After we celebrated Aelita being here, Jeremy suggested that we shut down XANA immediately. We all agreed and headed to the supercomputer's power source.
"Well, XANA, you've caused us some trouble, but you also brought us together. Adios!" Jeremy said.
Once he flipped the switch, the headache I had earlier came back, only much worse. To make matters worse, Aelita fainted and I sunk to my knees, holding my head.
"Turn back on!" Yumi cried. "Hurry! Aelita and Dialla aren't well!"
Jeremy turned the supercomputer back on and I fell onto my side, slipping into the darkness.
I awoke God knows how long later in a long chair in the factory. Outside, the sky was dark and like an ocean of stars. It was probably eight or nine, passed curfew either way. In the seat next to me was Aelita, just as dazed and disoriented as I was. Jim was seated in a chair next to Aelita, while the rest of the gang stood around us.
"Good, you're both okay," Ulrich stated.
"I hope you don't mind," Jeremy said. "But I ran a scan on both of you while you were unconscious."
"Did you find anything?" I inquired.
"There's some kind of virus inside Aelita. I guess XANA planted it in you when you were being materlizied. As for you, Dialla, I didn't find anything unusual."
"Then how come I passed out?"
"We were hoping you could tell us," he said. "Did you get hurt at all?"
"Well, I had a headache, but that's all," I told him.
"Do you think XANA could've done anything?" Yumi asked. "Maybe something that you couldn't pick up."
"I'm not sure. But, in any case, we can't shut down the supercomputer until we get rid of the virus and find out what's wrong with Dialla," Jeremy concluded.
"Great," I muttered, climbing out of my chair. "What time is it?"
"About nine-thirty," Jeremy said.
"We should get back to our rooms," I suggested, yawning. "I probably just need some rest."
"Yumi, your parents allowed Aelita to stay with you, right? Odd questioned.
"Yep. So, you'll be staying with me for a few days, Aelita," Yumi said.
"I still can't believe I'm finally here on Earth," she said blissfully.
Jim decided to stay at the factory for protection; it wasn't necessary, but none of us argued. Yumi walked Aelita home while Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy and I headed back to the school.
I said good bye to them then sneaked away into my bed. I quickly changed and climbed into my bed, bleariness consuming me. But at the same time, I was perplexed.
*Why had that happened? Jeremy said there was nothing wrong with me, so how could I've fainted like that? And the headaches seem to be getting worse.*
I rolled onto my side, shutting my eyes.
*Oh screw it.*
~Dream~
I was in some kind of house, wandering aimlessly, when someone called my name. Apparently, I recognized the voice because I ran quickly to where the voice was. I skipped down a flight of stairs and appeared in the computer room of the factory. There I saw my brother, Dan, and a man with brown hair and brown eyes. As I studied the man I recognized the eyes. My eyes.
*What?! Those are my eyes! But.... how?!*
The man, who was wearing a white lab coat and brown pants, led us to the scanner room, where we met another man with gray hair and a beard and mustache. He had glasses and was wearing a red shirt, black pants and a white lab coat. Next to him, was his daughter, with pink hair.
*Aelita? What the heck is going on?*
"Shall we get started, Franz?" the man next to me asked.
"Yes, we shall go first, then you follow us,"
"Alright,"
The man and Aelita stepped into the scanners and they shut. After a few moments, they opened again and we stepped in.
Dan and I appeared on Lyoko, but Aelita and the two men were no where to be seen. To make matters worse, we were both possessed by XANA.
~End dream~
Shrieking slightly, I jerked up and nearly fell out of my bed. I quickly composed myself, and sat upwright in my bed, trying to catch my breath. Glancing at my clock, I saw that it was four in the morning, not that it mattered. Outside, the sky was a pinkish color and utterly beautiful. I could tell the sun was going to rise soon. I finally managed to calm down a little and I shook my head vigorously.
"A dream, that's all," I told myself. "Just a dream."
Yet, no matter how many times I said that, I couldn't fall back asleep. So, for the whole day, I had to struggle to stay awake. Aelita had come to school with Yumi today and she was to be Odd's cousin from Canada. After History, there was a little break and we sat on the bench.
"So, how's our little earthling doing?" Yumi asked when she came over.
"Fine, I'm trying to adapt to all the new things. The air, the colors, it's so wonderful," Aelita replied.
"And, I guess you like sleeping a lot too," Yumi added. "You would've slept all day if I didn't shake you a little," They both laughed.
