PhantasyDreamer: Hi there!! I'm back after a very long break. I hope you guys didn't think I forgot about this story, I just had been more preoccupied with graduating from college for the earlier part of the year. Anyway, that's over and they are other excuses that stopped me from updating like writer's block. And you guys know how bad that can be. I think I've talked enough, so please enjoy the story, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter.

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Secret of the Heart

Chapter 4: The Truth

Last time: 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.

The story continues…

"Jeremy, could you get me my vehicle?" Odd asked a little impatient.

"Sorry about that." he replied bringing up the overboard for Odd.

Odd jumped onto it immediately and flew down as fast as he could. Before he knew it he caught Yumi just in time. She landed on the end part of his board. Slowly she got up and held on tightly to her short blond haired friend.

"Thanks Odd, you're a lifesaver." she smiled as she hugged his back tightly.

"No problem, all in a days work." he replied with a wink.

They flew over to get to Aelita but before they got there a large pink and white monster was slowly moving its way towards her. It had long white tentacle like features that were used as hands along with a white brain like device at the top of it. It slowly made its way towards Aelita and picked her up with its tentacles. A red light glowed from the tentacles as it instantly began to take away her memory, freezing Aelita in a stand still state.

Odd and Yumi continued to travel towards her but the next thing they knew a few monsters started to seep their way through the digital wall. The monsters looked like black and white sting rays.

"Jeremy a little help here?!!" Yumi screamed while still clinging onto Odd.

"I'm on it Yumi." he stated from above as he virtualized a ride.

As soon as it was virtualized she immediately flipped from Odd's overboard and onto the over bike. She revved it up and drove in the direction with Odd heading straight towards Aelita.

"Hurry up you guys the skipazoa has Aelita!!!" Jeremy exclaimed desperately from above.

"Uh oh." Odd replied looking up at the digital sky, "We have a problem, flying mantis."

"I'll take care of them, you get Aelita!!" Yumi yelled revving up the bike even more as she sped away in the opposite direction.

"Right!!" Odd shouted hastily as he rushed after Aelita.

AT SCHOOL

Ulrich frowned. He didn't know how he was going to get out of this situation. What had he done to deserve this? He gazed at the principal and Jim who was too occupied with calling the police to noticed his presence. Ulrich immediately slipped out of the office and began running down the hall. He wasn't too far when he soon made his way to the large doors that led to the exit of the building. Stopping a while he bent over to catch his breath while his hands gripped harshly on the rail. After he caught his breath, he immediately took out his mobile and dialed Jeremy's number.

"Jeremy, this is Ulrich." he gasped a little still out of breath.

"Ulrich, where have you been? I've been trying to contact you all afternoon!!" Jeremy screamed desperately through the line, "Aelita and the others need your help."

"Sorry about that but Jim and the principal had me in the office for a very long time." he stated hastily while taking a quick glance behind him, "They think for some unknown reason that I did something to Sissy."

"WHAT?!! You've got to be kidding me?" the blond asked through the line, "Why would they think such a thing?"

The brown haired boy frowned. He himself couldn't believe that they would think that he could hurt Sissy. Besides he was her boyfriend after all and he knew he wasn't the type of guy to do such things to a person, much less Sissy. Taking a deep breath he decided to answer his friend.

"Herb told them some lie and amazingly he had pictures." he jumped when he heard a rustling noise through the doors behind him, telling him that they had just noticed that he had left, "Listen, I'll met you at the factory in a few minutes."

"Fine, just hurry up and make it here quick." the blond muttered as he hung up his mobile.

Ulrich stood on the steps trying to think of the quickest route to the factory. He knew the only way to escape was through the woods so he immediately dashed off in that direction. He wasn't too far when someone instantly blocked his passageway. He growled while stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Ulrich."

"What do you want William?" the brown haired boy asked miserably.

The black haired boy stared him curiously wondering why he was so tensed.

"It's about Yumi."

"What about her?"

"I don't know what her problem is but she's been acting strange lately and I figured you might know why." William stated sadly, casting his eyes to the floor.

Ulrich scoffed wondering why he would think such a thing when he barely knew what was up with Yumi himself.

"How should I know what's bothering her? I haven't seen her since this morning." he muttered giving William a harsh glare.

"Aren't you her best friend?" William asked getting a little agitated.

