It was strange for a new student to enroll during the middle of the school year, especially if they were going to reside in one of the dorms. Normally one would wait for the beginning of the year before making such a drastic change in their lives but that would be impossible for this particular person. The latest addition to Mr. Delmas's campus was a consequence of the closing of another boarding school in the area which resulted in many students from that campus to frantically look for another place to enroll in or else they would not have a place to live.

The young boy sitting across from his desk was just one of the fortunate teenagers who were able to find another school to transfer to though the gravity of this decision did not carry over to his mannerisms. Dressed in a pair of brown khakis and a black short-sleeves button shirt the boy looked like he did not have a care in the world.

"Is there anything wrong with my paperwork Mr. Delmas?"

His tone was just as laid-back. It lacked any sort of worry toward the possibility that something bad could happen at this point. However, the question had a certain firmness to it showing that he held a sense of respect for those in authority. Staring at his latest charge, Mr. Delmas watched him briefly as he ran his fingers through his short red hair and yawned.

"Well Mr. Carter everything here is all right. Your school was quiet diligent in making sure that we got all the documents that we needed for your enrollment."

"Please sir, call me Arthur."

Looking over his grades, Mr. Delmas saw that the boy's easy-going personalty did not stem from an uncaring attitude. He was a good student with respectable marks and had no disciplinary strikes against him.

"Well Arthur, let me welcome you to Kadic Junior High and I hope you become well adjusted to our humble campus and enjoy your stay here. As long as you follow the rules and stay on top of your schoolwork everything then you'll do fine."

At that moment Jim entered the office and immediately grabbed a giant cardboard box in the corner which was one of the two items of luggage that Arthur had with him.

"This is Jim Morales, our school's physical education teacher. He's going to be the one who will help you move into your room."

Arthur stood up with his hands in his pockets and slowly walked over to his roll away suitcase and gripped it by the handle. Staring up at the much larger man, he raised his free arm and gave him a small wave.

"Hey," he said unenthusiastically.

Mr. Delmas gestured toward the door.

"It's no use keeping you here any longer. You can go ahead and leave with Jim. Classes are already finished for today so get a good night's sleep as I expect you to be on time for your first lesson."

"Thanks again Mr. Delmas. I'm sure I'll get the hang of things in no time."

Meanwhile in another dorm four teenagers were gathered around a computer monitor watching was happing on the screen with a heightened sense of curiosity.

"There, it just happened again! Did you see it?" Jeremie quickly shot up from his chair and pointed at a specific location secretly hoping that this strange anomaly was noticed by another person or else he would go insane.

Odd and Ulrich were both scratching their heads. Neither of them was well versed when it came to reading Jeremie's tower scanning display. It just looked like a bunch of complicated numbers and flashing 3-D shapes to the untrained eye. How on Earth was someone supposed to get any useful info out of that thing? Leave it to Aelita to be the first one to see what Jeremie was trying to point out.

"There it is! It flashed by quickly, but I saw it!"

When it came to solving problems, there were two ways to go about finding the solution. Solution A involved the person painstakingly analyzing their situation and through clever thinking and trial and error an answer would eventually be found. Solution B was a whole lot more simplistic. It just involved the person opening their big mouths and having the answer explained to them by someone who did know what was going on.

Odd choose Solution B.

"What the heck is she talking about Jeremie?"

"XANA's has activated another..."

Instantly, the alarm bells began to sound of in the boy's head.

"He has!? Why are we sitting around here doing nothing then?"

"You didn't let me finish." Jeremie hastily replied. "The reason why we're not doing anything now is because it was just deactivated."

"Eh?"

Aelita tried her best to explain what was going on as she was beginning to notice what Jeremie had discovered right from the beginning.

"It's strange, right after XANA activates a tower, he deactivates it. It's almost as if he's unsure if he wants to attack us or not. Jeremie, how long has this been going on?"

"As of right now, thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes?" Ulrich repeated with a hint of worry in his voice. "What is XANA planning?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. As for now, all we can do is watch and see where this take us."

Odd stretched his arms over his head and let out a rather impressive sounding yawn

"If that's the case there's no use for me and Ulrich to stay here as we'd just end up getting in your way. We'll be heading back to our room now. Call us if anything new pops up."

