Hiya everyone! I really don't have a whole lot to say.

Killer Music is just plain strange to me. Not one I go back to rewatch that often, but not because I hate it. It's just weird is all.

Chapter 21: Killer Music

"Do you honestly believe that she is ready to handle these things? She's only recently turned 15. Not many full grown humans could fully understand somethings this bizzare to them," a voice said

"I'm well aware of that, but these belong to her; I cannot fully take them away. It was only a matter of time before she began to remember them," the second voice said, then sighed. "It isnher burden to bear. Only time will tell if she can understand,"

My Dorm

I quickly shot up in my bed as I woke up. I knew I had had a dream, but I couldn't quite remember. I knew it had been vague in its descriptions of something, but otherwise, I couldn't really remember.

I made a face at the the thought. Finally, I shook my head and pulled off the covers that were laying on me. It was probably just another weird dream, and besides, I didn't have time to dwell on it. I promised the boys I'd meet them for breakfast. Though when I looked over at the clock, I saw that it was much earlier than I normally woke up.

"Well... This was unexpected." I muttered. I looked at the clock once more, then decided I'd beat Sissi to the shower. She seriously takes three showers a day, and that just can't be good for you. She always held up the line too. I grabbed my usual day clothes and headed off for the showers.

Cafeteria

I arrived at the cafeteria maybe 15 minutes after I was done with my shower. It was much earlier; barely anyone was there.

"Well, you're here earlier than usual." Rosa, the lunch lady said.

"Yeah." I said with a sheepish shrug. "They say changing your daily routine is good every once in awhile." I said as I grabbed my food. Rosa smiled at me amd I went to go sit at our usual table to wait for the others. I enjoyed the silence as I ate. It wasn't something I got to experience often since I arrived at Kadic. Slowly other students trickled into the cafeteria and the noise increased. I was about halfway done with my food when I saw Ulrich and Jeremy making their way through the line. They noticed me and set their trays down across from me.

"Hey, Emily." Jeremy greeted. "How long have you been here?" He asked, noticing my tray, which was half empty.

"Longer than half the people in here." I replied, then looked around the room once more. "Hey, where's Odd." Ulrich scowled as soon as I mentioned his name.

"Don't know, don't care." He told me bitterly.

"Ok, someone woke up in a foul mood." I stated. "What happened?"

"Odd and his dumb music kept me from studying last night. I ended up having to go to Jeremy's room to study." Ulrich responded, then took a sip of his hot chocolate. I rolled my eyes at him in response. Behind me I could hear Sissi, Nicholas, and Herb approaching. Sissi was blasting some music in her headphones. They were discussing it as they walked.

"What's the songs name?" Nicholas asked.

"The title is, 'Glad when you're Bad'." Sissi responded. "I honestly can't believe how unhip you guys are. You're a couple of real losers." She chided them n her annoying voice "You oughta go out once in awhile."

"Well then fill us in, Sissi! What kind of music is it?" Nicholas then questioned, seeming to be slightly offended. "Is it R&B?"

Sissi let out a groan as she pulled the headphones over her ears. "R&B!? Why not waltz music while you're at it?" She remarked hotly, rolling her eyes as she walked away. Jeremy looked at the time and made a concerned face.

"Odd oughta be here." He pointed out. I looked around, and there was still no sign of the catboy.

"Maybe he didn't wake up." I threw out.

"Forget about it. It's his problem" Ulrich said with an uncaring expression.

"Hey, chill out." Jeremy advised him. "You're making such a big deal about a little bit of loud music, Ulrich."

"Yeah, and we can't let him miss his exam." I agreed.

"Yes we can." Ulrich stated, getting up and walking away. Jeremy and I both let our heads lean on our hands and gave each other the same expression.

Later

Jeremy, Ulrich, and I still hadn't seen Odd all morning. He never showed up during breakfast, and I was starting to get worried. We saw Yumi approach us as the bell rang. Noticing us, she approached us with a smile on her face.

"Hi." She greeted us, the looked around where we were standing. "Odd's not here?" Ulrich made another irritated noise at the mention of him, though it was much quieter this time.

"No, and I'm beginning to worry." Jeremy replied with a concerned look.

"Did you check his room?"

"Not yet." Jeremy said. "But we're gonna do that right now. Right, Ulrich?" Jeremy and I both said the last part. Ulrich frowned at that.

"No, we'll be late for the exam." He insisted.

"Not if we hurry." Jeremy and I chorused. Jeremy then began pushing the unwilling Ulrich towards the dorm room.

"Keep me posted, ok?" Yumi requested, which Jeremy and I nodded at.

