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G-Force 4
Author of 6 Stories |
Disclaimer
I only own Dirk, Clayton and Jin everyone else belongs to Antefilms and Moonscope (like the entire show.)
Special Thanks
If you're still reading this and have forgiven me for writing a cliffhanger then this chapter goes out to you.
ACCESSING RECORDS
SEARCHING
FILE FOUND
BATTLE REPORT-
Combat Summery-
Units one, two, three and four were stationed near tower. Approximately fifteen minutes after tower's activation Red, Yellow and Purple were spotted running toward the tunnel near the land bridge's entrance which was where Pink was hiding also. White appeared roughly three minutes prior to previous sighting. Upon orders, units did not engage enemy hastily and instead opted to remain stationary thus giving off the illusion of our ignorance. White was soon seen outside in what appeared to be a reconnaissance mission. Units were then ordered to attack and managed to injure White and dislodge his sunglasses from his possession. Targets were then pinned down in the cave before they relocated to the two boulders on the pathway. Unit two and three were destroyed in the process. One boulder was moved to the opposite end which signaled White and Pink to move. Reenforcements arrived shortly after and damaged the two oncoming intruders. All five units were later disposed of through the combined efforts of Yellow, Purple thus allowing the second phase of the plan to be executed. An additional five units surrounded the targets and extinguished Yellow and Purple's remaining life points forcing the other enemies to flee. Units did not pursue targets any further.
Mission Accomplished
To put it lightly, their latest encounter with the computer program was intense. XANA had selected the perfect counter strategy to guard his tower with and was able to overcome the group's combined strengths. Odd's agility, Ulrich's speed, Yumi's strategy and Jin's firepower were all easily trumped and could not prevent XANA from winning in the end. Jeremie pressed the elevator's red button that triggered its accent and listened to the gears twist and gyrate as those were the only things that could be heard. No one dared to utter a single word that would remind the others about their humiliating loss and chose to remain silent as if to lament over their own personal shortcomings. The elevator's doors opened and granted passageway to the factory's computer room where everyone converged in one area. It was at that moment that Jeremie faced his battle-weary companions for the first time. His four friends were both emotionally and physically taxed and their fatigue was began to surface. Ulrich rested his right shoulder against a nearby wall and tried his best to stand upright but found himself lacking the strength to do the simple activity. Odd sat on the floor with his head bowed down slightly and was on the verge of collapsing on the computer room's floor. Then his eyes came across the two oldest members of the group. Yumi and Jin showed the most paramount signs of exhaustion seeing that the were the last two people to leave Lyoko before Aelita entered the tower. Yumi's walking pace was labored due to having her brother's body leaning almost completely on her for support. Jin's head was still bowed in shame as he looked at the floor with his cold blank eyes.
Jeremie needed to know what exactly happened on Lyoko during those frantic moments when the modified hornet entered his scanner's field of detection. Although he was desperate for these answers and was eager to consume every tidbit of knowledge that his friends would be willing to reveal, his conscience forced him to quell this desire. The others were dead tired and now would not be the most wise of times to have them relieve their painful loss. Jeremie watched Odd slowly turn his head towards him before he gathered enough strength to stand upright.
"So Einstein," the purple clad boy said in-between breaths. "What do we do now?"
"Just go home and rest. We'll talk about the XANA attack tomorrow when we're all refreshed."
Jeremie didn't see the small look of relief that was painted on Odd's face for he was secretly desiring that answer. However, Ulrich wasn't ready to call it a day just yet.
"Come one Jeremie. There's gotta be something we can do right now."
"What's there to say Ulrich? We have Aelita nursing her wounds. An activated tower that's still operational. And worst of all, Jin is now blind! What's more for me to say? We all lose sometimes!"
Jeremie's sudden outburst caught the rest of the group by surprise. Never before had they seen the boy so riled up. However, Jeremie had every right to be angry. They all were, it was just that he was the only one who wasn't consumed with sadness to actually express it. Jeremie too noticed the flux of emotions that he was venting out and took a few moments to calm himself down before speaking again.
"Sorry about that Ulrich. It's just that today was pretty hard on all of us. Until I know exactly what happened back there we can't come up with a decent counter plan to solve this problem. We should just rest up and take it from there."
Ulrich's sigh was the only indicator that he revealed that showed his acknowledgment in Jeremie's words. He then turned to face Yumi and Jin who were completely silent during the entire conversation.
"I'll help you walk Jin home," the boy offered, hoping he could do at least one competent deed before the day's end.
"Thanks," came Yumi's almost silent reply. Getting her brother home safely was her prime objective at the moment and she was grateful for Ulrich's assistance.
The five teenagers boarded the freight elevator for their return trip to the surface only to go on their separate ways not knowing what they would encounter the next day.
"I don't think XANA can go to Hell since he's a computer program and all," Yumi replied in a jokingly manner. Although she tried to sound cheery even to go as far as to release a small chuckle, the effort sounded forced and unnatural.
Currently Jin's arms were draped over Yumi and Ulrich's shoulders as if he had just injured his legs in an undisclosed accident. This was done as a clever means to disguise their guidance for their blind friend.
Ulrich too was silent during the walk home. Seeing the awkward situation that Yumi had placed herself in, he jumped into the conversation as to help the girl out. He opted for a change of subject as to drive it in a less painful direction. Too bad Ulrich over-steered the new topic into an area that was even more unbearable to discuss.
"So what do you suppose happened in Lyoko just a while ago?"
Jin tilted his head up as if he were to look at the evening sky that had draped over them. The chilly night air and the soft footsteps he could hear along with the traffic ambiance that surrounded him were the only companions he had in his dark world.
"As much as I love to discuss how we got our behinds handed to us. I prefer to just rest now. Thank you very much."
Jin's sense of humor grew darker as he walked home with Yumi and Ulrich. His words were a lot sharper, slicing through the seeming innocent question leaving only ribbons behind while the others stood quietly to gawk at the savage tone his speech took.
No more attempts of further conversation came from the teenagers' mouths after that. Somehow, they managed to find themselves in front of the Ishiyama household and were relieved that the day was finally coming to an end.
"We're here," came Yumi's statement. She then turned to Ulrich and waved to him goodbye. "Thanks for you help Ulrich. I'll take it from here. I hope Jeremie can sort out this mess."
Ulrich nodded in agreement. "I hope so too. See you later guys."
Ulrich mentally kicked himself for his insensitive wording his sentence had. Not wanting to hurt his older friend anymore, he quickly made an about face and walked straight back to Kadic Junior High. If he were to stay just five minutes longer, then he would have seen the look of guilt that was plastered across the features of Yumi's face.
First things first. He had to get his thoughts in line. Thwarting XANA's latest attack ranked high on his to do list but if his matter of thinking stayed just as jumbled as the day's events then making any sort of headway in the uncovering its secrets would be downright impossible. Jeremie decided to just mentally go over what happened in Lyoko in his head. Maybe if he remembered what happened in general he can dive into the specifics of the situation later. That made him think about the retreat. If he was only quicker in the devirtualizing process, maybe Jin would have never been blinded in the first place.
Wait a second!
That was it. Jin was the only person who was not removed from Lyoko by XANA's monsters. Ulrich and Odd were eliminated after being hit by an ice cannon while a hornet spelled doom for Yumi. Jin was intentionally isolated from his friends and thus fell victim to whatever cruel fate XANA had in store for him. It was now apparently obvious that the activated tower was directly linked to the transfer error that first beset the warriors as they entered the virtual world. Now he just had to keep combing through the information to find answers for the rest of questions that were just begging for a response.
The first question that popped into Jeremie's mind was why. Why, out of all the people in Lyoko, was Jin blinded? If there was anything that XANA had shown in his previous encounters was that he was everything but random. XANA always selected his targets with pinpoint precision and would never leave a stone unturned in his conquest against the human race. This conundrum proved to be harder to answer than it initially seemed. Jin was the most inexperienced member in the Lyoko group not to mention arguably the weakest. Unlike the others, Jin is unable to engage in direct combat with his enemies for he would easily be overpowered. This fact made Jeremie think deeper into the further recesses of his mind to find some sort of conclusion for this riddle.
The characters that Jeremie's friends use while on Lyoko were all created with special abilities and strengths that complimented the rest of the group as a whole. Ulrich's character was powerful, plain and simple. Which gave him the luxury of attacking several monsters at once only to emerge victorious in the end. However, he still has trouble dealing with enemies attacking from long range. Odd was blessed with increased speed and agility allowing him to dart to and fro between places leaving his adversaries in the dust wondering what just happened. This made him ideal for rescuing Aelita from even the most precarious situations though he did not excel in melee combat in a similar fashion. Yumi's character forced her to play a defensive role. Blocking incoming laser beams with her fan while keeping all her friends safe. Of course she had to be methodical with her fan tosses as they would leave her wide open for any attack that her opponents had up their sleeves . Then there was Jin. The gunner who was meant as a prime source of distraction using an assortment of acrobatic moves that would normally be seen in a Hong Kong action flick. Despite his in-depth thinking, Jeremie still had yet to uncover XANA's motive for blinding Jin.
If he was XANA, who would he choose to be blind? His target would not be his most dangerous threat but the person who would be the most helpless without their sight. XANA understood the group's dynamic and knew the fact that if one person is "removed from the game" if you will, then the rest will fall with ease. Now with a logical train of thought in motion, Jeremie then proceeded to analyze ways that the other potential victims would overcome this handicap. He first though of Yumi as she had been the brunt of XANA's most recent attacks as of lately. If Yumi could no longer see yet was forced to fight in Lyoko, she would most likely stay in front of Aelita with her weapon drawn and hold it in front of her. Not to mention the use of her telekinetic powers allowed her to move objects without her watching them. She did close her eyes after all. Next was Odd. Even though he did use a projectile weapon, Jeremie figured out that even blinded he would still be of some use to the team. Odd's clairvoyant sixth sense made him the ideal candidate in spotting potential traps and enemy ambushes and seeing how he watches them through his mind's eye and not the actual eyeballs in his head, not having pupils would leave this ability unhindered. Ulrich's power would also enable him to step over this shortcoming as he could merely send his clones to fight for him. For a brief moment Jeremie considered Aelita as a possibility but the simple fact that she could regenerate her life points inside a tower made him believe that this same process could also cure any ailments that afflicted her. Again, Jeremie's final thoughts rested on Jin and then it hit him. Without his eyes, Jin was essentially worthless. Just when he reached the threshold of his discovery, Jeremie was paid yet another surprise visit from Aelita.
"Is everything there okay?" The virtual girl asked with a worrisome expression on her face.
"Well not everything," Jeremie said with an equally gloomy look. "XANA has found some way to make Jin blind."
Jeremie watched Aelita place both of her hands across her mouth in a feeble attempt to hide her shock. She was completely unaware that something so horrible could happen to one of her friends. Jeremie was about to say some comforting words to the girl but stopped short when he noticed a small blip where the activated tower was. Not wasting a second, he clicked on the strange looking dot only to receive more information about Jin's character.
"No way!" Jeremie said out loud. "According to the scans I ran across the area, Jin is still virtulaized!" It only took the boy a while to figure out what was going on. "That means his sight is still in Lyoko!"
Although Aelita knew the ins and outs of her virtual homeland, she was still clueless when it came to the characters that her friends used to combat XANA.
"What do you exactly mean Jeremie?"
Jeremie took in a deep breath knowing that he was about to give a long explanation. "It's like this Aelita. Remember when we talked about the five senses of the human body? Back when we first thought you were going to be materialized."
"I do recall that conversation."
"Well, when humans are virtualized they still have use of their senses. Since Lyoko is one giant virtual world, everything that resides inside of it is essentially a computer program. The characters our friends use run in a similar manner as almost every aspect of them is controlled by a different set of codes. There's a program for their sight, hearing and so forth. Essentially, XANA had found some way of stealing the coding that dictated Jin's sight and is holding it hostage in that activated tower."
"Do you have any idea what he has planned for it?"
"Aside from keeping the guy in the dark, if you will. I haven't the foggiest. Though I am somewhat relieved that I have some means of monitoring Jin's eyesight."
"I take it that if we deactivate the tower then we'll restore Jin's vision."
"That is correct but I'm really worried about entering Lyoko right now. We don't know what exactly happened back there and if we get too careless we can have another friend lose their vision as well. Not to mention the fact that there was a transfer error in the vitalization process."
"Do you think the error had something to do with the XANA attack?"
"I honestly do not know. If that's the case then Yumi, Ulrich and Odd should have had similar problems but they're fine."
Jeremie banged his fist against his desk and shook his head from side to side.
"None of this makes sense! What the heck is going on here!"
Aelita's mood changed from fear to a more compassionate look.
"Jeremie, I think you should get some rest now."
"How can I rest when we have this massive problem on our hands? Our friends are in trouble and I'm the only one here who can solve it."
Aelita knew that Jeremie was angrier with himself than at her for giving him that suggestion. She continued with her aid, hoping that she could put the boy at ease.
"Listen to me Jeremie. From what observations I've gathered from your world by watching you, sleep is essential. If you continue at this inhuman pace, you'll make a mistake that you'll regret. Even though I don't need to sleep I do find myself feeling fatigue from time to time and I could not think straight until I stopped and rest which is one of the reasons why I meditate in Lyoko. What I'm saying here is if you truly care about your friends, then you'll make sure you come to the correct answer in this conundrum and not to a snap decision."
Aelita's gentle words were soothing to Jeremie's ears. No longer was he the tight bundle of nerves that left the factory's doors a few hours ago as he was now reduced to a state of sheer tranquility. Aelita was always able to quell whatever emotional storm that he would be caught by utter a few well timed lines. Jeremie couldn't help but smile after hearing the sound of her voice.
"Perhaps you're right. There is only so much one can do within that span of a day and after this we all need to rest."
