Hunter Moebius and I do not own Code Lyoko, Maximum Ride, or Kaitlyn Belpois. We do, however, own our own OC's and the plot.

Like I just mentioned, we had finally crossed the California state line, and headed into Arizona. As we watched the welcome sign fly by next to us on the highway, most of us thought about our new location, and how much things could change, now that we didn't have to worry about California.

"I heard that most of Arizona doesn't follow Daylight Savings Time." Jeremie tilted his head to the side.

"I totally don't know why that is," I shrugged. "It's one of those fun facts of the States."

"One thing's for sure," Hunter trembled excitedly. "I think the farthest west I've ever been is West Virginia. All of this is still new to me."

After Hunter said that, Kiwi hopped out of Sister's lap and raced to the back window. "Good bye, California! I hope to never see you again as long as I live."

"We probably won't, Kiwi," Yumi chuckled, finding the words of mi novio's diggity dog to be cute.

"That's right. Plus, we have plenty of time," I smiled. "I am just glad we don't have to endure one more moment of being in the School."

"Me, too," everyone in the gang agreed.

Patrick grinned. "I can't wait to practice Aikido in the gym in Kadic in the mornings."

"And I can't wait to see Rosa again," Odd chuckled. "I bet she misses us."

"I don't remember her voice in the report, but hey, she might miss us, too," I giggled as Kiwi trotted back and hopped into mi novio's lap.

"She probably didn't have time," Ulrich quipped, grinning. "The whole time Odd was gone, she probably had enough food to give to the entire student body, twice over."

"Wait… what report?" Jeb asked, curiously.

"Cassidy had a vision of France 24's news report," Aelita smiled, "while we were having our out-of-body experience."

"So, who was in this report?" he blinked, slightly curious.

"Olivia Descartes, doing the report. Odd's mother, my mother, Mr. Delmas, Cassidy's mother, Ulrich's father, surprisingly, William's father, Yumi's father, Aelita's mother, Patrick's father, Kaitlyn's mother, Hunter's uncle, Sam's mother, Jim, and Chris from the Subdigitals. Not exactly in that order, but Chris did say something last," Jeremie listed, counting on his fingers.

"Wow…" Jeb sounded quite impressed by this, turning his attention toward me. "Your psychic powers enabling you to pick up a French broadcast, from all the way over here…? That's really something."

"You should have seen it when she had a vision in the School before it was too late," Hunter grinned.

I giggled sheepishly. "It was more of a 'lost vision' than a regular one."

"You mean… there's a difference?" Odd quipped.

"Novio, my memories—" I couldn't finish, as I fell back in my seat and cackled.

"Odd, you definitely have her going," Ulrich chuckled, almost chiding his original roommate.

Aelita grinned, letting out a slight giggle of her own. "That's my 'cousin' for you!"

Odd nodded, a confident smile on his face. "Better believe it, Princess."

Of course, my laughing fit couldn't last forever, as I took a deep and cooling breath, letting a couple more chuckles through before it ceased. "That was brilliant, Odd…"

"Hey, would I be your boyfriend," he grinned, giving me a playful look, "if I didn't make you laugh from time to time?"

I giggled. "Plus I did say that I liked your jokes that day you and I were kidnapped into that ultimatum."

"Yeah!" Odd recalled, letting out a bit of a chuckle, as well. "And you also said you'd date me if you weren't already dating William. And just look at what happened!"

"Foreshadowing at best when I least expected it," I smiled, kissing his cheek.

Odd chuckled as my lips touched his face. "You're the psychic after all, Cat Girl!"

"Well, I didn't know that I'd date you then because I was already in a relationship with William. Plus, my visions would show only you guys' actions. My own were in free will mode."

"I don't necessarily think our actions only exist on a fixed plane, either," Jeremie jumped in with his own suggestion. "Besides, ever since we worked to severely weaken XANA, you started having visions that included yourself, as well."

"At least mine are now including me," I nodded at Einstein. "I often felt left-out in visions involving only you guys."

"Well, what about me?" William suddenly spoke up, remembering something that was important to him. "You never even told me you had psychic powers until after I broke up with you. You told me during that Explo-Bat guy attack."

"Because I didn't know if you would think I was as weird as the rest of Kadic's population figured I was back then." My face and voice fell. I couldn't have known how he was going to react to that news, but I thought my timing still worked somewhat well, even if he didn't.

"Yeah, you've got a point, there…" William admitted, his tone falling slightly, as well. "After all, I did jump to a conclusion, when I broke up with you."

"Yes. And it damaged me after the Lyoko mission. I cried for two reasons that night: The break-up, and what happened to Aelita in Sector Five," I admitted.

Closing his eyes, Jeremie shook his head quickly, loathing the memory my mention brought to the front of his mind. "You were even having a hard time knitting Ulrich a scarf, that night. I think you and Aelita felt the worst out of all of us after XANA escaped from the Supercomputer."

Before anyone else could chime in, Hunter suddenly jumped in, surprising all of us. "Can we talk about something else?!" He gritted his teeth, sounding somewhat annoyed.

While we were mentioning all sorts of terrible memories, along with the way I was acting, whenever someone would remind me of what the whitecoats and Erasers said and/or did to me, it was starting to affect him quite a bit, and with the mention of XANA's elaborate scheme to steal the Keys to Lyoko from my former first roommate, he had finally reached something close to a breaking point. "We've just been talking about terrible memories, ever since we left Dr. Martinez's house. We're out of California, now. We've left the School behind. Why don't we talk about something happy, for crying out loud?!"

"Hunter's right," Sister added, agreeing with the black-haired boy. "Why don't we leave our bad memories in California? We're in Arizona, now. We won't be able to enjoy our vacation if we're just thinking about all the bad things that have happened to us."

"Well, that's one way to change the subject," Odd quipped, chuckling a bit, before turning his gaze on me. "And anyway, Cat Girl, you just gotta remember, it's 'knit one, purl two,' not 'purl one, knit two'!"

I giggled, feeling him weave his magic. "Odd…"

Even Ulrich started laughing at that one. "Who taught you how to knit, anyway, Odd?!"

"M-Milly and T-Tam-Tamiya p-probably did!" I cackled.

"I-it was an old c-cartoon!" mi novio tried to squeeze out, in-between laughs. "Y-you can t-thank Bugs B-B-Bunny!"

Sister grinned as well, giggling at Odd's joke. "Now, that's what I like to see! My dear sister laughing right along with everybody else!"

"Yeah," Hunter agreed, smiling.

"I'm glad that everyone is starting to feel better," Jeb added, beaming amusedly at our laughter.

"Much b-better," I nodded, taking in a deep breath. "Odd's still got it, I have to say. He has magical comedy in him that I fell in love with the first day I—um… met?—him…"

"You probably saw him coming," Ulrich suggested with a grin, "the day you told me he was going to be my roommate."

I smiled connivingly, round three of giggles about to pour from my mouth. "But you told me that his name was not a name and insinuated I had a crazy dream the night before."

Instantly, Ulrich's eyes widened, and the confident smirk that had once graced his face was quickly swept away by a gaping hole. I knew I had gotten him with that one and was waiting, giggles threatening to throw my lips out of the way, for him to reply to that one.

"Huh?!" he began, before letting loose a stuttering frenzy. "Wh-wha… uh—dah… well, you, uh… duh… yeah, well… uh—duh…"

I started cackling. When he rehearsed his vowels that way, it was just as golden as Odd telling me a joke.

Yumi even giggled at that one. "That sounds just like the Ulrich I met, that day at Jim's Pencak Silat class."

"Oh, t-this was… b-b-b-before h-h-he even met y-you!" I managed to speak, soon finding my calmness again. "He apologized after science class. Odd seemed flabbergasted, though."

"It's not every day you meet a psychic," Odd playfully defended himself. "I had just met Cat Girl and Ulrich, and already she was showing him a thing or two!"

"Hey, it got Sissi, before we became bonded as sisters, off his back," I bantered.

"You're right," Odd agreed.

Nearby, Sister raised an eyebrow, before the other eyebrow followed, finally realizing exactly what had happened, those years ago. "So that's why you said you weren't feeling well, Ulrich dear!"

"Well, I didn't mean to make him sick enough with guilt or to deter him from you that day, Sister, but it happened that way," I shrugged. "I just thought he would just accept it and be all snarky to you, you inviting him to your dorm at eight, and we go on from there, but nope."

The more I continued, the more I could tell Sister was getting surprised. "Sure, I would've loved to have Ulrich come up to my dorm room, and spend some time with me, but the way he looked and sounded when he told me that, it felt like an awful time. So I just kept to myself."

After a deep breath, Ulrich finally broke his silence, as he turned to face her. "Sissi, I think a lot better of you now, than I did before, even if I would have said 'no,' if you had asked me that day. I just couldn't believe Cassidy had proved me wrong so quickly. I didn't know what to do."

"It's okay, Samurai," I smiled. "I surprised you so fast, I guessed it made your head spin a little."

"Only a little? More like it spun right round like a record!" Odd chuckled.

"Good thing it wasn't a crazy dream, then," Jeremie found mi novio's laughter contagious. "Otherwise, I would have asked you about how you came up with Aelita's name."

"It was the day you reactivated the Supercomputer, Jeremie," I beamed. "Couldn't mess with that part of the space-time continuum even if I tried. You'd probably get curious and activate it regardless, but that day was set in stone. Plus, seeing you with Aelita makes my heart soar to new heights."

"Well, uh…" Jeremie soon found he had metaphorically caught Ulrich's "vowel rehearsal syndrome," with the added side effect of a rosy blush on each of his cheeks, as he fought to speak a coherent sentence, but couldn't. "You see, um… yeah."

For her part, Aelita's cheeks had adopted a slight tint as well, along with a few giggles here and there, mainly from Jeremie's reaction. She enjoyed being with Jeremie, as much as I enjoyed seeing the two together, but the mention of it still surprised her a bit, even if she wholeheartedly agreed with it.

"And when I learned Ulrich and Yumi decided to take their relationship up a notch instead of down one peg, my heart exploded with joy," I smiled. "I caught it straight from Samurai's metaphor."

Yumi couldn't help but smile, as well. "I'm surprised he didn't come right out and tell you, even if it is Ulrich. Not even I would want to keep that a secret for too long."

"Ulrich said that you two felt like flying across the starlit night sky. That's how I figured it out," I grinned.

"You see, Cassidy? Your psychic abilities are really cool," he smiled. "Plus you have good deciphering skills."

"Hey, it's better than you two being on opposite ends of the elevator car and you saying 'We're the best of friends' in a bitter tone," I giggled.

Hunter, meanwhile, started to grin with satisfaction. "Now that's galactic dancing! These are memories you should talk about—ones that make you laugh or feel good. Not ones that end up hurting one another."

"I love the time you said that one quip about Christmas on Lyoko," Sister smiled at me, aiding him even further.

"Jeremie thought he sent Aelita and I to the Forest Sector, when we entered the Ice Sector instead," I chuckled. "That was practically dying to be said."

"Oh, don't forget about your record, Cassidy," Patrick grinned.

"I wasn't even looking to set a record that day, but it happened like it did for a good cause." My heart leaped in joy.

"Franz chose me because he had a vague inkling of me," Sister sighed happily. "But when he came out of the scanner, he started to remember."

"For a moment, I thought it was completely random that he did that, but now, it makes much more sense than I realize."

Odd raised a finger, a memory coming forth into his mind's eye. "I remember how much steam you had in the beginning, Cat Girl. You sure scared Einstein a few times when you got overly excited."

"Hey, Lyoko felt like a wondrous escape, and I could be free to get a bit wild occasionally. However, I also knew when I was transporting precious cargo." I winked at Aelita.

A slight tint painted Aelita's cheeks, the thought of being considered 'precious cargo' something she didn't feel worthy of. "Well, uh, that was very nice of you to treat me gently, and not get too carried away."

