Chapter 1: New Arrivals

(Okay, this is going to be probably my fourth attempt at this story after giving it some major changes, aka scrapping most of it to start fresh. I really need to make sure it doesn't suck this time. Also, since I'm typically a Pokémon fanfic writer, most of you will probably not know my format for writing. I like keeping everyone up to date on when and where the chapter is taking place as well as whose point of view it's in. For this story, it'll always be third person since it revolves around a group rather than a person.)

{Third Person Point of View}

-1 Year After Xana's defeat-

(Kadic Academy - Entrance Gate)

[Late Night]

Rain pelted the area as the dreary skies shifted above, blocking the setting sun as a taxi parked near the sidewalk. The back two passenger doors opened as new students to Kadic exited. One a girl with long silver hair with a hint of light green, especially along the tips. Her ruby eyes sparkled in the dim light from an overhead streetlight. She brushed a few strands of hair aside, her soft light Caucasian skin shone among all else. Thin lips form a frown with ruby lipstick equivalent to her eyes with light gloss to help it shine. In a way, it's like her face emits its own light. She stood tall, despite only being fifteen at five foot five or 1.59 meters tall with a very slim build. She wore a light green shirt with long sleeves, a Jean styled skirt with black shorts underneath. Pure white running shoes covered her feet with long white socks.

She grunted, "Is this the place?"

The boy stretched a bit, his midnight black hair spiking up from the rain as the dim light showed his light Caucasian skin as well. He pulled the hoodie of his black sweater over his head to shield it from getting any wetter. His hazel eyes glance at the gate before shifting to the girl. He stands at five foot seven, or 1.67 meters tall. Under his black sweater, he wore a plain white T-shirt with very dark blue shorts and black sneakers with a white stripe on each side. His grey socks are clearly visible as well, running up his leg a bit in the open.

He finally said, "Kadic Academy... yep... this is the place. Shouldn't the principal be here by now?"

The girl shook her head, "I only asked if we're in the right spot, I didn't give you permission to ask me a question."

The taxi drove away as the boy glared at her, "Don't you dare blame me for everything that's happened! You and your shit friends caused all of that to happen!"

The two locked glares, hostility dripping off them as their hate filled stares refused to stop until they heard someone approach them. It turns out to be Kadic Academy's Physical Education instructor Jim as well as the principal Mr. Delmas. Both are carrying umbrellas and helped both children from being pelted by the droplets.

Mr. Delmas spoke first, "Hello, I'm sorry for being late, but we were held up with two students committing a distasteful act. I hope you didn't wait long; shall we go to my office?"

The girl smiled at him kindly, "Yes please. I'm sure we would like that."

She elbowed the boy rather hard, "Ow! Why you little..."

The girl whispered to him, "Don't act like you normally do, we have to be good here or else."

The boy shook his head, "Whatever, I just want to get out of the rain... please."

Mr. Delmas asked the two students, "What's your names? I seem to have forgotten,"

The girl answered first, "I'm Silvia Frederick and this is Rui Santos."

Rui rolled his eyes, "You could have just said my first name."

Silvia feigned a smile towards him, "Don't be so shy, he's pretty anti-social."

Mr. Delmas coughed, "Yes of course, that does happen to some of today's youth. I'm just hope your stay here at Kadic will be a great and memorable one."

Rui and Silvia stayed silent, walking with the two adults towards the main buildings.

- Next Day -

(Kadic Academy - Cafeteria)

[Early Morning]

Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie are in the lunch room eating while waiting for Aelita and Yumi to show up. It's been a whole year since the group have defeated Xana and things couldn't have been better for any of them... well... in most cases. Ulrich and Yumi dated for a little while but both decided to end it until further notice. William moved to be with his parents again, but before he left the group trusted him again. Odd decided to get better grades instead of dating every girl he can, which everyone doubted but he stuck to it and is now a solid C and B student. Kiwi still lives in his dorm room with Ulrich, but Odd thinks it would be better to send him home because Jim keeps getting closer and closer to finding out. Aelita and Jeremie are dating, but the two still act like it's not official. Aelita's DJ skills have given her multiple opening acts with the Sub Digitals and even got her a large fan following. Outside of the school, she typically gets swarmed for Autographs by kids her age and quite a few adults. Sadly, she still misses her parents now that her father is gone, and her mother can no longer be found. As for Jeremie, he has been focusing on finding any information he can about Aelita's mother while still preforming as a model student without any slowing down. His parents are extremely proud of him and approve of Aelita's relationship with him. They allow the couple to spend every holiday with them as if Aelita is a part of their family already.

