Chapter 11
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Chris sighed as he and Ulrich entered the scanner chamber. "Honestly, Ulrich? I dunno. I just don't."
Ulrich grabbed his sleeve and spun him around. "Then why?"
Chris was silent for a long moment, eyes cast downward. Slowly his hand came up and removed Ulrich's from his shirt sleeve.
"Because I can't loose her."
Ulrich stared at him. "If you rely on nothing but that, Molly's already beaten you."
Chris looked at him. "Funny. I don't know what you've been taught, but I know what I was."
Ulrich looked at him. "And that is?"
"That you fight for the things you believe in the most. And I believe that Yumi is special to me, and she's worth fighting for."
Ulrich looked at him for a long moment, then smiled. "What the heck. My grandpa once told me: 'If you can't do something smart, do something right."
"Virtualization!"
Lyoko blurred into view and Chris dropped easily to the ground, Ulrich nearby. Aelita looked at them.
"Keep behind us, Aelita." Ulrich told her softly. She nodded, and Chris strode off through the desert sector.
Ulrich tensed slightly, but followed, Aelita just behind him. It didn't take long to find Molly and Yumi just under the jutted edge of a plateau. Ulrich's eyes looked over Molly.
Her short hair was back in a ponytail. She was in what looked like a black bodysuit, her torso covered in black plate mail. Her right fist was covered in a spiked gauntlet, her left held what looked like a whip broken by pieces of a sword. A whip which was wrapped around Yumi's throat.
"Gentlemen." Molly greeted with a wry smile, and Chris drew his sword.
"Let Yumi go."
"Ah, ah, ah! Throw down the sword, or your precious goes flying into the void." Molly jerked on the whip, and Chris glowered an instant before stepping back and raising his sword to Ulrich's throat.
"Please, please, don't twitch." Ulrich whispered to Chris out of the side of his mouth. "Hush, tough guy. I know what I'm doing," Chris whispered back.
"Do you really?"
"All right," Chris whispered again, "I'm just improvising."
Ulrich suppressed a groan.
"Well?" Chris asked.
"I reiterate, to borrow your quaint little term: Throw. Down. The. Sword." Molly jerked the whip again, and Yumi cried out, looking at Chris.
"Yumi..." Chris looked back at her for a long moment, holding her gaze for a moment before flicking his eyes upward to the ledge.
Yumi blinked, and braced herself when she caught on to what Chris was about to do.
"Fine." Chris took the sword away from Ulrich's throat. Molly slackened the whip slightly and smiled-
-and looked shocked as Chris threw his sword in an overhand arc. There was a loud clang as it impacted with the ledge over the two girls.
"Missing was a mistake." Molly said, pulling the whip around to hurl Yumi off the ledge. The handle ripped from her grip as stones and Chris' sword landed on the line.
"Didn't miss. Ulrich! Go!" Chris charged for Yumi, and Ulrich threw himself towards Molly, his own katana at the ready. Molly raised her right arm, blocking the blow, and threw Ulrich backwards. Chris skidded to a stop on knees next to Yumi, raising his hands to remove the whip from her throat.
"Too...too close, that one. What were...you thinking?" Yumi asked Chris, taking deep breaths of virtual air.
"That I couldn't loose you. You're pretty much all I've got." Yumi laid a hand on his shoulder, and Chris smiled.
"Hate to ruin the moment, but HELP!"
"Always something," Chris muttered as he picked up his sword and leaped over the debris to help Ulrich.
"I'll help Aelita!" Yumi said, standing and charging over to the pink-haired girl.
Ulrich was hard pressed. Molly was good, almost too good. He couldn't keep blocking her, and that gauntlet packed a wallop.
Molly smiled viciously. "Your friend may have saved his girlfriend, but you and the elf are forfeit."
"She's not an elf."
"Huh?!" Molly whirled around in time for Chris to bring the handle of his sword down on her forehead. Molly toppled off-balance to the ground and rolled out from between her two opponents.
