5: The new students – part I

It was a rather chilly morning, and the overcast skies painted a gloomy scene above Kadic.

It was dreary inside the school as well. September was coming to an end and schoolwork had kicked into top gear. Every teacher was seemingly oblivious to the fact that their students had work from other subjects to complete, as they continued to provide a steady stream of assignments and tests.

"Staying up late again?" inquired Yumi as she noticed Ulrich lagging behind with his head hung low. This was the consequence of solving polynomial equations at eleven thirty in the evening in preparation for another double-test Thursday.

"Ulrich?"

"Uggghhh…" was all the red-eyed zombie could muster.

He had originally planned on going to bed earlier, after one last review session in the library. It didn't quite work out; yesterday's search and rescue mission to LYOKO postponed his study time by nearly an hour. When Ulrich returned to his room, it was nearly midnight, and he saw that Odd was already asleep. He thought about opening his books to do one more problem, but he could barely keep his eyes open. And so, he trudged over to his bed, set his alarm clock and collapsed in a heap.

"Look where you're going!" cried Odd. But it was too late as Ulrich collided with another student.

"Oh, sorry I'm terribly! Uh…Alright are you...I mean–" His friends snickered at his inability to form complete sentences.

"Umm…yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?" Zombie-Ulrich's victim asked nervously as Odd erupted in laughter.

"He will be…after a night's rest. Sorry about that," said Yumi.

She, along with the rest of Team LYOKO was staring transfixed at the person standing in front of them. He had sky-blue hair. Just like various characters from anime and manga productions. And they thought Aelita's pink hair was distinctive enough.

"That's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going either. Didn't realize how…big the school was," the boy replied, trying to sound casual despite noticing that there were now five sets of eyes trained on the top of his head.

Bryan Green
Age: 16
Rating: New
Fun Facts:
He will be one of the main characters of this fanfic!
His favourite fruit are Granny Smith – or 'Green' apples.

"Are you a new student?" Jeremie stated the obvious to the blue-haired boy. He was slightly shorter than Ulrich and wore a red sleeved shirt that had a weird white circular symbol on it.

"Hmm? Oh yeah. My name's Bryan and...I'm a bit lost," he admitted sheepishly, rubbing his head.

Fit in. Act normal. And being normal at a new place means…being uncertain of where you actually are.

Yumi played along. "I'm Yumi and I'm pleased to meet you."

"I'm Odd and welcome to Kadic. And here's a joke just for kicks. What do you get when a math teacher and a–"

"Not now. It's too early for lame jokes," said Ulrich with a yawn.

"Nonsense, Ulrich my man. It's not an L-A-M-E joke, it's totally L-M-A-O–"

"…No, Odd. I'm sorry…but no. Not funny."

"Moooving right along. I'm Jeremie," said the boy with spectacles.

"I'm Ulrich and I'm really sorry for running into you... I'm quite…tired."

And last but not least: "My name's Aelita and I like...your shirt," she smiled as she pointed to the white symbol.

Both Bryan and Jeremie stiffened. Jeremie grew tense when Aelita said the word 'like', but relaxed when she turned out to be referring to an inanimate piece of cotton fibre. On the other hand, Bryan looked stunned.

Right...the mission. He had nearly forgotten the real reason why he was 6000 kilometres overseas to begin with.

"Aelita?" Could this be her? She has pink hair after all…How did she get out though?

"Yep! Good ol' Aelita Stones. Instrumental and technological extraordinaire!"

The girl with pink hair beamed. "Thanks, Odd."

Yumi had sensed Bryan's sudden change in expression, and asked him: "You feeling alright?"

"Oh…no, I'm good. Just…feeling a tad nervous on my first day here, that's all," he replied with a weak smile. Stones…so it's not her after all.

"Ah, I understand. The new student jitters, it happens to all of us. Say, where did you want to go again?"

"Umm, the principal's office; I have to register and do all that stuff."

"Just keep heading that way," Jeremie pointed, "and then enter the first door you see. Turn right and the administrative office should be the first room."

"Alright, thanks… Jeremie was it?" Clearly this boy has a built-in GPS system lodged somewhere in his brain.

"Yeah, and no problem."

Bryan then checked his watch. "Anyways, I'd better get going. It was nice meeting you all."

"Same to you. You're welcome to hang out with us anytime," said Aelita cheerfully.

Bryan smiled. "Sure." He waved before following Jeremie's instructions in getting to the principal's office.

"What a swell guy," Odd remarked.

