Welcome to Gaia! ::

oh brandy.... i'm not dead yet!!! how do i use the wierd happy faces.... xp okay... yeah, haha brandy!!! i'm not dead yet!!! xp

Hes not dead yet

Code SPIRAL 08 - disarming fate

"At this moment we have a total hold on Aelita's life. What makes you think we'll do an equal trade?" Rio asked Jeremy.
"If you hurt her... I won't hestiate in sending the tape to the police. I'm sure you have plans if she escapes, but right now both our options are limited." Jeremy explained. "You can't go on the offensive or I'll give the tape to the authorites. Yet I can't go on the offensive because you have Aelita. We're each holding eachother's weakness, and as a result neither of us can make a move. So... do you want to trade her for the tape or not?"
"Tch... like we'd ever agree to a stupid deal like that." Kosuke answered for her. "Your not that hard to figure out, Jeremy. You could have made a dozen copies of that tape."
"No... there won't be any copies."
"Your word doesn't amount to crap..."
"Look... even if I manage to free her from wherever it is your holding her... we could both be targeted for reprisals later. I need to ensure her safety... my reason for the trade, end of story." Jeremy glared at them intensly.
"There's more than one way to put it..." Rio said. "If you... don't hand over the tape... we can and will eliminate her whenever WE feel the time is right." Rio grinned.
"I'd hand the tape over right now if that were true... but it isn't." Jeremy called her bluff. "I don't know why... but you wouldn't be satisfied if I surrendered because of such a threat. Hence all your "games". But I'm not proposing a trade or simple exchange... I'm proposing a game of my own..." Jeremy finished, and waited for a response.
"I'm listening..." Rio replied calmly.
"We both have something the other wants..." Jeremy started. "The tape and the hostage. The ideal situation would be to wind up with both, right?"
"Of course."
"So here's the deal. As of right now... the tape is in a place where I can't retreive it until just after 2:00 PM tommorow. I've also set it up so that if something were to happen to me before 1:30 PM tomorrow, the tape winds up in the hands of the police. That way you won't be able to take me out before the game starts. But... if you can learn where the tape is hidden and beat me to it, you can steal it. Follow so far?"
"Continue..." Rio replied while listening intently.
"You just give me the same opportunity. At 1:30 PM tomorrow I'll tell you the location of the tape. And..."
"And at that time..." Kosuke interuppted. "We tell you where we're hiding Aelita. So it is just a simply exchange..."
"Not really..." Jeremy replied. "Both sides will know exactly where the other is going. Don't you think you could come up with a creative way to slow your opponent down and capture both targets?"
"So it would be possible to take both prizes if you can block your opponent's moves. I see the point of your game... but aren't your rules a little vague?"
"Since you seem so intent on playing fair... I'll let you make up the more "complicated" rules. I gave you the idea... now you have to make it a fair game of wits. That's my game." Jeremy finished. "Now... will you accept my challenge? Or run away?" Rio frowned. He was using an incredibly over the top variety of reverse psychology. But she would turn that psychology against him yet again soon.
"Fine... I accept." Rio said as Jeremy turned and headed out of the room. "But you will regret this tough guy additude."
"Try and make me." Jeremy slamned the door shut and headed back for the school. A moment later, a pillow his the door.
"DAMN IT! SHE WAS RIGHT!" Rio exlcaimed as she stood on top of her bed. "Us holding her hostage has made him stronger. We may not be able to beat him now!"
"Calm down." Kosuke pulled her down back to a seated position. "He's still not that tough. RIght now we need to concentrate on outwitting and bringing death upon him."
"But... I thought we were only supposed to be testing him... Eyes didn't give the order to kill him..."
"Forget about Eyes!" Kosuke exclaimed. "He's holding us back! We're doing this on our own. He thinks we need Jeremy and Ayumu to help us win, I say we should win it ourselves instead of depending on others to help us survive!" Kosuke paced the room as he monologued. Rio hesitated for a moment.
"You're right." Rio agreed with him hesitantly. "Fine... Jeremy Belpois... even if you do have pride, I will make you regret every ounce of it!"

The next morning, Jeremy was supposed to have gone with his father to see Ayumu, but he skipped out on it. He had found a note tucked under his door that morning, telling him where to meet them to start the game. It was a church downtown. He had been up all night... he had tried to think of all the disturbing twists to his simple game that the blade children could invent, and set up half a dozen plans of what to do in each scenario. He checked to make sure they were all still viable throughout the morning, and then around one o'clock headed for the church.

