Yumi's Halloween Nightmare

The city cemetery, midnight, day before halloween. Thick clouds of mist cover the land, moving, curling and circling the cold stones of the graves. A lamppost near the road outside splutters and winks out. A black stream of shadows spills forth from it and moves towards the land of the dead.

Beep beep beep!
Groaning, Yumi turned over in her bed and hit the off switch on her alarm clock.
Yawning, she sat up in bed and stretched. Still half asleep she stumbled to the bathroom, had a quick shower (which finally woke her up), then went back to her room. She got dressed, went downstairs for breakfast, then left the house and headed for school. She and her friends were helping with the decorations for tonights Halloween Scream Theme dance, and she wanted to get a early start on it.
Unseen, the shadows in the trees and alleys watched and followed.

"Hey Yumi, sleep at all?" Odd grinned. He and Ulrich had just arrived at the dance hall with their share of decorations and props. Laughing, Yumi jumped down from the stage and helped them set up some skeletons, bats, pumpkins and loads more.
"There, all done" Ulrich said, wiping his forehead. "And not too soon" Yumi said, looking at her watch. "I got to get home to change into my costume".
"Which I think Ulrich would really like to see" Odd smirked.
Ulrich smiled sheepishly, his face glowing red.
The thin shadows outside the windows watched a while more, then faded back into the ground and waited.

20:30 and the party was already in full swing. Yumi walked in to the dance, looking for her friends. She was dressed as a witch. The dress (black of course)
ended in a ragged way just below her knees, her feet booted. The top of the dress was like a tube top, no sleeves or straps. A big floppy hat, with a floppy point, was on her head. She spied Odd and made her way to him.
"Hi Yumi, what do you think of my costume?" he said. His costume was exactly like how he looked liked in Lyoko, including a tail and paws. "If it works in Lyoko, it's sure to work here" he grinned. She shook her head in disbelief, then asked if he had seen the others. "Jeremy and Aelita are over at the table" he pointed, "and Ulrich said to tell you he'll be waiting at the stage" Odd grinned.
Yumi blushed and thanked him. Walking over to the table she quickly found Jeremy and Aelita. Aelita was dressed as an angel, wings and all, while Jeremy was wearing a knight's shining armour.
"Oh wow Yumi, you look nice" Aelita said, hugging her. "Thanks Aelita, so do you"
"Hi Yumi" Jeremy's muffled voice came out of the visor.
"I'll see you guys soon. I just need to find Ulrich first"
She didn't find him, but he found her. "Hi Yumi" he said. He was dressed in samurai armour and looked quite fierce, yet handsome at the same time.
"Care to dance?" he asked. Blushing fiercely she took his hand.
Suddenly the windows shattered, spraying the hall with glass. Through them 5 black stick shadows entered. They landed between the screaming kids then bounded straight up to the roof. The screams intensified as the lights shadowed what they were. Black skeletons hung like spiders on the the roof.
'Not quite skeletons' Yumi realised as she and Ulrich ran towards the others.
All the bones had been elongated and the skulls had no faces. They were blank except for a familiar 'eye'. "XANA!" Odd shouted, "XANA's attacking us with dead people!". "Quick, let's get out of here!" Jeremy said. They ran out of the hall, but were quickly being chased.
"The cafeteria! We can get protect ourselves there!" Ulrich said.
They ran into the dining room and barricaded the door. "That won't stop them for long" Yumi said. "At least know we can defend ourselves!" Odd said, throwing pans and knifes and other objects to them. Not a moment too soon.
The a crunch one of the skeletons crashed through the window and straight into the pan Yumi swung. She smashed the skull into bits and watched the once again dead bits fall to the ground. Ulrich and Odd scored similiar victories when two others tried the same stunt. "Only two left." Odd said. The grill over the fan popped out and the skeleton surged out. "Yahh!" Odd went, swinging hard and cracking it's head in. "Only one now" Ulrich said.
With a screech the thing's claws erupted from his back, the blood spraying out, falling on Yumi's face. "ULRICH!" she screamed, rushing up with her pan.
Odd beat her to it. With a near animal roar he attacked it, smashing it over and over until only dust remained. Yumi cradled Ulrich's head in her arms, tears coursing down her face.