"He did seem shocked when Aelita introduced herself though."

"That's true, Jeremie. Do you think he's a spectre?" Ulrich asked suddenly. XANA had pulled this stunt before…

"I don't think so. I didn't see XANA's Eye anywhere. And…he definitely sounded human."

"I think you're all taking this all too seriously," said Aelita. "He's probably just shy. I'm certain that he's not an agent of XANA."

"I agree with the Princess. By the way, I'm not sure where this is going, but I know how it started, and that's what I want you guys to remember. I'm hungry…can we go eat now?"

"The stomach always comes through for you," Ulrich smirked.

Odd grinned. "The tank is low and it needs some fuel. So let's go!"

BRYAN

Principal Delmas's office was small, but well-organized and lavished with lacquered oak tables, several large cabinets and cushioned revolving chairs. To his right was a trophy cabinet filled with numerous distinctions of past alumni. He was preparing for another day in charge of Kadic Academy when:

"Mr. Delmas, the new student is here," said his secretary Nancy Dupont.

"Thanks, Nancy. Let him in please."

Principal Delmas
Age: 55
Rating: Boss
Fun facts:
He enjoys playing computer games during his spare time…and at work.
Contrary to popular belief, 'Principal' is not his first name (it's Jean-Pierre).

Bryan came in, and knocked over an umbrella stand adjacent to the door. He hastily made to upright it.

"Sorry sir, I–"

"It's quite alright Mr. Green. Please, take a seat. Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Juice?"

"Umm…just water would be nice, thanks."

Mrs. Dupont arrived with a cup of tea for the Mr. Delmas and a glass of iced water for Bryan. She took notice of the new student's unique hair colour, before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her. The principal took a sip and began.

"So, Mr. Green. On behalf of Kadic Academy, I'd like to welcome you to this institution."

"Thank you, sir."

Principal Delmas smiled warmly. "I must say, your academic record was for lack of a better word – outstanding. And you maintained consistent participation in extra-curricular activities too."

"Well, my dad always said that the most important thing was to have a balanced academic and extra-curricular school life, and not just focus on studying."

"Ah, I see. Yes, I do recall your father, Dr. Green being one of the Academy's finest graduates. How is he doing these days?"

"Umm…he's not around anymore."

There was an awkward moment of silence before Principal Delmas understood what he meant.

"Oh, forgive me. I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know."

"It's alright. It was...a long time ago. I've lived with my grandparents ever since...and I guess I've moved on."

The principal looked deeply sympathetic and patted Bryan on the shoulder. "Let me get your timetable all sorted out." He opened up Bryan's student profile on his desktop.

Now…you're sixteen and you were in grade eleven at your school in Canada, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent. This should be it," Mr. Delmas said as he typed a few lines, clicked 'print' and went over to pick up Bryan's timetable from the printer. He handed him the all-important document, along with several other administrative forms to read over, an agenda, and his student ID card.

"Thank you, sir."

"Not a problem. Well, if you have no further questions, I am expecting another new student. You can just leave your luggage here, I'll have someone deliver them to your room. In the meantime, here's a map of the school and feel free to grab a bite to eat at the cafeteria. Classes don't start for another 45 minutes."

"I expect great things from you Mr. Green. However, remember that your social life is equally important."

"Definitely. In fact, I met another group of students this morning. I think...one of them was named Aelita."

"Ah, you've met Ms. Stones then? Then I'd say you're off to a good start, she is another excellent student."

"You've got a telephone call on line one, Mr. Delmas," his secretary called.

"Right then. It was nice meeting you Mr. Green," said the principal, shaking Bryan's hand before he retired to his office to take the phone call.

Bryan was about to walk out of the office, when he saw another student sitting in the waiting room. She had light brown, short cropped hair, and was intently reading a Jack Reacher novel.

Or so it seemed. Apparently, she had sensed him staring at her. Putting her book down on the coffee table in front of her, she looked up and smiled.

"Hello. New student as well?"

Despite the wintry weather outside, this girl was only wearing a corset shirt and dark blue jeans. Bryan couldn't resist looking down to where she was holding her novel. His mouth was slightly agape; not only was she cute, but she also had a pretty curvy figure...

"Umm...are you feeling alright?" It was the third time he was asked that question.

The boy with blue hair shook his head and snapped out of it. His cheeks were tinged red with embarrassment. "Oh...uh, sorry. I...I didn't mean to. I'm not like that, you know..."

