Soft yawns followed by content sighs were the noises that greeted a group of girls often seen around Johnny Test. His mother Lillian 'Lila', his sisters, Susan and Mary, and his on again off again rival and love interest, Sissy. They found themselves in a soft section of Susan and Mary's lab. Together they gradually pushed themselves off the floor and sat up proceeding to rub the sleep from their eyes, as awareness slowly seeping into their brains. Afterwards they stretched releasing muscle tension that built up in their bodies for being in one position for so long.
Soon they were met with soft growls that erupted from their stomachs. The soft tummies were met with soothing hands rubbing them gently.
"Mmm I'm hungry, my stomach says it's time to eat," Mary stated with a smile looking at her sister, her brain still a little foggy from sleep.
Susan smiled back, "I'm hungry too, my belly says let's go get breakfast," her mind just as hazy as her twin's.
"Oh I can't wait to see what your father is going to make this morning. My stomach is so empty, I'm hungry enough to eat for two." their mother chipped in, earning odd looks from her daughters.
"My belly is just empty enough that even cereal will be enough to ease my hunger," Sissy said.
Mary's eyebrows furrowed in confusion trying to remember why they were all in the lab when her dad made it a house rule that there was no camping in the lab or working overnights. Her sister quickly caught on also trying to remember, noticing that they were in the part of the lab set aside for menstrual naps and sleeping experiments. Sissy appeared to be clueless as to why she was in the Test house at all and was quickly becoming suspicious as her brain caught up with her body. Lila's eyes widened when she realized where she was taking notice that they were all in their day clothes rather than pajamas.
"Alright girls, just what is going on?" she demanded, looking at her oldest children in a no nonsense manner.
Before either of them had time to speak, their bellies grumbled only to be met with more soothing belly rubs.
"We're not sure, but we're so hungry our stomachs feel empty!" the girls said together, looking at their mother.
"My stomach is feeling pretty empty too… boy am I hungry…," their mother murmured looking down at her tummy.
"I'm so hungry my gut feels like a tank with no gas," Sissy said, leaning back on one of her hands.
The red headed twins looked back at each other trying to collaborate in remembering how they had gotten there and why, if it was an experiment they should remember it, if it was not then they had a serious issue on their hands. After a few moments of not be able to recall anything, the girls stood up and went over to their computer to see the long log of current experiments. Going down the list they were able to only see a few that might have put them in their current situation, but narrowing it further down since they had experimented on themselves as well as their mother and Sissy, they were able to bring the suspected experiments to two options with three possible scenarios. The first option was that they were experimenting with a pheromone and this specific experiment only worked on females and they got caught up in the experiment along with their test subjects. The second option was their highly unstable cryogenic neurogas of which testing that seemed to work better on their female lab rats than their male lab rats… only the fairer sex woke up, but had temporary amnesia.
Mary bit her lip looking at her sister from the corner of her eye as Susan looked back raising her hand to cover her mouth all the while a chorus of growls were heard from all the neglected bellies in the room. The Test girls took one hand and rubbed their tummies soothingly while Sissy hunched over and rubbed her belly with two hands.
"Ugh, my stomach couldn't be any emptier. I'm famished," Susan groused under her breath.
"I'm ravenous… my stomach feels like en empty fish bowl," Mary whispered.
Sissy groaned, "I'm so hungry I could eat a whole cow, my gut is so empty," whining in a similar tone that Johnny usually uses.
Lila raised an eyebrow at the young girl but returned her attention to her daughters, "Girls, what's happening? I'm feeling very peckish and my stomach isn't exactly engorged with food."
"Well…," they started out looking very guilty looking away from each other before Mary spoke up, "there are a few things that could have happened. One of which involving a series of experiments that involved a pheromone that only worked on the female species. The pheromone is tasteless but smells different to each female who smells it. The effect of this pheromone is that it makes females a little more… feral. Since humans consider themselves to be above being feral, we were doing research on feral children and wanted to see what the outcome would be if the girls in general were already civilized, but were then exposed to the pheromone that would make them feral."
