Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Welcome Back, Ash! I Hope You Like What We've Done with the Place. Ash Kapoor had been away too long. Although she had kept up with her friends since moving away, she hadn't seen Woodsword Middle School in a while. There were a lot of little changes, which she noticed right away. The gardening club had been hard at work, and flowers were in bloom in little gardens all over the school grounds. The school's ancient, rusty weathervane had been replaced with a shiny new model in the shape of an atom. (That had to be Doc's doing.) While riding in on the bus, she had even spotted a beehive! But the important things hadn't changed at all. For example, her friends still gave the best group hugs. "Okay, enough hugging!" said Morgan, pulling free from their group embrace. "We've got to update Ash on everything that's happened." "Brace yourself," warned Jodi.

第三章欢迎回来，阿什！我希望你喜欢我们对这个地方所做的。 阿什·卡普尔离开太久了。 虽然搬走后她一直和朋友们保持联系，但她已经有一段时间没见过木剑中学了。 有很多小的变化，她马上就注意到了。 园艺俱乐部一直在努力工作，学校操场上的小花园里都开满了花。 学校陈旧生锈的风向标被一个原子形状的闪亮的新风向标所取代。 （那一定是博士干的。）在乘坐公共汽车时，她甚至发现了一个蜂巢！但重要的事情一点也没有改变。 例如，她的朋友们仍然给予最好的集体拥抱。 “好了，拥抱够了！”摩根说，从他们的集体拥抱中挣脱出来。 “我们得把发生的一切都告诉阿什。” “打起精神，”乔迪警告说。

"So it isn't good news," said Ash. "Has the Fault gotten worse?" "That's an understatement," said Theo. "The last time we played, the Overworld was ninety percent Fault." "But that's not the worst of it," said Harper. "Our VR goggles were destroyed in the flood." "Oh no!" said Ash. "So there's only one left?" "No," said Morgan. "All five were wrecked." "But Doc made six of them," said Ash. "Remember?" She dug around in her backpack. "I took one with me, when I moved." Grinning, she pulled something from the pack and held it out for them all to see. "And I brought it with me." Everyone's eyes went wide. They all started talking at once.

“所以这不是好消息。”阿什说。 “故障加重了吗？”“这是保守的说法，”西奥说。 “上次我们玩的时候，上面世界90%都是错误的。” “但这还不是最糟糕的，”哈珀说。 “我们的VR眼镜在洪水中被毁了。” “哦，不！”“所以只剩下一个了？”“不，”摩根说。 “五架飞机都失事了。”“可是医生做了六个，”阿什说。 “记得吗?”她在背包里翻了翻。 “我搬家的时候带了一个。” 她咧着嘴笑，从背包里拿出一样东西，递给大家看。 “我把它带来了。” 每个人都睁大了眼睛。 他们立刻开始说话。

"I can't believe we forgot…." "Ash to the rescue…again" "…have a real chance now." "…corn dogs for lunch." Morgan, however, was quiet. His lower lip trembled with emotion. Then he leapt forward, his arms held out wide. "One more hug, everybody!" he cried. "Come on! Everybody get in on this!" Ash smiled. It was good to be back. For a moment, it felt like she'd never left. But then there was a tremendous crash. It echoed through the gymnasium, so loud and sudden that Ash nearly dropped the headset right out of her hands. "Careful!" said Morgan. "I've got it," said Ash. "But what was that sound?" "It wasn't thunder," said Harper. "It sounded like a train hit the school." "Or a ravager," said Po. "Which I actually had a dream about last night." He gasped. "Does this mean I'm psychic?!"

“我不敢相信我们忘记了....” “阿什又来救我了” “现在有机会了” “午餐吃玉米热狗。”然而摩根却沉默不语。 他的下唇因激动而颤抖。 然后他向前一跳，张开双臂。 “大家再抱抱吧！”他喊道。 “来吧!大家都加入进来吧！”灰笑了。 能回来真好。有那么一瞬间，我觉得她好像从未离开过。 但随后发生了一场巨大的崩盘。 这声音在体育馆回荡，声音如此之大，如此之突然，艾什几乎把耳机从她手中掉了下来。 “小心！”摩根说。“我知道了。”阿什说。 “那是什么声音？”“那不是雷声。”哈珀说。 “听起来像是火车撞上了学校。” “或者是个掠夺者。”阿宝说。“我昨晚还做了个梦呢。” 他气喘吁吁地说。“这是否意味着我是灵媒？！”

"No," said Theo. Po gasped again. "I knew you'd say that!" Ash noticed that Doc and Ms. Minerva were hurrying out into the hallway. "We should follow them," she suggested. "If we want to see for ourselves what just happened." Jodi led the way. She put on a pair of sunglasses, popped up her collar, and stepped lightly on her feet. Ash recognized Jodi's "spy mode" immediately. But there was no need to be sneaky. Plenty of other students had wandered into the hallway, curious about the noise. Doc and Ms. Minerva were both running ahead. "So much for no running in the halls," Po said.

“不，”西奥说。阿宝又喘了口气。 “我就知道你会这么说！”阿什注意到医生和夫人。 密涅瓦匆匆跑进走廊。 “我们应该跟着他们，”她建议道。 “如果我们想亲眼看看刚才发生了什么。” 乔迪带路。她戴上一副太阳镜，竖起衣领，轻轻地站了起来。 阿什立刻认出了乔迪的“间谍模式”。 但是没有必要偷偷摸摸的。 许多其他学生也走进了走廊，对这种噪音感到好奇。 医生和密涅瓦女士都跑在前面。 阿宝说：“不许在大厅里跑了，这就是我的意思。”

The teachers came to a stop before a closed classroom door. Ash wondered how they knew this was the source of the sound they'd heard. Then she saw water seeping out from beneath the door. It pooled in the center of the hallway. "My lab!" cried Doc. Ms. Minerva pushed the door open just as Ash and the others caught up. Ash peered around the teacher. Her jaw dropped at what she saw. A tree had fallen outside and crashed right through a window in Doc's laboratory classroom. Rain poured into the opening, and sodden leaves and fragmented branches littered the tabletops. At least one microscope lay broken on the ground.

老师们在一扇紧闭的教室门前停了下来。 阿什想知道他们怎么知道这就是他们听到的声音的来源。 然后她看到水从门底下渗出来。 它聚集在走廊中央。 “我的实验室！”博士叫道。密涅瓦推开门时，阿什和其他人也赶上来了。 艾什环顾了老师的四周。 她被眼前的情景吓得目瞪口呆。 外面有棵树倒下了，正好砸穿了博士实验室教室的一扇窗户。 雨水倾泻而下，湿透的树叶和破碎的树枝散落在桌上。 至少有一台显微镜摔坏在地上。

Ash had never seen such destruction in a classroom. It was as if Woodsword was under siege. And the storm wasn't finished yet.

阿什从来没有在教室里见过这样的破坏。 森林之剑好像被包围了。 暴风雨还没有结束。