The Cyberchase Choronicles #4: Secrets Within

Summary:

The Winter Break is here for Alizia and Andy, and even for their parents, Matt and Inez. Along with the two siblings' godparents, Slider and Jackie. But a snow storm of an adventure brews as Hacker's back to his old tricks for the Christmas Holidays. As they struggle to defeat Hacker once and for all, hidden powers are being unveiled during battles and emotional take-overs. A Christmas Special. Book 4 of 12.

Author's Note:

Hey guys! I'm afraid I'm gonna have to make this note a bit short, since it's 11:13pm here in BC, and I have to get up at 6:45am in the morning tomorrow. Anyway, this is a Christmas Special, just in time for the holidays, and a lot of secrest areou about to be revealed as Hacker's back to his old tricks to get rid of Starlight Night once more. Hidden powers are being discovered during battles and emotional take-overs. Ready for the best of the series before the first special movie for Valentines' Day? Hope you are! I'll see ya guys at Chapter Two: Return To Cyberspace. Until then, please read and review! See ya! ;-)

-CelestialTime93

Chapter One: Getting Ready For The Holidays

23 year old Matthew Williams tiptoed to a pile of clumsily piled boxes. He carefully grabbed a box from the middle, and carefully slipped it out of the pile.

"Matt..." Matt's wife, 21 year old Ineza Garcia hissed, "Be careful!"

"Y'think I'm not!" Matt hissed back, "This is as careful as I can!"

"Matt!" Inez hissed.

Matt looked towards the pile and gasped. It was swavering clumsily like a drunk man, and was about to fall.

"Oh no..." Matt bit his lower lip. He quickly rushed to one side of the pile, and struggled to keep it balanced, "A little help?" he snapped.

Inez replied, and rushed to the other side, balancing it as it tumbled.

The reason they were being so careful? Number one: delicate treasures in each one. Number two: It's 3am in the morning, and Alizia and Andy don't wake up 'til it's 5am.

"Keep it down!" Inez hissed from the other side.

"It's not easy with this!" Matt retorted in whisper.

"Mom, dad, what's going on?"

Matt and Inez whirled around to see their 14 year old daughter, Alizia Williams. Alizia's little brother, Andrew Williams was rubbing his eyes beside her. Alizia was dressed in a white lacy nightgown, and Andy wore a space themed pajama set. He held a stuffed astromoner in one hand.

"Sorry." Inez apologized through gritted teeth, "We were doing a little clean up. Your father here got a little clumsy again."

"Where's Jackie if you're cleaning up?" Alizia asked.

"Where's Slider? He's supposed to be here, too!" Andy added.

Matt and Inez sighed. 23 year old Jaclyn Edwards and 25 year old Slider Metropolis are Alizia and Andy's godparents, and they always visited them. Of course, Slider was from Cyberspace, and Jackie was from here, Earth. Either way, they were both human.

"They were supposed to be here an hour ago." Matt replied, steadying the boxes, "Okay, how do we do this?"

"Do what?" Inez asked.

"Do this!" Matt replied, motioning his arms to show the high, unsturdy stacked boxes.

"Oh, that!" Inez exclaimed, "Well, since Alizia and Andy are awake, we might as well get started."

"By the way, aren't at least a bit tired?" Inez asked her two kids.

"We're not that tired." Alizia shrugged, "I mean, school's out for Winter Break, and a lot of things happened the past few days."

"Don't remind me about last season." Inez frowned, "That was the worst adventure ever."

A few months ago, during the month of Alizia's birthday, Alizia was kidnapped by the Dark Minions of The ShadowLands. Alizia was convinced that she had no family and no friends, and that she was on the dark side. She fought against her parents. It wasn't until Inez shed her tears and Matt talked some sense into her with Inez, that Alizia remembered her family. But the one thing she forgot, was happiness and celebration. A birthday party changed all that, and now she was back to normal. Except for the nagging feeling that Alizia is somehow connected to the occuring events, ever since Alizia became a Guardian of Cyberspace.

"I can't believe it's just a few weeks 'til Christmas!" Andy was practically jumping up and down and shivering with excitement. As for Alizia, she was shivering from being cold. Even if she was wearing her pajamas, a sweater, a bathrobe, and a parka, she was still cold. Then she realized it was her feet. She found her old slippers and put them on.

