This side story is set in Marseille, France, immediately following the Marseille Sphinxes' match versus the Osaka Oni.

In the match, the Sphinxes' Seeker Aelita Stones was deprived of her broom when a Bludger disabled it by crashing into its tail. But Aelita still stayed in the air via wings she sprouted with her so-called "Lyoko" powers, and even managed to beat the Oni's Seeker to the Snitch and catch it, scoring a miraculous win for the Marseille.

And so, as the stunned Osaka Oni retreat back to their locker room and the fans in Stade Velodrome go crazy over the victory, the Sphinxes - Aelita Stones, Jeremy Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, Franz Hopper, William Dunbar, and their coach Jim Morales - all amble their exhausted bodies into their own team's locker room. All are very tired out from the effort they'd all put forth, but they are nonetheless extremely satisfied with the win, which puts them in first place in Europe, ahead of the Rome Fairies.

"Man, I still can't get over what just happened," Aelita muses. "I still amaze myself - has that ever been done before, catching the Snitch while off your broom?"

"I don't know," replies Jeremy. "I mean, Seekers have caught the Snitch while crashing, but catching it after being dismounted... I don't know if that HAS happened before? Hey, you may even make it into the record books!"

"Well you know what the best part is?" Odd chips in. "We're still #1 in Europe - even though that one Italian team is really bugging us!"

"They're the Rome Fairies, Odd," Ulrich breaks in. "Of course, they've always been good - remember last season, they beat us into the playoffs! We were still over in Toulouse back then."

"Well what about those Liverpool Beetles?" Yumi adds. "They're right up there with the Fairies and us. But what's really getting me is... what happened to the London Chimeras? Suddenly, they're, well, not so good right now."

"I know, right?" William chips in. "Even with those Firebolts that that Malfoy asshole gave them, they still suck! Still... WHY HAVEN'T WE GOT FIREBOLTS, FRANZ?!

"I don't think they're really necessary," Franz shrugs. "With how well we play, we just don't need 'em. Our Nimbus 2001's combined with our sheer talent is good enough for me."

"Alright, alright, enough chit-chat," the coach Jim Morales breaks in, ending the conversation. "I'm just as pleased with our win as the rest of you, but I do have other pressing matters to attend to, and I'm sure the rest of you do, as well. So let's just shower up, get out of here and make what we can of the rest of the day, shall we?

And they do just that - they all hit the showers, clean up, dress back into their normal clothes, and head out of Stade Velodrome into the late-afternoon sky bathing the city of Marseille; this is where, after a man-hug between Ulrich and Odd, amongst other gestures, the Sphinxes part ways for the time being.

Coach Morales goes off for a jog while Old Man Franz heads back to this quarters to rest quietly. In the meantime, Ulrich and Yumi (after the latter having thrown William off) are walking down the street towards downtown Marseille, to a big fancy Italian restaurant they both go to often, for a romantic refueling, of sorts.

"Ah, today was a good day," Yumi marvels as she slings an arm around Ulrich.

"Yeah, it was," Ulrich says contently. "And ahead lies the perfect end to a great victory!"

Sure enough, as he says this, the restaurant appears right in front of him. Licking their chops as they realize how famished they both are, the two share a brief kiss before going in.

...

Meanwhile, Aelita and Jeremy, the other romantic couple on the team, have embarked over to a department store a few blocks away from the stadium. At around this same time, Odd is out partaking in one of his favorite hobbies - skateboarding. With a clear sidewalk ahead of him, he races along at breakneck speeds, right into the setting sun.

Even with the sun right in front of him, he's still able to see the silhouette of a figure a ways up, also skateboarding real fast, and in his direction, too. Odd becomes a bit eager - he is always that way at the chance to meet a fellow boarder. Gradually, he gets closer and closer to the figure, who in turn gets closer and closer to him. In no time, the figure's face comes into Odd's view; he stops himself dead in his tracks when he sees it's face.

"Sam?"

"OH MY GOD, ODD!"

The figure is none other than Samantha Knight, a black girl, tomboy and fellow skater who had gone to the school near Odd's, and even developed a mutual romance with him over their common traits, which, of course, included skateboarding. Even after breaking up due to something Ulrich did, they stayed on good terms nonetheless. But of course, with the two of them just now seeing each other for the first time since long before the formation of the Sphinxes (who at that time were based hundreds of miles to the west of Marseille, in a city called Toulouse), neither of them can help but become extremely awestruck and excited.

As they pull their boards to a stop, Sam rushes at Odd and pulls him in for a big, hearty hug, snuggling him and enthusiastically saying "Oh, I've missed you so much!" as she kisses him hard on both cheeks. "Where have you been all this time?" she asks when she releases him from her hug."

"Well obviously," explains Odd as she and Sam retreat into an adjacent alley, getting out of the way, "I've spent the last two Cartoon Quidditch seasons in Toulouse. It was pretty good times there at first, but then fan support got sour, even as we were gunning for a playoff spot - we got shut out of course - and this city is so much bigger than them, with a better stadium to boot, and well, here we are!"

