Code Lyoko: A Human Virus [chp. 4 edited]

Most leaves had already fallen to the ground as masses of orange, red, and yellow. Some chilly air blew hours of hard labor gathering up debris into piles into the streets, where energetic vehicles crushed them into little pieces. These shattered nuisances ran away with the drafts, never to be seen again. In the surroundings, the naked trees looked rather lonely, yet they knew that it was their duty during this time of year to be lonesome giants. The smell of heat could not be detected; everything was covered in the scent of sheer coldness, a distilled void. Already it would seem that winter was coming, for soon there would be hardly anything to smell; however, there was still the odors of spices wafting from houses. Not much noise existed, with the exception of various vehicles on the streets, shouting, and laughing.

A lot of the background energy concentrated in several children running around towards the grounds of rectangular buildings. In the surroundings, bells could be heard, buzzing away at people’s ears. In every direction, giggling and snickering were present; some individuals could be seen frowning, sulking, or having their arms folded as their backs were to the building and column walls. A certain section of the front area, consisting of arches, was a popular place for vibrancy. All the buildings’ roofs consisted of a teal color; none of the actual bodies had the same paint, but they all went for dull shades. On each building, varying shapes of windows were found, though one form would be used a single row, to keep consistency but also a contrast. Trees lined near the buildings and pathways, along with some stone. They were evergreens, and so the giants resisted dropping their leaves, preferring the company before the real cold set in. The paved floor of the institution looked almost like a pale dirt ground. Sometimes it smelled subtly akin to dirt itself. With the tree scent spreading around depending on wind, the scent was a nice touch.

An announcement came on for all new students to enter the theatre for a quick orientation. Many smaller individuals left, leaving a majority of the older children to head towards the north. One student who was leaning against a support column, arms folded, sighed and picked a bag and backpack before, also, going along the path to follow the taller people. Brown eyes stayed on the ground, making movements as a rock or twig came along; automatically, nerves sent streams of information to the brain while short, black hair swept across the eyes, only to be pushed behind the ears.

Suddenly, the student bumped into something bulky, breaking concentration and prompting the eyes to look ahead, and then up. Now visuals of brown hair, a white headband, strong chin with whiskers, and a bandage were sent into the brain. Only ill thoughts remained as everything was processed. “Mr. Morales… Uh…” Spots of gray were detected in the hair of the big man, but the student could not notice the tiny detail for now. Words filled the thoughts in negativity.

“Oh, ho! And what do you think you’re going? Didn’t you hear the principal?” Mr. Morales cleared his throat. “I think I heard clearly that all new students must go to the theatre! Even you!” His gigantic gut stuck out as the man erected his posture, putting his arms behind his back. Small squeaks erupted as his red coat moved and rubbed against itself. “And remember this: call me Jim.”

The student furrowed brows and deepened a frown all the while fixing the position of the black military-style cap, turning the headpiece until it seemed to point straight forward. “I’m not exactly a 12-year old. Why do I need to go to some stupid orientation? It’s the---“

“ ‘Same old stuff’?” Jim interrupted, reciprocating the student’s downwards brows with his own. He stepped forward, his black sweat pants not making nearly as much sound as his coat, and stuck a finger at the student’s face. “Now listen here. I don’t care if you’re a twelfth grader or had been to Kadic Academy before, but rules are rules. Get yourself to the theatre now!” A ‘humph’ escaped from his lips. He raised his finger higher in the air and, with eyes closed, began to speak again. “And don’t you dare--- Hey!”

Jim had to stop himself from falling backwards as the student brushed hard against him and jolted down the path. The luggage bore down the potential maximum speed, but the increased acceleration kicked in as the ears perked to Jim’s calling and running right behind real fast. Several twists and turns were made, and the person attempted to lower the panting to a bare minimum. The wind slipping past the student’s vest did not help hearing out for Jim, as the man had stopped calling.

After a weak sprint, the person was already grasping the knees covered by cargo pants of off-white hue, huffing out heat within. The student’s eyes fell on the dirtied brown, slip-on shoes, trying to regain respiratory and adrenal equilibrium. Panting still continued as the bags were taken up and walking down the current road. At a short distance away, the nose picked up delectable smells originating from a smaller building, leading to the teenager to cease and take in the fragrances; it had taken a good minute for the walking to resume following pats of the stomach. A sigh slipped through.

Just as soon as the student’s foot crossed onto a new path, the big man had stepped right in front, turning his determined frown into a smirk. “I caught ya red-handed, you little miscreant!” The student twisted around but was caught from the back and was lifted into the air by the collar. There was no attempts to struggle; only another sigh escaped. Jim celebrated his triumph with snuffed-out laughter, walking in the direction of the theatre, carrying the student one-handed. “You thought you could outrun me, did ya? You’re lucky it’s the first day and no class and I’m such a nice guy. You’d be sent straight into detention for four hours!” Silence. “Try that stunt again in the future and we’ll see to it that you get eight hours instead!”

Hardly three minutes later were they in front of the theatre complex, Jim shoving the student inside and saying to take a seat immediately. Few students turned around as the doors closed; and, without looking at them back, the troublemaker had sat in an empty chair at the end of a row, folding arms as the principal and his bushy mustache talked away without a care in the world. So many thoughts entered the student’s head, and each one of them were met with a physical frown and an angry snort.

“Wonder what’s that guy’s problem?” The student overheard a conversation just an earshot distant. “Seems to be such a hotshot, moping like that after probably having a run-in with Jim.”

Snicker. “How should I know? All I know is that he looks rather angry!”

Spiteful snort.

---

The student could hear more people talking about the frustrated behavior earlier as the legs pushed towards the dormitories. Jim was there, watching students pass by with a stern eye, but he had given a sterner glance at the person who had given him trouble earlier. “You. In all my life, I’ve never had someone try to ditch orientation. It reminds me of the time I had to chase down wild animals in the Congo forest.”

“Really now?” was all the person would say.

“Yes. But I’d rather not talk about it. Anyways, you aren’t allowed here.”

Raise of an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Look here. You’re a boy. This is the girls’ floor. Upstairs, girls. Second floor, boys. That’s you. Now you’re just asking for detention, and not just eight hours but---“

“I’m a girl.”

Jim instantly went from a strict facial expression to that of confusion. His eyes scrolled from the top-down. “A cap, a vest, collared shirt, cargo pants. What kind of new fashion have I been reading into?”

He received a serious glare from the student, who now shrugged the luggage to fix stress on the shoulders. “It’s no one’s but mine, okay? Aren’t you supposed to check me off or something?”

“Oh, uh, right!” Jim whipped the clipboard in front as he mumbled to himself inaudible things. “So, name?”

“Chione Stifle. 8th grade. Somewhere near the bottom.”

The big-bellied man snorted out anger and made a checkmark on the paper. “Don’t give me sass, little missy. You should respect your elders. Especially you being a girl.”

“Okay. Fine.” Her tone snarled sarcasm, and she continued to watch Jim write on the board.

“I gotcha. Now move along. I don’t want to catch you pulling any stunts in the future, you got that? I’ll be keeping my eye on you.”

Chione fixed her cap and walked towards the designated room. A group of girls were in the hall, giggling to each other, and gazed as the vest-wearing student went to put in the key to the door. One girl piped up: “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? You’re downstairs! Creep!”

The key turned to the right and a click rung. “I don’t have time for you, ladies. Just leave me alone.” She did not bother to reply to another of the girls speaking to her as Chione shut the door and pressed her back against it while sliding to the floor. The bags slipped off the shoulders, her head tilted to the ground, and her vision shut off from the world into darkness by the closing of lids. “I already hate this place.”

---

Constant chatter drowned out Chione’s joy. She sat at a lunchroom table, rolling a piece of meatball back and forth with her cheap dining utensil. Her stomach growled tiny whines, but she did nothing more but play with her food, her head resting on a propped arm. From time to time, she would fix her cap from slipping off entirely. After her stomach pleaded on a consistent basis, Chione stabbed the meatball and forced it into her mouth. Everywhere around the girl, there were people that occupied all the seats at a table – except, for the most part, hers. A couple sporadic students took the ends, and they struck up a conversation out of the blue, getting friendlier by the second – also obtaining a higher loudness as well. Chione went back to fooling around and paid no attention to when the screeches of chair legs against linoleum in front of her.

“Do you mind if we sit here?”

Chione finally looked from the tray, keeping her stern aura as she noted a light-brown headed boy who had already pulled out the chair. He kept standing as his hand rested on the chair, as though he was in a guilty act. The girl’s eyes reflected off the boy’s set of green. She did not bother glancing over at whoever accompanied him.

After much silence and the boy opening his mouth to say something, Chione said, “You already pulled it out.” Sigh. “What’s there to ask? Just take it.” She let out another sigh as she rose from her seat and spilled all the contents of the tray – minus an apple – into a nearby garbage can and placed the thing on top.

“W-Where are you going? I didn’t mean to---“

She turned to the boy, noting features, and shrugged. “It’s not you. The smells in here are making me nauseous.”

The fruit’s sweet taste occupied her mind as the girl left the cafeteria and embraced the giant star’s warmth, despite the chilly winds’ gentle brushes on her skin. One step was taken before Chione stopped and took in the area in her peripheral view. Near the cafeteria building was a forest not far from the city streets. “I guess a little green wouldn’t hurt,” she said to herself as she munched on the apple in tiny bites, proceeding to leave school grounds. In taking steps, her nerves were on edge; but, as soon as she stepped onto forest floor, everything in her body relaxed.

Pine and dirt fragrances mixed together to create special magic that cleansed the illness she was experiencing in the dining area. Accompanied by the apple smell, Chione could feel the effects of a sleepy spell over her eyes, but that was soon gone as she thrust a hand over her nose. Tears teemed in her eyes. She took a moment to wipe water away and looked around the area. Near her feet was a manhole, rust enveloping most of the metal, which brought her back into the reality that she might have ventured too far into the forest. She got on her knees, inspecting the area. The grass was taller; yet, up close, the manhole would be visible no matter what. Chione looked around her current location, taking quick glances, prior to lifting the cover off, getting onto the wall ladder, and putting the metal over her head.

Instantly, the odors stung Chione’s nose, making her hesitant to climb down. Her body wanted to go back to the surface; the thoughts of Kadic Academy pressed her on to set foot the sewer ground. Pungent smells tackled her. The water almost appeared a clear blue, but the liquid provided as much cleanness as the oozing walls. Just about everything was cast in an dirtied, dull white-tinted-orange color; and, wherever Chione’s eyes went, they detected cracks either on the boundaries or the walkways.

The Kadic Academy student walked to the left of the ladder and followed the road, hugging the walls. Chione adjusted to the growing darkness and the eventual dripping sounds relatively quickly; as for the smells, she could not wait for her nose to get used to it. Her senses were frantic due to the eerie coldness and loneliness that was a sharp contrast to the cafeteria or – even – the orientation in the theatre. She encountered many diverging paths but did not take any. Her steps had gotten smaller, but the breathing – deep and resisting to take in more fumes – was longer, to where she was holding every ounce of oxygen in her system.

Chione halted. A new ladder appeared to come out of nowhere as she concentrated on her thoughts away from the sewer. Without a second to spare, the student hoisted herself towards the surface world, excitement to be rid of the sewer foulness.

Sunshine greeted her. She put the manhole cover back where it was and gazed at the new area. Chione went to the edge of the current narrow pathway and saw endless water rolling below her. Much like the sewers, rust sprouted randomly along the metal bridge and support beams. Litter was, surprisingly, low in appearance. Off in the distance, the student picked up on a subtle pine and dirt scent. Surveying farther, she saw a forest and made a mental note.

Next, Chione gave attention to a gigantic factory. It matched the scenery of ancient, long-abandoned melancholy manifestations in fiction. Many windows were broken; the ground nearby was cracking; there were signs that people entered and left lovely gifts in the form of trash. No smells originated from the building – with the exception of collected, musty dust. The factory could have been the sewers in terms of color choice, but it certainly smelled better. Only the bird calls and the strolling waters below lingered for amiable presence. With no one around, it was just a lonely building; not even the broken glass pieces could provide much comfort.

Chione only shifted her position towards the factory and gained a raise in adrenal excitement. The decrepit state of the place had put her in a memorizing trance that pulled her feet forwards. All childish humor glowed on Chione’s face, her eyes wide and curious, registering the location along the way. She did not notice her footsteps beginning to echo; she crossed into the interior of the door-less factory and made her way to the edge. Stairs for people’s convenience were not present; instead, hanging by themselves, two ropes dangled from the ceiling, moving slightly in the trodden breeze. The academy student tugged at one chord, waited a second, and then left the safety of the higher ground to slide down the twine. Her heart palpitated faster; her breathing was even quicker. She disregarded any notion of security and well-being for a chance to ride in the elevator. When the red up button was pressed, nothing happened. Chione was sighed and observed the numerical panel below the elevator buttons. They were numbered in the way of a phone. The girl brought her big, brown eyes closer for a better inspection, and she found traces of stains more prominent on the numbers 1, 6, and 7. Out of pure instinct, she tried the numbers in increasing order, punched the up button, and away she went – with a cocky smirk on.

