Odd walked out of the cafeteria, cheerfully patting his stomach.
"Those quiches were superb, Rosa." He called over his shoulder to the lunchlady whom he'd struck a repour with. "I'm looking forward to your meatloaf tonight."
He could see his friends waiting around their bench, having gotten tired of sitting in the cafeteria until he'd finished his third helping of lunch. Just as he was stepping of the stairs by the door, and about to make his way to them; Odd was grabbed by the hood of his sweatshirt and lifted off of his feet! Whoever had seized him, pulled the short blond around the corner of the cafeteria, out of sight of his friends. He was swung around until he found himself face to face with Sissi.
"Hello, Della Robbia." Sissi was back in her usual attire, standing with her hands on her hips. Hervé was just behind her trying to look intimidating, which was not an easy task for someone wearing a tie and sweater-vest. Sissi smiled sweetly at the boy hanging from Nicholas' grip. "I was hoping we could have a little chat."
Odd gulped.
'Okay, don't panic.' He mentally told himself. 'Maybe this isn't about what I told Nicholas this morning.'
Sissi waved her hands in front of Odd's face.
"Tell me; how do these hands look to you? Do they look at all dry? Maybe a little flaky?"
'And maybe I'll get an A in my next maths test.' Odd finished his interior monologue.
"Nicholas!" He said to the boy holding him in the air. "What part of 'don't go spreading this around' did you not understand?"
Sissi moved in so that her and Odd's nosetips were nearly touching.
"Did you think it was funny to start a rumour about me having flaky hands on the day of the cheerleader tryouts?" She asked, her voice dangerously low.
"Oh, the cheerleader tryouts were today?" Odd said, hoping to maybe change the subject. "If I'd known, I'd have come along to cheer you on. So, how did you do?"
--
"Ow!"
"Please hold still, Jim." Yolanda Perraudin, the school nurse, held an ice pack over Jim's left eye.
"There isn't any serious damage. Just some minor swelling." She said, then added with a chuckle, "I never knew cheerleading was such a dangerous sport."
Jim groaned as he put his hand over the ice pack, holding it in place.
"That Sissi... Put a baton in her hand and she becomes a lethal weapon!"
--
"Don't try to change the subject, Della Robbia." Sissi's cheeks went slightly red as she answered. "Since you are always saying what a great sense of humor you have; I'm sure you'll see the funny side of what I'm about to do to you."
She took a few steps back, reached into the back pockets of her jeans and pulled out a pair of scissors and a comb.
"In fact you'll probably be laughing right along with everyone else when they see your brand new haircut."
Odd's eyes widened in horror. Not his perfect point! He'd only just managed to get it back to normal, after his unscheduled barber session with Mr. Riley. It was a good thing his hair grew fast; but even that might not help after Sissi was done with him.
"Whoa! Hold it, Sissi! This is all just a big misunderstanding!"
"Oh really?" Sissi began to advance with her torture implements held high. "And exactly which part am I misunderstanding?"
"Well, you see..." Odd began to sweat as the blades of the scissors clacked together. Finally, he just panicked. "The rumour wasn't about you!"
Sissi stopped with the comb a hair's breath from Odd's... hair. She raised an intrigued eyebrow.
"If it wasn't about me, then who was it about?"
"Um... well... er..." Odd tried desperately to think up some story. His Lyoko do was at stake.
"Well; I'm waiting." Sissi waved the comb under Odd's nose, her patience wearing fast.
"Hey!"
Everyone turned her heads to see Yumi standing at the the corner of the cafeteria building. Her fists were clenched by her sides and she was glaring fiercely at Sissi.
"Leave him alone."
"Buzz off, Ishiyama. This has nothing to do with you." Sissi snapped back at her.
"It does now." Yumi then turned her attention to Nicholas. "Put him down."
Nicholas very nearly did so. It was only a sharp look from Sissi that stopped him. What was it about girls that made them so scary when they were mad? Hervé was looking nervous too. It was only Sissi that didn't seem fazed.
