Groggily opening her eyes, Keeva let out a yawn, before turning her attention to her laptop. A quick examination revealed that last night's download had gone off without any significant problems, though apparently the download had taken longer than expected - security stuff, it seemed. As it was, there were now a couple dozen odd programs that needed code repair. Two were programs that Tron had personally worked with. Getting them fixed would be easier since they weren't from a city close to ground zero, but even if they took a while to repair, not only did the Grid run much faster than Earth did, there were no classes today - perks of starting class on Friday.

XXXXX

"So, how are things going?"

Lamarr glanced up from her desk. "Good. All the newly arrived programs have been moved to the resequencer for code repair. We're just about ready to start."

"Excellent."

"You got any particular programs in mind you want to start working on?"

"Five - I believe they were named Beck, Paige, Zed, Mara, and Able?"

"I'll send them over to your designated bay. Don't keep them waiting."

XXXXX

With an exhausted yet triumphant sigh, Keeva removed the final aberrance in the coding. Now, there was only one program left that she needed to help. Working through the damaged bits of coding was tedious and difficult, but Keeva didn't mind. Helping others was never the wrong thing to do. Besides, examining the coding and, by extension, memories of programs often yielded great insights into their character.

Setting aside the pod marked "Zed", Keeva took a moment to think back over all of the programs she had helped repair...heal...fix. First was Beck, also known as the Renegade. After losing his friend Bodhi to the occupation, Beck had destroyed a statue of Clu as an act of defiance. This had caught Tron's attention, and had eventually resulted in the latter taking Beck under his wing, in the hopes of leading Argon City to rise against Clu. Aiding Beck (at first in secret) was Able, the owner of the garage that Beck worked at. He had been a long-time friend of Tron and had initially opposed letting Beck get involved in resisting Clu until circumstances forced things otherwise. As for Zed and Mara, they were Beck's coworkers and friends, with Mara being outgoing and adventurous compared while Zed was the more cautious and paranoid. Also, Zed was carrying a torch for Mara, but she was too enamored with the Renegade to notice. Funny.

Now onto the one known as Paige. Her mom had been particularly insistent about helping this one, and had sounded almost...sad when mentioning Paige. Keeva had no idea why, but she had a feeling that she would find that out by the time she was finished repairing her code.

Now what needed fixing?

...Error coding.

...Grid bug bite.

...Code Worm injury.

On and on the issues were found and addressed, until the last one was fixed. Now she was, effectively, good as new.

Now to see what had made her mom seem almost...guilty about Paige. Taking out the soldier's Identity Disk, Keeva started looking at her memories.

...Early life memories.

...First meeting some friends.

...Opening up a clinic. Unexpected, but interesting.

...There! There was when her mom entered the picture.

...Oh.

Oh.

So that was why.

Keeva made a mental note to ask her mom for the opportunity to look at her disk later. She needed to see both sides of the story.

XXXXX

"Finished with repairs, I see."

"Yes, Mu. I am. Also be warned that I will need to perform a system update for my laptop once I leave the grid. Be prepared for system stasis when that happens."

"Of course, my User."

Keeva raised an eyebrow. "You know that I don't like being addressed in that manner."

"I do. But your reaction is amusing."

"sigh. Fine. Just make sure things don't go wrong."

"They won't."

XXXXX

XANA watched as the girl left the Grid. She was an enigma - he could see traits in her coding that clearly matched up with being a human, but also some that were more abstract and closer to him. It made her an indescribable oddity, and that made the AI's code cook. Still, he was patient - he would examine them in detail later.

As the computer began to run its update process, XANA checked the special package he had prepared with the Scyphozoa. It contained choice code from Lyoko that would make dealing with this world easier. However, they carried their own drawbacks - they would need to be created in real time, and conversation from the programs in this world indicated that time cycles on the Grid were greater than those in what they called the Analog World.

The system update the girl needed eliminated that issue - it would force the Grid to operate on Analog time until it was finished. He'd already modified his special programs to activate after the reboot, thus avoiding the notice of the local Programs.

Of course, there was the problem of the Lyoko Warriors. How to deal with them?

...Yes. That would do.

XXXXX

Fifteen minutes after Keeva left the grid, one of the sockets in her room began to spark. Moments later, a hazy black form began to emerge from it - a polymorphic specter. As soon as it was free from the outlet, the spectral entity scanned the room, swiftly identifying its target. Moments later, it surged into the laptop, which flickered for a moment before displaying the eye of XANA.

XXXXX

Oh how Mu hated system restarts.

She knew that they were necessary for her User's laptop, and by extension this interation of the Grid to continue functioing, but they were so...ugh! They sucked!

Now, though, the restart and update was completed, allowing business as usual to resume in the Grid. Of course, that meant going over all the issues the restart had caused - which fell squarely upon Mu to solve.

First off, look for any signs of intrustion.

