Commando Wolf: "This takes place at episode 52… just a heads up. Not written by, me but by XANA-Aelita forever, on her first story."

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When the Lights Go Out…

Her hand rested on the switch of the supercomputer, her pink hair brushing against her cheek. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her mind wandered with thoughts of 'should I do this' and 'what would happen if I did this'. She shut her eyes tighter before opening them again, and her mind drifted to the endless memories of her, her friends, her past life, and the monster AI that terrorized them for years now.

How long ago was it that she was in the supercomputer, just awakened from her decade long sleep, curiously peering at the blond boy in front of her, in a world that was unknown to her at the moment. Was it a year ago? Two years maybe? She did not keep count of these things anymore.

Along with the moments of great joy she felt with the blond boy afterward, there can great times of responsibility, cleaning after the messes that XANA leaves, and preventing it from happening again with a press of a few keys, and a giant burst of energy righting the world back to its state. They all wanted to shut the demonic AI down, but for some reason she felt as if something was holding her back from shutting him down for good. There was.

It was a strain of digital code that he supposedly implanted in her, so that they could not shut him down without killing her in the process. They all were infuriated inside as they went to their respective living spaces that night. XANA had played his cards right, and slipped an extra Ace into his hand when they were not looking. XANA had played dirty in the past, and all he would ever do is cheat in the present and in the future.

It was all a game of poker with five kids and an AI playing. They had all laid their cards on the table, and had placed their bet. Most of the time, XANA had lost most of the games they had played, endlessly reshuffling the cards and starting over again. Aelita knew it was going to keep happening this way until somebody stopped it.

The team then learned that XANA had actually taken something from her this morning. Jeremie had announced to them that he had been searching for the wrong thing this whole time. She was of course, half listening, stirring the murky brown liquid they called soup, while not actually drinking it. After the revelation that she was Franz Hopper's daughter, she knew that this man, her father, had taken away the life that she once knew, and traded it for one that she was placed in an endless series of battles, dragging themselves to save the world, all while risking their own lives.

He was just a madman, convinced that he could take science into an extreme where any sane scientist had never dared gone before. He had experimented for an unknown period of time, eventually creating a supercomputer decades ahead of its time, capable of performing feats no other supercomputer could do. It housed an oasis called "Lyoko", where it was supposedly a safe haven, and an AI to help him with Project: CARTHAGE. It was XANA, who would one day gain sustenance, and break free from its virtual chains to rise up and attempt to rule over Earth.

Aelita knew that there was only one way to stop it dead in its tracks, and that option was now firmly gripped in her hands. Aelita took one final breath, and with all her strength, she pushed the switch down to the 'off' position. Within a few seconds, she closed her eyes for the last time, and as her body hit the floor, she fell into a blissful rest that was the most peaceful she had ever experienced in her entire life.

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Random afterquotes

Jeremie: "There were five,

And now there are four,

One of them lying lifeless on the floor."

Ulrich: "This... this is it...
the smoke clears,
We are the last ones standing,
We see the future...
and it... we cannot say..."

Yumi: "Turn off the lights...
Shut the door,
lock the windows,
As hope... is no more."

Odd: "As we four end this tale you see,

There are some things to be forgotten, uh… letsee…

Like moving on to the future that be,

Or worrying about the past, maybe."

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Author's Note, written by X.A.F.: Hey, all! I'm learning how to put stories on here, so until then, I'll just keep posting stuff here in CW's account. Thanks for reading! Afterquotes made by me and CW. CW did Ulrich and Yumi, and I did Jer and Odd.