14: All Hallows' Eve - Night
AELITA
You know how some people have stage fright?
Well, Aelita suffered from a rarer case known as pre-stage fright.
It was the night of her debut performance, and the closer she got to the gymnasium, the more nervous she grew. The Keyblade on her back felt heavier and heavier as she visualized scenarios of screwing up; from verbal insults to rotten tomatoes being thrown at her. A part of her wished that Halloween was tomorrow instead.
Beside her, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi were conversing quietly amongst themselves, knowing full well that Aelita had gone under 'isolation mode'. Similar to the pre-game manner of professional baseball pitcher Roy Halladay, Aelita would barely utter a word or acknowledge anyone around her prior to any major presentation or performance. Of course, once she started performing, it was a completely different story.
Figuratively speaking, she became one with the music. She knew how to produce harmonious melodies effortlessly and possessed perfect pitch and rhythm senses. In fact, during rehearsals, the SubDigitals had let her do her own thing, and only occasionally offer some additional pointers; they were simply amazed by Aelita's proficiency in the musical arts.
Yumi tapped Aelita gently on the shoulder, which took the full-time LYOKO warrior and current Keyblade master several seconds to register. She looked up.
"Umm, we're here," was all her friend said.
Aelita swallowed and looked around. The festivities wouldn't be starting for another twenty minutes, and the vestibule just outside the gymnasium was already packed with eager teenagers. She also noticed a couple of faces she had never seen before; did they even go to this school? Of course, there was always the possibility that they were former students, or were brought to the party by their friends…
"Ah, Ms. Stones. Right on time," came Jim's booming voice.
"The A/V team is expecting you on stage in five for some last-minute tune-ups," he added as a camera flashed in front of him. Someone had just taken a groovy picture of Jim's Elvis form. And for a moment, Jim looked rather pompous before resuming his though-guy stance.
"Alright, alright. No more pictures," he growled, before turning back to Aelita and leading her towards the stage entrance.
"Best of luck, Princess."
"We all know it's going to be a great show and…what is it Odd?" asked Yumi as the boy nudged his way into the conversation. He handed Aelita a disk and a small slip of paper.
"Er, Odd…I think you've missed the point. We kind of…don't want Aelita booted off the stage. Your demos don't really help in this aspect," Ulrich remarked to the snickers of the other two girls.
Odd made several gestures which were completely indiscernible. So Aelita waved and left the group to follow Jim.
And as Aelita made herself comfortable in her makeshift 'office' for the next several hours, the symptoms of her pre-stage fright gradually diminished. She put on headphones as her mind went over the playlist one last time.
It's showtime.
ULRICH
The Halloween 2006 dance started off with a loud bang, followed by a smatter of applause and cheers.
When Odd, Ulrich and Yumi followed the long line in, Aelita had already gotten everyone upbeat with one of France's hit synthpop duo Daft Punk's electrifying compositions. Ulrich spotted her on the stage, moving her hands ever so fluently across the switchboard.
In retrospect, Aelita was a good – no – great disk jockey.
Kadic's gymnasium was by no means massive. But with several hundred partying adolescents combined with loud music and minimal lighting, Team LYOKO proved that a trio can be separated in less than fifteen minutes.
Perhaps it was when Jim Morales finally gave into peer pressure and began showing off his dance moves from the seventies. That created a mini-stampede as students flocked over and quickly surrounded the full-time teacher and current disco star. Or maybe it was when Odd's chick sensors lit up and he quickly dragged Ulrich along with him.
Whatever the case, Ulrich and Odd had lost sight of Yumi. On the other hand, they did stumble upon a familiar face…
"…And that's how I snuck into Ms. Lebreton's class after the bell," Samantha Knight finished epicly.
Odd clapped his hands enthusiastically. Even Ulrich looked mildly impressed, though he highly doubted that he could replicate such feat.
"Thank you. Thank you. You're much to kind," she said, taking several bows.
Samantha Knight
Dressed as: Red Riding Hood
Status: Where were you in the first thirteen chapters?
"Anyways, what are you guys up to these days? Where's Yumi?" she questioned Ulrich.
"Well…we kinda lost sight of her…"
"Isn't she your date?"
Ulrich choked. "What? What, no! We're just friends, that's all," he said hastily.
Samantha offered a look of skepticism, but then shrugged and headed off with her classmates.
Odd then handed Ulrich a slip of paper. Ulrich unfolded it, turned on his cell phone for some light. It was only three seconds before his eyebrows narrowed and he scrunched up the note.
"Oh God. Seriously?"
The mime nodded earnestly. Ulrich sighed and agreed to temporarily suspend his search for Yumi. There wasn't much to lose anyways…besides his self-esteem. And he reasoned that sooner or later, they would run into her. After all, according to Jeremie, the gymnasium was only roughly 100 square feet…or something like that. Why he was able to recall such a useless figure was beyond him.
