"No," Sissi said.

"No?!" Jeremy repeated.

"I am worried about Ulrich and the others, and I want them to return safely. But they've gotten into trouble by following your lead and going into this dangerous place, and now you want me and my darling Yumi to chase after them to doom? Well, NO is all I can say to that! Absolutely not!"

"Sissi, please listen," Yumi begged.

"And you agree with him, Yumi? I regret helping him now, even if it was for you. It's obvious he's a lunatic. We should tell someone else, someone who can get him mental help and really get everyone back."

"I knew this was a bad idea," Jeremy said, turning around to work on the computer.

"No one else is going to help. It's true, this supercomputer is dangerous. So dangerous that they'll shut down the computer, and leave everyone trapped in there forever. So we can't tell anyone else. If we ever want to see them again, we're going to have to go in and save them ourselves," Yumi explained.

"And I'm the only one who can help?" Sissi asked.

"Hardly," Jeremy said.

"We don't know anyone else to ask. You're already involved, so won't you help us? In Lyoko, you don't have to worry about getting hurt. I'll protect you."

"I have no doubt of that, Yumi. But could you do something else for me too?" Sissi asked lovingly.

"Here begins the blackmail. I have no idea what made you think this was a good idea," Jeremy commented.

"Ignore Nerd-boy. You know what I'm talking about. It's nothing much to ask for, considering that you like it too."

Yumi blushed. "Sissi, this is a serious situation, you know."

"And I don't like being serious all the time, so can't you make it not so serious and just do that one thing? The thing you did at lunch today? You know."

Yumi had no idea why she felt so embarrassed. She'd kissed Sissi in plain daylight, in front of a multitude of people, but now she was bashful to do it again, in the dim light of this basement, in front of only Jeremy, who quite obviously was paying so much attention to the computer that he wouldn't even notice what they were up to.

"It's not 'blackmail,' just a simple request," Sissi egged.

"Um, fine," Yumi hesitantly agreed. She slowly moved closer to Sissi, who was smiling, her eyes closed, and kissed her again, this time quickly on the cheek. It wasn't so bad. In fact, it gave her a pleasant feeling. Of course, now was not the time for this at all, she reminded herself. "There. Now will you help us?"

"Of course," Sissi sighed happily. "How could I refuse a request from you? Even if Jeremy's completely insane."

"What? She agreed?" Jeremy said, only having partly listened to the previous conversation.

"Yes, have you gotten ready to virtualize us yet?" Yumi asked.

"No, I was just getting ready to do a return to the past."

"Um, no, I really don't want to do today all over again," Yumi said.

"All over again? What does that mean?" Sissi asked.

"I'll tell you later. There's really a lot to this," Yumi said.

"Just give me a few minutes," Jeremy said, getting ready to virtualize Sissi.

"Tell me more, then," Sissi said to Yumi.

"Xana activates towers to launch attacks on our world. Aelita deactivates them. This time, you're going to deactivate them. That's probably what Jeremy wants us to do first. Right?" Yumi turned to Jeremy.

"Yes, Xana's activated a tower in the ice region. You'll go there right now. Later, soon, you'll go to Sector Five."

Sissi frowned. She could tell by the way Jeremy had explained everything to her that he didn't think she would understand. And he was right, really, she just didn't get it. But she was much too proud to admit ignorance, and thought it best to play along, hoping that Yumi really could protect her. She still had her doubts about the whole idea. She smiled, thinking that love could really make her do some strange things.

"Ready. Head down to the scanner room," Jeremy said. The girls complied. Jeremy scanned them into Lyoko, mentally cursing himself as he said "Scanner, Sissi." The two quickly virtualized to the ice sector.

Yumi looked around, and quickly found Sissi, although she hardly recognized her. Sissi looked almost the same as Aelita had, only instead of Aelita's face, she could see Sissi. "Wow..." Yumi said.

"What's going on? What am I wearing?" Sissi asked, disgusted.

"When scanning Sissi, I virtualized her to be Aelita. So, she should resemble her quite a bit."

"How creepy! Yumi, you're going to protect me from him too, right? He's trying to replace his girlfriend with me!"

"Can't you get off that topic?" Jeremy asked, annoyed.

"Don't worry about it, Sissi. You look a little like Aelita," she stretched the truth, they were actually nearly identical. Although Aelita pulled off the unrealistic hair colors much better. But, elfish or not, Sissi was Sissi. "Anyone, um, well, I can still tell it's you. You're still your pretty self."

"So you do think I'm pretty?" Sissi asked hopefully. Although she'd been doting on Yumi quite a bit lately, Yumi had yet to return any compliments, until now.

"Um-" Yumi began.

"Sissi, you're meant to serve as a substitute for Aelita. For her functions in Lyoko, not in her personal life. So get to deactivating the tower. I'll lead you there. Oh, Yumi, here's your vehicle."

