21: how i met your odd
- a little ways down the road, in the year 2025 -
"Daddy, it's storytime!" exclaimed an over-energetic six-year old girl, who was by no means tired even though it was already past nine in the evening.
Odd chuckled and proceeded to ruffle his daughter's shoulder-length blonde hair. He sat on her bed, which consisted of pink sheets, pink pillows and a snug pink soft blanket. Looking at them made him think about one person in particular.
"Alright, then. The night's still young. Just don't tell mommy about this okay?"
Magileine Della Robbia nodded enthusiastically as she lied down and allowed Odd to tuck her in. He cast a glance towards the custom bookshelf Jeremie had designed for her. The books were arranged and placed along the outside of a wheel that could be spun around. The circular shelf was also cushioned and wide enough such that Magileine could lie down on it like a reclining chair.
Odd wished he had a bookshelf like that.
"Now, which book do you want me to read? The Three Little Pigs?" he suggested. She shook her head.
"Little Red Riding Hood? Prince and the Pauper? Cinderella?" Odd continued to name titles of some of the books that Yumi had bought for his daughter. Again, Magileine shook her head.
"How about–"
"No."
"Huh? Do you want me to make up a story then?" Ideas instantly began floating around Odd's mind. After all of his adventures, coming up with a tale that exaggerated his heroic feats was a piece of cake; like how he saved Ulrich from utter humiliation when they were in Hong Kong, for instance.
"Daddy, you said you'd continue that story."
Odd scratched his head for several seconds, before remembering.
"Oh, right. So I did. But there's…still a long way to go. If I don't finish tonight, I'll tell you the rest of it some other time, okay?" he said, before clearing his throat dramatically.
"Alright then, back to the story…of how I met your mother."
Now Magileine, you already know that your mother and I went to the same high school, Kadic Academy. But up until now, we didn't know each other that well.
However, in November of 2006, something very unexpected and memorable happened. You know how sometimes your lamest and worst ideas actually end up working? This was one of them, and even to this day, your Uncle Jeremie acknowledges that I can put a smile on anybody's face. I can also easily put a look of annoyance on people's faces, but that's beside the point.
Yep, November…hey speaking of which, this was also the time in which everything started falling into place for your Aunts Yumi and Aelita.
Whoops, my bad. I'm getting a little off-track again. Anyways, my awesome story took place when YouTube was just over a year old.
By the way, I loved YouTube. It was, and still is one of my favourite pastimes. After all, there was nothing like watching videos for free. Apart from watching cartoons, occasionally I'd stumble upon a random video that blew my mind.
And when I came across one that provided both food and high-quality slapstick humour, I couldn't help but feel rather inspired…
ODD
"Hey Bryan, thanks for lending me this," said Catherine Horvath as she handed him back a novel. Her eyes were visibly red, but she still managed a small smile before heading off.
"What's up with her?" asked Aelita. Bryan shrugged.
"Isn't it obvious?" said Yumi as she took the seat beside Ulrich and began peeling her orange.
"Umm…she stood too close to a pile of raw onions?" Jeremie suggested.
The oldest LYOKO warrior adopted an expression that seemed to say 'seriously?' "Alright, so it's not obvious to some people. She just broke up with Erik."
Up until now, Odd had been munching happily on one of his chocolate-frosted sprinkled donuts. Upon hearing that Catherine was single again, his ears perked up. He took a glance sideways and saw her at one of the end tables clearly looking crestfallen and all alone.
Ulrich noticed him staring and whispered. "Forget it. She's way out of your league. Besides, she hardly knows you; you rarely hang out with her. If anything, Bryan's going to be the one out of all of us."
Odd ignored his friend and instead got up with his tray and headed to where Catherine was sitting. He didn't know what as driving him to take chances and potentially get messy; Ulrich was right, they barely talked or knew to each other. But if he didn't at least try, he'd never know.
And a girl like Catherine was hard to come by. She had everything that made Odd's heart start racing whenever he saw her. She was bright, friendly and looked absolutely attractive no matter what her hair colour and style was; today it was dark purple.
Besides, there was someone in plain view that was clearly unhappy. And as the self-proclaimed provider of endless humour and general feelgood, he had to act.
AELITA
Right after Odd vacated his seat, everybody's choice for Friendliest Kadic Student of the Year arrived in his place.
"What do want now Sissi?" said Ulrich with a small moan as the others applied the old-fashioned silent treatment. Like Odd, she ignored Ulrich and instead focused her look of vindictive pleasure at Aelita.
"Feeling better today I see."
Aelita put down her glass with a little more force than usual and did not look up. She wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Indeed I am," she replied as if stating the obvious. Plainly, she – along with the rest of her group – wanted Sissi out of her sight.
