Chapter 34: I'd Rather Not

Herve and Nicholas must have told everyone that Odd and I were officially an item now, because Milly and Tamiya were chasing Odd and me with their camera.

"How does it feel to be the hot couple on campus?" Milly thrust the mike in Odd's face. "Well-" he began before I slapped my hand over his mouth. "No comment," I huffed as I dragged the poor boy away. I could hear the two reporters sniggering behind us.

"Did you have to drag me?" Odd complained when we were finally a safe distance away. He gripped his arm and shot me a look. "Dude, I don't want our relationship to be the school's next soap opera or something," I said, hands on my hips.

"But don't you want to clear up any rumors about us?" He cocked his head and looked at me. I sighed; he had a point there. But still, getting interviewed about our dates? It wasn't like we were some Hollywood "It" couple or anything.

Before I could answer though, my cell phone rang. It was Jeremy. "What up?" I asked him.

"We're going to train for XANA attacks," he told me without a simple hello to start out with. "Grab your gym clothes and meet me at our usual bench in fifteen minutes." And then he hung up.

"How rude," I mumbled as I put away my phone. "Something wrong?" Odd asked me, concern all over his face. I grimaced and said, "Grab Kiwi and some clean sweats."

"What?"

"He's trying to kill us!" Aelita complained as we ran through the forest outside of Kadic. It was over an hour later, and the gang minus Jeremy was huffing and puffing after a two-mile run. I was sweaty and my face was tomato red. I had never been good at running, but Odd was even worse. Just when we finally caught up with Jeremy at the check point, he literally collapsed in front of the tyrant.

"You guys are pathetic!" Jeremy cried harshly when we all fell down on the ground around him. "You're way too slow! What a bunch of snails!" He turned to Odd. "Except you, Odd; snails run faster than you."

Odd shot up from the ground. "Since when does the least athletic of us all think he's better than I am?" he yelled as Kiwi the dog circled nervously around the two of them.

"That's true," Ulrich said, getting up. The rest of us followed suit. "You are getting way too carried away, J-man," Devlin said. We all glared at him like he was Hitler. Even sweet, lovable Kiwi growled at him.

"Don't blame me," Jeremy said casually, pointing to his stopwatch. "This thing doesn't lie."

We were back on school campus, back in normal clothes. Kiwi was safe in Odd's room, away from Jim. Jeremy was the only one standing up while the rest of us sat on benches. Jeremy was looking way too much like Jim. "That was awful running out there!" he was telling us. "How do you guys expect to beat XANA if you guys don't speed it up?"

Odd shrugged his shoulders. "Easy for you to say, Einstein. All you ever do is sit in your cushy chair while the rest of us do all the work."

"And all you do is time us," Devlin pointed out. "Anyone can do that."

Jeremy ignored that. "All I know is that if you guys don't get into shape, XANA and the scientists get stronger and eventually one of them will win!" I no longer cringed inwardly at the mention of the white coats. I guess I was used to them.

"But if you want another trainer, be my guest." I looked at Jeremy, who was being very smug all of a sudden.

"Maybe there is another trainer," Yumi said. "Maybe a better way at getting in shape."

"I get it!" Jeremy cried. "You're all just badly trained." Not all of us, I thought glumly. Though I was thankful Jeremy was ignoring Devlin's and mine past life.

"If you can't keep up, it's my fault." Jeremy continued, glaring at us.

"Well, yeah," we all said with a smile.

Jeremy pouted. "Okay, I may not be the best trainer in the world, but it's not like you guys actually listen to me."

"True," I said with a shrug. "I think we need to find someone else to train us, like a specialist."

"And where will you find such a specialist?" Jeremy asked me.

Aelita smiled at me.

It had to be Jim.

I guess anyone was better than Jeremy.

Apparently, Jim had once been a Special Forces trainer, making him the perfect candidate to train the Lyoko Warriors. Of course, he would rather not talk about his time with the Special Forces, not that we were really interested.

We were at the Red Cross trail in our gym gear for the second time today, waiting for whatever Jim had in store for us. Even Jeremy was participating, even though he tried to talk himself out of it.

We were only two minutes late for the commando camp, but Jim yelled at us, calling us, "a lazy bunch of slugs" among other things.

It was going to be a long day.

After runs and push-ups, I was ready to collapse. How I survived the training Vivian and the scientists put me through, I have no idea. Then again, it was mostly on Lyoko. No wonder I couldn't do this!

And then he made us do these weird squats, which I found extremely embarrassing. But unlike Jeremy, I was actually able to do them. The rest of us stopped what we were doing and watched Jim lay into Jeremy, telling him, "Once I'm through with you, you will be a man!"

He turned to the rest of us. "Now, we live and die together as a team! You got that?"

"Yes," we mumbled.

"I said 'YOU GOT THAT'?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

And here I thought I left the military background back in San Diego.

After a three-mile run and surviving a boot camp that belonged back at my uncle's military school, we finally took a break.

Yumi had someone talked our PE teacher into talking about his past life, which he would normally rather not talk about.

"I was once a licensed scuba diver-" Yeah, right.

"That was why the Marines recruited me to be in their Special Forces. NASA heard of me, and since I was now a Special Forces diver, they had me test out there spacesuits underwater." I found this to be extremely doubtful. What was the point of testing spacesuits underwater?

"So after receiving a medal from the President, I was then appointed to the Secret Service." At this point, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud.

And then we heard the beeping from Jeremy's laptop. We looked at each other. How where we going to get rid of Jim?

Jim, oblivious to us, just told us to run with him.

About five minutes into the run, we stumbled upon a wild boar in the woods. For some reason, it charged us, and Jim kicked it aside. The boar then charged at him again, but Jim was actually able to hold it off.

