Girls' Day


It was Aelita's phone that had alerted them to the activated tower.

"Shouldn't we tell the boys?" Sissi urged, following her friends through the sewers. Once they were up on the bridge, they made a mad dash to the factory entrance, easily getting down to the main level where the elevator sat, waiting for them.

"They're at that gaming convention," Aelita reminded her, pressing the big red button to bring them underground. "We'll be fine."

Yumi tensed. "We don't even know what the attack is. Someone should stay and handle things here."

"The faster we get the tower deactivated, the sooner it'll be over," Giana pointed out. She leaned against the side wall of the elevator as they rode down to the lab. "I think we'll be fine."

Aelita nodded, marching out into the green-lit space as soon as the secure mechanism opened. "Go down to the scanners." She took a seat in the chair, the axis on the holosphere swinging her around to face the monitors. "I'll virtualize you all first."

The trio bid her farewell as Sissi pressed the button to bring them down to the next level. Once they were out, they each chose a scanner, turning to face the rest of the room once they were settled as was customary.

Aelita's voice came through the surround: "Transfer."

The doors to each scanner closed one by one, the girls' views cut off as the process started.

"Scanner."

They each felt that familiar rush of wind and saw the bright halo of white light scanning them as they prepared to leave their world for another one.

"Virtualization."

They landed smoothly, each of them unsheathing their weapon of choice. Giana swished her épée with grace as she took in their surroundings in the forest sector, as Yumi quickly opened the fans that were stashed in her obi. The top of Sissi's staff started to glow as she adjusted her hold on it.

Aelita appeared a moment later, along with all three vehicles. "The tower's due west," she said, hopping on the Overwing once Yumi was situated.

Sissi faltered after stepping on the Overboard, the object foreign under her feet. Giana happily jumped on to the Overbike and revved its engine, the four girls taking off at once.

"How will we know where the monsters are?" Sissi asked, trying to stay aware of her surroundings while also controlling her vehicle.

Yumi was about to answer when a string of lasers cut her off. She threw her fan and hit a Tarantula directly in its target, watching as it exploded and faded away.

Giana skidded the Overbike to a halt and jumped off just in time for a Megatank to demolish it, diving out of the way of its beam.

"I hate these things!" she shouted, trying to get close enough to dig the tip of her weapon into the monster's target.

"Look out!" Sissi shot a laser from the top of her staff, catching the Megatank just as it was about to fire again. The two dove for cover as it exploded, but she didn't have enough time to fend off a surprise attack from a third Tarantula.

"Damn it!" Yumi threw her fan and caught the monster in its target just as Sissi was devirtualized. "There goes our healer."

"Aelita," Giana started, blocking lasers with her weapon, "head for the tower — we'll hold them off, and with Sissi at the terminal I think we have a better chance!"

The girl with the pink hair nodded and started at a run toward her destination, the tower's red halo glowing like the anger she felt for the attack ruining their fun day out.

They'd just been hanging out in Paris, people-watching and drinking coffee and eating macarons, while the boys had gone to that gaming convention.

She'd actually had to convince Jeremie to let the other three drag him along, as he hadn't done anything fun since the attacks started up again. Plus, she really wanted some time with just the girls.

"Giana's been devirtualized," Sissi said, snapping her back to the present. "Hurry up, Aelita!"

There was a Krab blocking her path, but she summoned an Energy Field and destroyed it, sliding into the tower. She felt the calming sensation of her lifepoints regenerating as she rose up to the second platform. Finally, the interface appeared in front of her, and she entered the code, watching as the screen dissolved and melded with the millions of others lining the inside of the tower.

"It's done," she said, leaning back. "Sissi, I'm gonna walk you through the materialization process for Yumi and I, okay?"


The girls had reconvened in Aelita's room, exhausted from the events of the last few hours.

"I've combed the news and so far, no mention of any paranormal activity," Yumi announced, putting her phone down. "I think it was good that we didn't do a return trip."

Suddenly the door burst open as Jeremie marched into the room, followed by Odd, Ulrich, and William.

"What the hell happened?" Jeremie demanded, his voice rising an octave. "I got an alert on my phone that a tower had been activated hours ago, but I didn't hear it because of the convention!"

"It's handled," she said simply, beaming.

"How—"

"Jeremie," William started, draping his arm around Giana, "just calm down, okay? Even if you'd gotten the alert in time we wouldn't have made it back in time to help."

"He's right, Einstein," Odd offered, leaning against the wall.

Ulrich and Yumi exchanged a glance, the couple smiling at one another. "You don't know how to have fun, do you?" he said dryly.

"I—" Jeremie stopped himself, deflating. "Fine." He sat down next to Aelita. "What was the attack?"

"We don't know," she replied. "We dealt with everything on Lyoko in record time and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary when we got back." She crossed her arms. "We can handle ourselves perfectly. You really shouldn't worry like that."

"Yeah." Yumi leaned back, a lazy smile on her face. "We should do it more often."