Deep-sea Dive
"Well?" Sissi simply said on her bed. William stood in her room while Aelita sat in Sissi's desk chair. "What is going on with you and Sam?"
"Nothing! We're just talking," Will said.
Sissi paused, "Then what did you mean by 'you thought I wouldn't mind'."
"Well... Sam's your friend and she liked Odd. I didn't want to... make things worse." Sissi narrowed her eyes at him.
"Why are you so nervous?" She asked.
"Because... I... I know that you and Odd talk a lot to each other. I don't want Odd knowing just yet. I-"
"What are you two doing?"
"I... I'm just talking with her, alright! Sheesh! Isn't it enough that I don't want Odd to be upset with me over this?!" William blurted out. Sissi stared at him before looking at Aelita. The pink-haired girl shrugged. Sissi sighed and stood up from the bed.
"I won't tell Odd. You're right that it isn't the right time for him to know." Sissi paused impressively, "But... just be careful where and when she calls you."
"Okay," William said as Aelita picked up her phone. "So... what's going to happen with Odd and Sam?"
"Don't worry about that. Just focus on defeating XANA and schoolwork," Sissi sighed.
"Right, okay," William said "Um... I was just wondering. How is it that you are stronger than Ulrich? I mean, he's been practicing for a while." Sissi blinked several times and shrugged her shoulders.
"People grow at different rates? Plus, I practice a different form of Marital arts than he does."
Then Aelita got off the phone, "That was Jeremie. He wanted me to come to his room."
"Okay, I'll talk with you two later," Sissi said. William nodded as he and Aelita walked out of the room.
William couldn't figure out why Aelita was walking so close to him until they managed to get to the end of the hall. She stopped him and looked him straight in the eye. "What?"
"You lied. I know you did," Aelita said. "What did you really mean?"
William was silent for a moment before he spoke, "I didn't think she would mind because I thought it was something she wanted. I mean, at least that's what I would want with Yumi, but..."
"I get it," Aelita replied. "She would've caught on if you said anything. You did the right thing."
"How did you know I was lying? I mean, I tried to keep a straight face when-"
"It wasn't your face. It was just a hunch," Aelita smirked and winked.
The days went by fast, for Jeremie anyway. At that time, a drummer in a popular band called the Sub-Digitals came to find a young DJ with special talents. William immediately signed Aelita up, who got the gig. The school got a new wreck room that William was in charge of, and Sissi managed to improve the battery life of the XR-Sleeves. "Finally," Odd would say, "Those things give up at the worst times." Jeremie and Aelita were busy working on a way to enter the digital sea and the Web. Sissi chose not to get involved.
"If I mess up, I wouldn't forgive myself," she said.
"Oh, but it's okay if I mess up?" Jeremie asked.
"I trust you," Sissi answered. Jeremie and Aelita worked endlessly on the project until they finally managed to get a submarine-like ship programmed. They named it the Skidblanir after a ship that never lost its way at sea, Skid for short. Aelita got the idea from a story that her father used to tell.
The seasons were growing colder, and the team adopted darker clothes for their bodies, except Sissi. She merely changed her orange-ish pink flower shirt to a plain light purple T-shirt with a small flower clip in her hair. "Got to keep appearances," She said. The good thing was that it allowed her to put more technology into the team's clothing. Everything was changing, except for Sissi's cane and her occasional weak leg that still baffled her doctor. Additionally, William slowly started to warm up to Ulrich, to the point that Sissi didn't have to break up any fights, and Ulrich welcomed the change.
Yumi didn't seem to. William and Ulrich were slowly gaining a kind of brotherhood. For some reason, it unnerved her. "Yumi, are you there?" Sissi asked. The Japanese girl shook her head awake. "You looked brain dead."
"I'm sorry. I was thinking about something else. What's wrong with Jeremie?" She asked. The blonde was sulking at the mess hall table.
"He tried scaling the rock wall in the gym," Ulrich said.
"Oh, enough said then."
"I don't get it. I can't be bad at every single sport," Jeremie groaned.
