LF6: Dog Days of Fall pt 1

    "Time for gym, I guess."
    "Yup. Let's go."
"Good morning, class. It seems we have some more new students today." The

English teacher opened the door. Hinata gasped. A boy with a fuzzy-hooded jacket over his

head entered, as did another boy with a stiff green vest and his black hair tied back in a

ponytail.
    "Everyone, this is Kiba, and this is Shikamaru. Shikamaru, you can sit over there by Odd,

and Kiba, there's an empty spot at the table in front of Hinata."
    "Huh? Hinata?" The teacher pointed to the purple-haired girl. Kiba sat down in front of

her and turned around.
    "You're here, too, huh? Nice to see you're all right."
    "You, too, Kiba."
    "All right, that's enough. Now, we'll continue on our indefinite pronouns chapter.

Everyone that has it, get out their list." Papers shuffled, and soon the sound quieted.
    "All right. We'll start by reviewing the singular list..."
"Very good. Someone name another. Shikamaru?"
    "Shikamaru?"
    "Shikamaru!" The teacher walked up to him. She took his English book and slammed it

on the desk.
    "Aah! Wha?"
    "We do not sleep in this class, Shikamaru!" The boy yawned and swept his hand over his

eyes.
    "Do you hear me?"
    "Yeah, yeah, I hear you," he mumbled. "It's kind of hard not to."
    "Shikamaru! You're not making a very good impression!" Shikamaru put his head and

arms on the table.
    "Man, what a drag."
    "Young man, you are very close to getting detention!" Shikamaru groaned.
    "All right, fine. Sorry."
The lunch bell rang.
    "Um, guys?"
    "Yes, what is it, Hinata?"
    "Well, um, do you mind if I sit with Kiba?"
    "What, you know him or something?"
    "Oh, well, yes, sort of."
    "Go ahead."
    "Oh, all right." Hinata walked out of the lunch line and sat at the same table as Kiba and

Shikamaru.
    "Hey, Hinata."
    "Hi." Kiba dropped his voice a bit and said, "So this is where you ended up, huh?"
    "Mmm-hmm."
    "I still have no clue what happened. This is all just such a drag."
    "Are you sure? You don't have any idea?"
    "Nope. It could always be some sort of jutsu, but however they sent us here... Man, I can

barely remember a thing."
    "Really? Me too."
    "That makes three of us. Or, really, four. Right, Akamaru?" The white dog popped his

head out of Kiba's jacket and yipped.
    "Oh! Careful, Kiba, dogs aren't allowed here." Akamaru let out a questioning, "Aroo?"

and went back inside Kiba's jacket.
    "You've gotta be kidding me! Oh, well. Akamaru and I can figure something out."
    "I'm sure you can, Kiba."
    "You bet we will!" Kiba finished off his tray, slipping a piece of beef to Akamaru.
"See ya later, Hinata. My room's way over in building 6."
    "Okay. Bye, Shikamaru!"
    "Mine's in building 2."
    "Oh? Mine is, too. It's this way."
    " 'Kay." Hinata led the way to the building. "Here, let me see what my room number is,"

Kiba said, taking a slip of paper out of his pocket. "Oh, can I see?" Hinata said, peeking

from behind him.
    "Oh! It looks like you're roommates with Jeremy."
    "Huh? That one smart kid from... Hey, wait, he's in all but one of my classes!"
    "What a coincidence."
    "Well, go ahead to your room, Hinata. I'll see you later!"
    "Okay, bye, Kiba!" Kiba walked over to his new room. "This looks like it," he said,

opening the door.
    "Huh? Who's there?" Jeremy spun around to face the door and covered his computer.
    "I'm your new roommate." Kiba looked around. "Where's my bed?"
    "There's only one in here right now. I guess they'll probably get one for you soon."
    "Oh, okay. Hey, can you keep a secret?"
    "Um, yes, I believe so."
    "All right, then." Kiba crouched down and unipped his jacket. Akamaru jumped out.
    "Whoa!"
    "You're not gonna tell them Akamaru's here, right?"
    "Oh, um, sure. Just don't let him get in my stuff."
    "No problem, right, Akamaru?" Akamaru stuck his tongue out and panted. Soon mealtime

had passed, and it was 10:00. Jim had come in and had set up a cot for Kiba to sleep on

until they could get a regular bed in. "Well, I think I'm gonna hit the hay," Kiba said,

stretching. "All right, go ahead," Jeremy said, still typing on his computer.
    "Man, what are you working on this late, anyway?"
    "Nothing! Nothing."
    "O-kay... Well, see you in the morning."
    "Right."
The final bell rang, and Kiba and Shikamaru darted out of class.
    "Man, this school is such a drag. It's nothing like the Ninja Academy. I can't sleep  for half

a second here without getting yelled at."
    "I know. And I have to wait all day before I can see Akamaru!" Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah,

not much of a place."
    "I got time. Wanna get out of here for a while? I saw a forest just past the track."
    "Sure, why not. It's not like there's anything else to do." The two changed course a bit.

