Disclaimer: Xiaolin Showdown is a product of Kids WB and Cartoon Network so I don't own it. I'm simply going to use its characters to entertain myself and others through the power of fan fiction that is all.

Summary: Sequel to Code Xiaolin. After finally finding the key to Omi's materialization, Jack and the gang must now search Xanadu for an anti-virus to rid Omi of W.U.Y.A.'s infection for good. With new powers and upgrades, the Xiaolin Warriors face even more deadly W.U.Y.A. attacks, dangerous new monsters, and even the occasional famous transfer student! The question is can they do it?

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Speech on Xanadu"

"Speech of those possessed by W.U.Y.A."

Log 6: Group Study

Okay, so both the book Chase gave to Omi and the one Jack found in the old temple were exactly the same. So what? No big deal, right? Wrong! The only thing this did was raise even more questions in the young genius' head. Jack stretched while he sat up in his bed, laptop placed in his lap and Omi's book at his side trying to cross reference the information he was reading. He remembered that the book had had helped them find their way into Sector 5 of Xandu and wrote it off as a coincidence. But that had to be just a coincidence.

No, he couldn't allow himself to think in such a naïve manner anymore. Something strange must be happening and though he was afraid to admit it, he had the slightest inkling that Chase Young might be involved. He flipped the pages, running various search engines on his laptop, but there didn't seem to be any results showing up no matter where he searched. Obvious words like 'Heylin', 'Witch of Darkness', and 'Shen-Gong' yielded no relevant results.

"I don't understand…" he muttered to himself, fingers settled limply on his keyboard. "It's almost like these words don't exist. But they have to. This book is real and there's no information anywhere on it; not even an obscure reference. This doesn't make any sense at all." It was starting to seem like the book never existed in the first place. "Xiaolin Showdown, huh?" Jack asked, brushing over the cover of the book. "There has to be an answer somewhere."

Temporarily giving up the ghost, the red-head thought it best to shut his computer down and set the book back on Omi's dresser. Though it killed him to be patient, this appeared to be a mystery that wasn't going to be solved at 1:30 in the morning.

-JACK-

It wasn't until 10:45 that the sleepy Brazilian woke up that morning. He glanced across his shared dorm in search of his roommate only to find Clay's empty bed made up in its usual perfect manner. Raimundo groaned, rolling over to face the wall and shut his eyes tight, blocking out the rays of hateful sunshine that beamed directly into his face from the window. It was only a minute before he realized his efforts were futile and that he was already fully awake. Grumbling once more, he shed himself of his blankets, revealing wrinkly green eyes and unkempt chestnut hair and searched for his cell phone.

"Ah, geez man, I can't believe it's this late already…" he said, rubbing the sleep from his emerald eyes. "Wonder what Jack and the others are up to." As soon as he spoke, a new text message arrived on his phone. It was from Kimiko.

Don't forget, detention at noon – don't be late

At this, Raimundo visibly frowned. "Aww, c'mon dude! It's Saturday, for crying out loud!" Defeated, he turned around to his drawers in search of clothes for the day. Looks like there was no time for playing video games in his underwear today. He settled for an orange t-shirt plastered with a white R overlaid into the pattern and a pair of pants where the right leg was cut off at the knee. The clothes were tossed onto his bed to be smoothed out at a later time. He picked up a pair of blue boxer-briefs, a wife-beater, and his bag of toiletries and proceeded to head to the showers to get ready for his extended stay in detention.

He could already tell this was going to suck.

"Hey, Raimundo!"

The Brazilian instinctively turned around at the sound of his own name, only to be greeted by none other than his classmate Jermaine Jordan. The other boy caught up to him, clad only in a wife beater and a pair of sweat pants. Judging by the towel draped over his shoulder and the little baggie in his hand, Raimundo deduced that the brown-skinned teen was heading to the same place as him.

Jermaine cleared his throat, turning his head slightly to the side, unsure of what to say next. Raimundo eyed him curiously; unsure of what he could have possibly wanted. "Um, well, I know we don't usually talk or anything, but do you have a minute?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. What's up, dude?" he managed to answer cautiously. By this point, they had entered the boys' showers. The room was already filled with steam and the sound of water spraying against bodies. There were guys at the sinks brushing their teeth and checking themselves in the mirror. A few of them were even shaving. Thankfully, the showers weren't anywhere near as crowded as they usually were on school mornings. Still, all the showers were currently full, giving the boys the chance they needed to talk.

