Inconsequential _

Written by_
AmericanLyokoTeam_

Thanks for a brilliant world to play with:_
Moonscoop_

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their_
respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author_
is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No_
copyright infringement is intended_

***

“All right, let’s assume Ulrich’s judgment is good an this is really his father. What would he really know?” asked Jeremie.
“Based on what he’s told me about his business in the past, he’d have at least a cursory knowledge of what was under development, and the people involved.” Ulrich shrugged, “I wish I could tell you more, but his angry ranting about the business world was never exactly my thing.”
“More importantly, how are we going to use this information” Odd butted in eagerly.
“Subtly” Was Ulrich’s immediate response, and he took a moment to collect his thoughts, “I can’t just go up to him and say ‘hey, what was Project Carthage.’ He’d blow a gasket, demand to know where my information came from, and want in on everything. I don’t know him that closely, but I can guess that this’ll let me push a few buttons he’d never suspect. Maybe stay in school despite fights, that kind of thing.”
“I hope you’re right.” Jeremie answered. “One more trip to go, then you can go home and start worrying about that.”
“You were off by a couple.” Odd ribbed Yumi, before announcing his attention to go out and get air this last time around.
“They’re going to sit staring blankly trying to read the name for sure for the whole hour” Yumi sighed, pointing to Aelita and Jeremie, who found themselves freshly pouring over the folder’s photographs.
Neither was comfortable just sitting or talking alone, and it was a blessing when Ulrich came up with a way to fill the hour. “You know what, you owe me.”
“How’s that?” Yumi asked, eyebrow raised.
“We haven’t been sparring since Lyoko started taking more time than school.”
“Mmmm, and now we have nothing but time, huh?”
“You owe me.”
“I owe you the defeats I’ve always handed you, huh?” Yumi goaded him, joining the game.
“Outside, there’s a nice little ring that’ll serve.”
“You’re on.”
As they closed the fatigued door after them on the way out, Jeremie paused to look up for a moment from the photographs. “How do five or so hours change their attitude that much? They were withdrawn and angry shells this morning weren’t they?”
“They lost the will to play their little game, their little dance. All I had to do was push them back on that path for a moment and they’ll take care of each other all right. It’s actually Odd I worry about the most, but we’ll never know if he’s hurting or not.”
“You know…” Jeremie began, still fixated on his other friends.
“Yes, its obvious to just about everybody but them that they should just make out already.” It was an exaggeration on her part, but the flawless deadpan delivery caused Jeremie to laugh. Shortly however, like a hawk, he was back on the pictures, trying to piece together any other detail of information or proof there was to be gleaned.

---

     Odd wasn’t sure where he was going, realizing he only had an hour. Everyone else seemed settled, but something was still turning the pit of his stomach. Not enough to make him lose his appetite again, which he considered the sign of really bad times, but enough to distract him from the trains of thought he could construct.
He could have sworn that in the gathering darkness, there was a storm brewing. The wind had changed, blowing cool and quick, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as though charged with static. He brushed them down offhandedly, and followed his feet taking him through the forest and back to civilization.
     Standing on the road near the gate to Kadic, he paused to examine the sky, and was sure now the clouds were predicting a storm. He scratched his head as to how this particular loop through the same hour could be seem different than the previous ones, but he chalked it up to spending all his time indoors and not taking time to notice details.
     He hopped a convenient spot where a bush helped get a leg up and jump over the top of the high barred fence that surrounded the campus perimeter. He was sure the night security wasn’t watching the gate yet, but preferred to enter this way to hone his sneaking kills and reflexes, or to fulfill other made up adventures he gave himself.
     He crept between buildings, letting instinct and reflex take over his mind for a bit to stop worrying so much. Occasionally he’d hide around a corner as Jim passed, apparently patrolling the grounds, or look to see if the front gate night guard was there yet. Checking that his hour was almost up, and the sunset was turning to stars, he went to find a quiet seat on a well hidden bench behind the far corner of the main building, where he hadn’t seen Jim patrol to yet, and studied the sky. City lights made it impossible to really see the stars, he decided a little unhappily, wishing for a wide-open plane, or better yet, perhaps wishing he’d stayed in the forest around the hermitage if he wanted to climb and run around. He paused for a moment to worry that perhaps Lyoko had changed him, giving him these catlike ideas for fun, but remembered it had only taken from him what he wanted in the first place.
     All his musing was interrupted as Sissi carefully snuck around the corner of the building to this obscure resting spot. She spied him on the bench, and hissed something under her breath, turning to leave, and angry that he’d already caught sight of her. He hopped up and walked over toward her, only to find her muttering to herself, possibly loud enough for him to hear it on purpose “Why him, why now. I can’t get peace anywhere.”
“I know, there are no stars here, it bugs me. It can’t really be a peaceful night unless you see stars.”
She turned back to look at him, and shrugged off his cryptic response. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to start walking in any direction and keep going?”
“Nope, you can’t. This is the closest I can come to a pure view of the night sky on campus, and I don’t want to leave.” He glanced over his shoulders though. “I’ll cut you a deal. Nobodies around, so we don’t have to have fight.”
She made no move to agree, but occupied the bench he’d been sitting on earlier and looked up at the sky trying to determine what he’d been talking about.
“If I sit down on the other end here, are you going to freak out and jump up?” Odd asked. She muttered something inaudible but thought better and answered for real “I’d prefer you didn’t.”
Odd took that as close enough to a yes, had a seat on the other edge of the bench, and resumed his staring up. She kept his deal for a while, trying to discern what there was to be seen above, but in the end she broke the truce of silence.
“There’s something wrong with you this week Della Robbia. You need to get your head on straight and stop trying to be a human being around me. I know Dunbar better than you think and his running away wouldn’t affect you like this. You weren’t that close.”
“There’s something bizarre about you this week, Delmas.” He countered “You need to go back to being the airhead social engineer you usually are and leave this kind of mystery well enough alone. You’ve been around campus in places you shouldn’t be. You’re snooping. What pushed you to it?”
“It sounds like I have good reason to. No seriously, what’s with you being nice, what do you have such good reason to hide that it could change your behavior?”
“I’d tell you, but you’d never remember it past…” He picked his head up and reached into his pocket to look at a watch he’d taken to keeping with him the last several days. “Ten minutes, give or take.”
“Every other thing you say these days is delivered in cryptic babble, Della Robbia. I’ll find out either way you know.”
Odd coughed a laugh, trying to avoid telling her she’d found out several times before. He wasn’t sure why, she’d forget this time too. He was free to say anything.
“You were right about one thing though, cryptic or not.”
Odd was genuinely surprised she’d admit that about anything
“It’s not peaceful without seeing a few stars. I normally wouldn’t have thought about it, but you should see a few dim points of light above at least. Tonight it’s just murky.”

