Hero Academy: Ticking Time

Chapter 9: Vlad's secret

Nino didn't want to go back to the library so soon, especially after what happened last night. He did not want to face another Gastly or another Banette or any other Ghost Pokémon ever again. But Adrien did want to talk to Vlad, who was at the library now, about something. Nino really didn't want to go but the girls did kick both Adrien and him regardless to go, so he might as well.

"Are you sure he's here?"

"Of course I'm sure, Nino. He said he would be here, helping out."

"But why don't we wait until he's done?"

"Because he might be there all day and won't come out until night. Plus, do you really want to hear what Marinette wanted to talk to Alya and Chloé about?"

"Not really."

"Do you want to hear Plagg complaining about more food?"

"Adrien!!" Plagg yelled from Adrien's pocket shirt.

"Trust me, Nino. It's getting really annoying." Wayzz said from under Nino's hat.

"Fine. No."

"Then let's go." Adrien pushed the door open and stepped inside. Nino followed, making sure no Ghost Pokémon was around. Besides the large endless shelves and low howling, everything seemed pretty normal. Nino and Adrien walked down the hallway to the desk at the end, where a tall blue and white female-shaped robot stood. She was connected to the computer by some cables on her back and her eyes were blue and static like. Nino walked up to the robot and tried to get her attention.

"Um, excuse me. Miss?" Before Nino could touch the robot, her eyes snapped into black irises and looked down at him. She smiled before retracting the cables into her back. The loud snap echoed the room and the robot turn to face them.

"Hi! I'm Jenny! I'm not sure I've seen you before." She said as she leans down and Nino could see the metal line between what looked like her forehead and hair. Her voice actually sounded human and her personality seemed like most girls back home. It seemed easy to talk to her.

"Um...yeah. I'm Nino and he's Adrien. We're looking for Vlad."

"Vlad? You won't be able to see him right now."

"Why? Is he alright?"

"He's fine, Adrien. He's just in the restricted area."

"Restricted area? Why? And how?"

"He was an intern when he first came to this school, coming halfway through the semester. Headmaster Max gave him the only access there and only Vlad can enter and change anything in there."

"So how long will Vlad be in there?"

"It'll take some time for him to get through some of the stuff back there. Maybe two hours and I'm really lowballing here." Nino and Adrien groaned. What were they going to do for the next two hours? "You guys could explore the library while you wait."

"We're fine. We'll-"

"The ghost pokemon are not here right now. They only come out at night." Both boys sighed, Nino being more relieved and Adrien being more disappointed.

"Then I guess we can explore a bit. I mean, how big is this library anyway?"

Nino was pretty sure he saw the same shelve five times now. Both boys had been walking around the library for three hours and Vlad was still in the restricted area. Nino was more tired than the tour aftermath and the first day combined.

"Can we take a break, Adrien?" Nino said as he leans on one of many shelves. "My feet are killing me."

"Sure. And we can look at what they have here. I really want to see if they have info on the other dimensions." Adrien pulled a ladder and started to climb it. Nino watched Adrien climb up to the ten shelves and started to pull out one book. He looked at it and waved it to Nino. He was pretty sure Adrien want to show him what he found so he nodded. Adrien then dropped the book down. Nino caught it and looked back up to see Adrien sliding down the ladder.