Shaiden tore through the castle's halls, almost making it impossible for Kookaburra and Thorne to catch up with her. Though she was only ten, she was almost as fast as her adult self. In no time at all, the ninja reached the lab's metallic door. She skidded to a stop and paused to watch for the two male Defenders. As soon as she caught sight of Kookaburra, she pushed the lab's door open and entered.
Inside, after the bird and the alchemist appeared, Thorne shut the door, then motioned Kook over to his stove. While Kookaburra took his place there, Thorne collected the beaker of the new slime formula. He marched over to the stove and poured the neon orange mixture into a pot. The alchemist held the pot five inches above the stove, then placed his gloved hand over the knob.
"Alright, Kook, now pay attention: this is an electric ignition stove. Usually, all I need to do to turn on the flames is turn this knob. But I've turned off the electricity, so when I turn the knob, I'll need you to provide the spark to get it burning. That's how we'll get the magic element in with the new formula. You got that?"
Kook nodded. "Yep."
Thorne turned the knob. "Now do your magic and heat this stuff up."
Kook grinned, then held his fingers in a snapping position. He lowered them close to the burner, then snapped. Instantly, a violet-blue fire flickered on the burner, and Thorne lowered the pot on top of it.
"Woo, we're heating things up, baby!" Kookaburra cried before laughing.
While Thorne watched the slime, Kook kept his eyes on the flickering flames. Much to his amazement, the flames sparked green and purple for a couple seconds. Once the colors melted back into a deep blue, Thorne wrapped his fingers around the knob.
"That should do it," he said, turning off the flames.
"This is gonna work, right?" the Australian bird inquired.
"It better," Thorne growled, clasping his hand around a spoon to stir the formula with.
"On the bright side," Kookaburra said, "if this doesn't work, we can take the little sweetheart trick-or-treating!"
Thorne shot the laughing bird a look, then turned back to the slime. He stirred it for a minute, then looked back at his sister. He paced in front of her, then dipped the spoon into the formula. He pulled the spoon out, blew on it to cool the mixture, and held it out three inches from Shaiden's mouth.
"Shaiden, I want you to drink this."
The ten-year-old stared at the neon orange gunk. She wrinkled her nose and moved her eyes up to her brother.
"Can't you just toss it onto me like last time?"
"I wish," Thorne replied bitterly, earning a glare from the ninja. "Now open wide."
Shaiden looked back down at the mixture. She hesitated.
"Say, "ahhh!" Kook advised, grinning.
The ninja cringed, then did what Kook said. Thorne surged the spoon into her mouth, then yanked it out when the mixture had ran over his sister's tongue. Shaiden quickly swallowed, then found herself coughing and throwing her tongue out in disgust.
"This tastes like rotten pumpkins!"
"Yet I can't get it to smell like jack-o-lanterns," Thorne grumbled.
Once Shaiden finished gagging, she froze like a statue, then waited for something to happen. Thorne and Kook watched her intently, wondering what would happen next.
A long pause.
"Why isn't anything happening?" Shaiden asked, breaking the silence.
The two male Defenders looked at each other. Kookaburra shrugged.
"Maybe because it's cooler, it takes longer," he guessed.
"Possibly. And last time, all the formula had to do was make direct contact to her body to change her. This formula has to travel through her bloodstream." Thorne rubbed his chin. "We might have to wait overnight for any changes to take effect."
"Overnight?" Shaiden whined. "Really? Aw!"
Kook patted the ninja on the shoulder and smirked. "Don't worry, Shaiden; I've got a bedtime story lying around here somewhere."
***
The next morning, just as the first few rays of golden sunlight began to flood over the Kingdom of Splatalot, Kook was up. He "flew" faster than a hummingbird through the castle's hallways, and found that he was the first at Shaiden's bedroom door. He tapped her door in an eager manner.
"Shaiden, are you awake?" he called. "Did the formula work?"
"You tell me."
Kook whirled around in surprise. Standing in front of him was the shadowy Shaiden. His mouth curled into an ecstatic smile.
"Shaiden!" he cried, throwing his arms up. "You're an adult again!"
The adult Shaiden nodded and put herself in a ninja pose. "I guess the formula worked."
"All it took was some science and magic!" the bird declared. Kook finger-snapped more flames to emphasize his point.
Shaiden shook her head. "You're such a pyromaniac," she stated, straightening herself up.
Kook chuckled, then stared into Shaiden's deep brown eyes. His gaze then shifted to her whole face, and he thought to himself for the thousandth time how pretty she was.
As Kook stared at her admiringly, the events from the day before suddenly flooded his mind. He instantly remembered that what had happened was primarily his fault.
"Uh, Shaiden?"
The ninja crossed her arms and silently gave the bird her undivided attention.
"I uh, um, I'm sorry for the trouble I caused," Kook apologized. "I never meant to turn you into a ten-year-old."
Shaiden stayed silent for a moment, thinking carefully and watching the surface of Kook's eyes. To the bird, it felt like a couple hours before the ninja finally spoke.
"You know what? It's fine. I know you didn't do it on purpose."
"I didn't. Honestly, I really, really didn't."
Shaiden nodded coolly. "I know."
Kookaburra shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "So...we're good?"
The ninja nodded. "We're good."
Kookaburra grinned with relief.
"But if you ever do that to me again," Shaiden said, arching forward and dangerously narrowing her eyes, "I'm gonna make sure that the Attackers aren't the only ones being booted out of the castle."
Kookaburra took a cautious step back, then nodded. "Fair enough."
Just at that moment, the two heard heavy boots pounding towards them. They turned to see the Defender with the maniacal mohawk and blue-streaked face.
"Morning, Thorne," Shaiden greeted.
"Morning," Thorne replied, crossing his arms. "I see that the formula worked."
Shaiden nodded.
"How do you feel?" the alchemist asked, surveying his sister with a careful eye.
The ninja placed herself in another ninja pose. "I'm feeling much like my old self, again."
"No more immaturity issues?"
Shaiden rolled her eyes. "No."
"That's a relief."
Shaiden rolled her eyes again, then stood up. Thorne smiled slightly, then patted his sister's shoulder. "Good to have you back."
The ninja smiled. "Good to be back."
A moment later, Kookaburra's nose detected a faint scent. He sniffed the air, and his eyes lit up.
"Ooh, I smell something cooking!" he declared, smiling.
Shaiden lifted her nose into the air.
"Pancakes?" she guessed.
No sooner had the ninja said "pancakes," the kookaburra had spun on his heels and dashed for the dining hall, leaving the two siblings by themselves. They looked at each other in silence. Thorne shook his head, then started for the dining hall, himself.
"Thorne?"
The alchemist turned to his sister, who gave him a sweet smile.
"May I borrow your Doctor Who DVDs?"
Thorne's eyes widened defensively. "Oy, now hang on a minute!"
Shaiden smirked at her brother's response. "It's almost Halloween; I need to watch some sci-fy."
"Isn't watching Tinkor walk around the castle with a blender good enough?"
Shaiden placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. Thorne stared at her for a moment, then sighed.
"Fine. But not season four; I wanted to show Skabb the Silence in the Library episode."
A/N: Stay tuned: I've got one more chapter planned.