I remember when I first discovered Code Lyoko. I was browsing the Cartoon Network website. I can't remember what first attracted me to click on it, but maybe it was the fact that it had 3D animation, which was huge for me as a kid who liked video games. I clicked on the first episode. Then I realized that I had no idea what was going on and though I had accidently clicked on a later episode and not the pilot. I went back and searched for it. But "Teddygozilla" was the first episode on the list. So, I rolled with it and watched it.
I'm still rolling and I hope I will never stop. I watched all there was on the website, Then I hit EP 54 - Lyoko minus one. And that was it. I assumed the series had been cancelled and was disappointed.
But Code Lyoko stuck with me. When I was bored in class, I imagined what the Lyoko Warriors would be doing or what could be an episode. I never liked unfinished series. They just made me wonder where things could have gone. I thought "What if they went to a waterpark?" or "What was Project Carthage all about and what went wrong." No matter what, these kinds of questions always came back to me.
Then one year, I opened Netflix and then I nearly screamed. In the banner at the top was "Now on Netflix: Code Lyoko". I immediately went in and found EP 55. I saw that there was the rest of that season and A WHOLE OTHER SEASON AFTER! I watched a couple and just revealed in the old nostalgia and the joy of finding something new about my favorite series. And then it was over. XANA was dead. The series had tied itself up in one neat bow that meant their whole adventure remained hidden in the shadows, with only memories, theirs and ours, as proof of its existence.
BUT I WANTED MORE!
I wanted an explanation on how Lyoko came to be. I wanted to see a perfect ending where everything was explained and all the characters grew, fought, changed, and were victorious. But I never got that.
I though my dilemma would never be solved. So, I searched for more And I found a trailer for Code Lyoko: Evolution. I had seen footage before and thought it was a fan project, so I dismissed it. But at this point, I was desperate. So, I searched for the English Dub on YouTube. After 20 minutes, I realized that none existed. I settled for the French Audio with English subs on the TechECoyote2772 YouTube channel. I thought it had a rocky start, but it had potential. I mean, they started the original series WITHOUT THE PILOT EPISODE. So, I gave it a chance. I saw every pathetic special effect, every stiff emotionless line, every half speed attack that made it look like The Slow-Mo guys shot all the real-life action scenes. But the animation, oh the animation :3. Fight sequences that didn't reuse footage, actual martial arts between Ulrich and the ninjas, the attitudes of the characters captured perfectly, high speed chases. It was almost everything I could ask more of the virtual world.
I couldn't predict how they would wrap up the story. And then they didn't. They didn't even have a huge battle in the final episode. They failed at the start of the episode and then they had no problems at the end. The conflict of the season would bleed over into the next one. Now, this would be okay, if they actually made another season. But they didn't. I wanted to scream to the producers "STOP GIVING ME GOOD THINGS IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO CRUSH MY DREAMS!"
That's when I decided something. If they weren't going to give me the story we and the series deserved, then I would just write it myself. I had enough ideas from over the years to serve at least one season. So, I started brainstorming. This was 2015.
That's when I made it my personal mission to ensure that the series continues in the way it needs to. So, I am writing a second season to Evolution. I hope that people will like it and want it animated into canon. It will explain the backstory of the supercomputer, the mysterious organizations hinted through Aelita's flashbacks, further the story of the Lyoko Warriors and the characters, and have everything the series needs to be equal to the stand out shows of our day. It will expand the content of the show and make sure everything has a satisfying ending and not a cliffhanger!
The reason I want to do this is because there's a reason we love Code Lyoko. The characters are people who go to school, have troubles with their parents, deal with daily problems and then get to have escapism by visiting a virtual world. Too many shows tried the "trapped in a video game" plot. That's not what makes video games entertaining. Lyoko allowed the characters and us to escape away from our problems for the day and let us know, "Yeah, everything seems bad. All this horrible stuff could happen. But just be yourself, get through it, play video games, and everything will end up just fine." And that's why so many people outside the indented age range love it.
About this series
If anyone wants to continue experiencing the universe of Code Lyoko, I wrote a script for a possible 2nd season of Code Lyoko: Evolution consisting of 34 episodes.