At the end of the ride, the student had been taken to, what looked like to be, a humongous computer. This single room had the most color she had seen in the day: greens, yellows, oranges, and white burst her visual senses to the maximum. She stepped off the elevator and ignored the shutting of the door. “Way cool.” Chione smiled and walked over to the module, not bothering to sit in the barber-style, mechanical chair propped next to it. With the exception of the numerous, big chords connecting to the computer and laid lazily over the floor, there seemed to be nothing majorly different from this and an ordinary PC. Her fingers tapped on some buttons. Nothing happened. Chione tried to find a power button – or even the symbol for it – around the area, but her efforts were fruitless. Scowl.

Her curiosity was not satiated. Chione went back to the elevator, hit the up button, and took another floor. This time she landed into a room more full of flowing chords and a circular yellow and black machine in the center. She approached the center with some caution instilled in the footing, but she was unable to resist walking. Within a foot from the machinery, she saw a sliding panel, pushed a button, and opened the door for a lever. Chione a bit unnerved as the eye-like symbol etched on the panel was staring at her, and the feeling did go away as the lever. Either way, the girl held onto the switch and pulled down – no hesitation present.

White light filled the area from the machine. Chione took a step back, considered her moral options, and prepared for the worst by covering herself. Not long did the light disappear and the room back to normal. Chione released a breath of anxiety out of her system, turned to the elevator, and rode it down.

She returned to the computer room and slowly walked to the module, humming to herself, enjoying the moment. “Whoa…” Her eyes were glued on the computer screen warming itself, multiple windows popping fast akin to chain-reaction explosions. She darted her eyes to the sphere made of webs that sprouted from the center of the room, near the computer. “Wow. Wow… I wonder what all this stuff is for.” Chione rose a hand to the sphere and could feel nothing but air even as her hand went into the center. “Must be a hologram. I wonder who did all this stuff.”

Chione jumped slightly. Muffled sounds were heard; and, she twirled around the room to see nothing or no one to make the noise. She could not figure out the source, folded her arms, and tried to listen for the general direction. “The computer?” The student looked at the keyboard. On top of the buttons was a headset with a microphone that could be slipped onto one ear. Deep breath in and out. The girl rested herself on the chair, twisted to set herself in front of the panel, and continued to just listen. There were pauses from the next set of noises, only for them to start again.

The headset rested on her right ear neatly. The girl could not bring herself to speak at the moment, finally feeling the first conflicted knot in her chest in a long while. Her breathing went silent and in short intakes and exhales. Her eyes had gone shaky, and Chione shut them to attempt calming herself. All the while, her fingers tapped lightly on the computer keys, in deep thought.

Chione brought herself back into the world as she heard a voice. “Hello? Anyone out there? Answer me!”

Gulp. Pause. Silence.

“Hello?! Oh gosh. Can someone answer me?”

Chione focused on the keyboard, a series of quivers debilitating her sense of reason, and she made a decision. “…Who’s this?”

Quiet.

“Uh… Hello? Are you still there?”

“Oh thank everything. Thank you. Someone finally answered.”

The girl had long wiped any sense of juvenile amusement with that of prevalent fear, but she would not let it show in voice. “Exactly what or who are you? Are you some sort of AI? Something from science fiction?”

There was another unhealthy pause before another reply. “I… don’t know. I don’t remember anything.”

“Not even a name?”

“…No.” Another pause. “I was hoping you could tell me.”

She rested her head on a propped arm. Chione pretended that she could see who she was talking to by shaking her head. “All I did was start up this computer. I know just about as much as you.” Her other hand was playfully tapping the keyboard. “Are you something I can see? It’s kind of awkward talking to a screen.”

“I wouldn’t know. Sorry.”

Sigh. “Some AI you are. I’ll figure it out myself. Somehow.” Without a thought, Chione pressed the function keys in increasing numeral order. Each one brought up a new window not holding information she wanted, and she exited out of them to save desktop space. All through the function keys, the girl did not get any useful visual. “Nothing. That’s just great.”

“That’s too bad. I’d’ve wanted for you to see this world with me.”

Blink. “Wait… world? What are you talking about now?” Chione tilted her head to the side. “You’re in… a virtual world?”

“I’d assume so. There’s lots of trees where I’m at. Some kind of sea below, too. It’s pretty green.”

“…A forest.--- Well, minus the sea part.”

“Is that what you call it?” Laugh. “Well, I knew it was a forest. Just playing.”

Chione furrowed her brows. “First you’re a useless program, and now you think it’s okay to laugh? What makes you think I can’t just shut you down right now?”

“What? I’m inside some computer? If I’m here, there must be a way you can be here too, right?”

Shake of the head. “Impossible. That stuff’s in movies.”

“Hey, you know, there’s something I do remember. Would you like to know?”

The girl relaxed her brows a little. Confusion spread all over her face; yet, at the same time, her heart pounded in haste. “What? Spit it out, man.”

“Something about scanners. Something about being in this virtual world – with me. I think you can do that.”

She tilted her head down to the floor, closing her eyes halfway. Many notions and invisible questions popped into her head; all she decided and agreed with had led to a single conclusion, though she was not going to admit it. “What makes you think I’m going to trust someone--- something I can’t see? Huh? You could be a trap. You could kill me.”

“Why did you turn on the computer then?”

Now, she could not gather her thoughts. Embarrassment and frustration exploded in her chest. Chione felt heat collecting in her face. Logic failed her. “I…”

“Look.” The tone dipped down to a serious, deeper tone, which drew Chione in towards the screen in a mysterious fashion. “If I’m an AI, I am reading you clearly right now. Wherever this computer is, it must be pretty secret, since it was shut down. This world needs something more than a standard computer. It’s a… uh… supercomputer. You turned on the supercomputer; you ventured to secret parts and turned it on. You’re a bit of a risk-taker. You even answered to my calling. Don’t play with me like that.” Sigh. “I can’t promise that you’ll be safe because I have no proof, but… I know you want to see what I’m seeing. I know how to set up the scanners. You can see me and the world. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

She shut her eyes tight, shaking. “You cocky program. Whatever. Fine. Tell me.”

A chuckle vibrated in Chione’s ears, to her chagrin. “F5: simplistic current map. It holds the coordinates for my pointer. F2: coordinate set. X and Y, you know the drill. F8 should bring up a countdown. At the bottom, type the command ‘/virtualization’. You’ll have a little over a minute. You can find the scanners yourself.”

Chione’s fingers hovered over the function keys. A wisp of air went through her teeth, her eyelids still shutting her into darkness.

“Did you get th---“

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Ugh.”

She followed the directions as stated, starting with the map. Earlier, the student did not bother to note any of the windows that popped up without a face. On the screen, a single green arrow was stationary; the only thing that moved was the circle surrounding the arrow, which did a ripple-like effect by spreading out and disappearing gently. Chione typed down the coordinates in the next window, exhaling short, tense air out of her nose. Performing the final step, the girl got off her chair and slowly watched the countdown go from the elevator. Her fist pushed for the up button. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Making it to the generator room, she tried her luck by hitting the up button again, and she did not change in facial expression as the elevator did as she wanted it to.

The black-haired teenager opened her eyes to the three tower-like pods in the room. She wanted to stand and check on the machinery; but, remembering the countdown, Chione headed inside one as nervous energy shot to her legs and arms. She had to gulp to calm herself even slightly. Her nerves did not help the experience when the door abruptly closed and giving her chills up her spine. “Oh boy. I’m in trouble now…”

A bright ring formed around her feet; it began to hover steadily to the top of the pod and back down like a simple mountain climb. The girl clenched her teeth and shut her eyes during the process. Her curiosity could not be mustered enough to attempt any other action besides results of anxiety and dreading fear. All the emotions flowed to her gut; and, in exchange, her stomach wanted to return the apple out of her body.

A light flash engulfed her completely. Chione felt weightless; her heart said she was dead.

---

“Stifle.” A teacher was reading from the roll call, during which the rest of the students had fun talking amongst each other. “Stifle? Huh. First day of class and already absent? Not a good start; not a good start.”

A light-brown haired boy looked at the professor with wide eyes and stole glances around the room. Three chairs were empty, but the teacher had finished the roll call with only one absentee. Everyone else had busy lives to update one another about their first day at Kadic Academy. The boy knotted his brows up.

The student next to him nudged him. “Hey. Something wrong?”

He peered at the door. “Not really. Well, actually, okay.” The boy turned to the person, worried. “I remember a Stifle in one of my classes earlier. Lunchtime, I had taken a seat with a guy, and he left because he felt nauseous. I could have sworn…”

“Sworn…?”

“This same person was in my class. Now they’re gone. It’s just my intuition, but…”

The kid laughed wholeheartedly. “Wow. Are you really that worried? He might have gone to the infirmary.”

“But…”

“Relax. You shouldn’t care. You don’t know him.”
“I suppose…”

From the front, the two students heard the teacher clear his throat and tap his foot. He leered at them with narrow eyes. “Boys, am I interrupting your conversation? Please, let me know when you’re finished.”

The light-haired boy shook his head and hung low as red showed on his face. “No, sir… I’m sorry.”

Class resumed without any more obstacles. The boy placed his head on folded arms, continuing to look at the door. “I shouldn’t, but I do…”

---

Chione was suspended in the air, arms and legs stretched out, as her body was forming digitally. At first, the girl appeared as a transparent web of wires that framed her skeleton and model, being created like the initial stages of a three-dimensional character in a video game. Square platelets of shading and color, little by little, manifested on her body from the top-down.

Halfway through the process, the girl could feel her system functions running again. The senses of sight and hearing had come back on, yet her mind had not caught up to the current situation. Chione had barely a moment to crack open her eyelids before she was pressed down by gravity, dropping to ground much too early for her brain to register. She could not even let out a scream, replacing potential fear with a sound of pain as the student fell hard against the floor, landing on her back.

“Ow.” Chione noticed the injury subsiding as she got on her feet, but she was also occupied with the surroundings.

In confirmation with the voice, the area had a huge amount of trees and plenty earthy green colors to classify as a forest; however, the wooden giants did not take root on the ground Chione stood on. She stepped over near the edge, widening eyes as the trees’ roots – prominent and numerous – dug themselves into the sea mentioned before. Streams of garbled numbers, letters, and symbols flowed throughout the waters, seeming to go nowhere but wherever they desired. On the mainland, the girl saw stumps big enough for a small house having openings for shortcuts to the other side.

Everything was cast like actual forest colors; but, from where Chione stood, everything also had the wrong feel to them. “It’s like I’m in a video game…”

A bad sensation shot in her stomach. The teenager went to place both hands on her abdomen, looked down, and let out an astonished, quiet gasp.

She had forgotten the queasy feeling upon seeing a gloved human and demonic-looking hand clutching at her stomach, and immediately brought them out in front of her eyes. The left hand was normal – at least, in terms of shape – as far as she could tell. Chione did not pay further attention to the fingerless glove on the left, concentrating on her deformed right. It was significantly larger, black as licorice, and muscular; and, when testing the clenching, the gigantic claws scratched against her skin. She first thought of a monster tearing out the flesh of an innocent being in a horror movie. The girl tried to banish all thought as she glanced at her attire.

Chione gained hair flowing past her shoulders, getting in the way of the single strap hanging loosely on her left shoulder. Down to her knees, a light-blue cocktail dress had tightly been fitted on her, with a lonely star printed a little to the right of the bellybutton. Some pant material could be seen barely under the dress. Her legs went bare after the knees, and stopped at the black, flat shoes without any features.

“Eh. What kind of fashion sense does this supercomputer have? That looks kind of terrible, to be honest.”

Chione slowly twisted herself around, blinking wavering eyes. She then scowled. “Not fair. You’re better-dressed than me.”

The teenager boy held his right hand on his waist, smirking. Underneath red and white armor placed at the chest, shoulders, around the waist, forearms, and from the knee-down was a dark-brown tunic-like fabric that covered the rest of the body, looser than Chione’s dress in looks if not for the cream-colored belt worn at his hip. Compared to the girl, he was better protected in any confrontation, having armored shoes to add insult to injury. Behind his back – and gripped by both hands – was a long, gleaming white lance, glittering at the tip due to being gold.

The boy’s blue eyes focused on Chione’s brown. “It’s not my fault. I guess this is what your heart truly wants.”

Glare. “Forget you.”

He struck the lance into the ground and raised his hands palms-up. “I’m sorry; I’m sorry. Look. I’m glad you came… uh…”

Sigh. “Chione.”

“Cool. Chione. I’m glad you came. It’s kind of lonely out here.”

The girl rolled her eyes to the sky, orange in color. Not a cloud could be seen, but the trees appeared to tower beyond, to the heavens. “It’s kind of cool.” She averted attention back to the guy. “But you still don’t have any memory of who you are?”

He shook his head. “Nada.” Toothy smile. “But I think you could give me one until I remember. You’re practically my new master of the supercomputer.”

Chione relaxed fierceness in her gaze, but then shifted attention to the ground. “Okay. I guess.” She closed her eyes and pictured many names floating in her head. Silence fell between the two, she hearing the boy move his feet slightly but not giving much care. She eventually spoke again after making a decision. “Aaron.”

The boy raked his fingers through his messy, black hair. “Um… Do I look like an Aaron?”

Chione placed her hands on her waist. “Why would you know? You’re just a program, right? Have any better ideas?”

He shook his head again. “No. Sorry. Until I can remember, okay?” Proclaimed ‘Aaron’ took his lance and swung the weapon across his shoulders, hanging his arms on there. “We should try exploring the place. It’s---“ The sudden disruption had resulted in the boy being blown to the side from red light. Where he was hit had electric sparks chattering until they disappeared. “Ouch, man.”

