YO PEOPLE! I'm back to present to you Zero Gravity Zone!

For me this episode is kind of in the same place Swarming Attack is. It's by no means a BAD episode, and I do enjoy watching it, it just isn't one I'll typically go back to watch. It kind of gets outshined by some other episodes I enjoy, like Routine and Ghost Channel.

Chapter 24: Zero Gravity Zone

It was another morning at Kadic, but not just any morning. Today was the big soccer game between Kadics team, and Lincoln, another school not far from us. According to what I'd heard Ulrich and Odd go off about them, they were pretty fierce and not to be taken lightly.

Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy, and myself were all at the field. Ulrich was there because he was a part of the team, and the rest of us were there to show support for him.

I couldn't help but let out an impressed noise as Ulrich kicked another ball into the goal. "Jeez, how many is that now?" I asked, turning towards Jeremy.

"I lost count," He admitted, just as amazed as I was. Odd grinned at the both of us.

"Ulrich's the soccer superstar ar Kadic!"

"That's for sure," I nodded in agreement. Ulrich kicked another ball into the goal, but the goalie actually managed to catch it this time. It had hit him in the gut and slid him back, but he still caught it. He gave Ulrich a so-so hand gesture alongside a smug look on his face, making Ulrich look at him in surprised. The brunette then made a hand motion for another ball to be sent his. The goalie rolled the ball he had been holding back towards the large amount of soccer balls, then stood up with a fierce look on his face.

Ulrich smirked at him before gaining back his serious look. He kicked the ball into the air and jumped up to it. He kicked into the goal in an impressive kick in the air. The goalie was do caught off guard that he let it whizz by him. The rest of the soccer team clapped and cheered at the stunt. Ulrich simply smirked at the goalie again.

I looked back at the others as Jim called the team over to him. "Wow! I mean, I knew Ulrich was good but... Wow!" I exclaimed, at a lost for words.

"Lincoln doesn't stand a chance!" Odd agreed, raising a fist into the air. We looked in front of us as Ulrich was approaching. "Hey there champion. If Lincoln never gets the ball, we're gonna be bored out there!" Odd told him as he tossed him his towel.

Ulrich smiled at the three of us. "It was nice of you to come," he said as he put the towel over his neck.

"We were here this morning, and we'll be here this afternoon." I assured him with a nod.

"Not for you of course." Odd said, suddenly standing up from the bench. "We can't wait to see Sissi cheerleading with her baton and all. That's why we're coming," I let out a laugh.

"Yeah right. I seem to remember hearing something about Jim once describing her as baboon when it comes to cheer,"

"Oh, really? When was this?" Jeremy asked curiously.

"Oh, around when we all first met," I said, waving my hand, laughing. Then I suddenly grew quiet.

"Emily?" Ulrich asked, slightly concerned.

"...That seems like such a long time ago now," I noted, looking over in the direction of where the factory was. I closed my eyes when I felt tears threatening to spill. "Do you guys think I'll ever get back to my world?"

I suddenly felt two hands on my shoulders. I opened my eyes to find both Jeremy and Odd's hands on my shoulders. "Of course you will," Jeremy assured me.

"Yeah, it's just a matter of time," Odd agreed. "And in the mean time, you get to hang out with all of us! That's not so bad, now is it?"

I gave them all a smile. "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks guys."

With Yumi

Yumi was walking down one of the paths of the school. The lights around the path were flickering around her, but she paid very little mind to it.

What did catch her attention, however, was when she felt herself start to float off of the ground. She looked bellow her as her feet were lifted off of the ground by seemingly nothing. She flailed wildly in an attempt to go back down. She soon fell back down to the ground, and the lights stopped flickering.

She looked around when she was back on her feet and noticed the light. When they began to flicker again, she ran away as fast as her legs would allow her to.

Campus

Sissi had a small group surrounding her as she was shouting about something that just happened to her. A couple of girls gave her an unimpressed look.

"Yes it disappeared, I tell you! It never came back down!" Sissi shouted. I think she was talking about her baton, or something like that. "It... it just flew away!"

One of the two girls looked at her friend with an amused look. "Yeah, sure. It's up in the sky somewhere, right? Or maybe it came down and landed on someones head!" The second girl made a motion with her hand to indicate that Sissi was nuts.

