I don't own Code Lyoko or any of it's characters, just Kaitlyn! 3

~LongHairedAelita

Chapter 9: Ghost Channel

Kaitlyn's POV

"Two Bloks dead ahead!" Jeremie's voice boomed over the interface. We were in the Ice Sector, so I took cover behind an ice floe.

I drew my gun, and peeked from behind.

"IMPACT!" I heard Ulrich yell, as his sword went straight into one of the Blok's eyes.

I drew my gun, and got it ready for one of XANA's sneaky ambushes. However, I was too late. I felt a sting in my side and found myself laying in the scanner.

"UGH!" I yelled, angrily pounding a fist on the floor.

I got up, and walked into the elevator. I pressed the UP button, as I grasped my side. My side was stinging still as if I had actually been shot, but it was bearable.

The elevator door opened to reveal Jeremie watching the computer interface. He looked pretty nervous.

"Odd, what are you doing?! Take cover! It's too risky!" Jeremie shouted. "Odd, one impact and it's game over! You've only got ten life points, that's all!"

I walked over, and watched with him. I saw Odd go straight for the Blok. What on Earth was this boy thinking?

"TEN'S MORE THAN ENOUGH! HERE WE GO!" Odd yelled back.

Man, can he be such a braggart sometimes. I kind of wished he would have missed, but he didn't. I was rather jealous. It felt like I couldn't even last on Lyoko for even five minutes.

I crossed my arms over my chest. I could hear the gang cheering for Odd over the interface.

"Hey, Jeremie! Next time just enjoy the show and let the real pros get the job done, okay?" Odd asked my cousin.

Okay, that ticked me off. "Odd! That's not very nice!"

"I'll take care of the tower…" Aelita said bitterly.

"Hey, take it easy! I was just kidding!" Odd exclaimed. "I didn't mean it! Hey, Einstein, you hear me? It was a joke!"

Jeremie bowed his head, sighing. Odd's words really did some major damage. He couldn't bring himself to say something to his wildcard friend. Sighing, he tapped the enter button. "Return to the past, Now."

The next thing I knew; we were back in Ms. Hertz's class. I was playing a game on my phone, just as I remembered. Ms. Hertz was taking role.

"Jeremie?"

"Present." He responded.

"Kaitlyn?"

"I'm here." I smiled.

Jeremie put his hand on the side of his mouth. "Hey, great work, guys. You were better than ever. No hard feelings, Odd. It was—"

"Odd?"

No answer.

"Odd?" Ms. Hertz tried again. "Odd…?"

I felt my stomach knot up. Jeremie and I looked back; Only to be met with empty seats neatly pushed in.

"Odd's absent?" Ms. Hertz said, as she looked up; to also notice the empty seat next to Odd. "Well, and so is Ulrich." She said, in shock.

"Well, this isn't good." I told Jeremie. "What could have happened?"

Jeremie had a scared and worried expression on his face. "I haven't the slightest clue. But it's not good."

"Kaitlyn, Jeremie, would you know where Ulrich and Odd are?" she asked us as we got up and raced into the hall as though the hounds of Hell were upon us.

We ran across the field to where we knew Yumi would be. Cupping my hands, I gave my cousin a boost so he could see inside the classroom. But the next words out of his mouth were not good.

"This is weird. I don't believe it! Yumi's gone, too!"

"WHAT?! Where the ever-loving f*** did they go?!" I shouted, panic exploding in my heart.

Jeremie looked at me in shock. "Where in the world did you learn to curse like that?!"

"Three words, Jeremie: American School System!" I grunted, feeling him start to make me shake.

He rolled his eyes, then gave me a nod, to which I lowered him back down to the ground. We didn't have to say another thing as we moved toward our dorm room. Frantically, Jeremie typed on the keyboard. "Aelita!"

Her sweet face popped up on the screen. My cousin could not veil his panic. "Aelita… Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi…! Tell me that they're with you…"

"Why? Didn't they come back from Lyoko?"

I couldn't even answer her, as he beat me to it. "No, Aelita! I lost them! Something must have gone wrong in the return trip!"

If there was a beacon of hope in mind, Aelita was the one. "Calm down, Jeremie. You, too, Kaitlyn. They couldn't have just vanished. Go and check the scanners, while I look around Lyoko."

"Do you need any company?" I asked, my voice teetering on the edge of fear.

"Good idea. I-I'll go and see," he told his sweetheart.

