The Heart of Lyoko

The sunny air brimmed hope on her peach-white, no, pale white skin. With the long hours indoors, Sissi began to lose her "shining" complexion. Her eyes drifted to the singing birds–the Larks and Song Sparrows. But the cold old factory frame soon came in sight, and Sissi left her pristine forest venture.

The Dragon Queen went to the computer room where Jeremie busily typed. Yumi and Aelita played a game of Wei Qi on the floor. "Hey, aren't the boys supposed to be back?" Sissi asked.

"I'm in no rush. I enjoyed the break," Yumi smiled. Her dark-haired friend rolled her eyes.

Walking over to the chair, she rested her elbow on Jeremie's headrest. "How's the scan coming along?"

"I've almost completed it. I'm starting to share your queezy feelings about XANA. We haven't heard anything from him yet."

"I think you're just paranoid," Sissi smirked, "But you're right. He must be preparing something big." Just then the loud elevator rolled down, and Odd and Ulrich walked out. "Ah, and it was so quiet."

"Really? You mean you didn't miss us, your highness? I'm hurt." Odd dramatically sighed.

"Well, I wouldn't say- OW!" Jeremie rubbed his hurt head, glowering up at Sissi. "What was that for?"

"Whoops, my hand must have slipped... quickly." Her monotone voice came with a small smirk. Jeremie grumbled and continued typing as Sissi walked over to Odd and Ulrich. "Nothing really exciting. Jeremie's making a scan for XANA on the internet."

"What happens when we find him?" Ulrich asked.

"Theoretically, we'll be able to send you onto the World Wide Web to fight him, but it's going to be complicated to do that. First, let's see what the big bad wolf is doing. Here we go." Jeremie pressed the last button, and the scan started up. "Yeah! It works!"

"You sound surprised?" Sissi crossed her arms.

"Sometimes my programs don't work, you know that more than anyone."

"Yeah, but you eventually get it right. Stop doubting yourself, Einstein," Sissi said with a highly held head. Jeremie rolled his eyes with a smile.

"I'll try," he said, earning a smile from Sissi.

"Right, well, let me remind you that we have our schedules to get?" Odd said.

"Oh! Which reminds me, Odd. You owe me one," Sissi smirked, strolling into the elevator. Odd shrugged and walked in with her.

"Hey, Ulrich," Yumi whispered, picking up the Wei Qi game. "I... I've done some thinking over the break, and I... need to talk to you."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Can you guys hurry up?" Odd called.

"I'll tell you later," Yumi sighed.

While Ulrich couldn't figure out what Yumi was going to talk to him about, he felt as if it were major news. When the team got their schedules, word got out that the teachers had tried to break up the Lyoko team, namely Odd. Yet, Sissi worked her magic to make sure that the thought never came up. So the team stayed together for their classes. Crisis averted, XANA had launched an attack later that day, but Jeremie couldn't figure out what was happening. Fingers typed away as Sissi rushed down the ladder to the computer room. "Hey, Sissi. Why didn't you go to the elevator?"

"I don't know. Something just told me not to ride it this time," She answered Jeremie. Then the elevator door opened up to Ulrich and Yumi. "Whu-oh."

"Hey, guys. Is something wrong?"

"Nope, not a problem at all. We're the best of friends," Ulrich muttered while Yumi huffed.

"Oh, that's good. Head for the scanners. Aelita and Odd are already there waiting for you." The elevator closed.

"Okay, we've got to get you away from this computer," Sissi murmured.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because you can't be this clueless."

"Like you are with-" Jeremie didn't finish when he saw Sissi's sad frown. "Uh, nevermind."

"Thanks for not mentioning anything. What's going on with XANA?"

"He's sent a bunch of monsters to Sector Five, but I don't know what they're doing there." Jeremie typed up the location. "It seems like they're all in a central room right underneath the entry point."

"Can we get in there when we go into Sector Five?"

"No, you have to get to the outer dome. From there, it's straight down the southern end of the sphere." Sissi nodded and went down to the scanner with the rest.

A "virtualization" away, the whole team was on Ice Sector. Aelita and Yumi hopped on the overwing while Ulrich jumped on the overbike. Odd got on his overboard. "Need a lift, your majesty?" Odd said. Sissi smirked as Aelita and Yumi giggled.

"No thanks, I'll hop."

"Hop?" With one stomp, Sissi flew forward and rebounded ahead. "WHOA!"

"When did she learn that?" Ulrich asked.

"You've missed a lot over the break," Aelita winked.

"Let's go!" The team charged forward toward the edge of the sector.

"HAHA!" Sissi laughed. She bound and rebound like a leaping gazelle. As they came to a narrow valley, Sissi jumped to the side and jumped from one side to the next. She richeted out like a bullet. "HAHAHA WHOA!"

"Easy, Mrs. Royalty. You're nearing the edge of the sector," Jeremie said.

"He's so rude when he's directing," Sissi muttered to Aelita, who nodded.

The team finally made their way into the southern tip of Sector Five. They looked up into a huge airy space with jutting blue blocks on the walls where Creepers and Mantas shot at a baby-blue ball of light protected by two cube shields. "Okay, that can't be good," Ulrich muttered.

"If XANA's trying to destroy it, then it must be important," Jeremie said. "Get rid of those monsters."

"Come on!" They ran up the jutting blocks while Mantas flew down from above. Yumi and Sissi halted.

"You guys get going. We'll hold them off," Yumi shouted. She deflected the lasers as Sissi shot her rings at the Manta, blowing it to bits. "Has your aim gotten better?"

"No, I'm just luckier for now," Sissi joked. A stray shot from the back nearly got her. Sissi spun around and blast the Creeper to pieces.

"AHH!"