"But it's true I tell you! I swear the baton disappeared into thin air!" Sissi protested as the two girls walked away.

"We believe you, Sissi!" Nicholas and Herb then said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere from behind one of the pillars. "...Even if scientifically it's impossible-" Herb was interrupted by Sissi sticking her foot right in front of his neck.

"Listen! If I said that a supernatural thing happened to me, it's because it's true! You hear me knucklehead!? A baton that flies up has to come down, and if it doesn't, there's something wrong! Something seriously wrong, and I want to know exactly what it is!"

The four of us all gave each other a concerned look. We entered the cafeteria and grabbed our trays. As we sat down at our usual table, we could hear Sissi being made fun of about her story again. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

Nothing was said about my question, but I did get my answer when Yumi entered and slammed her hands on the table. "We gotta talk right now!" Both Yumi and Jeremy said.

Jeremy's Dorm

"Yes Jeremy, I've just spotted an activated tower in the Mountain Sector." Aelita answered our question. "Why? Have you noticed anything strange going on in your world?"

Odd shrugged. "Oh just the usual things. Batons that fly into the air and don't come back, and Yumi was suddenly airborne." Odd sarcastically explained. Aelita frowned at that.

"I don't think that's nor-"

"He was joking about it being normal, Aelita," I quickly explained.

"It was so weird. The lights all started to blink and a second later I was floating in the air! I couldn't believe it," Yumi explained. Jeremy nodded.

"A break in the field of gravity, causing spontaneous and localized weightlessness." Jeremy explained.

" what's the connection between electricity and weightlessness?" Ulrich asked. I turned to look at him.

"This little thing you might've heard of called the magnetic field." I explained.

"It could be the affect if a very powerful electromagnet that XANA's using to offset the magnetic attraction of the earth, you see?" Jeremy elaborated.

"The real question is, how dangerous is it?" I asked.

"It's not if it's in the limits of space and time. But if it's on a larger scale..."

"Well, look what happened to Sissi: her baton never came back," I finished. There was a silence for a moment, then Yumi spoke up.

"We can't afford to tale the risk. We have go to Lyoko and deactivate the tower," she decided, which Odd, Jeremy, and I all nodded at.

"Well count me out," Ulrich suddenly said. We all looked at him in complete surprise. Odd's shock faded really quickly however.

Jeremy's surprise quickly turned into anger. "Huh!? You've got to be kidding!"

Ulrich's expression didn't change. "No. I said count me out. I'll go when the game's over," I was lost as to why he would pick soccer. I looked at him quizzically. He looked slightly upset, but I couldn't really blame him.

Jeremy didn't like his answer at all. "You're abandoning the ship for a soccer game!?" He cried. "I don't believe it! Wake up Ulrich! This is about saving the world!" Jeremy exclaimed, getting close to the brunette. Ulrich still hadn't lifted his head. "Not to mention Aelita, who is surely in danger, but you would rather kick a ball around!?" Jeremy grabbed Ulrich's shoulder, and that was the last straw for him.

"You heard what I said! I can't go, and that's that!" Ulrich shouted as he stood up. He glared at Jeremy as he pulled his shoulder away from his grasp. Jeremy gave us a baffled look as the soccer player walked towards door of the dorm room.

"Someone else say something! He's dropping us like a smelly sock!" Jeremy exclaimed.

Ulrich looked back at us with an apologetic expression. "Look, I'm really sorry, ok?"

"That's all the you can say!? You're sorry? You would rather please the crowd, huh? All those admiring fans are more important than your friends!" Ulrich slammed the door behind him as Jeremy yelled.

I had finally had enough. I stood up from where I was standing and glared at Jeremy. "I think that's enough outta you!" I told him, catching him by surprise.

"Yeah. He's got his reasons," Odd added. Jeremy, Yumi, and I all looked at him. "His parents are coming to the game this afternoon. Have you ever met Ulrich's dad?" A memory of Ulrich father suddenly hit me like a truck.

"Oh man... How did even forget about that guy!?" I thought. I turned my attention back to Odd.

"If you're not first in everything then you're nothing in his book. And since Ulrich's report cards are kind of disastrous, the only way to make his dad happy-"

"Is when he plays soccer..." Jeremy realized.