Aelita watched the tired boy crawl into the single bed that was in his dorm. Soon she realized that this was indeed the earliest time that Jeremie has slept in quiet a while. The pink haired girl took a brief moment to relish in her minor accomplishment but was soon overcome by a sense of warmth from within. The simple sight of Jeremie going to bed made her feel acknowledged. She had never been this attached to another living soul which only made her home feel even more like a prison. This indeed was a reality that she yearned to be a part of, company she longed to be with. The girl watched Jeremie's sleeping form as his bed sheets raised and lowered that went along with the sound of him breathing. Aelita softly smiled to herself before disconnecting from Jeremie's computer, anticipating the next time she could feel such serenity within herself.
"How you feeling Jin?" Came a concerned voice belonging to a young female.
"Well aside from the fact I can't see, I'm alright," Jin said with a smile of his face. Sleep had done little in the restoration of his eyesight but it did help in brightening his mood a bit.
"That's good to hear," the girl replied slightly relieved.
Yumi averted her eyes from Jin's gaze for looking into his blank eyeballs for it caused her guilt to swell up in the pit of her stomach. Instead, she focused on the bundle of clothes that she was currently holding which comprised her brother's traditional school outfit.
"Here," Yumi said as she threw the clothes onto Jin's bed. "You better get dressed now or else we'll be late."
"One slight problem sis."
Yumi expected Jin to point out the obvious. "Your eyes. I know."
"I can't walk around with my eyelids closed or else everybody will think I'm unconscious and I'll get sent to the infirmary which ranks pretty low on my "Things that I want to happen to me" list."
Yumi closed her eyes to seclude herself in thought before she came up with a reasonable solution. "You can always wear sunglasses."
Jin's smile grew even wider after hearing his sister's suggestion. "Great idea sis. Good thing I have a pair. Just check the bottom left drawer of my dresser."
Yumi followed her brother's instructions and fetched the black case that contained the boy's sunglasses.
"Found them," Yumi said as she gently tossed the case into the pile of clothes that she previously left on Jin's bed. "We should go down stairs to get something to eat now."
"I'm not hungry," Jin answered dryly.
"But Jin, you didn't have dinner last night," Yumi protested.
"I said I'm not hungry," Jin said sharply, allowing his speech to darken.
Yumi knew that it was useless to argue with Jin once he made up his mind and decided to just drop the issue all together.
"I'll leave you alone to get ready then," and with that said she left her brother's presence.
Jin slid off the side of his bed and felt around the covers to locate the items his sister handed to him. He had no trouble navigating his room as he had done so many a time before in the dark and memorized the layout by heart. His hands soon brush against his night stand and over the bottons of his trusty CD player. Knowing that he was going to relay heavily on his sense of hearing for a while, he didn't want to do anything that could dull this ability. Jin drew his hand away from the piece of machinery and back onto the pile of clothes on his bed sheet.
"Not today," the Japanese boy muttered softly to himself before getting ready for school.
The slow and plodding footsteps that creaked from the house's staircase drove Yumi's mind back into the confines of her skull and reminded her that she was still home. The girl crept to the area that the sound was coming from and saw Jin carefully descend to the floor below him step by step. His right hand gripped the banister for support as his left hand pressed against the wall near him to further help the boy get his bearings. Yumi was about to offer her help but quickly retracted her decision knowing full well that Jin would protest. Seeing that she was no longer needed, the girl made her way back to the kitchen to wash the dishes she used. A few small footsteps the only warnings Yumi had of her mother entering the room.
"Good morning Yumi. My, you're up early," her mom said in slight amusement.
"Morning to you too," Yumi answered with a smile on her face. "Aniki and I were about to leave for school a little bit early today." Yumi's reply was rehearsed as this was the excuse she planed to use incase she had a run in with her parents during this crucial time.
"Well it must be important so I should let you go. Where's Jin? He should be downstairs also or else he'll be left behind. I'll go get him for you."
"Crud," Yumi whispered to herself. This is the exact scenario that she didn't want. If her mom saw Jin's eyes then...she didn't want to think of the consequences but Jin was able to stop this by speaking of his location.
"I'm near the door mom."
Yumi stepped out from behind her mother and saw Jin standing with his back pressed on the wall within close proximity of the door frame. He somehow was able to navigate down the staircase to the front entrance of the house. It was also at this moment that Yumi noticed that Jin had heeded her advice and was wearing his sunglasses as to hide his condition from prying eyes.
"You were always the light sleeper Jin," Mrs. Ishiyama commented, remembering the boy's unique sleeping habits.
Suddenly three loud rasps came from the Ishiyama's front door putting everyone in the household at a modest state of confusion. Being the closest to the door, Jin slowly made his way to the doorknob and prepared to face the rest of the world that lay beyond his doorstep.
"Watch out!" Jeremie yelled as he watched the appendage fly in the general vicinity of his skull.
Odd soon let out another yawn before justifying his actions.
"Sorry Einstein, I'm just not used to getting up this early." The tired boy droned. " So why are we here again?"
Jeremie was almost driven to the point of smacking himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand but dismissed that notion to save himself the pain.
"Geez Odd, I don't know whether to attribute that question to either short term memory or lack of sleep. Though I'm a little skeptical of the second guess since you're always the last one to wake up in the morning."
"Let's not forget about his daily naps during physics, English and history class as well," Ulrich interjected.
Odd was surprised by Ulrich's witty comeback which was a rare event in itself. "Well...I...ah be quiet."
Ulrich chuckled to himself to relished his small victory in the impromptu verbal spare. He was about to re-explain why the group was in this particular area but his explanation was cut short by the sound of a door opening which revealed Jin standing where the wooden barricade used to be.
"Morning Jin," Ulrich said cheerfully as a means of identifying himself.
Jin took a defensive step back as he was totally surprised by his friend's sudden entrance.
"Who is it Jin?" Came an older female voice which Ulrich deduced was Jin's mother.
"It's his friends Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie Mrs. Ishiyama," the person in question answered. Although Ulrich was on friendly terms with the Japanese woman, he wasn't well known around the household to just causally stroll inside.
"Oh hello there," Mrs. Isiyama said brightly, pleased with the boy's company.
"Urlich!" Yumi repeated wearing a similar dumbfounded expression as her brother did a minute ago.
Yumi's mom continued the conversation, "Looks like you guys have something important to do today if you're all up this early. I'll leave you alone then. Goodbye and don't forget to pick up your lunches. We had left overs from last night and I want to get rid of them."
"By mom," the siblings replied simultaneously.
Yumi watched the woman climb the staircase leading to the second floor from their positions before taking her brother's arm to lead him outside.
"So Yumi, how do you like our little surprise visit?" Odd asked the girl slyly.
Jeremie stepped forward as to give the confused girl the expiation she deserved. "All of this was a byproduct of what happened this morning. The three of us were really concerned for Jin's safety and decided during our breakfast that we should pay you two a visit."
"Yeah, without me getting a bite to eat!" Odd yelled.
Yumi placed her hand over her mouth to try to cover up the wide smile that was spreading across her face.
"Well I'm glad that you cared enough for Aniki to skip a meal and come over."
Odd let out a low growl before Ulrich entered the conversation and ended the friendly bickering.
"We thought it would be good if we all showed up to help walk Jin to school." Ulrich stopped speaking to take a quick look at Jin's sunglasses and was pleased with the boy's readiness. "Looks like you guys already solved the eye issue."
"Thank my sis. It was her idea."
Ulrich turned his head to face Yumi although Jin highlighted her most recent feat of cleverness her eyes still had a semi-downcast look to them as if she had something on her mind.
"Whatever she's thinking, its best I stay out of it," the boy thought to himself before turning around to begin his return trip to Kadic Junior High.
It was the first try at a normal conversation in the group since the XANA attack and it was in their best interest to carry on their normal routine as if nothing had happened.
"Well I did download this one song off the internet a few days ago," Jin said while keeping his right hand on his sister's shoulder as to stay walking in the correct direction.
"Oh really?" Odd said interested. "What's it called. Maybe I should get it myself."
"Love Foolosophy and don't even bother getting my file"
"Is the song that horrible?"
"No in fact its really good. It's just that the audio quality is really low and it sounds like it was recorded in a garage by some kids. I do have to say that it sounds like a good tune to play during the credits of a tv show but that's my opinion."
Yumi sighed to herself and get walking forward and did not dare to take a look at Jin's face even though it was beaming with happiness. She only allowed the slightest hint of melancholy to enter her eyes and hoped that no one else would see her slightly sadden expression, and true enough no one did.
No one except Ulrich.
The school's bell system was put onto active duty releasing its standard signal which beaconed all the students outside to come indoors to begin their lessons. Yumi and Jin stood on the outside of their first period's classroom door and pondered amongst themselves how to get to their desks without arising any suspicious glances from their teachers and fellow classmates. Before the rapid fire exchange of ideas could take place, Yumi heard a stampede of footsteps roar behind her which instantly sparked a solution. Using the before-school chaos that the morning brought forth, Yumi grabbed Jin by the arm and pulled him into the classroom until they were next to his desk. The students inside were too busy with idle chit chat with one another to care about the Japanese girl dragging her older twin brother around the place.
"You didn't have to pull that hard," Jin said dryly as he slowly lowered himself into his chair.
"Sorry, Aniki. Guess I got lost in the moment."
Jin noted the way his sister said the word "sorry." Yumi filled the word up with more emotional despair than needed when one committed an innocent mistake. Just before he could express his concerns, the teacher finally called the class to order.
"Ok class. I hope you enjoyed yesterday's unexpected vacation but now we got some ground to cover."
Yumi and Jin exhaled a huge sigh of relief simultaneously. They were already able to deduce the teacher's lesson plan given only his brief introductory statement. There was only going to be one activity that would take place during this period today.
"Everyone please take out your textbooks and open them to the thirty-first page."
Today was going to be a day devoted to lectures. With the gaping hole in all the teacher's lessons plans throughout Kadic Junior High, the faculty was about to present their missing lessons in double time to get their students caught up. They way this development played out in Jin's favor was that the teacher would be more concerned with speeding through the lesson plan rather than directly addressing his students. The boy followed his teacher's instructions and drew out the requested book, which he was able to identify by the overall size and feel of the cover, and set in on top of his desk. Not taking any chances, Jin stood the book up right on its edges so that it blocked his face from the rest of the class all while making sure that it was standing right side up by using the book's bar code as a reference of which end was which.
"Mr. Ishiyama!" The teacher said sharply.
"Yes," came Jin's explanation as he kept his face buried into the makeshift barricade he created.
"Any particular reason why you can't set your book down like the rest of the class?"
"Oh no!" Yumi thought to herself. She could just feel the anxiety and worry just build up in her throat halting any saving comments she could throw and turning them into tiny squeaks of pitifulness.
"Don't worry I'm listening," Jin said as he waved his hand over the book's cover so that his instructor could see it. "You can stop wondering if I'm asleep back here, which I'm not. The truth of the matter is, I slightly injured my neck and I can't move it much."
The teacher raised a suspicious eyebrow but took no action for he had not the luxury to waste anymore time.
"Now back to the lesson," the teacher said calling the classroom's attention to his words.
Jin pressed his back against a tree which was located near the school's cafeteria. He was getting better acquainted with both hiding and dealing with his blindness now being able to acquire a better perception of the world around him using his remaining four senses, but he was still completely helpless without the aid of his friends. The group of teenagers had taken refuge in this particular area as it was seldom that other students would frequent the premise. Jin could feel the rough bark of the tree rub against the fabric of his jacket as he slowly sat down on the grassy surface to get into a more comfortable position so that he could listen to his friends.
"Half the day done. Now we have the other half to go," Odd said lightly.
"So has there been any close calls lately?" Jeremie asked concerned of the potential dangers Jin's disorder presented them.
"So far none," replied an emotionally exhausted Yumi. "We just sat at our desks while our teachers tried to cram as much information into our heads as humanly possible."
"Same here," Odd said brightly. "Mrs. Herz's class was even more boring than usual. Course I used the period to catch up on my sleep but who can blame me?"
Jeremie took one good look at the afflicted boy before turning his head back to the rest of the group.
"Now I think its pretty obvious why I had us meet here of all places."
"Nature walk?" Odd interrupted.
On a normal day, Jeremie would use the opportunity to scold Odd for his completely lack of serious. However, Jeremie was secretly grateful for his friend's lack of tact as it lifted some of the building tension from the discussion. He quietly sighed to himself and continued.
"Last night Aelita and I were talking about the Lyoko battle and why things happened the way they did."
"Is the tower still activated?" Ulrich anxiously asked allowing himself to finally participate in the conversation.
"Yes it is and I believe that its immediate deactivation is the only way for us to reverse the effects of XANA's attack."
"Jeremie," came Jin's almost quite voice which stopped his intellectual friend from elaborating on his most recent hypothesis.
"Yes?"
"Do you think you can leave me alone for a while? I need a moment to think to myself right now."
Jeremie tried his best to prolong their stay in the forest. "Are you sure about that Jin. This is some pretty important information that I'm sharing with you."
"I'm fine," Jin insisted. "I'm sure sis will fill me in on the details later."
The group of friends knew that Jin had suffered enough and quickly payed heed to his wishes. Yumi took extra care to make sure that Jin was perfectly safe in his spot and was a little hesitant in leaving him alone. With one last glance, Jin faded from the girl's sight but not from her memory.
"So, where should we meet now?" Ulrich asked casually.
"The cafeteria," Odd asserted while rubbing his stomach. "I'm starving and I need to eat NOW!"
The other three teenagers shared a brief moment of laughter before the turned the corner of the building they were near to gain access to the cafeteria.
"You would think by now that some of our teachers just dabble on and on simply because they like to hear the sound of their own voices."
Clayton raised his eyebrow and was completely unsure what direction was Dirk going with his previous statement.
"Wha?" Came the larger friend's confused response.
Dirk slowly shook his head from side to side partially blaming himself for not enlightening Clayton oh his unique thought pattern.
