"Wave hurry! We won't last much longer!" Alexei cried. Lasers bombarded him, but Lynn pulled him inside the cave before he took to much damage.
'We might be able to lose them inside the cave." Lynn peeked out to see what Xana had sent. "Will that by you enough time?"
Wave sat in the lab, watching the monitor. Several kranlets moved to join the krabs. "Umm...more things are headed towards you." She zoomed in on the inside of the cave . A vast underground system spread through most of the ice sector. "You should be able to reach the t tower by using the underground cave system. However, I don't think I'll be able to direct you. " she understood computers, which allowed her to quickly learn how to use the supercomputer. Wave would need more time to fully comphend the overall system.
"Give us the coordinate, we'll reach the tower on our own:" Lynn closed his eyes and focused on trying to 'see' what was beyond his sight. "Focus n on hacking into the tower. The firewall needs to be deactivated before Emi can enter." Eagle Eye forcefully activated, Lynn began to scan te cave. "We need to hurry, Cam and Kya are in danger."
Several hours earlier:
"We'll explore Sector 5 after school." Cam said.
Walking to class Emi slowed her pace ,not wanting others to over hear her phone call. "I might be late. I have to sneak away from Wave and Aelita."
"Meet us as soon as you can." Cam side, before wishing her a good day and ending the call.
Emi placed her phone in her pocket as she entered math.
As usual, Ulrich and Odd sat in the middle row behind Jeremie and Aelita. Emi fl glanced around, finding an empty table behind the prank duo, Ulrich and Odd.
Settling into another seat, Emi took out her notebook.
"We've still got five minutes before class starts. Why rush into boredom?" Odd asked, watching Emi flip through her notebook.
"I'm reviewing, you know studying. You should try it sometime Odd, makes getting better grades easier." Emi jokingly shot back.
Odd made his hands into a giant X, than went back to drawing Kiwi.
'Why do you study, your as smart as Jermei, Aelita, and wave?" Ulrich asked, generally curious. He knew Jermie and Aelita didn't study partly due to them working on things for Lyoko. Wave, however smart, was like Odd and preferred anything else to cracking open a book.
Emi smirked. "Because it's safe and normal. " Only Alexei and the others would understand her reference. Lyoko was dangerous, because of Xana. The mundane tasks others dreaded, Emi enjoyed. There's no Digital Sea to fall into or monsters to out run. Unless Sissi and Mara counted. Sissi strolled into class as be the bell run. Caring for no one's time but her own, she ordered odd to move. "Hey, loser go somewhere else. That's my seat."
Odd and Ulrich looked at each other.
"Wow, bold and stuipd." Wave strolled to confront Sissi. "Is she always this blind?" She asked Ulirch and Odd.
"Who are you calling stuipd? At least I'm in the right classlass/" Sissi countered.
Unborthered, Wave stated. "I chose to be here. see how the tother hald lives." Wave blinked and tlinted her head. "If I'm stupid, yet a yea year younger than you and a grade ahead. What does that make you? An idoit or a buffoon?"
The class erupted into laugher. Sissi turned bright red, unable to refute Wave's claim.
The teacher entered and sent Wave to her correct class. He than found Sissi to take the empty spot beside Emi. Sissi grumbled ad complaint, but evenutaly sat down.
"Now class, I he hope everyone has stuided for today's quiz!" The happ teacher happily stated.
A collective groom e went through the classroom.
"Oh, hush." The teacher ca clapped his hands. "Those who do well will not have to take the next test. Everyone else will have extra study sessions or practice homework.
He passed out the quiz, reminding them not to talk.
Emi got to work, answering all questions without hesitation. Her evenings working with Cam and talking with Alexei had prepared her. She'd had an idea of what to study and except when she went to school. This resulted in her studying since she didn't know which grade she'd be in.
Cam did an assessment on her when she was still on Lyoko. A second one was done after Emi arrived on Earth. Cam confirmed Emi could enroll in almost any grade. To keep things simple and not draw attention to themselves, it was d decided to place Emi in the same grade as Kya. That way if she was a 'genius'; there was room for her to skip to Ly to Lynn's grade.
"Hey, what's the answer to number five, eight, and ten?" Sissi nudged Emi.
"Don't know." Emi whispered.
"Just tell me the answer." Sissi hissed.
"No." Emi muttered.
Sissi elbowed Emi when she didn't give her the answer. Emi ignored her tablemate and continued working. Sissi changed tactics, she leaned cover to see Emi's answers. Emi used her arm to cover her paper, but Sissi kept trying to lean over. Until both of them were knocked to the ground because Sissi wouldn't stop learning over.
