Dance of the Dandruff Fairies


Chapter 2:

"You should have heard her. She was like a completely different person." Ty explained to LabRat, Chester and Andy. The four boys were in the Gaglab while the two girls where in the dressing room. "I'm telling you, the Scab Fairy is crazier than ever and that's saying a lot."

"That's sadly to be expected." LabRat rolled his chair over to the closest big screen computer. He then brought up some reports accompanied with pictures of Helena Globin on screen. "After Helena Globin was arrested the first time, she was sent to Splatticus for treatment. Sadly, her dementia only worsened. According to her latest psychology report, she had completely stopped identifying as Helena Globin. Now she completely believing she is the real Scab Fairy, living in what she perceived as a fantasy realm."

"Like the most extreme cosplayer ever." Andy said in a profound tone.

"Um, yeah. On the up-side, The Detective just called me. He reported that Yu is awake and has made a full recovery."

For the first time in a while, Chester's lips curved into a smile. "Really? That's great."

"Yeah. According to the doctors, Yu was knocked out by some kind of sedative gas but there doesn't seem to be any noticeable side-effects." LabRat stated.

"That still leaves the question, why is Scab Fairy kidnapping these children?" Ty asked. The boys pondered in silence for a moment. Ty then came up with a possibility but it was so disturbing he hesitated to even say it. "You don't think she's gonna experiment on them, right? Cause if she want to study scabs there's only one way to do it with those girls…" He let the theory hang in the air, not wanting to fill out the blanks.

"I don't think so." Chester spoke up carefully. "Cause if that's the case, why only take those with dandruff."

"Good point." Andy said.

"Regardless, we need a way to find them." LabRat exclaimed. "Also, we need to find a way to deal with Abby…"

The boys then heard a *swoosh* sound behind them as the door to the dressing room opened up and Abby and Naomi walked into the lab. The former now wore her usual attire.

"Abby's back in her usual clothes, guys." Naomi announced.

Ty leaned closer to LabRat and whispered. "Why did you want her to redress again?"

"Cause I didn't want her to mess with the belt or anything else installed in the suit."

"Hey Ty, guess what. I'm wearing a bra, just like mom now." Abby exclaimed. "They're supporting my, um. What did you call them again?" She looked at Naomi, while absentmindedly cupping her unmentionables.

"Um, knockers." Naomi blinked.

"Exactly. They're kind of heavy and feel really weird and really good when I touch them." Abby explained like a child who'd just discovered a new toy while kneading and squeezing her breasts, making little o-sounds.

Ty stared wide eyed at his sister as she unintentionally pleasured herself. He then looked over at the guys next to him. LabRat wore an expression that could only be described as awkward while Chester looked away in shame and of course, Andy was biting his lower lip as his excited eyes ogled the moaning girl. Ty sighed and walked over to his sister. He slapped her hands. "No! Don't do so, Abby. That's very inappropriate in public." Abby blinked, confused. Ty then lead her to a chair and sat her down. "Now, Abby how old do you think you are?"

"Um…" Abby blinked. "Ten. No, eight. Uh, Seven?"

"You can't remember?" Ty asked.

"No. How weird." Abby said. Her dilated eyes were filled with confusion, like a child lost at a supermarket. "Why can't I remember?"

"Because of me. I'm so sorry, Abby." Chester lamented.

"You had an accident, Abby and got a nasty knock to the head." Ty explained. "You actually turn seventeen in less than three days."

"My birthday's coming up? Will there be a party?" Abby spoke up cheerfully.

Andy chuckled. "I like this new Abby. She's both more cheerful and has a way of making me feel less self-conscious for ogling her."

"Well, maybe you should feel self-counscious!" Naomi shushed him.

"So, I'm a grown-up now? Is that why I look like a babysitter?"

"Well, you're nearly a grown-up. More importantly, you are a Grossologist." Ty stated.

"What's a Grossologist?" Abby asked puzzled.

"It means you're working for the bureau of Grossology." LabRat spoke up. "We fight crimes too gross or too scientific for the police."

"So I'm like a secret agent, just one that deal with bugs and slime and such?" Abby clarified.