Three little machines stayed at their positions, staring at the two. The eye symbol on the sliding panel had made a return on their supposed foreheads, black and mysteriously gazing forward. A round piece was placed lower on their bodies, acting as maybe mouths. The little critters walked on four metallic legs, scrawny for their tops but seeming to work correctly. With exception for the legs, they were dirt-brown and had an unique head shape.

“Their tops look like primitive skulls,” Chione commented before getting hit herself in the stomach. She slid near ‘Aaron’, clutching the injured area as sparks flew. “Dang. They hit hard. What do we do?”

‘Aaron’ gripped around the lance and stayed down on one knee. “Play it like a video game: fight.” The male pushed himself to standing position with his weapon and started dashing towards the machines, his lance trotting behind his back in one hand. The monsters shot at him, though they missed him badly. He was about to strike at one, letting out a battle cry, until he was blown off his feet by three shots at once.

Chione supported herself off the ground due in thanks to the right hand. Her eyes shifted from the three creatures to her demonic arm and back again. “This is my weapon? Well, I guess it will have to do.” She rushed to help ‘Aaron’, dragging her feet after now noticing the weight difference from her right and left sides, and tried to swipe at the creatures. Much like the boy, she was hit by a triple shot to the leg, thigh, and chest, resulting her falling to her knee. Her teeth clenched in much malaise. “This is so stupid.”

The two heard the whirling noise of shots being charged; they both could not stand. ‘Aaron’ laughed in wheezes. “We’re such failures.”
Even in the tense situation, the girl had to chuckle, even if extremely soft. “No doubt about that. Looks like we’re dead…”

Chione was hit first, landing her backwards once more. Her body disintegrated, going through a reversal of how she was brought into the virtual world. Pixels of definition vanished into the air, her framework body was left with no energy, and, as the final step, her transparent model disappeared entirely. The boy saw a shot of blue light hit his chest and, he too, followed Chione – after having electricity flow around his virtual body and wrap him until he fully disappeared.

In their victory, the machines nodded and walked from the area in a stride.

---

Two of the scanners had opened, releasing small quantities of steam into the room and gradually turning clear. A thin hand held onto the door, shivering, only for a head of messy, black hair to pop out, panting. ‘Aaron’ was gasping – sometimes choking on his own oxygen intakes. One sneaker stepped from the pod before the male almost tripped. He patted his body from the chest to the knees and pinched his cheek. His fingers rubbed the fabric of the oversized green hoodie and white undershirt; and, seeing dust on his jeans, the boy fixed the denim. He went through his hair after all the self-checking was completed.

Suddenly, his eyes had grown larger in relation to his hand dropping to the side. “I… remember my name. I remember my name!” The messy-haired teenager calmly strolled to the other scanners, biting back expressing fatigue-resulted sores. The third capsule held a person inside with their head down. ‘Aaron’ smiled. “Chione, I actually remember my name. You… Huh?”

Chione lifted her head up, blinking. Her fingers tapped against the floor as silence permeated between the individuals. She said, after closing her eyes halfway, “Well? I’m waiting. What is it?”

“That’s you, Chione?” The boy placed his head against the door of her scanner, a hand just above it. “Wait. You’re taking this rather calmly.”

She raised a brow. “About what?”

“About me out of the computer. I’m super shocked, and you’re just sitting there as though this is normal.”

The cap-wearing student got back on her feet while using the walls of the scanner for support. “It’s not normal. This whole place is not normal. I’m too tired to care; I can take whatever supernatural phenomena are coming my way now that I discovered this place.” She fixed her hat. “It’s incredible; I’ll give it that much credit. For now, though, I just don’t care and want out of here.”

‘Aaron’ removed his head from the door, frowning. “Wait. You’re just leaving? Just like that?” His other hand gripped on the other side, blocking Chione’s path. “I didn’t think I would be saved by such a selfish person.”

“What exactly…?” Chione breathed out frustrated air. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m too tired to be surprised right now.” She felt shaking in her legs, leading her to grip the walls harder. Her gaze fell on the boy as stern cold orbs. “You were about to say? What’s your name?”

The boy took a moment staring at the girl in a bewildered look; afterwards, he unblocked the door, though his leer was strong. “Silas. That’s all I remember so far.”

“Silas…” Small smile. “Way better than ‘Aaron’, in my opinion. Alright.” She stepped out and stood in front of Silas, tilting her head down but giving him her fullest attention. Chione spoke again before shoving her hands into her pockets. “You’re out of the computer. It’s full of monsters. What are you going to do?”

“Nothing but study the entire mechanisms. It’s best that I figure out what it is and what it’s for. Anything that could give me--- us clues to why it exists.”

Raise of a brow. “Us?”

Smirk. “You’re not going to back out, are you?”

“Would you stop?” Chione faced the elevator and took a step forward. “I’m not. Okay? I’m not going to. It’s too… exciting.” She swiftly turned around, pointing a finger at Silas’ face. “But one thing: you definitely need new clothes.” She dropped the hand. “Another thing: I really hope you find some good info to keep me here. It’s already stupid enough that I’m talking to some AI that’s not in a computer; no one would be that crazy to stay for a virtual world.”

He snickered. “But you. You’re stupid and crazy enough.” Silas showed her his palms. “Okay. Okay. I’ll find ways to make you stay.” To reciprocate earlier, the boy was giving his own finger at her. “I need something from you in return.”

Blink.

“I need some food.”

---

For lunchtime of the next day, Chione did not stick around the cafeteria long enough for the sickening odors to hit her hard. She had held in her breathe of clean, outdoor air and, when she had to replace carbon dioxide for another time, took in smaller quantities inside the lunchroom. Today’s meatballs and potatoes, cookie, and green beans were scooped into plastic bags carefully, being precise in not getting any of the messy edibles onto the zippers. The girl sealed the food, stuffed the bags into a bag compartment in the front, and headed for the door with the backpack slung over one shoulder.

The empty tray was put at its proper place. A voice followed Chione when she had turned for the double-doors, calling her by the surname, sounding humble and shy. The cap-wearing student slid her right foot about two inches away from the left leg, giving a better angle behind. “Ah. It’s you again. From yesterday.”

Nodding came from the brunette boy. His head lowered closer to his chest, while his eyes – the color of a lit-up forest – preferred the ground. “H-Hello, er, again. I’m Lukas. We have classes together.”

Chione raised a brow with a neutral expression on her face. “Nice to meet you. Uh… can I help you?”

He shook his head. “No.” Suddenly, he nodded furiously. “Actually, yes. Uh. Yesno?”

“…Right. ‘Yesno’.” She shoved her hands in the pockets. “I would love to chat, but I’ve got something pretty important to do. Mind making it quick?”

“Oh, um.” Lukas brought his head to normal level and tried to give the girl eye contact, though he quickly shifted his body away, laughing nervously. “Sorry to bother you. It’s just, well, I was worried that you didn’t come to afternoon classes yesterday. You were in the morning ones. So…” He scratched at the area above the armpit, continuing the little laughter as bits of white cotton residue collected in his fingernails. When he spoke again, Lukas’ voice lowered in volume. “I-I was worried something happened. You said something about being a little nauseous and the nurse---“

Widened eyes. “You… actually went to the nurse?”

Blink. A red line formed on his face, also bringing out a stuttering noise from his mouth. Students surrounding the two started to snicker at the Lukas child, whispering comments about him being a weird one. A couple even suggested deeper connections between Chione and the brunette – with much hinting that the two ‘boys’ were secretly having fun nighttime at the dorms. Lukas pressed his lips tightly in one moment, opened them in another, and closed them in the third. After many seconds passed, the boy was exhaling short breaths, as though shooting them out of his system. “H-Haha. Well, um, I, you see...”

Chione blinked again, nothing but nonchalant light in her brown orbs.

“I went to ask Yolande if you visited the infirmary – because I was worried – and she said you didn’t, and then I had these visions that you got into an accident or something, and then I---“

“Okay. Stop. Seriously.” Chione sighed. “I had detention. My gosh, man.” Now students that had made snickering comments bawled out in an uproar. “If you’re finished, I’m leaving. Goodbye.”

Not looking back as the Lukas boy called out to her, Chione walked away from the scene, rubbing her right temple. “Boy. What a mess.”

---

Tapping sounds rebound off the walls of the factory’s computer room, Silas typing extremely fast and mumbling extraneous information streams to himself, losing vision focus on the bright screen. Seemingly myriads of windows came down on him, but he would exit out of them before they could damage desktop memory. Each pause the messy-haired boy took to stare at the monitor led to him jotting down notes and formulas on a spiral notepad resting on his leg. The other type of momentary break in word made Silas press both hands on his stomach, which was making cacophonous growls. These gurgles were outcompeted to the only window that stayed on the screen constantly, showing a man reporting worldwide and local news from his gleaming wooden desk.

Silas heard the reporter mention the date a series of murders had been committed, celebrating the anniversary of many lost souls due to a terrible accident of misunderstanding. All movement ceased. The boy just stared at the screen straight in the center, biting gently on his bottom lip, and shutting his eyes. The man continued with the name mentions of the deceased, in alphabetical order, but Silas covered his ears. A minute passed prior to him slamming his hands on the edge of the keyboard and opening his vision back to the world again. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Creaking sounds emerged behind him; in a frantic frenzy, the mouse rushed over to the exit box for the news report and made the window disappear. The boy returned to typing as the elevator doors loudly allowed a person to enter the room.

Footsteps raised in volume. Silas turned his head to see a bag of mashed potatoes and meatballs thrust close to his face, the cap-wearing girl clearly visible through the Ziploc bags. “Food time,” Chione merely stated.

The boy at first smiled a toothy grin; out of the blue, he shifted his prominent happiness to anger. “Where have you been? I was hungry yesterday, and I’m starving today because I didn’t have anything yesterday!” In a quick snap, he snatched the bag from her and slid off the chair to sit on the ground.

Chione drew out a fork and handed the utensil over. “Please excuse me, Master Silas.” Sarcasm was slathered over her voice. “You see, people that go to school and don’t follow the rules get into trouble. I got detention because of you.”

He took the fork and immediately dug into the lunch, hardly chewing the masses shoveled into his mouth. Silas swallowed to speak. “Because of me? I beg to differ.” Another forkful of food. He twirled his eating tool for the sake of drama. “You came here of your own accord. Don’t blame this on me.”

She laid down on the cool floor, looking at the ceiling in amusement. “I get it. Just kidding.” Chione reached into her backpack for a bag of green beans, raising another series of food objects to Silas’ presence. “Don’t forget your veggies.”

Silas stopped obliterating the main course to stare at the green beans. His thumb and index finger took the bag, letting it hang loose and – if it were possible – sway in the wind. The stare shifted into a sharp leer. As randomly as the situation could be, the boy extended his arm to the left and powerfully threw the bag at the wall to the side. “Garbage!” he shouted the moment the bag smacked on contact, reverberating a popping noise, almost as if the plastic had busted open.

The girl sat up, her eyes larger from the loud noise. She commented after the green beans landed on the floor. “Dude, what the heck?! Don’t be picky!”

The boy shook his head, going back to the mashed potatoes. “You eat them. They look awful.”

Chione gave Silas a side glare, and pouted in a mixture of both cheer and irritation. “My stomach’s still sick from being in the cafeteria.” She slouched to the right, resting her left arm on a propped knee. “Hey. You seem to know a lot more than you let on. If I remember correctly, you mentioned something about video games yesterday.”

Laugh. “I’m an AI, not a computer. You have to give information to a computer so it understands; AIs can inspect their surroundings and learn, like a human.”

Leer. “But heck do we know how long you have been out-of-commission – not to mention that you said you didn’t remember much. Care to answer that, CARL?”

Silas finished through the potatoes and made his way to the cookie. “Who’s that?” Shrug. “I don’t know. It could be a subconscious thing. That’s what humans believe in when they don’t clearly remember stuff but know about it, right?” It took about four bites for the sugary treat to vanish into Silas’ stomach.

Chione returned the shrug. “I suppose so. Whatever for now. What’s more important is if you got anything good out of the supercomputer – before I’m just ready to shut the whole thing down and be off my merry way.”

A gasp of contentment escaped his lips as he patted his stomach. “Relax. Sheesh.” Silas pushed the notepad across to Chione, smirking. “I’ve got tons of info. All of which - I must say - would definitely make you stay.”

The girl picked up the notes, immediately skimming through a page per second. “X.A.N.A.? Return to the Past? Lyoko? Well now, this isn’t dangerous at all.”

“Yep. During the visual scanning, I detected seven sectors: forest, desert, ice, mountain, island, fire, and plains. All of these you can explore.” Silas gave her an intense gaze, jovial glints playing in his eyes. “Doesn’t that make you want to stay? Huh?”

Chione put the notes on the floor, and let out a smothered humph. “Definitely does. How about we try this tonight? Some exploration?”

Silas could no return the determination. “It’s too risky.”

“What?”

“I mean, I think it would be better if we had another person. Last time, you and I got brutally beaten by those roach-monster-thingamabobbers. We didn’t even get to touch them once.”

“We’ll get better. We don’t need other people.”

Blue eyes narrowed into seriousness. “We do, Chione. If there’s one thing we need, it’s someone like a programmer or another fighter.”

“Wait a second. You don’t know how to program stuff?” Single laugh. “Some AI you are.”

