Disclaimer: I don't own anything… I'm just a fan…. Blah, blah, blah… Moving on…

This chapter is mainly the group's reaction (both sides) to what has just happened to them. Don't expect too much action. Has a good mix of romance, humor, philosophy, psychiatric theorizing, etc.

Code: Lyoko

Mirror, Mirror

Part III: Cogitation

Yumi nearly trips over the furniture to answer the door bell. Aelita quickly pulls her bare feet out of Yumi's path before they are stepped on. It was six o'clock in the morning when Aelita showed up on Yumi's doorstep. Aelita has always been more of a morning person. Yumi was still sleeping, but when Aelita awoke her, she couldn't go back to sleep. So the pair stayed up and talked mainly about their respective boyfriends and did each other's toenails. Yumi chose her typical black nail polish and Aelita had chosen a cherry red color, something to match her new shirt she was wearing. The girls had been talking for a couple of hours when the door bell rang.

"UPS, miss. Package for Mr. Ishiyama.", Aelita hears coming from outside the door. She looks up to see Yumi sign for the package and smile politely as she takes the package. Aelita can tell that she is mildly disappointed that it wasn't Ulrich. "Thank you.", Yumi says politely and closes the door. She sets the package down on the kitchen counter and walks back into the living room where they were sitting. Aelita smiles at Yumi and says, "Don't worry, he'll be here. He knows what will happen to him if he doesn't!" Yumi sits down and giggles. "At least he better know what will happen." Aelita laughs and replies, "Yeah, pink nail polish!" Yumi looks up at Aelita and pictures Ulrich with pink nail polish on his toes and fingers. Then her imagination runs wild and sees him with blush and eye-liner. The thought makes her bust up laughing. "He would kill us both if we made him wear that!", Yumi says wiping a tear away that threatens to escape her eye. Aelita nods and then hears her cell phone go off. She controls her laughter and picks it up.

"Hello?"

"Morning, Sweetie! Where are you at? I went by your room, but you were gone."

Aelita smiles and sticks her foot out and Yumi begins to paint the unfinished toenails. "I'm at Yumi's already. Sorry, I didn't tell you. I didn't want to wake you."

"It's ok. Have you eaten yet?"

Aelita's stomach grumbles at Jeremie's statement. She didn't realize that she was so hungry. "No, neither of us has had anything."

Jeremie smiles and replies, "Good. Don't have anything. I'm bringing your favorite."

Aelita squeals with excitement and nearly jerks her foot away from Yumi. "Oh, you are! Thank you, Jeremie! That's so sweet of you!" Yumi glances up at Aelita and says, "Hey, tell him if he sees Ulrich, drop a hint that I haven't eaten yet!" "Ooh, devious! Yumi says that if you see Ulrich, tell him to get her a single donut!", Aelita says jokingly and Yumi looks up at her with a look of disbelief. "That's not what I said!" Aelita laughs and Jeremie smiles as he waits for the laughter to die down. Then he hears an "OW!" from Aelita and more giggling. "Don't pinch me, Yumi! That hurts!", Aelita says in mock seriousness. Jeremie sighs then continues, "Well, if I see Ulrich I'll pass that on. I did see Odd earlier, however. Much earlier. I don't think I have ever seen him up that early. Except when that new restaurant opened and they had an All-You-Can Eat Breakfast Buffet that weekend. I'll be there in a few minutes. Bye!" "Bye, Jeremie!", Aelita responds and hangs up. She sets her phone down and watches Yumi finish up her last toe.

Jim looks down at Odd and blinks in dismay at the blonde and purple haired kid's request. He wipes his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things. "Come on, Jimbo! Do it for an old friend!", Odd says with a slight smile on his face. "Jimbo…?", Jim whispers in confusion. "Old friend? We're not exactly old friends, Mr. Della Robbia…" Odd hardens his look and becomes more serious. "Look, Jim, I'm serious. This is important to me." Jim pauses to think about Odd's request. He sighs and finally replies nodding, "Oh, alright. But I still don't understand why this couldn't have waited another couple of hours. I was having a great dream…." He stops himself and notices that Odd is uninterested and has a very serious look on his face. "Just a minute, Odd. Let me get my keys…."

