Through every hardship

Chapter one: Times of Trial

By: michihikari

The dark haze hovered closer to the old factory that has been abandoned for a long time. It drifted closer to the elevator, and followed the shaft down to the spacious room with the super-computer. It drifted down to the scanners, and selected one. It entered, and the doors slowly closed. With a puff of smoke it opened again, revealing a dark-haired boy with bright green eyes. He surveyed his surroundings, and smiled leisurely, and strolled over to the door. As he left, he whispered softly, "Now to find them."

Students flocked out of their classrooms in groups, talking and laughing, very happy now that it was time for lunch. Ulrich, Jeremie, Aelita (pretend she was just materialized), and Odd sauntered over to where Yumi stood.

"Hey Yumi," Ulrich said. "What's up?"

"Well you know, the usual, just dragging myself through classes." Yumi replied airily. Jeremie glanced over at them.

"You forgot about keeping an eye out for Zana," he scolded Yumi.

"Never mind him now," Odd cut in. "Let's go over to the cafeteria, I'm starving."

"Aren't you always?" Ulrich commented, raising and eyebrow over to his best friend. Aelita squeezed over to stand beside Jeremie and asked, "What is a cafeteria?"

"It's a place where students come to get food and eat." Jeremie explained. He often acted as Aelita's translator, since she was quite new to all these stuff. Together, the gang walked to the cafeteria, and sat in their usual table. Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremy were just beginning to eat, and Aelita was staring at Odd, who was already done and looking around for seconds., when Sissy strolled by.

"Here comes your one-woman fan club, Ulrich." Odd managed to say with his mouth full of food. Both Ulrich and Yumi made a face at him, and they all turned to face Sissy. She stopped in front of Ulrich, blocking his view of Yumi.

"Hello, my dear Ulrich. I'm here to make your deepest wishes come true." Sissy said, smiling like Ulrich would ever accept her invitation.

"Really?" Ulrich perked up. "You're going to leave us....me.... alone? That's great Sissy. Well, you can start making my wish come true right now." Everyone who heard Ulrich laughed out loud, the loudest being the people at the Lyoko table. Sissy frowned, and thought of a comeback.

"I thought your deepest wish was to be my boyfriend," she protested. Yumi and Odd, who happened to have food in their mouth, choked.

"You seriously think that?" Yumi turned to look at her friends. "Wow, this is serious. Her brain must have left her earlier that we thought it had." Jeremy, Aelita and Ulrich nodded, trying to hide their smiles.

"But that's not possible, Yumi." Odd spoke up solemnly. "We thought that Sissy's brain left her when she was a year old. How much earlier can you go than that?"

"Well, when she was born, for instance." Ulrich replied for Yumi. "Now move it, Sissy. You're blocking my view of Yumi." Scowling, Sissy left, and Yumi blushed.

"Nice one, Ulrich." Said Jeremie, impressed. He, Ulrich and Odd exchanged high-fives, and Ulrich turned to Yumi, with his hand up in the air for a high-five from her. Yumi complied, and the two grinned at each other.

Sissy watched the exchange, fuming. "It's not fair." She said to herself. "I should have Ulrich. Not Yumi. Yumi's not good enough for him."

"Excuse me," a voice came from behind her. She jumped, surprised, and found herself staring at luminous green eyes. He was the one who had spoken. Assuming the cute guy wanted to ask her out, Sissy smiled flirtatiously, and purred, "Yes?"

"Did you mention the names Yumi and Ulrich?"

Immediately her good mood disappeared. "Yeah I did." Sissy snarled, now vicious. "What's it to you?"

The dark-haired guy smiled. "My name is, uh, Zack Nastaro (a/n: sorry for the weird last name, couldn't think of anything else), and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with yourself. So you want Ulrich, and I want Yumi. I believe there is a possibility that we both get what we want....."

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a/n: yay! First chapter done!! This is my first Code Lyoko fanfic, so if you send me flames, not too harsh, okay? Well, review!! And ideas for the next chapters!! First 5 reviewers get a special mention in the next chapter!!