"Of course not," Aelita said, "Actually, no, you really are lame at anything athletic."
"Ow, do you need medicine for that wound, Jer?" Sissi smirked. Jeremie growled under his breath. "You know, you were so innocent when I first met you, Aelita. I wonder what happened."
"Well, she definitely got her sass from you," Odd said, eating. "And her witty comebacks come from me."
"I thought you didn't like talking with your mouth full," Sissi groused.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter, Jeremie. You can't be a champ at everything," Aelita said.
"How about this? I'll scale the wall with ya," Odd offered.
"You think I have time for that monkey business," Jeremie fussed, "I have to fight XANA. I have too much work to do."
"Huh, it almost sounds like you're using XANA as an excuse to get out of everything else. Maybe it's better to get out and flex your muscles for a bit," William said, drinking his soda. Everyone fell quiet. Jeremie glared at the black-haired teen.
"Maybe you would be better being possessed by XANA."
"I was just thinking-"
"Look, I know you don't really think much, but I'm not using XANA as an excuse. How could you be so dumb?"
"I was just saying," William argued back, "No need to get your brain cells in a bunch."
"Guys, that's enough," Aelita ordered. Just then, Mr. Delmas came in with a fire drill announcement, so everyone was off for the rest of the day. "Great! We can use the time to test out the Skid. What do you say, Jeremie?" Jeremie and William were still glaring at each other.
Sissi sighed, "You know, he's not wrong, Jer."
"Et Tu, Mechanist?" Jeremie muttered.
"Don't give me that. He just said what all of us have been thinking," Sissi said. Jeremie glanced at all of his friends' awkward faces. "You really do use XANA to get out of doing other things."
"Like what?"
"Like being with your friends."
Silence.
William finally sighed, "I wasn't trying to be rude, Jeremie. I was just saying."
"None of us are condemning you for it. But maybe this epic fail at the wall was a good thing. It gives you a reason to strengthen your muscles," Odd smiled.
Jeremie rolled his eyes. "I'll think about it. Right now, let's get to the factory."
The Skid looked very awkward for a deep oil-black submarine. It had two curving spikes that pointed down towards its sharp-tipped bottom. The top control hub was like a flat-ended diamond with five smaller hubs along its shaft. It was stationed inside a hollow core in Sector Five. The team decided to bring William along with them, against Yumi's wishes. "I promise I won't get possessed again," William said.
"Famous last words," Ulrich joked. As they stood on the platforms, Jeremie teleported them into the Skid. The plan was to just get a dry run, but the team managed to persuade Jeremie to take a plunge into the Digital Sea.
"Jer, we don't know if the ship would even be good for anything if we don't dive," Sissi said.
"Grr, why is it the moment she argues, I can't find a good excuse?" Jeremie grumbled. Sissi tittered. "I feel I'm gonna regret this. Alright, get ready to dive into the Digital Sea. Five minutes tops."
"Shields on, navigation on, here we go," Aelita breathed in.
"Hope you can swim, dog for brains," Sissi said. They plunged into the sea.
"Jeremie to Skid, do you copy? Skid, do you copy?" He crushed the soda can he had.
"We're here. Reading you loud and clear," Aelita replied.
Jeremie sighed, "Thank goodness, Aelita. You nearly gave me a heart attack. What does the network look like?"
"It's... beautiful." They floated in a literal sea with blocky structures jutting in and around the waters. White tubes speared the water and were connected to disk-like bases with pink whirling portals in them. Multicolored symbols lit up the dark blue sea. Aelita sent Jeremie a visual.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Jeremie exclaimed. The Skid peacefully glided in the ocean until it was time for them to get back to Lyoko.
"Aw, can't we stay a little longer?" Odd asked.
"I said five minutes, Odd," Jeremie laughed until a red beeping noise started going off. "What's going on? Aelita, I've completely lost you on my screen. Can you look on your end?"
"Sure," Aelita pushed a few buttons and found the problem. "The navigation system is bugged."
"Oh no!"
"What does that mean?" William asked.
