Note: As you can see, this isn't Disparate. I have been working on plotting out the series for a while now but something has come up and now I have to focus on getting the "ending" for that right. For now, I want to have a break from focusing writing on that series. I know I said I wouldn't upload this story but I feel like you, the readers, have been waiting for far too long for a story from me. Certain aspects of this story have been planned out and others, well not so much. I'll enjoy seeing the assumptions made as the story progresses. This story will follow a "episodic" rhythm much like Parallels and will include the episodes necessary to push forward the story-line in the series much like C:L had. Certain changes as you read this chapter will have their explanations, so do not fret over it. Odd will present this story as well as other characters when it is called for. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this story.
1. Awakening to the World Calling
...95%...
...100%...
Download complete. Virtualization process activated.
Alertness took control of its body as soon as it became active. It grunted, falling onto blue land. It quickly identified it as baby blue as it stared at its hands. Or... what should have been its hands. Instead, big purpureus paws took their place with tiny bits of white at each end. It stood, allowing its amber eyes to overlook its body just for a moment. It noticed its pointed blonde hair with a purple splotch was still intact, much like its body structure. The other things that were different was that it was wearing a sleeveless eminence shirt, a bit of an undershirt colored goldenrod and magenta which connected to its matching eminence and palatinate pants. It also donned saffron knee pads and shoes that were same shade of yellow.
Taking in the scenery around it, it looked like the world was vast and void of life. The place where it was sent to looked to be like an ice region. It was made for some reason, but it really didn't understand, "Owner, what is your first command?" It asked, head tilted at its new form. Dressing like a big, purple cat was never its intention. What happened to being created to look like a human, like the first memory it could recall?
"Owner?" A male's voice responded from above, like it was far away but up close at the same time. The voice vibrated in its ears, like a being speaking with it by thought rather than being in front of it, "Hmm, is that what you'll be calling me?" It wasn't the voice it was used to. Instead of a light, sweet tone it was a deep, gruff one.
"I haven't received a command listing you as something else," It automatically replied as its purpureus tail with aureolin stripes swayed lazily side to side. The way it felt the air bite at its tail, it felt the chill of the frozen land around it, "It would be logical to address you as Owner."
The man's hum echoed in its head. The empty world did not react to his voice whatsoever, like he only addressed the program, "Call me Professor. And as your first command, I would like you to follow your coding."
It clicked its tongue, sitting down onto the frozen ground. It dragged its claws along the ice, adjusting to the sudden change in its temperature. Before, it could barely recall a little piece of land with binary coding. That computer was different, warmer than the place it had been downloaded into now, "My coding allows me to do what I'm commanded to do, it does not have a set job for me. Does being dressed as a purple cat pertain to what you would like me to do?"
"What you are dressed as now is not required in what I will have you do. Though the world you are now in creates what it feels like you want to be, in a sense."
It scowled, "I do not want to be a purple cat."
"Of course you don't," Amusement rang in his tone, "But Lyoko thinks you want to be. It is a virtual world that I created to protect those I care about from the world outside, which is filled with mayhem. This will be my final project, a peaceful world."
"The new coding Lyoko has given me claims I have weapons. I can summon gauntlets to shoot arrows, wield a lilac shield and access an ability of precognition. Having weapons wouldn't make this the world you wish to have."
The Professor went silent after that. It took approximately five minutes before the man responded to it, "Sometimes using force is the only way we can achieve a world without danger."
"What is this, Professor?" It asked, staring at the giant, tan candle-like thing that stretched high into the sky. It couldn't even see the top to the strange thing, but it did notice the beautiful snow white aura it released in the sky. The icy region was becoming a familiar place, a new home it guessed. In its head, it easily counted the time after being placed into this new world. It had been only a week and by the way the Professor worked on it day to day, he must have a lot of time to spare.
"It's a way tower. One of many that I created to reach the other sectors. The sector you reside in is Sector One, or the Glacier Region. There are other sectors in the virtual world but my main focus is on the Desert Region, the Forest Region and the Mountain Region."
It stepped forward, resting its paws against the tan-white color of the tower, "Why are you telling me this extra information?"