Unfortunately, we turned around to see some not-so bright eyes. Jim had crossed his arms in front of his chest, giving us a glare. Jeremie squeaked, as the pink-haired elven warrior popped away from the screen.

"You mind telling me what you two are doing here?"

Of course, we couldn't begin to tell him what we were doing. This was a disaster.

"Jeremie and Kaitlyn, this is serious!" Mr. Delmas said as soon as we were settled in his office.

We looked around, the Belpois Nervous tic. We were in deep trouble and the principal and Jim were judge and jury. Of course, it was hard to tell who was who.

"Everyone is very concerned! Now for the last time, do you know where Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich are?" he asked again.

Jeremie spoke first, his voice shaking. "No, sir, we…"

Mr. Delmas walked around his desk to the other side, looking down at us. "As I'm sure you can imagine, their parents are worried sick!"

With Ulrich's father?! Worried sick my a—

"But we told you, we don't know where they are," I sighed, a bit exasperated at this point as I interrupted my own thoughts.

If emotional manipulation was possible on Earth, then I just proved how to make both adults feel my emotion and copy it into their own. Except that Jim covered his face with his hand, and Mr. Delmas turned to place both hands on his desk, sighing as he lowered his head. Our principal walked back to face the window, sighing as his voice shook in desperation.

"Think about it, please! The smallest clue could prove to be a great help. You five are always together!"

Just as he was talking, Jeremie's laptop beeped like crazy. It sounded as though Aelita had something, or so I thought. The moment he noticed it, he quickly snatched it up in his hands, saying "Alright, Sir. we'll think about it, but Kaitlyn and I need to be alone."

Mr. Delmas turned around, wide-eyed. "You have an awful lot of nerve, young man! And so do you, Kaitlyn. However if it's the only way to bring either of you to your senses…I'll give you both three minutes."

We stood up on our feet. "Thank you, Sir."

Jim opened the door, allowing us to sit in the hallway connecting to the office. As I took the floor, Jeremie set his laptop on an empty chair and opened the lid. "Aelita, I felt your message. What's new?"

Right away, Aelita came in. "I'm sorry, Jeremie and Kaitlyn, but they're not on Lyoko. There's an activated tower, though—only I can't seem to locate it."

We looked down the empty corridor, thinking Mr. Delmas and Jim returned to collect us. However, it seemed to be just the wind.

"I need your help. Come to the factory, both of you."

His eyes widened. "Impossible! We're stuck in the principal's office."

"You are? Don't worry, I'll help you two get out of there."

We stared at the screen as though it would explode. But Aelita wasn't finished. "Yes, Jeremie and Kaitlyn. Just like XANA, I can operate on the school's network as well! Listen closely now. You two lead him to the gym's hallway, and I'll get you out of there."

We looked at each other, and shared a nod. "Okay, Aelita."

"I sure hope this works, girl," I blinked, adjusting my glasses. This was going to be interesting.

He shut his laptop, just as we heard footsteps. "I'm sure Jeremie and Kaitlyn know more than they're saying."

"Should we call the police?" Jim asked.

"Hm…" he said, contemplating the possibility of interrogating us that way.

"We've thought it over," I said, Jeremie joining my side at the office doorway.

Jeremie clutched his laptop in his arms, as if it was his most prized possession. Which it was. I snickered to myself. "We'll tell you where they are. Follow us."

We led them into the gym's hallway, holding our positions at the ready. I could hear the pipes around us hissing, as if they were getting ready to bust. Aelita, I hope to God you know what you're doing.

"But there's nobody here," Mr. Delmas protested.

"We have to wait a little while," Jeremie reassured.

"Yes. They'll be here any minute now…" I nodded in agreement. "We are telling the truth."

After a quarter of a minute had passed, our principal checked his watch. "Well, where are they?!"

Just as he finished his question, BOOM! The boiler exploded, spreading shrapnel in its wake. Luckily, all of us ducked out of the way, but as Mr. Delmas and Jim ran outside, Jeremie and I raced into our little shortcut, shutting the door behind us.

A ride into the factory later, Jeremie and I raced into the elevator, taking it down. He grabbed his mobile communicator, placing it in his ear, and said, "Aelita!"

She must've responded because he smiled like it was a good day. "Thanks for giving us a hand!"

However, her next response made him frown in determination. "Yes, I know. We'll find out soon enough."

We reached the scanner room, each of us examining each cabin. To our shock, nobody was in the room. In fact, each one was…

"Empty!" Jeremie sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.

We rode the elevator back up to the lab, pulling up Aelita's window in the process. "They aren't there. I don't get it. If they're not here, and they're not on Lyoko either, where are they?"

