Rick and The Loud House

Rick and the Loud siblings were sat in the dining room, eating breakfast before Rick decided to ask. "So, uhh...anything interesting happening at your schools or whatever?" He was looking at Lisa as he asked this.

"Nope." Lori replied.

"Negative." Lisa answered.

Lincoln looked uncomfortable. "Umm...one of the lunch ladies died."

"What!" Lori exclaimed as the older sisters' attention was now on him.

Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "Yeah...they found her in a closet with two holes in her neck and all the blood drained out of her."

Lola winced. "Eww! Who'd do something like that?"

"Obviously a vampire." Rick stated. "W-w-where's the pepper?"

Lori stared at Rick in shock. "Wait, vampires are actually real?!"

"Gasp! I knew it!" Lucy grinned.

"That's impossible! Vampires are just fantasy!" Lynn argued.

"A lot of stuff you think are fantasy are real Lynn." Rick stated. "Vampires, gnomes, unicorns. Hell, there's this one town in Oregon that has tons of that weird shit." He scratched his chin in thought. "Uh, what was it called again? It was something Falls."

Leni raised her hand excitedly. Ooh ooh, I have an idea! Why don't you, like, use your science stuff to turn yourself into a kid so you can hunt down that vampire at the school?"

Rick frowned. "Leni, that's the-" He glanced at Lisa for a moment. "That's a great idea Leni! Oddly specific pitch but hey, nice thinking."

As Rick got up, so did Lucy. "Wait! You can't kill him! All my life, I've dreamed of one day meeting a vampire. This could be my only opportunity!"

"Uh, Lucy, I don't think the kind of vampire that hangs around elementary schools is the kind you want to meet." Rick said before making his way to the garage.

Lucy followed in after him. "Are you sure he's evil? Maybe he's just misunderstood."

Rick turned around, giving her a frustrated look. "Jesus Christ Lucy! If you want to be a vampire so bad, I can make you one myself!"

"...You can do that?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Rick said as he started to search his shelf. "After I figured out the formula for creating a zombie virus, vampirism was pretty easy to figure out." He got out some kind of injector before grabbing Lucy's arm. "Just so you know, sunlight won't actually kill you. It's just somewhat painful and it'll make you feel kinda tired."

"Ow!" Lucy said as Rick gave her the injection.

"Now go to your room and go to bed. By the time you wake up, you'll be a vampire."

Lucy clenched her stomach. "I don't...feel so good."

"Don't worry about it Lucy. That's just your body slowly dying."

"Huh?"

Rick started to push her out of the garage. "Just sleep it off. You'll be fine when you wake up." Once she left and he closed the door behind her, he started to get to work on his other plan.

...

At Lisa's kindergarten class, all the kids were playing around while Lisa herself was working on some chemicals in a corner of the room where she had her science equipment on top of the drawers. Her teacher, Ms. Shrinivas, then clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay everyone." She spoke in a soft and simple tone. "I have an exciting announcement to make. We have a new student joining us today." The kids started to murmur amongst themselves as Ms. Shrinivas made her way to the door. "Please give a big warm welcome to Rick Loud!"

She opened the door, revealing a four year old version of Rick who stepped into the classroom. "Yo what up! I'm Lisa's cousin! I'm Tiny Rick!" The shock of seeing a four year old version of Rick caused Lisa to drop a test tube she was holding. The chemicals inside it caused a tiny explosion upon hitting the floor.

"Rick, is there anything you'd like to say to the class to introduce yourself?" Mr. Shrinivas asked.

Rick shrugged. "Nah, I'm good. Just go easy on me guys. Ha ha! Just kiddin'! I'm down with, you know, whatever it is four year olds do."

As everyone went back to their activities, Lisa approached Rick. "So, I see you actually transformed yourself into a four year old."

"Well, to be more accurate, I transferred my mind into a younger clone of myself." Rick corrected.

"I see. So what's your plan for dealing with vampire?

