Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup soared over Townsville looking for any signs of Brick and Darion. Meanwhile, Dareena, Derrick, and Reese searched the streets. Boomer, Butch, and Professor Utonium checked all of Brick's usual hide-outs, but found no sign of him.
"This is not good," Boomer grumbled as he left the local game arcade, "They said they haven't seen Brick in there all day."
Butch sighed and replied, "He's always in there if he's not at the rink!"
"Yeah, and he's not there, either," Boomer stated.
"What if Darion DID freak out?" Butch asked, "Reese said he was pretty mad when he took off."
Professor shook his head and answered, "Now, let's not think about that until we find them. Darion's changed a bit lately, I think he can control his anger better than we're giving him credit for."
"Well, he better have this time," Boomer threatened, "He's in big trouble if he didn't."
The three of them headed back towards the centre of town where they met up with Reese, Dareena, and Derrick.
"Any sign of them?" Professor asked Reese.
Reese shook his head. "Nah, and we've been everywhere. Found a great place for Chinese food, though!"
"C'mon, can we quit the clowning?" Derrick asked sternly.
"Really, this is no time for joking!" Dareena added.
"Why?" Boomer asked sarcastically, "Afraid Brick might've kicked your baby brother's butt?"
"Boomer, that's enough," Professor stated angrily.
"In your dreams," Derrick shot back, "Brick doesn't stand a chance against Darion."
"Funny, you're the one who always calls him a baby," Butch sneered.
"Butch, I said enough," Professor repeated.
"He's not a baby," Dareena stated sternly.
"He wouldn't be if you didn't treat him like one," Derrick grumbled at Dareena.
"Hey, will you knock it off?" Reese yelled, "I think we've had about all we can stand of that crap!"
"I do NOT treat him like a baby!" Dareena shouted.
"Hey!" Reese hollered. He leaned over to Dareena and planted his hand over her mouth. "That is enough!"
"Gee, this is fun," Professor snickered. Reese mocked laughter and shoved Professor back a step.
Dareena fought back a grin and said, "They started it!" Reese narrowed his eyes at her as she ducked behind Professor and giggled. Reese rolled his eyes and sighed as Professor grinned at him.
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup landed outside the front door of the house looking depressed and downheartened. They had searched everywhere they could think of to find Brick and Darion, but failed.
"So what do we do now?" Bubbles asked.
Blossom tiredly reached for the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door. "I guess we wait and see if the others find them," she replied as she led them inside, "I don't know what else we can..."
"OUCH!" they suddenly heard from the back patio, "Not THAT much!"
"That sounded like Darion!" Buttercup exclaimed.
"Let's go!" Blossom shouted. They blasted towards the back of the house, zooming down the long hallway, and burst onto the patio. There they found Brick, standing in front of Darion, snickering, as Darion stood bent over, shaking his head and running his fingers through his curls. They saw what looked like bone fragments on the concrete at Darion's feet and saw more falling from his curls as he ruffed his hair.
"What are you guys doing?!" Blossom demanded.
Darion stood up and straightened out his curls as Brick turned to face the Girls.
"Oh, man, now that's creepy!" Buttercup stated, "You guys REALLY look alike now!"
The Girls stood with wide eyes as Darion and Brick looked at each other and chuckled. Darion's horns were now gone.
"Just a little make-over," Brick sneered.
"How did you do that?" Blossom asked as she approached Darion. She felt his head and found only two small bumps where his horns had been. He cringed back a bit and explained, "Still a little touchy, there."
"Sorry," Blossom replied with a smile. She turned to Brick and repeated, "How did you do that? I take it this was YOUR idea."
"Actually, it was a combined effort," Brick replied, "We started with these..." He turned and picked up a pair of wire cutters off the glass table top next to him and held them up. "Trimmed 'em a bit, then just filed the rest off." He handed Blossom another, strange looking tool. It looked like a steak knife with the blade removed and a woodworker's blade taped into the handle instead.
"Worked like a champ," Brick grinned.
"That's neat!" Blossom exclaimed. She turned to Darion and said, "You really look different!"
"Funny, didn't you just say I look the same as him?" Darion teased.
