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((This is a rather short, preparatory phase; I was a little rushed to finish it, but I promise the story will start to kick up soon! Also, bonus points to whomever can name that tune!!))

Project XANDRA
Phase 4: An Angel's Promise

A couple days later, Xandra’s déjà vu subsided, and she was honestly ecstatic about it; that day was one of the strangest she had ever faced. From dodging Jim’s hand, which for some reason she knew was coming, and causing him to fall into the pool on his own, to visiting the library and hoping to find her book that Sissi aptly pointed out was already in her arms. She couldn’t wait for the weekend, when she could calm down and sort things out. She had grown a little closer to her new group of friends in the meantime, especially Aelita. She didn’t know whether it was because they both had unusual names or came from English speaking countries, but she and Aelita had shared some fun afternoons together, and she even started seeing more of Yumi and Odd. Part of her was concerned about Jeremy, Aelita’s boyfriend...he always seemed so distant, and was extraordinarily cold and maybe even a little nervous whenever she was around. It was like she had done something horribly wrong simply by arriving at Catic, but what disruption could she possibly bring?

During dinner, she sat with the group, chatting away about various things. She looked across the table at Jeremy, who, as usual, had his laptop open and humming. Odd was wolfing down food so quickly Xandra was surprised to see him find time to breathe, and Ulrich and Yumi were talking about weekend plans. William still looked a bit tired, having just finished his catch-up work. This would probably be the best opportunity she’d find.

“Hey, Aelita,” Xandra started a bit nervously, “I’ve been around for a week and a half...”

“Yes?”

“Well, I’ve never really gotten the chance to find out what this town has to offer. Would you be willing to, um, show me around tomorrow?”

“Sure! It’s been a little bit since I’ve been out and about, too, really. Well, unless you count that Subdigitals concert.”

“You got tickets to that?!” Xandra asked incredulously. She had tried to get a ticket, but they sold out really fast, even for the French show.

“Tickets? I was the opening act!” Aelita said, beaming with pride at her accomplishment.

“Wow, I didn’t know you were a musician! You’re going to have to show me sometime!”

“I could just give you my demo,” Aelita offered, reaching in her backpack and pulling out a CD, placing it on the table, “I can make more copies.”

Xandra took it happily, shoving it in her backpack before throwing the whole bag over her shoulder. “Thanks! I have to take care of a couple things this evening, but I’ll see you tomorrow!! Bye, everyone!” She ran out before anyone could really respond, making it back to the dorm faster than she ever had before. As she approached her room, she found an envelope halfway slid under her door. She picked it up carefully, turning it over to find that it was the same letter she sent to her parents a week or so ago.

“What the...? Return to Sender?” Her mood dropped suddenly as she dropped her bag on the bed and sat in her chair. Why on earth would her parents send back the letter? They were always kind to her...had they left on vacation after sending her away or something? That had to be it...they always wanted to travel, but it was hard leaving her alone or finding a babysitter to take care of her. This gave them a chance, she guessed, placing the envelope under the framed picture of her parents. She wished that they had given her some notice, but she wasn’t going to ruin their big opportunity.

Xandra popped Aelita’s demo into her boombox and pressed play as she cleaned up the room. She hadn’t fully unpacked yet, and her walls were looking very bare. As she listened to the music, a song bubbled up in her, and she couldn’t help but start to sing.

“Ever felt like you were dreaming, just to find that you’re awake? The magic that surrounds you, will lift you up and guide you on your way,” she sang rather loudly, trying to match the volume of the music. Meanwhile, the Lyoko warriors had met up in an empty room before curfew.

“I finally de-bugged that program,” Jeremy said, spinning the disk on his finger, “that materializes you from the Replika. There’s only one piece of data we need, and that’s the one that XANA stole while we were freeing you, William.”

“We can finally get back to trashing the supercomputers and permanently erasing XANA?” Yumi asked, her arms crossed.

“Yes, as long as we don’t have any complications,” Jeremy replied, shooting a glare over Odd’s way.

“What? How was I supposed to know I’d fuse with Kiwi???” He retorted to a chuckle from Ulrich. No one had forgotten Odd’s attempt to virtualize Kiwi and the devastating, albeit amusing, side effects.

