Author's Note: I severely apologize to anyone screaming, "HOLY CRACKERS, THIS THING IS HUGE. TEH HECK?" To that I say that this is supposed to be a story taken seriously- well, to me. What I mean is is that this is serious work. I know, I know. Writing fanfiction isn't the most serious piece of literature on the planet as, well, most of these elements are not my own to manipulate or created from my own imagination. Still, I hope that with the addition of an main OC cast and minor OCs characters that will have no prominent effect on the original story or the original story affecting the current one.
Because don't we all hate it when our beloved characters are derailed/demonized/not written as they were?~
So, with that, I also will try my best to stay in character with the minor characters that I do use from the original source material (and give credit to Moonscope for everything!) and the fictional elements be researched. Er... this is taking a while to write out. Darn me and my explanations! Any questions and such can be PMed to me (though I can't guarantee swiftness since I go to school and all)!
Extended summary: 20 years passed since the original Lyoko Warriors ended the nightmare. If that was the case, nothing should happened if the computer was reactivated, right? A new Kadic Academy student ventures into the factory and turns on the machine, however, and finds a teenage boy and new trouble. What, then, threatens humanity? A new or old threat may lie in wait for the new Lyoko Warriors. It all seems that history has repeated itself once again. [Main OC cast; T for safety (bloodless violence; possible minor/mild adult themes; no swearing); LONG STORY/CHAPTERS]
Chapter 1—Tremors
Most leaves had already fallen to the ground as masses of orange, red, and yellow. Some chilly air blew hours of hard labor, gathering up debris into piles onto the streets where energetic vehicles crushed them into little pieces. These shattered nuisances ran away with the drafts, never to be seen again. In the surroundings, the naked trees looked rather lonely, yet they knew that it was their duty during this time of year to be lonesome giants. The smell of radiating heat in the air could not be detected; everything was covered in the scent of sheer coldness, a distilled void. Already it would seem that winter was coming, for soon there would be hardly anything to smell; however, there were still the odors of spices wafting from houses. Not much noise existed, with the exception of various cars on the streets, shouting, and laughing in the far distance.
A lot of the background energy concentrated in several children running around towards the grounds of rectangular buildings. In the environment, bells could be heard, buzzing away at people's ears. In every direction, giggling and snickering were present; some individuals could be seen frowning, sulking, or having their arms folded as their backs were to the building and column walls. A certain section of the front area, consisting of arches, was a popular place for vibrancy. All the buildings' roofs consisted of a teal color; none of the actual bodies had the same paint, but they all went for dull shades. On each building, varying shapes of windows were found, though one form would be used a single row, to keep consistency but also a contrast. Trees lined near the buildings and pathways, along with some stone. They were evergreens, and so the giants resisted dropping their leaves, preferring the company before the real cold set in. The paved floor of the institution looked almost like a pale dirt ground. Sometimes it smelled subtly akin to the earth itself. With the tree scent spreading around on gentle winds, the fragrance was a nice touch.
An announcement came on through the speakers for all new students to enter the theatre for a quick orientation. Many smaller individuals left, leaving a majority of the older children to head towards the north. One student who was leaning against a support column, arms folded, sighed and picked up a bag and backpack before, also, going along the path to follow the taller people. Brown eyes stayed on the ground, making movements as a rock or twig came along; automatically, nerves sent streams of information to the brain while short, black hair swept across the visual organs, only to be pushed behind the ears.
Suddenly, the student bumped into something bulky, breaking concentration and prompting to look ahead, and then up. Now visuals of brown hair, a white headband, strong chin with whiskers, and a bandage were sent into the brain. Only ill thoughts remained as everything was processed. "Mr. Morales… Uh…" Spots of gray were detected in the hair of the big man, but the student could not notice the tiny detail for now. Words filled the thoughts in negativity.
"Oh, ho! And what do you think you're going? Didn't you hear the principal?" Mr. Morales cleared his throat. "I think I heard clearly that all new students must go to the theatre! Even you!" His gigantic gut stuck out as the man erected his posture, putting his arms behind his back. Small squeaks erupted as his red coat moved and rubbed against itself. "And remember this: call me Jim."
The student furrowed brows and deepened a frown all the while fixing the position of the black military-style cap, turning the headpiece until it seemed to point straight forward. "I'm not exactly a 12-year old. Why do I need to go to some stupid orientation? It's the-"
" 'Same old stuff'?" Jim interrupted, reciprocating the student's downward brows with his own. He stepped forward, his black sweat pants not making nearly as much sound as his coat, and stuck a finger at the student's face. "Now listen here. I don't care if you're a twelfth grader or had been to Kadic Academy before, but rules are rules. Get yourself to the theatre now!" A 'humph' escaped from his lips. He raised his finger higher in the air and, with eyes closed, began to speak again. "And don't you dare- Hey!"
Jim had to stop himself from falling backwards as the student brushed hard against him and jolted down the path. The luggage bore down the potential maximum speed, but the increased acceleration kicked in as the ears perked to Jim's calling and running right behind real fast. Several twists and turns were made, and the person attempted to lower the panting to a bare minimum. The wind slipping past the student's vest did not help hearing out for Jim, as the man had stopped calling.
After a weak sprint, the person was already grasping the knees covered by cargo pants of off-white hue, huffing out heat within. The student's eyes fell on the dirtied brown, slip-on shoes, trying to regain respiratory and adrenal equilibrium. Panting still continued as the bags were taken up and carried down the current road. At a short distance away, the nose picked up delectable odors originating from a smaller building, leading to the teenager to cease and take in the aromas; it had taken a good minute for the walking to resume following pats of the stomach. A sigh slipped out.
Just as soon as the student's foot crossed onto a new path, the big man had stepped in to block off entry, turning his determined frown into a smirk. "I caught ya red-handed, you little miscreant!" The student twisted around but was caught from the back and was lifted into the air by the collar. There was no attempt to struggle; only another sigh escaped. Jim celebrated his triumph with snuffed-out laughter, walking in the direction of the theatre, carrying the student one-handed. "You thought you could outrun me, did ya? You're lucky it's the first day and no class and I'm such a nice guy. You'd be sent straight into detention for four hours!" Silence. "Try that stunt again in the future and we'll see to it that you get eight hours instead!"
Hardly three minutes later were they in front of the theatre complex, Jim shoving the student inside and saying to take a seat immediately. Few students turned around as the doors closed; and, without looking at them back, the troublemaker had sat in an empty chair at the end of a row, folding arms as the principal and his bushy mustache talked away without a care in the world. So many thoughts entered the student's head, and each one of them was met with a dirty look and an angry snort.
"Wonder what's that guy's problem?" The student overheard a conversation just an earshot distant. "Seems to be such a hotshot, moping like that after probably having a run-in with Jim."
