Continued from before…
Ulrick took Yumi's hand as she still slept. "Why? Why does this have to happen? Can't Yuki just leave us alone for once?" Ulrick thought as stood up to look at Yumi. He tried to wake her up again but nothing had work so far.
Od came up behind Ulrick, "I know that you are angry Ulrick, but you can't do anything about it. You just have to wait for her to wake up on her own." He said, laying a hand on Ulrick's shoulder.
Ulrick turned and glared at Od. "There is something I can do. I can go to LYOKO and make Yuki fix Yumi so she won't sleep any more." Ulrick jumped up and ran to the door, "Od, keep an eye on Yumi until I get back." he said as he ran out the door, then down the street to the old factory. He stopped by Jeremy's house before going to the factory.
"Ulrick? What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked, seeing Ulrick on his doorstep panting and trying to talk.
"You have to come with me. We have to hurry Jeremy." He said. Jeremy nodded and called in the house that he was leaving. Jeremy ran behind Ulrick, wondering where he could be taking him. Then he saw the factory come into view.
"Why are we at the factory Ulrick?" he asked, stopping in his tracks.
"Please, I need to get into LYOKO and you are the only one who can transport me there." Ulrick said, pleading.
"I can't just let you into LYOKO without any reason. Xana hasn't launched an attack, so what need is there for you to go?" Jeremy asked.
"Jeremy, please. I beg you, you have to help me. I have to go because of Yumi. You saw what Yuki did to her. I have to go and try to get him to take this curse or whatever it is back. Please Jeremy, please?" Ulrick said.
Jeremy sighed. Ulrick looked so pitiful, the way he cared for Yumi so much. He was willing to go to LYOKO and force Yuki to make her better. "Fine, I'll help, but you have to be careful. If you get hit too many times you know that you will not be able to come back. So, please don't get so angry that you end up not coming back. What if Yumi wakes up and you are gone? What will we tell her? Promise me you will be careful." Jeremy said.
Ulrick nodded and pushed the button on the escalator. Jeremy got off while Ulrick rode down to the bottom floor. He stepped into the LYOKO tube transporter and was sent to LYOKO. Ulrick landed in the desert region. From a distance away, he saw Aelita stand up and walk towards him.
"What are you doing here Ulrick?" She asked.
"I have come to make Yuki make Yumi better." Ulrick answered. He turned and looked out across the land, trying to decide where Yuki's castle might be.
"Ulrick? How are you going to do that? What if you get hurt?" Aelita asked.
"I don't know, but I am going to try. What ever it takes to get Yumi back to herself." He said. He walked away. 'How am I going to find the castle?' He wondered. He turned around and saw Aelita behind him. "What are you doing!" he yelled, jumping back.
"I am going to help you. You can't do this on your own, and I would just be stuck here doing nothing, so let me come with you. I can help you find the castle." she said.
"Ulrick thought about it for a moment, "Ok, I guess you can come. But, I will fight Yuki if it comes to it, ok?" he said firmly. Aelita nodded. Ulrick turned and walked away with Aelita behind him.
"Hey Ulrick, I think the castle is that way." Aelita said, pointing in the other direction. Ulrick turned and looked at her.
"How do you know where the castle is?" He asked, confused. 'If she has known, then why has she not told me before?'
"Oh, I don't know where the castle is, I just have a…let's just call it a hunch." she said smiling.
Ulrick looked at her carefully. She didn't seem herself some how. But, he carelessly shrugged the thought away and nodded. "Ok, if you think so." He walked in the other direction.
Behind him, Aelita smirked. 'That fool.' She walked behind him, smiling the whole way. Suddenly, the trees of the forest opened up and a castle stood in an opening.
Ulrick gapped in amazement at the large building. "Hey Aelita, you were right. The castle is right here…" Ulrick stopped short as he felt a blow to his head. As he fell to the ground, he saw Aelita with a large stone in her hand with a small patch of blood on it. Just then, she morphed into Yuki. 'No! Yuki was pretending to be Aelita!' he thought. His eyesight got blurry, and he fell unconscious.
Back to Yumi…
"Wow! Look at all this stuff!" Od shouted as he rummaged through Ulrick's closet. He pulled out a game board and sat on the floor. He opened the box expecting to find a game, but instead, found papers and a few notebooks. "What is all this stuff?" Od asked himself as he picked up one of the notebooks and looked at it. "What! Ulrick has written this. Maybe this is some sort of diary?" Od smiled to himself. He looked around quickly even though there was no one in the room besides Yumi, but she still had not moved. Od turned back to the box and open to the first page.
