A depressed robot. A family that fell victim to the dark side. A diabolical villain with a past that could press the greatest sympathy onto the hardest of souls. A general that finally saw the light…but was soon enough plunged deep into the bowels of death, never to be revived. These were the things I saw when I entered that world…that world…the world that one could probably never see unless guided there…guided by the portal that posed as the gates to such a place.

I never expected to see the day when I went there. I never expected to see the day when I finally found a villain that was more diabolical than Hacker, more evil than anyone I'd seen in my days alive, more hatred than anything I'd ever witnessed. It was bloody. It was horrifying. It was barely relaxing…we were always in tension, my friends and I. I myself was imprisoned, beaten, threatened to death. I survived, however, with the help of my friends in that world. If it hadn't been for them I would not be alive to day, not writing these words on paper, not thinking about what it must be like back there, with all the changes—horribly negative changes—that they had went through.

The name brought chills to my spine. Machinos. The name that every citizen feared, because the figure behind it was a dictator, one of power, hatred, anger, greed…he was a walking sin. He was the tool of the Devil himself. He could not go anywhere without hurting or killing someone. And I know, because I survived…I survived…and I was lucky to do so, given the chances.

You can understand why I was so grateful to return to my own dimension, my own place, the things that I had always known for eons. I never expected to return. I never expected for anyone else to witness what I had witnessed, so long ago…so long ago. I never intended to ever walk the soil of that world, soar through the singing air, dive beneath the rapid waves of that area ever again. It had been so long, I had nearly forgotten all about it. But it hadn't forgotten me, nor any of the others. I somehow knew that it would return.

And it did…the unthinkable happened…and my life was never to be the same again, even though I had made it back alive…I was scarred…scarred forever…by the blood, hatred, anger, of the war that was soon to become carved into my soul for my remaining years…and it has begun. Now.

—Digit LeBoid

ALTERNATE REVOLUTION

By Grand High Idol

Disclaimer: I do not own Cyberchase, nor any of its characters.

CHAPTER I: The Hacker's Plot

The unknowingness of the incident was at first highly apparent among the one who had caused it to be in the first place: that evil, vain, green man, the Hacker. Of course, he never had intended for war to break out among a dimension opposite his own, just a simple plan to get the Cybersquad out of his hair for good. And that was where the real trouble had begun, truth to be told.

He had begun his studies with the openings of dimensions a few weeks ago, in the privacy of his own ship. Buzz and Delete had stayed out of his business for the most part, and he was happy with that, but what frustrated him was that he could never understand the passages about alternate worlds, even though they were typed and handwritten in plain English. Time and time again, after yet another defeat by the Cybersquad, he would go back to the study of his ship and page through the books again, with more determination toward getting rid of them for good. He had never even considered the useful purpose of alternate dimensions until he had heard of the kids going missing for over a week straight. That brought his mind to the presence of time, which led to the wonder of the parallel universe, and it just went from there.

He was now sitting in the study yet again, an ancient book in one hand, reading the passages written years ago by Old World philosophers. Little was told about the actual way to activate the portal that took oneself into such a world, but he was still trying, of course. He now read over a certain passage with great curiosity, if not confusion:

It is believed by many that parallel worlds can be reached, if not by time, but by mind. Such musings have led to the ancient uncovering of the legendary "Portal of Forty", a portal believed to be old as time that is said to lead into another world…an opposite world…a world that has not yet caught up to ours via the items we possess. While I write these very words, they may still be pounding the stones to light the fire.

The portal was activated eons ago by a philosopher entitled Pagmius Entrona. While the man did not actually enter the portal, he discovered the very secret to unlocking the portal: by the peace of mind within us all, and the spiritual powers that one possesses.

"A great lot of help that does," Hacker scoffed, closing the book abruptly and tossing it onto the table adjacent to him. "'The peace of mind within us all'…hah. That sounds like a message you'd find on a fortune cookie, or perhaps a meditation center." He considered a bit before shaking his head. "No help. No help it does to me at all." He propped his feet up on the stool nearest him. "I might as well be better off with a mere child's comic book."

It was at that time that Delete, who had been playing on the floor with his pet rabbit, George, looked up and finally commented on his boss's study. "Gee, boss, you don't seem to be havin' much luck finding out about stuff like that."

"I do think that's rather apparent, you delirious duncebucket," Hacker snapped back at him, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "And I don't think that you or Buzz would be of much help to me right now. I'd like you to stay out of my business."

