Tigers of the Hermitage

"So, what's the plan Sissi?" Odd asked cheerfully. Sissi groaned.

"You're not going to request me to do something to your costume, right?" She said.

"No. why, can you?"

"No," Sissi lied as she typed on her computer. "You see this is part of the reason I didn't want you guys to figure out I was the Mechanist. You'd invade my room." She noted that the whole gang was in her room.

"Hey you fainted. I'm just here to make sure that you don't hit the floor again," William said.

"Aw, nice to be cared for," Sissi smirked.

"So what are you two doing now?" Yumi asked. Kiwi was on Jeremy's laptop helping.

"We're trying out a new thing," Kiwi said. "If it works, we may have Jeremy on Lyoko."

"Really guys, it's okay. I can deal with not being a Lyoko Warrior," Jeremy opted out.

"Nonetheless, we do need you in case anything goes wrong," Sissi replied. Aelita stood up.

"Well, I'm going to go over to the Hermitage," she said casually.

"NO!" Sissi, Kiwi, and William shouted. Everyone was shocked.

"But it's my home," Aelita said confused. The three looked at each other guiltily.

"We know that, but it's really dangerous there right now," Kiwi said calmly.

"Like what?" Aelita asked.

"We've noticed some activity going on there. We haven't figured out what yet," Sissi stated. They others eyed the three suspiciously.

"Okay," William sighed, "Yes we are hiding something from you, but it's for your own good." They could see the pain in Aelita's eyes. "Look, we're really sorry Aelita. You'll be able to go back there soon, we promise."

"You have no idea how much that house means to me! It's bad enough that my father's gone forever! Now I can't even go to the place where I remember him!" Aelita cried out running out the door. The team glared at the three.

"Don't look at us like that! It's bad enough that we had to tell her and see her cry like that," Sissi shot back.

"Yeah, but you would know exactly how to make her cry, wouldn't you Sissi?" Ulrich said accusingly. Sissi held her head in sadness.

"I'm not the one who even wanted her to stay away from there," Sissi replied.

"So who was?" Yumi asked.

"Hey um...guys? Is there a reason why Aelita was just running down the hall in tears?" Mr. Lion said coming into the room.

"Well, these three here said that Aelita couldn't go to the Hermitage," Jeremy said barely finishing the last part.

"SHE CAN NOT GO THERE! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" Lion shouted making everyone scared. "It's not that we have anything against her. It's just that if she goes there, she runs the risk of exploiting something that I've been trying to keep hidden from Platon."

"But it's her home, Lion," Odd said.

"THIS IS HER LIFE I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Lion shouted again. He caught everyone off guard again. He sighed. "Listen, there's a big reason why she can't go there just yet. Someone's there."

MEANWHILE

Aelita ran and ran, not caring where she went. She was so hurt by the fact that she couldn't go into her own house. It was all she had left of her father. Now it was taken away from her. Then she stopped to see that she had ran all the way...to the Hermitage. She thought about what the others said. "It'll be fine. Just one more look," She thought to herself. She entered the house not knowing that someone was looking. She opened the dusty door. Something about the room had changed. It was neat and seemed swept clean. But there were claw marks all around the walls. Then she heard something. "Hello, is someone there?" she asked fearfully. Something came out of the dark corner. Four beady eyes came out to reveal two big Bengal tigers! They growled as they approached Aelita. "Energy field," Aelita shouted, but the tigers shook it off. Aelita ran around the house desperately trying to get away from the tigers. The tigers jumped over furniture and off the walls trying to catch her. Then she was cornered. The tigers slowly came to Aelita, who was whimpering in the corner. When the tiger was about to strike, Aelita did something she didn't think she would ever do. She hugged the tiger around its neck as she cried into the fur.

"I don't know why I'm here! All I wanted was a normal life! I lost my father, my mother, why does life hate me?! I feel so alone!" Aelita sobbed. She expected the tiger to eat her already, but it seemed to be waiting for something. Then she felt a big warm paw on her back. The tiger rubbed its big head against her, purring softly. The other tiger came beside her and laid down by her, comforting her like a pillow. Aelita was against the wall with one tiger behind her as a pillow, and the other laid its big head in her lap. Because she had cried so much, Aelita drifted off to sleep.

MEANWHILE

"It's important that she not go there for her own safety," Lion explained.

"Well, I guess we shouldn't go there for our safety," Yumi said. Then Sissi's computer started to beep.

