The Candymen Part 1

Kirk was running down the halls of the mall, still in his gi, acting out parts of his latest Karate lesson in his mind. Of course his hyperactive brain spliced certain parts with Naruto episodes, but that just made it cooler.

"Would you calm down?" Robin suddenly grabbed his scarf, pulling him close. "We're in public. The reason you're taking karate is to channel that energy into something."

Kirk frowned, adjusting his scarf so that it would look cool, "I'm not hurting anybody. I'm just having fun...."

Against the wall nearest where Robin and Kirk stood a girl with pseudo blonde hair-- not Cassie, the goth girl who always seemed to be following Robin but another, Irene Lew. She said nothing, instead staring at the excitable 'ninja' with an almost envious look.

After her senses returned and both boys had noticed her, Irene's head thrust up so her eyes were level with Robin's quick enough that in another life she may have been a ninja herself. "Oh, uh, hey Robin."

"Irene, hey," Robin let go of Kirk's gi, not wanting to be accused of manhandling his brother. "How's everything with James?"

Kirk rolled his eyes, turning away and trying out some other moves. Robin was caught up with his high school friends again, which left him pretty free and unrestrained.

"Oh, uh, good," Irene said hastily while occasionally glancing back and forth between the ceiling and the floor. That wasn't quite true-- ever since they had stopped having each others' bodies instead of their own things had been increasingly awkward as Irene remembered it almost fondly every time she was around her longtime boyfriend. But Robin didn't need to know that.

"Honestly, Irene," a female voice emerged from behind Robin, "if you sounded any less secure you'd be perfectly fit to run for president." And that was the previously mentioned girl, the ever-sarcastic rarely-fantastic Cassie SinClair.

"Oh! Cassie. Hey..." Robin shuffled his feet a bit, still feeling the lingering awkwardness of their date. "How's uh..."

As his brother stepped back though, Kirk walked hopped forward, enthusiastically looking straight up at the teenage Goth, "Hi, black-banged girl! Fancy seeing you here!"

Cassie turned her head to Kirk for a second and rolled her eyes (though were it not for the fact that a love potion was involved she would have probably been flattered), before changing her attention back to Robin. "Relax.  I’m not going to kill you... yet."

"I'm here for one reason only," Cassie explained as she raised an arm and then pointing it with a roll of sorts to the right, in her best Franziska Von Karma impression. "My sweet tooth is killing me."

"Um.... you're going there?" asked Robin, looking into the store where he was supposed to meet Jason. He could already see the apathetic teen seated there through the window, a plastic bag of freshly-bought comics beside him.

Deciding to bail and explain later, he grabbed Kirk by the scruff of his shirt and began to back away, "Well, that sounds great, but me and Kirk have to get home..."

"Wait, didn't mom give you some money for us to get a snack afterwards?" asked the would-be ninja. He pulled himself away, bounding next to his annoyed crush, "I've kinda got a sweet-tooth too, y'know...."

For once Cassie was glad to hear something the youngest member of the Ericson family had to say. "Isn't that convenient? Come on Robin, let's go together, shall we?" Almost like she was forcing him the blonde spun around in place and stuck out her right arm like she expected Robin to wrap his left around it.

The seemingly forgotten-about Irene decided to make her presence known again at that moment, saying something Cassie would've probably not have been, nay most definitely wasn't happy about. "I think I'll come too. Maybe I can get something for James while we're there."

Maybe it wasn't so bad, thought Robin. This might be a chance to pave things over and make a new start with Cassie. They were never exactly friends, but he didn't want all this bad blood between them. As he stepped forward to take Cassie's arm though, Kirk slid his arm through it instead.

“Don't mind if I do," said the young ninja. Blinking, Robin turned to Irene, smiling, "Yeah, if you wanna get something for him, I'd go now. It just opened but it seems really crowded."

Irene nodded with a little more enthusiasm than she had been displaying since her return to womanhood. But while one girl was feeling better, the other...

"What are you doing, brat!?" Cassie almost shouted immediately after noticing that her and Kirk's arms had locked. "That offer only counts toward the mature brother, got it?"

