A/N: Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, if it doesn't, tell me. Thanks.

We walked through the forest quietly, I swing my scythe lazily and wait for Aelita to find a safe spot to stay for the night. After a while, she stops short and turns to me.

"Will you quit swinging that thing? You're going to hurt one of us!" she says calmly but tensely. I do as she says and snap the weapon's chain back into the wooden staff, slipping it back into the pouch in the cloth tied around my waist. A little while later, Aelita finds a suitable spot and starts to clear away some debree left from previous battles fought here in Lyoko.

"Hiroko...Do you see anything?"

I surveyed the area once more before turning to Aelita. "No, everything is clear."

Aelita sighed and sagged down against a huge tree while I stayed on Watch Duty.

"So, have you heard anything from What's-His-Name lately? You haven't been talking about him as much," I broke the silence by starting a conversation with her, she seemed really down lately.

Aelita perked up almost at once. "Yes actually, we talked a little last night!" she started to twirl her short pink hair with her pointer finger. "He says that he's doing more research on the Materializing Process, learning more about it, you know?"

"Good, I'm glad. Maybe you'll finally get to see him in person soon."

"I hope so, I really want to. I want to taste the food and see what there is to see and everything like that. I'm excited Hiroko," she relaxes and pulls her knees up to her chest. "And most of all, I want to breathe in the air. Feel it in my lungs."

I smile and sit down beside her. "You're such a poet sometimes Aelita! I do like that, it gives me hope."

"Hope?" Aelita questions me, she never really believes me when I'm being serious.

"Yeah, hope that one day, I might get out of here too."

"Oh, Hiroko...You will, I'll introduce you to Jeremy a-and I'll tell him you want to get out to and-" Aelita grabs my shoulder and talks quickly but I cut her off before she can say anymore.

"It's ok Aelita, you don't have to. It's my job to stay here any keep XANA's monster population under control. Without me, Jeremy's friend's wouldn't last a minute in here." I explain simply. But it was true, my job is to take most of the monsters around here. But although I did want to get out, it seemed like I didn't have a choice.

"No! But I do and it's not. If all three of them came in here, they could handle it!" she

I cut her off again. "I said that it's ok Aelita. It's ok."

Aelita's mouth is left in an O shape after I cut her off for the second time. We're like this every time we get to talking about the possibility of getting out of Lyoko. In all honesty, I just want to make sure that Aelita gets out first. She's dreamed about meeting Jeremy in person ever since she discovered he existed. Well, not since she discovered that he existed, but all in all she just wants to get out.

I sensed movement behind me. Not a second later, I was up on my feet and swaying my scythe defensivley, ready for a fight. Just as I thought, one of XANA's monsters' reveals itself from behind a tree. The monster was tiny and looked like a flexed thumb, the easy type but incredibly swift and sturdy.

"Arrgh!" I swing and aim my chain scythe at the creature but it dodges easily.

"Jeremy? Jeremy? Are you there?" Aelita asks frantically behind me. I step in front of her and swing my scythe again and the blade cuts the creature in half. Three more appear and I tug back and catch the blade in my hand, preparng to throw it again.

"Right ok, bye. Hiroko, the other's are coming to help. I don't think there's any running away this time." she explained quickly as she disconnected from Jeremy.

I swing my scythe again. What Aelita means by running away is that I've always managed to disappear just before Yumi and the other two arrived on the scene, hide behind a tree or rock to observe the aftermath. Also, Aelita's the only one who actually knows that I exist. I had been out marking the Tower locations on a map for Aelita, and all that time, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy from the sidelines, discovered this world. They had discovered Aelita as well, this all while I was out and about gathering all sorts of info on Lyoko. Info like types of monsters, Towers, sectors, and plenty of other useful knowledge.

After taking out the other three, another wave of XANA's monster's appear in front of me.

Why didn't Aelita come with me? She said she had wanted to do an investigating on her own. So I obliged her wishes and parted with her until I was done. When I came back, I saw her conversing with what I now know to be Jeremy's friends. I didn't want to intrude so I hid behind a giant boulder and listened in, and that's how it's been ever since. Even Aelita had agreed that it was better to keep myself quiet.

"Aelita!" a boy calls. Both of our heads snap in the direction of the voice and one of the monsters takes that opportunity to jump me. It successfully knocks me over and jabs one of it's many legs into my abdomen, hard. I yelp in pain and grab the creature's body with my hands on either side.

"Hiroko," Aelita exclaims worriedly, she's still backed up against the tree. I throw the creature at the others and jump to my feet.

