For Your Pink-Eyes Only

Chapter 4:

The GRS-2 touched down in the middle of the junkyard. Inside the vehicle, the Grossologists were readying to go. "Alright, sis. You ready to kick some slime?" Ty exclaimed enthusiastically as he rose out of the pilot seat.

Abby rose up as well. "Actually Ty, I want to try something new this time."

Ty blinked. "What's that?"

Abby eyed her junior teammates for a moment before speaking. "I would like Naomi and Chester to take the lead on this mission."

"What?" Ty gasped. The other grossologists exchanged puzzled looks.

"It makes sense. As we saw last time, Chester's powers and Naomi's Gagstaff is our best defence against that guy. Our goopshooters barely did anything." Abby explained.

"But they're still too inexperienced." Ty argued.

"Well, then I say we leave the decision up to them." Abby turned to her teammates, shooting them a pleasant smile. "You up for it, you two?"

Naomi gripped her gagstaff closely and took a step forth. "I'm willing to lead, Abby. I wanna make up for the blunder I did the last time."

Satisfied, Abby turned to Chester.

Chester sighed. "If you trust I can do it, I'll take point."

Even more satisfied, Abby turned to her brother. "It's decided then." She grinned while Ty groaned and rolled his eyes.

A while later, the five grossologists marched thru the junkyard. Chester and Naomi walked ahead of the others while the other three had their goopshooters drawn. "Keep your guard up everyone. Salvador can be hiding anywhere." Abby warned them.

Ty suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw something. He walked up to a broken down car without windows and looked inside. Giant slimemold spores were attached to the car's moist seats. "Hey, I found some of those mutated spores."

"Me too!" Abby called from where she stood atop a tall garbage pile.

"I found some as well." Andy said, pointing to a compost heap, dotted with the white balls.

"Does anyone have any idea how we can get rid of these things?" Naomi asked.

"I can use my powers to decompose them if you're okay with that." Chester suggested, igniting his right hand with dark energy.

"Or we can do what normal people do. Use chlorine." Andy exclaimed and whipped out a spray can. He pointed it at the spores on the compost heap and sprayed it with chlorine. The spores deflated and died as they soaked up the toxic fluids.

Andy then held up two more spray cans. "I picked these up after our first mission. I had a feeling they would come in handy." He tossed one to Ty and one up to Abby (who barely managed to catch it).

"Andy, you're a genius." Ty called out to the brunette.

Andy smirked. "Thank you." He then resumed spraying the composed heap.

The grossologists started systematically eradicating the spores with Andy's spray cans except for Chester. There was something that was bothering him. Something that was nagging at the back of his mind ever since they got this mission but he couldn't set his finger on it. 'Something is off here. There's spores here so clearly Salvador was here but something is missing…' Chester's eyes suddenly widen in realization.

He climbed up the junk pile Abby was standing on. "Um, Abby." He nervously scratched his hand. "There's something I've wanted to say to you since we first came here."

Abby stopped with what she was doing and turned to the blonde. "What is it, Chester?"

"Well, don't you think there's something off with this situation?" Chester asked.

Abby raised an eyebrow. "You gotta be more specific."

"Well, where are the hostages?"

Abby tilted her head slightly. "Huh?"

"I mean, last time Salvador held five people captive for the newly hatched slime mold to mind-control but this time there's no one here."

Abby blinked when she realized what Chester was saying. "You're right, Chester." She looked down at the remaining spores. "And the spores aren't hidden at all. There out in the open for us to find. This is nothing like his previous plan."

"I know. It's almost like all of this was a-

"A trap?" They heard his villainous voice behind them. They turned around and saw Salvador Slimeman's huge gelatinous body looming over them. Before either of them could react, Salvador ensnared them in his tendril-like arms and immediately threw Chester as far away as he could. The blond grossologist landed with a heavy thud in a pile of trash bags.

Salvador then hoisted Abby closer to his face. "You know, you are one spicy el chica. How about when I'm done here, you and I go somewhere private?"

Abby aimed her spray can at Salvador's face and sprayed him right in the eye with chlorine. The mutated Latino shrieked in pain and backed away, clutching his searing eye and dropping Abby in the process. Abby took this opportunity to slide down the junk pile in order to escape but Salvador wouldn't let her get away that easily. His amorphous body formed six spider legs and started chasing after her.