The two less technically-inclined members of the team excused themselves from the dorm just in time to see Jim approach them carrying a rather heavy box.

Arthur's eyes lazily wandered around the hallways of the dormitory building while watching Jim trudge in front of him through his peripheral vision. Really, this whole place was nothing to write home about as it looked a lot more exciting in the brochures. Oh well, no big whoop. Eventually the sound of Jim's footsteps and constant scraping coming from the luggage's wheels grew tiresome to hear. Perhaps a starting a conversation would spice things up for the better.

"So, what sort of special rules do you have in store for those who actually board here?"

"After hours you're not allowed to be on the girls' floor of the building and have to be in your room. It goes to say failure to do so will result in strict disciplinary action."

"A curfew. Oh goodie." Arthur said in a voice lacking any sort of sarcastic edge.

"Don't even think about sneaking out late. I don't want another troublemaker to deal with."

"Another troublemaker?"

A third voice entered the conversation. One that sounded more youthful and had a bit of a humorous bite to it. Judging by the nature of the greeting, an above-average level of familiarity existed between them.

"Hey Jim, having fun lifting furniture? Did Mr. Delmas decide that it was a whole lot easier for you to lug stuff around as opposed to hiring teamsters to do the deed for him?"

"Yeah, yeah laugh it all up. If you must know, I'm helping our latest student move in."

"Whoa, we got a newcomer?"

The boy in question was obscured by the larger man and stepped to the side so that he could be seen. Instantly he came face-to-face with a boy whose hairstyle added a good extra foot to his height.

"Name's Arthur. Arthur Craven Carter."

More students came into view, drawn to the commotion like a moth to a flame. Two more boys showed up, one wearing an outfit with different shades of green and another wearing glasses. Finally there was the girl with pink hair. That final detail had the most impact on Arthur, clearly that wasn't something he saw every day. He wondered if she and the purple loudmouth were affiliated with each other on account of their unnatural hair colors.

The student in green walked right up to the one with the crazy hair and gave him a light jab to his shoulder.

"Geez Odd, not even five steps away from Jeremie's room and already you're causing trouble with Jim."

"So Odd's your name huh? How fitting."

"That's right Arthur. Just don't be cracking any bad puns about it. I've had enough of those to last me a lifetime."

"What about your friends?"

He smiled at the request."Well the guy in green over here is my roommate Ulrich."

Ulrich kept quiet but nodded slowly as to acknowledge his introduction.

"And those two behind me go by the names of Jeremie and Aelita."

The redhead gave off an indifferent shrug shortly before Jim's arms gave out and forced him to drop the box he was holding, Even though it fell from a short distance, it still made an impressive thud when it collided with the floor.

"Gee, what are you making Jim carry? Your rock collection?"

"Something much more valuable, my personal computer."

The PE teacher groaned in disbelief once he heard about what sort of cargo he was holding. Arthur better not be one of those people who stays in their rooms all day. He had enough problems with the one social recluse had currently ad. Thinking of Jeremie instantly reminded Jim about a specific issue between him and the new student.

"Oh yeah Jeremie about you and Arthur..."

Jeremie's eyes widened with fear as there were telltale signs of what was in store for him. The accumulation of luggage near his door and the hasty introduction all pointed to one thing, Arthur was going to be his roommate! This was bad, real bad. If he wished to continue to work on his Lyoko projects then he would have to either tell the guy their group's secret or work covertly and try not to arouse any suspicion. Neither of these things he was looking forward to.

"Whatever you and your little secret group is planning, I hope you don't drag this guy into it. I'm having a hard time keeping the five of you in check. Add a sixth person to your bunch and I swear I might have a heard attack."

That comment was something Jeremie did not except.

"Wait, he's not rooming with me?"

"I wish. No his room is at the far end of the hall. I think we've spent enough time chatting but we really gotta go."

Aelita watched the exiting pair leave with passing interest. She felt bad the new student would be leaving the group's presence without a friendly word directed toward him.

"It was nice talking to you Arthur."

He didn't look back and instead raise his arm to let her know that her comments were heard. A yawn escaped his mouth and he was already thinking about his first day of class. Still his thoughts lingered backed to the interesting group of people he just met.

"Man, what a bunch," he muttered softly.

