The Reboot

After ten years of being shut off, the Supercomputer had its switched flipped one fateful evening; it took a long while for even Lyoko to realize it had been rebooted, but the moment the core programs were up and running the other data would begin to flow - within the next few hours each and every native process was running; even those unwelcome.

A few hours after Lyoko had reached stability, however, the virtual cobwebs were broken by an outside source - a long dormant plug of data was being filtered directly into Lyoko's core, the system beginning to shuffle as it processed; whatever it was was large and diverse, using a lot of the system's memory to form.

One of the bridges in the Carthage would be the receiving end of said data, funneling it all into one point; this phenomena was something that had only happened when a one-way trip to either side was being arranged, much like Aelita on her first, and last, true virtualization and true devirtualization; an avatar was forming on the bridge, aglow with data being formed - it was being pieced together first by the human data and then by the Lyoko subconscious programming. Hours of loading data, installing physical components...

Considering the target in question wasn't often virtualized, the process took much longer than it would have with someone more seasoned; regardless, once finished, the funnel closed its connection with the outside world, leaving the form to process itself; the large process would cause pulsations all over Lyoko's various regions until it finished, leaving the virtual universe silent, as it had been before.

The avatar shuddered as sensation was beginning to dawn on its crippled form; memories of the past, from when it - he - was a child, from when he was a teenager, from when he was an adult... self-realization was the first thing to be restored - the source was his diary, however, which left to explanation as to how or why he got here; the blonde rose to his feet, clutching his forehead, his mind wiped of everything aside from his last journal entry - even that was two months old.

Around him was the Carthage - unchanged, even after ten years; he remembered this place well. He didn't however, remember ever being alone here...

"Hello?" He shouted, putting his hands to his mouth, freezing once he realized finger was tipped with a claw. He bit his lip, a fleshy tail curling around his leg as his pointed ears lowered. "... Oh, god," he shook his head, shuddering. His subconscious had made his avatar an imp. How lovely.

[[ Post Order: Jeremie, Xana ]]
[[ Post Objective: Open-Ended. ]]

Elsewhere, in an area of Carthage untouched by anyone, another entity was forming, a more 'unwelcome' one. Old data was stirring to life upon the restoration of Lyoko, reforming, as a slight cloud of smoke was forming in the center of a dimly lit, wire filled room. The room itself looked as if it hadn't completely reformed, still waiting for something else to show up, waiting for the smoke to finish restoring its data, a familiar red bull's eye pulsates underneath.

This data, had been collecting for years.. Before the Supercomputer had been shut down awhile back. The smoke violently gusted around, as if it was trying to recall something, something it had been looking for a while now. Something that would have given it form. Many years ago, it could remember its plans to escape being thwarted many a time, and just as it neared its goal, it had been silenced.

The smoke calms down, the wires snake around. It had found it was looking for - a memory long lost. The smoke forms a shape, almost human in appearance; it was dark, growing darker, as something formed around the limbs, something clothes-esque. The dark smoke thickening like leather around the form, which, looked as if the 'limbs' were in fact, shaping into flesh. The flesh curls around, rising up the form, filling in the body, fingers clenching as they're formed, a head and face shape forming, with long, sleek black hair topping it off.

As the face of the being tries to form, the data encounters an error, interupting the facial construction. Only one angular eye manages to form, while on the left side, jumbled data creates a blank, black screen like area. The body is complete, the creation looks like a human female. Wires wrap around her legs, slitering up her and sliding into her back, this body was too new, and couldn't be active on its own yet.

As Lyoko restores power, so does Carthage, and in return, so does she. She being, the virus, the one who was supposed to destory this place; Xana. Her single, working eye opens, her pupil glowing red, while on the blank, errored side, her mark, the Eye of Xana burns into the black screen on her face, glowing red to match her only eye.

For the longest time, Xana had been aiming to restore a body for herself, but those kids had always gotten in the way. She had thought that once she escaped to the internet, it would be easier, but she ended up here again, trapped. The had shut her down just as she had gotten the data she needed to restore this form..

Her anger was unmatched, now that she had been reactivated, oh the havoc she could reek on Earth once again. But with this body generated, she was a bit weak, with the wires in her feeding her power until she could be stable enough on her own.

She was still connected to Lyoko though, it was in her programming after all. The wiring had made her more sensitive to the world, her pulsating resumes.

She speaks, her voice dark;

"Someone's here.."

The new being had no idea what was stirring so close and yet so far; he kept walking the length of the bridge, alone, sorting through his own programming in a bit of a feverish manor - he knew he was on Lyoko, he knew his name was Jeremie, and he knew he hated being virtualized... He remembered shutting Xana down and shutting off the Supercomputer... becoming a professor...

He rested against one of the pillars flanking the bridge, his tail curling around it for support. How did he get here, then? No information was missing aside from that one vital pinpoint; perhaps the answer was hidden in all of the journal data he had been obviously sent with. He furrowed his brows, shaking his head.

However, of all the places he could have been sent on Lyoko, this was the one place that might supply him with the spark needed to jolt his memory...

Jeremie took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders, honestly terrified even as an adult - he hated it here, having no control, no computer to warn him when danger was coming - worse yet, no hacking tools to make the lifts of the Carthage obey him. He'd have to wait for one - just great.

With a huff, the blonde began to walk away from the bridge's base; with any luck the lift would sense him nearby and pause for him. Fat chance.

Something about this data signature seemed all too familiar to the virus. It was one of them. One of those damned children that tried to stop her all those times in the past. The waiting was over, with her power near restored thanks to the cables, her steel-toed boots stomp across the red-lit floor, as she she walks, the wiring in her back pulling out, dropping past her long coat and onto the floor.

Xana leaves that room, which had been her living place for far too long, in search for someone she felt was all too close to her. She was suprised they'd be on Lyoko, more supirsed that it had been reactivated.

Being insync with this world, she was able to control parts of Carthage like nothing. With her cold glare and a thought she was able to open hallways that no one else could ever get to, making her way to the area her pusations felt a being, she was all too confident with her power she could take on whoever this was herself.

Moments of past failure flashes through her mind as she made her way, calling a lift, not so far away from whoever she was looking for now. This time, she thought, would make a new victory, with her new form. The lift lowers to her will, opening, and allowing her to board, closing, then rising.. All she could think of was destorying whatever was waiting for her up there, clenching her gloved fists, creating a faint red glow of energy.

Jeremie's long ears perked - he felt the vibration of the Carthage shifting; he narrowed his eyes and looked over his shoulder, observing the shifting pieces from afar. He was just about to sit on the edge of the bridge when he saw the bubble below him rising rapidly - he took a step back and crossed his arms impatiently, his tail twirling. About time.

He rubbed between his crows with his clawed fingers, chewing at his lip. When he got to the panel how exactly was he going to get the answers he needed? The more he thought on it the more frustrated he grew - what if he was confronted with a monster? He had no idea how to use his Lyoko avatar, and if he didn't... remember how he got here... getting devirtualized could be a bad thing as opposed to frivolous.

He closed his eyes as he waited for the lift, taking a step back for safety's sake as he pondered it - he needed to know how and why he was on Lyoko. His last journal entry mentioned it the Supercomputer had been turned back on by a third party... it left saying he was going to look into it and switch it back off if possible but...

... Could something have happened to him during the encounter? Why wouldn't he remember that..?