“Anyway, the quicker we can get this the better. I’m thinking we head onto Lyoko first thing in the morning.” Jeremy finished with a nod. “The data should hopefully still be in Sector Five...if we wait too long, he might take it out onto one of the Replikas, and it will take forever to find.”

“I can’t make it,” Aelita interjected, “I promised Xandra a day out on the town tomorrow.”

“You’ll have to cancel it. This is more important!” Jeremy replied, reminding her that the duty to defeat XANA was an override to just about anything. Aelita hated to admit it, but he was right about the data. She sighed, heading back to the dorm. Maybe there was a way that she could accomplish both...

The next morning, Aelita knocked energetically on Xandra’s door. She yawned, stumbling out of bed to answer.

“Aelita...? It’s only 7 AM...can’t we start later?” She asked with a yawn.

“I can’t believe you just woke up! Come on, get dressed! There’s a wonderful café I can show you for breakfast!” She replied, obviously very excited.

“O-okay...just, wait out here for a little bit,” Xandra replied, shutting the door and beginning to change. Something seemed off about Aelita today...unless this was how she was when the others weren’t around.

“I can’t believe you sent a clone to hang out with her,” Jeremy said, shaking his head.

“I couldn’t just cancel on her...she seems to really like me,” Aelita retorted in defense, “Just keep that tower protected while we visit Sector Five. We’ll have the data before you know it, and then we can switch myself and the clone.”

“Fine. Yumi and William couldn’t make it this morning, but I doubt we’ll need them. Things have been quiet. Everyone, down to the scanners.” As the elevator door closed, Jeremy leaned back in the chair.

She seems to really like me.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he muttered to himself before keying in the codes. “Transfer, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich. Scanner....virtualization.” As he waited for them to emerge in Sector Five, his thoughts turned back to Aelita’s statement. Xandra did indeed seem friendlier with Aelita than the others, especially him. He wasn’t sure what disconcerted him more: that she was close in the first place and likely to get pulled into this at some point, or that she was so close with Aelita. He had always been very protective of her, but what if he was hindering her life on Earth? After all, they had brought her back not only to get her away from XANA but to let her live with them...

“Jeremy?” Aelita called out, “We’re in Sector Five...can you try to get a lock on the data?”

“Uh, s-sure,” he said, being shaken out of his line of thought, “give me a minute.”

The Aelita clone and Xandra arrived at the café, buying breakfast and finding a table outside on the patio. It was a nice day, one of the last ones before the wintry cold began to set in, and it seemed Aelita wanted to make the most of it. Xandra calmly sipped a cup of earl grey tea while Aelita helped herself to a croissant, kicking her legs a little under the table.

“So...what’s on the agenda for today?” Xandra asked casually; the tea always had a way of calming her nerves, and considering Aelita’s state today, she reasoned she’d need it.

“Well, there’s the arcade, and some clothing stores, and...” The list went on, and Xandra was wondering how, without time travel, she intended to get to all those places in one day. She didn’t have much time to think, though; Aelita began pulling her along as soon as she finished breakfast, and the two were on their way...

“Alright, I found it. I’m sending the coordinates and two vehicles,” Jeremy reported, “Be ready for a good fight; XANA doesn’t want us to get this back.”

“What? Did he tell you that?” Odd quipped with a smile before hopping on the Overboard. Ulrich climbed on the Overbike while Aelita summoned her wings. The three began to race through Sector Five, heading towards the coordinates that Jeremy had pinpointed as the location of the data. Suddenly, Odd saw a laser or two fly past and turned around to find a troupe of three Hornets. “We’ve got company!!”

“What??” Jeremy asked incredulously, “Nothing’s showing up on my scans!!”

“He must have learned how to cloak them from you!” Aelita hypothesized as she continued with Ulrich. “Can you hack up a countermeasure?”

“I’ll try...but until then, you’re on your own.”

“We understand, Jeremy. Just hurry.”

As they approached the coordinates, Ulrich and Aelita also met laser fire, this time from a pair of tarantula. Behind them was a small diamond-like shape, which Aelita could immediately recognize as the data. “Well, we have our work cut out for us,” Ulrich said, leaping off his bike and letting it crash into one of the tarantula’s legs, knocking it off balance temporarily...

“Aelita...? Can I talk to you?” Xandra asked as the pair walked through the park.

