Imprisoned II: Sacrifice
Chapter 6
"William," said Yumi, still a little shocked by it all, "how did you get here?"
"I found this old factory and I found all this cool stuff. I somehow managed to get it all to work, and man is it cool!"
Ulrich sprinted up. "Hello, William," he said. "Fancy meeting you here."
"I think I understand it all now. This must be the place that you guys go to all the time when you are scheming or whatever it is you do here. What's the point of this place anyway?"
Jeremie chimed in. "Oh! It's just William. I wonder how he managed to run the program."
"I read that manual or whatever it is, stupid," chuckled William.
"Okay, whatever you did, we need to get you out of there. There's no telling what could happen. I'm starting up the materialization process, but it will take a little bit."
The computer started to beep, with an activated tower flashing on the screen. "Oh no!" said Jeremie, "that's what I was afraid of. XANA's attacking!"
"XANA?" asked William, bewildered. "Who's XANA?"
"Oh, nothing," said Ulrich with a smirk. "He's just a demonic artificial intelligence who wants to take over the world."
"That's why you come here, to fight some sort of virus?"
"No time to explain!" exclaimed Jeremie, "we need to deactivate the tower. I'm sending in Odd and Aelita."
Once Odd and Aelita were virtualized William had to stifle a laugh when he saw Odd.
"My goodness, Odd," said William with a snicker, "you look like a cat or something."
"Yeah, so?" replied Odd.
"It's just funny, that's all."
"Guys, we've got no time for this," said Jeremie hurriedly. "The activated tower is due north, but I don't have enough resources to provide your vehicles. I'll keep an eye out for XANA's monsters as you travel on foot.
"Monsters?" asked William.
"Yes," said Aelita. "XANA has several monsters that he sends to try and stop us from deactivating the tower, so we have to be careful, especially me, because if I lose all my life points, I'll disappear forever,"
"Life points? Disappear forever? Great," said William bluntly, "just what I needed today."
"Aelita is the only one who will disappear forever, just like she is the only one who can deactivate the tower."
"What," replied William, "is she special or something?"
"It's a long story," chimed in Jeremie. "Watch out XANA's sent several monsters."
"Ugh," groaned William, "what are those things?" He pointed at the two Tarantulas that were coming to meet them.
"Those are Tarantulas," said Yumi. "Be careful, as they are quite powerful and can drain all of your life points fast."
"How do we kill them?" asked William.
Odd spoke up. "You have to hit them at their weak spot. Hit them where that eye-like symbol is."
"I think I get it," said William. I'll take those roaches over there. He charged at the Kankrelots and made quick work of them with his blades.
"Nice," said Ulrich. "You learn fast."
Aelita hid behind a rock while the gang fought the monsters. William was able to take out the small weaklings, but always resorting to hiding from the stronger ones. He noticed Ulrich and Yumi struggling on the edge of a cliff. "Jeremie," said William, does anything in particular happen if they fall off the cliff?"
"Yes," replied Jeremie, "if they fall into the digital sea, they will be lost forever."
"I see, and we don't want this, right?"
"Right, so avoid it at all costs!"
William noticed that Ulrich was really struggling to fight the Tarantulas, especially since they were right on the edge of the cliff. Oh how William wanted for Ulrich to fall off the cliff and disappear, but he kept pushing the thought out of his mind. He knew that Yumi would be absolutely devastated if that were to happen. Yumi managed to flip herself away from the edge of the cliff, but Ulrich was still struggling while Odd continued to fight the swarm of hornets. Then William saw it. He saw a Mecha Tank rolling straight towards Ulrich, yet no one, not even Jeremie seemed to notice it. William froze, unsure of what to do as the Tank ominously approached. He then made up his mind. He wouldn't let Ulrich die, even if it meant losing his own life. He knew that Yumi cared for Ulrich more. He would do this for Yumi, no matter what the cost. Then, everything seemed to go in slow motion. No turning back now. He ran out in front of Tank, pushing Ulrich out of the way and taking the full impact of the collision. The force of the blow sent him tumbling over the edge, along with the Tank. He tried to grab at the edge, but he wasn't close enough to it. He began to realize that this was the end. He was falling, falling into the digital sea.
