"Okay…our systems are all linked up with Lyoko. We'll hit the sectors in a series, starting with the Ice Sector." Jeremie said.

"I wanted to go back to Lyoko at some point, but… I didn't think it would be for a gauntlet like this, of all things." Sachiko said.

"Life can take many an unexpected turn, Sachiko." SE said. "You can't really guess what will happen next. Especially not with us."

"We don't even know if this LOKI thing will even honor his word. He seems…unstable." Sunset said.

"That's why we're prepping something. The return of the multi agent program." Twilight said.

"That thing we used to wipe out XANA?" Pit asked.

"Yes. However, it's gonna take time before we can deploy it. Plus it seems LOKI's little take over of Lyoko has given him an incredible defense. We can't do anything until his influence over the sectors has been weakened." Jeremie said.

"So we gotta take back the sectors to weaken his defenses, then lay him out with the multi-agent." Mark summarized. "Easy enough."

"Provided we avoid getting devirtualized for good." Yumi said.

"Then don't get hit." Akira said. "We've spent enough time talking. Let's go."

"Alright. Locking on the Ice Sector." Franky said as the Digimon Storage door glowed bright before it opened into a large portal.

"Well, here we go." Sachiko said.

All together, the combined group entered into Lyoko for the first time in technically a few years.

They were all soon inside the Ice Sector as everyone had on their Lyoko outfits.

"Whoa… Snazzy." Miu said, looking over her outfit.

"Man, these costumes are my favorite part about this place." Mark said.

"Huh, did not expect all of you to get a wardrobe change when entering Lyoko." Geiz remarked before looking at himself and his team. "No changes for me and the others though."

"Maybe we're unique or something?" Lola assumed.

"Hmm… snow." Bronya observed the weather before taking out her Zikan Phone. "Good thing the Bronya came prepared." She then used the phone to change her battlesuit into her Snowy Sniper attire, consisting of indigo and white ribbons on her hair, a blue and white jacket with an orange shirt inside, black shorts, and gray and yellow prosthesis legs. "Much better."

"Heh, way to think ahead, Bronya." Copen smirked.

"Uh, glad you're all enjoying fashion week, but I gotta ask: is that normal?" Akira pointed ahead of them.

The reasoning behind this question was clear: beyond a few dots of land, the entire Ice Sector was covered by a massive, billowing blizzard.

"There shouldn't be any kind of weather here." Aelita said.

"LOKI did say he was tampering with the system." Jeremie said from the Galaxy King. "He's likely turning Lyoko into…"

"A Virtual Norse Kingdom." Aelita said.

"So that would make where we are…Niflheim." Korekiyo said.

"We can't just stay out here. We need to get to the tower and deactivate it." Aelita said.

"Business as usual, right?" Bow asked. "Except this time we have to deactivate towers in all the sectors."

"We've only done it a few times before, but it's still manageable." Miu said.

"You sure you're gonna be okay, Miu? This will be your first time in the field." Sachiko said.

"I'm not worried. At least this way, I'll see what it's like fighting monsters up-close." Miu said.

"Except…it's not monsters we're facing." Asta said as more Y2Ks appeared before them.

"EXTERMINATE ORGANICS. PROTECT CORE OF FIMBULVETR." the viruses spoke before engaging the group.

"You know, I suddenly miss the old monsters. Least they didn't talk like robots." Odd said firing a few arrows into some of the Y2Ks and taking them down.

"And they were at least expressive to a degree." Sachiko said as she charged at a squad of them with her blades.

"Ha! These things are way too easy? You got any…" Bakugo called out as he exploded one before up in the sky appeared what looked like women in white with golden armor and wings.

"Are those…angels?" Pit asked.

"No…valkyries…" Leonora said.

"TELEPORTING SUPPORT UNITS." the valkyrie-like virus said, sending down beams of light that brought in more Y2Ks. "ENHANCING COMBAT CAPABILITIES."

The Y2Ks were surrounded by auras of red light. Meanwhile, the winged virus summoned a lance as it pointed at the heroes and let out a mechanical war cry as several other valkyries appeared.

