Alexei's POV:
My cell buzzed with this message from Lynn.
Heading to the manison with Cam. Possblie Key location, will keep you posted.
Of course we couldn't have one day free of Xana and Lyoko. It's always something.
Glancing beside me, I saw Emi's expression of wonderment. In the twenty something hours she's been on earth, experening new things, this is the first time she's been exicted. She bounced from foot to foot, wanting to move on. "Let's go, Alexei."
Emi linked her arm around mine and headed down the hall. The close contact would've been fine, had it not been Kya's body. Part of me wants to cringe at the physical contact. Heck, I'm trying not to flinch anytime she moves, afraid she will hit me. Kya isn't volient, it's just the quickest way for her to get me to shut up.
A gentle hand patted my cheek. Emi looked at me with eyes that held excitment and concern. "Am I making you tried? We can rest for a bit."
Emi's tender kindness is off putting when used in Kya's body. Yeah, this isn't creepy at all. Gotta remember to keep this to myself. Kya will kill me if she hears this. "No something came up, Cam and Lynn went to the manison to check on Kya."
Emi's expression darkened. "We should go too." Emi always puts others before herself, to the point of not caring about herself. I worry that she isn't selfish enough. Being on Lyoko day after day has to be lonly. Yet she doesn't complain. I've asked her point-blank if she ever gets lonley or mad at us for not going to Lyoko just for a visit. Her answer was a shrug and sad smile.
Emi's a valueable member of our group, not because she can deactivate towers. She's the glue that holds our group's shakey friendship together. It is by finding the supercomputer and meeting her, the five of us became friends. Truthfully, I don't think Kya and Lynn would've spoken to us, we not discovered the supercomputer. Back than, two of us wanted to shut down the supercomputer and two wanted to explore the vitual world. Emi's sudden appears brought the other two around. An A.I. or not, we couldn't shut down the supercomputer knowing she was there. Likewise, we couldn't just walk away and do nothing.
"The only place we're going, is my favorite place." I'm not going to let Xana ruin this day for Emi. We've gone through so much to bring her here, even temporaily. That shows there's hope that Cam's materilazion program will work.
"No, Alexei. Cam went to the lab for a reason. I'm not going to allow Kya to be placed in danger." Emi's voice betrayed her resolve. Mi'lady wanted to do the right thing, but she didn't want to return to Lyoko.
I wrapped my arms about Emi, pulling her into a hug. "Trust them, Mi'lady they know what their doing. They'll call us if something happens." Stepping back, I looked her in the eye. She had to know Lynn and Kya were trained Defenders who can handle anything. Kya being in Emi's body is a minor disadvangve, nothing they can't manage. "Now, I believe we still have my favorite place to visit."
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Cam's POV:
"Xana's monsters are guarding the key, but they can't get to it." The map on the monitor showed Kya's location as southwest in the desert sector. She managed to aviod detection and found the key. According to th readings, the key won't appear for another forty minutes. Enough time to form a plan to determine if Lynn should go in alone with Kya or call the others. "The openings on the ground are big enough for us and kranlots to get through."
"Couldn't Xana send horents to come from above?" Lynn asked. He leaned closer to get a better look at the screen. After several seconds, he scatched his head and back away. "How can you read that?"
Ignoring his question, I zoomed the map to rotate closer to the top of the cyclinder structure. (Below is a picture of the cyclinder.)
"That's the least of our concerns." The opening of the cyclinder will provide no cover should horents attack. Inisde is an empty space, like an arena. Whoever goes in will have to rely solely on their weapons for offense and defense. It isn't the ideal place for Emi or rather Kya to enter. They'll be exposed, unless the others act as living sheilds. "Emi's terrian manulpation will make up for the area's openess. The problem is how to get around the monsters guarding to enter."
Lynn patted my shoulder, than headed for the elevator. "I'll use Eagle's Eye to scout another enterance from the distance." The elevator doors opened with a loud cluck. Lynn stepped in, than turned to give a thumbs up. He's probably the most opmtic person of our group. Kya and I are realists, Alexei jokes, and Emi is willing to self sacifiace. Lynn's the only one who doesn't point out the negatives straight away. He'll admit when a situitation is dire, but immedatily try to think of a plan to restore our moral.