Just as he finished his question, she popped in. "Jeremie! Kaitlyn! Just before you got here, I captured this soundbyte. A sort of radio or TV station transmission. But be careful, you two, it was really bizarre. Let me show you."

On cue, a new window popped onto the screen, showing Jim leading a class out onto the field. All the group was wearing red shirts with black shorts with a red stripe down each side. That's not how we wear our gym stuff! What the hell?

"Alright, let's go!"

My cousin's eyes widened. "Huh?!"

Jim continued his lines on the screen. "Let's start with a little stretching."

The feed zoomed in on Odd and Ulrich, the spiky dude laughing as though he told a joke. When they were lined up in formation, they started to stretch up to the sky and bend down to touch their toes, with Jim counting one for the stretch, and two for the bend.

Yumi, who was sitting on top of the grandstand, watched as Herb yelled at Nicholas for hitting him on the shoulder.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing, huh! You did that on purpose. I saw you!"

They then fizzed like someone wanted to devirtualize them out of existence, before reforming and becoming completely normal. Okay, what the actual f***.

Nicholas did it again, prompting the nerd to repeat himself. "Hey! Watch what you're doing, huh! You did that on purpose. I saw you!"

Yumi's eyes widened. "It happened again!"

"I'll show you what it feels like!" Herb proclaimed, starting to punch and kick his friend.

"It's happening all the time!" She looked over to where she thought we were. "Jeremie? Kaitlyn?"

Back to us, Jeremie looked at Aelita. "What am I looking at? They didn't come back to Earth, did they?"

She looked at us, concerned. "What if what we're seeing is a recording?"

My eyes went back to the recording, and what I saw threw me for another loop. Yumi had gotten up and stood in front of what looked to be us. "I" was engrossed in whatever activities "my cousin" was doing. I also noticed I was a bit…close. To say the least.

"But how can that be, Aelita? WE'RE in the f-freaking picture!" I yelled.

Jeremie glared at me in such a way that if looks could kill, I'd be in the grave by Sunday. "Please do not cuss in front of Aelita unless you want me to tell on you!"

"Sorry, cuz," I said, sighing.

Yumi looked at "us". "There are weird things happening! Any news from Aelita, you two?"

"I'm having difficulty contacting her," "my cousin" started, sounding cold and mechanical. "I have no idea if there's an activated tower or not, but at the slightest alert, we'll have to move in."

She closed an eye. "Hey, why aren't you two doing Phys. Ed? Aren't you the most athletic of the two, Kaitlyn?"

"Jim agreed to excuse us," "I" stated, also in the same tone. I was a bit sickened, because my voice sounded nothing like that.

"He did?! That's weird. You're not exactly a star athlete, Jeremie," Yumi accused softly.

"You gotta know how to handle him," he smiled.

"We" all looked at the gym class, where Odd and Ulrich were doing push-ups as Jim counted. After he noticed "us", he looked up and waved jovially, as though we brightened his day.

Yumi looked on, surprised.

"Not like them," "Jeremie" continued.

"Huh?" She looked on for a few moments as "we" went on with our business, then walked off. "Incredible…"

Back to us, Jeremie put on his figurative detective hat. "It sure isn't a tape. It's happening somewhere right now."

Aelita's brows rose high. This was scaring her, too.

"They're neither in Lyoko, nor in the real world. They're somewhere else…"

"Yes, I know, but… I've checked all the transfer protocol data, and unless a sort of parallel world exists somwhere, there's no such thing as an intermediate space," she said, narrowing her eyes a tad.

It took my cousin a moment, but then he said, "Unless XANA has manufactured one! That's IT! A world parallel to Lyoko! And he must have modeled it after the school. He couldn't have made a better trap. Yumi and the others think they're in reality, but it's only an illusion. They're living under XANA's control, completely at his mercy! We've gotta rescue them! Find out where the signal is coming from…"

"Cuz, take a breath!" I yelled, giving him a gentle shoulder-shake.

Aelita nodded. "I've been trying to, but it's been masked. The signal is scrambled! All we have is a soundwave and not the signal itself."

"Then that's what we have to use. We've gotta program it to guide the scanner and dive towards the source using a trial-and-error system," Jeremie came in.

"But that's crazy and you two know it. And besides… who could do it? We're all alone and-"

"It's gonna have to be us. If you take over the controls, then we'll be able to go."

"It's too dangerous!" Aelita cried softly.

"It is, but we can't leave them there," I argued.

