The days progressed by and XANA stayed pretty quiet. Almost like it was planning something. This aroused Alex and Jeremy's suspicions so they went to the factory early one morning. Odd tagged along because he didn't want to hang around school today. It was a teacher's inservice today anyway.

In the lab Jeremy checked on XANA's power, "Just as I suspected, XANA has something planned. Alex, I'm sending you to sector five to get some needed info from the main dark tower. Alex nodded, walked over to the hatch and climbed down the ladder. He stepped into a scanner and yelled up "Ready to go Jeremy." Jeremy virtualized him and let him set to work.

Alex navigated his way to the central hub of sector five and entered the main dark tower. As he worked to access data, in the lab Jeremy and Odd were conversing about XANA's last attack. "So Kai really held his own against Jim?" Odd asked. Jeremy nodded. "He was able to hold out surprisingly well. I was impressed." As Jeremy said that Alex's voice came over the speakers. "Okay Jeremy, I have the data decrypted and all set to go. I'm sending it right now." A window opened on the supercomputer's upper screen.

Jeremy read the data and panicked "It's worse than I suspected. XANA is making more replicas. It's strong enough to do that again." Alex's audio card lit up again "Tell me something Jeremy, would the superscan be able to pick those up if we rebooted the modified version?"

Jeremy thought about it for a second before saying "Alex, you're a genius. I'll rematerialize you and set to work. I'll call you when I finish." a minute later Alex climbed back into the lab saying "Come on Odd, let's head back to school and grab some breakfast. We'll leave Jeremy to work."

Odd followed happily saying "You know me pretty well Alex." Alex just laughed "Everyone knows your kryptonite is food Odd. It's so obvious." They stepped into the elevator and Alex hit the up button. "Catch ya later Einstein," they said together and the elevator door closed.

Back at Kadic, Alex and Odd stepped out of the gym and walked to the cafeteria, deep in conversation. They spoke in hushed tones "I'm just saying Odd, if XANA's rebuilding replicas this could be a bad thing. It's not good, remember those robots you guys told me you found. He could be using the replicas to build strength to activate them and unleash them on humanity." Odd agreed "I tell you XANA's always up to his old tricks, and sometimes it's hard to stay ahead of him.

The guys passed by Kai, who had a worried look on his face. Alex stopped "Kai, is something wrong? You seem like you're worried about something."

He stated bluntly, "Not really. My sisters are coming today. My sisters are going to make it harder for me to fit in." Odd's jaw dropped, "So you're like me, only boy in a family of girls. Finally, someone who knows what that's like."

Kai said, "Yes and no. You're still luckier than me Odd."

Odd was now curious, "Alex go ahead and grab us a table and some breakfast, I'll pay you back later." Alex nodded and walked off, leaving Odd and Kai to talk. The purple clad blonde had to ask "How am I luckier than you? Living with four sister's is a pain. That's why I hate going home on the holiday breaks."

He answered, "Because at least you don't look like a girl. Not mention they are both older than

me. If they get angry you better run for the hills." Odd looked at him. "Wow, that's nuts man."

Kai said, "Yes it is. A lot people say I look like a younger male version of my sister Lily."

Odd nodded, "I understand what you go through Kai, now let's get something to eat. I'm starving and Alex is waiting, I owe him some money for buying my breakfast." Odd walked off to the cafeteria. He sat down by Alex, pulled out his wallet and handed him some cash. "There we go, all settled up."

Ulrich and William sat down and Alex and Odd told them about Kai's fight with Jim the other day. William asked "You think we should tell him about the lab and Lyoko?" Ulrich gave him a stern glare, saying "Are you insane William, telling Kai about our secret could blow everything and get us arrested."

"Sorry, I forgot about that. We can tell Kai, but I say we hold it to a group vote. We'll go to Yumi's after breakfast, I'll call Jeremy and put him on speaker so we can have a vote. We won't have to worry about arousing any suspicions from her family, they're gone today, she's home alone. Besides, if it weren't for Kai, Yumi wouldn't have gotten out of class to help us on Lyoko." Alex explained.

