FMN & the DebU Babies This wonderful graphic was created by Keleos. PART I It was a lazy, rainy day and ForgetMeNot was about to drift off to sleep for a little afternoon nap. She yawned and her eyes closed but only briefly because there was a banging on her dormitory door. The door flung open and Stripe was standing there. "Hurry up or you're gonna miss it!", she said breathlessly then she spun around and ran back out the door. Not wanting to be left out, FMN darted out of bed and grabbed her boots that were tossed in a heap by her war chest. She made it to the door and was trotting down the hallway trying to catch Stripe while putting her boots on. She tripped and hit the floor. "Rusin Frusin...no good for nothing...." she began mumbling as she rubbed her scraped knees. She decided to place her boots on before running after the other amazons that were now pouring out of their dorm rooms and following after Stripe. Antares came flitting down the hallway and only stopped for a moment when FMN called out, "Hey, what's the big ruckus?" "You haven't heard?" Antares asked excitedly. "The Wandering Gypsy's back at DebU," and she flew off before FMN could ask another question. FMN tried to lace her boots the best she could but realized it was taking too long. "Pooh bother! It'll have to do for now," she exclaimed as she stood up and looked down at her half-tied boots. She ran down the hallway towards the stairs so she could join all the other students out in the courtyard where The Wandering Gypsy parked her wagon. A line was already forming outside the old women's wagon. axman was the first in line and he was trying his best to talk the Gypsy into a discount. "The last time you were here," he pointed out, "You claimed my perfect mate would be a wealthy, well know Actress. Well, I'm still single so I don't think I should have to pay for another inaccurate reading." The Gypsy knew that ax was correct and whispered something to him. He nodded and rubbed his chin as he contemplated the fact he'd just gotten over on the Gypsy. He had a sheepish grin on his face as the Gypsy eyed the crowd and called out, "I'll need an assistant for my readings today. Is there anyone here who would....." Before the old woman could complete her sentence, FMN was out of line and tripping her way up to wagon. Manto was already a few steps ahead of her so FMN did a well executed trip, stagger, and roll, knocking Manto down. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry," FMN said as she half-heartedly tried to help Manto to her feet as she kept backing slowly toward the wagon. "Out of the way, Out of the way, coming through, injured woman, pardon us," FMN stated in an authoritative voice as she drug Manto towards the front of the line. When the dragging duo reached ax, FMN placed Manto in his arms. "Here axie, could you help Manto?" FMN didn't wait for a reply, "Thank you." FMN turned to the Wandering Gypsy and said, "I'll be your assistant." "Very well," The Gypsy said with an arched eyebrow. She wasn't quite certain that this young one was right for the job but didn't have time to waste if she was going to make as much profit as possible and be gone by tomorrow. The Gypsy entered the wagon with FMN close on her heels. "Hey," FMN complained, "It's dark in here." "I'll light the candles," said the Gypsy as she began to wonder what kind of assistant she'd just chosen for herself. "What's this? " FMN grabbed a crystal gazing ball from the table and shook it furiously. She paused and stared at the ball for a moment before shaking it again. The old Gypsy was horrified when she turned around from lighting the candles and found the Deb vicariously shaking the magical sphere. "Give me that," the Wandering Gypsy exclaimed as she snatched the gazing ball away from the amazon. "Didn't want it anyway," FMN said in a huffy tone as she placed her hands on her hips. "Besides, it's broken because there's no snow in that globe!" "Grrrrrr.....", the Gypsy let out a growl. "Call the first student in," she said in exasperation. "And, please don't touch anything while I'm doing the readings. After you collect the money you stay still and be quiet!" FMN raised her right hand and earnestly stated, "Promise!" and she crossed her heart then made a zipping of her lips motion. She pretended to throw the imaginary key over her shoulder. axman came in and FMN's hand shot out. ax placed the proper coins in her hand and took his place at the table. He was sitting across the table from the Gypsy as she began moving her hands over top the broken snow globe. "I see youth in your future", stated the Gypsy in an almost trance like state. "Youth? Well, that's about as clear as mud," sniped ax. "I think even at a discounted rate, I may be paying too much for this service." He fell silent as a vision of the Fountain of Youth came to mind and the calculations of mass marketing took precedence over arguing with the old woman. "Quiet," the Gypsy said in a hushed voice. "Come closer so I can get a better sense of what this message means." The Gypsy and ax both leaned forward and the Gypsy began whispering low. FMN sat in the back of the wagon on a pillow straining to hear what was being said. "Great," she though to herself. "I thought I might be able to pick up a few useful tidbits of information but I can't hear anything." She laid back on the a comfy pillow and her eyes became heavy again. "Can't go to sleep because I've got work to do," she mumbled and yawned. She was glancing around the interior of the wagon trying to find something interesting to keep her occupied. Glass jars and vials were lined up in a rack on the opposite wall. FMN gave a quick glance towards the table to make sure the other occupants were still busy. She stealthily crawled across the floor to within reach of the colorful vessels and different sized pestles. She reached up and took the lid off of one large container and dipped her