Chapter 4 - Part 4-Natalie Deactivates a Tower

Natalie woke up the next morning to the sound of a strange buzzing within her head. She gently picked it up off the pillow and felt a pain surge up her spine right to the center of her brain. She fell back down and held her head in pain like Odd had done the day before when he had brain freeze. She gritted her teeth and tried to suck in air; however, the attempt was futile.
"You can't escape," the voice said. "You are mine! You always were! Don't think you can escape just because you've been materialized."
"I don't...know what...you're talking...about!" Natalie shouted to herself. "I don't know who you are...or why you're in my...head...but I want you out...NOW!!!" Natalie thrashed her head back and forth in her pillow to escape the monster in her mind. No matter how hard she shook, the voice just grew stronger.
"So, you've become something more of a fighter, eh?" the voice continued. "Well, that won't be enough to stop me. You could barely save your sister! Now look at the condition she's in. She's still trapped."
"I don't have...a sister!" Natalie replied, her fingers spreading out in her hair. She held on tighter until her body finally gave out and she crashed in a simple sleeping position. Her mind literally crashed. It stopped working and she stopped breathing for a minute. Her heart wasn't beating, and if you didn't know better, you'd say she was dead.
Someone knocked on Natalie's door.
"Natalie!" Ulrich called. "Are you awake? Come on. Let's go to the cafeteria before all the good pastries are taken."
"Not that there are any good pastries," Jeremy corrected, "but there are some that don't taste like rubber unlike the other ones they serve during the second half of breakfast. You have to be an early bird if you want the decent ones."
"Come on, the scones aren't that bad," Ulrich argued, knocking on the door again. "Are you ready to go yet? Natalie, this is serious. Why aren't you answering?"
"Maybe she's still asleep."
"I thought Natalie was a light sleeper."
"She could have been studying with Odd all night."
"But Odd's already in the cafeteria and probably eating my scone! Let's go, Natalie!! Time to come back from Dream Land!!"
Natalie opened up the door with a sudden whoosh. Ulrich and Jeremy watched her step out into the hallway. Her eyes looked tired, and her hair was trashed. The boys grew confused and concerned.
"You woke me," she muttered. "I was sleeping peacefully before you two came along."
"Sorry," Jeremy replied. "It's just that we were a little worried. You didn't answer no matter how hard we pounded."
"And it's breakfast time," Ulrich added. "Odd's already at the cafeteria. Yumi should be here any minute. We wanted you to come with us to eat."
"How thoughtful of you," Natalie rewarded. "I'd love to join you for a little morning snack."
"You might want to brush your hair first," Ulrich suggested. "You've got a serious case of bed-head."
Natalie ran back into her room and looked in the mirror. She laughed at her reflection. "Yeah, I suppose. Okay, I'll fix myself up, and you two can head down to the cafeteria. Is that okay with you guys?"
"Are you sure you're okay?" Jeremy asked. "To be honest, I'm worried about you. I mean, being a Fighter of Lyoko when you just moved here...is it all kinda overwhelming? I can understand if you want to take it easy next time he attacks. You don't have to go into Lyoko or have your mobile on if you don't want to."
Natalie hesitated as her face turned sour. She gave Jeremy a death stare and stomped off into her room and slammed the door behind her. Jeremy and Ulrich stood in slight shock for a moment and then turned to each other. They didn't need to ask what the other one was thinking--it was too obvious.
"I think XANA's up to something," Jeremy announced. "You should stop Odd from eating your scone. I'll deal with this myself. Aelita may not have seen anything when we contacted her yesterday, but that doesn't mean that something could come up today. Do you mind saving me a breakfast bar though?"
"That's not a problem," Ulrich returned. "You're one of the only people I know that actually enjoys the breakfast bars."
Jeremy laughed and smiled. Ulrich gave a thumbs-up, and the two ran off in different directions.