"Already dealt with." Rick said, getting out a bloody stake, causing Lisa's eyes to widen before he put it away. "It was the janitor by the way."

"I-I see. I suppose he did look strangely pale. But then why are you in my class?"

"Because Lisa," Rick said as he put an arm around her. "I know how much you've wanted me to teach you something. So I'm here to teach you the most important thing you'll ever know. Nothing will be more important thing then what I'm about to teach you today."

Lisa couldn't help but start getting excited. "Then whatever it is, I assure you I am ready for it!"

"Great!" Rick then looked around the classroom until he spotted a little dark-skinned girl, with short, dark brown hair. She wore a sleeveless cyan shirt with a pink flower on it, yellowish shorts, pink socks, and white, LED light-up sneakers. She was currently drawing something while lying on her stomach with her feet in the air. Rick pointed to her. "Hey uh, you see her?"

"Darcy Helmandollar?"

"Yeah, go make friends with her." Rick ordered as he pushed her towards her.

Lisa turned to Rick. "Apologies Rick but I prefer to see my classmates as co-workers. Or occasionally, test subjects."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Look Lisa, at some point, you're gonna wanna go out there and talk to all these aliens like I do right?" Lisa nodded. "Well, don't you think you need some social skills to do that?"

"I suppose you're correct but..." Lisa suddenly looked shy. "I don't know how to go about making friends."

"Look, don't worry about it, it's simple. Just compliment her, play with her, share stuff and find some common interests. It's that simple. Now go do it!" Rick explained before shoving Lisa towards Darcy again.

Lisa stumbled towards Darcy, getting her attention as she gave Lisa a look of confusion. Lisa took a deep breath to calm her nerves before smiling. "Greetings, Darcy." She pointed to her shoes. "I have observed that your sneakers light up. Though they appear to lack purpose, I would like to compliment you on their whimsy."

Darcy smiled. "Thanks, Lisa." She pointed at Lisa's shoes. "I've always liked your shoes, too. They remind me of my grandpa's." Lisa grinned, relieved that Darcy appeared to be receptive in pursuing friendship.

"Hey, what's going on!" Rick said casually as he approached the two.

Darcy waved at him. "Hi! I'm Darcy. Are you Lisa's cousin?"

"Well to be honest with you Darcy, I'm actually Lisa's grandpa. I just transferred my consciousness into a clone of myself so I could come to this school."

Darcy gave him a confused stare for a moment before giggling. "Your cousin's funny Lisa!"

...

Later that night. Lincoln was struggling to get to sleep so he decided to go downstairs and have a glass of milk to help him get to sleep. However, as he was making his way downstairs, he thought he heard a noise coming from the living room. As he slowly and nervously crept down the stairs, he decided to peak into the living room to see if it was just his imagination. Or something to do with Rick. In the living room, he saw a figure sitting on the couch. Before he could yelp, he quickly realised that it was Lucy there, just sitting in the dark, staring at nothing. He slowly approached her. "L-Lucy?" Lucy turned her head to look at Lincoln before giving him a big, wide open smile, revealing her vampiric fangs with a hiss. "D'AAH!" Lincoln jumped back in fright.

"Isn't this great?" Lucy asked as she got up and slowly approached Lincoln as he stared at her in fear. "Rick's turned me into an actual, real life vampire!" She got up into Lincoln's face. "Greatest! Day! EVER!" She then turned to a vampire bat. She flapped her wings for a second before falling to the floor. She turned back to normal, rubbing her head. "Ow."

"Uh, what was that?" A confused Lincoln asked.

"I...don't know how to fly." Lucy admitted as she got up.

The lights then went on. Both of them turned to see Rick had come in, carrying two glasses of milk. "The hell are you two doing?"

"Grandpa Rick, why did you turn Lucy into a vampire?" Lincoln asked.

Rick shrugged. "Hey, it's what she wanted. I don't judge."

"Uh, Grandpa Rick, how exactly do I fly?" Lucy asked

Rick shrugged. "How should I know? I've never been a vampire. Hey, either of you want some milk?"

