So originally when conceiving this story I imagined the key ingredient to the antidote be something rather unassuming like some small peppercorn like berries, but now I realize the key ingredient should be something laced with symbolism based on how the laws of magic seem to function on poetic meaning in this world, so I decided the key ingredient should be some kind of flower, and I've established in A Disturbing Report a Mutant OC who really likes flowers...Here I give a chance to give Scruffles and Lovelace a more prominent role since in a A Disturbing Report they were more like living Macguffins the heroes and villains were fighting over
And as Ichabod gave Marzipan a hug, he noticed that she was much smaller than he was, despite the fact they were both supposed to be eight year olds, normally the Cat-Girl was just one head shorter than him, perfect for tucking under his chin...But now they were both children, Marzipan's face was now at his solar plexus...And this was Ichabod realizing he had no idea what Marzipan looked like when she was a kitten.
"Were you...Unusually short for an eight year old?" Ichabod asked "Because I don't remember being unusually tall when I was eight."
Marzipan's ears folded back and she grumbled "Yes, I was a bit of a runt when I was eight…" She sighed "...When I was eight I looked more like six."
So after a quick stop to get some new threads suitable to their smaller sizes, Ichabod now had a navy blue T-shirt and black pants, and Marzipan had an orange and white striped T-shirt and a pair of Aqua colored shorts...She remembered when she was a kitten she normally wore her head-fur in a long braid that her mother always did for her, upon being captured by the Wranglers and being separated from her family with no one to braid her head-fur she's worn her head-fur long and loose ever since…
Marzipan still looked upset, so Ichabod turned to her "Why don't we do something to relieve some stress?"
"Ah, ah, ah!" Jonathan said putting his hand on his son's shoulder "Now that we've gotten you some new clothes, the first thing we're going to do is visit the Doctor!"
Ichabod gulped at hearing his Father talking the way he used to talk when Ichabod was a child...He thought that even though he had the body of a child he still felt he still felt he had a more mature intellect, but now he was beginning to worry if they would regress mentally and emotionally as well!
Meanwhile in Third Earth, where the Mutant Animals were slowly getting more and more acclimated to being accepted by humans, one of the Mutants a Mutant Maltese Puppy whose full name was Fluffle's Buffles Scruffle's Truffles (Before she mutated she was going to be a show dog) had been accepted by her humans after encountered a puddle of Mutagen and while she couldn't go to school with her human sister, she got an education from both her sister's homework and from educational programs on Public Television, that's where she developed her hobby of gardening...Which she shared with her new friend from Leonardo's Mutant Martial Arts' School a Garter Snake Girl who had been robotic arms grafted to her body as part of medical experiments. The Snake's name was Lovelace
"So beautiful!" Lovelace exclaimed as she took a sniff of a red hibiscus blossom…
"I've become much more protective of my hibiscus flowers…" Scruffles said as she watched her friend enjoying her precious flowers "...I'll let you in on a little secret…"
"Hmmm…" Lovelace leaned in to hear the juicy gossip
"A few years before...The whole unpleasantness that finally got us civil rights…" Scruffles didn't want to bring up the army of Mutant Animals rioting in New York City which forced Humanity to face the fact they could no longer ignore the existence of Mutant Animals… "I left my new hibiscus bush on the porch like I did for many of my other flowers...The next morning I come out and my bush is shredded! Not a single blossom left! Around it I smelled the distinct scent of turtles! And by then we knew that the Turtles had become a legend even if most people didn't know they were mutants...I did some research about Turtles and discovered the favorite food of terrapins is flowers particularly hibiscus and roses!"
"Oh my gosh!' Lovelace broke into a hissing giggle "Did you ever tell Leonardo or any of the other Turtles?"
"No." Scruffles sniffed "I didn't want to embarrass them...I like to think I'm bigger than that."
Lovelace sighed "You've given me so many gifts...Like this necklace." Lovelace pulled down her green tunic and revealed the amethyst pendant underneath "But I still don't have any money to get you anything...And your birthday is coming up!"
"You don't have to get me a present…" Scruffles tried to soothe her friend "...Just you being there at the party will be enough…"
"Still…" Lovelace sighed "...You got me the things I wanted...I wish...I wish I could find the rarest most beautiful flower in the whole world and get it for your birthday…"
Did someone say foreshadowing? Anyway was initially going to include the visit with Kong but decided that fits better in the next chapter