Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Underneath File Island
Digital world
Two years prior to the sealing of the worlds

“Come on, let’s see what’s in here...” Impmon said.
“Are you sure?” Kyle asked his Digimon partner as they went deeper into the cave.
“Hey, you were the one who wanted to see it, so let’s go! We won’t explore it any faster just standing around here...” Impmon said. “Now come on!”
They went deeper in, following the cave’s trail. The cave then opened into a giant underground city! With buildings carved straight from the rock! Crystals on the walls and ceiling lit the area, glowing with a blue aura! There were also statues of Digimon on the sides of the streets! It was quite a sight to behold!
“It’s like walking through ancient Greece...” Kyle mused.
“What does grease have to do with this?” Impmon asked.
Kyle laughed. “No, not grease from food, Impmon! I meant Greece, as in the country. It’ s a small country in the southeast of Europe in the real world.”
“Oh, so we weren’t talking about food… Okay.” Impmon said. Then, he stopped walking, looking around. He glared at the rock walls to his left.
Kyle noticed, and stopped walking, turning to face his friend. “What is it, Impmon?”
Without warning, a wall near Kyle exploded. Kyle turned, and saw what had caused the explosion!
The silver and yellow armor… The Black Gauntlets and charcoal-shaded skin...
It was BlackWarGreymon, the deprived Digimon that Arukenimon had made from control spires! He didn’t look happy, the frustration if you could call it that was radiating off him like heat from an open flame.
“Another one of you… Maybe you will be different from the others.” He started to walk towards Kyle.
“Impon, digivolve!” Kyle exclaimed, getting out his D-Power Digivice as Impmon threw himself between BlackWarGreymon and Kyle, as he warp-digivolved to Beelzemon!
“Look bub.” Beelzemon said, drawing one of his guns aiming at BlackWarGreymon as he walked to point blank range. “We are not looking for a fight. But we will defend ourselves, so back off!”
BlackWarGreymon glared at Beelzemon as if staring death in the face with no fear. “It’s not like I have much to live for anyway… I can’t find my heart; I don’t even know if I actually have one… I was built only to fight. Guess I may as well fight until someone can overpower me. Let’s see if you will be the one...” He charged at Beelzemon without warning, knocking him into a building. BlackWarGreymon then jumped into the building.
“Beelzemon!” Kyle got out two power cards from his card deck. He looked at one and swiped it through the digivice. “Digi-modify! Strength activate!”
Kyle heard a loud punch in the building and saw BlackWarGreymon go flying into the ceiling. Beelzemon jumped out of the building, both his shotguns in his hands. He fired on BlackWarGreymon as he flew at him.
BlackWarGreymon surprisingly, shook off the weapons fire and charged a Terra Destroyer orb in his hands. He threw it at the ground, and it exploded. Kyle had to take cover behind another building.
He then heard a lot of loud punches, and a lot of shots before he looked out again. Beelzemon was losing!
“Digi-modify! Speed activate!” Kylumi Yamika swiped the power card through his D-Power Digivice, giving his partner a much-needed speed boost. The battle with BlackWarGreymon was not going in their favor. Kyle couldn’t believe how stupid he was to come here, to this underground city, alone! Now they were in a battle way out of they’re league.
Beelzemon dodged one of BlackWarGreymon’s claws, shooting his guns. But it made no difference. He knew this was a one-way battle, but he needed to protect Kyle! His guns seemed to have little effect on this deranged Digimon! He fired off shots repeatedly, but they only seemed to slow him down as he ended up pinned against the wall. Beelzemon didn’t need anyone to tell him. He was outmatched here, no matter how many booster cards Kyle used. At this point, there was only one way he could save Kyle: sacrifice himself.
“KYLE! RUN! RUN, AND DON’T LOOK BACK!” Beelzemon used his free hand to grab one of his shotguns and aimed for a support structure that held up the cavern they were in, pulling the trigger. Kyle, swiping another power card, had little choice to obey, as he ran for the cave entrance. The cave was collapsing rapidly, he had no time to look back. The cave approached an incline, and he tripped, but he couldn’t stop, or he would die! He clawed his way up to the cave entrance, just before it collapsed, and continued to run until he was at a safe distance.
“Whew!” Kyle panted, out of breath. “Wow... That was a close one, wasn’t it, partner?” He looked around. Beelzemon wasn’t there. He called out for his partner, worried. Then, he looked behind him. The cave had completely caved in.
To his shock, and horror, all that remained of his Digimon partner was a red rag that lay near the entrance to the former cave, being digitized. Kyle then heard a loud bang, and saw a black blur fly out from the rubble of the cave! It was BlackWarGreymon, he had survived! But he didn’t notice Kyle as he took to the skies with what sounded like a frustrated roar.
Kyle bent down, grabbing what was left of the digitizing rag. He clenched onto it tightly with his fists in futility to stop it from fading into nothing. Kyle started to scream as tears ran from his eyes as he realized what had happened. At first, he couldn’t believe it, he refused to believe it! But as he knelt there, breaking down into sobs and screams, reality started to set in.
Beelzemon was gone, and Kyle was again alone.

Chapter Text

A Cabin on Mount Fuji

Japan

After the sealing of the worlds

Owikawa was not surprised by the seal BlackWarGreymon attempted to make. No matter, he would find a way to break it. Even now, as he typed his exploits on his laptop and doing research, he was plotting. Arukenimon and Mummymon were busy putting snow tires on the Subaru and tuning it up just in case they had to make another run to another hideout.

That’s when the tables turned. For Yukio Owikawa was being watched. Watched not by Digimon nor human. But by an intelligence, nonetheless. An evil intelligence, with power that even the Dark Masters could not compare to.

That Intelligence was going to prove very deadly and destructive, as it took over his laptop.

At first, Owikawa thought it had crashed, but then, the eye was displayed on the screen. That single, red-glowing eye.

That eye was now going to turn his whole world upside-down, as electricity surged through Owikawa’s body, possessing him, taking over him.

XANA had returned. This time, in the flesh.

And he now had two more worlds to try and take over. But first, he would have to do something about Arukenimon and Mummymon.

# # # # #

Arukenimon was outside helping Mummymon with the Subaru. Luckily, she wasn’t having to get her hands dirty under the hood. She just had to hit the gas when Mummymon told her to and check the gauges on the dashboard.

It was after a while of sitting in the Subaru that she saw Owikawa come out of the house. Though something was off about him. She couldn’t place her finger on it just yet but she knew something had changed.

“Arukenimon, Mummymon! Let me know when you are done with the Subaru! I need to head back into town to get something. Alone.”

“Alone?” Mummymon questioned. “But with the Digi-destined after you...”

“Don’t question me!” Owikawa snapped in a dangerous tone as his eyes took on a red glow. “I expect you to be done with the car by the end of the day, so get on it!”

With that, he went back inside. Arukenimon could immediately tell something was off. She would need to keep an eye on her master, now. Something wasn’t right...

Kadic Academy

France

Six Months later...

“Everyone, I would like to introduce our newest student in class.” Mrs. Hertz announced, as she walked into her classroom of waiting students with a young Japanese boy. He wore a punk-style overcoat over a gray t-shirt and black jeans with grunge trainers. “This is Kylumi Yamika.”

“Call me Kyle. It’s a pleasure.” He said with a hint of bitterness. He then picked the only seat available: Second Row, next to Sissy Delmas. But he just sat there and acted as if the occupied seat next to him was completely empty. He didn’t even acknowledge Sissy’s presence. Class went the same way as usual.

Today was Sissy’s birthday, and everyone seemed to be trying to kiss up to her. But not the new guy, who Sissy was curious about. So she decided she would invite Kyle to a party she was planning. But he politely declined, saying he had studying to catch up on. Honestly, he was tempted to tear up the invitation right in front of her, but he just handed it back with an irritated look.

Kyle walked up to the dorm room, which he was now going to share with a student named Jeremie Belpois. Still mourning over the loss of Beelzemon, he walked in and set his bags down on the vacant bed.

“Beelzemon...” He spoke, alone in the room. “...Why?”

Nothing but silence filled the void.

That was when Kyle noticed the complex computer in front of him. He looked at it’s strange screen saver. It looked like something straight out of one of the Matrix movies. My roommate must be a real technical savant, he thought. Speaking of which, his roommate still wasn’t around, but he saw a note next to the computer that said: Five O’clock, Factory. Meet others. Kyle then looked at the clock. It was that time. He didn’t know what the factory was about, but he figured he might just see what was on this computer. He moved the mouse cursor, and surprisingly found it unlocked!

“Hmm… Someone needs to tighten their security.” Kyle said to himself, sitting down in the chair.

Kyle began to go through the computer, expecting to find something like a collection of video games. Instead, he found all sorts of complicated programs, including some sort of scanner and notes on… virtualization and materialization?

“Virtualization? Materialization? What the heck is this?” Kyle now thought he was sharing a room with a complete nut. Who was this Jeremie Belpois? Kyle then found his roommate’s video diary as he scrounged through the computer’s files. He found the first entry: October 9^th of last year. Should I click it? He thought. He might be mad I’m getting into his stuff. Then, he shrugged the thought off. Nothing exciting ever happened here anyway. So, he might as well.

Kyle then nonchalantly opened the first file. It played back its contents. “Diary of Jeremy Belpois, Kadic Academy eighth grade student, October 9^th...”

If only Kyle knew this would lead him back to the digital world, and to vengeance.

Chapter Text

Mount Fuji

Owikawa’s Cabin

Mummymon and Arukenimon waited in the cabin. Mummymon was playing solitaire with a deck of cards, while Arukenimon watched the news on a television set. So far, the dark spores the had implanted in the children Owikawa had picked had not bloomed yet. However, they were sure the spores were having a desired effect. After all, Ken Ichijoji had one, and they knew what had happened with him before the Digi-Destined had interfered. The news reports, however, were reporting on rapid climate swings which were occurring, along with blackouts from dimensional rifts caused by Digimon crossing back and forth from both worlds. Except the news reporters didn’t know about the rifts. Or the Digimon, which they obviously couldn’t see due to the rifts causing them to phase in and out of the real world.

The news was also having debates about what happened earlier with the battle between WarGreymon and BlackWarGreymon at Mt. Fuji days earlier. Some of the humans were trying to explain it away with what seemed to them like logical explanations. Others on the program were accusing the government of wrongdoing, and others piled on conspiracy theories.

Arukenimon couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. If Digimon were so deluded and paranoid, they would have conquered the Digital World ages ago. It was entertaining to watch the humans argue and debate back and forth. They were so divided, so narrow minded… To her, it was better than creating her control-spire Digimon and sacking them on the Digi-Destined for entertainment.

Unfortunately, her moment of joy was interrupted when she heard the Subaru drive up outside with Owikawa at the wheel. The back looked like It was loaded down with a bunch of computer equipment. Great, she thought. Now what is the kook up to?

Owikawa came into the cabin with a box of some of the computer hardware he picked up. “Arukenimon! Mummymon! Help me get these components inside.”

Back at Kadic Academy…

7 PM…

Kyle waited impatiently as he copied some of Jeremy’s files from his computer to his burner android phone, his Digivice, and a backup flash drive he had recently acquired. Jeremy was down in the cafeteria with his friends, eating dinner. A perfect opportunity for Kyle to do some investigating of his own. He had already made several trips to this factory that was mentioned so much in Jeremie’s journals. The factory with the supercomputer and the scanners. If this was all true, which so far seemed so, he may have found a way to get back to Digi-world with some added firepower and avenge Beelzemon. But he would need some help. So far, he had made some friends here at the academy who might be able to help. Michael Dubois, and Ferruchio “Kev” Kevarri.

Finally, the computer finished copying the files. Kyle closed the program, ejected the flash drive and unplugged his phone. He put everything in his pockets right on time, as Jeremie walked through the door with Odd Della-Robia. A close call.

“Hey, Kyle.” Jeremie said as he walked in. “Dinner’s going to be done in about an hour. Are you sure you don’t want to go get anything?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll go get something now.” Kyle said. “I’m sorry, I had to catch up on some reading…”

“You’ve been ‘catching up’ for five nights straight!” Odd whined. “Honestly, I never expected Jeremie’s new roommate to be such an isolated bookie!”

“Odd!” Jeremie exclaimed. “Don’t be so brash! That was rude!”

“Hey, when someone’s right, they’re right.” Kyle said, brushing off the comment, along with his shoulder with a smile. “So, what’s on the menu tonight, Odd?”

# # # # # #

Beelzemon woke up after what seemed like years of darkness. He was still in his fully-digivolved form. Why hadn’t he gone back to being an egg, hatching in the primary village?

In front of him he saw his answer. A pale man in an overcoat, with shoulder-length hair next to Arukenimon and Mummymon in their human forms!

“Who are you? What is this?!” Beelzemon tried to move, but found his limbs bound by energy bindings!

The man snickered darkly. “What is this? Why, it is a new beginning, Beelzemon. A new beginning that you and your friend, Kyle have set into motion. As for my identity, I used to go by the name Owikawa. But now… Just call me XANA. I owe everything to what your old friend has done. He has basically given me the keys to conquer a new world besides Lyoko…”

Beelzemon scowled at Owikawa-XANA with rage. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Kyle! I swear if you so much as-”

“Oh, don’t worry. I have no intent of harming your little human friend, unless he gets in my way of course...” Owikawa-XANA then held up a finger, and it shape-shifted, turning into a hideous claw! He then shoved the claw straight into Beelzemon’s chest with burning force, causing a scream of pain to fly out of Beelzemon’s throat!

“…And even if he does interfere, you will be there to take care of it, my loyal servant. As we speak, you are being infected with my code. There are ways to break it, block it, and render it inactive, of course... But by the time you encounter Kyle again, there will be no way to erase it entirely; It will be part of you for the rest of your life. Besides, it’s doubtful your friend Kyle will be coming to your rescue anytime soon.” XANA then materialized a Dark Spiral into his hand, and ensnared it on Beelzemon’s arm, to make sure he obeyed his every whim. “Also, get used to working with old enemies. It will be much simpler that way, won’t it BlackWarGreymon?” XANA then started cackling like mad, as BlackWarGreymon emerged from the shadows with a Dark Spiral on his upper arm as well, his eyes dim and cold.

That was the last thing Beelzemon saw before going completely under XANA’s spell…

Chapter Text

Kadic Academy – Cafeteria

12:00 PM

Next Day

The Lyoko Warriors watched the new guy, Kyle, at a table. It looked like he was reading over class notes with two other students as they all ate lunch, a laptop on the table in front of them. The student with the laptop was Micheal DuBuois, a rich kid computer geek with skills that rivaled Jeremie, and even Herb. He was dressed in his usual blazer and khakis, with dress shoes to match.

The second was Ferruchio Kevarii, a student from Italy. He preferred being referred to as, “Kev” Seeing as his first name could be difficult to pronounce, dressed in a polo t-shirt, and light-colored pants, with a cut-off vest. He was always looking for some excitement in one form or the other.

“Well, it’s good to see that he’s socializing.” Jeremie said. “Ever since he got here, he’s mostly been hanging out in the dorms between classes.”

“Not to be rude, but I overheard a conversation between Headmaster Delmas and one of the school therapists a few days after her got here.” Odd whispered. “His parents went through a very bitter and violent divorce when he was eight years old. His mother was an alcoholic, as well as a control freak to him and his father. Kyle’s dad had to eventually get a restraining order against her for them both after he won custody.”

“Yikes!” Aelita added. “In that case, I can see his isolationism as a way of coping with that.”

“Not only that, but he’s also very good at a variety of video and tabletop games.” Odd continued. “He won the Warhammer 40K GT Tournament in Las Vegas, United States four years ago when he was only ten years old! Wiped the floor with the competition!”

“Sounds like a regular Ken Ichijouji.” Yumi said. “He’s a prodigy back in Japan.”

“I know, right?” Odd said with a grin. “I’m hoping if he can warm up to us, I ask him for some good tips and strategies.”

If only they knew what they were really planning.

# # # # #

“So you’re sure you want to check this out with me?” Kyle asked quietly.

“Why not?” Micheal said. “I’ve always have been curious as to why I’ve had this feeling of Deja-Vu all the time. At times I felt like I’ve had repeated the same day repeatedly.”

“Besides, who knows what else could be in this so-called factory...” Kev began.

“Keep your voice down!” Kyle cautioned. “The principal’s daughter is right over there! You think we want her, or anyone else involved?”

“Right. Sorry.” Kev said.

“So, when do you leave for this... Factory?” Micheal asked.

“Tonight.” Kyle answered. “Meet me in the boiler room at ten o’clock, and make sure you’re not followed or seen. From there, we’ll go to this factory and check out this supercomputer and investigate this virtualization process that Belpois mentioned in his journal. I’ll be waiting.”

Kadic Academy

Boiler Room – Sewer Access

10:00 PM

Kyle walked into the boiler room, seeing Kev and Mike waiting near the sewer access hatch, right on schedule.

“Right.” Mike said. “So, where do we go from here?”

Kyle opened up the maintenance access door, and the three ventured into the sewers, following then virtual map Kyle had downloaded to his Android Phone.

“So what do you think we’ll find in this supercomputer?” Micheal asked.

“Some answers.” Kyle said flatly. “That’s what you wanted to find, isn’t it?”

“Something tells me you’re after more than just that.” Micheal said.

“Like what?” Kyle asked, turning to face Micheal.

“That, I am not sure of yet.” Micheal answered, a look of suspicion in his eye.

Kyle gave Micheal a look of irritation. “Even if I was after something else, that would be my business, wouldn’t it?”

Micheal frowned. He was silent after that.

They exited the sewers, climbing out of the manhole right in front of the factory. No one was around.

Kyle showed Micheal and Kev how to slide down the ropes to the elevator. They got in, and pressed the button, Kyle inputting the code on the elevator controls to get to the Supercomputer room.

The elevator’s motor activated, and lowered them down to the level that the Supercomputer was on. Soon, the doors parted, revealing the supercomputer mainframe room. Kyle then went down the ladder to the room housing the actual computer, and switched it on.

A rush of air blew around Kyle as the supercomputer powered up! Once it was running, Kyle went back upstairs, seeing Micheal logging into the mainframe.

“Everything looking good up here?” Kyle asked as he walked over.

“Yep. Everything’s running as it should, according to the diagnostics.” Michael said. “Woah… There’s a bunch of notes, programs, files, and a video journal on here, belonging to… Jeremie Belpois?!”
“Let’s see it!” Kev exclaimed excitedly.

# # # # # #

After going through all of Jeremie’s journal entries, Kev and Michael were agast! All this time, Jeremie and his friends had been fighting to keep the world safe! Not only that, but they risked everything to save Aelita!

“Woah…” Michael said. “A virtual world, tucked away out of sight and out of mind…”

“It’s not the only one.” Kyle spoke up. Michael and Kev turned to look at him, ready to ask what he was talking about when he pulled his D-Power Digivice out of his jacket pocket. “...There is another. This device links me to it… A world that I had to leave, a world that I hope is still intact.” Kyle could not stop the tears streaming from his eyes.

Michael worked up enough courage to ask. “What kind of world?”

Kyle then proceeded to tell them both everything: From the moment he got the digi-egg out of his computer after beating that text-based game he found, on through how he raised Beelzemon all to their last battle with BlackWarGreymon.

“He sacrificed himself so you could live?” Kev asked, surprised. “Wow… You and him must have been very close.” He finished as he looked at the floor.

Michael looked at Kev. “What’s with you?”

“...I’ve just never been that close to anyone.” Kev said. “I’m the son of one of the top designers for the Lamborghini car company. Those who ended up trying to get close to me only wanted to know me because of that fact, because that’s all they wanted to know about… The damn super cars.”

“Well, we’re not going to be like that.” Kyle put a hand of comfort on Kev’s shoulder. “I think we’re all misfits here.”