Yumi's vehicle soon appeared. Yumi climbed on it. "Hop on," she offered to Sissi.

"I don't know. This isn't quite how I pictured riding off into the sunset with you."

"The sun doesn't set in Lyoko, it's an artificial virtual world," Jeremy pointed out.

Sissi frowned, and hopped on the back with Yumi, thinking Jeremy was just perfect at spoiling the mood. "Is that geek going to listen to everything we say?" she complained.

"Yes Sissi, and I heard that," Jeremy said.

Sissi frowned. His interruptions would make this time with Yumi not nearly as fun. But they did have a job to do, of course. And once it was done, once they were back home safe. Now that Sissi was in on this secret, Yumi had no reason to push her away, she thought. Who knew what would happen between her and Yumi then?

Yumi and Sissi both followed Jeremy's directions to get to the red tower. Sissi hung onto Yumi, enjoying the sensation of flight and being with her sweetheart. She looked up, and saw something flying through the sky. "Are there beautiful birds here, Yumi?" she asked.

"No," Yumi said quickly, stopping the vehicle as she saw what Sissi had been admiring.

"It must be a nice place to vacation, so isolated and far away from anything," Sissi commented.

"Run for the red tower," Yumi ordered, getting ready to fight.

"Why?"

"Hurry up! That's no bird you saw."

Sissi was disgusted as she saw that the flying object was actually a giant bee, and there were not only one, but three of them. She was even more horrified when the lasers shot at her, and screamed. "You didn't tell me this was going to happen!"

"Well, why did you expect? I did say we all had to fight," Jeremy said.

"I didn't know what to expect! And I don't see you here fighting, genius!" Sissi shouted, now almost hysterical.

Yumi threw her fan at the bee, but missed. "Run!" she said. Sissi finally did run, but the monsters flew after her. Yumi ran near, and threw her fan again, destroying one of them. "You're almost there!" she said as she kept fighting.

Sissi frantically looked around the tower as she arrived. "Now what?" she asked.

"You have to go inside to deactivate it," Jeremy said.

"How? There's no way in."

"Just touch the wall," Jeremy sighed.

Sissi did so, lightly touching the wall. She screamed as it seemed to suck her inside. "I knew it, I'm dying, just like they did!" she cried. But instead of dying, Sissi appeared inside the calm interior of the tower. Unlike the outside, the inside was perfectly round. and symmetrical. "There's nothing here," Sissi said. She looked around, and then down. "Except a bottomless pit if I happen to walk the wrong way!"

Jeremy snickered. Sissi might have the pink hair and programming, but with her panicking at every different part of Lyoko, she was certainly no Aelita.

"What's so funny?" Sissi asked.

"Nothing's funny," Jeremy lied. "Now step forward to the center, you'll automatically be transferred to where you need to go,"

Sissi slowly stepped forward carefully, not wanting to fall accidentally. As she made it to the round platform, the circles on it started to glow blue, until she finally reached the center. She fretted again as she began to float up, but was calmer once she reached the screen.

"Now, place your hand on the screen," Jeremy instructed. "This is how Aelita deactivates the towers. Since you're now programming to be Aelita, hopefully it'll work the same for you."

"Hopefully, huh? What happens if it knows I'm not Mrs. Einstein?"

"I'm not completely sure," Jeremy said.

Sissi didn't say anything to that. She just tensely put her hand on the screen before she could think of any possibilities. She was relieved when Aelita's name came across, and dropped down to the floor.

After the tower was deactivated, Jeremy devirtualized Yumi and Sissi. "It's getting late. I know you two need to make it back, and I have to double check some things before we go into sector five. But tomorrow-"

"Tomorrow we can go to sector five?" Yumi asked.

"Yes, so be ready then," Jeremy said.

"We will be," Yumi assured.

Sissi wasn't nearly as sure as she went with Yumi to the elevator. "Thank you Sissi, I had I feeling we could count on you," Yumi said.

Sissi smiled and took a hold of Yumi's hand. "I can't refuse a gorgeous girl in need," she said.

"Right... Well, you did a good job," Yumi said quickly.

"You think?" Sissi asked, happy but skeptical. "Jeremy didn't seem to think so."

"He's just used to our team flowing better. We all know what to do automatically since we've all been doing this for so long. But we finished what we needed to today, and that's what matters."

"Right," Sissi said. She put her head on Yumi's shoulder as they walked out of the elevator. She was still anxious about the situation, but glad to be able to spend time with Yumi. Besides, why should she be doubtful of success? With a lovely warrior by her side protecting her, and Jeremy, insane but still ingenious, at the computer leading them, what could go wrong? When she and Yumi parted ways, Sissi walked with her head up, throwing her fears aside.