"I was just expressing my discontent with how the teacher's choose to cover the lesson gap today."
"Yeah I know what you mean," a newly informed Clayton said. "They just kept hitting us with an endless supply of lectures."
"That's not all of it. You see, our educators have failed to realize the different psychological needs of their students."
Sometimes Clayton would seriously just abandon all hopes of ever understanding his enigmatic friend. Too bad today wasn't one of those moments.
"Psychological needs!" Came Clayton's surprised answer. "Honestly Dirk, you're taking this waaaaay to seriously. Do you wish to change the way teacher's interact with their students."
Dirk raised his hand and slowly shifted it back and forth to dismiss his friend's concern. "Let's not take it that far. I was only stating the obvious."
"And what's so obvious about a student's psychological needs? Who Christopher Columbus was and the concept of gravity. Those are obvious facts."
Dirk was about to resume of eexplanation but Clayton's miniature education speech forced Dirk to reward his efforts.
"Impressive. Now back to what I was saying. You see Clayton. If we were to look at this in a metaphoricl sense then we can compare the teacher opening our heads up while holding a gigantic bucket of "info" and pouring it into our skulls."
"Like I said before Dirk, you're taking this way too far. Can't we just forget about it and just wait till class is over?"
"Just let me get thorough this thought," Dirk said harshly enough to keep the large person quiet. "The problem with this lecture overdose is that there are some students who are still left in the dark for listening to a teacher drone on and on for we lose focus."
Clayton had enough with Dirk's on brand of lecturing today for his information input was on overload.
"OooOooO. Dirk the psychologist. I'm shaking. I'm shaking."
Dirk ignored his friend's cheap shot to his ego and continued walking forward. He was defiantly not in a good mood right now. Four colored blotches, which he later identified as Yumi, Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie, soon came into his field of vision. With his attention now fully grasped, the Korean watched the quartet turn the corner of the cafeteria's outside before disappearing into the building's double doors. He was quick to note the widespread melancholy looks that all four teenagers before he gracefully turned on his heel to face his companion.
"Hey look, it's the Weirdo Bunch," Clayton whispered loud enough for only Dirk to hear.
"Yes and it appears that something is troubling them."
"They also seem to be one member short as I don't see Jin anywhere."
"Hmmm," Dirk said as he candled his chin in-between his thumb and index finger striking a pose that would make any comic book villain green with envy. "One can deduce that Jin's disappearance could somehow be linked to the sullen mood they're now in. "
Clayton was able to properly abridge Dirk's latest comment in only three words. "They're hiding something."
"Thanks for the recap. I assume that I don't need to ask you if you're interested in pursuing this lead."
Dirk only needed to see Clayton pound his right fist into the palm of his other hand to know that he had his full cooperation.
"Never figured you to be the outdoors kind of person Ishiyama."
Jin didn't need a set of working eyes to know who he was talking to. He slowly rose to his feet to face his visitor.
"Well if it isn't Kadic Junior High's own little Sun Tzu in training. Glad to see that you're taking time out of your precious studies to talk to little ole me."
Dirk turned his nose in an upward direction as if he caught wind of a fowl smell.
"Can the corny jokes for some other time."
Jin put a pretend frown on his face and stood up. He adjusted the sunglasses that lay on the bridge of his nose as to make sure they stay in their desired area before continuing the verbal match.
"Awwww," the boy said with a sad puppy dog face. "Little Dirky Wirky doesn't feel like laughing."
Clayton stood slightly in front of his best friend as both a means to see his reaction and to serve as his body guard incase things got rough. Despite Jin's insults against his pride, Dirk still remained just as stone cold as ever. Not even showing a trace of emotion on his face as to give away how he was truly feeling inside.
"I'll say this only once to save me the headache," Dirk resumed. "What's bugging your friends as of right now?"
Jin could feel the tips of his fingernails dig deep into the soft flesh in the palm of his hand. Facing down two of Kadic Junior High's most notorious students was a difficult task. He could just feel all the pent up frustrations that he allowed to well up inside of him. Clawing their way to be top to be displayed in front of the rest of the world. Jin tried his best to hold onto his demeanor but his aggression flowed through the cracks in his armor.
"Just buzz off Kap Hwan! I'm not in the mood to be playing Twenty Questions."
"Real funny," Dirk said in a cold manner.
"You know what?" Jin said as the volume of his voice was beginning to raise. "Just get the Hell out of my face! I don't even know why you want to mess with our group so badly. News flash Dirk. You can't beat us. You're just not good enough."
All that Dirk could hear was the sound of something shattering in his subconscious. He squeezed his hands tighter till his knuckles were white and glared at Jin with murderous intent. Over and over again those words played back in his mind like a broken record player relaying a message of old. A message that he did not want to hear again as long as he lived.
Clayton took a step back from Dirk for his own safety. Something inside the guy snapped. Whatever Jin said to him in his previous statement did some serious damage. Dirk was madly driven by his anger and there was Hell to pay. The vengeful look in Dirk's eyes was enough to kill Jin ten times over and for once in his life, Clayton was scared. Scared of what Dirk was going to do to Jin with his newly found rage.
"DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT TO ME AGAIN!" Dirk screamed out as he lashed a powerful backhand aimed at Jin's face. Unable to see the oncoming blow, the victim of the attack took no means of defending himself and allowed his head to absorb the savage blow. Jin fell to the floor with a mighty thud and hastily placed his hands on his face. He was in a state of near panic once he realized that he no longer wore his precious sunglasses. He quickly abandoned any hopes of striking back at his attacker and crawled on all fours sweeping his hands over the floor in a desperate attempt to find the piece of eye wear amongst the blades of grass still keeping his eyes closed. Now Dirk was furious.
"Hey, I'm up here. Looks like I need to give you a reminder of why you should never piss me off!"
Dirk lifted his right foot off the ground and sent it rocketing toward the body smashing the upper section of his foot into the base of Jin's rib cage. Jin rolled on top of his back and tightly clutched his sides as to drive out the pain.
Not completely satisfied with the damage he had caused, Dirk flashed a sadistic smile toward Clayton as to relieve him of his services.
"Don't worry. I got this." Dirk finished his last sentence with another kick into Jin's ribs. The Japanese boy responded with another stifled scream and secretly hoped that help would come soon.
"Oh yeah lunch! The one period that I look forward to. Well, lunch and art."
Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie left the eating boy alone for they knew how he didn't like to be disturbed while eating and continued their original meeting.
"So what did you want to tell us?" Yumi asked with a solemn expression on her face.
"After carefully going over with what little information that was provided to me. I have reason to believe that Jin's loss of vision was anything but a freak accident."
Yumi's eyes opened wide in horror. She took a moment to re-collect herself as not to stand out in the cafeteria before confirming her suspicions.
"You mean Aniki was..."
"Yes. Jin was XANA's original target all along." Jeremie opened his mouth to say more but saw that he did not fully have Yumi's attention as he saw her stare blankly at the ground completely oblivious of her surroundings.
"You know Yumi," Jeremie countered. " If you're going to ask a question then you pay attention so you can hear your answer."
Jeremie watched the Japanese girl snap back to reality via a head shake before looking slightly embarrassed.
"Sorry Jeremie. Guess I let my mind wander off somehow."
Ulrich was a little more worried then his other friend and wanted to make absolutely sure that there was nothing bother his female counterpart.
"Are you sure Yumi? If there is something wrong you can always tell us."
The girl hesitated before waving the boy's concerns away. "It's ok Ulrich. I'm fine. Really."
Just like Jin, Yumi too was a poor liar. As much as Ulrich wanted to lend his support to the emotionally fragile girl, bringing her problems out now would just be cruel. He decided to just stick to the original topic and ask Jeremie another question concerning XANA.
"What makes you think so? Any one of us faced the same risks as he did but why was he the only one blinded?"
"If XANA wished to affect you or Odd then he wouldn't have his blocks shoot you with their ice cannons or eliminate Yumi with the hornet's laser gun. I feel those things were done to you guys as a means to isolate Jin."
"But why Jin?" Came another question from Ulrich's inquisitive mind.
"Jin is utterly useless without his sight. All three of you can retain some level of competence in Lyoko if a similar fate befell onto you but Jin would just be dead weight."
"So what's stopping us from going back to Lyoko and kicking XANA's butt to fix this mess?" Odd suggested with his mouth full of food.
"Because that would be suicide."
"Suicide!" The rest of the group repeated in unison.
"One can only assume that Jin's blindness is linked to the mysterious transfer error that first surfaced during your virtualization. So until I find out what's going on with the scanners, no one is to even set a foot on Lyoko without my permission."
"Then find out what's wrong!" Yumi commanded, slamming her fist onto the table with authority.
Jeremie's face turned a darker shard of crimson as he remembered exactly why his finding were incomplete.
"Sorry Yumi. I would have but I went to sleep early that night."
"You did what!" Odd repeated. "No wonder you seemed more awake than usual."
"It was Aelita's idea!" Jeremie blurted out. "She said I could have made a critical error during my research and that I should approach the situation with a clear head."
"And you listened to her? Wow, if she got you to sleep early then she must mean something special to you."
Odd rose from his seat and began to stretch out his limbs and let out a low yawn.
"Gah! This is information overkill for me. I'm going out for some fresh air. Fill me in on the details I missed later."
Yumi saw a golden opportunity to see if everything was alright with Jin. "Can you check up on Aniki for me?"
"Sure thing. Might as well give the guy some company. Lord knows what thoughts are going through his head."
Odd picked up his book bag and hoisted it over his shoulder all while making his way toward the door. He forced the entranceway open with one of his arms and made his way to the last place the group was with Jin not knowing what to expect once he got there.
"Man it's great to finally get out of that cafeteria even though it cost me my meal."
The mere mentioning of food brought Odd's train of thought to his tiny dog and if he too had something to eat.
"I hope I put enough food in Kiwi's dish. I should check that out but first thing's first I need to see how Jin's is doing," the boy said to himself.
Odd rounded the corner of the cafeteria's building casually expecting to see Jin resting against a tree like he originally was when he was left alone. As he walked deeper into the forest he attention was immediately seized by the sighting of two extra bodies. One wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and the other dressed in all black.
"Dirk and Clayton." Odd growled under his breath as not to announce his arrival.
Odd fixed his gaze upon the figure in red lying on the floor and was terrified by the sight. The boy was face down in the field and desperately clawed at the Earth in a feeble attempt in standing up again but lacked the energy to do so. In that instant, Odd recalled a conversation he had with Jin after the last time they spared against each other.
"Don't cut yourself short. Who knows, maybe you'll come rushing to our aid like you always do in Lyoko."
Jin's soon-to-be savior gritted his teeth in anticipation of the rough battle ahead. "Man Jin, you just had to be right about this one."
"Oh how the mighty have fallen," Dirk said still drunk with rage. "No one dares talk to me like that!"
Clayton took another step back from his friend. Not out of fear but out of astonishment. There was something more to this scene than meets the eye. Something that needed to be uncovered. Clayton's miniature infestation was abruptly ended when he saw a relatively large object fly by his face in the general direction where Dirk was standing.
"CATCH!" A voiced yelled out in the distance.
Dirk swiftly turned around and caught the mysterious projectile with both his arms and was surprised to feel the amount of weight it carried. The Korean boy looked down at the item in his possession and was perplexed by what he was holding.
"A backpack!" Dirk said to himself. "Where the hell did this come from?"
"From me!" The mysterious voice yelled out.
"What the!"
Dirk looked directly ahead of him only to see a streak of purple take to the air and extend his foot in his direction. The schoolyard tactician felt a gigantic blow on his chest sending him flying backwards. Gravity quickly took effect and Dirk soon found himself rolling on the school's grassy surface until he ran out of momentum and skidded to a halt.
"Mind if I crash the party Jin?" Odd asked the boy he was rescuing.
"Odd!" Jin said excitedly knowing that his enemies were about to get their just desserts.
"Great to see you too but now I got Tweedle Dumber to kick around. Give me a minute. This won't take long,"Odd finished his statement arrogantly.
Clayton shook his head as to snap himself back to reality. If he didn't know better, he just saw Odd deliver a flying kick to his best friend. That thought alone got his blood pumping.
"You purple freak!" Clayton yelled at the top of his lungs.
"And darn proud of it," Odd responded in his trademark goofy smile.
"TRY SMILING WITH MY FIST CRAMMED DOWN YOUR THROAT!"
Odd's reflexes were fine tuned way beyond the limitations of your typical teenager. Dodging Clayton's fist proved to be not as difficult as say a roachster's laser beam but he wasn't complaining. Odd bent his torso downward and swayed underneath his adversary's arm putting him at an ideal position for a counter attack. Before Clayton's could kick in which would allow him to defend himself, Odd retaliated by throwing a punch of his own into the left side of the larger boy's face. His fist jolted slightly as the feedback from the blow lit up the nerves in his arms and ignited them like wildfire. Clayton's body still remained anchored to the Earth as he continued to stand his ground. Odd mentally yelled at himself as he remembered how hard it was to fight the enforcer of Kadic Junior high. Even Ulrich barely managed to escape his previous confrontation. However, despite these obstacles, Odd pressed on. He never ran away from a fight in Lyoko so why should he in the real world. Knowing that he was going to need a more powerful blow to win this exchange, Odd switched strategies. Leaping in the air backwards until his body was perfectly parallel to the ground, he thrust both of his legs out in midair and planted them firmly onto Clayton's chest. The dropkick paid off as it sent Clayton rocketing in the opposite direction into a nearby tree which knocked him to the floor where he laid motionless.
"And the score now rests at Odd two, Troublesome Duo, zero!" The victor yelled.
"Think again!"
Odd turned his body to see what was going on only to feel a Dirk's elbow ram itself into his shoulder.
"Gah!" Odd screamed in surprise and agony.
Dirk stood upright and fixed the collar of his dress shirt to make sure that he still looked presentable. His collected mannerisms returned to him in full force thus allowing him to have complete control of himself.