"Ya know, 'dat stuff does sound pretty deep 'ta me," Buzz, who was sitting on a nearby stool, commented. "I mean, 'dat thing about 'spiritual powers' sounds like something you'd find on a fortune teller place…although I don't think 'dat 'dey have spiritual powers, either. But I once saw something on TV about a witch who could connect with 'da—"

Upon hearing the word "witch" a spark went off in the man's head; he jumped to his feet, startling both of his henchmen. "That's it!" Hacker remarked, in a 'eureka' type fashion. "In order to connect with a parallel world I need to connect with someone who possesses the spiritual powers I don't." He sniggered to himself. "And I know just the person who can tell me."

Without further hesitation, he walked briskly out of the room, leaving Buzz and Delete alone in a rather high state of confusion. Buzz was still slightly appalled at Hacker actually listening to him, and Delete was momentarily confused with the entire incident itself. He was now staring at the door, dumbfounded, as George sniffed the carpeting, then bounded out of the room. Delete took no attention to this; neither did Buzz, for that matter.

After a momentary pause, Buzz finally looked at his younger brother and said, still sounding rather confused, "What was 'dat all about?"

"I dunno," Delete replied, still sounding rather far-off. "I think he's gonna call someone up or somethin'. You must've said something that gave him the idea to do that."

"What did I say?" Buzz asked.

"I dunno…" Delete repeated.

Buzz scoffed. "A lot of help you are."

"Sorry…"

"You'd better—oh, never mind it." He jumped down from the stool. "'Dis conversation is going nowheres. I'm going to go see what 'da boss is planning on doing. You can stay here and stare at 'da wall like a ninny for all I care."

"Hey, I'm not a ninny!" Delete retorted angrily, getting to his feet and walking out after Buzz, who had left before he could listen to a word out of his younger brother. Delete was still acting annoyed as they walked down the hallway, then reached the doorway to the main control room and leaned over slightly, almost in an eavesdropping intention, in time to see their boss talking on the phone, a rather casual look on his face. Of course, Buzz and Delete knew that he kept that look only when he was calling a certain someone…

Coincidentally, they entered at the same moment the person on the other line picked up. The voice was muted to all but Hacker, but they could easily tell whom he was calling without the help of the voice. "Hello, my dearest Wicked. Ah, how are you?"

"Just fine, thank you for asking, Hackie-poo," the voice on the other line replied. "You normally don't call me often. What's the purpose of this call, besides the fact that you missed the lovely sound of my voice?"

Hacker paused a moment, then replied, "Oh, nothing much, Wicked. Just that I need your help with a few things as of late." He waited for an answer, and when he received none, he thought it was best to continue. "You don't happen to know any other citizens such as yourself that possess spiritual powers, do you?"

"No, I don't know any personally, I'm sorry to say…however, I do know where to find a few. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing serious, really," Hacker replied casually, leaning back in his chair. "I just found a new way to get those pesky earth children out of my world for good, and continue on with my world domination of cyberspace."

"Involving spiritual powers?"

"Yes, my dear Wicked. I need to find a person of great spiritual mind that can open up portals—but not the usual portals that transport from here to another place beyond. Portals that can transport to an entirely different universe—one of no possible return. If this goes through, and if those brats cannot find a way to return, Motherboard is left defenseless and cyberspace is as good as mine. I can finally finish what I intended to do eons ago." He cleared his throat abruptly. "Now, where exactly did you say that I can find these spiritual beings?"

"In the darker area of Castleblanca," Wicked replied. "If you look past the shop that sells potions, you'll find a small tent in the center of the marsh that pays homage to a fortune-telling booth. Don't be fooled; it is none of the sort. Go up there and demand to see Globus Jayon. She possesses incredible spiritual power, or so the rumors have stated, and there just might be a chance that she could help you with your plan."

Hacker took time to let this sink in before replying. "I shall go there this evening," he told her, shifting the phone to his shoulder. "You have been most helpful toward me, Wicked. I do appreciate all that you have done."

"It's all worth it, believe me, Hackie," she replied sweetly, before abruptly hanging up her end of the line. Hacker narrowed his eyes as the line went dead, then set the phone down and, getting up from his chair, began to walk over toward the main control panel for the Grim Wreaker ship. Sitting in his Recharger Chair, Buzz and Delete caught his eye at once; he cast a glare at them before beckoning them over toward him.

The two robots looked at each other, then, fearing that they were in some sort of trouble, reluctantly walked over to where their boss was sitting. Hacker watched them as they stopped in front of him, then he said, "Charge me up at once, you duncebuckets. We have some unfinished business to take care of."

