Episode References: Cruel Dilemma
I sat in a meditating position in the middle of the tower, trying my best to find some type of peace. Ok, that was a lie. I was trying to see if I had any powers. Just having swords would be extremely boring. But I would have a hard enough time learning to use those. And I couldn't take any risks when it came to living in Lyoko.
I couldn't defend myself, and I didn't want to de-materialize and kill myself by dropping the sword on my foot or something. But I needed some grasp of fighting.
"If I screw up, I'm stopping. Hopefully I'll live after the fact to learn my lesson," I thought to myself, pulling out one sword. Holding it in front of my face, I then held it in front of me defensively before closing my eyes.
I moved my sword from right to left in the form of strikes while holding my sword firmly with both hands. My strikes weren't sloppy and neither was my form, but my strikes were extremely slow. If I was fighting someone, they'd hit me before I could get my sword halfway to their body. It's like I had a Kenjutsu tutor in the back of my head, wordlessly criticizing everything I do. Hey, I was far from perfect. But I had to learn.
I decided to try and speed it up by moving my sword like I've seen lightsaber strikes from Star Wars. Strikes that originate from the bottom or the side and meet in the middle, but moving quick and maintaining a firm stance without losing balance. I'm pretty sure that if you lost your stance, you'd be thrown off balance by the power of your opponent's strike. (This is literally my guesswork. I do not know for sure)
I concentrated and focused my strikes to move swiftly, yet accurately as if I was fighting an actual person in front of me. I imagined that my opponent was deflecting my strikes with swift precision. I kept my footing and was advancing while moving in circles around on the platform of the tower.
I also pretended that my opponent held my blade on one side with all of his strength so he could lash out with his foot and trip up my left leg, which is the one I put all my weight on to make sure I didn't get overcome by his blade.
I jumped his foot and his blade quickly moved over to my face, to which I moved my sword quickly to meet it. I grit my teeth and used my entire body to push the blade toward him and press my advantage.
At first it was a struggle to who could overpower who, but then, with a speed I didn't even know I had, I grabbed the blade that was on my back and stabbed him directly in the gut. I shook my head.
"Well, I beat up an imaginary swordsman. That didn't really help me much," I said to myself, pacing around the tower. I put one of my swords back on my back and focused back on keeping my stance while striking swiftly, yet keeping my stance so I didn't get overpowered. There was a problem with this though.
My 'training' was focused a single target with a blade. And I have not forgotten that all of the monsters XANA has are laser based. I had to be able to read where the monsters were going to fire and meet that spot. Deflect it back at them if I could. Man, there was a lot more to swordplay than just precisely swinging a sword.
I sighed and knew that my imagination wouldn't help me much there. The firing pattern on the monsters was unpredictable, and me imagining that they were going toward my body would not help me against them if I were to actually fight them. That would take field experience. Field experience I was too scared to try right now.
I put my sword back in the socket and went back to a meditating position. That's one thing that I know how to do that would calm me.
Three days later
I sighed. Pretty much the only thing I had been doing was meditating and having nothing to entertain myself but what was in my thoughts, which got stale after a while. I didn't need food cause I didn't go hungry after the first 5 minutes of being here, which was about the accurate time when hunger start to set in. With me at least. Pretty ironic considering I'm as skinny as a toothpick.
"Ok, the only thing that's remotely interesting to do in this place is to kill monsters, and I've pretty much got nothing else to try. Oy. I pray that I don't get swarmed. But if I don't die from the monsters, I'll die from boredom," I thought. I took the deepest breath I ever thought possible and walked out of the safety of the tower. I instantly drew my sword and held it in front of me the whole time I was walking. Gratefully, it didn't seem that any of XANA's creatures had come out to kill me, so that was good.
As I kept walking, I kept my sword at my side, but I didn't feel like I was going to suddenly get shot in the gut. Felt nice to stretch my legs too. At one point, I could see... Aelita and Odd? Oh, God. I knew for a fact something was up. Whatever it was, it was not good in the slightest. And there was a number of Kankrelats surrounding them. Even worse. I was easily a good distance away. Not really anything I can do.
"Let the Force flow through you."
I frowned. For some reason, that quote came to mind, and I could not give a good reason as to why. I looked over to a bunch of wide branches. I tightened both of my hands and mindlessly started to run. I didn't think about it.
"What the hell am I even thinking?" I thought. I jumped and landed on a branch before I began moving from branch to branch like I suddenly became a Shinobi in Naruto. But somehow my mindless movement was making this easy.
Climbing up a tree with a both of my swords, I scrambled to the top and saw that the Kankrelats had forced Odd by himself while Aelita was scrambling towards the tower.
"Shit, I need to keep moving," I said to myself as I kept climbing up the tree.
I leaped onto a walkway and ran as fast I could toward Odd, and I felt my feet propel me at an almost missile like speed toward the monsters. I drew my sword and hit the thing from behind to slice it in half, which made it immediately explode. My sword was out at my side and my face was looking directly at the ground.
"Assassinated," I said with a small proud smile. The rush of that felt nothing less that exhilarating.
"Jeremy, did Ulrich decide on a change of attire?" I could hear Odd ask. I stood straight up and eyed Odd and Yumi, who was behind him. I smiled immediately at the sight them and pointed my sword towards the tower. This was beyond cool.
