Heehee, am I doing good or what? Well, here goes chapter eleven! Lets see what Odd thinks of this new friend of his...
Oh, and a note, memories are now in italics. And so is Xana's speech. Just so you know (wouldn't want anyone thinking Xana paused mid-story to give a monologue. Oh, and the memory is from the end of Toy Soldier, chapter fourteen I beleive, but in Odd's point of view!). And now, off to the story!
Odd stood, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Xana pacing about their new location. The large cat was muttering to himself, words Odd couldn't make out. And so, unable to find any entertainment in his new friend, Odd let his mind wander. It didn't take long for this wander to lead its way to Odd's new memories.
Odd couldn't help but feel his mood drop as he recalled the things his 'friends' had done to him, the way they had attacked them. And as much as Odd didn't want to believe these memories to be true, deep down, he knew they were. Even the one of Ulrich, watching as Odd plummeted down into the virtual sea. Odd thought that, out of all the hurtful memories, this one hurt the most. Maybe it was because Odd felt he could trust Ulrich so much, as if there was some type of bond between them.
As he concentrated on this certain memory and Ulrich in general, Odd began to get the familiar feeling of a memory about to hit. Suddenly Odd fell to his knees, a pressure seeming to build in his head as the memory took over.
Odd stood, staring at the brown haired boy before him, both standing at the edge of an icy path. Somewhere in his mind, an angry voice was telling him to attack the boy, to destroy him. But fighting against that voice was another, smaller whisper. It said to trust the boy, to let him help. Odd found himself feeling awfully torn.
"Odd?" the brown haired boy asked quietly, taking a step forward. Again, the angry voice, from somewhere on the right side of his brain, screamed for Odd to attack. But from the left came the softer voice, though louder this time, again pushing its message of trust. Odd, tired of hearing the angry voice, tilted his head to the side, hoping to just dump the voice out of his ear.
"Odd, what are you doing?" the boy asked, taking another step forward. Odd leaned forward, looking at the hand the boy stretched towards him. The little voice told Odd to grab the hand to trust the boy and not harm him in any way. Odd almost did as the voice commanded, when a shout caught his attention.
"Ulrich!" the black haired boy standing behind the other boy shouted. "Look out!"
Odd looked over to see what had the dark haired boy in such a panic, and had to swallow a gasp. For standing not five feet from the other boy, this Ulrich, was a squarish monster, with its laser aimed at the unsuspecting boy.
And Odd knew there was no way Ulrich could protect himself from this monster without being tossed off the path. And Odd knew if that happened, it would be bad. But Odd didn't know what to do. The voices were getting louder now, arguing over what to do, who to believe. And then the monster fired and Odd suddenly found his mind made up as he was suddenly pushing Ulrich to safety as the monster's attacks hit him, launching him from the path.
Fearfully Odd looked up, watching Ulrich disappear as he reached to try and grab the falling boy. And in the back of Odd's mind, the angry voice growled about how listening to the whisper would get Odd killed.
Odd gasped as he came up from the memory, shaking his head to rid it of the haunting memory of his near death experience.
What happened? Did you remember something? a voice asked from above Odd. The cat warrior turned his eyes up to see Xana hovering over him, blood red eyes gleaming in a frighteningly unfriendly way.
"I remembered…" Odd began, searching his mind for something to say. He wasn't sure why, but some part of him warned against telling Xana of his new memory. "I remembered you," Odd began, feeling wisps of a new memory floating through his mind. "You and I were fighting together, and I couldn't fight that Ulrich kid. So you helped me."
Xana looked down his muzzle at Odd. Is that all? the cat asked.
"You protected me," Odd said, climbing to his feet. "And Ulrich fought me. I guess that shows who my true friend is."
Yes, Xana hissed, narrowing his eyes at Odd. Don't you forget it. I am your friend. Xana then turned and began to stalk off, signaling Odd to follow him with a flick of his head. Come, we are going to the core.
"I'm coming," Odd grumbled, trotting after the cat. As he followed the large beast, Odd felt the beginning s of a plan forming in his mind.
--
"What did you guys do?" Michel shouted, running full out along one of the narrow paths of the Ice Sector.
"Nothing!" Terence shouted back. "It just attacked us for no reason!"
"Hey guys, less yelling, more running!" Adelle shouted back at the quarrelling pair behind her. Along with Lauren, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita, the group was at the moment full out sprinting to escape from the Wulf currently on their tail.
"We're never going to make it to the Transport Orb like this," Yumi shouted, glancing at the Wulf, which was slowly gaining on the group.
"What do you propose we do?" Ulrich asked, running beside his wife. "I'm open to suggestions."
"We need to distract it," Aelita said, lifting her wrist and showing her star shaped bracelet. "I could do it!"
"No, we're going to need your help against Xana," Ulrich said. Aelita sighed, agreeing with Ulrich reasoning.
"I could do it."
"What?" Michel asked, turning to look at his dark haired friend.
"I could do it," Terence repeated. "I'm already down fifty life points. It makes sense for me to do it."
"That thing wouldn't take a second to get rid of you," Adelle said. "Then what would we do?"
"Lauren could hold it off," Terence said. "She could use one of her shields. So Lauren, you up to it?"
"One of your what?" Michel asked Lauren, but she wasn't paying him any attention. She was focused on Terence. After a moment she sighed, giving the boy a nod.
"Alright, I'll try."
Terence grinned at the blonde, then skidded to a stop, spinning around and drawing his bow, an arrow materializing in it as he pulled back its string. Ahead of him Lauren did the same, stopping and turning, holding her hands out before her.
"Lauren, what are you doing?" Aelita shouted, noticing what her daughter was up to.
"Mom, keep going," Lauren shouted, "I'll catch up with you!" Aelita seemed reluctant to do as her daughter commanded. But Ulrich, who realized what the pair had planned, grabbed Aelita's arm and pulled her away.
"Ready Lauren?" Terence asked, glancing back at his friend. Lauren nodded. "Alright, here he comes." Terence shut one eye, sighting down his arrow as he took aim, his target the Wulf's glowing purple eye.
"Now?" Lauren asked nervously as the Wulf grew closer.
"Not yet," Terence said. He continued to watch the Wulf approach. Almost till the last second Terence waited, until the Wulf was so close he couldn't miss. "Now!" he shouted to Lauren, letting his arrow fly. The Wulf didn't have a chance to dodge, the arrow embedding in its eye and destroying the monster in a great burst of data just as Lauren's shield was put in place, protecting her and her retreating friends from the aftershock of the monsters destruction.
--
Down in the bowls of the factory a scanner slid open, depositing a certain dark haired teen on the ground. A disoriented "Whoa" was about all he could manage.
"Terence! Terence, are you alright!?" Jeremy asked, his voice bouncing around the scanner room. Terence gave his head a shake, stumbling slowly to his feet.
"Whoa," he repeated, "Can I go on that ride again?"
"Glad to see you're okay," Jeremy said. "Good job by the way."
"Huh?" Terence asked, staring up at the room's speaker.
"Thanks to you, the others made it to the edge of the sector. I'm sending them the Transport Orb now. And on another happy note, your parents are on their way here!"
"Great, tell me after I get devirtualized," Terence grumbled, making his way towards the elevator. "You know, I may have wanted to see what they looked like on Lyoko you know."
"Sorry Terence," Jeremy said as Terence entered the elevator, a hint of laughter in his voice. "But neither of them looks worse then you."
Up at his computer, Jeremy couldn't help but grin at the small 'darn it!' that echoed back to him.