"Sure." Lincoln said. Both of them took the milk that Rick had offered them.

As soon as Lucy tasted the milk, she immediately spat it out. "What is this?" Lucy spat.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. You can't eat or drink anything any more. The only thing you can drink is blood." Rick explained.

"So...you're saying I can't eat chocolate any more?" Lucy asked.

"Yep. 'Fraid not, you're gonna have to-whoa, Lucy are you okay?"

Lucy suddenly had streams of tears running down her face. She quickly wiped them away. "I-I'm fine. I'll l-live."

"Not really. Ha ha." Rick joked.

"Uh, you sure you'll be okay?" Lincoln asked.

"Yes." Lucy then tried to change the subject by asking Rick. "So, what happened to your old body?"

Rick rolled his eyes. "Well if you must know." He gestured for them to follow him into the garage. Upon entering, the two saw Rick's old body, floating naked in a green vat with some diodes attached to his chest and forehead.

"Gross." Lucy remarked.

"So, how exactly is your old body living in there?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh, you know, hyperbaric quantum fluid, that kind of thing. It preserves living tissue." Rick explained. "Not that there was much to preserve. Look at that mummy! Ha! Ha ha!"

"So, when are you gonna go back to normal?" Lincoln then asked.

"When I feel like it."

"Huh?" Lincoln was caught off guard by his somewhat childish response.

"I said when I feel like it. Now if you'll excuse me, it's nap time."

"Nap time?" Lucy repeated.

"Yes, nap time." Rick responded as he opened the door to his room. "Now go away." The door automatically slammed shut behind him. Lincoln and Lucy then glanced at each other in confusion.

...

The next day, during recess, Lisa approached Darcy with a friendly smile as she was about to play on the jungle gym. "Greetings. Would you care to join me in play?"

"Sure." Darcy responded as she got down. "Do you like the seesaw?"

Lisa held her chin in thought. "Can't say I've heard of it, but, uh, what the heck?" Darcy grabbed her hand to pull her over to the seesaw.

"Whee! Isn't this fun?" Darcy squealed as the two rode on the seesaw. Despite looking nervous, Lisa gave Darcy a thumbs up. Lisa then noticed Rick nodding at her while he was passing a ball to someone. "I gotta tinkle." Darcy suddenly announced as she got off the seesaw.

"OOF!" Darcy leaving suddenly caused Lisa to fall to the ground rapidly.

As Rick watched this, a ball then suddenly hit his head. "AH! What the hell asshole?!" Rick's eyes widened as he saw the confused look on the boy he was playing with's face before smiling nervously. "I mean, uh, he he, whoops."

...

Later during lunchtime, Lisa approached Darcy while she was eating a sandwich. "Care to share my homemade kelp leather?" She offered as she placed it on the table. "Full of nutrients, but zero taste, so it goes down smooth."

Darcy swallowed her sandwich bite, looking somewhat unsure. "Um...okay. Thanks, Lisa." She shoved the kelp into her mouth, chewing on it. She had an uneasy look on her face. "It's so...chewy." She grinned, showing bits of kelp stuck in her teeth.

Next to Lisa, Rick then handed Darcy a chocolate bar. "Hey Darcy, why don't you try this? I created it myself. It's literally the most delicious piece of chocolate in the universe."

Darcy took a bite of the chocolate bar before her eyes widened in awe. She dropped the bar, going into some kind of trance. "Aaamaaaazziiiinnng!"

Rick smirked. "See Lisa, you gotta know what to give people. Nobody likes dumb, healthy stuff."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Darcy then started to giggle. The chocolate seemed to have made hyperactive as she suddenly started running around the room at lightning speed. She then accidentally knocked over the kid that Rick was playing with earlier. "Ah! What the hell asshole!"

"TOBY!" Ms. Shrinivas shrieked.

...

Later on, it was nap time as Rick stumbled towards his cot. "Jesus, finally! Nap time." Rick slumped onto his cot, not even bothering to get under the covers.

Darcy giggled at him as Lisa pushed her cot next to her. "Your cousin's silly Lisa!"

Lisa wasn't as amused as Darcy as she gave Rick a critical look as she got into bed. "Hmm. I hope he hasn't been consuming any alcohol. I doubt his four year old body could handle it."

Darcy tilted her head. "Huh?"

"N-Nevermind." Lisa then noticed what Darcy had brought to bed with her. "Oh! I see we have a common interest in the Giraffa Camelopardalis."

Darcy blinked in confusion before realising she was talking about her plush toy giraffe. "Oh, you mean Rafo. You have a stuffed giraffe, too?"

"N-No, but I have a giraffe cerebrum soaking in formaldehyde."

Darcy giggled. "You use funny words, Lisa." Both of them then laid down and went to sleep.

...

Later on, all the students were sat in a circle around Ms. Shrinivas. "Okay, class, it's sharing time! Who wants to start?"

Darcy raised her hand. "Ooh! Ooh! I have something to share! It's my new friend, Lisa." She gestured to Lisa who smiled in response.

"Great sharing, Darcy." Ms. Shrinivas then whispered to Lisa, giving her a proud look. "And great social skills, Lisa." Rick then raised his hand. "Yes Rick? What would you like to share?"

Rick stood up with a guitar in his hands. "If you wouldn't mind Ms. Shrinivas, I'd like to share a song for the class."

Ms. Shrinivas smiled. "Go ahead Rick."

Rick went to stand in front of the class as he started playing. "All right, everybody. This one's coming straight from the heart. Making the lyrics up right off the top of my head."

Let me out

What you see is not the same person as me

My life's a lie

I'm not who you're looking at

Let me out, set me free

I'm really old; This isn't me

My real body's slowly dyin' in a vat

Is anybody listening'

Can anyone understand?

Stop lookin' at me like that and actually help me

Help me!

Help me; I'm gonna die!

The class slowly clapped for Rick, not really sure what to make of that song. This included Ms. Shrinivas. "Um...thank you Rick, that was um, very nice of you to share with the class."

Lisa looked at Rick in concern. It was obvious to her that something was wrong with him. Darcy then leaned towards her, also looking somewhat unsure. "Is Rick really your grandpa?"

Lisa sighed. "Yes Darcy."

...

As Lisa and Rick walked home together, Lisa spoke. "Grandpa Rick, now that I have successfully learned how to make friends, perhaps now would be a good time to return to your old body."

"Nah." Rick responded.

Lisa frowned. "Why not?"

"I don't wanna."

"So when are you going to do it?"

"I don't know!" Rick snapped. "Maybe I like going to kindergarten. Maybe I like being Tiny Rick!"

"But what if the you that likes it isn't you?" Lisa argued. "I believe that having the body of a four year old is starting to have an effect on your mental state."

"Starting to have an effect on your mental state." Rick mimicked before snickering to himself.

Lisa scowled. "Listen, I believe that when you put your mind into this body's young brain, it did what young brains tend to do. Besides mine of course. It shoved the negative thoughts into the back and built a wall around them. But those negative thoughts are the true Rick. The you that realises the consequences of staying in this body for a prolonged amount of time. So you're trapped in there and you can only come out by doing what most young children do when they're feeling distressed. Acting out!"

Rick stared at Lisa for a moment before he started to laugh. "Lisa, you're being weird. Nobody wants to be friends with someone that's weird." Rick then stormed off while Lisa stared at him in disbelief. She sighed. It'd probably be best to warn her siblings about Rick at the very least.

...

Later that night, Lucy stood on the roof of the house, staring out at the neighborhood. She could barely contain her excitement. Her first night as a vampire. As a prowling creature of the night. All she had to do was find a potential victim and strike. She wondered if blood tasted better as a vampire.

However, after spending around an hour searching through the streets, she came to a realisation. Royal Woods was a relatively quiet town. It was a town where pretty much everyone went to sleep as soon as it was night time. Due to this, the streets were pretty much empty. "Sigh. This is...so boring." Lucy admitted to herself. She might be able to find someone if she ventured out the neighborhood but she didn't in case she ended up getting lost and couldn't find her way back home. Lucy was left alone with her thoughts and after thinking about it for a while, she started to feel uncomfortable with trying to suck someone's blood. Not only was she scared about potentially killing them but the idea of hurting someone like that at all was starting to make her feel bad.

"Sigh..." Lucy sighed in disappointment. What she thought would be an exciting night turned out to be boring and somewhat lonely for her.

...

The next day, after observing Rick for a while, Lisa had realised he was slowly getting worse as he was starting to act more and more childish. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do right now as she had already told her siblings the problem. All she could really do in kindergarten was keep an eye on him. She sighed as she got up onto her stool in her usual corner. "Well at least now, I can return to my beloved research." She hugged her equipment. "Have you missed me, electron microscope?"

"Hi new friend!"

Lisa's eyes widened before turning to Darcy. "Oh, uh...right. Greetings, Darcy."

Darcy grabbed two of Lisa's beakers filled with some kind of chemicals. "Are we playing scientist today? You always make it look so fun."

Upon seeing Darcy about to mix the chemicals, Lisa yelped and grabbed them off her, putting them to the side. "This isn't really playing. It's complex and potentially dangerous research." Darcy gave her a confused look. "Uh...maybe we can engage in play later."

Darcy smiled. "Oh, okay." She started to walk away. "I'll save you a spot on the seesaw at recess!"

Lisa frowned to herself. She hadn't considered that Darcy might have wished to remain friends after she had achieved her objective. "Lisa! Lisa!" Darcy shouted from her table, waving at her. Upon getting Lisa's attention, she showed Lisa a drawing that she made of herself and Lisa together. Lisa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in response.

Meanwhile, Rick was currently being admonished by Ms. Shrinivas. "Rick, why did you push over Petey?"

Rick scowled. "Because I wanted to go tinkle and you wouldn't let me out! Why won't you let me out?"

Ms. Shrivinas sighed. "Rick, you've already been three times today. Is there something wrong Rick?"

"What's wrong is that you won't let me tinkle! If you don't let me out, I'm gonna die!"

Ms. Shrinivas gave Rick a stern look. "Sorry Rick, but I'm afraid you're going to have to sit in time out and think about what you've done." Rick grumbled to himself as he went over to sit on the stool in the corner of the room.

...

Instead of sleeping in, Lucy had arrived at school and was currently in a meeting with the morticians club in their club room which currently had the curtains closed per Lucy's request. Just like Rick said, being out in the sunlight made her feel weak and fatigued. She felt like a slight breeze would be enough to knock her down and it didn't help that she didn't get much sleep last night. Nor does it help that she felt really hungry. Along with Haiku and Rocky, the morticians club had a short, chubby boy in a violet dress, a tall boy wearing thick black glasses and a dark blue cape, a tall girl with braces, wearing a dark blue victorian dress and strangely enough, a tall boy resembling Nosferatu, wearing a white apothecary robe. He was currently holding a keyboard.

The President of the club was a short boy with a big head, wearing a black suit with a red collar over a white shirt. He stood behind a podium resembling a grave as he smacked a skull gavel on it. "Now that we have sorted out the details for poor Lunch lady Betty's funeral, I believe Lucy has something she wanted to announce..." He gave the boy resembling Nosferatu an annoyed look before clearing his throat. "Ahem, Boris." Boris then played a tune on his keyboard which he had sound like an organ.

The club president moved to let Lucy stand behind the podium. "Thank you Bertrand." As soon as Bertrand sat down, Lucy let out a hiss, exposing her fangs.

The club members all gasped. "Are those real?" Betrand asked. Lucy nodded in response, causing another gasp from the group.