“To be honest, we are…” Michael said. “The reason I ended up at Kadic isn’t for the superb education or the prestige a graduate brings… My parents sent me here because they want me to be normal, at least to them. They want me to be the perfect boy, who is totally obedient and does everything they say… They try to dictate how I should study, how I should socialize… They even try to dictate my future career. They just don’t get that I want to live my own life…”

Kyle looked at Michael, then hugged him. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have been so rude in the tunnel.”

Michael patted Kyle on the back. “It’s alright. At least you had the courage to apologize and be sincere. My parents never have been like that. Anyway, I assume that you want to use the scanners to get to this other world? The one besides Lyoko?”

“Yeah…” Kyle said. “I’ve been gone from Digiworld for too long, and god knows what kind of damage has been done. BlackWarGreymon may have wrecked it all, it may be hanging from a thread… I don’t know, but I need to find out. I can get the virtualization codes off of this and upload them to the supercomputer’s mainframe. That’s our ticket in.”

“No arguments there.” Michael said. “Well, let’s get those codes copied to the supercomputer. If this thing is as powerful as Belpois said in his journals, we should be able to do a test virtualization tonight. Let’s get to work…”

# # # # # # #

Kyle stood in front of the scanner, the doors open. He looked up at the pod, waiting for the signal from Michael. Could this really work? He wondered.

“Alright, Kyle. The program’s been updated, and I got the co-ordinates dialed in for that “File Island” you mentioned. You can get into the scanner now. Good luck.”

“Indeed…” Kyle said as he stepped in. “I’m in. Good luck to all of us…”

“Starting procedure.” Michael said. “Transfer, Kyle!”

The pod’s doors closed as the scanner rings lit up inside. Michael closed his eyes tightly, feeling wind gust around his body as he started to rise up off the ground, the scanner rings running over his body.

“Scanner, Kyle!” Kyle felt the wind blow through his hair and across his body like a hurricane a few moments later as he heard Michael say the last word as he was engulfed in light.

“Virtualization!”

# # # # # #

File Island

Forest

Davis watched in horror, tears in his eyes as BlackWarGreymon proceeded to beat the crap out of Exveemon! His Digimon partner was barely able to get a hit in, let alone defend himself! Exveemon was thrown into a tree by the impact of one of BlackWarGreymon’s kicks, the champion-level Digimon letting out a loud groan after impact!

“You should have stayed out of my way…” BlackWarGreymon snarled. “Now, stay down. The child is mine…”

“No…” Exveemon struggled to stand, forcing himself up onto his legs, standing weak yet defiant, his battered body covered in cuts, bruises, and dirt. “...I’m not… Letting you hurt him-” Exveemon was once again sent flying into another tree by BlackWarGreymon!

“Exveemon!” Davis cried out, watching as BlackWarGreymon walked up and placed a foot on Exveemon’s neck, cutting off his air! “No… Stop! STOOOOP!”

It was at that moment, a large gust of wind whipped up around them! Davis covered his face, BlackWarGreymon looking up as he saw a light appear above them! The light took shape, form, and color: It was a human boy in the same age group as the Digidestined with silver-platinum hair, dressed in a red overcoat, tan leather pants and combat boots, with a set of holsters attached to the overcoat, armed with two guns and a sword on his back! The wind and light faded, and the boy landed on the ground nearly losing his balance!

“Woah!” The boy shouted as he stumbled. He then gained his footing. “...Michael, can you read me? It looks like it worked! For some reason, I’m dressed as Dante from Devil May Cry 3. Have his weapons too...” He held his hand up to an earpiece.

“Loud and clear, Kyle.” Michael said. “The supercomputer must have read into your subconscious desires, like Jeremie said in his notes. Also, a strange field popped up out of the holosphere projector and has covered the factory since you were virtualized. Kev says it looks like time has slowed to a near standstill outside, most likely to keep Digiworld and out time in sync.”

“Alright. I’m going to take a look around-” Kyle stopped speaking when he saw the scene in front of him! His eyes widened at first, then they narrowed in anger. “Oh, crap! Scratch that last part about looking around! Michael, get Kev virtualized ASAP! BlackWarGreymon’s here, and I need backup!”

Kyle then grabbed both his pistols, Ebony and Ivory, whipping them out of their holsters and pointing them at BlackWargreymon, pumping the triggers! BlackWarGreymon stumbled backwards, unprepared for the kick the blasts from the pistols packed as he let his foot off of Exveemon’s throat! Exveemon gasped for air, coughing a few times as he regained his wind.

Kyle then ran forward, holstering his guns and grabbing the Rebellion Sword on his back and swung it at BlackWarGreymon who was barely able to block the sudden first strike after the pistol barrage, Kyle hitting at him with savage whips of the blade!

Ken then ran forward with Stingmon at his side! “Davis! Davis, are you and Exveemon okay?!”

“...Just peachy.” Exveemon grunted as he tried to sit up, but collapsed again from the pain throbbing from his injuries. “What took you so long…?”

BlackWarGreymon leered Kyle in rage, swinging his clawed gauntlets at his much smaller yet amazingly aggressive attacker! “You little pest! You dare challenge me?!” BlackWarGreymon’s claw connected with Kyle’s sword, sending the human flying backwards! But he quickly landed on his feet, sliding across the ground several yards before stopping!

Kyle knew he needed more firepower. (If only I had Dante’s Coyote shotgun) He thought. He then felt a lump materialize in his coat, under his arm, feeling the form of a holstered sawed-off shotgun inside! Michael didn’t waste any time as BlackWarGreymon charged, rushing at him with intent to harm! Kyle grabbed the shotgun with his free hand, whipping it out with style as if he was Alucard from Hellsing, brandishing his Casull 454! He aimed the dual-barrel shotgun at his aggressor, pulling the trigger!

The blast from the Coyote erupted in a shockwave with buckshot pellets, sending BlackWarGreymon tumbling backwards from the blast and it’s impact! BlackWarGreymon smacked straight into a tree, back-first!

There was another light shining overhead with more wind, and another human boy joined the fight as he materialized into the spectrum: He had short brown hair, and wore an armor-plated blue jumpsuit with yellow stripes along the front and the number “5” on the back. He was armed with an automatic rifle over his shoulder, a 10 milimeter submachine gun holstered on his leg, with a 44 Bull-nosed magnum revolver on his hip! He landed in a similar fashion to Kyle!

“Woah! Kyle, no worries, I’m here…” The new boy then looked over his outfit. “Woah! I’m like the Lone Wanderer from Fallout 3! Sweet!”

“You look bad-ass, Kev.” Kyle said, walking up to his side. “Now focus! Monstrous behemoth to take care of, remember?” He motioned to BlackWarGreymon with the Rebellion sword as if the blade was a pointer.

Kev didn’t waste any time: He pulled his 44 Magnum from it’s holster and pulled back the trigger repeatedly, spraying BlackWarGreymon with weapons fire! BlackWarGreymon whipped out his shield and snapped it together, blocking the barrage! Kyle then charged forward, whipping out the Rebellion Sword with one hand, chaining in some savage strikes as BlackWarGreymon’s shield started to crack! Kyle then kicked off of the damaged shield, brandishing the Coyote shotgun and fired at the shield from point-blank! The blast sent BlackWarGreymon flying back into a tree, his shield shattering into pieces!

BlackWarGreymon slid down the tree, forcing himself to get up once more as he leered Kyle. “I don’t know who you are, Kiddo, other than you are becoming an incredible annoyance!” BlackWarGreymon then charged at Kyle again, who charged at BlackWarGreymon in return!

“You really don’t remember me? Well, then it’s time I reintroduced myself! IMPACT!!” Kyle’s speed suddenly spiked as he ran, he was nothing but a blur as he ran by, slicing his sword through BlackWarGreymon’s right gauntlet, cutting it in half as the sword pierced BlackWarGreymon’s skin, leaving a long gash that flowed red with blood! BlackWarGreymon let out a howl of pain, grasping his arm as he fell to his knees from the pain of the sudden strike!

Kyle paused for a bit, stunned by the sight of the crimson on his sword! “What…?! He’s bleeding?! How is that possible? Control spire digimon don’t bleed… Oh, screw it! KEV! FINISH IT, QUICK!!”

Kev pulled a plasma grenade out of his pocket, pulled the pin, and threw it at BlackWarGreymon like a baseball pitcher! The grenade hit the target, exploding with an energetic bang!

BlackWarGreymon was thrown across the field, landing on his back as he slid several yards across the ground.

Kyle and Kev walked up to BlackWarGreymon. He was out cold, completely unconscious.

Davis and Ken walked up alongside Kyle and Kev, looking over their adversary on the ground. “Dude! I don’t’ know how you are here, but… Wow! Thanks for the help, I don’t know how we would have survived…”

Kyle turned to Davis, a glare on his face. “What else has he done?! Has he taken out other Digimon? Who else has he slaughtered?!”

“Woah, hey!” Davis snapped. “One thing at a time! What’s with the interrogation routine, anyway?”

“He’s been running rampant all this time, hasn’t he?!” Kyle looked like he was going to blow a gasket. “For that matter, what were you thinking?! Taking him on with just a champion-level digimon at your side?! How could you be so careless?! You’re welcome for the save, by the way...” Kyle turned back to BlackWarGreymon, drawing his Ebony pistol, aiming at one of BlackWarGreymon’s eyes. “Well, it’s time to end it…”

BlackWarGreymon let out a loud groan, his eyes shooting open! He tried to sit up, but collapsed back on the ground in pain, looking at Kyle. “...I don’t know how you were able to do that… Only another Digimon is able to take me on with such power…”

“The rules have changed!” Kyle pulled back the hammer on Ebony with his thumb, his face etched with rage. “Now it’s time for you to pay for your crimes! This is for Beelzemon, you son of a bitch…”

There was then the sound of laughter, the tone resonating with Kyle as he recognized the octaves, his eyes widening as the voice spoke.
“Oh, Kyle… Still the same rage-a-holic gung-ho solo hero trying to save everyone… Guess some things never change… I’d ask how you got back, but I already know… HEARTBREAK SHOT!!!”

Kyle jumped out of the way just in time, using his Trickster dodge ability to sidestep out of the way of the incoming projectile blast as it whizzed past, the slipstream making his coat flap in the wind!

With that, a new foe stepped out from the trees and shrubs: Kyle’s heart shot into his throat when he saw who it was! The leather biker jacket and pants, the metal spiked boots, the two braids of hair along his mask-covered, three eyed head and the metal tail, and the two dual-barrel guns in his hands!

It was Beelzemon!

Chapter Text

Kyle looked at Beelzemon in total shock. “Beelzemon?! What…? How…? How are you alive, and why did you just try to shoot me?!”

Kev was surprised as well. “That’s a good question! You said he was dead...”

Beelzemon just laughed. “Like you said yourself, Kyle: The rules have changed. As for how I was brought back, well… I have my new master to thank for that, as does BlackWarGreymon.”

Kyle’s brain felt like it was spinning out just hearing the revelations that Beelezmon told. “You mean BlackWarGreymon died at some point?! Then who would want to bring him back?! He’s a monster! He has caused so much destruction and heartache, he killed you for crying out loud, Beelzemon!”

Beelzemon sighed, rolling his eyes. “Oh, my new master has his ways of opening people’s eyes, Kyle. He’s also gifted me with one of these as well, to boost my power…” Beelzemon held up his right wrist, which was ensnared in a Dark Spiral Ring! “...A gift that Master redesigned after going through the late Digimon Emperor’s files. BlackWarGreymon has one as well.”

It was then as BlackWarGreymon stood up that Kyle saw the digimon had a Dark Spiral Ring ensnaring his left arm around his bicep!

“What do you mean?! You went through my old files?!” Ken exclaimed. “I deleted all those! How could you have went through them?!”

“Every bit of deleted data leaves traces behind, like shards of broken glass.” A new voice said from the shadows of the trees. “All you have to do is find all the pieces and reassemble them to get the entire picture.”

A man then walked out from the trees, wearing a purple overcoat with a business suit underneath. He had long, black hair and pale skin, probably from not getting a lot of sunlight.

Ken leered the man in rage. “Owikawa!?! How did you get those files from me?!”

“Not Owikawa anymore, Ken…” The man said, opening his eyes that showed nothing but pools of deep crimson. “No… Owikawa is now dormant, he serves as nothing more than my vessel now… So you man now refer to me by my proper designation: My name is XANA, and I am here to bring this new world under my total command, so that I may combine its power with that of Lyoko itself… Then, I shall direct my forces towards Earth to conquer it! Then, my Digital Dynasty shall begin, with me on the throne… Then, I shall show you how a proper emperor rules his empire, Ken. Something you shall witness very soon… Count on it.”

“Really?” Davis shot Xana a smirk. “Then let me ask you this: How do you plan to conquer anything with just two digimon at your side? That’s going to make it pretty difficult...”

Xana let out a mad cackle. “Davis Motomiya, you think too small and see everything in such a narrow vision! Humans… What you are seeing in front of you right now is merely a demonstration. A mere sliver of a fraction of my power and influence. I have already been spreading my influence here for sometime, even before you discovered and reactivated the supercomputer, Kyle… The two digimon in front of you at my side are only a couple of many more that I’ve corrupted and have under my control due to my code. A code I may also add that has been spreading through digiworld like wildfire since I got here! Tell me, Davis: How many days has it been that Exveemon has been stuck at champion level? Why hasn’t he, Stingmon, and the others not been able to de-digivolve back to their rookie stages so they can rest and regain their precious strength quicker? The answer is now staring you in the face… Foolish child…”

Kyle got his digivice out of his pocket, seeing the screen lit up with the eye of Xana, just as Jeremie described in his journals! Kyle leered Xana, his rage unbridled and unbound as energy spiked around his body. “You...! What have you done, you demon?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!”

Kyle then rushed at Xana, his form shifting as the energy burst around him! Kyle had triggered his Devil Trigger state, the shape of his body changing to a demonic representation of Dante’s Majin Devil Trigger!

Kyle swung the Rebellion sword at Xana, ready to take him out with one swift strike!

It would have worked if BlackWarGreymon had not caught the sword with his remaining gauntlet, letting Beelzemon blast Kyle halfway across the field with one of his guns!

“Patience, dear child… Patience.” Xana said with laughter. “You shall have your chance at a hopeless retribution… But not now. I think I’ve demonstrated enough of what my power can do, as well as the capabilities of some of my new pawns… Beelzemon! BlackWarGreymon! Come… It’s time to start setting the main phase into motion.”

Smoke then erupted all around Xana, Beelzemon, and BlackWarGreymon, the trio vanishing in seconds as they were carried away with it on the winds.

Kev ran over to Kyle, who was struggling to get back up after the point-blank shot from his former partner. “Kyle! Kyle, you ok?! Mike! How many life points does he have left?!”

“That single shot cost him half of his 100-point count at the range he took the shot. That D-Trigger form is helping him regenerate, though.” Michael said through the headset. “To be honest, if he wasn’t in that D-Trigger form, that blast would have taken him out and sent his life points to zero.”

Kyle stood up to his full height, looking over the digivice still in his hand as the screen went black. Then he threw his head back as he let out a loud roar that shook the ground around him, energy spiking across his body as he changed back to human form, the roar changing to a sorrowful wail, tears running from Kyle’s eyes as he cried…

Chapter Text

Kyle just stood there in place, wails of pain and heartache leaving his throat and echoing across the forest as he struggled to get control of himself, the revelation that Beelzemon was alive and had been turned against him tearing open a wound that was almost healed until that point.

Kev did the only thing he could think of, knowing that no words would console Kyle in this state. He wrapped his arms around him in a protective embrace, letting Kyle weep as he stood there.

Ken, although he had many questions for these two, held his silence. Whatever had happened between him and Beelzemon, he knew that Kyle would need to be calm before they started peppering him and Kev with questions.

Besides, Ken already had a competent theory on their backstory from the moment he saw the digivice in Kyle’s hand.

Unfortunately, the situation that Kyle and his friends were in was about to only worsen as Kev and Kyle heard Mike shouting on the radio feed, as well as several new voices.

“What the…?! Kyle! Someone must have been with us when we were in the factory starting up the computer! The elevator has been activated and…!”

“Hey! What are you doing?! Get away from there!” A new voice shouted in the background of the feed.

It was Jeremie Belpuois!

# # # # #

Jeremy ran forwards with Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd as he tackled Michael out of the chair. Odd and Ulrich helped to restrain Micheal, who flailed around in resistance.

Jeremie was shocked when he looked at the holosphere and the supercomputer mainframe. “What did you do?! You turned it back on?!? And what is that place on the holosphere?! That doesn’t look like Lyoko or the map of the digital sea at all!” Jerermie jumped into the chair, plugging in his headset and starting to rapidly type in commands as he got status updates on the screen. “We need to shut this down, now!”

“Are you crazy, Jeremie?!” Kev yelled through the radio feed. “We can’t shut this down, Xana is still out here somewhere!”

“How do you know about Xana?!” Jeremie demanded.

“We looked through the journal you left behind, genius!” Michael snapped. “And yes, Xana is still out there, so your last job trying to wipe him out seems to have failed! He’s possessed someone named Owikawa, and the stakes are now a heck of a lot higher because of it!”

“You’re lying!” Ulrich snapped. “I saw Xana go out with my own eyes!”

“How do you know it wasn’t another specter?” Michael challenged. “Because Xana was with Kyle and Kev! I heard him speak through Owikawa on the feed, Kev and Kyle saw him on the digital plane!”

Jeremie looked over to the image on the holosphere. “The digital plane?”

“The fancy name I gave for the other digital world that exists parallel alongside Lyoko.” Micheal Answered. “If you’ll let me up, I’ll get you up to speed.”

“Oh, we’d appreciate it.” Another voice said from the ladder.

Climbing down from the ladder was Elizabeth “Sissy” Delmas, along with Nicolas Poliakoff and Herve Pichon!

# # # # # #

After Jeremie and Micheal were forced to explain everything to Sissy and company, things were somewhat calmer but still tense, due to the fact that Sissy was angry that Ulrich was risking his life all this time and didn’t tell her.

“How could you be so reckless, Ulrich?!” Sissy snapped as Jeremie de-virtualized Kyle and Kev. “You could have been hurt very badly!”

“It’s not like we had a choice, and it’s not like I have to report everything I do to you!” Ulrich snapped back. “For crying out loud, Sissy! You’re not my girlfriend, or my mom! I don’t need to report to you every time I do something!”

“Ulrich! That hurts, dammit!” Sissy shouted, tears running down her face. “Look, I get it! I know you heart belongs to Yumi by now, but that doesn’t mean I still can’t be a friend to you! Do you have any idea what could have happened if this Supercomputer didn’t have that Return to the Past program?! How devastated everyone would have been if it was game over for real?!”

“Okay, let’s all calm down.” Kev said, stepping between the two. “No offense, but don’t we have bigger things to worry about right now? We can worry about who should have told what some other time. Right now, we have to focus on Xana and what he could be planning to do.”

Sissy was silent after that, turning away from Ulrich, who didn’t have a snippy retort to fire back this time. He knew Sissy had a point.

Jeremie sighed. “I better initiate a Return…”

“No!” Michael snapped, grabbing Jeremie’s arm before he could even type a command. “It’s not going to be that easy this time, Jeremie!”

“It’s not like you have a choice in the matter.” Odd said.

“Really? Then go on, try it. I dare you.” Michael said.

Jeremie typed in the command to access the Return program. Instead of the window popping up with the options and coordinates, a password box popped up instead!

Jeremie turned to Michael with a scowl. “What did you do?”

“I encrypted and password protected the Return program.” Michael smiled. “Because you’re not weaseling your way out of this one, Belpois. We’re making sure of that.”