"Yesterday…" Jermaine began, scratching at his short and curly afro. "I don't know what happened. The last thing I remember was talking to Kim and running an errand for coach. After that… nothing. I keep drawing a blank. I woke up in the infirmary and she said it was you and Kim who brought me in. I tried getting in touch with her, but she hasn't replied to me. I was hoping you could tell me what was up."

'Shit. Shit. Total shit.' Raimundo cursed himself mentally. Why couldn't Jermaine have found Clay or Jack instead? Even Omi would've been a better match than this. 'What the hell am I supposed to say to this guy? Sorry, you got possessed by a ghost that's actually a computer virus and then you tried to kill me and my friends, but it's fine cuz Omi deactivated the Tower just in time to save us.'

"Well?" Jermaine was clearly anxious for an answer. "This is actually kinda freakin' me out. I even have 4 hours of detention for cutting class yesterday and I have no idea how that happened. I can't remember anything after the start of third hour."

"Dude, dude, chill out!" Raimundo finally said, cutting off the rant. "We don't know what happened to you. Kim and I found you passed out near the campus gates and dragged you to the infirmary, that's all! Maybe you've got narcolepsy or something."

Jermaine frowned, unsure of what to take from the story. It really was possible that Raimundo and Kimiko had simply just found him passed out somewhere, but nothing else really made sense. "Maybe you're right," the teen said quietly. "Maybe I'm a little stressed out. Kim… Kim broke up with me yesterday and… I guess I'm a little stressed out about it. No wonder she doesn't wanna talk to me if I'm pullin' stunts like this."

"Uh… yeah. Sorry to hear that dude," the brown-eyed boy said, patting the other's shoulder. "Look, you might just need to get some rest. Break-ups are tough, trust me. Been through enough of my own. It gets easier, I swear."

"Yeah… thanks for the tip. I just hope I don't do anymore weird crap. Guess I should get in the shower now. I've got detention at noon in the library."

"Eh, same here. Looks like some showers just freed up. Catch ya in the library, dude."

"Catch ya!" Jermaine replied. Though he got as best an answer he could get, the confused teenager still had a bad taste in his mouth. Something still wasn't making sense, but he couldn't put his finger.

'Geez… that was close,' Raimundo thought, wiping his brow in relief.

-RAI-

"And that's why you're all here! It's because the lot of you are irresponsible and have proven to myself and the entire school that you do not value your education as much as you should! This is why you all will spend the next four hours studying the material we keep within our library. Maybe then you'll think about the value of an education before you decide to skip class again!"

Jack, Omi, Kimiko, and Clay made a collective, yet silent, groan as Coach Guan continued to go on and on about their lack of dedication to their education. They exchanged knowing glances at each other and after enough of the ramblings, they couldn't help but smile at each other. It was ironic. It was because of their neglect for school that the Academy was safe, and yet here they were being punished for their actions. They would snicker if they were sure it wouldn't earn them more yelling. At the end of the day, they were just normal kids holding on to a big secret. They didn't even have custom outfits like the fictional groups in charge of protecting the world.

Jack simply had on a pair of khaki pants, brown shoes and a green vest with a white shirt under it. He wasn't even wearing his usual makeup today, opting for a more lively appearance. He had wound up getting a lot more sun recently, so his skin wasn't as pale either. His bright red hair was slicked back with gel. He almost looked like the stereotypical "good neighbor", something Kimiko didn't neglect to point out.

She herself was dressed in a white tunic with a gray shirt underneath. On the shirt was an owl made of various shapes. Her light blue jean shorts were shorter than what she usually wore, coming up well above the knees and all the way into her thighs. A pair of black leggings were worn underneath the shorts to add modesty. She wore white flats on her feet and her ever-changing hairstyle was hidden today by a stylish beret.

Despite knowing very little about fashion, Omi thought that she looked very "cute" (unsure if that were the appropriate term or not). Rather than the red robes he always wore, Omi took advice from Raimundo and changed up his style a bit. Today, he had on a blue hooded shirt, baggy blue jeans, and black and blue sneakers. The hood of the shirt was tugged over his bald head and his pants were sagging so that his black boxer shorts were visible to the world. Raimundo had told him the clothes made him look "dope", whatever that meant.

Clay, always sticking to his traditions, wore a plaid button-down shirt and a pair of jeans to keep it simple. He didn't wear his cowboy boots today, instead keeping it down to a pair of worn sneakers that were much easier to slip into instead. His blonde hair was combed out very neatly, draping over his clear, blue eyes. Somehow, he still managed to see around him, though no one ever questioned why or how.

