Episode 1: Generation Gross (Part 2)

The next morning, Ray sat on the buss on his way to school. He looked out the window as the buss passed by the Purifying Tower. A large building in the middle of the city that cleaned the air around it by neutralizing any pollutions and keeping the values stabile.

The city had grown a lot since Ty's & Abby's time, both in scale and reputations and all thanks to one company, I.N.S.T.A.R which stood for infrastructure, nature science & tech advancement in Ringworm. The company manufactured new technology and medicine and founded several scientific/academic institutions all thru out the city. Ray actually knew the billionaire that owned the company but he had not seen him much since the loss of his dad.

Ray solemnly took out the device he found yesterday. The one with a G on it that might have belonged to his father. Had been obsessed with it ever since he found it. He hadn't even gotten enough sleep last night because he had tried to make it work. It was quite an impressive piece of equipment. Just by simple examine it Ray had found out it had a bio-scanner and a cellphone setting. He could probably call anyone on their cellphones if he could only make the thing work. Batteries was not a problem anymore but he still couldn't sign in. Ray hated passwords, he saw them as a childish safety measures that was beneath him. He sighed when he finally decided to try to figure it out. Maybe it was as simple as his father's name. He typed in Tyler Archer. The word Denied! showed up on screen. He huffed thru his nostrils. He knew his father had been a biologist that mostly studied invertebrates so it could be something like that. He typed in arthropod. Denied! Insect. Denied! Cell. Denied! Invertebrates. Denied! Exoskeleton. Denied! Ray made a nonchalant head wink when he got a new idea. It was a bit silly but he tried it. Gross.

Denied!

Ray growled in frustration. He had had already decided that once school was over he would go to his old house, the one he grew up in to figure out the origin of this thing. He also hoped to get Zoey with him on this very personal exploration.

A few minutes later, Ray walked out of the buss and onto the lawn of Ringworm High. The school that was already teaming with students but he didn't take any notice because his attention was still focused on the strange device. He typed in another word and once again he was denied. "Aw, come on!" He exclaimed irritated.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAY!"

Three voices shouted from behind him, causing him to almost jump out of his skin. Startled, he turned around as he stuffed the device back into his pocket. It was of course his three best friends, Candice, NJ and Hugo. All of Ray's friends were misfits that didn't fit in anywhere else.

Candice wore mostly pink clothes. She had glasses and long blonde hair but she had colored one of her long hairlocks blue. It was mostly visible when she tilted her head. Popular students didn't like her because she was a nerd and most unpopular people disliked her because they thought she was a snob just because her family was the riches one in town. Nothing could be further from the truth thou. She was Ray's oldest friend, they had known one another since they were kids and Ray knew her as one of the kindest and most humble human beings alive. Also, Candice was obsessed with animals, especially Dinosaurs. She had even named her cat Utahraptor.

NJ was a science-fiction geek with an emphasis on fiction. His head was almost shaped like a shoe with a streak of freckles across his face and he had bronze-brown hair. Today he wore a black t-shirt with an image of a pissed-off Han Solo giving the middle finger and a text underneath that said I SHOT FIRST MOTHERF***ER. Most people disliked him because his tactless, egocentric personality and bad sense of humor. It also didn't help that he had hyperhidrosis which made him sweat a lot and smell really bad. NJ called it his manly musk.

Then there was Hugo Huge. An African-American boy about Ray's height. He had short black hair, wore a heaven blue shirt and carried a leather bag over his left shoulder.

"Candice, guys. Do you think you can shout a little lauder, I don't think the entire school heard you?" Ray sarcastically exclaimed.

NJ gave him a smirk of disbelief. He then turned around and cupped his mouth as he shouted, "HAPPY BIRTDAY RAYMOND. HEY EVERYBODY, TODAY IS RAY ARCHER'S BIRTHDAY!" Of course most people just kept doing what they were doing except for a few that looked at him funny. NJ turned back to Ray and shrugged his arms. "No one cares."

