Chapter 9: Just in Time
Key:
Thoughts
Odd's Visions
Someone on the Phone
Jeremie on headpiece to Lyoko or scanner room
Someone on Lyoko
:Text Message:
The next extra chapter will be up tomorrow morning. It's later and I'm tired. So, night and enjoy! Also, I see Odd as a Catholic because of where and how I believed she grew up. So, I apologize if anyone is even slightly weirded by the prayers in this chapter.
Next Update: Tomorrow(3/25 Western, Same day eastern
Odd watched in amusement as Ulrich and Yumi practiced. It had always amused her to see them practice. It was amusing to see them dance around each other normally, then be so close when practicing. Odd turned to Kiwi. "Go on Kiwi!" she said throwing a stick,"Fetch the stick!"
Kiwi easily ran after it. "Anyone seen Jeremie this morning?" Yumi asked after dodging one of Ulrich's attacks.
"I think he spent another night in the lab. He was working on something really important." Odd commented, frowning in thought.
Then she grinned and at the same time as Ulrich and Yumi before the 3 chorused,"Aelita!"
Ulrich leaned back. Then Yumi kicked him down,"Hey, I thought it was time out." Ulrich objected.
"Oh, guess I forgot." Yumi smiled innocently.
"Hey guys! Guess what I did last night!" Jeremie shouted running up.
"Hmm, let's see now. It has something to do with materializing Aelita." Odd said smirking.
Jeremie actually looked surprised,"That's right. Say, how did you guess Odd? Well guys, I finally did it. I decided to tackle the problem in a different way. You wouldn't believe it but-"
"Well? Tell us already! Did you do it or not?" Ulrich interrupted the young genius.
"I sure did."
Odd stared in shock at her fellow blonde. Jeremie reached into his pocket and pulled out a...vial? Odd stepped closer. Not empty..it has..pink hair? "You materialised a test tube?" Ulrich asked.
"No air-head. Look inside will you?"
"A hair? Is it..Aelita's?" Odd asked.
"Yup! That's right Odd!"
"What? A real hair?!" Ulrich sounded just as surprised as Odd felt.
"But..how did you do it?" Yumi asked.
Jeremie grinned.
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Odd wasn't the smartest person. She knew that. She could recite several scientific solutions, could give the exact ratio to get the perfect shade of mandarin orange, she could even design a full scale model of the school on her laptop. But Jeremie's entire explanation flew straight over her head. After the full explanation, Odd looked to Ulrich and Yumi. They looked just as confused as she did. "...Simple enough right? Do you understand?" Jeremie asked.
"No." Odd easily replied.
"No it's not simple enough or no you don't follow?" Jeremie asked looking at her with a frown.
"No means that we take your word for it!" Odd insisted with a grin as Yumi and Ulrich nodded along.
"Not a problem, it'll become clear when Aelita's here in flesh and blood. Better get ready Aelita."
"Ok Jeremie."
"Huh, you're gonna materialize her now?" Ulrich asked in shock.
"What'd ya think? I'm not gonna wait until next year!" Jeremie replied snarkily,"Hair was just a test before we do the whole thing."
Yumi stepped forward,"Listen, making a hair appear is one thing, but materializing a Aelita is not the same."
"Look, you wanna spend your whole life fighting XANA? Once Aelita's materialised we can unplug XANA once and for all and lead normal lives."
Odd frowned and stepped forward. "Jeremie, we want Aelita out and XANA defeated just as much as you. But what if you make a mistake? Hair only holds a small portion of DNA that the body holds. We're not asking you to never bring Aelita out, we're just asking for you to wait a day, maybe two, to make sure that you have everything right. Just to make sure that there are no mistakes."
Jeremie frowned, then sighed. "You just don't understand Odd. I say it's worth a try." And Jeremie pressed the button.
When the exclamation point came up, Odd knew something was wrong. "How can that be? I planned everything so perfectly."
"You're almost there Jeremie. In a few days you'll be all set. You'll see." Ulrich conforted the blonde boy.
As Jeremie smiled, Odd frowned. Something is really, really wrong. Glancing at her watch, Odd gasped. "Eh, c'mon you guys! If we don't materialise in the classroom in a couple of minutes, we're not gonna last a few days."
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"Y'know, I'd of sworn that it would work this time." Jeremie said eating his food.
"But if the computer gene code of the hair gives you enough information for the parameters of materialization, then what's the problem?" Yumi asked.
"I wish I knew. I'm doing something wrong. The only way to find out is to start over." Jeremie repled.
"No don't do that! You're only a hair's breath away!" Odd insisted with a giggle.
"Can you ever be serious Odd?" Yumi asked.
Odd grinned. "By the way Odd," Ulrich said,"speaking of hair, your dog sheds an awful lot. Most of it seems to appear on my bed."
