Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Moonscoop, France 3, and Canal J. The custom-created characters NOT in the actual series and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with Moonscoop, France 3, Canal J, or any of their affiliates. No copyright infringement is intended.

Powerslave

Chapter 1: Mr. Mysterious

Recess at Kadic always meant time for the kids to chat about issues and other things within their group of friends. However, one group of friends thought it was about time they took their mind off the issues that were currently pressing them. Not only did they have schoolwork to worry about, but were needed to save the world from an ambitious Supercomputer A.I.

The group of friends were lying low in the Gymnasium of Kadic Academy, playing indoor soccer. It was so that Ulrich Stern, wasn't going to be surrounded by girls obsessing over a sport he was very skilled in. The group suggested to play soccer so that the clone William can at least learn how to play decently at a sport after his abysmal performance at playing table tennis in the Recreation Room. Even though it was quite relaxing for Ulrich to play soccer, the rest of the group felt it was another activity associated with Lyoko to defeat XANA.

Jeremie threw the ball at Ulrich's feet, where Ulrich blocked it with the inside of his left foot, making the ball come to a stop. He quickly glanced at clone William, then stared at the goals which Odd was guarding.

"Right William, ready to kick a goal?" Ulrich enquired.

"I wouldn't be able to kick the goal, otherwise I'll be kicking at thin air," clone William answered.

Ulrich slapped his head, thinking how to rephrase his question to clone William. He had to remember that clone William took words literally, meaning that he wouldn't understand what anybody was trying to say to him.

While Ulrich was thinking of his new question, Yumi, who was standing on the sidelines, noticed Ulrich's annoyed expression. She walked up to Jeremie and Aelita, were working on Jeremie's laptop on something.

"Hey Jeremie, can you try to fix clone William's speech? It's already hard enough for him to blend in, let alone have someone teach him how to play soccer," Yumi asked.

"That's not important now Yumi. Right now, I believe building a vehicle that allows us to travel through the Digital Sea is more important now," Jeremie responded.

Yumi sighed, and looked back on the field. Odd noticed that she turning her attention to floor. He could only respond by shrugging, having no idea what he could do to help. Yumi really wished that she could just have a rest from covering clone William whenever he says something incredibly stupid to his peers.

Finally, Ulrich came up with his reworded question, which he asked clone William, "Can you kick the ball into the net?"

"Yes," clone William stated.

Ulrich gently kicked the ball to clone William. Remembering from what he was taught earlier, he stomped on the ball to put it to a complete stop. The clone smiled, happy that he was actually able to do something of use to the team.

However, clone William's happiness didn't last for long, as he attempted to kick the ball. His kick was way too hard, which propelled his body in the air, where he promptly fell and landed on his back. Odd cracked up laughing, as William looked like a clown while he did that. But Ulrich couldn't join in; he was more frustrated that William could not do something any person would be able to do quite easily.

Ulrich walked up to William as he picked himself up off the ground. The brunette grabbed the ball, and dropped it to his feet. He looked at William to make sure he was paying attention.

"William, watch me kick this into the back of the net," Ulrich ordered.

As soon as Ulrich was confident that William was staring at him, he took three steps back from the ball. Ulrich gazed up at Odd, standing at the centre of the net, in front of the goal line. Then he focused on the ball, and ran up to it.

With little momentum Ulrich kicked the ball; however, its velocity was very fast. Odd outstretched his hands in the direction the ball was heading, but it had bended away from him and landed right in the bottom right corner of the net.

"Damn! That was a good shot!" Odd exclaimed.

"Thanks Odd," Ulrich stated, and turned to clone William, "And that's how you kick a ball into the back of the net."

While Ulrich was speaking to clone William, Yumi looked up from Jeremie's laptop and spotted a boy running across the gym. He looked about Hiroki's age, but was taller than him. He had longish brown hair and wore a black shirt with white sleeves underneath, blue jeans and white runners. Yumi was relieved he just entered the room after clone William failed a simple kick.

However, the thought that boy was a normal kid soon faded from Yumi's mind as he ran towards the soccer goal. Yumi grew suspicious as her brown eyes kept track of the boy's moves.

Suddenly, as the boy approached the net while the rest of the guys were unaware of his presence, he snatched the soccer ball from the corner and bolted to the closest door. Yumi saw this with her own eyes and warned the guys that their ball was being stolen.

Ulrich abruptly ended his conversation with clone William and sprinted after the boy. The boy swang the door open and quickly moved outside the gym, knowing that he was being chased by one of the most athletic guys in Kadic Academy. Ulrich followed him outside, spotting from the corner of his right eye that the thief was heading towards the forest.

The boy was hoping he would lose Ulrich in the forest. He darted through the clear areas and weaved between the trees, hoping that he would reduce Ulrich's speed and get away from him.

He soon reached a suspicious clearing in the forest and scanned the area out of curiosity. There were three trees that he could easily pick out that made a large triangle, which meant that something could help to lose Ulrich if it were at the centre of these trees. He checked the centre and noticed that the ground was lower there than the rest of the forest. The boy quickly realised it was his ticket to escape.

Before he could see what that dent truly revealed, he felt the soccer ball pop out of his right arm. He spun around, and to his horror, Ulrich was behind him, holding the soccer ball up high with his right hand. The boy gritted his teeth, knowing it was impossible to reach up to the height of the ball since Ulrich was taller than him.

"Hey kid, try playing with kids your own age. I'm sure they would have a soccer ball somewhere. And don't steal our ball again, or I'll let the teachers know what happened here today," Ulrich stated.

The boy growled, angry of the short lecture Ulrich gave him. Driven by his anger, he threw a punch at Ulrich's ribs and immediately pushed him back afterwards, in an attempt for Ulrich to drop the soccer ball. However, Ulrich kept his balance and held the ball close to his chest to avoid dropping it.

Knowing that nothing was going to separate Ulrich from the soccer ball, the boy ran away, running towards the school. Ulrich turned around, watching the boy disappear from the woods, wondering what was wrong with him. He felt that in some way, this boy had issues, either at school or at home.

He made an exasperated sigh, frustrated that the boy didn't want to talk to him at all. Ulrich at least, wanted to know what that boy's problem was. But that would remain a mystery to him.

Ulrich suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ribs, and clutched that area with his spare hand. He was surprised to feel such pain soon after the punch, but he quickly recovered from it and jogged out of the forest. Although, it appeared that boy really packed a punch.

Okay, I need to find out who that boy is, and what his problems are. I have a feeling I won't be seeing the last of him.