What met their eyes was a maze of tables laid out with every square inch of the tops covered in beakers, test tubes, Erlenmeyer flasks, and every kind of machine a full laboratory would need. At the far end of the room, there stood a vast number of metal chambers against the walls.

"This must be the lab of the Mad Scientist I keep reading about in the system messages," Tom commented staring around in wonder at all the equipment.

"That sounds about right," James said pushing past Tom and into the room. Pulling a mace from his inventory, he raised it and smashed one of the Erlenmyer flasks on the table with it.

"NO! Don't do that! We should take the equipment back to the guild!" Tom said rushing to stop James before he continued.

"But this bastard is messing with nature! We can't allow that to continue!" James said.

"And I agree. But I think those are the incubation chambers on the wall over there. Go smash those so the creatures don't come after us. This stuff is not what you want. We could use it for medicines or other experiments at the guild." Tom explained as he directed James over to the metal chambers he had seen.

Sure enough, inside each of the metal chambers, some kind of creatures were growing that could be seen through a glass panel on the front of each one. Anger filled James as he looked at the creatures inside the containers. Flashes of the bats with human heads began to fill his head which only led to more memories of Anthony. With a scream, he smashed the first of the containers, the contents spilling out onto the floor around him.

One by one, James smashed every single one of the containers while the others quickly tried to load everything they could from the lab into their inventories. After the first few containers had been smashed, an alarm began to sound in the room, and a blinking red light appeared from a hidden compartment on the ceiling, flashing in time with the repeating alarm.

"Well, that was unexpected," Tom said, confused about what they should do.

"This is normally where I yell, book it before the fuzz arrives. But now?" Kiera asked, also not sure how to handle the situation.

A door rose on the right side of the room and the sound of barking came from inside. Stepping out from the new entrance were three tri-headed dogs roughly the size of horses. Drool dripped from their maws as they showed their teeth and growled aggressively at the intruders.

"Shit," Tom breathed out in resignation.

Squirrel, who had been staying by James' side like a support animal, jumped in front of him now and growled, showing his teeth as well. He suddenly grew to the size of a small SUV and leaped at the new threat. Jerky suddenly appeared on Tom's shoulder and grabbed his head, turning it toward him.

"Jerky and Squirrel kill doggies. You get stuff." Jerky said to him, his hands squishing Tom's mouth into fish lips as he grabbed his cheeks in his scaly hands.

Leaping from his shoulder, Jerky spread his wings and shrieked out a battle cry as he glided to where Squirrel was trying to fight off all nine heads at once. Beams of energy shot from his eyes as he fired some kind of skill at the backside of one of the creatures. Tom quickly used Identify on one of the beasts.

Puddles - Cerberus

This creature is the pet of the Mad Scientist that lives in this dungeon. Puddles was named for his propensity to use the bathroom indoors and his apparent lack of concern about going outside to do his business. With three heads, Cerberi are formidable creatures when the heads all work together. Their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness as each head can operate independently which causes them to fight amongst each other.

HP

800/800

MP

250/250

SP

950/950

Attacks

Bite, Claw, Fire Breath

As Tom read this, a burst of fire shot out of one of the Cerberus heads at Squirrel, who deftly shrank in size and dodged the attack which hit one of the other monsters squarely in the faces. It had almost no effect though, which told Tom that they had some kind of fire resistance. As Squirrel landed, he laid down and grew to the size of a city bus, smashing the Cerberus into the walls of the room before shrinking to SUV size again and biting one of the creature's necks, shaking his head back and forth vigorously as he did.

Another of the Cerberi recovered and moved to bite Squirrel on the hindquarters. Jerky was there with a barrier that the creature bit into instead, cracking some of its teeth. Squirrel's eyes began to glow red when he turned and saw the creature that had dared to attack it. A wind suddenly whipped up in the room around Squirrel, sending research papers from the tables flying around the room.

Tom could feel the power growing in Squirrel as his fur fluttered around like a Dragonball character before opening his mouth wide, emitting a howl followed by a glowing orb forming at the back of his throat. Suddenly the orb shot out of his mouth followed by two more that flew through the air in a crazy pattern before exploding on contact with the Cerberus' three heads. The monster whimpered with pain as it was sent flying back into a wall and crumpled to the ground in a pile not moving.

Another Cerberus took advantage of the distraction to leap onto Squirrel's back and bit down into him. Squirrel howled in pain and began to attempt to shake the monster off as though he had just taken a bath. It was thrown off his back and to the ground, where it began to get back up, a piece of Squirrel's fur in each of its mouths. The final creature took advantage of the distraction to latch onto Squirrel's leg. This proved to be its undoing as Squirrel let out a yelp and Jerky produced an ice spike in the air and hurtled it at the beast with magic.

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Piercing through its back and out its chest, the beast let go of Squirrel and stumbled around before falling on its side, blood leaking from its middle mouth.

"That was new," Derek said noticing the spell Jerky had cast.

"He's been going out hunting. He has some new tricks he learned." Tom smiled over at Derek as he continued furiously stuffing his bag with lab equipment.

Beginning to realize that its companions had been dispatched rather easily, the final Cerberus began to circle Squirrel cautiously, looking for an opening. Jerky let loose a beam at it and it jumped over the blast. Squirrel used this moment to dive at the last monster and grew again to where the three-headed dog fit in its mouth and caught it out of the air, shaking it back and forth like a chew toy.

