.:/AN/:. Sorry everyone, but I don't have much time for a chat right now, so I'll just give you your chapter, okay? Here you go!
Chapter 15: One More Dream And One More Hero
Ulrich's POV:
What is taking them so long? I asked myself. What's going on in Lyoko? It was one of those times that I wished I was still apart of the group. But no. I chose to be an ass and cut myself off of the Kick-X.A.N.A.'s-Ass club.
I was in the sewer. I know, it's not the best place to be, especially when I'm trying to avoid the X.A.N.A. attack, but it was the only place that I could think of. No one else knew about this place besides us.
I sighed. It wasn't that big of a deal. The attack, I mean.
I climbed up and took a look out. It was dark. I slid myself out of the hatch and started to walk towards the Dorms, making sure that I stayed out of sight as much as possible. Even if the attack made people go crazy didn't mean that I couldn't get into trouble. Jim would just jump at the chance to pin something on me, and I knew that it was way past curfew. This was just the perfect opportunity for him.
I got to my new room without running into anyone, and opened the door. I didn't have a roommate so I didn't worry about knocking. I plopped down on my bed and went to sleep, not even bothering to change into my sleeping attire. I had had a busy day.
As soon as I took a step outside of the door, I heard screams. I turned around just in time to see my friends falling into the darkness. I ran to them and tried to save them, but--
I awoke again, drenched in my sweat. I had that dream for a while now, but this was new. I hadn't seen the part where my friends disappeared into the darkness.
I heard the noise that had woken me up again. It was my cell phone.
I sighed. Was it Sissi again, asking me to help her with her shopping bags? I checked the time. It was after midnight. No, I guess not. Then, who was it?
I picked up.
"Hello?" I asked, kind of grumpy from a disrupted sleep.
"Ulrich?" asked the tentative voice from the other end. It was the voice of the person I never thought I'd hear for a long time.
"Yumi?"
"Yes, Ulrich. Um, look, we're in trouble here."
"What do you mean?" I was happy to hear from here again, but I knew that it wasn't the time to chat.
"X.A.N.A. has a lot of monsters guarding the activated tower and he reactivated the malfunction for the de-virtualization program."
"You mean that whole 'if you die, then you stay dead' thing that happened a while ago?"
"Yes, Ulrich, that's exactly what I mean."
"Wait a minute: you're still on Lyoko? What's taking so long and why are you taking the time to talk to me?"
I heard a blast from the other end.
"Shit, I didn't think they'd come looking for us. Look, Ulrich, we need your help to defeat all of these guys. He put up a real defense and we can't break it without you."
I was happy because she was asking for my help. She needed my help. I can cross that off my list of things to accomplish. But... then I remembered. Lance.
"Why don't you get Lance to help you?" I asked in a cold voice, my happiness disappearing. "I'm sure he'll be glad to save everyone, just like before."
"Oh, for crying out loud! Would you stop acting like a god damn ass?!" I heard her yell at me. I held the phone at an arms-length distance. "I'm asking for you, Ulrich! Not Lance! Now, get over yourself and get your fucking butt over here, NOW!"
"Yumi, calm down," I heard Odd's voice say.
"No! Ulrich, I'm tired of you torturing yourself. Okay, so we became Lance's friend. So what? It's not like we wanted to get rid of you! We just wanted to make the guy welcome. And he proved to be a great Lyoko fighter, if it weren't for that one problem that we have now."
"What problem?" I interrupted, my voice suddenly serious. "Yumi, tell me what happened."
"There we go," I heard her say in a much happier voice. "Lance is working for X.A.N.A."
"Ha, I knew it! I knew that there was something off about him!" I said, triumphant.
"We don't know that for sure," came Yumi's voice. "That's just what we're assuming."
"Oh. I'll be there soon. You guys just hold out for a little longer." I hung up without a good-bye. I ran out the door after grabbing my skateboard, not caring if I left it open nor what I was wearing. I just had to get to the factory and fast.
I slipped out the door and ran quietly through the forest and got to the sewer hatch. I slid down the ladder, ignoring the steps. I made good time. And I was enjoying it. I would soon be back in Lyoko, fighting alongside my best friends. All the anger that I thought I had towards them vanished. They needed to survive this, or I'd never forgive myself.