hand into it. She pulled out a bird leg and examined it. "Hmmmm....," she said as she examined it. She hopped the chicken foot around in a circle but quickly lost interest in it. "No fun there," she said and she lifted the lid off of another container and dipped her hand into it. "Ick," she groaned as she pulled out a handful of slim. She flipped her hand around trying to get the gelatinous mess off of it. The goo splattered on the chicken foot. "The woman really should label her jars," FMN said in exasperation. She took down a colorful vial from the rack and tried to open it. The cork was stuck and wouldn't budge. She placed the cork between her teeth and pulled the vial with all her might. The cork popped out and shimmering glitter flew into the air. "Guess, I found the missing snow for the snow globe," FMN said as she stood up and shook herself off. The Wandering Gypsy glanced up from her intense meeting with ax and screamed, "Stop! What have you done?" as she hurried toward the messy, shimmering amazon. FMN could hear a deep chuckle coming from behind the Gypsy. It upset the amazon that axman enjoying her present predicament. "I was just looking at the jar and they all fell down and I tried to put them back where they belonged and then......," FMN was rambling on and on trying to explain to the angry woman why she shouldn't be livid with the amazon. "No more, you must go now," screamed the Gypsy as she began to shove the student towards the door and out into the courtyard. "But, I was just trying to be a good assistant," FMN stammered awkwardly. But it was too late because she was already outside the wagon. "Well, pooh and Bippity-Boppity-Boo," FMN said as she hung her head and shuffled away from the wagon. She looked down at her hands and began flinging them around again trying to get the remaining goo off. "Hey!" yelled Eeyoraus and Mania in unison from the line as they were waiting for their readings. "Sorry," FMN apologized. She hadn't noticed that she sprayed the horrid goo over other DebU students in her attempt to rid herself of the evidence. She trudged over to the hot tub room and thought it would be a good way to get herself clean. PART II FMN was soaking in the hot tub when her sister DreamTraveler came into the room. "Hey, you're not the Sov," she stated with annoyance. "Where is he?", she asked in an accusatory fashion. She slid into the hot tub. "Are you hiding him?" she asked as she began making a sweep of the inside of the tub. She was searching for him underwater. When she surfaced, DT cried out, "Marco!". FMN giggled as she watched her sister splash about in search of the mad man. "He's not here, DT," FMN said as she raised her hand and said "Promise". DreamTraveler began to laugh. "From what I've heard today, you really shouldn't make any more promises. I heard about your experimentation with magic potions this afternoon." FMN rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you heard about my little mishap today. I was doing rather well until I got bored." she offered up an excuse. "Don't worry Sis," DT offered her sympathies. "It's only a matter of time before Discord shows up and steals the spotlight from your current debacle," DT giggled. FMN got out of the hot tub and retrieved her fluffy towel. I'm exhausted," she said. "I'm gonna call it a night." She left the hot tub room and DT called out "Nighty Night." DT lounged around in the hot tub for awhile waiting for the Sov to appear. She could have sworn that tonight was the night that they'd agreed upon for their hot tub date. She looked at her fingers and realized she'd have to leave the tub. Her skin was beginning to wrinkle and the last thing she wanted was to look like a dried raisin for the Sov. After all, she was Miss Peach not Miss Prune. She left the hot tub and felt rather light headed. She sat down on the bench and thought to herself, "He'll just have to come to my crib tonight. I suddenly want to go night night." DT shook her head and tried to rid herself of the feeling. She left the hot tub room and headed for her room. DT was passing through the courtyard when she saw Antares and Mania having an argument. "It's mine!" screamed Mania as she grabbed a blanket out of Antares' hand. "Nuh huh," screamed Antares as she stomped her foot and grabbed the blanket back. DT walked up to the two amazons as she was trying to figure out exactly what was happening. This was certainly out of character for Antares and Mania. "Well," DT thought to herself and smiled, "it's out of character for Antares at least." She was just about to ask the two what the problem was when Ladybug came screaming into the courtyard. "I can fly, I can fly," she yelled with her arms extended. She came running up to the group and belly bumped DT. "I can fly!" Mania pulled Ladybug's hair and taunted, "Can not neither!" Then she stuck her tongue out at Lb and ran away clutching the blanket she'd grabbed away from Antares. Antares began to wail. Ladybug put her arm around Antares and patted her cheek trying to comfort her. "It's o'ta ‘tares," lisped Ladybug. "You can pway wif me," offered Lb and the two held hands and skipped away from DT. DT watched in disbelief thinking the whole campus must have spent the day at the Battlefield. If this wasn't the signs of too much alcohol, she didn't know what was. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. DT headed for the bed and tucked her thumb into her mouth as she pretended to play hopscotch on her way home. It was early morning and FMN rolled over in bed and pulled the covers over her head. But no matter how hard she tried, the knocking at the door wouldn't go away. "Coming, coming, just hold your horses," she called out as she put on her robe and slowly walked to the door. She opened the door and Bluetopaz was standing in the hallway. "We have a problem and I'm calling an emergency meeting of the council," Bt said in a urgent tone. She looked very tired and her eyes were blood shot due to lack of sleep. It was only then that FMN noticed Bt was holding a piglet. FMN was puzzled by her peculiar behavior and was almost afraid to ask the frazzled Chancellor why she was holding a pig. But before she could get the question out, the little pink pig started to cry. "That's not a piggy," said a startled FMN. "That's a baby!" "Well, I'm glad you noticed," said Bt with panic in her voice. "I swear, I was beginning to think I'd lost my mind! They're everywhere! Everywhere! I can't take two steps before I'm falling over another one. They're multiplying and taking over the campus!" Bt was swaying back and forth due to exhaustion. "Here," said FMN as she held out her arms and asked Bt to let her hold the baby. "Thank you," said a grateful Bt. I have to go find the other council members for the meeting. Can you just keep him with you and bring him to the meeting?" "Certainly, no problem," said FMN as she took the baby in her arms. She watched Bt walk down the hallway on her way to Ladybug's room. FMN went inside her room and closed the door. She placed the baby on her bed and looked at the him for a few minutes because there seemed to be something vaguely familiar about him. Just then the baby smiled. It was almost a sheepish grin. FMN rubbed her eyes and looked down at the baby again. "My mind must be playing tricks on me," she whispered to herself. "So, what should I name you, little guy? How about Porkules?" FMN giggled the whole time she dressed for the meeting. As soon as she picked up Porkules, he spit up on her and again had the same sheepish grin she'd imagined before. Since the meeting was an Emergency meeting, FMN was dressed and out the door in 10 minutes with her little pink bundle in tow. It would have been faster if she hadn't had to change after the little pink pig spit up encounter. She was passing DreamTraveler's room when she heard gurgling coming from the room. "Kinky! The Sov must have shown up last night after all," FMN thought to herself. She almost walked away but heard the familiar high pitch cry of a baby coming from inside DT's room. Bt's words echoed inside her mind, "They're multiplying and taking over the campus!" The leery amazon opened the door and peeked into the room only to find a baby laying on DT's bed. "Shhhh....," quiet sweety," FMN cooed as she picked up the second baby. With one baby tucked in each arm she headed for the meeting. PART III FMN got to Bluetopaz's office trying to juggle both the babies under her arms. It was the oddest thing because the little girl baby kept wriggling so fiercely that FMN thought she'd squirm right out of her clothing. And the little piggy was being difficult also. It was almost like he was taunting the other baby. The door swung open before FMN could get to it and Bluetopaz was looking out the door and checking both directions. "There you are, you'd better hand me those two because I need you to check on something for me. I just got a report that there's been a sighting of small wild animals out by the forest. I need you to retrieve them and bring them back here to my office." FMN looked at the Chancellor in disbelief. "You want me to bring back wild animals and put them in there," she said as she pointed into the office, "inside there....with the babies?" FMN repeated herself one more time because she was certain she'd misunderstood Bt's instructions. "No, no, silly girl. There aren't any wild animals out there. I'm betting they're escaped babies trying to make a break into the forest before they're captured." FMN had a worried expression on her face. Just hearing the way Bt was talking about the babies made her think that perhaps the stress of the situation had placed too great a strain on her for one day. "Isn't it rather harsh to discuss the little bundles of joy as animals? You're using words like ‘escape' and ‘capture'. They ‘re just babies." "Ha! Just babies? You need a fast education FMN." She took the amazon by the elbow and led her into the office. FMN let out a gasp of horror. "What happened in here?" The office looked as though a tornado had hit it. Bt's rather expansive wooden desk had been upended and was now sitting half in and half out of the huge gapping hole it gouged when it crashed through the wall. All the file cabinets had been emptied of their contents and tipped over. The metal trash can looked as though sharp claws had sliced it to shreds. The files and folders strewn across the room had singed edges and the water cooler looked like it had barely survived a small explosion. It gave off a sad little, "drip, drip, drip," as it's water was now a growing puddle on the Chancellors expensive imported rug. FMN shivered and rubbed her arms and noticed that the puddle had ice forming around its' edges. "What's going on Bt?" she asked with a hint of fear in her voice. She noticed that the room had become so frigid she could see her own breath. Bt smiled at the amazon and explained, "The only explanation I've been able to come up with is the entire university has reverted back to their youth. I have no idea why, but we're going to have to figure this out quickly. If there are no students, there is no..." "Tuition?" guessed FMN. Bluetopaz chuckled, "Well, that too. But I was going to say 'no university'. Well, I'm going to put these two in the holding cell with the others and I need you to retrieve the ones on the perimeter," Bt said as she lightened FMN's load and tucked the babies under her own arms. "Yes, Ma'am!" FMN saluted Bt and was about to turn and leave on her mission when she spied the top of a two small heads protruding through the hole in the wall. These babies were very bold and hopped up on top of the desk corner. The two held hands to maintain their balance on the sharply angled desk. FMN whispered to Bt to turn around carefully and witness what she was seeing. Bt turned and saw the babies