Chapter 5: Plagued
Kaitlyn's POV
I walked down the hall and opened the door to my cousin's room. He allowed me to keep the spare key just in case. His computer was still on, but when was it not? Often, he would keep typing on it until he felt tired enough to sleep.
I sat on the military cot. It wasn't as cozy, I admit, but it was comfortable enough for me to sleep on.
Out of the corner of my eye, a window popped up on his computer. I was advised not to touch it when Jeremie wasn't around. It opened to reveal…an elven pink-haired girl? Did my cousin make, or play on, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game? Is this what he does in his spare time?
"Jeremie!" She said in an urgent voice. "Jeremie, listen! XANA's woken up. He must be preparing an attack." She looked around, as though she could see inside the room. "Jeremie?!"
"Um…who are you?" I asked.
Her eyes widened. "Oh, you must be Kaitlyn. Jeremie told me a lot about you."
"What's your name?" I was sure that I had seen her before, but nothing came to mind.
"My name is Aelita, but I need to talk to Jeremie. Have you seen him?"
"Last I saw of him, he was taking a test in the library."
"Did he skip one?"
"No, no…he's taking a specialized test that will determine how intelligent he is," I said. "So who's XANA?"
"A super dangerous program. Like a virus that can control electricity, and can activate towers to gain access to your world," Aelita said.
"So if this dangerous program wants to destroy the world, what can my cousin do?" He didn't look like he could do much.
"Since he's busy for the moment, you must find the others."
"The others? Who the heck are they?" I would have cursed, but her innocence made me think otherwise. She looked so cute.
"You've met them already."
"You mean…?"
"Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd…"
I nodded. "I think Yumi is at home, but I can try to find Odd and Ulrich. They went to eat dinner. I'll go and get them."
I left the room. As I made my way down the stairs, someone smacked into me. Looking up, a raven-haired girl looked down on me. "Watch where you're going, Belpois!" She shrieked. Of course, Sissi Delmas. The school brat. Jeremie warned me about her. "There are rats in this school." Her eyes glistened with tears.
"Rats?" I asked her. "Wouldn't that be against the OSHA code?"
"It'd be against the health code…" she whimpered. "I wanna get out of here…"
"Um…follow me?" I led her out of the dorms to find a sea of rats surrounding the cafeteria and people walking outside the building with trays and fire extinguishers.
Sissi started waving her hands up in the air to get their attention. "HELP! Help! Over here…"
The rats looked to our for nothing, Elisabeth!
A few seconds passed and I saw someone on a bike speed through the mischief. Placing my hand over my square rims, I made out Yumi. She passed through the rats.
Yumi rode up to us. She tilted the bike so Sissi and I could get on.
"Get on, you two!" Yumi exclaimed.
"No, go ahead and take Sissi to the cafeteria. When you come back, Aelita told me to give you a message to defeat XANA."
"Will do!" Yumi yelled as she rode away with a frightened, wide-eyed Sissi on the back of her bike. I looked around, only to see nothing but huge packs of rats everywhere. Great.
Running into the woods, I pulled out my phone and tapped on Jeremie's name. However, my genius of a cousin didn't answer.
"Ugh, DAMN IT!" I muttered underneath my breath. But then I remembered he was taking the IQ test. So that's probably why he didn't answer right away.
The woods were quiet, with the exception of crickets chirping and occasional screams from the school behind me. I looked around, hoping to find somewhere I can hide, or run to.
In hopes, I picked up my phone and tapped Jeremie's name again.
Still no answer. I sighed deeply.
All of a sudden, I heard rustling behind me. Whirling around, I prepared myself to see more rats.
To my surprise, it was Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi. "Oh," I sighed heavily. "It's you guys. I was about ready to knock y'all out." I Iaughed nervously.
"That would be our highlight! Surrounded by rats and the high-strung cousin of Einstein knocks us out!" Odd chortled.
Is this dude for real? I thought.
"Hey! This is no time for jokes, Odd. We need to get to the factory now," Yumi chided.
Yumi ran out more into the woods, leading us to what appeared to be a… Sewer hatch?
"Ugh! You've got to be kidding me, a sewer?!" I blurted.
Yumi turned and looked at me. "This is no time for that, Kaitlyn. We need to hurry."
She opened the sewer hatch, only to reveal more rats that clogged the way.
"No choice!" She yelled, "We have to go over the wall!"
That's much better sounding than going through a gross sewer system, I thought.
We ran for what seemed like forever. I wasn't really complaining, though. I didn't get tired out so easily.
We finally came to this huge bridge that lead to an old.. factory? Unfortunately, it was overly populated with rats.
"XANA's thought of everything!" Ulrich exclaimed.
"Wait!" Odd yelled. " Come on!" He said as he hopped over the railing. I looked down to see water, and a small blow-up raft. "Care for a little cruise?" Odd asked.
We all quickly hopped into the raft, which we were all squished riding in such a small thing. I heard the rats squealing, and I seen them jumping into the water. Odd and Ulrich paddled the boat.
