Chapter Five

By:Veteliunde

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Trigger Warnings for this chapter: Mental Illness Traits, Passing Out, Vague Sickness.

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It turned out that jelly and plans didn't work out so good. They had barely gotten a few hours into the plan before it failed miserably, leaving Pinky and Brain covered in the sticky substance. Of course, Pinky didn't mind all that much. Being covered in yummy jelly was always fun-fun silly-willy!

Brain, surprisingly, didn't seem all that upset about the outcome, either. He'd expected something ridiculous to happen. And it did. While Pinky was happy to lick the jelly off himself, Brain had taken a bath in the sink. By the sink, he noticed a folder which had papers with dates for tomorrow printed on them. Hmm.

After massaging the jelly out of his fur and drying off with a bit of newspaper, he snooped through the contents of the folder. Humans were so disorganized.

The first page had basic information about himself and Pinky. Their gene-splicing data, their pain tolerance, their recovery rates, and their overall demeanor. Nothing too crazy about that.

The next page however… "Tomorrow's experiment!" Brain scanned each line of print, and as he read, his eyes grew wider and wider. "My word! What's wrong with these people?!"

They were planning on removing one of his kidneys, and BOTH of Pinky's! BOTH! Brain put the papers back in the folder and threw it into a garbage can. He knew that there were, most likely, more copies somewhere, but why not make it a little more difficult for the humans? They could go ahead and spend time looking for the other copies.

Brain grabbed at his ears and headed back for the cage. "No, no, no. This is bad. Goodness, this is bad."

He slipped into the cage and continued mumbling to himself.

Pinky, who was now spotless and chewing on his foot for fun, saw Brain come in. "Brain! How was your bath?!" Pinky's ears went flat against his head at the sight of his friend. He looked like he just got news that he had just a week left to live.

He carefully approached Brain, and gently stuck a paw out to touch him. He didn't wanna startle him. "Uh, Brain? Are you okay?"

Brain snapped out of his panicked pacing and looked at Pinky. He eyed him up and down, lingering on the sight of his cage-mate's belly. Tomorrow, the humans were planning to cut into both of them.

"Pinky, I have some troubling news. Come tomorrow, the scientists plan to have us under the operating table. They want to remove one of my kidneys… and both of yours." Brain couldn't help the shake that trembled through his body.

Pinky felt uneasy at his usually level-headed friend's reaction. He didn't understand exactly what the words he said meant. But he didn't like the way they were said. He tried to ease Brain's worry with words that he wasn't sure would help. He didn't understand the situation, so he wasn't sure if anything he had to say was helpful. "Uh, well. Maybe they'll grow back?" Kidney beans could grow, so maybe regular kidneys could, too?

Brain shook his head slowly. His poor, naive friend. "They won't grow back, Pinky. That's not how…". Brain paused as a guess as to why the humans were going to do the experiment came to mind. "I think that's actually what they want to see happen, Pinky! With our spliced genes and quick healing abilities, they may want to see if we can grow back our organs!"

Pinky smiled. His words ended up being useful after all. "Then, we should be fine, right? If they grow back?"

Brain started to pace once more. "Maybe… but doubtful, Pinky. They don't actually know if we'll heal properly or not. That's why they want to test it. It's still far too dangerous of a risk. I'll for sure be fine with one kidney, given that they don't botch the surgery. But they want to take both of yours, Pinky."

Pinky shrugged. "Is that bad?"

Brain nodded. "Yes, Pinky. That's bad."

Pinky frowned again. Something in him knew the implications of his friend's words. Still, he attempted to make Brain feel better. "Who knows? Poit. Maybe they'll forget about the whole thing?"

Brain put a hand to his chin. "Unfortunately, I doubt they will." He glanced around the cage to observe what was inside as a way to distract himself from the troubling thoughts that plagued his mind. An empty jar of jelly, jumper cables, a chair covered in jelly, a monitor, some tin foil, a few bolts,… Brain gasped and took note of the items once more. If he hooked up the cables and monitor, and used the tin foil a certain way… "Pinky! You're a genius!"

Pinky blushed and pointed to himself. "I am?" Who would've guessed?!

Brain ran over and hugged Pinky. The scientists WOULD forget. If he had any say at least. He had everything he needed here. Maybe they wouldn't forget on their own, but he could make them forget.

Pinky felt his eyelids flutter. Brain was hugging him! Not him hugging Brain, but Brain hugging him. He should be a genius more often! Hugs from Brain? He could feel his heart pitter-patter in his chest. Oh, he just adored his friend.

Brain swung Pinky in his arms a moment before setting the taller mouse down. He looked up at Pinky, who was staring at him with a goofy smile. Then he realized what he had just done. He coughed into his fist and looked away. "My apologies. I don't know what came over me."

Pinky giggled and swayed. "No need to be sorry, Brain. Narf! I like when you give me hugs."

Brain suddenly felt very hot and fanned himself. "Seems the, uh, temperature here has gone up a few degrees. I'll just go adjust the thermostat really quickly." He ran off to the thermostat knowing fully well that it didn't need any adjustments. After he cooled down from his embarrassment, he walked back into the cage.

Pretending as if nothing had just happened, Brain proceeded to explain his idea to Pinky. "Pinky, do you realize we have everything we need to create a machine that will be able to erase the memory of the experiment that's planned for tomorrow from the scientists' minds?" They didn't have the best parts in the world for the machine, but there was enough to create a machine strong enough to erase a few memories or ideas.

Pinky looked around and was unable to see what his friend could see. But, he didn't want to seem stupid. He wanted to continue his genius streak in case it earned him more hugs. "Well of course I know that, Brain."

Brain raised a brow, unconvinced that his companion knew a thing. "Right. Pinky. I'm going to need to focus for a few hours. I need to make the machine ready before the scientists come in tomorrow. Go ahead and head to bed. I'll join you later." He headed off.

Pinky was going to protest, but then yawned and realized just how tired he was. Jelly could really make a mouse sleepy. "Mkay, Brain. Goodnight." He went and got cozy in their bedding and within minutes, he was asleep.

…

Pinky looked up to see two mice looking down on him. They seemed sad and nervous. The pretty one with the purple bow around her neck was the one holding him. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and Pinky watched as her face got farther away.

Once on the ground, the mouse with the brown eyes looked away. He reached behind him and held a little baby mouse with a pink ribbon on her head. He mimicked the actions of what appeared to be his wife before setting the baby mouse next to Pinky.

Pinky glanced at her, admiring her pink bow before he looked back up at the other two mice. He wanted to reach them. To touch them. To be with them. He reached out his paw and saw how small it was compared to theirs. He must have been a baby, too. He could only guess because he couldn't see himself.

He looked again to the other baby mouse and back to the others, but they were gone. Then he heard a husky, grumpy voice.

"Hey, Mike. You think we could train mice?"

Another voice, equally husky and grumpy, answered. "Mice!? Are ya crazy?!"

Pinky and the other little mouse were lifted high into the air until they met the dull eye of a human man.

"Come on, Mike! We need one more animal act! And look! Here they are. A couple of little baby mice. We could train 'em! Mice are smart. We give 'em food when they do something right, shock 'em when they don't, and boom! They'll be doin' tricks in no time!"

"I don't know…. Let's see what they can do first."

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"Pinky! Time to awake! It's morning!"

Pinky shot up and was about to say something, but then he looked around. He was in the cage at the lab. Not the… the… ? He couldn't remember. He looked at Brain with tired eyes. Brain wanted him to pay attention to something, that much he could tell. "Mornin', Brain." He was grabbed by the wrist and dragged over to a chair with wires in it. Across from it, a screen with static.

Pinky was now fully awake and absolutely interested in whatever was in front of him. "What's that! Narf!" He pointed to the chair.

Brain gestured to it as if to present it. "This is the thing that's going to make the scientists forget about the experiment they wish to perform on us today."

Pinky blinked. "The one where they were gonna take our livers?"

Brain rolled his eyes and motioned for Pinky to follow. "Kidneys, Pinky. They want to remove our kidneys."

"Oh, that's right." He was placed into the chair and two cables were clipped to his ears. He looked around, confused. If it was for the scientists, why was he in it? "Brain, what are you doing? Poit."

"Worry not, dear friend. I simply want to make sure it works. I won't erase a thing from your memory. I just want to see if I can access specific memories." He adjusted the cables a little and turned a dial on the monitor before pulling out a complicated remote control.

Pinky eyed the remote curiously. There were a lot of buttons on it. Then he wondered… "So what are you gonna look at? If you could, there's a few jokes I've forgotten the punchlines too. Do you think you could find those?"

Brain began to hit a few of the buttons on the remote. "Sure, Pinky." He twisted a knob and the monitor started to fuzz up with colors. "Almost got it…". He stared hard at the monitor, adjusting the dial until a clear image of a book was on the screen. The pages of the book were filled with corny knock-knock jokes. "Ah-ha!"

Pinky looked at the screen and gasped. There they were! The jokes he had forgotten! He skimmed through a few of them. "… yes, yes… Oh, Zort! Potato who?! Potato head! Ooh, that's a good one!" He gave Brain his happiest smile. "Thank you, Brain!"

Brain puffed his chest out with pride. Feeling a little cocky, he decided he could try to look for a few more things. "Perhaps I could find one more thing for you. What's something else you'd like to remember?"

Pinky crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue in deep thought. Was there anything else he really needed to remember? Oh! "Brain! I forgot my dream last night! Do you think you could find that?!"

Brain paused. Pinky's woken up from some obviously unsavory dreams as of late, judging by how he sometimes wakes up. There had been a few more occasions of him waking up from a nap with his far-away stare. He supposed, though, that Pinky didn't wake up like that this morning… "Well… okay. Let's give it a shot."

He turned the dial, hitting buttons and adjusting settings until images started popping up on the screen.

The first image was of a nighttime sky full of stars. Pinky had awed at that.

The next image was of a street sign that labeled the streets of Winston and 3rd. Then there was an image of a sign that was labeled "Cirque de Cirque."

Pinky lit up. "Brain, look! We're going to the circus!"

Brain ignored his friend as he focused on keeping the images clear.

Next, there was a moving image of two mice that Brain was unfamiliar with. A tiny paw shot up, as if to try and grab at them. Then the view had changed and the monitor showed an image of a baby mouse with a pink bow. Brain got closer to the monitor with his mouth hung open. The mouse looked exactly like Pinky when they had transformed themselves younger. Brain had almost thought that Pinky had dreamt up himself whilst also being the POV, but the eyes of this mouse… they were just ever so different.

"Delete it! Delete it, now!"

Brain turned around to see Pinky attempt to pull the cables off his ears. He was, however, only managing to get tangled up in them. Brain rushed over to his distraught friend with worry pricking up his spine. "Pinky, calm down!" He hurried to assist his companion with removing the cables. But it was difficult with how much Pinky was struggling.

"Brain! Delete it! Delete it now! I don't want to remember anymore!" Pinky wanted it gone, gone, gone!

Brain heard the monitor make some noises and he looked over his shoulder to see more images and video flashing on the screen. A circus tent, an image of Pinky looking in the mirror with a jacket, a stage, an audience of hungry looking humans, electric shocks, the mouse that looked like Pinky, fire…

"Stooooooop it! Braaaiiiin!"

Brain turned his attention back to Pinky and yanked the cables off his ears. The monitor returned to static and there was an eerie quietness in the air.

Brain reached out to touch Pinky. "Pinky? Pinky are you…"

Brain was shoved aside as Pinky burst off the chair and headed for the thimble trash can. He didn't make it, though, before collapsing onto his hands and knees and vomiting. His body shook violently as he gagged.

Brain rushed over and patted his cage-mate on his back to help him finish. When Pinky's body stopped lurching, Brain helped him to his feet, and then to their bedding. He went to quickly grab a thimble of water. He held it to Pinky's mouth gently.

Pinky accepted the water, but ended up coughing on it. He pushed thimble away and grabbed at his head, which had begun to hurt.

Brain, himself, had started to feel shaky at the sight of his dearest friend in such a state. Guilt was swelling up inside of him. He shouldn't have done what he did! "Pinky? Pinky, please. I'm sorry! Are you okay? What's happening? Can you talk to me?"

Before Pinky could speak, the door to the lab opened and scientists began walking in. He didn't want to leave Pinky alone right then, but he HAD to get the scientists to forget about their experiment. He grabbed Pinky's paw and rubbed his knuckles. "I'm sorry Pinky. I have to make them forget about the experiment. I'll be right back, I promise!"

Pinky didn't say anything, but nodded his head to let Brain know he understood.

Brain rushed over to a piece of paper and lifted it up. There were more cables, enough for each scientist. He had to move quickly and efficiently and without being seen.

He grabbed the wires and snuck onto the counter and hid behind some books. One scientist approached the books and turned away. Brain seized the opportunity and sneakily clipped a set of cables to the back of their coat. It would work just fine like that, as long as the electric current ran through them.

He snuck around some more until every scientist was blissfully unaware that they had cables attached to them. He rushed back into the cage and started working the remote control. "Come on, come on." Sweat ran down his brow as he desperately searched for their shared memory of the experiment.

The monitor hummed and an image of the folder with the experiment information came into view. "Eureka!" Brain looked at the red button on the bottom of the remote and hit it.

The lights to the lab flickered and electricity could be heard running throughout. Some people screamed, others questioned what was going on.

Eventually the lights stopped flickering and remained on. A female scientist spoke up first.

"What was that?!"

Everyone mumbled their confusion and they all seemed to suddenly notice the cables that were attached to them. They each yanked them off.

A male scientist spoke up next. "Say, does anyone remember what we had planned in here?"

They all shrugged. None of them could remember. The man spoke again.

"Well, if we don't have anything to do in here, let's go to the cosmetics area. There's a new perfume they wanna test. This place must be haunted or something."

Everyone agreed and soon, the scientists were gone nearly as quick as they came.

Brain threw a paw in the air. "YES! I did it! Pinky I-…Pinky!"

Brain ran back over to the taller mouse. He hadn't budged. "P-pinky?" Brain waved a hand in front of his face.

Then he shook him, and shook him, and bopped him, and yelled. But he wouldn't budge.

Hours went by as Brain tried to get Pinky to move, but nothing worked. He had one last thing he could think of.

Brain wiped the tears that had apparently been building up in his eyes and picked up the phone. He cleared his emotions so he would be able to speak clearly.

It rang a few times before anyone picked up.

….

"Heyo."

Brain pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me you know it's me."

"Pops?" Roman sounded surprised. But in a good way. "Yo, what's up? It's been a while!"

Brain sighed. "It has. Listen, Roman, how quick can you make it to the lab?"

"Uh, I can be there in like twenty minutes, I guess? How come? Is everything okay?"

Brain glanced over at Pinky. He was still unmoving. "It's your mother. He's physically… fine. I think? Just… Can you come over? It's hard to explain."

"Bunny's already warming up the car. I'll be there soon."

….

Brain hung up the phone and waited. He watched the minute hand tick along, and watched as Pinky didn't even so much as blink.

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Author's Note:

I hope you like chapter five :) I'm working on chapter six right now. I couldn't write about so much family without including Roman :) Roman's got some things to share, as well.