Return to Lyoko
All was quiet in Lyoko. The same sense of false peacefulness was as ever present. In the sky, a graphic shape of a boy appeared. Filling with color, texture, and a willful presence, it dropped down to the rocky surface.
Ulrich opened his eyes and looked around him. The Mountain Region of Lyoko; it looked exactly the same as it did two months ago. The red glow of the tower in the distance shined with a brighter illumination than he remembered.
Taking a step forward, his hands brushed against a pair of swords. He stopped and looked at himself. His Lyoko character now wore a golden-yellow and sleeveless robe and baggy black pants. Black wrist guards clung tightly to his forearms. Reaching up, he felt the familiar tension of his bandana. The katana he now carried were slightly smaller to the one he used months ago.
"Talk to me, Jeremy," he called out. "What's with the new look?"
"A recent upgrade I've installed," was the reply. "Along with the second katana, I improved your Attack/Defense and Speed stats. I didn't have enough memory to upgrade your Triplicate ability, though."
"Hurry, Ulrich!" Jeremy said after a while. "I don't think we have much time left."
"Right."
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He had called three times in the last ten minutes. But each time the same message appeared, 'Phone/number currently unavailable.' She must've turned it off, he quickly realized. As he went to turn off the phone, a message suddenly appeared.
Opening it out of habit, the tiny phone screen suddenly flashed red. The same symbol he'd seen in his nightmare was almost like a background image. The message itself was:
11:17 minutes
Materialization Imminent!!!
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All around the world the same message appeared. It went out on the Internet, dominated television, overran fax machines, and was lit up on countless cell phones. Once the message had been opened, the people discovered that the message could not be removed!
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Ulrich entered the Tower without hesitation. Inside, he heard their screams clearly. As he flew up to the next platform, he saw the lightning bonds. His friends screamed as the lightning from the bonds raced over their flesh.
This isn't right, he thought. How can they feel the pain in this world? Putting the thought aside, he walked up forward and tentatively touched Aelita's shoulder. The lightning raced up his arm before his fingers made contact. It gave him a temporarily spasm of pain that was quite unknown in the Lyoko. Rubbing his hand gingerly, he considered his next move.
"Ulrich?"
"Yes?"
"You need to somehow stop whatever it is that Xana is doing to them," Jeremy said. "If you don't, I can't materialize them."
Unsheathing a katana, he said, "No problem."
Placing himself next to all three of his friends, he gave a fast swing overhead. The lightning strands gave little resistance. They parted and disintegrated when the connection was lost. A following slash at the lightning on their legs left them hanging ungracefully in the air. Quickly hurrying around to their other side, he cut them free with just as much ease. Their screams stopped instantly.
Sheathing the blade, Ulrich rushed to Yumi's side. He cradled her face to his chest. Eyes closed, she was breathing very hard. He could see her twitching unconsciously but couldn't feel it. A glance at Aelita and Odd informed him that these were not unique to Yumi.
A voice from what seemed far away said, "I materializing Aelita via your scanner."
Eyes flickering open, she saw a genuine smile of happiness and relief on Ulrich's face. "…Ulrich?"
"Don't worry," he said. "We're getting you and Odd out of here."
"No…" she said, trying to sit up. "Xana has—"
Suddenly her body went rigged as the graphic outline covered her. Colors fading, Yumi and Odd were De-Virtualized. Looking over at Aelita, he found that she too was Materializing.
"Ulrich," Jeremy said. "Do me a favor while you're in there. Bring up the Time Reversal Program, I need your help to cure it."
"Right." Standing up, he walked to the center of the platform. A screen appeared in front of him as he approached; on it were lines of endless computer code. At the top of it was the heading, Time Reversal Matrices. "It's already on the screen."
"Right," Jeremy said. "Now enter the code: Fate. That should cure the program."
Ulrich did as asked. But just after he entered the code…
Program: FATE Activated Uploading data
Seconds ticked away like eons. Then the screen flashed—
Program: Fate Successfully uploaded
As relief washed over Ulrich, he waited for the white light of the program to enshroud him… Nothing happened.
Jeremy groaned quietly. "You've got four enemies outside the Tower. I can't tell the types, though."
"I'll handle that," he said. As he dropped down the lower platform, he said, "Why didn't program activate, Jeremy?"
"I don't know," he said. "I'll look into—Oh, hi guys!"
Ulrich guessed that he was greeting the others. He suppressed a sigh of relief that they made it out safely. Walking through the Tower, he searched for the enemies. But the landscape was as empty as before.
Then he saw something in the corner of his eye. Ducking instinctively, he heard a familiar snap-whistling sound sailing over him. Scary familiar. Facing his opponent, he spotted all four instantly.
"Jeremy?" he called out. "Are you still there?"
"Yeah," he said after a moment. "What do you need?"
There was a hint of fear in his voice as he grasped the hilts of his katana. "We are in serious trouble."
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"That, Ulrich," Yumi said. The entire room was silent, even the supercomputer seemed subdued. "Is the biggest understatement of mankind."
No one laughed or even cracked a smile at the remark. They knew that she was deadly serious.
(A/N) What is so different about these monsters that could possibly make Ulrich fear them? Please post your guesses! I wanna see how many of you can get it right (or come close to it).
For those of you who liked Ulrich's outfit in the series: sorry about this. I just thought that he needed a few minor adjustments to it here and there.