Everyone has something that they can't lose. Whether it's a physical object or an intangible substance, it doesn't matter: there's always that one thing that, if push comes to shove, when your back is to the wall and there's nowhere else to run, that'll be the last thing you'll ever hang onto. Even at the cost of your life.

Why am I saying this? Because it holds true: at least for me. Being shipped from school to school on the account of expulsion, I don't have a chance to own a lot of personal possessions. My parents won't let me own anything more than school supplies and clothes as 'punishment'. I can never settle down with friends at any one school, and people never talk to me much either. They probably just heard stupid rumors about me, reasons for my expulsions: I beat people up, I join gangs, I deal drugs, I drink, I kill people, I bribe the school… Oh come on! I'm not that bad!

Well, my point is, all I have that's mine is that one thing I can never lose. What is it? Love? A computer? A pet? Weed?

Nope.

All I have is pride. Yes, pride. Don't get me wrong; I'm not some self-centered ass like some people (cough cough Sissi cough). I'm proud to be me, William Dunbar. I'm proud of my identity. I'm proud that I can turn away from all those rumors that paint me black and red, and that I know I'm better than those kids who perceive me that way. I'm proud that I can take care of myself since no one's ever there for me, and that I do what I do because I want to. I'm not bogged down by stupid school rules like most students. I'm unique, I'm rebellious, I answer to no one. Except to me.

Still think I'm self-centered? At least I have a valid reason for being prideful unlike some people (cough cough Sissi cough).

But why did I bring all of this up? Because when you have the perception that a giant, tentacle-fun monster, different than the wimpy snake things I had destroyed earlier, is about to either kill you or steal your soul or something, you kind of end up remembering that thing you'll fight to the death for. I mean both relate to life-threatening situations, right?

Right.

"Hey, Einstein," I call out, feeling a little awkward when there's no one else in the room I'm in. That elf-girl, Aelita, had gone on some quest that was apparently necessary for us to stay in this place, and she still hadn't returned. "There's some weird jelly-fish thing now. Is it the boss of this level?"

Jeremie's voice reverberates everywhere, as if he were some kind of deity in this game—I mean, world. "A weird jellyfish—shit! The Scyphozoa!" he swears. If I strain my ears, I can hear him tapping furiously at his keyboard.

"The skiffowhat?"

"William, listen to me! That jellyfish is probably the most dangerous monster that XANA has ever created. If those tentacles get you, you're toast. Get out of there, now!"

Being the egotistical imbecile I am, I stop listening at 'most dangerous'. Have I mentioned what I value the most?

"Don't worry, Jer, I can handle this thing—"

"No one has been able to destroy the Scyphozoa, not even Ulrich! The most we can do is stun it, and you won't be able to do even that on your first trip here. You need to escape right this instant!"

Being the egotistical imbecile I am, I stop listening at 'Ulrich'. Something that kid hasn't been able to do for so long? If it's for Yumi, I'm taking the risk. I'm staking my pride on the destruction of this thing—yes, my pride: the only thing that defines me. At least I can say I'm a fighter, that what scares others can't scare me. And I'm going to kill this thing and finally have everyone realize that I'm just as good as them. And maybe Yumi will even recognize me too.

I raise my weapon—a beast of a sword, nearly taller and wider than me, but thankfully not as heavy—and take a broad slash at it.

"Hah!" I spit as I bring the blade down at the incoming tentacles aiming for my face. To my dismay, the jellyfish flicks two of its appendages and knocks my sword out of my hands. It clatters discouragingly several feet away and adrenaline kicks in, raising my heartbeat and sending chills throughout my entire body. "Crap," I mutter, backing up slowly. My back hits a wall and I swear again.

It was supposed to be a theoretical wall, not a literal one!

So now my back is to the wall and I look up at the monster. At the same time, it turns its eye down so I'm staring directly into it. And suddenly, my body freezes, as if that symbol had somehow paralyzed my movements the moment I laid eyes upon it. Great. Wonderful. This day just can't get any better.

"Energy Field!" a clear soprano voice calls. The jellyfish (which I officially dub "Skiffy) turns its ugly head towards the source of the sound and immediately gets hit straight on its eye by a large sphere of some kind of pink aura. Shockwaves the color of the projectile run over the surface of the enemy and it freezes the way I had. But I regain mobility the moment Skiffy loses its own ability to move, and I quickly kick off the wall behind me and reunite with my fallen sword. I hear soft footsteps coming from my blind spot and I whirl around to find Aelita dusting off her hands and giving me a kind of smirk. It hurt my pride, being saved by a little girl.

"How are you, William?" The momentary leer vanishes as quickly as it comes.

"Spiffy," I reply, shouldering my sword. I turn to the jellyfish, still trapped in suspended animation, although the tips of its tentacles were beginning to come back to life. "Look, Alexa—"

"Aelita."

"Yeah, Aelita. Sorry. You can stay here and I'll go destroy that thing, cool? It's not even moving. I'll beat it in an instant." And Yumi will return to me, away from that brown-haired midget of a warrior. I turn around and raise my sword.

"William, no! Jeremie has already set up the self-devirtualization program! We need to escape the Scyphozoa right this instant!" Her green eyes narrow and she turns around, gesticulating towards the exit.

While I'm completely not sexist, I will not stand for being ordered around on a battlefield by some girl younger than me. My pride simply won't allow it.

"I completely understand why you don't want to fight, since you're not exactly much of a fighte—"

"I just saved you from the Scyphozoa. Don't even say I'm not capable of fending for myself!"

