PhantasyDreamer: Hey I'm back with another chapter. HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you guys like this one as much as I do. I forgot this the other times. I don't own Code Lyoko only my characters that I have not mentioned yet. Anyway, without further a due, chapter 3. Enjoy!

Secret of the Heart

Chapter 3: Big Problem

Last time: "Jeremy, we have a problem." he stated holding the phone close to his ear.

"What is it?" Jeremy asked a bit agitated with Yumi and Odd.

"Sissy's not here!"

The story continues…

Aelita walked slowly up to the platform that held X.A.N.A's circular eye like symbol. As she walked on it, it lit up. When she was in the middle, she floated up to the top of the tower where another eye like symbol stood. Her feet pressed gently on it as she stood still. She pressed her hand on the space and a clear graphical interface came up showing her name and the codes need to stop the activated tower.

-------

AELITA

CODE

LYOKO

-------

"Tower deactivated." she replied softly.

"Good work Aelita, but we have a major problem here." he replied hastily.

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

He let out a heavy sigh from above.

"Sissy hasn't return to earth and I'm afraid we're in big trouble. It seems that X.A.N.A has trapped her somehow." he let out a sigh feeling fear take over him, "But I can't do anything about it now, since I have no idea where she is. In the meantime, I'll materialize you guys now."

"Materialization Odd! Materialization Yumi! Materialization Aelita!" he yelled as the three teens disappeared from the virtual world and back to earth.

KADIC ACADEMY

The four teens headed back to the school while Yumi rushed home. It was already ten minutes to ten in the night and they were afraid of what might happen if anyone saw them since it was almost time for curfew. They sneaked off to their dorm rooms saying goodnight to each other and trying to brace themselves for the questions and shock in the morning. While everyone was sleeping in their dorm rooms, Jeremy found the opportunity to take an hours rest and then back onto the computer where he tried to find a way to figure out what X.A.N.A had done to Sissy.

Morning came almost too quickly for Jeremy and still he hadn't figured out everything of what X.A.N.A was up to. The only thing he knew was that Sissy was still somewhere on Lyoko, frightened or something. He shut off his computer and walked out of the room in his dark blue pajamas getting ready to take his morning bath before breakfast. As he made his way to the showers he met up with Ulrich and Odd who were standing outside of the door as if waiting on him.

"So did you figure out where X.A.N.A's holding Sissy?" Ulrich asked almost in a whisper feeling desperately worried.

"No, but I know she is somewhere on Lyoko for sure." he sighed with a loud yawn.

Odd smirked at his friend.

"Don't worry Einstein, a genius such as you can figure this out in no time." he replied trying to comfort him by touching his shoulder.

"Thanks Odd, I just hope the principal doesn't find out anytime soon." Jeremy sighed adjusting his glasses as they all headed through the door to take their showers.

YUMI'S HOUSE

Yumi turned in her bed as the bright sun light seek to blind her. She got up squinting her eyes as she threw her white sheet off of her body. Turning sideways on the bed she sat still putting her hands to her face. Yesterday felt like a dream to her seeing Ulrich and Sissy together. Although a day had passed and Sissy was still on Lyoko she still couldn't get over the fact that they were together. She couldn't understand how she could have missed that they were dating for a week. Shaking her head she looked at the clock and realized that it was seven o'clock. She quickly rushed to her bathroom and took a quick bath. When she was finished she dressed in her usual outfit and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning mom, dad." she smirked as she dropped down in the chair in front of her father and brother.

"Good morning dear." her mother smiled wearing an apron as she placed eggs in front of her.

Yumi smiled at her mother as she began to eat. Her mother had short black hair that was in a different style from hers, it stretched out towards her ears. She wore a pink long sleeve shirt and blue jeans pants along with a white apron that dangled around her neck coming to her waist.

"Yumi dear, I have something important I want to speak to you about." her father spoke sternly.

He had short black hair as well and small strands of beard. He wore a white shirt and dark black pants with a tie. Her mother, Ms. Ishiyama sat in between her husband and son waiting to hear what important news her husband had to say to his child.

"Yes dad." Yumi replied sweetly.

"I just want to know why you have been coming home so late every night?" he asked holding his Japanese sticks firmly in his hands, "I know I've spoke to you before on this but still I see no progress."

