Arno's foot tapped impatiently against the ground, his arms were crossed over his chest and his teeth were digging into his bottom lip. The two of them had decided to wait just on the inside of the factory, to avoid drawing unwanted attention, but it seemed that they had also avoided the only attention they had wanted. Maxwell was nowhere to be found, and it was currently a few minutes past the time they wanted him here.

"Why would he even have agreed to this?" Arno asked aloud. "Two students who just happen to have a coding journal approach him, and suddenly he's down to meeting them in an old and decrepit factory? Who in their right mind would agree to something like that?"

"That's a good question." Jonah sat beside where he stood, doodling in a journal he'd pulled out when Maxwell didn't show. "Honestly it does sound super sketchy when you put it like that." Arno groaned in frustration, then slid down the wall next to Jonah.

"If he's not here soon, I'm leaving."

"Or!" Jonah suddenly interjected. "We could go down and explore again!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Oh come on, why not?!"

Arno's frustration manifested in an almost pained groan, but that's all he managed before they both jumped in surprise as the sudden arrival of a new voice.

"Hey!" Called the voice. It was Maxwell. He stood in the open maw of the factory, panting and sweating from the tips of his hair.

"Geez, did you run to get here?" Asked Arno as he pushed himself up off of the wall.

"I don't speak French." He said. Arno and Jonah exchanged a confused glance, but Maxwell then corrected himself. "Little French. Little taller than little French." This did little more than little to clear up the confusion. When Max eventually stood fully back up, Arno motioned to his own face, trying to point out how his sandy skin was now flushed with red. He gave a little open mouthed head nod of understanding.

"I ran here." He confirmed. Arno rolled his eyes.

"Are you gonna be ok?" Asked Jonah. At last, Max took a breath long enough to calm his lungs, and he spoke again.

"I'm ok. Class was late and I'm excited to learn!"

"That's alright! Come on, I'll show you the way!" Jonah took a few slow steps along the concrete catwalk, and motioned for Max to follow, which he did. Arno waited a few moments, then did the same.

Along the way, Jonah explained everything that led up to the discovery of the super computer. He explained how the two of them had explored this place, and stumbled across the notebook in a special room. The more Jonah explained, the more vague everything seemed, and the more shocked that Arno was that Max had been convinced to come here so easily. Nonetheless, Maxwell followed Jonah as he explained, and the group went down the stairs, across the cavernous hall, then down the elevator shaft. The moment the elevator started to fall, Arno felt that same pit in his stomach resurface so strongly that his hand fled to his midsection to hold it. Fortunately this went unnoticed by the other two.

The car rattled as it fell to its destination, and as the ticks went on, and on, and on, Jonah struggled to find more explanation to fill the space. It wasn't until the car ceased to move, that Jonah hinted further at their discovery.

"This is the room we found the old journal in." He explained, as the door began to open with a hiss. The circular piece in its center began to spin, as two claw-like mechanisms were lifted from its top and bottom, The two cautionary bars at the top right and bottom left slid back, vanishing into the building outside of the elevator. At last, with a little jolt of electricity, the door began to slid open, the two halves splitting from the center, and moving left and right until the door made way for the outside room.

Jonah and Arno stood in silence, watching Max's jaw fall open as his grip on the book tightened over his chest. He took a few steps back as he watched the scene unfold before him, but the moment the doors were fully open, it looked almost like he was about to drop both the book, and his jaw, to the floor.

"What?" He whispered when he'd recovered from the shock. "What?" He repeated himself, his tone growing as he repeated his question twice more.

"Welcome to the party." Arno gave Max a firm clap on the back as he, followed by Jonah, stepped into the super computer room.

Max followed in turn, taking a few tentative steps into the room, as though the ground were about to collapse beneath him. His eyes scanned every detail in the room at least ten times, and his mouth hung open as his quivering arms held tightly to the book he kept held against his chest. His rattling seemed to remind him of what he held, and after looking back and forth between the computer monitors on the other end of the room, and the book, he quickly opened it and flipped through the pages.

Page after page, he thumbed through the book in silence, his expression of awe never leaving his face. Entire minutes were spent in this state of silent panicked reading, and all the while, Arno and Jonah stood off to the side.

"Yikes." Said Jonah. "Did we break him?"