"Yeah, exactly." Odd confirmed. "That's why he's been training so hard for weeks now. He's gonna play today's game as if his life depended on it. Aelita looked at us all with a sad look.

I looked at a rather guilty looking Jeremy. I put a hand on his shoulder in a similar way he had done with me. "C'mon, Einstein. You can apologize to him later. But we gotta make sure he's still around first,"

"...Right. We'll meet you at the lab, Aelita," Jeremy told her before she logged off. We made our way over to the manhole cover. "Why couldn't have just told us the reason?" Jeremy suddenly asked.

"Ulrich? Give away a secret?" Yumi asked in a tone that made it seem impossible.

"Anyway, why worry? Ulrich's gonna win the game, and in the meantime, we're gonna save the world!" Odd said, which I grinned at.

"Yeah, we'll just have to do without him this time. And besides, you've got me, right?" The others all laughed as I opened the ran down and made our way to the factory. The elevator made a stop for Jeremy to enter the lab, then the rest of us went down to the scanners.

"Aelita, do you read me? Aelita?" She popped up on his screen seconds later.

"I'm here, Jeremy." She responded.

"Aelita, it's XANA, he's attacking. He's trying to take over the city's electrical network." Jeremy explained.

"But why?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna try and find out," Aelita nodded at him. "I'll get the spy program started. With the data flow so dense, it oughta be on the network." Moments later, he nodded. "Bingo. It's XANA alright. Heavy and predictable, but also heavy and fast. We don't have much time. Ready to go?"

"Of course," I answered as I stood in front of the scanner. I looked over at the others they both had the same look on their face as I did we were raring to go.

"We've gotta hurry up. If we don't, XANA will be able to create much more powerful magnetic fields." We each stepped in a scanner. "Transfer, Emily. Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Odd. Scanner, Emily. Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Odd. VIRTUALIZATION!"

Lyoko

We all landed in the Mountain Sector without a problem. "The tower is situated at about 30 degrees west." We quickly ran over to Aelita when we saw her.

"Good to see you in person again, Aelita. A shame it always has to under bad circumstances though," I greeted. She nodded in agreement.

"Yes, but hopefully soon we won't have to meet like this," She said hopefully.

"Yeah. Now let's get that tower deactivated!" Odd exclaimed before running ahead of us. We took off in the direction of the tower.

A few minutes passed as we ran. Jeremy suddenly piped up again. "Oh no, he's ready to attack the school! Now I understand."

"Fill us in, Einstein!" Odd requested as he jumped off some rocks to reach a higher ledge.

"If not for what happened today with Yumi and Sissi, we all would've gone to the game, and that's where XANA wanted to trap us!" Jeremy's voice echoed. "Because it was his plan to concentrate all the energy on the Science Lab, and if we don't make it fast, there's a good chance that Ulrich is going to finish the game outside the stratosphere!"

The four of us had been leaping across the many rocks on the mountain sector while listening. Yumi, Odd, and I looked at one another with faces of concern as we landed. "That means that we have no time to lose. Par for the course when it comes to XANA," I remarked.

Yumi nodded, then looked around the area. "No monsters for the time being, but we're still far from the tower." We took off once more towards our destination. I smirked when a jump was approaching.

"LEAP OF FAITH!" I shouted as I jumped off.

"This is really not the time, Emily!" Yumi quickly told me from above. The three of them quickly followed my example, however, and jumped off the ledge, though without the screaming "leap of faith" part.

Lab

Jeremy bit his bottom lip as he watched the four marks on his screen run and jump through the sector. "This is awful," He remarked, then began to type on his keyboard, "I gotta find a way to gain some time." He diverted his attention away from the map and looked at the data he had looked at earlier. "You asked for it XANA! I can hack a network; you're not the only one," He typed as he spoke to himself. "This program will help me counter any attacks on the science lab- huh!?"

He let out an irritated growl. He hadn't wanted to do this, but the danger was too high now. He pulled up Ulrich's phone number on the supercomputer and dialed it. "Ulrich! Ulrich, do you copy?"

