While Stan tended to hold onto as much of his possessions as possible, a byproduct of his homeless days, even he knew that it was necessary to do a deep cleaning now in then to get rid of the trash and make room for more important things. That was why Mike and Soos were cleaning some of the junk that had just been lying around in the Shack.

"Hey! Be careful with that!" Stan barked as Helpy carried an ugly lamp that was bigger than the animatronic. "It may be junk but that doesn't mean some sucker isn't willing to pay money for it! So don't break it!"

Getting rid of trash didn't mean Stan wasn't going to try to convince someone it was treasure if he could, which was why they were loading up the things in Soos's truck to peddle off at the flea market.

"Relax Old Man," Mike laughed, adjusting his grip on the rolled-up shag carpet he was carrying. "Helpy assisted me in setting up the new games and attractions, he knows how to handle delicate things."

"If he breaks it, it's coming out of your pay," Stan grumbled, getting an eye roll from Mike. "And for that sass, I'm reducing your pay!"

"You don't even pay me," Mike reminded him with a grin. "So that's not much of a threat."

"Maybe I should pay you just so I can take it away," Stan snarked, before making a shooing motion with his hands at Mike. "Hurry up and get all that junk out of here! I want it to be long gone before my first marks show up for the day!"

"We're almost done," Mike assured, sliding the carpet into the back of the truck while Helpy handed the lamp to Soos. The carpet was so thick and fluffy that Mike could feel his hair rise from a static charge he got even in that brief time.

"That should be everything Mr. Pines," Soos declared as he place the lamp in. "I promise I'll make you proud!"

"Remember the tricks I taught you…" Stan began.

Mike ignored Stan going over tips and tricks to convince people to buy junk and headed inside, not realizing he still had a static charge. When he was passing Dipper in the living room, Mike automatically reached out to ruffle the younger boy's hair. The moment he made contact, there was a brief flash of light, and Mike stagger, feeling incredibly disoriented.

"What happened?" Mike asked only to pause at the sound of his voice. That was not his normal voice… did that light mess with his voice-mimicking software? It must have affected all his systems pretty heavily as he didn't see the diagnostics report scrolling across his vision, but at least all his limbs still seemed to be functioning. Wait… did the room get bigger?

"Wow! This is so wild!" Dipper commented from his side, only Mike could have sworn it had been his voice at first before it had switched to Dipper's. Looking over at his little brother, Mike's jaw dropped in shock when he realized he had to look up to look into his own face.

"There's so much information being displayed," Dipper said in cheerful fascination, looking around in wonder and oblivious to Mike's stunned stare. "Is it always like this for you Mike?"

"Wh- how- what's going on!?" Mike sputtered, gesturing widely between him and Dipper and finally realizing he was in Dipper's body. "How in the- did we switch bodies!? And how are you so calm about this!?"

"Well, did you recently come in contact with a blue shag carpet?" Dipper asked with a smirk, getting a nod from Mike. "It's one of Grunkle Ford's old experiments. Mabel and I encountered that during our first summer and this isn't nearly as bad as becoming Mabel or Waddles."

"Then let's hurry before Soos drives away with it!" Mike immediately declared, beginning to head towards the front. "We need to change back immediately!"

"We don't need to change right away, I've been so curious about what it was like being a cyborg," Dipper replied, flexing his animatronic hand and making the claws come out. "So cool! I promise we'll switch back soon, just let me try a few things!"

"It's too dangerous Dipper!" Mike scolded, fear evident in his voice. While Dipper messing around with his robotic abilities was a cause of concern, Mike was far more concerned about Dipper's soul being exposed so suddenly to all the remnant in Mike's body. According to William's notes and experiments, foreign remnant can have unusual effects when suddenly introduced in large amounts, such as keeping Mike's soul bound to his dead body when he was killed.

"I'll be careful," Dipper assured, ignorant of Mike's real worries.