Snicker. "How should I know? All I know is that he looks rather angry!"
Spiteful snort.
The student could hear more people talking about the frustrated behavior earlier as the legs pushed towards the dormitories. Jim was there, watching children pass by with a stern eye, but he had given a sterner glance at the person who had given him trouble earlier. "You. In all my life, I've never had someone try to ditch orientation. It reminds me of the time I had to chase down wild animals in the forest of the Conga."
"Really now?" was all the person would say.
"Yes. But I'd rather not talk about it. Anyways, you aren't allowed here."
Raise of an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Look here. You're a boy. This is the girls' floor. Upstairs, girls. Second floor, boys. That's you. Now you're just asking for detention and not just eight hours but-"
"I'm a girl."
Jim instantly went from a strict facial expression to that of confusion. His eyes scrolled from the top-down. "A cap, a vest, collared shirt, cargo pants. What kind of new fashion have I been reading into?"
He received a serious glare from the student, who now shrugged the luggage to fix stress on the shoulders. "It's no one's but mine, okay? Aren't you supposed to check me off or something?"
"Oh, uh, right!" Jim whipped the clipboard in front as he mumbled to himself inaudible things. "So, name?"
"Chione Stifle. 8th grade. Somewhere near the bottom."
The big-bellied man snorted out anger and made a checkmark on the paper. "Don't give me that tone, little missy. You should respect your elders. Especially you being young."
"Okay. Fine." Her tone snarled sarcasm, and she continued to watch Jim write on the board.
"I gotcha. Now move along. I don't want to catch you pulling any stunts in the future, you got that? I'll be keeping my eye on you."
Chione fixed her cap and walked towards the designated room. A group of girls were in the hall, giggling to each other, and gazed as the vest-wearing girl went to put in the key to the door. One girl piped up: "Hey! What do you think you're doing? You're downstairs! Creep!"
The key turned to the right and a click rung. "I don't have time for you, ladies. Just leave me alone." She did not bother to reply to another of the girls speaking to her as Chione shut the door and pressed her back against it while sliding to the floor. The bags slipped off the shoulders, her head tilted to the ground, and her vision closed off from the world. "I already hate this place."
Constant chatter drowned out Chione's joy. She sat at a lunchroom table, rolling a piece of meatball back and forth with her cheap dining utensil. Her stomach growled tiny whines, but she did nothing more but play with her food, her head resting on a propped arm. From time to time, she would fix her cap from slipping off entirely. After her stomach pleaded on a consistent basis, Chione stabbed the meatball and forced it into her mouth. Everywhere around the girl, there were people that occupied all the seats at a table – except, for the most part, hers. A couple sporadic students took the ends, and they struck up a conversation out of the blue, getting friendlier by the second – also obtaining a higher loudness as well. Chione went back to fooling around and paid no attention to the screeches of chair legs against linoleum in front of her.
"Do you mind if we sit here?"
Chione finally looked from the tray, keeping her stern aura as she noted a light-brown headed boy who had already pulled out the chair. His hair was short enough that his bangs did not abstract his view; however, in the right angle, the shadow that cast down displayed the boy like he was withdrawing into himself. Judging from how the short straight strands were, he simply brushed and nothing more. A lighter green unbuttoned shirt revealed the darker-colored shirt marked randomly with black reminiscent of a camouflage shirt. The dark-blue jeans did not have any wrinkles; they were long enough to cover some of the clean brown tennis shoes and not touch the floor. Sometimes, a glint of light bounced off of a thick silver watch on his left arm. Chione, when not blinded by the refraction, could see the second hand ticking.
He kept standing as his hand rested on the seat, as though he was in a guilty act. The girl's eyes reflected off the boy's set of green. She did not bother glancing over at whoever accompanied him.
After much silence and the boy opening his mouth to say something, Chione said, "You already pulled it out." Sigh. "What's there to ask? Just take it." She let out another sigh as she rose from her seat and spilled all the contents of the tray – minus an apple – into a nearby garbage can and placed the thing on top.
"W-Where are you going? I didn't mean to-"
She turned to the boy, noting features, and shrugged. "It's not you. The smells in here are making me nauseous."
The fruit's sweet taste occupied her mind as the girl left the cafeteria and embraced the sun's warmth, despite the chilly winds' soft brushes on her skin. One step was taken before Chione stopped and took in the area in her peripheral view. Near the cafeteria building was a forest not far from the city streets. "I guess a little green wouldn't hurt," she said to herself as she munched on the apple in tiny bites, proceeding to leave school grounds. In taking steps, her nerves were on edge; but, as soon as she stepped onto forest floor, everything in her body relaxed.
Pine and dirt scents mixed together to create special magic that cleansed the illness she was experiencing in the dining area. Accompanied by the apple smell, Chione could feel the effects of a sleepy spell over her eyes, but that was soon gone as she thrust a hand over her nose. Tears teemed in her eyes. She took a moment to wipe water away and looked around the area. Near her feet was a manhole, rust enveloping most of the metal, which brought her back into the reality that she might have ventured too far into the forest. She got on her knees, inspecting the area and setting down the unfinished apple. The grass was taller; yet, up close, the manhole would be visible no matter what. Chione looked around her current location, taking quick glances, prior to lifting the cover off, getting onto the wall ladder, and putting the metal over her head.
Instantly, the odors stung Chione's nose, making her hesitant to climb down. Her body wanted to go back to the surface; the thoughts of Kadic Academy pressed her on to set foot on sewer ground. Pungent smells tackled her. The water almost appeared a clear blue, but the liquid provided as much cleanness as the oozing walls. Just about everything was cast in a dirtied, dull white-tinted-orange color; and, wherever Chione's eyes went, they detected cracks either on the boundaries or the walkways.
The Kadic Academy student walked to the left of the ladder and followed the road, hugging the walls. Chione adjusted to the growing darkness and the eventual dripping sounds relatively quickly; as for the smells, she could not wait for her nose to get used to it. Her senses were frantic due to the eerie coldness and loneliness that was a sharp contrast to the cafeteria or – even – the orientation in the theatre. She encountered many diverging paths but did not take any. Her steps had gotten smaller, but the breathing – deep and resisting to take in more fumes – was longer, to where she was holding every ounce of oxygen in her system.
Chione halted. A new ladder appeared to come out of nowhere as she concentrated on her thoughts away from the sewer. Without a second to spare, the student hoisted herself towards the surface world, excitement rising to be rid of the sewer foulness.
Sunshine greeted her. She put the manhole cover back where it was and gazed at the new area. Chione went to the edge of the current narrow pathway and saw endless water rolling below her. Much like the sewers, rust sprouted randomly along the metal bridge and support beams. Litter was, surprisingly, low in appearance. Off in the distance, the student picked up on a subtle pine and dirt scent. Surveying farther, she saw a forest and made a mental note.