"I'm surprised we didn't go through a similar phase." Arno replied. "Give him a few minutes. He's probably in a bit of a shock after-" He was cut off by a scream, one filled with such a variety of emotion that it was impossible to ascertain its core feeling. Max slammed the book shut and held it to his chest once again as his wail finally subsided, and he turned to the others with wide eyes, and an even wider grin.

"I have very many to say!"

"So this is a super computer?" Arno asked. Max nodded vigorously.

"Super power computer! So many programs, so much function!" He continued to flip through the pages, even after Arno and Jonah had taken a seat on the ground around him. He then turned the book around for them to see, and sketched into the pages he showed them, was a strange visual of a circle, with four fin like shapes on its top, bottom, left, and right, with a single word inscribed on the page. "Lyoko." Maxwell read aloud. He then went right back to flipping through the page. "A game. Very special game, virtual reality!" He struggled to explain in broken French, the rules and objects of the game. "One computer master, the rest are players. Players go into test tubes, and turn into... computers?" He groaned, snapping near his head trying to remember the word, then he found it. "Data! Players turn into data! Virtual reality!"

"So this is all some sort of game?" Asked Arno.

"That sounds like fun!"

"But who on earth would make something like this for a game? That doesn't make any sense. This entire place looks more advanced than anything I've ever seen, this can't be the work of a simple game dev." He turned his full attention back to Max. "Max, what's the goal of the game? How do we win?" Max looked back down, turning a few more pages before landing on the answer.

"To win," he explained, "you have to kill a sickness, Xana."

"Xana?" Asked Arno and Jonah simultaneously. Max nodded.

"Xana. Bad computer, villain. Players turn to data, kill monsters, defeat Xana, win!" Arno and Jonah exchanged two very different glances.

"Is this some sort of military training program? That has to be it, right? Who would go through all of this trouble to make a game, in a place where people like us could find it?" Max shrugged.

"That's it. The rest is code and computer talk." Arno sighed. He finally had the answers he was looking for, and yet he was no closer to understanding what this place was.

"We should try it out!" Jonah's suggestion broke Arno's thoughts, and he immediately scolded the boy.

"Jonah are you out of your mind?!" He exclaimed. "We don't know how to operate this thing!"

"I do." Both of the others turned to Max, who glanced back and forth between them. "Computer Major. This language is familiar. Give me one day, and I can read it." Arno turned from Jonah to Max, leaning in with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Are you sure?" Max nodded again, his smile growing wider.

"It's not that hard. Language salad." He tapped the cover of the notebook with his index finger, then the side of his head. "I'll have this learned before you can say 'I want a salad'."

24 hours was very rarely a long time, until you have to wait that long for something. Arno could barely get himself to sleep for a few hours that night, and even Jonah seemed a little lethargic when the sun rose on the next day.
"Well, today's the day." He stifled another yawn. He and Arno had met up at the gates, and Max told them he would meet them at the factory. Everything was beginning to come together, and Arno wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Nonetheless, he and Jonah slowly made their way to the factory, mostly in silence.

"Why aren't you more excited about this?" Asked Jonah, when the two of them had reached the elevator.

"Jonah, we don't know anything about this. How do you know this isn't going to backfire somehow?" The two of them stepped into the cabin, and Jonah pressed the button that brought the elevator to life. He then shrugged.

"I guess I don't. But what else are we going to do? Just leave the place to dust over?"

"There are some things that aren't worth touching."

"There are plenty of things worth touching, and you never know what they are until you do."

Arno huffed through his nose. He was still skeptical, but Jonah did have a point.

The tram came to a halt, shuffling as it powered down. The doors opened, and they stepped out. By this point, Arno was used to the feeling in his stomach, but somehow Jonah's unusual silence made it worse.

"Any idea when Max is going to be here?" He asked. Before Jonah could respond, they heard a small voice from the other side of the room.

"Hi!" Max called. He leaned over the side of the chair that sat before the computer, and waved over to the others.

"Hey!" Jonah called back, replicating the same motion. "You're early!"

"I'm early!" He echoed back. "I wanted electricity!"

"I'm not going to pretend to understand what you mean." Said Arno. He and Jonah stepped over to the set of monitors to join Max, who, after a moment's contemplation, made a strange motion. He pinched air between his fingers, and turned his hand, making a clicking sound with his mouth. Jonah raised an eyebrow.

"You're picking a lock?"

"Your car won't start?" Arno snapped his fingers. "Jumpstart." He realized aloud. "You wanted to get a jumpstart." Max nodded vigorously, pointing to Arno with a wide grin.

