A Boy and his Demogorgon (or Dustonius Pollywogus)
Author's note: This is my second Stranger Things fan fic. It takes place during Season 2. This opening scene actually takes place on Halloween night as Dustin is coming home in his Ghost Buster costume and finds Dart in the trash. The story will include all of our Season 2 characters, but will focus most heavily on two groups of characters: the kids Dustin, Lucas, and Max, and then the teens: Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, and Billy. I had the idea for this story while I was thinking about Max and Billy. If you read my last fan fic, you know that I wasn't able to include Max and Billy in that story, because I started it before Season 2. So I was very excited to see them in Season 2, and I thought they added so much to the show, but I also thought that there simply wasn't enough time during the 9 episodes of Season 2 to really, really focus on Billy and Max. So I thought of this story, because I wanted to expand on them as individuals, and expand on the waves that they cause within our two groups (the kids and the teens). So I have a whole bunch of awesome and fun stuff planned for Max with Dustin/Lucas, and I have a whole bunch of awesome and fun stuff for Billy. Also, while I was watching Season 2, I felt like the whole Demodog story had a little bit in common with the movie Gremlins. I love that movie, and I really wanted to expand in that direction, so I also have a whole bunch of awesome and fun Gremlins sort of stuff planned for the Demodogs as they run wild in Hawkins.
With all that said, this story starts on Halloween night in Season 2. Dustin finds Dart, just like normal, but then things start to slowly diverge from there. Over the next few chapters, the divergence will get bigger and bigger, so you may read some familiar scenes that are similar to Season 2, but then the story will start to take a major left turn. In the end, the Demodogs will invade Hawkins, and all of our favorite characters will do their best to save the day. Along the way, they will love each other, hate each other, and love each other some more. I hope I can do it justice. And I hope I can get a good chunk of it done before Season 3 comes along and changes everything. :) I already have a little headstart on this story. Thanks so much for reading.
Dustin Henderson strolled up to his house after the best night of the year. Halloween by itself had always been the best night of the year. Their party had voted on it once, a fear years ago. Aside from general Halloween good spirits, though, Dustin was in an extra good mood.
"Tubular," he said to himself. He felt just a bit lighter than normal, as if gravity itself wasn't quite strong enough to contend with someone as great as The Dustin Henderson.
"Tubulaar," he said again, trying to draw out the last syllable like he imagined cool people did when they talked. Though his family had moved around a lot when he was younger, he'd never been to California. Still, he imagined that they spoke in a cool, sub-dialect of American English. He tried to say it the way he thought Max's old friends from before she'd moved to Hawkins might say it. "Tubulaaaar"
The sound of rattling metal caught his attention.
Dustin was pulled out of his happy daydreams. He turned to look at his beaten up old trash can. It gave a little shake as something moved inside.
"Mews?" Dustin called. Could the cat have jumped inside the trash can and gotten stuck? Mewsie didn't usually go digging in their trash. Dustin's mom fed her far too well for that. It didn't sound like Mews, either. As he continued to stare at the trash can, his curiosity piqued, he heard a muffled sound: a strange gurgling chip that didn't sound like any cat he'd ever heard. "Mews, is that you?" he called a little louder.
Dustin jumped as the trash can shook. The metal rattled as something banged around inside of it. His heart began to pound, and his bag of candy dropped from his suddenly lifeless fingers.
His curiosity wrestled with his fear as he stared at the vibrating trash can. Whatever was inside, it wasn't the family cat. Was it dangerous? His curiosity won the fight, and Dustin took a tentative step forward. His hands came back to life, and he was able to reach over his shoulder to grab his proton blaster. His palms began to sweat as he leveled the barrel of the gun at the trash can. The thing continued to rattle as Dustin drew closer.
"Shit, shit, shit, sh..." He had no idea what might be waiting for him inside the trash can. It could have been a raccoon with rabies. It could have been just a stray cat. It could have been a face-hugger alien. It could have been a small sized demon from an evil dimension, for all he knew. After all, it was Halloween, a night when the barriers between realms were especially thin.
He was close enough to touch the trash can with the tip of his weapon, now. Only the frail, aluminum lid stood between him and whatever thing lay inside. If it came bursting out, reaching for his face, he probably wouldn't be able to get away in time. That weird sound grew louder. No animal Dustin had ever heard made a sound like that.
His heart pounded in his chest as he reached for the lid of trash can. This could be the last mistake he ever made, but he needed to know what was inside.
He took one last, deep breath, and shouted a battle cry as he threw off the lid, ready to face the monster.
Dustin's eyes fell on the thing for the first time. His brain struggle between his vivid imagination and the reality that was sitting in the middle of his trash.
"Hoooly Shit..."
The animal struggled a little as a hand wrapped around it. The hand was warm, a little too warm for the animal's liking, because he liked it cold. The hand belonged to a being that was much, much larger than he was. Though the animal had no eyes, he could see heat, and electro-magnatism, and other forms of energy. This great big being was producing a lot of heat and energy. His small, animal brain told him that the being would be an excellent source of the calories and nutrients he needed to grow, but that he was far to big to try to consume.
He needed to eat, though. His instincts told him that he supposed to shed his skin soon. He would need to eat a lot for that to happen. He was usually hungry. His animal instincts drove him to consume so that he could grow, so that he could consume some more, so that he could grow some more. He had already shed his skin once. That was when he had grown a tail. His instincts told him that he would have legs soon, but to get there, he needed to eat.
The animal felt himself tipped upside down, and he fell through the air for a second before landing on his back. It hadn't been painful. He was fairly flexible, and the sandy surface he'd been dropped onto was also soft. Though he wasn't hurt, he suddenly found himself very uncomfortable. There was some sort of bright, burning heat source up above him. His flesh tingled as he felt the oppressive heat beat down on him. It was almost as bad as the sun, which was a thing he usually avoided. He noticed a small cave nearby, and he used his little forelimbs to drag himself into it. He breathed a little easier then, enjoying the cool damp of the cave that protected him from that bright heat source.
Suddenly, his nostrils caught the scent of something else he could eat. Pieces of something fell onto the ground only a short distance from him. He wasn't familiar with the stuff, but his nose told him that it was high in calories, and his instinctive hunger drove him toward it. He recoiled, though, as he poked his snout back outside of the cave. That oppressive source of heat was still out there.
There was a loud, booming sound that echoed through his timpanic membranes like thunder. "Too hot? Sorry about that, little guy." The animal didn't know what those sounds meant, but he was relieved that, suddenly, the heat source had vanished. With nothing keeping him from the attractive pieces of food, he crawled forward and began to devour them. Again, they weren't something he'd encountered before, but his taste buds confirmed what his nose had already told him: it would give him the energy he needed to grow, and he needed to grow very soon.
"D'artagnan," that loud sound boomed again. "I'm gonna call you D'artagnan." Unaware of what those sounds meant, the animal continued to munch away at his food. That giant being was standing nearby. The heat and energy he gave off was visible from a long distance away, but he didn't seem to be any kind of threat to the animal. Clearly he wasn't a carnivorous predator, or he would already have eaten the animal. Feeling safe, and ever hungry, the animal continued to munch away.