Me, myself, and Ivy

Chloe wiggled an eyebrow, as the orange slime stretched slowly out, like a limb growing from the orange, transparent mass, pointing at the couple. "Seems like Luke wants a hug, or something. Why not help him out?"

The teenagers cautiously stepped forward, wary of whatever was actually happening. What if the slime was actually some sort of alien entity and Luke was just dissolved so it would grow? That would be really strange for Dr. Walker to go to all this trouble of even coming out in the first place and choosing a guy in a hospital way out of her way. So, eventually, the curious teenagers reached out, putting their hand on the jelly-like exterior.

Ivy shuddered a little. "Kinda sticky, but also smooth? Hard to explain, it just--aaagh!" Ivy's observations were cut short as the orange goo sprang forth, wrapping around Ivy and then James! Dr. Walker stood still, watching in amusement, much like a true mad scientist might as their creation claimed more victims...

Moments later, a much larger orange blob sat on the floor, jiggling back and forth. It seems like it didn't really understand how to move yet... but eventually it started to shiver rather violently, as something was ejected from the orange mass--Ivy! The girl stumbled, tumbling away as she rushed to the far wall, breathing heavily with her eyes wide. "What the hell?!"

Another body was ejected, not long after. It tumbled forward, just as Ivy had. Ivy put her hand over her mouth to stifle a surprised gasp, as she was staring at... another Ivy. A very confused, disoriented Ivy, wearing James's clothes.

Before the second Ivy could speak, the orange goo itself started to solidify, sitting up, an orange humanoid body cross-legged on the ground, before it seemed to fill in the transparent spots with solid, opaque skin. Before everyone's eyes, a third Ivy appeared, shaking her head out.

"What a rush," she eventually said, holding her head. She looked up at the other women in the room, smiling nervously and shrugging. "I, uh, don't really know how I did that yet. You're all in one piece though, right?"

"Dude, what is going on!" The second Ivy demanded, stumbling to stand up. The first one held onto the second, stabilizing her, once she realized what must have happened, that James had been shapeshifted by this replicator-slime! Even Luke looked like he had been affected.

"Good! My hypothesis was accurate," Chloe said, tapping at a tablet. "Even with multiple entities absorbed, the bio-polymer was able to differentiate between individual units and translate them accordingly. Not bad, kid. I honestly would've expected a longer adjustment period before you could do something like change a third body!"

Ivy and James, or 'Ivy-Alpha' and 'Ivy-Beta', held onto each other. Ivy, for her part, felt totally fine, just as she had prior the absorption incident. James, however, was all out of sorts! The only one who hadn't spent any time as Ivy, she was shaky and off-balance and practically tripping over her own clothes, with shoes and pants too big for herself. It was fortunate that Ivy had endured weeks of strangeness and still had on the Ascend so Hilda could help her deal with the unusual situation, otherwise she probably would have run out of the room, screaming the whole way

Eventually, Luke--'Ivy-Delta'?--stood up, looking down at herself and dusting herself off. "So, not bad, right?" She winked at the other two, as they stared dumbfounded at their doppelganger.

"Oh come on, you two! Dr. Walker gave me something great," Luke-Ivy said, hopping back up on the bed. She was still clad in hospital attire, a gown that was a few sizes too large now. "Think about it like this: I could just go to school as Ivy to finish out the year. No need for the headset! After the doctors are astounded at how well I recover within the week, of course."

James and Ivy looked at each other. James had to brush hair from his eyes, while Ivy felt like she was looking into a mirror for a moment. Chloe watched the exchange, growing even more amused. "I like the way this one thinks," she said, pointing at the hospital-gown Ivy with her thumb.

"What will I be doing in this hypothetical scenario?" Ivy said finally, still confused about this whole scenario.

"Whatever you want!" Luke said, rolling his eyes. "You could just skip school, go to the mall, stay home and watch movies, whatever! I could make you into someone else if you didn't want people to think you had a twin. We could divide and conquer this stuff! I could even make it so we all think exactly like Ivy, down to the most precise brain chemistry. I don't even have to think about it, the nanites just did it. The blob, though, that's all me... that's kind of gonna be a learning curve there."

Ivy looked back at James, unsure. She could go out and about if Luke took her place totally, but that meant she wouldn't even be there with James, while he was with an impostor. A clone? Technically herself? Who cared, if she wasn't present! Besides, Ivy was already feeling like something was missing, without the mix. Even if she was surrounded by variants of herself at the moment, she only had access to one mind in her head at that point.

"Can I at least go back to normal for now?" James asked, hopefully.

Luke just smiled.