Ray scowled at the sci-fi geek. Sometimes he wondered why he was friends with NJ.

"Well, we care," Candice stated smiling, "and I, I mean we have thought out one great present for you."

"Don't take her too literally, it's really all her credit." Hugo half-whispered to Ray.

"Really, what is it?" Ray asked while happily smiling.

"Well, you know my dad owns the local film school?" Candice asked half-rhetorically.

"Yes…" Ray exclaimed.

Hugo nudged him in the side. "You gonna love this."

"They have an IMAX theater and they have given us a private showing of War of the Worlds in 3D." Candice enthusiastically explained.

"No way! That's so sick!" Ray smile became as wide as his eyes. He hugged Candice tightly and NJ came up from behind, enwrapping them both in a sweaty hug.

"Yeah, it's gonna be great. Sad I can't come." Hugo stated.

The three friends released one other, to Candice and Ray's relief. "Really, Why?" Candice asked disappointed.

"I have to work this afternoon." He replied.

"Seriously, man? Haven't you said you hate working at Burger Lord?" NJ asked.

"I do but I still have to work."

"No chance you can take the day off?" Candice asked.

"Sorry, I need the money." Hugo sighed. "Not everyone is lucky enough to be born with rich parents."

Candice scowled. She hated when people brought up her family fortune, it was like an omission that she couldn't relate to them or that she never had any problems of her own just because she belonged to the 2%. Noticing Candice discomfort Ray decided to act as peace mediator. "Hey, it sucks you can't come but it's just bad luck. We can probably do something fun another time, right?"

Hugo smiled and nodded. "Sure, se you guys after class." He said and headed into school.

Hugo Huge opened up his locker and took out his study books for the day. He was an honor student, always making sure he had the right material with him but what he didn't know was that a pair of warm brown eyes were studying him.

Zoey stood in the corridor corner with her hoodie draped over her head and her long scarf wrapped around her neck. She had been in love with Hugo for over a year now and she still hadn't told him. Most students didn't like Hugo, they considered him too nerdy and boring but Zoey saw him differently. He had always been so sweet and considerate to her and he was very intelligent and even funny in a odd sort of way. Of course it helped that he was also incredible handsome. She took a short breath. 'Come on Zoey, it is just Hugo, your friend. He is no different from any other boy on the planet.'

Just as she started advancing towards him, someone quickly pulled off her scarf. Zoey turned around to see a smirking, slim boy in a red shirt.

"Zack, give it back." Zoey demanded as calmly as she could.

Zack got closer to her, his eyes studied her face inside the hoodie. It made her feel really uncomfortable. "Were is the wart?" He finally asked.

"What?"

"Yeah, the wart. Molina said you wear this to hide a giant wart you have on your face." He stated and held up the scarf.

The name caused Zoey's blood to boil but she forced herself to keep calm since she didn't want to lose control over her powers. She decided the best thing to do was simple to show Zack she didn't have any warts and just get it over with. She took down her hoodie. "There. I don't have any warts, it-it's a lie. Now can I have my scarf back?"

Zack seemed to consider it for a second, then he wrapped the scarf into a ball and tossed it into a trashcan. He laughed and ran away. Zoey wanted to scream at him, to growl, to get outlet for her anger but she wouldn't allow herself to. Bad things could happen. She sighed and walked to the garbage can. She lifted up her scarf that was now covered in chewing gum and candy wrappers. She once again sighed tiresomely. People always did this to her.

"What a jerk."

Zoey turned around and there stood Hugo with a look of concern on his cute face. "Huh…" Suddenly Zoey felt like she couldn't speak. Her heart pounded faster.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"No worry, I am used to it." She managed to find her voice but it was very quiet. At moments like this she wished she was as brave as her mother.

"Why do you let him treat you like that?" Hugo asked concerned.

'Because I am a freak that causes things to rot.' Zoey looked down at the floor as she started to scrap off some of the garbage from her scarf. "It is okay, I am really not bothered by it."

