DETAILS CHANGED IN LIGHT OF SEASON 3!

Hello and welcome to Celeberty Steel-Cage Monkey Boxing!

Jeremie: You spend too much time in Timmy Turner's head.

Oh, yeah? Well--WOAH! (accidentally sucks himself into Jimmy Neutron's hypercube)

Jeremie: Oh, well. (locates chapter 7 in DanMat6288's Documents bin) I guess I could respond to the reviews and put up the new chapter. (checks the review page to see who he's going to respond to)

Mewberries - Jeremie: Not nessessarily evil, just rather insane. (eyes hypercube) I worry about him, sometimes. Anyway, yes, Ulrich and his younger cousin do seem to be in quite a situation, but... well, read this next chapter.

purplelover - Jeremie: Danny appreciates your enthusiasm. Here is the next chapter of his story.

killerpurplekitten - Jeremie: Huh? (checks the last chapter) Um, I'm sorry, but could you explain what part of the chapter you're talking about?

Lyokogal7503 - Jeremie: All I have to say to you is what I told purplelover.

SamandMax0569 - Jeremie: Well, I can't speak for Danny, all that much, but they don't seem that short. (shrug) Then again, I never really had an interest in fanfiction.

Ricky: (pouts) I'm not short for my age. I'm pratically the same height as Hiroki, and he's a year older than me.

Jeremie: Let it go, Ricky.

Yumi52IshiyamaQ - Jeremie: Actually, I don't think you want to know the answer to your question.

katfish xX - Jeremie: What was that--? (sweatdrop) Nevermind. I don't think I want to know.

lyokobattler - Jeremie: Personally, I think it would be very immature to hold a grudge on anyone for not reviewing one chapter, but that's just me.

Kitty - Jeremie: Oh, I know how annoying he can be, just as much as Ulrich does. Then again, you can't help but like the kid.

Ulrich: (smirk) Oh, you mostly like him because he's--

Jeremie: Shh. You're going to spoil it for the readers!

Ulrich: Right, sorry.

Jeremie: Besides, I like him for much more reasons than that. Anyway... (checks the review list) That everybody? Well, I guess it's time to post up the chapter.

My Cousin, Ricky

Chapter 7: Can you keep a secret?

As Ulrich and Ricky tried to find another way out, he noticed how afraid his little cousin was.

"Do you think we'll make it out OK?" he asked, his voice a little shaky.

Ulrich stared down at him, as he stared back with fearful, yet loving eyes. Feeling his heart warm up, he responded, "Positive." He took a deep breath and sighed, as he took an involuntary trip down memory lane.

FLASHBACK - 6 YEARS:

A 6-year-old boy, in an olive green T-shirt, peered at the tiny infant boy in his Aunt Mary's arms. "His name is Patrick," she told him. "He's your new cousin."

Staring curiously at the baby, little Ulrich commented, "Huh. I kind of like Ricky better, if you ask me."

TIME JUMP - 2 YEARS:

"...And then, the hungry caterpillar..." 8-year-old Ulrich stared in awe at the toddler on his lap, as he read from the book in the older cousin's hands.

TIME JUMP - 2 YEARS:

The 10-year-old boy burst into the family guest room, where his little cousin was staying for the night. "Ricky? I heard you scream, what's wrong?"

The little boy was hidden under his covers, shaking like crazy. "C-cousin... there's a m-m-monster under my bed..."

Ulrich went over to the bed and peered underneath. "All I see is this wrinkled up sweater," he said, pulling it out.

Ricky peered out at it, then down under the bed he was sleeping in. "Bu-but... I saw... I saw a monster."

Smiling, Ulrich sat down beside him. "Maybe it got scared off."

The little boy grinned and hugged him, saying, "Yeah, by you."

Smiling broader, he patted Ricky on the back and said, "You don't have to be afraid of monsters, Ricky. Just remember that for every monster there is out there, there's a force of good out there to protect you from it."

RETURN TO THE PRESENT, NOW

"Cousin? You OK?" The sound of Ricky's voice brought Ulrich back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, shaking the feeling of flashback out of him. "We still need to find a way out and... wait a minute..." His attention turned to the entrance to the boiler room. Walking over to it, he went in and over to a door at the other side.

Following with great curiosity, Ricky watched Ulrich reach what appeared to be the door to a janitor's closet. That curiosity rose when Ulrich turned to him and said, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure," he said. "Nobody's found out about your vertigo or my 'B-WAS' secret from me, as of--waaaait, what's going on?"

"An attack from a virtual monster," Ulrich responded, opening the door to reveal a secret passage. "And, it's up to me and my friends to stop it."

"...and while we're continually going to Lyoko to help Aelita, Jeremie's been working on a program that might allow us to bring Aelita to our world," Ulrich explained. "That way, we can safely shut the Super Calculator down, getting rid of X.A.N.A. for good, while Aelita's safely on Earth."

Ricky was entranced by the whole story as he rode with him down the sewer path. "A virtual universe, a power-mad supervillain plotting world domination? You guys are like superheroes, or something!"

Ulrich couldn't help but smile. They kind of were.

At this point, they had reached the end of the path, and Ulrich began to climb up the ladder to the manhole. Ricky followed, whimpering a little and not daring to look down. Ever since he was three, he's been terrified of heights.

As soon as he climbed out, he stared at the water-surrounded building before him in awe. "Wow... the old Renault car factory! This place was founded in..."

"Yeah, Jeremie?" Ulrich said over his mobile. "Oh, so it's on the news? I'm not surprised. Yeah, Ricky's here... Yes, Jeremie. I'm bringing him to the factory." The voice on the other end suddenly grew loud enough for someone standing a foot or two away could hear it. "I know, I know! But, what else was I supposed do do? I couldn't just leave him there; what if he died before we could deactivate the tower? You know that going back in time won't bring a victim back to life... Just relax, Einstein. He can keep a secret up to the return trip, and then he won't remember anything anyway... Alight, I'm bringing him in... OK, later." With that, he hung up.

"...and, the factory's been abandoned ever since," concluded Ricky. "...well, until the guy who made this computer... whoever that was."

Ulrich stuffed away his phone. "Yeah, like we'll ever find that out. Come on," he motioned him towards the factory.

Ricky started to follow, but the cartoon theme ring tone went off again. "That's mine," he said, giving the 'one moment' signal and pulling his phone out. "Greetings, Earthling... oh, hi, Exchange Mommy... I'm fine. Cousin got me to safety... oh, uh, I... can't really tell where we are right now... Cousin's off getting food for us... Yeah, we're doing fine..."

It sounded like Ricky was taking care of things there, so Ulrich went over to the factory to wait for Ricky just above the elevator.

"He was with this counselor lady... Yeah, she came. Were you expecting her?" Ricky's face suddenly went into a look of bewilderment. "Wait, my word provoked her into coming? Hiding something? I implied that my cousin was hiding something?" He forced a chuckle. "Gee, well...oh, Cousin's back with the food, andIthinkI'mwastingminutesbye!" He hung up, took a deep breath, and sighed. What have I done?

Jeremie: (after reading the chapter he just put up) So... this is the point where Ricky finds out the not-so-pleasent truth about the counselor.

(pokes head out of hypercube, having finally gotten out) What did I miss?

Jeremie: A whole lot. I had to respond to your reviews and post up your story for you.

(pulling self out) Really? Great! Hope they enjoyed this chapter.

Jeremie: Well, they've enjoyed the rest of the story so far.