"Fine I'll be your wingman. But I'm telling you, this won't work."
ODD
According to Odd Della Robbia's factbook, dances are events in which surprisingly only 24% of the time is devoted to actual dancing. The majority of the time – 57% – was either spent on finding a date or keeping your current one content. Despite how interesting this statistic may seem, its validity was questionable. Another tidbit of information in Odd's almanac claimed that 83% of statistics were just pure hogwash.
"Haaave you met Odd?" Ulrich asked a pretty blonde-haired nurse.
Beside him, Odd waved and performed his 'trapped-in-a-box' imitation. Sadly, his impression was neither impressive nor amusing as the girl merely raised her eyebrows and turned her attention back to the break dancers.
Five pick-up attempts had been met with five unanimous rejections. This was especially frustrating for Agent Stern, who was doing most of the work.
"This isn't working, Odd. I told you mimes were overrated. Every girl we've met either seemed more interested in me – and you can bet Yumi will kill me later if she saw this – or…at the sight of this awesome suit!" said Ulrich as he smoothed the front of his black coat.
The mime shrugged and appeared to concede in defeat. He then made a cup with his hand and performed a pouring action into his mouth. Ulrich, who had been slowly improving his aptitude in charades throughout the day understood.
"Umm…sure, drinks sound fine. I'll have my usual."
Odd shivered and scrunched his face in disgust. Only a person who lacked taste buds would find a mixture of every carbonated beverage to be delicious. In addition, Ulrich liked it with a hint of apple juice.
"Whatever, I'm going over there and see if I can find Yumi."
As Odd weaved through the masses of costumed individuals, he was caught flat-footed from an oncoming 'people train' and accidentally bumped into a fellow partygoer, who turned around.
"Hey! You're one of Bryan's friends. Odd – right?"
It was Catherine. She was holding a half-empty glass of juice and was hanging out with a group of girls Odd recognized as members of Kadic's cheerleading team. Despite the minimal amount of light, he could clearly make out her smoking hot body. However, it was something else that had him momentarily stunned.
Her bright green hair.
Regaining his composure and being unable to offer a verbal compliment, he mounted a large smile and flashed Catherine a thumbs up.
Catherine Horvath's smile grew wider as she brushed some of the hair in front of her face. In addition, she was carrying a circular duffel bag with a yellow star in the middle. She wore purple leggings and a light hoodie that covered a tight bright-coloured shirt.
"You don't look so shabby yourself, Mr. Mime," she said as Odd pointed to her hair.
"What? Oh…of course it's not my real hair colour, silly. It's just a part of my awesome costume. Took a bit more than a bottle to get it this shade as well."
Odd had a strange feeling he knew who Catherine was dressed up as. Unnatural hair colour – almost as unique as Bryan's – to go along with a unique bag design. And just like Aelita, she had a large weapon strapped to her back that resembled a large…hammer.
Catherine Horvath
Dressed as: Ramona Flowers
Status: Party Queen.
"Hey Catherine, look who it is," one of the girls beside her said.
It was none other than Count Dracula. Some of the other girls bashed their eyelashes. However, the co-captain of the senior volleyball team appeared to only have eyes for the girl with the hammer.
Erik Stevenson
Dressed as: Vampire
Status: Cooler than all the other Erics spelled with a 'c'. Also Catherine's boyfriend.
"Hey Cathy–"
"Please don't call me that," said Catherine. Although her tone was calm, her eyes flickered in annoyance. She hated it when people came up with nicknames for her.
"Sorry babe. Just got you another 7-Up. You wanna go grab something to eat? The other guys are already there."
"Oh. Yeah, that would be fine. Haven't eaten anything since lunch."
"Awesome. You guys are welcome to join us," he nodded to Catherine's group of girl friends, who looked ecstatic. Erik grinned and placed an arm over Catherine's shoulder, directing her to the food station, not even acknowledging Odd's existence.
Catherine turned her head slightly to the side, and for a moment, she made eye contact with Odd and looked slightly apologetic. She gave him a little wave, which the mime returned with a smile. However, behind that smile was an empty, hollow feeling.
True, he always knew that the chances of hitting it off with Catherine was slim to none. They weren't in the same grade and barely saw each other during the day, apart from when Bryan was around. Nevertheless, compared to all the other awesome girls ranked in his almanac, Catherine was of a completely different class altogether.
Yes, she was pretty…pretty hot. But she also made his heart skip a beat. And seeing Erik being so intimate with her made him feel slightly uneasy. And so, Odd decided to wait a while before getting refreshments, hoping that he won't have to bump into Catherine along the way.
YUMI
At last.
