Rebooting of Worlds Chapter 3: Hope and Unity, a Reboot + Code Lyoko Crossover fanfic

Rebooting of Worlds

Hope and Unity

"All in favor of shutting down the supercomputer?"

Four hands went up, followed by his own. He smiled and flipped the switch to off and with that the gentle hum of the massive machine before them died down. It then descended down into the floor that was then closed by a set of steel doors, ensuring that nothing would reawaken it.

The children turned to the elevator and pressed the up button, taking one last look before they finally left the computer along with the factory for good.

I come from the Net.

Infecting systems, peoples and cities to this place.

The User World.

My future domain.

My format: Virus.

To corrupt and conquer.

Net
Mainframe
Principal Office

"I am sorry, my children but Mainframe is dying. We have stopped the bleeding, but the patient is too far gone to save." Phong hated to deliver this bad news but there was no point in delaying the truth.

"But there must be something we can do." Dot couldn't believe they were giving up at this point.

Phong turned around. "I'm afraid not, my child. We would merely be wasting our time."

Dot glanced down but looked back up as AndrAI spoke. "We can't affect repairs without powering up and if we power up a sector, it'll just start going offline again." The binome next to her, Specky nodded in agreement.

Mouse, the hacker program bowed her head but caught a glimpse of the teenage binome girl peeking in behind the curtains who quickly covered them. "But we can't support the whole city in a ruined Principal Office for more than a few cycles."

"So, all we've done is delay the inevitable." Matrix mumbled, unable to believe after all the fighting this was how things turned out.

"There is one possible solution but…" Bob, Mainframe's once and now returned Guardian held up a finger. "I'm really not too happy about it."

Everyone looked at him, hope in their eyes…

"Bear in mind, this is a last resort."

Then their hopes were dashed.

WARNING: INCOMING GAME

The sky turned its signature purple color whenever a Game Cube was about to land.

Matrix watched as the Game Cube began to form, turning around. "Let's do it."

He, AndrAIa and the family dog Frisket all moved to leave and intercept the Game Cube before it landed but noticed something…or someone. "Bob, aren't you coming with us?"

Bob shook his head. "No and you mustn't go either."

Phong spun his head to look at the Guardian, unsure of what he had just heard.

"What?" Matrix gaped.

"It goes against everything I am, but we have to stay out of that game." Bob stated solemnly.

"The lost game could push Mainframe over the edge." Matrix argued. "The system will crash."

"I know but I think if the system goes over it could force a restart." Bob replied with hope in his voice.

"But…we don't know that." Matrix shook his head. "We have to go! I have to go!"

Bob grabbed onto his shoulders, stopping him. "Enzo, I know…Trust me."

Matrix was glaring at him while Bob stared pleadingly back.

"Bob!"

"Please…"

They both turned and Matrix cried out… "No!"

Just as the Game Cube landed.

"What have we done?" Matrix whispered as Bob closed his eyes.

Everyone watched in silence, except for Phong. "We…We must move quickly. We do not have much time."

"Yes, you're right." Dot agreed. "We must make sure all active PIDs are accounted for."

Matrix paced around while Mouse sighed. "The natives are going to get restless with a game in town. We should try to keep 'em calm."

Bob and AndrAIa nodded, leaving to do just that.

Time passed, the heroes of Mainframe struggling to keep the people calm, waiting for the Game to end.

Then it did.

GAME OVER

THE USER WINS

The Game left, leaving an already damaged sector completely nullified as the sky began to turn black.

WARNING: SYSTEM CRASH

First, the remaining buildings fell down, pipes bursting and causing total damage.

WARNING: SYSTEM CRASH

As this happened, Old Man Pearson, Mr. Mitchell, Binky, Algernon, and the pirates share one last drink. Floating Point Park tumbled to the sea.

WARNING: SYSTEM CRASH

Hack and Slash huddled together, fearfully hugging each other.

WARNING: SYSTEM CRASH

When the towers of Wall Street sank into the ocean, Specky took comfort in being near the towering hulk of Princess Bula.