"Daddy, I've just been real busy with school and stuff and I was studying last night." she retorted.

"Really, then why when I called the school they told me they did not know where you were?" he asked, a hint of anger trailing in his voice.

She remained silent as she looked at him clearly not wanting to tell him the truth. It wasn't as if she didn't want to tell him but who would believe that she was really fighting an evil Artificial Intelligence in a virtual world. She sighed as she tried to think of an answer.

"Daddy, I can explain-" she started but was interrupted by her brother.

"She was out with her boyfriend Ulrich." he teased eyeing her mysteriously.

"Stop it Hiroki, he's not my boyfriend!" she yelled slamming her hand on the table as she got up wiping her mouth, "I'm sorry, can we talk about this later? I'm late for school as it is."

She said immediately as she exited the room.

"Yumi!" her father yelled but it was no use, she was already out of the door.

Yumi ran out of the house and down onto the sidewalk as fast as she could with her black book bag slinging around her back. She felt bad about the way her father was feeling about her lateness but she knew later she could get that figured out. But what bothered her more was what her brother had said about Ulrich being her boyfriend. She smiled a little, at one time in her life she wouldn't mind that happening but now it was never going to happen since he was with Sissy.

'She was out with her boyfriend Ulrich.' the thought ran over and over in her head, 'Why do I even care anymore when it's clear that he likes Sissy.'

She continued to run as she made her way into the school gates. As soon as she was a few distance on the campus ground she bumped into someone. The impact of the collision sent her straight to the floor. She grumbled under her breath as she tried to get up.

"Yumi, I'm sorry I didn't see you there." the male replied helping her onto her feet.

She gazed at the guy silently.

"Oh, hi William." she sighed as she turned her gaze from him.

"Good morning Yumi, I've been waiting all morning to see you." he said in a calm voice as he smiled at her, "I want to know if you would like to have lunch with me today?"

She smiled a little as she brushed back a strand of her hair.

"Sure," she sighed still thinking of her friends, "but we always have lunch together."

"Well this time it will be different." he waved as he rushed away to the cafeteria.

She smiled as she slowly saw him disappear out of sight. She wondered what he had in mind but decided to ignore it. She walked up to Odd, Aelita and Jeremy who were in the middle of the campus on a nearby bench outside. Aelita and Jeremy were sitting on the bench while Odd leaned on the back of it looking to see what Jeremy was doing on his computer. She hailed them as she came up to the bench standing in front of them.

"Hey Jeremy, did you figure out where Sissy is yet?" she asked placing one hand in her black pants pocket, "As much as I am glad not to see her, I just want to make sure that we don't get in trouble with the principal."

"I'm almost there Yumi, I have just a few more codes to go and I'll find it." he looked up at her with a smile, "I'm thinking we should meet up at the factory during lunch."

"That's not a problem." she smiled.

Aelita gazed at Yumi and saw that she was smiling a little. At least she was smiling for now and not like yesterday when she was sulky all day. She couldn't understand what had caused the two friends to be enemies now. But she realized that it had something to do with Sissy.

"Have any of you guys seen Ulrich?" Jeremy asked taking his eyes off of his notebook for a minute.

"No not me." Aelita replied with a smile.

"I just came." Yumi stated with a frown.

"Oh here comes Romeo now." Odd smirked walking up to his distress friend, "Why the sulkiness there Ulrich, you miss your girlfriend?"

He smiled nodding a little. He turned his attention to Odd, Aelita and Jeremy trying his best not to look at Yumi.

"Yea, I miss her a lot," he sighed bowing his head, "I can't believe she's not here."

'Now this is repulsive.' she thought distastefully.

The others looked at him sympathetically while Yumi just frowned.

"Humph, I doubt he even likes her." she muttered folding her arms across her chest.

Immediately Ulrich gave her a sharp glare almost scaring her. He had heard her statement and he wasn't too happy about it.

"You're just jealous of Sissy because her beauty is beyond yours!" he yelled clenching his fist.

"Beauty?" she gasped almost not believing that he said that, "I'm ten times prettier than Sissy, Ulrich, and you know that!"

"Aren't you the vain one." he muttered so she could barely hear but unfortunately she heard, "It must be her style then because she's a better dresser than you'll ever be!"

