Both school groups were in the cafeteria as Odd prepared to do something daring.
"It's a question of reflexes. You've gotta trust your instincts." Odd said.
"Anything you can do I can do better, Odd." Aelita said.
"Wanna bet?" Odd asked.
"You're on." Aelita said as Odd put a fork down and a walnut on the tip of the handle.
"Okay, watch and weep." Odd said, raising his fist above the lower half before slamming it down and sending the walnut flying as he caught it instantly. "Like I told you, my Odd-like sixth sense defies all limitations." he said as the group laughed.
"Okay, show off, now admire my Aelita-like sixth sense." Aelita said, preparing to do the same, but with an orange as she slammed her hand down, sending the orange flying into Sissi's plate of food as it splattered all over her.
"Uh oh. Foul ball, Aelita." Eddy said as Sissi screamed and the other students burst out laughing.
"Alright, you win Aelita!" Odd laughed. "I could never match that!"
"Dunbar!" Jim called out as he approached the William clone. "Haven't you heard that forks aren't meant to play with but to eat with? You hear me, Dunbar?" he asked as the group saw the clone preparing to do the same thing as Odd and Aelita, but with a glass cup as he soon sent it flying before Jim caught it. "You're lucky that glass was empty, but this is the last straw! If you want to play dumb, then you can do it in detention! Follow me!" Jim ordered as he led the clone out of the cafeteria.
"William's clone is not supposed to act like that." Jeremie said.
"It doesn't matter if he gets punished. He's not even human." Odd said.
"Okay, Odd, we're gonna come back to that later." Mark said.
"But Odd's correct about the clone. He's a polymorphic spectre, driven by a basic non-evolutionary behavior." Jeremie said.
"Could you say that in words?" Ulrich said.
"William's clone shouldn't be capable of taking any personal initiatives, like trying to imitate Odd's stupid stunts, for example." Jeremie said.
"Then how do you explain it?" Shantae asked.
"I can't explain it. That's why I'm worried." Jeremie said. "Unless the…"
"The what?" Aelita asked.
"Well, yesterday, I installed an upgrade for his software, something to improve his artificial intelligence. You know, something that would make him appear less stupid." Jeremie explained.
"You think that imitating Odd makes him look less stupid?" Ulrich asked as the group shared another laugh.
"Well, we're gonna have to play it by ear. I may have to delete the upgrade. All we need is for William Junior to start making waves." Jeremie said as they all soon left the cafeteria. "Anyway, I did improve the Superscan. Thanks to the data you collected during your last jaunt on the network, I was able to set things up so that it can now find other Replikas."
"It would make sense if there could be more Replikas, if XANA created a Replika of the forest, he would do the same with the other three." Mari said.
"Yes, in fact I've already managed to localize a second one." Jeremie said.
"A second one? Just how many Replikas are there?" Yumi asked.
"I have no idea. But I suppose if we destroy them all, we'll finally be rid of XANA for good." Jeremie answered.
"Fantastic! I love it when you talk like that. When do we start?" Odd asked.
"Tonight." Jeremie replied.
"I feel bad for William's clone." Aelita said as she and the others turned to see him being scolded by Jim and Delmas. "It's my fault that he's in trouble with GI Jim."
"No reason to feel bad, Aelita. It's like Odd said, he's totally artificial." Jeremie said.
"Like I was not all that long ago." Aelita said.
"Artificial or not, he's still a living being." Simon said.
"But that's not the same. An artificial program has no feelings." Jeremie said.
"Jeremie… That sounds kind of insensitive, man." David said.
"Yeah, that's basically saying that Tsuki, Corona, and the Knights don't have feelings either." Shantae said, folding her arms with an angry expression.
"That's true…" Jeremie said, looking intrigued. "Hmm… if William's clone is actually growing on its own, and it wasn't the upgrade… Well, I'll need to take a look at the software to be sure."
"And if the upgrade isn't the reason that Willam's clone is taking initiatives?" Frisk asked.
"We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it." Jeremie answered. "I suppose I'm more concerned about what he might feel, rather than him feeling anything at all."
"I…guess that's fair, considering the circumstances." Mark sighed. "Come on, let's get to our classes."
The group went on their way, none of them noticing the two girls hidden behind the wall.
"So William isn't William?" Tamiya said in confusion. "I don't understand, what does that mean?"
"It means we've got a scoop!" Milly declared in excitement. "We're going to have a little chat with 'William' tonight…"
That night, on the Galaxy King…
"All right. Digimon Storage is all set." Franky said. "Looks like it's already homing in on the computer's location. New Mexico in the USA."
"So the next Replika is the Desert." A2 said.
"Hm, I wonder what XANA has planned for us there…" Pearl thought.
"Only one way to find out." Amethyst said. "Fire it up, guys!"
The storage soon activated its second function as the group found themselves next to Ulrich and Aelita right outside an old army base.
"Whoa. Hey, you think this is like…you know…that place?" Rainbow asked.
"That place?" Ajna asked.
"She's talking about Area 51. An urban legend where the government hides stuff like aliens and futuristic weapons." Sunset said.
"If this was Area 51, then the government's gotten careless." Jeremie spoke up. "I found the base's layout plans online, so I'll guide you."
"Alright, we'll leave it to you." Homura said.
Inside the base, a figure stirred.
"So…they have come to infiltrate my base." the figure said. "I will succeed where ShadeMan failed."
The group moved across the facility before coming to an assembly line as chips were being made.
"Looks like this place was used to create chips for weapons and computers." Aelita said.
"And robots." A2 said.
"You getting all this Jeremie?" Eddy asked, receiving no response. "Uh…hello? Earth to Einstein, you there buddy?"
