Hello, everyone. This is my third story to involve Ricky Affeber. Now, we are getting into Season 2, and Hiroki has turned 9-years-old. It won't be long before he is enrolled at Kadic Academy for Season 3. XD Anyway, as always, I start by responding to reviews from the last chapter of my last story.

SamandMax0569 - Well, Ricky will be away for the entire day, so Jeremie is forced to take care of it by himself. Not much of a scardy-cat, is he? Anyway, the Lyoko warriors are now safe thanks to the combined efforts of Jeremie and Aelita. Now, they're free for this next story. XD

purplelover - Glad you like my stories. Here's another. Sorry, but it's just a one-shot.

IAmTheBoss - (makes an "I'm keeping my eye on you" motion with his fingers)

katfish xX - You didn't see it either? The episode is number24 and named "Ghost Channel". The end of "Little Park of Horrors" takes place during the beginning of that episode, and the events are pretty much the same from the end of my story on.

Mewberries - XD Thanks. You saying my plotline was clever of X.A.N.A.'s method of madness was clever?

Birthday Bash

"How does it feel, 9-year-old?" asked the Japanese boy's best friend.

"Great!" replied Hiroki. "I can't wait for tonight's party at the mall's McRonalds!"

Hiroki Ishiyama and Ricky Affeber, little brother and cousin, respectively, of Yumi Ishiyama and Ulrich Stern, sat in the former's living room early in the morning. They were discussing Hiroki's birthday party that day. "I passed out all the invites, even the ones to Cousin and his friends," said Ricky.

"Good, 'cause I'm interested in getting to know this Aelita Stones girl," replied Hiroki. He then added with a grin, "Did computer guy really flip for her?"

"The full 360 degrees!" his friend grinned. "And, from I've seen, I'm sure Aeleetie likes him the same way back!"

Hiroki looked at the clock. "Well, we better be getting to the bus stop now."

Ricky nodded and both left the house.

Today was, overall, just like any other day at Pasteur Elementary. While waiting for class to start, Andy Satcher and Mac Renoski were discussing the upcoming birthday party.

"This will be the first birthday party I've ever been invited to!" said the long-haired peculiar, little boy.

Andy frowned in concern and asked, "You've never been invited to a birthday party before?"

"No," responded Mac before adding stubbornly, "Everyone was just too jealous about my natural party animal instincts."

Rolling his eyes, Andy commented, "You are so full of yourself."

"Well, if I was full of anyone else, I'd be a cannibal!"

"Um, it's an expression."

"So, what do you think a McRonalds ice cream cake tastes like?" said Ricky, as the two boys made their way from the bus stop to the Ishiyama house.

"Um... like ice cream?" responded Hiroki in an obvious tone.

The boys laughed for a second or two, then Ricky said, "Seriously, though. Think they'll make it as good as they do their fries?"

Hiroki grinned and rubbed his tummy thinking about them. "Oh, those fries are good. Daddy can't have them, though, 'cause Mommy put him on a diet."

Soon, they reached their destination and walked into the front door. "But, tonight, we party at my favorite restaurant, McRonalds!"

Ricky grinned and said, "Well, I'll go and maybe check on my cousin. Again, happy birthday, Roki!"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't wear it out before the party." Both laughed as Ricky left.

After his American friend was gone, Hiroki thought to himself, Hmm... I wonder if Yumi replaced the lock on her diary yet?

With a mischievous grin, he went to check.

When Ricky was a block or so from the Ishiyama house, he pulled out his cell and dialed Andy.

"Hello, Ricky?"

"Hiya, Andy. How goes preparations?"

"Of, fine," he responded. "At this rate, Mac and I should be done by--cut it out, Mac! We're not here to mummify Donald McRonald--uh, Ricky, if you heard that, you'd do yourself a favor not to ask."

The other boy cocked and eyebrow. "Uh, OK. Well, see you tonight."

With that, he hung up.

Mac grumbled as he began tearing off the toilet paper on the McRonald statue. "You're no fun."

Clicking "end call" on his cell, Andy shook his head. "Why do I put up with you?"

"Cause you're a softie?"

"OK, you're probably right about that."

After checking in on Andy and Mac, the boy genius rang up his cousin, Ulrich. Well, he tried to, anyway. The phone company kept saying he couldn't be reached.

"Huh..." Ricky stared at his phone, a little confused. And then, he snapped his fingers as the answer came to him. "Oh, of course!"

Scrolling through his address list, he selected the number Jeremie had set up for the supercomputer. After one ring, he heard the computer answer his call. "Ricky, is that you? Hang on. Odd, beat it!" he heard Jeremie yell into the computer.

"Hey, what's happening on Lyoko?" asked Ricky.

"It's a little too hectic to talk right now; we'll tell you at the party." That said, Jeremie broke the phone connection.

Ricky shrugged, deciding he could wait until that evening.

"OK, when are you going to take your hands off my eyes?" That said evening, Ricky was escorting Hiroki to the McRonalds at the local mall for his party. The former walked behind the latter with his hands covering his eyes.

