Chapter 7 Slumber Party

All the boys were ready and walked down the hallway to the staircase with backpacks full of clothes and toothbrushes, hearts pounding. It was going to be fun at Yumi's—they had never spent more than a couple hours there. So each and every one was excited. Ulrich was excited about spending time with Yumi, Jeremie was excited to see Aelita again (after only a few hours. Jeremie, you dog.). Odd was just plain excited. The trio stepped outside into the gleaming daylight. No monsters in sight. No military troops marching around. All was peaceful. There was a steady breeze, carrying the scent of the park to their noses. They saw the Ishiyamas' car in the parking lot and walked faster to the administrative building. Ulrich opened the door and let everyone else in. Jeremie said hi to the secretary. And finally, Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama and their daughter were waiting patiently in chairs near the front desk.
"Hi, guys!" Yumi said, with a bright smile. They smiled back. "Hey, Ulrich!" She jumped up and gave him a hug, her arms hanging around his neck. Yumi and Ulrich soon realized that they were displaying affection in front of everyone so they separated and blushed. Mr. Ishiyama glanced at Ulrich but said nothing.
"Did you leave Aelita back at your house all alone?" asked Jeremie.
"No. My grandma is still there to keep her company," Yumi answered. Ulrich raised an eyebrow.
"Grandma Ishiyama is visiting? Uh-oh," he said. Jeremie and Odd snapped their heads back and forth from Yumi to Ulrich, confused as to why he knew something they didn't.
"My mother is… well, let's say she has quite an interesting personality," Mrs. Ishiyama said as if she could read their minds. Mr. Ishiyama stood up and signed the sign-out form. The secretary looked towards the boys.
"Your parents? Did they give you permission?" she asked.
"My father called," Jeremie said.
"They said yes," Ulrich replied.
"New Zealand, remember? Mom said she didn't mind if I left campus a long time ago." answered Odd. The blonde-haired secretary smiled and straightened her glasses.
"Okay, then! Have a nice time! Remember, you have to be back by Monday. School starts at 7 AM so don't stay up all night partying." Mr. Ishiyama was about to object and say, "No, I don't think so," but everyone else was already heading to the car.

The car pulled into the driveway of the Ishiyama residence and came to a stop. Four doors opened, and six people stepped out. Six people walked to the front door. One person put a key in the knob and opened the door. A short, old woman with gray hair put in a bun in long brown dress stood in the doorway. "Ah, daughter and son-in-law! You bring more children!" she said, smiling. Now, this woman had a very heavy accent. When she said "son-in-law", it sounded like "sonny-law". Mrs. Ishiyama turned looked very embarrassed, although Yumi greeted her with a "Hi, Grandma". Grandma Ishiyama frowned.
"Whassamatta wichu? You no wanna come in? Shame, shame. Red hair girl and me make my specialty! It's very yummy. You, boy with tall hair. You hungry, yes?" she asked, pointing at Odd. He nodded and stepped inside.
"You see? I know when someone hungry. This boy looks very hungry. Come in! Squid tentacles getting cold." Grandma Ishiyama said. Everyone went inside, Mr. Ishiyama hung up his coat, and the kids dumped their backpacks on the floor. Odd looked at Ulrich with wide eyes.
"SQUID tentacles!" he whispered. Ulrich smiled and rubbed his stomach in a circular motion. Long before they reached the kitchen, a peculiar smell came from around the corner. It was quite hard to place exactly what it was. Finally, the kitchen lay before them. Aelita was washing her hands in the sink, and the smell was stronger than ever. There was a bowl full of something that was golden brown and crunchy-looking in odd shapes, and plates in a stack next to it. Everyone sat down.
"That looks good, Ms… um…" Jeremie started.
"Just call me Grandma Ishiyama. You are young man who red head girl talk about all day, yes?" Jeremie looked over at Aelita and she blushed. (Aw, ain't that cute) When they turned their attention back to the food, Odd was already finishing off the last piece.
"Mmm, that was GOOD! So, where's the squid tentacles? I'm ready for them!" Odd asked. Grandma Ishiyama got very angry.
"YOU JUST ATE ALL THE SQUID TENTACLES!" she said, smacking him in the back of the head.
