Chapter four is here at last. Drama is ramped up considerably, so prepare for the good stuff.

I do not own Code Lyoko. Wah. Now, on with the story.

A soft knock sounded through the darkened dorm room. Odd turned over in his fitful sleep before cracking a bleary eye open. Mumbling under his breath, he opened the door, figuring Ulrich has forgotten his key.

Not only was Ulrich outside, he had brought the rest of the gang with him. Jeremie addressed Odd. "Mind if we talk?"

"Uh, yeah, whatever," Odd said sleepily. Yumi came in and flipped the lights on, and leaned up against a wall. Ulrich stood next to her, while Aelita and Jeremie sat on Ulrich's bed.

"Are you okay?" Yumi asked.

"Okay as I can be with my bruised face," he sent Yumi a half-hearted glare.

"Glad you brought that up, Odd," Jeremie said. "You see, coming back from dinner, Yumi and Ulrich had a weird experience." Both blushed profusely.

"Do you have to include that part?" Yumi said. Aelita looked askew at Ulrich as he face-palmed. Jeremie nodded and continued.

"They were down in the art wing in a supposedly empty classroom when you wander by."

"I was…" Odd cut himself off abruptly. Jeremie noticed and pressed the issue.

"You were apparently better," Odd looked confused.

"Yeah, your face was back to normal," Ulrich supplied.

"Not your attitude, though. You saw us and ran off." Yumi formed a half-smile. "I thought you'd go blabbing to Jeremie or something."

"Anyway, they saw you and came to me," Jeremie said. "We've talked, and our experiences the last day doesn't add up." Odd broke out in a sweat.

"How so?" he asked.

"Well, the fact you're sitting here, still showing injuries is the most glaring thing," Jeremie said. "Care to explain?"

You'll hate me if I do," Odd bemoaned.

"We do not hate you. We're concerned for your well-being," Jeremie said.

"Fine then." Odd composed himself. "I did an experiment, and it's backfired."

"We're going to need more than that, Odd." Jeremie was deadly serious now.

"I got sick of having so much to do and so little time, so I went down to the factory and…"

"No…" Jeremie was stunned. "You can't have been as dense to try that."

"Gee, thanks, make me feel worse," Odd bit back.

"How many?"

"Well, I used a handful of my hairs, so…a lot?"

"Oh crap…"

xxxx

The next morning, everyone got up early to do some damage control. The first order of business was making sure someone was with Odd at all times, so they didn't lose track of him.

The gang went down to breakfast and found their plans already compromised. A small group had gathered around Sissi, who was brandishing the newest copy of their paper.

"Shoulda known something was up when they were in the bushes yesterday," Ulrich said. He stormed over and shoved kids aside to get to the perpetrator.

"Ulrich, dear, look at this!" Sissi's voice dripped saccharine, but beneath it lay dubious intentions. He had a paper pushed under his nose. Ulrich scanned the front page story – a blaring headline that read "Odd Occurrences at Kadic" and two photos of Odd, one bruised and the other not. He yanked it out of Sissi's hand and took it back to the gang.

"They're on to it, but they haven't got it right. They think someone's impersonating you," Ulrich almost let relief slip into the sentence.

"Yeah, leave it to her to get 2+253," Odd joked. "Still, they know, and they'll be following us along with the rest of the school now. What do we do?"

"We need to get to the Factory so I can try to reverse what you did," Jeremie said.

"I can't help that feeling I might've caused this," Aelita spoke up.

"And what gave you that idea?" Jeremie queried. "Just because we tried the same thing with you? That's absurd."

"Yeah, it was all my doing," Odd patted Aelita on the back briefly.

"So, when do we go?" Yumi asked.

"Lunch. But for now, we're taking Odd to the infirmary for a medical slip so he can miss class," Jeremie explained. "That way, you can track down the other you's."

"Got it," Odd clenched his fists. "But what if they…resist? I'm been feeling weak since they were made."

"They should be weak then, too," Jeremie theorized. "They're clones; they could never live up to you. We're going to take them down, and set things right."

A.N. – Expect a throw-down a la episode 51 next chapter. Until then, ja ne.