What's this? Only two months between this and the last chapter? What joy I feel!

The story continues folks! Though in a rather...unorthodox format...from my point of view at least. Originally, File 4 was meant to be a singular entity like the previous ones...except what happens in each part ended up developing so drastically from one another, I had to split them apart! If I didn't, I might've ended up with a File that could've been just as long as File 3! In the end, they are going to be Part I and Part II...but the topics involved in each one nixed those being present in the titles, even though they are still File 4 as a whole.

Notably, once I made the decision to split the chapter, the first part was typed much more quickly than I thought! So enjoy folks!

Code Lyoko does not belong to me, it belongs to Draguard, Mediatoon (Who have released the entire series on HD in an official YouTube channel, rejoice!), Tania Palumbo, and Thomas Romain.


Garage Kids

File 4.1 – Adjusting to the Status Quo

"And that's how it all happened." Jeremie said, finishing the story.

"Well…sure am glad I wasn't there to experience it…" Odd muttered, shivering at the details of the demonic teddy bear robot.

"And that's why we need help." Jeremie explained. "For the past month, we've been dealing with virus action from Xanadu, keeping it secret from everyone else. We're dealing with a highly advanced computer system, and we don't know why the 'Professor' created it, nor do we know how it became infected with a computer virus."

"And we can't go to the cops because the whole thing is so hard to believe." Odd moaned. "But wouldn't they figure out something's gone wrong by now?"

Jeremie shrugged.

"For now, thanks to us, we've managed to minimize damage caused by Xanadu to minor accidents." He replied. "An attack like the one I told you about is incredibly complex, and was only possible because the specters had time to evolve and develop. Give them enough time to settle into a tower that they activate though, and they could do much more than just turning stuffed animals into Terminators."

Odd's eyes widened at the implications and he rubbed his temples,

"How often does this happen?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

At first, Jeremie's answer relieved the boy with the spiked hair. "Twice a week at most." That didn't seem too bad. Unfortunately, Jeremie wasn't done expositing.

"But as you just saw, today's attack was rough, at least, on the virtual side of things. That was the largest number of specters that we've dealt with by a huge margin, and I have a bad feeling that things are going to get worse."

A sinking feeling emerged in Odd's gut. "Why am I not surprised?" he moaned.

"If you want to call it quits, I won't stop you." Jeremie said. "I'm telling you this because you're bunking with Ulrich, and you did kind of stumble upon everything that's happened right now."

"Why didn't you tell the others about what you found?" Odd asked, trying to gather his wits and make his final decision. "I mean… hell, from what you've told me, them just accepting that an evil teddy bear monster came out of nowhere sounds, well…incredibly unrealistic…and that's coming from me of all people!"

Jeremie let out a sigh as he rubbed his glasses on his shirt before replying.

"Trust me, none of them have let that incident slide." He said, "They've all agreed to take a page out of Jim's book and not talk about it…but they've been dealing with it in all sorts of ways."

"Like what?" Odd asked, bewilderment still evident in his tone.

"Milly's become less of what you'd call a wallflower, but it's caused both her and Tamiya to start snooping around a bit more than what we consider to be comfortable." Jeremie replied, seeming quite exasperated concerning the amateur journalists. "They've kept themselves going on the gossip at Kadic for now, and since the inter-school competition between Kadic and Asimov is in two weeks, they're focusing on building up hype for the event…but every now and then, they get a bit too close to the truth, and it's taken Yumi a lot of effort to make things seem normal and deflect their suspicions."

"Why not just allow them to fight like I did?" Odd asked.

"Well…Milly and Tamiya really aren't cut out for combat for one thing, so they'd probably stay far away from Xanadu. Not to mention that they're again, journalists, and they'd make it nearly impossible to hide a secret like the factory. A singular incident like Teddy they might be able to keep under wraps…but everything here?" Jeremie gestured to the cluttered and dark appearance of the factory's interiors. "They wouldn't keep their mouths shut for a moment."

Odd thought it over. He himself wasn't what you'd call a fighter at first glance, but dealing with his sisters and neighbors had given him plenty of experience with violence, so he was no stranger to basic craziness in life. Milly and Tamiya, well…Odd decided to wait and see what they were like in person before drawing an actual conclusion about Jeremie's diagnosis of the two.

"What about the other four guys?" he asked, "Amare, Charlie, Hugo, and that Sebastian guy?"

"First off, Hugo's really protective of his younger brother. Hell, he still occasionally gives Milly the stink-eye for wanting to give herself over to Teddy." Jeremie answered. "But even so, Hugo's not someone who goes off looking for strange occurrences. Chances are, he's probably waiting for an incident like Teddy to pop up on the news before heading over to the cops. He would just grab Charlie, and run off for the Police Station if he knew about the factory."

Odd decided to stay on his toes regarding Hugo. He could easily see the boy's reasoning concerning the incident. Instead of actively searching for a deadly force that could rip him and his younger sibling to shreds, Hugo would just keep a sharp lookout until alerting the authorities if things kept up at the way they were going.

Normally, Odd would've thought about helping the guy out… but considering how he had just immersed himself in Xanadu…he wasn't in the mood to potentially get experimented on like one of Dr. Shrank's test subjects.

He also made a mental note to ask if anyone was a fan of the show later.

But back to the main topic:

"Amare's extremely calm regarding most things." Jeremie said. "Just like Hugo though, he's probably waiting for an opportunity to tell someone about everything that's happened."

So, Amare's situation was the same regarding Hugo, except without the protective sibling instinct.

Jeremie then put his hand on his chin, sighing about the last child of the group.

"Then we come to Sebastian." He said finally.

Odd's neck hairs stood on alert, not unlike how a cat's hair might puff if frightened or nervous. It seemed that going into Xanadu had made him more perceptive of upcoming danger. Or maybe it was just drilled into his instincts so that he could avoid certain pranks and it was just now that Odd noticed this subconscious tendency. Whatever the case, Odd quickly clamped his hand on the back of his neck in annoyance.

"Sebastian's someone I'm really on the fence on." Jeremie explained. "On the one hand, he's been here at Kadic the longest, and he's got a, well…reputation for being the kid with the most street-smarts in our group. He's seen all kinds of suspicious activities in town before Xanadu started acted up, but something like Teddy was out of his league. I remember him being completely on edge for a week after the incident, and he joined Hugo in giving death glares at Milly."

Jeremie stopped, continuing to ponder about Sebastian.

"On the other hand though, he's calmed down since, and we've thought about letting him in on the secret…but still, he's got the qualities of a Wild Card that I don't know if we can trust."

Odd raised an eyebrow.

"So, you guys are willing to trust a complete stranger, i.e. me, who has never interacted with you guys until today, versus someone you know?" he asked, questioning the group's logic.

Jeremie shook his head wildly, it was clear that he had misspoken.

