The Seventh Lyoko Warrior

Part XIX: Paw-Paw

The school was lively with the sound of Christmas music playing. A blanket of fresh snow showered down on the casing, making this a white Christmas. Kids ran outside to play in the snow, but Jim directed them inside quickly. Everyone was eager for Christmas Vacation. At the end of the day, the school will be empty as every kid goes home for Christmas vacation. All except for one kid.

Michael sat on the floor inside his room wrapping presents for his friends. He didn't have much money, but he managed to get what his friends liked. As he sat there, he noticed a small bronze pocket watch on top of his bed. He reached over and barely managed to grab it, but he picked it up and held it close to his chest. He opened it up and stared at the picture of him when he was little and his grandpa in the front cover of the watch.

"You knew I loved this watch," said Michael to himself. A feint smile appeared in his lips as he closed it and set it aside.

A quiet knock came at the door as a feint voice talked through the door.

"Is it okay to come in?" a girl's voice asked. Michael recognized that it was Aelita. Michael looked at the gifts he didn't wrap and realized that he already wrapped her gift.

"Sure, give me a second," said Michael, finishing Jeremy's present. All that was left was Ulrich's, which wouldn't take long. He picked up the presents he wrapped and gracefully put them in his closet. "You can come in now."

The door opened as Aelita walked inside with a large wrapped present in her hands. She glanced down at Ulrich's present before she looked back at him and smiled.

"I know it's a few days before Christmas but we all wanted to give this to you now," said Aelita, handing the present over to Michael. "We all chipped in to get you this, I hope it's okay."

Michael held the present in his hands, curious to know why they wanted to give it to him now.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked.

"They're at the factory," she said, reaching into her purse. "I know you probably have plans, but I hope you'll be able to go to the Christmas Eve concert." She pulled out an extra ticket and a piece of paper with an address written on it and handed it to him. "You probably don't know but I'm the DJ for the Subdigitals. I gave them extra tickets but I had an extra one. So I figured I'd give it to you if you wanted it.

Michael took the ticket and address and looked at Aelita.

"Thank you Aelita," he said, setting the ticket and address on his bed. He looked at the present and started unwrapping it. It was a dark red long sleeved hooded Old Navy jacket. He sat the paper down and quickly put the jacket on; it fit him perfectly. "It's great, thank you so much." He rushed towards her and immediately threw his arms around her to hug her.

But then he remembered Aelita's present in his closet. He let go of her and made his way over to the closet. He pulled out a long box and handed it to her.

"Back home I used to take a few knitting classes every week with Mrs. Birchstone," he said. "I'm not that good at it but I thought I'd make you guy's gifts as my way of saying thanks."

She pulled off the wrapping paper. As she pulled the paper off, she was shocked by the sight of a beautiful handmade light pink scarf. As she took it outta the box, she quickly noticed a few tiny holes and a few loose threads. But she didn't say anything about it she just smiled tried it on. It was a tad big, but she smiled because she actually liked it.

"Thanks Michael I love it," she said.

"I know it's got a few holes in it but I wanted to make something because I really appreciate that you guys let me into the group," he said. finishing wrapping the last present. "So where are you spending your Christmas?" For a second, Aelita was confused by what he meant. But then she remembered that he already knows everything about her father being trapped in Lyoko.

"I'm going to Jeremy's house," she said. "What about you?"

"I thought about going to my Mom's house to hang out with my sister," he said.

"I remember you saying that your mom moved to Japan," she said. But then she noticed the watch sitting on his bed. She picked it, opened it and starred at the picture of him and his grandfather.

He turned his head and quickly noticed that his pocket watch wasn't on his bed anymore. As he looked at Aelita, he jumped to his feet but didn't do anything. Instead he huffed and sat down on his bed. For a moment, Aelita started to think that she upset him. But he didn't seem angry, just sad.

"My grandpa gave that to me before he died," he said. Aelita handed him the watch, which he kindly took back. "I used to stare at it for hours, I really liked it. Then one day he sat me down in another room and handed it to me. He told me, "I'm not just giving you a watch; I'm giving you a memory. When you feel sad, this watch will remind you that I'll always love you. Even when I'm gone, I'll always be there to guide you."

"He must've been a good grandfather," she said, staring at the photo.