Odd agreed. "It's true, Alex told me everything. So yeah, we go to Yumi's and hold it to a group vote. If it's yes, let's hope Kai can keep a secret." Everyone agreed to that.

Kai was heading to the principal's office to wait for his sisters Bella and Lily. Kai said, "Lets hope Lily doesn't kill me with a death hug." He knocked on Jean Pierre's door. Mr. Delmas's voice came from the other side of the door "Come on in." Kai walked in and saw his sister's Bella and Lily. Just as he said to Odd earlier. Lily was basically an older female version of Kai.

Bella on the other hand took more from the father's side of the family she had short dark brown hair and was 5 foot 2 inches and was more athletic then Kai. Kai said nervously, "Hey."

Mr. Delmas looked over to Kai "I expect you'll be showing them around. Have fun."

Kai said, "Yes sir." He showed them around just as Alex did for him.

Lily said with her very bubbly personality, "Thanks little bro. By the way do you still keep that diary of yours?"

He said, "It isn't a diary it's a journal." Bella rolled her eyes, "Its a diary." They went into their room.

Kai bumped into Sissi again. Sissi said, "Well well looks like girly boy has his family here now.

You really are a freak." Kai ignored her and walked off.

At the Ishiyama's, Alex and the others sat down in the living room. Odd was the first to speak, "So we're here to vote on telling Kai our secret. All in favor say aye." No votes. "All opposed same sign." Everyone voted aye. Alex spoke next "There's our decision. Kai stays in the dark. I'm heading back to the school. My car needs a once over and a quick tune up."

Alex stood up, bowed to Yumi and walked out. The others hung around for a while before splitting up. Alex got back to school and went to the parking lot near the track. His car was a 2012 Dodge Viper imported from America. A gift from his family. He grabbed his tools from his trunk and set to work on the car.

Meanwhile in Bella and Lily's room they were plugging in their electronic when there was a spark coming from the outlet and XANA's ghost came out and Lily and Bella screamed.

Kai said, "What was that?!" He ran to his sister's room and he opened the door to be met with a shocking greeting. Kai stuttered, "Wh..what in the world?" He got shocked by Bella.

Alex heard a commotion as he closed his viper's hood. "What in the world?" he questioned. Putting his jacket back on and wiping his hands with a shop rag. He turned to see Kai running from Bella, thinking fast, Alex took off after them. Something wasn't right. He swung his left fist at Bella, knocking her unconscious. He grabbed Kai's wrist and ran towards the gym. Come on, we have to move.

Alex led Kai into the maintenance room and opened a red door. "In here, come on." He ran down the tunnel and grabbed his bike. "Shut the the door behind you Kai." Kai did so, "What's going on?" Alex mounted his bike. "I'll explain later, just follow me, hope you can keep up."

Kai nodded and followed him.

Alex pedaled towards the factory, making sure Kai could see him. When he got to the factory, he climbed the ladder with Kai right behind him. "Come on, into the factory." He ran inside, grabbed a rope and swung down.

Kai asked, "Are you sure?"

Alex stood waiting in the elevator. "Come on or I'm going down without you." Kai ran to the elevator. Alex hit the down button and the elevator began its descent.

Kai questioned, "So are you going to explain what's going on?"

"Jeremy will. I have work to do." The elevator door opened to the lab "This is your stop Kai. Jeremy, ready the procedure, I'm taking the dive." Kai walked into the lab, behind him Alex shut the elevator door and rode down to the scanners. He stepped in and yelled "Ready to go Jeremy."

Kai asked, "Jeremy what's going on?"

Jeremy responded "Once Alex is on Lyoko, I'll explain everything." He tapped on his keyboard. "Transfer Alex, scanner Alex." His right index finger pressed enter "Virtualization."

Kai sighed, "Alright."