Dipper retracted the claws and switched the hand to Taser Mode, laughing excitedly at seeing the electricity spark between his fingers. The thing about Mike's cybernetics is they weren't only controlled by Mike's thoughts. They were infused with remnant, a substance that responded to strong emotions, and Dipper's excitement at seeing the electricity respond to him meant that it became stronger, causing the electricity grows, becoming larger and more frequent.

At first, Dipper only got more excited by the display until the electricity got dangerously big. His excitement turned to panic and he tried to turn it off, not realizing his panic was only making the problem worse.

"Mike I can't control it!" Dipper cried, gripping the animatronic arm with his human one as he held electricity away from himself. His fear and panic also caused the wires to emerge from his back, flailing around to attack a threat that wasn't there. "How do I turn it off!?"

"It's reacting to your panic!" Mike explained, raising his hands in a calming gesture. "You need to calm down! Take some deep breaths. Sing your favorite song. Tell me about whatever book you're reading. Anything before you hurt yourself!"

"Uh… uh… Disco girl…" Dipper forced himself to start, doing his best to ignore the chaos that was happening. "Coming through… that girl is you… OooO…. OoooO…"

Despite Dipper's terrified start, the song did the trick in forcing his concertation on something else. The wires retracted and the electricity began to die down. Seeing those results, Dipper truly did begin to calm down and got even more into the song, the voice-mimicking software kicking in as his hand returned completely to normal.

"There we go," Mike sighed in relief. "Can we please switch back before something else happens?!"

"Yeah, let's switch back," Dipper agreed, shaken by what just happened.

"Soos has probably left already," Mike said, reaching for the golf cart keys. "We'll need to catch up with him at the flea market."

"I'll drive," Dipper smirked, using his greater height and longer reach to easily snag the keys before Mike could, much to Mike's frustration. "I'm the older one now after all."

"After what just happened, I wouldn't trust you to get us there safely," Mike huffed, trying his best to ignore the fact he was acting like the moody teenager he technically was now.

"I drive the golf cart all the time," Dipper replied, waving away Mike's concern as he reached for the door. "I'll be fine."

Now the thing is the front door had a habit of sticking, no matter how many times Soos attempted to fix it, so Dipper was used to yanking the door open with all his strength just to save time. But that was his young human teenage strength, whereas he had just grabbed the door with Mike's animatronic arm. So when Dipper pulled with all his strength, he accidentally pulled the door completely off its hinges.

"…Maybe you should drive…" Dipper conceded after a moment of the two of them staring at the damage. Mike just nodded and accepted the offered keys.

"Hot Belgium Waffles!" Stan cursed when he saw the damage. "What happened to the door."

"It was my fault, Grunkle Stan," Dipper apologized, getting a confused look from Stan. "I promise I'll help Soos fix it later."

"Sorry about that Old Man," Mike agreed, pulling Dipper through the now open doorway, getting another weird look from Stan. "But we need to go now."

Stan just watched the two with suspicion as they hurried into the golf cart, looking between them and the door that was now leaning against the wall.

"I'm not even going to ask," Stan decided with a shake of his head, trusting those two to take care of whatever weirdness they had gotten themselves caught up in this time.

Thankfully the two managed to arrive at the flea market without any issues and found Soos still setting the stall.

"Soos!" Mike called as they ran over. "Where's the shag carpet? We need it!"

"Sorry dude, I already sold it," Soos informed apologetically, getting horrified looks from Mike and Dipper. "But if you ask Lazy Susan nicely, I'm sure she'll be willing to give it back."

"Thanks, Soos," Dipper said, taking off into the rest of the flea market, forcing Mike to scramble after him. It turned out Lazy Susan had traded the carpet away, forcing Mike and Dipper on a wild goose chase back and forth across the flea market as they tried to track down the carpet's latest whereabouts.