Yumi's door bell rings again and Yumi springs up once more. She nearly falls on her face in her rush to get to the door. She opens the door as she and Aelita begin laughing. Jeremie stares in discomfort as he watches Yumi nearly fall to the ground from laughter. He peeks in and sees Aelita laying on her side laughing at Yumi, unable to speak. "Um, have you two been doing that since I called?", he asks unsure if he really wants to go in. Yumi inhales deeply to calm herself and replies, "Well, not constantly. Come in, Jeremie." He steps in and Aelita, who has now finally stopped laughing, gets up and jogs over to him. She wraps her arms around his neck and plants a kiss on his lips. "Hi, Baby!", she says happily. "Where's my food?" Jeremie raises his eyebrows at her. "You have been hanging around Odd too long. His massive appetite has rubbed off on you!" She giggles and rests her head on his chest. "Sorry, I'm just so hungry! I didn't eat last night, so you can imagine.", she says. Jeremie lifts the bag he is carrying and opens it. Aelita grows wide-eyed as the aroma fills her nostrils. She snatches the bag from his hand and gives him a quick kiss on the lips. "Thank you, Jeremie!", she says and takes her food into the kitchen. Yumi shakes her head and Aelita looks at her innocently. "What?" Yumi pulls out a card table and replies, "Nothing. Have a seat anywhere in the living room, Jeremie." Jeremie nods and turns to enter the living room, pausing only to stare at the pile of nail polish in the floor. "I see you two have been busy this morning.", he says sitting down in a chair. "Blame your girlfriend. She got me up at six this morning.", Yumi replies, bringing the card table into the living room. Aelita follows her, trying not to drop any of her breakfast on the floor. "Sorry, I couldn't go back to sleep. I'm a morning person. Hey, what's this?", Aelita asks pulling out something wrapped in biscuit paper. "That's my breakfast….you stole it.", he replies in a playful hurt manner. Aelita giggles and walks over to him and hands him the paper. "I'm sorry I took your food. Forgive me?", she says playfully. He adjusts his glass and replies, "Maybe…." Aelita gives him a hurt look until she sees him smile then laughs softly and slides down to the floor next to him.

Meanwhile, in Lyoko, H'cirlu balances his short sword on his index finger. Dod raises an eyebrow and sighs in boredom. Atilea enters the secluded room in Sector 5's core and pauses to watch Dod shoot the sword off of H'cirlu's finger. Dod begins laughing and H'cirlu turns to him angrily. "Jerk!", he shouts and throws a shuriken at Dod's head. Dod ducks and smiles at H'cirlu. "Missed me!", he taunts and H'cirlu lunges toward him but finds himself suspended in air. He turns to see Imuy frowning at him and using her mental power to hold him in the air. "Hey, put me down, Imuy!" She shrugs and he falls hard to the ground. He gets up and looks at her angrily. "I meant softly! Put me down softly!" Imuy feigns ignorance and replies, "Oh? Well, then, why didn't you say so?" Atilea rolls her eyes at the others. "I swear, you three are like children. Grow up." Dod shoots her a glance. "Oh, and you aren't, Miss Holier-than-Thou? What about a little while ago when you threw a fit because you were sent to your pod before the rest of us?", he retorts. Atilea forms a rock in her left hand and raises it, ready to throw it at his head.

ENOUGH!

The four freeze as the voice suddenly booms in their minds. They all knew the voice well and didn't have to guess who it was. Atilea drops the rock and gives Dod one last warning glance. He smirks at her and laughs to himself.

"We're sorry, Master X.A.N.A." says Imuy.

I hope so. I do not have the time or patience to put up with your childishness. Stop fighting amongst yourselves. This is the only warning you get, so heed it.

"Yes, Master X.A.N.A., we will" replies H'cirlu respectfully bowing his head.

"Suck up!" whispers Dod from the corner of his mouth.

Be silent, Dod! I do not want to hear your voice again. Now, I do want to say that I am impressed with the results of your first encounter with the human filth. You handled the situation nicely and efficiently. However, I will stress the importance of not wasting your energy, especially at this stage.

"Well, I thought we did a good job of that even if we only have 50 of the power we are supposed to have" quips Dod. "Besides, those weak humans stood no chance against us!"

You lost more energy than your brother and sisters put together. Your little stunt of implanting the vision into the mind of the human called Odd wasted a lot of your energy needlessly. And you ran the risk of alerting them to your presence before the appointed time with it.

"Wait, are you saying I wasted more energy projecting a mental image than H'cirlu did when he decided to run circles around his weaker self?"

