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

Did I ever tell you how fantastic this bed is? Sure, the others were sleeping in really relaxing beds as well, but… I had never, ever slept on a mattress this soft, this relaxing… it's almost as though Georgina was soothingly rubbing my back, and maybe even my arms, sides and shoulders, while I slept.

And tonight I had a much better dream; whether that's thanks to having my entire collection of stuffed ponies, Hippity, Aelita and Sister, or any combination of the three, if not the soft bed itself, is anyone's guess. You might think that Reilly took over again, but he didn't. Instead, it was a montage of happy memories gently washing over any of my negative thoughts, actions or feelings, like a luxurious, invigorating and relaxing bath with Georgina and Sister at Dr. Martinez's place. I was entirely sure the others had to have been having wonderful dreams, as well, especially in beds this soft, no matter who they slept with, whether stuffed animal or another person.

Of course, no sooner did I think about this than I was gently pulled from my dream by none other than Odd, My Protective Knight, Della Robbia. I had woken up a few seconds after he did, and not only was he curious about my fantastic dream, but he had a fascinating one of his own.

"I just had the most amazing dream ever, Cat Girl!" he spoke, still half-asleep, but with a big grin on his face. I never knew that somebody would be that way, but with Odd, it was like Pinkie Pie—don't question their logic; it'll drive you crazy. "It's so amazing, it's even better than that dream I had about the raining fries and the strawberry milkshake!"

"What was it about this time?" I asked, this time genuinely intrigued. The last time mi novio had a beautiful dream, it was before the surgery that gave us wings, and I was half-hearted, making him worried that I had a nightmare.

"Kiwi finally went to Lyoko!" he exclaimed, barely being able to hold his excitement back, which slowly woke him up even further. "Not like that time where I tried to stuff him in my backpack, and he went into your scanner, but… he went to Lyoko for real! And he looked really cool! He was walking on two legs, and he was wearing this really cool armor… and he had a spear! Oh, and he had wings, too! A Tarantula walked over to him, sat down and started firing at him, and he—"

I couldn't help but start laughing. Kiwi on Lyoko? Sure, we all knew what happened, the first time he tried that, but if his diggity-dog was seriously going to look like that, if he got to Lyoko the right way, I know Ulrich, Aelita, and I would've had a good laugh. Maybe even Patrick would have, too, after his own form got fixed, even if mi novio would have gotten angry at us for getting a kick out of Kiwi's avatar. A gigantic dog walking on two legs?

At first, Odd started to look a bit surprised at me, raising one eyebrow as laughter escaped my lips like lava from a volcano, before shrugging, and beginning to laugh as well, glad that I had woken up in a great mood. He figured I was probably laughing at his description, but in the back of his mind, I could sense he really wanted to see how Kiwi would look on Lyoko for real, now more than ever.

Speaking of all things good, it wasn't long after, that mi novio's diggity-dog let out a yawn and opened his eyes. "Okay, Odd, Master… what did you tell Cassidy this time?" he asked groggily.

"Remember the time I tried to take you to Lyoko, but you jumped into Cassidy's scanner, just as Einstein was virtualizing her?" Odd asked, turning his head in the winged canine's direction.

Kiwi cocked his head, making the same questioning noise he made when the others forced him to stay at the factory for two days.

"Well, now I know what you'll look like if Jeremie actually sends you to Lyoko!" The ninja-cat boy's smile grew wider, the more he went on. "You'll be a big warrior, walking on your hind paws, wearing purple and pink armor, and you'll carry a spear! You even took out a Tarantula, after deflecting its shots a few times!"

Then it was his turn. He flipped onto his back, wings wide-spread, and started laughing, making movements akin to scratching his back on some grass. This, in reply, made me cackle harder.

While the two of us laughed our heads off, we soon heard the gentle sounds of two more of our friends returning to the waking world, with a short interval between the two of them. Aelita was the first to open her eyes, letting out a gentle, cute-sounding yawn as she slowly sat up. A few seconds later, Yumi slowly rose from her sleep, uttering a similar sound as she leaned her back up against the backboard of her bed.

"Good morning, Cassidy," Aelita greeted warmly, as she smiled at me. "Sounds like you had a wonderful dream, and slept very well last night."

"More than that, Princess," Odd corrected boastfully. "I had a nice dream last night, too. I told it to her and Kiwi, and they're eating out of my hand!"

Yumi chuckled a bit in reply, as she watched the way Kiwi and I shook, as we rolled around on my bed. "And that surprises you, Odd?"

"No!" he shouted happily. "It's great to see her laughing, especially since she hasn't woken up laughing enough."

As we continued, the gentle, soothing sound of Sister letting out a yawn as she awakened filled our ears, before the girl in question gently sat up and rubbed her eyes. Looking over at us, she started to get a bit curious about all of the laughter between myself and Kiwi.

"Huh?" she commented, slightly confused. "Did my dear sister have a funny dream, last night?"

"Don't worry, Sissi. Odd just told her about a dream he had, and it seems to agree with her," Aelita smiled.

As soon as she said that, Kiwi took a deep breath, calming his fit. "Odd, Master, you are funny!"

In reply, I copied his motion, feeling it cool myself down. "That's my boyfriend."

I then felt the warm, comforting arms of my dear sister gently surround me, as the girl in question pulled me into a snuggle.

"Oh, I'm so glad you had a wonderful dream last night, dear sister!" she commented, excitement in her voice. "I love it when my sister wakes up laughing!"

"All happy memories, Sister," I confirmed, a huge grin on my face. "Thanks to you and Aelita."

"Don't mention it!" Sister replied, slowly freeing me from her embrace. "I knew we'd make sure you got all the sleep you needed. Think of it as your beauty rest, my dear darling sister. I think you deserved it."

"What's more," Aelita added, smiling as she watched the scene, "from the way you were laughing when I woke up, you must've had a much better night than you did last night."

My cheeks heated up happily. "It was definitely better than the other night, Aelita. And I'm glad you ended up having your own beauty sleep, too, Sister."

"Thanks," the principal's daughter grinned. "That spa day really paid off."

"Yeah."

"My money's on the water," Odd quipped, as he began to wonder if any one thing, in particular, had made me so happy. "Either that or the coconut milk. You got washed enough times yesterday, Cat Girl… maybe they washed the bad dreams off of you?"

"It could be. I dreamt about all the good memories I had with you all, and it definitely gave me a boost," I smiled, reeling him in for a hug, and our morning kiss.

Mi novio couldn't help but laugh as he felt me wrap my arms around him, hugging and kissing him as we usually did, with him doing each back to me, very soon after. "Maybe I should've gotten a bath, too… imagine what it would've done to me!"

"I'd guess you'd be very relaxed, novio."

Yumi let out a bit of a chuckle at that thought. "Odd? Relaxed? Are we talking about the same Odd Della Robbia here?"

I opened the nightstand drawer, grabbing the hairbrush that the spa officials gave me. "Well, he was when we went to that one spa, Yumi. He just snapped out of it quicker on the way back to Kadic."

As I went to bring the brush up to the top of my head, I felt a hand gently come to rest on my left shoulder. Looking over, I saw Aelita was smiling at me, with a curious look on her face.

"Why don't you let me brush your hair, Cassidy?" she asked politely, with a slight air of assertiveness, and her right hand stretched out in front of my chest as if she was waiting for me to put the hairbrush into it.

I smiled and gently let it land into her hand. "Sure, Aelita…"

The brush in her possession, she then stepped behind me and began to lightly brush my long, brown hair in a very relaxing way, keeping a calm smile on her face as she watched her progress. I actually found it really relaxing; a bit too relaxing, as I felt purrs escape my lips, something that both aggravated me, and calmed me at the same time. But Aelita knew I was really enjoying what she was doing, and as she tamed the locks that fell from my head, I could hear her soft giggles waft into my ears every so often.

"Wow, and I thought petting her hair was the only way to make her purr," Odd quipped, a massive grin on his face.

"It's anything, really," my former first roommate explained, turning to look at mi novio as she continued brushing my hair. "Any soft, gentle rubs of her head make her do that."

"It's only when I get hit on the head is when I get a bit cross," I smiled. "Like when Theo accidentally hit me with a javelin in Phys. Ed. I almost chased him across the courtyard when I stopped and passed out."

"He had the aim of a Hornet!" Odd chuckled, remembering that day nearly as well as I did. "You should've heard Jim yelling at him! 'Left, not right!' 'You're supposed to throw it into the air, not onto the ground! I don't care if you think you're gonna hit a birdy or some carrier pigeon…' 'Gauthier! Have you gone mad?! McGuire is not a piñata!'"

Of course, while Odd was making himself laugh with the silly things that happened that day, Sister was a bit more concerned about something else.

"You passed out?" she raised an eyebrow, looking worried. "You didn't overdessert yourself, did you, dear sister?"

"It was after the class, and the term is overexert. No, my pain started to win out. It ended up with me almost about to unleash Tamaranean insults if it didn't. Luckily, it was gone by the next day, Sister," I reassured.

Sister breathed a sigh of relief. "That's a relief. If that stupid kid couldn't aim correctly, then he had no business trying to throw a javelin! Imagine who else he could've hit, besides you!"

"It's okay, Sissi," Yumi spoke up, walking over to intervene as she placed her hands on Sister's shoulders. "It's in the past, now. Cassidy's just fine, and whatever happened to her because of that is long gone, too. Besides, I'm sure Theo's a much better javelin thrower by now, anyway."

"Yep," I confirmed. "He is. It was just a bit of a surprise when I was about to practice my running, only to get conked on the head with something wooden. Moving on, I'm glad that we had that spa day. It really combed out the knots."

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

"You know, I could get used to something like that," Odd commented, walking over to the dresser that the spa's flyer sat upon, and picking it up. "What if we did that every week? Or even every day?"

My eyes widened when he said "every week/every day." "Uh...you me-mean in France, right? Not going through something like this again?" I squeaked.

He raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised at me. "Well, yeah, Cat Girl. I mean, we'll soon have XANA to worry about again, and who says heroes like us don't deserve the four R's, more often than just once or twice a month? Of course, I don't mean something like this… not even XANA would do something this weird."

"R-r-right…" I nodded, trembling, worried that he meant kidnapping, as well.

I soon felt his loving, caring arms surround me, as he walked up behind me.

"No, Cat Girl…" he soothed, as he embraced me warmly. "I don't mean it like that… I would never want this to happen to you, or anyone of us ever again. This was bad enough the first time! Just relax, Cat Girl… it's okay."

A fresh intake of air filled my lungs, calming my senses as a smile flitted onto my face. "Thanks, Odd…"

"Don't mention it," he cooed happily, before giving me a soft kiss on the side of my forehead, not wanting to let go of me, just yet. Seeing this, Aelita let out a cute little giggle, as she continued to gently brush my hair.

"That does sound like a wonderful idea, though," she agreed in her usual calm, soothing voice. "But we wouldn't want to fall into a stale routine."

"You're right," Sister nodded. "It'd just be more for our downtime. The more relaxed we are, the more refreshed and recharged we are, the better we can take on XANA and his monsters, whenever he strikes!"

"Yeah, especially since he's been unusually silent since the start," I blinked.

That knocked a bit of the wind out of Aelita's sails, even though you couldn't tell without looking at her. "You're right… and that's what Jeremie and I are the most worried about. We thought he certainly would have launched at least one attack by now, even if it's just like the ball of electricity you, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Sissi faced."

"Even when I talked to your father, XANA hasn't even attacked him or anyone else around the campus. It's totally weird, Aelita, I have to admit," I kept myself from nodding, not wanting to interrupt her work.

"I just hope he's not planning something big…" Her voice lowered in pitch a tiny bit, as her fear started to mount.

Deciding to interrupt her motions, I whirled around in Odd's grip and wrapped my arms around her. "If he is, we're stronger than that."

"I'm really rubbing off on you, aren't I?" Mi novio chuckled, as he brought his arms around, and softly caressed my sides, through my nightshirt. "It's like I said before, if the third time's the charm, then the fourth time's gotta be even better!"

"Welcome to Lyoko, Odd," I giggled a little.

That slowly brought a smile to my former first roommate's face. "You're right. After all, we've been strong enough to really weaken him before, haven't we?"

"Right. Besides, I'm sure we'll start to fight him again, soon," Yumi nodded.

"Hopefully that ghost thing doesn't attack me," Kiwi woofed.

Finally releasing me from his warm, loving embrace, Odd bent down to Kiwi's level and began gently stroking the winged dog's back. "Don't worry, my little winged diggity-dog. Once you go to Lyoko, you'll never have to worry about XANA trying to get you ever again. Besides, you're the only one who can see XANA's specters in the first place, anyway!"

He let out a chuckle, as he looked down at his hands, which softly moved backward across Kiwi's back, before he lifted it up, and placed it behind his head, once more. It was while he did this, that he suddenly noticed something incredibly strange, that not only froze his hands in place but also caused his usual, carefree grin to suddenly vanish.

"Huh?!"

"What is it, Odd?" I asked, letting Aelita go.