"Hmm. I was wondering if you could tell me then, where were you last night? I take it that you weren't in your room?" Sissi pressed on.
"What does it matter to you?" Jeremie asked with an accusatory tone.
"Well, it just so happens that I saw her coming out of Bryan's room this morning."
Jeremie was stunned. Aelita had told him the night before that she was only checking up on him, not to have a sleepover, which in young adult terms could have other implications. He glanced at Bryan for an explanation, but it was Aelita who spoke up.
"So? I slept in his room last night after catching up on everything I've missed in class."
"You slept with him?"
"Hold on–" Bryan started.
"Yes. Anything else? If not, can you just leave us alone?" said Aelita furiously.
Sissi's eyes glinted as if she had just discovered the lost treasure of Atlantis. "You do realize that my father will hear about this," she said jubilantly and walked off in stride.
"Wha – what just happened?" Aelita sputtered.
"Let's just say…we just had a slight misunderstanding. When you said that you slept with Bryan, Sissi interpreted it as–" Yumi leaned over the table and whispered into her ear. Aelita put her hands over her mouth and looked down. Suddenly, she wasn't feeling that hungry anymore.
Bryan muttered what was likely several swear words under his breath and made to get up and rush after Sissi, but Ulrich hauled him back down.
"I'm starting to really hate this Eliza girl."
"Uh, you mean Sissi, right?"
"That's her name? No wonder she always looks at me weirdly. I've been calling her that for a while now." As usual, Bryan had a bit of difficulty in remembering his fellow classmates.
Jeremie cleared his throat. "What was that all about?"
"I honestly don't know. Aelita came into my room last night, but I don't know when. I found her sleeping next to me, but I didn't want to wake her up. She was gone when I woke up in the morning."
"That's it?"
"Pretty much."
"So you two didn't…you know?"
Bryan looked flabbergasted at the thought of such mature subject matter. "Of course not Jeremie, come on. We're only sixteen years old! You know we'd never do that."
ODD
Even though Odd had never shown any shyness or lack of confidence when talking to people of the opposite sex, he did feel slightly nervous and began to have second thoughts. However, when he reached the table where Catherine was sitting, his mouth curled into a grin.
"Hey, is this seat taken?"
Catherine looked up, surprised to find that someone was talking to her. "Um…no." She lifted her knapsack off of the chair.
"You feeling alright?"
Catherine nodded. "Yeah. Just…had to take care of some stuff. Thanks for asking, Odd," she added, before looking back down gloomily at her lunch.
And that's when Odd had an awesome fantastic idea of cheering her up.
"What are you eating?"
"Umm, what are you doing?" Catherine asked suspiciously.
"Trying to put that smile back on your face. Now, can you tell the wonderful studio audience what you have in your mouth?" Odd gestured to an empty table. Catherine almost did have a smile back on her face from the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.
"But you can see what I'm eating." Odd shook his head and made a hand motion as if to say "go on."
"Fine. I'm eating an apple. It's the best fruit in the world," she added.
"Really?" said Odd with a hint of skepticism. "Because in my honest opinion, it looks more like a rotten piece of crap."
There was an awkward silence as Catherine's neutral expression began to turn into a frown.
"Excuse me?" she asked with her eyebrows raised. This was his way of cheering people up?
"Yep. Apples are definitely the most disgusting and yuckiest food in the world."
"Oh really? What's your favourite food then?"
Odd reached into his backpack once more and took out two circular pieces of food. "Duh, they're right in my hands."
"Donuts?"
"Not just any donuts! Chocolate-frosted sprinkled donuts! And I bet they can do more everyday tasks than your crapples." Odd then took out a superstore brochure and slammed it down on the table.
A smile crept up on Catherine's face – and this time, it wasn't forced. She brushed aside a strand of her purple-dyed hair.
She knew where this was going.
So, he's seen that video as well. Odd was being silly, but she was too amused at the idea to object. And it wasn't like her to turn down a challenge, no matter how random it was. Odd had just insulted the sweet, crunchy fruit that people like her enjoyed on a daily basis. That was unacceptable.
"I'll have to disagree with you on that. The terrificness that is the apple shall crush you and your brown frosted pieces of trash!" retorted Catherine.
"You're on!" Odd exclaimed, taking a giant bite out of one of his donuts. Food Battle 2006 – the highly competitive and ultimately nonsensical competition of sheer willpower and nutrition had commenced.
YUMI
"By the way Jeremie, I was wondering if you could do something for me?" said Bryan.
"Sure. What is it?"
"When you have the time, check and see if there's anything in the supercomputer about someone named Alan Meyer?"
"Huh, Alan Meyer? Who's that?" asked Yumi.