"That's better." Alizia smiled, "Hey, mom, dad. What are you doing?"

"A little Winter Clean-up before Christmas." Inez replied, "Unfourtunatly, your father here is a huge klutz."

"And that's why you married me." Matt smiled. Okay, so he was bugging his own wife, but these two have known each other since elementary school. Inez was used to Matt's teasing.

"Sorry we're late!" 23 year old Jaclyn Edwards exclaimed, barging into the attic wth 25 year old Slider Metropolis.

"What took you guys so long, you were supposed to be here an hour ago!" Inez exclaimed.

"Got a little held back." Slider replied, "You know how winter is."

"I can't believe the snow blizzard came earlier than last year this time." Inez frowned, looking outside the attic window towards the blizzard filled city of Boston.

"Hopefully it'll turn into a snowfall by Christmas." Jackie said, taking her hat off. She shook off the snow on her hair by shaking her head like a wet dog.

"I can't believe we'll actually be seeing you guys perform at our Girls and Boys Club!" Alizia squealed in happiness, "Imagine! Our celebrity parents and their two best friends, performing live at our Girls and Boys Club!"

"Boy, the kids at the club would freak!" Andy replied with a laugh. Alizia laughed as well.

So did the adults. "That is true. I mean, we're your parents, and these two are your godparents, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Alizia said sheepishly, "Sorry. I always forget. You guys are so much like friends, I always forget that I'm actually their goddaughter."

"And I'm their godson." Andy smiled.

"Matt, how's the ornaments coming along?" Inez asked her husband.

"Er... not so well. Some of them are broken." Matt pulled out a broken orb ornament, "Or should I say, most of them."

"Great." Inez grumbled, "We can't possibly get any new ones before Christmas! It's a storm outside!"

"Why not ask Motherboard?" Alizia shrugged, "I'm sure Dr. Marbles and Digit have a ton."

"Let's give it a shot." Matt said.

"I dunno..." Inez muttered, "It seems a bit rude to me. My family always kept our Christmas stuff to ourselves."

"Time to change a bit, Inez!" Jackie reassured, redirecting Inez towards the attic stairs and leading her downwards towards the computer room.

"Well, this is a lot." Inez grunted, as she carried several boxes through a portal into the attic. She dropped them down carefully on the ground, afraid to break anymore. Matt and the others did the same.

"I don't even think that's gonna fit both of our trees." Slider frowned, "They gave us way too much! We only asked for enough for one suburb, one apartment, and two trees."

"Wonder what made them think we'll need all this?" Jackie wondered out loud.

"Of course!" Slider exclaimed, "Most of them are for the trees! The Christmas Trees in Cyberspace are huge! I mean, you saw the one in Control Central, didn't you?"

"Okay, now it makes more sense." Jackie frowned, "Now what are we gonna do with the extra ornaments? Motherboard said that she didn't need these!"

"But the Girls and Boys Club does need as much ornaments as possible." Alizia explained.

"We're gonna be decorating the evergreens around the perimeter of the club." Andy added, "And we'll need a ton. Not many people brought much ornaments."

"Can we bring these to the club tomorrow?" Alizia asked.

"Sure." Inez replied, relieved that the ornaments come to use, "Let's just save some to decorate our houses, too. Uh, Matt. Where's the Christmas Tree again?"

"It's in the garage." Matt replied, "I'll go get it."

Matt went downstairs, to the garage, and got the Christmas Tree.

"Arf! Arf!" a dog barked at Matt happily, wagging his tail.

No, that can't be him... Matt thought. With half hope, he turned around to see a golden retriever, barking happily, wagging his tail and panting.

Could it really be him? The last time I saw him was when I was 12, and then my parents gave him away to the animal shelter. Could he have gone out?

"Obi?" Matt asked the dog cautiously, "Is that really you?"

"Arf!" the dog barked happily, wagging his tail furiously, then leaped onto Matt. Matt laughed and smiled at his old friend. Obi was his pet retriever. When his parents gave Obi away almost 20 years ago, Matt never got the dog replaced. Now, he was back.

