And now we jump again, to see what Ulrich's up to. Ulrich's POV

I cracked open a soda and drank it down. It was sweet and bubbly and went down my throat nicely. I knew it wasn't good for me but really who cared about that now. We were taking a break from the road to fuel up. The gas station where we stopped had a generator, so the blackouts didn't matter. They had a huge sign telling people about the generator, too. It was good for business.

The world went back to the bartering system. What was money, anyways? Paper...cotton...plastic whatever. Fuel and food and supplies were what counted: things that could help you survive. Weapons, too, weapons were a big commodity, especially gun ammo. We exchanged some bandages and anti bacterial to get some fuel. The owner of the shop threw in a round of sodas, too, because he liked my face.

Life had made a pretty big 180 in the last couple of weeks. Society pretty much collapsed, it was every man, or group, for themselves. Fighting over resources, which used to be an international problem, was now up to the individual. And, well...I know it sounds bad, but I sorta liked it. I felt like a bad ass. It was like being on Lyoko 24/7. Is that what Morgan wanted? To recreate Lyoko in the real world?

Oh, who cared what Morgan's motive was? The point was this was happening, and in a world like this, I fit right in. I was able to save people.

I knew I should try to get back to my good buddies...Jeremie and Aelita and Odd...Yumi wanted me to protect them. They took all my stuff when they arrested me, so I didn't have my phone. Even if I did, the phones were down, not working. I could guess at where they were...but I had no way to know for sure. Besides, now I had some new buddies to protect...and also I didn't know if I could face them again after what I did.

There was me and John, of course. He had been in marching band back in school. He was a pretty cool guy. He was a little freaked out when I first told him about Morgan and all that, but it's a little hard to deny something that's right in front of your face. He learned to fight the monsters pretty quickly. His real strength, though, was the ability to move quickly and carry a lot of weight. He did a lot of supply raids.

Then there was Syd. Syd was big, not in the best shape, but man, did they pack a punch, and take a punch. They were a freakin tank. They fought with these sharpened tools. It was this handle that you held and then a metal rod stuck out between your middle fingers, which was sharpened at the point. Basically Syd punched a knife into the enemy. They also had a guitar we picked up somewhere and could play pretty well. It kept our spirits high...er.

And, of course Margret. Margret was Syd's little sister, a scrappy little one. She was like...10 or something. She usually stayed out of the fray but she could get into small places and provide support. We were teaching her how to drive, too. This was a hell of a time to grow up.

As for me...I traded my food portion for like the past week for a katana. The others were nice enough to give me a little bit of their food but it was...uh...still tough going out here. It just made this soda taste that much better, though.

"There we go, she's all filled up." The owner said, knocking on the car's side. Trust was sort of low nowadays, so anyone who was selling gas put it in the vehicles themselves to make sure they weren't screwed over. I could respect that.

"Hey Margret, come here, you're gonna drive us out onto the highway." John said. Margret got up off the cart she was sitting on and started walking over.

"Got it-" But then she tensed up, looking like she was focusing intensely. "I hear them..."

"What's that, little lady?" The gas station guy said, I didn't catch his name.

"Monsters are coming...Hornets." She said, then, without a word, looked around, and went inside the small shop at the gas station where the guy who ran it and his family were living.

"She has good hearing." I explained, unsheathing my katana. "Unless you can fight the robots, I'd get inside." Gas station man eyed the sabre suspiciously, but seemed to let it go, after a moment.

"I'm sorry, I can't help much. I'll keep the girl safe." He said.

"She knows what to do." Syd said, pulling out their weapons. Hornet's were not Syd's cup of tea, mostly because Hornets were sharpshooters and Syd's fighting style was very up close and personal. Plus the Hornets were in the air and Syd wasn't all that great at getting themselves up there. Luckily John knew how to use a gun...or...he was learning to. He was alright at it, always improving.

"Uh, right, well...please be careful. One shot to the gas reserves and this whole place becomes a fireball."

"Understood." I replied.

A barrage of lasers shot out of seemingly nowhere, and Hornets came out from behind a cloud. It was incredible that Margret could hear that well. I wasn't able to hear them, and I'm pretty sure nobody else did, either. Of course, it also meant she got overwhelmed by loud noises, sometimes. That was a pretty bad trait to have when robots just roamed the land, making a ton of noise. That was another reason Margret tended to duck out when the bullets were flying.

I blocked a laser with my sword. It was incredible that actually worked in the real world...It was incredible that I fought in the real world like I fought on Lyoko. It took a lot more out of my body, and I didn't have superpowers. Heh...at first I didn't want to turn off the supercomputer because I thought I wanted to be a hero forever. Well, now I had to be. As long as I could fight, I needed to fight. I ran into the fray alongside my new buddies.

En guarde!

Gonna be honest with you, the time doesn't really matter anymore. Just remember that from the start of the attack to the end of the story is like...I dunno, a couple months? Several months? I just wanted to keep track of exactly how long it takes for Morgan to ruin everything. And she has.

if you enjoyed, please fav and follow and leave a review.

Hope you have an awesome day!