8-5: Flying High

I have a job now, so my chapters may be coming slower than ever for a while. At least I managed to finish this one w/ a little help… (makes goo-goo eyes at a certain cute internet boyfriend) Read and enjoy.

(((-5-)))

Janika turned out to be too wild with pain to reason with, so the gang was forced to leave her behind. Odd objected strongly to abandoning their friend until Jeremy explained that there would be nothing they could do for her unless they fixed the Tower, which would probably be easier if he came along.

They managed to sneak through the baffled crowd outside and into the park without getting caught by anyone. Jeremy tried to contact Yumi, but she wouldn't answer her phone. Odd whispered to Horthe for a few minutes and she smiled agreeably before lifting off from the ground and flying away with a happy little aerial twist.

The others looked at him. "Okay, exactly what did you just do?" Ulrich asked.

"I gave her directions to Yumi's house. We'll probably need her on Lyoko and this is the quickest way to get hold of her."

"You know," Aelita started. "Odd, you seem to be placing a lot of trust in her. Why is that?"

He suddenly looked nervous. "It's just that…I had a vision and, well…you see things you can't really describe and they don't make any sense, but you know that if that person isn't there, the whole thing will fall apart and we'll lose."

They blinked.

"So…you're saying that without her we won't be able to defeat X.A.N.A.," the computer whiz clarified.

"Yeah. Look, let's just get going. We can trust her to take care of Yumi. C'mon! She's our ally. The worst thing Horthe could do is startle her."

(V)

The Pawn took in the assorted scents of Earth, musing at the differences and variations. How beautiful and singular they all were. Even things that were the same did not smell completely alike. It almost made her want to cry for joy at the wonder of it all.

What a pleasure it would be to live here! Humans were so blessed. Why were they always looking around as if they were bored when there was so much splendor surrounding them?

Horthe found Yumi's house easily. The window was open and she was sitting alone in her room, dressed in a very skimpy outfit. She wondered why humans wore such strange things as she flew down and hovered just outside.

The Japanese girl was drying her wet hair with a towel and muttering angrily to herself, "The nerve! The absolute gall of him to go play with her and then act like nothing happened! Well, I'll give him something to think about! Before I'm done with him, he'll be begging for me to—Samantha!"

Horthe smiled and floated inside at which point Yumi really went crazy, screaming and dashing about. "The gang is waiting for us. Aren't you coming? Odd didn't give me directions, so you'll have to tell me where to go."

But Yumi continued to scream as she rushed for the door. Horthe felt that perhaps this human did not entirely understand her motives. A strong breeze pushed Yumi back from the wall and the dark-skinned girl caught her arm.

"Quit fooling around. We have to defeat X.A.N.A. and the others couldn't get hold of you to ask you to come. Odd told me to get you."

She continued to struggle, but at the mention of her friend she grew quieter. Her hand snaked out to snag a small bag with clothing inside as she was dragged toward the exit, but before they could reach it the door burst open and two Japanese adults stormed in!

What Yumi's parents saw was an unusual girl with colored windblown hair dragging their precious daughter (dressed only in her unmentionables) toward the window in an attempt to throw her out!

The woman screamed and fell back, scared stiff, but her father surged forward in a panicked rush to rescue his little girl.

Horthe was too quick. She jumped out the window, dragging Yumi with her as billowing columns of air lifted them swiftly into the sky. The black-haired girl looked back and saw her father's bewildered expression before they were too far away. She held onto the Pawn, nearly digging her fingernails in.

"I hate heights!" she yelled over the wind as they soared higher. Her face was turning green already.

The dark-skinned girl laughed aloud at that, the idea so foreign and absurd that it was hilarious. Yumi clutched the bag in one hand and tightened her grip on Horthe's arm, this time digging her nails in on purpose.

(V)

The others waited beside the elevator, still breathing heavily from their dash through the sewers. They looked up as Horthe and Yumi came in. Ulrich raised as eyebrow as he noticed Yumi's brown-plaid skirt and baby blue top that she had hurriedly covered herself with. None of them had ever expected her to have an outfit like that.

He caught her gaze and she blushed beet red but refused to look directly at him again, clearly upset.

The computer genius gave them a half-smile. "That was quick. We just got here. Well, let's go see what we can do about X.A.N.A.."

They all piled into the lift (a tight squeeze) and went down to the lab. Jeremy ran over to his console and turned it on. He sat there, staring slack-jawed at the lines of code running across the screen.

"Uh…Aelita? You'd better come here and tell me what you can make of this."

The pink-haired girl walked over and gaped as well as she caught sight of the monitor.

"What has X.A.N.A. done?" she gasped. She reached out to touch the screen almost to assure herself it wasn't a dream. "It makes no sense."

As if by magic, the strange code vanished and the regular screen appeared. The gang exchanged several looks as though curious to see whether anyone else had noticed the strange occurrence. They gulped, wondering if it was safe to go to Lyoko.

"Well, there's really nothing we can do except go," Yumi said.

Jeremy tapped a few keys. "Maybe we should just transfer one person to see if it will work correctly."

Odd stepped forward, completely serious. "We all need to go right now. The clock is ticking and we only have so much time."

The boy in glasses inclined his head toward Horthe. "What about…her?"

"We all need to go," he repeated more forcefully.

Jeremy stared at him for a long moment before saying, "Fine. Everyone get down to the scanners. I'll have to do this in two rounds: the girls first, boys second. Now get going."

They left and he closed his eyes, concentrating. "Samantha, I know you can hear me," he whispered. "Please answer! It's Jeremy. Where are you?"

She replied snootily back at him, giving him zip. Luckily, Lyoko's scanner picked up her form in the Forest Region. He typed in the coordinates and had just finished transferring his friends and Horthe to the virtual world when lights all over the factory went dead.

Jeremy sat there looking at the softly glowing screen while Lyoko's globe hung suspended in the air behind him. It seemed okay, but what was wrong with the lights? Had X.A.N.A. gone after the power plant again?

"Jeremy! Jeremy!" Ulrich's voice came over his headset.

"I'm here. Something happened to the power."

"Uh…I have a little problem. My weapon is missing."

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