HellOOOOO, Nurses! Yes, I've just updated this chapter and the next one should be out in a day, at longest! Stay tuned! NARF!


Pinky woke up to bright autumn sunlight shining through the lab window above their cage. He looked up at the sky, cloudy yet sunny, and smiled warmly to himself. He was about to go back to sleep when he realized his head was waking up, too, and when his head woke, he wasn't going fall back asleep. He was going to go eat, but was overcome with desperation to stay under the warm covers and snuggle for the rest of the day. He was torn, but ultimately decided to get up. He rolled over and accidentally slipped off the side of the bed.

"WOAH!"

CRASH.

"Haha! NARF!" He stopped himself with a hush. "Shhhh, Pinky, you'll wake poor little Brain! And you know he's tired after that scary needle last night."

Pinky sat up and shook his head brightly. "Hmm… I should make breakfast. Ooh! I know, I'll make breakfast for me and Brain. And then I'll surprise him and make him feel better!" He stretched his arms and held onto the bed to pull him up. But when he looked, he noticed that the half of the bed where Brain slept was empty, the sheets thrown back carelessly.

Pinky hopped up onto the bed and poked at the unoccupied mattress and pillow, as though The Brain would somehow appear out of thin air. But, of course, he didn't.

"Egad… he must be awake already, then!"

Pinky dragged himself down from the bed and across the floor of the cage, but when he looked around, he realized that his cagemate wasn't here, either. How peculiar…

He trudged out to the counter, but still couldn't see his friend. The counter was still spitspot, if one overlooked the hideous hypodermic needle laying menacingly against Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation in colored ink. Pinky peered over the corner of the counter, but the Brain wasn't down there, either! Across the lab, on the shelf above the gene splicing station and microwave, Billie could be heard humming to herself in her cage.

"OI, BILLIE! Oh, BIIIIIII-lliiiieee!" he called, waggling his arms around and trying to imagine himself as one of those funny dancing men in front of the car dealerships.

"Pinky? Pinky, is that you down there?"

The tall mouse smiled cheerfully and called back, "Yes, it's just me! Troz!"

Pinky could see Billie's bright eyes and nose sticking out from between the bars of her cage, and she waved sweetly. "Yoo- hoo! Happy Halloween! What's up with you?"

Pinky waved back, blushing, and called, "Happy Halloween to you, too, Billie! Em, have you seen Brain? I can't find him."

"Oh… I don't know… I've been sitting her filing my nails all morning and I ain't heard nothing of him. Sorry, Pinky, I ain't seen Egghead anywhere 'round here. Have you tried the break room?"

"Oh, no, Billie. I was just going down to get cereal for Brain and me. Maybe he is down there!" Pinky turned around and pitter-pattered off towards the break room.

Billie swallowed and reached out hastily. "Hey, Pinky?"

Pinky skid to a halt and turned around. "Yes?"

"Say, if he ain't in there, you can always come eat with me," she replied sweetly, fluttering her long eyelashes coquettishly.

Pinky blushed and grinned bashfully, stammering and tripping over his own words. "Em… I- you- er, I mean- I- no thanks- no thank you, Billie, I can't- I gotta go do- wha? I meant- erm- Happy Halloween! NARF!"

He barreled off down the counter like a rocket, and Billie sighed to herself. She sat back down with her file and said, "What a guy…"

Pinky stopped running when he was sure that he was out of sight. He swung around the corner, dizzy, and trudged down the tile to the open break room door. Billie was so sweet, and somehow… creepy. He didn't know why, but she just was. He thought maybe she fancied him. Is that why she built him a water park? It was interesting and something he couldn't comprehend. He fancied Phar Fignewton, but he never built her a water park. How funny… but now wasn't the time to bother with those things.

He pushed open the heavy door and peered up at the counter. "Brain? Brain, are you in here?"

He scrambled up the side of a chair and wriggled up onto the counter, exhausted and regretting getting up at all. He looked around and saw no sign of Brain, but a coffee pot just sitting there. Coffee did sound nice, but only if there was enough sugar. And cream. And honey.

He went to the crack in the wall where he and Brain hid their things and grabbed a thimble. He scrambled up the pot and lifted the lid-

"Hi, Pinky!"

"GAAAAAH!"

SPLASH.

Pinky went flailing into the warm coffee and wriggled up to the surface gasping in shock. Wait? What the-? Where did Brain go? He was just behind him!

Pinky pulled himself out of the pot and held on to the slippery side warily. He looked behind him, but Brain wasn't there. Hmmm… peculiarer…

"Pinky!"

"AH!"

CRUNCH.

Brain popped out of the coffeepot, Pinky flying back and slipping down the side of the pot. He just lie at the bottom weakly and scared half to death. Brain jumped down lightly and brushed himself off, his fur miraculously turning a snowy white once again. Pinky sat up, staring down in horror at his dark brown fur.

"Egad, Brain! What is it that you think you're doing in the coffeepot? Why, that's no place to be. And you frightened me so badly, too! Why, it'll take me weeks to get this color out of my fur."

The Brain helped Pinky stand and shrugged. "Sorry, Pinky," he said with a wide smile.

Pinky recoiled in horror with a shout. "Brain, did you? You… you said 'sorry'! You don't like saying 'sorry'!"

Brain nudged his friend. "Oh, Pinky, I'm just messing around with you. Just to get you to laugh, you know?"

Pinky perked up brightly, somehow completely oblivious to the complete change of his friend's nature. "Right, Brain! So… how do you think the experiment is going?"

The Brain looked at him strangely, and Pinky was suddenly taken aback. "Experiment? What experiment?" The Brain's eyes lit up. "Oh! I get it! Shoot. I wanted it to be a surprise. Oh, well. Come with me!"

He led a bewildered Pinky along to the stove, where he was cooking…

"Ooh, Brain, pancakes! My favorite! And look, Brain! Oh, Brain…"

The pancakes were shaped like little candy corns and pumpkins and bats.

"See, I got bored. And it's Halloween, and I'm really in the spirit!"

Pinky knew from years of trying that his little friend didn't like hugging, so he replied, "Ooh, Brain, I love it! Thank you! Oh!"

SMMMACK!

Pinky stumbled back, holding his mouth in shock. It seemed like the whole world had been put on pause. He couldn't even remember… it was a blur, and it had only happened just a moment ago! Had that just happened? The Brain hated touching people, let alone-

"Egad Brain, y-you kissed me! Why did you kiss me?"

The Brain seemed just as horrified as his cagemate. He looked up into the big, blue eyes, dreadfully confused. He then looked over at the pancakes, then back at Pinky. His eyes widened.

"Pinky… I think…"

He took off running at full speed towards the door.

"Brain, wait for meeeeeee!" Pinky squealed, chasing his friend across the tile. He followed his cagemate up the pipe in the hall, coughing and hacking on the dust gathered in it. He squirmed all the way up onto the roof, but, despite his swiftness, couldn't catch up with his friend. He stood up on the hard, cold roof of the building, dead leaves skittering past him and three pigeons cooing on the edge of another pipe. He turned around.

"Brain? Where are you? Oh, there you are, Brain! Troz!" He waved, but The Brain was running across the roof furiously, off toward the edge.

"Brain, wait! What are you?- Brain!" Pinky ran faster, but was too late as his friend boldly leapt. He scrambled across the tiles and slid to the edge, reaching out and crying hysterically as his friend disappeared from sight.

"BRAIN! BRAIN, WHERE ARE YOU?" He could feel his wide blue eyes welling up with tears as he peered down, desperate for a sign of his dear friend. But he wasn't there! "Oh, Brain… poor, poor Brain…" He buried his face in his hands and sobbed miserably.

"YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEES!"

Pinky shot to his feet and looked down again. He smiled widely. "Brain!" he cried, waving ecstatically.

The Brain stood brightly on his feet, not a scratch on him from that suicidal jump. He was applauding himself for his cleverness and fluttered up through the air, lighter than a cloud, and landed neatly next to Pinky.

"Pinky, it was success! I've finally done it! Nothing can harm me! I am bright and springy and strong now, more than I've ever been! With my newfound power, Pinky, I can finally do it! Take over the world, starting today! Can you imagine, Pinky?" He flung his arm around his friend's shoulders and waved his hand out at the city laying before them. "I can see it now, Pinky: A better place for all mankind, ruled by none other than a lab mouse. One day, this will be ours, a world of perfection and ingenuity of monumental proportions."

"Ours?"

The Brain hugged his friend tightly. "Of course ours, Pinky. You've helped me ever since I began carrying out my master plan, and have never once left my side. It's only reasonable that you should get some sort of reward for your assistance."

Pinky cried into his cagemate's shoulder happily. "Oh, Brain, thank you! NARF! I'm so happy! I- oh! Brain! What's this?"

The Brain froze. "What? What's what, Pinky?" he asked sharply.

Pinky looked down his friend's back to see something really very odd. At first, he thought it was from the coffee, but upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't. He ran his fingers through The Brain's fur, feeling it carefully. His white fur was coarse and short, but this… this was thick, fluffy, and black. Black as ink. "Naaaaarf…"

The Brain grabbed his cagemate's shoulders and shook him. "What is it, Pinky?"

"Your fur!" Pinky cried, "It's black! Like a panda bear!"

The Brain grabbed for his shoulderblade and plucked out a hair with a wince. He eyed it, as it started white and grew darker and darker to the inky black tip. He swallowed and it felt like a rock going down. He flicked the hair away and said, "Well, it's of no importance. Perhaps it's just a side effect. But no matter! We must go begin our plan for world domination- after we eat our pancakes."


The Brain was scribbling down on his notepad. His head was teeming with endless ways one with such endearing powers could take over the world. But as he worked, he couldn't help but feel distracted. Something was wrong, and it wasn't the newfound strength and humor. It was something else, but he wasn't sure what. Perhaps it was the patch of black fur on his back. But of course it couldn't have been! It was just a side effect. Some of Yakko's other nucleotides must have evaded his attention and invaded the serum. It was a careless mistake that he may have to face… No! He'll regret later, when he's not so busy. It was time to get to work, not sit and worry about everything. The world was waiting!

The Brain continued formulating his plan. With his newfound invincibility, he could easily overthrow anything: The White House, the House of Representatives, Club 33! Anything was possible! He could reach new heights with this strength, overtake nations, conduct an orchestra of perfect, intelligent, untied countries- And all it took was one shot. One puny shot! Who cared about the side affects, or the fact the Pinky lodged a humongous needle up his arm? The world was just inches from him now, just waiting patiently for its new leader.

But as he began thinking and pondering to his self, an idea hatched that would further enhance his master plan. He scribbled down everything as fast as he could, thrilled with the idea. He could feel a dance coming on- no doubt the loony serum working its way through him- and he had to fight the urge and continue on writing.

He would infiltrate Nickelodeon first. Nothing like knocking out all the biggest cartoons as soon as possible. More viewers meant more followers. And juvenile viewers were all for the better, he understood, because they would grow up listening to his propaganda, raised, shaped, molded and polished into the ideal, loyal followers. He could see the coming Saturday morning in households across America- millions of families transfixed by his marvelous antics as he delivered his inauguration address in between Spongebob segments. What type of leader leaves out an honorable inauguration address? Certainly not he; he wanted his future citizens to see just how intelligent their new ruler was, after all.

The Brain was tingling with excitement at his fantastic plan- wait. It wasn't his insides tingling at all, he realized, breaking out into a cold sweat. He reached back impatiently, instinctively, and viciously ripped out a hank of hair, just to see, and to his horror, saw that more was turning black. He wasn't the only one that saw it, either. Pinky had been hiding behind a beaker, watching in terror.

The Brain cast the changing hairs away impatiently and snatched up his pencil again. He didn't have time for this nonsense, not when there was so much to do. But somewhere deep in him, he knew something was very, very wrong. And Pinky did, too.

The tall, gawky mouse slipped back into the cage unseen and ran around the corner to hide in their bed, trying to ignore his friend's condition. But he couldn't! Something was certainly wrong. He glanced through the bars at his panda-ified cagemate and hugged his knees to his chest. Maybe he would be better off at Billie's.

The Brain continued writing, biting his lips in excitement, yet all the while feeling his back crawl horribly. Finally, he threw down his pencil and stormed off to the cage, ignoring the dreadful tingles as best he could.

"Enough of this," he snapped, denying himself any sort of laugh at the situation, as was now his habit with Yakko's entertained DNA coursing through his veins. This was no laughing matter. He couldn't let his fur get in the way of world domination.

He looked around the cage for something to cover his back, just to keep him from pulling and feeling any more. And he didn't need anyone seeing- particularly his darling Billie or that miserable oaf Snowball. His eyes scanned the back of the cage and his eyes locked with Pinky's dress-up trunk tucked in the corner. Bingo!

He ran to the trunk and dug through the costumes, desperate to find something; A jacket maybe? Anything would work. He had to try. If anyone found out, especially Pinky (In Pinky's case, he didn't want him knowing that the black had been spreading, he decided), he would be doomed. And he wasn't particularly keen on thinking about it, either, and covering it up might reduce that unbearable tickling and costly distraction. Aha! Perfect! He pulled up a black sweater and wrinkled his nose. Very Steve Jobs, but it would have to do.

"Brain?"

Brain whirled around and locked eyes with his tall companion. He stuffed everything back in the trunk and cried, "Pinky! Get away! I mean- um, what are you doing here?"

Pinky stared at his toes nervously. "Em, I was just going to see Billie. What are you doing?"

The Brain coughed. "Nothing… Just… looking for a Halloween costume?"

"Brain!" Pinky squealed, clapping his hands. He had forgotten completely about The Brain's fur by then, as common to his sweet, forgetful little head. His only thoughts were of Halloween, now. He never got to dress up and go out because Brain never wanted to go tricks-or-treating or to the Warner Brothers Studio costume party with him. But now he did! It must've been the serum, making him more fun.

Pinky clapped his hands gleefully. "Oh, Brain, I want to dress up too! I'm so excited! I didn't think we were going to go, especially after you ripped up the invitation into thousands of tiny pieces and threw them out the window and yelled at me about how you didn't want to go this year and then you said 'let's go' and the theme song played and we just forgot about everything and kept going on with your experiment! Ooh! Ooh! We should be the Mario Brothers together! I want to be Luigi!"

"But… I want to be Luigi?" The Brain said clueless, buying time as well as trying to hide his back by pressing it up against the corner of the trunk. He didn't even know what Mario Brothers were, for that matter. All he cared about was the sleeve of the sweater clamped in the lid of the trunk. He resisted the urge to put it out and run away, but fingered it, ready for Pinky to leave him alone already.

"But Brain, you can't be Luigi."

"And why not?"

"Because you're not tall," Pinky said.

The Brain stared, trying instinctively to understand his cagemate's foolishness. It took his focus off his fur, at least. Just go along with it, and then maybe he'll go away, and then everything will be just fine. Just nod and agree.

"Er… fine then, you can be Luigi."

Pinky could sense the awkwardness and coughed brightly, somehow hoping that they would just forget what was going on. He had almost deciphered how Brain's moods worked, and generally knew how to tell if he was uncomfortable or not. Note the word generally. Sometimes, The Brain's discomfort was painfully obvious, and he could not comprehend it, or chose not to acknowledge it, depending on the situation. Usually, if he could tell either instinctively or based on puppy-like observation, he would try to lighten the awkwardness with a joke completely inappropriate to the situation or a good NARF. He usually got bopped afterwards; the foolishness on the joke determined the size of the bop.

Overall, Pinky didn't have a very good grip on the concept of being 'uncomfortable'; especially for himself. He just went along with The Brain's schemes like an obedient, happy dog, though complaining and pointing out flaws were things he loved to do, too. He was exceptionally good at pointing out the flaws, even though he wasn't even conscious that he did it. However, there were the rare occasions that he would grow uncomfortable, and those occasions usually involved Billie. Why he wanted to go to her now was completely beyond his adorable, limited thinking, but all he knew was Brain currently made him even more uncomfortable than Billie ever had, even more than when she had BAMMED! him right on his kisser.

Now he tried again to break the discomfort, as he always did unsuccessfully. He coughed again hopefully.

"Are you excited to see everybody, Brain?"

"Uh, of course, Pinky…" The Brain was trying to come up with something. He glanced down and saw in horror that the black hair had spread down his tail. His fist clenched the sleeve so tight his knuckles whitened. He was beginning to think this wasn't a side affect anymore. He swallowed.

"I can't wait! It's been how long since we saw everybody, would you say? Emmmm, maybe two months? Oh, no, probably four…" Pinky said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Then his eyes locked with the tail. He immediately remembered what was the matter with his cagemate in the first place and tore his eyes away, gulping. Should he go to Billie? Now even her cage was sounding like a pretty good idea. Aw, crikey, forget Billie! All he could think of was Brain!

Oh, he was horrible at staying calm! He hated this constant switching between normal, cranky, loveable Brain and cheerful Brain! Usual Brain only wanted to take over the world and never anything else, but Happy Brain was bright and always having fun! Pinky liked both of them, but Happy Brain looked different, and that was creepy! It was like a double-sided Lego head, with a normal face on one side and a fun and happy one on the other, but the happy one was becoming scary, and he didn't like it at all! He felt like he was going to explode should the Brain keep changing in that way!

"Er, well, Brain, I uh, have to be going- now. Em, I'll see you… GAH!" A tuft of thick black fur sprouted up behind Brain's ears. Pinky grabbed his head and jumped up, squawking like a broken fire alarm. "TROZ! NARF! POIT! GLARB! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! WAAAAAAAAH!" He bolted out of the cage and went off screaming across the counter.

The Brain nearly ran after him, but the feeling spreading over him was too much and he watched him go, feeling almost paralyzed. When the tall mouse was gone, he whirled around, flinging open the trunk frantically. On the underside of the lid a small mirror was bolted, and The Brain brought it down from the panel with trembling hands, his insides flip-flopping at what he might see-

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

He clutched at his head and stared horrified at his reflection, watching the black fur spread across his ear like a sort of slow motion wildfire. And Pinky thought he had hair problems, Brain thought bitterly. Talk about a bad hair day.

Brain snatched up the sleeve and pulled up a turtleneck. He held it up disapprovingly, worried about his appearance. But anything to cover up that fur! Why was this happening, he could only think. How strange. In other words, how utterly terrifying! And to only make it worse, he felt equally amused! Amused! Was he crazy?

Regularly, this would have been appalling and fascinating, and now, it was absolutely hilarious! The serum did just more than give him the strength of a cartoon character, but unfortunately, the inability to handle serious situations appropriately. He felt as though he were doing well, keeping the hyperactivity locked up, but it was growing more difficult to do faster than the black fur. That's why he relented to Pinky's pleas to go to the party. At least that's what he told himself. Deep down, he had a sudden urge to go, some wild excitement overthrowing him that he couldn't compress. Now what to do about Pinky was beyond him. Going to find him was a foolish idea, but pretending nothing was wrong would make everything even worse.

Just let him go, The Brain thought. We'll see how this big mess will play out.