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G-Force 4
Author of 6 Stories |
Words from the Author:
Thank you for supporting me in writing this massive series. Special shout outs got to Lindsey King A.K.A. Zelda-fan82 for going out of her way to send me an actual E-mail to tell me how she felt about the series. Once again thanks to everyone who still hasn't lost interest in my Retelling series.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Code Lyoko, but if I did that would kick so much butt!
Kadic Junior High was still. No students were roaming around campus, no teachers were talking about the day's lesson plan and the rest of the faculty was absent at this given moment. Even the omnipresent physical education teacher Jim was nowhere to be found. The campus's emptiness was not the result of a XANA attack. You see, if these activities were to occur at this hour, then there would be a serious problem. The reason for the school's vacancy was because it was night time. Most of the students and teachers had retired to the sanctity of their beds and surrendered to the sandman so he could whisk them away to dream world. With most of the staff out of the picture, Ulrich and Jeremie choose the night time to carry out their plan to keep an eye on XANA.
Ulrich stepped out of the shadow of the doorway he and Jeremie were hiding in under the cover of the moonlight, Ulrich walked over to a nearby wall and began to shake the spray can he was currently holding.
"Ok Jeremie the coast is clear."
Jeremie followed his command and walked over to the same wall and shook his own spray can, preparing himself for his "artistic" painting.
"You still remember the plan, do you?"
Before Jeremie answered the question, he thought back to the conversation that had when they began to devise their plan
"Cool it Odd" Yumi said as she tried to calm down her sporadic friend. "Keep bouncing around like that and you'll spend your one-week vacation in the infirmary with Dorothy."
The thought of Odd laying in a hospital bed during his break was an amusing one at that. As the mental image slowly began to form in their minds, the group let out a loud roar of laughter at Odd's expense.
"Really funny guys" Odd feigned being insulted, "With friends like you laughing at my misfortunes, who needs XANA?"
Hearing the infamous four-letter word, Jeremie's mood switched from good-humored to downright worried. "Thanks for reminding me."
"Huh, what's up Jeremie?" Jin asked, perplexed by his friend's sudden mood swing.
"XANA"
"Yes he's the bad guy but still that doesn't explain your change of mood. Don't tell me he's in your head right now messing with all your emotions. Cause I would really hate having to put your lights out all to just drive him out of your brain."
"Real funny Jin, but that's not the issue here."
"Then what is?"
"Look if we all take a vacation, that would give XANA seven days of freedom to wreak havoc on this school!"
Yumi was just as nervous as Jeremie was when she began to think of the possibilities. "That is pretty bad Jeremie but how do you suppose we keep an eye on him?"
"One of us has to stay behind"
Jin took a moment to think over Jeremie's suggestion. "That's all well and good but who's going to stay? Some of use have plans."
"I will."
"Jeremie, you're going to stay!" Jin asked shocked that his friend would volunteer himself to keep an eye on XANA. "But you don't even fight in Lyoko?"
Odd realized that he had been silent for too long and decided to jump into the conversation at that moment. "Hey don't complain about Jeremie not going into Lyoko. Last time I checked, you missed the last XANA attack to go with your sister."
Jin couldn't easily refute Odd's remark as he saw the truth of his words. "Ok let me rephrase that. The thing that I'm mostly worried is that if XANA does attack, how are you going to stop it seeing how you have to run the computers and all that other stuff?"
"Don't worry about it Jin. I can safely guide Aelita through Lyoko using the factory's computer. We just have to be a little smarter than usual. Besides, if anyone else but me was going to stay, then they would have to use my computer to stay in touch in Aelita and no offense to you guys, but I would prefer if you kept your hands off it, it's a very delicate piece of machinery.""
"Ok now that we know who's going to stay behind, we gotta think of something that Jeremie could do to get him grounded here for a week."
Odd racked his brain thinking of all his options. "I got it! Let's mess with Dirk and Clayton then make it look like Jeremie did it."
Ulrich thought about the idea and shook his head. "As much as I like to get at those two, it's a really bad idea. Think of it Odd, playing around with Dirk is like messing with the Devil himself. We do something to them then most likely Dirk with find some what to get back at Jeremie during the week. Next thing you know, our friend has XANA, Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber breathing down his neck."
Jeremie saw the consequences if they were to follow Odd's plan and grimaced. "Now that you mention it Ulrich, that does sound like a bad idea. How about you Yumi, any suggestions?"
"Sorry guys, I'm not too keen in stirring up trouble. Aniki, wanna take a crack at this? You must have picked up some cool pranks while you were living in America. You already learned how to fight and dance there."
"Pulling pranks is not my forte but I did remember an incident that happened a year ago."
"What happened Aniki?"
"Well there was this one student who had a teacher he totally despised who drove a convertible and always left the top rolled down. Well one day, the teacher goes to his car to drive home and finds that somebody unloaded four sacks of manure in it."
"I don't think we can pull that off in such a short notice."
"Oh well, it was a funny story right?"
For this entire time Ulrich had been thinking of way to get Jeremie in trouble without putting him in harms way or hurting other students in the process. An idea finally came to surface and Ulrich was more than willing to share it with everyone. "Jin just gave me an idea!"
"We are not putting manure in a teacher's car, that's just crossing the line." Yumi said with her hands at her hips.
"No not that Yumi. Think of it, what better way to get Jeremie to lose his vacation than to cause trouble with one of the teachers?"
Odd stroked his chin and wondered which direction Ulrich's idea was taking them. "Keep going"
"Well since we have to get Jeremie in trouble, we might as well pick a target that we know we will have fun with. Now who is it going to be?"
The five friends thought of the question and all thought of the same obvious answer at the same time.
"Jim!" All five of them said out loud.
"Ok so here's the plan guys, listen up..."
Ulrich's yelling threw his friend back into the present.
"Huh, what did you say Ulrich?"
"Come on Jeremie focus! You still remember the plan right?"
"Yep, spray one big embarrassing picture of Jim right on this wall."
"Don't forget, you have to be caught red-handed. With that good reputation of yours, that's the only way for people to believe that you did it."
"Roger that."
The boys gave their spray cans one last shake for good luck before they began to work on their "masterpiece". With each press of the novel, the spray cans let out a small hiss indicating to the two individuals that they were working. Ulrich and Jeremie moved the cans of paint in a variety of motions, all in the effort to capture their vision onto the wall they picked out. When their picture was almost complete, Jeremie lowered his hand to look behind him.
"What's wrong?" Ulrich asked.
"I'm just hoping that Odd will come through with his part of the plan, or else this whole thing will come crashing down."
"Don't worry, I bet you Odd will come through for us, I promise."
"Ok Kiwi it's now or never. Go do your thing boy."
Kiwi was a well-trained dog that was able to follow almost all of Odd's commands within a drop of a hat. After being shoved into Jim's room, Kiwi already made his way to his target who was already fast asleep. Jim was totally unaware of the dog's intrusion as he continued to snore through the night. Tossing and turning in his sleep and causing a ruckus in his bed, he gave off all the indications that he was in a deep sleep. With his loud snoring overall size and constant movements, Jim proved to be a very intimidating sight for Kiwi as he stayed frozen in his tracks out of fear that the beast that he was ordered to wake would attack him.
Odd stood on the outside of the door leading into Jim's room and heard everything first hand.
"Man that guys snores really loudly. I bet if he had a roommate, he'd have to wear earplugs just to be able to get a wink of sleep." He said to himself, unaware of the irony that his statement carried.
To his credit, Kiwi was a well-trained dog. He was able to follow the complicated strings of commands that Odd left for him to complete. Overcoming his initial fear of the sleeping man, Kiwi braced himself and prepared his attack.
BARK! BARK! BARK!
Jim's eyes shot wide open, giving off the obvious indication that he was now awake. Sitting straight up in his bed, Jim initial thoughts were that this was the work of a student playing a prank on him. He looked to the side of his bed and expected to see a student snickering at his or her own handiwork but was surprised to when he saw nothing. However, the noises still continued to haunt him.
BARK! BARK! BARK!