"Hey! I helped take you to towers, too, Princess," Odd protested with a smile on his face.

It was then that Jeb decided to change the subject. "I know that you all are looking back on the good times, but was one of your stops the Grand Canyon?"

It was as though someone put an amplifier and a microphone in the van, as our voices sailed throughout the airwaves, "NO!"

He tensed slightly, as though having not expected that type of response. "Okay, everyone, let's just relax. I was just curious."

Jeremie grimaced, and, even though his thoughts weren't in the private domain anymore, he let them out anyway. I just survived getting tossed out of the van over a bridge, and he wants us to see THE GRAND CANYON?! That landmark's over a mile deep!

As if to reassure him, Aelita wrapped her arms around her darling knight-in-glasses, giving him a warm snuggle that relaxed him somewhat, while coloring his cheeks in a hurry. "Calm down, Jeremie. We're not going anywhere we don't want to."

With a free hand, the blond genius reached behind his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Y-yeah, you're p-probably right…"

Odd couldn't help but laugh at how flustered Aelita was making Jeremie. "Yeah! C'mon, Einstein! You didn't think we were gonna let you fall again, did you?"

"And risk Cassidy having another heart attack?" Einstein quipped. "No way!"

"I love the genre, but heck no to the techno on that," I agreed, a smile still on my face. "I already fainted once because Yumi saved him. I don't want to do that again."

"Don't worry. Nobody is going to fall down anything, or out of anything," Aelita declared in a soothing tone, as she started to softly rub her blond boyfriend's back, through his brown turtleneck. "So you can calm down, too, Cassidy."

"Thanks, Aelita." Then as though to change the subject back to a friendlier topic, I continued, "I still don't know why I called you 'Princess,' that one time. Not even Yumi calls you that."

My former first roommate immediately realized why that had happened. "It must've been the Modified Reverse Schyphozoa, that Jeremie used to give you more courage. After all, Odd calls me that quite a lot."

"Ulrich, too, and even Jeremie has, once or twice," Yumi added, agreeing with her. "But Cassidy's right; her and I are the only ones who have never called you that."

"And William, Hunter, Sam, Sissi, before we became bonded as sisters, then Sister, Kaitlyn, Kiwi, at first telepathically, and Patrick never did that," I pointed out.

Kiwi yipped. "I just never knew why you two would call her that every now and then."

"Well, it's like how Odd and I sometimes called ourselves her 'knights in shining armor,'" Ulrich explained, facing mi novio's diggity-dog. "On the one hand, she's like the Princess of Lyoko, so I thought it was fitting. Odd just picked it up from me."

"Oh, I see," he grinned, turning his snout toward Aelita. "I just thought you were a royal princess when they called you that."

"Huh?" Aelita blinked, looking a bit confused by Kiwi's answer before her face slowly morphed into a smile, and she began to giggle.

"That's my diggity dog for you, Aelita," Odd quipped, a wide grin adorning his features.

Even I couldn't help but fall back into my seat and laugh. Mi novio's avian-canine was just so cute.

Odd started chuckling when he saw how I reacted to what he said. "If I didn't know better, Cat Girl, I'd say you've got the giggles, now!"

"It's better than making her feel horrible or frightened," Hunter agreed, a smile blossoming on his face.

"That's for sure," Yumi added with a nod.

Patrick grinned. "And she's in a better mood than ever."

A few seconds later, I slowly came down from my laughing fit, as Jeremie pulled out the laptop we had bought him, as a temporary replacement for the one he had, back in France. Opening it up, turning it on, and opening up a few programs, including a map of the United States, he watched the program highlight exactly where we were.

"At the rate we're going," he mentioned, staring at a line on the map that formed the path we had planned to take, "if we continue on the road we're taking, it's going to bring us right past the abandoned military base Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy visited in New Mexico."

I smiled. "And the Mighty Ulrich Samurai Stern stabs the Supercomputer just as the mandelbug eats away at his legs!"

Ulrich's face soon bore a similar grin. "Yeah, that was pretty amazing, wasn't it…"?

"I couldn't have said it better myself, good buddy!" Odd added, lighting up like a flashlight. "Who cares about some dumb old bug, anyhow?"

"I still remember how Jeremie pushed four letters of my first name and the last seven letters of your last name into a bug name that I don't even know how he came up with it." I shook my head.

"I wasn't planning on giving it that name permanently," Jeremie explained. "It was just a temporary name I came up with since the bug seemed to affect the both of you first, before spreading to the others. I didn't want either of you to think I was blaming you for the sudden appearance of that mandelbug."

"I was in too much pain to care, remember, Einstein?" I giggled. "Odd on the other hand…"

Odd folded his arms, pretending to look serious. "Well, if you hadn't worried about bad luck, after breaking Ulrich's mirror, huh, Cat Girl?"

"Luck didn't have anything to do with it, Odd," Jeremie interjected with a smile. "Even the most well-written software is bound to have bugs at some point."

"Yep, and I almost thought that bad things were about to happen, Novio," I giggled. "I was just surprised to see that it went in the opposite direction for most of the day."

"Those extra pancakes, and the cup of hot chocolate from Rosa," Odd began to recount, remembering the strokes of 'good luck' that had befallen me, after I broke the mirror, "almost like she knew the machine was going to break before I got there!"

"Hey, you got to eat a croissant instead of dry toast!" I protested, still smiling.

"She's right," Aelita agreed, a warm grin gracing her features. "At least this time around, things went better for you."

"I still don't know how it made Jim give us teddy bears," I cackled.

"I remember most of the girls having one," Ulrich commented, and I could see he was thinking of a picture of one in his mind. "When Jim came by, I thought Odd would want to give you one."

"That was sweet of him," I squeezed out in between chuckles. "I was still a bit weirded out, but appreciated the gesture."

"It's true that they do come in handy quite often," the blond genius added. "I've even found that conversing with one aids in the debugging process if you're starting to run out of ideas."

Instantly, I stopped laughing, looking at Einstein in pleasant surprise. "You kept one, Jeremie?"

He looked a tiny bit embarrassed to admit this. "Well… yes. At first, I thought it would be a terrible idea, as I was never really into stuffed animals, and while I could, uh…"

He stopped, blushing a bit as he gazed at Aelita, before continuing. "Actually, she was the one who convinced me to keep it, reasoning that… well, it might come in handy for problem-solving, whenever I'm programming, and she isn't around to help me."

"That's perfectly fine, Jeremie. I still have mine in Lyoko HQ," I grinned. "I named her Aerona."

"That's a pretty cool name," Patrick commented, and I could tell he was drawing a similarity between it, and where we were. "Did you name it after the State of Arizona?"

"It randomly came to me. It was before I unleashed the monster, after all," I shrugged nonchalantly.

Nearby, Aelita blinked, and from the look of slight surprise on her face, I could tell she probably figured out another spelling behind the name.

"Is it… based on my name?"

"I actually looked up your name and Aerona's. Aerona's has a Welsh origin. Yours, Aelita, is English in origin. Hers means 'Battle Ending.' Yours, 'Noble.' And based off of events that we've witnessed altogether, it's spot-on," I smiled.

The look of surprise on Aelita's face grew, along with her eyes. "Y… y-you really think so…? I've never… thought about it that way, before…"

"Yes. Even that one time you helped Yumi, then me, you showed something great. Sure, you wondered why I didn't stop you, and I should have…"

"Hey…" Hunter warned, afraid I was going to start feeling sorry for myself, again.

"...but you did a noble act no matter the consequence at first," I smiled in his direction, making my mental shields like a private messaging system. And I'm okay, Hunter.

In reply, he leaned forward, cradling his head in his hands. Good. And I'm sorry, too… It's just, all the negativity in this van really started to get to me… I didn't want you to start feeling terrible again...

Of course, he didn't realize that I had used my mental shields to only send that thought into his brain; I guessed he either didn't have mental shields of his own or if he did, he didn't know how to use them. I glanced around, watching everyone's reactions, knowing that they probably had no idea what he was replying to.

"Hunter, who was that thought aimed at?" Jeremie was the first to say something, looking at the black-haired boy with surprise on his face, and in his voice, whose head slowly lifted upward at his comment.

He blinked, slowly finding Einstein's expression contagious. "What do you mean? You didn't hear what Cassidy thought, just now?"

"No, why?" the blond genius asked.

"She just told me that she was okay, probably to what I said to her, and I just…" He suddenly came to a stop, his eyes widening further. "Wait! How did she…?! How did nobody else hear that?!"

Yumi was next, having a pretty good idea as to what happened. "She must've used a shield, so that way, only one of us could hear her thoughts, rather than all of us. That's why you were the only one who heard it, Hunter."

"I figured that since I usually use them to hide certain emotions, it made sense that they could be malleable enough for me to mold into a sort-of private messaging system, too." My cheeks felt as though they were on fire. I didn't really think it was that big of a deal; if everyone in this van, aside from Jeb, Georgina, and Ari could hear my thoughts, I could still choose to vent my feelings toward one or more people in particular, or just block everyone out completely, and therefore keep them at least semi-private, if not entirely, right? I guess I wasn't expecting to have it revealed like that, but I should have known Hunter wouldn't realize that I had only meant for him to hear that in his mind. At least nobody's treating me like garbage because I can still play with my thoughts. Of course, the others probably have mental shields, too, even if they don't know it.

"Hey," she whispered. "It's okay, ya hear. You have great ideas, too."

"I guess so. But hey, at least you told everyone the truth about who saved Jeremie. I'm grateful for the rescue," I smiled.

"So am I," Jeremie added, his look of surprise turning into one of relief, as he gazed at my geisha friend. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't used your telekinesis… even if you didn't even know you could use it outside of Lyoko."

"I didn't know," she replied, looking slightly confused as she returned Einstein's gaze. "I guess it just… happened. I still don't even know how I did it, or even how to do it again."

"You were levitating yellow dandelions earlier," I pointed out, gesturing to the one she put in between my braid and my glasses.

Her eyes zoomed to the flower, as she gritted her teeth. "Yes, but… I had my eyes closed the entire time, and I don't even think I had any control over it. And I also can't even remember what I was thinking about when you told me they were flying around…"

"They might operate on a subconscious wavelength," Jeremie suggested, as most all of us could hear the gears turning in his mind, "as, up until that point, you didn't even know you had them. Of course, they might have been another present from the whitecoats. But that doesn't mean you can't discover a method for controlling them manually."

"That's true, Yumi," I noted, my voice floundering for tact. "It's like what you tried to tell me before you kinda um… forgot certain elements?"

Hunter raised a finger, pointing it in my direction. "What did I tell you about…"

Yumi slowly turned her head in his direction, offering him a calming, soothing smile. "Don't worry, Hunter. Everything's under control."

A shiver shot down my spine. Another one of my triggers, "Everything's under control" made me think of what that false Franz Schaeffer said to the Aelita decoy. However, I tried to swallow it and nod in agreement to Yumi's statement.

She then turned her attention back to me. "And you're right. I really wasn't thinking, when I said that. If you can figure out how to control your psychic powers, I can understand how to control my Earth telekinesis."

It was then that Aelita happened to glance over at me, noticing my hidden distress. "Are you okay, Cassidy? You look worked up."

Of course, I couldn't bring myself to lie to my former first roommate, so I told her the truth. "One of my triggers flared up unexpectedly."

"Really?" Ulrich interjected curiously. "Which one?"

My face and voice contorted into painful distress, as I brought up the memory. "'E-e-everything's u-under c-c-control…'"

Right away, Hunter grimaced, and buried his face in his hands, annoyed that something had set me off, again.

"Bandersnatch!" he groaned. "We were doing so well!"

This made Yumi upset as well, only more so at herself, instead of me, for my reaction. The look on her face morphed from calmness to surprise, as I reacted the way I did, and Aelita called me out on it, before transforming, again, into anger, her eyes closing as she growled under her breath. This was the second time in a row that she had inadvertently said something that freaked me out, set me off, or done something even worse, and it made her feel even more horrible than she had, the first time she made that mistake.