"Hi there folks, my name is Arthur Craven Carter nice to meet you all."

With that one sentence said, Arthur returned to his seat. If there was one thing he believed in when it came to classroom introductions it was to keep them short and sweet. Don't try to make them all flashy by saying corny stuff like"At your service"; you'd just end up looking like a moron. No one really gave a darn about what he said nor did such a notion mattered to him anyway. As long as he could coast through the rest of the school year then everything would be just fine. The other students looked preoccupied with their work to care about their latest entry, the girls especially. A good portion of them were looking at that brown haired kid he saw in the hallway yesterday. He remember being told his name, but was not exactly sure on what it was. Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually.

Mrs. Hertz approached the blackboard.

"Alright everyone, for today's class will be working on the mathematical problems found on pages one-forty and one-forty one. As for you Mr. Carter, I've already talked to your science teacher regarding your work in your previous school and she told me that you're more than capable of handling this lesson."

The teacher gave her class an encouraging nod which signaled them to take out their textbooks and start working. Arthur followed suit with his usual relaxed flair as there was no urgent need to finish. Even though he theorized that he wasn't going to be pushing himself, he still got into his optimum posture for studying; left arm propped up by the elbow, chin rested against the palm. Three questions were answered before Arthur's eyes began to wander. Off to his side he saw the boy in the green outfit in a similar pose who's actions were motivated by frustration as opposed to boredom. This would be the perfect opportunity for Arthur to start making friends. He was already introduced to that guy's group so it wasn't like he was a complete stranger. His mind was made up and now action was going to be taken. Her approached the boy's desk.

"Hey, aren't you Odd's friend?"

He was unfazed by the interruption and turned to face the newcomer.

"Yes I am. The name's Ulrich."

Finally he remember his name. Now Arthur could stop calling him "That kid in the green."

"I noticed that it looked liked you needed help with the assignment. Maybe I could help?"

Ulrich decided to humor him and calmly pointed at the problem that was the cause of his grief which was located in the advanced section of the page. The small confident grin that Arthur had quickly disappeared to his neutral expression as he realized that finding the answer was not going to be easy.

"Pretty hard isn't it?" Ulrich said with a sly smile. Even though he wasn't closer to solving the question at least he found someone who shared in his misery.

"I..."

Without warning Odd butted in on the mini study session wearing a huge smile on his face.

"Hey buddy, I know what the answer is."

Ulrich shot him a dour look as he sensed one of roommate's old jokes coming his way.

"Alright Odd, hit me with it."

"It's forty-two. Forty-two is the answer to everything man."

"I should have known you'd say that. Though next time I'd prefer you actually give me the correct answer once in a while."

Arthur could sense that his presence was unneeded and swiftly left the table as suddenly as he came. That little venture didn't go as smoothly as he planned but then again he couldn't really get a firm grasp on Ulrich's personality. Oh well, he did kind of rub off as being a dull person anyway.

Jeremie sat on the opposite side of the room carefully monitoring XANA's activities. With Aelita by his side the two teenagers kept a keen eye trained on the various pieces of data that were sent their way. Because of their excellent grades, Ms. Hertz gave the pair a bit more leeway when it came to what they did in class and the two used this unique opening to continue their observation gathering. XANA's constant shifting between achieving and deactivating towers remained the same ever since the team first noticed but now it seemed that the trend was about to shift.

"Look Aelita, ever since class started that tower has been activated since this morning."

"Do you think XANA has already launched an attack then?"

"It's hard to say as I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary but you can never tell with these sort of things."

The fact that someone like Jeremie had no idea what XANA was planning deeply troubled the pink haired girl. Who knows, in some remote part of the city, innocent lives could be suffering due to their ignorance.

"This may sound crazy, but I want to go to Lyoko and see this for myself."

Choosing to head toward the factory while in the middle of class was not Aelita's style which meant that this was something she really was determined to do.

"Fine we'll go together but I'm not going to let you go there without backup. I'll let the guys know what's going on and we'll make our escape. Once we're near the factory we'll call Yumi so she can help as well. You can never be too careful."

Jeremie pushed his chair backwards and made his way to the same spot that Arthur vacated just moments ago to tell his friends his plan.

