Chapter 12: Silver Wings

"You were WHAT?"

"I was raped."

The boys were stunned into silence. Cautiously, Dawn tried to gauge their reactions. Jeremie looked stunned and sad. Ulrich and Odd, however, looked furious.

"You should have told us immediately!"

"What would I have said? Besides, it's over now, isn't it?"

"No, Dawn it's not over. I can't believe you kept us in the dark!"

Instead of answering, Dawn simply got up and walked out of the cafeteria. Ulrich and Odd were too indignant to see the silent tears that flowed from her eyes.

Dawn didn't show up the rest of the school day. Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi tried to reason with Odd and Ulrich, but to little avail. When Aelita told Amber what had happened, she nodded.

"I bet I know where she went. Monica and Josh will be there too. Meet us in the factory in one hour."

When Team Lyoko reached the factory, they entered to find Amber and two other people in the control room. One was a man with brown hair, hazelish eyes, and glasses. The other was the blue-haired woman Odd had seen in the infirmary. Amber rose to introduce them.

"Aelita, this will pretty much be pointless for you, since you know everyone. Odd, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Yumi, this is Shana and Josh. I would introduce Monica, but she's in Lyoko with Dawn. Shana, Josh, meet Odd, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Yumi."

The man stepped forward and shook hands with the newcomers, while the woman hugged Aelita. Then, sounds of battle were heard from the computer. Jeremie, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich rushed to see what was happening. Amber and Shana, however, laughed.

"Twenty bucks says Monica gets her ass kicked."

"Forty says Monica mops Lyoko with Dawn's guts when she's through with her."

"Ah, man! Did you see that? Dawn went hyper!"

"Whoo-hoo! Go Dawnie!"

"Come on, Monica! I got money on you!"

In Lyoko, a silver huntress and a black tornado were battling. The silver huntress suddenly glowed a brilliant white and hurled the gathered energy at the tornado. The tornado girl's eyes widened in shock just before she was devirtualized. Back in the control room, bets were being paid and explanations offered.

"You see Jeremie, we built Lyoko for fun. We'd come and battle each other, usually one on one, while the rest of us take bets on who will win."

"That's right. Who wants to go up against Dawn now? What about you, Yumi?"

"Sure."

"Alright. Transfer Yumi. Scanner Yumi. Virtualization."

"Dawnie, your new opponent's on her way."

"Okay.'

Dawn watched as Yumi completed virtualization, and grinned at her new avatar. It was still a kimono, but it was dark blue with silver Japanese dragons on it. Her fan also had silver dragons, but it was a lighter blue and had sharp barbs on the ends of the fan. Yumi looked down at herself in shock.

"Oh, and I hope you don't mind Yumi, but Shana spent today upgrading your avatar. Actually, she upgraded everyone's avatar. You have more hit points, battle and exploration modes, and more abilities. Go ahead and try it out, Yumi."

Yumi raised her fan and looked questioningly at Dawn, who nodded. Quicker than the others could follow, Yumi threw the fan in a deadly arc at Dawn, who dropped and rolled away with time to spare. The fan then came around, and Yumi caught it and smiled.

"This is great!"

"I'm glad you like it. If you're ready, begin the battle."

Yumi nodded and turned her attention to Dawn. Everyone in the factory watched with baited breath as Yumi threw her fan again. Dawn quickly brought her staff up to block it, then swung at Yumi, striking her arm and knocking her down. Yumi was about to retaliate when both fighters were suddenly transported to the polar region and surrounded by crabs. Yumi and Dawn both tensed for an attack, but none of the crabs fired. Yumi cast a glance at Dawn and saw she was equally baffled. She did, however, look worried. Both of their weapons had vanished. From behind them, two masked people jumped into the circle and tied their hands behind their backs. Then a platinum-blonde young man strode through, looking at them with a smirk on his face.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."

He then leaned in closer and looked at each of them more closely. When he looked at Yumi, she held back a gasp of surprise. He had the same green eyes as Amber and Dawn. In her peripheral vision, she saw Dawn nod; silently telling her she was correct in her assumptions. They were prisoners of her brother.

END CHAPTER

Janette: Excitement! Finally!

Sharina: Yeah!

Janette: I wonder how the rest of the team is going to take it....-