They soon reached the woods.
    "I don't know about you, but I feel like jumping through here!"
    "Sure, go ahead." Kiba jumped on top of a branch and started jumping through the trees,

Shikamaru walking leisurely behind.
    "Whoa! Shikamaru, check this out!"
    "What is it?"
    "Just come on!" Shikamaru caught up with Kiba. "It's a building."
    "Yeah, come one, let's check it out." Kiba grabbed onto one of the ropes hanging from

the ceiling and dropped down.
    "I'm not too sure about this, Kiba."
    "Oh, come on! Quit being such a scaredy-cat!"
    "All right, fine, I'm coming." Shikamaru slid down the rope and followed Kiba into the

control room.
    "Whoa, this is awesome! What is it?"
    "Some sort of computer, looks like." Shikamaru sat in the chair and noticed a pile of

papers. "Hey, what's this?" he said, picking it up.
    "Huh? What is it?"
    "Notes on how to work this thing. Looks like you get teleported to some place called

Lyoko."
    "Whoa, cool! Send me there!"
    "Are you nuts? Who knows what'll happen if I mess up?"
    "Hey, you can figure it out, Shikamaru! You're supposed to be a genius, aren't you?"
    "Well, yeah, I guess..."
    "Then let's try it! Where am I supposed to go?" Shikamaru leafed through the papers.

"Someplace called a scanner," he said. "Well, it has to be big enough for you to get inside.

Let's look around." The two soon found the scanner room. "Hey, maybe this is it!" Kiba said,

getting inside one of the tubes. "Go ahead and start it up, Shikamaru."
    " 'Kay, I'll try." Shikamaru climbed up the rungs back to the control room. He went

through the papers again and put on the earpiece. "All right, then, here we go." Shikamaru

started typing on the computer. "Transfer Kiba! Scanner Kiba! Virtualization!" A whirlwind

swept off Kiba's hood before he materialized on Lyoko.
    "Whoa!" Kiba narrowly landed on his feet, soon taking a glance around. "Hey, this place

is pretty cool," he said, glancing around his orange surroundings. He had landed in the

desert sector, although he didn't know it. He glanced down at his new clothes. He was

wearing a long-sleeved red shirt with yellow streaks on it and bright yellow shoulder armor.

Kiba was also wearing matching pants and shoes. He had small blades attached to his

hands.
    "Hey, Kiba! Something's coming up behind you!"
    "Huh?" Kiba whipped around. There was a block coming towards him. "No big, I got it,"

Kiba said, rushing towards it. He slammed a kick right into  its Eye of X.A.N.A. Nothing

happened. Kiba flinched a bit. "What the? I didn't even hurt him at all!" The block whirred

around, shooting a laser towards Kiba. "Whoa!" He jumped out of the way.
    "Hey, Kiba! Try the blades!"
    "Huh? These?" Kiba held up his arm. "Well, I guess it's worth a shot!" Kiba rushed

toward the block, stabbing it with the blade. It promptly exploded. "That's more like it," Kiba

said, letting his arm fall back to his side.
    "So, what now?"
    "Why are you asking me? It was your idea to go in there in the first place."
    "Whatever. I guess I'll just explore for a while."
    "Go ahead, I'll be right here."
    "Just don't fall asleep, Shikamaru, all right?"
    "Fine." Shikamaru got the notes back out and started to look over them.
"Uh-oh," Jeremy said, a window popping up on his computer screen. He dialed

up his friends.
    "X.A.N.A. attack. Activated tower in the desert sector. Meet you at the factory." Jeremy

soon made his way there, everyone but Yumi there.
    "Ready, guys?"
    "You bet." The five slid down the ropes and entered the elevator.
"Huh? What's going on?" Shikamaru turned around, hearing the elevator go up.
    "Hey, check this out, Shikamaru!" He turned back to the computer.
    "What?"
    "This building thing just turned red!"
    "Hey! Who are you?!"
    "Huh?" Shikamaru turned back around.
    "Uh! Shikamaru, what are you doing here?"
    "Yeah!"
    "Hey, don't blame me. It was Kiba's idea to come in here in the first place."
    "Kiba? Where is he?"
    "In Lyoko."
    "Hey! How do you know-" Shikamaru held up the notes loosely.
    "Jeremy! What were you thinking, leaving the notes by the computer?!"
    "Actually, Odd, you did it."
    "Yeah? Well-"
    "Aw, just button it, Odd."
    "Fine. But how the heck did you understand that blabber, anyway?"
    "Huh, this? Well, it's really not that hard once you figure it out."
    "How long have you been here?"
    "I don't know, five minutes, maybe?"
    "Five minutes?! You figured that out in five minutes?!"
    "Um, yeah."
    "Hey, Shikamaru!"
    "What?" Shikamaru put the earpiece back on.
    "Some other guy is here!" Aelita gasped. "William!"