"I'm dropping you several meter's closer than Kya currently is." My fingers flew over the keyboard, bring the now route vitrualiztion process. Avatar cards scrolled onto the screen until it stopped at Lynn's. The card than began to load, as I keyed in the final commands. Blinking signaled the card had loaded, Lynn will arrive on Lyoko shortly.
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Emi stared wided eyed at the building in front of her. A range style building sat in the middle of the busy business and shopping district of the city. People walked by to caught up in their own worlds to notice it. On the brightly painted door loosely hung an open sign. Dispight the sign no one appeared to be inside.
Emi wondered if the ower had forgotten to change the sign to closed. She hestiated to follow Alexei up the steps, not wanting to distrube the ower if they were closed. He silently urged her to go inside. She refused to move. Alexei gently took her by the hand to guide her inside.
A small bell chimed when the door opened signaling someone had entered. A couple behind the counter to the left of the door waved to Alexei, warm smiles on their face. They were use to seeing the young male, as he often came to the shop as a child. "We were beginning to think you'd left us for your movies." The woman joked.
"How could I chose movies over this place?" Alexei answered with a bright smile, something Emi hadn't seen before. His usual smiles, grins, and smirks were either cocky, flirtous, or joking. But this was a genuen smile straight from the heart that reached his eyes. "This is where my love of movies began after all."
The woman mentioned something about the 'old days', Emi didn't caught all of it. Laugher coming from the back of the shop caught her attention. She began to wonder behind some shelves to check it out.
"Everything's in the back for you, as usual." The woman's husband called, as he carried some boxes to the front.
Alexei caught up to Emi, silently watching as she interacted with a group of children. The kids, ranging from ages six to eight, were cuddled together watching a few adults act out scenes from the book they read. Emi sat with the kids, equally eager to find out the end of the story.
Emi had never seen anything like this before. The two adults effortly switched from character to character without messing up the flow of the story. They would pause at all the right moments to build tension, than lash out to surpise the kids. Each of the kids sat with baited breath for the next scene. Emi found herself also drawn into the intenstie of the story.
She'd seen acting like this before in movies and plays, but they couldn't compare to this. Could it be because she was seeing it in person and not through a screen? Or the story was written that well? No, it was the passion the adults got from bring joy to the children they used to fuel their acting.
When the story ended, Emi found herself cheering along with the children. The adults went to each of the children to ask them questions and chat. The sample actions brought a smile to her face. 'So this is what it's like to be in the real world.' She thought to herself, as she review all of her new experineces.
Truly, she did not want to go back to Lyoko. But it wasn't her place to wise for such things. She would be happy with the tiny bit of freedom they'd gifted her. Anything more would be selfish.
"Emi," Alexei waved to Emi, showing her where he'd been standing for the past few mintues. "come with me." He lead her pass other customers and more bookshelves to the back of the store. On a door the sign read 'Staff Only'. Alexei went inside like he owned the place.
Bookshelves lined the walls to encircle the cozy sitting area in the center. Tables and chairs lined the two windows to the back, while a large rug covered the center floor. Two couchs sat to the left and right of the rug, while several bean bags took up the rest of the middle.
Alexei went to one of the shelves closest to the window to grab several books. He brung them back over to Emi, as he guided her to sit on a bean bag. Flipping through some pages in a large book, he stopped at a fariytale. Emi listened as he read one, than two more. By the time he finished the third one, she was confused.
"Before I met Cam, I spent most of my childhood here." Alexei laid back to stare at the ceiling. Childhood memories of his time at the shop raced through his mind. "My parnets use to both work alot, even after I met Cam that hadn't changed. Mom buy's alot of books, she's been friends with the owners of this place for years." He turned to glanced at Emi. "I never went to preschool as a child. Instead I learnt everything here up until entering elementary school. By than, I began visiting this bookshop after school and on weekends so that I wouldn't be home alone." Alexei withheld a laugh, remembering how his parents how comfortable his parents were leaving a six year old home alone.
"Several of my favorite childhood books were adapted into tv shows and movies, in some way, shape, or form." He handed Emi one of the books he picked out. "That's how my love of movies began." Sitting up, he showed Emi another of his favorite childhood tales. "I love movies not because their fancy and entertaining. I love how they can books and stories to life. Directors and screenwriters can put new spins on old favorites, or create whole new stories by getting inspiration from books."
