Ok, this chapter is longer than the others, and hopefully will get some good reviews.
Read and enjoy!
Chapter III, The Arrival
"Odd, how can you eat so much?" asked Ulrich, watching odd feast through his second helping of dessert.
"I'm hungry. Besides, Yumi wasn't going to eat hers, so someone should. And I wanted it to be me."
"Okay, Odd. Whatever you say. Hey where's Jeremie? I haven't seen him at all during lunch."
"He said he wanted to check how things are with Aelita." Informed Yumi.
Ulrich and Odd exchanged a knowing glance.
"Hi, Ulrich, mind if I sit here?"
The trio looked up and saw Sissi standing over them, Herb and Nicolas on either side.
"Sorry Sissi, but that seat is reserved for Jeremie."
"Oh he won't mind if I sit here until he gets here, will he?"
"Well I do, do if you don't mind you're making my dessert taste like your perfume."
"Hmph!" Sissi stormed off in a huff, along with Herb and Nicolas.
"That girl, she just doesn't get it does she?"
"I'm surprised that she still talks to you after all the mean things you say to her, Ulrich." said Yumi.
"Yeah, but if you think about it she probably doesn't even remember most of the things because of the reboots." explained Odd.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
Jeremie sat down beside them.
"Hi, Jeremie. Where were you? You just missed Ulrich have another go at Sissi. Pretty funny too." said Odd.
"I'm sure I'll see it again. Anyway I was just talking to Aelita. We agree that XANA has been idle for a while now."
"Well now that you mention it, it has been longer than usual since his last attack." Yumi pointed out.
"Well, anyway, Aelita is checking on Lyoko for any activity. In the meantime nothing strange is going on, so I think that XANA is waiting for something to happen. I would have done a scan, but class will start soon, and I didn't have time. And I didn't want to leave it running in case Jim came in and saw it. That's the last thing we need. Besides, Aelita can reach me anytime on my earpiece."
The bell rang, indicating that classes were going to be starting soon.
"Well come on guys," said Ulrich, "We don't wanna be late."
"Yeah that's true. Ms. Hertz will have a fit. Lets go." Said Odd as he led the way to Ms. Hertz's science class.
Vincent awoke in a field in a daze.
What happened? Where am I?
He looked around. There wasn't any sign of civilization around him. After a while of looking around, he saw a town and a very large building nearby.
That's about fifteen miles away. It'll take me forever to walk there.
The big building was closer than the town, so he decided to walk there and find out what exactly was going on.
Class was boring, as usual. Ms. Hertz was going on about particles and stuff. Odd decided that he had had just about enough, and decided to take a little nap. Ulrich was only half paying attention, and Jeremie probably knew all the material already. Suddenly Jeremie jumped forward on his seat, surprising Ulrich and Odd.
"What's the matter?"
"Aelita has found an activated tower! And she says that it has been activated for a while! We gotta get to the factory!"
"How? The three of us can't just up and leave. We'll get stopped!"
"Class will be over in five minutes. We have to wait it out. I'll get in touch with Yumi and tell her to meet us there."
Odd took out his phone and sent Yumi a message, who was in English class at the moment. He got a message back. "Okay. Yumi is going to meet us there."
The three of them waited out the minutes until class was over, and then ran to the factory.
Vincent was walking for hours, before he finally reached the large building. There were teenagers here, so he guessed that it was a school. As he entered the grounds a large man with a bandage on his face approached him.
"Who are you? I don't recognize your face. Are you new here?"
Vincent was unsure if he could trust this man.
"My name is Vincent, and I'm kinda lost. Where is this place?"
"Vincent, huh? I'm Jim, the head of security and the physical education teacher. This is the Kadic School. What are they up to?" He gestured to three boys, who seemed to be in a hurry. The one with glasses shot Vincent an inquisitive look.
"You have a last name?"
"It's Vashna. Vincent Vashna."
"Well, there is a town nearby. Maybe you are on holiday?"
"Jim, is everything okay?" The principal joined them.
"Yeah, not a problem. This boy got lost, and ended up here."
"Lost? I can't say that I've seen you before, and I know almost everyone in town. Come to my office, we can talk privately there. You coming, Jim?" "Nah, I had better get back to work. See you later!" Jim said, as much to Vincent as to the principal.
Yumi was already waiting for them at the park entrance.
"What's going on?" she asked, worried.
"XANA has had a tower running for a while now. But whatever it was planning on doing, it didn't try to attack us, so we didn't notice." replied Jeremie, as Odd opened the manhole cover and climbed in.
"Well, what are we waiting for?"
The four of them made their way along the tunnel, and arrived at the factory. Ulrich, Yumi and Odd reached their scanners as Jeremie had just booted up the computer.
"Guys, ready to go?"
"Yeah!" all three of them said together.
"Okay, get in and let's do this thing! Aelita is waiting for you."
"Transfer, Yumi! Transfer, Odd! Transfer, Ulrich!"
"Scanner, Ulrich! Scanner, Yumi! Scanner, Odd!
"Virtualization!"
