She walked into the building unsure of where she would sit. The girl was very small for her age, often mistaken with a 7th grader, even though this was her first year as a 9th grader at Kadic academy. It was easy to see she was the smallest girl in the class. She was only 4'8 with hair that was blonde and straight, going a little past her shoulders with side bangs. She had huge forest green eyes that always seemed to betray her emotions. Her skin was pale and she was awfully scrawny. It almost seemed unhealthy, but the doctors always said that she was just little and would hit a growth spurt anytime now.

Although it was a hot and sunny day outside, she wore a blue tank top covered by an off the shoulder long sleeved green shirt. She also wore many rubber bracelets to cover both her wrists. Her legs were actually long compared to the rest of her body, and she wore short blue workout shorts on them and DC's, clearly not caring about the skin there. She tied her hair up in a ponytail so it would stay out of her face.

"Hey new kid! Come introduce yourself!" Jim yelled. She frowned but walked over to the gym teacher. She had been introduced to him before when she was meeting all the teachers, and was told to just call him Jim. She walked over to him only to be met by the stares of about 20 other kids. Her body stiffened.

"M-my names Mira Conwell." (Meer-ah) She stuttered quietly. She always got nervous around new people and wondered if any of them would be her next bullies. She had already had to transfer schools twice because she was always being bullied, not to mention that her real parents had died and she was adopted. Her new 'parents' weren't really there for her either, finally sending her to a boarding school just so they wouldn't have to deal with her anymore. They were business people and never had the time for her. Maybe they thought they were doing her a favor.

It's going to be okay. She thought to herself. I can do this.

A bubble of guilt filled her chest, feeling bad for judging them so quickly. They were her new class, and if she went around judging them, they probably wouldn't like her.

"Speak up" Jim ordered. Deep breath your okay. "I'm Mira. Mira Conwell." She stated a bit louder. "There ya go. Now go take a seat." she frowned, not knowing where to sit. It was pretty obvious who was friends with who, and she didn't want to intrude into their groups. Instead, she moved towards the group but distanced herself from everyone sitting alone in the grass. It was short lived when the coach ordered everyone to start running around the track.

She got up, running at a steady pace by herself in the middle of the students. It was like every other school. You had the kids racing in the front, the people trying not to fail in the middle, and the "Lackeys" who clearly didn't care or just had no talent in exercise in the back. She knew she could be way ahead of everyone, but that would mean that she would stick out, and she didn't want to. She was already the new kid anyway.

By the end of class she was a bit short winded, but that was about it. The other kids were red and sweaty. This was one of those times where she was great full that she hardly ever broke a sweat, even when she was wearing a long sleeved, but she had her reasons for that. Everyone was dismissed as she began to walk away back to her dorm. Before she could get very far though, a hand grabbed her wrist.

She had to bite her lip from screaming out in pain. Of course this person didn't know about the scars that covered her arms, she was hiding them, but it still hurt. She turned slowly to see a boy standing there smiling at her. He wasn't nearly as short as her, but he was nearly as scrawny. He was wearing a purple gym shirt with basket ball shorts and sneakers. What caught her attention the most though was his blonde, gravity defying hair with purple in the middle. He gave her a warm grin. "I wanted to introduce myself before you ran off. I'm Odd." He told her letting go of her wrist. She resisted the urge to rub it in comfort and instead gave him a shy smile in return. "I guess you already know my name, but it's nice to meet you." He chuckled in return.

"Odd come on we have to go!" A browned haired boy called. He looked like he was torn between talking to Mira and going to his friends, so she gave him a small push. "Go ahead, I'll be fine, I have to change anyway." Mira urged. He nodded and started running off. "See you around." He waved. She returned the gesture as she continued going to the dorm.

As Odd ran back to his friends, he found himself confused. When he grabbed Mira's wrists, she had winced in pain and bit her lip, obviously trying not to cry out. Though he could tell that she didn't think he noticed, so he just went along with it. Now he was curious. What could have happened? Maybe it was just an injury.

