Sorry for the huge wait, but I've been working on other fics for different shows. Anyway hope you enjoy and review. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, but no promises.
# 8 The Column
"So, do you think it's true?" Milly asked Tamiya. The two girls turned to look at one another, but Tamiya made sure to keep the camera on her targets. Slowly, the girls' lips spread into large smiles. It didn't matter if it was true because if, for only a moment, it just looked true, that made it more than true.
"This is gold," Tamiya said. She turned the flash off her camera and snapped a few shots.
"We can have it written by tomorrow's paper," Milly said. "We've been waiting for this story all term."
The two girls ran toward their room to begin their gossip column.
Yumi heard a rustle in the bush behind her. She knew what it looked like between her and William. Why wouldn't Ulrich have followed the two of them around the shed? This was what she had been hoping he would do.
She only hoped that he finally got a clue and asked her out.
Mardi and Aelita stood in the bathroom, staring into the mirror. They both frowned at what they saw. It was way too early in the morning for them to actually be awake, considering it was only 4:30.
"Remind me to smack Odd," Aelita said finishing off with a yawn.
"A bat," Mardi sighed. "It was a bat, not a XANA controlled mouse. But, as long as we're awake, we might as well take over the bathroom before Sissy. I didn't have time to turn her alarm clock off last night, so she'll be here in half an hour. Are all French morning people?"
Aelita shrugged.
An hour and fifteen minutes later, the two girls were already dressed and headed for breakfast, ready to start the day. Just as they walked into the cafeteria, surprised that there were a few kids there already, the weekly student newspaper was set out in its usual basket. Mardi grabbed an issue, just to check it out. And, it could always be used to smack Odd over the head with.
"Well," Mardi mused as her eyes skimmed down a column of the newspaper. "That's either false or Yumi has really been hiding something from us. It doesn't look like a Photoshop picture."
Aelita looked at her companion curiously. "What about Yumi?"
"According to Milly and Tamiya," Mardi began. "'Our reporters have witnessed the blossoming of many relationships over the past term, but none so romantic nor as long awaited as the coming together of Yumi Ishiyama and William Dunbar. It is in our opinion that this may be the first relationship all term that will last past the graduation of the two involved, and possibly into a marriage.' Yada, yada, yada. 'Our reporters would like to wish the new couple a happy time together and hope that this relationship will inspire others.'"
"Ulrich's not going to be happy," Aelita said.
"Is he ever?" Mardi asked setting the paper down.
"Good morning girls," Jeremie said taking a seat next to Aelita. "Anything interesting in the paper this morning?"
"Only if you count Yumi and William officially hooking up interesting," Mardi said tossing the paper to Jeremie.
"Don't you think it's strange that Yumi would have done that and not told any of us?" Aelita asked.
"Ulrich's not going to be happy," Jeremie mentioned.
"Dear me, dear me," Mardi said laughing out loud. "You two are definitely made for one another."
The two looked at her, but before they could inquire, Sissy was laughing loudly and claiming that her dream was finally about to come true.
"Somebody had better go on damage patrol," Mardi said after glancing at her cousin. "I'll keep her occupied while you keep Ulrich calm and tell him what happened."
"Too late," Aelita said as Sissy ran out the door to find Ulrich.
"Sissy," Mardi called and chased after her cousin. "Wait a moment, girl."
Odd walked in a minute later and looked slightly hurt. "What's wrong, Odd?" Aelita asked.
"I just passed by Mardi, but she completely blew me off as she tried to get to Sissy," Odd said and sighed sadly.
"She's just trying to make sure that Sissy doesn't show Ulrich the newspaper," Jeremie said, shoving the paper at Odd. "Or terrible things might happen if we're not around to keep him thinking rationally."
"Except he never thinks rationally," Odd said.
"Oh, here he comes," Aelita said as Ulrich walked through the doors.
"And he doesn't look at all mad," Jeremie said. "In fact, he looks kind of happy."
"He hasn't heard yet," Odd stated. Milly and Tamiya ran past their table with their camera and microphone toward Ulrich.