It turned out that this particular math problem was something he was familiar with and he just needed to reread the question in order to fully understand what was being asked of. After careful checking and re-checking Ulrich was astounded by the answer he got. Low and behold, Odd was right. The answer indeed was forty-two.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you were actually correct."

The wisecracking roommate looked at his friend with a smug smile that just screamed "I told you so" but could not celebrate this small victory on account of Jeremie appearing right in front of him.

"Aelita wants to investigate the tower XANA has just activated so we'll be heading to the factory."

"Whoa!" Odd exclaimed, earning a few harsh shushes from those listening."Princess wants to go to the factory right now?"

"That's what she wants."

"Well in that case count us in. Who's going to come up with the excuse this time."

"Leave it to me."

Jeremie's had shoot straight up and caught the attention of his teacher.

"Ms. Hertz, I feel a bit ill. Can I go to the infirmary? It could be something I ate."

She didn't question the young genius' request as she was more concerned about him getting proper medical care before his symptoms worsen.

"Go ahead, I hope its not anything serious."

Before a student was assigned to take him there, Aelita stood up from her seat.

"I'll take him Ms. Hertz. I don't think I feel to well either."

Odd and Ulrich joined in soon after.

"We feel a bit under the weather ourselves."

Ms. Hertz had no time to object to what was going on as the four teens had already exited the classroom. Perhaps she should suggest to Mr. Delmas that the school push forward its annual check-ups this year on account of what just happened.

Arthur had to blink a few times after witnessing that tiny spectacle. Seeing that entire group leave for the nurse's office made him appreciate all the preparations he took before his enrollment in his last boarding school.

"Looks like there's a bit of a but going around. Good thing I got all of my shots before I came here. Those folks need to take better care of themselves."

Yumi lead the charge through XANA's ranks as they dashed deeper into the Ice Region. Remnants of their fallen victims littered their war path and served as a reminder on how truly unstoppable this team really was. One Block was foolish enough to try to disable the front line with a well-placed freeze beam and began to charge its powerful attack.

The Japanese girl was able to spot such a poorly-executed maneuver and readied her twin fans.

"HI-YA!"

Each fan was thrown with deadly accuracy and cut through the Block easily slicing it in two in an attack that knew no hesitation and remorse. Ulrich increased his pace so that he could take point in order to give Yumi a quick breather.

"How much farther till we reach the tower?" He asked while skillfully deflecting the laser fire coming his way and eliminating the shooters in the process.

"Not to long, according to the holomap you should be real close."

"I see it!"

The exact details and the possible damages of this XANA attack were unknown but hat no longer mattered. Just as long as the tower was deactivated then everything will sort itself out in the end.

Aelita approached the glowing red structure and pressed her hand against it, ready to phase through its solid walls. Her eyes closed but something in the pit of her stomach forced them wide open. The evil foreboding that once surrounded he tower disappeared and dispelled the tension that once had hold on Lyoko. She could no longer feel XANA's presence.

"He did it again!"

The tower was brought back to its original state and the monsters had been pulled away. Lyoko looked undisturbed as if the great battle that just took place there was just a figment of the imagination.

Odd slammed his gloved hands against an ice boulder. He could appreciate a good joke now and then but when the same tired punch line is repeated over and over; it starts to feel tedious.

"This has got to be the most irritating game of ding-dong ditched I've ever experienced!"

Even the normally level-headed Yumi was experiencing feelings of aggravation toward the futility of their efforts.

"XANA is employing psychological tactics to get to us and as of right now they're working."

Ulrich sheath his sword and stared at the tower blankly. He was completely clueless of the nature of XANA's actions. Perhaps Jeremie had figured something out.

"I'm still confused on why XANA is doing all of this. Isn't this all just a big waste of time for him."

"You're right Ulrich, it is a waste of time, and that's exactly what XANA wants us to think."

He remained silent as he knew Jeremie would soon be providing a more detailed explanation.

"Odd said it the best when he called this a game of ding-dong ditch. By constantly setting off the scanner alarm but not doing anything dangerous to force us to Lyoko, XANA is hoping that we would start ignoring these notices."

"Wait, you mean how like the school won't call the fire department if they know that the alarm being pulled is part of some childish prank."

"Exactly! That's where the dangers of XANA's plan lie. The minute we get lazy and leave him alone, that's when we're at our weakest."