It's also designed so that anyone can jump into the universe. You do not need to know anything about Code Lyoko original or Evolution as it explains those events since it's a spiritual successor to season 1 and continuing Evolution. (I'm trying to avoid having people watch Evolution season 1 as much as possible.) I will talk about some things here in the prologue that newcomers won't understand, but the story itself with be self-explanatory.
This is part of the same universe as the Code Lyoko show. It is not a reboot as this story is set in the Code Lyoko: Evolution universe, not the Chronicles universe. This new season dives deeply into the backstory of the supercomputers.
I hope that this story can correct most of the inconsistencies between the original series and Evolution. In fixing the inconsistencies whenever they come up in the story, I will lean toward the original series or try to combine the two versions.
The idea for these first few chapters is that something terrible has happened and the heroes we all love aren't here anymore because of it. And it's up to a few new characters to pick up the pieces and rekindle the love the fans and newcomers alike share for this universe. To take CL back to its roots and revitalize it, Season 2 is split into 2 arcs. The Carthan 2 Arc and the Deckard Incident Arc.
The Carthan 2 Arc repeats the main plot structure of season 1 of Code Lyoko and is chronologically the second arc this season. This is to cycle the series back to its roots and repeat the magic that made people love it in the first place. It also makes it easier to draw in new fans. Not only will this make old viewers remember what hooked them into Code Lyoko, but repair the damage done by Evolution a bit. By "repeating the main plot of season 1", I don't mean rebooting the story. I mean "ordinary people enter a video game to save the world and materialize the virtual waifu girl." Along with original characters, this arc introduces the backstory of the Code Lyoko universe inspired by {but not exactly} the books and hypes up the return of the LW.
The Deckard Incident Arc wraps up the plan the human villains from Evolution season 1 has for the supercomputers and is chronologically the first arc this season. It takes place a couple weeks after the events of Code Lyoko: Evolution. But besides villains, there is the matter of character growth for the six members of the main cast, the fate of XANA, and a few other concepts that are either original ideas or taken from the book series. The reason I felt only giving the LW only half a season is there is only so much damage control I can do for Evolution if the same plot is being used. It's better to give the audience some good solid episodes of what they want and then use that as a base to present the LW's story. Half a season might even be too much time for how much left that the season 1 plot has left to develop, but having the first episode of the season wrap up that plot wasn't correct as I've got to correct how the human villains are portrayed. They are currently 3rd rate villains, so half a season gives them time to develop as a threat and truly wrap up the storyline in a satisfying fashion. The goal of this arc is to complete the unfinished season 1 storyline and end it in a satisfying way.
However, rather than have the main characters being missing for a few episodes, I will instead release 1 episode of each arc at the same time. (1 = 19, 2 = 20…) While this may be a bit confusing at first, I believe this will allow me to push out a story that's more enjoyable rather than having to wait until the Carthan 2 arc is done before the Deckard Inc can start. I apologize for the format the script is written in. It is not officially a script yet contains some description more appropriate for a novel. I am simply writing in a way that portrays the emotion, tension, environment, and the action to the greatest effect.
Once again, I was sad to see it fall short of the pace it set in terms of universe building. This has been a story I've thought about for years and I hope even if I don't get to write its conclusion, it will eventually be told.
This is simply to continue a great story that I loved. I hope you enjoy.
To the readers
I appreciate any comments on the story.
Notes
[] are used to indicate stage directions
All dialogue follows a "Speaker: dialogue" format
{} are used for author comments.
Episode 1: Let'5 Pl4y: Un3xp3ct3d_+ition (Let's Play: Unexpected Addition)
May 5th, 2016
Jeremie: I can't shut it down.
Anthea: It isn't designed to be shut down from the outside. It can only be done from the virtual world. There's nothing we can do.
Jeremie: We deal with world ending threats every Tuesday. There's always something we can do. [through his earpiece] Odd, get ready to destroy the supercomputer!
Odd: [through earpiece] There's too many specters.
Jeremie: What about the guards around the supercomputer? Can they help?
Odd: They were … um put on break. Permanently. How soon can Aelita deactivate the tower?
Jeremie: We can't reach her. Communications are jammed. Anthea's working on it. [switches to Ulrich] Ulrich, you need to get Aelita to the tower.
Ulrich: She hasn't reached the tower yet?! I can't even get a hit in! There's no way I can even get to the core.
