I've done so far, or at the very least find it interesting! : )

The first two chapters have been rewritten already, you can read them right now HERE.

I am currently drafting the third chapter as we speak! I can't wait to show it to you guys! Comments and Critiques are always welcome! I hope you enjoy it! : D

 

[DAIKIZEN]

Amelia "Milly" Solovieff (PC-42)

BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION
Gender: Female
Age: 11
Height: 4' 6"
Weight: 85 lbs.
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Black (Sometimes green, if observed closely) | Light Red (when utilizing paranatural powers)

PARACRIMINAL CHARGES​

• Kidnapping​
• Entropic Assault of Non-Entropic Entities​
• Mass Corruption of Non-Entropic Entities​
• ▇▇▇▇▇▇ Directorial Assassination
• Unauthorized/Violent Warping of Reality​
• Manipulation of Mental Processes​
• Manipulation of a Deadly Weapon​

PARANATURAL ACTIVITY
The subject has demonstrated traits similar to the Corrupted Hiss Agents during the Hiss Invasion a few years ago. However, she shows no signs of disfigurement or skin discoloration like previous Hiss Corrupted Agents have displayed. She is remarkably similar to ▇▇▇▇▇▇ post-awakening, though seems to be controlled by multiple entities at once, including struggling with discerning the subject's own free will from their violent intrusive thoughts brought upon by the warping of her mind while possessed.

Paranatural activity is speculated to have begun between ▇▇▇▇ and April 15th. It is not known when the subject was initially possessed, but it is thought that the possession was not forced, rather it was the subject's choice, and that the Hiss may have made several attempts at contact with the subject before a successful possession.

The subject retains several abilities from multiple of the previous Hiss-based entities fought against during the Hiss Invasion. Telekinesis, levitation, spatial manipulation, ▇▇▇▇▇▇, memory alteration, and a limited form of shapeshifting of its own body (mainly in the sharpening of nails into needle-like claws and more recently, her physical age). Again, very similar to ▇▇▇▇▇▇'s abilities upon their reawakening. However, the subject has attained a very new and deadly ability, the ability to sire its own corrupted Hiss entities. It has corrupted at least a dozen members of Paris law enforcement. This ability is most seen through the subject's plush teddy bear, which can be commanded to defend the subject without question. We believe the toy may be sentient.

VERDICT
It has become imperative that we classify this new kind of Hiss-based entity as something distinct from the previous Hiss-tainted creatures the Bureau has encountered in the past. We have separated the Hiss into three types: Hiss Corrupted, Hiss Spawn, and Hiss Possessed. For a more detailed description of these new typings, refer to ▇▇▇▇▇▇. We are still not certain of the status of the subject's mental state, whether or not the subject's true subconscious has been fully reigned in. There have been times when the original personality - herein referred to as "Milly" - has fronted during times of high stress or in the vicinity of people Milly cares about or has deep feelings for. Therefore we should make a more psychological counterattack to weaken or confuse the subject enough for capture or immediate termination. It is unknown if cleansing Milly is possible, as Director Faden was unable to do the same with ▇▇▇▇▇, but the Bureau will do what it must maintain order.

Powerful amnestics are currently being prepared to be administrated to immediate friends and family in the event of the subject's termination.

CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES
Operations have yet to come out with a final course of action. With the Director currently in urgent care, we may not get an answer soon. Please refer to further supplementary documents for updates on a decision and future developments.​

---

Supplement A-1

Operations have authorized immediate termination of the subject, deeming it too dangerous to contain within the Panopticon. Preparations are being made to quarantine the campus of Kadic Academy after its student body and staff have been evacuated. It is unlikely the Director will be able to return to duty to aid on this mission in her current state. Further precautions will be taken to ensure the Director's safety in future encounters. A secret mobile task force stationed in or nearby campus is currently being discussed and considered to aid the Director in future Altered World Events and Paracriminal encounters. Further combative training for the Director is currently being discussed, along with current investigations launched concerning the reliability of the Service Weapon, the inactivity of The Board, and familial interference impacting rash decision-making.

Supplement A-2

Mobile Task Force Kaiser has reached the academy and has begun reporting dangerous levels of hostile resonances - most likely Hiss-based - contained strictly within the campus grounds. Kadic Academy has been officially recognized as a Place of Power, far less significant than The Oldest House, but significantly anomalous enough. At this time, it shows no anomalous properties of its own. The new HRAs are being used and have proven to be highly effective in warding off these new Hiss resonances. Considering the HRAs are still active gives credence to the Director's quick recovery, though nothing is certain at this time. MTF Kaiser has been ordered by Head of Investigations to remain hidden and prepare for an Entropic Quarantine of the entire campus grounds.

Supplement B-1

Because of discoveries concerning the Hiss' sudden resurgence outside of The Oldest House, we have had reason to conclude that the Hiss may not be as powerful as it once was, and might be collaborating with one or more paranatural entities in a plot to regain the powers it lost after being destroyed by former Director Faden. Who these entities might be remains to be a mystery.​

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Author - Emily Pope, Head of Research​