His office was comfortably large, with a desk by the window and several large bookcases along the wall. The principal sat down at his chair.
"Have a seat, son. Now what's your name?"
"Vincent Vashna."
"My name is Jean-Pierre Delmas, and I'm the principal here at Kadic. Well, where do you come from?"
Vincent decided not to tell the truth about his arrival at this place. The last thing he needed was to make everybody believe he was crazy.
"I – I don't remember. I woke up a few miles away from the school, and made my way here. I can't remember anything that happened before that."
"Hmm, that is an unusual situation. You don't appear to be hurt. I'd better alert the authorities." He picked up the phone, and dialled a number.
"Hello? Yes, this is Jean-Pierre, principal of the Kadic School. I have a person here who apparently has no memory, other than his name. He calls himself Vincent Vashna. Yes, yes he's here with me now. Of course. No, I don't think so. Ok, talk to you soon." He hung up the receiver.
"The officer is going to make cross-references, and file a report. They are going to check the regional police listings for someone of your name. Until then, there is not much I can do, other than allow you right of passage around the school. The police will be around later for questioning. Are you hungry?"
"Well now that you mention it, I am."
The principal chuckled, and the door to his office opened.
"Daddy? Sorry to interrupt, but have you thought about the dance?"
"Not yet, dear. Actually now that you're here, would you mind showing this young man where the cafeteria is? This is my daughter, Elizabeth."
"Everyone calls me Sissi. Nice to meet you."
"Sissi, this is Vincent Vashna. He is not a new student."
"I thought you looked older. Anyway, come with me, and I'll show you where the cafeteria is."
Sissi led Vincent away. Before he walked out the door, he turned around.
"Thank you, sir."
"Please, you're not a student. Call me Jean-Pierre. And you're welcome."
He left the office with Sissi.
"So, what are you doing here?"
"I don't remember anything, save waking up in a nearby field I managed to make my way here, and Jim introduced me to the principal. He alerted the police, who are investigating my identity." Vincent was unsure if he wanted to lie to the authorities, but decided again that it was probably better than the truth.
"I see, a mystery at our very own school! Who would have thought it?"
"What's this place like, anyway?"
"Well, it's about as good as school gets, I suppose. I'd rather not be here, but at least I get benefits."
"Because your father is the principal? Isn't that a little under-handed?"
Sissi frowned for a second, before returning to her previous smile.
"Maybe, but it works. Anyway, this is the cafeteria. Sit down while I get you something to eat. I think there is pizza today."
She wandered off. Vincent looked around. The room was very large, and there were many people here, eating. The grounds were huge, not to mention the building itself. Sissi returned with two plates of pizza, and set one down in front of Vincent, who wolfed it down.
"Slow down or you'll choke yourself."
"Odd, fifty life-points and seven arrows left. Be careful! Ulrich, Yumi, both at seventy each, and there are still three Hornets and a Megatank left! Aelita needs to get to the tower! Do what you do best!"
The Megatank opened its shell, and fired. Odd and Ulrich managed to dodge it. Yumi threw her fan at a Hornet, and the blast caught her by surprise.
"Yumi, only twenty points left!"
Odd leapt up in a somersault, and began to fall back upside-down. "Laser arrow!" he yelled, as he blasted the Megatank, but it closed its shell just in time. Yumi stood up, and began deflecting the Hornet's lasers. She threw her fan again, and cut one in half.
"Good shot, Yumi!" yelled Ulrich as he ran at another Hornet. "Impact!" his blade sank into the XANA symbol. The Hornet blew up.
"Ulrich, look out!"
The Megatank opened for another attack, but this time Ulrich charged at it. Odd crept around behind it. Just as it fired Ulrich dodged it, and Odd jumped up again and fired. This time the arrow sailed right to its eye. The Megatank blew up.
"Okay, only one more Hornet and then Aelita can safely make it to the tower. Take him out!"
Ulrich tore after it. "Triplicate!" Ulrich split into three, and prepared himself. The Hornet blasted one of the clones. The other two leapt at it, but it was doing a pretty good job of dodging them. Yumi threw her fan, which was also avoided. Odd was watching this.
"Think you're pretty smart, do you? Try to dodge this!"
He jumped on a nearby rock, and jumped again towards the remaining Hornet, and unloaded his remaining five arrows at it. The first three missed, but the next arrow found its mark on its eye. The last Hornet blew up. Everybody congratulated him.
"Okay, Aelita. Go ahead, it's safe now."
Aelita emerged from her hiding place behind a rock.
"Thank you all, now I had better go to the tower."
She ran over to the tower, and entered it.
"Good job, everyone. Aelita is in the tower now. Odd it looks like you're the man of the match this time. Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for the reboot."
Sissi was showing Vincent around the grounds of the school with her two friends, Herb and Nicolas. Herb obviously liked her, and was disdainful towards Vincent because of the attention she was showing him. They were about to enter the dorms, when Vincent spotted a small light, not too far off. It grew and grew, and eventually engulfed him.
This is like what happened last time. Maybe this will send me home!
The sensation was very strange, and for some reason, everything else had frozen.