Chapter 11
"Do you have any idea when April's getting back." Joro asked as he sat down at the chair to the main terminal of the supercomputer.
"One more week, lover boy." Mack said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back on the sofa right outside of the three walls of screens used for Xanadu. "She's in France right now."
"Hopefully finding someone for a good boyfriend." Cat said, walking in and throwing her book bag to the floor with her skateboard.
"You and her having a French boyfriend. Why?" Antea asked, looking up from her magazine.
"Because she has always loved the French." Cat said.
"We have connection!" Joro announced as he slid the chair over to another screen. He picked up the mike and put it on his ear.
"Finally!" Cat said, running over to be behind Joro. Mack and Antea joined her.
"April! How's life on the other side of the planet?" Antea asked.
"Very informative." April said, her face appearing on the screen.
"Where are you?" Mack asked, looking behind her and seeing a blue-green wall. "That is one weird looking bedroom."
"You remember Franz Hopper?" April asked.
"Of course." Cat answered.
"Well apparently he created another virtual world using the same schematics that he used to create Xanadu." April explained. She looked off screen to her left and asked, "Viens, s'il-vous-plaît."
Behind April appeared Jérémie, Ulrich, Odd, Aélita, and Yumi.
"Let me introduce the Lyoko Warriors." April said. "Lyoko Warriors, the Xanadu Defenders."
Cat started to laugh as she looked over the group of warriors on the other side of the screen.
"Cat, quit laughing." April said, sternly.
"I'm sorry. That guy's hair is just so funny." Cat said, trying to stop.
"You can't laugh at him." Mack said, looking at her. "You should see yourself on Xanadu." he looked back at the screens and explained. "She's got the most stuck up hair in all of the world."
Jérémie looked confused so Odd mumbled something to him. He looked back to the screen, smiled, and said, "Thank Lyoko for this hair style."
"Ya, but I didn't copy it in the real world." Cat said.
"Anyway!" April said, waving her hands to get everyone's attention. "We need your help, Joro."
"Anything." Joro said, smiling.
"Get a lock on Xana's last trip to Xanadu and trace his trail." April said. "Find his door to the network. We might be able to find a way to help the Lyoko Warriors and visa versa."
"When did you become so high and mighty?" Mack asked, smiling.
Joro moved his chair over to another screen to his left, leaving the others to talk to April.
"Since this thing became a worldwide crises." April said. "Who knows how far Xana will go to take over the world."
"April's right." Yumi said. "For the past three years, Xana has been trying for just France. Now that he has a finger in America, he can try for the rest of the world. And who knows how many other countries could there be a group of people like us who are fighting Xana without realizing there are others."
"There can't be that many virtual worlds Franz Hopper had a hand in creating." Antea said.
"With the FBI holding his ideas, who knows." Aélita said, still surprised at how close this girl looked like her mother.
"I've got the supercomputer tracing his route through Xanadu, but the programing needs an upgrade, badly. It'll take a while." Joro said, sliding back so that he was in front of the screens again.
"I don't care what time it is, call me." April said. "Wake me up if you have to."
"Got it, April." Joro said.
"You're not American, are you?" Yumi asked, looking at Joro.
"None of us are truly American." Cat said.
"She meant born in America, dummy." Mack said, swinging his hand over Cat's head.
"Watch it. Before I kick you where it hurts." Cat threatened, grabbing his hand as it finished its swing.
Joro shook his head at both the question and his friends. "No, I'm Bulgarian."
"Just wondering." Yumi said.
"If we can connect Lyoko with Xanadu," Mack started. "what good will that do us? Lyoko has got to have a better quality with everything from weapons to just how we look. It's about four years younger, maybe more. A lot of technology comes out in four years."
"You're telling me." April said. "Their super-calculator only takes up a small space of a room."
"You're kidding me! I wish this thing did!" Cat exclaimed.
"How mush space do you take?" Jérémie asked, his English hard to understand.
"Practically, the whole factory, mines the scanners and the sofa." Joro said. "The scanners are even on a part of the super-calculator."
"We have to climb steps to get there." Antea explained.
"Ya, well, I hate to be annoying, but we've gotta get going to bed." Odd said. "Jim's going to be roaming."
"You're sleeping in a dorm?" Cat asked.
"Ya, and I'm going to school too." April said.
"Ouch. I'm sorry for you." Mack said.
"See you." April said.
"Bye April." Joro said before ending the connection.
April turned around and smiled. "Thanks for letting me tell them."
"They deserved to know." Jérémie said, shrugging.
Odd stretched and yawned before saying, "Come on. I have a nice date tonight."
"With whom?" Ulrich asked as April dropped from the chair.
"My pillow." Odd said, smiling.
"Only you." Yumi said as they walked into the elevator.
"You guys are lucky." April said as the elevator curtain shut.
"Why?" Ulrich asked.
"Lyoko is all disguised." April said. "Ours, you slide open the rusted door and, vola! There is the screen walls and chair with the random sofa and rug setup. You go up the stairs and you get to the scanners."
The elevator opened up to reveal they had gotten to the ground floor. Everyone walked out and started up the ropes to get to the bridge.
"Here's something I've been thinking about lately." Ulrich started as they walked down the bridge to the man hole. He looked towards April as he asked, "Xana possessed you, yet he can't possess us. How come?"
"Xana possessed me?" April asked, vaguely remembering something. "Xana has never tried to possess any of us before. He was able to possess my mother. We turned back time so no one remembered it, but he has never gotten us."