'Mommy is leaving today for the hospital. Daddy says she is hurt but will be ok later. He tells me not to be afraid for her. I'm not afraid, because…'
"When is this from?" Od wondered. It sounded like Ulrick was young when he had written this, but Od couldn't find a date on the page. Od put it aside and went to the next notebook. 'Maybe this will be more recent.' he thought. He skimmed though some of the pages, looking for something interesting. One paper caught his eye. It had Yumi's name on it. 'Aha! Finally, something good.' Od thought as he put the other notebook back in the box.
'Yumi's been acting a bit strange lately. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't seen her father hit her that day on her doorstep. The same day that we first saw Yuki…'
"Yumi's father hit her!" Od cried out. He looked over at Yumi still asleep on the bed. 'I never knew about that. Is it true?' he wondered. He turned back to the page and kept reading.
'…first saw Yuki in LYOKO. I'm starting to get worried. Does he beat her? Or was it just that once? She was in a lot of pain when Yuki pressed his paw on her back, but why would he do such a thing? Then she came to school wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt! When I put my arm around her, she pushed it away and there were tears in her eyes. I want to help her, but I don't know what to do. If she could get better and not be in pain, then I would be able to hold her and see if she likes me or not.'
Od stopped reading, his mouth hanging open. 'I knew that Ulrick liked Yumi, but wow.' Od closed the book and put it back. "I shouldn't read this. These are Ulrick's thoughts." Od said to himself. Then he smiled to himself. 'Well, he shouldn't have written them down. Anyone could have found these, not just me.' Od sighed and placed the game box back in the closet. Then he went over to the bed and sat on the chair beside Yumi. "This is getting boring. I don't want to sit here all day, waiting for her to wake up." Od said out loud. "I should have brought Kiwi with me." he grumbled, closing his eyes.
Yumi stirred and opened her eyes. She rose from the bed and looked at Od, eyes closed and mumbling under his breath. She picked up the small iron lamp beside the bed, raised it above her, and brought it down on Od's head.
Od's eyes shot open as the lamp came in contact with his skull. Blood dripped down his nose as he fell to the floor, where he passed out.
Yumi dropped the lamp beside Od's body, walked out of the room, down the stairs, out the door, and down the street to the factory.
When she arrived at the old factory, she went to the control room where she saw Jeremy at the computer. As she entered, he turned around.
His eyes grew wide as he saw Yumi walk into the control room. "Yumi!" he shouted. "You're awake! Oh thank goodness! Something as happened to Ulrick. I heard Ulrick in LYOKO a few moments ago and I think something is wrong. He sounded hurt or in trouble. You have to help him!" Jeremy said as he furiously typed at the keyboard. "I will send you were he was last heard from because his locater has been turned off or destroyed." he said.
Yumi walked up to Jeremy and spun the chair around so that Jeremy faced her.
"What are you doing? You have to go help Ulrick! You can't just stand here and…" Jeremy's words were cut off as Yumi grasped his neck with her hands. Jeremy struggled to remove Yumi's hands from his neck, but her grip was too tight. She squeezed harder on his neck and Jeremy gasped for breath while clawing at her hands.
Yumi quickly withdrew her hands and clutched her arm that had a deep scratch in it. She glared at Jeremy angrily as he fell to the floor, coughing and taking deep breaths.
"Yumi!" he wheezed, "What is going on?" Jeremy coughed. "Why are you doing this?" Jeremy struggled to breathe. He leaned over and tried to take deep breaths.
Yumi didn't say anything, she just watched Jeremy try to breath. She caught sight of the keyboard beside her on the desk. She ripped it out of the computer and walked towards Jeremy with it.
Jeremy raised his head at the sound of the keyboard. "Yumi? What are you doing?" he said as Yumi came closer and raised the keyboard slowly. "Yumi!" Jeremy yelled, trying to push himself back. He pulled himself up from the floor and stood on shaking legs. "Yumi please." he begged as Yumi came even closer. He stepped back a few feet and hit the chair. He stumbled and turned around, trying to run away. Suddenly, the keyboard hit his head and Jeremy fell to the floor. He turned around and saw Yumi raise the keyboard again and bring it down on him. Jeremy put his arms up to protect himself and it hit his wrists. He cried out and grabbed his arms, rubbing them to get rid of the pain.
Yumi threw the keyboard aside and picked up a pen from the desk. As Jeremy still rubbed his arms, Yumi stabbed him in the shoulder with the pen as hard as she could.
"AAAHHHHHH!" Jeremy cried out. He clutched his bleeding shoulder to stop the flow of the blood to the injury. He jumped to his feet in the best way that he could, and he struggled to run away from Yumi.
Yumi allowed Jeremy to get a couple of feet, and then ran past him with the pen in hand, jabbing it into his chest as she past. Jeremy fell and grabbed at the pen, but decided not to pull it out because it gave him too much pain. Yumi walked up to him and lowered herself to her knees.