Jim aimed his gaze a little lower toward the floor and found his culprit. A small dog that had managed to sneak through the small opening he left in his doorway.
"Ah ha! I knew there was a dog here, and once I catch you I'm going to show the principal how correct my hunch was!"
Odd hid in a nearby corner once he heard Jim's exclamation. From his vantage point, he was able to see Kiwi bolt straight out of the room toward the field with Jim right behind him in hot pursuit.
"Great, not only am I the school enforcer, P.E. teacher and hall monitor, they had to add dog catcher to my already growing list of responsibilities." Jim grumbled to himself as he tried his best not to lose sight of the dog.
The small nimble Kiwi easily out ran the large sluggish teacher that was chasing him as he headed over to a set of doors that were already open giving him access to the field outside. Odd silently stalked the entire chase and found some amusement in the spectacle.
"Man this is SO worth breaking curfew for, watching Jim try to catch Kiwi like that. Look how easily he's getting tired. If only Milly and Tamiya were here to document the whole thing then, that would just make my day. I can see the headline now, Out of Shape School P.E. Teacher In Need of P.E. Classes." Odd waited until Jim was a safe distance away from him before erupting into a laughing fit of his own.
"And we're done. You know what Ulrich? This picture came out better than I expected."
"I feel the same way here Jeremie" Ulrich said placing his own spray can down and cracking his knuckles.
"Oh no" Jeremie said noticing the similarities of Ulrich's actions and those of another student he currently knew.
"What?"
"He's rubbing off of you."
"Who is?"
"Jin"
"What do you mean?"
"You're cracking your knuckles like he always does." Jeremie said jokingly trying to kill time
Ulrich didn't really see the truth in Jeremie's words but decided to play along with them to humor him. "You're absolutely right Jeremie he is. Pretty soon, I'm going to start rolling up my jacket sleeve and start wearing my headphones twenty-four seven just like how he does."
Before Jeremie could make a comment of his own, he heard three unusual noises not too far off in the distance.
BARK! BARK! BARK!
Ulrich knew the significance of those barks and took it as his cue to leave.
"Ok Jeremie, this is where I leave you to fend for yourself. Hope they don't throw the book at you too hard ok? See you later."
Jeremie watched as his friend ran toward the dorms and picked up a nearby spray can and began touching up the picture once more.
"Slow down so I can catch you!" Jim yelled at the dog in a vain effort to make things easier on himself. His chase lead him outside the building where he pursued the dog under the cover of the moonlight. Since it was dark outside, Jim paid special attention to all the noises he was creating to get a better picture of what was going on. First there was the loud thud his bare feet made whenever they would hit the floor. Next there was the quiet pitter-patter the dog's paws made as it tried to get away from him. Finally there was the loud hissing noise that.
Loud hissing noise? What could be making that sound?
Jim stopped running and turned his head toward the direction of the sound and expected to find the source of it but instead found yet another student breaking his curfew.
"Jeremie, what are you doing outside this late?"
"Oh just a little late-night artistic work."
"Real funny" It took Jim a few moments to realize that Jeremie was using the spray can to pain a picture on the brick wall he was standing in front of. Moving his eyeballs, Jim's curiosity got the better of him as he began to stare at the picture that Jeremie drew for him.
"AHHH!"
Painted on the wall was a large unflattering portrait of himself. He wore a wide-eyed look on his face along with a pair of bunny ears that adorned the top of his head.
"So Jim, what do you think? I had some trouble capturing your true essence but I think I did a relatively good job on the mural overall. Just let it all sink in before you make you make a judgment." Jeremie said, trying his best to emulate Odd and Jin's unique sense of sarcasm
"Bunny ears!"
"Yep "
"YOU PUT BUNNY EARS ON MY HEAD!"
"Creative isn't it."
"Listen here young man, the only thing creative around here is the punishment the principal is going to hand you once he finds out about THIS!" Jim pointed at the picture to punctuate his statement. "I want you to head to your room right now and we're going to talk to him right before class tomorrow."
"Ok then, have a nice night" Jeremie said as he causally walked away.
Free from Jeremie's presence Jim took a little extra time to inspect the picture further.
"Humph, kids these days. Show no respect for their elders. Plus his drawing skills are pretty sketchy, just look how he drew my eyes. There is NO way I could ever open them that wide."
As if he was a child in elementary school, Jim titled his head to the side and muttered his final "critique."
"Stupid bunny ears."
"Don't know, but I hope it does. If he fails to get himself grounded here, then XANA would have the entire week to turn this city into his personal playground."
"Don't remind me." Yumi had enough XANA talk for one day and decided to switch the topic of the conversation to something a little more lighthearted. "Hey Aniki, where did you get that scarf?" She asked referring to the black cloth adorned with a large smiling skeletal face on both ends that Jin had wrapped around his neck.
"My friends got it for me in America for my birthday. They knew how much I loved the movie so they gave me this scarf so I could better express my fandom."
"And what movie was that?"
"The Nightmare Before Christmas"
"Oh yeah"
Yumi suddenly remembered watching the movie with her brother a few days ago once he finally settled in his new home. "That was the claymation movie about Halloween Town."
"Yep"
"Then which character is on your scarf? I kinda forgot his name."
Jin held up one end of his scarf so his sister could get a better view of the character's face. "This is Jack Skellington and he's the King of Halloween!"
"You and your cartoons Aniki"
"Hey it's a good movie."
"I'm just stating the obvious"
"Whatever"
Seeing how the conversation was finished, Jin placed his headphones over his ears and pressed the play button. Yumi turned her head to the road and kept walking toward the school, taking in a moment to enjoy the silence. She soon found herself at the gates of the school and right in the company of Ulrich and Odd.
"So you two, how did last night go?" Yumi asked, curious of the plan's results.
"It went by real smoothly, Jeremie is in the principal's office right now" Ulrich answered.
"Then maybe we should go see him. How much time do we have left until class starts?"
Odd looked at his watch upon hearing the request. "We got half an hour left. That's plenty of time to pay the little offender a visit."
The group was about to make their way to the principal's office until they notice that they were one member short. Odd glanced over his shoulder and saw that Jin was still near the school's gates and was singing to himself.
Boys and girls of every age
Won't you like to see something strange
Come with us and you will see
This our town of Halloween
"Yumi, does your brother do this kind of thing everyday!"
"Sadly yes. Jin sometimes forgets what's going around him sometimes and is usually off in his own little world."
Odd let out a huge sigh for all to hear. "And to think that guy is going to be fighting along side of us in Lyoko pretty soon. Any ideas on how I could get his attention?"
"Just remove his headphones. That always works for me."
Odd gave Yumi a small nod and walked toward the singing boy. Getting himself into position, He raised his right hand and waited for the best moment to seize the headphones from Jin's possession.
This is Halloween!
This is Halloween!
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night This is Halloween!
Everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till your neighbors gonna die of fight
Odd couldn't take Jin's singing any more and shot his hand forward at the object around his head.
It's our town everybody...
SNATCH
Jin was brought back to reality and realized that there were a number of people giving him suspicions glances. He glanced up at Odd and saw that he held his precious headphones in his hand.
"Hey! I was listening to that!"
"Ok Jack, when you're not too busy planning the festivities for next year's Halloween, you might want to come to the principal's office with us."
"Nice to see that you saw the movie too Odd. You sure do know your classics."
"Didn't you hear me? Jeremie is in the principal's office and we're going to pay him a visit."
"Oh wow! Really?"
"Yes, really. Man Jin, I think that scarf your wearing is cutting off the blood circulation to your brain because right now you sound just as dopey as Sissi."
"Hey you two!" Yumi called out who was already walking away. "Let's go or Ulrich and I are just going to leave you behind!"
Jin and Odd both exchanged glances before they ran toward the group to catch up.
"You know why you are here, correct?"
"The picture I sprayed on the wall"
"Then I don't need to go into depth with you." The principal's spoke in a calm and collected manner which sent chills down Jeremie's spine.
"No sir" Jeremie knew he was going to get in trouble but he tried his best not to get any other trouble outside of the one week detention that he was aiming for.
"Before I give you your punishment, let me ask you this, why? Why would such a model student do such a thing?"