"Don't go treating me like the bad guy, Yumi." She said, and pointed at Odd. "Your friend here has been telling people that I -"
"YA YA YA YA GEEAAARRGH!" Odd screamed as loud as he could and flailed his arms around. He gave Nicholas such a scare that the boy dropped him and dashed behind Sissi. She herself was looking at Odd like he'd grown an extra head. Even Yumi was struck dumb at his display.
"Would you excuse us for just a second?" Odd grabbed Sissi by the wrist and ran around the back of the building, dragging the protesting girl behind him.
Yumi, Hervé and Nicholas exchanged looks with each other. Finally, Hervé said,
"Don't look at us. He's your friend."
Sissi almost collided with Odd as he skidded to a stop.
"Have you lost what little marbles you had?!" She screamed at him. "What was that about?"
"Sissi please; I know you're mad but just hear me out. When I spoke to Nicholas this morning, I had received false information!"
Sissi's eyebrow began to twitch.
"If you don't start talking sense, I am going to tear that stupid haircut off your head!"
She raised her hands, ready to grab him. Odd threw his arms up over his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Ask Milly and Tamiya!"
He waited to be set upon by the vicious Sissisaurus Rex, but nothing happened.
"What have Milly and Tamiya got to do with this?"
Odd opened his eyes to see Sissi watching him expectantly. Seizing the opportunity to get away with his life (and, more importantly, his hair) intact, he kept going.
"It was from them that I first heard about your... condition. They let me have a look at a draft of the Kadic Herald. They thought an outbreak of Fish Fingeritis was something the students should know about. Except, they kinda got their names mixed up. The article said 'Sissi' when it should've said, um... Sophie!"
Sissi seemed to pull up short.
"Sophie? As in Sophie Florenceau?" An evil glint then came into her eye. "As in Sophie who just got picked to be head cheerleader?"
Odd mentally groaned. He could see where this was going, but it was too late to turn back now.
"Um... yeah."
Sissi smiled. It was not a warm smile. It was more like the kind one would find on a shark as it was about to devour a baby seal.
"Thank you, Odd. I'm glad that we had this little talk."
Still grinning like an old movie villain, Sissi turned around and walked away.
Odd's shoulders slumped. He could certainly see this coming back to bite him. Milly and Tamiya were not going to be happy with him insulting their journalistic integrity. And Sophie – Oh boy! Well, he had been trying to think of a way to break up with her. Now, it seemed like he wouldn't have to worry.
Odd decided not to worry about it for now. It would probably take a couple of days for all this to circle back to him. Even Sissi couldn't spread a rumour that fast.
--
The final bell rang, signalling the end of the school day. Odd, Ulrich, Jeremie and Aelita left their classroom and walked down the hall, towards the school building's main entrance.
"So, you're still not going to tell us what was going on with Sissi earlier?" Aelita said to Odd. "Yumi said you started screaming like a fire alarm, and then dragged Sissi away."
Odd waved a dismissive hand.
"Oh, it was just a little misunderstanding. But I've taken care of it." He began to rub his hands together eagerly. "Now let's get over to the factory. I want to get in my Navskid and play 'shoot the sharks'!"
"Remember Odd, we're just testing the Skid out." Said Jeremie.
"Yeah, I know. But surely you'll want to test the weapons too." Odd replied with a grin. "And knowing our good friend Xana, he'll probably have a bunch of willing monsters to help us do just that."
Just as they reached the doors, a shrill female voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Odd Della Robbia!"
Odd froze, while the rest turned to look at the voice's owner. Sophie Florenceau came stomping down the hall towards them. The brown-haired girl was holding a folded sheet of paper, and she did not look happy.
"I want to talk to you!" She pointed threateningly at Odd.
"Man, what is it with you today?" Said Ulrich. "First Sissi, and now this."
"And aren't you and Sophie going out?" Aelita added.
