Chapter 18: Without thinking straight
Ulrich felt like he would throw up. He had felt bad earlier, but it went a bit better with him back then, until a xanafied Hiroki shot him in his side. Since then, he hadn't felt good at all. Last nine days, they had barely moved, but they also hadn't been attacked by XANA, even though they were still relatively close to Kadic. It would be unclear for a long time why XANA didn't think of attacking them. Anyway, Ulrich felt so sick he kept trembling all night and day long, and even breathing hurt a bit, though he didn't tell Yumi – he didn't want her to worry even more than before.
After a while, he forced his eyes open. He was only slightly confused the forest sector was slightly darker than he'd remembered. Normally, he'd know the difference, even if was difficult to tell it from the reality. The air was darker, the trees stood closer to one another, and Yumi couldn't be standing on an invisible path, because there were none in that sector. The possibility did exist, but you could never know for sure.
His eyes closed themselves easier than opening them, so he used the bit of energy to concentrate. When he opened his eyes after ten seconds of concentration, he was back on earth, France, close to Kadic.
He sighed. They could still win this. There was still time to beat XANA once and for all. They would always be smarter than XANA, so this time they would be, too, and they would surely win! The last stand – he, Yumi, Jeremy and Aelita against William and XANA – came closer, and they could win. They would win. They would win this fight for sure…
"Hey there, Ulrich." Ulrich rolled over to his other side when he heard that male voice. His eyes widened out of surprise: Odd was back! With a smile on his face he walked over to Ulrich, who didn't know why Yumi hadn't noticed the newcomer yet. Ulrich forced a smile on his face and Odd went to sit next to the wounded boy.
"How's it going, buddy?" Odd asked. If Ulrich wasn't lying on the ground, he'd shrug.
"Not good," he told his best friend, "a Hornet made me feel ill and XANA hit me with a bullet in my side!" Odd made a hissing sound.
"Man, that sucks! You'd think XANA would've had enough of our small vulnerable world! No, it's time someone's taking action." Ulrich nodded yes as an answer to Odd's idea. He liked that idea, as long as he wasn't part of it until his wounds were fully healed. Odd looked over his shoulder at Yumi, and sent a worried look at Ulrich, who sent back a look which Odd translated as 'what is it?'
"What is it, Odd?" he asked, and Odd nodded – he had been right!
"Yes, something's wrong. Take a look at Yumi," Ulrich turned back on his side, so he was once again looking at Yumi's back, "she looks pretty upset, doesn't she?" Ulrich looked at Yumi for a while, and he noticed Odd was right – Yumi did look a bit upset. And by looking at her, he kind of also began to feel sad.
"Now you mention it, she does," he reacted, "but how is that possible?" Odd gave him a confused look.
"At first, she lost her brother previous week to death or XANA, both fates being extremely painful for her," Odd counted on his fingers, "Secondly, I think you might be a reason as well." Ulrich turned his head.
"What?" Odd put his hand onto Ulrich's good leg.
"To say it as fast and short as possible: you're a big burden!" Ulrich looked up, irritated, "She had to drag you to this place after that bullet, and she does everything that can be done while you just lay on the ground. I also think she wants to leave, but she can't because you're in no condition of walking." Ulrich let these words sink in, and a whole time later he came to the conclusion Odd might possibly be right. She suffered because of him, the burden that kept her here, because she didn't want to drag him with her nor would she leave him alone.
"Odd, you're right…" Odd shrugged.
"I know, and I'm sorry for you." he moved his hand from the good leg to a shoulder. Ulrich sighed.
"Could there be anything to make Yumi happy again?" Odd thought about it for a while, and he was just about to open his mouth when he rethought about it and he closed his mouth. This only made Ulrich want to know what his plan was.
"What did you wanna say?" he asked, but Odd shook his head.
"No, it's stupid. When I tell you, you think I'm stupid, and that'll be embarrassing!" But Ulrich now also shook his head.
