Secrets

A week passed, and the Lyoko warriors were on the Forest sector with William back at the factory. Xavier was still in his tower. "I'm sorry. I was having too much fun on my hover-board. What are we suppose to be doing?" Odd asked.

"You're suppose to help me gather data for a new program I have in mind," The Mechanist said.

"Cool! What is it for? Fighting or making my outfit more awesome?" Odd said.

"Really? You mean you want to be something more stupid looking than a purple cat?" Mechanist retorted. Odd huffed angrily.

"You asked," Ulrich said grinning a little.

"Stop clowning around guys. We're kinda moving under the radar here. Fortunately, Platon hasn't activated any towers," Jeremy said.

"Still, that doesn't mean that he won't," Mechanist said.

"Aw, you guys are just a bunch of worry worts. Nothing's going to happen." Odd stated. Just then the Supercomputer lit up with a monster approaching.

"Just had to say something. That's weird. A monster is coming your way, but it seems different. Guys, do you see it?" Jeremy asked.

"We see it, Jeremy. It's green with a belt around it. It looks a lot like a Megatank," Yumi explained.

"Considering that green isn't our color, it's safe to say that this thing is very dangerous," Ulrich warned.

"Try and fight it," The Mechanist commanded.

"What about the data?" Aelita asked.

"I can get the data from Xavier's tower if I really need it. This thing has the same weakness the other tanks have but with one speciality," The Mechanist said.

"Really," Odd said as the team jumped off their rides. "Like what?" Just then the tank opened up and shot out a horizontal wave. The team ducked.

"It can shoot horizontally," The Mechanist muttered.

"That's it?" Odd said shooting at the tank, hitting the eye on the spot. "So it's just a Megatank sideways, big deal!"

"Yeah, but it gets really annoying, really fast. Especially when it has company. Four tarantulas and a green Megatank coming your way," Jeremy said. The team quickly dodged the fire from the tarantulas, but the constant fire from the tank was challenging.

"Mechanist is right. This thing is annoying," Yumi complained.

"Tell me about," Ulrich said, "It already shot down Odd." Odd came out the scanner.

"Cheap shot," He muttered. Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich managed to take down two of the tarantulas. Three more to go, but the tank took out Ulrich.

"It's up to us now, Aelita," Yumi said as she took down another tarantula with her fans. Aelita took out the other. When they just thought it was over, the Green Megatank shot again taking Yumi. Aelita took to the air and shot down the green tank.

"Nice shot, Aelita. Now we can get to the tower," Jeremy said as Aelita flew to the tower.

"So did the data that I got at the tower help?" Aelita asked.

"Yes, it did. I should have the program up and running soon," The Mechanist said.

"So, Mechanist. Mind telling us who you are?" Yumi questioned.

"Sorry guys, I can't tell you just yet. Although, I can tell you that I'm not alone in this team. I've got teammates much like you guys. Five of us. I'll tell you now that I'm not the boss of the operation. You just have to figure out who we are. And we are closer than you think," The Mechanist said.

"So are you in our school?" Aelita asked.

"Yes, I'll give you that much, but I will get to meet you guys in the future," The Mechanist said signing off. The team was in Jeremy's room at the time. Then they went to their usual bench. They watched the students walk around.

"So which one could it be? Can't be Kelly," Odd said looking at her pass by, "She's pretty but not super smart." Yumi laughed.

"Well, we know that it can't be any girl that Odd has dated," Yumi said earning a laugh from everybody.

"Oh wow! Then that eliminates a lot of girls," Aelita added.

"So that leaves Aelita, Yumi, Sissi, Milly, and Tamiya, but I doubt it's any of them," Jeremy said. "And we know that it can't be Aelita or Yumi because they were with us. And it also can't be Milly or Tamiya. So, Sissi?"

"She has been acting strange lately," Yumi replied. "But it could be one of the teachers, too."

"I think we'll find out in time," William suggested. Just then Johnny and Hiroki walked by. They looked sad.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?" Aelita asked.

"Huh? Oh nothing, just trying to figure out a problem we have in math class," Hiroki said rubbing the back of his neck. Yumi put him a head lock and gave him a noogie.

"Maybe I can help?" Yumi offered.

