Behold, the epic conclusion of the Forest Replika arc. I had previously mentioned that I wasn't sure whether to add this as an extension of Chapter 7 or as a brand-new chapter, but I have made the executive decision that this is long enough to warrant the latter (in accordance with my efforts to make shorter, less drawn-out chapters).

I hope you enjoy!

Forest Replika

Several laser arrows pierced through the krabe's shell, destroying it. Odd landed on his feet a few meters away, a grin etched into his face as he reveled in another job well done.

But there was no time to celebrate. "Odd, William is heading your way," Jeremy warned. "You have to stop him from reaching Aelita, or at the very least slow him down until she can get to the regulator tower."

"You got it, Einstein!" Odd replied.

True to Jeremy's word, it wasn't long before Odd spotted William—and he wasn't alone. A flying manta, darker in appearance than the ones the Lyoko Warriors were accustomed to fighting, was flying the dark-haired boy into battle on its back.

Sword in his grasp, William jumped down from his flying steed, attempting to attack Odd from above. Odd hopped out of the way, firing several laser arrows at William, who either dodged them or blocked them with his sword. He then lunged at Odd, but the blonde boy somersaulted over him, using his back as a springboard to leap away from him.

"Hey, don't take your frustrations out on me, Romeo," Odd quipped. "Ulrich is the one who's crushing on Yumi, not me!"

William's sword began to glow, and he swung it, discharging the same wave energy that had devirtualized Ulrich towards Odd. Odd, however, jumped into the air, evading it.

"You missed!" Odd taunted again. "Maybe we should give your clone a shot? He's a much better soccer player than you are."

With a look of rage on his face, William stretched his hand out at Odd. Without warning, a cloud of black smoke shot out from his palm and swiftly enveloped Odd before lifting him off the ground. Despite the svelte boy's best attempts to wriggle himself free, he quickly found that he was frozen in place.

"Aw, come on, that's no faaaaair—!" Odd managed to let out in protest as William rushed in for the kill, devirtualizing him instantly with a single powerful blow.

Hakone, Japan

Thousands of miles away, Godzilla was also struggling to move as Kumonga had almost completely wrapped his body in webbing. It was an uncomfortable feeling that Godzilla had experienced before, and had not been eager to do so again. His arms, legs, and tail had been contorted to make it easier for Kumonga to encase him in the sticky substance. Only his head remained exposed, allowing Godzilla to watch as the arachnid closed in, his fangs extruded, ready to inject him with a dose of paralyzing venom.

Kumonga was under XANA's control—that much had already been clear. Godzilla had crossed paths with him and his kind countless times before, so he was well aware of the giant spider's tendencies as an ambush predator. But whereas Kumonga normally waited for his prey to tire from trying to free themselves from his webbing before he finished them off, Kumonga under XANA's control was much less patient, and sought to dispatch Godzilla as quickly as possible.

A big mistake on XANA's part, for Godzilla was far from ready to concede.

Kumonga crawled on top of Godzilla's body, ready to deliver the lethal bite. Unbeknownst to the arachnid, Godzilla's dorsal spikes began to glow underneath the yellow webbing as he began to build up nuclear energy inside of him. But instead of unleashing it in the form of his atomic ray as he usually did, the leviathan instead compressed it, allowing it to build up even further until—

BOOM.

Kumonga was thrown back several hundred meters as every square inch of Godzilla's body erupted in a short-ranged but extremely powerful pulse of intense heat and light. The giant spider's webbing was disintegrated instantly, freeing Godzilla from its grasp.

Godzilla's millennia of experience had won out over XANA's craftiness. He was keenly aware that Kumonga's webbing, while normally very strong, came apart easily under extreme heat. Thanks to this knowledge, along with the fact that Kumonga no longer had the element of surprise on his side, Godzilla now had a clear advantage.

