"Hold on Alexei! I'm almost done. Just one more cd!" Emi cried.

Alexei stood behind her, trying to pull her chair away from the computer. He'd arrived at her dorm around ten am that morning so that could hang out. Normally Alexei would be asleep on a Saturday morning, only waking up early if Cam or his mom woke him. For today, he'd left before Cam woke up. Their plan was for Alexei to leave early so that Kya could go over to his house and spend time with Cam. Her goal, keep Cam busy and away from anything Lyoko related. However, Alexei would be bore out of the house all day with no destination. His other friends already had plans and while he could visit Mara, he didn't want to risk being used for make-up practice. Thus, his options were Lynn or Emi.

He figured Lynn would use the time to work on his music and get ready to go overseas. Alexei didn't know all the details, but from what he knew it seems Lynn had paperwork and others then to attend to before the end of the school year. Alexei did wonder how he convienced his parents to agree. Knowing Lynn's father, the answer would be no. His mother, was the unknown. From Lynn's description, his mother supported him but also didn't want to go against. At the same time, she didn't like Lynn being forced to do sports or give up music.

Alexei couldn't relate to that, having a parent that didn't support you. His mother had always been there for him, even picking up the slack of his father. Alexei's father lived aboard like Cam's family. However his father had remarried and lived with his new wife and their kids. The time Alexei was suppose to spend with his father got shorter and shorter, until they stopped all together. His parents didn't get along, but he'd heard his mother on the phone more than once. Each time she tore into the man for forgetting about Alexei.

When his father did decide to visit or want Alexei to visit him, it was always at an inconviencet time for Alexei or his mother. Thus, his mother often got creative and petty. She only did this when Alexei admitted he didn't want to go. Plus, his father couldn't make him or his mother have Alexei go. His father had his court aranged days and months for Alexei, just like his mom. If his father didn't use his alloted time, that was on him. However, taking that time away from his mother was out of the question. But he knew that she'd let Alexei go if he truly wanted.

Yeah, he wouldn't hurt his mom like that. As much as he missed his father, he cared for his mother more. She'd been there for him when his father left and forgot about him. She spoke to the man when she didn't have to for her son's sake. And she was petty. Alexei knew where he got his mischievous from.

"Emi we're gonna be late for the movie!" Alexei fake winced. He leaned over the chair, falling onto Emi.

Emi shook her shoulders, trying to get him off. "Sorry, Alexei. Kya and Lynn dropped these off last night and I've been working on them ever since." She pointed to the stack of open cds on her desk.

Reya's Journal Logs were the first real clue they've had for the mansion and by extension the the supercomputer. Reya didn't make it easy looking through her records. Each CD was coded and encrtyed. Emi spent most of the night breaking through what she could. Decoding wasn't something she did often. She preferred helping Cam and reworking existing programs. Still, she wanted to know more about the mansion and Lyoko. So, decoding it was.

"What's important about some cds?" Alexei eyed the stack. "I've got several piles at home."

"Oh right." Emi stopped typing. "You and Cam don't know." She paused her work to spin her chair around. "Kya and Lynn went to the train station yesterday and found a bag of cds. There records, logs, from Reya working on the supercomputer." Emi further explain how Kya came to see her and Wave for help decoding a message she found.

"That's amazing!" Alexei wondered what information they could obtain from the logs. "It'll be well worth the time to explore. But later."

"But Alexei -" Emi's plea was cut short. Alexei wheeled her away from the computer. Than went back over to put the system into hibernation.

"Now your work will be here for you afterschool on Monday." He announced. "Pack a bag! Mom got permission for you, Kya, and Lynn to spend the rest of the weekend at our place."

Emi rolled her eyes at Alexei's dramatic flair, as she went about pl packing. She grabbed some clothing, shoes, pajamas, and several other things. Not that she'd need much, Ms. Tiya kept extra of everything for Alexei's random sleepovers. Including food and snacks. Every visit resulted in an over stuffed so stomach. Ms. Tiya made that much food and more!

"Done, just let me save my work and turn off the computer." Emi wasn't worried about losing her work, but rather someone finding it. That's not something she'd want to explain. "Ready!" She stuffed the CDs into her bag at the last moment. She could at least show Cam. They'd probably be up way longer than the others anyway.

"Where are we going anyway?" Emi asked, following Alexei out.

"To your very first theater experience! The movies!" Alexei took Emi's overnight bag and lead them out of the school into town.

As they walked Emi was excited for a new Earth experience and caious. Alexei was known for his bad movie picks. She wondered if today's pick would make their worst top ten.

Lynn:

Lynn stood outside Emi's dorm, a last minute visit. It was early afternoon and he'd busyed himself that morning g finishing school work and talking to his mother. They'd gone over the plan for the beginning of the next school year. AD from the contest had worked with his mother to ensure he'd still be enrolled at Kanna for the next school year and would have a dorm. He'd be able to return like nothing happen at the end of his time overseas.

He'd been reassured that regardless of his father's wants or input, Lynn could go. His mother was making sure there'd be no inference. Lynn also learned his father had been forbidden from mention anything about the trip.

Lynn kept his composer on the phone at that last bit of news. But had a fat grin on his face for the rest of the conversation.

"If your looking for Emi, she left bout two hours ago with Alexei." Wave stood at the end of the hall, popping her gum.

Welp, there goes my plans."Thanks , Wave." He adjusted the guitar case on his back, waved bye, and headed for the stairs.

Lynn thought about going to the nearby forest and work on his music. He wanted to have enough songs for a an album before summer vacation. Over the summer he'd refine the songs and hopefully have a chance to present them while overseas.

"Why are you following me?" Lynn notice Wave following him outside. He turned to face her. "Well?"

"Chill, I'm heading to the forest." Wave gestured to her headphones. "Gonna walk around try to get some inspo for my music."

Lynn raised an eyebrow, curious. "You write songs?"

She shook her head, "Nope, not talented enough. However, DJing's nm my thing, I like creating beats and mixing." She noticed his guitar case. "What bout you? Only play?"

"Nah, I also write and record my own songs. Was actually visiting E Emi hoping to get some feedback. But, well you know." He shrugged. "I'm also headed to the forest to work on my music."

Wave smiled, "I'd like to hear your work. Could be the inspo I need."

Lynn nodded, "Only if I can listen to your's. Something new sounds interesting."

The two continued their way to the forest discussing music and sharing ideas. Lynn found Wave refreshing, having a follow musician to talk to. While Wave enjoyed speaking to someone with that had the same interest as her.

Kya:

"You've lost your touch general." Kya said smugly, placing her controller on the bed and leaning back. "All that time in the lab dull your skills?" She joked.

"Oh hush!" Cam tossed a pillow at her playfully. "I'm not the one who routinely gets defeated in boss battles and loses in mini games."

"I don't like doing side quests or mini games. If it isn't a part of the main story I don't wanna play it." Kya pretended to pout. "Not everyone wants to get every trophy in a game."

Cam's real passion was creating video games. Like Kya he played them as well, but only to get ideas for his video game projects. He was good at them as well and often assisted Kya whenever she got stuck. This usually involved him beating a specific boss or other chanegllege. Other times he'd watch her play and give tips. Or share cheat codes he'd found. However, they hadn't had a chance to just hang out like regular students since the matierlaztion program was finished. In a way Cam had more time, not needing to work on the locator program to find the Lyoko Keys or finish the materialztion program. Among other projects, those were the two that had his attention the most back then.

Now he was foucsed on debugging Emi's data on the supercomputer to undo the modifications Xana made. A task that was easier said then done. Even with the data they'd gotten from Sector Five, he didn't know where to start. Sure he'd been working on it, but when he thought he found the problem, something else appeared. The data from Sector Five was finished analysis, pointing to areas that could be the issue. So far, it was alot of nothing. If they had some other kind of clue, he'd be able to make a break through.

"Hey, no thinking about Lyoko or Xana." Kya poked Cam's cheek. "I'll had your laptop from you and have Alexei set up a movie night with you and Ms. Tiya. You won't be able to get out of it."

A chill went down his spine. "No, no, nnnoooo." He crossed his arms to form a giant X. "I maybe his best friend, but I'm not seeing through another movie night. You know how his tastes in movies are."

Kya did know. She wasn't as close to Alexei as she was with Lynn and Cam. The two had comics as their main common interest, with exercise a close second. Of their friends, they were the only two who enjoyed being active. Lynn wasn't into sports, despite being a gifted altheic. He'd play a casual game of soccer with Alexei and their teammates from the soccer team. Anything else was a no go. Cam's more of a computer and tech guy. The most active he was is during gym. As for Kya, she did figure skating. Her skills were part of how she obtained a scholarship to attend Kanna Academy. The other half being her grades. She had to keep a certain minimum grade across all of her classes to maintain her scholarship. Without it, she'd have to leave the school. With five kids of varying ages in different school years, her family couldn't afford Kanna's tuition. Luckily, Cam helped her study and she sought the teachers out when needing extra help. Unlike Alexei who didn't study. Kya wondered how he was passing. She rarely saw him do homework. The only thing she could count on was his bad taste in movies. She wondered how and where he kept finding these movies.

"No spacing out." Cam lightly pinched Kya's cheecks. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Alexei's bad taste in movies and our random group." Kya hugged her knees. "Do you think we'd be friends without Lyoko, Xana, or Emi?"

Cam sighed, it was a thought he'd often had before. "I try not to think about it." He leaned against the bed's headrest. "For sure Alexei and I would still be best friends, just like you and Lynn. However considering how things were before Lyoko brought us together..." His voice trailed off, not needing to retell their earlier encounters pre-Lyoko.

Back than, Cam and Alexei were in seventh grade, having attended Kanna since fifth grade. It was how they knew Mara and her group, they'd been in the same class for two years. The year before Lynn had arrived, but they barely knew him since he was a grade ahead. By the time Kya came that year, Alexei and Lynn weren't on the best terms. They didn't hate or dislike each other, but perferred not to be around each other. Didn't help that Mara was around because of Alexei, which meant that Avery and Ally would be nearby as well. Things didn't get better until the supercomputer was discovered.

"Should we have let Ally keep her memories." Kya asked another unexpected question. "She did help us when we were trying to bring Emi to Earth."

"Hard to say." Cam shrugged. "She helped us, yes. But she's Mara's best friend as well. There's no telling what would happen if we'd allowed her to remember things. Besides the only way for her to keep her memories would be for her to enter a scanner." Anyone who entered a scanner and was scanned once would retain their memories, regardless of how many times Return to the Past was used. To date, Cam hadn't found away to reverse this premit effect. Not that he'd tried hard to find one. Other things required his attention.

"Hey, your the one who said no thinking about Lyoko." Cam picked up the controllers and handed one to Kya. "Ready for another round? You won't be lucky this time."

Kya smirked. "It's call skill Cam. Skill."

They turned the game back on, content to battle until one of them was the champion.