Hope Lost
Chapter 5
Demise?
"Sissy, I hope you know that…" I began, and then faltered. What could I say to insult her without having her drag me to Jim? While Jim was strict, he probably would jump at the chance to have Ulrich and myself suspended, and would probably reward Sissy for turning us in.
"That what, Yumi?" Sissy asked. That's when I realized the only thing that I could do to get out of trouble. I remembered my martial arts sensei teaching about some techniques that could cause memory loss. If I used that, she might forget.
Silently, I nodded to Ulrich, who nodded back. He distracted Sissy by talking sweet to her, while I snuck away and attacked her with a palm strike to the back of her head. She fell down to the ground, unconscious.
"Yumi, we'd better get out of here before Jim finds us." Ulrich said, and we snuck away into the forest.
When I arrived home, I found that, to my relief, Mother was still with Father in the hospital. Apparently Father was getting some sort of operation that would help him get better sooner.
That's when I realized what I had to do to end this situation. I would force my parents to let me see my friends. But how? I knew that using the technique I used on Sissy would only get me into more trouble.
I decided to settle on some training. It was a while since I had fought outside of Lyoko, and it seemed that something might happen that would change the course of the war. (A/N: This is one of the changes. I'm planning on semi-integrating this story into the "Broken Heart" trilogy).
After stretching a little bit, I began working on my favorite techniques, and even some combinations. The latter was because of my sensei's suggestions, as I often forgot to mix up techniques. I suppose it got even worse because of my Lyoko fighting, where I only had two possible techniques (unless I decided to go hand-to-hand with a Block, Crab, or Roachster, which would only earn me a chance to be devirtualized.)
That was when Mother came home from the hospital. Quickly, I ran up to my room, took off my martial arts uniform, and ran back down.
"Hello, Mother. How's Father?" I asked.
"He'll be fine. It was only a minor injury." Mother said, slamming her fist on the table, and I could tell she was still mad at Ulrich.
The next day, at school, I went to all my classes like an automaton, barely noticing when I saw Ulrich. I was careful to avoid Ulrich, since my parents might have told teachers to report to them if I was seen near Ulrich.
During lunch, I noticed that Ulrich had picked up his cell phone. So, there's an attack going on. He started going to dial someone's number, possibly my own, because he thought better of it. Then, he snuck out of the lunch room.
My cell phone started beeping, showing that I had a text message. It was from Jeremie, and said:
Y
S.O.S. X.A.N.A. Stay alert.
J
I smiled, since that was the shorthand that we had chosen to avoid being linked to the factory and Lyoko. So, they didn't consider me a deserter. That was good, it meant that I could go back to them.
I began looking around for any sign of danger, when I spotted two people that hadn't been there before. Both looked big and stupid, and exactly identical, as though they had come off an assembly line. Their head's were shaven until part of their skull was visible.
Quietly, I gestured to the girl sitting across from me to get down, and began to walk toward Jim, giving the impression of calmness. The truth was, however, I was scared. Although I had faced dangerous things in the past, I had always known that my friends would help bail me out. Now, however, even if Aelita did reach the tower, not everything would be as it should.
"Jim?" I asked, when I finally reached him.
"Yes, Yumi?" Jim asked, in a not-too-respectful tone, but I didn't care yet.
"There are some strange people over there." I said, pointing to the doorway where I had sighted them, but they weren't there anymore.
"Is this a joke?" Jim asked.
Suddenly, I felt a sudden pain in my back, causing me to fall to the ground. One of the muscle-bound men had hit me on my back. Quickly, I got on my hands and kicked backwards, catching one of them in the chin. I then spun around and delivered a spinning backfist to the other's jaw.
"Jim, get the other students and run! I'll take care of them!" I yelled, as I blocked a punch from the first one. The second one, however, kicked me in the face, sending me crashing into a table. I picked up a fork and threw it at the offender, who allowed it to hit him. He crashed to the floor.
At this, the first let loose a strange bellow, almost like that of a bull. This proved that they were not completely human. That one, however, ran to a table, picked it up, and threw it at me. It narrowly missed, and I felt myself get hit by pieces of shrapnel. That's when I looked outside and saw that Ulrich was being chased by another of the strange-looking people.
Deciding that it was time to end this, I ran to the window and broke it. Glass cut my hand, and I knew that I'd probably have to go to the hospital by the end of this. Still, I picked up one of the glass shards and rushed at the remaining one. He dodged out of the way clumsily, but I spun around and stabbed it in the throat with the glass shard. Bellowing weakly, it fell to the ground. I pulled the glass out and ran out the window to save Ulrich.
A/N: I apologize for the lack of updates, but I was having trouble deciding on the conversation Yumi and her mother had after their visiting her father.