Blossom giggled and replied, "You look great, how about that?"
"Won't those just come back?" Buttercup wondered.
Darion nodded and explained, "Yeah, but so do my nails, same as yours. I gotta cut those once in awhile or I have a hard time climbing, I'll just keep my horns trimmed, too."
"Is Dareena gonna be mad?" Bubbles asked.
Darion shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I'm not telling her she has to get rid of her horns, now, am I?"
They heard the front door open and voices in the hallway as Reese and Professor returned with the rest of the children.
"Back here guys, we found 'em!" Blossom shouted.
"Blossom!" Bubbles squeaked, "The guys are gonna be mad!"
"I know, we'll just have to hang on to them til they figure out that Brick's OK," Blossom answered.
"Oh, for cryin' out loud, they'll be fine," Brick grumbled as Boomer and Butch blasted through the patio door. He snickered, stepped in front of them, and snatched both of them by their shirts as they attempted to go after Darion.
"Whoa, guys," he told them, "Lay off."
Boomer glared at Darion and asked, "You OK, Brick?"
"Yeah, so just relax, OK?" Brick instructed.
Butch blinked at Brick and said, "Reese said he might be mad enough to go after you."
"We came to an understanding, how's that?" Darion stated as he continued to pick the remaining flakes of his horns from his curls.
"What the hell did you do to him?" Derrick suddenly asked from the doorway. He stood gaping at Darion, now with no horns.
"Holy cow, THAT'S what's different!" Boomer exclaimed, "You got no horns!"
"Why?" Derrick asked angrily as he glared at Brick.
"'Cause I asked him to, Derrick, that's why," Darion replied. Derrick approached his brother and rubbed his head. He turned to Brick and asked, "Can you get rid of mine, too?"
Brick twirled the make-shift file between his fingers and grinned. "We have the power!"
"Now if we could only convince you guys to get haircuts," Buttercup grumbled. All five boys turned to stare at her.
"No way!" Boomer and Derrick stated.
"Not doing the afro look again," Darion said.
"I like my long hair, thanks," Butch replied.
"Fat chance," Brick grunted.
Buttercup sighed and rolled her eyes in disgust.
The next evening, Professor sat pouring over the information his computer continued to spit out at him, trying desperately to find an answer. He had studied the analysis of Darion's blood hundreds of times, but could not find any obvious reason why Shadau would be so interested in reacquiring the boy.
"It's got to be here!" Professor grumbled to himself, "Omnivorous has to be what he wants!"
"What's 'omnivorous' mean?" Professor spun around, startled by the voice from by his side.
Derrick tripped over his own feet in his attempt to back away from Professor and landed on his rump next to Professor's chair. Professor extended his hand towards Derrick, but Derrick quickly scooted backwards to the wall. He sat there, staring at Professor, panting, his grey eyes wide with fear.
Professor stopped where he was and smiled. He raised his hands towards Derrick and said, "Sorry, Derrick, I didn't see you come in. I tend to get wrapped up in this computer and kind of turn off everything else."
Derrick remained where he was, his chest still heaving. Professor stood up and slowly approached Derrick, again offering his hand. Derrick tensed as Professor came closer.
Professor stopped in front of Derrick and again smiled kindly. He leaned over with his hand out to Derrick and said, "It's OK, Derrick, no one's going to hurt you anymore."
Derrick stayed put and replied, "Wish that were true."
"It is for us," Professor stated, "Trust me." Professor looked at Derrick's feet and said, "Hey, nice sneakers!"
Derrick visibly relaxed and slowly took Professor's hand. He grinned as he stood up and said, "Yeah, Reese got 'em for us. We even got to pick which ones we wanted."
Professor chuckled as he returned to his chair. "Well, that was pretty decent of him! New clothes, too?" he asked, pointing to Derrick's new tee shirt. It was charcoal grey with a British flag on it.
Derrick nodded as he leaned on the computer table. He pulled out a bag of popcorn as he looked at the monitor screen.
"Yeah, I got this one and some new jeans. Reese says we'll need them once it gets cold out here," Derrick stated, "Dareena got a new dress and Darion got a hockey shirt. Reese says we can get some more stuff soon."