"It means if Jeremie doesn't fix the system quickly, we won't find our way back to Lyoko, the shields' power will run down, and we'll be de-virtualized forever!" Sissi exclaimed. "Jeremie, there's got to be a way to debug the program."
"Well... there is. I might be able to get the programs from my room, but... that means I'll have to leave you guys to get it."
"Oh smart move, Einstein. You couldn't have grabbed it when you came?" Odd argued.
"Hey! I wasn't the one who decided to do this trial run, Odd, so just cool it!"
"We're not gonna go anywhere with you two fighting!" Aelita hushed the boys. "Jeremie, get those CD-ROMs."
"Okay, just don't go anywhere."
"Very funny," Odd grumbled. As Jeremie left, the crew sailed through the waters, gazing at the sights to see. That's when the sea changed from blue to red. They cruised on through the murky waters when they came to a huge sphere that looked like Lyoko, but-
"It's not Lyoko. Hang on! Retrobrakes!" Aelita shouted, slamming the buttons. The Skid halted, turned around, and zoomed away. "What was that thing?"
"Uh, Aelita," William called, "We have bigger problems." In front of them were two huge Moray eel-like creatures with blue tails and ugly chompers.
"They don't look friendly, hang on!" Aelita spun the Skid around and barrel-rolled out of the Eel's lasers.
"WHOA!" shouted the team.
"Easy Aelita, who in the world taught you to drive anyway."
"You did, Odd," Aelita replied.
"Oh."
"Careful Aelita, we'll waste the Skid's power," Sissi said.
"I know," Aelita grunted back as the Eels fired. "I hope Jeremie comes back soon."
"Guys, are you there?"
"Jeremie! Thank goodness. Do you have the debugging program?" Aelita asked.
"Yes, but you're burning way too much power. You have to save some energy. You'll have to deploy the Nav-Skids," Jeremie said.
"Huh, you mean we're gonna fight them one on one?" Odd asked.
"Right, just like Galactic invader five. Are you ready?"
"Ready!"
"Launch Nav-skids," Aelita pulled all the levers, and the small hubs zoomed after the Eels.
"Whoa! Man, these things can cut tight turns," Sissi said.
"Just imagine what we could do with them," William smiled.
"Well, stop imagining and start doing," Yumi called out, "We have to keep those Eels away from the Skid."
"Roger that!" Odd chimed in. The five raced after the eels. They darted through the red waters and fired at the eels. "Darn! These Eels are hard to hit!"
"Don't try working any miracles. Just keep them away from the Skid," Jeremie said. Finally, the navigation system was online just as Yumi and Sissi finished off the two eels.
"Haha! Alright! Looks like girls have better aim than boys," Yumi smirked.
"Beginners' luck," Ulrich griped.
"Alright. Head back to the Skid. It's time to come home," Jeremie sighed.
"A whole sea. It's amazing," Jeremie marveled.
"Except for the part where you have monsters and the threat of potentially getting de-virtualized forever handing over your head," Sissi said. Jeremie glared at the mech-head from his chair. "What? It's true."
"What do you think that sphere we saw was?" Yumi asked.
"A replica of Lyoko by XANA. I wish I knew what he was doing with it," Jeremie sighed.
"But we do know why XANA's trying to throw Aelita into the Digital Sea: to try and get Franz Hopper out of it," Ulrich said.
"We're gonna have to do a lot of work if we're gonna find out what XANA's up to," Sissi sighed.
"Yep, but not right now. Right now, I'm going to go to my bed. I'm beat," Jeremie yawned.
"You're tired from sitting in your comfy chair?" Odd smirked, "How do you think we should feel?"
"Odd, if I told you what I did today, you'd never believe me."
"Let me take a wild guess. You did a little rock scaling on the dormitory roof."
Jeremie's eyes widened, "Huh? How did you know that?!"
Everyone's jaw dropped, but then they laughed. "You know, Einstein, you're really funny when you want to be, even when you don't want to be!" Odd laughed. Jeremie groaned in defeat.
Continued...