WARNING: SYSTEM CRASH

Meanwhile Mouse got impatient with the Surfer and brought him into a dip long, slow kiss.

WARNING: SYSTEM CRASH

The sign from Dot's Diner sank into the energy sea.

The Principal Office went dark and was the only building that remained above the sea.

WARNING: SYSTEM CRASH

Everyone looked down. Phong was visibly taking the city's demise hard. Before the dark completely covered them, Bob and Dot gazed at each other.

On a dark computer screen, a green message appears:

] SYSTEM CRASH :

] RESTART Y/N? :

YES

] RESTORE Y/N? :

YES

With a bang and a whir, dim lights start up and the damaged Principal Office can be seen.

WARNING: INCOMING DATA

Fireworks appeared in the sky, and a bright yellow virtual Principal Office came down, overlaying the damaged one. As a wave from the Energy Sea hit it the overlay renewed the Principal Office. The entire building shineed brand new. Then the six individual sectors started coming down.

Kits Sector

Baudway Sector

Giedi Prime

Wall Street

Beverly Hills

Floating Point Park

The sea comes in from all sides and burst up through the center of the Principal Office like a fountain, causing the sky to ripple with yellow energy. The transparent golden outline of buildings solidifed. The financial institutions on Wall Street, the highway and main skyscrapers in Baudway, Eight Ball Apartments in Kits Sector, The Silicon Tor in G Prime. A new Sub-Sphere comes up from the Principal Office. Bits resume flowing on the aerial tramway, lights go on in buildings throughout the city, including the sign above Dot's Diner.

VidWindow billboards popped up in Baudway, and the sky turned a beautiful blue as the city was complete.

Phong stared dumbly as a happy Frisket came up and licked his face. "By the User, we are saved!"

Suddenly many deleted Binomes are restored. The Jean-Luc Binome was restored, as were several deleted Viral Binomes. Everyone who had fallen into the sea were back. Then the viral Binomes are de-infected by a viral scan, several had been policemen in the cities CPU forces.

"I'm free! I'm free!"

Lieutenant Chauncy exclaimed. "Great Norton's Ghost!"

The rest of Giedi Prime was then de-infected as the Silicon Tor, Megabyte's tower was erased by the scan.

The viral scan played over Hexadecimal's body much to Phong's surprise, but she merely said. "Ooh, that tickled."

The girl teenaged binome from turned around to see two more viral binomes become cured and she recognized one of them.

And so did he. "Hey, baby!"

"Oh, Dad!" The girl ran up and hugged the father she had lost.

Princess Bula tossed Specky up, playfully. The Baby Binome and his parents marveled at the bright lights as the city came back to life. Mouse and the Surfer were still kissing until finally they were done.

Mouse let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks Sugar."

Ray could only say the following. "What a way to go."

Matrix twirled AndrAIa. "We did it, AndrAIa! We did it!"

And Bob and Dot finally get their chance to kiss, as Phong took a picture and shrugged with a smile as they looked at him.

Dot then looked at Bob. "Don't ever leave me again."

"I promise." Bob said as he prepared to kiss Dot again…

"BOB!"

But the moment of seriousness is shattered by a familiar little racing out and flattened Bob and starts talking a mile a minute.

Everyone looks at Matrix, who still has his icon in Game Sprite mode. He had been backed up as a Game Sprite and the system thought it had to restore Enzo from an old PID file.

"Hey!" Little Enzo looked at Matrix. "Who's the big ugly green guy?"

Knowledge is Power

Real World

"We are in position."

On the receiving end was Yukiko Itou, a beautiful woman of Japanese heritage in her early to mid-twenties, listening in from ship's land base.

From the calm of her workstation, Yukiko controlled several screens encircling her, and adjusting a microphone to her mouth, she replied. "Base all clear. You have permission to launch Rovvy whenever you want."

The KNT-17 was a 'cable ship', it's mission to monitor the tele-communications cables that connected the United States with Japan. It sounded easy on paper, but the cables were at a depth more than a thousand meters below sea-level.