"Miss Delmas, Miss Alarie, what is the issue!?" The math teacher glared at the two girls.
"Emi kept asking me for answers and than tried looking on my paper when I wouldn't help her cheat!" Sissi answer announced.
"You can't be serious!?" Emi shouted in shock. "That's what you were doing to me! Besides everyone knows how 'bright' to you are. If I want to fail, I'll ask Odd for advice."
'Hey!' Odd cried between laughs. The entire class laughed at the statement of Sissi's in intelligence.
Sissi's face a was bright red, but hushed when the teacher came over. He checked the papers and saw that both work. "We'll let the principal sort this out. Both of you to his office."
Kanna Morning Break:
"She use to be the nurse here?" Lynn a said in surprise. "That means the mansion, supercomputer, Xana, and Lyoko aren't even thirty years old."
"More like about ten to twenty, if we factor in Mr. C and Z's ages and the timeframe Reya and her kids disappeared." Alexei said between sips of his hot chocolate.
"So what happened that made them leave and abandon the mansion?" Cam questioned.
"That's what I'm looking into with Wave." Kya informed them.
The three males looked at Kya questioning gazes watch watching her.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" What if she finds Lyoko?" Alexei asked.
"For once I agree with the walking bad idea." Lynn stated. "This is risky."
Kya shrugged, "She already involved." She explained how Wave and Emi 'found' her research. "Wave hacked into the school's server. That's how I got more information. As a far as concerned Wave thinks I'm doing this to help Mr. C. Technically that is true. We do owe him alot."
Mr. C. turned a blind eye to a lot of their 'mischief'. He know more than he let on. They suspected Mr. C was the reason Mr. Z didn't always report them. All of this didn't include his help with Lyoko, not that he'd remember.
"We can always use Return to the Past if she finds out." Cam offered.
"It's decided." Kya crushed her cup. "Wave will help with the investigation. I'll keep you updated on the progress."
"Just be careful with Xana's 'upgrades', we've already got our hands full." Lynn reminded. "We also don't want to draw Xana's attention to people outside of the group."
Lynn had a point, Xana targeted them on a regular. He used others to go after the group, almost killing them a few times. It was one reason why they were hestatent in allowing outsiders to help with the attacks. They would always be Xana's main target, but others could be collateral damage from collateral.
"I've provided Wave with only the information from Mr. Z." Kya reassured. "Won't mention the mansion or anything else."
The bell rung, ending their conversation. The others went to class together, while Lynn went to his class. He wondered if trusting Wave was a good idea. They'd met her a handful of times, not enough to gauge a person. Everything else they knew about her was second hand information from Emi.
He trusted Emi, but she hadn't been on Earth for long or interacted with people outside of their group much. Her attending Kadic was worrisome. But Cam's penpal Jeremie and his friends were keeping an eye on Emi, so that lessened the burden. However Wave was a true outsider, none of them had information about Wave, other than that she's Calex's stepsister.
Lynn entered the classroom, walking pass several seats. Among them was the trio of Mara, Ally, and Avery; plus their new addition Calex. If Calex was willing spending time with Mara's group, he needed to be retaught how to chose his friends. He would've doubted anyone who hung out with them and anyone else they knew by association. However, after discovering Kya's friendship with Avery last year, Lynn knew not everyone who spent time with that group were awful. Additionally, they'd learnt that Wave had snuck into Kadic without her family's knowledge, thus Calex didn't know his stepsister was at the boarding school by Kanna.
For now, he'd keep any eye on things and trust his friends.
Emi's POV:
"Why am I also getting detention!?" Sissi winced.
I fought the urge to cover my ears. Her wailing was on par with Mara's singing. I sat quietly, humming one of Lynn's songs silently. Mr. Delams had enough to deal with.
"Elizabeth," Mr. Delmas remained calm under his daughter's tantrum. "my decision stands. Since we can't determine who cheated, your both getting detention. Normally something like this would result in suspension." He gave her a stern look. "Would you rather have that?"
There was a knack at the door. Wave popped her head in. "Hey Mr. Delmas, can I have Emi? Ms. Hertz/Jim needs her."
"Fine, fine take her." Mr. Delmas wave a hand dismissively. "Remember to report to detention, Ms. Alarie."
"I'll be there Mr. Delmas." Grabbing my bag, I scurried out the door.
Our plans for exploration are ruined.I thought. Unless Sissi cause a big commotion (which is likely) for me to sneak out of detention.
