Disclaimer: Don't own Code Lyoko
It was a very bright day for the students enrolled at Kadic boarding school. Not only was the sun shinning, reflecting off the now plentiful snow, but having been released for Christmas break made the day all the more enjoyable. However, it was by no means a warm day. Occasionally, gusts of cold winds would blow over the skyline descending rapidly on the populace below. Never daunted, the students continued on with their day. In fact, the school buzzed with frequent movement as students drifted from building to building.
Most would be leaving soon to reunite with loved ones, while others were merely walking about campus without a preset destination. Everywhere one-looked, students were either getting ready to depart for their homes or saying their temporary farewells to friends and faculty. Yes, it was somewhat of a bittersweet moment for some… and one of slight nostalgia for others.
Jeremy Belpois stood in slight amusement at how much things had changed since his time at Kadic. The school was definitely more populated now then it had ever been. Everywhere his eyes darted swarms of students could be seen talking and laughing among themselves. In fact, there really wasn't anything that seemed to be out of place, everything seemed all right… normal.
'Never got use to that while I was here,' thought the young adult, adjusting his glasses as he did so. Hands in pockets, he drifted around aimlessly, recognizing very few faces from the crowds. People sped past him with little care of who he was…or if he even belonged at the school. 'Security is as great as ever,' thought Jeremy, amused at just how easily he blended into the myriad of young scholars…although his height did alienate him from most.
"Well, aren't you right on time as always, Mr. Belpois."
Jeremy turned to the source of the voice, a bit taken by surprise, and saw someone that he clearly remembered at Kadic. While most things had, to a degree, changed, it was nice to know that some things hadn't. Having fully turned to see his guest, Jeremy smiled at the all too familiar form of Jim Morales.
Jim came to a halt; his serious demeanor soon gave way to a grin. "Funny, don't really remember you being so punctual when it came to your gym classes."
'Yup, still same old Jim.' Jeremy smiled while lazily shrugging his shoulders, "Good to see you too Jim. Take it that you're doing well?"
The elder of the two smiled all too confidently, "You kidding? It's going to take a lot more than these multitudes of troublemakers to get 'The Jim' worn out. Yes sir, if you and the rest of the fierce less five couldn't handle me then none of these kids stand a chance."
'Oh yes,' thought Jeremy, 'some things never change'.
"Which reminds me, where is the rest of the group? Isn't one of them your girl friend or something?"
Jeremy blushed as thoughts of a certain pink haired young lady popped into his mind. He adverted Jim's gaze ever so casually, hoping to hide the tint of pink that was still rushing to his face. 'Smooth Jeremy real smooth, some things really don't change', cursed the youth, hastily trying to diminish the small amount of heat he felt lingering on his cheeks.
However, the relatively recent Kadic graduate never got the chance to fully regain his composure, as two giant hands firmly clapped down on both of his shoulders. Evidently startled out of his thoughts, Jeremy jerked his head upward to find Jim looking down at him.
'What…?'
"Don't let it get you down, things don't always work out. Woman… they break your heart!" cried a seemingly hysterical Jim with a fully closed fist, hovering above his chest.
"W-what! It's nothing like that Jim! She's just busy right now and couldn't come is all. Same thing with Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd—they're all very busy," defended a somewhat confused Jeremy. He allowed himself to take a deep breath before adjusting his glasses, more out of habit than necessity.
The veteran Gym teacher took the reply as truth and didn't push the subject any further. "Well then, it's nice to know all of you still keep in touch. Now, what have you bee— Jim did not have the chance to verbalize his question completely, courtesy of a petite mass of snow making contact with the back of his head.
Turning in a flash and brushing off the snow as he did so, Jim easily identified the culprits responsible. Jeremy held back a laugh, so as to not irritate his friend any further, and followed the gaze of said person that landed on a couple of kids, who were already in quick flight, laughing in the process. "Come back here! I'll get you, you little pranksters!" Having said that, Jim took off without another word in quick pursuit, leaving Jeremy to witness the spectacle before him.
"I'll see you later Jim!" Hollered Jeremy, releasing the short bursts of chuckles as Jim disappeared behind a building.