"No, no, nothing like that!" he exclaimed. "But Sebastian, he tends to do his own thing, and again, he was shaking in his boots long after Teddy was gone. And after Milly and Tamiya, he's the most suspicious of the anomalies around town ever since the first attack. That's what I was trying to get at. Sebastian's a decent guy…but I'm worried what he might try if he found out about something that he'd view as some kind of occult or Lovecraftian evil."

"What? Are you afraid of him having a panic attack and hitting the button that blows up the universe?" Odd summarized, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…basically." Jeremie confirmed.

It was clear to Odd that dealing with Sebastian would be…interesting. He would have to draw his own conclusions later…and besides that, if Sebastian was interested in film, well. Odd would bring that up with the boy if they ever met.

"And now we come to you." Jeremie finished.

"Me?" Odd asked, even though he knew exactly what Jeremie was getting at.

"You don't have to do this." Jeremie said, staring directly at Odd, his glasses illuminated by the lights of the computer screen so that Odd could no longer see the boy's eyes. It was quite the ominous effect.

"The powers in Xanadu are relatively easy to control, of course, it helps that going into the virtual world gives general stamina boosts and the like so that it becomes easier for your body to adapt to them, but that's not the point. The point is, this entire situation is dangerous no matter what way you slice it. We're stuck in a precarious situation, and we're doing all we can to deal with it."

Jeremie looked up at the ceiling, debating his next choice of words.

"If you don't want to risk your life. You don't have to." He finally said, "all I ask is that you stay silent on the issue regardless of whether or not you want to help us. Don't tell the others anything about this place. Keep it secret."

Silence filled the room, aside from the sounds of whirring motors and fans, which only added to the ambience.

"What? You don't have any red or blue pills for me to take?" Odd cracked out.

"No…" Jeremie said, unsure where Odd was planning to take the conversation.

"Well then…" Odd said, "It's a tough call, I mean, on the one hand I'm dealing with a place that's generating computer virus ghosts that could kill me, but on the other hand, not doing anything means that I could get killed anyways."

"So…?" Jeremie ventured.

Odd was silent for a few more moments, processing everything that had happened to him. In the space of about an hour at most, his whole life had turned upside down. He did not expect to suddenly gain the ability to see into the future, and he most certainly did not expect to get roped into a battle against a rogue science experiment.

On the one hand, Jeremie was correct, Odd didn't have to fight in Xanadu, hell, he could just stay in the real world, and hide his new abilities. He could just stay far away from the factory, and keep silent on the whole issue. But on the other hand, Odd HAD already gone into Xanadu. He had already faced off against the manifestations of the computer virus within it. And while it was disorientating how weird something like this could exist in the world at first… somehow, that nagging feeling of fear in Odd's gut had shrunk. And if there was one thing Odd Della Robbia was not, it was a coward.

Of course, that didn't mean that the factor of fear was no longer present. Odd still had some trepidations on the whole issue, after all, if he died in the virtual world, there would not be an instant 'respawn' like in a video game. He would be dead in real life. Of course, considering that Jeremie had shared with him the story of broken power lines turning a teddy bear into a killer robot, it might not matter if Odd was on earth or in cyberspace. At least in Xanadu you had weapons that you could defend yourself with.

All things considered at the point of no return, Odd made his decision.

The boy brought up his hand. Jeremie could see that it was shaking from Odd being nervous. Looking at Odd showed a mischievous, albeit still nervous, smirk on his face.

"I'll do it." He said. "But you'd better tell me more about what's happened since that long story you told me!"

Jeremie took Odd's hand, and the two shook, indicating the confirmation of a pact. Odd was now in the group.

As the two disengaged, Jeremie turned back towards his computer screen, Odd now standing above him and looking over the other boy's shoulder.

"Like I said before." Jeremie explained, getting right to the point, "Xanadu tends to create significant disturbances about twice a week. Thanks to our efforts, we've managed to keep the damage caused to a minimum, so far, we've only had traffic jams and other minor disturbances."

Odd decided not to pry into what those other minor disturbances were.

"Unfortunately, we STILL don't know why the Professor created it." Jeremie clarified, "I've been looking through the logs of the supercomputer, but I haven't found anything related to what happened in the past. Any records of the research done here have either been wiped from the memory of the supercomputer, or they're in a heavily secured part that we don't have access to."

"I guess that makes sense." Odd murmured. "So, I'm going to guess you haven't found a way to shut this place down yet?"

Jeremie, now studying Ulrich and Yumi's progress from the monitor, shrugged morosely, frustration quite evident in his face.

"No." he grumbled. "I've been trying to run scans of Xanadu's systems for a month now, and I STILL haven't found anything that could indicate how to freeze or delete the Specters from Xanadu's source code without damaging the virtual world, which, as you know, would damage our world."

"Makes sense, I guess." Odd said, falling silent.

No other questions were asked as a sudden feeling of exhaustion overcame Odd as he flopped back onto the couch. Silence filled the air as Ulrich and Yumi completed their recon and finally, were rematerialized 20 minutes later once they could confirm that there were no other Specters.

"So? Is he-?" Yumi started to ask, referring to Odd's status.

"Yup." Jeremie said, giving a curt nod of confirmation.

"Welcome aboard." Ulrich deadpanned, folding his arms.

"Great to be aboard…I guess?" Odd asked, giving another nervous chuckle.

Ulrich just nodded, and after he, Yumi, and Jeremie had helped themselves to the remaining pizza in the fridge, along with a few hot dogs, the four children exited the factory, with Kiwi following his master obediently. The three veteran virtual fighters made sure to take their transportation equipment this time around and place them in the area they had designated in the sewers to store it. Climbing out of the sewer, they exited the woods, and snuck back into the school courtyard. As they walked, Odd saw students exiting the lunchroom, and then noticed two girls staring at them. He quickly recognized them from Jeremie's recounting.

"Psst, the paparazzi." He whispered to Jeremie, who took notice of Milly and Tamiya cautiously tailing them.

Before anything could be done about that, the four were intercepted by Amare, Charlie, and Hugo.

"Where were you guys?" Amare asked, getting straight to the point.

"Showing the new guy around." Ulrich replied bluntly.

"New guy?" Amare asked, before taking notice of Odd.

"Yo!" Odd grinned, holding his hand up for a high-five, trying to look inconspicuous.

"What's with the dog? Is it a stray?" Hugo asked, causing Charlie to look at Kiwi. The younger child's eyes widened with glee.

"PUPPY!" Charlie cried out, running towards Kiwi, who barked frantically and started running away from the young child.

"Uh, no. That would be MY dog." Odd replied, before turning around and trying to get Kiwi's attention.

"Here Kiwi!" Odd called, causing the mutt to turn around and run to his owner for protection, hiding behind Odd in desperation.