YES. Do not do it again until you are at 100. Do not make me tell you again.

Dod swallows nervously and nods obediently.

You needlessly cause me to waste MY precious energy to keep YOU up to speed. Now, it is time to implement the second phase. Return to your pods and await my orders.

The four bow on one knee and bow their heads respectfully and reply in unison "Yes, Master X.A.N.A." They then rise and exit the room in silence.

At Yumi's house, Ulrich watches his girlfriend gobble her breakfast down in an almost Odd-like fashion. He's never seen her so hungry before and wonders where this appetite came from. "Wow…" he states in awe as the last bite is devoured. Jeremie glances at his watch and blinks in amazement. "Seven minutes and fifteen seconds…" he reports, hardly believing it. Yumi looks at the boys in curiosity as she wipes her mouth with a napkin. Aelita holds back a giggle and squeezes Jeremie's arm gently.

"What? Haven't you seen me eat before?" Yumi asks wadding up the napkin and tossing it into the bag that once held her breakfast.

"Yeah, but not that fast…" Ulrich starts.

" Well, it's your fault. You didn't bring me anything to eat before now!"

Ulrich looks at her in confusion. "Wha--? Wait a minute…." Yumi smiles at him and giggles. "Oh, Ulrich. Still can't take a joke, can you?" she says playfully. He puts on a hurt look and she slides closer to him and lays her head on him shoulder. "I can take a joke…usually" he defensively says. "Sure you can, Dear" Yumi replies and pats his arm sympathetically. He raises an eyebrow, not knowing whether he should take her comment as a compliment or an insult, but decides to let it slide. "By the way, thank you again for breakfast, Babe. It was delicious" Yumi lifts her head and kisses his cheek. Ulrich turns and looks into her dark eyes. He smiles and the two kiss again. As they break, Ulrich winks at her.

Jeremie looks at his watch again and frowns softly. Aelita notices this and looks at him quizzically. "What's wrong, Jeremie?" she inquires. Jeremie glances over at her. "Odd should have been here by now. Are you sure he will be here?" Jeremie asks Ulrich. Ulrich nods and answers "Yeah, he said he would when I called him after I got up. He said he had a couple of things to do before he came over." "Did he say what he had to do?" Yumi asks. Ulrich shakes his head no and begins to mull in his head all the things that Odd could possibly be doing. "This is the second day that he has gotten up before us. Something is definitely up" Ulrich notes. "Do you think he is trying to patch things up with Samantha?" surmises Aelita. "Possibly. But I don't think that is the case, based on what happened to you all on Lyoko yesterday. He seemed to take that quite… personally" returns Jeremie rubbing his chin in thought.

Meanwhile, at the Kadic school gym, Odd plops down into a chair backwards and forces himself to regain his breath. Jim gets up and brings his chair with him and sits down in front of Odd. Odd stretches out a hand toward Jim and rests him head on his other arm that is propped upon the back of his chair. Odd straightens his fingers of his outstretched arm and Jim produces a pair of scissors. Then Jim begins to cut off the hand wrap. "You did good for your first boxing lesson…" Jim says. Odd raises his head and gives Jim a tired smile but says nothing. Odd then uses his free hand to pick up his towel and wipe the sweat off of his face. "If I didn't know better, I'd claim that you've already had some previous training" compliments Jim.

Samantha had been watching, unknown to Odd or Jim, for a while and was amazed at Odd's skill. She had came looking for Jim to ask him if he could let her into the library so she could do some extra research on her biology project. But when she saw Jim giving Odd a boxing lesson, she all but forgot about the library. Samantha watched Odd jab and punch at the hanging bag with ease. He almost seemed like a natural and wondered why he hadn't told her of this skill before. Perhaps at the time he did not know, she surmises. Watching him train, she noticed, made him a bit cuter to her than before. She didn't know why she felt this way, but decided to just let it be and not to question it. Sam walks softly and cautiously towards them as Odd switches hands. "You have a mean left jab for someone who is a right-handed, beginner boxer" informs Jim to Odd and indicates the minor blood stains showing through on the knuckles of his wrap. Odd hears Samantha walking up and turns to look at her in surprise.

"Sam! What are you doing here?" he inquires with a smile on his face.

"I was actually coming to see if Jim'll let me into the library but I see, or saw rather, that he was busy. I didn't know you boxed, Odd " she answers him.