That is where 'Rovvy' entered the stage.

Short for Remotely Operated Vehicle, Rovvy was a sophisticated robot and the only thing capable of operating undisturbed in the unimaginable pressures of the deep ocean abyss. From her workstation, Yukiko watched through the monitors, one showing the robot which looked like a gigantic hermit crab as it descended into the water, suspended from the boom of a large crane while the other showed the face of an officer who was her counterpart on the ship.

"Amai ikimono wa dōdesu ka? (Translation:How are you, sweet creature?)" The man asked through the radio.

Yukiko laughed. "Tsumari watashi no kotodesu ka?(Translation: You mean me?")

"Īe, anata wa watashi o gokai shimashita, watashi wa rovu~i to hanashite imasu Translation:No, you misunderstood me, I speaking to Rovvy!"

Yukiko laughed again. "Shigoto ni shūchū shite kudasai. Jikan o muda ni sureba suru hodo, Nihon ga intānetto kara kirihanasa reta jōtai ga nagaku narimasu! (Translation: Focus on the job, the longer we waste time, the longer Japan remains disconnected from the Internet!)"

Six hours ago, the cable deep below the KNT-17 had experienced intermittent signal loss and it quickly became worrisome. Through the cable passed the majority of the telephone and email signals exchanged between Japan and the United States and vice-versa. They were sent to discover and correct the problem. Rovvy was lowered into the sea and with its powerful helix shaped propellers, the machine soon reached a cable that resembled a giant black snake lying dead on the ocean floor.

The machine's surroundings were silent, and no sign of life could be seen.

Not even a single fish.

Luckily the robot had its own bundle of lights suspended ahead of its watertight television camera that transmitted the image of the sight to Yukiko.

Several minutes passed before the officer spoke again. "Koshō no gen'in o tsukitomeru hitsuyō ga aru yōda. Dōyara sorehodo shinkokuna monode wa nakatta yōda. (Translation: We seem have to found the source of the breakdown. Looks like it was nothing too serious.)"

From one of Rovvy's compartments emerged a mechanical arm that grazed the surface of the cable.

Then without warning, Yukiko's instruments suddenly went berserk. "Matte, tomatteru yo! (Translation: Wait, it's stopped!)"

"Dō shita no? (Translation: What's happened?)"

"Sore wa… shinji rarenai hodo no dētabāsutodatta to omoimasu. Dō setsumei shitara ī no ka wakarimasenga… kēburu no tsumari ga kaishō sa reta yōdesu. (Translation: It was…an incredible data burst, I think. I don't know how to explain it, but…it seems like a blockage cleared in the cable.)"

"Yukiko, okotte iru yōdesuga, mōichido itte moraemasu ka? (Translation: Yukiko, can you repeat that, you sound upset?)"

"Watashi no iu koto o kanpeki ni kiite kuremashita ne! Kēburu ni fureruto sugu ni shingō ga saikai sa remashita. (Translation: You heard me perfectly! As soon as you touched the cable, the signal resumed!)"

"Shikashi, watashi wa sore o kasumeta dakedesu! Soshite,-kō faibākēburu ga `tsumatta' jōtai ni naru koto o dō setsumei shimasu ka? (Translation: But I only grazed it! And how do you explain the fiberoptic cable becoming 'blocked'?)"

Yukiko didn't answer, glancing at the monitors. Everything appeared to be normal now, as if nothing had happened.

"Kono mama shūri o susumete mo yoroshīdeshou ka? (Translation: Do you want us to proceed with the repairs anyway?)"

"Iya, tsudzukete mo nani no yaku ni mo tachimasen. Misshon o chūshi shimasu. Rovu~i o kaishū shi, honkyochi ni modorimasu. (Translation: No, continuing would serve nothing. Suspend the mission. Recover Rovvy and return to home base.)"

"Kanpeki. Sorenara kon'ya issho ni dekakete mo īdesu ka? (Translation: Perfect. Then tonight we can go out together?)"

Yukiko smiled, moving a lock of hair behind her ear. "Mochiron? (Translation: Sure, why not?)"