"Because," The program bit back a gasp, its amber eyes watching as a ripple of light blue stretched outward from its touch, "Your job is to make sure there are no bugs in what I create. I have other matters to focus on and you'll be a wonderful help to make sure I don't leave any error unattended too. It'll be your goal as you roam around Lyoko. I will call you the Overwriting Debugging Daemon. With the abilities you carry, you can take care of any error that may stand in your way. Your arrows purify anything they hit, the shield blocks any attack that hits you and your precognition allows you to predict an error and how to solve it before it comes into fruition. Now that you know your purpose, see to it that you get to work quickly."
Nodding, the program allowed the tower to swallow its body. With a slight stumble, it stepped along a long blue platform with glowing white rings, "Understood, Professor."
The Professor didn't speak with it after that. He left it to its duties of checking over each program to make sure there was no errors in them. After all, being dubbed the Overwriting Debugging Daemon meant that he would overwrite the programs that had bad coding, debug those with measly errors and work without constant supervision.
It continued its work in silence. Trying to note each day that passed outside of the virtual world, it was difficult. The reason why was because the day continuously was the 6th of June. It tried to find out on its own why it continued to be that day every day but there was no logical answer. The Daemon couldn't access the programming that made the supercomputer and it didn't want to bother the Professor. So after the fifth time the day repeated, it let its worries go and continued to focus on doing what the Professor didn't have time to do. It worked on improving the virtual world from afar as the Professor worked on what he deemed as "more important".
Sometimes during the time it worked, it felt little pricks in its body. Whenever it checked, it noticed that its coding was upgraded with new information. The Professor hadn't forgotten it, but he didn't talk with it at all. When it looked at the updates in its codes, it noticed that the ten ammo limit of his purifying arrows had been increased with the new mechanism the Professor created to shoot them. Twenty four arrows to release, twelve in each gauntlet that summons onto its paws. The shield stretches over one side of its form, though it doesn't last very long. The precognition was the only thing that seemed "buggy" at best because it couldn't change what it saw. Sadly, even with the power to correct everything around it, the program couldn't correct what was inside its coding.
It felt off sometimes, a feeling it couldn't really identify. Like it wanted something to be there, to talk with it. But all it had was the world around it and that may be all it needed.
One day, as it roamed through the luscious scenery of the forest region something changed. It couldn't put a finger on what exactly was different, but it was as if a big change was beginning. The Daemon frowned, as some sort of creature walked close to it. It was small, its body slightly tanned with a black eye on its body and weird, silver pieces on its bottom to help it move, "Hello there, little guy." The Overwriting Debugging Daemon greeted, waving its paw. Scanning the thing, it identified the shape as a sort of cockroach creature, and inside the creature was something... off. Something the program couldn't identify. Was it an error?
The cockroach creature stepped a little closer, a ruby red glow appearing in front of it. It watched as the glow began to brighten then quickly jolted as the red light shot from the glow and hit the purple cat in the arm. "Ow!" The Daemon cried, backing away from where it stood before. It nursed its wound, the red light (laser?) making its form alight with electricity in the vicinity of the attack. It was a sharp, hot feeling that was way different than the warm feeling of the desert region it had been to before. A frown made its way onto its face as it stared at the creature in shock, "Why did you attack me?"
Not bothering to answer, the little machine began to charge another attack. The program had enough, for it raised its paws. Searching through its coding, it quickly found what it needed. A white glow surrounded his paws and two black gauntlets took their place. The yellow and white on its digital purple fur stood out from the holes in the gauntlets that allowed its fur to "breathe". The Daemon positioned them, aiming directly at the creature. With a battle cry, it shot its gauntlets and watched as three blue-yellow arrows rained from each weapon onto the monster. It didn't move, taking the damage full-front. After all six arrows made contact, it exploded in a white light.
"Heh," The program grinned, walking forward with a little skip as the gauntlets disappeared in their white glow, "That wasn't all that hard-" It yelped, feeling the stinging sensation of the red light hit its back. Amber eyes stared behind it, seeing flying creatures colored different shades of green with the same black eye on its body and a long stinger hanging from the bottom half of its face. Staring for only a moment to scan it, the Daemon watched as more of them gathered next to the one that shot at it. Calculating the different courses of action it could take, it chose one that made the best sense.
Fleeing from the growing army of flying monsters, it pounced along the region's ground on all fours. It could hear the buzzing from the hornet-like creatures behind it and put in a bit more effort as it ran. Suddenly, it heard a sound that was becoming a bit too familiar.
Pew! Pew-pew!
