Author's Note: Sorry, so sorry for not posting in a while. I just recently noticed that life has still been going on with the realization that school will be starting soon. That's why I've been so busy and why I haven't had a chance to post sooner. But I'll give my customary thanks to all my readers and reviewers here. Yay, Son of Xana, you are reviewing again (I'm glad that I helped you with your writer's block...if only someone would help me with mine...)! And I'm so glad you could imagine it like an episode on TV, vampirehunterD-lover! It made me feel great, like I'm doing the actual creators of these cartoons justice, or something. To mornstar, I didn't think I gave them too many gadgets, as they will use them all, but oh well. And to CodeLyoko, you are on the right track, although that situation pales to what the bigger picture holds (whoa, I sounded all mysterious...sweet!). Anyway, thanks again to ALL of you. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
"I must say, girls, that I have never been more proud of you."
We were back in Jerry's office. Jerry had a steaming cup of tea in his hands as the rest of us had steaming mugs of hot chocolate. We had been draped with warm towels as soon as the WOOHP jet picked us up and now we were getting warmed up. Sam and Alex, still in their spy suits, were lounging on the ground while Clover and I were curled up in our halter-top dresses on the couch.
Jerry leaned back in his black chair. "Not only were Sam and Alex able to successfully beat off the robbery attempt, but Clover and Yumi were able to simultaneously stop a kidnap attempt on the base general's son."
"Talk about multi-tasking," Alex commented, sipping on her hot chocolate.
I wrapped my two hands around the mug to try to transfer some of the liquid's heat into my hands. "But that's exactly it, Jerry. It was too coincidental. I think the robbers and the kidnapers are working together."
"It doesn't matter what they were trying to do. All that matters is that we let them get away. I even scanned the fingerprints on my hairpin high-jumper extender pole with my scanner watch but apparently the WOOHP database has nothing on these criminals. They're as elusive as smoke," Sam said dejectedly.
"But why would they try to steal a artificial intelligence chip and try to steal a general's son at the same time? They aren't related at all!" Clover said, gesturing her point with her hands.
"Maybe," Alex said, looking thoughtful. "But maybe not."
Sam had resumed the same look and her eyes widened with a revelation. "Alex is right! Why send all your men after the chip when kidnapping the general's son and ransoming him for the chip works just as well? That's why they split their forces; they would have double the chance to get what they want!"
The information left all of us, even Jerry, stunned into silence. But, Jerry, like the trained professional he was, was the first to recover. "Girls, this makes the situation even graver than before. If they have this kind of attack in mind, who knows where they can strike next. I better keep you posted. I'll call all of you if something happens right away. But for now, it's around 3 in the morning. You all should get some rest. Could you do me a favor and put all your hot chocolates up here on my desk?"
We obliged. As soon as we all sat down on the couch, a red button surfaced on Jerry's desk. "Ta ta," he said with a yawn and pressed it. Immediately the couch flipped over and deposited us in our shuttle cars that traveled at break-neck speed. As soon as I had been plopped into my one-person shuttle, the cover slid closed and I was shot off toward school.
"Yumi! Get up! Yumi!"
I groaned and turned onto my other side. Two hands turned me back around to face the opposite side and shook me roughly. I reached out blindly to try and slap the hands away. The person that was annoying me caught them in their hands instead. I made a noise in protest and tried to pull my hands back but the person wouldn't let go.
"Yumi! You are going to be late for class! Yumi! Why do I even bother?"
I opened my eyes into a slit and stared painfully into piercing bright sunlight. Then Ulrich's face popped into my eyesight. "Get up lazy bum! Class is in three minutes!"
I sat up groggily and looked around, blinking stupidly. "But I just fell asleep a minute ago," I protested in a slurred voice. I ran a hand through my tangled hair. "It can't be time to get up yet."
"Uh, hate to break it to you Yumi, but yes it can. Why are you so tired anyway? Where did you go? And what are you wearing?"
I looked down at myself and found myself looking at a rumpled and wrinkled blue halter-top dress. My eyes widened. I must have been too tired to change before I went to sleep last night.