“Argh. AI or not, I don’t know anything when it comes to programming.” He went through his hair, in frustration. “I can use programs to my advantage, but I can’t exactly create them. That’s just something I don’t know.”

Chione snorted. “Whatever. Perhaps we’ll pick up these people along the way, but I don’t want to go searching for them. I’d be such a pain in the neck.”

Sigh. “When it gets desperate, you gotta do what you gotta do.” Silas looked over at the supercomputer, turned back to Chione, and gestured to the machine with his thumb. “Oh, and I think your time’s up. Let’s discuss this later, okay?” He folded his arms, averting attention to the ground. “Enjoy yourself.”

---

Afternoon classes had finished for the day, permitting students to enjoy themselves without fear of getting hours of detention. Right away, the outflow of children into the outside world had substantially increased the noise levels. Under certain areas – like the popular arches – and the quad, echoes carried to the winds, passing along gossip to ears that were just exiting classrooms. The special permeable membrane known as the dorms let weary individuals in and vitalized ones out, thus a constant activity number remained. Those sleepy beings who did not bother to return to their homes could be perked by a small increment just because of the vigor others exhibited. The sun attempted to give everyone a booster with warm rays; being with friends and close ones had left the giant star lonesome – minus the eventual clouds that tried to comfort it, only to get in the way.

Chione had sprawled herself along a bench, watching the sky hardly change in appearance. The socializing in the background had been filtered out on mental ground, giving the girl ability to observe and note small details. There was not much of a capacity to care in the situation that her peers were performing slander about her; she simply kept her eyes looking to the heavens and began to sense bits of tiredness affecting visionary function.

Her eyes were drooping; the more she resisted, the harder it got to keep awake. Interrupting her chance to doze off on a wooden bench, though, was someone shouting for her attention in a hushed voice far away.

“Pssst! Chione! Chione!”

The girl tilted her head further back, inverting her world, and rolled off the seat to stand. She returned a whispered calling. “Silas?” Chione stole glances left and right, seeing people be involved in their little social bubbles, and walked to the barricade a few steps from the open gate, towards the blue-eyed male gripping on the bars, looking intently on her. The female student still had her words quiet. “Silas, what are you doing here? Isn’t this a little dangerous for your comfort zone?”

“Haha. Very funny.” The boy brought his face closer to the bars, brows furrowed and a frown prominent. “The supercomputer did something weird while I was still taking notes. It detected these towers.”

Chione tilted her head. “And?”

His brows depressed further. “One has been turned on, and I’m getting some bad vibes from this.”

The two both watched the other oscillating back and forth beyond their control; and, on impulse, they drew their heads down, shaking tiny pebbles going with the same rhythm. People had spread their legs apart to take on the peculiarity, emitting noises in utter bewilderment. Green tree needles shuddered, prompting perched birds to flee on their wings. In the time of confusion, the trees made a melody, their brushing needles substituting for maracas, shaking in sporadic moments.

The rumbling subsided. Students and teachers got together concerning the situation while Chione and Silas only looked at each other, flicking their brows upwards.

“I told you so,” Silas stated. “Bad vibes.”

Chione snarled. “Save your jokes for later. Let’s get going then.”

---

Blue and brown sets of eyes stared at the supercomputer monitor. Text flooded from multiple windows, showering the girl’s and boy’s minds with useful information. Silas drew his brows downwards while driving a fist into his cheek, setting his elbow against the keyboard’s edge as he sat in the chair. His face had stiffened into seriousness, leering at all the assorted content, also watching the reflected brown orbs look in simple curiosity. Chione held a softer expression, standing with no tension in her form.

“You were right,” she said. “About the earthquakes and the tower. They were connected.”

Silas’ tone had dried into a solemn voice. His eyes lacked playful luster. “This must have been X.A.N.A.’s doing. These activated towers can affect your world – and I have the power to shut them down, to make everything and everyone safe.” He turned the chair towards Chione, relaying the stern face to the girl. “It’s like as though… my original master knew this was coming. That he – or she – knew I would have to deactivate towers against X.A.N.A.” His hands placed themselves on Chione’s shoulders, a little tight on grip, and lowered his brows further. “Chione, this whole thing is way too risky. Even for you. Your entire world is in danger.” His face loosened, showing concern. “If we keep this up, who knows what’s going to happen – perhaps something even worse than earthquakes.”

The student took no action, standing perfectly still even as she felt his heat warming her – to her discomfort. “Are you giving up on finding more info?” she asked. “There’s a chance nothing bigger will happen.” Her mouth curled into a determined smile. “Maybe we could defeat this X.A.N.A. for good. That could be why your master gave you the power.”

Silas blinked in confusion, digesting the words, and then grew furious. He gave Chione a good shake, tightness forming in his chest while doing so. “You’re willing to risk thousands of lives for something you don’t know. Wake up!” His hands slipped off her shoulders and clenched near his body. “It’s a stupid world. It doesn’t even exist. What do you know? You know just about as me. You want to risk innocent lives to play in this stupid world. Chione, think this through.” He waved a hand at the sphere in the center of the room, glowing bright and rotating in various directions. “Your world, or this one. This one, which was created by a man on your world. Which are you going to keep?”

Chione had stared at Silas before shifting attention to the floor. She was scratching her neck as she replied. “…Do you always have to be right in some way? Maybe this is a bit too much for me to chew.”

His posture relaxed, and the messy-haired boy snorted tense air out. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scold you, if that’s what you thought it was.”

Shake of the head. “Whatever. It’s done. I can’t diss you for being more concerned than me.”

Silas raised a brow. “Are you really as much as a risk-taker as I thought you were?”

Her arms folded when Chione’s face contorted to a deep scowl. “I can deal with detentions—Heck, I can take my parents disowning me, if that were to ever come.” The girl turned her head away. “If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I don’t involve others in my gambles. It’s one of my morals.”

The boy jumped off the chair, all the coarseness in his face calmed in full. He twitched a frown and shoved his hands in pants pockets. “Could have told me that before. In any rate, let’s go shut down this thing.”

They continued to talk while walking to the elevator. “What will happen to you?” Chione asked.

“I’m not sure. We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” The last sentence, Silas said with a cocky smile on.

---

The two hovered over the power lever, the machine’s circuitry clicking as the sole source of noise. The golden river flow climbing up the generator’s body had a cool tingle on Silas’ hand. His fingers stroked the surface down, slow and steady. Silas followed his hand with narrowed eyes. “My home…”

Chione shot a quick glance at him and returned to stare at the machinery. “If nothing goes wrong, Earth will be your new home.”

Smile. “And you’ll be my friend. Friend to a perfect stranger.”

The girl blinked after tilting her head towards the ground. “Friend… Um… right.” Moments following, her neutral, uncaring appearance changed when a smile formed from her mouth. “Right. Sure. Okay.” She discreetly swallowed warm emotions clustering in her chest, collecting fast as tornado winds. Her gaze fell on the black-haired boy; and, soon, Chione’s hand gripped on the switch, focused fierceness imbued. “But if it doesn’t work, we can still be friends. Not like I kill time any other way.”

Silas appeared to be hurt by the cap-wearing student’s words, taking hold of the same lever while looking like he was about to cry. “O’ fair lady! You doth hurt me! Thy words so sharp as slings and arrows make my misfortune!”

Chione wiped away her honest pleasure in a flash. “I don’t know what you’re going on about, but you can shut up now.” She could not hold onto her composure, for she snorted out amusement and formed a miniscule grin. “Let’s be serious. You ready to shut this thing down?”

The boy gave a nod of the head prior to turning his attention to the generator. Chione and Silas stood together, eyeing the lever in intense unison, hardly making noises themselves. The male went first on the pulling, but the student from Kadic Academy did not fall too short behind. They heard the locking sound and let go; but, breaths of nervousness and bewilderment escaped from their mouths: the machine was still running. Electric flow did not stop or even slow. The clicking droned on in their ears, as their eyes grew wide.

“What’s going on here?” Silas scratched his head, his brows knit upwards. “You didn’t do anything else before turning it on, did you?”

Chione shook her head and placed her hands on her waist. “No. Used the elevator, typed on the shut-off computer, and came to the room.” Brown eyes landed on the boy. “You don’t think it needs you to be on Lyoko to fully shutdown, do you?”

“No. I mean, why would I be given the chance to be in your world if that were the case?” He placed his hand on the machinery again. “It’s still working properly. It’s like as though it’s not registering we wanted it to shut down.” Silas turned his head to Chione, frowning. “Looks like I’ll need to investigate further. There might be an internal problem.” He patted the generator. “For now, you should go back. I wouldn’t be surprised if your school was evacuating the place from those shakes.” Silas watched the girl turn to the elevator; but, remembering an important detail, he grabbed her by the arm. “Wait. I want your number.”

She blinked. “Excuse me? Like my phone number? Okay, sure. Paper and pen, please.” Chione was handed the notepad and writing utensil, practically scribbled on an empty page, and returned back in a strictly business manner. Not another word left her lips, leaving the place after being free from Silas’ grip. While the elevator was closing its doors, the girl was rubbing the warm spot and gave a curious look to the guy, who was displaying a small smile and wave to her.

---

Time had hardly seemed to progress; the daylight was still a prominent piece of work being showcased, and the earth held no signs of damage. As Chione was slipping onto school ground, she noted the repercussions of the rumbles: glass shards spread below windowsills, various items scattered on the streets, and people huddled together discussing the action the government and news would take towards the past ordeal. The Kadic Academy populace was shuffling their feet into the dorms, with staff on the side announcing that classes were cancelled, pronouncing news with their booming voices through speakerphones. The girl watched on, fixing her cap from debris catching it all the while. The bush Chione hid behind covered most of her body; her eyes peeked out between the leaves, surveying the area in interest.

Jim stayed behind, much to Chione’s chagrin. She overheard the bushy-mustached principal ask the big-bellied gym teacher to stay outside in case students got lost from the confusion – and the girl let out an inaudible groan. The red-coated man stood in the way of freedom and safety, arms folded, determination steeled in his stance. He was looking in the general direction of the Lyoko warrior’s spot, having a cool expression on his face.
Chione did not possess many choices. She scowled at her only option.

Standing from the spot, the student braced herself for a major scolding, cleansing the heart of any emotions and leaving nothing. Jim raised a brow and breathed a smothered questionable air as the person made their presence clear. The girl brushed off more leaves and made her way over to the teacher – and prepped for the worst.

“Stifle!” The man’s voice was drenched in power and demand. “What were you doing in there and not with the other kids? It was a school safety procedure!”

Chione firmed her face and gave her attention through serious eyes. “I had business to attend to, Jim.”

“More important than this? The school’s responsible for your safety; we promised your parents that we would take care of your sorry rump, and you go ahead and possibly hurt yourself.”

Nod. “That’s about right.”

Jim’s voice got louder, in positive correlation to his reddening face. “Just who do you think you are? What kind of business would be more important than your safety and parents’ well-being?”

“The type that is none of yours, sir.” Chione was flashed a killer look, and she changed her tone a node softer. “Unfortunately, Jim, my business is very important – more important than my health. Certainly more important than the school.”

His finger thrust itself near her face. “Clear disregard of safety procedure and a cocky attitude will ‘certainly’ earn yourself a suspension if you keep this up, Stifle. It’s out of the question that---“

“Jimbo-dear, please go easy on her! She was just trying to help poor me.”

Chione and the teacher stopped their squabble, turning their heads in the direction of the new voice, both with confused faces. A female student sporting blond hair appeared at the gates, sweat and dirt present on her complexion. The grime offset her meek beauty, helped by the foliage stuck in her long, curled bangs on the sides. The rest of her golden locks flowed down her back to about chest-length, a bit wavy and glittering in the sun. She stood before the two in a tight purple cardigan sweater, a waist-belt, white skirt, and black boots.

The cap-wearing one looked at her own straight, short hairs, ignoring the brighter girl walking towards them.

“Bomber,” Jim said, flicking a brow. “Do ya mind explaining what you just said?”

The blond girl said, wearily smiling, “Oh sure, Jimbo-dear.” She cleared her throat while the teacher slightly flushed. “During the whole – what you call – ‘evacuation’ procedure, I just got sooooo scared! Everyone was screaming; everyone was shouting; I couldn’t find my peeps!” She waved a hand to Chione, who was still inspecting her hair. “But then, Jimbo-dear, Stifey-poo just so happened to see me run away into the forest.”

“What?” The black-haired girl finally looked up to the blond one, narrowing her eyes. “But I didn’t---“ She was silenced by a finger placed on her lips.

“Shush, shush! Let me finish with the heroic tale.” The girl withdrew her finger and continued. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my savior, Jimbo-dear, Stifey-poo had run after yours truly, Duchess Lynette, into the sinister forest full of nasty animals and tree junk.” A smile spread on her face, getting increasingly excited. “She, like, totally was a hero, Jimbo-dear. All that dirt and grime and nastiness – you see – was from trying to save me from ugly, little hares and snails. But then, Jimbo-dear, she lost me. She lost me because she heard everyone was in trouble at school! She didn’t want to leave me, I assure you, but she knew that everyone else’s safety was more important than mine.” The girl named Lynette balled a fist and curled her mouth into a smirk. “I had let her go, to save the school, and for me to fend for myself. And I, as the duchess, used every power in me to conquer my fear and valiantly return to the school.” She relaxed her posture, smiling bigger and in good cheer. “And that’s my story.”