“Sure! What is it?” Aelita replied, just as cheerful as she had been at 7 in the morning. Xandra had consciously tried to keep her friend from any caffeine or sugar, but it didn’t help at all.

“Well...do you think I’m crazy?” Xandra asked, looking down to the ground at the leaves that had fallen early.

“Of course not!” Aelita replied, catching up to her and looking at her downcast face. “Why?”

“Well...sometimes I wonder, Aelita,” she tried to explain as she walked a little further ahead, “if I’m really sane. I just...I just have been having strange things happen to me. A few days ago, I kept getting these feelings of déjà vu, that I had been in the situation before. I just knew what to do, like in gym class, or I felt as though something else had happened, like in the library...”

“Impact!” Ulrich yelled, stabbing a tarantula and gesturing for Aelita to go forward. She ran toward the data, but stopped in her tracks as a blade of energy passed right in front of her. She gasped, looking over at a very familiar figure in red and black, a XANA symbol gracing both his forehead and his zanbatou...

“William?!” The two said in unison, disbelieving their own eyes. That couldn’t be William...they freed him, didn’t they?

Jeremy shook back to attention and found the new enemy in the area. “Oh, no! You remember how I said that I made the clone with some of the programming that might have helped make XANA...?”

“Yeah,” Ulrich answered, already rushing to meet William, “so is this what he really looks like?”

“No! He took the data for the William clone...it looks like he’s made himself a virtual avatar, an exact copy of William, but one we don’t have to hold back with.”

“Well,” Ulrich said, blocking the clone’s strike, “I never thought I’d say this...but thanks, XANA!”

Jeremy looked over the data, wondering how XANA could have done that, but then noticed something that would make Aelita furious...her tower had been deactivated, replaced with XANA’s red. He took over the tower to make the clone, but that meant...

“...And all my strange notions have a recurring symbol,” Xandra finished. They were already well out of the park, walking down the street. She put down her shopping bags momentarily and sighed. “So, what do you think, Aelita?” She didn’t hear an answer.

“...Aelita?” She turned around, and no one was there. She shook her head and picked her bags back up. “I guess that means I’m crazy. Thanks, Aelita.” With that, she took a turn and started to head for Catic Academy, not knowing that her friend was a block away and in another world.

Ulrich continued his fight against the William clone while Aelita uploaded the data back to the terminal. Just as it finished, Aelita turned to see Ulrich fall, his pixilated form fading from the world. Before the clone could raise his sword again, Aelita hit him with a powerful energy field, shattering him to pieces. “Mission complete, Jeremy. You can bring me back now.”

“Good job, Aelita! Materialization!” He feigned his happiness, knowing that Aelita would likely be upset to find her clone had vanished in the middle of the mission. He silently prayed that Xandra hadn’t seen the clone vanish; since nothing else happened in the real world, causing a return would be suspicious. Still, he had to tell Aelita, so she could be ready to take back her place as, well, herself. He breathed a heavy sigh as the elevator doors opened, revealing Ulrich and Aelita. They walked up, noticing the look on his face.

“What’s that for?” Odd asked, “Wanted more time to talk with XANA?”

“No, it’s not that...it’s just...” He pointed to the screen at the tower. It was no longer green, nor was it red. It was simply the color of a normal tower. “He used the tower to generate the William clone again, which means Xandra probably got ditched in town.”

“Jeremy!” Aelita cried in dismay. “You said you’d protect it!”

“I was trying to debug the Lyoko scan system! I’m only human...I can’t do three things at once.” Aelita’s look softened a little bit; he always talked about being only human. There were times when his seat at the computer was a more draining task than facing down XANA on the network itself, and she had to remind herself, and the others, to not expect everything out of him.

“Do you think Xandra saw it?” Ulrich asked, his arms folded, “We should probably perform a return just in case.”

“Let me talk to her, Jeremy,” Aelita suggested, “if I think she saw the clone dissolve, I’ll call you, and we can do the return later tonight. It’s still valid for a few hours, right?”

“I think so, but I hope you know what you’re doing.”

A couple hours later, Aelita knocked on Xandra’s door. “Come in,” she said tersely, already having a good idea who would visit her. After all, most of the rest of the school found her too weird for their tastes. Aelita opened the door slowly, creeping in before closing it quietly behind her. Xandra didn’t bother to turn around.