Jeremy kept his eyes on the screens "Tell me Kai, what do you know about viruses?"

He answered, "I know they can be deadly especially if it gets into missile control."

Jeremy looked over to him "Your understanding is good enough. The virus we're fighting against is a thousand times worse than any normal virus. XANA's only intent is to rule humanity through technology."

Kai sighed, "So its a case of technology turning on humans."

Jeremy nodded "All controlled by one multi-agent system."

He asked, "How can I help?"

"Right now, there's no need, so just sit over there."

Kai nodded and sat down. Jeremy worked quietly, monitoring things on Lyoko. He spoke into his headset, "Alex, you guys have three krabes on your tails. Watch out." Alex responded. Odd and Ulrich are on them already.

Kai just watched, "Jeremy how exactly does XANA possess people?"

"XANA is a multi-agent system, through electronics he creates specters that can take over humans, animals, technology, you name it." Jeremy explained. He looked at the holomap again. "Watch out, tarantulas coming from the east, three squads of hornets coming in from the north." William's Lyoko ID card came center screen and faded. "William's been devirtualized." He's back in the scanner room." Ulrich's card did the same. "Dang, two down. Alex, what's going on?"

Alex's audio card lit up "We were ambushed, if you're gonna yell at me because of that, get your ass in here and help out. I know you can." Jeremy looked at his reflection in the supercomputer screen. "I have to do it. I have to help them." William and Ulrich walked into the lab "Jeremy, if you're going to Lyoko, I'll virtualize you." Ulrich said. William butted in after him "And I'll make sure he doesn't screw up.

Kai said, "Let me help. XANA possessed my sister. If you think I'm going to let him do that without a fight, then you're not as smart as you think you are. Besides it seems like Jeremy is the only one who can work the Super Computer without risking it shutting down."

Jeremy held up one finger "One time Kai, then we wipe your memory," He handed Ulrich a book "All the commands for virtualization are on page 20, you know what to do Ulrich. Come on Kai." Jeremy opened the hatch on the far side of the lab and climbed down. He stepped into a scanner and yelled up "I'm ready to go Ulrich."

Kai took a deep breath, "I'm ready too Ulrich. I'm ready to save my sister."

Ulrich cracked his knuckles, took a deep breath and began typing. "Transfer Jeremy, Scanner Jeremy, Transfer Kai, Scanner Kai… Virtualization. Jeremy and Kai dropped into the forest sector. Jeremy looked at Kai, looked forward, drew his sword, and started walking.

Kai said, "Whoa that was strange." He looked down at himself and he looked exactly like Pit from Kid Icarus Uprising. He had the Silver Bow on his back along with arrows. Two lasers came out of nowhere and hit right in front of us. Kai sighed, "I'm assuming these are the Krabes you were talking about. Where do you hit them?" Kai suddenly had a visual of XANA's eye on the top. He said, "I have an awesome idea it's bloody stupid but it's worth a shot." Kai ran as fast as he could and just before the Krabes hit him with a laser he jumped up into the air and pulled out two arrows and launched them at the Krabes and destroyed them.

Jeremy shook his head and said to himself. "He has no clue those are the weak points. Those were sentries, the rest have Alex, Aelita and the others pinned down somewhere." He looked at Kai, I'm going on ahead. Try and keep up." He took a running stance. "Penticate." Five Jeremy clones appeared and took off running. "Sonic boom!" With that, all five Jeremy's sped up, moving along at breakneck speed. Kai followed at his top speed.

Further into the forest, Alex and Odd were attacking from range. "Keep Aelita safe, She has to disable the tower. How XANA has the strength to activate a dark and a normal tower is a mystery to me. Kai and Jeremy arrived ready to help. Kai had figured out the the eyes were the weak spot of the monsters. Kai pulled out more his arrows and aimed for the 'eyes' of the monsters.

"Just know that these monsters won't go down without a fight. If they hit you, you will lose life points, lose too many any you're gone."

Kai said, "I sorta figured, there is a lot of stuff like this in movies. There's alway complications."