"Oh like wearing a skimpy mini skirt and flirting around in front of boys is style," she scoffed, "talk about real class. Yep, she won the Oscar of the year."

She twirled her finger in the air causing Ulrich to growl even more in anger. The others looked at them in shock. Although they had seen their friends argue before it was never like this. It was as if they wanted to get even with each other for some apparent reason. And they did not want to stop either. It looked to them that they had forgotten that their other friends were standing there looking on.

"And since we're discussing style, what about your boy William?" Ulrich started sarcastically as he moved closer towards her.

"What about him?"

"I mean what's up with the combat boots and jeans, is he in the army or does he just like looking like a dork?"

"At least he knows how to match!"

"Take that back this instant, you know that isn't true!" Ulrich yelled getting angrier by the minute as if ready to kill the girl, "Sissy can color coordinate her clothes!"

They continued to yell both coming closer and closer to each other not realizing the distance between their faces when Odd stepped in and pushed them apart.

"Hey, Hey take it easy you two. At least let me get time to sell tickets for the fight." Odd smirked trying to break them up by placing his hands on their shoulders, "I can see it now. Yumi versus Ulrich. Who will break first in the battle of love?"

"Cut it out Odd." Ulrich stated in a monotone accent.

"Yea, I don't need this right now." Yumi sighed backing away, placing her hand on her forehead.

The bell ran immediately stopping them from continuing their all out war. Jeremy, Aelita and Odd left reminding everyone that they were going to the factory at lunch. Yumi and Ulrich remained watching each other with a hateful gaze and then left to their separate ways without uttering a word.

IN CLASS

Jeremy and Aelita sat close together in class as he tried to figure out where Sissy was on Lyoko. Odd and Ulrich was sitting in front of them trying their best to listen to the lecture the teacher was talking about. It was boring, and it took all the strength Odd had not to fall asleep. Odd turned his attention to his brown haired friend on his left who was staring out the window as if daydreaming. He thought he should at least ask him what was going on this morning between him and Yumi.

"Ulrich." he started as the young boy turned to him, "What's going on with you and Yumi?"

"I don't know," Ulrich sighed, "ever since she found out I've been dating Sissy, she's been acting so strange about it."

Odd gazed at his friend who was clueless to the fact that Yumi liked him.

'Wow, how dense can a guy get?' he thought with a smirk, 'And here I was thinking I'm the crazy one.'

"So tell me again, why you didn't tell her that important piece of the puzzle?"

"Odd I forgot," he frowned as he played with his fingers, "it just totally left my mind."

"Well, I guess it happens." Odd smiled trying not to say anything else that would make him mad.

The teacher was still too busy lecturing to hear the students talking amongst themselves so she continued unexpected to what was going on in her class.

"I got it!" Jeremy yelled almost too loud but luckily the teacher didn't hear.

Odd and Ulrich looked back immediately to hear what news Jeremy had found. They turned to him to see that he had his notebook in his lap, typing away.

"What did you find Einstein?" Odd asked curiously.

"Sissy's is still on Lyoko but X.A.N.A.'s holding her in a storage area in sector five." he replied grimly.

"Do you think he did this to get my memory?" Aelita asked in a soft whisper.

"Yea, I bet it is. But we'll just have to wait until lunch to fix this." he smiled closing his laptop as the two boys in front turned around quickly.

They all nodded at each other and then turned their attention back to the teacher. The brown haired lady who was their math teacher continued writing on the black board when someone entered the room. It was Jim, the physical education teacher. He walked into the room with a stern expression as he searched for his culprit. He spoke to the teacher and she gave him permission to do what was needed to be done.

"Ulrich Stern, the principal would like to have a word with you." the plump man stated as he waited for Ulrich to leave his seat.

Reluctantly Ulrich got up knowing what lay ahead. He sighed as he shoved his hands in his pockets and left through the door with Jim. Jeremy frowned as he saw this because he knew for sure that things would be made difficult now. As soon as Jim and Ulrich left, the teacher finished up her lecture and gave her students their homework for the day. The bell immediately rang after that. Jeremy, Odd and Aelita headed straight to the cafeteria to find Yumi but unfortunately she wasn't there. They then left and decided to head to the factory right away before something else happened. Jeremy dialed Yumi's mobile number to remind her of their mission. He waited for a few minutes and then hung up his phone.