SNAP TINGZZZRN
Ulrich: Oh, that is a long way down. Look you're going to have to virtualize someone else.
Jeremie: William- [On the screen in front of Jeremie, William's panel, a black avatar, has its Life Point gauge reduced to what looks like zero.] It's gonna have to be Yumi. [switches to Yumi] Yumi, we need you to [gets cut off by gun fire. The line goes dead.]
Anthea: If Aelita can't get there, then we need to materialize her and destroy the supercomputer. That way, we can kill XANA and stop the countdown.
Jeremie: Odd can't even reach the supercomputer! Have you contacted her?
Anthea: NO! I can't find out what's jamming me.
[There is pounding on the door to the control room. The door is dented open and they can see flashes of electricity and bodies flying outside.]
Jeremie: [switches back to Odd] Odd, just charge in. Don't worry about the specters. We … we will have Aelita materialized before then. XANA will be finally dead and the specters will disappear. [no response] Odd. [He can hear screams and electricity crackling in the earpiece] Odd! [switches channel] Yumi!? [switches again] William!?
Anthea: I'm connected. Aelita! Please, just come back.
AAAUUGH!
[Aelita's avatar on the screen greys out and disappears.]
Jeremie and Anthea: Aelita!
Jeremie: No. [His whole body sank as he gazed up on the screen on the far wall, the final seconds ticking away. The reality of the situation was finally clear to him and he had a terrifying realization.] We're...we're not gonna win this one.
[Everything cuts to black. There's only silence.
[beat]
[A wave of energy rolls across the world. Cities are being torn up as electricity bursts from wires, from walls, beneath streets. All vehicles lose power and crash into each other.
A 3D model of databases rapidly collapses and blinks out of existence.
The wave washes over a dark room. Everything is quiet for a second. Then, the gigantic machine inside reactivates, its blue lights and front panel lighting up.]
September 13th, 2016
4 months after the Deckard Incident
[There is a boy sneaking through the hallways of what looks like a school. He's wearing black sweatpants and a deep, dark blue hoodie.
He checks his phone. A 3D blueprint of the school's layout hangs in the center, adjusting with his swipes. Red dots are traveling along it. There is a blue dot in the center for himself. He sees a red dot around the corner he was heading toward. Immediately reverses direction, stops, and blends in with the shadows. A trio of the thugs passes right by him.
Show top down view of hallway. Like it was a map of a giant maze. The boy outmaneuvers all of the other students as he can see them coming.
All while this is going on, the TVs in the hallway, used for announcements and advertising for events, there is a video playing. The scene was being filmed from a phone camera. The current clip was of students circling a lone student and kicking him. Then the video changes to a different scene, at a later time. The same students are breaking and entering.]
[Inès opens her eyes. Her head is on her desk. She had been sleeping in class. Again.]
[Inès looks up. The TV in front of the room used for announcements now has a video on it. This clip is of the students having what is clearly alcohol in their dorm rooms.
The teacher, Mr. Harper, and all the students are stunned by the sudden appearance of the video.]
Rook: WHERE IS HE?!
[Students run by in the hallway. The subjects of the video obviously. Inès puts head back down on desk. Two girls talk in the background.]
Tanya: Huh, just another one of his stunts.
Landry: Does he actually think they will learn anything?
Tanya: Of course not. He just ratted them out. Now they will beat the crap out of him. Simple as that.
[Someone yanks Inès hair back. She topples out of her desk to the floor. She can't see who it is. She flails out and connects with something.]
Mr. Harper: Miss Peiri!
[The teacher and all the students were staring at her. The student behind her that she hit is scowling.]
Student: What the hell?!
Inès: [thinks] Not again. Just find it and get it over with.
[The feeling of someone yanking on her hair is still there. She turns around and looks at the wall behind her. There is a green and red spiral on it. As soon as she spots it, it and the feeling on her hair disappear.]
Mr. Harper: You can-
Inès: [head hung in shame] Leave the room. I know the drill.
[A girl is sitting on top of a ledge peering out into the distance through her camera. She's wearing a maroon sweater vest and a black fedora. She glances toward the woodland nearby. She spots movement. Adjusts zoom and looks in-between branches to see men and women in black suit and ties carrying what looked like metal detectors. She shifts her gaze to the beach of the inlet on the other side of the school. A single black clothed figure waving another instrument around.]
