Chapter III-XANA's plot

Odd rushed down the halls, yet the teacher's gaze froze him before he could take a step into the classroom

Late again Mr. Della Robbia?- spoke Mrs. Hertz, her eyes shooting hellfire at the boy

Late? But the bell rang…-

Ten minutes ago- she interrupted –Interesting enough; you're the first of your friends to enter -

Odd's eyes scanned the room; Jeremie and Ulrich hadn't gone to the class

Maybe you should find them and tell them not to bother coming in today-

Find them? But…-

Yes Odd, that means you're dismissed; why don't you run off and be undisciplined somewhere else, away from the rest of the students that actually care for this class-

Yes teacher- he said weakly, trying to simulate both displease and sadness; yet the fact that she had dismissed him and that both Ulrich and Jeremie were out gave him the opportunity to tell them of his discovery.

He sprinted towards the dorms once he had gotten out of the teacher's view; hoping to catch both his friends. Surely enough, as he came into the main hallways of the building he saw both Ulrich and Jeremie exchanging a low spoken conversation.

I can't understand why she wants him to join, I mean…she pities him…that much is obvious, but wanting him to join? That's another thing, a very different thing-

I agree, his joining could further endanger the supercomputer, and Aelita for that matter- they said one another, before the third boy appeared with his ghastly information.

Guys- he began to say, his breath giving out at moments –I…talked to him...-

And?- they asked rather impatiently

Well…ehm…I think we should speak in private- he added, noticing that there were still some students roaming around the dormitories. They both caught the indirect approach and entered the second blonde's room, which was the closest one.

He's got what?- shouted Jeremie upon hearing Odd's retelling

Yea, he's got XANA's mark burnt into his left arm, what do you guys think it means?-

I don't know… but…couldn't he be one of XANA's clones?- said Ulrich, unsurprised

It's not impossible- added Jeremie coldly –I mean, Hiroshi could've actually died in that attack; and since his attitude was already kind of…off…XANA could have easily rearranged the information it got when he was struck down…and used it to create a copy similar to Yumi's-

But…that means that the…original Hiroshi is…-

Dead- finished Ulrich –This new one is just a puppet used by XANA-

We gotta warn Yumi- exclaimed Odd, though he still doubted the whole thing.

No!- interrupted his best friend –We can't say anything of this to her-

Why?- asked both blondes

Because, what if the fake Hiroshi has some kind of control over her? What if he's making her believe that he deserves to be in the team…I mean…I know Yumi can't be convinced that easily…so maybe he's got some sort of control over her, maybe he's controlling her mind, like XANA did with those Nano viruses-

Tell us again Odd, what did you two talk about?- asked the smartest of the three, taking into consideration the last statement

At first, I asked him about why he didn't trust us, but he didn't reply; then I asked him if he was a boarder, and he said he wasn't…at last we began talking more calmly but he always spoke in this strange way, almost like…-

Yumi's Clone?- added Ulrich

Yea…like that…like a robot; but that doesn't explain how XANA knew what kind of personality to use-

Odd, please- replied Jeremie, rather angered by this comment –there's about half a million stories on the internet about kids with weird pasts; XANA simply copied and pasted one of them-

Then…he is a clone- ended Odd, now almost completely convinced that Hiroshi was, in fact, a copy of the original kid, who could now be dead and buried in a random backyard, prolonging the clone's identity theft -how can we stop him?-

Jeremie tipped his glasses –Well, ever since the fake Yumi appeared; I began thinking about a safe way to destroy any invading copies; and I came up with something- he sat in his chair and withdrew a notebook from one of the desk's drawers. He opened the tattered notebook on a page that showed a badly drawn sketch and a series of undecipherable functions and equations, all written down in pencil –I never did get a chance to copy this unto the hardrive of the computer; guess that's good since XANA doesn't know we're prepared for a repeat of his past attacks-

The group looked at the pieces of paper with expectance, yet it was until Odd spoke that it began to make any kind of sense
-What does this mean?-

It's simple- said Jeremie, rather triumphant –you see, the basis of the program used to create the fake Hiroshi is still locked inside XANA's archives, thus destroying him or returning to the past won't really help, since the coding will still exist-

So we can't defeat him in the real world- stated Odd, his mind focused

No, but we can defeat him in his own world, in Lyoko-

You've got me now, why in Lyoko?-

Ok; I'll put Aelita as an example; when we materialized her for the first time, after we returned to the past she simply returned to Lyoko, instead of coming with us. That's because her coding belongs in Lyoko, its part of Lyoko to say it in a few words-

Odd' and Ulrich's eyes stared blankly at Jeremie

Ok…an easier example…when you guys go into the scanners you're leaving your original realm, the real world, and are transported to the new realm, Lyoko. When you complete your quest or get devirtualized you return to where your computer coding says you belong, the real world. Now, with Aelita, that didn't happen since her coding belongs in Lyoko. Since Hiroshi is a creation of the virtual world as well, once he gets destroyed in Lyoko he'll be destroyed for good-

The other two kids nodded in understanding, though some parts of the theory still troubled them.

But Einstein- questioned Odd –how are we gonna get Hiroshi into the scanner…I mean…isn't that what he wants?-

I thought of that as well…as I see it, XANA didn't load the Hiroshi clone with all the information he needed; he just gave him enough to function upon and, as he approaches the objective, the rest of the data will be uploaded at once giving the clone both the strength and knowledge of the Yumi clone-

That way we'd never guess he was our enemy-

Exactly-

How are we going to avoid that?- asked Ulrich, his mind already hatching a scheme to destroy the invader.

Easily…if I'm right, the rest of the data should be uploaded not upon contact, but via a word of sorts; that way XANA can move in Lyoko while his puppet acts almost independently until the code word is spoken-

So he worked out every detail?-

That's the way computers work Odd, define and eliminate any and all opposing variables-

Huh?-

Never mind-

But don't forget, even if XANA is capable of doing something like this; it doesn't mean that Hiroshi is a clone…I mean, Aelita still hasn't told us any…- began to speak Odd, his doubts still alive, yet he was suddenly interrupted as the computer's Monitor sprung to life; upon it, Aelita's face was visible, showing signs of anguish and worry.

Jeremie!- She quickly said -XANA, he's awake!-

With these four words all doubt was erased from their minds, Hiroshi was a clone.