"We're almost there," he assured him.

"You know, if this is a surprise party, then it would be kind of pointless since I knew about it the entire time."

"Oh, there's still a surprise attached." When Ricky lifted his hands, Hiroki stared into the restaurant. The whole thing was decorated for his birthday! There was a theme for a few of his favorite video games--W-Men, Droid Brawl II, Ultimate Blaster, etc--and hanging up on the ceiling was a big sign reading, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HIROKI!"

The birthday boy stared around in slight awe. "Woah... love what you've done with the place," he said.

He found his parents at the counter, and his mother, said, "Tell them what you want to eat. We can start the party after dinner."

Her husband leaned up to her and whispered, "Really, Rinoka. Fast food?"

"Now, Takeo, Hiroki's birthday only comes once a year."

"I'll have a chicken singles joy meal and a Sgt. Pepper soft drink," Hiroki told the woman behind the counter.

"And, I'll have--" Mr. Ishiyama caught his wife's stern look and sighed. "...a salad."

Mrs. Ishiyama rolled her eyes. Hypocrite.

It wasn't long before dinner was coming to a close, and Ricky had met up with the Lyoko gang. They all talked about how they'd followed Aelita back to Lyoko and how the chase surprisingly took them to a mysterious, sphere-shaped fifth sector named Carthage.

"There were all these creepy things," an excited Odd told Ricky. "And, in the middle, was this... this jellyfish thing holding Aelita!"

He raised his eyebrows. "A jellyfish thing?" he asked. "What was it doing, stinging her?"

"Actually, no," said Ulrich. "It was stealing her memory!"

"No way!"

"Yeah. It seems X.A.N.A. wants something from Aelita. But, what?" Jeremie thought aloud. "That's what we have to find out."

"One things for sure," said Ricky. "You guys have got to check out that Carthage Region some more! And, whatever you find, tell me about it A-SAP!"

Ulrich chuckled and rubbed his hand in the younger boy's hair. "You got it, cuz. I can't wait to go back to the Fifth Sector. There's so much more to explore there."

"I'll go with you," chimed in Yumi. "It will be totally awesome."

For a moment, the two exchanged a knowing smile, and Ricky, having caught it, grinned at the sight.

But, Jeremie cut in on the moment, saying, "Woah, not so fast! I have to study it first. For now, it's uncharted territory, so it could be totally dangerous!"

"But, think of the possibilities!" the younger genius said excitedly. "From what I hear, the Carthage Region seems to be the center of Lyoko; that probably means it may have all sorts of things you can learn more about the virtual world by! You might even be able to find stuff to help you work on Aeleetie's anti-virus!"

Odd looked around. "Hey, where is the Lyoko princess, anyway?"

They looked out into the mall hallway and spotted Aelita standing alone next to a small palm tree and bench. Jeremie and the Lyoko warriors went over to her, as Jeremie asked, "Aelita, is something the matter?"

She looked up a little awkwardly, and asked, "You... you aren't mad at me for going back to Lyoko by myself, are you? I don't know what got into me, I just needed to--"

But Jeremie cut her off with a compassionate smile. "You don't have to explain, Aelita. We understand what happened, and we're not angry at all." Taking her hand, he vowed, "I promise to spend more time with you."

Odd piped up, promising, "And, if you want, I'll teach you plenty of ways to tell Sissi to go to--"

"ODD!" Speaking of the devil, Sissi Delmas emerged from a cosmetics store and spotted the group in the mall. "Do you know what your filthy mutt did in the shower?" Her eyes wandered to Aelita. "Oh, what a pretty picture. You finally found Mrs. Einstein!"

Odd's temper was beginning to rise as she spoke, and Ulrich shot, "Yeah, while you were taking your third shower of the day!"

The principal's girl brushed back her hair smugly and replied, "Well, you know, Ulrich dear, a pretty flower like me needs to be watered often."

Unable to take it anymore, Odd pointed a finger at her. "You--"

But, Aelita interrupted, telling her smartly, "Yes, you never know. You just might sprout a brain."

Taken aback by Aelita's unexpected response and the laughter that followed, Sissi walked away mumbling, "Morons."

Ulrich finished laughing to say, "I think you could give Odd lessons."

At that point, Ricky looked out and called to the gang, "Come on, guys! They're passing the cake around now!"

They walked back into the restaurant, their minds fixed toward the future of their Lyoko adventures.

CODE
END...

Yep. Tied it in with another episode. This time, it was "Unchartered Terretory". Sorry if my story writing wasn't at it's peak best for this story, but I just thought it would be kind of cute to write a little birthday story that takes place exactly at the same time as the aforementioned episode. Also, I couldn't think of any other name to give this story other than the spoiling "Unchartered Terretory" which would give away the subplot at the end, so I settled with the unimaginative "Birthday Bash". So, did the "Odd, beat it" line clue any of you in at all, or did you have to wait until the last scene to get the hint? XD

Anyway, next is a Halloween story, although it will be a little late, judging by how close October 31st is.