“Xandra, I’m sorry about today. I—“

“You were somewhere else. The person I hung out with today...it wasn’t you, was it?” Xandra asked, looking at Aelita’s reflection in her computer monitor. Aelita froze wide-eyed, her hand reaching for the cell phone to text Jeremy.

“H-how did you know?” Aelita asked, trying her best not to stutter.

“You were far more cheerful than usual...almost to a frightening degree. You sent Taelia instead, didn’t you? You two look a lot alike.” Aelita’s hand relaxed, and she quickly concocted a half-truth to get her out of this awkward situation.

“I-I’m sorry, Xandra...something came up, and I knew how much you wanted to hang out. I couldn’t bear to cancel on you, but it was so important...it meant the world to me.” Xandra turned around in her chair, beckoning Aelita to sit nearby.

“I wouldn’t have minded you cancelling on me if you had just told me this beforehand. The problem was that I tried to have a rather personal conversation with her...and I think I weirded her out. By the time I finished, she had ditched me. I didn’t even see her leave.”

“Well, I’ll have to make it up to you sometime,” Aelita replied in all seriousness, “we can talk in a couple of days, if you like. In the meantime, I’ll make certain the Taelia doesn’t start spreading rumors.” Xandra grinned a bit; she just couldn’t stay angry at anyone in the group...not even Jeremy.

“That’s fair, but I do have one question...what was so important that you would break off an appointment with no notice?”

“It’s...complicated. I can’t really tell you now.”

“That’s okay,” Xandra answered with an understanding nod, “You don’t have to tell me now...but promise me, someday, that you’ll tell me what’s causing you so much trouble.” She held out her hand, intending it to be sealed on a handshake. Aelita looked down at Xandra’s hand nervously, but then realized that “someday” could mean when they were finally rid of XANA. When the secret no longer truly mattered...and she could live again.

She took hold of Xandra’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “I promise.”

Stay Tuned for Phase 5: Tangled Threads!

((Basically, this is a place holder for Phase Five, when I finish it. It won't take as long, I promise; I've got most of it already put together in my mind. Just have to get it down.))

EDIT: I have an announcement! Phase Five will be in TWO PARTS!!

Part One: Ties that Bind

Part Two: Blue Moon

I like where the story is going. You write well.

Project Xandra
Phase Five: Tangled Threads
Part Two: Blue Moon

Aelita took a step back in surprise; she wasn’t used to seeing the symbol without a force of XANA behind it. Xandra’s eyes were locked on her with an intense gaze, but showed no signs of possession. This was honest, serious, and most unfortunately real. She had been right about their new friend of hers, but she wasn’t ready to deal with this direct, confrontational approach.

“Wh-where did you see that?” She asked, too off-guard to mask her surprise.

“It’s been in every one of my nightmares since I got here. Jim’s forehead, the giant spider...”

“Giant spider??” Aelita asked, committing the fact to memory. If Xandra was somehow seeing the attacks, at least she knew what was coming now.

“And, worst of all, it was related to you in the most recent one. Are you responsible for what’s been happening to me?” She asked the question point-blank, hoping to get a truthful answer out of her in her current state.

“No, no!” Aelita said defensively, even though it was partially her fault, considering XANA came in search of her and her father.

“Then what is?” She asked, desperate to find the source. If she could just get the answers, the explanations...maybe her problems would finally melt away.

“I...I can’t tell you that, Xandra.” Aelita hung her head, kicking herself inside but knowing that it was necessary that Xandra be kept in the dark...for her own safety. Xandra was just about to jump with another question, but she could tell that Aelita wasn’t holding back of her own accord. Something about her body language said, “I want to tell you, but I can’t.”

“Well, at least answer me these two questions. First, is whatever this is about,” she asked, gesturing to the symbol, “why you pulled a bait and switch on me in town?” Aelita nodded. “And Jeremy’s suspicions about me...do they have to do with this, too?” Another nod, and Xandra dropped her hands to her sides. “So everything that’s happened to me since I’ve gotten here...you’ve known about it the entire time?”

Aelita shook her head slightly. “We knew about our end of it...we had no idea what you were going through. I’m sorry.”

“One last thing...who is the Blue Moon?”

“What???” Aelita said, completely thrown off by the question.

“Well,” Xandra said, flipping to the page before and putting it down in front of her, “in my dream last night, I saw a bunch of threads...well, more like ribbons...with different colors and patterns. I think I’ve done a decent job of matching them...except for one.”

Aelita looked down at the page, shocked by the uncanny accuracy but also puzzled by the Blue Moon. “May I borrow this? This may be just the evidence I need!”

“Evidence? For what?” Aelita smiled, taking the notebook.

“To convince Jeremy you’re okay!” She said, running back toward the cafeteria to catch them before they left for the next class. Xandra never had the time to consent or to forbid; in fact, she was still trying to piece together the conversation in her mind. So, something was going on...she was somehow involved...but no one could tell her? That was aggravating, but at least she was starting to get somewhere. She sat down at the picnic table, even though it was a bit chilly to be doing so, and pulled a sack lunch out of her bookbag; she had just enough time to eat and run to the next class.

Aelita returned to the cafeteria, taking her spot with the other Lyoko warriors and sliding the notebook in Jeremy’s direction. “Check this out,” she said, “Xandra saw ribbons in her dream last night that looked like these.” He glanced down at the list, furrowing his brow at it all.

“That doesn’t prove anything,” Jeremy said bitterly, “any spawn of XANA would know that.”

“Even yours?” Aelita said, remembering that Jeremy was only truly virtualized once, just after they had taken down XANA on one of their missions. Jeremy turned red, also remembering that time and how “ridiculous” he looked against the megatanks, as Ulrich had pointed out.

“Hey, I’m a cat, not a dog!” Odd complained.

“What about that one time?” Ulrich said, bringing up Odd’s fusion with Kiwi again.

“Well, what about that one time your body ran away?” He retorted, but Jeremy cleared his throat before the two got into any more embarrassing stories.

“How do we even know these are about us?” He asked, still trying to maintain his position. Aelita flipped the page, and almost everyone found themselves staring at the symbol.

“Both nightmares, and my ‘ribbon’, displayed this.”

“Yeah, that pretty much proves it,” Odd said, “We’ve got a William-ette on our hands!”

“Hey, I just had dreams of fighting there! I never saw anything like that!” William retorted.

“Jeremy, even if we never bring her to Lyoko, I still feel like she should at least know what’s going on. It’s been driving her up the wall...”

“Unless you want to tell her about every return we do, scanning her into Lyoko is the only way...and I am not willing to do that. Besides, we have five perfectly capable warriors.”

“Six,” Odd said, pointing to Jeremy.

“I don’t think he counts as ‘perfectly capable’,” Ulrich chimed in, “but Jeremy’s right, especially if XANA’s after her for some odd reason.”

“I know...I just remember when I was looking for answers,” Aelita said, looking down at the symbol, “I can’t imagine what it would be like to know that someone knows, but never having them tell you anything.”

“Jim’s after us all the time,” Yumi interjected, “and I’m sure he’d like to know what we’re up to.”

“This is different. It’s obvious she’s connected, and she’s not trying to get in trouble. She’s just trying to make sure she’s not crazy....you know what? I don’t care if I have to bring her up to speed on every return. She at least deserves to know what’s causing all this.”

“Well, you’re too late to tell her now. It looks like she’s heading to class, and she has detention today,” Jeremy pointed out, pointing to Xandra walking into another building. He was honestly relieved; even though it did involve her, he had no way of knowing what she’d do once she knew. He made a mistake once, telling Taelia, and they almost lost everything. The last thing he wanted was another problem like that.

The afternoon seemed to crawl by for Aelita; part of her could relate to this new girl, though she was catching herself at times second-guessing her decision. Then again, someone on campus with the knowledge, but no access to Lyoko, would be great back-up for XANA’s attacks. She suddenly remembered what Xandra had said about her dream...but she hadn’t seen any signs of XANA or spiders. Maybe, this time, Xandra was wrong. She didn’t see the new girl at dinner, and so decided to stop by her room before curfew.

Meanwhile, Xandra had finally gotten completely unpacked and was surfing the web, checking for E-mails from home, only to find her inbox empty. She opened up her IMs, but no one was online. With a sigh, she just began to listen to music on her computer, opening a game of solitaire to kill some time. She’d hum or sing along with a song now and then, keeping her hands and eyes busy with the card game until an IM window popped up on her screen...

PinkAngel_777: Xandra, you there?
MythMistress347: Who the...Aelita?
PinkAngel_777: Great! I was hoping this was the right screen-name.
MythMistress347: It’s nice to hear from someone! Sorry I was so psycho today...
PinkAngel_777: It’s alright...I can understand where you’re coming from. That’s what I wanted to talk about. Can I come over?
MythMistress347: Um, sure. Nothing over here but me and solitaire.
PinkAngel_777: See you soon!

Suddenly, another window popped up with a screen-name completely foreign to her:

Guardian37269: You need to leave.
MythMistress347: WTF? Who is this??
Guardian37269: No time. Get out of the room. Take Aelita, too.
MythMistress347: How do you know about her?! Answer me!
Guardian37269: Spiders are coming. Go.

Xandra’s eyes widened as she read the last line. She pushed her chair back and headed to the door, barely stopping to grab a jacket. She opened the door to find Aelita walking toward her room, and Xandra ran towards her, grabbing her hand as she passed.

“Xandra, what are you—“

“Spiders,” she explained tersely, “someone called ‘Guardian37269’ tipped me off.” Aelita nodded, reaching for her mobile with her other hand; if XANA was attacking, the others needed to know as soon as possible. As they ran down the stairs, they heard yells of panic coming from the boys’ dorms. The two girls looked at each other and opened the door to the lower level momentarily, staring at the large abdomen of a black widow spider.

“Jeremy!!” Aelita shrieked, running towards his room after easily breaking free from Xandra’s grasp. She followed close behind, somewhat ignoring the stranger’s message, and followed Aelita into Jeremy’s room, only to find it empty.

“We need to get out of here,” Xandra said frantically, “call him and make sure he’s okay. I’ll make sure Ulrich and Odd aren’t in its path. If black widows of normal size are poisonous, I don’t want to know about this one.” She peeked out the door, watching the spider crawl down the hall, stopping at a single door in the hallway. She took a wild guess that that was Odd and Ulrich’s room and turned back to Aelita.

“We need to move; that thing honed in on Odd and Ulrich really fast. It’s only a matter of time before it sniffs us out.”

“But what about them?” Aelita asked with concern as the two ran the opposite direction out the door.

“Well, they can get out through the window, right? Call them when you’re done with Jeremy; we need to figure out what to do about this,” Xandra replied, stopping to catch her breath at the edge of the woods.

“Actually, we know what to do,” she said, “and Jeremy’s not picking up! Where is he??”

“Hopefully not with big, black, and ugly,” Xandra replied, “and what’s this about knowing what to do?” Aelita sighed; Jeremy was nowhere to be found, Ulrich and Odd were probably concentrating on keeping the spider busy by this point...the only person likely unaffected was Yumi, and possibly William. There seemed to be no other choice; she tossed her phone to Xandra and began to run into the forest.

“Call Yumi and William, and try to keep up. I’ll explain on the way.”

“But, where are we going?” Xandra asked, “The spider’s that way!”

“You wanted answers, didn’t you? So quit complaining and call them!” Xandra clammed up, surprised that the usually calm Aelita snapped at her so suddenly. Then again, if she had a boyfriend MIA with a rampaging monster, she’d probably be snappy, too. She quickly called up the two as they stopped in the middle of the woods, climbing down into the sewers. As she hung up, Aelita began to explain the whole situation while rolling on her scooter through the tunnels.

“...So we have to go there and shut him down at the source before he takes over the world,” Aelita finished as they climbed out in front of the abandoned factory. Xandra cleared her throat, trying to get her voice to unlock.

“Well...I can understand now...why you didn’t want to tell me,” Xandra struggled to speak, finally getting that one sentence out. She was happy with that for the moment as she followed Aelita down to the elevator. As the door opened to the computer terminal, she found Yumi and William had already beat them there, but she was too distracted by the grandeur of the whole operation. She gasped in spite of herself and suddenly had one of her moments of déjà vu.

“I’ve...been here...haven’t I?” She asked, soaking in the view.