Odd asks Jeremie, "Hey Einstein, when is Aelita going to DJ again?"

Jeremie shrugged, "I'm not sure. She's been busy practicing for the past few days, so it should be soon."

Jim walked in, talking loud enough to get everyone's attention, "And this is the cafeteria! You come here to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner ends at 8pm sharp and there are no midnight snacks allowed. Food is not permitted in the dorms and like I said last night, no visits. You hear?"

Rui and Silvia walked in, looking around the room before heading to the breakfast line. The room started buzzing with murmurs since this is the first, they've heard of the new students. Odd, Jeremie, and Ulrich all exchanged a glance before watching the two new students get their breakfast. Once they got it, the two elected to sit as far away from each other as possible. Jeremie watched Rui sit alone, seeing a sad expression written across his face. Strangely, he couldn't help but see a bit of himself in that act. He used to sit alone until he met the others.

Ulrich snapped his fingers, "Uh, Earth to Einstein, you awake?"

Jeremie blinked in surprise, "Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about 3 years ago before we all became friends."

Odd asked, "Why? Is it because of the new kid?"

Ulrich looked at Rui, "That's really perceptive Odd."

Odd knew Ulrich was being sarcastic, chuckling as he joined the joke, "I am a man of many talents."

Ulrich shook his head before looking at Jeremie, "So what do you want to do? Invite him over?"

Jeremie thought to himself before picking his tray up, "Let's go eat with him."

Ulrich and Odd looked at each other before shrugging and got up to walk with Jeremie over to Rui. Jeremie sat across from Rui as Ulrich sat next to Rui and Odd across from Ulrich. Rui looked at his omelet for a while before noticing they're there, looking at all of them before eating.

Jeremie spoke to him first, "Hello, my name is Jeremie Belpois."

Rui looked at him for a moment before dropping his gaze, "I'm Rui..."

Jeremie extended his arm towards Ulrich and Odd, "These are my friends, Odd and Ulrich."

Rui glanced at them, "Hello..."

Ulrich asked, "What's wrong with you, are you shy?"

Rui shook his head no, "I'm just not a social person. If you're trying to haze me, you're going to have a bad day. A couple of pricks tried to this morning and I kicked them down a flight of stairs."

Odd said, "Chill guy, we're just trying to be your friends."

Rui went back to eating, a sad expression across his face, "I only had one friend and he's gone..."

Ulrich pat his shoulder, "Hey, I know it feels terrible moving away from your friends, but you'll be fine here. Everyone is friendly, except for Nicholas and Herb. Those two loves to cause trouble."

Odd said, "That's not entirely true Ulrich, after all, they got a lot better after Sissi became one of our friends."

Jeremie looked at Ulrich, "Speaking of Sissi, where is she?"

Ulrich answered him swiftly, "She's living with her mom now. I don't know anything else."

Jeremie turned his gaze to Rui, "Do you feel homesick?"

Rui clenched his fork tightly, thinking about his home, an orphanage back in the United States, before answering, "No. I didn't have a real home."

Jeremie asked, "What do you mean? Are your parents divorced?"

Rui shook his head, "I'm an orphan... please stop asking questions..."

The three of them glanced at each other before getting up, "Sorry to bother you. Let's eat together again soon, okay?"

Rui just shrugged, staying silent as Aelita came into the room. Jeremie ran over to her first, giving her his croissant after she got breakfast.

Aelita noticed Silvia immediately, "Who's she?"

Odd answered her question, "She's one of the two new students from America. We just got finished talking to the grumpy one over there."

