Target: Odd _1.1_

1.1

"Alright kids, today we'll be doing Thursday gym class a little different." Jim yelled. All the students groaned, and Odd just smirked to himself. "Today, we're partnering up and practicing flexibility. First twosome to successfully land a flip off the spring board gets to leave early. You start… NOW!" Jim pointed at the many springboards and blue mats all around the room.

"Alright! This is my kind of class today!" Odd did a small victory dance, "So who wants to be partners with me, the King of Flips?" He pointed to himself proudly. Aelita giggled, and walked over to Yumi.

"No thanks your Highness, we'll be just fine without your supreme instruction." Yumi tossed her hair back, linking arms with Aelita.

"More like Lord of the Boasts if you ask me." Ulrich smiled, and walked over to Odd. "Guess that means we're partners! Alright, you ready to leave early buddy?" Odd grinned. "Who goes first?"

"I'll go first. I haven't had much practice since our last… trip… I might be a bit rusty." Ulrich swung his arms around, and stretched his legs. Odd shrugged, and stood back. "Ya know, it's only been about 11 days since our last… trip. You couldn't possibly be rusty."

"You'll never know." Ulrich took a few steps backward, and ran full speed at the springboard. Jumping onto it, he executed a good front-flip and landed a little wobbly on the blue mat. "Well, now I know." He smiled sheepishly.

"Excellent job Ulrich, let's see Della Robbia do any better, shall we?" Jim walked over from checking on a few other groups. Ulrich nodded, and turned to his friend.

"Alright Jim, one perfect front-flip and landing coming straight up!" Odd smirked devilishly, making Jim's face fill with annoyance. "Less talk, more flip Odd." Jim muttered loudly. Saluting, Odd took a couple steps back, and shot forward.

Running as fast as he could go, he bounced onto the springboard with ease, shooting upward. Rolling forward, he flipped twice before landing with a thump on both feet perfectly straight.

"Thank you, thank you. You're much too kind." Odd bowed to an invisible audience, getting a few laughs from his fellow classmates. Jim stared at him, shock written on his face. Recovering quickly, Jim coughed, "Odd and Ulrich can leave early. Pack up and change out into your normal clothes."

