Well, I've got huge news for you guys. First of all, this story has reached over 1,000 hits, which is a huge achievement in itself. Second of all, I have beaten my old review record of 20 reviews, another great achievement, as you can see the review count is 29 reviews. So, let's hope for many more reviews! Finally, this is my favourite chapter of Pretty Hate Machine for five reasons; so, let's get on with the chapter!

Pretty Hate Machine

Anger transforms me into something incredible.

Chapter 7: Black as Your Soul

Soon, Odd flung open Jeremie's door with a bang, which caught the attention of all the friends that he had called into the room. He wasn't surprised that they were already there, waiting for him to arrive.

"Well, you certainly want to make your presence known," Yumi stated.

"Yeah, anyway, I got the disk right here, with all of Ulrich's activities in the Factory from last night," Odd responded proudly.

"Well, would you like to share that information after you closed the door?" Jeremie asked.

Odd closed the door behind him, replying, "Of course, Einstein."

Odd walked up to Jeremie, opening the CD case and pulling out the CD carefully. He gave the CD to Jeremie and sat down on Jeremie's bed next to Aelita. Jeremie put the CD into the open disk drive of his computer, and gently pushed it so his computer can process it.

"Odd, why did you try these files about Ulrich?" Aelita enquired.

"Well, he turned down a game of foosball to read documents. Doesn't that sound very weird?" Odd asked.

"Yeah, it does. I just hope he hasn't put himself in a lot of danger," Yumi responded.

"Yeah. I don't know the details of the information, but Franz told me to watch it with you guys."

"How come?" Aelita asked.

"He found it hard to cope with the information."

"That gives me a bad feeling that we're going to hear something we don't like," Jeremie declared.

Suddenly, the files appeared on the screen, waiting for Jeremie to select that one piece of information that would lead the group into a huge revelation. Jeremie clicked on the file that had Ulrich's name on it, and turned the volume up slightly on his computer. Jeremie was the only person in the room, it appeared, to brace himself for what he was about to hear.

"Avikar… It's me, Ulrich here. Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, my friend."

"I'm just wondering why you didn't speak to me straight after we completed the mission."

"I just found out something about your father. When Blaise hacked your father's computer she found the address of a building of some significance which could be connected to the experiment. Which could lead to finding out what illegal activities have been done to the participants."

"Did she find out who the participants were?"

"It's not 'who', it's 'how' they were treated."

"Why is it what they did to them more important than who they were?"

"If we want to prove your father guilty, it's how that they were treated during the experiment that would matter most."

"It's not just that. It's how the experiment affected their lives that's significant. After all these people would be living with this… burden that they wished they could get off their shoulders!"

"Ulrich… You're one selfish asshole. You only care for yourself!"

"Since when did caring for others become a selfish act?"

"Because we are working together to bring down your father, boy! You can't let yourself go off the rails; otherwise you'll never be free from your father's grasp! Do you want that?"

"No, but I believe that we're heading in the wrong direc-"

"We can't go back now. Especially after you destroyed the interior of your home. Isn't that right, Ulrich?"

The group immediately grew worried for their friend's answer. Even if it was only for a few seconds, they could feel something very sinister coming from it. They had all seen that story on the news, where the Stern residence was completely destroyed from the inside. If Ulrich really was a part of this act, they would understand why Odd was so concerned about his behaviour.

"Yes."

"And you don't regret making that decision, mainly because you know that in the end, you're going to put your father behind bars?"

"Y-Yes."

"And I assume your friends don't even know this thing that you're doing. That what you're doing is against the law as well, but you know it's all for the good of those people, because you are protecting them from your father, don't you?"

"Yeah. I have to protect my friends, no matter what happens to me, they can't get involved in this. Otherwise their lives will be endangered."

"The decision you made with me three days ago had forged you a new path from which you cannot stray. You've become the very thing you want to be… Powerful, and only caring to the actions that have affected these poor people. Isn't that right?"

"Yes Avikar. You have made me powerful to help me get revenge on my father. And I… I don't know what other path I can rely on to finally ruin him. Please… Command me as one of your own. Your direction can set me a path for which I can follow, and so I can get what I truly desire."

"So you want all of this power, but in order to get it, you're submitting yourself to me?"

"Yes."

"I can't bear to hear anymore Jeremie. Stop it, now," Yumi commanded.

Jeremie pressed the stop button, agreeing with Yumi completely. His body was overcome by this shock; he couldn't believe Ulrich would go down to such a low level to reveal that his father was a crook. But Ulrich had good intentions, which was what Jeremie found hard to comprehend.

Jeremie had the courage to look up at his friends, all displaying some form of devastation. Odd had put his head down in his arms, unable to bear anymore of what his roommate had transformed into. Inside, he wanted to deny the audio information his brain has processed.

Aelita's face had two liquid streams coming from her eyes. She could only cry for him because his mind and his emotions were shattered.