"It is times like this that I wish we could still utilize the Reverse/Rebirth program," Omi groaned, realizing that Coach Guan was still preaching to them. He sprawled over the long table at which they were forced to sit, blowing at the hood over his head. Kimiko snickered at his childish actions, Clay gave the kid a knowing smile, and Jack merely rolled his eyes.

"Need I remind you, Mr. Crud, that headwear of any kind is prohibited while within any of our academic buildings? Please, try and show proper respect especially while you are already on punishment." Not wanting to incur more of the man's speech, the thugged out youngster promptly removed his blue hood. "Now all we're waiting for are Jordan and Pedrosa. Does anyone know where they might be?"

"You got me," Kimiko remarked. "I told Rai not to be late."

"And I'm sure I tried shaking 'im awake before I left," Clay supplied.

"He probably overslept like he does every weekend," Jack joined in.

"Ah, Raimundo must not understand that it is the early bird who catches the most fish," came Omi's attempt at sage wisdom. Naturally, the group joined in to correct his misinterpretation of the common idiom.

"Sorry, we're late coach! You didn't start without us, did you?" Everyone turned to see Raimundo and Jermaine coming around the corner to join them at the head of the table. Raimundo was wearing the outfit he had picked out earlier while Jermaine was dressed red shirt and a different pair of sweatpants from before.

"There you are. Had you been any later, I would have given you a punishment ten times as hard as this one," Guan informed the late students.

"Hey, hey, we would've been here faster if there were more showers," the Brazilian began, trying to calm the man's nerves. "I'm tellin' ya, we oughta invest in more of those things!"

"Do all of you guys have detention, too?" asked Jermaine. He thought it was just him and Raimundo who were going to be stuck in detention, but it looked like the entire gang was present.

Including Kimiko.

He waved at the group weakly. The group returned the gesture with only slightly more enthusiasm.

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt your greeting, but this is detention and this," Guan said, motioning to three thick books placed at the head of the table, "is your assignment." The six students looked incredulously at their coach, waiting for him to explain exactly what it was they had to do. He seemed to pick up on their confused looks right away. "I want you all to separate into groups of two, researching the school's history and background. Then you are to write a short report and hand it in to me before 4:00. None of you are permitted to leave until all of the groups have turned in their assignment. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," the students grumbled halfheartedly.

"Good," the coach smiled, glad that they had accepted their impending fate. "Spicer, I want you and Bailey together." At this, the blonde and the redhead glance at each other. Neither seemed to have any objections with being partners. "Tohomiko and Crud, I'm expecting the both of you to work hard." Omi smiled, more than happy to work with Kimiko. The Japanese girl glanced at her PDA, knowing that this would be a snap. "And our two latecomers, Pedrosa and Jordan, you'll be the last group." The last pair shared an awkward look, but other than that didn't appear to have qualms with working together. "Now that that's settled, everyone get to work!"

-OMI-

"I do not think that I have ever spent this much time in the school's library before! What a wondrous collection of literature!" Omi bounced around the shelves literally trying to learn the title of every single book in his and Kimiko's section of the library. Ever since Chase had bestowed the Xiaolin Book upon him, the once-virtual teenager had developed a propensity for all things pertaining to fictional literature.

Kimiko sat on the floor, fiddling with her trusted PDA while still being very aware of Omi's actions. She had to admit, it was pretty cute seeing the boy like this. Biologically, he was fifteen just like her and Jack, but right now Omi was expressing the curiosity of a child. She often had to remind herself that Omi wasn't a real person and that he was originally virtual. Even so, he seemed to naturally belong to the world already.

"I'm glad you're so into literature and all," the techno savvy girl started, looking up from her screen, "but would it kill you to pull your pants up, Omi? As cute as your underwear are, I don't think many people wanna them," she snickered.

"Do you really think they are cute, Kimiko?" the smaller of the two said with exuberance. "Jack bought me several pairs of undergarments and I cannot wait to show them all off! Raimundo told me that only the coldest of duds wear their pants below waist level."

"I don't think Rai is the one you should be listening to when it comes to fashion advice," the girl snickered. "Besides, you've never seen Jack or Clay wear their pants like that, have you?"

Omi stopped and thought for a second. "Hmm, while you have a very valid point, Kimiko, I do find this method of pants-wearing very comfortable. They are not as good as my usual robes, but I think that I like them very much. I find that it is very fulfilling to experiment with things such as clothes and food and drinks and books. I think that… I think that I am very happy to live here with everyone despite the W.U.Y.A attacks."

