Alex and Jeremy had spent the weekend at the factory researching Nega Alex and working on a few upgrades for the team. The lab floor was riddled with fast food burger wrappers, pizza boxes and chinese takeout boxes. The guys had been busy, Alex had brought in a coffee maker to keep the two awake while they worked. Alex had designed himself a couple of possible upgrades and was debating which one he was going to implement.

Jeremy took a sip of coffee and set back to work. Alex looked up from his terminal over at Jeremy. "Hey Einstein, I think I have a location of some of Nega-Alex's data packets. If we can destroy it, we can weaken Nega-Alex enough so he won't be a problem. You won't like the location of it. I found it in a replica out on the net. So XANA still has presence on the net. I'll get everyone here and we can explain things."

Alex pulled out his phone and looked to Jeremy, "On my terminal is the code for my new upgrade, as well as one for Kai. I figured that since he looks like Pit, he's going to need a pair of wings. Like Aelita's, their temporary of course. But he'll find two glowing gold rings on his left wrist. He'll just need to tap them to activate them. As for me, I've given myself a last resort power. It's programmed to take 50 life points when I use it. Get those powers uploaded and I'll go topside and make a few calls to get everyone here. It's Sunday, so they won't be in class."

Alex stepped into the elevator, leaving Jeremy to finish his work. Jeremy looked at the code for Alex's new power and ran it in a power simulator. He laughed, "Classic Alex. I knew he loved Dragon Ball Z, never thought he'd give himself the Kamehameha as a power. I'll edit it so that it retains it's power without taking as many life points away." Jeremy edited the code so that the attack only used 30 life points. "There." He took another sip of coffee and leaned back in his chair.

Up in the main building, Alex had already called Odd, Yumi and Ulrich, he quickly texted William about the situation and dialed Kai's number. Putting his phone to his ear, he waited for Kai pick up.

Back at school, Kai was relaxing in his room. He picked up his phone and asked, "What is it Alex? Is Jeremy ready to wipe my memory?" Alex just responded "No, we talked about it over the weekend and we'll keep you on the team. What we need from you is for you to get to the factory ASAP. Can you do that?"

He stated, "Sure, as long as you explain what changed your mind. When is a good time?"

Alex just said "Listen, I'll explain later, before you leave school I need you to grab a black canvas rucksack from my room. What ever you do, do not drop it."

He said, "Alright, is it heavy?"

"Not too heavy, it should be easy to carry, but again… DO NOT DROP IT!"

He promised, "I won't." He hung up. Kai went into Alex's room and grabbed the black canvas rucksack from Alex's room, took off across the park, headed to the factory. He climbed down into the sewer and started walking.

At the factory, Alex and Jeremy were finishing up their work when everyone arrived. As soon as he saw Kai, he walked up, took the rucksack and opened it. He dug around and pulled a few discs out along with some other hardware for his remote terminal station. After getting that out of the way, Alex and Jeremy addressed the others.

"Alright everyone. We need a replica elimination squad while Aelita gets us some needed data. Alex has already volunteered to be one, he'll need a partner, and Aelita will need two escorts. Who's going to do what?"

Kai said, "I'm fine with wherever you need me."Odd raised his hand "Alex and I make a good combat team, I'll go with him." Alex smiled, "Alright Odd, you and I are on replica destruction duty. Now, who will be Aelita's escorts. The Skid only fits 4 others besides Aelita, there are two open Navskids after Odd and I. So, who's on escort duty?"

Kai rubbed the back of his neck, "This seems like a mission I'm not needed on. Jeremy what can I do to help if there is a way for me to help?"

Jeremy shook his head "You can either go on the mission, or stay here in the lab until you're needed. But Aelita might want you as an escort. Looks like Ulrich and William don't want to go on this mission. Alex, Aelita, Kai, Yumi and Odd, head to the scanner room. I'll send you in."