As soon as Abby reached the ground, she tried to run away but Salvador latched out at her with a pair of tendrils, snaring her legs and tripping her. "No girls gets away from me." He chuckled.

Suddenly, Salvador felt a stabbing sensation. He felt shockwaves permeating thru his abdomen before seeing his stomach exploding, leaving behind a large hole in his body. As he stood there, stiff by shock, Abby took the opportunity to untangle herself and bolt away.

Salvador turned around and saw his assailant. It was Naomi. "You again? You and that damned staff of yours sure is a pain in my neck."

Naomi remained silent. She spun her gagstaff between her fingers a few times before aiming it at the villain, a clear challenge to him.

Salvador's body regenerated. He crouched down, readying to sprint at her. "You sure got guts little Chamita, I give you that. Now, let me take those out of you." And with that, the Slimeman went for the attack.

Meanwhile, Roger bopped his head out from behind the junk pile he was hiding behind. He grinned at seeing the green and aqua coloured vehicle in front of him. "There's that Grossology vehicle and this time I won't even have to go near it."

He placed down his backpack and opened it, taking out his spy drone. He had modified it. The drone had now a suction cup underneath its frame and the rotor blades were now retractable. Roger picked up a remote control and after pushing a button, four helicopter blades protruded from the drone's body and it took to the air. Roger remote controlled his drone to fly to the GRS-2. "The best place to attach this should be right at the top where no one can see it." The spy drone touched down on the GRS-2's roof, right in-between the vehicle's cockpit window and its wings and the suction cup fastened itself to the metallic frame.

"Mission accomplished." Roger proclaimed. "Hey, what's that?" Roger spotted a cave imbedded into a huge garbage heap. It seemed to be manmade, mostly because of the stairs leading down underground. Roger approached it. "That's weird. Wasn't there a secret entrance here before? Wait, how do I know that?"

Roger knew it because this had once been the entrance to Lance Boil's old hideout back when they were working together. The teen couldn't remember it but it felt so familiar to him.

Roger looked back at the GRS-2 before turning back to the cave. "Well, I've already done what I set out to do so I guess it wouldn't hurt taking a look inside." He shrugged and ventured inside.

Roger now found himself inside Lance Boil's old inner sanctum. He looked around at the dusty old machinery, test tubes and containers with who-knows-what. "Huh. This looks like a laboratory. I mean, if you overlook all the garbage and rust."

Roger then spotted a pair of broken up cages. Suddenly, he was hit another massive headache. He clutched his temples and fell down on his knees. "No, not again!"

Roger started remembering things he'd forgotten but the visions were blurry. It was like an old film reel of memories playing up in front of his mind's eye. He remembered being stuck inside one of those cages and a redheaded girl stuck in the other. In front of them was a short, pink man with a goatee and a sinister smirk. He then remembered having that same pink man caged up in his own room while he was interrogating him but he couldn't remember anything this pink midget told him. Finally, he remembered a moment of him and the pink man laughing together.

Roger snapped back to the present and collapsed onto the floor. "Have I been here before? Impossible." He turned over on his back, staring up at the ceiling made out of compressed garbage. "I know who that man is. He's the infamous villain, Lance Boil. Have I meet that criminal?" He sighed. "Why does brain have to be so messed up?"

Naomi fled down a landfill made out of dirt and garbage. Behind her, the ever shifting shape of Salvador Slimeman chased after her. He latched out with one of his tendrils but the Grossologist swiftly steeped aside and swiped it with her vibrating Gagstaff, causing the tendril to blow up.

She got down on flat ground, ran a few feet before facing the villain. Salvador came down from the landfill but instead of coming after her, he stared her down. Naomi stared him down as well, gripping her weapon even tighter.

Salvador smirked. "You're pretty fast on your feet, little Chamita but you're so eager to fight me you've forgotten about my old tricks."

'Old tricks? What does he mean by that?' Naomi wondered. Suddenly, a blob of mutated slime mould attacked her from behind and wrapped itself around her body. Before Naomi could use her gagstaff, Salvador's long tendrils grabbed it and ripped out of her grasp, throwing it far away.