"That'll be fun, huh?" Professor asked, "Always better to pick your own stuff, isn't it? What's Dareena's dress look like?"
Derrick shrugged. "Uh, white with purple flowers on it. Blossom and Bubbles helped her pick it out. Girl stuff bores me."
Professor chuckled and answered, "OK, so how about Darion's stuff?"
Derrick grinned and replied, "I think Reese figured out how tough it is to find jeans for the skinny little runt. He did get a neat Philadelphia Flyers shirt, though, black, of course. It's kinda cool. The Flyers logo is on the back of the shirt and has flames off the back end of it. The front just has the team name on the left side. He's got a black hat to match it. Says he's gonna wear it like Brick wears his...backwards."
"Darion really likes the Boys, huh?" Professor asked as he continued to page through the information on his computer.
"Yeah, he does," Derrick replied as he watched the monitor, "Maybe he'll grow up a bit if he hangs out with them long enough. They're pretty rough, but they don't seem to mind having him around."
"So, now Darion's going to have a backwards hat, too," Professor said, "As if the two of them don't look enough alike already, especially since you guys lost the horns!"
"Yeah, I think that freaked everybody out, even Dareena," Derrick stated.
"You and Darion going to play hockey with them?" Professor asked.
Derrick nodded and answered, "Yeah, I think so. They're gonna talk to their coach and see if we can."
"That'll be fun, huh?" Professor asked,
"I hope so," Derrick answered, "I have this vision of Darion getting his face beat in, but we'll see."
He looked to Professor and asked, "Why does Darion look so much like Brick, anyway?"
Professor turned to face him and replied, "I truthfully don't know. I thought it was just a huge coincidence at first, but now I'm not sure. Actually, the more I look all this info over, the more I'm convinced that it's Brick who looks like Darion!"
Derrick chuckled and replied, "Oh, now THAT's rich!" He pointed to the monitor and asked, "What is all this stuff, anyway?"
Professor leaned his head in his left hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He looked to the monitor and answered, "It's an analysis of Darion's blood make-up. Reese and I are looking for something Shadau would be interested in in your brother, but so far, nothing seems to be unusual here."
Derrick munched on his popcorn and asked, "So, what's 'omnivorous' mean?"
Professor looked at him and replied, "It means you'll eat just about anything that's decent. I'm beginning to wonder if that's what Shadau is looking for or not, though. You seem to be experimenting with different stuff, too." He pointed to the bag of popcorn.
Derrick shrugged and answered, "Yeah, the Girls got me to try it. It's pretty good. Bubbles has Darion tryin' all kinds of weird stuff. He seems to like most everything she gets him to try, though. He had carrots earlier. Now he loves 'em."
"See, that's what I'm talking about," Professor explained, "That's got to be the key!"
Reese wandered into the lab carrying an armful of Shadau's notebooks. He came to the computer table, put the notebooks down, and leaned over Professor's left shoulder to see the information it displayed.
"Still nothin', huh?" he asked.
Professor shook his head. "No, nothing totally unusual here, but I can't imagine what else Shadau would be after. I thought for sure the omnivorous aspect would be it."
"What are all those for?" Derrick asked with a chuckle, pointing to the stack of notebooks.
"Well, until Darion crashed it for good, Reese was putting all the info in these into the computer in the front room. We're hoping to find a clue to what Shadau's up to," Professor explained as he took the top notebook and paged through it.
Derrick snickered. "I can't believe you're even bothering with those," he stated, "They're just nonsense anyway."
Reese and Professor turned to him with shocked looks on their faces. "What do you mean?!" Professor asked.
"Exactly what I said," Derrick replied, "Those are the fake ones. Shadau just filled them with ramblings and left them all over the place. Hell, me, Dareena, and Darion even helped him!"
"Why?" Reese demanded.
"'Cause he knew you were tracking him and that you'd pick them up," Derrick said, "You gotta admit, it's been a pretty good way to stall you, huh?"
Reese slowly nodded. "So, this is all just bullshit?" he asked, referring to the pile of notebooks, "Just another part of his game, huh?"