"Well we were, but I decided to call it off." Odd nodded his head towards the fast approaching girl. "Apparently, she doesn't take rejection well. Let's just go, or she'll end up making a fool of herself."
He quickly moved ahead of the others and pushed the doors open – only to be greeted by an irate Milly Solovieff and Tamiya Diop.
"What's the big idea, Odd?" Milly stood with her hands on her hips while Tamiya was holding a piece of paper with writing and some pictures on it.
"It's only been a couple of hours!" Odd cried out loud. "Did Sissi run around the school yelling through a megaphone?!"
"Yelling what?" Said Ulrich. "Odd, what did you do?"
"Erm..." Odd peeked out of the doorway, hoping to find a distraction. He got one. "Hey look; there's Yumi. Why don't you guys go take care of that thing we were going to do, and I'll catch up."
He practically pushed his friends out the door, pulled Milly and Tamiya in and slammed it shut.
Ulrich and the others stood staring at the door. Yumi joined them.
"What's going on in there?" She asked.
"Looks to me like Odd's having his usual luck with girlfriends." Ulrich answered with a shrug. "Though I don't know what he did to make Milly and Tamiya mad."
"He said he'd catch up, so let's just get to the factory." Said Jeremie.
The four of them started to jog towards the woods. They ran past Sissi, Hervé and Nicholas, not paying them any mind. If they had, they'd have noticed that Sissi was holding a sheet of paper just like the ones Sophie, Milly and Tamiya had had.
"You know Hervé, it really is amazing what you can do with computers today." Sissi smiled as she held up her creation. It was styled like a newsletter with the headline:
Fish Fingeritis – It could happen to you!
Underneath the heading, it had a picture of Sophie with her hands covered in green scales and sporting claws.
Victims should be isolated and excluded from all social clubs – due to the contagious nature of this ailment.
Thanks go to Milly Solovieff, Tamiya Diop and Odd Della Robbia for raising awareness of this serious condition.
At the bottom of the paper, were three smiling headshots of Milly, Tamiya and Odd.
"So, how did you manage to make those hands look so real?" Sissi asked Hervé.
"It wasn't too hard. I just went on the internet and found a poster for 'Bog Beast: The Return' and grafted the hands onto Sophie's picture."
"Great. And Nicholas, you were sure to give one of these to every member of the cheerleading team, right?"
"I sure did Sissi." Nicholas answered with a grin. He and Hervé were both going to have to serve detention for missing their afternoon classes, but it was worth it.
Sissi looked proudly again at the paper in her hands.
"What a perfect way to get back at both Della Robbia and Florenceau. I swear, I'm so clever that sometimes I amaze even myself."
--
Yumi lifted the cover off of the manhole and led the way down the ladder into the sewer. Three skateboards and two scooters awaited them at the bottom. Yumi and Ulrich each grabbed a skateboard, while Jeremie and Aelita took the scooters.
As they rode along the underground walkway, Ulrich came up alongside Yumi and gave her a challenging grin. He sped ahead to the upcoming stairway and jumped, landing his board sideways on the stair's rail. Riding down the rail, he leapt off and landed on the ground with a skid. He stopped and waited for Yumi try and top his move.
The dark-haired girl put on a burst of speed as she reached the stairway. She sprang into the air, leaving her board to sail down the steps. Planting her feet on the wall, launched herself off and landed back on her board as it reached the bottom of the stairs. She circled Ulrich and flashed him a triumphant smile.
Aelita laughed as she watched their little contest. Jeremie rolled his eyes and called out to them,
"If you two would prefer, you and just horse around here and we can forget the test flight."
"Sorry." The two boarders called back jokingly. Since there wasn't an actual emergency on, they didn't see the harm in having a little fun on their way to Lyoko.
Soon enough, the four teens were on the bridge leading into the old factory. They each grabbed a rope hanging from the ceiling and swung down to the lower floor. As they entered the waiting elevator, Ulrich pushed the big red button by the door.