'...Wait, something had tried to sneak in just before the reset? And it had managed to modify the Grid?! The fuck?! What had it done?'

Surprised by notification, Mu had hastily activated a set of drones and sent them to search for the target areas. At first, she saw nothing, but soon, she found that several of these locations had things that looked like pillars guarded by what she thought were Grid Bugs. On closer examination, she found that the suppossed Grid Bugs had a different color scheme, body plan, and leg number, and that they had a strange eye symbol on them-wait a minute. Eye symbol?

...Oh shit.

Moments later, the pillars suddenly changed, appearing to expand and split as a red haze surrounded them.

...Oh fuck.

XXXXX

Within Kadic's cafeteria, the six Lyoko Warriors were all taking a moment to enjoy a peaceful breakfast. Fruits, cereals, and a small amount of bacon were shared as the team worked to break the ice and make their newest member feel welcomed.

That included sharing some minor personal details.

"Hey, guys? Can you answer me something about Lyoko?"

"Sure," was Jeremie's reply. "What do you want to know?"

"So, the only way to avoid getting hit by Return to the Past is to be scanned into Lyoko, correct?"

"Yes," confirmed Aelita.

"So that means all of you have been to Lyoko, right?"

Jeremie suddenly had a sinking feeling where this conversation was going, but answered nonetheless. "We have."

Keeva took in a deep breath. "Okay. So, here's my question, Jeremie: what do you look like in Lyoko?"

The world seemed to stop for a moment. The five original Lyoko Warriors all froze up, shocked expressions plastered upon their faces. The silence lasted only a molent, though, as soon it was replaced by the stifled laughter of Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich. Jeremie, meanwhile, was trying to hide a blush, while Aelita apologetically put her hand on his shoulder.

Keeva blinked in surprise at that reaction. "Wow. Must be an embarrassing shape."

"It's not!" Defended Jeremie, but the still present blush indicated otherwise.

"Could you at least tell me what it is?"

Both Odd and Ulrich opened their mouths to speak, only for Yumi to cover the Italian boy's mouth and shoot a dirty look at German one. The two took the hint and shut up.

As for Jeremie?

"...Someday, maybe."

Keeva took the hint to drop the subject. For now.

"Alright, I won't probe! I'm sorry."

Jeremie's expression softened. "It's alright. Sorry if I overreacted. Odd has...never let me live down that look."

Despite still being gagged by Yumi's hand, his expression made it obvious that Odd was smirking.

"I understand. Look, I need to check some things on my computer. Catch up with you guys after that?"

The group had no objections, and soon Keeva was making her way back to her room.

Yumi glanced at Jeremie. "Are you and Aelita going to spend the day restoring Lyoko?"

"That's the plan."

"Okay. Just call us if anything comes up - XANAs never taken such a short break between attacks."

"He's spent more than a semester inside the internet. He might've found ways to enhance himself beyond what the supercomputer could manage. I'll run the super scan when we get to the factory just to be safe. What about you three?"

"We're studying!" Shouted Odd.

Aelita and Jeremie both glanced at him with wide eyes. Ulrich and Yumi, however, hardly reacted.

"Really?"

"Yep. It's a...favor to Ulrich."

Jeremie turned his attention to Stern. "What did Odd do this time?"

"Actually, we both volunteered to help," was Yumi's response.

Now it was Aelita's turn to speak up. "Why?"

Ulrich let out a sigh. "My dad's been getting unhappy with my grades. Again."

"Oh/oh." Nothing else needed to be said.

XXXXX

Closing the door to her room, Keeva pulled up her chair and opened her laptop.

"Alright, Mu, time to see how you and your friends are doing."

Selecting her 'Grid Observation' program, Keeva set it to start running...only for nothing to happen.

"...That's odd."

She tried the program again, but it did not start.

A third try was made, and the results were the same.

Groaning, Keeva pulled out her phone and dialed Mu's number. When the program picked up, she didn't waste any time with introductions.

"Mu, what is going on-"

"We're under attack!"

What? "What?"

"Something found its way onto the Grid after you installed the system updates. I don't know what it is, but it created these towers and weird monsters that are attacking the Grid-"

"Did you say monsters?"

"Um, yeah, I did."

"What do they look like-"

Before Keeva could finish the question, a new symbol appeared on her laptop - that of a familiar, malevolent eye.

"...Oh no."

Surprised by the eye's appearance, Keeva reached out to it, and promptly got shocked. Grimacing, Keeva recoiled her hand, though not before showing a certain finger to XANA.

"My lady, what happened?"

"I got acquainted with the invader."

"Oh. You know if it?"

"It's XANA."

"...oh."

"Yeah. Look, I'm going to hang up now - need to call this in to our new friends."

"Alright. Good luck."

"Bye."

Ending the call, Keeva stood up and barged out of her room, shocking Millt and Tamiya as she did so. Hastily shutting and locking her door, Keeva raced toward the factory, nearly shoving Sissi out of the as she did so.