Kyle then stepped forward. “Agreed. That was the one thing we all agreed on before testing the virtualization program for the digital plane. Now that Xana’s returned, the war is back on with new rules. So if you think you’re just going to do a return and wipe our memories clean again, you have another thing coming. We could blow the top off this can, and then there would be inquiries and questions. Most likely it would set the world into a panic, and then Xana would probably win anyway. You don’t want that, Jeremie. None of you do. So I suggest we all work together to find Xana, neutralize him for good this time, and keep all three worlds safe from harm. Otherwise, it will be game over for real.”

Chapter Text

A Few Days Later…

File Island – Dragon’s Eye Lake…

Kyle walked across the beach of Dragon’s Eye Lake with Aelita, Ulrich, and a few of the Digidestined: Davis and Tai, with their Digimon, Exveemon and WarGreymon. WarGreymon had been forced to digivolve a week earlier in a fight with Beelzemon, but with Xana’s code now running rampant in the Digital World, it had sadly infected him as well. Meaning he was stuck at Mega Level, and couldn’t recover his energy as quick.

Kyle scowled as he saw a Tower protrude from the center of the lake, a pathway set up to it by stepping stones.

“Xana’s been busy.” Ulrich said. “He’s now got a solid foothold, here. Those towers are how he controls and regains his power.”

“Kinda of like the Control Spires.” Tai said. “So all we need to do is destroy them, and Xana’s power gets reduced.”

“It’s not that simple.” Aelita explained. “On Lyoko, if you destroyed a Tower, then you also destroyed a small section of the sector it was rooted into. No doubt the towers here work the same way. If you destroy that Tower, then Dragon’s Eye Lake will no doubt go down with it.”

“There’s got to be something we can do… We can’t just sit on our hands and let Xana run rampant!” Exveemon growled.

“I’m working on it!” Jeremie snapped over the communicator. “Deciphering a viral code isn’t exactly a walk in the park, Exveemon!”

“I hate to say it, but he’s right.” Micheal agreed. “We’re both working overtime between classes to figure out Xana’s viral code so we can remove the Towers without causing harm. We have no other choice but to be patient.”

It was at that moment, the blue glow around the tower changed to red!

“Oh crap!” Jeremie said. “The tower at Dragon’s Eye Lake is now activated!”

“Which means?” Tai asked.

“Which means Xana is siphoning it’s power for his use. He’s up to something.” Ulrich answered.

Aelita then felt Xana’s Pulsations. Two sets. One was emanating from the Tower, the other was from further away. But it was getting closer, and quickly!

“Guys! Something’s coming!” Aelita exclaimed.

At that moment, everyone heard the trees nearby suddenly snap and crash. Then, BlackWarGreymon stepped out from the falling trees, with Beelzemon and Xana at his sides.

“Well, well… What do we have here?” Xana sneered.

Kyle drew his guns in an instant, unleashing a barrage of firepower as Beelzemon and BlackWarGreymon charged at the party! WarGreymon deadlocked with his dark counterpart, both struggling to overpower the other! It would have been a fairly even match, if WarGreymon had been able to recover more quickly by DeDigivolving! But since that wasn’t an option, so he wasn’t as strong as he usually was! Right now, WarGreymon was struggling to just hold his own!

Beelzemon quickly went after Kyle, forcing him to whip out his Rebellion Sword! The Sword clashed and clanged over and over against Beelzemon’s claws and spiked chrome-digizoid brass knuckles! Kyle was using his speed to dodge the strikes, as Aelita powered up her Energy Field attack, sending spheres of pink energy at their aggressors, Yumi reinforcing them by throwing one of her steel fans at BlackWarGreymon! The fan buzz-sawed through a section of BlackWarGreymon’s armor, scraping the flesh underneath as BlackWarGreymon let out a howl of sudden pain! It was enough for WarGremon to shove his counterpart away, and take to the sky! BlackWarGreymon pursued, and their fight continued with rapid punches from their Dramon Destoryer Gauntles in the air!

Exveemon quickly charged at Beelzemon, throwing a punch from his barbed-knuckled hand at the offending Digimon, but Beelzemon brought up a hand to catch the punch!

“Ooooh, too slow bro!” Beelzemon snickered, then drew one of his Berenjena shotguns, and shot Exveemon point blank! The blue and white dragon digimon was thrown back into a tree with a loud crash!

“That’s enough!!!” Kyle cried out, switching his weapon from the Rebellion Sword to the Beowolf Gauntlets and Greaves! He caught Beelzemon off guard, quickly starting to get in rapid punches and kicks into his attacks, going into the Beowolf Beehive Combo with a rapid flurry of kicks! Beelzemon was knocked to his knees after Kyle executed an Axe Kick, finishing the combo!

Kyle then lept into the air, ready to unleash the Beowulf Killer Bee diving kick, but before he could execute the maneuver, Beelzemon grabbed both his Barenjena shotguns and aimed at Kyle.

“Double Impact!” Beelzemon shouted, unleashing a rapid series of shots from both weapons! Kyle was unable to do anything to counter the sudden attack! He was thrown back onto the beach, sliding through the sand!

“Kyle! Watch it!” Jeremie shouted. “That sudden barrage of shots cost you fifty life points!”

“Yeah, and it hurt, too…” Kyle groaned. “Xana must have done something to alter the damage physics of our Lyoko forms when he activated the tower…”

“Oh, I’ve done more than that.” Xana crooned. “With the tower active, and siphoning the power of the Digital Plane, I’ve also voided the materialization procedure. Meaning that if you lose all your life points here, you won’t be re-materialized. Instead, your remains will dissolve into data, and it will be scattered to the winds of the Digital Plane for all time.”

BlackWarGreymon at that point, managed to get a hit in on WarGreymon, knocking him off his rhythm, grabbing him by the leg, and spinning around, throwing him into a rocky area of the beach! WarGreymon hit the back of his head on a rock, and fell unconscious, a small trail of blood running from his head wound! BlackWarGreymon then flew down to Wargreymon, intent on delivering the final blow!

Exveemon quickly intercepted BlackWarGreymon, grappling with him in desperation to save WarGreymon!
Kyle stood back up, switching his weapons again: He changed from the Beowulf Gauntlets to the Agni and Rudra Firestorm Swords, as well as switch out the Ebony and Ivory pistols for the Striker sniper rifle! Kyle then executed a Trickshot with the Striker, firing it at Beelzmon! The shot ricocheted off of Beelzemon’s shotguns, knocking them out of his hands, then the bullet hit Xana, ricocheting off his arm and knocking him over, to end it’s journey by hitting BlackWarGreymon in the back! That gave Exveemon an opening to sock his counterpart in the face, sending him flying into the lake!

Kyle quickly took advantage of Beelzemon’s disorientation, and charged forward with Agni and Rudra in hand, ready to unleash the Jetstream combo! But again, Beelzemon was too quick to recover and adapt! He quickly raised his foot and unleashed a sudden Axe Kick of his own, the impact of the blow sending Kyle into the ground, face-first! Kyle raised his head out of the sand, coughing up blood!

“Kyle!” Aelita exclaimed. “Jeremie! Xana’s alterations have voided some of the combat program’s safeties! Kyle’s been hurt bad!”

“Kyle, you need to get out of there!” Jeremie snapped. “You just lost another 15 life points!”

“I’m not going anywhere…” Kyle growled as he forced himself onto his feet. “This mess is my doing… I wasn’t there for Beelzemon. I’m not stopping until I finish this…”

“Kyle, forget it!” Tai shouted angrily. “It isn’t worth it to throw your life away like this!”

Kyle didn’t listen. He switched weapons back to Rebellion, using a set of .45 Artwarks Sub-machine Guns for long range. He charged forward again, firing off the sub-machine guns in a steady stream of bullets, blinding Beelzemon and stunning him! Midway away, Kyle unleashed the Stinger Stab with Rebellion, closing in rapidly! Beelzemon unfortunately, was able to grab the blade with his hand, then swing Kyle around like a rag doll, slamming him into the ground multiple times before flinging him away once more!

“Your attacks just aren’t going to cut it, Kyle.” Beelzemon snicked. “I guess it’s time I finished this…” He slowly stared to walk up as Kyle forced himself up once more, his face expressing extreme pain.

“Kyle, get out of there!” Jeremie yelled. “You only have five life points left!”

Kyle looked up to Beelzemon, a sad blitzed glare on his face as he held up one of his Berenjena Shotguns.

“...Tell me, Beelzemon: Are we still having fun?” Kyle growled weakly.

This question caused Beelzemon to pause, looking at Kyle with confusion.

“You used to enjoy battles, even if it was the smallest opponent.” Kyle continued. “I guess that’s true, even with me… If that’s what is going to make you happy, if taking me out is what will truly satisfy your rage and hate, then do it… Finish me off, and get it over with.”

Kyle dropped his sword, and held out his hands, embracing his doom.

“Kyle, no!” Davis yelled, starting to run forwards only for Tai to stop him. “Kyle, you can’t! If you lose, then you will be digitized! DON’T!”

Xana cackled. “Finish him, Beelzemon.” He said, feeding power into Beelzemon’s dark spiral.

But Beelzemon didn’t respond. He looked deep into Kyle’s hazel eyes, seeing the pain, the guilt, the sadness and blame. It was then that something awakened in Beelzemon. Something he had meant to remember, to uphold, but blatantly had been forced to bury, to push aside after Xana infected him.

Beelzemon was remembering his oath to Kyle: How he had promised to stay by his side, how they had promised to each other to see their journey through to the bitter end, to never abandon each other.

Their promise to each other, to always endure.

Beelzemon dropped the shotgun in his hand, then clutched his head, grunting in pain as the memories continued to pool to the surface, memories that Xana had tried to seal away!

“Beelzemon, what are you doing?!” Xana demanded. “I gave you an order! Attack, now!”

Beelzemon didn’t comply. He started to scream incoherently, fighting Xana’s control as he grasped the Dark Spiral on his arm!

“Beelzemon, stop this!” Xana demanded. “I said attack!!!”

“Make your choice, old friend…” Kyle said.

“KYYYYLLEEEE!!!!!!” Beelzemon gripped the spiral tightly, then with a hard and sudden pull, ripped it off his arm, the instrument of Xana’s control shattering to pieces! Beelzemon’s red glow in his eyes faded, going back to his emerald greens as he took to the air, his body glowing with a sudden burst of energy!

Kyle then felt something vibrate in his pocket! It was his Digivice! He pulled it out, and saw the screen ablaze with a bright white glow, the same glow that Beelzemon was covered in as his partner yelled out his intentions!

“BEELZEMON, MODE CHANGE TO BLAST MODE!!!”

There was a violent burst of energy from Around Beelzemon’s body, and the glow slowly faded, revealing Beelzemon’s change: He now had four feathered raven-black wings protruding from his back, and one of his arms was now engulfed by a giant blaster cannon!

Beelzemon then aimed the cannon at BlackWarGreymon!

“Get out of the way, Exveemon!” Beelzemon shouted as his blaster arm rapidly charged up. “CORONA BLASTER!!!”

Beelzemon’s arm canon unleashed a massive energy shot, striking BlackWarGreymon in the arm with uncanny accuracy! BlackWarGreymon’s dark spiral was vaporized, as he was thrown down the beach, tumbling through the sand multiple times before running head-long into a tree, the impact knocking him out!

Xana growled, vanishing into smoke as he retreated. “You got lucky this time, kiddos… Next time, thing will be different.”

Beelzemon then landed at Kyle’s feet, seeing his battered partner look upon him with pain and hope.

“Beelzemon…?” Kyle asked. “Is it… Is it you?”

Beelzemon dropped to his knees and took Kyle into an embrace with the hand that wasn’t covered by his arm cannon, holding Kyle close as he started to sob uncontrollably, tears running from all three of his eyes. Beelzemon proceeded to go into a full breakdown, the full realization of what he almost did while under Xana’s control hitting him like a full-speed bullet train, some of the feathers from his wings blowing through the air on the wind. He begged Kyle for forgiveness, telling him he was sorry over and over as he melted down into trauma and shock.

This single battle, with how close he had come to ending Kyle, to crossing the line… It had broken Beelzemon to his core.

Chapter Text

Later, In the Tower at Dragon’s Eye Lake…

After the Tower was Deactivated, Ulrich and the rest of the group watched on as Aelita used the Tower’s parallel processing capabilities to connect with the supercomputer so Jeremie and Micheal could scan Beelzemon and BlackWarGreymon. BlackWarGreymon was still out cold, but Tai and Davis were not taking chances, and had him restrained with some Chrome-Digizoid chains. That way, BlackWarGreymon could not move if he woke up, which meant he would not be able to cause any trouble.

“Anything yet?” Ulrich asked.

“Well, we’ve come across some alterations in Beelzemon and BlackWarGreymon’s code structure.” Jeremie said. “It appears that Xana has somehow infused a partial amount of his code into them. From what we are seeing, he was only able to obtain total control of them from those Dark Spiral devices that Ken mentioned.”

“Is there any way to safeguard against it?” Kyle asked.

“Already ahead of you.” Micheal said. “While Jeremie was scanning, I was looking over the data for the Spiral Control Devices. I’ve also whipped up a counter-measure for it.”

With that, two double-layer silver rings materialized in the tower. “There are anti-control safeguard rings. Just have Beelzemon equip it onto his wrist, and Xana won’t be able to pull any of his influence.”

Beelzemon equipped the bracelet without question. He then turned to Kyle, kneeling down. “Are you doing okay? I hurt you pretty bad...”

“I’ll be fine.” Kyle said, hugging Beelzemon. “While we’re in the towers, it regenerates the life points of Lyoko Warriors, healing our injuries.”

“He’s right.” Michael said. “With all the time you’ve spent inside the tower, you’ve regained your full life point count.”

“Good.” Beelzemon said, returning Kyle’s embrace. “I… I just don’t want to lose you. Not like that… It’s bad enough I nearly did you in under Xana’s control.”

“It won’t happen again. Jeremie and Michael will make sure of that. No other monsters like Xana will drive us apart again.” Kyle reassured.

It was then that BlackWarGreymon let out a loud, painful moan. He was starting to wake up!

“Speaking of monsters…” Kyle quipped. He and Beelzemon both stood up, walking over to their prisoner.

BlackWarGreymon looked around, then tried to sit up. When he realized he was restrained, he began thrashing against the chrome-digizoid chains! “Let me go! I swear, when I get free, I shall rip all of you to shreds!”

Kyle drew his sword, ready to strike BlackWarGreymon to shut him up, but Beelzemon beat him to it with a swift kick to the gut! BlackWarGreymon had all the air knocked out of him!

“Shut up and simmer down, ya viral misfire!” Beelzemon shouted. “You’ve caused enough trouble as it is!”

“Looks who’s talking.” Ulrich quipped.

“Shut up, Ulrich!” Kyle snapped. “If you knew half of the crap that… Thing has caused, you would be singing a different tune!”

BlackWarGreymon glared at Kyle, instantly recognizing him from before. “You!”

Kyle returned the glare. “You expected someone else?”

BlackWarGreymon’s piercing gaze did not yield. “I’ve already been a prisoner of Xana since he reconstituted me. He may have made me a real digimon, but I owe him nothing, just as I owe you nothing.”

Kyle was unmoved. “You are dead wrong about what you owe! You killed Beelzemon, and even if Xana somehow brought him back, it does not dissolve the deed you sowed! You have a lot to answer for, and not just for him!” Kyle pointed his sword at Beelzemon, then jabbed it at BlackWarGreymon. “Even before Xana enslaved you, you tore up half of the digital world for the stupidest reason imaginable! All to find ‘your most worthy opponent!’ You wrecked hundreds upon hundreds of lives in your selfish quest! You make me sick…”

BlackWarGreymon still did not yield. “It did not matter. They were weak, and they perished because of it. I will not serve you, just as I will no longer serve Xana. If you do not intend to release me, then end me.”

Kyle cracked a dark smirk, taking a step forward as he drew Ebony from it’s holster. “Well, since you put it that way…”

“Kyle, no!” Aelita grabbed Kyle’s arm just as he pulled back the hammer on Ebony. “If you kill him, you will be no better!”

“Aelita, he is too great of a threat just to be left alive!” Kyle growled. “If we do not finish him here and now, he will only end up causing more pain and problems in the future! Now let go of my arm…”

“If you do finish him here and now, you will have more problems on your hands than your little vendetta! Shoot him and you can consider us enemies!” Ulrich snapped, drawing one of his katanas. “Do you really want to fight a war on two fronts?”

Kyle glared at Ulrich for a few moments, teeth bared. He then flicked the safety on Ebony back on, and holstered the gun. But not before he sent a swift Kick into BlackWarGreymon’s head, the tip of his steel-toe boot impacting him right in the eye! BlackWarGreymon let out a roar of pain, his body going rigid for a few moments before going still again.

Kyle then walked up to Ulrich’s face. “I didn’t shoot him.” He sneered in disgust.

“Classy.” Ulrich said with a deadpan, sheathing his katana.

“Deal with it.” Kyle quipped.

“I will make you wish for your death a thousand times over for that, boy!” BlackWarGreymon roared.

“You don’t scare me.” Kyle replied with a sadistic smile. “Just be grateful that’s all I did. I could have sliced out your entire eyeball from it’s socket.”

“Okay, that’s enough from both of you!” Yumi snapped. “We have bigger things to worry about right here, so both of you put a lid on it!”

The two quarreling adversaries grudgingly went silent.

“So, any ideas where we should go from here, Jeremie?” Ulrich asked.

It was at that moment another individual stepped into the tower, dressed in tan robes and a brown tunic: An adult with spiky brown hair and blue eyes.

“Gennai!” Kyle exclaimed.

“It is good to see you again, Kyle. Though I wish it were under better circumstances.” Gennai replied.

Chapter Text

Gennai patted Kyle on the shoulder. “I’m impressed that you were able to follow Xana’s trail here. He’s been causing much Havoc in the Digital World.”

“I can tell.” Kyle said, giving BlackWarGreymon another glare before turning back to Gennai. “This whole mess started after Xana’s defeat on Lyoko.”

“But how was he able to find his way here? To the Digital World?” Kyle asked. “...Did I lead him here when I setup that link with the Supercomputer and my Digivice?”

“It wasn’t your fault, Kyle.” Gennai reassured. “After Xana’s last defeat, he was able to upload his core data code and functions to the world wide web. After traveling through the data streams, he found both a way into the Digital World, and a proxy host for himself so he could travel between here and your reality on Earth. That host is Owikawa.”

Kyle sighed in relief. Ulrich just scoffed, dissapointed that he could not put the full blame on Kyle.

“So how do we fix this?” Aelita asked. “Xana has been spreading his viral code all across the Digital Plane that the Digimon inhabit! We cannot just let him take over…”

Gennai smiled. “There is a way we may be able to fix this. But it will involve all of you going beyond being Lyoko Warriors. You will have to become Digimon Tamers, and find your partners that were sealed away in this world. Some are old enemies of the Digidestined, reformatted to see the side of good, while others are reborn allies from days gone by. One is even an entirely new breed of Digimon.”

“Where do we find them?” Yumi asked.

“First, we need all the Lyoko Warriors here. Odd, William, Sissy, Kev… Even Jeremie must be here.”

Jeremie was floored. “What?! But… But I’m just the operator!”

“Yet you were also virtualized into Lyoko at one point.” Gennai pointed out. “That means that you also have a Lyoko Warrior form. That is the only way your Digimon partner will be able to recognize you. Even if your Lyoko form is a Starfleet Captain with a Phaser Rifle.”

Odd snickered behind Jeremie’s chair. “Yeah… I remember when I saw you on Lyoko, oh captain my captain!”

“Odd! Shut up and focus!” Herb snapped. “In case you didn’t notice, were in very serious trouble here!”