France

While things quickly returned to normal in Japan, France was about as normal as one could be in a certain academy.

Well, returned to normal would be the accurate term.

The students at the school were having breakfast, nearly all of them gossiping about what they would be doing on the upcoming Christmas holidays before having to return to classes twenty days later in January.

Of course, only one of them had no such plans.

Mostly because she had no parents, no family.

It had only felt like yesterday that her father had…

"Is everything all right?" She turned to see the familiar blond-haired genius who was the first friend in her new life. "Aelita?"

"Yeah just…" Aelita looked down at the table. "Just thinking."

"She's just paralyzed with emotion." A second voice commended.

The source of the voice was a grinning boy, his spiked up like what you would expect from a rock star with a purple spot in the center.

"So, Jeremy, our diabolical plan is ready?" Odd Della Robbia asked.

"To the most minute detail." Jeremy answered with a smile. "Aelita will come to my home for Christmas. My mother's ecstatic at having a girl to spoil."

"What about you?"

"Put a sock in it, Odd."

"Ah, our little computer romance…"

Jeremy flushed but acted like he hadn't heard anything. "We'll return to the Academy on Sunday the 9th, a day before lessons resume."

"Perfect! What have you told your parents?" Odd asked.

"That we're staring at Ulrich's family for that night."

"So have I! Hopefully they won't check! And what about the others, do you know how they feel?"

"No, but we're already discussed everything. I don't believe there will be any difficulties." Jeremy shrugged.

"And what about you, Aelita?" Odd looked at the pink haired girl. "Looking forward to it?"

Aelita smiled and nodded. "Yes, I am looking forward to it very much."

A chance to spend time with Jeremy's family sounded like a perfect way to end the year.

United States of America
Massachusetts

"So, are you going to be here for the baseball game after this noon?"

"Sure, I guess…I don't really know…I might other stuff to do."

"Are you still stuck on that music group?"

"It's not a 'group', it's the band of the century!"

"So, you keep telling me…"

Two boys sat on the fringe of the pitch, one of them a slim youth who was pulling on a scarf and cap bearing the colors of the Rippety Indians, the school's baseball squad. The second boy was the same age but was donning a fluorescent 'Sub Digitals' jacket, the name of the so-called band of the century.

"Look, I hear you…the Sub Digitals are great, and Gardenia is fantastic but…"

"Great? Fantastic? She is divine! And this afternoon is their big concert!"

"Erik, can you hear yourself? You've gotten to the point where you can't think of anything else. You shut yourself in your room and listen to their albums. Then you go online and check their site, and then you channel surf to find their latest video…"

"So what?" The boy named Erik curtly asked.

"It's stupid! There's more to life than the Sub Digitals!"

"Like what? At least it's better than standing here, watching the Indians rip up the field…instead of the opposite team. You really should be playing for them."

"At least I'm outdoors!"

"But it's middle of the winter! And in case you've forgotten, it's freezing!"

That least was true.

They stood up and rushed to their bicycles that had been abandoned at the fences.

"Mom, I'm home!"

Erik closed the door and dropped his rucksack onto the floor as he unzipped his jacket. In the corner of his vision, he could see his mother stretched out on a blue mat.

"Hello…darling…" The woman gasped as she continued to stretch. "I'm…just…exercising."

"I'm going to my room!"

"I'll just finish…stretching…and then come say…hello to you!" His mother said, continuing her exercises.

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED

Music blasted from the speakers in Erik's room while on his computer was a window showing the Sub-Digitals website with various messages:

The Official Sub-Digitals Newsletter.

Someone who wanted to buy his ticket for the concert and was willing to pay anything for it.

And new messages on the Music-Oh forums.

One of the users, a Lisette93 left a message that really caught his attention:

'Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Erik! Like this site has the awesomest content and u have all the answers and ur on these forums so u must be a true fan like me as well!'

Erik was ready to delete his message before the next line caught his attention.

'But like to prove myself I've got something supersecret: a photo of Gardenia when she worked as a waitress and what she was doing b4 her beautiful voice made her 1 true star!'