Huh. So he did have Special Forces training.

And then we noticed the XANA eye in the pig's eye.

Crap.

"Be careful, Jim!" Ulrich was telling him. "That's not a normal animal!" "It's no longer a normal boar!" Devlin said for emphasis.

"It's just an overgrown pig, that's all," Jim tried to reassure us. He was completely oblivious to the danger he was in.

Of course, Jeremy decided to catch up to us by then, creating a large ruckus as he came into the pig's line of sight.

The boar charged, but Jim intercepted it, getting hit himself and landing ten feet away in the bushes. Jeremy went over to help him as the pig charged again. Ulrich grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it, temporarily distracting it from the two of them. It set its sights on Ulrich instead. He high tailed it out of here, creating a great diversion for us.

"Go to Lyoko and deactivate the tower!" Jeremy ordered us. "I'll stay here with Jim." Though we were worried, we knew Jeremy had a point. We had Aelita and Devlin with us, so the devirtualization process should be okay.

Besides, Jeremy was a smart kid. He could hide from the boar and keep Jim safe no problem.

With Jim's training, we were able to get to the factory in record time without the sewers. Who knew?

Devlin was working the virtualization process when he swore. "XANA just sent William and some monsters to the core chamber! Get to the scanners, quickly!"

"What do we do about the tower?" Yumi asked. "I can always go with Aelita, but someone has to mind the supercomputer." Devlin tapped his temple like he was trying to think.

"Need some backup?" said a voice from the elevator. It was Ulrich, coming to Princess Aelita's rescue. Yumi ran up to him, obviously relieved. "I was able to shake off the boar, but we have to hurry. Jeremy and Jim might be in serious danger." Ulrich looked seriously grim.

"To the scanners!" Odd cried, running into the elevator.

I was with Yumi and Odd in the blue chamber again in Carthage. Aelita and Ulrich were at the tower, while Devlin was in the real world. All Yumi, Odd, and I had to do was get to the core as fast as possible and stop William from destroying Lyoko. Easy enough.

We went to the central dome where our vehicles were parked. I jumped onto Odd's overboard with him in tow. "But I'm usually the one driving this thing!" he whined, hugging my waist.

"My turn now," I said with an evil little grin. Yumi just rolled her eyes as we followed her on her overwing.

"You know, I actually prefer this machine than Jim's ropes," I thought out loud as we rode to the core of Lyoko.

"I know, right?" Yumi agreed. We both skillfully maneuvered our rides through the central dome and Yumi hit the button that gave us access to the core. As Odd jumped off the overboard, he said, "Not bad for your first time. Who taught you how to work the overboard?"

"Devlin and Aelita did actually." I frowned. "Though Aelita did show me some dangerous moves." I stared pointedly at Odd. He just ran up the blocky stairs.

When we arrived, the scene wasn't too bad. The first shield hadn't given out yet, so that was a plus.

"I'll take William," I said to the others. "You guys deal with the mantas." They both nodded grimly as I ran to meet the possessed boy.

William was on his own personal manta, so I threw both my daggers at it and watched it explode. William fell but unfortunately landed safely on the stairs. He glared at me as I used telekinesis to get my weapons in hand.

I gave William an arrogant smirk. "Miss me, William?" He charged at me. I took that as a yes.

"Are you really interested in me?" I taunted him as our blades clashed. Man, was I feeling mean this week. "I thought you had a thing for Yumi," I said. I suddenly gave a mock gasp. "Don't tell me you're cheating on her with me!"

William screamed with rage as he tried to hit me again. I dodged and aimed for his stomach. He deflected my attack and I stomped on his foot. If he wasn't trying to kill me, I would have found him hopping on one foot and holding the other really funny.

He then came at me again with his big ass sword, and I used my silver shield (haven't used that in a while) to deflect the attack. After only one attack, it couldn't take much more.

And then I saw Odd hanging by his claws on the back of a manta. He was heading towards the remaining mantas. If the idea wasn't so dangerous, I would have called it genius.

Yumi was running towards me, obviously ready to help. I then heard Odd get devirtualized after getting rid of the last manta. It was now two to one.

I charged this time, and an epic battle ensued with me scurrying about, trying to hit William randomly in his weak spots. Unfortunately, he only had to slash me once with Zweihander to devirtualize me.

That left Yumi with William. She could handle him until Aelita devirtualized the tower.

The next day, Jim was walking around with a cane thanks to his leg.

"So you're letting him remember everything?" Devlin asked Jeremy as we sat at our usual bench.

"Yeah; to Jim, yesterday's wild boar was just a crazy animal, but a completely normal one. And that's the best insurance there is." I decided to believe Jeremy on this one.

Jim had walked up to us by then. "Glad to see you on two feet again," Aelita said nicely.

"More like three feet," Jim joked. "All I have is a sprain and a nasty bruise. I'll be back to normal in two weeks' time."

"That's a shame," Yumi said. "Just one day of boot camp and two weeks of recovery." "You guys showed great spirit at the commando level, even though you were obviously unprepared for it," Jim admitted. "After my leg's all healed, I'm reinstating it. What do you say?"

"I'm busy until the end of the year," Odd said hastily. "I am too," I added. "I have to tutor people," Devlin lied swiftly. "It's too much of a horror- err, honor, to do it," Ulrich said.

"I'll do it, Jim," Jeremy said proudly, making us all stare at him. "I owe you one."

"Excellent, Belpois," Jim said happily. "I knew I could count on you." Jim left and waved good-bye while we all stared at the young genius.

Not for the first time, I wondered what secrets Jeremy was hiding frorm us.