Chapter 9

Special Skills

Sissi crossed her legs as she leaned back on her hands, sitting on her father's desk.

"As you can see, schools that use our Taiku smart athletic wear see a significant improvement in student athletic performances," Mr. Allen Wenger was saying, motioning to the page he had just revealed. He had opened his mouth to continue to speak when the office door opened.

"Sorry for the interruption," Mrs. Weber said as she walked into the room. She handed Jean-Pierre a sheet of paper, throwing a look at the man that she had interrupted before promptly making her exit.

Sissi leaned back to look at the paper in her father's hands, surprise making her eyebrows raise.

"My word, Mr. Wenger," Jean-Pierre said, looking up at the man before him. "These uniforms aren't yours!"

"Excuse me?" Mr. Wenger asked, his ever present smile faltering.

"You heard me," Jean-Pierre said, sitting the paper on his desk to reveal it was a patent for the designs the man was showing in the office. He pushed himself to his feet and looked at the man. "You're a fraud. I have no business to do with you. Good day."

Mr. Wenger opened his mouth to disrepute the claim only to close his mouth and give a polite nod to the man. Silently he collected his boxes and easel and left the room, pulling open the cracked office door with his foot. Walking through the secretary's office he found the door out to be held open by Jérémie, the boy giving him a smile. Mr. Wenger eyed the boy cautiously before walking out, Jérémie following him out of the administrative building.

Jérémie left the man and turned towards the vending machines where his friends waited for him.

"How'd you manage that?" Ulrich asked, watching the man walk the path towards the parking lot.

"Let's say that I have some special skills," Jérémie said, the smile still on his face. The smile faltered as he turned back to his friends. "Anyway, now that the cat's out of the bag about the vehicle project, any suggestions?"

"That board is impossible to control!" Yumi exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I liked it," Odd offered. "Though you need to make it match my style."

"What style? Two shades of purple with cat ears?" Ulrich asked.

Odd let out a laugh that quickly became contagious.

END

AN: Odd, I'm sorry for calling you a figment of imagination. Are you mad at me still?

ODD: For trying to kill me? Yes.

AN: As far as I remember, you hadn't gotten killed in that story.

ODD: Yet!

AN: True. Jérémie was going to be the only one to survive. Needed someone to get desperate and try the return to the past. They never went back in time while Xana had activated a tower and I wanted to know what would happen if they did. Also it would pull at the theory Yumi had that if anyone died and they went back in time, they would still be dead. That theory got put into Changing the Tides.

ODD: So have you stopped trying to kill me?

AN: I could never kill you, Odd.

ODD: Oh.

AN: Hope you enjoyed this little story written with TheArchivis. Check out his script version of this story.