Code Lyoko: Dark Ambitions

Chapter 2

All seemed well. The materialization process succeeded without hiccup, and all five members were returned to Earth. The three males had nothing wrong in appearance, and they seemed to just want to continue with their day. Aelita however, pressed that a diagnostic scan be performed. Data decryption would also need to be accomplished in order to understand the new information that they had gained from Sector 5.

"Come on Jeremie, it will only take but a minute." She pleaded with him to go back in the scanner. Any shot that XANA could have infected him was something she would not take. She had to make sure that the blond-haired boy would be alright.

Jeremie shrugged his shoulders, leaning against the golden yellow wall that laid out the scanner room. "Aelita, you're worrying over nothing. Ulrich, Odd and I are just fine." He got up and started doing pushups to prove just how great he felt. Only this was the wrong thing to do. Jeremie had never been physically active, and the only thing close he had felt to P.E. was the typing of his keyboard.

Aelita and Yumi grabbed him by the arms. "That's it, you're getting you butt back in the scanner, you hear?!" Yumi ordered as she lifted her friend and leader. Propping him in the scanner, she stood in his way to make sure he didn't try to escape while Aelita rode the elevator back up the control room.

"Guys, this is ridiculous. I feel fine!" Jeremie whined as the scanner started to power up. Just then, the doors closed, and he shut his eyes, the wind nipping at his cheeks while his hair started to fly upward.

Ulrich and Odd soon joined him in the scanners, not wanting to take a chance with Yumi manhandling them like 3-year-olds. "Just deal with it. It'll be over in a minute." Ulrich said to himself as his scanner repeated the process. He hadn't felt this frustrated in many years, and he had no idea why. All he wanted to do right now was tell Yumi how he felt. Wait, why in the world? Actually confess my feelings to Yumi? I must be going crazy. The scanner powered down and he exited along with Jeremie and Odd. Yumi had this smug look all over her face.

"See? Was that so bad?" She said smugly as they walked towards the elevator. Lifting to the control room, the four warriors walked in to find Aelita sitting at the control chair, typing away at the Supercomputer. "Anything to report, Aelita?"

The three boys gathered together and as if on cue, leaned back against the green wall and crossed their arms, annoyed at the whole situation. "Can we hurry this up? I have an appointment with the lunch room and being late will cost me an hour's worth of food" Odd chimed in.

Aelita looked at the screen, puzzled over what her tests indicated. "From what I'm gathering, nothing is wrong with you three. The diagnostic shows nothing wrong with your individual cells, or pixels as you humans refer to them." She continued to scroll through data, trying to find any thing that seemed out of the ordinary. "Brain waves are fine, nothing wrong with the individual code segments... I guess whatever happened ended with the materialization."

Ulrich sighed at the revelation. "See, I knew there was nothing wrong. Now come on Yumi, lets go to the park." He walked over to her and grabbed her hand. "I've got something really important to tell you." He gave flashy smirk as he pulled her to the elevator. Pressing the up button, he didn't even give her a chance to acknowledge her own surprise at how forward he was being. This wasn't like the Ulrich Yumi had known. He was normally very closed about his feelings or even hanging out in general.

"Ulrich, what has gotten into you?" She asked, concern written on her face.

Ulrich chuckled at her worried tone. "Oh Yumi, I'm alright. I just realized that I've been a real jerk to you and our friends, but now I aim to make it up to you. That's why I want you to come to the park with me." He trailed on, not noticing Yumi's cheeks flushing red with intensity. "I guess you could say, I really like you." He winked at the last word.