"An activated tower?" Kiwi asked. Sissi nodded. "What is it for this time?" Sissi looked at the screen for a while with a 'really? you've got to be kidding' look.

"Um...Lion? Where was Aelita heading?" Sissi asked, regretting the answer.

"I don't know. I wasn't paying attention," Lion said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I think she's at the Hermitage," Sissi replied.

"Why do you think that?" Jeremy asked.

"Because the attack is aimed at the Hermitage," Sissi said annoyed. She muttered something in Japanese without realizing that Yumi was there.

"We got to get there," Lion said already rushing out the door.

BACK AT THE HERMITAGE

Aelita was awaking up from her sleep with the two tigers around her. But then their ears perked up. Aelita looked over to the door. She opened it to see a man in a suit. The man was tall and looked to be 50 with his black hair neatly brushed. The two tigers growled. The man had a smug smile "Well, if it isn't my two favorite cats. Funny seeing you in this form," The man said evilly. "And with the daughter of the creator of Lyoko right in your hands. I've been dying for this moment."

"Who are you?" Aelita asked.

"You can call me, Platon," He replied. Aelita gasped throwing her Energy fields at him. He fizzed a little. "You're lucky that this is a scepter. But I can still fight you," He said splitting into five Platons.

"But we can fight. Two on five," One of the tigers spoke. Then they transformed into humans. One looked like a young picture of Bruce Lee with really spiky black hair. The other had slick back hair with a Hispanic complexion. "So you found us, Platon. Leave the girl alone." Young Bruce Lee teen spoke.

"Sorry, but I need her," the Platon said about to attack.

"Laser arrow! Flame-ball!" Odd and Lion shouted disrupting two of the Platons, giving Aelita enough time to get over to their side.

"Now it's even," Lion said with Odd and Yumi. "You guys alright? Leon and Aslan?"

"Yeah, we are, but he isn't," Aslan said wiping his spiky hair.

"You're going to pay for what you did to the Lion brothers," Leon growled with his dark slick back hair. "You guys, get to Lyoko."

"We already have the others on the job. Aelita get to Lyoko," Lion said as Aelita disappeared with the watch, "So we have these guys to ourselves," he grinned cracking his knuckles.

MEANWHILE IN LYOKO

"You mean that Lion had his other two brothers in Aelita's house disguised as tigers so no one would get close to the place?" Ulrich asked riding along on his cycle with Xavier on his back. William and Kiwi were going along too.

"Yeah, but Lion didn't want anyone to know about them because he thought that they would be discovered by Platon. Looks like he was right," Sissi said typing away the computer. Soon, Aelita dropped in. "Ah, nice to see you princess." Sissi said materializing the hover-board. The tower was guarded by all green. Three green hornets, two green Megatanks, and three green Krabs.

"Oh dear," William muttered.

"Come on, it'll be fun. Let's go," Ulrich charged.

MEANWHILE

Odd and Yumi were putting up a good front. Lion, Aslan, and Leon were making look easy. "Come on, is that all you got?" Aslan taunted. Then the Platons split into ten Platons.

"You just had to ask," Leon murmured.

MEANWHILE

"Well, that was more challenging than usual," Ulrich sighed a relief after destroying the last monster. Aelita entered the tower.

"Wait, maybe I can get the information about Platon's whereabouts," Aelita suggested. Sissi considered it.

"Okay, but make it fast," She reminded. Aelita surfed about the panel. "Okay, I've got the data. Now deactivate the tower." With that, the tower was soon deactivated.

"Okay, that's done. Now Lion has a lot of explaining to do," Aelita chided.

BACK AT THE HERMITAGE

"Brothers?" Odd said questionably, "But you guys look nothing alike."

"But we are blood brothers. Even though we look completely different. It's due to an interesting mutation when we were born. We looked nothing like our parents," Leon explained.

"Wow, so why were you disguised as tigers? Scratch that, why are you disguised as tigers?" Yumi asked looking at the two tigers resting beside Aelita, who was petting them.

"Well, it kept people away from the house, and when Aelita came, she was so scared and hurt at the same time. She looked like she had just had a really bad day. It really surprised us when she hugged Leon," Aslan replied. Aelita stroked a particular spot on Aslan's fur, "OHHHh right there." he moaned.

"That doesn't explain why you're still tigers," Ulrich said.

"She's a good petter," Leon replied purring at Aelita's touch. The team laughed. Sissi yawned and stretched.

"Well, we better get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be an annoying day," She muttered.

"Really? Why?" The team asked.

To be continued