This was probably going to be a problem later, but that would be handled later. Right now, she had more pressing concerns to handle.

XXXXX

"Running the superscan now."

Mentally, Jeremie noted that saying it was a superscan was misleading - Sector Five had exactly three towers (the 'normal' ones each had twenty one). Still, after spending so long using the superscan, he'd gotten used to it-and it had just sent back a positive scan. Great.

"Jeremie-"

"I know. I'm calling everyone now-"

Before Jeremie could actually send out the call, his phone started ringing. Examining the caller ID, he was surprised to find that it was Keeva calling him. Hitting accept, he put the call on speaker.

"Jeremie, we have a problem."

"That makes two. I just found an active tower and-"

"I know. XANA is attacking my laptop."

That threw Jeremie and Aelita for a loop. "What/what?!"

"I tried logging in after breakfast, and XANA's eye showed up on my laptop, which then shocked me. I tried contacting Mu and got her in the middle of what sounded like a war zone until we ended the call. I'll keep trying, but I don't know what to do right now."

"Alright, I understand. We'll get Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich informed while you're on the way. Just be warned, I'm sure that deactivating the tower will stop XANA here."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

XXXXX

Mu smiled as the 'creeper' exploded, leaving a mess of pixels where it had once stood. Four similar piles tested nearby, a testament to Mu's fighting skill. She allowed herself a moment to bask in her victory before turning northward, where the tower stood in defiance of the grid.

The towers numbered twenty one in total. Each of them was guarded by monsters, which they seemed to be producing in rapid time. Any losses they suffered were soon replaced, which was certainly a boon for them here. With so many programs able to oppose them, the creatures dropped like flies - Megatanks, in particular, soon learned to fear true tanks.

Still, the fight was no going in their favor - while a few groups had a managed to rest control of a tower away from the program known as XANA, actually deactivating them was more difficult. Apparently, one needed special code to interface with them, and that code was not something they possessed. It was highly likely that the one known as Aelita had such code, in which case figuring out a way to copy it from her was of paramount importance. First, though, there was the more immediate problem of not getting derezzed.

A ringing noise turned Mu's attention away from the conflict. Breathing a sigh of relief upon recognizing it, Mu opened up the communicator call. "Ms. Keeva, how are things going sorting this out?"

"I'm heading over to the supercomputer so that we try and deal with XANA on Lyoko. Once we're done there, I'll head back to the Grid in case deactivating the tower doesn't stop him."

"I don't think it will - he's made several additional towers on the Grid."

"...Oh."

"Also, he seems to be air dropping in monsters using...glowing orbs."

"...Keep talking."

"Well, if you're asking that of me, then you should know that Beck, Paige, Abel, Zed, and Mara are probably going to wake up soon."

"...I'll pick up the pace."

"Many thanks!"

A distant roar suddenly echoed through the Grid.

"...Did the monsters break into the biological simulation sector?"

"Yep."

"Ugh. This is gonna be so weird when we get there."

XXXXX

It took some time, but the six Lyoko Warriors were able to reach the factory and supercomputer. Though to say that the circumstances of their trip to Lyoko were odd was putting it mildly.

"So," recapped Odd, "we need to go into the virtual world of the supercomputer to stop XANA from controlling Keeva's computer, which contains the virtual world of the Grid, or at least one version of it?"

Aelita and Jeremie nodded.

"Glad we're on the same page. So, Einstein, what's the plan?"

"Our normal strategy for beating XANA - get virtualized, get Aelita to deactivate the tower, then back to Earth. Then, if the Grid is still under attack, we'll use her lasers to scan into the Grid and solve things there."

Odd raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just send us to the Grid from Lyoko? Maybe through an email?"

Jeremie's expression hardened. "I can do many things, but you're asking me for a miracle."

Odd opened his mouth to speak again, only for Ulrich to put a hand on his shoulder. "Just let Jeremie do what he can, Odd."

Odd glanced at Ulrich for a moment, then sighed. Later, then.

XXXXX

XANA watched as his foes arrived in Lyoko. It didn't take them long to reach the active tower, which he had guarded with a small horse of monsters. Predictably, they cut through his forces with relative ease, only suffering a few hits in return. This time, though, XANA did not care about the loss - he had already completed his task here. And that provided him with a rare opportunity to humiliate these Lyoko Warriors.

XXXXX

Jeremie smiled as the last of the Mantas was destroyed. "Great work. Aelita, get to the tower now!"

The pinkette moved to do just that...only to watch in shock as the tower deactivated on its own.

"...That was fast."

"Jeremie, I didn't deactivate the tower."

"What? You mean XANA deactivated it?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure why-"

"He got what he wanted," was Keeva's reply.

Everyone else in Lyoko glanced at her, so she continued. "I think he just wanted to keep us from getting onto my laptop. Since he deactivated the tower, I'd assume he either has it under his control, or he just thinks our interference won't matter anymore. I'm really hoping it's the latter."

Jeremie rolled his eyes. "While there have been exceptions, XANA usually loses if he thinks he has already won. I'll get you all devirtualized so that-"

Before Jeremie could finish, a glowing orb suddenly flew through the sector, putting the Lyoko Warriors on high alert and provoking a surprised reaction from Belepois. Instead of engaging them, though, it flew toward a newly created group of creepers and fired off several tendrils of light, each of which connected with a monster and tugged it inside of the sphere. When the last monster was within, the sphere returned to the air and surged out of the dome.

"What was that thing?" Questioned Jeremie, finally regaining the ability to speak.

Keeva had an idea about that. "If the call I got from Mu before getting here is any indication, I think that is XANA's version of a transport."

All eyes were now on the Flynn girl. "Huh?"

"What I mean, Odd, is that they're being used to transport monsters from Lyoko to the Grid. Somehow."

"...Wait, XANA can do that?"

Yumi let out a sigh. "Odd, we are in a computer. I don't think there is much XANA can do here."

"Yumi's right," concurred Jeremie, "but I think this might actually be to our advantage, Odd."

"Really?"

"Yes. Earlier, I told you that I couldn't send you to the Grid using Lyoko."

"I remember."

"These spheres change that - I can't make one of my own, but I might be able to hack one so that you can travel to the Grid. XANA apparently made a lot of them, and still has a few heading here to pick up monsters."

"Anything we can do to help?" Asked Ulrich.

"Surround one and isolate it. That should let me hack it without the risk of it fleeing. I'm sending over your vehicles now."

"Thanks Einstein, but what will you do once we get on the sphere?"

"...I don't follow."

"If the Grid is running on Keeva's computer, then you won't be able to do anything to it once we arrive there."

"...Oh, right. Hmm..."

"Why don't you come with us?"

Everyone froze up for a moment, then slowly turned to Keeva.

"...What?"

"You won't be any use here, I don't know if my laser scanners will accept you in the dorms, and you have a Lyoko avatar, so you should have some offensive ability."

"True but-"

"I know that your avatar is embarrassing, but we'll need all the help we can get once we're on the Grid."

"I know, but-"

"Jeremie," interrupted Aelita, "Keeva has friends on the Grid who will be killed if we don't stop XANA. Could you do this for her sake?"

Jeremie thought for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. But no laughing!"

XXXXX

It wasn't too hard to corral one of the spheres, especially when the group had access to a light jet. Once the sphere was isolated, Jeremie worked his magic, and five minutes later the sphere was under their control. Three minutes after that, Jeremie arrived in Lyoko.

Of the original Lyoko Warriors, only Aelita did not have to work to avoid laughing. As for Keeva?

"...That's what you look like here?"

"Yeah. I'm not exactly proud the look."

Keeva had a decidedly nonplussed look . "There are worse things in the world than looking like Peter Pan."

"Oh. Uh, thanks."

"You're welcome. But I would like to know how you attack with that avatar."

Jeremie raised his hand. What looked like a fairy emerged from nowhere and shot a ball of energy in the distance.

"...Now that is something to be embarrassed over. You have my sympathies."

Jeremie stifled back a Moab of despair. "I'm not even a big Peter Pan fan," he whimpered.

XXXXX

XANA watched idly as the humans hijacked one of his transport spheres and used it to traverse the digital sea. They would certainly reach the Grid intact, but what could they do there? He had finished constructing all but three towers in this new digital world, so unless they were tenacious enough to deactivate all twenty one - without, of course, getting devirtualized - they had already lost.

True, the local programs were putting up a valiant effort to defeat him - even managing to give William some trouble - but they would fall in time. These humans and programs would need a miracle to defeat him now.

XXXXX

The Lyoko Warriors exited the sphere as soon as it came to a halt, each stop a vehicle - Odd atop his Overboard, Keeva atop her light cycle, Jeremie and Aelita on the Overwing, and Yumi and Aelita upon the Overbike. If any of them had complaints about this arrangement, none were talking.

Surging down the first road they found, Keeva called up Mu while trying to plot a course to the nearest tower which, unsurprisingly, was now active. Of course XANA would bring these here.

After a few moments, Mu finally picked up. "Hello, Lady Keeva. I'm so happy you're here!"

"Awfully emotive of you to say that."

"Things have been crazy for the past hour."

"True enough. How are things going, and don't say crazy, because that's obvious."

"Since you ruled out crazy, I will say slow. We're stuck in a stalemate with the invading entities, though they've managed to activate most of the towers l, which seem to be spawning more monsters, who are defending the towers, which is making an endless feedback loop that will eventually overwhelm us via attrition."

"Understood. Anything else of note?"

"One of the biological research simulation sector's specimens is near your location."

"...Is it big?"

"Yes."

"I'll keep that in mind. Is that all?"

"XANA has deployed a humanoid entity to try and oppose us. Is this the User known as William?"

"If he's surrounded by black smoke, has XANA's symbol on his chest, and wields a stupidly big sword, then yes."

"Is he headed our way?"

"Not yet."

"Keep us posted."

"I will. And the five programs you helped repair are about to wake up."

"...Darn it!"

"Ms. Mu?"

"Yes, User Jeremie?"

"Which tower is closest to our location?"

"As it so happens, that would be the one closest to the Code Resequencer."

"Then how about we head there first?"

"I have no objections, but all of you should stop driving now."

Surprised by the suggestion, the group did just that. Aelita was the first to inquire "why?"

Mu's response? "Look up."

The group did just that, and blanched as a recognizer descended from the sky, eventually impacting some distance in front of them.

"You're welcome."

The six could practically feel the smugness radiating off of Mu.

"Should we check on the crew?" Wondered Yumi.

"They all ejected, aside from some coliseum armoring drones."

"What are those for?"

"If you must know, Mr. Stern, they are meant to provide programs in the games with armor. And provide users with grid appropriate attire. And they can be very forceful with that."

"How bad could it be?"

"When my dad first showed up in the Grid, a group of sirens - which fulfilled the same role as the drones - laser Ed off all his clothes except his underwear before putting on the program clothes. And despite how that sounds, my dad didn't like it that much."

"Oh."

"You think we could salvage armor from these drones?"

Mu thought for a moment. "It is possible, User Jeremie."

"Then let's give it a try."

No one had objections to that, and the group swiftly made their way to crash site. A few minutes of searching eventually found one of the drones to be still operational. Hastily, the group tried to activate it.

It then became obvious there was a problem with their plan.

"How do you wake this thing up?" Asked Ulrich.

"...Maybe we can hit it awake?" Offered Odd.

Keeva rolled her eyes. "Maybe tapping it would be better...wait."

The group did just that as Keeva put her hand on the drone and concentrated. Moments later, it was online.

When she noticed the stares she was getting, Keeva blushed slightly. "Users get special abilities inside the Grid. I wasn't sure if this was one of them. It looks like it is."

The drone scanned all of the Lyoko Warriors while Keeva was explaining things, but its attention was centered on Jeremie. "Program, your combat armor is insufficient for the level of conflict in this area. You will be provided with appropriate equipment."

As glad as Jeremie was at receiving new armor, the fact the drone singled out him for it did sting his pride. "Understood."

"Accessing armor systems...warning: new armoring system detected. Activating code now."

The group was surprised by those words, and that only grew when the drone fired a laser at Jeremie. Instead of harming him, though, the light caused his outfit to glow, at first green, but soon changing to blue. As it did so, the outfit itself changed, becoming longer and gaining more pronounced sleeves. The beam also caused several fairies to fly out from around Jeremie, with some changing form and shifting into more mechanical shapes. Two even turned into what looked suspiciously like guns. Soon, the light faded, and the group finally got a good look at Jeremie's new outfit.

Instead of the Peter Pan look-alike he had before, Jeremie's attire now looked like a cross between a lab coat and a wizard's robes, all colored blue, and was also in possession of a mechanical backpack of sorts, which seemed to relate to the fairies and robots now circling around him.

"Huh. Didn't expect that," admitted Odd. "Guess you're now a computer wizard."

Rolling her eyes at the pun, Aelita focused on Jeremie. "What can you do now, Jeremie?"

"I'm not sure," replied Jeremie as he tried to examine his new form. A few over curious fairies, however, were making that a bit difficult. Eventually getting fed up with their intrusions, Jeremie swatted one away...which promptly caused one of the floating guns to fire, hitting a junction on the rectifier. The resulting explosion sent everyone flying, and they soon landed a short distance away, with Keeva leaving a spear in the ground near her.

"Einstein-"

"I'm sorry."

Slowly standing back up, Jeremie flicked his hand, which ended up creating a strange geometric pattern to his surprise. Said pattern made Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd glow for a moment, and when that faded, they found themselves feeling much better.

"...Did you get healing powers, Einstein?"

"...Maybe?"

Keeva, watching this from where she had landed, decided to try something out, and slammed her spear into the ground. The nearby spear burst, but instead of harming Ulrich, Yumi, and herself, all of them felt rejuvenated.

"...Huh. Neat."

"Have we...ever had a way to restore life points in Lyoko before?"

Jeremie glanced over at a very surprised Ulrich. "Excluding having Aelita hide in a tower? No."

"I know you're in the middle of what sounds like a very important discovery, but could you hurry up? We're in the middle of a war here."

Blushing slightly, the group boarded up and prepared to take off, only to find a manta heading there way...which was promptly eaten by a...

"...Is that dinosaur?"

"Yes, Odd. That was a dinosaur."

"...How did you get a dinosaur in here?"

"I wondered what would happen if I tried to use the Grid to access a video game. This is the result. The programs liked it and made an entire biological research sector that has program animals living in it like a giant zoo."

"...I see."

"Yeah. And we should get moving."

XXXXX

The broken program watched as the six users barreled down the road, making their way to the code Resequencer. Moments later, he followed atop his old light cycle.

The program has been rezzed for a long time, long enough to remember when Flynn had walked on the Grid. It remembered when the son of Flynn had coke to the Grid, and when his escape and Flynn's sacrifice had shattered the Tron System. He had been damaged horribly by this, but in time, he had pieced himself back together. And in the time he had taken to restore himself, he had watched and waited until at last the users had returned. He had observed from the shadows as they had worked to salvage the Grid, and that had led him here, to the Grid created by the granddaughter of Flynn.

He had judged her from the shadows, and he had found her worthy.

So now he followed her, just out of sight. Perhaps he would reveal himself to her later, but he needed more observation before making that decision.

XXXXX

After several moments of blinking, Beck's vision came into focus. Groggily, the male engineer program awakened and sat up, mind still adrift.

Glancing around, he found that he was in what appeared to be a medical bay, and that he was not alone - nearby him were four other programs: Able, Zed, Mara and...Paige?

All of them seemed to be only just waking up...wherever they were.

"Ugh, what happened last night-Beck?"

"Yeah Zed?"

"...Where are we?"

"That's a question I'd like answered as well."

All eyes turned to Paige. The minute they recognized her as an occupation program, Mara and Zed became nervous, though Mara proved better at hiding this.

Able, however, was not intimiated by Paige. "How'd you end up here?"

Paige merely raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, but even if I did, do you think that's really something I'd tell you, a civilian?"

Able thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. But before anyone else could speak, the group heard a new sound, or rather, new sounds. None of them had any recognizable sources, but Beck and Paige both realized what kind of scenario would produce them - battle.

Just as the two were about to speak up, an explosion blew a hole through the far wall of their medical bay. Through it came a strange, spindly creature, followed by a program carrying a staff. Charging with all their might, the program impaled the creature through its head, which caused it to explode moments later, leaving behind an utter mess of pixels.

All of the gathered programs could only stare on in shock at this sight, at least until the staff-wielding program finally noticed their presence. Somewhat sheepishly, she deactivated her helment, leaving her face exposed. It was only then that they noticed she had a non-standard uniform, with flowing portions that didn't match up with anything the programs had ever seen.

It was, predicatably, Paige who broke the silence. "Who are you-"

"Ms. Keeva, the programs have woken up-oh, you already saw."

The group watched in surprise as another program appeared, this one looking just like the newly named Keeva.

"Yeah, I did." Keeva then turned her attention to Paige. "My name is Keeva, that is Mu, you're in Silicate City, and we're in the middle of a battle right now."

A distant explosion and followup tremor accentuated that point.

"Listen, I know that one of you was...is a soldier, but we need all the help we can get. So if any of you have some combat experience, please follow me. Otherwise, find somewhere to hide."

Wanting both answers and to not be shown up by a civilian program, Paige stepped up to the challenge. Much to her surprise, though, so did Beck.

"You have combat experience?"

"I believe you tried to arrange for me and another program named Cutler to be killed by Light Cycles at the games?"

Zed and Mara both stared slack jawed a Paige upon hearing that comment, while Able rolled his eyes at the memory. As for Paige?

"...Point taken." Then she turned her attention to Keeva. "You had better give us answers after this."

"I will, now follow me!"

XXXXX

Hastily, the group made their way outside, where they found five other strange looking programs engaging a veritable horde of creatures, which all seemed to be centered around a strange tower with a red haze around it. Only now did it become apparent to the duo just how crazy things were getting, and how desperate the odds were.

"Wow. Never seen anything like that," admitted Beck.

"Me neither."

Both noticed something red in the air, and were shocked when a strange red quadruped suddenly came into existence in front of them. The creature stared at them for a moment, charging up what appeared to be a laser, only to be blasted by a much larger laser, causing it to explode. The source of said laser turned out to be one of the five strange programs, who was surrounded by strange bit-like entities flying around him, as well as a pair of flying guns of some sort.

"Did you bring friends, Keeva?"

"Yes. These are Paige and Beck," she said, gesturing to the appropriate program as she spoke.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jeremie."

Further introductions were precluded when the screech of a manta filled the air. Turning toward it, the group felt a tinge of nervousness as the form of William appeared atop his manta. Before anyone react, though, a light jet buzzed by the manta, spooking it and nearly cause William to tumble off. Enraged by the stunt, William gave chase, taking a bit of pressure off the group.

"...Who was that?" asked Beck,

"No idea," was Jeremie's reply, "but the help is appreciated."