"Charlie, stop that!" Hugo commanded.

"But, it's a dog!" Charlie whimpered as he rejoined his brother. "We never get dogs here!"

"He's housebroken, right?" Hugo asked, ignoring his younger brother's protests.

"If he wasn't, I don't think I'd be bunking with Ulrich here." Odd said, pointing at the stoic brunette.

"So, this is that roommate guy you were complaining about, Stern." A new voice said.

The seven children turned around, and saw Sebastian walking towards them. The lanky boy scrutinized Odd, taking notice of the latter's hair. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"That isn't natural, is it?" Sebastian asked, pointing at Odd's hairstyle.

"I was just going to ask that!" Amare exclaimed, also taking notice of Odd's hair.

"Hey, it's how I style it, the ladies love it." Odd said, trying to sound cool and suave.

Hugo looked at Yumi, who stared back with an expression worthy of Ulrich's normally stoic face, while Ulrich himself was facepalming silently at Odd's reply.

"Truly, it is the ultimate magnet for women." Hugo deadpanned.

"Great, a flirt!" Sebastian complained. "Dunbar was bad enough, especially after that spandex incident, and he doesn't even go to this school!"

"Dunbar?" Odd asked, remembering the name from the recounting of Xanadu's discovery, but not letting it show. "Who's he?"

"William Dunbar's the classical 'tall, dark, and handsome' archetype." Sebastian replied, gagging from saying the words. "He's a massive womanizer, and I was really hoping that his kind would stay at Asimov where they belong. Now they've come to Kadic! The world is ending."

"Hey, I take offense to that! I'll have you know that I'm a fun guy, guaranteed to put a smile on your face, not some 'bad boy' cliché!" Odd argued.

"Really? A funny guy? How?" Sebastian asked, only for Kiwi to answer that question for his owner. The little dog jumped on Sebastian, knocking the taller boy over and began licking Sebastian's face all over, barking as he did so.

"GAHH!" Sebastian cried out, much to the amusement of the other kids.

"I want to get licked by the doggie too!" Charlie complained, and started after Kiwi again. The dog jumped off Sebastian in a fright and started running in circles, Charlie following close by.

"Well, not that kind of fun, but you get the point!" Odd laughed, "Behold the power of my little diggity dog!"

Sebastian suddenly stood up, and loomed over Odd menacingly. The shorter boy gulped, fear now entering his system as he started to understand Jeremie's trepidation concerning Sebastian. The taller individual carried a heavy aura of menace when angry, quite capable of intimidating anyone who got out of line.

Sebastian calmly put a hand on Odd's shoulder.

"What's your last name?" he asked, voice deathly quiet.

"D-Della Robbia." Odd said, sweat dropping.

"Well then, Della Robbia…" Sebastian began, glaring downwards towards Odd, his eyes locked in an intense glare.

"You're all right!" he chuckled, eyes lightening up as he patted Odd on the shoulder.

"Wait, what?" Odd asked.

Sebastian looked at Odd in the eye. "Look Della Robbia, I've met all kinds of people in my life. Some were nice people, others were jerks that I wouldn't shed a tear for, and others were too stupid to understand that there were things going around that didn't involve them."

"Okay…" Odd said cautiously.

"First impressions tell a lot about people Della Robbia. I get the feeling that you're the kind of person who is comic, has energy, and sucks at having a love life."

"I take offense to that last one!" Odd snapped, partly annoyed, partly relieved. "I'm great with girls!"

"Sure, you are." Sebastian chuckled, calming down.

"If it helps, he managed to dissolve the you-know-what." Jeremie contributed, gesturing over to Ulrich and Yumi.

"WAIT, WHAT?!" The two asked, stunned.

"He got the two to confess to each other?" Amare asked. "That was quick."

BAM!

Ulrich and Yumi stomped away, leaving Amare face-down in the dirt.

"Ow." The boy deadpanned, clutching his stomach.

"Are you okay?" Odd asked.

"Yeah…" Amare chuckled as he staggered to his feet. "I've taken worse, don't worry about it. That comment was worth it. You'll fit right in here."

"Welcome aboard, Della Robbia." Sebastian said, holding out a handshake for Odd to take.

Looking around at the scene before him, Odd marveled at the contrast between the weirdness of the factory versus the relative normality of his school. He could see Milly and Tamiya still peeking behind their tree, Ulrich and Yumi walking away out of embarrassment, Charlie chasing Kiwi, but now with Hugo running after him to restrain him, and the other kids either walking around, or staring at the scenes that had just occurred with amusement.

This was a far cry from the dark and oppressive atmosphere of the factory by a long shot, not to mention being infinitely preferable. Odd wondered what Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi had thought about this contrast during the month that they had begun to deal with Xanadu before Odd came into the picture. Inwardly, Odd let out a sigh of resignation, and focused his attention on Sebastian.

"Great to be aboard." Odd replied, smiling as he returned the handshake.

"But if that dog tries licking me like that again, we'll be having a nice, long talk." Sebastian growled, cracking his knuckles.

"I'll make sure Kiwi does not lick you without your permission." Odd chuckled.

"We can use him in pranks though, right?" Amare asked.

"Trust me, I've got a list of Kiwi-related practical jokes." Odd replied.

"Okay, so the dog could be useful then." Sebastian noted, deep in thought.

"He does have a certain aura to himself." Jeremie chuckled ruefully.

"A certain aura?" Sebastian asked.

"It was quite the first meeting." Jeremie replied, shuddering.

Amare, Sebastian, and Odd soon let out a hearty laugh… before Odd had to go and get Kiwi away from the cloud of dust forming from the chase he was in.

Milly and Tamiya continued watching the scene before them, watching as it settled down and the crowd that had started to form from looking at the dog chase dissipate as soon as it had started.

"So, that's the new guy." Tamiya noted. "I don't see why Charlie thinks his dog is cute, he looks kind of ugly to me."

"I actually thought for a moment that he'd gotten Ulrich and Yumi to get together! WHY?!" Milly groaned to the heavens.

"Uh, Milly, that Odd guy doesn't look like the kind of person I'd trust to play matchmaker." Tamiya deadpanned. "Not to mention the ACTUAL reason we're hiding behind a tree?"

"Oh yeah!" Milly said, snapping back to reality.

"That's about either the fourth or fifth time Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi have skipped out on a meal or a class." Tamiya muttered. "And now the new guy goes missing with them? Something's been up with those three ever since uh, you know."

"Teddy." Milly breathed quietly before shaking her head as she repressed the memories of the robotic beast. "I don't get why the others are just laughing at all of this right now though."

"Maybe we should follow Ulrich and Yumi." Tamiya whispered, looking around the campus.

Unfortunately, the crowds of other children were obstructing their view, and it was clear that the two in-denial lovebirds had left the courtyard. So, that idea was down the drain.