Yumi however, kept a rather emotionless expression. But Jeremie could easily tell that she was bottling up her feelings, and she would soon let them out.

"Jeremie, why did he have to do this?" Yumi asked, trying to not sound angry.

"I'm not sure, but he clearly did admit to his crimes," Jeremie stated as calm as he could.

"I should've known. I should've protected him from this!" Yumi snapped.

"What do you mean Yumi?"

"I got in so much trouble from my parents because I had to knock that user out to save Ulrich, and then bring him all drugged up into my home and then explain to my parents why the hell I brought a lowlife like him into the house! I should've not noticed him and left him for dead that night!"

"Yumi, if he died then our group would be perfect targets for XANA if we were one member down permanently. And when did you-"

"After all that I did for him… After listening to what happened to him that night, after saving his life, after all that God damn effort to keep him safe he just gave me a big, juicy 'Screw you' to my face and did not regret it! Do you have any idea how I feel? Let me spell it out to you all. I feel betrayed! Just absolutely… used by that bastard!"

"Hey Yumi, slow down! What do you-" Odd retorted.

"It was completely his fault! He messed up my life enough, and then he just kills himself and leaves a mess that I have to clean up because of him! I'm never going to trust him again! He just broke our friendship by giving himself up to Avikar, and I… I… I-"

Yumi looked up at the roof, searching for her voice to end her sentence. But there was nothing, only empty space quickly filling her mind. The words that she was looking for was written in her handwriting in her head, but she couldn't say them out loud.

Cannot forgive him.

She stared at those words which blinded her vision, provoking her to say them, but her heart had other plans to prevent her declaring them. Her line of sight was getting blurry, not because of lack of awareness, but it was because of there was something in those eyes caused by her emotions.

She backed into a wall, slowly moved down into a crouching position, and let a warm sensation run down her face. Jeremie, Odd and Aelita couldn't help but to be by her side, knowing that she just broke down, unable to cope with cold factual information from the recording.

"Yumi, I'm so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing by finding out what he's doing but I only brought everyone down," Odd apologised.

"Odd… I forgive him… I want to take everything I said back because I was just so angry with not only him but myself," Yumi replied, feeling more of the hot wetness pour down her face.

"Why are you angry at yourself? You did everything you could possibly do to support Ulrich," Aelita reassured.

"I wasn't there to get him out of this situation. I should've known he wasn't out of trouble yet."

"We all didn't know Yumi. Ulrich concealed it from us perfectly, thinking he was doing the right thing," Jeremie explained.

"That's the only thing I blame him for now. Those other things, were just an incredible chain of events that was just going to beat Ulrich down. And 'revenge'… Avikar must have convinced Ulrich about his father with that word. He just preyed on Ulrich's desires, knowing that his father had hurt people before."

"Hurting people? Like who?" Odd asked.

"I don't know, he never said who," Yumi lied.

Adversely, she asked herself, Why couldn't I say 'Ulrich's Dad was hurting his mother and he almost died trying to protect her?'

"Poor Ulrich… And he cannot stop his father from doing that. No wonder why he's with Avikar now. Revenge must have simply fuelled him," Aelita stated, closing her eyes to hope that he would come out of this unscathed.

"Revenge is a dark light that blinds all that see it. Ulrich couldn't see what he was getting involved in… it isn't his fault. Avikar did this to him," Yumi declared.

"Not just Avikar. This is clearly the work of XANA. Avikar was just his pawn. We must find Ulrich now. Where would he be?" Jeremie enquired.

"I'll call him. He'll answer if he knows I'm calling."

"Good idea Yumi, and good luck."

Yumi pulled her mobile out and quickly dialled his number. She brought the phone up to her left ear, and waited for him to answer. But after a while, the only thing that answered her was his message bank, so she was forced to hang up.

The group of four confirmed he was on Lyoko, sensing something about Ulrich. Odd helped Yumi up, while Jeremie returned the information CD back in its case, hoping to use it for future reference. Once they were finished in Jeremie's room, they left immediately and made haste to the Factory.


Ulrich stood on a ledge in the Mountain Sector, scanning the vast area before him for one person. He couldn't shake off that feeling he felt last night that it was exactly the same as the night that incident happened. The only difference was that it did not involve violence, but words made him crumble into submission.

He remembered feeling that someone was watching him while pledging himself to Avikar, knowing he was betraying the people he had trusted for the past two years. Although, it felt like it was forced out of his mouth, like Avikar was controlling his internal thoughts to agree with everything he says.

Suddenly, his eyes picked up a lone silhouette waiting on a ledge lower than Ulrich. Ulrich confirmed his thoughts that it had to be Avikar, and without hesitation drew out one of his swords and sped his way down to confront him.

He seemed to reach him in next to no time, but Ulrich had no intention to sheath his blade around his master. There was a suspicious air emitting around him, and Ulrich wanted answers.