"Jeremie, this is Aelita, ready to make the push?"

"Yes Aelita."

"Who's Aelita?"

"She's a program with the code needed to deactivate those towers. It's the only way to stop the monsters from spawning."

That explanation didn't explain much to Paige. "What exactly is going on here?"

"To greatly simplify things, a malicious program is invading this portion of the grid and is using the towers as anchors and factories to create disposable warriors. Does that answer you question?"

"...Yes, actually."

"Then please, help us push forward. And a word of advice: hitting these creatures in the eye symbol will instantly destroy them."

Upon hearing this, Paige and Beck both noticed a group of bloks heading their way. Deciding to test the statement, they drew and threw their disks at the monsters, each hit striking one of their eyes. Moments later, those bloks were pixels.

"...Thanks for the advice."

"No problem. Oh, and you'll need these," was Jeremie's answer, accompanied by him handing them two batons. Moments later said batons became light cycles.

"Ready?"

"Yes/yes!"

"Then let's go!"

XXXXX

Atop their vehicles, the Lyoko Warriors and their program allies charged toward the tower. Getting close was no easy task - it was guarded by a horde of monsters, including numerous tarantulas, creepers and mantas, alongside krabs and mega-tanks. Of those, the Mega-Tanks prooved easiest to defeat - creative usage of light ribbons obliterated them before they could open fire. The mantas too found themselves vulnerable to light ribbon, with four in particular making the mistake of trying to isolate Paige and Beck. The two simply shared a look, outmaneuvered the mantas, and left them to crash into the ribbon walls.

Some dsitance away, William found himself engaging the broken program, who had crashed his jet into William's manta, leaving both on the ground. Disk clashed with zweihander as program and user fought, though of the two, the program was the more cautious, avoiding most of William's strikes and only moving in to attack if an opening presented itself. At one point, William had the program pinned to ground, only for his foe to surprise him by putting his palm to said ground, causing the floor to disintegrate. The program used the moment of free fall to extract himself and resume the fight on the next level.

From above, XANA watched all of this, and for the first time in the day, he began to feel worried. The Lyoko Warriors were doing better than he had expected, and were getting very close to the tower. Hastily, he had all nearby forces concentrate on the Lyoko Warriors, eventually managing to disable all of their vehicles. For the programs, though, this was hardly an inconvience, and both Beck and Paige angled their cycles so that the wrecks tore holes through the lines of mosnters guarding the towers, following them up with disk throws that further cleaved through his forces. Deciding to not take any chances, XANA had his forces fire on the ground between them and the Lyoko Warriors, eventually causing it to be destroyed. Now, an artificial canyon stood between the towers and his foes, saving him from harm at least for now.

XANA wondered if they would be able to figure out a work around before William bested his foe. It didn't seem likely.

XXXXX

"Any ideas Einstein?"

"None right now, Odd."

"Can't we just go around?" asked Paige.

Jeremie shook his head. "Too many enemies. Our best path is through...well, was through."

"Really?" asked Beck. "So what do we do now? Hope a miracle from a User happens?"

Keeva glanced at Beck. "Define miracle."

"I've heard some programs say that Users could alter the grid by just putting their hands on the ground. Not really something I'd want to bet on."

"Anything relating to Users would be sedition," noted Paige.

Neither program noticed the look on Keeva's face at that remark, or how she had turned her attention to her hands. They only started paying attention when she stood up and moved toward the edge of the canyon.

"What are you doing?"

"You aksed for a miracle," was Keeva's reply as she started to kneel. "I'm about to see if I have one in me."

The group all shared a confused glance as Keeva took a deep breath and raised her hands. "What do you mean-"

Before Ulrich could finish his statement, Keeva brought her hands down onto the floor. Instantly, the ground around her began to glow as light surged from her palms, soon creating circuits in the surface of the grid. These circuits surged through and around the chasm, eventually reaching the tower. Without missing a beat, they surged outwards from it, eventually zeroing in on the other twenty towers on the grid. Once they surrounded a tower, they began to envelop it, glowing brighter as they did so.

XANA could only stare on in shock as this happened, at least until the pain started. Logically, XANA noted that he should be incapable of pain. Now, though, he was feeling it - an indescribable discomfort as a strange energy poored into and rejected him, working to erase the influence he had on the Grid. XANA tried to fight it, oh yes - he drew on the power of his resources across the internet to reject this presence and strengthen himself. And yet, here, it wasn't enough - the power coming at him from the grid was beyond what he could draw upon to defend himself.

With a final surge of light, the circuits pulsed with power, shattering XANA's link to the Grid. Instantly the towers went offline, while the vast majority of XANA's monsters were destroyed in an instant. The Lyoko Warriors, alongside Paige and Beck, could only stare on in stunned silence at what had occured, at least until they finally noticed Keeva's labored breathing.

Sensing his master's defeat, William activated his Super Smoke and fled, much to the surprise of the Broken Program, who he had almost bested.