"But how?" The tall boy asked. He then gasped. "Wait. Lunch Lady Betty! Did you..."

Lucy shook her head and waved her hands. "No no Morpheus. That was the janitor. My grandpa's the one that did this."

The tall girl tilted her head. "Your grandpa?"

"Her grandpa's a scientist who can do basically anything." Haiku explained.

"Me and Haiku went to one of his parties. The whole house ended up teleporting to another dimension." Rocky added.

The rest of the club gave the two bewildered looks. "...I see." Betrand finally said.

Lucy stepped down from the podium, smiling. "So Rocky, what do you think?"

Rocky scratched the back of his head. "That's cool...I guess. But are you okay Lucy? You don't look right."

Lucy frowned. It seemed like her fatigue was noticeable. "The sun kinda makes me feel tired. I also haven't had any blood since I became a vampire. Speaking of that, could any of you guys please let me have some blood? I'm really hungry."

The club members nervously glanced at each other before Haiku sighed and stepped forward, raising her arm. "I suppose I can let you take some of mine. AH!" Suddenly, Lucy lunged forward like a wild animal, biting deep into Haiku's arm. "GET OFF! GET OFF!" Haiku screamed, though Lucy still wouldn't let go. The club members then got involved try to pull Lucy and Haiku away from one another.

Lucy then came to her senses and let go, causing Haiku and the club members holding onto her to fly backwards. Lucy stared in horror as a terrified Haiku cradled her bloody arm while the other members stared at Lucy in fear. "I-I'm so sorry! I-I-I didn't mean to do that! I couldn't control myself!"

"Rocky! Take Haiku to the nurse's office as quickly as possible!" Bertrand ordered. Rocky nodded and put an arm around Haiku as the two quickly left the club room.

Lucy hung her head low. "I'm really sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"You went into a frenzy!" Boris suddenly exclaimed with a raspy voice.

Lucy and the other members gave Boris confused looks. "Huh?"

"When vampires don't get enough blood, they go into a frenzy. That's when the beast inside them takes over and it won't stop until they get their blood." Boris explained.

Morpheus gave Boris a suspicious look. "How do you know so much about this Boris?"

Boris' eyes darted back and forth nervously. "I...read it in a book once." He looked at Lucy. "Be careful Lucy. If you don't drink enough blood, you risk losing your humanity altogether!"

Lucy stared at Boris in horror before coming to a realisation. "This was a mistake. I need to go back to normal!" She then ran out of the club room.

"You might want to wipe the blood from your mouth! Bertrand called out after her.

...

It was almost the end of the school day. Before it ended, Lisa decided to do another experiment with her chemicals. "And now, to add a single drop of the concentrated acid..." She said to herself as she was about to poor the beaker filled with acid into a small dish.

"Hi, friend!" Darcy sang.

"YIE!" Lisa jumped, almost dropping the beaker.

"I made you something in craft time." Lisa watched as Darcy got out what looked to her like string with a bunch of paper hearts tied onto it as she wrapped it around her wrist.

Lisa gave it a confused look. "What is this bizarre shackle?"

"A friendship bracelet. I can show you how to make one for me too, and then we can be bracelet twins!" Darcy said excitedly.

Lisa sighed, putting down her beaker. "Darcy, I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make one of these."

"I know it looks hard, but I can help you." Darcy assured her.

Lisa shook her head. "No-no-no-no. See, you're a great kid, but my lifestyle isn't really conducive to having friends. To be perfectly frank, I sought you out to impress my grandpa and prove to him that I have social skills. Now that that objective has been achieved, I feel it would be best for both of us if we went our separate ways." Lisa took off the friendship bracelet and handed it back to Darcy. Darcy stared at the bracelet with a look of utter heartbreak as her lips started to tremble. "I do appreciate your assistance though and if you ever need a reference for another friend, I would be glad to give you a glowing recommendation." Darcy closed her eyes and whimpered, clutching the bracelet to her chest. Lisa realised something was wrong. "What's wrong? Did some of the concentrated acid get in your eye?"

