DISCLAIMER: I do not own Code Lyoko!

Author's Note: Okay, so maybe I fibbed a little bit… I can't just stop writing; it's in my blood. BUT, just because I am still posting does not mean I don't want feedback! PLEASE; I'm begging; I want your feedback! READ AND REVIEW!

Episode 109: A New Arrival

Three days after what could only be called a disastrous setback, the gang was back in classes and trying to settle back in while still fighting a huge sense of disappointment from their defeat in trying to find any trace of Antea.

"Anything?" Aelita said glumly as they met at the crossroads.

"No, not a thing…" Jacob sighed. "I guess we just go back to fighting like we always have."

"That's all we can do, huh?" William remarked, trying to brighten the mood a bit. "We'll get somewhere; I know we will, it'll just take some time," he added as Jacob raised his eyebrows. "What is it?" he asked as they all turned around and saw someone walking past them. He was a rather tall boy, with bright red hair (and I mean candy-apple red, not like red in real-life) and a splash of freckles on his cheeks. He looked to be in 8th grade, and he was muttering to himself when he tripped, and he dived to catch himself as his books went crashing to the ground. The gang saw this and Jacob immediately ran over to help him. He reached the boy's side, and knelt down to help gather up his things.

"You okay?" he asked as he brushed the books off and handed them back to the boy.

"Yes, thanks," the boy replied as he brushed his red bangs out of his eyes and looked at Jacob with gratitude in his eyes.

"Oh, not a problem at all," Jacob smiled as he helped the boy up. The boy smiled in return before the bell rang through the grounds. He said a quick thank-you before running off, and Jacob walked back over to where the rest of the gang was standing.

"That was a nice thing you did," Ulrich smiled as Jacob looked at his feet in embarrassment.

"I live to help others," he replied. "It's what I do."

"Well, what we should do now is head on before we're late!" Jeremy pointed out as Odd and Ulrich nodded. "See you guys later!" he called back to Yumi and William as he, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Jacob headed for the Science building…

The gang slipped quickly into Mrs. Hertz's class just before the bell rang. She turned as they entered and nodded, smiling briefly at Jacob as he sat down. Once the class was seated and the quiet muttering had stopped, she began to speak.

"Now, class, I can say with complete certainty that your last tests left a lot to be desired," she said simply as she began handing back papers. She reached Odd and Ulrich's desks and just shook her head. "Della Robbia, I want to see a lot more effort from you. Skating by will do you no good once you get out of here," she remarked. "D," she said as she handed him his paper, which had a 70 marked at the top in red ink. Odd just smiled as he thought to himself, "Big deal, I still passed." Mrs. Hertz moved on to Ulrich, with a rather pleased look on her face as she spoke to him. "Stern, I'm rather impressed with your work this semester. I think you are trying a lot harder to do well. B," she said as she handed him back his paper. Ulrich smiled as he took the paper, and saw an 87 at the top.

"Yes," he whispered as Mrs. Hertz came to Jeremy, Aelita, and Jacob.

"Do I even need to say anything?" she asked rhetorically, which caused Jacob to chuckle for a moment. "You three are the reason I can smile about my teaching. A+, all three of you," she finished as she handed them their papers, which were similarly marked with three 100s. Jacob just smiled as Jeremy and Aelita began to discuss the test. Mrs. Hertz came around the room, and then Jacob heard a voice from across the room.

"But I thought—"

"Poliakoff, what you thought, and what you needed to do are two entirely different things! Zero!" Mrs. Hertz scowled as she threw his paper down on his desk and strode quickly back to her own, firing up the projector as she did. "Now, class, today we are going to be studying atoms. Now, can anyone tell me what makes up an atom?" she asked as three hands shot up. She gazed at the front three desks, where Jacob, Jeremy, and Aelita sat, and sighed. "I wish the rest of you would be as attentive as these three are!" she fumed. "They are model students, and you should be following their examples! Jacob?" she asked in exasperation.

"An atom is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons," he said simply.

"Very good," she replied as she turned to the board and pointed to a picture of an atom. "Protons are positively charged and found in the nucleus, along with neutrons, which have no charge. Electrons, meanwhile, are much smaller, and are found orbiting the nucleus in rings."

"Like Saturn?" Nicolas asked dryly.