"Odd were you listening, there's a X.A.N.A attack. We have to head over to the factory, Yumi said she would meet us there." Jeremy snapped. He was pulled out of his thoughts and nodded. "Yeah okay."

They started running to the forest when they heard a scream. I loud, piercing scream over by the dormitories. It must have been related to the attack.

Mira was heading over there Odd thought to himself. He looked at the others. "I'll go" Was all he said before rushing over to the area. When he got there, he was shocked.

Meanwhile, Mira had been heading back to the dorms when she heard a scream. She ran over to find a wild dog running around and jumping towards any student that was insight. Someone could have gotten hurt, and she had to do Something.

So she picked up a rock and chucked it straight at the dogs head, landing a direct hit. It snarled as it turned towards her. "Everyone get inside!" She yelled. It was the first time that she had spoken so loud in a while, and her voice rang dead serious. All of the students flooded inside, leaving her to deal with the dog.

There was something wrong with it. Like it was possessed. Part of her told to run inside, but this dog was large and it would definitely get to the students inside if it got the chance. She picked up another rock and chucked it at it's face. "What's the matter?" She yelled. "And here I though I was dealing with a big scary dog." It charged at her.

She stood in front of a column, waiting. When the dog had come close enough to her, she launched herself away and watched as it smacked onto hard cement. The dog was fazed, but got back up and growled at her.

There was no doubt in her mind something was wrong. That dog should be knocked out, yet it had gotten back up, and even weirder, it had glitched. Like a computer, the dogs color change for a moment with a static sound.

It came barreling towards her again and she had to jump again, tripping and falling. She rolled on her back and as it came snapping for her face, she grabbed an abandoned cheerleading baton and shoved it into the dogs jaw. It's teeth snapped hard onto the metal. With that opening, Mira launched her foot into it's stomach and kicked as hard as she could, sending it flying off her tiny body.

Mira was a strong girl, despite her look, because she had to be. When she was bullied, she had to be able to stand up for herself and her step brothers always like wrestling her, even if they were a year older. They were the only good people in her life, the two of them. They had taught her how to defend herself if she needed to.

It was helping her now, allowing her to defend against this wild dog.

"Mira!" Someone yelled. She didn't have to turn her head to know it was Odd. "Mira get away, that's dangerous!" He yelled again. "Everyone's inside, I can't let this dog get to them." She yelled back.

Odd cursed under his breath. If anything happened to her, he would feel responsible for it because this wasn't just any dog, but a dog possessed by X.A.N.A. He couldn't tell if it was even fighting with it's full potential or humoring the girl. What he could tell was that it was angry. Seeing as little Mira wasn't going to give up, he charged in to help her.

He delivered a kick to it's chest while it was distracted charging at Mira. The students inside were cowering in fear and hiding in the corners of the room, wondering if the new girl was brave or just stupid. They were however surprised and great full that she was protecting them.

Odd was tired and out of breath, and even though Mira wasn't showing it, she was exhausted. "Dammit guys, hurry up." He watched in horror as the dog came charging at Mira yet again, and she wasn't moving. In fact he was so horrified that he couldn't speak, only watch. Towards the last second, Mira jumped straight up and pushed herself over the dogs back with her hands like it was a hurdle. It was forced to the ground as she landed on the other side, huffing and out of breath.

Odd's Cellphone rang. "Hello? Jeremy what's going on." He yelled into the phone. "Odd it's not good, hurry to the factory, Ulrich's already been devirtualized." He informed. "I can't! Mira and I are trying to fight off the dog that X.A.N.A possessed. It's going after the student's but I don't know why." He heard a crash and his heart rate sped up. When he looked, both Mira and the dog were on the ground, a huge crater in the wall. Mira got up shaking, using the wall for support.

