Second chapter! This is where all the FUN begins, haha! Enjoy, lads - read and review!

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JAKE: MARCO VS. RACHEL



My name is Jake.

It all happened within seconds.

At first, we didn't notice anything. It was like we stood there quiet for a moment, thinking of what the Drode might have done. Then, something which sounded like a sort of yelp from Rachel distracted us.

"Oh God!" she cried. "Oh God! Oh God, oh God, oh God...!"

She started rubbing herself in the face, then she yelped again and took a crazy jump back, waving away her arms, as if they had terrified her in some way.

"Hey," I said, "relax! What's wrong, Rach?"

"Nothing, what do you mean, 'what's wrong'?" Marco said. Then his eyes widened. "What just happened to my voice?"

"Nothing, you sound fine," I said. He wasn't the problem now, Rachel was. It seemed like something had happened to her, she looked terrified. "What's wrong, Rachel?"

"I'm telling you, nothing," Marco said again. "But this doesn't quite feel right, though... I sound so weird! And... You're all so tall!" He started hawking, as if trying to clear his voice.

"Stop it, Marco, you're fine," I said annoyed.

"What do you mean, 'Marco'?" he asked. Then he looked over to Rachel for a second, who was still freaking out. "All right, who the HELL are you?!" he said. "Where's the idiot? Did he morph me?"

"I swear I didn't!" Rachel moaned. "Oh my God, oh my God... You must have morphed ME, Rach!"

"All right, ehm, you guys?" Tobias said. "Rachel, Marco? You're acting just a teeny weeny bit strange here. What's going on?"

"I don't know," Marco said, looking concerned. "I'm..." He hesitated for a moment, then took a quick glance at himself. "Oh. My God."

"Yeah, that's what I said!" Rachel cried, staring madly at him, rubbing her hands together and constantly pulling her blond hair away from her face. "Listen to me! I sound like a GIRL! And I look like one! I've never looked like a girl! This is completely insane!"

I stepped into the middle of our little circle and took a glance at both Marco and Rachel. "Okay, I don't know what's going on, but could the two of you please shut up? Something must have happened."

"Yeah, damn right it has," Marco said angrily. "That idiot morphed me! And I... That's the strange part, I would never have morphed him voluntarily."

"You didn't," Rachel whispered, terrified. "And I didn't. I think it's the Drode..."

Marco's eyed widened and stared at her. "What are you saying? God, I sound weird."

Rachel rubbed her hands frantically together. "Don't you see what's happened here, Rach? You're me! And I'm you! Only we know it! Oh God, this is so totally insane, I've never felt so uncomfortable...! I'm going to go crazy..."

"Shut up, both of you!" I said. "And make some sense out of this."

"Yeah, what's going on?" Cassie asked concerned.

I looked at both Marco and Rachel, studying the two. They both seemed to be examinating their own bodies, breathing frantically and looking very nervous, as if something completely unbelievable had just happened.

And I was beginning to suspect it might had.

"Did you morph each other?" Tobias said.

"How could they have without us noticing?" Ax said with a laugh. "That is ridiculous."

"I don't know what happened," Rachel whined. "My eyes felt like they were on fire, and so I closed them. When I opened them, she'd morphed me!"

"I think it's the other way 'round," Marco said. "HE morphed ME! While I had my eyes closed."

"So why are you me then?!" Rachel screamed.

"Hey, calm down!" I said, grabbing her by the shoulder. "What's happened to you, Rachel?"

"Yo, over here," Marco said. I turned to face him. "Here I am, cousin," he said.

"This is a very, VERY sick joke," I said nervously. "What have you two done?"

"We didn't do anything," Rachel whispered. "At least I didn't. Who knows what the psycho amazone is up to!"

"Oh, like I would VOLUNTARILY place myself in this position!" Marco screamed. "I would never choose to become YOU, Mr. Chief of the Idiots!"

"Wait," I said, raising my hands to calm them down. Then I turned to Marco again. "Are you saying that you're..."

"Rachel," he completed. "Apparently."

I turned to Rachel. "So that would make you..."

"Marco," she sighed. "With the most feminine voice I've ever spoken with. I never thought I could sound so gay."

"It's because you're a girl, you moron," Marco said.

"Would you please stop fighting for ONE second?!" I asked. They calmed down, and I could finish: "Now obviously, we have a bit of situation here. If these two guys aren't playing some huge prank on us -"

"Believe me, we're not," Rachel's voice said.

"- then something really insane's just happened."

"Which is..." Tobias said, hesitating to complete his sentence.

"That they've basically swapped bodies. Or minds, or brains, or whatever."

"I doubt we've swapped brains, just minds," Marco's body said. "This brain is too stupid to be mine."

"Is that so?" Rachel said. "Well... You're stupid."

"Oh my God, it IS Marco," Ax said horrified.

"How on Earth did this happen?" Cassie asked.

