2-3: Familiar

Here is where it starts getting interesting!

(((-3-)))

Janika appeared in the desert and fell to the ground. Odd virtualized beside her. She flexed her hands and took out a star. It was Yumi's turn to be the hunted so she'd already gone ahead. Too bad Ulrich had to stay behind at school. Jeremy had checked the area to make sure it was safe, but he still remained edgy from the day before.

"You guys be careful."

Odd and Janika saw a collection of boulders farther west and headed that way. Yumi could be hiding anywhere in them. Odd caught sight of a figure taking cover a couple hundred yards to their left. He motioned to his partner what he had seen and they slowly crept closer, keeping to the shadows.

She didn't know the fan was there until it smacked into her back, then she was seeing birdies. She fell to the ground in pain. "You said she was over there!" she accused.

Odd started to shrug, then stopped. His face went blank and he froze. Yumi was beside them in a moment, the hunt over. "He sees the future."

"Huh?" She hadn't heard about this.

He blinked and looked up at Yumi. "Get down!" he shouted, tackling her. "It'll see you! It was shooting lasers at us. Jeremy, can't you see it on your sensors?"

"What should I be seeing?"

"It looks like a big rat covered with spikes and—Janika? What's wrong?"

She grabbed him and pulled him closer, her voice a dangerous whisper. "What did you just say!"

"A rat—" He was cut off by her snarl as she tossed him aside like a rag doll.

Rage and fury filled her until she felt she would rupture. With a half-wild cry, Janika sprang to her feet, bounding over the boulders toward the creature's hiding place. The strange new enemy came out to meet her, baring its teeth.

It seemed to be a rat made from rusty metal, but there was nothing coarse in its actions. The thing moved with agility as it vaulted to the ground and looked straight at its adversary. The cheetah-girl covered yards in leaps, getting closer every second.

The rat's mouth opened and it shot a lance of light directly at Janika. It hit her on the arm, but she didn't even slow when Jeremy warned her about her life points. A barrage of bolts continued to rain down, but she flung a star at it just before she vanished. The creature gave a squeal as the weapon struck the symbol on its forehead and caused it to explode.

The two friends looked at each other in confusion. "Did you understand that at all?"

Yumi shook her head. "She just went crazy."

(V)

"Janika?" Odd called as he got out of the scanner. The room was empty except for him and Yumi. "Where is she?"

"Maybe she went up to talk to Jeremy." The lift was in use.

But Jeremy was just as confused as they were. "I saw her disappear, then I devirtualized you two. I thought she'd be there when you got out."

"Call her cell phone."

"She doesn't have one, Yumi. She told me herself that she hates those things."

Just then Ulrich called. "Hey Jeremy, do you know why Janika is running toward the dorms? She didn't even look my way when I called to her. I figured something might be wrong at the factory."

Jeremy's brows furrowed. "So she went back to school. She got devirtualized by another one of those weird rat-like things that I can't see."

"I guess we won't be practicing today if something's up then, huh?"

He nodded. "You're right. It's too dangerous to do anything on Lyoko until we figure out more about X.A.N.A.'s new henchbots."

The three friends left the factory and went straight to the dorms. Jeremy had just turned on his computer when someone knocked on his door. Janika was there. He posed the question to her. "You vanished without telling us where you were going earlier. Why?"

"I had to find out something, and I'm afraid I was right." She held out her laptop. "Look."

Silently Jeremy set her laptop on his desk and opened it. On the screen was a skillful digital drawing of a rat covered with spines. Text boxes describing certain features and other things surrounded it.

He stared at the image for a few minutes. "This is the thing that attacked you."

"It's a Ratt. I've had that in my computer for months. I was trying to design a game at the time, but I got distracted and forgot about it. There are a couple other creatures I created too, but this was the only one I really worked on."

"So what are you saying?"

"That's not all." Janika minimized the picture and opened a smaller link. A program describing a force field that repelled tracking popped up. "This is something I got from the internet. You know how it is in most video games where you walk around a screen and don't see any enemies, and then you get attacked by monsters? Well, this is the simplest program for hiding them."

Oh no! What will happen next? Stay tuned for the next chapter: Janika's Rejection and Ultimate Death.