Derrick shrugged. "Well, yeah!" he answered, giggling, "Actually, I can't believe you fell for it as hard as you have!"
Reese scooped up the pile of notebooks and suddenly flung them at the wall. They hit with a loud bang and pages from them flew everywhere. He spun around and Derrick gasped as he saw that Reese's eyes had changed colour with his anger. They were now blood red.
Derrick took off towards the door to leave the lab in a panic.
"C'mere, you little shit!" Reese hollered. He reached out and snatched Derrick by his left arm as he went by. Derrick let out a yelp and tried to dig his heels in to stop his advance as Reese dragged him over. Derrick hissed loudly, then cringed as Reese answered with a deep snarl that revealed his long fangs.
Professor suddenly stepped to them and tried to shove them apart. He grabbed Reese's hand, still tightly gripped on Derrick's upper arm.
"Whoa, wait a minute!" he shouted, "Reese, let him go!" His heartbeat quickened as Reese turned to face him. Professor could not remember a time he had seen Reese so enraged. He also knew that, without his Girls and the Boys, he was powerless to stop Reese should he decide to tear Derrick apart.
He took a deep breath and swallowed hard in an attempt to keep his voice from shaking as he sternly repeated, "Let him go, Reese."
Reese's eyes seemed to burn into Professor's skin as he continued to glare at him.
"Please," Professor added. He glared back, hoping his fear of Reese in his current mood would be unnoticed. He put his left arm around Derrick's shoulders and slowly, cautiously pulled him away from Reese. Derrick's entire body trembled as he stared at Reese.
Without a word, Reese let go of Derrick. Derrick let out his breath in a huff and ducked behind Professor, but his eyes remained on Reese. Professor also kept Reese in sight, then relaxed a bit as Reese's eyes slowly began to fade to black again.
"You OK, now?" Professor asked him as he leaned on the computer table with his back to them.
"Yeah," Reese replied as he hung his head.
Professor returned to his lab chair and drew Derrick out from behind him as he sat. He pulled Derrick to him and cupped his chin.
"How about you, kiddo?" he asked as he turned Derrick's gaze away from Reese and to himself.
Derrick panted and quickly nodded his head.
"OK," Professor began, "You said these are fake notebooks, right? Does that mean there are other ones that aren't just to trick us?"
Derrick shrugged and stammered, "I...I don't...know...I think so."
"So where are they?" Reese growled.
"Told you, I'm not sure. I'm not even sure he HAS others," Derrick insisted. He pointed with a shaky hand at the pile now scattered along the wall. "Where'd you find those?"
"I've found them all over the place," Reese answered, "Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio...all I had to do was follow you guys and your trail of bodies."
"What do you mean 'trail of bodies'?" Derrick demanded.
Reese turned to face him and crossed his arms in front of himself as he leaned his back on the computer table. "All the people you've killed, Derrick, you forget about them? Hell, there's more than twenty of 'em, how could you forget that?"
Derrick's eyes widened and he again began to pant. "We didn't kill anybody!" he screamed, "Except for the one the night you caught us, we didn't kill anybody!"
"What?!" Reese exclaimed as a confused look crossed his face. He again produced the map from the newspaper. He showed it to Derrick and continued, "So this wasn't you and your brother and sister?!"
Derrick nodded and replied, "Well, yeah, that's the same route we followed, but we didn't kill anybody until we got here!"
Reese looked to Professor and tilted his head. "You followin' this?" he teased.
Professor answered, "Yeah, actually."
Reese again looked to Derrick and asked, "So, you, Dareena, and Darion ain't the ones killing all the people in these cities is what you're tellin' me, right?"
"Yeah!" Derrick answered, "We tried to avoid the bigger cities, stayed in the woods and stuff. Plenty of deer and things, especially in Pennsylvania."
"I'm totally lost," Reese stated, "Why did you stick with animals when you KNOW you're strong enough to go after people?"
"Habit, I guess," Derrick replied, "That's all we ever had up until the night you caught us. Even then, we just decided to see what the 'big deal' was. I'm not impressed, truthfully."
"You've never had meat other than animals?" Reese asked.
"Have you ever owned a Mornauck?" Derrick asked.
Reese nodded and answered, "Only one."
