Dallin was ready to get on his knees and beg with all he had to go find Dr. Laker.

He'd spent the better part of the night tossing and turning, and wishing he were back home, in his own bed, and body. So it had been far less than restful.

"We can't wait any longer." He told the S.E.S outside his house. "Dr. Laker is the only one who can fix this thing, and I'd like him to get started right now." He looked pleadingly at each one of them, wishing he could make his eyes grow huge and cute.

"Dr. Laker is something else entirely. No one else can do what he does, yeti or smallfoot. So can we please go find him, before I lose my sanity?"

Meechee smiled in understanding."Right right. We were going to go down today anyway. Might as well go early."

Migo nodded, looking suddenly excited. "Yeah. Maybe my smallfoot can help too!"

Meechee nodded too. "We can ask. But let's go grab some breakfast first."

Dallin walked with the others towards the rock fruit stands. Finally, he was going to get out of this mess.

Yes!

"No way!"

Dallin stared down in horror over the cliff he had almost fallen off of. Kolka had just barely been able to catch him, and now, they wanted him to jump off!?

"Trust us, it's fine." said Migo. "We do it every time we visit your village"

Dallin looked at him wide eyed. "But I'm not…"

"There's lots of snow at the bottom." Reassured Meechee. "It's like landing on a cloud. Fleem does it too."

Dallin backed away from the cliff edge. "Isn't there a way to just climb down instead?"

Migo shook his head. "No, not really. But don't worry! It really isn't so bad once you get used to it."

Dallin groaned.

"Look, we'll be with you the whole time. We'll all jump together." said Kolka.

"Off a mountain." Dallin took another step back.

"It's the only way down."

Dallin groaned again, louder.

He could sense frustration in the group. Dallin stepped back again, defiant.

Frustration at him for struggling to jump off a mountain didn't seem well justified. But maybe that was just the human in him talking. After all, yetis were far more resilient.

"Look, I'll go first. Maybe then, you'll see it's okay." Migo gave him a smile then stepped up to the edge of the cliff. Dallin watched him anxiously. "You seriously do this all the time?"

"Mmhmm." said Gwangi while the others nodded.

Migo glanced back. "Remember, plenty of snow at the bottom." With that, he crouched, and leaped into the air, disappearing over the side of the cliff.

Dallin found he couldn't move as he listened to Migo's screams fade with distance.

After a moment, the S.E.S turned back to Dallin. "He made it." said Meechee. "Come see!"

Hesitantly, Dallin crept closer to the cliff, keeping an eye on them in case any of them tried to push him over.

Far far below, he could see a tiny white speck moving away from the mountain's base, jumping as if to get their attention.

"See? Perfectly fine." Meechee turned to smile at him. "Now, let's go find your device smallfoot, and Fleem, and get this sorted out."

Dallin closed his eyes and took a breath, every survival instinct screaming at him to get away from that drop.

From his other side, he felt Kolka take his wrist in her hand. "Ready?"

No. Absolutely not ready.

But he forced himself not to pull away. If this was the only way down, it wouldn't help to prolong it.

"Allright, go!" Meechee ordered.

Dallin jumped, along with the others.

Involuntary, his eyes shot open, showing him the ground rising towards him, alarmingly fast. Besides his companions, nothing but open air surrounded him. He found himself clutching at Kolka desperately as a panicked scream forced its way out of his throat. What had he been thinking!?

He wasn't the only one though. All the other yetis screamed all the way down as Migo had. Perhaps they'd never fully gotten used to such a fall, despite what they'd said.

Dallin closed his eyes again and braced himself as twenty feet of snow rose to meet them.

Kolka still didn't let go, keeping his wrist in a tight grip as the four of them hit the ground.

Dallin gasped as the layers of snow halted his fall, leaving a Fleem-Dallin shaped hole.

When Kolka pulled him out and set him back on his feet, he found his legs were trembling a little.

I'm alive.

Well, Dallin could add jumping off a mountain to his list of experiences he could have lived without.

"You okay?" Migo asked, walking over to Dallin.

Dallin laughed in disbelief and nervousness. "I jumped off a mountain. And I'm still alive. I'm still a yeti, and I'm going crazy." He gave Migo a crazed grin, stumbling on his shaky legs. "Jumping off mountains has that effect. But despite that, I think I'm alright."

At the weird looks he got from his companions, Dallin shook his head, getting his sense back. "Alright, let's go. Dr. Laker always comes out when you visit. He shouldn't be hard to find."