"This is Milly here, with the Kadic News. I am getting an exclusive interview with Ulrich Stern, long time admirer of Yumi Ishyama and most likely the best looking boy on campus," Milly said toward the camera in Tamiya's arms. She turned to Ulrich and asked, "How does it feel to know Yumi picked William over you?"
"What?" Ulrich asked loudly.
"Yesterday, Yumi and William secretly kissed in the bushes behind the shed," Milly said. "An official sign that they are going out. Our audience wants to know what you are going to do now that Yumi is taken. Is there another girl in mind that you would date? Possibly someone who you think is pretty and nice?"
"I, uh…" Ulrich just peered around for something to help him understand. Finally, he spotted the newspaper, and snatched a copy, quickly skimming the article. He shook slightly with anger and threw the copy to the ground. He looked down to see only Yumi's smiling face after William had just pulled away from what had to be a kiss. "There is something I'd like to do," he finally said.
"Oh, no," Odd said. "That can't be good."
Ulrich made his way outside, Milly and Tamiya trailing him. Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita were not far behind him. No one knew where he was going until they saw Sissy and Mardi talking. Ulrich was heading straight for them.
"Morning, Ulrich," Mardi said as she saw Sissy's face brighten up.
"Yeah, whatever," Ulrich said, walking right past her. Ulrich walked up to Sissy and kissed her deeply. He ran his hands through her hair and pulled her close.
"This is amazing!" Milly said giving the camera several glances. "We have just witnessed the coming together of yet another couple in two days."
"I can't believe I'm getting this on camera," Tamiya said.
"It would seem that Ulrich Stern, Kadic's best looking boy, and Sissy Delmas, the principal's daughter, are giving Yumi Ishiyama and William Dunbar a run for the most exciting new campus couple."
"Hi," Odd said coming between the girls and the kissing couple. "May I ask if either of you actually asked either Yumi or William if they were a couple, or did you just assume after spying on them in the bushes?"
"Uh…" the girls looked at one another.
"And, aren't you a news station? Not a Kadic's number one gossip show," Mardi asked, coming up behind Odd.
"This is news!" Milly exclaimed.
"No," Mardi said. "The weather and the crime rates are news. Who's macking who is gossip. And gossip is an evil little thing that hurts. How do you think Ulrich felt when he read that Yumi was dating William from the newspaper before Yumi spoke to him about it?"
"Where'd Ulrich go?" Milly asked.
"To blow off steam," Jeremie said.
"In that case, we have to go," Tamiya said. "There are other stories going we have to report."
As the girls walked off, the four friends all turned to one another. "Where'd Ulrich really go?" Mardi asked.
"To blow off steam," Jeremie said. "Of course, he did have time to ask Sissy to be his official girlfriend. Now, someone needs to tell Yumi before Sissy does."
"I vote Aelita," Mardi said. "Yumi likes her the most, plus, she wouldn't dare hurt her."
Aelita looked at Jeremie. "I don't want to do it alone," she said. Jeremie sighed, giving in to Aelita's pleas.
Ulrich and Yumi refused to look at each other while in Lyoko later that day. In fact, Odd, Aelita, and Mardi had to walk between so they wouldn't kill one another.
"Are you sure that you're not going to hurt one another in Sector 5?" Jeremie asked. "Because if you don't think that you can get along, I can bring one of you back before I type in the password."
"Just type it in, Jeremie," Ulrich spat.
Jeremie sighed and typed in the password Scipio. A moment later, they were all taken to Sector 5. The moment the countdown began, Ulrich was off working at Super Sprint to find the button while the others trailed behind and protected Aelita from any Creepers that decided to attack.
"This place is damn freaky," Mardi commented once the countdown had been stopped and the all relaxed slightly. It was her first time in Sector 5. "Now, remind me, how do we find our way through this maze?"
"Jeremie guides us," Aelita said.
Mardi nodded as she followed the group through the maze with Jeremie's directions. She kept her eyes on Yumi and Ulrich as the two glared at one another. Then, unbeknownst to the other, each gave the other a longing look while the other wasn't looking. Only Mardi saw these exchanges and felt really bad for them because of a few stupid rumors.
"Did you hear about those two reporter girls?" One of Ulrich's classmates asked him the next day as he came into literature. "Milly and Tamiya? I heard that they are stalking a few boys here and that they've got pictures of those boys in almost every situation. I sure hope I'm not one; they're weird."