Kirk's face fell, apparently hurt when Robin stepped in, patting him on the shoulder, "Hey, c'mon, he means well enough...."

The 8-year-old still frowned deeply, taking his arm away from Cassie and heading off toward the store. "Fine...."

Cassie shot a quick glance at Kirk, deep down realizing she'd overreacted a bit but at the same time not dropping the scowl so as to live up to her reputation. "Whatever,” she mumbled to Robin bitterly as the group of four walked.
Then they actually reached the store, drawing an audible, "Wow," from Irene. It was packed! She recognized a small portion of the people in the line, but at the same time there were tons of people she had never seen before. "Busy store, huh?"

Robin smiled nervously, pointing at the apathetic boy sitting alone at a table with his comics, "Well, there's Jason. I'll just pop over and ask what he wants."

Kirk, however, frowned deeper as they walked in. This would take forever to get to the front of the line. Maybe they could get cuts from someone. It was then that there was a loud slam from the cash register when a girl with platinum blond hair slammed her fist onto the counter, "Cash only?! This is an outrage! Do you not know what Jo will do to you if you keep her away from candy?"

One of the two girls standing with that particular girl, to be exact the one known as Jo, added with an unsure but vaguely threatening, "Yeah! I'll, uh, use my magic girl powers on you! If I ever figure how to ta use the wand..."

Cassie rolled her eyes. Cheer squad-- without Lita even. Lita was the most likeable (by her standards, anyway) girl among the group most of the time, so that meant Cassie had to avoid them at all costs. But at the same time that line was looking quite long, and the girls were always more than willing to help with that sort of thing... And thus a dilemma was born.

Another girl, this one small and timid looking sighed before opening her purse, "I think I might have enough. But um...." She turned to Jo, whose arms were filled with bags of brightly-colored and tooth-murdering sweets, "You might need to put something back."

Robin for his part flopped into the seat beside Jason, "Hey. Been waiting long?"

"I dunno," Jason said as he shrugged a little. "You know I'm blind to time when I have comics." Jason's speech sounded a little slurred, as though he was sucking on something-- a jawbreaker to be exact.

Meanwhile with the Cheer girls (as well as the goth, little boy, and borderline transsexual who were slowly wading through the crowd with the intention of cutting in front of them), Jo was staring back and forth between her arms, both of which worked together to hug an enormous amount of sweets to her relatively average chest. "Um... uh... I don't know what to keep!"

Putting his elbows on the table and rubbing his eye sockets, Robin sighed, "Cassie's here, driving me nuts. It's hard being around her, but I think she's starting to be forgiving." Kirk kept close behind Cassie, holding the back of her trenchcoat as they made their way through the forest of torsos. He could hear one of the people in front of them talking, "Well, why not some of the gum? I don't need to learn how to blow bubbles anyway...."

"Women never forgive," Jason said (still slurring though not quite as much) to his friend with a shrug, having not yet bothered soaking in a bit of his surroundings. Jason shuffled in his seat a little and continued with a bit of a chuckle, "Although... you'd probably be feeling a bit better if you-know-who was in town."

"No way, Sam!" Jo exclaimed with far emotion behind her voice than anyone above the age of six should ever carry in regards to sugar. "Everyone should know how to blow a bubble!"

"Don't get on that again," said Robin, frowning. "I still say a week-long training session is pretty steep. I heard she even left Evan in his Lilly form before she and Miranda left."

Sam let out a nervous laugh, always freaked out by her friend's affection for candy, "Well, what about this licorice?" She reached for it cautiously, afraid that Jo would tear her hand off if she tried taking something away.

"Yep," Jason said as he reached into a bag lying to his left (Robin's right). "At least she didn't expect one of us to babysit or something." And with that Jason removed another jawbreaker and popped it into his currently masked-by-a-comic mouth since his had just about dissolved. "Want one?"

"Hey cheerleaders!" Cassie greeted in a slightly more upbeat manner than her usual as she managed to finally navigate the way through the crowd for herself and Kirk... though Irene got lost in the shuffle for a second before catching up after Cassie had issued her greeting. "Mind if we cut in front of you?"

