Chapter 34: Mister Puck

Hey! What's up everyone! I'm back with a brand new chapter! I know I've been busy with school and stuff, but the good news is that I'm ready for action, starting with this chapter! Anyhow, let's do the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

Enjoy!

I was running in Lyoko, from something I supposed. There was someone else running with me. He looked like he was wearing the outfit Ven wears crossovered with Sora's outfit. The other person running with me looked like a Roman sword fighter of some sorts. There was a tower in front of us. Just before we could enter inside it, I tripped and fell.

"Natalie, come on!" exclaimed the young boy

Before I could get up, I was caught by the Scyphozoa! Its tentacles reached out and…

"AAHH!" I screamed

"Who is that screaming?" exclaimed Sissy

That came from down the hall. I didn't care if I had a serious case of bed head, but I was not passing this opportunity up.

"You are Sissy. Loud enough to wake the dead." I said as I faked a really sleepy voice

"Do you know what time it is?" exclaimed Sissy, still screaming might I add

"Um, 5 o'clock in the morning?" asked Aelita

"Yes, that's right, and this is the third night in a row you've woken me up. I've had it!" exclaimed Sissy

"Well, everyone's had it with your yelling. I think I can hear Jim coming this way." I said

She then stormed off, not saying another word.

"You okay?" I asked Aelita

"Yes. Thanks for standing up for me." Said Aelita

"No problem. You know, she should've been yelling at me." I said

"Why's that?" asked Aelita

"Remember the nightmare I've been having for the past week?" I asked

"Yes." Said Aelita

"It's getting worse and worse." I said

"How worse is worse?" asked Aelita

"This time, El Peso was in it." I said

I quickly took a shower, seeing that I couldn't get back to sleep like this, and got into my running clothes. Why did becoming a teenager have to include problems like this? I fiddled with the heart locket around my neck after I sat down on a nearby bench. Suddenly, I felt the urge to write my feelings down, so I pulled my diary out of my exercise bag.

Dear Diary,

These nightmares are getting worse, and I don't know if I can handle them much longer. At times like this, I wish my father or mother were here. I miss them so much. I was so used to hiding my feelings, but… I can't hold the walls of emotion back anymore. I just took a run to blow off some steam, but, I guess I just need to think.

Sadly Yours,

Naomi

A few teardrops found its way onto the page. As I put my diary away, I found a note right next to me. It was addressed for me, so I opened it. It read, 'Don't give up hope'. I recognized the handwriting. It was the same as the one from the picture. I had a good feeling I knew where it was from, so I tucked it into my exercise bag, gently and softly.

Later…

"It's a shame the two of you didn't dream about me, because you know me, I'm a real dream come true." Said Odd

"More like a nightmare to tell the truth Odd." Said Ulrich

"These visions of yours are becoming a real problem Aelita." Said Yumi

"It all started at the Hermitage. I think you should go back there. And you Naomi, did you say that your dreams always happened in the forest sector of Lyoko?" asked Jeremy

"Yeah." I said

"Strangely enough, that's where Aelita first exited the tower." Said Jeremy

"I can't help but think that those events are connected." I said

"Wait, back up, back to that old house? I'm not sure if you remember, but last time we were attacked by a cupboard, a lamp, and a gang of forks." Said Odd

"I don't like that place, it scares me." Said Aelita

"We don't have any choice Aelita. If we don't do something, your hallucinations could get worse." Said Yumi

"Don't worry. This time we'll be with you." Said Jeremy

Back to the creepy house it was. This brought back some memories, for Jim found me here, thankfully, he didn't see the house.

"My legs are shaking. What's happening to me?" wondered Aelita

"You're scared. It's nothing to worry about. Happens to Jeremy all the time." Said Odd

"Not a big help Odd." Said Matt

"Exactly. So come on, we'll see who's scared." Said Jeremy

We entered inside, and it was like last time, minus the 'gang of forks' as Odd called them, and well, everything was normal.

"There, there! Stay down boy." Said Odd

"See, everything is just fine." Said Jeremy

Aelita then began to walk upstairs, and I was tempted to do just the exact same. We entered into what appeared to be a little girl's room. Aelita then was hallucinating again.