"Don't worry, sleeping in class is always great, too," Odd said.
"You would know," Ulrich added jokingly.
And so would I because in Science, I was so weary that I ended up falling asleep. When you have a teacher like Mrs. Hertz, you do not want to get caught falling asleep. I found out the hard way.
"Two hours of detention, Miss Reinhart," she scolded after rudely smacking my desk in order to wake me up. When I opened my mouth to explain, she added, "And if you complain, I'll make it four hours."
Not wanting to get in any more trouble, I shut my mouth, biting hard on my tongue so that I wouldn't say some words that would most likely get me expelled from this place. I heard snickers, knowing Sissi had a smug look on her face.
As she continued teaching, suddenly there was a scream from outside the class room. It sounded like a sixth grader. A couple of kids, including Ulrich and Odd, stood up concerned.
"Settle down, children," Mrs. Hertz said as she opened the door.
The class crowded, pushing and shoving one another to get a glimpse of what was going on. Well, except for me. I was resting my chin on my hand, asleep. A boy came running from outside, screaming at the top of his lungs. He ran down the hall and disappeared. Following him, was a kankrelat.
"Get back!" Ulrich ordered as he managed to shove back the whole class and shut the door.
"Take cover!" Odd cried.
As the class hid, Ulrich walked over to me and smacked my arm that was holding me up. My head hit the desk and I jerked up, startled.
"What? What happened?" I mumbled, dazed.
"Looks like XANA's using a different tactic. He brought kankrelats to Earth this time. But how?" Jeremy wondered.
"Who cares how? The real question is how do we get rid of them?" Odd questioned.
"Like we always do we fight them. You three get to the factory. Yumi, Dialla and I will stay here and defend the school," Ulrich commanded.
Once I heard XANA I instantly snapped out of my sleepy daze. Sort of, at least. I climbed out of my desk and stood next to Ulrich, who was calling Yumi.
"No, you can't," Aelita said. "That's crazy."
"You know very well that if there is a victim, that a return to the past won't bring it back to life," Ulrich said. "Yumi, yeah, we know. We need to find weapons. Okay, I'll meet you outside the math class."
"Alright, let's go," Jeremy said.
We opened the door, cautiously. Another student ran down the hall and we stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind us. A kankrelat had appeared and Ulrich and I got in our fighting stances.
"Go on," Ulrich said. "We'll take care of it."
While they headed to the factory Ulrich and I rushed the small cockroach.
"I've always wanted to do this," I said and, while Ulrich leaped over the monster, I kicked it as hard as I could. The kankrelat flew and smashed into a wall.
"That worked well," Ulrich said.
I smiled and got shot in the left shoulder. I yelped, staggering a little bit and Ulrich grabbed my hand.
"This way!" he cried and led me down a flight of stairs.
I followed him, but once we got down, more appeared. As we ran, trying to find a safe place or a weapon - mostly a weapon - a large rod was thrown towards us. We ducked and it pierced a kankrelat behind us. The person who threw it was Yumi.
"Nice shot," I commented.
"What would you do without me?" she said smiling. Her eyes widened slightly as more approached. "Run!"
We managed to slip away into the shed. There were a lot of tools that could be used.
"Let's see..." I mused, scanning the items. "Ah! This should work!"
I found a nail gun and looked at Yumi and Ulrich. Yumi had an ax and Ulrich had a chainsaw.
"Let's do it," I said.
We stepped out of the shed and made our way to the factory, destroying as many kankrelats as we could. The worse that happened was I got shot in the right leg, Ulrich got shot the back and Yumi got shot in the left leg. But, other than that, we were fine. When we got to the factory, I assumed Jim must've had fun with the first couple of kankrelats, since they were scattered across the room. He also nearly scared the crap out of me when he popped out at us.
"Jim!" I cried annoyed.
"Sorry, Dialla," he apologized. "I thought you were one of those roaches."
I sighed and forgave him. "Are you heading to the school?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna do what I can there,"
"Then take this," I handed him the gun. "You'll need it more than me."
He nodded and headed to the academy. We quickly went in the elevator, told Jeremy we were here and headed to the scanners.
"You're heading to the polar region," Jeremy informed us.
He virtualized us and we all landed on our feet on a narrow strip of ice which grew wider as it led us to the activated tower.
"The activated tower is 45° north. You better hurry, Odd and Aelita are facing a swarm of hornets,"
"Right," Ulrich said and we took off.
