Overcoming Insurmountable Odds
Synopsis: Ulrich finds himself tormented by nightmares about Ninjas controlled by Professor Alistair Rochead's supercomputer will gain control of Lyoko through their avatars and lay seige on the entire European grid, not just France alone. When this happens, XANA will not only have control of Lyoko thanks to the dark workings of his Ninja underlings but of most of Europe and can begin making demands of world leaders as he wills. The secret of Lyoko will be known and the Kadic Warriors' identities will be exposed. Not only that but also a Pencak Silat competition is taking place, one in which Ulrich, Sissi and Lily are involved. Feeling addled, Ulrich nearly gives into fear before Jim sets him back on the right track to beat petrification. His friends motivate him to not give up on winning the competition and owe it to his prognostication being true about Alistair's intentions/views of what he deems to be technophilia/cybertopia.
Chapter 1—Dreams into Nightmares
Ulrich typically had no trouble falling to sleep after a long day at school or exploring Lyoko with his friends. Lyoko had seemed unusually quiet and XANA inactive but Ulrich could sense that the sinister virus was certainly up to his old schemes again. This wouldn't have bothered him inasmuch as there was a Pencak Silat tournament taking place and he would be competing for first place.
With a steely resolve after a lavish evening meal and sparring practice, Ulrich plopped himself into bed and quickly went to sleep. His dreams began innocently and sweetly enough. He was in a wheat field, immersed in the sunlight. There were errant clouds in the sky creating beautiful images of animals and even the faces of his friends. He could see Yumi in a sundress, swirling around and laughing and ran to join her. The minute he rushed to embrace her, she disipated into a pile of sakura blossoms. It usually wasn't anything to give him pause or disturb him until the weather and atmosphere changed drastically.
He could hear a low, sardonic, sadistic, deep cackle that made his hair stand up on end. The sweat had begun to trickle down his brow but his resolve kept him from becoming too terribly unsteady until he saw an unusual phantasmagora of dark figures swirling around him. They were swift, but when trying to fight against them, they rematerilized and would leg sweep him, knocking him to the ground. They didn't speak but were terribly sinister and he knew that they weren't XANA's creation but someone else's. One of the lead ninjas began charging at Ulrich with a sword, and then that was when he awoke with a near scream.
'This is really serious.', he thought to himself, nearly terrified by the whole ordeal, wondering who was behind these mysterious, insideous figures. He had encountered an article only days earlier about a genius who had built his own supercomputer for the use of furthering mankind's development. Something about the photo in the snippet had him disturbed, though. The scientist who had created this incredible machine was named Professor Rouchead Tyron and he had been in recent news for his controversial views on artificial intelligence and his belief in making cyberhumanity a reality. Someday he even planned on transmitting his intellect into the supercomputer long before he died, but the algorythims for doing so were incredibly detailed and challenging.
Ulrich wondered if what he had seen was a fortelling of what was to become. If this Professor Rochead was who he suspected he had to tell his friends about it before matters went out of hand. However, Ulrich had another problem to attend to; the competition.
He knew he would be pitted against Lily and Sissi and began to feel his confidence begin to flag. He didn't want to set a bad example for them by resigning from the tournament but the uneasy way in which he felt nearly gave him nausea. If he could talk to anyone about this, it would be Jim. Jim would understand.