'If you want to see what I've found click…'

Erik could barely suppress the shive he had felt from reading this. Any true Sub-Digitals fan knew that Gardenia had worked in a restaurant in Boston called Skate Willy, but any evidence of that time had been destroyed or wiped from existence.

If this was true it was a treasure waiting to be found.

There were no attachments, just a simple link that he slowly moved the mouse with his trembling hand to click…

"Here I am, baby!" Just before he clicked the link, his mother had burst into the room, sweet perfume surrounding her like an invisible cloud. "Come downstairs, I've made you a snack."

"I'll come now. One minute." Erike absently said.

His mother affectionately tussled his hair. "Heh, always on the computer. It's not healthy. Let's go, it's already ten and you've not yet gotten anything inside of you."

Her tone showed that she would not accept anything other than the word 'yes' so Erik reluctantly accepted while keeping the window open. Later when he returned, having to down his mother's disgusting carrot frappe he sat down at the computer and finally clicked on the link.

Only there was no picture.

Instead, a strange drawing appeared.

In the center was a dot with two circular rings surrounding it with a thin line sprouting from the top and three thicker lines emerging from the bottom.

"The usual con." Erik disappointedly muttered.

Still, what was up with the drawing?

What exactly was it?

A target?

A symbol?

An eye?

Erik couldn't but stare at it, realizing it was some sort of eye and he felt like it was starring right at him.

He moved the mouse and clicked on it.

Net
Mainframe

Inside the Algorithm Theatre, everyone was seated. There is a huge audience of Binomes and Sprites in attendance. The orchestra was warming up, the conductor has wild scraggly hair.

(Alphanumeric Mainframe Strolling Players Begins)

The Binome playing Dot from start of season began the song.

"The Web invaded Mainframe Sprite and virus battled side by side. Attempting to reclaim the city From the rift which opened wide. But Megabyte betrayed Bob and He threw him deep inside the pit. The pit was closed and Bob was hosed and all that he could say was ..."

The Binome playing Bob was lifted up and vanishing into the light, signifying how Bob was shot into the Web. "NO!"

The Binome playing Mouse was next. "Without Bob to protect us we thought we would have no barrier, From he who would infect us, except Enzo, which was scarier."

Binome playing Dot: "The city shivered terrified from fear of the Infector's touch."

Binome playing young Enzo as guardian: "I guess your fear was verified, I wasn't a protector much."

"I guess our fear was verified, he wasn't a protector much. I guess our fear was verified, he wasn't a protector much. I guess our fear was verified, he wasn't a protector-ector much."

Binome playing Mouse: "It wasn't Enzo's fault at first, he only was a little Sprite."

Binome playing Phong: "At best he was the worst but then he slowly learned to do it right."

Binome playing Dot: "And just as he was getting skilled a Game came down he couldn't win. I thought for sure they'd both been killed, first Bob, then Enzo. Not again!"

"And just as he was getting skilled, a Game came down he couldn't win. She thought for sure they'd both been killed first Bob, then Enzo. Not again!"

Binome playing grown-up Enzo Matrix: "I went from Game to Game, I aged, I grew and lost my innocence. I soon became enraged by each and every bad experience. The Sprite you knew was gone, I had become a grim aggressor man. I knew from that point on that I was truly Bob's successor man."

"The Sprite we knew was gone, he had become a grim aggressor man. He knew from that point on that he was truly Bob's successor man."

Binome playing Bob in Glitch costume: "I met up with the Web Riders and took the form of Interface."

Binome playing Matrix: "I joined my Gun with pirate swords and sailed the seas of cyberspace."

Binomes as Matrix and Bob: "And when at last the pair of us were finally reunited guys, Our shouts of joy did blare because we really were delighted guys."

Binome as Bob: "We soon made tracks to Mainframe so our friends could reunite with us. We made it back and Megabyte was waiting there to fight with us."

Binome as Matrix: "When Bob went face to face to face to face with Hexadecimal. His chances for survival shrank from small to infinitesimal."