"Where did you hear this?" Ulrich asked.
"Herve got it from somewhere," the boy said. "But, everyone has heard about it."
Ulrich walked past the boy and took his seat next to Odd. Odd looked distressed. "What's wrong with you?"
"I don't like these rumors about Milly and Tamiya," Odd said. "I've heard that they're secretly in a relationship, that they've got a shrine to Jim in their closet, and that they're stalking at least eight different boys."
"So, someone got mad at them for something and started a rumor that escalated into something bigger than it really was," Ulrich said.
Odd looked at Ulrich. "Like how they came up with the rumor that Yumi and William are dating?"
"They got pictures of that," Ulrich justified his actions from the day before.
"It's called bad timing," Odd suggested. "Maybe a bad angle. There are a million ways to get that picture."
"And there's still the possibility that they're together," Ulrich said.
"Well, now that you asked Sissy out I wouldn't be surprised if Yumi actually asked William out," Odd said. "For your information, they are not going out, nor did they kiss. The only thing they did was whisper really close to one another."
"Do you know how fake that sounds?" Ulrich asked.
"I do," Odd said. "But that's what William said. Didn't ask Yumi her side yet."
"Don't bother," Ulrich said. "She'll lie about what happened."
Odd shook his head and turned toward the front of the room as the teacher began his lesson.
Aelita and Mardi had just emerged from the lunch line, lunches in hand, when they realized that something was wrong with their usual table. They looked at each other, then scanned the room, trying to fine Odd and Jeremie. There was, after all, no way they wanted to sit with Sissy, who Ulrich had apparently invited to their usual table. Jeremie and Odd, however were still in the food line.
"Think we can annoy her away?" Mardi asked Aelita.
"Not without getting Ulrich mad at us," Aelita said.
"Is he ever not mad at us?" Mardi asked. "It'll be a lot of fun…"
"Oh, Mardi, please don't," Aelita said. She pouted her lower lip. "You know that Odd will, whether or not we do, so why don't we leave it to Odd?"
"Odd on his own will get his ass handed to him," Mardi said. "Especially now that Sissy and Ulrich are an 'item'. Don't think of it as annoying Sissy, but as protecting Odd."
Aelita just stared at Mardi for a few moments.
"Or, leave the annoyance to me?" Mardi tried again.
Aelita sighed. "I guess I could live with that."
"Good," Mardi said, pushing Aelita ahead of her to their table.
"Hello," Sissy said almost happily to Aelita and Mardi when they arrived. "We were wondering what was keeping you."
"Oh, congratulations, did you get an A in fakeness?" Mardi asked. "And, actually, you kept us, Sissy." Aelita and Ulrich cringed at the up and coming argument.
"What do you mean by that?" Sissy asked, now plain angry.
"I mean that we didn't want to sit wherever you were," Mardi said. "But, at least we chose you over your friends, so you have something to be proud about, though I wouldn't call that much."
"Oohhh!" Sissy shouted. "Shut up, why don't you? You're only here because your dad didn't know what to do with you after your mother got put into the hospital."
From that erupted a huge gasp from everyone looking on. Mardi narrowed her eyes in extreme anger, but tears were visible about to fall and Sissy slapped her hands over her mouth as if she had just told the biggest secret in the school. "How dare you even mention that," Mardi said, her voice quiet and shaking before she stood and pushed her way out of the cafeteria. She didn't even dump anything on Sissy as was expected.
"Mardi?" Odd asked, entering the laundry room. He didn't know why, but as soon as he found out exactly what happened from Aelita, he had a feeling he'd find Mardi in the laundry room. He saw the toes of her boots pull back behind the washing machines. He sighed and approached, closing the door behind him.
"I'd like to be alone right now," she said, not looking up.
"Mardi, don't do this," Odd said crouching in front of her.
She shook her head, burying it behind her arms and legs. Her long blonde hair hid the bit of face that wasn't hidden behind her legs. Her current position was not good for being in a skirt, he realized and he moved to sit next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders, causing her to pull herself into a tighter ball.
