Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!
As Ulrich followed his friends the next morning to the factory his head was still spinning with questions about this new Yumi (Specter) as he wondered what he would do if they managed to find her. Would he attack her just like any other Xana creation? Would he be able to look into her new hatred filled green eyes and try to slice her down?
He shook his head violently.
Jeremie told them that they shouldn't actually try to harm the specter because according to Aelita's story the real Yumi would die along with her, their mission was just to stall for enough time for him to capture her (whatever that meant). Was he supposed to disarm her? Did they really expect him to be able to fight her off? Even if this was a specter this was still Yumi they were talking about and she would never go down without a fight.
Stepping into the a scanner along side Odd and Aelita he realized Jeremie had been talking to him on the speaker.
'Ulrich are you listening to me?'
Before he could respond the scanner started up and he felt himself being pulled off the ground, he would never fully get used to the feeling of being taken apart and then reshaped virtually. He landed next to Aelita in the middle of the Ice Sector and scowled to himself shaking his head before calling up to Jeremie.
'No I didn't hear you what did you say Jeremie?'
A sigh from the virtual sky
'I said don't let her figure out our plan, she doesn't need to know that we've figured out she's a specter. Just treat her how you would treat our Yumi so she doesn't get suspicious.'
He nodded. 'Right.'
William landed in a crouch next to him, the last to be virtualized, and immediately spoke to Jeremie.
'How are we supposed to find her?'
'Well when she appeared on the screen before she was foreign, not a monster and not human like you guys I should be able to track her strange signature, just give me a second she's somewhere in the ice sector with you.'
William nodded and Ulrich began to examine his surroundings it had been a while sense he had come here. There was something not too far away, an opening in the ice, and hen he got closer he realized it was another slide. He had seen a few of these himself and often shied away from them, he was never fond of being completely at mercy to the elements of Lyoko.
As he bean to back away from his new discovery something heavy landed on his back, it was Odd laughing hysterically holding onto him like a monkey.
'Saved your life!'
Ulrich stumbled heavily forward with the new weight and teetered at the edge of the hole before regaining his balance and letting out a great sigh of relief.
'Oh Ulrich good buddy if only you could've seen your face!'
Ulrich seethed and was about to rip Odd off his back and throw him as far as he possibly could when a loud sound caught his attention.
CRACK!
He looked down slowly to see the part of the ice he had managed to stabilize himself on was beginning to crumble under their combined weight.
'Uh oh.'
William came running over with Aelita both of them oblivious to the situation and William scowled at them putting one hand on his hip.
'What are you two doing over here playing leap frog?'
Aelita giggled Odd was about to jump off Ulrich when he spoke.
'Odd don't move.'
Startled Odd stared at the back of his friends head. 'Why do you suddenly want to give me a piggy back ride?'
Ulrich ignored the statement. 'Look down.'
Odd did as told and looked below Ulrich's feet to see the ice fracture spreading under William and Aelita's feet and as she began to walk towards them he held out a paw to her.
'Stop.'
She frowned but did as told and followed his line of sight to the cracked ground. 'Oh no.'
William looked down as well realizing a bit too late that they were all trapped on cracking ice and there was no way of knowing if it would connect to the tunnel in front of Ulrich or just dump them straight into the digital sea.
William growled at Odd. 'You idiot.'
Odd grinned and shrugged sheepishly almost falling off of Ulrich's back and sinking his claws into his shoulders trying not to touch the ice. Surprised by the sudden pain in his shoulders Ulrich crumpled to the ice with the weight shift dropping Odd beside him and everyone froze watching the ice.
Nothing happened.
'Well that's a relief.'
Ulrich pushed himself up as a loud breaking sound echoed throughout the area.
'Odd?'
'Yes Ulrich good buddy?'
Ulrich glared at him.
'I hate you.'
Suddenly the ground vanished and all four of them fell into darkness. They slammed into each other and bounced off of the walls their screams echoing all around them but then something hit Ulrich hard in the head and everything faded away.
When his consciousness began to creep back to him he groaned. It felt like he had been beaten, his whole body hurt, his head was pounding, and there was a weight across his back making it difficult for him to move. He tilted his head to see what it was and a mop of pink hair came into view, Aelita was out cold sprawled across his back.
He didn't want to shove her off he didn't know if she was hurt or not and didn't want to cause anymore damage, instead he looked around for the others that should be with them.
Odd was unceremoniously thrown across the ice floor laying on his side with both paws out in front of him but where was William?
'William?'
He heard a grunt and a black clad arm poked out from behind a small iceberg not too far away from him.
'I'm over here.'
Ulrich sighed at least they were all accounted for.
'Jeremie?'
No answer and Ulrich frowned.
'Jeremie can you hear me?'
The weight on his back shifted and he turned to see Aelita sitting up holding her head.
'There must be an interference.'
Ulrich nodded and sat up popping the sore muscles in his back as he moved to stand.
'Can I kill him when he wakes up?'
Ulrich looked up to see William hovering over Odd kicking at his paws and almost laughed.
'No you can't William.'
William grumbled to himself and walked over to him and Aelita.
'So what do we do now?'
Ulrich glanced back at the large hole in the wall they had tumbled out of and then forward at the ice cave in front of them.
'I guess we continue forward.'
Aelita seemed concerned. 'With no contact with Jeremie? What If we get devirtualized?'
Ulrich smiled at her, she had always been like his adopted little sister and her fear reminded him of a little kid watching a horror movie and then trying to go to bed.
'It'll be ok Aelita were still in the ice sector, besides you said there was an interference if we keep moving forward he might be able to break through and contact us.'
She nodded hesitantly and looked over towards Odd.
'What about him?'
Ulrich sighed. 'That's the easy part.'
He walked over to Odd and kicked one of his feet.
'Hey Odd if you don't wake up we're going to be late for breakfast.'
Odd immediately sprung up into a sitting position. 'I'm up!'
Ulrich shook his head at him and pulled out his swords heading for the tunnel glancing back at William.
'You ready? With this tunnel being so narrow Odd and Aelita's weapons wont be as useful just incase something comes around the corner.'
William nodded and his sword materialized into his hands as he walked up to stand next to him.
Ulrich glanced back at Odd and Aelita and stepped forward into the lighter tunnel. For a moment he wondered why exactly it was so bright but dismissed the thought, they were in a virtual world it didn't have to make sense.
As they continued forward down the winding tunnel a sound caught his attention and he paused.
'Did you hear that?'
William stopped suddenly and turned to him.
'Hear what?'
For a few long seconds everything was silent and Ulrich's heart beat loudly in his ears. Just as he was about to believe he imagined it he heard it again.
Footsteps.
The were light and calm as they echoed off the walls, and they were getting closer.
Ulrich braced himself and held his swords ready not needing to check to know that everyone else was on high alert and waited for whatever it was to appear.
To his astonishment Yumi rounded the corner and she seemed just as stunned to see them.
Her bright green eyes sparkled with curiosity and mischief as a grin slowly spread across her face and she spoke.
'Well now this is an interesting surprise.'
In that moment it took all of Ulrich's willpower not to scream at her and demand the answers they all wanted, instead he took a step forward.
'Yumi?'
She tilted her head to the side, smile never wavering and gave them a fake solute.
'Bye!'
In one swift movement she turned on her heel and vanished back the way she had come and Ulrich following his instincts bolted after her.
A/N: I own nothing
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