Even though I was half-aware at the time, considering the imposter of Franz Schaeffer had tried to fry me, knocking my powers offline for a couple seconds, hearing those words intensified my worries.

And that was when Sister reached over once more, wrapping her arm around my back, and softly rubbing my shoulders. In an instant, I could feel that pain slowly dissolving, bringing such a soothing feeling of relaxation that the look of fear on my face didn't stay there for long.

Gradually, Yumi calmed down as well, realizing that Sister had the situation under control and that she would probably get a visit from the principal's daughter shortly after, to relax away her own feelings of guilt.

"There you go, dear sister," Sister grinned. "The only triggers you're going to have, now, are ones that trigger long, soothing calmness!"

"Thanks, Sissi," Jeremie smiled, also relieved that my fears had been soothed away.

I nodded, a sun-shining beam on my face. "Yeah. Thanks, Sister!"

Just like she had assumed, Sister soon slid over toward Yumi and began to give my geisha friend a slow, soothing, and soft back rub. Almost right away, I could feel her own feelings of guilt disappearing, like the sun evaporating water that was left behind by rainfall.

"I'm sorry, Cassidy," Yumi lamented, the corners of her lips slowly curving upward into a smile. "But I'm not going to worry about that, anymore."

"It's okay, Yumi. Everything's great now," I grinned, my attention still on the healer. "Thanks, Sister."

"Don't mention it!" Sister replied, closing her eyes as a big grin overtook her face. "I'm just glad to see the both of you feeling so much better!"

"Yeah," Odd and Aelita agreed.

I beamed, just thinking about Sister's gentle shoulder rub. "That was so refreshing."

"You always were good at that, Sissi," Ulrich added with a smile of his own. "I'll admit that."

"She makes me feel better. Since her reformation, I've been proud to call her my sister by bond," I said, still grinning from ear to ear.

"You said that in California," Yumi pointed out.

"Yeah, before things got worse," I giggled.

"That's why we oughta make sure the rest of this trip is much more tame," Patrick admitted, adding his own smile to the bunch. "No more crazy misadventures with whitecoats, Erasers...and no one stinging our necks anymore."

"I am so glad that we don't have to worry about that anymore, either," I agreed, subconsciously rubbing my own.

"Just think of all the wonderful places we'll get to see," Aelita added, keeping the mood uplifting, "and all the wonderful things we'll get to do."

"Yes," Kiwi agreed. "Plus, my Tutu will be waiting!"

That caught me completely off-guard, and I fell backward into my seat, laughing my head off. I mean, Kiwi was already pretty cute before this entire mess started, but now that he can talk… I could tell my friends thought it was going to be really weird, but it was actually kind of interesting, and to me, it made him even cuter. Top that off with the fact that he even got his own doggy girlfriend due to love at first sight, and the level of cuteness was staggering.

"What's wrong?" Odd cracked, on the verge of laughter. "You act like you know what Hunter's Lyoko Warrior form is."

That got Hunter to sit up straight, looking over at me with a look on his face that was equal parts surprise and curiosity. "Do you?"

With difficulty, I shook my head. "N-no vision...a-about…" I kept cackling, unable to finish my sentences.

The black-haired boy calmed down, slightly, slouching backward in his seat once more, looking a tiny bit disappointed, but trying to hide it. He didn't want me to stop laughing, because to him, that meant I was in a good mood, not atoning for all my past sins.

Jeremie looked over at mi novio's diggity-dog, with a grin of his own, slightly laced with surprise. "I don't know what you said that made her laugh, but I've never seen her burst out laughing at just about anything, before."

"She's been needing a lot of good laughs, Einstein," Kiwi panted. "She thought I was cute. Of course, she's always thought that, but still."

"Maybe it's because you've found a girlfriend that's just as cute as you," Aelita suggested, her own smile increasing from the thought of it, "that she's finding it hard to take it."

I drew in a deep breath, slowly coming off the ceiling. "If it weren't for the fact that your girlfriend's name is Tutu, I would think something else, Kiwi."

Odd placed his hand against his chin, taking a few moments to figure out what exactly I meant by that before his eyes widened.

"Don't tell me you're still thinking about Kiwi in a wedding dress, Cat Girl!" he suddenly interjected, once it all clicked in his mind.

"Your weapon of choice is still the shovel," I struggled, before I lost it, chortling anew.

Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita found themselves snickering at that random comment, my raucous laughter making everyone feel better, and almost want to laugh right along with me. At least I wouldn't have to worry about suffocating, just yet. Only if Odd told another joke, the moment I calmed down for the second time.

It was a matter of time before we caught Jeb's attention, the man sounding mostly lighthearted, but a bit concerned. "Let her come up for air, you guys. She's gonna choke if you keep making her laugh like that."

Slowly, I started drawing a deep, cooling breath, my laughter thinning to nothingness. "Wow…"

"You okay there, Cassidy?" Jeb looked back, turning a light-hearted smile on me. "You looked like you were going to laugh until you fainted again!"

"I think so. As Jeremie said once before, 'A nice laughing fit is good for you from time to time,' and I'm happy to report that it's true," I winked at the resident genius.

"Of course it is," Jeremie agreed, returning my wink with a grin, which slowly turned to curiosity in the next moment. "But, how did you remember my exact quote, word-for-word?"

My eyes widened. "I—I don't know… That's strange. Usually, I get a few words wrong."

Einstein raised an eyebrow. "It could just be another facet of your psychic powers. Or something like what happened, during our out-of-body experience. It's probably no big deal."

"Eh, I'll give you that, Jeremie. After all, it could be a fluke, too. Remember my one-shot powers that came out of nowhere?" I grinned.

"You almost made me run away from Jim!" Odd remembered that day quite well, and how his arm seemed to suddenly move on its own. "I had this really strange need to grab your iPod, then, later on, I felt the urge to ease up on cleaning your wounds! You never told me how you did that!"

"I really don't know either, Odd, to be quite honest with you," I shrugged.

"What about the time you just suddenly stopped time for five seconds?" Jeremie added next, another memory, courtesy of the monster.

"Yeah, I'm still wondering how I managed to do that," I admitted, a sheepish grin adorning my face.

"Well, at least you can't talk to the dead," Ulrich quipped, remembering the one time Sister brought him and me into the boiler room for a séance.

"I didn't mean to assume your powers could help speak to spirits, dear sister. It was wrong of me to do," Sister lamented.

"It's okay, Sister. You just thought since I had powers, I should be able to do anything," I smiled. "Besides, it was only once. No big deal."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," she nodded, slowly calming down.

"Yeah." I reached across the way and hugged her. "Plus, you're my sister, Sister! I love you."

"Oh, sister!" she returned my hug, her eyes nearly welling up with tears as her voice started to break. "I love you, too!"

Nearby, Aelita couldn't help the warm grin that overtook her face, as she watched the two of us embrace. It was like a family reunion, almost.

Even Yumi found herself smiling, the sight wonderful to her eyes, as well.

You're doing a good job, Sissi! she thought to herself, knowing the principal's daughter would hear it in her own mind. Just keep it up.

My smile threatened to separate from my face. "Yes…"

Odd quickly brought his hands up, linking his index fingers and thumbs together, and looking through the rectangle they made. "Aww, look at the beautiful family portrait!"

As soon as he said that, Sister and I broke the embrace, but instead of knee-jerk blushing, or flat-out denying the whole scene, I threw my head back and cackled. Mi novio still had his own class.

He soon found my laughter contagious, his hands dropping into his lap in the process. Even Einstein couldn't help but chuckle at the scene.

"You definitely have 'style,' Odd," Patrick and Ulrich chorused.

Aelita giggled at that, as well. "He makes his own style."

A few moments later, I came up for air. "Don't forget about the time he unleashed 'Chef's Surprise!'"

"That was an insane stunt he pulled," Jeremie's male cousin quipped. "I didn't know that he was that extreme."

"You should see him when Aelita rides with him on his Overboard," Jeremie jumped in, staring at the ceiling almost sarcastically. "You'd think that would get him to calm down, but you don't know Odd."

"Hey, don't forget that sometimes there was someone with a sidecar," Yumi interjected, giggling.

"And Cassidy the Magnificent saves the Darling Princess Aelita from sliding to her doom with her amazing sidecar!" Odd recalled in a dramatic voice as if he were an announcer.

Aelita closed her eyes, a smile slowly forming on her face, as her cheeks slowly began to heat up. I couldn't help but follow along as well, only I didn't close my eyes; the redness in my cheeks was quite easy to see, though.

"And it was brilliant," William added, grinning at me.

"Take it easy, William. Too much praise and she will faint," Ulrich warned gently.

The praise was getting to me, but it wasn't enough to completely bowl me over. I could feel a little bit of dizziness, but I still had the strength to hold on. I only hoped they'd get off the subject, so I didn't end up landing atop my former first roommate by accident.

Yumi must have sensed this because she cleared her throat and spoke up next. "So, Sissi, tell us about the time you talked to Hervé after he forced Jeremie to tell Cassidy the truth about the monster."

As though her words were a soothing breeze, the thick praise-filled fog cleared from my mind. I blinked and nodded, grinning at what she said. "Testify, Sister!"

"Well, I didn't exactly tell him he had to keep it a secret from my dear sister," Sissi recalled, a slight giggle escaping her mouth, "but I think he was angry at me for some reason, so—"

"I don't believe he was mad at you, Sister. He thought I had either lost what was left of my marbles," I blinked, "or, that the hospital staff drugged my food. Weird of him to assume that they did, but it still made me suspicious."

Hunter's eyes began to widen, worried that the next few memories we were about to hit were bad ones again. "Hey…"

"These are neutral memories. They aren't causing a negative effect on me, Hunter," I smiled.

Sister raised an eyebrow, wondering what had gotten into the boy that supposedly had a crush on her. "HUH?!"

"I told him you had been through a lot in what I perceived was the past month, trying to calm his overheating brain. I didn't know that it would lead to him turning the tables on me, Sister," I shrugged.

"But who does he think he is, startling my dear sister like that?!" Sister growled furiously, slamming her fists into the cushion that bookended her legs. "When we get back to Kadic, I'm… ooh!"

"I know you're angry, Sissi," Aelita soothed. "We didn't intend for Cassidy to find out the truth about what had happened as quickly as she did."

"He shouldn't have brought it up!" Sister steamed, still upset about the entire subject, regardless. "And he thinks he wants to be with me, does he?! Well, no one, not even that pizza-faced nerd, messes with my family!"

"He's still really sorry about it, Sister. Any time I passed him in the campus before we weakened XANA, he ducked his head at me and thought, 'Sissi probably thinks I'm a loser for hurting Cassidy. I really didn't mean to hurt her psyche that much. It came as a shock when she said one month.' He's guilt-ridden inside all the time," I consoled.

That completely knocked the wind out of Sister's sails. Watching her face and attitude suddenly change from red hot to worried, was like watching the look on Jeremie's face, when XANA lost control of him before he could electrocute Odd, that one day. "Ohhhh… I didn't know he was like that! Oh, the poor thing… Maybe I'll have to give him a very warm snuggle when I see him again! That'll tell him I forgive him!"

"Yep. He's very hurt that he almost caused a—"

"Okay!" Jeremie interrupted, seeing where the sentence was going. "How about the time we discovered the key to materialization for Aelita?"

"Oh, yes!" The girl in question gave a full-crested grin. "I knew you'd get it, after a while. You worked so hard on it, it was only a matter of time."

"I was so excited I started dancing," I giggled, in response to Aelita's reminiscing.

"And you were so happy that when she did come out of the scanner, you did it again," Yumi smiled.

"I felt so full of energy and excitement, and it was great when I still had that. I hope to have it again one day," I beamed.