"NO!" Darcy snapped with tears in her eyes. "YOU HURT MY FEELINGS!" She then started to cry before running off.

Lisa winced, feeling a pang of guilt from Darcy's reaction. "Oh dear..."

As Darcy ran, she didn't look where she was going before crashing into Rick. "Oof!" As the two got up, Rick seemed more concerned with Darcy than upset. "Whoa! Hey, what's up with you?"

"Lisa..." Darcy sniffled, pointing towards her. "Said she didn't want to be my friend anymore." Darcy then hugged Rick, crying into his shoulder.

Rick awkwardly patted her back while glaring at Lisa, who was watching the exchange. He then lightly pushed Darcy off of him. "Well you know what Darcy? I'll be your friend."

Darcy sniffled before giving him a light smile. "R-Really?"

Rick grinned. "Hell yeah! Hey why don't you come over to my house? You like giraffes? I know all about them."

Lisa watched in disbelief as Rick and Darcy went off with each other. Despite feeling that there wasn't any real point to friendship, she still couldn't help but feel both ashamed and regretful for what she just did.

...

Upon entering his garage along with Darcy, Rick found himself face to face with both Lincoln and Lucy. Both of them were glaring at him with their arms folded. "Uh, what are you doing in my garage?" He asked.

"Rick, you need to change me back to normal." Lucy ordered. "Being a vampire is the worst and I feel stupid for asking for it in the first place. You HAVE to change me back!"

Rick rolled his eyes. "Ugh. I'll do it later. I'm playing with my friend right now so can you two just go away?" Rick gestured to Darcy, who was watching the argument with a confused expression, not really understanding what was going on.

Lisa growled before Lincoln held up his hand. "Rick, Lisa's told us about what was happening. You need to go back into your own body. Before you start thinking that you're actually four."

"It's just me in a younger body!" Rick argued. "What's the big deal?"

"Well, Lisa also showed us this." Lincoln then got out a crude drawing that Rick made of his normal self reaching his hand out which was titled 'Help me Lisa!'

Rick shrugged. "So what? It's just a drawing. Geez, why are you bugging me?"

"Because we're trying to help you." Lincoln stated. "We know the real Rick is in there. And if you're gonna act like a four year old then we're gonna treat you like one. Now tell us how to put you back in your body or we'll both turn you into a human pretzel!"

Rick scowled at the two before noticing an axe nearby. He quickly ran over to it and picked it up. "You can't put me back if my old body's dead!" He laughed. However Lucy quickly swooped in and wrestled the axe off of him before Lincoln tackled him, trying to restrain him. "Argh! Get off!"

"EEP!" Darcy yelped before running out of the garage, not wanting to get caught in the fight.

She ran into the living room where she noticed a downcast Lisa sat on the couch. Lisa didn't seem to notice her as she seemed lost in her own thoughts. Lisa didn't look very happy to Darcy. She said that she didn't want to be friends with her anymore but what if she changed her mind? She decided to approach her. "Lisa?" Lisa looked at her in surprise. Darcy awkwardly looked away, kicking one of her legs idly back and forth with her hands behind her back. "I thought you might like this." She handed Lisa a cookie.

"W-why are you giving this to me?" Lisa asked.

"You looked sad...I wanted to make you feel better."

Considering what Lisa had done to her, she didn't expect that response. "But, why would you want to make me feel better?"

Darcy smiled. "Because that's what friends do for each other."

Lisa's mouth gaped for a moment before echoing what Darcy had just said, having reached an epithany. "Because that's what friends do for each other..." She then smiled at Darcy before breaking the cookie in half and handing it to her. "Thank you Darcy. Card to join me?" She patted the seat next to her. Darcy grinned as she jumped onto to couch and sat right next to Lisa as the two bit into their cookie halves. "Hey, you wanna play with my CAT scan machine later on?"

"We have a kitty, too!" Darcy exclaimed before hugging Lisa. "CAT TWINS!"

