"After all, we are Lyoko Warriors, aren't we?" Yumi had said.
If only it had been that easy.
"What exactly are you guys doing?" Jeremy asked, tugging at his earpiece anxiously.
He heard Odd scoff as he moved around the mal, likely dodging more laser blasts. "We're having a party," he deadpanned. "What do you think we're doing? XANA's sent us an entire aquarium to deal with, one that you didn't tell us about, in case you forgot!"
Jeremy winced. "I already said sorry!" He muttered. How was he supposed to know that the monsters weren't always visible on the map?
"Not the time, guys," Yumi reminded them.
Jeremy sighed. They really weren't very good at this whole 'hero' thing. Or the 'teamwork' thing, or the 'combat' part.
Any of it really.
And sure, they were all improving bit by bit (After all, they could finally say they'd managed to beat a Megatank after the last XANA attack), but that didn't mean they had the hang of this all yet.
The pulsations took them into the mountain region this time, which in of itself was problematic due to their limited experience with the terrain. Coupled with that issue was the fact that Ulrich was trapped at school with the current XANA attack. And to top it all off, XANA sent them a boatload of Krabs to contend with.
In short: it had been a stressful XANA attack.
Jeremy continued to watch the screen, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair in an attempt to curb his worry. Aelita was hiding from what he could tell, and Odd and Yumi had converged in an area not far from the remaining Krabs.
"How many are left, Jeremy?" Yumi asked.
"From what I can see, four. They're surrounding the tower," he clarified. He could hear them whispering to each other. "You have a plan, I hope?"
"Something like that," Odd said, which only marginally relieved Jeremy's anxiety. "BONZAI!" Odd suddenly dashed forward towards two of the Krabs. Yumi was following, but at a slower pace and was continuing to use the rock as a shield.
"Odd! Guns blazing isn't exactly what I call a plan!" he chastised. One of the cards for the Krabs on screen disappeared moments later.
"Relax, Einstein! I know what I'm doing," He could practically hear the grin in Odd's voice, which he only rolled his eyes at. "Yumi! Your tur-" Odd let out a shriek.
"Odd? Odd!" Jeremy cried in alarm. Odd's life point count dropped from 50 to 0 in an instant. The Krabs weren't THAT strong, were they?
"Uh…" Yumi suddenly let out.
"What just happened!?" Jeremy demanded. Yumi didn't respond, though whether that was her ignoring him or just being distracted by the Krabs, he wasn't sure. "Will someone tell me what's going on?!"
"Er… I think Yumi just accidentally devirtualized Odd," Aelita explained hesitantly. He swore he could hear Odd in the scanner room below, shouting angrily about fans and aim.
Somehow, Jeremy found himself hardly surprised. He pulled his glasses off to rub the bridge of his nose and let out an irritated huff through his nose.
Sure, they all had to start somewhere.
But why did they all have to be so bad at this?
I wrote this for CodeJuly and meant to post it sooner. This prompt was "Beginnings", and my first thought was the beginning of their lives as heroes and how terrible they had to have been at first.
It's not great, but I thought I was kinda funny at the time.
I also meant to do more prompts than this one, but between massive writers block and a screwed up wrist, I just never did.