The King of the Monsters charged up more energy and fired an atomic ray at Kumonga. Being incredibly light relative to his size, the mammoth arachnid was quite agile—a trait enhanced through his possession by XANA—and jumped out of the way before the ray could hit him. He then shot a strand of webbing at Godzilla, which the leviathan sidestepped, and then grabbed onto with his hands.

With the strand in his grasp, Godzilla began to spin. Kumonga had not yet let go of the webbing, and as such, was pulled along. The arachnid was quickly lifted off the ground by the momentum, which picked up with each revolution as Godzilla spun faster. Kumonga could only flail his eight legs helplessly as he spun faster and higher.

Finally, like a gargantuan-sized hammer thrower, Godzilla let go of the strand, sending it and Kumonga flying out of Ōwakudani at an astonishing speed. Godzilla stumbled about dizzily, and watched as the giant spider was reduced to a small speck in the sky.

The King of the Monsters huffed, surprised and even somewhat disappointed by the ease of the fight. He hadn't expected to launch Kumonga that far. He could only hope that he didn't land anywhere important...

Shizuoka, Japan

Prior to today, it had taken the hills outside Shizuoka thousands of years' worth of molding by the elements to form into their present shapes.

Now, those changes were happening in mere seconds, and their cause was far from natural. The hills shook violently, triggering numerous rockfalls and landslides that radically altered the appearance of he landscape.

Within moments, the source of the tremors revealed itself—or, rather, themselves. One of the hillsides was engulfed in an explosion of dirt, rock, and other debris, through which Anguirus and Baragon tumbled out, having been locked in a drawn-out underground battle. Still grappled together, the two kaiju plummeted down the hillside, finally separating from each other upon hitting the bottom.

Anguirus was the first kaiju to recover, although Baragon was not far behind. The two beasts squared off, each one looking for any weakness to exploit from the other.

Ultimately, Anguirus was the one to make the first move. Right as he began to advance towards Baragon, however, he was suddenly struck from above by a large, falling object, knocking him off his feet.

The spiked behemoth got back up to see what had hit him, and howled in a tone which, in human terms, would translate roughly to "WTF?" when he realized that it was none other than Kumonga who had suddenly and inexplicably fallen out of the sky.

The XANAfied arachnid similarly got back to his feet before sizing up his new quarry. Then, together with Baragon, he began to back Anguirus into the side of a cliff.

Anguirus let out an exasperated roar. Today was just not his day.

After several fleeting glances of it through the hundreds of trees that made up the Forest Replika, Aelita finally had the regulator tower clearly in her sight. As with that of the Desert Replika, the aura of the Forest Replika's regulator tower glowed a darker shade of red than the other towers she had passed that were under XANA's control.

Aelita accelerated the Overboard as fast as it would go. "Jeremy, I see the regulator tower," she reported.

"Good," Jeremy replied. "Hurry—William has almost caught up to you."

As if on cue, a laser struck the Overboard, causing it to demateralize and forcing Aelita to jump off. Landing on her feet, she looked behind her to see her attacker. Just as Jeremy had warned, William was flying towards her atop his manta, which was now shooting at her with its laser.

In response, Aelita formed an energy field in her hand and fired it at the manta. The pink orb struck the monster, causing it to fly erratically before exploding, which in turn caused William to fall off. She watched as he disappeared past the edge of the plateau, seemingly into the Digital Sea.

With just a hundred meters or so separating her from the tower, Aelita made the rest of the journey on foot. As she ran towards the tower, she was surprised by just how easy her ordeal had been. Not that she was complaining—while her friends may have craved the challenge, any time she was able to complete her mission without much resistance from XANA's monsters was completely fine with her. As such, she couldn't help but smile as she entered the tower—

—only to find William smiling back at her inside.

Aelita was barely able to let out a startled gasp as William—who had discreetly Super Smoked back up to the plateau and around her—delivered a strong kick to her chest, launching her out of the tower.

