Kihonne: Alright folks, I'm back! I bring to you Growing Pains! Personally, I liked the episode a lot. It was one of my favorite ones, as far as comedy goes. Anyway, you know the deal: before I give you the story, I must respond to my wonderful reviewers. So here we go!

Xxx

AlienGhostWizard14: I'm glad you liked it so much. Those heroes I mentioned…well, Alivia's going to explain more about them this chapter, but they won't make an appearance in The Days of Our Lives. You should be able to guess why after hearing what Alivia has to say, but if not, I'll explain next chapter to those who didn't get what I was referring to. Speaking of Alivia, she is gay, not bi. As for Barry, you will see him again, but he's not going to be in too many chapters. Maybe about 7 of the 40. I have plans for him, but many of them won't come into play for a very long time, I'm afraid.

Algernon: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much. I felt Dani should say something about the comments, because even though it totally makes sense for someone from that time era to believe that women were second-class citizens compared to men, it would be out of character for Dani to just accept that and let him say things like that. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you like this one too.

Avaoreo1112: I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. Now, as for your question, Alivia will appear in most chapters (I'm pretty sure she's only going to miss about 4 or 5 in the entire story). I can't always fit certain OCs into plots very well. Mighty Med is especially bad for leaving me very little room for changes that include characters (I've had a bit of trouble fitting Dani into some scenes). So, sometimes I choose to send some OCs on vacation, either because they're not relevant to the plot, or because their disappearance enhances the plot. Heck, even Calla's missed an episode of the Lab Assistant – I'm 99% sure that she wasn't in the chapter Quarantined – so if your favorite OC misses a chapter, don't worry, because they'll be back soon.

Xxx

Kihonne: Anyway, without further ado, here's the chapter.

Bryan: Kihonne doesn't own Mighty Med. She only owns Dani, Alivia, and anything else you don't recognize.

Xxx

Kaz's POV

"So your trip to California was a bust?" Oliver said sympathetically as he, Dani, Alivia, and I walked down the street. The red-head had recently returned from a trip with her father, one that they'd hoped would result in three new superheroes.

"Mostly, yeah." Alivia sighed. "The video made them look cool and stuff, but they were basically just a bunch of teenagers with electromechanical implants."

"But you said the pretty one could give the Flash a run for his money." I frowned. "Literally."

"Super-powered people have four classifications: people born with abilities, like Jaime and I; people who've been bestowed powers, like the Key Keeper; people not born on Earth, like Skylar; and people who use weapons to help others, like Batman. Using implants, even ones as advanced as those, don't count." The Irish girl shrugged. "But it wasn't a total waste. I did get to go sight-seeing while we were spying on them."

"Stalker." Dani accused teasingly as I pushed open the door to the Domain.

"I am not a stalker!" Alivia protested, but I was no longer interested in that conversation.

"Dudes!" I grinned, eyeing a large stand featuring the newest traumatic video game on the market. "Unbridled Mayhem. The video game so disturbing, it comes with a nightlight."

"That's perfect!" Dani beamed. "Ollie, weren't you just telling me at breakfast about how you needed a new one?"

"My old one is so baby-ish." He agreed.

"We have to have this." I decided, reaching for the video game, only to have my hand slapped away by a middle-aged man with slick brown hair and a moustache.

"Not so fast, punk." He told me, looking at us sternly.
"Who're you?" I demanded, confused.

"The name is Bryan, with a Y. And an A and a N and a R and a B. But not in that order." We all exchanged looks. "Wallace and Clyde left me in charge while they're at they identical twin comic book store owners convention, and I'm not going to sell you this game. It's too intense and you're not mature enough to play it."

"I got this." Oliver pushed past us. He put his hand on Bryan's shoulder. 'Bryan, my good man. It just so happens that my associates and I are exceptionally mature, so mature that we pronounce mature 'mature'." He said smoothly, emphasizing the 't' sound in mature.

I chuckled. "Hey, if you replace the 't' in 'mature' with an 'n', you get 'manure'." I laughed, amused. "That's cow poop."

Dani's lips twitched up a bit, almost turning into a smile, even as Alivia sighed. "Well, we just lost all credibility." She commented dryly.

"You can not have this game, period." Bryan snapped. Dani raised an eyebrow.

"That seems like more an exclamation mark than a period." She retorted. Bryan glared at her.

"You listen here, colon: no game for you! Exclamation point!" He began ripping the games off the shelf. "You got that, question mark?"