Ulrich remained silent because he knew what William said was true. He was her best friend but things had changed so rapidly since he had began dating Sissy. He himself didn't know what went wrong. One minute they were best buds and the next they were like enemies. The brown haired boy couldn't tell the last time he had a good conversation and laugh with Yumi before she found out about Sissy and him and that was almost two days ago. He had to admit it but he really missed the fun times they had but they were over now that he was in a relationship with her worst enemy.

"Look William, Yumi and I are not speaking right now," he whispered while bowing his head, he then looked up towards him, "so whatever problem you're having with her I can't help you."

He frowned as he decided to run in the other direction leaving a confused William behind.

"Ulrich wait!!"

Ulrich ran as fast as he could, heading straight towards the sewer hole in the woods when someone came out of nowhere and struck him hard in the face. He fell to the floor with a loud thump. Gasping, he quickly made his way to his feet as fast as he could.

"Whose there?!!!" he yelled searching for the culprit.

Unfortunately no one answered or appeared instead he was answered with silence. He spun around taking in his surroundings and trying to find out who might have stopped him from entering the sewer hole. He also wondered if they had figured out his secret. The grass rustled and Ulrich took a karate stance immediately waiting to see who would show up. To his surprise none other than William appeared.

He was smirking a lot as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. The glare he had on his face was one of pure anger and hatred. But Ulrich could also see that it was because he was being possessed by X.A.N.A. After all his eyes did hold the symbol of X.A.N.A so he knew fully well that he would have his hands full.

"Sorry to disappoint you Ulrich, but you're not going anywhere!!!" he yelled in a mechanical voice as he sent a punch in his direction.

SECTOR FIVE ON LYOKO

Yumi rushed after the flying mantis. She threw her fans at them and hit one. She stood up on the over bike trying to balance herself as good as possible, she then sent her fans at three of the mantis. It blasted away two of them while she jumped on one of their backs while knocking it out. Flipping backwards she landed immediately back on the over bike while tucking her fans behind her shawl. The blast from the attack created a big explosion knocking her off the bike and instantly devirtualizing her. Silver pixels could be seen as she disappeared. Odd gasped upon seeing this and then quickly turned his attention towards Aelita.

"Yumi's gone…" he whispered slowly looking down as he continued to head towards Aelita, "She's been devirtualized."

"Okay. Get Aelita to Sissy immediately!!" Jeremy screamed desperately.

In a quick motion Odd jumped off of his hover board and sent a laser arrow at the skipazoa. It released Aelita causing her to fall hard to the floor, while it retreated, backing away. Odd helped his pink haired friend to her feet while she rushed back to the clear interface. She stood silently as she browsed through the files in the databank to find the one she needed. It didn't take very long until she found it.

"I've found it." she whispered, turning towards Odd.

He nodded his head and headed to his overboard.

"Your chariot awaits, my lady." he replied as she jumped onto the hover board with a slight giggle.

They flew quickly towards the large platform where Sissy stood floating in a large orange ball. As soon as they reached the platform, Aelita jumped onto it and headed towards Sissy. She stretched her hands out, gathering up her power to create a duplicate of the guardian that contained Sissy. Collapsing on her knees after a few minutes she looked up to see that Sissy was still in the original guardian, contained and the duplicate was there but nothing had happened. According to her memory the last time she created a duplicate, the original burst releasing its victim. But instead of that happening Sissy stood still captured. Aelita turned towards Odd who was fighting off a few flying mantis that were behind them.

"Oh no it isn't working." she whispered, her green eyes staring Odd with concern.

"What are you talking about?" he turned a bit, still shooting laser arrows.

"The guardian is not disintegrating." the pink haired girl stood on her feet immediately, "Jeremy it isn't working. I don't know what else to do."

A sigh could be heard from above.

"What? I don't get it. Are you sure you got the right codes?" the blond asked a bit annoyed.

"Yes."

Odd stopped for a minute after the last flying mantis was gone. He frowned while looking up to the digital sky, "Jeremy this is much harder than it looks. It isn't a picnic you know."

"I know that Odd. Just hold on a minute you guys. I'll see what I can do. There must be a way to defeat this thing." the blond spoke with determination.

Aelita turned her attention to Odd who just waved at her with a sheepish grin.

'I hope your right Jeremy.' she thought sadly.

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"Jeremy, what's the status?" Yumi asked, exiting the elevator.

