The week went by slowly, Monday night Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich went through the network to destroy the first of the last few replikas and it actually went off without Odd or I having to go in. Tuesday Yumi, Aelita, and I went thrift shopping and we all had a break from Lyoko. Wednesday there was a X.A.N.A. attack/destroying replika combo deal where I was made into a human target for X.A.N.A.-fied Jim and subordinate X.A.N.A.-fied gym class. Odd ended up going into Lyoko and losing his 2% but since we got rid of a replika, it sort of balanced out. Thursday was the least eventful day of the week, and then Friday was our final Replika destroying mission before the big destruction of X.A.N.A.. I spent most of the night sitting around talking with Odd and Aelita while Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie went in to the replika.
"So do you two have all of your music planned for tomorrow?" I asked Odd and Aelita while playing a board game with Aelita. Odd was monitoring the mission..
"Yep, we've planned the whole night out; it is going to be great!" Odd said.
"Odd has some freaky samples we're going to try since it's a Halloween party. Emma, do you have a costume yet?" she asked me.
"I'm going to try making it tonight or buying one if I can't figure out how to make something. Aelita, can you help me?" I asked her.
"What are you going to be?" Odd asked, curious.
"It's a surprise," I told him.
"No fair! Aelita gets to see it…" Odd protested.
"She's not you, now is she?" I asked.
"No one comes close to being remotely like Odd," Aelita told me and I giggled.
"That's why I love him, he's one of a kind," I explained to her. "Your move," I told her, looking down at the game board.
"Hey, wait," odd said suddenly. "Jeremie, watch it, there's some monsters on the screen heading your way! Protect the skid!"
"How are Yumi and Ulrich doing on the replika?" Jeremie asked him.
"They found the computer but it's guarded. They are working on it," Odd replied. Aelita and I abandoned the game to see what was going on.
"Looks like Ulrich could take out the guards pretty easily, why isn't he?" I asked.
"There's a force field and they can't get past it," Odd replied. "Yumi is trying to find the power source to deactivate it and Ulrich is distracting the incoming guards. If their teleportation stops before they can kill the computer…"
"They can do this," Aelita assured. I could feel her tense body growing tenser. She needed the reassurance more than Odd and I did.
"Found it! Ulrich, do your thing!" Yumi hollered and Ulrich lashed out against the guards and then took out the super computer in a few swift blows. Odd went to work bringing the two back to Jeremie, and Jeremie drove the Skid back to Lyoko.
"Guys, we did it!" I cheered as oddrematerialized Jeremie and Yumi. "We can kill X.A.N.A. now, can't we?"
"We can try. I'm staying up tonight to make the preparations and I'll launch it tomorrow morning. I'll just need Aelita and an escort," Jeremie said when he walked out of the scanner.
"I volunteer," Odd said eagerly.
"Hopefully he doesn't try any bullshit before you're able to finish the setup." I crossed my fingers. "Anyway, you don't need Aelita now, right? I need her tonight to help me with my costume."
"Go crazy. I'll call you if anything comes up," Jeremie told me, taking over the computer. "Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi, you guys can all go too if you want."
"I'm going to work on my costume," Odd announced and took off for the basement of the warehouse.
"Why does he like taking the sewers so much?" Yumi wondered. "I much prefer the fresh hair route. Emma, Aelita, I'll come with you."
The three of us left the warehouse, leaving Ulrich behind with Jeremie. We walked toward the shopping district of the city and Yumi bought the three of us coffee for our expedition.
"So what's your costume idea?" Aelita asked me. "It must be great if you want to surprise Odd with it."
"I actually have no idea. I was thinking of recreating my Lyoko outfit but I wouldn't have time to do that now since the dance it tomorrow night," I told the girls. "Got any ideas?"
"I know Odd is being some character from an anime," Aelita told me.
"Yeah, he's being Kyo from fruits basket. He thought it would be funny because Kyo's a cat just like his Lyoko form," I explained. "No one else at the dance will make that connection, obviously but it is kind of funny."
"You should be Tohru!" Yumi exclaimed. "We could get you a wig and set you up with the pieces for one of her outfits."
"Personally I like the school uniform, it's cute," Aelita piped up.
I grinned and nearly squealed with eccitement at that idea. "Oh my gosh! That would be so amazing, you think I'd make a good Tohru though?" I asked her.
"Tohru's pretty easy. I've seen you mimicking Tohru a lot before," Yumi assured me. "Let's go! There's a few stores right by each other that will have everything we need. We'll get the Tohru pieces and just find a mask that will match."
The three of us picked out a few different sets of clothes for my costume and then we focused on Aelita's costume. She wanted to be a cyber-angel… like her Lyoko form. It took us a while but we found white wings that matched her and neon pink spray paint for them. We found a basic pink leotard and tights and then found a see through rubber skirt that looked pretty close to the one she wore on Lyoko.
"Why did Jeremie design it to be see-through?" I wondered.
"I think it was just the way it came out. I'm not sure if he had any control over it," Aelita told me.
"Still, it looks better the way it is, I'd say," Yumi stated. She found a bracelet that matched the one Aelita had and tossed it into our basket. "I think we're about done. You girls want to go to dinner after we're done here?" She asked us. "We can add the detail to Aelita's costume later when we do the wings."
"That sounds like a great idea," Aelita answered, sifting through the basket of supplies. "Yumi are you sure you don't want us to sneak you in? To be honest I don't think Jim will mind if you're there anyway."
"I'm sure. I'm glad me and Ulrich are finally getting a chance to go on a real date just the two of us," she said with an abashed smile.
"It's about freaking time," I told her.
Aelita paid for her things and the three of us went to dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was a hole-in-the-wall small place that Yumi recommended. We went back to Kadic and sprayed Aelita's wings and added all of the other detail she needed for her costume. We went to our room and we both tried everything on. Yumi helped perfect everything. By the time we were done we were all satisfied with what we had.
A knock at the door made me jump and I hid behind Aelita, knowing who it probably was.
"Aelita, Emma!" Jeremie's voice called. "Girls, it's X.A.N.A. he's attacking."
Yumi opened the door and there stood Ulrich and Jeremie, panting. "There's a spectre of Mr. Chardin going after Odd. It hasn't been 12 hours yet so…"