Arnold worked feverishly to build the new gun. The other Augmentin crystal reacted just as powerfully as the first but it's results on his test subjects were unpredictable. When he aimed it at one rat in a cage, the other seemed to be affected. In one case, the other rat became much larger than the first. In another case, both rats were completely unaffected. In a third, the other rat changed from female to male and attached the first rat. At least they all survived the gun's rays. He poisoned the empowered rats, not wanting to risk what they might do if unleashed in the world.

Arnold could not deduce exactly what was happening. The first gun was so much simpler. It had done exactly what he had wanted. It was perfect, but it was no longer his. It was clear that this crystal gave new and wonderful powers to change other living beings. He wanted that power himself. And now he needed it.

He had no choice. He held his breath and aimed the gun at himself. And fired.

He felt nothing. He checked the crystal. It showed the effects of the energy burst, but there was no way to measure what its affect was on him.

He felt a wave of disappointment. And then he felt angry. WHY did everything he did turn out wrong! He should have been on top of the world. Instead he was worse off than ever!!

He had to get out of the house. He had to do something.

It was New Comics Day. He would walk to the newsstand in town. At least he'd get SOMETHING out of the day.

He buried the useless gun under his winter sweaters and went out the back of the house, not even daring to look in the direction of Amanda's house. He cut through the alleyway, taking the back route to town. He walked quickly, his head down, not wanting to see anyone.

But of course, with the day he was having, he ran into the one person, other than Amanda, he least wanted to see: Lila Hansen.

Lila was his rival for valedictorian, although he was was brilliant in math and science, while she excelled in languages and writing. Her lack of facility with math was the one thing that gave Arnold the advantage in class rank. But her other characteristics more than made up for being a close second to Arnold. Although she was small-breasted, so small that she wore a t-shirt instead of a bra, and had narrow, boyish hips, she had a slender and graceful body, and her lively personality and her skill in tennis, field hockey and singing made her very popular.

When she first moved to the neighborhood she had no particular grudge against Arnold, but after he repeatedly put her down for her lack of math and science skills, she struck back using her witty tongue, her cleverness and her popularity to put him in his place.

He saw Lila first, but the long, narrow alleyway gave him no choice. He wouldn't turn around and run away from her. No, he would just walk by her, without saying a word. But she would have none it. As she saw him approach she slowed down and stood in the middle of the path.

"Well look who's here! Whatever would bring YOU out of your cave? Is today the Math Olympics? Or is the new Spiderman out?"

Arnold glared at her. How had she known about Spiderman?

"No it's NOT the Math Olympics," he replied, stopping to think of a way to put her down. He wanted so much to show her how bad she was at math. Just then he felt a little tingle. "If it were, you'd be in the Addition and Subtraction section!" he said triumphantly.

Lila seemed to feel it too. "I just ... what was that?" she said, looking at him puzzled. "I feel kind of ... I don't know!" She looked off into space.

It was his power. He was affecting her somehow. Yes! There was so much he wanted to do to her to bring her down several levels. It was his dream to make her stupid and slow-witted, as bad in language and writing as she was in math! To make her clumsy. To make her tone deaf and harsh-voiced. To make her need thick glasses. His whole body was tingling. Yes! He would do it! He could make her weak and flabby, the worst athlete in the school, flat chested with big hips and ...

"What's happening to me?" she said, confused. "I feel so ...." She stared at him.

Yes!! He thought. It's working!!"

"Did you know that you've got a pimple just waiting to come out right on your nose?" she said slowly. "It's weird that I can practically see right through your skin and watch the white blood cells gathering around the infected area. It's really quite repulsive, Arnold," she laughed, her giggle as sweet as a nightingale's song. "Ooooh, listen to me! La-la-la-la-la-la-la! That's so beautiful! Oh! NOW I get it! How gravity curves space!"

Arnold stared at her. "Wh-what's happening to you?"

Lila's breasts were growing, pushing her loose blouse outwards. Her hips and butt were developing, while her already thin waist was narrowing.

"No! No!" he cried out. The tingling was getting stronger. He wanted her smaller and weaker, not to improve her. "Stop!"

Lila started growing. She had been two inches smaller than Arnold, but she was rapidly passing him in height. He arms and legs were thickening too. Her chest muscles pushed her breasts up and further out, so that they were now straining against her no-longer-loose blouse.

"Stop?" she said. "Are you doing this?" Arnold turned to run away but Lila grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him off the ground. "You ARE doing this! And not because you want to! No, this is exactly the OPPOSITE of what you want, deep down, isn't it? To make me stronger, more beautiful, more talented and smarter, even smarter than you! Because now I understand so much. I INSTINCTIVELY understand calculus now, and game theory, probability, topology, linear algebra. Oh, it's all so easy, Arnold!"

"Please ... let me go!" Arnold struggled to keep his mind blank, but he couldn't help it. His deepest desires activated the power the gun had given him, regardless of what he consciously thought.

"You can't control it, can you? It happens automatically. Aww, but Arnold, I know you DON'T want me to be like your comic book characters do you?"

Arnold shook his head. The tingling was getting worse.

"You wouldn't want me to be as powerful as Supergirl? As brilliant as Brainiac? Hmmmm? You wouldn't want to give me the power to change people the way I WANTED to, WOULD YOU?"