Mabel: Huh, so the intel was right. That's a first. Looks a bit iffy. Probably dangerous… Better drag her into this.
[Swivels around and climbs down the stairs of the tower. Show upper shot of the school. It's strange because it was constructed in medieval castle style. Other similar towers are placed on the other corners. In the middle of the tall walls are square courtyards and lining the top of each wall are ramparts with a healthy amount of room to walk on, but the floors of the ramparts are solar panels and electric lights line the walls. She exits the tower onto the rampart to see a larger pack of students lead by Rook.]
Boy 1: He isn't in his room
Boy 2: Ditto in his club room.
Rook: Hainer and Korey are by the gates in case he tries to leave out the front. [They start to leave, but he stops them.] Hey guys [they look at him] He's not going to get away with this. [The other boys nod in agreement]
[The boy in the hoodie is passing by a window that overlooks the inlet outside. He suddenly clutches his hand up to his ear. An ethereal ringing sound reverberates around him. He glances towards the woodland east of the school.]
?: Weird. There shouldn't be anything electronic out that way.
[He runs into class and shuts the door behind him just as the bell rings. The teacher notices him.]
Mrs. Burdette: Dramatic entrance, Axel. I'm impressed Caroline let you air that.
Axel: So am I. [He flips down his hoodie to show his wavy dark oak brown hair. He had shadows under his eyes.] She said it, it was okay as long as I was ready for the consequences. [He holds up his phone with the map] I think I was.
[As he sits down, another student in red exercise shorts and a white windbreaker with red stripes in the seat next to him looks intrigued at him. His shiny, dirty blond hair is cut low to his scalp and shaped to a low point above his forehead, with frosted orange tips.]
?: How did you make it back here? Rook had the entire team running after you.
Axel: I used the signal from people's phones on the Wi-Fi to mark their positions-
?: [interrupts] Hang on, I just realized I don't care.
[Rook looks through the window by the door.]
?: [Sees Rook] You worried?
Axel: He can't get me in here. The teacher would step in.
?: They can if they, I dunno, pulled the fire alarm.
Axel: [genuinely angry] That's cheating. They can't do that.
[The fire alarm goes off.
The red boy sitting next to him smirks. As the students exit, Axel goes to the teacher.]
Axel: I'm pretty sure this is the work of one of the people in the video. Could you make sure nothing bad happens.
Mrs. Burdette: Caroline said you had to be ready for the consequences. Sorry.
Axel: Crap. [Looks to the boy in the windbreaker] Ethan?
Ethan: Nope. [He runs ahead]
[Axel exits in the hallway into a crowd of advancing students and faculty. He looks around cautiously. An inpatient group passes by Axel, jostling him and giving him glaring looks. While he's watching them, a pair of boys come up from behind Axel, put a hand over his mouth, and drag him back down a side hallway.]
[Mabel finds Inès walking with the other students in the halls. Inès is a girl with black hair and wore a pair of red curved rim glasses. On the top of her head she is wearing a plain grey beret. Her grey jacket was tied in a knot around her waist by the sleeves. She had a long-sleeved dark violet-shirt & torn blue jeans.]
Mabel: Hey there.
Inès: Why were you out of class?
Mabel: Can you keep a secret?
Inès: …No.
Mabel: Hey. Hey. Yes, you can. I know you can. I need someone to come with me. I got a text from my reliable source-
Inès: [interrupts] Your anonymous conspiracy buddy online.
Mabel: Yes, that's what I said. Texted me in class with a sighting. So, I used the bathroom excuse and checked it out from the top of the south-east tower. Turns out, for once a tip was right. The thing was, there were people with uniforms. Official organization. Need someone to watch my back.
Inès: Sounds dangerous. Look, I just need to be left alone.
Mabel: This will be more fun with me than sulking in your room feeling sorry for yourself. Right now, you need a friend. And I need a friend. We complete one another. [she pauses waiting for Inès's response. When she doesn't answer] Or can go to your therapist again and-
Inès: No please. Let's just get out of here.
[Mabel and Inès climb down the east wall of the school from the ramparts, using loose bricks as footholds. They head down a path into the woodland. They pass a small clearing besides the path with a road leading back to the highway. It was for if anyone would want to come down to the ocean this way.]
Inès: Look, I get what you're trying to do.
Mabel: Oh really. What am I trying to do?
Inès: You want me to be wrapped up with helping you with your adventure that I don't have time to worry about my own problems.
Mabel: And is that a problem?
Inès: No. [smiles softly] Thanks. I just… I need… I want to believe things will get better. [sighs] I just need a break from reality-
Mabel: Shush. [pulls Inès down behind some bushes.]
[Men in black uniforms are walking a searching line waving some kind of antenna around. When one turns, she can see the gun holster against their side.]
Inès: [scared] Mabel, we need to go back now.
Mabel: [whispers] Woah. They're armed. This is big. If they're packing that must mean it's important. What if this related to the Deckard Incident? Makes sense if it's on that level.
Inès: [thinks] Why can't I ever have normal experiences. Wait, are they even real? I don't see a tell. What if they are real and I get one then? Mabel can't rely on me. We'll be caught and it's all my fault and what's gonna happen to us?
[A woman leading the group stops and signals everyone to regroup.]
Men in Black 1: We've been combing the woods all morning. [consolation] At least every other team is out here too with us.
Men in Black 2: Of course, field ops gets this. None of management have to touch this.
[The woman who stopped them fake coughs.]
MIB 1: Jackal, you're head of field ops. Doesn't count.
Jackal: What are the readings like?
MIB 1: Signal keeps repeating here. Nothing from the teams downtown comes even close to its accuracy.
[Jackals enters the findings into a phone]
MIB 2: Sounds like her hunch was right. Guess Jäger wins.
Jackal: [Looking up] You'll find out soon enough, she's on her way here.
MIB 2: [surprised, almost scared] She's coming here?! How serious is this?
[Axel is thrown down on Flint cliff, a rock bluff sticking out of the side of a hill next to the school overlooking the inlet below. A veranda was built into the sides of the building to allow easy access to the cliff. There are two entrances to the lower levels of the school from opposite sides the veranda. The half-wall stops to allow a ramp down to the natural terrain. Rook is in front with the rest of his team crowding the back of the cliff and the open hallway behind him.
Rook takes Axel's backpack from one of the boys behind him. He pulls out Axel's external hard drive.]
Axel: How did you? … [disappointed] of course you broke into my room.
Rook: Go to Caroline now, say that wasn't us on the video and we might go easy on you.
Axel: I'm not going to lie. I was, was trying to help you.
Boy 1: Help us? You put half us in detention!
Boy 2: And we'll be lucky if there is a football team left.
Axel: You broke the rules. That's the punishment. Just because no one caught you doesn't mean you shouldn't be punished.
Rook: Look, if you want to be Mr. perfect, fine! But don't expect us to be and then drag us down to your level. Just tell Caroline you photoshopped the video together.
Axel: Premiere.
Rook: What?
Axel: Photoshop is for pictures, Premiere is for-
[Rook tosses his hard drive off the cliff.]
Axel: [angry] Okay, what the hell. I was showing you what you're doing wrong. How can I bring you down? You, you cheated.
Rook: [confused] Cheated?
Axel: You used, misused the fire alarm when there wasn't anything, any emergency.
[The boys behind Rook have second hand embarrassment from how uptight Axel's being. Rook throws Axel's laptop over.]
Axel: [his breath catches] …I was thinking about upgrading.
Rook: [sarcastic] "Congratulations. You followed every rule you're supposed to. You're a good boy. You're better than everyone else." [normal] Tell me when you start having fun and actually living.
[One of the boys brings out his PS4 game console]
Axel: I only got you in trouble because no one else would.
[A football player throws his game console over.]
Axel: [negotiating with himself] Did you hear the new Playstation is on sale?
[They take out Axel's desktop computer. Axel starts to get nervous.]
Rook: You hurt the rep of our team and put my boys in trouble. And when you hurt one of us, you to take on the entire team.
Axel: [genuinely confused] …So you're saying it was smart to change all of you at once?
Rook: Last chance.
[Axel hears the same ringing he heard in the hallway. Distracted, he looks off the cliff to the woodlands off on the inlet's east shore. Rook sees he isn't paying attention.
