XANA's Truth

"Wow. We're going to need more chairs for this table," Yumi said observing all the people at the table. The group had definitely grown. Aelita and Jeremy sat side by side, Ulrich and Yumi were on opposite ends, Odd was in the corner along with William. Sissi was on a nearby table with her body turned towards the group. "Too bad the twins can't join in," Yumi sighed.

"You still can't believe your little brother's a Lion Warrior?" Sissi asked.

"No!" Yumi said amazed. Everyone chuckled.

"Well, I better get going. You know that the girls are calling for my name," Odd said. Sissi rolled her eyes.

"Are they calling you to come or calling you to get away?" She insulted. Everyone laughed with Odd glaring.

"She learns from you Odd. Now you have two pupils," Jeremy said pointing to Sissi and Aelita.

"Very funny, but you happen to be looking at the best chick magnet. I have never lost my cool," Odd said confidently.

"Hi Odd," someone said. Odd looked over to see.

"Ah! Samantha!?" Odd stuttered falling over.

"Never lost your cool, eh?" Ulrich commented.

"Um...Uh what are you doing here?" Odd said overly happy to see her. Samantha had changed. While she still had the red highlight in her hair, she now wore a bright white shirt. Her mischievous eye seemed to gone from her beautiful eyes.

"Oh, well I'm in town now. My father just moved here. Of course, he still wants me to be home school, but I just wanted to visit. Hey, everyone," Sam greeted with a warm replied.

"Hey," The group greeted back.

"So what's your father doing here?" Sissi asked.

"He's a teacher here," Sam replied. Ulrich and Jeremy spat out the juice they were drinking. Odd's eyes widened. Just then, Lion came.

"Ah, I see you've met my daughter, Samantha," Lion smiled.

"You have a daughter?" Aelita asked.

"Of course. I'm 1403 years old. I want to have a happy life, too," Lion responded. Yumi looked suspiciously at the two.

"So...is she-"

"Yes, she's a Lion Warrior like me. She even has a tail," Lion said. Aelita looked worried.

"Wait, since I'm one, will I grow a tail?" She asked horrified.

"No, it only happens to people who are birthed from a Lion Warrior. She even knows about our...thing," Lion said discreetly.

"But how come the last time she was here, she nearly jeopardized our secret?" Jeremy asked.

"She didn't know about the whole thing. But she does now and will behave," Lion said more to Sam than the group.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Plus, since I can't remember the thing, I can only imagine how much damage I did to your friendship with Odd," Sam said sadly.

"Nah, Odd's always getting us into trouble," Ulrich said, "But how come you don't remember anything about the factory?"

"Lions, like people, can't remember unless they have been virtualized. So all of us have except my daughter," Lion explained.

"So why is she here?" Sissi asked.

"I've been told to help Aelita master her Lion powers. And be taught by Uncle Leon and Aslan," Sam said begrudgingly.

"In any case, she's staying," Lion finished. Odd was blushing furiously.

"Oh, great," He stuttered. Sam and Lion walked out to the Hermitage. Odd slopped his head on the table.

"What's wrong?" William asked, "I thought you loved Sam."

"I LIKE her, not love. But didn't I know that she was the daughter of the most powerful man on the planet! What am I going to do?" Odd groaned in defeat.

"I don't think Lion would be angered at the fact that you like his daughter," Aelita said.

"Yeah, but he would burn me to a crisp if I was dating his daughter," Odd explained. Sissi rolled her eyes.

"It's not that deep," She said, "I'm sure that Lion would be okay with that." They all finished lunch and headed to Sissi's room where Xavier's scepter was waiting. "Oh, hey Xavier. What's up?" He looked serious.

"Who's XANA?" He asked.

"What?" Ulrich said confused.

"Who's XANA? I got some data from one of the towers about a thing name XANA," Xavier explained. The team's expression saddened.

"Well, XANA was this virus that was created by Franz Hopper, but he lost control of it and it tried to take over the world. He destroyed Aelita's father in Lyoko," Jeremy explained. Xavier's eyes widened. Sissi and William seemed worried.

"Whatever data you found must be destroyed if it's from XANA. Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Sissi said going over to the computer, but Xavier was still distraught.

"I...I...I kill...I killed him," He whispered.

"What?" Yumi questioned.

"I did all those things," Xavier said still miserable.

"What are you talking about, Xavier?" Aelita asked.

"The data that I got was an archive of Lyoko. It mentions a XANA and an Xavier. I did some digging and...I was XANA," Xavier revealed shocking everyone.

"You knew about this?" Aelita asked William and Sissi. Sissi sighed.

"I'll call the gang," She said picking up the phone.

LATER

"I was hoping you wouldn't know," Lion said.

"What? That the guy we're helping just so happened to destroy my father and make my life a living nightmare?!" Aelita exclaimed angrily. Lion surprised her with a hug, calming her down.

