A Lifetime of Mistakes

Jeremie grabbed Sissi's cane. "I'll handle him."

"You'll handle him?" William asked. "I wish I could see this." The black-haired teen called Yumi.

"William? What are you-"

"Listen we don't have time. Have you got Aelita?"

"We're on our way back to the factory. I have Aelita with me. Wait, why are you at the controls? Did the specter get Jeremie, too?"

"Thanks for the confidence boost," William groused. "Believe it or not, Jeremie is actually fighting the specter." Jeremie swung the electric cane. The specter jumped and nearly kicked the blonde in the face. Ducking back, Jeremie swung again. A hit! The specter buzzed, growling as it marched towards Jeremie. "You might want to speed it up." Just then, the specter disappeared. "Huh? Where did it go?"

"It's probably after you guys, Aelita. Hurry up!" Jeremie shouted as he tended to an unconscious Sissi. Suddenly, William hit a button that started a countdown on the computer screen.

"Huh? I don't remember this from the puzzle," William said.

"William, what does the window say at the top?" Aelita asked.

"Big Fat Cheese head. What is that?"

"It's a program. You just started a delayed Virtualization to the Desert Sector."

"I better go. Get to the factory quickly!" William hung up and walked out of the chair.

"Why?" Jeremie asked. "What about me and mister gruesome?"

"Ulrich and Odd were having problems defeating the monsters last I checked. One of them is going to be de-virtualized if they don't get help," William said. "Just stay here and make sure that the specter doesn't mess anything up."

"I'll try," Jeremie sighed, picking up the cane like a bat.

"Great, I'm off. Also, Big Fat Cheesehead?" William asked.

"Uh... well... it's a... joke between me and Aelita," Jeremie blushed. "Get to the Desert Sector. I'll keep the specter busy when he comes." William nodded. He hopped into the elevator and got into the scanner just in time. Jeremie pulled Sissi next to the holo-map and accessed her. She seemed fine, but he wasn't. Jeremie sighed, "You were right, Sissi. It looks like you're always right." He brushed a string of hair from her face, smiling just a hint. "I should trust you guys more."

Just then, Yumi and Aelita rushed in, panting hard. "Great! You're here. Virtualize us."

"No, Yumi. You do it," Jeremie said.

"What?! Are you kidding? Why me?"

"Because now that you're here, the specter will be after me. The guys are on Lyoko. Aelita, hurry to the scanner," Jeremie said.

"But-"

"Now!" Jeremie didn't shout, but it was loud enough to convince the pink-haired girl. Aelita pushed the down button and got into the scanners. "Yumi, take the controls."

"But I'm not good at this, Jer."

"You've done it before. You can do it again." Yumi finally nodded and got into the chair. She took a deep breath. The running pain in her legs didn't compare to the anxiety filling her head. Suddenly, the specter came in behind them. "I hope Sissi was right about you learning under pressure. I'll take him on. Get Aelita to the Desert Sector."

"O-Okay," Yumi fidgeted, "Okay, okay. Transfer Aelita, Scanner Aelita, Virtualization! Hey! I did it! I did it!"

"Great," came Jeremie's strained voice. He bashed his fists uselessly against the Specters black suit jacket. "Now can you get him to stop strangling me!" Yumi tapped her forearms and punched the specter. It released Jeremie but turned its attention to Yumi.

But then-

"RAAHHHHH!" The specter crumbled to the ground and disappeared into the air.

"I guess he couldn't handle the high-voltage," Odd smirked. "You miss me?"

"You don't know the half of it," Yumi sighed.

"Odd, get to the computer and make sure that everyone's okay on Lyoko," Jeremie ordered. With no hesitation, Odd jumped onto the computer chair and typed. "What's the status?"

"It like William just got de-virtualized, but Aelita's in the tower," Odd said.

"Yumi, go onto Lyoko. I want to make sure that the Scyphozoa isn't around to surprise us," Jeremie said.

"Right. Odd, don't do anything stupid," Yumi said.

"Me? I don't know what you're talking about," Odd smiled as sh went into the scanners. "Transfer Yumi, Scanner Yumi. Virtualization!" Soon, Yumi dropped down on Lyoko, and lo and behold, the Scyphozoa was there right at the tower gate. Ulrich was struggling to fight off the last three Krabs. Meanwhile, William made it up to the computer lab and saw Odd at the helm.

"You're not destroying Lyoko, are you?" he joked.

"Laugh it up, will ya?" Odd shot back. "I'm a computer wiz."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Jeremie chuckled.

"Good news, tower's de-activated. Better news, Yumi just cut throw the Scyphozoa's squiggly things," Odd said.

"Tentacles," Jeremie sighed. "But good. Go ahead and rematerialize them." Odd nodded, tapping away. "They're all coming home." Jeremie sat against the holo-map and blew a long breath.

"By the way, Jeremie. Do you really need to say those things to virtualize us?" William asked.

"Well no. I just do that so I don't mess up," Jeremie toothily grinned.

Sissi's eyes slowly fluttered open. Everyone was squatting next to her. "Wh... what happened? XANA. The specter!"

"Relax. Everything's fine," Yumi smiled. "We de-activated the tower."

"My cane," Sissi asked weakly. Jeremie gave it to her.

"It's low on juice. I had to defend the others while they operated the supercomputer," Jeremie said. Sissi blinked and bolted upright.

"You... let them use the supercomputer while YOU fought off a specter?" Jeremie nodded. "Please tell me he's joking."

"Nope," Aelita smiled, "Jeremie was actually calmer than he's ever been. He trusted all of them to use the supercomputer."

