Unleashing Valor

By: Tellemicus Sundance

Prelude to Trouble

With her raven hair in a tight ponytail, Yumi skated slowly around the rink. She had a large smile that lit up her face as she held William's hand. The two of them were going much slower than everyone else since they were so preoccupied with each other.

As a fast paced song started, Yumi and William and slid off the floor. Coasting to a nearby table, William dropped himself down next to her as he panted slightly. Yumi was breathing heavily as well, but not from skating. She tried to ignore her blush as she breathed in the strong scent of the boy next to her.

After a moment, William hoisted himself to his feet. Digging in his pocket, he extracted a small wad of cash. Counting the bills quickly, he asked, "Want a drink?"

Yumi nodded. She prayed that he'd not look at her for fear of seeing her fading blush. "A Pepsi sounds good."

Nodding to show acknowledgement, William scooted over to a nearby vending machine. Once he was gone, Yumi leaned back into the bench to let her body rest. Her thoughts were a whirlwind of William's face and how close she'd come to being caught, in her eyes at least. The loud, insistent beeping of her phone snapped her from her daze with a flinch.

Taking it out, she saw that she'd two new text messages. The first was from her parents and the other was from Odd. Since they rarely left her messages that often, she opened her parent's first.

Be home by 10,

Love Mom

A glance at her watch said 8:29. Good, she thought smiling. An hour left with Will. She brought up Odd's message and stared at it in confusion.

He's back!

O.

That was all Odd's message said. She tried to think of what or whom Odd meant. Odd can be really odd, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time. William then returned with two Pepsis and a seducing smile. She pushed Odd's message from her mind and enjoyed William's company.

He was so focused on his computer screen that Jeremy didn't even notice that he had company. The endless lines of computer code scrolled down the monitor with Jeremy stopping whenever he saw an error.

"Jeremy?" a soft voice said.

Flinching, Jeremy glanced at the hand that had descended upon his shoulder and then up at its owner's face. Aelita was smiling pleasantly at him despite the obvious fatigue she had. He feverishly tried not to blush. "You startled me, Aelita."

"That's odd," she said brightly. "I've been here for at least five minutes watching you."

"Sorry," he said quietly. "I was just finishing my latest program. Once I've fixed a few of the remaining errors, curing you of Xana's virus will be much easier." A small yawn escaped him as he returned to his work.

"Jeremy, you really should get some rest," Aelita said with concern. "You've worked so hard on this as it is. For now, please, promise me that you'll get some sleep. You can finish it some other time."

Another yawn escaped and he threw a futile glance up at her. She was right and he knew it. He wanted to free her completely of Xana. Yet she and the others were somewhat content to take their time with shutting down Xana now that she could live with them.

Though he wanted to share their sentiments, Jeremy just had an itching feeling that something was about to happen. And the strange feeling in the air that he'd felt last night didn't help. He could feel it approaching. Something bad was going to happen.

Soon!

Sighing heavily, Jeremy looked up at her eyes and nodded. No matter what he felt was going to happen, he was definitely tired now. "I guess you're right."

Within a moment, he'd shut his computer down and escorted Aelita back to her dorm room. Their walk was quiet, yet comfortable. He always felt this way around her. Like he knew that no matter what could happen, as long as they were together he could face anything. He loved her so much! He and his friends had sacrificed a lot to help her try to become a human.

The memory of Odd's ranting about seeing Ulrich leapt into his mind. As she was about to close the door, he said. "I've got some good news, Aelita. Odd says that he saw Ulrich. He thinks he's finally come back."

A look of surprise and happiness lit up on her sweet face. Smiling, she said, "Really? That's wonderful news! Oh, I do hope so. I've kind of missed him."

Smiling slightly himself, Jeremy nodded. "We all have."

"Where's Yumi?" Jeremy asked as he noticed his friend's absence in the cafeteria.

Odd merely shrugged as he faced the lady ladling out breakfast. Jeremy only had part of his attention on what was going on his tray. He kept looking around the cafeteria until his eyes fell upon Aelita. She was sitting at a table by herself, patiently waiting for the others arrive.

That is until trouble walked up to her on four legs.

Clayton, in his signature baggy clothes, sat down roughly next to Aelita. He wore a large smile on his face as he threw his free arm over her shoulders. Aelita visibly trembled as she felt him pull her into his embrace.

"Hey, baby," he said in a voice that sounded like poisoned honey to her. "How are you doing today?"

"Fine," she answered in as calm a tone as she could. She tried to gently free herself from his grasp but quickly found it futile. "Listen, Clayton, I—"

"Wanna kiss the best man in Kadic?" he finished for her in what he thought was a playful voice. "Well, I don't know. Why should I?"

"No, Clayton," Aelita said, feeling panic rising in her mind. She prayed someone would help her. "I was just—"

"Ah, you push too hard, darling," Clayton said, feigning a painful blow to his pride. "But I accept."

As he brought his face down toward hers, Aelita did something she'd never done to anyone. Sure, she'd seen Sissi, Yumi, and even a few other girls do it before but she never thought she'd have to.

She slapped him, hard.

The crack of her palm on his cheek rang out in the lunchroom. Everything seemed to get deathly quiet, but she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination. The look on Clayton's face was of surprise, which quickly changed to anger. Dirk wasn't helping by drawling out his own surprise. Jeremy, who'd been busy getting his meal, finally looked around as he heard the slap. The scene he saw wasn't what he wanted to see.

"Leave me alone," Aelita said, half pleadingly. "I'm not that kind of girl."