"I really don't know."
"Let me tell you something Jeremie. For the past week, you are the only student that I had to discipline. Even Dirk and Clayton are behaving themselves. But now I have to take disciplinary action against you, one of our top academic achievers. And yet, despite your reputation, when you commit such a violation on our school grounds against our faculty you're telling me that you don't know why you committed such an offense?"
"No sir I don't. It was more of a spur of the moment kind of thing."
"Jeremie you left me with no choice. I'm going to have to give you detention during your vacation. You will be confined to this campus and will be under Jim's supervision the entire time. Maybe within those seven days you will finally remember the real reason why you committed such a crime. Now, get to class."
Jeremie turned his back to the principal and walked toward the door making sure that he didn't see the smile on his face.
"So Jeremie how did it go?" Yumi asked summing up the big question that the group had for him.
"I'll tell you later once we get of this place. This waiting room gives me the chills."
Odd held the exit door open so that his friends could walk through he waited for all of them to pass through the doorway before closing it behind him.
"Wait up Jeremie." said Jin, who was apparently excited about the success of their plan. "Before you tell us about the principal's office. I just gotta know, how did you guys pull it off."
Jeremie was a little uneasy with Jin's excitement as he leaned over toward Odd to speak to him. "Is it just me, or does Jin seem a little too energetic today?"
"His scarf is on too tight."
"That explains a lot." Jeremie then resumed his normal standing position. "Well I can't take all of the credit Odd and Ulrich played a big part in the plan as well. If I didn't have their help, this would have never worked out."
"Ok, now that we got the mushy stuff out of the way, what happened?"
Ulrich took it upon himself to begin the explanation. "Well we all waited till it got really dark before we went outside with our spray cans..."
"Hey Sissi, did you hear about what Jeremie did last night?" Nicholas asked trying to start a conversation.
"Of course I did you dunce, my father is the principal of this school, he knows everything that goes around this dump."
"I just find it weird that Jeremie did it. He's such a straight arrow."
"I'm just surprised that Jeremie was able to do it period." Herb said sharing his own thoughts.
"Well no matter how strange it is I still find it weird that he did it in the first place. Why would one of the smartest kids in the school do something so stupid?" Sissi asked, pondering on her own question.
The group stopped to think of their own explanation that would make sense of Jeremie's recent act of vandalism but their thoughts were halted once they heard a voice nearby.
"You should have seen the look on Jim's face, aw man it was priceless. He was saying, WHY DID YOU PUT BUNNY EARS ON MY HEAD! If I didn't keep my cool at that moment, I would have died of laughter."
"Hey isn't that Jeremie?" Nicholas asked once again demonstrating his powers over the obvious.
"Yes it is, you idiot!" Herb yelled out slightly insulted by the fact that he didn't need Nicolas's aid in coming up with that conclusion. "Notice something a little odd here?"
"Uh huh" Sissi said placing her hands on her hips. "It's like he's proud of what's he's done even though he just got his first black mark in his perfect record. Something tells me that this was less of a spur of the moment sort of thing and more of a premeditated, calculated plan."
"What makes you think that Sissi?" Nicholas asked impressed by the girl's deductive reasoning.
"Women's intuition, something that you two will never have. There's something strange going on but I just can't put my finger on it."
"Hahaha, man and here I thought the manure incident was funny, this blows it out of the water." Once the humor of the incident began to die down, Jin was able to finally control himself. "Ok seriously Jeremie, what's your punishment."
"The principal gave me a week of detention and now I'm forced to stay here while all of you guys go on vacation. Oh woe is me." Jeremie said sarcastically prompting another fit of laughter from the group.
"Well that's good to hear, come on guys, if we leave now we might be able to make it to class on time." Yumi said already walking away from her friends.
"You heard my sister guys, we gotta get going." Jin placed the headphones over his ears once more and hit the play button before he began his long run to class.
"Did you heart that guys?" Nicolas said, not too sure of what to make of the statement. "Jeremie sounded pretty happy for a kid who got punished."
Sissi closed her eyes and turned her back toward Nicholas wondering why she continued to put with his company for this long.
"Of course we heard it, anyone with two ears noticed that. Now you having a brain, that's an entirely different issue that we'll address later."
Herb stepped forward and raised his index finger in the air. "If you ask me, I'd say that Jeremie was so happy was because he was punished not for getting back at Jim."
"Please, tell me more." Sissi said with a genuine sense of interest.
"Let's analyze the facts. First of all, Jeremie committed the offense, a star student, not a usual trouble maker like Dirk or Clayton. Second, Jeremie is not the type to extract revenge one someone no matter how much he would despise them. For him to paint a humiliating picture of Jim on the wall is a defiantly outside his normal pattern of behavior. Third, he was happy because of the fact the he lost his vacation through..."
"Just get to the point!" Sissi yelled at Herb impatiently..
"I was just getting to that. As I was saying, given all three of these factors, one can conclude that Jeremie intentionally got himself in trouble seeing how he was so willing to break the school rules."
"Now that's a good explanation, I always knew that you were a smart one Herb and only someone of my stature would be able to appreciate your natural gifts."
Herb gave Sissi a small smile after hearing her praise.
"Something fishy is going on here and the "Weirdo Bunch" is part of it. I'm going to get to the bottom of this if it's the last thing I do."
"But aren't you going on vacation too?" Nicholas asked knowing of Sissi's plans for the week. "You can't stay here to find out what's going on if you're in another place, that's physically impossible."
"Well then, I'm just going to have to work around that "minor" detail won't I?" Sissi turned on her heel and walked straight toward her father's office and executed her own plan.
The principal grumbled to himself. As much as he hated being the first one to take action against the star student, rules were rules and if he started taking in exceptions now, who knows what sort of trouble he would land himself in the future. His pen scribbled out the necessary information to make Jeremie's one week stay at Kadic official as he tried to finish the not as soon as he could. Suddenly he heard his door unexpectedly open.
"Hello daddy" Sissi greeted her father with a cheerful smile.
"Hello there Sissi, what brings you to my office so early in the morning?"
"Well...I'm here to ask you for your advice?"
"Advice?" He was not expecting a father, daughter discussion today.
"You're the headmaster of this school so you'll be perfect for the dilemma that my friend is having. "
"Well in that cause, sure. I'll be glad to help anyway I can."
"You see daddy, my friend's math grade is gradually slipping and she needs more time to study. Now her vacation would be a perfect opportunity for her to accomplish this but she has to go to her grandparent's house and she knows full well that if she goes there, that she will be distracted and not get any studying done what so ever. What should she do?"
"Well if her parents truly care about her grades, then my suggestion is that they allow her to stay at school for the vacation and go one without her. Now who is your friend anyway? Maybe I can call her parents to help persuade them."
"You don't need to daddy, that was me!" Sissi leaned over the desk and gave her father a warm hug.
The principal's expression changed from mild shock to that of slight concern. "That was you, why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I was afraid that you would be mad at me."
"Although I am disappointed in your academic performance. I am happy that you had enough courage to tell me the truth before your grades sank any lower." "So does that mean I'll be staying here for the week?"
"I'll call Jim and tell him about the arrangements so he can look after you also."
"Thanks daddy, you're the best!" Sissi leaned over and gave her father another hug before leaving the room.
The principal recollected his paper work and resumed writing Jeremie's disciplinary referral, totally unaware of the trickery that the previous two students had pulled.
The school bell rang thus signaling the end of classes and the beginning of vacation. Yumi and Jin soon met up with Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie and began walking toward the school's gate to talk over plans for the week.
"Wow Jin. I can't believe that you know so much about history. You were tearing through those questions as if they were nothing." Yumi commented about one of her previous classes.
"It's not that impressive sis. History is one of my most favorite subjects around here. It's like what they always say, you never know where you're going unless you know where you've been, and I am a firm believer of that statement."
Odd had enough of Jin's lecturing and placed the palms of his hands over his ears to block out any more pieces of educational information.
"Stop it Jin. School is over now. Let me worry about my classes when I come back here!"