"Jumpstart!" He repeated. "I wanted a jumpstart!" He then turned his attention back to the book he held in his lap. He was on one of the final pages that had writing in it. Over half the book was blank, but the pages that did have data on them were full of information, more than Arno would've been able to absorb in a day. "I think I know." Said Max. "Easy, little difficult."

"Easy?" Arno crossed his arms over his chest. "That's easy?"

"It's easy for an art to art, a singer to sing."

"Pardon me for being a little cautious, but this seems hard to believe from someone who just struggled to say, 'it's easy for an art to art'."

"Go easy on him." Jonah poked Arno's side with his elbow. "He's doing his best. French isn't his strong suit."

"Clearly." Arno's response earned him another jab to the side, but Max seemed unfazed.

"The book is done." He said. Max shut the book, and placed it next to the keyboard. "Now, we start the machine."

Arno struggled to control his nerves. He knew that all he had to do was flip a lever, but the towering spire before him caused his legs to shake beneath him. In the back of his mind, all of his reservations gathered, screaming at him that this was a bad idea.

"This is a bad idea."

"Then let me do it." Jonah stepped up past him, but Arno's arm shot out to his side, stopping Jonah from proceeding.

"No." He barked, suddenly enough to stun Jonah into recoiling.

"Ok, alright." His hands shot to the sky as he took a few steps back. "Then by all means, go ahead." Jonah motioned over to the lever with his hands, holding them there as though directing Arno in its direction. He stood for a few moments longer, but then, took a few tentative steps in its direction. In the span of a few moments, he closed the distance, placed his hand on the bar, and dragged it down.

Suddenly, the machine roared to life, and both Arno and Jonah stepped back as the gold that shone from beneath the dark blue plates began to glow. It pulsed brighter, faster, as though the act of starting up had increased the computer's heart rate. The room, once cold, and darkened, was now beginning to light up like the sky, and the roar of the computer only grew louder as the lights pushed the darkness from the furthest corners of the room. This went on for about half a minute before finally, the light began to subside, the pulsing slowed, and the roar died down. The room, although still bright, was becoming still again.

"I think it's on." Jonah whispered, still cowering at the far end of the room.

"Yeah. Yeah I think it is."

The sound of the elevator doors sliding open made Maxwell almost leap from his seat. His head spun around, and a smile graced his face as he watched the others walk back into the room. He greeted them with a wave, then went back to studying the book for what felt like the hundredth time.

"It's on." Said Arno.

"Yes!" Maxwell cheered, throwing a fist into the air without taking his attention away from the book. "I learn again! It's simple." He turned to the others wearing a wide toothy grin. "Are you ready?" Max stared Arno down, but he cast his own gaze to Jonah, who stood behind him, shaking with glee and excitement. It didn't look as though either of them would take no for an answer.

"We're ready." Arno confirmed. He gave Max a little nod, which he reciprocated before bringing his fingers to the keys, and typing with wind-like swiftness a command that brought the computer screens to life.

All at once, each of the screens was lit up like the night sky, characters and commands streaming across them as the monitors woke up. Even Maxwell seemed stunned by the information, and leaned back in his seat as his eyes zipped back and forth, from screen to screen trying to absorb the information before it passed, but to no avail. Just as fast as the information had come, it was now gone, leaving the monitors blank, aside from the sea green screen saver.

Suddenly, the room became bright again as the center platform began to glow, first a very harsh white, then a variety of colors that began to form a strange set of shapes. A sphere settled in the air near the center, and around it the same four fin shapes that they had seen in the journal began to take form. Lastly, a sphere closed it all in, as though protecting it from the outside air.

The three children were now significantly unsettled. As the underground had sprung to life, Jonah had quickly attached himself to Arno, and Max now sat as far back in his chair as he could get. Even after everything was on, they were motionless, as though the slightest movement would activate more unfamiliar machinery. Only after they were certain that everything was said and done, did they begin to move again."

"What is this?" Arno took a few slow steps towards the holographic display, eyeing this strange world up and down with Jonah close behind him.

"Lyoko." Max answered, his voice leaden with awe and wonder, and a little bit of fear.

"This is incredibly high tech for a game, don't you think?" Arno reached out, nervously waving his hand through the suspended mirage. His hand, of course, passed straight through it, but he withdrew it quickly anyways. "Max?" He called out, but received no response.

"Uh! Uh, um um um!" Max hollered, the mere volume of his voice enough to make the other two jump. He then pointed to the elevator, jabbing a few times in its direction. "South! South!" He called.