"Maybe we should try something else?" Milly questioned once it became clear that there was no immediate sign of Ulrich or Yumi.

Tamiya scratched her chin in thought.

"For now, let's fall back, we still have to get this week's issue of the Kadic News ready." She said at last.

"Alright." Milly replied, and the two girls left the courtyard.

As for the other kids, they had begun to slip into conversations, digging more into Odd's background and revealing more of the school's functions to the boy. Overall, it was exactly the kind of conversation you could expect when you were the new kid.

"So, where exactly did you come from?" Sebastian asked.

"Italy." Odd replied.

"Really? You speak French pretty well, I can't even hear an accent." Amare noted.

"What can I say? I've got a knack for this kind of thing." Odd replied with a smug smile on his face.

"I can barely string two syllables together on foreign languages." Jeremie said mournfully. "It's one of the two subjects I suck at."

"What's the other one?" Odd asked, though he had a suspicion on what that subject was.

"What else? Physical Education. I can barely keep up whenever Jim has us run laps!" Jeremie complained.

"To be honest…I kind of saw that one coming." Odd replied.

"Abel the younger runs faster than Belpois." Sebastian said dryly.

"Abel the younger?" Odd asked.

"Abel, it's me and my brother's last name." Hugo clarified, keeping a firm arm on Charlie, who was still struggling to grab Kiwi, who remained hidden behind his owner's legs.

"Ah, I see." Odd said simply.

But before anything else could be said, suddenly, the scene seemed to jump about a minute forward. Odd's eyes widened as the entire courtyard seemed to change to an orange monochrome. Everything seemed normal, except Hugo was now glaring at Odd, eyes narrowed into suspicious slits, and was about to ask a certain question to him. A question that could've been very dangerous…

"So…now that we've gotten the icebreakers out the way, I have to ask you something Odd, just like I have to ask you something Jeremie…where exactly where you on campus when the lunch hour started anyways? I can't believe it would take you that long to show someone around the school."

Odd blinked, and his eyes briefly darted around. The courtyard had returned to its normal coloration, with things seeming to return to normal.

'What the heck was that?' Odd thought, before he realized that it had been the phenomenon he'd experienced on Xanadu.

'Oh crap, it's my Anticipation power...Note to self, give that power a cooler name sometime. Also, I need to change the subject, quick!"

Hugo was preparing to ask Odd a question concerning the whereabouts of himself, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi! Taking a quick look at Jeremie, Odd had a feeling that despite the warnings that the blond boy had given him, without Ulrich or Yumi around, Jeremie managing to deflect suspicion would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

Thankfully, if there was one thing Odd Della Robbia was good at, it was turning conversations away from suspicious subjects.

"Oh! I just remembered! I wanted to ask about the school activities here!" Odd said, thinking quickly. "Is there anything here related to…uh, film by per chance?"

Sebastian's face lit up at that question.

"You're talking my language Della Robbia!" he said. "Mr. Chardin, our drama teacher, is the head of the film club! It's how we…well…has Belpois told you about our…film activities?"

"About the film club?" Odd asked, feigning ignorance about the off-campus dealings.

"No, no…though I honestly don't expect Belpois to tell anyone anything that isn't about computers or math." Sebastian replied.

"Ha, ha." Jeremie said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"Well…if I know you're into it, let's just say that Chardin's classes aren't the only way to show off movies. I've got plenty of film reels, some original, others being samples that our school has access to. If you want to join up, you're welcome to do so." Sebastian explained.

"I consider myself an aspiring film-maker myself." Odd replied. "I don't have actual reels, but I do have some prototype storyboards I've been itching to show off."

"Well…now you've got my attention, I want to see them." Sebastian said, interest gleaming in his eyes as he rubbed his hands with anticipation.

Off to the side, Jeremie noticed a flash of irritation cross Hugo's face while Amare looked on with a bemused expression. Charlie continued to stare at Kiwi.

"I'll go grab them!" Odd said, "you coming?"

"Definitely." Sebastian replied, and the two set off, Kiwi close behind them.

"Well, I've got some programs to review and I need to check up on my robots." Jeremie said to Amare and Hugo, "See you guys later!"

And much like Odd and Sebastian, he hurried away.

Silence filled the air as Amare, Charlie, and Hugo now stood alone with one another. As Jeremie, Odd, and Sebastian left their sight, Hugo snapped his fingers in annoyance.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

"Something up?" Amare asked as he folded his arms behind his head and leaned against a tree.

"You know what's up!" Hugo hissed. "Ever since that…nightmare, robot, thing popped up, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi have developed this weird habit of disappearing for a while before popping right back up as if nothing's happened!"

"Dude, it was only a few times. Besides, I haven't been seeing any evil stuffed bunnies shooting lasers out of their eyes or a cat growing swords out of its stomach on campus." Amare pointed out. "They're fine."

"Evil stuffed bunnies?" Charlie asked in fear.

Hugo sighed and pat his brother on the head. "There are no evil stuffed bunnies little brother."

"Phew." Charlie breathed in relief.

"Bottom line, I think you're getting a bit paranoid." Amare noted. "You don't see Milly or Tamiya raising a storm about this, and they're Kadic's gossip queens for crying out loud!"

"I know those three are hiding something." Hugo growled. "I don't want some kind of…thing popping up and trying to kill me and my brother again."

"Don't forget the rest of us." Amare deadpanned. "I'm not keen on being eaten alive by some kind of mutant vulture."

"Okay, yeah, but still, you get the point…" Hugo murmured.

"Look, if they DO have something to do with it, I've got a pretty good guess that they're trying to STOP whatever turned Milly's teddy bear into a killer robot." Amare surmised. "And since the only things we've seen since then have been the occasional blackout and a slightly increased traffic accident rate, I've got a feeling that we'll be okay."

"So says you." Hugo growled in reply.

"Look, let's go practice some baseball okay? Jeremie's not the only one training to take down those guys at Asimov." Amare said.

Hugo gave a begrudging sigh.

"Alright." He grumbled. "Let's go. Come on, Charlie."

Charlie silently nodded as the three left for the fields.


Sebastian looked over Odd's shoulder as the spiky-haired boy brought out a large purple binder. Within it there were tabbed pages, separating them into sets of storyboards and idea prompts. Odd flipped through the binder's pages, looking for a set that had been on his mind for a while…

"Ah! Here it is!" he exclaimed, and revealed the storyboards to Sebastian.

The tall boy read over the set of pages critically. He noticed basic prompts that summarized what the scenes were meant to convey, and then looked at the actual storyboards. They flowed seamlessly, and Sebastian was impressed at the level of detail Odd had put into making them. He was confused on what exactly was meant to happen however, and had to look back at the prompt in order to understand what was going on.