"Y'know, Ulrich," I began as we walked up the dorms stairs. "you're really overreacting to this whole thing. Everyone makes mistakes." Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"He sang that same dumb song over and over." He remembered as he opened the door. Odd was laying on his bed, headphones still blasting music and resting on his ears. "And look! Now he's fast asleep!"

"Let's wake him up." Jeremy quickly said. He walked past the two of us over to Odd, and began shaking his shoulder. "Hey, Odd! Get up will you!" He shook him a few more times with a bit more force, put still Odd didn't move. Ulrich let out another aggravated sigh, for what seemed like the umpteenth time that morning.

"If this is a joke then it's a bad one." He decided, then looked over at the clock. "And we're gonna be late!" Jeremy's face turned into alarmed one as Odd's headphones fell off of him, yet Odd still hadn't moved.

"Somethings wrong!" He realized, catching out attention as he moved Odds body slightly. "Odd! ODD!" Jeremy had got up in Odd's face, but again, Odd didn't react. Looking at him closer, I realized that's Odd's eyes weren't closed, and he had a creepy Joker like smile on his face.

"This isn't a joke!" I realized. Ulrich said nothing, but closed his eyes in response. "We've gotta take him to infirmary! Now!"

"Right!" Jeremy and Ulrich went to grab him. Looking at Ulrich, though he had said nothing, he looked incredibly guilty.

Infirmary

The nurse had immediately reacted as soon as we brought in Odd. She called the principal first, the turned her focus on the blond. "Odd! Odd, can you hear me!?" She exclaimed. Just as before, there was no reaction. Ulrich, Jeremy, and I looked over at the door as the principal walked in. "Call the hospital." The nurse then requested. The three of us gave shocked expressions at one another. "And tell them its very, very urgent!" Mr. Delmas nodded at the request and left the room. "His blood pressure and his heartbeat are slow... I don't understand!"

I looked over at the others. "I think we should let Yumi know." I said, throwing a worried glance at Odd. Jeremy wordlessly pulled out his phone and sent a one word text to her. I read, Odd. Nothing was said after that by anyone. Ulrich was leaning against the wall, looking out the window with his head pressed against the pane. He only moved when the ambulance finally arrived. We exited as they pulled Odd outside on a gurney.

Yumi came running up to us and gasped. "What's the matter with him?" She asked, slightly out of breath. Is it serious?" There was a pause. "Well? Is it?"

"His heart is beating very slowly." I finally answered.

"XANA!" Yumi breathed out, but Einstein shook his head in disagreement.

"XANA's not capable of attacking human beings directly." He argued.

"If only I'd stayed with him last night... This wouldn't of happened." Ulrich said glumly. He turned away from us with his hands shove into his pockets. "We had a big fight and I slept in Jeremy's room." He explained to Yumi. Yumi put her hands on his shoulders in a comforting motion.

"How could you have known that?" She pointed out. Ulrich shut his eyes tight, then shook his head. He threw Yumi's arms off of him and ran towards the ambulance.

"I'm staying with him!" He decided. Mr. Delmas put a hand on Ulrich's shoulder, preventing him from fully climbing into the ambulance.

"I'm sorry, Ulrich, " He began. "but I can't permit you to leave the school grounds."

Ulrich gave the principal a stern look. "I'm staying with Odd." He said, firm in his decision. He climbed further into the vehicle.

"Ulrich, step away from that ambulance!" Mr. Delmas ordered, though it was ignored. "That is not the right way to help him."

"I don't care. I can't let him be taken away like this!" Ulrich gave Odd another expression that could be translated as, 'I'm sorry." Seeing how Ulrichs expression and how emotional he was about this, it felt strange. He normally, while he certainly cared about all of us, didn't express it so clearly. Mr. Delmas let out a sigh at the sight.

"Alright, you can go." He decided, and took several steps away from the ambulance.

"I wanna go with him too!" Jeremy chimed in.

"Are you crazy!?" Yumi whispered. "What if launches and attack?"

"We'll stay in contact." Jeremy said, patting his bag which contained his laptop. "Call me if there's the slightest problem." Jeremy then turned from us and hopped into the ambulance. The paramedics joined him, and the ambulance sped away. Yumi and I stared at the road until we could no longer hear the sirens blaring.

Later

Since I didn't go to the hospital with the bots, I was still stuck going to class. I showed up late for my exam and didn't get to finish it, though I would be allowed to later due to the circumstances of my tardiness. After class I was walking out of the science building with Yumi. She stopped for a moment and pulled her phone out.

"What was that about?" I asked, though I didn't get an answer. After she put her phone away, she was giving a worried look at Sissi, who still had her headphones in and was walking a little funny.

