"Heh heh." Mr. Puck said, after Aelita's exclamation of recognition. "I'm glad you recognize me, Aelita. It is good to finally see you face to face."
This was undoubtedly Mr. Puck, but he was not quite as Aelita had imagined. In her dreams, he had seemed much shorter, able to crawl into and hide inside a tree trunk. Here on Lyoko, he was about a head taller than Aelita. Plus, he had about him an air of courage and confidence, while in the dream Mr. Puck had been running scared most of the time. But Aelita decided to put all that aside for now.
"How... how... how did you get here?" Aelita finally stammered out.
"Well, as soon as you entered the city, the data in your head on dreams was somehow copied, and your memories of me were personified in a digital avatar. I do not know how it happened, but I've been waiting for some time to speak to you. In the meantime, I've been familiarizing myself with the city's layout, and downloading as much as I can find about it into my new mind."
"Oh... wow. Whoever wrote that sign wasn't kidding when they said that this is the place where dreams come true."
"Of course its true." Mr. Puck said. "I wrote that sign myself." He thought with a smile to himself. "In any case," he said aloud, "perhaps we had better get moving. I don't want you to gat caught by Xana."
"How do you know about Xana?"
"I've existed only inside your head until now, Aelita. I know everything that has gone on up there."
Aelita smiled at this. "You must meet my friends! I'm sure that they would be very glad to meet you."
"Your... friends?" He said softly.
"Of course! Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich, and Jeremie too, but he's not here right now. Don't you know about them?"
"Of course I do." His face no longer wore the cheerful expression he had had when he first appeared. "I also know what they did to you. Are you sure you want to see them again so soon?" He said darkly.
Aelita was suddenly very downcast, as she remembered what had happened. "But... what can I do? I can never make it to the tower alone."
"Not a problem! I know this city well already, and I know the way out. I will defend you from Xana's monsters. And while we're off saving the day, we can give your friends some time to make themselves forgive you, and they'll be relieved when it turns out you were safe all the time. Everything will be fine!"
"Wait... you said you will protect me? How will you do that?"
"Well..." Mr. Puck started, but he was interrupted by a familiar rumbling noise that was coming closer. "Well, just watch. Stay behind me."
The Megatank rolled into view off a side street just as Mr. Puck finished talking. From the folds of his robes, Mr. Puck drew the strangest sword Aelita had ever seen. It had a wide, square black handle, with several strange white markings on it. The blade was perfectly straight on one side, but had an irregular jagged pattern on the other side. It took Aelita a few seconds to realize that it was a giant train station locker key.
The megatank opened the false eyes on its black shell, to see what lay in front of it without making itself vulnerable. It could see two figures in front of it. One was Aelita. That was good. It and many other monsters had been sent into the city by Xana to hunt down and destroy the Lyoko fighters, and to isolate Aelita so that the Scipizoa could get her. Now it had found her.
The other one was unfamiliar. It did not match the profiles of any of the other kids, but judging by the way it was holding a giant and very sharp key in a threatening manner, and the way Aelita was hiding behind him, it was undoubtedly an enemy. It opened its shell and fired.
Mr. Puck dove out of the way, taking Aelita with him. The megatank fired again, and he jumped away in the nick of time, while placing himself closer to the monster. It fired again, and this time Mr. Puck rolled into position, without any hesitation at all. Before the Megatank knew it was in danger and could close its shell, he jabbed the key right into the center of the target. He withdrew the key and jumped high into the air, landing in front of Aelita, just as the Megatank exploded into a thousand pieces.
Aelita found herself clapping. "That was amazing!" She said.
"I guess I'm better with megatanks than wolves. Come. We have a tower to deactivate. I'll lead you out of this city in no time. And maybe on the way, I can show you a few of the sights, if there's time."
"This seems like a weird time to be a tourist, but, hey, why not?"
Actually, Aelita could think of several reasons why not. For one thing, Jeremie was still at Xana's mercy. For another, there were probably other monsters in the city, and though her friends had beaten Xana's monsters time and time again, if any of them were deleted, then there was no coming back. Therefore, they had to deactivate the tower as fast as possible. But then again, if all Mr. Puck did was talk to her, and they didn't take any detours, then they would still get there fast. And if Mr. Puck knew everything about her, then there was no reason he should delay, knowing fully well the consequences of doing so. After all, she could trust the innocent little doll she slept with each night. Couldn't she?
They started walking, Mr. Puck leading her by the hand. Much of what he had told her was a load of lies. After all, she would have been scared rather than trusting if she knew he was actually a shape-shifting computer virus that had merely taken the form of her dear childhood friend, instead of the real thing. He didn't feel very good about having to lie to her, but it was the only way she would trust him.
Now that she wasn't worrying about finding her friends, she would follow him wherever he went, and he would lead her straight to his lair, where neither Xana or the other humans would ever find her. It would be easy to convince her to give him the keys to Lyoko and set him free, so that he could terrorize and then take over the world these humans came from. And when he was king, he was sure that she would consent to rule by his side. And if she didn't, he would make her.