"No, not…well, in a way…" Mrs. Hertz replied with a slight stutter. "Anyways, electrons are much smaller than protons or neutrons and are negatively ch—" she stopped short as Principal Delmas knocked on the open door and entered the room. Jacob looked up to see what was happening, but the rest of the gang paid no attention. Jeremy was calmly taking notes; Ulrich was furiously taking note of everything Mrs. Hertz had said; Odd was doodling pictures of Kiwi in his binder, and Aelita was working feverishly on her laptop under the table, so that no one could see what she was doing. Following quietly behind the Principal was the same red-haired boy that Jacob had helped out earlier. Delmas cleared his throat quickly before speaking.

"Suzanne, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have a new student here at Kadic Academy who will be joining your class," he said. At this, the rest of the gang looked up to see what was going on. Jeremy's eyes flashed in recognition as he recognized the boy, and Odd and Ulrich nodded. Aelita just paid half attention as she continued to quietly type out of sight. "I expect you all to make him feel right at home," Delmas continued. "His name is Marth Kodgi," he added, pronouncing it KODH-gi.

"Actually, it's Kodji, sir," Marth said quietly, speaking for the first time.

"Oh, my apologies," Delmas replied before patting Marth on the shoulder and walking out of the class. Marth just looked around shyly at everyone.

"Um…teacher…where should I sit?" he asked quietly, staring at his feet again.

"Um…" Mrs. Hertz said as she scanned the room for an empty chair. She finally found one right behind Aelita's desk. "You can sit behind Miss Stones," she replied, pointing to Aelita. She looked up and smiled as Marth came over and took his seat behind her. "My name is Mrs. Hertz, by the way," she added. "Welcome to Kadic."

"Thank you," Marth replied with a small smile as he looked at Aelita's laptop in curiosity. He tried to make sense of all the stuff on the screen, but after a moment, he shrugged it aside and began to take notes as Mrs. Hertz went back to her lecture.

"Now, where were we…?"

Soon, the bell rang and the gang headed for Gym. Surprisingly enough, Jim was not there right when the late bell rang, but he appeared from the locker room after a moment.

"Okay, class, listen up! Today, we're going to be playing dodgeball! So, divide into teams and get ready to have some fun!" As the class divided, Marth hesitantly looked around. Jim noticed this, and came up to him. "Now, son, who might you be? I've never seen you around here before," he commented.

"My name's Marth Kodji," he replied quietly. "I'm a new student here."

"Ah, I see! Well, my name's Mr. Morales, and I'm the supervisor and Gym teacher here, as you can see. But, you can call me Jim," he added as he shook Marth's hand.

"Thank you, Jim," Marth replied as he scanned the two halves of the class. Jacob glanced back, and Marth saw that it was the person who had helped him earlier. He walked over and stood next to Jacob as Jim counted both sides to make sure they were even. "Hey, thanks for earlier," Marth whispered.

"No problem," Jacob replied with a smile. "I'm Jacob," he added, extending a hand for Marth to shake. Marth did so warmly and smiled for the first time since he had arrived at Kadic.

"Marth," he replied as Jim blew his whistle.

"Okay, teams, we're ready to go! On my go, you'll start this game! Three, two, one…"

"Ready?" Jacob asked as Marth nodded.

"Go!" Jim yelled as the rubber balls began to fly…

After that, the bell rang, and the gang headed to lunch. They were standing in the line as Odd was telling a joke.

"And the guy says, 'Sorry, but all we've got is medium rare!'" Ulrich just groaned at the terrible punchline, and Jacob laughed dryly as he got his food from Rosa. Once the whole gang had done so, they sat down at their usual table. Jacob thought he caught a glimpse of red hair on the other side of the cafeteria, but he wasn't sure. He just shrugged it off as Jeremy and Aelita began to chat. It wasn't until a few minutes later that Yumi looked over to a near-empty lunch table and saw something a little unusual.

"Hey, who's that?" she asked as Jacob looked over and saw Marth sitting by himself at a table.

"That's the new kid here," Aelita replied before Jacob could get a word in edgewise. "I think his name is Marth," she added.

"It is, Princess," Jacob replied. "You might know that if you had paid a little attention today," he laughed as Aelita looked hurt. Jacob saw the look on her face, and immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry, Aelita…I know you're still hoping for another clue, and I shouldn't be mad at you…"

"It's okay," she replied, shrugging off the comment as if it were nothing. "I can take a joke," she grinned as Jacob looked over again at Marth, who looked really lonely by himself. Jacob thought for a second, and then said:

"Hey, Marth! Over here!" Marth looked around, and then caught the smile on Jacob's face.