Ulrich stood on the far right of the line that the group formed and leaned his head forward so he could address all of his friends at once.
"Man it seems like everyone is going to have a really fun vacation except me."
"What do you mean?" Asked a concerned Yumi.
"Well Odd's going to visit his parents on the other side of the planet, Jeremie gets to stay in school and keep Aelita company, you and Jin are going to a vacation in the mountains and what do I have to look forward to? An entire week with Mrs. Hertz as my special tutor helping me with math."
Odd stood on the left side of the line and leaned his head forward in order for him to talk to Ulrich directly.
"Man if she thinks she could make you a better math student in only seven days, I'd say let her try but lets hope she isn't making any promises."
Odd then straightened himself out and leaned backwards so he could get a better view of Jeremie before he spoke to him.
"Speaking of you being here, are you sure you're going to be safe. I mean this campus is quite big and all. Anything can happen to you."
"Oh don't worry. He won't be alone for the week." Came Sissi's voice out of the clear blue yonder.
"AHH!" Jin yelled out of surprise. "Sissi where the hell did you come from!" Jin recovered from his initial shock and spoke to himself softly. "So this is how they feel like when I just show up out of nowhere."
It was now Jeremie's turn to lean over to Odd to speak to him. "You hit the nail on the head this time Odd. Jin's scarf is indeed on WAY too tight."
"Yumi, ever thought about having your brother's head checked, he seems to be losing his marbles. I mean come on Jin. Isn't it a little too early to be sporting winter fashion and what is up with your scarf with that ugly skeleton on it? Are you some sort of Grateful Dead fan or something?"
Jin had enough of the verbal abuse that Sissi was throwing in his direction and decided to fight back.
"First of all Sissi, get your rock and roll references straight. The Grateful Dead favored full body, realistic looking skeletons, not cartoonish ones. Second of all, this fellow here is Jack Skelington and he's the King of Halloween."
Yumi tried to bring the conversation to its original focus. "What did you mean when you said that Jeremie won't be alone for the week?
"I convinced my father to let me stay. Jeremie is so eager to, so why not me. I know you five are hiding something from me and it's only a matter of time before I find it."
No sooner did Sissi answer Yumi's question did Jim made his presence known. He grabbed Jeremie by the arm and began leading him toward the wall that he defaced.
"Ok Picasso so you really love to draw huh? Well maybe cleaning up after yourself will teach you not to vandalize school property."
Sissi couldn't contain her laughter anymore as she began to laugh at Jeremie's predicament.
"You're coming too Sissi!"
"What!"
"Your father gave me specific orders to make sure that you're studying this whole time. So both of you get a move on NOW!"
Jin marched the two students over and they were soon out of sight. The rest of Jeremie's friends were dumbfounded with what just happened.
"That was really strange." Jin said, trying to snap the group back to their normal states of mind.
"Tell me about it Aniki. Well, at least Jim was able to get rid of Sissi."
"Maybe my vacation isn't going to be that hard after all." Ulrich said after seeing the almost drill master-ish persona Jim assimilated to deal with Jeremie and Sissi.
"So guys" Odd spoke trying to be the serious one in this conversation. "What are we going to do during our vacations incase XANA attacks?"
Yumi began forming a plan in her mind and shared it once it reached its strategic ripeness.
"We'll just bring our cell phones with us and pray that if XANA attacks, we'll still be in the country. If he waits for us to leave, then Jeremie's our last line of defense in stopping him."
"Well that's a relief" Jin said placing his right hands in his pocket. "Let's just hope that it will never come to that. My ideal vacation does not involve me getting trashed around by XANA," Jin's expression soon softened as he turned his head toward his friends. "So what do you guys wanna do before we go our separate ways?"
"Ok come on kid, that picture isn't going to leave that wall anytime soon. Keep scrubbing."
Jeremie complied with Jim's demands to avoid raising any suspicion of his previous actions and began to scrub a little more harder to please him.
Not bothering to turn his head, Jim laid back down in his chair and decided to check on Sissi's progress.
"So Sissi, how's you studying going?"
Never in her life was she more confused. Sissi flipped through the pages of her math text book hoping to find the magic answer that would clarify all of the text on the pages.
"What have I gotten myself into?" she thought to herself. "I don't know who's having a harder time. Me trying to decipher this foreign language in front of me called math or Jeremie trying to scrub the picture off the wall with only a sponge."
Realizing what she was saying, Sissi took her right hand and gave herself a few well-placed whacks to the head.
"What are you saying Sissi! Get a hold of yourself! You know you're better than that. Now is not the time to be buckling under the pressure when you have a mystery to solve and your prime suspect is in front of you. Let's look at the progress I made so far. Step one, skip out of vacation to stay in school, check. Step two talk to Jeremie about his little "friend," currently in progress. Now in order for me to get that guy to open up, I have to isolate him from that red baboon that' sitting in front of him. Now how do I suppose I would do that?"
An idea clicked inside Sissi's head as a mischievous smile spread across her face.
"Of course Sissi, that wasn't so hard to think of. I am such a genius. I even impress myself with the amount of brilliance I possess. Now, let's see how this will work in real life."
Having enough math knowledge crammed into her skull for one day, Sissi closed her book and made her way toward Jeremie to uncover the secrets of the "Weirdo Bunch."
"Man, why did we have to use such high quality spray paint?" Jeremie grumbled underneath his breath after seeing how little progress he was making in cleaning the picture off the wall. Jeremie rested his arm and took a quick breather and was just in time to see Sissi make her way over to talk to Jim.
"Hello Jim" she said, waking the sleeping P.E. teacher.
"Oh it's you Sissi. Shouldn't you be over there studying?"
"Well I can't really concentrate right now. I was wondering if I could help Jeremie with his little "problem". It's like my father always said...ummm...a little manual labor does the mind wonders."
"You know what? That's an excellent idea. Maybe not all of you kids are such lazy individuals after all. I'll go get you an extra bucket and sponge so sit tight."
Sissi watched Jim run off leaving her alone with Jeremie, just like she planed it, "Sissi, that has gotta be the LAMEST thing you ever said all day. Oh well, no use beating yourself up, if it was good enough to get the baboon out of here then it must have been good enough for you." She thought to herself before acquiring Jeremie's attention.
Jeremie knew that Sissi was up to no good and took the defensive.
"Ok Sissi, what is it now?"
"I was just admiring your handiwork, pretty good Jeremie. I'm just curious, did you paint that whole thing by yourself, or did your buddy XANA help you. Listen because I think it's only fair enough for me to warn you. I know that there's something you and your little group of friends are hiding from me and this XANA thing, whatever it is, plays a major role in your little secret."
"XANA is one of our group's favorite rock bands, but I'm sure with all that garbage you listen to I wouldn't be surprised if you have never heard of them."
Sissi took a step back after hearing Jeremie's insult her taste in music. "Might as well let him have this one. Sooner or later he's going to drop his guard and then, BAM, I got him right where I want him." She thought to herself once more.
Sissi then saw Jeremie drop his sponge in the bucket near his feet.
"Hey, just what on Earth do you think you're doing? Get back to work!"
"Listen Sissi. I don't know what angle your going for but ordering me around is not going to help you one iota. I've been scrubbing this thing for hours nonstop so I believe that I'm entitled to a break of some sort. I can't say the same for you. Since you were so eager to help clean this up, you might as well get started now."
Jeremie walked over to Jim's chair and made himself comfortable. Clasping his eyes behind his head, Jeremie then began to act like his P.E. teacher.
"Come on Sissi, that picture isn't going to clean itself you know." He said in a really bad Jim impersonation.
Sissi saw the tall figure making his way back from the storage room. "You know Jeremie, there's nothing funny with what you're doing what now."
Jeremie's tone of voice was still the same as he continued acting like Jim. "What do you mean Sissi? This is some grade A material. Of course it's funny." Jeremie opened his eyes and saw Jim loam over him with an angry look on his face.
"So it's not bad enough that you had to draw me on this wall huh? Now, you've decided to start acting like me too. I'll let it go if you get back to cleaning that horrible picture NOW!"
"Come on Jim there has to be something about the mural that you like."
