Notes: I had driving class yesterday, (yech!) The teacher is fat and lazy and likes to talk about crashes that he's seen and the kids who failed the driving test. He never tells us about the kids who passed the driving tests, always the kids who failed. And then there's the 174 tests. They're tests with one hundred seventy four questions and in order to pass you can't get more than twenty wrong. I've failed them three times so far! I almost wish that X.A.N.A. were real so that he could total the driving school.
I quote my Creative Writing Teacher, "Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't like you, and I don't like you."
The argument between Davis and Ken about what Digimon Jeremy would have and what crest he'd get at the end of the chapter is actually me arguing with myself. I hope you enjoy that.
Chapter2"Jeremy there you are!" Aelita cried. "I've been trying to get ahold of you for ages!"
"Another X.A.N.A. attack?" Jeremy asked, alarmed, how could he have missed something like that?
"No, just a mystery. Two kids came into your room to use the computer! They used some kind of weird device and shouted, 'Digiport open' and then they disappeared. Two hours later the same two kids came back through the other side, utterly exhausted and left!"
Jeremy's eyes shot up to his hairline. "Did you record them?"
"Yes, I did." Aelita played back the recording.
"Ken and Davis!" Jeremy cried as he recognized the voices.
"You know them?" Aelita asked.
"Sort of, they're the new kids at school, boarders. They're right next door to Odd and Ulrich. Did they go to Lyoko?"
"That's the problem, they didn't. I looked all over and I couldn't find any trace of them. But when I spied on them, I caught a glimpse of wherever it was they went. It was some kind of desert, with a lot of buttes, some of them were carved to look like animals and other things, but most of them were natural. There were monsters there too, but nothing like what X.A.N.A. uses. And there were other children there as well. Some of them were older than Yumi, but six of them, including this Ken and Davis, were about your age. I've made a record in the desert area's sand and covered it with magic if you want to have a look at it."
"I wouldn't mind. I never get to come to Lyoko anyway." Jeremy said with a sigh. "And we're supposed to be meeting at the factory after school anyway. I'll bring a notebook so that I can make a copy of it. But first I want to warn the others and confront Ken."
Jeremy shivered. Ken made the hair at the back of his neck stand up. There was an unreal quality about him, almost like Jeremy himself were looking at a God, or a spirit of some sort. And the look in his eyes… it was as if the older boy had seen things that he wished he hadn't, things that had made him sad.
"Thank you for the warning Aelita. If they do it again can you record the incident for me?"
"Sure thing, see you this afternoon." She said cheerfully.
Jeremy changed books for his afternoon classes and ran off to lunch. "You guys." He panted as he reached his usual table with Odd, Yumi and Ulrich. "You're not going to believe what's happened." He explained about the two new boarders and what Aelita had caught them doing.
Odd laughed. "Busted by Aelita! That's got to suck!"
Sissy brushed past them. "Hey Sissy! Nice shirt, it looks like a cow did a dance on it and then took a…."
"That's enough Odd." Yumi laughed.
"Hmph." Sissy sniffed. "See you around Ulrich."
"I hope you fall in the dumpster, bitch!" Odd called after her.
That was when Ken and Davis entered the room. They looked around, as if bewildered by all the people, and then headed for the Lunch line. Jeremy watched them, watched the swing of Ken's body as he followed the line, the casual way that he leaned against the metal rail. Davis told a joke just then, and Ken laughed. The expression on his face was so pleasant, soft and gentle. Jeremy started to wonder how that skin would feel under his hands, how it would feel to be in Ken's arms how…
"Jeremy, earth to Jeremy, come in Jeremy!" Odd said cheerfully waveing a hand in front of his face.
Jeremy jumped. "Yes Odd?"
"What's up with you? You've been staring at Ken for the past five minutes… and… oh my God here he comes!" Odd grinned impishly, his face flush. If he had been in Lyoko Jeremy would have been willing to bet that his tail would be twitching, just like a cat's.
Ken plunked himself down in the seat next to Jeremy, and Davis took the seat next to Odd. "Hi. I'm sorry to bother you Jeremy, but I don't know anybody else here that I can sit with."
Jeremy flushed. "That's okay. You can join us, right?" He asked Yumi and Ulrich, because Odd was already nodding fit to knock his head from his shoulders.
"Sure!" Yumi smiled, turning to Ulrich. "You don't have a problem with that do you Ulrich?"
"None." Ulrich took a sip of the chicken noodle soup that was for lunch. "You're not Sissy after all, nor a member of her gang."
Yumi laughed. "That's the spirit." She rubbed him on the back affectionately.
"You know." Ken whispered. "This Ulrich friend of yours reminds me a little of Cody, a friend of mine back home."
Jeremy smiled and sipped his milk before answering. "Ulrich's actually quite nice once you get to know him. And he's very reliable."
Ken chuckled.
"Ken, I want to talk to you once you've finished, you and Davis." Jeremy told them in a normal tone of voice.
Ken's eyes flashed. "What about Jeremy?" He asked, struggling to regain his composure. Across the table Davis choked on his soda.
"Something important." Jeremy said absently. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble."
"So, have you guys found a partner for the school dance?" Asked Odd. "I haven't found anybody yet. It has to be somebody from school, otherwise I'd ask Samantha to come along. Just to keep busy. I generally dance alone."
"I don't dance." Ken grunted. "Don't think Yolie hasn't tried to get me on the dance floor, because she has and I don't want to." Ken stuck his nose in the air.
"Girlfriend of yours?" Asked Odd with a sly smile.
"Fangirl is more like it." Ken muttered.
"You've got fangirls?" Odd demanded, an expression of mock horror on his face. "You officially have my pity Kenny boy. I'm the hottest dud in school and I STILL don't have fangirls."