"Yep." LabRat nodded.

Abby was quiet for a moment, wheels turning in her head. "That's…Awesome! Sounds perfect for me." She then turned to her brother. "So, who are these people? Are they also Grossologists?"

"They're our teammates, Abby. You can trust them." Ty said before gesturing to LabRat. "The cool guy over there is LabRat. He's our engineer and forensic investigator. He creates all the gizmos we use on our missions."

LabRat gave her a sly grin.

"Do we all have nicknames?" Abby asked in an excited tone.

"No, LabRat only has it cause he's embarrassed of his real name." Ty replied, prompting a disgruntle mutter from aforementioned Grossologist.

"Too bad, I wanted to be The Redback Spider." Abby exclaimed proudly. "That's a spider from Australia." She added the last part like she wanted to get a pat on the back for knowing.

"Yes, yes it is." Ty said dryly before gesturing to Andy. "This is Andy, our field mechanic. Talk to him as much as you want but don't touch him as he's a bit of a pervert."

"Hey!" Andy protested.

Ty then walked up to Naomi, placing a hand on her shoulder. "And this pretty little thing is Naomi Collins."

Naomi smiled and waved at her. "Hey, Abby."

Abby pouted and turned away from her with a huff. "I don't like her! She's prettier than me."

Ty and Naomi blinked baffled. "Oo-kay." Ty said before gesturing to the black-clad Grossologist. "And the guy who can't stop apologizing is Chester."

"Hey, Abby." Chester stepped closer to her. "So you really don't remember me?"

"No." She shook her head.

Chester clutched his chin in contemplation. "Does the name Kid Rot mean anything to you?"

Abby shook her head again.

A small smile appeared on Chester's face. 'If she doesn't remember then maybe we can finally be true friends without Abby feeling any pity or discomfort.'

'That's right.' Kid Rot appeared next to him. 'Take advantage of her condition. That's what I would do.'

Chester's smile immediately faded and he turned away from her, head lowered in shame.

Abby raised a confused brow and leaned in on the boy, almost like she was trying to get a better look at him. This Chester person was so strange to her. He acted really guilty over something he'd done to her even thou she's already forgiven him and for some reason he smiled when she couldn't remember someone named Kid Rot. He also smelled really bad, almost like spoiled meat or that weird cheese her dad usually put on crackers. "Chester, if you're still feeling guilty, it's alright. I don't know what you did to turn me seventeen but I like it. Now I can have like ten birthdays to make up for the ones I missed."

Ty face-palmed. "That is not what happened! It's not like you time travelled. You've just forgotten everything."

Abby's lower lip shot out in a pout, she crossed her arms and slumped back in the chair. "Mucking shell."

LabRat raised an eyebrow. "Mucking?"

"Right, Mucking. Almost forgot about that." Ty scratched the back of his head. "Mucky or mucking was a "curse word" our dad taught us after we overheard him say Fu-

"Ty!" Naomi cried out and quickly covered Abby's ears. "Not in front of the kid."

Suddenly, one of the screens lit up and The Director greeted them as he typically did. "Grossologists! Why haven't you been locating the missing children?"

"We're doing our best, sir." Ty stated.

"You better hurry!" The Director started whining. "The parents of those missing kids and an entire neighbourhood-watch is breathing down my neck. Unless I give them a response soon this entire thing will turn into a PR nightmare."

Abby yawned. Listening to the big-headed man on TV was boring. Since everyone's attention was on The Director instead of her, she decided to slink away and explore the lab.

She walked around, eyeing all the various beakers, test tubes and chemical bottles in the glass cabinets. "Wow. My little chemistry set at home got nothing on this."

Abby then came across a microscope. Curious, she peaked into the ocular lens. In-between the glass slides underneath the objective was a piece of human skin (or more precisely, a scab). She was quite mesmerized by the pattern of red and purple cubicles. "Pretty. This future is awesome!" She jubilated, holding her knuckles in front of her mouth like she was trying to contain her excitement. "I'm a spy, I got a nice body, I get to work in a lab. Maybe I even have a car or even a cell phone." Abby felt something in her back pocket vibrate. "Eep!" She jumped in surprise. She fished the cell phone out of her pocket. She gasped. "I have a cell phone! Oh, I wonder if I have any friends besides Ty in this future."