He gritted his teeth in fear, as he slowly turned his head around to look at me. "Uh, Cat Girl… remember how we thought all the surprises from the School were gone? Well… you're really not gonna like this…"

"I'm used to the fact that I now possess a pink strand of hair on my head, and only there, fortunately," I blinked as a smile graced my features. "Plus everyone can read minds, Yumi's got telekinesis, and Sister's got emotional healing powers. Just tell me, Novio."

Even though he saw me smile, Odd still wasn't convinced, but he knew I was waiting for it, so he didn't have very many choices.

"Uh—that's great…" Uneasy, he turned his head back to face Kiwi, "...but, uh… would you be used to the fact that my diggity-dog looks more and more like me, every day?"

"He already knows we're svelte, Odd," I giggled. "I'm sure it's not a big deal."

Odd was surprised; I still wasn't getting it. So, as much as he was afraid of how I was going to react, he was going to have to break it to me.

"Yeah… maybe you're right," he started to reply, almost nonchalantly, before gently picking up his winged pet dog with both hands, and turning him around to face me. "I mean, it probably isn't that big of a deal that my diggity-dog has a stripe of purple fur on his back, like how I have a purple diamond in my hair."

I looked at his back, eyes widening in intrigue. He wasn't kidding; there, inches from the collar around his neck, between his two gray-colored wings, was a stripe. A purple stripe that looked almost natural, the way it contrasted with his gray fur. It was kinda long, too; it traveled from the spot between his shoulders, down toward the place between his legs, stopping inches before his body rounded down toward his butt and tail.

"Oh, wow…" I blinked at it a couple times, brushing the strand of pink hair behind my ear. "I'll be darned. Looks like Jeb was right when he said that Kiwi's definitely yours, Odd."

Mi novio had finally reached the point where he was dumbfounded. Not only was I nearly indifferent to the idea, but I had also looked at it, and not gone completely bonkers. Had something happened to me, or had I become so desensitized to everything that was going on around me?

"But… but… but…" Odd squeaked out, his eyebrows twitching in surprise.

"Don't worry, Odd," Aelita soothed, placing her hand on my wildcard's shoulder, stopping him. "With everything else that's happened, she's probably just used to things by now."

"I guess I am," I sighed. "I just don't feel as freaked out as I was before, even though you think I should."

Hearing this, his eyes widened, and he quickly started waving his arms in front of his chest. "No! No! I don't mean that! I mean… I was, uh… you're, uh… uh… no! It's great that you're not… surprised anymore. I was, uh… oh, never mind…"

"I'll tell you what it means," Sister jumped in, grinning at me. "It means my darling sister is getting stronger! These things don't bug her anymore!"

"Either that or the spa day really kicked my emotions into relaxation. It's win-win," I smiled.

"And that's good news either way," Yumi agreed, smiling with her eyes closed.

After about half an hour, the others had awakened, and soon everyone had joined us in our suite and gotten their own breakfast. Their meal, just like ours, was terrific, as it had been the previous day; the only melancholy was the thought that the food might not be this good for a while, or at least until we reached our next destination. We sat around and talked for a good hour or so, as everyone finished their breakfast, before we began packing up our belongings, ready to pile back into the van and continue our journey. Before we left, Georgina did a sweep of each suite to make sure we didn't forget anything. She picked up an accidentally-dropped pony or two that I had, and several sheaths of paper from Hunter, Ulrich, and Jeremie's suite—how they managed to make notes, to her, was a profound mystery. Then she, along with Jeb, gathered all our room keys and took them to the front desk.

While we compiled into the van and into the seats we chose, Max relayed several instructions to her flock, making sure that everyone knew what to do. Soon they unfurled their wings and took to the sky, to provide our aerial protection.

Jeb slid into his seat. "Okay, guys. Next part of the trip. Going up to Denver, so we're still in the same time zone for the moment."

"Not bad," William was the first to reply, with a somewhat-excited grin on his face. "Have we got any plans for up there?"

"We'll stay for a night before heading to North Platte," he smiled.

"I wonder if our next hotel will have a gym?" Patrick asked, curiously, before looking over at Ulrich and Yumi. "I've wanted to practice my Aikido, and you guys could show me some Pencak Silat."

"It does, Patrick," Georgina smiled.

"Great idea!" Yumi nodded with a grin. "Maybe we could all spar together."

"I'd like to see that, too, Patrick," Ulrich commented, his expression nearly copying his girlfriend's. "Maybe we could teach each other a few moves."

"That'd be great!" Patrick replied, looking slightly excited at the whole thing.

"I'd love to listen to music," I smiled, "in my suite."

"I think I'll listen to music in mine, too!" Sister agreed, grinning at me.

"That's good. I think you also bought a new Discman at Walmart, didn't you?"

"That's right!" She closed her eyes as her grin increased, out of excitement. "I haven't even taken it out of the box, yet! It's still in its bag, in the back, with the rest of my things."

"I… I don't know what I wanna do, just yet," Hunter spoke up, looking up at the ceiling of the van. "I haven't even thought that far ahead, just yet."

"It's okay, Hunter, sweetie. Just take a deep breath."

He did as he was told, exhaling a few seconds later. "If this next hotel is anything like the one we're just leaving, there'll probably be so many things to do, I won't know what to do. Or it might be even bigger. So I'll probably just make it up as I go along."

"That's what Odd does every day," Ulrich quipped.

"Better believe it!" Odd agreed, donning an ambitious grin as he chuckled. "We can't all have our days planned out like you, good buddy."

"And I wouldn't have Odd any other way," I smiled, snuggling him.

He chuckled more as he returned my snuggle. "And where would I be, without my darling, lovable Cat Girl?"

"Possibly…hm…" I couldn't quite think of anything.

Aelita couldn't help but giggle at my loss for words. "The only thing that matters is that you two make a wonderful couple."

"Well, you and Jeremie are the cutest!" Kaitlyn smiled.

That tinted hers and Jeremie's cheeks a bit, as Aelita continued to grin, while Jeremie looked a bit bashful.

"Oh, knock it off, Kaitlyn," he remarked, somewhat jokingly.

"Is my cousin getting a bit hot under the collar?" she teased.

His blush increased, which started Aelita and me giggling. "W-whatever would give you t-that idea?"

"The blush says it all, cuz," Patrick jumped in.

"Y-you think I'm blushing about that?" Jeremie started looking around, almost as if he was grasping at straws. "I-I-It's just really hot in here, that's all. And we're in New Mexico, and we can't open the side windows, so—"

His cover-up attempt came to a screeching halt when he felt his darling pink-haired princess press her lips against his own, petrifying him in his seat. Aelita then slowly pulled her head away from him, smiling warmly, before her expression turned mischievous.

"I think that says it all, doesn't it?" she quipped, winking cutely—I swore I heard a ding—as she giggled a bit. The entire van erupted into laughter, save Jeb, Ari, and Georgina, who had no idea what we were even doing.

"I'm sure that he needed a kiss from his lover this morning," I chortled.

"But then, won't he need another one tonight?" Odd jumped in next, still chuckling. "It'll help him stay in bed, so he doesn't get up to check his computer!"

Of course, his joke didn't go as well as expected, as it calmed me right down, and pulled me into feelings of fear and concern. "Then who will watch for XANA, Odd? Do you want the world to be destroyed?!"

Yumi blinked, turning her own look of concern my way. "Cassidy, calm down. I'm sure he didn't mean it like that. He was only joking. He doesn't want the world to be destroyed, any more than you or I do."

I took in a deep breath, letting it calm me down. "Right… I guess it hit me the wrong way. Sorry…"

Odd reached over and softly rubbed my back, between my wings. "Relax, Cat Girl… you know I didn't mean it like that. I was just trying to be funny."

"I think we all should relax," Yumi suggested, her look of concern replaced with a warm, calming smile. "Let's try to have a little fun on our way to Denver. It's probably going to be a long ride, just like our first one was."

"Yeah, you're right," I smiled, relaxing.

To aid in this, Sister leaned over and pulled me into a warm snuggle, calming me even further. With her left arm, she then pulled Odd into the hug, spreading the feeling of calmness in his direction. I could hear him relax, as he gently laid his head upon my shoulder, the tip of his hair missing the back of my neck by inches.

"This feels very nice…" I sighed happily.

"You're totally right, Cat Girl…" Odd replied, also sounding quite relaxed, as well. "Can I fall asleep on your shoulder?"

"Didn't stop you from falling asleep in Mrs. Mayer's class one time," I giggled slightly. "Go ahead."

He chuckled a bit, as he rubbed my back a bit more. "I'm just kidding, Cat Girl. I just love the warm hug as much as you."

I giggled. "Me, too, Odd."

With a couple soft rubs of each of our sides, Sister gently broke the hug and leaned back into her usual spot.

"There! That's what I like to see!" she commented, smiling half-excitedly. "My dearest sister and her wonderful boyfriend, all nice and relaxed!"

"You're right, Sissi," Yumi agreed.

Ulrich smiled. "I always knew you had it in you, Sissi."

Sister bashfully deflected the compliments, something I knew she would have never done, had she stayed stuck in her snobbish ways. "Oh, Ulrich dear, I'm just here to keep everyone nice and relaxed, and happy, too. I've been told I'm a good hugger."

I nodded, giggling. "She's right."

Then my giggling stopped, as I suddenly remembered something else. "By the way, please don't freak out heavily, but Kiwi started growing a purple stripe between his wings leading up to his tail."

"Wha…?!" came the surprised call of Ulrich, Hunter, Patrick, Kaitlyn, William, and Sam, in varying pitches and levels, with smaller outbursts coming from Jeb, Ari, and Georgina, up front. Even Jeremie came out of his Aelita-induced paralysis instantly, the look of surprise his face previously held returning.

Kiwi got up and sat next to a window, showing the stripe in all its purple glory. "Never knew it happened," he smiled.

It took Ulrich a few seconds to fully comprehend the scene.

"Well, whaddya know," he remarked, amazed, before turning his gaze on his former roommate. "Well, Odd, now you don't need to put your address on there if you ever lose Kiwi. Just write, 'look for the guy who has a spot in his hair that's the same color as my stripe!'"

"I'm sure I can find my way back to Lyoko HQ on my own, Ulrich… as soon as the Eraser stench fades away," mi novio's diggity dog woofed.

"Don't worry, my little diggity-dog," Odd jumped in, gently stroking the winged canine's fur. "When we get to our next hotel, I'll make sure you get all the steamed, organic vegetables you can eat! That oughta clear your nose right up!"

He wagged his tail. "True, or maybe some of the hotel's kibble. The food the hotel had really agreed with me."

"Well, the fancier the hotel," Patrick suggested, thinking of the food he and the rest of us ate at the one we had recently left, "the better the food must be. Maybe that's the reason?"

"It must be," Jeremie jumped in. "I can't even remember the last time I had food that nearly melted in my mouth. Every bite, from the first to the last, was a pure work of culinary art. It wouldn't surprise me if someone like Emeril Lagasse was the head chef."

"Since when have you been the food connoisseur, Einstein?" Odd teased.

"When all you have to eat is Rosa's cuisine, day in and day out," the blond genius started to explain, "you tend to immediately notice a difference, especially when you're given food from somebody else."

"Yep," I smiled, my mouth starting to salivate. "The pork chops last night… ooh… They were so delicious and mouth-watery… It makes me think they took tips from a Texas Roadhouse. It was perfection…" My tongue went back and forth across my lips.

"Be careful that that 'perfection' doesn't get all over your clothes," Aelita commented, giggling softly and cutely as she reached over to gently wipe my mouth with a spare napkin she saved the night before.

"You're right," I chuckled, finally able to reel in my saliva. "I just couldn't help it."

"Don't worry," Jeb commented, adding a slight chuckle of his own while not moving his eyes from the road in front of them. "When we get to the hotel in Denver, I'll bet you the food is going to be even better. It's a much bigger hotel, after all. It's got bigger rooms and suites, too."

"But!" Sister came in, "Just like last night, dear sister, you're not sleeping alone!"

That struck a chord within Kaitlyn, who got a bit curious, and suspicious. "Wait… did something happen to Cassidy? She didn't try to do something stupid, did she?"

"Oh, no, it was nothing like that," Yumi soothed, with a warm, calming smile, making sure she wasn't forcing her words out. "The truth is, well… Hunter wasn't the one who had the nightmare, two nights ago… Cassidy did."

"Wait, what?!" Kaitlyn shrieked. "Cassidy, why the hell didn't you tell me when you had it?! I could have helped, too!"

"Uh…" That really got me, and it made perfect sense, too. "I—" I hung my head, feeling uncomfortable and guilty.

On the other hand, I could feel a weight being lifted off from Hunter's shoulders and psyche, even though he still looked quite concerned. "We really should have told you, sooner. In fact, I'm not even sure why they did it that way. I honestly kind of surprised myself; I'm terrible at ad-libbing, most of the time."