"Oh, well I'm real glad you guys came!" Sam smiles as she slings an arm around Odd. "I've been going to all your home games... mainly to see you, of course."

"Aw, really?" Odd blushes.

"Well, yeah," Sam winks. "It's been ages since I met you last, and I never ran into you before since your team got here, so it's basically the next best thing. You know, I was there just earlier today - I saw you put that arrow right in that guy's back! Barbaric, but still pretty cool." She winks again as she says this.

"Hey, I just playing my part on the team," Odd shrugs, trying to be modest.

"Well you always do a damn good job of it," Sam croons in a tone that somehow leads to warm fuzzies building up inside of Odd - just as Odd is about to say thanks, Sam suddenly reaches out and pecks him on the lips.

"Whoa... Sam..." an amazed Odd stammers at a loss for words.

"Yeah, it's true," Sam says. "I really, REALLY regret letting Ulrich get to me that one time - it drove me from you, and since then I haven't found anyone. No one that really suited me, anyways. Now that we're reacquainted, I... just remembered how suitable you are for me - I mean, come on, we could be siblings if we only had the same skin color, heh heh!"

Odd has a brief laugh at Sam's wisecrack, yet at the same realizes how right Sam is about them. "Well I guess I could have any lame chick I wanted," he reasons, "but-"

"But are any of them like me?" Sam winks. "Do any of them share with you the passions I share with you?"

And as Odd realizes again how right Sam is, he proclaims, "Screw it, I'll make it official!" He clasps both her hands and says, "I love you, Samantha Knight!"

"I love you too, Odd Della Robbia," Sam coos, and they embrace passionately...

...

Later that evening, William Dunbar is headed back to his personal rented apartment in the outskirts of Marseille. He'd spent the whole day sulking in the park, disappointed that even after all they'd been through, his crush, Yumi, had gotten with Ulrich, and was still going steady with him. That whole time, he just lay there, depressed that he had lost Yumi, that he may die alone, a virgin, and that maybe there was no point in playing for arguably the best of the European Cartoon Quidditch teams if all the good-looking girls were taken (emphasis on good-looking...). Anyway, he comes up to the building where his place is when he spots someone sulking at the entrance - when he makes out who it is, he almost chokes on his own spit.

"Sissi? What the hell are you doing here?"

The figure is none other than Sissi Delmas, a typical snobby, spoiled rich girl who had gone to school with William and company. She has lived here too, although William never thought much of it, since he never socialized with the other tenants (none of them cared for the Sphinxes). Though she had hated on William in the past, she did ironically have key things in common with him - she had long been obsessed with Ulrich in the same way William had been obsessed with Yumi, and they ironically ended up together shortly before the formation of the Sphinxes. This in turn led Sissi into a steady stream of depression and loneliness, rather like William's, only she never had Quidditch to occupy her - just her thoughts... her very black and gloomy thoughts.

"Oh hey William," she says nonchalantly. Then she notices William's glum expression. "What's wrong with you?" she asks. "You beat the Osaka Oni today, didn't you?"

"Yeah," sighs William, "but what's the point of playing for a top Cartoon Quidditch team when no woman will look at you? Not that you'd understand - you've probably been with a bunch of men since Ulrich got with Yumi."

"Actually," Sissi says gloomily, "I haven't."

"Really?" asks a surprised William.

"No," Sissi sighs. "The only guys who go for me are ugly, poor creeps who ought to be put down - no one with my class will look at me twice, they think I'm too snobby."

If you had any class, you wouldn't be crashing in this crappy apartment, William thinks.

"And the worst part is, they're right," Sissi says dejectedly. "Maybe over in America, men are willing to disregard personality, but here in France, they care much more about 'true love' than those damn Americans. And the truth is, I just don't have what it takes for that. The only thing I could do is mooch off some sugar daddy, but they won't take me because apparently I'm too 'snobby' for them."

"Honestly," William mutters, "I'd consider myself lucky if a snobby girl noticed me. At least someone would know I exist."

"Really?" Sissi asks. Something about what William just said, depressing as it may sound, makes her heart jump. Even though he may not be in her social class, she still can't help but be flattered at this comment, albeit in an unconventional way, more like seeing light at the end of a long, hopeless tunnel. Hell, even when Sissi glances up at William, he suddenly seems quite, dare we say... cute.

Acting as if she wasn't too affected by that while still looking to capitalize on what's just happened, Sissi asks, "Say, you haven't had anything to eat yet, have you?"

"I was about to," William shrugs. "Why?"

"Well, I figured that instead of just moping around in our own lonely worlds," Sissi offers, "maybe we could get out of them for awhile. And I'm hungry too, so maybe, dare I say... you and I could go together and get some goodies?"

"Uhhh..." William hesitates for a moment. Even though she's not being blatant about it, he knows he's being asked out - an unexpected occurrence to say the least, as he has not conditioned himself for this, thinking it would never happen. "Sure, okay,"

"Great, let's go!" And so Sissi and William trot back up the road towards a small diner on the edge of the city of Marseille - as they go, Sissi tentatively reaches for William's hand, and William accepts it as they head on towards that diner...