Hey! We've got another review! It's short, but it's a review regardless! Whoohoo!

Ulrich: You're getting awfully excited for one review.

H-hey! Who let you in here

Ulrich: *points at Odd*

ODD!

Odd: Hey, might as well! Things get boring in the notes section!

Ugh, fine. Anyways, Laughing Fit is another episode I enjoy.

Chapter 18: Laughing Fit

It was the first class of the day, science. Jeremy and Odd sat in the row in front of me, while Ulrich sat next to me. Ms. Hertz was showing off something science related, a kind of gas. The was causing her to laugh a lot, making several people uncomfortable due to her usually serious nature.

"I've never seen her laugh so much." Jeremy whispered to us.

"You're telling me! I've never seen her laugh at all!" Odd whispered back, a smirk plain on his face.

"The gas I've just inhaled in this small quantity is called nitrous oxide, n2o," She had to pause to laugh. "for those of you interested in chemistry of course. Although it's better known as laughing gas!" She burst out laughing once more. I had to tilt my head at that one.

"I thought laughing gas calmed you down, not made you nuttier than a fruitcake." I said. Ulrich just shrugged.

"You're better with that stuff than I am." Was all he said.

"You can see why this gas is sometimes used in hospitals to, ha ha, relax patients who are going to be operated on." Ms. Hertz continued laughing.

"Not a bad idea, nothing like a laughing attack after an appendix attack." Odd quipped.

"But let's try to stay serious. Strong doses of this gas can be highly toxic, and provoking serious modifications of perception and even lesions of the nervous system, sometimes even fatal. So one can, as the saying goes, literally die laughing." It was... very uncomfortable to hear that while she was laughing herself. "Only one thing can neutralize the gas." She said, reaching for a plastic bottle on her desk. "All you need is one thing to volatilize it." With one last giggle, she took a swig of the water, then let out a breath as she finished drinking. "Enough of that. Get out a sheet of paper for a surprise quiz." She said in a much more serious tone. No one was laughing about that.

Later

The four us were all staring at Yumi. She was sitting by herself on one of the benches, but none of us seemed to have the heart to go up to her.

"She's been sulking like that for two days." Ulrich noted. "Nothing seems to cheer her up."

"I could try some of my jokes on her. That might do the trick." Odd offered. Ulrich shook his head.

"I'm not saying you don't have a good sense of humor, Odd, but I'd rather go and talk to her." He said as he began to walk over to her.

"You think Ulrich will manage to get her to smile?" Jeremy asked. Odd scoffed in response.

"Yeah, sure as Julia Roberts is gonna call and invite me out to dinner." Jeremy let out a humorless laugh.

"Yeah, I think you're right. She's really down."

"Well, whatever the case, I hope things get better." I said, which Odd and Jeremy both nodded at.

as Ulrich approached, Yumi could already tell who it was. She let out a depressed and annoyed sigh. "Please Ulrich, leave me alone. I really don't feel like talking." She said.

"But I feel like talking, and with you." Ulrich said back. Yumi turned to give the brunette a miffed expression.

"If you like talking so much," she said as she stood up. "then talk to yourself, ok?" She walked off without giving Ulrich another chance to open his mouth. Sissi, who had witnessed the whole thing, then made her presence known.

"Don't worry, Ulrich," she said, catching his attention. "not all girls are like Yumi." She then began trying to show herself off in an attempt to woo him. Ulrich sent her an uncaring look.

"Yeah, that's a shame." He remarked, and began to walk off. She narrowed her eyes at him, but then came up with something to talk about.

"Hey, wait Ulrich! Are you coming tomorrow? To the rehersal?" She asked, catching up with him.

"Yeah, I'll be there. But not for you." He made sure to say. "It's for Odd and Emily."

"For your information, it's thanks to me that those two are playing the music!" Sissi stated, though Ulrich only let out an 'mmhm." to that. "And if you want to be part of the group, the uh, role of Romeo is just ideal for you!"

"And I suppose that you, of course, are Juilet?" Ulrich questioned.

"Yes, that's perfect casting, don't you think?"

"Well it's a perfect reason for me not to play Romeo." Ulrich said, a smirk plain on his face as he walked ahead of a now annoyed Sissi.