Tossing the now-dead creature to the side, Squirrel shrank back to his normal size and limped over to Derek.

"Good job, Squirrel. You too, Jerky." Derek said as he cast a healing spell on the Dire Wolf.

Squirrel placed his previously injured leg back on the ground, testing the weight. He then plodded over to James to see what he was doing as he smashed the glass of the final few metal containers. Jerky flew over and landed on Tom's shoulder looking very pleased with himself.

"I see you got to use your new spells," Tom commented as he placed the last of the items on a table in his inventory.

"Jerky get strong like master. Jerky help." Jerky said puffing out his chest.

"You certainly are getting strong. You deserve a treat when we get back to the guild building." Tom praised him, scratching him behind the horns.

Jerky rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the prize he would receive. He then promptly turned invisible again to remain out of sight.

"HUUURRAAAAGGHH!" James yelled out as he smashed the last of the glass. "I don't know how you guys just keep swinging these weapons around."

"You could have just shot out all the glass," Derek offered.

James paused. Looking back at all of the smashed glass on the floor and then at the mace in his hand.

"Well...fuck. That would have been easier." James said hanging his head at not thinking of the idea.

"Probably faster too," Kiera added.

"Less messy," Jay said.

"Could have been done from a distance," Tom continued.

"Alright, I get it. Stupid James and his stupid ideas. Can we just get moving?" James said after the comments.

"Sorry, James. Old habit of ragging on you. It's done now though. That's what matters." Tom said, feeling bad for poking fun at him after his traumatic event.

"No, it's fine. I don't want you all treating me like I'm made of porcelain." James replied. "Let's just find this guy and blow his knob off."

"There's the old James," Jay said jovially.

James just stopped and glared at Jay for a moment before turning away to look for an exit.

"The only way out seems to be where the dogs came from. Guess we head that direction." Derek observed, pointing to the door that had opened when the alarm began going off.

James made a B-line for the doorway and walked through. A moment later, as the others were hurrying to follow, the sound of scuffling could be heard in the passage just before James was tossed back into the room and landed on a table, breaking it.

"James! Are you okay?" Tom rushed over to check on his friend.

"Fucker hits like a semi-truck," James said rubbing at his jaw.

"Who does?" Tom pressed him for answers.

A roar ending in a squeak sounded from the hallway as a monster crouched to enter the room. Standing up to its full nearly eight-foot height, the creature had horns like a bull, a body like a man, and feet like some kind of large rodent. Its face also looked vaguely familiar, like Tom had seen it somewhere before. He quickly used Identify.

Chipmotaur

This creature is the result of years of experimentation and then breeding to result in the largest form of this mixed creature. The Chipmotaur is a combination of the ferocious Minotaur and the crack-head chipmunk to form a formidable creature with an insane amount of energy. DON'T TOUCH THAT CREATURE'S NUTS!!!

HP

2480/2480

MP

500/500

SP

8000/8000

Attacks

Gore, Bite, Claw, Charge, Nutshot

"Mongo! Don't forget your weapon!" Came a high-pitched voice from the hallway behind the creature.

A man in a lab coat, thick horn-rimmed glasses, and hair and a mustache like Albert Einstein came out of the hall dragging a monstrous greataxe with two huge blades behind him.

"Here, Mongo. Kill the intruders for me, please. I have much work to do." The little man said as he handed the handle to the Chipmotaur.

As the man turned to leave back down the hall, a shot rang out. Ricocheting off the wall next to the little man's head, he froze.

"Are you The Mad Scientist?" James shouted from behind him.

"That is a terrible name. I don't know who came up with that. I'm Percival McNulty. Genetics genius and scientist extraordinaire!" The man, Percival, said loudly and with pride.

James fired another shot, hitting the man in the shoulder.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Percival screamed and grabbed at the wound which began to leak blood onto his pristine white lab coat. "What the hell did you do that for!!!"

"You are a monster, is what you are. Someone with no morals or respect for nature and the way of the world. You are playing god with creatures and creating beings that were not meant to exist. I bet you have a pile of failed experiments somewhere. And I bet some of those failed experiments were crying out in pain or horror at their mere existence. You are the definition of evil, in whatever pursuit you are after, and someone needs to put you down." James said as he sighted down his gun again at the man. "I don't know if I believe in hell, but if ever there was a place like that, it would be specifically created for people like you."

James fired his gun again. This time, a giant hand inserted itself between the man and the bullet. It bounced off the skin of the Chipmotaur, leaving a light metallic sound when the bullet fell to the floor. Looking at the creature in shock, James quickly returned to anger, retrieved his other gun, and began to fire shot after shot after shot at the monster. Every shot hit a different spot on the monster, and every one of them bounced off.

The Chipmotaur threw its hands back, one holding the giant axe as though it weighed nothing, and bellowed a call that sounded like a bull during mating season. The roar ended with a short squeak as it looked at James and rushed at him.

Percival chuckled evilly as he disappeared back down the hall through the doorway. James tried to dodge out of the way, but the creature extended its free arm and clotheslined James. He flipped end over end, landing on his chest with a grunt of pain. The Chipmotaur quickly raised its axe over its head to bring it down on the prone figure of James as he coughed trying to catch his breath as he struggled to stand.

The axe plummeted down toward him so fast it made a whistling sound. Realizing the position he was in James stared up in horror as he saw the gleam of the blade coming for him.