AN: Sorry I'm taking so long with this story. My co-author is actually 'living' in another city, so we barely see each other, let alone write together.
Chapter Three
Feelings
After an hour of wondering lost, through a maze of hallways, they finally found a large room, that looked to be a common room. As soon as the doors slid open to allow their entrance, the girls and Jesse looked around in awe. The room was almost like the common room onboard their ship, only it had ratings of a six-star hotel with sofas, armchairs, entertainment centers, recreational games, a mini kitchen, and a few tables with chairs. The walls were green with a dark green border and the floor was colored with green marble. On one side of the room, there was an extravagant oak fireplace, surrounded by a set of beige sofas and armchairs. On the other side, there were three doors, that they could only guess leading to their rooms.
"Whoa, this is sweeter then our common room onboard our ship!" Antaria exclaimed with wide eyes.
"Come on, this would be a good place to have a little chat," Jesse replies, while taking a seat on one of the sofas. Serena and Antaria followed suit. Serena sat next to Jesse, while Ani chose an armchair.
"Yeah it is. It's really cool that we're finally going on an adventure that we've always wanted," Serena said, excitedly.
"I guess you can say that. But I think it's more of a mission then an adventure," Jesse says.
"Don't spoil the fun, it can be both, you know!" Ani argues. "Plus, I don't have to go to school anymore." Serena and Jesse gave each other a look that clearly says, 'keep on dreaming, Ani'.
"So, did anybody else feel strange when we stepped into Susan's office?" Serena started.
"What do you mean by that?" Antaria asked in a confused voice.
"Oh come on, Ani. I know you had the same feeling we had, when we first walked into Susan's office. We all did. When we walked in and met…what were those names again, Odd, Ruby…," Jesse snaps his fingers trying to remember the last name, when Ani blurted…
"JADEN!"
Ani felt a small amount of heat rising to her cheeks, as she a remembered the boy with soft brown and orange hair and those dreamy chocolate brown eyes. Oh, he was so damn cute!
"Uh oh. I know that look. Looks like our little Ani is crushing. I wonder, does she have a crush on one of those boys?" Serena teased, making Ani blush even more; while Jesse glares daggers at Ani. 'Oh, I hope it's not the one with the purple outfit', Serena silently begs. 'Though I doubt it, he's not really her type'. "So, spit it out, Ani. Who do you have a crush on?"
"Why do you guys always have to tease me?" Antaria whined.
"It's fun teasing you," Serena said. Antaria rolled her eyes. She might as well go along with it. After all, she is used to her teasing.
"Fine, its Jaden," Ani said, and her blush became as red as the brunette's red jacket.
"Okay, now that we've had our fun, it's time to talk about something serious, like…" Jesse said, in his serious voice. Ani and Seri noticed that Jesse was quiet the whole time.
"Aster," Ani finished. Serena gave her a playful glare.
"How did you know?"
"I could feel it coming. And I have been thinking about him as well," Antaria admitted, shyly. 'Yeah, like the entire time we were looking for this place.'
"You have? How come?" Jesse asks.
"Well, he is my twin brother after all. Part of me wants to rescue him…I mean, I actually want to have my brother back." Both Serena and Jesse looked shocked.
"Why in the world would you want him back? You're so innocent sometimes, Antaria! He wants to kill you, don't forget!" Jesse snapped, while glaring at his young princess.
"We don't know that for sure, Jess," Serena said.
"And besides, my visions aren't always accurate and they can be changed. The future isn't always set in stone," Ani piped up.
"She's right, Jesse. You can't always judge the book by its cover," Serena smirks.
"Alright, I give! Just stop with the cliches already!" Jesse said.
"But we still have to talk about Aster," said Ani. The three of them heard a few knocks on the sliding doors.
"Who is it?" Serena calls out.
"It's us. Do you mind if we come in?" asked a voice, by the name of Jaden. Ani recognized that voice and started to blush again.
"Oh sure you can come in!" Serena said, through fits of laughter.
"But Serena!" Ani whines. The doors slide open to reveal the three they were just talking about and suddenly that feeling of completion washed over the six of them again.
'You felt that, right?' Serena asks curiously.
'This time I did,' Ani jumps in.
'So, what does this mean, exactly?' Jesse asks.
"Does anybody feel something strange?" Ruby wonders out loud.