Rook throws the computer over the edge.
Axel is shocked. He doesn't have anything to say.]
Rook: Really, after all that? I thought the previous "number one" would have actually put up a fight. Come on! Throw a punch. Scissor kick me. I saw you do it in gym once…No?
[Axel takes a deep breath to compose himself]
Rook: [Turns to the boys next to him.] Well, he's not going to change his mind. Do what you want. He's trapped.
[Axel pivots on his foot and dives off the cliff into the inlet below. Rook and the other boys rush to the edge. They see Axel's splash subside.]
[The SUV pulls off the highway to the clearing in the woodland. The same one Inès and Mabel passed earlier. The jet-black paint matches the uniforms of the people inside. Jackal comes running up to the vehicle, her agents close behind.]
[Two men step out of the back of the vehicle. Lone Elite, has long black hair with mutton chop sideburns with a cleft chin, and Jäger, a huge muscular man with a turtleneck and a low crew cut.]
Jackal: Head of field operations, reporting.
Jäger: [straight to business] Has the signal gotten any more precise?
Jackal: Other than the initial appearance at 0800 this morning, the pattern hasn't changed. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten any closer to finding it. We keep on circling this same area.
Lone Elite: But that has to mean something here will help us get closer.
[The driver, Maggie, gets out and opens the passenger door. Every agent there immediately turns to the vehicle. Out steps a woman with platinum blond hair. While she wore the same sun glasses, black suit, tie and shoes as everyone else, she wore it in a way that made the creases and folds seem razor sharp.]
Jackal: [surprised] She's really here!
Lone Elite: She sent out every agent we have on hand for this, though for her to be out in the field…
[The woman stops in front of them with Maggie politely waiting at her side.]
The Boss: [tilts down sunglasses] Is the investigation at a standstill?
Jackal: [meek] Yes Ma'am. Unless there is a further development in the signal decryption, we won't be able to locate the lab.
Jäger: Jackal, we were updated on the way here that the encryption being beyond what our servers can deal with in such a short time. Until the decryption is complete, we are unable to know if this is the right location or if it is simply a reception point.
Jackal: Ma'am, if I might ask, what brings you to this location specifically? It's not even the highest potential to be the lab location. More likely to be a decoy.
[The Boss starts to walk away, the others are expected to keep pace with her.]
The Boss: If you are sending a signal, you expect someone to receive it. You said this location had the most constant radius. Whoever they are, they want someone to get it and the others are just meant to divert our manpower.
[The Boss points between the tree line where part of the city landscape below can be seen. She sees sections of the city still dark and vacant from the damage, buildings in disarray and under repairs, like stains on their city.]
The Boss: [beyond the definition of serious] Not again, never again, under any circumstances will we allow a repeat of the Deckard Incident. We are to give everything, use everything, and consider everything to find and neutralize the threat.
Jackal: [to Jäger and Lone Elite] She must be pretty serious about this if she brought you two along. [to The Boss] Are you sure you want to be in the field ma'am? I can easily report the findings to you.
The Boss: I've waited 16 years for this. I am ensuring that nothing goes wrong. Also, … I've got a feeling about this place.
Jackal: A feeling?
Lone Elite: You heard her; she's not letting this one go.
[Axel is on the shore of the inlet. He finishes wringing out his clothes and repositions the sleeves on his sweatshirt. He starts back to campus, when the same ethereal ringing from the cliff is heard.]
Axel: [talking to the noise] You again? I lost my backup of all my work thanks to you.
[Axel turns east. Turns once to look at the school at the top of the cliff before he plunges into the woodland.]
Axel: [considering the situation] But I can't go back until they quiet down. New quest: Investigate mysterious noise. Reward: Alleviate boredom. Plus, maybe I'll find something rare.
[Axel is thinking as he's walking through the woodland.]
Axel: [thinking] If they don't follow the rules, how are they supposed to learn. If they don't learn and get better, how are they supposed to succeed. It doesn't matter if they actually are good inside. They should make the effort. I did. I made it to the top. And if she hadn't… It's so unfair. Everything is unfair for me.
[Axel walks for a while longer. It's getting late in the day.]