Hugo smiled shyly, his lips tightly pressed together. Once her brown eyes looked back at him he blinked nervously and looked to the side. An awkward silence laid between them. Hugo finally found a topic to talk about. "So, Ray's birthday today, eh."

"Yes-yes it is." Zoey said, happy that the silence was over. "Candice texted me about the film school showing, sounds like fun. Are-are you coming?"

The brown skinned boy stiffen for a moment. "Um…Yes, yes. I-I'll be there for sure-for sure I am coming." Hugo stammered while rubbing his neck. He then turned on his heels and headed to class. "See you there." He winked to her.

"I will." Zoey called out with butterflies in her belly. Once she was sure he was gone she started to bang her head against one of the locker doors. *BANG* "Why," *BANG* "am I," *BANG* "always so," *BANG* "lame?" *BANG*

"Do you want a list? I might have it done sometime next week."

Zoey didn't even have to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. "Not now, Molina." She turned to face her daily tormentors.

To say that Molina Bouquet was the hottest girl in school would be an understatement. She had beautiful tanned skin, the kind one would see on Latinas and voluptuous raven hair. Puberty had rewarded her with luscious d-cups and long legs that seemed to go on forever. She wore a sleeveless turtleneck, encircled by a beautiful pearl-neckless. Her sharp and devious mind made it child's play to humiliate someone as shy as Zoey.

Next to her was her best friend Rachel. In one of the few instances were stereotypes existed, Rachel was a blond with a mind as sharp as a bowling bowl. She wore a pink tube dress(why she didn't just freeze to death was anyone's guess) and beautiful diamond earrings. Her smirk was as gleeful as Molina's even thou she really wasn't more than her friend's yes-man. She was shorter than Molina but still taller than Zoey.

"What? Can little Archer not talk to boys?" Molina taunted with a fake pout. Zoey had hoped they hadn't seen that.

"Even with a total dork like Hugo." Rachel said.

Zoey could feel her rot-powers flowing thru her, driven by her negative emotions. She could feel that tiny dust particles around her had already decomposed. Zoey managed to find her calm center in her inner storm, a place inside of her that no one could touch. She calmed herself from the inside out.

"He is not a dork and you shouldn't make up rumors about me having warts."

"Well, dressing like a nun makes people think what you are hiding but now that you don't wear that childish scarf I can see that you actually do have a wart and it is enormous." Molina stated as her smirk grew wider.

Zoey blinked in surprise and stroked her cheek, searching for this alleged wart. "Where?"

"It's atop your neck and has ears."

Rachel laughed uncontrollable at her BBF's mean joke as Zoey scowled over getting bested. The two popular girls walked away from the humiliated red-head. Once again, Zoey sighed.

Ray sat in math class but while the other students were occupied with equations, he was still trying to figure out the mysteries of the device. Why did his father own this? What had his old house have to do with it? Did it really connect to the bureau of Grossology? If he could only answer one of these questions his nerves would be put at ease. He still went with the hypothesis that this was his dad's. What more did he knew about his dad? Not much. Uncle Chester had said they went to the same university so maybe that was the password. He typed in Sloan U. To Ray's annoyance he was once again denied.

"Mister Archer!" His teacher hollered. "Are you texting on your cell-phone?"

"Um…" Ray bit down on both his lips. "Yes, yes I am." He answered with an innocent smile.

His teacher, a middle aged female brunette in red marched up to Ray. "Give it to me." She sternly demanded and stretched out her palm. Ray had already stuffed the device back into his pocket so he simple faked a pout and handed his teacher the cellphone he got from his mom yesterday. A necessary sacrifice. "You get it back after class." She said and walked back to her desk.

Ray sneered a bit. He then sneakily pulled out the device again before whispering to himself. "Well, if I can't crack you I will get my answers from the source. I am going home."

Ray didn't make any more attempts at figuring out the password and the rest of the day went by as usual. When school finally ended Ray walked out thru the main exit with Candice. She talked about some newly discovered Dinosaur species.