Virus Type: Mydooms

"Pretty neat trick there. Let's see if I can match it." Leonora said as she summoned her own Einherjar.

"At your service, Leonora. I suppose you want us to cut down that digital valkyrie?" Oscar asked.

"Yes. But what say we whittle down some of her numbers first. Less backup to deal with later." Leonora said.

"My lady, it would be best to take out the winged warriors before the lesser ones. They'll likely keep summoning no matter how many of the normal ones we bring down." Fernand said.

"Fernand makes a good point. We should take out the summoners first so that we can pick off the stragglers afterward." Lu Xun said.

"You both make good points. Very well. We will proceed with your strategy." Leonora said. "Let's get to it, everyone!"

"Already on it!" Narancia said as he was already shooting down the Mydooms using Aerosmith.

One of the Mydooms pointed their lance at the airplane, the tip glowing before a beam of light shot out of it.

"Whoa!" Narancia shouted as he barely got his Stand out of the way of the blast. "Oh you're asking for it now!" he said as the plane flew over the Mydoom before dropping a bomb right on it, destroying it.

"Whoa. Such strength. Leonora and her crew don't mess around." Law said.

"I can honestly get why Dubstep wanted to throw down with her." Akira said. "She's got Stand Users as Einherjar. That saying that Stand Users attract each other really does hold true."

"It's not just Stand Users too. She's been cropping up Einherjar from many different reaches." Mayumi said. "She's practically got an army of her own in there."

"Perhaps someday… We will see for ourselves just how powerful her force truly is." David said in pondering.

"But at least we'll be able to learn more about our enemies and use their knowledge against them." Laura stated.

"Indeed. Though we need to find the tower and maybe get out of this blizzard." Brook said cutting down a few.

"Blizzard…that's it…we need to go in deeper." Aelita said as some of them marched past the viruses and deeper into the blizzard.

"We'll keep these things busy. You guys go on ahead." Leonora said.

"Are you sure about this, Leonora?" Theresa asked.

"Positive. We're gonna show this construct how a real Valkyrie and her Einherjar fight!" Leonora said.

"Very well. Stay safe, valkyrie!" Theresa replied before the teams went after Aelita.

The rest of the group trekked through the sharp winds and blinding snow of the blizzard. Thankfully, the digital nature of the world meant that temperature wasn't a factor. The same, however, couldn't be said for visibility and feeling the winds.

"What's the big idea?" Eddy asked.

"They said to protect the core. The blizzard…it's not normal. It's one massive virus." Aelita said.

"To be accurate, it's a mass collection of viruses." Double D said. "Rather haphazardly thrown together, I might add. Something like this could cause massive security breaches if it escaped Lyoko."

"Good thing it's staying put then." Kuroshiki said. "Could do without the blinding snow, though…"

"That's why we're going deeper…cause where it's the deepest…that's where the core is. And more than likely…the tower." Aelita said.

"Lola, are we close to the tower?" Copen asked.

"Just a sec…" Lola replied as Copen's Relic Pendant flickered for a moment. "Got it. Just keep heading north, guys. We should be really close. But expect some resistance up ahead."

"Yeah, I can tell there's something in this blizzard." David said.

"Hey…I see it." Wendy said as they got closer and closer before seeing a figure made of ice.

"What the? Yamza?" David said.

"So…you all think you can intrude on Lord Clayman's territory? Sorry, but you're going to die here." the figure of ice said.

"What's he talking about? Clayman is dead." Leopardmon said.

"Yeah, but this one is just a projection. He's likely based on the memories of the real one." David said.

"This must be a protection program, a sort of living firewall. Meaning we're getting close." Aelita said.

"Okay…you had your chance. Ha!" Yamza said as he duplicated himself into another ice copy, each of them pulling out a sword made out of ice.

Cryo Copy #1

Yamza Polymorphic Specter

(Battle Music: Vs. Shut Up, Faker!- Sonic Adventure 2)

"And they each have that damn sword I got off of him. No problem. We can handle someone like him." David said.