Derrick continued, "OK, so, if food's limited, are you gonna feed that dog the same 'steaks' you eat, or is dog food good enough for it? Or, are you the kind to let the dog find its own food?"
"I'm still not following you," Reese stated as he shook his head.
"I am, actually," Professor added, "Shadau never was big on sharing, huh?" he asked Derrick.
Derrick shook his head. "No, we basically fended for ourselves. Considering how small we are, animals seemed like easier targets than full-grown people. Plus, we figured it was wrong to kill something that knew it could die."
Reese turned to Professor and asked, "So, who's the culprit here?"
Professor shrugged and replied, "My guess would be Shadau. You said you found the fake notebooks in most of the same places. I'm thinking Derrick's telling the truth."
"Well, I AM!" Derrick hollered.
Professor waved him off and continued, "Shadau's been following them all this time."
"How?!" Derrick shouted.
"He can sense and find you," Professor explained, "I'm hoping you, your sister, and brother can do the same with him."
"What do you mean?" Derrick asked as he furrowed his brow.
"I'm hoping you guys can let us know when he's close," Professor stated.
"So, what's our next move, genius?" Reese asked sarcastically.
"We split up and see if these 'real' notebooks exist. Chances are, if they're that important, Shadau will keep them close. I've got a few places in mind where he could be hiding out, so we search all of them. Nighttime will be best. That way, he'll be out and about," Professor explained.
"C'mon, let's go," Buttercup grumbled, "I'm sick of this place already."
"Hey, Reese and Professor said to find this book, I'm gonna find it," Brick replied.
The building they had gotten for their search was at one time, an automotive shop. They had headed to the basement and had gaped at the dozen or so bookshelves and stacks of boxes full of books, newspapers, magazines, and notebooks. They had already searched dozens of boxes and looked through hundreds of books on the huge shelves to no avail and Buttercup was fed up.
"They're not even sure it's in here," Buttercup reminded him.
Brick continued tearing through the box in front of him. He pulled a handful of papers out of it and began leafing through them.
"Well, then, we make sure it's not here before we just quit and figure it's not." Brick replied.
"Why do they even want the stupid thing anyway?" Buttercup asked angrily.
"'Cause it's got all of Shadau's notes in it. Stuff he's done, where he's been, maybe even what he's up to now. The ones Reese has aren't real, from what Derrick told them," Brick replied. He pulled several spiral-bound notebooks out of the box, stacked them in front of his knees as he sat cross-legged on the floor, and started going through the top one.
Buttercup shook her head. "We don't even know what we're lookin' for!" She shoved a stack of books off a large blue desk and watched them crash to the floor. "This could take all day!" she hollered.
"Yeah, and that's gonna help a whole lot," Brick answered, pointing to the books she had knocked over. "Instead of standing there complaining, why don't you start helping me and we can get outta here sooner."
Buttercup glared at him and asked, "Why do I always get stuck with you, anyway?"
"Beats me," Brick answered as he returned to the notebooks, "I'm no happier about it than you, OK?"
Buttercup floated behind him just above his head. "Probably because Blossom thinks you're a wuss," she sneered. She crossed her arms in front of herself expecting Brick to come after her. At least a good fight with him would break up the current boredom.
Surprisingly, Brick continued on with the notebook laying in his lap. "Or, maybe because she knows you're incapable of rational, logical thought processes and figures you're better off with somebody who can make an intelligent decision," he shot back.
She shoved him from behind causing the rest of the notebooks in front of him to fall over. Pages from several of them slid out across the floor.
"Damn it!" Brick yelled as he shot up to face her, "Will you quit it! Why the hell are you picking a fight with me?"
"OOOO," Buttercup sneered, "Little potty mouth comin' out now, too, huh? Been hanging out with the ghouls too long. Especially her."
"What?!" Brick shouted.
Buttercup grinned and nodded her head as she continued to taunt him. "You like her, don't you?"
Brick rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. "Oh, brother, here we go..."
"Admit it," Buttercup teased, "You like her."
"Like that has anything to do with this," Brick replied indicating the room they now occupied.
"Actually, it might have a lot to do with this," Buttercup jeered, "Just admit it."
