Yumi was stretched out on the couch in her family room, having fallen asleep just a few minutes ago, her phone clenched in her right hand. Her breathing was quiet, not so much as to be unheard, but at a soothing volume, almost calming if someone were to hear it.
Her phone sprang to life, vibrating repeatedly in her hand, awakening her from the intrinsic slumber. Her response was quick, one out of excitement in hope of who the caller was.
"Ulrich?" Yumi asked, her body moving to sit up on the couch, speaking with a smile on her face, her voice excited.
"What? No, Yumi, this is Jeremy." Her smile fell fasted than a metal ball dropped from a tall structure, although her composure was regained in seconds. "We have a problem, it's X.A.N.A., get to the factory ASAP."
"Got it, Jeremy. Do you need me to call Aelita?" Yumi asked,
Already heading towards her door.
"No, I already called her. Just get here quick, whatever X.A.N.A. is doing, it's headed your way." Jeremy said, looking through news reports on his monitor.
"I got it, I'll be there as soon as I can." Yumi said, hanging up the phone, making her way to the door. As she approached the door, her arm outstretched to turn the knob, Hiroki jumped in front of the aperture, a slick smile on his face.
"Where are you going?" He asked, Yumi could have sworn she smelt annoyance on his breath as he spoke.
"None of you business, Hiroki." She said, again reaching for the door.
Hiroki pulled a phone out of his pocket and wagged it in Yumi's face. "If you leave, I'll show everyone I know what you and Ulrich talk about."
Yumi was slightly shocked, but her outward expression wouldn't allow that to pass through. "How did you get Ulrich's phone?"
"I found it in the lunchroom, I figured it would come in handy, and I guess I was right." As he said this, Yumi filled with rage, her eyes, although not physically turning red, were plastered with an unforgettable and unmistakeable look of pure anger.
"Hiroki, you have three seconds to move out of the way so I can open the door, or I will use you to open it, understand?" Her voice was serious, Hiroki realizing he has passes the line just a bit on this one.
"Okay, okay, I'll move." Hiroki said, moving aside, his expression one of annoyance in its own right, not able to comprehend the fullness of the situation.
Yumi moved to the door and opened it with a forceful pull from her right arm. "And if you read any more of my conversation, I swear..." Yumi said, her thought unfinished as she violently slammed the door behind her.
—
"Scanner Odd, scanner Ulrich, scanner William."
"Transfer Odd, transfer Ulrich, transfer William."
"Virtualization!"
The three boys landed on their feet, the flat grey ground of the Mountain Sector welcoming them.
"You guys ready?" Aelita asked, her wings already deployed as she had been waiting for them.
Odd peered down at his foot, still unable to move it. "Jeremy, looks like my foot is still frozen here too."
"I've been looking into that. It appears X.A.N.A. has manipulated the return to the past program and made it into a bubble that, instead of reversing time, it freezes time within the bubble." Jeremy said, still filtering through files, beginning to program the vehicles.
"Well, that explains a lot." Odd said, sarcasm flowing from his voice.
"I'm sending you your vehicles. William, I finally finished yours, I call it the Override, it's kinda like a mix between Odd's board and Ulrich's bike, but with its own style."
The Override's base appears very similar to Odd's Overboard, with similar shape and size, but with extenders on the bottom connecting to two large wheels, making it similar to Ulrich's Overbike. It had a white/grey base color with black stripes scattered here and there. The design took Jeremy a few days to come up with, but he was very proud of his work.
"It looks great, Jeremy, but how do I ride it?" William asked, jumping into the board base.
"It's an interesting design, you will stand on it as though it were a surfboard, and you use your body to control it's movement and speed. Move forward and it will speed up, backward and it will slow down. The harder you lean left or right will determine which direction and at what angle you will turn." Jeremy explained, taking the concept from an article he read online.
William leaned his body forward, moving the vehicle ahead. He took a few seconds to become familiar with it before he was satisfied.
"Let's roll." William said, zooming ahead, the others following behind him as their vehicle arrived. His vehicle had impressive speeds, both on ground and in the air, having many of the qualities of all three vehicles Jeremy had made prior.
As the warriors came within sight of the tower, Jeremy spoke up.
"Two bloks and tarantula." Jeremy said, his eyes focused on the newly appearing characters his screen displayed, the red reflecting off his glasses.
"Okay, I think we should..." Ulrich started, cut off by a louder voice.
"Geronimo!" William yelled, moving his vehicle forward, it being in tight unison with his body. He held his blade in both hands, jumping from his vehicle as he reached his destination. His blade slashed through the top eye of the left blok, causing it to fragment in a flash. The tarantula took aim as William ran towards it. William was able to dodge most of the shots from the monster, until about halfway through his sprint he was hit in the leg. His reaction was limited, only stopping for what seemed like half a second before he again broke into a heated spring, his feet hitting the ground with a continuous and almost rhythmic pattern.
His blade slammed into the monster, holding it in the air for a few seconds before it was also destroyed. As William jumped to destroy the final blok, he was beaten to the job by a pair or smaller swords thrown into the side of the blok as it tried to fire.
