Hey guys, it's labor day weekend, and while my family just went through something rough, I decided that now would be a good time to hunker down and work! So I may get two chapters in this weekend, I don't know but what ever, 'cause I'm writing, right? On with the fic!

Anna smiled nervously at her mom as the two regarded each other with varying feelings. Her mother had just stepped out of her private jet, and they were waiting for the car to come. "It's good to see ya mom." Anna said, giving a half-cocked smile in the general direction of her mother. "It's great to see you too, honey."

It wasn't that great. Anna had stayed up the night before, worrying. Her mother had called her the previous day with the news that she would be assisting Anna's science teacher for a year, and while this should have called for at least a "congratulations", Anna was too worried about her mother recognizing the boy that she sat next to in class. Said boy was currently with his friends for a stroll about town, but that only stopped him from meeting her mom today. Anna knew confrontation was imminent.

The two got into the cab, and after giving the address to the driver, settled back for a long, long drive home. Anna sighed, this was going to be one helluva year.

Odd, Jeremy, Ulrich, and Yumi were walking through the shadier part of town, looking around wearily. "Man Ulrich, I'm thinking we should turn back now." Odd said, staring at a sign that read, 'Beware of (and here, 'lion' was scratched out as if someone had got at it with a knife) Dog'. A group of older teens was exiting a building, looking like hell spawn. Odd and the others were already trying to sneak away, but the juvenile delinquents had started to close in.

Looking around desperately, Ulrich spotted some metal pipes and a few pieces of ply wood. (Plywood is like sheets of wood chips, so I thought they would make nice weapons) Handing the plywood to Yumi, he gave the others one pipe each. Jeremy struggled with his slightly; he wasn't used to things like this. He wasn't a warrior for heaven's sake that was the others'! But seeing the teen's practically right on top of them, and his friends determined faces, he steadied his grip and got ready.

"Hey, punks! What're ya doin' on our turf?" The leader was a man with 'peach fuzz' platinum blonde hair and five eyebrow piercings. Not attractive. The rest seemed to be your usual punks. The problem is that there were five of them and only four of our heroes. If only Anna were here. Odd stepped forward, taking the role of leader for the group. "Don't worry, we were just leaving." He said, sinking slowly into a pose he had seen Ulrich take dozens of times in Lyoko.

The punks sneered, advancing forward as the others did their best to assume battle poses (Jeremy had no idea what he was doing). "We didn't ask where you were goin', just why you're here." The leader lunged at Odd, fists raised.

And suddenly.

Odd smirked.

The thin boy hopped into the air with all the grace of the cat that he was, and landed squarely on the leader's head. Giving the man a good solid whack on the head, he hopped off and smirked once again at the others. "Hey guys...You DO remember that we can use them here, right?" Ulrich smirked too and suddenly split into three, and Yumi soon sunk into the familiar battle pose that she had used so many times in Lyoko, Jeremy backed up. He was certain that the others had this under control; after all, Odd had already taken out the leader. Take a snake's head and its body will soon follow, as the old saying went.

He looked to the battle to see his friends kicking some serious bad boy butt, but something was missing. Where was the leader? He should be lying on the ground as a strike to the head would do to any mortal. Something was suddenly pressed against his throat, and the battle stopped. Jeremy knew what was happening, and his mind desperately searched for a way out.

"Now, anyone moves, and this wimp gets it!" Jeremy's mind detachedly noticed that the others looked pretty bent up, even with their Lyoko powers. Odd was being held down by two of them, Ulrich looked like he'd had the metal pipe brutally knocked from his hands (this hurts, trust me. And it leaves bruises!) and been hit in the stomach with it, and Yumi was being sat upon by one of the punks. Things didn't look good.

Odd growled lowly and the leader continued to gloat (ooh! Look! I beat kids five years younger than me! Durrr.) and looked around. A little part of him was telling him to be reasonable and wait, but the majority of him was itching to beat the crap out of these punks. The situation was getting bad, the man holding Jeremy did not look in a lenient mood, and Odd wasn't either. The man drew his knife away from Jeremy's neck, but Odd knew he had to act now.

No one knew what happened next. One minute Odd was lying squashed underneath the bulk of the two men; next, he was flying at the leader, claws outstretched... Wait. Claws? Odd was soaring through the air in his Lyoko form, letting out an almost inhuman screech. The man didn't stand a chance. Odd slashed the man across the chest and grabbed Jeremy, changing back to normal as he did so, and hopped away.

Everyone stared at Odd as he landed gracefully a few feet away...Then collapsed. The other men ran for their lives as Ulrich grabbed Odd and the he and the others fled too. No one knew what happened, but they all had a suspicion that this wasn't all Lyoko at work here. The kids made it to the school and even into Ulrich and Odds' dorm room without being caught. Now all they could do was patch up their wounds and wait for Odd to wake up.

A beeping filled the apartment as Anna helped her mom unpack. Her mother rushed to one of her suitcases and reached in. "Oh!" She exclaimed, looking stricken. "It-It's Odd! He activated his abilities!" Anna drew in an almost inaudible gasp and reached for her cell phone. This was NOT good.

Author's note:

So, how was that? I hope it was good, 'cause I feel like I've just sinned against myself with this. It feels too....cliché. If you have comments, flames, or compliments, please review.

Raifiel: What? No witty comments? No bad jokes? That bad news hit you hard girl!

Me: Shut it Rei.