Karen Spills the Beans

Karen

Small Brown's rat was in trouble. After a lecture was delivered to the poor brown, White went with Dark Gold and Strong Bronze to class, and suddenly small rat-like creatures started attacking! Strong Bronze and Dark Gold rushed to the factory while White held the rats off -

White and her friends talked about Small Brown's rat, and White left to communicate with the teachers.

I opened my eyes. Then I sat up and tried to figure out what was different about me this time.

"Well, Karen? What's happening this time? I mean aside from our lecturing Odd about Kiwi."

"Well, we're going to have to launch a return trip because, uh…I'm not sure what Xana's attack is this time. It looked like Kiwi, but not quite."

"Well, we'd better go to breakfast."

I pulled myself out of bed and immediately crashed on the floor! "Oh, that's what changed," I said ruefully as I looked back at my legs.

My legs…and the long, white, arrow-tip tail wrapped around them.

Aelita

I couldn't help it; I giggled. "Would you like some help getting straightened out?"

"I think you'd better. I'm not sure how to move it yet."

I helped her unwind and asked, "How are you going to hide that?"

"Probably by not hiding it. It looks a lot like a belt, doesn't it?"

I shrugged. "As long as it stays, I don't think there'll be any problem."

Each of us except for Karen voiced a complaint about Kiwi to Odd, and Jeremie told him, "Until Kiwi learns to behave, he has to stay in the factory for two weeks."

Odd immediately turned to Karen. He tried to grab her hands – still hidden in their sleeves – but she pulled them back. "Karen, couldn't you say something to save my dog?"

"Don't look at me, Odd, I still don't know the little guy very well."

Ulrich

Yumi, Karen, and I were all in Penchak Silat class listening to Jim talk.

Karen leaned over and whispered to me, "Does he understand anything he's saying?"

"Probably not."

What made this irritating was that Sissi was there.

We sparred for a little bit – I don't know where Karen was, but I was with Yumi – when Yumi's cell phone went off. There was an activated tower! I told Jim that there was an emergency and Yumi, Karen and I ran out of the gym.

Standing there was Kiwi 2! Karen asked, "What's that?" She hadn't seen the little robot.

"Kiwi 2. Jeremie built him. If he's letting himself out to do his business then Jeremie must have done an upgrade on him."

Karen suddenly said, "No, Ulrich, that's Xana's upgrade! So this is what my dream meant: robot dogs!"

I told them, "You girls get to the factory; I'll draw him off."

Then suddenly, the thing flickered and there were two of them! "Uh-oh." Yumi hit one and we ran back into the gym, but the other one got in, and it bit Johnny and Milly before it could get smashed.

Yumi explained everything to Jim, and we made a plan to get out through the air duct. Suddenly, as Yumi removed the cover to the air duct, Karen spoke up. "I'm not sure I can fit through there."

"What are you talking about? You're about the same size as Yumi!"

She sighed. "You two go in first. That way, if I can't fit, I'm not blocking it for the rest of you."

I shook my head. "Okay, but I'll want an explanation on the other side."

We crawled through the duct, and I heard Karen bang her head on the ceiling. Maybe she couldn't get through with that sweater of hers. But why didn't she just take it off?

We dropped into the boiler room and I looked up. There was Karen, and she landed hard.

Suddenly, in came a bunch of Kiwi 2's! I told Yumi and Karen, "Run! I'll hold them off!"

Karen decided to argue with me, pulling off her sweatshirt. "You're not facing them alone, mister!"

Then I stared: Karen had wings!

She started taking on all the Kiwi robots by herself while I ran after Yumi. I had decided that she could take care of herself.

Karen

I was amazed at what an effective weapon my tail was, once I got the hang of using it. A lot of the dogs were going down to my wings and claws, but I couldn't stop long enough to get my shoes off. I felt like I was in a dance of death for hours!

Finally, all the dogs started disappearing. I guessed that we were going to have a return trip pretty quickly.

"Return to the past now."

All of us were in Odd's room, talking about what happened. Odd declared Kiwi a hero, and Ulrich said that Kiwi could stay.

Suddenly, Yumi asked, "Hey, was it just me, or did Karen have wings?"

I tensed as Ulrich agreed, "I saw them, too. What's up with that?"

I sighed. "That was Xana's doing. I'm slowly turning into a dragon, bit by bit, overnight. If I had to make an estimate, I'll be a full dragon in two more days."

Jeremie scolded me. "I wish you'd let me try to make an antivirus."

I walked out; I didn't want to hear Odd ask what they were talking about. Besides, I had an arrangement to make; one that my friends would have kittens over if they knew about it. I was going to tell the teachers about Lyoko.

The teacher's meeting I called was underway. All that was left was to tell them what was going on.

"Listen to me; everything that I'm going to say is true. There is an abandoned factory with secret passages nearby that has a powerful supercomputer inside, and that computer is home to a virtual world named Lyoko. Humans can go to it through a process called virtualization, and there is a sentinent virus named Xana who is threatening Earth. He has captured Aelita's father, and William. The boy that has been coming to school and acting stupid isn't the real William; it's a clone that Jeremie made to buy us some time to get him back. We - Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and I - we all need help to accomplish our mission, which is to destroy Xana and rematerialize Aelita's father and William. I speak for all of my friends when I say that we must be allowed to leave class when a Xana attack is discovered, and we must be given extensions on our assignments when this happens. Nothing can change the fact that we must go; in fact, I am stressing the fact that we must go to stop this chaos." I was stretching the point when I said that I was speaking for all my friends.

Jim suddenly decided to speak. "Baloney! This is just a big story to get out of school!"

I snarled. "Baloney? Baloney?!" I pulled off my sweatshirt and shirt and kicked off my shoes, revealing everything about me that had become draconic. "Is this baloney? Is this? Xana did this to me, and it won't stop until he is destroyed! In just two days, I'll be a complete dragon! Is that baloney?"

There was complete silence in the room. I had never lost my temper before.

Then Mr. Delmas held his hand out. "I believe you. Indeed, with such vivid proof before me, I'd be a fool not to believe it. But you must tell me one thing: what should I tell the other students?"

"Whatever you want, sir, as long as you don't include me. My appearance will certainly cause unnecessary panic, and it isn't permanent so there's no point in telling them. Say that I've caught a fever if you must, but I can't come into the classrooms once I'm full dragon."

We shook hands on the matter and he said, "Very well. I agree to your terms."

I smiled. But inwardly, I was wondering what Jeremie's reaction would be to this.

Oh, well. What's done is done, and now the teachers wouldn't miss me when I disappeared.