Chapter 6

Happily Ever After Part I

In the park, just as they were about to remove the manhole cover, Sissy's voice rang out. "Yoo-hoo! Ulrich, what do you say we go see a movie together?"

"Sissy, can't you ever take a hint? I don't like you! The only girl I have any sort of romantic feelings for is Yumi!" Ulrich took a deep breath, and he could feel his friends staring at the back of his head.

"WHAT???? HOW DARE YOU DUMP ME!!!!!!!!! I'M WAY BETTER THAN THAT . . ." Sissy shrieked.

"What are you talking about, huh? We were never going out, so how could I dump you?! Just put a sock in it, and leave us alone!" Ulrich exploded again.

Sissy blinked, and then ran off back to the school, crying. "You didn't need to make her feel so bad. So . . . you really do like me?" Yumi spoke quietly next to Ulrich.

"Ummmmmmmmmmm . . ." Ulrich began, blushing redder than a beet.

"Come on, guys, let's leave these two alone." Aelita whispered to her three friends. With a small groan, Kiko, Od, and Jeremie followed Aelita down into the ground . . . leaving Ulrich and Yumi in privacy.

"Aw man . . . we should've stuck around! It was just getting good!" Od whined.

Kiko giggled next to the purple clad boy, and sighed. "This is nice . . . coming to the factory for fun. I'm so glad that the police cleared out of the factory last week . . . I felt awful freezing them when they didn't do anything to deserve it."

The rest of the trip was quiet, the same as the trip down to the lab, and the ride down to the scanner room as well. Jeremie was the one who broke the silence. "What's it like on Lyoko? Is it like here on earth, or is it entirely different?" Panic and worry were clear in the boy's voice as he began to step into his open scanner.

"It isn't anything like earth. Don't worry, you'll be fine . . . Kiko was when she first went." Od said with his usual wide mouthed grin.

"Okay, let's go!" Aelita cried, hopping into her scanner. All of the others nodded, then entered their scanner pods.

"Oof!" Kiko turned to look at Jeremie, who had landed on his behind, and giggled when she realized that was how she landed the first time she had come to Lyoko.

"You know . . . when you virtualize, you're supposed to land on your feet." Kiko said, helping her friend up. Behind her, Od and Aelita laughed.

Jeremie stood, dusted himself off, and looked around. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think we were in Hawaii. Wow, look at those dolphins!" The others looked, and saw 10 dolphins swimming towards them in the light blue water.

"Hi, welcome to the tropical region! Do you want a ride? The water's really warm." The pod of dolphins giggled.

"Jeremie, is it just me . . . or did those creatures just speak to us? I never knew that animals other than parrots could talk." Aelita whispered.

"Why are you scared of us? Don't earth dolphins talk?" The dolphins asked. The four teens shook their heads, and jumped when two bodies landed in the sand in front of them.

"Hey, are we late?" Yumi asked. When she didn't get a reply, the duo turned to see what their friends were staring at.

"Hi, welcome to the tropical region!" The dolphins greeted again.

Ulrich and Yumi turned back to their four friends. "Did those dolphins just talk to us?" Ulrich asked. Four heads nodded.

"Do you want a ride or not? 'Cause if you don't, we don't want to stick around all day. You're so rude!" The dolphins squeaked in an annoyed tone.

"We didn't mean to ignore you . . . but you startled us a bit. Usually we can't have a true two way conversation with a dolphin, or any other animal for that matter. We just needed a while to recover from our . . . ummm . . . shock." Kiko explained.

"I can't speak for everyone, but I'm going to enjoy this trip." Od said, while wading into the water. "Wow, this water feels perfect!"

"You're right." Aelita sighed. "Come on you guys, this is really relaxing." With Aelita's encouragement, the final few teens waded into the salty water.

"This is great! Is the water always this warm?" Jeremie asked.

"It gets a little cooler at night, but other wise it's about the same. Would you like us to take you to the most beautiful island here? It has all sorts of fruit growing there, a tower, and there's always a pleasant breeze blowing." The gray mammals replied.

"That would be great!" Yumi exclaimed.

It only took five minutes to get to the island via dolphin, and when they got there, the sights took the teens' breath away. "Wow, your description of this place didn't do it any justice." Ulrich said quietly.

"I agree, everything looks so perfect, I wish earth was this clean." Kiko agreed.

"Well, now what do we do?" Od yawned. "I vote that we eat some fruit, and then take a nap. I can't think of anything better to do, and it's so nice out . . ."

"Yah, I vote with Od." Yumi agreed, stretching like a dancer. "I hope there are some oranges here. I love oranges."

"I have another idea. Let's have a contest. We can make targets, and then see who's the most accurate, or we can see who's the best fighter. Don't you remember? I think Yumi said 'Wow, that's awesome. No offense Od, but she totally has you beat in the looks department, and probably in the fighting department too. She could kick your butt . . . not that Ulrich or I couldn't!' and then Ulrich, didn't you say 'Yah, 'cause by the time we'd get to fight with you on Lyoko . . . you'd only have ten life points left!' Well, we have all of our life points right now, and Jeremie changed the settings on my card back, so I should be able to heal again. We could have a match, and later I could heal everyone who gets hurt."

"I vote for Kiko's idea, then we can do your's, Od." Ulrich spoke up.

"I also go with Kiko, but we should be careful so that nobody gets devirtualized, everyone should stick around for a while."

"I change my vote." Yumi grinned. "It's time Kiko, Aelita, and I show you boys some girl power." The other two girls stepped behind Yumi and nodded."

Kiko popped her knuckles. "Unless you boys are afraid that you may hurt us to badly, or should I say that we'll hurt you too badly." The girls faked an attack at the boys.

"You win! We give up!" All three boys cried, huddled on the ground under a banana tree. The girls laughed, and then each girl helped her sweetheart up.

"Let's at least make some targets and attack those . . . I feel like destroying something." Kiko sighed. Od took three large steps away from Kiko's side, causing her to laugh. "Don't worry, Od. You're not even on my list of things and people to beat up."

"Then who or what is near the top of your list?" Ulrich asked nervously as he and the others backed away slowly.

"You guys aren't on there either, don't worry. If anyone should be afraid, it's Sissy." Kiko muttered.

"I agree with you there. She seems to live off of making us miserable . . . what did we ever do to her?" Jeremie wondered.

"Well, Ulrich and Od do their best to torment her, and we just sit by and laugh. Maybe we should try to be nicer to her more often." Aelita suggested.

"Okay, as long as I won't have to go on a date with her . . . ever!" Ulrich agreed.

Yumi laughed. "Don't worry . . . even if you wanted to go on a date with her . . . I wouldn't let you." Now everyone cracked up, forgetting all of their troubles . . . at least for the rest of the trip.