Next, Chione gave attention to a gigantic factory. It matched the scenery of ancient, long-abandoned melancholic settings in fiction. Many windows were broken; the ground nearby was cracking; there were signs that people entered and left lovely gifts in the form of trash. No smells originated from the building – with the exception of collected, musty dust. The factory could have been the sewers in terms of color choice, but it certainly smelled better. Only the bird calls and the strolling waters below provided amiable feeling. With no one around, it was just a lonely building; not even the broken glass pieces could provide much comfort.
Chione only shifted her position towards the factory and gained a notch in adrenal excitement. The decrepit state of the place had put her in a mesmerizing trance that pulled her feet forward. All childish humor glowed on Chione's face, her eyes wide and curious, registering the location along the way. She did not notice her footsteps beginning to echo. She crossed into the interior of the door-less factory and made her way to the edge. Stairs for people's convenience were not present; instead, hanging by themselves, two ropes dangled from the ceiling, moving slightly in the breeze. The academy student tugged at one chord, waited a second, and then left the safety of the higher ground to slide down the twine. Her heart palpitated faster; her breathing was even quicker. She disregarded any notion of security and well-being for a chance to ride in the elevator. When the red up button was pressed, nothing happened. Chione groaned and observed the numerical panel below the elevator buttons. They were numbered in the way of a phone. The girl brought her big, brown eyes closer for a better inspection, and she found traces of stains more prominent on the numbers 1, 6, and 7. Out of pure instinct, she tried the numbers in increasing order, punched the down button, and away she went – with a cocky smirk on.
At the end of the ride, the student had been taken to, what looked like to be, a humongous computer lab room. This single area had the most color she had seen in the day: greens, yellows, oranges, and white shot her visual senses to the maximum. She stepped off the elevator and ignored the shutting of the door. "Way cool." Chione smiled and walked over to the module, not bothering to sit in the barber-style, mechanical chair propped next to it. With the exception of the numerous, big chords connecting to the computer and laid lazily over the floor, there seemed to be nothing majorly different from this and an ordinary PC. Her fingers tapped on some buttons. Nothing happened. Chione tried to find a power button – or even the symbol for it – around the area, but her efforts were fruitless. Scowl.
Her curiosity was not satiated. Chione went back to the elevator, hit the down button, and took another floor. After taking a peek into a section with – what looked like – three pillars, she passed them off for now and went to the next floor. She mentally argued with herself that while the three columns appeared interesting to inspect, reactivating the computer was most important. Everywhere she had glanced over had cables. It was likely to assume that the generator would need to be turned on anyways.
This time she landed into a room more full of flowing chords and a circular yellow and black machine in the center. She approached the middle with some caution instilled in the footing, but she was unable to resist walking. Within a foot from the machinery, she saw a sliding panel, pushed a button, and opened the door for a lever. Chione was bit unnerved as the eye-like symbol etched on the panel was staring at her. The eye consisted of three concentric circle similar to a bulls-eye. She had no idea the reason for a short vertical line on top to be drawn away from the largest circle, but she guessed the three thicker segments going south, south southwest, and south southeast could have been eyelashes.
It still bothered her.
Anxious emotion fled the moment the lever appeared. The girl held onto the switch and pulled down – no hesitation present. White light filled the area from the machine. Chione took a step back, considered her moral options a bit too late, and prepared for the worst by covering herself. Not long did the illumination disappear and the room returned to normal. Chione released a breath of nervousness out of her system, turned to the elevator, and rode it up.
She returned to the computer room and slowly walked to the module, humming to herself, enjoying the moment. "Whoa…" Her eyes were glued on the computer screen warming itself, multiple windows popping fast like chain-reaction explosions. She darted attention to the sphere made of map-like axes that sprouted from the center of the room near the monitor. "Wow. Wow… Wonder what all this stuff is for." Chione raised a hand to the sphere and could feel nothing but air even as her hand went through. "Must be a hologram of sorts. Who did all this stuff?"
Chione jumped slightly. Muffled sounds were heard; and, she twirled around to see nothing or no one to make the noise. She could not figure out the source; Chione folded her arms and tried to listen for the general direction. "The computer?" The student looked at the keyboard. On top of the buttons was a headset with a microphone that could be slipped onto one ear. Deep breath in and out. The girl rested herself on the chair, twisted to set herself in front of the panel, and continued to just listen. There were pauses from the next set of sounds, only for them to start again.
The headset rested on her right ear neatly. The girl could not bring herself to speak at the moment, finally feeling the first conflicted knot in her chest in a long while. Her breathing went silent – in short intakes and exhales. Her eyes had gone shaky, and Chione shut them to attempt calming herself. All the while, her fingers tapped lightly on the computer keys, deep in thought.
Chione brought herself back into the world as she heard a voice.
"Hello? Anyone out there? Answer me!" The voice sounded deep but youthful. There was a soft and smooth quality that reverberated against the walls of Chione's ears. No gruffness; no hint of rough nature; it seemed to be the perfect voice for drawing in people with friendly candor.
Gulp. Pause. Silence.
"Hello? Can someone answer me?"
Chione focused on the keyboard, a series of quivers debilitating her sense of reason, and she made a decision. "…Who's this?"
Quiet.
"Uh… Hey? Are you still there?"
"Oh thank everything. Thank you. Someone finally answered."
The girl had long wiped any sense of juvenile amusement with that of prevalent fear, but she would not let it show in voice. Chione continued to talk with apprehension filling her chest heavy like dead weight. "Exactly what or who are you? Are you some sort of AI? Something from science fiction?"
There was another unhealthy pause before another reply. "I… don't know. I don't remember anything."
"Not even a name?"
"…No." Another pause. "I was hoping you could tell me."
She rested her head on a propped arm. Chione pretended that she could see who she was talking to by shaking her head. "All I did was start up this computer. I know just about as much as you." Her other hand was playfully tapping the keyboard. "Are you something I can see? It's kind of awkward talking to a screen."
"I wouldn't know. Sorry."
Sigh. "Some help you are. I'll figure it out myself. Somehow." Without a thought, Chione pressed the function keys in increasing numeral order. Each one brought up a new window not holding information she wanted, and she exited out of them to save desktop space. All through the function keys, the girl did not get any useful visual. "Nothing. That's just great."
"That's too bad. I'd've wanted for you to see this world with me."
Blink. "Wait… world? What are you talking about now?" Chione tilted her head to the side. "You're in… a virtual world?"
"I'd assume so. There's lots of trees where I'm at. Some kind of sea below, too. It's pretty green everywhere."
"…A forest- Well, minus the sea part."
"Is that what you call it?" Laugh. "Well, I knew it was a forest. Just playing."
