And, still barely anybody out there. (sigh) And, only one guess.
Odd: I'll guess! (whispers something in my ear)
Odd, you just read ahead so I'd give you the cookie.
Odd: So? You said, anybody who gives you the correct answer before you post up Chapter 2 gets a cookie!
Fine... anyway, IAmTheBoss guessed a more obvious suggestion... katfish xX didn't have any guesses, but was kind enough to review... Well, here's the second chapter of the story for you.
A Cousin's Intuition
Chapter 2: The Problem
As Ricky walked into the Ishiyama residence, he found his best friend, Hiroki, in the middle of Level 9 of Block Bashers II, a video game he got for his birthday. Yeah, it's more exciting than it sounds. "Is there anything here I can eat? I think you remember, but I didn't have lunch... for the umpteenth time," he added in a slight mumble.
"Try the fridge," his preoccupied buddy said, just about into Level 10.
Ricky went over to the fridge and, upon opening it, managed to find some leftover salmon sushi. He shrugged and said to himself, "When in a Roman home, eat like the Romans do."
Pausing his game and looking up at him, Hiroki gave him a funny look. "We're Japanese, not Roman."
His friend set the leftovers on the table and found some chopsticks. "Rome, Japan, same general idea." Slightly struggling with the oriental utensils of a minute, Ricky fell silent for a moment, and then added, "I... I nearly spilled to my cousin about D. Nile."
"You're gonna have to tell someone about Dennis sooner or later," told Hiroki. "He's not gonna give you a break."
He sighed. "I know... but, you know, I like my face arranged just the way it is." After a pause, he inquired, "So, if you think someone should be told to deal with Dennis, why don't you tell anybody?"
The Japanese-French boy raised his hands in defense. "Are you kidding? I like my face the way it is, too!"
That evening, after supper Odd sat down with his beloved dog, Kiwi, and fed him his meal. "That's it, boy. Chow down." He glanced over at Ulrich, who sat staring out the window. "Still worrying about Ricky, huh?"
He sighed. "I know I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but I just can't help but feel like something's wrong," said the Lyoko samurai. "If anything bad happens to Ricky that I could've prevented, I don't know how I'd ever forgive myself."
Odd frowned and shook his head. "You put too much pressure on yourself over that kid."
"It's an older relative thing," he told him. "You'd understand if you had a little sibling or cousin."
Kitty boy laid back on his bed and replied, "Whatever you say, Ulrich. So, what are you going to do? Tell a teacher or something?"
"Are you kidding?" he asked. "They might go about it the wrong way. Remember when Ricky got suspicious of me and ended up telling Mrs. Davis, and I got hounded by a counselor? No, I'm going to see about taking matters into my own hands."
"Question is, how?"
Ulrich hadn't thought of that. Pondering all possibilities, he asked, "Don't we have the day off tomorrow?"
"Sure, it's an in-service day," his friend reminded him. "Why?"
The hallways of Pasteur Elementary was beginning to have less and less kids in it as they all filed into their classrooms for the start of the day. Ricky and Hiroki walked down one hall, the former walking with the sense of daily doom.
Hiroki looked around. "I don't see Dennis anywhere. Maybe he's not--"
"How's it going, Super Nerd?"
Turning around, the two boys came face to face with an 11-year-old boy who got held back a few years.
"Uh, OK. I spoke too soon," said Hiroki awkwardly.
Feeling his legs soften a little, the boy genius stammered in faux politeness, "Oh, h-hey, D-Dennis."
"That's D. Nile to you, Super Nerd," shot Dennis. "Which is what you're to be when it comes to our little deals. That is..." he pounded a fist into the palm of his hand, "if you like your face the way it is."
"Of course I do," he responded nervously before handing him a small bag with his lunch. "Here. It's your favorite, bologna and Swiss."
Dennis (or D. Nile, as he prefers to be called) snatched up the bag, and then persisted, "And, the homework?"
Ricky nodded a little frantically. "Right, right. Of course." He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to him saying, "Stayed up awhile to make sure it was perfectly in your handwriting. Also, I made sure it was a C grade to make it somewhat believable."
The bully grabbed him by the shirt and look him in the eye. "You think you're so funny, dontcha, kid?"
"N-no, D-D. Nile! I-I didn't m-mean it like th-that," he stuttered fearfully. "I just..."
"Hey, you with the kid in his hand." D. Nile looked around at a 13-year-old, brown haired boy who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "You got a problem with him?" the boy asked.
The bullied little boy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Cousin?"
"Alright, you do you think you are?" the bully demanded.
"The name's Ulrich, and that's my little cousin you're holding."
D. Nile glanced at the shivering boy in his grasp and dropped it before facing Ulrich. "Yeah, what of it? Just a little rough-housing."
"I heard the whole thing," Ulrich shot. "You've been using Ricky; threatening him into giving up his lunch and time just to get you by. That's why he's been getting all defensive whenever I tried asking him why he's been so hungry and tired lately!"
"Yeah, well I'm gonna keep doing it, whether you like it or not."
Just then, a teacher named Mr. James Canal came up amongst the boys. "Not likely, Mr. Nile," he scolded. Grabbing him by the wrist, he began dragging him off to the office. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Nile. You know our school policy against bullying." He turned around and added, "Oh, and Ulrich Stern, we need a coffee refill in the teachers' lounge."
"I'll be on it in a minute," he replied.
Ricky stared up at his cousin. "You called in to be a junior school volunteer for today just so you could watch me to find out what was wrong?"
Find it a little awkward to have to answer yes to this, he mumbled, "Well, you know, I just..."
"I have just one thing to say to you." To Ulrich's surprise, he felt two arms wrap around his waist in a tight embrace. "I've got the best big cousin ever!"
Ulrich smiled and patted his little cousin on the head. "What I wouldn't do for you, cuz. So, what was the deal with that Nile kid?"
The other boy sighed, and explained, "Well, Dennis got held back a few times, and he got annoyed by how much I was a know-it-all. So, he decided to bully me into using my knowledge to his advantage. I was afraid he'd kill me if I told anybody... even you."
The older boy just held him close and made this promise: "I'll always be there to protect you when you need it."
Ricky smiled broadly at these words, but then remembered, "Oh, great! Dennis still has my lunch!"
"I'll get it, cuz." With that, Ulrich headed for the office.
Hiroki smiled at his friend. "Well? What did I tell you?"
Ricky laughed and said, "Besides that you like your face the way it is?"
His friend smiled embarrassedly and said, "Well, besides that."
CODE
END...
Ah, don't you just love happy endings? Well, none for Dennis, but he doesn't deserve one, anyway. So, anyone who guessed trouble with a bully at school gets a cookie! Which, that was nobody... (Odd raises his hand; sigh) except Odd.
Odd: YAY! (greedily takes the cookie and scarfs it down)
By the way, that's a peanut butter cookie.
Odd: PROTEIN! NOOO!!! (explodes)
XD Inside joke. You have to have been at the outtakes thread at the codelyoko dot com forum to understand. Well, 'till next time, everybody.