A/N: Okay, so I have finally gotten around to uploading the next chapter of this story. I apologize for taking so long but I had just started my first semester of college so things got a little hecktic. :P But then I had time to write over winter break (with was a whole month! :D) so here is the next installment. I probably wont be able to write again until May. So when summer comes along, hopefully you will get two chapters over the three months that I get off.

So anyway, enjoy this next exciting chapter!

Disclaimer: You know what? Screw this. I don't own Treasure Planet. This is getting redundant. I shouldn't have to do this every chapter. You suck!

Chapter 6

Expelled

Jim slept terribly that night, tossing and turning in his bed. His thoughts kept wandering to the situation going on right under the military's nose. He tried to put what little pieces he had together but they all seemed to be part of different sections of the puzzle. Nothing seemed to fit and it was driving Jim mad. What had the attempted assassination of the General and the replacement of those papers have to do with each other? Ideas of what might be going on entered Jim's head and he dismissed each one of them in turn, each one more crazy and unrealistic than the next. Thoughts of this kind and others floated in and out of his brain until his body grew weary and he drifted into a fitful slumber.

The sun shone through his window the next morning and Jim woke with a start. Sweat covered his body and soaked through his sheets from the anxiety of his nightmare. He remembered only bits and pieces, and a man in a black cloak entering the room through the window. But just as he recalled the images in his head, they disappeared, so suddenly that Jim wondered if he even had a dream at all.

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Jim climbed out if his bed and undressed in the bathroom. The water was cold and Jim thought that maybe the water heater in the school must have been broken. It didn't matter to him either way. After months aboard the RLS Legacy, a warm shower or even a shower at all was a luxury. His only opportunity out in space to shower was the rare occasion when the Celestial Showers happened to cross their path, and those waters were not very good for his skin. After he washed, his skin would become dry and cracked and itch something terrible. But at least he didn't smell; that was the important thing.

He turned off the water and dried himself with his towel. He dressed in his boring, white and gold uniform and grabbed his book bag. He headed off to breakfast and met Frank and Estella in the hallway. Kelly was nowhere to be found, much to Jim's relief. He supposed she was at breakfast or still in her room. Either way, he still hoped that she would show up at the last possible minute so they could talk to Dr. Skivonovitch and he would spend the least amount of time he could with her that day. He didn't want anymore criticisms about his plans and unprovoked insults from her.

The mess hall was packed with gossiping students about General Delroy. Jim heard many outrageous rumors from some of the younger students and he rolled his eyes. These kids didn't really know what was going on and they came up with the wildest stories. He nearly choked on his own spit when he overheard one student tell another that the General was really a pirate in his spare time and he was assaulted by one of the people he cheated for money. Honestly, the things people think up.

Jim got his food and sat down at the end of one of the long tables. He grimaced at his plate of what looked like blue jell-o pig slop. He scooped it up in his spoon and took one bite and wasn't at all surprised when it tasted good. The food they served at the Academy looked disgusting but was really the most delicious food he had ever eaten, aside from his mother's cooking of course.

His second mouthful was interrupted by a voice he hoped he wouldn't hear until later that day.

"So Jimmy-boy, when are we going to present our findings to the good Doctor?"

Jim set his spoon down and glared at his food. He didn't even bother looking up at Kelly. There was no point, but he wanted to glare at something and he just happened to be looking at his plate at the time.

"Well, I was thinking, after—" but he was cut off by the loud speaker echoing in the large mess hall.

"Attention all students and staff members, we have received word on General Delroy's assassination case."

"'Assassination'?" Jim questioned, "I thought it was 'Attempted Assassination'."

"Shush!" Kelly yelled at him.

Jim shut up in time to hear what the announcer had to say.

"The person responsible for the murder has been caught. Unfortunately, he died before we could get any useful information from him. The General himself, on the other hand, was found dead in his hospital bed this morning. The General seemed to have died sometime over night. His funeral will be held two days from today and all of you are invited to attend. Classes are suspended for the time being and will resume in one week. At that time, the new General will be running the school. Your new Headmaster of the Academy is now General Burrell. That is all."

Jim just sat on his bench with Kelly standing behind him, shock written all over his face. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Frank and Estella reached their table and she waved and hand in front of his face. He looked at Frank with a blank expression and didn't notice Kelly sitting down on the bench right next to him.

"Dead?" Jim asked to no one in particular, "But, that means…"

"Something is not right here," Kelly mumbled, "And did you hear that guy on the announcement system? He wasn't all that choked up about the General's death."

"Frank?" Jim noticed that his friend wasn't talking to anyone and wasn't even eating his breakfast, "Are you alright? You're not eating anything."

Frank slowly shifted his gaze to Jim and stared blankly at his face. It was almost as if he wasn't even looking at him, only gazing through him and through everything else. He looked back down at his food in front of him, staring at it like he didn't know why it was there. Not taking his eyes off his feet, Frank stood up out of his chair and walked out of the mess hall without incident.

