The Virtual Dreamer: Chapter 5
"The key to what!" Damon asked.
"You may be the key to materializing Aelita, Damon," Jeremie replied. "If you stand in a scanner and I examine your data, it may unlock the key to materializing Aelita over there."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up," Damon said, waving his hands guardedly. "This is a little too much to handle at once. First, you guys kidnap me and take me to this place which I somehow already know about because I dream about it, and then you take my bandana and expect me to help you?"
"For the last time, we didn't kidnap you," Ulrich cut in.
"Then take me back," Damon replied, a hint of smugness in his voice.
"We don't know how you got here, so how are we gonna know how to get you back?" Odd asked.
"Not my problem," Damon replied. "Figure out a way to get me back or I'm not going to help you," he stated, sitting down on the ground and crossing his arms and legs, ignoring the fact that Ulrich's blade was still pointed to his throat.
Yumi, in an effort to progress things, further asked Damon, "How do you get back from here in your dreams?"
"Well they're dreams, so when I wake up the dreams over, duuuuh!" Damon replied sarcastically.
"So why don't you just wake up?" Odd asked.
"Don't you think I would have tried that already? I can't wake up because I'm not dreaming. I'm here for real. For one thing, I don't have my weapon and I'm not wearing the clothes I always wear when I'm in here in my dreams."
A few moments of silence followed Damon's explanation, each of them forming the same theory in their head, each of them entertaining the possibility that Damon was this warrior, this nomad in their land. Damon remained silent and patient, closing his eyes, staying still on the ground with his arms and legs crossed, seemingly in a state of deep meditation. He seemed wise, even majestic to the three watching him; not moving a single inch, not a muscle on his face moving, his breathing calm, and his face expressionless. Ulrich was becoming increasingly annoyed; his blade being ignored, his skill undermined. Ulrich decided to set their fears to rest with a simple question.
"Damon," he said, trying to catch his attention. The meditating stranger sat still and motionless, not making a sound. Ulrich looked to both of his friends for any kind of response, but they merely shrugged their shoulders. Ulrich moved closer to Damon, his sword no longer trained on Damon's throat but still held ready in his hand, just in case.
"Damon!" he said again, louder this time. There was still no response. Now the interests of the other two were aroused and they each moved the same distance closer to Damon, standing together they leaned in closer to him.
"Damon?" Yumi asked. Again, there was no response. Damon remained in his set position as the three of them took a closer look at him. Odd could hear a low rumbling coming from Damon's mouth so he leaned his ear closer.
"Zzzz…"
Stunned silence followed. Damon had fallen asleep. Ulrich lost his temper, pulling back and trying to refrain from swinging his sword at Damon.
"WAKE UP!" he ordered angrily. Damon woke with a start and fell from his sitting position backwards onto the ground, bumping his head in the process.
"Ow!" he said irritably, rubbing the back of his head while he sat up again. "What the heck was that for!" Ulrich nearly lost his temper once more, but managed to remain calm and ask his question at last.
"Damon, you said when you came here the other times, you had clothes and weapons. What kind? What did they look like?" he asked, struggling to make his voice sound pleasant.
"Umm…let's see, I wear black pants, kinda baggy, but they let me move easily. A white shirt and a vest on top which matches the pants pretty well, and my sunglasses. I have a staff with me as a weapon, and of course the bandana that Samurai Boy over there is holding hostage," Damon said, an air of carelessness in his voice. "All in all, I must say my dream self has pretty good dress sense," he added, laughing a little to himself.
Yumi and Odd gasped while Ulrich remained silent, his expression hardening. Jeremie, sitting at his computer, tapped a few keys and an image of the Nomad fighting Ulrich and Odd, that he had managed to save, appeared on the screen. Jeremie checked the clothes Damon described against the Nomad's gear several times, unable to deny that they matched perfectly.
"There's no doubt about it…the faces match, the weapons match, the clothes and the voices match…it has to be him. Damon has to be the Nomad of Lyoko!" he thought to himself.
"Damon," Jeremie said clearly into the microphone. "This is Jeremie, can you hear me?" No answer came. "Damon, this is Jeremie, do you copy?" Utter silence followed again. "Ulrich," Jeremie said this time.