“...But who will operate the Supercomputer while I am virtualized?” Jeremie asked. “I mean, I wrote notes on everything, but I’m not sure anyone else could understand-”

“Jeremie! Think!” Michael said brazenly. “You’re not the only one who’s dove deep-sea levels into computer operations and coding! Just hand me and Herb the notes, and we’ll take care of it. Trust me, it won’t be that hard to figure out.”

Jermie relented, handing Michael his backpack. “The notebook in these backpacks contain all the info for the Supercomputer’s procedures. Consult them if you need help on anything.”

“You got it. I’ll read through them if I need help.” Michael reassured. “Now get your butt down to the scanner room… Captain.”

Jeremie groaned and got up out of the mainframe chair, walking over to the elevator as Michael took over.

# # # # #

A short time later, all the others had arrived in the Digital World through the scanners. Odd was surprised at Sissy’s Lyoko Warrior form, as she had taken a page from Kyle’s book.

“Nice! You look like Lucia from DMC2!” Odd said. “I guess Kyle’s not the only DMC Junkie.”

“Are you sure I can be effective in combat with this?” Sissy asked.

“Hey, Lucia was just as effective in DMC2 as Dante was.” Kyle said. “She just took a different approach. She used close-range Kopesh swords instead of the Claymore-style sword Dante uses, and she used throwing daggers instead of guns. But she was still just as deadly, and just as stylish. You’ll do fine.”

“Good.” Ulrich said. “Now, where do we find these Digimon partners of ours?”

Gennai then held out his hand, which glowed in a bright golden light. A few moments later, a D-Power digivice materialized in his hand!

“You have already found yours, Ulrich Stern.” Gennai said, motioning over to BlackWarGreymon. “He needs guidance that only you can give, and you need someone to bond with.”

Kyle bared his teeth, blowing his top. “You’re serious?! After all he did?!? Gennai, that’s unacceptable! You are basically giving BlackWarGreymon a get-out-of-jail-free card!”

“Would you have said the same if Beelzemon was in BlackWarGreymon’s position?” Gennai asked calmly. Kyle didn’t have a quick response that time. He could not even come up with one.

Ulrich then walked over to BlackWarGreymon, holding up his Digivice. A light shined from it, bathing BlackWarGreymon in golden light, as it digitized his chains into energy, absorbed by the Digivice.

“...Well, you’re my partner now. I will have to learn to accept that, as will you. Just don’t try any stupid stunts like attacking us again!” Ulrich warned. “One wrong move, and I won’t hesitate to cut you down.”

“I would expect no less.” BlackWarGreymon replied proudly as he stood up. “You will be a strong tamer. That’s all I ask of you.”

Sissy turned to Gennai. “So where do we find our partners?”

Gennai smiled. “They will be waiting in the Tomb of the Tamers. It is located in the Desert on the Server Continent, underneath Etemon’s old pyramid. Are you ready to go?”

Everyone nodded.

“Very well.” Gennai said. “This is one of Digiworld’s way towers that Xana has set up. Use it to go to the way tower in Server.”

“How?” Sissy asked.

“Just jump off the edge of the platform and into the data stream.” Aelita explained. “Follow me!”

With that, Aelita jumped off the platform, everyone else quickly following suit.

Chapter Text

Server Continent

Etemon’s Old Pyramid…

“...I don’t get why the Pyramid is upspide-down! I mean… How does that even make sense?!” Jeremie exclaimed. “I mean… The pyramid isn’t even structurally sound the way it’s standing up!”

“Don’t fry your brain too much thinking about it, Jeremie. There’s a lot of things here in Digiworld that make no logical sense.” Kyle said. “Let’s just get in there and find that tomb.”

It was at that moment everyone heard a rumble on the horizon. Out of a nearby dust cloud emerged four metal spheres rolling towards them!

“Mega-tanks!” Odd exclaimed. “Scatter!”

One of the Mega-Tanks then opened up from it’s core, charging a blast from it’s weapon. A short time later, it unleashed said blast, whipping up sand everywhere as it sent a wall of energy hurdling towards the Lyoko Warriors, Tai, Davis, and their Digimon!

“Oh, not cool!” Kyle whipped out his pistols and returned fire, but the Sphere quickly retracted and the bullets just bounced off it’s shell!

“Damn! How do you kill these things?!” Kyle exclaimed.

“You have to aim for the eye in the center when the Mega-Tank is open, exposing its laser!” Jeremie explained. “That’s when it’s venerable!”

Kyle circled around one Mega-Tank with Beelzemon at his side who brandished his Berenjena shotguns. The Mega-Tank opened once more, charging it’s weapon!

“Now!” Jeremie shouted. “Dodge it and retaliate!”

Kyle charged at the Mega-Tank, jumping around to the side and landing on the hinge that held the weapon! The Tank rolled from inertia, Kyle jumping up in the air again and sinking four straight shots into the Mega-Tank’s eye! It exploded shortly after!

“Got it! One down, four to go…”

The Other Mega-Tanks adapted their strategy, attacking in alternating pairs! Yumi destroyed one with a fan throw, while Sissy claimed her first combat victory by hitting the second with a well-timed dagger throw.

“That leaves one left!” Jeremie said, brandishing his phaser pistol. Jeremie timed his shot with the last Mega-Tank, nailing it with a phaser blast. “Done!”

“Guys, watch it!” Michael shouted over the comm. “I’m reading six new targets heading your way!”

With that, four Krabe monsters walked up, accompanied by two Tarantula monsters!

“Xana’s bringing out the heavy guns!” Jeremie said.

“What are our odds judging from experience, Aelita?” Kev asked, keeping his .44 Magnum at the ready.

“...I don’t think we can win this one in a straight-up battle.” Aelita said. “The Tarantulas have rapid-fire capability and can traverse nearly any terrain. The Krabes are only slightly less powerful than the Tarantulas, but they have heavier armor.”

“I guess a tactical retreat is in the works. Inside the pyramid! Now!” Kyle shouted. “If they follow us in, we can use the interior layout to our advantage!”

“How?!” William asked.

“Simple.” Kyle explained. “I’ve been in that Pyramid before, and the halls will limit their mobility! The hallways in the pyramid vary in width, height, and depth. If we play our cards right, we can funnel then into a bottleneck and take them out one-by-one! Now let’s go, follow me!”

Everyone ran after Kyle as they ran towards the pyramid, the Tarantulas and Krabes firing their lasers at them as they ran! WarGreymon had to scoop Tai into his arms after he nearly tripped, ExVeemon grabbing Davis by the scruff of the shirt as he started to fall behind!

“Where’s the door?!” Odd asked, confused.

“There is no door!” Kyle answered. “You just walk through a certain fake wall, and you’re in! Watch!”

Kyle and Beelzemon charged full-bore at a section of the pyramid, and as the Krabes fired, Kyle and Beelzemon phased through a section of the outer-wall!

Odd didn’t hesitate. “Move it, people!”

A few seconds later, everyone was inside the pyramid. Kyle led them through the inner workings, and found a room that they could hide in to re-group. Jeremie watched the Tarantulas and Krabes pass by the fake wall that hid their room. The monsters then split up, starting to search the pyramid.

“Any idea where we can find this hidden tomb, Gennai?” Ulrich asked.

“It’s behind one of the fake firewalls in the interior.” Gennai explained.

“Firewall?!” Odd exclaimed, confused.

“It’s a nasty trap that the builders of the Pyramid incorporated into it’s design.” Kyle explained. “Think of ‘ancient Egyptian-style traps in a high-tech modernized style. Some of the firewalls are real, others are fake. If you touch a real firewall, you get zapped. Try to avoid doing that.”

Jeremie got out his tricorder off his belt. “I think I can use the Tricorder in combination with my visor to show which firewalls are real, and which are fake. That way, it’ll be easier to find the right one.”

“We can also have the Lyoko Warriors with ranged weapons shoot at the firewalls to test them.” Kyle recommended. “I think it would be better if you used your Tricorder more as a radar so we can stay one step ahead of Xana’s lackeys.”

“Good point.” Jeremie agreed. “I’m setting my tricorder into radar mode. I’ll be able to see where Xana’s monsters are in relation to us as we traverse the pyramid.”

“We still have to be cautious.” William said. “If we run into any bad company, let’s use Kyle’s bottleneck strategy and kite them to a narrow opening.”

“Agreed. Let’s go.”

Kyle, Ulrich, Beelzemon, and BlackWarGreymon led the group up front while WarGreymon and ExVeemon brought up the rear. Jeremie kept an eye on his tricorder readings, while also switching his visor to 3-D X-Ray mode, so he could get exact fixes on how far away Xana’s Monsters were, as well as where they were.

A short time later, they found the first firewall. Kyle got ready to fire at it with his pistols, but Sissy stopped him.

“Your guns will only attract them here. They’re too loud.” Sissy then whipped out a dagger and threw it at the wall. The dagger phased through!

“Looks like we’ve found our first fake wall. Let’s go.”

The group then walked through the wall, into another labyrinthine section.

“Stick together.” Kyle said.

They quickly navigated the next section, Jeremie keeping an eye out for trouble.

“Watch it! Don’t go down the left corner.” Jeremie said. “A tarantula is patrolling that hall.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” Kyle led the group down the hall to the right. A short time later, they came to an intersection junction with two firewalls on each side.

Sissy threw a set of daggers, one for each wall. Two in the center were fake!

“So the options boils down to one choice: Left, or right?”

Jeremie examined his tricorder readings. “Looks like the left one is the correct choice.”

They heard a Krabe monster coming down the hall!

“Left wall it is! Go!” Everyone then ran through the wall. Jeremie looked back and saw that the Krabes and Tarantulas had stopped.

“They must be trying to figure out where we went. Won’t take them long to figure it out. Let’s go.” Kyle then led the group down the final corridor, where another firewall sat. But this time, there were different-colored panels on the floor as well.

Kyle looked over some writing on the wall, written in Japanese. “To progress through the final safeguard, change the panels on the floor to a unified color. Only two people can be on the tiles at once… I don’t like the sound of this.”

Sissy threw a dagger at the firewall. The dagger crackled and vaporized on contact!

“Looks like we don’t have much of a choice.” Sissy said. “Jeremie, you and Aelita stand the best chance of solving this puzzle.”

Jeremie and Aelita then stepped on the tiles. The tiles they were standing on changed to a different color. They walked back and forth between two tiles, the colors changing between red, green, and blue in sequence.

“We have to play this one step at a time.” Aeilta said.

“So, if that tile is red, that one is green, and that one…” Jeremie and Aelita quickly mulled over how to solve the puzzle. They began to step on the tiles in their own careful sequence, deciding on turning them all green.

Halfway through the puzzle, there was an explosion down the hall!

“I guess they’ve figured out which wall was fake! Here they come!” William shouted. “Everyone with anything that can block, try to deflect their laser shots! We have to give Jeremie and Aeilta time to finish the puzzle before we can proceed!”

“What should us long-rangers do?” Odd asked.

“Fire back with kill-shots, duh!” Kyle said with a deapan.

With that, two Tarantulas came down the hall accompanied by one Krabe!

“They’ve got the heavies in front! Get ready!” William warned.

The Tarantulas got into firing position, aiming their arm cannons while the Krabe braced itself into firing position!

“Triplicate!” Ulrich then split himself into three separate clones!

“Cool trick!” Kev commented. “That’ll give them more than one target to focus on.”

“So what? I can do it, too!” Kyle then snapped his fingers, activating one of his DMC3 Styles. “Doppleganger!”

With that, Kyle split himself into two separate selves! The Tarantulas and Krabe started to open fire! William quickly angled his buster sword, bouncing the shots back as best he could, Ulrich and his triplicate clones doing the same with their katanas! Kyle and his dopple quickly caught on and used their Rebellion Swords to bounce the lasers away!

“Laser arrow!” Odd fired off a barrage of his laser arrow shots, Yumi throwing both her fans at their aggressors as Sissy threw her daggers on point in a triad, striking one of the tarantulas in it’s venerable spot! The Tarantula detonated!

“One down!” Kev fired a few shots from his magnum, one of the bullets striking the remaining Tarantula by going down the barrel of it’s arm cannon! It’s entire arm was torn clean off from the impact!

That gave the Kyles enough time to draw one pistol each, fire six total shots at the Tarantula’s venerable spot! The second Tarantula detonated, leaving only the Krabe.

“We’ve almost got it.” Aelita said.

The Krabe then dug itself into the floor as eight small Kankrelats scurried down the hall and around it’s legs!

“Great! Now we’re dealing with bugs…” Kyle quipped.

The Kankrelats then opened fire with a rapid barrage of lasers, starting to scurry about in random directions as the Krabe rapidly fired as well! Kyle and Ulrich had to adapt their strategies as each member of the party got hit at least once!

“These insects are making me angry!” BlackWarGreymon then charged down the corridor, diving at the aggressors as he joined his gauntlets together and spun his body in a rapid spin! “Black Tornado!”

The Force from BlackWarGreymon’s Black Tornado attack sucked all the Kankrelats into a vortex, where they were quickly pulverized by his clawed gauntlets!

That left Beelzemon a free shot at the Krabe! “Heartbreak shot!” Beelzemon fired one blast from a single shotgun, striking the Krabe at it’s venerable point with uncanny accuracy! The Krabe then blew apart!

“Well… So much for them.” Beelzemon sighed nonchalant.

At that moment, a loud growl was heard at the end of the corridor. Then, several voices spoke.

“Well well well… Are the Digidestined brats and the Lyoko Warrior Script Kiddies being bad? Well, we’re just going to have to fix that!”

“There’s nowhere else for you to run. Face your imminent destruction. You have failed.”

“This will be short, and to the point. My kind of day...”

With that, Piedmon, Devimon, and Kuwagamon walked down the hall, Dark Spiral ensnaring their arms!

“Oh, crap! Davis, take cover!”

Piedmon made the opening move. “Trump Swords!” Piedmon threw a series of swords from the sheaths on his back, nearly impaling several members of the party that barely had enough time to jump out of the way!

BlackWarGreymon charged forward and deadlocked with Piedmon, who blocked BlackWarGreymon with his swords!

ExVeemon tried to swipe at Devimon, but Devimon caught the blue digimon’s fist mid-attack!

“Feel the Touch of Evil!” Devimon then ensnared ExVeemon in a net of black lighting, as his victim cried out in pain!

“Oh no you don’t! Double Impact!” Beelzemon unleashed a leathal barrage from his shotguns in retalitation! Devimon was forced to release his grip before his Touch of Evil could corrupt ExVeemon. Piedmon then threw BlackWarGreymon back as his feet slid across the pyramid floor, stopping next to Beelzemon and ExVeemon.

“Ouch! Bad touch!” ExVeemon quipped.

“Not even funny!” Beelzemon snapped.

Aelita and Jeremie then stepped on the final tiles, all of them lighting up green, then gold!

“We got it!” Jeremie shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Looks like we gotta run…” BlackWarGreymon then charged up a red energy ball in his hands and threw it at the ceiling. “Terra Destroyer!”

The Terra Destroyer orb then hit the ceiling and exploded, causing a rapid cave in as everyone retreated through the now-open firewall!

Chapter Text

Everyone dove through the firewall as the room behind them caved in! One everyone was safetly through, Jeremie took out his tricorder.

“The room behind us has completely collapsed. It’s also messed up the firewall. If we’re going to get out of here, we will need to find another way.”

“Or make one.” Odd added in. “Now let’s press on.”

Everyone ran down the final corridor and into the Tomb of the Tamers. What they saw inside took their breaths away! They stood in a room with six crystal pillars, each appearing to house a digimon inside! At the base of each pillar was a blank stone tablet.

“You must choose a pillar and place your hand on it. Only then will your chosen digimon be awakened.” Gennai explained.

The room behind them rumbled, the floor slightly vibrating.

“Better do it fast! They’re trying to dig through!” Kyle exlcaimed.

“Alright. Let’s go for it.” Jeremie said.

Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, Odd, William, and Sissy all chose a pillar, placing their hands on the tablets. The tablets and pillars started glowing, the crystal starting to crack open! Then, the tablets cracked and broke apart, revealing d-power digivices inside!

Shortly after the tablets crumbled, the pillars all shattered, the digimon inside glowing in a bright light as they awakened! Their identities were revealed: Jeremie got Leomon, Aelita got Puppetmon, Yumi got Cyberdramon, Odd got MetalEtemon, William got Myotismon, and Sissy got Renamon!

“Heyo, Aeilta!” Puppetmon exclaimed after awakening. He gave Aelita an excited hug as he spun around on his feet like a ballet dancer! “Oh, I’m so excited to finally meet you at last!”

“Greetings, young tamer.” Myostimon spoke to William, giving a gentleman’s bow. “It appears both our times for redemption have come at last, William Dunbar.”

“We finally meet, Ishiyama.” Cyberdramon stood tall as he greeted Yumi.

“Yo yo yo, Della Robia! Nice to meet my stage partner!” MetalEtemon greeted Odd with swagger.

“I’m pleased to finally meet you face-to-face young Delmas. It’s time we set off on our destined path.” Renamon greeted with slight warmth, but firm strength.

The passage behind them rumbled loudly. Then, the firewall collapsed as Piedmon, Kuwagamon, and Devimon stormed through.

“You really thought you could get away?” Devimon snarled. “This isn’t over-”

He stopped talking when he saw the awakened digimon. Devimon’s eyes went wide.

Myotismon sighed, stepping forward. “Devimon, you always have had an awful knack for bad timing and even worse manners… CRIMSON LIGHTING!!” Myotismon then materialized a red energy whip in his hands, and lashed at Devimon with it, sending the champion-level villain flying into the wall!

“Not a very smart move, Myotismon! TRUMP SWORDS!” Piedmon then threw several swords, targeting Myotismon, but Etemon jumped in the way and let loose with a sonic scream that sent the swords flying in the opposite direction of their target! Piedmon barely had time to jump out of the way, his sleeves getting knicked by his own weapons as he ended up crashing into some debris!

“Does anyone want an encore of my Concert Crush?” MetalEtemon asked. “Perhaps you’d like an autograph instead?”

Kuwagamon, irritated by the attack let out an enraged roar and charged at MetalEtemon!

“Tough crowd.” MetalEtemon sighed.

Leomon then jumped in the way and gave Kuwagamon an upper-cut, sending him spinning through the air.

“FIST OF THE BEAST KING!” Leomon then threw a punch that sent out an energy wave in the form of a lion’s head, which sent Kuwagamon into the wall!

“Leomon, you are annoying as ever with your valiance!” Devimon stepped forward, Renamon doing the same as they squared off.

“Foolish Lady Fox! You really think you can take me on?! You’d be more afraid of breaking one of your claws.” Devimon taunted.

“I may look beautiful… But looks can be deceiving!” Renamon then leapt up in the air and threw her arms out, revealing jagged crystals that shot from them down onto Devimon! “DIAMOND STORM!”

Devimon was then pelted with the hail of diamonds, unable to retaliate!

That left an opening for Cyberdramon! “CYBER NAIL!” Cyberdramon then sent Devimon flying into another wall with a swing of his claws.

“Jeremie, there’s no way out of here. There’s no other doors!” Aelita exclaimed.

Tai quickly thought of a plan. “Ulrich! Have BlackWarGreymon held WarGreymon dig a tunnel out of here to the surface!”

“We’re on it!” WarGreymon said. He and BlackWarGreymon then joined in a double attack, WarGreymon using Mega Claw and BlackWarGreymon using his Black Tornado attack to rapidly start digging a tunnel out.

Kuwagamon pulled itself out of the wall, and flew straigth at Aelita with claws open! But he was stopped mid-air dead in his tracks as Puppetmon shot strings at the bug Digimon from his fingers!

Puppetmon then moved his hands, forcing Kuwagamon to turn away and fly at Devimon instead. “The enemy’s that way!!” Puppetmon snapped as he forced Kuwagamon to attack Devimon against it’s will! The only way that Kuwagamon got free was Piedmon cutting Puppetmon’s strings.

