Everyone was preparing for the inevitable as Jeremie told them he had prepared a multi-agent program.
"Guys, I've almost completed it. My XANA killer program. If I'm right, not only will this destroy the replicas, but it will finally kill XANA once and for all." Jeremie said.
"You guys will still be on Jexi's team, right?" Lacy asked.
"They didn't join till after XANA died, which was before our first adventure together." Dan whispered.
"After XANA gets killed, thats when the past Flux will hit Kadic with that beam and send them to the Realm of Exploration, meaning this time line will be permanently fixed." Naoto said.
"Yeah." Hope said.
Just then a letter came to him from Delibird.
"Letter from a Mr… Chrono." Delibird said.
"Chrono. What does he want?" Hope asked as he took the letter. "Hope, a word of warning from the future, when reaching the factory, at the entrance...more five paces to the right?"
He considered this warning, and as they came to the factory at the entrance.
"Now!" Hope said moving to the right as a rift opened where he previously stood as Joseph fell through it with Stroheim. "Joseph! Stroheim!"
"Hope? What in the world is going on?" Joseph said.
"A time rift. So it was a warning. That would have ended badly for me." Hope said.
"Its about to get a lot worse." Stroheim said as stepping through the rift was a familiar pillar man now with long flowing hair and able to withstand the sunlight that shined.
"Kars? Oh no, dont tell me…!" Aelita said.
"He's completed the mask. The man is now like a god on earth." Joseph said.
"Hmm." Kars said before spotting Hope. 'Ah. I remember you. Well, I suppose I should finish you off. Would be a fitting tribute to Wamuu and Esidisi."
"I dont care if you are a god, were kicking your ass!" Luffy saud.
"Hah! Even with hundreds of men, no Hamon can touch me now. Because...it now is mine." Kars said as Hamon was radiating from his very hands.
"He can use Hamon now?" Hope said in shock.
"The man is full of surprises. He turned his hand into a squirrel and had it kill several of my man. He's not only a god, he's an actual immortal monster." Stroheim said.
"I prefer the term...Ultimate Life Form!" Kars said delivering an overcharge of Hamon on Hope, causing lots of damage.
"Argh… thats shadow's line, ya dork." Hope said.
Luffy leaped up to Kars with Gear 2nd on and pulled a hardened fist back, it catch in on fire.
"Hah. You have no chance what could you possibly…?" Kars said.
"Gum Gum…!" Luffy said hitting him with the flaming fist. "Red Hawk!"
"Grrr. So this is how it feels to be in pain." Kars said holding his stomach. "But...that pain no longer lasts long." he said showing the wound had already healed.
"Were gonna have to hit him harder! Everyone, target Kars and hit em hard!" Jexi said.
"Relying on your friends, Legendary Hunter? Come and see if you can hit me hard enough to make me flinch!" Kars said.
"You asked for it!" Jexi said leaping into the air.
"Jexi, dont! Thats what he wants!" Hope said.
"I know Hope. But I'm not gonna make it easy!" Jexi shouted going into Golden God Mode.
"What a peculiar color." Kars said.
"Fist of….the Golden God!" Jexi shouted hitting Kars hard sending him sliding across the bridge.
"Such power...yet it pales in comparison to me." Kars said as he charged back to them.
"Hope, listen. I have a plan. A most brilliant plan no one would ever think of." Joseph said.
"It;d better be a good one." Hope smiled seeing Aelita and others already inside and at work. "Because this is the Warriors finest moment."
"Yes. It is incredibly good." Joseph said as he grabbed Stroheim and Hope and turned and ran. "We run!"
"This is your secret plan?!" Hope asked.
"We can't beat Kars like this. Besides, by having him chase us, we lead him away from your friends. We're retreating to think of a new plan." Joseph said.
"Plans are all well and good, Joseph." Hope said. "But there are times when you just have to...wing it." he said looking at a space station nearby. "Maybe we don't have to beat him. Joseph, I have an idea."
Joseph groaned as an attack from Kars sliced off his left hand. "It better be a good one. I'm down to just one hand." Joseph said.
"We need to head to that rocket!" Hope said.
"Huh?" Joseph said seeing the station with the rocket. 'I see. I'm completely onboard."
Rainbow's comm then beeped.
"Rainbow! Tell Jexi to lead kars over to the space station!" Hope said.
"The space station?" Rainbow said.
"Ah. I see what Hope plans. We go!" Inga said.
The group ran after the small three man team with Kars behind Hope, Joseph and Stroheim.
"Franky, Kazuichi, get to the control center and get the rocket up and running!" Hope instructed.
"Ow! You can count on SUPER us! Lets go, mechanic bro!" Franky said.
"On it!" Kazuichi said as they ran right into mission control.
"Clear out! Official hero like business." Franky said.
"We're secret members of the ISS and we need to take the command center." Kazuichi said.
"What do you need?" the leader asked.
"How fast can you fire up that rocket?" Kazuichi said.
The control leader nodded. "I need all engines on the rocket started right now."
"Hope, we got the rocket started. Its set to take off in 5 minutes." Kazuichi said.
"Now whats next?" Stroheim said.
"We're gonna need to let you go, Stroheim. We need someone to make sure no one interfere's with the launch. If the authorites try to stop us….you gotta stop them." Hope said.
"You're bravery is something to be admired. I shall do as you ask." Stroheim said saluting as he freed himself from Joseph and ran to the station.