"What is it, Jeremie?" Ulrich replied quickly.
"Ask Damon if he knows anything about the Nomad," Jeremie told him calmly. Ulrich moved away from the others to continue his conversation in private.
"Are you sure? He might turn into the 'Nomad guy' and attack us again," Ulrich cautioned.
"Hmm, good point, so what do you think we should do?" Jeremie asked. "Damon's not going anywhere, and he says he can't wake up. We can investigate a few other things in the real world tomorrow, so maybe it's time for you guys to head back home," Jeremie said.
"But what about Damon?" Ulrich replied. "We can't just leave him here. He has no idea about anything that's going on. He probably doesn't know about XANA, or the monsters, or returning to the past. He could get killed out here."
"He can handle himself Ulrich. If he's the Nomad, then you've experienced first hand that he can take care of anything that comes his way," countered Jeremie.
"But he isn't the Nomad right now, is he?" Ulrich said pressingly and a heated debate began to stir between the two of them over what could happen should Damon be left to fend for himself.
Elsewhere in the real world, Jim was stumbling drowsily through the corridors of Kadic Academy, making his rounds before he could finally go to sleep. He entered the science lab, flicking on the lights, wincing and rubbing his eyes at the bright lights that forced him to squint for a few seconds. He staggered around inside the classroom, making sure nothing was out of place.
"Urgh…stupid kids," he yawned, moving around. His foot caught something and he fell over heavily. "Woah!" he called, his body smacking against the floor. "Why can't these kids pick up their stuff before leaving," he grumbled, rubbing his sore shoulder. He looked up and saw someone slumped over the desk. Jim leant on a desk and used it to help himself up. As he did, he placed a hand on the sleeping person's shoulder and shook it gently. No answer. Jim shook the person again, a little harder this time. The person's arm fell from the desk, revealing their face.
"It's that new kid…Demon or whatever he's called," he mumbled. "Hey," he called, shaking Damon once more. "Kid, wake up. You must not be getting enough sleep, managing to sleep here the whole day…"
Damon remained unconscious. "…Kid?" Jim called again, beginning to get concerned. He lifted Damon up from his sitting position, shaking his shoulders firmly. "Kid, wake up," Jim said again, becoming increasingly worried.
He shook Damon again, roughly this time. "Hey! Wake up!" Damon's head flopped from side to side, almost lifelessly. Jim panicked and ran from the classroom, making his way to the principal's quarters.
Back in the factory, Jeremie was finalizing his plans with Ulrich, the argument finally settled.
"So it's decided," Jeremie said in a relieved tone. "You three are coming back home. Damon is going to stay with Aelita and we'll leave the bandana with her too."
"I'm still not too sure about that Jeremie, "Ulrich said. "What if Damon hurts Aelita and steals it off of her?"
"No. I'm one hundred percent sure we should leave the bandana with Aelita. If any monsters come, Damon should be able to protect Aelita until they can both find a tower to hide in. If Damon really is this 'Nomad guy', a few of XANA's monsters will be no problem at all."
"And if he hurts her? Maybe even destroys her after he's done fighting the monsters?" Ulrich asked concerned.
"He wont," Jeremie replied confidently. "Aelita saved his life remember? I'm sure he won't hurt her. I mean…he owes her."
"I still don't think it's a good idea," Ulrich replied, in a somewhat defeated tone. "Can't you just devirtualize the bandana too?"
"We have no idea how the thing got in Lyoko. How the heck do you expect to get it OUT?"
"Okay, okay, we're heading back right now. Prepare to devirtualize us," Ulrich conceded.
"OK," Jeremie replied. Tapping in a sequence of codes, he prepared the devirtualization program. Ulrich made his way back to the others and told them the plan.
"So you're just going to leave me here?" Damon asked, his voice mostly calm, yet with a hint of worry, possibly even fear within it.
"That's right," Ulrich said. "You're staying here with Aelita. She knows Lyoko inside and out, so if you get into trouble listen to what she says and go where she tells you to."
"Are you sure about this?" Yumi asked, not wanting to leave her friend behind.