"What do you mean, 'you hope to have it again, one day'?" Odd cocked a brow. "You already have it! You still have it, Cat Girl! You can't lose that!"

"She probably is still recovering," Jeb inputted. "I think that's what she meant."

"That's true, she's been like this since her coma," Ulrich came in, "right? She has been—"

You're all playing the "Ignore Cassidy even though She's Present" game again, I interrupted with my thoughts, a growl escaping my throat as I clenched my teeth.

"Can't we ask others about your behavior?" Ulrich cut in, trying to justify his own.

"But Ulrich, I'm sitting right here!" I protested. "And y'all promised…"

"She's right," Yumi added, apologetically, with an affirming nod. "We did promise not to talk about her like she isn't in the room when she really is."

She then turned to look at me. "But at the same time, maybe the rest of us have seen how your behavior has changed, in ways that… maybe you haven't. We don't mean anything bad by it. We're just curious, that's all."

"I understand, Yumi, but it still felt like what we discussed a couple days ago. Sometimes even I wonder what has happened to myself other than what you have told me," I sighed, her words calming my anger and frustration.

"I'm sure it's no big deal," Aelita tried to soothe me even further with her gentle, disarming voice, even going as far as to softly drape her arm around my back. "After all, you're still the same Cassidy we all know and love."

"That's true, Aelita. Plus, it's not as though what I twisted Ulrich's words into has come true," I smiled.

Ulrich's eyes widened as they fixated on me, a look of pure surprise swallowing up his former expression, as his words became lodged in his throat. "Uh… duh—uh… dah… dah—dah—dah—huh?!"

Hunter creased a brow in confusion. "Wait—what?"

"I don't think I should talk about it, Hunter," I blinked, keeping a smile on my face. "It is one of my darker memories, after all."

Hearing this made his look of surprise disappear, and his teeth grit. "Yeah… Good point. Never mind."

"Besides, it's history now," I giggled. "Right, Samurai?"

"Uh… duh… I mean, uh…" Ulrich began, before shaking his head quickly and regaining control of his speech. "Yeah. I don't ever want to deal with that again, either."

"Besides, we're going to get back to Kadic to a Welcome Home party," Odd jumped in, grinning widely at the thought.

"And I don't want to admit that whitecoat was correct, but I will see my parents and grandparents again," I blushed, heart hammering a little from the memory of him trying to coax me onto the chopper.

Now it was Jeremie's turn to raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"It was one of the things he tried to get me on the chopper. I was frenzied by that point." Face unwavering, I twirled a finger in the air, almost like Aelita did in front of that false imitation of her father in the simulation bubble.

The way he grimaced after that, it was almost as if he was copying Hunter's change in facial expression, from just a minute ago. "I-I-I get it… sheesh… the things those whitecoats did to you… it's crazy!"

"Yep. Didn't help that I became a total nutcase, but I was in the throes of a panic attack. What could I do?" I asked, curiosity taking hold.

"You try to fight back?" Ulrich suggested, with an "isn't it obvious" sort of look on his face.

"Ulrich, they were overpowering us," Aelita interjected, gently. "We had no choice but to carry out their plans."

"Plus they could have done worse to me," I muttered darkly.

"You mean, worse than the multiple injections they gave you, and the test that gave Hunter a meltdown?" Jeremie reminded me, folding his arms.

I gritted my teeth, scratching the back of my neck, a wave of unease washing over me. "Well, when you, um…put it like that, Einstein…"

Yumi quickly turned a look of slight anger on the blond genius. "Jeremie, did you really need to say that? We all know how bad it was for all of us. Let's just try to forget about it, okay?"

"Yeah, plus, Hunter wants us to talk about good memories," I sheepishly added, mind going through some of the great times until I hit a good one. "Like the assembly we had. That was so great."

"Yeah, you're right, it was," Patrick agreed, a grin slowly overtaking the lower half of his face. "Even though I haven't been a Warrior for as long as you have, it was still nice to pretend we were on Lyoko."

But as he finished that sentence, his expression softened, slightly, as he turned his eyes on his male cousin. "And Jeremie, could I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure, Patrick. What is it?" Jeremie nodded.

"Umm…" He rubbed the back of his neck, and I could tell he was afraid of how the others were going to reply to what he was about to say. "When we get back to Kadic, could you… reprogram my costume? I'd rather not look like a pink pony-human hybrid if that's okay."

A smile grew on the blond genius's visage. "I'm already in the works on that. You look terrible in pink. Don't worry. Once we get re-settled into our lives, I'll start programming you a new one, right away."

"You're a genius, Jeremie," Aelita grinned, giving her novio a thumbs-up.

The smile on Einstein's face was soon joined by a slight red tint on both of his cheeks, after that one. I couldn't help but giggle in reply.

"It was about time they finally honored us as the heroes we are," Odd agreed, in response to my original subject switch. "And it was in the greatest way possible."

"I loved the costumes they put on us," Kaitlyn grinned. "They even got my guns right."

"Oh, that was great," Sister agreed.

"You're right." Even Yumi had a smile on her face, just from thinking about it. "It was great to be a geisha, again. And when they dressed me up in my ninja outfit, it reminded me of Jeremie's teleportation."

"I definitely loved how accurate the makeup was," I giggled, finally grasping a new sense of uplifting.

Hunter, on the other hand, had absolutely no idea what we were talking about. "Oh, so the heads at Kadic actually did something about your Lyoko missions?"

Aelita nodded, a smile on her face.

"Oh, that's right. Hunter wasn't there," I realized. "Sorry about putting memories into your head that you didn't have any part in, Hunter."

"No, no, you're enjoying yourselves." Hunter merely waved it off, having second thoughts about his outburst, and not wanting to ruin our happy moment. "It sounds like it was interesting."

"Right you are, Hunter, darling. And it overwhelmed my dear sister so much that she had to sit in the locker room for a spell," Sister nodded.

"It's true, but I enjoyed the rest of our evening," I grinned.

Sitting behind the wheel, as she continued driving down the highway, even Georgina had a warm smile on her face. "I'm thrilled to hear that, Cassidy."

"Yes."

"Sounds like that was an amazing party, though!" Sam jumped in, her grin wider than mine. "Is that gonna happen to Hunter and I, when we become Warriors?"

"We'll just have to see. Maybe we will have a pre-graduation party," Yumi smiled, the concept starting to get her excited.

"That sounds like fun," Kaitlyn nodded. "Maybe they'll dress us up again like they did the last time."

And I could just imagine how amazing that would be. I absolutely loved dressing up in my old female purple cat outfit, and even the upgraded version, one that looked like Jeremie had teleported me, just like Yumi had mentioned, earlier. They even painted our faces, so Odd, Aelita, and I had our respective facial markings. After Jeremie would upgrade Patrick's costume, and we finally get to see what Hunter and Sam looked like, I was sure it was going to be incredible. If they actually do something like that… Wow…

Odd grinned, giving me a look. "You just wanna be a cat girl again, don't you, Cassidy?"

"Can you blame me? I loved the work Emily did," I shot back playfully.

"She's an artist?" Hunter rubbed his head, slightly confused. "I know who she is, but the monster barely showed me anything about her. Just some random girl Odd once dated."

"Milly, Tamiya, and Emily did our makeup," Aelita smiled.

"They did an excellent job," I giggled. "So super accurate, I couldn't believe it."

Hunter's eyes widened, slightly. "Wow… guess they really studied the monster, didn't they…? Now I wish I had seen it. That must have been incredible."

"Milly and Tamiya hadn't left their room in a very long time. So I can only hazard that they had to grab everything it showed them—maybe that's why I was out like a light for a long time," I blinked.

"Your eyes had been white when you closed them, Cassidy," Jeremie observed.

"That's the reason why you played eye doctor?" I asked. Even though I was hazy when I woke up, my first visual memory was Jeremie looking me dead in the eyes, as though I had answered a question of his incorrectly.

"Exactly," Jeremie clarified with a nod. "When you first opened your eyes, we wanted to make sure that it was really you, and that your psychic powers didn't still have control over you."

"Ah. Well, uh… I'm, uh… glad you checked," I smiled, feeling a bit awkward.

But Odd soon noticed this and started to softly and slowly rub my back. "But don't worry, Cat Girl! You're still you!"

"Yeah," I agreed, relaxing in his nice caress.

Aelita glanced over at me, noticing my eyes were slowly starting to close, and adopted a smile. "You definitely deserve a nice rest after what had happened in California."

"You're probably right, Aelita," I yawned. "Especially American-born girls like us."

That got everyone's attention. At first, they weren't sure if that was something I just mumbled while half-asleep, or if I was actually serious. As various looks of surprise painted my friends' faces, Yumi was the first to ask the currently burning question.

"Huh?! You're saying that Aelita was born here?! Where did you hear that?"

"Birth certificate…" I managed to mutter, snuggling into mi novio.

Jeremie glued his jaw back onto his skull. "Of course! The day she went on a solo mission in the Hermitage to find Aelita's date of birth. Naturally, among other things, it would also list her place of birth."

Odd found his bearings next. "So, not only did Cat Girl, Assassin, and Hunter come over from here. Princess did, too! I can't believe it!"

"'Assassin?'" Ulrich wondered, raising an eyebrow as he noticed one nickname in Odd's sentence that didn't make sense.

"Why, Kaitlyn, Ulrich. Because of her Lyoko form, of course," he answered.

Ulrich realized he should have known it would be that obvious. Most of Odd's nicknames and names for XANA's monsters came from how they looked to him. Jeremie was smart, so he naturally thought of Einstein, even though he was sure Odd had only heard of that name and didn't know who old Albert was. I was a giant purple-then-pink-then-back-to-purple cat on Lyoko, hence the nickname "Cat Girl." Ulrich and Yumi earned their spot as "Lovebirds," and Franz was "Henri," something he wasn't entirely sure about. Of course, he wasn't one to shy away from nicknames, either, given that he was the first one to call Aelita "Princess"; he also remembered the day he collaborated with Odd and Yumi to create "Danger Psychic" for me, but that nickname withered and died after a while.

"I don't think you'll ever stop with the nicknames, Odd," he smiled.

"It's like I've told you, good buddy; I feel that if you're going to fight something, they should have a name," mi novio cracked.

It was as if the volume of the speakers in the van had increased, as all of us chorused, "You're crazy, Odd!"

That gave him a good belly laugh, the wildcard throwing his head back and clutching his stomach, as he did so. "It's like I've got my own fan club!"

For a moment, I giggled, too, until another yawn escaped my mouth. "You are well loved, Odd… even by me."

"I wouldn't expect anything less out of you, Cat Girl!" he replied in-between laughs.

"I don't think any of us know what we'd ever do without you, Odd," Aelita added, a warm grin on her face, as she watched my laughing novio.

"I'd rather not go through a full list of things we'd be in trouble with if Odd didn't save our butts," I tried to contain another yawn.

"T-that won't be necessary," Jeremie jumped in, hoping to stop me before I started. "Most of us already know that Odd has helped us out in a ton of ways."

Yumi giggled at that, as she glanced over at me, as well. "But I think you should go for a nap before you do anything."

"As soon as my giggling boyfriend calms down," I teased tiredly.

It was true; apparently, our joke had cracked the wildcard up so much, his laughter threatened to break him apart. I couldn't exactly sleep next to the cackling machine, as his constant shaking would keep me awake. So how would we calm him down? Wait it out, until he came down from his self-induced high, and took a few deep breaths? Or should someone say something terrible?

That was when my eyes widened. Wait… "I think I wouldn't have minded having Kiwi's tail."

"HEY!" Kiwi protested.

A few deep breaths from the diggity-dog's owner followed, before he, too, turned a surprised look on me. "What would you need Kiwi's tail for? Kiwi needs Kiwi's tail!"

"Just kidding, Odd," I deadpanned, yawning. "I know how much you hate Kiwi-related jokes, and from his reactions, so does Kiwi himself."