"…so we still don't know if it's a Neovenatorid or a Tyrannosaurid but I think-

The honk of a laud car horn interrupted Candice.

"That's my hired ride. See you later, birthday boy." Candice winked goodbye as she skipped over to the black limo.

Ray smiled and waved back. He trusted his friends a lot but he was not quite ready to share his discovery with them, but he wanted to share it with the one that stood him the closest. His eyes scanned the parking lot until he found Zoey, standing in line to get on the buss home. He ran up to her and pulled her aside by her arm. "Zoey, I need you with me for something."

"Um, sure. What?" She asked puzzled.

"I explained on the way."

Ray practically dragged Zoey with him onto another buss just as it was taking off. "Ray, this isn't the buss home?" Zoey whined. "Ray, were are we going?"

The two sat down next to one another. Ray looked around the buss to make sure that no one paid them any attention. His voice lowered to a heavy whisper. "Yesterday, while I was cleaning up after the party I found this in the basement." He pulled out the device from under his vest.

Zoey blinked puzzled. "What is it?"

"I am not sure but when I plugged it into my computer it said it belonged to Tyler Archer."

Zoey was shocked. "Your dad?"

"Yes, and I have seen that G before." Ray pointed to the logo on the device. "That's the symbol for the bureau of Grossology. The fighters of gross and scientific crimes."

"You think he was a Grossologist like Uncle Paul?" She asked wide-eyed.

"If he was he never told me, nor did my mom. Anyway, the device was linked to something called the Gaglab. I tried to get in but someone blocked me."

"You?" Zoey was surprised that someone had managed to best her cousin at computer hacking.

"Yeah, someone is still protecting the gaglab. Someone good but I did find the coordinates to another place, another lab I think." Ray explained. "Raspberry Street, 18."

Once again, Zoey was shocked. "Your old street?"

"Not just my old street, it's my old house." Ray specified.

"So, that's where we are going? To the house you used to live in?"

"Ding, ding, ding! Correct." Ray exclaimed.

The two Archers stepped out of the buss by Raspberry Street's bus stop.

After a ten minute walk they finally saw Ray's old house. The city's government had tried to rebuild it again but the builders had complained about the smell and feared it was a gas leak. After failing to find the problem, the goverment had simple left the house half finished. The long walls had new planks but the roof and short walls was still crispy dark from the fire seven years ago.

When they stepped onto the lawn Zoey and Ray could feel the smell that the builders had complained about. It smelled of burned wood and…something else. It was definitely familiar to the two teens but they couldn't put a name to it.

After stepping onto the porch Ray suddenly felt very uneasy. Memories and uncontrolled emotions weighed heavily on him. This used to be his house, were his father used to live, were they used to be a family. Zoey noticed her cousin's discomfort so she took a hold of his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. Ray smiled warmly at her. He definitely did the right thing bringing her with him. After taking a deep breath, Ray opened the door.

Once inside, Ray was surprised to see that the floor had been renewed with new planks, but that was all. The inside walls and ceiling was burned and half of the stairs to the second floor was gone. Sad, Ray was kind of curious to see how his old room looked now.

Zoey stepped in front of him. "So, were to start?" She asked. She knew it was important to keep her cousin's mind on the task at hand so he wouldn't get bogged down in sad memories.

"Well," Ray scratched his temple, "I always thought it was weird that my dad did so much work in the basement when he had a perfectly fine office upstairs. It might be nothing but it's a start."

"Alright, to the basement." Zoey led the way to the stairs down to the basement level. "It's really dark down there." She stated after opening the door.

Ray smiled. "First role of the boy scouts, always be prepared." He took off his backpack and opened it. He then took out two flashlights and handed one to Zoey.

As they walked down the stairs, flashlights shinning the way, Ray saw something that made him backtrack his steps. A timber beam that was burned at the top. He tilted his head as he looked at it critically. He stroked his fingers along the burned wood. He then looked at the soot on his fingertips. "Sick." He whispered his catchphrase.

"What is it?" Zoey asked.

"The fire started because of lightning, right?" Ray inquired.

"That's what they said."

"Well, last I checked lightning strikes from the sky and fire travels upwards yet these underground beams are burned. The fire didn't go on long enough for it to have burned thru the wood." Ray explained.

"What does that mean?" Zoey asked confused.

"That something else started the fire." Ray answered and continued down the stairs. "I always thought it was odd it was a lightning strike. My dad told me that night that the lightning was far away cause he counted the seconds between the lightning strikes and the thunder." A sad chuckle escaped his throat. "He was a-he was a smart man."

"He certainly was Ray. I miss him and so does my parents, especially my mom." Zoey said sympathetically. They reached the basement floor. "So what exactly are we looking for?"

Ray shrugged. "Anything. A secret door, another one of these," he heled out the device, "anything out of the ordinary."

For the next couple of hours the two pretty much pillaged the basement after anything connected to Ty or the bureau of Grossology. Finally Ray found something. A part of the wall was made of steel instead of stone like the rest of the room but it was painted in the same white color. It seemed to continue into the rest of the wall and it seemed to be sitting lose.

"I think it's a door." Ray exclaimed and started pressing the metal plate to the side. To Zoey's surprise the door slide to the side, revealing a cylinder-shaped hole with a firehouse pole. "Holy smokes Batman, it's a secret passway." Ray stated half-jokingly, half-overwhelmed. He handed Zoey his flashlight. "I go down first."

"What if there is no way out?" Zoey asked concerned.

"If there is a way in there is a way out." Ray stated before clutching the pole with hands and legs. Zoey raised a critical yet concerned eyebrow at her cousin so Ray smiled at her and gave her a one-eye blink. He slided down the pole and landed safely on a new floor not very far down. "Alright, throw down the flashlights." He hollered up to Zoey. His cousin dutifully dropped the flashlights down the hole and Ray caught them in his opened backpack before she too came down the pole.

The first thing they noticed in this rather small room was that the lamps in the ceiling was active. "Why is this room lit? The house upstairs doesn't have any electricity." Zoey stated.

Ray hummed while thinking about it. "It might be on another grid."

"Or someone has set-up a generator." Zoey guessed. She rarely asked things just because she didn't understand. She knew that asking questions helped her and Ray to think.

The small room was completely empty except for a keyboard at the very end with a small oblong screen over it (similar to an ATM) next to a large door. They walked up to it and Ray pressed down on the start button. The small screen lit up and it read Password.

Ray smirked. "Aww, how cute, it thinks I am going to fill out a password."

"You didn't actually bring with you your laptop, did you?" Zoey inquired incredulously.

"Don't need one." Ray said and ducked under the keyboard. As he started to shift some wires he heard clicking noises from the keyboard. "Zoey, wait. You can't…"

With a swoosh-sound the door opened, revealing a narrow hallway. Ray stared bewildered at the hallway before turning to Zoey with his mouth agape. "Wha-what did you type in?"

Zoey smiled at Ray's dumbfounded expression. "Raymond."

"What?"

"Raymond, your name." Zoey said again.

Ray quickly took out the device from his vest and typed in Raymond. It then said access granted and then it said Grossometer. So that was what it was. "How did you know?" He asked, still bewildered.

"Well, I figured that the password would be something special to Ty and what can be more special for a father than his own son." Zoey explained with the same innocent smile.

Ray then smacked himself in the face, he growled into his hand as it seemed to try to rip his face off. "Let-let's just continue." He sighed tiered.

The only thing in the hallway to the next door was three slimesuits, one orange, one yellow and one purple. All, neatly hanging by the wall. "Wow, slimesuits. This proves it! This proves that your dad was a grossologist and probably your mom too." Zoey said.

"What makes you say that?" Ray asked.