"Hello Ulrich. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be on Earth now?" Avikar asked.

"I was just killing some of XANA's monsters, and once I finished them off I thought I take the opportunity to ask you some questions," Ulrich responded.

"Shoot me."

"Alright. I want to ask you about last night. Why did you ask me those questions?"

"To test your loyalty of course. But I was quite surprised you take it a level higher by pledging yourself to me."

"Why were you forcing them on me?"

"Forcing them? No. I never would force out your answers. Otherwise it'll be called an interrogation."

"Then why did I feel the exactly the same as I did during that night?"

"That's a question I cannot answer. It's how you felt, not what I felt."

"Then how did you feel? Do you care about me as an individual?"

"I felt composed, and I don't care about you on an individual level, like you don't care about people."

"I do. I was the one who asked about the participants last night… It shows that I do care about people on an individual level… While you only care about what a person does for you."

"I assume that's proof, but not enough. What you did three days ago was very significant."

"Speaking about individuals, do you believe my friends will find out I'm doing this?"

"As long as you don't remain suspicious, no. They won't believe you are doing this because they think you wouldn't destroy your bedroom."

Ulrich's ears suddenly picked up a very familiar sound that he hears every time he was virtualized to Lyoko, and had mixed feeling, knowing it was his friends.

It wasn't too long until Ulrich could hear their footsteps coming closer to his location. He readied himself for combat, despite not fighting against Avikar physically. Avikar raised an eyebrow at Ulrich's positioning, wondering what he was achieving.

Soon enough, as Ulrich had pointed his sabre to Avikar, his friends had witnessed him looking like he was standing up for himself. Yumi admired Ulrich, believing that he once again connected to himself, and maybe he could finish this mental fight once and for all. Aelita and Odd smiled that Ulrich was starting to glow like he had found himself again.

"Oh, I see why you did that. So you looked like you were the good guy in front of your friends," Avikar charged.

"If you think I just wanted to just have the look you're completely mistaken. This isn't fake. This is real. I'm drawing my sword against you, because you had tricked and used me to your own ends!" Ulrich announced.

"So… I guess this is the end to our friendship. You always were the stubborn one Ulrich."

"I don't believe a friendship even existed between the two of us. You wanted me to feel powerful by commanding your own pawns. You're going to make me have command someone else higher in power to convince me to stay… like you for example?"

"In your dreams boy. You also have that vile smirk of a smartass trait about you."

"That's only reserved for people I don't like. But enough talk. Let's end this."

Ulrich activated his Super Sprint and moved like lightning towards his deceitful master, with his blades ready to slice through him. Once in striking range Ulrich swang both his swords, expecting to eliminate Avikar from existence, as he did not defend himself from the oncoming attack.

Avikar's right hand quickly morphed into a drill like needle and lunged forward into Ulrich's chest. The group was horrified to see Ulrich take such a blow to his body, but Odd rapidly recovered from the sight and tried to find higher ground where he could fire a few good shots to save his friend.

Ulrich suddenly felt a warm sensation through his body, unsure whether his body liked it or that he cannot take the heat. He felt numbness in his arms, which he reacted to it by dropping his weapons to try to remove the arm with his remaining strength which was slowly being sapped.

"Damn… you knew, didn't you?" Ulrich demanded.

"Yes, I knew you were going to turn on me at this moment because of my actions last night. However, I bet you're curious about the substance that I'm injecting," Avikar hissed.

Ulrich sensed whatever it was that was entering in his body was hazardous, and pushed harder against Avikar's arm.

"It's the same substance that took over your frien- no, your rival's body. I believe he was possessed by XANA, is that right?"

Ulrich's determination to remove the intrusive object from his body increased tremendously, using more of his limited strength. He could feel himself tire rapidly though, as more of his body was succumbing from the inside out. Avikar noticed this through the lesser force against his arm, knowing it was a great chance to seize the opportunity.

"I think it's in your best interest to let all the substance enter your body. You… won't anger it as much, and I'll be in one place. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Not really. I'd rather have a chance to get my body back and not having my friends fight against me."

"Alright. But you'll soon find you'll be working for me and XANA again. Let me assur- Argh! God damn it!" Avikar cursed, clutching his right shoulder with his left hand.

He looked up to notice a purple feline taking aim at him, which fuelled his purpose, moving his right hand further in Ulrich's body. Ulrich turned his head and spotted his friend on a high ledge.

"Odd! Hurry up! I don't think I can last too much longer!" Ulrich shouted.

Odd fired more shots after hearing Ulrich's call, still targeting Avikar's right shoulder hoping that his arrows could force out his hand. It seemed to be working, but each time Odd made progress Avikar easily pushed his hand back in. Odd grew frustrated and used his second arm to increase firing power.