Ulrich shook his head. "You can explain later. And trust me, you have a lot of explaining to do. Anyway, here." He threw some articles of clothing at me from my closet. One hit me in the face and I had to claw it off hurriedly in order to breathe. "Change, and fast."
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "Can't I just skip first period? I've done it loads of times before."
"Yeah, sure. Then Jim walks in to find you snoring away. I don't think so."
"Well," I said, finally waking up a bit, "its better than falling asleep in class."
Ulrich snorted. "Tell Odd that. Now hurry up. I'll wait for you outside." With that he walked out of my room and closed the door.
I sighed and gazed at the clothes that Ulrich had picked out. A plaid skirt and a spaghetti strap black top. "Nice going," I muttered. But I was too tired to rummage for something else to wear, so I pulled everything on. Then I grabbed a black button up sweater to put on over my spaghetti strap top and buttoned only the first button. It made my top look like a V-neck and made me feel less exposed. Then I combed my hair briskly and grabbed my school bag.
Ulrich was, as customary, leaning against the wall next to my door. I locked my door and turned to face him with a yawn. He eyed me warily. "What has been up with you this past few days?"
I shook my head. "You wouldn't want to know."
We walked down the stairs and into the bright morning sunlight. I shielded my eyes with a hand and saw Jeremy and Odd walking toward us.
"Oh why hello sleeping beauty," Odd joked. "Back into the world of living, I see."
I gave him a haughty look. "Good morning to you too, Odd." Then I noticed the piece of toast he was holding. "What's that you got there? A early morning snack right after breakfast?"
"It was going to be, but someone," here he looked pointedly at Jeremy, "was going to kill me if I didn't save it for you. So here." He handed me the toast wistfully. I smiled and broke it in half, handing him one of the halves. "You mean it?" he asked eagerly.
"No, Odd," Jeremy said, as if he was a grown-up scolding a small child. "Ulrich hasn't eaten breakfast either. Give it to him."
"Sorry, Odd," I said, winking and handed the half of toast to Ulrich, who started munching on it hungrily.
"So what's up with the outfit?" Odd asked cheerily as we headed for our first class. "Did Sissy pick it for you again?"
"No, I did, to save time and drag her out of bed," Ulrich grumbled. I flushed.
"Huh, I see," Odd said, eyeing me up and down. "No wonder she's wearing a skirt."
"ODD!" Ulrich said, springing to tackle him. Odd leaped away like a gazelle from a tiger, laughing merrily. Ulrich gave chase immediately.
I broke off a piece of the crust of the toast and munched thoughtfully. "I wonder what that was all about."
Jeremy looked at me disbelievingly. "Even I got that one."
I thought some more and then stopped chewing and flushed when I realized what Odd had meant.
The bell suddenly gave off its loud clanging sound, forcing Jeremy and me to take evasive action and cover our ears as we sprinted to our classrooms.
Is history even a major subject? Like we're going to use it anyway when we grow up unless we want to become historians or boring history teachers like him…
I was forcing myself with sheer will to keep myself awake and upright. As a result, I had resorted to doodling to keep my eyes open. It was something I actually liked doing. I picked my pencil absentmindedly and put it to the worksheet in front of me. Then my mind started drifting off into the world of dreams and I had to concentrate all my brainpower to keeping myself awake again. What happened to doodling? I looked down to see what I had drawn, then jolted up in a brief moment of full awareness when I realized I had been writing Ulrich's name everywhere. Hastily I grabbed my eraser and set dutifully to my new task: erasing it. I realized how very much like Sissy's diary my worksheet had looked like. Of course, her handwriting was curlier but I shuddered at the resemblance. I needed caffeine and fast, or else I would turn into Sissy.
Suddenly, I was jolted into another moment of full awareness when something sounded in my backpack. I risked a glance at my teacher, who was busily writing something on the board. I reached down and ran a hand through everything in my backpack until I came across my vibrating cell phone. Gazing at my teacher nervously, I brought my cell phone up and peeked at it.
"S.O.S. Xana…Ulrich."
Uh-oh.
My hand went up. "Sir, can I please go to the infirmary?"