"We need to keep moving," I said, dashing toward Aelita and the activated tower she was going toward. But I could see the mega tank that was in front of her. That reminded me of what episode this was.
"Aw, fuck," I said immediately upon sight of that thing. I propelled my feet to move as fast as I could. To be honest, I was getting scared that something stupid like a random banana peel or something would cause me to slip and fall off the ledge, but I managed to stay on target and continue toward the tank.
But as I was in mid-run, my eyes flashed and I suddenly saw an image of myself writhing in pain on a bed. That threw me way the fuck off and I ended up getting tangled up in my legs and nearly fell of the edge. I barely had a grip on the ledge when I feel, and I was scrambling like a panicked cat try to get back up.
"Why am I not surprised?!" I exclaimed, trying my best to not lose my grip on the ledge. Then the tank turned from Aelita and decided that I was a better target.
"Not good, not good, not good!" I exclaimed. God, I now regret now being the worst at pull-ups in gym. I struggled to try and raise myself up without falling. But I could see that the tank was about to fire and there was really one option. The tree that was to the side of me. I would have to jump to it.
"Hang on!" I could hear Odd yell, but I decided to go with my plan before I changed my mind.
Hoping that I could summon the same kind of acrobatic skill that I had before, I jumped from the ledge right before the tank fired while drawing my sword in mid-air. But the blast from the tank had hit my left arm and threw me off course. I ended up having to plant the sword into the ground to hold on for dear life, my arm feeling like it was on fire. The sensation numbed down after a while.
"Gah! Could not have cut that more close!" I said, refusing to look down. I looked back at the tank, which had it's attention focused on Odd, who was ahead of Yumi on the walkway.
It readied its laser when Odd made a leap with his hand outstretched. He fired his arrow at the same time the tank opened fire. The laser arrow missed the tank's target spot, but the tank was spot on and took out Odd immediately. I grunted frustratingly. This was not getting any better.
Then all of a sudden, lasers had fired from above near my hands and I nearly lost my grip from the shock of it. Looking up, I could see that three hornets were flying above me, trying their best to try and shoot me off.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" I roared in frustration. What are the chances XANA gets extra monsters since I'm here?!
"Let it flow. In all of your actions." Trying to take that advice to heart, I pushed on the ledge really hard and I shot up like a top. So far up, that I ended up on height with the Hornets. Not missing the opportunity, I drew one of my swords and sliced the nearest one to me with my blade.
"Don't think. Just feel," I told myself. For whatever reason, I was reminded of all of these quotes that involved acting on instinct. The crazy thing is is that they were working. Cause I was learning unnaturally quick. Quicker than I could've ever predicted.
The Hornets began flying like pissed off wasps at me and I dove forward between the lasers instead of dodging or deflecting them. They then decided to try and take care of Yumi after she missed one of the Hornets with her fan.
"Take care of these things. I've got Aelita," I told Yumi before running as fast as I could toward Aelita, who was preoccupied by the tank. I just had to make sure not to hit this thing as to where I would fall off.
When the thing was reared up for a blast, I hit it from the back, but at the same time, the laser still ended up firing and I got knocked into a tree from my right arm. This was not the best day to be my arms.
"Oh, man. Yup. That hurt a lot worse," I groaned, trying my best to get back on my feet. I clenched my right hand in an attempt to try and get some feeling back into it, but that took a while. At least the tank was out of the way.
Then I felt a sharp pain in my right leg while I was on the ground and I clenched my right hand even harder and pounded the ground several times. Only one hornet was here, which likely meant Yumi was dealing with the other one.
"Why me?" I asked in a desperate tone before getting to my feet shakily and grabbing my sword. I raised it shakily and tried to find the combat position I was practicing earlier.
The Hornet stood still in place and was firing lasers down on me. I moved my sword in the direction in which I thought the lasers were going, and I ended up deflecting every one, which surprised me. I then was hoping I could deflect them in a way that I could get them to hit the Hornet.
I heard a yell from Yumi and she had thrown a fan in the Hornet's direction, but it ended up seeing her about to throw the fan and it moved out of the way in time. It started getting tired of this game real quick, so it flew over me and sprayed acid down on me, to which I couldn't dodge in time and got hurt real bad. Worst part? It felt like I just put my hand on a stove preheated to 450 degrees. Trust me, I know how bad that burns.
"Ah! Fuck, that hurts!" I exclaimed, falling into a kneel and my sword digging into the ground. Looking out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the Hornet was coming back around and it's tail was charging for a laser. I couldn't even find the strength to raise my sword.
Good news. As soon as the thing fired, Yumi's fan came out of nowhere and hit the Hornet dead on, destroying it instantly. Bad news. Laser had hit me dead in my back and I had frozen with my back arched up and my mouth slightly agape. The shock from the sensation quickly turned into an even expression.
"Well shit," I said before I de-materialized.
A/N: You know there's going to be more to this? I mean, I wouldn't try and waste my time on a two-shot. I feel really invested to make a story, so that's what you're gonna get. Anyway, hope anyone who even shares a remote interest in this story enjoyed this.