However, Ulrich's vision grew blurry, and he could sense himself falling unconscious at any moment. His arms gave up on him, depleted of the remaining energy he had left in him.

Suddenly, a strong force had pushed Avikar, making him take out his hand and rocketing him backwards. He couldn't get a grip on the ground and there was no surrounding rocks or mountains he could latch onto. Avikar was quickly off the edge and plummeted into the Digital Sea.

Odd was astounded by how quickly Avikar was eliminated from existence. He looked down to see who or how it happened, spotting a raven haired girl sprinting towards Ulrich, who placed his right hand on his chest where Avikar punched through him.

"Ulrich! Hang in there!" Yumi yelled.

Ulrich could barely stand, his body was screaming to rest, wanting to let the infection take over. Ulrich tried his best to stay on his feet, but found that he just crashed and burned. He fell to the floor, with Yumi being the last thing he saw before exploring his unconscious state.

'Wake up Ulrich!'

Ulrich opened his eyes, and quickly picked himself up onto his feet. The surrounding area seemed like it was completely covered in darkness. The only light Ulrich had was under him that he saw while standing up. He also noticed that his clothes didn't feel tight against his skin; he looked at his sleeves, and knew he was wearing his normal earth outfit. He also knew that his powers would not exist in this world, wherever he was.

Ulrich spotted a sword by his feet, but there was no secondary weapon on his other side. Ulrich assumed since Lyoko did bring out his form based on the subconscious he only had one weapon to wield, despite being upgraded in both outfit and weaponry.

He picked up the sword and investigated what the darkness had to offer. His walk was rigid with a huge burden on his shoulders. He knew travelling around his subconscious was extremely vital, but yet he had no idea where to begin. Perhaps revenge did truly blind him, but he knew he could only trust his instincts at this point in time.

After some time of exploring, the room began to light up, revealing a platform elevated by a small flight of stairs. Placed on top of the platform seemed like a large computer or security system. Ulrich climbed the stairs and was amazed at what he saw. There were sixteen screens before him, spilt in the middle to be assigned to be left or right. He assumed it was his brain, seeing that Maths and higher order thinking was on his left side of the brain, while remembering how to play the synthesiser was on the right side.

He never realised how organised his head was despite having gone through a lot recently. Although it did make him wonder why he wasn't so calm at some of these moments.

"I didn't expect you to be here so quickly. You must be determined to keep control of your body," A familiar, yet vile voice declared.

Ulrich turned his attention to his right, seeing Avikar walk up towards him. Ulrich reacted by storming towards him and blocking his path to the computer system, knowing it was vital for his functioning.

"Yeah, I am. At least I have a chance to finish you off here," Ulrich responded, readying himself for combat.

"Wow, you're very eager to fight. Then again I'm pretty much guaranteed to take over your body. You're not at full strength, and even if I lose you still have to fight against my subordinates searching for this very room."

"Then they should be weaker than you. I can take them on easily, especially if this room motivates me to protect myself and my friends!"

"Very well. As you Frenchmen say, En garde!"

Ulrich cut through the air, only to have his blade met with Avikar's. Knowing that he couldn't rely on his Lyoko powers to help him through, he kicked Avikar, sending him back off the stairs. Ulrich then charged and swang his sword, hoping it would injure his opponent. Avikar anticipated his attack and parried his blow.

Avikar immediately counterattacked but Ulrich used his agile reflexes to avoid his slices. With his sharp eyes, he could see Avikar's sword very clearly, knowing how he was moving his weapon and how to dodge each one of his attacks.

After evading his attacks, Ulrich saw an opportunity due to the fact his right arm was back and in a good position to dealing a very deadly strike to Avikar. He lunged forwards as Avikar moved his sword closer to his body. Ulrich's blade connected with Avikar's chest, and to add further pain he twisted his sword slowly. Avikar grabbed Ulrich's sword near the hilt, pushing it out.

Ulrich smiled, knowing he had the advantage, so he thrust his blade in deeper. Avikar grew agitated, with his knuckles burning white, clasped his right hand around the edge of the sword and drove it back making Ulrich lose his balance and almost trip. He was forced to withdraw the blade from Avikar's chest and regain his balance.

Avikar placed his hand on his chest and glared at Ulrich, grinning in immense satisfaction. Ulrich sensed that something about his appearance was incredibly suspicious and took a step back, just in case he was going to launch a sudden attack.

Avikar moved his hand away from his chest, and to Ulrich's shock the wound was completely healed as he did nothing to him. Ulrich prepared himself again for the worst, knowing that Avikar was going to give it his all.

"Is that the best you've got, boy?" Avikar demanded, twirling his weapon in his left hand.

"It was a good way to get you frustrated, and it's also a sign that I can beat you," Ulrich retorted.