Odd pointed at Rui, who glanced over at him as Aelita peeked. She looked at Silvia and noticed how far away the two sat despite both coming from the same place. That's quite strange since moving to another country for boarding school is quite an experience, or so her research says.

Aelita asked the obvious, "Why are they sitting so far away from each other?"

Odd laughed, "Maybe Jim scared them with the boys and girls floor spiel."

Jeremie laughed with him a bit, "Right, because he says boys and girls can't be friends."

Odd rolled his eyes to Jeremie's sarcasm, "Since when have you been mister sarcastic Einstein?"

Aelita looked at Silvia, "I think I'll talk to her alone, if Yumi walks in, tell her to join me."

Yumi spoke from behind her, "Too late, I'm already here, what's up?"

Odd sighed, "Two new students, she wants to do a girl only talk with the new girl."

Yumi smiled, "Count me in, better than letting her stay alone and become a Sissi."

Ulrich chuckled at that, "Oh no, not another one. We just got rid of one Sissi."

Aelita and Yumi walked off to speak to the new girl while Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie sat at their original table again. Rui got up to leave, walking by Silvia but didn't even dare to try and look at her. Aelita and Yumi got off to a leisurely start, instantly befriending Silvia.

Yumi asked her, "What was it like in America?"

Silvia scratched her neck nervously, "Well... it felt normal to me so nothing really. I just lived there with my friends."

Aelita asked her, "What happened to your friends? They didn't want to come?"

Silvia looked at her tray sadly, "They're... missing in a sense. It's all Rui's fault. Him and his friend. I wish something could just... I don't know, kill him maybe..."

Yumi and Aelita both jumped, "Don't you think that's a little extreme!?"

Aelita agreed, "Yumi's right, you should never wish that on another person!"

Silvia shook her head, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that. I'm just sad because I lost them recently."

Aelita asked her, "What happened to them?"

Silvia squeezed her milk carton gently, "They were taken by someone... and I can't help but blame Rui because he and his friend led to it. They started the whole thing... I... I don't want to think about it... can we avoid this topic?"

Yumi decided to ask, "Do you really hate him?"

Silvia glared at her tray, "I hate him more than anything..."

Before Aelita or Yumi could speak, another girl, she's a Junior, asked Silvia, "Hey, do you know that guy?"

Silvia looked confused, "You mean Rui?"

The Junior nodded, "Yeah, he looks so cute... kind of exotic since he's an American."

Silvia glared at her, "Then you need glasses, also, leave him alone. He hates everyone."

The Junior scoffed, "Did you put a claim on him or something?"

Silvia did a mock laugh, "Claim? Oh hell no. I'd sooner jump off a cliff than be with that ugly orphan."

The Junior girl looked at her in shock from hearing that before walking off and Aelita said, "That's horrible to say about him."

The three of them continued to talk as Rui wandered off into the forest.

(The Park - Forest)

[Before First Period]

Rui walked alone, looking at all the trees before noticing a strange breeze.

"Ru... ui... Where are you going?"

Rui froze, feeling the world swirl around him, "Vira?"

"Did you think you could get away? Xana won't let you, and neither will I."

Rui pressed his back against a tree, his head spinning, "I will stop you Vira, you caused all of this to happen!"

"Me? You're the one who found the computer with Michael. Poor... little... Michael... How scared do you think he was when he laid there dying? It must have been terrifying."

Rui shook his head, "I need to stop panicking, she's not here, neither is Xana. Then why did we come here? What did Michael find out? I wish he could have told me before dying... Then the damn super computer had to self-destruct and destroy the entire school. What's next? Vira... I can't believe we fell for such an obvious trick..."

A new voice met his ears, "What's wrong?"

Rui looked to see Aelita walking toward him, "I know I shouldn't answer a question with a question, but who are you?"

Aelita smiled at him, "I'm Aelita Stones. I talked to your friend Silvia."

Rui's head shot up, "I am not her friend!"

