.:/AN/:. I know, you're probably all mad at me for taking so long to update, but I'm so sorry! I actaully had a writers block! Amazing, huh? Call the Media! But, seriously, I did. I knew what was going to happen, but I just couldn't get there, y'konw? Also, my grandparents are leaving today, and (surprise, surprise) I'm kind of sad. Even though I hate, hate, HATE, their hour long speeches about guys that died bofore I was even born and didn't actually do anything important (that would be my grampa's topic), and about how controlling myself will make others want to be around me more and that I should try to be nice to my annoying younger brothers (that's my grandma's topic), they were loads of fun to hang out with. At least, when they weren't talking. Hee, hee, hee... So, anyway, I just wanted to say that I GOT MY 100th REVIEW!!! WHOO-HOO!!! Go, me! Go, me! It's my birthday! It's my birthday! YEAH! Okay, here's your next chapter. I think that it's gonna be a three parter, but I could be wrong. I also think that there is only going to be a couple more chapters after this trilogy, so... yeah. Thanks to all that want me to keep going, and I'll answer some questions people had at the end, oaky? Here you go!---

Chapter 17: Taking Turns- First Contestant

Yumi's POV:

Anger unlike anything I had ever imagined set fire to my insides. Ever since I found out that he worked for X.A.N.A., every time I even thought of Lance, I felt like puking. Odd was glaring daggers at him, which surprised me. He never actually got mad enough to glare (has anyone seen Odd glare at anyone? I mean, as in a hate filled glare? Anyone?) at someone, let alone glaring like that. Ulrich looked like he would've liked nothing more than to beat the shit out of him, if it weren't for the fact that we couldn't kill him. I mean, sure, we could've done it, but that fact still remained: We didn't know if he was working for X.A.N.A. by control or will.

"So... who'll take 'm?" Odd asked, still able to keep that light tone in his voice.

"I'll do it," I replied quietly, not removing my gaze from the lax ninja.

"Uh... Yumi, I was kidding. You can't take him on alone! You'll get creamed!" I could tell Odd was starting to regret his previous comment.

"Too bad. I'll beat him to a pulp," I could hear that familiar tone in my voice that I heard only when Ulrich was pissed. I guess it rubbed off...

"Don't do it yet, Yumi," Jeremie said. "Let's find out what X.A.N.A. is up to first, while his associate is still able to speak."

"I'll do it," Ulrich said, hiding the fury in his voice with a pleasant tone. "Hey, you bastard! What the hell is wrong with you? Did you get fucked up in the head? Or is that your ass, I can't really tell..." his voice trailed off while he brought up one of his hands that made a rude gesture with his middle finger. He put it against his head, like he would have if it was his pointer finger and he was trying to think (the key word is 'trying' people).

Odd and I were stunned. I was because of his choice in vocabulary and his rude hand signal, and Odd because... Odd is odd (for some odd reason!).

"Ulrich, where did you get that foul mouth?" I half asked, half lectured him. (I told you there would be cussing!)

"I got it after practicing behind his back, trying to think up the worst names possible that could describe him," he said, keeping his pleasant tone. "I couldn't quite find the right one, but there were a few that came close. I'll tell you them later, if you want. Well, mashed-peas-for-brains? I need an answer, or I might get a little impatient." At this, he grasped the handle on his sword.

Lance was unfazed by his comments and gestures.

"Nothing is wrong, Ulrich, I've just seen the light. Your fight against X.A.N.A. is pointless. There is no way you can win. That 'army' as you say, was only a piece of what X.A.N.A. has in store for you. I suggest that you take the opportunity that I have so graciously given you to surrender before you are all killed." Lance was talking as if the whole thing bored him. He showed no signs of worry for standing in the way of three really pissed teens and didn't seem to be paying attention to what he was saying. It was like he was a robot.

"Nothing doing," Ulrich replied, his pleasant tone disappearing. "Sorry, Lancey-boy, but your 'master', I guess you could say, will have to fight and loose his own battles. Now, why don't you run along and play with the little monsters? I'm sure that you will be able to entertain yourselves while your bastard-of-a-master and we have some fun of our own (I don't think that I put that right, but, oh well)."