Soccer Field

The first half of the game was over. Kadic was winning 2-0, and both goals had been scored by none other than Ulrich himself. The boy in question was walking to the sidelines alongside his team when Milly and Tamiya, who had been reporting and commentating about the entire game, suddenly ran up to him.

"Ulrich, I'd imagine you're confident after dominating Lincoln for the past 45 minutes. What do you think?" Milly asked him.

Ulrich made a face, unsure of what to say. He hadn't been expecting this. "Uh, Lincoln's in the finals; that means they're a good team," He put a smile on his face, but internally, he was wishing he had prepared for something like this. "In the words of our coach, Jim, it's our motivation that'll make us winners, and I honestly think that-" He stopped himself when he caught the sight of his parents. He was at a loss for words. On his father's face was a smile, not a very large one, but a smile nonetheless. He let a genuine smile form on his lips before looking back at the camera. "I've gotta go now. I'll talk to you after the game."

He began to walk back over toward the bench. "I'd better relax a bit before the second half and see what Jim has to say abou-" He stopped himself when he saw his phone. It was ringing and buzzing on the bench, waiting for him to pick it up and listen to the person on the other end. He knew who it was, and part of him didn't want to answer. He hesitated, remembering heir argument from before, but ultimately caved with a sigh. He picked up the phone and accepted to call. "What do you want?" He asked with a slight bitterness.

Lab

Jeremy internally let out a sigh of relief due to the fact that Ulrich finally answered. "Ulrich, I've been trying to reach you for a quarter of an hour." He told him.

He heard Ulrich scoff. "I can't play with a cell phone in my hand. Sorry,"

"Listen," Jeremy began gently, "I know about, well... Odd told me about why this match is so important to you. But there's an enormous and serious problem." Jeremy paused for a moment. He could faintly hear Jim spouting off about something in the background, and he realized that he was on a time limit. "I can't go into all the details, there's not enough time, but XANA's gonna put the school into orbit!"

"What was that!?" Ulrich exclaimed in shock.

"It's true, I swear! He doesn't have enough power yet-"

"But!?"

"But he's gonna try and get it from the science labs generator! You've gotta make sure that no one's in the building!" Jeremy explained as quickly as he could.

Jim shouted something at Ulrich. "Be right there!" Ulrich had shouted in response. "No problem. Everyone's at the game!"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

There was a pause for several minutes, then Ulrich spoke up again. "Ms. Hertz isn't here!" Ulrich realized.

"Oh no! She's probably in the chemistry lab!" Jeremy gasped. "You've gotta go and get her out!"

Soccer Field

Ulrich glanced up at the science building, but quickly averted his eyes from it. The whistle blew, and the second half began.

"Ulrich!" Jeremy shouted at him. He had likely heard the whistle.

"Don't ask me to do that!" Ulrich grunted. He put his hands to his head to try and block out the noise. Whether it was the crowd or Jeremy's voice however, he wasn't sure. "Jeremy, anything! But not that!" Matt, the striker of Lincoln, quickly slid forward and kicked the ball away from Ulrich while he was distracted.

"Look, I'm sorry Ulrich, but you've got to leave the game!" The game had started, but Ulrich hadn't moved an inch. He wasn't sure what to do anymore. "You're the only one who can do it. You've gotta save her!" Ulrich didn't even have to look up to feel all the eyes of the crowd on him. He could only imagine the thoughts that were running through all their heads. He didn't like what his imagination was telling about what his parents were thinking. What his father was thinking. "It's a matter of life or death Ulrich!" Jeremy stressed.

An image of their science teacher flashed through Ulrich's mind. He let out a frustrated growl as he turned from the crowds gaze. He watched as Matt scored a goal. He could hear most of the crowd gasp and whisper amongst themselves. "Ulrich! Please-"

"Shut up, Jeremy. Just... shut up," Ulrich said, pulling the piece out of his ear. He hit the button in his pocket to end the call.

He gazed at the science building, then at the crowd containing his parents. He had made his decision.

He ran forward once more to catch up with Matt. "I'm gonna stop you!" he shouted at him.

"We'll see about that!" Matt replied, a smug look on his face. Ulrich then stumbled forward, a move made on purpose, and fell. He clutched his knee and made fake grunts of pain. "Oh come on! I didn't even touch him!" Matt protested.