"Aelita, you okay?" asked Yumi

"Yes, I mean, I think so." Said Aelita

"Did you have another vision?" asked Jeremy

"Yes, but it was different this time, it's as if something or someone was leading me to… there was something in a tree like that one!" exclaimed Aelita

She pulled down the tree, and inside was a doll and a necklace. Aelita reached inside the hole, and pulled out the doll, which I pulled out the locket, and it matched the one in my pocket. When I opened it, it was a picture of me and my father! But then, what was inside my locket? I opened it, and it was a picture of Taios and his dad!

"Mister Puck." Said Aelita

She must be talking about the doll.

Later…

"So to make the long story short, Aelita's never seen this toy gnome, but she's been dreaming about it for days and knows it's called Mister Puck. And Naomi's locket is an exact replica of the one we found in the hole with a picture of her father and herself." Said Jeremy

"So, what's really inside your locket?" asked Matt

"I have no idea. I've never been able to open it." I lied

"And besides, it's not a gnome, it's an elf." Said Ulrich

"Well, whatever it is, this whole story's definitely paranormal." Said Odd

"And don't even think about it Elizabeth." I said as I clamped my hand on her wrist

She glared at me, and tried to struggle to get me off, but when she did, a key fell out of the doll. She tried to pick it up, but Ulrich stepped on it.

"Nuh-uh." Said Ulrich

And well, she tried to pick up his foot. Is she really an airhead?

"What is all this noise about?" demanded Mrs. Meyer

And the class got back into order.

"Okay, you can have it, but only because it's you." Said Sissy

And well, a few minutes into class, and Jeremy's yelling. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying attention. Poor guy. He got laughed at by the whole class.

Later…

"This is it. Would you like to do the honors?" asked Jeremy

Aelita opened the locker, and inside was a case, and a weird looking cylinder. The case had the initials F.H. and the cylinder had some kind of scratch marks.

"F.H. What does that stand for?" asked Ulrich

"Fuzzy hands? Fried Egg?" asked Odd

"Egg doesn't start with 'H'." said Ulrich

"Just checking to see if you were on your toes.

"And I can't make out these scratches." Said McKenna

"May I?" I asked

I looked at them, but when I turned the thing on its side, I was shocked!

"What's wrong?" asked Matt

"Shi wo de…" I started

"English?" asked McKenna

"This is my… my Chinese name on the side!" I exclaimed

"What?" everyone exclaimed

"This looks like the Japanese character 'tsuki'." Said Yumi as she pointed at the last character of the three

"This is the Chinese character 'Yue' which means the same thing as 'tsuki'. Moon." I said

"And this is your Chinese name?" asked McKenna

"Yes. Which means, my father knew Franz Hopper?" I wondered

"We'll find out later." Said Matt

"Oh wow, music!" exclaimed Odd

"Certainly not. Let's see what we can come up with." Said Jeremy

He inserted one of the CD's into the CD drive.

"Franz Hopper's diary." Said Jeremy

"Great. Maybe we'll be able to find out more about the Hermitage's mysterious owner." Said Yumi

"For sure, but not right away. Everything's encrypted! I'll have to decode it first." Said Jeremy

"How much time do you need? One, maybe two hours?" asked Ulrich

"More like one or two years." Said Jeremy

"Even I can't crack this kind of code within that time frame with my algorithm. Sorry." I said

"It's okay. We'll see what we can do about it later." Said Jeremy

"I'm keeping this. It's obviously my father's." I said holding tight to the cylinder like thingy

Later that evening…

"Are you sure this could be from your father?" asked McKenna

"More than positive. He and my mom are the only ones who know how to spell my Chinese name. I don't exactly remember how to write it, but I know what it looks like." I said

"Mind if I see it?" asked Matt

"Sure. Knock yourself out." I said

Matt looked closely, and well, what he found was startling.

"Naomi, I think this is a puzzle." Said Matt

"A what?" I asked

"A puzzle. Look. You have to line up eight numbers, and when you get the solution, I think it reveals something." Said Matt

I took a look at it, and randomly put in my birth date. It was the solution, and out popped a flash drive, and the cylinder took a more key-like shape.