that had scrambled through the hole. "Darn it!," Bt exclaimed, "I was certain that padlock would hold the cage door. Guess I'll have to find another lock." These babies were little scamps with kindred spirits. The baby dressed as a penguin was the one responsible for jamming the air conditioning unit causing the office to turn into an arctic playground. The babies began to slide down the desk like it was a sliding board. The penguin baby landed safely in FMN's outstretched arms and she quickly passed it to Bt and turned just in time to catch the baby with the star beanie cap on. "Quick," Bt said as she dashed out the door. "Let's get these stashed in the holding cage in the office next door then you can go out and retrieve the others. Help should be on its' way soon," she said with a sigh. All four babies were placed inside a large iron cage. The amazon was rather curious what this cage was used for here at DebU but she thought now wasn't the time to ask. FMN stood guard while she waited for Bt to return with another lock. She scanned the cage looking at all the babies that had already been collected trying to figure out which baby was which student. There was an assortment of kitty cats and puppy dogs, bears, and birds. She noticed in the back corner that a little ladybug baby was snuggled up next to a baby in a snake romper. Every time the baby snake boy exhaled his little tongue would flutter and tickle the cheek of the ladybug baby. Even in her sleep she'd giggle and snuggle closer to the snake baby. When Bt finally returned to the room with a new lock she entered the room and began sniffing the air. "Oh no," complained FMN, "I'm not changing all those diapers." "No, that's not the odor I'm smelling," replied Bluetopaz as she quickly walked to the cage. She sniffed the air again and yelled, "Smoke!" Bt and FMN both saw the origin of the smoldering fire at the same time. Two babies were in the back corner of the cage. A little spike headed dinosaur baby and a round, red cherry bomb baby were huddled together around what appeared to be a smoldering blanket. "How in the world did she make fire?" screamed Bt as she flung open the door and ran towards the back of the cage. Bt came back out as quickly as possible carrying the remnants of the blanket with her. The two babies began laughing and jumping up and down as they watched Bt throw the blanket on the floor and FMN stomp out small flames that had engulfed the blanket. The little baby with the star beanie cap began to wail when FMN held up the blankie that was now nothing but charred cloth. Bt went into the cage and lifted up the little star baby and carried her out of the cage. She sat down in a nearby chair and comforted the little one and gave FMN the order to go out and capture as many of the miniature threats as possible. PART IV FMN made a short stop for supplies before she began the quick trip to the forest on the outskirt of the campus. She was almost at the training field when she saw Hercules and Iolaus heading her way. Herc waved and Iolaus just glanced around cautiously before raising his hand in a welcoming gesture. "Bt has sent for reinforcements," Herc said with a smile as he gave the amazon a warm hug. "Shhhhh...quiet," whispered Iolaus. "They have very good hearing." He pointed to his ears to emphasize his point. Herc chuckled at his friends' remark and offered an explanation to FMN. We ran into a pack of babies heading off campus when we were arriving. Bt had given us a brief description of what was happening here via messenger, but neither one of us were prepared for what we encountered. Ioulaus shook his head and stated, "It's just not natural I tell you. That pack of babies swarmed all over us and it was almost like being in the middle of a harpies' nest." "So, what happened," asked a concerned FMN. "We were able to get the crowd under control with a bag full of toys we had the forethought to bring with us. We ended up leading them right onto campus and straight into Bt's cage." "It was great, once we got the hang of it," chimed in Iolaus. He was about to go into his technique of placing a stuffed toy on a string and then dragging it on the ground like bait but he stopped when he heard playful giggles in the distance. "Let's move out," said Hercules as he led the way into the forest. The threesome stayed in the shadows at the edge of the woods as they made their way towards the telltale sounds of babies. The hunters stopped when they caught sight of the three little babies prancing around and playing in the field near the woods. FMN looked closely and spotted stripes on one and noticed one play partner was dressed like a donkey and the third was a spotted kat. She silently made her way around to the other side so the babies were encircled. She took out her net from her pack and prepared it for throwing. She signaled to Hercules and Iolaus what her plan was and they both gave a thumbs up. Just as the babies toddled past her in a game of follow the leader, FMN stepped out of the shadows and let loose with the net capturing her prey. It didn't take a moment before they realized they were captured and they started throwing temper tantrums. FMN picked the striped zebra baby up and handed her to Hercules and then FMN scooped up the donkey baby and placed her into the arms of Iolaus. She held the cat baby herself and thought, "This one is wild!" She produced 3 pacifiers from her supply pouch and popped them into the mouths of the babies. They all stopped crying immediately and snuggled into the respective arms of the adults for a cozy little nap. On the way back to campus, FMN noticed a bush rustling and pointed it out to Hercules. Well, it wasn't really a full blown rustle, but more like a little shake every once in a while. Hercules carefully handed the sleeping zebra baby to FMN and tip toed around behind the bush. He reached down and pulled a squirming baby up from the middle of the bush. The baby looked into Herc's blue eyes and just cooed. "Oh, aren't you a sweet baby," Herc said as he snuggled the baby to his chest. The baby let out a blissful sigh and fell fast asleep in Hercules' strong arms. FMN knew who this baby was and she just rolled her eyes and muttered, "It figures. Even as a baby she ends up in the arms of Hercules." "Let's get these back to Bt and then we'll round up the rest," said Iolaus. On the way back to the campus the trio rescued one baby dressed like a honey bee who was hanging from the limb of a tree while trying to reach a bee hive and two babies who were dressed in bear rompers. The two bear babies were standing beneath the branch with long sticks. The two were swatting at the hive like it was a pinnata. The honey bee baby kept shaking her little fist at the two bear babies in a threatening manner as she clung desperately to the limb she climbed out onto. She was swaying back and forth and it was difficult to determine whether or not the bears were swinging their sticks at the hive or the baby honey bee at times. After the party retrieved the bears and bee by offering them toys from Iolaus' back pack, the hunting party returned proudly to the office and found Bt had been joined by Autolycus. Autolycus had received a mysterious message that morning and he ran all the way to DebU. Of course, he wasn't pleased when he read the message out loud to the group, "New Babes Galore at DebU! Hurry so you can bag a few!" He didn't realized that the cryptic message had a literal meaning to it. Bt laughed out loud when he read his message. "That was a stroke of genius on my part, wasn't it? How else was I suppose to get you here?" She winked at Autolycus who just smiled and shook his head. "Outwitted again," he said. PART V The group sat in the office gazing at all the babies. The adults had made the rounds with feeding and changing the babies. Even Falafel had stopped by to offer his services. Reluctantly Bt had allowed him to help because she thought as long as he was supervised there was no way he could ruin bottles of milk. Luckily Hercules had stop the crazed chef before he added his secret ingredient, chili powder, to the warming vat of milk. He claimed it was a staple when it came to babies but Hercules was able to convince him that DebU babies hadn't had time to develop a palette for the finer cuisine yet. After the mass feeding and diaper changing the babies had fallen asleep and the room became eerily quiet. Autolycus didn't join the current conversation. He kept looking around than said suspiciously. "I still say we're being lulled into a false sense of security. It's a trick and they're just waiting to pounce," he insisted. The group continued to have their conversation as Autolycus drifted in and out of the circle of care givers. "Let me get this straight," Iolaus said for the third time. "The Wandering Gypsy came to visit. And you discovered she has chicken feet so you rubbed slim on them?" "No!," said a frustrated FMN. "I played with her chicken foot. The goo and glitter was a complete accident." Hercules began to chuckle. I still don't think Iolaus understands so maybe we should just move on and try to determine why this happened. "All I know," Bt said, "is that when I returned from a symposium called Multiple Personality Disorders-‘I'm okay, you're okay, you're okay, you're okay', the campus was overflowing with babies." "So you weren't here when all of this happened? That explains why you're immune to the baby syndrome," said Autolycus as he thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "But why is FMN not reverting to her primal baby state?" he wondered out loud. "It was because she cast a protection spell with the slim," Iolaus stated as a matter of fact. "That is a possibility," said Bt. "Perhaps the chicken foot, the slim, and the contents of the vial she spilled acted in a way that prevented her from being affected by the curse. Maybe she didn't cause it but actually saved herself from being transformed." FMN felt a great deal of relief and said, "I think that's the best explanation so far. Let's just stick to that one, Okay?" "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I know for a fact that The Wandering Gypsy isn't wandering in these parts. She met a nice, elderly roman statesman and she retired. She opened a health store and spends most of her days selling jars of holistic medicines," stated Autolycus. "Then who was the woman in the wagon?" asked FMN. "Good question," replied Hercules. "If we find that out, we find out who's behind this attack on DebU." "Well, we'll just have to contemplate this while we're tracking down more babies," said Bt as she shuffled through a stack of papers. Reports had been coming into her office since the morning and Bt kept sorting through the messages to see which babies had been retrieved and which ones still needed to be extracted and relocated to the cage. One local fisherman saw a baby swimming in the lake so Bt had put in a emergency S.O.S. to Aphrodite. ‘Dite shimmered into the office and after Bt asked her for her assistance, in a blink of an eye, she had used her clam shell to pick up the a baby dressed like a dolphin. As a bonus, Aphrodite also brought back a pink flamingo baby and a little green frog baby that she had caught playing at the lake. Once Aphrodite dropped the babies off she didn't feel inclined to hang around. She'd stated that, "Babies just aren't my thing!" and she vanished before Bt could even say, "Thank you." Bt had even received a complaint from the rat pack. It seems a baby dressed like a mouse had tried to infiltrate the pack. Due to the babies relatively large size, it was eating massive quantities of the rats' stockpiled cheese. And things got even worse when 2 babies dressed as cats decided to join the group. Maurice was livid that the cheese stash was depleted and that he had to run around all morning trying to escape the cat babies. Bt had called Ares in for that rescue. Who better than the God of War to go lurking about in the dark, dangerous tunnels below DebU to find this group of rat protagonists. At first Ares was reluctant but when Bt mentioned she had it on good authority that the little white kitty baby was Shiva, the God of War was off in a flash. He wasn't about to lose one of his favorite followers to the dank, dark, rat infested bowels of DebU. He had returned none too happy because during his rescue a baby dressed as a super hero decided to save the world from the horrible God of War and stuck Ares in the shin with a little plastic sword he was holding. Ares was tempted to take care of the little runt but thought better of it. After all, if work spread that Ares was reduced to harming babies, he'd be the laughing stock of Mt. Olympus. He allowed the little baby to live but he brought him back to Bt while he was hanging upside down from his ankle. Ares threatened to drop the yellow clad super baby but the baby fearlessly stuck his tongue out at the God of War. PART VI It was beginning to get late in the evening. The adults stood in the office staring at the cage as they heard a ruckus coming from out side. Bt opened the window and the others looked over her shoulder to see where the squeals and squalls were coming from. Much to the horror of the room, a baby dressed as a dragon was flying around Cupid outside the building. Cupid had gotten word from Aphrodite about the commotion at the university and had flown in to offer assistance. He now found himself in a aerial dog fight versing a baby clad as a red dragon. He no sooner would swoop in when she'd turn and escape his grasp. She was rather good at flying but was finally caught and brought in through the office window by Cupid. Bt was already standing by the cage with the door open so Cupid could place the baby inside the cage with all the others. Bt tried to close the door swiftly after Cupid backed out of the cage but the baby dressed as the white bunny came hopping out faster than a jack rabbit and two puppy dog babies hunting the bunny we're outside of the cage and fast on her heels before Bt could get the door closed. Cupid was flying after the trio before any mortal could process what had happened. He was able to capture the two babies in the puppy dog rompers but the little bunny had jumped up and through the hole in the wall as if it were a rabbit's hole. She disappeared into the cold darkness of the adjoining office. "I'll go retrieve her," offered Hercules. He left the office and Bt, FMN, Autolycus, Cupid, and Iolaus all helped place the babies back into the cage trying to make sure no more could escape for the evening. The adults were moving as quicky as they could but two babies dressed as birds who were perching at the top of the cage managed to drop down onto Iolaus' head before he could escape the cage. "I'm hit!," Iolaus starting screaming. He ran out of the cage and circled around the room with the two babies clinging to the top of his head. He danced about as the baby birds held tightly onto him. They were both laughing and giggling as the startled hunter tried to release the talon like grip he was under. Autolycus was doubled over laughing and Bt was the only one who went to the golden hunter to offer assistance. She grabbed onto the babies and gently pried them off of his head one at a time. "Thanks," groaned the relieved man. The babies bounced up and down in Bt's arms and shouted, "Again! Again!" in unison. "No more rides tonight," Bt scolded and placed the pouting babies back inside the cage. The door closed with a loud "clang" and Iolaus gave out a startled cry. He offered an apologetic glance to the others in the room and hung his head and muttered, "It's been a long day."Bt placed her arm around the frazzled hunter and offered him support while Autolycus snickered behind his back. The group heard Hercules yelling from the other office, "She's escaped. I'll need help to catch her." The group headed out of the office to see the fuzzy tailed behind of the bunny baby running out the opened door which leads into the courtyard. "Quick," yelled Hercules as he followed in pursuit. The others joined him outside the building as he was scanning the grounds looking for signs of the bunny baby. "There she is," yelled Autolycus as he saw something white moving towards the M & M sorting room. "Oh no!" yelled Bt. "We've got to get that baby before she gets to the chocolate." "What's the big deal?" asked Autolycus. "Maybe we should feed all the babies chocolate and that'll make them shut up." FMN rolled her eyes at Autolycus' remark. "No, you can't feed babies chocolate," sighed FMN. "It makes them hyper and then they'd never go to sleep tonight." "Gee, even I knew that," said Iolaus in a disgusted tone of voice. He was beginning to feel better now about the bird attack. At least he wasn't as clueless as Autolycus when it came to baby care. Hercules began to run in the direction of the white romper and scooped up the baby. He looked closely at the baby, "This isn't a bunny!" Just as he turned and held the baby up a small squeaky growling sound came from a nearby bush. A tiny baby dressed as a Bengal tiger jumped out of the bushes and grabbed Herc's ankle. She looked up to find out who her prey was and began to giggle when she saw Herc. She made a chuffing noise as she hugged his leg affectionately. He picked up the little tiger and carried the two big cat babies over to Cupid. "Would you mind adding these two to the menagerie in the office?" he asked as he handed the babies over to Cupid. Cupid took the two and headed back towards the office building while the rest of the hunting party headed to the M & M Sorting room in search of the bunny baby. PART VII The M&M sorting room was now dark. Hercules carried a torch into the room. Every corner of the room had a threatening shadow just waiting for an unexpected visitor to enter into some horror that waited within its' depths. There was a distinct odor of unchanged diapers and chocolate wafting through the air which only added to the group's misgivings. As the day passed, they had endured unspeakable trials and tribulations all at the hands of pint sized terrors and nerves were wearing thin. "Ewwww!" exclaimed FMN and she pinched her nose to keep from smelling the unappealing and pungent odor. "I don't like this at all," sighed Iolaus. "Maybe I should wait outside and be the look out," said Autolycus. In the darkness, Iolaus accidentally bumped into FMN and she let out a scream that could have been heard in the underworld. This started a chain reaction and upon hearing the blood curdling scream, Autolycus yelled and tried to make a run for the door and safety outside the eerie room. Iolaus was bumped by Autolycus which caused him to fall and knock over a basket full of yellow M&M's which went rolling and bouncing across the floor. Everyone jumped at the sound of clattering confections hitting the cement floor. After he composed himself, Hercules held a torch high above his head and gave everyone a stern warning. "Quiet, or you'll startle the babies!" Autolycus sarcastically replied, "Yeah, we wouldn't want to startle them." He was interrupted when a frightened Bt shouted, "Something has me by the ankle!" Hercules bent down quickly and grabbed up the offender. It was a baby dressed in a little blue piggy romper. As Hercules cradled her in his arms the baby made a little snorting sound and wiggled her nose like she had a snout. The baby began laughing then let out another snort. "Something bit me," exclaimed Iolaus as he bent down and picked up another baby. This one was the one they had set out to capture to begin with. The bunny baby had accidentally bitten the golden hunter as she greedily nibbled the yellow M&M's off of the floor. Autolycus called to Hercules, "Hey, how about a little light over here?" he asked as he pointed towards the turned over basket in the floor. FMN and Bt chuckled as the light shown on the bottom ends of two little babies who had dived head first into the basket to gobble up the tasty treats that were left after the spill. Bt reached down and tried to extract a baby from the basket but realized that the two had gotten wedge into it in their attempt to collect as many M&M's as possible. "Now what do we do?" asked an exasperated Bt. "I vote we leave them in there," volunteered Autolycus. Iolaus punched him in the arm and gave him a dirty look. "What?" complained Autolycus as he rubbed his sore arm. "I just meant, you have plenty of babies so why bother collecting two more." Hercules pushed Autolycus aside and knelt down by the basket. He grabbed the metal rings which encompassed the basket and with his strength carefully bent the rings until they snapped. The wooden slats of the basket gave way and the babies went rolling onto the floor. Bt picked up the baby dressed as the white piglet and FMN retrieved a orange piglet. They both had chocolate smeared over their faces and it was difficult to tell that they were actually only babies dressed like little pigs. FMN cleaned the chocolate off their snouts the best she could and handed her piglet to Autolycus to carry. "I guess that's it," Bt said with relief. "Now we just place these in the large cage with the others and figure out how to turn them back to their normal selves." She shook her head knowing that it would be easier said than done. The campus was very quiet and dark as the group headed back towards the office. No one uttered a word and the only sound that could be heard was the quiet snorting of the little pigs as they were finally dozing off to sleep. The group entered the office and found that Falafel had relieved Cupid from baby duty. Cupid had said he had an important family meeting that he didn't dare miss and he had left the cook in charge of guarding the cage. Falafel had a baby boy on his knee and kept bouncing the baby heartily up and down. Each time the baby landed he would let out a "Pika-Pika!" "Falafel!" scolded Bt. "You're going to hurt that thing." She wasn't meaning to sound unkind but she hadn't seen anything like this baby today. It had on a yellow romper and it's hat was adorned with pointy ears. "Look what I found in my kitchen. Can I keep it?" cooed Falafel as he held up the baby for everyone to inspect. He smiled at the Chancellor with anticipation but the only response that came from the crowd was a collective shudder when everyone witnessed his rotten toothed grin. "No you can't keep him! May I remind you that these are students placed in the Universities care," Bt explained as everyone gathered around the cage door to make their last deposits for the day. "But we have so much in common," Falafel protested. "I could tell that right away when I found him playing with the knives and cleavers in the kitchen. He even has a grand taste in cuisine. He had this," Falafel noted as he held up a single, solitary peacock feather. "I bet he was ready to fricassee it with a lovely garlic and tuna baste," Falafel salivated as he spoke. "You can't keep a student," Bt said in frustration as she collected the little yellow bundle from Falafel and started to place it inside the cage with the others. For a moment she paused and wondered exactly which student this was and depending on the identity of the little knife wielding delinquent, maybe giving him away wouldn't be such a bad idea. She shuddered with horror when she realized that she was actually thinking about doing it. "It's been a long day," she said wearily and kissed the baby on the top of the head and placed him gently inside the cage to make up for a moment of depleted mental ability. While the others began to sit and get comfortable for the long night ahead, Hercules had taken the feather away from Falafel and was closely examining it. He let out a low growl, "You know who this belongs to, don't you?" he asked the group. Everyone was too tired to answer him so they just sat and stared blankly at the hero. He finally realized that the group wasn't capable of an in-depth analysis due to the activities of the day and decided he would just have to answer his own question. "Hera! That's who is behind this escapade." He didn't wait for anyone's reaction to his solving the mystery. He stood up and shouted in a booming and forceful voice, "Hera! We know what you've done. I demand that you make yourself known to us!" In a matter of a few moments, Zeus appeared with Hera in tow. He had his hand grasped tightly around the Goddess' elbow and she squirmed back and forth trying to break free of his vise-like grip. Zeus scowled at his wife and she instantly stood still. Zeus' voice was deep and menacing as he spoke to the group. "Please accept my apologies for what has occurred here today. I only heard of the trouble a short while ago when the children convened for our weekly family dinner. FMN gave a puzzled look to the God and brashly spoke up, "Wait a minute. You mean to tell us that you have weekly family get togethers?" she said with a snicker. She found the mental picture of all the Gods and Goddess sitting around the table passing bowls of peas and potatoes to be amusing. Zeus cast his eyes upon the amazon and she abruptly halted her gleeful imaginations. "Sorry," whispered FMN. "Go on with your story, I'll just sit over here quietly," and she sat down in her chair quickly. "As I was saying," Zeus began again as he shot FMN a warning glance, "Ares, Aphrodite, even Cupid began telling me about the abnormal occurrences here at the University. Usually, I don't pay too much attention to the goings on at DebU because abnormal behavior seems to be rampant among all of you." Bt began to speak in defense of the University but hesitated after she realized that what he'd just said was in fact, the truth. So, she just waved her hand and said, "Continue, please." "It seems everyone at the table had an opinion about the true nature of events today, everyone that is except my wife, Hera. And as anyone can attest to the fact, she's not one to hold her tongue when it comes to opinions or gossip." Hera didn't like the comment and she again tried to pull away from her husband's grip so she could make her escape. Zeus held firmly onto her and she let out a little "yipe" as he squeezed her arm. "It was only a short period of time before I knew the truth. Her silence was what signaled her guilt," Zeus explained. "Tell them what you've done, my dear," Zeus said with contempt. Hera growled as she stared at Zeus and began to speak only when she felt the pressure of his fingers digging into her flesh again. "All right!," she seethed. "I'm tired of you troublesome students. You're always being devious and thinking you can do anything you like without being taught a lesson! You take what you want, when you want it. You're all a bunch of spoiled babies. You don't even have the common sense to worship those who give you everything...." Hercules interrupted Hera, "When you say ‘those who give you everything' you mean you, correct?" Hera snarled at Hercules and hissed, "Other goddess have temples built here on the campus but has anyone once offered to build me one?" Tears began to well up in Hera's eyes and her lip protruded out in a unbecoming pout. Hera then started stomping her feet and throwing a temper tantrum which was far superior to anything the group had witnessed the entire day with the babies. The group sat mesmerized by the her outburst watching as she stomped around the room in circles flinging her arms around and muttering to herself, "Every one else gets a temple...every one else has worshipers...every one else has hunters to adore them....but not me...no...not old Hera!" She had spent herself with her tirade and plopped down in a chair next to Bluetopaz who moved slightly away from the Goddess to insure she was at least an arms length away. Hera sniffled and whined, "I want to go home now." "We will," Zeus reassured her, "as soon as you make things right." He gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "And you must promise never to do anything like this again," he warned her as if he were her father reprimanding her for being so naughty. "I promise," she said with one, final sniffle. "I'll behave. If I turn them back can we go home then. We didn't get a chance to finish dinner and I really want ice cream for dessert." Zeus rolled his eye as he agreed to take her home for an ice cream treat for good behavior. He wondered to himself who the real baby was in this group. Hera stood up and wiped her eyes. With a snap of her fingers the entire room was washed in a brilliant, white light and she and Zeus had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. When the group finally regained their sight from the unexpected flash they looked towards the cage which once held sleeping babies. Now it contained all the students who had visited the Wandering Gypsy to have their fortunes told. The cage was quite crowded now but everyone was still sleeping peacefully. FMN began to laugh at the group in the cage for not only had they been returned to their normal adult size but each one was still dressed in a large version of their baby rompers. She made a mental note that she really should schedule a pajama party soon. "Well, let's call it a night," said Bt as she began to head out of the office. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Hercules inquired of the Chancellor. "Shouldn't you wake them all up and let them out of the cage?" "Ha," Bt expelled. "Keeping everyone under lock and key is the only way I can insure that I get a good nights sleep tonight," she explained. "I'll let them out in the morning," she said with a twinkle in her tired eyes.