It was dark and cold, not to mention lonely, on the frontier of the Undernet. It was, after all, the very boundary of the ‘Net, the edge of the civilized world into the unknown beyond.

It was on this strange and cold land that a tiny fire burned. Embers spiraled upwards in sheets of glowing sparks as the logs crumbled into dust, each crackle and snap bringing the fire that much closer to its destruction. Such was the way of almost all fires- eventually, the fuel ran out and the flames would die off.

The lone exception to this rule was, interestingly enough, staring at this very campfire. The flames of pure hatred burned stronger in this one being than in anyone else on the planet—nay, the universe itself!

The figure had many names. The Black Shadow. The Messenger of Darkness. The Ultimate Undefeated Net Navi. But at this point in time, to him, names are meaningless.

The being of indescribable power was in the process of recuperating from wounds sustained in battle with his greatest rival almost a week ago. He had nearly tasted the bitter tang of total deletion, but his burning hatred- the rage, the hunger, the fire- would not let him die. But even though he could feel the bolts of energy slam into him, he had a single, solitary thought. A minor one, not even worth mentioning, but strangely had stuck in his mind.

No… not until I can see her again… Not until I can see Lyoko one last time…

This was a creature of rage, of vengeance, of death. This was a being who had long ago declared that having a partner made you weak, that humans were evil, that he and he alone would exterminate Humanity like the vermin that they were. All he knew was hate… and the past.

Thusly, this thought had confused him, and he had stored it away for future reference. He was fairly confident that his memory was complete, and had no gaps, so who was “Her?” Who was this “Lyoko?” and why had he wanted to see her?

So many questions, so much time.

A tiny growling echoed in the back of his mind. A warning. Something was approaching.

The Messenger of Darkness turned and faced the new arrival, a female in what looked like Samurai Armor.

He stumbled to his feet, cloak fluttering around his body as he stood, glaring at the female program.

She scowled at him, and snarled, “You are SUPPOSED to be DEAD!!”

“…”

“Oh well. I guess that I can make this work…” she seemed to mutter to herself, before she drew her blade and sliced at the air in front of her.

The Black Shadow didn’t even flinch as he calculated the blade’s trajectory, calculating that the Katana would miss him entirely. He was correct- in a sense.

Rather than an actual attack, the blade seemed to carve into the very fabric of space and time itself. Where it touched seemed to split apart, opening a shimmering, swirling scar in the air. Instantly, the Navi crouched, his aura defense shield springing up around him, his hands glowing softly with white light.

For all these threatening measures, they all came to naught. A wave of tentacles, translucent and electric-blue, shot out of the portal and latched onto him. Pulsing red once, they sucked him away with nearly no struggle from him.

Seconds later, the strange woman vanished as well.

-- -- --

The next few days for the Navi were… a blur, to say the least.

From what he could remember, he was surrounded by blue, cube-like walls, while strange beings poked and prodded at him. And it didn’t matter how much he tried to fight, because the black-armored woman would always slash him with her strange sword, and he would fall into a fevered sleep as she laughed over him.

At one point, he remembered the woman holding a tiny wriggling piece of goo in a pair of tweezers, staring longingly at it.

Thankfully however, the horrendous torture didn’t last too long.

-- -- --

When he next woke up, he found himself surprisingly lucid. He strongly suspected that it was, in part, due to the irritant of a short, scrawny boy in a purple kitty ensamble. Well, not the boy specifically, more of the fact that the boy was kicking him.

“Hey guys, I think it’s dead! Ha ha, what kind of idiots do XANA think we are if he thinks we can be beaten by a dea-”

KA-FBOOOOOOMMM!!

Odd, when he finally came to, was confused. One second, he was poking a brown huddled lump on the ground, and then next, he was back on Earth.

Back on Lyoko, the three remaining warriors stared in shock and awe at the creature before them.

It was about six feet tall, not counting his helmet. The helmet was a black and slightly ovoid, with massive golden fins that swept up and back along his skull. His eyes burned crimson with hatred, and there were purple tattoos beneath them. He was clad in a black jumpsuit with symmetrical lightning bolts jutting down each side. His forearms were wrapped in golden gauntlets that ended in white gloves, and his legs got a similar treatment. On his chest was what looked like a circular emblam, bisected by a white, straight scar that went from his right shoulder to his left hip. His body was wrapped in a tattered brown cloak.

A voice filtered down from the heavens, “Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, be careful! Whatever it is, it just took out Odd in one hit!”

Ulrich was the first to spring into action. “Super Sprint!” he cried, dashing forwards, blade raised in an attack stance, before splitting into three with another cry of “Triplicate!”

This move proved naught, as the dark warrior darted to the side at speeds far greater than Ulrich’s, and unleashed a blast of power so great, it not only obliterated all three Ulrich’s, but also tore the path into two.

Yumi launched her fans with a loud “Hi-yah,” but one merely deflected off of his purple force field, which rose like flames from his cloak. The warrior shot out has hand and caught the other one, before he launched it back at Yumi’s virtual form, decapitating it.

This left only the final Lyoko Warrior: the pink-haired Princess of Lyoko.

“AELITA!! RUN!” yelled Jeremie, “If you get destroyed here, you can’t be re-materialized! You’ll be gone forever!”

Aelita tried, she really did. She utilized all the moves she had learned fighting against XANA.

It was a contest, could the finest work of Franz Hopper escape the finest work of Dr. Mikhael Cossak?

Aelita didn’t even stand a chance.

The man rocketed forwards, grabbed her by the neck, and slammed her into an endlessly tall tree. He leaned in close, fury burning from his eyes like welding torches.

“My name…” he growled, “Is Bass. You and I need to talk…”