Axel: [thinking] Why didn't they see what I was doing for them? If someone told me what I was doing wrong, I would listen. But they only saw it as slander. Principal Caroline agreed to let me post it. I'm not in the wrong. SO WHY AM I TREATED LIKE THE BAD GUY?! WHY DO I GET PUNISHED INSTEAD OF A REWARD? IT'S UNFAIR! …why is the world so unfair?
[Axel reaches the edge of the woodland. Exiting the tree line, he enters an abandoned warehouse district on the edge of the waterfront in another inlet. A solidly built manufacturing building that was connected to surround buildings by covered bridges, gangways and conveyor belts that tools and supplies once traveled on. The inlet curved so the buildings couldn't be seen from the mouth to open sea.]
Axel: [to himself] Very overgrown. Impossible to find unless you knew it was here. What if someone is leading me here?
[He circles the building once to confirm that the building was the source. He takes one step toward the nearest door and then hesitates.]
Axel: Oh look at this. An old abandoned facility with a weird signal emanating from it has been abandoned for how many years. The second I go in here, something probably... most definitely will attack me.
[After a pause, he enters anyway. Axel explores the interior. He sees shelves of old parts, boxes, rusted machines. There were pipes are stored in the rafters above his head. He walked past a break room of some kind only to have the sound grow weaker. He doubles back, enters and investigates. Uses phone for light. He keeps on following the ringing until he hits the back wall. He knocks on the wall, then repeats that in a different spot. 2 different tones. He examines the floor, brushing aside the dust with a look of disgust on his face.]
Axel: No groove, but can it open inward?
[He pushes on it and finds it rotates. He shoves it open. Axel finds a locked door hidden behind it. He listened intently until he notices a keypad next to it. He sees a password is needed. As soon as he's near enough to touch the keypad, the noise changes. He hears variations in the ringing.]
Axel: Morse code.
[He types the translated ringing into the keypad.]
A…N…N…E…X.
[He enters the code into the door and the heavy tumblers slide open. He pulls open the heavy metal door and he enters. Inside he looks around in amazement. The room is cylindrical with a circular space in the center lowered down. Another circular space offset and lowered out of that formed a third ring level. In total, there was 3 ring levels counting the one he was on. Each level is connected by two sets of stairs set equally around the room. On the top level, there were receded spaces that bit into the wall, forming alcoves. They were all narrowly spaced apart. He had entered from the center elongated one, right next to one of the staircases, which seemed desolated enough, but the ones on either side were packed with desks mounted gigantic old computers. Paper print outs of data are spilling off the desks. On the other side of the room next to the other staircase was a second so long it was almost a tunnel. But it was packed with crates and machinery so tightly and randomly, that it did not seem like a storage space. It looked like a hallway someone had desperately tried to block off. And up above the walls of the cylindrical room turned into a domed dirty glass ceiling with a metal support band bisecting it like a half closed eye. Barely any light could enter.
The final and strangest thing on the top level was a device like a set of stairs that could rotate around the room on a ring set in the floor so that anyone around the room could easily get on, but no matter where the base of the stairs was positioned, it leads to the same elevated disc platform high in the center of the room. On the elevated platform was a command station outfitted with several monitors that surrounded the user's vision from above and on both sides and a reclining chair in front of a keyboard.
The second level was simply fitted with many desks, all with the same model of bulky outdated cathode ray tube computer. While some had the same papers and data sheets scattered everywhere, others had mechanical projects with wires, gear boxes, and complicated batteries all fused together.
But the third and lowest level was the strangest. In the center forming an equilateral triangle were 3 giant cylinders, each at least double as wide as an adult and 10 feet tall.
As he absorbed all this, only one thought entered his mind.]
Axel: Perfect. Gaming. Setup.
[Axel immediately turns around]
Axel: Huh, this is usually the part where the mysterious owner of a place comes up behind the explorer and knocks him out.
[He spots the terminal at the top of the stairs. His eyes dart around the room, then satisfied, he shrugs and walks up the set of stairs. He stops at the top just before he steps on the terminal platform. Below the cage of monitors and screens was a normal QWERTY keyboard and a swivel chair mounted in the disc platform. He's hesitant to step onto the platform.]
Axel: I better investigate more before I go up there. I'll definitely trigger a cutscene when I do.