"Wanna go to the dorms or the forest?" Wave pulled out two paper bags. "I convinced Rosa to pack a picnic for us."
Dumbfounded, I stopped walking aren't we going to see Ms. hertz/Jim?"
"Nope," Wave continued walking towards the forest. "I lied to get you outta there. No point in you losing your ln lunch break be because of Sissi."
"Your amazing Wave!" I zipped her into a hug. "Listening to Sissi's wincing was annoying."
Wave patted my head. "Let's go. You could use this more than me." Wave pulled out a cupcake from one of the bags.
We made out way to the center of the forest, where we found a clearing . We sat on a tree stun stump and ate our lunch. Wave plotted revenge on Sissi. She wanted to hack into the school's computer system to change her grades. Until I pointed out that it wouldn't change much. M Wave still insister on doing something. I let her ran, grateful for her caring and getting revenge on my be half.
I used the time to think of how to prove my innocence before the end of the day. I should've given Sissi the wrong answers. Failing won' t harm my grade, but her's , well it can't get much lower than a D.
Wave's POV:
"Listen, I'll dress up as you and go to detention for you." I offered.
Emi laughed, "I appreciate the offer, but I think they'll notice." She gestured to my orange buns and her long purple her.
We gathered our things to head back to campus. we'd le left the clearing and reached the edge of the forest when Mr. Fumet stepped into our path.
"I'll do the talking." I whispered to Emi.
She was quiet as she stared at Mr. Fumet.
"Ah, Emi you okay?" I nudged her with my elbow.
"We need to leave, now." Emi started moving backwards, tugging on my arm. "Come on Wave."
Confused, I patted her hand. "I agree, running would be good if we hadn't already been caught. But it'll only make things worst if we leave now."
I brushed her hand off and turned to address Mr. Fumet. "Mr. Fumet weren't playing hooking or even playing. We were...admiring nature?" Yeah, that excuse sounds pathetic to even me.
Mr. Fumet smirked, than raised a hand. While I watched, confused, Emi grabbed my arm to pull me along. Good thing she did, because a pulse of purple energy shot out of Mr. Fumet's hand.
"Run!" Emi ordered, dragging me with her as we went further into the forest. She was smarter than me who kept looking back at Mr. Fumet. Was it Mr. Fumet? Pretty sure teachers aren't suppose to attack students! Corrections, humans shouldn't be able to toss energy!
"Emi!" I picked up the pace, running beside her so that I no longer dragged us down. "Should we head back to the school? No that could cause others to get hurt. Then to the police? Nope, to far. Also don't think I can run that far."
"Just hush and run!" Emi ordered. Her voice was calm, focused. She looked around, seeing what I saw, trees and bushes. Nowhere to go or hide.
Or so I thought, Emi made a sharp left turn then dove into a large bush. I paused in front, curious her plan. An arm reached out, yanking me into the bush.
"Shhhh!" Emi placed her hand over my mouth, keeping me quiet. We sat like that for several long tension moments. When nothing happened, she released me and peeked through the bushes. "I think he's gone."
"Great, but lets remain here." I pulled her back into our hiding place.
Emi shook her head, "You'll be safe here. I'll lure him away." She got up to leave.
"Your not going out there!" I grabbed Emi's hand to keep her in place. "Let's head for Kanna, get help from there."
Emi shook her head. "He's after me. You'll be safe once we spilt up."
"Tell me how I can help. Otherwise I'm not letting you go." I tightened my grip. "We're friends Emi, trust me."
Emi watched me, eyes searching for something. We haven't been friends for long, but she's the fist first fi friend I made here. As transfers, we had ourselves to rely on. Yet, we be became friends despite out our differences.
Emi wasn't bothered by my pushiness and I never questioned er her on her disappearances or obvious lies. Like Yumi and her friend, Emi and her group seem to be hiding something. Like the day a teacher from Kanna and Jim and Mr. Delmas were looking for Emi late one night. They found Kitt, who would've led them to Emi and her friend. I don't understand what happened, but the entire next day aw as was like deja ve, minus anyone looking for Emi that night. Nothing happened in regards to them finding a kittened kitten in Emi's dorm or her sneaking out.
"Go to Kanna. Find Kya, Cam, Lynn, or Alexei." Emi sighed "Tell them Xana. They'll know what that means
I wanted to questioned her more, but let her hand go. "I'll deliver your message."
Emi nodded, "I'm trusting you Wave, please find them and tell only them."
