Only Two Can Keep a Secret

The first day of school is always a day full of excitement, nervousness, and everything in between. The same goes for our heroes, school is two hours in, and both Delta Company and the Lyoko Warriors embrace school in full swing- now, now, maybe not. More on that later. Allison has a quick chat with her two older siblings about the possible connection between their cousin in the photo and Aelita Stones. "I can see the resemblance, but I don't really remember her," Gary says. "I remember mom having a sister, and mom told me that they had a huge fight," Sam says. "What happened?" Allison asks. "I am not sure. Mom does not talk about it." "Well, thanks. How is Beverly Hills?" "Great. My friends are the best. Clover is all about staying in style, and Alex knows all the latest fight moves." "Great, people to keep you trending!" Gary says. "Fuck you! How are you and the brown squad?" Sam asks. "Fuck you too! We're fine! Unlike you lame ass!" Gary snaps back. "Okay! I will talk to you two later," Allison says. "Bye!" Gary and Sam said. Allison meets the others in science class. "Can't it be summer?" "I know. I am so stressed!" Dawn says. "Well, Ms. Hertz's class is no picnic," Rocky says. "Is it that bad?" Ash asks. "She teaches all the classes, so it is not easy." "I mean, you passed her class," Brock says. "I know. The only class I did pass. But I promise my folks that I will do better. And since your brother is a whiz, I'll be fine." "So your future relies upon me?" Ash J says. "Yep!" Rocky says as the group laughs. Rocky smiles as he leaves for English. He walks by Jeremy and Aelita and has to say something. "Aelita, are you going to finally fuck glasses boy over there and teach him something he doesn't know?" Jeremy growls, but Aelita smiles. "Awe! Are you going to pass ninth grade this time? I mean, you can teach an old dog a new trick. Or in your case, whatever fucked up species you are!" Rocky growls and leaves. "Good one, Aelita," Jeremy says. As they walked in, they see Odd and Ulrich already there. "It's great to be back in this class," Odd said. When they sat down, Jeremy cleaned his glasses. After that, he sees who is next to him. "Great, look who it is." Allison and Ash were right next to Jeremy and Aelita. Dawn and Brock were right next to Odd and Ulrich. "Awe, look, it's the new kids," Ulrich said. Brock spoke up. "Look, can we just get past this and moved on?" "Can't handle having someone hate you, Brock?" Odd teased. "They're like a wolf pack!" Ash said. "And we bite too," Jeremy said. Surprisingly they all laughed but quickly realized that they are suppose to be fighting. Then Ms. Hertz walked in. She was wearing her lab coat. "Class, I have a nice way to start class?" Odd bravely speak up. "French fries for class?" The whole class laughs. "I see the summer hasn't done a thing for you, Mr. Della Robbia! I am talking about an exam!" The classroom is quiet. Ms. Hertz passes out packets, and Allison gulps. "A pop exam!" "That's thirty pages long!" Brock exclaims. "And not multiple-choice," Dawn says. Jeremy chuckles. "Can't handle the heat?" Allison smiles, then looks at Ash. "I can handle this? We have until graduation, right?" "You all have until the end of class. Please leave the exam on my desk when you a finished." "Great!" Ulrich mumbles to himself.