Back with Keeva, Odd had finally approached the girl. "Hey, what was that? I mean, it was awesome, but what was it"

Keeva didn't even have the strength to look at Odd. "Beck asked for a User miracle. I...obliged."

Beck and Paige's eyes widened at that statement, but before anyone could speak, a mass of black smoke suddenly converged before the Lyoko Warriors. At first, it took on the shape of a ball, but eventually it sorted itself out into a new form: that of a program, albeit one with a black cloak, red highlights...and most worrisome of all, a familiar eye on its chest.

Face hidden by a helment, the figure stared at the Lyoko Warriors, as if sizing them up. After a moment, it was joined by William, who had an eager expression on his face, ready to fight at a moments notice. Yet after getting a good look at the Lyoko Warriors, the figure made a gesture that seemed to disappoint William, though he still obeyed. Within seconds, both figures disintegrated into smoke and vanished.

When the shock finally wore off, everyone focused their attention on Keeva, who was struggling to get up.

XXXXX

~10 minutes later

"Your code's all good," spoke Paige. "No signs of abnormalities."

"Thanks, Paige," was Keeva' reply.

""You're welcome."

"So," asked Zed, finally sensing a lull in the conversation, "who are you."

"I'm Keeva...and I'm a User."

The room went silent for a moment, with Odd wishing he had a camera so that he could capture the stunned looks on the programs' faces.

"...You're...a user?" asked Mara, mind racing.

"Yeah. My full name is Keeva Flynn. And yes, I'm talking about that Flynn - he's my grandfather. Or rather, he was."

Paige felt a storm of emotions race through her, but before she could sort them out, Beck and Mu put their hands on her shoulders and gave her looks that told one thing: not the time.

"...Do you know how much trouble we'll be in if the Occupation-"

"They'll never find you."

"Huh?"

"Look, I don't know what happened in Argon at the time, but your glorious leader Clu called my dad over to the Grid. My grandfather, Kevin Flynn, did not want Clu messing with his son. I don't know the exact details of what happened, but it left the Grid damaged and corrupted, and my grandad dead. My father, and his family and coworkers, have been trying to rebuild and fix the Grid, but for now they've had to settle for recovering parts of its and uploading them into new iterations of the Grid. This is one such iteration. So right now, you are beyond the reach of the Occupation."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Eventually, Mara spoke up. "So, why'd you bring us here? And why'd your dad help to fix the grid?"

"My dad felt bad the Grid got wrecked because of him, essentially. As for me? I think you guys all desered a second chance."

"What about them?" asked Able, gesturing to the rest of the Lyoko Warriors.

"They're other users. Friends of mine who have their own digital world to contend with."

"...Really?" asked Zed.

"We'll tell you about it later," stated Aelita. Zed merely nodded.

"...So, what happens next?"

"Keeva glanced at Paige. "I don't know. I didn't plan that far ahead." The five programs moved to speak, but Keeva didn't give them the chance. "I don't want to force you into anything. Whatever you do now is you own choice. So here is what I am going to say: these five users found an aggressive, malicious program tha wants to take over the Analog World. He's the one who invaded this iteration of the Grid. I am going to help them oppose it. Many programs here have already pledged to help me with this fight. What you do about it, though? That is up to you."

The group took a moment to digest that statement. Then Keeva spoke again.

"So, what do you want to do?

XXXXX

AN: Wow that took forever to get done!

This is probably the longest chapter I've done for anything except Prehistoric Park: Returned From Extinction's pilot chapter.

Now, a few quick things to clarify:

1. Jeremie's Lyoko Avatar has never been shown in either Code Lyoko or Evolutions. The description of it looking like Peter Pan comes from the novels.

2. Jeremie's outfit changed because when XANA created towers in the Grid, he also imported some coding from Lyoko and accidentally made it available to the local programs.

3. I wanted to explore the idea of what would happen if programs tried to access video games on a computer via the Grid. In at least some cases, it causes entities from said games to manifest there. Keeva doing this deliberately with a dinosaur game (Prehistoric Kingdom, to be precise) is what resulted in the dinosaur program that briefly showed up in this chapter.

3a. The only video games Keeva attempted this with a Prehistoric Kingdom, Tyto Ecology, Planet Zoo, and Starbound. I am probably not going to mention any others even if she messes around with them later to avoid bloating.

4. I wanted Jeremie's design and abilities to theme him around being the Lyoko team's mage/cleric character. His drone guns were taken from Liv from Punishing: Grey Raven.

5. Jeremie will only rarely enter Lyoko or the Grid. He'll still find usage for the powers his avatar has, though.

6. Broken Program will get further explanation next chatper.

7. Next chapter will be short.

8. After much consideration, I have shortened the title to Code: Grid.

Read, review, critique, and maybe make a tropes page for this story? This is Flameal15k, signing off!