So then it was Jeremie's turn, and he was a bit sheepish about it, too. "Well, you see Kaitlyn, uh… when Cassidy had that dream, she was pretty terrified about it… she was worried that somebody was going to judge her for it… and it was also a bit of a personal issue. When she asked us where Hunter was, we were all kinda freaked out by it, so we thought of how he was still sleeping in at that time… and since you hadn't seen who had the nightmare… we thought we'd say it was him. We were afraid you might get angry at Cassidy for berating herself again, and because Hunter is the only one any of us barely know, there was less of a chance of you getting angry at him, we thought. But Hunter's right; we shouldn't have just speculated. We should have come right out and told you."

"I'm sorry, Kaitlyn… and I'm sorry, Hunter…" I whimpered, bracing for impact, waiting for them to throw me under the proverbial bus.

But I had been known to worry too much…

Instead of words being flung at me, angry yelling, or even actually throwing me out the side door, Hunter instead wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a warm hug.

"I know I'm not as gentle and soothing as Sissi is," he commented, trying to lighten the mood a bit, "but I forgive you. You had to do what you had to do; I'm just glad I could hold up my end of the deal."

"Kaitlyn?"

She had a slight look of anger on her face, still upset over how we handled the situation at first, but as she watched Hunter hug me, and how I was acting about the entire thing, it softened her up.

"No…" she replied, calming down. "I'm not mad at you, either. I just wish you would have told me what was going on. Hopefully, you will, next time."

"Totally, Kaitlyn," I smiled.

Jeremie let out a slight sigh of relief, glad that everything had been sorted out. "Great. We're all friends again. We're definitely not gonna do that again unless we know that someone really won't like that."

"Yep," Kiwi yipped, lifting a hind leg to itch at his ear. "I got a bit worried, Einstein. 'didn't know what the outcome would be."

"I'm sure they would've gotten over it sooner or later," Odd reassured his winged diggity-dog, softly stroking his head. "They've known each other for a while. They're better than that."

"Kaitlyn does sometimes hold grudges for a while," Jeremie jumped in, feeling the need to fill Odd in, even though it would probably make things worse, "and when she's angry, she tends to get really angry."

"Well, I only have a small list of people I really hate, cuz," Kaitlyn smiled. "For a small time, Sissi was on it, but then the monster happened, and she really changed for the better."

"You had every right to be that way," Sister lamented, realizing exactly why Kaitlyn had mentioned that. "I was really mean to you, before. But I would never, ever act like that toward you, or anyone else, ever again."

"You have acted so much better, Sister, ever since I woke from my coma," I giggled, snuggling Hunter once before his arms retracted. Then I wrapped my arms around her.

Sister started to giggle happily, especially as I did that. She eagerly returned the warm hug, glad to know what I had thought of her complete turnaround in personality.

As we giggled, I heard Odd start chuckling as well, making an abstract picture frame with the index fingers and thumbs on each of his hands. "Oh, that's so beautiful!"

"Oh, Odd, I wouldn't dare forget about you!" I laughed as I reeled him in for another Sister-Cassidy-Odd group hug.

His chuckles continued as he wrapped his arms around the two of us, enjoying the hug as much as we were.

Meanwhile, up front, Jeb slowly turned his head around to see what all the giggling was about. "Having fun, you three?"

"Yeah. We're fine," I smiled.

"That's great!" Georgina replied, adding a few giggles of her own. "I'm so glad to hear that."

"Me, too."

We spent most of the ride chatting about nearly anything, reminiscing about old times, looking out the window, and playing silly games together (one of which was I Spy, a game Jeremie was a bit too good at). After a short stop at a gas station, to refuel the van, stretch our legs and buy a few snacks and drinks, we were back on the highway and charging headlong toward the New Mexico/Colorado border.

Why can't these things go off without a hitch?

It was while we were on the highway, going down a road that would lead us straight into Durango, Colorado, when we saw Max suddenly point to an exit leading to a city called Los Alamos. Georgina, without a second thought, took the exit and began to slow the van as it cruised down the off-ramp.

Max had a chance to fly down toward the passenger side window, which Jeb rolled down, curious to hear what was going on.

"What's going on, Max?" I asked her.

"An unmarked black sedan was following us after we hit Truth or Consequences, New Mexico," she answered. "Our raptor vision indicated that there were some whitecoats and Erasers in it."

Yumi groaned. "Just when we thought we could get away from them! What did they do, track us?!"

"This can't be good," I blinked, trying to mask my fear.

"Don't panic. Get down and stay down. We'll handle things from here," the leader of the flock soothed.

Before she flew away, as the others quickly laid down in their seats, well underneath the windows on the sides of the van, I looked into her eyes one last time, where I saw a very calming gaze. It was almost as if she somehow knew how freaked out I was about this entire event, and she wanted to calm me the best way she could before she left to try and tackle the problem with her flock.

Of course, my stare was broken when I felt Odd grab my arm, and gently pull me down. "Get down, Cat Girl!"

For a good fifteen minutes or so, everything seemed to be incredibly tense, as nobody was quite sure what was going on. We could occasionally hear sounds of fighting in the background, but this faded away as we felt the van come to a stop, and make different turns. Then everything seemed quiet as Georgina continued to drive. We could hear cars in the other lane driving by as we passed them, but other than that, everything seemed normal. We only hoped we were right.

About ten minutes after that, we passed a gigantic "Welcome to Durango, Colorado" sign, even though none of us could see it.

Why is this happening to us now? I asked, rubbing a strand of my hair in an attempt to keep myself from shaking. We were doing so well!

We should be fine, Cassidy, I heard Yumi reply in my mind. Max and her flock should be handling it. I'm sure we'll be okay when we get to Denver.

I hope so. This is so scary at the moment. I don't know what to do.

We're not gonna get anywhere if we keep thinking like that. Ulrich's thoughts echoed in my mind, next. Max and her flock have the whole thing under control. All we have to do is wait until we reach Denver. They can't get us there. It's not like Max, Gasman, or Iggy are gonna let us down. Let's let them handle it. They've done this sort of thing before. It's not like they're gonna let them get us.

My nerves revved up a tiny bit, as I trembled. But just as soon as it came on, a soothing, calming voice entered my mind, which I knew could only have come from one person.

We're going to make it. I know we will. It was Aelita. I have faith in Max and her flock.

I do, too… But I don't wanna go back to The School, Aelita… I struggled to breathe.

Y-y-you d-don't really think we're… going to… do you? Hunter's voice rang through my mind next, sounding nearly as freaked out as I was.

No! They can't do that! They can't take us back! Sam was also showing how worried she was about the entire situation.

I don't want to see Reilly again! I exclaimed, whimpering from my throat. O-or Mandy…!

That's when Einstein felt he had to calm all three of us, in his own way. None of us are going back to The School, okay? We won't have to worry about Reilly, or Mandy, or any of the whitecoats. Max and her flock are going to take care of them. Should any of them fail, which I find very highly unlikely, they might need our help to wipe out the rest of them, but we should be okay. We're gonna find a way to keep from going back for good!

Strangely enough, this didn't help me calm down, either. Then again, Jeremie was rarely the type to give pep talks that actually soothed you, anyway. Now, all I could think about was the possibility that Reilly, Mandy, and the other whitecoats and Erasers would somehow overpower Max and her flock, and they'd have to rely on us to finish the job. That thought alone made my heart start racing a thousand miles an hour. What?! We're not ready for this!

What if Max and her flock weaken them for us? Odd tried to calm me to some extent. It's not like they're gonna be at full strength the whole time… maybe all we'll need to do is just slap them, and they'll fall right over like bowling pins!

But we might become the pins! Now my breathing was starting to hitch. It was apparent from that point; Reilly, Mandy, and the others had somehow increased their power so they would blow through Max and her flock like they were a stack of playing cards arranged in a pyramid. I also knew they wouldn't stop there; it'd be syringes of sedative all around, and before any of us could react, our necks would all get stung. And that's not even counting what would happen to Jeb, Ari, and Georgina, for helping us escape! It was all over! Where was my paper bag?!

Odd, you're not helping! I heard Yumi gently chastise Odd for sending me over the edge, mentally. We all just need to stay calm! Thinking about the bad stuff isn't going to make any of us feel better!

And then William threw his virtual hat into the ring. Hey, let's all try to keep calm. No need to start throwing guitars against the mental walls, okay?

Yeah, you're right, I heard mi novio reply, with a sigh in his mind. And I'm sorry, Cat Girl. I was just trying to make you feel better. I didn't think it was gonna make you feel worse. You, Sam, or Hunter.

I clung to him, whimpering out loud.

I'm really scared, too, I heard Sister's thoughts echo in my mind, but I'm trying not to let it bother me. If I freak out, they win. We have to stay strong. For all of us, not just for Max and her flock.

Man, I really wished I could have done that. The only problem was, my mind just wanted to focus on all the negatives, and the worst-case scenario. Eventually, I just devolved into a shaking, sobbing mess, as Odd snuggled me close to him.

Y-you're… right… Hunter's thoughts bounced around, but… i-i-i-it's… really… hard… I feel like they've… brought out their big guns… what if Max and her flock… really can't handle them…?

And that didn't help me, either… but what was he going to do? He was probably nearly as afraid as I was… probably as fearful as Sam was, as well… the others might have been putting up a front, but they had to be scared, too. XANA had never done anything of this caliber, from what I remember.

That was when Jeb happened to look back, overhearing only the noises we were making, utterly oblivious to the fact that the twelve of us were having a conversation in our minds. And to him, I didn't look very good at all. He was starting to wonder if empathy was wreaking havoc on my emotions, just like it had done, when Hunter had that terrible meltdown, back at The School.

"Cassidy?" he whispered. "Are you okay?"

Yumi looked up at Jeb, with a somber look on her face. "She's really freaked out. We're all worried, but she's really taking it the hardest, out of all of us," she whispered.

"She's had the worst scientist assigned to her, and went through the most grueling of the tests," Jeb theorized carefully, fearing certain words might make me even worse than I already was.

I shook in Odd's grip, my being going against me. Jeb grimaced as he saw me, his own empathy starting to take over, before slowly leaning forward, and softly rubbing my back, between my wings and through my shirt.

"Hey, Cassidy," he tried to comfort me, in the most soothing coo he could muster, "it's me, Jeb. Can you take a deep breath for me? Nothing bad is gonna happen to you. We're gonna make sure those scientists and Erasers don't come anywhere near you."

I struggled to breathe. This was crazy. I tried my hardest to regain control of myself, even to just make some sort of sign to Jeb, but it wasn't working. It was like my spirit was chained to one end of my brain, or whatever technical way Einstein would have used to explain what was going on inside me.

"It's okay, kiddo," he soothed, turning his attention to mi novio. "Try talking to her, Odd. She's really close to you. Maybe you'll help her relax more than I will."

Nodding, Odd turned his attention to me, cooing softly as he began to gently stroke my sides, through my clothes. "We're all here, Cat Girl. All you gotta do is breathe for us, okay? Whatever those big, bad whitecoats are gonna do, we're gonna beat 'em back. They're not gonna win, okay? We are. C'mon, Cat Girl the Magnificent…"

I kept trying to make my lungs obey me, but they wouldn't. Odd should have known that those kinds of pep talks didn't work on me, especially when he and Jeb were the only things stopping me from curling up into the fetal position, and trembling so hard. What did he mean, "we're gonna beat 'em back"? The Erasers were stronger than we were, and Yumi and I knew it. This was not gonna end well.

Looking at my face, Jeb could clearly tell none of this was working, much to his disdain. There was one other thing he could do, and while he really didn't want to do it, because he knew we had had enough of it back at The School, it was looking more and more like that was his only option.

Leaning forward, and reaching into a zip-up bag that was placed between the driver's and passenger's seats, Jeb withdrew a syringe. "I really hate to do this to her, after everything you all have gone through, but this seems like the only way to get her to relax," he lamented, sounding a bit somber.

"What?!" Yumi and Ulrich exclaimed together.

"I won't use what they did to all of you, okay?" he added, keeping his voice calm as he leaned toward me, once more. "This'll probably get her through to our next rest stop, and she should be just fine after that."

Ulrich shook his head in resignation, sighing deeply as he closed his eyes. "She's gonna hate us for this…"

"It'll be okay, dear sister," Sister soothed, still trying to talk to me.

Jeb gently took my arm, while holding the syringe firmly with his other hand. "I'm not gonna inject it into her neck. It'll be much easier to use her arm. And if she gets angry at us, I'll explain it to her. I'll tell her you had no control over it, and I just did it to get her to stop."

And with that, he slid it into my arm, knowing I would probably react from the slight prick, before injecting the entire sedative into my bloodstream. Between the feeling of fire in my veins and the struggle to regain control of myself, I felt every inch of me slowly shut down, before I finally collapsed into mi novio's chest, as he snuggled me close to him. He didn't like the idea any more than the rest of them did, but it worked.

The crawl to consciousness was not nearly as fast as everyone had hoped. Sure, I was out for a reasonable period of time, but when Jeb suggested that I'd only be out for a couple of hours, and possibly just until they got to a rest stop… would you believe I was actually out for longer than that?