"Thanks, Yumi, but we have to do this by ourselves. Kind of important," Hiroki and Johnny both sighed.

"I'm going to go practice," Johnny said leaving the group. Hiroki left in the opposite direction.

"Wow, I didn't know that Hiroki could be that...calm and sad," Aelita commented.

"Actually, he's been like this for a while. Depressed over something," Yumi said pondering.

"Girl-trouble?" Odd suggested. Everyone laughed.

"I don't think that's it," Jeremy still laughing. The bell rang. "In any case, I've got class."

"Us too," Ulrich and William said together.

"Well, I have a date with Carol," Odd said.

"Good, ask her if she's the Mechanist while you're at it," Yumi teased. "I'm going to see how the boys are doing."

"I'll go with you. Not much here," Aelita said. While they were on their way to Johnny, Aelita wondered.

"I wonder what Johnny practices?" she asked.

"Probably just some running or gaming," Yumi suggested, but she was wrong. They turned the corner to see Johnny with a bow and arrow. He was about 50 paces away from the target. Three arrows went through the air, all of them hitting the bullseye. "Nice shot!" Yumi congratulated, but Johnny was still upset.

"I'm actually off by about couple centimeters. I'm hitting the rim of the bullseye. That's never happened before," He remarked.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. I didn't even know that you practiced archery. I don't even think professionals can do that good from this far," Aelita commented.

"Well, if you say so. So what are you doing here?" Johnny asked still shooting.

"Just wondering if you were all right," Yumi answered.

"Not really, this math problem is getting to me. Basically, we have to figure how to make something big into something small. And no, cutting it into pieces is not an option," Johnny retorted.

"Why not just make the big thing small? Work from the ground up," Aelita suggested. Johnny stopped for a moment. He dropped his stuff.

"That's it! Aelita, you're a genius!" He said running up and kissing her hand. "Now wonder they call you princess." He ran off to tell Hiroki. Aelita was still blushing.

"Ooo, the mini casanova sure knows how to treat the ladies," Yumi said smirking at Aelita.

"Whatever it was that troubled him, you can tell it disoriented him. He usually moves about and hits the bullseye," Mr. Lion said surprising them.

"Mr. Lion! You scared us," Yumi said. He chuckled lightly.

"Sorry, Aelita can I talk to you in private?" He asked. Aelita shrugged at Yumi as she went, but Yumi held her for a moment.

"If he's possessed by Platon, push the distress button," Yumi whispered. Aelita nodded as she went to Mr. Lion's office.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Lion?" Aelita asked worried. Mr. Lion sat down.

"Aelita, every time I go to a school, I look for one student I can trust in," Mr. Lion said adjusting his white collar on his white dress shirt.

"You can trust me, Mr. Lion," Aelita said. Mr. Lion sighed. He got out a picture.

"Long ago, I had a brother, who went missing. It's been about 20 years now. I still have this sense that he's still alive. We look nothing like each other, but our character is kind of the same. He was my best friend. He worked at this government lab and then suddenly disappeared," Mr. Lion said looking at the picture.

"What was his name?" Aelita asked. Mr. Lion gave her the picture.

"Xavier," he said as Aelita gasped. She saw the exact same Xavier that was stuck on Lyoko. "I know that it seems like nothing, but it just makes me feel better to tell the story. You can go now," He said dismissing her.

LATER

"Xavier has a brother?! And it's Mr. Lion?! We can't tell them then," Odd said.

"Why not? He's a great fighter, lost his brother, and is related to Xavier," Aelita argued.

"Aelita's got a point, but did you know that you had a brother, Xavier?" Jeremy asked. They were in Jeremy's room.

"No, but I had a suspicion. I've been having these visions lately. And I recall a friend I had. And he matches the description of your Mr. Lion. I think he was just called Lion. But I remember something about him being very powerful," Xavier said over the computer screen.

"All the more reason to include him," Aelita said trying to persuade the others, "I have a good feeling about this."

"Well, maybe not yet, but maybe he could do something else for us. We've already past Jim's combat training course. Maybe Mr. Lion can help us further. He did say that he liked fighting," Ulrich suggested.

"Right, that's a great idea," Jeremy said.

To Be Continued