While they were having this little talk, Odd and I were commenting our thoughts on Lance.

"I think that he's being controlled by X.A.N.A." Odd stated, listening to Lance talk. "Can't you tell? When he talks, it's like he's not really speaking, he's just being used or something. I can just feel it..."

I listened in on the conversation.

"Yeah, you're right..." (for once)

I paused as I saw Ulrich take a step forward after speaking, but then he seemed to realize that I said that I would take him. I didn't want to have to remind him, so I guess I was thankful that he remembered. I could tell that he really wanted to beat him, but I really was afraid that he wouldn't stop at that.

He seemed to be struggling with himself, I could hear it in his voice when he forced out, "Go ahead, Yumi, take 'm."

He turned around and took to leaning against the ice wall that surrounded the activated tower's location. His face was emotionless, which I could tell he had a good deal of practice with. I bet he would've slept, if he didn't want to miss the chance to jump in when he needed to and intervene with our match. Well, with him, you never know...

"Get ready, Lance," I stated menacenly. "You're going to wish that you never even met me, or got on my bad side."

"Quite the opposite, actually. I think I'm going to be pleased by my actions. It'll make this match more fun."

My rage flared up at this comment and I quickly drew out my fans and lunged forward. He also drew out his sword, matching my swiftness, and charged at me. Right when we would've collided, I ducked under his blow, feeling it graze over my head, and threw my fan into his gut a fast as I could've managed. As soon as I could, I side-stepped to my left, allowing Lance to run ahead. But, he didn't: he somehow managed to dodge my attack and was able to place himself behind me.

Man, he's fast, I thought.

I jumped quickly out of the way, narrowly missing the swift movement from the sword that was aimed at my head. I caught my fan as it came flying back around from my previous shot and waited for my opportunity to strike Lance and have it connect with him.

Then again, so am I, I said in my mind with a smirk. But, I was wrong.

I never really got my chance. Lance was fast, so the battle was going quick. Too quick, for my liking and ability. His attacks were swift and I was barely able to block them with my fan. I guessed that I wouldn't be able to throw them anytime soon.

Sometime during the fight, he brought out his star-spiked objects and knives and started throwing them at me. I felt a few barely miss, but others missed by miles. I was starting to wonder if his aim was all that good, but I would soon find out why he did this. (I'm not gonna tell you right now! :P)

Soon, it felt like Lance was turning the nob on the fight up. He was gradually dodging faster and his attacks were steadily getting harder to block. More and more of his attacks were connecting and less and less of his attacks were getting blocked with my fan (uh... did that make sense...?)

I was thrown to the ground once again, and it seemed like I managed to get there a lot.

"You've only got 15 life points left, Yumi!" came Jeremie's frantic voice. "If you get hit again, you'll be as good as dead!! Odd, Ulrich, you've got to help Yumi! It could be all over for her soon..."

I couldn't tell if they answered Jeremie's plea to save me, but at that moment I didn't care. I fuitily tried to protect myself from his oncoming attack, but it was no use. I couldn't get out of the way of his attack. It was hopeless. Or... so I thought.

Lance grinned widely and raised his sword above his head.

"It was nice while it lasted, Yumi. I wish that it didn't have to end this way... but, on the other hand, it wouldn't be any fun any other way! We'll see if your friends put up a more... challenging fight. Good-bye."

I closed my eyes, waiting for the familiar feeling of getting de-virtualized, as I heard Lance bring his sword upon me. It didn't come.

But, how...?

I slowly opened my eyes. And what did I see before me? (C'mon idiots, what do you think?) You're right (I think...). Ulrich stood over me, his sword unsheathed and blocking Lance's attack with ease.

"Okay, Lancelot, you've had your fun. Now, you're going down." Ulrich swung his sword, making a wide circle in the air, pushing Lance's sword away.

Lance's eyes widened for a second, but soon his expression was back to bored and he started to cirlce around Ulrich. Ulrich stayed with him, keeping himself between Lance and me.