He folded his arms, completely ignoring my umpteenth yawn. "That wasn't funny the second time either, Cat Girl! I can't have Kiwi running around without a tail!"

"Wasn't even thinking that it was funny. I just knew it would bring you out of your intense laughing fit." I blinked at him, about to nod off.

Odd's eyes turned toward the ceiling of the van before he put his hands on my shoulders. "Why don't you just have a nap now, Cat Girl? You're starting to think jokes about Kiwi losing his tail are actually funny. You've been awake way too long."

"Doesn't help that I was up since six in the morning," I said, my voice grinding to a gravelly tone. However, I lowered my head onto his chest, eyes closing.

As I did this, I could feel him moving his hands around, so his arms enveloped my sides, snuggling me close to him, as the slightly-angry frown on his face slowly turned into a smile. He then leaned forward, delivering a soft, gentle kiss to my forehead.

"Sleep well, Cat Girl," he whispered, as I slowly felt myself drift off.

"Hey! Cat Girl!" he announced. "Wake up."

I groaned, my eyes cracking open, interrupted from my nap-induced dreams. "Odd? Where are we?"

"We're in New Mexico," my wildcard replied, happily. "You slept all the way through Arizona. You were really tired out!"

"Hey, you go through an adrenaline rush in one state, you start feeling tired after it wears off in another," I yawned, stretching slightly to wake my body up.

"Don't worry," Jeremie jumped in, smiling at me as well, "we won't ever have to go through anything like that, again. Besides, if you look out your window, you might find something just a bit familiar."

I looked, my eyes widening as they beheld the laboratory that Yumi, Ulrich, Aelita, and I had visited on separate occasions. "Oh, wow…"

It was while I gazed in awe at the building, that Odd remembered something that he and I had done, the first time Aelita, Ulrich, and I visited here.

"I'm sure you remember," he joked, a grin overtaking his face as he closed his eyes. "Somebody here forgot that they weren't allowed to speak English!"

"The Spanish bet," I giggled. "I kept speaking it in the Replika mission. That was a great challenge, though, Odd."

Hunter snaked his fingers through his hair, remembering the sequence well, thanks to the monster. "Oh, man… the whole time, I started to wonder if the monster somehow got switched into another language for you, Cassidy… it was so hard to keep up!"

"You think that was strange?" Ulrich concurred, giving the black-haired boy an ambitious grin. "Try riding through the Digital Sea while getting yelled at in Spanish by her."

"Well, you did say some ill-timed quips about Odd and me. I think it was pretty justified." I raised a finger.

"So, next time, I think I'll bet you to speak in German," Odd retorted, giggling at himself. "That way, I'll win for sure!"

My jaw dropped. "I don't know German, Odd!"

Thankfully, Aelita came to my rescue, as she glared at my wildcard. "I don't think it would be a good idea to have any more foreign language bets. The last time it happened, Cassidy was having a hard time deciding exactly what to say, especially at the lunch table. It really made her feel terrible, Odd."

"Oh…" mi novio groaned. "I'm sorry, Cassidy. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay, but don't make me undergo that again," I nodded, still staring out at the lab. "Seven Kankrelats and four katanas, Samurai, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Ulrich grinned at the thought of that memory. "I was on a real lucky streak that day. Kinda like you, but not like Odd."

"Hey, the mandelbug thingy affected me, too, Ulrich, sweetheart," I teased.

Samurai went to reply, but my choice of words threw him off a bit. "Dah—dah—huh?"

My smile grew bigger. Seeing him this way just melted my soul into giggles. "I know you were in this state when Odd and I were first affected, but you were the last one the mandelbug touched."

As Ulrich slowly regained his bearings, Jeremie scratched his head.

"I still don't understand it," he lamented, with a bit of worry in his tone. "I still don't have any idea how Odd and Cassidy could have introduced the bug into the supercomputer, nor where it came from, or why it affected everyone else in sequence, ending with you, Ulrich."

Ulrich, now entirely coherent again, sent an ambitious grin toward mi novio. "I guess I was just lucky, right, good buddy?"

"Don't start talking to me about luck," he bantered in mock-seriousness, "unless you wanna get laughed at!"

"Yeah, Odd, but I was the one that broke the mirror. Not you," I giggled, before ceasing and turning my attention to Jeremie. "I don't know what caused it either. I've been trying to figure that out, but so far my brain seems to want to say that William's Orlando, but that's ridiculous."

"Objection, your honor, extenuating circumstances. Orlando's my middle name," William came in.

Yumi whirled her head around to face the boy, raising an eyebrow in sheer surprise. "Huh…?!"

"Well, originally, it was going to be my first name, but Mom changed her mind two weeks before I came into the picture," he shrugged.

"Can't say I knew that fact before, Ex-y. I guess my brain ran on too many nap fumes," I smiled, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder.

He smiled back. "I never really told you before, that's why."

"That's fine, William. For some reason, at first, I thought they gave you the middle name of James, but man, was I way off," I giggled.

"You read too many Harry Potter novels, Cat Girl," Odd quipped. "And to think I read your favorite while you were in your coma."

I quirked a brow, looking at mi novio in intrigue. "You mean, and the Chamber of Secrets?"

"What other one is there?" my wildcard replied rhetorically, as Aelita began to giggle.

My smile continued to blossom, turning my attention toward her. "What's so funny, Aelita?"

"You should have heard him trying to speak in Parseltongue," she added, still giggling at the thought. "I thought he was whispering!"

"Well, I'm sure it was a good effort," I nodded. "Odd's no Slytherin. Come to think of it, I'm sure he'd be good in Gryffindor. Bravery, loyalty, definitely adventurous."

"Don't forget funny, smart and humble, all rolled into one svelte package!" mi novio added, closing his eyes and stretching his arms out, toward the ceiling of the van, with both index fingers extended.

"Daring, having a lot of nerve, chivalrous…" I giggled. "Ulrich and William fit there, too. Yumi… hm… I see a lot of Ravenclaw, same with Jeremie and Aelita, but she's also a Gryffindor, too. Hm…"

Before I had a chance to finish my sentence, Jeremie immediately jumped in, noticing I was putting quite a bit of thought into my upcoming reply.

"Don't stress too hard, Cassidy." His words carried a slight tinge of fear, unsuccessfully masked behind calmness. "I'm sure you'll find a suitable Hogwarts House for each of us, but later."

I nodded, sighing calmly. "You're right, plus a few I'm having trouble with because I don't know them that well yet."

"Just relax, Cass," William smiled. "You don't have to sort us all in one day."

"He's right; we don't all need to know, just yet," Kaitlyn added, with a similar, reassuring grin to mi ex novio's. "We can probably figure ours out for ourselves, too."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Plus, I love seeing the lab that helped me be a bit less homesick."

Jeremie let out a bit of a giggle at this. "I'm starting to wonder if I could have modified the landing parameters, so the teleportation would have sent you straight to Illinois or Nebraska, especially if there hadn't been a Replika close enough."

"It's okay, Einstein. I don't think it could've gone that far. Plus, I don't want to end up with clone mania again," I giggled along with him.

He huffed in mock terror, a smile still on his face. "Oh, no. I'd rather not go through that again!"

"I would hate to find that instead of Tracy or Chessy, one of my other sides came out, and I don't know how many I have," I said.

"What about Alexx or Hunterr?" Ulrich spoke up, with a malevolent grin on his face. "If you thought one Odd was bad…"

"Hey!" I shouted, anger constricting my heart. "¡Odd es mi novio, Sr. Samurai! Didn't I tell you not to insult my boyfriend all that long ago?!"

You should have seen how quickly his former grin disappeared, as he came face-to-face with my ire.

Then mi novio turned in his direction, folding his arms, and adopting a malevolent grin of his own. "I think you're just jealous because Cassidy and I got two more good buddies of our own!"

"One of whom was emotionally sad and depressed, Ulrich," I pointed out, glaring at him.

With this, he found his courage, along with an angry voice, and returned my glare, raising an eyebrow as the cherry on top. "What are you talking about?! I'm not emotionally sad and depressed! Are you out of—"

"Remember Chessy?!" I mirrored his eyebrow-raise.

"Of course I remember Chessy!" he shot back, not missing a beat. "But I'm telling you, I don't act like that!"

"That's who I meant, Samurai," I lowered my voice into a slightly sultry "I challenge you" voice, a smile blooming on my face. "She acted like that. I know you don't act that way at all."

His look of anger morphed into a surprised grimace. "Huh—gah?! Wh…?! Then…! What are you looking at me like that for?! What… uh—dah… huh?!"

Aelita brought her hand up, hiding her giggling as Ulrich rehearsed his vowels again.

"Because you thought I was talking about you, Samurai…" I teased.

Even though I was silly, Patrick decided to offer Ulrich a hand, in an attempt to untie his tongue.

"You're much better than that clone of hers, anyway," he consoled, grinning at the German-named boy. "From what the monster showed me, she seemed way too high-maintenance."

"Even I don't require much," I admitted, smiling.

"That's true." Odd gave me a huge grin like he was going to lead the subject down an entirely different path. "All we need to do is hand you a couple of knitting needles, and a skein of yarn, and you're all set! You could be holed up for days in the lab, working on a shawl for Aelita!"

After babbling incoherently for a few seconds, Samurai was finally able to pull the huge knot out of his tongue, just as mi novio finished his sentence. "Uh… sorry, Cassidy."

The next reply didn't come from me. Instead his beloved stepped in. "It's okay, Ulrich. I know we've made fun of your behavior before."

"Plus, I was making fun of my clone's, this time," I giggled. "You're doing fine, Ulrich."

Ulrich rubbed the back of his head, as his gaze met the carpeted floor, still feeling a bit embarrassed for getting incredibly confused by what I had said. "Yeah… you're right."

"Besides, we are almost to our hotel, aren't we?" I asked Jeb.

"That's right," Jeb replied, without moving his head. "We're a good twenty minutes away."

"Cool," I smiled, reaching under my seat and retrieving my shoes. "I can't wait to get settled in."

"Yeah!" Odd exclaimed in agreement. "I wonder what kind of breakfast they'll serve us, there."

"It'll probably depend on what kind of hotel we're going to," Hunter commented, and we could all tell that the hotel was exactly what he was thinking about.

Yumi nodded, before sending a slightly malevolent grin toward mi novio. "I'll bet you want one with room service, huh, Odd?"

"That's right!" Odd grinned.

"Plus we can order pizza, and most places deliver," I giggled.

"Great idea!" Yumi smiled, closing her eyes.

"After this whole trip so far," Ulrich added, "it'll be nice to get a chance to relax."

"Yes, and possibly rest without any nightmares," Kaitlyn jumped in, hoping to continue the trend of positivity.

"And see if XANA has reared his ugly head since we weakened him," Jeremie smiled.

"When I called my father last," Aelita added, replying directly to Jeremie's statement, "he said XANA hadn't woken up, yet."

"XANA's gotten so far behind on his phone bills. I'm so glad his plan cut him off," Odd cracked.

Before I could even get my right shoe on, I threw my head back and cackled. Even a few of the others couldn't resist chuckling at his joke.

"Oh, great," Ulrich commented, a grin spread across his face, "Odd's girlfriend, the laughter-filled psychic, strikes again!"

"It's much better than her being down on herself," my former first roommate giggled.

"You're right," Jeremie agreed, smiling at his pink-haired beloved. "It's great seeing her in such a wonderful mood."

"I wonder why she's been so hard on herself, lately," William posed, out of slight curiosity. "I understand she was so confused at first when she woke up from her coma, but what caused this new behavior?"

In reply, Ulrich's, Yumi's and Jeremie's eyes widened, as the blond genius turned his head to face William, raising his left index finger up to his mouth. "Not now, William! We'll tell you about it later."