Inside the cafeteria, Odd sat at a table across from Yumi gently picking at some scrambled eggs sitting on his plate. Yumi swallowed the last of her milk and cocked an eyebrow at his behavior. Odd looked up for a second but didn't mind Yumi staring down at him. He just shook his head and started rolling a half-eaten sausage from one end of the plate to another. Now Yumi was afraid. This was not Odd's typical behavior. Usually, he'd be cracking jokes at Sissy or complaining about how the snack machines would always take his money. No, this was a serious issue that Yumi needed to address.
"Odd, you don't seem like yourself," she told him up front. "What's wrong? You look like you've been hit by a bus. You didn't even take Ulrich's scone at the line for breakfast! Can you tell me what happened?"
"I dunno," Odd mumbled. "I guess if I can tell anyone, I can tell you. After all, you had some of the same issues with Ulrich for some time."
"Is it about a girl you like? Maybe Samantha?"
"I'm over Samantha. It's another girl."
"Then id it Natalie?"
Odd shuffled in his spot when Yumi hit the nail on the head. He slumped over and found himself staring at a very interesting table. He let out a sigh and did his best to look up at his friend.
"It's just that she turned me down for studying time," he confessed.
"But I thought you guys went out to do that."
"We did! But then I offered to help her with her other science work, and she told me she didn't think it was a great idea to see me. She said she found out I once almost went out with Samantha. She didn't want people to think I was two-timing. So, I guess she was just trying to protect me."
"She could have been nicer though. After all, I was the one to suggest to her that she should study with you."
Odd's face turned pale pink. He rubbed his temples and looked up to see Ulrich walking towards their table. He couldn't manage a smile to greet his friend. Instead, he looked to the other side and stabbed some more eggs.
"It looks like you didn't take my scone," Ulrich said to Odd, sitting down. "At least I'll have breakfast. So what's the matter with you?"
"Natalie told him she didn't want his studying help," Yumi replied for Odd. "She was trying to keep it so people wouldn't think he was two-timing with her against Samantha."
"Where'd she hear about Samantha?"
"Who knows? I don't think any of us told her. Oh well. The point is that Odd feels as though she dumped him."
"She DID dump me," Odd muttered. "There's no doubt about that."
The three of them sat together at the table caught in a moment of silence. It was broken by Ulrich's cell phone. He picked it up and looked to see who was calling. He then turned it on.
"Jeremy!" he said. "Is something going on?"
"A tower has been activated," Jeremy told him. "Are Odd and Yumi with you?"
"Yes."
"I need all of you to come to the Factory right away. Aelita's waiting for you, and she needs your help."
"Okay, Jeremy. We'll be right there." Ulrich turned off his cell phone and put it back in his pocket. "Jeremy needs us to go to Lyoko. A tower's been activated."
"I'm coming with you," Odd announced, standing up. "The food stinks today anyway. If I were you, Ulrich, I'd skip the scone. It probably tastes like rubber anyway."
"That's what Jeremy said!"
"Well, it's true."
"Enough about breakfast pastries, Guys," Yumi interrupted. "Jeremy called us and that means we need to leave now. Let's go before the bell rings. Jim should still be on his morning break."