“…What?” Chione said again.

Jim scratched his chin, showing more confusion than before. “Sounds more like a heroic failure, if you ask me. But whatever. As long as you two are safe, I’ll be willing to let this off the hook.”

Lynette glowed in mirth. “Oh thank you, Jimbo-dear!”

“Now head inside, the two of ya. Classes are cancelled and you may relax.”

The girls nodded and reluctantly entered the dorms, immediately climbing the stairs to their floor. The cap-wearing student stopped in front of her room, having said not a word to the blond girl. Chione felt a certain craving come on, promptly drawing a handheld device from her backpack while also retrieving the key. Switching on the little machine, her mind was already set in the world of ninjas and space, the words ‘Galactic Ninja Stardust III’ drawing itself on the screen. She was about to insert the key into the hole when she heard the shrill, cheery voice telling a story to Jim.

“Ooh. That’s so old. I can’t believe you’re still playing such an old thing!”

Chione did not turn around to talk. “I didn’t think you would be stalking me to my room.”

Gawk. “How crude of my knight, who – I must say – isn’t a knight, since I, the duchess, had to save her.” Lynette got in Chione’s peripheral vision, grinning and curving brows up. “Since I had the kindness in me to help out a fellow girl, I should get something in return for my services. Come on, Stifey-poo. Can we be friends? I promise that we’ll have the most fun and be great friends!”

“No. I don’t feel like putting in that effort.” She shot a nonchalant look at the blond. “And I don’t want to be acknowledged as ‘Stifey-poo’, if you don’t mind. It sounds so stupid.” The girl inserted the key and turned the doorknob.

“Wait, Stif--- Well, whoever you are!” Lynette softened her voice to an almost inaudible whisper, looking away from who she was speaking to. “I could tell you some tips on how to beat the game. If that would help any. I know some things.”

Snort. “I don’t want help. Thanks. I can at least thank you for helping me out earlier, but it can’t go beyond that.” Chione raised a brow. “I didn’t think you would know this kind of stuff.”

The blond blinked, and laughed out boisterously. “Haha! You’re such a silly-head! Who said I knew how to play those things? I don’t time for that stuff! Duh!”

“…But you just said—“

“Oh, please. The Royal Flowers are top girls for priming themselves up and making fashion statements across the campus. We’re too occupied setting new trends, buying clothes, and handing out beauty tips to waste time on video games. I don’t know where you got that preposterous idea!” She patted the top of Chione’s head, flattening the cap. “But don’t you worry, my knight. I’m ready to forgive your silliness and offer you fashion advice. That’s our job as The Royal Flowers: to help fashion-deprived peers.”

Chione rolled her eyes. “Right. Okay. Sure. Save your breath. I’m good.” She opened the door and stepped through, turning around to give one final emotionless glance. “Now bye.”

The door shut on the blond, who had changed her haughty expression to a sad look. She stood in the hallway, alone, the cold air setting in on her. Her presence stayed at the spot for many seconds, stiff, until she raised a fist to the door. Her hand shook along with her body, trembling, the girl setting her teeth on her bottom lip in gentleness. Lynette retracted her hand near the door, mumbling while looking down at the floor.

Seconds passed hesitantly before the girl walked away, the hallway empty once again.

---

Smiling ear to ear, an elderly man wiped his forehead and marveled at a statue in front of him. He set his tools to the side, grabbing a cloth to clean the work, which glittered in the noon light flooding into the sun room. To his creation, he said that he was feeling empty in the stomach, patting the metalwork before shuffling down a hall and out the door.

Lustrous gargoyles protected the area, their skin alloys. Their deformed, ugly faces silently snarled whoever was not their master, even taking vicious poses to ward off anyone attempting to barge into the home. The two that were in the room were formed in pre-leaping postures, their shoulder blades prominent and muscular and the hind legs tensing. Sharp teeth glinted like the skin; everything was cast in gold. If they were able to smell, their noses would pick up on the nearby pine and dirt fragrance; if their ears had sense, they would have perked to the laughter and talking of children.

In the corner, sparks glittered in a plug. Black smog fumed out, emitting a hissing noise to make its presence more apparent. It slinked its way from the electrical prison and floated over the gargoyles. The smog dripped its body over the monstrosities like ooze, smearing over the metal heads.
Booting up like a computer, a red eye symbol popped up in their sockets; and, soon, vicious snarls crept from their metallic mouths.

---

Chione was leaving the lunchroom, smiling to herself while adjusting the backpack. Making sure a staff member was following her, the girl scanned the area left and right, doing sharp, quick glances. After the task of checking, she turned herself towards the gates. “Now to go meet my ‘friend’…” An uncomfortable warmth centered in her chest; the student pounded it and shook her head, frowning and wondering about the sudden feeling.

She was about to take a step but stopped suddenly. Her pocket began to vibrate while a trumpet tune played. Chione drew out a dusk-blue smart phone and put away her confusion when she heard the voice over the unknown caller id. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Another tower’s been activated. The scanner says the ice sector. Has anything been happening at the school?”

“No.” Chione stole a glance back at the gates, then widened eyes. “Er… yes, actually. There is one tiny thing.”

Brilliant red eye symbols stared at her from the entranceway, jolting in up and down or left and right directions from where the iris should be. They flickered frequently, disappearing to show the metal of the monster’s sockets. A gargoyle statue stood in the way from Chione’s destination, snarling, holding a defensive stance. Its metal body creaked as the material inside brushed against each other, giving a grinding sound that pierced ears. The teeth exposed were the molars of hunting dogs.

Silas kept asking the nature of the threat, but Chione answered with a, “It’s nothing too serious; I’ll be there soon.”

The phone call ended. The monster stared at her, ever ready. Chione strengthened her legs, investing all energy down there, and watched as the creature twitched. Silence lingered between the two beings. To the girl, the atmosphere had been tainted with copper and iron odors, making her tongue taste its body though she had not touched it. She sensed the adrenaline pumping fast into her bloodstream, rising both nervousness and bravery.

The girl ran to the left, and the gargoyle came for her – though in a slow shuffle. She smirked. Chione took advantage of its dash by rushing to the other side, heading for the gate. When it saw the deception in her plan, the metallic monster tried to stop its momentum as dirt clouds kicked up from under its feet. It growled in anger, watching the cap-wearing student succeed in escaping.

Chione breathed out happiness and turned to see her adversary, but she had twisted her victory into surprise. “Lynette!” she called out while jogging backwards into the forest, ceasing footwork after hitting a tree.

The blond was left with the gargoyle, which seemed to have shifted targets. Lynette showed anxiety, clenching her teeth hard and holding balled-up fists near her chest. The monster took steps towards her, growling low, making the girl back away. She ignored Chione’s shouts to run back to the school, standing at her spot unless the statue advanced on her. “Stifle…” Her voice had gone down to a trembling whisper. Lynette’s blue orbs focused on the gargoyle creeping its way to her.

Suddenly, the monster rushed at her; and, out of reaction, the blond screamed and ran to the gate, missing a tripping blow, coming to the black-haired girl. She was already out of breath when she got close. “T-That monster tried to hurt me! W-W-What’s wrong with it?”

Chione saw the gargoyle turn back around to them. She clenched her teeth. “It wants me. You have to go back.”

“What?! After all that trouble of running to you, I have to go back past that nasty thing?!” Lynette had reddened up from the strain. “Forget it! I’m not doing that!”

The gargoyle was walking to them.

“Just my luck.” Chione gave a serious look to Lynette. “Look. If you want to make yourself useful, you either go back or come with me.” She shifted herself in the factory’s direction. “But coming with me will mean more danger like this. Possibly danger like this every single day for the rest of your life. It’s up to you.”

Lynette watched as the shorter girl made the distance between her and the school bigger. Her mind made a decision as the monster was stomping to her. “Wait! Wait for me!” She sprinted after Chione.

---

“That sewer was nasssssss-tay! Pew!” The girls clamored out of the manhole. Lynette took in deep amounts of air – almost gasping. “Please tell me we don’t ever have to go through that again. I’m going to cry if you do.”

Chione popped out last, inhaling a good chunk with the blond. “It’s about the only way I know how to get to the factory easily. No kidding about the smell, though. I’ll agree with you on that.” She slid the cover with her foot, and sighed. “Looks like we have bigger things to worry about than the sewers. Are you ready for another sprint?”

Another gargoyle guarded the factory entrance, just as menacing-looking as its sibling. It also took on the defensive stance, though it was ready to leap any moment.

Whine. “Not this againnnn!”

“You can always go back, you know.”

Lynette swatted the air. “Forget it! I’m not going to be a damsel-in-distress!”

Snort. “Suit yourself.” Chione pointed at the monster but was looking at the blond. “I go straight and you run around to the side. Follow my lead.”

When she was given a nod of agreement, the smaller girl went full throttle towards the monster, Lynette running shortly behind. This gargoyle did not move an inch, but its head and front leg were prepared to do some damage to the two. Chione was closing in quick on the statue, noting its jerks, and waited for the creature to move a slight bit forward before leaping. Her foot landed on its head, and she did another short jump; however, her landing was poor, tripping and rolling on the other side, hearing the monster’s roar a distance away. She felt pricks of stings all over her body and the indentations of stuck stone pieces; but, Lynette had urged her to come while dragging Chione by the arm, further from the monster.

Chione was limping a little, yet the minor defect did not halt her from riding the rope down to the lower floor. Lynette knit her brows up, hesitant. The braver of the two shouted for the other to get going; and, with another nod, the blond reached for a twine and slid to the same ground.

They entered the elevator, Chione punching the numbers and hitting the up button. “Why did you follow me?” she asked the blond during the ride.

Lynette was looking away with her right hand gripping the left arm at the elbow. “Why should I not follow you? I just wanted to.”

Sigh. “You’re a poor excuse of a liar.”

“You’re just so cool…”

Chione’s eyes grew, and she found herself staring at Lynette in total disbelieve. “What?”

The other girl now turned her attention to the floor. “You know the Royal Flowers? We’re the most popular girls at Kadic Academy.” Now her gaze fell on Chione. “We weren’t always that way, though. We were the best of friends in elementary school – who just happened to be the prettiest and caught all the guys’ eyes.” Laugh. “But, I have to be honest, the Duchess is tired. She’s tired of having to spend all of her money on clothes and make-up, and she’s tired of friends that seemed to stop caring a long time ago.” A smile formed on her face. “You were the new girl; you probably didn’t know me. I thought I could make a fresh start. No more Royal Flowers for Duchess Lynette; just a simple girl.” Her hands placed themselves on her waist. “You are also pretty cool and brave. I’ve always wanted to be like that.” The smile inverted. “But… You don’t seem to like me.”

The black-haired girl returned to normalcy. She twitched a frown while saying, “Well, I don’t.” Chione cleared herself as the other person gawked. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t change my opinion. It’s a first impression, and nothing more than that.”

The blue-eyed female opened her mouth to continue the conversation, but noiseless awe slipped out. She stayed and focused on the boy getting off of the seat. Lynette turned to Chione, blinking. “You didn’t tell me you knew hot guys!” A finger wagged at the black-haired girl, who was rolling eyes. “It’s no wonder you were being so secretive. I wouldn’t want to share him myself!” Giggles ensued.

Silas gave a condescending look at Chione. “Well now, I’m rather disappointed in you, Ms. I-Don’t-Want-Others. Telling me you don’t want other people involved in our little shindig.” His face contorted to pleasant humor with Lynette. “But I’m also glad you brought someone so pretty. Nice catch – and nice taste.” He was smiling a big smile. “The name’s Silas. We don’t have much time to explain, but I assume Chione recruited you to help us.”

“Right; recruit…” Chione trailed off in a mumble, pressing an elevator button.

“It was something along those lines.” The blond nodded with a fierce grin. “Duchess Lynette is ready to help out in any way she can. This, she promises to the both of you! Send her straight into the battlefield if you must!”

The black-haired people said, “Oh great,” at the same time, Chione’s less enthusiastic than Silas’.

Silas did not bother to turn around to the scanners presenting themselves. He said coolly, “Hop into one of these babies and be brave. We’ll need every ounce of power you can give us.”

---

The three Lyoko warriors materialized on blue and white ground. Life that could be found in the forest sector’s trees was gone in the frozen lands, replacing green vividness for the cold embrace of ice caps and blocky snow. Many of the landforms were polygonal, possessing sharp edges and a singular color. In the far distance were arches or caverns. From where the group stood, water was little-to-none available, whereas the forest sector had an entire informational sea under their feet. The ice crunched as someone took a step, giving the illusion of compacting frost; however, the chill to be assumed in the air was omitted, leaving a strange feeling of void.

Chione observed the scenery, stern eyes in her sockets. “Man. It’s so dull compared to the forest sector. Definitely not as eye-catching. So, which way are we going?”

Silence.

“Hello?” She made a 180, and then sighed. “Another person that is dressed better than me. Why am I not surprised?”

Silas was staring, dumbfounded. The words that came out of his mouth were slow and seemingly unconscious. “Yeah… but she’s rocking out that suit…”

Lynette bore a smug look on her face as the others checked out her attire. Everything was devoid of color for her; like as though her clothes were uncaringly dumped in vaults of black, the blonde’s hair shone more brilliantly in contrast to her clothing. She was sporting military-style clothing, consisting of a jacket, gloves, pants, and boots. Rather than armor, many belts wrapped at her abdomen, buckles latched straight down from the chest to waist like buttons. Soaring golden falcons on patches were stitched on both sleeves of the jacket, fierce and ready to kill. A device was attached on her back underneath a long French braid reaching to the knees, tied by a white ribbon; with the appearance like a backpack replacing the zippers for a round switch in the center, it seemed to be a machine of sorts.