"Sissi? Are you ok?" Yumi asked. Then, she fell down.

"Sissi!" I exclaimed, and ran over to her alongside Yumi. "Hey, Sissi!" I tried shaking her shoulder, but like Odd, there was no reaction from her. Unless you want to count the blank stare I was getting from her, which must have been the face she was making before she lapsed into... whatever you want to call her current state. "Great, she's been hit too." I muttered. Yumi gave an interested look at her headphones (which were still blasting her music) and pulled them off of her. She put her ear towards it, then dropped the headphones almost immediately. "Yumi? You alright?" I asked as she began staggering. She shook her head to wave off the spell of dizziness

"Yeah, I'm fine," She assured me."We should get her to the infirmary."

"Right." We each grabbed one of Sissi arms and began dragging her over to the infirmary. As we reached the hall, I pulled out my phone and called Jeremy for an update. "Hey, Jeremy. How's Odd?' I asked, my voice slightly strained.

"His heart's getting weaker and weaker." He answered. It sounded like he was running. I grimaced.

""Great..." I grunted sarcastically. "Well, Sissi's showing the same symptoms. Whatever's going on, its spreading." I explained.

"It could be an epidemic started by XANA!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"Did you contact Aelita?"

"Yeah, I did. Get over to the factory, fast!" Jeremy quickly answered.

"Ok, Yumi and I will get there as fast as we can!" I put my phone back into my pocket as Yumi knocked on the door. The nurse opened the door and gave us a surprised look.

"Oh no, Sissi!" She exclaimed. "This way." She then said, ushering for us to follow her. Yumi and I walked into the infirmary. The nurse had put some classical type music on her stereo and, it was quietly playing in the background. "There, set her down. Gently." She said as Yumi and I set Sissi on the cot. Suddenly, the music on the stereo changed, and it was the song Sissi had been blasting on her headphones!

Hearing it, I began feeling dizzy almost immediately. I, as well as Yumi, began swaying around, trying to stay up. I began seeing black, then I covered my ears. I felt a little better. "The music." I realized out loud. "That's XANA's attack!"Yumi pointed with her head at the nurse, who was no in the same condition as Odd and Sissi, and possibly even more people. We both ran out of there as fast as we could and looked at one another. "Call Jeremy." I told her.

She nodded and pulled her phone out as we ran again. "Jeremy! It's the song that's causing it!" She exclaimed bluntly. I face palmed.

"Probably gonna have to be a little more specific than that."

"What do you mean the song? I don't understand." Jeremy replied.

"It is! It's the song, 'Glad when you're Bad'!" I could hear Ulrich gasp over the phone.

"Oh no! I think that's the song Odd downloaded on the web the other day!" He realized in horror.

"XANA is using the media for maximum coverage..." Jeremy muttered.

"Not a bad idea, really. " I commented. "With the internet, he can easily spread it around until the entire world is..." I trailed off, not wanting to finish that particular thought. "But in simple terms, I suppose you could call it a deadly melody." Yumi put her phone back into her pocket, and we continued the trek in silence.

Lyoko

Ulrich landed onto the mountain sector. There were no monsters in sight, but he kept a hand on the hilt of his katana in case XANA decided to ambush him. He was alone, after all, not including Aelita.

"Ulrich!" Aelita exclaimed as she ran up to him, seeming happy to see him. And though he was happy to see her as well, there was no time for idle talk. Odd was depending on them.

"We've got to get to the activated tower." He told her. "Fast"

"Look, it's there. You see?" She pointed at a path with pulsations ringing loudly on it. Ulrich nodded wordlessly, then began following the path alongside her. They stopped on one of the plateaus closer to the tower. "There it is." She pointed once again, this time directly at the tower. She was about to begin running again, but Ulrich stopped her.

"Hold on, Aelita." She looked at him curiously as he pulled out his saber. "There are no monsters anywhere. That's suspicious." He remarked, scanning the area carefully. As if they had heard his call, a few Bloks crawled up from the side of the path. "Ah, there you are." He said, giving them a smirk. "Aelita, take cover somewhere." She nodded and went over to the edge, jumping off onto a platform below. With her away from the battle, Ulrich ran forward and began nearing one of the Bloks. He ran past it and sliced it, making it explode in defeat. He skidded to a stop, prepared to unleash another attack, but one the Bloks snuck up behind him and froze him on the spot. He let out a cry as his entire body was encased in digital ice.

"Ulrich!" Aelita cried.

"Ulrich, you're out of bounds for three minutes." Jeremy informed him. Ulrich would've given him a snarky remark had his mouth not been frozen as well.

