Out of Darkness

Chapter 4: Reboot

27 December, 2019, 13:12

"Go!" Sissi shouted, practically shoving Zach down the stairs. As soon as the door was shut, Zach became engulfed in total darkness. With nothing else to do, he started to walk forward into the dark, moist sewers. It seemed like hours before he managed to get to an area underneath a manhole, giving him some light. He looked around the small walkway, trying to see as far ahead as possible so that he could plan his route forward. Ahead of him, the walkway made a sharp turn to the right, and then continued forward into darkness. "Well, I guess this is the way." He looked down at the charred, tattered collection of papers in his hand and continued walking.

He kept going straight on the path until it came to an end at a caged grate. He looked through the bars, but all he could see was the molding beige wall of the old factory. He leaned through the bars to get a better look, but he couldn't see much. Suddenly, cold water surged at his feet, making him jerk his head back. "What the hell?" He whispered. "Oh no." The sewers were flooding; just like they did every month to be sure no one was living down there. The cold water was rising fast, and wind was blowing through the tunnel, accompanied by the distant sound of rushing water.

Quickly, Zach looked ran to the left, where a slightly rusty ladder led up to the top of the bridge. He climbed the ladder as fast as he could, but when he got to the top, the hatch was stuck. "Damn it!" He swore as he pushed against the metal hatch. He popped the top off and climbed out of the tunnel right as the water surged to the top. Closing the lid, Zach ran towards the factory entrance. After making sure the factory floor was clear, Zach slid down the ropes that were hanging there, walked into the elevator and hit the down button.

Zach winced as the elevator shook, not used to the movement. While the elevator descended, he decided to take a look as Jeremie's near-destroyed programming notes. As he read, he noted the general format of the programs and protocols in the book. For a while Zach had owned a small notebook-type computer where he learned to program from Herve, but after Herve was drafted to X.A.N.A.'s personal task force, the computer was destroyed, and Nicolas was sent to the front lines of the revolution in China as punishment for owning a computer. Now, his old knowledge was flooding back as he flipped through his older brother's chicken scratch.

Most of it made sense, but a lot of it was burned and unreadable. A page about some kind of scanning process was scorched, leaving only the title and the first half of an equation. He closed the book just as the elevator came to a stop, and the doors hissed open, revealing an empty chamber in the middle. When he stepped into the room, the hatch opened, and mist rose from the floor. As the mist cleared, a massive cylindrical shape pushed up out of the hatch. "The supercomputer!" Zach breathed in awe as the evil machine that he had practically grown up hearing about came to rest at full height. Zach approached the computer cautiously, and examined the base. He found nothing unusual except for a single button next to suspicious looking panel with the all too familiar 'Eye of X.A.N.A.' on the front. He gingerly pressed the button, and the panel opened, revealing a switch. "Well, this is it, I guess." Zach said. He took a deep breath and flipped the switch.

In the blue depths of the digital sea, a light shone out into the darkness. Inside Franz Hopper's protective sphere, the Core of Lyoko materialized in its protective shields. A bubble appeared around it, and suddenly, it shot up into the water. Digital wire frames formed as the Lyoko Bubble took shape, panels appearing one by one as the virtual world restarted. Inside the inner sphere, the sectors took shape and the landscapes formed back to how they were before the shutdown. Sector 5 was the first to finish rebuilding itself, and as the last tower rematerialized in the blue sphere, a massive pulse of white light ran through the sectors. At each of the five way towers, Franz Hopper's spheres gathered and fed data into the glowing pillars. Inside the Sector 5 tower, a body was forming. Soon, the blue base filled with color and detail as William was restored within Lyoko. Just as the data passed by his face, his eyes opened, and the last bits of blue light receded into his own blue-grey eyes.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait and short chapter, but school's been really busy, and my motivation hasn't exactly been at it's peak. Hopefully I can finish another chapter before June, but it's not likely. Until then, guys.

~Villanseacow