Ulrich picked himself up off the ground and began to stagger away. He could hear Jim yelling behind him, but he wasn't listening. He glanced over at the crowd.

His knee? It admittedly hurt a little bit.

His pride? It hurt even worse.

But what hurt the most of all? The look on his parents face. He sat on one of the locker room benches and held his head in his hands.

Lyoko

The four of us were hiding behind a rock, not far from the activated tower. The pulsations uh well... pulsed loudly as they went up to the tower. They were strong enough to cause the ground to vibrate slightly.

"Jeremy, objective in sight," I reported.

"And the reception committee looks manageable," Odd noted. I looked at the tower. Guarding it were three Hornets. Ok, yeah, that's pretty easy. "I'll take care of 'em in no time at all!"

"You mean we," I deadpanned, giving him a look.

"I should be able to neutralize XANA, but only for a few minutes. So you gotta work fast!" Jeremy told us.

"You got it, Jeremy," I promised him.

"We gotta move," Odd said.

"10 seconds to attack time," Yumi replied.

"All right, here we go!" The three of us ran forward with our weapons ready. After running past a barrage of laser, we all turned and fired our weapons. They all hit a target, though Odd and mine hit the same one, leaving one left. The last Hornet circled behind us before it tackled us to the ground.

"Pretty sharp mosquitos. Since when do they grow brains?" Odd jokingly asked.

"They're just as irritating as the real thing." I agreed.

"But there's only one left." Yumi said.

"Negative," Jeremy suddenly informed us. "A new swarm of Hornets is on the way."

We all frowned as we stood up. "Ok.. Change of tactics. This time we'll try diversion!" Yumi decided. Odd and I nodded at the plan. We ran forward again, our weapons out.

"Odd! I've reloaded 20 arrows for you, but that may not be enough!" Jeremy exclaimed. Odd fired several arrows, killing one Hornet.

"Magic Blast!" I exclaimed, firing off the energy at another. It dodged in the nick of time and began firing alongside its comrades, hitting Odd and me several times. "Ok... Your turn Yumi," I said weakly. She had her hands to her temples and had a glow around her. She was using her telekinesis.

As she approached the two of us, rocks began circling around us to act as a shield of sorts. Odd and I began our assault again, firing more arrows and spells at the swarm around us.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd cried, firing several more arrows. The Hornets all fired at once, but it thankfully bounced off of our rock shield. "There's no end to them! They just keep coming!"

"Augh! Just die already!" I screeched, firing another Magic Blast. This one connected, but it seemed rather ineffective when another Hornet just seemed to take its place. I growled with irritation. "Ok, this is only kind of working. Ideas?" I asked, glancing at them.

"The best defense is an offense, right?" Yumi asked.

"Right, but it depends on the number of enemies," Odd confirmed. An idea popped into my head suddenly. I looked down at my staff, then back up at the others.

"I may have an idea, but I'll need to time to charge it up." I told them. Odd gave me a curious look.

"What'cha thinking?"

I smirked. "Flying types are weak to electric moves," Was all I said.

Science Building

Ulrich looked up at the science building nervously. "It's ok Ulrich. I made my own electric field to create a short circuit. But XANA's bound to get ahead of me again soon, so be careful. I don't know how long it's gonna last." Jeremy warned him as he walked in.

Ulrich looked around, but nothing happened. No gravity change, no flickering lights, nothing. "I just walked in. There's nothing at all happening." He soon realized he should've kept quiet, as the lights began to flicker. Soon enough, he was holding onto the door handle too keep himself from hitting the ceiling. "Looks like I spoke too soon!" The gravity then shifted again, sending him to his left. "Whoa!"

"You have to hang on for just a few seconds! As soon as you've secured Ms. Hertz, I can move into action!" Jeremy said. Ulrich let out a grunt in acknowledgment. The gravity in the building suddenly went back to normal, which Ulrich took as his chance to run for it. He made his way up the stairs, but gravity shifted again, forcing him to grab onto the rails.

His grip quickly gave way however, and he found himself falling through the hallways of the building. He managed to grab onto one of the walls just outside Ms. Hertz's door. Opening the door, he made his way safely down by climbing down the lab benches. The science teacher was unconscious with glass shards all around her. She obviously hadn't been expecting this, not that Ulrich could really blame her for that though.