"I had enough of your cheap tricks Odd! Say high to Nurse Dorothy for me after I send you to the infirmary on a stretcher."
"Harsh words coming from somebody who's going to be laid out flat."
Odd ran at full speed at the black clad bully in hopes of getting the jump on him which was what Dirk was hoping all along.
"That's it Odd. Just a little closer. One more step and it will be all over," Dirk thought to himself. The fingers in his hand trembled in excitement anticipating the amount of destruction that they will cause.
"I had enough of your cheap tricks Odd! Say high to Nurse Dorothy for me after I send you to the infirmary on a stretcher."
That voice, it was Dirk's but more importantly, judging by its volume, he was standing right in front of him. Using that previous outburst as a guide, Jin pinpointed his target's exact location and massaged the tiny knuckle bones in his right hand.
"I'm disappointed in your Dirk," Jin said condescendingly. "Sun Tzu always said never attack your opponent when they're desperate as they'll fight that much harder. Looks like you need to hit the books a little more."
Dirk struggled as hard as he could to free himself not liking the predicament he was in, but Jin only tightened his hold.
"Let go of me now!" Dirk commanded.
"Sure, right after Odd beats the living daylights out of you for my sake," Jin turned away so that he was no longer facing Dirk and looked straight ahead to cheer on his rescuer. "Now...LET'S FINISH THIS!"
Odd on his end jerked his body to the side and stretched out his leg so that his shin was facing Dirk's mid section. The appendage embedded itself into its desired destination burying itself deeper into its targets frame as if it were to emerge on the opposite end.
"My turn," Jin said through clenched teeth.
With Dirk now completely defenseless it was now Jin's opportunity to act. He wrapped his right forearm over his assailant's arm and channeled as much power as he could find within himself into throwing Dirk behind him. The Korean boy soared through the air and collided against the cafeteria building which squashed any thoughts of him continuing the fight.
"Bas...tards," Dirk wheezed out feeling his last shred of consciousness slip away from him.
"Come again?" Jeremie asked.
"Don't you think Odd's been out for a bit too long? He should be back by now."
"You're right Ulrich. Odd not the type of person who would skip out on meals unless he had a good reason to."
"It can't be that bad," Yumi interjected reassuringly. "If anything bad is happening he would have called us as soon as he could. He's knows better than that."
"You're right Yumi," Ulrich said before letting out a sigh. "I'm just a little on edge that's all."
THUD!
Yumi, Ulrich and Odd all turned their heads to face the vicinity where the sound came from only to see the blank cafeteria wall stare right back at them. All the other students inside paid no heed to the mysterious noise but the incident was too out of the ordinary to go undocumented.
"What the heck was that?" Ulrich asked out of curiosity.
Jeremie was the first one to answer, "It came from the outside of the building."
"You think it's just a few people horsing around over there."
"Highly unlikely. That end is where the forest is and no one is usually there."
Ulrich eyes widened once he realized the significance of that area. "Isn't that where Jin is right now?"
"Indeed it is. I suggest we head over there right now to see what is exactly going on."
The other two friends nodded in agreement and bolted out of the cafeteria as fast as their legs could carry them.
"See Odd. I told you, that you were going to kick butt in the real world."
Odd opened his mouth as to speak his piece but was astonished to see Jin suddenly collapse.
"Jin!"
No longer able to feel the battle rush he once had, the strain Jin forced himself to endure of both fighting off Dirk and pushing through his injuries finally caught up to him.
"I wonder if Jackie Chan had days like this?" He muttered to himself.
"You would think that if you were a famous actor from Hong Kong who did all of his own stunts," Odd said in his usual humorous fashion as a way of preventing the situation from being too grim.
Jin could feel his body being hoisted in the air forcing him to conjure up a new perspective of his surroundings as his vision only granted him the ability to see blackness.
"Aniki!" Came a female voice behind the two boys.
"Looks like the calvary arrived just a tad bit late," Odd said off calmly.
Yumi dashed across the field with Ulrich and Jeremie in tow all ready to confront whatever trouble came their way. Yumi's eyes scanned the forest and saw Dirk and Clayton on the floor and Jin slung over Odd's shoulder.
"What happened!"
"Your brother got into a tussle with our two most favorite people in the world over there and I had to go bail him out of that mess."
"Oh my God!" Yumi exclaimed as she was horrified by the outcome of her negligence. "Are you ok Aniki?"
Jin released a small cough which triggered the nerves in his torso to go wild with pain underneath the stress he was putting them through.
"Took a few shots to the rib cage but I don't think anything is broken."
Yumi gave her brother a regretful look before speaking. "Let's just get out of here," The worried girl shifted her gaze to the floor and muttered something under her breath so that the other's wouldn't hear her. "For my sake."
Jeremie trailed behind his friends as he was too busy looking at Dirk and Clayton's motionless bodies. No longer were the two considered schoolyard bullies in his book, they were now legitimate threats against the group's struggle against XANA. Just now, those two came dangerously close to uncovering Jin's blindness and who knows what would have proceeded after that. However, there was no use in dwelling on the "what ifs" for Jeremie as he had his own issues to deal with. Just when Jeremie had turned around to join his friends, a low rustle could be heard where Clayton had been. Even after the powerful attacks that Odd had dealt to him, the large boy still had enough energy to stand upright as to challenge all of his enemies at once.
"That really hurt!" Clayton bellowed out. "Allow me to return the favor!"
With only the thoughts of revenge on his mind, Clayton recklessly charged at the nearest person who was standing in front of him which unfortunately was Jeremie. Drawing his hand back as far as he could, Clayton sent his fist flying toward the figure's head ready to hurt the little genius whichever way he could.
The others were too far away to serve as any means of intervention. The four remaining teenagers all stood in place helplessly as they watched Clayton's fist fly through the air as if it were moving in slow motion. Ulrich was the first one able to recapture his sense of awareness and sought to help his friend out as best he could.
"Jeremie! Don't just stand there! Move it!" The boy commanded.
Without a second to spare, Jeremie's own combat instincts kicked into overdrive. A surge of energy traveled up from the base of his spine into his neck forcing his head to the side which moved it out of harms way. The energy then migrated from Jeremie's neck into his arm where the impulse drove the appendage to weave underneath Clayton's arm and into his head as an ironic form of poetic justice. Flesh and bone clashed and a heavy crack hung in the air as the energy that pulsated through Jeremie's arm finally dissipated into Clayton's jaw where it finally settled.
"No way," Ulrich muttered to himself in disbelief.
There the two combatants stood. Jeremie's fist rested underneath Clayton's chin as the result of a powerful uppercut being thrown. Everyone who bore witness to the sight held their breath in anticipation of what was going to happen next. Jeremie looked into the eyes of his enemy so that he could be better prepared for his next move but saw that the larger boy was struggling to keep them open. Clayton's will to fight was lost as his eyelids closed shut and he fell to the floor in a tired heap.
Odd was completely shocked with what he just saw as were Yumi and Ulrich.
"Did we just see Einstein knockout Clayton?"
"I think we all did Odd," Yumi responded as seriously as she could.
Jeremie just stared in awe at his hand as he wondered if he broke any laws of science by defeating Dirk's enforcer in unarmed combat.
"Way to go Einstein!" Odd cheered out joyfully. "Where you learn how to do that man?"
Jeremie turned his head to face his purple-clad companion and shook his head side to side in order to bring himself back to the real world.
"Let's just head back. I think I have enough unsolved mysteries to solve in one day."
"Mr. Kap Hwan, Mr. Mil, you two are both tardy. May I have an explanation for this?" The teacher said harshly.
"We forgot something in the cafeteria and had to go back and get it," Dirk fibbed as to preserve his good image.
"Well I'll let it slide this time. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Thank you."
Ulrich studied late occupant's figures. Judging from the blades of grass still on their clothes, they had only recently awakened and went straight to class and not bothered to visit the infirmary. Dirk was not walking normally since he kept on arm over his abdomen as not to cause himself anymore grief. Clayton faired much better despite the fact that he was hit the most. Odd turned his body around so t hat he could get a look at the two people he just defeated and couldn't help but admire his handiwork. Dirk paid no heed to the insults and quietly wrote down but Clayton's reaction was far more dramatic. Odd received a malice glare from the enforcer conveying the message that the conflict between them was far from over.
"Odd," the teacher interrupted. "What's behind there that has you so enticed?"
"Nothing. Sorry," the accused boy stammered.
With that fiasco now over Ulrich tried his best to concentrate on his studies but he found that task impossible. All of his thoughts wandered around his head just begging to be brought under order but there was a method to this madness as these wayward tangents all revolved around a single subject. A subject that can be expressed in one word or, if you will, one name.
Yumi.
This alone was not unusual. There were times in his life, ever since they first met, that Ulrich would find his thoughts drift toward the gothic girl. It was only in the arena of dreams that he could freely interact with her without shying away like he always did. Whenever he would be teased about a possible relationship, be in an affectionate hug or caught just thinking about her, Ulrich could just feel his cheeks turn a deeper shade of red. He never felt like this around the other girls. Not Milly, not Tamiya and especially not Sissi. The only concrete fact that he could dig up from the murky depths of his subconscious was the simple wish of spending more time with the Japanese girl. The moment they shared at the arcade, laughing, talking, smiling their troubles away, was more than just pleasant. Somehow it felt like how things should be.
Then again if was thinking of those things, Ulrich wouldn't be so worried. No longer was Yumi her confident reassuring self. The occasional glances he would throw her way painted a different picture. There was something deeply troubling her that extended far beyond worry about one's safety. It was a look that Ulrich himself had put on his fair share of times in the past. A look of self pity and loathing. No one else in his circle of friends had yet to detect this as the Yumi's expression was subtle enough to go unnoticed but severe enough to be emphasized with. Hundreds of questions raced through Ulrich's mind as that realization hit him drowning out the words of his teacher and locking him inside his own mental prison. Did Yumi want his help? What would he say to her? Was he even deserving to help?
That last question hit Ulrich the hardest. His intervention could serve to amplify Yumi's problems even more. Never in his life could he recall a moment where he consoled someone who was deeply troubled with personal issues. Resorting to his conditioned response for thirteen years. Ulrich decided to drop the subject entirely.
"Maybe Yumi will recover on her own," Ulrich sadly said underneath his breath.. "I'll only make things worse by caring."
With that last vow uttered. The thoughts about Yumi disappeared and were replaced by the teacher's lecture.
"We somehow got through today. It must have been a miracle." Yumi forced a chuckle out of herself as to maintain the facade that she was alright.
"Well I better leave so that your parent's don't get suspicious of what is going on."
"Actually they went out tonight. My mother heard about a new Tai Chi class and wanted to see it for herself and has taken my father with her."
"Least we don't have to worry about tonight then." Ulrich turned his toward the direction of the school and was about to walk away when Yumi stopped.
"Ulrich wait!"
The boy was immediately caught off guard by the request but complied none the less.
"I just wanted to say..."
Yumi's speech trailed off and was carried off by a small breeze into the warm afternoon sky. The two teenagers stared at one another not knowing what to do at that moment. There was so much they wanted to tell each other so much to say but now wasn't the time for it to happen. Yumi cleared her throat as to justify her brief pause before continuing.
"I just wanted to say good night Ulrich and thank you for all your help."
Ulrich said no more and walked back to his dorm room. Yumi looked down at her older brother. Normally he would make a wise crack about her and Ulrich calling them love birds or something to that extent but he was silent. Whatever vitality and exuberance Jin dug up the night before, was now lost thanks to the likes of Dirk and Clayton. Tears began to form in her eyes as she saw Jin in such a pathetic state but she was able to hold them back.
"Come on Jeremie," Yumi whispered into the vacant sky. "You gotta find a way to fix this. I don't know how much longer I can hold out."
Jin picked up the faint traces of his sister's distress call and released a small sigh.
"You and me both sis."
"I can't believe humans can do something so vile to one another," the virtual girl said looking to her blonde friend as a source of comfort.
"It's a fact of life Aelita. There are some people who walk among us who are no better than XANA and are proud of it."
Aelita was somewhat disappointed to hear such an answer. "I see. I guess it will be something to consider once I become materialized."
Jeremie smiled as not to crush the girl's idealistic views of his world. "Don't be discourage. Sure unfortunate events may occur over here but you need to understand that it's not all doom and gloom. Whenever something truly spectacular happens to you. It makes living through those misfortunes worth it. "
Jeremie's expression soon changed from sincerity to that of upmost professionalism.
"Now Aelita. I need you to tell me exactly what happened to you when you were at the second tower so we don't have any repeat performances of today."
The girl closed her eyes for a brief moment before she brought forth all the details she could recall to Jeremie's attention.
"Well things were normal at first. The three of us managed to reach the tower after getting past the blockage that the blocks set up and I was about to enter the tower. That's when the wapster flew at us."
Jeremie remembered what happened at that particular point in time and finished that segment for Aelita.
"That's when Yumi was attacked and me, Odd, and Ulrich all ran to the scanner room to see if she was ok."
Aelita nodded in agreement and then proceeded with her story, "Well at that moment Jin pointed his left gun at the hornet and pulled the trigger but nothing came out. He yelled out loud about Odd having poor aim and wasting his bullets and tried using the gun in his right hand but found that empty as well. I looked up and I found the wapster hovering but a few feet away from me and I just froze in terror."
It was a particular painful memory to revisit and Jeremie could see the strain the pink haired girl was putting herself through to report it.
"It's ok Aelita. Just relax," Jeremie said reassuringly.
Aelita took a few more seconds to recollect her composure and moved on.
"My mind just went blank and I stood still like a statue. Jin sensed what was going on and jumped in front of me to absorb whatever attack came my way and that's when it happened."
"It?"
"A strange fizzing sound came from the wapster's end section. It then released a stream of acid onto Jin's face and he fell over backwards screaming in agony. I saw him roll on the floor covering his eyes with both of his hands as he said that they were burning."