"Oh, sure, boss, right away," Buzz replied obediently, giving a quick salute before turning around, but as he and Delete headed toward the main lever Buzz muttered to his brother, "Did he even start his business to begin with?"

"I dunno, but people always say that when they want something to be done fast," Delete replied, as he stopped beside the lever; Buzz hopped up onto the panel. "It doesn't really mean anything, really…"

"Will you stop turning everything into a conversation!" Buzz snapped at him, right before pulling the lever down.

From her seating in the canvas tent, Globus Jayon could sense a presence other than herself arriving in the darkness of this particular area in Castleblanca. She wasn't surprised; more than often she would sense a presence within the room when she was about to help a visitor in need, although they had not yet arrived. Such was the gift that her spiritual powers had bestowed upon her, and she was sure to heed it wisely. Brushing a strand of brunette hair out of her face, she looked up just in time to see three figures standing in the doorway.

There seemed to be a slight glint in her eye as she looked up at the one in front. "Please," she stated, gesturing toward a set of silk pillows arranged on the floor in front of her, "Do come in." The one in front—now revealed to be Hacker—slowly came into the room, then stood next to her for a few moments before finally kneeling to the ground, his arms crossed. Buzz and Delete, who looked rather nervous about actually meeting someone of incredible mental powers, were standing in the tent flaps, refusing to budge for a brief moment, but the woman noticed them at once and made another gesture with her hand toward the remaining pillows. "Come in, my dear friends. There is nothing to fear of me if you respect the worlds beyond your own."

This remark frightened Buzz and Delete a bit more, and at first they thought about shying away and leaving their boss to do his own business. But they could see that Globus wasn't about to take this for an answer; thus, they both sighed, cautiously entered, then slowly took their seats on either side of their boss as Globus looked them over, as if determining something.

The silence was broken soon enough. "I do believe that you know why I came here in the first place," Hacker informed her. "As you know, I am the Hacker, soon-to-be overlord of cyberspace…but, of course, not without your help, my dear." He looked her directly in the eye. "I need a powerful being to help me access a certain portal."

"Do tell," Globus replied, although she didn't sound very interested in what he was saying. "You do know that you can find portals all over cyberspace if you know where to look, am I correct?"

"It's not that kind of portal!" Hacker snapped at her. "I need your help in accessing a different portal…one that leads into another world. I don't suppose that you already know about the Portal of Forty, do you?"

The very mention of these words made Globus snap to attention. Now that he had caught her interest, he knew, Hacker decided to continue. "I'm planning on accessing that portal in order to get a certain group of obstacles out of my path…living, breathing obstacles. No matter what I do to try and get rid of them, they always manage to pull through some way or another. That's why I decided to end it for good. Once they're in another world, there's no coming back." He stopped to take a breather. "That's why I came to you, m'lady. I need you to access the portal for me using your mental powers."

After this short little speech silence befell the tent once more. Globus looked at him for a few moments, then finally folded her hands across her low desk and said, "Access to such a portal would be long and grueling for my mind alone, and I don't know where these 'obstacles' you speak of currently are. Thus, there isn't much I can do to help you now."

"Blast it!" Hacker snapped at her, pounding a fist on the front of her desk. "I came here to receive some help, and I'm not leaving until I get it! It's either you help me with my plan, or you can kiss your sorry little residence here goodbye! Now, what's it going to be?"

Globus was silent for a few moments yet again; she didn't appear fazed by the man's intentions to force her into helping him. After a few moments, she finally reached toward an area around her neck and said, "Very well, then. If you are as desperate as you appear to be, I suppose I can take this time to make an exception. But you must put some effort into what I have planned as well, or else you can be sure that your plan will fail. Do I make myself clear on that one?"

"Fine, fine, now just tell me what you have in mind."

"Very well." She withdrew her hand from around her neck, and dropped something onto the desk, in front of Hacker, Buzz and Delete. Looking down at it, the three could see that it was a small pendant, nothing more than a smoky-colored orb attached to a golden chain. While Hacker was staring at this with a rather puzzled and annoyed look, trying to figure out what this meant, Globus told him, still sounding as calm as she ever was, "There is enough power in this one little orb to conjuncture any type of portal from its current location. However, as I said before, your participation counts as much as this orb's." She slowly reached toward the orb, then held it up in front of them. "The power in this necklace can only be activated by the mind. Thus, in order to make the portal appear you must think a certain string of words, or else your visit will have been in vain." She slowly dropped it into the green man's hand. "And remember, it will only work once. So don't run any tests, and don't try it out until you are sure that the timing is right. Am I clear on that one, as well?"