Emi flipped through the book in her lap. She never knew Alexei's love of movies came from books. It made her wonder how well she truly knew her friend(s). "Yet you watch all kinds of werid things." She giggled. Alexei certain did have questionable taste in movies sometimes. Every once in a while he'd find something good that wouldn't make other's cringe. Rare moments those were. Only she and Cam dared to watch his pick in movies.
"I like to give everything a chance if I can." The familar weight of the book brought comfort to Alexei. "I'll admit some of my picks are just plan bad, others were worth the watch. Everyone and everything desevres a chance." He seemed to be talking more to himself than Emi.
Emi laid her head on Alexei's shoulder. "I'm assuing you haven't shared this with anyone else?"
Why would he? Mara would make fun of him for being a 'book nerd'. Cam would understand, but point out he should try reading other genres besides fantasy and fairytales. Lynn and Kya just wouldn't understand. "No, Emi I haven't." He rested his head on top of her's. Of all his close friends, he felt like she was the only one who understood him.
Emi sense a familiar lonliness and yerning for that ever evading closeness. Of her only four friends, non of them could truly understand the battle of mixed emotions she felt. Alexei was the only one who treated her as more than an A.I. all the time. The others tried to treat her the same, but often didn't. She wasn't mad, who would think an A.I. had thoughts and feelings.
Maybe that's why she clung to Alexei when he offered to 'hang out' with her. He went out of his way to spend time with her, ask her opinion and advice. Alexei isn't the best with computers, but he'd spend hours trying to upload videos for her to watch so she wouldn't get bored. While she did have her own way to watch movies without his help, she couldn't bear to crush his happiness when he presented them to her.
The rythmic beat of Alexei's heartbeat was relaxing to Emi. All of the tension drained from her body. For now, she wanted to pretend they were both normal students. No Xana or Lyoko. Only them.
"Thank you for sharing this with me." She glanced up, peeking through her bangs to smile at her friend.
Alexei brung he forehead to lean it against Emi's, wanting to feel 'her' warmth. He laced their fingers together, wanting to convicing himself today wasn't a dream. Emi was here, laying next to him in the flesh.
Emi found herself staring into Alexei's eyes. She never noticed the unqice light hazel they were. How could she? On Lyoko they raced against the clock to stop Xana. While their commuications via computer reflected his eyes as light brown.
Alexei's face grew red from Emi's intense stare. His heartbeat picked up as he realized how close she was. Yes, it was Kya's face watching him. But it was Emi he saw.
He found himself closing the small remaining distance between them. Emi followed his lead to move closer. There faces were inches away, they could feel the tinkle of each others' breath on thier skin.
Alexei used his free hand to brush a piece of fallen hair from Emi's face. His hand gently lenagered on her face. Using that hand, he tipped her chin to look directly in her eyes.
Slowly, they moved closer. Finally closing the last few inches.
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"We could use some help here, general!" Lynn caught his chakram to slam it into a blok. The monster strumbled back before explosing. Digital sparks rained down, as Lynn turned to engage the next monster. "Can't you reach them?" The chakram zoomed through the air to round back on top of two krabs. Lynn effortly caught the weapon to place it back on his hip.
Cam redialed Alexei's number for the fourth time, getting sent to voicemail again. "The dork probaly forgot to charge his cell...again." Cam wanted to slug his best friend. "He always forget to charge his phone at the most randomest times." They needed the extra support to get the key.
Kya watched Lynn from a safe distance. She wanted to help, but couldn't take the risk. Frustated, she duck down to hide behind a rock. "Come on work, work." Looking at her hands, she thought of how to use Emi's powers. "Grand wall!" When nothing happned, she remembered the command had to be said backwards. "Llaw Dnard!" Still nothing happened.
"It has to be the oppsite of what you want." Cam instruted, not that he knew more than Kya did. "Try focusing on a speicfi spot." He contiued to try contacting Alexei and Emi. Since Emi left Kya's cell in her dorm, there was no sense in trying to call.
Kya peeked over the rock to focus on the spot just in front of Lynn. Holding out her hands, she invisioned a soild wall materziling from the ground up to protect Lynn. "Llaw yortesd." 'Destroy Wall.
Lynn grunted as he was shot in the side by a laser. A krab stood over him, charing it's laser. Lynn wasn't sure how many life points he had, not that he wanted to lose anymore. The ground below him rumbled as a soild structure materiziled. The wall protected Lynn from another attack. Complete awstruck, he didn't see the second krab behind him. Eagle's Eye activated at the last moment to alert Lynn. In one swift movement, Lynn rolled off the ground and lanuched the chakram. The krab crushed to the ground as it's two remaining legs couldnt support it.
