Chapter 2: Exhausting

The party has past as the next day has come, people are proud of Team Kiwi's victory from last night's match as the group is talking to the Principle.

"I must say, I am very proud in the five of you. You already know in a few weeks you will be representing not only this school, but this country as well in the Lyoko Championship."

"Yes sir," They all reply.

"This game does not rely just on your thumbs as many other games these days. This game combines your physical skills and virtual powers in a contest to whose team can get their Deactivators to the towers first while avoiding many obstacles. This game is bigger than Baseball in America, Hockey in Canada and Soccer in Cuba put together, so you are all needed to be in top condition before your team heads off to that tournament."

"I already know that and we are going to after school," Jeremy replies. "We are going to head right to Lyoko and work on a few strategies."

"That is good to know, but that won't be enough," The Principle answers. "You are to report to Jim right after school, then after training you will head to Lyoko. And I don't want to hear anything against it, clear?"

They all look a bit annoyed at his orders, but suck it up as they say. "Yes sir."

"That's good, now head to class. You are all to keep up with your studies with this going on."

They all leave his room as Odd complains. "Dang, it feels like they sucked all of the fun out of it."

"A lot is riding on this game these days Odd, we just need to show we are as good as can be and they will probably relax a bit," Jeremy replies.

"But it shouldn't be this big," Ulrich adds his opinion. "It's not like we need to deactivate these towers to save the world."

"All I know is, they are making us train really hard and we still have to do our school work. Life is too hard as it is," The purple one replies.

Now after school, they are standing in their Gym Uniforms as Jim lectures to them. "Now as you all know, the principle told you that you need more than strategy to win this game, you need physical strength to endure whatever can be thrown at you. The competition will be tough so you are to train with me and that is the reason the Principle has instructed you to train with me after school."

"Is it just me, or does he just go on and on to hear himself talk?" Odd whispers to his friends.

"Did you want to say something to me Odd?" Jim asks as he is looking down on the joking teammate.

"No, what ever gave you that idea?" Odd replies with a nervous laugh and his hand behind his head.

"Now you all drop and give me twenty, and I don't care if you are the Deactivators or the Controllers, no one gets special treatment in my training. Then after that, I want you all to run around the track at least ten times where after we can really start with the training."

Now after an hour goes by, they all stumble back to Jeremy's Dorm as Odd says. "Yup, they're sucking all of the fun out of it."

They all sit down on Jeremy's bed or lye down on the floor as Jeremy sees a small package next to his computer. He walks over to it and says. "Well, that was faster than expected."

"What are you talking about Jeremy?" His pink hair girlfriend asks.

He then opens the Package that holds a CD in a clear case marked Lyoko Upgrades. "This disk is given to the ones that are going to the Lyoko World Tournament, it's to help train against the new Creatures they will have just for this contest and modify the characters a bit."

"If it does our homework as well, it sounds good to me," Odd replies.

"So, when are we going to be heading to Lyoko," Yumi asks.

"We should go right now, by the time we finish it should be about dinner time."

Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Odd replies in excitement as he rushes out of the room and down the hall.

"Just mention food and he already has enough energy to take on a fleet of Mega-Tanks," Ulrich jokes.

Now in the Lyoko Room of the school, they get into the four pods and transfer to the Desert Region as Jeremy talks on his headset. "Ok, I am uploading the Upgrades as we speak."

"That sounds great Jeremy," Yumi says.

"I wonder what new kind of Creatures we will be facing," Aelita wonders aloud.

"I don't know, but I know they are going to be a lot stronger than what we are use to," Ulrich answers.

"But just one hit in the eye and they are down for the count, so make them as strong as they want because we can take them," Odd gloats.

"Almost done," Jeremy replies as the bar says 99 then 100. "Finished, now let's see what you got."

Jeremy types and looks through the endless amount of code as he replies to his team. "Well, not much of an upgrade."

"What do you mean Jeremy?" His girlfriend asks.

"Well, Yumi now has better control over her Fans, Ulrich can now call back his sword if we was to lose it, and Odd is now able to carry more arrows them before and gets a small energy shield."

"Look on the bright side, it's better than nothing," Yumi replies.

Then Jeremy looks through more of the code as excitement appears on his face. "Wait, I over looked something; the vehicles are now armed with weapons as well, but only a limited amount."

"Great, new toys to play with," Odd comments.

"What about the new monsters Jeremy?" Ulrich asks.

"I am getting to that," He then looks through the code some more as he replies. "Well, here is want the new enemies will look like."

He presses the enter key as a Creeper, a Tarantula, and a Flying Mantis, appear in front of the group. "They don't look so tough," Odd comments.

"They are a lot more powerful than the old monsters, the Tarantula has a cannon on the end of each of its leg and they can take forty life points with each hit, The Flying Mantis can take eighty point and makes flying mines, and last the Creepers can climb any surface and can take forty life points as well," The Controller informs.

"So what you are saying is, we can't take as many hits as when we face the other monsters," Ulrich comments.

"Correct, this Tournament is going to be a lot harder than I thought. So, are you ready to get started with the training?"

Now later after their training session all, besides Yumi who as already left, are eating a really big dinner, ninety percent of it being on Odd's side. "You think you have enough food their Odd?" His brown haired teammate asks sarcastically.

"Nope, I still need to get dessert after this."

This is going to be a hard few weeks, I wonder how we are going to manage sleep, training, school and a still have somewhat of a personal life," The teams Deactivator asks as she takes a drink of her pink lemonade.

"I don't really know myself Aelita, but I think we will think of a way," Jeremy replies as he eats his green beans while Odd adds his two cents.

"Yeah, how are you two going to go out with all of this happening?"

The two start to blush as Aelita asks. "What makes you think that Odd?"

"No reason, I just love to see you two blush."

The two teammates look away with their cheeks a shade of red as Ulrich finishes up with his dinner, puts his dishes away, and heads towards the door.

"Where are you going Ulrich?" Aelita asks in concern as he just replies in a tired voice.

"I am going to bed early, I feel like I can barely keep my eyes open."

Then he walks out of the door as Jeremy asks his strangely dressed friend. "Hey Odd, is there anything going on with Ulrich?"

"What do you mean?" The teammate asks as he continues to scarf down the mountain of food on his plates.

"He has been acting a little down since yesterday, do you know anything about it?"

Odd seems to try to think about it. "Nope, can't think of anything."

Now as Ulrich is heading to his room, he sees Sissy leaning her back to the door and waiting for him. "Hello Ulrich Dear, I heard from my father that you are going to be training a lot till your team goes to the Championship."

"So, what's that have to do with you?" He asks, in a bit of a mixed of annoyance and sleepy tone.

She pouts at him, removing her back from the wall. "I just brought it up because, I thought you wouldn't mind if I gave you a shoulder massage, because you must be really tense from all of this."

"Thanks, but no thanks Sissy. I just want to go to sleep right now." He replies, walking to the door as she mentions.

"Well, if you let me give you that massage. I can talk to my father to ease up on your training, or less homework on your team. You know I know how to talk to my dad."

Ulrich seems to be thinking about her proposition. "Are you sure that you can make your father ease up on my team?"

She places her right hand over her heart. "I promise Ulrich."

Once again the Samurai of Team Kiwi thinks about her offer and replies. "Alright."

A large smile comes across her face as she grabs his wrist. "My room will be better, what would Odd think if he walked in on it?"

He then nods in agreement as she pulls him off.

To Be Continue

New Weapons, New Monsters, and new emotions, read and review.