Since the last chapter was more of a filler chapter than anything else, I'm uploading this one so soon (that and I finally finished the story so hopefully you won't have to wait a week and a half between uploads ;) )

Thanks to:

The Made shoe1 - Thanks for the review and hope you enjoy this chapter!

katfishxX - Meh...thanks! Hope this chapter is even better ;)

LyokoWarrior - Yeah, it was a filler but we can't have a bunch of action in every chapter ;) Don't worry, I think this one will be even better!

Hope you all enjoy and thanks everyone for reviewing. Oh, and before I start, I want to mention that this story has recieved the most hits of all my stories...yet it's one of my least reviewed .:hint hint:. XD No pressure or anything. Anyway, enjoy!

xXxXxXx

Chapter 10: XANA's New Attack

"Odd, tell me, where do you pack all that food?" Aelita asked her friend as she watched him shove not only his own breakfast into his mouth, but Ulrich's as well.

"Hey, a guy's gotta eat you know." Odd retorted, his mouth still half full of food.

Aelita smiled in reply before turning to Ulrich. The brown-haired boy looked as though he were a millions miles away.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

His eyes became focused again before he turned and glanced at her. He did not, however, answer he question; it was almost as if he didn't hear it. Instead he sighed and resumed staring off into space.

Odd watched the whole spectacle, his fork full of food which was almost in his mouth. He put the fork back down on his tray, obviously troubled to see his friend in this state of mind. He glanced at Aelita who likewise had the same expression on her own face. Inside her mind, all she could think was: I wish that there was something I could do to help you, my friend.

xXxXxXx

As soon as Yumi walked in through the gates of Kadic, Ulrich became even more depressed. He enjoyed seeing the Japanese girl, but not when she was like this. Not when she looked so depressed herself

"Hi Yumi." Jeremie greeted her.

"Hey Jeremie." Yumi responded, but not in her normal, cheerful manner. "Is everyone else here?"

"Yeah."

"Hi." Both Odd and Aelita said simultaneously.

"And Ulrich and William?" she asked.

"Ulrich's here." Jeremie replied, throwing a glance at whom he was referring. "I don't know where William is."

"Who cares?" Ulrich muttered under his breath so that no one else heard. Yumi's sightless eyes "looked" in Ulrich's direction. She had obviously heard something. Ulrich noted that only a few days ago, her eyes held angry fire; now they were lifeless and cold. Ulrich closed his own eyes and tried to ignore the depressed look that loomed everywhere on Yumi's face…all except her eyes.

The bell chimed.

"Well let's get to class." Jeremie instructed.

"Great." Odd whined. "Music class."

"Yumi, do you need some -"

"No, that's alright Aelita." Yumi interrupted. "But tell your teacher that Ulrich's helping me to my class."

The others looked at her momentarily confused. "Um, alright." Jeremie answered as he, Odd, and Aelita turned and headed toward class. Ulrich glanced at the girl, confused himself.

Without a word, Yumi held out her arm. Ulrich knew that she meant for him to take it, but he hesitated. Not only was he unsure of whether or not he was still upset with her, but she was also dating William. And, while he didn't like William - nor the fact that he was dating Yumi - he still respected her decision.

"Ulrich?" Yumi asked. "Are you there?"

"Yeah." Ulrich replied quickly.

"Hurry before we're both late to class."

"Sorry." Ulrich replied before gently grabbing her arm. The two slowly began to walk, for a moment neither of them saying a word. Yumi was the first one to break the silence.

"Ulrich we need to talk."

"Yumi, I don't think we have time-"

"Just listen to me." she interrupted. "I have to talk about what happened before this whole mess."

She paused a moment before continuing.

"Ulrich I'm really sorry that I got so angry when Sissi offered you those tickets. I shouldn't have. You had every right to go with her if you wanted to."

"But I didn't." Ulrich replied. "You should have known that."

Despite the blank look in her eyes, Ulrich could see that the remark had made her feel better.

"Well, here you are."

"Thanks Ulrich." Yumi replied with a smile, turning her head in his direction. "I'll see you after class." she said, purposly adding the word 'see' into the sentence.

"Right." Ulrich replied with a smile. "See you later."

xXxXx

As soon as Ulrich sat down, Jeremie immediately noticed a change in his mannerism. He wasn't back to his old self, but he seemed a bit better than before.

"What did Yumi have to say?" he asked, knowing that there was a reason she had asked him to help her.

Ulrich slowly turned to the boy genius "We're okay again." he replied. "She apologized for getting so upset about the tickets."

"Great!" Odd replied. "So, are you going to stop sulking?"

"Leave me alone." came the answer.

"Guess not." Odd commented under his breath.

Without warning, Jeremie's laptop began to beep. Quickly he reached down and pulled it out of his backpack. Opening it, he discovered that a tower had been activated in the Forest Region.

"An activated tower!" Jeremie whispered to the others. "There's only a few minutes left of class. We'll head over to the factory as soon as the bell rings."

"Right." came the reply.

"Ulrich, if you can, warn Yumi." Jeremie instructed.

Ulrich nodded as he pulled out his cell phone in an attempt to message her. Then, as if realizing that she wouldn't be able to see it, sighed.

"Ulrich Stern!" came the teacher's scolding voice. Ulrich glanced up to see the teacher staring at him, a stern expression on his face. "Put that cell phone away before I take it away!"

Sheepishly, he complied with the order and the phone was back in his pocket in seconds. Jeremie looked at him once the teacher resumed his lecture. "After class." he whispered.

xXxXx

Yumi heard rustling as someone sat down in the seat next to her. She listened, trying to figure out who it was, but Mrs. Hertz saved her the effort.

"William Dunbar!" she snapped. "Care to tell me why you are late?"

Yumi heard nothing, and she assumed that his answer had come in the form of a head shake.

"1 hour of detention then!"

Again, Yumi heard nothing in response. Mrs. Hertz again began her Chemistry lesson, but Yumi wasn't paying attention. Something was wrong with William. Had he seen Ulrich helping her to class?

"William," she whispered to her boyfriend. "Where have you been all day?"

"Around." came the gruff reply.

"Hey, you okay? Your voice sounds strange."

"I'm fine!"

"Um, okay…"

Soon the bell rang, signaling the end of another long Chemistry class. Yumi heard William stand and begin to walk away.

"Hey William!" she called out. "Aren't you going to help me?"

Yumi heard a low sound emanate from him - almost as if he was growling at her. She held out her arm and yelped in unexpected surprise when he clenched it extremely hard.

"Ow! William that hurts!"

She tried to get him to loosen his grip, but was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. She fumbled to move her walking cane into her other hand so that she could withdraw the mobile out of her pocket.

"Hello?" she asked into it.

"Yumi! Be careful! XANA's launched an attack!" came Ulrich's voice.

"Meet me at the bench in front of the vending machine." she replied "Bye."

She hung up the phone and stuck it back into her pocket.

"William, can you take me out to the bench? Me and Ul…Aelita have to talk about some stuff. Girl stuff."

William didn't reply. Instead he clenched her arm harder and began to drag her. "William!" she scolded, confused. "You know you could loosen your grip and not walk so -"

Her ears suddenly heard a strange, yet familiar sound. Shocked, she realized it was the sound of XANA's mark twitching in his possessed victim's eyes.

In terror, she realized that that possessed victim had a death grip on her arm.

"XANA!"

In all the times that she had faced XANA - many of those alone - she had never felt so much fear well up inside of her. She was helpless against him, completely at his mercy. Even if she managed to break free of his grasp, she had no place to run…she could not see where to go.

"Let go!" she commanded, but she knew that it would do no good.

Voices had since begun to fade off into the distance. Yumi realized that he was dragging her away from the school grounds.

"Help!" she shouted, hoping to draw attention to her, but the next response was not one she had been hoping for.

She felt a long jolt of electricity travel from the possessed William's hand up through her arm. She cried out in agony as the purplish haze danced around her body. It only took a few moments before the electricity and the pain took its toll on her body. The last thing Yumi remembered was hearing a demonic snicker before she was plunged into darkness.

xXxXx

And you thought I was done torturing Yumi :) lol Poor gal. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter and I'll try to have the next one up soon.