Clayton's grip on her shoulders tightened drastically, almost protectively. Jeremy saw this and started moving forward instantly, leaving his tray behind. He could see the bully beginning to lose his temper. Clayton, as it were, was fighting to keep his voice in control. "Well maybe you are, you just don't know it yet."

With her own anger replacing her fear, Aelita futilely tried to pry him off her. "Get your meat hooks off of me, you scum," she growled.

That comment caused what restraint he had left to disappear. His glare told her all she needed to know; he was going to do something to her that she was not going to like. Clayton began to raise his free arm as he said, "Don't ever call me th—"

A rough hand suddenly grabbed his upraised armand yanked him to his feet. "She said—" a familiar voice growled dangerously. Surprised, Clayton could do nothing to retaliate as he was thrown roughly up against a nearby wall. "—to get your meat hooks—" Clayton finally looked down at the boy who was manhandling him. "—OFF."

Clayton found himself staring into the eyes of a familiar face. The skin of his face was clearly weathered from sun and wind. His facial features were slightly sharper than they had been, more muscular. His hair hung down into his face, despite the thick black strip of cloth tied around his forehead. While his face was empty of any emotion, his dark eyes shone with a barely controlled murderous intent.

Which was focused solely on him.

"Ulrich!" Aelita cried out, breaking the silence the cafeteria had settled into upon seeing the missing student. Aelita was on her feet and embraced her friend tightly despite him holding Clayton against the wall. Odd and Jeremy only spared each other a glance, which the blonde-purple haired boy shot the genius an 'I-told-you-so' look.

"What's going on here?" Jim snapped as he approached the trio. He'd been watching as Clayton was thrown against the wall and held there.

"Oh, Jim," Aelita said as she released Ulrich and faced the large man. "Ulrich was just—"

"I asked them, Aelita," he said almost gently. "Not you. Sit down and finish your breakfast." Turning to face the boys, he eyed them expectantly. When neither boy spoke or moved, he said, "Well then, boys, come with me. We'll resolve this with Principle Delmas."

Finally releasing Clayton, Ulrich faced Jim stiffly and said, "Hai!"

Then he snapped around and marched out of the cafeteria. The others were about to follow him until they glimpsed Clayton and Jim following him out. Completely lost for words, they sat down. For some reason, none of them could really focus on their meal.

"You know?" Odd said, half interested as he dug into his sugarcoated oatmeal. "For some dumb reason, 'I told you so' just doesn't quite say it."

"You were right, Odd," Aelita said in barely a whisper. "He's back."

"Who's back?" Yumi asked half-interestedly as she and William sat down at the table. With a happy gleam in her eyes, Yumi glanced lovingly at William every so often.

Aelita shook her head and forced herself finish her meal, not trusting herself to speak. Odd noticed this and spoke up for her.

"Didn't you get my message?" he asked as the sugar began to take effect. With a foolish grin spreading on his face, he reached for his CD player and immersed himself in the music, ignoring Yumi's questioning look.

"Yeah, but—"

"Yumi," a cold sneering voice said behind them.

Facing Sissi, the general happiness that they had been sharing vanished instantly. Dressed in her usual outfit, Sissi held a smug smile as well as a breakfast tray. The look of devilish cunning was written on her face as clearly as the title of a book.

"What do you want?" Yumi demanded, not trying to hide her disgust.

"Would you trade your boyfriend for another?" Sissi asked with a wicked grin.

Yumi and the others were surprised by her directness. It wasn't like Sissi to jump straight to the chase without beating around the bush. Yumi paused only to consider her words. William watched her with a curiously concerned gaze; he hung onto her every syllable.

"Not that it's any of your business," Yumi growled after she'd gathered her thoughts. "But I would never do that without a very good reason."

Smiling broadly, Sissi said, "Good, as long as we know where you stand in that issue, Yumi." Then she swaggered off in search of a table.

Yumi glanced at each of her long-time friends. Jeremy looked like he was fighting with himself about something in his head. Turning to him, Yumi said in an almost accusing voice, "You know what that was about, don't you?"

Looking at Odd, who hadn't even noticed the confrontation, he quietly answered, "Yes, I'm afraid." Looking anywhere but at Yumi, he pushed his tray of breakfast away, having lost his appetite. Seeing Jeremy's actions, Odd snatched the tray and started eating the remaining untouched food.

"Well… what is it, Jeremy?" William asked, growing impatient. As he smeared some of his oatmeal onto his jellied toast, he partially watched Jeremy. His face was contorted with indecision and apprehension.

"He's back, Yumi," Jeremy finally said. He stood up with Aelita and left. Odd was only a moment's notice behind, like a loving puppy following his owner.

"I just hope he takes this quietly," Aelita mumbled as he headed for his first class. "For his sake."

(A/N) WELL, WELL! What do you think of that? I personally loved writing this chapter. It was great fun to involve Aelita like that. And, for some reason, I foresee several more confrontations between Clayton and Dirk and the Lyoko gang!

I'm fairly certain that I got the gangs' personalities down. Although, I'm slightly about William's and Yumi's at this point, I can almost feel Yumi slipping into OOC! That's scary for me! What do you think? Good? Bad?

Because I'm in a gracious mood today, I'm giving you this. But I can almost garruantee that I WON'T be able to update until this coming Monday at the extreme earliest. I will try hard to do it sooner, but

YOU GUYS HAD BETTER HOLD UP YOUR PORTION OF THE BARGAIN!