"When I was little, people used to pick on me," he said. "I was to young to understand. They'd say cruel things to me, throw dirt or whatever just because they thought it was right or something. Parents would give me a cold stare like I was the plague or something. But Paw-Paw, that's what I called him, always found the time to hang out with me. He never looked at me or even thought about talking to me like everyone else does. He did a lot for me, I remember one Christmas I asked dad for this little toy that I always wanted. I didn't even tell my Paw-Paw about it but somehow he knew. Christmas morning rolls up and I run downstairs to see that there were no Christmas presents from my dad anywhere. I'd open all my presents hoping for this one toy, but it wasn't in any one of them. I was really sad until Paw-Paw would say ouch and claim that he sat on something. I thought I left my jacks out on his chair by accident again. I walked over to his chair as he was standing up. I'd get there and there it was, a present with my name on it. I'd open it and there it was, the toy I wanted so always had a way of making me feel better. Nobody understood me better than he did."

Tears ran down his cheeks as he glanced over at the picture. Aelita handed him the picture. Aelita thought back to how he fought off William, that was pretty amazing how he handled himself she thought.

"You said before that you're grandpa taught you how to fight right?" she asked. He nodded his head

"He used to fight in the army back in the day," he said. "I don't know much about it, but he was an exceptional fighter. But he was born in the countryside of Texas with four older brothers and plenty of pigs. I'd tell you all about it but we'll be here for days."

"How old were you when you learned how to fight?" she asked. Michael pressed his lips together and looked around as he tried to remember.

"About eight years old," he said. But then he looked down at the pocket watch and a tear ran down his cheek. "I'm sorry; I'd rather not talk about it."

He stood up and walked towards the window. He opened it and breathed in the cold air. A breeze blew in, causing Aelita to shiver. But he noticed her shiver through the window's reflection and quickly closed it. He walked back over to his bed and sat down.

"I'm gonna get going," she said, walking towards the door.

Michael stood and walked with her towards the door. She was in between the doorjamb when he grabbed the edge of the door. She stopped and looked back at him, wondering if he was gonna tell her anything.

"My grandpa taught me how to fight because of something that happened, something bad," he said. "A couple of guys jumped me and beat the crap outta me. Since then he taught me how to protect myself in case something like that happens again." Aelita turned to face him with a worried look in her eyes.

"You should talk about it," she said, reaching out to grab his hand. "I'd be better if you'd talk about your past." She touched his hand but then he quickly pulled away.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," he said, slowly closing the door. But he stopped and held the door only a few inches open. "I promise I'll tell you guys, but I'm just afraid you'll think of me….differently."

"You're our friend," she said. "Whatever it is, you're still our friend." He nodded his head and smiled.

"Thanks, see you after Christmas break," he said.

"Have a wonderful Christmas," she wished him, walking away.

He closed and locked the door and walked over to his bed. He sat down on his bed and stared down at the floor. He held his left hand out and looked at it. Suddenly smoke started to leak out of the palm of his hand. But then, black flames appeared out of nowhere and hovered an inch above his hand. The flame wasn't that big, just about half a foot tall. They flickered and burned like normal like normal fire, but it didn't produce any light.

He looked up towards the window, revealing his bright red glowing red eyes. His pupils changed into cat pupils. He closed his hand, extinguishing the flame, stood up and walked towards the window. When he got to the window, he could see his reflection in the glass; he could see his eyes. He let out a sigh and stared out the window.

"I wish you were here Paw-Paw," he said to himself. "You'd know what to say to me. You never judged me, even though I have HIM inside me. I can feel his hatred every second, even inside his own flames. I'm afraid of telling them about HIM, HE'S a MONSTER. If you could, please…just give me a sign."

What he didn't know was that outside of his room, on the roof of a building a good distance away. A Shadowy man stood with binoculars up to his eyes, staring down at Michael's window. He lowered his binoculars and held them with his left hand. With his right, he reached inside his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He then proceeded to dial a number and put the phone up to his ear as it started ringing. Finally the ringing stopped as he heard someone breathing on the other end.

"Found it, standing by for further instructions," said the man.

"Keep eyes on it, we can't lose it again," said the man on the other end.

"Understood Mr. Valentine, I'll keep a close eye on it and await further instruction," he said, hanging up the phone. He looked through his binoculars towards Michael's room as the light went out. "We'll have the Monster soon."

Find out what happens next in Part XX: Christmas Special

I'm sorry for making a Christmas Special late, I've been under a case of writers block for the past few weeks but now I'm back. I hope this story is still good to everybody, please review if you can, it'd be nice to hear what you wonderful readers think.