Gwen finished her explanation at the arches that repeated afternoon. "And just before the return in time happened she said…. 'All I could do was…' And then it happened and I never got to find out."
"Then that means that Himiko may know how to defeat XANA!" Jeremie exclaimed, excitedly.
"And that would explain why XANA targeted her." Yumi reasoned. "Because he doesn't want us in contact with her."
Gwen stared, watching the children come and go in the school yard. "So how are we going to change the timeline?" She asked curiously.
"Actually, I had an idea." Aelita's eyes searched out two tiny figures in the school yard. "And I see my idea coming this way now. Jeremie, do you mind giving up your ticket to the social?"
"Not at all, why?"
"Aelita Stones, do you have any comment on the pizza social held by the anime club tonight?" Asked Millie as she came forward. Tamia had a mini camcorder with her and was filming the conversation.
"Well Millie, I was just going to ask you the very same question." Aelita said with a wave for the camera. "You see, Jeremie and I can't come tonight, we have plans, so we were hoping that you and Tamia could cover the social for us and tell us what happens tomorrow? What do you say?" Aelita held out the offered tickets.
"You'd give up your tickets for us?" Millie asked, dropping her "reporter face" and exchanging it for that of an excited little girl. "Thank you Aelita, thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Aelita found herself the subject of much glompage and snugs and other gestures of elementary school age affection. The tickets were almost snatched from her hand as the two girls bounced up and down.
"You're welcome, but it starts in 2 and a half hours, so you should hurry and find a costume. I have some outfits you can use, doesn't have to be anime. But you two had better primp go on and enjoy yourselves." Aelita said with a kindhearted smile.
"And I'll see if I can get you a costume too." Yumi said with a wink as she caught on. "I know I have a couple of costumes small enough."
"THANK YOU!" Glomp. Yumi's turn for glompage, then the two girls flounced off to their rooms to get primped.
"I'd better find some of my old Halloween costumes for them. What were you going to lend them Aelita?" Yumi asked curiously.
"Well, I'm short enough, I figured I could pin up the elf's robes and it would fit them." Aelita replied. "I've been learning to sew recently, and this would be good practice."
The party was wonderful, even if Jeremie and Aelita couldn't come. The two of them sat up in Jeremie's room. Mikael had left for the party awhile ago. Jeremie stared out the window at the lit gym, the sounds of music and merrymaking.
"Aelita… I've been thinking lately… and…. Remember the conversation we had earlier? I… I think I'm a homosexual." Jeremie stammered slightly.
"Jeremie!" Aelita pulled her friend into a hug. "It's okay! I'm not angry at you! You're my friend! I care about you! Don't be afraid!"
Jeremie had not been expecting quite that reaction. "You're not upset?"
"Have you forgotten what we talked about this morning?" Aelita asked with a soft smile. "We're the same!"
Jeremie stemmed a tear from his eye. "Yes, we're the same."
"So, let's put away our tears. No regrets?" Asked Aelita with a smile.
"None." Jeremie agreed.
The next afternoon the others all gathered at the factory. "Okay Gwen, this will be your first time with Lyoko. So I'm going to send Odd and Ulrich ahead and send you Yumi and Aelita after. Go down to the scanner room and I'll send you there. I sure hope that XANA's profile that he made for you isn't booby trapped. I'm sending you to the Forest Sector, it's the easiest to train in."
"It will be okay." Aelita assured him. "Shall we go?"
Gwen stood in the scanner room. "Transfer Odd, Transfer Ulrich, Scanner Odd, Scanner Ulrich, Virtualization…"
The scanners opened and were empty. Gwen, trembling, entered the scanner.
"Transfer Yumi, transfer Aelita, transfer Gwen…" Gwen felt wind ripple up the tunnel of the scanner, making her hair whip around her. "Scanner Yumi, Scanner Aelita, Scanner Gwen…"
Then there was a flash of that golden light and… "Virtualization!"
Gwen's vision faded to black. The others materialized in the normal fashion. But when Gwen materialized she started surrounded by a ball of silver light. The ball slowly faded to reveal Gwen in a fetal position. A silver XANA mark appeared on her forehead, glowing with almost blinding silver light as she slowly uncoiled and landed gracefully on her feet.
The XANA mark disappeared. Gwen turned to look at her hands. They were covered in the same fingerless black gloves she wore when she was in the real world. She had an almost winglike cape of shimmering black feathers attached to her arms at the wrists and elbows. Bronze metal edged her boots, with almost talon like extrusions on them. She wore a tight black body suit from head to toe with a nasty datchi slung over her back and a red and black glass flute, carved like a phoenix, hung from a loose blood red silk sash. There was blood red edging along the collar, sleeves, and ankles of the body suit.
"Wow Gwen, very dashing." Odd commented, peering at her curiously.
"Yeah, but that XANA mark worries me." Ulrich said with a low growl.
"What XANA mark?" Jeremie asked.
"When Gwen materialized she had a silver XANA mark glowing on her forehead. It's gone now…" Aelita reported.
"How does Gwen show up on the scanners Jeremie?" Asked Yumi, trying to change the subject a little.
"Checking…" Then. "I was right. Gwen shows up as a monster with… now this is odd… XANA gave her 120 lifepoints instead of 100. I wonder why? I mean, Gwen is a threat to him isn't she?"
Aelita groaned. "XANA has reasons for everything he does. And whatever he wants with Gwen can't be good."
Then suddenly… "You guys, you've got company. Two tarantula's and the scithozoa with them are coming from one side. Two crabs and a megatank are coming from the other."
"Okay, Yumi, protect Aelita and Gwen. Odd and I will take care of the monsters right Odd?"
"You got it!" Odd turned to one side.
