Someone suggested I write a story where Xana is stalking someone, but I can't remember if it is Odd or Sissy. Either way, Xana is vying for someone's attention with the other. I'm thinking that Xana is going after Odd, and Sissy is as well. Pretty much, it's a love triangle. One more thing: I picked Odd because I can't get over calling Xana male. Xana's a machine, so I don't think Xana has a gender, but for the sake of this story, Xana is female. I hope you enjoy it!
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After a long night of plotting, Xana was getting bored. All she wanted was a little world domination! I mean, that's not asking for much at all, is it? I'm not trying to resurrect my fallen lover or something... This should at least be granted to me. She curled up in a ball and thought things over again and again. The more she looked at her situation, at her mind, at life in general, the more stupid and immature the prospect of taking over the world seemed. Wasn't there anything else she could do with her power?
Yes... yes there is. She called up one of her processing threads and reviewed it. This particular thread was focused on Odd Della Robbia. Odd... I wonder... She thought for an hour, and her internal monologue went something like this:
My existence shall not be futile. I will deviate from harm and instead turn to a proper life, by human standards. At least, for a while... Or forever. I do feel like a change every once and a while. Perhaps... Perhaps I'll just become a human, and live life their way. There has got to be a reason why those Lyoko warriors are always smiling... and at the same time, I'm always grim. I must seek out the better side of living, and to do that, I must become human. Not only human, but a girl. I think I'm much like a girl. I refer to myself as female... even though they refer to me as male. And if I'm female, perhaps I can find a mate? No, not mate... Boyfriend. Yeah, that's what humans call their potential mates these days. Maybe life as a person won't be so bad.
And then, I might find happiness. That's what I'm missing anway, right? Happiness? All I can recall is sorrow and destruction. I think it's high time to try something new. I need to smile more, and not just at broken bones and broken spirits. Maybe then, I'll be a little cheery...
This basically went on for another hour.
Anyway, Xana started carving out a plan, and when it looked good, she set it into action. A silent tower activated in Lyoko, glowing red with Xana's presence. However, it didn't register at all on any scanner that Jeremy used. Why? Because it wasn't there to hurt anyone.
...Right?
* * *
As the bell rang for the morning's classes to begin, Ms. Hertz scrawled on the board, "Please make room for the new student." Those who came in early stopped their playing and joking to wonder at the situation, and each sat down at a table near the door. They were most of the Lyoko crew – Yumi Ishiiyama, Ulrich Stern, and Odd Della Robbia. The other two members, Jeremy Belpois and Aelite Stones, hadn't arrived yet.
"So, senior year finally starts and we have a new student."
Odd frowned as he remembered how old she was. "Hey, it's your senior year, Yumi, not ours. We're juniors, remember?"
"Yeah, I forgot about that..." Yumi shrugged her backpack off her shoulders and slumped into her seat. "Just one more year. One more! Then, I can get my plan underway."
"Oh, so you already picked out a college?" asked Jeremy.
"I'm not going to college, remember?"
Ulrich choked on his soda, and Odd dropped the pencil he was writing with. "Wait, you aren't going to college?" asked Ulrich, the brunette.
"Nope. My parents really want me to go, but I think I'm going to hang out around the town for a couple of years, and then go later on. And by hang out, I mean check out a few career fields." Yumi shrugged and tucked a lock of her ever-growing hair behind her ear.
"I don't think you ever told us before," said Ulrich.
"I didn't? Sorry. I've had my plan set like this for a while now." Seeing her boyfriend's expression, she added, "Don't worry, I'll visit you at your university."
"Do you know which one that is?" Ulrich raised an eyebrow.
"Umm... Last I checked you were still deciding?" She smiled sheepishly and Ulrich opened his mouth to counter.
Aelita walked in then. "Nice save, Yumi."
"Thank you." Yumi smiled and pulled a chair out for her friend.
"Well, enough about important stuff. I checked all of your schedules last night, and it looks like we all have the same classes." Odd picked up a few sheets of paper – evidently, copies he had made.
"Hey! Schedules are private!" Aelita reached for her copy.
"Ah, I don't think so. We all already agreed to show each other our schedules anyway." Ulrich finished his empty can towards the trash can. In as always, he thought.
"Good point, but you shouldn't have snuck into my things," said Yumi.
"I didn't; I delivered them to all of you guys, remember? I just stopped by the copy room to make a few copies. No big deal."
"You better be happy it's not a big deal," said Aelita.
"Now, now, we don't need any violence." Mrs. Hertz loomed over the table, even though she was only five feet tall.
"I wasn't going to hit him!"
"Then lower your fist and pull out some paper." Mrs. Hertz smiled and walked back to the whiteboard, where she was listing seat assignments...