On the opposite side of town, Kosuke sat in the room with Aelita, who was eating the lunch he had once again brought her, although she was being particularly silent.
"We're going to play another little game..." Kosuke said to her. "But we weren't the ones who suggested it... this time it was Jeremy."
"Are... are you serious?" Aelita asked him.

Jeremy walked into the church at 1:15 PM. It was an older church... made almost entirely of wood. A massive stained glass window made up most of the back wall, with a large cross in front of it. Rio stood in the center isle, staring up at the window and cross. The entire church was empty. Jeremy walked in behind her.
"Are you praying?" He asked.
"Hardly... there's no such thing as god." She replied as she spun around.
"Are you even supposed to be out of bed?" Jeremy asked, as her arms were still bandaged up.
"No... the doctor said I need two more weeks of rest... but this is hardly time for me to be lying around in bed." She pulled up the sleever of her shirt, to reveal a pink wristwatch displaying the time as 1:15. "Now let me explain how the game will work..."

"The object of the game is to capture both the tape, and you, which are located in different parts of town. There are obstables, naturally... but there are no "complicated" rules." Kosuke held out his hand, within which he held a small, silver key. "I'm gonna give you this key to hold on to for the duration of the game..." Aelita hesitantly took if from him.
"What's it for?" She asked.
"It disarms a bomb that's been placed in a certain location..." Kosuke grinned. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but if you don't disarm the bomb within a certain time limit... boom."
"And what location is that?"
"Wouldn't you like to know..." Kosuke teased. "Around your little boyfriend's neck."

Rio clicked the metal collar into place around Jeremy's neck.
"It may be small... but it's powerful enough to blow your head clean off." Rio stepped back a few steps and showed him her watch. "By my watch, the bomb will explode at 2:30 PM, so you'll want to synchronize your watch with mine." Jeremy did so. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but it's tamper-proof... just like all my other bombs. It won't come off without using the disarm key, which we've given to Aelita. You're time limit is one hour. If you can meet up with Aelita before then and get the disarm key from her... then you'll survive. But if you do anything during the game like call the cops or ask anyone for help, the collar will explode immediately." Rio explained.
"Don't worry... you can expect a fair game from me." Jeremy shot back.
"Well then... at 1:30 the game will begin and Aelita will be released." Rio contniued. "At that point she's not just one of the prizes, she's also your teammate, the same way Kosuke is mine. How you work together to complete objectives is up to you."
"So... you're looking for a fair, 2-on-2 match, right?"
"You could say that... oh yeah, I forgot to mention. We won't touch her for the first 10 minutes... but after that we'll begin to make efforts to capture her again. And of course, if we get our hands on both prizes, we'll eliminate her without a moment's hesitation..." Rio pulled a backpack off her back and handed Jeremy a cell phone. "We've got cell phones, and we've given one to Aelita as well. All four numbers are programmed onto each phone, and they're the only ones that can be used during the game. You can call your teammate or your opponent's at any time, but it's up to you wether to accept a call or not. This city is a large battlefield... without the phones, the necessary teamwork would be nearly impossible." Rio turned and sat down on one of the benches, but Jeremy remained standing, weighing his options.

If he tried to meet with her on the way to get the tape, it would have to be at a place near the tape's location. The blade children would be homing in on that same spot, which would increase the risk of Aelita being attacked and capture. But if he made their meeting point someplace far away, the tape would surely fall into enemy hands. Even if he tried to meet Aelita AFTER getting the tape, the time limit would put his life at risk. It was a tightrope... and he didn't know how to walk it.

"So... are you going to tell me where you hid the tape or not?" Rio asked a few minutes later as it was 1:25.
"The post office." Jeremy answered. "I sealed it up tight and mailed it to myself at Catic Academy. It should be delivered around 2:00 PM today. But it's a little more compicated than that. If you show up at the mailbox before me and check the mail, you won't be able to steal the tape if it hasn't been delivered yet." He threw a key at Rio.
"The mailbox key, I presume?" Rio asked.
"I added a lock to mine, just for this occasion." Jeremy explained. "If I wind up dead from this and you guy's don't get the tape, my father will undoubtly check the suspicious package... which basically means it winds up in the hands of the police."
"Impressive... you've really thought this out..." Rio turned away from him to think.