"Sorry, but it seems we're having difficulties right now." a voice said as out stepped a robot in golden armor with an out of this world appearance.
"Wait… I remember you." Mayumi said.
"I am the one who took over Nebula after ShadeMan and LaserMan fell. I am the one who commands the cosmos. I am CosmoMan!" he said.
"There it is! Never thought I'd see you again." Mayumi said.
"I may have been destroyed by that fool Bass but XANA has rebuilt me better than ever." CosmoMan said.
"We can see that." Leonora said. "I don't recall seeing that armor before."
"A Robot Master? No…something's different." X said.
"I am simply a robot…" CosmoMan said as rings clamped onto the group. "And one who just took all of you prisoner!"
"Yeah…we'll see about…" Saki said, trying to punch the ring. "Ow! Wait..how did that hurt?"
"It's his power. These rings nullify abilities." Mayumi said. "Bringing you to the level of a normal human being."
"That's right. I'm so glad you remembered that." CosmoMan said.
"I also know they only work so long as we remain within a certain distance." Mayumi said. "We'll get the others to transport us out."
"That's going to be impossible." CosmoMan said. "Especially when William rips apart both that lab and your ship."
"William? He's in the lab right now?" Shun'ei asked.
"Indeed. While you all went hunting for XANA's Replikas…we concocted a plan of our own." CosmoMan said.
"Damn you." A2 said. "When we get out of this, I will tear you apart!"
"Tear me apart?" CosmoMan said before he kicked A2 down. "Right now, you're as good as scrap." he said before he heard noises. "What is that?"
"Bolt Strike!"
"Hyperspace Fury!"
Two figures then burst through the walls as CosmoMan jumped back. The dust cleared as it showed both Spectra and Volt standing there in Burst Mode.
"Spectra, and Volt." Saki said. "Not surprising you two would be here."
"Pretend to be all knowing on your own time." Volt said as the rings on the group vanished.
"We need to leave." Spectra said as he caused a wave of electricity to surge, camouflaging the group as they fled.
"Grrr…damn it!" CosmoMan said.
"If William is in the factory, then things must be serious." David said. "We'll have to pick this up later."
The group fled as they soon vanished.
"You may have escaped…but next time…you will all perish." CosmoMan said as he watched them flee.
The group quickly escaped back to the Galaxy King, then headed straight to the factory, where they bore witness to the sight of XANA William and Clone William duking it out in front of the Supercomputer, Milly and Tamiya watching the two.
"Milly, Tamiya, move!" David called out.
"The Lyoko Warriors!" they said seeing the group.
"Ah great." William growled as he hit a command on the Supercomputer before he bolted on them.
"Uh… what did that button do?" Eddy asked nervously.
"He set up a delayed virtualization. He's going back to the network, but not before he began trying to overheat the supercomputer's nuclear core." Hermit said.
"Milly, Tamiya. Are you two okay?" Harumi asked.
"We're fine… but what the heck is going on?!" Milly asked. "We want answers, the press will not be silenced!"
"Girls, I'm sorry. But there was a reason we had to keep it a secret." Harumi said.
"Yeah… But, so long as you two are here…I think we can indulge you two with some interviews." David said.
The two brightened up as they sat with the leaders.
"So how long has this fight with XANA gone on?" Milly asked.
"About 2 years." Jexi said. "And we've definitely stuck it to him, the Universal VIllains and the Lost Thieves."
"Jexi, Hope and I have been going at it the whole way. Other groups joined in these instances as well, but never more than once." David said. "Heck, you were even a part of one of our adventures."
"Huh?" the two said.
"You likely don't remember." Hope said. "And do you wanna know something else? It's a huge secret."
"Oh. Tell us." Milly said.
"The reason neither of you will remember this is…Return to the Past, now." Jeremie said as the RTTP was activated.
The day soon restarted.
"So…Spectra and Volt…" Saki asked.
"Same story, apparently. Their groups encountered Reality Check too and got sent to New Mexico." Sunset said.
"Hmm… I wonder…" David said. "Don't you guys find it strange? She is bringing in groups that helped us in past Reduxes before. More specificially, the second trip…so far."
"Yet, how she managed to find them all is a mystery in and of itself. Some of the groups that helped us before have been known to be…reclusive and hard to find." Kokoro said.
"She's a reality warper, Kokoro, it's not really that difficult." ZS pointed out. "All she'd have to do is say 'so-and-so team appears before me' and POOF! There they are."
"That's…actually terrifying." Kazuma said. "I'm very glad she's being entertained by us, otherwise we'd probably be dead."
"Hard to tell what her endgame is." Hope said. "What I don't get is why she was sent to prison to begin with."
"Maybe one of her scenarios went horribly, horribly wrong." David said.
"Well…I'm technically an officer in waiting." Tulip said. "I could look through some of the prison archives to find the reason."
"You do that. In the meantime, we need to make sure to keep our ruse with William's clone." David said.
"That reminds me…" Jeremie spoke up. "I checked the clone's software, and it turns out that the upgrade I used was created by Franz Hopper. I think… that upgrade may have been used to create XANA."
"Hey, you're not suggesting that-?" Mark asked.
"That I may have almost created a second XANA?" Jeremie finished. "I feel sick just considering it. But even so… I owe you all an apology."
"Hey, you didn't know that's what it was." Dan assured Jeremie.
"Well, not just that." Jeremie said. "Back then, I said artificial beings didn't have feelings. But when William's clone was fighting the real deal, I saw that…he was dead set on protecting us. I don't think I'll be making a new upgrade for him. Instead…"
The group looked over to William's clone, who was repeating the same trick he did the day before. He noticed the group looking at him and flashed them a thumbs up and a smile.
"I'll just wait and see what he decides to be." Jeremie finished.