As Mary was talking, Susan was pulling up parts of their research on their large screen to show their mom and Sissy exactly what they were talking about. Sepia and black and white images of dirty children on all fours popped up on screen. Photos of sociologists who studied and conducted their own social experiments also appeared, showing the depth that went into their research. Lila nodded in understanding taking everything her daughters were doing in stride while Sissy's face was one of slow understanding.
A high pitched gurgling noise emerged from their bellies as Mary finished her sentence. They all shifted embarrassed at the noises their midsections kept making and pet them with soft hopes of silencing the noises.
The young twin scientists sighed as one, "My poor stomach is starving. Gee/Gosh I'm so hungry."
Sissy furrowed her eyebrows at the red headed sisters, "I'm so hungry I'm dying! My tummy is hankering for some pizza."
"I'm so famished, pizza sounds pretty good to my empty innards." Lila said roughly, "What's the second thing?"
Susan and Mary switched places in an unspoken agreement. "The second experiment we were conducting involved our cryogenic neurogas, a small project we were working on... that just so happens to be volatile," she tried to say as nonchalantly as sliding a broken vase under a rug.
Mary promptly took over without missing a beat, "The cryogenic neurogas's name is misleading. It's actually closer to cryopreservation, but we liked the term cryogenic better since it's already a commonly misused word. Now, our gas is supposed to take effect through breathing. It flows through the lungs without it attaching to anything, but once the gas reaches the brain, it slowly freezes it allowing your body to think you're just going to sleep. In reality your brain is gently protected by the gas freezing it, and all of your body's normal functions, minus breathing and your heart pumping, stop… Basically you freeze in time without becoming cryonic, which is still not reversible. However our gas slowly runs out of the body through breathing and eventually the person wakes up. All the testing we did though had better results on our female rats compared to our male rats… only the females really woke up, but they had temporary amnesia that went away at different times for each subject."
More tummy gurgling could be heard from all of their stomachs, as did the sounds of hands petting their bellies.
"Boy am I hungry. I'm so empty I feel like I could eat a horse," Sissy said further petting her stomach.
"I'm still pretty hungry too. If we were asleep for as long as you said we were it is no wonder. I'm going to go filly my bare tummy with some of your father's cooking," Lila said with a smile.
"I'm so hungry my stomach feels like it's going to start eating itself. I didn't think it was possible to feel so empty?" Susan exasperated.
Mary giggled, "I'm so hungry it feels like I went on a diet. My stomach is so hollow I could eat the north end of a south bound bear."
The girls all started calmly walking towards the exit of the lab with smiles on their face at the prospect of eating. Once they got they reached the door Susan punched in the code that would life their heavy door; however instead of lifting up, the door buzzed loudly denying them access to the other side. The twins jumped up with looks of shock on their face; Susan immediately punched the code in again only to meet the same outcome. Susan immediately ground her teeth and glared at the keypad as though it was at fault, like it purposely refused to open the door in a childish manner. She quickly punched in an emergency code that was supposed to override the door in dire circumstances only for it to make clunking noises, like it was locked and being forcibly held down.
Growling could be heard from their stomachs sounding a little louder than last time. They absentmindedly patted their bellies in a consoling manner.
"Man I'm so hungry my tumbly is making the rumblies… that only food can satisfy," Sissy whined.
"I'm ravenous, I don't think my brain is functioning properly. My stomach is a potbelly without anything filling the pot," the brunette mother said with a slouch, her face one of dejection.
"I'm starving! This stupid door refusing to open is NOT helping me feed my empty stomach!" Susan exclaimed angrily.
"Ugh, I'm so empty… I think my hollow stomach believes my throat's been cut," Mary said exasperatedly, earning herself a few looks of disbelief.