"What's the big deal about two or three hairs?" Odd asked, focusing on her food.
"Two or three!? With all the hair he sheds I can knit you another Kiwi!"
"Hello, did you say dog?" Sissi asked walking up to the table,"I really adore dogs, can I sit down?"
"No." Ulrich said.
Sissi leaned forward,"You know, I'm so crazy about dogs that I'm ready to keep my mouth shut about the dog Odd hides in her room, that is if you promise to be nicer to me of course."
"Listen Sissi, I'm warning you. If you say anything about Kiwi I'll-" Yumi's glass shattered into pieces in her hand.
The table and Sissi's group looked on in shock. Sissi's eye twitched, then she walked away. Odd immediately got up and grabbed her emergency kit. She rushed to Yumi and gently took her hand. There was only a few small, shallow cuts. "You okay Yumi?" Jeremie asked as Ulrich worriedly watched Odd look over Yumi's hand.
Odd opened the metal tin that was her emergency kit. She pulled out a small alcohol pack and opened it. She rubbed it gently over Yumi's hand then tossed it to the side and pulled out a small bandage that she handed to Ulrich. "Put this on it. You'll be fine. They're only a few shallow cuts."
Odd closed her kit with a snap. "It's incredible, I barely squeezed the glass. They're pretty fragile I guess." Yumi commented as Ulrich placed the bandage over Yumi's cuts.
Odd tuned out Ulrich and Yumi's conversation as gently swept up the glass with her napkin and empty plate. Yumi couldn't have done this, the glass is pretty strong. Odd glanced up to see Ulrich and Yumi holding hands. Odd shared a secret smile with Jeremie. Those two need to get together already. Odd rolled her eyes and turned away to throw the remains of the cup away.
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Odd relaxed on Jeremie's bed as he typed away in his computer. "Oh no!"
Odd looked over to Jeremie,"Einstein? Something wrong?"
"Call Ulrich. Tell him and Yumi to get here now."
Odd pulled out her phone and hit her speed dial for Ulrich. When Ulrich answered, Odd didn't give him a chance to speak,"You and Yumi come to Jeremie's."
"What?"
"I don't know, Einstein freaking. Get here. Now."
"On our way."
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"Oh, I don't believe it! This is a disaster!"
"What is?" Ulrich asked Jeremie.
"I was trying to figure out why the materialization didn't work and I realized that Aelita's program was all full of bugs." Jeremie began to show the program,"When I materialized the hair, I-I hit a button I shouldn't have. And so I-I damaged the annex programming."
"Anex?" Yumi questioned,"That doesn't sound so bad."
"That's what you think. The part of the program linking Aelita to the towers is screwed up. If Aelita enters the Lyoko code, she'll be completely reformatted." Jeremie explained as Aelita popped up on the screen.
"Meaning?" Ulrich asked, worried.
Odd answered him,"Meaning….Aelita will be gone forever."
"You know Jeremie, a program can be debugged. We can do it together."
"What if XANA attacks before we're done?" Jeremie asked.
"That means you're gonna have to work fast Jeremie." Odd said, hand on her hip.
"Ok. Make up a story to tell the teachers. I'm not leaving this computer until I've solved the problem."
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"You think they could do it?" Odd asked Ulrich as they walked down the hall.
"What do you think? We've got two geniuses at work." Ulrich said with a small smile.
Just then the two heard barking. "Hey Odd, if you don't get Kiwi to calm down, they're gonna find him." Ulrich said.
Odd nodded and rushed into Ulrich's room where Kiwi was for the day. She opened the door to Ulrich's room and looked down at her barking dog. "Hey, quiet Kiwi. You heard me, quiet down." Odd knelt down and tried to calm down her dog.
Ulrich stepped in behind her. "What's wrong, did you hear something?" Odd asked softly.
Suddenly Ulrich was above her, covering her and Kiwi. Odd heard breaking glass. "Ulrich!?"
Ulrich sat up and looked towards the window. "Woah."
"Ulrich,"Odd asked,"what on Earth happened?"
Ulrich shook his head,"I don't know. Are you okay?"
Odd gave a frown and nodded. "I think we should get Jim. You get him and I'll take Kiwi back to my room."
Ulrich nodded. Both stood, Odd with Kiwi in her arms, and they left. Odd walked in the direction of her room in a slight daze. It had felt strangely pleasing to have Ulrich protect her. A light blush covered her cheeks. Odd shook her head. Bad thoughts Odd. Bad thoughts. Arriving to her room, Odd opened the door and put Kiwi down. "Now stay here and stay quiet Kiwi." Odd ordered her dog before closing the door and rushing back to Ulrich's room in time to hear Jim speak.
"Well, maybe it was a ball that did and it. And you of course didn't see anything."
"Ulrich? Is everything al-oh. Jim. Is something wrong? Ulrich was suppose to meet me downstairs after we grabbed our books." Odd said, stepping into the room.