And with that, he stormed off towards the back of the store. "What a jerk." Dani grumbled.

"Well, maybe it's just as well." Alivia reasoned. 'If you guys bought the game, you'd be playing it all weekend instead of finishing our biology labs."

I stopped, confused. "Biology labs?"

"Yeah, the ones that are due Monday?" Oliver added. I frowned, totally confused as to what they were talking about.

"Dee? Help me out?" I said hopefully.

"We were given caterpillar larva and we were supposed to photograph and chart their development into butterflies." She explained. "Remember? I spent three whole days trying to convince Liv to let me keep mine at her house because Katy kept trying to get into their cage?"

I shook my head. "I must have been absent when they assigned that project."

"No, you were there. You got them, like, a month ago." Oliver assured me. "I remember you laughed because the word 'butterfly' has the word 'butt' in it."

I laughed at that. "So many words do! Butter, buttermilk, butts." Apparently, I was the only one who found that funny. "And anyway, I don't remember being given any caterpillar larva."

I unzipped my backpack, intending to grab my phone out of it, only for a dozen butterflies to come fluttering out. We all stared at them, surprised.

"Oh, now I remember!" I exclaimed, watching them fly away. "I put them in my backpack."

"Figures." Alivia sighed, shaking her head at me.

Xxx

"I'll catch up with you guys later." Alivia told us as walked through the doors of Mighty Med, adjusting her bag's straps. "I'm gonna go change into my uniform and see what Skylar is up to."

"See ya." Dani replied as Alivia headed off to the nearest bathroom.

"Kids!" Horace called to us, standing above one of the gurneys. As we walked over, I could see a small, doll-like figure on the end of the bed. "I need your help. I'm performing a ground-breaking procedure."

We looked at his 'patient'. "Why are you operating on a doll?" Dani questioned, frowning.

"If you're trying to replace the batteries, you're using the wrong tool." Oliver advised. "You need a teeny-tiny philips head."

Horace stared at him. "Don't make fun of Philip's head!" He scolded. "He's very self-conscious about it. It's not nearly as big as he wishes it were." He cleared his throat as the tallest nurse in the hospital walked over to us. Philip was practically a giant, and his head was twice the size of any Normo's. "Hey Philip. Head's looking huge."

"You're just saying that." Philip accused grumpily before taking away the metal tray from under the doll. Horace laid the doll gently on the pillow, giving us all a better look at it.

"Hey, isn't that Brain Matter?" I questioned, recognizing the doll.

"If he defrosts, he'll turn into a rampaging beast!" Oliver exclaimed. Horace smiled.

"I think I can cure him with this experimental serum." The man explained. "But first, I need you to step back."

"For safety?" Dani guessed.

"No. One of you has been eating salami." He explained. Dani gave us both pointed looks, even as I pointed at Oliver.

We stepped back a couple of steps, allowing Horace to resume his experiment. He carefully injected the Brain Matter doll with the serum and quickly stepped back. Almost immediately, the doll grew into a real-life, full-sized man. Brain Matter sat up, absolutely baffled. "Where am I?" He demanded, pushing his goggles away from his face. "What happened to me? And who's been eating salami?"

"He has." Oliver and I accused each other at the same time, while Dani helped Brain Matter off the bed.

"Brain Matter, it's me, Dr. Horace Diaz." Horace reminded him. "I've injected you with a serum that should have given you all the powers you tried to create for yourself, but without the side-effects."

Brain Matter looked at him in utter astonishment. "That's incredible." He proclaimed, his voice full of awe. Horace smiled.

"Let's test those super powers, staring with super vision." He suggested. "How many fingers is the man on the corner of Walnut and Fourth holding up?"

Brain Matter looked into the distance, focused on something none of us could see. "Three." He said after a moment. Horace nodded.

"I'm just going to have to trust you; I don't have super vision." He replied. "Next, use your telekinesis to move that flower pot!"

Brain Matter looked at the flower pot in question. It was just a pot of dirt and a couple of seeds, the plant yet to have sprouted. Brain Matter extended his hand towards the pot, a look of concentration written on his face.

But instead of the pot beginning to hover, an orange tree grew from the dirt.

"Whoa." Dani laughed lightly in amazement. Brain Matter looked at Horace questioningly, unsure of why that had just happened.

"So…nothing." Horace decided before walking away.

"The serum must have altered some of his powers." Oliver guessed.

"Now you can make things age and grow." Dani told Brain Matter, who was looking at the orange tree with interest.