"Let me explain. In order to make the Lyoko virus that Franz Hopper wanted, it needed a special ingredient. A human. XANA, unlike Jeremy's anti-XANA virus, would be more powerful that way. So my brother volunteered. But Platon messed up the virus and my brother became XANA, unwillingly. I didn't want to tell you because then you would never help me," Lion confessed.

"But you guys knew about this?! And you didn't tell us?! You should be ashamed of yourselves," Yumi accused.

"Hey! When you're a hero for the world, you do anything to protect the people, even if it means betraying their trust. You should know that by now," Johnny scolded. Xavier spoke to Aelita.

"I am so so sorry for the things I've done. I did not know anything of what I was doing. Please forgive me," he said on his knees. Aelita helped him back up.

"You didn't know. Ultimately, Platon is the one to blame here. I forgive you," Aelita said trying to hug him, but she phased through, "Oops forgot about that." Everyone laughed, except Johnny.

"Alright, if that crisis is averted, we have some work to do. We all do," Johnny reminded walking out the door, "You coming Hiroki?"

"I'll be right there. I just need to talk to Lion about something," Hiroki answered. Johnny left the room.

"Hmm, why is Johnny so different? I know being a Lion Warrior must be stressful, but still," Odd asked.

"Him being a Lion Warrior has nothing to do with the fact that he's been acting...down. Is something up that I don't know about, Mechanist?" Lion asked. Sissi rubbed her chin in thought.

"He maybe down because of the relationships thing," Sissi said.

"What relationships thing?" Lion asked.

"You know, when you told us that we couldn't fall in love with anyone. Because it would distract us," Sissi said.

"I said don't fall into a relationship THAT distracts you. I never said you couldn't be in a relationship. I'm not that cruel," Lion corrected. William looked accusingly at Sissi, who was blushing embarrassed. But Hiroki pumped his fist in the air.

"Yes! Milly here I come," He openly said forgetting that everyone was still there. Everyone laughed causing Hiroki to blush.

"But that still leaves Johnny. So who's going to talk to him?" Aelita asked.

"I suggest Yumi do it," Ulrich said. Everyone looked at him. "What?"

"Considering past events with you, Yumi, and anybody else within a five mile radius of Yumi, we're surprised that you would suggest that," Sissi said.

"What? I've changed. A little," Ulrich said.

"Fine, I'll talk to him," Yumi said going out the door. Johnny was on the bench looking at the specs for the Return to the Past bomb. "You know, it would be better for you to talk to us." Johnny groaned.

"What do you want?" Johnny asked.

"The whole team's worried about why you're like this way," Yumi said sitting by the bench. "Come on, I'll give you a kiss if you tell me." Yumi said hugging him.

"Tempting but no," Johnny said gently wiggling out of her hug, "Besides, that whole thing with you was just for show," Johnny said standing up. "Besides, that's not why I'm upset. Well, not part of the reason."

"Then why?"

"Hiroki has Milly, Jeremy has Aelita, Odd has Sam now, Lion's married, William has Sissi even though Sissi won't admit it, and you have Ulrich," Johnny said.

"We're just-"

"Oh Yumi. You keep saying that to mask your feelings. You've got to stop doing that or it'll prevent you from truly aspiring to new heights," Johnny said making Yumi blush.

"So you feel left out?" Yumi said.

"No, just aware that I'm single. I know that I should wait, but you have to admit the environment around me is kinda...tempting," Johnny said sadly putting his hands in his pants. Yumi put her arm around him.

"Don't worry, you'll have your chance. You just have to be patient," Yumi said smiling. Johnny smirked.

"How about this? If I get into a relationship with a girl, you HAVE to tell Ulrich that you want to become more than friends," Johnny betted. Yumi blushed again.

"What?! No way."

"You overestimate something. The time it would take for me to be in a relationship is not just instantaneous. It would take years," Johnny assured. Yumi thought about it. The favor was with her.

"Okay, you got a deal," Yumi said shaking on it. "And remember, there's someone for everyone."

"But not for the Lion Warriors," Johnny said sadly walking away. Then he bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Oh it's okay Johnny," The person said. It was Tamiya. "I wasn't looking either." Johnny helped her with her books.

"Hey, Tamiya. How is everything? You look nice today," Johnny asked.

"Oh, thank you," Tamiya said blushing, "Nothing much."

"How's the paper going on?"

"Good, Milly's actually finishing up the paper," Tamiya said a little annoyed of the fact.

"Shouldn't you be there?"

"And listen to her babble on about how she likes Hiroki?" Tamiya said. She covered her mouth, "Oh I'm sorry. You weren't suppose to hear that."

"It's okay. I won't tell Hiroki."

"Um...listen, Johnny. Do you want to hang out some time? If your free," Tamiya said shyly. Johnny grinned goofily.

"Sure, I'll see if I can get some time in. Bye," He said stuttering a little. He walked back to a dropped-jawed Yumi. She recovered and fumed silently and blushed furiously. "So about that bet." Johnny grinned widely as Yumi just groaned.