"Did you get her?" Aelita asked Jeremy as they ran away from the school grounds.

"No, I'll have to try again later." he sighed putting his phone back in his pocket.

The teens ran as fast as they could through the woods. They stopped when they came to a man hole, looking around they checked to see if there were alone. When they were satisfied they went down the man hole. Once down in the sewer, they climbed aboard their transportation that was leaning on the wall. Odd jumped onto a skateboard while Aelita and Jeremy got on a scooter. They traveled down the tunnel coming to a ladder. They got off of their semi vehicles and climbed up the steps of the ladder. When they reached the top, pulling across the semi door of the passageway they came out onto a large bridge. They continued to run to the abandon building in front of them, inside stood three ropes hanging down from the inside roof. Jeremy and Odd swung across it like a jungle man landing firmly on the ground while Aelita just slid down it, in front of them stood an elevator that had a steel door. Jeremy pressed a button and it opened. Once inside he pressed the red button and it moved down a floor. After the elevator stopped, Jeremy got off and Odd and Aelita headed to the scanner room which was just one floor down.

Jeremy climbed into his chair that swung around as he got ready to boot up his computer so that he could log onto Lyoko. A large interface stood in front of him in the form of a sphere.

"Okay guys, I'm starting the virtualization process." he replied typing in the codes.

"Scanner Aelita! Scanner Odd!"

"Transfer Aelita! Transfer Odd!"

"Virtualization!"

Jeremy smirked as the map of Lyoko shown up on the screen.

"I'm going to try Yumi's mobile one more time so just hold one minute," he replied dialing Yumi's number on the computer system he had installed, "and Odd be on the look out for monsters. X.A.N.A.'s tricky and he knows we're about to stop him. So be careful."

"Roger that chief!" Odd yelled with a smirk.

KADIC ACADEMY

Yumi walked slowly with a black blind fold tightly around her eyes. William smiled as he led her into a certain part of the woods which was still close to the school grounds. He ushered her to sit down on a red and white checkered blanket which was nearby a tree. Slowly he took off the blind fold showcasing the brilliant lunch for two. There were two small paper plates containing the lunch that the cafeteria lady had prepared for the day. Two small candles perfectly placed in a glass container were in the middle with a small a picnic basket set on the side. Yumi couldn't help but smile. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. But she still wondered why. Her feet were crossed while William sat a few feet close to her.

She gazed at her raven haired friend, William. He had black hair that reached his shoulder and dark eyes. He wore a black short sleeve shirt with a red long sleeve shirt underneath the black one. He also wore tight blue jeans pants and brown combat boots. He smiled at her taking out a single red rose from the brown picnic basket.

"Wow!" she gasped staring at the lunch while taking the rose from him, "William, why did you do this?"

He looked at her with a genuine smile knowing the answer to that question.

'Because I really like you Yumi, don't you get it?' he thought feeling a little hurt by her question but he refused to say that.

"I just wanted to do something special for you." he replied instead chuckling a little.

"Well thanks, even though you didn't have to do it." she sighed as began to eat the lunch he had brought for both of them, forgetting about the mission on Lyoko.

William smirked at her as they both began to eat in silence. After a few moments of silence they began to talk about their classes and any other stuff that came to mind. Yumi couldn't help but wonder why William did what he did. She thought he was just being friendly at first but things seemed to be different from the way he was looking at her. She suppressed her smile and looked at him seriously. Something just didn't seem right to her and she wanted to make sure she didn't interpret anything wrong.

'What's up with William?' she thought placing her cup back on the blanket, 'Is he in love or what?'

She looked at the giddy expression he held on his face. She sighed again. William looked for sure as if he was in love and she was hoping with all her might that he wasn't in love with her. She also hoped that he didn't do all this to get her to date him but by the way she felt about the situation with Sissy and Ulrich, she might even consider that possibility. He turned his attention from her and back to his lunch taking in the silence that grew once more between them.

"William, there is something I would like to ask you." she said breaking the silence.

"What is it Yumi?"

She let out a sigh once again and looked at him.