"You wanna take this one, David? Y'know, since you beat Yamza so badly before." Catra said.

"Yeah… That would really piss him off." David said with a grin as he drew Soul Calibur Replica.

"Have fun, then." Geiz smirked.

The two copies each swung their swords, creating two ice slashes that sailed towards David.

"Still trying to copy my style? You never change, do you?" David said as he unleashed some ice slashes of his own.

The slashes hit one another, David's attack proving superior as they broke through Yamza's attacks before hitting the Middle Finger, knocking them back.

"Now the true battle begins!" David said as he charged at Yamza, slashing at him several times at a rapid rate. "Take this!" he said as he fired an icy blast from the blade.

Yamza managed to teleport out of the way of the blast, (his left behind copy shattering under the ice wave) reappearing behind David as he prepared to strike…only for the younger boy to spin around and stab him with his sword.

"Gah…Lord Clayman…I wasn't good enough…" Yamza muttered as he shattered into ice.

(Song End)

"Phew… That went better than I thought it would." David said.

"Don't get careless, Dave. You're not quite done yet." Sachiko said.

"She's right. A system like this wouldn't have just one protection protocol." Aelita said as the ice started to rise and form again into another familiar face.

"Wait…that's…the guy. That ice mage from Alvarez!" Gray realized. "Invel!"

"So…you come to disturb his majesty. It matters not. Your paltry chill is naught to my winter." the Invel copy spoke.

"Invel Yura… I'm unable to forget his face, even if I want to." David said.

"What's LOKI'S game here? Is he trying to throw us off by sending out copies of people we've beaten before?" Zephyr asked.

"Consider that we are in the Ice Sector in the middle of a huge blizzard. My guess is he's sending in projections of well-known and dangerous ice masters." Leopardmon said.

"At least we're not going to encounter any ice monsters from Teyvat here. That would really suck." Lingyin said. "Especially the giant living Cyro flower."

"Huh…Teyvat sounds like a fun place." Mark said.

"Just be careful of the Fatui." Lingyin replied before frowning. "I can never forgive those bastards for what they did in Liyue Harbor."

"And I can never forget Invel's face. Even from all the way back in Glenbrook." David said. "It was to him that I had suffered my very first crushing defeat. I can never forget that sting."

"Time for round three then?" Emo asked.

"Yes. It is time I finally put these scars to rest." David said. "Heh. Funny. Back then, I was just starting out on my journey. I was such a rookie it was almost embarrassing."

"It's okay, David. The fact that you're here now proves how much stronger you've gotten since you first fought." Sectonia said.

"Yeah. Cheetah, Jexi, heck even Cooler. If not for all of them pushing me to my limits, I wouldn't have the skills that I do now." David said.

"Yeah, that's…wait, what was that last one?" Mark asked, he and the Z-Warrior caught off guard.

"I'll explain later. For now, we've got some business to take care of." David said.

"That's true. You want Invel too, David?" Hope asked.

"In a sense, yes. It is time I show him I'm not that same weak child anymore." David said. "You guys with me?"

"Always, until the end, dude." Mark smirked. "Go kick his ass!"

"What he said!" Lola also cheered.

"Enough of your chatter. Now, freeze in this." Invel said as his own ice spread towards them.

Cryo Copy #2

Invel Yura Polymorphic Specter

(Battle Theme: When Determination Strikes- Tales of Vesperia)

"Invel Yura… Today, on this day, I will finally be rid of the scars you have caused me!" David said as he prepared his blade. "Here I come! Blizzard!" he said as he blew a gust of icy wind at Invel.

"A pathetic attempt." the Invel clone said as he held a hand out, freezing the gust. "Have you forgotten? I control pure Ice Magic. Your pitiful ice is useless against me."

"Have YOU forgotten? You're not exactly top dog anymore." David said. "It doesn't matter what you say. You won't break me, ever! Freeze Lancer!" he said as he fired ice crystals from magic circles.

"Your efforts are…" the Invel copy started before he felt something different about the ice. "No…that ice is…."