"Well, this was my first lesson…" he states humbly.

Jim finishes cutting off the wrap and stands, peeling off the latex gloves. "Yeah, it was, but it didn't seem like it. Now, keep those knuckles clean. Don't want them to get infected " states Jim directing his statement toward Odd. "Jim, they're just skinned. Nothing serious. I'll be fine. Look, thanks for the lesson. I appreciate it" replies Odd and stands. "And you, uh, Samantha, right? Need into the library. Ok, let me go get my keys" Jim says and turns to leave.

Odd and Sam wait until Jim is out of earshot before saying anything else to each other. Odd looks at her, nervously. She smiles, equally nervous, and searches for an ice-breaker. "Soooooo, going to the library? I guess for a little extra studying?" Odd asks finally breaking the awkward silence. She nods quickly and replies "Yes, I have to do a little bit more research for my biology project." Odd nods and another awkward silence occurs, but is shorter than the last one.

"Odd, look, I just want to tell you I was sorry in person for the way I behaved when we…. broke up. It was totally uncalled for."

He smiles and tosses his towel over his shoulder. "Sam, I told you it's ok. I hate to admit it, but I really needed to be talked to like that. You did me a favor. I should be thanking you…"

She runs a finger through her dark brown hair, putting a strand of it behind her ear. Then, she finds herself looking deep into his tired but still bright eyes. "No, Odd, I…" He gently touches her lips with his index finger and shushes her. He smiles warmly at her and drops his hand to his side. He starts to say something but stops himself and then the two realizes the true awkwardness of the situation. Odd mouths "Sorry," to her in an apologetic manner and she nods in acceptance. Odd sighs heavily in relief and glances at the clock on the wall.

"Look, Sam, I promised Ulrich I'd meet him at Yumi's house in a little bit. Um, what are you doing later? Maybe…. We could get together and just talk?" Odd asks her with a bit of nervousness in his voice. Samantha thinks for a moment and then answers "Sure. How about if I give you a call, say, after four p.m.?" Odd smiles big and nods. "Sounds good!"

"On one condition," She states firmly.

"What is it?"

"That you leave that silly dog of yours behind!"

Odd gives her a hurt look but agrees. He glances behind her and sees Jim returning. She turns and sees Jim also, who is fighting with his key chain, trying to find the right key. Sam turns back to Odd and gives him a smile then turns to meet Jim half way. "Bye, Odd!" Odd watches her leave and wonders to himself if what he just experienced was real. "Bye, Sam" he calls after her. He sighs and turns to head toward the locker room.

Meanwhile, at Yumi's house, Ulrich blinks in mild dismay upon hearing what Yumi had planned to do to him if he didn't show up today. "Pink… nail…polish? You're not serious" Yumi smiles at him and replies "Actually it wasn't all my idea. You can blame Aelita! She started it!" Ulrich looks over at Aelita in mild shock and disbelief and Aelita instantly goes on the defensive. "Not true! She brought up the topic first! From there, my imagination just kicked in!"

Then, the door bell rings and Yumi gets up to answer it. Ulrich secretly thanks whoever rang the bell for ending this topic of discussion. Yumi opens the door and gets a look of relief when she sees Odd standing there. "Hiya, Yumi!" he exclaims with a smile plastered to his face. "It's about time. We've been waiting for you to get here for nearly an hour and a half!" Yumi returns. Odd's smile turns innocent and he fidgets slightly. "I had some things to do before I came. Ulrich was supposed to have told you guys," Odd replies. "I did tell them! I just didn't think it would take this long!" pipes up Ulrich defensively. Yumi opens the door wider to let Odd in and he steps through. "Well, uh, it took a little longer than I thought. Sorry."

Jeremie gently taps Aelita's shoulder and she looks up at him. "Excuse me, Aelita. I need to get up, please," he whispers to her. She nods obligingly and leans up. As Jeremie stands he turns to Yumi and says "I'll be right back. Just going to go get my laptop." Yumi nods and follows Odd into the living room. "Nice house, Yumi!" Odd says glancing around the room. "Thanks. My mom and dad have worked hard for this place," she replies. Odd sits down on the floor between Aelita and Ulrich and Yumi sits down on the other side of her boyfriend. Odd sniffs and gets a quizzical look on his face. "Do I smell….food?" Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich glance quickly at each other. No one had thought of bringing him any breakfast. "Um, yeah. We all had breakfast…" Ulrich replies meekly. "I didn't think to get you anything. I assumed that you would eat on your own." Odd smiles at his friend and replies "I did, don't worry." Yumi lets out a sigh of relief and leans her head against Ulrich's shoulder.