"Oh things aren't looking good right now Yumi. Aelita can't seem to release Sissy." he replied hastily, typing steadily on the keyboard.

Yumi came up to his chair and looked intently at the screen.

'Man we got to get her out…somehow.' she thought bitterly.

"Have you heard from Ulrich yet?" the raven haired girl asked surprising Jeremy.

He turned to her with a quizzical expression on his face. She gasped a bit turning her head the other way, her short hair covering her eyes. She didn't quite understand why he had given her that look but she figured it was because she had barely spoken to Ulrich during the last couple of days ever since she found out about Sissy and him. But could you blame her? Ulrich was supposed to be her best friend and then this had happened. She took a deep breath and then gazed at her blond friend whom was adjusting his glasses at the minute.

"What?" she asked sharply.

"I'm just surprised you would ask that." he paused a bit, turning back to his screen, "I mean since you and Ulrich are not, well you know."

"Yeah well that doesn't mean I don't care about him even though I feel like strangling him right now." she smirked, an evil look plastered on her face.

"Right." the blond chuckled nervously, "I'll call him."

"Okay."

The blond boy immediately began dialing his friend's mobile number. After a few seconds the person on the other line picked up.

"Ulrich, where are you?"

"This isn't a good time Jeremy."

"Where are you? Odd and Aelita need your help on Lyoko."

There was silence for a moment before Ulrich spoke again, "I don't see how I can make it right now since X.A.N.A's possessed William and now he's-"

Static could be heard as Jeremy closed his eyes while Yumi frowned. The connection was lost and that could only mean that Ulrich was either injured or worse, dead. Without warning Yumi dashed out of the room heading towards the elevator.

"Yumi, where are you going?"

"To help Ulrich." she replied sternly as the elevator closed in front of her.

THE WOODS

Ulrich frowned as he looked towards the grassy bed where his mobile lay shattered. He closed his eyes in pain while clutching a stick firmly in his hands. He had been fighting William for a while and by the looks of things he was winning. But now William had gotten the upper hand leaving him to fight even harder to escape.

'Man, William's tough. I guess that's why Yumi likes him so much.' he thought gazing at the raven haired boy in front of him.

Without warning William knocked his weapon out of his hand leaving him defenseless. Backing back slowly he knocked into a tree bark. He gazed around trying to find somewhere to escape to but unfortunately there was no place to go. Ulrich closed his eyes immediately while waiting for impact from the metal pole that William held firmly in his grasp. When nothing came his eyes snapped open to see Yumi standing there in front of him with a smirk on her face and a large stick in her hand. He looked to his left to see William unconscious on the ground.

"Yumi, what are you doing here?" Ulrich asked harshly giving her a glare.

He made his way to his feet in a flash while dusting off his green attire.

"A thank you would be nice." she muttered turning her dark eyes the other way. He gave her a frown wondering what she was doing here in the first place, "Go on get out of here. Aelita and Odd need you on Lyoko."

The young boy winched a bit. He could hear the hurt in her voice but for some reason he didn't care. He just gave off a light scoff catching the attention of his raven haired friend. She frowned immensely upon seeing the glare that he shot her way. Who did he think he was anyway, to give her such a look? Did he think she would be happy with him now?

"I'm not leaving until we talk, Yumi." Ulrich muttered looking up at her.

"What's to talk about? Your lies? Your deception?" she asked tugging lightly on her black sleeve, anger trailing heavily in her voice.

"Deception?" he echoed as if not knowing what she was talking about.

Yumi folded her arms while turning her back towards him. She felt so infuriated with him and for a moment she felt like she could hit him…hard. Calming down her nerves she wiped a straying tear from her face and turned back to Ulrich whom was frowning at the moment.

'I have to be strong. I can't let Ulrich know that this bothers me so much.' she thought sadly.

"Yumi…" her dark eyes gazed at him inquisitively while he stuffed his hands in his pocket, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier about Sissy and me but I didn't think you would mind since-"

He started but Yumi interrupted him before he could continue, "Why did you think I wouldn't mind Ulrich? I'm your best friend. I thought you would at least know that I-"

"You what?" the brown haired boy asked as he approached her.

Yumi snapped her eyes that were closed open out of fear. She only realized now that she almost told him how she felt. Biting her lip she turned her head the other way, placing her hands close to her face to hide the huge blush. Luckily for her Ulrich was too angry to see it. But Yumi just couldn't risk ruining their friendship when it was obvious that he liked Sissy. It was not something she was expecting but she was trying her best to deal with it somehow.

