There will be a short break now from this story. I will update again by febuary so please enjoy.
Chapter 3
At school the next day they all seemed distracted. It wasn't until after school that Ulrich finally spoke his mind.
"Guys. What are we going to do? That guy yesterday was too strong, stronger than William when he was possessed by XANA. We need a solution."
"Ulrich's right." William agreed "I felt his strength when we clashed, and he wasn't even trying to fight with us."
"We need a plan." Jeremy started "Each of us should find a way to train and get stronger, even if it's through something that you normally don't do on LYOKO. Whatever you think will help you." With agreement from all of them they each headed off, their thoughts on the training that they were going to do. At dinner Odd played the part of at least trying to cheer up Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremy but that didn't seem to work.
"What's the matter Ulrich dear?" a girl asked as she walked over. It was Sissi, the principal's daughter who had the biggest crush on Ulrich. She her long black hair was brushed and shown in the cafeteria light, she wore her usual pink shirt and blue jeans. She sat in the open chair next to Ulrich and stared at him expecting an answer.
"It's nothing Sissi." He sighed as he finished up his dinner.
"Now that's a lie and you know it." She pouted.
"If you really want to know we will talk later." Ulrich sighed as he picked up his tray and left. With a look at them they just nodded to show that they agreed with Ulrich. Later that evening Ulrich gave a condensed version of what had happened and made her swear that she would not tell a soul about what he told her.
"Don't worry Ulrich dear. I won't tell anyone, just let me know if there is something that I can do to help." She smiled. With that she went back to the girl's dorm while Ulrich walked around the campus until he saw a poster that the gym teacher Jim was putting up. Jim was a tall man with his brown hair pushed back with a sweatband; he wore his white shirt under the red tracksuit jacket and grey sweatpants.
"Hey Jim!" Ulrich called out as he walked over "What are you putting up?"
"Posters for a new club that's going to be starting soon. I'm supposed to be the teacher present for the club." He said. Ulrich then moved closer so that he could read the poster.
"A fighting club?" he asked.
"In a sense. This teaches students the way of discipline with different weapons or martial arts. I think that it will be a good chance for the students to learn discipline." He smiled.
"When is the first meeting?"
"Interested are you? Well the first meeting is tomorrow afternoon. It's being held in the gym for now, but we might change places." Jim said with a smile that a least one student would be joining the club. That night Ulrich told Odd and Jeremy about what he intended to do.
"So you want to go join this club so that you can get stronger is that it?" Odd asked.
"Yes. It can't hurt to try." He reasoned.
"Ulrich is right. If nothing else it will be good practice. Talk to everyone else and let them know about this club. It could be beneficial to us." Jeremy sighed as he returned to his room. Ulrich then lied on his bed waiting for sleep to overtake him.
The next day once the classes was over Ulrich went straight to the gym and was surprised to see William, Yumi and Odd were already there with a few other students present.
"So you three decided to come as well?" Ulrich smiled as he sat next to Yumi even though William was to the other side of her.
"It's a good idea, and besides it can't hurt to have some extra practice." Yumi smiled as she gently gripped his hand. After several minutes Jim came out and began to speak about the club "Welcome to the warrior club. This club is all about learning to be self reliant, disciplined, and capable of self defense. I will be teaching some areas of this while the president of the club will teach others. Now I would like all of you to come up and sign the waiver and the sign in sheet so that we can monitor who shows up to the club weekly." The students then formed a line and each signed the reliability waiver and the sign in sheet. Once they were finished they went back to their seats and Jim came out. It was Erik, the new kid.
"Welcome to the club." He said, his usual smile gone and his face serious "For those of you that don't know me I am Erik Getz, a freshman here at Kadik. If you choose to stay with this club the benefits will be great. We will focus on what each of you wants to learn, that is if it is within mine or Jims skills to teach. Now I would like each of you to stand and state what you know about combat, anything at all." He pointed to one student and each stood, gave their name, and said what they knew, which for most was very little. Finally it was the four of them.
"My name is Ulrich Stern, and I know how to fight using a martial arts style called Pencak Silat, and I have a little skill with katanas."
"My name is Yumi Ishiyama, and I am also proficient in Pencak Silat and I can also use Tessen or dual metal fans."
"I am William Dunbar and I am only skilled with a buster sword."
"I'm Odd Della Robbia and I have no fighting experience but am willing to learn." After a few more people spoke Erik seemed ready to begin the meeting.
"Now that we have the introductions out of the way and that there are more of you than I had ever hoped to have joined the club we will separate into groups of two groups. Most of you seem more interested in a modern way of fighting, but a few of you are interested in an older style. The ones that want to learn the new fighting will go with Jim while those who are interested in the old ways will be with me." He explained. Then most of the people went over by Jim except for Ulrich, Yumi and William.
"Odd?" Ulrich asked.
"Jim will help me more than Erik over there. You guys go ahead." He smiled. Then he moved in with the group of other students around Jim. With a nod from Erik Jim told all of his kids to leave the gym and once that was done did Erik talk.
"Alright you three, from now on you will work with me, I will help you understand your strengths and better understand how to use your weapons that you each specified. However I am curious about how you learned to use those weapons. I know about how you two learned how to use Pencak Silat." He said pointing to Ulrich and Yumi "But those weapons you said are not something that I think they would teach students to use. So tell me how did you learn to use those weapons?"
With a few awkward looks between them Ulrich finally spoke "We would rather not talk about it. It's a private thing."
"Very well." He nodded. He then walked into a back room and came back with a large chest "Look inside and find a practice weapon that fits you. Something that feels right in your hands. Once you do then we will begin training." So they dug around in the chest until they each found the weapon, William a large wooden buster sword, Ulrich had two medium length katanas, and Yumi had regular fans. Erik then walked forward carrying a long black wooden katana and sheathe.
"Now let's see what you three can do." He said with a fierce grin. The three of them then struck at once. William struck low at his legs so that when he jumped Yumi threw her fans. However with a single motion his katana knocked them away. Then Ulrich moved in with short quick slashes tried to break his defenses, but each one was blocked and after several times of letting Ulrich pound at his defenses he blocked and took the offensive. With long slashes he pushed Ulrich back so that he saw the difference in their skill. When he was about to give the final blow William blocked the slash while Yumi sent the fans at his back. This only made him smile as he ducked down and let the fans hit William and knock him into Ulrich. He then turned and pushed the blade against Yumi's throat.
"Not bad. I didn't expect to see this much teamwork out of you this early on." He smiled as he sheathed the blade "However you all need improvement. Ulrich your swordsmanship is well rounded but don't just rely on the blade, your blades are shorter than mine and therefore you can easily control your opponents range, go into the blind spot strike with martial arts. Yumi your strategy is good but don't invest all into a single attack, it could easily cost you your life if it fails. Instead of using both fans use one and keep the other for defensive purposes. William, don't let Ulrich fight by himself all of the time. Coordinate your strikes and catch your opponent off guard or find the hole in their defense. Overall though you did well. Today's lesson is over though, so next week we will go straight into lessons instead of dealing with all of the talking. At the end of each lesson we will spar like this and see how you improve. So goodnight all of you and I will see you next week." The three then walked out of the gym, exhausted but beginning to understand what they needed to do.