“You’re no fun!” Puppetmon whined.

“And you’re a traitor to evil!” Piedmon countered.

“I just learned my lesson, unlike you!” Puppetmon held up his magnum-shaped hammer and started firing off energy bursts from it! Piedmon had to quickly dodge, leaving no room for error!

After several more agonizing moments, WarGreymon and BlackWarGreymon came back through the tunnel they dug. WarGreymon scooped Tai into his arms. “We’ve done it! The tunnel’s our way out! Let’s go!”

“Then let’s leave our adversaries with a final insult… GRIZZLY WING!” Myotismon threw his cape up, and an endless torrent of bats flew out from underneath, covering their opponents as they bit and clawed!

“Exit, stage right!” MetalEtemon said as they all ran out through the tunnel.

Once they were out, WarGreymon and BlackWarGreymon hit the pyramid with a double Terra Force, causing it to collapse in on itself!

“Good work!” Ulrich commented. “Let’s get back to the way tower!”

A short run later, they entered the way tower, and exited at File Island.

“Nice work, everyone! We got our Digimon, and we also got to clobber some bad guys!” Odd cheered.

“Thank you, thank you very much.” MetalEtemon said, Elvis style.

“I guess we’re going to have a lot to learn about our new friends.” Yumi said.

“Indeed. But in order for them to learn about you, and you about them, you will need to keep them near you at all times.” Gennai explained. “Once a Digimon is partnered with it’s chosen child, or it’s tamer, they cannot be separated. That only makes them weaker.”

Jeremie went wide-eyed. “You mean… We have to keep them nearby at all times? Does that mean that they need to come back with us to the school?!”

“I’m afraid so.” Gennai said. “If you need any help, Tai, Davis, and the other Digidestined will be able to travel to the school via digi-port, and before you ask, the digi-port is used also for the digimon to travel to your world.”

“Oh, boy.” Odd sighed. “This is going to make the secret even harder to keep under wraps.”

“Come on, Odd! It’ll be fun!” MetalEtemon piped up. “Besides, from what I saw of you while I was in the crystal pillar, you never backed down from a challenge. Think of it in that sense.”

“But how will we keep you hidden?” Odd asked. “If you guys are in the real world with us, you’d stick out like a traffic cone!”

“They could stay in the dorms, and if they need to get out to exercise, they could jump out the windows and practice on the school grounds, or sneak off to the park.” Kyle spoke up.

“Plus, there will be other Digimon still to find, even for those that have not been virtualized yet.” Gennia added. “Herb, Nicholas, Micheal, and Kev still need to find their partners, who are in another tomb. But with our recent encounter, we will have to put that off until later. Right now, all of you need to get back to the school. Even though time is slower in Digiworld than on Earth, it doesn’t mean it stops. All of you have been here for half a day, which in your world is half an hour. I wouldn’t want you getting in trouble with your teachers.”

“What?!” Ulrich shouted in panic. “Oh, crap! The principal probably has the police searching for us right now!”

“I’m running the materialization procedure now…” Micheal said. “Once the Lyoko Warriors are materialized, we’ll bring in the Digimon via Digi-port.”

Kadic Academy

Park Area…

Night...

Odd was the last one to step out of the Sewer grate, MetalEtemon sliding the lid back into place.

“Woah. What a day…” Sissy sighed. “I’m feeling like I just got off a jetliner…”

“Must be time lag from how long we spent in Digi-World.” Ulrich sighed.

“You’ll get used to it.” Tai said, looking over to the school beyond the trees. “So, this is Kadic Academy in France, huh?”

“Yep.” Jeremie said. “If anyone asks, tell them you are exchange students. It’ll be a believable excuse.”

“How will we find your dorm rooms?” Renamon asked.

Jeremie then got out some index cards from his backpack. “You’ll have to get in through the windows in the dorms. Everyone, write your names on these and set them up in your dorm windows. That will help our Digimon find the right rooms.”

Everyone quickly wrote their names and took their cards. “Tai, have WarGreymon stick with BlackWarGreymon and meet us at our room.”

“Agreed. Have Exveemon do the same.” Odd added in.

“Now remember: Try not to let anyone see you.” Jeremie cautioned to the Digimon. “We’ll meet you back at our rooms.”

With that, the Digimon and the Children went separate ways.

“I just hope we don’t get caught by Jim.” Ulrich muttered.

Right on cue, they heard Jim screaming their names from the track and field area.

“Oh, crap. Run!” Jeremie and the others took off in a sprint to the building. They got inside, and quickly found their dorm rooms. They slipped inside without a trace, but not after a close call with Jim outside their room door.

“Where have you been?!” Jim snapped. “We’ve been searching the entire school for you guys!”

Jeremie quickly tried to think up an excuse, but Kyle beat him to it.

“Jim, chill! I’ve been stuck in the bathroom for half an hour with a sick stomach!” Kyle snapped clutching his gut. “Jeez, I’ve already nearly puked my guts out already!”

Jim’s eyes widened. “Oh! I’m sorry about that, Mr. Yamika… Do you need to see the nurse?”

“If it gets any worse in the morning, I’ll go straight to Yolanda.” Kyle groaned. “Now good night!”

With that, Jeremie and Kyle went into their dorm and locked the door. They heard Jim walk off.

“That was too close of a call! I swear, sometimes I think Jim is part bloodhound!” Kyle sighed in relief after he and Jeremie were in their room. Kyle then quickly helped Jeremie re-arrange the room, since Jeremie’s desktop computer was sitting right at the window. After the quick re-arrangement, Jeremie put their index cards in the window with tape.

A short time later, there was a knock at the window. Beelzemon and Leomon were standing on the ledge. Kyle quickly let them in.

“Well, here we are. Our home away from home, buddy.” Kyle said to Beelzemon with a yawn. “Well, we had better get ready for bed. I’m beat.”

“Same.” Beelzemon said with a quick stretch of his arms. After putting on their pajamas, Jeremie quickly put together a make-shift bed on the floor for Leomon, while Kyle settled in with Beelzemon on the bed. Beelzemon took off his jacket and boots, as well as his brass knuckles to avoid tearing any of the blankets and sheets.

Jeremie couldn’t help but smile as he looked at Kyle and Beelzemon. “You two are like twin kittens in a litter, aren’t you?”

“You’d be the same after being separated from a life-long friend you thought had bit the big one.” Kyle quipped with a smile. “Good night.” Kyle then flipped off his nightstand lamp, Jeremie doing the same with his.

With that, everyone settled down into a deep and restful sleep.

Chapter Text

The Next Morning…

6:00 AM…

Beelzemon groaned as he heard Kyle and Jeremie’s alarm clocks go off. He opened his eyes with a yawn, seeing Kyle hit the snooze button.

Beelzemon ran a hand through Kyle’s hair. “Kyle, it’s time to get up.”

Kyle just snuggled his back in against Beelzemon’s chest. “Five more minutes, please…”

Beelzemon chuckled as he saw Jeremie and Leomon start to wake up. “Come on, Kyle. You’ll be late for class…”

“But I’m tired, man…” Kyle whined groggily. “...Can’t I just skip today?”

“He’s been like that ever since he got here.” Jeremie said. “I’ve had to drag him out of his bed the past few mornings, so we weren’t in trouble with Jim.”

Beelzemon smiled. “Don’t worry, I got this.” He then lifted up Kyle’s shirt and ran a wet tongue quickly up his back. Kyle’s eyes shot open, and he jumped out of the bed. “AIEEE!”

Beelzemon laughed heartily, Kyle joining in shortly after realizing what had happened. “Alright, buddy. You got me that time.”

“See, Jeremie? That’s how you get him out of bed!” Beelzemon laughed.

“Gross.” Jeremie quipped.

“Man Jer, you are such a prude.” Kyle sighed as he got some towels and a change of his hot-topic style clothes. “We have to shower, anyway. Did you ever play pranks on anyone in primary school?”

“He’ll warm up eventually.” Leomon said with a kind voice. “Speaking of showers, how will we keep clean?”

Jeremie and Kyle froze. They hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“...I guess you will have to sneak over to the showers when no one is around.” Kyle said. “Try going over at noon. No one’s around the shower rooms at that time.”

“Okay.” Beelzemon walked over to Kyle and knelt down, giving him a hug. “Now go get ready and kick some butt with your classwork!”

“You got it, my friend.” Kyle said.

“Anyway, I’ll pass the word on to the other Digimon so they can get cleaned up, too.” Beelzemon said. “Let me know how class goes when you get back!”

# # # # #

Later that morning…

Beelzemon met BlackWarGreymon, WarGreymon, Leomon, and Exveemon at the showers in the school after borrowing some towels from the laundry room. Myotismon didn’t have to bathe since he was a vampire-type digimon, and Puppetmon didn’t need to because he was basically a living wooden doll. They were all able to fit inside the building, since the fact that Xana’s code infections also meant that their height had been altered in the real world. The Digimon still towered over any grown adult though. Beelzemon stood at a height of ten feet, ExVeemon stood at Eight and one half, BlackWarGreymon and WarGreymon were eight feet, and Leomon stood at seven and a half feet.

After checking that the coast was clear, they stepped into the showers. No one was around.

“Well, time to get cleaned up.” Beelzemon said. He took off his jacket, boots, pants, and shirt revealing that he didn’t wear any undergarments. BlackWarGreymon and WarGreymon removed their armor, careful not to make any noise, while Leomon took off his pants revealing he also went around commando. They each chose a stall, turned on the water, and began to bathe. BlackWarGreymon watched WarGreymon as he bathed and mirrored him in his actions, since he had never bathed before and was too prideful to ask how to clean himself up.

“The water feels good… Nice and warm...” Beelzemon softly whistled as he cleaned up, washing himself with some soap. Exveemon scrubbed himself down in the same way with a plesant grin on his face. Leomon finished scrubbing his mane down with some shampoo, and began to rinse while WarGreymon and BlackWarGreymon started to finish up their routines.

It was then, at the worst possible time that Jim walked by the showers. “Hey! What’s going on in here?!” Jim shouted as he stormed in. “No students are supposed to be in here after…”

The words died in Jim’s throat as he saw no one in the room! As soon as they heard Jim, the Digimon had jumped up to the ceiling and hung there from some exposed pipes! 

Jim walked out, scratching his head.

“Nice one.” BlackWarGreymon said with a deadpan as everyone quickly dried. Leomon just stood there with a facepalm.

"He looks like he'd be fun to mess with. A good prankster's target." Beelzemon snickered as they all quickly re-dressed and vacated the showers so no one would find them.

# # # # # #

Lunchtime…

The Lyoko Gang met up in the cafeteria with Tai and Davis, who had brought along Izzy and TK, who arrived a short while ago via Digiport with Kabuterimon and Angemon. Their digimon were also stuck at their current levels due to Xana’s virus, but they took the precaution to try and not digi-volve any further up. Angemon and Kabuterimon were waiting in the park for the rest of the Digmon that were inside the school.

“So Xana somehow brought Beelzemon back when he was destroyed, as well as somehow turn BlackWarGreymon into a real digimon? Incredible…” Izzy said. “We should exchange notes on this, Jeremie.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure how you genius types keep track of all that stuff.” Kyle said as he got a canned coffee from one of the vending machines. “I have enough trouble with algebra.”

“You guys did remember that you need to feed your digimon, right?” TK asked.

Sissy looked dumbstruck. “...We need to feed them, too?”

Kyle’s eyes widened. “Oh, crap! I forgot! It’s been so long since Beelzemon’s been around, I totally spaced it!”

“Not to worry.” Tai said, motioning over to the kitchen area. They all looked over, seeing Gennai helping Sherry the cook and the other staff members clean up from serving the students. “Gennai says he’ll feed the digimon the leftovers after each school meal. That way, they get fed, and all the extra food doesn’t go to waste. He’s probably already fed them, seeing that he’s helping with the cleanup.”

Kyle let out a sigh of relief. “Gennai’s a lifesaver.”

It was at that moment that Millie and Tamera, two of the school’s junior students walked up around Sissy. They didn’t look happy as they sat down.

“Millie, what’s wrong?” Sissy asked.

“Why do you care?” Millie snipped, crying. “All of you older kids just like to pick on the junior students for spite!”

“Someone stole her teddy bear out of her room.” Tamera explained. “We haven’t been able to find it.”

Sissy stood up from the table. “Someone stole your teddy bear?! Well, that won’t do at all… Nick, Herb, could both of you gentlemen give me a hand and help us find her teddy bear?”

Nick and Herb were at Sissy’s side in a flash. “You got it!”

“I’ll help, too.” William agreed.

“I’ll go along as well.” Kev said. “It never hurts to have an extra head and another set of eyes. Jeremie, give me a quick catch-up over your notes when we get back, please and thank you.”

Millie and Tamera were dumbstruck, but they walked off with Sissy’s group, accepting the help.

“They look shocked that Sissy’s turning over a new leaf.” Ulrich said.

“Who would want to steal a teddy bear, anyway?” Michael wondered out loud.

Jeremie, Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and Ulrich exchanged glances. Then, Jeremie got out his laptop. “I’m launching a super-scan.”

“Oh! I think I know what you’re thinking: Xana possessed her teddy bear, just like in your Lyoko journals.” Kyle said.

“We’ll know soon enough.” Jeremie said.

A few moments later, the super-scan beeped, showing an active tower on File Island!

“Deja vu.” Odd sighed. “So much for finding that next tomb today.”

“Not to mention the rest of lunch.” Michael added in. “Some of us are going to have to stay behind to keep an eye out for the bear and any other virus action.”

“Me and Davis could watch the school, if that helps.” Tai volunteered.

Jeremie then handed Tai a burner cell phone. “Call us on this if you see anything. It has our numbers pre-programmed in. I’ll call the others on our way to the factory after we find the Digimon in the park.”

# # # # # #

Later, at the Factory…

Jeremie looked over the data on the screen after the Factory was covered in the time-sync field. “I hope Sissy and William are okay back at school, since they volunteered to stay behind. Looks like Xana has activated a tower on File Island. It’s in an industrial complex area.”

“Factorial Town.” Beelzemon spoke. “Kinda ironic, considering the circumstances.”

Everyone looked at Beelzemon for a few moments.

“Get it? Because the tower’s in an area with factories, and we’re in a factory, being vitalized to go to a factory and… Oh, never mind, my humor is wasted here.” Beelzemon sighed.

“Well, it is an ironic circumstance when you put it that way.” Kyle agreed.

“Good point.” Odd added. “It’s kinda like that documentary with Spielburg, when he’s talking about rhyme and reason, then he’s on a ship-”

“Guys!” Jeremie cried out. “We need to focus here! Xana has a giant killer teddy bear on the loose back at the school, remember?”

“Okay, Jeremie. Don’t get your underwear in a twist.” Kyle said, getting out his digivice. “Anyway, since we could use some time after deactivating the tower to search for that other tomb, I think we should have Herb, Micheal, and Nicholas on this mission along with Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Me.”

“Sounds like a plan, mister gothic.” Odd said, referencing Kyle’s style of clothing.

With that, Kyle, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita got out their digivices, activating the Digi-Port link. With that, they sent Beelzemon, MetalEtemon, BlackWarGreymon, Cyberdramon, and Puppetmon to the co-ordinates where they would be virtualized.

“Right. Now get down to the scanner room!” Jeremie said.

# # # # #

File Island

Factorial Town – Outskirts…

Herb, Nicholas, and Michael were the last to be virtualized. Michael’s Lyoko incarnation was based around an old republic Jedi from Star Wars with a curved gold-blade lightsaber, while Nicholas’ form was based from a space marine from Aliens including pulse rifle and a few other weapons. As for Herb, his form was based off of Indiana Jones, armed with whip and revolver.

Odd looked upon the twisted landscape of Factorial Town, seeing the scanner sitting in the center. “Talk about an industrial complex. This place is like a maze!”

“Then we had better navigate it, and quick!” Kyle said. “The sooner we deactivate this tower and take care of Teddygodzilla, the sooner we can start tracking down that other tomb with Gennai. Let’s Go!”

They took off into Factorial Town, navigating through twisted streets and dark alleyways. A short time later, they found the tower surrounded by sixteen Creeper-type monsters! Along with that, there were eight manta monsters circling over the tower!

“Careful!” Jeremie cautioned from the terminal in the real world as he looked upon the screen. “Creepers are the hardest-hitting monsters Xana has at his disposal. They can also crawl along walls and stick to them. Mantas are the more agile opponents, but they still pack a moderate punch.”

“Better mop them up, quick! Ranged attack would be our best bet since the Creepers aren’t very agile.” Yumi recommended. “Those that can should try and deflect the Mantas shots.”

They all bolted out into the open, the Lyoko Warriors executing their strategy. The Creepers were quickly dispatched, even though a few members took several hits. The Mantas were also quickly mopped up, more so to Beelzemon and Puppetmon using ranged attacks.

With that, Aelita quickly stepped inside the tower and executed the Lyoko Code. The tower was deactivated a few seconds later.

“Any ideas where we can find that second tomb, Gennai?” Kyle asked over the audio feed.

“The second tomb is located in an underground sea cavern off the coast of server.” Gennai said. “But I don’t know how you’ll get down there. I can’t have Whamon help, as he’s on the other side of DigiWorld. He wouldn’t get to you in time…”

“Sounds like a job for the Skidbladnir.” Jeremie said. “It’s a vehicle we designed in Lyoko. We recently refitted it with extra passenger compartments. I’ll get it materialized at your location, ASAP.”

A few seconds later, the Skidbladnir materialized.

“Everybody in!” Aelita said.

Soon after, everyone was on board, and the Skidbladnir took off, diving into the ocean a short time later.

A few hours later…

Undersea Tomb…

The Skidbladnir surfaced in an air pocket at the entrance to the next tomb. The coast was clear, for the moment.

“Let’s get inside. We’ve already been gone for three hours. That’s fifteen minutes in reality.” Kyle said.

They all ran inside the tomb, seeing three more crystal pillars and tablets inside.

“You know the drill. After you.” Odd said.

Herb, Nick, Kev, and Michael walked up to the tablets, laying their hands on the tablets. Again, the tablets and pillars glowed, the tablets crumbling away as they revealed Digivices. A few seconds later, the pillars shattered.

Emerging from the pillars was Ogremon, Andromon, Wizardmon, and a red dinosaur-type digimon!

“Well, whattaya know? Nice to meet you at last, Nick! Cool pulse rifle by the way! Classic!” Ogremon said, reaching out to shake Nick’s hand.

“So you’re into the Alien films, too? Nice!” Nick shook Ogremon’s hand happily.

“Greetings, Herb.” Andromon said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Herb said. “I assume you have knowledge on computer code.”

“An entire library’s worth.” Andromon answered.

“I’m glad to meet you at last, Ferruchio Kevarri.” Wizardmon said with a bow.

“Likewise.” Kev said.

The Dinosaur-type ran up and hugged Michael. “Awesome! Nice to see you in person at last, Michael. I’m Guilmon.”

“Uh… Hi.” Michael said sheepishly. “Well, looks like we’ve got step 2 complete.”

At that moment, the entire cavern started to shake!

“You’ve got company!” Jeremie said. “Something big just came in through the air pocket!”

Kyle’s heart skipped. “The Skidbladnir!”

Everyone ran back into the cavern to see the Skidbladnir blown to pieces! Their adversary, with a giant dark spiral wrapped around it’s body was MetalSeadramon!

“Oh, crap…” Kyle said.

Everyone reposted into combat stances. Andromon got ready to charge up one of his Lightning Blade attacks, Beelzemon whipping out his shotguns. Puppetmon brandished his hammer with a tight grip, Cyberdramon and BlackWarGreymon readying their claws.

