Chapter 7; Clever Kitty

Odd's POV

"I-I can't…I can't choose between them!"

The girl turned to Yumi and Ulrich, "Then I'll choose."

I aimed my arm and shot out a laser arrow, "I won't let you hurt my friends!"

"Grr…" the girl held her arm. She turned to Aelita; "This is a lose-lose situation for you Odd. I guess Aelita it is!"

That's when it hit me, "Fine."

"What?" Jeremie, Yumi, and Ulrich were all shocked.

I grinned as I waved my arms, "Go a head XANA, delete Aelita." I put my hands on my hips, "But once you delete her, what makes you think we won't shut you down?"

"What?" the girl winced.

The others smiled, "Yeah! Aelita's the only reason we don't shut down Lyoko."

I turned to Aelita, "If she goes down, so do you XANA."

The girl being controlled by XANA was, at first, full of fear. Then she began to laugh evilly. The others and I were all confused. The girl put her hand on Aelita's shoulder, "You won't shut down Lyoko if I delete Aelita. If you do all of you will be deleted as well and will have no way of coming back!"

I backed up; I thought for sure that would work. I grunted my teeth and looked at Yumi and Ulrich. They both nodded as if they read my mind. I turned back to the girl and smiled weakly, "So? We would gladly die to stop you XANA."

I couldn't hear Jeremie but I knew he was there.

"What? This does not compute." The girl grabbed her head.

Aelita too grabbed her head and yelled out. I ran over to her and caught her before she fell, "Aelita! Aelita! Listen to me! You're stronger then this! Break free of XANA! I know you can do it…"

The girl fell on her knees, "Get out of my head…MONSTER!"

Normal POV

Yumi and Ulrich both stood by Odd. Odd shook Aelita and continued talking to her. Jeremie too, calling out to Aelita.

Yumi grabbed onto Ulrich's arm, "Aelita…Please snap out of it."

Odd looked down at Aelita. He clenched her with teary eyes as she continued deleting herself. Odd looked up, "Einstein…"

Jeremie stared into the screen.

"You all are my friends, my family…"

Ulrich and Yumi looked at Odd with a sad face. They knew this was the hardest thing Odd could ever do. Ulrich put his hand on Odd's shoulder as Yumi put her arm around his neck.

"I know how you feel about Aelita, Jeremie…and I know you know how I feel about her. That she doesn't love you. That she loves me."

Jeremie clenched the ends on his chair, but still said nothing.

Odd looked back down at Aelita, "I'm sorry Jeremie, but I love Aelita."

Suddenly, the sign of XANA disappeared from the girl's forehead. Aelita stopped deleting herself. The red symbol on Aelita's forehead slowly changed into a light blue color. Odd and the others looked at her with hope.