VIRTUALIZATION
…something between horror and blankness…
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"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yumi asked Ulrich as he finished off his second note to Sissi of the day, making it a record. Actually, it was already a record with one, but two made it even more so.
Ulrich looked nervously down at the piece of paper as he handed it to Yumi to fold into thirds, not trusting his hands at the moment. He was afraid it would mess the thing up and besides, Yumi was the one best at arts and crafts out of the four of them. She took it gently and set to work, measuring out the paper with her practiced eye.
"No, but I feel like I have to try. I mean, what if I lose her to some pretty boy, show off guy that doesn't even care about her feelings? What would I do then? I don't think I could…live…" he said, slowly, realizing that to his mind, the things he were saying sounded so wrong. At least, if they were directed at Sissi, which they were.
"Don't worry about it, Ulrich. As long as you are sure you want to do this, you'll be fine. You know what? I personally think she's crazy about you," Yumi gave Ulrich a playful and friendly nudge in the ribs as she creased down the last fold to make it sharp and then handed the folded paper back to Ulrich. "So, where are you going to take her?"
"Movies," he said, gingerly clutching the paper with his fingertips. "I can't sneak out with her though, which sucks. I mean, she is the principal's daughter."
"Oh, I don't think she'd mind sneaking out with you," Yumi said, winking at her friend. He scowled at her. "Now," Yumi continued. "You can't just give her a note. You have to give her something with the note."
"Like…?" Ulrich asked. Yumi smiled and said, "Follow me."
She led him in a winding path through the campus. At one point, they passed Jim who glared at them suspiciously. After five minutes or so, they arrived at the back of an obscure classroom and Yumi pointed at the bushes that were underneath the window.
"So, you want me to give her a bush with the note," Ulrich said incredulously, glaring at Yumi. "Not funny, Yumi."
"No, you idiot," she said, leaning into the bush and seemingly looking for something. "Look closer."
Ulrich walked closer and then saw the red blooms among the leafy greens. "Red…roses?"
"Yep," Yum said, proud at her handiwork. "Aren't they beautiful?"
"They're perfect," Ulrich breathed, placing his hand gingerly on the nearest one to feel its silky smooth petals. Then he suddenly frowned. "How are we going to pick one though? They have thorns everywhere."
"For that," Yumi said with a grin, "you're on your own, loverboy."
"WHAT? Yumi! That is so not fair! Come on! Just help, please? Fine. Ow, OW. This hurts, Yumi, it really hurts. And I can't believe you are just standing there laughing. I mean, how heartless can you…OUCH! OW! Anyway, how are you so sure that she even likes flowers? OW OW!"
Yumi had to control her laughter with an effort before she said, "Because I like flowers."
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Yumi was in math when the power suddenly cut out and the lights above exploded violently in a spray of sharp glass. Her class immediately went ballistic as everyone dove under their desks. The ones that weren't so lucky and as fast got cuts everywhere that immediately started bleeding. Yumi was one of the lucky ones, however, and in the impending chaos, no one noticed when she grabbed her bag, leaving her math book and everything else she had taken out on her desk, and ran for the door.
How can this be happening? Her brain was pounding as she flew into the deserted halls, the glass from the lights in the overhang all over the ground, glinting at her as she ran past. We just stopped this from happening last time. How could Xana have found away to attack us again in the same way?
Skidding violently, she turned into another hallway and continued running, knowing exactly where she had to go. Glass crunched beneath her black boots.
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Ulrich immediately yanked Sissi by the arm and pulled her under the desk as soon as the lights died in the middle of French class. Sissi screamed loudly, like every other girl in the class as glass sprayed them. Sissi was sobbing into Ulrich's chest, clutching him tightly for protection. Ulrich felt a warm glow spread through him but he still remembered to check if Odd and Jeremie were okay. They had thrown themselves under the desk in time as well, but their faces were stony with worry.
"Whatever you do, Sissi, stay under the desk and don't come out, okay? And make sure no one else does either," Ulrich instructed, his face inches from Sissi's terrified one.
"But, but, Ulrich, are you leaving? How can you leave me?"
"I have to, Sissi. I wouldn't if I could, but I have to." On impulse, he kissed the top of her head. "Stay safe for me, okay?" Then he grabbed his backpack and took off out of the classroom after Jeremie and Odd, with the teacher feebly calling after them to stay put.
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"We have to go to the principal now and evacuate the school," Jeremie said as soon as the gang had reunited at the bench under the trees. They had all known to come here because that's what they had done last time this happened. "Remember? Soon, the windows will blow out and that will cause even more major damage."
"But shouldn't at least one of us go to Lyoko? Get a head start?" Yumi suggested hopefully. She had no desire to help evacuate the school once again as she remembered last time Sissi had practically slapped her, getting all "you're not the boss of me". Of course, then she had squealed in terror and led the pack when the first window had shattered.
Jeremie shook his head. "I'm really sorry, Yumi, but we need as many people as we can to stay and help evacuate. Yumi, you and Ulrich start evacuating classes. Odd, you'll come with me to the principal. Hurry guys, we can't take all day, or else we are stuck the way we are forever."
"What do you mean?" Yumi asked, but Ulrich was already running. He pulled her by the arm after him.
"We have to evacuate classes, Yumi. Questions later." Yumi shook Ulrich off and caught up with him as they rounded a corner in a sprint.
"I still don't get how Xana could find a way to attack us again in the same way," she said through heavy breathing. Then she and Ulrich skidded to a stop in front of their destination. "Oh, no," Yumi said as Ulrich yanked the door open, "not your class again."