"Yes, William dear. We don't want to get my dear sister any more wound-up than she already had been," Sister added, somewhat gently cautioning the boy.

"Make sure she doesn't eat any mint cakes," Jeb came in.

Before any of them knew what hit them, I came down from my personal high Odd gave me, falsely gagging. "Ugh, Jeb… why…?!"

"What's so wrong with mint?" Sam was genuinely curious but sounded like she almost thought the idea was silly.

"It is so gross…" I whined.

"You just haven't tried a good flavor of mint, that's all," she replied, grinning at me. "Wintergreen tastes terrible, but winter mint… mmmmm…"

That only served to make me gag even further, for real. Seeing this, Yumi slid over toward me, wrapped her arms around me, and began to softly rub my back, between my wings, with both hands.

"It's okay," she softly cooed into my ear. "Just relax. Sam doesn't know, okay?"

Slowly, my reflex calmed down, and I started to draw breath again. "S-sorry…Yumi…"

"Don't worry," she continued to coo, her soft, gentle hands still caressing my back soothingly. "Just relax…"

I took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled longer than the inhale. Her fingers were working their magic. I started to grin. "Thanks, Yumi."

Nearby, Sam had adopted a shameful look, after seeing what Yumi had to go through, to get me to calm down. "Sorry, Cassidy… I didn't know it was that bad."

"I can handle mint toothpaste and candy canes at Christmas time, but never, ever in a cake or ice cream, Sam," I tried to soothe, finally slipping my foot into my right shoe. "You didn't know. It's okay."

Her mouth slowly started to curve upward, making it seem like she did feel a bit better.

"Besides, we are almost at the hotel," I pointed out. "That's something to look forward to."

"What are you gonna do first," Patrick asked me, "after we all get settled in?"

"I would like to eat first, Patrick. We've been traveling a lot of hours, and I think we are in the mountain standard time. Yes, I had a nap, but I think a good meal and then a good night's sleep is a perfect idea," I smiled slightly, reaching for my left shoe.

"Great idea, Cat Girl!" Odd agreed, grinning. "Nothing like something to eat, then hours and hours of sleep, after hours and hours of riding!"

"And I'm sure Georgina needs a rest, too," Hunter pointed out.

"Just look at Kiwi," Ulrich beamed, gesturing gently to the winged-puppy. "He's already several steps ahead of us."

Indeed, Kiwi had fallen asleep, his open hind leg slightly, and subconsciously, kicking in the air. "Oh… Tutu… You're so beautiful…"

Aelita let out a cute giggle at the sight, as it brought back memories of a particular someone she was quite fond of.

"Doesn't that remind you of anyone, Jeremie?" she queried in a sultry voice, looking at the boy in question with a slightly mischievous smile on her face.

In reply, her blond knight-in-glasses seemed as though he had been caught somewhat off-guard, as a blush began to lightly tint his cheeks. "Um… well, uh…"

This only made his pink-haired beloved giggle more, as it told her he knew exactly what she meant. "Don't worry, Jeremie. I do it, too. I'm sure you probably hear me in the morning when you wake up before I do."

"I heard you in the morning, too, Aelita," I blinked. "I don't know what you were doing with a rubber chicken, but maybe it's best I lay low."

Now Aelita had gained a light reddish tint on her cheeks, as her smile was replaced with a look of confusion. "Huh? Uh… What do you mean?"

"You were doing something with a rubber chicken. Apparently, his name is Bertrand and—"

Her cheeks got redder after that, as she looked down at the floor, trying to paint a picture on her boots. "Well, uh… that dream had a sort of, uh… deeper meaning… Bertrand was actually supposed to be a sort of… um…"

"Oh, Aelita, please. Don't sweat it," I tried to console her. "I just found it strange at first, but since I remember Kiwi driving a saxophone in one series of dreams I had, I shouldn't throw stones."

She relaxed a bit, the tint slowly vanishing from her cheeks. "It's okay. It's been a while since I've had that dream, so it's becoming harder for me to remember."

"I don't think it's a problem," I smiled. "Besides, you and I have been roommates for so long. We both talk in our sleep."

"'Butter is insoluble,'" Jeremie randomly quoted me.

"It didn't help that I dreamed about Mrs. Hertz's class that one time."

"And the worst part is," he added with a slightly mischievous grin, "that wasn't even what she was teaching, that day."

"It was more of biology," I agreed. "And when I—excuse me, my clone—went to class that day, we had a lesson on reproduction and rabbits."

"I think we've all had enough of clones for a while," Jeremie lamented, remembering one clone in particular. "Do any of you remember the one time one of Cassidy's clones tried to flirt with me?"

As if uniquely giving a "yes," mi novio started laughing. "Flirt with you?! Einstein, it was a few steps shy from asking you out! It pulled your glasses off, it practically rubbed noses with you and even your chest at one point, it almost gave you a kiss… And it was running its fingers through your hair! I would've hated to have been Princess, if she had been on Earth, and saw that!"

At least Odd could laugh about it; he didn't go through it, like Jeremie did, and didn't have terrible memories about it like I did. Even Ulrich was starting to grimace, as he leaned forward, running his fingers through his hair in disgust.

"Ugh… At least I had the decency to not do that when I was recovered," I moaned, blushing slightly as my wings ruffled.

Jeremie started to look a bit uncomfortable, as well. "And I really appreciate that. I don't even want to know what your clone would have done, if Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich hadn't walked into my room and saw the two of us."

"And I was totally out of it afterward, scared silly from the fact that—" I began, before getting a slight feeling of worry in the pit of my stomach. "Um… Maybe we should save that for later. I think Hunter's getting a bit…testy from dredging that up from the past."

Indeed, the black-haired programmer looked as if he was moments away from having his wings flare intensely, and there was a really good chance that it would break most, if not all, of the windows in the van. So, to counter this, I flipped through my memories again, before landing on one that made me smile.

"Remember when we got to see Odd's sisters for the first time in the hospital?"

Yumi found my smile contagious as she nodded, remembering it well, despite still being slightly sedated at the time. "Yeah, they were nothing like Odd said they were. They were actually nice for a change. I was really surprised."

"The monster probably changed that. I don't blame it for that, considering how it changed Sister so fast it made my head spin the first several days," I nodded, giggling.

"I think the monster made everyone's head spin," Jeremie suggested, remembering how shocked not only he but everyone else, was, after that one moment that none of them would ever forget.

"You're right!" Sister agreed, bringing her hands up to her head. "At first, it felt like something was messing with my head, and the next thing I know, I could remember everything I had ever done, and it was so weird, because I didn't remember doing any of those things, and it was so freaky, I didn't even know what to do!"

"Didn't you say you had a bit of a headache before the monster was unleashed?" I inquired, tilting my head slightly to the side.

"Yeah!" She brought her hands down and pointed her right index finger at me. "I had gone to the infirmary, to get something for it from Yolanda, and the next thing I know, I'm floating, the school completely disappears, Yolanda and I are both glowing, despite...well, you know… and there's purple, pink, and black everywhere, not to mention a yellow glow somewhere, and then I hear what sounds like Jeremie's voice, and… the whole thing was just like… woooow!"

My eyes could not widen any further. Sister had just described the entire surreal experience with such vivid clarity, it was like witnessing it for myself, despite the fact that I was the one causing the whole thing in the first place.

Noticing my surprised expression, Sister continued. "But if it hadn't happened, how would I have ever known that I had been such a jerk to all of you!"

"I was still in America at the time," Hunter spoke up, offering his account. "I was at a doctor's appointment when it happened, getting a check-up before I flew over to France and the next thing I know… the doctor, my parents and I were all floating, we saw that… monster… and afterward, I felt like… Well, what's worse than having a meltdown? Or even an overload?"

"Having a catatonic state?" Jeremie offered, his mind's eye bringing to the forefront the memory of when Ulrich's dad said something to me that threw me into such a condition.

"Yeah, something like that." Hunter pointed at him with his right index finger. "But I had never, ever felt like that in my life. My parents immediately started rubbing my back, sides, arms, and belly, to try and calm me down, but when that didn't work, my doctor gave me a bit of a sedative, which calmed me right down."

"Your doctors knew how to take care of you," Georgina soothed, keeping her attention on the road.

While she agreed with Hunter, my mind started in a myriad of directions that began to attack me with guilt. The monster had almost screwed with his sanity. How many others' ethoses had it messed with? What horrors did they see? Do they see me as a freak of nature? Were Bastien's words true when he called me out after he rescued me from the pool? That I "should be locked up in a mental institution?"

I put my hands to my head, my knees soon meeting my chest as I trembled. Throwing my mental shields around my thoughts, I closed my eyes. This is my fault. It's always been… I should have done the deed… I should have tossed myself into the Digital Sea and worked for XANA all that long ago…

Despite my attempts to wall myself off, mi novio, who happened to be looking around the van, started grimacing in fear when his eyes landed on me. It didn't take him long to put two-and-two together and figure out exactly what had thrown me into yet another guilt-induced jab at myself.

His eyes immediately zoomed toward Hunter. "Uhh, I think that might have been a bit over-the-top, Hunter, good buddy."

The black-haired programmer quickly glanced up in my direction. His face soon mirroring Odd's, he whispered, "Bandersnatch!"

This sequence of events caused Sister to be the third to notice my current depressed state, her levels of worry soon reaching eleven. Quickly, she slid across the seat, and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into the warmest snuggle she could muster, knowing it would work twofold: the snuggle would calm me, and her gentle touch would activate the supernatural effect that would erase the guilt that was plaguing me.

"Oh, my dear sister!" she soothed in a soft version of her normal voice, with worry somewhat prevalent, "Hunter didn't mean to make you feel like this! He just didn't know that you'd react like this! Please don't worry… You know we all love, care about, and adore you."

Even though my mental shields were around my thoughts, keeping anyone from reading them, Kaitlyn seemed to be the fourth to notice my reactions. "Cassidy, you're really special."

My eyes shot open. With Sister's gentle rubs alleviating some of the guilt and working to take away the rest of it, I almost had to do a double-take. "What?"

"Kaitlyn's right," Yumi added, giving me one of her usual warm, calming, disarming smiles. "I don't think any of us can knit scarves for the Lyoko Warriors, come up with 119 plans, or warn us about XANA's plans before they happen like you can. You need to stop thinking you're terrible."

"I'm still trying to knit Mrs. Hertz's shawl," I muttered in consideration, before bringing my tone up to normal levels. "Sorry. It sometimes gets me."

"Only sometimes?" Patrick exclaimed. "Your self-esteem has been low since finding out about the monster. But you can't let nearly everything be a trigger. You're only going to conquer it if you try. Nobody blames you for that, no matter what you think. You have to tell yourself, 'I didn't have any control over myself, so there's no point in letting it bother me.'"

I nodded. Yumi and Patrick were right, her when we were still stuck at the School, and him then. I was beating myself up. I've been acting like this entire thing was my fault from the moment it happened. Even if something had taken full control of me, like XANA had taken control of other humans in the past, I still felt as though I had done the whole thing, even though I hadn't. And that was the point they were trying to get across; it wasn't me. It just used my body. They never blamed each other when one was XANAfied because they weren't themselves. Why couldn't this apply to the monster, as well? It was finally starting to sink in: it wasn't me. It wasn't me. It wasn't me.

It.

Was.

Not.

Me.

"No one in their right mind can blame you for that, anyway," Hunter agreed, joining in. "No matter what happened, that wasn't you that did it; something just took your body for a joyride, like what XANA used to do. Even XANA has done crazier things than this. And what has the monster done, just shown a bunch of videos?"

"It almost killed me," I blinked at him. "It used nearly all my life…"

"Well, obviously it didn't," he gently countered, "unless I'm talking to your ghost, or some sort of clone Jeremie programmed? I'm pretty sure you bounced back from that unless your friends didn't tell me."

"That's true. I guess my mind's just painting all the negatives in front of me and none of the positives."