Matt checked the name tag. His smile faded. His name was Obi alright. But the owner was different. That meant that Obi was taken in by another family. It read "The Willers Family" on the name tag.

"You have a new family now, don't you, boy?" Matt asked the golden retriever, trying to smile.

Obi whined, already reading Matt's mind. He looked down at his feet.

"Hey, as long as they treat you right, that's fine with me." Matt reassured.

Obi got excited again, and started licking Matt's face.

"Obi! Stop! That tickles!" Matt laughed.

"Obi! C'mon boy!" a voice called.

Obi whined, gave Matt a final nudge, then went to the garage door, where a strangely familiar boy was there.

Then Matt remembered who he was.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Williams." the boy greeted. He seemed to be about Alizia's age, "I see you've met my new dog."

"Yeah." Matt said, "I actually met him a pretty while back. My parents donated him to the animal shelter. I'm glad he ended up with a good family like yours."

"Thanks." the boy replied.

Matt then said, "You're from Alizia's school, aren't you? What was your name again... Oh yeah! It was, Ryan. Right? Ryan Willer! You're Alizia's best friend!"

"That's me." Ryan replied, "Say, is Alizia home? I wanted to talk to her."

"Hold on." Matt said, "Alizia! Ryan's here!"

There was a storming at the stairs, then Alizia rushed out to the freezing cold, the cold air blasting at her face. But she didn't mind. Her best friend was here.

"Ryan, what are you doing here?" Alizia asked, "Oh, you got the new dog! What's it's name?"

"I think your dad can answer that." Ryan replied, "This used to be his dog."

Alizia turned to her father. "Dad, you never told me you had a dog!"

"I used to." Matt replied, "My parents gave him away to the animal shelter when I was 12. A little older than Andy. I never saw him since. Until now that is. His name's Obi."

"Like..."Alizia motioned her hands, trying to remember the name. Matt and Alizia said the name in unison: "Obi Won Kadogie."

"I can't believe you didn't change your likings in almost 20 years." Alizia said.

"Some people never change." Matt replied, "And I hope that you don't change when you grow up either."

"Trust me dad, I won't." Alizia replied.

"So, Ryan." Matt said, "Did Obi eat any human stuff lately?"

"I try to keep him away from the stuff, but he's a pig for human food." Ryan replied, petting Obi's head.

"Obi, I told you so many times not to eat those stuff!" Matt laughed, talking to the dog, "Remember what happened 30 years ago? As a puppy?"

Obi whined at the memory, sheilding his face with his paw in embarrasment.

"You can talk to animals?" Ryan asked.

"So far, I'm the only one in the family." Matt replied, "It's something that's been passed down in my family's generations. My parents also know how to talk to animals. So do my grandparents."

"Whoa." Ryan smiled, "I'd sure like to talk to animals."

"If you listen closely enough, you'll understand them." Matt advised, "So, you wanna come in for breakfast?"

"Sure." Ryan shrugged, "My parents are out at a meeting and won't be back 'til late afternoon."

"Come on in." Matt welcomed, "Inez! We have company!"

"Oh, and I didn't get changed yet!" Inez wailed, "Matt, next time, warn me before the comapny arrives!"

"Relax, hon, it's just Ryan!" Matt reassured his bustling wife, and gave her a short kiss on the lips.

"How do I look?" Inez asked.

"You look fine, now c'mon." Matt said, "Slider! Jacs! Ryan's here!"

"Hurrah! Ryan's here!" Andy exclaimed, rushing down the stairs with Slider and Jackie behind him. Andy and Ryan high-fived and laughed. Alizia had become more attached to her little brother. They no longer had any sibling rivalries, and they befriended each others' friends. Andy's favourite of Alizia's friends was Ryan. Probably because he was the only male friend Alizia ever had.

"You think everything will be alright?" Inez whispered to Matt away from the crowd.

"What makes you think Hacker's going to strike at us during the season of the Holidays?" Matt asked.

"Remember Mother's Day? 14 years ago?" Inez whispered back.

"Oh." Matt frowned, "Trying to destroy the whole day. I guess you have a point there. Same with Starlight Night."

"See what I mean?"

"Gotcha." Matt replied, "Let's just hope for the best."