The new warrior gave an amused look at her companions, and giggled. “There’s a real knight in my presence, and then there’s the… deformed monster princess.” She ceased the laughter when she received a death glare from Chione. “I’m only kidding! That wouldn’t be how a real princess dresses anyways.” Lynette put on an endearing, yet guilty smile. “I’m really sorry about that. I really am. I didn’t think you would be that sore about it.”

Chione stole a glance at Silas, furrowed her brows deeper as the red-armored knight continued to gaze, and turned back in the direction they were initially facing earlier. “…Whatever. It doesn’t matter if you’re sorry.” The girl hit the boy hard with a nudge, bringing him back to his senses. “Tower. We need to deactivate it. Remember? Which way, Casanova?”

Silas rubbed at the spot, frowning. “Um. That-away. Somewhere in that general direction.”

The trio sped off across the icy plains, tackling the poor blue-white shades by focusing on the goal. To her disappointment, Chione was treading behind even the new warrior. Lynette had to bring up questions. “So, like, those monster things, they’re created by the towers, um, you say, ‘activating’?”

The male nodded. “The activation of these towers brings some real-world trouble. The tremors yesterday were the same deal.”

Her voice piped up. “No way! That was some totally scary stuff, too!” Laugh. “I’m so glad I followed Chione, then. Say, Chione, how are you doing back there?”

No response.

“C-Chione? You’re not still mad about that comment, are you? Because I’m extremely sorry if that bothered you.”

Further silence.

Silas and Lynette halted and whisked their heads back. Just a millisecond later, they saw a flash of light-blue jet past them. The two stayed for a moment, watching the blur go farther, and ran after it. “Chione!” Silas called out. “Hey! Wait for us!”

The shorter girl twisted her head around, the wind physics whipping hair into her face, and gave her comrades a daring smirk. The surrounding environment was merely an object in a car ride, coming and going fast. “Sorry. There’s only room for one.” She gained momentum on the makeshift ice board akin to increasing speed on a skateboard. She could hear Silas’ and Lynette’s crunching footsteps become softer, no more than the wind wails whooshing near her ears.

Silas called out for Chione again. The black-haired girl shouted for him to stop and calm himself, but soon was shoved off the board by a blast. She rolled and slid, inadvertently missing the firing attempts. Brown eyes fell on the monsters, more of the roach critters and – now – walking blocks with the symbols – painted on protruding orbs – on each face, except the top and bottom. Much like the bug-type machines, the blocks had four legs – yet their limbs were red and organic-like. Their sandy-brown bodies appeared to be indestructible to slashes and blunt forces. The tops had plus mark indentations through the entire face, creating four squares at the corners.

Lasers burst when one eye would charge to a burning red to completion. Chione, despite having stopped, went back to rolling, driven to dodge possibly injuries. Her companions were still a ways distant, so the girl thought fast, improvising under pressure. She stared straight at the roaches and blocks; the girl started to advance slow as an army at the monsters, deflecting beams with right arm swings, gritting teeth all the while. Chione remained in constant concentration as a roach exploded, a lance piercing straight through its body.

The knight’s brows arched upwards, a frown creased on his face. Monsters became obstacles for him to retrieve his cast lance, which had stopped at the block’s feet. A couple enemies gazed at Silas with major interest, prepared to shoot the warrior. His eyes trembled, but he was hardening his resolve. “Got no other choice,” he mumbled, taking a step back and setting a stance for sprinting. The gazing creatures buckled their metallic joints and were charging lasers. Silas could not take back the running he was doing, going against the odds of missing the lasers in a frantic dash. Red light somehow failed touching him, the distance between the parties shrinking steady. His approach to them brought out a deep wish for great heights, to be able to leap across the monsters with superb ease. Silas invested all resources to his legs and feet; and, with one laser about to hit him, the boy jumped as high as he could. The male found himself screaming in fear mixed with surprise; Silas was fifteen feet above the ground, flailing, twisting in the air at tremendous speed.

The newest member had not moved a baby step since Silas sprinted off. Lynette shook at the creatures staring at her, ignoring Chione’s advances to the enemy and Silas’ falling on the ground and retrieving his weapon. Another monster was killed, the boy stabbing while the enemy was not looking. Shots went for her, and the blond let the attacks come, knocking her to the ground. The dark-haired girl, continuing her lunges, yelled at the other female to get a move on; and, with a nod, Lynette was back to reality and on her feet. She looked on her being and instantly reached for a weapon strapped on her waist. “W-What am I supposed to with this?” Lynette gawked at her weapon: an small-headed axe with a long, wooden shaft. “What am I supposed to do with this?!” She suffered another hit, this time in the stomach. Her face scrunched in raw anger. “Ohhh! Just die, you ugly things!” Lynette screamed while throwing the axe like a boomerang. A light blinked at the wood end; the axe curved toward the enemies and managed to strike a couple before wanting to come back to her. The blond ducked but squealed as the weapon bent back at her.

“Well if that isn’t impressive,” Chione said, watching Lynette’s progress, now finally in acceptable range of the enemy. The two the axe struck exploded into parts; and, an impressed smile forced itself on the dark-haired girl’s lips. It had inverted itself, though, when Lynette dodged her own weapon, not foreseeing the return trip, and was devirtualized by her own weapon. “Well if that wasn’t stupid.” Sigh. The girl turned attention to the block, glaring and lifting her glowing human hand. Before she could do her attack, the block fired a streaming blue laser at her legs, which froze them in ice. Instead of worrying, Chione smirked and swung her arm fast as a blade strike. The ground formed a sharp shard of ice, acting as her sword, that sliced perfectly through the block’s body and destroying the adversary. With the demonic arm, the girl smashed through the trapping freeze effect on her lower appendages without breaking a sweat. In her moment of pride, she was about to get hit by the last roach, only to be protected by the finishing blow by Silas.

Silas approached Chione, smiling a small one. “I see you are mastering what your avatar is meant for in battle.”

Chione looked at her right hand, giving a smirk back. “I suppose you could say that. Let’s not talk now, though.”

Nod. “Mind whipping us something to get there quick?”

The girl’s left hand glowed blue again, bringing forth icy snowboards for each of them. They two started off in unison, sliding their way across the arctic lands for the tower.

---

“That was fun – but dangerous.” Lynette spoke to the two black-haired teenagers, frowning with arms crossed. “I can’t believe the I – in my stupidity – basically decapitated myself with that axe.” She let out a tearful sigh. “Don’t you guys think it’s stupid? I think it’s stupid. And I was screaming like a little girl.”

Chione answered, with nonchalant feeling, “You are a girl, though.”

“---Besides that point,” Silas said, interjecting the dark-haired girl’s cold comment, “You’ll get better, Lynette. I swear it.” He pointed to Chione and himself, giving a reassuring grin. “This was only our third time in Lyoko. First time, we were killed off easily.” His eyes turned away from the girls and towards the module. “Anyways. Back on topic: about the supercomputer. I definitely need to look into it some more. As you suggested, Chione, we could use the Return to the Past feature in case we really mess up. However…” Silas trailed off, recollecting what he wanted to say in the most accurate words, and then continuing: “There were traces of past profiles – like ours – in the records. If there’s one thing I can say about this is that I wouldn’t be surprised if those past kids used that function themselves.”

The shorter female widened her eyes. “So you think that…”

Silas nodded. “I believe that this program wouldn’t affect those that have entered the scanners; and, if that’s so, if we tried it…”

“Dang.” Chione shook her head. “It’s a good risk, but we might be involving those guys…”

“Exactly.” Silas turned to Lynette, a serious look on his face. “And what about you? Your friends…”

Lynette blinked, and then scoffed. “Oh, please! My girl friends? What girl friends?” She took a glance from Chione prior to looking back at Silas. “ ‘Queenie’ and ‘Countess’ throw all my Euros down the drain! I don’t get a good portion of money to myself; it has to be spent on the newest fashion and make-up.” Determined smile. “Pleeeeease. I have been thinking of ditching my gals for the longest time. It was Chione here that gave me the courage to finally think about doing it – when we get back to school.” Her resolve softened to a gentle glow. “I… I want to be in your group; I swear to not tell anyone.” Her right hand balled into a fist at her side. “And to officially declare ‘Duchess’ Lynette dropping the lifestyle of fame and glamour, I won’t refer to myself as ‘Duchess’ anymore.”

Chione and Silas blinked, utterly confused.

Bigger smile. “And from now on, I want to be known as ‘Lyn’.”

---

“I want out of this group of ours, girls.” Lynette hovered over two female students at a lunchroom table, a scowling expression on her face and her arms folded. She had taken on a powerful stance demanding attention. The two looked at her with their fullest though bewildered attention. “I’ve so tired of being here; it doesn’t seem you girls care about our friendship anymore; I spend all my money on our clothes and cosmetics, and I have gone through a couple of my brothers’ birthdays not giving them anything! At first, I didn’t mind at all, but this has gone far too long!” The blond stomped her foot. “I’ve had it! I’ve absolutely had it! I’m going, and there is nothing left for you two to say that could possibly make me stay. That’s final.”

One girl stared at her, incredulously. “…We didn’t exactly make you stay, ya know, Duch-Duch.” Laugh. “If you wanted to go, you should have just done so.”

Pout. Lynette’s face crimsoned. “Lies! Total lies!”

The other girl now responded, with the same humor, “We didn’t, Lyn-tet. Of course we liked our little group – and we have grown distant over the years – but there wasn’t anything holding you. In fact, I think it was more beneficial.”

The blond now was red as an apple. “And why would you say that?!”

A girl pointed to across the room. “Because we now get to see that.”

Chione’s eyes were twitching in scorn. Surrounding her as she was putting food into her bag were three males glaring down on her, towering the girl with their presences. The teenagers were older, bearing a stronger build than most of the male student population.

The dark-haired girl glared at the blond, sending her death waves.

Lyn blinked at the scene, and then gritted her teeth, frowning. “The Squadron of Lynette Adorers… Oh bother.” Nervous, soft laugh.

By the time they were nearing the forest, the group had already suffered scratches in greater number – and increasing. Evening-roaming people instinctively shifted their bodies away from the oncoming threat manifested in angry birds. No staff member was present among the crowds the trio encountered. While the decreasing light of the sun played with the Lyoko warriors’ eyes, the kestrels had shown no falter in their energy, squawking and swinging legs to get in more stings.

Lukas was already wheezing. He could feel his body wanting to lag behind the black-haired fellow and Lyn. The resolve to keep on running was only fueled by the bloodthirsty birds and their strange eyes. The brunette trekked it faster when the falcons went for his legs, clawing enough to tear partially into his jeans. His heart pumped along with his pace, pounding strong as a gavel against a judge’s counter; yet, he continued to be significantly inferior compared to the other two despite going at his fastest. Though the soft grass they finally approached assisted in alleviating pressure on his lower limbs, Lukas grit teeth from the muscle stress and avian assault, following the girl and boy into the forest heart.

The smells and peaceful – albeit with more noise – atmosphere of the area was disregarded, as the younger boy shouted questions. His inquiries were fired as sprays of a machine gun. “Where are we going exactly? What’s going to happen to Stifle? Why are we running away from the school? What’s going on?” Lukas raised his voice louder. “Can any of you answer me?”

The blond did not turn around while answering, in huffs. “I know everything must be very strange for you, Lukas, but you just have to trust us for the moment!” She let out a dry cough, trying to catch her breath. Lyn was quick to get back on talking following the recovery. “I promise you: you’ll know soon enough; but, right now, we’re all in danger of getting our eyes pecked out Hitchcock-style. So can this please wait?”

Silas watched the trees flee away from the three, sprinting past the kestrel flocks flying after the teenagers. He caught on an odd, sunken-in patch in his line of vision no more than a few steps away. To his dull interest, he was suffering the most injuries, with the majority of falcons keeping up with him. Rather than worry about his health, the black-haired male shifted his legs to slide and deafly stop in front of the manhole out of place in the luscious green. The birds grew more aggressive in their tactics, now concentrating efforts in the face region of the teenagers. Effort used, Silas fought urges to swat away talons and beaks and lifted the metal cover, exposing the putrid sewer odor for all of them – human and avian. Wings and shrieks turned up a notch on the volume scale. The kestrels showed clear disgust towards the pungency as they distanced themselves from the group.

The teens hurried to descend the ladder and cover the opening. Each of them attempted to catch breaths, only to cough from the horrendous stenches of the deep waste.

When everyone had settled on firm ground, Silas panted, his throat slightly dry, “Now, Lukas, like what we said back in the dorms, you must be willing to do what we do and ask. That was part of our criteria.”

Lukas was wheezing more than Lyn, but the boy managed to stifle enough gasping attempts to talk. “I… kind of have to ask too. Birds aren’t known for attacking people in groups like this.” There was not a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but it was difficult maintaining a calm tone. “And I---“

“Listeeeeeeen.” The girl interrupted after huffing out a hurtful sigh. She erected her posture though was shaking. “I’ll keep it short and sweet, okay?” One little hot breath was released before Lyn’s talking speed tripled, bringing the attention of the two boys to her in utter confusion. “We enter into a virtual world full of dangerous monsters to fight some evil virus called X.A.N.A. and we needed someone to help out with computers – which would be you – and this activation of the virtual world has brought hazards in the real world, like the earthquakes, but we can’t do anything about it because the computer won’t shut down so we got to fix it.” The gentle smile further baffled the guys. “Does that make sense?”