The Asian girl found herself eyeing Omi with a tender expression. She stood up from her seat on the floor and glided over to him, embracing the boy in a gentle embrace. "Gosh Omi, I know you've only been in the real world for a few weeks, but part of me feels like we've all been together for months at least. Even though W.U.Y.A seems to be determined to make our lives miserable, I think it's worth it if we can all be together like this."

A soft exhale escaped from Omi lips as he relaxed in the girl's embrace. "I am very pleased to hear those words from you, Kimiko. In truth, I feel the same. It is a wonderful feeling to be human and alive. I do not even mind being shorter than you! And you are really short, Kimiko!"

Kimiko's grip tightened around Omi's back in that same instance and the smaller boy found himself unable to breathe properly. He coughed and choked out several unintelligible words, but the girl didn't seem to understand him. When she thought he had had enough, she released her grip and sniggered teasingly at him, folding her arms over her chest. "You've got a lot to learn about the real world, Omi. Especially how to talk to girls."

"I do not doubt your words for a second," Omi coughed out once he was able to speak properly again. "But for now, I think we should return to the assignment Coach Guan has assigned to us and focus on things that are less… constricting." The grip that Kimiko had placed on his back was worse than being pinned down by a Krabe. That was definitely something he didn't want to experience again anytime soon. "I am definitely most interested in the history of Fung Academy."

"Oh, don't worry about the assignment. I took care of it already," the girl responded, beaming brightly. "It's all on my PDA. All we have to do is print it out and hand it in."

"That is amazing, Kimiko! Human technology is most fascinating! I did not think there was anything more impressive than the Supercomputer!" He held his face together in a show of great amusement, pressing his lips together as if to mimic a fish. "I think I would like to learn about them after I read more books."

"Knock yourself out," came Kimiko's reply. "I'm gonna go print out the assignment." She turned the corner out of the books and headed up to the front of where the computers were located.

"That also sounds fascinating. I shall accompany you," Omi said, trailing closely behind the Japanese girl with his nose now buried in the book containing the information on Fung Academy's history. "Ooh, did you know that the Fung Academy branched off from a martial arts dojo 40 years after its founding?"

Kimiko giggled at his thirst for knowledge. "Like I said Omi, you've got a lot to learn."

-KIM-

"Fung Academy was founded in 1963 in Hong Kong, China. It began as a martial arts dojo that started up in the early 20s and later branched off into a school that valued education and the pursuit of knowledge over the achievement of physical prowess. The original founder of the academy, Grand Master Fung Dashi, branched the school into two groups and served as head of the academia while his top student, Yung Chao, took over the martial arts school. Over time, the martial arts academy eventually dwindled down to less and less students as more resources were placed into building up Fung's new branch. Originally, the school only accepted people of Chinese decent, but it wasn't until the early 90's that it opened itself up as an international school."

Jack continued reading various passages from the book while Clay scribbled down as many notes as he could in order to help them build up their paper. It had to have been at least an hour since Guan had assigned their punishment, and the boys were doing exceptionally well on time. They sat by a window near the western section of the library where it was easy to check out new books via the circulation desk. "Who doesn't know this?" Jack scoffed, pushing the tome to the side. "They make us learn this in our student handbook during the opening ceremony."

"You actually took the time to read of all that?" the Texan asked, scribbling down more notes.

"It's not like I had much else to do at the time," Jack shrugged. "That was back during freshmen year when I was in my goth stage and didn't have friends."

Clay raised a confused eyebrow, though it wasn't exactly noticeable due the hair hanging down in his face. "Aren't you still kinda gothic though, partner?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. But only in style. "I'm trying to change it up with some brighter colors, see?" the genius stated, bringing special attention to the new sweater he was wearing. "C'mon! Don't ya think it's bright enough?"

"If you want my opinion, partner, you kinda look like that Funny fella. Y'know? The one from the cartoons and all?" Clay responded. "'sides, why worry if you're a little gothic? Plus you've got friends now, so you're obviously doing something right. Granted, we didn't really hit it off until after all this Xanadu business started, but I tend to believe things work out for the best. We're all kinda like a little club if you think about it. I'm a farm boy, born and raised in southern Texas, Rai's from a small village in Rio de Janeiro, Kim's the heiress to a Japanese toy company, and Omi was originally a computer program." At this, Clay paused. Something seemed off; as if there was some detail he was missing. "Come to think of it, I'm not really sure what your background is, partner. You've got a house here in Hong Kong and everything. I'm guessing you've been here a lot longer than all of us."