“We can talk about that later! Yumi, William, I’ll start setting up a virtualization program. I’ll be right behind you. I want to make sure Jeremy is okay.” The two of them nodded, shot a rather annoyed glance at Xandra, and stepped into the elevator. The door closed on the three of them, and they descended into the scanner room. When they arrived, Xandra shook her head in disbelief as another déjà vu washed over her; she had gotten this far before...or at least it felt like it. Yumi and William each took their place in one of the large capsules, but Xandra hesitated, still remembering their glances.
“Um, Aelita....should I go, too?” She asked, wondering if her friend could hear her down there. Aelita tried calling Jeremy again, finally getting an answer.

“Jeremy!! Are you alright?”
“Yeah. There’s a giant black widow terrorizing campus!”
“Way ahead of you, Jeremy. I’m already at the factory, with Yumi, William, and Xandra.”
“Well, that’s—Xandra?! I told you to keep her away from there!”
“Jeremy, she saved me! That’s twice she’s fought against XANA. How much is enough for you, huh?!”
“I just...don’t want another Taelia...or William. We have to be careful about this kind of thing.”
“I know, Jeremy. I don’t want another catastrophe, either...but she seems like the real deal.”
Jeremy sighed over the line. “Fine...but she takes the vows as soon as we’re done, and she gets training ASAP. XANA's gotten harder; we can't afford a newbie who doesn't know the ropes.”
Aelita smiled. “I love you, Jeremy,” she said quietly before hanging up, making Jeremy blush. “Okay, Xandra? Step inside the remaining scanner; you’re go for launch!”

Xandra stepped inside nervously as the doors closed behind her, causing her to jump slightly. She didn’t know why, but this little place scared her somewhat. Was it more déjà vu?

“Initial Scan, Xandra.” The circle rose around her, emitting a soft light. She closed her eyes, not wanting to get blinded but also thinking that it would calm her somewhat, considering that the space was enough to make just about anyone claustrophobic. Aelita watched the data as it gathered into a blank card with a female form; there was no turning back now.

“Here we go. Transfer, Yumi, William, Xandra. Scanner...Virtualization!” A flash of light, and a burst of air that made her ponytails fly and her skirt bellow a bit. Then nothing; for a moment, it felt as though she had fallen completely out of existence. Suddenly, she regained awareness in midair, dropping towards an alien terrain similar to the arctic. Something in her clicked, and she landed without doing too much damage to herself, rolling as she hit the ground. She stood up and brushed herself off, jealous of the veterans who landed on their feet in the first place.

“That’s going to take some getting used to,” she said to herself, putting her hands on her hips to find two holsters on a belt. She looked down at herself for a second and yelped in surprise. The other two looked back at her, checking out the outfit. She was dressed mostly in a deep blue, with a silver belt and shoulder guards. Around her neck was a necklace with a silver moon pendant, and an image of the moon was emblazoned on her forehead.

“So THAT’s what the Blue Moon meant,” Aelita said behind her, causing her to spin and pull the two weapons from her belt. As she pulled the two stick-like handles from the holsters at her hips, a silver-tone laser blade emerged from each in a crescent shape. Xandra looked down at them with a nod of approval before spinning them in her hands for warm-up.

“So,” she asked, looking at the other three, “what now?”

“Well,” Aelita explained as they began to run down the path, “we’re heading towards a tower that’s glowing red. The basic objective is to get me in that tower so I can shut it down and stop the spiders that are attacking the school.”

“Sounds easy enOW!” Xandra cried, getting hit in the side. “Shouldn’t have said that.”

“Krabbs!” Yumi yelled, getting into attack position next to William, “Aim for the symbol!”

“How exactly am I supposed to do that? They’re freaking huge!!”

“Try jumping,” Aelita said with a wink as she waved her hand over her bracelet, sprouting her wings and taking flight. Xandra blinked as she saw her friend fly over the Krabbs, charging a ball of energy in her hands. Apparently, the normal rules didn’t apply here. She ran for one of the Krabbs, narrowly dodging its laser fire before closing her eyes tightly and taking a leap of faith, jumping higher than she ever had before and landing on the top of the Krabb. Without even trying to explain it, she jammed her kama’s blade into the symbol, pulling it back out with a small struggle.

“Xandra! Get—“ Aelita was too late; the Krabb exploded, knocking Xandra off the monster and flat to the ground. Another one crawled for her, but Aelita shot an Energy Field into its symbol before it could charge its laser. Yumi and William easily dispatched the third one, and the group again found themselves heading for the tower.

