Chapter 4

"Is age creeping up on you?"

A couple of hours passed in the blink of an eye. It was pitch dark outside with the only light coming in the building from the full moon. Most of the machines inside the lab had been shut down for the night. The lab was mostly silent now, with the only sounds coming from the guest room in which Ash and his friends were staying in.

There were only two beds in the guest room, which May and Max did not hesitate to claim as their own once they laid eyes on them. Ash and Brock were very understanding of their younger traveling companions, so they decided not to start an argument over who would sleep on the beds. Ash and Brock pulled out their sleeping bags from Ash's backpack and laid them down next to the beds. May's bed was on the left closest to the wall, followed by Ash and Brock sleeping in their own sleeping bags in the middle, with Max's bed being on the far right next to the window. Pikachu slept on top of Max's bed by the end so it wouldn't disturb the boy while he was sleeping. Their room was dimly lit by a table lamp behind Ash and Brock's sleeping bags.

Ash and his friends were already in their sleepwear and ready to call it a night. May was sitting upright in her bed with the covers over her legs. She was wearing her light yellow t-shirt which stuck tightly to her body, along with light blue shorts. Ash was resting in his sleeping bag with his hands supporting his head. He was resting in his black orange striped t-shirt, as his sweatshirt was placed on top of his bag which was placed against a table. Brock, who was wearing his green t-shirt, was sitting up in his sleeping bag combing his hair with a plastic comb. Max had already fallen sound asleep in his bed with his body turned toward the window.

Ash turned to Brock, "Why are you combing your hair? It's only going to get messed up when you sleep anyway."

"Well I have to make sure I look good just in case I meet a pretty girl in one of my dreams," Brock said as he finished combing his hair.

"Oh brother," May sighed as she rolled her eyes.

The professor opened the door to the guest room to say goodnight to his guests before he turned in himself. The professor was in blue pajamas with a sleeping cap on, along with rather loose-fitting blue slippers. He held a candleholder with a lit candle stick, which lit up the room as he entered.

He looked at his guests jovially as they were just about ready to get some sleep. Ash, May and Brock smiled at the professor as he entered the room.

"It's 11:30p.m., I hope you kids get some good rest tonight as you'll be pushing plenty of boxes tomorrow morning," he said quietly.

"No problem, Professor, I can barely keep my eyes opened already," Ash said, yawning.

May naively added, "Thanks for the dinner you cooked us Mr. Lenient, I didn't know you were such a good cook."

"Truth is I'm not, my food usually tastes like crap. But hey, it's not like I normally have people to cook for," he responded.

Brock yawned as he laid himself down in his sleeping bag, "8 a.m. tomorrow, right doc?"

"Yes, yes. Just remember not to knock over anything in this room as you get up in the morning. That lamp over there is expensive you know." the professor said pointing toward it.

"Heehee, if I elbow the lamp in my sleep it'll fall right on Ash's head." May jested.

"Gee, thanks a lot. I better move my sleeping bag a bit forward and away from the table. I don't trust her now," Ash said sarcastically as he moved his sleeping bag a few inches forward.

"I'm being totally seriously you know. You know how I hate things of mine touched or well…broken. And you kids certainly do not have a good track record. Now start counting Mareeps already, or whatever you do to fall asleep," the professor said, scratching his right armpit.

The sounds of Max snoring gained the attention of everyone in the room.

"Looks like my brother has the right idea," May said looking over at Max snoring away in his bed.

Ash and Brock looked over at Max and smiled contently.

"Yeah, yeah. Why am I still standing in here anyway?" the professor asked himself.

He then took his fingers and covered the flame of the candle and walked toward the door. As he left the room, May slid down in her bed and rested her face on the pillow.

"Well tomorrow's our first day of work. How many days do we have to work for? 5…6…?" Ash wondered.

"Seven days," Brock stated.

"I hope he gives me light things to carry, I'm not made for manual labor," May said.

"That's interesting to hear, May, I'll probably tell the Professor to give you the heavy stuff on purpose then," Ash said looking over to his left.

