Athena

Chapter 5: Odd

So as we all know Odd has disappeared into the digital sea and the thing about that is that whoever is caught in the digital sea is lost forever and they can never ever come back. So why are Dawn and Ulrich bothering to go look for him even though they know good and well that he's one forever? Maybe because it happened before with Yumi and Jeremy was able to bring her back, but for some reason Jeremy can't find any trace of Odd. And to Dawn and Ulrich that isn't good enough...

I rushed to the Celestial Dome with Ulrich and we finally were able to gain access to Xana's memories. I really did hope that Odd's DNA code was here and that he really wasn't gone forever.

"Anything yet, Dawn?" Ulrich asked after a few minutes.

"No there's nothing yet, but I'll keep looking I won't give up on him." I said determined and continued to search for him.

"Ulrich, Dawn what are you two doing in Lyoko?" Jeremy's voice came from the sky.

"We're sorry, Jeremy. But we have to find Odd in our own way, I know you mean well but you've done everything you could on your end, it's about time we started the search on our end." Ulrich said and I continued to go through the data, but nothing was coming up.

"Maybe I'm searching for the wrong thing." I thought out loud and tried searching for activity in the digital sea in the last 24 hours and that's when something appeared on the screen, the coding was very strange, but if I concentrated hard enough I could just barely make out what it was saying.

"You stopped searching, did you find something?" Ulrich asked hopefully.

"I think, but the coding is strange, it's hard to decode it. Here I'll send it to Jeremy and see what he thinks." I quickly sent the data to Jeremy and we waited for his response.

"It is strange, I'll give it that, but there's something about this file that is tripping me up."

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's traces of Odd and of Xana in the file." I froze.

"Xana and Odd? Is it possible that Xana took Odd after he fell in the digital sea and just made it seem like he was gone forever?" I said and that's when I looked down over the edge of the Celestial Dome.

"I don't know, Dawn. But we don't have the ship operation yet to go into the digital sea, so that means we have to save that for another day. You two have done enough, maybe with this I'll be able to create a clone of Odd until we can save the real one." I froze again and this time I jumped off the edge and let my wings come out.

"You can't go into the digital sea, that doesn't mean I can't." I said and flew out of the sector, I didn't need Jeremy to open up passages for me to get from one sector to the next. I flew to the mountains and to where Odd had fallen into the sea.

I dove straight for the water and disappeared underneath it. I was surprised when I could breath, but I knew I had to find the replica Odd was in before Xana realized I was here. But that's when I saw a glowing orange orb in the distance. My wings had changed and they became a mermaid tail for me to swim with. When the orb became more clear I realized it was a Guardian, the same thing that had trapped me when I was in Lyoko. But the thing with this Guardian was if Odd was released from it, he would be devirtualized forever.

I touched the orb to see if there was any way I could move it without harming Odd. The light dimmed and it looked like the orb was about to disappeared, I quickly pulled my hand away and frowned.

I can't save him like this...

I swam back to Lyoko and flew out of the digital sea again. Ulrich was there waiting for me.

"Well?" I frowned.

"I found him. He's in a Guardian below the surface, but I can't touch the Guardian without it about to explode, if that happens Odd will be gone forever. I can't save him without some other strategy." I said and sat down on the edge of the mountain.

"Hey at least now we know where he is and that he's alive, we just have to wait a little bit longer until Jeremy and Aelita finish the Skid." I looked back down at the water and frowned.

"We'll bring you back somehow, Odd. Just wait a little longer." Jeremy started devirtualizing us and when we appeared in the scanners I dropped to my knees inside it and slammed my hand down on the metal.

"Hurting yourself isn't going to get Odd back faster and you know it." Ulrich stated and put out a hand to help me up. I grabbed it lightly and let him pull me out of the scanner.

We climbed up the ladder and saw Yumi, Aelita and Jeremy standing there.

"You two shouldn't be so reckless, especially you Dawn. Jumping into the digital sea like that scared all of us, we thought we had lost you too." Aelita said frowning.

"I can pass through the digital sea without being harmed because I was created in the digital sea. I saw Odd, he's in a Guardian, but like I said I can't reach him without the Guardian disappearing." I looked down at the ground.

"Dawn, we're just about done with the Skid, which means we'll be able to go into the digital sea and get Odd. We aren't going to leave him there, I promise." Jeremy said.

"Yeah besides if we hurry we can get him back for the end of the year dance and you two can go together." Yumi said and I blushed. "And don't even deny that you want to go with, Odd."

"I think we should get back to the school, it has to be really late and Jim will kill us if he finds out we haven't been in the dorms." I stated and walked to the elevator, pushing the button.

"Alright, alright. Aelita and I are going to stay here and finish the rest of the tests for the Skid and tomorrow we're going to have a test run. So at 5 tomorrow night be here for the test." Ulrich, Yumi and I nodded and we stepped inside the elevator.

"I guess we really are about to challenge the digital sea." Ulrich said and I giggled.

"It's not so bad." I stated. They rolled their eyes.

"Okay Miss I-was-created-in-the-digital-sea." Yumi said as the elevator doors opened. We headed across the bridge and finally down into the tunnel that led to the school.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow at school, be careful going home." I smiled at her.

"You too." With that Ulrich and I skateboarded back to the school. When I finally was able to curl up into bed I closed my eyes picturing Odd in that Guardian, he was probably scared to death thinking he was dead or something...

Odd, please just hang in there, we're coming for you tomorrow...