"No way. I hate everything about it! That stupid grin I'm wearing, that space out stare I have the...:
Sissi decided to use this moment to have a little fun at Jim's expense. "What about those bunny ears on your head? I think they're pretty cute."
"ESPECIALLY THOSE BUNNY EARS! GET TO WORK NOW!"
"Yes sir!" The two students said and began scrubbing out of fear for their lives.
"We do stuff like this every year, I wish my family would give it a break for once." Herb sighed as he began to neatly place his clothes in his suitcase. "I just wish that I had someone I can talk to so this whole thing is more bearable."
No sooner did Herb finish that statement did his cell phone start to ring.
"Hello, Herb speaking" he said into the receiver not knowing who was on the other line.
"Thank God, finally I'm talking to someone other than Jeremie and Jim." Replied a voice which he instantly recognized as Sissi's.
"I feel the same way too Sissi. It's good to hear from you."
"For once I agree." Sissi changed positions on her bed and released a yelp of pain as a result of her movement.
"Sissi, are you alright!" Herb asked instantly concerned with his friend's health.
"Don't worry Herb I'm just soar that's all."
"I've never heard of anyone getting soar from studying."
"I wasn't just studying. I offered to help Jeremie clean up the mess he made so I could get Jim out of the way and ask the little star pupil to spill his secret."
"Judging by your present condition, I'd say that meeting didn't turn out in your favor."
"I'm so soar Herb, it hurts all over" Sissi groaned, "Even my eyelids are aching when I blink."
"That doesn't sound too good, maybe you should get some rest now so your body can heal much faster."
"No can do Herb. Jeremie is just planning something. I just know it!"
"What makes you think so?"
"He's been in his room and hasn't stepped outside for anything. I'd bet he's in there right now, plotting his little secret plan to show all of his friends."
"Herb, dinner is ready. Come downstairs now!" came a voice from Herb's side of the line.
"Who was that?" Sissi asked wanting to identify the speaker that she just heard.
"It's my mom. Sorry Sissi but I have to go now. Good luck with your search for the truth."
"Luck?" The principal's daughter responded with her classic air of arrogance. "This scheme is foolproof." Sissi hung up her cell phone and resumed her watch of Jeremie's door.
"Well that's all I can do right here." Jeremie said, giving his arms a much needed stretch. "I have to use the factory computer to complete the rest of the process."
"You know Jeremie, maybe you should get some sleep. You have been working quiet hard both on and off your computer. XANA hasn't awoken yet and I haven't felt any pulsations recently. There's nothing for you to worry about."
"Thanks for your concern Aelita but I'm heading over to the factory right now. You know me, if I were to stop now, I wouldn't be able to get a wink of sleep until I get this step out of the way."
Aelita was still nervous, for some reason she had this uneasy feeling that continued to pester her.
"Ok Jeremie, but be careful."
The door slowly creaked open and for a brief moment, all that Jeremie was able to see was the color pink. Jeremie's vision was blocked by the enormous pink cloud. Suddenly Jeremie felt his throat tightened as the pink smoke began to enter his body risking internal injuries. Jeremie's survival instincts kicked into gear as he began to cough, a desperate attempt to slow the smoke's entrance into his body. He stood in the door for only a few seconds as he was able to work up enough strength to close the door and rid himself of the pink menace. He placed one hand on the door and slowly began taking in deep breaths of fresh air to clear his system of the poisonousness invader and to make sense of what just happened. Jeremie was too busy coughing and breathing to hear the heavy footsteps behind him.
"Now don't tell me that you were sleepwalking because I've been teaching here for twenty years and I have heard that excuse too many times to count."
Jeremie jumped back once he felt a hand touch his shoulder and turned around only to see Jim's face once more. Jeremie was too concerned with the impending doom that was in the next room to even care if Jim was going to punish him at all.
"Jim, thank goodness that you're here. You have to check inside this room! I just saw a thick cloud of smoke!"
"Smoke!" Jim's sense of compassion and duty were instantly sparked. "Ok Jeremie, stay behind me, this could get ugly."
CLICK
The being heard the doorknob turn and quickly escaped into the school's ventilation shaft to flee from its pursuers.
"Jeremie, what's the meaning of this!"
"But the smoke, I saw it. This room was filled with smoke just a few moments ago!"
"Well let me tell you something, I don't see smoke but I do see another act of vandalism here and I think I know who did it."
"That's a relief Jim, so who is it?"
"You"
"What are you saying!"
"Look I caught you red-handed breaking curfew drawing that stupid picture of me on the wall. Now I find you breaking curfew again near this storage room that has been turned inside out."
"But Jim, it wasn't me I swear."
"Oh really?" Jim raised his eyebrow to confirm his suspicion. "You seem to be the guilty party here. No other student could have done this since they're all out on vacation."
"But I..."
"Not another word young man. I don't want you to say anything right now. Just turn yourself around and march right back to your dorm and don't pull any funny stuff now because I'll be watching you."
Jeremie began the long walk back to his room and avoided eye contact with Jim the entire time. He was too busy wondering about the thick cloud of smoke he just saw and inhaled worrying if that stuff was the result of XANA or something else. Jeremie entered his room still lost in thought until Jim was "kind" enough to help him gather his sense.
"Ok Jeremie, tomorrow morning I'm calling your parents to tell them about your little "extra curricular activities" around here. Maybe with them on your back, you'll shape up and fly right."
Jeremie knew that he couldn't do anything right now and decided to get some shut eye before checking up on the mysterious accident.
"Ok, what's so special about this room to make XANA target it?" Jeremie thought out loud.
His investigation of the crime scene continued until he saw the turned over barrels.
"Looks like XANA was after these chemicals but why? There nothing dangerous about chemicals individually, so why would he..."
Jeremie's answer came to him before he could finish his statement.
"The smoke! XANA was going for a chemical reaction!"
Jeremie soon ran out of the storage room to the factory not caring who or what saw him now. Ripping the manhole cover off and climbing down the ladder, He grabbed his precious scooter and began to peddle himself down the sewer. Arriving at the factory in one piece, Jeremie swung down on the ropes and proceeded toward the elevator to be lowered into the computer room.
"Aelita, I'm back!"
"Jeremie! Did you figure out what XANA is up to?"
"Yes and it's not good. XANA has mixed together some chemicals in our school that when combined together creates a deadly gas that can cause internal damage if a human were to spend a considerable amount of time in it!"
"Do you think that the smoke is still in the school?"
"Most likely yes."
Pink...
Lots of lots of pink.
"What the?" Sissi said out loud wondering where she was right now. She reached down and touched the surface that she was sleeping on and felt a soft cushion underneath her. Using this bit of information, Sissi began to orient herself with her surroundings. She was defiantly in her room, but now there was an invader in front of her. An invader not made of flesh and bone, but of chemicals and toxic fumes and this invader proved to be more threatening than any human could be as it filled up her entire room with its presence, threatening to swallow her alive.
"Help me! Is anyone there? Please help!" Sissi cried out hoping that someone nearby would rush to her aid. Unfortunately for her, no one came, she was alone, alone to face this menace in her room. Realizing this, Sissi's look changed from sheer fright to rock-steady determination.
"Keep yourself together Sissi. This is no time for you to be screaming your pretty little head off. If you stay here, than this, this THING is going to kill you. Take charge! Find your own solutions! Just do SOMETHING other than cowering in fear, this is not the way you want to leave this planet now do you?" She thought to herself.
Sissi began to look around the smog for ways to escape her room. She saw a faint glimmer of light cut through the smoke showing her where her door was.
"Its going to take a lot more than that to kill Sissi, you pink monster!" She yelled at her enemy before sprinting out of her room.
"Maybe the guy is having some personal problems that I don't know about? I mean, he only has four friends and is always in his room by himself." Jim said out loud, trying to make sense of the boy's actions.
"That could be it." Upon realizing this, Jim suddenly remembered how he treated Jeremie yesterday.
"That picture isn't going to clean itself off you know!"
"You seem to be the guilty party here"
"Maybe with your parents on your back you'll shape up and fly right!"