“Careful!” A familiar voice called over the communications link, “Two Tarantulas are guarding the tower; let’s take care of them quick so we don’t attract the William wannabe!”

“William wannabe?” Xandra asked as she ran along, trying her best to keep up with the veterans.

“Long story. Later,” Yumi replied, blocking the first shots from the Tarantulas, “Jeremy, any hope for some transport? They might be easier to take from the air.”

“On their way,” Jeremy replied, “if you two can distract the monsters enough, Aelita should be able to get in without much trouble.”

“Hello-o! There’s three of us!” Xandra yelled back at him before taking a laser to the chest.

“If you keep going like that, you won’t be there anymore! 20 Life points left!” Xandra grumbled under her breath.

“So, how should I handle these?” She asked, but the others were already starting to engage the pair of monsters. She touched a hand to her forehead out of aggravation, and before she could do anything else, a set of goggles materialized across her eyes. On the edge of one of the lens, she saw some information:

Tarantula: Gen2 Monster. Walks on four legs or two, fires from front two legs. Symbol on forehead area. Shoots lasers for medium to high damage, depending on hit zone.

Underneath were a series of equations and numbers.

“Jeremy?”

“It looks like your goggles scan things. It just gave you the monster profile as well as the current distance and trajectory of its shots! That’ll definitely make training a bit easier.”

Xandra grinned an evil grin as she began to input commands through the mental interface; it took a lot of concentration, but she finally had a plan. “Okay!” She said, running forward through Tarantula fire. Aelita was flying around one with William, while Yumi was trying to handle one alone. She and Yumi dodged the lasers for a little while until Xandra stopped, a laser heading straight toward her head. She suddenly waved one of her kama in front of her forehead, reflecting the oncoming laser into the monster’s symbol. “Wicked!” She said with a smile until a shot from the other tarantula devirtualized her. Yumi threw her fan and directed it with her telekinetics into the Tarantula’s symbol. William looked over at her, impressed at the show as well as the outfit, which he never minded seeing her in.

“Aelita, get going! I haven’t heard anything out of Odd or Ulrich!” He said as Xandra emerged from the scanner, weak-kneed and short of breath. She struggled to the elevator and hit the button, sitting down on the floor and waiting for it to take her up.

Aelita rushed into the tower, starting the shutdown process as Xandra left the elevator. “Is the first time always that draining?”

“You get used to it,” Jeremy replied.

AELITA
CODE: LYOKO

“Tower, deactivated,” Aelita reported.

“Alright, get ready for another trick. Return to the past, now,” Jeremy said, pressing the enter key and causing a large white light to engulf everything around.

Xandra found herself sitting at a table in the cafeteria, the happy couple returning from grabbing croissants. “What am I doing here?” She asked, completely confused.

“We’re back at breakfast,” Jeremy replied, handing Odd a croissant before taking a bite of one himself, “that flash of light allowed us to time travel to a place and time before the attack took place, but no more than a day, normally.”

“But the spiders...won’t people—“

“No one remembers except us,” Aelita responded.

“And apparently you,” Jeremy interjected, “I believe your déjà vu may have stemmed from the incomplete scan you took when XANA tried to force you onto Lyoko. I was able to stop it before it was permanent, but it may have left some side effects.”

“Okay, now things are making sense,” Xandra responded with a grin before it slowly faded away, “but there’s still one un-resolved thing...I dreamt of Jim before I was semi-scanned.”

“Hm, that is a point. Well, if the nightmares continue, let me know. I’ll probably want to run a diagnostic scan and see if there are any anomalies in your data,” Jeremy replied, “but first, you’re going to have to take a couple vows. Basic procedure for new recruits.”

“For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do us part,” Xandra retorted dramatically with a smile as she got up to put away her tray, “I’m not marrying you, you know. You can count on me.” She left the cafeteria the happiest she had been since she arrived. She finally gained some semblance of trust from Jeremy, and even got some of her questions answered, though a few still lingered in her mind. Why was she being warned of XANA’s attacks...and who was that Guardian person?

Thank you. smile That means a lot to me.

Thank you, Golden. I love every comment, good or bad, someone can make on this. This is the first time I've "published" anything I wrote.

Project Xandra Phase Six is underway. The title hasn't quite come to me yet, but it will end with a bit of a cliffhanger, and a shocking secret! eek