"It's incredible. Do you realize what you can do with a power like that?" I asked the superhero, an idea already forming in my head.

"End world hunger? Restore the Amazon Rain Forest?" Brain Matter guessed. I scoffed.

"No, something that affects me." It should have been obvious. "Could you help me with my biology lab? I bet you can age caterpillar eggs into butterflies in thirty seconds instead of thirty days."

"Not now." Brain Matter told me, staring into the nearby wall. Apparently, he was seeing something we couldn't. "I'm watching a movie in a theatre, in Omaha." He suddenly cursed. "Ugh! I always get stuck behind a guy with a giant head."

"No one ever complains about my head being too big!" I heard Philip's bitter retort come from behind us.

Alan's POV

I looked around uncertainly, hoping that my uncle would not be anywhere in earshot. I really needed to talk to somebody about this, but I wasn't sure who I could trust with this kind of thing.

Then I spotted Skylar and Geminus sitting in the cafeteria, chatting. They both seemed mildly trust-worthy, and Geminus did act nicer to me than most of the people in the hospital…Maybe I could talk to them.

"Uh, Skylar? Geminus?" I approached them. "Could I talk to you guys about something personal?"

"No." Skylar responded almost immediately. Geminus gave her a pointed look. I had the feeling that if Geminus would listen, then she would make Skylar listen too, so I continued.

"Thanks." I smiled at them. "I was hoping you guys could help me with something. It's kinda hard to say this, but, my body is starting to undergo some…" I tried to think of the right word, "…changes."

"Uh…" Geminus had a slightly awkward look on her face, but Skylar was suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Well that can only be good news!" She exclaimed. "What kind of changes?"

"Well…" I hadn't expected her to ask for details. "Sometimes when I get suddenly frightened, I…" I broke off, unable to say it. "No, I can't tell you. It's too embarrassing."

Skylar and Geminus exchanged looks. "It's alright, Alan. You don't need to tell us." Geminus assured me. "After all, we can just-"

"BOO!" Skylar suddenly screamed, making me jump in shock and fear. Antlers suddenly sprouted out of my head.

Both girls stared at them, eyes wide in bemusement.

"See? Look at this! What should I do?" I demanded before any of them could laugh.

"Pull Santa's sleigh." Geminus giggled, unable to help herself. Skylar had one hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh in my face.

"C'mon." I pleaded with them.

"Why don't you just tell Horace about it?" Skylar asked. "I mean, he is your Uncle."

"Are you crazy?" I stared at her incredulously. "I don't feel comfortable talking to him about anything like this!" I looked at them, both of them, and sighed. "Please? You're both incredible heroes who have dedicated themselves to helping people. Can't you help me?"

Both girls looked touched by what I said, Skylar most of all. "You really think I'm still a hero?" She asked. I scoffed at the very thought.

"No." I retorted. "I was just saying that to trick you into doing what I want."

Geminus crossed her arms, lying them on the cafeteria table. "And how's that working out for you?" She questioned in a falsely-pleasant tone.

"You are really bad at asking for help." Skylar told me. "But fine, we'll help you."

"We will?" Geminus cocked her head to the side, frowning. Skylar nodded.

"Yes, we will." She decided.

"Thank you." I sighed in relief. "But please, promise me you won't say anything to my Uncle Horace. He wouldn't understand, and," I gulped nervously, "he's an avid hunter."

Kaz's POV

It took a lot of convincing, but eventually, I managed to break Brain Matter down into agreeing to help me with my homework assignment.

I was waiting with him in the rec room when the doors swung open, Dani and Oliver walking in.

"Hey Owlgirl." Oliver smiled upon seeing the other hero in the room. The bird-themed superhero was standing next to a bird cage, her workout bag sitting on the couch. "I heard you were with Heritos, the superhero Owl of Truth. You know who told me? A little birdie." Oliver laughed at that joke, but it was way too overplayed to make even Owlgirl crack a smile. "Actually, it was Solar Flare; she's kinda a gossip."

"Hey, here's the larva." Dani told me, handing me the package she'd manage to procure from the science lab. Hopefully, no one would notice they were gone.

"Thank you." I smiled at her, then turned to face Brain Matter. "Brain Matter, I really appreciate you helping me with my biology lab. I would also appreciate you not whining about it."

"I've been shrunk down and frozen for years. Aging caterpillars into butterflies wasn't the first thing on my wish list of things to." He retorted.

"What was the first thing you wanted to do?" Oliver questioned, genuinely curious.