"How can we win?" Aelita asked. "We can't leave in the middle of class all the time. People will start to get suspicious."

"Then I'll just have to whip up something to counter this. I got a few ideas in my head that I want to try out. In the meantime, everyone else should head back to Kadic. I'll call you as soon as I straighten this mess out."

A collective sigh was had by the virtual warriors. They could breath a bit easier for now but they couldn't let their guards down just yet.

He wasn't going to get a lot of sleep tonight. Arthur had underestimated his homework's difficulty and it was going to take him hours to complete it. Still he survived his first class which was a small achievement in itself.

Patiently he waited outside of his Algebra class as he made sure to come early as not to be late. Although his grades really weren't anything spectacular, no one could scoff at his attendance record. Aelita, Odd and Ulrich came back from the infirmary shortly after. They were just about to go inside when Aelita's cell phone rang. The conversation wasn't very long but judging by her facial expression she heard something really important. The guys must have understood this as they looked equally as serious and immediately they turned away and walked off to some undisclosed location.

Arthur's wasn't really alarmed by such delinquency but he didn't like the aspect of those four missing class again. Maybe they just were unaware of the time.

"I wonder where those three are going?" He vocalized his thoughts. Apprehensively he began to follow their trail but quickly double-backed once he realized what he was doing. "Shoot, I'm going to be late if I did that. Oh well, jokes on them."

Three more classes would pass by before everyone was dismissed for lunch giving the students time to fill their stomachs and rest their bodies. Arthur wasted no time getting to the cafeteria as he was quiet curious on how good the food tasted here. Grabbing his tray he made his way to the side dishes and was happy to see that this school served a wide variety of vegetables. Aside from his perfect attendance record, another aspect that Arthur prided himself on was his healthy diet. He wasn't exactly a huge health nut but he did care about his body enough so that he made sure not to overload it with fatty foods.

The lunch lady was a large woman with gray hair who felt the need to comment on the new student's choice of food.

"Wow, you're actually eating the Brussel Sprouts. I only know one other person who eats those."

What she just said intrigued Arthur. Maybe this health cautious person was still here.

"Oh really? Who would that be."

"Jeremie Belpois, he's actually sitting at that table right over there."

Just as the lunch lady said Jeremie was eating the food in question along with the rest of his classmates, including an Asian girl in all black that Arthur had never seen before.

"I'm curious, did he eat these for breakfast as well."

"Yep."

Arthur gulped out of fear as he remembered how Jeremie and three other of his classmates were rendered ill in his first class. Wisely he distanced himself from the food.

"Ummmmm, maybe some other time."

He ate his food in silence. It didn't bother him that he ate alone, having someone to talk to would just be a distraction. With his stomach full of food, Arthur made his way to the exit which resulted him passing by Jeremie's group of friends. It was kind of funny, everyone in that bunch stuck to wearing a single color: green, blue, pink, black and purple. Heck, all they were missing was someone wearing red and they could be the French Power Ranges.

Now that was a funny joke that deserved a small chuckle. By the time he was finished laughing, another boy wearing mostly red and a pair of jeans that were just too-tight for any man walked up to the Asian girl from out of nowhere. Judging by his constant attempts in getting close to her, one could easily tell that he was trying to flirt with this mysterious woman.

Arthur shook his head at the sight. They were indeed a strange bunch. He walked out into the courtyard and claimed himself a bench so that he could get a head start on his English reading. It was a nice day outside, the kind of day that creates numerous photo opportunities to take and put on the back of sappy post cards. The spot he picked was in a secluded area near the forest that was away from the normal foot traffic Kadic was accustomed. If someone wanted to bother him then they would really have to go out of their way to do so.

And what do you know, somebody did manage to bother him, a whole lot of them. Such a peaceful and tranquil moment under the sun was spoiled by the likes of Jeremie's group of friends, or as Arthur now called them, "The French Power Rangers", who just happen to walk by his bench and into the forest.

That's strange, no one else even bother going through the woods except those five. Last time he checked the only back there was a bunch of trees and rocks. Of course he was curious on what those five were so intrigued about and once again the urge to tail them took hold of his body but not for long. Instead Arthur sat back down and opened his book to resume his reading. Sneaking around the forest just took too much effort to do. Besides, it's not like he was going to see anything cool if he did go with this plan. It would be a colossal waste of time.