"Yumi!" Sissi turned back and saw Yumi de-virtualized. Another Manta soared from above to attack. "Okay, time to test my luck." The Manta dived below the platform. Sissi ran and jumped. She stomped the air, sending Punch Rings right into the Manta's flat head, and then flew towards another platform with another Creeper on it. Sissi blocked two of its lasers and smashed the Creeper to pieces, landing perfectly. "Okay," She panted, "that was easy enough."

Pew Pew!

"AHH!" Suddenly, Sissi woke up in the scanner, plopping onto the mattress. "Spoke too soon," She groaned. Yumi slung Sissi's arm around her shoulders. "Ahh! My leg."

"Where's your cane?"

"Up in the computer room. Darn it, I didn't think it would hurt this badly," Sissi grimaced, "Odd better not get cocky."

"You're kidding, right?" Yumi half-laughed. Smoke hissed from another scanner, and Odd popped out of the tube.

"Yep, should have known," Sissi grumbled.

"Hehe, hi ladies," Odd weakly muttered.

The black-haired girls shook their heads. "Let's just get to Jeremie." After struggling up the elevator, they saw Jeremie furiously typing away at the computer.

"No, no, no!"

"What's wrong?"

"You're not going to believe this," Jeremie said, "Ulrich, whatever you do, don't let the monsters destroy that ball!"

"Why?"

"Because that's the heart of Lyoko, all of the key programs. If XANA destroys it, it's game over!"

"No pressure," Sissi added in. Everyone glared. "What? Someone had to say it. That's a lot of pressure on Ulrich. I mean Aelita can't defend herself."

"Hehe, just watch," Jeremie quipped. After Ulrich got de-virtualized, a Creeper crept behind Aelita, cornering her on the edge. The Creeper fired, but Aelita's hand suddenly made a ball of pink energy.

"Energy field!" She threw it at the Creeper, blasting it to pieces.

"Wait, what? What was that?!" Sissi asked.

"Aelita developed some powers of her own during the break. Now she can defend herself," Jeremie said.

"Jeremie! Look!" Yumi gasped

"Oh no! She got... de-virtualized."

Odd's eyes rounded, "Does that means she-"

"Yes, I... I can't believe this!"

"Wait Jer, look at that," Sissi pointed to the screen. The green light for the scanners rang up.

"Wh-what's going on? Come on!" Jeremie shot out of his seat and climbed down the ladder just in time to see Aelita's scanner open up. "Hey, do you know you nearly gave me a heart attack?" The bright pink-haired girl jumped into Jeremie's arms, laughing.

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, it looks like even if Aelita gets de-virtualized, she won't be gone forever," Odd smiled.

"She won't? How come?"

Jeremie's eyes widened and he smacked his big brainy head. "Of course! I was too dumb to think about it. Ever since we recovered your human memory, you're the same as us."

"That'll be great since XANA wants to destroy Lyoko to stop us from finding him on the web," Aelita sighed, relieved.

"Welcome to the club, Aelita. You're an official Lyoko warrior," Yumi said. Aelita blushed pink.

As the team walked across the factory bridge, the Dragon Queen pulled Yumi close to her. "I need to talk with you. It's about Ulrich," Sissi said.

"What about him?"

Sissi glanced at the boys walking just a few feet ahead of them. "Let's talk in Aelita's room."

Yumi rose an eyebrow. "Why her room?"

"Because I don't trust your brother at your house, Jeremie's going to be doing programs, and I don't think it's a good idea to talk in Odd and Ulrich's room," Sissi smiled wryly. Yumi nodded and grumbled quietly. They made their way back, got into Aelita's room, and shut the door.

The girls talked.

Sissi slammed her fist into the wall right next to Yumi's head. "Just friends?! Are you some kind of idiot or something?! Even Odd wouldn't do something stupid like that!" she shouted.

"How would you know?" Yumi asked.

"Have you seen the number of girls he's dated? All with bad luck, I might add," Sissi muttered, pulling her fist back. "I just don't understand. After all I did to NOT mess up your relationship, you still do this?"

Yumi's eyes narrowed and shot up from her seat. "So you already knew?"

"I thought that it wouldn't happen because I made sure that I didn't get in the way this time. I guess fate had other plans." Sissi plopped onto the bed and sighed. She rubbed the side of her shin on the leg that kept hurting and looked out the window. The clouds were a bit grayer than when they came in, and much like this issue, Sissi didn't know where they were going. She sighed again. "Why would you do that?"

"I just... I needed some space to think. Think with a clear mind, isn't that something you would say?"

"No!" Sissi screamed in her high-pitched voice. "I'm not some guru! And you were thinking with a clear mind. You just didn't like to admit your feelings because your pride is as big as his!" She sighed, speaking softly, "Look, I know it's hard. I guess I'm more surprised that you did it without me interfering."

"Why?"

"I always thought it was my fault when it first happened. I guess it wasn't." Sissi shook her head. "Anyway, I have some new equipment for you guys to try. Come to my room when you have your homework done."

"Okay," Yumi sighed. She stopped just at the door. "Do you think-"

"Don't regret your decision when you just made it. Regret it when you learned nothing from it. You see, that's a guru moment," Sissi nagged. Yumi smiled, shaking her head as she walked out. Aelita silently looked at Sissi. The Dragon Queen avoided the Princess's glance.

"Speaking of decisions."

"I think... I think I know what to do. I just don't know how he'll take it," Sissi said.

"Have you practiced with her?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah, a couple of times. She's a great person. Perfect for him." Sissi stared at the floor. "But if-"

"Don't regret your decision when you've just made it."

Sissi scowled at the smiling girl. "You're starting to become more and more human. I don't know if I like it," She muttered. Aelita just laughed.

Continued...