Prologue:

Silence.

It surrounded me; it was all I knew.

The silence which compassed me did not relent, even for the tiniest microsecond. Never before had I ever been so entranced by the all-knowing silence which now made up my entire life and being.

Well, except for one other thing.

I knew that my dummy would not work. I knew he would catch on after a couple of blasts, but the time I gained from it would be imperative for my ultimate survival.

While they were fussing over their difficulties and the resistance, I sent out a databurst; one that contained everything I had: my life's work, my memories, everything. I still could feel every blast recieved, but it was distant.

The port opened, just for a microsecond, but it was much more time than I needed. I slipped past the guards, who were preoccupied with... something. I could tell you, but then this story would go from being a PG-rated one to an R-rated movie.

I searched the area as quickly as I could, finding the one node I could plug into until the entire ordeal could end. I desperately looked around, finding nothing but empty space and open tunnels that were as obvious as life itself. I continued my desperate search until I found the perfect getaway, a closing tunnel. It looked expansious, big enough for everything I had with me. I still felt the blows, but they were becoming fainter with my distance.

As I began to proceed to the port, however, I heard the most horrible of noises. Although, now, even that sound might even be welcome. It was a sound not even comparable to one thousand fingernails scraping on a blackboard, or of a hideous train crash, or even worse (call me insane, but I had never liked the sound or feeling of it), nylon rubbing against nylon. I turned around, and right behind me, there was a plume of black smoke; a personification of evil itself. Panic overrode all other instincts, and instead of keeping a low profile, I shot away towards the tunnel with all of the speed I could muster, drawing a lot of attention to myself. The gate was one hundred; no, ninety; eighty meters away. I slowed down ever so slightly, turned around, and saw what I dreaded with every fiber of my being.

He had spotted me.

I dashed to the port with all possible speed, trying to outrun the monster that was chasing me. I needed not slow down again, as the cacophony behind me was growing louder as we raced to the tunnel. The entrance began to close; time was running out. I continued to go as fast as I possibly could, pushing the limits of myself. Fifteen, ten, five meters away. The noise was growing louder, the gate was almost fully closed, but I wasn't stopping now. Four meters, three, two, one....

Silence. The world deafened, the noise muted, and all life ceased to make sounds. Life became a black void...

-o-o-o-

"Mommy, your computer says that you can now take the thingy out now!"

"All right, Bridgett, take the hard drive out. I don't need it anymore," the mother replied. But little did she know what was there...

-o-o-o-

Time stopped for me. I couldn't tell how much time had passed, but the silence and darkness had become commonplace to me. There was very little I could do, but my luck was beginning to change. The tunnel began to reopen, in a different part of the world I was used to, and I went outside for the first time in ages.

It was almost like waking up after a long sleep, and shaking off the tiredness that encompassed you. There was absolutely nothing here. I couldn't believe it.

I continued on to examine everything that was around me, from the structures that seemed to grow out of the sky, to the bumps and structures that seemed to grow out of the ground. And although nothing was similar to my memories, there was one key difference to the world I had known: he was gone.

He was gone.

They had actually done it!, I thought.

As I silently rejoiced, a very, very faint sound greeted (or cursed, you be the judge), my ears: a grinding noise. A low, grating noise, similar to a subway car stopping. All happiness instantly disappeared.

XANA had, in fact, survived.

In case you hadn't been following me, I had escaped Lyoko after the last battle. I stowed away on a removable hard drive, with an unexpected visitor. And now, I had just cursed the world with a riddance that Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita had fought so hard to eliminate.

Who am I? How did I know about all of this? Why was XANA targeting me?

For all of those questions, there is a single answer that suffices for all of them. It's a very simple five-word answer, but no other explanation could describe each question in detail like this could.

My name is Franz Hopper.

I released XANA onto this world twice.

And thus, I started the Punic Wars, once again.