Grunting, it tumbled as it immediately tried to halt its run. Right in front of it was a gathering of white orbs, going different directions as the same creatures that chased it shot at them. The program grimaced, bringing itself to a stand as its gauntlets appeared once more, "Hey, why are you creatures picking on some innocent orbs?" It pondered, shooting back at the red light shooting monsters.
"Daemon!" It snapped its head away from facing its target, staring at the white orbs. The voice that emitted from them...
"Professor?"
"Yes," The man sounded winded, even though the virtual world shouldn't leave him like that, "It's a surprise to find you roaming in this part of Lyoko, but I welcome it greatly. I have one more command for you."
Taking notice of the flying monsters trying to shoot at the orbs again, the purple cat attempted to continue fire at them, "What would that be, sir?"
"Protect the one I love from the monster I cannot stop." He begged, "Her name is Aelita, and I want you to see to it that in the end, she is happy."
"What about you?" It couldn't help but ask, "Where are you going?"
Like the first time it met him, the white orbs that were the Professor went quiet. But this time, it didn't take the approximate time of five minutes. It took only about a minute for it to respond, "I cannot confirm where I'll be going. All I can confirm is that you possess an ability that she cannot use and she has an ability you do not have. Use them wisely and follow both commands I have given you since you've arrived here." Another red laser stabbed at it, sending the purple cat program to the ground. It grunted, placing its paws against the ground to pull itself up only to have it fail by another red light hitting him square in the forehead.
A weird feeling suddenly consumed its digital body, making its body fade away into white and blue pixels. The process was slow, which allowed it to stare at the white orbs, "What's happening to me, Professor?"
"Everything will be okay for you, your reset will begin sometime soon. Just please, heed my commands once you return and-"
Whatever the Professor was trying to say to it cut off suddenly, the world becoming eerily silent. Something ate away at its alertness to its surroundings and everything became pitch black. Greeting the darkness, the purple cat drifted off in his forced shutdown and gave up trying to stay active.
...95%...
...100%...
Reloading complete. Virtualization process activated.
Awareness hit it like a train as it landed gracefully onto the familiar colorful land of chestnut and sandy brown. It looked to the sky, tilting its head to the side as it viewed the trees that were so tall that they disappeared into the sky. What had happened? Why did it feel so energized? After staring at the sky for a moment, it looked around the clearing. The monsters that attacked the Professor was gone and yet the orbs that made the man disappeared as well. How long was it since it had been active and roaming?
It scanned its memory to assure itself that there was no errors in it. Then, it accessed the daily programs that the supercomputer ran, looking over them to see what exact moment in time it was. It opened its mouth to emit a scream over the forest, "AH!" Raising its paws to its head in its panic, it pressed them to his head. It had been about ten years since it was activated. Ten.
Did that mean that if it experienced what happened with the flying creatures that it'd be shut down once again for that long of a time? "This can't be happening..." The blonde murmured, removing one of its paws from its head to place underneath its chin, "What a predicament. I haven't been activated to resume my commands in a long time. I better get back my duties as the Overwriting Debugging Daemon."
About to take off, its tail twitched as a voice boomed through its head much like the Professor's had before, "Maya, did you scream? Are you okay?"
Tilting its head at the sky, the program spoke up, "No, this 'Maya' did not. I did, though may I know who you are? You don't exactly sound like the Professor..."
"H-Hello!" The voice was a male, though it wasn't as deep as the Professor's. Could it be a child? "I'm Jeremie Belpois. Could I inquire who I am speaking with?"
Placing a paw against its chest, it beamed at the sky, "I am the Overwriting Debugging Daemon. Nice to meet you, Jeremie. Do you know where the Professor is, I'd like to ask about my programming in Lyoko."
"Lyoko? Professor? Sorry, I wouldn't know about either."
The program waved its paw, "Well Jeremie, the virtual world you have access to is called Lyoko. The sector your voice is being projected into is the Forest Sector. The reason why it's named that way? Well, there's a bunch of trees everywhere and the ground looks similar to the pictures of forest ground that I had looked up before."
Jeremie's voice hummed and much like the Professor's, the world didn't seem to hear him, "So you say. You appear to be very close to my friend, Maya. Could you go meet up with her?"
It nodded, its eyes skimming at the floor to track if any errors had blossomed during his deactivation. It looked like none had, thankfully, "Sure, why not? I have a little time before I head off and check over the other sectors to see if any programmings have changed or bugged up since my deactivation."
