The Big Surprise

Yawning and stretching, pops echoed from her back. She was alive. Ever since the Incident and bus crash, she always questioned if she was alive. A bright morning sun shone through the window as she readied herself for school. She scanned her metallic projects near the bookcase. Her lips pursed together. It wouldn't be the best to leave them there, so she quickly shoved them further into the corner. Then she grabbed her cane. The cane had become more of an accessory than actual assistance, but she had an idea for it, which laid on paper atop the computer desk. In fact, other papers and drawings laid on her desk while her computer, which she formed a love-hate relationship with, stayed silently on its perch. Sissi had given up trying to crack Jeremie's codes. She decided it wasn't the best way to get info. There were two reasons why. One, the most obvious one, the codes were nearly impossible to crack. Sissi was a tinkerer, but she needed more time to learn computer software and coding. Two, once she decided to quit, she realized how risky it was. If she did crack the codes, it could provide access to Jeremie's more sensitive things on Lyoko. XANA seemed to be a great opportunist, so she had to be careful about how she got the information.

With those reasons in mind, she walked out the door and scuttled to class. They had a test to do. It was unmemorable. She sat, she wrote, and she was done within a few minutes. What was surprising was the gasp of the room when she finished at the same time as Jeremie. "Is something wrong Sissi?" the teacher asked.

"No ma'am. I'm done."

"So am I," Jeremie added. Murmurs and gasps filled the room. The teacher took a look at their papers.

"Why yes, you are done. Good work you two, especially you, Sissi." The charcoal-haired teen smiled, preparing to leave with Jeremie. "Alright, the rest of you, keep working."

"Ah! Her birthday is today!" Jeremie said. He wasn't too loud, but a quiet classroom echoes very well. The teacher looked back at him.

"You may go, Jeremie."

"Thanks a million," Odd whispered to Jeremie, "You could've at least given me a hand."

"Aelita, I almost forgot that we met exactly a year ago today."

"Hey, it's Aelita's birthday," Odd murmured to Ulrich.

"Yeah, I forgot all about it," Ulrich whispered. Sissi overheard their conversation. Once out of the classroom, she placed her hand on Jeremie's shoulder.

"So, it's your computer friend's birthday," Sissi smiled. Jeremie's eyes widened.

"Uh… well, not really. There's no computer friend." She rolled her eyes.

"Relax, Einstein. It's okay to have a Pen-pal nowadays. I have one from Norway, in fact."

"Right, Right!" Jeremie recovered, "Um yeah it's her birthday. Actually, it's the anniversary of the first time we met her."

"She sounds great, perfect for you. Aelita was it?" Sissi smiled as she placed both of her hands on his shoulders. "I would love to see her one day, okay?" She said looking him dead in the eye.

"Um… sure?" He replied. She nodded, took the cane resting by her side, and walked away with a wave. Jeremie watched her with a raised eyebrow before hiking down the other end of the hallway.

"It's so strange," Jeremie said to Odd and Ulrich after the test. "It's like she already knows who Aelita is."

"Then we have to be careful. If Sissi knows, then everyone would know," Ulrich said as he put a coin in the vending machine.

"I don't know. If she knows about Aelita, she'd blabbered to the whole school that you have a girlfriend."

"Odd, she's not my girlfriend!" Jeremie shouted but blushed as well.

"Anyway, I don't think we have to worry about her. Besides, she's been helpful ever since she came back. Remember the bugs?"

"Still, we should be careful. But wow, it's been a whole year since we met Aelita."

"And I still haven't found a way to materialize her," Jeremie sighed.

"I know, but we've managed to keep her away from XANA," Ulrich countered.

"What do you say we use our lunch hour to prepare her a little surprise?" Odd suggested.

"That's a great idea. Jeremie?"

"Yeah, let's go to the factory during lunch," he said.

"You guys go ahead. I'll tell Yumi after class," Ulrich mentioned as both blondes ran off.

"Well, that's sweet of you guys," said a familiar voice beside the wall of the vending machines. "You guys are going to plan a little surprise for your friend?"

"Yeah, and you're not invited," Ulrich answered. Sissi's head flew back at the sharp reply. Her hand lightly touched her heart.

"What's the matter with you?"

"Sissi, why don't you just stay away from us. I don't know what you're trying to do, but-"

"Not this again," Sissi rolled her eyes, placing her hand on her head. "Ulrich dear, I'm not DOING anything. I already know enough about you guys. This may be hard for you to understand, so let me explain this to you carefully." She stood closer to his face. "I. Don't. Care."

"What?"

"I don't care anymore about what you guys are doing. I have more important things to worry about than trying to snoop around you guys. Besides, if I wanted to do that, I'd go looking around your stuff. And I won't tell my dad anything about you guys, okay? So, stop worrying. I already have it bad enough as it is." Sissi was about to walk away when Ulrich grabbed her hand.

"Wait! Why the sudden change?"

She chuckled quite sadly and looked down at the ground. She shifted her gaze towards him and gave a small smile. "Nothing changed. I just accepted the fact in front of me." She sighed and strolled away, "Say hi to Yumi for me." Ulrich watched her walk away and then ran to find Yumi. As Sissi walked to the rooms, a sudden thought occurred to her. "Hmmm, that's not a bad idea."

As time went on and lunchtime approached, Sissi walked to Ulrich's dorm. Jeremie's room had what she needed, but it would be well-protected and hard to understand. It would be best to get it from Ulrich's room since he wasn't as tech-savvy. She knocked on the door. Silence. She snuck into Ulrich's room where Kiwi was there to greet her. YIPE YIPE YIPE! Sissi smiled, bent down, and rubbed the dog's head, quieting him.

"It's okay, Kiwi. I'm just here to get something. Now, where is it?" She searched around the room and finally found the boy's handwritten diary. She plopped down on the bed and started reading through the book. At a blinding pace too. Wait, how am I reading so fast? Shaking her head, she knew she couldn't be bothered with that. Ulrich's journal helped her get more information about Lyoko on basic terms. It wasn't Jeremie's expertise, but it would do. She learned about Lyoko, the towers, Aelita, and XANA. Sissi closed the book and shoved it back in place. Petting Kiwi, she left the room with no trace. She snuck back to her room where she could think privately. "Okay, so Aelita is a computer… thing that they're trying to materialize. With that computer in the factory, it can happen. But XANA is a multi-agent system capable of evolving. And, the towers are his way of getting info into our world." Her index finger rubbed her chin. She decided to read up on multi-agent systems later.

For now, she had enough material to try and come up with a way to help the others. She glanced at her cane, picked it up, and held it in both hands. Scanning the length, she smirked as a few ideas flew into her head. "I think I should get started," Sissi smiled.

Continued...