"Ha, stop messing with me Ash," May snorted as she turned her head around to the other side to rest.

Ash stared back up at the ceiling while supporting his head with his hands. He still felt rather affectionate toward May since she shared that last piece of strawberry shortcake with him. He apparently noticed May felt the same way, as she started teasing him quite a bit for the rest of the day after they finished their cake. Ash started to close his eyes, preparing himself for days of work…

The next morning arrived as Ash and his friends were getting ready for the Professor to come into their room. Ash and Brock had already taken their showers, and were fully dressed waiting for May and Max.

In the bathroom, May was drying Max's hair with the hairdryer. Both were fully clothed and almost ready to head outside. She was holding him in place by combing his hair with her left hand while moving the hair dryer with her right.

"C'mon, May," Max frantically screamed while pushing his sisters hands away, "My hair is dry already! Let me go now!"

"Stay still," May reprimanded, "I'm not having my little brother walk around looking like a slob. Your hair is still standing up in the back here…time to wet it down!"

"Gah...c'mon!" Max said frustrated.

May then licked her fingers and placed them down on the strands of hair sticking up on Max's head. She then combed his hair down, a bit too harshly and forcefully, which caused her brother to scream.

"STOP ALREADY!" he yelled.

Ash and Brock looked toward the open bathroom door, smiling.

"Heh, poor Max," Brock said.

"Makes me happy that I don't have any siblings," Ash boasted cheerfully.

Max then ran out of the bathroom and stood next to Ash out of breath.

May walked out of the bathroom door to see her friends standing there looking at her. She was annoyed as she put her hands on her hips and walked toward her brother.

"It's bad enough that I have to make sure you take a bath everyday, it's even worse that you still don't comb your own hair!" May scolded her brother.

"Oh forget it, sis, I'll comb my hair on my own someday," Max said, clinging to Ash's leg.

"Ah, the trials of an older sister. I like it," Brock said, scratching his chin.

"He acts like it's such a big deal," May said bragging, "I started taking care of myself when I was seven!"

"So that's only one year younger than I am now! Besides, I know Mom used to comb your hair too sometimes," Max said defensively, letting go of Ash's leg.

"That only happened when my hair got frizzy," a snooty May replied.

"You must have been really independent when you were younger, eh May?" Ash asked.

"Sure. I had to since well…I grew up rather eh…quickly…" May blushed.

"Yeah, my sister was too embarrassed having Mom bathe her when she already looked older herself. I remember Mom talking to her about some kind of changes girls go through…"

"MAX!" May interrupted.

"What?" Max asked naively.

"So I matured quickly and got a head start on most other girls my age, big deal! It's not like you have to tell Ash and Brock that," May said cocking her head.

"Uh…" Ash muttered.

Brock smiled as if he tried to pretend that he didn't know what May was talking about.

Suddenly, the door slammed wide open and almost knocked Ash and Max down as they were right in front of it.

"WELL HELLLOOOOOOOOOO CHILDREN!" the Professor shouted dubiously.

"Uh…hi." May grinned, waving her hand.

"Happy day! Today is the day I put you kids into hours of painstakingly harsh and cruel child labor!" he stated with a huge smile.

The group stared at him with blank expressions.

"Hoo! Just kidding my little buddies," the Professor laughed, patting his belly.

"Great, so what's first?" Ash asked enthusiastically.

20 minutes later, Ash regretted asking the Professor for work so nicely. He was gripping onto two huge boxes stacked on top of each other which was filled with machinery. Ash's back was stretched back due to how heavy the weight was.

"Gah…just got to carry this a…little…further…" he said grinding his teeth.

An out of breath Pikachu walked next to him carrying its own little box.

"The-----re," Ash gasped as he placed both boxes on the ground.

Pikachu then placed it's little box on top of the big ones.

Ash leaned against the two boxes and wiped the sweat off his forehead, "Gee, this guy is going to work us to death."

Ash then felt the boxes being picked up behind him which almost made him fall over as he was leaning against them.

"Whoa…" he gasped as he stepped away from the boxes.

Another set of mechanical arms picked up the two boxes and placed it on a conveyor belt behind them.

"The Professor has so many of these arms, too bad the one we broke happened to be in the area that needs the most shipments. Jeez," Ash sighed.

Pikachu tried to reason with its trainer as it patted his leg, "Pikapi".

"Well…might as well go get the next two boxes," Ash said reluctantly.

Ash walked into the next room and saw May mopping the floors.

"May, you really lucked out with such an easy job!" Ash exclaimed.

"Are you kidding? Did you know what I was doing before he told me to mop the floors?" May said out of breath.

"Let me guess, he had you wash his dishes?"

"NO! He had me going up 20-foot ladders carrying a huge sack of machinery on a bag tied around my back. The weight of that machinery almost pulled my back down and nearly had me tip over on the ladder! Good thing I only had to do that once though before he told me to mop the floors. Too bad now that I'm done mopping the floors I gotta go lift some more boxes again….ugh," May sighed.

"Wow, that is something."

"Excuse my language but I felt like I was carrying a huge sack of crap," May said, resting the mop against the wall.

"I guess there's a lesson in this somewhere," Ash said as he walked with May across the room.

"Let me guess, don't throw frisbees' into some guy's window and then break a pair of robot arms? Yeah, I got that," May said smiling at her friend.

"You know, I don't think we ever found out the Professor's name," Ash realized.

"Mr. Lenient is good enough. Besides, I don't even think he knows OUR names!"

"We never told him, May?"

"Not as far as I remember. Kind of funny when you think about it. We're working for a guy we don't even know, and he's making us work when he doesn't even know who we are!" May said.

Ash, May and Pikachu continued walking next to each other until they came upon a hallway with glass windows. Ash and May looked through the glass windows which showed the main floor below them. The main floor had all the machinery and mechanical arms that they saw when they first entered the lab. May continued looking aimlessly until she caught eye of her brother.

"What!?" May shouted.

"Huh?"

"My brother, look what he's going!" May pointed.

Ash looked through the window at Max. Max was running along the conveyor belts laughing while placing small metal cylinders into their respective holes. Ash noticed that Max seemed to really enjoy what he was doing, as he seemed to think running along moving conveyor belts was fun.

Max jumped off the conveyor belt and grabbed a whole bunch of metal cylinders from an open cardboard box. He zipped over to a pair of mechanical arms and starting handing the cylinders to both hands.

"Here you go hand #1!" Max said laughing as he placed a cylinder in the left hand.

"And here you go hand #2!" he continued placing the cylinder in the other hand.

The mechanical arm then took both cylinders and placed it into a metal machine behind it. Max continued giving the hands all the cylinders he was holding with a huge smile on his face.

"Oh great, I'm here straining my back and my brother thinks this is an amusement park!" May said fatigued.

"Wow that DOES look like fun. I want to do that!" an excited Ash said.

"You know one of these days I'm going to figure out how my brother gets all the easy ways out," May contemplated.

"C'mon," Ash said quietly, reassuring her by placing his hand on her shoulder, "Let's go get those next boxes together. I'm sure it won't be as bad if two people were carrying the weight instead of just one."

May smiled, "You're right, even though it'll probably take twice as long since you have to go back and carry your stuff too."

The two of them and Pikachu continued walking out of the hallway and down a stairway.

"I'd give anything to be a little kid again," May said, walking down the steps with Ash and Pikachu behind her.

"Jealous of your brother I see?" Ash snickered.

"Oh be quiet. You wouldn't know as you have no siblings," May replied.

"Yeah, but I can imagine it."

"I think I'm growing up too quickly, Ash….I barely remember what it was like being a kid and I'm going to already be a teen in a few years. And then I'll just get older and older and start getting wrinkles and whatever else happens to old people. Hmmm, maybe I have a wrinkle already," May said depressed.

"Don't worry, you look really cute the way you are now," Ash complimented.

"Really?" May glanced at Ash smiling, as she stroked her hair.