"Yes, my class," Ulrich said as he stepped into the classroom. "SHUT UP!" he yelled, which he knew from experience would do the trick. Immediately everyone that was screaming, shouting, and otherwise going insane froze. "We need all of you to evacuate to the front of the school immediately. Try not to panic, as long as you hustle you will be fine." Immediately there was a pack of students running for the door. Yumi tried to direct traffic, telling everyone to run to the front of the school. She groaned inwardly when Sissi came up to her.
"Okay, if she's part of this," Sissi said, pointing a condescending finger at Yumi, "then I'm not buying. What if we get more hurt in the front of the school?"
"Sissi," Yumi said, sighing heavily. "Stop wasting time and get going."
"You're not the boss of…" she started, but Ulrich grabbed her from behind by the shoulders and pushed her gently after the rest of the students.
"Just go, Sissi. I told you to stay safe for me." Sissi hesitated and then ran off after her classmates as well, taking one last longing look at Ulrich before disappearing around a corner.
"Okay, Ulrich, let's go," Yumi said, taking off for the next classroom.
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The evacuation, despite Jeremie's stress of doing it quickly, took forever, just like last time. The sun was already down a good time and the air had already grown cold as the last student was accounted for. The gang managed to slip away at the soonest chance they got and they sprinted down to the manhole. As Odd slipped in last, he heard the all the glass in the school shatter, getting a resounding shriek from the entire student body. Then he covered up the manhole again after him and the sound was blocked out.
"And the crowd goes wild," Odd informed his friends. Yumi just barely heard him as she had already pushed off on her skateboard. "We'd better hurry."
Jeremie checked his watch as he mounted his scooter. "Truer words could not be said at the moment. It's already five past ten and we only have until twelve."
The distance between the four lengthened out as they traveled on wheels to the other end of the sewer. Yumi's skateboard was already propped up and the manhole cover was already removed when Odd got there. Yumi extended a hand to help Odd up and then they both reached in to help Ulrich and Jeremie up.
"What, so now we're on a time schedule?" Ulrich asked Jeremie with a scowl.
"Yes," Jeremie said resolutely. Ulrich and Yumi exchanged a puzzled look.
"Okay, Jer, what do you know what we don't?" Yumi said as they ran for the ropes to bring them down to the elevator.
"I'll explain in the lab room," Jeremie panted, jumping out for his rope and skidding down like the rest of them.
When they got to the elevator and pressed the down key, it didn't budge. Jeremie banged on it and Odd swore when he realized what happened. "Power outage effected here too. I forgot. We're taking the long way down."
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"Hurry, guys, get to the scanner room. We already wasted enough time by not using the elevator," Jeremie said hurriedly, already in the chair in front of the super computer and adjusting his headset communicator.
"Wait, wait, wait," Yumi said, holding out her hands and stopping all movement. "I think you owe me and Ulrich an explanation."
"Please, Yumi, we don't have time…"
"I don't care," Yumi said resolutely. "And why are we on a time schedule anyway?"
Jeremie sighed and took a deep breath. Then, in a rush, he explained to them how the return sequence was disrupted before and everything he had attained from the code. "But, I know how to fix it. I had Aelita hack into Xana's database and trick Xana into thinking that he was attacking the school again in the same way as last time." He shrugged at the look on Yumi and Ulrich's faces, something between horror and blankness. "What? I figured she could do that because she is part of Xana too, in a way. So, she obviously was successful. Now you just have to go in there and deactivate the tower, which should be the same one as before. Only this time, no hitting the tower when Aelita does the code back to the past."
"And the time stamp?" Ulrich demanded impatiently. He looked a bit angry.
"Ah, that's the only catch. I figured out that everything would work as long as this relived day was the same as the first time we lived it. So, that means we have to deactivate the tower and go back to the past before the next day. Otherwise…" Jeremie paused and looked away from his friends awkwardly. "Otherwise, we'll be stuck like this forever."
Suddenly, Aelita's face appeared on the screen. "Hurry, Jeremie! The monsters have realized what has happened." She looked a little frenzied.
"We're coming, Aelita!" Odd said heroically and took off quickly for the elevator. Yumi felt a pang of jealousy as Odd passed her. Immediately she tried combating it with her mind. That was just a trick of Xana. You don't really like him, Yumi, you don't…
"I can't believe this is why I can't go on a date to the movies with Sissi," Ulrich said, storming after Odd to the elevator. Yumi and Jeremie exchanged a stunned look. Well, obviously he isn't wasting any time with telling himself that its Xana's doing.
"I really hope that we don't stay this way forever," Yumi said as she ran after the boys to the elevator.
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"Ready everyone? Transfer Yumi…transfer Odd…transfer Ulrich…scanner Yumi…scanner Odd…scanner Ulrich…virtualization."
Author's note: Wow! Thank you so much for all my reviews! There are way too many to say all of you, so wait until the last chapter (which isn't far). If you've read any of my other stories before, you know I give a grand total shout out to everyone who has ever reviewed my story, because you guys deserve it so so much. So, I'll save it until then. I do have to say, THANK YOU ANIME BUBBLES! Don't worry, no fluffy stuff other than that kiss on the forehead. I don't think I would have been able to handle writing it. (GROSS.) And I would be scared too aZn sIsTeR 92. AHHH...hehe. And all you smart smart people guessed correctly who Aelita likes. She was effected too! So, I'll stop blabbering and give you time to leave a review if desired! Thanks again for reading! Hugs and cookies to all!