Zoey got closer to the yellow one, she rubbed one of the trouser-legs between her fingers. "This yellow one seem to fit a girl and so does the purple one."

"Huh. You know whatever is behind that door might be radioactive or slimy or something. Maybe it would be wise to put these on." Ray suggested.

Zoey tilted her head while giving him a lopsided smirk. "Yeah right, you just want to dress like a Grossologist."

He smiled a bit embarrassed. "Yeah but let's do it anyway."

So the two suited up in the slimesuits. Ray in his father's orange one and Zoey in the yellow one that she thought had belonged to Naomi but actually had belonged to her mother. Ray then took a hold of the lever to the final door. "So, lets se what's behind mystery door number three." He opened the door.

"Wow" They both said in unison.

Like Ray had predicted it was a secret laboratory. A variety of chemicals in bottles, flasks and test-tubes stood orderly on a long bench. Gas-tanks stood by the wall as well as shelves with books and scrolls. There were also a computer on a small table.

"Looks like Frankenstein lost a bet or something." Ray said as they walked into the lab.

"Hey, look. Matching backpacks." Zoey exclaimed and walked over to a trio of backpacks hanging in hooks by the wall. Each in the same color as the slimesuits. Zoey unhooked the yellow one and was surprised when she saw something that looked like an electronic button on the rem. "What is this button for?" She asked and clicked the button.

Suddenly, a pair of jet-boosters folded out from the backpack's sides. They hummed like motorbikes. Then the backpack, that had turned out to be a jetpack, freed itself from Zoey's hands. It ricochet of the ceiling to the floor and continued ricocheting all over the room.

Stricken by panic, both cousins screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ray!"

"Duck! Take cover!" Ray shouted and they both got down on the floor, hands over their ears, eyes tightly shut.

"Is it over yet?" Zoey asked over the sound of the out-of-control jetpack.

"I don't know, my eyes are closed and I can't hear anything!" Ray loudly replied.

The jetpack eventually crashed into a corner, turning it into scrap metal. Zoey and Ray panted as they got on their hands and knees while looking wide-eyed at what remained of the jetpack. Ray then grew a toothy grin. "Cool, jetpacks." He walked over to the other jetpacks on the wall and put on the orange one. He liked how neatly it fitted him.

Another set of objects caught his attention. A couple of devices that kinda looked like handheld vaccum cleaners lying on a shelf. "What are these things?" He asked himself as he picked out one of them. He studied it closer. It seemed to have a socket for the hand. He stuck in his left hand and felt something similar to a trigger. He pulled it and a powerful stream of green slime burst out of the barrel. Ray wasn't ready for it so the momentum caused him to fall backwards, getting slime all over the room. When some of it almost hit Zoey she shielded herself with her hands and her powers caused the slime to rot away. She sighed in relief.

Ray blinked surprised. "Well, that was… unsuspected." He took off the goopshooter and placed it on the bench. "Definitely not using that any time soon." He said gruff. The sight of the computer heightened his mood. He laughed snarky before sitting down in front of the screen. "Keyboard beats trigger every time."

Zoey looked out over the room. "We sure did make a mess of the place." It was true, the jetpack had smashed several flasks with chemicals and tipped over one of the gas-tanks, not to mention all the goop. "Man, it looks like your room. Maybe we should clean it up." The red-head suggested.

"If you want to burn your fingers off on God-knows-what go ahead but I will conduct this investigation in the comfort of cyberspace." Ray replied.

Zoey tried to find some gloves or washrags to clean up but she didn't, which she thought was weird. What kind of lab would have hazardous chemicals but no safety gloves?

Once Ray found Ty's mainframe he was nothing but confused. He had hoped that his answers would be here but here where only more questions. The mainframe had dozens upon dozens of files. Some of them seemed to be names of projects his father had worked on while others seemed to be names of action figures for kids. Names like Kid Rot, Insectiva and Sloppy Joe. He clicked on the first one in the alphabetical order which was Arachnidia. In that file was several other files. He tiresomely rubbed his temple. He clicked on one that said Arachnid Communication/Vibration. The content was a long article on how scorpions and spiders react to vibrations and air waves, and parables between size and magnitudes.