Robin shrugged, leaning forward, "Sure. I can't pick anything out with Kirk and Cassie since one's too hyper to eat candy to start with and the other's out for my blood." He glanced into the mass of people in line, trying to spot the Goth and wanna-be Ninja somewhere in the vast rainbow of T-shirts.

There was a sudden grumble of people behind them who were waiting as Alex eyed the girl suspiciously, "Perhaps. We seem to be a few dimes short of our bill, and our pigtailed companion Jo can't be made to choose between anything that makes her more hyper then usual. If you could pitch in, it would end our dilemma and you could pass behind us." Kirk dug in his pocket for the money his mom left him and Robin, one hand still holding the end of Cassie's coat.

While expertly keeping his place in his comic book with his right hand without even having to close it, Jason used his now-free left limb to push the bag toward Robin. A look inside would reveal not just the jawbreakers Jason seemed to be making his candy of choice but also a variety of others, like gummy bears and chocolate.

Cassie's eyes jolted from Jo to Kirk and back again. There was no way the self-proclaimed ninja had enough money to cover all of that and still be able to afford anything. With a sigh, Cassie reached into her purse while Irene dug into her right pocket, both knowing they had sufficient funds but not entirely sure where they were at.

Sam glared at Alex cutely, feeling bad about taking money from people. An idea suddenly hit her as she smiled at the three newcomers, "Hey, how about we all pay and share it? Jo's probably got enough for all of us, right?" She glanced at the bouncy girl, smiling. Giving up candy was certainly different when it was for friends.

Kirk grinned, handing his money out, "Yeah, that sounds good!”

Cassie was a bit hesitant, but it beat paying double so she nodded in approval. Irene was more welcome to the idea, answering with a, "That does sound like a good idea."

Robin blinked as he took a jawbreaker, "Kinda went nuts, didn't you? I haven't seen you eat this much candy since we were in third grade." He popped the jawbreaker into his mouth, his eyes widening at the explosion of flavor. "Huh. I can see why, though. This is really good.... Do they make it here?"

"I guess," Jason said with another of his endless shrugs; sometimes it was a wonder his shoulders could still move at the end of a given day. "Never had any like it, and they do have a backroom so I guess they could be making it there."

The knight-shirted boy took a pack of gummy bears out of the bag to read its label, "Hm. Says they're made locally but they don't say what goes in it."

"Very well," said Alex, collecting the money. She quickly slammed it onto the counter, glaring forcefully at the cashier as Jo's candy was slid into a large number of bags, "Now no longer can you deny us what is rightfully ours!"

"For future reference, Miss, yelling at me and holding up the line won't get you out of here faster," said the cashier in a deadpan voice. She got a strange smile on her face as she handed the bags of candy back to Jo. "Have a nice day."

Jason rolled his eyes, though since they couldn't be seen by anyone at the moment it was more out of habit than to emphasize his point. "They probably expect you to go to their website for ingredients. Anything to drum up ad sales."

"Um, you too," Jo said-- even she was a little creeped out by the strange woman, which was something of an accomplishment. Then with a complete 180 in both facial expression and body direction Jo found herself turned to her fellow blondes (as well as the miniature ninja with them) and asking, "Wanna find us a table?"

"Sure!" Kirk finally let go of Cassie's trenchcoat, moving to the front to lead the group. Unfortunately once he got ahead of them, he found that the much taller and more leaderly-looking Alex had already taken that position. Blinking up at her, he let out a nervous laugh and pointed toward the two teens, "Um... my brother's over there if you wanna sit with us...."

"Probably..." Robin slid the gummy bears back into the bag, leaning back in his seat and savoring the flavor of his jawbreaker.
Her RobbySense was probably all that allowed Cassie to overhear what Kirk said, but she was still quick to voice her approval loudly enough that everyone in their group could hear it over the rumblings of the crowd. "Yes, we should definitely do that! Err, you know, 'cause of the available seats."

Jo and for that matter everyone else was unsure why Cassie bothered to try to hide her attraction to Robin, since everyone who knew of them both knew this fact. Though what was more obscure was that Sam felt the same way, and indeed Jo expected her to turn red any second.