Jack nodded. Admittedly, the only person in the group's past he knew about for sure was Raimundo. He had guessed Clay's origin based on simple context clues and Kimiko had mentioned at least once that he father worked with toys. "Something like that," Jack began after a brief pause. "My folks like to travel a lot. We've been living in Hong Kong the longest. Seven years, for me. We're originally from England, but we moved to America when I was still little, so I don't have the accent. We moved to Hong Kong after cuz my family really wanted me to get a good education here, but then they decided they wanted to travel still, so here I am."

The blonde sat with a blank stare on his face, taking in what his friend had just told him. It was interesting to say the least. He had no idea Jack had been living here for so long. Most students didn't come to Fung Academy until they received an official invitation from the school, like Clay had. They received scholarships. Others who could afford it merely came just for the chance to attend such a prestigious school. He knew that lots of parents were willing to write a check in full for their children's attendance, though he didn't think Jack was one of them. With his brains, Clay had just assumed that the genius received a scholarship based on his brains.

"Hey! You know what I just thought of?" Jack rang, suddenly cutting into the blonde's thoughts. "Omi looks kinda Chinese, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Clay responded.

"Do you think the program that created him was developed in this country? Usually when developers of new software create a mascot that's human-like, it's mostly to identify with the group that originally developed it. I mean, I originally thought that the program that created him was foreign, but if it's domestic, then that means we have good chance of finding out who it was that developed the Xanadu program," the boy genius explained.

"And you're thinkin' that if we can find who it is, the developer can help us find the antivirus?" the Texan pieced together.

"Exactly!" the redhead exclaimed. "Last night I was doing some research on the book that Chase gave to Omi and I couldn't find any references to it whatsoever. There's no recorded author either. How about we head over to the lab and get to Shen-Gong? I'm betting we can hack into the interface and find out who created Xanadu, W.U.Y.A, and Omi. There might even be some clues in this book. It did help us get to the fifth sector, after all."

Clay couldn't help but note that Jack was positively beaming at the point. It seemed that the idea of solving this mystery had him excited. "I'm up for a trip to Xanadu if ya recon it's important," the cowboy responded. "Ya think we should tell the others?"

"I'll message Kim, but I think the two of us'll be able to handle it fine. Besides, the two of us don't spend enough time together," the genius said jokingly. "Now the only thing left is to sneak out of here…"

Both boys glanced around the bookshelf to see that Coach Guan had fallen asleep reading a magazine. They turned to face each other, thinking that this may not be as hard as they thought as they shared a sinister smirk.

-CLAY-

Sure enough, the two boys had made it to the lab without a hitch. Thanks to their cooperation, they had been able to finished their assignment and Kimiko had informed Jack that she and Omi and were done with theirs as well. They had decided to remain in the library, Kimiko to study for an upcoming Spanish exam and Omi to continue reading various books. Neither of the boys had had any contact with Raimundo, but figured that he would need all the concentration he could get.

"Hey Jack, I've been meanin' to ask you somethin' since we left the library," Clay asked, watching Jack type away at the keyboard while simultaneously copying down some key notes out of Omi's mysterious book.

"Go for it," the redhead replied, too occupied to really care one way or the other. "I'm just about done setting up the preliminary works. Afterwards, we can both head off to Xanadu."

"I was just wonderin' how you and Ashley were related. Ya only really mentioned your parents when ya talked about moving around a lot," the cowboy asked.

"Ashley's my stepsister. My mom and her dad met up at one of my parents' dinner parties. There was some infidelity involved, and my folks got divorced, but Mom remarried Ashley's dad soon after," Jack responded without batting an eye.

Clay's lip tightened. "Sorry to hear that, partner."

"Nah, don't worry about it," Jack reassured him. "My folks and I were always distant towards each other. My mom calls from time to time and my dad always sends me stuff, so it doesn't really bother me at all." The redhead noted that Clay was now shuffling awkwardly and decided to proceed with today's mission. "Anyway, I'm done with the set up. I've set up the supercomputer to search for any information regarding the word 'heylin'. With that said, I've also programmed a delayed virtualization as well as called up the transport orb. We've got about a minute and a half to make it to the edge of the Forest Sector or we'll miss the orb."

"Right, then let's get to it," nodded the cowboy.

