The Lyoko Z-Warrior

Chapter 3: The Lyoko Warriors + 1

Beneath Kadic Academy...

After climbing down the forest's manhole cover, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi all entered a local sewer system. It was filled to the brim with various tunnels and walkways that each led to different locations within Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris' most populated suburb. One specific location was the abandoned factory where Lyoko's supercomputer resided.

Water was present in the middle of the sewer, so the group ran along the leftmost sidewalk. There, three skateboards and a gray scooter were leaning against the wall.

While running, Jeremie attempted to explain the predicament Goku was unintentionally thrust into.

"Wait, hold up, Einstein! Are you saying that if Goku gets devirtualized even once, he'll be gone for good?!" Odd asked in shock.

Jeremie nodded. "Afraid so. He's in the same boat as Aelita right now."

"Poor guy. I can't imagine what he's feeling right now." Yumi said. She, along with Ulrich and Odd, grabbed one of the three skateboards.

"Actually, he seems to be taking the situation rather well. He's...erm...not exactly the brightest, but he did manage to destroy three Krabs with relative ease." Jeremie explained. The others looked impressed by this feat.

"Woah. Guess his martial arts skills carried over to Lyoko then, huh?" Ulrich smirked.

"Man, this Goku kid's starting to sound better and better the more you talk about him! I would have liked to see stupid ol' X.A.N.A.'s face when that happened. Hehe."

"Heh. Same here." Jeremie lightly chuckled. He then grimaced, holding a hand over his chin. "Though, X.A.N.A.'s role in all of this is getting me a bit concerned."

"What do you mean?" Yumi asked.

"Well, from what Goku told me, X.A.N.A. was the one that contributed to his virtualization. He even saw his symbol and everything on a few computer monitors at the Red Ribbon Army base. It all seems so...suspicious, don't you think?"

Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich awkwardly stared at one another in silence. This fact made Goku's unexpected arrival even more strange and concerning than before. What could X.A.N.A. want with some fighter from a completely separate country? It just didn't make any sense.

Jeremie positioned himself on the scooter and said, "We'll talk about this later. For now, we need to make sure Goku and Aelita are doing okay."

"Right."

The four kids then rode across the walkway on their respective scooter and skateboards. They kept moving forward until a ladder was reached. It was located near a massive gate separating this portion of the sewer system from another, more intricate one.

They set their modes of transportation aside, and hurriedly climbed up the ladder. As they drew closer to the top, Jim managed to catch up with them. He jogged at a fairly sluggish pace before bending his knees and panting from exhaustion.

"Ha...ha...those darn kids. I-I knew they were up to something..." Jim grumbled. He wiped some sweat off his brow and gasped for breath. Despite being a gym teacher, he, ironically enough, seemed to be pretty out of shape.

"Phew! T-That's it. No more donuts for you, Jim." Jim muttered to himself. He then looked at his growling stomach. "Well, maybe just one more...or two tops. Yeah, that's good."

Suddenly, one of the pipes attached to the sewer's ceiling started to rattle. A black cloud oozed out of the pipe and snaked its way toward Jim. Unfortunately, he wasn't perceptive enough to notice the cloud tightly wrapping around his legs and body.