"Yeah," Odd chipped in. "I mean, he's not exactly an expert on this place, or in defeating XANA's monsters…"
"If he does what Aelita says, he won't have to fight any monsters," Ulrich replied. "Jeremie and I have gone through every possibility, trust me."
"Okaaay…if you're sure," Odd said, giving in. Fatigue had gripped all three of them now and they were eager to get some rest.
"Damon, you just need to follow any instructions Aelita gives you, ok?" Yumi advised him.
"Look, I told you. I've been here before. I know this place from my dreams. I don't care about any of this materialization stuff. All I want is to get back home," Damon said adamantly.
"Ok, we'll work on getting you back first thing tomorrow, ok?" Ulrich replied in an exhausted tone.
"Fine. Go on. Get out of here," Damon said coldly, standing up and turning his back to them as he walked off. Aelita followed quietly a few feet behind him.
"You heard the man, Jeremie. Next stop: Earth," Odd said. A few seconds after that, the three warriors de-pixelized into wire frames and disappeared from Lyoko. As they stepped out of their scanners, the three of them agreed to meet at the factory the next day straight after school and then left for home; Jeremie, Ulrich, and Odd together and Yumi hoping nobody noticed a life-size teddy bear was in her bed instead of her.
Back at the academy, principal Delmas followed Jim down the corridor towards the infirmary. Nurse Dorothy was waiting there in a nightgown and slippers, yawning and still half asleep. Damon lay limply in Jim's arms, motionless and breathing shallowly.
"Why, who is this?" the nurse asked in a concerned tone.
"This is a new student at Kadic, Dorothy. Jim found him unconscious and hasn't been able to wake him," Mr. Delmas explained.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked.
"You're the nurse. You take a look at him. And make it quick; this kid's heavy!" Jim cut in, struggling to support Damon's weight.
"OK. Bring him in quickly," Dorothy responded, unlocking the doors and clearing the way. Jim slowly staggered in and laid Damon on an infirmary bed. Dorothy took a close look at Damon, checking his pulse and temperature, listening to his heartbeat and breathing pattern.
Several minutes later, the principal cut in with a question. "Do you have some kind of idea what's wrong with him, Nurse?" he asked. After a few more minutes of listening to Damon's heartbeat with a stethoscope, she pulled away with a very confused look on her face. Removing the stethoscope from her ears and replacing it around her neck, she turned back to the principal.
"I can't find anything wrong with him…He seems to be in completely perfect health; his breathing, heart rate and temperature are at normal levels," she said simply.
"What!" Jim exclaimed, slightly annoyed by the lack of new information. "So then, what's wrong with this kid? What's he doing?"
"He's….sleeping," Dorothy replied, an expression of disbelief both in her expression and voice. "Just…sleeping."
The three of them remained silent, a look of utter confusion on each of their faces. As if in search of an answer, they looked down at Damon, whose only response was a light snore.
Yumi had just reached home and luckily managed to climb through her window and avoid being caught. Without stopping to even change her clothes, she simply collapsed on top of the large teddy in her bed, fast asleep.
Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie managed to infiltrate the dorms with a minimum amount of fuss. At the moment, Odd was standing guard at the corner of their dorm, checking for Jim's presence. Peeking half of his head around the corner, he searched with one eye for the large gym teacher. Pulling his head back, he signalled that the coast was clear with a thumbs-up and the three of them made a straight run for their rooms, closing the doors behind them without a word and getting into bed, also falling asleep straight away.
Damon walked through the forest region, Aelita following behind him. While she bowed her head slightly to avoid the branches, Damon just walked straight through them, paying them no attention at all. After they had left the main area of the forest and were into the more sparse outskirts, Damon stopped suddenly. Aelita took a step back, preparing for the worst, and watching Damon warily.
"Aelita…that's your name, right?" Damon said, his back still to her. Aelita responded with a murmur and a nod. The nod Damon could not see, but he accepted the grunt as a yes.
"Listen," he said, turning to face her. "I'm ok with being a prisoner or whatever here. I don't really care who those guys are, or how they trapped me in my dream world. I feel like I know you already, and I trust you…I mean, you wouldn't save my life just to betray me," he muttered. "I don't know why you're with them, but getting back is all I care about. That and getting my bandana back. So please, Aelita, give that back to me," he said pleadingly.
