A/N: My first Code Lyoko fic. Yayness! Okay, all my info on the third season comes from my friend, because I'm bad about getting home on time to watch it. Please forgive any minor canon-warping. This idea has sounded awesome to me for a long time, so I hope you like it. Please review, and I will try to update soon!

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It was just Odd's luck that he got paired with Sissy. Jeremy would later blame him for it, when he was fed up with the girl. But Mrs. Hertz paired them together, because he and Ulrich were talking, because Aelita had suggested a way to block Xana out of parts of the Web. But whoever's fault it was, Odd ended up paired with Sissy in science, that day of all days.

Sissy didn't look any happier about the arrangement than Odd did. She'd been hoping to be paired with Ulrich. Odd had been wishing he didn't have to change partners.

In any case, Odd and Sissy were paired with each other and told, like everyone else, to start the experiment. For the sole purpose of getting away from his unfortunate new partner, Odd volunteered to go get the materials.

Jeremy and Ulrich had gotten the same idea. Both of them were waiting for Odd by the cupboards.

"I don't believe this!" Jeremy was quietly exploding. "Of all the people to stick us with, she goes and sticks us with Sissy and her fanboys? She even took my laptop! How will we know if Xana activates a tower?"

Odd reached into the cupboard for a beaker, still watching Jeremy. Something was racing along his skin, but he discarded the sensation as meaningless; probably just a spider. So he didn't notice as his hand momentarily faded into a grid, turned purple, and faded back.

"All right, Sissy," Odd told his partner, returning to the lab station, "I got the stuff, now you measure the chemicals." He set down the equipment carelessly, but Sissy made no move to do anything. Odd frowned. "C'mon, Sissy, I'm not gonna do everything."

Sissy stood stock-still, eyes bugging out of her head as she stared at Odd. Slowly her mouth opened. Then she broke the silence, and all hell broke loose.

"YOUR HANDS!" she shrieked. "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HANDS?!"

Odd looked at his hands, and yelped. He shoved his hands down under the table, praying no one had seen.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HANDS?!?"

Well… besides her.

Odd looked again at his hands. Please, no… But yes. He hadn't been imagining it. his hands weren't hands anymore.

They were paws.

Cat paws.

Horribly familiar, purple cat paws.