"Aelita!" she heard Jeremy cry as she skidded across the ground. William emerged from the tower soon after, his arm outstretched. Black smoke shot out of his hand and quickly wrapped around Aelita, lifting her off the ground. Then, with a swift stride of his arm, William sent Aelita careening into the side of a nearby tree. The black smoke vanished, and the pinkette fell to the ground a short distance away from William.

"Your friends weren't much of a challenge, just like last time," the XANAfied boy taunted as he approached, his sword reappearing in his hand. "I'll make even shorter work of you, Aelita."

"I..." Aelita began, as she slowly got up, "I beg to differ, William."

William rushed at Aelita. Aelita launched a series of energy fields at him, which he easily deflected with his sword. When he was close enough, he swung his sword at Aelita, but she reacted fast, forming a pair of energy fields in her hands which she used to block the massive blade. However, this was not enough to stop the much stronger William from pushing her back several meters, towards the edge of the plateau.

Aelita realized she had to do something now. Straining, she channeled more power into her energy fields before abruptly shoving back against William's sword, causing the pink orbs to explode in a powerful pulse that sent William skidding backwards. Aelita had successfully parried William's sword, but had now found herself just a few steps away from the edge of the plateau. Quickly, though, she realized that she could use this to her advantage.

William began to approach Aelita again. She slowly backed away to the edge of the plateau. Then, with only a brief moment of hesitation, she simply stepped off and fell out of sight.

The expression on William's face morphed from sinister to dumbfounded in nanoseconds. Had Aelita seriously just decided to fall into the Digital Sea of her own accord?

William approached the edge of the plateau and peered over the edge, checking to see if the pinkette had indeed made the fatal plunge when he was suddenly struck in the arm by an energy field, causing him to stumble backwards. He looked up to see Aelita, now in flight, emerge from over the edge of the plateau.

Aelita gained altitude and began to bombard William with energy fields from above, weaving in between trees for cover as she did. William either dodged or blocked most of the energy fields with his sword, although a couple had managed to hit their mark.

William took some time to observe Aelita's aerial acrobatics, then he charged his sword and launched an energy wave towards her. The wave hit her, causing Aelita to lose her wings and drop back to the ground—once again at the edge of the plateau. Aelita grabbed onto the ledge, now hanging on with just one hand as she dangled perilously over the Digital Sea. Aelita grabbed onto the ledge with her other hand, and tried to pull herself back up, but saw William now approaching her, his sword raised over his head for the killing blow.

It was at this moment that Aelita noticed where she had fallen: right in between two trees, their thick trunks no more than a few feet apart from each other. As William's sword began to come down, Aelita shut her eyes and tapped into her Creativity.

A thick branch suddenly appeared in between the two trees, inches over Aelita's head. William's sword struck the branch, the force of the blow lodging itself deeply into it. Now it was William's turn to let out a startled gasp as he realized his weapon was stuck.

Aelita responded instantly. She stretched her arm out at William's chest and fired an energy field at point-blank range. The force of the blast sent William flying back, and he dissolved into a cloud of black smoke before vanishing completely.

Aelita used the branch she had created to pull herself back up onto the plateau, giving a relieved sigh as she stepped back onto firm ground.

"That was amazing, Aelita," Jeremy complimented. And justifiably so—even Aelita herself was impressed with the job she had done against William. She was certainly a far cry from the Lyoko Warrior she had been before regaining her memories, when she was forced to rely on her friends to defend her.

"Thanks, Jeremy," she thanked him. Then a thought occurred to her. "It looked like I devirtualized William. Is he...?"

"The scanners are still empty," Jeremy responded, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "William didn't come back. I'm afraid he's still a prisoner of XANA—and I have a feeling that this isn't the last we've seen of him."

Aelita's heart sank. "Freeing William is going to be much harder than we thought," she lamented.

"Yes," Jeremy agreed, "but we can at least still free the kaiju that XANA is controlling right now."

"Right." With that, Aelita sprinted into the regulator tower, rising to the upper platform and beginning the process of entering the virus code into the Replika.