"Ulrich Stern, you hide behind a face of your own smartassness, and it's about time you stop, because I can see through that mask. You're afraid that you are losing to me, and that losing to me would mean you'll lose the control you had over your body. Stop covering yourself up and give yourself up to it."

"You really think I'm that afraid? Even if my body did get taken over either myself or my friends would bring it back to its original owner."

Avikar gave out a thunderous laugh and responded, "You get your own body back from a virus? I doubt it. You really do have a huge mental weakness."

"It's not because of me. You took advantage of my situation at the time. You sympathised with me, and therefore, manipulated me to follow you. But let me reassure you, you'll receive no sympathy from me during this battle."

"Either way, you're trapped. Bring it!"

Yumi shook Ulrich's body in desperation to bring him back to reality. But it was to no avail, Ulrich had not moved an inch since blacking out.

Odd and Aelita were standing behind their friends, worried for Ulrich's health and Yumi's emotional state thanks to her breakdown earlier. Aelita then took the initiative to lower herself down to Yumi's level and hugged her for emotional support. Yumi couldn't help but smile.

"Hey Odd-" Jeremie said.

"Shut up, you're ruining a moment here," Odd interrupted.

"Well, sorry to interrupt, but is Ulrich okay?"

"He's still out, and Aelita had to help Yumi, you know why."

"Yeah. Problem is I don't see any abnormalities in his body at the moment, despite that you've reported to me he was 'injected' with something."

"He was. Ulrich seemed desperate to get Avikar's hand out. I just have a really bad feeling that it could threaten his life."

"It seems that way. Maybe I could get more information if you guys move Ulrich to a tower."

"I guess that's the safest thing we could do at the moment Einstein."

"Good. Tell the girls while I program your vehicles."

Odd turned back to his female friends, with Aelita speaking to Yumi as if things were going to end up alright and that Ulrich will recover. However, Odd was unsure that what Aelita was saying was true, remembering Ulrich's desperation as he tried to remove Avikar's intruding arm from his body.

He made an exasperated sigh, forcing himself to accept that there wasn't much for him to do at the moment except to help Ulrich. He went down on one knee next to the girls and his unconscious friend, telling them what to do.

Meanwhile, blades clashed repeatedly with both sides showing no fatigue as the fight for Ulrich's mind continued. Ulrich kept both hands on the handle of his sword, parrying Avikar's blows with caution. He was afraid that one false move may be the difference between winning and losing this vital battle. And he couldn't afford to lose his mind.

He'd been through a change and back, aware that his feelings towards his father created all the events that happened until the present moment. He let himself be consumed by his own anger and hatred, instead of telling somebody the entire story of what happened that night. The entire story being, the details and especially, his feelings during that time. He neglected telling Yumi that he was very angry about this, and he was going to pay the price.

He defended Avikar's constant slashing, knowing that this battle was more important than any other he's been in his life. The teenager was sick of taking it to the back foot, seeing control of his body buckle under an agent of XANA.

Ulrich put more weight on his right foot, and swang his blade like a tennis player pulling off a backhand technique. Avikar was caught off guard by Ulrich's sudden aggression, almost disarming him of his weapon. Then, Ulrich quickly followed it with a roundhouse kick to his head, knocking Avikar to the ground, disarming him at the same time.

Ulrich sprinted towards Avikar, ready to deal the final blow to him. He wanted this evil agent out of his body, knowing he would be forced to perform actions against his will. His anger and aggression was written all over his face. He finally had an outlet to release all those negative thoughts and feelings. Since his father was no option, it was best that Avikar would experience Ulrich's wrath.

In a desperate attempt to protect himself, Avikar used his arm as a last resort. Ulrich ignored the pathetic defence he put up and let out a battle cry while slashed Avikar across his body. XANA's agent let out a deafening scream, the pain unbearable for the servant to rise up and fight again.

It was all over. Ulrich successfully guarded his body from being possessed by XANA. He sighed in relief, glad he expelled that substance from his body. He was still catching his breath, but was smiling at the same time. He was going to remember this victory for a long while yet.

All of a sudden, Ulrich was rocketed across the room. His blade ripped out of his hand, flying to another part of the room. He soon hit the floor and skidded slightly before he came to a stop. He sat up, bewildered of what just happened. He could feel pain erupting from his body, realising quickly he took a very heavy blow. He clutched his side while looking for where the attack came from.

When he finally noticed the origin of the blow, he scanned the area in panic, searching for his weapon. His aggressor was his biggest fear, Avikar, who struck back with a vengeance. He spotted his sword in the distance, and despite the pain, he got up on his feet.

As soon as he achieved that, he was shot back down by a bolt of lightning from Avikar. Ulrich groaned in pain while Avikar approached him. There was nothing he could do to stop his opponent from keeping his distance, with the second bolt weakening Ulrich significantly.

"Ulrich, Ulrich, Ulrich… What a fool. Did you really believe you could defeat me with just one blade?" Avikar questioned.

