Jeremy took a quick glance over the information on his monitor in an attempt to discover what the Warriors had sitting in front of them.

Jeremy adjusted his headset and spoke trough it, his voice booming throughout the replika. "Guys, I think it's a massive simulation bubble."

"A simulation bubble? The last time one of those appeared..." Aelita said, not needing to finish her sentence for the others to understand. "No... This time it's different. This time it's real."

Aelita pushed the Skid forward, the Skid now in its totally vertical state. She piloted it around the massive bubble, it's size unmatched by any previously seen simulation bubble.

As they passed the bubble, a tower appeared in the distance.

"Jeremy, prepare to activate that tower, we're about to dock." Aelita said, prepared to find answers, and her father.

"Already on it." Jeremy replied, finishing his work on the towers activation.

As the Skid neared the tower, it's small halo of clouds turned from their blank, empty white to an opening and victorious green, signaling that Jeremy had successfully taken control of the tower. Aelita moved the Skid into position, docking it successfully at the tower, energy transferring from the tower to the ship itself.

"Okay, let's energize out." Ulrich said.

At that moment, the Warriors had the same process executed that allowed them access to the Skid, their bodies broken down and transferred outside the Skid and onto the neutral colored ground. In their astonishment with the bubble, they had overlooked the lack of detail in the sector.

"Jeremy, what sector is this a replika of?" Yumi asked, standing between Aelita and Odd.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. It looks like a crude model of the Ice Sector, but there aren't very many distinct characteristics outside some basic code similarities." Jeremy said, continuing to look over the replika's properties. "Whoever made this replika was obviously in a pretty big rush. There are holes in the code in random places and a lot of issues, such as no coordinate grid to allow virtualization, the entire thing basically being a square slab like a platform, and not to mention..."

"Jeremy, just tell us what to do from here, we don't need the whole nine yards." Odd said, happy to finally have escaped the prison of the Skid. In freedom, he preformed many backflips and stretched just as they exited the ship.

"Okay, just hold on. I'll send your vehicles, I just need to analyze the layout of the area to determine if and where I can virtualize your rides."

Jeremy saw this as a simple task, locate the crude spawn points which should come default in every replika, no matter how simple, and send the vehicles there. He was taken off guard when he attempted to virtualize them, and the virtualization failed.

"Umm... It looks like you guys will be without your vehicles this time. There are too many issues trying to send them over, I'll have to look into it later." Jeremy said.

"Looks like we'll be going on foot then." William said, starting his run for the bubble.

"Last one there smells like Kiwi!" Yumi said, beginning to run as well.

The entire gang broke out into a sprint, a race in which the stakes were low, but even in their stressful and responsible lives, they are at their core, still kids.

"Hey Odd!" Ulrich yelled, running up beside him.

"Yeah?" Odd responded, the two boys keeping an even pace at the front of the group.

"How much you wanna bet I'll beat you?" Ulrich replied, taking a small lead.

Odd ran up ahead slightly, a grin growing on his face. "I beat you breakfast tomorrow that I'll win." Odd said in full confidence.

"Okay, then a bet it is." Ulrich said. "I just hope you like gym on an empty stomach, because you are about to lose."

"What makes you say th..." Odd was cut off by a dashing yellow and black line, Ulrich using his supersprint ability to gain an immense lead.

"Hey, no fair!" Odd yelled out as Ulrich reached the outside of the bubble, the others now only seconds behind.

As the rest of the gang joined Ulrich at the exterior of the simulation bubble, Jeremy's voice rang throughout the replika. "Guys, when you go in there, be very carful. I've noticed a large amount of energy being emitted from the bubble, anywhere from twice as much as I would normally see to spikes of insane amounts that I have only seen in the Kolossus."

"Got it Jeremy, we'll keep an eye out for anything dangerous." Aelita said, stepping closer to the bubble.

The others joined her in getting closer to the bubble. Aelita had a lingering thought in her mind, a memory of the last time she entered a simulation bubble: X.A.N.A. made a fake version of her father, and although the losses almost suffered that day on Lyoko could have been bad as a result, the worst thing from that was the lasting scar in her heart. She had a chance to be with her father again, to see him in person, feel his embrace, to feel loved by him, but all that was taken from her by X.A.N.A.

'...But this time... This is different... It has to be...' She thought, sticking her hand through the bubble. Then her arm, her side, then her whole body was inside.

Her eyes were met with a bright sun floating gracefully in the center of the sky, clouds surrounding it, only emphasizing it's presence. A brisk wind was blowing, but the air wasn't cold, just, empty. She turned her head to see something she would have never guessed to see here, she took a step closer and whipped her eyes to make sure she was actually seeing what faced her in the distance.

The others walked through as a group, all standing slightly behind Aelita.

William shot up, his reaction the same as all of the others.

"Is that...?" He questioned, not able to finish his sentence before he was cut off by Aelita.

"Yes, it's the factory..." She said, her mind's only response was to move another step closer.

"Well... I guess we should go look inside." Odd said, waiting for another member of the group to start for the familiar building.

"Well, let's get started." Aelita said, beginning to walk towards the building, the others following closely behind her.

Somehow, in the time it took them to begin walking, the sun had fallen to the far side of the sky, near sunset. The orange glow in the background was so real to the eye, all the same colors were present, the same shades were painted across the sky as though a master artist had taken the sky as his canvas, and to anyone who were to just glance at it, it was a real sunset. But, even through all efforts to make it seem real, there was just a feeling you would get when you look at it, a feeling that just didn't settle with you, made you question it, contradict it. It was this feeling Aelita had upon nearing the entrance of the building, the last thought passing through her mind before they entered showed this so well:

'Even if something looks real, is made to appear real, is even accepted by your mind as real, only the heart can truly tell what is real and what is fake...'

'Only the heart...'

So, this episode has soooooo much I want to do with it, meaning you guys get a little bonus chapter in two days! This may end up being a 6 chapter episode, but I'm hoping to just write a long chapter for the next one to avoid having to drag something out if that is what I would otherwise have to do. I hope you enjoy and review! Posting schedule should stay regular into the foreseeable future, but make sure to always check the description for updated dates!