Rehersal

Odd was playing the guitar and and me... a trumpet. And strange combonation, yes, however, Sissi seemed unable to tell the difference between a brass and woodwind instrument. She had heard I played in band in the past and practically forced me to sign up as a musician.

I ended up having to borrow a trumpet from Jim, who thankfully owned one along with his trombone. I played softly alongside Odd.

"I don't know if she'll appear tonight, but uh," Herb, who was playing Romeo, looked closely down at his lines. "I know she loves me!" He looked up at Sissi for her approval.

"That was awful!" She shouted at him. Odd and I took that as our cue to stop playing. "That was about as flat as a pancake."

"It's not me! It's the lines!" Herb protested, holding the script up.

"What's wrong with the lines, hm?" Nicolas then asked angrily.

"Well, I can't even say them!"

"There's nothing wrong with them, it's you!" Nicolas argued, pointing at Herb. "Do you know how long I spent on the text?!"

"Well, my guess would be... about 30 seconds!"

"I dare you to repeat that!" Nicolas threatened, making a fist in front of Herb's face.

"Look, I'd rather you repeated your lines, Herb, and with feeling! Nicolas, there's no reason for you to be on stage. And you two!" Sissi said, pointing at Odd and me. "Odd, you were playing much too fast, and Emily, way too loud!" I gave her an exasperated face.

"Sissi, if you wanted soft, you shouldn't have enlisted a trumpet player." I said flatly. "It isn't my fault you can't tell the difference between brass and woodwind." Odd couldn't help but smirk.

"I can play slower. After all, it'll give me more than enough time to take a nap!" Odd joked, though no one laughed.

"Keep all your bad jokes to yourself!" Sissi said. "Ok, now let's take it from the top and try to concentrate!" Nicolas and Herb gave each other one last glare to each other before Nicolas walked off of the stage. Odd and I began playing again, this time at a slower tempo.

"I don't know if she'll appear tonight, but I know- I mean, I don't know if she loves me." Herb tried again, though this time it was even worse. "Oh, a guard!-" Whatever Herb said next was cut off when Odd began laughing hysterically.

"What is going on!?" Sissi exclaimed, then looked over at Odd. "What is it now Odd?"

"Odd, are you o-" I then started laughing as well, though not of my free will. There was nothing funny about Odd laughing randomly. I fell to the floor, dropping the silver trumpet and clutching my sides and I rolled on the floor.

"You two aren't going to want to laugh when I'm through with you!" Sissi exclaimed, and grabbed a bottle of water and stomped down to us. She poured the water onto Odd, and the use the remaining amount of it on me. It was because of that, we stopped laughing. We both coughed and gasped for air as she stood over us, unamused.

"And don't bother coming tomorrow, you two! We're performing a tragedy, not a musical comedy!" She sauntered off back to her balcony. Odd and I gave a confused look at each other. It was time to pay Jeremy a visit.

Jeremy's Room

"Hate to interrupt, Jeremy, but we may have something you want to hear." I said, opening the door. He had been talking to Aelita, big surprise there. "Odd and I started laughing without willing to do so." I explained.

"Yeah, it was crazy! I really didn't feel like laughing at all, but it was impossible to stop! And when Sissi poured water on us, that was it, we stopped immediately." Odd explained. Jeremy put a thumb to his chin in thought.

"N2O. Laughing gas." Jeremy decided. "Ms. Hertz said that the only thing that could volatilize it was water." He recalled.

"Oh! Yeah, that's right!" I remembered.

"Do you think this could be a XANA thing?" Odd then asked.

"It's XANA, Odd. He's created giant spheres of electricity, possessed a teddy bear and made it giant, a clone of Yumi, and tons of other strange and dangerous things." I pointed out. Jeremy nodded and looked towards Aelita.

"Aelita, keep looking around." He requested. The pink elf nodded.

"Ok, but no pulsations for now." She reported. Jeremy looked back over at us.

"Let's see if the bottle of laughing gas Ms. Hertz used is still in the science room." He suggested. Odd and I had no arguments, so we all stood up to leave.

"Kiwi, you stay here." Odd ordered, though that wasn't too hard for the mutt. He raised his head at Odd's voice only to lower it again only a second later. The three of us crept quietly to the science building, which wasn't too difficult of a task, thankfully. Jeremy had brought a hairpin to pick the door in case it was locked, which it was. As he was working on the lock, he suddenly asked,

"Aelita and me, we never fight. You think that's normal?"