"And... all of you used the supercomputer?" Sissi asked. They all nodded. The Dragon Queen incredulously stared at a smiling Jeremie. Then she smiled and laughed, ruffling his blond hair. "Way to go, Einstein. I knew you could do it."

A few days later, Sissi was making another invention in her room when Jeremie came in. "Hey, what's up?" Sissi asked.

"Nothing, could I talk with you for a moment?" Sissi nodded. Sitting down on her bed, Jeremie's hand felt the soft fluffy fabric. He sniffed.

"I've been meaning to change my sheets," Sissi chuckled lightly.

"Make sure it's soon," Jeremie said, "It's starting to smell like Odd's room."

"I resent that," Sissi argued, glancing over her shoulder, "I am nowhere near Odd's smell. Your room is probably worse than mine."

"Anyway," He said after rolling his eyes, "I wanted to ask you about something."

"Hm?"

"In the previous timeline, do you know if we ever got Franz Hopper back to Earth?" Sissi stopped her hands and let her invention down. She turned around and gazed at the boy. Her hand held her chin while she glanced up at the ceiling.

"No. I never saw him around so I guess you didn't. I don't know."

"Okay," Jeremie sighed.

"It could be that something happened to him but I don't know. You guys seemed pretty bummed around the time I think you shut the supercomputer down."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?" Jeremie stayed silent. He got up and folded his hands behind his back while his spine faced Sissi. His hands fidgeted. "Everything alright?" Sissi asked.

"I... I want to work on the multi-agent system again. This time making sure that everything works perfectly."

Sissi narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Because I've been thinking about that replica that XANA created."

"The one we explored? The Forest replica?" Sissi asked.

"Yeah, I'm still spinning my wheels about how I'm gonna virtualize you guys from the replica into the real world to destroy the supercomputer that's infected with XANA."

"We'll think about that later," Sissi smiled then frowned, "But it does make sense."

"Hm?"

"If one replica exists that means more are out there, and that means that XANA is gaining power to do something on Earth. I don't know what," Sissi sighed.

"But that's why I think we should start up the multi-agent system again," Jeremie said, spinning around to her. "If we can do that, we don't have to worry about replicas."

"And we don't have to worry about XANA ever again," Sissi smirked as she stood up. "You're getting better at this stuff, Einstein. I think you're almost ready to finish this."

"What do you mean?"

"I remember you said that you didn't know what to do with yourself from the previous timeline. I think you're doing better this time."

Jeremie rubbed the back of his head. "I guess." Smiling, Sissi ruffled his hair again and laughed. Jeremie sniffed again. "Uh... Sissi, when was the last time you showered?"

"Jeremie!"

"What? I'm just asking," Jeremie smiled too innocently. Sissi picked up her shoe and threw it at him as Jeremie ducked and laughed his way out the door. That's when Yumi came in.

"Did I miss something?" She asked.

"No, Jeremie's just being an annoying brother," Sissi muttered.

"Brother?" Yumi asked. The Mechanist paused, recounting her words. Then she smiled and shrugged.

"I guess I just see Einstein as a little brother now."

"And Aelita's your daughter?"

"I wouldn't say that. What are you here for?"

"I wanted to see what you were working on, and I'm still annoyed about Aelita and Odd's fighting last week."

"HAHAHAHA!" Sissi laughed almost uncontrollably. Yumi rose an eyebrow. "No, no, I'm sorry. I just remembered that those two were fighting in the previous timeline, and Herb and Nicolas caught them at the factory kissing each other."

"Yeah, so?" Yumi asked.

"Well? Aren't Odd and Aelita 'cousins'?" Sissi laughed. "It's just now that I know what was going on, the story just makes me laugh so much."

Yumi smiled, "Well, Odd's very unpredictable. Something you're well aware of."

"I am, and how's your friend, Ulrich?" Sissi grinned back. A silence crossed them both. Sissi shook her head with a smaller smile and went back to her chair. "What are you really here for, Yumi?"

"I was just wondering. You know Sam and William are talking with each other, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it's serious?"

Grabbing her cane, Sissi's face screwed up as she glared. "Why are you... Why do you ask?" She said in a calmer tone than she intended.

"I was just wondering."

"You're being nosy."

"Another thing you know about."

"Yumi!" Sissi sighed and breathed. "What do you want?" Yumi pursed her lips for a moment before she sat on Sissi's bed. She looked at the floor. One second past, three seconds. Five.

"Do you think I made a mistake with Ulrich?"

"About the 'friends' thing?"

"Yeah?"

Sissi thought about it. "Maybe," She said bluntly, "But if you haven't learned anything from it, then you can call it a big mistake. But why bother with William?"

"Because Ulrich and William always fought each other."

"And now they're friends," Sissi said. Yumi huffed. "Much to your dislike."

"I don't hate him."

"You don't trust him. It's alright. I get it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, both he and I know what it's like to suffer your mistrust," Sissi shot back. Yumi's shoulders sagged as the Mechanist sat on the bed. "But what have you learned from it? That's my question."

"I don't trust easily?"

"That's nothing new."

Yumi paused. "I don't trust myself."

"There you go," Sissi smiled, standing back up.

"But what do I do about that?"

"Learn to trust yourself."

"How?"

"That's," Sissi sighed, "something I can't teach you. I haven't even figured out how to do it." Yumi breathed a sad breath. "Either way, you made a mistake. Move on. It's just one mistake."

"A big mistake."

"But still one. Life goes on."

"How did you get so wise?" Yumi asked, looking up at Sissi's eyes. The Dragon Queen smiled grandly, probably the most heartwarming smile she could muster and said,

"I have a timeline of mistakes to learn from."

Continued...