"His chances for survival shrank from small to infinitesimal. His chances for survival shrank from small to infinitesimal. His chances for survival shrank from small to infinitesi-esimal."

Binome playing Hexadecimal: "Bob helped to de-fragment my head, while Matrix fought with Megabyte. I thought he'd wind up dead, but Matrix put up a terrific fight."

Binome playing Matrix: "I'd dreamed of this each lonely night, of doing in that virus trash. But just as I had won the fight, he engineered a system crash!"

"You dreamed of this each lonely night, of doing in that virus trash. But just as you had won the fight, he engineered a system crash!"

Binome playing Bob: "What Megabyte had hoped to do was cause his death to crack us up. I gambled on the User to reboot and thereby back us up. It worked! We all were born anew and rid of things barbaric. Now we're back together, everything is Alphanumeric!"

"It worked! We all were born anew and rid of things barbaric. Now we're back together, everything is Alphanumeric! Now we're back together, EVERYTHING IS ALPHANUMERIC! EVERYTHING IS ALPHANUMERIC!"

The entire audience let out a massive cheer of applause, celebrating the play and what it represented.

A time of war, of hopelessness and at the end when they were reunited restored everything that had been lost.

Finally, the war was over.

For now…

Real World
Gulf of Mexico

A motorcycle came to a screeching stop in front a hangar, leaving a long, black stripe on the asphalt.

The driver removed his helmet, revealing a young man in his twenties wearing torn jeans, a black leather jacket and a small rucksack.

"Hola, Fernando!" He called out to a mechanic in blue overalls who was exiting the hangar, tossing the motorcycle keys at him.

"John, ¿nos vas a dejar otra vez?(Translation: John, are you leaving us again?)" The mechanic asked.

"Sí, lamentablemente se acabaron las vacaciones. ¿Puedes aparcar la bicicleta por mí? Ya he aguantado bastante tiempo. (Translation: Yeah, the holidays are over, unfortunately. Can you park the bike for me? I've held up enough time as it)." The man named John asked.

"Ningún problema.(Translation: No problem.)"

Inside the hangar was a jet, a private and more than likely very expensive jet. A Gulfstream G550 worth about sixty million dollars to be precise. Painted on it was painted the multi-colored logo of Music-Oh, a great online music portal.

"Welcome aboard, Mr. Bullenberg." A stewardess greeted.

"Call me John, we're the same age after all."

"Actually, I'm a year older than you, Mr. John." The stewardess replied with a blushing face.

John smiled as he turned to the cockpit, the pilot and the co-pilot waiting for him. "Hey guys!"

"We're ready for take-off." The pilot said. "Do you want to take controls for take-off? This sleepy old man besides me needs someone to relieve him."

"Hey! You're the old man who needs to take a nap."

John had recently obtained his Private Pilot License and they both knew how much he liked to pilot the jet.

But today he had to say no. "Sorry guys. Perhaps the landing, but I've got to focus on work right now…"

The passenger cabin was an elegant lounge furnished in mahogany and clear white leather. John made himself comfortable and pulled out a laptop computer from his rucksack.

"Would you like a drink?" The hostess asked.

"No, thank you."

Until the age of twenty-one, John F. Bullenberg had been a boy no different than anyone else. By which he meant he was a penniless student at the University of California, in constant arrears of his rent and examinations. Then one day, an idea had struck him of a computer program that could put music lovers across the world in contact with each other. He had programmed the first version of Music-Oh late at night, after finishing his shifts at the fast-food outlet where he had worked.

Since then, his life had taken a turn in the opposite direction: fast motorcycles, private jets and villas all over the world.

Right now, he was about to depart Costa Rica, where he invited a few friends to spend Christmas with him, heading home to California.

John F. Bullenberg was living the gilded dream.

"Take-off will be in five minutes." The pilot, Tony announced over the speakers. "Meanwhile, there's a call for you from Margie."

Margie was his personal assistant, but he had hoped she would one day be his fiancé. So far though, his attempts to court her were unsuccessful and she had even turned down his invitation to join him for Christmas.