There were four of them when we showed up an according to Jeremy, Odd had 20 life points left. Aelita had took off for the tower.
Yumi threw her fans, taking out two of them and I threw my boomerang, taking out one. The last one shot Odd and devirtualized him. I avenged him by destroying it with my gun. We caught up with Aelita who was in an ice cave. We escorted her safely to the tower, which she deactivated. Jeremy activated the return to the past, erasing everyone's memory including Jim's.
So, I was back in Science, getting scolded by Mrs. Hertz.
"Two hours of detention, Miss Reinhart," she said. "And if you complain-"
I cut her off. "Yeah, I know. Four hours."
She became befuddled. "Wha- how did you know I was going to say that?"
I flinched. "Uh, Deja Vu?" It was more of a question than an answer.
She eyed me suspiciously before continuing her lesson. As she did, my phone vibrated, signalling that I received a text message. I pulled it out surreptitiously and read the message. To my surprise, it was from Alex.
"Hey, D," It read. "You up for a movie?"
I smiled slightly. "Can't. I've got detention." I replied.
He sent me a surprised smiley. "Ooohh, never knew you were so bad! I like that. Alright then I'll take you out later, you bad girl."
I giggled softly and quickly responded before I got caught. Once school ended, I was to go directly to the art room for detention with Jim. When I got there, Jim started blabbing about how I shouldn't be fooling around and how I should be trying to get an education. I didn't pay attention at all. After about forty-five minutes, Jim soon fell asleep,snoring loudly. While I tried to ignore him, there was a tapping on the window next to me. I looked up and saw that it was Alex. I gasped softly and nearly fell out of my seat in shock.
He smiled zealously as he gestured for me to come outside. I looked over at Jim, who was in a deep slumber, then silently crept outside.
"What is it?" I asked, worried that Jim could wake at any moment and get us both in trouble.
"I'm taking you to the movies," he said. "I told you I would."
"Well, yeah, but I thought you meant after my detention!"
"We wouldn't have enough time to get back after curfew if we went after your detention."
"What about Jim? He's bound to notice."
"He always sleeps during detentions."
"But, if we get caught-"
"I promise you we won't. And if we do, I'll make up an excuse so you don't get in trouble."
I stared at him long and hard for a moment. "You... really want to take me on a date?"
He nodded. "Yes. I do."
I couldn't help but smile. "Oh, alright."
He beamed like a little kid on Christmas. "Really? Alright! You're gonna love it! Let's go!"
He grabbed my hand and took off. I kept up with him, laughing all the way to the theatre.
It was about six-thirty when we were sneaking back to school. The movie was pretty scary, but somehow, being with Alex made me feel safer. We were almost at my dorm when we heard Jim bellowing my name.
"Reinhart! Rider!" he hollered.
We froze and I mentally scolded myself for going with Alex. Jim approached us and I quickly tried to think of an excuse for skipping detention.
"What do you two think your doing?" he demanded.
"I, uh, well..." I stammered.
"I snuck out without permission, sir," Alex lied smoothly. "Dialla saw me and was trying to stop me but I wouldn't listen."
Jim looked at him skeptically.
"It's true," he continued as I stared at him in shock. "She saw me leave after she left detention and tried to stop me."
"I didn't see her leave detention," Jim stated.
"You were asleep, sir," I said quickly. "I thought it would be rude if I woke you, so I didn't."
Jim studied us carefully and I felt nervous sweat drip down my forehead.
"Please, sir," Alex feigned begging. "It's not her fault. Blame me."
After a moment, Jim spoke. "Four hours of detention, Rider. And let that be a lesson to you not to leave campus without permisson."
"Yes, sir. I understand." he replied.
The minute Jim was out sight, I turned to Alex, my mouth agape.
"How--?"
"I'm pretty good when it comes to lying," he said simply. "Heck, if there was a class for lying, I'd probably be the teacher."
I laughed at that. "Yeah, probably." I smiled at him. "Thank you for covering for me, but now you have to do four hours of detention! Two hours is bad enough."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "It's no big deal. I've been through worse. Besides--" He leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek, causing me to blush. "-- It was all worth it."
Then, turning swiftly on his heel, he disappeared to his room. I watched him walk off and stayed there for a moment, gently caressing my right cheek. I finally snapped out of my daze when my clock beeped, telling me it was seven and time for dinner.