Unleashing Valor

By: Tellemicus Sundance

Search for Answers

The fight on the Royal Knights' Temple made the headlines of newspapers throughout the nation. Tabloids and reporters swamped Yumi and William after they had left the hospital for more information on the strange warrior kid they'd seen defending them.

They were lucky to have gotten nothing more than headaches from the explosions. But the warrior kid's victims were an entirely different story. The first was suffering from a severe concussion, a dislocated shoulder, and several broken ribs. The second's chest and ribs were nothing but shattered fragments. It was a miracle that he was still alive!

Ulrich's entire torso was wrapped in bandages from his rescue attempt. The SWAT team had found him barely supporting a section of collapsed wall from crushing himself and Sissi. He also had numerous scratches and cuts across his face and arms from the falling debris.

Though she didn't entirely care for Ulrich's well being, she did notice something peculiar about him when she last saw him. He seemed to have dislocated a shoulder with a deep stab wound. When she'd questioned his doctor, she found that he claimed to have received it while protecting Sissi.

A piece of shrapnel, she thought sarcastically. Yeah, right! Though she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't deny the facts. Ulrich had what appeared to be the same injury as the boy who'd saved her and the rest of the people in the theater. But she couldn't be certain without seeing the shape of his wound.

She was puzzling over all this when she got home. After reassuring her family that she was fine, she was sent to bed immediately. Not that she put up a fight; in fact she rather welcomed it.

It was very late in the night, almost dawn in fact, when Yumi finally went fell asleep. She had been waiting for the Time Reversal, but after only a few minutes she was asleep.

It came as a great surprise to Yumi and Ulrich to learn that time didn't reverse. They awoke in their beds in early Sunday's afternoon, quite confused, sore, and hungry. After gathering enough strength for the journey, they met Jeremy at the factory, not saying a word to the other.

"This is very bad," he said when they arrived.

With the elevator doors closing behind them, they walked over to him. He sat in his chair in front of a screen of endless computer code. He typed various phrases and words, but a repeated ACCESS DENIED kept appearing on the screen.

"I never thought Xana could beat us," Jeremy said angrily, yet quietly. His voice was barely above a whisper as he continued. "We've always been able to outsmart and outdo Xana. And now, when we've almost gotten to the point of shutting it down completely, this happens."

"What's happened?" Yumi asked simply, a horrible feeling rising in her gut.

"A rat," he spat out. "A rat has apparently made a nest in the time reversal program's main hard-drive unit. When I activated it, it fried everything."

"You mean we can't use it anymore?" Yumi asked incredulously.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Jeremy growled. "Unless I can repair what's left and install some new parts, we'll likely never be able to access it again."

"But you can you fix it, right?" Ulrich asked.

Turning to him, Jeremy couldn't help to yell out in his frustration. "Fix it? What do you think Aelita and I've been trying to do since four in the morning? This isn't like installing a new program! We'll most likely need to replace easily twenty hard-drives, reinstall over a hundred different programs, and reprogram everything with only fragments of the previous codes that remain. This is as close to impossible as you can get! All that equipment isn't going to be easy to find or buy!"

"Calm down," Yumi said sternly. When she was sure that he had, she asked, "Where's Odd and Aelita?"

"I sent them back to Kadic," Jeremy said, turning his attention back to the screen. "They could barely keep themselves awake."

"I'll go make sure they made it," Ulrich said as he limped back the elevator.

Yumi waited until the elevator doors had closed behind Ulrich before talking. "Is there anything else wrong? Besides the Time Reversal, I mean."

Jeremy hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yes, there is. Oh man, I wish Ulrich was still here. I should've asked him to wait. Then I wouldn't have to explain again."

"What?" Yumi demanded, growing somewhat irritated.

"Xana has completely rebuilt Lyoko."

"What?"

"Just that," Jeremy said simply. "Based on what Odd and Aelita have told me, it's just like Earth in everyway. You can even feel and breathe there now."

"Really?"

