Through every hardship

Chapter four: Put together the peices

By: Michi-Hikari

Jeremie woke up, yawning. He looked around his room. The gang had gone to town the other day, to buy a hamster cage for Aelita. They would get the hamster tomorrow. Jeremie smiled, the memory of Aelita smiling childishly fresh in his mind. But for now, he had nothing to do. Yumi had brought Aelita into town again, to go shopping. Ulrich and Odd were both trying out for soccer. They had invited Jeremie to come along, but seriously. Soccer, or any other sport, was not one of Jeremie's favorite things to spend time on.

Sighing again, Jeremie reached towards his table, searching for the candy Odd had brought. He seriously needed some cheering up. Instead, his hand brushed against the white packet Odd had left with him. Fully awake now, Jeremie stood up in bed, slipped in his glasses, and studied the packet.

He put in his clothes and walked over to the science lab. Gazing at the packet, scrutinizing, Jeremie started a series of tests that would determine what, exactly, the powder is made out of and what it does.

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Yumi and Aelita laughed joyously, walking back to the school. With Aelita now attending the same high school as Ulrich, Jeremie, and Odd, Yumi's parents had finally allowed her to stay in the dormitory to share a room with Aelita. Yumi was overjoyed with this turn of events, since it meant that she would be closer to Ulrich. Although she never told anyone about it, of course.

Aelita was wearing a red windbreaker over a white tank top and pink capris from Old Navy. The vivid colors brought out the pinkness of her hair.

Yumi, meanwhile, had been persuaded into wearing an off the shoulder, ¾ sleeve top that contrasted against her pale skin. As if that wasn't bad enough, Aelita had wheedled Yumi into slipping in a dark, swooshy miniskirt that rise high above her knees (but I may be exaggerating.... Maybe ). To top it all off, she had on boots that flared open in the part near her ankles, showing off her long, shapely legs.

Yumi turned to Aelita, doubt showing clearly in her face. "Are you sure I should go in like this?" She asked, biting her lip.

Aelita nodded. "Yep," she said confidently. "You are so going to make Ulrich's jaw drop."

"You think so?"

"Wanna bet on it?"

"Feeling a bit self-assured, are we?"

The girls shared another laugh, and then they both started walking towards the school.

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Odd panted, sweat running down his face. He was facing a guy named Jason, who was playing forward. To his left was Ulrich, who was being heavily guarded by Theo.

Ulrich turned to Odd and winked. Left eye, left, then right. It was a code.

Formation D.

A smile spread across Odd's face, and he barely nodded, enough for Ulrich to see and understand.

Both Odd and Ulrich put on a burst of speed, blasting past the other team's defenses.

"Aargh!!" Theo cried out, as he rushed after Ulrich. Jason didn't even bother going after Odd, knowing he wouldn't be able to catch up.

"Here, Mike!!" Ulrich yelled, looking back to their other teammates. Mike passed the ball to Ulrich, who looked around. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Theo running towards him, a look of determination and hate in his face.

"Woah." Ulrich said out loud, raising an eyebrow to the expression on Theo's face.

"Ulrich!! Focus!!" Odd called out (a/n: I know, I know... Odd talking about focus? But bear with me). Ulrich immediately kicked the ball to where Odd's voice was coming from. Odd barely caught it.

"Geez, Ulrich!!" Odd cried out. "Look to where you're passing the ball, okay?"

Then he started running toward the goal. The goalie had a strange look of mixed fright and hopelessness on his face, causing Odd to laugh out loud. "Hey, I'm not that scary!"

Theo cursed out loud, and abandoned Ulrich to run after Odd. One man trying to do the work of a team.

Exactly according to plan.

"Catch me, catch me!!" Odd taunted. He scampered towards the right side of the goal. And the goalie followed him, bent down low and ready to leap forwards and catch the ball.

But that specific maneuver causes one's self to lose its balance.

Which was exactly what Formation D took advantage of.

Whoosh!! A gust of air, to Theo's left. Ulrich had run past him, to the net's left side, where the goalie wasn't.

"The left, stupid, the left!!" Theo gasped out. He was out of breath from chasing both Odd and Ulrich around.

But his warning came too late. In a matter of seconds, Odd had passed the soccer ball to Ulrich, and the goalie had just enough time to turn his head before the ball flew past him and slammed into the net, courtesy of Ulrich.

The whistle blew, and Odd sprinted over to Ulrich who was crowing, "Who da man? Who da man?"

"You da man!" Odd told him, giving him a high-five. "I'm just thirsty. Tell Coach, okay?"

"Tell him that you're thirsty? What do you expect him to do, give you a drink?"

"Noo, bophead." Odd bopped Ulrich on the shoulder. "Tell him I went off to get a drink, and I await being put in the soccer varsity team."