"Cassidy? Are you okay now?" Aelita asked, moments before my eyes cracked open.

"Uh… Theo looks hideous in a really tall hat," I murmured.

Sister struggled to keep a straight face, especially as the others started laughing, but found it harder and harder. "He, uh… only looks terrible in, uh… brown hats..." Soon even this became too much of a challenge for her, as her teeth gritted in a wide grin, before being forcefully separated as she squealed in chuckles, something everyone found contagious.

Once the laughter died down, something I didn't feel terrible about, as I was still somewhat groggy, I looked out the window, trying to see if I could figure out where we were, just by looking at the tops of buildings. When that didn't work, I turned my attention toward the roof of the van.

"Does… anybody know where we are?" I asked with half-awake curiosity.

"According to my map, we are in Aspen, Colorado, Cassidy," Jeremie answered.

"Must've been some trip," I blinked, still slightly out-of-it.

"It sure was for those whitecoats and Erasers," Odd replied, getting a bit of a grin on his face. "Max and her flock flew back and took care of that unmarked sedan that was following us, earlier. She says we're safe now."

"Yeah, but you oughta stay lying down, for now, Cass," William added, referring to my half-asleep state. "You can sit up when you're more with it."

"Yeah, being sedated must've helped," I sighed, snuggling Odd's belly. "At least it was a controlled thingie…"

"Controlled thingie…?" Jeremie raised an eyebrow, wondering if I was still mumbling, or what.

"She must mean controlled sedation," Jeb explained. "Cassidy's probably not too angry at us like I once feared."

"How can I be angry at you, Jeb? We're still on the course to Denver," I muttered, a smile slowly growing on my face. "Besides, it's like what Odd says, 'When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.' It was only borrowed once by Samurai, and I will never be an astronaut."

Odd chuckled at that. He knew I was totally his girl, especially with little reminders like that. "You're waking up even faster than I thought, Cat Girl!"

"I guess I am," I blinked.

"Good!" Kiwi woofed, wiggling so he could sit in my lap. "I'd love to give you a belly rub, just in case."

Yumi chuckled a bit, as she stroked the dog's back, between his wings. "I think she's calm enough on her own, Kiwi. But I'm sure she'd love a belly rub another time."

He wagged his tail happily. "Okay, but at the hotel room."

Aelita giggled at this, hovering her hand over her mouth as she and Hunter began to wonder what it would feel like, to have a dog softly rub their bellies or their backs. Hunter also thought about other places, like sides, arms, shoulders, and things like that. Kiwi's paw pads were undoubtedly soft, so maybe it would be interesting to find out one day.

Feeling a little snackish, I stretched a bit, before finding to my mock horror that my popcorn bag had gone missing. "Odd… honey… did you eat my snack I bought at the gas station?"

Odd started to look a bit guilty, as he glanced over at me. "Well, I… got really hungry earlier… I'm sorry, Cat Girl…"

But then his tone started to pick up, as he thought about what was to come. "But we'll be getting to the hotel soon, so you and I can get all sorts of yummy goodies! So don't worry!"

"Okay, Odd," I giggled. "I guess I shouldn't be too worried. Plus I've been with you for years—almost three to four in this world of ours."

"At least that many… but I think we get the picture, Cassidy," Yumi commented, with a bit of a giggle of her own, as she closed her eyes. "If anyone knows Odd as well as Ulrich, it's you."

"You're right," Aelita came in. "But she knows mostly all of us."

"Can't be helped that my powers kinda have biographical prowess, too," I smiled sheepishly.

"I don't think any of us know the full extent of your powers," Jeremie commented, without even looking up from his laptop's screen.

"It's okay, Jeremie," I nodded, a grin still on my face. "It gets to a point where I don't know the fullest extent of my powers either. That monster might be one extreme, but I'm not sure about other angles it could take me next."

Sister soon slid over and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a warm, comforting and disarming hug. "Let's not worry about that, dear sister. We've got a long, fun-filled journey ahead of us."

I returned the gesture, relaxing. "We are still on the way to Denver."

"Yes," Einstein agreed.

And on we went. After another couple of hours of driving, during which we played multiple rounds of I Spy (again, never challenge Einstein), 90 Second Alphabet, and more, an exciting sign passed by out of the corners of some of our eyes, reading "Exit 210 A: Colfax Avenue," which meant that we were getting very close to Denver. Everything seemed to be going wonderfully. There were very few (if slightly adrenaline-fueled, since the other day) reckless drivers, there were barely any clouds in the sky, and our ride was going nice and smooth, if you don't count the silly back-and-forth comments between Odd and Ulrich, on occasion.

You probably know where this is headed, don't you?

Well, so did I. Something just felt off. Everything looked so perfect. I had seen enough action-adventure movies with similar suspenseful plot hooks to know that not everything was as good as it looked. Heck, some Lyoko missions were too smooth at times, but I knew XANA's monsters were lurking about. And that's precisely what I was feeling here. What if Max and her flock actually hadn't taken care of the whitecoats and Erasers, as Hunter and I had feared, earlier? What if they were lying in wait for us to go into Denver, or anywhere close, and catch us off-guard? I really, really hoped I was wrong… There were times when I liked being right and times where I was glad I was wrong, and this happens to be one of the latter times.

And you know what? To quote my geisha friend Yumi: "Oh, I'm sick of always being right!"

Within a few seconds, as Georgina's eyes bounced up to the rearview mirror, they widened as she noticed a white, unmarked van with a Nevada license plate slowly gaining on us from behind. It was then that she immediately realized that we hadn't indeed escaped from her former co-workers at The School.

"I really don't like to have to say this," she lamented, trying to keep her voice calm, lest she throw all of us, especially me, into another tizzy, "but they've caught up with us."

"These guys don't know when to quit," Odd quipped.

"What should we do now?" Yumi asked.

"Do we need to put anyone out again?" Ulrich deadpanned.

"Not this time," Jeb replied, glancing over at the mirror on his side of the van.

I sighed in relief. "Okay, to repeat Yumi, even if I don't like doing so: What should we do now?"

"How long until we reach our hotel?" Aelita asked.

"In roughly twenty-five minutes, give-or-take," Jeremie replied, actually looking away from his computer this time.

"We can handle until then. Hold onto something, because it might be a bumpy ride from here," Georgina took command, flipping her long, sandy blond hair back over her seat and donning a pair of sunglasses.

Her eyes continually bouncing between the rearview mirror and the highway in front of her, she watched the van get closer and closer until it had come within feet of the back of our van. As we grabbed onto the nearest surfaces we could find (and I held Kiwi and Odd at the same time), we felt the vehicle begin to slide to the left, a move the white van slowly copied not long after. Noticing there were very few cars in front of her, Georgina decided to swerve back to the right, only changing two lanes this time, rather than one. That didn't even slow the white van down at all; it only took the whitecoat behind the wheel half of a second to adjust for Georgina's change in direction.

Next, feeling even more daring, Georgina decided to speed up, politely passing a car that was in front of us, curious to see how the white van would respond, yet fearing they were probably going to take out the vehicle she passed. Thankfully, that didn't happen, even though the white van still caught up to us, once more.

Up ahead, Georgina spotted our exit, and hoping to trick the white van, she swerved all the way to the leftmost lane, before veering back to the right, and changing onto the exit lane, moments before she would have gone off the road. A satisfied smile slowly found its way to her lips, hoping she had tricked the whitecoat driving the white van, only to have it fall again, as she soon saw a familiar sight in the rearview mirror, once more.

Switching tactics, and her usual gentle, kind, and caring demeanor, Georgina pulled off the off-ramp and onto I-70BL, where she could still drive at a similar speed, yet there was more traffic to contend with. "Keep hanging on, guys!"

She started by swerving around one or two cars, which gained a few random horn honks (and possibly, yells and shouts) from those drivers, yet this didn't seem to faze the white van. Next, she sped up a bit, noticing the white van was encroaching further on our back end; it adjusted its own speed to compensate. She then decided to take a curve a bit faster than average, quickly fixing the van's direction before it could spin out of control, curious to see how the white van would take that. It didn't even flinch.

Georgina was starting to run out of ideas and was getting deeper and deeper into traffic when we suddenly heard a loud bang on the roof of the van. While the rest of us were quite surprised by this, the former whitecoat had decided to take off her kid gloves. If whoever was in the white van along with that whitecoat was going to try and infiltrate our van as we drove, it had another thing coming.

The sandy blond's driving became slightly more intense, as the car swerved more violently, in an attempt to dislodge whatever was hanging on. This only caused more angry beeps from adjacent vehicles, but some of them were also quite surprised by what was on the roof of our van. She did nearly everything she could think to, that was at least somewhat legal, without slamming on the brakes: she changed lanes quickly, sometimes two or three at a time; she went around a few other cars, ignoring whatever they did in reply; she even got onto a slight straightaway, in a lane with very few other vehicles, to speed up and slow down a few times, just to see what would happen.

That's when things began to get more interesting, as not long after Georgina returned to normal speed, a few more bangs were heard, followed by something flying in front of the windshield. It was Nudge, with her fist hanging outward, ready to punch whoever was on top of our vehicle. This brought a grin to everyone's face, as we watched her pants and shoes quickly disappear off the top of the windshield as she flew up toward the roof.

Looking up, we began to hear more bangs against the roof, one after the other in varying succession, as we assumed Nudge and the thing she was fighting were duking it out over our heads. It was really quite impressive, imagining how the fight was going, with nothing but irregularly-timed bangs to go by. We were sure that Nudge was winning, though, as whatever it was she was fighting, she probably had a good deal of experience with, as well as the rest of Max's flock.

A while, and a few more bangs later, we heard a loud slam, which worried me, and a few others, that the roof might cave in. Looking over toward one of the windows, just to see what we were driving past, we were scared even further, when the corner of Nudge's wing appeared near the top, suggesting the monster was getting the upper hand. Thankfully, it soon disappeared, and Nudge was back in the swing of things, both physically and literally.

More bangs followed as some of us couldn't help but watch the carpeted roof to see if all the commotion on top was creating holes, or bending the metal, but surprisingly the van's roof was holding up quite well. And with the heck that Nudge and the weird creature were doing to it, it was quite surprising.

As Ulrich, Yumi, Sister, and William looked out the side windows, as the bangs continued at irregular intervals, Georgina drove the van across a bridge. It was of decent length, and it was this that gave Nudge an idea. As the bangs continued, some of us began to wonder how much longer the battle was going to take, and a few even wondered if Nudge indeed would be victorious, as with no way of knowing how the campaign was progressing, the uncertainty put me, and most of the others, on edge.

One bang. Then another. Then a couple more. After a few seconds of silence, yet another bang was heard, before we found something quite exciting waft into our ears: it was the sound of an Eraser crying out in pain. At the same time, Ulrich, Yumi, Sister, and William happened to see an Eraser go flying off the top of the van, and over the bridge, through the side windows. At that very moment, the collective tension in the van dissipated like water vapor.

"Don't start cheering too soon!" Georgina ordered, unusually strict. "Company's still tailing us."

Without even stopping to contemplate what had come over the usually cheerful, warm, and kind former whitecoat, every one of us turned to look out the back window, finding that the white, unmarked van was still behind us. Once again, Georgina started darting around cars, changing lanes and trying other seemingly legal moves to try and lose them, but it still kept pace.

But that's when things got interesting.

Not long after Georgina settled into the rightmost lane, something unusual happened: the white, unmarked van suddenly took the exit. This was quite surprising; what was it doing? Did it have somewhere else to go? Was it going after the Eraser that Nudge did a number on? Or did they know where we were going and were trying to head us off? Either way, no matter how many questions we all had, it was good to see that they had backed off, at least for the moment.

A short while after, Georgina took the next exit, and the ride was mostly quiet on the way to the hotel. Everyone was a combination of worry, relief, and possible motion sickness from Georgina forgetting she wasn't in the Fast and the Furry from Tom and Jerry.

Pulling into the luxury hotel's parking lot, rather than pull into one of the openings near the front of the building, she instead went around to the back of the building, brought the van to a stop, and turned off the motor.

"Everyone okay?" Jeb asked, chuckling nervously as he whirled around in his seat, glasses askew.

"If California was bad, this was definitely worse as crap," Kaitlyn muttered, holding her stomach.

For a moment, my vision started seeing stars. "Uh… I know it was necessary, but… maybe we should've had some Dramamine on board…"

"Uh, Cassidy, I hate to burst your bubble, but that would only work for seasickness," Jeremie commented, himself looking a light shade of green.

"Actually, we have made it so it could work with motion sickness, too," Jeb gently countered. "Everyone else okay?"

"Let me just wait for the room to stop spinning," Hunter groaned, leaning his head forward, with his hands on opposite sides of his temples, "so my brain can recalibrate. Wow..."

"My breakfast and Cassidy's popcorn wants to come back up to say 'hello,' but otherwise all's well!" Odd moaned, grabbing his stomach.

Yumi and Ulrich nodded, both having stronger constitutions.

I looked over to my former first roommate. "I think Aelita's wishing she'd rather be on Lyoko, surviving Odd's virtually suicidal/homicidal stunts, than on this ride. Her wings are out."