Brick glared at her, trying to keep his temper under control. He clenched his fists and calmly as possible asked, "Are you gonna help me or not? 'Cause I'm about sick of your crap."
"You're a spoiled brat," Buttercup stated angrily.
"Look who's talkin'," Brick answered. "You gonna help me or not?"
Buttercup furrowed her brow and slowly shook her head. "No," she said, "I'm goin' back."
"Fine," Brick replied, "Go then." He turned away from her and started picking up the mess they had created.
Buttercup scowled at his back then floated out of the room. "Enjoy yourself, bookworm! Don't go getting lost in there!" she shouted back to him.
Brick angrily continued to pick up the papers and books that Buttercup had dumped. He put the papers from the spiral notebooks in another pile and plopped them on top of the one he had been looking through before Buttercup had left. He then organized the books she had pushed over into three piles and put the stacks back on the desk one at a time.
As he shoved the last pile onto the desk and pushed them back, the top book's corner caught on a ruler on a small shelf. It turned and a bin of pens, pencils, notepads, and other office supplies, caught on the end of the ruler. It finally reached the end of the shelf then fell, startling Brick. A cloud of dust puffed up as the bin landed on top of the books and spilled over.
"Great," Brick grumbled. He felt a strong sneeze rising and put his hands over his nose and mouth. He looked through watery eyes at the room full of paper, cardboard, and dry wood.
"Oh no," he groaned. He sneezed once, twice, then a third time, the third one tearing at the back of his throat, then stopped. He looked around and grinned with satisfaction at having finally controlled his fire breath. He sighed with relief. "Woulda turned me into a crispy critter!" he chuckled.
As he went to pick up the rest of the spiral notebook pages, he heard someone laughing. He looked up towards the next room as he heard movement with his ultra sonic hearing.
"Buttercup?" he called, "What, you changed your mind?"
He then heard more movement from the room to his left along with more laughter. He sighed, shook his head, and dropped the spiral pages back to the floor.
"More fun and games, hooray," he grumbled as he headed for the sounds in the next room.
"C'mon, Buttercup, quit the games, will ya?" He suddenly stopped in the doorway of the room and gaped at what he saw.
"Whoa-ho, you are definitely NOT Buttercup!" he exclaimed. Standing in the room before him was a creature unlike anything he had ever seen. It stood over seven feet tall with slimy grey skin. Its hands and feet were spiked with claws and its hair looked more like grotesque tentacles on its enormous misshapen head. It opened its mouth upon seeing Brick and let out a chilling howl through its many rows of long fangs. Its murky red eyes, all three of them, blinked individually as it glared at him.
The creature howled again and lunged at Brick with its claws. Brick shot up over the beast's head narrowly escaping its claws and blasted it with his lasers. The creature screamed and swung at Brick again as he ducked away from it. Brick saw his opportunity and flew at the beast. He punched it in the face with all his strength and was shocked as he saw that the monster barely budged. Its eyes blinked at him, then, with lightning speed, it swatted him away like a fly. The monster nailed him in the face and sent him sailing backwards into a concrete wall.
Brick smashed into the wall and landed on the floor with a crash of concrete around him. Through the dust, Brick tried to get up as the room blurred in front of his eyes. He felt he had never been hit so hard in his life. He saw blood dripping from his face and realized that his nose was bleeding and his lips had been split open. He felt something in his mouth and spat in the concrete dust. He saw three of his teeth lying on the floor in front of him. Brick realized that this monster was going to be more than he could handle on his own, but as he tried to take off and blast out of the room, he discovered that he could no longer fly. He couldn't focus his eyes and the room around him remained a blur.
The monster howled its victory over him and reached out to grab him. Brick tried again to take off, then something slammed into the back of his head and he was knocked out cold.
Brick woke up to find he was lying on his stomach on a white tile floor. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, nor where he was, but outside, the evening had now turned to night. He saw his red baseball hat lying in the middle of the floor ahead of him, then saw a small pool of his own blood on the floor from his nose and mouth as he slowly lifted his aching head up. He also saw that he was surrounded by several pairs of hideous looking feet.