It didn't make sense to Ray. Sure, he understood the scientific terms being used but there was no context to it. If he knew who this Arachnidia was or what kind of scenario was being analyzed then maybe he would understand it but this was things understood by Ty and Ty alone.

Ray sighed desperately. He had neither time nor energy to go thru all of these files.

'What was I even hoping to find here? A note from my dad? Something that would change my life? Many of my questions has been answered yet nothing feels significant enough to me. I feel so stupid.'

"Ray?" Zoey hollered. "Take a look at this."

Ray got of the computer and walked over to Zoey. There, on the wall in front of her, someone had written something in acid. The words had been burned into the wall.

'HELP ME!

LOSING MY MIND!'

"Okay. This just turned creepy." Ray quipped.

"What do you think it means?" Zoey asked, feeling a bit nervous.

"And more importantly, who wrote it?" Ray said as an uncomfortable notion entered his head. Was it his dad that wrote this? Had his fathered suffered before he died? The thought made his chest hurt.

His thought was interrupted when he and Zoey heard metal scrapping against metal. Turning around, they saw the furthest wall sliding open and the sound of approaching footsteps caused Ray to shiver in fear.

Frightened, Zoey whispered to her cousin. "What do we do now?"

Author's Note:

Alright, a new chapter and just a bunch of new characters and a whole lot of information. Since I didn't talk about Ray nor Zoey in my last AN I thought I would try to explain their role and inspiration.

Ray is of course mostly based on his dad Ty Archer but I also pulled inspiration from Donatello from TMNT, Lelouch from Code Geass and Tintin. He will be the most active character in the series. Things will not just happen to him, he will almost always be the first one to take initiative. His catchphrase is 'sick.'

I made Zoey very similar to her dad Chester since she deals with the same powers and issues. I also drew inspiration from Zoey from Total Drama Island (which is her namesake), Shireen Baratheon from Game of Thrones and April O'Neil from TMNT. Once they become actual Grossologists she will be the heart of the team. Hopefully I will be able to find a good balance between her shyness and her strength.

Now to Ray's friends. At first I wanted to make Candice a Naomi-like character but then I thought that Zoey kind of already filled that niche so I said "fuck it, I am just going to make her the most awesome character ever." So, I made her into this spunky Dinosaur-geek. The main inspirations for Candice is Honey Lemon from Disney's Big Hero Six, Gwen from The Spectacular Spider-man and Kat from Kenny the Shark.

Then there's NJ. He can best be described as 'that friend that always inconveniences you' (you know the one you always have to be the designated driver for). He doesn't do much now but he will be the comic relief of the series. His inspirations are Fred from Big Hero Six (I really liked that movie) and Dan from Dan Vs. I also added some of Erlich from Silicon Valley into NJ (he is played by the same actor that voiced Fred).

Last is of course Zoey's love interest, Hugo. He is more interested in Astronomy and physics than Ray (think more Einstein and less Darwin). His inspirations are Jack Darby from Transformers Prime as well as Luis from The Future is Wild. He is the responsible teenagers, always takes his responsibilities very seriously.

Then there is the mean popular girls Molina and Rachel. At first I didn't want to create these characters but then I kinda saw how they were necessary. After all if Ray and the others are misfits then there has to an opposition to them. Hopefully I can make them a bit more enjoyable than her-voice-makes-me-bleed Paige.

Creepy Crawly will return in the next chapter so I will go more into depth on her character in that AN. Once again I am sorry for all this exposition but I promise there will be less and less of it as the story goes on. I also know some of you are probably asking why Ty has a secret lab below his basement when he had nothing like that in the show but that's another secret to be revealed later.

Also, all of my own characters and their names are allowed to be used by anyone that wants to use them in their fanfics/fanart :).

As always your reviews are highly appreciated.