Indeed, she was imitating Hunter's pose with gritted teeth, the same sort of face she made whenever she used to have visions, not long after her first materialization onto Earth. Surprisingly, her wings didn't rip her purple dress off, but upon further inspection, she had cut slits into it. Naturally, this worried Jeremie greatly.

"Aelita!" Jeremie called out in fear, sliding across the seats to her side, and placing his hands upon her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… I'm not sure..." she cried out, her voice strained, worrying Jeremie further.

"I think once we get checked in and into our suites, you can rest up," Ulrich spoke up, reassuring her and Jeremie at the same time.

Of course, even though the ability to relax was something we all needed, I had this gigantic feeling within myself, like a bug buzzing in my ear, telling me that we weren't exactly in the clear, just yet.

"That white van is still out there," I blurted out. "I can feel it."

"Are you sure?" Patrick asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

I nodded. "We shouldn't go in yet."

"But they're far enough away, aren't they?" William commented, trying to sound hopeful. "We could always check in, and hide our van somewhere, that way they won't even know we're here."

"William… my intuition's buzzing immensely! I'm not too sure of this," I grimaced, struggling to keep my voice level with him.

Seeing my reaction to mi ex novio's reply, Odd gently wrapped his arms around me and softly cooed into my ear. "Relax, Cat Girl… you don't wanna stress yourself out again."

"Sorry, Ninja-Cat-Boy! I have to check around." Undaunted, I gently broke free from mi novio's grip, crawled to the back window, and stared out of the glass, patrolling for a white van. "Georgina, what state's license plates were on that vehicle?"

"Nevada," she answered, the tone of voice turning back to the gentle and kind one she always had.

With this information, my eyes continued panning around the area, almost like a security camera on a turret, just searching for any vehicle with out-of-state plates that didn't have families in them.

Suddenly, after only a few minutes of fruitless hunting, a white van parked a stall across from ours. I raised a brow, finding a man with messy, dirty blond hair and sharp green eyes covered by glasses behind the wheel. Right next to him was a woman I thought I would never see again. Throwing my mental shields up, I commanded myself, Get the plates, Girl! That may be Reilly and Mandy up there, but you need more proof than that.

Squinting at the front bumper, I found the plates becoming clearer. "Nevada…" I hissed to myself. Raising my voice, I turned to my friends. "We might need to prepare for battle, guys!"

"That's great, but uh, how are we gonna do that?" Ulrich protested, raising his hands in the air. "We can't take these guys down by ourselves!"

"Okay, I know we used to be human, and what-have-you," I sighed, feeling him throw my words back at me, "but we have Pencak Silat and Aikido. We shouldn't be ashamed of what we've gone through. Why? Because we're good and we are strong! We have a tactician, and we can fight. Plus, with a few things in our van, we surely can take down a few of these rascals."

My eyes widened, feeling a fire burning freely within my heart that I hadn't felt in ages. "So this is how it feels when you find the strength to finally fight back!"

"Now that's my dear sister," Sister smiled. "Always ready to help a friend."

"You're right!" Yumi, feeling a bit amped up by my words, exclaimed in excitement.

"But we shouldn't just go gallivanting into this. Several of us could get captured, and that won't be any good," Jeremie cautioned.

"That's an excellent point, Jeremie," I nodded. "Plus, Max and her flock could help, too." Angel, we're gonna need some backup. Have Max tell Nudge and Fang to go into the hotel and hide out, in case Erasers go into there awaiting their prey.

Instantly, her sweet voice came into my mind, soothing me somewhat. Got it, Cassidy.

"Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?" Kaitlyn asked.

"We have a tire iron, so we could bean a few of the Erasers in the head if they get too close," I blinked, checking the surroundings. "Any rocks you can pick up can be used for long-range. Let's be careful, though. I don't think we want to be charged with murder in any degree. Hm… Anyone with a pocket knife, as soon as we have more than an opening, could slash some tires near the end of the battle."

"I think I'm really starting to rub off on you," Ulrich remarked with a smile.

"Focus, Ulrich Stern!" I blinked seriously. "We don't have any time for flattery. Hm… We don't have a two-by-four, or anything long, so having an 'out of the ballpark' moment is definitely not an option. Not unless we ask the hotel staff for something like that, and chances are they'd think we'd gone nuts…"

An amusing thought ran through my mind, as I giggled slightly. "Now if someone had somehow procured super strength and found a way to lift a washer or dryer, that'd be hilarious.

"Now let's see… We still need our cases, so no one use anyone's luggage. Our wings could be useful, even if they're underdeveloped still."

Nudge and Fang are in place, Cassidy, Angel's thoughts wafted into my brain.

Good. I smiled, looking back to the rear window. To my surprise, no one had even set one foot outside of the van behind us. It was as though they were taunting us.

"What are these rapscallions waiting for?!" I growled.

"I'll bet they're trying to formulate a strategy of their own," Jeremie theorized.

"Unless they want one of us to step out," Aelita came up next, finally with it, folding her wings slightly.

"I'm sure that once I step out, the driver and his passenger will want more than a few words with me," I blinked, seething in rage.

"Well, they'll have to get a few words from us," Odd interjected, starting to get a bit angry at the thought, as well, "and they're not going to be pretty!"

"I know that, Odd." I smiled appreciatively, before letting my face fall gradually. "But we definitely need to come up with a plan. Otherwise, we'll be back at Square One again, under stricter consequences. And I cannot have that happen to any one of us. Remember what they did to Hunter, and to me."

"We do. And we'll definitely kick some ass," Kaitlyn smiled determinedly. "We're Lyoko Warriors, after all."

"And I know pillows aren't good weapons unless we want to get charged with murder in any degree," I found myself going back to my original speech.

"Cassidy, I know you're trying your hardest not to make death threats, but these guys have been tailing us for miles," Kaitlyn reassured.

"The last time I tried to think of stuff for revenge, Aelita got scared because I threw a lot of murdering into it, and everyone yelled at me. I'm just trying to figure out ways for them not to paint themselves as the good guys if we get tried in court," I argued, turning to face my platinum blond-haired former second roommate.

"So?" Ulrich argued, garnering my attention next. "We've all been mistreated by them, especially you."

"I know, Samurai… My wrist and neck have the scars to prove it." My gaze lowered to the side of my wrist, the discolored scar from the School still there.

It was then pulled away, not long after, when I felt a soft hand slowly and soothingly rub my back in a relaxing way. Looking up, I saw it was Aelita, with a warm, calming, and disarming, yet determined, smile upon her face, her wings slightly spread.

"And I'm sure those are the last scars any of us will get from them," she soothed, looking into my eyes. "They can't possibly take us back. Not with all of the help we've got."

"Well, Princess, I think they've got their play ready, and Reilly's the quarterback," Odd muttered, in a voice I remembered he used when he and Yumi sprang Sister from the hospital.

Hearing this, I quickly turned my head toward the back window, in the direction mi novio was looking. Sure enough, a group of whitecoats and Erasers began stepping out of the van, either from the front doors, the sliding side doors, or even out the tailgate, until there were nearly as many of them combined, as a football team. It really gave new meaning to the term "clown car."

I gritted my teeth, my stomach raveling into knots, like a tangled hank of yarn. "And we've got nothing for a defense."

Suddenly Patrick's eyes widened, a smile growing on his facial features.

"Oh, for God's sake, Patrick! That's your 'I'm gonna pass this exam even if I hadn't studied' face," Kaitlyn growled, as though an ex just ticked her off. "You know it's not gonna work!"

"Maybe we can use the same technique we used when Cassidy's life was on the line," he confidently scoffed, blowing off his female cousin.

"But we don't have anything we can rearrange," Yumi interjected, looking quite surprised, "that we can use as a barricade!"

"Y, Patricio, ¡estoy despierta y viva!" I protested.

But Patrick seemed to not be finished. "We aren't gonna build a barricade, Cassidy. We're going to do this from the point the security came in."

"Patrick, do you mean defending my honor, or have you taken a level in Odd?"

"We're gonna fight in the same formation, with some minor changes," he smirked.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.

"First off, Samantha, you'll be fighting alongside Kaitlyn, Ari, Ulrich, Yumi, Sissi, William, and me. Secondly, Jeremie, you did your best, but you're switching positions with Odd. Kiwi, you stay in the van unless they somehow find a way to get in. And Cassidy, you, Hunter, and Aelita are staying in the rear."

"I think I'm strong enough to start fighting again," I growled at him, offended that he would make a remark such as that.

"But I think you should hang back a bit," Yumi warned me, still feeling slightly unsure about my abilities, in contrast to myself, "until you get a chance to relearn Pencak Silat."

"But if they overpower you, then I want to fight," I blinked.

"And if they overpower us," Ulrich reasoned as he locked eyes with me, "what makes you think they're not gonna overpower you, too? How do you know you're still able to fight, after your coma?"

"Do I need to remind you who tried to defend Jeremie from our evil twins the first round," I growled, wondering why they were dead-set against me trying to fight, "before you came in late for the party because you needed a decent grade? Who talked smack to XANA when he trapped her in the Amazonian lab? Who came up with a plan and only told Einstein and Aelita, for fear that too many in-the-know would make XANA overthrow it? Was I even weak?!"

This only made Samurai's eyebrows slant downward, his tone turning angrier and more argumentative, like mine. "No, but do you really want them to kidnap you again?! If we throw you out there, it'll be like us just handing you over to them! The nurses had to help you learn how to walk again, after your coma! How do we know you didn't forget Pencak Silat, too, huh?!"

I had to admit, he had gotten me, there. "I know, Ulrich. I know. I just feel like I've been holding you all, and myself, back a bit. Like, I shouldn't have told you that we couldn't fight them when we were back at Kadic, but—"

"Cassidy, no." This time, Yumi jumped in, garnering our attention, her voice slightly stern at first, but calming down not long after. "You need to stop worrying about that. Look, what's done is done, okay? Even if we could do a Return to the Past when we get back to France, would you really wanna relive that day all over again? It's in the past, Cassidy. You need to stop letting it bother you."

"Sorry, Yumi," I blinked, my cheeks heating up.

As Ulrich reached over to place a hand upon my shoulder, and Yumi leaned forward to embrace me in a warm, soothing and comforting hug, a few taps on the side window pulled us away from our tasks. Max and Angel floated outside our window, held aloft by their wings, looking somewhat anxious.

"I don't mean to worry those with weak stomachs, but… the troops are going to advance if we don't do something," Max ordered, folding her arms.

"In other words…out of the car?" I squeaked.

"Afraid so, Cass. This is a huge army compared to our seven." She furrowed her brows.

"I know that Max," another voice announced.

"No, not you, Gazzy."

"Lucky we have one Eraser on our side," I blinked, looking over at Ari, before swerving my attention over to Patrick. "I don't know of any other plans, so yours may be the best choice."

"Okay, Hunter, Aelita, male cuz, you three go into the hotel and hide," he ordered. "Max, you and Gasman guard them until they are inside, then join the battle."

Hunter merely nodded in reply, looking somewhat tense, though trying to hide it as best he could.

"Good luck, Patrick," Jeremie commented, giving a last nervous look around the van, just in case. "And good luck, everyone."

"You, too, Einstein," I nodded, shivers in my feet. "Ten cuidado."

Jeremie gave me one last reassuring smile, before he, Aelita, and Hunter quickly slid the side door open, and climbed out of the van. With Max in the lead and Gasman tailing them, both winged crusaders keeping their eyes and ears wide open, the five quickly made their way around the other side of the hotel, toward the entrance, hoping the whitecoats and Erasers didn't plant any additional members on their route.

With the five out of sight, Jeremie's male cousin turned his attention back to the rest of us.

"Okay, Ulrich, Yumi, Kaitlyn, Sissi, William, Sam, and Ari, to the front side with the rest of the flock and me. Odd, guard Cassidy," Patrick ordered. "Max and Gaz will join us later."

"I have a feeling my vision of this battle is going to come true," I clenched my toes in my shoes, trying to stop the shaking.

That's when I felt an arm wrap around my body, belonging to none other than mi novio.

"Maybe it was for something else?" he gently tried to reassure me in his own way. "You didn't see it happening during this battle, did you? For all we know, it might not even be in this state!"

"I don't know, but okay, Odd." For the best, I smiled at him.

He gave me one of his Cheshire Cat-style grins, which made me giggle a bit, while giving me the feeling he had to be hiding some deep nerves behind it, as Ulrich, Yumi, Sam, Kaitlyn, William, Sister, and Patrick all charged toward the whitecoats and Erasers, with Odd guiding me not far behind.

Yet, shortly before we even got close to the line of scrimmage, an Eraser suddenly broke through the middle of the lines like a freight train, separating mi novio from me. A sigh escaped my throat as I lowered my head in disgust. Great… Odd's now in danger.

Turning toward where he took him off to, I stomped toward the mutant of The School. "Hey, fleabag… I suggest you let my boyfriend go, or suffer the consequences."