Salvador Slimeman laughed maniacally. "You forgot my body parts can operate independently, didn't you? Now you'll get digested by my slime mould."

To no avail, Naomi tried to squirm free from the slimy mass. Luckily, help was on its way. A dark ray suddenly hit the slime mould dead centre and it started to decompose and die. This freed Naomi who immediately summersaulted out of danger.

Salvador Slimeman growled irritated as he turned to the source of the dark blast. It was of course Chester. "You again!"

Naomi landed next to the black clad Grossologist. "Chester?"

"Naomi, go get your weapon. I keep this guy at bay." Chester exclaimed and ignited his hands with dark energy.

Naomi nodded and ran to find her Gagstaff.

Salvador Slimeman faced the blond boy. "Hope you'll grown some cojones since last time, hero because If you're not ready to hurt me, I'll hurt you." His right arm transformed into a dozen whips. "Really, really badly."

"I'm not because now I know who you are." Chester exclaimed. "You're Salvador Alonso."

The Slimeman shrugged. "So you know my real name, so what? I'll still kill you." He latched out with all his whips. Chester managed to jumped away just in time but the whips started stretching after him at breakneck speed. Chester defended himself and disintegrated the tips of the incoming tendrils.

"Salvador listen, I've been thru the same thing as you." Chester called out. "My powers came about by an accident. A mutated a virus possessed my body, mutating me as well and made me do terrible things. Just like your slime mould did. I know you're probably not being yourself right now but if you come with us, we can probably turn you back to normal."

The villain smirked. "So, you got your powers by accident, eh? Then you and I couldn't be more different." Salvador's body grew a series of spider legs and rushed at the Grossologist. Before Chester knew it, the slimy criminal was upon him. The spider legs turned into sticky tendrils that wrapped around the boy's body. Salvador then turned back to his bipedal form and the tendrils that held onto Chester turned into a huge hand. "I choose to have these powers."

Chester blinked, baffled. "You choose to be a Slimeman?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I? Before I was a nobody. Just another punk, wasting away his life but then I met the real movers and shakers of this town. They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. To participate in their little experiment and in return give me powers I couldn't even dream of."

"Who? Who are these people you're talking about?" Chester asked desperately.

Salvador Slimeman smirked sinisterly. "You'll never know."

Suddenly, one of LabRat's grenades landed right next to Slavador Slimeman. The Latino gazed at it for a second and raised a puzzled eyebrow. "Huh?"

The metallic sphere exploded and released a thick white smoke. Salvador screamed in pain. As his gelatinous body came into contact with the fog (LabRat's drying agent) it dried up and became pale and crusty. In his pain, he accidentally dropped Chester to the ground.

"Chester!" Abby's voice called out to him.

Chester looked over his shoulder and saw Abby and Naomi. By the way Naomi was clutching onto her Gagstaff, he assumed Abby was the one that had thrown that grenade. Chester got onto his feet and scurried over to his teammates. "Abby. Naomi."

"You okay, Chester?" Abby asked concerned.

Chester nodded.

"What the infierno is this!" Salvador Slimeman exclaimed as he tried to move. The skin on his left leg had turned white and stiff as bone. Salvador finally managed to break off his fossilized leg from the rest of his body and grew a new leg. He turned to the Grossologists. "What did you guys do to me?"

"We're drying you up, Sal!" Abby proclaimed right before Chester threw his grenade.

The grenade exploded right in front of the Slimeman but Salvador managed to jump back right in time to avoid the smoke. 'Drying me up? Does that mean my body needs to be kept moist? Those guys didn't tell me that. Damn.'

Now knowing he was at a disadvantage, Salvador's body took on a more serpentine-like shape and he slithered away from his enemies and towards an open cave imbedded in a garbage heap, the entrance to Lance Boil's hideout.

Abby quickly tapped her Gross-Com. "Listen up, guys. Salvador is trying to escape. You need to cut him off his escape route."

As Salvador slithered across the junkyard, Andy flew overhead with his Hoover Boats. The white clad Grossologists dropped his grenade, letting it fall down upon the villain. Unfortunately, Salvador noticed. A large tendril ejected from his back and slammed the grenade into a far of junk pile where it exploded, way too far away to do him any damage.