"Return this movie I rented to my local video store." He held up a VHS video tape. 'I'm sure they're still around, right?"

"Well, considering the late fees you're bound to have, I'd hope for your sake that they're not." Dani replied, shrugging. Suddenly, her phone vibrated. "Crap." She muttered, rolling her eyes before answering the phone. "Hello Mother."

She walked away with the phone, an annoyed look on her face.

I shrugged and laid the caterpillars out on a metal table in front of him, then pulled my phone out of my pocket so I could video tape this.

"Here are the caterpillars." I announced, grinning. "Let's make some butterflies."

I aimed my camera at the caterpillars and hit record, just as Brain Matter raised his hand towards them, focusing. Oliver stood on the other side of the table.

However, instead of the caterpillars beginning to turn into butterflies, then rolled into small balls, shrinking, and turned into eggs.

"Something's wrong with your power." Oliver hummed, frowning. "Instead of making the caterpillars older, you made them younger. They're eggs now!"

"No!" I protested. "I have to turn in this report, and I can't get anything lower than a C. Or a D that I can turn into a B just by putting a little line through it."

"Uh, guys?" We turned to see that Dani had walked back into the room. "What happened to Heritos?"

Apparently, the caterpillars weren't the only ones who'd gotten a lot younger. The owl had been replaced an egg. "Heritos is an egg now! What are we going to do?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting the heck out of here!" Brain Matter exclaimed, making a run for the door. We all exchanged looks.

"What are we supposed to tell Owlgirl?" Oliver wondered.

"I vote nothing." I offered.

"I second the motion." Dani agreed. Oliver nodded.

"Agreed." He grabbed a towel off a nearby rack and carefully place it over Heritos' cage. "Sorry, Egg of Truth. Huh. Feels ironic to have to lie about this."

"Uh, Mom wants us home for dinner." Dani told Oliver.

"But wait, what about my biology lab?" I protested. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Just come by tomorrow, and we'll help you figure something out." Oliver promised. I sighed.

"Fine," I reluctantly agreed.

Xxx

"Oliver! Dani!" I called, banging on their front door. "Let me in!"

"Wow, you're up early." Dani's voice came from behind me. I turned to see her wearing a red tank-top and a pair of sweat pants. "Seriously, I've never seen you up before ten before, let alone at 7:30."

"I'm desperate. I'm barely passing the class as it is." I admitted. Dani nodded.

"Same here." She agreed, pulling a pair of keys out of her pockets. "C'mon in."

She unlocked the door and led me into the kitchen, tossing the keys onto the counter. "Ollie! Get out of bed; Kaz is here!"

"Water's in the fridge, right?" I guessed, already heading for the refrigerator. I grabbed a bottle for myself, then one for her. "Have a nice run?" I asked, tossing it to her.

"Yeah. I ran into Barry, chatted a bit." She replied. She turned around to look at the stairs. "Ollie!"

"Isn't he usually up by the time you get back from your morning runs?" I asked. She nodded.

"Most of the time, yeah." She replied, frowning. "Maybe he's not feeling well?"

"I'll go check on him." I offered, jogging up the stairs two at a time. I didn't even knock before entering my best friend's bedroom.

As expected, the lights were still off, his shoes were still by the door, and Oliver was still in bed, his entire body covered by a mound of blue striped blankets.

"Oliver, wake up!" I exclaimed. "How could you oversleep? That's my thing. Get up. We have to try and fix Brain Matter so he can help me with my biology lab."

A loud, whining groan came from beneath the slowly moving blankets. I chuckled at the sight. 'C'mon. Wakey-wakey, eggs and-" I ripped the blankets off to reveal a very, very young child with messy brown hair. "-ahh. What the bakey?"

"Is he up?" Dani poked her head in. She frowned, stepping into the room completely when she saw the child. "Kaz, tell me you did not kidnap a small child."

"Could you keep it down?" The child request, not opening his eyes. "I was sleeping like a baby. Come back in, like, ten years."

"Is that-" Dani stared at him. "He looks just like Oliver did when we were that young."

"I think it is him." I agreed before grabbing mini-Oliver from under his arms and lifting him out of the bed. I carried him over to his bedroom mirror, the kid struggling and kicking the whole time.

"Put me down!" Mini-Oliver demanded. The moment he saw his reflection, he froze. "AH! I look like I'm five years old!" He exclaimed.

"Ollie?" Dani said softly. The child looked up at his sister. "I think you are five years old."

"When Brain Matter reversed the ages of the caterpillars and Heritos, you must have been standing in the way of his powers." I realized. "And your body regressed ten years!"

"Why didn't my brain? And why didn't it happen as soon as I got zapped? And why did my clothes also shrink?" Mini-Oliver questioned.

"How should we know?" I demanded. "I'm terrible at science. Man, I didn't even do my biology lab!"

"What am I going to do?" Mini-Oliver asked.

"What are you going to do?" Dani repeated. "How the hell am I supposed to explain this to Mom?"

"Well you can't go to school like this." I gestured at him. "So, could I have your biology lab?"

Xxx

So, after a small debate, we decided that we should go back to Mighty Med and see if Brain Matter could undo what he did. Of course, that meant walking six blocks with a five year old. Not as much fun as it sounds.

Eventually, we walked into Mighty Med, Oliver clutching both my and Dani's hands.

"Why are you holding our hands?" I demanded.

"I don't know. Instincts." He shrugged, looking up at me with big, five-year old eyes.

"Well, stop it." I told him, pulling my hand away. "It's weird!"

"This whole thing is weird!" Dani exclaimed.

"Look, let's just find Brain Matter without Horace finding out, alright?" I looked at them both. Dani nodded, but Oliver shook his head.

"Too late." He told us, pointing past us. We turned to see Alivia, and Horace walking towards us.

"Aw, who is this cutie-patootie?" Horace cooed, while Alivia gave us a questioning look.

"Uh, he's my little brother." I lied.

"Well, he's a sweetie-pie." Horace smile gently at Oliver. "Guards, have this adorable little boy taken away and cubed!"

"Wait, no!" Dani protested. Oliver pushed past her.

"Wait, it's me, Oliver!" He exclaimed, once again taking me and his sister's hands.

"Kaz, Dani, what have you done?" Horace demanded.

"Why does everyone always blame us?" Dani retorted, staring at them.

"Because we know you." Alivia responded.

"That is mean." Dani accused. I sighed.

"Brain Matter accidently exposed Oliver to the age reversal process and now he's a very clingy five year old." I shook my hand out of his, but Oliver didn't seem to care, still holding onto his sister's hand.

"Amazing." Horace exclaimed.

"No, not amazing." Dani retorted. "Now can we get Brain Matter to fix him before dinner? 'Cause my mom and I don't get along on the best of days, imagine how things will be if I bring home a four year old."

"Five." Oliver corrected.

"Not the point, Ollie!" She snapped, glaring down at her brother.

"Well, I fined tuned Brain Matter's powers, so he could reverse you back to your normal age, if that's what you want."

"Yes, please!" I begged him. "They're impossible to reason with at this age!"

"Brain Matter should be in the rec room." Horace said. Dani nodded.

"I'll go get him." She offered, releasing Oliver's hand and heading in the direction of the rec room.

"Why didn't you guys come earlier?" Alivia frowned as Horace went to speak with a nearby nurse.

"We tried! It took us forever to get here!" I proclaimed. "He wanted to stop and pet every doggy he saw!"

"So did Dani!" Oliver protested.

"Yeah, but when she does it, it's cute." I retorted. Alivia perked up at that.

"It is?" She questioned, suspiciously. I shrugged.

"Girls and puppies are cute together." I replied. She nodded, a tiny smirk on her face.

"Okay." She agreed, shrugging. She glanced over at Horace, who was just finishing with the nurse, a frown on her face.

"Something wrong?" I asked. She sighed.

"Alan and Horace…there's something they need to talk to each about, but because they're too cowardly to do so, they keep coming to me and Skylar. And we don't want to be involved." She explained. "I'm just trying to figure out how to get them to talk."

"Have you tried locking them in a room together? Just lie and say there's some emergency, then don't let either of them out until they've talked." I suggested. She considered it.

"That's not a bad idea, Kaz. Thanks." She sent me a quick smile as Horace walked back over to us. We only had to wait another minute or so before Dani and Brain Matter came walking into the room.

"Oliver?" Brain Matter checked, looking at the younger version of my best friend. Oliver nodded. "Amazing."

"We covered this; it's not amazing." Dani told him. "Now fix him."

"Okay." Brain Matter motioned for us all to get out of the way except for Oliver. "Hold still."

He held his hand out, focusing on Oliver. My best friend started to grow and age, but after a moment, I could tell something was up. Oliver had always been the shortest of us all (he was 5'4, I was almost 5'6, and Dani was somewhere in between), so how come he continued growing past even Horace's height? When Brain Matter was finished, Oliver was at least 6 feet tall, his body was built a fair bit stronger, and his hair had begun to recede. He looked like a middle-ages man.

"Uh-oh." Brain Matter grimaced. Oliver frowned.

"What just happened?" He questioned.

"It seems we went a teeny bit past fifteen." Horace admitted.

"A teeny bit?" Oliver repeated. He looked at Dani, Alivia, and I. "How do I look?"

"A bit like Dad, actually." Dani admitted as Alivia grabbed a metal tray off the counter and handed it to him. He stared at his reflection, horrified.

"I'm in my thirties?" He realized. "That's, like, almost DEAD!"

"I guess we'll have to do some more tests on Brain Matter." Horace decided.

"What about me? What am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Oliver demanded.

"Start saving for retirement?" Alivia offered, trying to be helpful. Suddenly, I knew what we were going to do.

"I have an idea." I announced.

Xxx

Fifteen minutes later, we were standing in front of Brian at the cash register in the Domain. "My brother would like to purchase this video game." Dani announced clearly, placing the Unbridled Mayhem disk case on the counter while Brian stared at us suspiciously. Technically, she wasn't lying, as Oliver was her brother. But his older appearance would force Brian to give us the game.

Alan's POV

"Alan! Alan!" I had just wandering the halls of Mighty Med, minding my own business, when I heard Geminus calling my name. "I need you to go the rec room right away."

I frowned. "Why? Can it wait? I'm very busy right now, not being in the rec room."

"But it's urgent! There's a leak in there!" Geminus exclaimed.

"So call the janitor." I told her, wondering why she would be bothering me with something so mundane.

"I can't because…it's the janitor who's leaking!" I looked at her, both disgusted and confused. "Bodily fluids," she clarified, "everywhere! And you're the only one who can save him."

"Wow." It wasn't often that anyone in this hospital believed I could do anything. She began dragging me along, all the way to the rec room. "Finally! Everyone will know that Alan Diaz is heroic and brave and-AH!" I screamed, finally seeing the janitor. She wasn't kidding about the janitor; he really was leaking sweat and tears and something else liquidy all over the floor.

Suddenly, painful stabs of pair flooded my system as porcupine quills appeared on and in my skin.

Geminus stared at me, eyes wide. "Wow…that looks painful." She commented. I nodded, then immediately regretted moving.

"Yes, and these are just the needles you can see." I told her. She stepped closer to me, her hands hovering above me as if she wanted to help, but wasn't sure how to do so without hurting me anymore.

"Should I get Horace?" She asked.

"No!" I snapped quickly. I knew my uncle was getting suspicious about how I'd been acting; he'd been avoiding me lately, and talking to Skylar and Geminus behind my back. And even though they reassured me that they hadn't said anything, I still wasn't ready to say anything myself. "No, Geminus, I don't want you to get him."

"…Alright." The red-headed hero replied reluctantly.

Kaz's POV

I grinned as Oliver, Dani, and I finished the first level of Unbridled Mayhem. "Man, I love having a thirty-year old best friend!" I grinned. "You're old enough to rent an industrial vacuum. And you can drive us anywhere, like to the industrial vacuum rental store."

"Why would we need an industrial vacuum?" Dani inquired, confused.

"To vacuum things industrially." I replied, thinking it was obvious.

"Kaz, Brain Matter's powers made me fifteen years older, but it didn't magically give me a car."

"You're thirty years old and you don't have your own car?" I chuckled as I began to clean up the game stuff. "That's pathetic."

"Hey!" Oliver protested.

"Well, he ain't wrong, bro." Dani teased, going to grab the rest of the stuff.

"I got it." I told her, sliding the video game and the controllers into my backpack.

"I'm hungry." Dani complained.

"I know; I heard your stomach growl four times." I replied, amused. She gave me a look, pretending to be hurt by the comment. "I was thinking we grab subs?"

"Sure." She pushed herself off the couch. "You coming, Ollie?'

"I guess." My best friend grumbled as we headed out of the Domain.

"C'mon Oliver, chill out. You're acting like a cranky old ma-" I turned around, and to my shock, Oliver had aged even further, "-n."

"Oh my…" Dani stopped, seeing her brother. "Ollie."

"What?" Her brother asked. When neither of us answered, he checked behind him. At first he didn't see anything, but then he caught sight of his reflection in the store's window.

"I've turned into my father! Literally!" He exclaimed. "My gut, my hairline, my desire to dance like this!" He began to do a kind of shuffle, clapping his hands between every movement of his feet.

"Brain Matter's aging power must still be affecting you." Dani realized. "But don't panic, because the way I figure, at this rate, in about an hour you'll be…" She trailed off, doing the calculations in her head. "Dead years old."

"Okay, now you can panic." I advised.

Alan's POV

Eventually, I managed to get the porcupine quills to disappear, and by that time, Geminus had reassured me that the disgusting janitor had been cleaned up.

I walked back into the rec room, looking for one of my magazines. Unfortunately, my uncle was already in there.

I tried to turn around and get out of there before he saw me, but it was too late. "Alan, wait!" He stopped me before I could make my escape. "Listen, listen. I don't need a mind-reader to tell me something's bothering you." I sighed and turned around to face me. "Fortunately, we have a mind-reader on staff, and she told me something's bothering you."

He led me over to the couch, then took a seat across from me. "So, why don't we sit over here and you can confide in me as much as you want. I don't care how long it takes."

Wow, my uncle really seemed sincere about that. But still, I wasn't sure how I felt about this. "There's nothing on my mind." I lied. He nodded and went to get up.

"Well, I gave it my best." He announced.

"Sit." Skylar ordered from behind me, where she tossing a medicine ball back and forth with Geminus.

My uncle sighed and sat back down. Then, he fixed me with a serious gaze. "Alan, please. You can tell me anything. I promise I will always support you without judgement."

I hesitated, then made my decision. "Okay." I took a deep breath. "It's just-"

"AH!" Suddenly, Geminus leapt out from behind my uncle's seat, waving her arms like a crazy person.

I leapt up in surprise, having forgotten that the sidekick liked to duplicate herself for fun. Unfortunately, whatever it was that was happening to me decided to kick in just then, a skunk's tail sprouting out of my behind and spraying most of the room with its fumes.

"Oh, that stinks!" Uncle Horace exclaimed, covering his nose with his hand. Geminus looked at her duplicate and Skylar.

"I think our work here is done." She announced, holding open the door. The duplicate and Skylar left the room, Geminus right on their heels.

"What's happening to me?!" I cried, staring at the tail.

"It's perfectly normal." My uncle assured me, though his voice was pained. "A lot of people with powers develop new abilities at your age."

"They do?" I didn't know that. Uncle Horace nodded.

"Yes. It seems you've inherited your grandfather's ability to morph into animals." He explained. "Now, once you learn to control your power, it'll be very useful."

"So I can get a discount at go kart tracks where animals drive for free?" I asked hopefully. That would be awesome!

"I should take you out more." Uncle Horace decided. "Anyway, you can come to me with problems anytime. Although, if you want to be the strong silent type, that's fine too. You can even be the weak silent type. Any type, plus silent. That's the key."

My uncle smiled at me before heading off. I waited back a while, knowing that I would be even more unpopular if I walked out into the hall still smelling like a skunk.

"Hey." A green mask surrounded by red locks peeked inside. "You mad that I did that?"

"No." I replied, much to Geminus' relief. "Thanks for being there for me, both you and Skylar."

"No problem. I'll tell her Skylar you said thanks." She told me, smiling.

"And I know, I smell pretty bad." I commented. She nodded in agreement, wrinkling her nose. "Plus, now there's also the skunk odor."

Kaz's POV

By the time we made it to Mighty Med, things were bad, really bad. "Horace!" I shouted, racing into the hospital. Thankfully, the older man was close by. "Oliver is aging uncontrollably."

As if to prove my point, Dani helped Oliver, now in his nineties, shuffle into the room.

"We've got less than an hour before we lose him!" I exclaimed.

"Where's Brain Matter?" Dani called over her shoulder as she helped her brother onto a nearby bed.

"He's at the airport." My heart sank at those words. "His car's been in long-term parking the whole time he's been frozen. Apparently he owes them 65,000 dollars."

"We have to figure out a way to reverse the aging process, now, before Oliver dies of unnatural natural causes!" I exclaimed.

Horace hastened to give Oliver a quick examine. "He has practically no pulse." He muttered, giving my best friend a sad look. "I guess this is the end, Oliver. At least you lived to a ripe old age."

"What are you talking about?" Oliver demanded. "I lived to fifteen, and then, like, one more day!"

I grit my teeth in frustration. Oliver had minutes left, and I couldn't think of anything to help. And judging by the distraught look on her face, Dani didn't either.

"This is all your fault, Horace!" I snapped, needing to blame someone for this. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't tried to fix Brain Matter!"

"You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." He retorted.

"Omelet." Dani repeated, grabbing my arm.

"Now's not the time for a snack, Dani." I told her before glaring at Horace. "It wasn't worth the risk!"

"Kaz!" Dani grabbed my wrist, forcing me to face her. "Omelet!' I looked at her, confused. "Eggs!"

It clicked at those words. "That's genius!" I exclaimed. She beamed.

"Ollie, don't move!" She shouted, sprinting at full speed towards the rec room.

"I'm ninety! Where am I going to go?" Oliver retorted.

"Florida?" Horace suggested.

"You're going to be fine, Oliver. I promise." I assured my best friend as Dani came racing back into the room, her hands cupped together tightly.

"Heritos already hatched, so the caterpillar eggs will have to work." She announced. I grabbed a clean bowl and handed it to her.

"It might be a longshot, but we think eggs might be the solution." I explained to Horace as Dani cracked the caterpillar eggs on the side of the bowl, their insides dripping down to the bottom.

"I understand. We're going to make Denver omelets."

"No, when Brain Matter had the power to turn things younger, he zapped my caterpillars and they transformed into those." I gestured at the last of the tiny eggs in Dani's hand. She ran over to Solar Flare to quickly get the eggs cooked so that they were at least a little edible. "Maybe the eggs are still affect by some of that power."

"And if they are," Dani continued, running back over to us with the bowl of eggs, "eating them might turn Ollie younger."

"That just might work." Horace agreed. "But if it doesn't, then Denver omelets?"

"Sure." Dani agreed, in no mood to discuss this, as she sat down on the edge of Oliver's bed. "Hey, I need you to eat these."

"What is it?" He grumbled tiredly.

"You don't want to know." She replied honestly before tipping the bowl into his mouth. He gulped down the eggs with a disgusted look on his face.

"Now we just hope it works." Dani said breathlessly, stepping away from him.

"It will work." I promised her, hoping that I wasn't wrong.

Thankfully, the eggs did their magic, and quickly. In a matter of seconds, Oliver had reverted back to the age of fifteen.

"You two saved his life!" Horace exclaimed, then frowned. "But you didn't make me an omelet."

"Uh oh." Dani called our attention back to Oliver. The eggs had worked a little too well, as he was now five years old again. "Meh, it's better than being dead."

"Kaz, Dee, thank you for saving me, but I do not want to be five again. You need to change me." Oliver told us seriously.

I nodded. "Okay, buddy. We'll work on it." I agreed.

"No, I mean, you need to change me." He looked down in embarrassment. "I'm not potty-trained yet."

"Not it!" Dani exclaimed quickly, bolting out of the room.

Xxx

After having one of the nurses change Oliver for us, Dani and I set him up in a booster seat while we tried to figure out the solution.

"I got it." I announced, peeling a tangerine I'd gotten from the main part of the E.R. "So, this is a tangerine I got from the plant Brain Matter grew earlier. I figure, if the eggs were able to de-age you, then a bite of this should age you up to your normal age."

Oliver nodded and allowed me to pop a slice of tangerine into his mouth. He quickly began to age, breaking the booster seat in the process, but stopped at fifteen – the age we were hoping for.

"Awesome!" Oliver grinned, looking down and realizing that he was the right age.

"So good to have you back, Ollie." Dani helped him up, giving him a quick hug.

"Good to be back." He replied. I smiled.

"Now we can focus on what's really important." I announced. Oliver nodded.

"Like trying to enjoy every day as we live it, instead of wishing we were older all the time?" He guessed.

"No." I replied. "Playing unrated, nightmare-inducing games like Unbridled Mayhem."

I laughed, quickly sliding the game into the player and sitting down on the couch. Dani and Oliver sat on either side of me, one waiting impatiently for her turn, and the other already bored of the game.

"Hey," Alan chose that moment to walk in, "what are you-AH!"

Now, I was expecting his scream at the sight of the bloody game, but I don't think any of us expected him to transform into a butterfly.

"What just happened?" Oliver questioned. Dani shook her head.

"Just when I think this place can't get any weirder." She muttered. I grinned.

"You guys know what that is?" I asked. They both shook their heads. "My new biology lab."

Xxx

Kihonne: So what did you guys think? Good, bad? In between? I want to know! Anyway, here's the update dates for the next few chapters, but again, I mention, they might come early.

August 15th – Night of the Living Nightmare

August 22nd – Mighty Mad

August 29th – Copy Kaz

Anyway, I guess I'll see you all next time!