Author's Note: I can say with certainty this time that the one big inconsistency in this chapter is a plot device.

Chapter 12

Robbie tinkered and toiled away for the rest of the day and through the night. Stopping only to curse Sportacus a few times whenever the speakers descended with some racket or another. Also stopping to have some cake. But eventually the device was done.

"A remote!" Robbie held it up. "With a dial, to control age! I'm a genius" Robbie jumped up.

"All I have to do, is point this at Sportacus like so..." Robbie looked around and pointed the remote at his bird and turned the dial. The bird got all scrawny and it's feathers molted and it let out a feeble squawk.

"Hahahaha!" Robbie turned the dial the other way and the bird returned to it's previous age. "Yes! Now, I can make Sportacus any age I want!"

~*~*~[Elsewhere...]~*~*~

Sportacus lifted Stephanie above his head, holding her at the back of her shoulders and her knees.

"Sportacus!" Stephanie laughed. "Put me down!"

"Take it back and I will." Sportacus teased.

"I will not, it's true!" Stephanie protested. "I bet if I could see your face you'd have a big self-satisfied smirk RIGHT NOW."

The way this particular 'argument' started was with a knowing smirk on Sportacus' face.

Stephanie's shyness had been overpowered by her fascination with Sportacus' chest and her hands took that as an opportunity to roam. Sportacus had stayed as absolutely still as he possibly could for this exploration. She kept her hands over his shirt but let them wander up under his vest as they took in the contours of the muscles underneath his skin. They mapped the front of his abs and then moved over to his sides. They drifted down a little and then up to...

Sportacus gasped as Stephanie's hands slid over his pecs and brushed against his nipples through his shirt. As a general rule they weren't particularly sensitive, but she'd been moving so slowly. He'd tensed so much in anticipation that any stimulation would have elicited a response. Unfortunately that small gasp had been enough to draw Stephanie back to herself and she turned beet red as her hands withdrew very quickly.

Sportacus briefly cursed his need to breathe. He could have done with a lot more of that. Once his eyes had the ability to focus again he looked down at Stephanie. She was still blushing and looking not directly at him, her mouth quirked to the side a bit. He chuckled.

Stephanie, being a little embarrassed, took offense at this. Then seeing his face, which was indeed, in a small smirk she ended up picking a small fight.

"You should see the look on your face." She complained halfheartedly. "You just really think you're something don't you?"

"What?" Sportacus asked with a laugh.

"You can just tell by the look on your face that you know that you're all great n'stuff." Stephanie explained. "You look very... self-satisfied."

Which then proceeded to degenerate into the scene they were enacting now. Sportacus spun around, still holding Stephanie above his head, before finally letting her drop into his arms.

"Not," Stephanie conceded, "that you don't have good reason to be." She wrapped her arms around his neck. Sportacus just laughed and leaned over a bit to kiss her, which made her legs go up into the air.

Neither of them noticed Robbie sneaking up. He held a hand over his mouth to muffle a snicker. He waited until Stephanie wasn't obscuring his aim and then pointed the remote and turned the dial with a small jerk. He closed his eyes and waited for the gasp or shriek he'd envisioned from Stephanie... but it never came. He opened his eyes with a frown.

Sportacus hadn't changed in appearance at all. Robbie shook the remote in confusion. It'd worked before hadn't it? Did he miss? Robbie pointed it and tried again. Still nothing. He ducked as Sportacus and Stephanie walked in his general direction. They walked a little past him and he pointed the remote again.

"Arrgh!" Robbie cried out in frustration. Too loudly apparently, because both Stephanie and Sportacus jumped a little and turned to him.

"Robbie?" Sportacus asked. Robbie looked around and ducked unconvincingly. Sportacus walked up to the low wall and looked down at him. Noticing his hiding place wasn't working Robbie stood up again and tried the remote again.

"Another gimmick to get me out of town?" Sportacus asked, snatching the remote out of Robbie's hand. "Is it broken?"

"Gimmie that!" Robbie snatched it back. Stephanie shifted a little and it caught Robbie's eye. He aimed the remote at her and gave it a forceful jerk.

The change happened so fast that it wasn't taken in by anyone right away. Stephanie grew a few inches in height, and her hair bleached out into a pale pink. Her skin got a little darker and sunk in a little. She looked much more boney and wiry.

If you asked Stephanie then the only change she could tell right away was that she felt... looser.

"Ha! It DOES work!" Robbie held the remote aloft in triumph. Sportacus, having recovered from his surprise, grabbed Robbie's wrist.

There was a a struggle. Robbie was able to use his height to his advantage to keep the remote away from Sportacus but that wasn't going to last long.

"Give me... the... remote!" Sportacus said forcefully, getting a good hold on Robbie finally.

"You want the remote?" Robbie asked sarcastically.

"Yes!" Sportacus answered, never one to recognize sarcasm. Robbie, realizing he was losing, decided he needed to make his retreat.

"Fine!" Robbie dropped the remote and gave it a swift and forceful kick. "Go get it!" As soon as Sportacus let go of him he bid a hasty retreat back to his lair.

Sportacus chased the remote through the air, but it had a head start on him. He'd had to disentangle himself from Robbie and vault the wall before he could give chase. Just as it started falling he was able to get under it but...

As Sportacus dove for the remote he noticed the tree. His eyes widened as he tried to stall himself. The remote impacted the tree and bounced to the ground. Sportacus ducked, but his head still hit the tree with an impressively loud sound.

"Sportacus!" Stephanie shouted, her voice sounding deeper and a little harsher than usual. She sat on the wall and swung her legs over after trying unsuccessfully to vault over it like she normally would. She ran over to where Sportacus was starting to sit up and holding the top of his head.

"Are you alright?" Stephanie asked softly.

"Sem er sárt..." Sportacus muttered to himself, rubbing his head with his eyes closed. It was a moment before he noticed Stephanie kneeling next to him looking a little confused. He sat up straight and cleared his throat.

"I'm fine." He assured. He twisted around and spotted the remote on the ground. As he picked it up he noticed it seemed to be intact, but it was sparking a little out of the side. He frowned at it.

"Maybe we should get Pixel to look at it." Stephanie suggested. Sportacus stood up, holding the remote gingerly in one hand. He was still looking at it like it had offended him somehow. It took a moment before he realized that Stephanie was still on the ground.

"Stephanie?" He asked, looked down at her. Stephanie blushed.

"My knees aren't working." She explained sheepishly. Sportacus lent her a hand and winced when both of her knees popped rather loudly. Stephanie hobbled a couple steps before her legs started cooperating again.

"I'm okay." She said after a moment. Sportacus still hovered around her with concern all the way to Pixel's house.

Author's Note: "sem er sárt" means "that hurt" in Icelandic, to the best of my knowledge. I kind of just like the idea of Sportacus muttering to himself in Icelandic, so I put that in there because it amused me.