Guess what? With all the wind of oncoming winter, winds that are quite

strong, there have been power outages where I am. And, luckily, there

was a power outage at school! We only had, like, three periods and then

we got to leave at ten o'clock! My parents were surprised. Well, that was

good, because now I get time to write my story! Yayness! Sorry about

this one though... I had to shorten it and rename it! It doesn't have the un-

expected thing XANA is doing yet...

Chapter 8-More Visions

Irene sat in a white wicker chair on the balcony of the upstairs den. She stared

in wonder at papers with what seemed like thousands of neat writing on them.

"Daddy!" she yelled. "Can I color on these?"

Her father, who was reading on the comfy beige couch in the living room, look-

ed out the balcony's glass doors at her. "No, dear. You've got lots of coloring

books in your room, you know."

"I know," Irene replied. "I just like this paper 'cause it's pretty."

She fingered through the different sheets and looked at the print on every single

one like an archaeoligist with an important find. On one sheet was a symbol, a

strange symbol she didn't recognize. A hawk and below it a ribbon with words.

'Hawk Science Industries.'

101010110101001101010101100101010

Aelita woke up to the ever-so-obnoxious beeping of her alarm clock. She slammed

a fist on the top of the clock, where the shut-off button was.

"You stupid thing!" she yelled. "I was on to something! Stop that and you'll be glad

when I save you from that doomsday!"

"What'sa talkin' about?" a voice called from the flat bed next to her. Yumi rose from

the mess of sheets, her eyes half closed and blinking and her hair as much a disaster

as her bed's current state.

"I had a vision about Irene," Aelita said. "Then the alarm clock woke me up."

"Oh, that sucks!" Yumi commented.

"I know!" Aelita agreed.

Yumi stumbled up from bed and to the window where she looked out to the sky. The

sun was rising. "Y'know, you don't need your alarm clock, let alone when it's still set for

wake-up call time. It's summer!"

"Oh, yes, I thought I should have done that!" Aelita exclaimed.

They laughed. "Well, should we go back to sleep?"Aelita asked. "How about we IM Jer?

Y'know, see if he's found something on Irene," Yumi said.

"Good idea," Aelita agreed again.

They walked across the room to Yumi's computer. Yumi sat in the office chair and Aelita

stood next to her.

LYOKOGEISHAGIRL: JER YOU THERE?

2SMART4U: NOT NOW! RESEARCHING! MEET AT FACTORY 2DAY, 10:00!

MUST GO! TELL O+U!

Just like that it ended. "Well, you heard him," Yumi said. "Let's IM Odd and Ulrich and tell

them. So Yumi got Ulrich on his IM screen name.

SAMURAIGUY123: HEY WHAT'S UP?

LYOKOGEISHAGIRL: I'M HERE WITH AELITA. JUST TALKED 2 JER. WANT-

ED 2 TELL U AND ODD SOMETHING. ODD THERE?

SAMURAIGUY123: NO, BUT I'LL TELL HIM IF U TELL ME

LYOKOGEISHAGIRL: OK. HE WAS RESEARCHING, TOLD US 2 MEET HIM

AT THE FACTORY. HE MIGHT HAVE FOUND SOMETHING

SAMURAIGUY123: OK, GOT IT. BYE ( :

LYOKOGEISHAGIRL: BYE ( :

Yumi shut off the computer again. "Wanna get some sleep?" asked Yumi.

Aelita nodded. "Yeah."

10101101010100101001010101010100101

A few hours of sleep, a couple of showers and getting dressed and a big breakfast with

the Ishiyama family later, Aelita and Yumi were in the small foyer of the Ishiyama house,

grabbing their backpacks. Aelita's was empty except for her laptop and cell phone. Yumi

only had a few books and her own cell phone.

Mrs. Ishiyama stood in the foyer, talking to Yumi. "So, you're going to have lunch with

the others at Beat and you'll be back in an hour?"

"Yes, Mama-chan!" Yumi kissed her mother on the cheek. "Say goodbye to Papa-san

and Hiroki for me!"

"Bye, Mrs. Ishiyama!" Aelita said. They ran out the door and grabbed their scooter and skatebaord from beside the porch steps, then opened the gate, stepped onto the sidewalk,

closed it, and sped off to their continuing adventure at the factory.