The girl giggled lightly, which made Bryan blush even more furiously. "It's alright. You're not the first, I'll tell you that. What's your name?"

"Name? Bryan. Bryan Green. And you?"

"I'm Catherine Horvath. Nice to meet you," she said as she extended her hand out.

Catherine Horvath
Age: 17
Rating: New(er)
Fun facts:
She is immune to cold weather and losing at Halo 2.
One of her goals this year is to go visit the Millau Viaduct in Southern France – the tallest bridge in the world.

"Is that...really...?" Catherine inquired as she pointed to Bryan's hair.

"Yeah, natural blue."

"I've never seen anyone with blue hair before. It's really cute."

"I bet you've never seen anyone with pink hair before either."

Her eyes widened. "You have?"

"Yeah, I met her this morning."

"You definitely have to show me. Anyways...where are you from?"

"Toronto, Canada. And you?"

"Right below you," she answered.

"The U.S.?" Catherine nodded.

"I applied for an international student exchange program. I've always been in love with France...everything is magnifique, you know. And...when I was little, I used to...read the brochures and just imagine being here," she said with a hint of embarrassment.

"Well, part of any exciting trip involves a bit of picturing what it would be like before you even get there."

"Yeah, that's exactly the way I feel. How about you? Why did you come over here?"

I came here to free a girl from inside an old supercomputer. Bryan couldn't tell her the real reason and instead, told her the exact same thing he said to his grandparents.

"Same as you, I guess. To gain some international experience. I mean, who would pass up a chance to explore France? There's so much heritage, so much history. At the same time, it's a highly modernized society. There's so much to see and do, in other words."

Catherine laughed. "Wow. That's a...thorough way to put it. Are you planning to be a writer or a journalist?"

"Uh, I'm not really sure what I'd like to be yet."

"Mmm. Me neither. So, Toronto eh? Let me guess...a Leafs fan?"

"You bet. Best team in the NHL."

Catherine laughed. "I hate to say this, but that title belongs to the Flyers. The Leafs won't be making it into the playoffs for...quite a while."

"They most certainly will."

"Will not."

"Will too."

"Will not."

"Totally will."

Catherine stuck out her tongue.

"Aww. That's so immature."

"Is not."

"Not this again. Is too."

"Is not."

"Would you two please keep it down over there?" said Ms. Dupont.

"Sorry," the two replied. They lowered their voices.

"So you're from Philly?"

"Yep, the town of Brotherly Love...and cheese steak sandwiches."

"Ah. I was there once while visiting relatives. Got to watch the Leafs smoke the Flyers," Bryan added.

"And when was that, 1967?" Catherine chuckled.

1967: The last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup. "Well, they smoked them back then also, but–"

"Ms. Horvath? Principal Delmas is ready to see you," the secretary interrupted.

"Looks like it's my turn," Catherine said as she grabbed all her belongings.

"Would you like to meet up at lunch?"

Catherine smiled. "Sure, that'd be great. After all, we Kadic noob buddies have to stick together!" she said, and held her palm up for a high-five.

Bryan couldn't help but smile back. "Indeed."

Realizing that he wasn't very hungry, Bryan decided to take a walk around the school. Classes hadn't even started yet, and already he had met and talked with quite a few people.

So much for keeping a low profile.

He was still pondering about that pink-haired girl though. It seemed to be a coincidence. The girl he was searching for was also named Aelita, and they both had a very similar appearance, according to the photographs from his Files.

The only problem was that her surname was neither Schaeffer nor even Hopper. And even if that girl really was Aelita Schaeffer, how on earth did she escape the supercomputer? Surely XANA would have easily prevented that from happening?

"Hey! Shouldn't you be in the cafeteria and not wandering around this early in the morning?" barked a voice behind him. He turned around to find a stocky man wearing a red jacket, blue track pants and a white headband.

Jim Morales
Age: 26
Rating: I'd rather not talk about it.
Fun facts:
His nickname is 'Jimbo' (bodyguard, in Japanese).
He plays trombone and is a disco expert.

"Oh. I'm not particularly hungry at the moment so I thought I'd explore this place a bit."

He didn't seem to be causing any trouble…Jim thought. "You're a new student or something?"

"Oh, yeah...I'm Bryan," the boy said as he offered his hand.

"Jim Morales, I'm the physical education teacher and activities coordinator. Well, Bryan welcome to Kadic and remember, classes start in 30 minutes. I'll leave you on your way now."

"Thanks, Jim."

