"Reports claim that the explosion was the result of one of Megamind's old 'evil' inventions suffering a major malfunction. This has brought on a lot of public doubt about the ex-villain's devices. What are the chances of something like this happening again, and in a more populated area? The results may very well be catastrophic, and lives might even be lost. We take you now to Alex Snider, who is on the scene with Megamind specialist Bernard-"

Megamind turned the television off with a dramatic press of the remote, eyes narrowed dangerously. He had expected the explosion to appear on the television, but he never would have anticipated the news, and people, would take such a negative view. As if he did it on purpose, as if all his devices would spontaneously explode? Maybe, just maybe, if he was evil again, this sort of thing would be right up his alley, but now?

Bernard, especially, was somebody who was voicing distrust of the alien. Not only had he de-hydrated him and stolen his phone, but he had also practically stolen his identity, and left him in a lint-filled pocket until his 'pet' fish had found him and knocked him out with little to no hesitation. He was a specialist in the study of investigating the alien's activities, so who else would they turn to when they were beginning to doubt him as a know-it-all?

He felt wounded.

And then there was Roxanne... their relationship was in another one of those 'off' statuses that she seemed to use more often lately. Naturally he still watched her on the news, though. Of course he did. How could he not? She had been such a major role in his life and its turning point, but... the woman had said she wasn't looking for a serious relationship at this point in time.

What did that mean? He wasn't serious enough? He had dressed up in a suit for her, for crying out loud. How more serious could he get? But no, Roxanne claimed she didn't want to go jumping into a relationship with him right off the bat because of what happened, because she didn't want to be one of those 'trophy' girlfriends. Another phrase Megamind hadn't understood. Despite the fact that she had hurt him deep down, she was still fun to be around and he still liked meeting with the woman to watch movies together, or going for bike rides through the (cleaned up) city park. But she just... couldn't move further than that. Not now, anyway.

Minion had once said it was because he had lied so much, so badly, that she couldn't move past it. No matter how many times he apologized for it, too. Deep down, Megamind knew this was the truth.

Women. Tch... Go figure. You can be a genius from another planet yet you still couldn't understand them.

He heard movement behind him, and turned around to see Minion walking towards the fridge. His companion had been in this human form for an hour and a half now, and by now was getting around just fine. The first few hours, though, had been embarrassing for everyone involved. He could barely walk; much less control his fingers and limbs. Going from a fish swimming in water, controlling a robot body through thought functions alone, to a human body with muscles and tissue mass was... a bit jarring.

Minion could walk now, though now and then he would forget to bend his knee and end up almost falling over, but he was still much better than when he started out.

"Oh Minion," Megamind sighed as he set his hands to his hips. "I knew those people would put a neeg-ate-eve spin on our predicament, but I didn't think it would be so, well, horrible."

"What's wrong, Sir?" Minion asked as he tried to wrap his fingers around the water jug's handle. It took him a few tries, but finally he pulled it out. That was a strange drawback, besides losing his strength and being able to lengthen his arms with his robot suit, that he felt thirsty so often.

"The explosion. People are now wondering if all of my glorious creations will explode, or if it's a sign of me turning back to the side of evil," Megamind said, as he crossed the room and picked up a glass and waited for Minion to drink his fill before taking the jug from him, scowling when he saw how empty it was.

"That's terrible of them, Sir, but you did terrorize them for years," Minion pointed out.

"Still no reason to judge me so quick!" Megamind snapped.

"All right, all right," sighed the fish-man.

"So uh. How. How are you faring? Any problems? Motor skills functioning poperly?" Megamind asked, looking over the fish. He had, since falling all over himself earlier that day, begun wearing some clothes. Minion had tried on some of Megamind's clothes, but they were far too small and tight on him, so he had to gather up what materials he had and make himself some clothes to just throw on. Naturally they were black, tight fitting, and clung to his new body. The collar was up to his neck, and the sleeves reached down to his elbows, leaving his forearms exposed. He had made some pants out of similar material, only they came down to his ankles rather than just his knees.

