Wondering what happened to Yumi? Well, be prepared to read nearly two thousand words explaining it. This is my longest chapter so far. I just hope people approve...

Mysterious Signs Continued

Yumi:

Ulrich and I were sitting at a café; we had been there for a little over an hour. We had gotten something to eat, and for the most part Ulrich had eaten. I was thankful that he wasn't feeling ill enough to eat. That would have been a problem. I was glad to see that this problem with Sissi was not troubling him enough to make him loose his appetite.

For the most part I had done my best to cheer him up. I had done everything that I could think of, except for one thing… but I didn't want to do that, yet. A kiss was supposed to be special; I didn't want to use it unless the moment was right. I could tell that most of what I was doing was helping him; the color had returned to his face, and he wasn't breathing as shallow as he had before.

As I watched him my heart began beating a little faster, filling with love and joy. I always felt this way when around him, but this time, for some reason, I felt it more. I knew Ulrich needed me, he needed me… The fact that I was his choice, his love… it made my heart sing with joy. I loved the way I could bring back the life within him, the way that when ever he was around me he seemed to be livelier. It made my head swim that when he was around me he seemed more gentle and caring, and at the same time so much stronger…

Thinking all of this was beginning to make me blush, and I turned away for a few seconds. When I looked back his face had paled again. I jumped, my relief draining away and was replaced with concern again. My looking away couldn't have created the effect of my leaving… could it? No… this was something different.

"Ulrich, are you ok?" I asked, my voice showing only half of the concern that I felt. "You look pale."

He jumped slightly and the color returned to his skin. It made my heart flutter to know that my voice alone could bring him back to reality so easily. But I was still concerned; the color had drained from his face again… I looked at him, into his face, his eyes. Our eyes met and we both began to blush. I was so happy to simply be there with him; that was enough to make my world fine.

"Yumi, what should I do?" he asked me. "Sissi is going to want to know what is going on, and if she figures it out herself we will be in for more trouble than it's worth."

I smiled; he was asking me for advice. It made me happy to know that he felt comfortable asking me for advice. Yet, at the same time I knew what he meant. We had to be careful of who found out about Lyoko, I knew what would happen if we told the wrong person… it had happened so many times in the 'past'.

There was one safe thing we could do though. We could tell her only what she needed to know. We could tell enough truth to get her off of our backs and then lie the rest of our way through. It was simple enough to work, and it should get Sissi to leave us alone.

"Perhaps we should tell her." I said. "Tell her at least enough for her to know what is going on. We could even lie about it."

"Are you saying that we should tell Sissi about Lyoko? Bring her into the gang? Yumi, that isn't like you."

Well, it wasn't like me, but it wasn't what I was saying either. What I was trying to say was far simpler than that.

"I know, I wasn't suggesting that much." She told me. "Just to tell her what she has a right to know."

"But that's just it; I don't know what she has the right to know…" he said quickly in a depressed tone.

I knew that no matter what decision he made it would be a good one. I believed he would know what to do when and if the situation arose. Besides it wasn't like he would have to do it alone, we would most likely be there with him.

"Ulrich, I trust in you. I believe in you." I told him. "I know that when it comes to it you will be able to make the right decision."

He smiled, and I smiled. Slowly he began to blush, and he turned his head to one side trying to hide it. He looked off in one direction, watching people pass by.

"Thank you Yumi, that means a lot to me." He said.

My heart jumped. I felt really warm inside. My love for Ulrich was pouring through me, and… for some reason I could feel his love for me doing the same. I suddenly felt that now was a great moment. Now was the best moment to kiss…

Kiss him, said a voice. It was so silent I didn't even notice it.

"Hey, Ulrich, remember that time on Lyoko? A few months ago, when the X.A.N.A. attack was aimed at the scanners and if we died we died for ever." I asked blushing even more. "Do you remember just before Aelita deactivated the tower?"

Now he was really blushing, he was beginning to turn beat red. I knew that he was remembering the time. It was a while ago, Ulrich and I had, for some reason, been having a problem with our relationship. When we found out about the X.A.N.A. attack we went to Lyoko. Because of the attack we were stuck, and if we died in Lyoko we died in real life. I had nearly died, but Ulrich had saved me. That time, in Lyoko, we nearly kissed.

"Yes, I remember, when we almost…" he trailed off.

"… Kissed?" I finished for him.

Kiss him… No one will see; you are protected. Kiss him… the voice said again a little louder.

