Author's Note: I do not own Code Lyoko, etc.
Chapter Ten – A Start
"Okay, Trickster, we're ready to launch." Kalsharian Alicia spoke from the control room, "All crew have disembarked and you have a 'green light' as you would say."
"All right, finally...I can only sit in a pilot's seat so long without driving this puppy." He gripped the handles and looked out into the Hangar Bay from the view screen.
"And Trickster?"
"What is it, Um...Alicia?"
"After this mission, do you want to get something to eat, I believe is the term?"
"What? Oh yeah, sure. Well, let's see how this mission goes first."
"Of course, initiating countdown. 5...4..."
"3, 2, 1!" Trickster shouted, pulling the throttle all the way forward.
Shooting like a bat out of hell, Trickster watched as the Hangar Bay seemed to disappear and was surrounded by the deep openness of outer space.
"Whoa! Where did you all go?"
"You were so busy playing with the controls, you fail to hear what I said about the max speed, didn't you?"
He laughed, "Oh...that came out wrong. I'm genuinely sorry, but this ship is like something out of a dream..." He rotated the left handle forward and the right handle back, executing a smooth left turn, "And it handles like one, too."
"The max speed of the Hope of Future is somewhere around LY3. You literally were here one moment and there the next!"
"Holy shit! You're saying I'm moving at three times the speed of what it takes to cross a light year."
"Yes, but the problem of which you can barely comprehend what's in front of you. So, you'd crash into an asteroid before your neurons can even process it in your visual cortex."
"Oh, so...I should slow down?"
"And they say you're a genius..."
"Yes, I am, in fact. It's just, I never piloted something this powerful and well-designed before. Literally, I'm on cloud nine right now."
"Trickster..." She groaned over the radio.
"Okay, slowing down." He eased down the throttle.
"Just remember, max speed is to be used only in emergencies where immediate escape is key. You're about to go outside our communication's range. Enigma's territory has been indicated on your star charts and uploaded into your waypoint system, so you just need to follow it to get to him."
"Okay and Alicia..."
"Yes?"
"Thanks for everything."
She blushed before speaking, "You're welcome, Trickster. Good luck."
"Thanks, I may nee...eed i...t..."
With that, they were out of range. Switching the radio off, he breathed a sigh and leaned back in his chair, which actually leaned up to support him.
"Wow, this bioleather is handy. I wonder where I can get some in my time."
He rested against the chair as it gently massaged his back, "But I got to...oh, that's the spot..." He shrugged his head, "got to stay focused. I wished I could go on that date, Alicia, but I got a Dark Future Tear to find."
"Spatial Anomaly detected. Setting waypoint." The Computer spoke in a very familiar female voice.
"Wow, this is going to take a lot of getting used to. Enigma, buddy, I'm coming...damn it! I didn't get her name!"
He flew off toward the borders of Enigma's territory, not knowing what will await him when he gets there.
"2AC-245...2AC-245..." Shelly repeated as they gently maneuvered through the aisle in between landing platforms. No matter where they looked all they could see was landing platforms neatly spaced apart like supermarket shelves.
"Whatcha doing?" Odd asked, leaning over the chair next to her.
"Trying to concentrate. If I miss our space, it is a bitch-and-a-half to turn around in this place. 2AB...2AC-201."
"Okay, I'll be quiet."
"Look, I'm sorry. I hate this whole situation. First, my brother and now Gabriel...he's not exactly my favorite person in the universe."
"Gabriel...or Trickster?"
"Well, both really. Trickster is such a know-it-all, not to mention the time he threw me out of an airlock."
"He did what?"
"Oh right, the girls are the ones who know that already. Long story short, I was angry at him and he got angry at me, then he threw me out in low atmosphere."
"There's the space." He pointed to the empty lot.
She turned toward the parking space, "Thanks, Odd. You know what? You are useful, after all."
"Thanks..." His expression turned quizzical before he realized, "Hey...that's not funny."
The ship eased into the space, "Well, it kind of is."
"Anyway, you were saying...about Trickster and Gabriel."
"Oh, yes. Well, Gabriel as you no doubt heard from our conversation can be arrogant and wise ass."
"No kidding, reminds me of...well, me."
She smiled and rubbed his hair.
"Hey, watch it! It takes half a tube of gel to get this up straight."
Still she smiled as they landed and the engines were switched off. Shelly walked into her room, getting her stuff together. Taking off her suit, she gathered her clothes and started getting dressed. In a few minutes, she looked herself in her body mirror.
"Wow, I forgot how good I look in these clothes."
Her door opened, Aelita and Sam walked into her room.
"Sam, I told you to knock first. Now, Shelly's gonna be...whoa."
Sam nodded in silence at Shelly's new appearance. Her short purple hair fanned out to the sides and in the back. Wearing a tattered black trenchcoat, a dark purple tubetop, faded and torn jeans, black military boots, and black fingerless gloves. She wore a dark purple lipstick and fingernail polish.
Sam clapped, "Shelly, you look so badass!"
"Well, here we are. This is how I looked when I spent my days with Gabriel. Everyone of his officers will recognize me like this. Besides, it feels kind of...natural."
Sam smiled, "Well, that getup looks really good on you. Looking so empowered like that."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" She shook her head, "So, why are you both here?"
"Well, we've have been talking and decided to go into the city. Just a small look around, so we can get the boys some of the future clothes. That's all we plan on doing today."