"Then why—"

"Because that monster, if it catches hold of me, will be able to destroy this world and our own world will be in danger of domination by XANA! If it gets you or the others, you will probably never see the true light of day ever again, or even have an independent conscious. You'll become a mindless puppet, used against your will."

"Oh, come on," I scoff, "it's just a game—" But as soon as I say those words, I know at once that that is the wrong answer.

"Game? GAME?" Aelita snaps incredulously. "You still think this is all a game?"

Her outburst makes me feel sheepish somehow and I wince.

"Listen carefully, William Dunbar. This place was created for a certain purpose that's beyond my knowledge, but that purpose was dangerous enough to cause me and my father to flee from the real world into Lyoko. In other words, this place was our bomb shelter, our protection from pain and death; don't joke around when you don't understand anything. It's fun here sometimes, I know, but call this one of your stupid games again and I'll send you back to Earth myself and let everyone else know why." She conjures up another pink sphere and brandishes it at me. The aura illuminates her face and accentuates the pink in her hair.

I raise my hands in surrender and she lowers her own. I glance at Skiffy out of the corner of my eye: Mr. Jellyfish Tard has now fully recovered from Aelita's last attack. This day really has gotten better.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I mean it!" I argue, trying to alleviate the skepticism in Aelita's eyes. "But see?" I wave my hand at the monster. "That skiff thing is back, and someone's going to have to destroy it sometime, and no matter what this thing can do, I'm not afraid of it! I can see why you guys are, but—"

"Have you been listening to me? I told you, we can't destroy and—Eek!" She screams as Skiffy whips its appendages at us. I instantly lean back and I could hear the tentacles whistle as they slice through the air in front of my face. I tirelessly raise my sword. I am William Dunbar and the oldest out of this group. I can destroy anything, no matter what they say.

"William!" Aelita shrieks as she leaps far away. Skiffy stays in front of me, bobbing up and down in the air. "Hyah!" I yell again and I slash downwards in front of me. Unfortunately, while the jellyfish dodges, my blade of course gets stuck deep in the ground. And being the idiot I am, I manage to catch my foot in the rift made by my sword.

"For the love of—how does this even happen?" I groan as I try to free my foot, my sword, anything. I lean back and immediately feel the wall again, and in front of me, Skiffy floats towards me, brandishing its worm-like arms the way I wielded my weapon at it.

Irony just kind of reaches around and slaps you in the face, doesn't it?

A new and comfortingly familiar voice cries out, "Hiyah!" and two sharp fans come flying out of nowhere. The jellyfish drifts back several feet to avoid the fans and I earn some more alone time…not that I needed anymore.

"William! What the hell were you doing?" Ulrich snaps. Oh joy, it's ninja boy. Did I mention how much damage my pride is getting right now?

"Playing hero, I suppose," came Yumi's voice. It has a joking lilt to it, teasing me about my predicament. I could listen to her speak like that all day, the way Odd blasts his music into his ears during Ulrich's study hour.

"Need help, Willie?" Odd chirps. Their voices are coming from above and behind me, but with the state I'm in, I only have eyes for Skiffy, who is beginning to approach me again.

"I'll be fine," I retort, clenching my jaw. "Just let me wiggle my foot out—ow!"

Two more of the snake things had returned and were now shooting red lasers at me again. The first one hits my shoulder and it throbs, as if someone had pelted a rock-hard soccer ball at me.

"Look at your situation, William," says Jeremie. "You're surrounded by two Creepers and the Scyphozoa, and either are perfectly capable of beating you down right now. You're also probably stuck." Like Aelita, a snigger was hidden in his voice and something in me begins to crack.

"You can either be devirtualized by the Creepers and taken by the Scyphozoa, OR you can deign to follow the devirtualization program and come back in a far less painful manner. Everyone else will take care of the Scyphozoa first."

I grit my teeth. He's right; there's no way I'm going to get myself out of this hole and defeat the jellyfish or the snakes. This was the first time I've ever faced this situation. Pride…or life?

They're the ones who threw me in this predicament, forcing me to choose between what defines me and what makes me tick. Another crack, bigger this time.

If push comes to shove, when your back is to the wall and there's nowhere else to run, that'll be the last thing you'll ever hang onto. Even at the cost of your life.

I bite my lip hard, ball up my fists, and swallow my pride.

"Take me home, Jer."

"Thought so," he answered smoothly, and the world begins to vanish before my eyes.

Eyes filled with hate and rage.

In front of the entire gang, in front of even XANA's beasts, I've been forced to do the unthinkable: throw away my pride, what everyone knows is the only thing I've got. I've been told off by brats younger than me, shown up by my rival in love, even scorned by the object of my infatuation.

A low growl escapes me as I leave the scanner. The patience I had for this gang shatters.

Someone's going to pay.

A/N:

I really need to stop creating new stories that will take me forever to finish. Hooray for plot bunnies and procrastination!

I hate myself.

Well at least this will just be a side project. Being the sharpest knife in the drawer, I thought to myself, what if William had listened to Jeremie and got out of the way, thus allowing William to keep his mind? But something's gotta give for William to do that. I mean, hello, Ego? It's me, William.

Sorry if William seemed a little too prideful here, but I swear this will be the last of his obsession with pride. It won't be like Zuko and honor for the majority of A: TLA.

Somewhere in A: TLA…

Zuko: I'm not obsessed with honor anymore! I swear—OH MY GAWD THAT BURST OF LIGHT MEANS THE AVATAR. SET A COURSE FOR THE LIGHT, ON THE DOUBLE! MY F*CKING HONOR IS ON THE LINE!

Iroh: Oh, Nephew… *facepalm*

…yeah. William won't be like that.

But what will he be like after this? Read, review and stay tuned!

~Wings~ flying off.