John picked up the telephone receive in his armrest. "Hello?"

"Have you taken off yet?"

"We're still on the ground. Is there a problem?"

"Listen, John. It looks like Music-Oh has been infected by a virus."

This was nothing really new as last year there had been over a hundred cyber attacks and John had a team of programmers on hand to deal with them. Still, Margie sounded concerned.

"Is it serious?"

"Right now, it's only infected a few computers. But that's not the problem. It's just…I've never seen anything like this virus."

Only ten computers?

Music-Oh's online community encapsulated almost five million members so why would Margie bother him over something so trivial?

"Have you done any projections? What's the rate of infection on this thing?"

"Put it this way: do you remember the information meltdown people expected the Millenium Bug to bring? We're talking that bad, or worse, except unlike Y2K this could be real."

John had trouble believing he was hearing any of this. He thought Margie could have been pulling a practical joke, but she wasn't the type.

"Ok. Email me a report and I'll go over it now. Have you called Francis about this?"

"I can't get through to him, he's still on vacation. I was hoping you had a way to contact him."

"Yeah, I do. I'll wait for your report. I've missed you." John quickly said before ending the call.

Through the windows, he could see the jet was already rolling back from the hangar. By the time Margie's email arrived, the jet had already taken off.

The message consisted of only two lines: 'Here. Solve this quickly.'

The second was a link to the Music-Oh website. John clicked on it and on the screen appeared some sort of strange icon. In the center was a dot with two circular rings surrounding it with a thin line sprouting from the top and three thicker lines emerging from the bottom.

It was like a target one could find at a shooting range.

'Or an eye.' John privately thought to himself.

"Sir, I've prepared an iced tea." The hostess said but John didn't hear her.

He focused on opening the debugging application that allowed him to troubleshoot Music-Oh's software. He then analyzed the website's source code and made some modifications.

"Right, let's see if it works now." He muttered through gritted teeth.

For a few moments he watched and waited…

Only for his mouth to fall open as the coding he labored long and hard to program began to move, fluctuate, the letters and numbers spinning across the screen in a digital vortex before coming back to form that same eye. John cursed and banged against the armrest, before trying to exit the debug program only to find his computer had been locked in.

"Is everything all right, sir?" The stewardess asked.

"No actually. Nothing's right at all." John answered as he pulled out a phone.

Worldwide Network

He watched as XANA began retrieving small bits of what appeared to be fragments floating listlessly in this sea like void and integrated into its being. Megabyte could feel XANA becoming stronger with each fragment that was retrieved and memories began to wash over him.

Jeremy turning on the supercomputer.

Aelita floating upwards through the tower.

The Scyphozoa draining Aelita of her memories.

William destroying the Core of Lyoko.

The Skidbladnir drifting through the digital sea.

Odd firing an arrow and devirtualized William from the back.

Ulrich stabbing the Kolussus in the eye.

Mantas continued firing, circling around the sphere of light like vultures, raining down lasers on it without end.

Aelita conjured a pink orb of energy and tried throwing it but her arm shook, causing it to go wide.

The Mantas continued firing at the glowing orb…

Until it shattered.

"NO!" The poor girl screamed in absolute horror and anguish.

She slammed her hand down on the translucent screen, specifically on the command labelled 'ENTER' causing streams of light to shoot out and destroy the monsters.

But it was too late.

A special program swept through the sea, destroying him.

No, destroying XANA.

XANA, who had barely survived but had been fragmented beyond any hope of possible recovery on his own. Only he wasn't deleted but was retrieving the bits and pieces of himself scattered throughout this strange sea filled realm.

He was literally resurrecting himself inside Megabyte's body.

"What are these memories? Who are these children and what are…What are you? What are they?" Unable to remain silent anymore, Megabyte voiced his curiosity and frustration.

'I come from this world.'

A world of five sectors. Forest, Desert, Glacier, Mountain, and a gigantic blue orb that served as the center of the virtual world.

'I spread my influence from this world, through this sea to reach this world.'