"Uh, why don't you guys take a seat?" Ani offers. Jaden walks over and sits in the empty armchair next to Ani. And the other two sat down next to Serena and Jesse. Ani sees both of them blushing. 'Ha. I'm not the only one who has a crush!' Ani smirks.
'Oh shut up, Ani!' Jesse and Serena said in unison.
"Is it just me, or is there something missing from this group?" Ruby asks.
"It feels complete, but incomplete at the same time," said Odd, with a confused look on his face. I know what's missing, but I'm afraid to say it out loud, Ani thinks to herself with a nervous look on her face.
'It could possibly be him, you never know,' Jesse said. Seri gives Ani a look of sympathy. Jaden notices the nervous look on Ani's face.
"Are you okay, princess?" he asked with concern. Antaria quickly looked at him and gave Jaden a reassuring smile.
"Not really; but please, just call me Ani or Antaria. I'm not really used to being called a princess."
"As you wish, Ani," Jaden smiles.
"So, what's bothering you, Antaria?" Ruby asks.
"Her brother," Jesse answers, crossly. Odd and Ruby looked shocked, while Jaden looked worried.
"How come; doesn't he want to kill you?" Antaria glared down at her lap, tears threatening to fall.
"You guys just don't get it, do you!? By the time I was twelve, I thought I was the only child, until I had a vision about my brother, about to deliver the final killing blow. When I asked mom about the boy in my vision, she confessed that I did have a brother, a twin brother to be exact. So for sixteen years, I never met Aster, so how can he be that bad? I mean, I know that Sartorius can and is controlling him; but I can trust my mother to help bring Aster back to me. And the reason this feeling feels incomplete is that Aster is not here. I'll do anything to rescue my brother," Antaria explained, with a slight tremble and hurt in her voice. Complete silence followed. Everybody was too shocked to say anything. Antaria stood up. "And I have complete faith that Aster will be by our side by the time we need to defeat Sartorius." She rushed out of the room with tears in her eyes.
"Ani, wait!" Serena cries out, shocked. Jaden stood up.
"Don't, I'll go and talk to her," he replied, softly. He quickly rushed after the crying girl. Jesse glared after the brunette's retreating back.
'Can we trust him?'
'I think so. If anyone can cheer her up, it would be him. And besides, he is her crush after all.' Jesse gave Serena a dark look.
'That's what I'm afraid of.'
Jaden found the princess in her room and knocked on her door. "Who is it?" he heard a soft sob. He smiled gently.
"It's me, Jaden. Can I come in?"
"No, go away!" Jaden sighs. He walks in and he suddenly felt like he had stepped into an underwater dream. The walls were covered with moving pictures of the sea creatures. The creatures were whales, dolphins, tropical fish, sharks, coral reefs, and other sea creatures. The princess had a queen sized-bed, with a picture of an Orca whale on the bedspread. She had the flat-screen TV, a door that lead to the bathroom, the walk-in closet with a dresser drawer in it, and a desk with a comfortable chair. The carpet was royal blue to match the scenery. The ceiling was a clear-cut glass so that they could see the stars of space.
He found Antaria lying on her stomach on her bed, with her legs swinging lazily in the air. Her head rested on her crossed arms. He also found her glaring at him. So, he decided that he should start the conversation.
"Wow, this is a sweet room. Do you like it?" Jaden asks, as he pulls up the chair, near her, and sits down.
"I told you to go away," she responds. Jaden chuckles softly.
"I know. But I'm stubborn. Anyway, I came here to see if you were okay," Jaden replies. Her gaze softened a bit.
"Not really. I don't know why everybody seems to be worried about me wanting my brother back. In fact, I don't think it's very fair. Can't I decide whether he's good or bad?" Jaden was taken back by this question. He also wasn't sure how to answer it either.
"Um, I guess you could. But you have to realize that we've already had a small battle against him and his crew. So, I really can't answer the question." Ani looked up at him.
"You guys already had a battle? What happened?"
"Well, I'm not sure what happened, really. We had the last shield destroyed and then the Neptune Stardust just retreated. It was weird."
"See? Aster isn't that bad, is he?" Ani said, proving her point.
"I'm not sure. They might have something else in mind. I think there's something going on. And I don't like it," Jaden said, a little too darkly, for Ani's taste. Antaria frowned. Jaden looked back up at her. "Don't worry, I'm not talking about Aster."
"What, you think Aster's crew is worse then him?" Antaria asked with a slight hope in her voice. If she can convince Jaden that Aster isn't so bad, then maybe they can convince the rest of the crew.