"You don't have to be embarrassed in front of me; we're friends!" Odd slowly nodded by these words from his best friend. After a short period of more doubt, he announced his almost unthinkable plan.
"It might be better for Yumi if … if you're leaving her alone." Ulrich's face paled. No. All plans Odd would have told him, he'd agree with them and participate, but leaving Yumi all alone? Never in his whole darn life! Especially not since she recently lost her brother. Odd needed no more conformation about the plan than the pale face of his friend. Odd sighed.
"I knew you'd think it was stupid," he said, "but it could work, you know! Think about it: when you're not with Yumi, she'll probably do better. She could simply walk away from the danger without having to worry about you, neither would she wonder if you'd still be awake the next morning. When you're gone, she'll feel a lot better than she is now!" Ulrich didn't know what to think about it! Leaving Yumi for her own good?
"She'll want to find me," he said, "If I leave now, she could still convince me to stay with her. She won't easily let me go." Odd put his fingers against his chin, thinking up a solution for that problem. Quickly, he'd found that solution.
"We could take care of that," he said, and he put out his hand to his wounded friend, half expecting him to shake it and participate, "give the plan a chance, or leave it be from this day on." Ulrich doubted for a very, very long time whether he should take the chance or not, but Odd kept his hand put out to him, waiting for him to either grab it or explicitly say 'no'. A simple choice with good goals could eventually lead to big consequences.
So when Ulrich grabbed Odd's hand, he didn't know he just lost that battle.
It wasn't easy to get up, the same for your friend who was helping, but did not do very much, leaving it up to Ulrich to try it all alone. Eventually, he stood on both his feet, shaking, and he leaned on Odd. The two friends watched Yumi, who still hadn't noticed Odd and Ulrich having had a full conversation. Odd began to talk again.
"Maybe we could knock her out," Ulrich didn't get a chance to be a critic here, "Wrong choice of words. I mean, if she is knocked out, she won't be able to follow us for a while. Plus, she can't be all that vulnerable; we know she's pretty awesome with those fans of her!" He waited a while. Should he really be doing this?
"But how?" he wondered.
"What about your fancy sword?" Ulrich felt himself bowing down and holding the katana, who lay on the ground, in both his hands. He stared at it for less than a minute, then turned his head to Odd, with an irritated gaze in his eyes.
"Are you out of your mind?" Now Ulrich was acting offensive, he forced Odd to act more defensive. If Ulrich hadn't been leaning on him, he would have put his hands in the air as a defense.
"No you don't understand! We use the flat side, not the cutting side, and we knock her out by hitting Yumi in the head. You don't need to hit her hard, just hard enough so she'll be knocked out for a few hours and can't follow us. That okay with you?" Ulrich looked up, doubtingly (he doubts stuff a lot) and eventually he sighed, confirming he was in, and odd gave him a warm smile.
"If you feel uncomfortable with it, I might be able to help you." And one of Odd's hands, one he didn't use by helping to keep Ulrich standing, grabbed the part of the handle where Ulrich's hands weren't. Slowly, they walked closer and closer to Yumi, who still didn't suspect a thing. Every step was a hard one to place, and every step made Ulrich, in a way, more confident. If this worked, she wouldn't need to worry anymore. Both of them. This time them being separated wouldn't be followed by suffering, but by happiness, as far as that's possible in this cruel world. Just a few more steps…
When Yumi turned around, she saw a slightly confused Ulrich standing there, katana in his hands, being warned by the sounds behind her back. "Ulrich?" she herself seemed surprised to see him standing there. With Odd's help, he lifted the sword and the flat side hit Yumi in the head. Yumi fell on the ground with a thud and and soon the katana followed, which slipped out of Ulrich's sweaty hands.
