Yay! Another chappy! (Whips out Ulrichs katana and puts it in your face) BE HAPPY ABOUT IT!
I officially dedicate this chappy to: Fox Kitsune. Because... well just because.
(Odd P.O.V.)
The day after, I wake up to find Ulrich sound asleep. For once.
Wow, I managed to wake up before him? That's amazing!
I walk over to him and toss a pillow in his face.
"Hey wake up." I say, although because of the earplugs, he can't hear me. He immediately jolts out of bed looking scared.
"No, Yumi, don't leave me!" He yells. I just laugh. He was having another dream about Yumi. No wonder he didn't wake up.
I take my normal shower and go down for breakfast. Once again, they're serving something that is supposed to resemble food. I think our cook is a bad artist. I sit down in my normal seat, Ulrich next to me.
"Yay. What a great breakfast." Ulrich mumbles and begins cautiously eating his food.
"What's wrong Ulrich, you look like it's going to bite you back." I say, and shovel a huge lump into my mouth.
"You never know Odd. Remember that time XANA used a ghost to make the food attack us? It could happen." (A/N: I just made that up, it's in the time between season one and this story. Sounds pretty funny though.)
"Hey boys. Where's Jeremie?" Aelita says, sitting down.
"Dunno. He hasn't shown up yet. I'll bet he's working on your anti-virus." I say through a mouthful of food.
"Don't talk with your mouth full."
"Yes, MOM. Sheesh."
"What do you say we go and drag him out here?" Ulrich suggests.
"Now there's an idea. It just depends on who were talking about." Macas says, walking up.
"Jeremie. He hasn't shown up for breakfast." Said Ulrich.
"Then let's go." I say and stand up. The others follow me and we walk over to Jeremie's room. I open the door quickly and jump into the room.
"Hey Einstein, let's go. Breakfasts a- wait, where is he?"
"Jeremie?" Aelita says cautiously, walking into the room. "Well, that's strange. He left his computer running. He never does that anymore."
"Wait a second." Macas quickly jumps on the computer and clicks a few times, pushing some keys, and the like. "Someone deleted his program. The one he was using to extract the parts of the video. And it wasn't him; it was from an outside source. The CD is gone too."
"XANA?" Ulrich says.
"I think so. I'll bet he just left and someone came in here and turned off his protection. XANA could never penetrate his firewalls."
"So where's Jeremie?" Aelita says.
"I don't know. Is his cell phone here?" Macas asks.
"Nope. He always leaves it here. He must have taken it with him. Don't worry. If he needs any help, he'll call us." I say, leaving to go back to the cafeteria.
Where could he be? It's not as if he ever goes anywhere. Oh, I know. He's probably at the factory, working on the anti-virus.
I tell my friends of my thoughts and they seem to agree. Unfortunately, Yumi tells us in second period that Jeremie wasn't in math. He doesn't show up for any of the other classes, even computer programming (So said Macas). Jeremie would never miss a computer class, something is wrong. We go and check the nurse's office, but he isn't there. We call his phone and get his voicemail, we check the factory, we look in every place we can think of, no Jeremie.
"It's almost time for dinner." Aelita says, looking discouraged. "Odd, would you like to come with me and check his room again?"
"Sure. I'll see you at dinner guys." Ulrich nods and he and Macas walk off. Aelita and I walk in silence for a while, trying to think of someplace we hadn't looked, some detail we hadn't checked. Nothing, Jeremie had vanished without a trace.
XANA has to be behind it. Why else would Jeremie's computer be changed? I'll bet XANA attacked Jeremie and stole the disc. But where did Jeremie go? And how did he manage to hurt Jeremie in the first place, he would have had to possess someone, and that would have sounded the alarm on Jeremie's computer.
"Aelita, why did you ask me to come? Why not Ulrich?'
"What, I can't just ask for some free time with you?"
"Of course you can but…."
"There is something I wanted to say though. I decided to tell you because you would be the one person least likely to overreact."
"Overreact about what?"
"There was more to my vision."
"Really? Like what?"
"A prophecy."
"Wait, a prophecy means like predicting the future right?"
"Yes, Franz Hopper made it before he was deleted by XANA."
"What was it about?" I ask, and listen in awe as she retells it.
"Does Jeremie know?"
"No. I told you because I thought you wouldn't overreact about me not telling you before."
"I understand. But why didn't you tell us?"
"I don't know, I just felt like this was the wrong time. I know now that telling you was a good thing. I want you to tell Ulrich. I will tell Yumi myself, and Jeremie, when we find him."
"Okay, sure thing. What if the prophecy wasn't about Macas though?"
"Who else would it be about?"