Aelita shook her head somewhat sadly. "I'm sorry, Damon," she replied. "But I promised I'd hold on to this. I was specifically told to make sure I didn't give it to you unless we were in danger."
"Why only if we're in danger?" he asked.
"Because, if we're in danger and I give this to you, you'll probably save me. If I give it to you now, you'll probably let them get me and take the bandana," Aelita lied, not wanting Damon to know that the others feared him transforming into the Nomad.
Damon remained silent for a few moments and then began walking again. The two of them plodded along through the virtual world, moving from the forest region and into the mountain region. Here, Damon stopped again, this time at a high cliff. He stood there with his hands in his front pocket, looking over the horizon. Aelita stood next to him, holding her hands in front of her.
"It's a beautiful sight…" Aelita said softly.
"Yeah…Too bad it's not real," Damon said in a contemplative tone. "This is one of my favorite places in the entire dream world…I mean...Lyoko. It's called Lyoko, now," he finished, his voice tinted with a slight depression.
"You know, Damon," Aelita said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "The view doesn't have to be real for you to really appreciate it. A work of art isn't always something you can see or touch. A painting isn't real but you can still appreciate the beauty of it."
"I guess…" Damon shrugged. He had mostly stopped paying attention to anything around him. Instead, he thought about what Aelita had said: He would only get his bandana back if they were in danger and Aelita needed to be saved.
"I really don't want to do this," Damon thought. "But if I'm the one to attack her, then she will be in danger, and she will need to be saved, and…I really want my bandana back," Damon sighed and resigned himself to attacking Aelita. "Okay, ready, one…two…-"
"Damon?" Aelita asked, surprising him slightly and causing him to lose his plan momentarily.
"Uh…yeah?" he replied.
"Why do you care so much about this bandana?" she asked, holding it up. Damon's eyes fixed on the bandana in her hand.
"I've had that bandana for as long as I can remember. It's been with me my entire life. It's the only thing that's stayed with me. I don't have any parents, any real family. That bandana is all I have," he explained slowly. "You know, growing up completely alone, it can make you pretty mad sometimes. Lonely too. It can make you a lot of things, but whenever I'd feel upset or mad at all, I'd have that with me. I'd hold it in my hand and look at it, for ages…and one day, I realised that I felt calm when it was with me…things weren't so bad. I'd think, at least I have my bandana. As dumb as this may sound, that thing is a part of me. This is longest time I've been without it…"
Damon finished his reply, his eyes still set on the bandana. Aelita smiled and nodded, holding the bandana out in front of her.
"Here," she said. "You can have it back."
"I can?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. "What's the catch?"
"Catch? What does that mean?" Aelita asked, slightly confused.
"It means, what do I have to do in return to get it back," Damon replied.
"Do? Hmm…how about this: Whenever I'm in trouble, you have to promise to come and save me. Deal?" she said, holding the bandana from a corner, letting the rest hang down for Damon to take.
"Deal," he said, taking his hands out of his pockets with a big smile. He reached towards the bandana, his fingers closing around it.
As Aelita released the corner, an amazing flash of light enveloped the both of them. Lyoko itself appeared to be on white hot fire, and a globe of light expanded from Damon. As the light faded, Damon had disappeared, and the Nomad stood in his place, staff attached to his back.
The nomad looked down at himself and took off his sunglasses. He looked up at Aelita with a shocked expression on his face. Aelita had stepped back in caution, ready to run if necessary. The Nomad paid no attention. He was examining his clothes, his weapon, his power.
"This is it!" he thought. "This is the person I am in my dreams! But I'm still me…I'm conscious…aren't I? I must be…but I feel so strong. I've never felt better in my life!"
"Damon?" Aelita called from a safe distance away. Damon remained completely silent. Stretching and flexing his arms. After a few more moments, he looked over at Aelita, genuinely shocked and amazed.
"Damon? Is that you?" Aelita called again, cupping her hands in front of her mouth.
"Whoa," intoned the Virtual Dreamer.
End of chapter five.
Well that was fun…sorry about the long delay…GCSE's and all…
Hope you're enjoying the story, and keep reading.