"Get off your butt!" Kya dashed by, heading for the enterance. A human sized mouse hole, Kya had to crawl through to enter. Emi's small frame allowed Kya to quickly exit on the other side. Lynn found himself stuck for several long moments.
"Should I vitualize some butter to help you get unstuck?" Cam joked, half timided to send Lynn some butter.
"Shut it, general." Lynn flated himself completly to army crawl out. Pulling himself up, he found Kya backing away from a swarm of horents.
"Llaw yortesd." 'Destroy Wall'. Kya's second attempt to create a wall failed ecipcally. The structure began to materizle, only to brust into digital pieces. "Cam, explaination please!" Backing away, Kya made a mad dash for Lynn. The crater provided no natural protection, making Kya an easy target. Just reaching Lynnshe was struck in the back by a laser.
"I don't always have all the answers." Cam rolled his eys, as he zoomed into Emi's avatar card. Flashing red along the torso showed where the laser had struck. From the data provided, Cam couldn't find anything wrong with Emi's program. "Nothing wrong with Emi's program. The only other explaintion is that Emi's body is beginning to reject you." Glancing at the digital clock on the screen that read 6:05pm, Cam confirmed his theroy.
He really needed to contact Alexei, there was only fifty-five mintues before the deadline. Cam didn't want to think of what would happen if he didn't switch the girls back. Kya's brothers certainly wouldn't be happy, that's worst than Mara on a bad hair day.
Sighing, Cam pulled up the number of the last person he wanted to call. Goodness knows Alexei wasn't going to like it.
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Ally's POV:
"And why did you drag me here?" Arms crossed, I leaned against a wall as I wondered what wacky thought ran through my best friend's mine. Probably plotting Alexei's down fall. Pour boy didn't know what he'd gotten himself into by skipping out on Mara.
"Shh." Mara whisphered loudly. "I'm spying on Alexei." Of course she was. On my way back from the skate park, I saw Mara sneakally watching someone from behind a bush. Being the kind best friend that I am, I snuck up on her. My eats are still ringing from her shrill sheirk.
The ringing of my cell cut our conversation short. "Ally." Cam's voice nearly made me hang up on instinct. How did he get my number? "I've got a favor to ask." Now this is intersting. Cam rarely asked me for favors, usually it's Alexei or Lynn. Kya's pride stops her from 'stooping that low'.
"You can talk, doesn't mean I'll listen." Even as I said that, I knew I was going to hear him out.
"Could you give Alexei a message" An odd request, at least it doesn't involve my cousin. "It's important and he's not answering his cell."
Feeling generous, I agreed. "Fine, but payment is Alexei has to spend this Saturday with Mara. All day." That should make Mara happy and keep Alexei alive.
"Done." Cam quickly agreed. He hung up, after telling me the message. I forgot to ask how he knew I was around Alexei. Glancing at my 'spy' best friend answered my question. I'm around Mara, who's around Alexei, not to hard to figure out I'd be nearby.
Stuffing my cell into my pocket, I got Mara's attention.
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Cam's POV:
"Be ready, the key will appear in less than a minute."My call with Ally went surpisingly well. Alexei's not going to like that I used him as a bargining chip, but it's his fault. He needs to learn responsbily. How he manages to function without a consist babysitter is beyond me. "In coming, three horents."
I'm prepared to go to Lyoko should Lynn get devitualized. Not that it'll help if Emi doesn't arrive in the....next fourty minutes. Note to self, next time leave a babysitter withAlexei. I'll use his allowance to pay of it.
"Twenty seconds." The montior showed Lynn engage the second swarm of horents. Eagle's Eye is working perfectly today. The ability is allowing Lynn to predict enemy movements before they can attack. This saving grace alone is keeping Lynn mostly out of harms way.
"I've got the Key, Cam." Kya sounded out of breath, but happy. "Have Alexei and Emi arrived?"
The elevator doors clucked open, revealing a blushing Alexei and Emi. They stood appear from each other, but looking anywhere but each other. "I'm not even going to ask, just head for the scanners."
"What's the situation?" Alexei asked, ingoring my orders.
Rolling my eyes, I surived the others stats. "Lynn's almost out of life points, but they've got the final key." To Kya, I answered. "Head for the tower north of your location. Alexei and Emi will meet you."