"Is he alright?" Kelly asked Estella.

"I don't know. Ever since the announcement, he hasn't spoken or even acknowledged anyone."

Jim looked out the door where Frank had just exited and rose out of his chair. Excusing himself from Kelly and Estella, he followed him out into the hall. Frank wasn't to be found in the entrance hall to the school nor did Jim find him in their dorm room. He paused to think of any other place that he might be and finally figured out where he might have gone. Judging by his reaction after the announcement, he must have known the General personally otherwise his death would not have affected him so. Running through the hallways, Jim reached the former General's office and pushed open the door slowly. It creaked only slightly before stopping at a near ninety degree angle.

Frank sat on the floor at the back of General Delroy's classroom. He was silent and unmoving with his face resting in his hands. Jim stood behind the last row of desks, looking sympathetically at his friend on the floor. He looked broken, defeated, and altogether alone. The poor guy was torn buy the Generals death and Jim had yet to determine the real reason why.

"Frank? You alright?" Jim asked him.

"I don't know," was his only reply.

"You want to talk about it?"

"I…" Frank paused as if he was considering what he had to say, but continued anyway. "He..he was like my uncle."

Frank lifted his head up from his hands and Jim noticed the tracks of tears running down his scaly face, darkening it in the faint light from the window. His eyes were slightly red and the large scales that rose from the top of his head were flattened slightly in his grief.

"General Delroy, when I was little and my father took me here during his work; the General would invite me into his office and show me around the school. He would show me all the vehicles in what is now Ms. Greenham's class, even occasionally take me on rides and he would let me watch the martial arts students practice. He was…" Frank choked up. He paused for only a moment before he swallowed the lump in his throat and finished his sentence, "he was so nice to me, even when I…even when I would break something valuable in his office due to my…my clumsiness. He would never get mad at me; never yell at me for misbehaving."

Jim felt horrible for his best friend. He never knew how close he was with the General and now that he was gone, he would never see for himself the bond those two had. It was sad enough to break his heart to see how much pain Frank was in. He wanted to make him feel better; to help him if he could but Jim knew that nothing he did would help much. All he would do was comfort him as best he could and let time do the rest.

"I was always so excited to come to the Academy with my father when I was younger," Frank continued, wiping a tear off his face, "Now that, he's gone, it seems as if that excitement will never come back…" Frank's voice seemed to die there and fresh tears streamed from his yellow eyes and dripped on to his white Academy uniform.

Jim sat down next to him on the hard floor and placed his hand on Frank's shoulder. "I'm sorry," was all he said.

Frank grabbed Jim's hand that lay on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. He looked his best friend in the eye and smiled, silently thanking him for listening and being there when he needed him most. Jim smiled back and grasped Frank's shoulders with his arm.

Just then, Dr. Skivonovitch walked into the room and Jim saw Kelly out in the hall, watching them. Dr. Skivonovitch crouched down in front of his son and held his hand out to him. Frank took it and his father pulled his son to his feet. Jim stood up with them and watched as Frank allowed his father to embrace him in a large embrace.

Jim, feeling as if he should leave them alone for a while, left the room and joined Kelly out in the hall. She looked at him meaningfully and Jim returned her with a quizzical look that seemed to say what? What is that look for? Kelly just rolled her eyes and shut the door to the General's old classroom to shut off her words from Frank and his father. She looked down both directions of the hall and told him what was on her mind.

"We should talk to Dr. Skivonovitch now," she told him flat out.

"Now? If you haven't noticed, he's kind of busy right now," Jim replied, referring to him comforting his son in the classroom.

"I didn't mean right this second you moron," Kelly shot back, irritated, "I meant after he is finished talking with Frank."

"Oh," Jim said.

He and Kelly waited out in the hall for about ten minutes before Frank opened the door with a tear stained face and a rather depressed looking father. Kelly placed her hand on Frank's shoulder and he stopped and smiled at her, showing that he appreciated her concern. He walked off back to the dorms. At the moment, Jim knew that what he really needed was to be alone for a while. He felt awful for his friend and he watched him sulk down the hall to the other end of the school.

As Dr. Skivonovitch exited the room and before he turned down the hallway, Kelly stopped him in his tracks by stepping in front of his path. He stopped and looked down at the skinny blonde that blocked his path. Her expression was so serious that it gave Jim shivers down his spine. It looked almost exactly the same as the expression she wore whenever they would spar together, except this look had an intensity to it that would stop a charging Heckladon* in its tracks.

"Sir," she said, "We have something extremely important to speak with you about."

The look in her green eyes told him enough to have guessed something was wrong and in urgent need to be thought over. After hearing the tone in her voice, he nodded and led them to his office. Once inside, he locked the door behind him so no one would walk in on their conversation.