"What was that!" Ulrich yelled, walking over to retrieve his swords. "You can't just run off before we make a plan!"
"Well, it worked, didn't it?" William responded, taking this lightly.
"You can't just go off and do that, it puts all of us and every person out there in danger." Ulrich said, looking into William's eyes with a stare of daggers.
"You need to..." William was interrupted by three lasers hitting him in his legs and back, devirtualizing him. Ulrich turned in time to deflect one of the lasers from the three hornets, hitting it, but was quickly overtaken by the other two.
"Guys, the bubble is about to reach the factory. No rush, but time is of the essence." Jeremy said, watching a reported display the growth of the bubble on the news.
The elevator doors opened, causing Jeremy's head to turn.
—
Ulrich and William both exited their scanners, William walking out with a certain amount of swagger, but not overdoing it. Ulrich, on the other hand, took a few moments to regain himself and stand up.
"How could you just leave your team like that?" Ulrich asked, his voice raised.
"Leave my team? You must be kidding, I defeated the monsters, quick and easy." William said, looking over at Ulrich as he walked out of his scanner.
"You just ran in so you could be, oh, I don't know, some kind of hero. William the Great, is that what you were trying to be?"
"Ulrich, I get you, I understand you. You aren't mad about this, this wouldn't make you the jerk you are acting like now. So, what is it? What's wrong?" William asked, his voice not lacking I'm concern, but not so much as to make it openly apparent.
"You know exactly what's wrong." Ulrich replied, looking down slightly, as though to show hesitation.
"Enlighten me." William said, arms crossed.
"...fine..., you are always with Yumi, you know how much I love her, but you are always there, flirting with her, stoping me from talking to her, making me look weak. Since day one you have been nothing but a challenge to me and you enjoy doing it!" Ulrich was releasing his built up anger as though it were an overflowing dam, bursting through with a torrent of rage and emotion.
"Ulrich, let me set a few things straight." William said, sighing before he spoke again. "I'll admit, I've had strong feelings for Yumi since I got here, and yeah, I knew you were trying for her too, but at the time I guess I just didn't care. But recently, as I came to know you and the rest of the gang better, as you accepted me, I started to see things differently. I understand how much you feel for Yumi, how you care for her, respect her, love her. That's why, recently, I have decided to allow you to have her. Not because I don't love her, because I do, but for different reasons." William paused, unable to muster up the words for a moment. "I gave up on Yumi because I know the consequences if we fail on Lyoko. I don't want any drama or hate to stop us from doing what we have to do, and that is beat X.A.N.A. every time, no exceptions. I also gave up because, well, I respect you. You are a good leader, great athlete, and most of all a great friend. These past few weeks I have gotten to know you pretty well, and you are a pretty cool dude. So, see this as my thank you gift for believing in me enough to let me get in that scanner ever time, for fighting by my side, and for letting me help you guys do what we do best, save the world. Yumi loves you, not me, I could figure that out on my own. Never waste a moment with her, okay?"
Ulrich was short on words, trying to lock up his emotions in the back of his mind. Ulrich finally knew what to say after twenty seconds of silence.
"When I first met you, I thought you were the biggest jerk in the world." Ulrich stuck his arm out, aimed at William. "I was wrong."
William reached out and shook Ulrich's hand, their eyes locked, having a new found respect and trust for each other.
What neither of them had noticed during their talk was the elevator descending, a stunned Yumi watching through the whole conversation, a tear rolling its way down her cheek.
The while bubble of a return to the past passed over them, Aelita having just finished deactivating the tower.
What the return to the past couldn't send back was the respect that would forever linger in the air of the scanner room, an eternal reminder of what had happened that day.
—
Yumi approached her friends, all of which were huddled around a column in the schools courtyard. Her mind was still thinking through what she had heard, proud of what she had witnessed her friends do.
"Hey, Yumi." Ulrich said, smiling a bold morning smile, the morning sun giving his skin a slightly darker shade. "I'm sorry I didn't text you earlier, I think I lost my phone."
Yumi reached into her book bag and, after rummaging around a bit, found the electronic hunk of plastic.
"Hiroki found it earlier, here." Yumi said, handing Ulrich his phone.
"Thanks, Yumi." Ulrich said, both their cheeks turning red as their hands touched.
"Hey, Ulrich, how about we skip the movie, since we've already seen it, and play another phooseball tournament tonight?" William asked, looking over at Ulrich.
"Sure, but I doubt you'll win." Ulrich said, a cocky yet sarcastic smile appearing on his face.
"Would you like to bet on that, lover boy?" William said, causing everyone but Ulrich and Yumi to laugh, their reaction was not of their choice, their cheeks turning so red that the others were surprised Odd didn't make a joke about tomatoes.
And between Ulrich and William, a new bond was born, a bond that shall be tested in the future.
Thanks for all the support! 2000 words! This was honestly my favorite chapter to write, so I hope you enjoyed it. Review!