Alex and the others stepped into the elevator, leaving Jeremy with Ulrich and William. Down in the scanner, Jeremy watched the monitor feed of the scanner room's security camera. "Alright, here we go." he said, "Transfer Alex, transfer Aelita, transfer Kai, scanner, virtualization." Next up was Odd and Yumi "Transfer Odd, transfer Yumi. Scanner. Virtualization."

The 5 materialized in the citadel of sector five. Alex led the way to the Skid hangar. They each stepped onto a teleporter, after Yumi directed Kai to the proper pad to stand on. Jeremy got everyone on board. Alex had played with the color schemes of the navskids to make them more personal. His, silver with royal blue trim, Odd's was purple with white trim, Yumi's navskid had been painted maroon with light blue trim. And for Kai, Alex had designed the navskid to be white with gold.

Aelita took off and the team left Lyoko. Out in the digital sea, Aelita rotated the skid and continued on. Alex, Yumi, and Odd brought their seats up and relaxed. "Alright," Alex said "Kai, I'm going to say this once, so listen carefully. This is the digital sea, our gateway to the world. We're going to a replica, a carbon copy of a sector in Lyoko. These replicas can only be destroyed by two of us going into the real world from the replica and destroying the supercomputer that the replica is linked to. While Odd and I are doing that, you and Yumi are protecting both Aelita and the skid while Aelita tends to her mission to collect some data about the virtual emulation of my dark side. Nega-Alex. Aelita cannot be devirtualized before you've collected the data, and if the Skid falls under attack, defend it. Do you understand everything I've said?"

Kai said, "We can't let the Skid nor Aelita fall, if we do its game over."

Alex nodded "That's your mission in a nutshell." As he spoke, the digital sea went from blue to red. Alex, Odd and Yumi were suddenly on alert. "Kai, we have to take care of some monsters, you stay with the skid. Aelita, release Yumi, Odd and I. We'll take these monsters out."

In the cockpit, Aelita released three Navskids, leaving Kai's still hooked. Alex looked at his monitor as his navskid drifted away. Alright guys, three Kongres and a Shark. Let's use attack plan 3 and make some quick work of the monsters." Alex's navskid's thruster glowed and he was off, Odd and Yumi followed suit.

In the cockpit, Aelita pulled the skid to a slow pace. "Alright Kai, we just have to wait now."

Kai nodded, "Alright. So can you go into a bit more detail about what the Skid is?" He mentally said to himself, this is so awkward.

Aelita smiled "The Skid is our way of safely navigating the digital seas without being permanently devirtualized, never to return to earth."

Kai said, "Alright. You think the others are ok?"

Jeremy's voice came in "The Kongres are done for. Alex and the others are blasting that shark into oblivion. They'll be back in no time."

Kai thanked him, "Thanks Jeremy." He sighed, "Have I ever been useful?"

Aelita looked down at Kai's navskid. "Alex said you're a good addition to the team. He's never been wrong. Also, consider you've only gone on one mission with us."

Kai blushed, "Thanks Aelita. Be honest do you think I'm weird?"

That got Aelita to shake her head "No, like all of us, you're unique. Everyone has their faults and their high points. That's what makes us a good team." As she finished her sentence, Alex and the other returned and docked. "Too easy Aelita. None of our navskids took any damage, so we'll be good for the return trip back to Lyoko."

Kai asked, "We aren't done yet?"

Alex chuckled "Hell no Kai. We've still got a mission to attend to." With that, Aelita hit the thrusters and piloted the skid into a hub. "Here we go. Rotation and ready for high speed transportation."

The skid dropped into the hub and when they came out the other side, there was the replica. Alex smiled. Odd, let's get ready."

Kai asked Yumi, "I think we should have one person defending the skid while the other is protecting Aelita."

"The tower we link to holds the data Aelita needs. We stand the grounds near it." Yumi explained. Kai nodded. In the lab, Jeremy tapped on his keyboard. "Alright, you guys are clear to enter."