"That and Xana seems to have a new monster. It devirtualized Aelita in one shot and crushed Odd only seconds later."

Jeremy glanced at Yumi's disbelieving face. He knew all this was a lot for her to take in. The Time Reversal was all but junk? Lyoko now like Earth? A super powerful new monster?

Unbidden, a yawn broke out from Jeremy. He was extremely tired from having been up for going on two days straight. Yumi saw it despite his attempt to hide it.

"You should return too, Yumi," Jeremy said trying to draw her attention elsewhere. "You'll be missed. I'll catch up to you later."

"No," she said forcefully. "You are coming and getting some sleep." With that, she hauled him up out of the chair. It took her only a moment to shut the screen and drag him to the elevator. He protested the whole time.

Picking up the discarded sword, the pretty dark-haired girl walked toward him. Eyeing the wooden weapon with distaste, he glanced at her with a sinking feeling in his gut. "What is that for?"

"My brother, Tadashi," the girl, Taki, said as she pointed toward the seventeen-year-old standing impatiently behind her. "wants to fight you. He has to know how experienced you are in swordsmanship."

Shifting his gaze to the young man, he watched as the teen smirked confidently. Looking back at Taki, he had almost a pleading look in his eye. He really didn't want to do this. But seeing that she wasn't going to help him, he grasped the sword and walked toward Tadashi.

Holding his sword ready, he watched Tadashi carefully. If he had to, he would show him how skilled he was. As he studied his opponent, everything else around him suddenly went strangely quiet; his surroundings grew hazy and distorted.

Tadashi meanwhile was studying his form. He had a good posture and it appeared as though he had some experience with a sword before. The boy's careful gaze at his own posture also gave off the notion that he was hoping Tadashi would make the first move.

He obliged him.

Swinging his sword in a fast arc toward the boy's knee, Tadashi was almost surprised to find his attack blocked. Bringing his sword back to him quickly, he stepped back slightly to avoid the boy's slash to his wrists. Then, with the flick of his wrist, Tadashi disarmed the boy.

The sword bounced off the ground a few feet away. The boy looked at it in surprise, there back at Tadashi who wore a smug grin on his face. Quickly recovering the weapon, he dropped into his stance again and waited.

As Tadashi was about to attack, the boy did. The fast slash at Tadashi's chest was blocked. Sliding his sword down through the gap in boy's defense, his weapon jabbed him roughly in the chest. Recovering fast, he attacked in a fast series of thrusts and slashes. He wouldn't give this teenager the pleasure of beating him so easily. However, each one of his attacks was blocked with ease.

Despite his annoyance at the boy's determination, he had to admire his apparent skill. The boy, though he couldn't see it, was actually making him sweat slightly. That alone was rare for him fighting a boy of his obvious skill level.

Then, the boy made a vital mistake. Swinging too hard, his thrust overextended his reach. Dodging around the shaft, Tadashi brought his sword down on his wrists, knocking the sword from his hands yet again. Then, before he could move, Tadashi slammed his elbow into his face.

Grasping his face, he dropped ungracefully to the ground. His growls of pain were so mixed with his labored breathing that no one could tell which hurt him more. Backing away from his downed opponent, Tadashi turned and started to walk away.

Taki stood in front of him, glaring. "You didn't have to do that," she growled.

"What do you care?" he asked good-naturedly. With male intuition and wisdom from his years of dealing with females Tadashi could see something that Taki was trying to hide. He could tell from her expression that she was mad because she seemed to be attracted to this boy.

(A/N) Isn't this a new twist? It's not Xana this time that messes with the TRP. It's a rat! Go figure, huh? I felt that that was truly ingenious in itself. Now the kids not only have to deal with an altered Lyoko, new monsters, and a ruined TRP, they have to fix the TRP.

But where could they get the right parts? Does Jeremy even know how to fix stuff like this? Sure, he's a computer geek. But is he also a mechanic of such?

Find out in the next chapter: Hel-lo!