The brunette boy blinked, and honesty slipped out of his mouth. “No. And I also think this is insane.”

Pout. “Look! It doesn’t matter. Icy is in danger, and we need your help! So please!” She turned on her heel and started to walk down the passageway, mumbling to herself about the incompetence of boys.

Lukas looked to the other male, who shrugged and followed after her. He tilted his head, frowning, and then sighed. “I… I kind of don’t have a choice now, do I? To make sure Stifle and everyone are okay…” He let out another one prior to catching up to the two.

---

Water collided onto the floor in solid streams. The humidity – coupled with the collecting heat – was already escalating to sweat-producing heights. Prevention to acquire deathly levels was edged off from the minor ventilation shafts on the ceiling, but the steam rate overpowered the speed the fog could rise and escape the area.

Chione could detect the trickery the steam made to act like an environment recently hit with heavy rain. She easily smelled the moisture and could almost taste a fake cold. The evaporated moistures tickled her skin and tempted it to perspire for a little before floating away. The girl felt uncomfortable at best, sitting on the smooth ground, watching the flowing liquid congregate to a single drain in the center of the room. She also kept eyes for the vapory film clouding her vision and the door knob jiggling, with accompanying screeches. “This wasn’t such a good idea…” Thinking about it, Chione shook her head. “Man, I’m stupid.”

With a sigh, the girl rose and walked towards the exit, coming up with a new plan of action. Chione stayed on the side where the entrance would swing open to and pressed herself onto the wall, proceeding to silence her breathing to the best of her ability. She locked onto the metal lever, which was progressively moving down to unlocking. Her heart went from steady to becoming painful knocking against her ribcage. The adrenaline diffusing into her bloodstream failed to quell when the short-haired girl inhaled great amounts of air. Instincts dictated her body to tense up.

Scratches continued on, rapping on the door and the handle. There were many failed tries to gain entry before success was presented. When the egress swung little by little, the kestrels stuck their beaks into the space, cawing mad still. They were squeezing their bodies into the shower room, slipping into the aperture, while those that inserted their bills kept the door propped. Soon, all of the birds could not wait another second, spilling in full force, almost smacking Chione in the face in the process. The falcons hovered and did not move much, aside to kick steam into the atmosphere and clear the floor. They would twitch their heads side-to-side, but their bodies would not twist around until it was too late.

The girl already ran her way around and jolted down the hallway, giving herself a head start before the birds knew what happened; it was not a good preemptive tactic in dashing from the scene, however, because the kestrels were quick to catch up to her, performing slashes with their sword-sharp claws and mouths. She guarded her head from the attacks, multitasking in conjuring up another strategy and watching her environments to escape the best way possible. Chione, on a whim, headed for the stairs. She tripped a few times, struggling with the decreasing energy and the tiredness in her legs, on steps, but she would balance herself enough to not fully crumble to the ground.

Chione made it to the first floor. The air inside her was depleting too quickly for her to register the direness of the situation; she also did not quite fully recover from the earlier sprint, her muscles crying for her to take a break. By the time she was on flat carpet, the girl could not take any more straining abuse.

She halted abruptly in the middle of the lobby. Brown eyes noted the birds surrounding her and flapping wings in single positions, watching her with their eye-symbol orbs. They even had quieted the noise. Silence permeated between both parties, each glaring at the other. The air was just as tense as the constrictions in Chione’s tightening thighs. One twitch would set off everything into frenzy. She was doing a short respiratory period to get her mouth not feeling so dry; and, the girl had to envy the birds for not having to deal with friction and the mechanics of landing feet to propel one’s self.

By the shift of her foot, Chione had started the invasion from the birds once again. Kestrels hissed their battle cries at the girl, honing in on her. She put herself in a boxing position, narrowing vision on single targets in front of her, ignoring other birds for the moment. When they got near, she instantly swatted dukes. She was seldom successful in landing hits, though the avian foes had enhanced luck slashing at her fists. Her connecting blows did not lower their numbers; in fact, knowing better, the falcons were winning by draining her spirit. Merely lowering her arms would make her open to a brutal assault and ensure defeat in a gruesome ending. Certain instances in the fight, Chione was dodging their attacks, hoping to conserve vigor to last out until Silas could deactivate the tower. It hurt knowing that she could not protect all sides, characterized by new marks on her back and sides. Whatever resembled a collared shirt and vest on the black-haired girl transformed into sweat-stained rags – not yet ready to fall apart but definitely damaged beyond repair. Her cargo pants were in better shape, bearing minor scratches on the thighs and legs. The perspiration on her face was collecting dirt, but she did not have time to be bothered by that or her messed-up hair while deflecting the bird attack. Her will was running out.

Any tries to wipe acrid water out of eyes was met with a kestrel having a good hit on Chione. She was almost done; all the energy was sapped. Heavy panting replaced will to keep on going. Chione had fought with laziness, but the need for rest was powerful, even more than the concentration to stay alive. Shaking freezed her legs, and a phenomenon had her arms lowering themselves to the side. One good knock-back plopped the girl on her behind, huffing, wheezing painfully inside and outside. The parchedness left her throat desiring an entire lake to drink. Now, her body had given up on her.

Chione was too busy having breathing difficulties to see the kestrels swoop in like hungry vultures diving to a carcass.

---

The elevator opened to allow Lukas sight on the computer room; and, when he did get a glimpse, his orbs widened to the size of dinner plates. Absently, the brunette stepped off the ride the group was on and looked at the surroundings, being extremely curious. He mumbled positive comments about the machine’s gigantic structure, the chords flowing everywhere but in a uniform presentation, and the complexity of the work before them. He was unconscious of the actions he was doing, such as feeling the surface of the smooth keyboard.

“Do you like it?”

Lukas swiftly turned back to the elevator, still having excitement and awe. “T-This is… T-This is amazing! I would never have… thought such a place would exist.”

With a confident smile, Silas snorted chuckles. “I know, right? It’s great that you feel that way – because it’s all yours to toy with.”

Green eyes widened further, even beyond what Lukas thought was already his potential earlier. “No way… I… I couldn’t…”

“No, no; I insist. That’s why we hired you in the first place. We need some genius to tinker with that thing.” He saw Lukas now frowning and the brows knit up. “But hey! I think you’ll do great. There must have been a reason why Lyn wanted you to be with us.”

The blond giggled as Lukas threw her his eyes, blinking while continuing to frown.

“Alrighty then.” Silas, smirking, punched the button and tapped his head with the right index finger in an informal soldier salute fashion. “Beam us up, Scotty. Figure out where we need to go by finding a red tower.” He said a quick sentence before the doors closed on the two. “I’m sure you can find the virtualization program by yourself.”

Lukas did not let up on his confusion as the blond and black-headed male disappeared from his sight. The computer sat in front of him, smiling in a green glow, the radiance tinting the chair and suggesting the boy to sit down. He blew out exasperated air, planted himself into the uncomfortable, hard chair, and immediately tapped buttons to bring forth a flurry of windows. His eyes narrowed to total seriousness, accompanied by a stern face. The multiple shifts between saturated blue to darker in alternative shifts did not blur his vision. Lukas’ wonderful information harvest inverted his serious expression to a mature happiness. His mind let the new material fester and grow in his head, then he categorized related pieces in haste for the ‘virtualization’.

He found the program the black-haired fellow referred to, represented by three columns in a window. It indicated that two presences were detected. Lifting the headset from the keyboard and inserting the tool onto his left ear, Lukas talked through the microphone piece, having already discovered how to contact into the room Lyn and – to him – the stranger. After asking if the two were ready and getting the okay to launch the program, Lukas nodded to himself and pressed the enter key. A charging-like noise rang from the speakers, and the boy decided to confirm that the process was going. “Transfer: Lyn.” Pause.

“Silas,” said a deeper voice into his ear.

Nod. “Transfer: Silas. Scanner: Lyn. Scanner: Silas.” Lukas closed his eyes, smiling softly. “Virtualization.”

---

Chione’s heart had stopped – but she was absolutely conscious of what was happening. She could not hear herself think or determine which emotion she was feeling due to the proximity of the cacophonous kestrels. The birds were closing in with their talons and beaks, and she was a helpless child watching a car about to run over her. All she did was clutch her head and curl into a defensive position, shutting off visual connection, as though blindness would alleviate the upcoming pain a smidge. Currently, there were only fragments of adrenaline, either leftovers from the previous scuffle or of waiting for her impending doom. The coldness the 14-year old sensed inside was very much welcomed compared to the shrieks and flapping of wings.

The fresh heat came from contact with her foes. She steeled her body for impact. For a moment, Chione could anticipate life escaping her to a bunch of falcons.

In another moment, she could not. The heat dissipated, and the screeches got a bit distant.

The teenager snapped open her eyes and looked. Blinking wiped clean the temporary fuzziness, but she could not erase the surprise on her face. Three enemies were on the floor, sprawled on their backs, and the rest were just as stunned as Chione, taking beatings like they stayed to get hit. The youth watched as fists flashed to knock out more birds. While the flying creatures were occupied, she was slowly, quietly, raising back on her feet, at first having trouble but eventually achieving her goal.

A mature-looking female matching Chione in hair and eye color had taken a hopping stance with her hands prepared to fight energetically. Long hair reached to her chest; but, only the right side had strands styled a couple inches from the ends as spiral curls – though this occurred for those that showed at the front; the rest were straight flat. Chione eyed the hair dancing over the girl’s lavender-purple shirt with ruffles trailing from the neck to the abdomen in a converging line. Her torn-style dark-blue jeans were further getting scuffed by the birds, yet the jangling of the numerous bracelets, charms, and bead accessories climbing towards the elbow showed them not to touch her excessive jewelry. Alongside the fighting girl was her male counterpart. He was bolder-looking, topped with spiked brown hair and the same shade of brown eyes, but he did not seem intimidating, especially since the folds of his eyelids made him appear to be sleepy. The boy was compressing his lips to small lines, and veins were popping prominently. His white tank-top was getting drenched in sweat, although the tan pleated pants both looked out of place and unfitting of his muscular build. The single aspect they shared were a form of sneaker-like buckle shoes of black.

The newcomer female felled a substantial quantity compared to her partner; but, in his defense, he did a tactic where he was letting the kestrels come near, try to attack, and then get caught in his hand, where he would – humorously, in Chione’s opinion – throw the bird into others and bide time rather than actually clear them. Chione was honestly amazed, standing and blinking, surprisingly not getting struck while being an idle idiot.

Eventually, shouting broke her trance. The older female angrily commanded Chione to help them out. The youngest in the area, gritting teeth against her body’s pleas to rest again, nodded once. She stretched everything, ridding the kinks, and went back into the fray, renewed determination having returned for a full comeback for the time being.

---

Silas and Lyn dropped onto a completely solid surface stained in a purple-grey hue. Beneath their feet was a rough texture, making the unchartered region unsuitable for plant life – minus the low trees spouting upon minor rock formations. Large cracks gave the ground the appearance of possibly falling apart. Everything – with exception of the few shrubs and sky – was cast in stone. When they threw their eyes to the distance, the sector had a similar format with the forest one: land for adventurers to traverse on was not infinite; as a matter of fact, a fog was spread in the atmosphere – but not where ground existed. Neither could pierce through the cloudiness in order to guess what lay below the haze. It even played a trick on their vision by cloaking inaccessible mountains. The both of them awed at an anomaly they could only tell by surveying. If their observation was correct, they were standing on floating rock much like the ones hovering on the horizon.

Lukas’ voice emerged out of nowhere and snapped the two back to focus. Set to a relaxed tone, he confirmed that the tower was located in the mountain sector, due north-northeast. The blond asked for the definition of which direction Lukas told them to go; but, in a rush, the black-haired youth commanded her to just follow him along the narrow, rocky path, and the Lyoko warriors sped through the scenery, tossing aside everything but the road they had to take – in the chance Chione was getting beaten up badly back on Earth.

They went through caverns not dissimilar to the shortcut stumps in the first sector. Within a short time, the two immersed themselves into a mostly open section, where the only stable footing they could have was on their narrow route. Falling did not guarantee an immediate death, to the twos’ thinking, but it likely would. “Like a catwalk,” Silas commented while pressing on, grinning a small one.

“A very dangerous one,” the other boy’s voice replied. “There are other platforms below where you are, but… I wouldn’t suggest jumping off any time soon.”

Snort. “That’s obvious.” He and Lyn twisted along with the now-curving path, heading towards a floating island, bearing a space lined by slabs of stone. “Even if everyone was jumping off of a cliff, I wouldn’t. What’s the difference?”

Some stammering entered Lukas’ sentences. “Because… there’s more to it than that.” He continued only after Silas made a noise, questioning. “Well… according to what I found… uh… the digital void flows below all the environments of Lyoko. It’s… sort of a part that is not rendered to have any texture. It’s a sea of information.”

“A digital sea?”

“Yes. That would be a good name to give it. However… it’s like the Internet. It’s always… um… constantly flowing. There’s no end to it.”