At that moment, Abby spotted a large, steel door (or more precisely, a vault). She walked up to it and looked up at its tremendous size. "Hmm, I wonder what's inside here." She accidentally palmed the handprint scanner which immediately lit up. Abby quickly pulled away, fearing she might have broken something. The scanner recognized Abby Archer's hand signature and after a peep and a buzz, the door opened up.

Abby stared in awe at the abundance of gross and weird things that was stored away in the vault. A huge mechanical owl, dung balls the size of boulders, a gun that looked like a stomach a monstrous hagfish inside a fish tank and an airship shaped like a pimple where only some of the items that made the little girl go, "Wow!"


"So get your lazy bums out of your seats and find those kids right now!" The Director shouted before simmering down to a whimper. "Please. You have no idea how cruel the media can be." He then hung up and the screen turned to black.

"Well," Ty palmed his fist, "seems like The Director just got us some healthy motivation."

"Yeah, it's called pressure." LabRat retorted and swirled his chair to face the others. "We got no clue where to even start."

"Um, guys." Naomi spoke up from somewhere in the background but no one seemed to hear her.

"Shouldn't we also try to find a way to get Abby back to normal?" Chester suggested.

"Guys?" Again, Naomi was ignored.

"I'm not even sure that's even duable." Andy replied sympathetically.

"Guys!" Naomi shouted, prompting the boys to turn to her. "Abby's missing." She proclaimed bitterly.

"What! She was here a second ago." Ty exclaimed as he and the others looked around the vicinity.

"Don't worry, I'll know where she is in a second." LabRat said nonchalantly as he swirled back to his computer. He tapped the keyboard and the screen displayed surveillance footage from the gaglab's eight security cameras. "There she is." LabRat pointed at the footage where Abby admired the infamous KVK1 sport shoes, mounted behind a glass case. "Oh no, she's in the Gross-Vault."

"I'll get her." Ty exclaimed in a frustrated tone before rushing away.


Abby had somehow managed to open up the glass casing. Right now she was happily wiggling foot, clad in Keith Van Kobbler's shoe. "These would be perfect for bowling."

"Abby!" Ty cried out when he entered the Gross-Vault. "Take those off right now! They'll give you athlete's foot."

"You can't tell me what to do! I'm your big sister, remember?" Abby proclaimed, scowling and fisting her hands.

"You're being such a…" Ty was about to shout something but luckily he caught himself. He took a deep breath. "Abby, I know you're technically older than me, but right now you're not acting like an older sister. You want to be mature, don't you?" He spoke softly.

Abby pouted and lowered her head in shame, shyly looking up at her brother. "Yes."

"So come with me. I'll help you get those shoes off and then we can all help you get your memories back."

After some hesitation, Abby approached him, her shoulders and head still slumped. Then, when she was mere inches away from him, she poked Ty in the forehead and said, "Tag, you're it!" She laughed and ran off into the Gross-Vault.

"Oh, muck." Ty muttered before running after her. "Hey, come back here!"

"You have to catch me first!" Abby hollered as the two siblings chased each other thru the ensembles of Grossology memorabilia.

"I can always grab that huge ponytail of yours."

"Even with that handicap, I'll still leave you in my dust!" Abby laughed.

As Ty kept on running, a new feeling rushed over him. His heart beat faster, adrenalin pumped into his legs and his mind flashed back to his childhood when he and his sister would chase each other thru parks and backyards. Abby would even do the same puppy-dog trick she did a few seconds ago, she'd always been a good faker. All of it made him smile.

Abby covered behind the cylindrical tank with one of the giant hagfishes inside. Ty of course chased after her but Abby simple ran to the other side of the aquarium. Ty chased after her again, this time coming from the other side but Abby ran to the other side of the fish tank again. Thru the glass, she could see her brother frowning. She decided to irritate him some more by blowing a raspberry.

Ty's frown turned to a smirk when he decided to put his goopshooter on. "Hey, Abby!"

