Josh groaned as he came back to reality. Once he opened his eyes, he glanced at his surroundings and saw that he was in what looked like an abandoned warehouse.
"Abandoned warehouse. Great. I wouldn't be surprised if a guy with four metal tentacles came out of the shadows," Josh said before noticing he was bound by a rope that was hanging from the warehouse ceiling. "That's nice. This makes me feel right at home."
"Man, I must have had too much to drink last night," Rocket muttered as he stirred awake.
"Dad. Dad," Josh said, calling out to Rocket.
"Josh? Is that you? Where am I?"
"An abandoned warehouse. Hopefully, Doc Ock isn't here."
"Heh. Spider-Man reference," Rocket said.
"This isn't funny. We're chained to the ceiling," Josh said.
"What?" Rocket looked and saw the rope restricting his hands.
"This is just great. I was hoping this would be an easy getaway," Rocket said.
"Wishful thinking, Dad, but we're trapped here with no way to get out or communicate with the outside world."
"It may be true that we're trapped, but we have a way of communicating."
"Wanna bet," Josh asked before nodding over to one of the nearby boxes. Rocket looked and saw both his phone and Josh's on it.
"You were right. Seems like we're trapped here," Rocket said.
"Indeed you are," a voice said.
"Who's there?" Josh glanced over in time to see a man wearing a lab coat, goggles, jeans, and black loafers step out of the shadows.
"Well, looks like the test subjects are awake now."
"Who are you," Rocket asked.
"Just Leonardo Stine. Surely, you must have heard of me," Stine said.
"No," Josh and Rocket both said.
"Of course. That damn university kept me from achieving stardom. It's because of them that I'm working in this run-down warehouse!"
"Sounds like someone dropped a fire ant in this guy's underwear," Josh said.
"Definitely sounds like that."
"Okay. Now that I'm calm, I'm sure you must want to know why you're here," Stine said.
"Of course we do. No one kidnaps two Mobians in the middle of the night for no good reason."
"Well, you're here to be part of my experiments. If you try to escape, you'll suffer the consequences."
"'Consequences.' What consequences, Stine," Josh asked.
"I am so glad you asked," Stine said before snapping his fingers. As if on command, a gorilla/lobster hybrid and a iguana/salamander hybrid lumbered out of the shadows.
"You try to escape and this two will have no other choice but to snap your spines."
"You just had to ask," Rocket said.
"I didn't think he would had a gorillobster and a saliguana at the ready."
"You made those up."
"I did not. Okay, I made up 'gorillobster' but saliguana just happens to be the name of a monster from Mighty Morphin'," Josh said.
"Hmm, a gorillobster and a saliguana. Perfect names for these two," Stine said.
"Good job. You just named those two mutants," Rocket said.
"Today is just not my day."
"No, it's not."
"Lobsterilla, take these two hedgehogs to the mutation chamber. I'll be there in a few moments." The gorilla/lobster then pulled Josh and Rocket down from the rope before hauling them over its shoulders.
"Lobsterilla. That's clever. I should have thought of that," Josh said.
"Josh," Rocket started before Josh cut him off.
"Shut up."
"You guessed it."
Sally was still sleeping, ignorant to the fact Rocket had disappeared during the night. She yawned before opening her eyes and seeing Rocket was no longer there.
"This just keeps happening," Sally said before getting up and putting on her vest and boots. She ran out into the hallway before being knocked down by Sonia.
"Sorry, Mom. I was just looking for Josh," Sonia said as she helped Sally up from the ground.
"It's okay. I was just about to look for Rocket. He's gone missing."
"Small world. Josh's gone missing, too. I have no idea where he disappeared to."
"We have to find them before something happens to them," Sally said.
"What can happen to them that they can't stop by themselves? They have powers to defend themselves and bust out of wherever they are. I assure you that they are on their way back," Sonia said. Sadly, Sonia was wrong in her assumption.
"Nice. First, the guy bounds us to a rope. Then, he puts us both in glass tubes," Josh said.
"Calm down, Josh. There's no need to get worked up about all this. We just need to stay calm," Rocket said.
"Easy for you to say. You're a Zen master when it comes to situations like this. I am not fine under pressure. I don't even believe that I am your son."
"Silence, hedgehog. I need to concentrate on my experiment," Stine said as he browsed his library of DNA samples.
"Fantastic. Now we're going to end up like that Lobsterilla and Saliguana."
"Find your inner self, Josh."
"There you go again, Dad," Josh said.
"Silence! I must focus."
"You're not even going to stop this?"
"I have accepted my fate. Whether or not you accept is your decision," Rocket said.
"That's the kind of attitude I expect from my test subjects," Stine said as he dragged a sample of chameleon DNA and bear DNA under Rocket's picture. He then dragged a sample of eagle DNA and crocodile DNA under Josh's.
"Prepare for genetic mutation." Stine then pressed a few buttons on the console before throwing the switch on the left. He watched as Josh and Rocket were transformed into his personal servants.