"What ever youre planning, it wont work! Die!" Kars said jabbing Joseph on top of the rocket but… he blocked with his own Red Stone of Aja.
But why did Jojo brandish it at Kars in that moment? Even he had no Idea!
As if by instinct, he lunged it to the very point which the hamon gravitated. In this moment, every single hero, including Jeremie who was watching on the security cameras, came to realize the Red Stones final ability!
"That Stone… it can amplify Hamon!" Jeremie said.
It was at that moment the rockets boosters were fully ignited!
"Launch now!" Hope said.
Kazuichi slammed on the launch button as the rocket quickly took off with both Joseph and Kars riding on top of it.
"What? They blasted into the sky!" Stroheim said.
Back on lyoko, it was at this moment Willam as possesed by XANA himself, Franz Hopper Giving his life for onr moment!
"Aelita! Launch the program!" Jeremie said.
"But what about..?" Aelita said.
"If we dont do this now, Hope's sudden plan and your fathers sacrificing himself to power the program. We need to launch it now." Jeremie said.
Aelita hesitated, but knew she had friends to help her through and with out any other moment to spare, launched the program from Sector 5 with her fathers remaining energy. As tears rolled down her face, this was the moment...a hero's spirit was born within her.
Many small spheres came from the dome as they worked quickly, destroying any monster in their path before illuminating all of the sectors and heading out to sea where they began seeking and destroying Replikas.
As XANA was expelled from Willams body, dying in pain, Kars, Jojo and Hope were being flattened by the force of the rocket heading upward.
"You really think a rocket will kill me? Foolish. I can simply fly off to safety." Kars said sprouting wings only to have his windpipe be pierced by something. It was Jojo's severed arm.
"What…?" Kars asked.
"Let me guess!" Hope said. "Youre going to ask if Jojo had planned this from the very beginning!"
"Thats his trick… but how do you keep knowing…?" Kars said before his view turned red.
For a moment, Kars was distracted by Jojo's arm and Hopes cocky attitude to not notice what was coming. As rocks came from below as they repeatedly hit Kars, sending him higher into the atmosphere. "Jojo, did you have this planned from the very beginning? Tell me!" Kars demanded.
"Why are you asking me that?! I set the trap and you fell for it! Everything went down like clockwork!" Joseph said as Kars was propelled higher.
"Of course, it was my idea, but anything to drive that guy nuts." Hope said as down below, Inga was doing a cycle of expanding and bringing in rocks with her gravity and sending them upward.
"Hope make clever plan. He know we never beat immortal being, so we do next best thing, send him off this Earth." Inga said.
"And now, I make my exit!" Hope said leaning over the edge and falling off the rocket.
"Hope, you bastard!" Kars shouted. "But most of all, I hate you too. Jojo!" Kars shouted as he finally broke through the atmosphere into the vacuum of space.
At the same time, XANA finally gave in to the program and said his final words, for no one heard him speak.
"Curse...you….Aelita." XANA whispered before completely fading away into oblivion.
As for Kars, the cold vacuum of space froze him solid, the strongest Pillar Man had perished. And Jojo was not to be seen.
Hope fell back through the stratosphere. He could feel time accelerating. The final fracture in Lyoko history had been mended, and he could see echoes of all the exploits of the heroes and warriors.
On the final memory, he came through the clouds and was back in the present day, the year 20XX. Most people would think he would die from such a height. But then he felt himself being Lifted by hands.
He could see pink wings and a familiar suit that made a girl look like a guardian angel.
Yes….
The Angel of Lyoko herself, Aelita, had grabbed Hope by his arms.
"Hope, you okay? You're aren't dead?" Aelita asked.
"Nah. Im not." Hope said. "Cuz i got saved by an angel."
Back at the ships…
"What a ride, huh? After all that, you guys were thrusted into the Realm of Exploration." Hope said.
"And thus we went on many adventures after that, as the founding members of the Dimensional Heroes." Ulrich said.
"Its true. I was even the one who came up with the name for the group." Aelita said.
"You guys arent sad about shutting the super computer down, right?" Jexi asked.
"We did have some memories with it, but we know even greater things are waiting for us." Jeremie said.
"Yeah. To greater things." Yumi said.
"Greater things." Ulrich said.
"Greater things." Odd said.
"Greater things...and great friends." Aelita said as they all grabbed the handle and shut down the super computer.
So ended the legends of the Lyoko Warriors and Joseph Joestar, who was alive at the time.
Kars's body turned hard as stone as he floated through space. He wished for death to come, but there was nothing to kill him. The spark of thought within him soon dimmed and then eventually...went out.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure World…
Atlantic Ocean Near the Canary Islands, 1983…\
A salvage crew had dug up a mysterious casket, but what would come out would certainly be more powerful than the Pillar Men.
In Japan…
Darkness loomed in a prison as it zoomed on one particular cell. Sitting inside was a man dressed in black giving a glare right to the screen.
Jotaro Kujo… is coming….to Dimensional Heroes...in the future.
Standing on a hill was Chrono as he checked something. "Looks like they did it. Over 20% of the rifts have closed so far. But we're still a long way from home free. But where they go next...that will be a surprise. For the pirates they have on their team, I'll need to take them away for a while. After all, this alternate timeline I'm sending them to...is an age of Pirate Warriors." Chrono said.
To be continued...