---

Ulrich had been fighting sloppy, taking powerful sweeps at the legs again and again that Yumi easily got distance on or jumped over. Hitting high and fast, again and again, she was slowly wearing his will to keep the fight going down. Slowly, Ulrich was shifting his stance back, throwing up more and more blocks rather than pushing the attack himself.
“This isn’t boxing. You don’t get a break.” Yumi said, with a forceful smile. “I’m going to find my opening and drop you Ulrich.”
Ulrich was careful; he tensed his face, and said nothing. He snuck in another forceful attack toward her, but Yumi saw it coming on his face long before the kick was ever made.
“You’re sloppy today. I’m reading this way too easily. You’ll be too tired soon Ulrich.” She taunted, over her own heavy breathing.
They traded another round of quick attacks and blocks. ‘Now’ Yumi thought to herself, and swung far and quick with one leg, dropping and pivoting on the other. She thought surely Ulrich would be unable to deal with it. Not caught of guard necessarily, but too tired and behind to think up his own move.
She did not expect him to detect this himself, and dive straight at her with a last burst of energy.
“What move was that?” She demanded, the both of them falling back.
“The one that takes you down a moment before I hit the ground too.” He answered, both of them collapsing to the ground of the dirt ring with a great thud. The wind was knocked out of them, and Ulrich rolled over off of her trying to catch his breath first. Yumi beat him to it.
“That’s now how it works and you know it.”
“Rules don’t say,” He stopped for another gulp of air “anything about the surviving fighter.”
Yumi sat up, and still looked like she wanted to be bitter about the narrow defeat. Instead she smiled, changed her tuned, and laughed as much as she could, between still heavy breaths. Finally, she smiled, breathing becoming regular “I guess it has been a while, and it would be the first time you ever managed to win.”
“Thank you so much.”
“You did better. You played psychologically. Made me think you were in a worse position than you were, if not by much.”
Ulrich stood, and gave a little bow. “I learn. Slowly, but I learn.”
Yumi stood and returned the gesture “How bout you owe me one of these a week too?”
“Sound fine to me.”
“You won’t win again so easily. Berserk rushes doesn’t work against a skilled fighter for long.”
Ulrich smiled. He’d been holding back more than she knew. It was time for a shift in who took the lead in these fights.
“Next week then.”