Now it was Aelita's turn to smile, reassuringly, at me. "Don't worry, we understand. A lot of times, it's hard to think of positive things, when you only want to think about the negative ones. But all you have to do is just push them out of the way. Tell yourself that you don't want to think about them."

"I could do that," I smiled, Sister's technique working, as I lowered my mental shields.

"Great!" Yumi nodded, with a smile of her own. "Remember to keep telling yourself that. If you forget, that's when they'll jump out at you."

William copied her motion. "And we're almost there, guys!"

With this, Sam's attention immediately shifted toward the window, as if she was looking for some kind of street sign, telling them where exactly they were. "How much farther?"

"Just five minutes, Samantha," Jeb smiled.

"ALRIGHT!" Odd exclaimed, starting to get excited at the thought of staying in the hotel Jeb picked out, waking Kiwi up in the process. "As soon as we get into our rooms, I'm calling room service! I'm starving!"

"That sounds like a good idea, actually," I agreed. "Tengo hambre, también."

"Maybe we could all use something to eat," Jeremie chimed in. "We've been riding for hours, and the last thing we've had to eat was breakfast at Dr. Martinez's house."

"And I had napped in-between."

"You were out for several hours," Yumi remarked, smiling at me.

"Seeing one friend saving another friend from certain doom can tire someone out," Odd pointed out, a smile on his face.

"And I don't think any of us felt hungry after that," Ulrich added, a similar grin painting his own features.

I shook my head. "I didn't even want to think about eating. Seeing Jeremie—yes—made me almost relive that day with Jim's boot camp."

Moments after I finished my sentence, I could hear a low, angry growl coming from another seat in the van. Glancing over, I saw Hunter with his hands over his face, and immediately realized he must have seen my mishap through the monster; that look told me how greatly he thought of it, almost without reading his mind.

Ulrich noticed this, too, as he also sent a curious glance in Hunter's direction. "How did you ever fool Jim into thinking you were actually healthy enough to go to his commando camp? You spent most of the night passed out in the bathroom!"

"To quote you: 'To tell you the truth, I don't really know,' Samurai. I awoke that day to hear Aelita screaming in concern right next to me. Funny how when I woke from my coma, I distinctly heard her scream again, but in more of an excited tone of voice, then another voice, then Odd saying 'Cassidy's eyelids just moved!' in the exact tone when he fooled her into thinking the robots moved and then when they actually did," I said, rapidly grasping at straws to change the subject for Hunter's benefit. "Then I heard everyone encouraging me, even hearing two in unison."

"We had been watching you for a few months," Aelita explained, smiling warmly, "waiting for you to wake up, especially after your pulse rose to normal speed. So when you started to move, I was beside myself with excitement, that I almost couldn't hold it back. Your timing was wonderful."

"I guess it was since the doctors—Uh, I mean, it was?" I smiled uneasily, trying to keep it from going into a direction Hunter did not want it to.

"It sure was!" Einstein tried to play along, putting on the best smile he could muster. "Everyone in the room was ecstatic to have you back. Even the doctors and hospital security were glad to see you."

"Doctor Chantal did say she was happy to see me," I grinned. "I may not have been all there yet, but I thought it was sweet of her to say."

"I almost thought I was still in a fog when you woke," Ulrich added next. "I thought, 'Wait, Cassidy can't be waking up, can she? Odd's pulled something like this on us before…'"

"Well, I didn't read that thought," I mused. "In fact, for at least a day, until Jeremie's mom and dad arrived, I couldn't read any human minds. I thought it was a bit weird."

"Your powers were recharging, that's all," Jeremie tried to reassure me, reaching over to pat me on the shoulder.

"True. The first power was re-reading animal minds, and that helped when Kiwi entered the room," I giggled.

From his position in mi novio's lap, Kiwi lifted his head. "I did say 'Hi, guys!' to you when I barked. I especially loved seeing Odd, Master, again."

In response, my wildcard softly stroked the dog's head and back, gazing down at him. "And I was so glad to see you again, my little talking, winged diggity-dog!"

"I loved it when you all said my name happily," he panted happily.

"Well, you are a cuddly and lovable dog," Hunter remarked, slowly beginning to smile, as he placed his hands on his lap. "Of course they were happy to see you."

"Of course he is," I giggled, but gradually found myself in a fix. "He even helped me through—never mind. He was great in Aelita's lap when—oh for two, not important. Um...he helped Odd with his laser arrows?"

"He's just a great dog, full stop," Hunter jumped in, trying to help me avoid saying things he might not want to hear. "Like the mascot for the Lyoko Warriors, or something."

"I'm so sorry, Hunter. I'm trying…"

He sighed, turning his gaze toward his khaki-colored cargo pants. "I know… If I wasn't so picky, you wouldn't have to walk on eggshells around me… I just want to keep everyone in a good mood, that's all. Especially with where we're going, and what we might be doing, in the upcoming days."

"It's okay, Hunter," Aelita soothed. "She just remembers a lot of things like I do."

He nodded, slowly. "Yeah, I know the feeling…"

"I was even told I remember to the most obscure detail. Like I still remember the blue stuff Odd pushed Ulrich in was like gelatin, hair gel, or jam, depending on whose point of view it was," I blinked. "I'm just glad that I didn't get my nose full of the stuff, but—wait… I was a bit klutzy that day, and as I tripped, my fingers touched...it…" I shook my head. "It was so weird. XANA somehow managed to surpass wherever my powers began and block them from helping me, Ulrich, or anyone. Sister even helped me…"

"I still don't know how XANA managed to mess with your psychic powers, instead of making you lose your memory like Ulrich, Cat Girl," Odd commented, still feeling quite confused about the whole thing.

"I did lose my memory, Odd. I almost—never mind, three is an uneven number."

"Well, I couldn't just let you walk around Kadic like you had no idea where you were, or even what you were doing, my dear sister," Sister spoke up. Even though she had forgotten about that day initially, the monster put it back into her head. "If only it hadn't happened to Ulrich sweetheart, either!"

"I am glad that you helped me, even though I don't remember all of it yet," I smiled gratefully.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out someday," Aelita suggested soothingly, before transitioning to a different topic. "Maybe it'll come to you during a dream? And that makes me wonder what everyone's plans are, once we get to the hotel."

"I would love to have a good meal, and then sleep for the night." Even though I had napped throughout the trip, I felt as though I could do with a more restful slumber. "We did have a long journey."

"That's a great idea," Ulrich agreed, understanding my point. "We should all get a chance to sleep in, tomorrow."

"The spa doesn't open until noon, so there's no rush to open your eyes," Jeb smiled. "And speaking of the hotel, we're here."

Sure enough, he was right. As most of us clamored around the van's side windows, we watched Georgina pull into the parking lot for a hotel that really looked quite fancy on the outside. It was four stories tall and looked like it had hundreds upon hundreds of rooms. There was even a ritzy fountain in front of the drive-up area, giving the entire place an air of sophistication.

"Wow…" I whispered. "That's so cool."

Sister grinned from ear to ear, as she beheld the building. "It's even better-looking than I imagined!"

Georgina parked in front of the automatic doors. "I just need to get us checked into our rooms," she smiled gently, but I could feel she was about ready to yawn. Several hours driving after getting done inspecting a dozen frazzled used-to-be kidnapped teenagers and their dog possibly took it out of her. I couldn't blame her. It had been one heck of an adventure, and there was more in store.

As the warm, loving, former whitecoat disappeared through the sliding doors that led into the hotel's lobby, our attention soon turned to what was in store for us, once we were all checked in, and settled down.

"I can't wait to get massaged," Kiwi said at once, telling everyone in the van what was on his mind.

In reply, Ulrich chuckled a bit, as he grinned at his original roommate's dog. "Just make sure you don't do that around the masseuses. Otherwise, the only massages you'll get will be from either Odd or Cassidy."

"Oh, don't worry. I don't even want them to think they became—how did Aelita call herself one time—nutcases," the puppy woofed.

My former first roommate giggled a bit at this. "As long as you don't bury their massage oils in the ground out behind the hotel, you should be fine, Kiwi."

"Hey, I still have some burying instincts in me," he panted.

"Guys! Calm down," I blinked, unsure if hostility was about to unfurl in front of us.

That was when Odd put his arm around my back. "We are calm, Cat Girl. My diggity-dog is just kidding."

"Sorry," I grinned sheepishly, my wings threatening to break my new shirt. "I guess I mixed up a signal."

"Don't worry about it," Hunter tried to reassure me, before adding, "and that reminds me… How many rooms are they going to give us? I mean, that's probably a stupid thing to ask, but… part of me is kinda curious."

"For this night and tomorrow night only, Hunter, you, Jeremie, and Ulrich will share a suite; Kaitlyn, Patrick, William and Sam will take another; Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, Cassidy, Odd, and Kiwi will have the third; Max will take the fourth with Fang and the others; and Georgina, Ari, and I will sleep in the fifth suite. We made arrangements that if one needs another, the rooms will be within the vicinity," Jeb answered. "Plus, the suite interior is super spacious."

"That's great!" Yumi chimed in with a grin. "It sounds like it shouldn't be too much of a problem if the suites are as big as they say."

As Yumi talked, I looked through the windshield, seeing Max and her flock land in succession. Right away, a grin flitted across her face as she congratulated her makeshift family for a job well done so far. Nudge jumped up and down, seemingly about to chatter her leader's ear off before Iggy patted her shoulder to bring her down to Earth, so to speak. And then, I saw it: Max held out her left fist, to which the others responded with stacking them up as I had read in the books. Their right hands or paws (depending on who was there) tapped them twice. My heart exploded with warmth and joy. Sure, the smuggling into the States wasn't the best in the world, but to see that made my inner fangirl tingle with excitement, which almost spread to my wings.

Just as they finished, Angel looked in my direction, a smile on her face. Tomorrow, you can relax, Cassidy.

Raising my mental shields to send my thoughts to her, I nodded. Thanks, Angel.

The little smile she had grew into a grin. Yes, Aelita smiling in the hospital when it was just her as the patient always made me believe she was cute, but Angel was seven-years-old. She was also cute in her own right. But I knew that Max thought of her as her baby.

It was while I was lost in my thoughts, that I heard the high-pitched voice of mi novio gently pull me from them, and send a blush to my cheeks. "You should see how your whole face lights up, when you smile like that, Cat Girl."

I giggled. "Like you should have seen yours when Ulrich confronted you about that empty rumor about Emily and Jim. You looked so cat-gone cute!"

"Hey, Cassidy, you can say doggone," Kiwi yipped. "I just don't want to hear doggie bag."

"Right," I beamed, as a few of the others giggled.

Odd laughed at that, as well. "You were there, Cassidy! You remember why I said that!"

"I do, Odd. You know how my powers worked. At least I told Emily that the rumors weren't true and that it was just a cover-up, so you didn't get hit too hard." I playfully pushed him.

"Didn't you get hit in the shoulder?" Ulrich asked out of worry.

"Only because I stood as stiff as a board in the middle of the soccer field and the ball hit me square," I shrugged. "Good thing Yolanda was able to relocate it."

That memory came right back to mi novio, along with the moment of impact, which made him wince, almost as if he could feel my pain. All because my psychic powers just froze me right where I was, something that would be disastrous for me, not to mention the others, on other occasions, even though it was scarce.

"I'm glad she had a gentle touch. It helped," I smiled.

However, just as quickly as it came on, a grin soon replaced it. "That's Yolanda for you! Always there when you need her."

"Yes," Aelita agreed, a smile gracing her features as well.

"I know she helped me a lot with—never mind, um…something Yumi twice taught me in the Skid," I grinned uneasily, swearing that if I had pony ears, they'd be down as my comfort retreated.

While I could tell Hunter was nervously, and reluctantly flipping through any of the memories featuring me that he was shown by the monster, I could also tell it only took Yumi a quick moment to realize what I meant. So, to throw Hunter off from my trail further, she pretended to guess at what I could have meant by that.