"Hurry up will you, Ulrich! The rats are gaining on us!" Yumi exclaimed, creeped out by the look of the rats.
Soon, we reached the other side. Odd hopped off first, followed by Ulrich, Yumi, and lastly, me. We raced over to what looked like a pair of cellar doors. Yumi got there first, pulling them open. "Hurry up!" she yelled frantically. The opening was big enough for all of us to jump in at the same time. The cellar doors shut by themselves.
I looked around, seeing a lot of broken metal pieces, and a lot of junk, scattered around. It looked like a place homeless people would come to sleep, or where teenagers would come to do illegal activities, such as drinking, or drugs, maybe even virginity loss.
Straight ahead, there was what appeared to be an… elevator? It was weird looking. Yumi pressed the button, pulling open the panel, and put in a code on the keypad. The doors slowly opened. I was hesitant about entering.
"Come on, Kaitlyn, we don't have all night!" Ulrich yelled at me.
Normally I wouldn't swing with people yelling at me like that, but I cooperated. "O-Okay." I said as I jumped in the elevator right before the doors shut all the way. I could feel the elevator going up. It was quiet and I could feel tension in the group.
The elevator stopped to reveal… a huge ass computer? Wow. I could barely believe my eyes.
"Ah, rats! Jeremie isn't here yet. No pun intended of course." Odd said, giggling a little.
Ulrich turned to him, "This is no time for jokes, Odd. How are we going to get to Lyoko without Einstein?"
While they were busy arguing back and forth, I looked at the interface of the computer. Weirdly, I could understand what it was all about. It appeared to be a control center of a virtual world of sorts.
"I-" I stuttered. The group turned and looked at me, funnily. "I can do it." I finally said.
"Not to be funny, Kaitlyn, but this isn't exactly as easy as playing a video game," Yumi said, concerned.
"No. I think I understand weirdly what's on the computer. I can virtualize you. Hang on, I'm gonna call Jeremie," I said as I put the earpiece in my ear. I typed Jeremie's name in and found his contact info. Wow. This computer has everything.
"Hello?" Jeremie's familiar voice answered.
"Jeremie! The group took me to the factory and I'm at the computer. I can virtualize them, just explain to me how to do it."
Jeremie sounded surprised over the phone. "WOW, Kaitlyn, you've got guts. It's not that easy, but listen closely now. You need to locate the activated tower and Aelita. They should both show up on the interface. Tell me what you see."
I looked at the computer's screen, and seen a green triangle, not far from it was a red glowing tall thing. "I see a green triangle and a red glowing thingy. Is that the tower and is the triangle Aelita?" I said a little frazzled and confused. This won't be as easy as I thought.
"Yes you're right! Good work, Kaitlyn!" I was relieved. "Now you need to type in the coordinates where you want to virtualize everyone. It's 79 degrees west! The rats have invaded the city, Kaitlyn! I've got my full trust in you! You can do it! I'll be there as soon as I can!" Jeremie hung up.
I let out a big sigh. Okay, here goes nothing. "Ulrich? Odd? Yumi? Are you guys ready?" I said, hesitantly.
"Yes, Kaitlyn, we are," I heard Odd's familiar voice say.
"Okay. Here goes nothing." I typed 79 into the keyboard.
Odd's picture popped up first. "Transfer, Odd," I whispered hesitantly, as my finger punched the enter button. Ulrich's picture popped up next. "Transfer, Ulrich," I smiled, my confidence growing as I punched the enter key again. Last, but not least, Yumi's picture popped up. "Transfer, Yumi!" I yelled as I punched it once more. "Scanner, Odd! Scanner, Ulrich! Scanner, Yumi! Virtualization!" I shouted, pressing enter.
I then saw 3 yellow triangles pop up on the screen. "...Did I just do it?" I said, hesitantly.
"Yes, Kaitlyn you did! Great job!" I heard Aelita say. "They're all here safe and sound."
I sighed in relief, as I relaxed in the computer chair. "That's a relief."
"Jeremie would be very proud of you, Kaitlyn," Aelita said.
"I should hope that he would be," I giggled. "He's my cousin."
"It's like we have a hot, female version of Jeremie in the group now!" Odd boasted.
I squinted my eyes as a heat came to my cheeks. "Be careful, Odd. I have just learned how to work this thing. I can make a 'mistake' you know," I teased.
"She's right, Odd," Yumi ascertained.
I relaxed back in the chair, when I suddenly heard beeping on the computer. I jumped back up. "Um, guys-" I said hesitantly, "There's something coming for you guys. I see three red dots coming at you
"Oh, those are Krabes, Kaitlyn," Odd bragged. "Just sit back and watch us do our thing."
I took a deep breath, and sat back. I was worried, but Odd seemed to know what he was doing, so I didn't bother.
Boy was he dead freaking wrong. Just a couple minutes later, his card vanished. "Odd!" I cried out. Did he just…?