Sam smiled brightly, walking off with the little ninja and goth towards Robin's table. As his brother slid into the chair next to him, Robin stiffened slightly as Cassie took the seat on his other side. He nervously put his back to her to address Kirk as Jo and Alex sat beside Jason, "So.... what'd you all get?"

"Dunno," said Kirk, reaching up to adjust his headband, "That one girl picked out everything."

"We've got all kinds of things!" Jo exclaimed with enough hyperactivity in her tone that to anyone who didn't know her she probably already appeared to be in the midst of a sugar rush. And with that, she dropped the load of sweets onto the table for everyone to have a run at.

Jason looked up from his comic slightly. There were three cheerleaders too many at this table, though at least other than Jo none of them seemed particularly wound up today, and when wasn't she?

"You... certainly did," said Alex, stupefied. She took ripped open a pack of sour gummi worms, "I doubt even you could imbibe so many sugar-filled foodstuffs on your own, sweet though your tooth may be."

"Mmm. It really does look good but..." Sam squirmed a little, looking longingly at the brightly-colored packages, "I've already had a lot of sugar today. I think I'm getting a little fat...."

Kirk too was soon disappointed as Robin grabbed his wrist when he reached out, "Whoa! You know how you get when you have sugar." He kept his stance up as the boy glared at him for saying that in front of his personal crush, "Don't give me that look. This stuff is a lot sweeter then the usual stuff..."

Cassie reached for and grabbed a candy bar, the closest form of chocolate to her (or at least the most visible). She unwrapped it with a slow, calm manner that seemed to contrast the store was a whole. Ultimately, however, she still wound up practically shoving it down her throat-- until she realized just how sweet it was, and removed the sweet from her mouth while gazing at it with an almost sickened look. "Wow, that's sweet..."

Jo laughed a little partially due to Sam's comment and partly due to Cassie's somewhat amusing reaction. "Are you sure you don't want any, Sam?" Jo didn't actually bother to wait for a reaction, instead tacking on, "I guess there'll just be more for us!"

For Sam and Kirk, who couldn't eat any of the delicious-looking products that their friends were so enjoyably consuming, Jo's remark was about as painful as a knife to the temple. It was made worse as Alex let out a satisfied sigh and boasted, "Yes, truly the secret ingredient must be the God's nectar."

As Sam just stared with a sad, painful gaze, Kirk reached up and pulled on his brother's shirt, "C'mon, let's go. I wanna get home."

Irene, who had for the most part been the silent member of the group, said (in between shoveling small chocolates into her mouth), "Ya know... I'm (gulp) kinda feeling like going myself. I feel kinda tired..."

Jo was about to add to this, but then she noticed Sam's gaze. "Um, Sam? Are you sure you don't want any?" As Jo said it she reached out a bag of gummi worms like a child would offer a toy to someone who looked sad.

Sam blinked at the multi-colored worms before shaking her head furiously, "No, I can't! Dad's cooking dinner tonight and if I ruin my appetite it'll crush him!"

"Your will is greater then mine, dear Sam," said Alex patting her on the shoulder. She then pushed her chair away from the table, "I shall not torment you further and hold off on this sweet bounty until tomorrow. Excluding this one bag of Pop Rocks, which doesn't count because I've already opened it."

Robin stretched, turning his neck around on his shoulders, "Yeah, I feel a little sleepy myself. I got hit a few times in karate."

From behind his comic Jason yawned, his own way of echoing Robin and Irene's statement. A man of few words was the 5'6" comic geek, and the words he did say were usually said sarcastically.
Cassie was also feeling a bit tired, which she thought was a little odd because she had had plenty of energy before meeting up with the others. She decided to add nothing to the conversation beyond, "See ya," before grabbing a handful of candy, pocketing it, and taking her leave.

Jo nodded, at least glad to hear the Sam had reasons to avoid eating sweets beyond fear of gaining weight, and said, "Well, I guess me and Alex'll just hold on to some for ya for tomorrow!" In what was somewhat surprising the eternally energetic girl was the next to join in the string of people expressing tiredness, doing so in the same way as Jason had.

Sam rose, shouldering her purse, "Maybe we should go, then. I wanna get home early for Dad..."

"Indeed." Alex grabbed a bag of chocolate bunnies, dropping it in her backpack. "I'll give these to you at lunch tomorrow. I remember how much you love chocolate..."
"Right..." Robin rose from his seat as well, about to offer Jason to walk home together when he suddenly looked around, "Kirk?"

The young ninja was already at the exit to the store, smiling as he opened the glass doorway just in time for Cassie to walk through it, "Have a nice day, Black-banged girl!"

Cassie pretended she couldn't hear the goodbye; it was reasonable to believe she couldn't after all, what with the talking and shuffling. She just wanted to get home and go to bed.

Of what candy was left on the table Jo grabbed as much as she could manage, stuffing it into her pockets as much as she could and cradling what she couldn't. "Yep! And I'll be sure to bring some of the gum for ya too!"

"Great. I guess I'll be learning from the best," said Sam as the cheerleaders walked toward the door.

Robin sighed, moving towards Jason's chair, "Wanna head home? Kirk'll go nuts if he's not back in time for Naruto."

Jason shut his book and stood up from his seat. "Let's." Jason grabbed his bag and was just about ready to get walking when he heard a bit of a 'thump'. It was then that Jason noticed that it had slipped out of his hand and landed on the table, without him even realizing it. A little annoyed, Jason grabbed it again, tighter this time.

---

Mrs. Sinclair was walking down the hall, holding one of her potted plants when she paused, staring at the door to Cassie's basement room. After a moment's pause, she approached, placing her head beside it, "Cassie? Sweetie, are you awake?"

"Ugh..." Cassie's eyes fluttered open at the sound of her mother's voice, her barely-open eyes seeing nothing but her ceiling-- not an unusual sight by any means, though something did feel weird this morning. Felt weird was probably the right term for it, as Cassie realized she could feel something cold, damp, and kind of sticky. "Who is da--" Cassie stopped as she heard the words coming out of her mouth. Something sounded really weird about the way she spoke...

"Sweetie?" Mrs. Sinclair heard a voice inside for a second and then movement. "It's getting late, you should come out and see the sunshine!"

Without really thinking about it Cassie mumbled, "Inna minute," again sounding pretty weird. Maybe she was sick or something. But then as Cassie threw off her blanket she realized something more was wrong-- it was huge, and not just in the way it looked; it felt like it took every ounce of strength in her simply to lift the thick black object that usually spent nights covering her sleeping body.
The adult paused and listened. Cassie sounded muffled and half-asleep. Perhaps she needed help, she could be sick. But on the other hand, she needed to respect her daughter's privacy. Sometimes if there's a big problem, it's best to remain oblivious until you're asked for help. Obliviousness was a popular state of mind in Tandy. "Cassie, is everything alright?"

Cassie tuned out the question, much more curious about what she saw once the blanket had been removed; she was small. Really, insanely small-- and wet from the appearance of things, as her tanktop (which now looked like a really long dress on her tiny yet for some reason chubby frame) was soaked from her legs down. As she stared at herself in awe, Cassie choked out, "Y-yeah, I'm ota-" she paused at the mispronunciation. "Kuh-ay."

"You sound strange. Are you feeling well?" She put her hand on the doorknob; she was respecting her daughter's privacy by asking for permission, but if she needed to, as a parent she could just come in anyway.

Cassie's eyes widened. If her mother saw her she could figure out about her magical abilities (which Cassie had to wonder on some level if they were responsible), and that could be, well, bad. "Everyfing's fine! My fwoat's a wittle sowe!" The mispronunciations and the higher pitch of her voice made Cassie's speech sound way too cute, but that was the least of her worries. Her top one, besides her mother walking in, was if her mother could hear her clearly enough to pick up on those mispronunciations.

Mrs. Sinclair felt a sudden rush of nostalgia hearing her voice and couldn't resist mumbling, "Poor baby." Raising her voice to be heard through the door, she offered her motherly aid, "That sounds pretty bad. Do you need me to bring you some water or cough drops?"

"I-I'll ge' some!" Cassie responded as quickly as she could, still anxious about the possibility of her mother catching even a glimpse of her. After saying it Cassie rolled over a bit, over the partially-soaked blanket, and hung her legs off the side of the bed. The floor looked so far away! By now genuinely terrified, the young SinClair raised her eyes slowly from the floor to the door (which had a large mirror on it) and practically had a heart attack. She looked like if somebody had Photoshopped her future black bangs onto one of her baby pictures!

"Alright, if you're sure..." Mrs. Sinclair let go of the doorknob, preparing to go on about her morning routine. "You'll come up and get some breakfast soon, right? No, maybe you shouldn't, I hear bacon can be hard on a sore throat...."

Cassie just sat in stunned silence not even hearing what her mother had said. At the moment all that mattered was the toddler in the mirror that was wearing her hair and her shirt.

She had to get out of there. Go find Robin, or Jason, or somebody who could contact Anne. But how was she supposed to manage that?

---
Kirk Ericson took another bite of his cereal, sitting happily on the couch watching his usual Saturday morning cartoons. He was still in his pajamas, although he that didn't stop him from wearing his headband and scarf. His Mom and dad were in the kitchen talking about grown-up stuff and Robin was still in bed, leaving him with free reign of the living room. Everyone knew he had the TV during Saturday morning anyway...

Mr. and Mrs. Ericson were talking about things that very well fit the description "grown-up stuff", in particular the fact that taxes on the house were due. It was during the conversation, however, that the only female member of the Ericson household (on days when Anne wasn't feeling mischievous, anyway) noticed the time on the oven's clock. She turned away from her husband and called to her son by his proper name.

"Coming!" cried Kirk, setting his bowl of cereal on the coffee table. He hopped off the couch, making a slow run to the kitchen before sliding to a halt in front of the doorway in his socks. The move didn't quite go down as he pictured though, and he nearly fell on his side, only avoiding it by grabbing the doorframe.

"Heh. Sorry... What is it?"

The mother unit chuckled a little at the visual, though it probably wouldn't have been funny were he to have actually fallen. "Could you go wake your brother up? He's usually up by now..."

"Sure!" Kirk slid away again on the hardwood floor before coming to the carpetted staircase that led to the bedrooms. Hoping this wouldn't take too long since he didn't want to miss his show, he sped up the stairs two-at-a-time. "Nii-san!"

The voice of Mrs. Ericson emerged in the form of a shot up the stairs, just as she came into view at the foot of them. "It might take a few tries! Robin can be hard to wake up!"

"He said he was kinda tired yesterday," said Kirk, pausing at the top and leaning against the doorframe to smile at his mom, "But he went to bed as soon as we came home, so he should've sleep enough by now!" He suddenly remembered something, "Hey, did you hear about a new candy store moving in where that movie place at the mall was? It wasn't there went you dropped us off at karate last week..."

She shook her head. "No, I haven't heard anything about it. Sounds a little weird for a store to just open up like that, but it's happened before I guess. What was it called?"

The could-be ninja shrugged, "I think 'Soul Sweets' or something. I didn't get to have anything there." He turned back toward Robin's bedroom, heading back down the hall before reaching his door and knocking, "Nii-san! Mom says you gotta get up!"

"You'd probably better go inside!" she shouted. "I usually have to shake him a bit to wake him up. And if he says anything about you being in his room, tell him I sent you." And with that Mrs. Ericson walked away from the staircase and return to her husband and their conversation.
Kirk opened the door, treading into the marginally-clean room. "Ni-san?" He treaded slowly in, spotting a small lump on the bed...

---

Weak little legs moved slowly down the SinClair family hallway. Thank God my room's downstairs, Cassie thought, as it was taking every bit of effort she had to keep her balance between her tiny, shaky legs and way-too-large tank-top, and that’d be even harder (and far more important) on a downward descent. As she walked, Cassie listened carefully for the slightest sound of someone's movement besides her own.

She had little to worry about; the denizens of Tandy were usually unaware of what happened around them and Cassie's parents were no exception. Mrs. Sinclair was filling up a bin with water to place plants on the front porch in when she stopped. There was a pattering noise behind her in the hall. Writing it off as her imagination or a supposedly-common mouse or some other such strange excuse, she lifted up her full-bin of fertilized water and carried it toward the front door.

Cassie tripped just as she was about to exit the hallway. It hurt! The young SinClair could feel a tear running down her cheek, but she tried to pretend it didn't. The blonde very clumsily stood back up, and then realized another dilemma-- how she would keep going from here.

Opportunity arose though, when her mother unlocked and opened the front door and screen. Walking out onto the front porch, she soon began to take the hanging plants down and put them in water, leaving the entrance ajar. Had she known there was a two-year-old padding around the house, she would've been slightly more careful to keep her from getting out.

The world's youngest goth saw this blessing from where was standing and quickly as she could thanked every deity and prophet she could think of. A mad dash (or at least as much of a dash as her awkward limps could achieve) later and Cassie was outside the door, right behind her gargantuan mother. Like Solid Snake in toddler form Cassie ducked behind a lawn chair that sat next to the door and waited for the woman to leave so she could finally achieve success in escaping.

Mrs. Sinclair for her part continued taking down ferns that, from her daughter's point of view, seemed miles overhead. Humming a happy tune to herself that starkly contrasted her daughter's morbid tastes, she was able to easily ignore the little girl sidling along just two feet away.

Not so blind however was Mary, the slim brown cat of the Sinclair's neighbors, who decided Cassie's new body was at the perfect height and softness for her to rub against.

Cassie's eyes widened as she saw the cat that from her perspective looked like a panther. If she was caught now there was a good chance that she would never even sniff another spellbook, not to mention that she'd probably be completely babied by parents who already treated her like a little kid at times. Almost on instinct Cassie picked up a pebble that had somehow at sometime found its way to the spot at which she now stood and threw it as far as she could in the cat's direction.

Of course a pebble thrown by a two-year-old wasn't the most damaging projectile. It did manage to strike Mary's head though, and the housecat blinked several times, clearly irritated but seemingly getting the message. She strolled over, body muscles flexing as it walked and ignored the toddler, her tail flicking Cassie under her chin as she passed her by.

Cassie giggled a little as the tail tickled her chin, only to immediately slam her little hands over her little mouth the second she heard a sound. It was right about then, with her mother distracted and the cat gone, that it hit Cassie just how gross her urine-soaked T-shirt both felt and smelled. Apparently all the stress over the morning had distracted her from it... Cassie had to remind herself, however, that even once she did manage to complete her escape, she was still far from out of the fire.

Mrs. Sinclair paused, sniffing the air. Something really smelt like pee. With almost painful slowness, she began to turn her head to look behind her.

Fortunately, when Cassie was surely just an inch away from being in the corner of her mother's eye, she spotted Mary walking back to the neighbor's house.

"Oh, it's you. You've been watering my plants again, haven't you?" She began to march toward the cat, who quickened its pace, both heading away from the little girl. "Go on now, shoo!"

Cassie took the opportunity and slid herself along the side of the house, before carefully climbing down off the edge of the porch-- which fortunately was only a couple of steps off the ground-- and dropping bottom-first into a bed of grass.

"Slow down a little!"

"Um... Sorry this is kinda new to me." There was a soft stifled giggle from the road as two boys strolled into view in the sunlight, one holding the other's hand.

Cassie instinctively ran out of the yard without thinking of any consequences besides what would happen if her mother's attention happened to turn her way. Once she reached the sidewalk and got a real look at the boys though, a feeling of dread swept over her.

"Wait.... you're-"

"Black-banged girl?"

Kirk dashed forward, leaving his brother to his own balance, and soon stood over his long-time crush, "Wow, it happened to you too! You're so- Ew!" The wanna-be ninja took a step back, grimacing, "You really smell like pee...."
Cassie went crimson. "Y-yeah..." It was really intimidating staring at the feet of someone so much bigger than her. "I, um..." she mumbled the last few words of the sentence low enough that even she couldn't hear them.

Kirk blinked, then grinned, "Well, if you want us to find you some diapers or something... Robin's wearing some Pull-ups I found in the basement-"

"Kirk!" Robin marched forward, slightly bigger then the blonde, dressed in a smaller T-shirt and shorts covering his new undergarments, "What happened? Do you know?"