"What is it?" he asked them.

Jim looked at Kelly as if expecting her to start, to say something to that would get the ball rolling. She just looked right back at him and her eyes told him that this was his idea and that he should be the one to convey the message. Finding his words, Jim cleared his throat and began to tell their story.

"Sir," he said, "We have reason to believe that the General's death was not an accident or failed health. We believe that he was murdered."

Dr. Skivonovitch's eyebrows rose at the word 'murder'. His whole body stiffened and his clawed hands balled up into fists. "Oh?" He walked over to the window and looked out onto the lawn. "And what makes you think that?"

Jim relayed the events of two days ago. When he told Dr. Skivonovitch that both he and Kelly were behind the kitchens, alone, he earned a glare from the blonde standing next to him. He couldn't blame her. He too thought that their situation was a little suggestive. When he finished with the part where they told the General about their concerns, Dr. Skivonovitch was seated in his chair with his chin in his hands looking pensive. When he didn't speak for a minute or two, Kelly tried to strengthen their defenses so as not to make them seem too insane for suggesting that Mr. Burrell and Mr. Fallus were murderers.

"Sir, I know how this must look but I assure you that we—"

"I believe you."

"I—what?" Jim looked completely shocked, with his mouth hanging open and his hand stopped in mid gesture. Kelly didn't look any better. Her eyes were wide in disbelief and her back was straight and stiff. "You, you believe us?" Jim asked, amazed, "But we have no proof."

"You have proof enough," Dr. Skivonovitch replied, "Your story fits in with what investigating I have done myself, and it fits with the events that have just occurred."

"Investigating? What exactly have you been investigating?" Kelly asked.

"I've been discreetly looking into the fact that the acceptance letters to this school are being planted. More and more students are entering in to this school who shouldn't and I have found out that someone has been choosing favorites and letting them into this Academy."

Jim and Kelly exchanged glances. They knew who exactly was doing that and they had seen him do it.

"Sir, we know who is doing that. We saw it happen." Jim said.

"Who? It may help to know why this is all happening."

Jim preceded to tell Dr. Skivonovitch that they saw Mr. Burrell and Mr. Fallus in the General's office slipping a packet of papers into another, larger pile of papers that were placed in a drawer in the General's desk. Again, they were in a place where they shouldn't have been, alone and close together. The humiliation was close to unbearable but the teacher had to know. It seemed as if there was no end to their awkward situations.

The Mechanics Teacher had his arms crossed on his chest and looked down at his desk, not really seeing it but rather seeing the pieces of the puzzle coming together. The only problem being that they didn't have all the pieces yet so the picture was still incomprehensible. He leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin before speaking.

"You haven't told this to anybody?" He asked them, "Not even Frank or Estella?"

"No sir."

"Good, keep it that way. I want you two to be extremely careful around General Burrell. Act normal, as if nothing's wrong and let nothing slip that we know what he is up to. He must think that his plan, whatever it is, is going smoothly. And try avoiding any confrontations if you can, we can't have you two getting in any more trouble, understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Right, you are dismissed. And remember, tell no one."

Jim and Kelly nodded and left. Before Jim exited the room, he turned and asked one more question.

"Sir? Why is it that Mr. Burrell has now been promoted to General?"

Dr. Skivonovitch looked over to him from the window. "Chain of Command," he said, "Since General Burrell was a former Colonel, and he was the next highest person to take charge."

"Oh, thank you."

Jim shut the door after himself and joined Kelly in the hall. Neither of them noticed the shadowy figure hiding behind the marble statue next to the door as they made their way to their dorms.

General Delroy's funeral was held two days later as the announcement said. The weather was cloudy and dreary with a light rain. The memorial service was held under a large tent and the sound of the tiny water droplets hitting the thick fabric nearly drowned out the voices of those making speeches. Many students attended the funeral and almost all of the people were crying or trying not to cry. Those that didn't seem fazed at all was, to no surprise of Jim or Kelly, the new General Burrell, Mr. Fallus the janitor and many of the students of Estella's race.

Frank was mess throughout the entire service. He held himself composed as best he could but he had trouble when his father stood up at the podium to give his speech. Jim knew he was sad seeing tears stream down his face and drop into his lap but he was surprised to see the seven and half foot tall lizard man cry his heart out with his head on Estella's shoulder. His shoulders heaved every time he took and breath and his eyes were red and puffy as even more tears escaped. The sympathy Jim felt for his best friend grew as he saw him broken and shattered in the seat next to him.

The speeches ended and the casket was carried outside into the pouring rain to be placed in the cold wet ground. Everyone followed with their black umbrellas and raincoats like a ghostly parade. Frank, Estella, Kelly and Jim were close to the front of the caravan, with the General leading the way to his burial grounds. Under the trees at the graveyard, the four of them along with half the student body and all the staff members watched solemnly as the casket was lowered slowly into the ground and covered with dirt. Jim gently squeezed Frank's arm and he knew that on Frank's other side, Estella was doing the same thing with his hand.