[The sound is still there, except now it was beneath him. He needed to go lower. He looks around. The only other way out of the room besides the way he entered was a single metal door in the alcove adjacent and to the left to the one with the door he entered from. He tried it and found himself in a hallway stretching on into darkness.
After walking a couple yards, he finds a wide opening in the wall. The hallway transitioned into a balcony that looked over into giant square shaft. On the right side it had a staircase that wound around the edge and down as it spiraled along the walls. He peered over. The shaft went down for several stories. He swayed back nervously.
But one other thing was there. A gigantic motor from which chains snaked through to the center of the shaft below. After a while they disappeared into darkness. He walked all the way down. He lost count of the number of stories, but the noise kept getting louder and louder in his ears.
Nearing the bottom, he found what the chains connected too. A lift cage for bringing supplies and heavy machinery down the shaft. On the other side of the room, was a pair of sliding mechanically locked doors. They were open a crack. The doors opening mechanics was another complicated password device. His job was easier this time. Someone had already ripped out the guts of the panel and jury rigged it with a simple push button to open and close the doors. He tests it.
Nothing happens.
He looks into the room. The layer of dust his phone light was refracting off of meant no one had been in there in a long time. He squeezes through the crack in the doors. As he's moving through, he places pressure on a loose panel.
CREEKSH
Inside the door, a circuit between wires completes. The doors shutter into motion. The door jolts shut. He just barely squeezes the rest of his body through.
Axel: [frustrated] Of course. [kick] It. [kick] Had to be so [Kick] Stupid Murphy's law.
[He tries door controls to see if the Annex password would work again. He doesn't even get to try. The pass lock on this side didn't have power. He tries moving the doors by hand. They don't budge.
Looks at his phone. No signal.
He shines his light over into the rest of the room.
[Then Axel sees it. A huge machine covered with liquid cooling tubes, but they were 5 times the size in any computer or server he had even seen. It resembled a cylinder, but its shape was distorted by pieces and circuit boards sticking out every which way. As if new pieces kept on needing to be added on. And right at its base, was a cylindrical podium with a simple hand outline on a disc at the top. The noise he had been hearing was definitely coming from this computer.]
Axel: What do you think it is Axel? Well, I would say its computer of some kind Axel. That's very fascinating Axel. Say Axel why are you talking to yourself. Oh, it probably has something to do with being trapped in an underground room in an isolated building that I told no one I was going to. So, it's probably a coping mechanism to avoid hysterical laughter. Oh, well that makes sense. [turns around] SERIOUSLY? NOTHING IS CREEPING UP ON ME?
[He takes a deep breath and calms down. He turns back to the machine.]
Axel: Whatever this thing is, it has power.
[When he approached the computer and the podium, the noise was at an even higher pitch and volume. Suddenly the noise suddenly changed. It was at a calm volume, like speaking level. And it was not just a ringing sound, but a series of tones at different intervals. 3 short 3 long 3 short. He stops in place.]
Axel: [thinking] S.O.S. This is getting interesting. And creepy.
Axel: Only thing to interact with. Either I stay stuck in here or turn this thing on. [hesitates] I'm going to regret this in 5 minutes. No alternative. Ehhhhhh screw it.
[The machine bursts to life. Strange glowing hieroglyphs start scrolling across the surface of the machine and the whirl of thousands of motors and circuits hit him. And layered over the normal noises was a symphony of high tones, the S.O.S. either turned off or lost in the song made by the supercomputer. The camera angle shifts to show that Axel's hand is on the hand outline, now presses down and rotated 90 degrees.
He immediately turns around and looks around.]
Axel: Seriously, no secret agent is sneaking up behind me ready to knock me out because I found some secret military property? Weird. Universe, I expected better pacing from you. [complaining to no one but the world that nothing threatening is happening.]
[In the virtual world, a giant sphere forms from the blue depths of a sea. And inside that, a giant bright azure planet appears inside a dark sapphire void. Metal structures appear from the planet's penumbra and begin to start orbiting around it.
The camera pans away through doors and zooms down hallways and over platforms. It dives down toward the glowing blue planet. Up close, it is possible to see the surface of the planet is really just glowing metal plates. The camera levels out and shows a plateau just above the planet's glowing surface with a white tower covered with a blue aura around it. The aura turns red.]
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