Mary pointedly ignored the looks in favor of looking for another way out of the lab. The way the door was obstructed was obviously due to outside influence, possibly Dad, since he had a tendency to lock the lab when he considered them grounded. It WAS possible he thought no one was in the lab if he called for them and no one answered, and after it reached dinner time, he assumed they were still out he just locked them in without looking further into it; assuming they stood his meatloaf up without realizing it. It also wasn't uncommon for their mother to work overtime when she was reaching a deadline and also missed dinner or slept at the office. While going over her thoughts Mary failed to notice that she was walking in the direction of their "skylight". She was temporarily distracted when the sounds of tummy growling reached her ears again, oblivious to the fact that she and the other girls automatically reached and rubbed their bellies.
"We need to find a way out of here. I'm starving! My stomach is so empty it just misses your father's cooking," Lila said starting to whine childishly, oddly reminding the girls of Johnny.
"I'm dying of hunger in here! I think my stomach is hungry enough to eat my liver," Sissy huffed, she quickly crossed her arms in a manner to give the appearance of being tough.
"I'm so hungry I think this is what going on a diet feels like. I don't get it, WHY would people do this to themselves WILLINGLY!? My stomach feels like the Kola Superdeep Borehole," Susan complained, her eyebrows furrowed unhappily.
"Would you guys relax, we've only been awake for about 30 minutes… although I'm pretty hungry too... my belly feels like what amounts to a black hole," Mary admitted looking away from them.
The level headed scientist noticed which part of the lab they were in and looked up with relief to see the familiar contraption that allowed them to experiment and work on aerodynamic machines without constantly breaking their house; her mind was instantly whirling with ideas on how to get out of their laboratory.
"I think I just may have the solution to our problem…" Mary remarked with a self-satisfied smile, "Since we can't get out through the doors, or teleport, we'll just have to use a window of our own making."
Susan quickly caught on to what her sister was thinking; her eyes widened with understanding and her anger quickly evaporating. "We can get out, but we'll have to use our "skylight"! We have a few experiments that were just recently successful that will allow us to fly up out of the skylight and get out of the lab!"
The red headed scientists looked at each other pleased with their creative thinking, "We're such geniuses!"
Their little moment of celebration was interrupted by their stomachs announcing their displeasure through rumbling. Their bellies were met with understanding hands and small smiles as their optimism grew.
"Let's make it fast; I'm not getting any less hungry here. My belly has made that perfectly clear by now being as unfilled as it is," Sissy declared flippantly, tossing her hair behind her shoulder.
Lila looked at her daughters with pride, "Come on then, let's get a move on! I'm famished. My hollow stomach is late with a cuisine meeting," her tone back to its normal self-assured bossiness.
"Yes ma'am! I can't wait to eat some of Dad's home cooking and fill my empty tummy, I'm so hungry!" Susan declared happily.
"Sure thing! I'm so hungry I'm so excited at the prospect of eating, now I know how Johnny feels when there's pizza for dinner. My hollow tummy is super happy with the idea of eating soon," Mary trilled, practically vibrating with enthusiasm.
The girls went to one of their vaults specifically for successful inventions they did not want Johnny misusing; enthralled with the idea of freedom they quickly opened it and went inside to find four of their brainchildren that allowed flight to its user. They were horrified to find their vault had been broken into and in place of missing inventions were "Johnny owes you one experiment testing" coupons. Horror was immediately replaced with rage, "JOHNNY!" they shouted in their fury, seething that their escape plans were obstructed with the loss of most of their aerial machines. The only remaining flight devices were the jetpack their mom had borrowed a few times and their rocket boots, but upon close inspection they noticed dings and scraped that could have caused malfunctions in the boots, while the jetpack was in good condition.
"We have a problem," Mary proclaimed to the rest of their group.
Before she could continue their stomachs protested loudly declaring their discontentment through stomach pains. They all hunched over and grabbed their bellies, trying to soothe them by rubbing them gently slowly falling into a daze.
Sissy groaned in pain, "I'm literally dying from hunger. My tank is angry with me for being on E."