"Oww! Sorry! I didn't know!" apologized Odd. He rubbed his head. Grandma Ishiyama folded her arms and started mumbling incoherently.
"Stupid big hair boy… eat all my squid tentacles…" Mr. Ishiyama put his hand on her shoulder.
"Why don't we just order pizza?"
"Sounds good to me!" Jeremie spoke up.
"Yeah, sure!" Ulrich said.
"Uh-huh!" Yumi said.

Mr. Ishiyama brought back three boxes of pizza: one for the adults, one for Odd and Aelita, and one for the rest. The kids brought their boxes into the living room and shut the door behind them.
"Well, I think it's too early to start talking about you-know-what," said Jeremie. He grabbed a slice of pizza and leaned back in the couch. (And suddenly, the song "Lean Back" by Terror Squad featuring Fat Joe started playing! ) "What do you want to do?"
"I wanted to make a certain phone call to a certain person so that certain person could come to a certain location, but NOOOO!" Odd grumbled, folding his arms and picking pieces of pepperoni off of the pizza. Aelita grabbed two slices and practically inhaled them.
"You'd better stop eating like that or you're gonna start gaining weight," commented Odd, which made her think for about three seconds before grabbing another slice. The boy in dark purple (mauve? lol) rolled his eyes.
"Wanna watch TV?" Ulrich suggested. Jeremie shrugged and grabbed the remote.
"What's 'Tee-Vee'?" asked Aelita with a big "HUH?" plastered on her face.
"Television. It's a means of communication. People watch programs, movies, and newscasts on them. It's meant for entertainment." he explained, flicking it on. There was a cartoon on with a cat trying to whack a mouse with a spatula. (Can you guess what that is? )
"Wow! It's like a drawing, but it's moving! With sound! Fascinating!" Aelita exclaimed, gluing her eyes to the television set.
"I'd sit back if I were you. Or else you might end up with big, thick glasses like Jeremie!" said Yumi, putting her fingers around her eyes to imitate a pair of glasses.
"Hey!" Jeremie frowned.
"Heh heh, sorry. Couldn't resist." Aelita chuckled and sat back a little.Click! Jeremie changed the channel. It was a music video. Click! A news show. Click! A sitcom with a woman with red hair and a very feminine man in a black suit. (Oh, the references! ) Click!
"Jeremie," said the ex-virtual being, "can't you stay at one channel for more than three seconds? I'm sure whoever made those worked very hard on it and would appreciate it if someone watched it."
"No, Aelita, he cannot. Sadly, he is a male, and it is physically impossible for one to do that." Yumi stated. All of the boys got pretty steamed and objected.
"Jeez, Yumi! What is up with you today?" Ulrich asked. Yumi looked at him and put on a really sad puppy-dog face. Ulrich rolled his eyes at her. Odd looked up from the TV guide he was reading.
"Hey, there's a movie marathon coming on soon! It's called, 'The Most Traumatizing Monster Movies of All Time'! They promise it will emotionally damage small children. Sounds cool! It's on Channel 27!" he announced, snatching the remote from Jeremie and switching to Channel 27. A very scary-looking man appeared on the screen.
"Welcome," he said in an eerie voice, "to The Most Traumatizing Monster Movies of All Time. If you have weak constitutions, are pregnant, or under the age of 10, we advise you to change the channel immediately or else you may wind up in a mental hospital with severe neurosis. And now, the first movie in our line up: The Curse of the Mutant Alien Zombie Soccer Moms from the Future." Jeremie 'eep'-ed.
"Um, Aelita, I'm just letting you know that this will not be a good experience if you end up not liking monster movies. That movie was banned in 15 countries because of extreme horror, the Pope announced it 'the movie from Hell', and I'm pretty sure that's the why my Aunt Lily died of a heart attack." Aelita looked at him wide-eyed.
"I'm just kidding! My Aunt Lily is still alive. But the other parts were true." he assured her. The movie started and Odd turned off the lights. A loud scream came from the television set.
"Someone help! Please, help!" A woman in tattered clothes said, running into a police department.
"What's the problem, miss?" asked an officer.
"It was so horrible! Those hideous, terrible things came right down from the sky! They came in their strange SUVs with glowing lights and equipment in the trunks and landed in our backyard!" The police officer grabbed hold of her and shook her out of hysteria.
"Who came? Who came!" The screen letter boxed and the camera focused on the woman's mouth.
"The Mutant Alien Zombie Soccer Moms!" An unearthly, scary, Twilight Zone-ey theme song played and the movie title appeared on the screen.

It was 11 PM when the movie marathon was finally over. Odd was looking rather pale, shaking nervously. Aelita had jumped up on Jeremie's lap and was looking at the screen with wide eyes. Jeremie was practically hyperventilating, and Yumi's hand was up to her wide-open mouth in shock. Ulrich was squeezing Yumi in a panicked death hug and was whimpering like a small child.
"Ahem… well, I suppose it's late enough to start our little discussion about EMPIRE and what we're going to do about it. Let me go see if the adults are still awake," Jeremie said, beginning to stand up. Yumi grabbed his arm.
"No, that's okay. They were asleep a long time ago. I checked on them when I went to the bathroom during The Great Grandmother of Chucky," she said.
"I thought you went during I was A Pre-Teenaged Blob," commented Ulrich.
"You're both wrong!" shouted Odd. "It was during It came from Bob's Fish Market!" Suddenly, everyone began arguing about when Yumi went to the bathroom.
"ENOUGH!" the boy genius yelled. "What does it matter anyway? Now, about EMPIRE. It seems that their plan is to take control of planet Earth. Wild idea as it seems, with the power of the super calculator, the time-space modifying device, and the materialization program, it just might be possible. Obviously, Dr. Gibson is in need of mental help. And we can't have a world with crazy tyrants ruling everything in a so-called 'idealistic society'. We need a world… free from danger. It's our job to stop them."
"But how will we stop them? We're just six kids and EMPIRE is an army!" Odd asked.
"I know that. And I also know that we can't exactly be everywhere at once…"
"You can't," corrected Ulrich.
"AS I WAS SAYING, we can't be all over the place to stop them if they decide to invade Russia or something. All the countries have militaries, of course, but with the new technology and monsters Dr. Gibson can create, they can be unstoppable. But, we still have a glimmer of hope. They control everything through Lyoko, and if we could go into Lyoko and fight them from the inside, it's possible we can shut off their greatest resource. Also, Hope has told me about EMPIRE's next plans. They want to expand Lyoko so that it covers the entire globe, so it would be almost like another dimension. It would also be easier to materialize monsters on the spot that way."
"YOU talked to Hope!" shouted a certain spiky haired blonde. Jeremie ignored him.
"I'm afraid I don't understand the concept. What do you mean by that? And how would they accomplish that? Lyoko is contained in the computer, right?" inquired Yumi.
"Yes, that's true. In a way. I should know. But Lyoko is already a kind of a parallel universe. It's just computer-enhanced. The super computer contains the power necessary to run Lyoko, and also acts as a portal into the parallel universe. It's hard to understand, but that's not the point," Aelita said.
"The point is that we may be able to reverse the process that would allow monsters to phase into the real world. It is virtualization, but by a different method. We could be virtualized from anywhere if we had the proper technology." Jeremie said.
"Don't you mean WE can be virtualized from anywhere?" asked Ulrich.
"No, I'm coming too. There's no super calculator for me to operate anymore, remember? So, we will be fighting them both on Lyoko and in the real world. They no doubt would have their own soldiers virtualized in Lyoko, and we need to thwart their plans for this world as well. That would be easier to accomplish since we could, in theory, virtualize into Lyoko, go to a certain point, and then de-virtualize and end up anywhere we want."
"Okay, that all sounds fine and good, but where are we going to get that new technology?" asked Odd.
"From EMPIRE, of course. We need to steal some of their tech and then reverse engineer it. Hope will help, but we need more than that. That's why we need to call her." Jeremie finished. Then there was the loud squeak of the door opening.
"Who's there?" asked Odd, a bit frightened.
"It's me," said Hope, flipping on the light. "I have some really bad— " Aelita hiccuped. And hiccuped. And hiccuped more and more, uncontrollably.
"Oh no," whispered the double agent, turning pale. "It's started already!"