I wanted to start by saying thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter that I had written. Hearing what people think and being informed of the fact that people are actually enjoying it, gives me the inspiration I need to have in order to write it. So, for all of my die-hard fans, here is the long awaited fifth chapter, and it is one of the longest chapters I have written for this story as well. (Yes, I measured it XD) Well, hope you enjoy. Here it is:

Chapter 5: Teen Pop Culture

Willow, her eyes cold and calculating, surveyed the cafeteria with a look of disgust. She hid it well, changing it instantly whenever anybody glanced her way. She'd been trained well, learned how to hide the signs, and knew how to notice everything. Not a single detail, no matter how small, was able to escape her notice. At least, that was her claim. It was one of the few things she believed to be true about herself. More than anything, however, this confidence was annoying her.

She was certain, based on the reactions that she'd managed to get, that something was indeed going on at Kadic Academy. Whether or not it had anything to do with why she was here, however, was frustratingly unclear. Besides Jim's reaction that morning, she hadn't found even the slightest hint that Father's suspicions were accurate. True, Jeremie Belpois was hardly the normal science teacher, but his lack of reaction when he saw her medallion still made her comfortable. He could simply have been good at hiding the shock, but she had no way to discover whether or not that was truly the case.

Willow's attention was drawn back to her current company, as she turned to look at her roommate, who was quietly humming one of Violet Griffin's many hits. Idiot! Willow thought with a role of her eyes. There is no way you are going to be able to keep yourself hidden for long if you keep this up! Vio was, to Willow, simply a reminder of why she hated humanity. The world was a heap of garbage, and everybody spent their lives attempting to scramble up it.

Different people were interested in different aspects of it, but at the end of the day, everybody was truly in it for himself and himself alone. Vio had left the glamour path through the junk and attempted to climb up a different path. In the end Vio would simply find that all of the paths led to the same useless trash, of this Willow was quite certain. The fact that Vio was trying to find a better way to climb the trash, hoping to find something else at the top, was pathetic. It was absolutely pathetic.

Her critique of her roommate ceased instantly as the door to the cafeteria quietly opened. Hearing the movement in the back of her mind, Willow quickly pushed it to the front, moving her critique into its place. As a result, she turned instinctively to the door to see who had just entered. Jeremie Belpois. He walked like somebody lost in thought and not truly aware of what he was doing. Note to Self: Jeremie Belpois is currently in auto-pilot. Then he sat down next to Kaiyo, who was sitting several tables away from Willow, and began talking to her.

Willow pushed all of her other observations slightly further back into her mind, so that she was still aware of everything just on a more subconscious level. She'd dig it out later and look over that stuff, while also being prepared in case something really unusual happened. Most of her energy, however, was directed towards listening to what Jeremie Belpois had to say.

When Jeremie walked into the kitchen, he truly hadn't been aware of what he was doing. His mind was being haunted by a vow he had made when he had been nothing more than a child. He'd told Jim that someday he would change the world, that he would make himself known as the second Einstein. He'd said that it certainly possible, considering the things he'd been able to do with Lyoko. With that kind of intelligence, the world could truly have been turned around. He'd been able to accept the change in his life goals to some extent, but the phone conversation he'd just had shook his convictions terribly.

Ulrich Stern had become some kind of crazy superhero, taking the skills he'd discovered on Lyoko and determining the best way to bring them to life in the real world. Odd had become some sort of doctor, and Jeremie was certain that there was no way it could be a doctorate's in medicine. Whatever it was in, if Odd was able to get that kind of degree in such a short period of time, he would have had to put heart and soul into it. It truly was an incredible accomplishment.

Then there was him, Jeremie Belpois, the one who everybody had declared destined for greatness. He was a science teacher lost in his glory days, wasting his life away remembering the way that life had once been. Sure, he attempted to start a new life, get a new girlfriend, and such things. However, he knew that it would never be enough, not really. He felt as if he'd outlived his usefulness, and destroyed his life with one selfish act he would never be able to change.

There was a moment of silence as; Kaiyo stared at Jeremie with unmistakable concern etched across her face, Willow made a mental note of the strange going-ons, and Jeremie simply sat silent. It stayed for several seconds. Then, out of nowhere, Jeremie declared, "I need to find Aelita." For a moment, both Willow and Kaiyo were caught off-guard. Willow instantly settled herself and cursed herself for the slip-up. Jeremie continued, "Aelita Stones, to be exact. She was a childhood friend of mine, and my first…" He trailed off as he looked at Kaiyo. "…friend."

Even saying the words felt like a declaration of doom. It had been a long time since he'd thought of her. Sure, he'd listed her amongst the friends he needed to find and while thinking about the past, but this was the first time his mind had targeted her specifically. The searing pain he'd experienced at the last words Aelita had said to him instantly returned. The empty hole that she'd left, and Kaiyo had worked quite hard to repair, ripped open again. Willow noticed this. Kaiyo did not, due to being quite distracted by what Jeremie had just said.

"Aelita…Stones?" Kaiyo repeated the words, rolling them over on her tongue. She wore a rather puzzled expression. "Are you talking about Aelita of the Stones?" Jeremie's facial reaction plainly said, 'huh?', as if he had no idea what in the world Kaiyo was talking about. Kaiyo chuckled to herself and said, "I guess that would be kinda crazy coincidence, huh?