Without further words, Jack and Clay excited the main part of the lab and entered the adjacent scanner room. The boys hurried, stepping into the tall, metal tubes right before they closed on them. Once the doors closed, the chamber began to depressurize, expelling all the air from the scanners. Meanwhile, the supercomputer was at work processing the virtual images for Clay and Jack. A ring began to move up and down the compartment, scanning their bodies and confirming who was who. Once scanned, the tube allowed air to reenter the scanner, blowing so fast that both boys had their hair blown back as their eyes were blinded by a ray of light.

Seconds later, two virtual outlines appeared over the expanse of a vast digital forest. Bodies were then scanned over the outlines, completing the digitalization of Clay and Jack. The two dropped among the forest floor, bearing witness to the overly tall trees, stones, and shrubbery. The boys appeared a lot more blocky and three dimensional in the virtual world, which made sense considering they had been temporarily converted into computer programs. Clay's form consisted of form-fitting light brown mail characterized by the knee, shoulder, and elbow pads that were coated with smooth, gray stones. His blonde hair was covered by a medieval-style helmet that blended well into the chainmail armor so that only his sky blue eyes remained visible. A blue sash was tied around his waist and a large, golden boomerang the length of his body was strapped to his back. Jack appeared as a mythical elven creature. His ears were now pointed at the tops and his hair had lengthened significantly, coming down to his shoulders. His attire consisted of a sleeveless, black overcoat buttoned at the top, but opening up as it continued going down. Underneath his coat rested a red top decorated with a cryptic eye symbol. He wore shorts and a pair of fingerless gloves that matched nicely with his signature overcoat. Golden black boots dressed his feet as well. It appeared that the makeup he had opted not to wear that day returned when he entered the virtual world.

"A knight and an elf, huh? What a pair we make," Jack stated, remarking at their forms.

"Nice observation, but it's nothin' we ain't seen before," Clay reminded him. "And ain't we gotta hurry to the edge of the sector?"

"Don't worry; I programmed your Serpent's Tail already," the elf replied, pointing to the dull green dragon tail that rested just a few feet from the warrior. "C'mon, let's go!" At that, Jack activated what appeared to be a heli-pack from the backpack he carried and zoomed through the forest down a straight path. It took Clay a moment to catch on, but he quickly boarded his personal vehicle and pursued the boy genius.

"Hey, Spicer, wait up, will ya?" Clay groaned, somehow willing the disembodied tail to move faster.

-RAI-

Nearly two hours had gone by and all that Raimundo had to show for it was a pencil resting on a blank sheet of paper. He had honestly thought about doing the work, but it sounded much more appealing to just wait the time out. Jermaine was sitting across from him, likely scribbling down something pertaining to their assignment. The brown-skinned boy scratched at his afro using the pen in his right hand, flipping the pages in the big history book.

"Y'know," he began, causing the Brazilian to glance up in his direction, "as interesting as this stuff is, I still don't really get why I'm here. Why are all of you guys here in the first place?"

"We were skipping, too," the brunette answered simply.

"All five of you?" continued Jermaine, raising an eyebrow in the process.

"Yup," Raimundo replied.

"Doin' what?" At this, the second eyebrow was raised.

This time, Raimundo looked up from his blank page and stared at Jermaine full on. The other boy was staring back with intensity, daring the Brazilian to say something that he didn't like. "Hey, dude, I know you're still confused about what happened to you yesterday, but you're being a little intrusive, don't ya think?" At this, Jermaine frowned. Whether it was out of frustration that Raimundo did not answer his question or at the fact that he really was being intrusive, the brunette couldn't tell. "Hey, it's cool dude. Just try to relax and—"

"Was Kim cheatin' on me with you?"

"WHAT?!"

"When Kim broke up with me yesterday, she said it was because she thought she had feelings for someone else. I knew already that it was probably already you," the confused youth explained.

"Kim… she really said that?" Raimundo responded, just as confused. His cheeks became crimson at the thought of Kimiko speaking so fondly of him.

"Yeah, she did," Jermaine spat. "And when you told me you and Kim found me outside yesterday – just the two of you – isn't that suspicious? And now you both have detention for skipping classes? What were you doing to skip all of your classes in one day?"

"Hey, dude, chill out!" Raimundo yelled, growing hot under the collar at these wild accusations. "You missed your classes, too and don't even know what happened to you! Besides, if you'd take a quick look around, Omi, Jack, and Clay have detention for the same reason we do."

"Oh really? The point still stands that something is going on and you guys are trying to hide it!" Jermaine was standing now, pointing directly at Raimundo and garnering the attention of passersby's of students who wished to use their weekend to study. The Brazilian was fuming, thinking hard about slugging the boy in the mouth. He knew that it wouldn't do any good, however.