The ice mage narrowly jumped out of the way of the attack, though he did try to freeze it; no effect, confirming his suspicions.

"Impossible…you've copied my magic? How?!" the copy demanded.

"Finally starting to figure it out? Sure, your magic is top-tier amongst humans… But lest you forget, I'm not exactly human." David said..

"(His training with Sayuri…)" Mark thought.

"As if that actually mattered. True Ice Magic: True Ice Kamui." Invel said as he summoned the ice armor around his body.

"You think that armor is gonna do a thing now? Sorry to disappoint you, but like I said, I'm not the same as I was back then." David said. "Arctic Style: Crystal Blitz!" he said as he came at Invel with rapid icy kicks. The kicks hit the armor with massive force, cracking and eventually breaking through the armor.

"I will not allow you to reach the Emperor. Ice Slave." Invel declared, as an ice collar appeared around David's neck…

…only for the ice mage to blanche as the boy grabbed the collar and shattered it. "What?!"

"Sorry, but your tricks won't work on me anymore. It's over." David said as he dealt an X-Slash at Invel before firing an icy blast at him.

"Foolish…child…" Invel spoke before shattering and fading.

(Song End)

"I may be foolish… But at least I'm the one still standing." David said as he felt something pick up. "Get ready, everyone. It's not over yet."

Just then, the tower turned green as some text appeared on the door.

-Why don't you all come in from the cold? It'd be rude of me to just leave you all out there?

"The tower…but there shouldn't even been that much room inside." Aelita said.

-I did some redecorating. I think you'll appreciate what I've done with the place.

"Don't fall for it. This is a trap." David said.

"Yeah…but something tells me it's a trap we have to walk into." Kuroshiki said.

"You can't be serious…" David said.

"Well, we need to go inside anyway, right?" Mark pointed out. "Besides, since when has a trap actually worked on us?"

"Quite a few times, actually." Sectonia pointed out.

"Then we'll just have to smash that trap as always." Houki deduced.

"Aren't you listening? If we destroy the tower, we can't get rid of this blizzard." David said.

"Oh… right." Houki noted. "If only there's some way to hack the controls…"

"Leave that to me." Sachiko said. "I've been picking up on it quite a bit since getting Skeith back. If there's any traps, I can spot them, no problem."

"Alright, we'll leave that part to you, Sachiko." Houki nodded.

With their plan in place, the group steeled their resolve and entered the tower…

The group had expected the usual empty, tall structure going in. What they saw definitely wasn't that; it looked more like a large open room, as big as a field. Above them was the usual platform where the code was entered, but without the normal way of reaching it. It stuck out for another reason, however; it was the only thing in the room not to be made of ice.

"Redecorating, my foot. LOKI's practically flipped the tower!" ZS said.

"This is not natural. If LOKI continues making changes like this, Lyoko could be beyond repair." Aelita said.

"Alright, where's the core of the storm?" Akira wondered aloud.

"Right….here." a voice said before jumping down was an ice copy of a woman in a military outfit.

"Wait…that…that's Esdeath!" Hope said.

"Oh god, not you! The girl who defeated Gray Fullbuster during the Death Battle!" Geiz exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" Gray asked. "I don't remember that…"

"Simulated fight." Scarlet answered.

"Well…not quite." the copy spoke. "I am Fimbelvitr, designated overseer program of Niflheim."

"Guess someone decided to try and face us themselves." Weiss said.

"We need to get past her to get to the tower." Aelita said.

"Your efforts will be unsuccessful." Fimbelvitr spoke. "From data collection on the subject this vessel is based on, your fight with the subject ended in her surrender, not her defeat. Based on calculations, you are incapable of overcoming the power of this vessel. Your termination is all but guaranteed."

(Cue Boss music: Lost Ice Storms- Brandon Yates)

Hope sighed. "If we had a dime for every time somebody said something like that. Sorry. But we're not backing down no matter what you say, even if you're some digital copy of the real Esdeath."

"In other words, bring it on, Digital Fake Esdeath!" Frosta declared.

"We're gonna make snow cones outta ya!" Eddy taunted.