Willow found herself absolutely puzzled. Who in the world was Jeremie Belpois? How in the world could he possibly not know who Aelita of the Stones was? Note to Self: Jeremie Belpois is very, very abnormal and uninformed about present day culture.

Jeremie Belpois continued by asking a question that few people in the world would ever have asked. "Who exactly is Aelita of the Stones?" Kaiyo's reaction was to roll her eyes. Jeremie couldn't help but frown at this. "Why in the world are you acting like this is something I should know?" he asked impatiently.

"Well, Aelita Schaeffer is…" Kaiyo began, but froze almost instantly. Jeremie's face had gone turned pale, and he was starting to sweat.

How in the world did Kaiyo know about Aelita? That was the first thought that entered Jeremie's head. However, it was only because he didn't want to think about the question that haunted him even more. Why in the world wasn't Aelita going by the name that they had given her anymore? The answer, however, seemed pretty clear to Jeremie. What it meant was that contacting Aelita was going to be much harder than he had originally imagined. There was no doubt that she had changed her name back to what it had originally been, in an attempt to forget about what had happened to her at Kadic Academy.

Dr. Strange… The Ninja Warrior… Aelita Schaeffer… Jeremie's eyes widened as an even more unsettling thought occurred to him. Everybody he had once known had changed their names, hiding the true ones. All of them, every single one, even good-natured Odd Della Robbia, was trying to forget. The whole reason he was now contacting them was to make sure they remembered. As such, once again, he was going to be the enemy.

"That's her," Jeremie said quietly. "When she lived with us, she went by the name Aelita Stones, but she'd always said that her original name had been Aelita Schaeffer." His eyes hardened and he turned to look Kaiyo in the eyes. "You were going to tell me what exactly the stones were, weren't you?"

Kaiyo's mouth opened and closed for a moment as no words came out. "So… Aelita Schaeffer's secret years were spent at Kadic Academy? And… you knew her… Wow." Jeremie's facial expression didn't change. "Oh… right," Kaiyo said with a slight grin. "The Stones are Aelita's vocal band. They came about after she left the Subdigitals and moved to Canada."

Jeremie's eyes widened as he remembered some of the last days of fighting XANA. The band had been impressed with Aelita's work and even allowed her to be on stage with them. He hadn't heard anything about it since, and had most definitely never been told that Aelita joined. He frowned quietly, deciding to ask Jim about it when next he got the chance. Then again, he frowned. He'd been trying so hard to forget her that Jim had probably been going out of his way not to let him know.

"Jer?" Kaiyo asked, recalling Jeremie back to the present. She was looking at him with raised eyes, rather bewildered. "You zoned out. I was trying to tell you that it is my favorite band, and that it is perhaps the most successful teen pop band currently in existence."

"She's in Canada?" Jeremie asked, with an odd expression on his face. The odd twist where they'd said she was originally from Canada, only to find out she actually had been still bothered Jeremie's logical mind. The fact that she had actually gone there seemed incredibly weird to him.

"Actually," Kaiyo said with a grin. "She isn't. For the first time since their creation, The Stones are going to be performing in Paris, France, and I have two tickets." She reached into her pocket and pulled them out. Yet another oddity hit Jeremie as he looked at the picture of Aelita that was printed on the tickets in front of him. One was that she had long silver hair, and the other was that she looked very Canadian.

Willow was watching silently all that was going on, taking down note after note in her head. The fact that Jeremie knew Aelita was nowhere near as strange as the fact that she had come from Kadic Academy. A small grin crossed her face as she sat there. This was actually good news. For the first time, a clue just might have been discovered. There could be many Aelita Schaeffers, of that much Father had also been certain. However, the fact that this Aelita Schaeffer had both knew Jeremie Belpois, and come from Kadic Academy, suddenly made her much more interesting.

Jeremie stared at the tickets in Kaiyo's hands quietly for a moment, as if attempting to make up his mind. Then he quickly pulled out his laptop, flipped it open, and started to type rapidly. Kaiyo looked bewildered, as Willow continued to her hardly noticeable smirk. "What are you doing?" Kaiyo asked, trying to peer around Jeremie to see the screen. In response, Jeremie said nothing.

Without a single word, Jeremie stood to his feet, swung his backpack onto his shoulders, and rushed out of the room, still typing onto his laptop. Kaiyo and Willow simply stared for a moment, before Kaiyo noticed Willow watching. A puzzled look crossed her face, and Willow quickly turned away, cursing herself for her stupidity and clumsiness.

Willow didn't look up from her food until Kaiyo had exited the cafeteria. Then Willow did her normal surveying of the room, once again becoming knowledgeable of everything going on around her, including the fact that at some point during all of spying her roommate had left the room. Glancing one last time at the door that Kaiyo had exited through, Willow made one last mental note. Note to Self: Be more careful! If Kaiyo sees you spying again, it could end badly.

The introduction of the Lyoko Warriors is now nearing completion. The mystery of Willow is growing deeper and deeper. Who is this girl, and what exactly is she after? More importantly for the moment, where is Jeremie going, and what is he doing? Please read, review, and let me know your thoughts and questions. I seriously hoped you enjoyed it.

Until next time, Xanatos Stones out.