Lab

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Yumi and I burst into the lab frantically. "Everything ok on Lyoko?" Yumi asked. As soon as she asked, I had a feeling the answer wouldn't be so pleasant.

"Not really." Jeremy responded with a grim look. "Ulrich's frozen solid and Aelita's all alone.

"We're ready to go!" I told him, then ran over to the ladder with Yumi and climbed down.

"You're off to the mountains." Jeremy said as we ran into the scanners. "Transfer, Emily. Transfer, Yumi. Scanner, Emily. Scanner, Yumi. VIRTUALIZATION!"

Lyoko

The two of us landed near Aelita, who was being chased my a rather angry looking Blok. We ran in front of her as a barrage of lasers were heading her way. Yumi raised her fan to protect herself as I looked at Aelita. "Stay behind us, Aelita." I ordered, which she nodded it.

"How much longer, Jeremy?" Yumi asked.

"He's coming." Jeremy assured us. Hearing the call, Ulrich leaped down and stabbed one of the Bloks. He jumped over to us with a smirk plain on his face.

"Good to see you." I greeted.

"Stay alert! More Bloks are on their way!" Jeremy boomed. Ulrich nodded as they approached.

"That one's yours, Yumi." He said, jerking his head at the one preparing to fire at her. She nodded and blocked the shot.

"Fireball!" I exclaimed, then lobbed the magic at one of the Bloks, though due to the monster leaning away, it only left scorch marks on a rock. It then hit me with a laser on my stomach. I fell to the ground, clutching it as the electricity faded away. I then got hit again as I tried to stand up. Yumi ran over to me and blocked the third laser with her fan. "Thanks." I grunted, then finally stood up. "Hey Einstein! How many life points do I have?" There was no answer. "Jeremy? Hey, Jeremy! Are you there? Jeremy!"

Ulrich deflected another shot with his saber. "Yumi! Emily! Take Aelita to the tower!"

"You're crazy!" Yumi shouted. She was spinning her fan like a wheel to act as a shield. "You'll never make it all alone!" He sent her an amused look.

"Who said I would be alone?" He asked, then ran at another one of the Bloks. "Triangulate!" He shouted, surrounding the monster in a triangular fashion. As the Blok looked around at the three Ulrichs running around it, Ulrich sliced the Blok in half. He and his clones then took defensive stances as they stood against the final Blok. Yumi, Aelita, and I all ran towards the tower as requested. Ulrich an forward with his saber out alongside his clones. One of them was shot down, but the other cut into the monster and killed it. What he didn't see as he landed, however, was another Blok approaching. He noticed it when it killed his remaining clone, but it was too late by the time he turned around. He was shot and devirtualized.

The three of us continued along the path as fast as out legs could carry us. Not only was Odds life on the line, but Jeremys as well. Aelita suddenly fell forward as she was struck in the back by a laser.

"Aelita!" Yumi and I exclaimed, then we looked behind us. One last Blok was approaching. I raised my staff as Yumi threw her fan.

"Magic blast!" The blast hit at the same time as the fan did, making it extra dead in my book. "Alright, now lets get to that tower!" I exclaimed. We ran ahead once more, the stopped due to the moving platforms that lead to the tower."Whoa... Hope you guys can platform." I said in amazement.

"There's no time to lose. We can't let this stop us." Yumi said firmly. Aelita jumped onto the first platform, and we followed behind her. She seemed to have the timing down perfectly, though I suppose that isn't too surprising now that I think about it. She does live on Lyoko, after all. I followed behind her at a decent pace. I grinned as a stray though t worked its way up to my brain.

"Who knew all that time playing Mario 3D World would pay off!" I joked lightly. As I landed on the next platform, Yumi jumped off at the wrong time. Aelita looked back and gasped at the sight. Luckily, she managed to grab onto the edge, though just barely. Aelita was about to hop down to help, but we both shook our heads. "I'll help her, Aelita. You go deactivate the tower." She nodded at the request. As I helped Yumi up, I watched Aelita do a fantastic flip onto one of the rotating platforms on the tower, then another one on the towers plateau.

"Wow, that was impressive." Yumi commented. I nodded, still looking at her as she entered the tower. Minutes later, the return bubble engulfed us all.

My Dorm

I was laying back in my bed, reading a book. We were back to the previous night, and hopefully this time, Ulrich would be able to study in peace without going to Jeremys room.

Looking at the time, I decided that I would hit the hay early, and turned my lamp off. I closed my eyes, and entered a dreamless sleep.

Well, there's Killer Music. Not as long as past chapters, but eh.