"Hey!" he said as he came over with his tray. "Do you mind if I sit with you?" he asked.

"I don't. Anyone object?" he asked.

"No," the rest of the group replied as Marth sighed and took a seat.

"I know that it's hard being the new kid," Jacob said to Marth. "I was not too long ago myself," he explained.

"Yeah," Marth agreed as Odd swallowed a mouthful of meatballs and spoke to Marth.

"So, let me give you the grand tour then," he said with a sly smile on his face. "I'm Odd, Kadic's resident sense of humor," he added before Ulrich snorted in amusement.

"Wow, Odd. Five minutes and you're already lying to him," he laughed.

"Haha…" Odd said dryly. "That's my best friend, if you can call him that, Ulrich Stern. The girl in pink is my cousin, Aelita Stones. The computer whiz is Jeremy Belpois, or Einstein, as we like to call him. I see you've already met Jacob," Odd added as Jacob smiled.

"Yeah, we've talked already," Marth said.

"The girl in black is our friend Yumi Ishiyama," Odd continued. "She doesn't board here, but she lives in town. She's a grade ahead of us. And that," Odd flourished towards William, "is William Dunbar. He's a year ahead of us too, and he's a good friend," Odd finished as Marth took all of this in.

"Nice to meet everyone," Marth smiled. "I'm Marth Kodji," he said as he took a sip of his soda and began to feel more comfortable.

"So, Marth, what do you like?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, I'm a big video gamer," he grinned, "and I'm a bit of a sports fan."

"Oh, really?" Ulrich asked. "What do you play? Soccer?"

"Nah," Marth replied. "Not a big soccer fan. I'm more into baseball," he explained as Ulrich nodded.

"Okay, that's great too," Ulrich replied. Marth looked over at Aelita, who had a frustrated look on her face as she stared at her laptop. Her fingers flew over the keys as she tried inputting something, and Marth noticed her frustration.

"Something wrong, Aelita?" he asked as she looked up and over at him.

"Oh, it's nothing," she replied. "It's really complicated," she sighed. "Let's just say I haven't seen my parents in a long time and I'm trying to reach them…"

"Oh…it was like that with me after my dad left…" Marth trailed off. "I haven't seen him in a while." Aelita nodded as she went back to her work, and Marth looked over to see Sissi walking their way with a stuck-up look on her face. "Who's that?" he asked as Jacob scowled.

"Sissi Delmas," Jacob sighed. "The Principal's daughter. She's got a thing for Ulrich, but he doesn't want anything to do with her. Never has," he added as Sissi reached the gang.

"Hello, Ulrich dear," she said sweetly as Ulrich scowled and looked up at her.

"What do you want, Sissi?" Ulrich asked exasperatedly.

"Well, I thought we were supposed to have plans…" she said innocently. "You promised…"

"In your dreams, Sissi," Ulrich shot back as Sissi grumbled under her breath before turning to Marth.

"Hello, newbie," she said kindly. "I don't see why you would ever want to hang with these losers. Why don't you come hang with us?" she asked as she gestured over to her table where Herve and Nicolas were sitting. Marth just scoffed under his breath and looked at her.

"I think I'm fine here, thanks," he said shortly as Jacob laughed and Sissi just growled in frustration.

"Urgh! What is it about you losers?" she fumed loudly as she stormed off. Jacob just grinned and turned to high-five Marth.

"Well played!" he grinned as Marth just smiled.

"Well, I figure you guys have been nice to me. And she seems snobby," he added as Ulrich laughed dryly.

"You have no idea…" he started, and the whole gang burst out laughing. Marth joined in after a moment, and Jacob turned to him.

"Marth, what dorm are you?" Jacob asked as Marth pulled out his key and examined it.

"Um…211, I think…" Marth said as Jacob did the math in his head.

"You're next door to me!" he exclaimed after a moment. Marth sighed in relief.

"Great, someone I know," he smiled as the lunch bell rang.

"Hey, let's head upstairs to Jeremy's dorm!" Odd exclaimed suddenly. Jeremy's head shot up and you could tell he had a puzzled look on his face.

"Why my room?" he asked in confusion.

"Well, mine and Ulrich's is out because of Kiwi, Yumi doesn't board here, I don't even know if anyone can walk in William's, and Aelita never has nothing going on in hers," Odd finished simply.