Chione furrowed her brows. "First you're a useless – I'm going to assume – program, and now you think it's okay to laugh? What makes you think I can't just shut you down right now?"
"What? I'm inside some computer? If I'm here, there must be a way you can be here too, right?"
Shake of the head. "Impossible. That stuff's in movies."
"Hey, you know, there's something I do remember. Would you like to know?"
The girl relaxed a little. Confusion spread all over her face; yet, at the same time, her heart pounded in haste. "What? Spit it out, man."
"Something about these… er… scanners. Something about being in this virtual world – with me. I think you can do that. I think you can come here."
She tilted her head down to the floor, closing her eyes halfway. Many notions and invisible questions popped into her head; all she decided and agreed with had led to a single conclusion, though she was not going to admit it. "What makes you think I'm going to trust someone- something I can't see? Huh? You could be a trap. You could kill me."
"Why did you turn on the computer then, knowing those kinds of things could happen?"
Now, she could not gather her thoughts. Embarrassment and frustration exploded in her chest. Chione felt heat collecting in her face. Logic failed her. "I…"
"Look." The tone dipped down to a serious, deeper mood, which drew Chione in towards the screen in a mysterious fashion. "If I'm an AI, I am reading you clearly right now. Wherever this computer is, it must be pretty secret, since it was shut down. This world needs something more than a standard computer. It's a… uh… supercomputer. You turned on the supercomputer; you ventured to secret parts and turned it on. You're a bit of a risk-taker. You even answered to my calling. Don't play with me like that." Sigh. "I can't promise that you'll be safe because I have no proof, but… I know you want to see what I'm seeing. I know how to set up the scanners. You can see me and the world. That's what you want, isn't it?"
She shut her eyes tight, shaking while being flustered. Agitation slipped into her words. "You cocky program. Whatever. Fine. Tell me."
A light-hearted chuckle vibrated in Chione's ears, to her chagrin. "F5: simplistic current map. It holds the coordinates for my pointer. F2: coordinate set. X and Y, you know the drill. F8 should bring up a countdown. At the bottom, type the command '/virtualization'. You'll have a little over a minute. You can find the scanners yourself."
Chione's fingers hovered over the function keys. A wisp of air went through her teeth, her eyelids still shutting her into darkness.
"Did you get th-"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Ugh."
She followed the directions as stated, starting with the map. Earlier, the student did not bother to note any of the windows that popped up that did not give her a possible face of who – or what – she was talking to. On the screen, a single green arrow was stationary; the only thing that moved was the circle surrounding the arrow, which did a ripple-like effect by spreading out and disappearing gently. Chione typed down the coordinates in the next window, exhaling short, tense air out of her nose. Performing the final step, the girl got off her chair and, from the elevator, slowly watched the countdown go. Her fist pushed for the down button. "I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm doing this."
The black-haired teenager opened her eyes to the three tower-like pods in the room. She wanted to stand and check on the machinery; but, remembering the countdown, Chione headed inside one pod as nervous energy shot to her legs and arms. She had to gulp to calm herself even a smidge. Her nerves did not help the experience when the door abruptly closed and sent chills up her spine. "Oh boy. I'm in trouble now…"
A bright ring formed around her feet; it began to hover steadily to the top of the pod and back down like a simple mountain climb. The girl clenched her teeth and shut her eyes during the process. Her curiosity could not be mustered enough to attempt any other action besides results of anxiety and dreading fear. All the emotions flowed to her gut; and, in exchange, her stomach wanted to return the apple out of her body.
A light flash engulfed her completely. Chione felt weightless; her heart said she was dead.
"Stifle." A teacher was reading from the roll call, during which the rest of the students had fun talking amongst each other. "Stifle? Huh. First day of class and already absent? Not a good start, not a good start."
A light-brown haired boy looked at the professor with wide eyes and stole glances around the room. Three chairs were empty, but the teacher had finished the roll call with only one absentee. Everyone else had busy lives to update one another about their first day at Kadic Academy. The boy knotted his brows up.
The student next to him nudged him. "Hey. Something wrong?"
He peered at the door. "Not really. Well, actually, okay." The boy turned to the person, worried. "I remember a Stifle in one of my classes earlier. Lunchtime, I had taken a seat with a guy, and he left because he felt nauseous. I could have sworn…"
"Sworn…?"
"This same person was in my class. Now he's gone. It's just my intuition, but…"
The kid laughed wholeheartedly. "Wow. Are you really that worried? He might have gone to the infirmary."
"But…"
"Relax. You shouldn't care. You don't know him."
"I suppose…"
From the front, the two students heard the teacher clear his throat and tap his foot. He leered at them. "Boys, am I interrupting your conversation? Please, let me know when you're finished."
The light-haired boy shook his head and hung low as red showed on his face. "No, sir… I'm sorry."
Class resumed without any more disruptions. The boy placed his head on folded arms, continuing to look at the door. "I shouldn't, but I do…"
Chione was suspended in the air, arms and legs stretched out, as her body was forming digitally. At first, the girl appeared as a transparent web of wires that framed her skeleton and model, being created like the initial stages of a three-dimensional character in a video game. Square platelets of shading and color, little by little, manifested on her body from the top-down.
Halfway through the process, the girl could feel her bodily functions running again. The senses of sight and hearing had come back on, yet her mind had not caught up to the current situation. Chione had barely a moment to crack open her eyelids before she was pressed down by gravity, dropping to the ground much too early for her brain to capture the situation. She could not even let out a scream, replacing potential fear with a sound of pain as the student fell hard against the floor, landing on her back.
"Ow." Chione noticed the injury subsiding as she got on her feet, but she was also occupied with the surroundings.
In confirmation with the voice, the area had a huge amount of trees and plenty earthy green colors to classify as a forest; however, the wooden giants did not take root on the ground Chione stood on. She stepped over near the edge, widening her gaze as the trees' roots – prominent and numerous – dug themselves into the sea mentioned before. Streams of garbled numbers, letters, and symbols flowed throughout the waters, seeming to go nowhere but wherever they desired. On the mainland, the girl saw stumps big enough for a small house having openings for shortcuts to the other side.
Everything was cast like actual forest colors; but, from where Chione stood, everything also had the wrong feel to them. No matter what she was looking at, the shading was extremely smooth; so smooth, in fact, that it gave everything an unrealistic look. Not only to add: an object could only have one color rather than specks of other hues. Despite an attempt for realism, the color scheme made the environment cartoonish. "It's like I'm in a video game…"
A bad sensation shot in her stomach. The teenager went to place both hands on her abdomen, looked down, and let out an astonished, quiet gasp.