Dallin looked forward, at the path ahead. He hadn't been this far into the woods.

He glanced back sheepishly. "Eh...you'd better go first."

Meechee chuckled and took the lead, marching confidently through the snow and rocks.

The sun shone bright, making the snow sparkle through the trees. Dallin looked around as they walked. The woods seemed a lot less ominous while he was a yeti. In fact, they were beautiful.

They passed out of the woods for a moment, a ravine blocking their way. Dallin opened his mouth to ask how they were going to get across, but Meechee suddenly leaped, flying and landing gracefully on the other side. Dallin's mouth stayed open.

Migo followed without hesitation, as did Kolka. Gwangi glanced down at the still gaping Dallin. "Fleem does it too." He reminded him before jumping.

Dallin stared at the group as they turned to look at him expectantly. "Okay, I guess I can understand all of you doing that. But I'm not a particularly big yeti. I probably can't jump as far as you can, right?"

Meechee shook her head. "Fleem has jumped this same ravine countless times now. You can make it. Look, we'll even wait to hold you steady when you land."

Dallin cursed his shaking limbs and sighed as he backed up for a running start. If he didn't make it, the fall into the ravine with it's sharp rocks would probably be less forgiving than the fall from the mountain.

But I've already lost my sense of possible and impossible. What's another incident?

Dallin ran for the ravine and launched himself over the dark crack of doom. The strength of his yeti legs took him completely by surprise.

As if he had been doing this for years, his body adjusted itself in the air to prepare to land.

His feet met the ground without a stumble, sturdy, steady and reliable.

He didn't even need Meechee and Kolka's steadying hands.

Whoa. Exhilarating feelings surged up in Dallin, making him feel powerful. He felt like running and bounding across the landscape, if only to see what else he could do.

He grinned broadly as they continued their journey. However unexpectedly these circumstances came to be, being a yeti sure has its perks.

They had to cross more ravines, rocks and mini mountains on the way. This time, Dallin didn't hesitate to jump, his confidence growing each time.

Then at long last, the human city came into view, making him pause.

It looked way different from this perspective.

But he froze at the back of the group when he saw the people.

Many of them he knew, and he now towered over them.

A crowd of people rushed to greet the yetis with grinning faces, and shouted greetings.

Dallin blinked. Wait….they didn't sound like themselves at all! All of them were emitting a fast high pitched….gibberish, chattering and chattering.

Is that what we sound like to the yetis!? He thought in shock. We sound weird.

He found himself looking away from the S.E.S, a little embarrassed. He would never see his conversations with yetis the same way again.

But first things first. Dallin turned to scan the crowd, growing anxious. Was Dr. Laker there?

"Smallfoot!" Migo called happily. Dallin watched him rush to greet a much shorter Percy Patterson, the latter pulling along a hauntingly familiar young man in an oversized blue coat and sweatpants, holding a flower decorated blanket around his shoulders.

Dallin gasped, taking a step back. It was himself! It was his own body!

The imposter looked up, meeting his eyes, and his own face grew shocked. He pulled the blanket over his head, as if to hide himself.

Dallin couldn't tear his eyes away. Well then. You must be Fleem.

Fleem:

Fleem was panicking.

He hadn't considered that his friends would sound different! Under his blanket, he listened to Migo greeting Percy, this time from the other side. He understood the smallfoot this time, but Migo was growling. Meechee was too, and Kolka….they didn't sound like yetis at all!

And they were huge. If he'd thought he had been short before, they now completely dwarfed him.

But what shocked him the most was that he had seen himself among them. His own gray eyes had looked back at him, without a mirror in sight.

It all made sense now. He hadn't just turned into a smallfoot. He had switched places with a smallfoot. That meant….

A smallfoot was in his body. Walking around. Talking to his friends. Probably living in his house, and sleeping in his bed. Fleem had been replaced with a smallfoot.

He pulled the blanket further over himself, squeezing his handfuls of fabric tighter. Did his friends even know that anything had happened? Was this how things were going to be from now on? Was he stuck? Was he being punished for all his quips, leaving a more suitable creature in his place?

And a smallfoot of all creatures! Had he sunk that low?

"Fleem. What are you doing?" Percy's voice came from next to him, making him flinch.

Fleem raised the blanket enough to peek out, only looking at Percy. "You said you'd do the talking."

"I am. They already know what happened, Fleem."