"Huh?" Odd asked, surprised by the question. "Yeah- no... How do I know?"

"Jeremy, no offense meant towards her, but Aelita isn't exactly what most people would call, 'normal'." I whispered back..

"Do you think we'd fight if she lived here in our world?" Jeremy then asked.

"What I do think is that we're going to get caught if you don't hurry up." Odd hurried. Right at that moment, Einstein pulled the pin out and turned the knob.

"Bingo." He said as he managed to open it. He opened it wider to allow Odd and I to get through. I stayed back at the door as lookout. Jeremy then walked over to the red canister and turned the valve, only for nothing to happen. "It's empty." He reported. "Guess we ran out of gas, if you pardon the expression."

"Ok, listen: tomorrow we'll go to the factory instead of the play and check things out." Odd said, which we all agreed upon.

The next day, at the lab

Odd, Jeremy, and I all exited the elevator. Jeremy, of course, went to take his usual seat at the computer and out his earpiece in. He immediately began typing away, as he normally did.

"Aelita? Hey, Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremy asked though received no response from her, which visibly worried him. It certainly didn't help when the computer started chanting, 'Communication refused. Communication refused.' either. Jeremy looked over at the two of us.

"I'm ready to go." Was all Odd said before heading down.

"I"m ready and fired up for action!" I assured him, then followed my purple clad friend to the scanner room. We both entered a scanner and turned to face the front, ready for our escapade to Lyoko.

"I'm transferring you to the Mountain Sector. I spotted some monsters there; the tower can't be far." Jeremy's voice boomed. "Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Emily." The scanner door closed around me, but something felt off. I wasn't really able to tell how, though. "Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Emily. VIRTUALIZATION!" His voice sounded rushed and frantic, but I had no time to dwell on it, however, as I found myself landing in the mountain sector. The strange thing was I landed about as well as I did on my first trip into the digital world.

I was finally able to pinpoint my strange feeling, though. My legs felt weak, as did my other limbs. I somehow felt nauseous, despite having no real reason to be. It felt as if I had had breathing problems my whole life. Odd let out a strained breath as he stood up.

"I feel very weak, Jeremy. Did anything happen during the transfer?" Odd asked, confirming my suspicions that he felt the same as me. He sent a confused look at the sky when Jeremy didn't respond. "Jeremy? Can you hear me Jeremy?"

"I don't think he's there, Odd." I said. "But whatever it is that's up with you, I think it hit me too." I said, jogging alongside Odd.

"What do you think it is?" He asked.

"I'm... not sure." I admitted. We stopped a good distance away from a deactivated tower. What was so special about it? Well, a pair of Bloks were standing in front of it. "Uh oh..." I muttered, then fumbled for my staff. Neither of us were in any condition to fight.

"This isn't a good time to desert us, Jeremy. The welcoming committee looks really mean and we aren't feeling too good." Odd said, but there was still no answer. At that point, the Bloks decided to notice us. They offered no hesitation an charged straight at us. I gulped as I aimed my staff at them.

"Things aren't looking too good right now." I said. I gripped in a tight manor as my vision started becoming blurry. I put a hand to my head in pain. "Argh, there's no way I can aim like this!" Odd took one look at me, then jumped into the air.

"Here we go!" He shouted as he fired an arrow. It was dead on, and the Blok exploded upon impact. The second fired a laser, almost as if it were avenging it's comrade. Odd jumped to the side to dodge, though that took him over the edge.

"Odd! No!" I shouted, which caught the attention of the Blok. I growled at it as it charged it's laser. As soon as it fired, I did a quick somersault out of the way, then, placing the end of my staff in front of its eye, said in a cold tone, "Fireball." The orb went through the monster, destroying it. I fell to my knees in exhaustion, despite having only done very little. "Whatever you did, XANA, I hate you for it." I thought. I the sound of grunting, and saw Odd poke his head over the other side of the narrow path. I then looked back when I heard Aelita exiting the tower.

"Aelita!" Odd exclaimed as he pulled himself up.

"XANA might send us more monsters. We'd better not stick around here." She cautioned. She then began leading us on the path of the pulsations on the ground. We weren't exactly going very fast, but I found that I was completely drained. My staff fell from my hand, catching both Odd and Aelita's attention. "Emily, are you alright?"