"Are you telling me that after all those alerts, XANA has only really activated one, one tower?"

Shocked expressions were abounded after this latest discovery that Jeremie had made. The first conclusions that they drew up earlier were thrown out the window as this whole plot's level of complexity just deepened. The playing field had been changed and pieces shuffled shifting the game back to the beginning, forcing the players to alter their strategy.

The urge to explain everything using computer terminology was high but if this impulses was to be acted on, no good would come of it. To keep things simple, a familiar analogy was brought into the spotlight to clarify what had just happened.

"Remember how Odd said that XANA was playing ding-dong ditch? Well instead of XANA always pressing the doorbell and waiting for us to come rushing to the door, he just messed with the doorbell itself so that it was always ringing."

Reusing that example to illustrate their enemy's mind set was a great idea. The rest of the group understood the new conclusion quiet easily. As proof of this, Yumi was able to see the distinct parallels that Jeremie was trying to draw.

"XANA wasn't controlling the towers but the super computer's program to detect them."

"With that program under his control he can literally have us enter Lyoko on his terms. He could lead us into an ambush or lure us away from the school and attack then when it's unprotected."

Jeremie pushed up his glasses with his fingers which caused them to reflect the room's light giving him an aura of intellectual sophistication.

"Until I've bypassed this compromise we can not rely on just the alerts alone."

As if to test this new theory, the computer's buzzer's were alive with activity as to warn the presence of an activated tower. Slowly Ulrich walked to the elevator, an action with drew everyone's attention toward him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

He dug his hands into the pit o his pockets and gave them a calm look.

"Well Jeremie said that we couldn't rely on the alerts at this moment so it couldn't hurt to check it out ourselves. It is our lunch break after all."

The computer wizard carefully analyzed the holomap for any sighs of trouble.

"There does seem to be an usually high concentration of monsters in that area. Everyone head to the scanner room and prepare to be virtualized."

The warriors entered the elevator in a moment's noticed and desended to the factory's lower depths as they would enter battle a second time.

Time flew for Arthur as he sat peacefully underneath the tree's shade in the back of the courtyard. A relaxing day out in the sun was just what the doctor ordered. No distractions, no worries, the world was at ease and so was he.

That was until the guy in the tight jeans showed up. Contrary to what he first though, that person was not a member of the French Power Rangers and looked more like some sort of creepy stalker. It appeared that he was about to stomp into the forest but decided to make a quick detour toward Arthur's bench as if to eliminate a pest. The person's ill intent was so great, that it just radiated into the atmosphere and put the new student in a state of unease. The book lowered and eyes met and two of Kadic's newest charges were staring each other with a feeling of dread hanging over their heads.

"Do you have a question?" Arthur asked for he did not know what he was going on. What made things even worse for him were the weird contacts the aggressor was wearing. Some sort of weird eye in a bunch of rings with blunt ends sticking out. It must have cost his family a pretty penny to get customized contacts like those; they were even glowing for crying out loud.

No further words were exchanged. Before a violent confrontation could occur, the boy in red's stare glazed over and he collapsed into the ground in a tired heap. Arthur looked at the motionless body with a raised eyebrow and an uneasy grin. Scanning his memory for answers, he came up with the best conclusion that he could given the previous bits of info he had received.

"He must have had the Brussel Sprouts for lunch. Someone should have warned him how dangerous those things are."

The first day of school was finally finished and Arthur had loads of homework to get to. Textbooks and miscellaneous worksheets littered his desk. That was the drawback of transferring into a school mid-semester, you get the full workload and half the time to get used to the class. It was night time and curfew had long since passed

His computer was the first thing that was unpacked. Clothes, furnishings, those things could wait. Getting that pivotal piece of technology out of the box and running was the number one priority. Its mechanical hum was quiet satisfying to hear for now it was prepared to follow it's owner's instructions. Already it began opening the series of programs and files that it was instructed to do while Arthur began aimlessly flipping through his science textbook.

The room's stillness permitted even the most quiet of sounds to be heard. One of those sounds being a set of footsteps that paraded in front of his door, Curiosity took over and he cracked opened the wooden barrier to see what was going on.