We looked at each other, and our eyes met. Slowly Ulrich and I began leaning forward towards each other our eyes closing and lips extending. This was it, we were finally about to kiss. Nothing could ruin the moment…

Suddenly I heard the thoughts of the people around us. Everyone's thoughts entered my mind at once. It was defining; it was maddening. I tried to stop it by putting my hands over my ears, but that only made it worse. I could feel thousands of emotions, thousands of thoughts at once. I couldn't think, I couldn't move, I couldn't even breathe.

"Ah, ow, no, my head!" I shrieked in pain.

Suddenly I felt it; I felt the thing that was doing this. It was huge; it was the most powerful psychic presence I had ever felt. It was one thought above all the rest, almost controlling them. It was the thing that was doing this, but for some reason it didn't feel evil… Its thoughts were peaceful. It could sense all the other thoughts, but it didn't mind, almost as if it had enough control to stop everything, to pause time itself…

I suddenly felt it entering my mind. It was probing me, looking through my thoughts. It didn't seem as though it was trying to cause any harm, but it's presence in my mind was as painful as death. I couldn't stand it, I could barely stay conscious.

"Get out. Get out of my head!" I yelled at the presence.

So sorry, it said. I didn't realize that you were telepathic.

I felt it leave my mind. My mind began to stop swimming as much and the voices died away. It felt almost as though it was putting up a barrier for me to block out the voices.

There is that better? It asked.

Why, why had it been here? Why had it done that? Who or what was it. It didn't feel evil, but there had been so much pain. It had been as though my mind was being torn apart and burned from the inside out. I just couldn't understand it.

Suddenly I felt it begin to disappear. I heard the people around us begin to move again, but I wasn't satisfied. I had to know what this thing was. I needed to know what it was doing here, and what it wanted with us. I began to track it as it disappeared.

I felt Ulrich place his arms around me, I saw light and I followed it into his arms. He was hugging me; I could feel his love for me pouring on me washing away the pain, giving me strength again. He told me it was ok; what ever had hurt me was gone. I knew he was wrong though. I could still sense it, moving off to somewhere.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Something came and I heard voices, thousands of voices in my head. I tried to shut them out but I couldn't. It was terrible, Ulrich, I couldn't think, I couldn't breath."

"Well, what ever caused it is gone now…" he told me again.

I looked around; the people on the street hadn't even noticed a thing. It was if the thing had never been here. I closed my eyes and placed my hand against my forehead. Extending my abilities slightly I looked for the thing; I felt it heading south west… I opened my eyes and looked at Ulrich.

"It's not gone. I can still feel it, not the voices, but it itself." I told him my voice quivering. "And it's heading to the factory."

He looked at me shocked. He had known about my powers, almost ever since we met. He had a similar ability, but not as powerful in the same way as mine. We all had some ability, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich and I. They were different but they were real… The thing he didn't know was that my powers were still active. After I had saved Jeremie nearly a year ago, when Odd first arrived at the school; Jeremie had fallen off of the roof, I had stopped using my powers because they were very hard to control.

"Ulrich, we have to go after it. I don't know what it is, or what it wants. It didn't seem evil, but we can't be too careful. This thing is far too powerful to allow it to go around alone."

He nodded in agreement, and then realized he was still holding me tight. He let go and backed away a little blushing. We got up and began running to the factory. I knew we would need Odd and Jeremie so I got out my cell phone and called Odd. The phone rang three times but there was no answer. I tried again but the same thing happened.

Suddenly Ulrich's phone rang and he picked up. "Hello, Jeremie?" he said. Jeremie said something, but I couldn't hear what it was. "Well, we are way ahead of you. Yumi's telepathic sense picked up again and we are following something to the factory." Jeremie said something else and Ulrich replied, "Believe me Jeremie, it is. Yumi was screaming in pain because of what ever this is." Jeremie responded; then Ulrich said, "She is ok now, but you should have seen her. What ever this is it is more of a threat than any of could have imagined, it might even be worse than X.A.N.A." Jeremie quickly said something, but Ulrich interrupted him, "Don't bother. Yumi has been trying and hasn't been able to get a hold of him." Jeremie said something and Ulrich hung up. "He said he would meet us there, and that Lyoko is being hacked."

"We had better hurry then." I said. "I think it has reached the factory by now…"

We ourselves were in sight of the factory. We ran across the bridge as fast as we could, and nearly jumped down into the elevator. We would have to wait for Jeremie to be able to get to Lyoko, but we wouldn't have to wait long…

To evil, or not to evil? That is a question with which we must all cross at some point, for the children of Lyoko that time is now, and it's about a mysterious entity. What do you think, is it evil or was it a mistake?