She had forgotten the queasy feeling upon seeing a gloved human and demonic-looking hand clutching at her stomach, and immediately brought them out in front of her eyes. The left hand was normal – at least, in terms of shape – as far as she could tell. Chione did not pay further attention to the fingerless glove on the left, concentrating on her deformed right. It was significantly larger, black as licorice, and muscular; and, when testing the clenching, the gigantic claws scratched against her skin. She first thought of a monster tearing out the flesh of an innocent being in a horror movie. The girl tried to banish all thought as she glanced at her attire.
Chione gained hair flowing past her shoulders, getting in the way of the single strap hanging loosely on her left shoulder. Stopping at her knees, a light-blue cocktail dress had tightly been fitted on her, with a lonely star printed a little to the right of the bellybutton. Some pant material could be seen barely under the dress. Her legs went bare after the knees, and stopped at the black, flat shoes without any features.
"Eh. What kind of fashion sense does this supercomputer have? That looks kind of terrible, to be honest."
Chione slowly twisted herself around, blinking wavering eyes. She then scowled. "No fair. You're better-dressed than me."
The teenager boy held his right hand on his waist, smirking. Underneath red and white armor placed at the chest, shoulders, around the waist, forearms, and from the knee-down was a dark-brown tunic-like fabric that covered the rest of the body, looser than Chione's dress in looks – if not for the cream-colored belt worn at his hip. Compared to the girl, he was better protected in any confrontation, having armored shoes to add insult to injury. Behind his back – and gripped in one hand – was a long, gleaming white lance, glittering at the tip due to being gold.
The boy's blue eyes focused on Chione's brown. "It's not my fault. I guess this is what your heart truly wants."
Glare. "Forget you."
He struck the lance into the ground and raised his hands palms-up. "I'm sorry; I'm sorry. Look. I'm glad you came… uh…"
"Chione."
"Cool. Chione. I'm glad you came. It's kind of lonely out here."
The girl rolled her eyes to the sky, orange in color. Not a cloud could be seen, but the trees appeared to tower beyond, to the heavens. "It's kind of cool." She averted attention back to the guy. "But you still don't have any memory of who you are?"
He shook his head. "Nada." Toothy smile. "But I think you could give me one until I remember. You're practically my new master of the supercomputer."
Chione relaxed fierceness in her gaze, but then shifted attention to the ground. "Okay. I guess." She closed her eyes and pictured many names floating in her head. Silence fell between the two, she hearing the boy move his feet slightly but not giving much care. She eventually spoke again after making a decision. "Aaron."
The boy raked his fingers through his messy, black hair. "Um… Do I look like an Aaron?"
Chione placed her hands on her waist. "Why would you know? You're just a program, right? Have any better ideas?"
He shook his head again. "No. Sorry. Until I can remember, okay?" Proclaimed 'Aaron' took his lance and swung the weapon across his shoulders, hanging his arms on there. "We should try exploring the place. It's-" The sudden disruption resulted from the boy being blown to the side from red light. Where he was hit had electric sparks chattering until they vanished. "Ouch, man."
Three little machines stayed at their positions, staring at the two. The eye symbol, black and mysteriously staring, on the sliding panel had made a return on their supposed foreheads. A round piece was placed lower on their bodies, acting as maybe mouths. The little critters walked on four metallic legs, scrawny for their tops but seeming to work well for their anatomy. With exception for the legs, they were dirt-brown and had a unique head shape.
"Their tops look like primitive skulls," Chione commented before getting hit in the stomach. She slid near 'Aaron', clutching the injured area as sparks flew. "Dang. They hit hard. What do we do?"
'Aaron' gripped around the lance and stayed down on one knee. "Play it like a video game: fight." The male pushed himself to standing position with his weapon and started dashing towards the machines, his lance trotting behind his back in one hand. The monsters shot at him, though they missed him badly. He was about to strike at one, letting out a battle cry, until he was blown off his feet by three shots at once.
Chione supported herself off the ground due in thanks to the right hand. Her eyes shifted from the three creatures to her demonic arm and back again. "This is my weapon? Well, I guess it will have to do." She rushed to help 'Aaron', dragging her feet after now noticing the weight difference from her right and left sides, and tried to swipe at the creatures. Much like the boy, she was hit by a triple shot to the leg, thigh, and chest, resulting her falling to a knee. Her teeth clenched in much malaise. She snarled, "This is so stupid."
The two heard the whirling noise of shots being charged; they both could not stand. 'Aaron' laughed in wheezes. "We're such failures."
Even in the tense situation, the girl had to chuckle – extremely soft chuckles lacking humor. "No doubt about that. Looks like we're dead…"
Chione was hit first, landing her backwards once more. Her body disintegrated, going through a reversal of how she was brought into the virtual world. Pixels of definition disappeared into the air, her framework body was left with no energy and, as the final step, her transparent model faded away. The boy saw a shot of blue light hit his chest and, he too, followed Chione – after having electricity flow around his virtual body and wrap him until he fully disappeared.
In their victory, the machines nodded and walked from the area in a stride.
Two of the scanners had opened, releasing small quantities of steam into the room and gradually turning clear. A thin hand held onto the door, shivering, only for a head of messy hair to pop out, panting heard. 'Aaron' was gasping – sometimes choking on his own oxygen intakes. One sneaker stepped from the pod before the male almost tripped. He patted his body from the chest to the knees and pinched his cheek. His fingers rubbed the fabric of the oversized green hoodie and white undershirt; and, seeing dust on his jeans, the boy fixed the denim. He went through his hair after all the self-checking was completed.
Suddenly, his eyes had grown larger in relation to his hand dropping to the side. "I… remember my name. I remember my name!" 'Aaron' calmly limped to the other scanners, biting back any pain-filled expression caused by fatigue-resulted sores. The capsule held a person inside with their head down. 'Aaron' smiled. "Chione, I actually remember my name. You… Huh?"
Chione lifted her head up, blinking. Her fingers tapped against the floor as silence permeated between the individuals. She said, after closing her eyes halfway, "Well? I'm waiting. What is it?"
"That's you, Chione? Huh." The boy placed his head against the door of her scanner, a hand just above it. He looked confused. "Wait. You're taking this rather calmly."
She raised a brow. "About what?"
"About me out of the computer. I'm super shocked, and you're just sitting there as though this is normal."
The cap-wearing student got back on her feet while using the walls of the scanner for support. "It's not normal. This whole place is not normal. I'm too tired to care; I can take whatever supernatural phenomena are coming my way now that I discovered this place." She fixed her hat. "It's incredible; I'll give it that much credit. For now, though, I just don't care and want out of here."
'Aaron' removed his head from the door, frowning. "Wait. You're just leaving? Just like that?" His other hand gripped on the other side, blocking Chione's path. "I didn't think I would be saved by such a selfish person. You're just going to leave and ditch me like this."