Jeremy looked up at her. "Why Yumi? Why are you doing this?" he said slowly. Yumi cocked her head to the side and didn't answer. Then, she quickly pulled the pen out of Jeremy.
"AHHH!" Jeremy gave a small cry. He brought his hand to the wound. Yumi raised the pen again and stabbed Jeremy again and again. "AHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh!" Jeremy fell face first on the ground and lay still. Yumi stopped stabbing and looked from Jeremy to the bloody pen in her hand. She casually dropped the pen, stood up, and walked away, out of the control room and to the transporter room.
When she arrived, she went to the middle of the room where the cords and cables were. She grabbed a few of them and pulled them out of the floor. Sparks flew and the cables hissed. Yumi pulled more and more until all of them were writhing on the ground. She gave a small smile as she checked to make sure that there was no way for Ulrick to come back. Then she walked outside where Yuki was waiting.
"Is everything done my dear?" he asked. Yumi gave a nod. "Good. Now, shall we go home?" Yuki said as he turned his back to Yumi and looked back at her. Yumi walked up and climbed on his back, and sat below his shoulders. Yuki jumped in the air and dissolved in the air along with Yumi.
When they solidified, they were in the region of LYOKO. Yuki ran in the direction of his castle. They arrived at the door and Yumi climbed down from Yuki's shoulders and followed him inside. Yumi followed Yuki upstairs where Ulrick was chained in one of the rooms.
"Yumi! What are you doing here? Run!" Ulrick cried when he saw Yumi walk through the door. Yumi said nothing as she stood beside Yuki.
"My dear boy, can you not see that she is under my control?" Yuki asked, putting a paw under Yumi's chin and lifting it slightly. "How about a game, do you like games?" Yuki asked Ulrick.
Ulrick turned his head away from Yumi. He couldn't stand seeing her be touched by Yuki. "What kind of monster are you? Let her go! This isn't a game!" he yelled. He whipped his head around to glare at Yuki.
"My, my, what an evil stare. Well, let us play this game first, and it will decide if I let her go or not. What do you say to that? Winner gets to take this girl." Yuki said, pulling Yumi close and kissing her hair, all while watching Ulrick.
"STOP IT! Leave her alone!" Ulrick yelled, pulling at the chains binding him to the wall.
"What a temper you have. We'll just have to fix that. Now, about that game offer? Do you accept?" Yuki asked, walking towards Ulrick and stopping right in front of him.
Ulrick thought about it for a moment. 'If I win, Yumi and I will be able to go. But, Yuki seems to keen on winning. He sounds like he had an advantage, or a trick.' Ulrick sighed, 'I have to try, for Yumi.' he hung his head, "I'll play your game." he said quietly.
Yuki smiled, "Then let's begin." The chains holding Ulrick fell away. Ulrick stood up carefully. "Now, don't get any ideas of running away or anything, because if you do, I will kill her." Yuki said, putting a paw lightly around Yumi's throat.
"Fine! Just let her go, don't hurt her!" Ulrick yelled, but didn't move so nothing would happen to Yumi.
Yuki glared at Ulrick, and then slowly withdrew his paw. "Now, the object of the game. Win. That's all there is to it." Yuki said, pushing a button on the wall beside him.
The room melted away and Ulrick found himself in a place full of sand. On the other side, he could see Yuki and Yumi. Yumi was on a platform above them. She jumped down and walking to Yuki, where he told her something in a hushed voice. Yumi nodded and looked at Ulrick. Yuki jumped on the platform. She was dressed in a skimpy black leather outfit and knee-high black army boots. Ulrick could not help looking at her longingly. A rope came out of a bracelet on Yumi's wrist and whipped Ulrick in the head.
"Ow!" he cried as his hand flew to the now red mark on his forehead. "Yumi, why'd you do that?" he said angrily. Yumi said nothing; she just readied herself to attack again. "Am I fighting Yumi!" Ulrick yelled, looking up at Yuki on the platform.
"Yes, did I forget to mention that? Well, you are fighting her. You better watch the fight instead of me." Yuki said casually.
Ulrick gave a puzzled look at Yuki. 'Watch the fight? I won't fight Yumi. I can't fight her.' Ulrick started to turn back to Yumi when he felt the rope hit him in the back. It was sharper and it knocked him to the floor. He looked up and Yumi stood over him, the rope in hand.
"You had better start fighting, or you shall lose." Yuki called down to Ulrick.
Ulrick looked at Yumi with pleading eyes. 'But I don't want to fight her.'
To be continued…
Don't anyone be mad at me for killing Jeremy, he is a weakling anyhow. But, don't worry, things will get better…eventually. R&R and no flamers please!