They rode down in silence, as always. Strange how people always went quiet when entering an elevator. Ulrich thought back to all the times he'd ridden in one – which actually weren't a lot since Kadic didn't have any elevators. He didn't have time to reflect on the matter more, since they'd stopped and Jeremie was entering the code for the control room.
The elevator shutter slid up and the doors split apart revealing the keyboard and automated chair. As Jeremie stepped out, Ulrich hit the red button again and the remaining three descended towards the scanner room.
Maybe that was why people didn't talk in elevators? The rides usually only lasted about twenty seconds. What kind of conversation could you have in that time?
Once again, the shutters lifted and he and the girls each walked up to a scanner.
"You guys ready?" Jeremie said over the speakers.
"Ready, Einstein." Yumi answered from inside her scanner.
"Alright then, let's get started." Jeremie cracked his knuckles and began to type on the keyboard.
"Transfer: Ulrich.
Transfer: Yumi.
Transfer: Aelita."
The scanner doors slid shut. Inside, the occupants could feel their hair and clothing being moved by the artificial breeze created as their individual DNA was checked and recognized by the computer.
"Scanner: Ulrich.
Scanner: Yumi.
Scanner: Aelita."
His friends' virtual profiles flashed up on Jeremie's screen. Everything was good to go. He hit the final button.
"Virtualization."
The Lyoko warriors closed their eyes as they were engulfed by a blinding light. Next came the sensation akin to that of flying.
In the virtual region that had been dubbed 'Sector 5' or Carthage, three figures appeared several feet off the ground. At first, they were just wire frames but quickly developed physical features before dropping down as people.
Now in their Lyoko forms, Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita confirmed their safe arrival to Jeremie and set off towards the Skid's hanger.
"I wonder where Odd is." Yumi said as they approached the elevator platform. "He was the one looking forward to this most of all."
"Well, we can't sit around waiting for him all day." Jeremie answered.
"Yeah. He should've picked a better day to break up with Sophie." Ulrich added, earning some laughs from the other three.
As the moving platform rolled up the sphere-like structure that was the hanger. The Lyoko warriors hopped aboard. As they rose, they could see the Skidbladnir in full detail.
"The Skid looks alright from the outside, Jeremie." Said Aelita.
"It's its' internal systems I'm more concerned with." The blond boy answered. "Take your positions on the platform."
They each stood on one of the circular planes and waited.
"Energize."
Bright beams of light shot upwards as Ulrich, Aelita and Yumi were transported inside the Skid. Aelita was seated in the main cockpit of the ship, while Ulrich and Yumi were inside two of the three smaller Navskids connected to the hull.
Aelita opened the interface, allowing Jeremie to see the internal systems. Just as before, everything was normal.
"Okay, releasing supports."
The magnetic clamps came away, leaving the Skid floating in mid-air. Aelita powered up the ignition and the ship rose out of the hanger, into the data rippled space surrounding Carthage. Jeremie opened up one of the data tunnels and the Skid flew out. Now they were in the open sky over the digital sea. Aelita began to work with the controls in her cockpit.
"Shields activated; sonar acti – Aaaaaggghhh!"
Jeremie sat bolt upright as he heard his friends screaming over his headpiece.
"Guys! Hey guy, what's going on?!"
The Skidbladnir plunged straight down into the digital sea, not slowing it's descent as it usually did. Aelita and the others let out surprised screams as they felt the ship go into freefall. It shot out of the entry chute like a cannon ball and spun around several times before finally coming to a halt.
Aelita raised a hand to her head as she waited for her dizziness to clear. It was then that she became aware of Jeremie's voice over the com.
"Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita; can anyone hear me?!"
"We read you, Jeremie." Aelita answered. She could hear his sigh of relief over the radio.
"Is everyone okay?"
"I'm fine." Yumi answered.
"Me too." Said Ulrich. The boy's eyes then widened as he looked out of his viewscreen. The Skid was completely surrounded by a sparking red ball of electricity.
"Uh Jeremie," Ulrich said. "I think you're entitled to give us all a really big 'I told you so'."