Aelita flinched from the yell, "Sorry... she told us she hated you... but I was hoping that was a lie. Could you answer my question please?"

Rui looked aside bitterly, "I'm not good with talking to people."

Aelita sighed, "Is it because you're an orphan..." Rui looked at her in shock to which she continued, "and you only had one friend who you trusted?"

Rui narrowed his eyes a bit, "Yes... but how much do you know... actually... you look familiar."

Aelita smiled, "We passed by each other in the cafeteria, right?"

Rui scratched his chin in thought, "We'll go with that."

Aelita's smile faded, "What happened to your friend? Silvia laughed a bit when we asked her and said to ask you."

Rui looked aside, avoiding eye contact, "He died."

Aelita gasped, "How did he die? Was he sick?"

Rui shook his head, "He was murdered by the person he cared about, and I couldn't do anything to save him... I could only run away."

Aelita asked, "Why?"

Rui looked at her, "What's your name?"

Aelita answered him, "Aelita... Aelita Stones. Why?"

Rui narrowed his eyes again, "Did you know of someone called Vira?"

Aelita looked confused, "Vira? Who's that?"

Rui walked past her, "No one important, I'll see you around pinkie."

Aelita watched him leave, wondering who he was talking about. If there's one person who could find out, it's Jeremie.

(Jeremie's Room)

[After Classes]

Jeremie typed on his keyboard, working on a science project when Aelita knocked on the door, "Come in."

Aelita peeked her head in, "Hello Jeremie, um... am I interrupting anything?"

Jeremie stopped typing, turning to look at her as she came in and closed the door behind her, "No, not at all. What'd you like to talk about?"

Aelita sat on his bed, "I talked with Rui, the new kid. There's something odd about him."

Jeremie laughed, "Being antisocial isn't very odd Aelita."

Aelita shook her head, "No, I sensed something from him, something dark. Jeremie, what if Xana wasn't defeated?"

Jeremie picked his head up a bit before fixing his glasses, "Impossible, the program wiped Xana off the face of the Earth thanks to your father. You know that Aelita, and I highly doubt 2 new students from America is anything too out of the ordinary. Think about it, if Xana sent them then they would just go to the factory and turn on the super computer. Not only that, he can't possess anyone due to the supercomputer being turned off. The program even destroyed all of the known supercomputers on the web."

Aelita looked at the floor, still unable to believe it, "It destroyed all the supercomputers known? Then what of the unknown ones? In fact, where did those two come from? Surely you can look them up."

Jeremie frowned, thinking of the trouble they could get in if he makes a mistake like this... but sighs, "Alright, I'll get to it right now."

Aelita sat on his bed, pulling out her laptop, "I'll help you alright?"

Jeremie smiled, "Thank you Aelita."

Aelita blushed, "No problem... Proxy-pie"

(Silvia's Room)

Silvia stared at a photo, the last one she and her friends took before everything went to shit. Rui and his friend, Michael, are in the photo as well. A loud knock on her door shook her out of the trance. When she opened it, she found Rui leaning against the wall beside the doorframe. She wanted to close the door in his face but elected to let him in, despite hating him.

She asked him, "What is it? I was just about to fall asleep."

Rui looked at her room before saying, "I think we're in the right place."

Silvia nodded, "Let me guess, that pink haired girl?"

Rui noticed her photo but kept his focus, "You guessed it. She's the girl Michael got the info about and how she's attending this school. Vira mentioned her a lot, but when I asked Aelita if she knew Vira, she didn't. I could tell she wasn't lying either, so that means Vira tricked us completely."

Silvia shook her head, "Can't we... can't we just pretend none of that happened? We could just live here from now on."

Rui glared at her, "You're going to just let your friends be used? I for one am not letting Michael's death go in vain! In the end, it was your fault for bullying me and Michael before I changed! Hell, I don't even know what I am because of you!"

Silvia yelled, "I didn't ask for you to sacrifice yourself to devirtualize me and fall into the digital sea!"

Rui took a breath to yell before swallowed it before looking away, "I don't know why I did that... but... I just couldn't watch you fall in."