The General was buried and the grave stone placed above him for a marker and a reminder of his memory and Frank was still standing over him, along with a few other members of his family. Estella stood by him, grasping his hand and placing her head on his shoulder to keep him company and to offer what comfort she could. Jim and Kelly stood away by a nearby tree waiting patiently for their friends to return to school.

Kelly, Jim noticed, was more agreeable than she had ever been around him before. It seemed that the depressive air around them calmed her down to where she wasn't as 'difficult' as she had been. He thought that now was the best time to discuss the goings on at their school and see if they couldn't do anything about it.

"Kelly," he said softly.

Kelly looked up at him and had a blank expression covering her face. "What?"

"I really think that we should figure out what Mr. Burrell is up to and fast before he has the chance to kill someone else."

She frowned at him and looked away, "You heard what Dr. Skivonovitch told us. Try and avoid any confrontations and act as if nothing is wrong. He will take care of it and he was right. We can't afford to get in anymore trouble."

"I know what he said but he didn't specifically state that we should not do some investigating ourselves. As long as we don't get caught, I don't think there should be any trouble."

"And if we do get caught?"

Jim paused. She was right. There was a possibility that they could get caught and if that happened than they could ruin all the work Dr. Skivonovitch put into finding culprit. Then again, they could find something that could help him, help all of them. He knew they would be taking a great risk, investigating on their own but the reward was too great.

"We won't get caught," he finally said.

Kelly raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And you know this how?"

"Look, with your skills at sneaking about—"

"It's called stealth you moron," Kelly lightly snapped at him.

"—and my observation skills we shouldn't have any trouble." Jim finished, ignoring Kelly's remark.

Kelly frowned, thinking about the odds. She also knew the risks they would be taking but she also weighed in the fact that what they would be dong could be extremely beneficial. She shrugged and rolled her eyes. She hated to admit it but Jim was right and she agreed with him. Swallowing her pride she nodded.

"Alright," she said, "But if we do get caught, I'm blaming you and getting out of there."

"Fair enough," Jim said, not really thinking it fair that she would sell him out the moment things went south but not willing to argue with her and have her change her mind.

The day after the funeral was the agreed day that Jim and Kelly were to search General Burrell's office. The morning on that day went by as usual with the exception of the gloomy atmosphere that lingered in every room, hallway and closet. The first half of the day went by without incident and lunch was quiet but anything but peaceful. It was eerie and Jim didn't like the fact that Frank and Estella were not talking. Usually she and Frank talked all lunch but the depression he was feeling must have scared his voice away because he wasn't even talking to Jim.

Lunch was almost over and not having classes for another three days, the four of them were planning on spending the afternoon outside, lounging in the sun. Kelly was about to get out of her chair and head out to the grass when the loud speaker crackled to life.

"Would Dr. Skivonovitch, Kelly Watchman and James Hawkins report to the General's office immediately? I repeat, Dr. Skivonovitch, Kelly Watchman and James Hawkins report to General Burrell's office. Thank you."

Jim and Kelly exchanged glances then looked at Frank and Estella. Jim knew something was wrong and he could tell that Kelly knew too by the look on her face. Estella looked confused and Frank just looked as if this happened every day.

"It's okay," Frank said, "We'll wait for you outside."

Jim nodded, thankful that Frank was talking again. He and Kelly left the mess hall and ignored all the eyes that followed them out into the hall. The met up with Dr. Skivonovitch outside of the General's office. They stopped and the lizard man looked at them with a slightly accusing face.

"We didn't say or do anything," Kelly defended.

"I sure you didn't but someone tipped him off that we know and now we are in deep trouble. Just let me do all the talking and we will get out of this mess, I promise." Dr. Skivonovitch grasped the door knob but before he opened the door, he paused and turned to the two students behind him. "Remember, I will do all the talking." Satisfied that both Jim and Kelly nodded their heads in comprehension, he pushed open the door and walked inside.

General Burrell sat behind his desk and looked at the three of them with an expression that could only have been described as smug satisfaction. Standing next to him was the two students that gained Jim and his friends, minus Estella, the detention from hell and helped in the assassination of General Delroy, looking triumphant and excited at the same time. Jim scowled at them and stood behind Dr. Skivonovitch and alongside Kelly.

"Sir, you asked to see us?" Dr. Skivonovitch questioned the new General.

"Yes I did. Major Skivonovitch," General Burrell turned official and stood up to walk around to the front of his desk, "you are hereby relieved of your duties as a professor and officer of this school. You may leave the premises as soon as your office is cleared out. Hand over your uniform and officer colors by tomorrow morning. You are dismissed."