That last fact brought another aspect of the fight into Jeremie's mind.
"So that's why he lost his sunglasses so early! XANA wanted to create an open pathway to Jin's eyes! What else happened?"
"I knelt by his side to help him but he ordered me to go into the tower and that's all I know."
Jeremie's eyes narrowed as his brow creased showing signs of slight anger.
"Well that just confirms my theory."
"Theory?"
"Jin was targeted by XANA from the beginning and your story proves this."
"I don't understand. If Jin was the target, then why did the wapster come after me."
"XANA must have a deeper understanding of how Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Jin fight on Lyoko. He knew that if he were to just attack Jin up front then he would simply jump out of the way. Instead, he used you as bait to get a free hit off of him."
"Well that explains how the wapster played its part in all of this but I still have yet to figure out what that transfer error was."
Jeremie placed the tips of his fingers on his keyboard and began to scour his computer for any useful bits of information that he could dig up.
Ulrich's focus snapped back to this realm of reality after it was being demanded by Odd.
"Eh? Sorry, I was just thinking."
Odd was almost offended after hearing about his friend's lack of attentiveness. "I'm talking about mad Dirk and Clayton beat downs and you're just sitting there as if nothing had happened!"
A hurtful stare.
A forced laugh.
A sincere thank you.
Ulrich allow his mind to replay the last thought in his head as if it were a tape recorder.
"I just wanted to say good night Ulrich and thank you for all your help."
For once during this grueling day did he hear the voice of the real Yumi come forth. The Yumi that valued her friends and that was not afraid to smile to put others at ease. The vibrant girl who could face the most dire of situations with a smile on her face and a look beaming with confidence. This was the Yumi he missed. She was his friend after all a friend. She's been so helpful to him in the past and now it was his turn to pay her back for all her good deeds. Originally he vowed to not interfere with her problems but that oath was instantly vaporized for that seemed to be the coward's way out. His hand gripped the cell phone in his pocket as he slowly walked out of the room. He was going to be a real friend to Yumi. He was going to help get her smile back.
"Great. No one left to hear this awesome story," Odd said out loud in the empty room. He casually scanned his surroundings where his eyes came upon his cell phone which lay on his desk. An idea popped in the boy's head. "Or is there?" Odd then began to dial a number that he memorized by heart and hopped that the person on the other end would pick up.
RING!
Yumi's cell phone called for its user's attention and forced the gothic girl to suppress any sort of negative emotions she was feeling.
"Hello," the girl greeted as calmly as she could.
"Hey Yumi," came a shy voice on the opposite line.
"Ulrich!" The girl said mildly shocked.
Yumi heard only silence on the other end of the line as she wondered why she was getting a call from this particular person. Ulrich hesitated in giving his answer but motivated by his ambition he pressed on.
"Can you meet me at the park bench near the front gate of the school?"
"Ulrich, do you know what time it is!"
"Yeah I know, it's pretty late but I need to tell you something."
"Why can't you just tell me it over the phone?"
Ulrich's plan had hit its first snag but he didn't care. He was going to help his friend out any way he could.
"Just go there Yumi, please. Trust me."
Yumi knew that deep down inside that there was no possible way she could refuse her friend's request. If Ulrich said it was important, then it was important.
"I'll be there."
The girl turned off her cell phone and proceeded to exit her home, curious of what news her green clad friend would bring her.
"Then I jumped backwards and dropkicked the guy in the center of his chest and he went down like a sack of bricks."
"Looks like your friend Ulrich trained you well then," the girl he was talking to said while giggling.
"Of course. I'm never going to be beaten by those two jerks. They can't beat me."
"In terms of having an overinflated ego, I'd say you're undefeated," the girl stated jokingly.
"That was low," Odd deadpanned.
"Hey, somebody has to make sure that your head doesn't fill up with so much hot air that you'll lift off the ground and fly away."
"Once again, that was low. Can we just get back to the original topic?" Odd said in a similar manner as his previous statement.
"You mean you taking on the two school bullies? You know Odd, you never cease to amaze me. You always seem to be getting into trouble."
"Hey, least now it was for a good cause," came Odd's counter argument. "And I don't think you're quite the angle yourself."
The girl on the other line wasn't going to let a remark like that slide by her. "Give me a break. I'm trying ok. Don't dock me points for that."
"I'm not," Odd retorted playfully. "You didn't lose points for trying but your execution was sloppy and you didn't plant your landing firmly. The judges don't like that."
The girl just rolled her eyes after hearing that last comment. "Whatever. Look Odd, I got to get some of my homework done so I need to get off now but it was nice talking to you. Goodnight."
Odd smiled to himself as an expression of how much he truly indeed enjoyed the conversation. "Goodnight Sam."
Just when Odd ended his call, a note was slipped underneath his door. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Odd picked up the folded piece of paper and read the message written on it.
-Clayton
Ulrich sat quietly on the designated bench where the meeting was supposed to take place. He couldn't believe what he was doing, he actually worked up enough guts to ask Yumi to meet him alone. He remembered how much he enjoyed himself when he was with Yumi in the arcade, but he also remembered how nervous he was too. He watched the gate attentively and saw Yumi enter the school grounds. Watching her come closer and closer to him Ulrich's heart beat faster with every step she took. He had just past the point of no return. It was time to follow through with his promise.
"Sure is a nice night out here," Yumi commented as she sat down by Ulrich's side. Ulrich on his part was doing a fairly good job of covering up his shyness and tried to conduct himself in a normal manner.
"Yeah it is," the boy responded while looking up at the starlit sky,
Neither of the teenagers said a word after that each of them uncomfortable in the other's company. With the idle chit chat out of the way, Yumi rushed to the most important part of the discussion.
"So Ulrich, you said you wanted to tell me something."
Ulrich took in a deep breath as to prepare himself for the endless consequences his single answer could bring him.
"Are you alright Yumi?"
"Of course I am," the gothic girl lied as to perpetuate her coverup. "There's nothing wrong with me."
Ulrich bowed his head as to avoid seeing his female friend's reaction to his next statement. "Somehow I find that hard to believe."
Yumi stood absolutely still for a brief second. How could Ulrich know what she was really feeling? She covered up her tracks so well. Odd, Jeremie and Jin all believed her facade but why wasn't it the same situation with her last friend. Thinking that this was all just a coincidence, Yumi pressed onward with her denial.
"I don't know what you're talking about Ulrich. I'm fine."
Getting Yumi to cooperate was going to be harder than he originally thought. Ulrich decided to just state the obvious to get himself past the verbal stalemate.
"You're only fooling yourself Yumi so stop."
Yumi was shocked after hearing those word's from the boy. She had never seen Ulrich express such authority on anyone else before. She sat in silence and just listened to what he had to say.
"Ever since we escaped from Lyoko you've been acting differently. There's something eating you inside, something you want to say but can't since you want to stay strong."
"How do you know all of this?"
"If there's anyone here who's knows about putting on a smile to please others even though it meant swallowing your own sorrows then it would be me."
The barrier came down as Yumi's inner emotions flowed out of it. Droplets of water formed in the girl's eyes and gently fell onto the sleeve of her shirt under the mercy of gravity. Ulrich didn't expect her to respond right away and kept on talking as to put her at ease.
"I know you're sad about Jin. We all are."
"It's not just Jin!" Yumi said abruptly. "I'm always the one who's at fault for everything! That's why I was thinking about quitting the team so no one else gets hurt."
Ulrich was floored after hearing the girl's intentions. He didn't know the roots of the girl's problem were so deep and would cause her to take such drastic action.
"Don't try to stop me Ulrich. I've been thinking about this for a long time now and this is the best decision for all of us. I don't deserve your friendship. I'm just a burden on all your guys so it would be best if I just leave without saying another word."
"Yumi you can't quit. Come to your senses."
Yumi's speech pattern changed from that of self pity to one of being upright aggressive. "You know it's true Ulrich! I'm more trouble than I'm worth. If I didn't fall in the virtual abyss we'd have Aelita materialized and our fight against XANA would be over. I force you and Odd time and time again to risk your lives to save me and don't get me started with Aniki. I literally had to physically attack him in order for him to stop following me when XANA had control over that military satellite."
To say that Ulrich was stunned would be an understatement. Yumi wasn't able to register his reaction as she was too caught up in confessing her darker feelings.
"Even when I plan things always turn out for the worse. I had Jin come over here to help him deal with his problems and now I've only made things worse. He's still has yet to move on from what happened to him two years ago and on top of that, now he's blind!"
Yumi's composure worsened after that last comment. She buried her face in the palms of her hands to shield her face from the rest of the world.
"Why do you guys still insist on protecting me? I'm such a horrible person! You guys would be so much better off without me holding you back!"
Ulrich couldn't take this self-abuse that companion was putting herself through. The scathing remarks were torture to his ears and he need to put and end to this.
"YUMI, THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Ulrich covered his own mouth, surprised to hear how forceful that command was but it was needed for him to catch her attention.
"You should never say such things about yourself because I know that those are just lies."
Yumi opened her mouth as to utter a few conflicting words but Ulrich beat her to the punch.
"You can't just blame yourself for things that are beyond your control. If you truly want to help us then you have to see this to the end and actually find a solution to the problem. If you run away then Jin would still be blind but now he's minus one sister."
Ulrich's reasoning was able to calm Yumi down slightly and allowed her to attentively listen to him.
"Don't beat yourself up like this whenever your plans fall apart. At least you can come up with a decent strategy. Remember the time I had to be Finson's assistant all because of the fact I was so confident that my idea would work when it was really not good enough to use in the first place."
Now Yumi was giggling. Although the whole incident was dire at the time, looking backone couldn't help but appreciate the humor of the situation. Ulrich turned to face the gothic girl and saw a tear-streaked face looking back at him wearing a small smile. He had gotten his wish but it wasn't enough to satisfy his promise.
"Did it ever occur to you that the reason why we're always helping you is not because you're so horrible. We do it because we know you deserve it and that you would do the same for us if you were in a similar predicament. Jin told me the one time you swung from the bridge onto the bulldozer that I was trapped in only to flee from it moments later carrying my unconscious body. Jin emphasized the fact that you didn't wait for a suitable plan to be formed and you just rushed in without any hesitation which almost gave him a heart attack all because I was in danger."
"That's my Aniki for you,"Yumi said proudly as her smiled widened ever so slightly.
"We almost lost Jin to the likes of XANA and now we can possibly lose you too. How can we possibly win with two of our most valuable members gone? You're anything but a horrible person. I can honestly say without a doubt that you are one of the closest friend's I ever had before and that's something I don't want to lose anytime soon. If you still decide to leave let me just say that I would miss you."
It was impossible for Yumi to be sad after hearing Ulrich's heartfelt speech. The last teardrop was wiped away from her eyes and with it was her anguish. For once during this entire day, she allowed herself to be happy. She released a smile that radiated far beyond the bench she sat on and rivaled that of any star in the sky.
"Thanks Ulrich, that was something I really needed."
"I just wish I had someone who did something like that to me when I felt down. You know, let me share my secrets with. I mean Odd is a good friend and all but I as we all know he's not the most empathetic person out there."
Yumi could instantly detect Ulrich's cries of loneliness and had her own remedy for his problems.
"Then let's start now."
"Huh?"
"Sometimes I wish you would open up more. If you keep things bottled up inside you will go crazy, believe me, I know. I'll try my best to lend an ear if you're ever in trouble and need someone to talk to.'
"You mean..."
"Yes Ulrich, this will be our little secret."
Ulrich looked on as Yumi slowly stood up and walked home. No goodbyes were said as no more words were needed to be spoken as not to spoil what just happened. On this park bench common ground was found. The shy boy and the confident Japanese girl both saw the similarities in each other. Where they could talk to one another without being embarrassed or fear of rejection. This is what their hearts truly desired.. The only thing they could wish for now was to be even closer than they ever were but the circumstances that would make that come true would come much later. For now, they just savored the moment for what it was. A step toward inner happiness with each other.
"I'm surprised to see that I don't need to use this," Odd said with a sarcastic smile.
"That's because I have that exact model," Clayton replied in a similar tone of voice as he fished out a lock pick of his own from his pocket.
The two boys placed their lock picks in their designated holding places and looked ahead at each other.
"A rooftop fight at night. Man Clayton, I think all of those movies you watch are going to your head," Odd said jokingly.
"Can we just get down to business here?" Clayton said seriously.
"I'm surprised to see that your boss isn't here to give you orders."
Clayton scoffed at the remark and didn't allow it to mess with his head. "I'm doing this on my own. I have a few personal reasons."
"Oh really? Now why didn't you invite Jeremie to our little shindig as well even though he was the one who laid you out flat. I bet if he came he would have brought the chips and soda."
"It was my fault that Jeremie got that lucky punch off of me. I was too angry when I attacked him and I made a mistake. With you, it's a different story."
Odd shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes. "Not my fault. Now, give me one good reason why I should even give you a rematch. The only thing I can gain from a second fight is the satisfaction of beating you and that feeling is starting to get old really fast."
Clayton bowed his head as he prepared himself to present his bargaining chip. "No matter what the outcome is, I'll make sure that Dirk and myself will stay out of your way."
Clayton had just dropped a bombshell. Odd's ears must have been playing tricks on him.
"What!"
"You heard me. The whole reason why we were with Jin was because Dirk sensed something was wrong within your group and wanted to investigate. I'll make sure that we back off from you guys until you solve whatever your problem is amongst yourselves."
Odd saw a golden opportunity in Clayton's offer. He'd gladly take any risk if it meant eliminating any potential threats against his group's secrecy. So far only the Troublesome Duo were the only students who detected that something was wrong. If they were naturalized then the rest of his friends could conduct themselves with ease.
"Fine, you got yourself a fight. Just get your tissues ready so that you'll be better prepared for when you go crying home to your mommy."