Timing is more important than being the first one there, she thought. Kosuke was already near the school, but now there was no point of having him rush there. The key was a bottleneck... they didn't NEED it to open the mailbox, but if they didn't use it they risk being caught by the students or teachers. She turned back to him. "Then everything is set. Once the game starts, you can call Aelita and ask her for her location yourself. The time limit is one hour..." She stared at her watch, which was ticking away the last few seconds until 1:30. As it struck the half hour, the two stared eachother down. "And let the game begin." Rio said as she walked right past him and out the front door.

"If you don't want Jeremy dead, then you'll have to get out of here fast." Kosuke said as he released Aelita onto the city street.
"You won't catch me again." Aelita shot back at him before dashing away from him, answering the cell phone he had given her as it rang. "Jeremy!" She exclaimed as she opened up the phone. Kosuke stared at her as she rushed off.
"Ten whole minutes... that's a big head-start." He flipped open his own phone to receive a call from Rio. "Rio... I just let the girl go."
"Good than I'll explain our strategy to you..." Rio replied from the other end of the line. "I can tell what he's thinking for the most part. He'll put himself at risk somehow and wait until the 2nd half to get the key. You go straight for that tape."
"Right... but what should I do about the mailbox key?"
"It's only a pen-cylinder lock. You can pick it, right?"
"Yeah... but it could get messy if anyone saw me."
"We'll have to risk it. There's just no time for me to get this key to you."
"Why? What are you doing?"
"I'm going to completely crush any hope he had of disarming the bomb." She said slyly. "Don't let your guard down Kosuke."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Kosuke hung up. If her theory was correct, she knew how Jeremy was going to instruct Aelita. Rio flagged down a cab.
"Where to?" The driver asked.
"The train station."

"Are you OK?" Jeremy asked Aelita over the phone.
"Yeah... they treated me surprisngly well." She responded.
"Where are you?"
"I'm about a mile and a half from the factory, a quarter mile to the train station."
"I'm near the church, about half a mile from the factory."
"Jeremy, listen. Let them get the tape. We have to disarm the bomb! There's no point in winning if you die!"
"Aelita... I've got it all worked out in my head. If we follow my plan to the letter, I can get the tape and we can disarm the bomb before it explodes. Besides, if they get the tape, they'll be able to elminate us anytime they want in the future. The tape has to come first."
"You sure get assertive when someone's worried sick about you..." Aelita said worriedly.
"I want this thing off too... I'll sweat bullets until then, but I think I'll make it. But you should be more worried about yourself. If they get the tape, they'll come after you, regardless of the game's outcome. Worry some about yourself."
"What do you want me to do?" She asked him.
"You need to keep yourself and the key safe until just before the end of the game. I doubt Lyoko will be safe... Kosuke has been able to get there on his own somehow before. Go to the station and get on a train. Keep going back and forth between the first few stops. You'll be safe there... they won't be able to do anything violent with all those passengers around. Just make sure you get back to the station around 2:10. I'll be able to get the disarm key from you in the last twenty minutes."
"Get back at 2:10. Got it."
"Be careful which train you get on. Get on the wrong train, and you won't make it back before the explosion. I'll call and give you the next set of instructions once I have the tape. Be careful until then."
"All right..." Aelita replied. "You be careful too."

Aelita arrived at the train station, bought a pass, and then dashed up the stairs to the platform, stopping only to check the train schedule. But as she stepped onto the platform, she saw someone behind her. It was Rio, and she was heading up the stairs after her.
"Oh no!" She exclaimed as she scrambled for the nearest train, which was the only one pulled into the station. She stared up at it's destination tag. She wasn't familiar with the name of the town... she didn't know how far it was. "Should I get on?!" She questioned as she panted for breath. She remembered Jeremy's warning about getting back by 2:30. Before she could reach a decision, she felt a pair of hands shove her onto the train as the doors closed. Rio stood from behind the door, smiling at her through the window. The train started to move, and it was too late.
"Bye bye!" Rio waved at her on the train. Aelita pressed herself against the glass window as she saw the Rio... and then the station... dissapear from her vision as it bolted down the tracks. Rio resumed her innocent, childish voice and she walked over to one of the conductors. "Excuse me sir... if someone got on that train by accident... about what time do you think they'd be able to return to this station?" She asked. The guard flipped open a small black book in his hand, and ran his finger through an index.
"It's next stop is in 20 minutes. So, if they transfer there, the earliest they could get back would by 2:30."
"Thank you." She bowed her head as she headed down the stairs, grinning. "Now I can assume I've crushed Jeremy's only chance of getting the disarm key. But he still has another way to survive. I'll just have to crush that too." Rio grinned as she flagged down another cab. "That train has become a moving prison."