"You what Yumi? Tell me!!" he demanded as she looked at his dark brown eyes. They were so intense and captivating that for a moment she couldn't help but stare dumbly at them. That is until Ulrich snapped his fingers in front her face bringing her back to reality.

She let out a heavy sigh, "I don't need to tell you anything Ulrich, just go to Lyoko."

He turned to leave but stopped to see that she had turned her back to him once again.

"Humph, have it your way. I just hope you're happy with William, Yumi." he whispered as he disappeared out of sight.

She gasped turning around immediately to see that he had disappeared.

'William? What is he talking about?' she thought as tears slid slowly down her cheeks, 'Ulrich.'

THE FACTORY

"I've got it!!"

Jeremy smiled contently at the screen.

"I've found the codes Aelita. You actually had the right ones but this guardian need something more." he gave a slight smirk while typing in the codes, "I'll send you them to you now. Hopefully by giving this extra boost, Sissy should be out in no time."

He continued to type on the keyboard when he heard the elevator open. Turning slightly he saw that it was none other than Ulrich.

"Great Ulrich you're here." he whispered as he pushed up his glasses, "X.A.N.A's activated another tower and Aelita and Odd are trying to free Sissy. By the way where's Yumi?"

"I rather not talk about her."

"Alright, then head to the scanner room so I can virtualize you."

"Fine."

Jeremy brought up Ulrich's profile card while he proceeded into the scanner below. He continued to type in the codes as he sent the downloaded codes to Aelita. He then proceeded to getting Ulrich to Lyoko.

"Scanner Ulrich."

"Transfer Ulrich."

"Virtualization."

He smirked when he saw that the downloading process had been completed.

"I've sent Ulrich to the forest region. Did you get it Aelita?"

Jeremy leaned back in the chair while waiting for his pink haired friend's response.

"Yes."

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"I've gotten it Jeremy. I'll use them now." she replied while stretching out her hands once again.

Immediately three orange globes appeared beside the one Aelita had created just moments before. In a quick motion the four orange balls fused together and blasted into bits while releasing Sissy in the process. She hit the large platform in pain and slowly her eyes began to open.

"Jeremy it worked." the pink haired girl whispered helping Sissy onto her feet.

"Great now get to the forest region and deactivate the tower."

"Okay."

Aelita jumped onto the hover board with Odd while Sissy stood on the platform waiting for a ride to be virtualized. She had her hand on her hips while tapping her foot lightly on the floor. Slowly the over wing was virtualized and Sissy was about to jump on it when she was hit by a flying mantis. Both Sissy and the over wing were devirtualized.

"Sissy's gone you guys. Now head through the clearing and get to the forest region."

"Roger that chief!!"

Odd sent a laser arrow at the flying mantis and headed straight towards the clearing with Aelita. As soon as they got out of the clearing they came to the forest region to see Ulrich standing somewhere in the clearing almost close to the activated tower.

"Go on Aelita, Odd and I will cover you." Ulrich replied sternly as he took a karate stance.

"Okay."

The pink haired girl rushed towards the tower that glowed red while leaving her two friends behind to battle the set of monsters that mysteriously gathered around them. As soon as she entered the tower, she immediately floated to the top of it and proceeded to touching the clear interface that popped up.

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AELITA

CODE

LYOKO

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"Great Aelita. Return to the past now!!!"

THE DAY BEFORE

Yumi walked out of the pool room with a towel draped around her waist. She proceeded to the dressing room and put back on her regular clothes. She knew they were supposed to go the factory to set up Sissy's profile again but Jeremy had just called her a few minutes ago telling her that they would meet in the courtyard instead. Slowly she walked towards the courtyard to see Odd, Aelita, Jeremy, Ulrich and Sissy. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she gripped her book bag and walked towards them.

"Yumi, finally you're here." the blond haired boy whispered while taking a seat on the bench.

Aelita was next to him, along with Odd whom was leaning his back on the back of the bench. Ulrich was standing to the right of Aelita with his girlfriend Sissy. He didn't try to hide that they were together since his arm was placed possessively around her waist.

"Okay here's the deal." Jeremy started getting the attention of everyone, "Sissy I found out the main problem with your powers. There was a slight bug that I needed to be fix and now that, that's done you can go to Lyoko with no problems at all."