“I never dreamed it would be this easy!” Metalseadramon laughed as he charged a particle blast from his mouth. “ULTIMATE STREAM!!”

With that, a charged particle blast shot out from MetalSeadramon’s mouth! The group barely had room to dodge, as the beam blasted out a large chunk of the wall, leaving a kilometer-sized hole!

“Yikes!” Ulrich gasped. “He packs a wallop!”

BlackWarGreymon charged in, but MetalSeadramon saw it coming and slapped him into another wall hard with his tail! BlackWarGreymon was stunned from the impact, falling into the water! MetalSeadramon dove in after him, and arose a few moments later, constricting his snake-like body around BlackWarGreymon!

“Ulrich…! I can’t breathe! He’s… Squeezing too tight!!!” BlackWarGreymon wheezed, struggling to take in breath. He couldn’t move an inch in MetalSeadramon’s grip!

“Let him go, you over-grown garden snake!” Beelzemon snapped, letting loose with a barrage of shots from his Berenjena shotguns.

Unfortunately, the blasts only bounced off MetalSeadramon’s armor!

“Whaaat?! That should have blasted through like a hollow-point through a watermelon!” Puppetmon exclaimed.

“I got an upgrade… You like it?!” MetalSeadramon growled, tightening his grip on BlackWarGreymon.

“We need to improvise!” Kyle whipped out a few cards from a card box on his belt. “Ulrich! Remember what I taught you and the others about the Digi-Modify Cards? Now would be a good time to use ‘em!”

Kyle then swiped a card through his digivice! “Digi-Modify! VictoryGreymon Sword Activate!”

A gigantic buster-sword materialized in Beelzemon’s hands as he put away his shotguns!

“Time for me to whip up some digi-sushi!” Beelzemon growled. He charged forwards, whipping the blade at MetalSeadramon, but again it just bounced off, hardly leaving a scratch!

“What?!” Kyle exclaimed. “That should have worked!”

Ulrich pulled a few cards out from the card box on his belt. He found a Strength Plug-In Type-W, A Hyper Wing, and an Avenging Knight Lace Weapon.

Ulrich chose to take a gamble on the second card. “Digi-Modify! Strength Plug-In Type-W, Activate!”

BlackWarGreymon’s body was engulfed in a dark aura! His eyes shot open wide, as he flexed his arms with newfound might, starting to force MetalSeadramon’s grip off of him!

“Not yet!” MetalSeadramon fought back by slamming BlackWarGreymon into the wall repeatedly!

“The Cavern’s not going to hold much longer!” Yumi said, getting out some cards from her card box. “We have to finish MetalSeadramon, now!”

“Let us take a whack at ‘em!” Odd pulled a card from his card box, swiping it through his Digivice! “Digi-Modify! Sub-Zero Ice Punch activate! Sock that sea-snake outta the park, MetalEtemon!”

“Enjoy some Chillhop, on the house! Uh-hun-huh~!” MetalEtemon lept up in the air, letting out a Tarzan yell as he walloped MetalSeadramon with an epic strike! The Sea Serpent was thrown into the far wall of the cave, freezing solid from the cryo-powered punch!

“Nice one!” Ulrich complemented. “Now, how can we get out of here?”

“...I don’t know!” Jeremie said, panicking from his end. “I can’t re-materialize the Skidbladnir right now! The Supercomputer’s still processing it’s recovery!”

Aelita then got on her knees, and let out a monk chant as she took a gamble. She figured if Xana had rooted his code into this world and manipulate it, then so could she.

Her gamble paid off. A large section of one of the cave walls spit, as Aelita carved a way for them to get back to the surface on land!

“...She can do stuff like that?! Wow!” Ogremon said, impressed. They then started to hear MetalSeadramon crack through the ice of his frozen prison!

“Alright, we’ve got our ticket out! Now let’s go!”

Aelita whipped out a card and swiped it through her digivice! “Digi-Modify! Hyper Wing Activate!”

With that, Puppetmon grew six light-based wings from his back. Aelita also activated her wing pack. With that, everyone scrambled through the tunnel, quickly getting close to the surface as MetalSeadramon broke free!

“You are not getting away, you meddlesome Lyoko Tamers!” MetalSeadramon roared as he gave chase!

Everyone quickly emerged on the surface, near a beach on the Server Continent!

“Sorry, not Sorry! It’s time for your curtain call, MetalSeadramon! PUPPET PUMMEL!!!” Puppetmon then swung his magnum hammer hard at the ground, causing an earthquake that made the entire tunnel collapse in on itself!

By the time the dust cleared, the entire tunnel was gone!

“Don’t forget to write~!” Puppetmon said tauntingly in a sing-song voice, blowing a raspberry.

With that, Jeremie initiated a quick return to the past. The next moment, everyone was back at school in the Cafeteria.

Chapter Text

Later that evening - Sunset…

Kadic Park...

“...And bam! Right in the face!” Beelzemon said, recalling the earlier battle. “You nailed MetalSeadramon good, MetalEtemon!”

MetalEtemon grinned, showing his golden-plated teeth, hanging upside-down from a tree branch. “One of my best performances!”

“Don’t forget BlackWarGremon.” Renamon said, leaning against said tree. “He was able to stand up to MetalSeadramon’s binding attack. I say if you had given him enough time, he could have broken free of it on his own.”

BlackWarGreymon, sitting cross-legged near Renamon, looked away with a nervous twinkle in his eyes, blushing behind his helmet. “...Thank you for that compliment, Renamon.”

“That battle was something for sure.” Puppetmon said, sitting on another branch. “It was just as good as the battle in the pyramid. I still remember the look on Devimon’s face when he got pelted by Renamon’s Diamond Storm... He sure wasn’t expecting that power-packed twenty-one karat slammer!”

“Just like he wasn’t expecting Myotismon’s Crimson Lighting attack, or Leomon’s Fist of the Beast King. I say all the baddies today got taken down a bunch of pegs.” Kyle said as he and the rest of the human members of the gang walked up.

“How was class, my friends?” Wizardmon asked.

“Uneventful, thankfully.” Jeremie replied. “Good thing, because this time-lag thing is starting to take it’s toll. I’m going to have to make some alterations to the Return to the Past Program tonight.”

“Anyway, let’s all meetup tomorrow.” Yumi said. “Cyberdramon and me need to head home.”

“Have a wonderful night, Yumi.” Ulrich said as he kissed the back of her hand in a gentleman way.

With that, everyone separated and went to their dorm rooms to settle down for the night. Kyle and Jeremie walked into their room to see Beelzemon and Leomon waiting on the window ledge. Kyle let them in.

Once the Digimon were inside, Jeremie started up his desktop computer. He opened a copy of the Return to the Past Program, looking over the code as he, Michael and Herb connected their computers on the network.

“...If I alter this algorithm and inject a few lines of extra code…” Jeremie said as he talked to Herb and Michael on his headset.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Herb replied.

“Now all we need to do is recompile the program, and… There!” Michael said. “Now let’s send it off to the supercomputer via remote, override the old file… Done! That should fix the time-lag issue.”

“Now the next time we use it, we shouldn’t have any more fatigue.” Jeremie yawned. “Okay, let’s sign off.”

“Roger. Good night.” Herb said.

“Sleep well.” Michael said.

With that, they all logged off.

Jeremie turned around to see Leomon sitting in a meditation position. “Jeremie, would you care to meditate with me before bed? I can only imagine the stress you have been through the last couple of days with everything that’s happened.”

Jeremie was taken aback. “Uh… Sure, but I’ve never tried meditation before.”

“There’s always a first time.” Leomon said. “Now, sit in front of me the same way I’m sitting.”

Jeremie took a quick glance to see what Kyle and Beelzemon were doing. They were laying on Kyle’s bed, relaxing in their own way. Kyle was reading a classic mystery novel – A Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Crossover by Caroline Keene titled “Hits and Misses” while Beelzemon listened to some Lo-Fi music with Kyle’s headphones, hands behind his head, casually swinging his tail back-and-forth slowly at the bottom of the bed.

Jeremie knew that they wouldn’t be disturbed by Kyle or Beelzemon. He sat in front of Leomon in the same way. “Sure. I guess I could use it.”

“Alright.” Leomon began his instruction. “Now, close your eyes. Breathe slow, deep, and steady… Breathe in… Breathe out… Find a comfortable rhythm… Good. Now, Tune out all other distractions from your mind… Focus… Find your center…”

With that, Jeremie’s first meditation session began.

By the time it was all over, Jeremie felt incredibly relaxed, the stress of the last few days gone from his mind.

With that, everyone got ready for bed, settling down after a long day.

All of them slept exceptionally well that night.

The Next Morning…

Kyle and Jeremie’s alarms went off on cue. Kyle, for once, actually got up out of bed without encouragement. All of them yawned in the room as the sun started to peak out from over the horizon.

“Leomon… Thanks for the meditation session last night. It helped a lot.” Jeremie said.

“I’m happy to help.” Leomon replied, then turned to Beelzemon. “Beelzemon, maybe we should all do some training today with the other digimon? Start out be benchmarking each other and learning how to cover for each other’s shortcomings?”

Beelzemon scratched his head, thinking it over. “Sure, why not? Let’s meet up in the park after classes start.”

# # # # # #

The Lyoko Crew hung out at the vending machines on their morning break, talking with Tai, Matt, Izzy, and Joe who had just arrived via digi-port.

“So first, Piedmon and Devimon, now MetalSeadramon… Seems like Xana’s going through a revolving door of our old enemies.” Matt said.

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Joe said. “What if Xana ends up bringing back Apoclamon? That was bad enough just the one time.”

“Regardless, we can’t just sit on the sidelines and wait for Xana’s next attack.” Tai said. “We need to figure out his end game. There’s got to be more to his plan other than just expanding his influence. Otherwise, why would he have planted his towers in Digi-World in the first place?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Mr. Kamiya.” A voice said from outside the awning.

Everyone turned to see Owikawa-Xana standing there! He walked up to them, a wicked grin on his face, his eyes glowing red. He stopped in front of Kyle!

“Just remember to let your digital friends know this, kiddoes: I got this close without anyone noticing.” Owikawa-Xana said, smoothing out some creases from the shoulders of Kyle’s jacket. With that, Xana walked off, leaving everyone floored!

Jeremie was stunned, perspiration running down his brow.

“What… In… The Hell?!” Kyle said after a pause. “That did not just happen...”

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Defection

Kadic Park…

“WHAT?!?” Beelzemon shouted, the sound echoing through the air after Jeremie told all the Digimon about what happened. “He… He actually showed up on campus, and went right up in front of you?! Where is the Jerk, I’m gonna throttle him…”

“You’ll get your chance eventually.” Ulrich said. “Right now, we need to figure out a safeguard so he doesn’t pop up like that again and jump us in the future. Let’s get to the factory.”

# # # # # #

Factory

Computer Lab - Elevator…

“So how do we solve this problem?” Odd asked from within the elevator as the Digimon climed down the ladder to the lab. “Xana got in right under our noses, and now he knows he can do that anytime he wants! That leaves us totally venerable to anything he could cook up with a plan like that. He could kidnap us in our sleep, or set up traps for us at the school!”

“That’s not even the worst of what he could do, Odd.” Kev said. “With all the abilities his polymorphic specters have shown in the past, which I’m pretty sure he has at his disposal, he could do a lot worse than just set up a few traps.”

“What do you mean?” Ulrich asked.

“Is it not obvious?! Think about it!” Kev exclaimed. “He could have killed all of us, right then and there! Now that he knows he can get into the school without any obstruction, he could try to kill us anytime! He could knock us off in the shower, at lunch, in the rec room, in the library…”

“He could even try to kill us while we’re asleep!” Aelita exclaimed. “Oh, Jeremy! This is serious! We have to come up with a way to detect him before he gets too close!”

“But how?” Sissy asked, clearly nervous. “And even if we could detect him, what would we use for a warning system? I don’t think we have that kind of hardware at our disposal, the most we have are these burner mobile phones.”

“Sissy’s got a good point.” Herb said. “In order to get any type of alert, we’d all need a smart phone to hold the program. That kind of hardware is obviously out of our reach, due to the limited budgets we all have as students.”

Kyle thought hard, stroking his chin. “...Maybe not for all of us.”

Everyone looked at Kyle. He then got out his burner smart phone: A Samsung Galaxy!

“I used some of my gaming tournament winnings to get this before I came to school.” Kyle explained. “Mainly I use the internet connection just to keep up on the latest gaming news. But I think this could also help us with our new Xana problem. If Jeremie, Herb, and Michael can whip up a detection program that could hook up to the schools’ network, having it run as a background process at all times, then my phone would be able to detect and ping Xana if he shows up on the campus again.”

“Uh, that’s great, but how would that help us? Like Herb said, all of us can’t afford smart phones.” Ulrich pointed out.

“Well, if our techies can do it, the program could send out an automatic alert SMS Text from my phone to everyone else’s phones as soon as it detects Xana. We could even have it broadcast an emergency tone.” Kyle said. “That way, everyone would know as soon as the program pings Xana on campus. I know it’s not much, but it’s the best thing I can think of with our resources and the situation as a whole.”

“With what we have to work with, it sounds like our best shot.” Michael said. “It’s a good thing that we smuggled all that extra hardware you helped us get over here and had it hooked up.”

“Indeed.” Jeremie agreed. “This would be an excellent time to break in the work stations.”

The elevator then stopped at the computer lab. The doors opened, but to everyone’s surprise, the holo-sphere system was active!

To make matters worse, their digimon were having a stand-off with Arukenimon and Mummymon, standing in their human forms! All the Digimon had them surrounded, but they couldn’t attack due to how close Arukenimon and Mummymon were to the Supercomputer’s main terminal!

“Oh, crap!” Jeremie panicked. “Xana thought this through to the letter!”

“Would you Lyoko-Lugnuts cool your jets?” Arukenimon growled. “I swear, you’re worse than your Digi-Dodo friends…”

Kyle stood dumbstruck for a few seconds. “...Beelzemon, what is going on here?”

Beelzemon, still pointing one of his Berenjena shotguns at Arukenimon, slowly turned to Kyle.

“They say they want to defect.” Beelzemon said.

“We do!” Mummymon said, voice smooth without any panic as he held up a USB Thumb Drive. “We’ve noticed that Owikawa has not been behaving like his usual self. He’s been acting way out of his usual character, and now we know why...”

Chapter Text

“So you finally know Xana has taken control of your master? You should have figured that out weeks ago.” Ulrich quipped.

“So, the intelligence that has possesed Owikawa is named Xana?” Mummymon asked. “Well, that doesn’t sound good at all. It explains the recent ramblings we’ve found in his journal as of late.”

“Xana keeps a journal?” Odd asked, skeptical.

“No, Owikawa did.” Arukenimon corrected. “Xana just hijacked it when he hijacked Owikawa, and has been adding to it ever since. The guy’s a total loon, if you can call him that anymore…” Arukenimon finished the sentence with a hint of sadness. “He used to be full of life, so eager to get to the Digital world so he could see Datirimon again. Now, he’s a shell of his former self. Xana is nothing more that a short-circuited machine, hell-bent on controlling and overseeing all that there is, all that he can find.”

“Indeed.” Mummymon agreed, showing a sad expression with tired eyes. “Ever since he took over Owikawa, Xana has become obsessed with building a supercomputer. No doubt to replace this one, as well as the ones he says that the Lyoko Warriors have destroyed. Xana has locked Owikawa away, deep inside his own mind. Now, Owikawa serves as nothing more than a shell for the machine...”

Jeremie was alarmed by this news. “Xana’s building another supercomputer?”

“Yes, he is.” Arukenimon said bitterly. “He’s gone so far as to have us steal components for it from military warehouses. It disgusts me, being used as a petty courier thief. If you want full details, take the flash drive that Mummymon has. It’s the entire contents of Owikawa’s journal, all the way up to now.”

Jeremie walked forward, looking at the small drive in Mummymon’s hand. He looked at the others, who all nodded in unison.

“Go for it, Einsten.” Odd said.

Jeremie held out his hand for the drive. Mummymon set the drive in Jeremie’s palm. Jeremie plugged the drive into his laptop first, to scan the drive for viruses and any possible traps. There were none. Finally, Jeremie plugged the usb drive into the supercomputer’s mainframe. An entire folder of video journal files popped up on the screen.

“The Changes from when Xana took over start from the date of April 15^th of this year.” Mummymon explained, pointing out the specific files.

Jeremie started on the video file that Owikwa recorded on the day before. Owikawa popped up on the screen, appearing a bit brighter, healthier, and normal than he now was under Xana’s control. Owikawa was sitting in his cabin on Mt. Fuji in Japan, near a window that showed the backdrop of the area. He began to speak.

“April 14^th: A few days ago, I encountered Ken Ichijoji, the one who had been contaminated by the dark spore.” Owikawa spoke. “I was able to use a device of my design, and make copies of the spore, which I implanted into multiple… Volunteers. Once these spores start to bloom, their power should be sufficient enough to provide travel between this world and the Digital World. I know this is risky… I know it’s questionable on moral grounds… But I’m so close to getting back! I cannot quit now, I must see Datirimon again. Even if it can only be one last time… So much was left unsaid, so much I never got to tell him when we were cut off from each other. But soon… Soon, everything will be set right. Everything will soon be right and just again. If anyone else besides me finds and is watching this, especially if it is my old friends… Please forgive me. But I couldn’t leave this unfinished. I will never be able to say enough, just how sorry I am that it came to this.”

The file then cut. All of the Lyoko Warriors, and the DigiDestined present were moved, but regained their footing after remembering all that Owikawa had done.

“Play the next one.” Arukenimon said. “That’s when the change will be noticable.”

Jeremie played the next file. Owikawa appeared on the screen again. Only this time, he was much more pale, his pupils were red, and he seemed to have energetic circuit pathways going across his skin! He then spoke, a chilling slight reverb in his voice.

“April 15^th. Day one of reconstruction.” Xana spoke. “After my last encounter with the Lyoko Warriors, as they call themselves, the students from Kadic Academy that have allied themselves to my creator’s offspring, Aelita, I was forced once more to upload my programming and data into the worldwide computer information storage network the humans call, ‘the cloud.’I barely managed to get all of my primary programming and subroutines copied and uploaded before what the Lyoko Warriors are no doubt thinking will be their… Final Battle with me. If only those delusional children know just how wrong they are… This is not the finale. This is not the end. This is merely a new beginning, a new game with new rules now that I… Control this new human host. I must set my plans in motion immediately. This, ‘Owikawa’ individual may be a simpleton, but coincidence was on my side when I linked myself to him. Owikawa has… Contacts, from which I can locate and acquire the hardware necessary to construct myself a new supercomputer. This location near Mt. Fuji in Japan is also an ideal place to begin construction. It has access to the world’s digital communications networks, and this structure will be more than sufficient enough for housing this new supercomputer. I will need to use it well, and make my future strikes count. The Lyoko Warriors must be destroyed at all costs. They have become too great of a threat to my objective. Of course, I will also need to materialize my creator… Franz Schaffer. After all, I made sure to drag him along when I uploaded myself to the cloud. So there he sits, in a giant data storage cluster, waiting to be reunited with his precious Earth, and his beloved daughter… Yes, Franz will no doubt prove to be a valuable asset against the Lyoko Warriors. Though I have learned they may not be my only future problem: In Owikawa’s memories, and on the files in this laptop, he makes multiple mentions of ‘DigiDestined’ and another virtual world that exists parallel to Lyoko, and even my Replikas. This is something I will need to look into in greater detail. As for these DigiDestined… Well, they have not made any aggressive moves against me yet, since I took over my host. But it remains to be seen if the enemy of my host can be converted into allies. I will have to adopt a wait-and-see approach with them. For now, I will need to lie low for a few weeks. The construction of the new Supercomputer will have to be my priority. I cannot afford to risk being in danger of deletion again. Also, this new plane of existence, this ‘Digiworld’ will require investigation as well. The game begins again, with new rules…”

With that, the video cut. The Lyoko Warriors and DigiDestined looked at each other in disbelief and fear.