Jeremie walks back in the house and sits back down semi-behind Aelita and she leans back against him. He gently sits his laptop down and opens the lip. "Ok, time to get down to business. I have a few answers to the questions we all have regarding the strange turn of events that has occurred the past two days," he starts, glancing around the room. "I want each of you to take a look at this," he continues and turns the laptop around so all can see. "These are picture representations of digital DNA. These two models, shown here, one of them is Aelita's digital DNA and the other is… from her twin. Can you tell me which one is which?" Aelita glances at the models quickly and blinks in confusion. Yumi squints at the models but shakes her head. Ulrich raises an eyebrow in baffled indecision but can't discern whish is which either. Odd frowns and shakes his head. "They're… They're the same!" exclaims Yumi. "How? How is that possible? How did X.A.N.A get a perfect copy of our digital DNA?" Jeremie raises a finger and replies "Well, I'm not entirely sure, but the best explanation would be this," He taps a couple of keys and the view changes to show a graphical re-creation of the Scyphozoa. Aelita gasps as she realizes where Jeremie is going. She turns her head and buries her face in his chest.

"No…" he hears her whisper and wraps his free arm around her to comfort her.

"Wait, are you saying that the Scyphozoa stole our DNA?" inquires Odd, obviously struggling to get the information to make sense to him.

"Well, it didn't actually steal it. It seems to have only made a copy of it. You see, when it rendered you unconscious, it moved to each of you. I believe that it was at this point, it copied each of your digital DNA.

And I believe you can figure out what it was used for," Jeremie continues.

"So, those 'copies' of us aren't just polymorphic clones like the one that replaced Odd awhile back?" inquires Ulrich.

"Correct. These are actual 'clones', if you will. I have to admit, if it weren't for them de-virtualizing each of you, I may not have been able to get the right one back. I might have mistaken the clone for the real one," Jeremie says. The room remains silent for what seems like forever. "That's a very scary thought. Having my evil twin run around in the real world, in my place, while I'm trapped on Lyoko…" Yumi muses. "Who knows what kind of damage it could do."

"Fortunately, after extensive study of the twin DNA and comparing it to the 'original' DNA, I have discovered a few markers in the copied DNA that has helped me reprogram the scanner to determine which of you is which," Jeremie says with a bit of confidence.

"Really? They looked exactly the same to me," states Odd, still with a confused look on his face.

"Think of it this way, Odd. Say you have a sheet of paper with your name written on it in your handwriting…."

"Good luck reading it!" interjects Ulrich smiling. "Hey! There's nothing wrong with my handwriting!" exclaims Odd.

"Back on task, please." Jeremie says firmly. "As I was saying, you take that page, with your name on it, written in your handwriting, to a copy machine. You make a copy of it and hold the two side by side. Now despite the fact that they look identical, there is still a master and a copy. You know this not because you were the one who made the copy, but because you can tell by just looking at them. Even on a copier that is brand new, there are subtle differences between the two, if you look hard enough. Does that make more sense now?"

Odd nods slowly and replies "I think so. I guess the next question is…. Why?" Jeremie sighs and shakes his head. "That I don't know." "Well, I do! They're here to cause us trouble!" responds Odd gruffly. "True, that is their baseline function, but remember that X.A.N.A rarely does something without a specific thing in mind to do," Jeremie states. "At this moment, I don't know what that specific thing is."

The room remains quiet for a while. Yumi gently squeezes Ulrich's arm for comfort and begins to roll over in her mind what her twin had said to her about Ulrich. Odd replays what happened to him over and over in his mind, feeling anger rising up inside him. Aelita, still with her face in Jeremie's chest, begins to cry silently; her mind filled with the feelings of helplessness that she experienced then her twin dropped the boulder on her. Jeremie feels her tears through his shirt and gently rubs her arm with his hand. Ulrich looks at the wooden floor and grimaces. Yumi had told him what her twin had said to her. He reassured her that his heart belonged to her and her alone. But what bothered him was that his twin was as ruthless as he was at times; and that scared him. Then something began bothering Ulrich. Something that no one had yet mentioned.