Silvia calmed down and sat on her bed, "Look... we may not be friends... and I hate you... but we need to work together, alright?"

Rui agreed, "Yeah, and today I heard Vira's voice in the forest. She was taunting me with Michael's death."

Silvia looked at the photo, "That's cruel, even for her. He loved her, that's what he told me."

Rui clenched his hands, "I know... he worked day and night to help make her real. They talked all the time, he even asked me to steal a cell phone for him to use."

Silvia got up, "I think it's time for you to go to bed. You're still sensitive about his death, so you need to go to sleep. Don't even think of talking to me tomorrow, I want to make some new friends."

Rui begrudgingly agreed, "Fine... make your friends. I'll look around for anything that'll point us in the right direction."

Rui left Silvia's room to go back to his, leaving her to lie down and drift to sleep.

(Dream)

Michael: "Rui... you have to destroy the tower... *Cough*..."

Rui: "I can't Michael! They're too strong and Vira is helping them!"

Michael: "Rui... I'm bleeding pretty badly... I'll bring you two back. Save yourself."

Rui: "No! Michael! You have to leave! Shut the computer down! Forget about us!"

Silvia: "Forget about us? Speak for yourself! Devirtualize me!"

Michael: "I'm bringing you both back, I can't walk. I'm fading fast, devirtualize Rui... Silvia... *Thud*"

Rui: "Michael? Michael! Answer m-"

Silvia: "Ugh... why is it so hot?"

Rui: "Where's Michael?"

Silvia: "*gasp* He's... not breathing and there's so much blood! Who did this to him!?"

Rui: "Wait... is that the supercomputer making that noise?"

Silvia: "Oh my god... it's going to self-destruct! Run!"

Rui: "I can't leave without Michael!"

Silvia: "Then you can die with him! I'm going!"

Rui: "Damn her... Michael... you can't be... wait... a note?"

(Rui's room)

[The Next Morning]

Rui woke up, staring at the ceiling, "Great... a dream about voices... just what I needed."

Rui got up and saw the picture of him and Michael sitting on top of their orphanage's roof. It overlooked their city, with the city life absolutely buzzing with activity in the background. On the back, Michael wrote a little note telling him to follow his heart.

Rui whispered to himself, "Michael... what am I even doing? I can't even use the damn computer like you could... I'm just a slave waiting to be possessed. Did you send us here because it could lead to us freeing our friends... or did you do it to get us far away from Vira? You said we'd find the answer to Xana here, but will we?"

Rui got his clothes prepared before noticing a letter slipped under his door. It was a love letter from one of the girls in the academy, but he just ripped it up and threw it away thinking it was just a prank.

"I hate it when people try to pull those kinds of pranks." Rui mutters as he leaves his room.

(Cafeteria)

[Breakfast]

The group is eating together but Aelita keeps glancing at Rui, who's sitting alone again, as the others gossip among themselves.

Aelita speaks up, mostly to Jeremie, "What did you find?"

Jeremie fixed his glasses, "On him? I found his grades are quite good and he completely changed in appearance a few months ago. Not only that, but his entire school was destroyed in an explosion."

Aelita looked at Jeremie in shock, "An explosion?"

Jeremie nodded, "An explosion that originated from under the school to be exact."

Yumi looked at Odd and Ulrich who exchanged glances, "That sounds suspicious... something Xana would do."

Jeremie put his hands on the table, "Yes but Xana is gone and he's not coming back."

Aelita asked, "What about Vira?"

Jeremie sighed, "Absolutely nothing on her, or it, whatever Vira is."

Ulrich leaned over to look at Aelita, "Why the interest princess? For the past year you absolutely refused to even think of Xana, why now?"

Aelita bit her lip, "A hunch, something is off about those two."

Jeremie frowned, looking at his cup of water before saying, "We'll check the supercomputer after school. If Xana is back, it's bound to be on."

Aelita said, "That's not good enough. The supercomputer doesn't have to be on for Xana to be back."

Odd spoke up, "If we do turn it on, then Xana will have to rear his ugly head and then we'll know for sure."