Anguirus lunged at Baragon, tackling the smaller kaiju and pinning him to the ground. Baragon could do little more than dig his long claws into Anguirus's arms, adding to the already numerous fresh and wounds Anguirus had received from their battle.

As Baragon struggled underneath him, Anguirus cried out as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right hind leg. He turned his head to see that Kumonga had sunk his fangs deep into his flesh. He swatted the mammoth arachnid away with his spiked tail, but the damage had been done—two bloody, gaping holes in Anguirus's leg had left the behemoth all but crippled.

This was also the distraction Baragon had needed. He clamped his jaws down on Anguirus's right arm, warranting another howl of pain from the ankylosaur. Then, with Anguirus's arm still in his maw, the subterranean beast fired off another blast of flame, scorching the arm with third-degree burns.

It was a sensation of extreme agony that Anguirus hadn't felt since Godzilla brutally defeated him all those decades ago. He released his grasp on Baragon and clambered away from him and Kumonga as the two XANAfied kaiju got back to their feet, again starting to corner him against a hillside like a pair of hunters cornering a wild animal.

Between the grievous wounds Baragon had inflicted and Kumonga's paralyzing venom already working its way through his body, it was taking Anguirus all the strength and willpower he could muster just to stay standing, much less keep the will to fight. Nonetheless, Anguirus let out a roar—an incredible roar that channeled every iota of anguish, defiance, and tenacity he had.

It was a clear message: Anguirus would keep fighting as long as his life depended on it. If XANA thought he could kill him just as easily as he had taken control of him, then he was gravely mistaken.

The Forest Replika was already starting to collapse as Aelita neared the Skid. Skillfully, she steered the Overwing around falling trees, making it back to the plateau with the tower that the Skid was anchored to.

"Jeremy, I'm back at the Skid," she announced. Seconds later, she vanished from the Overwing and reappeared in the submarine's cockpit. She disabled the craft's anchoring field and began to maneuver it away from the tower, again swerving around falling trees as she did. Finally, only the plateau remained, and Aelita watched as it too broke into pieces and fell into the Digital Sea, taking the tower with it.

Moments later, Aelita plunged the Skid itself into the Digital Sea, and submarine emerged from the Replika's entryway shortly after. The pinkette engaged the Skid's thrusters and began to speed away as the Replika exploded behind her.

Anguirus prepared himself for what might be Baragon and Kumonga's final attack, but quickly found that he didn't need to.

The spiked behemoth watched as the two kaiju closed in for the kill, only to abruptly fall to the ground and begin writhing as a smoky black specter emerged from each of their bodies—not unlike what had happened to him and Rodan after their fight with Godzilla in Osaka. He kept watching as the specters both dissipated, and Baragon and Kumonga both got back up, the eye of XANA having vanished from their pupils.

A new wave of pain suddenly engulfed Anguirus, and it was his turn to collapse to the ground. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Baragon—now with a look of concern rather than malice—slowly approaching him.

A few hours has passed since his skirmish with Kumonga at Hakone when Godzilla arrived in Shizuoka. Normally, he would have simply returned to the sea, but the nuclear leviathan's duty had not yet been finished.

The first thing he had noticed was that Baragon and Kumonga were no longer under XANA's control. As with Anguirus and Rodan before them, he had sensed that the supernatural being's control over them had simply been relinquished without an apparent cause. It was still something that perplexed him—almost like Mothra's magical abilities, only different.

The two kaiju had also long since deserted the area. Baragon had likely burrowed back underground, and Kumonga had probably crept away in search of a new lair. In any case, they were no longer threats—as long as there was nothing to provoke them, they would not attack again.

Godzilla entered a small valley, and it was there that he found what he was looking for: the unconscious body of Anguirus laying against a hillside.

A seldom-felt surge of concern overtook Godzilla. He roared at his downed comrade, who began to stir.