He looked up to see an unimaginable collection of monstrous beasts circled around him, each one more hideous than the next. The one who had smashed him into the wall was standing to his left.
To his right, he saw a monster that was roughly six feet tall with plaster-white skin, a single huge brown eye, and gnarled hands with fingernails that looked as if they had been filed into pointed claws. It drooled profusely through snaggled teeth and the only clothing it wore was a fur loincloth.
Standing near Brick's left leg was another monster, also about six feet tall, with green skin, beady yellow eyes, and ears that came to points above its head. It stood like a kangaroo and the tip of its muscular tail flicked back and forth as it opened and closed its mouth around its long fangs.
The one standing by his right leg towered to eight feet tall and was covered in dirty white fur. Its bluish eyes blinked rapidly and its large nostrils flared as it breathed. It grinned at him with short pointed fangs and the fur on its arms rippled as it flexed its clawed hands into fists.
Brick saw another creature perched on a long counter behind the others. Its snake-like skin was olive in colour and its wide yellow eyes glared at him. A forked tongue flicked between its fangs.
The monster standing directly in front of Brick was the most hideous of the bunch. It was easily eight feet tall with scaly purple and green skin and neon green eyes. Its pupils narrowed like a cat's and its long neck flared out into a hood like a cobra as it hissed at Brick. Though it only had three fingers to each hand, its claws looked needle sharp. Its long thin tail flicked back and forth like a whip and it had a large point on it that looked like an arrow head. Its snout was longer on the bottom than on the top and its lower fangs protruded out of its mouth and curled upwards.
It suddenly snarled at Brick and reached out to grab him. Brick quickly scooted between its legs and towards the room's only door. The snake-skinned monster shrieked and leaped off the counter towards him. Brick fell backwards trying to avoid the beast and hit it with a blast of his fire breath, but he quickly turned it off as he realized that he was also burning his own swollen mouth. He put his hands over his mouth as his lips throbbed, but the short blast he had hit the creature with was apparently enough. The beast burned quickly, howling and screaming as it flailed around the room. The other monsters stood in apparent oblivion and watched it go up in flames. It suddenly exploded in a shower of blood and muck. Brick covered his head as pieces of the monster came down all around him. He looked up, panting, as the other monsters turned towards him.
"Well," he said through his aching lips, "It's been a fun time, guys, but I gotta go now." He tried to get up and run towards the door, but was stopped by the purple monster's whip-like tail that snapped around his right leg causing a long, deep gash in Brick's calf. The monster then dragged Brick across the floor back towards itself and its cohorts.
The grey-skinned monster grabbed Brick by the throat with its left hand wrapped completely around Brick's neck and picked him up. Brick tried to escape the monster's grip and swallowed hard as the monster tightened its hold, choking Brick's breathing. It pulled him close to its face and growled at him.
A man in flowing white robes entred the room and approached the monsters. He had long white hair and moustache and a long white beard. His nose was long and pointed and his forehead was tall and strong. He stopped when he saw Brick and angrily yelled, "That's not the one!"
He stepped over chunks of the snake-skinned monster and peered at Brick hanging from the grey monster's hand. His brow furrowed over his grey eyes and he shook his head. "Not the one I needed." He rubbed his beard as if thinking.
"Although..." The man walked to a tall metal cabinet, searched around in it, and returned holding a cotton swab. He grabbed a handful of Brick's hair to hold him still and shoved the swab up Brick's bleeding nose.
"OWWW!" Brick screamed as he struggled to pull back. He tried kicking at the man, but he stayed out of Brick's reach as he wiped blood out of Brick's nose. The man pulled the swab out of Brick's nose and thoughtfully dropped it into a small plastic bag.
"We'll see just what we've got here anyway. Can't let an opportunity pass you by," the man stated.
Brick panted with anger and attempted to get loose from the grey monster again. "Lemme go!" he hollered, then he gagged as the monster choked him off. The man in robes turned and headed out of the room.
One of the beasts grunted incoherently at him, but the man turned as if he understood. "Do as you like with him," the man said, "Just don't eat him. I'm not sure he'd be very good for you."
He then left the room and Brick faced with the monsters' fury alone.