9-3: Surf's Up
Thanks to Kayrana's plaintive request, I decided to get stressed out writing this chapter today so that I could post it before she left on her trip, so this chappie is also dedicated to her. Hope you like it and have a great vacation!
(((-3-)))
Aelita stood frozen by the Pawn's stare. She had to do something, but what! There was no one left in the dim room. Everyone had fled in fear when Krelle stood up with her eyes radiating a sickening blue color. She was alone.
The enemy appeared puzzled and opened her mouth. "Subject A present; subject B missing. Error—error—error!" Krelle appeared to twitch and spasm uncontrollably. Eyes glowing with a troubled misty light, the Pawn cast wildly about until she encountered her element.
Seizing it in her mental grasp, she tried using it to balance the miscalculation that prevented her from carrying out her Master's command. Something blocked it from the dry area they stood in. Something hard, but liquid as well. She exerted more strength.
Cracks crept up the length of the glass, splintering and streaking along. Aelita saw the running lines and gasped. "Stop it, Krelle! You don't have to obey X.A.N.A.! Don't break the glass, please!"
Suddenly behind her, Dan brought both hands together down on Krelle's head and she dropped like a stone at the same time that the glass all around them broke.
Torrents of water, now freed, surged out through the openings carrying fish, crabs, manta rays, and small sharks along. Aelita cried out, not knowing how to swim.
Dan's hand grasped her arm and held on as they were swept along with the raging waters toward the exit. Sunlight blinded the materialized girl for a few moments, but her rescuer hauled her instantly to her feet and raced through the crowd in an attempt to get away.
"And I thought I was going to be bored today," he chuckled.
(V)
X.A.N.A. angrily surveyed the wretch he had created. Pitiful. Her orders kept her from attacking the A.I. directly unless the other was with her as well. The program could not be rewritten at this stage, but he could modify it enough to make her useful again. Partly, anyway.
"Rise from your madness," came his command. "Pursue the enemies and those who protect them. Destroy all who oppose my will, slave."
(V)
Ulrich hurried out of the museum entrance, hoping they had lost Mrs. Hertz. She had caught them sneaking off and they'd made a break for it, splitting up with the promise of meeting each other outside.
He saw Yumi wave to him from across the street beside a café with a band playing within and ran to join her. Jeremy and Odd were already there, Odd ravenously eyeing the food so close. They were just getting worried about their last friend when Janika came barreling out of the museum entrance, bumping and jostling other people as she went. Behind her came two security guards shouting her name and telling her to get back inside with her class.
But even as the four kids watched with growing alarm, she melted into the crowd in the square and vanished. Janika reappeared right beside them and watched the men fruitlessly search for her face among the crowd before finally returning to the museum.
Now that the coast was clear, Jeremy slid into the café to look for a phone he could use for his computer while the others tried to think of places Aelita and Talia would go. They were having little luck.
"We can't do anything at all on Lyoko until we find her," Yumi stated.
"But how long until X.A.N.A.'s attack becomes obvious?"
Suddenly the computer genius came charging through the door of the café and nearly bowled over his friends. "I couldn't lock onto any Towers. X.A.N.A. activated a new Pawn and I'm pretty sure I know who he'd pick for this one."
"Naomi?"
"Amanda?"
"Veronica?"
"No! Aelita is alone with Talia. Why not go after her when we can't protect her? It's the perfect opportunity for him to get rid of her without us interfering." He gripped Ulrich's collar. "We have to find her now!"
The dark-haired boy peeled his friend's hands off his shirt, nodding. "That's clear, Jeremy, but how on earth are we going to find her? The only places we can think of where she might go are the Eiffel Tower (A/N: I hope they live in Paris) and maybe the Market Square, but both of them are so crowded that we'll never be able to find her."
Janika tapped her chin. "Where else would we go if we were tourists?"
"Churches?" Odd put forward.
"She doesn't know anything about religion, Odd," Yumi reprimanded.
"Well, what about pet shops? She likes animals, right?"
Jeremy bit his lip. "Animals… Aelita might have gone to the zoo. She was bugging me about that a couple days ago. But she also pestered me about the Eiffel Tower. I guess I'll go there. Odd, you can come with me. We'll cover more ground in pairs."
"I'll go to the Market Square by myself," Ulrich volunteered. "I'll have three pairs of eyes that'll make it easier to spot her."
"I guess that means Yumi and Janika will take the zoo. Do we have to pay to get into the Eiffel Tower, Einstein?"
The other blonde boy rolled his eyes. "Quit whining, Odd. If we don't save Aelita, who cares about a few measly bucks while X.A.N.A. takes vengeance on us? On the other hand, if we do find her and get to Lyoko, we'll go back in time anyway and you'll get it back. You never think fourth-dimensionally."
"Well, excuuuuse me! I'm just your average teenager who isn't as much of a braniac as you!"
"Can it. The new Pawn could be breathing down Aelita's neck by now and you're complaining about being unintelligent. Split up."
As they separated, Odd ground his teeth together loud enough to be heard over the traffic in the street and the band in the café.
(V)
Dan dragged Aelita along, ducking and weaving through the crowds that had gathered outside the aquarium to witness the strange spectacle. Zoo employees were running pell-mell everywhere trying to save the fish, but luckily the two sopping wet kids were ignored.
"I know I'm going to regret asking," Dan said after introducing himself, "but is there a reason your friend just tried to kill you?"
"Um…she's evil?" she suggested.
"Nice try," the blue-eyed boy said sarcastically.
"Fine! She's the powerful minion of a computer virus named X.A.N.A. and she won't stop until she's destroyed me because I'm the only one that can unleash his hold on Earth's reality!"
He halted so suddenly that she careened into him. "I think I liked the first one better."
"I need to contact my friends. They…oh no." With a sinking heart, Aelita realized she didn't know any of her friends' phone numbers. She had absolutely no way to reach them and wasn't even sure which museum she had come from, making it impossible to backtrack.
She was lost, and a Pawn was hot on her trail!
(V)
Janika parted with her ten dollars reluctantly and then grabbed a map. "There are a gazillion places she could be," she grumbled to Yumi. The older girl took it from her.
"You take the left path, I'll take the right. We'll meet up in fifteen minutes at this misting patio."
"What's a misting patio?"
"I don't know what the real name is! It's one of those things that lightly sprays water on people so they keep cool on hot days."
"Okay. Well, what if while we're searching for her she leaves?"
"Quit pestering me. Just get going and hope that we find her before the Pawn."
"All right. So I go left." Janika started off.
"Your other left," Yumi corrected.
She halted. "I knew that. Just got turned around, that's all." As she began walking the right direction, she looked down at the map and realized she would be passing the aquarium. "Cool! The dolphins are near there too. I wonder if there's a show going on now."
The girl with a dark brown braid turned the corner and saw several squads of zoo workers trying desperately to clean up a disaster. Belatedly, she wished she had asked Yumi to lend her a cell phone.
As she was debating what to do, she saw Aelita stride out of the exit, passing panicking workers carelessly and walking farther into the zoo. With a cheerful cry, she jogged toward her friend.
Janika had almost reached her when she came up short. Something about this girl wasn't right. Sheesh! Why do Aelita and Talia have to look so alike! she rhetorically demanded of herself. At least Jeremy's idea seemed to be accurate. She wasn't acting like herself, which meant she was the enemy.
But where was Aelita?
She heard someone singing a strange song nearby and the dark-haired girl happened to look up at that moment to see a huge creature form out of thin air! It hovered high over the zoo, appearing to be a cross between a dragon and a black bird.
"Aelita…is that you?" she wondered, breaking into a run.
Wondering what's going to happen? You'll just have to wait. And don't forget to make suggestions for Krelle and what she'll do. (And yes, glass IS a liquid; look it up if you don't believe me)