Anguirus's eyes opened and focused on the massive shape of Godzilla looming over him. Slowly, the giant ankylosaur got up, more pain erupting throughout his body as he did. Kumonga's venom had worn off, but his body was still covered in grievous wounds, very similar to the ones Godzilla himself had inflicted years ago.

Anguirus would live to fight another day, but that day was not going to be anytime soon. It was going to take some time for Anguirus to recover and return to fighting at Godzilla's side.

Godzilla turned and began to head back towards the sea. He stopped every few hundred meters, turning to watch Anguirus slowly limp behind him. The concern he had felt earlier turned into anger as the extent of Anguirus's injuries sank in. Next time he encountered one of XANA's abominations, he would make the being pay for hurting his friend.

For now, however, there was one thing of Anguirus that XANA could never hope to break: his pride. No matter how dire things looked for Anguirus, he never once backed down. He had managed to hold his own against two incredibly vicious kaiju, and further proved himself to be just as tenacious as the King of the Monsters himself.

For that, he had Godzilla's everlasting respect.

Akita Prefecture, Japan

Night had fallen by the time Hiroshi Ogata finally arrived at his destination, hours behind his original schedule.

Tokyo, Osaka, Shizuoka...that was three times now. Three times he had been in such close vicinity of a kaiju attack, and this one had been much closer compared to the previous two than he would have liked. It's almost as if I'm cursed at this point, he thought half-jokingly to himself.

Two key questions remained in his mind: first, why were the kaiju attacking now? Second, how was humanity going to defend itself against them? He remained no closer to answering the former question. The latter, however...that was why he was at this facility tonight.

Ogata entered the facility, which had been partially built into the side of a large hill. Only some 30% of the complex was visible above ground; the rest tunneled through the hill, concealed from the view of the public. Upon entering, he found that the facility was bustling with far more activity than he had ever seen it before. Ogata travelled down the main corridor, where he was soon greeted by the facility's young commander.

"Director Ogata," he said, "the base has been fully reactivated as per your instructions. The extra personnel from the Response Department have also just restarted work on the unit."

Ogata followed the commander as he led him to a heavily fortified set of doors at the end of the corridor. The commander walked to a keypad and typed in an access code.

"How much progress has been made on the unit?" Ogata asked.

"See for yourself," the commander answered as the doors opened, allowing the two men to enter a massive chamber and peer up at the nearly-complete unit that towered over them.

Ogata tried not to gawk. He hadn't seen it since the project was cancelled, and yet even after all this time, it remained a sight to behold. It was perhaps the single greatest technological marvel ever created by mankind, the pinnacle of G-Force's kaiju-fighting efforts.

In just two weeks, Mechagodzilla would be ready for action.

Oh, boy. Now we know what the High Council was wanting Ogata to work on so badly... (Though the initials in "Project MG" may or may not have already given that away, lol.)

Again, relatively light on the kaiju action to focus more on the Lyoko Warriors' side of things; I promise that the next arc will shift focus back to the kaiju end. That being said...Anguirus is one of my favorite kaiju behind Godzilla himself, so I'm sure you'll understand why I wanted to give him some time to shine. :)

And in case you were wondering: this version of Mechagodzilla is the Heisei version (also known as Super Mechagodzilla). No disrespect to the other versions, but I had mentioned before that the Heisei era was my favorite era of Godzilla movies, so it just felt natural. As with how it appeared in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, this story's Mechagodzilla will have a human crew piloting it from on board, including a few familiar names...

Replies to reviews for this chapter will be posted here. Watch this space.

ChimaTigon: While Baragon and Kumonga may not join Godzilla directly (they don't have the close relationship with him the way that Anguirus and Rodan do), them being freed from XANA means that they will now answer to him. Much like how he was in King of the Monsters, Godzilla is basically the alpha of kaiju in this story. I can promise you that Baragon and Kumonga, together with other kaiju encountered along the way, will show up again.