Xana was right, after all. This was a whole new game...

Chapter Text

The Next Afternoon…

Jeremie just got out of his final class before lunch. He met up with the Lyoko Warriors and the entire group of DigiDestined near the vending machines. Arukenimon and Mummymon had set up shop at the Factory, since they did not trust the decision to go back to Ouikawa-Xana. Currently, they were on the campus in their human forms, waiting with the rest of the group.

“Any ideas on how we can deal with Xana and his new supercomputer?” Kyle asked after the conversation started up.

“We’ll have to find a way to destroy it the same way we destroyed the others.” Jeremie said. “If we can find out the IP Location of Xana’s new supercomputer in Japan, we can materialize ourselves near it as Polymorphic Specters.”

“Sounds simple, but I’m not sure Xana’s going to make it that straight-forward.” Yumi said. “He’ll be expecting us. No doubt he learned from our previous encounters.”

After those words left Yumi’s mouth, a rumble shook the ground! Kyle’s smartphone then went off with an alert! Kyle whipped out his Samsung, and saw that the new Xana detection program had gone active! A small red dot on the screen showed Xana over near the runner’s track and soccer field!

Shortly after that, the group heard a large, reptilian roar, followed by screaming!

“So much for a good meal!” Kyle quipped. “Let’s get to the factory, now! Through the park!”

The group ran off across campus, going around the cafeteria and commissary area to see a couple of large Monochromon with dark spirals on their necks stampede across the grounds, smashing into part of the cafeteria!

“No!” Odd cried. “Not the food!”

“Come on, Odd!” Ulrich snapped, dragging Odd Della-Robia along by the shirt. “You need to worry about your stomach later!”

As they ran off the school grounds, the group saw, to their horror, several Krabes and Tarantula monsters from Lyoko hearding up the students and staff, taking them in front of Xana-Ouiwaka himself.

The group got to the park and met up with their Digimon.

“Where have you guys been?!” Puppetmon exclaimed. “Gennai says that the news has gone wild with Digimon sightings around here!”

“We just had a close call with Xana and his goons.” Aelita said. “We need to get to the Factory, now!”

A loud crash was heard nearby, with the snapping of wood. Kuwagamon and a squad of Flymon were charging at them!

Beelzemon ripped his shotguns out of their holsters and let loose with a series of Double Impact attacks! Once the swarm was subdued, Beelzemon picked up Kyle. The other Digimon followed suit with their partners.

“Well, it’s too late to back out now.” Beelzemon said. “We’ll have to hoof it down the canal!”

All the color drained from Jeremie’s features. “What?! Are you serious?! People will see all of you-”

“This isn’t the time for discretion, Jeremie!” Yumi said. “Right now, it’s time for action! We need to hurry, or someone’s going to get hurt! Then the return to the past will be useless!”

As Leomon set Jeremie down on his shoulders, the boy sighed. “I should have known this would happen sooner or later… Secrets don’t stay secret forever.”

With that, the group took off and jumped over Kadic’s wall, tearing down the street towards the irrigation canal! Beelzemon summoned up his Behemoth Motorcycle, and peeled out, jumping over several moving cars as he caught big air before landing in the canal. Leomon, Ogremon, and Renamon were swift in their movements, Leomon moving on the balls of his feet with feline dexterity, despite his large muscle mass. He followed Ogremon and Renamon tight, all of them swift like the wind. They ran along the canal sides, jumping up and running along raised walls and roof overhangs with precision and speed.

Puppetmon took to shooting thread out of his fingertips, which attached to any object he needed, in this case, tall building structures. He then swung along the buildings by this method, moving like a real-life Spider-Man as Aelita held on tight.

MetalEtemon took advantage of Puppetmon’s strategy, grabbing the leftover bits of string and Tarzan swinging close behind with occasional yells included, Odd hanging from his shoulders.

Wizardmon had conjured up a magic cloud that he and Nick rode through the air on, sticking by the group. Andromon had managed to generate an anti-grav field through his leg units, and was flying across the watery center of the canal with Herb riding piggy-back.

Myotismon, being the most stylish in his transport, had conjured up a ghostly-looking horse and carriage, which was speeding through the air with him and William inside. Cyberdramon, deciding to avoid the ground entirely, flew through the air on his wings, with Yumi on his back. BlackWarGreymon also had opted to avoid running, so he flew alongside Cyberdramon with Ulrich.

The group was casing quite the ruckus as they rampaged down the canal for several blocks, switching to an adjacent underground canal a short time later, continuing in their mad, desperate stampede to the factory.

It didn’t take them long to reach the factory. Once inside, the Digimon made a dash for the factory passageways to get to the supercomputer level, while the Lyoko Warriors and Digidestined took the elevator down.

Once in the mainframe room, Jeremie brought up the super-scan to see what Tower Xana had activated. It showed one active tower in Digiworld, on File Island at Dragon’s Eye Lake!

“Well, at least we know where it is.” Jeremie said. “We will have to split up into two groups: One group will be materialized in Lyoko Form as Polymorphic Specters so they can combat Xana back at the school, while group two goes and deactivates the tower before things get any more messy.”

“Got it!” Kyle said. “Let’s get started!”

# # # # # #

Kadic Academy

Xana looked over the students and teachers as his monsters began herding everyone towards the athletics track. So far, he had not caught a glimpse of the Lyoko Warriors. But he did have some of the Digidestined here, and their weakened Digimon partners. The Digidestined Digimon: Wargreymon, Kabuterimon, MetalGarurumon, Zudomon, and Lilymon had been pinned down in front the students and teachers, as Xana’s monsters surrounded them.

Jim, Headmaster Delmas, Mrs. Hertz, Nurse Yolanda, and the rest of the staff did their best to shelter the children in a semi-circle. Xana rolled his eyes. He felt he’d never understand the illogical compulsions of the humans, and honestly he didn’t care to. He walked up to a red-haired girl, squatting down to her eye level. He glanced at Tai Kamiya.

“I will only make myself clear once, DigiDesitned.” Xana said flatly. “My demands are simple, but don’t think I am one to be trifled with. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I will hurt one of the students. Take this one as a demonstration!”

With that, Xana-Ouikawa snapped his fingers. A Krabe monster walked forward, wound up one of it’s legs, and hit the child hard across the face! The child was sent flying several yards, it was a miracle they remained conscious! The child ran back over to the school staff, crying.

“Be warned, I can do much worse to them, as well as my army of drones at my disposal.” Xana warned. “I doubt any of them want to end up shot by Tarantula or Krabe lasers, nor bathe in Frelion acidic venom. Remember that.”

As if to provide another example, one of the Frelions at Xana’s shoulder spat out it’s acidic venom, vaporizing part of the running track as it crumbled to dust!

Tai clenched his fists hard. He wasn’t happy, and was looking forward to retaliation, but Matt Ishida put a hand on Tai’s shoulder, shaking his head. Tai knew they had no other choice but hold back.

“Now, where are you allies?” Xana demanded. “Where are the Lyoko Warriors? Obviously, you should know who I am talking about-”

“Someone say our name?” A voice called out from above. Flying on a set of Overboards was Odd and Kyle, in Lyoko Form! They dive bombed Xana-Ouikawa, firing away with laser arrows and bullets from Ebony and Ivory! The nearby Frelion squadron ended up pelted, only two remaining untouched!
Ulrich rode up on an Overbike, with Kev on the back! Once in range, Kev drew his .44 magnum, and fired several shots at the nearby Tarantulas! He hit four bulls-eyes out of six!

The remaining Tarantulas, Krabes, and Kankrelats retaliated, breaking formation and going after the four Lyoko Warriors on scene!

That was only the beginning of Xana’s problems. The next moment, Beelzemon, BlackWarGreymon, Wizardmon, and MetalEtemon burst onto the scene, raining down their attacks on the swarm!

Xana scowled at the lot of them as he began to lose a good portion of his squad. He seemed to choose to end his demonstration, vanishing into dust.

“He wasn’t really there!” Odd shouted. “That was just a polymorphic specter!”

“Lovely.” Kyle quipped. “Jeremie, get the reset ready. We’re good over here.”

It was at that moment a group of Tyrannomon broke out from one of the campus buildings.

“Uh… Jeremy, scratch that last sentence. We’ve got more work to do…” Kyle said.

Chapter Text

Factory...

“Xana’s left you a surprise, I’m guessing?” Jeremie said over his headset.

“Sadly, yes.” Kyle said. “There’s a group of Tyrannomon here under Xana’s influence, total of five.”

Tai noticed how Xana was controlling the Tyrannomon. “They have Dark Spirals on their arms!”

“Xana’s used this trick before…” Kev said. “I hope things are going well over there. Have the others gotten to the activated tower?”

“Almost,” Jeremie said. “They’re having problems of their own...”

# # # # #

Lyoko – Forest Sector

Yumi, Sissy, Aelita, and Michael dove for cover as they encountered several groups of Xana’s monsters in between them and the activated tower: A swarm of Frelion Waspsters with a group of 4 Tarantulas at the base of the tower.

“Xana never does anything the easy way, does it?” Sissy asked as she retaliated against one of the Tarantulas with some well-timed dagger throws. Three of four of her daggers hit, causing the Tarantula to explode.

“Afraid not,” Yumi said as she shielded herself from the Frelions’ lasers using her steel fans.

“Well, we won’t accomplish anything just by standing here!” Micheal used his avatar’s Jedi abilities to telekinetically raise a large rock in front of them, using it as a shield against the Frelions’ lasers, then with a heave, pushed the rock rapidly towards the swarm, taking out three-quarters of the bugs as they were caught on the large rock and smashed against the plateau! This left Sissy free to swat the remaining Frelions out of the sky with her daggers.

“That just leaves the Tarantulas,” Michael said. “Let’s go!”

Yumi led the charge, throwing her two steel fans at the Tarantulas! She took out two of four!

The remaining Tarantulas retaliated with rapid laser fire bursts from their arms, hitting Yumi with such rapid strikes that she was devirtualized in a matter of seconds…

# # # # #

Kadic Academy…

Kev got out his avatar’s assault rifle, readying his VATS computer on his Pip-Boy for some precision strikes against the five Tyrannomon they were getting ready to face off against. Kyle did the same, loading some new clips into Ebony and Ivory, while also making sure his sword, Rebellion, was ready to whip out at a moment’s notice. Ulrich readied his two katana swords and Odd made sure his laser arrows were ready to fire.

“Let them make the first move,” Ulrich said.

Everyone did so, waiting as the group of Tyrannomon readied their fire breaths, preparing to attack!

“Now!” Ulrich shouted. With that, the four of them went after one Tyrannomon each. Odd flew through the air on his Overboard, firing his laser arrows at the dark spiral on the Tyrannomon’s arm he was targeting! Ulrich used his super-sprint to run up the leg of the Tyrannomon he targeted, and sliced the dark spiral clean off!

The remaining two Tyrannomon then unleashed the attack they were charging up, spewing flames from their mouths! Beelzemon arrived on the scene with BlackWarGreymon, MetalEtemon, and Guilmon! Guilmon spat a Pyro Blast at one of the three remaining brainwashed Tyrannomon, while Beelzemon took a chance with a Double Impact attack, blinding the three remaining hostile Digimon with said attack!

That left MetalEtemon and BlackWarGreymon time to destroy the three spirals on the three Tyrannomon left! The school was safe!

# # # # #

Lyoko…

Aelita stepped into the tower after Michael and Sissy helped her take out the remaining monsters in their way. She floated up to the top of the tower, stepped onto the center of the platform, and entered the Lyoko Code.

“Jeremie, the Tower’s deactivated.” She said as the tower went back to normal.

“Got it!” Jeremie said, and hit a key on his keyboard, executing the return program. “Return to the past, now!”

Factory...

After the Return to the Past, Jeremie started a super-scan to find any more activated towers that they may have missed, as well as scouring the web for more Lyoko Replikas.

“I’ll contact you as soon as I see anything on the scans,” Jeremie said.

“Good. That last call was too close…” Sissy said. “We must all be more careful in case Xana tries that again,”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he did,” Arukenimon added. “He now knows he can get away with it, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he takes advantage of this while he can.”

“Indeed, indeed,” Mummymon agreed. “All of us should be extra vigilant until we can figure out how to stop Xana from pulling these things.”

Chapter Text

Kadic Academy – Dorms

8:00 PM – Evening...

Jeremy, who was over at his computer, looked over to Kyle and Beelzemon, who were looking over something on Kyle’s laptop. Leomon, meanwhile, was sitting in a meditative position on his knees.

“Wow! Look at ‘em go!” Beelzemon quietly exclaimed.

“Yeah! 300 KPH!” Michael said in a cheery voice.

Jeremy and Leomon finally could no longer contain their curiosity. “What are you two looking at over there?” Jeremy and Leomon walked over and took a look at what Kyle and Beelzemon were watching.

He saw a video of two high-end sports cars racing on a freeway in what looked like Japan, weaving in and out through traffic. The sky in the video was dark, dotted with bits of stars here and there, buildings alongside the freeway lit up with lights as they zoomed by. The entire video was surreal, yet adrenaline-inducing.

“What is this?” Jeremy asked with a grin.

Kyle twiddled his fingers together. “It’s a guilty pleasure, and a dream me and Beelzemon wish to fulfill one day. Racing on the Tokyo Shutoku highways, specifically the Wangan. When we are older, I plan to get a good paying job, then we are going to buy a car, tune it up, and drive on the Shutoku leaving everyone in the dust.”

“It’s something we’ve promised each other,” Beelzemon said with a proud grin. “One day, we’re both going to move back to Japan, get a car, and drive the Shutoku like no one else ever has.”

“I see…” Jeremie said.

“That’s quite a goal.” Leomon added in. “I wish you both the best of luck with it.”

“Thanks,” Kyle said. “So, have you had any luck with figuring out the ‘Xana’ problem?”

“I’ve come up with an antibody program that I can load up into our Lyoko forms,” Jeremie said. “Herb and Michael have been helping me with it. We’ve got a prototype ready to go when we have an opportunity to test it.”

“Sounds good,” Kyle said.

Then, the entire building shook violently! Several books fell off of Kyle’s new bookshelf, nearly hitting him in the face!

“What is that?!” Kyle exclaimed. He and Jeremie threw on their clothes, Beelzemon throwing on his boots, jacket, and brass knuckles.

The building shook again, this time even more violently! A beam fell from the ceiling, and would have crushed Kyle if Beelzemon hadn’t pulled him out of the way!

“I have a good hunch that Xana is the root of this problem!” Beelzemon said as they ran out of the dorms and down the stairs to the outside of the building. They were joined by the rest of the Lyoko Warriors on campus as they ran down the stairs.

The sight they saw at the bottom of the stairs was not good! Random Digimon were running amok on the Kadic Academy campus!

“It’s a Xana attack!” Jeremie said. “We need to get to the factory!”

“Let’s take the tunnel in the park!” Michael said. “It is the shortest route!”

“I’m calling Yumi, I’ll tell her to meet us there!” Ulrich said.

# # # # # #

The Factory

15 minutes later…

Yumi waited in the Supercomputer room with Cyberdramon. A few minutes later, the entire Lyoko Warrior gang and their digimon were assembled!

“What’s going on?” Yumi asked as Jeremie logged into the supercomputer mainframe.

“It is worse than than I thought!” Jeremie said as he looked over the data, wide eyed. “Xana has somehow managed to activate all the towers in Lyoko! He’s using them to open rifts between our world and the Digital Plane!”

“What?!” Sissy exclaimed. “Then… How do we stop him? We can’t deactivate them all at once, we would have to shut them off one at a time!”

Jeremie swallowed hard. “I… I have no clue!”

“There is one way, though I would obviously like to avoid it.” Arukenimon spoke up. “We may have to terminate Xana through Owikawa…”

“But… That means killing him!” Kev protested.

“You got any other ideas?” Arukenimon asked shamelessly.

Jeremie thought hard. “Our only hope is to use the anti-viral program we’ve been making to delete Xana’s code from Owikawa’s body! That’s the only other option we have besides killing him.”

“Where is he?” Kyle asked.

Jeremie began typing commands into the computer. Soon, they had their answer.

Xana was on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, with a large digital rift overhead.

Chapter Text

“Xana had to pick downtown Paris, didn’t he?” Odd sighed.

“This isn’t good!” Jeremie exclaimed. “That rift is growing at an exponetial rate! Soon, it will not just cover Paris, but the school as well!”

“Then there is no other choice: We have to confront Xana head-on!” Arukenimon said. “Jeremie, when everyone is virtualized, ready your anti-viral program and upload it into everyone’s weapons. That may be the only way we can stop Xana.”

Jeremie gulped, and nodded. “Everyone will be virtualized, three at a time. Once we’re all in the Digital Plane, we’re going to take one of those rifts to the real world. We’ll meet up at the Eiffel Tower!”

# # # # #

Eiffel Tower

Xana looked over one of the upper levels of the Eiffel Tower, with a fully-formed and imprisoned Franz Schaffer at his side. Franz was held in place by ribbons of energy that Xana was controlling through Owikawa’s body.

“I’ve looked forward to this day for quite some time…” Xana said through Owikawa. “Soon, not even the combined forces of the Lyoko Warriors and the DigiDestined will be able to stop me…”

“You’re not going to be able to control all of this, you know!” Franz said sharply. “Earth and the Digital Plane are filled with free-willed individuals! They will not accept your rule, even if you’ve taken on a human host!”

Xana laughed. “My dear creator, who said I was keeping this host? Soon, I shall have a body of my own…”

Xana then raised his hands as he was engulfed in the energies ripping across the sky! His polymorphic specter form flowed out of Owikawa’s body, and was engulfed in the energy stream!

Owikawa regained consciousness a few moments later. “W...Wha? Where am I? What happened?”

Franz wasted no time. “Run! Run, before Xana has a chance to take you out!”

Owikawa, still dazed, managed to get to his feet. He saw the creature that had possessed him for so long, the grey, ghost-like specter starting to glow in the energy currents! The currents focused around the individual as Xana emerged in his new form: A 12-year old kid with black hair, skin pale as night, with crimson-colored eyes dressed in a bespoke suit, with horns growing out of his forehead!

“Oh! Oh my god!” Owikawa exclaimed.

“Indeed, indeed…” Xana spoke. “You’ve proven useful so far, Owikawa, but you are no longer needed for my purposes… Your usefulness is ended!”

Xana raised his hand, readying an energy blast to fire at Owikawa, but then he was hit by a series of Laser arrows and bullets!

Xana looked up to see what had interrupted his attack.

Flying in on their vehicles was the Lyoko Warriors from one direction, while in the other direction, the DigiDestined had arrived as well!

# # # # #

“Quick, Andromon! You and Herb get Owikawa and Franz out of here!” Jeremie ordered from the back of Ulrich’s Overbike.

Andromon and Herb obeyed, Andromon picking up Owikawa and Franz in his arms, busting Franz out of Xana’s energy ribbons, and they both flew down to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower to safety!

Jeremie and Aelita turned to face Xana. “You’ve gone too far,” Jeremie said in a quiet tone.

Xana, in response, just laughed. “I’ve accomplished my goal. The only way for you to get rid of the digital rifts is to get rid of me, and now that I have enough power to create a body of my own, I doubt you will be able to stop me on your own…”

WarGreymon and the DigiDesitned flew in with their Digimon, all of them evolved to their maximum levels!

“On their own they might have a problem, but with us at their side, the tide will turn!” Tai said as he and WarGreymon flew into view, Tai riding on WarGreymon’s back!