Aelita had finally gotten around to playing a remixed version of U2's Vertigo. Yumi also temporarily stopped her search for the others – it really shouldn't have taken that long to hook Odd up with his eighth date – and found herself unconsciously tapping her foot to the beat and humming the catchy melody by heart. She glanced up at the stage and saw that the DJ's seat was empty.
Yumi then felt something brush up against her arm and instinctively balled her firsts in self-defense. However, she turned to see her pink-haired friend offering her a drink.
"Thanks Aelita!" Yumi yelled over the noise and took a long sip, feeling instantly revitalized.
"What are you doing here?"
Aelita shook her head and cupped a hand to her ear.
"I said, what are you doing down here?" said Yumi, louder.
"Oh. Break time! I needed to stretch my legs and grab something to drink," Aelita hollered back.
"Anyways, great show so far. I've never seen Jim in disco-mode before. Nor did I know that he was so flexible…" she added.
Aelita laughed. "Glad you're enjoying it. Where's Ulrich and Odd?"
"Lost sight of them. I think Ulrich's acting as Odd's wingman."
"What's that?"
"Guy who helps other guy get chicks," replied Yumi.
"Ah, right. Because Odd is verbally impaired."
"By the way, isn't this song going to end soon?"
Aelita took out her mobile phone to check the time. Yumi was indeed correct; Vertigo had been going on for nearly three minutes.
"You're right. I should get going then." She waved and rushed back to her post.
Yumi finished the rest of the drink just as the next song – Red Hot Chili Pepper's Dani California – started and decided to make her way over to the food station, hoping to stumble upon the two boys along the way.
And that's when someone grabbed her from behind.
"May I…?" said a deep, slurred voice close to her ear. It didn't sound like Odd – who couldn't talk anyways – or Ulrich. Yumi's nose instantly detected the putrid smell of alcohol – there wasn't supposed to be any booze at the dance. Who was this guy?
Yumi tried to turn around, but she could barely move her body. Her attacker had an arm wrapped around her torso and the other over her mouth so she couldn't yell or move the upper half of her body. She tried a back-kick, but not only did the skirt she was wearing limit her movement, but the person behind her didn't even react; he was likely wasted.
Around her, Yumi could see a group of older boys whom she was certain weren't in her class surrounding her, all looking drunk and some possessing lopsided grins. How come no one had noticed any of this?
"It's going to be fun. You'll enjoy this," said one of the hooded individuals. Yumi desperately thought of way to grab attention, but her mind came up blank.
"Wish we got the pink one instead. She's hotter," another one of them slurred while several others nodded in agreement. The man behind Yumi started grinding into her. It was the most uncomfortable sensation Yumi had ever experienced. She remained frozen in shock, unsure and unable to do anything.
Yumi tried biting person's hand and tasted leather – he was wearing gloves and didn't even flinch. Then, another wasted person stepped forward and reached towards her, his hands centimetres away from her chest–
WHAM!
He hit the floor head first with a definite thud and was knocked out cold. The others were shocked by what had just transpired, before fixing their attention on a boy with a rather fine black suit.
"You bastards. What the hell is this?" Ulrich said through gritted teeth, not even bothering to conceal his fury.
While everyone was distracted, Yumi felt the man's grip weaken and felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. She swung around, managing to free her arms first from his grip, and was about to land an uppercut when she felt someone grab her hand.
"Come on Yumi, let's go!" said Ulrich urgently as he gave one more roundhouse kick. He tightened his grip on Yumi's hand.
The group of boys started to move in, but Ulrich and Yumi managed to squeeze themselves through – their reaction time clearly superior – and then flitted by a congo line, trying to look as calm as possible. They reached the back end of the gymnasium and opened the door together and felt an oncoming gust of wind hit them as they stepped outside, hand in hand.
The two remained silent and kept walking. They would turn back occasionally to check if they were being followed. It wasn't until the music died down considerably, did they slow down.
"Ulrich?"
The boy slowed down. "Yeah?"
"You…you can let go of my hand now."
Ulrich flushed. He hadn't quite noticed that he was holding onto something that had gradually felt warmer. "S-sorry."
"It's fine," said Yumi, whose cheeks were also crimson from embarrassment. To be honest, she didn't really mind the hand-to-hand contact. However, her mind was too distracted from replaying the last ten minutes – when she had felt completely rigid and helpless, unable to fight back.
But then Ulrich came. And protected her from those…those perverted drunk Neanderthals, for a more mature expression.
Ulrich had saved her. Again.
"You alright?" the boy asked.
"What an idiot I am," said Yumi suddenly as she punched the bark of the nearest tree.
"Yumi–"
"I was weak. Completely useless," the girl muttered bitterly. How could she have almost lost – how could she have been paralyzed by fear?