"N-no, I don'd know," Cassie said while looking at her feet, her arms behind her back like a child who'd done something wrong. "An' I don' need di... dia..." She stopped as her legs buckled from underneath her and she fell to her bottom.

Her face began to contort. A foul smell spread through the air, emerging from the area of her dress that her bottom was directly over.

Kirk stepped back, "Ew! Did you-" But in that instant a thought hit the back of his skull. Hang on! You're the oldest one here now. This is your chance to prove yourself if you can just focus.

With that in mind, the ninja knelt down, putting his hand on Cassie's shoulders, "It's no big deal, that just kinda happens. How 'bout we start by getting you some clothes?"

By now Cassie's bottom lip was quivering and her eyes, which were the size of dinner plates at this point, flooded with tears of embarrassment, frustration, and uncomfortability. Despite the fact that both of the boys without a doubt knew what happened, Cassie still, perhaps just as an attempt to save one last bit of her pride even if for only a second, attempted to pass the buck to Robin, raising a rapidly shaking arm in his direction and saying, "Ih was 'im..."

Robin suddenly turned red as Kirk blinked in his direction. Embarrassed and mildly insulted, the once-teen rose his arms in defense. "Hey, I haven't had any accidents since this mor- HEY!"

Kirk probably understood that it was Cassie, but hyperactive eight-year-olds who have swallowed love potion aren't well known for their understanding. Thus, he soon pulled his brother close with one arm, before pulling back his shorts and training pants to check him.

"Huh. Whuddya know..." With that, and with easily seen inexperience in holding babies, Kirk scooped up Robin and Cassie, holding his long-time crush close to his scrawny chest. "Don't worry, we can get you both cleaned up!" he said, grinning. "You're in good hands! Just leave it to Kirkashi of the Eric-san clan!"

Cassie felt a little better now. Knowing it wasn't just her was a huge relief and probably saved her from losing her mind, but there was something more than that. Despite being pressed to the chest of a boy whose most defining personality aspect was that he was annoying, she felt somehow comforted.

Robin however was less then assured. "Um... Kirk, do you..."

"Oooh! I know!" said the self-proclaimed ninja, marching off down the road. "They sell clothes at that dollar store on the next block! I think they sell other baby stuff too...." He gave Cassie a little squeeze with his arm, a smile on his face, "That’d be a nice place to start, huh?"

Cassie's eyes moved up to get a better look at the enormous eight-year-old. She looked a bit bewildered-- no wonder, there was certainly plenty to be bewildered about. Why she was little? Why Robin was too? No, she was in this case wondering why she hadn't attempted to escape yet-- though the squeeze was enough to assure her that Kirk was at least for now far stronger than her.

Robin blinked at the girl as she looked around worriedly. Feeling she might be a bit more rational now, although still a little miffed at having her accident blamed on him, he nudged her foot with his, "Hey, you alright?"

Cassie's head turned a little, away from looking up at Kirk and toward looking over at Robin. She felt compelled to say 'Yes' just because, well, she did feel better than she had and that was something. But instead she replied, "Whada you fink?"

Robin squirmed, uncomfortable. "Uh... right. Sorry. But don't worry, we'll get through this, right?" Leaning back, the padded tot let out a sigh, "Just had to happen with Anne and Miranda were out of town."

"What could Anne-chan do?" asked Kirk, crossing the street toward the drug store.

"N-Nothing. Nevermind."

Cassie scoffed a little. It was always about Anne! Though... there was no way she could fix this herself. Her speech was way too slurred and even if it wasn't she didn't think she had a single age progression spell in any of her books. But she still couldn't help but be jealous.

It was then that it fully hit Cassie as she caught sight of the drug store. "Um... you'we tatind us in dere?" Cassie asked. She could only imagine how embarrassing it'd be being carried into, well, anywhere, almost naked and covered in waste released from both the front and the back.

"Yeah!" A huge grin on his face, Kirk hopped onto the curb to the corner shop, strolling toward the door, "It'll be a lot easier here once you two get dressed!" He turned around, pushing the door open with his back as he still held the toddlers with both arms and entered the air-conditioned, florescent-lit building.