Sure enough, the three of them were able to make it past Jim and the principal without a problem (They were still eating breakfast.) and got to the Factory. Jeremy turned and greeted his friends with a concerned face.
"The activated tower is in the Mountain Region," he announced. "Aelita's on her way. She was able to feel pulsations all the way from the Forest Region! That's practically on the other side of Lyoko. I think this is an incredibly extreme attack."
"But we haven't seen anything strange at all," Ulrich argued. "Nothing weird was going on at breakfast. Well, aside from Odd not taking my scone at least."
"Did anything happen last night while you and Natalie were out, Odd?" Yumi asked. "I hate to bring up that issue, but was anything happening in town? I didn't see anything at my parents' this morning."
"Nothing happened at the ice cream parlor," Odd replied. "I just gave Natalie my notes for physics, we ate ice cream, I got brain freeze, nothing out of the ordinary."
"I don't know what XANA thinks he's doing," Jeremy began, "but you three might as well go into Lyoko. Since Natalie's still at school, we can contact her for back-up. I think she wants to help. Maybe that's why she was offended by my remark this morning. Anyway, the three of you should head for the scanners. I'll begin the data transfer."
They agreed and hopped back into the elevator. It took them down to the lower level and let them off at the scanners. However, something very strange was waiting for them.
"There's a fourth scanner!!" Yumi shouted. "What's it doing here??"
"I didn't install it!" Jeremy defended. "I never knew a fourth one was there."
"There's only supposed to be three."
Aelita popped up on the supercomputer's screen and said, "I put it there. I figured since we have four fighters now, there should be four scanners in case they all have to go."
"Good idea, Aelita," Jeremy rewarded. "Get ready. Help is on the way. Transfer: Odd. Transfer: Yumi. Transfer: Ulrich." The three of them stepped into the machines and let the downloading wind consume them. "Scanner: Odd. Scanner: Yumi. Scanner: Ulrich." They spun in the devices. "Virtualization!"
The three warriors made their way into the virtual world. Each landed on his or her feet and stood in the Mountain Region. They scanned the area and saw Aelita running at them from behind a passageway.
"Thank goodness you're here!" she cried. "There's a big bunch of crabs following me from that direction. That's where the tower is located. I need your help."
"That's what we're here for," Odd reminded her. "Exactly how many crabs though?"
"I couldn't count them all."
"Jeremy, we might need Natalie."
"There's no time to wait for her," Ulrich snapped. "We need to fight now. Let's go!" He grasped his sword and ran for the tower followed by Yumi, then Odd, then Aelita. It wasn't long before some crabs caught them from behind. Everyone looked to see five following them. Before they could even think to evade, Odd and Ulrich were both hit.
"Watch it!" Jeremy called. "Those lasers are serious. It's twenty points per impact!"
"You could have told us that BEFORE we got hit," Odd mumbled, standing up from his fall. "You know, there's not really a doctor in this house! LASER ARROW!!!" Odd hit one right on the spot. Yumi followed up with a fan and hit another. Unfortunately, she was hit by another right when she threw the fan.
"Ack! Yumi!" Ulrich shouted. He started running to the three remaining crabs. "TRIPLICATE!!!" He split into three and continued to run. One of them was hit right away while the real one and another fake got incredibly close. The real one jumped up and smacked his sword right into the monster. "IMPACT!!!" The crab stumbled and blew up just as another hit him and the fake.
"Ulrich, that's only sixty life points left," Jeremy reminded him. "Be careful. I don't know if I should call Natalie or not."
"Too late. I'm here."
Jeremy perked up from the computer screen and saw Natalie standing in the elevator doorway. She looked tense and her eyes had a strange type of eeriness to them. They frightened Jeremy somewhat, and he was nervous to let her enter a scanner.
"Are you in any condition to fight?" he asked.
"Whether I am or not," Natalie began, "I'm going in that scanner! Send me now!" With those words, she pressed the button on the elevator and went down to the lower level. Jeremy shrugged and started downloading her.
"Transfer: Natalie. Scanner: Natalie. Virtualization!" Natalie entered Lyoko without a problem. However, the transfer screen reported serious activity going on inside her. "Natalie? Are you okay?"
She didn't reply. Instead, she fell to the ground with a hard smack.
"NATALIE!!" Jeremy cried. "Oh no...Yumi! You're closest to Natalie. Please go get her. She's not that far away."
"You got it!" Yumi replied, running from the crabs. She ran down the passageway and gently rubbed Natalie's back. "Are you okay? C'mon!"
Natalie woke up with a start and sprang to her feet. At first, Yumi wad happy to see she was alright, but she started to feel suspicious and scared. Without a warning, she pushed Yumi to the ground, took out her guns, and said the two words that would decide Yumi's fate.
"Bullet happy."
"THAT'S IT!!!" Jeremy shouted. "XANA INFECTED NATALIE WITH A VIRUS WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING!!! SHE'S GOING TO TRY TO KILL EVERYONE!!!"

Meanwhile, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita heard everything that was said. Ulrich and Odd continued to fight as Aelita watched two more crabs come out in front of them. She couldn't say anything. She was petrified. She looked out beyond the passageway and saw Yumi run from Natalie's attacks. Suddenly, Aelita and Jeremy knew why there were so many. The crabs formed something of a wall around the three fighters. Natalie stood across from them and smirked.
"Why did you betray us??" Odd cried. "I thought we were friends!"
"Do your work," Natalie said to the crabs. They fired all at once, materializing everyone except Natalie and Aelita.
Jeremy watched in horror as the three of them came up to the supercomputer. Everyone was scared stiff at what this evil Natalie would do to Aelita. They watched the crabs move out of the way so Natalie could pass. She walked the path to the tower and entered it.
"We're going to die," Jeremy mumbled between tears. "I can't believe we didn't see it before. It was so obvious that Natalie was infected by XANA."
Natalie floated up to the top level and placed her hand on a screen. It read, "Welcome back, Natalie." It then asked for the code.
The crabs outside cornered Aelita and got ready to fire.
L-Y-O-K-O
With a big sigh of relief, Jeremy pressed the return button. "Return to the past...now?" He wasn't sure what changed Natalie's mind at the last second.

Natalie stood with Odd in front of her door.
"I don't need any help," she told him. "What about you?"
"I could use some English tutoring," Odd replied. "Uh, want to go to my room?"
"Sure."

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