Strange… Dani checked the clock in her room. 10:17 pm. Aelita wasn't back by curfew.
Then again, she was the loser girl who was waiting for her roommate that ditched her for some unknown reason. Dani didn't want to be noticed; she wanted to stay under radar and out of the way. The last thing she needed was to start over again. Dani shut her eyes and went past memory lane.
"What are you doing with those oranges?" the fruit sales man shouted at Dani, who was holding an orange.
"I…" Dani was cut off.
"Get out you freeloader! I don't have a charity here," he growled, grabbing the orange from Dani's hand.
Dani wasn't fazed by his reaction, but it was rude to a little girl. She checked her surroundings, and she jumped inside the man.
Two minutes later, Dani had the orange in her hand and a wallet. She felt terrible, but it was survival, and he was mean, so it equals out, right?
Dani shook her head from the survival methods. She was now in a school… which she cheated herself into. She sucked at being optimistic.
She sucked at seeing life more than the crap of life she was living and hiding from the world.
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Dani saw the gang in class. Deciding not to intrude, she sat in an empty table at the back, but her ears picked up on their conversation.
"Jim caught us and now we have detention. This is a disaster!" Jeremy whispered. "If we're not back at the factory by exactly four, we'll never finish Melanie!"
"What? If we don't finish her, XANA is definitely going to win!" Odd hissed.
"We need to get out of detention, but how?" Jeremy asked.
"I have an idea!" Odd exclaimed.
"And what is it, I must ask?" the teacher turned from the chalkboard. Dani giggled at Odd's expression, and she plotted at discovering their secret.
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Dani spotted Jeremy and Aelita sitting with Jim at lunch. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were watching them. Dani slipped into their table. "What happened?"
"Jeremy and Aelita got detention, and we need to get them out for something important." Odd explained.
"Like?" Dani pressed.
"Computer update," Odd replied.
"Well that's about as informative as me telling you that I lived in America." Dani smiled. "But I know what to do. How often do you prank?"
Odd grinned, and pretty soon they were plotting and Ulrich and Yumi watched in awe as Dani was able to simulate a plan within minutes.
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"I still wonder why you have a mouse toy," Dani questioned outside the library doors.
"Don't you dare judge me," Odd commanded.
"Nah, I'll continue judging. I've been doing it ever since I met you," Dani smirked. "Anyways, you know what to do?"
"We've discussed this," Odd rolled his eyes. "How are you supposed to get it in his hair?"
"I have my ways, so shoo." Dani smiled as Odd ran inside the library. Dani checked her surroundings, and seeing the empty hallway, a flash of light appeared. A white haired girl with electric green eyes looked at herself. "Well, this is a waste of energy. It'll just be for a few minutes though…" Dani checked herself one last time. With the mouse toy in hand, she turned intangible and fazed through the wall.
"The mice are taking over the whole school! We have to evacuate now!" Odd shouted in distress. Dani dropped the school mouse on cue, and Jim felt for his hair. He pulled out the mouse toy, and turned to Odd angrily.
"The only thing that needs to evacuate immediately is you right now before I chase you out!" Jim scolded. Odd sighed in defeat while Dani went to the hallway again, and transformed back.
"That failed," Dani said as she watched Odd walk through.
"Yeah, now Jim and Kiwi are mad." Odd sighed.
"Who's Kiwi?" Dani asked. Before Odd could answer, Yumi and Ulrich ran in.
"Jeremy sent a message. We need to go now." Yumi explained.
"Where exactly?" Dani asked. She could see them formulate a lie on their faces. "Forget whatever lie you're about to tell. I heard you in class, about Melanie, XANA, and whatever the factory is. If you don't tell me the truth right now, I'm willing to tell the principal what I know in five seconds flat. And then you'll have to confess. I'll make sure of it." Dani's eyes flashed green for a fraction of a second.
Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi looked at each other. Dani built a perfect blackmail with no way out, and she knew it.
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"So you're saying that Jeremy turned on a supercomputer about two years ago, he found Aelita and an evil multi-agent system called XANA, you three hit an unlucky event where you had to be involved, got Aelita to Earth, XANA got out of your supercomputer, Aelita regained her memory, and then you got one of your classmates into the supercomputer as well, and accidently got him under the control of XANA, and now we're trying to stop him?" Dani summed up, following the group into the factory.
"Yes, and you summed up two years of our life into one run-on sentence." Odd replied, entering the elevator.
"And you expect me to believe that?" Dani questioned. "You're crazy. This entire story is crazy. And how on Earth are you going to prove it?"
The elevator opened, and the mainframe of the supercomputer opened up. "Okay, that's pretty good proof." Dani admitted.
"We're not lying. We need to save Melanie, and you gave us no choice." Yumi answered. "Jeremy left a message. XANA's attacking Melanie. Yumi take over for me. Odd and Ulrich, off to Lyoko."
"Okay, Yumi, you've done it before." Odd said, heading to the ladder.
"I have faith in you Yumi," Ulrich smiled before following Odd. Yumi took controls, and Dani decided to take a look at what was about to happen.
"Huge problem. Once the shields are gone, there's nothing to protect Melanie, so William could easily wipe her out! And Jeremy says once the program's deleted, they're no way to reprogram it!" Yumi exclaimed. "You'll have to work fast."
Odd and Ulrich walked into the scanners. "You act like we've never done this before," Odd commented as he entered.
"I'm coming too," Dani declared suddenly, and she slipped inside a scanner. Dani shut her eyes as Yumi was about to virtualize her.
I hope I won't regret this, Dani thought before she was virtualized into oblivion.
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Whew! A chapter done! Now I can chill out until my writer's instinct tells me to write more.
Anyways, I noticed a sudden drop in reviews. Review or never see what will happen to Dani!
Review Replies:
Princessbinas: I had a personal instinct that this story needed one. Thanks for reviewing!
Read and Review! DJH out!