He was approaching Kadic's south wing when he heard what appeared to be mechanical movement coming from the forest – and it sounded as if it was coming towards him.

"Already?" Bryan muttered to himself as two Blocks emerged.

And that wasn't all.

The five students he met a while ago were dashing towards him, surprised to find XANA's monsters attacking an innocent bystander, let alone a new student from Canada.

So much for keeping a low profile.

He didn't have time to elaborate on this as the Blocks started firing at him, ignoring the approaching members of Team LYOKO. Bryan rolled to his right, avoiding the first barrage of red lasers before opening his school bag and pulling out – a tennis racket.

Bryan leapt towards the first block and plunged the base of his racket into its Eye, causing the racket to break as the Block exploded. However, a shot from the other Block grazed his right kneecap and he fell down on one knee.

"Ow." He was quick to recover though. Sensing the Block approach him, under the impression that he was incapacitated, he whirled around and jammed his broken racket into the monster, which burst into pieces of scrap metal.

Ulrich and Yumi helped Bryan up. He heard Jeremie say something about a 'XANA attack' and 'factory' as he, Aelita and Odd headed off into the forest.

"You okay?" asked a concerned Yumi.

The boy tried to laugh it off as he examined his damaged racket and a hole in his pants. "Yeah, thanks. Er…this may seem hard to believe but–"

"What? How you just single-handedly fought off two Blocks?"

Bryan froze. They know about this stuff? Then –

His face turned serious. "Listen, there's not much time. You guys know where Franz Sch- I mean, Franz Hopper's supercomputer is, right?"

Ulrich glanced at Yumi and they both were wondering the same thing: who is he?

"Yeah…but–"

Bryan sighed. He knew that there would be a lot of explaining to do; and he had some questions of his own as well.

"You have to trust me. I'll explain everything after. But I have to get to the supercomputer."

Ulrich looked uncomfortable. What if it turned into another William fiasco? The last thing Team LYOKO needed was for XANA to gain another human puppet.

Yumi's cell phone rang. "Hello? Jeremie…yeah, we're on our way."

"What is it?"

"XANA's attacking from the Mountain sector. Odd and Aelita are already virtualized." She thought for a second and glanced back at Bryan. "You seem to know a bit about all this. And we're running out of options," she said flatly.

Ulrich pulled Yumi away and whispered into her ear.

"Yumi–"

"We don't have much of a choice. XANA attacked him for a reason, so I doubt he's on its side. And like I said, he already knows a bit about what we're dealing with. Did you see how he just took apart XANA's monsters?"

"Fine." Ulrich turned to face Bryan. "Can you walk on your own? I mean, I–"

"Yeah. It's fine."

"Hey, what's going on?" Jim suddenly appeared from around the corner.

"Crap. Ulrich, take Bryan with you."

"What?"

"Hey Jim…do you need some help setting up the gymnastics equipment today?"

"Uh, sure thing Ishiyama. Stern, I guess you can show Green around Kadic then. Don't be late for class though."

As Ulrich and Bryan headed towards the abandoned factory via the sewers, a lot of questions began buzzing in their minds.

For Ulrich, he was utterly bewildered by how someone from as far a place as Canada knew about LYOKO. More importantly, was he really working for XANA? The French Government? Or could he be the key in defeating the virus? But even Franz Hopper himself had never mentioned anything about some blue-haired Canadian kid in the files Jeremie had obtained from the databases of Sector V.

On the other hand, Bryan couldn't believe that a bunch of students were caught up in all of this. How did these five find out about a top secret NATO operation? He was under the assumption that Project CARTHAGE remained classified after its dissolution. Being the son of one the engineers who worked on it, he thought that he was one of the very few who knew of the supercomputer's existence.

Of course, there were other matters to attend to; but for the time being, finding Aelita Schaeffer was the pivotal objective.

And within a few minutes…that objective would be achieved.

Fragmented Legacy Fun Fact 005:

Jim Morales is and has been a very busy man. In addition to holding multiple posts at Kadic, he has also held many occupations throughout his adulthood – a number that probably exceeds his age. Of course, he'll never want to talk about it though. Perhaps one day, he might even be able to add "LYOKO warrior" to his long list of careers…

A|N's:

So, two new faces from two different countries set foot at Kadic! I'll try to keep introducing new characters to a minimum as this story progresses, in order to preserve the "LYOKO-ness" of the story and focus more on the lives of the original LYOKO five. However, these two – Bryan and Catherine – (especially the former) are definitely set to play a major role in everything that happens later on.

Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =)