Hi Everyone, Hope 2020 isn't treating you too badly. Hang in there, wear a mask, and stay safe.
Devirtualization had always hit Yumi harder than everyone else. It didn't matter if she had been fighting monsters or Jeremy brought them in, she always ended up on the floor of the scanner feeling like hell. Odd and Ulrich occasionally came off Lyoko looking rough after a particularly difficult battle, but they could always shake it off pretty quickly.
Yumi groaned quietly as the scanner doors swished open. Her stomach churned and she felt like she had been hit by a truck. This was a particularly tough one, usually, she just felt nauseous and drained but that's what happens when you get hit by six laser blasts at once.
"Aelita's in the tower, it'll just be a minute or two now" she heard Jeremy announce over the speaker. They had managed to stop the attack before any real damage was done so she wouldn't have a return to the past to make her feel better. Assessing her pains, she decided to stay on the floor of the scanner for a little longer before she forced her aching body to get up and act like nothing was wrong. She hated this. She knew that she wasn't a wimp, all of them had been tortured and/or electrocuted at some point and she was able to push through that but it always made her feel like she was the weakest of the group when she was the only one the scanners made feel this way.
Hearing the scanners powering up to bring back Ulrich and Aelita, Yumi pushed herself up and made herself walk into the elevator and lean nonchalantly against the wall as if she wasn't using it to hold her exhausted body up. Aelita and Ulrich appeared both looking annoyingly fine. Aelita was talking cheerfully about something for classes the next day as they rode the elevator up to the control room but Ulrich's eyes were locked on Yumi and she knew that he suspected something was wrong. Jeremy and Odd joined them in the elevator and they rode up to the ground level together. Jeremy and Odd were listening to Aelita and no one seemed to notice Yumi's silence and Ulrich's intense focus on her.
The elevator slid open and Yumi internally groaned at the prospect of walking home, her steps slower than usual and her feet starting to drag. Wordlessly, Ulrich slung his arm casually around Yumi providing her some support. She tried to act like she didn't need the assistance but her next steps were a little easier.
When they reached the other side of the bridge and the turn off for her house, Ulrich turned to walk with her and waved at the others as they turned to the academy. It wasn't unusual for Ulrich to walk Yumi home after a late night at the factory so with a goodnight to Yumi and a see you soon to Ulrich, the others headed back. Once they were a little further away Ulrich pulled Yumi's arm over his shoulders as a signal that he could take more of her weight. With a small sigh of relief, she allowed herself to sag against him "How did you know?"
"You always look tired after you get devirtualized and this time looked especially bad" he responded "Do you want to sit down for a second?"
She looked at him in surprise "Uh yeah, that would be nice." she said as they sat down on a nearby curb "I didn't realize that you noticed that." she continued embarrassedly.
Ulrich looked at her "Of course I did, you know how much I pay attention to you" he said wryly.
She chuckled and looked down her cheeks warming. They were silent for a moment and then "You know, I think you're so incredibly strong."
She looked up in surprise "What do you mean? I'm the only one of us who gets like this, something is wrong with me. I'm clearly not." she said looking down again, unable to meet his eyes.
"What do you mean? You feel awful returning from Lyoko and yet you still keep going back and you push through the pain when we need you to fight whatever threat there is when you come back to earth. You're the strongest of us."
She back at him, her mouth slightly agape "You really think so?"
He looked back at her their eyes meeting "Of course I do Yumi, you're incredible"
She smiled at him, the moonlight gleaming in her hair, and kissed his cheek "Thanks Ulrich. For the record, I think you are incredible too." she said tucking her head into his shoulder.
Ulrich smiled slightly and pulled her closer. Yumi relaxed into his hold and looked up at the moon feeling the best she ever had after coming out of the scanner.
So I've been rewatching Code Lyoko since it came to Netflix and I noticed that while they all have certain devirtualizations where they look beat up, Yumi is always collapsed. I don't know why but it made me think about how I feel when I give blood. Most people are completely fine but for some reason it wipes me out, I'm exhausted and sometimes feel sick. So I kinda took how I feel about that and used it to fuel how I thought Yumi would feel about being the only one who gets sick from the scanners on a regular basis.