"Well…uh…I mean you look nice of course…maybe cute was too strong a word," Ash said coughing.

May's eyebrows lowered as they exited the stairway, "Maybe nice was too weak a word."

They continued walking along a white hallway on the main floor which led to the Professor's living quarters.

"Maybe you're trying to ask me something?" Ash said slyly.

"Maybe I am," May replied.

"Or maybe you're still annoyed that you have to work for another six days yet," Ash stated.

"That may be correct. And maybe we better stop talking and get back to work now that I think about it."

"That's a lot of "maybe's." Ash said glancing at May.

May giggled as they came upon the door to the living quarters. Ash pushed it opened as May and Pikachu walked behind them.

"The Professor said that there are more unopened boxes here in the back closet," Ash said.

"Go bring them out, I need to rest a bit," an exhausted May said as she plopped herself down on the Professor's favorite armchair.

Ash sighed as he walked toward the closet and began to rummage through the stuff inside. May stretched out her legs as her eyes began to wander around the room. Her eyes then caught glimpse of a couple of metallic gun-esque looking items along the upper shelves of the room. She remembered glancing at those objects when they first entered the Professor's living quarters yesterday, but this was the first time she got a really good look at them.

"Those look like some crazy futuristic gun thingies that you would find in a sci-fi movie. I wonder if those are real or not," May said to herself.

Ash continued looking through the closet as he found the box he was looking for. He then opened it and looked for what he needed inside.

May's curiosity got the best of her as she got up and walked toward the shelf with two metallic high-tech guns on top of it. The gun on the right grabbed May's attention, as it had a futuristic platinum handle, but with a dish like antenna on the end. It had no trigger on it however, which made it seem like a device for something rather than a gun.

"Hmmmm," May said looking at the device on the right, "That looks like a ray gun of some sort…but the professor wouldn't keep anything dangerous like this laying about in the open would he?"

Despite her better judgment, May lifted the right platinum toned gun off the shelf. She then held the device in her hands examining it from all sides. There was nothing to press or hold down on the entire device except a small red button on the inner handle. May continued to examine it as Ash came back out from the closet, dragging out a huge cardboard box filled with machinery. Ash noticed May holding something as he walked up to her.

"Where'd you get that?" Ash asked.

"It was up along the wall, it looks like a device of some sort, doesn't it?" May asked.

"I guess so, it kinda looks like a toy, but I wouldn't do anything with it as we don't know what it's for," Ash said.

"Hm, you're right. I might as well put this back before I accidentally break it and the Professor yells at me," May sneered.

"Yeah, then he'll really be on our case again," Ash said putting his hands on his hips.

May stood up on her toes and reached up with her hand to place the device back on the shelf. May pushed the gun back but ended up pushing it to the right opened side of the shelf too much, which made it fall down onto the floor!

"Oh crap!" May exclaimed.

"Nice going, I hope it isn't broken," Ash added.

As May was about to reach down to pick it up she noticed the dish of the gun began to glow a yellow hue.

"Huh?" May said as she kneeled before it.

Pikachu stood on the armchair, watching what was happening from a distance.

"That ray…it's getting brighter!" Ash said astonished, as he stood behind May.

Suddenly, the yellow hue began to shine across the dish of the gun, as it began emancipating light toward May and Ash.

"Ugh, that light is bright," May staggered, shielding her eyes.

The sides of the dish began to completely light up now, as it fired a beam of light directly at Ash and May!

"Ah!" Ash and May exclaimed as the light completely engulfed them.

A worried Pikachu shouted, "PIKA PIKACHU!"

After a few more seconds, the light then began to fade as the gun seemed like it was shutting down. Pikachu was finally able to see again as the light had been so bright that it also needed to shield it's eyes.

Pikachu looked ahead and didn't see Ash and May's bodies! It jumped off the armchair and looked ahead as the dust cleared. It then saw that there were two bodies there…and they were Ash and May…but they were….smaller…and looked younger…

Pikachu then gasped as it finally saw the effects of the ray gun…

…Ash and May had been turned into year old infants!