"What's the problem? Besides my insides trying to kill me for being so empty. God I'm so hungry," the older brunette groused morosely, sucking in a deep breath falling back on breathing exercises like she did when she went into labor.
Susan was still hunched over, "God it hurts! I'm so hungry. My stomach can't handle being empty anymore!"
Mary grunted, "So hungry… I think I'm emptier than I initially thought…," she took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves, "problem is we only have one working aerial device."
Soon they were all taking deep breaths and doing small parts of breathing exercises to get a hold of the pain; a few more deep breaths and they were able to stand again without hunching in a vertical fetal position.
"Johnny took most of our devices that allow flight, one of the equipments he put back seems to be damaged and we don't want to take chances with it. There's only one working device that we can see in there, and it only holds on, but can withhold the weight of two," Mary explained patiently, looking towards her sister, her eyes shining with disappointment at their misfortune.
"The remaining device is the jetpack. We can have Mom put it on, and she can take one of us out at a time. We weigh less than dad so we know it'll work, but it'll take longer, and we don't know how much fuel is left in it or if Johnny took it out for a joyride at all," Susan clarified, looking at her sister, her eyes reflecting fear of failure.
Even through her hunger daze, Lila was able to see the fear and disappointment in her girls' faces, and her empty stomach filled with bitter devastation. Instead of being a strong mother in their time of need she displayed weakness and had depended on them the whole time to think of something for their situation, instead of coming up with ideas to help them herself.
Her stomach lurched with gurgling and sharp pains; the gurgling was echoed by the young girls surrounding her. They all rubbed their bellies in futile attempts to quiet the noise and stop the pain.
"Damn, I'm starving… It's like I have the munchies and starting labor contractions at the same time. How can any human be this empty and not be sick,"? Lila muttered to herself.
"I can't stand it anymore! I'm so empty, I'm so HUNGRY I'm just HAVE to eat something, anything! RIGHT NOW!" Sissy cried; her face was set in pain and fear, tears welling up in her eyes.
"SHUT UP! I'm hungry too you little brat! I'm pretty sure I'm JUST as empty as YOU are and you don't see me grabbing for anything, because it could be deadly," Susan hissed at the younger girl.
Mary closed her eyes tightly and breathed softly, "I'm so hungry… god it hurts to be so empty… never again. After this I'm making sure there's a refrigerator in here filled with food and I will never berate Johnny again for complaining about hunger after an experiment."
It took the girls a minute to compose themselves again before they were able to look at each other and come out of their own pain inducing world breathing a little harder than before; they were all slowly losing their strength every time the pain hit. Susan and Mary went back into their vault and grabbed the jetpack together and preceded to hand it over to their mother who was waiting with a determined air about her. Lila struggled a little bit under the weight of it, only further showing how weak their hunger was making them, but was able to securely strap herself into the jetpack. Susan and Mary were by their mother's side and were quickly checking over her and their jet pack making sure everything was secure and in its proper place. They wiggled the fuel tanks a little in order to gauge the amount of fuel that was still in them.
A chorus of growls emerged from their stomachs as did groans from their owners at the sharp pain they were awarded. They quickly grabbed their midsections and methodically rubbed them hoping fiercely that it would help.
"My stomach and I have reached an agreement. Ugh, I'm famished!" Lila grunted.
"I'm so hungry, my tummy can't get any emptier," Sissy whimpered, a few tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
"For the umpteenth time Sissy I'm hungry too! I'm just as hungry, if not hungrier than you are," Susan snipped, glaring daggers at the young blond.
"Ugh, I'm so hungry. My stomach is a big void of nothingness and it's just getting worse," Mary whispered to herself, her eyebrows furrowed in worry as she let out a shaky breath.
It took them roughly three times longer than the last time before they were capable of holding themselves up. The older girls looked at each other and the poor condition Sissy seemed to be in and made a unanimous decision without having to say anything, one of the benefits of being twins. Mary nudged Sissy in the direction of her mother, "You have to hold on as tightly as you can, Mom should be able to drop you off on the roof at least before she comes back for us. Whatever you do, do NOT try to get down by yourself," as she was talking she hit a button that opened the roof up that was their "skylight".