I got to the end of the sewer and took the ladder steps two at a time, leaving my board behind me. I got to the factory and slid down one of the ropes. I didn't waste time standing around catching my breath, so I stepped into the elevator and went down to the Scanner Room. I could say hi to Jeremie later. Speaking of later...
I picked up my phone and dialed Jeremie. He answered. He sounded worried above all recognition.
"Ulrich? Ulrich, please tell me that it's you!" I heard him cry.
"Yeah, Jer, it's me. I'm heading to the Scanner Room. Think you can send me in?"
"Is it possible that there's a question stupider than that one?" he replied.
"Has Odd eaten his lunch today?"
"Ha, ha, very funny."
I stepped into the scanner. I didn't even realize that Jeremie must've added another scanner.
"Okay, I'm ready. Send me in, Einstein."
"Yes, sir!"
"Scanner: Ulrich. Transfer: Ulrich. Virtualization!"
I landed with a soft thump in the Polar Region. I waited for the usual information that Jeremie usually gave us and decided to forgive him for forgetting to tell me where I was heading.
"Okay, Ulrich, the others are to your left. You might run into two crabs in your way, but, knowing you, that won't be much of a problem."
"Right. Now, what kind of 'army' are we talking about?" I asked as I started running in the direction Jeremie told me to.
"X.A.N.A. managed to put together twenty-seven of his monsters: 9 Crabs, two groups of Roachers, five Cubes, and a couple of Hornets. Also, there's Lance."
The fury that I had been containing towards him all day decided to flare up inside of me, which only caused me to run faster.
"Where is he?" I asked him, my voice dangerously low.
"Don't even think about it, Ulrich. Just focus on getting to the others."
The others. That snapped me out of it.
"What are their current life points?" I inquired, forgetting about Lance.
"Yumi is down to 75, Aelita is untouched, and Odd is still at 30. I think he's finally taking this 'don't get shot' thing seriously."
"Right. Have the others destroyed any of the monsters, yet?"
"Yeah. Odd took care of three of the Roachers, Yumi put a couple of Cubes out of commission and they both destroyed all of the Hornets."
"Where is Aelita?"
"She created a little cover for herself. She's had a couple of close calls, but she's been able to maintain a strong barrier for her protection. Anything else you want to know?"
"You mean, stuff that you're actually gonna tell me?" I retorted.
"Even if Lance is working for X.A.N.A., it doesn't mean that he deserves to die, Ulrich."
"Whatever," I mumbled. I knew he was right, but that didn't mean I didn't want to do it.
I reached the Crabs before I reached Odd, Yumi and Aelita. Without slowing down, I jumped on top of one and tried to catch the others attention.
"Hey, you! Yeah, the ugly piece of junk that doesn't even deserve a spot under my bed! Come and get me!"
Just when it shot its laser at me, I jumped over onto its back and stabbed the X.A.N.A. symbol before jumping away again. The Crabs laser destroyed its buddy and they both lay in a crumpled heap on the snowy ground.
Without a word to Jeremie or myself, I started up my chase again. But inside, I was celebrating. This was what I thought missed the most about the whole Lyoko deal. Destroying monsters like it was a dance.
But that was before I met up with Yumi, Odd and Aelita.
Odd was squaring off with a couple of Cubes (get it? I didn't even realize the pun till now!), while Aelita was remaking her shelter. Every once in a while, she would create a cover for him, but otherwise, she stayed out of sight. And Yumi...
Yumi was taking care of the Crabs and Roachers. She was fighting like a true warrior and was as agile as a cat. But, she wasn't able to keep her eyes on all of her opponents.
Before the Crab could strike or Yumi could even turn around, I ran forward and took care of it easily.
"IMPACT!" Now the game really started.
.:/AN/:. I'm kind of in a hurry, I did this before the whole tour thing for my grandparents. Hope you liked it, the next chapter is on its way, so DON'T HURT ME!. R&R and e-mail me please! You can never have too many friends! Later!