"I... I think there was a problem during the transfer." I croaked. I bent down to pick up my staff, though Odd seemed to be feeling the effects as well. He moaned as he put a hand to his head. Aelita gave us both a worried look.

"I know it's tough, but you two have got to hang on. See the pulsations? The tower XANA's activated can't be far now." She tried to assure us, pointing at the red rings on the ground.

"I sure hope so. "Odd said, then began walking behind me. However, I found myself much closer to the ground after Odd accidentally stepped on my cloak. "Oh! I, uh, sorry, Emily." He apologized. I shook my head, waving it off.

"It's fine." I told him, then lifted my head. "Aelita? What's that?" I then asked. She looked ahead and cringed.

"Oh no! That's all we needed, a labyrinth." We walked into said labyrinth, though things didn't seem to be going so well. Odd was still dizzy, and I can't say I was doing much better. We walked deeper into it, though Odd was more interested in finding a wall to support himself on. Aelita put a hand on his shoulder and urged him to press onward. We kept in walking for what felt like hours. Aelita let out a sigh.

"We've been here before, I'm sure of it." She muttered, inspecting the area around us. I couldn't tell either. Everything was melding together in my head as one big pile of confusion. Odd let out a groan of pain as he fell to his knees.

"We're lost. Without Jeremy's help it's all over." He said in defeat. Aelita, who had been walking ahead, sent Odd a stern look. H wasn't paying attention, however, as he had a familiar look in his eyes. He let out a breath and looked at Aelita with a smile.

"We're almost there Aelita. I just had a psychic vision. You have to go left, you hear?" She began walking towards us, but I shook my head.

"Don't bother waiting for us. We'll only slow you down. Ulrich, Jeremy, and Yumi all need you to deactivate that tower." I told her. She sent a smile at us.

"Ok, I'll get there. Don't worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried." Odd assured her. She nodded and turned to run out of the maze. I looked at Odd in relief.

"Thank god this is over. I don't think I can spend another minute feeling like this." I said. He only grinned as a bright light filled the virtual world.

Earlier in the campus

We were all sent back to he day before, when Yumi had been on the bench. I couldn't help but take in a breath of air, having felt much better now that I was off of Lyoko. This time, we all approached her along with Ulrich. She shook her head at him.

"You gotta be kidding. I won't ever be a part of that dumb play again." She told him.

"Well at least now we know how to get your folks together." Odd tried.

"I'm never going to wear that stupid costume again!" She exclaimed, quickly turning to face us.

"I agree." Jeremy then said. confusing us all.

"Huh?" I said.

"I've got a better idea." Jeremy said. Yumi raised an eyebrow at him, curiosity piqued. "As for Ulrich, I'm really sorry, but you're going to have to sacrafice yourself one more time." Jeremy explained. Odd grinned and slung an arm around the brunette.

"At least that way, we can finally see you as Romeo!" I chuckled and looked at him.

"Let's face it, a nice laughing fit is good for you from time to time." Ulrich gave us a wary glance.

Auditorium

"I don't know if she'll appear tonight on her balcony, but I'm certain... but I'm certain, that she loves me!" Ulrich was doing a pretty pitiful job at acting. He was about as dramatic as a piece of cardboard.

"And I know I love her very much." Yumi then whispered, hidden behind a bush.

"And I know I lover her very much!" Ulrich repeated, then looked around. "Ah no! A guard!" He made a mad dash for behind the bush as the guard, played by Herb, walked out. Everyone laughed at the ridiculous outfit, making the boy scowl. When I saw Mr. Ishiyama ask where Yumi was, I had a brilliant idea. I lead Jeremy over to one of the ropes, and we began pulling on it. The ropes were connected to the bush prop, and revealed Ulrich and Yumi sitting there, making everyone laugh once again.

"Yeah! It worked!" I exclaimed in a hushed tone.

"What's the matter now?!" Sissi then shouted, unaware of what had happened. "What happened ? Why are you all laughing?! You don't understand drama! This is not a comedy, it's a great tragedy!" But everyone ignored her and continued laughing. Yumi smiled when she saw her father wrap an arm around her mother.

Well, that's another short one! I'd expect more short ones, considering how the episodes are. Next time, we're tackling Claustrophobia!