A/N: Note this story was conceived well before Evolution and, as such, completely ignores it's existence. Also note that the author has nothing against Evolution. She just doesn't want to wait for it to end, as there is a good chance it will completely contradict the workings of this story and, in fact, already has. End A/N.
Michael Prince was on a mission. The 9th grade basketball star was currently making his way through the sewers to the abandoned factory on the river. He reached the ladder he was looking for and climbed up and out into the warm night air. He made his way across the bridge and into the factory, only to be halted by the fact that the only way to the ground floor was an old rope. He reached a hand out and tugged it.
No one in their right mind would use this thing, he thought. He tugged it again before grabbing it in both hands. It's a good thing I'm not in my right mind. He backed up, holding the rope, and jumped down onto the floor.
He ran his hand along one of the support beams. This thing's been standing since my parents were in school. Strange how they haven't demolished it. As he continued to examine the beams, a freight elevator on the other side of the room caught his attention. He made his way over and found a security keypad. He popped his knuckles and prepared to crack the code. The keypad must have been busted, however, as he pushed one button and the elevator opened.
Cautiously, he stepped in and pressed the down button. The elevator closed and began descending. As the ride took longer than originally thought, he thought about using the hatch on the top. Just as he crouched to try to jump and reach it, the elevator opened into an empty room. Instincts screaming at him to run, he walked into the room. Before he could go more than five steps, he halted as a large tower rose from the floor. As he approached it, he spotted a hatch and button. He pressed the button and the hatch opened reveal a large switch. He stared at it for a good minute before holding his breath and pushing it up. As the switch locked into place, a low hum began to resonate from within the cylinder.
Leaving the cylinder to boot up, he went back to the elevator and pushed the button, which, unexpectedly, took him up only one floor. This time, the room contained three metal cylinders. Approaching the one on the right, he ran his fingernail along a crack in it. He attempted to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. Eventually giving up, he returned to the elevator and once again rose one floor.
This floor, unlike the last, was a miracle, for in it was the largest and probably most powerful computer he had ever seen. Despite his status as basketball captain and VIP, Michael was a computer nerd and so he ran to the chair in front of the monitor. Sitting down, he pressed the enter key and watched the computer spring to life. He immediately started surfing through files and succeeded in pulling up a couple of different programs.
"Let's see. Code...Lyoko, whatever that is. Code...X.A.N.A...Code...Failsafe. Finally, something makes sense." He started the program and watched as the screen was immediately nuked and replaced with a strange target-like symbol on a black background.
"Systems rebooting," the computer intoned. "Connection to network rebooting. XANA rebooting. Time until complete: 26 hours, 57 minutes."
"Well," Michael said, "I feel like I just unleashed something horrible."