"I don't know…." I was thinking maybe me. My mom abused me. I have friends who fight the inevitable. The girl who remembers not…
Maybe I'm supposed to defeat XANA with the help of Aelita. Aelita doesn't remember her past… (Normal P.O.V.) Odd was thinking about Aelita, and a blush came to his cheeks slightly. He turned away and it disappeared before Aelita saw. Odd had been truthfully struggling with that comment Ulrich made. 'I have Yumi, Jeremie has Aelita, and you have no one.' Odd was thinking about all his girlfriends, and none of them really made him felt like when he was with Aelita. Sometimes it was hard to keep his voice steady when he talked to her, he felt weak-kneed when she came into view. It's just a high school crush, that's all. He told himself. No one knew about it, he was sure of that. He never mentioned it to Ulrich; he never ever slipped up while talking to anyone."Well, lets see if Jeremie's back…" Aelita said as we entered his room, finding it unlocked. "Oh no. He's not here either. This is the last place, there's no where else he could go. Oh Odd, where is he?" Aelita said, throwing herself into his arms crying.
"I don't know Aelita. But wherever he is, we'll find him. I promise." Odd could barely control his voice, his voice cracked when he made that promise. Aelita didn't even notice, she was crying too much. Odd gently sat her down on the bed and sat beside her. Then he spotted something strange on the bedsheets. He pulled away the blanket a bit, revealing a ghastly sight.
"Aelita look at this." He said pointing at a dark red stain on the sheet, near where Jeremie's head would be if he were laying down.
"What is it?"
"I think it might be blood. I think XANA has attacked Jeremie." Aelita looks at him strangely.
"Oh no. Let's call the police."
"Yah, but first we had better talk to the principal." Odd says and they walk over to the principal's office.
"We need to talk to Mr. Delmas, it's important." Odd says to his secretary.
"Of course, go ahead. He's not busy right now." She says and waves them towards his office. Odd peeks his head inside.
"Mr. Delmas sir? Can we talk to you for a second? It's really important."
"Of course, come in Mr. Della-Robbia. And I see you brought Ms. Stones with you."
"Yes sir. Jeremie Belpois was absent from all his classes today, and we got worried. We went to see if he was in his room and he wasn't there. I saw a stain on the sheets that looked like blood. I think, maybe something happened to him." Odd says quickly.
"So neither of you have seen him all day?"
"No, and no one we talked to." Aelita says. Mr. Delmas pushes a button on his phone and starts talking to his secretary.
"Yes, get the police on the phone right away, tell them there might have been a kidnapping and I'm going to check it out." He says and hangs up. "Now, please take me to his room." Aelita and Odd take him to Jeremie's room and show him the sheets.
"Nothing has ever happened like this before. That is definitely blood, we should have the police come and dust for fingerprints." He says and runs out of the room.
If only you knew how many times you've dealed with something like this before. XANA has attacked so many times. Odd thought to himself. The police are there shortly and want to ask some questions. Odd calls Ulrich and tells him to hurry and come over.
(Ulrich P.O.V.)
I get called on my cell by Odd about five minutes before dinner ends.
"Hey Odd, any news?"
"Unfortunately yes."
"What do you mean unfortunately? Any news is good news."
"Not this time. Jeremie wasn't in his room, but Aelita and I found a large bloodstain on his bed, it was half covered up by his blanket. The principal called the police, they wanted ask us some questions. Can you go get Yumi? Macas need to come too."
"Sure. I'll be there with Yumi in about twenty minutes; I have to go to her house. Macas should be there shortly." I say and hang up.
"What was that about?" Macas asks and stops eating.
"Odd and Aelita found a large bloodstain on Jeremie's bed. The police want us so they can ask some questions. I need to go get Yumi, you need to go to Jeremie's room. Whatever you do, don't mention Lyoko at all."
"Okay, right." Macas says and gets up. We leave together and part ways. I head towards the city, Macas heads towards the dorms. I call Yumi on my cell.
"Hello?"
"Yumi, we have a problem."
"What's that? Is XANA attacking again?"
"No, Jeremie is still missing. Aelita and Odd found a large blood stain in his bed. They called the police, they want to ask us some questions."
"Oh that's terrible! What could have happened to him?"
"I have no idea. Can you start walking to the school? I'll meet you somewhere along the way."
"Sure. I'll see you in a few. Bye."
"Bye." I hang up and head towards Yumi's house. I meet her about halfway and escort her to the school. We head straight for Jeremie's room to find three police officers, Jim, the principal and the rest of the group (minus Jeremie). Macas is staring off into the distance, obviously thinking hard. Aelita is clutching on to Odd, I think this is all very traumatic for her.
"Oh, here we are. Yumi, Ulrich, do either of you know where Jeremie could possibly be?" Jim asks, looking sincere.
"I seriously have no idea." I say immediately.
"Me neither." Yumi replies after I do.
"I think I will question them all individually. Ms. Ishiyama, could you come with me for a second?" I give Yumi and encouraging nod and she walks off with the principal. The police officers finish dusting the room for fingerprints.
"Now, we need to get fingerprints from all of you." Says one of them, holding out a black ink pad and a paper.