"I know you think you should be alone right now," Odd said, "but that's not going to help. Being with others will. You need support, and that's what I'm here for. Let me help you, please."
Mardi sobbed for a moment, then leaned into Odd's embrace. He held her tighter and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay, Mardi."
"It was the hurricane," Mardi finally said. "It put my mom in the hospital." She grabbed two handfuls of Odd's shirt and pulled herself closer to him, sobbing even more. "My dad thought it would be best to get me somewhere away from the coast where there weren't hurricanes and that way I wouldn't bother him while he worked or visited my mom."
Mardi clung to Odd for several minutes, before loosening her grip and relaxing a little against him, exhausted from crying. She finally looked up at him, tears still leaking from her eyes, but obviously relieved that she had gotten through sobbing with his help and support. Odd smiled down at her and lightly kissed her forehead. When he pulled back, Mardi reached up and put her hand on his cheek, lightly urging him closer, so he obliged and kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back with a fiery passion.
After a minute, he felt Mardi crawl onto his lap, straddling him. While he knew he shouldn't, he put his hands on her hips, holding tight and she pressed her body against his. Slightly concerned about what she was up to, Odd wanted to stop and pull away, but his body was reacting so positively toward her actions that he held tight. Mardi moaned slightly against the kiss, then began moving her mouth downward toward his jaw line and neck. Even more, Odd could feel his body happily reacting. Apparently, so could Mardi as she repositioned herself so she was pressed even more against him. Almost unaware of what he was doing, Odd's hands slid along her thighs until they were resting just below the hem of her skirt. He groaned slightly as he felt her teeth run slightly against the skin of his neck. She then trailed her tongue up his neck, along his jaw and to his ear. She whispered in a husky voice, "Give me something to be happy about, Odd. I beg of you."
"This can't happen, Mardi," Odd whispered in the same tone. His hands and body, however, disagreed as he slipped his hands under her skirt.
"Please, Odd," Mardi continued. Odd closed his eyes, unable to look her in the eye. "I beg of you."
"Where's Mardi?" Yumi asked when Odd arrived at the factory.
Odd looked at the ground at his feet, not proud of what he had done. "She's still upset about Sissy's comment," Odd replied. "Spent a good few hours just sobbing, and I didn't have the heart to ask her to come to Lyoko in her state. She needed to get some good rest, so I took her to our room, Ulrich, so she could avoid Sissy." In reality, she was sleeping, wrapped under Odd's blankets. Her boots were leaning against the bed and Kiwi had pushed his nose into her tangled and messed up hair.
"What's that on your neck, Odd?" Aelita asked as he turned toward the elevator to go to the scanner room.
"Uh… what?"
"Oh, God, that's a hickey," Yumi said. Odd was blushing madly and Aelita tilted her head in confusion. Yumi stepped closer to the pink-haired girl and explained what a hickey was.
"Sobbing away madly, huh Odd?" Ulrich asked. "You were comforting her. Good thing we don't have afternoon classes on Saturdays because I don't think that making out would be a viable excuse for missing classes."
"Just go to the scanners and you can tease Odd later," Jeremie said.
"Thanks, Einstein," Odd said sarcastically as both Ulrich and Yumi were making fun of him, each trying to outdo the other, making the insults extra harsh.
"So, what did you and Mardi really do?" Ulrich asked Odd as the two headed toward their dorm after gathering more information from Sector 5. Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi were staying in the factory, but Odd and Ulrich both preferred to leave.
"What do you mean?" Odd asked. "You think I lied?"
"Well, unless someone else gave you that hickey…"
"Okay, so maybe we did a little making out once she had finished crying," Odd said, staring straight ahead of him.
"Are you sure?" Ulrich asked. "We're not going to walk into our room and find a naked girl in your bed?"
"She'll probably have gone to her own room by this time," Odd said. "And at no point was she or I naked. You think I would have left her if items of clothing were being removed?"
Ulrich shrugged. "I suppose not," he said. "But I definitely would run off if Sissy tried to do that?"
Odd smiled. "How's that working out for you, anyway?"
Ulrich laughed, knowing Odd expected him to start complaining what a pain Sissy was. "Not too bad, actually. She's really not that bad when you think about it. And she's really making an effort to be nice."