"Yumi…"
"Couldn't do anything…"
"Yumi!" Ulrich shouted, which prompted Yumi to look up and face him.
"Listen, you're not weak. You're not useless. You're one of the…strongest people I know, and that's not just in terms of physical strength. And you're…you're always looking out for me too. Remember that guy who tried to take my lunch when I first got here?"
Yumi looked at him quizzically. "Odd?"
"What? Oh, must've been sometime during the first week then. Anyways, we barely knew each other. And yet you stood up for me."
The girl remembered it vividly. It happened just after the first time they met; following their first LYOKO adventure.
"And you know what? Marco hasn't bothered me since. And during Pencat Silat training, you always destroy me," Ulrich added as an afterthought, albeit one he wasn't that proud of.
Yumi stifled a tiny chuckle.
"It's true! I've rarely been able to take you down."
"But just now I –"
"You were outnumbered and those bums had taken hold of both of your hands and binded you. You couldn't have done anything."
"Well yes, but–"
"And…isn't that's what friends are for anyways? You've got my back and I've got yours? That sort of thing?"
"Okay yeah, you're right. You can stop delving into all of those corny motivational speeches like Odd and Bryan."
"Wait, Bryan's does those motivational speeches as well?"
"Sometimes, according to Aelita. I don't think he's as bad as Odd though."
"Oh. Sorry."
Yumi laughed. "It's alright. But…I am grateful that you…you were there for me…"
"Y-yeah. No problem."
An awkward silence followed, as the two – superspy and schoolgirl – realized that they were all alone. Once again, it was just the two of them.
"So…full moon tonight," said Ulrich, who promptly realized what ridiculousness just came out of his mouth.
"Umm…okay…" said Yumi.
This is it, she thought to herself. The opportunity. Just like in various media productions. But how to create a proper opening? Yumi hated ever showing signs of weakness, which contributed to her finding it hard to share her inner feelings. Besides, usually it was the guy who made the first move, right?
Nope. Ulrich seemed to be immersed in his own thoughts as well. So, in order to prevent him from coming up with any more random outbursts or motivational speeches, Yumi spoke up.
"Ulrich?"
"Hmm?"
"I'd like to thank you–"
"You already did. It's–"
"Would you just shut up for a sec? I'd like to thank you properly."
Yumi leaned in, for once allowing her instincts to override her morals. A small peck, just like the last time. A token of appreciation…
Ulrich's heart began beating faster inside of his costume.
Calm down, he thought to himself, as his mouth curled to form a small smile. Ulrich noticed that Yumi's eyes were closed, and he closed his as well; not before making sure that his lips wouldn't miss hers.
And that's when he felt a sudden jab to his side. His eyes flashed wide open.
"What the–"
Almost simultaneously, Yumi quickly straightened up and shoved Ulrich away with her palms. Still, both of their beet-red cheeks gave it away.
Where was a 'do not disturb' sign when you needed it? Not that you expected someone renowned for ruining romantic moments to follow it anyways.
It appeared as though Ulrich and Yumi hadn't gone far enough away from the gymnasium, as Odd Della Robbia still managed to track them down. Indeed, Odd had arrived at quite possibly the most convenient time, holding a cup of Ulrich's mixture of many sodas.
It was a full three seconds before he seemed to take the hint. Odd then tried to make a sheepish shrug. However, in his comical Halloween outfit, it came out more like the foolish grin of a peeping tom caught in the act. Sensing the increasingly hostile environment, Odd set the drink on the floor, performed a little curtsy, and then ran for his life.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU ODD!" yelled Ulrich as he sprinted after his roommate, leaving his blushing and flustered friend behind.
Yumi chuckled and picked up Ulrich's abandoned drink. She took a small sip of the carbonated beverage – which tasted quite terrible – and sighed.
Another missed opportunity.
Some things never change.
Fragmented Legacy Fun Fact 014:
The bet Yumi lost to Odd that subsequently resulted in her dressed as a schoolgirl for Halloween was for who would win the 2006 FIFA World Cup that summer. Odd chose Italy (because it was his home country) while Yumi chose France (because Zidane was on that team). And after a one-one draw, an infamous head-butt and a penalty shoot-out, Italy emerged victorious.
And so did Odd =)
A|N's:
Everything's getting back on track! From the usual routine of a spoiler followed by a new chapter, to Odd maintaining his status as a hopeless romantic (perhaps a single Odd is a better Odd…).
I apologize for the delay - this chapter was supposed to be released last week (d'oh!), but I ran into some technical difficulties. In my personal opinion, this has been the hardest chapter to write so far; largely because I can barely remember how dances go (probably because I never attended any of them).
As some of you have noticed, I've taken down the extra 'Once Upon A Time' preview chapter, since Season II is underway.
Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies!