Waglington was about fifteen minutes late returning home today, after finishing his day of watching Mianite, Ianite, and Dianite. He had taken over User's day yesterday too, since User insisted it was only fair, and now he was exhausted. They had learned the hard way that kittens weren't exactly the most obedient creatures, and spent most of the day chasing down their wayward pets. Waglington was surprised to find all of his brothers waiting for him and amazed that even Firez and Bruce had stopped home and were there too. KillerTom was pacing back and forth in the entrance to their living room and he realized that something must be wrong. User was the first to speak.

"About time you'd show up."

"Hey! I'm only late because I was doing your job!"

"No you weren't, today was your day anyway!"

"Both of you stop it, we have more dire things to worry about!"

Firez's harsh command caused them both to stop short and look at him. Tom stopped pacing and fixed him with an intent gaze. A hush passed over the Wizards as they each silently debated on what could be so serious that it warranted all the brothers being there. Firez didn't seem to be in any hurry to tell them, and when he finally decided he had let the suspense drag on long enough, he spoke.

"They're getting stronger."

They all flinched slightly at the statement, disbelief and fear flashing in their eyes. Tom rubbed his temples and stared at the floor in dismay, while Waglington and User exchanged worried glances. Twisted was the first to speak up and he looked like he still couldn't wrap his head around what Firez had said.

"I don't understand! We've been stifling their powers, they should be just like normal children, right?"

"Look, I don't get it either! All I know is that something is wrong. Can't you feel it too?" Firez snapped in response.

Twisted seemed to deflate slightly, upset at being yelled at when he had only been asking. Firez blinked and then looked away after a moment, obviously starting to regret losing his temper so quickly. The Wizard brothers had prided themselves at knowing how to deal with anything and everything, so starting to panic over a disaster that had barely even begun didn't make them happy. Bruce had shifted slightly earlier and was ready to jump in if a serious fight broke out.

"I think we all need to calm down. Firez is right, though, can anyone else feel it?" He asked, glancing around.

Twisted shook his head slightly, looking embarrassed. Tom made it quite obvious that he did, with all his pacing and upset expressions. Waglington wondered if he was the one who alerted the two oldest brothers, since he seemed to sense it more strongly than anyone else. User made eye contact with Waglington and they both nodded.

"Now that you mention it...something has seemed a little off." User answered first, though his voice sounded hesitant.

"Yeah, I guess I did but I didn't really think anything of it." Was Waglington's response.

The two of them were starting to feel bad by this point. They had spent more time with the kids than any of their brothers this week, so it should have been up to them to notice something was wrong and let the others know. Waglington thought back to watching the kids the day before, trying to pick out signs that they were getting more powerful. He had felt it, but had ignored the feeling while he was watching them because they hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. Twisted appeared to be doing the same thing, his face scrunched up in an effort to remember.

"They haven't done anything, though! What if we're just feeling something else?" User asked, suddenly skeptical.

"Have you even been watching them at all? Did you look closely at Dianite's horns? They're...they're real now." Tom spat out, fixing a hard look on User.

"W-what? I was just watching them today and he took them off, that can't be true!" Waglington broke in, but he felt a cold sensation creeping up his spine.

"I tried taking them off two days ago, and they wouldn't budge for me. When I took them home, he took them off without any effort." Tom was practically shaking as he relayed this information, and his eyes seemed to be focused on replaying the memories rather than paying attention to the let out a small gasp and turned quickly to Firez and Bruce. The older brothers were whispering fiercely to each other, but quickly broke apart to calm Tom down.

"I would say that's proof enough that their powers are increasing. He can make them real when he's wearing them, because he's still young and he enjoys pretending their real. What he doesn't know is that he's actually making them real when he pretends. When he takes them off, he stops believing their real and so they aren't." Bruce explained quietly.

"So...this means our powers aren't enough to counteract theirs anymore?" Tom asked suddenly, a hard look in his eyes.

Firez stood completely still for several seconds. Finally, he met eyes with Bruce and then nodded. Nobody spoke as they all processed this startling piece of news. Waglington wondered desperately how they would manage to keep an eye on the triplets anymore if they could no longer control them.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Twisted asked quietly.

Once again, Firez kept quiet as he debated their next course of action. It didn't take him long to let out a sudden gasp and start moving about. He summoned a note pad and pencil and began scribbling down orders, stating them allowed as he went.

"From now on we'll be watching them in pairs, hopefully the powers of two wizards in such close proximity of each other will be enough to keep them from doing anything out of the ordinary. Let's hope their powers won't increase too quickly for us to keep up. Twisted, User, and Wag, I want you guys to focus on that. Tom, you'll take over if someone has overworked themselves. Otherwise, I want you to start trying to find a spell or something that could restrict their powers again, or at least slow down their growth as much as possible. Bruce and I are going to start full-time programming the parents. We can't afford to not be watching them constantly now."

He spoke quickly and fiercely, with surprising conviction for such spontaneous plans. Tom nodded sharply and left to go collect books to read through. The other three seemed a little disappointed that their only job was to continue babysitting, but they didn't complain. As each of the brothers left to prepare for their duties, Waglington couldn't help but move to the window and look in the direction of the trios house. How much do they know?

AN: The Wizards have been hiding things! Anyway, this chapter was just supposed to be a background on the Wizards relationship with the kids but I feel like I created more questions than answers. Also, I know it says "programming" but the parents aren't robots. Their more like puppet-like illusions/mirages that the Wizards created. I might explain that more in another chapter.

PS. I thought I would get lots of work done with this, since I'm off school for a week, but the new Pokémon games came out yesterday and all my writing time has been spent leveling up my precious Poochyena, so it might be delayed a bit. Maybe a couple more reviews or favorites will persuade me to put my game down for a bit?

PPS. I'd really like to improve my writing, so tips would be greatly appreciated!