Abby peaked out from behind the tank. "Yeah."

Ty fired but she retracted in the last second and the slimy projectile only hit the glass of the tank. Abby then ran as fast as she could while Ty continued firing at her but she managed to avoid every single shot. Ty didn't take this as a serious task any longer and more as a fun game of paintball.

Abby ran by a strange looking machine, something that looked like a washing machine connected to liquid filled tanks a top a hotdog stand and accidentally tripped on a lever. "Ouch." The girl wailed in pain before scrambling onto her feet and ran away. The machine then started shaking and crooning. Smoke billowed out of its old engine.

"Oh no, Sloppy Joe's stink bomb! I go to disarm it." Ty exclaimed and ran up to the machine. The first he did was raise the lever but the machine wouldn't stop. "Okay, that did nothing." He kneeled down and removed a panel from the machine. The sight of the numerous assortment of candy coloured wires filled Ty with doubt. "Which one should I cut?" He put on his Gross-Pincher and inserted it into the machine's hull. "Um, um…" Ty's eyes followed the wires, trying to figure out which he should severe. With only five seconds to spare, he made a split second decision and cut a green wire.

The machine went silent and stopped shaking. Ty sighed in relief. However, one of the bomb's glass containers sprung a leak and squirted its green, smelly mixture all over the poor Grossologist. "Yuck!" Ty almost gagged when he inhaled the stench that had soaked his entire body.

"Ty!" Naomi exclaimed as she along with Andy and LabRat ran into the Gross-Vault. The moment the trio felt the horrible aroma emitting from Ty, they stopped in their tracks and cupped their noses. LabRat and Andy remained but Naomi darted out of the room as fast as she could.

"Ty, what happened? You reek." Andy exclaimed.

"Yeah, you smell like a dead skunk that's been brought up on nothing but stink bugs." LabRat stated.

"Or like my old sneakers if they were filled with sardines and regurgitated by a tiger shark." Andy stated.

"What happened?" LabRat asked.

Before Ty could answer, his sister jumped in between them. She snarled thru her nostrils and her lips scowled furiously. "Don't you dare pick on him."

"What?" LabRat blinked. "We weren't picking on him. We were just making some jokes. Besides, he truly does sme-

Abby didn't let him finish before she forcefully pushed him, sending him to the floor with a heavy thud. Andy looked perplexed (and a bit concerned) at his floored teammate before looking up at the girl casting the menacing shadow over the two of them. Abby's nostrils flared and her teeth grit. "No one bullies my little brother!" She grasped Ty by the wrist and ran out of the Gross-Vault with him.

As Abby dragged Ty thru the Gaglab, they crossed paths with Naomi, holding a folded towel and a plastic bottle in her arms. "Um," Naomi blinked confused, "I went to get Ty some sanitizer and a towel."

Abby glared daggers at the prettier girl. With her attention elsewhere, Ty jerked his hand free. "What is wrong with you, Abby? Even for a kid you're out of control."

"But Ty," Abby tried to say something.

"Listen no one here's picking on me. The only one causing trouble here is you." Ty regretted his words pretty much the moment he said them.

Abby's lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears. "Fine! I don't want to be in this stupid lab anyway!" She shouted before rushing out of the gaglab.

"Abby, wait! I'm sorry!" Ty called out to her but it was too late, she was already out of earshot. He turned to his girlfriend. "Naomi, tell the others to focus their efforts on finding the Scab Fairy. I need to take care of Abby." He then ran out of the lab himself, hoping Abby wouldn't get lost out there in a city she was too young to remember.


Ty was worried sick. He didn't know how but somehow he'd completely lost track of his amnesiac ridden sister. 'How does parents put up with these sort of things.' Ty inwardly lamented. He decided to go home to see if his parents had heard from her.

To his bewilderment, the first thing Ty (now casually dressed) saw when he opened the door to his house was his sister, energetically talking with their parents.

"…and I want a giant bouncing castle and an inflatable pool and a mime that can do balloon animals."

Their parents seemed just as puzzled as Ty was and he was praying they didn't notice that their little girl was now even little-er.