Fleem stood a little straighter, peeking out more. "What?"

"Or, at least I think they do. My yeti...or, Migo I guess, has been pointing at you and your...body, over there." Fleem didn't look. But he could feel his own eyes looking at him, as well as the S.E.S. What did they think of him now? Were they laughing at him?

He couldn't bring himself to look at any of them. Especially not that smallfoot.

Percy was trying to talk to Migo again, struggling with their sign language.

"So both of them have been like this for two days now? How did you….whoa...oh boy."

Fleem stiffened. "What?" He uncovered his face, just enough for Percy to see.

Percy turned around, showing him a black oddly shaped device. A damaged one.

Fleem pointed at it. "That's it! That's the device that smallfoot gave me!"

Percy grimaced. "It looks like it was smashed by a rock. That complicates things."

Fleem flashed back to the last night he had spent as a yeti. His rock pillow. A spot of guilt appeared in his stomach. But he kept quiet.

Percy looked back at Fleem. "I hope Dr. Laker can fix this. But either way, I think we'll still need the other one."

He looked in the direction of Fleem's real body. "Fortunately, I think we'll be able to find it now. I bet it's in his house. We'll have him lead us to it. Then we can worry about this broken one."

He began signing to Migo again.

Growls of different kinds came from in front of Fleem, answering each other and Percy.

He wished he were hiding away in Percy's home. Then he wouldn't have to be aware of his friends' eyes on him, while he refused to look. Then he wouldn't have to wonder what they thought when they looked at him. Because he was deathly afraid to know. At least Percy wasn't pushing him to try to talk to them.

Disappointed smallfeet hoping the whole village had come down began to disperse, waving to the S.E.S. A few stayed to watch Percy and Migo interact. Fleem recognized the bossy smallfeet among them. He quickly covered his face again. He didn't need them trying to get him to do more chores. Luckily, they didn't seem to have seen him.

A new growling voice Fleem hadn't heard yet approached. He cringed, taking a blind step back as the smallfoot in his body came forward to try to communicate with Percy.

"Right." said Percy. "So, have you seen Dr. Laker around? You've probably guessed he's the one behind this?"

More growls.

Fleem sighed, turning his back on them so he could look out freely. He would have gone looking for the smallfoot himself, but he didn't want to be alone again. So he just looked around the area.

"Dr. Laker always comes out when any yeti comes to visit." said Percy. "Yeah, yeah that's a good idea."

A pause later, he called out, "Fleem, we're all going to walk around a bit, and see if he's anywhere in this crowd. C'mon."

From behind, Percy's arm snaked around Fleem's shoulders, pulling him along. The blanket slipped off his head, and he barely caught it.

Fleem fought to get it back on as Percy continued to steer him along. "You'll want to be able to see if we're going to find Dr. Laker." said Percy.

Glaring, Fleem defiantly got the blanket back onto his head like a cloak hood, but kept his face uncovered. He ignored the growls that told him his yeti friends were trying to get his attention.

Suddenly, a red haired smallfoot appeared in front of him. "Hey! There you are! I lost you the other day!"

Fleem yelped and scrambled back, freeing himself from Percy, who was also startled.

Must you keep doing that?

But he recovered quickly. "That's him! He's the one who did this to me!"

"I...what?" Dr. Laker raised a confused eyebrow, and glanced at Percy for an explanation. "I was just going to see if you still had my empathy prototype. I've been looking all over for you!"

"Well, guess what? Your device worked! Now switch us back!" Fleem glared at him.

Percy gave Fleem a shove, and shook his head. He held up the broken device. "Is this what you're looking for?"

Dr. Laker stared at it in disbelief. "Oh, mercy! What did you do to it?!" He snatched it away from Percy, and looked it over frantically.

Dr. Laker then noticed the other yetis behind them, his eyes going to the smallfoot in Fleem's body. "And you! What happened to the other one?" The smallfoot-yeti blinked as if surprised at being addressed directly. Or maybe because he couldn't understand his own species anymore.

Percy held up his hands. "Wait! Just listen for a moment!" Dr. Laker turned to him, looking distraught.

Percy sighed. "Well, Dr. Laker, we have something to explain to you." He sagged a bit. "But I don't really know how. It's going to sound absolutely crazy, but I promise it's not a joke."

Fleem rolled his eyes. This was taking too long! "Your device made me and a sm.. a human switch bodies. That yeti..." He pointed at the smallfoot-yeti. "...is not a yeti. He's in my body, and I've been stuck like this for a day and a night! Now, can you fix that device and switch us back?"

