JW2P1: Protection
He'd do anything for her- spend an enormous amount of time working on a program to keep her out of XANA's clutches, help her find the whereabouts of her father when she did not know anything of her origins, and protect her from most of the hardships of living in the real world. However, he knew that he could be a little overprotective sometimes and not see that she wanted to slowly explore the world around her, but that came instinctively from fighting off XANA's attacks that always seemed to be directed towards her.
"Hey, Einstein, it's almost breakfast!" Odd's voice called him out of his reverie, and Jeremie paused in typing commands for his latest project. "We have to hurry; otherwise all the pancakes will be gone!"
Jeremie pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and turned around just in time to see Odd leave and his door close. Jeremie gave a small sigh, saved the program he was writing, and exited the window. Yawning from the exhaustion of working through the whole night and stretching his body, he stood up and left his room, preparing himself for the start of what he presumed to be another boring day.
Unfortunately for him, XANA had other plans. In the Forest sector, the neutral white hue of the tower turned blood red as XANA took control of it.
As Jeremie headed to the cafeteria to get his breakfast after brushing and changing out of his nightclothes, he heard his fellow schoolmates shout in horror. Their electrical devices emitted the black forms of specters, which then engulfed them. Their bodies shook as XANA infiltrated their bodies, and when they looked up at Jeremie, their eyes were filled with hate as the eye-of-XANA pulsed rapidly.
"Ah!" Jeremie yelled as they raised their hands and shot bolts of electrical energy at him.
Breathing heavily, Jeremie ran into the forest as he tried to shake them off of his trail. As he ran, however, he heard Aelita's high pitched scream echo through the forest, a flock of birds taking flight to the air at the sudden disturbance.
"Aelita!" he yelled, changing his course towards the direction where her scream came from.
"There he is." The possessed Xavier growled, sending another electrical blast at Jeremie.
Jeremie looked behind him to see the group of possessed students still following after him, using their super-human speed to keep him within their sight.
"Aelita!" he yelled, spotting the unconscious girl being dragged towards the sewer entrance by a XANAfied Jim.
Jim growled and picked Aelita up, increasing his speed to a run, figuring that Jeremie was too fatigued to catch up to him. However, XANA failed to take into account Jeremie's determination. Forcing himself to go even faster, Jeremie snatched his princess out of Jim's arms and took off, dodging Jim's attacks as he ran away with Aelita in his arms. Constantly trying to look behind him through the heavily treed area, he did not notice the ravine that he was rapidly approaching until he fell into it. Tumbling down the sloped earth, Jeremie instinctively clutched his burden and protected her from getting scratched by the thorns on the vines and the tree roots sticking out of the dirt, landing on a pile of dead leaves. However, he bit his lip and stifled his cries of pain for fear of having XANA discover their location.
Jeremie's breath hitched as he heard Jim stop short of the ravine, who was growling as he failed to locate the pair through the masses of wild vegetation. Giving the area one last look, Jim turned around and headed back to converge with the other possessed victims of XANA's attack. Hearing the last of Jim's footsteps leave the area, Jeremie looked down when he heard Aelita softly moan as she came to. Her soft green eyes fluttering with bewilderment, she gave a happy cry when she saw Jeremie, gasping when she saw Jeremie's numerous cuts owing to the tumble.
"Hey there, Princess." Jeremie smiled. "Don't worry about those." He said, when he noticed what she was looking at. "That's nothing. I am more worried about you."
"Jeremie, what's happening?"
"XANA activated a tower. We have to go and deactivate it as soon as possible."
Aelita nodded and pulled out her cellphone to alert her friends, thankful of her guardian angel who was always watching and protecting her- Jeremie Belpois.