"What exactly…?" Chione breathed out frustrated air. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm too tired to be surprised right now." She felt shaking in her legs, leading her to grip the walls harder. Her gaze fell on the boy as stern and cold. "You were about to say? What's your name?"
The boy took a moment staring at the girl in a bewildered look; afterwards, he unblocked the door, though his leer was strong. "Silas. That's all I remember so far."
"Silas…" Small smile. "Way better than 'Aaron', in my opinion. Alright." She stepped out and stood in front of Silas, tilting her head down but giving him her fullest attention. Chione spoke again before shoving her hands into her pockets. "You're out of the computer. That virtual world is full of monsters. What are you going to do?"
"Nothing but study the entire mechanisms. It's best that I figure out what it is and what it's for. Anything that could give me- us clues to why it exists."
Raise of a brow. "Us?"
Smirk. "You're not going to back out, are you?"
"Would you stop?" Chione faced the elevator and took a step toward it. "I'm not. Okay? I'm not going to. It's too… exciting." She swiftly turned around, pointing a finger at Silas' face. "But one thing: you definitely need new clothes." She dropped the hand. "Another thing: I really hope you find some good info to keep me here. It's already stupid enough that I'm talking to some AI that's not in a computer; no one would be that crazy to stay for a virtual world."
He snickered. "But you. You're stupid and crazy enough." Silas showed her his palms. "Okay. Okay. I'll find ways to make you stay." To reciprocate earlier, the boy was giving his own finger at her. "I need something from you in return."
Blink.
"I need some food."
For lunchtime the next day, Chione did not stick around in the cafeteria long enough for the sickening odors to hit her hard. She had held in her breath of clean, outdoor air and took in smaller quantities inside the lunchroom when she could not make it last. Today's meatballs and potatoes, cookie, and green beans were scooped into plastic bags carefully, being precise in not getting any of the edibles onto the zippers. The girl sealed the food, stuffed them into a bag compartment in the front of her backpack, and headed for the door with the baggage slung over one shoulder.
The empty tray was put at its proper place. A voice followed Chione when she had turned for the double-doors, calling the girl by her surname, sounding humble and shy. The cap-wearing student slid her right foot about two inches away from the left leg, giving a better angle behind. "Ah. It's you again. From yesterday."
Nodding came from the brunette boy. His head lowered closer to his chest, while his eyes – the color of a lit-up forest – preferred the ground. "H-Hello, er, again. I'm Lukas. We have classes together."
Chione raised a brow with a neutral expression on her face. "Nice to meet you. Uh… can I help you?"
He shook his head. "No." Suddenly, he nodded furiously. "Actually, yes. Uh. Yesno?"
"…Right. 'Yesno'." She shoved her hands in the pockets. "I would love to chat, but I've got something pretty important to do. Mind making it quick?"
"Oh, um." Lukas brought his head to proper level and tried to give the girl eye contact, though he quickly shifted his body away, laughing nervously. "Sorry to bother you. It's just, well, I was worried that you didn't come to afternoon classes yesterday. You were in the morning ones. So…" He scratched at the area between the right shoulder and clavicle, continuing the little laughter as bits of cotton collected in his fingernails. When he spoke again, Lukas' voice lowered in volume. "I-I was worried something happened. You said something about being a little nauseous and the nurse-"
Widened eyes. "You… actually went to the nurse?"
Blink. A red line formed on his face, also bringing out a stuttering noise from his mouth. Students surrounding the two started to snicker at the Lukas child, whispering comments about him being a weird one. A couple even suggested deeper connections between Chione and the brunette – with much hinting that the two 'boys' were much closer in a relationship than they let on. Lukas pressed his lips tightly in one moment, opened them in another, and closed them in the third. After many seconds passed, the boy was exhaling short breaths, as though shooting them out of his system. "H-Haha. Well, um, I, you see..."
Chione blinked again, nothing but nonchalant in her mannerisms.
"I went to ask Yolande if you visited the infirmary – because I was worried – and she said you didn't, and then I had these visions that you got into an accident or something, and then I-"
"Okay. Stop. Seriously." Chione sighed. "I had detention. My gosh, man." Now students that had made snickering comments bawled out in an uproar. "If you're finished, I'm leaving. Goodbye."
Not looking back as the Lukas boy called out to her, Chione walked away from the scene, rubbing her right temple. "Boy. What a mess."
Tapping sounds rebound off the walls of the factory's computer room, Silas typing extremely fast and mumbling extraneous information streams to himself, losing focus on the bright screen. Seemingly myriads of windows came down on him, but he would exit out of them before they could steal desktop memory. Each pause Silas took to stare at the monitor led to him jotting down notes and formulas on a spiral notepad resting on his leg. The other type of momentary break in work made him press both hands on his stomach, which was making cacophonous growls. These gurgles were outcompeted to the only window that stayed on the screen constantly, showing a man reporting worldwide and local news from his gleaming wooden desk.
Silas heard the reporter mention the date a recent series of thefts had been committed, and the man ended on a note asking for potential suspect names. All movement ceased. The boy just stared at the screen straight in the center, biting gently on his bottom lip, and shutting his eyes. The man continued on with another important matter, but Silas covered his ears. A minute passed prior to him slamming his hands on the edge of the keyboard and opening his vision back to the world. "You've got to be kidding me."
Creaking sounds emerged behind him; in a frantic frenzy, the mouse rushed over to the exit box for the news report and made the window disappear. The boy returned to typing as the elevator doors loudly allowed a person to enter the room.
Footsteps raised in volume. Silas turned his head to see a bag of mashed potatoes and meatballs thrust close to his face, the cap-wearing girl clearly visible through the Ziploc bags. "Food time," Chione merely stated.
The boy at first smiled a toothy grin; out of the blue, he shifted his prominent happiness to fake anger. "Where have you been? I was hungry yesterday, and I'm starving today because I didn't have anything yesterday!" In a quick snap, he snatched the bag from her and slid off the chair to sit on the ground.
Chione drew out a fork and handed the utensil over. "Please excuse me, Master Silas. You see, people that go to school and don't follow the rules get into trouble. I got detention because of you."
He took the fork and immediately dug into the lunch, hardly chewing the masses shoveled into his mouth. Silas swallowed to speak. "Because of me? I beg to differ." Another forkful of food. He twirled his eating tool for the sake of drama. "You came here of your own accord. Don't blame this on me."
She laid on the cool floor, looking at the ceiling in amusement. "I get it. Just kidding." Chione reached into her backpack for a bag of green beans, raising another series of food to Silas' presence. "Don't forget your veggies."