"Hmm, alright. We'll get you a new window as soon as we can. And Ulrich? Clean up your bed. There's hair all over it!" And Jim left.
Odd only gave Ulrich a sheepish grin. "I got you out of trouble didn't I?"
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"What happened?" Was the first thing Yumi said when she saw them
"Everythings fine. Jim didn't spot Kiwi. But it was close, Kiwi will have to stay in Odd's room only for a while." Ulrich replied, running up to Yumi.
Odd walked up behind them. "Poor Kiwi. Confined to a single room!"
"Just be glad I even let him into my room in the first place." Ulrich grumbled.
Odd, being the mature young lady she was, stuck her tongue out at Ulrich. "Real mature Odd." Ulrich said, rolling his eyes.
Odd grinned,"Welp, I gotta get going guys, I have, ugh, Latin."
Ulrich snorted as Yumi spoke,"You know 7 different languages, why do you hate Latin so much?"
Odd shrugged,"Honestly, I don't know. I mean Latin is the root of basically every language, especially Italian and yet I have so much trouble with it. It's as though Italian is related to Latin, but Latin is not related to Italian."
Ulrich and Yumi gave Odd a strange looked before shrugged and giving their goodbyes.
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Odd was worried. She didn't exactly know why, but it felt like something was wrong. I hate it when I feel this way. Something always goes wrong. But nothing did. Odd spent all of Latin chewing on her pencil, worried about what was waiting for her. "Miss Della Robbia?"
Odd looked up to her Latin teacher. "Um..yes ma'am?"
"Have you been paying attention at all?"
"Uh..."
"That's what I thought. Pay. Attention."
Odd sighed. I hate Latin.
But, the class passed in a blur. So did math. And finally the group was on break. It was then that Odd overheard Sissi talking about something..."I always knew Sissi's head was full of plaster."
As Ulrich and Yumi laughed, Jeremie spoke up. "Well, I'm heading to the lab. With that dog barking and the school falling apart, I can't work in my room. See ya. Jeremie said with a wave.
Odd gave an absent wave as Yumi left. Something was wrong.
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Odd flipped thru her fashion magazine absently. It was the newest addition of Italian Fashion. She had separated from Ulrich earlier and currently had her earphones in. She really was worried. Something was wrong. She flipped thru her magazine for a while before throwing it to the side. It was then that she noticed her phone had several missed calls and texts from Ulrich, Jeremie and Yumi. Before Odd could call Ulrich, Ulrich called her. "Hello?"
"About time! Odd where are you?"
"In my room, why? What's wrong?"
"Get out now, Mr. Delmas gave an announcement about structure failure. Jeremie found out it's XANA. I'm on my way to the factory. Yumi's coming for up and get here."
"Okay, be there soon."
Odd jumped off of her bed and picked up Kiwi. "Let's go Kiwi." She rushed out of her room towards the stairs when she heard voices. Slowing down, she realized she heard Milly and Tamiya's voices. "Oh no, what are the doing here still?" Odd muttered to herself.
Odd rushed to the door of the youngers girls room and opened it. Milly and Tamiya sat up in surprise, both taking out their earphones "Didn't you too hear the principal? We have to get out now. The whole building may collapse."
Both girls looked frightened. "Odd, this isn't funny!" Milly insisted.
"I'm not joking! We have to hurry!"
The three had just made it to the stairs when Kiwi started barking and the building began to shake. "Get down!" Odd yelled out as she pulled Milly and Tamiya down, covering them with her own body.
When the shaking stopped, Odd looked behind her to where the stairs were. Emphasis on the were, as a large gaping hole was now behind her. "C'mon, about face.." Odd said, gently pushing the younger girls back the way they had come.
Only to yank them back when she realized the other side was only a gaping hole as well. We're trapped.
Odd pulled out her phone and dialed Ulrich. "Yes Odd?"
"I'm trapped."
"Huh?"
"I'm stuck, with Milly and Tamiya too. The firefighters will be here any minute, so I can't meet with you now."
"Do you want me to wait?"
"No, don't wait. Go to Lyoko."
Just then Kiwi began to bark and Odd picked him up. Odd rushed to cover Tamiya and Milly, dropping her phone in the process. But Odd just held the two younger girls and her dog tightly. Praying they would be kept safe. She began to murmur a prayer in her native language. "Padre , il Dio onnipotente . Ti prego nel chiedere la protezione per le due ragazze sotto la mia cura . Si prega di far loro essere risparmiati da ogni tormant questo giorno può portare . Queste cose non si siano danneggiati , ma a piedi libero come voi, il Signore degli eserciti , ha deciso . Ti prego mio Signore per proteggere gli innocenti e li risparmierà da questo male . Amen.*" It was then that Odd noticed the decline of the floor they were on could allow them to drop onto the floor below,"Grazie Padre , onnipotente Signore del Cielo e della Terra.** Okay, we have to jump. We can't stay here, we have to cross over to the other side."