"Think about it: If we're here in front of you, who are the other Jeremie and Kaitlyn," Jeremie finished. "Aelita, there's something I want to tell you… I'd much rather be entering a virtual world to find you waiting there for us."

"So would I," she smiled.

My heart fluttered at the cuteness.

"Here we go," Jeremie said, putting down the communicator and leaving his seat.

We walked over to the lift and took it down to the scanner room.

"It's okay, you two. I've prepared the transfer procedure. You can get into the scanner." Aelita's voice said from above.

We walked into our scanner, ready to save our friends. As the doors closed, a thought ran through my mind. I'm gonna kick this fake's ass!

"Scanner, Jeremie. Scanner, Kaitlyn. Virtualization!"

Suddenly, we appeared in midair over the school's grounds. The garden shed's exterior, to be exact. I concentrated, springing on my hands and making a flip to my feet. However, I heard my cousin grunt as he landed face first onto the dirt. I forgot he doesn't go to Lyoko as often as we do.

I bent over and picked him off the ground, dusting him off, and replacing his glasses. "Aelita, can you hear us?" Then he shook his head. "Of course not. That would be too easy."

We walked off into the dorms, trying to find Odd and Ulrich. "Let's hope we can find them in their room, cuz," I whispered.

Suddenly, I heard a low growl behind us. My stomach tied up into a knot as I looked up.

The next thing I knew; Jeremie was thrown on the floor. I looked up, to be met with a scary clone of Jim. He had no pupils, and his skin was a palish green color. I felt like I was in a horror flick.

"Oh, boy," I muttered, as he snatched my pink shirt and threw me next to my cousin like I weighed nothing.

We scrambled to our feet, running away from him and abandoning our mission to find our friends first. He chased us into the forest, where we instantly saw our friends go down into the sewer.

"Oh, no! Too late!" Jeremie exclaimed as we stopped. However, that gave Zombie Jim a chance to spot us. We raced straight into Nicholas and Herb, whose eyes were white and pupiless. Is this Children of the French Corn, or what?!

We pushed past them, trying to race away from them. Unfortunately, that meant that we had three people on our tails, as we heard Zombie Jim growl, "Outta my way!"

"For a program, you're a pretty good imitation," Jeremie panted.

Day turned into night in a flash, as we jumped over the park fence. We landed and glanced up, hoping our pursuers were far behind us. My cousin and I stood up, racing toward the factory. "We have to get to them before they end up deleted," he panted more.

Soon we reached the elevator, taking it down to the Lab. Right away, we heard Yumi give her opinions and intuition. At least one of the three is starting to get it.

"Look, you've gotta believe me. But if you have any doubt, let Kaitlyn, Odd, and Ulrich be transferred before you." I heard "Jeremie" say.

The door opened up, revealing "us" and our friends in our field of vision. "Yumi, you're right! It's a trap!"

"Jeremie" and "I" growled at us.

"Don't go!" I begged.

"XANA, is that the best you can do? Cheap imitations to delay us?!" "Jeremie" crossed his arms against his chest.

"Yeah, I can see those knock-off glasses a mile off," "I" said.

"Oh f*** off, you fake piece of crap!" I snarled. I wasn't taking any of this crap.

Yumi gasped, but whether it was from my language usage or how heated this had gotten, I wasn't sure.

"They're lying. The phonies are there. It's them! Everything here is phony! You never came back from your last trip. You're in a virtual world created by XANA!" Jeremie explained desperately.

"That would explain all the inconsistencies," my black-clad friend stated.

"Of course it would, XANA can make mistakes, too. He only has theoretical knowledge of the real world. What he wants is to get you into the scanners to get rid of you once and for all!"

"Jeremie" crossed his arms over his chest once more. "That's totally absurd, XANA!"

Odd and Ulrich looked at each other in disbelief. Then my samurai friend spoke up. "It's true. We have no prove that they're not the ones who are lying to us, right? They could have created the inconsistencies, too."

"Exactly!" Unfortunately, the purple cat warrior pointed at the both of us. "To hold us up while Aelita and Lyoko are being erased forever."

"BS! Aelita is the one who sent us here!" I came in.

"You have to choose which one of us is lying," Jeremie said. I

"And it's not us. Assuming, as you claim, that this world is virtual, you mind telling us how you got here? We're listening, XANA." "Jeremie" narrowed his brows.

"We got in here via the scanners. We're here in virtual form." My cousin still sweated.

"I" scoffed. "You gave yourself away! We all know that the real Jeremie wouldn't step foot in the scanner. He's such a coward!"