The menacing creature slowly turned to face me, his eyes and snout curled in a terrifying smirk. Every inch of him was so fearsome, right down to the scent of his breath, which made my nose want to leap off from my face, in terror.

"And what may those be?" he taunted with a deep snarl, sizing me up to further intimidate me.

"This!" Without a second thought, I smirked, revved back, and punched him upside the snout, sending him reeling as his freakish hand let Odd's hood go.

As the creature took several steps backward, bringing both of his gnarled paw-like hands up to his face, my wildcard boyfriend fell to his hands and knees with a slightly audible grunt, before slowly getting to his feet, dusting himself off, and looking up at me. "Thanks, Cat Girl!"

"No one messes with my boyfriend and gets away with it," I growled, blowing my knuckles off.

Odd let out a chuckle, as his grin increased. "You tell 'em, Cat Girl the Magnificent!"

"Thanks, but no time," I blinked.

Right away, the Eraser I just challenged shook off the force of the impact, spattering the parking lot with some of his blood. "Beginner's luck."

"Really? I'd say that was pretty expert," I snarled, raising my foot and landing a blow on his chest. His shoes skidded backward on the pavement, as he let out a slightly pained grunt, clutching the affected area.

"You really think you're that good, huh, kid?!" his angry growl echoed in my direction.

"Punch and Lanka: 2. Eraser: 0.5."

"Huh?" Mi novio spun around, looking at me with slight confusion. "When did he get half a point?"

"Caught me off-guard when he captured you," I blinked, unfurling my wings. "If he brought you to the whitecoats, then it would've been a full point to him."

Appearing to shake off that attack nearly as quickly as the last, the Eraser began to build up momentum as he charged toward me.

"How's THIS for a full point?!" he roared, leaping into the air, and slamming his right foot directly into my back, right between my wings, before I was able to turn around. Knocking me forward onto the pavement, he then proceeded to quickly grab both of my arms, and hoist my lightly dusty body up to his own, chuckling evilly at me.

But just as quickly as he attacked and grabbed me, a pair of black combat boots came into view, hit him square in… um… yes, and caused a twisted soprano note to come out of his mouth, dropping me on my chest and stomach instantly. I coughed as I looked up. "Thanks, Yumi."

"Don't mention it," Yumi replied kindly, offering me her hand. "You really had him, there."

I attempted to get on my hands and knees, arms and legs shaking from the brunt of the impact, before gratefully taking her offer. "I think I'm gonna feel the boot in my back in the morning. Ow…"

"Then it's a good thing this hotel's got a wonderful spa, too," my geisha friend replied, as she gently helped me to my feet. "I'm sure most of us will wanna go there after we finish these guys off."

Before I could respond, a noise grabbed our attention. Turning my head to the right, I saw something even my visions warned me would happen: Ulrich in trouble. Returning to Yumi, I blinked. "You take the Eraser; I'll get the whitecoat."

Without a second thought, she followed me toward the Eraser. "I'm on it."

As we neared the two enemies, we split off into two separate directions, with Max soon flying in to give Yumi a hand with the Eraser. The whitecoat in my sights, I began to pick up speed, before swinging my fist outward, and delivering a crippling punch to the side of his head, knocking him to the pavement in surprise. Nearby, in nearly the same span of time, Yumi leaped forward, shoving her right black combat boot into the Eraser's cranium. With the momentum this gave the creature as he was sent flying to one side, Max then delivered a flying kick to the other side of the Eraser's head, causing him to drop Ulrich.

"Thanks, Max and Yumi," he sighed gratefully.

I dusted my hands off when arms circled around my chest, followed by one of two voices I really never, ever wanted to hear again. "Damsel in distress, aren't we, Cassidy René McGuire?!"

Of course… Reilly… I gritted my teeth, snaking my body from his grip. Now on the ground, I launched a spinning kick to his ankles, knocking the man off his feet. He started to fall toward the ground but bringing my foot back, I kicked him straight in the back, launching him straight into a nearby tree. He slowly slumped to the ground, giving the impression that the blow had knocked him out, causing several of the whitecoats to drop their battle strategies and rush to his aid.

Nearby, Odd looked quite surprised for a moment, as he got to his feet, and turned to look at me. "Wow, Cat Girl! You really showed him how to be a tree hugger!" He commented, slowly regaining his former grin as I returned to full height.

"Thanks, Odd," I smiled, feeling him pat my shoulder. "At least he'll be in traction for a while."

"Anyway, it seems your vision has come true in some parts, Cassidy," he noted. "You feeling okay?"

"My back hurts a bit, but not too bad." I began to reply, rubbing the affected area a bit, before I came to a stop, as I saw a flash of white zoom past the edge of my field of vision. So fast, that I really couldn't tell who it was.

But thankfully, a member of Max's flock had seen it.

"She's going into the hotel!" Gazzy shouted. "Stop her!"

I nodded, rushing past our van and onto the sidewalk. Just as the mysterious figure dashed through the automatic sliding doors into the hotel lobby, a pair of paw-like hands grabbed my arms, stopping me dead in my tracks.

"Think you're going somewhere, McGuire?!" It was the Eraser from earlier, snarling into my ears, his grip on my hands like handcuffs that were much too small for my wrists. "I think you haven't learned your lesson!"

I winced, his wrists digging into my back, right where his boot had hit me before. "That's what you say, Eraser boy!"

And what timing; before I was able to retaliate, the Eraser got a gentle tap on his shoulder, which caused him to turn his head.

"I think you're hurting that girl." It was Ari, staring angrily into the eyes of the Eraser. "You need to ease up a little!"

Before he could react, Jeb's son slammed his fist into the Eraser's head, knocking him onto the pavement so hard, it nearly left a dent, and freeing me from his tight grip. I then felt him gently pull me back to my feet, and dust me off.

My mind about to fool my vision into seeing stars again, I returned to the van. "Thanks, Ari… Ooh…"

Once I was inside, Georgina gently helped me lay on my back on the seats, before softly patting my forehead with a washcloth, that she had wet down with warm water from a water bottle she had kept up front with her, while she drove. This slowly helped me to keep my eyes open, even though most of my consciousness wanted to drop out altogether.

"Georgina…" I moaned.

"Don't worry, Cassidy. Just breathe and hang in there," she cooed. "You did a wonderful job so far."

I started to slow my breathing down, trying my hardest to stay awake, as the former whitecoat gently patted my forehead, along with other parts of exposed skin on my body, helping to keep me relaxed, but awake.

"I saw what you did to Reilly. I think he'll remember that for a very long time," she grinned.

"Yeah, it's very easy to face him when he's not cracking open emotional wounds," I said, groaning as I rose to a sitting position.

Georgina gently placed her free hand on my shoulder, stopping me in mid-motion. "I think you should lay down. It'll help your back feel better."

I nodded, laying on my side while having a view of the war. "And they say love is a battlefield."

She let out a slight chuckle as she gently lifted my shirt, to get a better view. She grimaced a bit once she saw the mark, which was right above the scar I got from XANA. "He really knew where to kick you; any lower, and he would've struck that mark XANA gave you, before."

"Yeesh. I wish I could see it," I winced.

"I wouldn't recommend that." Her voice was gentle and soothing, but firm. "We'll have to take care of it, once we get up into the suites. I'll probably end up pulling you and the others, even Max and her flock, into the bath, once we're all done here before anyone goes to the spa. Don't want anyone wondering what sorts of crazy things happened to all of you."

"I think this battle's the only explanation they need. All we need is a Marion Moseby yelling, 'There'll be no battles in the parking lot of my hotel!'" I smiled, wincing as my back gave a jolt of pain.

"At least we're not at the Tipton," Jeb commented with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, good thing," I muttered. "I think we all might need something to counteract the pain after this."

"Georgina and I will get everyone—" Jeb began to calm me, before something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, bringing a look of anger to his face. One of the whitecoats, Mandy, had walked out of the hotel carrying someone over her shoulder. He couldn't quite figure out who it was, but just the sight of this led him to let out a growl of anger.

"Oh, no," Georgina also growled.

I rose to a sitting position, moments before she placed the figure on the parking lot on our side of the battle. Curious, I got to my feet, ignoring the painful signals my back was sending me, along with Georgina's calls to come back, and climbed out of the van to get a better look. My eyes widened further when I recognized the blond hair of our resident genius.

"Jeremie…"

My vision had come true. Once I gave it more thought, I realized the platform Jeremie was lying on in that vision I had looked just like the pavement underneath him. I really, really wanted Odd to be right… but Jeremie had been knocked out, all because of a sneak attack from that stupid whitecoat! I had been afraid they'd plan some sort of sneak offense, which is why I had told Angel to position Fang and Nudge inside the hotel, with Jeremie, Aelita, and Hunter… how could she have gotten past them, in the first place? How could she have just gone straight up to Jeremie, and gotten him like that? What kind of power was that woman packing?!

Speaking of that one, Mandy's dark, evil chuckles echoed from behind me, as she slowly snuck up. "Checkmate…"

Shivers whistling down my spine, I whirled around. "NO!"

She let out another evil chuckle, snatching me in her arms before I could react. "And now you've so willingly given yourself to us! Such a noble and brave little girl… it's almost a shame I have to take you out before your younger sister, too…"

That did it. I could feel the anger building up within me, with steam practically threatening to shoot out of my ears. Summing up as much energy as I could, I slammed both of my feet into hers, shoving her backward onto her back as she unwittingly freed me from her grip.

"Threatening and even harming Aelita's boyfriend, then going after her herself—oh…you're in for a world of hurt!" I shouted, as Mandy slowly got back up, growling angrily at me.

"You dare tell me what you're going to do, young l—" Mandy started in again, trying to talk down to me in anger, before two more feet slammed into her stomach, turning her words into a pained grunt, and sending her back onto the pavement once more.

Clutching the part in question, she opened her eyes after the impact, looking around at her other comrades. Most of the whitecoats and Erasers had been knocked down, or even knocked out, with the few that were left standing having a hard time against the team of former human children, and part of the Flock. She gritted her teeth in anger as she beheld this.

"Let's get out of here!" she roared, gaining the other whitecoats' and Erasers' attention. "They're much more powerful than they were before! We need to regroup! Everyone back in the van! And get the heck over here, and help Reilly and me up!"

My friends, and Max's flock, slowly relaxed as they watched the whitecoats and Erasers throw threats at them before some raced toward Mandy, and the others toward the unconscious Reilly, lifting both up and carrying them back to the white van. As I watched, I slowly began to feel the world around me get hazier and hazier, while slowly losing the feeling in my body. Sitting down on the pavement, two familiar talking dogs trotted up to me.

"It's okay, Cassidy," Total soothed. "Those scoundrels are going to be long gone…"

I couldn't hear the rest of his sentence, however, as everything slowly went quiet, and my whole entire world went black, as I gradually laid back onto the pavement.

With the battle over, Max and Fang gently lifted Jeremie and me up into their arms, and carried us into the hotel, as Georgina approached the front desk, and got our room key cards. This took about a couple of minutes, and soon our luggage and equipment were brought up to our specific suites. Like the hotel in Las Cruces, New Mexico, five suites were rented out, and a team of at least four or five of us, if not more, was assigned to each.

The next thing I knew, I felt myself slowly return to consciousness upon a nice, soft bed, with most of my friends looking down at me with curious, and concerned, gazes.

"She's waking up," I heard Jeremie whisper.

"Uh… ooh…" I moaned, my head still in a slight state of dizziness, but waning.

"Ohhh…" Sister spoke in an anxious tone as she reached over to touch my back, "are you okay, my poor, dear sister?"

"Ow, ow… not there, Sister, please…" I whined. "An Eraser kicked me there…"

"Oh, sorry, dear sister," she moaned, quickly retracting her hand.

"It's okay. You had no idea. Are you okay, Jeremie?" I asked, looking over at him.

Jeremie nodded. "I'm much better, now. You see, I…uh kinda gave myself up to the Eraser… if I hadn't, he uh, well… he would have…" His cheeks began to redden, as he started softly rubbing the back of his head. But I knew what he meant, anyway.

"You actually turned the deck against yourself so Aelita wouldn't be found?" I asked, before squealing in happiness. "Aw… Einstein… you're so heroic for her. Franz would be so proud of you! I'm so sure that he'll approve of you taking Aelita's hand in marriage."

Nearly two-thirds of Einstein's face had turned beet red by that point, and he found it harder to speak in coherent sentences. "Hey, I, uh… only, uh... did my best… um… I, uh, knew she, uh… was gonna—"

Then a squeak left his throat, killing off anything remotely close to a clear statement.

"You're a genius, Jeremie," Aelita smiled, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek. The bespectacled blond slowly gained a love-struck grin upon his lips, while slowly calming down, almost melting into her arms.

That's when I suddenly thought about someone else. "Um… Is Hunter okay?" I asked, worried for his sake.

Speaking of all things good, the black-haired programmer spoke up. "A b-bit… shaken up… b-b-but I'm okay."

"Oh, good. That's wonderful news," I smiled in relief.

Odd softly ran his fingers through my hair, sounding a bit concerned. "You really ended up pushing yourself to the limit, Cat Girl."