Dr. Laker stared at him in silence, trying to make sense of what Fleem had said. Did he believe him? He of all smallfeet should be taking this seriously!

"I know it sounds crazy." Percy chipped in. "But…"

"Empathy." Dr. Laker mumbled.

He glanced from the smallfoot-yeti to Fleem and back, wide-eyed. "The device was supposed to establish an empathic connection. To know and feel what each other is trying to communicate."

Fleem huffed and pulled the blanket further over himself. "It did that a little too well, wouldn't you say?"

Dr. Laker shook his head in bewilderment, a smile slowly appearing on his face and overbearing energy returned to his eyes. "Oh my. Oh my. Do you realize the potential this uncovers for our species?"

"No, and I don't care." Fleem snapped. "I just want to go back to my body."

Dr. Laker didn't seem to register that for a moment. He still had that distracted smile on his face.

Then his overactive mind caught up and he shook his head to bring himself back. "Right."

He frowned at the broken device in his hands. "Well, I suppose I'll need to fix this. It may take a few days to…"

"A few days!" Fleem stared at him. "You've gotta be kidding! I can't take this for days! I've already lost my mind!"

Dr. Laker shook his head. "I'm afraid this is a rather delicate project, my friend. Lucky for us speed isn't a priority." He smiled reassuringly and continued, not giving Fleem a chance to respond. "But in the meantime, I'll also need the other device in order to make it work."

Percy grinned. "Way ahead of you." He looked up at the smallfoot-yeti and began signing. "Can you lead us to your house? You left the other device there, right?"

After an eternity of signing, talking, growling and signing some more, the smallfoot-yeti perked up in understanding and nodded, gesturing for Percy to follow.

Percy looked back at Fleem. "Wait here with the others. We'll be back in a jiff."

Fleem stiffened. "What? You're just gonna leave me here?"

Percy shrugged. "You've got them to talk to." He gestured at the S.E.S behind him. "They've already seen you, Fleem. They're not gonna laugh. Just fill them in on what's been going on. They're your friends."

Fleem watched him walk away, dread making his stomach hurt. But what could he do?

Footsteps sounded behind him as the S.E.S approached. Fleem threw the blanket fully over his head, refusing to look at them. He did not want to know what they were thinking.

Growls sounded, and whoever was in front of him crouched closer to his new shorter level.

Fleem backed up, shrinking into himself. "No. Don't."

He gripped the blanket tightly in case they tried to take it. "Haven't I been through enough?"

Suddenly, something wrapped around his middle, blanket and all, and lifted Fleem off his feet. Fleem gasped in shock, struggling a little. "No, what are you doing? Stop!"

The gentle pressure eased as Fleem was placed onto a pair of hands. The blanket slid off a little, exposing his face again. Kolka's eyes met his, looking grim.

Fleem pulled his knees to his chest under the blanket. "So, you getting cozy with that imposter yet?" He tried to sound angry, but he was suddenly fighting tears.

"You're probably thinking he's less annoying than me. More likeable. Smallfeet always are, to you."

Kolka just watched him as he spluttered, struggling to speak words as everything came spilling out.

Not that it made much difference. Fleem knew what smallfeet sounded like to yetis. She couldn't make out anything anyway.

"You're probably thinking you'd be better off leaving me here, and keeping him instead. You wouldn't even notice I was gone."

Frustrated with himself, he covered his head with the blanket again as a couple of stray tears finally escaped his eyes. Had he always been this emotional? He blamed the smallfoot body. It had messed him up in virtually every way conceivable.

Something touched his head, gently sliding the blanket off. Fleem now sat completely exposed in his misery on Kolka's palm, as she pulled off his cover. He sighed and let her take it off his shoulders too. What was the point? He couldn't hide from what he had been turned into.

Kolka pulled him to her chest, catching him off guard. A hug? "W-What are you doing?" He spluttered.

Of course, he couldn't understand her response. But her growls sounded gentle.

Fleem glanced in shock to the other members of the S.E.S. beside Kolka. They nodded and answered with gentle growls of their own.

None of them laughed.

Fleem blinked, and started to relax into Kolka's hug. His dread and fear began to melt away. Through his tears, he let out a shaky sigh of utmost relief.

The message was clear enough. The S.E.S, his friends, were not going to abandon him.