"Whatever," he finally sighed. "Think what you want. All I'm sayin' is that you should probably talk to Kim before you start jumpin' to stupid conclusions."

"Screw you, man!" Jermaine in a low whisper. "Don't worry about the assignment. I'm gonna go work on it alone." With that, Jermaine gathered up his belongings and relocated himself to the opposite side of the library, leaving Raimundo by himself to ponder.

"Pfft, good riddance," the boy mumbled to himself. Without the threat of work over his head any longer, the brunette decided to take his frustration out via artwork. Hopefully, the next two hours would fly by without any sort of hassle.

-JACK-

In a perfectly spherical room characterized by blue walls and a white floor that appeared to be constructed from glass, an alabaster ball descended onto the floor, spinning rapidly upon its entrance until it slowly began to come to a halt. Once it stopped its rotation completely, it spat out the virtual Clay and Jack, leaving the room in order to return to its presumed hangar.

"Ugh… I still don't get how something like that can make me feel so dang nauseous," Clay groaned, holding onto his stomach. The trips to Shen-Gong always made him feel sick, thought it didn't make sense for something virtual to feel such sensations. Jack attributed it to his humanity still being a part of him.

"We've got to find the key before the room changes," the elven warrior stated. "We may have about three minutes before the structure of the outer area changes. If that happens, then we won't be able to go on."

"Right," the knight replied. "I'll take the lead this time." He took off, exiting the core zone of Shen-Gong from the only hallway the room had to offer. Jack followed without the slightest hesitation until they made it out of the corridor and into a larger room with similar construction. This time the floor was the same color as the walls, making this sector one of the most repetitive despite being the hardest to get to.

Jack lowered a pair of spiral goggles over his eyes, scanning the room for something special. As his eyes darted around, several images popped up in his eyes at once, mostly denying the existence of any such item. "There!" he finally blurted out, pointing up to the highest point in the room.

"Sure is a lot simpler finding the key with those fancy goggles of yours," said Clay. "Now the only trick is gettin' up there in time."

Suddenly a horrible noise filled their ears, following shortly after by the sound of something crawling toward them. Compartments in the walls had opened up, revealing brown, snake-like creatures that crawled by dragging their silver tails along two front legs. The snakes opened their mouths again, revealing small guns. There had to be about ten of them crawling toward the boys.

"Creepers!" Clay growled, unstrapping his boomerang. "W.U.Y.A must really hate it when we come knockin' on her door."

"To send this many at once, though?" Jack mumbled curiously. Despite his apprehension, he reached into the pocket of his coat and withdrew a black and white yo-yo, flinging it up and down to get a feel for the weapon. One of the Creepers charged its mouth cannon, threw its head back, and spat out a sting of laser fire at the two.

Both boys dodged, letting out gasps of equal surprise as the entire army of monsters spat their lasers at them. Clay grunted, using his strength to fling his boomerang around, daring to destroy the creatures. One of the Creepers fired another laser, knocking the boomerang off of its path. Another one took advantage of the knight's shock, sending a laser straight into his chest.

"Dang!" Clay yelled, clutching his chest in pain. Unfortunately, his armor didn't grant him any extra resistance to laser fire.

Another started to fire at Clay, but Jack used his yo-yo to knock its head in another direction. This resulted in the Creeper destroying one of its comrades by shooting it point blank in the face. The resultant concussive force caused the first Creeper to explode as well.

"Awesome!" Jack laughed triumphantly. "Remember, Creepers are a lot slower than most monsters, but their attacks take out fifteen life points a shot."

"Certainly feels like it," Clay groaned, reclaiming his weapon. "Big Bang Meterorang: Earth!" At its wielder's command, the large boomerang separated into five smaller copies of itself, slicing through the corresponding amount of Creepers like a knife through melted butter. "Good thing these little rascals ain't the sharpest tools in the shed. Get 'em together in one group and I can handle the lot of 'em." The five pieces merged back into a single weapon, Clay catching it in his right hand.

"We can't forget about the key! That timer's still ticking!" Jack warned. "Ying Yo-yo!" He tossed the yo-yo full force, slamming into another one of the monster's head, neutralizing it. "Clay, I have an idea! I'll grab on to the Meteorang and I want you to throw me with all you've got! Get me as close to the key as you can!"

The knight nodded, running over to his elven companion while the redhead took it upon himself to grab onto the boomerang. "Geez, partner, you're a lot heavier than you look!" Clay groaned, trying to lift him.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Just throw me already," he groaned.

"Coming up! Express Meteorang!" With a burst of strength, Clay tossed his giant boomerang with all the power he could muster into the upper left corner of the room. The Creepers assaulted him as soon as he was defenseless, though he was able to dodge one of the lasers. He did a quick calculation and surmised that his life points were at 70. Without his weapon, all he could do was keep avoiding their lasers.

Jack screamed in terror as he spun around the room. Even with his goggles, everything around him was blurry and difficult to make out. "Ah! Translation!" Once he felt that he was close enough, Jack focused his mind and relaxed his body, using his special power to teleport the short distance from the boomerang to the platform in front of the key. He reappeared, still dizzy, clinging to the platform for dear life. He forced himself to stand and dash for the key. He reached his hand out to push the knob into the wall and had barely touched it before the room had begun to rumble. "What? No! No, we're too late!" While he bemoaned their failure, two lasers slammed into his body, knocking him off the small platform.

"Jack!" Clay yelled, running to catch him before he hit the ground. He dove just in time, the elf landing on his broad back. "You okay there, partner?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Looks like this mission is a failure though." Jack stood up, looking around the room. It looked as if the Creepers had been cut off from them once the room changed its structure. Shen-Gong was like a maze and without anyone to guide them via the holomap, they could potentially be lost forever. "Let's go home,"the genius suggested after a moment of thought."There's not much else we can do here. Omi and the others will just have to come here and finish things off."

"Right. You want me to devirtualize you first?" Clay asked, retrieving his weapon.

"Yeah. Afterwards, I'll bring you in manually, so on the count of three— Ah!" Jack's words were cut off by Clay slicing clean through him with his Meteorang. The blue and white pixels from Jack's body faded away until all that was left was the outline. Afterwards, the outline of his body faded as well.

"Sorry, partner," Clay said to no one in particular. "Just thought it'd be easier to get the jump on things."

Around thirty seconds after being assaulted by Clay's giant weapon, Jack found himself emerging from the scanner he had entered prior. As the doors pulled apart, small doses of smoke left the chamber. The redhead gasped hungrily for breath, filing his lungs since he hadn't been breathing for the duration of his trip to Xanadu.

"Damnit… Clay," he moaned, pulling himself out of the scanner. As soon as he regained his composure, he hopped back into the room where his supercomputer was located and quickly logged on, bringing up a map of Shen-Gong and finding Clay's location. "Hey, Clay, are you there? I'm back at the controls."

"Read ya loud an' clear, partner. Ready to be materialized any moment now," the digital cowboy responded, still inside the virtual world.

Confirming Clay's response, Jack began inputting the keys to bring the knight when his processes were interrupted by the appearance of another screen. An alarm went off, but Jack already knew what the familiar sound signified. "Damnit…" he whispered, this time far more harshly. He momentarily forgot about Clay and gave all his attention to the new window on his screen. With just a few keystrokes, he managed to locate the source of its origin.

"You still there, partner?" Clay asked, standing around in the empty center of Shen-Gong.

"Yeah, I'm here, sorry," the genius responded, inputting a few more keys. "Clay, looks like we might've gotten W.U.Y.A riled up enough to launch an attack. There's an activated Tower in the Mountain Sector and you've only got 55 life points left. Think you can hang around Xanadu for a little longer?"

"That's plenty! I'm willing to get to the Mountains and hold down the fort until the others get here!" the knight eagerly stated.

Jack smirked. "Good. I'll call Kim and tell everyone to be careful and get here as soon as possible. Afterwards, I'll guide you out of Shen-Gong." Clay nodded, preparing himself to deal with any of W.U.Y.A.s tricks. It was very likely that someone else would be possessed this time.

And with Kim, Omi, and Rai being all together, Jack had a pretty good idea of who the lucky candidate might be. He only hoped that they could avoid the need to lauch a Reverse/Rebirth, knowing full well they didn't have the luxury of making W.U.Y.A. any stronger than she already was.

-TBC-

So... yeah. I know that it has been a really long time, since I last updated, but hopefully there are still people out there who read this story. My writing style has improved over the long break, so I hope that helped make the wait more bearable. I plan to start the next chapter (I'm calling them 'logs' now) very soon. I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Dressing up the characters, especially Omi, and reintroducing the virtual forms was my favorite part. I hope you guys are still there and are still enjoying the new elements. Don't forget to review!