(Ulrich P.O.V.)
I look at Yumi, and she looks into my eyes. Then she faints, falling limp against the dirt. With strength I didn't know I had, I pick her up and carry her away. As I round the corner, I look back a William. He is no longer face-down in the dirt, he is standing up and glaring at me. I see the XANA symbol flash on his forehead and realize what is happening. I run towards Jeremie's room, still carrying Yumi, amazed at how fast I can still run. Yumi stirs and opens her eyes.
"U-Ulrich…?"
"I'm here Yumi, don't worry."
"W-what ha-happened?" She asks as I set her gingerly on her feet. She sways a little bit, but stays standing.
"XANA possessed William, and he attacked you."
"W-we need to get to the f-factory." She says.
"There is no way we can get to the factory right now, William is on the lookout for us."
"Then lets go to J-Jeremie's room."
"That's where we're headed already."
"Good... thank you Ulrich for saving me. Who knows what XANA would have done if you weren't there."
"It was nothing." I say as I turn away, blushing.
We walk along, I have to help Yumi on some parts, and she still is kind of unstable on her feet. We make it to Jeremie's room and open the door to find Jeremie and Aelita sharing a passionate kiss.
"Eh-hem." I say loudly, and they break apart, blushing furiously.
"Jeremie, XANA's at-attacking." Yumi says.
"Oh my gosh, are you alright Yumi?" Asks the ever concerned Aelita.
"I'm doing okay. XANA possessed W-William, and attacked me. Ulrich knocked him down and carried me away from harm."
"Wow Ulrich, that was really brave." Aelita says, walking over next to Jeremie at the computer.
"It's nothing, I'm sure any of you would have done the same thing."
"That was still really brave." She says quietly.
"I need to call Odd, I'll have him meet us at the factory." I say.
"Wait Ulrich. The superscan picked up an activated tower, but the tower just deactivated itself." Jeremie says.
"Why would it do that?" Yumi asks after sitting roughly on Jeremie's bed.
"I don't know. Maybe he just wanted to hurt Yumi. Maybe he wanted William to be found unconscious in the field, there's a billion possible reasons why, but only one answer. We just need to figure out what that could be."
"Okay, I'm going to take Yumi home, we'll say someone tried to mug us or something… her parents can take care of her." I say helping Yumi towards the door.
"See you later Ulrich." Aelita and Jeremie say at the same time.
(Later, Yumi P.O.V.)
"Hey Yumi? Can I ask you a question?" Ulrich asks me.
"You just did, and yes you may."
"Did you know William was under XANA's control before or after he kissed you?"
I knew he was going to ask me that. Somehow I just knew.
"After." I reply.
Ulrich just got sad all of the sudden… he thinks I let William kiss me! Oh, boy, how am I going to explain this?
"What about when you slapped him?" He asks sadly.
"Before… Ulrich , I know what you must be thinking. But it's not what it seems!"
"Here we are Yumi, I'll see you tomorrow…" Ulrich helps me up to the front door, then turns around and walks away, head down.
"Ulrich, wait!"
Ulrich turns around and looks sadly at me, but the runs out of my gate and across the street, disappearing into the night. I limp slowly into my house, and collapse on the sofa. My mom walks in.
"Oh Yumi, you're home earl-Oh my God what happened?"
"Some guy, he uh, tried to rob me and Ulrich while we were coming home. Ulrich managed to chase him off, but he uh, got hurt pretty bad. He walked me home, and left to go back to school."
"Do you know who the attacker was?" Mom says as she helps me upstairs my room.
"No, he wore all black and a black ski mask."
"I told you that Ulrich kid was no good, he probably staged the whole thing to impress you. It was probably just your other Odd friend in a mask." Dad says as I walk past.
"DAD! Ulrich would never, EVER, do that. If it was Odd, then how did I get all these bruises?" I yell.
"Your friend is weird, he could have taken it too far."
"Ulrich would never do that, he got hurt really bad himself!"
"I don't trust your friend Yumi, he just wants to sleep with you."
"Ulrich is a good friend. He does not just want to sleep with me!" I yell as I walk into my room, slamming the door behind me.
(Macas P.O.V.)
After my soccer game with Odd, really did go into my room and take a nap. I woke up at 6:47 really hungry, so I decided to do what any normal kid does. Go and get some food. I walk down to the cafeteria, getting my food, (meatloaf surprise) and walk over to our table. Odd is there, of course. Odd wouldn't miss dinner for the world. Jeremie and Aelita were there, talking about something or rather, but Ulrich wasn't there.
"Hey guys, where's Ulrich?" I ask, sitting down in my chair, across from Aelita.
"He went to go walk Yumi home about 2 hours ago, and he hasn't come back yet. I'm beginning to wonder if something happened to him…" Jeremie replies before returning to his topic with Aelita.
"Why did Ulrich walk Yumi home, I thought she'd be capable of doing it herself…"
"Hey Macas, you feeling any better since the game?" Odd asks, clearly trying to change the subject.
"Yah, I was really tired, you wore me out!" putting on a fake smile.
"You still sore?"
"Yes, but not as much as before." I say, taking a bite of the food.
"What happened?" Aelita asked. She and Jeremie had just finished their 'secret' conversation.
"Ah nuthin, you know Aelita, I just walloped him a good one with a soccer ball."
"Are you okay Macas?"
"Yah, I'm fine. Just a little bit sore." I say, trying to look nonchalant.
"You want me to take a look at it?" She asks, ever so politely.
"No, seriously, I'm fine." I say quickly, taking a bite of my dinner. It's disgusting! I swallow, it's like swallowing mud.
"You know, if it was a serious enough hit, it could have caused some internal damage. Cracked bones and whatnot."
"Well, in that case I had seriously better take a look at it, just in case." Aelita says sweetly.
"I'm fine guys, seriously!" I give Odd a look, who has been quiet this entire time, that pretty much says can-you-give-me-a-hand-here? Then I turn back to my dinner and try eating again. This time without chewing, I just swallow little bits.
"Hey come on Aelita, he says he's fine, just leave him in peace." Odd says.
"Okay, if you insist Macas, but just know that I'm here if you need me."
"Thank you Aelita, I'll keep that in mind. Odd, do you want to finish my dinner, I'm not really hungry."
"No thanks." We all stare at Odd in disbelief.
"Odd, did you just DECLINE FOOD? Who are you and where's the real Odd?"
"Hey come on, even I don't have an appetite for 'meatloaf surprise'. This stuff barely qualifies as food."
"I'm out of here guys, I'm not really hungry anymore… Odd, where are the showers?"
"Take a left at the end of our hallway and they're on your left."
"Thanks." I say as I walk away.