"I'm so, so sorry Jeremy!" Aelita apologized to him over the phone. "Rio pushed me onto some weird train! I don't know when I'll get back!"
"It's alright Aelita... I have a backup plan. I'm sure there's more then one disarm key. Rio must have the other one. I'll have to find someway to get it away from her. But so long as you're on the train, you should be safe..."
"Jeremy... I have a bad feeling about what you just said..." Aelita stared with horror at the cockpit, where the engineer was beginning to lose control of the train. The electronic panel on the controls was flickering with a Xana mark. "I think Xana's attacking the train!"

Rio's phone rang. So did Kosuke's. They both answered at the same time.
"Hello?"
"There's a problem you two." Jeremy said, having confence called his opponent's. "Xana's interfering with the game. He's just taken over the train you shoved Aelita on."
"He did what?" Kosuke shouted angrily.
"Relax Kosuke. I'm afraid Jeremey, that's not our problem." Rio replied coldly.
"Rio... isn't that a little..."
"Shut up Kosuke. Look... Kosuke and I will talk it over... until then, the game is still on." Rio cut Jeremy out of the call.
"Rio... we can't let her be killed. She's one of us... even if she doesn't know it." Kosuke pleaded with her. Rio frowned.
"Fine... I'll call Eyes. He'll take care of the xana attack, while we finish the game." Rio hung up, and then dialed another number.

"Xana doesn't have much honor, does he?" Eyes asked Rio after she had explained everything. He was standing next to his piano with his cell phone to his ear.
"Apparently not... he's taking advantage of the game to take a cheap shot as us." Rio replied. "So you'll do it?"
"Of course."
"Xana's most likely using the tower to overaccelerate the train so that it crashes and explodes at the next station. It'll probably reach that station in about 15 minutes or less depending on how much it speeds up. The conductor will also need a minute or two after regaining control of the train to slow it down... so you don't have much time."
"Then forgive me for not staying on the line to chat about the weather..." Eyes said as he typed on his laptop with one hand.
"Careful Eyes..." Rio said as she hung up. She then dialed Jeremy again. "You can relax. The Xana attack on the train is about to be averted."
"Wha... how?" Jeremy asked, bewildered. "Is Kosuke going to Lyoko to destroy the tower like he did before?"
"No..." Rio sighed. "Look... I don't feel like explaining it to you. But despite this attack... our game goes on."

Back at his penthouse, the panel in the floor slid away as the silver scanner rose from the floor. Eyes stepped inside as a ten-second ticker counted down on the laptop. At 0, the door closed and Eyes was whisked away to Lyoko. Eyes materialized in the forest sector. He wore a black trenchcoat with tan pants. Around his neck was a black band with a small, glass prism attached as a pendant. He opened his eyes, which were already in their cat-like state. He reached across his body, gripping the hilt of a blade that was in a brown leather sheath that hung to his side. He pulled out the blade, which resembled a curved katana with serrated edges. He swung the blade in the air a few times to get the feel of it, and then rushed off towards the red tower off in the distance.

Jeremy was obviously worried about the attack, but he had no choice but to continue with the game. He made a break for the academy. Meanwhile... Kosuke had gotten there first, having ridden a bike. He parked it right outside the door of the school, and leaned up against the wall as he waited for the mailman to come and deliver the tape.

Rio stood in the area around the bridge upon which the train tracks ran. She had figured out the other part of Jeremy's plan. Since he couldn't use Aelita's disarm key, he must have been depending on forcing her to disarm the bomb using the disarm switch she kept on her. She held the small black box in her hand. But the only way he could force her to do that was to create a situation where if she didn't disarm the bomb, she would die too. But to do that, he'd need to augment the strength and blast radius of the bomb. The places and ways he could do this were also very limited. He'd want a place near the station in the event Aelita did get back on time, and an unpopulated area so no one else would get caught up in it. And the only such place... was the small area beneath the train tracks by the river. She began to scour this area as she waited for Jeremy to come looking for her, sifting through a large pile of discarded machinery. Suddendly, she collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest. She had been fighting it for some time now, but her wound from her own bomb was still causing her a large amount of pain. Still... she had no choice but to keep going...