After a few minutes of silence, during which Kiwi hopped up onto Odd's bed and went back to sleep, tired after Charlie's chasing of him, Sebastian gave his critique.

"Okay, on the one hand, this is pretty good art…but on the other hand, it's kind of…abstract and confusing, don't you think?"

"I try to enlighten the audience Sebastian." Odd explained. "Back home, I've screened several films in front of the ignoramuses known as the masses, trying to show them the value of true expression and art."

"That's better than a lot of the cliché, run-of-the mill stuff I end up seeing a lot… but the thing about abstract art is that it's a huge mixed bag." Sebastian replied. "Sometimes, a person will want to read or watch something more than just a statement. This is the kind of stuff where, if you're not too careful, you'll come off as pretentious."

"More than just a statement?!" Odd burst out. "I'm shooting for high art here!"

"Anyone can come up with a long, fancy statement…though to your credit, I'm not seeing any purple prose here." Sebastian replied.

"Not a lot of people seem to try it though." Odd countered.

"But anyone with half a brain could." Sebastian pointed out. "An ignoramus, like you said, would never understand the message that you're trying to put out. But someone with a more critical mind could easily realize that this message can be espoused by any two people riding in a car or a bus. You need something…more here."

"More here?" Odd asked in confusion. "From what you just told me, it's starting to sound like less is more!"

"I'm talking about real-life Della Robbia!" Sebastian revealed. "A person's struggles, what they deal with, the harsh reality of life! When a beggar sits around haggling for change, or when a college student is preparing themselves to live on their own, they won't be sitting around thinking about high concepts like the 'Unity of Mind', 'The permeance of existence', or 'The Presence of Hope', they'll be thinking about what they're going to go next or what bill they'll have to pay!"

Odd rubbed his head sheepishly, unable to say anything as Sebastian ranted on. The taller boy watched Odd back away, before taking a deep breath.

"Sorry for that filibuster." He apologized, "The brutal nature of real-life tends to be my kind of style. Realism and grit are what I try to shoot for…even though getting that message through is getting harder day by day."

Now Odd was confused, what on earth did Sebastian mean by the nature of real-life getting harder to see?

"How is it harder for realism to get here day by day?" he asked.

"You haven't been around town much Della Robbia." Sebastian answered "From what I hear, back when the lot of us all were in kindergarten, before the Panic, things around the world weren't always so weird. There weren't any hobos going around stealing high technology, said high technology was still stuck in a book or a movie, and us kids would never have to deal with a…uh…weird robot thing some idiot let loose."

"Ever since then though…pretty much everything's been turning into the setting of a sci-fi novel. I've read up on this kind of thing…the world's getting stranger day by day…I don't know why but…I just want people to know that even if things are turning into a movie…mundane facts shouldn't be ignored."

Odd was quiet as he processed Sebastian's words. It didn't take him long to realize what Sebastian had meant by mundane facts. The image of Xanadu came to mind…followed up by the room suddenly turning an orange monochrome as his Anticipation activated again.

"Why do you think things are getting weirder?"

"I think you may have the answers to that…"

Odd covered his face with his hands to hide his reaction. He knew what Sebastian meant…but it seemed that if he attempted to refute that, the secret Jeremie and the others wanted him to keep would be in danger of getting out. Odd needed to bring up a different topic, and he quickly dredged his brain for one, if his brain HAD a different topic of course.

"Well, if you mean things like family and the like…I get that." Odd said quickly. "Not a lot of things 'Star Wars' can say about that."

"Oh, definitely." Sebastian agreed.

"…But, I guess they're just a part of living. No matter how strange your world might get, you might as well do your best to live in it!" Odd said hastily.

"A bit cliché," Sebastian chuckled, "but no less true. THAT is what I mean should be present in your work."

Inwardly, Odd breathed a sigh of relief, he'd managed to keep the topic away from Xanadu.

"You could tell me a bit more about the film club, right?" he asked Sebastian.

"Sure, let's head down to Mr. Chardin's classroom, he tends to keep it open there on Sundays." Sebastian replied, before stroking his chin in thought.

Odd closed the binder, tucked it into his arm, and left the room with Sebastian. Kiwi's eyelids rose up briefly, but fell down again as the little dog continued to nap. As Odd and Sebastian walked down the hallways, making their way over to Gustave Chardin's classroom, Sebastian spoke up.

"Given that you're now bunkmates with Stern," Sebastian said, "I'm tempted to let you in to our little…off campus club."

"There's nothing illegal in there, right?" Odd asked, even though he knew the answer. "Nothing like the adults say we kids shouldn't know because they're inappropriate, but figure out anyways?"

"…No." Sebastian deadpanned. "I mean that…well…we've got ourselves a private room off-campus…In fact, this might be a good time for me to explain to you the rules of this place."

"The dorm rules?" Odd asked quizzically, "Jim said that Ulrich would explain them to me…you know, so long as he remembered them."

"No, not those." Sebastian replied. "I meant when classes have ended and everyone is out on their merry way. A lot of kids in all of the campuses: Kadic, Asimov, Hellison, we've all staked out personal territories for ourselves around our schools, places were the older riff-raff tend to ignore. We use these spaces as personal hang-outs outside of campus."

"You've actually staked out territory?" Odd asked, "What's with this town? It's like West Side Story!"

"I never liked that movie…but I digress." Sebastian replied. "To answer your question, it's been like this ever since the Panic. Why else do you think I've been calling the whole place weird? People have been carving up territory for themselves, and somewhere down the line, us kids decided to try it out ourselves."

"I'm surprised the media hasn't told anyone about this." Odd said.

"We live in a dark world Della Robbia." Sebastian explained. "Either the jackals and vultures that Solovieff and Diop want to grow up into got used to it and don't care anymore, or someone's been bribing the networks and hacking the news sites. I wouldn't put the latter past Belpois, especially ever since he turned his space into a laboratory."

Odd thought back to home, and now back to Boulogne-Billancourt. Thinking back to home, and taking Sebastian's words about a changing world into account, he saw what Sebastian meant by a 'dark world' and things getting weird. Odd had read up on Paris…and while he had heard of reconstruction here and there, he was just looking for anything that would've made the prospect of heading over there seem more favorable to his parents if and when he got the chance. He likely had skipped over the parts Sebastian was expositing to him right now.

"Eh, dark world, schmark world." Odd replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess that makes sense."

"Yeah, it does." Sebastian muttered darkly.

"Either way, us nine: Belpois, Ishiyama, Solovieff, Abel the Elder, Stern, myself, Arendse, Abel the Younger, and Diop, we've got our territory in an underpass located not too far away from the school."

"You did mention a space Jeremie was using, does that mean he's turned your entire territory into Dr. Shrank's laboratory?"

"What? No, and that show sank in quality after Season 2." Sebastian replied.

"It got better in Season 4." Odd pointed out.