Jeremie didn't look convinced, "Well..." He leaned back in defeat, "There really isn't anything to lose by turning on the supercomputer for a bit."

Aelita got up, "Then it's settled, we'll go after classes today."

(That's the end of the first chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please favorite, follow and review to support the story. Also, I'll be including end of chapter bios for characters introduced within the story to help you all better understand them if you care to know. :D Have a pleasant day!)

-End of chapter Character Bio-

Name: Rui Santos

Age: Sixteen years old

Height: five feet, seven centimeters / 167 centimeters / 1.67 meters tall

Eye Color: Left eye: forest green Hazel / Right Eye: Brown like oak

Hair color and style: Black, long and a bit spiky. A large strand tends to curl down and block his left eye from time to time.

Appearance: Slim build with firm scar-less, perfect skin and baring a calm expression most of the time. White Caucasian male typically wearing an unzipped dark colored sweater with a plain white muscle shirt underneath and black sneakers with red lacing. Rui typically likes to wear either dark colored shorts or tattered sweatpants depending on the day. All of Rui's clothing look as though they are never neatly pressed or folded, as if they're tossed on after grabbing whatever was nearest.

Lyoko Weapon: Rui has access to a small device on his chest that creates his armor and weapons. It was designed by Xana as a prototype to create the perfect avatar. It's very dangerous in the wrong hands, making Rui passive when it comes to using it, fearing its immense power. Xana still powers the suit's core, so using all its power at once may cause dire consequences. Rui's favorite weapons are his Rip Claws, two large black armored claws that cover his hands and can absorb attacks and fire them back. If too much is absorbed, the claws and his suit's core will self-destruct and leave Rui defenseless with one life-point.

Lyoko Abilities: Copycat - When wielding another avatar's weapon Rui can use one of the original owners' abilities.

Threat Level: Mild

Attitude: Hateful and distance, Rui used to be much kinder and happier before the tragedy that befell him and Silvia. The harsh bullying inflicted by Silvia and her friends forced him into a distrustful corner and with his only friend gone, he is consumed by the loneliness he feels in his heart. The final insult was inflicted by Xana himself when he possessed Rui and proceeded to rip him apart and reconstruct him as the first perfect organic being recreated by a computer program. After being saved from Xana, Rui faces immense depression because of the way he looks. It's fake, like a mask that looks better than you, but you just can't rip it off even if you cut it deep. Xana's ultimate insult, a perfect reminder that a machine is the only thing in this world that can make you look better than your own dreams. When he's alone Rui tends to injure his face, only to watch in dismay as his upgrades cause his cells to heal injuries quickly without leaving any scars. Something so inhumane, it goes to show how much of a freak he really is now. Despite all the turmoil, he also knows what's at stake if Xana can run amuck. After everything that happened, it's impossible for Rui to stand by and watch from a distance. He'll gladly put everything on the line to help stop Xana, even very gladly give up his own life to protect a normal human. A side no one will ever see until it's his last moment.

Past (Part 1): Lived his whole life as an orphan alongside his best friend, Michael. Michael was always the child who excelled and nearly was adopted multiple times for his intelligence, however he only wanted to be adopted by a family that adopted Rui as well. Rui, on the other hand, was not nearly as bright as Michael, to everyone else, and looked very rough and tattered wearing dirty worn-out clothing, messy tangled brown hair, and bad reputation given by the orphanage owners, leaving him unwanted. Instead, they were passed and merely went on with their lives the best they could. At school Rui couldn't make any other friends due to his distant attitude. Bullies tended to target him when he was alone but left him alone when Michael was around. Everyone just liked Michael, and this eventually led to Rui finding the super computer in their high school. Silvia and her three friends, Jay, Derek, and Angel, tormented Rui because they wanted Michael to stop being friends with him and be friends with them. One day they locked Rui in a locker, and while he thrashed about inside, he fell back down a flight of stone stairs. The back of his skull met the last step hard and left him unconscious for a day before being found by Michael and his tormentors. (To be continued by Silvia's Part...)