Silas stopped obliterating the main course to stare at the green beans. His thumb and index finger took the bag, letting it hang loose and – if it were possible – sway in the wind. The stare shifted into a sharp leer. As randomly as the situation could be, the boy extended his arm to the left and powerfully threw the bag at the wall to the side. "Garbage!" he shouted the moment the bag smacked on contact, reverberating a popping noise, almost as if the plastic had busted open.
The girl sat up, her eyes larger from the loud noise. She said, after the green beans landed on the floor, "Dude, what the heck? Don't be picky!"
The boy shook his head, going back to the mashed potatoes. "You eat them. They look awful."
Chione gave Silas a side glare and pouted in a mixture of both amused cheer and irritation. "My stomach's still sick from being in the cafeteria." She slouched to the right, resting her left arm on a propped knee. "Hey. You seem to know a lot more than you let on. If I remember correctly, you mentioned something about video games yesterday."
Laugh. "I'm an AI, not a computer. You have to give information to a computer so it understands; AIs can inspect their surroundings and learn, like a human."
Suspicion was scribbled all over her face. "But heck do we know how long you have been out-of-commission – not to mention that you said you didn't remember much. Care to answer that, CARL?"
Silas finished through the potatoes and made his way to the cookie. "Who's that?" Shrug. "I don't know. It could be a subconscious thing. That's what humans believe in when they don't clearly remember stuff but know about it, right?" It took about four bites for the sugary treat to vanish into Silas' stomach.
Chione returned the shrug. "I suppose so. Whatever for now. What's more important is if you got anything good out of the supercomputer – before I'm just ready to shut the whole thing down and be off my merry way."
A gasp of contentment escaped his lips as he patted his stomach. "Relax. Sheesh." Silas pushed the notepad across to Chione, smirking. "I've got tons of info. All of which, I must say, would definitely make you stay."
The girl picked up the notes, immediately skimming through a page per second. "X.A.N.A.? Return to the Past? Lyoko? Well now, this isn't dangerous at all."
"Yep. During the visual scanning, I detected seven sectors: forest, desert, ice, mountain, island, fire, and plains. All of these you can explore." Silas gave her an intense gaze, jovial glints playing in his eyes. "Doesn't that make you want to stay? Huh?"
Chione put the notes on the floor, and let out a smothered humph. "Definitely does. How about we try this tonight? Some exploration?"
Silas could not return the determination. "It's too risky."
"What?"
"I mean, I think it would be better if we had another person. Last time, you and I got brutally beaten by those roach-monster-things. We didn't even get to touch them once."
"We'll get better. We don't need other people."
Blue eyes narrowed into seriousness. "We do, Chione. If there's one thing we need, it's someone like a programmer or another fighter."
"Wait a second. You don't know how to program stuff? Ha. Some AI you are."
"Argh. AI or not, I don't know anything when it comes to programming." He went through his hair. "I can use programs to my advantage, but I can't exactly create them. That's just something I don't know."
Chione huffed air through her nostrils. "Whatever. Perhaps we'll pick up these people along the way, but I don't want to go searching for them. It'd be such a pain in the neck."
Sigh. "When it gets desperate, you gotta do what you gotta do." Silas looked over at the supercomputer, turned back to Chione, and gestured to the machine with his thumb. "Oh, and I think your time's up. Let's discuss this later, okay?" He folded his arms. "Enjoy yourself."
Afternoon classes had finished for the day, permitting students to relish the rest of the day without fear of getting detention. Right away, the flow of children to the outside had substantially increased the noise levels. Under the popular arches and the quad, echoes carried to the winds, passing along gossip to ears that were just exiting classrooms. The special permeable membrane known as the dorms let weary individuals in and vitalized ones out, thus a constant activity number remained. Those sleepy beings that did not bother to return to their homes could be perked just because of the vigor others exhibited. The sun attempted to give everyone a booster with warm rays; being with friends and close ones had left the giant star lonesome – minus the eventual clouds that tried to comfort it, only to get in the way.
Chione had sprawled herself along a bench, watching the sky hardly change in appearance. The socializing in the background had been filtered, giving the girl ability to observe and note small details. There was not much of a capacity to care in the situation that her peers were slandering her; she simply kept her eyes looking to the heavens and began to sense bits of tiredness affecting her.
Her eyes were drooping; the more she resisted, the harder it got to keep awake. Interrupting her chance to doze off on a wooden bench, though, was someone yelling for her attention in a hushed voice far away.
"Pssst! Chione! Chione!"
The girl tilted her head further back and rolled off the seat to stand. She returned a whispered calling. "Silas?" Chione stole glances left and right, seeing people involved in their little social bubbles, and walked to the barricade a few steps from the open gate, towards the blue-eyed male gripping on the bars, looking intently on her. The female student still had her words quiet. "Silas, what are you doing here? Isn't this a little dangerous for your comfort zone? Too risky for a non-risk taker?"
"Haha. Very funny." The boy brought his face closer to the bars, looking stern. "The supercomputer did something weird while I was taking more notes. It detected these towers."
Chione tilted her head. "And what's so important about this?"
His brows depressed further. "One has been turned on, and I'm getting some bad vibes from this."
The two watched the other oscillating back and forth beyond their control; and, on impulse, they drew their heads down, shaking tiny pebbles going with the same rhythm. People had spread their legs apart to take on the peculiarity, emitting noises in utter bewilderment. Green tree needles shuddered, prompting perched birds to flee on their wings. In the time of confusion, the trees made a melody, their brushing needles substituting for maracas, shaking in sporadic moments.
The rumbling subsided. Students and teachers got together concerning the situation while Chione and Silas only looked at each other, flicking their brows upwards.
"I told you so," Silas stated. "Bad vibes."
Chione snarled. "Save your jokes for later. Let's get going then."
They jumped into a different part of the forest sector, having more giant stumps with their shortcut holes. Chione traced her virtual body, scowling under her breath. "I still look stupid."
Silas said, "Don't waste any time." He turned to a general southwest direction, seriousness flowing from him. "Those quakes got worse. At that rate, the whole town might as well cave in on itself. Let's get moving. The tower is this-away."
Without warning, the boy dashed off. The Kadic Academy student breathed in and pursued after him. She saw that her speed was a slower than her male counterpart, noticing the distance growing between them. Chione justified that she would not be able to lose Silas with ease as the contrast were not detrimentally severe. She still had to let out annoyance from having a slacking pace.
The tower in question could be seen on the horizon as the duo sped across the vivid green terrain. The structure was quite similar to a tree, with the coils jutting from it diving into the ground like roots and the base a trunk. A tint of yellow on off-white was the choice of color for the main part, and the chords were a chocolate brown. Red flashes coursed through the 'roots', into the tower, implying production of the eerie aura encasing the column. Nowhere on sight were there prominent entranceways to get inside, which raised questions for the two fighters.
Silas and Chione did not stop running as they talked.
"That must be it!" Silas gripped the lance behind his back tighter.