"Um, if they are copies of us, what would happen if, say, one of them were de-virtualized?" Ulrich asks. Jeremie grows wide-eyed and looks at him. He hadn't thought about that. "I'm not sure…" Another thought hits Ulrich. "Also, what would happen to them if the Return to the Past were activated?" inquires Ulrich. Yumi raises her head to look at Ulrich, then asks solemnly, "And more importantly, what would they be like if X.A.N.A decided to send them here?" Jeremie shakes his head, trying to straighten out his thoughts to the questions.

"X.A.N.A. doesn't need to send them here. They could do it themselves," says Aelita raising her head from Jeremie's chest and wiping the tears from her eyes. Odd perks up and looks over at her. "What? How?" he asks, astonished at her statement. "They have a copy of me and I have the ability to send people back to the real world, but it takes almost all of my energy to manipulate the controls of the quantum computer from Lyoko to do so," she replies. "And from what I saw of my twin, she would no trouble activating the materialization program from Lyoko. She can do things I can only dream of. Like forming rocks and bridges and things so effortlessly without having to sacrifice half of my energy to so." Jeremie wraps both arms around her and Aelita tries to calm herself down. "All I have to say is that my twin had better not flirt with Ulrich or I'll tear her head off!" Yumi states gruffly. Ulrich raises his eyebrows and looks at her from the corner of his eyes. "If you're that protective of me, then why haven't you done that to Sissi yet?" Yumi looks at his shocked but then a look of wonder forms on her face. She thinks for a moment then answers, "Because it would be a waste of my time and energy. I can handle Sissi without killing her. Heck, even Jeremie can handle her!" Jeremie looks at Yumi speechless. Aelita finally smiles and shakes her head. Ulrich blinks and gives Yumi a strained smile. "Well, of course he can handle her. She's not after him!" he retorts. "He has no trouble putting her off!" Aelita tilts her head backwards and looks up at Jeremie upside down. "At least YOU had better have no trouble…" she warns him playfully. Jeremie's reply dies in his throat and he's left with his mouth open, trying to find the right words to say. Odd smiles proudly and closes his eyes. "Ah, to be single and not have to worry about things like that! Heavenly!" he says proudly and exaggeratedly sighs in relief, as if to rub it in the faces of the two couples in the room. Ulrich gives him a stern look and slugs him in the shoulder. "Your time is coming, buddy." Ulrich states as Odd giggles defiantly. "Careful, Ulrich! Yumi may misunderstand what you're trying to say!" he quips. Yumi gives Odd a confident stare.

"No, I won't, because I know Ulrich. You, on the other hand…" She pauses and glances deviously over at Aelita. "…may end up with pink nail polish and blue eye-liner if you don't stop being so cocky!"

Aelita bursts out laughing as Odd's facial expression changes from happy to horrified. "Dang, Yumi. You're cruel…" Ulrich says looking at his girlfriend. "Nah. Cruel would be making him go out in public like that for a week," she replies without missing a beat. Odd begins to slide backwards across the floor and watches Yumi like a hawk, ready to jump up and run out the door if she tries to make good on her word.

On Lyoko, Dod glances back at his pod and snorts disdainfully. I shouldn't have to spend any time in those things. I'm not weak like Atilea! Oh, sure, she can make huge rocks and toss them at people, but it's not like she can REALLY fight, he thinks to himself.

You are only at 75, Dod. Do you think that is enough to truly accomplish what I have for you to do? If so, then this is as far as you go. The others will go on and obtain their full power and you… well, to be blunt, will be the weak one, comes a familiar voice to him.

Dod snorts and replies, "If I'm not up to full power, then why don't you just finish the job? Empower me with the last 25 and get it over with!"

I could, but your body would not be able to handle that much at one time, replies X.A.N.A. You would die. Is that what you want?

Dod scowls and realizes that his Master is right. "No…" he replies frowning, hating to admit that he was rash.

I have some training for you that is designed to hone a new ability I have given you. X.A.N.A. implants some instructions into his mind. Now, go.

Dod nods and takes off into the desert sector. X.A.N.A. ponders if he had made a miscalculation in Dod's growth that caused this reckless and somewhat insubordinate behavior.

I will have to watch him carefully, but I cannot do it myself. Perhaps one of the others is still loyal enough to entrust with that task for me…

And with that, X.A.N.A turns his attention to the remaining three as they emerge from their own pods.