At 1:58, the mailman walked into the building with the mailboxes with a large mail sack.
"What do you know... the postman's early for once..." He said as he pulled his lockpick out of his pocket. "I've got about ten seconds to pick the lock before someone notices me..." He concealted the lockpick back in his jacked pocket as he walked in, passing the mailman who was on his way out. The whole room was empty. Kosuke found the mailbox labeled for Jeremy, and quickly went to work, after a few seconds, the lock clicked open and Kosuke grabbed the door handle. "Sorry... looks like you lose Belpois..." Kosuke pulled open the door. He was startled when a few dozen identical white packages that had been forcibly crammed into the mailbox spilled out onto the floor. "What the?!?!"
"Sorry about that..." Jeremy said casually as he walked into the building through the front door with a grin on his face. "Guess I forgot to mention that I also mailed a bunch of "dummy" tapes to confuse you."
"Dummy tapes?" Kosuke muttered with confusion and anger.
"Unfortunately... I forgot one thing..." Jeremy said as he stooped over and started looking through the tapes. "I don't even know which one is real."
"Are... are you serious!?!?" Kosuke exclaimed.
"Hmm..." Jeremy stared at the first box he picked up. "That is one fine wrapping job..." He said sarcastically.
"Wha... what the hell? You're sitting there admiring your wrapping? Are you even trying to win?" Kosuke became flustered.
"Looks like we'll have to sit here and open each one until we find it..." Jeremy started to unwrap the first box. Kosuke immediately dropped down and started to tear open another box.
"You're trying to act all innocent... I know there's some trick to... HEY!" Kosuke yelled as Jeremy stood up with one of the boxes and bolted for the door.
"You shouldn't have let your guard down!" Jeremy shouted back to him as he triumphantly waved the tape of his head as he ran out the door.
"Ge... get back here!" Kosuke pursued him out the door. But when he got outside, he found Jeremy on his bicycle.
"You don't mind if I borrow this, right?" Jeremy asked him sarcastically before he stared to pedal as fast as he could, as Kosuke pursued him.
"No! Stop! You thief!" Kosuke shouted after him, but he could only run a little less than a block before he had to slow down and Jeremy, still picking up speed, headed for the station.
"Alright... now I just have to figure out what to do with this bomb..." Jeremy said as he fingered the metal ring around his neck.

On board the train, the passengers were whipped up into a frenzy. The conductor was trying every thing in his power to stop the train, but it was of no use. The train only continued to gain speed... and if they crashed into the station at that pace, everyone on board would surely perish. Aelita stared nervously at the horizon as the train station came into view far off down the track.

On Lyoko, Eyes' blade slashed a kankralot clean in half. A krab, approaching from behind, fired a laser at him which he deftly dodged. He then pulled the prism necklace off his neck and attached it to the hilt of his blade. As the krab, and a tarantula that quickly joined it, continued to fire on him, he bounced their lasers off his blade. But unlike Ulrich's which would bounce the lasers away, Eyes' sword absorbed the blasts, and with each shot the prism began to glow with a more intense red light. He slowly walked his way forward as he continued to block the blasts, and then sliced off two of the krab's legs. It fell to one side, and Eyes ducked behind it's torso. The tarantula, trying to fire at him, instead shot the Krab directly on the Xana mark, destroying it. From the shower of mechanical parts, Eyes leapt upwards, bringing his katana down into the skull of the tarantula. He placed his blade back in his sheath, placed the still glowing pendant back around his neck, and then ran towards the tower, but found himself intercepted by a megatank. It spun it's wheels menacingly, and then it's shell opened and if fired it's eliptical blast at him. Eyes did not draw his blade, but held his hands in front of him, cupping them around the prism. The blast seemingly struck him and a large amount of smoke and dust was blown into the air. Eyes emerged from the blast unharmed, but he was now holding in front of his chest a large orb. It had the texture and make-up of an energy field, but it was much larger, about twice the size of a basketball and had a dark purple tint. The prism floated in the center, Eyes had used the energy of the monster's lasers to form the sphere, which he had also used to deflect the megatank's blast. He drew it back in one hand.
"Dark Energy Field!" He threw the sphere into the air like a shotput, and as it reached it's peak height, it began to speed up as it arced downwards towards the megatank, which quickly withdrew into it's shell. But shell or no shell, a moment after being struck the tank disintegrated, leaving behind only purple smoke. Eyes rushed past and entered the tower. He stepped towards the center and rose through the tower, setting foot on the platform at the top. He placed his hand on the panel which appeared.