"I guess I did, but most of that was to help others."

Georgina then began to gently, slowly and carefully check me over, looking under my shirt, gently rolling up my sleeves, checking each of my arms, my shoulders, my sides, and then gently rolling up my pant legs to examine my legs and ankles. She already knew of the bruise on my back but didn't want to help me flip over, for fear of aggravating it. Aside from a few scratches and scrapes, she didn't find anything needing stitches.

"We'll have to get you fully patched up," she spoke calmly, before gently kissing my temple, "along with everyone else, but I don't see anything too serious."

"That's good…" I smiled, feeling Georgina's love.

The long, sandy-blond-haired former whitecoat soon embraced Hunter not long after, and gently kissed his temple as well, helping him to relax a bit.

"So, would you like to have a bath, Cassidy?" she asked me, returning her attention to me. "I've already gotten most of the others."

"That would feel nice, Georgina, but I hope the shower head doesn't hurt my back," I fretted lightly.

"It won't be, my dear," she promised, relaxing me some. "When I go to rinse you off, I'll make sure it's extra gentle."

Trusting Georgina at her word, I followed her into the bathroom. Looking around, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see how similar, and yet how different, the bathrooms in the suites were, compared to the hotel in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The bathtub looked like it could hold five, if not six, and even had nozzles along its walls, suggesting jacuzzi-like jets; the shower was enclosed in glass, like the last hotel where I angsted, after my nightmare, and had multiple showerheads, including three large ones up above, and even a few nozzles on the sides, which looked as though they could shoot gentle streams of water at you; and there was also a hot tub, covered by a thick, snap-down top, that looked like it could seat nearly as many as the bathtub did. It was amazing what a little extra money per night could get you, especially when you had all sorts of money to throw around.

As I glanced around at the bathroom's interiors, Georgina set to work pulling extra soft, white towels off of the racks, creating a lovely bed of towels on the floor for me to lay on, once my dirty clothes were off. Seeing her do this, I noticed she also had a first-aid kit sitting nearby, and assumed she had probably used it for the others, before and after their respective baths. I only hoped whatever she put on my back wouldn't sting too much; it was already quite sensitive enough as it was, and even stretching was painful.

Georgina took only a few minutes to assemble an excellent, soft towel bed, and then walked over to gently help me out of my clothes. She was extra careful to remove my shirt, noting the spot where the Eraser had kicked me, earlier, along with a few scratches on both of my arms, not wanting to aggravate them further. My shoes were next, followed by my socks, and it gave her an extra chance to double-check my feet. Thankfully, no damage happened to Sister's pedicure work a month or two ago. Next came my pants, and my underwear was slipped off gently and carefully, with one more look at my legs, now that no clothing was in the way. Aside from a slight bruise from Mandy snatching me up on my right thigh, they were okay. It was then that she glanced up at the beautiful, naked, still-low-in-self-esteem winged girl that stood before her, smiling warmly and calmly at her.

"You're a very beautiful girl, Cassidy," she cooed, slowly rising to her feet after helping me out of my underwear, "and you shouldn't be ashamed of your body."

I smiled slightly, hands grabbing at the pink hair strand and rubbing it subconsciously. "I know. It's still a bit hard."

She gently pulled my glasses off, before setting them next to the towel bed, and softly kissing my temple, once more. "I understand. It takes a lot of time, and it can be really hard, especially when you were raised differently."

My cheeks heated up as I lowered myself onto the towel bed, on my belly. "The fact that I'm underweight still hangs over me like an anvil. It's a bit hard."

"But it's very hard to see that, just by looking at you," she encouraged, pulling two washcloths from the towel rack, and wetting one down with soothing, warm water from the sink.

"I still see my ribs protrude when I breathe. I feel so—"

I felt Georgina gently press the incredibly soft, warm, wet washcloth against my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. "Do you remember when I bathed you and Hunter at The School? I'm sure you got a chance to see how Hunter looked without his clothes, and how skinny he was, just like you say you are."

"I kinda had my back turned with the towel on," I admitted.

Her tone, while remaining gentle, also took on a slight bit of firmness, as she began to very softly, very soothingly and very gently wipe my arm, from my shoulder blade to the elbow, getting ready to carefully clean the scratches, next. "He didn't look too different from you, sweetheart… but he wasn't ashamed of himself. He didn't try to hide, or cover any part of his body; he was more worried about me bathing him if you remember."

"Yes."

She soothingly and slowly wiped my armpit, as she continued to clean my arm, getting the area quite wet. "So if he can be confident, and pleased with how his body looks, whether it's clothed or not, then you can, too."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, Georgina."

"Oh, don't worry, sweetie," Georgina cooed, now wiping around the scratches on my arm, getting the rest of it wet, first. "I know it's going to take some time. But I have confidence and faith in you."

I slowly began to let myself calm down, as Georgina continued to very soothingly, very slowly and very gently wipe my arm, before lightly dabbing at the scratches to cleanse them slightly, being careful not to make them sting. Once those were finished, she took to my other arm in much the same way, soothingly wiping its entire length, until it was quite wet. My neck, sides, waist, legs, and feet were taken care of afterward, helping me to relax further as I felt Georgina guide the washcloth in a languid, gentle, thorough, careful, and soothing way.

Then it was time for her to tackle my back. She began by soothingly, slowly, thoroughly, gently, and carefully wiping all around the bruise, getting most of my body quite wet in the process, before she decided to test the waters, by dabbing at the injury very, very gently with the tip of the washcloth, hoping I wouldn't react in a terrible way. She was quite pleased when she noticed my face still looked calm.

Feeling a bit braver, she continued to very gently dab at it with the very soft washcloth, hoping to wipe away any dirt that was on it, before she washed it, later on, something she was hoping wouldn't be more of a challenge than it was worth. She spent nearly twenty more minutes very gently and soothingly wiping it until it was as wet as the rest of my back half was.

Gently helping me flip over onto my back, and making a makeshift square with some of the spare rolled-up washcloths to elevate the bruise she just wiped off the gentle bed, to be extra careful that I didn't lay on it, Georgina then ran the washcloth under warm water once more, rinsing it out quite thoroughly, before starting on the front of my neck, wiping it very soothingly, very softly, very gently, and carefully, before moving on to my chest and belly, spending a decent amount of time getting each part nice and wet. Thirty minutes had passed, while Georgina continued her very soothing, very slow, very soft, very gentle and thorough wipe of my entire body, something that relaxed and calmed me considerably, before she soothingly, slowly, and softly wiped my face, forehead, and behind my ears.

Placing the washcloth near the sink, she then knelt down near my feet, looking over at me. "Shall I give you a full-body rub, to check to see if there's any scratches, scars, bruises or anything I might have missed?"

"Sure," I smiled.

So she did. Starting with my feet, while I struggled to keep a straight face as her fingers slowly went up and down my soles, and moving upward toward my head, Georgina slowly, soothingly, and very softly rubbed every single inch of skin on my body, something that was even more relaxing than the wipe. She spent some extra time soothingly, softly and slowly rubbing my belly and sides, making sure that she didn't miss anything, and any scratches she found, she grabbed the washcloth, and very softly, very slowly, very soothingly, and thoroughly, wiped them. Thankfully there weren't very many at all, but I almost wished she would keep rubbing anyway, because it was just incredibly relaxing, regardless.

But then there was the massage. After she had rubbed absolutely every inch of skin on my back half, making sure to dodge the bruise on my back, and finding only a few other scratches, which were also given a very soothing wipe, Georgina began very softly, very soothingly, and gently massaging my legs, taking a little over fifteen minutes on each leg, before moving up my waist, and onto my back. Here she soothingly, slowly, and softly massaged the parts of my back that weren't bruised, fearing how I might react if she were to gently massage the bruise itself, if not the other scratches she found with her full-body rub. This was one of the places where she spent the most time soothingly massaging all of the undamaged skin on my back and sides. My shoulders and neck came next, which were given a generous amount of time, before my arms were soothingly, slowly, and softly massaged in much the same way as my back and sides, avoiding the scratches and scrapes.

Then it was time for her to gently help me flip over onto the square once more, and have my front half soothingly massaged, as well. She started from my legs, giving them equal time as their back halves, before moving onto my belly, giving it and my sides a very soothing, relaxing, and gentle massage, and taking slightly longer than my back.

After this, she gently stroked my belly with her fingers, smiling warmly at me, which told me everything I needed to know. It was time to hop into the bathtub. Helping me to sit up on the towel bed, Georgina walked over to the big bathtub in one corner of the room, near the hot tub, and turned the taps, starting the tub filling up. She then pressed a couple of buttons on a waterproof keypad that was near the faucet, which turned on the water jets, filling the tub even faster. Next to the sink, Georgina had placed a bottle of bath soap, a bottle of shampoo, and a bottle of bubble bath; this was the one she grabbed and poured a generous amount into the spray, which created a massive mess of bubbles in the quickly rising water, making me giggle. Only four minutes later did she turn off the jets and taps, as the bathtub was filled to a decent level, the thick layer of bubbles on the top just beckoning to me to step in. I wasted no time walking over to the tub, where Georgina softly wiped the bottoms of my feet with the washcloth she had used prior, which also made me giggle before she let me step into the bathwater, letting the warm suds surround and relax me. She then moved the bath soap, shampoo, and a clean, folded-up washcloth over onto the side of the bathtub, before pulling off her shirt, pants, socks, and shoes, revealing that she had worn them over her swimsuit, before wiping her own feet, and finding a seat in the tub, next to me.

Reaching for, and unfolding, the washcloth, she dipped it into the warm, sudsy water, before lathering it up with the bath soap until it was absolutely caked. Turning to me, she slid herself forward, until her legs were underneath mine, draped one arm across my shoulders, and began to very soothingly, very softly, very gently, slowly, and very thoroughly, wash my belly, chest, and arms. Honestly, if Georgina hadn't put her arm behind me, I probably would have fallen backward, and dozed off; she relaxes you that much when she washes every inch of your body. She spent a good thirty-five minutes, just soothingly, slowly, softly, and thoroughly cleaning my upper front half, right down to my thighs, getting my neck, arms, armpits, sides, hands, belly, chest, and waist incredibly caked in soap, before soothingly washing around to the back of my neck, and starting a very soothing, very gentle, very soft, very slow, and very thorough scrub of my back half. Twenty minutes had passed, as she washed my upper back, added another layer of suds to the backs of my arms, and cleaned all around the bruise, before she bit her lower lip in worry, and slowly brought the soap-caked washcloth up to my injury.

Almost immediately, I grimaced and hissed when I felt the washcloth touch it, my mind immediately flashing back to the moment the Eraser kicked my back, almost creating an extra mental layer of pain. As she felt me tense up, Georgina quickly pulled it back, before deciding on another tactic, like what she had done when she wiped my entire body, earlier. Taking the still incredibly soapy edge of the washcloth, she began very slowly, very softly, very gently, and very carefully dabbing at the bruise, hoping to transfer some of the suds to the affected spot, but also fearing that that might cause pain, as well. Several more dabs later, she noticed I was relaxed again, both physically and mentally, having pulled away from the sordid recollection, and she then began to gently wash it directly. This had the effect of calming her as well, as she ended up covering the affected area in nearly as thick a layer of soap as the rest of my upper body.

Not long after, she helped me to my feet, so she could very soothingly, very slowly, very softly, very gently, and very thoroughly wash the rest of my waist, between my legs, my hips, butt, the legs themselves, and then my feet, being extra gentle as she soothingly washed the bottoms of them, as well as all around, over, and between my toes, knowing how ticklish I was, from the way I reacted to her both wiping them, and rubbing them, earlier. This took another half-hour, before Georgina finally rinsed out the soap-caked washcloth as thoroughly as she could, wrung it out, and placed it on the side of the tub, near the bottles of bath soap and shampoo. She then reached for the hand sprayer, something she hoped she wasn't about to regret doing.

Spraying it into the bath water first, feeling the water change temperature with one hand, while adjusting the taps with the other, the sandy-blond former whitecoat began to gently spray my very soap-caked body, starting from my feet, and very slowly working her way up my legs, as the accumulated suds started their descent into the bath water below. Passing my butt, and going all around, as she slowly made her way up my lower back, fear started to set in within her, as she slowed her pace, and inched her way toward the lowest part of my bruise, testing the waters with a feeble stream of water, to see if she needed to wipe off the soap, or if she could get away with using water.

The gentle approach worked, as it didn't leave me in pain. Keeping one hand on my shoulder as she sprayed, she began to calm herself once she noticed I hadn't tensed up, like before. She let out a gentle sigh of relief and continued to rinse off the rest of the bruise, followed by my back, before wrapping around to my front, soaking it thoroughly, and getting my shoulders, arms, and neck.