"What's on the drive?" asked McKenna

"Don't know, but we're gonna find out." I said

I hooked it up to the computer, and it was a video file. But, it was distorted, and I couldn't make out the words, until I realized that the solution to that puzzle was what I needed to input before we could hear the video, let alone see it.

"Natalie, if you have found this message, then that means that you've also found Waldo's diary." Said my father.

"Waldo?" McKenna and I wondered

"That's Franz Hopper's real name." said Matt

"Oh. Thanks." I said

"However, it also means that you also know about Lyoko and XANA. Natalie, I don't know if you can forgive me for what happened here, but, if you can find it in your heart to do so, then I'll be the happiest father in the world. However, you can't go it alone. You need friends you can rely on, support on, count on, and most importantly trust no matter what happens. I believe that you can do this, and I believe in you." Said my father

That's when the video ended. After that, we were all speechless, and I clutched the locket with my father's photograph tightly holding back the tears that were threatening to spill out.

The next day…

Dear Diary,

How crazy is this adventure going to get? My father knew Franz Hopper, which means I have been here before! But when, and how? Holy smokes! Is that the right time? I gotta run for gym with Jim. Okay, didn't mean to make a pun there.

Write more soon!

-Naomi

I literally flew, okay, maybe not literally, point is, I ran like there was no tomorrow in order to get to gym class on time. Unfortunately, it was lecture time.

"Running is the noblest event in athletics, except maybe for the long jump, or the shot put, javelin, high jump, or both. Some of you may associate running with cowardness, as in running away. Nothing could be further from the truth. He who runs well, goes far. Jeremy, let's see how powerful your strides are. Who those of you with short memories, let me remind you that, uh, well, what was I going to say? Right, may I remind you that we start when I say go. Not on 'get set' and not on 'ready'. I mean well, after 'Ready, get set' is when I say go. Uh, right. Okay! On your mark, get set, go!" exclaimed Jim

He ran a few feet, and then, I think he twisted his ankle.

"What now?" asked Jim

"I twisted my ankle." Said Jeremy

"Yeah, of course you did. You don't get strong muscles in front of a computer. Naomi, Herb, take him to the infirmary." Said Jim

"Jim, would you mind if Aelita came with me and Naomi instead?" asked Jeremy

"Okay, whatever. Go on, take him far away from me!" exclaimed Jim

"That's not very nice Uncle." I said

After a little while, Jeremy stopped limping. That's weird.

"Jeremy, you're not limping anymore. Has your ankle stopped hurting?" asked Aelita

When he turned around, I was thinking, 'Oh no! XANA!' He kicked Aelita into submission, so I took an offensive stance.

"You know, it's wrong to hit a lady." I said

So he zapped me. I soon fell into unconsciousness.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I woke up to the sound of Aelita's scream, well, sort of scream. Unfortunately for him, he put me on his shoulder, head on the back. Yi, er, san!

"Hi-yah!" I exclaimed as I executed a karate chop on the back of his neck

That took him off guard, so I grabbed Aelita, and headed inside the factory. I set her down gently on the floor next to a steel beam. I then grabbed a wooden pole. Why would something made out of wood be here? Just then, Ulrich, Odd, Matt, and McKenna dropped in.

"So, you going down too?" asked Odd

"Boy, it's totally weird to be fighting against Jeremy, huh? I mean, I don't want to hurt him, but…" started Matt

And Jeremy easily knocked them both aside. Well, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, well, Yumi saved the day.

"Quick, we've gotta get to Lyoko. Here, these are the coordinates to the activated tower." Said Yumi

"You guys go ahead, I'll take care of him." Said Odd before growling

"Same here. He's gonna pay for shocking my girl." Said Matt

And I took charge of the supercomputer.

"Okay girls, I'm virtualizing you first. Transfer Yumi, transfer McKenna, transfer Aelita. Scanner Yumi, scanner McKenna, scanner Aelita. Virtualization! Ulrich, hang tight, I'm starting the auto-virtualization process." I said

And we were safely in Lyoko.

"Look! There." Said Aelita pointing to the tower

We all ran towards it.