"Did someone put you up to this as a practical joke or something?" she asked feeling anger taking over her emotions, "I know you're my friend. But Ulrich didn't put you up to this to annoy me, did he?"

She gazed at him with serious eyes remembering what happened earlier this morning between Ulrich and her. She waited in anticipation to hear what he had to say to her question.

"Ulrich?" he asked rolling his name off his tongue with disgust as he looked at her, "No one put me up to this. I just wanted to do something nice for you. I've been trying to tell you for months Yumi…"

He sighed holding her hands firmly in his grasp taking her by surprise.

"I've been trying to tell you how much I like you a lot."

"What?" she gasped out of shock not knowing what to think.

"I've tried to tell you countless times but sometimes it looks as if you're more interested in Ulrich."

"Ulrich?" she let out shocked at what he had said.

Sure she cared about Ulrich a lot but he was with Sissy now and there was nothing she could do about it. She gulped trying her best to keep a stern face although William was right, she didn't want to admit it at all.

"Yumi, I like you a lot and I would really be happy if you would be my…" he started but was interrupted by her cell phone.

She motioned to him to hold that thought as she took the call.

"Jeremy." she replied hastily, "Uh huh. I'm sorry, I forgot….yea, I'll be right there. Bye."

She hung up and looked at William who was wondering what was going on.

"I'm sorry William, I completely forgot that I had to do a favor for Jeremy." she smiled a little forgetting that he was saying something very important to her, "I got to go, catch you later."

With that she rushed out of sight. William sat still in his position feeling very hurt by what just happened. How could she just leave like that? He wondered it that was just an excuse to get anyway from him but he then ignored the thought.

'I don't get you Yumi.' he thought sadly as he began to pack up the lunch, 'I guess we're not meant to be then.'

He walked back to school with his head held down in disappointment.

THE PRINCICPAL'S OFFICE

Ulrich sat silently in the principal office with the principal and Jim. It had been a grueling thirty minutes since he had left his last class to talk with the principal. They were interrogating him countless times asking him where Sissy was since he was the last person that was spotted with her. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell them that she was on Lyoko because they would laugh at him and call him crazy. But he knew for sure that she was okay. Looking up at the principal, he sighed. How much more times did he have to tell them that he did nothing to Sissy? But as ignorant as they were they would never listen or understand.

"Listen to me Stern, if you don't tell us where Sissy is, I will be forced to call the police." Jim stated putting his hands on his hips.

"On what grounds!" Ulrich retort, giving them an evil glare.

The principal took out a folder from his desk and placed it in front of the young boy. Jim opened it and showed Ulrich two pictures of Sissy's room. It had been ransacked and her clothes were spread all over the place. The other picture showed a large window which was broken in her room, a large pile of blood lay stained on the glass that was broken.

'Herb did this, I'm sure of it.' he thought holding a grim look on his face.

"On these grounds." Mr. Delmas stated with a hint of anger and worry trailing in his voice.

He pointed at the pictures waiting for a response from the young boy in front of him. He couldn't understand what had happened to his daughter. It was not her way to just disappear without telling him where she went. She wasn't the type of child that would do such a thing so he knew for sure that something was wrong. And after Herb had told him that Sissy was with Ulrich, he knew for sure she would be with him. The only problem was when he went to look for Ulrich, he was no where to be seen and then he was more surprised when he saw how his daughter's room had been destroyed. It made him wish that he didn't allow Sissy and Ulrich to date. He knew Ulrich was a nice young man but he was never expecting anything like this. The only thing he could think of was that Ulrich must have done something to have caused his daughter to run away or caused her to be hurt in some way.

"Principal Delmas, I'm telling you the truth." Ulrich pleaded looking directly at his principal who had tears forming in the corner of his eyes, "I was with Sissy, but I didn't do anything to harm her! I'm serious, she's safe."

"Then why don't you tell us where she is Ulrich?" the elderly man spoke almost in a whisper.

"I-I can't…because you won't believe me."

"What could you possibly say that would not make us believe you?" Jim asked absentmindedly.

'You'd be surprise?' Ulrich thought looking the other way, 'I hope you're safe Sissy and X.A.N.A. hasn't harmed you."

"I have no choice then." the principal stated harshly picking up the phone.