Lisa had realised what the point of having friends was. It wasn't to impress people or be able to communicate with a bunch of aliens. It was because friends were there to make your life better. To help you feel better whenever you're feeling down. She briefly wondered if this was something Rick himself knew. Speaking of Rick, she then heard some banging and shouting coming from the garage. "Ah. I had forgotten about our Rick problem."

"How come your grandpa's a kid again?" Darcy asked.

Lisa sighed. "It's complicated. Problem is that he's mentally regressing into a misbehaving child and he's refusing to turn back."

"Hmm." Darcy thought for a moment. "Ooh! I know!"

...

Lincoln had successfully restrained Rick as he had his arms wrapped around his whole body, rendering him unable to move his arms. An angry Lucy was up in his face, baring her fangs. "If you don't tell us how to put you back in your own body, I'm going to use you as my own personal blood bank!" Rick blew a raspberry in response, causing Lucy to slump. "Sigh. What do we do Lincoln? Nothing's working."

"Hi!" Darcy exclaimed as she entered the garage along with Lisa.

After spotting Rick's portal gun, Lisa went over and picked it up. This angered Rick. "Hey, what are you doing with that?"

"Apologies Rick but due to your recent poor behaviour, I have no choice but to confiscate your portal gun." Lisa explained.

"What?! No, that's mine! Give it back!"

"I'm afraid this belongs to me now."

Rick started to get distressed. "Aw come on! You can't do that! Please give it back!"

"I'll only give it back if you tell us how to put your conscience back in your old body." Lisa stated.

"And you promise to behave." Darcy added with a smile.

Rick groaned. "Ugh, fine. Okay, listen carefully. There's a set of diodes on the vat's control panel, a blue one and a red one. This is so unfair. I need you to connect the blue one to my left temple and the red one to-ugh why are you guys so mean to me?"

"Focus Grandpa!" Lucy snapped.

"Just put the stupid wires on my head! I hate being a kid!"

After he finished explaining, the siblings had Rick sat on a chair with the diodes connected to his head. Lisa typed in the instructions on the control panel which caused Rick's tiny body to shake as his eyes rolled into the back of his head before he went limp. The vat containing Rick's real body then opened up, letting out all the water and dropping Rick to the ground, coughing out the water.

"Rick!" Lisa shouted as she helped him stand up.

"Pants!" Lincoln yelped, covering his eyes.

The others also looked away in disgust apart from Darcy, who was giggling. "Your grandpa's naked!"

"Holy shit!" Rick gasped. "Thanks kids. You figured it out. Jesus, was I really that much of a little shit when I was four?"

"Please put some pants on." Lucy begged. "Also does this mean you'll turn me back to normal now?"

"I will." Rick promised. "Just after I do this one thing." He pressed a button on his laptop which caused the floor to suddenly lower down into an underground lab. "Operation Phoenix is not the fallback I thought it would be."

The kids looked around in surprise. "You have an underground lab?" Lincoln asked.

"Yep." Rick answered plainly. In the lab was five more vats, four of them containing bodies of Rick at varying ages. Rick picked up his axe. "I guess it's back to the drawing board."

Lisa's eyes widened, realising what Rick was about to do. "Darcy look behind you! There's a bug!"

Darcy gasped and turned around. "Where!"

She turned to around just in time as Rick started to chop his clones into bloody pieces, laughing away as he did so. Both Lincoln and Lucy watched in horror and disgust.

"Oh my God!" Lincoln exclaimed before putting a hand over his mouth, feeling like puking.

Lucy wasn't quite as disturbed though she still found her naked grandfather covered in blood rather disgusting. "Eugh! Couldn't you at least put some pants on first?"

"Lisa, what's going on? I don't see any bug." Darcy asked.

"Nothing Darcy! Just keep looking this way!" Lisa had her hands on Darcy's shoulders, stopping her from turning around.

"Grandpa's back baby!" Rick exclaimed triumphantly.