"Relax, Kaitlyn. Odd just got devirtualized. He's going back to Earth," Aelita soothed.
"Oh, okay. Thank goodness." I sighed in relief.
Just as I sat back, the elevator opened and I saw my cousin's familiar blue shirt and khaki capris.
"Need a hand, Kaitlyn?" Jeremie asked, holding what looked like old-school camera flashers.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Jeremie it's you. Thank goodness. Odd just got devirtualized. I don't know how everyone else is." I got up from the computer chair, and let Jeremie take my place.
He put the earpiece in his ear, and typed a code on the computer.
"Aelita? Ulrich? Yumi? Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Jeremie! Things aren't so great around here!" I heard Aelita's familiar high-pitched voice say.
"We're up to our ears in shellfish," Ulrich growled.
I sighed. I was scared shitless to do it, but I knew they needed help. "Jeremie- Virtualize me on Lyoko. I can help them."
Jeremie turned to me, wide-eyed. "What?! Kaitlyn! Are you sure?!"
I sighed. "Yes. They need some extra help. All I'm doing is just standing around." I protested.
Jeremie turned back to look at the computer, only to see Yumi had just disappeared "Okay. Go down to the scanner room. I'll send you to Lyoko."
I took a deep breath, and walked over to the elevator. I pressed the down button, and got in. The elevator door shut in front of me as I felt myself going down.
"To the Desert Sector."
I swallowed the lump in my throat, as the elevator door opened to reveal Odd and Yumi laying on the floor looking totally beat, and also three scanners? They were about maybe 10 feet tall.
"Good luck, Kaitlyn." Odd said, weakly. "Can't wait to see what you look like on Lyoko." He smiled widely.
"Thanks, Odd. Get some rest, okay?" I assured him.
Sighing, I looked at the scanner in front of me. "Okay, be brave, Kaitlyn." I stepped in. "Okay, Jeremie. I'm ready." I said. I took a deep breath, preparing for what was to come."
"Okay, Kaitlyn. I'm starting the procedure now." Jeremie said from above.
The scanner closed. "Transfer, Kaitlyn! Scanner, Kaitlyn! Virtualization!"
I had this amazingly, weird, feeling. I felt like I was flying. The feeling reminded me of this ride I rode at the County Fair last year, I think it was called the Scrambler, or something like that.
Suddenly, I fell on my butt. "Ouch!" I said, as I got up. I looked at my surroundings. It looked exactly like a desert. Wow.
"Kaitlyn!" I heard Ulrich and Aelita's voices scream my name at the same time.
I turned around to see the familiar elven pink-haired girl; and there was Ulrich. Who looked like a sort of ninja and samurai mixed. Next I switched my attention to Aelita. She looked cuter up close than on the screen.
"Wow, you do look a lot like Jeremie." She said, stunned at my appearance.
"Erm- thanks?" I said, and I finally took time to look down at myself. I was wearing this pink body-suit thing, it kind of reminded me of an assassin's outfit. My hair was still long, but it was braided in one long braid, and I still had my glasses on. I looked at my sides, and seen I had guns on both sides of my hips in holsters. I pulled one of them out. It was a pretty big pistol.
"Odd's gonna be so jealous," Ulrich cracked, laughing.
"Um- guys, I'd hate to stop your moment of fun, but there are more Krabes coming your way."
"Oops," I smiled sheepishly.
I seen the big creature coming towards me, and to my surprise, it looked just like an actual crab.
"So, you're a Krabe…" I said to it, as I pulled out one of my guns.
Ulrich ran over to me as he drew his sword. "You see the eye on top? That's your target." He said.
When he said 'that's your target;" it reminded me of when my dad took me to the shooting range a few months ago to learn how to shoot a gun. Because I had just turned 13, and I would be coming home by myself; he wanted me to learn how to shoot in case I was in danger, or someone decided to break in.
"Right!" I growled.
"Be careful. They can be very tough," Aelita warned.
"Okay. I'm sure I'm a bit tougher though. I'm gonna show y'all some American culture." I cocked my gun, racing over toward the Krabe. I leaped into the air, landing on top of the beast.
I pulled the trigger, and shot the monster in the eye.
"Whoa…" Ulrich looked at me wide-eyed.
"That was INCREDIBLE!" Jeremie announced, sounding as proud as Dad.
"Your turn, princess." Ulrich said to Aelita, as she ran for the tower.
"Great job, you guys!" Jeremie said from above.
"Kaitlyn, you did great on your first ever Lyoko mission," Ulrich smiled, now finding his words.
"And you won't ever forget it, either," my cousin sounded as though he was smiling.
I was confused. "Um- why would I? Aren't you gonna bring us in?"
"He will, Kaitlyn, but in a very special way."
"Return to the past, now!"
(A.N.): LongHairedAelita: I'm back after so long guys! Sorry for the late update. It's been a busy year and a half for me. I hope you guys enjoyed it. A special thanks to TeenLyokoFan7777 for editing and helping me out with this. It was very needed.