At lunch, Yumi waits for her friends. She sees Allison and Dawn walk up to her. "Hi, can we get by?" Allison asks. "No. You can use the other door!" Yumi shouts. "No!" Dawn shouts. "We're here, and you need to stop being an ass!" "Excuse me! After all the trouble that you and your friends caused my friends!" Yumi shouts. Allison gets angry. When she does, she tends to have a squeaky voice. "Listen. Your friend was rude when she did apologize to my best friend. Then her supposed cousin tries to prank us. Now fuck off or else!" "Or else what, mouse?" Allison pushes Yumi. "Jerry outsmart Tom! Remember that!" Inside, the Yumi complains to Odd and Ulrich. "Then she told me Jerry outsmart Tom. What the fuck?" "I know. Besides two friendly jokes, we had a staring contest. But I mean, Ash and Brock were cool. It's the whole thing with Aelita and Dawn," Odd says. "So, Aelita is the problem?" Ulrich starts. "No. I am saying that Aelita didn't get a chance to tell us the whole story. We got interrupted," Odd says. Meanwhile, on the lunch line, Aelita sighs. "Jeremy, I remember something." "What is it? Is it about XANA? Or your father?" Jeremy asks. "No. About Dawn. I also ran into her. I was thinking about my father and how I had a whole life on Earth that I didn't know about. It was all so overwhelming that I didn't see her." Jeremy takes Aelita's hand. "What do you want to do? Apologize?" "Maybe, but what if they give me a hard time?" "Then, we fight!" Jeremy chuckles. At the table, Sissi is there, and it's Sissi! "Anyway, why are you wasting time with this crow when you can be with me, a hummingbird." "You mean your screeching. Screech! Screech!" Ulrich laughs. "Good one, good buddy!" Odd says. "Why are you laughing, scrawny?" Sissi shouts. Sissi tries to throw water at the group, but Nicholas bumps into her, and she becomes drenched. "So, are you sure you are a hummingbird?" Odd asks. "Why?" Sissi asks. "Becasue, you look much more like a loon!" The group laughs. Nicholas and Herve laugh too. Sissi leaves. Ash and Brock laugh as well. "Shh!" Allison says as she smiles. "Odd nailed that joke. Sissi was way out of line," Ash says. "I think they noticed," Dawn says. Odd looks at the group. "Are they laughing at me?" "No," Ulrich says. "With you about what you said to Sissi." "Well, if they can laugh at Odd's jokes, how bad can they be?" Yumi asks. Aelita gets up and walks over to them. Ulrich is puzzled, but Jeremy says to trust Aelita. The Lyoko Warriors surround Delta Company. "Oh, boy," Ash says. "I'm sorry!" Aelita says. Everyone is shocked. "What!" Dawn says. Yumi is confused, but Jeremy quiets her down. "I'm sorry. I went through a lot of shit last semester, and I had my head in the clouds." "I get it. I am going through shit too. I'm sorry!" Dawn says. Both groups smile. "But, we can't be friends!" Ulrich says. "Excuse me!" Allison says. "It's too complicated. We won't work as friends!" Odd says. Brock looks at them. "What!" Meanwhile, Jeremy checks his computer. "XANA, you are the reason!" Jeremy signals the group. "We can talk about this, never!" Jeremy says as the Lyoko Warriors leave.

Delta Company looks at each other. "What the fuck?" Dawn asks. "First, Aelita apologizes, then they say we can't even try to be friends. Then they cut the conversation short. Why?" Allison thinks about it. "It is weird." "Allison, are you going to meddle?" Brock teases. "Don't say that!" "Why? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Dawn says. "Fuck you both. I think it is weird how the conversation ended," Allison says. "I mean, I do agree that it is a weird plus; I saw them heading for the park during school hours," Brock says. Ash nods. "If there is a reason why they won't let go of this rivalry fast, I want to know," Ash says. Sissi listens in and takes Ash's statement as her cue. "Hello, again." "Sissi?" Dawn asks. "Yep. I heard that you have beef with Jeremy and his little gang." "No. It was a simple disagreement," Brock says. "Look. This is serious. Those five always get in trouble with Jim and my father. Plus, they are exclusive. Even for me. If I had a euro for every time, Odd has gotten in my way, or one of them has the nerve to insult me." "Why do you want?" Ash asks. "The secret! I want to know what they are up to." "I don't know. It is their business," Allison says. "And this is my father's school, and I have to keep things in order on the student side! Think about it!" Sissi says as she walks off. A few minutes went by, and it was decided, "We can't trust Sissi for shit!" Dawn says. "Of course. She wants to know for her personal agenda, and we are not going to be a part of it!" Ash says. "Good. But we still want to know because again, they were rude!" Allison says. "Great, then let's split up, gang, and look for clues!" Brock says. "Brock!" Allison shouts. "Kidding! Let's go!" Brock laughs. Delta Company goes to the park and overhears Jeremy. "Let's hurry before XANA launches an attack on Earth!" "XANA?" Dawn asks herself. They follow the group into the sewers, much to Allison and Dawn's dismay. "Hey, where did they go?" Dawn asks. "This is an abandoned factory. Let's look around," Ash says. After a while, they come across part of the factory and hear Jeremy again. "Ok, Aelita, the tower is due south from your location," Jeremy said. XANA has sent a lot of monsters. Dawn and Allison look worried. Ash and Brock get concerned.