Cold air cut his laughter. Out of reflex he squinted his eyes and endured the cold sensation coursing through out most of his body. Even with winter clothing one could tell the temperature was dropping, the wind was only a reminder of that. Slipping his hands in his pockets, while shivering slightly, Jeremy made his way inside the walls of Kadic Academy. He was glad to leave the cold air behind, and gave silent thanks as he walked into the warmer atmosphere.
The recent arrived visitor continued through the halls wondering what he should next. 'Hmm, I haven't seen Ms. Hertz in a while; maybe a small hello would be appropriate before I make my way into Principal Delma's office,' thought the male.
The echoes of the students outside died down as he stepped further inside, where, surprisingly, there wasn't as much commotion. He made his way down the halls of the school, a small skip to his steps.
SCXXX.
Code, code, code and more code. That's all that Karim thought about as he typed away endlessly, his eyes never for a second leaving the large computer screen before him.
The power was back, well mostly. The technicians were currently trying to pry open the ground door shielding the terminal underneath his current position; they were able to rewire parts of the grid to a stable power generator, however. Allowing him to use and access the basic functions of the stationary computer in front of him. Nevertheless, it would be necessary for the next few steps that he had access to the super computer power terminal below. That, however, could wait for now; first he had to decrypt, filter, stabilize, and construct the multitudes of code logarithms. A task that by all means and purposes was almost complete—partially.
He had seen the scanners down below, and was delighted, to say the least, when they were discovered to be in relatively good shape. It would not take long to get them up and running again, assuming they can fully turn the super computer back on without too much difficulty. 'Let's just hope they can get the terminal back to the surface…without destroying it.'
The sound of keyboards clicking died down abruptly, as the typist halted to inspect his progress. He was pleased at what the computer screen illustrated before him, it was almost finished, something that made him all the more content with the overall progress of his labor. In truth, and as he had predicted, the first few days of working in the factory yielded little forward momentum. While most electrical problems were fixed without any hassle, the computer in front of him was a different story altogether. Some one had purposely locked just about every system that the device carried; even the basic software, which was a pain to unlock, had malicious, but, in his opinion, sophisticated code restricting its accessibility.
He would still be unable to access the majority of the super computer systems, even without the strings of code blocking him passage, but he was able to unlock the necessary fields to complete his current task. 'That will do for now', thought Karim having done as much as he could with the super computer still in a sense, down. He rose from the chair and allowed himself to stretch his fingers before heading toward the elevator a few feet away.
As he waited for the elevator to reach his level he pulled out his cell phone, and, much against his will, read the message displayed on the screen. A noisy thud signaled the opening of the elevator door where he stepped inside; the door closed soon afterward, and within seconds opened again to expose him to the bright rays of the sun that leaked in through the many destroyed windows of the old complex.
Karim let out a tired sigh and made his way toward the exit, eager to escape the iron walls of the metal edifice. He made his way to his vehicle and waved to a few technicians standing rather stoic outside. 'They could at least pretend to be doing something that could pass off as work, instead of just staring at the snow like children'. Karim picked up his paste, as he took out his car keys ready to depart; however, such a thing was not to happen.
"Hey! Stop that kid! Get her!" shouted one of the laborers midway on the bridge.
Karim dropped his keys immediately and ran to the railing overseeing the river. He hurriedly glanced at the worker, who was peering down over the bridge. Karim's head turned downward, eyes scanning for said child left and right, cursing under his breath. He spotted the child quickly on what appeared to be a makeshift raft, paddling with great ferocity toward the ledge a few ways down from his position.
Normally Karim, and the rest of the staff, would dismiss such a scene as a mere children's game, but not this one. For wrapped around the child's neck and hanging from a strap was a small dark camera, its lens reflecting a small amount of sunlight.
'Blasted', was Karim's only thought as he screamed orders to the immediate group of lookouts around him. The lookouts didn't mind much to what ever he was screaming. They were already in hot pursuit of the girl, some along the waters edge pushing her to make land and others on the street above, waiting to cut her off.
Karim heard the worker that spotted the girl come and stand next to him; he didn't bother to pay attention, for his eyes were fixated on the present situation.
"I apologize for the turn in events sir, the barriers must of have not been clear enough," said the person.
"They are, this one's just very curious apparently. Make sure they bring her to me—but don't hurt her. The last thing we need is more unwanted attention. Bring all of her belongings with her—make sure they don't let her leave anything hidden behind, and get Florent on a line… he'll want to hear about this."