The elevator doors closed, taking Alexei and Emi to the scanner room below. Once the scanners alerted me that someone was inside, I quickly went through the vitualzition proccess.
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Emi's POV:
"Emi head for the tower, Alexei meet up with Lynn to escort Kya." Cam ordered three seconds after we vituralzed onto Lyoko. I should say dropped. Alexei landed in a cruch, while I smashed first into the ground. No one warned me the transiction from human to digital is so distroctating.
"Lynn's just been devituarlzed." Cam's voice is full of panic. "Hurry Alexei, Kya's down to her last fourty life points."
Alexei dashed off without a word.
"He's not going to make it in time." I said more to myself than Cam. Behind me is the safety of a tower. Several meters in front is Kya's current location.
"Alexei can handle it, you go to the tower." Cam ordered again.
Taking a deep breath, I glanced at the tower. "Lighening Dash." I whisphered. The sudden force of speed forcing me forward caught me off guard. I'd forgotten this ability used ice skates. Never having skated a day in my live, I thought back to all the times I've watched Kya in battle. Muscle memory took care of balancing and control. Shifting my movement, I sped past Alexei, making it to Kya first.
Kya used her years of training to her advangate in my body. She rolled, twriled, and dodged like it she was in her body. Until she tripped and strumbled to the ground. A krab closed in on her, charging it's laser. Meters from the krab, I leapt off the ground. "Freeze." Twirling my body, I pressed my hand to the krab's 'head' as I flew over. Ice spread from the palms of the gloves onto the krab, freezing it in place.
Landing, I closed the final distance to Kya. "That was fun." My smile was short lived, as a laser knocked me into Kya.
"Seventy life points left Emi." Cam didn't sound happy.
We tried to untangle ourselves to face the threat behind us. There was no need to, Alexei copied my move. Leapting over the krab, Alexei tossed three shuriken into it's eye. The monster explosed into digital bits.
"Can the three of you head for the tower now?" Yeah, Cam's not amused. "I'd like to aviod having another heartattack if possble."
We made it to the tower without any more incidents. Alexei stayed outside to play guard. Kya and I stood face to face in the center of the tower, just like we'd done twenty-four hours ago.
"Hope you didn't cause to much trouble." Kya joked, arms slightly crossed.
Thinking back to everything that's happened over the last twenty-four hours, my thoughts stopped on one parcuitcalaur event.
"Nope, none what so ever."
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"So that's it?" Lynn asked. It was before school the next day and the group was meeting in Kya's dorm. They'd reviewed everything that happened over the last two days, wondering what their next steps were now that they'd gathered all of the keys. "Our Lyoko days are over?"
Cam shook his head. "Not quite. While we do have the last key, which will allow me to finish the materilzation program. It's still going to take some time." He'd spent most of the previous night working on the materizlation program. The last key allowed some process, but not enough to finish everything in one night.
"We've made some process, which does help alot." Even though she was back to speaking to her friends via the computer, Emi wasn't upset. Her friends had given her a perious gift, a normal day on earth. For that alone, she'd always be grantful. "Also, Xana's not just going to sit back and let us work in peace."
Kya tossed the pillow she'd been hugging onto the bed. "Back to the norm." Streching, she grabbed her backpack. "Speaking of norm, we need to leave now if we wanna get breakfast." She waved bye to Emi, before heading to the door.
Cam and Lynn also said their good-byes, leaving Alexei alone.
"About yesturday." Alexei blushed, thinking back to their time in the bookstore.
Emi also blushed at the memtion. "Do worry, I won't tell anyone. I don't think Kya would be happy with us if she found out." On that agreement, the two said they good-byes.
Alexei turned Kya's computer off, than gathered his things. Not outside the door two seconds, Mara jerked him towards her. "What the heck, Mar?" Alexei tried to push Mara off, but the girl had a vice grip on him.
"Your staying by my side all day today. Your not ditching me this time." Mara dragged a worried Alexei away from his friends. Ally shook her head, knowing the fate that awaited poor Alexei. She wasn't about to get in the middle of that.
Ally waited with Lynn, Cam, and Kya who snirciekd as Alexei was dragged around a corner. They all knew they wouldn't be seeing much of Alexei that day. Not that they were concerned, Mara wasn't going to hurt him. But she would rant and pout all day until Alexei made it up to her for ditching her.