There was immediate silence as the others took in what had been said.

"This afternoon I'll go and reset up your profile again Sissy." the young boy replied with a smirk while gazing at his friends. He received a nod from Sissy and he returned her nod with a slight smirk, "Other than that we have no serious problems to deal with."

"Yes we do."

Ulrich spoke sternly catching the attention of his fellow Lyoko warriors. They all stared at him skeptically waiting for him to explain himself in some definite way. He looked at all of them with a serious expression lingering on his face.

"It's about Sissy." he took his hand from around her waist and placed them in his pocket, "I want to know the truth about what happened on Lyoko and why you guys have a problem with Sissy being apart of the group."

He gave Yumi a glare which only made her frown in response.

'Who does he think he is demanding such a thing?' she thought curling her hands into a fist.

Everyone remained silent as if processing the words he had just said. No one looked in Sissy's and his direction as they contemplated on what to say to Ulrich. Odd was the first to break the silence.

"Well for one thing Ulrich, I don't like this new attitude of yours." the spiky blond muttered causing his brown haired friend to gasp at him.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean. Look, you knew far well than any of us that we don't like Sissy." he whispered tapping his chin lightly as if in deep thought. A gasp could be heard from Sissy, "And making her join the group would not have changed our feelings. Did you expect us to accept her with open arms?"

"Yes." Ulrich replied knowing very well that Odd was right.

"Ulrich, Odd is right and you can't blame us for not agreeing with your decision." Jeremy stated making his way to his feet.

He scoffed immediately turning his eyes towards Yumi.

"Sissy also told me what you guys did to her and I just have one thing to say…" he paused, all eyes on him, "That's just wrong."

"Is that all? You're not going to threaten us, are you?" Yumi asked flipping her hair in anger.

The others turned their attention from Ulrich to Yumi. They could see the two teens staring intently at each other and they wondered for a minute if it would be a repeat of the day before. But they remained silent. The glare that they both exchanged was so harsh that one would think they hated each other. Yumi took a step forward slowly breaking the silence as her foot brushed harshly against the dirt floor.

"What we did, Odd and me. We did it because we wanted to and it was out right funny, and I speak not only for myself but for the others too. I know everyone would agree that Sissy needs to leave the group…" she pause a bit as the others nodded, "Ulrich, Sissy doesn't deserve to be in our group. You know she can't keep a secret."

A loud squeak could be heard as all eyes lay on Sissy.

"Lay off Yumi. I can and I will." the ponytail girl retorted instantly grabbing a hold of her boyfriend, "Don't kill yourself Yumi, I've already got Ulrich."

Yumi growled at her. She was about to rush after her when Odd held her back. She relaxed for a minute and then looked at Ulrich whom was still frowning.

"Is that the truth? Do you guys want Sissy to leave?"

He asked but received silence. After a few seconds he heard them answer, "Yes."

Odd nodded with a light grin, "We sure do."

The brown haired boy narrowed his eyes while taking his arm away from Sissy.

'They'll regret this.' he thought clenching his fists, 'They'll regret this, especially Yumi.'

He contemplated some more on what his friends had said and soon after that he came to a conclusion. If they didn't want to accept Sissy then drastic measures would have to take place. And whether or not he liked it he would have to choose the road he wanted to travel. He let out a deep breath and looked at his friends whom were silent.

"Fine." he paused as the others turned their attention to him, "If you guys can't accept Sissy then there is only one thing left for me to do. I retire from being a Lyoko warrior."

"WHAT?!!"

"You heard me. I'm not coming back." he instantly grabbed Sissy's hand while she stuck out her tongue childishly at his friends. "Let's go Sissy."

His friends watched in horror as Ulrich walked away angrily dragging a happy Sissy behind him. Everyone remained silent while Yumi looked on sadly. Heartache could be seen written in her eyes and face and everyone knew just how bad she felt about his decision but there was nothing any of them could do. He had already made his decision and that was the truth.

'What have I done?' she thought bitterly.

A slight breeze blew across Yumi making her shiver in disgust.

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Well tell me what you think. Sorry for the long wait but you guys understand my real reasons. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because I worked really hard on it. I'll try to update more frequently but I can't make promises I can't keep. Leave a review on the way out. –smiles- Lata!!

One note: Anonymous reviewers please check my profile if you request e-mail alerts from me.

PhantasyDreamer