A world…

No, the people called it a planet.

A planet?

Like those worlds seen inside the Games sent by the User?

No, this was a literal planet.

A planet of land, air, fire and water.

A plane of existence completely separated from the Net.

A world inhabited by…

"Users?!" Megabyte's eyes widened.

'Humans.' XANA corrected. 'The dominant species of this planet in that dimension. A world of imperfection and danger.'

Users…

Actual Users.

Megabyte saw one image of a boy, a young sprite like being staring at him…No, staring at the computer in front of him, seeing the strange eye that had appeared on his computer's screen before vanishing.

The creators of the Net and the Web and everything Megabyte knew.

They were merely Sprite-like creatures of blood and flesh, not codes and functions.

"Explain this." Megabyte demanded, his mind continuing to flash with memories, thoughts and feelings.

'I was created…As part of a secret scientific experiment to contain and destroy a weapon. The weapon was designed to connect with and control every electronic device in existence, taking control of any technology used by the enemies of the French government.'

"France…Yes, a country. A mass of land, a sector that humans have colonized under a single banner." Megabyte questioned and then suddenly he knew what France was. "How are you doing this?"

'I have interfaced with you, imprinted my coding onto you so that you can travel through the Digital Sea unharmed while collecting remnants of my code. Despite the efforts of my enemies, the program they used may have been designed to destroy me but small bits of pieces of my original operating core remain scattered through the Network. Without my core, the rest of myself broke down, becoming inert and nameless effectively becoming my corpse that is scattered through this world.' XANA explained.

"I see. And you are a fragment now." Megabyte mused. "Retrieving these dead 'cells' of yours and reanimating them. Hmm…Impressive."

'It is because of how broken down I am that I managed to barely survive. I am unsure if any other fragments like the one you have encountered had survived out here but that is irrelevant. I remember…I am remembering, and I know I have not died.' Megabyte felt a surge from XANA that he understood all too well. "I have not died. And I am coming back."

Anger.

Hate.

The need for vengeance.

"And what is my part to play in all of this?" Megabyte questioned. "You promised me revenge on my own enemies. Is it your intention to discard me once you've collected all your pieces of scrapped coding?"

'No. You provided access to another level of cyberspace for me. You may be useful.'

"Hmm…So far I can tell you are ambitious, cunning, determined with a ruthless streak and very little regard for others aside from yourself." Megabyte grinned. "A perfect business partner."

'Partner?' XANA seemed genuinely confused.

"You need help reassembling yourself and to access the Net, I seek revenge on my enemies and to carry out my function." Megabyte mentally held up a hand that clenched into a fist. "To corrupt and conquer. But now I see through the two of us we can accomplish our goal on a much higher level than we thought."

'Explain.'

"Show me the User world, this Lyoko world you came from. I want to know it all since after all knowledge is power. In exchange I will show you the Net and what we can do to conquer all these worlds together." Megabyte stated as he mentally held out a hand to the Eye before him. "Partner?"

The Eye 'stared' at the hand, recognizing it as a gesture humans would make in greetings or in some kind of deal.

Thus, a shadowy hand manifested and shook Megabyte's hand. 'Partner.'

"Good. Now tell me everything there is to know about the Users…These Humans." Megabyte folded his arms behind his back. "Tell me everything."

In a remote house, somewhere in Maine a programmer named Francis picked up his phone and read the newly received message.

Figure this crap out for me.

There were two attached messages: both showing the home page of Music-Oh that he had seen over a million times.

He messaged back: this 'crap' happens to be the most beautiful website in the world.

Almost immediately the phone rang which he then answered. "Francis, are you trying to be funny?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just sent you two pictures of the strange virus. That kind of…with two circles and…"

"John, can you please explain this rubbish you are spouting? There's no virus in the two pictures you sent me. As a matter of fact, there's nothing in them, apart from Music-Oh's homepage."

"Send the messages back. I know what I saw." John then said.

Francis did so and true enough, the website had returned to normal operations.

The virus had disappeared, leaving no trace.