"Only marginally." Sebastian huffed, "but that's not the point! The thing is, we have a few…select rooms and spaces in there, the main one being a sort of…home movie theater we've built up. On the weekends, we tend to head down there in order to watch several films selected for entertainment. Also, we've got reserved spaces for other people in our group set up, but only Belpois and Stern took up the offer. Belpois' space is pretty much a hacker cave…though how he managed to install a security door in there I'll never know."

"…Really? He got an industrial-grade security door in there?" Odd asked, bewildered.

"Not industrial-grade. It was scavenged from the town dump and then jury-rigged." Sebastian replied.

"I'm not even going to ask." Odd said, chuckling in spite of himself. He had a pretty good guess as to how Jeremie would get something like that into his space.

"So, you interested?" Sebastian asked.

"In a private space, or the movie watching offer?" Odd asked.

"Yeah, you're going to have to wait until I can be sure that you're eligible for a private space. It's the movie offer." Sebastian replied.

"Eligible for private space? Are you trying to become a landlord or something?" Odd asked.

"Just wanting to make sure you can be trusted." Sebastian replied, looking at Odd in the eye.

"Oh." Odd said, shrinking back nervously as he answered the question.

"I'll take the move watching offer." He said.

"Alrighty then. After we're done with Mr. Chardin, I'll guide you down there." Sebastian replied. "Speaking of Mr. Chardin, we're nearly there."

Odd looked forward and saw that he and Sebastian were nearing Mr. Chardin's classroom.

"Great!" Odd said as he picked up the pace, worried about what Sebastian might say next.

But Sebastian wasn't planning on saying anything else. He didn't have Hugo's zealous over-protection of a sibling, but he had his suspicions as to what was happening. Three people he knew disappearing and then showing up with the new kid? That was way too coincidental. But for now, he'd keep his mouth shut. He'd let the issue of…whatever was behind the monster slip for now as he and the others got to know Della Robbia.

But when the time came, Sebastian was going to seize the moment and figure out what had happened.

He just hoped it wasn't too occult.


Jeremie remained holed up in his room to fix up his coding, mainly in programming a new firewall to block out Xanadu activity from his equipment. As he did so, an idea that had been floating in his head popped up. As Jeremie wrote up the code for the firewall, he proceeded to write new code to integrate into it. If this worked out…well. It might prove to be of great convenience to him and his friends later down the line.

His friends…

As Jeremie finished installing the new firewall, he leaned back in his chair and thought about what had happened. Earlier, he'd bemoaned the inconvenience of Ulrich getting a roommate at this point in the crisis. Keeping the secret and debating on when to introduce to people that he'd known for a while was one thing, but an entirely new factor that he had never seen coming was another.

Jeremie had been tempted to use the supercomputer to hack into the Kadic records and delete the data relating to the transfer student, but he'd thought better of such a hasty plan…mainly because when he tried a tentative approach, he had been blocked off by the school security system.

It was then that Jeremie cursed Deckard Inc. and their rather high-quality security software. Dealing with run-of-the mill firewalls were simple, but the programs written by that company were on a whole other level. Jeremie decided to not risk a security breach by using the supercomputer and scrapped the idea.

His stomach churned with the idea of endangering his friends. Keeping secrets like this was proving to be more stressful than Jeremie had thought, and he thanked whatever god existed that the disturbances in Xanadu were weak enough for a couple of kids to destroy.

But at the same time, the factory and its technological marvels were amazing. An entire virtual world existed within the facility's supercomputer, and the sheer size and magnitude of the complex indicated that a great deal of research had taken place there. Jeremie remembered what he had seen when he had gone deeper into the bowels of the factory. A Nuclear Fusion reactor. An honest to god nuclear fusion reactor! Keeping updated with the news showed that the progress to making them was very nearly complete, and yet, here was one completed long before!

The fact that this virtual world's existence had broken down the divide between what was real and what was not had also amazed Jeremie. Ulrich and Yumi now possessed incredible powers, Ulrich could move at high-speeds, and Yumi had powerful telekinesis. And this was disregarding the basic increases to their stamina and strength.

Of course, basic increases in durability hadn't been enough when he'd obtained the old metal doorway from the junkyard. Yumi had had to use her telekinesis so Jeremie could sneak it into the underpass and use it to hide his lab. That had been one heck of a night…he could still remember how Ulrich and Yumi had used him as a training dummy as payment for such services.

After all of that, Jeremie was tempted to try to virtualize himself…but decided against it. He was not a fighter. He was more useful as an operator and scientist. Fighting the Specters…he doubted that he could handle it…

But a part of him suspected that that might be a line that he would have to cross someday.

Hence why he ultimately welcomed the idea of a new team member. Odd's inclusion was a risky gambit, but it seemed to be paying off…for now anyways. Jeremie had no idea if Sebastian would pry the secret out of Odd, but there was nothing he could do about it that would cause the secret to be unraveled anyways.

If he could manage to get the others into the loop without them freaking out…Jeremie would've been quite happy, but considering how they were traumatized by the Teddy Bear Terminator, it might be better to wait until later.

If only waiting could remain an option…Jeremie didn't have Odd's power of anticipation, but he had a sinking feeling in his gut that things were going to get intense from this point onwards.

But sitting around doing nothing would accomplish exactly what doing nothing would accomplish: Nothing. Picking up his laptop, Jeremie left for his laboratory in the underpass so that he could update the firewall in the computer there with the new program.

'I don't know what's in store for us...but that doesn't mean that I can't try to prepare.' He thought as he left his dorm room.


Amare spent the rest of the afternoon pacifying Hugo as they practiced with other members of the team, who were also planning on getting in some independent practice in preparation for the inter-school competition against Asimov. Currently, Amare and Hugo were in a team pair, alternating catches with one another.

Hugo remained quiet as the two practiced, the only sounds being the grunts of everyone present, along with Jim yelling advice.

"Keep your eye on the ball!"

"Go long!"

"Stop shaking, it isn't winter!"

Jim's advice left a bit to be desired at times.

"Abel! Throw the ball already!"

Amare blinked and saw that Hugo was still holding the baseball, hands clenched around it, shaking.

"Hey uh, maybe that isn't such a good idea Jim!" Amare protested.

Unfortunately, Hugo, in his blind rage, had thought that Jim had had a good idea, and launched the ball…right into Amare's stomach.

"BLAGH!" Amare gurgled as he felt the wind get knocked out of him.

"What was that about Abel?!" Jim barked as he marched over to Amare, who was clutching his stomach as he tried to breathe again.

"C'mon Arendse, breathe." Jim comforted as he clutched Amare's shoulders.

"Really helpful there Jim." Amare croaked.

"Abel! Get over here! NOW!" Jim roared.

Hugo quickly straightened up and walked cautiously over.