The skid entered the replica and docked to the main tower. Alex and Odd were sent into the real world, Kai, Yumi and Aelita were disembarked from the Skid.

Kai said, "Lets be careful."

In the real world, Alex and Odd looked around their surroundings. "Where are we Alex?" Alex looked around, "Judging by our surroundings, I'd say somewhere in Japan. That's if I'm reading the kanji on that sign right."

"Alright, let's get moving." The two entered the building. Alex looked over his shoulder "Alright J-man, get us the floor plans to this place." Jeremy typed on his keyboard. "I got the floorplans guys. You guys are in the entrance hall, head down the hall to the main atrium and take the hall on the east side of the will be an elevator."

Alex and Odd walked into the hallway. Odd looked at the elevator, there was a creeper sitting there. "So XANA has brought in his trump card. He sent in creepers. Odd, let's take them down."

Odd smirked and took a combat stance "I'm right behind you." Alex drew his rapier and Odd pumped his wrist. "On 3?" Odd asked. Alex smirked "Works for me!" Alex hit 3 and they attacked. Alex thrusted his rapier through the creeper. It exploded and Alex slid back. Odd opened the elevator. "Let's move on." Alex hit the button and the elevator rumbled downward.

Back on the replica, Kai was on high alert making sure there was no monsters around.

He said, "Things are way too quiet. XANA is planning something and it can't be good. He get hit from behind by a laser blast. Kai's suspicions were right. XANA had sent in a pack of kankrelats and a swarm of hornets. No way was XANA going to sit back and let Aelita take the data that easily.

Yumi looked to Kai "I'll take the kankrelats. You exterminate those hornets." In the lab, Jeremy heard Yumi say this and said to himself "This might be the perfect time to let Kai test out his wings." then he spoke into his headset "Alright Kai. Alex and I developed a useful tool for you to utilize. Think you're ready to give it a test run?"

Kai responded, "Yeah and thank you guys."

Jeremy's voice came back "Thank Alex when the mission is over. He changed my mind. Now listen, on your wrist you'll see two halo rings. Touch them. You'll see Alex's little surprise. Speaking of which, I have to get back to helping those two."

Kai smirked, "Right. Lets hope this works and I don't crash and burn." Yumi threw her fans and looked back at Kai, "Work fast Kai, those hornets are coming in hot."

Kai nodded, "Right." He activated his wings and started firing away at the hornets hitting a few of them, but a few shots missed their mark. He sighed, "Aiming and flying at the same time ain't easy."

Yumi demolished the last kankrelat and yelled "I'll help guide your shots with my telekinesis."

Kai asked, "Jeremy how many arrows do I have left? And also thanks Yumi."

Jeremy brought up Kai's readouts "You have 20 arrows left. Yumi's plan is to TK your shots and guide them to their targets.

Kai stated, "Alright time for some teamwork." He took aim at the hornets and fired his arrow. Yumi's reaction time was perfect. Her telekinesis caught the shot, sped it up and ripped two hornets down. One left, the queen hornet, equipped with powerful acid as well as her laser.

Kai cussed in his own language, "MAK! What is that thing?"

Yumi's eyes went wide "That's the queen hornet Kai. Instant devirtualization if that acid touches you." She flicked her wrists, bringing her fans to the ready. "You'll have to fire this one on your own. Trust your instincts and let that arrow fly. If you miss, I'll step in and stop it before it can take you down."

Kai nodded, "Right keep the Skid and Aelita safe." He went higher up into the sky for better maneuvering and making it easier to aim with less danger of getting hit. He fired his arrow and it hit its mark. The queen hornet exploded, leaving Kai and Yumi to tend to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Alex and Odd had reached the first generator. Alex dug a hand in his cloth belt and pulled out a repulse grenade. After securing it down and running a trip line to the other side of the room using an old spool of copper wire. Alex closed the door, pulled the wire and they two moved on.