A strange day for a funeral. The sun was shining bright, not a cloud in the sky.
'It should be raining' Yumi thought, standing at Ulrich's grave, a rose in hand.
He was already buried, the earth still loose. With tears in her eyes she crouched next the grave. "Oh Ulrich, I miss you so much" she cried, putting the rose down.
His hand erupted up and grabbed hers. With a roar he pulled the rest of him up, the hole in his chest like a second mouth.
"NNNOOOOO!" she screamed, sitting up in bed. "NNOO!"
"Yumi, it's just a dream!" He said, holding her tight. "Yumi calm down!"

Aelita's First Christmas

"So this is snow" Aelita smiled, looking up the flakes falling down."Yep, and pretty soon it's going to be knee deep if it keeps falling like this" Yumi said, her voice slighly muffled by her scarf. They were in heading towards town to buy everyone a christmas gift and Yumi couldn't wait to get out of the cold.
"Uhm Yumi? I need to ask you something"
"Sure thing Aelita" Yumi said, thinking about the hot chocolate waiting at home.
"What's kissing like?"
Yumi stopped in her tracks, eyes wide in surprise.
Slowly, she turned to Aelita and asked "Are you telling me that you and Jeremy haven't kissed?"
Aelita's cheeks turned pink: "I, I kissed him on the cheek once, but not on the lips yet. And since you and Ulrich have been going out so long I was hoping you could help."
"Hhmm, I think I might have an idea" Yumi said. "Come on, let's hurry!"
Christmas day, Yumi's house. Their parents had agreed that they could all stay at the house, to celebrate chrismas together. Family time was in the morning, and tonight was their night. Almost all the presents had been opened. Only Aelita's gift to Jeremy and Yumi's gift for Ulrich remained. Yumi looked at the gold chain with a heart that Ulrich got her and grinned again. "Allright Aelita, go for it."
Blushing slightly she walked up to the coach, sat down next to Jeremy and said
"Merry Christmas, Jeremy", offering him a red ribbonned box no bigger then her hand. "Thanks Aelita" Jeremy said, opening it. "Huh?"
"What did you get?" Yumi asked.
He held it up above his head.
"It's mistletoe-" he began, but the moment his mouth went "o" Aelita kissed him full on the lips. Jeremy's eyes went wide, his face going from pink to deep red. Aelita broke the kiss, blushing slightly. "This is the best christmas present ever" Jeremy said.
They smiled at each other, and kissed again.

Ulrich wathced with Yumi from the stairs. "Isn't love grand?" he said, taking Yumi's hand. "You should know" she smiled and kissed his cheek. "By the way, your present is waiting up stairs in my room. I just need to get it."
She ran up the stairs and into her room, smiling. A few minutes later Ulrich heard her call him. "Ulrich, can you come up here and help me with it?"
He walked up to her room and opened the door. The lights had been turned down, candles were put up, and mistletoe hung in groves from the ceiling.
Yumi was lying on her bed in a black night gown, the gold heart around her neck.
"Merry Christmas Ulrich!" she smiled at him. He smiled back and closed the door.

New Year's Eve

And so the year has come and past. Romances and heartbrakes had occured, happiness and sadness had their turns, and even friendships were tested.
'But in the end all worked out' Ulrich thought to himself, lying on a thick blanket with Yumi on the hill outside the City. "Oh wow!" Aelita said, holding hands with Jeremy a little while away. The city's annual fireworks display was in full swing, the sky alight with fire and colour and bangs.
"Still not as good last year's" Yumi said, snuggling up to Ulrich.
He laughed and kissed her. "Don't worry. There's always next year" he said.

THE END...

(Well, not actually. More coming up soon!)