You think I was too hard on the guy?" Jim asked himself, worried that he only made matters worse by dumping even more grief on the boy.
"I'm going to talk to him today, find out what's going on in his life. Maybe then all of this madness will end."
Jim shot out his chest and was proud with himself for thinking of such an unorthodox solution. Feeling much better about himself, Jim climbed the stair case to fulfill his oath but a panic scream halted his plans.
"HELP!"
"Ok my hearing must be out of whack because I just "heard" Sissi scream for help." Jim said while rubbing his ears.
"HELP! PLEASE HELP!"
"Ok that was not my hearing playing tricks one me. That's the real thing!" Jim ran up the stair case as fast as he could and called out to the girl in peril.
"Hang in there Sissi! I'm on my way!"
"Hang in there Sissi! I'm on my way!"
Sissi's ears picked up the gruff voice from down the stair case, Jim was coming to help, she was so relieved but she couldn't slow down, she had to keep running.
"Oof"
Too bad she had to run into Jim at that moment.
"Ok Sissi, I heard you screaming. What's the problem?"
"Smoke Jim, that's what! It was in my room and it was trying to kill me I swear!"
"Is this some sort of epidemic or something of that sort? I just heard Jeremie use that same excuse last night. Look, there is no smoke in our school!"
"Really, then what's that behind you!" Sissi yelled pointing in front of her.
Jim was curious to see what had got Sissi so riled up and looked in the direction that she was indicating.
"Well that would be smoke of course...SMOKE!"
Jim and Sissi both fled down the stairs from the pink cloud and turned into a corner hoping that they would lose it. They pressed their backs against the wall and held their breaths, praying that the being would simply pass by.
"Is it gone?" Sissi asked in a faint whisper.
"Quiet" Jim hushed her in order to keep her quiet but to no avail. The pink cloud soon found the two humans cowering against the wall and crept toward them.
Seeing the cloud draw ever closer, Jim took evasive action. Grabbing the nearest door handle, he opened the door and shoved Sissi inside before he stepped foot in the unfamiliar room. Remembering his disaster training, Jim removed his signature red jacket and placed it underneath the door to block the smoke from entering the cramped room. He wiped the sweat from his brow and patted himself on the back for a job well done. Jim wore a heroic smile on his face before he turned around to see the room he and Sissi were now in before cursing at his rotten luck.
"There's no ventilation shaft here. We're gonna run out of air!" He screamed out.
"Great I'm going to die in a small closet with my gym teacher, what a glorious way to go."
"Don't lose hope just let Sissi. Jeremie is still out there. He might have already left the school to go get help."
"Great the closest thing to Bruce Willias is coming to save us."
"Internal damages, like what?"
"Death."
"Death!"
"That's right Aelita, if one were to breathe a good chunk of that stuff, then they'll be dead before they know it."
"This is serious Jeremie. We're going to need some assistance."
"I'm sure I can find three students willing to cut their vacations short if it meant saving the world."
"Now Ulrich, with a lot of time, patience and hard work, you too will be able to grasp the simple concept of math."
Ulrich soon felt his cell phone vibrate signaling that he got a text message.
"S.O.S. XANA, J." Ulrich read the note to himself. "Just what I need, another XANA attack."
Without even saying goodbye, Ulrich grabbed his backpack and began to run to the factory.
The second officer manning the machine quickly moved toward his partner to see what was going on.
"What do you mean?"
"Well this young man here placed his backpack onto the conveyor belt and now look at this!"
The second officer looked at the screen and saw an animal-like skeleton.
"What is it?" he asked perplexed by the sight also.
"It looks like a skeleton."
"Good going Sherlock but that doesn't explain much."
"What do you mean, it looks like a skeleton so I'm going to say it's a skeleton. Would you like to add anything Raymond?"
Raymond looked at his partner and gave him a serious look before speaking again. "It may look like a skeleton, but how many skeletons do you know move on their own?"
"You're right!"
"Of course I am, now whose bag is this."
"That gentlemen's over there" he said, pointing at the purple clad youth standing not too far away.
"Hey you!" Raymond called out, catching Odd's attention.
"Yes"
"What's the deal with your bag? Is it haunted or something?"
Odd walked over toward the machine and saw the skeleton of his K-9 companion.
"Oh that's Kiwi. He's my dog."
"Son do you know that dogs are not allowed to be carried on the plane? They're supposed to be in the cargo bin."
"It's not my fault, I told him to stay, but he wouldn't listen to me. Looks like he snuck inside my bag while I wasn't looking."
Soon Odd's cell phone began to ring.
"Hello"
"Odd it's me Jeremie. We need you back here. XANA has just activated a tower!"
Odd saw that he was surrounded by countless people and if he began to talk to Jeremie normally for sure the secret would leak out sooner or later.
"Oh hi Gran. Gran, it's you!'
"Gran, Gran? Are you ok Odd? It's me Jeremie!"
"Yeah I know you hate it when I call you that, but I'm kinda busy right now."
Jeremie buried his head in shame once he realized that there was no getting through to that boy.
"Look don't worry, I'll be there as soon as I can. Love you, goodbye."
The car was not moving.
Can't really have a road trip if the car wasn't on the road.
"So what's holding up mother?" Yumi asked her father who was sitting in the driver's seat.
"She wanted to wear her special dress and you know how much she loves that thing." Her dad replied back obviously frustrated by the whole thing.
"Calm down father, it's like what Jin says..."
Yumi's dad was all too familiar with the quote. "I know, I know, one second of anger is one year off your life. Your mother keeps telling me that too."
Jin chuckled to himself in the backseat, and secured his scarf around his neck. His laughter soon stopped once his cell phone rang.
"Jin, this is Jeremie, XANA has unleashed an attack! I've already contacted Odd and Ulrich they should be here shortly."
"Ok. We'll be there in no time. Just hang on."
Yumi's mother threw open the windows of their house catching the father's attention and giving Jin ample time for him to pass on the info to his sister.
"A XANA attack! Now!" She asked shocked to see how quickly the computer program acted.
"That's what he told me."
"Well we better get going now, while our dad is busy talking to mom."
The two siblings soon walked out of the car without their mother or father noticing. Yumi's mom soon walked over to the car and had a smile one her face.
"You would have never guessed what happened. You see, I was looking for my dress when I realized that I sent it to the cleaners. Isn't that funny?"
"It is honey. Except that the children got impatient and just ran off without saying a word.
"Huh?"
"That was impressive Jeremie. You work well under pressure."
"It's nothing Aelita"
"I'm sure if there was anybody trapped in the school, you would be able to guide them to safety."
"Good thing there isn't...wait" Jeremie corrected himself as he realized that he overlooked one MAJOR detail. "Aelita, Sissi and Jim are still in the school!"
"I'm sure they already evacuated the school."
"I highly doubt it. I'm going back to save them."
"JEREMIE DON'T!" Aelita cried out, but her concerns fell onto deaf ears as Jeremie was already riding the elevator to the surface.
Jeremie peddled his scooter for all that he was worth as he rushed to the school. He couldn't just sit at his computer while two people's lives were in danger. He made his way back onto the campus and ran toward the front door.
Fools rush in where angles fear to thread. The cloud knew that Jeremie would soon return to the school to help out his companions. Its target walked to the center of the field where it was waiting to launch its ambush.
"So far so good" Jeremie said to himself. "Now to find Jim and Sissi, they're probably still in the dorms just begging to be rescued.
Jeremie sensed a strange presence circling around him and tried to run away but it was too late. The large pink cloud surrounded him and barred his path as it unleashed its toxic furry on the young boy. Jeremie coughed four more times before his body lost conciseness causing him to collapse on the floor.
"Yumi! Jin! I'm over here!" Ulrich yelled out to the siblings.
"I know" Jin yelled back. "Jeremie told us everything. Are there any short cuts to the factory that I don't know about?"
"Yes there is" Ulrich replied. "We have to cut through the school's boiler room to get there." "I don't care if we have to run through the Gates of Hell, I'm going to the factory right NOW!"
The three friends ran inside the campus and toward the front of the school where they saw a giant pink cloud.