"What for? We didn't do anything." Odd says. He's actually serious for once.
"I know. We need to establish which fingerprints aren't yours. That could lead us to the culprit." We each stand up in turn and give him our fingerprints.
"Now as soon as we get the girl's, we can send them to the lab for testing." As if on cue Yumi just walked in. She looked about to cry, and Mr. Delmas walked in after her.
"Mr. Della-Robbia, you next." Odd gets up and walks out the door after Mr. Delmas. The cop takes Yumi's fingerprint and then they all leave.
"Yumi, what did he want?"
"He just wanted my story about Jeremie. I think he's going to compare to see if anyone's lying."
"Don't worry. It's no big deal, we all have the same story anyway. After dinner last night, Jeremie went to bed early. We haven't seen him since."
"He asked me some more detailed questions, like what did we talk about during dinner last night."
"What did you say?"
"I said that I wasn't there for dinner, I went home. Simple as that."
"But what about us? We can't say we went home for dinner."
"Easy. Whoever goes next will say they don't remember what we talked about. While they're gone, the other person will compare stories with Odd to make sure it matches up." Aelita says.
"Aelita, that's brilliant! You really are a genius!" Yumi says.
"Thank you." Odd comes back in.
"Mr. Stern, now you please." I follow Mr. Delmas down the hall, he leads me into an empty room.
"Now, do you know where Jeremie is? This is important because he could be in serious trouble. If you have any idea whatsoever, I need to know."
"I'm sorry sir, I haven't any idea where he is."
"Not a clue? Did he mention anything about his intentions last night?"
"No."
"Do you remember what was said at dinner?"
"What does that have to do with this?"
"Please just answer the question." I pretend to rack my brain, looking confused.
"No, I don't remember. I was worried about what I'm going to get on my math test coming up and didn't say much."
"Well, I can tell why you and Mr. Della-Robbia are friends. He said he was too busy eating to remember what was said."
"Yah, that's Odd for yah."
"Where is Jeremie's favorite place to 'hang out?' Do you know?"
"Whenever I talk to Jeremie, he's usually in his room."
I have to be careful. Anything I say could be used to compare against what Aelita and Macas say. I have to say things that are pretty generic.
"Does Jeremie have any secrets, something that could get him in trouble?"
If only you knew…"Um… I don't think so. Jeremie's a model student."
"What exactly does he do on his computer? He seems to spend a lot of time on it."
"He tried explaining it to me once. He said he could like discombobulate the conspacticator, and speed up the whosimawutsifut. Or, that's about what I understood."
"Seems Jeremie is quite the genius. Okay you're free to go. Please send in Mr. Keloly."
"Okay Sir. I hope we can find Jeremie." I walk back to Jeremie's room and tell Macas where to go.
"What did you decide on for a cover story?" I ask as soon as the door closes.
"The truth." Yumi states simply.
"What?"
"Don't worry. Everything except XANA. We're just going to tell him we were talking about Macas trial. Which is what we did." Aelita says quickly.
"Oh, okay. You had me scared there for a second."
Macas came back and Aelita left. We sat in silence, waiting for something to happen. Aelita came back and she was almost in tears. Mr. Delmas told us we were free to go, and he would tell us immediately if anything came up. Odd offered to walk Aelita back to her room, while Macas and I walk Yumi back to her house.
"Do either of you have any ideas about where Jeremie could be?" I ask as we walk.
"Well, remember that time XANA made a Franz Hopper replica? Jeremie called his dad, I think he wanted to go to another school. Maybe he actually did it." Yumi suggests.
"No, he left all his stuff. And that doesn't explain the bloodstain." Macas says.
"I've only got one small idea that's been at the back of my mind this entire time. Lyoko."
"But how?" Yumi asks with obvious disbelief in her voice.
"I don't know. XANA could have possessed someone, but it would have set off the alarm on Jeremie's computer. Jeremie would have called us and left before the person could have attacked him. That means that somehow, the superscan has been tampered with."
"That's good thinking. It's possible that XANA managed to tamper with it, but unlikely. Jeremie has that thing locked up tight." Yumi says.
"Macas, how good are you with computers?" I ask him.
"Not bad. Why?"
"Could you modify the superscan? To scan Lyoko for people instead of activated towers?"
"I could try. But it would take me a while." We arrive at Yumi's house and we say our good-byes. I promise to keep Yumi posted if anything comes up.
"Let's stop by Jeremie's room and grab his laptop. The sooner you change the superscan, the better."
"Good idea." We stop at Jeremie's room and grab his laptop. I stop at my room and Macas continues on to his. I enter to find Odd asleep. I quickly pull of my shirt, pants and shoes and crawl into bed. As I drift off, I'm sure everyone is thinking the same thing:
Where is Jeremie?
Okay, since you people seem to have trouble reviewing, i'll make it easy for you. First, press the little button that says GO. Second, type in one of these phrases:
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