"You want us to go back down?!" Arno's question earned another vigorous nod from Max. He then raised his hand above his head.

"One." He said, then lowered his hand. "Two." He lowered it again. "Three." Then he raised his hand back up, and settled it where position 'two' had been.

"Two? You mean a second floor?"

"Yes! Yes! Second floor, fast!" Max urged them to hurry with a single finger, poking it in their direction a few times before they took off to the elevator once again.

From the moment they'd entered the factory again, Arno's stomach was twisted into knots, but each discovery only made him feel worse, as though he was unlocking a door that should have never been touched. Even Jonah was stunningly quiet as the two had gone about activating the super computer. As they boarded the elevator, the young boy stood close to Arno, and his presence was (for once) comforting, to a degree. The car once again descended into the heart of the factory, but with Max's help, the elevator didn't stop at the bottom. Instead, it only went down what felt like a hundred feet before its doors began to open.

"Oh my god." Said Arno, as the scene unfolded before him.

Three steel tubes stuck out of the ground, each one raised a few inches and topped with massive wires that vanished into the ceiling. The entire room was awash with a bright orange glow that painted the walls in a golden hue, and each one of the tubes were humming with a strange song that faded in and out.

"Hello!" Max's voice boomed through the room, stunning the other two as they frantically looked around for the source of the disembodied voice. "Hello? Am I loud?"

"Loud and clear Max." Arno called back. "What are these?"

"Scanners!" Max replied, his voice a mix of happy excitement and fear. "Step inside, transform into data! Virtual reality!"

"What sort of mad man created this?" Arno said under his breath. "This is crazy. How do we even know this is safe?"

"Well," Jonah spoke up for the first time in minutes, stepping out from behind Arno. "There's only one way to find out." Then he turned his head skyward to address Max. "Do you know how to activate them?"

"Yes, yes I do." His response came between a few uncertain hums and the flipping of pages, neither of which inspired confidence in Arno.

"That doesn't sound too certain."

"I'm not looking you learn!" Max shot back with a huff before the flipping of pages took over the noise of the intercoms.

"This is crazy." Arno took a few shy steps into the center of the room to join Jonah. "This is crazy. We don't know if any of this is safe, and on top of that, Einstein up there doesn't speak enough french to possibly understand that notebook."

"But who in their right mind would deliberately make something that's unsafe?"

"Psychopaths!" Arno replied, turning to face Jonah. "I am not stepping in these tubes, and neither are you. Come on." He waved the boy to follow him and turned to board the elevator again. He hadn't taken more than a few steps before Jonah called out to him.

"What's that?" He asked, prompting Arno to turn around just in time to see the boy step into the tube.

"Jonah, no!" He yelled, and twisted himself around, barreling towards the steel pipe as Jonah once again turned his head to address Max's voice.

"Beam me up, Scotty!"

"Haha," Said Max, "That's a funny." The moment the words had left his mouth, the pipe quickly sealed itself, and Jonah was gone.

"Jonah!" Arno screamed, pounding his fist against the steel wall and calling out the boy's name again. "Jonah can you hear me?!"

"Virtualization!" Max struggled to say, as though he were reading from a script. "Jonah!"

"No, no! Max, stop it!" Arno called out again, but it was no use. Max wouldn't respond, and he heard the whirrs and growing hums of machines inside the tube. "No, no no no!" He growled, turning his attention to the other tubes. "Dammit." He spat, before taking a few swift steps to one of the other open machines. He pulled himself inside and spun around to face the rest of the room.

"Max!" He yelled. "Get me in there."

"Alright tall man!" He heard the sound of clacking keys above his head, and the door closed with a slam. "Virtualization, Arno!"

Suddenly, the tube filled with hot air, and Arno felt his clothes whip around him. He sealed his eyes, and his body became overwhelmed to an intense floating sensation, which slowly turned to a numbness that crawled up his legs, up to his chest, his arms, then his head.

"Jonah, if this goes wrong, I'm going to knock your lights out." He said, before the light of the tube vanished, and he was thrown into darkness.

Authors Note-

I've never, in my life, felt so productive. I'm trying to write as often as I can, but my writings are split between DnD work, school work, musical composition, and my own fiction book. My goal is to have these chapters out once a week, but they may be just a bit more or less frequent.

Thanks for reading. If anybody feels like donating, I can't post the full link, but it's /BlueWing10