"The one about the number four?" she asked, her delivery a bit stilted like she was reading from a script. "Or was it about the gift-giving?"

I squinted an eye, a bit confused at first, before realizing the choices given to me. "Uh… Yeah! The number cuatro."

Hunter looked up, trying to stop himself from mentally searching for what I must have meant, before taking that suggestion as a hint. "Uh, cuat—oh, yeah… four… because it sounds like the word for death… That's why they say yon instead, right? And nana, instead of shichi, for seven?"

Yumi nodded, with a smile on her face. "That's right. Because seven sounds just like it, too."

"Ya learn something new every day," I commented offhandedly, grinning.

Odd couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Well, whaddya know? Hunter knows Japanese culture, too!"

"Yeah, I didn't know you knew that," Yumi commented, Odd's chuckles making her grin a bit more. "How much about Japan do you know, Hunter?"

Hunter rubbed the top of his head a bit. "Eh, only a few things. I mean, I couldn't hold a conversation with someone like yourself in Japanese, but I can count somewhat high, and I know a few words and some of the things they do over there. It's pretty interesting."

"Almost reminds me of one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Kadic in the first place, Hunter. I loved French culture," I giggled. "I just never knew that I'd become a hero of France, and the world by proxy, until the very day I stood in front of the gates. Something came over me that day, and now… I'm glad to have great friends."

Jeremie looked a bit surprised by that, as he let out a sheepish chuckle. "I, uh… don't think any of us ever thought we'd become that, either… all because of that one day, October 9th, 2004… but if I hadn't turned that on, and if you hadn't given me, as well as most of us tips that day, I don't think we'd ever have great friends like these ones."

"Well, the day before that fateful night, I was standing there, feeling nervous about the usual stuff. Then… I don't know if I can really explain it without making you think I'm crazy…"

Aelita turned to look at me, giving me a calm, reassuring smile. "It's okay, Cassidy. You don't have to tell us."

"Besides," Odd added, gazing out the side window, "suite keys for everybody!"

Sure enough, Georgina had left the hotel lobby, and was walking back toward us, holding a packet, which I assumed contained key cards, in her hand. First, she stopped in front of Max, giving her four of the cards, while mouthing what I could make out was the room number. Next, she walked over to the van, opening the side door, before reaching into the packet. At first the opening of the door made me flinch, but I mentally reminded myself that both A) we were on the way to Baltimore to get back to France, and not going back to The School, and B) no one was going to shoot out while the van was in park, settling my nerves.

"For you, Cassidy," Georgina commented, pulling a key card out of the packet and handing it to me. "Yours, Aelita's, Yumi's, Sissi's, Odd's, and Kiwi's suite will be room number 109."

"Thanks, Georgina," I said, gratefully taking my key card from the former whitecoat.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." She bent over and gently kissed the top of my forehead, sending waves of love throughout my system. She then continued on, handing out key cards to the others, telling them what room numbers their suites were, finishing by handing Hunter the last key card for the suite he would be sharing with Ulrich and Jeremie, and giving the black-haired programmer a gentle kiss on his forehead as well, something I could tell he enjoyed, too.

"Oh, she's so wonderful…" he commented, looking and sounding somewhat love-struck.

"Sí, lo sé. I know, right?" I giggled, feeling the same way.

Yumi couldn't help but laugh as well, grinning from ear to ear from the entire sequence. Georgina was almost like a loving, caring mother, the way she treated each of us, but the way Hunter and I reacted, just from getting forehead kisses was just too cute for words, in her case.

"Let's get inside," I sighed happily, not even caring if I was aware of my words or not.

"Great idea!" Aelita agreed, grinning as she looked at the key card she was given. "I've never stayed at a hotel that had suites before. I wonder how big they are?"

"I once had been in a hotel suite that had two rooms in one," I noted, still in my happiness, "so I'd say it could be pretty big."

"And by the looks of the size of this hotel," Jeremie added, surveying the hotel's walls, "I think I would have to agree with you, Cassidy."

I unbuckled my seatbelt, as I got ready to leave the van. "But the good news is that we can stretch our legs, too…"

"Faaaan-tastic!" mi novio exclaimed, wasting no time unbuckling his seatbelt as well.

Before I could pay heed to him, my feet met solid concrete, sending my legs groaning in relief. "Ooh…" I smiled. "That feels good."

The others slowly began filing out of the van in a somewhat orderly fashion, stretching their arms and legs as they did, finding they felt the same sort of sensation I did.

You said it, Ulrich agreed in his mind.

"Traveling across three states with very little rest tends to have that effect," Jeremie commented, his voice straining as he stretched his arms into the air.

Before I could open my mouth, Odd jumped in, "Speak for yourself. Cat Girl got some rest on the way over here, Einstein."

Jeremie chuckled, as he rolled his arms, next. "That's true; however, she hasn't exactly had a chance to stretch her legs before now, either."

"Just once, but that was before the nap," I shrugged, smiling from the fact that my neck didn't hurt.

"You're right," Aelita agreed in her usual soothing voice. "Jeremie was referring to the fact that none of us have had a chance to move around very much, since we stopped off, a few hours ago."

"Ah. No problem," I nodded. "I can't wait to get in and get something to eat."

Odd flashed me an excited grin. "You read my mind, Cat Girl! Nothing like a big buffet, before a date with my pillow!"

Before I could agree with him, my stomach growled in reply. "Odd… novio...you're still cursing me…" I play-whined.

Of course, all he could do was laugh at me. "See? Even your stomach agrees with me! That's how I know you're my girlfriend!"

"Even if I had nothing to eat except breakfast, Odd?" I challenged, as I softly approached him.

He calmed down but kept his usual Cheshire Cat-style grin. "Well, none of us have, either! So you and every single one of your good buddies in the whole wide world can enjoy a nice, big, warm, heaping plate of meatballs and gravy!"

"Or whatever I feel like craving, right?" I giggled, almost toe-to-toe with him. But before he could go on, I pressed my lips against his forehead, giving him a gentle kiss.

"But why would—" He began, before my kiss cut him off in mid-sentence. A dreamy look soon found its way to his face, as he let out a sigh of contentment. "Yeah… anything you want, Cat Girl…"

"You definitely have him wrapped around your finger, Cassidy," Yumi giggled, folding her arms.

I twirled my finger, as though I had the keys to the van, or to a lesser extent, a moped. "What can I say, Yumi? I've only dated two guys, and they're right here with us."

It only took Odd a few seconds to come out of his love-induced high, as his love-struck grin returned to normal. "That's right! And she saved the best for last!"

"You're the one who helped me get back to normal after what happened in the span of months," I playfully shot back, giggling.

His grin widened at this. "That's just the magical Odd effect! You take one look into my eyes, and all your troubles just melt away!"

I giggled more. "I thought that was only applicable to knowing you forever…"

That started both Ulrich and Aelita giggling. Just that bit, along with part of what mi novio said, was something they remembered all too well, from one particular day in the cafeteria before my former first roommate found out that Franz was her father.

While he had spent that part of the day in the laboratory, Jeremie had only seen what Odd, Ulrich, Aelita and I did in the cafeteria during that time because of the monster. It still gave him mixed feelings, anyway.

"Ugh…" He let out a quiet grunt, his expression one of worry. "With that polymorphic specter, XANA taking control of the tower I activated, and where Yumi found you, without Franz Hopper's help, I don't think we would have gotten anything done that day."

"Yeah, it was a really crazy day, Jeremie." I raised my right hand and subconsciously rubbed my left shoulder, still remembering what XANA's specter did to me that afternoon. "Thanks for waiting that extra day. I really felt too out of it to even think about listening to what you wanted to say."

"Of course!" Jeremie replied affirmatively, remembering just how out of it I really was when Yumi brought me back to the dorm. "I wasn't going to reveal the important information from Franz Hopper's diary if not everyone was able to comprehend it. Especially when you think about everything that was inside."

"Hey, if I didn't try to keep myself awake with Nickelback in that storm drain, I probably wouldn't have survived," I blinked. "Plus that sedative really knocked me out of the park. After Yumi saved me, I couldn't tell mice from dice."

"XANA threw you a real curve ball that day, Cat Girl," Odd recalled, a tiny bit of surprise in his voice.

"At least we won't have to worry about that anymore," Aelita soothed, getting us back on track. "With XANA still asleep, it's bound to be a long time before he ever gets that powerful, again."

"Aelita's right," Ulrich agreed. "We're here to relax before we get back to Kadic."

"I guess I should think about what treatments I would love to go through tomorrow," I smiled.

Sister giggled at that. "We'll have all the rest of today, and all tomorrow morning to figure that out! I can't wait to see our suites!"

We needed no better reason to head inside. Our luggage was soon brought up to our suites, and we settled in. They were really quite spacious; each one had six different rooms, including separate bedrooms, a good-sized kitchen, a decent-sized bathroom with a hot tub in one corner, a big shower with three showerheads in a glass enclosure, a bathtub that could probably fit five, with water jets, and a four-person vanity, three dressers, five queen-sized double beds in each suite, multiple flat-screen LCD TVs, each sitting on the dresser drawers, and each of the beds were dressed with linens and pillows that looked really soft and inviting. So soft, in fact, that once Jeremie's fingers took them in, he began to seriously consider getting the "cushy chair" at the factory reupholstered, when we got back to Kadic, to match the feel of them. None of us expected anything quite like this.

"Wow… this is ritzier than the rec room," Sister exhumed.

I sat on the bed, rubbing the sheets in my hands. "Comfy…"

After Sam helped him up on a separate one, Kiwi panted happily, "Oh, yes… I agree with you there, Cassidy…"

I couldn't help but giggle at this, as Sister walked over to one of the dressers, which had a phone, as well as a couple of fliers on it. Taking one, which turned out to be a room service menu, she picked up the phone and made a call, passing the menu around to each of us, as we all decided what we were going to eat. The menu had a large selection of food, spanning different tastes, and even different cultures and nationalities, pleasing Yumi significantly. Because of this, everyone was able to find at least one thing they wanted to eat.

Each of us took our turn ordering what we wanted for supper, and were given a relatively reasonable time-frame before the food arrived. We wasted no time getting ourselves ready for bed, figuring we would plop into our soft, cushiony, cloud-like beds, not long after we finished eating. Soon we sat around and talked, exchanging memories, critiquing our trip, and even just talked about whatever we felt like—most of our respective boyfriends, for example, before the bell hops brought the food carts up, and we dug in.

The food here… Let me just say that the taste was nothing like I expected; absolutely exquisite. Of course, when someone stays at a fancy hotel, they almost expect the food to be as good as the experience, and this was that, and then some. I could even see the metaphorical hearts manifesting in mi novio's eyes as he chowed down, as he often thought Rosa's cuisine was like Red Lobster. We all took our time as we chewed, enjoying each dish, as we weren't quite sure when we would have food this good, again. Of course, the way Jeb was taking care of everything, we'd probably have some great food ahead of us before we got back to Kadic.

Once our food was finished, we each waited a good hour, not wanting to sleep with food on our stomachs, before going in to brush our teeth all at once, enjoying the wonderfully large vanity. Next was a trip back out into the bedroom, where Georgina was waiting, and once we had climbed into the beds, which were as cushiony, plush and incredibly soft as they looked, if not more so, she gave us each a soothing, soft, gentle and relaxing back and side rub, slowly sliding her hands under our shirts to caress our bare skin and feathers, increasing the relaxation by quite a bit. Some of us even fell asleep as we were rubbed, which only made Georgina giggle quietly, knowing how exhausted we all were.

As her hands soothingly and softly caressed the skin and feathers on my back, and the skin on my sides, I slowly felt myself drift away in much the same way. Sure, the day was quite eventful and even scary at times, but it was the endings like this that made things well again.

Of course, that would only go so far…