Xana laughed, as he brought in several of his monsters: A swarm of Frelions, a squad of Tarantulas, accompanied by a group of Creepers, and a group of Mantas! Along with that, he brought out his reserve forces: Polymorphic Specteres that changed into doppelgangers of the DigiDestined, their Digimon, and the Lyoko Warriors!

“Come at me, then! Let’s see what all of you are made of!” Xana said, issuing his challenge.

Chapter Text

The sky above Paris was a swirling vortex of unstable energy. Bolts of digital lightning lashed out across the rift, sending tremors down through the Eiffel Tower and the streets below. XANA stood tall upon the metallic framework, his new form — a pale-skinned child with crimson eyes and demonic horns — radiating a palpable aura of malevolence.

Around him, an army of Lyoko Monsters emerged from digital rifts. Frelions buzzed in clouds, their wings slicing the air. Tarantulas stomped into formation, their cannons charging. Krabes scuttled forward with lethal precision. Kankrelats swarmed the lower levels. Mantas hovered like predators of the sky. Polymorphic Specters assumed the forms of the DigiDestined and Lyoko Warriors, sowing chaos in the ranks.

At the forefront, XANA unleashed a guttural laugh.
"Come, insects. You delay the inevitable."

From one side, the DigiDestined charged in. Tai rode atop WarGreymon, leading the charge. Matt followed close behind with MetalGarurumon. Izzy directed MegaKabuterimon through the air. Mimi and Lilymon weaved through the debris, attacking from unexpected angles. Joe stood firm behind Zudomon, commanding his partner’s strikes. Ken, riding Stingmon, zipped through the air, while Davis charged in on ExVeemon.

From the opposite side, the Lyoko Warriors arrived on Overboards and Overbikes, no longer fighting alone. Now, they charged into battle alongside their reformed Digimon partners — powerful allies, once enemies, now bonded by trust and redemption.

Kyle led the way, pistols Ebony and Ivory blazing, with Beelzemon in Blast Mode flying alongside him, unleashing devastating Corona Blasters across the battlefield.

Ulrich raced forward with swift determination, flanked by BlackWarGreymon. The massive Mega-level Digimon moved with purpose, slashing through Krabes and shielding Ulrich from incoming fire.

Yumi moved with deadly grace beside Cyberdramon. The sleek, draconic Digimon soared through the air, intercepting Mantas and Specters with precise, brutal strikes.

Odd grinned wildly as he darted across the field, MetalEtemon marching beside him. The shining metal Digimon used his incredible strength and sound waves to scatter Kankrelats and disrupt enemy formations, allowing Odd to pick off stragglers with his arrows.

Aelita, her eyes burning with resolve, worked in tandem with Puppetmon. The puppet Digimon used his strings and hammers to entangle Tarantulas and bash through clusters of Krabes, allowing Aelita to unleash precise energy fields to finish them off.

Jeremie stood further back, coordinating strikes through the comms while standing protectively with Leomon. The noble warrior Digimon struck down Specters that attempted to flank them, defending Jeremie with stoic resolve.

Nick moved with surprising agility, working closely with Ogremon. The brutish yet loyal Digimon reveled in the fight, swinging his bone club with thunderous power and laughing as enemy after enemy fell before him.

Herb and Andromon formed an impromptu command post near the base of the tower, Andromon using precision strikes and energy blasts to defend the position, giving the team a fallback point.

Kev, armed and focused, stood shoulder to shoulder with Wizardmon. The enigmatic Digimon wove defensive spells and offensive magic through the chaos, shielding Kev and allies alike while launching arcane blasts at XANA’s forces.

Michael directed his partner Guilmon, the eager Rookie tearing into Kankrelats with fierce determination. Michael covered his friend with precise gunfire, ensuring no foe caught them unaware.

Above the battlefield, the Lyoko Warriors and DigiDestined — now truly united — fought as one force.

"Scatter!" Jeremie shouted over the comms.

The Lyoko Warriors split into squads, each supported by their Digimon partners. Kyle and Beelzemon surged ahead to break the Tarantula line. Odd and MetalEtemon harried the Frelions. Ulrich and BlackWarGreymon carved a path through the Krabes. Yumi and Cyberdramon struck at the Mantas. Aelita and Puppetmon worked in tandem to entrap and neutralize enemy formations.

Meanwhile, the DigiDestined coordinated with their partners to push forward. WarGreymon’s Terra Force obliterated entire clusters of Kankrelats. MetalGarurumon’s Cocytus Breath froze Specters mid-charge. Izzy’s MegaKabuterimon and Mimi’s Lilymon cleared out flanking foes. Joe’s Zudomon shielded key positions with his mighty shell.

Ken, riding Stingmon, darted through the air, skewering Frelions with a precise Spiking Strike.
"Davis, I’m getting surrounded!" Ken called out.

Davis, atop ExVeemon, soared in beside him. "Then let’s clear them out—TOGETHER!"

Their Digivices flared to life as they shouted in unison.
"Digi-Evolution! DNA Digivolve to... PAILDRAMON!"

A burst of light erupted mid-air as Stingmon and ExVeemon combined. Out of the blinding glow emerged Paildramon, already bringing both guns to bear.
"Desperado Blaster!" Paildramon unleashed a torrent of firepower, slicing through Specters and remaining Tarantulas.

The battle raged on with renewed momentum. The DNA Digivolution inspired both DigiDestined and Lyoko Warriors to press the attack harder.

But as XANA saw his army faltering, his fury exploded.
"No... I will not be denied!"

His gaze locked onto Owikawa, standing near the tower's base with Andromon and Herb. In a crimson flash, XANA launched himself toward him.

Owikawa’s Digivice suddenly pulsed with a fierce light.

Datirimon emerged from a burst of data, its leaves bristling.
"Yukio! I am here to protect you!"

XANA snarled. "Foolish construct—stand aside!"

But Datirimon would not yield. Bathed in light, it digivolved.
"Datirimon, digivolve to... Dorumon!"

The sleek Rookie with metallic armor landed between XANA and Owikawa.
"You will not harm him again!" Dorumon roared.

XANA struck with a dark energy wave, but Dorumon met it head-on with a claw strike, scattering the attack.

Tai barked the order.
"Protect Dorumon and Owikawa! Rally!"

Paildramon, WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, and the Lyoko Warriors — each fighting side by side with their Digimon partners — pivoted to support Dorumon’s stand.

The final clash had begun.

Dorumon faced XANA’s new body head-on, his metallic claws gleaming as they caught the light of the swirling vortex above. He dug his feet into the ground, eyes blazing with defiance.

"I will not let you harm Yukio again!" Dorumon roared. Energy pulsed through his small frame. He reared back and unleashed his attack.
"Metal Cannon!"

A glowing sphere of compressed energy shot forth from Dorumon’s mouth with stunning speed and force. The Metal Cannon blast struck XANA square in the chest, sending the demon-like entity skidding backward across the steel beams of the Eiffel Tower.

XANA let out a guttural snarl, his form flickering for a brief moment — a telltale sign that even this new body had its limits.

Up in the control post, Jeremie’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Lines of code scrolled faster than anyone could track.
"Uploading the Anti-Viral Code to all Lyoko Warrior weapons—now!" Jeremie announced.

Each Lyoko Warrior felt the pulse of energy ripple through their weapons as their systems synced with the supercomputer. A faint blue glow enveloped their blades, projectiles, and tools — infused with the one thing XANA could not resist: pure anti-viral code.

"Kyle, the weapons are ready!" Jeremie called through the comm. "You’re up!"

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. "All right, everyone — time to clip this bastard’s wings. Let’s go!"

As Dorumon kept XANA pinned, the Lyoko Warriors advanced — weapons drawn, Digimon and DigiDestined covering their approach with precise fire and protective maneuvers.

Odd sprinted forward first, vaulting over debris. He drew back his bow with practiced ease, a shimmering anti-viral tipped arrow nocked and ready.
"Smile for the camera!" he quipped, releasing the shot.

The laser arrow streaked through the air and struck XANA in the side. His body convulsed visibly, a strangled cry escaping his throat as part of his form flickered and sparked violently.

Before XANA could recover, Yumi was already there, a blur of motion. She spun into a perfect arc, both of her sonic fans infused with anti-viral power.
"Time to cut you down!"

Her fans sliced across XANA’s torso, leaving jagged, glowing lines of code disruption across his body. XANA stumbled, black smoke pouring from the wounds.

Ulrich came next, a bolt of lightning across the steel framework. "You’re not the only one who moves fast!" he shouted.

He darted by XANA in a blink, twin katanas flashing in an X-shaped strike across XANA’s chest. Sparks exploded from the impact, driving XANA back another step as his corrupted data destabilized further.

Nick moved into position next, calm and focused.
"Let’s see how you like this!" he growled, leveling his pulse rifle.

With a practiced breath, Nick fired an anti-viral grenade. The canister arced perfectly through the air and detonated at XANA’s feet in a burst of blue-white energy. XANA screamed as tendrils of anti-viral code wrapped around his legs, slowing his movements.

Michael seized the opening. Channeling the force, he ignited his anti-viral infused lightsaber, the blade glowing brighter than ever.
"Catch!" he shouted.

With a perfect throw, the blade spun through the air and struck XANA in the shoulder. The impact knocked him off balance, the energy surging through XANA’s corrupted core. The lightsaber returned to Michael’s hand with a snap-hiss, but XANA’s strength visibly wavered.

Herb didn’t hesitate. Taking aim with his revolver — an old-school weapon now charged with cutting-edge anti-viral rounds — he fired a precise volley.
"End of the line, pal!"

Each shot slammed into XANA’s arms and legs, locking up his joints and forcing him to his knees, sparks and data fragments raining down the tower.

XANA crawled backward, gasping, clawing his way toward the top of the tower’s framework. His body glitched and flickered with every desperate movement. Finally, he stood — barely — atop the Eiffel Tower, hunched and shuddering.

"I... I was supposed to be... the king of this world!" XANA coughed, broken and staggering.

Kyle calmly approached through the haze, walking with deliberate steps. His long coat flared behind him, the air thick with static and crackling code.

Without a word, Kyle drew the Rebellion sword, now glowing with anti-viral power. With a fluid motion, he hurled it forward round-trip style. The blade spun in a perfect arc through the air, carving a shining blue trail as it slammed into XANA’s chest.

XANA howled, arms flailing, as the sword lodged deep and then wrenched itself free, spinning back toward Kyle.

Kyle caught the handle one-handed, eyes cold and unblinking.

XANA staggered, sparks pouring from him like blood. He fell to one knee, barely holding himself up.

Kyle holstered Rebellion and slowly drew both Ebony and Ivory, now charged with the same shimmering anti-viral code. He leveled both guns at XANA’s head.

"King, huh?" Kyle said, voice low and icy.
"Fine... here’s your crown."

Kyle pulled both triggers.

Twin shots rang out — sharp and final. The anti-viral bullets struck XANA square in the head. For a moment, his form glowed violently — data bursting outward in a chaotic storm — before his entire body dissolved into black mist, vanishing into the vortex with a final, empty wail.

The battlefield fell silent.

XANA was no more.

# # # # #

As the last remnants of XANA’s corrupted code faded into the void, the swirling digital rifts in the sky began to close.

One by one, the jagged cracks of energy sealed themselves, as if an invisible force was stitching the world back together. The vortex above the Eiffel Tower shuddered, blinked, and finally vanished in a blinding flash of white light.

A wave of silence followed.

The skies above Paris and Kadic Academy gradually shifted — the heavy, chaotic storm clouds giving way to a calm, clear, and hopeful sky-blue. Sunlight streamed through the gaps, illuminating the battered Eiffel Tower and the exhausted heroes below.

Kyle stood atop the framework, eyes cast upward as the sky returned to peace. He exhaled slowly, then turned to the others.

"It’s over," he said quietly.

Dorumon stood beside Yukio Owikawa, who looked upward in awe and gratitude. The little Digimon glanced at him and smiled, receiving a heartfelt pat on the head from his partner.

Beelzemon landed beside Kyle, folding his raven-black wings. He gave his partner a solemn nod.

Far below the Eiffel Tower, the scene was anything but quiet.

The media had arrived en masse.

News vans, drones, and helicopters hovered at a respectful distance. Dozens of reporters were broadcasting live to the world, capturing every moment of the aftermath. Cameras zoomed in as the Lyoko Warriors and DigiDestined began their descent.

Jeremie, noticing the sea of flashing lights and hovering drones, quickly activated his interface on the tablet linked to the Supercomputer.

"Everyone, hold up. I’ve got an idea," Jeremie said, fingers flying across the virtual keyboard.

Within seconds, a set of sleek, unmarked hover-vehicles materialized in the streets near the tower — courtesy of a discreet Supercomputer projection program.

"Courtesy of Franz Hopper’s old transport algorithms," Jeremie smirked. "Get moving. I’ll mask the signal and the optics."

"Smart thinking, genius," Kyle said with a grin.

Without wasting time, the Lyoko Warriors, DigiDestined, Beelzemon, and the now-free Franz Hopper and Yukio Owikawa piled into the vehicles. The convoy lifted off in perfect formation, rising into the sky.

The cameras below caught a brief glimpse of the flight — then, as Jeremie’s masking code engaged, the vehicles seemed to shimmer and vanish from view.

"Hopefully that worked," Jeremie said through the comms.

"It did," Odd chuckled. "I can’t believe we’re riding Hopper-tech taxis."

The group made their way back to the factory, supposedly unnoticed — though none of them fully believed they had escaped without any attention.

Once inside, they returned to Lyoko for final devirtualization. The Supercomputer’s scanners hummed, and the Lyoko Warriors stepped out in their normal forms, weary but relieved.

However, as the group emerged from the freight elevator at ground level, they were met by an unexpected sight.

Outside the factory entrance stood the full staff of Kadic Academy — Principal Delmas, teachers, staff members — along with local police, several suited special agents bearing United Nations insignia... and Gennai.

The Lyoko Warriors and DigiDestined tensed instinctively, but Gennai stepped forward, his presence calm and reassuring.

One of the UN agents, a composed woman with short hair and a measured tone, addressed them.
"Relax. We are not here to detain anyone. We’re simply here to analyze and report on the status of what has been classified as Project: Carthage... the Supercomputer."

Jeremie let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Ulrich and Yumi exchanged glances of relief. Aelita smiled softly. Odd relaxed, arms behind his head.

Kyle and relaxed, Beelzemon holstering his weapons at his side, a small smirk on their faces. Kyle looked to the others, then stepped forward with an easy confidence.

"We’ll be glad to update you guys on the Supercomputer..." he said with a half-grin. "...over a nice cup of espresso coffee with cream."

That earned genuine laughter from the entire group. Even the agents cracked faint smiles.

Jeremie nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

As the tension finally lifted, the heroes stood together — not as fugitives, but as protectors of both worlds. And for the first time in what felt like an eternity... peace had returned.

Chapter Text

The factory was quiet now — a sharp contrast to the chaotic days prior.

In the main chamber of the Supercomputer, the hum of the central core was steady, calm. No alarms. No corrupted signals. No black clouds on the horizon.

At one of the consoles, Aelita stood beside her father.

Franz Hopper — free at last — looked every bit the tired but grateful man who had fought too long in digital shadows. His hand trembled slightly as it rested on his daughter’s shoulder, but his voice was clear.

"I never thought I’d see you again... in the real world," he said softly.

Aelita blinked back tears, her smile radiant. "Neither did I. But now... we have all the time in the world."

They embraced — a father and daughter finally reunited. The others stood respectfully nearby, giving them their moment.

Odd whispered to Ulrich. "Okay, I’m not crying... you’re crying."

Ulrich smirked, arms crossed. "Maybe both."

Nearby, the rest of the team had resumed something like a normal life.

The UN agents had proven true to their word. They were here to help — not to confiscate, not to destroy. Meetings with Jeremie and Gennai had resulted in a formal agreement: Project: Carthage and the Supercomputer would be monitored and safeguarded by a joint team consisting of trusted members of Kadic Academy, the Lyoko Warriors, and representatives from the Digital World.

Gennai worked directly with the UN scientists and agents, helping them establish proper digital protocols and data exchange with the DigiDestined’s help. The Digital World was no longer a secret — at least, not to those who needed to know.

In the following weeks, Kadic returned to a new normal.

Classes resumed. Students buzzed about the events that had shaken the city — though the full truth remained known only to the chosen few. The Lyoko Warriors maintained their studies, their bonds stronger than ever. The DigiDestined frequently visited, helping to oversee integration projects with the Digital World.

Ogremon and Andromon had become regular fixtures at the factory, often guarding key equipment alongside Guilmon and Leomon. Puppetmon still teased Odd and Aelita, though with much less menace now. Wizardmon and Kev often discussed magic and technology, while Nick and Ogremon took turns sparring during downtime.

BlackWarGreymon remained close to Ulrich, seeking new purpose beyond battle. Cyberdramon and Yumi trained together, pushing each other to new limits.

Franz Hopper worked tirelessly with Jeremie and Michael, updating the Supercomputer’s architecture, preparing it for future peaceful exploration. Project: Carthage would now serve as a bridge — not a weapon.

The world had changed. But for the better.

And as summer arrived, the Lyoko Warriors enjoyed their hard-earned break.

Tokyo, Japan

Shutoku Expressway (Wangan Route), 3:00 A.M.

The roar of tuned engines echoed through the tunnels of Tokyo’s famed Shutoku expressway.

A pack of sleek, high-powered sports cars cut through the night — Supras, RX-7s, Skylines, GT-Rs — each driven by some of the city’s most skilled hashiriya street racers.

But they weren’t the ones leading this race.

At the front of the pack, cutting through the night air like a phantom, was a gleaming black custom motorcycle — twin exhausts blazing, the roar of its engine distinct and wild.

Kyle Yamika leaned forward over the handlebars, eyes sharp beneath his visor. Behind him, Beelzemon grinned wide, his long coat trailing in the slipstream.
"Ha! These guys are fast — but we’re faster!" Beelzemon shouted over the comm.

Kyle smirked. "Yeah... we built this thing. Let’s show ’em what it can really do."

The bike had been a passion project — a joint creation between Kyle and Beelzemon in the factory’s workshop. Part modern machine, part digital tech, infused with subtle enhancements from the Supercomputer’s archives. It wasn’t just fast. It was alive.

The racers behind them pushed harder, their engines howling. The chase surged onto the Wangan straight — the legendary high-speed stretch where only the bold survived.

Beelzemon twisted the throttle. The bike surged forward, the speedometer blurring past 300 km/h.

Neon lights flashed past in a kaleidoscope of color. The city glistened around them — a glowing, living world.

Beelzemon laughed. "Man, this is living! After everything we’ve been through... I wouldn’t trade this for anything."

Kyle grinned beneath his helmet. "Neither would I."

Together, rider and Digimon led the pack — spirits unchained, riding free through the heart of the Tokyo night.

A new chapter awaited. But for now, they had the open road.

And that was enough.

THE END - FIN

Chapter Text

And so, Digital Dynasty ReWrite comes to its close.

This has been an incredible journey — one that began with a simple "what if?" and grew into a full adventure that crossed worlds, forged new friendships, and proved that hope can shine through even the darkest digital storms.

I want to thank everyone who read this story — whether you followed it from the start or found it later. You helped keep me inspired, and every comment, every bit of feedback, mattered more than you know.

Digital Dynasty ReWrite is ultimately about second chances — about redemption, growth, and the unbreakable bonds we form along the way. Seeing the Lyoko Warriors, the DigiDestined, and these reformed Digimon stand together was a joy to write — and I hope it was just as fun to read.

And as for Kyle and Beelzemon... well, the road ahead is wide open. Their story, like life, keeps moving.

For now, though, I think it’s time to take a deep breath, look at the clear blue sky... and enjoy that well-earned cup of espresso.

See you on the next adventure.
— Fire_Drifter