"It's alright…" Amare breathed. "Just an accident, I think. I don't think I need to see the nurse."

"R-right! Right! It was an accident! Sorry, I just, had my head in the clouds, that's all!" Hugo stammered out.

"You better have had your head in the clouds Abel! Save a throw like that for those bastards at Asimov!" Jim barked as he got up. "You two go rest on the bleachers, and then get back to practice."

"Yes Jim." Hugo muttered sullenly.

"And I thought Ulrich could get ill-tempered." Amare chuckled grimly.

"Sorry." Hugo apologized as he sat on the bleachers next to Charlie.

"You're still hung up on the whole 'secrets and monsters' thing?" Amare asked.

"I still don't get why you aren't." Hugo grumbled.

"We haven't seen anything like Teddy for a month now. No one's going to try to hurt your little brother." Amare replied, pointing at Charlie.

Hugo sighed.

"I know but…that, thing. How the heck does something like that pop up? I mean, broken power lines turning a teddy bear into a crazy villain straight out of anime? That's…ugh."

"Ironic, we were all giving Milly crap so that she could get rid of it and now here we are, still haunted by Teddy to this very day as we complain about." Amare noted.

"Sebastian and I are still haunted by it. You don't really seem to care." Hugo said.

"Oh no, I'm still haunted about it. I just know that Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, and that new guy, Odd, are helping to protect us from those things." Amare replied.

"How do you know that?!" Charlie asked.

"It's pretty obvious if you think about it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on with them. Disappearances at convenient times, reports of an occasional accident, Ulrich and Yumi popping up covered in sweat, c'mon man, it should be obvious." Amare answered.

"You're still guessing though." Hugo pointed out. "Ulrich and Yumi could be making out for all we know!"

"Well, well, someone just shot their suspicion theory in the foot." Amare chuckled.

"Okay, those two probably will never make out until the sun blows up, or until the heat death of the universe, but…" Hugo replied, only to be interrupted.

"But ultimately, I think we should wait this out for now. Any questioning as it is will just make them suspicious, and if they are guarding some kind of secret, they might not tell us." Amare said firmly. "I'd like to be able to know what's coming after me."

"If that's the case, then we should be questioning them. Not waiting it out." Hugo replied.

"Okay, say that you do get your answer, what then?" Amare asked.

"I'm going straight to the cops." Hugo replied bluntly.

"You honestly think they'll believe us the instant you mention a giant Teddy Bear monster?" Amare asked.

"Seeing is Believing you know." Hugo replied. "If something like that ever shows up again, and the cops spot it, then they'll have to believe us."

"Fair point." Amare conceded, only for his voice to grow firm. "But for now, drop it, and keep this in mind Hugo."

"Keep what in mind?" Hugo grumbled.

"If there's a reason we're not being told, then it's probably a good reason." Amare remarked.

"Good reason? What if Jeremie's not telling us anything because he somehow found some chick who's connected to all of this weird stuff and is endangering us all just so he can get a girlfriend?!" Hugo asked.

"Yeah, that's not a good reason at all, and I'd gladly help you out if that was true." Amare answered. "But I've got a feeling in my gut that that isn't the reason."

"It better not be, or I'm going to drown him in the Seine." Hugo muttered.

"Either case. Drop. It. Now." Amare commanded, his easy-going tone changing to a sharp and commanding one. "Focus on baseball practice. If you think about the weird stuff, think about one of those Asimov jerks and how good it would feel to beat them down."

Hugo breathed in and out.

"Sure." He said, voice calming down to an even tone.

"Alright then, let's get back to practicing!" Amare said, jumping off the bleachers.

Hugo sighed and looked at his little brother, who looked back at him.

"Is something wrong Hugo?" Charlie asked.

There were plenty of things that were wrong right now. But Hugo decided not to worry his brother any longer for the day.

"No little brother." He said calmly, and he left the bleachers to continue practicing.


Ulrich remained cooped up in his private gymnasium. He was currently meditating, eyes closed as he breathed in and out, calming himself. Everything was quiet, except for the buzzing of the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Ulrich felt around his pocket for a stopwatch that he had placed in there. Silently, Ulrich pressed the 'Start' button. Then, with a flash, Ulrich jumped into a fighting stance and let loose a quick barrage of punches at the freestanding punching bag in front of him. Just as quickly, Ulrich then let loose a flurry of kicks at the punching bag.

Stopping, Ulrich panted, before taking the stopwatch out of his pocket and stopping it. He looked at the time critically.

"Tch, not fast enough." He muttered, seeing the indication of 90 seconds on the stopwatch.

Training helped calm Ulrich down. It helped him unwind after a mission in Xanadu, and it certainly did so here, after both a mission in Xanadu, and yet another indication of his apparent sexual tension with Yumi.

Ulrich pushed those last thoughts out of his mind. He had gotten to know Yumi better over the past month, and felt more comfortable being around her in situations that were not life-threatening. But he still felt awkward around her at times and was not a fan of whenever his companions would ever bring that up. He really couldn't get why everyone seemed to enjoy grilling him over it. It was extremely annoying.

However annoying as it was however, it was certainly preferable to…other forms of scolding.

It was then that when those memories surfaced, that Ulrich Stern resumed his beating of the punching bag. He'd show that beige-suited jackass yet.


Yumi returned to her dorm room, locking the door as she sat down on the floor to perform her own meditation session. Focusing her energy, Yumi felt the object floating in her mind. She looked and saw her Totoro plushie floating in front of her, along with an assortment of books and pencils, as well as her bag. Sighing, Yumi eased the objects onto the ground, placing them where they had been before.

Her dorm room was different from the room that she had been used to at home. For one, it was smaller, and was thus more crowded than her fairly spacious room back home. In addition, she had to get used to sleeping on a bed that was placed much higher than the one she had at home, not to mention how the crowded nature of the shower rooms meant that the privacy that Yumi had so cherished was at a minimum in the mornings.

Getting up from her seated position, Yumi looked out the window, seeing the afternoon sun hang in the sky. Looking down, she soon remembered Amare's little snide comment, and punched the wall in annoyance. If there was one thing Yumi hated, it was giving out details of her personal life. She was fine with using her past experiences when it came to giving advice to others, but being egged on about it, even if it was something, relatively simpler like her attraction to Ulrich…that was not something she enjoyed.

It was then that her thoughts turned to her family, and thus, the reason she was here in a dorm rather than living with her parents at home…

Her father was a technician at Deckard Inc., hence why the Ishiyamas had moved away from Japan when Yumi was 6 and her little brother Hiroki was 3. To say that the transitional period had been…difficult, was an enormous understatement. Her father was constantly being moved around due to his occupation, and thus, Yumi's family had moved all over France.

