Opening Moves

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A/N: I know I said I'll take a break, but I'm a bit ahead in PSAT studying so I'll post this chapter up for you to read. "Hope Lost" is also a possible go for the next chapter, but doubtful.

As before, this is Ulrich's point of view.

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Chapter 11

The Battle for Survival

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I woke up the next day, tired. I had spent a few hours sitting next to Yumi, watching for any changes. Unfortunately, my night watch had caused me to get only three hours of rest. I had awoken only because a nurse came in to tell me that Jeremie was calling.

"I hope he's just calling to check up on Yumi..." I thought nervously. Then I said, "Hey, Jeremie. Anything wrong?"

"I wish I could say no. X.A.N.A.'s launched an attack on the hospital's computer system! Aelita's behind cover, but she needs help quickly." Jeremie said.

"Okay. I'll see what I can do. How's X.A.N.A. doing?" I asked.

"He's stuck on a firewall. Unfortunately, I don't know how long that'll last." Jeremie replied.

I tried to break the door of Yumi's room open. Apparently, the door was computer controlled and was closed. Now what?

Looking around, I spotted a window that led outside. I decided that Yumi could probably survive a few minutes, especially since the hospital doesn't have anything strange other than the locked door... The locked door! I doubt that X.A.N.A. could connect to two computers at once, and the door was closed... So he broke the firewall! That was when I decided to make a drastic decision. I decided to tell the hospital staff to urgently get more protection on the life support computers. Then, I ran for the factory.

"Ulrich, I'm sending you into the forest region. Aelita's currently behind a tree, but the situation is getting very dangerous." Jeremie said. "Head straight for the scanners."

I ran straight for the scanners, eager to go into battle. Why this was, I didn't know. After all, I wasn't bloodthirsty or anything. When I went into the scanner, my fists closed in anger. "X.A.N.A., here I come."

"Transfer, Ulrich." Jeremie said, and then paused for a few seconds. "Scanner Ulrich." Another short pause. "Virtualization!" I felt the familiar rush of air as the scanner readied me for the trip to Lyoko.

I felt me body being converted into data, and then reformatted in Lyoko. When I finished being recreated, I fell to the grassy knoll of the Lyoko platform.

"Aelita is twenty degrees north of you, Ulrich." Jeremie said, and I ran forward. Slowly, I came in sight of the small clearing where the monsters were. Accelerating, I drew my sword.

I jumped onto the head of a Block, yelling "Impact!" Then, I triangulated and destroyed three more monsters. The rest ran away from the battle. "Aelita, is this normal?"

"I don't know, Ulrich. This is the first time this happened..." Aelita said, stepping out from behind a tree. "Usually X.A.N.A. just keeps fighting with no regard to the consequences. Anyway, the tower's this way."

"Right. Stay close, Aelita. We don't want anything to happen, and we need to do this fast." I said.

We ran off to the tower, sticking in a very tight formation. But then we saw something that shocked us. There was a huge hole that looked at though it led into the very code of Lyoko. Everything around it flowed into the hole, giving the scene a very scary appearance.

"Aelita, what is that?" I asked.

"I don't know, but it seems as though this area is corrupted. It looks almost like... Ah!" Aelita said, and then promptly collapsed. Her body seemed to be being pulled into the hole.

"Jeremie, what's going on? What is this?" I asked nervously. I didn't know what would happen if someone were to fall into that hole, but I sure didn't want to test it.

"I don't know. It seems like Lyoko has a virus in it besides X.A.N.A. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was a huge virtual battle going on in that hole. I'll scan the area." Jeremie said. "In the meantime, Ulrich, take Aelita and get out of there."

I nodded and took Aelita. Then I ran forward, trying to avoid tripping. The wind from the opening was pulling me further and further into it. A tree ripped out behind me, and then apparently devirtualized.

"Okay, I think I've got it. It was hard to track because it wasn't stored as information, but rather as a video. I think it has to do with the pyramid you used to bring Yumi back." Jeremie said.

"What!? Jeremie knows about that? When did THAT happen!?" I thought to myself.

"It opened up a security hole in the supercomputer, and the hole is under attack by... something. I don't know what it is, but I'd put it higher on the 'so-dangerous-we-need-to-kill-it-before-it-gets-stronger' list than X.A.N.A." Jeremie said.

"Yeah, you're right about that. After all, Lyoko is hard to break. We see that every time a monster misses." I joked.

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A/N: Sorry for the cliffie, but I don't want to reveal what the new force is. After all, Jeremie is already dead-on with what caused the situation. By now, you should start to see where I'm taking this, so it's not such a hard one to guess.

Anyway, PSATs are over, and the next major exam I have won't be until March. Expect updates on this and "Hope Lost" within the next few days.