Chapter 4

"Hey…Emily…you can open your eyes now…."

Emily slowly opened her eyes, hesitantly, and found herself lying in Ulrich's arms. Emily quickly scrabbled out of Ulrich's arms and ended up tripping on her outfit.

"Ow…." Emily carefully pushed herself up and looked around and at herself. She was wearing a red hooded cloak that dangled all the way down to her heels. Her suit looked skin-tight and was a dark blue. She pushed her glasses higher up her nose. "What….what is this…?"

"Welcome, Emily, to Lyoko…" Odd, being just virtualized, landed right next to Emily. "How do you feel? Didn't lose anything right?"

"Odd, quit it!" Ulrich hissed as Emily started to look scared at his words. He looked towards the ceiling of the room. "How does it look, Jeremie?"

"Well everything went ok. From what I can see, the scan had no problems." Jeremie's voice echoed though-out the room, making Emily jump in surprise. "But her 'card' is different from yours….she has an extra number next to her life point counter…what could that represent?"

"Odd…you're the gaming expert…what could it mean…?" Ulrich asked Odd, with no real expectation.

"Maybe it's her MP?" Odd suggested, shrugging.

"MP…?" Everyone looked at Odd, or in Jeremie's case, the dot on his monitor that represented Odd.

"Oh, you mean like Magic Points?" William asked, leaning on his giant claymore.

"Yeah…I mean…she kinda looks like a mage don't you think?" Odd asked, looking Emily up and down, after which made her feel uncomfortable in her attire. "Try to do something…"

"Like what?" Emily asked, slightly bewildered.

"Try making Odd shut up…" Ulrich said, snickering.

"Why don't you take a look in your book…?" William suggested, pointing at the red book in her hand.

Emily blinked and looked down to find that she was indeed holding a book. She quickly opened it and read the first page and looked crestfallen, it wasn't French…(Note that this show does take place in France) But her face did brighten slightly as she recognized the language. "It's in Latin…!"

"Can you read it?" Ulrich asked, looking over her shoulder.

Emily nodded enthusiastically. She held her hand up and directed it at Odd, who automatically flinched. "Ardescat" His tail caught fire.

"Ow…! Hot…Hot!" Odd grabbed his own tail and tried to blow out the fire as Emily, Ulrich, and William laughed. He glared at them when he finally put his tail out. "That's not funny…"

"Of course it is…" Ulirch said as he laughed.

"It wasn't that strong though…are you sure that that can go into battle…?" William asked, looking back at Emily.

"Lucky for Odd I knew that was simply a test spell…if I thought it was really dangerous I wouldn't have done that to him."

"Well maybe you should try something stronger…?" Ulrich suggested. "We need to know that you can defend yourself if it's needed…"

Emily looked at her book. "Yeah…I think that won't be a problem."

"If you say so…" William said with a shrug.

Just then, two more virtualization took place, and Yumi dropped down next to them with another girl.

"Maïtena? You too?" Emily asked in surpise.

Maïtena nodded and stood up, brushing herself off and looking at herself.

"What is this…?" She pulled at the vest looking clothing on her. "It's so thin but…really strong…"

"It looks kinda like it's made of dragon skin…" Odd said, examining the clothing.

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "You would know…"

Maïtena's pants were also made from the same 'dragon skin' as were the vambraces on her wrists. She wore what looked like a traveling cloak with the hood down around her neck and her hair was tied in a ponytail in the back as opposed to the side. On the back of her waist was a large quiver and in her hand was a long bow that reached just below her chin.

Odd looked into the quiver. "There's no arrows…"

Maïtena reached back to see if he was right and there was a dull flash and an arrow appeared between her fingers. "Whoa…that's pretty neat…" She strung the arrow and pulled back the bow. She fired it and it hit William's heave claymore and knocked it out from underneath him. "Whoa!"

"It's strong…but very limited…" Jeremie's voice rang out, making Maïtena jump. "It says here you only have 25 arrows in your quiver. I'll try to increase the amount of course, but that'll take time. In the mean time I suggest you conserve your arrows, unlike Odd…who luckily I can replenish his now that I figured out the program…"

"Got it," Maïtena called, a little louder than necessary.

"Now all of you go to Aelita…she's waiting for you. I'll send you your vehicles. Unfortunately I haven't been able to program any more at the moment, so you'll have to share for now."

Emily got on the Overbike with Ulrich, Maïtena with Yumi on the Overwing, and William shared the Overboard with Odd. They all sped off towards the chamber where Aelita was waiting with the boy.

"Good, you guys made it without any trouble?" Aelita asked, after greeting Emily and Maïtena.

"None…looks like X.A.N.A.'s monsters are taking a break…" Yumi said.

"Hopefully…it stays that way…" Ulrich added.

"I don't…I hope we get some action." William grinned.

"Oh…please don't say that…" Emily groaned. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet…"

"Don't worry. You have us with you. Those monsters won't stand a chance." Odd, said confidently.

"Excuse me…" The boy interrupted. "I don't mean to sound impatient…but could you guys do this AFTER you got me out of here…?"

"He's right…" Aelita agreed. "If X.A.N.A.'s monsters do come…it'd be best if we were ready…" They all nodded. "Each of you just needs to stand on your own platforms…Emily I would think you're the one with those three stars and Maïtena you're the bow and arrow."

They each stood on their appropriate places and Aelita started the process before standing on her own. A column of light like the one around the boy fell around them. It was similar to being virtualized and in an instant, it was over. The columns rose up, along with the one around the boy.

"That's it?" Odd asked, a little put out.

"Seems like it…" Aelita said as the boy walked up to her and Emily. "Come on, let's get out of here before X.A.N.A.'s monsters come looking for us…"

Again everyone nodded and they ran back out into the core of Lyoko.

"By the way…what should we call you? You don't have a name right?" Yumi asked the boy when they came to a stop at the edge, back to Carthage.

"Hm…" The boy thought about it as he came to a stop too. "No, I was never designated a name…but I guess you can call me…Xana…"