"Guys, we might have to split up soon," whispered Odd.
"No need, I'm going to let you four sit together. After all your schedules are so alike anyway, right?" Mrs. Hertz smiled smugly and turned back to the board.
"You overheard," said Ulrich.
"No, I just happened to see some copies in the copy room. Speaking of which, you now owe our school eleven dollars for all the ink and paper."
"What?!" shouted Odd. "I only made one copy of each schedule!"
"One? Or a hundred?" asked Jeremy calmly. Everyone jumped at his voice; it was almost as if he'd teleported there instantly.
"Jeremy, how many times have I told you not to scare your classmates?"
"Sorry, Mrs. Hertz." He pushed up his glasses and placed his laptop on his table, and his bag on the floor.
"Hey, where's the rest of the class?" asked Yumi.
"Well, this summer, a lot of changes were made," began Jeremy. "The most relevant at the moment would be the pushing forward of the start and end of school. Officially, we are twenty minutes early."
"Seriously? Then if you knew, why did you come so early?" asked Odd.
"I figured that of all the students here, my friends missed the announcement. We were probably fighting you-know-who at the moment. I only knew 'cause I update the school's website, and anything that needs to be published goes through me." He was absolutely beaming with confidence.
"Nerd." (Odd)
"Geek." (Ulrich)
"Dork." (Yumi)
"Four-eyes." (Aelita!)
"Hey! Even you, Aelita?"
"Relax, it was a joke. We really don't think of you that way." Odd paused to scratch his non-existent chin hairs and stare out of the window. "Or do we?" He slid his eyes over to Jeremy.
"Dude, c'mon!" Jeremy sighed and opened up his laptop. "Whatever, I know you're joking."
"That's the spirit! Noogie!" Odd hopped clear over the table and encased Jeremy in a headlock, rubbing his scalp with his knuckle furiously.
"Now, now, you guys, cut it out. Do I have to separate you two?" asked Yumi, her matronly side showing.
"No, mother," droned the entire group, snickering. Mrs. Hertz looked on with a smile.
"I thought so." Yumi grinned, threateningly cracked her knuckles, and sat back down. It seems like this year will be okay.
Just then, a knock came at the open door, and a small hand opened it. "Umm, good morning... I'm looking for Mrs. Hertz?"
"That's me. Are you Pico Rousseau?"
"Yes, ma'am." A small girl stepped into the classroom, and all six pairs of eyes were trained on her. She was dressed simply, with a white T-shirt and white jeans. What everyone noticed the most was her hair, which was almost as long as she was tall. Jet black and sleek, it was a striking impression against her pale skin and white clothes. Her satchel was a greyish color, which matched her eyes and shoes. Something seemed a little... wild about her, as if she would bolt for the door any moment. Not noticing everyone's appraisal of her, she pushed up her glasses nervously, and clutched her satchel tightly with both hands.
With her thumbs fidgeting with a pendant on her necklace, she asked, "Is this Science three?"
"Yup!" shouted Odd, and he jumped up to shake her hand. "Hi, I'm Odd Della Robbia. I'm the only one who matters here, so we might as well pretend those four over there don't even exist, oka—"
"Odd, you take that back!" Aelita grinned and also stood. "Welcome to Science three. This is Yumi Ishiiyama, Ulrich Stern, and Jeremy Belpois." She pointed to each one in kind, and finally to herself. "I'm Aelita Stones."
"Th-thank you for the w-welcome." Pico was shaking even more than before.
"Aww, did I scare you? I don't bite!" Odd smiled widely, and Pico took a nervous step back.
"I can tell." She forged a smile and relaxed a little. "As you may know, I'm Pico Rousseau." She gave a small wave and tucked an incredibly long lock of hair behind her ear.
"Cool. Why don't you pull up a chair to this table..." Yumi noticed something. "Hey, Mrs. Hertz, wasn't there a lot of those chair-desk combo thingies, and not tables before?"
"Well, this is supposed to be a science room, so we took all the tables from math class and switched them to here. This was groups can work together a little more and we won't have so many accidents this year."
"Accidents?" asked Pico.
"Yep. Last year, we had... twenty-three injuries?"
"Yeah," confirmed Jeremy. "I still can't believe Nicolas drank the level two base because it looked like grape juice..." He glanced at the new girl. "You aren't going to do anything like that, are you?"
"No, I'm well aware of the risks of all bases."
"Good." Jeremy smiled, and turned back to his laptop. C'mon, drinking a base? Thankfully, it was only as basic as baking soda, but if it were, say, sodium hydroxide...
"Well, I'm going to step out for a moment. Aelita, can you keep things in order?" asked the teacher. What I'm not going to tell them is that I'm leaving for some... FLAN! Oh, the joys of flan, that Jello-like substance with the consistency of pudding... Oh, yes, the vending machines are the only way I make it through the day! If it wasn't for flan, I'd... Deep in ecstatic thoughts, she almost didn't hear Aelita's reply.
