The True Indoors

Author's Note: This is the fourth story in a series of Fanfics, my season 3 series. All fanfics in this series include Grossology S3E# in the description. While reading the first three fanfics before reading this one gives you some context it is not at all necessary.

Prologue

All the Grossologists, old and new alike, were gathered in the gaglab. While Abby, Andy and Chester had spent most of the day training, Ty and Naomi had been busy building a small obstacle course for Hermes.

Everything was now ready. Naomi held onto Hermes while the others watched on. All except for LabRat that is, who was working in front of a computer a bit further away.

"You guys ready?" Naomi asked and the others nodded. The young girl then turned to the white rodent in her hands. "Okay Hermes, do your best." She kissed Hermes on the top of his head and placed him down in front of the obstacle course.

Hermes's first obstacle was a simple one. He just had to squeeze thru a narrow tube to get to the other side. He shoved his head thru the opening before pressing the rest of his body into the plastic tube.

Abby frowned worried and fingered her chin. "You sure Hermes can make it thru? That tube looks like it could be too small for him."

"No worries, Abby." Ty replied with a grin. "A rat's ribcage is hinged to the spine, allowing it to fold whenever the rat squeezes into a tight space."

"Yeah but Hermes is fatter than the average rat so it might be a problem." Abby stated.

"Maybe he should diet." Chester said.

LabRat's head peaked at hearing that and he turned towards the others. "I'll have you know that I feed Hermes on a regular basis with perfectly normal, healthy food for a growing rat."

Abby smirked and placed a hand on her hip. "With healthy, do you mean nachos and French fries?"

LabRat blinked awkwardly. "Well I put cheese on them." He then turned back to his computer in embarrassment.

Hermes finished the first hurdle and came out of the tube. In front of him was the second hurdle, a small pool with a small raft and a string hanging over head. He had two options here. He could either get onto the raft and paddle to the other side or climb over the pool using the string. Both options were risky and he knew he couldn't swim or run around the pool since he then wouldn't get rewarded. Since neither of the two options were optimal, Hermes came up with a third.

He jumped onto the raft and bit off the string. He then picked up the string with his mouth and used it to pull the raft across the water. After just three pulls, Hermes reached the other end of the pool and jumped off the raft.

"Good going, Hermes!" The rat could hear Naomi cheer.

Next, Hermes came across three bowls next to three balls, all of various sizes. He knew from practise that he was only allowed to place one ball in each cup so he sprinted into action. He first pushed the biggest ball into the biggest cup. He then carried the next largest ball to the next largest cup with his mouth before doing the same with the smallest one.

He then scurried to his next obstacle, a simple maze that Ty and Naomi had set up. Ty had tried to make it a bit more interesting by blocking Hermes's path with a wall with a hidden door but it didn't work. Hermes ran up to the wall that blocked his already thought-out path, hesitated for less than a second before running thru the hidden door and finishing the rest of the maze.

"Dang it, I really thought I got him there." Ty lamented.

Hermes's final obstacle was a tower with a series of platforms for him to climb. Hermes quickly calculated the quickest route to reach the top and started jumping from one platform to another until he reached the top.

At the top of the tower was a long pin with a metal ring at the top and a string going thru it. Hermes bit down on the string without tearing it and pulled it down. He then held onto to it with his paws before biting down and pulling it down again. As he kept repeating this action, a green flag with a painting of the white rat started to rise up the pin until it reached the peak. At that point, Hermes was done.

"Finished!" Naomi cheerfully exclaimed and the others clapped their hands.

"He did better on an obstacle course than we did." Andy stated.

"You deserve a reward Hermes." Naomi went to get a piece of cheese from a nearby table but when she turned back Hermes was gone. Not only that, the flag was also missing. "Where is he?"

Ty pointed to where the white rodent had gone.

Hermes had climbed up to a counter and was now using the flag to open up pantry located just above him. He shoved the long mast in-between the pantry door and pushed it open. He knew from the smell of it that the pantry was full of treats. The rat jumped into the pantry and a moment later pushed out a bag of potato chips. The rodent then jumped back down onto the counter, gnawed into the plastic bag with its incisors and started eating.

LabRat sighed begrudgingly and got off his chair. "Come on, Hermes. I feed you all the time, do you really need to steal from me?"

"You know, I knew rats were clever but Hermes sometimes seem too clever." Naomi said.

"True, makes one wonder if all the times he helped us was more than just luck." Abby exclaimed.

"Well, of course Hermes is smarter than the average rat. He grew up in a lab." LabRat answered while putting the bag of chips back in the pantry. He then picked up Hermes and placed him on his shoulder. Hermes started to nuzzle his owner's chin which prompted LabRat to smile and pet the rat. "You little scamp."

"So, you have had him since you were a kid?" Naomi asked.

"Nah, I found him right before I joined the bureau." LabRat replied.

Chester looked at Abby with a ponderous look before turning to LabRat. "Abby and Ty told us that you were already here when they became Grossologists. So how did you become a Grossologist? Did The Director seek you out too?" He asked.

LabRat glared at the blond boy for a moment. There was a certain strain in his expression. "No." He finally answered. "I got into Grossology in a much more…orthodox way."

Chester, Naomi and Andy looked at each other before turning to LabRat. "So tell us, how did you become a Grossologist?" Andy exclaimed.

"And how did you find Hermes?" Naomi added.

"I don't know." LabRat said with an insecure tone, scratching his neck. "I mean, it's a very long story."

"Well, the city doesn't seem to be in any danger at the moment." Abby stated.

"True." Ty added. "Besides, your story might teach the newbies a thing or two."

LabRat smirked a bit, walked back to his chair and sat down, leaning back in a confident manner. He sighed like he was preparing for something that would be exhausting. "So you really want to know my backstory?"

"Yeah, absolutely." Andy replied, getting excited and Chester and Naomi nodded enthusiastically.

LabRat leaned forward, a smirk gracing his face. "Fine. I'll tell you all of how I became a Grossologist. You see, it has all to do with a top secret organisation, a white rat that never stops eating," he paused to affectionately scratch Hermes's furry chin, "and a guy who was too afraid to go outdoors."

Author's Note:

And we're back folks. Episode 4 of season 3. Man, I feel like I'm just burning thru these stories and I have so much fun doing it. This story will be a bit different than the others thou since most of it will take place before the series began rather than after it ended. It's my telling of how LabRat joined the Bureau of Grossology. Really, this story could have been written in a million different ways but I hope the direction I'm going for will be interesting to most of you. Also, I am just so hyped to write a story with LabRat as the main protagonist. I know I say this about almost all of them but, he is one of my favourite characters. This story will also introduce a brand new enemy for the Grossologists, one that will be significant later on in the series.

As usual, all feedback is appreciated.

Until next time Grossologists!