I was so pissed. "Oh you bet your sweet ass if his friends were in danger, he'd do it without even thinking!" I clapped back.

Jeremie gasped, knowing this was almost true.

However, Odd gave a ray of hope. "And I'm sure he would go into the scanner, if his friends were in danger!"

I sighed in relief.

"No doubt about it," Ulrich agreed.

"Absolutely none," Yumi came in.

"But it's not logical. Don't you see? He's much too scared to even try. I'm much too scared. If not, then why haven't I already done it?!" "Jeremie" argued.

"I told you why: Because he's not infallible. XANA's knowledge of people is only approximative!"

Odd smiled, finally convinced. "That's right. And as far as friendship goes, it's not approximative; it's double zero. Good to see you again, Einstein and Assassin!"

I couldn't begin to contain my glee… if only for a few moments.

"No! It's not logical! NO!"

Suddenly, our clones turned into taller zombies, with sharp teeth, blank, bulging eyes, and pale skin. Their voices were distorted and vibrated.

"NOT LOGICAAAL! NOT LOGICAAAAAAAAAL!"

Both of them floated up into the air in eerie silence. I felt like I was in The Exorcist. Both of them raised their hands, and suddenly, Zombie Jim, along with the similarly assimilated Herb and Nicholas, appeared behind our friends and lifted them high off the floor, causing them to kick and scream like crazy.

Before we could do anything to save them, cracks snaked forth on the floor and suddenly, Jeremie and I were constricted by wires, causing us to shout and cry.

The ringleader, the one who was imitating my cousin, laughed in distorted glee. "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" He laughed some more, the whole setup so perfect to him.

"AELITA!" Jeremie yelled, hoping to reach her. "NO!"

I could feel the wires crushing my ribs. It was getting harder to breathe. Aelita… hurry… we can't take this much longer!

Just as it seemed like we were all done for, the zombies started to vanish, dropping Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd onto the floor as though they were sacks of bricks.

However, I felt myself rising up, as the cords released me.

"KAITLYN!" Odd yelled.

"JEREMIE! NO!" Yumi yelled, simultaneously.

I felt myself travelling. The next thing I knew, I was laying on the scanner room floor. My glasses were displayed across my face crookedly.

I got up, and as soon as I did, the scanner next to me opened up and Jeremie fell out. His glasses were on his face the same way.

"Jeremie!" I yelled out in relief, as I hurried over and helped him off the floor. "Thank goodness you're okay." I said, as I fixed his glasses.

He giggled a bit. "You too." As he fixed mine.

We walked into the elevator. Jeremie pressed the up button. The doors started to close.

I leaned up against the elevator wall. "Jesus that was one hell of a mission." I said, breathless. "I'm gonna sleep good tonight. Thanks XANA." I said, giggling a bit.

The elevator opened. Jeremie rushed to the familiar super computer chair and put his ear piece in.

"Aelita?" He said. "Are you there?" He asked, frantically.

"Yes." She said, as she popped up on the screen. "I got them back— All of them, safe and sound. The parallel world bubble has disappeared!" She yelled in glee.

"I don't remember anything, but I feel just great!" I heard Odd yell in Jeremie's ear piece.

"Aelita, what happened to us?" Ulrich asked.

"XANA created a replica of where you live so you'd think it was reality." She explained quickly.

The group gasped, obviously stunned.

"He locked us up in a virtual prison…" Yumi whispered.

"But Kaitlyn, Jeremie, and I did all we could to set you free." She said, proudly.

Odd gasped. "What?! Jeremie came to Lyoko?"

"He sure did, Odd!" I yelled into the mic. Proud of my cousin, I patted him on the back.

"Fantastic, Einstein! Join the Daredevil Heroes club!" Odd yelled.

"Thanks Odd." Jeremie said, smiling as he closed his eyes. "No hard feelings, huh?"

Suddenly, I seen a stampede of Bloks appear on the screen.

"Uh oh, it's XANA's welcoming committee!" I yelled out.

"No need to worry, Jeremie. We're used to this! It's a piece of cake! Here we go!" Ulrich yelled.

"I'm with you," Odd shouted.

And off our friends went to defeat the forty-six Bloks.

LongHairedAelita: I thank you guys so much for keeping up with this story! I am so sorry it took so long to update. I've had a pretty busy life since I had my son. But I couldn't have done this without Teen-LyokoFan7777 and her brilliant editing. Check out some of her work as well. :) Merry Christmas!