"Yeah, it was really nice what she said to Mardi," Odd rolled his eyes.
"Mardi started that," Ulrich said, "and you know that. Plus, she felt really bad about it, but couldn't find Mardi anywhere. I guess she didn't check our room."
Odd bit his lip. "We were actually in the laundry room."
Ulrich smirked. "Really? For the driers, by any chance? Does the vibrating—" Odd pushed him to shut him up.
"No, it was because the only day anyone goes in there is Thursday when they all decide they need to clean their clothes for the weekend." Odd looked ahead. "Plus, it's her sort of safe house for when she's got stuff on her mind. She likes the rumble and folding the clothes and all that stuff."
"How about the humid atmosphere?" Ulrich asked. "Does it make experiences anymore natural and sensual?"
"Aw, shut it already," Odd snapped. They had finally reached their room and Odd opened the door. Sitting on the ground was Mardi playing with an excited Kiwi. She looked up and smiled at the two boys.
"I took him out a few minutes ago because he was scratching at the door," she said. "I thought I'd just stick around and keep him company until you came back. Is that okay?"
"Perfectly fine, Mardi," Ulrich said. "Stay as long as you like so long as you leave before Jim checks the rooms."
Mardi smiled at Ulrich and continued to play with Kiwi, acting overly innocent in Ulrich's opinion. Ulrich looked at Odd, wanting an explanation to Mardi's innocence. Odd would only reply with a shrug.
"Anything useful, Jeremie?" Yumi asked as Jeremie wrapped up his work for the night. "I have to get home soon, but I can't leave you two alone."
"You're right, Yumi," Jeremie said. "It's about to get late. Aelita and I had better be back before Jim does room checks. Come on. I can analyze this in my room."
The three got in the elevator and began to ride it up, until it stopped between two floors.
"Why's it not moving?" Aelita asked.
"Power's still on," Jeremie said. "I suppose it could be a XANA attack."
"Let's pry the doors open," Yumi suggested. "Being stuck anywhere else is better than here."
Jeremie and Aelita pulled on one side of the elevator door while Yumi pulled on the other. After several minutes, they had no progress.
"Okay, let's call Ulrich and Odd," Jeremie said. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ulrich. Yumi did the same thing, dialing Odd.
"Only Yumi could get them stuck in the elevator," Ulrich grumbled as he, Odd, and Mardi made their way to the factory.
"Usually, I'd be to blame," Odd said.
"But Ulrich's not pissed at you right now," Mardi reminded him. "Had it not been for Yumi getting caught on camera in a compromising position, he wouldn't be dating my cousin right now. "
"Mardi, I would not be talking if I were you," Ulrich snapped. "Just look at who you are dating." They got to the park, crawled down the sewer, and found that their skateboards were missing. "Perfect," Ulrich growled with a dramatic eye roll as he began toward the factory.
"Pick up the pace, Ulrich," Mardi said as she began to jog past him. "We have to save Aelita and Jeremie as well as Yumi."
"She's right, you know," Odd said running past Ulrich as well.
"Let's just go get them free," Ulrich said picking up his pace.
The three ran quickly to the factory. "Okay, somehow we have to get into the elevator shaft, and open the top, help them climb out, etc." Mardi said.
"No problem with the first bit," Odd said pressing the code into the keypad. Nothing happened.
"Now what?" Ulrich questioned.
"Well, now we find out why the elevator is not working," Odd said. "Anyone have a crowbar?"
"This has either got to be a power failure or a XANA attack," Mardi said. "I say we find out which before we jump to breaking open the elevator."
The three took the back route to the super computer. "Looks like they tried to leave one second too soon," Ulrich said. "It's XANA."
"So, how do we get them out of the elevator?" Mardi asked.
"I actually agree with Odd about the crowbar," Ulrich said.
"Or, if none of the doors can be pried open, we could always break into the top and lower ourselves down to them," Mardi suggested.
"Be careful on the ladder," Odd said as Mardi lowered herself to the elevator shaft from above where it began. "Don't slip or anything."
