Darkness. That was the first thing Jeremie became aware of. He appeared to be floating in an endless black void, while at the same time he felt like he was lying on something hard and unyielding. It was so dark he couldn't even see his own body. Who had turned the lights off, He wondered.
The solution to his problem came stumbling through his post-concussion delirium: Open your eyes.
Jeremie did so. He was still in the control room. He saw a blonde head of hair extending above the top of the chair, and guessed correctly that it was the polymorphic clone. It seemed to be grumbling to itself. Jeremie tried to move, but then he saw that that was impossible with electric ropes binding him hand and foot. Plus, this probably wasn't the time to make his consciousness known; the clone would just knock him out again, and Jeremie wanted to see what Xana had to say to himself.
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Odd, in a rare stroke of genius, had come up with a good theory of what had happened when Ulrich sent Aelita packing. Since they were in a virtual world, city or no city, it meant that all their memories, all their wants and fears, their personalities, their interests, even their dreams were data in digital files. Anyone who had the ability to hack into these files, therefore, could read all this information like an open book. Odd jokingly compared it to the user's omniscient role in The Sims. They could even, with access to the right files and commands, make them act upon the dreams they had had. It was a scary thought, and they didn't even know who was doing it to them.
And it was happening all the time. Ever since Aelita had run off, and they started to search for her, the "dream influence", as they called it, had struck again and again. It never lasted for more than five minutes, but it was incredibly annoying. At one point, Ulrich had suddenly drawn his sword and started swinging it wildly, shouting threats as he battled minions of Xana that existed only in his imagination.
Later, Yumi had started dancing gracefully rather than walking, and Odd and Ulrich nearly applauded her skill before she stopped rather suddenly, the influence gone, and tripped in the middle of the maneuver. Then Odd ran over to a nearby rock, picked it up, and started stroking it. When Yumi and Ulrich asked him what he was doing, he merely said, "Shhh, Kiwi's sleeping." and left it at that.
"Ugh. Someone out there really wants to torment us." Ulrich said, later, as they continued the search.
"You're telling me. I never thought of myself as the type to dance, and just when I thought I might actually be good at it, I trip over a rock." Yumi said, with a little laugh.
They were silent for a little while.
"Hey, Yumi... I want to apologize for what I did to Aelita. It was really stupid of me." Ulrich said, his voice downcast.
"It's not your fault Ulrich." Yumi said, as a strange look flitted through her eyes, and she draped an arm over Ulrich's shoulder. "And when we find Aelita, I'm sure that I can convince her to forgive you too."
And with that, she pulled him into an embrace and kissed him passionately on the lips.
Ulrich was surprised at first, but without thinking, he returned it with gusto. Odd was staring at them as though they had suddenly started sprouting celery from their ears. It lasted for a full 10 seconds before their eyes suddenly snapped open. For the first time, they really noticed what they were doing, and drew away with a mixture of horror and delight on their faces.
"I'm guessing that was another case of dream influence?" Ulrich said, clearly embarrassed beyond belief.
"Yeah." Was all Yumi could say in reply. "Now I know what a Sim feels like when she is ordered to do something they would not do by themselves."
"Yeah. But you know what?"
"What?"
"It felt pretty awesome when we were doing it."
"Ulrich!" Yumi said, blushing bright red.
"Just saying. Would you oblige me one more time?"
Without waiting for a reply, he took her head in his hands and pressed her lips to his again. Yumi was clearly enjoying it as well, and they both knew that this time it was not dream influence.
"Oh great." Odd said to himself. "I've been waiting for this for ages, but now that they've started, I hope I can get them to stop long enough to focus. AELITA! ARE YOU OUT THERE? SAY SOMETHING! DON"T LEAVE ME WITH THESE INSANE LOVEBIRDS!"
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Although Yumi and Ulrich were enjoying their time together, Aelita was not enjoying her time alone. When she had stopped crying, she became acutely aware of the harsh reality that she was totally alone in an abandoned city with creepy bodiless voices, a creepy one eyed floating silver sphere, and, more likely than not, not creepy but very dangerous Xana monsters.
She had been searching for the others as long as they had been searching for her, and was having an equal amount of luck, meaning none at all. In a city that once held five million people, there was little chance of simply running into them. She wished she had a map.
She sat down on the steps of what was once a bank, judging by the inscription over the doorway. It was hopeless. Xana had access to the holomap, and knew where all of them were at all times. As soon as the monsters found her, it would be all over. It would take a miracle to save her from the Scipizoa.
She was just about to start crying again when she noticed one of the silver spheres, floating over the street in front of her, eye open and looking at her. She still didn't know that there was actually more than one sphere, and thought it was the same one that had misled them. She was about to start searching for something to stab it with when she noticed something different about this sphere. Rather than madness, the eye had an expression of pity.
The first sphere was joined by a second, which came flying over to where they were from a side street. The two spheres started exchanging a series of rapid blinks, seemingly communicating. When they stopped, the two orbs flew off without another word.
"What? Hey! Come back!" Aelita shouted, but they were already gone, and something new was happening to occupy her attention.
Little points of light had started swarming near her. They circled around her for a while before they all came to rest in one place in front of her. The light started pulsing, and a form started growing from the light.
Aelita stepped back in fear, as a glowing hand reached up from the pool of light. It extended into an arm, and a head started to appear as well. Like a glowing man coming up from a glowing manhole, the figure half climbed, half grew from the brilliant pool. Finally, the entire figure stood in front of her, and the light subsided.
He was dressed in blue shoes, and had white shorts. Around his waist was a wide tan belt of cloth, with two bands extending from where it tied off in the back. He had a blue shawl on over his shirt, and to top off the outfit, he had a forest green cap that fit nicely over his short black hair and two long elfin ears.
Aelita gasped, remembering the last line on the sign: "This is the place where dreams come true." She hadn't taken it very seriously when she first saw it, but there was no doubt about its truthfulness now. The evidence was standing right in front of her, smiling warmly. She gave an astounded cry of recognition.
"Mr. Puck?"