"Yes," Hacker responded, his fingers closing around the precious item. He then got up from his spot on the floor and turned around; Buzz and Delete followed. "I shall be taking my leave now," he told her, before walking out of the tent completely. Globus stared after him in a disapproving gaze as he disappeared; she then heard the sound of the Grim Wreaker's motors starting up. Sighing, she shook her head.

"I hope he knows what he's doing," she muttered to herself, before getting up from her spot to fluff the pillows.

Upon arrival back at the Northern Frontier, Hacker, still clutching the pendant tightly in his hand, got up from his spot at the control panel and strutted across the room, at the time placing the pedant itself around his neck. As Buzz and Delete watched from their places—which were at the table—Hacker looked at himself in the reflection of one of the generators, then winked at himself before turning to face the two.

"Now that I have a great source of spiritual power in my hands, nothing will be able to stop me," he informed the two. "But it's likely that Motherboard will find out about this source—she always seems to before I can carry out my plans—and send those pesky brats over here to stop me. Well, it won't happen this time."

"Yeah, but boss, in order to keep 'dose kids from swiping it you'd have to use it pretty fast," Buzz pointed out. "Heck, Motherboard sees everything that goes on around here for some reason; I'll bet she's found out about Globus Jayon and sent 'dem over to Control Central right now!"

"That fast?" Delete asked, appalled.

Hacker smacked his face, then shouted at Buzz, "I know that, you duncebucket!" Buzz looked taken aback for a few moments as Hacker continued, fingering the pendant, "And I know that she'd send the kids over the moment I began using this. Thus, I'm going to do the only thing that I can think of doing right now."

"Gee, what's that, boss?" Delete asked curiously.

Hacker growled. "I'm going to use this pendant to open the Portal of Forty inside the portal that takes the kids into cyberspace so often. It'll probably hold long enough in order for them to get sucked in as they are sent through. And if Motherboard doesn't know about it, it's likely that either Dr. Marbles or Digit will." He shook his head. "That blasted bird's been acting like a lunatic ever since the time he went missing for a week."

"Yeah, but…do you even think 'dat's possible?" Buzz asked. "I mean, to open a portal inside another one? I don't think 'dat's ever been done before, to my knowledge."

"Well, it's about to be done," Hacker retorted, glaring at him. He then removed his hand from the pendant. "Now stand back, you duncebuckets, I'm going to put this thing to work. Let's see, here…concentrate…" He closed his eyes and placed his fingers on either side of his head, as if in deep meditation. Buzz and Delete watched him curiously. "Concentrate…portal…send it to the portal…"

The two robots continued to stare as the pendant around their boss's neck began to glow a dull green, but soon enough it quickly shifted to bright yellow. Hacker continued to meditate, although it was clear that he seemed pleased with how this was going, and the two robots looked up, in time to see that the power in the main control room was slowly beginning to die out…then a huge stream of light began to suddenly appear from the ceiling…

Deep in the woods, it was completely dark, and the sun was just beginning to dawn over them. Nonetheless, they continued to peacefully sleep in the bed they had formed from a pile of leaves, none of them bothering to stir. But, after a few moments, one of the group of four finally and slowly opened one eye, then sat up to face the night sky above her.

She looked up at the stars as she thought to herself. To her knowledge, over three years had passed since they had come into their dimension, but she could not forget them, even though her comrades had. The African-American girl with the hair bun…the boy with the red hair and the backpack to match…the Latino girl with the glasses and the smart mouth…and the bird with the red cap and the timid manner. She had never gotten them out of her head, even after so long. And, like Digit, she had the suspicion that she would see them again…maybe not now, but someday in the future, they would come back.

A sudden gust of wind then blew by her, blowing her matted black hair into her face and nearly startling her out of her leaves. She almost fell to the ground but quickly regained her balance, in time to see a group of leaves picked up by the wind float away and disappear into the blackened treetops in the distance. This caught her by surprise; it was supposedly too humid for there to even be wind in this area at all.

She glanced around cautiously, then slowly got to her feet. Something wasn't right.

Reaching down toward the ground for her bow and arrows, she slowly reared her head toward the direction that the wind had come from, then looked around a few more times. She didn't know what had caused it. It was natural, so it couldn't have been Machinos…it was too sudden for a Blind Tracker…a few of the beings she had known in this universe were fast enough to conjuncture up a gust of wind when they passed by, but she knew that they couldn't possibly be in any part of this forest…it was beginning to worry her more by the second.

At first she thought about waking up Matthew, who was lying on the ground next to her; he took no notice of the sudden wind. But after a few moments she thought otherwise; if she woke up Matthew, how would she explain why she had been so cautious about a simple gust of wind? Also, Matthew would probably say that she worried too much, which made her absolutely livid like no other. No, Matthew wouldn't do. Not for this…

She slowly scanned the area again, looking for any signs of suspicion, but it was hopeless. She knew that there was no other living soul in the area besides her and her comrades, and it was futile to even try and look for a sign. She sighed, then slowly set down her weapons and looked up toward the stars, thinking that it was just a simple summer wind, and was about to lie back down again when...

FWHOOSH!

"GAH!" she yelled in surprise as a huge, pink-colored portal suddenly opened up in the center of the sky, acting very much like a highly violent vacuum and sucking up anything that was within range of itself. Several trees were ripped out of the ground from their roots; the water in the creek was unsteady; even the grass was slowly becoming plucked out. Of course, this startled both Matthew and Zeny out of their sleep; they leapt to their feet in surprise as they stared at the monstrosity in front of them.

"Good Lord, Jacqueline!" Matthew exclaimed, backing away as the portal tried to rip at his clothing. "Where in cyberspace did this come from!"

"Look, Matthew, I have no idea where it came from, okay?" Jacqueline snapped back at him, her eyes narrowed. "I was just looking around and it suddenly appeared. There was nothing I could do about it."

"You know, you didn't have to be—" Matthew began, but he was cut short as he noticed that Codebird was missing. His eyes widening, he looked around him, then finally looked up at the portal entrance. There was nothing there, either, but he thought he knew for sure where exactly Codebird had gone. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted, running toward the portal, ignoring the fact that it was slowly pulling him in as is. "You aren't going to try and claim him again! Not if I can help it!"

"Matthew, don't be an idiot!" Jacqueline shouted after him, but it was too late; Matthew had already made a running leap for the portal. She sighed, then ran after him and leapt as well, grabbing him by the ankles before he could go in completely. Of course, this proved to be hopeless, the vacuum was too strong for a mere 16-year-old girl to withstand. In a split second, she had been pulled in as well.

Zeny, who was watching all of this, looked on in terror as her three friends were pulled into the swirling mass of color, then, unable to leave her friends to die (she was always worrying about them when they left), she ran toward the portal and, with a grunt of determination, leapt in just as the colors began to fade from view entirely.

"What in cyberspace!" Hacker remarked as he stared at the blast of pink light that swirled at the ceiling of the ship, clutching onto a nearby glass containment tube to keep himself from being sucked up into the vacuum. "I specifically said that I wanted it to go to the kids' portal! Why in the name of love did it open up here! This is not what I intended!"

"Are you sure 'dat you were concentrating on 'da right place, boss?" Buzz asked; he was now on the floor and gripping onto the table leg with all his might. "Or was 'dere just a slight miscalculation portal-wise?"

"Can it!" Hacker snapped at him as he gripped the containment tube tighter. "Just silence yourself until this whole incident is over, and I'll gladly spare you!"

"Oh, great," Buzz muttered to himself; he was just about to roll his eyes when he noticed that Delete, who was too stunned to try anything logical, was slowly being pulled toward the portal itself. He was trying to resist, but it didn't do much good; the vacuum seemed to be more forceful than he would ever be. Delete, frantic, reached for the control panel for something to grab onto, but by then it was futile. With a yelp of surprise, he was lifted off the ground feet-first, and his lower half managed to make its way into the portal before Buzz, being the older brother figure that he was, let go of the table leg and leapt upward, managing to grab Delete's shirtsleeve.

"Buzz, what are you doing!" Delete exclaimed, over the roar of the vacuum.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Buzz snapped back at him, trying to force his younger brother's lower half out of the portal. "I'm trying to—umph—get you out of 'dis thing!"

"Buzz, you do know that you can't do it, right?" Delete asked, as a few more inches of his body sank into the portal's swirling color mass. "I mean, I don't want to make you mad or anything, but you're being pulled in, too, you know."

"So, I'll grab onto something!" Buzz said stubbornly.

"There's nothing to grab onto!"

"Oh…boy…" Buzz replied meekly, finally realizing that this was indeed true; he was a foot off the ground and thus could not grab anything. Looking over at his boss, who was making no effort to help whatsoever one last time, he looked up at the portal in time to see Delete disappear entirely. Sighing, he knew that he was to be next; he didn't bother to let go, for he knew that it was already too late. He closed his eyes, let go of Delete, and braced himself—

Just as the swirling mass of the portal sucked him into the abyss.