The fake Esdeath merely drew her blade. "You shall freeze and be lost to the final winter of this world. Now…make peace with death, for you will not receive it as such."

The Great Winter

Fimbulvetr

"Now…Weissschnabel!" the fake called out as she created numerous icicles and fired them off.

"Ice Make: Wall!" Gray said creating a large wall of ice as it took all the icicles easy. "Guys…you mind if you leave this one to me?"

"Go for it, Gray." David said.

"Don't worry. I'm not sure what simulation those guys meant…but let me show you how it'd really go!" Gray said, tossing off his jacket and shirt.

"Then prove it, Fairy Tail wizard! This is your chance for redemption and win!" Geiz replied.

"Why are you taking off your shirt?!" Cecilia gawked as the IS team covered their eyes… except for Laura for some reason.

"Don't mind it. It's a thing he does." David said.

"Try this! Hagelsprung!" Esdeath said forming a pillar of ice before hurling it right at Gray.

"Ice Make: Cannon!" Gray said creating multiple cannons as they fired at the pillar as it broke apart into pieces while some of the debris still managed to cause some damage to Gray and Esdeath. "What happened to being some great winter? You're lucky enough to be considered a mild frost."

"You dare to call me, a mild frost? You fool! Esdeath was…" the copy said.

"Forced into a surrender. And yeah…you're right. She probably could have chosen to kill everyone then and there. But she didn't. Cause let's be honest…she was a lot more powerful than a fake like you could ever be." Gray said.

"Fine. Let's do this! Her trump card! Mahapadma!" she called out. But to her surprise, nothing happened. "What? But…"

"That move freezes time and space. Your data is only able to work with what it recorded…such an effect can't be recorded unfortunately." Francisca said.

"So what if I'm not a complete copy!" Fake Esdeath spoke. "I'm still strong enough to freeze all of you solid!" she called out as she created numerous icicles to pierce through everyone there.

"Okay…then let's go and wrap this up then." Gray said as his body was being overtaken by his mark as numerous blades of ice started to be formed around him.

Esdeath fired the icicles right at the group as Gray jumped and started knocking them all down with the created ice swords before moving right at her. "Fallen Ice…" he said as the swords fired themselves right into the copy, piercing through in multiple parts. "Hundred Demons Dance!"

"No…impossible! LOKI saw the simulation himself! There was no way I could lose!"

"You lost cause you bet on recordings and simulations. Those things…they don't hold up to real life." Gray said.

"My final mistake then… was to face you, it seems…." Fimbulventer said as she devirtualized, the tower returning to its normal form.

(End song)

"Excellent work, Gray." Aelita said going up to the terminal and accessing it before entering the code.

"Heh, looks like you won the rematch. Nicely done." Geiz gave a thumbs up.

As it happens, a pulse spread across the Ice Sector as the viruses created vanished and the blizzard subsided.

"I guess that means they did it. They managed to deactivate the tower." Leonora said.

"We should reconvene with the others before we plan our next move." Yu Jin said.

"Good idea." Leonora said as she called her Einherjar back before entering the tower.

"So did we purge LOKI?" ZS asked.

"Not quite. You've only purged his influence over the Ice Sector. He's still getting power from everywhere else. But it does look like his power weakened when you deactivated the tower." Jeremie said.

At that moment, LOKI's message board popped up.

-Wha-?! How are you guys not ice pops by now?! That setup was perfect!

"Sorry, but compared to the real Esdeath, yours fell a bit too short." Hope said.

"Plus, your trap was so obvious." Sachiko said.

-...Yeah. I guess it was. Don't worry, the others will be more fun, I promise. Speaking of which:

"The Great Winter has subsided, and Niflhiem has grown silent. But now, the beasts of Ragnarok have arisen. Behold! In the Realm of Light, the Serpent battles it's victim's legacy."

-That sounds important, huh? You might wanna go check up on that. Oh, and dress for the heat. Have fun!

The message board then disappeared.

"Well, it's gonna be a barrel of laughs." Miu said.