Jeremy guided them to the second generator, but when Odd and Alex entered the room, it was empty. "Yo Einstein, the room is empty." Jeremy responded "Impossible, it should be right there, unless…" Jeremy switched to a 3-D view of the building, "Bingo! It's in the room below you."

"You mean we have to back to the elevator and go down a floor?" Odd whined.

Alex laughed. "Not today good buddy. I programmed a new power for myself over the weekend, this is a perfect situation for testing it out. Jeremy, you'll need to tell me the angles I need."

Jeremy nodded "Right, take 3 steps to your right, turn 25 degrees, and angle your hands 45 degrees using your feet as a zero point." Alex followed Jeremy's directions and looked to Odd. "I know you've seen Dragon Ball Z Odd, you know you'll need to step back a few steps for what I'm about to do." The purple clad blonde nodded, stepped back into the hall and watched as Alex took a familiar stance.

Alex took a breath "Here goes nothing." His eyes narrowed "Ka-me… Ha-me…" a silver energy orb engulfed his hands as he thrust forward, letting out the final part of the attack cry "HAAAAAAAA!" The blast shook the lab, Jeremy's voice came back "Good job guys! The supercomputer supporting the replica went systems critical. I'm bringing you back to the skid!"

Alex and Odd were teleported out and brought back to their navskids. Sound asleep. Yumi ran and got back on board.

Kai asked, "Aelita are you all set?" Aelita stepped out of the tower "I got all the data we should need. Let's get back to Lyoko" She boarded the skid and waited as Kai was brought into his navskid. As soon as everyone was set, she disconnected the skid from the tower and took off. They made it out of the replica and were barely out of the danger zone when it exploded.

In his navskid, Alex came to again. "Mission accomplished?" Aelita smiled "Mission accomplished Alex." That was met with a sigh of relief and "Wake me up when we get back to Lyoko." Aelita gave the skid some more power to the thrusters, getting the group back to Lyoko in 20 minutes flat. As the skid docked, Alex and Odd woke up.

"I cannot wait to get back to school. I've got a video project for tech class to work on. The theme is horror movies and I'm using Kadic to make an epic zombie movie." Alex said as they disembarked. "I'm gonna finish the script and get some student actors." Yumi looked over at him "That sounds fun Alex, remember we have band practice tonight at 7." This was met with Alex's response "I'll be there Yumi, I've never been late to a rehearsal, not going to start now."

Jeremy materialized everyone and when they were all back in the lab he said "Congrats on making that data grab and weakening XANA once again guys. You guys are free to go until I need you again, see you back at school."

The group got into the elevator and Alex hit the up button, the elevator lurched and began ascending to the ground floor.

Kai looked to the others before he said, "You guys are lucky. I have to go shopping with my sisters for the rest of the day."

Odd looked at him "If you need some friends to tag along so it's less awkward, take William so you have another guy to chat with." William leaned against the wall of the elevator "I'll do it man."

Kai smirked, "I hope you're ready to sweat then. My sister gives new meaning to the saying shop till you drop."

William came back with "There is no girl in this world that William Dunbar can't keep up with. Trust me on that one Kai. Plus, like Alex, I don't really sweat all that much. It takes a full tournament in basketball to get me to perspire, a shopping trip is nothing."

The elevator door opened and Alex stepped out, walking over to his car he said "I can carry one other person back to the school with me. Who wants to ride in lean, mean, pure American muscle?" Odd gave no one a chance to respond. He ran over to Alex's car and got in the passenger seat.

Alex got in and started his car. The blue dodge viper rolled up the service ramp, across the bridge and onto the empty street before the engine let out a fierce sounding rev, there was the sound of squealing tires, a cloud of white tire smoke and Alex's Viper was gone.

Later that night, the Pop Rock Progressives had just finished rehearsal. Alex put away his bass, Nicholas covered his drums, Ulrich threw the cover over his keyboard, Odd was putting his guitar back in it's case, and Yumi was putting away the wireless mics when William came in followed by Kai and his sister.