"Yes sir, right away sir." said the worker, already moving to follow through with his commands.
Karim kept on looking in the same direction; his eyes followed the general direction in which the girl was attempting to flee. The gears in his head turned once more, trying to come up with a solution to the new predicament. She wouldn't get far, that was certain. Glancing at the river, he pondered on how cold the water must be. The child's raft didn't seem sturdy, rather home made. She was sure to get wet.
Gathering these thoughts and letting out yet another sigh, Karim was beginning to see what this child could be—and what she could not. Judging by her clothes, which was nothing fancy nor out of the ordinary. As well as her relatively small height all supported his idea. A small smile spread across his lips as he eyed the horizon in the far distance, following her trajectory.
'From Kadic are we?'
SCXXX.
"Come back here you brat!" was the shout that rang through out parts of the streets as the Kadic student ran in a desperate attempt to lose her pursuers. No sooner had she touched land did she spot multiple men swarming after her. Luckily, she managed to evade all of their attempts to cut her off, but she was getting tired and the numb feeling that was crawling up her legs was starting to wear her down.
The make shift raft she had graciously borrowed proved to be anything but waterproof. Her damp pants, soaked from the knees down, were the evidence of that.
Pausing to hide behind a tree, the young journalist tried to steady her breath. 'Just a little bit farther and I'll be home free' she thought sinking down alongside the length of the tree, her legs giving way under her. Shivering, she continued to breathe heavily, while pulling her knees close to her chest. 'Jeez, I imagined the water being cold but never like this' she thought while hugging herself with more intensity, hoping to retain as much heat as possible.
She tried ignoring the sensation to no avail. Toes, feet, and knees became stiff while a similar process was beginning to overcome her arms. All at the same time she felt her body pulse, hungry for warmth. A small blade of grass caught her attention. It remained still for the most part; it swayed ever so often, the wind bending it to its will.
Out of reflex she clutched her stomach as it growled, or at least she thought she heard it. 'Really…shouldn't have skipped breakfast.'
Shaking her head and supplying a small amount of pressure on her lower lip, slowly permitted for the youth to ignore the cold and mindless thoughts. 'Not good, definitely not good, I need to get back to the school and see Mrs. Yolande.'
Unfortunately for the youth, the probability of reaching Kadic did not look too reassuring. The wind picked up—beating against her already weathered body. In addition, her feet were starting to feel like stones, running would not be a simple task.
'Running'. Forcing herself up again, the dark haired child continued to her destination. 'It's okay…you'll be fine, just as long as those guys don't come back.'
Glancing backward she found no indication that she was still being followed. Thankful, she pushed her body's cry for rest to the back of her mind. Holding the camera close to her chest reminded her of how she got herself into this mess, not to mention those who were making it worse.
'What is with those guys? It's not like I stole something or anything like that. The pictures I took hardly have anything exciting, just a bunch of old guys standing around.' Sighing, the girl frowned in discontent, having failed to find a story worthy of attention. 'Should have slept in today…or at least eaten breakfast,' she wishfully pondered while making a sharp turn, only to fall flat on her back quickly afterward.
She slowly opened her eyes in search of an explanation, groaning and massaging the back of her head in the process. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," offered the girl, still on the ground while slowly directing her eyes upward.
There was no response from the other end, or ends, as a group of tall men rapidly found themselves staring at the person below—looking rather displeased. Before she could realize what was going on she was raised off the ground, two arms firmly grasping at her own.
"Hey, what are you doing? Let go of me, or I'll scream," spat the girl gradually coming too. It was then that she noticed that one of the men was looking at something. Failing to feel the familiar touch of an object against her stomach the girl continued to shout—this time with greater ferocity.
"That's my camera! Give it back you freak!" The girl continued to squirm in the arms of her captors. However, all of her efforts went unrewarded. The sounds of protest continued as the girl was carried away into a vehicle. The sound of the door closing quickly isolated her from the outside world.
SCXXX.
"Well sir, I really don't think I'll be staying long. It's been very nice though; coming and being able to see everyone again." Jeremy replied to the principal's question with a content look on his face.
