Trust Issues

The time spent fighting XANA had made Jeremie edgy. There were times Sissi had to literally pull him from the computer lab just to eat. "And if I hear you typing on any type of computer, I'm sic'ing Aelita on you!" Though an empty threat, it was nonetheless effective. However, Einstein noticed something. Lately, XANA's attack seemed to be targeted, not just on the Lyoko warriors, but specifically Jeremie, Aelita, and Sissi, the only people to operate the supercomputer. The best thing to do was to teach the others how to operate the supercomputer. "And I'm teaching them?" Sissi asked while they were in Jeremie's room. "How come?"

"I'd just confuse them," Jeremie shrugged.

"And I have to practice for the Sub-Digitals this afternoon," Aelita sighed.

"And what," Sissi muttered, "I don't have anything else to do?"

"Do you?" Jeremie asked sincerely.

Rolling her eyes, Sissi grumbled under her breath, "Okay, so now I'm tasked with the overwhelming challenge of teaching four different people how to manage the supercomputer."

"Why four?" Yumi asked.

"Hello?" William waved his hand.

Yumi narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure it's a good idea to have William at the controls?"

"He can't be possessed by XANA on Earth anymore, you don't seem to trust him on Lyoko, and because he, Ulrich, and Aelita are training with me, he can hold off XANA should the need arise," the Dragon Queen smirked, crossing her arms. "Any objections?" The tiger would have snarled if the others weren't around.

"Sounds solid to me," Ulrich smiled. Yumi fumed quietly.

"Now," Sissi paced around the room, "I have to figure out how to teach you guys."

"Can't we do it another time? I have a test to study for," Yumi protested.

"Me too," William added.

"And I have fighting practice after class," Ulrich replied. "Not all of us are naturally gifted after an accident."

Sissi stuck out her tongue. "Don't worry. Once I figure out how to teach you guys, you'll be able to learn it just like you learned Physics. And it should be fast too." She walked around the room partially with her eyes closed. She kinda bounced on her feet as if she were dancing and moved her hands like she was orchestrating a symphony.

"Uh... are you okay, Sissi?" Jeremie asked.

"She does this a lot when she's thinking," Odd said, "You should see her when she's inventing." Sissi "danced" around the room until she elegantly fell onto Jeremie's bed as if it were a bed of feather.

"Uh... Sissi," William ventured to speak, "Are you oka-"

"I GOT IT!" Sissi shouted as she rushed out the door. Everyone else simply shrugged.

"Here's a puzzle to figure out," Sissi said to them a little bit later. She handed them papers with fun little doodles on them. The whole thing looked like it was in code. The bundles of paper came with a code sheet. "I want you to finish figuring out the code when you come to the factory after lunch, okay?"

"How is this supposed to help them with the Supercomputer?" Jeremie asked.

Sissi winked, "You'll see." The team went their different ways and soon lunch came around. At the factory, Sissi waited for the others, leaning on Jeremie's chair. The blonde glared into the screen. "What's wrong?"

"Am I that see-through?" Jeremie asked.

"No one is transparent, Jer. I just know your body language," Sissi said. Jeremie stopped typing for a brief moment and leaned back in his chair. His eyes glanced at the ceiling and tried to muster... something up. Sissi couldn't tell. She did know it came out stuttered when he spoke.

"C-C-Can I be honest?"

Sissi rolled her eyes. "No lie to me, idiot."

"That's just it. I'm... afraid of that."

"What do you mean?"

Jeremie sighed, "You managed to teach them how to operate the Supercomputer so effortlessly. Maybe when they figure it out..." He bowed his head, "They won't need me."

"Hey hey hey," Sissi said, lifting his chin up, "First off, you don't know if it even worked. Second, just because they can operate the Supercomputer doesn't mean they know in-depth knowledge about it. Even I don't know that."

"Then what are you teaching them?"

"I'm teaching them the language of the Supercomputer. If they can learn that, everything else can fall into place," She smiled. "But Jeremie, remember this. We don't ever need you with us. We want you with us. Have some faith in us. If we just needed you, we would probably be bullies to you. Like I was with Herb."

"How is he doing?" Jeremie asked.

"He's fine. He finally decided to date the girl he was afraid to talk to, like someone I know," She smirked with a raised eyebrow. Jeremie nervously grinned. "I just hope that we managed to get a mild XANA attack when we're finished with this lesson."

"Why?"