"McGucket…" Mike gasped as he and Dipper arrived at the man's stand. Mike was exhausted, not used to having just regular human strength and stamina while Dipper was barely breathing hard. "Please… tell me… you still have… the carpet…"

"Dang tootin' I do," McGucket said, pointing at where the carpet was much to the brothers' relief. "I recognized that old do-hickey and knew it shouldn't be going all willie-nillie among the people. I'm guessing you two need the ol' switcher-roo?"

Mike and Dipper nodded, immediately going to the carpet and switching back. Mike sighed in relief at feeling the familiar buzz of energy that was always present in his body while Dipper groaned as he was hit with his body's exhaustion.

"I think I'm done adventuring for the day," Dipper said, leaning over he as caught his breath.

"Agreed," Mike replied, picking up his exhausted younger brother and getting an embarrassed yelp from Dipper. "Let's head home."

Later the sun was just beginning to set, turning the sky a golden color and promising a dazzling display of other colors soon to follow. But as Mike sat on the edge of the roof, he wasn't looking at the beautiful view, but rather at his hands. He curled and straightened his fingers, watching the difference between flesh and machine and trying not to dwell on how just a few hours earlier, he had had two normal human hands. (Though they hadn't really been his hands had they…)

"I knew I'd find you moping up here kid," Stan commented, joining Mike on the roof.

"I'm not moping," Mike countered defensively, refusing to admit that was exactly what he had been doing.

"Fine brooding then," Stan teased before his expression softened. "Kid, something about this whole "body swap" you had with Dipper is eating at you. You can talk to me about it or you can wait until the twins figure out something's bothering you and then pester you into sharing your feelings."

Mike chuckled a little at that, knowing that's exactly what would happen.

"Despite the circumstances surrounding it, in many ways I'm grateful that Cipher turned me into a cyborg," Mike eventually started, once more studying his hands. "I had spent decades as what could be classified as a literal monster. A barely human creature that was just existing and surviving rather than living. And then suddenly, I'm more human again than I ever dreamed of happening. I have a heart that beats, I can taste and actually feel things again, and I'm alive. I had gained so much back that should have been impossible that anything I still lost was nothing and honestly, after so long of not being human I hadn't really noticed anything different… but now…"

"Now you've had the reminder of what it was like to be fully human again," Stan concluded. "You've discovered what you're missing."

Mike nearly nodded, still staring at his hands. While Mike wouldn't have made any different decisions about trying to switch back as soon as possible, there was still a part of him that wished he had taken the time to experience things he couldn't experience otherwise. To feel grass or sand between his toes. To be able to just jump in a pool of water without having to make sure all his parts were airtight. To be able to go sightseeing without various programs analyzing his surroundings and displaying his current condition status. To be able to hug or roughhouse with someone without subconsciously always worrying about using too much of his strength. To just be human again.

Stan didn't say anything, just wrap an arm around Mike's shoulders to offer comfort and watched the sunset.

"You know, if you asked I'm sure Ford could come up with some do-hickey or spell to turn you human," Stan commented after a while. "It might take a while to figure out, but I'm sure Sixer would love the challenge."

While Stan had said that in a joking manner, Mike knew he was serious. His family looked out for each other and that included him. If expressed the desire to be human again, he knew the others would do everything they could to make that happen. And while a small part of him was tempted, he wouldn't for the same reason he chose not to pursue a time wish. Chasing after impossible goals like that always cost more than they were worth and Mike refused to lose his new family to that kind of obsession the way Willam lost him his old one.

"I'll keep that in mind," Mike chuckled, appreciating the sentiment even if nothing would ever come of it. "But being a Cyborg isn't all bad. I can beat almost everyone at arm wrestling, though I wouldn't risk going up against Wendy's dad."

"Wise," Stan nodded knowingly. "I swear that man has to be part bear. You ready to head back in kid? These hard boards aren't good for my old bones."

"Yeah I'm ready old man," Mike smirked, getting a smack to the back of his head.

While Mike did miss some of the things he lost by no longer being fully human, the things he gained were worth so much more. He had a real home now and a family that loved him. He wouldn't give trade them for anything in the world.