"I bet my deck on that."
"Have you guys seen your rooms, yet?" Ruby asked.
"No, we got here about three hours ago. And got lost for another hour, so of course we haven't seen them yet," Jesse snapped.
"Somebody's got an attitude." Ruby smirked.
Meanwhile, Odd and Serena stood up and walked to the other side of the room. Once out of earshot, Odd asked, "So, what do you want to do now?"
"I want to find my room so I know where it is, then after that, no clue,."
"Ok. I know where it is."
"Really? And why would that be?" Serena asked, suspiciously, while she raised her eyebrows.
"Well, you gotta know where all the good hiding spots are," Odd smirks, mischievously.
"And who were you hiding from, huh?"
"No one," Odd says quickly. Serena rolls her eyes.
"Whatever." The two blondes reached Serena's room. Serena opens the door and steps into her room.
"Um, maybe we went to the wrong room," said Odd. Serena turned to him.
"Why do you say that?" Serena asked.
In Serena's room, it feels like that they walked into a darkened field. On the wall, the sky was a dark blue that covered the field in darkness. The creatures were a pack of wild horses running through the field. (a/n: all rooms have the same furniture like Ani's room, but they are in different spots) Her floor was covered with a forest green wall-to-wall carpet. Her bedspread was the color of crimson red with a silver Celtic trinity knot stitched into it.
"Well, if you ask me, this is too dark for someone as cute as you," said Odd, causing Serena to blush slightly.
"This room is perfect. It has all of my favorite colors. I couldn't ask for anything more…oh, oh did you see that? It was so beautiful. I think it was a phoenix. Oh, oh, and there's a unicorn too," Serena says excitedly. Odd gave her a confused look.
"What are you talking about? I don't see the phoenix or the unicorn," said Odd.
"You don't?" Serena asked, surprised and hurt at the same time. "You mean, you don't believe in them?" Odd shrugged.
"Maybe that's why I can't see them." Serena, still a little shocked that Odd didn't believe in magical creatures, cast a downward glance. It was a few minutes of awkward and uncomfortable silence before she looked up at Odd again.
"Okay, now that I have seen my room; what is there to do around here, besides twiddle your thumbs," Serena said, completely forgetting the common room. Odd's eyes brightened up.
"I know. We're…or rather you guys have to train and receive your combat outfits and the only place for that, is Lyoko," Odd explained.
"What's Lyoko?" Sere asks, now interested.
"Lyoko is a virtual universe, where the original Lyoko gang (me, Jeremy, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita) fight Xana's monsters…"
"Who is Xana?"
"He's a very super powerful computer virus that can launch an attack in the outside world. But he's been destroyed, so the only thing we have is his monsters and the different regions. Anyway, me and Aelita already have our outfits/weapons and we know about the monsters."
"Sounds cool. Show me the way, Odd," Serena says.
Jesse suddenly realizes that he is alone with Ruby, since the other four have left the room. Where did Seri go? Oh, she must have gone with that blond boy. "Um, so why do you want us to see our rooms so badly?" Jesse asks. Ruby shrugs.
"I just want to know how like them, because it did take awhile to make it perfect," Ruby said. Not to mention a lot of magic, I was exhausted.
"You didn't by any chance decorate my room, did you?" Jesse asks with a smug look on his face.
"Well, since Hermione was exhausted by doing the other two rooms, so I had to do yours…"
"You had to, or you wanted too?" Jesse smirks. Ruby blushes. "Okay, well. Let's go see it then," Jesse said.
As the two of them got off the couch, Jesse notices Seri and Odd coming out of her room. 'What were you all doing, sitting on the couch for so long?'
'Nothing, we were just talking…'
'Uh huh, sure. As if I believe that.'
'Oh come on! We've only just met…'
'Never stopped you before.'
'Whatever. Where do you think you're going?'
"I don't know. Ask him," Seri said.
"The group sure is strange," Ruby mutters. Jesse glares daggers at her, resisting the urge to smack her. "What, I didn't say anything!"
"Yeah…ok lets just get going. Lead the way." Jesse said giving an exaggerated bow to the redhead standing in front of him.
They walked toward the door that was his room and entered. Jesse stops dead and stared at the walls surrounding his room. The walls were painted with live rainforests and every jungle animal he could imagine. The carpet was a light green, the color of grass. On his bedspread, was the solar system, that didn't match his walls, but he didn't care. In the corner by the bed was a perch for Cobalt, was pretending to sleep.