Outside, Odd was resting on one knee tying his shoelace as it became undone for some unknown reason.

"Man, that XANA attack was something else. He really rushed us down with all those monsters" He said while standing up.

Ulrich was outside too but did not sound as amazed as his roommate.

"We'll talk about that later, we should get back to our room before we get caught."

"Fine, we'll do this your way."

The tiny crack that was used to spy on the pair quickly sealed itself leaving Arthur to ponder the implied meaning of the conversation he just happened to hear.

"XANA? Attack?"

Those words stuck out the most in his memory. Alone they meant nothing but did paint a vague outline of a more intricate plot going on behind the scenes. Two pieces part of a larger puzzle which had the French Power Rangers smack dab in all of it all.

Further investigation in the matter was needed but there something even more pressing to resolve. Something that his computer was more than willing to remind him of.

"Nuclear launch detected." A robotic voice of an NPC called out.

"Oh shoot Terran Ghosts!" Arthur said while he rushed to his keyboard. He wasn't going to lose this online battle so easily and cursed at himself for falling for such an elementary trick.

"Twice in two days? XANA really does not know the importance of taking a break." Yumi quipped.

She was currently on her cell phone so that could remain in constant contact with Jeremie. It was important to know all specifics of a given situation so that one could truly understand the risks.

"So what could happen if we let those particular computers fall under his control."

Each consequence was listed in order from least sever to most which caused the Japanese girl's heart to quicken. No longer could she listen patiently to the growing possibility of horrors for two words entered her hear that broke her cool exterior.

"A nuclear missel!"

That exclamation was well heard by her friends who were bringing up the rear. Odd and Ulrich both looked at each other and nodded in agreement to what just happened. They would do their best to stop XANA in his tracks or else countless lives would be lost.

However someone else heard those words as well. Another person sitting on a park bench reading to himself during his lunch break. He closed the book and rose to his feet for the time for he had found the answer he was looking for.

It was time for Arthur Craven Carter to uncover the truth and the only way he was going to do so was if he confronted those five personally.

Jeremie paced uneasily in front of the vacant cafeteria. The day he feared the most had finally dawned on him.

Someone on the outside knew about Lyoko.

When he had returned to his room after class, he found a note that was slide underneath his door with the words "I know" scribbled on the front. The back had detailed instructions on the place and time to meet this particular person. Ironically this little sleuth had the common decency to sign his name at the bottom.

"I can't believe we let that new kid spy on us!"

Stress overcame the blonde easily. Indeed these were troubling times for their circle of friends but Aelita refused to give into despair. Still held hope that the situation could be salvaged and came to support Jeremie during his hour of need.

"We'll get through this."

Their hands were held close in a moment that was all too short for the others had shown up as promised. Normally such a tender moment would fall under humorous scrutiny but there were more pressing issues to tend to.

Ulrich spoke first.

"You think this is all some sort of sick prank?"

Jeremie shook his head. "I highly doubt it. For the past two days we've been acting quiet strangely and it's a wonder that only one person has noticed us."

"Then what should we do."

"May I make a suggestion?" Yumi asked. Her face showed that she had spent quiet some time thinking about this ordeal. "Let's just listen to what this person has to say and take it from there."

"I believe that's the only thing we can do at this moment."

True to his punctual nature, Arthur had arrived at the meeting place right on time.

"Ah, glad to see that you all came early."

Five cold stares came his way. If he didn't want to aggravate these people anymore then he should explain himself.

"Fine, you don't have to talk. Just listen then." He cleared his throat as he had a lot to say. "Ever since I came to this school, I've noticed a lot of strange things about you five: leaving class to go to the infirmary in droves, skipping lectures multiple times, breaking curfew and strange visits to the forest."

Even during such a tense standoff, Arthur's laid-back demeanor had not abandoned him. The conclusion was presented not with a steely stare but with a wry grin. His legs subconsciously started moving causing him to pace back and forth before finally coming to a stop right in front of Jeremie.

"After careful observation of your antics and lots of thinking on my part, I can confidently say this; I'm worried about your education here."

Those five cold stares aimed his way contorted into expressions of bewilderment. Arthur took this shift as evidence that he was on the right track which could not be further from the truth.