Lyn found an opportunity to speak, smiling with radiance. “So what’s the big deal? Lukas, it’s nothing more than the water in video games. You know, where your character can’t swim. If we ‘drown’ in this digital sea, we’d just lose a life, right? We’d come back to Earth and try again another time. It’s no biggie!”

“You… won’t come back.”

Silas and Lyn stopped dead in their tracks, then widened their eyes to the skies. None of the two could find something to say to that.

“It’s… It stores your information, in a way. If any of you fall into the Digital Sea, it would… it would be like you were an inhabitant of that world. For good.” Pause. “Virtualized forever.”

“So… it’s deadly waters in video games.” Lyn shuddered at the string of thoughts penetrating her brain. “Oh gosh. That would be terrible! Forever a part of Lyoko… Never to come back to Earth and see our family.”

In discreet fashion, the black-haired member had his expression darken and bit softly on his mouth’s inside, near the bottom lip. It only lasted for mere moments, before he was patting Lyn on the shoulder and glowing confident strength. “Hey now. Let’s not think about that stuff. We just need to be careful. We’ll---”

Lukas shouted, “Silas! Behind you! Three enemies are coming!”

The male, swift as gushing water, turned on his heel, and – just in time – he was able to miss the shot fired from an upwards angle. Mutters of sarcastic cheer sighed out of his mouth.

Buzzing broke the peace of the mountain sector. Thin, translucent wings covered in veins and line partitions droned over all sound, and the loudness made it hard for the two to hear each other. With the big head the creature possessed, three sets of wings gave the upper body support, while the bottom – a scrawny segmented portion by large comparison – was blessed by only one pair; what also distinguished this creature from the rest was the gray snout curved similar to a claw, about three inches long. The eye was found in the center of its supposed face, the mark’s faded black contrasting the bug’s sand-yellow body. Replacing the legs were three green mandible-like structures surrounding the mouth, as though trying to protect that part.

Said structure fired lasers like a gun, the creatures’ heads ricocheting back and a red symbol glow appearing as a firearm’s heat burst. The warriors hopped back to dodge the beams. Silas parried lasers all the while, as Lyn was concentrating on the enemies prior to grabbing her tomahawk.

She was about to throw her weapon until Lukas warned the group that two more of the hornet-like monsters were arriving from the backside; and, on cue, the blond was about to jump into acid sprayed from the mouth tips. Tripping, she tossed one leg and flailed arms in the air in hopes to maintain balance; however, the cost of getting upright did result in her stepping into the bubbling green mess, and she was notified that her life points were depleting too quickly. Snarls emitted from Lyn’s lips; she moved off the poison and – fortifying bravery – swung the axe in a boomerang motion, twirling her body at the same time for an added effect. The red blinking spot activated upon her toss; and, the girl watched her attack fail, scowling at the monsters after. It whirled on through as the bugs flied out of the way; and, now, the tomahawk was returning to her.

Lyn’s eyes bulged, and she was grinding teeth a tad as the distance between her and the throwing axe was closing in. Her legs tilted towards each other, knee-to-knee and shoe-to-shoe, shaking a little. The weapon twirled as front flips, aiming for her face, the shine reflecting off the metal surface mocking laughs. The first time the axe came near, Lyn ducked, stood, and waited for the second try. Blue orbs were fixated on the thrown object; and, while being patient, she thought about the perils the group would have to go through every day, what Chione was dealing with at the moment, and – more importantly – the black-haired girl’s personality.

The blond nodded. Her face scrunched into anticipation, furrowed brows and a deep frown plastered on. Readying for impact, Lyn’s legs had been repaired to not be fearful anymore but firm. She snorted former anxious air out of her system, and then the female Lyoko warrior stuck her right arm towards the oncoming axe. One breath of calmness. Lyn perked to the buzzing behind her, the hornets not doing anything for some reason. Her weapon was about to be within three feet of her face; but, Lyn span and snatched the object, noting the yellow blurs during the spin. She ceased movement, facing the couple of monsters, after tossing the axe, stopping in a posture of her right hand barely grazing the left foot. Successful she was to catch the hornets off-guard, for both were taken out in one strike. Lyn let out enthusiastic happiness the moment she leapt into the sky to catch the axe, not as scared this time. The teenager turned around to see the situation on the other side, and she was greeted with a thumbs-up.

Silas had been blocking all the firing aimed at him and Lyn. He had not been able to reflect shots back at their masters, having a difficult time mastering such an important skill. Still, the knight was able to avoid damage. The narrow fighting field and his short-range lance halted him from playing the aggressive offense role. He glowered as the hornets were not loosening tactics. The blond had finished her set, but his flying attackers were not going to fall for the same trap, he knew.

He observed the area, making short glances, juggling between keeping his guard strong and marking his surroundings. Silas focused on a single rock jutting positively at the edge of a bend, a good six inches or less tall, to his judging. A minute was spent before an idea popped into his head; and, when it came, he was smiling.

The male rolled his head back, looking at Lyn upside-down and gifting a bold grin. “Follow me up, okay?” Ignoring the confused expression, the boy sprinted, naturally avoiding the lasers trailing his route. From time to time, he would do little hops to ensure he was safe. For the most part, Silas’ progress was secured; the hornets kept missing and were moving along with his pace. Within reach of the aforementioned rubble, he jumped onto the rock from a yard away and kicked off backwards, towards the flying monsters and Lyn, by the use of his discovered high-jumping power.

His temporary flight was a sweet confection. Silas simply flew through the atmosphere, swung his lance at the fast-approaching hornets, and followed up by a landing back on the narrow road, resisting the remaining speed by stretching his right leg far apart. He yelled at Lyn to attack even as he heard two explosions from his efforts. Before Silas could look up, the third one was taken out; the black-headed teenager could only see the blond catch her weapon fluently, smirking to top off the experience.

Congratulated but warned that reinforcements could arrive at any moment, the two went back to running.

---

A lot of the birds cawed weakly on the floor. In the time since getting back up, Chione was defeated again, almost dying to her parched throat and the flaming sensation engulfing her limbs. Heaving up and down while in a prostrated stated, her chest felt extremely constricted, unable to contemplate the life gathering in the lungs under so much pain. She could not move. The female and male called for her to get up, but Chione was limited to suffocated gasps, no coherent words leaving her lips. Every part of her body was shaking from an unknown duress, yet she was able to raise her head to survey the current situation.

But when Chione did so, the girl saw her possible end. Sharp talons spread out and were aiming for her face. Stuck, energy-drained, and utterly weakened, she shut her eyes tight and snarled between clenched teeth, hearing not an urgent cry from the older female as she awaited a black fate.

---

The two had plowed through potential threats with minor injury. Lyn had been shot twice, but the stings did not stop her from protecting Silas. They were nearing the activated tower, foaming a red aura, and the male made no hesitation to run full force into the column. The blond, ditched outside, pumped a fist into the air, screamed out her mirth, and was, deservingly, devirtualized by four lasers to the back.

Silas made the giant eye symbol light up in a fast-forward fashion and floated to the top, closing his eyes during the ride. Not long did it take for him to step onto the platform, bringing up the screen. He wasted no time to place his hand on the monitor and deactivate the tower. “Lukas, call up Chione right now.”

Lukas sounded puzzled. “Chione…?”

Anger thrust itself out, but he was worried in actuality. “Stifle! Whoever! Just call right now!”

---

Chione was blinking in a wearied gesture as she saw the birds freeze in place, then to drop as though to sleep. Her comrades seemed to be reacting to the strange occurrence the same way. She let moments pass before she was chuckling under her breath, exposing a part of her teeth in her smile. “You… did it… guys…” the youngest of the improvised trio mumbled. Afterwards, her body could not take gravity anymore. She caved into the desires, crashing on her side and eyes closed; though, this time, the girl knew she was alive, still going to live, and everything was going to be fine, represented by the relaxed, peaceful grin etched on.

Before the 14-year old could fully pass out, she was pleased more with the cries of urgency and a wrapping of heat around her body. Chione did not care to answer the phone vibrating in her pocket. She was too content at the moment to care for anything.

---

Unfazed by the approaching night, Silas, Lukas, and Lyn ran the entire trek back to Kadic Academy, though they were panting with their slackened speed. Students and teachers outside wondered the business the trio had at such late hours, looking, whispering, shrugging amongst themselves. The brunette and blond led the black-headed one onto school campus, directing him by sprinting through a building and dashing into various corridors.

Past the white double-doors below a Red Cross sign, the party crashed into the room, standing and breathing hard. Their eyes centered on one spot.

Chione blinked and tilted her head at the group, appearing to be comfortable under the pure white bed covers. She was propped upright, lying on a pillow placed behind her, which caused for the top portion of her body to be seen. The lack of her signature military-style cap brought startling attention to the three; although, Lyn covered a gasp from the smaller girl’s state: she was practically covered in scratches and claw marks, many being prominently deep enough to be a bright red. One, to the trio’s outspoken chagrin, was close to blinding her in the left eye.

Despite their concerned, horror-stricken looks, she was smirking to them.

The three ran to her side, bombarding the girl into an inquiry storm, but she asked them to be quiet and listen. After silence fell, Chione said, “The nurse said I’ll be fine.” Amused snort. “Some are deep, but I won’t end up with scars. I had to fight them. That’s why I look like a cat post.” She folded her arms. “Yolande’s going to let me sleep in someone else’s room after she’s disinfected the wounds. Principal Delmas wants to notify this – somehow, don’t ask me why – to the police.”

Silas placed his hands on the mattress, being stern. “If that’s what has to happen. A Return to the Past is too risky.”

She laughed, which made everyone unnerved. “Don’t worry.” Her head flicked to the direction of the entrance. “It’s already been covered.”

The group turned around, simultaneously, where she gestured, but Silas was the only one widening eyes. The older female, now in the doorway, had the same reaction as him. She glimpsed between the three-man band, to Chione, and back to the people standing. Surprise stayed even as she spoke, bearing a ripened tone. “Who… are you people?”

The Lyoko warriors did not say a word, shifting glances at one another, conveying silent messages. Silas could read the forming irritation on the older female’s posture.

Eventually, Chione answered for everyone. “Classmates.” She ignored the trio giving her a funny look, staring at only the female who had raised a brow at the reply. As the girl said the names, she pointed to the respective owners. “Lyn. Lukas.”

They nodded their heads.

Chione stole a moment staring at Silas, eyeing his expression that played himself as unknowing, and returned to the girl. “He’s... I don’t know who he is.”

Silas said, “Oh, pardon me. I’m new. Came all the way from England.” He cocked his head to the side, looking at the stranger. “Am I right to say you’re her sister?”

Nod. “I’m Suelyn. Not ‘Sue-ellen’ like many people read it. ‘Sue-lyn’. Like Lyn’s name over there.” She creased her lips upwards. “But everyone calls me ‘Sue’. How about you?”

“Silas Perry’s the name.” He rummaged through his hair. “Actually, I was about to set up an appointment with the principal, but I got caught up with these guys’ shenanigans.” His hand went back to his side. “We all got attacked earlier, and we got separated. When we got back together, we tried calling Chione, but she didn’t pick up.” Laugh. “And that’s why we barged in here. We figured she was going to be in the nurse’s office.”

“Next time…” Sue’s face had scrunched, making everyone in the room – minus Chione – nervous with her narrowed eyes and sharply downward brows. The tone which sounded pleasant to meet people then morphed into a viper’s venomous hiss. “Next time, stay with her! You could have at least checked up on her more often!”

“Hey, hey!” Silas raised his hands to show his palms, waving them slightly. He held back his emotions from sounding defensive. “We didn’t---“

Scoff. “All of you are so stupid. Can’t you consider the safety of everyone and not just yourselves? You could have killed her with your selfishness! What if I wasn’t there to help her?”

Chione leered at her sister, cold seriousness imbued. “Sue, stop. They get it.” Sigh. “You don’t need to protect me like that.”

Sue widened her eyes at Chione. “You’re… protecting them?”

Raise of a brow. “So? You were ragging on them.” She cooled herself by breathing in and exhaling, relaxing her features. “I appreciate for all you’ve done, keeping me from being France’s public news and taking responsibility from Mom and Dad, but… don’t be mad at them. And certainly don’t nag them. So… don’t.”

The elder sister blinked, stared, and hardened her gaze, rolling eyes back and forth from her sister and the company. Nobody said a word, watching each other, until the Lyoko warriors got startled by a sudden outburst of laughter. Sue roared profusely, expelling all that she found funny with such courage – even gripping the wall for support as she held her sides. Chione had let go of negative feeling to replace with baffled confusion, batting eyes multiple times not out of necessity. Her comrades shared the same thing, as the group watched Sue exit the nurse’s office and bawling like a person under a sleeping gas spell; but, as she left, Chione dropped back into a leer, then to solidify a wide scowl.

The group was still prior to Lukas voicing his concern; then everyone turned to him – with unexpected results.

“Sti-Stifle, I’m so sorry. I… I thought you were male…” He flushed. “I-I feel so embarrassed. Please forgive me! I…”

By then, everyone was laughing, except Chione. Lukas took a few moments to digest his bashfulness to let out his own few soft chuckles, receiving pats on the back from Silas and on the shoulder from Lyn. Chione, on the other hand, scowled and turned her head away from the hyenas, her left brow twitching. She muttered a lot of irked feelings about the whole day and the future week staying in the dorms with one of these jokers.