The Deal
By Uncle Ben
A gift for TrumanGrace
11/10/2008

Ending 2 helped along by:
kecomaster.deviantart.com/art/…
bignasty4life.deviantart.com/a…

She was coming. Erin didn’t wasn’t sure how she knew but she knew. Maybe it was because Erica hadn’t been around for a while or maybe Erin was becoming attuned to Erica. This time she was prepared. She had borrowed Carla’s Zapper device and had it in hand. Erica would not catch her off guard this time.

And then Erica appeared in front of her. With a mysterious smile she steps forward. Erin narrows her eyes, “Not this time.”

Erica stops, but is not afraid. “Oh?”

“I’m sick of all that stuff that you do to me and my friends. It all ends today.”

“How about ‘It all ends for today?’”

Erin thinks for a moment about the difference. “What?”

“It’s very simple. Let’s make a deal. If I win, I get to take you and ‘play’ with you. If you win, I don’t.”

Erin is suspicious, “You won’t cheat?”

Erica smiles. “The gamble is almost as fun as what happens if I win, so, no, I won’t cheat.”

Still trying to decide to believe Erica or not, “What’s the challenge?”

“Well, the device in your hand was going to change me into clothes,” Erica starts shrinking, “we will both be zapped by the device at the same time. Call one of your friends and leave them a note to free one or the other of us.” Erica now looks like an exact copy of Erin. “Whoever is freed, wins.”

Erin ponders this for a while looking for tricks, loopholes, or any way Erica could get the upper hand but comes up empty, “No tricks or lies or anything?”

Erica stops smiling and looks at her with a straight face, “Have I ever lied to you?”

“No.”

“Then trust me when I say that I will make this a fair contest and you will have the same chance to win as me.” Erica sticks out her hand, “Deal?”

Erin holds her hand back, but agrees, “Deal.”

“Good. Write the note and call a friend and then the contest will begin.”

Erin scribbles a quick note and calls Cliff.” Hopefully he will know me over the copy.

And then everything is in place. The twins stand shoulder to shoulder facing the door with the note laying on the floor in front of them so Cliff will find it. “Now raise your arm nearest me like mine.” The clothes zapper flies into the air and floats in front of them. When Erin’s palm is side by side with Erica’s, the device flies forward and zaps them both.

Erin’s feels her body flatten and turn to cloth like the clothes she was wearing. She finds it a little disconcerting feeling the various parts of her body land separately. Erin is left to watch the open door and wait for Cliff to come. Please, Cliff, please pick me …

---

Cliff enters Erin’s house and heads to her room. “I wonder why she wanted me to come here.” He stops as he sees two sets of clothes that look like Erin. On the floor is a note and Carla’s clothes zapper. Cliff picks them both up and reads the note.

“Cliff, Erica and I are in a contest. One set of clothes is me. The other is her. The winner of the contest is the one you return to normal. Please pick me.”

Cliff looks to the two piles clothes, one on the right and one to the left. “Great, which one is Erin?”

He carefully picks up each piece and looks at it carefully comparing it to its duplicate. He, then, puts each in its own pile. The two sets of clothes are identical. After checking every possible way he knows , he picks a pile, reverses the device, and zaps the pile he thinks is Erin.

Pick a pile and an ending:
(Right Pile) or (Left Pile)





[Right Pile]
Erin becomes human again. She jumps into Cliff’s arms knocking him over. “I knew you’d pick me. Well, I hoped you would.” She realizes she’s on top of him and gives him a kiss.

They both stand up. “What about her,” Cliff asks gesturing to the other pile.

“The deal was for the day.” She turns to Erica, “I’ll free you tonight.” She looks back to Cliff, “So what do you want to do today?” They head out of the room.

“I don’t know, but let’s make it fun.” Their voices get quieter as they get farther away. And then the front door closes.

A stuffed bunny in Erin’s room begins to grow larger. Quickly the bunny girl is full size and not plushie. “Shall I free you?”

“No, this is fine. Besides, we made a deal. And a deal is a deal.”





[Left Pile]
Erin becomes human again. She goes next to him and holds his hand. “Thanks, Cliff. I was hoping you’d pick me.”

“What about her ,” Cliff asks her gesturing to the other pile.

“The deal was for the day.” She turns to look at the pile, “I have plans for you and then I’ll free you tonight.”

“Plans?”

“Well, she is a pair of clothes. It would be a shame not to wear her. Speaking of plans, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, but let’s make it fun.”

“Great, then let’s head outside and decide.” As they exit the room, Erin points over her shoulder at the pile of Erin. The Erin clothes fold so the face can’t see and then rolls up into a cylinder shape and heads out of the room.

As Erin and Cliff reach the back yard, Cliff feels a tickle on his chest. He separates hands with Erin and scratches it. He finds that his hand feels funny, but he has no time to focus on it for another part of his body is insistent on being scratched. After scratching that it’s another part followed by another. Soon his whole body is itching. He scratches it the best he can and slowly the itching fades. As the sensation fades he finds that he can no longer move.

Erin comes around to face him. She starts changing before his eyes. She becomes taller with darkening hair. He quickly recognizes Erica.

No! I picked the wrong one. And I used the hand that was holding hers to scratch. She changed me into something.

“Cliff, would you like to join us?” Us? “Of course you would.” What did she do to me? Erica carries him back into the house with ease. She heads to the bathroom.

At first he doesn’t notice anything different, but then she turns him to face the tub. The tub is Erin or at least what she would look like if she were flattened and shaped into a tub. Her head and upper body are above the rim of the tub while her arms and legs become the bath itself. Erica reaches for a handle and water flows out of Erin’s mouth, down her ThunderCats shirt, and starts filling the tub.

Once the tub is full, Erica places Cliff in the water. The liquid seeps through him and he finds that he can move again. The joy of movement is short lived as he finds he is melting into the water. At least I’ll be close to Erin, he consoles himself.

Cliff is startled for a moment as Erica says, “Oh, you two are going to give me such a nice bath,” but then he relaxes as she adds, “I’ll free you tonight. After all, a deal is a deal.”