"Dress for the heat… I think it means we need to go to the Desert Sector." David said.

"But, it's a digital desert. I don't think it's actually hot over there… is it?" Frosta asked. "I've never been in Lyoko, so I don't really know."

"Uh, you kind of did." David said. "And normally it wouldn't be."

"But there's no telling what LOKI's done to tamper with that sector." Miu pointed out.

"By the way, there's something I think someone here owes an explanation for." Vegeta said.

"Ah, right. I did say I would, did I? I never really had a chance to until now." David said. "I guess I should start from the beginning, right?"

"Talk fast." Vegeta said with a glare. "Explain to us why you're including the brother of the one who nearly destroyed my race as an ally of yours."

"Vegeta, give him a chance to explain." Goku said.

"It's okay, Goku. I can understand why he's upset." David said. "A few days after the Perfect Link Tournament, I was knocked out by a guy named Fu and taken to his Prison Planet along with a future version of Trunks. After we woke up, our first priority was to escape. And well… That's when we ran into him and his Armored Squadron. Well, versions of them anyway. Fu was taking in individuals from many different timelines and dimensions, so I wasn't completely sure of the whole scope."

"And long story short, you, Cooler and his team had to work together to get out of there, which eventually led to Cooler taking up residence in your city?" Vegeta asked, with a scowl. "Hmm…I'll admit, considering alternate realities, perhaps the Cooler you met is different from the one I know."

"Well, if that's the case, then-" Krillin started.

"However…it may also be true that he's simply taking advantage of the situation he's found himself in." Vegeta said. "Cooler is as sadistic as Frieza, but he's more subtle in his dealings. More likely to use manipulation to achieve his ends than overwhelming brute force."

"Well, it does help that he has achieved a Golden form like Frieza. It really helped against Fu's glorified pitbull, Cumber. Cumber has the ability to warp and corrupt the minds of anyone that gets too close to him." David said.

"And that's what I'm saying! Cooler may simply be biding his time, growing stronger until he sees a chance to betray you." Vegeta said. "To trust him is risky. I doubt I can convince you to nip whatever plans he has in the bud…but I can tell you to keep a close eye on him, and keep him on a tight leash."

"I doubt he would have made a deal with Cooler if he wasn't aware of this." Piccolo said. "David isn't naive. He knows the risks."

"Piccolo is right. Cooler said so himself. We are simply using each other as convenience for the time being. Not to mention, going up against his Golden Form has helped me get stronger and faster, as you all probably saw before, along with getting a handle on my Armament Complete form. However, I haven't completely stabilized it yet." David said.

Vegeta was silent for a moment, thinking over the boy's words before he spoke. "If he so much as swings his tail out of line in my presence…not even atoms will remain when I'm done with him. Until then…I can tolerate you training with him." the Saiyan promised.

"I know you feel pissed about this but it's fine. Besides, we can always take him out if he is trying to pull a fast one." Jexi said.

"Yeah. Don't worry. Besides, he and his Armored Squadron aren't the first bad guys the boss has taken under his wing." David said.

"Ah, right. Meruem. How is he doing, by the way?" Miles asked.

"Hard to say, I haven't talked with him much." David said.

"You should really be careful around these villains you keep recruiting. Not all of them are exactly pure." Miles said.

"Well, it's worked out for the most part so far, so I don't think any of us have any room to complain." Scott said.

"Besides, I'm not worried. Jump Force aren't a bunch of slouches. If they start getting testy, we'll keep them under control." David said.

"Good luck with that." Akira said. "Being friends with sociopaths is nowhere near as easy as it looks."

"Eh, I've had experience with that already." David said.

"It helps that he has this charm around him." Jesse said.

"Not to mention that he's not exactly the first one we've had to deal with." Kokoro said.

"Plus, word around the agency is that Cooler actually shows respect and cordience to his men. People say that between him and Frieza, people would prefer him." Mayumi said.

"You sound like you're speaking from personal experience there, demon guy." Eddy said.

"...Let's just get moving." Akira said with a tone of finality.

"Right. Next stop, the Desert Sector." David said.