Most people would've been envious of someone who had been in so many cities in such a country…but with how her former peers had treated her, Yumi had nothing but contempt for her circumstance. Such contempt was even easier to generate…once she learned what certain people had done to Hiroki…

Shuddering, Yumi tried to shove the violent image out of her head. A futile effort, as she remembered how she had screamed in rage, seeing what they had done to her brother and the one person, Johnny, who had befriended the youngster. She remembered how she had beaten down the people responsible…and of course, the numerous piles of paperwork that had to be done as the law waged its unfair hammer on herself and her family.

On the plus side, it had given her father the motivation to finally decide on a permanent residence for his family.

On the down side, said residence was quite away and the resulting conundrum and aftermath had caused her parents to decide to send their daughter to a private school. With funds being a tad tight in that department, they were not able to afford Yumi transferring in and out. This next school would have to be her last. The person who had recommended Kadic had done so based on studies concerning their treatment of minorities, which strengthened the decision.

Yumi was glad that the treatment she received at Kadic was infinitely better than what she had gotten before. It felt nice to have friends outside of her family…

A ringing buzzed throughout the room, jolting Yumi out of her thoughts. Realizing that it was her cell phone, Yumi pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the ID.

It was her mom, Akio.

Quickly, Yumi answered the phone.

"Mom?" she asked in Japanese.

"Hello Yumi." Her mother replied. "How are things at Kadic?"

"They're…fine." Yumi answered after a pause.

"…Is there something wrong Yumi? Any problems?" Akio asked, paranoid worry in her tone.

"What? No, no, I was just thinking about…someone." Yumi replied hurriedly. She'd sworn to never let her parents know about Xanadu.

"If it's about Hiroki…that's why I've called. The doctors are continuing to look after him. He's able to talk again…but not for very long before he has to resume treatment." Akio answered quietly.

"Th-that's great mom!" Yumi answered.

"I, just wanted to let you know. The miracles of modern medicine!" Akio answered with forced excitement. "They say that if it had happened seven years earlier…well…he…No, no, let's…not think about that. I…I hope you're still enjoying yourself Yumi."

"I am, thanks." Yumi replied.

"I'll talk to you later. Good luck sweetheart." Akio said, hanging up.

"Good luck huh?" Yumi asked herself as she laid down on her bed.

She would need luck, wouldn't she? Luck that would keep Xanadu from causing further damage. Luck that would enable her to keep this awful secret…

Luck that might allow her to use this power to heal her brother.

Sighing, Yumi picked up a book and started reading, trying to take the opportunity to wind down. It was Sunday after all. Monday was right around the corner.


The rest of the day passed by without incident. Jeremie managed to get into his computer lab before Odd and Sebastian reached the underpass, and by the time the two had left, they hadn't even known that Jeremie was there…though both of them, hearing Ulrich's grunts and shouts as he practiced, stayed away from him to avoid getting injured.

Milly and Tamiya remained holed up in the media room to prepare the Kadic News for the entire day, silently focusing on their work.

Hugo finally started calming down as he continued to practice with Amare.

Ulrich kept up his training until dinner, while Yumi concerned herself with reviewing her weekend homework.

In the end, everyone met at the cafeteria for dinner. It was then there that they learned of the eating habits of their new associate.

"…How can someone eat that much meatballs and gravy?" Sebastian asked incredulously, looking at Odd scarf down his food.

"It's like watching a black hole…" Hugo muttered.

"He can have this stuff, I hate it when Rosa serves this gunk." Amare complained, slipping his tray's contents onto Odd's.

"Well, at least we know what to expect at meal-time then." Jeremie tried.

"At least it's not getting on me." Ulrich grumbled.

"You can say that again." Yumi replied.

"No." Ulrich deadpanned.

"What's the big problem? It's dinnertime!" Odd said, giving off a big smile and revealing the food stuck in his teeth.

"My eyes…" Sebastian groaned in horror.

"You guys have no sense of humor." Odd commented.

"Tomorrow is Monday. No one has a sense of humor on a Monday." Hugo replied.

"…And there goes my good mood." Odd groaned as he ate at a slower pace.

Dinner was a subdued affair from that point onwards. No fuss was made, no more comments were said, and for now, the questioning of Xanadu had stopped.

That wasn't to say that the day had yet to end. It seemed that the entire universe was out for Ulrich as he was forced to deal with a new pain of his roommate as the two prepared for bed.

"ARGH!" Ulrich cried out as if he had been shot.

"Something wrong?" Odd asked.

"Your feet…what is wrong with them?" Ulrich groaned, waving his hand in front of his nose.

"What? my feet tend to sweat a lot." Odd replied unabashed.

"Last I checked, the stench of sweat didn't equal the stench of manure." Ulrich groaned as he ducked under the covers to protect his nose.

"One of the perks with bunking with me I'm afraid." Odd chuckled.

Ulrich moaned as he tried to get to sleep. Odd shrugged, pat his dog on the head, and drifted off to dreamland…


If he didn't know any better, he'd say it was nightfall, but no, he did know better. It had been afternoon earlier, but what had happened just moments ago resulted in the sky turning pitch-black, cloaked in the darkness from where the island sprung forth. Strangely enough, everything in front of him had turned black-and-white, not unlike an old movie…even though he knew that this was not a side-effect of the catastrophe unfolding before him and his companions.

The island hung over the city, exuding a black liquid that flooded the streets, consuming everything in its path and then either altering or completely assimilating any object caught up in the deadly flow. One noticeable effect of the black slime was that it caused massive cables, not unlike the ones that supported the island, to sprout from the buildings of the city, which were turning into simple, rectangular, black structures devoid of any other details aside from glowing lines that ran down their sides. The cables plugged into either the other buildings or the ground, causing either more cables to be created, or more black structures to erupt from the ground and continue the process.

If he turned his head upwards, from where he was right now, he could just make out the individual up on the highest tower, hands radiating with energy, looking down upon him and his companions. The person's eyes glowed ominously, lightning flashing behind them. He could make out the silhouette of a sorcerer-like appearance, but no other details.

He knew who it was. He and his companions had fought that person before after all. He knew what would happen if they did not win, if they did not make up for the defeats that they had been handed which had caused the current crisis.

Wait…how could Odd know who or what that was? What WAS happening right now? Why was the city in the midst of an apocalypse?

But before he could get an answer, the image shifted. Now Odd found himself floating in outer space, naked for some reason…with Kiwi on his lap gently snoring. And before he could get his grip on THAT situation, the scene changed again, this time to Odd finding himself lying down on the beach…as if the dark scene from before had never unfolded in the first place. He felt himself calm down…and relaxed into further slumber…


A more character-driven File. This is why I had to split the chapter. If they were in a single part, they'd distract from the other!

Next File, Odd wakes up for his first classes at Kadic. Should be easy! ...If not for a certain power going a bit haywire!

Until we meet again!

-Epsilon Tarantula-