Lila and Sissy nodded at the instructions and implements showing their understanding before doing anything. Sissy grasped tightly onto the Test matriarch and allowed herself to be lifted off the ground and placed gently on the roof.
As soon as Sissy had a firm footing on the roof, Lila went back to get her daughters, when the belly grumbling started up again. Now that she was outside and could breathe in fresh air, it wasn't so bad for her, however the Test girls were not so lucky as they all rubbed their bellies in hopes that the pain would stop.
"Man, I'm still hungry and empty, but it's not as bad out here," Sissy mused aloud.
Lila groaned in pain before stating; "Gosh I'm so freaking hungry, my poor empty tummy… my poor little girls…"
"URG! It's getting worse! My stomach is so empty it hurts! I'm soooo hungry!" Susan groaned, tears pooling into her yes from the sharp pains.
"AHH! It hurts so bad! I feel like my stomach bare and yet the hunger feels like someone is stabbing me in my belly! Mom! MOM! I'm starving. Mom, help!" Mary cried, her hunger aches scaring the young scientist.
For once their experiment was taking a turn for the worse, in ways that the girls had yet to experience filling them with fear and pain. Lila landed as quickly as she could and stood in a stance to impose strength to her young daughters, almost like a super hero would before fighting a villain silently announcing their presence. Susan and Mary quickly ran to their mother and clung on desperately willing her to get them out of their lab that was normally their sanctuary, quickly turning in to a dungeon that only held pain, suffering, and their never ending starvation. The Test matriarch took a moment to assess her daughters' grips before starting the jetpack up and launching them through the artificial skylight; she took another minute to glance at her twins, taking in their amazing red hair, soft sniffles, and the wet spots they were leaving in her blazer. Soon they were on the roof and Lila pulled her daughters closer into a tight mothering embrace to give them a sense of safety before releasing them.
Once more their stomachs announced their displeasure at their needs not being met through growling. Thankfully fresh air took away some of the pain, not by much for the young scientists, and they absently rubbed their bellies finding small comfort in the action.
"I'm still hungry… my belly can't take it anymore," Sissy whimpered at the Test's mother, seeking assurance in the adult.
"I'm starving, Mom! It still hurts… it hurts so bad. Mom please, I can't-I can't- my tummy so empty is throbbing with pain," Susan whimpered, her words muffled as her face was still pressed into her mother's chest.
"Mom my t-tummy is sore! I-it feels like my stomach is tearing inwards! I'm so hungry, Mom, I don't what to dooo," Mary sobbed, into her mother's blazer, more of her tears soaking the sleek material as she sought maternal comfort.
"I'm still hungry too girls, my stomach feels like a hollow void…" Lila confided, if only to let the young girls surrounding her know they were not the only ones still suffering.
Lila looked at all of the girls around her and took in their youth, taking a moment to realize just how small, tiny, and fragile they were; they were not experienced in ways of life and its pain. The realization hit her like a bus that she had to take care of all of them, all three of them; Sissy may not be her son, but she made up for her young blond, and they were under her care. Fear shot down the businesswoman's spine, a small cold sweat breaking out, she was a parent, mother even, but she was the bread winner, she did not handle caring for the children, it was a nice arrangement with her husband, and yet here she was with three children hungry and in pain. Lila had very little interaction with her maternal instincts, she was sure right now she should be in survival mode to protect them all, and yet all she felt was fear and insecurity at not being able to get them down from the roof alive, it was cold and dark, and more gut-wrenching than the hunger in her belly. The maternal figure took a deep shuddering breath trying to get a grip on the situation and on her fear.
Her concentration was interrupted by stomach growls that crept up, nearly surprising her, but also reminding her tenfold about their situation. The younger girls all reached for their stomachs and rubbed them fiercely as though to make it the pain go away, while Lila reached around her daughters and patted her stomach without thinking.