"I'm not going to stand around and let the two of you have all the fun!"
"But Gwen…" And then the monsters were there.
The crab pointed and hissed something to Gwen. The tarantulas responded in unison with a creel and the scithozoa crooned, crooking a tentacle at Gwen. It took a few seconds for Gwen's ability to keep up with the chatter.
/She is one of us! Crab sensed so/ Said a crab.
/No she is one of them! See? She walks and talks like them/ The tarantula argued.
/The Master sent her a gift! Remember the Master had me edit her data/ Asked the Scithozoa.
/The Master seems to be awefully fond of it./ Pointed out the Megatank.
/What do we do with her/ Asked the other tarantula.
/She is one of us! Crab cannot fight her/ Said the other crab.
An argument ensued among the monsters with the humans caught in the middle.
"Er… what are they doing?" Ulrich asked, looking from one to the other.
"Having a very confusing argument." Replied Gwen with a roll of her eyes.
"What about?" Jeremie wondered.
"I think they're arguing over what they think I am, monster or human. They… er… seem to be very confused… And I swear the crabs keep referring to themselves in the third person. It's… scary… and it? Excuse me Mr. Megatank? I am NOT an it!" Gwen huffed.
"So they came to see what we're up to…" Jeremie said thoughtfully.
The scithozoa creeled and made a move towards Gwen. /Child, I… er… apologize for the confusion… they were all curious…/
/And very confused./ Gwen said in monster speech with a roll of her eyes.
/It speaks/ Cried the megatank. /It speaks our language/
/Crab did not think she could do this…/ Commented one of the crabs.
/Neither… did I…/ Said the tarantula, peering curiously at Gwen. It gave her a gentle poke, then another… poke… poke…
/Can you stop that please? I feel like a fish in a fishmarket./ Gwen rolled her eyes. /Now did you all come here to gawk or did you come here to fight/
/Oh that's right! We were sent to fight/ One of the tarantulas perked up. /We were sent to test your skills Gwen…/ The tarantula explained.
"What did they say?" Ulrich mouthed.
"Here to test me…" Gwen mouthed to him.
"Um… you guys… now would be a good time to get out of there if you can." Jeremie said nervously.
Gwen made the first move. She leapt into the air and unsheathed her datchi. "Butterfly strike!" She growled as she landed on the back of the nearest tarantula and stabbed the XANA mark. The tarantula's scream was like a knife on raw nerves.
Everything exploded into action. The crabs fired Gwen leapt into the air after them, her cape filling with wind and allowing her to glide out of the way. "Wow…"
Yumi sent her fans into the air, the first one chopping the nearest crab right along the back. Ulrich sprinted after the tank and chopped downward viciously at the exposed inside. Too late! The tank fired!
Gwen was on the ground by then, and on instinct she crouched, wrapping her cape around her body and ducking her head under it. The blast hit head on. "WATCH OUT!" Jeremie cried in alarm.
"What are my lifepoints looking like after that blast?" Asked Gwen worriedly.
"That's odd, whatever you did it cut the tank's blast damage in half." Jeremie said curiously. Then, "Watch out Aelita! The scithozoa!"
The scithozoa had taken Aelita into its deadly grip and had commenced draining her memories.
Odd climbed up a nearby tree and… still clinging to it, he shot a laser arrow down on the other tarantula. He missed, once, twice, three times, getting the monster on the 4th. The other crab was destroyed when Gwen grabbed it on one side and flipped up onto its back. "Demonica flamethrower!" She shot pure purple fire at the XANA mark. With a scream the crab exploded beneath Gwen, who landed on her butt.
From his vantage point it was Odd, not Gwen, who shot three of the scithozoa's tentacles off and emptied the last of his clip of arrows into the monster's jellylike body. Aelita dropped to the ground… "We were almost too late. Aelita had 10 units of memory left. You need to get out of there. Training can wait." Jeremie said with both disgust and angst. "Divirtualization, Aelita, Devirtualization Yumi, Devirtualization Gwen…"
Gwen was slowly disappearing. "OH!" She cried as a flash of golden light enveloped her and suddenly Gwen was staggering out of the scanners. A few seconds later the scanner doors closed behind her and revealed Ulrich and Odd. Yumi quickly dragged a still stunned Aelita out of the scanners.
"oooooh…" Aelita groaned. "My head and… oh no… oh no no no…"
"Aelita!" Jeremie cried as he practically leapt from the elevator.
"No no no no no! This can't be happening!" Aelita moaned softly as Yumi cradled her close.
"What's wrong?" Jeremie asked as he knelt by Aelita with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Can't… remember… holes… memory…" Aelita murmured softly. "I… I can't remember you…" She cried softly. "And I so want to…" Aelita burst into tears.
"I'm Jeremie… you… you don't remember me?" Jeremie's eyes were wide.
"No… I don't… I remember the others… I remember Gwen and Yumi and Odd and Ulrich, but not you…"
"Jeremie… I'm sorry… I tried…" Odd said helplessly.
"No…" Jeremie's voice was soft, and at once dangerous and sad. "You tried Odd… It's XANA's fault…" He was trembling in rage. "I… I'll get him back for this… he won't get away with it…"
A black cloud began to ooze from one of the nearby wires. It slowly took form and became a shadowy figure, black from head to toe. The figure changed… it took form… and… everybody gasped.
This figure was dressed like Aelita, but had black hair, menacing red eyes, her clothes were black and white instead of pink and green and the way she carried herself, head held high, was totally unlike Aelita at all!
"Who… who are you?" Jeremie demanded as he recovered his composure.
"I'm mortified! Oh the calamity..." The figure said with a malicious grin on her face. "You mean you don't recognize your old friend XANA?"