Dr. Skivonovitch looked stunned and shocked. His eyes grew wide and his mouth hung open slightly before his fists clenched at his sides and his jaw clamped shut from anger.

"You're firing me sir?" he asked quietly.

"That is another way of putting it, yes."

"I see sir," he mumbled through his clenched jaw, "Thank you sir." He saluted and left the room.

Jim was surprised. He had his suspicions on what would happen when they entered the office but he wasn't expecting this. If Dr. Skivonovitch was getting fired than what would happen to him and Kelly? Definitely nothing good. He stood in the room, facing his enemies with the enemy of his enemies next to him and the one person who should have been able to get them out of this mess was fired and sent away. Could this situation get any worse?

"Now, Miss Watchman, Mr. Hawkins. Let us discuss your dorm rooms."

What!? Their dorm rooms? Surely this must be a trick of some sort. He must be trying to divert their attention elsewhere to get them to let something slip. Wary of every word that he said, Jim answered cautiously.

"Yes sir? What about them?"

"Well, Mr. Jenson and Mr. Hathaway here had a few suspicions about why you and Miss Watchman here continued to visit each other's rooms at ungodly hours of the night and even extremely early in the morning."

Oh God, they didn't think that he and Kelly were 'going' together did they? Even the thought of it made Jim a little queasy. That was not the way they acted around each other and if those two trouble makers had half a brain they would have figure that out.

"So, I had a few of the security guards search your rooms and do you know what they found?"

"No sir," Jim and Kelly said at the same time. He could hear the revulsion in her voice and he knew that she was thinking the exact same thing he was.

General Burrell smiled and all-knowing smile that Jim didn't like in the least and he motioned for the aquamarine student that Jim assumed to be Mr. Jenson, to hand him something. Jenson reached under the desk and pulled out a small glass case that enclosed a shaking pink blob. At movement of the case, the blob shifted and turned to face the people in the room.

"Morph!" Jim breathed.

"Ah, so you know this little animal?"

Jim cursed himself and Kelly glared at him. He had given himself away, just as the General had planned. He had fallen into his trap and hadn't even known it. He was busted and he was the one that tattled on himself.

"Yes sir," was all he could say. Lying would not help him now.

"And you are aware that you promised to return him to your hometown the next time you visited?"

"Yes sir."

"And yet you continued to bring him to the Academy even though you knew that keeping pets is strictly against school policy?"

"No sir."

"No? Explain to me why this is Mr. Hawkins."

"Well sir, I took him back home as I said I would but every time I tried to leave without him he would shift into something small and sneak himself into my bag."

"Is that so?"

"Yes sir."

"And you Miss Watchman," he turned to Kelly, "Did you know about this animal?"

"No sir," she lied through clenched teeth.

"Really? Because we spoke to your roommate and she seems to think otherwise. Care to explain why that is?"

"Yes sir," Kelly replied defiantly and Jim thought he heard curses on her roommate.

"What was that?"

"I said yes, I do care to tell you why, sir." Kelly put emphasis on the 'sir', indicating that she thought of him as a fake or someone who didn't even deserve to be called 'sir'.

Jim was screaming inside. What was she doing? She never did have good timing when it came to being difficult and this was one of those times. He wanted her to stop, to stop talking if she could but he couldn't do anything. If he made one false move they would be goners.

General Burrell looked ready to explode with anger for about a few seconds before he straightened up and plastered a fake smile on his face.

"That's okay," he said, anger flooding through his lips and causing the smile on his face to seem extremely out of place, "There is no need for you to explain you see, because I know that the both of you are lying."

Jim and Kelly froze. Jim knew that Kelly was lying about knowing Morph but he was telling nothing but the truth. He looked over at Kelly and he saw that the color had drained completely out of her face. Now that she had lied through her teeth to the General, Jim knew that they had no way of getting out of this unscathed.

"L-lying?" Kelly stuttered in a very weak and quiet voice.

Jim had to admit, she wasn't a very good liar.

"Yes, lying," General Burrell said, "I believe that you, Mr. Hawkins, Continued to drag the animal around the school with you even though you knew very well that keeping the animal here was strictly against school rules and that you, Miss Watchman, knew perfectly well that this animal was here yet kept it a secret from everyone else. The two of you planned this very well, having kept the animal here for three years."

The General paused for a few seconds, pretending of thinking over his next move, but Jim knew full well that he knew what he wanted to do before they even entered the room. He was just playing this out, getting a laugh out of keeping the two of them hanging the entire conversation. This pause was just placed there for suspense and to get one of them to ask for his decision. He was practically forcing them to work for their punishment.

"Sir? What happens now?" Too late, Kelly took the bait.

"What am I going to do?" General Burrell just chuckled and placed both hands on his desk, "Why, the two of you are to be expelled. I, Headmaster of the Interstellar Academy, hereby expel you James Hawkins and Kelly Watchman. You have one day to pack up your belongings and leave the premises. You shall be gone by tomorrow at noon. You two are dismissed."

