Author's Note: I'm really excited about where I want this story to go. I think I'm going to put my other story on hold for now while I explore this one further. Please R&R as I'm still new to writing! :)

Odd's Perspective

The door of the Scanner opened, and my whole body ached. Nothing unusual, I always felt this way after being devirtualized (especially when a Megatank hit me at close range), but it was nonetheless still unpleasant.

I first noticed something was off when I took my first step out of the Scanner. I completely lost my balance after only two steps, and I crashed to the floor pathetically. Ulrich, who had been devirtualized early in the mission by a particularly stealthy Megatank (I never really understood how a Megatank could be stealthy, but this one managed somehow), was rushing over to me, making sure I was okay after I fell. He propped me up, leaning me into his arms and chest. This struck me as a bit odd, though completely enjoyable; I had always liked Ulrich, though he never knew it, and I always felt happy being close to him.

What was most peculiar, though, was that he always did this when Yumi was woozy after a particularly harsh devirtualization.

"I'm fine, I just lost my balance, that's all," I assured him, but then I had a sudden short intake of breath. My voice was higher and softer. Before I could put too much thought into this, something truly shocking happened.

At this moment, another scanner opened, and when I saw what was inside, I screamed.

I was standing in the Scanner, blonde and purple hair, purple clothes, vacant expression - a perfect copy. I thought this might be one of Xana's newest tricks.

As I stood up to confront the imposter, I looked down to see all black covering my body. I examined myself further and noticed that I had grown a few inches taller, developed rather large breasts, and felt a certain emptiness between my legs. When I made these realizations, I started to feel fear.

At this moment, I directed my gaze toward the Odd standing in the scanner, then back at my own new body, in quick succession. After a few seconds of whipping my head back and forth like a cartoon character, I noticed that the Odd in the Scanner was looking at me and screaming his head off.

I didn't understand what was going on, so the only logical thing to do was to confront the Odd in the elevator.

"Who are you?" I demanded of him.

"I'm Yumi! Or at least I was… who are you? Why do you look exactly like me? Jeremy, what's going on?" The Odd claiming to be Yumi said all of this very quickly, in my voice and in tears.

Jeremy's voice boomed throughout the room, "Umm… I think something went wrong with the rematerialization program. Yumi, Odd, are you both there?"

"I'm here, but there's another me here claiming to be Yumi, and I think I'm Yumi now," I rambled, beginning to put two and two together.

Ulrich was looking thoroughly confused at this point, though that was nothing compared to what I felt. Was I now Yumi? Or was I still myself, Odd, just in Yumi's body? That would make sense; I still felt like me, I guess.

Aelita came out of the last Scanner as the elevator door opened and Jeremey came into the Scanner room. I looked around at everyone, then down at my body again. I didn't understand how this happened…

Aelita looked at me. "Yumi, are you feeling all right? You look scared and confused."

I looked at her, apparently with an emotionless expression on my face. "But… I'm Odd…" I stammered. I looked at the Odd claiming to be Yumi again, and then down at my body again. I was wearing Yumi's classic all-black outfit, boots and all. Reality dawned on me.

Apparently, Jeremy and the Odd claiming to be Yumi were quicker on the uptake than the rest of us.

"Jeremy… have Odd and I switched bodies?" The Odd claiming to be Yumi, or rather, plain old Yumi stuck in my body, posed the question in a forced-calm voice.

"It appears so but I can't say for sure yet. Let's all get up to the Supercomputer to check it out," said Jeremy in a blank voice.

We all got in the elevator while Ulrich made general disbelieving remarks and exclamations. Aelita looked scared. Jeremy looked puzzled and determined. I felt a sudden hatred for Jeremy that I'd never experienced before. Even in this incomprehensible situation, he didn't seem to care about the participants; it was all just another code for him to crack, another complex, enigmatic problem for him to figure out. Yumi and I made it a point to not look at each other. I started at the buttons that controlled the elevator until we reached the upper floor.

Jeremy rushed back to the computer and began working at rapid speed. I never understood what was going on while he worked, but I stared at the screen anyway, hoping for some explanation as to why I now inhabited the body I had been so jealous of for so long.

The three of us who weren't Mr. and Mrs. Einstein stood silently for a few minutes while the other two tried to figure out what was going on. They were speaking computer, but I caught a few words I knew – "bug", "rematerialization", "failure".

Apparently Ulrich had had enough of just standing around. He began to pace the room intently. He looked hurt and confused, and I felt the sudden urge to hug him. I resisted.

At last, Jeremy explained, "Apparently there was a bug in the rematerialization program. When Odd and Yumi were devirtualized, the programs that assigned consciousness to physical form were swapped. Odd's consciousness was assigned to Yumi's body, and Yumi's consciousness was assigned to Odd's body. I have no idea how to fix this at the moment, but I'm going to spend the night here to see what I can find out. In the meantime, you guys are going to have to learn to live each other's lives; you'll have to go through tomorrow as each other." We all stood in disbelief, unable to say anything.

"Curiously, it appears as though your actual brains have swapped. If we have a pop quiz in math tomorrow, Odd's grade for the semester might just be saved after all," Jeremy added this in a joking tone.

At this moment, I flipped. "Do you think this is a joke, Jeremy? What about our parents? What about school? What about the fact that we don't know each other completely inside and out and probably won't be able to pass convincingly as each other?" I screamed all of this at him quickly, but no one seemed to cringe from my anger.

"Look, Y- Odd, I know this isn't easy for you. I'm going to work around the clock until I can fix it. You're just going to have to do the best you can for now, okay? You really don't have any other choice." I knew he was right, but I still hated how he was being so insensitive about this.

Ulrich and Aelita still hadn't said anything. Yumi was looking helplessly between me and Jeremy.

Dejectedly, Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi and I left the factory. Yumi and I began to discuss what our schedules were like for that night and for the next day.

As we were talking, and I knew this was a totally inappropriate and horrible thought to be having, I began to get some very naughty ideas about what I might like to do with Ulrich now that I finally was equipped the way he might like.