"You did say that Xana had first started to attack you at the end of school last year, non?" Aélita asked.
April nodded her head.
"That's in June. It's only the end of July. Maybe that's why. You haven't gained the immunity we have for fighting through Lyoko for three years." Yumi said. "Problem solved."
"I guess." Ulrich said, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"See you all in the morning." Yumi said, walking past the man hole.
"See you Yumi." Ulrich said.
"Bye!" Aélita called as Jérémie went down.
-.-.-.-
Odd opened the door to April and Maggie's apartment and walked in, shutting the door behind him. He was about to head into April's room, only to notice her eating something at the island.
"Hey April." Odd said, going over to the stool next to her and sitting down.
April looked up and smiled as she saw Odd. "Hey Odd. What's up?"
"Nothing much." Odd said. "What you doing still up?"
"Waiting for my mother to call." April said, eating more of her ice cream.
Odd looked at the ice cream, licking his lips.
"You want some?" April asked, pointing with her spoon at her bowl.
"Yes!" Odd said, smiling.
April got up and went over to the freezer. As she pulled out the carton of ice cream, the cell phone next to her bowl started to vibrate.
"Can you answer that. It is probably my mother." April said, scooping out some ice cream.
Odd picked up the phone and hit the green button. "Hello, April's cell phone. Her good friend, Odd speaking." Odd said in English.
"Hello, Odd, is it?" a female voice said from the other end. "Can I talk to my daughter?"
April walked over to Odd with his bowl and set it down. "Here she is." Odd said, handing her the phone.
"Hi mom." April said, walking over to the wall next to where her stool was and leaned against the wall.
Odd tried to keep his mind off of translating what April was saying and just eat his ice cream, but when her voice raised and something about 'just letting me die' caught his attention, he couldn't help but look up.
April hung up and held her head so that her brown hair would cover her face.
"Is everything alright?" Odd asked.
April shook her head to move the hair out of her way and sat down back on her stool. "It is just my mother. Even when I am miles away from home, she still will blame me for stuff around the house."
"That's not right." Odd said, shaking his head.
"Right or not, it makes no difference." April said, finishing her ice cream.
"I wish I could help you, but my parents are not exactly normal." Odd said. "They've never gotten in a fight. Not even with me or my sisters."
"You are lucky." April said, standing up. She picked up her bowl and took it over to the sink.
"Hey, something just hit me." Odd said, finishing his ice cream.
"What?" April asked as she turned around and picked up his bowl, leaning across the island.
"Xanadu has a program to go back in time, non?" Odd asked.
"Yes, and we have had to use it a plenty of times." April said, washing out the bowls.
"How come I never notice your returns to the past?" Odd asked.
"Do you ever get that feeling like you have done something before, but cannot remember it until it has already happened? And not so vivid as when you make the return." April asked.
"Actually, now that you mention it, yes." Odd said.
"I think that is the effect the one group gets when the other starts the returns." April said, turning back and leaning on the island so that she was looking at Odd in the eyes. "Like when Xana took me over in the cafeteria."
"And the only reason that you know that was because you remember me answering to your question about my grandma?" Odd offered.
April nodded her head. "I know that, the first time, Yumi went somewhere else instead of the cafeteria. Though, where is a little, uh..."
"Fuzzy?"
"Yes." April said, standing up straight.
"Is Maggie here?" Odd asked, looking towards the door close to them.
"She has not returned back from her meeting with the 'boss', whoever that is." April said. "And, actually, now that I know she has a file on me and my friends as well as all of you, I am afraid to sleep here."
"I see what you mean." Odd said. "I could probably get Ulrich to let you keep his throwing stars down here for protection."
"Thank you, but I have tried throwing stars. Cat almost lost all of her life points." April said. "I'll stay with my bo."
"Like, bows and arrows?" Odd asked, remembering that she could teach that.
"No, a staff. Bo is the Japanese name for it." April said. "What weapon do you have?"
"A thing called a Laser Arrow." Odd said, putting his hand in a fist. He pointed to the top of his fist and continued, "The arrow comes out of my hand here whenever I think about shooting."
"Nice. And your friends?"
"Well, Ulrich's got-"
"Sorry I'm late, April." Maggie's voice said as the door opened. Maggie walked into the hallway that led to the kitchen and saw Odd with her. "Oh, Odd, what are you doing up so late?"
"We got stuck talking." Odd said, looking at his aunt with more caution than before.
"Well, you better get going back to your room before Jim finds you missing." Maggie said, smiling. "Don't want to get into any more trouble, do you?"
"One detention this week was enough for me, thank you." Odd said as he stood up. He looked at April and smiled as he said, "Good night, April."
"Good night, Odd. Oh, before I forget," April said, stopping him. "an idea to try with your feet. Wear flip flops for a few days straight. A lot of the time, the only reason feet stink is because they are forced to be in shoes all the time. Air them out for probably a week and there will not be as much of a smell."
"I never thought of that." Odd said, smiling. "Thanks."
"I just heard a girl complaining about the smell and thought you might be tired of people doing that." April said.
"Night."
"Night." Odd looked up at his aunt before walking out the door.
"Odd likes you." Maggie said, looking back at April as the door shut.
"I know." April said. "And I think I like him. Good night."
"Night April." Maggie said, watching April stand up and walk into her room. The door shut, leaving Maggie to go into her room.
April leaned against the door, worried about what Maggie might do. She locked the door and sighed.