My brothers own Glen and Nick. Steal them, and be ripped to shreds. Sorry if there's any inaccuracy describing the factory. It's not like they've ever given us a full visual tour or anything, so just bear with me here.

The Sewer

Aelita's watch blipped twice, tolling eight AM. Instead of rushing to first period with Jeremy and Ulrich, she was hunched over the keyboard of the super computer. She was so close to her goal, that she could almost congrajulate herself now, but since her typing was limited to the 'hunt-and-peck' technique, the going was a bit on the slow side.

A message flashed on the suspended monitor: Save Changes To Settings?

Aelita found the 'Y' on the top of the letter rows, and pressed 'Enter'. The window she was previously working with automatically closed itself, and was instantly replaced by the computer's desktop.

"Finished with that." she murmured to herself, wiping the perspiration from her brow. "Now let's see what you've got here Mr. France Hopper."

Aelita took a moment to flex her cramped fingers before moving her attention to the faded composition book resting delicately on her lap.

"Here we go."

---

Kadic was turning out to be one boring academy. In any normal school, seventh graders were probably mixing formulas, or dissecting frogs. And what was seventh grader Glen Rizzo doing? He was spending the third day of the school year staring at the different kinds of bugs and plants in Kadic's forest ecosystem, being pointed out by his overly cheerful Science teacher, that's what. And not to mention yawning himself to death in the process.

"Hey," Glen whispered, nudging his green-haired friend in the ribs. "I'll bet they use Ms. DeCourcy's lessons as a torture method for prisoners."

The girl glanced up from the notes she was taking, and cocked an eyebrow. "You know Glen, I bet those prisoners never flunk biology tests."

"Come on Fae, live a little. Admit that there are a zillion things you'd rather be doing right now." he replied.

Fae ignored his last comment and turned back to her notes.

"You must be the best student I know, and you still work your head off like there's no tomorrow. I swear Fae, you can be as education-obsessed as my mother." Glen complained.

"It's not so much education, as it is conduct. I don't want to start the school year getting dirty looks from the teachers." Fae snapped back.

From the front of the group, Ms. DeCourcy exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, everyone! Here we have a perfect example of a spider weaving it's web. Spider web is considered to be one of the strongest materials on Earth. When combined with other threads, it can even outmatch steel!"

"That's it." Glen whispered. "I've got better things to do then watch what comes out of a spider's butt. I don't suppose you're going to come with me. I could use the company."

"Do I even have to answer that?"

"Suit yourself." Glen shrugged, before stealthily slipping away from the distracted class. He didn't worry about getting in trouble, Fae would cover for whatever went on.

As Glen scurried and ducked through a long row of bushes, the tip of his sneaker caught onto something, sending the boy crashing. After whispering an inaudible stream of curses, he glanced backward, over his shoulder.

"Well who's bright idea was it to stick a stupid manhole in the middle of the way?" Glen asking no one in particular as he got to his feet.

Curling his fingers around the edge, Glen pulled up on the circular slab of metal. Nothing underneath but flattened grass blades. So it was just a cover. That meant that there was an open manhole somewhere. Glen let the cover fall back onto the ground, instantly easing the pressure in his arms and back. The thing must've weighed a ton, meaning that it was doubtful that it was carried very far.

It didn't take Glen long to find what he was looking for. Not five inches to the left of the cover was a perfectly rounded hole, hidden from casual view by the mass of undergrowth.

Perhaps it was his life's lack of adventure, or overwhelming sense of curiosity, or pure boredom, but Glen decided that an open sewer entrance in the middle of school grounds was a bit suspicious, and that he was going to go down there and explore it. Besides, it would provide a safe, unmonitored haven for him until Science with Ms. DeCourcy was over. Not exactly your ideal teen hangout, but it beat staring idle spiders.