The 'M' symbol that Megamind wore on everything was sewn onto his back, between his shoulder blades. From it, bolts of lightning arched, reaching around his sides and down his back. He had to actually buy some boots, since his feet were at least twice Megamind's size, and his boots were of course black with one big silver buckle on each. Atop his head sat some black goggles, forever ready for if he needed to do some welding. Truly, he looked the part of a faithful Minion, even with his odd green colored skin. But Megamind's was blue, so was it really bad to have another oddly-colored person to hang out with?

Though the black hair was an interesting addition to the fish-man's head; it was short yet it seemed to stick up in two places on top of his head, seemingly following the natural ridges that Minion's fish head had. Naturally they no longer lit up, but you could see the resemblances to his aquatic self easily if you squinted. And if you really, really looked you would see the tip of the antennae sticking out at the back of his head. The little device had remained stubbornly embedded in his head since; after all, it was very much a part of him. If his robot suit had survived the blast, Minion could probably still control the thing but it, like the DNA-Extracting machine, had been pretty much destroyed in the blast.

Megamind was a little miffed at how Minion was taller than him, as well as hair, and just a little bit broader. Still, somebody had to be the muscles to his impressive brains, so he guessed he could let it slide. For now…

"Oh, no, not really," Minion admitted as he lifted a hand and turned it around slowly. "So far so good. But I tell you, using a toilet? Weird."

The alien paused a moment to have that realization sink in, before snorting loudly. "Oh Minion. You crazy fish you."

"I'm not a fish now though," pointed out the man.

"No, but deep down you still are," replied Megamind.

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. I'm Megamind," snorted the alien smugly, with a flair of his hand. "I'm always right!"

Minion rolled his eyes but smiled. He glanced at the gaping hole that the Brain Bots were working hard on fixing; they had gotten crazy-good at fixing holes in walls, and they had all done the reconstruction of Metro Tower, too, and any other building affected by the destruction done to the city thanks to Hal. Minion watched as they worked tirelessly, barking to one another in a language only they could truly understand as they shifted new bricks and cleared away the rubble. Naturally, they had sorted the rubble into pieces of wood, metal, rock, and miscellaneous.

Megamind walked over to the pile of metal and knelt beside it, picking up what had once been a giant gear. "This will take forever..." he sighed.

"Forever, Sir?" Minion asked as he walked up to him, and stared down at the genius.

"To rebuild my machine," Megamind sighed, setting the piece down.

"Rebuild but... but why?"

Megamind looked up at him, eyes narrowed. "In case you forgot, Minion, you're no longer yourself."

"Are you saying I'm not useful to you anymore?" Minion asked, sounding mortally wounded. The tips of his pointed ears seemed to twitch, and marginally lowered in the same way his fins had done when he was upset. "I'm still Minion, Sir, I'm just... just in a different body."

"So you're saying you want to stay this way?" Megamind asked, pointing at him before stroking his beard in a pondering way. "Curious."

"Well. I don't know. It's. It's early to say, Sir," admitted the fish-man with an awkward shrug before he looked down at his nails and picked at them, amused faintly by how he had a thick green line running down the length of each finger, and how he had a faint webbing just a centimeter long between each digit on his hand. It was as if he would have had fully webbed fingers, and toes, but the human genetics hadn't allowed it completely. "I'm still useful to you in this body, and that's really what matters at the end of the day to me. If, if I'd been rendered totally useless to you, then I would want to be changed back as soon as possible."

"Oh Minion," Megamind sighed. "Always looking out for my wellbeing. You fantastic... uh... fish-man you," he complimented awkwardly.

"Fish-man works, Sir," grinned the fish-man. His teeth, also, had undergone some transformation. While his bottom row teeth still were a bit larger than his top ones and he still had his under bite, his teeth had become fairly human and boring-looking. His canines, though, looked ridiculously sharp enough to be intimidating.

"Brilliant. Good," the blue alien said before sighing, and looked at the Brain Bots working diligently. "...it's going to take a while to clean this mess up."

"I could help them, Sir," Minion offered.

"No, no. No." Megamind shook his head and wagged a finger to further run the idea home with the fish-man. "You, my fine fish-man friend, are not allowed to do anything for the remainder of the day."

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" Minion demanded, narrowing an eye suspiciously yet also playfully. What was his boss getting at? Nothing? All day?

Megamind scoffed. "What? I can't be generous?" he asked. "Minion, look at you. You've... you underwent a change that would render anyone a psychological and physical mess, but look at you! Trooping on! Let the Brain Bots bother with the cleanup duties. I think," he said, narrowing an eye with a grin, "you need to experience what being human is like."

"Oh?" Minion asked.

Minion stood with Megamind at the Metro City Park gates, fidgeting his fingers together as he stared out at the green, lush area. He felt butterflies in his stomach, yet he couldn't really understand why. He'd been outside before; he'd been outside so many times, but why was it that his heart was pounding so fast within his chest it felt as though it would burst out like a chest-burster? He looked down at Megamind, standing beside him, grinning as if he was about to launch into an evil laugh to end all evil laughs.

"Sir?" he asked, nervously.

"Go on, go on! Take your shoes off," Megamind insisted.

"What?" Minion asked, shocked. "That's unsanitary!"

"Kick off your black leather shoes! Feel the grass between your toes, the wind in your hair, everything you've never felt before! Go on! It's an order, Minion. Dare you defy me?" Megamind asked in a warning tone, holding a finger up threateningly to the fish-mans' face.

"No, of course not, Sir!" Minion shot back.

And down he got onto one knee, unstrapped the buckle on the boots and pulled his foot out of it, along with the black sock he was wearing. He stuffed the sock into his shoe before standing momentarily to kneel again, only to remove his other shoe and sock.

When he stood up to his full height his bare feet felt the pavement under him, and it felt... rough. This was a new feeling, to be sure. He wiggled his toes against it for a moment before walking off the path and onto the green grass, and it felt as though the second he did his senses were suddenly over-whelmed all at once. It was like a man who hadn't been able to see colors his entire life had suddenly been shown a rainbow, or one of the most beautifully bright paintings in the world. The grass felt amazing beneath his feet, and he wiggled his slightly webbed toes, catching it between them. Crouching over, the fish-man dug his hands against the grass, feeling the smooth yet rough texture for the first time in his life.

"Oh, oh wow," he whispered, before a sudden strong gust of wind came from out of nowhere and washed over him, ran across his exposed skin and ruffled his hair. He laughed, getting to his feet, and looked around. Lifting his hands, he didn't seem to know what to do. "Oh, oh, this. This! I've never...!" After an entire life of living in water, hidden behind thick glass, suddenly being able to feel everything around him in some way or another was an overload. "Everything looks so-it's not distorted anymore! Why, why didn't I see this before? I can smell everything, Sir, everything...!"

Megamind stood back, watching his friend have this moment to himself. He had never seen Minion look so happy before in all his life; even when he would be working diligently on a new outfit for him, baking, or sketching out new designs. Had Minion ever experienced such joy before in his life, Megamind had to wonder, as well as why his hearts suddenly felt... what was the word? Glow-ey? He chuckled to himself, folding his arms across his chest as he continued to watch the fish-man romp around the grass and it brought back memories of his own first time in the park, with his Bernard disguise on, with Roxanne. How she had taken him bike-riding for the first time in his life, and how caring she had been towards him. Their picnics, confessions on a blanket under a tree... now those memories came with a tainted pain he didn't like.

Dwelling on the woman now, though, wasn't good. This was about Minion, the fish who would have given up his life this morning for him, and not about his messy on and off again relationship with the news reporter.

He walked forward, bending to scoop up the big boots for his friend. "Wonderful, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes!" Minion said. He had, rather suddenly, fallen backwards onto the grass and was waving his arms and legs as if he was making a snow angel. "It-it's just... I don't know Sir, words aren't... gah!"

"Ho, ho, yes, yes. It is amazing." Megamind smiled. This was almost like him as well, back when he was a child, allowed out of the cold, dead environment of the prison to the highway when he was five years old. He was part of the cleanup duty team, but that had been the first time he had ever experienced grass beneath his feet. The little blue alien had gotten in trouble for dawdling, for touching the grass as if it were something magical and wondrous, but he hadn't cared. Even though he had explained it to Minion once he got back home, the fish had never truly understood what grass felt like, or what a warm summer breeze did to one's skin. But now he did. "Say, Minion. What say you to a hawt dawg?" he asked, mispronouncing the words as always.

"A non-soggy hot dog?" Minion sat bolt upright, eyes wide. He hadn't eaten a thing all morning, but the realization that his food would no longer be accompanied by mouthfuls of water, or be dripping wet, seemed amazing to him.

"Come on, we'll get you all the trimmings!"

"Toppings, Sir."

"Same thing!"

It wasn't long until the two friends were sitting under a large tree by the huge pond, both eating a hot dog each. Megamind had gotten his with mustard and onions, whilst Minion had cheese, sauce, onions, relish, and mustard as well. He was eating it as if he hadn't eaten in his life before, and the feeling of eating something dry, not swallowing water into his stomach like normal, it was magic.

"Oh my gosh, you're Megamind!"

A little girl ran up to the two, holding her blue Frisbee tightly in her hands. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh!" she seemed to be stuck on repeat like any little child would be seeing a hero, and famous person, sitting around like any normal person.

"Hello small... er.. child." Megamind greeted after swallowing his bite of hot dog.

"Eee!" she squeaked, amazed he had spoken to her.

Minion watched as Megamind ended up signing her Frisbee, smiling broadly as he did. His boss had come such a long way in such a short amount of time, even if he did have a few slip ups now and then... but making the transition from a super villain to a super hero wasn't always so simple. For that brief moment, he had thought changing his appearance entirely and pretending to be like Metro Man would be for the good of everyone; thankfully, Minion had helped him realize he was just fine the way he was. Sometimes they ran into people who thought less of him, who still saw him as a menace to society and as a 'ticking time bomb' who could snap at any minute and go back to his evil ways. Minion had told Megamind those kinds of naysayers weren't worth his time, much less the sensation of being de-hydrated.

Because, after all, good guys don't de-hydrate people… at least, people obeying the law.

"Who're you?" the little girl asked him, pulling Minion out of his thoughts.

"Oh, this is Minion!" Megamind introduced him, as if they were at a gala or something.

"That's not Minion. Minion's a fish," the little girl said, as if they didn't know that fact.

"Normally you'd be right," Minion replied brightly, "But there was a bit of a blast in the lab today and I came out looking like this."

The little girl observed his face, those brown eyes, and the fact he had green skin and a... familiar appearance despite the obvious differences. She pouted. "I like Minion the fish better. You're ugly," she said, using that bitter honesty that most children possessed.

Megamind glanced at Minion, and saw how his ears twitched, and only justly sagged. The alien then frowned and fought against the instinct to pull out his De-gun and dehydrate her. Children before had called Minion, and himself, ugly... way back when they had been children themselves. Though the fish had said it had never bothered him that badly, Megamind had always felt deep down it had wounded the little fish. It certainly wounded him. Out of the corner of his eye, though, Megamind spotted who he could only guess were the little girl's parents watching him, and he was certain they knew about the explosion in his lab, and how people were already quick to peg him as returning to his evil ways.

De-hydrating a little girl was probably not a good thing to do, now especially.

"Shoo now. Your mother needs you." Megamind gestured to the little girl, making 'shoo' motions with both of his hands. "Go on, that's it. Good little child. Go on. Get. See you! Yes, yes, I know, I am amazing. Go on now!" He kept waving until she was gone, before groaning and turning to Minion. "Don't listen to her, Minion. You're not ugly."

Minion put on a brave face, grinning as brightly as he could. "Oh, I know that, Sir. It's just, I'm... different to how people originally see me, that's... that's all."

Megamind scowled, before suddenly jumping to his feet. "Let's go bike riding!" he announced, quickly changing the topic and wanting to see Minion happy again like he had seen him on the grass. He wanted to see that content, glowing face on his friend once more and never wanted to see him upset because of stupid little children again.

"Huh?" Minion blinked, surprised and taken aback by the offer.

"Bike riding!" repeated Megamind. "Bicycle, bicycle!" he sang, reaching down and grabbing both of Minions' wrists.

"But I can't ride a bike, Sir. I, I've never even tried-"

"Then it's about time you learned!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Megamind managed to haul Minion to his feet. "Come on, this way, this way!"

To be continued