Jim looked aghast. Kelly squeaked quietly next to him. They were expelled? For keeping a pet on the school campus? That excuse, Jim knew, was only a cover-up. General Burrell knew that he, Kelly and Dr. Skivonovitch, were on to his nasty scheme somehow so he had to get rid of them without drawing too much attention to himself. Expulsion and job loss seemed to be the best thing he could come up with. But firing someone is easy if you are the boss, the problem being that he couldn't just expel a student without probable cause so he had Morph captured and used him for motive.

"Expelled? But sir—" Jim protested.

"I said 'you two are dismissed'." General Burrell said firmly.

"Yes sir," Jim turned to leave but Kelly was rooted on the spot, face without color and mouth hanging open. Taking a step back, Jim grabbed Kelly's elbow and dragged her out the door. Before shutting the door, Jim turned back and walked back up to the new General's desk. "Sir, can I have Morph back please?"

"Mr. Hawkins, you may collect you're animal tomorrow when you leave. In the mean time, he stays with me."

"I—" Jim was about to protest but stopped himself, "Yes sir."

Jim looked at Morph and saw how scared he looked and gave him a silent promise that he would be back soon. He turned and walked out the door to join the still frozen Kelly in the hall. He grabbed her elbow and continued to lead her away from the General's office. They reached the hallways where they split up the two dorms and he stopped. Kelly was somewhat out of shock now and looking around blankly. She saw Jim's hand wrapped around her elbow and yanked it away.

"Let go of me!" she yelled at him.

Jim released his grip on her and she gently rubbed her arm. Jim looked at her and then down her hallway.

"You should get your stuff together. We have to be gone by tomar—"

Jim was cut off by a fist hitting his jaw with such force that he nearly fell over. He grabbed the wall for support and held his jaw. Kelly was standing above him massaging her knuckles and looking murderous. Jim had never seen her look so angry before in all the three years he knew her.

"What the—?" Jim was surprised and he leaned against the wall, readying himself for another strike. He waited but it never came. Instead, Kelly slowly dropped her fists and her shoulders slumped and she hung her head. "Kelly?"

She mumbled something that he didn't hear. "Sorry?"

"It's all your fault!" she screamed at him, fists clenching once more.

"What? My fault? Are you saying that I wanted to get expelled?"

"Yes your fault! If you hadn't insisted on finding out what every little strange thing was about and insisted on telling everyone about what we saw this never would have happened! Do you have any idea of what my father would do to me if he found out that I was expelled!?" She stopped yelling at him and her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth and turned away.

Jim knew exactly what she was talking about due to accidently reading her diary and not knowing what it was. But he couldn't very well tell her that, she would definitely kill him for that. "Your father?" he played dumb.

"Never mind! Just leave me alone!" she snapped, still facing away from him. Jim wasn't sure but he could have sworn he heard a sniffle. If she was crying then he would blame himself. It took a lot to make Kelly cry and he had never seen it himself but now he was starting to see her weakness. Family.

"Kelly, I'm sorry," Jim said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I said GO AWAY!" she screamed and elbowed him in the stomach. She glared at him writhing on the floor and ran away down the hall to her dorm room.

Jim had all of his things packed for the next day and it was getting close to dinner time. He lay on his bed looking at the ceiling. Jim knew that something bad was going to happen at the school and he knew that he, Kelly and Dr. Skivonovitch, were the only people who knew about it. Now that the three of them had been kicked out of the Academy, there seemed to be no one to stop General Burrell's plot. He thought over all the facts in his head but somehow, his mind kept on wandering to Kelly. He felt sorry for her and he did, somewhat, blame himself for her expulsion. She was right, if it hadn't been for him she would have never run behind the kitchens and they would have never heard the scheme to kill the former General. If it wasn't for him, they would have never been suspicious of and evil plot to begin with.

Jim chuckled when he thought of the time they found out that something was wrong. The both of them were aghast to find how close their faces were to each other in that air vent. Now that he looked back on it, he was surprised they hadn't noticed it sooner while the new General was swapping the acceptance letters.

Jim paused when he remembered what they heard and saw up there. The acceptance letters! That was what started all this! If he could just get hold of those letters he threw away, than he could prove that Mr. Burrell was corrupt and both he and Kelly could come back to school! He sat bolt upright on his bed and looked at the clock. 7:30, good, the General should be at dinner right about now and not in his office. He ran out his door and down the hall to Kelly's room and knocked on the door.

"What!?" he heard her yell angrily.

"Kelly, it's me. Will you let me in?"

"Jim? Go away; I don't want to talk to you."

"This is serious! I may have found out a way to keep you in school!"

There was silence on the other side of the door for a few seconds and then Jim heard footsteps and the door opened a crack.

"Yeah?" she said sarcastically, "And how might you manage that?"