Pushing aside the while array of branches and vines, Glen began to lower himself down a set of bars, subbing as a ladder. He didn't hurry, for fear that he'd end up knee-deep in a pile of sewage. When Glen had gotten himself safely onto solid cement, he had a little look around. Unlike the sewers shown in monster films, this one was lit up fairly well, contained no traces of dog-sized rats, nor seemed the least bit mysterious or scary. It was sort of peaceful, if you will.

I guess I'm not the first person to discover this place, Glen thought to himself, noticing the three skateboards and one scooter leaning against the wall.

AN: Not two scooters, because remember, Aelita's already in the computer room.

---

A slight vibration from Ulrich's front pocket told him that he was getting a call. The phone's screen flashed wildly: Call From...AELITA. Making his movements as inconspicuous as possible, he slid the phone to his ear.

"Aelita!" he whispered furiously. "Where the heck are you? Jeremy was worried out of his mind about what might have--"

"I'm at the factory." she cut him off. "I need you two to get here as quickly as possible!" his friend seemed breathless with excitement.

It had been a long time since XANA had launched an attack. A strong sense of deja vu struck him, as Ulrich remembered how Jeremy used to call all of them to get to Lyoko. Strong, clear memories of Yumi and Odd flooded his mind, and for a millionth time since their disappearance, he was overcome with a sensation of sorrow, anger, and hurt all lumped into one confusing emotion.

"Ulrich?"

The boy snapped back to reality and replied. "Okay, we'll be there in a minute."

After terminating the call, he turned to Jeremy, sitting next to him. "That's why she isn't here in History. She was at the factory this morning. Anyway, she wants us to come. I think it's important."

"Just like before." Jeremy smiled at Ulrich, though the grin seemed to hold more memories than joy.

As if on cue, Ulrich clutched his stomach and swayed gently in his seat. Within seconds, the two were out of class, supposedly on their way to the infirmary.

---

Somehow, following the sewer, climbing a ladder at the end, and going across a bridge brought him to what looked like some kind of abandoned storage warehouse. Metal machinery and bits of debris were strewn across the wide floor below him, as he stood on a metal platform erecting from the walls, going around the whole warehouse room. The only two clear ways to get down, was to use vine like ropes hanging just off the edge of where he was standing, and a metal ladder going down from one of the platforms on the other wall. Since Glen wasn't about to pull a Tarzan, he took the longer, but safer route down.

Just as he was hopping off the bottom rung of the ladder onto the ground, the unmistakable sound of sneakers against concrete echoed through the spacious warehouse, along with distorted voices. Glen's first instinct was to hide. With cat-like grace and agility he managed to conceal himself behind the bulk of a clanky metal boiler.

What the heck am I doing anyway? he asked himself. These voices sound like teenagers', and they don't have any more right to be here than I do. But his common sense argued otherwise.

"Jeronimo!" one voice cried, Glen assuming that the people had used the ropes to get to the ground floor. "Bombs away!" said another. After that, some of the words of their conversation were actually understandable. He picked out a couple of phrases and bits, like 'think she's doing', 'odd', and 'scan'.

Taking a cautious peek from his hiding place, Glen spotted two boys--one his size and blonde, the other brown-haired and taller--jogging toward a rectangular metal bow with a set of ropes, bars, and pulleys attached to the top. An elevator. Some more murmuring and then he heard 'Xana's gonna pay for--(murmur murmur )'. The blonde boy pressed a faded red button to the right of the elevator. Two aging metal doors pulled aside, allowing the two adolescents in, and closed again when a button from the inside was pressed. The elevator pulled down into a shaft, creaking and groaning on the way, but never giving way.

Well who was I to know that Kadic would turn out to be such a weird place? Glen asked himself silently. I think I may actually have fun this year.

Well, that's the first official chapter of the story. My second chapter ever on fanfiction, so go easy on me. I did get one review (yay anonymous! I lub you, whoever u are), but because I'm a big fan of not wasting time, I'm not doing any more chapters until I get a total of five reviews. Constructive criticism and suggestions for future chapters are great! Ego-boosts are good too (wink,wink). Flamers will be sent to my ignore list.