"Calm down, Odd," Mardi said. "I'm not useless." She climbed down the ladder until she reached the stopped elevator. As soon as she was steady on the elevator, Mardi kicked in the door.
"Thank God," Yumi said. "We couldn't get it open from in here."
"Okay, let's start getting people up," Mardi said reaching a hand down. "It's XANA that's made us so happy this time."
Aelita was the first to be pulled out of the car. However, as soon as se started up the ladder, the elevator began dropping uncontrollably. In a flash decision, Aelita jumped back toward the car, which stopped moving so that she wouldn't be hurt.
"Okay, Aelita climbs up last," Mardi said gripping her chest after having screamed and felt her life flash before her. She reached back into the car. "Jeremie, hand please."
The four climbed up the shaft to the scanner room where they finally pried open the door from the inside. Odd and Ulrich were already there.
"Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, into the scanners," Jeremie instructed as he climbed to the control room. "I'll send you to Lyoko."
"That was a pretty lame attack," Odd said climbing into a scanner.
Once Jeremie was at the computer, he found that the elevator wasn't the only thing screwy in the factory. His chair was spinning around at a fast rate and the keys were typing by themselves. XANA sent the three in the scanners to Lyoko, to his choosing. They landed surrounded by monsters in the Mountain Region.
"Great choice, Jeremie," Ulrich mumbled as he pulled out his saber. "Uh, Jeremie?"
Mardi and Aelita didn't get the signal to steer clear of the scanners as Jeremie's chair knocked him out as it spun past him. XANA sent them straight to the Scipazoa in the Ice Region.
"Okay, something screwy is going on," Mardi said pulling out her sword as the Crabs surrounded her. "Where are the others?"
As the others were fighting off Crabs, Tarantulas, and Blocks, it wasn't long before one of them lost all life points. Odd was the first to be devirtualized. Ulrich and Yumi, still silent toward one another, were backed to the edge. Blocking lasers, one hit Ulrich, and rather than devirtualizing him, it merely pushed him off the cliff.
"Oh, Ulrich!" Yumi cried out as Ulrich fell backwards toward the digital sea. She reached out her hand and grabbed his at the last second. His weight pulled her down, but she kept on the cliff, though she was now lying on her stomach. Yumi pulled out a fan with her free hand and threw it at the monsters, hitting one, but that was it.
"Yumi, hit me," Ulrich said as he saw Yumi cringe getting hit. "If you get devirtualized holding me like this, I'll fall into the digital sea. I know you're mad at me, but I'll never be able to make it up to you if I drop."
Yumi nodded and pulled out her fan. She hit Ulrich with it, devirtualizing him before she was hit herself. They both fell out of their scanners to see Odd climbing the ladder. "Something must have happened to Jeremie," Odd explained as he continued climbing.
"Aelita,, when I say go, run to the tower," Mardi said. "Okay?"
"Sounds good," Aelita said. "What do you have in mind?"
"You'll see," Mardi said holding up her shield as she was shot at. "Take this." She handed Aelita her sword. "If the Jellyfish attacks, use it."
Aelita nodded. "What about you?"
"Go!" Mardi yelled and charged at the oncoming Crabs with her shield held up. Aelita ran like Mardi had told her to. When she was confronted by the Scipazoa, she held up the sword, but it wasn't threatened. Just before it grabbed her, Mardi threw her shield at the monster, knocking it back and giving Aelita the passage to the tower before Mardi lost her life points.
"Tower deactivated." Aelita said.
"Jeremie's out cold," Yumi said. "I don't know how to bring Aelita back."
"Then launch a return to the past because we can't leave Aelita in Lyoko for too long alone," Ulrich said.
Yumi nodded. "I can do that." She looked at Ulrich. "I'm not dating William, just to let you know."
"This is Milly here, with the Kadic News. I am getting an exclusive interview with Ulrich Stern, long time admirer of Yumi Ishyama and most likely the best looking boy on campus," Milly said toward the camera in Tamiya's arms. She turned to Ulrich and asked, "How does it feel to know Yumi picked William over you?"
"Funny, because it looks to me like they're just whispering," Ulrich said with a smirk. "Wait until Yumi gets here and I'll show you a real kiss."
Milly and Tamiya looked at one another before squealing with delight.