"Gosh darn it!" Andy tapped his Gross-Com. "Guys, I missed. Salvador is heading to towards a large crevasse."

Salvador Slimeman slithered into the cave and disappeared. Andy landed in front of the cave. Abby, Naomi and Chester as well as Ty reconvened by his location a minute later.

"He escaped down there." Andy stated and pointed at the stairs.

"Alright, we'll follow him but stay alert everyone. He might try to ambush us down there." Abby exclaimed and rushed down stairs with the others following her. As she ran, she started to notice familiar details around her. "Ty, does this place seem familiar to you?"

"Yeah, I just recognized it. This is the entrance to Lance Boil's old hideout from when he teamed up with Insectiva and Sloppy Joe."

"And from when he imprisoned me and Roger during that clone scheme."

Andy overheard what the Archer siblings were talking about. "You think Lance can have something to do with this?"

"Hard to say. As always, it's best to be ready for anything." Abby replied.

Roger continued to exam the laboratory equipment when he suddenly heard footsteps coming, followed by people's voices. "Stop right there, you slime ball!"

"Oh crap." Roger panicked and hide behind an old water heater.

The snake-like form of Salvador Slimeman rushed into the lair and turned back to his bipedal, more humanoid form. He looked around the place, seemingly confused. "What does a place like this do underneath a scrapyard?"

"Freeze, Salvador!" Abby's voice echoed thru the lair. Salvador turned around and saw the entire team of Grossologists. Abby and Andy had their goopshooters aimed at him, Naomi pointed her gagstaff at him, and Chester was ignited with rotting energy while Ty was clutching his grenade.

Salvador Slimeman grit his teeth in anger. "It wasn't supposed to go down like this. Stay away from me!"

"Ty, your grenade?" Abby exclaimed.

"With pleasure." Ty raised his arm, ready to throw his explosive.

Frightened, Salvador took a step back and accidentally tipped over a large crate. The moment the crate hit the ground, it broke open and an enormous swarm of bluebottle flies erupted into the air. Within seconds, the lair turned into an inferno of buzzing wings and black dots.

"What are these things?" Naomi asked as she tried to swat the flies away with her gagstaff.

"Bluebottle flies. They must have incubated in here this entire time." Chester replied as he too tried to swat the flies away.

"It's okay guys. I still got my eyes on him." Ty exclaimed. He took aim at Salvador Slimeman, pressed down the button on his grenade but the moment he was going to throw it, a fly threw right into his eye. "Ouch!"

Ty threw his grenade blindly. It completely missed Salvador, bounced off the wall and landed right in front of Roger, still covering behind the water heater. "Eep!" Roger immediately kicked the grenade and it landed right underneath Salvador Slimeman's legs. It exploded and enveloped the slimy mutant in its searing white smoke. Salvador shrieked in pain.

In the commotion, Roger took the opportunity to run away. Without anyone noticing he slipped out of the lair.

After a while, all the flies had either left the room or they had settled down. Now with a clear view, the Grossologists could see the hydrated form of Salvador Slimeman. It was like he had turned into a white statue.

Ty blinked. "I got him?" He grinned. "Hey, got him! Seems even my shots in the dark are flawless."

Naomi hugged her boyfriend. "Yes, they are." She kissed his cheek.

Abby thou rolled her eyes. "More like blind luck."

Chester approached the immobilized Salvador and pressed his hand against him. The crusty skin deflated slightly but then assumed its previous state. It was like touching a dry sponge or dried up sap. "It's like he's trapped in his own skin."

Abby walked up to Chester and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm certain he is alive and well inside of there. Now, let's take him back to the Gaglab so LabRat can examine him."

Roger slammed open the door to his room and slammed it close just as fast. He panted like a sledge dog after running all the way from the junkyard. "That was close. Way too close?"

He walked over to his writing desk and opened up his laptop. He plummet down in his swirling chair and cracked his fingers. "None the less, now I can finally uncover the Grossologists' secret." He stuck his tongue out as he started typing on his laptop's keyboard.

The GRS-2 touched down in the gaglab's hangar bay where LabRat were already waiting for them, Hermes sat atop his shoulder. The vehicle's door swoosh open and Abby, Andy and Naomi stepped out.

"So, did everything go according to plan?" LabRat asked.

"Yeah, your dry-grenades worked perfectly and we captured Salvador. Naomi and Chester especially did well." Abby replied.

"Hey, I was the one that caught him." Ty's voice blustered out of the GRS-2.

Ty and Chester then came out of the vehicle, carrying Salvador's fossilised body between them. Ty was carrying Salvador by his head while Chester was carrying the criminal by his feet. "Man, how can a guy made out of jelly be so heavy?" Ty complained as the two boys carried Salvador Slimeman into the gaglab, followed by the other Grossologists.

Once everyone had left the hangar bay, Roger's spy drone detached itself from the GRS-2's roof and quietly flew after them.

It entered the gaglab.

Roger's eyes dilated, drool ran down his moth, his heart was pumping dopamine into his veins as he remote controlled the drone, getting a live video fee directly to his laptop.

Unaware of the flying drone that was spying on them, the Grossologists entered the gaglab. "Alright, you guys can put him down right here." LabRat said and pointed to a spot on the floor. Chester and Ty placed down Salvador's body where LabRat had pointed. The young scientist then tapped a button on a computer and a force field activated around Salvador Slimeman.

"I'm so glad we're done for today. I'm exhausted." Chester sighed. He took off his Grossgoggles and wiped the sweat of his forehead.

The drone filmed it all.

"Wait! That's that Chester guy that hangs out with Abby Archer." Roger exclaimed, able to discern Chester's identity now when the confusion light of the Grossgoggles were no longer a factor. "Does that mean that the female redheaded one is…?"

On the screen he saw Abby, taking off her Grossgoggles.

"It's Abby!" Roger hollered like a ghost. He clutched his temples, rubbing his already messy hair. "I always suspect it yet I can't believe it! Abby Archer is a Grossologists. Wait, if she is a Grossologist then that must mean…"

Naomi got closer to Ty, examining his face with concern. "Ty, your left eye seem to have turned red."

"Huh?" Ty blinked. "Oh, right. One of the flies got in there earlier. We really should try to make these goggles tighter."

"And with we,you mean me, right?" LabRat sarcastically said from where he was sitting.

Ty took off his Grossgoggles, revealing his handsome face and now less handsome eye.

Roger's eyes dilated once again but this time in shock. He gasped. "Ty is a Grossologist!" He stood up and violently shoved his chair to the floor. "No, no, no!" Once again, Roger was stricken with a massive headache, even more painful than ever before. He gripped his head and fell onto his knees. He grit his teeth and bowed until his forehead touched the floorboards.

Then, it came flooding back to him. All the memories from two years ago that he'd forgotten came back to him. It felt like someone was pouring boiling oil right into his brain. His mind was overloading with deeply buried memories.

He remembered taking photos of Ty taking off his slimesuit by the dock and how he dropped the camera in the water. He remembered accidentally creating a mould monster and then locking the Archer siblings in his room with it. He remembered releasing the mould monster in Ringworm Junior High and making a deal with the Grossologists. He remembered destroying the mould monster only for the Archer siblings and The Director robbing him of his reward. He remembered capturing Lance Boil in a carrier cage. He remembered Lance telling him all about his criminal exploits. He remembered being rejected by the Grossologists. He remembered cooperating with Lance to clone Abby and create a human/rat hybrid. He remembered framing Abby Archer and taking her place. He remembered being imprisoned in Lance's hideout next to Abby. He remembered cooperating with Abby to escape and defeat Lance and the clone, the only time the two were united in something. He remembered blacking out and waking up in his old room and the Archer siblings lying to him.

By the time Roger came back to his senses, he was a crying mess. He had crawled up into a fetal position by the wall. "They lied to me." Roger hissed to himself. "I was one of them and they forsook me."

Author's Note:

I honestly didn't think I would be able to finish another chapter before my classes starts January 14 but I actually got in a surprising amount of work. I guess you can see this as a special little treat.

Not much to say about this chapter. I am glad I could flesh out Salvador Slimeman at least a little bit even thou he's not really the focus of the story. Now there's only one full chapter and the epilogue left before the story is done.

As always, any feedback you can give me is highly appreciated. Thank you for your support.

See you next time, Grossologists!