"Are you out of your mind Odd!? It's at least a 10 meter(about 32 ft.) drop!" Tamiya objected.
"Trust me okay? I can't tell you how yet, but we're gonna make it. In the meantime, we've got to get across where we'll be safe." Odd prepared herself, then let herself slide down and landed slightly roughly.
Putting down Kiwi, Odd turned to the girls. "No problem. Your turn now!"
Odd waited a few moments before finally, Tamiya slid down. She gave a small scream before landing in odd's arms. "Okay?" she asked Tamiya. At Tamiya's nod, Odd turned to Milly,"Your turn Milly! C'mon!"
"No! I'll never make it!"
"Yes you will Milly! I'll count with you. On tre! Uno. Due. Tre!"
Milly finally slid down and Odd rushed to grab onto her before she could fall any further. "Are you both alright?" Odd asked and received nods in return,"Now let's get out of here."
Odd quickly led the way to where she hoped they could get out. Padre , per favore fatemelo ottenere queste ragazze per la sicurezza.*** "No, I don't believe it." the doors were completely blocked by rubble.
The three screamed as the building began to truly shake. Odd pulled down both girls and covered them with her body, wincing as small pieces of rubble fell onto her back."Per favore." Odd begged,"Per favore. Signore per favore. Non mi permetta di fallire. Per favore, per favore, per favore. Non posso non queste ragazze. Non posso lasciarli morire a causa di qualcosa che i miei amici e ho causato. Signore , ti prego, non lasciate a finire in questo modo. Per favore.****" and as the rubble continued to fall, Odd began to pray a small prayer she had learned as a child in Catholic school,"O Santo Angelo, addetto della mia misera anima e del mio afflitto la vita, non abbandonarmi, un peccatore, non partono da me per la mia incostanza. Dare non c'è posto per il demone del male di sottomettere me con l'oppressione di questo corpo mortale; ma mi prendere per mano mia misera e tesa, e guidami per la via della salvezza. Sì, santa Angelo di Dio, custode e protettore della mia anima e il corpo sfortunato, perdonami tutte le cose che con le quali io ti, tutti i giorni della mia vita ho turbato, e se ho peccato in qualcosa questo giorno. Mi rifugio in questo presente di notte, e mi impediscono di ogni affronto del nemico, per non rabbia Dio con alcun peccato; e interceda presso il Signore in mio favore, che Egli mi potrebbe rafforzarsi nel timore di Lui, e mi fanno un servitore degno della sua bontà. Amen.*****" and just as she said the last amen, the world froze.
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Odd looked down into her hands, where her old rosary lay. Aelita was gone. She couldn't believe it. Ulrich was trying to console Jeremie, but Odd didn't know if it would work. But when Yumi gave them that small bit of hope, it was enough. Yumi was the one to place the hair into the scanner. Odd cheered along with the others, silently pretending she didn't notice Jeremie's tears. When Jeremie made a joke, Odd laughed along. And if later, Jeremie found a single pink rose with a note on it later, neither said a word.
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Jeremie,
This is all written by Aelita, after I told her what happened.
-Odd
Jeremie,
None of what happened was your fault. You were my first friend. I could never blame you...
So far, option C is in the lead at 25 votes. Option A is second at 7 votes. Option B is third at 2 votes. And options D and E are tied for fourth at 0 votes. Also, William turning bad is No at 1 vote so far.
* = Father, the almighty God. I pray to you in asking for protection for the two girls under my care. Please let them be spared from any tormant this day may bring. Let them not be harmed, but walk free as you, the Lord almighty, has decided. I pray to you my Lord to protect the innocent and spare them from this evil. Amen. = From my family
** = Thank you Father, the almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth. = Random
*** = Father, please let me get these girls to safety. = Random
**** = Please, please. Lord please. Don't let me fail. Please please please. i can't fail these girls. I can't let them die because of something my friends and I caused. Lord, please don't let it end this way. Please. = Random
***** = O Holy Angel, attendant of my wretched soul and of mine afflicted life, forsake me not, a sinner, neither depart from me for mine inconstancy. Give no place to the evil demon to subdue me with the oppression of this mortal body; but take me by my wretched and outstretched hand, and lead me in the way of salvation. Yea, O holy Angel of God, the guardian and protector of my hapless soul and body, forgive me all things whatsoever wherewith I have troubled thee, all the days of my life, and if I have sinned in anything this day. Shelter me in this present night, and keep me from every affront of the enemy, lest I anger God by any sin; and intercede with the Lord in my behalf, that He might strengthen me in the fear of Him, and make me a worthy servant of His goodness. Amen. = Online