"It must have been that Drode!" Rachel - which apparently was Marco - said. "It must have been! He gave us the answers to those stupid posts, then he swapped Rachel and me! I'm Rachel! I'm a girl! I'm in the lunatic's body!"

"Relax," I said nervously. "Don't freak out, now is not the time."

"You're right," said the Rachel in the Marco-body, running his fingers through his hair. "God, that felt weird! It's so short. You shouldn't have cut you hair, Marco."

"I know," Rachel's voice sighed.

I rubbed my temple, trying to make sense of things. "All right," I finally said. "It sounds completely insane, but... Here's what happened: The Drode, most likely, gave us the answers to those posts, for some reason. In return, he gave Rachel and Marco a mindswap."

"Oh, this is just like that Halloween special from 'Two Guys and a Girl'," Rachel's voice said. "Where Pete and Ashley swapped brains."

"Sounds all right, you're as dumb as Pete was," Marco's voice said, grinning evily. "And I'm the witty Ashley. Sounds great."

"Isn't there some rule that says we have to accept anything that's done to us?" Tobias asked. "With the Ellimist and Crayak and everything, there is."

"Maybe the Drode plays by his own rules," Ax said.

"It seems so," I said. "But he can't just do this! He can't just swap their minds like that! That's crazy! That's completely... Oh, I don't know what to call it."

"Insane," Rachel (which was Marco) said. "I agree. I mean, look at me! I have a female voice, long BLOND hair and a girl's body parts! I'm... Hey!" She suddenly grinned, taking a closer overlook at her body. "That's kind of funny...!"

"Whoa!" Marco beamed. "What do you think you're doing? Don't look at my body like that! That's mine!"

"It feels closer to me," Rachel smiled.

"Hey!" Tobias suddenly said, turning towards Rachel. "This isn't a joke, Marco. I swear, if you -"

"Hey, calm down!" I said, pushing Tobias away. "Marco's not doing anything with Rachel's body. Right?" I said, looking at Rachel's body, with Marco's mind.

"Okay, fine," she mumbled.

"And the same goes for Rachel," I added.

"Sure," Marco said. "I wouldn't touch him even with tongs, I'm gonna stay as clear of any naked part of this body as I can. But I warn you," he said, pointing a threatening finger towards Rachel, "if you fool around with my body, I'll castrate you. I've got the power."

"You wouldn't," Rachel said. "Do you have any idea how much that would hurt you? You'll feel the pain too, sister! Although, I guess you like pain, being the sadistic maniac you are... Fine, I'll stay as clear of touching any parts of your body as I can. But..." she said, with a slight grin.

"What?" Marco's face showed Rachel wasn't far from being completely furious.

"If we remain like this for quite a while - something we should reckon is going to happen - we will eventually have to do some stuff that demands us seing a few body parts, if you know what I'm saying."

Slowly, Rachel realized what that meant.

"Oh GOD!" Marco's voice cried. "I won't touch it! No way! I won't drink any form of liquid, and hopefully I won't have to touch it, or do it. Oh my God... No way."

"That happened on that Halloween special," Rachel smiled. "Ashley went to the bathroom in Pete's body."

"What did she say to that?" Marco asked nervously.

"She said something like, 'Guess what, I just peed standing up.' Sounds fun, doesn't it."

Marco turned to me. "Jake," he (which was Rachel) said, "please. Whatever you've done for me in the past, forget about it. Just PLEASE, find some way of contacting that Drode and make him give me back my body! I can't - I repeat, CAN'T - live a life in THIS..." He waved a hand at his body, implying what he couldn't stand to live with.

"What's so wrong with my body?" Rachel asked, crossing her hands over her chest.

"Hey, don't do that!" Marco said. "Remove the hands, boy! Or I'll kill you!"

"All right, sorry." She took away the hands. "I guess we should find some solution to this. I don't think this body will amuse me too much for too long... It's after all, only Rachel's. Not as nice as I thought it would be."

"Marco, I'm warning you..."

"All right, I'll shut up. As usual."

Hearing Rachel's voice and body do and say all the things Marco, my best friend, usually did and said, gave me the creeps. "We have to contact the Drode in some way, like Marco - sorry, I mean Rachel - said... But I don't know how to do that. Until we get any chance of making contact, I suggest the two of you just go home and rest. You seem a bit upset."

"Let him go home to my house? With my family and my things?" Marco said. "No way!"

"You can't go home, Rach," I said to Marco's body. "And I really think the two of you need some rest. I guess your families aren't at home, and in any case, you could always just spend the day in front of the TV or in your rooms, just making time pass. Without any funny business," I added with a quick glance at Rachel.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Rachel said. "I'm cool."

"All right, so we'll go 'home'," Marco sighed. "Fine. No fooling around. And you, Jake, had better find some way of solving this. You're the one who can communicate with that lunatic, now please get me out of this body before I kill myself."

"Yeah," Rachel's voice agreed, "because that suicide could really affect my body's well being."



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There we are! Reviews, please!