"Mira? The new girl? You know what, never mind, I'm sending Ulrich over to help her, meanwhile, you need to be here." He ordered. "Yeah but what if she gets hurt?" Odd questioned. "I'm sure she's fine, and when the tower is deactivated, the dog will stop attacking." He reasoned.

"Odd go! I don't know what's going on, but it sounds important, and if it means everyone will be safe, then you've got to go. I'll be fine, I can hold my own." Mira yelled. She was lying of course. she knew wasn't going to make it much longer, but whatever Odd was talking about sounded urgent and she knew he needed to go.

"Alright, my friend Ulrich's going to come help you. He'll be here soon and the dog will stop attacking, I promise." With that he took off towards the factory, scared for Mira's safety.

Along the way, he passed Ulrich in the sewer. "Hurry up, she could be hurt by now." Odd snapped as he went by. Both boys picked up the pace.

Odd finally stepped out of the elevator and into the laboratory, where Jeremy sat worried. "Odd your here, go down to the scanner room." Odd stomped down and got in the scanner. "Let's finish this fast." He grumbled. "Transfer Odd, Scanner Odd, Virtualization."

Ulrich had arrived at the school to see the tiny new girl from gym holding her own against the dog. It was charging at her and each time she slid out of the way, but it was getting closer and closer to hitting her. She was panting hard, not willing to give in.

He ran forward and gave it a body slam sending it to the ground. "Are you okay?" He asked. Mira nodded in response. "Yeah thanks. Your Ulrich right?" He gave her a nod as the dog got back up, running after them with teeth that were full of electricity.

Odd caught up to Yumi and Aelita and blasted one of the crabs to bits. "Odd!" Aelita called in relief. "Go to the tower!" He and Yumi were attacking the monsters full force, trying to give Aelita the space she needed to enter the tower.

Seeing her opening, Aelita ran as fast as she could, entering the tower. Yumi sighed but in that moment, was hit by a laser and devirtualized. The tower changed from red to white, and Odd couldn't help but laugh with the relief he was feeling.

At Kadic, Ulrich was dazed and trying to get up while the dog had smacked Mira into a wall. She gasped in pain and slumped on to the ground. The dog tried to bite her, but she rolled out of the way. Her body screamed in pain when the weight was added to her shoulder.

Suddenly, the dog fell to the ground. It twitched and howled in pain before some. . . Black thing left it. The dogs body shrunk until it was nothing more then a little beagle. It ran to where Mira was leaning against the wall and started licking her face.

Ulrich was waiting for a return to the past, which still hadn't come. Confused, he called Jeremy.

"Hey einstein, you gonna launch a return to the past or not."

"I can't, X.A.N.A attacked the super computer and bugged it up, I can't launch the program." He answered worried. "Odd said Mira was fighting the dog. Is she okay?"

Ulrich examined the girl. She was out of breath and panting, but petting the dog and smiling none the less. "Yeah she's okay, but she's gonna want answers."

Jeremy was silent. "Okay, I'll bring Odd and Aelita back. Try to come up with a way to explain everything to the students, then we'll deal with Mira.

The phone call ended as the kids started coming outside. Mira hid the dog behind her back and the wall, shushing it. Surprisingly, it stayed quiet. "What is going on here?!" The principle yelled. Odd was quiet, trying to come with some sort of lie. For the second time that day, he was surprised by Mira.

"A wild dog attacked, but don't worry, it ran off. You should call and have someone see if they can find it though." She lied through her teeth, going back to being quiet. Principle Delmas though for a second before. "Alright everyone, back to your dorms!" He ordered. Kids started running out of the classroom and to their dorms, scared. Mira walked against the wall, hiding the beagle with her body.

Ulrich walked over and grabbed her shoulder, scratching the back of his head. "About what happened," He started. He could tell Mira wasn't stupid and knew that it wasn't just some wild dog. "It's okay." She stopped him. "I can tell you don't want to explain, so I won't ask you to. I'm just glad I was here to help." With that, she darted off back to her room, beagle in hands.