"Okay, I got it. Let's see, I put it in here." She opened her dresser's top drawer, pulling out three cards and six watches, "These are the three cards are linked to Trickster's personal fortune. These are to be split up between you couples should you want to go exploring on your own. Just remember that don't go crazy and try to buy a building or something, trust me I tried."
"And the watches?"
"These..." She held them up and shook them, "are the personal transponders. They will keep me notified of where you are. They are stretchy nanomesh bio-integrated straps. Trickster translation, they can go as wide as your arms can, they can blend with your skin, so you don't have to feel anything. Just make sure they are placed somewhere on your skin, it doesn't work well with clothes."
"Will we know where the others are?"
"Unfortunately, there's only one receiver and I'll be wearing it. Since I will be near Gabriel this entire time, if there's any trouble, he and his officers will know about it."
"But, how can these transponders notify you if it's trouble."
"Another reason they need to be connected to the skin, the transponders will monitor your stress levels and should they go into the red zone, it notifies me. It also can differentiate between trauma stress and pleasure stress, so it won't go off if you guys go on a roller coaster. Take these and give them to your friends."
"So, is that everything?"
"Besides, my recommendation of not leaving the ship? No, this is where we depart for a while. If there's any news, I'll keep you informed."
"How?"
"Not that hard in this city to keep in touch. This is the other reason I don't want any of you in the Warrens, though I made that clear enough over the past few days."
"Yes, you did. You don't need to say it again."
"Anyway, go or stay, that's your choice. I, on the other hand, have to go." She walked up and placed her hands on their shoulders, "Take care of each other."
Shelly walked out of her room.
The Lyoko Warriors gathered and Aelita passed off the two other cards to Yumi and Sam.
Odd crossed his arms, "Hey, why don't we get to keep the cards?"
Sam walked up to Odd and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Sweetie, I love you and I know it is hard for you to say that back to me. But we girls decided that we are more responsible with money and therefore we are the keepers of the cards."
Odd sneered, "Coming from the girl who was looking at the Hoverboard DS-XX4 all alone in the dead of night?"
"You saw that? How?"
"We share a bunk bed and the internet browser on your glove is kind of bright."
"Damn, I thought you didn't see that."
"Again, we share a bunk bed. Though you had one hand with the browser. I wonder what your other hand was..."
"Okay, okay, here. The card is yours." Sam gave in and passed the card to her boyfriend, Odd smiling in triumph.
Odd smiled, "I love you."
"Yeah, whatever. You noisy ass jerk."
Yumi and Aelita smiled, knowing that their boyfriends had no dirt on them. Ulrich shrugged, giving into her, Jeremy simply smiled and waved at Aelita.
Exiting the New Light, they looked around at the interior of the Outer Ring. The platforms was nothing from the view in the ship, standing on them was an entirely different feeling. They felt so small as they looked through the aisles and at the other ships, layers and layers of them. Walking close to the edge, a floating pad came and lined up with the platform's floor. The pad had railings on three sides and when all six climbed aboard, the railings extended over the fourth side.
Gripping hard onto the rails, they were lifted high into the air. When the pad stopped, the fourth side lowered and they walked onto a train shuttle station. There were two lines of shuttles on either side of the station. One leading to Millennium City and the other to Celestial Bay. People of all kinds were coming off and going on the shuttles.
The six teenagers stayed in a tight group. Yumi and Sam kept a close watch on Aelita's hands.
"Come on, I only did that once."
"And got us into trouble with Trickster and seeing that he's not here to save you, it is left up to us."
"Fine, fine, you made your point."
"Girls, the shuttle is leaving. The next one will be in five minutes."
"Okay, okay, we're going."
They boarded the shuttle just in time. Once they arrived in the city, they followed Shelly's advice and found a directory. Yumi pointed at the list, dragging her finger down the entries.
"All we're going to be doing today is go clothes shopping?" Odd asked.
"Well, it's going to be late afternoon by the time we're done and frankly, I don't want to be on the streets of the city at night." Aelita responded.
"Millennium City isn't the problem. Shelly said this was the least criminal area of the Golden Nirvana." Sam brought up.
Jeremy said, "Besides, that's not we should be talking about. What we should be talking about is why Odd and Sam are wearing their transponders as collars?"
"What? I wanted to wear mine as a collar and since Odd turns into a catguy on Lyoko, I figured..."
"What? Who told her about my Lyoko Form?"
Yumi coughed and raised her hand.
"Why would you do that?"
"Well, Odd. Sam and I were partying in the night club simulation. We got to talking and it just came up in conversation."
"How does that come up in conversation? 'Hey, Sam. I want you to know that your boyfriend turns into a catguy when he goes to a virtual world that you've only just discovered a couple weeks back and that of course doesn't include the time we spent in stasis'. How does that come up...seriously?"
Sam rubbed his head, "But it looks so good on you that way, right?"
Giving him a peck on the cheek, he blushed.
"Okay, seeing as I'll be the bigger man about this, I'll let this one slide. So, where's that new store Shelly heard the rumors about?"
"Here it is." Yumi pointed at its entry, "and girls, you're not going to believe this."
They ran over and looked to where she was pointing, sharing a laugh with Yumi.
"You're right, I don't believe it." Sam said.
"Isn't it just great?" Yumi smiled.
"We gotta go right away. Come on, guys!"
As their girlfriends started running down the street, they stood there dumbfounded.
"Uhhhh...we should follow them." Odd said, receiving glares from the other two, "What?"
End of Chapter Ten.