Um…hmmm. If you knew where the rooms were, then how come you didn't tell me? Jesse asked.
That wouldn't be much fun, now would it? Cobalt smirked.
"So, what do you think. Do you like it?"
Jesse comes to stand right in front of Ruby. Having her personal space invaded she steps back and falls onto the bed. Jesse leans over and whispers into her ear, "I love it." He moves back and kisses her right on the lips.
The elevator opened to reveal the room where the supercomputer that holds Lyoko. There was a boy about 12 years old, sitting at the computer, typing away and also talking. "Wow, this is so cool," said Serena, staring around the room. The boy paused and turned to see Odd and Serena.
"What is she doing here, she is not supposed to be here until tomorrow." Jeremy said as he look directly at Odd ignoring Serena altogether.
"We got bored so I thought it wouldn't hurt to show her around a bit, that's all."
"I guess that's okay but I just need a minute to finish this program I'm working on so just make yourselves comfy." Odd rolls his eyes and looks at Serena.
"He is always working on something with Aelita. Speaking of Aelita is she on Lyoko Jeremy?"
"Yeah. She came here just after the meeting, so that she could help me with the final bits of everyone's Lyoko forms, so it could be ready by tomorrow at nine in the morning."
"Does he always talks this fast?"
"Yeah, but you'll get used to it. Hey Jer. Is Serena's outfit ready, at least?"
"Yeah…"
"Well send us in," Odd interrupts. He pushes the button to close the doors to the elevator, before Jeremy could say anything else. What, you couldn't wait until tomorrow to see the other outfits? He thought to himself.
The two blondes went down into the scanner room and Odd went inside one. "What are these things called?" Serena asked.
"They're called scanners. They scan you and transports you to Lyoko. You're not scared are you?"
"What, me scared? Whatever," Serena said, as she stepped into the one across from his.
"Okay, Jeremy. We're in," Odd announced.
"Here it goes," Jeremy replies from the speakers. "Transfer Odd, transfer Serena. Scanner Odd, scanner Serena. Virtualization!"
Odd landed perfectly on his hands and knees. Odd turned to expect Serena fall on her butt, but to his surprise, she landed gracefully like a cat. And no wonder just look at her outfit! Taking a look around he see that they have landed in the ice sector of Lyoko. "If you want to take a look at what you are wearing then go over to that pool just to the left." Odd pointed in the direction he was talking about.
Before walking off she took a long look at Odd, "Oh my god that is so HOT."
"What are you talking about you haven't even looked at yourself yet."
"Not me, you, you have a tail that is soooooo H.O.T. hot."
"What does that make you go all weak in the knees," Odd said teasingly.
"Just a little but I will be fine." The look on Odd's face was priceless to say the least.
"Go look at yourself if you think this is hot." With that Serena went to the pool of water to take a look at herself.
"Oh My God I have a tail and what is that sticking out of my hair, is that… wait it cant be… can it… I HAVE CAT EARS." She squeals and jumps up and down like an excited puppy. (A/N: puppy? I think it should have been a kitty)
"Here kitty kitty," Odd laughs uncontrollably at his little joke but stops suddenly when he hears a very realistic hiss coming from the aforementioned kitty. "Oooh kitty has a temper."
"Odd that is enough out of you," Jeremy calls from out of no where and Serena looks around to see where he is. "You won't find me on Lyoko Serena but we can hear each other just fine. Now I have programmed your weapon if you take off your tiara and toss it like a frisbee it should work. The only difference is that it acts like a boomerang and comes back once thrown."
"That is sooo cool lets see if it works." She takes off the tiara and tosses it at Odd for his kitty comment. Unfortunately he ducks just in time to miss it. Drat I thought it was going to hit him. I wonder if he was listening when Jeremy said it comes… WHACK…guess not. "Were you not listening when he said it comes back Odd?"
"Nope, I never listen when he goes into lecture mode."
"No wonder you still failed Mrs. Hertz class last year."
"Enough talking about me let's see some monsters so we can see how she fights."
After their little kiss, Ruby sits up, blushing. "Oh, and don't worry about the princess. Jaden will take care of her."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"You don't have to worry about Jaden. He's so naïve, he doesn't know what's going on."
"If you says so. But I'll still keep a sharp eye on him. If he hurts her in any way, he's dead."
"I don't think you have to worry about him, he's not that kind of person."