Chapter 8: Yumi and Odd?

Jeremie appeared in the indescribable void between Earth and Lyoko. "Aelita?" He called out into the nothingness surrounding him. A flash of bright light, and he turned around. There she was...but wait..."Aelita!" he yelled again, trying to float towards her through the seemingly endless channels of blindingly bright light. He floated on and on and on, but never got closer to Aelita than he had been a moment before. What could be going wrong?

"Jeremie?" A voice echoed through the void. It was Yumi. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah..." he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We just can't see you on the screen, that's all," Yumi said apologetically. "The Lyoko screen, I mean. Since you're in the middle, we can't exactly tell where you are...I mean...oh, never mind.." Yumi looked over the screen, then suddenly did a double take. "Jeremie!"

"What?" he replied.

"Your character doesn't have glasses!" Yumi exclaimed. Ulrich and Odd had been talking, but now they were looking over her shoulder at the large screen once again. She was right - his Lyoko character indeed had no glasses. "Why didn't we notice this before?"

"I have no idea," Jeremie said, sounding somewhat irritated. "I thought you were going to alert me about trouble or something.. getting me all worried for nothing..." he muttered to himself. "The only problem now is that no matter how hard I try to get closer to her, I can never reach Aelita..it's very odd..."

"Wait, you see Aelita?" Ulrich asked. "You never told us that!"

"Yeah because you've been so fascinated by the fact that my Lyoko character has no glasses, I never had a chance to get a word in!" he spat, still desperately trying to reach Aelita, shielding his face from the beams of light coming at him from every direction. "Gosh, it's too bright..." he muttered.

A window appeared on the computer screen that hadn't been there before. Yumi clicked on it, and it popped open, revealing the void where Jeremie was struggling to fight the light and reach Aelita. "Jeremie! I can see you now. Aelita's flashing...is that a good or bad thing?" She flipped through the thick manual about Lyoko and all of its regions, yet nothing about the void in between them and Earth ever appeared within its pages. Finally, after a thorough investigation, Odd stumbled upon a book entitled "Recent Discoveries". The print was in Jeremie's handwriting. "Thanks, Odd!" Yumi exclaimed. "You're the best!"

"Aww, shucks, it was nothing!" Odd said, somewhat of a blush coming to his cheeks.

Hey, back off! Ulrich thought to himself. Then the unimaginable happened - Yumi gave Odd a quick peck on his cheek, supposedly for a job well done. What! Ulrich wanted to scream. Sure, sure, congratulate him, but with a kiss! His inner fury was showing on the outside as well. Odd quickly proceeded to "wipe away" the kiss from his cheek and mutter a hasty apology. Ulrich doubted the sincerity, and simply replied, "Whatever." He retreated to the back corner of the super-computer room where he slid down to sit against the cold, metal walls.

From the corner, Ulrich heard Odd ask Yumi to the dance the next day. And to his dismay, Yumi whole-heartedly agreed, giving him another quick peck on his cheek. It felt as though his heart had just been broken in two. Had she forgotten about asking him to the dance only the day before? Ulrich could not take this any longer. He stormed out of the room, bitter tears filling his eyes. Slowly they slid down his cheeks, burning them like acid. He quickly pushed the button to the elevator and stepped inside before either of them could stop him. The doors closed, and Yumi yelled after him. He ignored whatever excuses she could propose and waited for the elevator ride to be other with so he could go back to his dorm room and be alone.

"Yumi!" Jeremie yelled excitedly. "I've finally reached Aelita!" He held the pink-haired girl in his arms. Her were eyes were closed, however, and she didn't respond to his yelling. I've got to get her to a tower was his logical thought. Then he saw Yumi's face turn towards the virtual screen. A tear was held suspended on her cheek. "Yumi? What's wrong?"

"Odd...and then Ulrich...and then he left...and now..." she mumbled, unable to form sentences because of the tears now welling up and spilling over. "What have I done!" she wailed. Odd's face showed a very pained and regretful look, while Yumi's was stained with tears and her eyes were extremely bloodshot.

"I can't believe you, Yumi!" Jeremie criticized. "You too, Odd! First Emily asks Ulrich to a movie, and Yumi runs home in tears. (A/N: Odd has explained the whole story to Jeremie that day before lunch) Odd convinces him to break off the supposed date with Emily for your sake, Yumi. He did do so because you mean so much to him. You even asked him to the dance tomorrow, and he agreed! Now, here you are, kissing his best friend, and agreeing to go to the dance with him instead without even giving Ulrich a second thought!" Jeremie got so worked up that he didn't notice that Aelita was gazing intently at his face as he told the whole story once more.

"Wow, Yumi..." Aelita sighed, and Jeremie turned. "I always thought that you loved Ulrich.."

"I do..I mean...I did...I mean..." Yumi cried, still not able to form a single sentence through her tears.

"I'm going to go see Ulrich," Odd spoke up. He went over to the elevator to leave. He pushed the button, but nothing happened. "What the -?"

"What's wrong, Odd?" Yumi's tears had ceased for the moment being.

"The elevator, it's jammed...oh gosh, what if Ulrich-" Odd started.

"Ulrich could be stuck!" Yumi exclaimed, finishing Odd's statement.

"What!" Jeremie and Aelita said at the same time. Aelita stifled a giggle because of this, but Jeremie's tone remained serious.

"I'm going to get him,"

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Hahahaha, another cliffie! I am so bad, mwhahahahaha! Try and guess who said they would get Ulrich. Is it:

Odd - his best friend trying to make up for the fact that he asked his love to the dance

Yumi - showing Ulrich that she really does love him and possibly go with him to the dance instead

Jeremie - seeing as Aelita has not disappeared after all, he could come back and fix the elevator

or

Aelita - risking her life to come to Earth and, possibly, voice hidden affections for him she's had all along?

You'll just have to see! Please review, everyone!

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