"Jeremy, it's ok! I've got Ms. Hertz! Do your stuff!" Ulrich said, holding Ms. Hertz arm.

"Ok, here we go! The reverse circuit is working!" Jeremy told him. Seconds later, he and Ms. Hertz were back on the ground. He sighed in relief as he began to drag Ms. Hertz out of the classroom.

"I'm sorry to be so familiar with you, Ms. Hertz." He jokingly apologized. The lights began to blink again, alarming him. "Jeremy, what's happening!?"

"I don't know! Everything's becoming impossible to control! Be careful!"

Before he could even process the words, Ulrich found himself flying backwards. He luckily hit a cabinet that was installed in the hall, with Ms. Hertz landing right next to him. Then, he heard female screaming. Looking up, he saw Sissi falling towards the end of the hallway. "I gotcha!" Ulrich exclaimed, catching her arms.

"Ulrich? What's happening? What's going on?" Sissi asked.

"It's too complicated. Jeremy, where are you at now?" Ulrich asked, brushing off Sissi's questions.

"Ok... I'm back in control!"

"Ready!"

"It's gonna rock!" The gravity shifted back to normal moments after Jeremy announced it would. The lights then exploded, sending glass shards everywhere.

"Whoa!" Ulrich exclaimed, covering his head. "Hey, do me a favor, ok Jeremy? Tell me it's gonna calm down," Ulrich pleaded.

"Not for the time being. It may get worse." Jeremy stated otherwise. "So hang on tight anyway you can."

Ulrich lifted Ms. Hertz again and made a motion for Sissi to help. She did as she was asked. "Ulrich, do you mind explaining to me what's going on?" She asked in her shrill voice.

"Yeah, I do mind. So keep quiet," Ulrich responded bluntly. Ulrich's head snapped up when he heard a rumbling noise. "Hey Jeremy, what's that sound?"

"I uh... I don't know!" Jeremy exclaimed, and could be heard typing again. "Oh no! XANA has managed to take over 50 power stations! Ulrich, whatever you do, don't leave the building, understand!? Stay inside!" Jeremy warned him.

Ulrich set Ms. Hertz down and walked over to the window, unsure of what was going to happen. The lights around the field were blinking on and off.

Lyoko

Things were going rather poorly. My spell was taking a long time to charge up due to the amount of energy it was going to require, and our entire situation was just a complete nightmare.

"Odd! Yumi! Emily! What's happening?!" Jeremy boomed from above.

"It's horrible! I'm almost out of arrows, the telekinesis is exhausting Yumi, Emily's spell is taking a lot of energy to charge up, and the more Hornets I kill, the more there are!" Odd reported as he fired arrows left and right.

The grip I had on my staff was tight and my breathing was heavy. I had to put a large amount of concentration and energy into what I was charging up, and I wasn't entirely sure it would even work. "Alright, I think this should work now.." I said, my voice slightly strained. I threw the staff up into the air. "THUNDER WAVE!" A pulse of electricity shot out of the staff. A little less than half of the Hornets fell victim to the wave. I caught my staff, and though I wanted to cheer in celebration, I felt exhausted. I fell to my knees, breathing heavily.

"Nice one, Emily!" Odd praised. I was about to give him a weak thumbs up, but the sound of Yumi struggling caught my attention. The telekinesis was taking it's toll on her. She'd never used it for so long or with so many objects before. "Hang in there Yumi! We're almost there!" Odd encouraged her. She moaned a bit, and the rocks began to waver around us. "No! Not now, concentrate! Just give us a few more seconds!" Odd pleaded, but it was to much for her.

She fell to her knees, and the rock barrier we had collapsed around us. "I can't do it guys... I'm sorry," she said, obviously exhausted. I finally picked myself up and lifted my staff towards the monsters.

"We can't stop now! We have to get this done!" I charged up another Magic Blast, but a sound took us all by surprise. We looked back to see Aelita using her creativity to create a path for her to get to the tower. But she wasn't being conspicuous about it all! The Hornets quickly took notice of her as well, so they abandoned us in order to attack her.

"Aelita! It's too soon!" Odd shouted. If she heard though, she didn't listen and kept moving ahead.

