Hello, again, after practially forever. I know you may be upset for how long it's been, butI can explain-- (to self) actually, I can't. Nevermind!

D Wolf Falls - Thanks for your opinion of my flashbacks. I tried to play it out like it were an actual episode on TV.

MikariStar - Thanks. I believe it was in "Seeing is Believing" that we learn Jeremie's inhuman trait.

Garage Kids 3:
Glaciers and Hornets and Research, Oh My!

Chapter 4

The next day, around lunch time, Odd sat down to a big lunch, when he saw two girls approach.

"Hi," said one of them. "I'm Milly."

"And, I'm Tamiya," said the other.

"Hi, girls," he said. "I'm Odd. What can I do for you girls?"

Milly showed him a piece of paper. It read:

Dear Milly Solovieff and Tamiya Diop,

We are pleased to inform you that the results of the audition are in and you have become the new Kadic Boarding School Junior Newscasters. You are permitted to use your own equipment, as long as it is school-appropriate, but, if needed, the school can provide you with it, ourselves.

Your Principal,
Jean-Pierre Delmas

Odd handed the paper back and said, "Wow! Congrats, ladies!"

Suddenly, he noticed that Tamiya had a camera out and Milly was, now, holding a tape recorder. Milly smiled and said, "In our story on the new students coming to Kadic Junior High, you are our very first interviewee!"

Odd raised his eyes. "Really?" He turned to Tamiya, with a smile, and said, "Make sure you get my good side."

Tamiya laughed, steadied the camera, and gave the reporter and interviewee the heads up: "We're recording in 5... 4... 3... 2..."

"Hello, Kadic. This is Milly and Tamiya, your new junior newscasters," said Milly in a rather impressive reporter voice. "And, I must say, this is a really exciting experience. Our very first story takes us to the new students at Kadic Junior High. As you probably know, there have been quite a few, this year.

"One such student is Odd Della-Robbia," she continued, motioning towards the said student. "Odd, tell us about these first two weeks, here, at the boarding school, and any opinions you might have, so far."

Odd smiled, and began, as the tape recorder was held in front of his face. "Well, Milly, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with what I see: big school, plenty of teachers, lots of food, but you might want to see about that cocoa machine." He laughed. "Tastes like we're having a drought."

Jeremie keystroked the material in, as Aelita watched from a passage tower in the Mountain Region. "OK," he said. "I've compiled all the material properties and codes together to create a program." He typed in one more command. "Now, all that's left is the test run."

Jeremie and Aelita anxiously waited, as data scrolled across the screen and a full-body image of Aelita underwent a series of different test manipulations. In the end, all the color drained from the image to be judged by the Test Program. The two held their breaths (which is weird, for Aelita, since she doesn't breathe), as the computer beeped several times... and, then...

Jeremie sighed in frustration. "I was sure I had it!"

Aelita smiled, reassuringly. "Don't worry. That was only our first try. I found one website that contained the phrase 'Rome wasn't built in a day'. Does that phrase relate to this?"

Jeremie smiled, broadly, and said, "Yes it does, Aelita. Yes it does."

Ulrich and Yumi had finished lunch, and were walking along the campus.

Ulrich smiled, and said, "Just think. One Jeremie's got that program complete, we can bring Aelita to Earth, and, finally, shut down the supercomputer."

Yumi nodded. "We'll finally be over all of this X.A.N.A. nonsense." She paused, then added, "What do you think she'll look like materialized?"

"She won't have the elf ears, I can tell you that," he said, with a laugh.

Just then Ulrich and Yumi ran into someone painfully familiar. "Hello, Ulrich dear," Sissi Delmas said to the former. "Yumi," she added, dryly, to the latter.

"Sissi," the grumbled together.

"I don't suppose cone-head still hangs out with you, does he?" she said.

"His name is Odd," firmly said Ulrich. "And, yes."

"Good. Yumi can have someone to run to, when we get together."

Yumi growled. Sissi stuck her tongue out at her.

She turned back to Ulrich, and said, "Listen, my father's going to be in his office, doing paperwork all Friday night, and I was wondering if you had anything planned for then..."

Ulrich chuckled, as he and Yumi passed her up, "Not in your life."

Sissi folded her arms and sulked, as she watched the two walk away. Just then, Ulrich added, "Do yourself a favor and get some henchmen, for when you can't have me... which would be all the time."

Jeremie and Aelita were, once again, anxiously watching another test run. After a few tried on his own, Jeremie was offered help from Aelita. They waited... and waited... and waited... then...

"YES!" Jeremie cried, with glee.

"We did it!" Aelita cheered.

No sooner had they said that, than all their precious work was deleted before their very eyes!

"NOOO!" He buried his face in his arms. "All our work... gone..." He glanced up, at the screen, and thought he saw a bull's-eye symbol for a moment. "X.A.N.A." he hissed.

Everyone's least favorite supercomputer appears to not want to give up without a fight. That's your game, huh, X.A.N.A.?