---

“Your term, it seems apt. Murky.” Odd replied, somewhat dreamily.
“I knew your head was up in the clouds, Della Robbia, but you’re daydreaming about the sky at night now, come on.”
Odd looked away, and couldn’t believe he was about to admit even this much.
“Sissi, if your head were in the game like it has been for the last week, things could be really different, you know.”
“If you keep acting like this, I’m going to start thinking you’re terminally ill or something.” She snipped.
“Shut up and listen to me. This secret you’re chasing? You’ve nearly gotten in on it more than once. Doing the wrong thing cost you the respect of my friends and I every time though, even if you can’t remember it. Once because of your cowardice and inability to keep a secret, twice or more because you got nosy and told the wrong people.”
“So we are calling names and making incomprehensible accusations after all. At least I recognize you this way.”
“No, Let me finish.” Odd said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes “I’m just telling you facts. The one time we dragged you in, you displayed great comprehension, and passion to help with no strings attached. Keep your brain engaged and keep your mind open like that and one day you may just find out what all this is about without freshly ruining our opinion of you. You’re going to forget about all of this in like five minutes, but I promise you I’ll find you again and at least tell you the last part.”
“Open mind huh?” Sissi asked, trailing off. Odd would have been happy to let it end comfortably here, but then she had presence of mind to ask, “How did I forget this exactly? Did Belpois finally invent some kooky memory ray?”
Silence descended, and both were clearly uncomfortable. The static of the charged storms in the distance stuck Odd’s hairs on end again.
“I’m not supposed to tell you. The others are not big on forgiveness for not keeping a secret, but I had a revelation lately -” Odd started explained, but suddenly stopped talking again. Sissi assumed he had gotten too uncomfortable to speak the answer, a feeling she was quickly becoming aware of too, and was about to excuse herself when he stopped her with a quick hand. Even his normally spiked hair was giving the impression of a cat’s tail fluffing up in the face of danger.
In a low voice, keeping his vision straight ahead toward the nearby wall of the main building, he continued. “I guess you’ll get your chance right now. This might be nothing, but casually turn your head behind us and see who’s there.”
Sissi considered him crazy, but based on the amount she had pieced together just in the last three days, she was ready for this to lead anywhere. She was pleasantly surprised to find a friendly face maybe ten or twenty feet back in the shadows though. “Dunbar?” She exclaimed “William!? You’re back just like-Ooof.” She was cut short as Odd pulled her foreword off the bench onto the hard packed earth below. The seat vaporized a second later from a large energy discharge. Sissi fought a scream, little bits of it escaping as squeaks, and pushed off Odd’s arm to jump up run over the wall, flattening her back against the building, slinking back away from them.
“So, XANA, nice of you to use a face she’d recognize.” Odd shouted “You could have just blown us up as some stranger.”
Slowly the dark face turned up, and the eyes pulsed with a familiar sigil. Something was different though. There were pupils there too, forming the center of XANA’s sign. “No Odd, not just XANA. I’m part of this too. I was offered a choice, and I took it. Don’t know what I mean? I’m not surprised, XANA never did particularly consider you quick.”
“You can’t possibly be here in the flesh, and you’re not a specter either.”
“Getting quicker I see, although how I’m here isn’t important. You’re still ultimately useless Odd, critical to no one. I waited for you to come here because as it stands right now, I just need a messenger boy. Your death would have been a particularly amusing way to deliver that message, but your own terrified account of how I started killing people here will serve too.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re about out of time. 3 Minutes, tops. Then time resets.” Odd called, standing defiant, but tensed at the knees and ready to jump out of the way.
“I wondered what those strange ghost readings in our tests might have been. Jeremie is ahead for once.” William spoke to himself, with resigned disinterest to Odd’s presence.
“I wonder how many buildings I can vaporize in that time.”
With two minutes to go, Odd leapt at him, doing his best to show a figure with fangs bared and claws out. He nearly landed the punch, but William caught his arm with a black spiked glove and threw him to the ground on his back.
“You’re nothing but a distraction Odd. Even as a warrior you’re just used for stalling. You’ve always been the little one that barely got in the way. Unimportant.” William pinned Odd’s free arm with a large black boot, red chaotic lines crisscrossing it unpleasantly. With strength somewhat more than human, he forced the fist he’d caught down, and with his free knee, started to press into Odd’s windpipe. He caused pain, but avoided crushing anything yet, and leaned in. “Inconsequential.”
The visage above him began charging up a crimson field of energy around his free hand.
“It’s indecisive, I know, but I’m going to change the plan back to sending them your body to say the fight’s back on. They won’t miss you for long, you’re just a distraction.”
Pressed to the ground, breathing strained, Odd couldn’t help but still try to laugh a little at what William had set himself up for.
“Never” he coughed “Never underestimate the distraction.”
Sissi appeared behind William and screamed for him to stop as she slammed his exposed back with a long metal pole she’d acquired somewhere. The energy field vanished instantly as the shape of the man fell to pieces first, and then dissolved into sand.
Sissi fought another scream at the sight, instead just falling back to her rear.
“Good girl,” Odd coughed, relived to have the pressure off his trachea. “What is it with you and steel poles.”
“W-wh-wh?”
“I’m not sure. It was definitely William, at least in part. Physically some kind of micro robot. Nanotechnology.”
“Odd, just wh-what are you involved in?”
“I’d tell you but we have like thirty seconds at the most, and you won’t remember anyway. I promise I’ll tell you again to keep your brain working and your mind open.” He pulled a hand up out of the pile of sand and just stared. “After this, I seriously promise. I wish I could tell you more too, but that’s not just up to me.”
“I-I’ll trust you to-” She was starting to get over the shock of a person dissolving to dust in front of her eyes “You’d better put me just as far in the loop as you can.”
Odd gave a flippant ‘thumbs up’ as he pulled out his cell and speed dialed. “Ulrich. Yeah, I need you to take a message for me, I can’t get back in time. Don’t talk, just listen. William was here. Nanotechnology or something. Seemed to be him, but under XANA’s control too. Tried to kill me but I had help. I owe Sissi a speech. I’ll know which one.” He started to say more, but moments later he and Sissi were hit by the time resetting field, and for a brief moment he wondered how everybody else dealt with this frustration of not remembering, but resigned to himself that in a minute it wouldn’t matter.