"The others learn better under stress. Plus, it sticks with them," Sissi said as the others filed into the computer lab. The Mechanist stomped her cane on the ground with a broad smile. "Alright, let's see if you guys managed to figure this out." Ulrich was up first. For a brief moment, his hands simply hovered over the keys.

"Okay, so what do I do?" He asked.

"Just remember what the puzzle was about," Sissi replied. Ulrich blankly stared for a moment before typing away at the keyboard. "Okay, good. You just called up a vehicle on Ice Sector. Did you mean to do that?"

"Yeah."

"Great!"

"Oh! So that's what we have to do," Odd said, "I have to say, your Majesty, you really keep amazing me every day."

"Why thank you, Jester," Sissi smirked with a playful curtsy.

William looked at Jeremie, whispering, "It's not just me seeing this, right?"

"Just be glad you don't have to deal with it," The blonde sighed. Just then, something went off. Ulrich instinctively accessed the situation.

"Uh-Oh, there's an activated tower in the Forest- no, Desert Sector," Ulrich replied.

"Great!" Sissi celebrated as Ulrich and Jeremie switched positions. "Now we just have to get to Lyoko and-" Before she could finish, a volt of electricity surged through her body, and she fainted. Behind her stood a suited specter of a man that buzzed every now and then.

"SISSI!" Yumi shouted. Ulrich smacked his forearms and landed an electrified punch on the specter. It buzzed and then suddenly disappeared. Odd and Yumi tended to Sissi's injuries. Yumi pressed her ear to Sissi's chest.

"She'll be fine, but she'll out for a while," she said.

"Well, so much for lessons," Ulrich muttered. "Jeremie, call Aelita."

"Right." He called, but Aelita wouldn't answer. "I'll leave her a text. You better go after her, Yumi."

"Why?"

"Because if XANA took out Sissi, where do you think he went?"

"Aelita!" Yumi ran to the elevator and hit the up button.

"Okay, we'll go to Lyoko," Ulrich said hastily. William and Odd nodded, but Jeremie said,

"No."

"No? Jeremie we don't have time for waiting," Odd argued. Einstein looked at Sissi on the ground and sighed. He walked over to the side of the holo map and sat down. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed the tension in his shoulders and shut his eyes. "Jeremie?"

"Sissi was right. I need to trust you guys. So this time... I want you guys to virtualize yourselves."

"What?! Come on, Jeremie, be serious," William said.

"I am serious," He said with a certain heaviness to his eyes, "Besides, I can't be left here alone. XANA will come back to get me once I'm alone. Giving you guys the controls will throw him off." Everyone was quiet.

"I hate to admit it, but Einstein's right," Ulrich said. "Either way, one of us has to be here."

"I'll stay," William said.

"Good. Just get us there in one piece, okay?" Odd smiled. The two boys ran down the ladder and jumped into the scanners. William cautiously sat in the chair. The lights and colors of the screen blinked and flashed before his eyes. His body froze. He saw Jeremie sitting calmly by the side of the seat.

"Aren't you worried?" William asked.

"Heck yeah," Jeremie chuckled nervously, "But I also trust you guys. I know you can do it. Besides, where's that confidence you had when you first fought XANA?"

"It left when I learned I got possessed," William nervously laughed. Once Odd and Ulrich were in the scanners, William took a deep breath and placed the earset on. "Transfer Odd, Transfer Ulrich. Scanner Odd, scanner Ulrich. Tele- I mean, Virtualization!" Silence. William's eyebrow twitched and his hand gripped the armrest. "Guys, are you there?"

"Yeah, we're here," said Odd. William blew a sigh of relief. "Haha, and you managed to get us close to the tower, not bad."

"Yeah, well, don't thank me yet," William murmured. "Okay let's see. It looks like the tower is... East, no west no URGGH! Jeremie!"

"I'm not helping you, remember," Jeremie calmly said.

"Okay, go to your right a bit, guys, and move forward a couple of steps." They did. "Okay, I got it! The tower is due Northeast. You've got four Krabs expecting you. I'll try sending your vehicles." William typed on the keyboard and finally tapped the enter key. "Ha! I did it!"

"Nice work, William," Ulrich said as he got on the overbike and Odd got on the overboard.

"Well, now things are okay," William sighed. Just then, he heard a digital grunt behind him. He spun around and saw mister specter. "Shoulda seen that coming."

Continued...