"Slow down a second, dear." Petunia said, tapping her chin in perplexity. "You want a bouncing castle for your seventeenth birthday party?"

The redhead nodded so fast one would think her head would fall off. "Yes, yes, yes. And a mime to make tricks cause remember, Ty is scared of clowns." At that moment, Abby noticed her brother standing by the door. She frowned at him before immediately running upstairs.

The Archers looked questioningly at their son. "Um, we got into a fight. I'll go talk to her." Ty awkwardly explained before heading up the stairs.

"Ty, why do you smell so much?" Petunia asked in a worried tone.

The spikey haired boy stopped half-way up the stairs. "Um, my old sneakers were filled with sardines and regurgitated by a skunk-shark that had been brought up on nothing but stink bugs. Yep, that's what happened. I'll take a bath later." He said in a rush before running off.

Petunia turned to her husband. "What is wrong with our children?"

Harvey responded by pulling a beetroot out of his pocket "Well, beets me, eh."

Petunia sighed and rolled her eyes.


Upstairs, Ty knocked on his sister's door. "Abby, I'm sorry for shouting at you. Can I come in?" He asked softly.

There was a moment of silence before he heard her voice. "Okay, you can come in.

Upon entering his sister's room, Ty was relieved to see the KVK1 sport shoes on the floor rather than on her feet. "Oh, good. You took them off."

Abby sat on the edge of her bed, gazing at the floor. "Yeah, they smelled."

"Do your feet itch?"

Abby shook her. "No."

"Good, you didn't wear them long enough." Ty sighed in relief. "Is it okay if I sit down here?" He gestured to the bed.

"Yeah, its fine." Abby replied, still looking at the floor and fiddling her thumbs.

Ty sat down next to her on the bed. "I'm sorry for shouting at you. I guess I was just worried and didn't know how to deal with it."

"No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have pushed that LabRat guy." Abby admitted guiltily. "It's just that when I see others pick on you I remember how I felt being picked on and I get so angry and I just want to do something."

Ty blinked. His sisters words brought back memories he thought were forgotten.


Flashback.

Ty, five years old was walking around the playground, not really doing anything. He wore a navy blue shirt with a single white stripe over the chest and beige shorts.

"There he is!" A feminine voice shouted. Ty turned around and was faced by three girls. One of them with curly red hair, he remember seeing earlier.

"Hey, is it true you threw a worm at friend here?" The blonde ringleader of the trio accused him.

Ty slowly shook his head. "No, I just wanted to show it for her and she ran away."

"Liar!" The curly redhead shouted at him.

"Just keep your gross worms away from us, you freak!" The blonde exclaimed before pushing the boy to the ground. The next thing Ty saw was a pair of legs rushing pass him and his sister punching the blonde girl square in the face.

She snarled at the other two girls that stepped back in fear. "Keep away from my little brother!"


"I have tried to learn to keep my emotions under control." Abby's voice brought Ty's mind back to the present. "That's why mom and dad took me to that mind doctor."

"You mean a therapist?"

"Yeah and they said I was being a bad influence on you and if I didn't change my attitude and act more mature, you'd grow up badly." A pair of tears ran down her cheeks.

Ty was speechless. He didn't even remember his sister receiving anger therapy. He looked down trotted at the floor. 'Now when I think about it, Abby has always been in a rush to grow up.'


"Abby! Abby! Abby!" Eight year old Ty kept yelling happily as he ran into his sister's room, waving the radio-controlled toy motorboat in his hand. "Look what mom just bought me."

Abby sat at her working desk, writing her homework assignment. She glanced lightly at the motorboat her brother was holding before resuming looking at her homework. "Cool." She said disinterested.

"Can you take me to the lake so I can try it out?" Ty asked with a voice full of excitement.

"Sorry, I can't. I have to study."

Ty pouted. "Study, study, study. It's all you do nowadays. Will you ever have any fun?"

"Studying is important. More important than having fun. What's also important is keeping a schedule." Abby explained in a dull tone as she kept writing.

Ty eyed a small notepad on Abby's desk. "Is this your schedule?" He pointed at the notepad.