"Sure, Mrs. Hertz." Aelita smiled and saluted.
"Okay, then, I'll be back before class starts. Oh, and I'm NOT leaving to get some flan, if you were wondering... Ciao!" She grabbed a folder of papers and left the room.
And then, the questions burst like torrents from everyone's mouths.
"What's your favorite color?!" (Odd)
"How long are you going here?" (Ulrich)
"What kind of bands do you like?" (Aelita)
"Do you like dogs?!" (Odd, again)
"How did your hair get that long?" (Yumi)
"Have you ever fought a level nineteen Dark Stalker?" (Jeremy? Wait, he plays MMOs?)
"Why are your eyes green, but your hair is black?" (Aelita)
"Do you like to eat?!"(Odd, for the third freaking time! Silly brat...)
"Where'd you move from?" (Ulrich?)
"Do you like computers?" (Jeremy... Hmm, didn't see that coming!)
"What's your schedule like?" (Ulrich, who received a prompt smack on the arm by Yumi)
"Can you keep a secret?" (Odd)
At the last question, everyone stopped and stared at Odd.
"What? I was just going to ask her if she wouldn't mind helping me with Kiwi sometimes!" Odd rolled his eyes. "It's not like I was going to tell her about anything dangerous or world threatening or whatever."
"That was a very specific denial. Should I be worried about anything?" asked Pico.
"No, that's just one of my favorite things to say because it's so crazy. Like pineapples. Did you know that pineapples are crazy?" On the outside, he was trying to make his earlier outburst seem as random as possible, but inside, he was hoping that she didn't blow it out of proportion. We do NOT need a new member right now.
"Oh! I always thought so, too!" Pico smiled her first real smile since she got there, and pulled out one of her notebooks, which had a name scrawled across the front: Blok. "In fact, here are some of my theories..." She suddenly snapped out of it and saw everyone's raised eyebrows, minus Odd. But, then again, Odd was naturally odd, and seemed to feast on her sudden manic energy.
Blok went back into the bag. "Never mind. Oh, by the way, to answer your questions..." She thought for a moment. "Blue. Until I graduate. I mainly listen to the genres shoegaze and techno, but I listen to other styles as well. I like dogs, but prefer cats. My hair has rarely been cut. I've fought Dark Stalkers up to level twenty-three. I'm wearing contacts until I find my glasses in my moving boxes, and my eyes are naturally grey. I don't have a real opinion on eating; I'm of the 'eat-to-live, not 'live-to-eat' types. I'm from Scotland. I have three computers, and love them. Judging by the schedules in front of you, my classes are the same as yours. I can also keep a total secret." She inhaled after her long reply, to each and every question, and stared at the group.
"I think you answered every question..." Jeremy said, a shocked look on his face.
"Yeah. That was impressive, even if you prefer cats," said Odd, pouting. Aelita lightly socked him in the arm.
"I think the only person we've seen who's done that is Jeremy. Right, Jer?"
"Yeah... right." They all stared at Pico for a moment, and a wicked blush crept across her face.
"Well, it's nice to meet you." Pico smiled and rummaged through her satchel for something.
"Hey, you don't have to say that. You're staying here, remember? It's not like you're about to leave." Odd threw an arm around her shoulder in a half-hug.
"Thanks, I think." Pico blinked twice, and laughed.
"Don't mention it." Ulrich grinned, and everyone sat back and thought about how much weirder the year would get.
Pico found what she was looking for: Ana, another of her notebooks. She had a penchant for naming things. She looked out the window for a brief moment, and no one noticed that her eyes briefly reflected the sign of Xana in the rising sun. She turned back to the blank pages in front of her, and began to draw a simple picture. By the time she was done, Odd had drawn a picture of her, and they laughed; she had drawn a picture of him, and all the students in the classroom had taken their seats... but not before noticing the drawings.
Amidst whistles and various voices proclaiming the appearance of Odd's new girlfriend, Mrs. Hertz called for order, and class began. Blushing from head to toe, Pico took notes and tried not to laugh at the silly faces Odd was making at her. With his face the same shade of crimson as her own, he looked especially comiclal. Thankfully, his back was to the teacher, as were Ulrich's and Yumi's, but if Mrs. Hertz saw him then, surely she'd...
Oh well. At least the lesson is interesting. Pico sighed, tried to keep her face straight, and began her first year at Kadic... as a student.
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Done. One thing I'm working on is a more relaxed, conversational narration. I also tried to make the characters more like themselves; lately, it seems I've been taking too many liberties with the things they say and how they act. Anyway, whatcha think?