EYES ... CODE

SPIRAL

The walls of the tower began to spin at a high speed as Eyes shut off his "cat eyes" and reverted to his regular blue ones. After a moment, the interior and the exterior of the tower cracked, and then exploded. Eyes touched down in the spot where the tower used to be.
"That was actually rather refreshing..." Eyes almost smiled. He had somewhat enjoyed the rush of combat after so long... and it felt strange to have these powers. When he was fighting for his life... he usually didn't have such powers... or such feeble opponents. "Now then... to get out of here..." Eyes said as he headed for the sector's way tower, which he could use to materialize himself.

Aelita was surprised when the Xana mark dissappeared from the screen and the pilot finally managed to fire the emergency breaks. They screeched to a safe speed just as they reached the station, and as the doors opened, everyone flooded out. Aelita saw that the train going back to her station had just left. There wasn't another one for nearly ten minutes. She called Jeremy to assure him she was safe, and he relayed to her some instructions, to which she hesitantly agreed. After a minute or two, he hung up, and then she sat there nervously awaited the train.

Jeremy let Kosuke's bike fall on it's side as he got off it at the bottom of the hill by the riverside area.
"I figured you'd be here..." He said to Rio, who was leaning casually against one of the pillars that supported the bridge.
"I'm here because I figured you'd come here." Rio replied. "It's only logical."
"Then you know why I'm here."
"At this point in the game, the only reason you'd come looking for me it to try and make me disarm the bomb. Tell me... were you planning to trade the tape for your life? There are less than 10 minutes left... and there's no way Aelita will be back in time..."
"That's right... If I don't come up with something here, I will die..." Jeremy replied.
"You want this, don't you?" Rio held up the black disarm switch.
"So you brought it. Thanks."
"I absolutely will not press it for you... you are going to die."
"No... I absolutely will not die..." Jeremy stepped away from the pillar revealing a three-gallon red gas can. "Gasoline. If the bomb explodes, you'll go down with me, and you'll lose the tape as well."
"That's right... assuming it is filled with gasoline." Rio said to him. "But I figured you might try something like this... I came here earlier and found that gas can... I poured out the gas and replaced it with water. Tough break. So now, when the bomb explodes, you'll die, and I'll take the tape from your lifeless body..." Jeremy threw the white box on the ground.
"You can have it if you want... it's a dummy. The real one's still on the floor back at the school. Aelita's going to pick it up right now." Jeremy said. "All I did was show Kosuke one of the dummy tapes and he was fooled."
"Well... it's not that hard to fool Kosuke..." Rio admitted.
"Even you thought it was the real thing." Jeremy grinned. "How dissapointing. Aelita's going to take a cab there... she'll be at the school by 2:40. Even if you call Kosuke now, he won't make it back there in time. And with the tape in her hands, even if I die, the law will have it's way with the both of you. You've lost." Jeremy explained.
"Very well... I'll accept defeat in regards to the tape. Things will get pretty sticky if the police get ahold of it, but even if Aelita is safe, you'll die."
"You think so?" Jeremy said, as he took off his watch. "I was never actually counting on the gas tank to get you to disarm it. I knew you'd find it and switch the contents."
"So you bluffed..."
"Three minutes left..." Jeremy threw the watch at Rio, which she caught. "You wanna see a miracle?"
"What?"
"You can count it down... go ahead." Jeremy said as he leaned against the pillar. She gritted her teeth.
"You know you're going to die! You're just trying to get a rise out of me before you're head gets blown off!"
"You really think I don't stand a chance? There's two solid ways I can survive right now..."
"You're little bluffs are getting lame."
"The first is that you press that disarm button."
"That won't happen."
"If you're so sure you won't use it, then why do you even still have it? Wouldn't you be better off to throw it in the river or destroy it, eliminating any chance of my survival?" Jeremy pressed her nerve. Rio grimaced. He was... right... she didn't know why she was holding on to it at all. "You're confused... the truth is... you're not sure if you CAN kill me or not." Rio drew back apprehensively. "Right now... I have absolute faith I won't die. There's no logic involved... just blind faith."
"I... I... I won't let you trick me!" Rio exclaimed. "I've been on the brink of death before, and I've always had my way! I won't waver to something this insignificant! I won't save you!"