Bryan didn't want to tell the others that he had supposedly been in touch with Aelita's father while he was unconscious. "No idea. His name just came to the top of my head for some reason; pretty sure there's something connecting him to LYOKO though."
"Alright, I'll see what I can find," said Jeremie, nodding. Bryan had helped save Aelita and for the time being, Jeremie had renewed his trust in him. Having already finished eating and showing no interest at Odd's nineteenth attempt to get a girlfriend, he got up and left.
Aelita and Ulrich had already turned back to watch Odd plan fall into place. And it appeared to be working. Catherine was laughing as he held a donut right in front of her face.
"What's he doing now?"
"Uh…if I'm not mistaken, I think he's trying to turn his donut into a wallet," Bryan replied as he saw Odd trying to stick loose change into his donut with apparent difficulty. "Anyways, I'd better go clear things up with the principal."
Aelita got up. "I'll go too. It's partly my fault, I shouldn't have–"
"It's alright. You took care of my keys while I was out cold. And I can't fault you for falling asleep; I usually cover most of the belongings in my room with ether, just in case someone tries to break in."
"Really?"
"Of course not. I'm not that paranoid, am I?" Bryan chuckled. Aelita looked slightly embarrassed. To pay him back for teasing her, she huffed and took a jab at Bryan's shoulder.
"Hey, if we don't get going, we might actually get detention," she added hastily.
"Ah, right. We'll see you two later then."
"See you later," repeated Yumi, before turning to Ulrich.
"We're seriously going to stay here and watch Odd play with his food?" she said with an amused expression.
Ulrich sighed. "Probably not a good idea, I know. If he sees, he'll involve us somehow."
"My thoughts exactly. So, what do you want to do then?"
"I don't know. I thought it was your turn to make the decision."
"Nuh-uh." She shook her head.
"Uh-huh."
"Not this again."
"Uh-huh," Ulrich smirked.
"Fine. Let's go to the library."
"Okay. What for?" Ulrich got up.
"You still have to do some research and tell me all about the wonderful chemical properties of hydrochloric acid."
"Seriously?" said Ulrich, taking note to never question his friend's extensive memory.
"Yes," Yumi replied cheerfully.
"Darn."
ODD
As it turned out, donuts were not really good wallets.
For one thing, it was hard to stick Euros in the donut without it crumbling. Another flaw was that the chocolate frosting stained pant pockets, which Odd figured out just a tad too late.
By this time, Odd and Catherine had taken their food dispute outside. After five rounds, they were tied in points. Odd's precious donut had prevailed as it transformed into an effective pair of glasses and a towel. On the other hand, Catherine's apple had been able to outperform the donut as a chalkboard eraser and a paperweight.
However, both turned out to be horrible mittens; the donut merely fell apart and created a mess on Odd's hands, while Catherine encountered extreme hardships in inserting her fingers through the hard flesh of the fruit. Apple mittens were also ineffective in keeping fingers moisture-free, due to the simple fact that apples themselves consisted of water.
Even though Odd had already succeeded in his primary objective of cheering his new friend up, winning Food Battle 2006 was still a priority.
"Alright, how about this," Catherine pointed on the catalog to an image of a Frisbee.
"Works for me. I'm going to outspin you out en route to this win," said Odd confidently.
Catherine laughed. "I'm sorry Odd, but that was quite frankly, trash-talking at its lowest lamest level." She cut out a circular slice of her apple and flung it towards Odd. Unfortunately, the light breeze outside was still enough to displace the light apple disk; it wobbled and dropped limply not far from where she stood.
"Dang it!" Catherine grumbled while Odd looked positively jubilant. He then took out a fresh chocolate-frosted sprinkled donut and slung it in Catherine's direction.
The heavier and bulkier donut appeared to be on the mark; however just as it reached halfway between him and Catherine, it ran into a bit of interference…and hit a passer-by, who happened to be Kadic's physical education teacher among many other things.
The donut glanced off Jim's spiky brown hair, but the damage had already been done. Slowly, he leaned over to pick up the remains of the food projectile as Odd held his breath.
"Della Robbia!" he barked. "You're coming with me. Now!" He grabbed Odd's arm and dragged him back inside the school as a stunned Catherine looked on, not knowing whether she should laugh or shake her head at the slight turn of events of what otherwise might have been a pretty comedic situation.
"Catherine, Catherine!" yelled Milly as she rushed towards the upper-year student.
"You've just won Food Battle 2006!"
Catherine adopted a look of shock. "Sweet! Wait a minute, were you watching us goof off all this time?"
"Maybe. The point is, you won by default. So, what are you going to do now?"
"I'm…I'm going to burn the entire school stock of chocolate-frosted sprinkled donuts!" she exclaimed.
"Oh boy! Burning donuts! Can I come?"