"That's twice I've been able to distract you, Argent. That's not very good." Chris brought his sword down as Molly rolled backwards into a somersault.
"This is over." Molly growled between grit teeth, and Chris favored her with a grin.
"Being called to heaven, are you?" Chris stepped forward, sword on his shoulder.
"Hardly." Her hand snaked down and grasped the handle of her whip, with a flick of her wrist it had retracted into a sword. Ulrich whistled in admiration, while Chris groaned. "Great. This is gonna be pleasant."
Molly arched an eyebrow, and Ulrich shrugged as if to say "What do you expect? It's Chris." She sighed and started towards Chris.
"Ulrich, go with Yumi and Aelita to the tower. This is between me and Little Miss Whip-Sword here."
Ulrich opened his mouth to protest, and Chris turned a glare on him that broached no argument. "Fine. See you at the tower."
"I'm stronger than you, better than you. Who do you think will win?" Molly swung the blade a few times, and Chris lowered his own weapon into a ready stance.
"Those with reasons to live have the true power to win." Molly blinked at Chris' statement, and lowered into a guard stance as Chris rushed her, bring his sword around in an upward slash.
She leaped backwards a couple of steps, and stabbed the blade forward. It extended into whip mode, and Chris turned out of the way, sacrificing none of his momentum. He kept pounding forwards, blows raining on Molly's absolute defense in a symphony of steel on steel.
Molly shoved Chris backwards, and he tripped over a rock. Molly stabbed her blade downwards, but only caught Chris' scarf, which tore away from him as he rolled away to his feet. She growled again, and flicked her sword back into a whip, and swung it at Chris.
Chris was ready, and raised his sword into a block. With a flick of her wrist, Molly wrapped the whip around his blade-
And cried out in surprise as Chris hurled both weapons into the void. "Got you," Chris muttered, shifting his stance slightly. His arms came up, one bending his hand back under his chin, the other extended.
Molly dropped into another stance, her hands in claw-like shape, weight shifting back and forth. "I will get you, and the girls, and anyone else who gets in my way," She snapped at Chris.
"Including Ulrich?"
"I..." Molly trailed off, then lowered her head and shook it to clear it. She had to be strong, had to fight- had to win- for the sake of Xana. She looked up in time to see the sole of Chris' tabi boot come flying at her.
Molly rolled to her feet, only to be smacked by Chris' left fist, then his right, and finally catching the heel of his foot on her forehead. She lashed out with the spiked gauntlet blindly, wildly, but caught only air.
She forced herself to her feet, and glared defiantly at Chris. "I won't loose. Not ever. Not to you!" The last three words emerged as a roar and she lunged at Chris. Chris forced most of the blows aside, though several of Molly's claw hand strikes made it through.
Chris grunted as Molly forced him back, and she grinned viciously. "So there is something to cut there."
Chris stood there for a long moment, then reached out and grabbed Molly, yanking her towards him. His knee slammed into her gut, then her chin, and then she lost count of the blows that rained down on her.
Finally she felt herself slammed against the stone plateau. It felt warm beneath her back, and through blurred vision could make out Ulrich and Yumi.
"Give me a reason." Chris' voice was a low growl. "Give me one reason not to finish this."
"Please...please...don't...not in front of..." Her own voice was weak.
"Chris-" Ulrich started, but Chris cocked his fist back. Yumi reached out and grabbed his fist.
"Xana...I can give you..." Molly pleaded softly.
"Quiet, you traitor!"
"Won't...won't die for you..." she murmured softly.
"Who's she talking to?" Yumi asked. "Who do you think?" Chris growled back.
"Chris, you heard her, right?" Ulrich asked, and Chris only glowered at him. "She'll die for what she did to Yumi, to me."
"Chris, don't." Yumi's voice was soft, but Chris turned his head. Molly only moaned softly.
"Yumi..."
"The Chris I know wouldn't do this. The Chris I know isn't vengeful. He's kind, and caring, and has a wonderful heart full of limitless compassion. If you do this, then you're really not the Chris I know."
Molly felt herself lifted, and lowered into Ulrich's arms. She looked up at his hurt expression and felt herself beginning to cry. "Ulrich, I'm so..." Ulrich made a shushing noise, and lifted her in his arms.
Chris started walking. "Let's go home...I don't want to fight anymore today." Yumi looked at him, and rushed to catch up, taking his hand in hers.
"You did the right thing, Chris. Nobody could've asked more."
Chris pulled her close and put an arm around her. "I know...but I looked back into that black beast inside of me, and what I could've done..."
"I promise you, Christopher, that I'll always be there to pull you away from that. Always."
"Yumi, I...don't know what I'd do without you. You mean so much to me, I just..."
Yumi laid her head against his shoulder. "It's all right." Chris didn't agree with her at all, but he didn't say anything.
The sun's light faded to a deep golden as it vanished behind the far-off mountains and school's outer wall. Chris paid it little mind, and looked at the ceiling.
He couldn't believe he'd lost his temper like that. Nobody deserved to be treated like that, not even Molly. He'd been so angry and hurt and upset, and it had all come out in that brief interval.
His ruminations were interrupted by a knock on his door. He got up from his position on the floor and wandered over. Flicking the lock off, he peeked through the crack.
"Ulrich?"
Ulrich smiled gently. "Mind if I come in?"
Chris opened the door, and Ulrich stepped inside the room.
"Yumi said you'd shut yourself up in here all day." Ulrich sat in the computer chair, and Chris let himself slump back to the corner he'd been sitting in.
"Needed to think." Chris looked at Ulrich with an expressionless face. Ulrich shrugged. Chris managed a sigh. "Is she okay?"
"Molly? Or Yumi?"
"Molly."
Ulrich was silent for a moment. "She's scared of you. And she isn't the only one. What happened?"
"I lost it, Ulrich. I let myself give into that black rage, and...I just lost it. If Molly hadn't begged me not to finish her in front of you...If Yumi hadn't intervened..." Chris drew a knee up and set his forehead on it. "I haven't been that angry since I got into that fight with my dad."
"Well, it scared Molly, Aelita and Jeremy pretty well." Ulrich shook his head. "And you locking yourself up in here all day hasn't done much for Yumi, either."
"Oh?" Chris looked up, some of his normal, calm self beginning to seep back into his expression.
"Yeah. Last time she got this close to a total emotional breakdown was when I'd put you through the window downstairs." Ulrich stood up. "Come on. She's forgiven you. Molly and everyone else will follow in time."
"I wonder about that." Chris let Ulrich help him up, and the two exited the building.
"You're taking Yumi to the dance Friday night, right?" Ulrich asked suddenly, and Chris nodded.
"Far as I'm aware. Hopefully, if Molly was telling the truth about being able to lead us to Xana, we might be able to get Aelita materialized in time for Jeremy to take her." Chris looked thoughtful.
"You think she'll double cross us?" Ulrich asked, and Chris nodded, not asking which 'she' Ulrich was referring to.
"Molly wouldn't do so willingly, at this point. And I'm perfectly capable of using the flat of the blade." Chris shrugged as he walked out into the cool evening air.
"Hey!" Ulrich called out. "Look who decided to join us!"
Chris staggered as Yumi leaped into his arms. He held her close, and sighed as he felt the moisture of her tears begin to soak into his shirt. "Did I worry you, Yumi?"
She looked up, the last golden rays of the sun sparkling as they caught her tears. "I was...I thought...you wouldn't come back..."
"No. Never. I promised myself that. I wouldn't do that to you, Yumi. You and the others...you guys are really all the family I've got." Chris held her tightly, and Yumi smiled happily through her tears.
Odd smiled, and wandered towards the cafeteria. "Well, since you didn't need my help then, and don't need it now, I'm gonna go eat, okay?"
"Sounds good." Chris wrapped an arm around Yumi's shoulders. "And we've got things we all need to talk about, too."