William cursed under his breath, "I was kinda hoping we could make it back to hear you guys perform." Alex smiled "Nicholas, Odd, we still need to get some more practice on Canto 34. Let's get to it." Odd pulled his guitar back out and hooked it back up "Whatever you say good buddy." Nicholas shrugged "At least it's a good one. Alright." Nicholas pulled the covers off his drums and sat down. Alex strapped on his bass. "Alright William, you wanted to hear us play, you got it." Nicholas counted them off and Odd's guitar came in.

The blonde played his opening well, the opening chord reverberated through the auditorium, Nicholas and Alex soon joined him and they were off. Alex and Odd hard shredding through the chords, Nicholas keeping his beat going. By the time they finished the song, Yumi's jaw had dropped "How long have you guys been working on that?" As they put their instruments away, Odd responded "How ever many times we have practiced. We'd spend an hour after rehearsal working on it."

Alex looked over to William and Kai "What did you guys think?" William gave him a thumbs up. "Good job bro. You guys rocked that." Alex smirked "How about you Kai? What did you think?"

Kai was about to say something but Lily stopped him, "YOU WERE AMAZING!" They were shocked, Kai was right. She looked like an older female version of himself. Alex slung his gig onto his back "Thanks, it's nice to know that the Pop Rock Progressives have a new fan." Odd walked over and whispered in Alex's ear "Alex, I think I'm seeing double." Alex laughed "You're not seeing double Odd. Kai told me his sister and him had similar appearances. He was right."

Kai sighed, "Similar? Everyone I meet says I'm a genderbent version of Lily when she was my age."

Lily giggled, "Its true though little bro." She showed them a picture of her when she was Kai's age. Alex looked at it "Yep, it's confirmed. Kai was right. Who want's to go to Kanniel's? Root beer on me?" The members of team Lyoko's hands shot up, all except for Kai. "Alright, Odd give me your guitar, I'll go put it in the storage room. Be back in a minute." He took Odd's guitar off his hands and walked off. William, Yumi and Ulrich looked to Odd, See you at the gate Odd." They left the gym.

Kai apologized, "Sorry guys I'm too tired from the shopping trip to go." Odd put his hand on Kai's shoulder "There's always next time man. I'll catch you later." Alex returned and he and Odd walked off. They met the others at the gates and proceeded on to their favorite under 21 nightclub.

Around 11:30, Alex, Odd, Ulrich and William returned to the school. "I can't believe it Alex, that's the second time you've been challenged to a rap battle in that club. And both times you schooled the guy who challenged you." William chuckled "Yeah man, you left him speechless, nice job." Alex held his hands up "What can I say? It's a gift." The guys laughed before parting ways at their dorms.

Odd kicked off his shoes, let Kiwi out of his drawer for a bit and sat on his bed. Ulrich had gone to take a shower, and for now Odd had the room to himself. Kiwi jumped onto Odd's bed and shoved his nose under Odd's pillow. When he brought his head back out he had a note in his mouth. Odd stared at his dog "Whatcha got boy?" He took the note away from his pet and read it. "Oh, I see. Alright then." He shoved the note into his pillowcase, put Kiwi away and jumped into bed.

A/N:

Ulrich-Stern3277: Hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long to get up. Work and School have been keeping me from writing. The only chances I currently have are friday nights and weekends. My schedule should clear up a little now and I promise that the next chapter will be up faster. Thanks for being patient with us while we get this done, I'm really enjoying doing this, and if you want to work on a co-op fanfic with me, message me about it and we'll discuss from there. Thanks, live long and prosper.

Icypika: Sup guys Icy here. I have to agree with Stern this has been a lot of fun to write. I always enjoy writing with others. BTW what could Odd be planning? Wait till next time to find out. Enjoy life people and live it to its fullest. Signing off.