Jin took a nervous step back. "Ulrich, you only mentioned going through the boiler room...YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT TOXIC CLOUDS OF SMOKE!"
Yumi was a lot more calm than her brother. "This must be XANA's doing. I'm no chemistry expert, but I do have enough common sense to figure out that the cloud over there is not friendly!"
Ulrich made a quick turn around. "Ok guys lets head back"
The friends were about to make a hasty retreat when they heard a faint cough in the distance.
"Someone is in there!" Ulrich cried out.
"Yumi stand back. We'll handle this." Jin said as he held up his arm to protect his sister. "Come one Ulrich, let's rock!"
The two boys charged recklessly into the crowd and were able to locate Jeremie with no problems. Ulrich grabbed Jeremie's arms while Jin held onto his legs as they carried him out of the cloud like a wounded soldier. Once they were in the clear, they gently laid Jeremie down onto the field and waited for him to wake up.
Jeremie opened his eyes and allowed his vision to focus on his new found surroundings before speaking again.
"Jim and Sissi are still in the school" he said weakly.
"That's it! I'm going!" Ulrich said causing him to receive an awkward stare from Yumi and Jin.
"Are you crazy Ulrich!" Jin asked. "You saw the number that thing worked on Jeremie!"
"I know, but someone has to save them. I'll keep in contact with you guys so keep me posted, ok?" Ulrich then ran toward the school not thinking of the trouble he was getting himself into.
Jin and Yumi raised Jeremie to his feet and allowed him to use them as human crutches so that he would be able to go to the factory. They slowly inched their way toward their destination with Jeremie using every once of strength he had just so he could keep on moving. Odd picked this moment to make his grand entrance. Leaping off the branch that he was perched on, he landed on the ground in a cat like crouch.
"Hey guys. Did you miss me?"
"Odd, not you too!" Jin moaned. "First Sissi and now this! What is this, National Steal Jin's Entrance Week?"
"Odd what were you doing in that tree?" Yumi asked, curious of his actions.
"I was looking for you guys. Next thing you know, I see you right in front of me. What happened to Jeremie?" Odd asked concerned for his friend.
Jin took it upon himself to answer the question. "XANA released some sort of toxic gas that Jeremie was unfortunately enough to breathe in. He told us that Jim and Sissi are still in the school and Ulrich ran inside to try to save them."
"Ok Odd, it's important that we all get to the factory and keep Jeremie safe in the mean time."
"Looks like Jin is going to take his first dive huh?"
Jin wasn't paying attention to Odd and was apparently talking to himself.
Odd was confused. "Yo Jin, are you even listening to me?"
Jin was still ignoring Odd and continued to talk to himself.
"What the heck is Ulrich thinking! He just ran off into that fog without a single care in his head. Does he have a death wish or something?"
"Jin are you alright?"
"Arrg I can't take this any more!"
"What's wrong with you Aniki?" Yumi asked now worrying if the smoke caused brain damage on top of everything else.
"It's Ulrich. That guy just ran into the school by himself. No one has his back! Odd, take care of Jeremie!"
Odd rushed over to his friend's side to take over Jin's duties. He looked up and saw Jin place his right fist into his left palm.
"Oh no! Jin is cracking his knuckles again. That can't be good."
Jin removed his scarf from his neck and held it in his right hand.
"Um...Aniki, I don't think Jeremie needs to be warmed up right now." Yumi said a little confused by Jin's actions.
"I know where this is going!" Odd said, predicting Jin's next move. "He's not going to Lyoko with us."
"Well if he's not going to Lyoko, where is he...oh no! Jin what are you doing!"
"That school is too big for Ulrich to search alone, somebody has to go in there to help the guy out!"
Jin took his scarf and wrapped it around the lower half of his face before tying the two lose together making a makeshift mask for himself.
"Looks like this scarf has a use for me after all. Wish me luck guys" Jin ran into the cloud after Ulrich.
"Take care of Ulrich for me!" Yumi cried out into the abyss hoping that Jin could still hear her.
"Don't worry sis. I'll look after your knight in shining armor!" Jin's voice echoed back prompting a blush to spread on Yumi's cheeks.
"You know why I hated Jeremie's group of friends so much? It was because I secretly wanted to be with them. I despised all of the happiness that they had and I wanted a piece of that too. Maybe that's why I was so mean to them, because deep down inside, I was jealous. Do you know what I mean Jim?"
Jim was caught off guard by Sissi's midnight confession and tried his best to comfort the girl.
"Yeah I do, I'm used to being hated by all you students so I can see where you're coming from. The reason why I'm so hard on you guys is because I see a bright future for all of you and it's just my way of pushing you to your goals. You can't be envious of all the things you don't have. You need to appreciate the things that you are already blessed with, like your friends Nicholas and Herb. I'd love to sit and chat but we have to stop talking now, we're using up too much oxygen."
Sissi was happy that she got that burden off her chest and bowed her head and smiled.
"Ok you two, get in the scanners now! Don't look at me, we got a tower to deactivate!"
Yumi and Odd quickly boarded the elevator and were lowered into the scanner room and stepped inside of the machines.
"You two are heading to the forest region. Transfer Odd. Transfer Yumi." Jeremie said over the factory's speakers.
The two heroes could hear Jeremie cough during the process.
"Scanner Odd. Scanner Yumi."
Jeremie sent the necessary data to Lyoko and set the stage for their arrival.
"Virtualization!"
"Ok Jeremie the process was a success, everything is accounted for and Odd and I are in optimum shape. "
"That's good Yumi." Jeremie replied from the factory and released two more coughs before finishing his statement.
Odd was the first one to spot Aelita in the distance. "Hey there Aelita!"
The pink-haired girl waved back to him "Hello Odd, Yumi."
"Any idea where the tower is?"
"It's just beyond this stretch on land."
Odd readied his wrist for the upcoming battle. "Well then, let's go!"
"Jin?" Ulrich asked confused by his sudden entrance.
"Do you have a death wish or something!" Jin screamed out. "There is no way you can find Jim and Sissi alone!"
Ulrich was grateful of how willing Jin was in risking his life for his sake.
"Thanks, I owe you one."
"Ok here's my plan, you'll check the bottom floor and I'll check the top. We'll cover more ground that way."
"Sounds good to me. Oh by the way Jin, nice mask. You the Ninja of Lyoko or something like that?"
"Hardy har har Ulrich" Jin laughed sarcastically. "Let's get to work for Jim and Sissi's sake."
Both Ulrich and Jin charged into the school ready to accept the consequences of their actions.
"Nice shot"
"It was, but we're not out of the woods yet." Yumi saw one roach charge up another laser blast and was aiming for Aelita. Yumi soon dived forward and took the brunt of the assault for her friend and was knocked back by the attack. Yumi held her abdomen in pain as she felt the feeling slowly subside thanks to Jeremie's program.
"Yumi are you ok!" Jeremie screamed into the mike as the computer brought up the display of Yumi's hit points.
"No broken bones yet."
"Well you three gotta take cover. Things are getting too hot down there."
"Affirmative. How's Ulrich and Jin doing?"
"I'll go check."
Jeremie entered a few commands into the computer and soon enough he was calling Ulrich's cell phone.
"Jeremie it's me." Ulrich replied holding his cell phone in one hand and his handkerchief in the other.
"How are things looking in the school?"
"Well Jin's is searching the top floor right now but we haven't found anything yet."
"Ulrich, get out of there. If you stay in that smoke for a long time, you're gonna die!"
"Ok Jeremie just let me try this last door and I'm out."
"Fine. I'm going to call Jin to see how he's doing."
"Jin, you and Ulrich need to head back to the factory. I don't know how much punishment your guys' lungs can take."
"Not until I find Jim and Sissi and I'm absolutely sure that Ulrich would agree with me on this issue!"
It was then that Jeremie began to question the boy's level of reasoning at the moment.
"I don't need to tell you this, but the side effects resulting from the inhalation of the gas you're currently breathing are fatal!"
Jin ignored Jeremie's last statement and checked a nearby door. He was able to turn the handle but the door wouldn't swing open.
"Jeremie, I think I found them!"