It then came time for her to wash my hair. She helped me sit back in the water once more, before sitting behind me, gently helping me lean my head back, and spraying my hair with the hand sprayer, running her fingers through it until each and every follicle had been adequately soaked. The shampoo came next; I heard the snap of a bottle cap popping open before I felt the shampoo being poured directly into my hair. Once she had poured a generous amount into my hair, Georgina closed and replaced the bottle, before beginning an equally relaxing scalp massage as she lathered up my hair just as well as she had done with the rest of my body, moments ago. It was moments like this that made me realize that Georgina seemed to know the real definition of "thorough." This took about ten minutes, before she had transformed my long, brown-and-pink hair into a giant loofah of suds, and then proceeded to rinse her hands off with the bath water. The hand sprayer soon came back into action, and with one hand over my eyes, to ensure no shampoo would get into them and sting, she gently rinsed the entire mass of suds into the bathwater. When I reopened my eyes, I couldn't help but notice that not only was the bathwater that surrounded her and I still filled with suds, but it seemed as though there were even more suds now, than there were when she filled the tub, initially, and that made me giggle a bit.

Finally, after an extended, incredibly relaxing period of time, the bath had come to an end, and Georgina helped me to my feet, and began gently rinsing off any suds that were still on my body, before helping me out of the water, rinsing her own legs off, pulling the plug in the tub, and then stepping out, herself. Another twenty minute-long full-body rinse wipe with the second washcloth came next, something that also felt quite relaxing, soothing, gentle, and very thorough, before she helped me lay on the towel bed, unrolled another towel from the towel rack, and began to very softly, very slowly, very soothingly, very gently, and very thoroughly wipe my entire body with it. Now, this really was pampering, let me tell you. After something as crazy as a battle against whitecoats and Erasers, one where we actually stood a chance, and even triumphed over them, knowing Georgina will be able to very softly, soothingly, and gently wipe, rub, and wash away all of your worries is just… well, I don't think I can put that into words, for the moment.

After thirty minutes of extra gentle drying, making sure she wouldn't aggravate my bruise any further, Georgina very gently rubbed some medicated cream all over the spot, along with the scratches on my arms, and any other scratches and scrapes she found during the full-body rub, before placing band-aids on the scratches, and very gently wrapping bandages around my belly, enclosing the bruise. Then she helped me into clean clothes, got my socks and shoes put back onto my feet, and then she picked up the towel bed, wiped up any water that spilled out of the bathtub, and put away her first-aid kit, soap, and shampoo.

Three-and-a-quarter hours later, Georgina and I came out of the bathroom, myself feeling quite relaxed, refreshed, and much better than I had been, earlier. A few of the others had left to go back into their own suites, while a few others, including Ulrich and Yumi, had stayed behind, despite having their assigned room. Ulrich's eyes caught mine, as I walked over to the bed I had unwittingly claimed as my own.

"I'm sorry, Cassidy," Ulrich lamented, rubbing the back of his head as I laid down on my bed.

"Hm?" I asked, attentive to his words. "For what?"

"For thinking you weren't able to fight," he clarified, staring at my bed, rather than into my eyes. "It was really dumb of me… I was just, uh… worried you were gonna, well… get captured right away. And after what they did to you at The School, I uh… couldn't let them do that to you. But you really proved me wrong. Whether you remember Pencak Silat or not, you were still able to hold your own, anyway."

"It's okay, Samurai," I smiled. "You were worried about my safety. I'm just surprised I hung on as much as I did."

"I was worried, too," Yumi added, sounding and looking slightly ashamed. "But after I saw what you did to Reilly…"

I scoffed, smiling as I sat up to face her. "That darned whitecoat had what was coming to him. But I must admit, I took the hint from when Aelita was possessed in the first timeline on Saint Valentine's Day. Even though I prevented that attack, something about the first twenty seconds of Lyoko really helped."

That brought the memory of that day to the forefront of Yumi's mind, especially the point where Aelita, under XANA's control, kicked her off her feet, and into a tree.

"That was really strange… XANA must've really given her super-strength that day."

"No kidding, right?" I giggled.

Nearby, Jeremie slowly sat up on another bed, having finally come out of his lovestruck daze. "Whoa… what hit me…?"

"Nothing bad happened, Jeremie," I smiled, relaxed. "I think I laid too much praise on you and it overloaded you. Guess I'm not the only one that needs to learn."

After a few seconds, a thought suddenly struck Jeremie, causing his eyebrows to fall. "I'll say! Are you out of your mind?! Asking Aelita's father for her hand in marriage! What makes you so sure I would need it?! Not even Odd would come up with a joke like that!"

"It's not a joke this time, Einstein." I raised my hands, showing absolute calmness in my gestures and words, only stumbling once. "Plus it was so n-n-nice for you to do that."

That made him start to calm down, as his shoulders relaxed, and his eyebrows slowly rose back up to their usual position, but something else caught his attention. Raising an eyebrow, and making a slight noise out of confusion, the blond genius then wondered why exactly I had trouble saying the middle part of my last sentence.

And I knew exactly why he looked at me suspiciously. "Uh… Mand-Mandy… Nob-noble is a little hard for me at the moment." I shook my head.

Aelita calmly walked over to me, with a soothing, disarming smile on her face.

"Really, I wouldn't worry about her, Cassidy," she cooed, almost as if she knew what had happened. "Mandy, Reilly, and the other whitecoats and Erasers are long gone, by now."

"She threatened you, Aelita. I—" Finding myself unable to finish my sentence, I brought my fists up to my temples, the stress mounting.

"Yes," Aelita reached behind me, and softly rubbed my back, next to my wings, interestingly avoiding the spot between them, "but you showed a lot of strength, and you proved that you weren't going to let her rule over you, or threaten me. There's no reason to be ashamed of that. You did well."

"Aelita's right, Cassidy," Yumi agreed, giving me a confident smile. "You've really gotten stronger, against XANA, the whitecoats, and the Erasers."

I nodded, taking in a deep breath. "I guess it scared me to hear it, Aelita. She sounded like she was going to get you after I was done for." With that, a grin grew on my face. "Biological sibling or just a friend, I was not going to let her hurt you the way she did me! She was like the previous personality Sister harbored, but somewhat…different in a way. I just couldn't let her go back in to try to find you or Hunter. I'm sure he'd get spooked in a heartbeat."

"I agree," Jeremie beamed. "I didn't want him to get caught, either."

Finding nothing else to say on the matter, I decided to change the subject. "However, I don't know what made me pass out. I remember Total reassuring me about something, then all of a sudden, I woke up here."

"I think the Eraser kicked you a bit too hard," Ulrich commented, almost staring out the window of our suite. "I should've went over and pummeled him for you until you could get back up on your feet."

"Well, Jeremie had been sedated." I waved him off. "I got curious as to who it was, and it was definitely what I saw in my vision. Plus, Yumi helped. Nice footwork, there, my geisha friend. That was pretty clever."

Yumi blinked, looking a bit surprised by my comment, before slowly recovering. "Uh… yeah, thanks! You looked like you could use a hand, and I wasn't about to let him tell a whitecoat to sedate you." She let out a slightly nervous giggle, as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Dou itashimashite," I smiled, although a part of me was sure I pronounced a few syllables wrong. "And you were right. I was getting a bit tied up."

No matter how I said it, she still knew what I meant, and nodded her head in understanding. "You're getting it."

"Where mere mortals have failed, the beautiful, brave, valiant Yumi Ishiyama jumps right in with a kick in the right direction for the Eraser assaulting Cat Girl the Magnificent," Odd came in, raising a finger.

All Yumi could do was just blush, as she grinned. Aelita couldn't help but giggle at that, which started Odd chuckling, as well.

"I think we did a good job," I smiled.

"We drove away the Erasers and whitecoats," Jeremie came in, a confident air around him, "and proved to them that we've become a force to be reckoned with. I'd say we did more than just a good job."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I agreed. "Even the two I really hate the most were banged up good."

This made Odd laugh even harder. "Oh, did you see the look on Mandy's face, when Reilly hit the tree?! I thought her eyebrows were gonna fly off her head and go into the sun!"

"Well, it was a better option than having him do his worst to me," I shrugged. "He had a loose grip when he tried to use his arms as restraints around my chest."

"He probably wanted to keep you unharmed," Aelita suggested, as a smile blossomed on her face. "Either way, you really did a good job against him."

A grin grew upon my features. "Thanks, Aelita."

A few moments later, Jeremie raised his arms into the air, stretching for a few seconds, before lowering his arms and looking at his watch.

"Well… even though it's still pretty early in France, it's getting pretty late," he commented, noticing the time. "At least we got some pampering earlier, but the spa in this hotel opens much earlier than the one in Las Cruces. I haven't checked what services are available, but we could easily hit the spa tomorrow morning after we eat, and before we leave for North Platte."

"Right," Yumi stretched her own arms into the air, next. "Then I guess we'd better get going, so we can try to get an early start. Good night, everyone."

"Good night, Yumi. Good night, Ulrich," I smiled tiredly at the couple. "Remember, you two: The other loves you."

Ulrich shot me a playful glare, while Yumi let out a slight giggle, both lovebirds' cheeks gaining a very noticeable rosy tint, as the two made their way out of the suite.

Once they were gone, I decided to climb into my bed, followed by Sister not long after, who grinned at me. "Ready to get another massage, dear sister?"

"Yeah…" I nodded, feeling Aelita slide into my other side, herself having armfuls of my stuffed animals, as well as her own Mister Pück, to deposit onto the bed.

And with that, Sister began to softly, slowly and soothingly rub my left arm, side and the left portion of my back, next to my wing, to avoid rubbing the bandaged bruise in-between my wings, while Aelita gave my right side, arm, and section of my back similar treatment. It was a good thing I was in bed at that moment, as something like that could take away the rest of your energy before you knew it.

"Man, that battle was rough," I yawned, feeling Sister's gentle caress already going to work.

"You're telling me!" Odd's comment slowly devolved into a yawn, finding mine contagious. "Even fighting monsters on Lyoko were a snap compared to this."

Before I could offer any sort of reply, Kiwi leaped off from Odd's blanket-covered belly onto mine, before climbing my torso as though it was a ramp, and giving my left cheek a gentle lick.

"Good night, Cassidy!" he yipped happily, almost panting. "My master will make sure your dreams are sweet!"

"Good night, Kiwi," I smiled, almost wanting to giggle at that. "Good night, novio."

"Good night, Cassidy," mi novio muttered tiredly, just as his puppy leaped back into bed with him, gently wiggling as he tried to burrow under my wildcard's arm.

As the three of us settled down, Jeremie walked over toward the bed next to ours, preparing to get it ready for him to sleep in.

"Once again, Cassidy," he commented, as he reached the bed, and gently pulled the covers back, "you did really well, today. That's a great way to get over your fears of Mandy and Reilly."

"Well, it helped that the Eraser started in on me somewhere," I mumbled. "Although I wish that he chose a better way than to use Odd."

"He probably went for someone who was really close to you," Jeremie suggested, as he climbed into his own bed, and pulled the covers up to his shoulders, but not before placing his glasses on a nightstand next to his side of the bed. "Next to Yumi, Sissi, or Aelita, Odd really was their best bet."

"Yep. Good night, Einstein…" I yawned.

Seeing my eyes fight a losing battle to stay open, he let out a yawn as well, before reaching for the light switch. "Good night, Cassidy. And good night, Aelita, Sissi, Odd, and Kiwi…"

"Good night, Jeremie," Aelita replied sweetly.

While he got a reply from Aelita, mi novio y su perro had already dozed off before Jeremie had spoken, the battle from earlier, along with Georgina's baths, having tired them out quite noticeably. However, the other girl in my bed was still awake and heard Einstein.

"Good night, Jeremie, sweetheart," Sister said next.

With his formalities out of the way, Jeremie slowly closed his eyes, allowing his mind to be filled with memories of a beautiful pink-haired girl, as he slowly drifted off. He began to mutter in his sleep, speaking about her quite wonderfully, and telling the entire room, in one way or another, the things he wouldn't be able to say without embarrassment, his breath hitching, or freezing up.

"Well, he's happy," I muttered sleepily, a smile gradually growing on my face.

Aelita found herself grinning, with a slight pink tint, nearly the same shade as her hair, gracing her cheeks. "Sometimes I wish he wouldn't be so embarrassed to tell me how he feels."

"I know, but it's like with me and my own issues…" A yawn interrupted me mid-thought. "It's…baby steps…"

Sister nodded, continuing her soothing rubs of my arms and back. "He's just got to work at it."

Of course, if Aelita replied, I couldn't quite remember what she said, as Sister's gentle rubs were slowly sending me into dreamland, as my eyelids gradually drooped, and I fell asleep. And just like Kiwi had said, I entered into beautiful dreams, with absolutely nothing scary, unlike the night before. I really didn't have anything to worry about, to be honest; I had shown up both Mandy and Reilly with courage that was inside me the whole time, even if it took it a while to come out. They ran back to wherever their headquarters in Nevada were, as I'm sure they wouldn't go all the way back to Death Valley, California, unless they absolutely had to. But tomorrow would be a wonderful day. Hopefully, we wouldn't have to worry about them for a while, we could probably make it out of Colorado, and end up in North Platte, Nebraska, the place where I was born.

I really couldn't wait.