"He who runs well goes far." Said Aelita

"Is Odd the one who taught you nonsense like that?" asked Yumi

"Nope, it was Jim." I said

And well, no resistance, just yet.

"Keep your eyes open, huh? We don't have Jeremy to warn us about monsters this time." Said Ulrich

Then the ground ahead was cracking.

"Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of that." Said Ulrich

And here come the Bloks!

"Bloks!" exclaimed Yumi

And we were surrounded. Yumi pulled out her fans, Ulrich pulled out his katana, McKenna readied a spell, and I switched to the mage transformation, and pulled off the key on the bracelet, which caused a change in costume.

"Key of the sun, moon, and stars, with powers shining bright, reveal the staff, and shine your light. Release!" I exclaimed

And here come the lasers. I got out of the way, and pulled out my signature Clow Card.

"Huo card! Burn away this icy landscape. Huo, release and dispel!" I exclaimed as I invoked the Fire card

And that got rid of one Blok, but the others froze it, forcing me to call it back.

"Yumi, Naomi, protect Aelita! We'll take care of the Bloks." Said Ulrich

"Right." Said Yumi

"Mei wen ti." I said

We all had our personal problems, but when the staff timed out, I quickly went Summoner. I then summoned Bahamut. These Bloks were in for a world of grief.

"I'm gonna knock your block off you dumb blockhead!" exclaimed Ulrich

"Sounds like you miss Odd. Your jokes are worse than his." Joked Yumi

And in a few minutes, well, Yumi was materialized, which means, Jeremy's in the lab. That ain't good. Just when we were about to get away, blockheads froze our legs, and it froze Bahamut solid. Not long after, the two Skippy's appeared. It then tried to take whatever it wanted from me and Aelita, thankfully, Ulrich saved the day, which caused them to retreat.

"Thanks Ulrich." Said Aelita

"Ja. Danke." I said in German

"I didn't know you could speak German." Said Ulrich

"Now you know. Aelita, go, we'll take care of the pesos." I said

And just in time, the tower deactivated. I swear, if XANA shocked Matt one time too many, he was going to face my wrath. And I got a new Aeon. I touched the gem, and I learned that it wasn't an Aeon from the Final Fantasy X game, it was a summon from the entire series. Carbuncle.

Later…

"Well? How are you feeling?" asked Yumi

"Strange. I remember talking to Odd and Ulrich, and then after that, nothing. Just a black hole." Said Jeremy

"XANA took control of you." Said Aelita

"He destroyed all of Franz Hopper's CD's. Apparently had a problem with his notes." Said Ulrich

"Whew." Sighed Jeremy

"What do you mean, 'whew'? It's a disaster!" exclaimed Odd

"No it isn't. Last night when I got back from the train station, I stopped here, and I copied the CD's onto a highly restricted part of the supercomputer. I'm the only one who can access them." Said Jeremy

"You're a genius Jeremy." Said Aelita

"Still, there's something I don't get. Why couldn't XANA's ghosts take control of Odd and me? And then have no trouble controlling Jeremy?" asked Ulrich

"No idea." Said Jeremy

"I might have an explanation. Apart from you, we're all used to fighting on Lyoko. Maybe that gives us more resistance to XANA." Said Yumi

"Maybe. But how can we protect me?" asked Jeremy

"Hmm… I just might have the answer." Said Odd

Later…

"Well?" Odd asked

"That's the last time I ever set foot on Lyoko." Said Jeremy

"Why? Just because of a couple of Megatanks?" asked Ulrich

"It's really just not my thing. I'll never be able to hack it. You know, I think I'd rather be possessed by XANA than go back there. I'll just keep on the lookout for ghosts, that's all." Said Jeremy

"Well? What did he look like on Lyoko?" asked Aelita

"He looked, how… how can I say this tactfully?" asked Odd

"Ridiculous." Said Ulrich

"That's the word." Said Odd

We all had a good laugh from that.

That evening…

It looked like I was in a field of flowers, wearing a little girl's dress. With me was my mother and father. I don't think I've ever looked so happy in my life. I didn't see it, but I shed a single tear.

Finally! With all my school work and stuff, I'm glad I finished this! Please review, check out the poll on my profile, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Happy holidays!