Odd and Clayton got into their respected fighting stances and waited for the other to make the first move. Odd knew Clayton wasn't at the peak of his physical condition as he took four solid hits. Allowing his overconfidence to get the best of him, Odd started the battle off by dashing toward his target with his right first flying through the air. Clayton surprised Odd by spinning out of the punch's way and stepped to the side as to get behind his attacker. He then took the offensive by letting his fist fly at Odd's head which only went through air as Odd jolted his head to the side. Clayton fired another punch with his other arm but got the same results.
"What's the matter big guy? Can't hit a moving target," Odd taunted.
"If that's so maybe I should pick one that's still," Clayton said coldly.
Odd didn't know what that meant and in his brief period of hesitation, Clayton had managed to get a solid kick off of Odd's right shin causing the teenager who was on the receiving end of the blow to stumble backwards all while holding the damaged limb.
"No way," Odd whispered quietly.
This was just unreal. Clayton was fighting back just as fierce as ever. Odd looked at his opponent and saw the large teen's expressionless face. No longer was he overcome with anger as he would be in previous encounters. Now Clayton was able to fully concentrate on the fight and not make anymore careless mistakes as he did in the past.
"How am I going to beat this guy?" Odd's mind pleaded. In an all out brawl with him, Odd knew he would lose without a doubt. If a guy could take three punches to the head and a dropkick then he knew he was no match for such strength. However, Clayton was not unbeatable. There had to be a way to defeat him. Odd thought back to the times when Clayton was rendered unconscious by a second party. Ulrich's escape kick and Jeremie's uppercut were the only clues he had in unrevealing this riddle.
That was it!
Although the moves used to beat the guy were different, the area where they hit him wasn't. It seemed that despite his large size, Clayton had a glass jaw. Hit that area hard enough and he'll go down for sure. Odd limped to the rooftop's railing and grabbed hold of it for support as his left leg wasn't doing a good job at the task.
Now it was Clayton's turn to receive a confidence boost. With Odd on the ropes he pressed his luck. Interlocking his fingers, he casually walked up to Odd and raised both of his arms as high as he could stretch them zeroing in on the point on his body that he wanted to hit. Odd instantly turned around. This sudden burst of movement caught Clayton off guard and gave Odd the opening that he wanted. Using the rail as a means of leverage, Odd leapt straight up into the air and extended his right foot which connected with the enforcer's jaw. The powerful handstand kick lifted the junior bodyguard off of his feet before he dropped like a stone on top of the rooftop's surface.
Clayton raised his arm which stopped Odd in his tracks. "That's all I needed to see. You win."
Odd shook his head vibrantly as to confirm the notion that he was not dreaming as he heard the preposterous notion that the notorious Clayton was actually surrendering. Thinking that the whole thing was a trick in disguise Odd didn't allow a single muscle in his body to relax one iota.
Clayton wasn't the least bit surprised with Odd's hostile reaction. "Give it a rest man. It's over. You won."
The defeated combatant rose to his feet and walked to the rooftop's railing to gaze at the wonderful view the perch provided him. Sensing that Odd had yet to leave, Clayton gave out another dismissal.
"Are you deaf or something? I'm not going to attack you from behind. I just needed to see something."
Now Odd's curiosity was awakened. There was more to this engagement than meets they eye. He too made his way to the railing to join him.
"Must be something really interesting if it meant getting your ass kicked twice."
Clayton silently admitted defeat and gave his inquisitor the information he wanted.
"I thought my carelessness would lead to my defeat and I wanted to see if he was right. Guess I was right. I really tried to approach this fight without being angry and to just focus but I guess my mind wasn't all in one place."
"One second of anger is one year off your life," Odd quoted his blind friend.
"Eh?"
"Just a Chinese saying Jin told me. I thought it was pretty cool so I memorized it."
Clayton chuckled to himself once he noticed that he was now enthraled in a miniature philosophical exchange.
"The purpose of life is a life with purpose."
"That's pretty good. Who said that?"
"Dirk Kap Hwan"
Clayton dropped the second bombshell of the night. Who would have thought that Dirk was such a deep thinker.
"Why does a guy like you hang out with a jerk like Mr. Kap Hwan over there?"
"I've known the guy since we were kids and the only friend he's had for nine years. He helped me a lot back then and I'm just paying him back for the dept I owe him."
"Dirk being helpful! Maybe I bashed your head a little too hard for my liking."
"That guy helped me find my direction. Gave me a place to channel my anger."
Odd's eyes opened wide. Between all the rumors and nasty stories circulating about the two. It was pretty easy to forget that Dirk and Clayton were human beings as well. Clayton kept talking as to finish the point he was making.
"Dirk's a pretty secretive person and doesn't reveal much about his past but I know that something happened to him quiet a while back that made him turn out like this."
"Wow, who knew he was such a softie."
"Normally I wouldn't be telling you this but I guess you deserve to hear it after that match."
Clayton walked away from Odd's presence, leaving him perplexed on what just happened.
"Geez man, do you always have to work in the dark?" Clayton asked his roommate.
"You know Clayton. It's customary for one to knock before entering a room. You should put this into practice next time."
"You're always typing something on that computer and you never say what it is."
"That's because it's inconsequential."
With that line of discussion now over, Clayton took the time to rub his aching jaw to minimize the amount of pain he felt.
"Let me guess," Dirk said with a grin. "You went to go fight Odd for a rematch only to get your face kicked in again."
"How did you..."
"You're just as predictable as ever and you're still making the same mistakes like you always do."
"I had Odd on the defensive but then I overestimated my advantage and left a wide opening for him."
"Look Clayton. Your strength might be a great asset but that alone can not win. Sometimes you don't even need to hit your hardest to send your opponent to the floor."
"You gotta be joking right?"
Dirk's lecture was a little on the confusing end as it advocated that power did not equate to damage being dealt.
"Fine, let this be an example to you."
Dirk rose from his chair and walked over to Clayton. Still nursing his lower rib cage where Odd and kicked him. He opened his dominate hand and stabbed it into Clayton's shoulder. The strike's receiver looked at the peculiar hit and was perplexed.
"What was that supposed to show? That didn't hurt one bit."
"Oh really."
Dirk repeated the attack but this time he aimed his hand into the joint where one's shoulder was connected to the rest of the body. Clayton felt like his entire arm was being stabbed with a razor sharp knife and gripped the imaginary wound to prevent any further injury. Dirk saw the results he was striving for and presented his explanation.
"The tissue in that particular part of the human body is very soft and there are no bones to serve as a buffer zone for the hit. In short you have a very easy to exploit weak point. vulnerable areas such as this one exists all over you and are mainly in parts where the nerves concentrate in a particular area. Some people understand the anatomy of humans so well that they've learned how to kill another man with just a single strike."
"How on Earth do you know all of this?" Clayton said impressed with the amount of knowledge that Dirk possessed.
"I just do."
Dirk returned to his work and continued his discussion all while facing the computer monitor.
"Did you even bother to think of the repercussions of your foolish actions."
"Foolish?"
"You could have jeopardized our reputation amongst the school faculty. We're not common thugs as the rumors depict us to be."
"You're losing me here."
"Have you realized that all of our targets have been students who were giving us a hard time or people that have messed with us in the past? The only reason why I had us attack someone was because we were provoked to do so."
Clayton suddenly had a revelation. At first he just view his fights as simple brawls. He never saw the hidden reasoning underneath all of them until Dirk held it up to his face so he could understand. However, there was one thing that was inconsistent with this explanation.
"Hold it! What about Jin? You almost busted his rib cage and he barely did anything to us."
"I just lost my cool."
Clayton wasn't satisfied with that response. "That answer is not good enough."
"I LOST MY DAMN COOL! THAT'S IT!"
Clayton made the wise choice to just leave his frazzled roommate alone all while pondering what Jin actually said that sent the normally collected individual over the edge.
"Don't you just love the food our cafeteria serves?"Odd said with a beaming smile as he patted his stomach.
"Only you would know of that," Ulrich said frankly.
The brief chit chat ended with Odd going into the closet to acquire food for his pet dog but that action was halted by a painful jolt that originated from his leg. Odd gritted his teeth and released a small grunt which caught Ulrich's attention immediately.
"What happened?"
Odd gave himself time to wait for the pain the die down before he took a seat on the floor.
"It's an injury I got after accepting Clayton's challenge last night."
"Why would you do something as crazy as that!"
"I was asking myself the same question but the guy said if I fought him then he'd stay out of our business and we both know that's pretty good on our side. I won in the end but now I gotta walk around the school with this limp until my leg heals up."
Ulrich extracted all the information he needed and resumed his work only to have his concentration broken by his other friend who occupied the school dorms.
"Hey guys," an exhausted looking Jeremie greeted.
"Woah Einstein! You look like you've seen waaaaaay better days," Odd joked.
"I'm still trying to figure out what the transfer error meant when you guys were virtualized. I know what purpose the hornet served but I have yet to determine the other mysteries that XANA had left for me to solve."
"Maybe it's a mistake. I mean we got away from it just fine. It could be just a glitch in the system."
"Odd, the super calculator does not make mistakes. That transfer error has to mean something and there's has to be a reason why no problems were detected."
Odd shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well."
Ulrich quickly spoke as to get a dire question out in the open. "Hey Odd, what did you get for question two for our history class. I'm not too sure of my answer."
Odd raised his index finger and closed his eyes as to convey the image that he was a renowned expert on the subject. "That's easy it's..." Odd's confident looked changed to that of sheer confusion. "Aw crud I forgot. I need to check my paper...that's if I can remember where I left it."
Odd rummaged around the dorm as to locate the missing piece assignment as it served no good to him if it were lost. Odd's search brought him to Kiwi, who was quietly sleeping on the object that Odd sought after.
"Kiwi, get up. I need to us this," Odd ordered.
The small dog only responded by letting out a small yawn for he had grown quite fond of his makeshift bed. It was quite obvious that Odd was becoming slightly frustrated by this.
"Come on Kiwi. That's my homework."
Odd now tried pulling the sheet from underneath his dog seeing how diplomacy had failed for him. As the sheet of paper slid further and further away from its original position and the battle had appeared to be won, Kiwi sprung to life. Not wanting to lose his cherished sleeping area so easily, the small dog leapt into the air and seized the object with his jaws which caused it to tear in half.
If Jeremie wasn't so tired, he would have fell to the floor laughing after seeing such an unreal sight. Instead, he opted to just throw a wise crack at his friend's misfortune to satisfy his craving for humor.
"And here I thought the excuse the dog at my homework was just a lame story."
"What's going on?" Ulrich asked as he was too busy working to pay any sort of attention to what was going on.
"Kiwi tore up my homework," Odd whined.
It was now Ulrich's turn to laugh. "Look on the bright side. If you made a mistake on it then the teacher won't be able to see it."
Jeremie suddenly felt his body go into overdrive after hearing that remark.
"That's it!" The boy yelled out triumphantly.
"Eh?" Odd and Ulrich said simultaneously.
"I'll explain at the factory. Come on and make sure Yumi and Jin arrive there as well."
"Jeremie, what on Earth are you talking about?" Ulrich asked as he did not share the same train of thought.
"I think you guys can go back to Lyoko if my assumption is correct!"
"So what did we miss?" Yumi asked so that she would receive the latest information.
Odd was the first to respond, "Well, unless you're a big fan of meaningless computer talk then you're not much at a loss."
Jeremie had to fill in the gaping holes in Odd's reply, "I just had a quick idea on what happened and I'm just double checking everything to see if it's correct."
A small electronic beep was then produced from the computer's speakers which filled Jeremie up with joy.
"Success!" He yelled out while throwing both of his arms into the air.
"Got something there Einstein?"
"That I do. Amidst all the questions I had about the attack I forgot to check exactly how the hornet was modified. After running an in-depth scan on it, you can see that it carried an extra code in its programing which explains the nature of the transfer error."
"And that would be..." Odd said while gesturing with his hand.
"I searched the archives for information on your characters when you were in Lyoko and found that the two sets of codes complimented each other."
"Meaning,"Odd continued to ask since he had yet to grasp the situation.
Jeremie sighed to himself as he thought of a way to simplify his explanation to the rest of the group.
"When the four of you were transferred into Lyoko, you all had half of program which caused Jin to be blind. Now, that modified hornet that attacked Yumi and Jin at the tower carried the other half."
"So when I got blasted, that thing took my site with it!" Jin finished. "But why would XANA go through all that trouble if he could have made all four of us blind from the start?"
"Like us, XANA too has his limits although those limits are pushed back every time we return to the past. Because of this, he was unable to install the full error onto your characters and required additional help to carry out his plan. Right now Jin, your sight is still in that activated tower and I've been closely monitoring it ever since."
"But there's one thing that's still bothering me." Yumi said with a serious expression. "If XANA error was able to do all of that, why didn't your computer fail to detect it?"
"It turns out that XANA's limits actually prove to be a valuable aid in his plan. My error detection program used for transfers and the one I use to scout for any ailments on your characters work differently. The transfer error program will warn me of even the slightest change while the later can only detect full problems."
"Which it couldn't since we only had half of XANA's program in ourselves."
"Of course Yumi this will all be changed in the future as the risks of having such outdated programs could be detrimental," Jeremie said seriously. "What if XANA would try to get you guys killed by altering the program?"
"So what do we do now?" Ulrich wondered now that all the facts were found.
"Easy," Odd said casually. "We go back into Lyoko and get Jin's sight back."
Jeremie nodded his head in agreement. "Couldn't have said it better myself so let's get ready."
The easy-going atmosphere that Odd created was destroyed when Aelita's face came into view wearing an expression of dire emergency.
"Jeremie! I sense XANA is up to something."
As if it happened on command, an electronic buzzer rang from the computer. The sound was harsh and cut through the air surprising everyone in the room. Jeremie took on glace at the screen and saw a percentage meter near the activated tower that was ticking down by the second.
"Oh no!"
"Einstein, what's going on?"