"Now I know that I have no business in getting involved in your personal affairs but as a fellow Starcraft player I gotta say something."

"Starcraft?" Odd interrupted.

"You're not very good at hiding your fandom. Obviously you play that game online against some dude who's user name is XANA."

This person's deductive reasoning was so misguided. Good thing he had no dreams of entering law enforcement or else they police wold never solve any cases with his "help." The Lyoko Group played along with the charade as to appease the hapless sleuth.

"How on Earth did you figure that we love to play that game?" Odd asked, resisiting the urge to bust out laughing.

"It was easy, I heard you lady friend talking about nuclear missiles when you were running to the forest so you were obviously talking about game tactics. I don't need to be telling veteran players like yourselves that the Terran race has a unit called the Ghost which has the ability to call nuclear strikes that can heavily damage a player's base in seconds."

"Man, no secret is safe with you around!"

Arthur raised both his hands in front of him as to dismiss the compliment. He wasn't done just yet.

"But I'm not here to talk about computer games. Like I said before I worry about you five. I know school can be hard at times, but that doesn't mean you should start acting like delinquents because of it. Your parents payed top dollar to send you here and you're ignoring their wishes."

He was on a roll now and had one last qualm to get out of the way before he would be finished.

"Like you Aelita. Your pink hair clearly shows your rebellious nature. What would happen if your mom saw you like this? I bet she would feel crushed by the sight of her daughter getting rid of her natural hair color. Are you ashamed of how you look? Is that it? Well let me tell you something, you should take pride that you look like your parents and you don't have to be messing with dyes to distance yourself from them."

There was one last bit he wanted to say and he returned to the place he originally stood so that he could give everyone he was talking to a good look.

"Here it is, in black and white. You can't go on acting like this. If you got problems you're dealing with, you should tell someone. Now I'm not saying that someone should be me but you really gotta start fixing some of these bad habits or else some people might look at you like you're a bunch of weirdos. Is it some sort of secret club? A weird religious cult? Do you go out in the woods and pretend you're saving the world Bridge to Terabithia style? I don't care, just don't let that stuff affect your performance here. Fortunately for you guys I can keep a secret so do you don't have to worry about me telling the rumor mill about these weird little games you play or snitching to the teachers."

"Ummm...thanks," was all that Jeremie could say.

"Don't mention it. Oh yeah, since I'm giving out advice right now, I got one last thing to say."

"And that would be?"

"Don't eat the Brussel Sprouts here. They made you sick once and caused that one dude with weird contacts to pass out."

Arthur walked away from the conversation with a satisfied smile on his face. That sure felt good doing such a noble deed. It was up to them if they want to turn their lives around but someone had to say something.

"Man I'm good," he said to himself as he walked back to his dorm.

That had to be the single most awkward conversation the Lyoko Group had ever heard and all they could do was just stand there and look dumbfounded by how wrong Arthur really was. A slight nudge was felt on Jeremie shoulder which came from Ulrich who wanted to tell him something.

"You think we should use a Return to the Past just to be safe?"

"We don't need to. Letting him think he's right is the safest choice we could make."

The sun set on Kadic and the team returned to their living quarters as they had avoided two major problems in one day.

END

Words from the Author

This story was brought to you as a request from a friend of mine online who was tired of your typical CL story that had an ACC in it that joined the team. We worked on the outline together in which she was responsible for coming up with the general story where I just fleshed things out for the sake of clarity. I wrote this story as a critique on all the ACCs out there in the CL fandom, mine included. It always seems like these fics follow the same outline which is...

1. New student is introduced to class

2. New student sees the team walk to the factory and then follows them.

3. New student helps team out and becomes a certified member because of it.

With "Another Created Character" I wanted to address several cliches I've both seen and ended up using while at the same time portray what would happen if a new student really did come to Kadic mid-year.

When it came to making Arthur Craven Carter (ACC, get it?) I strove to make a sort of average joe character but I still wanted him to be fascinating to read. With that objective I gave him a few personality quirks such as his refusal to be tardy and how he watches what he eats. I always try my best to make unique characters that compliment the Lyoko fandom and I'm crossing my fingers and wishing that Arthur is just as successful as my other ACCs. I hope you all had a good laugh out of this as I did putting this thing together. Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you wish.

Thanks.