Note(s): Sorry about the REALLY late update, for any of my fics. I just recently got a great idea for this chapter, though, so I decided to come back and finish it up.

Review(s): Discontinued. Yes, I'm no longer answering reviews here. If I see an important review, I'll just use the new feature to reply to the review.

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, same old same old.

Unsolved Mysteries

Chapter 4: Practically Irritating

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A blaring sensation peaked its way through the shades. A rooster crowed in the distance. Jeremie rolled over, his face falling flat into his pillow. An alarm clock went off, but he just ignored it. He was going to get his sleep today! The annoying ringing persisted. Finally, Jeremie slammed the palm of his hand down on top of it. It stopped.

Jeremie drifted back into his sleep, but then another irritant noise occurred. Someone was slamming his fist into the door. He lifted up his pillow, laid flat into the bed, and covered his head with the pillow, shutting out most of the noise. The knocking stopped for a short while, but then persisted, even harder than before!

Ripping everything off of him, Jeremie slid down to the floor. "Alright already!" He called out, clearly annoyed. The knocking stopped.

He quickly rushed over to the door and opened it. It was Ulrich. "Jeremie, what were you doing!" He asked.

Jeremie groaned. "I was trying to sleep, if you don't mind!"

Ulrich chuckled slightly. "Hehe, well, now isn't really the time to sleep. None of Odd's stuff is in the room, and Aelita's room is completely vacant."

Jeremie's eyes lit up. "WHAT!" He ran back into the room and grabbed a change of clothes, and ran back to Ulrich. "Why didn't you tell me this before!"

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't answer the door."

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"Alright then," Jeremie proclaimed, now finally dressed and walking in the hallways with Ulrich, "they couldn't have gone far. More and likely, this is just one of Odd's practical jokes. First things first: cell phones. Did you try calling them?"

Ulrich nodded. "For Aelita, I didn't even get the acknowledgement that her cell even existed. As for Odd, I couldn't get a hold of him. I'm guessing it was off."

Jeremie sighed. "This is great. Just great! What if XANA attacks? We need Aelita to deactivate the tower!" Suddenly Jeremie thought of something. He turned back to Ulrich. "Wait, Ulrich, you call Yumi. I think I may know where Aelita is. Call me when you get Yumi. If and when I find Aelita, I'll call you and let you know."

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Light shined brightly through the window. Yumi just turned away from it and ignored the burning sensation. Her phone was vibrating heavily. She had remembered what happened last time she left the ringer on, and since then she had made sure to turn it off. As she slept soundly, it continued to vibrate. Finally, it subsided. In the screen flashed '1 Missed Call.'

Yumi slept for the next twenty minutes without interruptions. She started to open her eyes, but she was too tired to move and they slipped shut again.

She was half-asleep. The other half being her senses of hearing and touch. She felt the warmth of the blanket wrapped around her, and she felt the hard ground underneath her mattress that lay without a frame or box spring.

She heard someone knocking on the door downstairs. She heard footsteps, and the door opening. She heard her mother talking, but couldn't making out the words. The familiar voice of a boy spoke quickly, and out of breath. She was only able to make out the word "Yumi" from the quick-talking voice. Her mother said something again, and the boy said "Thanks."

She heard footsteps again, and soon they became louder. Then she heard her mother's voice again. "Yumi dear, a friend is here to see you. He seems urgent to talk with you."

Yumi woke with a startle. She sat up and glanced at her cell phone. 'Oh great, I bet it was Ulrich.' She thought. "I'll be right down!" She called out.

She quickly changed her clothes, grabbed her backpack, and ran down the stairs. Her mother was at the front door talking with Ulrich. Hiroki and her father were in the kitchen eating breakfast—the former seeming to joke to himself about something. She ran over toward the front door.

"Hey Yumi." He said. "Listen, I need to talk with you. Mind if I do so as we get back to school? I'll probably get a detention for leaving campus this close to school hours if we don't hurry back soon, anyway."

Yumi nodded, and walked out the door. She turned around to see that her mother was already gone. She closed the door behind her, and the two walked back to Kadic.

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Sonic ran right, Tails right behind him. The Master Emerald shrine was right behind them. Suddenly, the whole screen started shaking heavily. A huge machine rose from behind the Master Emerald Shrine. A giant robotic head thundered above them, and two hands came out of the wall on either side. Tails grabbed Sonic and threw him into the left hand, and then…

"Odd, time for breakfast!" His mother called.

Eggman smashed the robots' left hand down into Tails. Without any rings, because he lost them all on G-Mel, Tails died. Game Over appeared on the screen.

Odd groaned. "NOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed, slamming his fists down into the bed.

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Jeremie slid down into the entrance and grabbed his scooter. He rode down the sewer path, and turned down another path he saw inside it. Being a sewer, the place was, well… musty, dirty, and stinky. Jeremie just ignored that aspect, and found the place he was looking for. It was dark, but he could make out a staircase up ahead, and a faint light.

He tried to make everything out exactly, but it was too hard to see. He set his scooter up against the sewer wall and walked forward. 'Is that the path Odd and Aelita found?' He asked himself.

He was sure that was it, they had pointed it out before. This must've been where Ulrich and Yumi had ended up earlier! Jeremie nodded to himself, and ran up the staircase. At the top, sure enough, was a door. Though, it was actually quite strange. The hermitage was really old, and this door should've been broken down years ago, or at least a little rusty. Rubbing his hand up against it; sure enough, he could tell that it felt brand new.

Jeremie raised an eyebrow. He pushed the door open, and stepped out of the sewer path into a beautiful garden. The sunlight blaze brightly overhead. In a flowerbed just in front of him were purple and blue and red. An amazing sight it was! The house up ahead was even more beautiful. This place was clearly the work of a rich man, or perhaps just an excellent craftsman. How in the world this happened in a day, he couldn't figure out.

In his trademark tone and pose, Jeremie spoke out softly, "This is unbelievable…"

Chapter Profile:

Yumi Ishiyama: Yumi is the oldest of the group. She's also a year older than the rest. Yumi is of Japanese heritage, and her parents are from Japan. Yumi is the only member of the Lyoko group at Kadic who's a day student, and lives with her parents. Her parents fight often, which puts pressure on her; having to cope with them AND her younger brother Hiroki. Yumi is in love with Ulrich Stern, but also has a liking for William, a new student at the boarding school.

Note(s): Yes, another random humor scene with Odd. Don't ask me how he got his game back… you don't want to know.