Abby nodded.

Ty picked it up and read the first page. "It's all just studying and sleeping! Gosh! Is growing up really this boring?" Ty asked annoyed.

"Not always. Check tomorrows schedule."

Ty reluctantly turned the page to the next day's schedule. To his surprise there was only one sentence repeated over and over again.

'Spend Time With Ty.'

Overcome with joy, Ty hugged his big sister from behind and Abby smiled at the hug. "Thank you Abby!" He then let go of her and headed for the door. "I'm gonna come up with a bunch of fun things for us to do and then I'm gonna do my own homework too." He jubbilated before closing the door after him.


Ty smiled at the memory but he then started to realize the implication of what Abby had been saying. "So all the times you were trying to act mature for your age, the extracurricular activities, all the extra responsibilities you've taken on at work and at school, that was all just for me? Cause you wanted to set a good example?"

"I don't know any of that but it sounds like something I would do." Abby sniffled and dried her eyes with her sleeve. "I just wanted you to have it better than I had."

"Oh, Abby." Ty laughed and pulled his sister into a hug. When he let go of her, he let one hand linger upon her back. "You're too kind for your own good, sometimes. Listen, I am grateful that you gave me someone to look up too when I was growing up but I'm sixteen now. I can manage without your example."

"You do?" Abby asked softly.

Ty's smile grew. "I would much rather you keep being my friend and my big sister instead."

Abby silently stared at her brother for a moment before wrapping her arms around him, pulling him in for a tight hug. "Thanks Ty."

Ty hugged her back, gently holding her against him and resting his head against her shoulder. "I guess I have to be the responsible sibling till you get back to normal." Ty jested.

Abby chuckled into his chest a little.

"By the way, how did you find your way home?"

Abby let go of her brother and blinked a few times, puzzled. "I-I don't know. I just wanted to get away from that lab so I started running and…ended up here."

"Well, I'm just happy you got home safe." Ty exclaimed and patted her shoulder. 'Interesting. We haven't lived long enough in this house for Abby to remember where it is. She must have run here out of force of habit. Her subconscious mind still remembers at least some in-learned behaviours. That's good. Even if we never find a way to get her back to normal, it shouldn't be impossible to help her relearn everything.'

"Ty, look at this." Abby said suddenly and picked up a book from her bed table. "I can't believe I still have my favourite book. Tales of the Scab Fairy."

Ty gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, mom must have brought it up here."

Abby smiled as she flipped thru but her smile then faded. "I guess I'm too old for the Scab Fairy now."

Ty smiled snidely. "Well, you do still have a certain fondness for the legends, even thou you no longer believe she's real."

"The scab fairy isn't real?" The girl sounded shocked.

"Um, no. She's not." Ty replied in an awkward, reluctant tone.

"But what about Santa and the Easter Bunny?"

Ty blinked, not sure what to say to that. "You better ask mom and dad about that."

Abby simple shrugged and started turning the pages, a gentle smile gracing her face. Ty figured they might as well stay here for a moment so Abby could calm down a bit. The brave girl had been thru a lot today.

Suddenly, Ty saw something that caused his eyes to dilate. "Wait! What's that?" He immediately ripped the book out of his sister's hands and started flipping the pages until he found the page he had seen.

It was in illustration of the pink-clad Scab Fairy, surrounded by smaller fairies dressed in white, silvery dresses. The smaller fairies where turned towards the taller Scab Fairy, almost like they worshipped her. Underneath them were specks of white which reminded him of either snow or…

"What's this?" Ty asked desperately, holding the illustration up to Abby's face.

"Those are the Dandruff Fairies." Abby answered with a smile.

Ty blinked and looked at the illustration again. "The Dandruff Fairies?"

"Yep. Just like Santa can't make toys for all the children, Scab Fairy can't collect all children's scabs." Abby explained. "So she gathers unwanted little girls with dandruff in their hairs and transforms them into fairies."

Ty blinked in amazement. This was it! This was the clue they had been looking for.


An hour later, inside the Gaglab.