AT THE FACTORY

Yumi rushed into the room where Jeremy was sitting. She stopped a minute to catch her breath since her heart was going at a rapid speed. It was hard but she knew what she had to do. She had to forget what William was about to say, also about the attitude Ulrich was portraying with Sissy and just focus on the mission.

"At last you're here." Jeremy stated with a smile while she just nodded, "Head to the scanner room, Aelita and Odd are waiting on Lyoko.

She rushed back into the elevator and headed to the scanner room. As soon as she got out of the elevator, she headed right into the scanner. She walked into the scanner and waited for Jeremy to start the process.

"Scanner Yumi!"

"Transfer Yumi!"

"Virtualization!"

Yumi was slowly virtualized into Lyoko. She landed on the forest ground stretching out her legs to break her fall. She looked around and spotted Odd fighting some monsters up ahead. She ran close up to them and sent her fans flying at one of the monsters taking Odd by surprise. He smiled and waved at her.

"Nice to see you join us." he smirked raking his blond hair.

"Yea, I actually forgot." she smiled sheepishly.

"Jeremy we're ready down here." Aelita stated getting ready.

"Okay, I'm entering the code. S.C.I.P.I.O.!" Jeremy yelled as a white spherical ball with X.A.N.A.'s symbol on the back came up and took them away.

They traveled a long distance from the regular sectors to the main memory of the system coming to Sector five. The white spherical ball dropped them on a platform that held the same symbol. The place was illuminated with a few lights lighting up the dark place. The platform was spinning around slightly as the three teens stood with their backs to each other waiting for an opening.

"There it is!" Aelita yelled as the three rushed through the passageway.

They came through the opening and gasped at the sight before them. There were circular platforms, some high and low with a large space between them. The teens let out a heavy sigh knowing that if they fell in the space that they would be devirtualized.

"Guys you got thirty seconds on the clock, now go!" Jeremy shouted desperately.

Yumi did a front flip onto the platform while Odd jumped like a cat onto it. Aelita jumped onto it as the platform floated all around the place. They continued in that pattern for a good while until a monster came. A creeper came up behind them stopping them in their position. The creeper looked like a brown snake like creature but it was large instead of small. It fired lasers at them. Odd turned around and sent laser arrows at it.

"Hiyah!" Yumi yelled throwing her fans at it.

"Hurry up you guys, you have ten seconds!" Jeremy yelled to them from above.

"But I don't see the clock stopper!" Yumi screamed searching desperately for it.

"It's due east guys hurry up time is running OUT!"

Aelita smirked a little as she looked ahead there it was, the long behold stopper.

"Jeremy, I see it!"

She ran as fast as she could while jumping on each platform, she tried her best to reach it in time. She could feel the time running out by every second. Finally she reached it and pushed the button. Immediately the platforms stopped moving and merging together allowing them to walk freely to the entrance outside. Aelita, Yumi and Odd left the area and walked through a pathway leading to a ledge. They waiting patiently until the elevator came around, then as soon as it reached they jumped upon it. The stylish elevator went around and around until it came to its destination. The group waited again until the passageway opened. They ran out and came to the main core of X.A.N.A.'s lair. All three gasped as they looked up see an orange globe on a distance

There stood Sissy a far off in a large orange globe floating around. It was the same type of guardian that had held Yumi and Aelita before but this time it looked a lot stronger.

"Jeremy, I see Sissy but I don't think I can destroy this guardian." she whispered.

"Okay Aelita, see if there is anything in X.A.N.A's memory bank." he replied sternly from above.

"Okay."

She began to click on the clear interface looking for any information that could help them defeat the guardian. Yumi and Odd were standing behind her waiting to see if there were any monsters to defeat. Without warning a laser came out of nowhere and hit Yumi hard. She winched in pain holding her arm, pulling out her fan, she used it to protect her. The laser attacks came faster and faster pushing her back from the platform. Her feet were just hanging on slightly to the end of the level. Odd sent a laser arrow at the monster blasting it away but when he looked to his left it was too late, Yumi was not there. Odd could only watch in horror as his friend fell off of the platform falling to the empty space below.

"Yumi!" he yelled.

So tell me what you think? Was it bad or good? I really want to know. Take care. Happy New Year!

PhantasyDreamer