"What about Jacob's?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm reorganizing," Jacob explained with a chuckle. "I don't even know if I can find anything in there…" he trailed off as Odd and William laughed.

"Fine…" Jeremy grumbled.

"What's a kiwi?" Marth asked suddenly. Odd laughed before he replied.

"My little diggity-dog," Odd explained.

"But I thought pets weren't allowed at Kadic," Marth commented.

"Well…they're not…but I couldn't leave him at home. He's my diggity-dog!" Odd replied as the gang laughed.

"It's okay. I won't tell a soul," Marth smiled as the gang headed for the dorm building…

In Jeremy's dorm, Marth looked around and saw all the electronics, and the first thing that came to his mind was…

"Computer whiz…" he thought slyly as he sat down in a chair next to Jacob and Jeremy. Jeremy pulled up some of the data screens on his computer, and Marth took a glance at them and realized that some of it was similar to what he had seen on Aelita's laptop earlier.

"Hey, what is that? A computer game?" he asked. Jeremy turned around, flustered as he quickly blacked everything out.

"No," Jeremy replied. "No, it's just something I'm working on," he answered as Marth gazed at the whole group slyly. Even Jacob didn't quite want to meet his eyes for a second.

"Why do I get the feeling that it's something you don't want me to know about? Are you guys keeping a secret?" he asked.

"I—" Jeremy broke off, trying to think of something to say.

"Don't mind him; he's just protective about his work," Jacob replied, smiling at Marth.

"Okay…" Marth said in reply. "But I still think there's a secret!"

"And what if there is?" Aelita asked him in joking challenge.

"Well then, I want to know what it is!" he shot back with a chuckle.

"Well, you can't!" Aelita laughed competitively.

"Bet I can!"

"Can't!"

"Wanna bet?" Marth challenged. Ulrich looked playfully at Aelita, who smiled and gave Marth an "Are you sure about that?" look. Marth just grinned in reply.

"What's the challenge?" Aelita asked him eagerly.

"Arm wrestle," he grinned as he walked over to Jeremy's table and sat down. Aelita joined him and took a seat across from him. "I can beat you at anything!" Marth boasted playfully.

"We'll see about that," Aelita shot back as she locked hands with Marth and the two began to tussle. Sweat began to bead on Aelita's forehead as she resisted against Marth's arm, but in the end, he won out, and Aelita's hand hit the table with a "Thud!" of defeat. Marth grinned as he stood up. "You just got lucky," Aelita shot at him, and Marth just laughed at his victory.

"Oh yeah? I think I showed you up at arm wrestling!" Marth laughed.

"Very funny…" Aelita grumbled playfully as the two realized they were still holding hands. Aelita blushed as she pulled her hand away gently and Marth continued to boast about his victory over the pinkette…

That night…

"Unh!" Jacob muttered as he bolted up out of a dead sleep. The nightmares were happening again. He blinked his eyes as he focused on his room. He slowly got up and walked over to the window, staring out at the crossroads below. The moon was hidden by a cloud and the soft light cast long shadows everywhere that gave a haunting look to the grounds. Jacob just took the view in for a moment before a soft beeping from his desk caught his attention. He walked over to his laptop and opened it, shuffling through the windows quickly until he came to the SuperScan. He groaned as he looked at it, and immediately pulled out his cell phone, dialing Jeremy's number…

"Unh…huh?" Jeremy muttered groggily as his phone buzzed on his nightstand. He picked it up slowly and flipped it open to answer it. "Hello?" he said sleepily.

"Jeremy, it's Jacob. XANA's activated a Tower! We need to get to the Factory!" he exclaimed quickly as Jeremy's focus suddenly heightened and he reached for his glasses and shoes.

"Call Aelita and Yumi. I'll grab Odd, Ulrich and William. Let's head out!" he replied as he slipped his shoes on.

Marth, on the other hand, could not sleep well. It was his first night in a new school, and he was still a little uneasy. He got up and walked over to his window, and looked down at the crossroads. Suddenly, his eyes caught a movement outside, and his focus darted over to where the movement had come from. He could just make out Jeremy, Jacob, and Aelita as the gang ran for the gates. He watched in surprise as Odd, Ulrich, and William came shortly after them.

"What in the world are they doing out this late?" Marth asked himself in confusion. He knew now that he had to find out…so he slipped on his shoes and clothes and headed out to follow the group…