"I'm telling you, this is exactly what's going on!" Ty proclaimed, aggressively tapping the open picture book he was flailing about. Behind him, Abby was playing a game with a swirly chair called 'Spin around till you get too dizzy to walk'.

The other Grossologists stared at him with a unanimous look of scepticism. "I don't really get it." LabRat admitted. "What would Helena gain from this?"

"Nothing but you said she believed herself to be the Scab Fairy so wouldn't it make sense if she did stuff the real Scab Fairy would do?" Ty was getting annoyed at his teammates' lack of faith.

"Even so, how does this help us?" Chester asked, looking even downer than usual. "Give police protection to all girls with dandruff? Spy on anyone with scabs just in case they come to collect them?"

"We won't need to, I have an idea where they could be." He walked up to them, opening up the children book on a specific page and laid it on the desk for everyone to see. The illustration was of the small Dandruff Fairies with a dense forest full of magical beings like unicorns, gnomes and elves the size of caterpillars in the background.

"According to this book, the Dandruff Fairies resides in a magical valley called Scabby Valley along with the Scab Fairy." Ty explained.

"Not to poop on your parade, Ty but that's a mythical place from a fairy tale." Naomi argued carefully, trying her best not to upset him. "It's not like we can find it on a map."

Ty didn't reply right away. Instead he went over to a computer and started typing on the keyboard. "I did some research." Ty said before turning on the large screen in the middle of the lab so the Grossologists could all see. The screen showcased a photograph of a forested valley, a map of the area and a lot of text.

"This place lies only a few clicks away from town. It's called Snake Peel Valley, cause I guess you can find a lot of shed snakeskins there." Ty shrugged. "However, a long time ago, when the city was only a small settlement, the native Americans had another name for it. Scrape Valley or Skin Scrape Valley."

Andy tapped his chin. "It's not really Scab Valley thou."

"No but its close enough." Ty proclaimed, with an index finger raised to the air. "Besides, we know Helena Globin has a doctor's degree in folklore. She has to be aware of this."

"Well, it's not like we got any better ideas." LabRat shrugged before facing the other Grossologists with a confident grin, feeling fairly optimistic. "Alright, you four will take the GRS-2 and check out Snake Peel Valley. Meanwhile, Abby will-

"I'm not going." Chester spoke up, silencing the young scientist.

Everyone starred at him in utter confusion. While not the most experienced, Chester had always been the most dedicated member of their group. Always giving it his all to prove his worth. Hearing he was giving up was shocking.

Even Abby stopped swirling in her chair to see what was going on.

"But why, Chester?" Naomi asked pleadingly.

"Yeah, you were really gung-ho about saving those girls a minute ago." Ty pointed out. "What's changed?"

Chester lowered his head in shame and rubbed his arm. "After my last outburst, I'm not sure I trust myself to go on another mission."

"If you're afraid to use your powers than just don't use them." Ty argued.

"Yeah, the rest of us go on missions all the time and we've never needed any superpowers." Andy stated in a light-hearted tone.

Chester shook his head. "My powers are tied to my emotions. Until I can learn to control my feelings, I am nothing but a liability."


Author's Note:

Not much to add this time around. This was a really dialog heavy chapter and I'm not sure I'm sure if I'm entirely satisfied with it. I didn't always know when or how to break up the dialog so it comes of a bit clunky but I feel this as good as I can make it.

I know these last two chapters have been a bit too heavy on the dirty jokes, first with the Scab Fairy's cleavage and now with Abby's boobies but I promise, I'll cut down on it a little bit in the future (I actually did restrain myself a little in this chapter by acquitting some of Andy's dialog this chapter).

It was also a bit fun to come up with all the Easter eggs inside the Gross-Vault. The mechanical owl was from the episode Owl Most Fowl, the dung balls were from Turd Wars, the hagfish is from Go Fish, the stomach acid gun was used by Lance Boil in The Insider, the pimple-shaped airship was from New Recruits, the KVK1s were from It's Gotta be the Shoes and Sloppy Joe's stink bomb of course was from the episode The Perfect Stink.

As always, I would appreciate any feedback you people can give me.

Until we meet again, Grossologists.