"That was my tracer program. According to it, XANA is now deleting Jin's vision inside the tower!"
"What's so bad about that?" Said a confused Odd. "It doesn't matter if Jin's sight gets wiped out if we return to the past."
"It's not that simple. Jin's sense is missing from the actual computer that stores all of our information when we return to the past. If those files are altered and we go back in time then they'll permanently be changed. Which means Jin would be blind forever!"
Now Yumi was alarmed. "There's no time to waste. Odd, Ulrich, let's go! Don't worry Aniki. We won't fail."
After saying her parting words, the trio sprinted toward the elevator where they were lowered to the scanner room.
"Ok guys. You're heading back to the mountain region. Time is of the essence so get moving. Aelita is at the tunnel where you first met her."
"Transfer Odd. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Yumi."
All three character cards and three-dimensionall outlines were shown on screen.
"Scanner Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Yumi."
With nothing else left on the preparation checklist, Jeremie hit the final key needed to end the process.
"Virtuaization!"
Jeremie saw three red exclamation marks which signified that XANA's transfer error was still in the computer. However, he had more important stuff to worry about right now.
"I'll be in front." Ulrich said as he dashed forward overtaking the rest of the party. As he passed up Yumi, he expected to see Odd right in front of her but he was nowhere to be found. A quick peek behind him revealed the missing person to be lacking the group still clutching his leg with his hands.
"Odd hurry up! We need you with us!" Ulrich said knowing their limited time schedule.
"Jeremie!" Yumi called out. "How much of Aniki's sight remains."
"XANA has managed to delete about twenty percent of it since you guys arrived so the total is at eighty."
"Eighty!" Came Odd's shocked reaction. He looked on and saw the ever increasing distance that was growing in-between him and his friends. "Go on ahead without me! Clayton messed up my leg and it's slowing me down. No use in you guys getting dragged behind as well!"
Yumi and Ulrich both exchanged nervous glances as they both knew that Odd was an irreplaceable part of the team and without him the upcoming battle would be that much harder but with no other alternative at their disposal, they pressed on.
The two warriors couldn't help but feel a strange sense of Deja Vu as they saw Aelita pressed against the tunnel's walls to avoid detection.
"Jeremie, how many enemies do we have?"Yumi whispered as not to release anything about their arrival.
"There's five blocks guarding the land bridge but we all know that those blocks will be replaced once they're destroyed."
"How much time do we have left?"
"Seventy-five percent!"
Ulrich drew his sword and stood near the tunnel's entrance. "I'll cover the front and we'll smash our way through."
"Sounds good enough for me," Yumi said as she wielded her fan. "Let's go. Ready Aelita?"
The virtual girl gave a small nod and stood behind Yumi and was fully prepared to face the likes of XANA head on.
Jeremie's voice could be heard as he had something important to say before the battle. "Everyone listen up. With the deletion in progress XANA is too busy to send another modified monster at you so don't worry about becoming blind."
Ulrich tightened the grip on his Katana and smiled. "That's a load off my shoulders." His eyes narrowed and took his first steps to the outer perimeter. "Here goes nothing. TRIPLICATE!" Two more versions of himself appeared and he charged out of the entrance.
Yumi too was just as worried. "Do as he says! We can't afford to lose you so soon."
Ulrich looked to his side just in time to see his last clone disappear in a shower of sparks and shook his head. "You know there's no time for that! We need to keep moving."
Ulrich was too busy talking to notice three laser beams fly right past both him and Yumi and into Aelita's shoulder which caused her to fall down.
"Aelita!" Yumi screamed as she stopped running to shield the girl so she could stand up.
Ulrich kept running forward despite the hordes of monsters before him. He approached the gap in-between the boulder gap that they had formed before and much to the astonishment of everyone around him, he stood still.
By now Jeremie was driven to a state of panic. "Ulrich, what the heck are you doing! Take cover."
But he didn't listen. Ulrich continued to stand in place and swat at the deadly projectiles to the best of his abilities. "Jeremie, you know the minute I stop those blocks are going to tear Yumi and Aelita to pieces."
Yumi could sense what the swordsman was trying to accomplish and grabbed Aelita by her arm. With the girl in tow, the two made a mad dash toward the boulders so they could get a much needed break. Seeing his two partners now safely hidden away from the block's wrath but this moment of hesitation proved to be deadly for the young warrior. With an opening in his defenses now created, the blocks changed their firing patterns and all concentrated their fire onto the boy's chest for one devastating attack. The multiple beams of light all converged in one area of the body and knocked Ulrich flat on his back leaving him dumbfounded on what just happened. Ulrich raised his arm as a final attempt to stand again with what little strength he had left all while his body was being erased from the virtual world to be brought back to reality.
"What happened to the audio commentary?" Jin said coldly as his dark sense of sarcasm showing no signs of relenting.
"Ulrich's life points just got obliterated and Aelita is severally damaged."
"How bad is severe?"
"Try thirty life points left!"
"No way!"
The elevator's doors opened and Ulrich bolted out of the chamber as he didn't want to miss a single minute of action that was partaking in Lyoko. Before he could utter a word announcing his arrival, Yumi's voice came blaring over the intercom.
"Jeremie, I need a status report right now!"
Jeremie adjusted his glasses as he prepared himself to read off of his computer screen that contained only grim news.
"Odd has yet to make it to the tunnel while Aelita only has thirty life points left."
"Only thirty life points!"
"Let's not forget that XANA has now managed to delete a total of fifty-five percent of Jin's vision."
"Any suggestions?"
Jeremie looked back at his older friend and shook his head. Though getting his sight back was the original goal of the counter offensive, keeping Aelita safe was the primary objective. He silently cursed XANA for the inhuman sacrifice he was going to have to make.
"Keeping Aelita safe is our top priority. I suggest you two fall back to the tunnel and wait for Odd."
"Do we even have time for that!"
Jeremie pounded the keyboard with the bottom of his fist. "I honestly don't know!" He almost pleaded. "But if Aelita is destroyed then we are virtually powerless against XANA so her safety ranks above everything else."
Jeremie expected an angry outburst from Jin but was just as disheartened to see the boy slump forward as if to acknowledge his decision.
Aelita's serene voice was the next one to be heard, "I do not think that is completely necessary."
Jeremie only had the slightest hint on what the girl was thinking and already he was horrified by the thought.
"No, you're not planning to..."
The being nodded her head in compliance to her answer. "That is correct. I wish to proceed with the mission."
This single choice sent shockwaves around the rest of the group.
"What the!" The factory's occupants said almost in unison.
"Aelita, you're heavily damaged from that last shot. If you lose all your life points..."
"I am fully aware of the consequences of my actions but I still wish to follow through with my choice."
"But why?" Jeremie questioned as to understand Aelita's warped logic.
"It is my obligation to the rest of you. I have seen all of the inconvenienced that I have caused for you and I feel that I too should return your kindness also."
"You can't!" Jeremie stammered.
"Please Jeremie," Aelita pleaded. "I have made up my mind already. I wish to aid my Jin as he does so for me countless times."
Jeremie had every single reason in the world to refute the girl's claim but knew that there was no stopping his virtual friend. With his last shred of stubbornness evaporating Jeremie said no more and quieted awaited for Aelita's next attempt in gaining access to the tower. A dull thump echoed across the factory which caused Jeremie to turn his chair in the direction where it originated from. The source of the disturbance was Jin's first as it was rammed against the wall he was leaning on. No longer was he a pathetic case of self-pity. Instead standing before Jeremie, was the definitive powerhouse of raw energy emotion that was absent for the previous two days.
"THAT'S IT!" Jin yelled at the top of his lungs catching Ulrich and Jeremie by surprise with his sudden transformation. "Ulrich, help me get to the scanner room, I'm going in."
If Jin wasn't so hellbent with his wishes to fight, his demand would have sounded downright ridiculous. Still, Jeremie tried his best to talk some reason into vengeful boy.
"You can't be serious Jin. If you go to Lyoko you'll have no way of defending yourself. Not to mention if you make a wrong step you'll fall over the sides of the area into the virtual abyss below where you will be lost."
Still Jin proved to be just as reckless as ever. "Aelita is down there and is risking permanent termination if she runs out of life points. I need to get over there so I can do the same. I'm tired of people fighting my battles for me. It's time I did the same. Sight or no sight!"
Jin proved to be just as headstrong in the matter as Aelita so trying to stop him was just out of the question. Ulrich helped Jin to his feet and lead him to the elevator where he too would step inside the factory's scanners to join the fight against XANA.
"Yumi, I have news to report," Jeremie spoke as to inform the three combatants of this latest update.
Yumi tightened the already constricting grip she had on her metallic fan. Wave after wave of laser fire pelted the rock she and Aelita were hiding behind. The two of them were cornered like before and that fact frustrated Yumi to no end. "This better be good Jeremie! As you can see, things are not looking so well for us."
"Jin has just entered the elevator to be taken to the scanner room."
"He did what!"
"The guy was dead set on going into Lyoko."
The freight elevator opened and Ulrich sprinted underneath its doorway to the computer just in time to hear Yumi's next outburst.
"But Jeremie, incase you've forgotten, he's blind!"
Ulrich almost shoved his way past Jeremie as to get into contact with the girl.
"Yumi, Jin and I were talking one the way to the scanner room. He said that this whole thing is his fight too and that it was about time he started causing some damage to XANA. Those were his exact words."
The sound of gun fire droned on until it was but a faint whisper in Yumi's mind. Fighting Jin's battles for him was defeating the whole purpose of bringing him back home. There were several issues that troubled her brother that she hopped the fight against XANA would help cure but this would only happen if Jin chose to confront them himself. For once Jin was fighting for himself in a battle that he choose not to partake in. A faint smile spread across the contours of her face. Maybe this crazy act was the first step in his healing process.
"Odd listen up," Jeremie's voice was heard over the intercom.
"I'm all ears."
"Jin is being transferred to Lyoko and I need you to escort him to the tunnel."
"Is the guy crazy! How can he expect to shoot a hole through those monsters if he can't even see what's in front of him?"
"Yumi said something along those means also but you know Jin isn't the type to listen to reason once his mind is set."
Odd acknowledged the obvious truth by releasing a small sigh. "So when can I expect the guy to drop in?"
"The virtualization process was just completed recently, so any second now."
"Well in that case I'll just wait for a loud scream followed by a gigantic thud to let me know that he's here."
Sure enough, Odd's prediction came true as he saw Jin plummet like a rock into the unforgiving rocky surface below him. By now most of the pain in Odd's leg had been negated with the effects of adrenaline which allowed him to move at top speed to Jin's location to help the dazed boy to his feet and to the tunnel.
"Geez Jin, you got a death wish or something? You're better off in the factory where it's safe."
Jin's venture into the virtual world was intended to be a personal statement that was addressed to XANA. That even though he was unable to fight, he'd still have enough willpower to toss himself into the fray regardless of his condition.
"Just take me to the tunnel that leads to the land bridge. It's time I payed XANA a little visit for what he's done to me."
"That's it Jeremie, I'm going back. I can't let Aniki get himself hurt like this!"
Yumi only had enough time to transfer her weight into her right foot to stand before Jeremie sent her plan to a screeching halt.
"Don't move. Odd is with Jin so there's no need for concern. No matter how tempting it may seem, you can't leave Aelita on her own."
"So what we just stay here!"
It was obvious that Yumi's pattern of thought was obstructed by the emotional turmoil that she was forced to endure.
"No, we trust Odd and Jin to think of a way out of this."
Jeremie looked at the display that contained information concerning Jin's vision and saw the number wind down to an even slimmer margin.
"Come on guys get moving," Jeremie whispered. "Time is not on our side."
"Ok Jin, wish me luck. I'm going in."
Jin gave a thumbs up and Odd set out to help Yumi. He embarked on his rescue mission only to have his entire leg be engulfed in pain and fell onto the wall to help himself stand. The battle had been going on for too long. He couldn't ignore the signals anymore as the had returned in full force to drive the poor boy mad.
"What the Hell is wrong with you?" Jin said in a voice that was a mixture of bout concern and infuriation.
"It's my leg. It took a pretty bad hit but it's nothing I can't manage."
To justify his claim, Odd took another step forward only to produce a similar scream. Now Jin was beside himself.
"If you go out like that you'll get blasted full of holes even before you lift your arm up."
"Well it's not like I have a choice! It's either I get blasted or Aelita stays behind the rock and you stay blind."
Jin trust his foot out to kick the wall adjacent to him with the sole of his foot. Neither of Odd's options would allow the team to get close enough to the tower to deactivate it. There had to be a way to beat XANA. He just needed to think of it.
"Too bad we're the only ones here. Maybe Ulrich or Yumi could have helped you aim your guns," Odd said off handedly.
Sometimes one can't see the obvious answers until another is kind enough to point them out to you. The same could be said for Jin.
"That's it!"
Yumi allowed the warning's meaning to sink into her head before she gazed upon the tunnel's opening. There, standing perfectly calm outside was her brother. The sight was almost to surreal to be taken seriously yet it was happening right before her eyes.
"Aniki," Yumi gasped.
Jin brought both of his hands together so that his right palm rested on his left. The fingers in his left hand traced the contours of its companion and began to massage the bones of its knuckle releasing a cracking noise that was very satisfying to hear. Jin placed his right foot forward and stretched his arms behind himself before he took off running, making sure that his hands were inside his white over shirt.
"Some things will never change XANA," the blind boy said with a smile. "Let's rock!"
TARGET WHITE APPROACHING!
RUN THREAT ASSESSMENT
Final Analysis-
Target white has been rendered unless without aid of vision as result of previous battle. Unable to engage in combat. Ignore target and resume attack on Red and Pink.
Threat Rating: F
WARNING! WARNING!
WHITE FAST APPROACHING TARGET AREA.
RUN THREAT ASSESSMENT
Secondary Analysis-
White is about to withdraw weapons and is close to Red. Could aid targets by giving weapons or provide assistance by other means. Must not permit this to occur.