"Hell yeah!"
Catherine decided not to burn all of the donuts in the chemistry lab. Nor did she allow Milly follow her to where she was going. She headed for the gymnasium and caught Odd leaving Jim's office. He didn't look troubled, and when he saw Catherine approaching him, his face lit up.
"Hey, you okay? Jim didn't punish you that badly, did he?" said Catherine, concerned. Her purple hair was hanging loosely around her head.
Scratch that previous thought; Catherine was bright, friendly and looked absolutely attractive no matter what her hair colour and style was, or mood she was in. God, she looks amazing, thought Odd. He shook his head.
"Nah. He just lectured me for a couple of minutes about wasting a perfectly good donut. So I gave him one for free and that's that."
That seemed very unlike the usually-stern physical education teacher, but Catherine looked relieved. "That's good."
"Yeah. Actually, it wasn't anything like that. I have detention after school."
"What? But, it wasn't even your fault! Jim just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Odd shrugged. "Meh, what's done is done. And, Jim's detentions aren't really that bad. He usually falls asleep ten minutes in and I just leave."
His response elicited a chuckle from Catherine, who admired his positivity. "Glad you're always looking at the bright side of things."
"Well, it takes more muscles to frown than smile, after all. I know that for a fact. Besides, pessimism is for people without a sense of imagination, or a sense of humour."
"Nice words of wisdom, Philosopher Odd. By the way, I wanted to thank you for today. I know you were trying to cheer me up. And I'd just like to say that you were ultimately successful." She flashed him two thumbs up.
The smile on Odd's face grew wider as he hid any trace of him blushing with a laugh. His professional acts of boosting morale seldom received any praise. "Anytime. By the way, I'm not sure I've properly or officially introduced myself. I'm Odd." He extended his hand.
Catherine laughed and extended her hand as well. "Why, pleased to meet you Odd. I'm Catherine, the winner of Food Battle of 2006."
"There's always next year."
"What, for me to win back-to-back titles?"
"Touché."
"Thank you. Anyways…Bryan told me that you were a huge fan of video games."
"Yeah. Wait, he's told you stuff about me?" Odd's eyes widened. He remembered what Ulrich had said at lunch; that Bryan spent a lot of time hanging out with Catherine.
"Don't worry. He actually spoke quite highly of you, and that there's never a dull day whenever you're around."
"At least he's got some of his facts straight," the boy mumbled.
"Back to the point though, I was wondering… There's a huge tournament at a gaming convention at the end of the month. I was planning on going and I just thought you'd be interested. I'm also looking for a partner for doubles in Halo 2, so…"
Did Odd just hear correctly? A Halo 2 tournament that he wasn't aware of? And more importantly, Catherine was asking him out? The consolation prize to Food Battle 2006 was much, much better than what he had expected. In what was most certainly a rare occasion, Odd was rendered speechless.
"I mean, it's alright if you don't want to come, I understand," Catherine added quickly.
"No…it's not that. But, I think I'm free that day. Sure, I'll tag along!" Odd replied, excited. Looks like it was time to break out his X-box and re-master his sniping skills.
"So it's a date then? Great!" Catherine grinned.
"Wait, did you just say it was a date?" Odd mentally slapped himself in his head; talking about going out with someone currently going through a break-up was not a really smart idea.
"Did I? Sorry, slip of the tongue." Catherine looked unfazed and had a wry smile on her face. "I'll fill you in with the details in the next couple of days, okay?"
"Okay," Odd replied as the bells rang to signal the end of their lunch break.
There were still two weeks before the end of November, but from Odd's perspective, it couldn't come fast enough. He watched as Catherine headed off; the notion of having an after-school detention already forgotten now that he had a weekend a little ways down the road to look forward to.
Fragmented Legacy Fun Fact 021:
This chapter is loosely based on the legen…wait for it…dary TV show how i met your mother, in which Odd stars as Ted Mosby in his epic quest to find 'the one'. Don't worry, it won't take 8+ seasons for the mother to be revealed. In addition, Food Battle 2006 was inspired by a video of the same name by the YouTube duo Smosh, in which a pink-frosted sprinkled donut emerged victorious over a taquito. Additional fun fact: taquitos are not good pool floaties.
A|N's:
This is probably one of the less-serious and more-ridiculous chapters in a while (obviously, because Odd's the star). I've had the idea to write this chapter for a while, but I hadn't figured out where to put it in. In the end, I decided to start 2013 off on a humorous note.
So, is Catherine the mother? Maybe…maybe not. However, fans of Mr. Della Robbia can find comfort in the fact that he'll still be alive and well by the end of this story. In addition, this chapter provides a glimpse as to just how long there is to go before the end is reached =)
Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =)