And here is the beginning to Toy Soldier's sequel. So far it's just The Discovery with a different name. But new chapters will begin arriving tomorrow! (And by new, I mean stuff you actually haven't read yet). And just a note, this takes place twenty years (yes exactly twenty years) after the events of Toy Soldier's chapter 18 (not the Epilogue).
Adelle grumbled loudly as she followed her friend along the grimy sewer passage. Beside her Michel sighed.
"Terence, why are we down here?" he asked, wrinkling his nose as the small group passed by a particularly smelly intersection of sewage.
"Because," Terence said, leaping over a small gap in the path, "this is the only way to get to the place I want to show you."
"Really?" Lauren asked, raising an eyebrow.
Terence shook his head. "No, but it's quicker than going above ground."
"And a lot less sanitary," Adelle added, making a face at a dead rat lying on the ground. She took a wide step around the rotting animal, gagging slightly at the smell.
"Don't worry," Terence said, noticing Adelle's face. "We're almost out of here. Just a little further now."
"I hope so," Michel said. The girls were quick to agree. Terence just made a face at the group and continued on. A few minutes later he came to a stop.
"See," he said, pointing to a metal ladder attached to the sewer's wall, "Told you we were close." He then proceeded to scramble up the ladder, the thing giving a few ominous creaks under his weight.
"Are you sure that things safe?" Lauren asked, eyeing the aged metal warily.
"Of course, it held me, didn't it?"
"I guess," Lauren shrugged, climbing up after Terence. Michel moved to follow her, when a hand on his shoulder held him back. It was Adelle, and she was pointing to something lying against the wall by the ladder. It was an old skateboard, which looked like it had seen better days.
"Looks like we aren't the first one's with this idea," Michel said, giving to skateboard a final look before climbing up and out of the sewer. Adelle held back, still looking at the skateboard. A shout from Terence drew her attention back to the ground above, and Adelle hurried to join her friends, pushing the skateboard from her mind.
Adelle exited the manhole and found herself standing on the end of a bridge. Behind her the forest at the back of Kadic ended. And in front of her stretched the rest of the bridge, which ended in a massive building. It looked old, certainly much older than the four teens gazing up at it.
"So," Michel drawled, raising an eyebrow at the place. "This is what you wanted to show us? An old building?"
"No," Terence said, heading for the building. "It's what's inside that you have to see."
"Why?" Lauren asked, reluctant to enter the dilapidated looking structure. Terence just gave her a grin.
"You'll see."
Lauren gave a frustrated growl at the ambiguous answer but, realizing she was being left alone on the bridge, quickly hurried after the others. She followed them into the building and found them standing in a small entry way. A long flight of stairs lead down from the entry way to the main floor of what looked like an old factory, but the bottom half of them had been destroyed.
"So, what do we do now?" Adelle asked, looking around the main floor.
"We go to the elevator," Terence declared.
"The what?" Michel asked, looking around. "I don't see an elevator."
"It's down there," Terence said, pointing to the rectangular structure on the main floor.
"Oh yeah, that looks safe," Lauren said sarcastically.
Terence nodded. "It is. I've ridden in it before."
"Wow," Adelle said, "And how exactly did you get down there?"
Instead of words, Terence answered by taking a short running leap and grabbing onto one of two cables hanging in front of the ruined stairs and sliding down it to the floor. "You guys coming?" he shouted back at the group once he was on the floor. "Or are you scared?"
"No," Michel called back, taking a step back. He then shot forward, grabbing the other rope and sliding down it after his friend. The two girls hesitated, giving each other unsure looks.
"Shall we go at the same time?" Lauren asked, motioning to the ropes. Adelle nodded and, at the count of three, both girls jumped.
"See," Terence said once they were both at the bottom, "It's not that bad."
"Shut up," Adelle grumbled back. Terence just shrugged, leading the group over to the elevator. He punched the large red button at the side of the elevator doors, and grinned as the large doors rumbled open.
"Ladies first," he said, bowing slightly and motioning into the elevator. The girls both gave the elevator less then trusting looks, but climbed into it anyway, followed by the boys. The elevator doors then slid shut with a bang and the large metal box began to descend, with much groaning and creaking on its part. No one spoke the entire way down, instead opting to exchange nervous glances with one another at every squeak and bang of the rusty machine. Eventually it ground to a halt, the doors unlocking with a spark of electricity.
"This is what I wanted to show you," Terence said, stepping out of the elevator.
"Wow," Lauren whispered, approaching the massive computer. Terence grinned at her expression.
"Thought you would like it Einstein," Terence said. "But that's not even the best part. I was here the other day and I figured out how to turn this thing on," he continued, walking over to the computer. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard causing the screen to turn on.
"Whoa, what's that?" Michel asked, pointing to the screen. An image had opened on the screen, showing a boy lying on some kind of glowing blue floor, fast asleep. He was dressed all in purple and looked a lot like a cat; complete with the paws, ears, and tails.
"Dunno," Terence said, "it was their when I turned the computer on. Hasn't done anything but sleep though."
"Well, why don't we try and wake him up?" Lauren suggested, sitting down in the chair in front of the keyboard. She looked around for a moment, finding a small microphone resting on the side of the keyboard. With a shrug she picked it up, hooking it over her ear. As soon as she did, the sound of soft snoring could be heard through the ear piece.
"I can hear him!" Lauren said, rummaging around the computer. "Let me see if I can turn the volume up." She found a knob on the side of the side of the monitor and gave it an experimental turn. She was rewarded by the sound of snores coming over the computer's speakers.
"So, how do we wake him up?" Adelle asked.
Lauren shrugged, tapping her microphone. "Um, hello?" she said into it. Nothing happened, so she tried again, a little louder. This time one of the cat-boy's ears twitched and he opened one eye sleepily. When he saw that he was being watched his eyes opened all the way. He looked about curiously, then turned back to the screen.
"Uh…hi?" he said, leaning towards Lauren. The girl smiled, leaning forward too.
"Hi," said excitedly, "I'm Lauren. Are you like, and AI or something?"
"Um, hi Laruen," the cat-boy said, leaning back. "Nice to meet you. Um, what's an AI?"
"An Artificial Intelligence. Is that what you are?"
"No," the boy said defensively, "My intelligence is not artificial! I'll have you know, I got a C+ on my last science test."
Lauren gave a happy gasp. Behind her, her friends exchanged confused glances.
"What? What's so exciting?" Terence asked.
Lauren grinned, turning to her friends. "I…I think we've just found a very advanced computer program. More advanced than anything we've ever seen."
"Got that right princess," the cat-boy said, stretching with yawn. "Lyoko is one serious piece of work."
"Lyoko," Lauren said with a frown. "What is that, your name?"
The cat-boy gave a snort of laughter. "No, Lyoko is where I live. My name is Odd."
Maky, there you go! New chapters tomorrow ;)