Alita’s POV:

I knocked on the door to Jeremy’s room. As soon as he let me in, I showed him the picture I had fond on the Internet this morning.

“There now, ya see?” I said. “XANA really is alive, & he’s controlling this athlete! The reporter even got a shot of the electricity coming out of his hands! That’s not all, Jeremy, look at his eyes!” He looked at the photo I had printed.

“Alita, do you know how blurry this is?” he asked. “That light is probably just a glare from the camera.”

“What about his eyes, Jeremy?” I asked again. “XANA’s symbol doesn’t just appear out of nowhere!”

“It looks like the glare messed up the whole picture.” I knew he hated when I brought this up, but I knew there was something wrong. “Alita, it has been 2 months now since we killed XANA. I know you’ve given most of your life time to this, but we finally got rid of him.”

“But what if we were wrong?” I asked. “What if he, I don’t know, faked his own death or something?”

“Why would he do that?” Jeremy asked.

“I don’t know.” I said. “But even you can’t deny that some strange things have been happening.”

“Like what?”

“Well, that Japanese scientist went missing. It was said that he had been working on creating a digital world, the same type of project my father was involved in.” I said. “Then the athletes were showing signs of unusual strength, speed…”

I’m talking, of course, about the Ninja Training Competition in Tokyo. Sponsored by an unknown millionaire, it was challenging the best athletes from around the world to compete. Sort of like a mini Olympics.

But I digress.

“They think that’s from steroid use.” Jeremy said.

“Exactly!” I said. “It’s the perfect cover up for XANA, don’t ya think?”

“Alita.” he said. “XANA is dead. You saw him die with your own eyes.” He paused, knowing that he wasn’t getting anywhere. “C’mon, I’ll walk with you to dinner.”

^*^*During Dinner^*^*

“Jeremy’s right, Alita.” Ulrick said after he looked at the photo. “It’s really hard to tell what it’s a picture of, any way.”

Od looked up from his food. “Besides, you were there when we killed XANA.”

“He’s right, Alita.” Yumi said. “We’ve talked about this for weeks now, ever since that scientist disappeared.” she smiled. “I know it’s hard, but we don’t have to worry any more.”

“Yeah, Alita.” Jeremy said. He took my hand from across the table. “Just try to relax, ok?”

I picked up my tray & stood.

“Where are you gong?” Jeremy asked.

“My room.” I said. “I’m not very hungry any more.”