He had spent the last thirty minutes talking to the principal about recent developments since last years visit. In truth, not much had happened since his departure from Kadic—nothing that wouldn't be expected from an excellent programmer that is. Life had been rather lax for the former Lyoko warrior. No monsters or crazy entities trying to take over the world to rob his attention. Life, quite ordinary, occupied most of his time now.
"Don't worry, the school will be pretty much empty after most of the students leave on vacation anyway. Although, I'm happy to hear that you're doing exceptional since your last visit." Delmas paused, proud and pleased that one of his formal students was achieving his goals, focused on his academics. 'You really are making everyone proud Jeremy.'
The educator's smile returned, "If you're willing, I would be delighted to have you come in and talk to some our students. I'm sure some would be most interested in listening to your advice. Some students need an example to follow; someone to demonstrate that great strife does bare its fruits." Said Delmas, maintaining a perfect posture through out the duration of the conversation.
Jeremy was a little surprised to hear his former principal's request. Not that he couldn't handle it, but he never really imagined himself as a role model for others to follow. Sure, he had done some remarkable work as a programmer in the last couple of years; he had even received invitations from some of Europe's most reputable technical institutions—but an invitation to be a public speaker?
'Funny, I knew life was full of surprises, never saw this coming though.' Fumbling with his hands, Jeremy let the idea set in for a while.
'I'm sure Aelita would scold me for letting this pass up, uh…it would definitely give me something to talk about.' Ignoring the nervous feeling creeping in his stomach, Jeremy met the principal's stare and nodded.
Jeremy cleared his throat. "I guess I could find some time and come back sometime during the school year; sure, I would be happy to help sir."
Delma's nodded accordingly to his guest, his smile never dissipating. "Of course Jeremy, let me know when your available to come in and we'll schedule an appropriate time."
A creaking sound stopped Jeremy from continuing with the conversation. Both him and Delma's turned their heads slightly so as to face the opening door.
The form of Nicole Weber hurriedly stepped in the room, a worried look on her face.
"Is there a something wrong Ms. Weber?" Delmas said, rising from his chair.
Jeremy waited along with Delmas for a reply. He was a bit perplexed by the state of the secretary in front of him. 'Don't remember her being the type to disrupt one of Delma's appointments—at least not like this anyway.'
Ms. Weber eyed the principal's current guest cautiously, "No sir not at all, there's just some one who wishes to speak with you—in private."
Delmas raised an eyebrow; he did not recall scheduling anything today other than the present conversation. "Can it wait?"
"I'm afraid not sir," answered the secretary, glancing at Jeremy. "It's rather urgent," softly declared Ms. Weber, but loud enough for both men to hear.
Understanding, Jeremy rose from his seat. "It was nice seeing you again sir. I'll be sure to send your regards to the others."
"I will be sure to get in contact with you to arrange everything, I apologize for the interruption." Delmas offered his hand, which Jeremy gladly accepted. "Take good care, and sorry again."
"Likewise sir and I don't mind," having finished, Jeremy moved to the exit. He waved to Ms. Weber who didn't seem to notice him pass by. 'Ok…something has definitely happened.'
As he stepped out of the room Jeremy found the sudden arrival no more than two feet from the doorway. He was dressed formally, tie and everything, waiting patiently for his cue to enter. The tall, light skinned male didn't seem to belong to the Kadic staff. Around thirty or so, the man appeared to be from the state—or a representative of sorts.
The man stepped to his side and allowed Jeremy to pass, eyeing him from the corner of his eye for a split second.
Jeremy sensed his gaze, but decided to ignore it. 'Definitely don't remember him being here.' As he left the scene before him, Jeremy's face turned stern. He didn't like what was going on. 'I know I'm just being paranoid…but I think I'll stop by the factory today, just to check.' With that final thought in mind, Jeremy turned to eye the man before he disappeared into Delma's office.
Delmas was still at his desk when Ms. Weber closed the door, leaving his new arrived guest in front of him. "Is there something I can help you with Mr.…"
An arm was already stretched out toward Delmas by the time he finished "Please, call me Karim, Karim Girard."
A/N: Well finals are over. Anyway, hope I didn't go too OC, let me know if I made a mistake. As for the breaks between scenes, I'll fix that come around next chapter. Hope they made it in this one though. Later.