"Remember when we were in the air vent and we saw General Burrell swap the acceptance letters?"

"Yeah, what about it?" The door opened a little more.

"Well, if we could uncover the culprit to the whole school our expulsion may become void."

"And how, may I ask, are we going to do that?" the door opened further.

"We have to find the letters he swapped out. It will require searching his office but everyone is at dinner right now so we should be able to sneak in quietly."

Kelly had opened her door all the way and was considering Jim's proposal. She seemed to agree with him when she shoved past him and walked toward the General's office. A smile played upon Jim's lips and he followed her through the school.

They reached the General's office and they quietly opened the door, snuck in and closed the door behind them. Once inside, Jim and Kelly looked around the room and began their search. The first thing Jim found was Morph, stuffed in that glass box and looking scared out of him mind. He picked him up and opened the door that kept him imprisoned. Morph flew around the room, cooing happily and so loud that Jim had to grab him and stuff him in his pocket to shut him up. He received a rather cold look from Kelly for that.

The letters they were looking for obviously wouldn't be in plain sight so they searched through his drawers, at the bottom of his trash can and under great stacks of unfinished paperwork. They spent around a half hour in that office before Jim finally found something.

There was a small nook that looked like a hand hold on one of the floor boards. Squatting down to get a better look at it, he clasped his fingers in the handle and pulled. Much to his surprise, the floor board lifted free and revealed a hidden compartment beneath the floor. Fascinated he reached his hands inside and pulled out a large file folder filled with papers. Opening it up he found tabs labeled with numbers separating each section. Taking a closer look at the papers inside he found what he was looking for. Excited he called Kelly over and they both studied the organization of the letters.

Each section was labeled with a numbered tab and each number continued to get higher as the dates of the letters went forward. At the front of the folder, there was another, different, sheet of paper that had many mathematical calculations all over it. At the bottom there was a number circled as the final answer.

"Well, we found out where the letters are, but what are these numbers for?" Kelly wondered out loud.

Jim didn't answer her, and instead, studied the math problems in the front and the numbered tabs simultaneously. Kelly frowned at him and waved her hand in front of his face. He looked at her then back to the numbers and his expression lit up instantly. She could almost see the light above his head blink on.

"Don't you get it! These numbers correspond with the number of students. Here let me show you." Jim set the folder down on the table and picked up the first section. "See here, this tab has the number 10 on it. Now, if I count the number of letters here," he did so, "they come out to 10. The same happens if I count the other sections. The tab number is the same as the number of letters."

"Well that's all fine and dandy but what does it have to do with anything?" Kelly asked him, getting rather impatient.

"Just hold on," Jim said, grabbing for the front paper with the calculations, "The numbers on this page also correspond with the numbers on here. The tab numbers are written here and are being added up to this final number," he pointed to the circled answer, "But not all these numbers are on here which means that he hasn't finished planting the acceptance letters."

"What are you talking about?" Kelly was clearly confused and slightly angry at him for keeping her in the dark about this.

"What I mean is that he has this all figured out until the end. General Burrell is slowly planting acceptance letters to have the students he wants. Haven't you noticed that there have been more Tenticulis students around that usual? General Burrell wants only those of his race to make up our military. But he couldn't just recruit them all right away, he had to go slow, to avoid suspicion. These calculations show that he is almost at his goal and he will reach it in," Jim studied the page once more, "two more years. Each year he brings in more students for himself and no one has noticed."

"But we noticed," Kelly reminded him, "But there brings up another question. Why kill General Delroy? He could have done this with the General still here. He had started when the General was still alive. That doesn't make sense."

"I'm not sure. Hold on I need to think." Jim walked over to a corner and looked at the wall. Kelly watched him then looked down into the compartment where Jim had found the acceptance letters. Something caught her eye and she bent down to get a closer look. It wasn't much, just the corner of something that looked to be square or rectangular. She reached her hand down and picked it up. Looking at it in the light, she saw it to be a book, and a very old one at that. The binding was falling apart and the title almost disappeared. All she could make out were a few letters that read "M--n --mp-". Not quite sure what to think, she flipped through the pages and found that she couldn't read the contents. It was in a language that she had never seen before.

"Hey Jim, I think you should come look at this."

Jim looked up from the folder of letters and saw what she was looking at. He walked over to her and he picked the book up out of her hands. Looking over the cover, he also didn't see what the title was. He flipped the book over and noticed a brand printed on the back.

"The Resport Central Library, Genesis. I've heard of that library somewhere." Jim pondered.

"Didn't it catch fire? I thought that the whole building went up in smoke and there was nothing left to salvage."

"Yeah, that's right. Someone died in that fire, didn't they? I thought they said they found the remains of the head librarian in the ashes."

At that very moment, the door opened and General Burrell stood in the doorway. His turquoise face was confused for a second then turned to one of anger. Kelly and Jim stood frozen in their tracks, unable to do anything.

