.:/AN/:. Phew, this is finally done... sorry if your not pleased. I completely understand. I mean, you have been waiting all this time, just for a short chappie, but hey: Life sucks, then ya die. Personally, I hated writing this chapter. 1) because I can't write good action sections and 2) this was the first chapter that I got writers block from. It sucks! Oh and 3) because it's so short. Sorry, people, but cliffies are what keep you reading, right? Well, enough of my babble, I've got a new chapter to write and you've got a new chapter to read. R&R peeps!

Chapter 18: Taking Turns- Second Contestant

Ulrich's POV:

Once again, Lance's attack breezed by my front as I dodged another one of his attempted lunges at my chest.

"You're getting slow, Lancelot," I mocked. "My grandmother could have enough time to move out of the way before you'd hit her."

He growled in frustration. He had not managed to hit me once since I saved Yumi. Either he wasn't as good as he seemed and was lucky, or I'm better than him... and Yumi. I wanted to stick to the first, but my macho side was boasting and I couldn't help but feel that the latter was the correct one.

"I'd have to say the same thing to you," he said as he narrowly avoided my swift kick at his side.

The thing was, I didn't want to knock him out so quickly so that he didn't suffer like I did. It would've been pointless, knocking him out before he could even register that I was attacking him.

"How could my friends have thought that you would be a good Lyoko fighter?" I wondered out loud, goading him into attacking more recklessly.

"Maybe I'm going easy on you," he suggested mockingly, trying to hit me from my open side, but failing. "Speaking of 'your friends', where are they now? Aren't they supposed to be supporting you?"

"They're probably taking cover to make sure that they don't catch your stupidity," I said, shrugging it off, giving him a right hook while my other hand held my sword off to the side. He managed to get away from my flying fist, giving me an unreadable look.

"Really?" he questioned in that way that made it seem like he knew something that I didn't. Unfortunately for me, I have a very curious personality. We stopped fighting.

"Okay, what are you not telling me?" I asked as I sighed in exasperation, pretending to be bored and just playing along. I would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he caught my interest, no matter how curious my inner-self was.

"Well, if they were taking cover, they would still be close in case you needed assistance," he said in a reasonable tone. "So, where are they?"

That made me stop, amazingly. I looked around and my eyes only met the emptiness of the deserted Polar Region. A small, microscopic part of myself was starting to believe him. Was he right? There was no sign of my friends, but that might just be because it seemed like we moved away from the tower. Were my friends really cowards?

I turned to Lance, but was only met his fist connecting to my jaw. I flew back a couple feet from the impact, but Lance was not through. He took his sword and jumped over me, landing with a thump, with his sword going through my middle and his legs on either side of my body. I was on the ground and he was on his feet, but apparently that still wasn't enough for him. He took his feet and started to kick every part of my body that he could get to. Thank god that we were virtual. I wouldn't want to make a mess...

That minuscule piece of me that actually believed Lance disappeared as soon as it came. I understood what he did, but I was furious with myself for actually doubting my friends. I should've known that they were watching from wherever they were and were ready to help me when I needed it.

I laughed quietly, with Lance still standing over me, having not yet withdrawn his sword from my stomach.

"I get why you did that," I said more to myself than him. "You wanted to distract me with my one weakness, my fear of being rejected and used, so that you could get the upper hand. The advantage. You knew it wasn't true as well. You knew my friends would stick by me no matter how dire the situation may be, no matter what the cost. It was stupid for me to fall for that simple trick, doubting my friend's loyalty. Just like I did when you came to our school..." I suddenly brought my legs out from underneath him and kicked him straight in the stomach, projecting him a few feet away from me, taking his sword with him. I stood up and stared coldly down upon his stunned and confused face. "That won't happen again. So, I guess I should turn up the heat, huh?"

His facial expression was priceless. But, he was graceful enough to recover quickly and smirk. In a way, I admired this guys' stubbornness to quit, which somewhat made me want to puke.

"You're right," was his reply. "But, might I suggest that you be more careful this time around. I mean, I'm pretty sure that your life points are down extremely low. My attacks should have de-virtualized, but I guess you had more life points then Jeremie reported."

"You never know!"

I smiled and brought my sword in front of me (y'know how they do that whole sword thing, where it looks like they're cutting their face with it, then they turn it and then you can see the blade and everything...?). Lance did the same. I could feel myself shaking with excitement. I was actually going to have a serious sword fight and I knew that it was going to be good.

He made the first move. He walked to the side, keeping his sword in front of him. I copied. We slowly circled each other. Then, without warning, Lance attacked, swinging his sword over his head as he cried out.

I brought up my sword, mimicking my move when I saved Yumi when he did this attack. Again, I swung his sword away, but this time I tried to attack his legs. He stopped it.

To a mere by-stander (even though there weren't any) they would only be able to see flips and blurs of the warriors, and silver streaks of the swords. No one would've been able to see what was happening, except the two swordsmen.

Lance was breathing hard and his attacks were becoming slow. I, on the other hand, was running on pure adrenaline, so my attacks were faster and were connecting more than his.

I haven't heard from Jeremie, I started to wonder. Then I shrugged. He just probably doesn't want to distract me from this fight. Thank you, Jeremie!

Just a Note here:

As a matter of fact, Jeremie was just sitting in his chair, watching and relaying the events of the battle to Yumi and the others. Even though he wasn't able to see the actual fight, he reported our life points and tracked our movements. Wow, Jeremie, I think your supercomputer needs a big screen TV. I mean, that is just boring!

Uh... back to the story...

Lance swung his sword one last time before jumping clear away from my retaliation. He was panting like a dog in the hot sun that went the whole day without water. His tongue was out and everything! God, man, I hope that you didn't stick that out at anyone...

"What's wrong, pal?" I asked in a sarcastic tone. "I thought you were going easy on me? What happened to the high-and-mighty Lancelot?"

He didn't bother answering me. Instead he turned away from me and drew out one of his blades. He through it towards the emptiness, though he seemed pleased with his apparently poor aim.

"Hel-lo!?!?!? I'm over he-re!" I reminded him, preparing myself for an amusing verbal lashing.

"Who said that I was aiming at you?" he said with a smirk.

"Huh? Uh... buddy, I think you just lost your mind. Well, either that or my ears are malfunctioning," I said while digging my pinky into my ear, pretending to try and remove what would have been a seriously large amount of earwax.

"Sorry, Ulrich, but I can see that you are stronger than you were previously. I guess all that time away made you want it more; all of your energy you've been saving is being released at this moment. I won't be able to de-virtualize you without de-virtualizing myself in the process. If I can't beat you yet, I can at least get rid of one of you while I'm waiting!"

That's when I realized what he was talking about.

"YUMI!!!"

.:/AN/:. Well... there you go... Geez, hopefully I won't get any smart remarks on this chapter. But now you see? The first if this trilogy was Yumi fighting, the second was of Ulrich... so who's the third? Do you have any idea? Again, sorry for the somewhat-lame chapter, and I swear, I'm working my ass of for you and me. Stupid parents... I hate it when they pull that 'privilages' shit... "Get good grades and you'll get your DVD's back..." yeah, right. I just showed you my quiz and test scores! 100%! What else do you need? Oh, incase your wondering, those DVD's are of Yu Yu Hakusho. My story that I mentioned previously is also getting worked on. Of course, it's probably gonna turn out like the adult swin version, but what the hell? You guys are reading this, so it's fine! Right...? Well... later...