I watched as Ulrich blocked another one of Lance's swings with ease. In a way, it scared me how simple Ulrich made it look. I couldn't move away, my eyes or body, until I felt a familiar grasp underneath my underarm.

"C'mon," I heard Odd whisper. "Let's give them some room. I have a feeling that this fight will not care if we're in the way or not. This way." He started to run a little, away from the fight just as Ulrich jumped out of the way as four of the star-spikes (I really don't know if that's what they're called) flew past us.

We ran over to a snowy dome that was not far from the attack, yet wasn't right in the middle of it, and I knew at once who was under it.

"Aelita," Odd whispered against the dome. "Aelita, it's us. Open up."

"Why are we whispering?" I whispered to him.

"Do you want Lance to know where we're hiding?" he asked me. "Do you think it's a good idea to yell for Aelita to open up her little cover so that we could hide in there instead of letting Lance know where we are? I mean, that is what we're doing, but, since we're whispering, Lance won't be able to hear us. Understand?"

"Aelita!" I whispered while knocking on the dome quietly. "Open up, please!"

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

The dome started to open slightly, and you could see a pair of eyes that belonged to no one other than Aelita.

"Oh, Odd! Yumi! Give me a minute, then you can come in."

The dome started to expand outwards so that there would be enough room for everyone.

"There! Now, where is Ulrich?" she asked, ignoring Lance's existance completely. She moved aside and we slid inside of the enclosure.

"Lance and Ulrich are duking it out right now," Odd replied in his odd way, trying to make himself comfortable as the dome closed once again.

The dome was big enough for each of us to sit comfortably in a circle and had enough head room so that we didn't have to hunch. It was nice, but I really wanted to know what was going on with Ulrich's battle.

"Aelita, can you please make a crack facing in that direction?" I asked pointing to the left.

She didn't ask any questions, but complied to my request. I leaned over and looked through the hole, but was unable to spot my crush.

"Damn," I muttered. "I can't see anything."

"Don't worry, Yumi!" Odd said cheerfully. "I'm sure with all the rage Ulrich has inside of him, he'll be fine! He's probably toying with Lance just to piss him off. I can just see his face... One black eye, a bleeding lip, bruises on his cheeks, both pairs (meaning his butt, too), and matted hair..." Odd went on, but I wasn't listening anymore. I was just praying that Ulrich was alright.

.:/AN/:. I think you guys'll know what the next chapters are gonna be called, huh? So, here are some questions that some people had:

Q: Why was Aelita angry about being left out of the anger and why do you have prolonged conversations with my conscience?

A: What I meant was that Aelita was angry because everyone else was angry and she didn't want to be left out and be the only one that wasn't angry. Understand? And about the 'prolonged conversations with my conscience... it's just for fun. I like being goofy, if you haven't noticed yet. Now, here's a question of my own: What did you mean, 'get over yourself?' Because if it means what I think it means, then that was mean. I was just goofing around and I wanted to make some people laugh, okay? If you have a problem with that, then jsut stop reading my AN, okay? And if you mean something else, then I'm sorry I asumed.

C (as in Comment): Put some romance between Yumi and Ulrich. In the summary, it says YxU

A: Yes, it says YxU, but I meant that I'm putting the romance at the end. I mean, we've basically taken a ride with Ulrich and Yumi through jealosy, action, and then the aftermath. With, of course a little of this, a little of that. So, don't worry there will be romance, just not in the middle of a fight between Lance and Ulrich, okay? You've hung on this long, you'll be surprised with the ending (I hope).

Q: Uh... this guy/gal had a lot of questions, his/her name is sea-tiger170, so...

A: I'm just gonna say this... you'll see! Ha, ha! Gotcha!

There probably were more questions that I probably didn't answer, so if you still have a question that hasn't been answered yet, then just e-mail me at Okay? Later everyone, the next chapter is one the way, I promise! Thanks agian! Phew, I'm glad I did that before Conscience shows up...

Conscience: Boo!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! ::breaths:: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Later! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...