"Okay!" Ulrich laughed, as he headed of to the bench. Odd grinned as he loped off to the boys' locker room, where the cooler full of Gatorade was.... And where Zack waited for him.

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Zack faced the locker room door. What to do with the carefree, jester member of the group? He could make Odd more serious, but where would the fun be in that?

Chuckling softly to himself, Zack opened a Gatorade bottle and poured snowy white powder inside. He shook it violently until the power had dissolved into the liquid, then closed the cap and run his finger along the sides.

The bottle automatically resealed itself, like it was never opened. Zack put it back in the cooler, in a corner where he would easily find it.

Then he started scrubbing the lockers, waiting for Odd to show up. He could barely contain his excitement.

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Jeremie looked up from his work. Aelita and Yumi should be getting back from the mall. He smiled, and considered taking a break and going down to meet them, but decided not to. This was far too important.

The data he's been getting was very interesting. Jeremie had tried many different tests, and each time, the powder reacted differently. He thought, and decided to write down his observations.

Title: The white powder

Facts: Odd got the packet of white powder from Sissy, who "looked extremely edgy and guilty about something". The powder reacts differently to various reactants.... Can have the same effect with humans.

Conclusion: The white powder can be tampered with to respond to different people's DNA and play on their weaknesses. Interesting. If this was used on Ulrich (since Sissy suspicious powder some pathetic plan to get Ulrich to love her), this could make him think that he like Sissy more than he does Yumi. Yeah, right. Ulrich would never choose Sissy over Yumi.

Looking over what he had written, Jeremie's eyes widened as his Einstein mind whirred and put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Sissy's scared face.

White powder that adapts to different environments.

The lack of Z.A.N.A activity.

Tallia's disappearance.

Tallia's uncanny physical similarity to Aelita.

He had, after all, thought Tallia was Aelita for quite a while.

They haven't visited the factory in quite a while. How would they be sure if....

....Z.A.N.A had been materialized?

Jeremie pulled on his shoes and pelted from the room, heading towards the factory with an unwavering look in his face.

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Odd whistled to himself with a goofy smile plastered on his face. He waved hi to Millie and Tamiya (a/n: please correct me if I'm wrong with the names) and sauntered into the locker room. He spotted the new kid, Zack Nastaro, scrubbing away on the lockers.

"Hey, man." Odd said.

Zack jumped, as though Odd had run up to him and yelled, "BOO!!" He looked around furtively and spotting only Odd, he breathed an audible sigh of relief.

Odd looked at him curiously. He didn't know a lot about Zack, but whenever he sees Zack during classes, he always looked scared, as though someone was after him. And he always stuttered.

"O-oh....um, hi....Odd?" Zack seemed extremely nervous.

"What are you doing here? Why are you scrubbing lockers?" Odd scrunched up his face as he looked at the rows and rows of lockers to be scrubbed.

"I-I got de-detention," Zack explained.

"Detention? Why on Earth....? You?"

"Y-yes. Um...I got l-lost, because....I'm new...and all." Zack finished miserably.

"Oh." Odd said sympathetically. "That's too bad."

"Y-yeah."

"Hang in there, dude." Odd said. He looked around. "Do you know where the cooler is?"

"Oh...oh, yes. I-I'll get it for you." Zack jumped up, and went over to the next row of lockers, even as Odd protested.

"Wait, it's okay, really." Odd said, as he followed Zack, but just as he reached the corner, Zack appeared, holding a Gatorade bottle.

"Did you want Gatorade?" Zack asked shyly.

"Uh, yes." Odd said slowly. "Thanks."

But he didn't open the bottle. He stood there, watching Zack suspiciously.

Zack felt his patience prickling. "Don't you like that flavor?" he asked in a small, timid voice.

"Oh...oh!!" Not wanting to offend Zack, Odd ignored the little voice in his head which was screaming to him, "Do NOT drink the Gatorade!! Do NOT drink the Gatorade!!" and drank deeply from it.

"Boy, Gatorade sure quenches your thirst!!" Odd said cheerfully. Zack nodded, and then cocked his head towards the soccer field.

"Is that Ulrich, calling your name?" Zack asked innocently. Odd looked around, and said happily, "Why, yes, indeed!!"

And he skipped away, singing a song. He passed Millie and Tamiya again, who gaped at him as he waved at them merrily.

"I know Odd is cheerful, but this is too much!!" Tamiya whispered to Millie.

"He's holding a bottle of Gatorade," Millie pointed out. "He must be extra-hyper today."

"Maybe," Tamiya agreed skeptically.

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Michi-Hikari: Woo!! Another chapter down!! Reviews please!! Click the purple botton that says "GO"!!