"Good job!" Odd said, "so now we can leave!" Ulrich looked one more time at Yumi, and only walked along when he was sure Yumi was still breathing. He was going to walk away, until his eye fell on his saber, which he probably had dropped. He leaned over to grab it, but because Odd kept him standing, he wasn't able to pick it up.
"You don't need that," Odd told him, "I've got my laser arrows to protect us from the monsters. Besides, if you're gone, Yumi will want to have something from you to remind her why you left." Ulrich agreed with him. He was vulnerable, yet safe because of the laser arrows. He shot one more look at Yumi, and they left her alone.
After one step and one blink, he was back at the forest sector.
They weren't hasty. At least, they weren't until Jeremy would tell them they had company. Next to him walked Odd the feline, tail sweeping up and down, from left to right. Ulrich lost both his sabers in a previous fight with a few Kankrelats – who thought it would be fun to drag those weapons in the Digital Sea – but Odd still had a load of laser arrows ready, so he wasn't very worried. The transition tower stood somewhere in the northern direction, the reason why they were on Lyoko in the first place. Neither Jeremy nor Aelita had wanted to tell them why, but apparently it was important.
A whole lot of time later, the tower came in sight. The two of them stopped at that distance, because the tower didn't have the normal color around it – now it was surrounded by a red glow and a Krab and a Megatank guarded this transition tower.
"Jeremy? We've got a problem over here…" Odd said, still watching the unwelcome visitors. A well-known voice boomed over them from the air, talking to the two Warriors.
"I know. You'll have to take them down and wait for Aelita to arrive." Jeremy told them. For now, XANA hadn't noticed the Warriors yet, which gave them time to create a plan and to be irritated by the lack of a real weapon.
"Say, Jeremy, could you virtualize a new saber in the meantime?" Ulrich asked – Odd was keeping an eye on the monsters while Ulrich could talk with Jeremy while still being safe.
"I'm sorry, Ulrich, but I can't virtualize it – the supercomputer suffers a lot of viruses. That must be the attack." Ulrich sighed; Jeremy always used some sort of excuse! And this attack actually was rather specific.
"Are the girls already on their way?"
"At the moment, I know Aelita's on her way and Yumi is in the middle of an important history test she absolutely didn't want to skip. You'll have to be strong until Aelita's arrived." Odd turned back to Ulrich now, and in the distance they could hear the sound of the monsters who came closer.
"Well, tell Aelita to hurry up!" he said, and he readied himself for a long distance fight. Ulrich, still not having a new saber, placed himself strategically behind Odd, ready to super-sprint away, might it be needed. The Megatank arrived first, and the battle began.
The Megatank fired three times, and they both could avoid being hit those three times. Odd ran towards the round danger, with the knowledge only having ten life points left, and shot three laser arrows ("Laser arrow!") when the Megatank charged up again. All three arrows hit the middle of the eye, and the Megatank exploded.
And then the Krab arrived.
With one well-aimed shot at the distracted feline was enough to devirtualize Odd. Ulrich shouted out his name, and felt he needed to get out of there. When he tried to move, however, he knew he was frozen on the spot – probably courtesy of one of those viruses. He called out for Jeremy to help him, which never came. Ulrich blamed the activated tower, because of XANA he couldn't move. With one hit of one of those sharp pointy legs in his stomach, Ulrich was devirtualized.
In reality, it only had been a Krab guarding Kadic Academy.
...Is it weird I enjoyed writing this chapter and this being my favorite so far? I hope I won't be the only one... Next chappie, back to Yumi! How wil she react to Ulrich's actions? What are her plans now Ulrich... you know... Will she even make it to the factory, if she decides to go there, or will she do something else? Tune in the 8th of May to know how it continues! On with the reviews:
Bluedog197 (Thanks for the review! You're practically the only one brave enough to do so... To all other readers: I don't bite, so please review! The Laser-Arrow came in at the beginning of the week, so sorry if this was a bit rushed. Next chapter is bound to be also very interesting...)
See ya next time!
-Dutchwriters2