Hey everyone! ShadowedTear here, sorry about the 4-month-long delay in the story. Kinda busy, you know? But yeah, I'm finally back (with a better keyboard and computer, I might add) and I'm ready to write! Unfortunately, I kinda threw away the paper with this chapter already written on it (teehee, sorry!) and I'm kind of going with the flow here; whatever comes to my mind is whatever goes down on the paper! And before I forget, I do not own Code Lyoko, its characters or its storyline; Code Lyoko belongs to someone that is rich and famous, which I'm clearly not. So without further ado ... (drumroll) ... here's the official chapter two of this story!

The grocery bag bounced against my leg as I trialed behind the little white dog. Every so often, it would turn around, as if to check I was still there, and then continue once it was sure that I was still behind it. I noticed little things as I walked that I hadn't noticed about my surroundings before: that the sky was not black, but a navy blue at night; that the tree's bark was rugged and not smooth at all; that some metal fences were greyish and some were a worn, auburn color.

I didn't realize that something was wrong until realization hit me full in the face.

Literally.

Rubbing my head, which was throbbing painfully, I glanced up at the tree branch that had caught me unexpectedly. Then I realized something. I was in the woods ... and the closest forest nearby was ... Kadic.

I stood up so abruptly that my head spun for a little while. After recovering, I did a one-eighty. There it was, in plain sight. Why hadn't I seen the sign? Kadic Military Acadamy, the gate read. I had been too caught up following the dog that I hadn't noticed where I was. He would surely kill me for this.

Wait ... but, where was the dog? I figured I had lost the poor creature, when all of a sudden I heard a loud bark from behind me. I jumped a little, and was about to bolt back home, but then I heard voices coming down the path.

"Came from somewhere down here, I think," a gruffy male voice claimed as I darted behind a bush.

"Yes, yes, but what I can't believe is that one of our students would dare bring a dog into the school," another added, his voice higher with a drawl, "And once I get my hands on that infernal beast, no telling what I'll do to it. Target practice, I daresay?"

I stifled a gasp as the first man began to speak again. "Or just turn the student and the dog in to the Leader, better off for us, you know."

A flashlight beam came into view along the walkway, and I shrunk deeper into the bush. Suddenly, something nudged my side. I looked down to see the dog staring back up at me.

"Shh!" I told it. It whimpered a little bit, and retreated deeper into the forest. I took a deep breath, looked up once again to see that the two men were still rather far away, and moved after the dog.

It lead me deeper into the forest, where the trees grew thickly. Then, abruptly, we came to a clearing. The ground was matted with snow, but the dog was digging carelessly in the white frost.

"Stop it!" I hissed, "Then they'll know you were here!"

It didn't seem to hear me, but continued to dig.

"Stop it, will you?!" I pleaded. The voices were coming nearer.

It continued to dig.

Then I realized something. Under the snow, the unearthed soil has writing on it. Maybe this dog was trying to tell me something ...

I bent down and began to dig with my bare hands. The soil was very hard, almost like a metal ...

It was a metal. The writing was engraved on a manhole cover, and the metal seemed very worn, nothing like the forever shiny, new manhole covers that spanned the rest of the city. The writing too was ... different.

"Hey, I think I see footprints here." It was the two men again, and they were dangerously close.

"Pawprints, you mean?"

"Nah, actual footprints." I stifled a gasp.

"Which means ..."

"Students out of bed! It's way past curfew. Oh, once I get me hands on them, they're going straight to the Master!"

They shuffled closer towards us, and I realized that I was stuck. I could either risk running for it, or I could ... I could get in the sewer. I didn't like the idea, but it was the best option. Plus, I could take the dog with me.

As quietly as possible, I removed the lid to the manhole and coaxed the dog into the shopping bag full of groceries. Then, I decended down into the sewers.

The rusty ladder downwards told me that, already, I was in an older part of the city. As my foot hit the cement ground, my thoughts were confirmed: I was in a different sewage system.

I had hidden in the city sewers many times before, as to evade a group of kidnappers, and found myself in a rather dark place with curves around every corner. The underground had been lit, of course, deisgned so I could get back home safely, with cement steps emerging randomly from the walls on all sides. The ceiling had been very high, and the sides of the sewer were surprisingly clean. A gruesome river of sewage ran down one side of the structure, fed by little holes in the wall that I could only imagine came from the reidential buildings up above.

The sewer I was currently in was nothing of the sort. There were lights in some places, flickering from lack of power for many years at the least, but it was enough for me to make out my surroundings. The ceiling was certianly lower than the newer one, and the side of the underground was coated with a thin sheet of grime. A river of sewage ran in between two walkways on either side, and mice and bugs scuttled at my feet. This sewer seemed to lack proper cleaning, as if nobody seemed to care about it, as if nobody even seemed to know ...

The dog's bark woke me from my daydream. It had jumped from the grogery bag, and was suddenly sprinting ahead.

"Hey! Don't go!"

Its bark echoed back to me, and I was out of options. I followed.

The dog lead me every which way. Around one corner, past another light, over a small little stream of filthy water we ran. I didn't even stop to think that I was following a dog, and that it probably wasn't the smartest idea to be doing so.

We had run for about five minutes when the little doggie suddenly came to a halt. I saw why: it was a dead end.

"Great," I mumbled, "Now how are we supposed to get back?"

But the dog had an answer. It began to bark, and I didn't realize why until I looked up.

There was another ladder leading up the side of the wall. I smiled. That would be my ticket out. So once again I coaxed the dog into my shopping bag, and began to climb the ladder up to the top.

I didn't realize until later that there were two skateboards and two scooters at the base of the ladder. I didn't even stop to think about it until it was almost too late.

Ok, so how was that? Not bad, huh? Well, the only way I'll know is if you tell me right? So go on, it's a pretty cute button, go and press it. Anyways, I have some time now, and I plan to have my next chapter up by next week at the very most. How's that sound to you guys? Ok, well ta-ta for now. See you around!

ShadowedTear