"Mrs. Test, I'm starving… my belly is starting to feel worse like it's getting emptier and curling in on itself at the same time," were the whispered words from the scared blond.
"I'm so hungry! It hurts! My stomach is so bare it hurts!" Susan proclaimed, fear and shock coloring her voice even as tears continued to stream down her face.
"Mom I'm starving! I-I'm so hungry it hurts! ! Mom it h-hurts s-so ba-ad! M-my tummy is hollow," Mary wailed, quickly becoming more petrified with how much her tummy ached with every passing moment.
"I'm hungry… and empty too…." Lila whispered to herself, feeling herself go cold.
The brunette took another deep shuddering breath and let her business side take over since it was easier to handle those emotions rather than dealing with her lack of maternal instincts, she was better at giving instructions and taking command of a situation since that was her every day job. "Girls, I need you all to try to calm yourselves down and grab me tightly. It sounded like there was not enough fuel for me to make another trip up here from the ground, so we're going to have to do this in one trip. Sissy, you're the smallest; you get in the middle of Susan and Mary. Susan, Mary, make sure when you hang on to me that you have a tight grip on Sissy so she doesn't slip. We're going to try to make this as quick and smooth as possible. We're going to land on the lawn, and after we will go into the house and we will eat some of your father's cooking… my cooking will just make things worse," most of her instructions were spoken calmly, as though she was presenting something at a big meeting in front of her bosses, the last part was muttered under her breath.
As the girls clamored around her and did as they were told, the brunette mother took another breath as she felt them squeeze tightly, as though afraid they were going to fall, she compartmentalized and was ready for what she knew needed to be done. When Lila felt all the girls were secure, she pressed the button that allowed the jetpack to lift them off of the roof and aptly maneuvered them over the lush green that was her lawn and slowly descended, careful not to go too quickly and injure any of them. Relief flooded Lila as their feet smoothly touched the grass, softly crushing it under their weight.
Her relief was quickly crushed by the stomach growls' fierce return. The girls let go of her and fell to the ground clutching their stomachs, as she reached for hers, they rubbed their bellies hoping to hold off for just a little longer.
"I'm so hungry my tank is emptier than Johnny's head," Sissy groaned loudly, lashing out at the blond boy subconsciously.
"I'm so hungry… so tired…. So empty," the Test mother mumbled as her twins whimpered before they were able to actually speak.
"Mom, I'm so hungry. My stomach is so empty it feels like it's caving in on itself," Susan complained, tears still falling from her eyes, splashing onto her glasses.
"M-mom, please… I'm starving. My tummy is just so empty, mom, I can barely stand it anymore," Mary choked out around her tears.
Lila knew she wouldn't be able to care for the girls any further and panicked, her insides screaming at her to rely on her husband to fix this problem that she considered domestic. "HUGH! HUGH! START COOKING! YOU'RE FEEDING FOUR! QUICKLY!" the brunette barked, knowing her husband could hear her and would do as he was told, it was the basis of their relationship, "JOHNNY COME HERE AND HELP ME GET THEM INSIDE THE HOUSE!" she ordered next, aware that her son was in the backyard. Lila was quickly greeted with sight of blond hair from her son, who stood in shock before following through and started carrying the girls in his life into the house with his mother's help; as soon as they were all inside, taken refuge in the kitchen, Hugh was upon them with bowls of soup, knowing that empty bellies would only get worse if they were filled with anything solid. Lila breathed a deep sigh of relief and happiness as she took the bowl of proffered soup from her husband and slowly started to eat happily; her spoon shaking only slightly with the aftereffects of shock finally taking hold of her, as she watched the young girls also eating, tears stopped flowing and hunger and relief filled their eyes. For the first time today Lila was content knowing that she was a mother and she took care of the children in the best way that she could, and at the end of the day, she was able to make sure they got the food they desperately needed, even if she called for her husband the way someone else would call for a medic, all way well in the Test house… for now.
The End