Jeremy's clones ran to aide the others while he explained to Kai "Listen to me, we have to keep Alex and Aelita safe, they are the only two who can shut down the towers."

Kai nodded, "Ok Jeremy."

Alex was having the time of his life distracting a megatank, He sank his rapier blade into the target. "Impact!" He dropped back, sheathed his sword, and drew his pistols and waited for Yumi's signal. There were still four krabes to deal with. Yumi's tessan fans tore through two of them. Odd and Jeremy finished off the other two. Now the area around the dark tower was clear. Alex nodded to the others, "I'll finish this and we'll move on to the other tower." He ran inside, returning after a minute to join the others.

The group was about to take off when they saw a figure standing there. Armed just like Alex, dressed the same way, though the colors were black gray and blood red. Tattooed around his left eye was a XANA eye. Alex stepped forward "None of you would be able to defeat him. Get Aelita to the tower, I'll handle Nega-Alex. GO!" Alex and Nega-Alex drew their swords and faced each other.

Jeremy looked to the others, "Alex has this, let's go." Odd, Yumi and Aelita nodded and followed him. Kai followed as well. Alex stood and stared down his dark side. "Long time no see old friend. It has been a while since our last battle, so let's have at it.

The two swordsmen charged at each other, their blades colliding many times in rapid succession. Alex kicked Nega-Alex in the stomach and dropped back. "I have to buy the others time." He looked at Nega-Alex. "If you want me, you'll have to catch me." He started running away in the opposite direction of his friends. "Super Sprint!" Sure enough, Nega-Alex took the bait and followed him.

Near the tower, Jeremy and the others were being pursued by a squad of hornets. Odd and Kai slid to a halt. "Jeremy, keep going. Get Aelita to the tower, Kai and I will cover you guys." Jeremy nodded and he and Aelita kept running.

Odd unleashed a volley of laser arrows, knocking three out right away, the fourth fired a blast connecting with his chest. Ulrich's voice came on "Watch it Odd, you're down to 50 life points, you can't take another hit like that.

"I know that Ulrich, you're sounding just like Jeremy. Kai, we have to work together, double up our fighting strength." Kai nodded "Understood." He notched two arrows "Ready when you are." Odd pumped his wrist to reload "Locked and loaded." The first hornet came into sight. Kai took aim, took a deep breath and let his shots fly. The arrows hit their mark, the hornet hit the ground and exploded. Dropping back Kai said "You're up Odd." Odd slid out of hiding and opened fire, launching a barrage of arrows. One hit it's mark, the last hornet exploded and the guys ran to catch up with Jeremy.

Across the sector, Alex and Nega-Alex's battle had concluded. Speaking in his native tongue Alex said to his defeated foe "Tha ago̱nisteí éntima , allá sto télos , kaló thriamvév̱ei páno̱ apó to kakó." And he ran off to find the others.

Aelita got to the tower and managed to deactivate it. Ulrich initiated a return trip and things reverted to that morning. Once again, Alex and his friends were walking under the arches of the dorms "Well, I'm glad that's over. I hate fighting Nega-Alex. Why XANA created him is a mystery to me." Alex said, breaking the silence. Jeremy shrugged "With a little more research, we might find out why Nega-Alex exists, you'll have your answer then."

Alex smirked "Good, then we can figure out how to destroy him. XANA's monsters are tough enough as it is."

A/N:

Ulrich-Stern3277: For those of you who do not understand Greek, Alex's final quote in his battle with Nega-Alex was "You fought honorably, but in the end, good triumphs over evil." This co-op fanfic has been fun. I'm enjoying it and if any of my readers ever want to try one with me, just shoot me a PM. Sorry this chapter took so long to get up, I've been a little busy lately and Icypika and I haven't had many opportunities to write together. Thanks and I hope you're enjoying the story.

Icypika: Yeah you can thank Ulrich-Stern for the battle scenes, my skills lie with character interaction.