"Aelita! You're crazy!" I exclaimed. I fired a blast at one of the Hornets, but it was moving too quick, so I missed. The Hornets began firing their lasers at her. She was hit multiple times in the chest, but it didn't deter or faze her at all. "I don't believe this!" Odd and I shouted in unison. More lasers hit her, but she kept going! I tried to fire again, but the Hornets were moving too fast for me to get a clear shot, and I didn't want to risk hitting a seemingly nuts Aelita.

Another Hornet flew behind her and struck her with a laser. She fell forward because of this, and went down into the depth below. "NOOOO!" We all shouted, but we couldn't do anything. The Hornets followed to make sure that their job was done.

"AELITA!" Jeremy screeched in horror. The three of us looked at one another, unsure of what to do.

"As soon as you're finished crying, just let me know." A voice to our left suddenly said. We looked over to find Aelita standing there, her hands on her hips, and looking rather still alive.

"You were just luring them!" Yumi realized in astonishment.

Aelita smirked at us. "Of course," she told us, making it sound like it was obvious.

"You're a real sneak, you know that?" I asked, slinging my arm around her shoulder. She beamed at me. "Now, let's get that stupid tower deactivated!" We all ran ahead to the tower. Odd, Yumi, and I stopped to make sure no monsters were around, then Aelita made her way into the tower.

Soccer Field

As soon as people began flying up into the air, Ulrich had completely disregarded Jeremy's warning and busted through a window to get outside. As he struggled to get over to the bleachers, one thought ran through his mind: save his parents.

He managed to get there right as his dad had lost his grip. He grabbed onto his hand and kept the grip he had on the bleachers as best he could.

"Ulrich!?" His father exclaimed. Ulrich would've liked to reply, but it was difficult enough trying to keep ahold of his parents without talking. Seeing that his son was struggling, Ulrich's dad said, "Goodbye, Ulrich. I'm proud of you; really, I am." The words caught Ulrich off guard, to the point where he couldn't react in time when he father let go of his arm.

"NOOO!" Ulrich screamed. He extended his hand to his now falling parents. He accidentally let go. He started falling too. He screamed.

Then, a white light engulfed the entire area.

The game

We were back at the soccer field, right before the big game started. Yumi, Odd, Jeremy, and I didn't bother looking for seats on the bleachers. We were content with sitting on the grass next to the bleachers. We saw Ulrich look around, and he smiled when he saw the four of us there to cheer him on.

"Let's rock Ulrich! Come on world champion!" Odd cheered from behind Yumi and me.

"Yeah, but which world?" Jeremy jokingly asked.

"Both of them, Jeremy. Both of them." I answered. Jim blew his whistle, and the game began.

And guess what? WE WON!

Later

I lifted my head when I heard the sound of the doors opening. Ulrich gave me a surprised look as he walked out of the boys locker room. "Emily? Is something wrong?" He asked. I pushed myself off the wall I had been leaning against.

I shook my head at him. "No, nothing really. I just.." I sighed and straightened my back to look at him. "Well, Odd told us about why this game was so important to you..." I told him.

He lowered his head. "Yeah.. I already know."

"And well... I guess..." I stuttered, trying to think of the words. "I guess what I want to tell you is, no. I don't get what it's like to have parents like that," He sent a glare at me. I put a hand up. "Let me finish. I don't get what that's like, but... If you, I dunno, ever need someone to talk to, and you don't think anyone else will listen or that they'll judge you? I'm open ears." I said.

He lowered his head, making me worry. Did I push too far? I know he's not an open person. "...Thanks, Emily." He said. I looked at him. On his face was a small, but sincere smile.

"What are cousins for, right?" I said, slightly jokingly. We fist bumped, then walked forward together.

"Where are the others? I thought you'd be with them." Ulrich asked me with a curious look.

"They're in Jeremy's room, maybe possibly making celebration plans for the Champion of Both Worlds,"

"Both worlds?" He asked, and then we laughed together.

Phew! Another one bites the dust!

I'm actually extremely happy with how this turned out. I know a lot of time was spent with Ulrich, but it just kinda happened! ANd it's also how the little bit at the end came about!

Sorry if you didn't like it, but I did!

Next time, we take a visit to the salt mines- I mean Routine.