"That's what you think." Growled Herb as he passed them with his tray.
Odd made a face and stuck his tongue out at Herb. "GEEEEEEEK!" He called.
"Hey watch the geek stuff!" Ken protested. "I'm a geek too!"
"But you're a nice geek, Herb is a mean geek." Odd said with an impish grin. "Oh this is going to be so much fun! I wonder how many insults I can hurl at Sissy and her gang in one period. Care to keep track?"
"I don't think I want to know." Jeremy rolled his eyes.
Davis laughed.
"What did they do to you by any chance?" Ken asked, curious.
"Sissy keeps trying to steal Ulrich away from his precious Yumi-chan!" Odd grinned, ducking a good natured swat from Yumi. "Well it's true! And she's been so mean to you that she deserves it! And besides, she's a security risk for…" Odd gasped and clapped both hands over his mouth, blocking off what he'd been about to say. "Well, they've been beating up on Yumi and Ulrich." He continued, gulping as he glanced over at Ken. "And they don't deserve half the shit Sissy gives them!"
"I see." Ken said, flicking a sideways glance at Odd without moving his head. Talk about a drama king! Jeremy thought. "Well, I don't like bullies myself, so I can see why you wouldn't like them."
"See, see, even you agree that they're mean!" Odd grinned.
"Odd?" Yumi asked.
"Yes?" Odd asked, perking up.
"How many pixie stix did you snort this morning?" Yumi asked, eyes sparkling with barely contained laughter.
"None thank you very much! I just had a shot of espresso in my morning coffee that's all." Odd said, crossing his arms with a dramatic pout.
Yumi rolled her eyes. "No wonder you've been bouncing off the walls."
"Yup, no more coffee for Odd in the morning." Ulrich agreed.
Davis cackled with laughter. "Sounds like Tai after he goes to the doughnut shop in the morning. He was so hyper that when we went to…" Davis clapped both hands over his mouth in a gesture so much like the one that Odd had done that Jeremy wondered for a long second if Davis and this 'Tai' friend of his also knew about Lyoko, and had been going there secretly. But no, Davis had just transferred here on an exchange trip from Japan. There was only one Lyoko, and there was absolutely no way that they could access it from Japan, let alone bring himself and his friends along. But no, perhaps Davis had been about to mention the world that Aelita had seen him go to that morning. Perhaps he had even gone there with this, 'Tai' friend of his.
Jeremy snorted into his milk. "Look at it this way, if there's an incident we'll send him to take care of it." Jeremy grinned. A sudden image came to his mind of Odd bouncing of the virtual walls of Lyoko and shooting any monster that came in sight. That would take care of any monsters that X.A.N.A. sent after them.
Ken blinked at the mention of 'incident.' "What incident?"
"Never mind." Jeremy sighed. Did Ken know about Lyoko? Was that why he had been so startled by such an off hand remark.
Lunch was dismissed, and the children had an hour before they were expected back at the class. So Ken and Davis followed Jeremy to the steps where, unknown to Ken, he and the other children often held meetings to discuss an attack.
"Okay, why did you guys use my computer this morning?" Jeremy demanded.
Both boys tensed and then looked at each other. "We can't tell you…" Ken turned his head away.
"It's just, that an emergency occurred back home and we needed to talk to the friends that it occurred to." Davis explained hurriedly.
"Yeah, right. Listen, if you want to use my computer, ASK!" Jeremy growled. "And don't think that I won't know what you did. I have a security system on my computer that tells me when it's being used and by whom. So ASK next time!" Jeremy stuck a finger dangerously at Ken's face. Yeah, a security system named Aelita! Jeremy thought.
Ken had to resist the temptation to bite that finger off. But then Jeremy wouldn't have let him use the computer at all. And the Digidestined NEEDED Imperialdramon if the Dark Masters paid a visit.
"Alright, fine, we'll ask." Ken snorted. He refused to look Jeremy in the eye, for fear that the other boy knew he was lying. What would the other boy think of him and Davis disappearing into the Digital World? What would he think when it came up on his screen. Maybe his parents, and the other Digidestined's families wouldn't mind the digimon around, but what's to say that Jeremy would?
"Jeremy!" Yumi called him to the meeting. "Come on."
"I'll see you later." Jeremy grunted, he stalked away.
"Davis?" Ken asked. "Did you catch that aura?"
"What aura?" Davis asked. "You mean your Digi-sense went off?" Neo Legendary Warriors had a special sixth sense in the real world. Such a sense alerted them to the presence of fellow Digidestined and those with the ability to Digivolve a Digimon.
"Yup. Do you think that this Jeremy is a digidestined?" Asked Ken.
"Why don't we send an e-mail to Gennai to find out?" Suggested Davis.
"If he isn't then that would mean that he's got the ability to become one wouldn't it?"
"I think so." Ken chuckled. "I wonder what his crest would be?"
"What else but the crest of knowledge?" Davis asked, plopping down on the steps with a sigh. "He'd probably have a Tentomon for a partner."
"Naw, Patamon! It would have to be a Patamon. Look at how easy going he is."
"Patamon with the crest of knowledge?" Davis made a face. "Sorry, but he doesn't strike me as a T.K. kind of person."
"Okay, so if he's not a T.K. then what is he?"
"An Izzy, or a Cody." Davis replied.
"No, Ulrich is a Cody." Ken argued.
"Why don't we just contact Gennai and see?" Davis' eyes sparkled.
"I'll bet you five bucks it's the crest of knowledge." Ken grinned.
"Heh! Yer on!" Davis spat into his hand and they sealed the bet with a spit shake.