Code Lyoko: The Archer Returns (Book 2)

Chapter 15: We Can (Sort of) Relate

At the vending machines the next day, Jeremy was telling the group about how they could find William in the digital sea, when Dallas walked up.

"So what exactly did I miss yesterday?" She asked.

"Well, sleeping beauty, William got knocked into the digital sea and-" Odd started to say.

"He what?!" Dallas cut him off. "Great...first a visit from my dad, and now this..." she started worrying.

"Don't freak out, Einstein here knows how we can find him." Ulrich said. Dallas put a hand on her chest and sighed in relief before staring at Jeremy.

"Well?" She asked. "You going to tell me or what?"

"Well, Aelita and I are going to create a sort of...submarine for you guys to use to access the network." Jeremy replied. Dallas continued looking at him with a blank stare, which kind of freaked him out.

"Okay, cool."

Jeremy exchanged glances with Aelita before nodding. "We're going to go work on the program." He said.

"I better go check on Kiwi. I haven't seen my poor diggity-dog all day." Odd said.

"And I've got a huge English test to study for. Later, guys." Yumi said, as the four of them walked off, leaving Dallas and Ulrich at the vending machines. Drinking the last of his soda, Ulrich looked over at Dallas, who was staring into space.

"What's up, got something on your mind?" He asked.

"Nah, just something my dad said, that's all."

"Let me guess, you're gonna be like Jim and say you'd rather not talk about it?"

"Well..." Dallas tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "He's just really getting onto me about my grades, and..."

Ulrich laughed. "Don't I know how that feels."

"Yeah, but you haven't run away from home before. He was already disappointed in me for that..."

"Why did you run away from home, anyways?"

"I was scared. My parents were fighting, then my dad started yelling at William...I was scared because he shoved William out of the way, and he shoved him really hard, too...I thought if I stayed there, he would hurt me, too, so I ran away..." she chuckled quietly, looking at Ulrich. "It sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it? Of course, I was only nine years old then. I didn't even know why my father was mad..."

Ulrich replied with a quiet 'hm' before speaking.

"How about a game of table tennis to get your mind off of it?" He offered. Dallas looked at him and grinned a little.

"Sounds more like a challenge than an offer. You're on, Ulrich. Race ya!" She said, running off to the rec room.