Odd elbowed Ulrich, "Told you earlier this year it was worth it to take gymnastics as a little kid." His smile spread to Ulrich's face, and soon both boys were wandering around the quad and Snack Shack, grinning like idiots.

~~~~~

"Odd, I still don't understand how you're so flexible." Ulrich was giving Kiwi head scratches, and Odd had one headphone in his ear blasting music. Dinner had ended only an hour ago.

"I mean, you're crazy good in Lyoko, but in the real world you're almost exactly the same. And as far as I've known you, you don't take any outer curriculum classes like gymnastics and yoga. You just sit and play video games when you're not playing guitar or listening to music." Ulrich set Kiwi on the floor.

"I guess I've always been like this." Odd paused his music, took off his headphones, and shrugged. "Lyoko was the best thing that ever happened to me. I mean, my flexible ability is finally useful there. When I was little, I think I remember my parents wanting me to be able to dodge paintbrushes and many art supplies that were too big to normally dodge when my sisters or parents were frustrated. Luckily, there was a nearby place that gave cheap lessons. I think I was signed up, but my abilities were too advanced… I think… I can't remember really, and I don't think I wanna remember my childhood right now…" Odd's face lost it's thoughtful look and was replaced with a small smile.

"That makes sense. I guess you're just a gifted gymnast. It's always come in handy in Lyoko, that's for sure." Ulrich nodded. Just then, Odd's cell rang. Odd pulled his phone out of his backpack, and opened it up.

"Hello? Brainiac? Yeah, we're in our dorm… What? There's something happening in the gym?" Odd gave Ulrich a slightly worried look, and returned to the phone. "Yeah… Yep. Okay, we'll be there in a flash. Later Jeremie!" Shutting the phone, Odd pulled on his shoes.

"What's Jeremie got now?" Ulrich tied his shoelaces quickly, and stood up. "He says a huge power outage just hit the gym only, knocking out all our equipment. We might have a X.A.N.A crisis, as he put it, or maybe…" Odd smiled.

"Maybe you plugged in your guitar wrong, again." Ulrich groaned, walking downstairs, Odd close behind. "No, I didn't get to practice today, remember? The Snack Shack ate my dollar, and I had to con the office staff to get it back. I haven't been in the gym since… Gym class." Odd frowned, staring straight ahead into the forest. Ulrich glanced up, wondering what Odd was looking at. But nothing was there.

"Did you see that?" Odd pointed to the forest, and Ulrich shook his head. "See what?"
"Oh, I guess it was nothing. I'll tell ya later." Odd shrugged, and walked ahead. Soon they came to the backdoor of the gym. Slipping the key from it's hiding spot, Odd unlocked the doors, and let Ulrich and himself inside. The lights weren't bright at all, in fact there was almost no light at all. And the growing dusk outside didn't help either.

"Geez, someone call the lighting company and get this place glowin again!" Odd complained, squinting. He saw Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremies' forms walking towards them.

"If only we could Odd, the power's barely working. I did a scan earlier today, and saw there was an activated tower. The thing is…" Jeremie ended his statement with a confused tone.

"… X.A.N.A hasn't pulled anything yet. Maybe that Tower is a trap. If we send someone in with Aelita, we might be caught by William or something." Ulrich finished the statement, his face concerned.

"I wonder… Odd, can you come here for a second?" Aelita was bent over one of the springboards that Jim left for Friday's lessons, studying it intently. It was right next to one of the electrical sockets littered around the gym. Odd nodded, and shuffled over.

Aelita clicked on a flashlight, "Can you flip this thing over?"
"Yeah, I'll try to." Odd took one end, and pulled as hard as he could, nearly grunting with effort. Soon, the whole thing tipped and fell on it's front side.

"You see anything Princess?" Odd leaned against it, looking down at Aelita. "Nope, just felt and wood. I was wondering if these could be manipulated by X.A.N.A in any way… I guess not." Her voice was happy, and slightly confused at the same time.

"Well that's good news. Any way, we ought to get back to the dorms and in bed. Worrying about a possible attack won't help us if there's nothing coming yet. Everyone get some shut eye." Jeremie waved everyone away, and soon Odd was back in his warm dorm, laying halfway under his covers with his headphones on.

"So Ulrich, you seriously thinking of going to Sissi's party? If you are, you might need a wingman…" Odd leaned his head on his hand, his smile almost annoying.

Ulrich shook his head, "I don't know, Sissi did all the things I asked. She hasn't bugged us at all this week, and she only brought up the party once. If I don't reward her like you do for Kiwi, she'll go ballistic and bother us till the end of time." Sighing, Ulrich laid down and pulled up his covers. "I'll make up my mind tomorrow, if Sissi doesn't do anything to ruin her chance that I'm coming. Go to sleep Odd." He turned over, leaving Odd the only one awake.

Sighing, Odd got up. It was only 10:45, and all his homework was done. He hadn't even changed into his pajamas yet, so he decided to sneak out for a walk. Closing the door lightly, he snuck downstairs. Hiding behind trashcans and running alongside buildings wasn't hard at all, and when Jim walked past with his flashlight, Odd was gone before the light hit his hiding place.

"Ah, forest. Didja miss me?" Odd snuck into the tree line, out of Jim's view. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and smiled. The pine trees' scent was fresh with dew, and occasionally a squirrel would scurry past. Odd enjoyed these little nighttime walks he had a habit of taking, they let him clear his head.

Walking silently, he saw flickering lightning bugs and a light fog rolled in. Maybe he was a Della Robbia, a loud artistic person with plenty of loud ideas and fun to share, but it was times like these that he felt whole, not just another part of his large Italian family or the shortest of his friends.

"I love nature, it's so awesome and peaceful." Odd stretched a little, and sat down. The lightning bugs lit up the glade he was sitting in like small lanterns, filling the fog with little sparkles of light.

A small crunch in the undergrowth a couple feet away warned him instantly, and he was standing in a flash. The crunch began to get louder, and more like footsteps. But they weren't noisy like Jim's footsteps, but all the same Odd had to hide. Looking around frantically, he saw no place to hide. Until he glanced up, however. Climbing the nearest tree, he perched himself on a relatively high branch, and waited.

"Who's interrupting my midnight walk?" Odd muttered to himself, wondering who it could be at this hour. Nearly everyone on his list of people he knew was crossed off in his mind, when a figure emerged from the bushes. It didn't have a definite shape, it was always changing. It seemed more like a ghost with feet that clomped lightly than a person taking a midnight stroll.

"Is that… A thing from X.A.N.A? Odd whispered almost silently. Shifting his weight, he readied himself to jump to the nearby tree to get away in an emergency, when a small twig broke from the branch he was holding and fell to the ground. The sound brought the footed ghost right below Odd, and it stared at the fallen twig.

Slowly, with fear flickering on his face, Odd crept onto another branch, this one higher and way less visible. Whatever this was, it wasn't friendly. The thing looked up, and Odd took a sharp breath. There was a X.A.N.A symbol in the middle of the smoke!

The thing stared up at the branch Odd used to be on for a few minutes, then tromped away. Odd silenced his breathing, counted to 100, and jumped down from the tree.

"What was that… thing?" Odd tilted his head, and thought. It had feet, but the rest of it was smoke. It couldn't be William, because his form in the real world was much more stable than that thing.

Odd didn't get time to answer his question, because right then a huge hand picked him up by his jacket hood, lifting him off the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~