"What are you doing in here!" General Burrell screamed at them, his turquoise cheeks turning purple in his anger, "Get out this instant! Get out now!"

Jim dropped the book and Kelly grabbed his wrist. Before either of them reached the door, morph and flown out of Jim's pocket and flew straight at general Burrell. His high pitched voice screaming in anger as the little pink blob attacked the General's face. Quick as a flash, General Burrell caught morph in one hand and threw him back into the glass cage. Jim stopped and tried to get Morph back but the General shoved him out the door and into the hallway. Jim couldn't do anything about it now, the General wouldn't let him have Morph back and he couldn't fight him for it, he would most likely lose. Giving an apologetic look at Morph, Jim and Kelly sprinted out of General Burrell's office as fast as they could and didn't stop running until they reached the dorms. The paused and caught their breath, heaving as much oxygen into their lungs as they could. Gasping for breath, Jim and Kelly leaned against the wall.

"Well, now we know what he's up to," Jim said, looking on the bright side.

"In case you didn't notice, we still have no proof to show any one. You left the folder in his office! Now how are we supposed to get back into school?" Kelly reproached.

"Crap! And now we have more questions than answers. What was that book and why did he have it? What does he have to do with the fire at the Resport Library?"

"It doesn't look like we will get the answers to those questions now that we have been expelled! I think we are in even more trouble now that we were earlier today! Now what are we going to do, genius!?"

Jim looked at her and noticed that she was blaming him again. True, he did get them in more trouble and she still had to go home and face her father. He really felt guilty. He dragged her into this and feeling that he had to get her out, just made the situation worse. Ashamed of what he did, he looked away from her and at his shoes instead.

Kelly didn't say anything but just walked away, making Jim feel even worse that she kept silent. Kicking himself mentally, Jim walked back to his own room and prepared himself to meet his mother the next day.

Kelly rolled over in her bed and looked at her clock. 2:30 in the morning and she still hadn't gotten any sleep. Groaning, she looked out the window and up at the twin moons. Both were full and they cast and eerie glow over the ground. Sitting up in her bed, Kelly watched the nocturnal animals roam the courtyard below. Her eyes followed a small rodent that was running over the grass. It reached the tree and stopped before it turned and ran the other direction, seemingly afraid of what was in the shadows. Curious, Kelly watched the tree and all around it for at least a minute before she saw the tree's shadow move. At least, she thought it was the tree's shadow until it walked out in the open grass and into the light cast by the moons. It ran across the field then disappeared in another shadow so fast that Kelly wondered if it was really there to begin with. She searched for minutes for the figure but it never showed itself again. Giving up, she lay back down on her bed hoping to get some sleep.

Laying on her back, she closed her eyes and wished for sleep to take her. It didn't come and she frowned. Opening her eyes she looked up at her ceiling and nearly died of a heart attack. There, latched on to the ceiling, all dressed in black was a small man with a hunched back and red glowing eyes. He noticed that she spotted him and he lunged at her but Kelly leapt out of her bed and threw her blanket over his head, distracting him and offering Kelly and opening. The man growled angrily and struggled to get out of her bedding. Using his struggle to her advantage, Kelly kicked him from the side with her heel and he fell off the bed.

Now that he was down, Kelly ran out her door and into the hallway, not even bothering to get dressed, she wouldn't have had time. That man was good, better than her and she knew she didn't have a chance. She only escaped because he hadn't expected her to be awake and she caught him by surprise.

In nothing but her underwear and one of her father's old shirts, Kelly ran all the way to Jim's room, thinking that this man was after her life because of what she knew so Jim was in trouble as well. She reached his room and didn't even bother to knock. Fearing the worst, she burst through the door, waking up Frank so suddenly that he fell out of his bed like he did before. She saw that Jim was still asleep and another assassin had his knife to his throat. Jumping at him, she punched him in the face and brought her knee up to his stomach. The small man fell to the ground and Jim was awake and rubbing his eyes.

Not waiting for the little assassin to regain his composure, Kelly grabbed Jim's arm and pulled him out of bed. Confused and also in his pajamas, which happened to be nothing other than his boxers, Jim had no choice but to follow Kelly out into the hall.

*Similar in behavior to a rhinoceros. When spooked, it will run blindly until it runs out of energy or is stopped by something stationary and solid.

A/N: Ta-da! And there you have it. I started putting in foot notes because I didn't want to have to fit in descriptions of my made up aliens in the story. :P Anyway, don't get your hopes up for another chapter anytime soon because you wont be getting it. I'm only one chapter ahead of my posts so I will put up my extra chapter if enough of you want it but I would perfer to keep it for emergencys. But I guess that would be an emergency if you guys bug me enough.

I hope you liked the chapter! FYI, Reviews make me happy! ;)

~Foxfire Pheonix