Our conversation ended, Emi pushed me into some brushes. She than ran into the clearing. From in between the leaves, I saw a purple pulse of energy knock her to the ground. Mr. Fumet, than picked her up and carried her way.
I fought the urge to rush after them. Emi's instructions were clear. She had knowledge that's proven to be correct so far. Now, I'll continue to trust her.
Lynn's POV:
"Dude Kya's gonna flip!" I tell al Alexei who's eating his third slice of cake. Cam and Kya are late for lunch, so Alexei convinced the lunch works that neither w wants their cakes.
Alexei licked icing off his fingers. "She's got a head injury. Mr. Z wouldn't want her a eating unhealthy foods."
"Are they still in the infirmary?" I asked. During class, Kya sent a text that her head was aching/pounding, so Cam took her to see Mr. C. That was thirty minutes ago.
'Yeah, Cam said Mr. C was dealing with a group of lower grade students who injured each other during P.E." Alexei picked icing off of his plate. "Cam will probably grab lunch for both of them, than go running back to his girlfriends. How has Cam not noticed Kya's crush on him?"
I spilt my water out. "What!?" Ho.. how do you know that!?" Kya's gonna freak when/if she finds out Alexei knows about her crush on Cam.
Alexei gave me a 'duh' stare. "I'm reckless, not bind. Heck Emi's probably figured it out as well. Makes sense, since we're all friends and spend ninety precent of our time together.
"Regardless, Kya will freak when she discovers you know. So do yourself and us a favor and keep your mouth zipped." Knowing Alexei he won't listen to my warning. Maybe I should prep Kya?'
"To late." Alexei state. "She knows that I know about her crush. If anything, we need to brainstorm on how to get Cam aware. Pour dude likes Kya and doesn' t know it."
Before I could grill Alexei, Calex came over with Alley. The two plopped down across from us.
"Mara and Avery have lunch detention and Mr. Z is looking for you." Ally explained. "We," she gestured to herself and Calex. "would like to have a drama free lunch."
Alexei put his fork down and let it out a sigh. "What happned?"
"Ania wrote a comic that 'demonstrates' Mara's acting skills." Alley stated.
"Than Isaac found it and snuck it into the latest edition of the school's paper." Calex explained. "Mara went ball ballistic. Avery tried to calm her, until Issac slipped and revealed himself as he master mind."
I groaned, "Why can't he they leave well enough alone."
Mara's the editor of the school's paper, but more so in name. She only shows up when she a wants something added or taken out of the paper. Issac's all about being a reporter and has unofficially become the editor. They, Issac and Mara often but heads. Issca sees Mara's interference as an insult to his craft.
Ania's an artist, who sometimes writes comics for the paper. She generally dislikes Mara, but usually keeps to herself and her friend group. She probably wrote that comic as a joke for herself and her friends. Now that Issac's shared it with the entire school, drama will follow Ania, who was dragged into this.
"What does this have to do with me?" Alexei asked. "Why is Mr. Z looking for me? I have nothing to do with it."
Calex shrugged, "Maybe so you can calm Mara down." He took a bite of his lunch. "From what I've been told, your one of the few who can calm her. Plus, she" He pointed his fork at Ally, "isn't getting involved."
Alexei and I turned to Ally, waiting for an explanation. She glanced up from her tray to answer, "If I go to her now, she won't listen to me later when I'll have to talk her out of doing something dumb as revenge to Ania and Issac." She than went back to eating.
"Wh-" My voice was cut off by the slamming of doors. Everyone turned in the direction of the sound, to see a girl with orange space buns and headphones around her neck at the entrance. Her eyes scanned the cafeteria, landing on us. She then rushed over frantic and out of breath.
"Wave?" Alexei asked.
Ah, that's why she looks familiar. She's Emi's friend from Kadic. Alexei and Cam go over to Kadic more than myself and Kya since we live in the dorm. Normally Emi comes to Kanna when we're not meeting at the manison or lab. Otherwise, Alexei and Cam will visit Kadic since they're day students at Kanna.
"Sis?" Calex stopped eating to stand and walk over to Wave. "Why? How are you here? Should you be at school? Which is in another country."
Wave looked sheepish, but ignored Calex. "Emi, forest, teacher, zap!" She rushed to say quickly.
"Woah, take a deep breath." Calex placed his hands on Wave's shoulders to get her attention.
"Not now bro." She shook his hand off, than shoved pass him. "What was it I was suppose to tell you...oh right." Wave moved closer to me and Alexei to whisper the next words. "Xana."