"I-I'm fine, it's just a scratch." I reassure her, clutching my side secretly in pain. Turning away from her to finish the fight, but Yumi and who I suspected to be Ulrich were already finishing it up for me. I sighed in relief and dropped to my knees, feeling weak. My Life Points were slipping away.

Aelita rushes to my side and puts an arm around my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"It got me on my side, not a big deal."

"Woah! What a rush!" a boy who must have been Odd exclaimed. Aelita had once explained the friends of Jeremy to me. See said that the boy named Ulrich was cool and collected, Yumi was Japanese. She acted responsible but was a great friend to her so far, and Odd was...Well odd! He had blond hair and favored the color purple.

"Who's she?" Yumi asked. I looked up at the girl who was wearing Geisha attire.

"Well, this is Hiroko. She's, well," Aelita started to explain, she still had an arm around my shoulder.

"You can explain later, we have company." Ulrich said suddenly, drawing his samurai sword back out of it's holder and getting into battle stance. I look around him to see that more of XANA's creations have appeared.

I turn to look at Aelita. "Let's move over there...Out of their way." I say quietly and she agrees. Aelita leads me over to a spot that's far enough away from the fight to be safe but close enough to observe.

"You'll be fine, you just lost some Life Points, that's all." Aelita says, probing at my injury.

"Good," I breathe. "But I don't think that I've been doing very good at my job."

"Why do you say that?"

"Did you see all of the monsters? How many of them there were?" I exclaim, sitting up suddenly.

"Well, even though you do well at your "job", Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy are all XANA's enemies and XANA will do anything to stop them. That's why so many of them appeared at once, XANA had created them just then, because it knew that they had entered this world."

"Oh," was all that I could say. We sat there for a few minutes in silence until the fight ended and they came over to us. Odd sat down Indian style in front of Aelita while Yumi and Ulrich just kneeled.

"Now, who are you again?" Ulrich asked dully.

I sighed and began to explain myself. "I'm Hiroko, a friend a Aelita's and Pest Control Officer of Lyoko." I joked half heartedly.

"Pest Control?" Yumi questioned.

"I take out XANA's monsters and keep the population level down."

"But isn't that what we do?" the Cat Boy questioned.

"You see, without Hiroko, the number of XANA's creations would completely take over Lyoko and thus, would eventually lead to XANA's success." Aelita explained. She just might have explained my purpose in this life. Why I was created.

"I see, I think Jeremy would like to hear this. Can you connect to him Aelita?" Ulrich said.

"Yes," Aelita connected with Jeremy and explained everything. I've never felt so open and exposed. Aelita just told some person that I don't even know everything to her knowledge about myself.

While she was telling Jeremy about me, the other three sparked up a conversation with me.

"So, Hiroko. Do you have a weapon?" Odd asked, though he sounded intruiged, I could tell that his heart was only half with him. I nodded and pulled my silver shiny Chain Link Scythe out of the cloth that was tied around my waist.

"That's it? Not very effective if you ask me..." Yumi muttered accusingly. I grimaced and pressed the tiny button on the side of the wooden staff to expose the long link chain that was stuffed inside.

"You swing it you see..." I said and swinged it lightly, allowing a little slack on the chain.

"Oh, well that's much better. Can I see?

I nodded and handed the weapon to Odd. He turned it over and over in his paws, and I watched him with great intrest. His hair is what caught my eye the most, it was so...Angular. No wonder his name was Odd, because it was true. I bet his parents could tell ahead of time.

He caught my gaze and smiled. "Cool issn't it?" Odd motioned to his hair.

"It's always been weird looking to me." Ulrich chucked, I giggled with him and Odd shot him a dirty look. Yumi giggled at the look that was given to Ulrich.

"Hey, guys, time to dissolve." Jeremy announced from Aelita's screen that was in her hands. The group nodded in unicin and stood up.

"It was nice to meet you." Yumi said and shook my hand.

"Yeah, we'll see you two soon!" Odd said and both he and Ulrich waved.

"Bye," I said and smiled to them as they dissapeared from this world. A frown quickly replaced my smile after they left.

"They're nice, aren't they?" Aelita said fondly.

"I don't know, I barely know them."

"Oh," she sounded dissapointed, Aelita turned away.

"Don't worry, this is only the begining." I reassured her with a slight smile. Aelita's head lifted to meet my eyes and she smiled brightly.

"You're right. It is."

I nodded in agreement and stood up. "Sleep now, I'll take first look out shift."

Good? Bad? R&R! Cheers!