"What?"
"Yeah, this door is stuck. They must be trapped inside!"
"Well then go get them."
Jin took a few steps back from the door and screamed.
"HIYA!"
He launched out a vicious side kick that almost knocked the door off its hinges. He looked into the room and was disappointed to find it vacant.
"False alarm Jeremie, no one is inside."
"Jin, you have to get out of there now!"
"NOT WITHOUT JIM AND SISSI!"
"Jin, why are you so hellbent on finding those two?"
"The last time I left someone hanging like this, it was not pretty."
"Jin, you're not thinking this through."
Jin's look of determination soon returned to his face. "Look Jeremie to tell you the truth. I DON'T CARE! There is only one way I'm leaving this building without Jim and Sissi being safe!"
"And what's that?"
"In a body bag." Jin hung up of Jeremie and resumed his frantic search.
"Ok guys, according to my scanners the tower is only a few feet away from you guys. But you have to get through to the monsters to access it."
Odd, Yumi and Aelita were pinned behind a tree trying to expose as little of their bodies as possible. Suddenly, Yumi saw a large rock on the other side of the path and got an idea.
"Odd, take Aelita to the tower, I'll draw the roaches fire from you guys."
"But how?"
"With this" Yumi placed her hands on her temples. "Telekinesis!"
A red aura began to emit from Yumi as she concentrated on lifting the huge rock to the middle of the path way. The roaches, not knowing any better, fired at the rock and did not notice Odd and Aelita sneak right past them. Yumi dove behind the rock and waited for a break in their fire before unleashing her counter attack. She jumped on top of the boulder and faced the two roaches before throwing her fan. The roaches shot her arm as her fan flew through the air, destroying yet another roach. Yumi held out her hand to catch her fan but was shot again by the reaming roach, brining her life point count to zero.
"Sorry, I've tried my best, but the roaches got the jump on me."
"That's ok Yumi. Odd can handle himself."
"So how's Ulrich and Jin?"
"I was just going to make another call to check up on him."
"WELL THEN DO IT!" Yumi yelled anxiously. Desperate for any knowledge concerning safety of her friend and brother.
"Ulrich, are you there, hello" Jeremie waited a few seconds for an answer but got none. He turned his head to Yumi. "This is bad. Ulrich is not picking up his phone."
Yumi's eyes widened after hearing Jeremie's last remark and hoped that Jin was fairing better.
"What about Aniki?"
Jeremie dialed Jin's number and hoped he was in better shape.
Jin searched through more doors and heard his phone ring again. He checked the display and noticed that the number belong to Jeremie. Jin was not in the mood for another lecture that would distract him from his search and just left his phone ringing.
"Hey there, Jin here..."
"Thanks goodness that you're..."
"My phone is off so leave a message after the beep."
"That's strange. Jin didn't answer his cell phone."
"Did you speak to him before?" Yumi asked worried about her brother's present condition.
"I told him to leave but he said he wouldn't without knowing if Jim and Sissi were alright. Then he got all psycho-determined and hung up on me. Has he ever done this before?"
"No Jeremie not since..." Yumi cut herself off when she remembered when Jin showed a similar pattern of behavior two years ago. She tried her best to keep quiet but one word did manage to escape her lips.
"GHAI!"
"Ghai? Who's Ghai?"
"Never mind Jeremie, there's no use in trying to make Jin leave the school now. He's made up in his mind."
They both looked at the holomap and prayed that Odd would be able to save them in time.
"Jim, did you hear that?" Sissi asked wondering about the thud she heard outside.
"I did. I'm going to check it out."
Jim opened the door and saw Ulrich's motionless body in front of the doorway.
"He came to save me! Just like in my dreams! I knew he cared for me!" Sissi said almost forgetting the peril that she was in.
Jim pulled Ulrich inside the closet and shut the door once more and noticed the object in his hand.
"Look he's got a cell phone! Now we can call for help!"
Jim inspected the number on display.
"Hmm...Ulrich was about to call this number before his passed out. Let's see who it is?"
Jim hit the send button and waited someone on the other end to pick up.
"Jin here" he coughed out.
"Jin, are you still in the school!"
"Yeah, Ulrich and I came to look for you two. I'm glad you're safe."
"Listen, we're stuck in a closet and need help. Ulrich is here with us but he's not in good shape. Try to get out of the school and get some help now!"
"Ok. I'm on my way down."
Jin plodded down the hallway, each step requiring more and more energy from him. He got to the top of the stair case of the second floor and held the banister for support. His vision started to blur while his knees got weak .
Jim could hear the boy's labored breaths over the cell phone's receiver and instantly began to worry about his well being.
"Jin are you alright!" Jim yelled into the phone. The only thing he heard was the thud resulting from a cell phone being dropped followed by a series of loud bangs resulting from a body hitting the floor.
THUMP!
THUMP!
Jin's lost control of his frail body for now it was no better than a rag doll. With one final cough, whatever meager grip he had on the building's banister was lost and he began to tumble down the staircase. As a sick twist of fate, his mind was still aware of what was going on allowing him to feel every bone jarring hit his body felt as hit it continued its fall. Every nerve in his system went wild with pain as the jagged steps began to beat him senselessly. Jin's mask became undone as a result of the fall as he lay on the floor of the school sprawled out with a slight smile on his face. Blood began to escape from the side of his mouth forming a small pool by his side.
"Looks like I'm leaving this place in a body bag after all." Jin said, chuckling at his own irony. His laughter soon ended as felt his eyelids grow heavy luring him into unconsciousness. Jin released one last laugh before he blacked out. A last ditch effort made by his body in order for it save whatever little life that was left in the boy.
"Go one Aelita. I'll handle this."
Aelita turned away and began raising the tree bridge that was needed for her to gain access to the tower. Odd pointed his wrist at the roach and placed himself in a stand-off with the monster. Odd gave Aelita a few more precious moments before firing his weapon.
"Laser Arrow!" Odd and the roachster fired their weapons at the same time. The laser struck Odd, devirtualizing him in the process.
Aelita disappeared into the tower's walls and began typing in the commands needed to deactivate the tower.
AELITA
"Return to the past now!"
"Jeremie, are you sure you want do this again? I mean XANA is out of the picture." Ulrich asked as he painted Jim's face onto the wall.
"Yeah I am. I want to have more time to work on Aelita's materialization program."
"Well I hope Jim goes a little easier on you this time."
"With the corrections I made on the first picture, I'm sure he will."
BARK! BARK! BARK!
"Well that's my cue to get out of here" Ulrich said leaving Jeremie behind.
"Slow down so I can catch you!" Jim yelled at the dog. Suddenly a loud hissing noise caught his attention causing to stop running.
"Jeremie what are you doing out this late?" He asked confused by the boy's presence.
"Just doing a little late night art work."
Jim looked at the wall and saw that Jeremie painted a beautiful portrait of him. He was wearing a regal grin and wore a beautifully adorned crown, and was holding a scepter with a diamond that was almost as big as his head.
"You know this is a violation of school rules Jeremie." Jim said in a casual tone of voice.
"Yes sir"
"I'm going to have to report this to the principal first thing tomorrow morning. Now go to your room."
Jim waited till Jeremie was fully out of sight before examining the picture once more. A gigantic grin began to spread on his face as an excitement began to build inside of him. Unable to contain his emotions any longer, Jim jumped straight up into the air.
"NOW THIS IS ART!" He yelled out cheerfully.
END
Folks I have some sad news for you. This will be the last chapter of the Code Lyoko: A Retelling series ...With Jin not being in Lyoko, gotcha! Sorry guys (especially you Trillinka) who were waiting for Jin to make his debut in Lyoko. Look I promise that he'll be there in the next chapter. Who knows, maybe you'll get to see why he's so unique after all.
Finally onto you ViciousAssassin I found your review really helpful. Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. I bet you're smiling to yourself right now after figuring out what would Jin do in today's chapter.
Speaking of chapters, the next one I'm going to write will be a little different. It's going to be a quasi FAQ/Outtake chapter to give myself a break and to answer some potential questions from the reading public. Thanks for reading.
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