"Just head straight and you'll see a tower, Daemon." Ah, the towers. That brought back memories of correcting the sequence to allow transportation through them. It was a troubling time because it took about five hours to fix it. Five hours wasted away to find errors in other programming instead spent to fix one program. The feline-human pounced away along the grass shaded ground. Spending only three minutes running, it reached the tan shaded candle that was one of the many way towers of the forest sector.
"I'm here, Jeremie." It replied, walking to the big cylinder structure. It rested its paws against the wall, enjoying the beautiful blue ripples that gave away where the entrance.
"Good. Maya, this is the other person on Lyoko. It's a program dubbed the Overwriting Debugging Daemon." Sliding through the fake wall, the cat-human stumbled along the blue platform until it regained its balance. A girl with reddish-pink hair stood up from her seat on the middle ring of the platform, exchanging looks with it. Its amber eyes gazed at a shade of green that it hadn't seen with its time on Lyoko.
"Hello there," She greeted, walking over carefully to him, "You are a program that has existed on Lyoko for a while now, yes?"
"Of course! But pardon me Miss, I haven't seen you before. Would I call you Maya, like Jeremie has been before?"
The pink-haired girl shrank in on herself, a solemn expression on her face, "You don't know me either." Her tone was sad, obviously not accusing it for not knowing what she was.
It flashed a toothy smile, strolling to her. She looked like an elf human since her ears were pointed. Her left ear has a small dangle earring that crossed similarities to a fishing lure when it scanned the earring. Her attire consisted of a light pink-and-white mini skirt and a matching top that go over trousers and a long shirt that are both off-white, and matching shoes. She also has light pink, maroon-edged white arm warmers covering her lower arms, "Do not worry yourself Maya. You must have been what the Professor was working on when he sent me to keep check of Lyoko for him. You'll figure out who you are soon." It assured her, placing its paws on top of her shoulders. Its fur bristled at the touch, the feeling of something other than the stiff ground a blessing for once.
She chuckled, taking her hands to remove its paws off of her, "Your fur feels funny."
"Do you remember the last thing you had done before?" It asked her, dismissing what she said as it pulled back its paws. It rested them at its sides, staring at her with wonder. Could she recall anything?
"I... I think I was sleeping." She looked unsure, squeezing her hands.
"Sleeping? For how long?" Jeremie's voice echoed in its head again. Staring at the pink elf, the amber eyed feline-human watched as she walked away to face a window in the middle of the room. Following along, the program looked over her shoulder to stare at a blonde with thick glasses, crystal blue eyes and a blue turtleneck shirt. A headset was connected to his face, a microphone positioned near his mouth. The boy couldn't have been older than twelve, if the Daemon had to guess.
Maya pursed her lips, "I-I don't know."
"I might," It walked into viewing sight, beaming at the other blonde. The boy looked surprised at its form, like it had presumed it would look like the pink elf herself, "I have been deactivated for ten years. Maybe she has been as well?"
On the screen, Jeremie placed his hand underneath his chin, "Most likely," He then squinted at the screen, searching for something else before his eyes went wide in alarm, "Oh crap! I forgot about school! I'll see you two tomorrow, I promise. Just be careful, alright?!" Without another goodbye, the boy ripped off the headset and placed it out of view. He spun in the big chair he sat in before fleeing into what they couldn't see of the big green room with wires along the far walls. Maya raised her hand, carefully dismissing the small screen with just a tap of one of her fingers.
"Will you be staying here?" She wondered, her apple green eyes staring at him.
"I would like to scan the rest of the forest region before I stay in one place," It responded, "Then I will return to this tower and make sure you are safe until Jeremie's return," Walking back to the only exit of the large tower, the feline-human looked back at the pink elf, "I'll see you later, Maya."
She nodded, "Okay." The program smiled at her one last time before phasing through the wall. After taking in the sights of the wonderful view of the big trees and the large blue of the digital sea below, it ran off on all fours.
It had a job to do before it tried to learn about Maya and it couldn't just dismiss the command. After all, it was a program made to do what it was commanded to do. And the only two things that stuck out in its head was simple. One, to make sure no bugs or errors lingered in Lyoko. Two, to locate something on Lyoko that the Professor had ordered to keep safe and make them happy.
It should be simple enough. After all, it couldn't be that hard to find this 'Aelita', now could it?