Changing the Rules

Karen

The day passed almost exactly as it had up until after lunchtime. Then while White and her friends were lounging in the sun, trying to ignore two small dragons and Sassy Green…a bronze dragon that was darker, but familiar, walked over! He didn't act any differently from his usual behavior, so they all went off to class.

That night, Pink-Gold and White were just relaxing in their cave when Sassy Green and the two small girl-dragons came in. White was just about to flame SG when William came in and shooed them out. Pink-Gold started to thank him, but then was cut off…

White ended up following the bronze all the way to the linked set of caves that was the factory, but couldn't do anything else. She called Kind Bronze, and waited for him to come. He did…just in time to send Small Brown in to rescue Aelita.

I opened my eyes with a start. This was going to be very bad. "Aelita? We have to tell Jeremie about my dream right away."

"Huh?" I couldn't blame her for being confused.

"To put it bluntly, William's coming back."

Aelita

You know, yesterday when Jeremie brought back Sector Five, I thought nothing would be nearly as astonishing. Now, sitting outside on a bench with my friends, listening to Karen, I learned that I was wrong.

"Yeah, William comes walking over to send Sissi and the two news girls researching squirrels or something. But…he seems…darker. I don't know, kind of like when I was standing in the middle of Jeremie's room and suddenly my white dragon's scales went bronze."

Ulrich suddenly just told her what had happened. "That was me possessing you to talk to the others. Is Xana going to possess William?"

Odd yelled, "Well, Xana's not going to catch us off guard!"

Karen sighed. "I said like that time. I didn't say it was what will happen." Maybe later she would explain to me why she was hanging from a tree branch.

Then we heard Sissi. "Oh, Jeremie, Ulrich, I was hoping to ask you a few questions."

Karen then made – to my mind – the best statement of the day. "Last I checked, Sissi, none of these people like you."

Sissi was about to yell at her for that when we heard William. "That's right, so beat it!" And there he was, just standing there.

"I remember being captured by the Scyphozoa, but after that, nothing. It's just a blank."

Karen was giving him this extremely suspicious look. And personally, I couldn't blame her.

Odd walked over to him and poked his side. All William did was turn and ask him what the big deal was.

Ulrich told him, "We've been fooled by polymorphic clones before, William. We have to make sure."

William laughed and messed up Odd's hair. "Nope! It's just me!"

Yumi told him while Odd fixed his hair, "Well, we'd better hurry if we're going to get to class. You're just in time, William: there's a math quiz today."

William made a face. "Talk about timing! I forgot to study!"

Yumi laughed. "Since when have you ever studied?" We ran all the way to class laughing.

Karen

Aelita and I were in our room settling down for the night. Then the door opened. "Hello, Aelita, Karen. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions." Sissi. Sheesh.

"Aren't the bedrooms off-limits for interviews?" I didn't know that for certain. I just wanted her to leave.

Then another voice came through. "Come on, girls. Shoo. These two will need their rest."

"All right, all right. We're leaving." Milly, Tamiya and Sissi all left, and William shut the door. Shut the door…while staying on our side.

And that was when I started getting tense. Aelita didn't actually notice. "Thank you, William. Becoming a prisoner of Sissi is almost as bad as…"

"Becoming a prisoner of Xana?" He looked right at Aelita, but I could hear a subtle change in his voice. "Is that what you were going to say?" He extended his hand towards her…

I grabbed the chair from in front of the desk and brought it down on William's head. As he fell, I grabbed Aelita and ran, dragging her out the door.

Aelita gasped, "Is this part of the script?" Probably asking if that was in my dream.

I hissed, trying to find a safe place, "I demand a rewrite. You're not getting kidnapped."

Jeremie

Sissi had just told me that William had visited Aelita and Karen in their room. When I got there, both girls were gone, and William wasn't there either. The chair was tipped over, though. Suddenly, my cell phone went off. "Hello?"

"Jeremie? This is Karen. Xana has possessed William…and he tried to…kidnap Aelita. We're trying to keep…our distance…but it's hard!" She was running, and she still managed to send off a warning? Karen is a valuable team member.

"I'll try to get help to you. Where are you at?"

"We just got into the sewers. I'll try to head him off."

Then she hung up. I was wondering why she sounded so scared.

I got Ulrich and Yumi together and ran to the sewers. I couldn't reach Odd for some reason. The three of us found Aelita, and she looked terrified. "William has Karen!"

Ulrich yelled, "What?"

"He's taking her to Lyoko!"

Yumi asked, "But why would he do that?"

I thought for a minute. "We need to get to the factory. The answer won't come quickly right here."

I got to the supercomputer and slipped on the earpiece. "Aelita, you had better stay here unless we really need your help. Xana was trying to get you in the first place."

I virtualized Ulrich and Yumi and watched as suddenly Karen broke away from William. "Karen? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I play dumb to try to keep William from taking Aelita here, and then he captures me instead! Couldn't be better!" It's not like Karen to be sarcastic.

"Well, try to avoid being caught again. I'll try to get you out of there."

I wasn't sure I could get her out of there very quickly, though. Then William devirtualized both Ulrich and Yumi and started after Karen again. "Careful, Karen! You have a follower!"

"Not for long! I'm taking flight!"

I watched as Karen flew straight to the Celestial Dome. William was staying right behind her.

Finally, I heard Odd come in. "Where were you?!"

"Taking disco lessons from Jim!"

Huh. Now he's making jokes. "Whatever. Get down to the scanner room, Karen needs your help!"

Odd

I dropped in and ran. "So where is she?"

"She got to the Celestial Dome before William caught her again. Now he's taking her out of Sector Five on a Manta."

"Um…what's out there?"

"Nothing but…the Digital Sea. He's gonna drop her in!"

"Give me the Overboard! I'll help her!" I hopped onto it and raced out after them. There they were: William riding a Manta with…wow! Was that dragon-girl Karen?

I fired a Laser Arrow at the Manta; not trying to destroy it, just sting it. The thing bucked and Karen fell off. At what seemed like the last second, she spread her wings and swooped back up to me.

"Thanks, Odd, but I don't want to come here ever again!" She landed on the back of my Overboard and I turned for home.

She looked over her shoulder and warned, "He's following us!"

I turned in place, pointed my arm over her shoulder and fired. That shot managed to destroy the Manta, leaving William flying on his sword. "I hate tailgaters," I joked, and flew back.

Karen

I was the only person watching as William stretched out on his sword and dove into the Digital Sea. "Is he gone?"

Jeremie answered me. "No. He's just returned to his new master."

As I stepped out of the scanner, I protested, "I am never going to Lyoko ever again!"

Odd asked innocently, "Why? Just because you were kidnapped doesn't mean you can't be a good fighter. Besides, you look great in there!"

I sighed. I probably could become a great fighter if I bothered to continue going. Besides, William couldn't send me into the Digital Sea unless he was dragging me in; I had wings, after all.

"Hey, was that why you were so scared? Because you still couldn't see what's happening in Lyoko?"

"Odd. Lyoko didn't even appear in my dream. That was me, keeping Aelita from meeting the same fate as I nearly did."

Odd laughed. "So what does that mean? That you changed the script?"

I had to smile. "That's it. I am not going to strictly follow anything in my dreams anymore: I'll change the rules. Next time, though," and my smile turned into a grin, "I'm going to change the rules in such a way as to avoid anyone getting kidnapped." We left the scanner room laughing.