What are they doing? Who is XANA? How could it attack the real world? Is this the secret all along?

After the Lyoko Warriors deactivated the tower, there was still time left to get to class. "Weird that we were so fast; XANA wasn't even able to do anything on earth," Aelita said. "Yep, so no return to the past," Jeremy said. "Yes, and besides, why waste one. XANA gets stronger from them." Yumi said. "Well, at least, History is in the past," Odd said. "History is in fifteen minutes, Odd," Ulrich said. "Shit!" Odd said. They leave. Delta Company climbs a ladder and looks around the factory. "Wow! What a place!" Ash says. "What the heck is a 'Return to the Past,' or whatever he said?" Dawn asks. "Don't know, but Sissi does not need to know about this. We need to keep this secret," Allison says. "What a Supercomputer," Brock says. "Also, Aelita said something about Franz Hopper being her father. Does that help?" Dawn asks. "Yes and no," Allison said. "How?" Ash asks. "Franz was my uncle's middle name, and Hopper was my aunt's middle/ last name." "Huh?" Brock asks. "My aunt, Anthea, changed her middle name to Blake and her last name to Hopper because she had some falling out with my grandparents." "Right, and when she was in Europe, she met her-" Ash started with Dawn and Brock joining in. "European boyfriend!" "Yep. So I don't know," Allison says. Ash taps Allison's nose. "Nice history lesson. Now we have history class in six minutes." After looking around some more, one of XANA's ghosts comes up and shocks them on their fingers. "Ouch!" Allison shouts. "Shit!" Ash shouts. "Holy fuck," Dawn shouts. "Mother fucker, that hurts!" Brock shouts. "What was that?" "I don't know nor care. Let's leave," Allison says. "We have a history quiz on the first day, and I don't want to be history!" "Good. I want to nail his extra credit question!" Dawn says. They leave, and the Supercomputer starts to register Delta Company's digital DNA.

At the end of the day, Allison looks through her photo album. "I wish I had more information about her. Maybe it would give me answers." "Like the black smoke that shocked us. like what the fuck?" Dawn asks. "I don't know. XANA sounds like a threat. They need to keep that shit under control," Ash says. "It looks like it may be harder than we think. I mean, XANA seems like an AI that can do whatever it wants," Brock says. "Like yeah! I mean, I read the Galaxy Series, and it seems like science fiction, but XANA seems like a deadly force." "Look, Let's regroup in the morning," Allison says. "Yeah, before Mr. Moralas and his army self shows up!" Dawn says. The boys leave and walk past Aelita and the boys. "Leaving the girls' floor at this hour?" Odd taunts. "Excuse me? Why are you following Aelita to hers?" Brock asks. "Why don't you leave us alone!" Jeremy shouts. "Pointy hairstyle started it!" Brock says. "You mean you two chopstick legs?" Ulrich teases. "Us? We have meat on our legs. You're the one who lives with scrawny legs!" Ash says as he and Brock laugh as they walk away. "Not scrawny!" Odd shouts. "Leave them. I'll see you tomorrow!" Aelita says. "Okay! At least they are not mad at you," Ulrich says. "I know. See you in the morning," Aelita says. Jeremy hangs back. "I'll work on some things about Sector Five; then I'll come back here to check on you." "Thank you. Even though XANA didn't attack, we still have to be on guard." "Yep. At least we don't have to deal with any sewer monsters like what happened 'yesterday.'" "I know. See you tomorrow!" Jeremy leaves, and Dawn closes her door. "Sewer monster, yesterday! What!"

So with that, Delta Company has discovered the factory and will keep its secret, or now. And there can be a chance for friendship between them and the Lyoko Warriors, but how and when? Plus, what about the digital DNA? What does that mean? Well, XANA has an attack planned for both of our heroes since both now know about it, or at least Delta Company will know soon enough if they "remember" it.