"Then there's only one other way for me to survive..." Jeremy began to explain.
"No... there's no other way." Rio argued.
"You're wrong..." Jeremy pointed to the metal collar. "There's always the possibility the bomb's a dud. In about a minute... we'll find out."
"Are you insane?" Rio asked him. "I made that bomb myself! It's would never malfunction... not in a million years!"
"Then in a billion years perhaps." Jeremy stared at her defiantly. "Shouldn't you be counting down?" Rio glanced at the watch, and began to count.
"Seven... six... five... four... three... two... one..." She counted. Everything was dead silent... she expected to hear the explosion. But there was nothing. She stared at the watch continued to tick past 2:30 and onwards. She collapsed to her knees with shock. "Im...Impossible..." She muttered with disbelief.
"Looks like I got lucky..." Jeremy stood up and stepped towards her.
"My will... my calculations... lost to dumb luck?" Rio cried out in anguish.

She stared at the watch with disbelief as it continued to tick away. "Time doesn't lie... TIME!" She exclaimed as she realized Jeremy's illusion. "STAY BACK!" She rose up as her thumb hovered over the detonate button. Jeremy halted in his tracks. She rolled up her sleeve to reveal her own watch... which displayed 2:28. "Ingenious... confuse while you still have time to spare by trying to paralyze my sense of time... you set your watch ahead by 2 minutes, so of course the bomb didn't explode when it said 2:30! You intended to take advantage of my delusion of defeat to steal the disarm switch from me!"
"Looks like you figured it out..." Jeremy frowned and sighed.
"I've won... I saw through you and won!" Rio threw the black box into the river, where it disappeared into the strong current. "And with that... you're death is now certain."
"Ten more seconds and I could have taken it from you." Jeremy sighed.
"Yeah... too bad for you." Rio said as Jeremy walked back towards the bridge pillar. "One minute left."
"That's it?" Jeremy said quietely as he stared up at the sky just above the tracks. "Then I guess all I can do is pray." He quitely said.
"Like I said before we started..." Rio said. "There's no such thing as god."
"Are you so certain?" Jeremy held up his hand to the sky as a train whistle blew just off in the distance, and a rumble came through the tracks that grew steadily louder. "Because my goddess has arrived." It took Rio a moment to grasp the meaning of his words. She gasped in shock as she saw the train coming along the track.
"If that's the express line that gets back to the station at 2:30... then it'll pass over this bridge just before then! And if you were lying about Aelita heading to the school then... then it's possible that..." As the train grew nearer, she could see Aelita half hanging out a window.
"My prayers have been answered." Jeremy said with a smile.
"JEREMY!" Aelita cried as she threw the key out the window as the train passed direcly overhead. The key fell through the air, and Jeremy caught it with his outstretched hand. He slid the key into the slot on the collar just behind his neck, and it seperated in half and clanged to the ground. Rio's watch ticked to 2:30.
"Hallelujah."

Code SPIRAl 08 - disarming fate...END.

wow! two chapters at once! these were really great.

>.< cliff hanger! you really know how to get someone hooked on reading one of your stories...

i almost have complete control over my mule!!!! yeah! now i can get back to work.

wonderfuly long and intresting chapters zaber, well, i have to go to bed in 20 minnuets, that was good to read...

is Kosuke on jeremie and aelita's a little?

you have no idea what i go threw at home! cry

you know why i am on the computer alot, my friends are all to young for me, and i can't go out and do stuff with tara or kyler, or anyother friends.

i don't know if i have ever told you this danny, but my little brother has autism. i can't get out of the house because he bugs people, i use the computer and stuff as a way to calm down and not hurt myself, do you have any idea how many times i have thought of killing my self? my friends on this computer are keeping my mind off of that and onto something positive and i get support from people that i can't get at school! all you ever do is hit me, and push me into the wall, and hit me with a #### dodge ball in my bad shin! well, how wou;ld you like to get pinched and bitten by your little brother every day?!?!?! scream

is chapter 10 going to be intense

Ok, why are we talking about Pokemon?

But, ok, i think Ulrich sould have Pichu, Pikachu, Raichu, Elekid, Electrabuzz, and Beedrill. Why? Because they all match his outfit.