"As far as I remember, you were taking a beating before you used your cheap powers," Ulrich stated.

"Smartass. Your mortal abilities will never break XANA's control of your body… Unfortunately; you don't have the antibodies to fight him," Avikar responded.

"Antibodies?" Ulrich asked.

"That's right. Antibodies. Oh well… there's nothing you can do, Ulrich Stern. And you should appreciate the rest you're getting, because keeping maintenance of your human body is very difficult. Goodnight and thanks for allowing me inside your body."

Ulrich closed his eyes, knowing that he was defeated. The last thought before everything went numb was of his friends, strongly believing that they would save him from this misery.

Yumi and Odd were carrying the unconscious Ulrich to the Overwing in an attempt to deliver him to the closest tower to inspect what's wrong with him. Aelita remained on guard just in case monsters were to ambush them. She was also extremely concerned for Ulrich, unsure what's going on inside that head of his.

Jeremie sat in his seat, staring at the screen with his head resting on a clenched fist. He would usually be working on other things while his friends dealt with monsters or travelling from one place to another, but like Aelita, he was worried about Ulrich too. He was hoping that whatever he scans in Ulrich wasn't any bad news.

Yumi Ishiyama was hoping that she wasn't too late from rescuing Ulrich from that bludgeon Avikar inflicted on him. After all that she did for him, she was praying that it wasn't all for naught. What happened within the past week for Ulrich was tough, but now that she's certain he completely recovered from these events, everything could return to normalcy if Jeremie's scan didn't pick up any abnormalities.

Suddenly, Ulrich pushed both Odd and Yumi aside, freeing himself from their hold on him. As soon as the trio set their eyes on him, he clutched his head, groaning in pain. The group didn't dare to approach him, knowing that he needed his space as he thrashed around the area. It looked like there was no need for a scan to see that something was wrong with Ulrich.

"Einstein, something is definitely wrong with Ulrich. He's just moving on his own, but he seems to be in a lot of pain," Odd announced.

"Great, that makes it more difficult to transport him to the tower. Figure out a way to stop him from moving while I'll try to get some sort of analysis," Jeremie ordered.

But as soon as Jeremie issued the command, Ulrich froze in his spot. He was looking down at the mountain terrain, where his eyes were unnoticeable. His posture was poor, almost like a puppet in dangling from its strings. He was also breathing heavily, like he was suffering a fever.

Yumi, Odd and Jeremie were clueless about what was going on. Once again, Yumi and Odd didn't know how to approach the situation, never seeing Ulrich in this state before. They anticipated that he would collapse and fall unconscious again due to the activity of the foreign substance inside him.

However, Aelita felt like this moment was unmistakably similar to another. It was the same body language William had before revealing he was possessed by XANA. It was the calm before the storm, afraid that Ulrich was going to do the same thing against his will. Then, he could be controlled by Avikar for months until Jeremie found a cure. That was the worse case scenario though.

But that worse case scenario caused Aelita to turn the other direction and run as far as she possibly could from Ulrich. Yumi and Odd picked up on Aelita's heavy footsteps and focused their attention onto her.

"Aelita, why are you running away from Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

"We're too late. He's been possessed by XANA. Just get away from him!" Aelita commanded.

Yumi spun around, gazing at Ulrich's limp body. She couldn't just abandon him like this after all she's been through to bring him back to life. She gingerly took two steps closer to him, keeping Aelita's warning in mind.

Abruptly, Ulrich straightened his posture and glared at Yumi. Yumi then took two steps back, frightened out of her skin. She should've listened to Aelita; the eyes of XANA replaced Ulrich's pupils, and he smirked as she was his first target.

Odd followed Aelita's lead and ran off on all fours, hoping Yumi would distract Ulrich until he was a good distance away from him. It was cruel to leave Yumi like that, but he needed to let himself have the chance to take down Ulrich if Yumi failed.

The newly possessed slave drew out his blades and lunged at Yumi with no hesitation in his strike. Yumi was caught by surprise, expecting that she would have time to draw out his fans. The swords pierced through her stomach, immediately devirtualizing her.

As her digital avatar disintegrated, Ulrich leaned to her left ear and whispered, "Thanks Yumi. Dealing with your friends is going to be so much easier."

Before she could reach out for Ulrich, she was transported back to the confined scanner. The doors opened before her, but she didn't step out. Instead, she leaned on the wall, trying to recover from the fatal blow inflicted on her on Lyoko.

"God damn it!" Yumi barked, slamming her fist against the scanner interior.

The new Ulrich smirked in satisfaction, licking his lips after tasting his first kill. He felt refreshed, a brand new person, and incredibly powerful. Avikar's power was pulsing through his veins like an addicting drug, and he was in a state of ecstasy.

He quickly picked up Odd in his line of sight, running away from him. Ulrich activated his super sprint, easily catching up to him. Odd looked over to his right, and jumped in shock. Ulrich took care of Yumi too quickly, and there was no way he could retaliate back effectively.

Ulrich placed his second weapon back in its case, and raised his left hand in front of Odd. Believing that Ulrich was taking aim at him, Odd increased his footfalls to avoid his upcoming attack. However, Ulrich didn't strike. Instead, he hit the brakes and closed his eyes while he skidded slightly across the mountain terrain.

Suddenly, Odd was levitating in mid air. He was still 'running', but he wasn't moving forward at all. He turned his body around, gobsmacked at who performed this technique.

"Hey Einstein! Looks like Avikar has possessed Ulrich!" Odd shouted.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. He devirtualized Yumi quite easily. I'm looking for a weakness at the moment," Jeremie responded.

"Well, I also wanted to let you know he's using Yumi's telekinesis ability on me! And I can't move because of it!" Odd yelled.

"What!" Yumi exclaimed, her voice coming from the elevator which just opened on the Supercomputer room's floor.

She hastily walked up to Jeremie's side, checking what the screen was showing him. There was no sign that Ulrich was using telekinesis on Odd, but it did tell Yumi that Ulrich was indeed possessed by Avikar. She could also see that Odd wasn't moving, as his marker was remaining on the same spot on screen.

"How is that possible?" Jeremie enquired, dumbfounded by Odd's horrible discovery.

"Ulrich must've drained my powers when he devirtualized me," Yumi answered.

"Odd, try to take him out if you can! Aelita, take to the air, Ulrich's going to have trouble hitting you if you do that!" Jeremie commanded.

"Alright, thanks Jeremie. I'll do it right away," Aelita responded.

Odd didn't respond to Jeremie. It was near impossible to land an accurate shot on the possessed Ulrich with his sword in hand. He raised his right arm and aimed at Ulrich's torso, the biggest target on Ulrich's body. It was the best chance he had to set himself free from Ulrich's psychic hold.

Once Odd felt sure that the arrow was going to hit, he fired. Everything then started moving in slow motion, the arrow, which was piercing through the air, seemed to take forever to seem close to striking Ulrich. It was only a matter of time before Ulrich noticed it.

Ulrich slowly opened his eyes, seeing the arrow heading directly towards him. With his blade ready in his right hand, he watched the dart like arrow closely. Then, with precision timing, he swang his blade across his body. A loud clang was heard, and the steel arrow was battered away from Ulrich.

Almost immediately, Ulrich clenched his left fist and put it closer to his face. Suddenly, Odd was pulled towards Ulrich, travelling at an incredible velocity towards him. His fate was mercilessly placed in Ulrich's hands, unable to stop himself from moving towards him.

To his horror, Ulrich pointed his blade at him. It only meant one thing; Ulrich had plans to use his powers to his advantage. Soon enough, Odd felt the blade of Ulrich's sabre impale him. He looked down, seeing that it was directed at his stomach. Ironically, that was the exact area Odd was targeting on Ulrich.

His body soon disintegrated before Ulrich, making him grow ever so much in confidence. He spun around, and activated his Super Sprint. There was no time to waste; he had to catch up to XANA's creator's daughter, Aelita Schaeffer.

Aelita flattened her wings, making herself more aerodynamic in the air. She had to stay as far away as she possibly could before firing her first attack at him. She was tempted to check where Ulrich was, but she couldn't afford to slow down.

Abruptly, she was stopped, in mid-air. Confused, she spun around, amazed that she could do that, and spotted Ulrich running at incredible speeds, approaching the area. He had his left arm raised in the air, indicating that he was using Yumi's telekinesis to stop Aelita in her tracks. Ulrich was still a good nine hundred metres away from her, making Aelita wonder how could he use telekinesis from that distance.

Despite how panicked she felt, she forced herself to calm down. She charged up two energy fields for a short time, then combined them together to create one huge energy field. She focused on Ulrich, while charging the huge mass of energy above her head. There was no way he could survive this blow if it was accurate.

Ulrich then stopped two hundred metres away from Aelita, and looked up at her. He wasn't fazed one bit at Aelita's oncoming attack. He stood his ground and smirked. He knew how to counter this attack, but decided on a more amusing path to do so.

Aelita released the ball of energy; confident she had the right aim and that it would defeat Ulrich, maybe even setting him free of the possession consider he'd only been possessed for less than ten minutes. She watched the energy ball plummeted down towards Ulrich like a meteorite. With the extra momentum from gravity it would surely burst through any sort of defence Ulrich put up.

Ulrich positioned his blade defensively, effectively putting up a purple dome shield in front of his blade. He smirked, glad that the first part of his plan had worked. Then, he put left hand right in front of him, like he was reaching out for the pretty pink energy ball. He closed his eyes and imagined what he desired to happen.

Aelita observed her attack slowly, but surely reach the earth. With Ulrich directly under it, there was no way he could survive. It was like Avikar just grew cocky with controlling Ulrich and believed he could withstand an attack like that. However, it did not explode as Aelita expected. It just remained there in one spot.

"Jeremie, my attack has stopped. Is Ulrich being devirtualized at the moment or is something else happening?" Aelita asked.

Jeremie stared at the screen, questioning why both combatants were remaining still. Yumi on the other hand quickly realised why the possessed Ulrich was standing there. And it was a horrible revelation to make.

She ripped the headset off Jeremie and commanded into the microphone, "Aelita! Move before it's too late!"

As soon as Yumi finished her sentence, the giant energy field was sent back to Aelita. Aelita attempted to fly lower, but from being stationary for far too long, she was easily taken out by her own attack. She let out a scream when being devirtualized by the energy field intended for Ulrich.

The possessed Ulrich sheathed his blade. His idea had worked. He managed to stop the energy field using the techniques he stole from Yumi and Odd. Then, with his beyond superhuman power he used telekinesis as he stabbed the large energy field, catching its user off guard.

Ulrich spun around and activated his Super Sprint. As he approached the edge, he showed no fear of the Digital Sea, now immune to its effects. He sprung off the platoon, and dived right into the Digital Sea. He wouldn't walk on the earth until XANA assigned him a mission.

Meanwhile, the recovering Odd heard the hissing sound of the scanner opening. He looked up, noticing Aelita's silhouette behind the steam. Suddenly, she fell forwards, forcing Odd to catch her. He had trouble lifting up her dead weight by himself, feeling physically exhausted from being on Lyoko, especially after being impaled by his best friend's weapon. But he knew Aelita was in a worse condition than he was. She was knocked unconscious, and who knows whenever she would wake up.

Odd wrapped one of Aelita's arms around his shoulder, and slowly walked towards the elevator. Never had he felt so sad in his life. His roommate, best friend was completely under control of XANA, while a friend of his was out cold due to his roommate. However, he knew somebody that would be feeling more depressed about Ulrich's possession.

Upstairs, in the Supercomputer Lab, Yumi dropped the headset, spun around and walked towards a wall in the Factory, all done in silence. She was devastated. She saved Ulrich's life, but yet she couldn't save him from giving himself up to Avikar. When she stood before the wall, she formed a fist and slammed it. She wished she was more aware, and most definitely, stronger, to save Ulrich from this fate.

Ulrich revealed most of his problems to Yumi. He was traumatized at how his father easily defeated him and raped his mother. He had his mother, and his friends' lives on his shoulders, knowing how much danger they would put themselves in if they were to fight his father. Trying to enjoy himself during a difficult time, he had his drink spiked and almost did things he didn't want to do. It was enough to send this boy seeking revenge on his father. Yet, Yumi didn't see all that. All she saw was her best friend needing comfort and she tried her best to help him.

Now that he was possessed, she was going to have a difficult time fighting him. She knew the path that led him to where he was today, controlled by Avikar, and felt like she couldn't raise a hand against him with that knowledge in her mind. Every fight on Lyoko became a physical and mentally draining battle until they set Ulrich free.

Jeremie, who remained seated, stared at his screen. He was already thinking of procedures to set Ulrich free. However, the programs would take months to complete, and he didn't have the time to complete that project, as he was also working on the multi-agent program. The boy genius slapped his forehead, perplexed at what to proceed with first.

Things would've been different if Ulrich told them everything up front. Heck, Jeremie, Odd and Aelita still didn't know everything that was going on in Ulrich's life. Only Yumi knew, and even though Jeremie ask why she didn't reveal it during her breakdown out of respect, eventually, she would have to tell everything to them. That way, they could finally understand Ulrich.

For the time being, Jeremie had to figure out strategies to multiple things before having to tackle down whether could be freed Ulrich now or later.


Author's Notes: Wow, my favourite chapter is over. I'm a little bit disappointed it's over, but hey, it was extremely fun to write.

Anyway, there had to be a breaking point for Yumi. Being the oldest member of the group, she always has appeared strong, but every person has a breaking point, and obviously that recording pushed her feelings over the line. It was one of my favourite scenes to write in this fic, and fortunately, there's still a lot more to come.

'Revenge is a dark light that blinds all who see it' is a quote from a show called 'Life'. It's where this police detective got sentenced to life in prison for murder and was then found out to be innocent, so he was released immediately. Personally, I think that's an awesome quote, but unfortunately I don't think that show runs anymore.

The scenes in italics are what's going on in Ulrich's mind. I thought having these scenes would have a huge impact on the story, and give it the depth that it deserves. Although, it's pretty crazy having to write the stuff that's going on in his mind while other things are happening outside.

And yes, Avikar possessed Ulrich, not XANA. That will be explained in the next chapter, so I hope you're looking forward to it!