Chione shouted, "Strange that we haven't encountered any monsters!"
The boy flicked his head to the left, and coughed. "Way to jinx us!"
Three roach-like creatures made way to the warriors, their creaking legs cackling as they approached the path Chione and Silas were on. About four feet from the road, they launched lasers at the two and on the road itself. Silas was hopping all over the place, going over attacks while closing the distance to the tower, sometimes using his lance to lift himself off the ground momentarily. Chione, on the other hand, was barely dodging the beams; with the slight speed deficiency and her now-discovered inability to leap as high as Silas, she was breaking more of a sweat avoiding than sprinting.
The trouble had escalated upon approaching the structure. Sounds of a giant object rolling stopped the two a few meters before the tower, the laser works ceasing as well for the moment. From behind their destination, a lustrous black ball, that had the height of the boy and girl combined, came into the scene and blocked their path. Chione glanced behind; the mechanical bugs were still but were in the way from retreating. She looked back at the sphere fit for a giant's bowling ball, threw it a good piercing stare, and took one step forward. As though triggered by a switch on the floor, the object opened up, revealing meshes of organic-looking matter connecting to the eye symbol. Charging sounds got rapid, light gathering at the eye.
"Oh…"Chione tensed up in the legs.
Silas completed her sentence. "…shoot."
Lasers fired from the back, but the duo had dodged any damage when they leaped to the sides to avoid the bigger threat: the behemoth of a red light arc spreading in two directions, one at them and the other that hit the tower's barrier. The great mass of translucent energy had accidentally destroyed one smaller enemy.
In great haste did Chione and Silas get on their feet, though the demonic-armed one immediately suffered an attack on the side. "Great." Her eyes narrowed when she saw light charging again. "More great."
The boy swung his weapon to the front, striking the ground softly with the point. "Looks like we don't have other options. I'll take care of the little ones; you try the boulder."
Nod.
The knight inched his way to the roach-like monsters, taking vast caution, deflecting beams by the swings of the lance. With the little creatures backing off when he took a step, the distance never changed, to his dissatisfaction. He tried to improvise, attempting to parry shots and go for a jumping attack; however, when he did so, they had brought him down to earth with a double-attack. Silas pounded a fist into the ground. "This isn't working at all!" He bit hard on his failure, rebounding to the plan before and kept thinking of other strategies.
Chione steeled her stance, the wall of an attack coming lightning-speed. A strange idea popped into her head, and the girl thrust out her right hand against the red light. On impact, the hit – rather than disappearing – was trying to push her back, but being unsuccessful as Chione supported her weight. The feeling was like two swords clashing at one another, both attempting dominance through pushing and shoving. Both cockiness and disappointment rose from her chest, and she did not have the time to contemplate which she felt more. Chione was getting pushed farther; soon, she would lose her footing and take a blow.
She wished that there was a method for slowing down or turning off the machine. The extra exertion to hold the attack lowered her head downwards. Chione peered at her other hand, an aura of faint blue forming a perimeter around it. "Hey now. What's this?" Her attention went to the monster, to her hand, and back to the bowling ball monstrosity. No further smart notions came in to her enlightenment; however, Chione took a chance with fortune and raised the human hand in the ball's direction. A smile crept on her face.
There was a stalemate between Silas and his own baddies currently; but, his energy levels were diminishing in a negative exponential curve, his weapon beginning to feel super heavy. "I'm so done for," he tried to laugh, coming off weak. He had enough to muster for one last swing; fortunately, at the moment the two monsters shot at him, his defensive slice had actually reflected the attacks back, destroying his enemies. Silas stood there, slouching his posture, and resisted burying his face in his hands. "I'm such an idiot!" Before making the small trek to the tower, the man had to swallow his disgust for lack of better plans.
Even prior to making the trip, he had turned around to see – from a distance – Chione's boulder creature shaking and emitting painful cries. On the outside, it seemed nothing was happening, other than the girl using her stronger arm to hold an attack and the human hand to send spiritual support to the monster. Silas watched and, then, his eyes grew. The light in the eye symbol flickered between being on and off; next, it lost all life, becoming dull. The arc of red gradually faded to nothingness, leaving behind the carapace of a once mighty foe.
Silas focused all attention on the corpse during the rush back to Chione's side. She did nothing but watch him run and stand near her, breathing deeply. "What did you do just there?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. Trusted myself, I suppose?"
Silas went up to the monster but stopped as the corpse vanished after fluctuating between existence and nonexistence. Scowl. "Now we won't know." He stroked through his hair, thinking; and, suddenly, Silas felt a wrap of cold on his arm sinking further to an icy freeze. He quickly pulled his arm closer to his body, only to see a hand at the spot where the chill was accumulating. The hand let go, returning heat to the area. The boy rubbed his arm, averting his eyes to Chione, who was giving him a questionable look. "Cold. You control the cold." Silas kept warming himself while going into explanation. "You must have given it a short circuit. Introduced moisture into its circuitry."
Chione folded her arms and digested the information. "I see. Hm. That's cool – no pun intended." She pointedly looked over at the tower. "But let's get a move on before we have to clean up smushed cats."
He followed her towards the structure, adding, "I don't get it. Your joking's a bit too morbid for my style."
She ignored Silas, touching the base. Upon pressing against the body, her hands were being absorbed into the tower. Chione did not bother asking, going through without a care as Silas came after.
The interior went for the color blue: dark blue for the walls, a translucent cyan for myriads of screen outlines running top and bottom of the digital building, and a dull teal for the utmost top. The only things not touched by the hue were the endless abyss located below the fighters' feet and the outlines on the floor – curiously in the shape of the eye symbol.
Silas walked toward the center as Chione stared deep into the chasm. He was noting the features of the inside, even including how the symbol glowed, layer-by-layer, as he strolled on over. Reaching the middle, however, a white glow lined around his body and a weightless effect took hold, making him float and gain altitude. His widened gaze fell on Chione, who watched but could not do anything by the time she noticed as Silas out of her jumping reach.
His heart beat with fear and intrigue – but isolated to intrigue when Silas' levitation ride ended at a platform several meters from where his partner was. Again, the boy placed himself in the center, making a panel appear right in front. "I don't know what's happening… but okay." By instinct, Silas' hand pressed on the screen and recognized his print. Words were being typed on the surface: "Silas," then "Code Lyoko." Silas felt emotion clutter in his chest and decided to say them aloud – as words that summarized the duo's accomplishment.
"Tower: Deactivated."
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Code Lyoko, for that idea belongs to Moonscoop. Any of the characters, plot elements, story elements, and sources from the original Code Lyoko show belong to Moonscoop. I, however, claim right to any characters and story/plot elements that are being introduced into the story as new ideas/absent from the original source material.