Threat Rating: B
COMMENCE ATTACK
"Relax Jeremie I already have a suitable replacement."
"Jin, what are you talking about?"
"Just open the window for my camera feedback and you'll know what I mean."
Jeremie did as Jin said and brought up the display that Jin indicated to see the action from his perceptive. As Jeremie saw the blocks getting ready to fire, only then he began to phantom the strategy that was being employed.
"No, way. You're not suggesting..."
"It's about time you got a piece of the action. Think of it as a video game. Except game over means the vision of one of your closest friends goes bye bye for good."
Jeremie clenched the armrests of his chair for all he was worth. Just hearing the explanation of what he had to do caused his pulse to quicken and his brow to crease. He new the battles on Lyoko were intense but now he was directly responsible in the outcome of this fierce exchange. The sight of the blocks charging their cannons to fire proved to be more than intimidating for the newly appointed navigator.
"Jin, there is no possible way I can do this! You'll get blown to pieces before I can even react."
Jin showed no signs of backing off. "Fine. If you're going to freak out on me like that then I'd better tone things down for you then."
Just as Jin finished his sly remark, Jeremie watched the entire picture before him slow down to a crawl. The black and white color scheme used to depict the rest of the scenery was a clear indication that Jin had activated his Lyoko power for the occasion. The gunfighter's ability made things a lot more bearable for Jeremie as now the on screen action was a lot easier to manage and he got down to business right away. Thanks to the block's new concentrated firing strategy, Jeremie's job was a lot easier has now he only had to worry about one potential destination where the lasers would collide.
"Right!" Jeremie shouted. The screen tilted and shook just a tad bit as Jin executed a quick side hop in the indicated direction. The beams of light slowly made their way past the left side of his face only to continue their dubious flight elsewhere. More lasers came at Jin and by now Jeremie was well adapt in calling out where Jin should go.
"Left!" Jin lunged to his left side barely missing the second volley by the skin of his teeth. The pair almost seemed invincible at that moment with their combined skills but was about to change. That last jump forced Jin to exert too much of himself than his body's present condition could handle. The wounds he sustained after fighting Dirk came alive again and devoured his mid section leaving the tender area at its mercy. Though Jin was no stranger to pain, he too had his limits and right now he was being pushed to the brink. Unable to deal with his suffering anymore, he squeezed his sides tight and stopped dead in his tracks.
"NO!" Jeremie screamed out knowing that damage would be inedible if things stayed this way. "Don't stop now."
Instead of directly responding to Jeremie's plea or making a last ditch effort to save himself. Jin just simply stood on the land bridge and slumped forward.
"Ghai would kill me if he saw this."
A single laser flew through the air and punctured through the gunfighter's chest knocking him over. Jin dug his nails into inflamed spot on his body as if he were to claw his own nerve endings to stop his anguish. It was then Jeremie noticed a peculiar detail about the plan that he overlooked before.
"Jin's hands were originally in his shirt," he thought to himself. "Yet they're empty. Was he unarmed?"
The subject of Jeremie's puzzlement looked blankly into the sky and awaited for his rescue from an untimely end.
"Come on Odd," he whispered. "Take your shot."
BANG!
The loud shot seemed completely out of place amongst the sound of laser bombardment. It was a sound that should not have ceased to exist but she was happy to hear it. The bullet's path was unhindered and sliced through the monster's hide as if it were made of paper. Odd was overjoyed about his accomplishment and thrust the rifle he was holding into the air out of celebration.
"This is my boomstick!" Odd yelled out before resting the gun's scope against his eye to aim his next shot.
It was the block's turn to be on the receiving end of an attack. Odd's counter offensive was a complete success as the cube-shaped monsters scrambled to regain their formation. No one had to tell Yumi that this was her chance to press the charge into the tower and took her cue to finally leave the boulder's vicinity.
"Hurry Yumi," Jeremie spoke as to rush the battle's climax. "Ten percent left!"
Yumi pinned her own brand of disorder to the block's ranks with a quick fan toss which sliced her unlucky opponent in two. With a wide opening created, Aelita dashed through the survivors and phased through the tower's protective wall.
"Seven, six, five, four..."
Aelita placed her hand on the screen and entered her identification information.
"Three, two..."
"Return to the past now."
The Heavenly white light dispersed throughout the factory and covered the land as far as the eye can see turning back the hand's of time back to when things were normal.
"Rise a shine sleepy head," the purple clad teen jested.
Jin rose to his feet and looked Odd in the eye. There was so much to be said about this moment. Appreciations that needed to be vocalized. Celebrations to commence and of course a bright world to face head on. Of course, Jin did none of these and instead reached over and grabbed Odd by the collar of his shirt and began to shake him violently.
"You little prankster! You pulled off that stupid joke again with my CD player didn't you? That's why I'm on the floor all over again."
Odd simply laughed his head off with Jin's unorthodox way of giving his thanks. "Glad to see you're back."
Ulrich and Yumi stopped their rousing game of air hockey to gaze at the commotion Odd and Jin were causing.
"Those two," Ulrich finished with a smile.
Though there was some amusement to be found by this sight, Yumi did look somewhat worried.
"Hey Ulrich, you think we should," the girl made a few gestures in the air to suggest breaking up the rowdy pair out of fear of them getting into more trouble but Ulrich waved his hand to dismiss the claim.
"Naw, let them go at it. Cause you know when they're done over there, they'll be walking over here to give us grief."
"Good point. Now serve the puck so I can get back to beating you at this game."
Ulrich slammed his mallet back onto the table and prompted himself for another fierce match happy to re-live such a wonderful moment with on of his closest friends he's ever met. The two teenagers gave each other one last warm look as to inform the other that the meeting they had at the school bench was the only thing that did not come undone after the return trip before they put their game faces on. Though their relationship would never be the same again, this was their way of keeping things normal with the only change made being the further strengthening of their already unbreakable bond together as friends.
END
Well guys, I'm finally going to get the radioplay for the Retelling Series off the ground. I still have a few roles that need to be cast so please visit my website for more information about that. Also, I am always looking forward to having more readers submit fanart for my story. If you have an idea floating in your mind and want to share your work please send me an e-mail. All credit will be given and you would have my deepest thanks.
tanoshi-no-requiem: Well as you can see, Jin can now see again. Also if there is a Season 2 I don't see a reason why I should Retell those episodes as well.
Doggiegal: Glad you like my twisted sense of humor. If it can get more readers like you then I might as well keep going at it.
Little Vili: I'll leave the Matrix stuff to you my friend that's your area of expertise, not mine.
giant evil dust bunny victim: Yes, quite a few people have asked me about Jin's secret but I can't spoil the surprise just yet.
the-green-rose: Glad you really liked Marksman (and that goes to all of you who have forgiven me for writing a two part story). You'll find out more about the story in the "Notes on the Chapter," section so keep on reading.
NeoDude: Thanks for liking Jin so much and yes I do feel I sometimes focus on him a bit too much and that's why I wrote this chapter the way I did.
Trillinka: OooooO. You were sooooooo close in guessing how Jeremie would help Jin out. Well no harm in trying.
Wind91rider: See why I split the chapter in two. You would have gotten a mondo 100 page story to deal with. To make up for all the action in "Marksman" I beefed up the character development in "Second Sight." See? Balance will always exist in this story.
Flying Star too tired to sign in: Just keep waiting to hear Jin's whole story and as you can see I'm very much alive and kicking.
Xavier: Hope you like my website and this latest chapter. I'm honored that you think so highly of my writing so now there's another person I can't let down.
Joseph: Thanks for the congrats on my four-thousandth hit.
Clayton had enough with Dirk's on brand of lecturing today for his information input was on overload.
"OooOooO. Dirk the psychologist. I'm shaking. I'm shaking."
Now Dirk was offended. "Don't mess with a psychologist Clayton. We're a lot scarier than you think."
"Yeah right and I'm the Queen of England."
Just then a group of wanna be trouble makers made their way in front of the troublesome duo.
"You're going down Dirk!" The leader spoke. "After today, you're going down."
Dirk responded by removing a pen and notepad from his pockets and began to scribble some notes down.
"So, how long have you been having these nightmares?" The Korean asked.
This was when the leader screamed. "AHHHH! IT'S A PSYCHOLOGIST!"
A random group member placed his hands over his ears. "Watch out! He'll make you lie down on a couch."
"RUN!" The challenging group said in unison before that all high-tailed it out of Dirk's field of vision. Of course, such a sight wouldn't go unnoticed by the young strategist.
"You were saying Queen of England?" Dirk chuckled.
Clayton hung his head in defeat and began to walk off in the opposite direction. "I'll go get my crown."
TARGET WHITE APPROACHING!
RUN THREAT ASSESSMENT
Final Analysis-
Target white has been rendered unless without aid of vision as result of previous battle. Unable to engage in combat. Ignore target and resume attack on Red and Pink.
Threat Rating: F
WARNING! WARNING!
WHITE FAST APPROACHING TARGET AREA.
RUN THREAT ASSESSMENT
WARNING! WARNING!
THIS PROGRAM HAS PERFORMED AN ILLEGAL OPERATION AND WILL CLOSE IMMEDIATELY.
SHUTTING DOWN
DAMN WINDOWS
So remember. The next time you curse Bill Gates for making a program that causes your computer to freeze remember, it could help save the world.
"Yo Jeremie, give me the heads up!" Jin shouted. Five seconds passed and another shot nearly grazed his ear. He could feel the searing heat on his skin and showed signs of panicking. "Come on man, I'm gonna die out here! Do something and make it quick!"
Back at the factory Jeremie slumped back into his chair with his eyes glazed over without a care in the world. We wore the most carefree of smiles and was giggling to himself to himself. In order to better explain what the heck was going on, a deep booming voice was heard.
"Tell your friends that you couldn't help save the world because you were out getting high last night. They'll understand. Lyoko, my anti-drug. Paid by the associates of a drug-free America."
From Marksman
Odd watched the chain tense up, but to his surprise, this didn't stop Jin who kept on running, actually moving the machine from its spot.
"Maybe I should tell him I was joking." he mused as his friend disappeared in the street, oblivious to the arcade machine he was now dragging behind him, much to the amazement of the onlookers.
He approached his sister's sleeping form and draped the set of headphones over her ears before pressing the play button.
Yumi's eyes instantly snapped open as her entire body stiffened, like she was being electrocuted, actually jumping a good two feet above her bed. Confused, Jin looked at the CD inside the player.
"Heavy Metal's 20 loudest hits in history – Guaranteed to wake the dead… Oops."
The sound of cracking knuckles was heard, and Jin was now staring at his very awake, and very murderous sister. He grinned sheepishly as he ran away.
"Huh, sorry, sis, XANA attack, gotta go…"
Jin stared blankly at the zombies that now crowded the streets. "You know, when they said 'guaranteed to wake the dead', I don't think they meant it THAT way."
FINALLY, after all those months of waiting I've finally finished the Marksman story arc. This is by far the longest chapter I've ever wrote and it is also the story I wished to write from the beginning of the writing process. Also if you guys haven't noticed, my other story that I wrote with BloodVampire "Virtual Hot Seat" was removed from this website for being in script format and being interactive. Seeing how I could be banned from this sight if I do something like that again I think it's understandable if I don't try to re-submit it. Sorry but rules are rules.
What I tried to do in "Second Sight" was make a chapter that had Jin as the main victim but not as the main character. Sure he had his moments here and there but essentially he got the least amount of spotlight from the rest of the cast. I was inspired by this style of storytelling from XIN where you saw more of the after effects caused by the situation rather than the person who generated the problems. If you look at it, this chapter really focused on Odd and Jeremie as they were the essential people who thwarted the XANA attack. I wanted to write a story where you saw the repercussions to Jin's blindness and how those around him dealt with the problem rather than just writing about Jin moping around.
When I said that this story would be a warm up to Routine I meant that in more ways then one. Sure it sets up XANA's character messing capabilities but I also threw in some good old fashioned Yumi and Ulrich WAFF in there to be fair. Jeremie and Aelita fans got their fare share so it was time for that potential couple to get some well-deserved attention as well. Like I said in Cruel Dilemma, writing WAFF is extremely hard because one botched sentence and you can send the entire scene tumbling over like a house of cards in a wind tunnel.
My main goal in this chapter was to make sure that every single scene carry a great deal significance to the overall reading experience. Character's interacted in a certain way, answers were uncovered and even the fights proved to be valuable plot devices to get the characters to do certain things. The hardest part of writing "Marksman" and "Second Sight" was that I had to come up with a reasonable explanation to everything single detail. I didn't want to leave you guys scratching your heads going "How the heck that happen?" I tried my best to give you an original crisis in Lyoko that would seem like it would belong in the regular episodes. Also, did you guys catch the Garage Kids refference? It's pretty well hidden in the story. I'd thought it would have been a funny joke to throw in there just for kicks.
Now Odd fans. Remember that fight in "Deja Vu's Recruit" and I'd say I had something big planned. Well this is it. I hoped you enjoyed all the glory our friend got and let's not forget about Samantha. I normally don't introduce characters earlier than the TV show but I had to make an exception. Seeing how all the other males were having discussions with their "significant others" I might as well do the same for Odd in the sake of fairness.
Sorry for the long time you guys had to wait. I have a busy schedule and a little brother that's addicted to Ragnarok and Counter Strike which gives me about two hours max on my computer every other day. Not to mention when I wrote this I actually got physically tired and I would have to rest and sleep because it just took so much out of me to think of everything. That's all I have to say for myself. I hope you guys enjoy this reading marathon so please leave a review and don't forget my website. One more thing. I was helping a writer with their ACC Shadow and their fic in general but I've lost the person's e-mail address. If you were that writer I was conversing with please send me another e-mail with your questions. I'd really hate to leave you hanging like this. Well with that said thanks for reading this super long chapter and I deeply apologize for my slow progression in this story.
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