Aelita was at a loss for words. Phoenix landed neatly by her side. Jeremie glared menacingly at the girls.

"She was made by XANA." Aelita said at last. "She escaped, though."

"And how do we know that she didn't just say that? How do we know that she isn't just here to destroy us and the supercomputer on orders from XANA?" Odd challenged.

Yumi walked up behind Ulrich and said calmly, "I think that if Phoenix meant us harm, she wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to get out of the forest. I saw a dark thing behind her when she came out."

"It could have been a wolf or something." Jeremie said.

"A wolf? At Kadic? There's no way!" Yumi argued.

"I assure you, I mean no harm," Phoenix said quietly.

"How do we know that we can trust you?" Odd demanded.

"How did you know that you could trust Aelita when she came?" Phoenix asked.

"That was different! We rescued her from the computer. She didn't come find us!" Jeremie said.

"I know, but she ran into us by accident." Aelita said.

Odd looked at Ulrich. "Why don't you pick a side? What's your opinion?"

Ulrich shrugged. "She reminds me of someone," was all he said.

Jeremie looked thoughtful. "Who?"

"An old friend of mine. But she disappeared years ago," Ulrich said.

"Really? What did she look like, Ulrich?" Phoenix asked. "You look familiar to me too."

"She had red hair, like you, and the same onyx eyes, but there wasn't the same supernatural air. I mean, we'd expect to find you on a mission for XANA, not running in a forest." Ulrich said.

"I had a friend like you, too. I can't remember much about him, so it's kind of like a deja^vu right now." Phoenix replied.

Odd looked back and forth between the two of them. "Okay, I'm confused!" he exclaimed.

"No surprise there," Ulrich muttered.

Yumi snickered. "So what are we gonna do about this?" she asked.

"I honestly don't know," Jeremie said, rubbing the back of his head.

Aelita and Phoenix sighed and joined hands. Yumi joined them. "We're for Phoenix staying," Aelita and Yumi said.

Odd and Jeremie nodded. "We think there's something strange going on with her," they said.

"And I'm Switzerland," Ulrich said, holding his hands out in front of him.

"So where does that put us?" Odd asked.

Aelita shrugged. "Maybe we can reach a compromise."