With quick heavy breaths and sweat pouring down his forehead, Rick quickly threw open a desk drawer and produced a small portion of mineralized rock. It was a genuine part of a deinonychus claw. With a pick, he quickly scraped off some of the rock and hammered it into a rough crumbly dust. He put the dust into his palm.
When he approached the tube, Brendon was starting to sober up.
“Hey, Rick man!” The boy called through the glass, a hollow reverberation. “What are we doing anyway? Why do I have to be naked? This feels weird.”
Rick ignored him. He carefully poured the crumbled fossil into the container above the red compound, and diligently closed the panels and ensured they had latched. He stepped away with one master switch to throw, and watched Brendon begin to panic as he realized something was very wrong.
“Hey, Rick!” Brendon pounded on the glass. “Let me out, man! Answer me!”
Rick scoffed, smirked diabolically, and then threw the large inset lever on the control panel.
Brendon looked up and visibly gasped as Rick stepped back to watch the show. A hot red mist began to flood into the chamber from the fan, partially obscuring Brendon as it washed over him, flooded down the grate, and cycled back down from the fan.
The teen coughed several times before pounding at the glass again and realized what was happening.
“Rick, no! Please! Let me out! I don’t wanna be your test subject! Please!”
The teen staggered in the tube as drops of hot mist began to trickle down his naked body.
“Rick!” He whimpered. “No, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I know we don’t get along! Please don’t do this!”
Rick stared back coldly and found himself panting in anticipation.
Brendon began to warp. A crunch here. A crackle here. His skin began to look rough. His eyes widened in horror as he looked down at himself.
With renewed horror and desperation, the teen lurched forward and hammered at the glass. “RICK!” He screamed hoarsely, voice breaking. “NO! DON’T CHANGE ME! STOP!”
Rick stared back into his step son’s horrified eyes and gasped as they suddenly shifted into reptilian pupils. As he cried out and rapped the glass, his fingernails began to grow out and his knuckles began to grow thicker.
“RIIIICCCKKKKKK!” Brendon screamed, sobbing as a tail began to grow from the base of his spine and his skin began to darken into roughened dark blue leather.
Rick watched in speechless delight and amazement as the boy’s feet began to warp, toes merging, claws growing, big toe shifting backwards and throbbing as a trademark sickle shaped as began to grow.
Brendon’s pitiful sobs and screams went unanswered as his nose shrank flat to his face and his lips began to press forward. His voice grew rough.
“Rrrrrickkkkk!” Brendon whimpered softy, tears in his bloodshot lizard eyes, falling into a heap and sobbing quietly as he grew more inhuman, tail lengthening. “Nooooo….”
He hid his growing muzzle under his arm, sobbing as he stared down at his rapidly changing form. For a moment, he was perfectly blended into a dino teen, halfway between the two forms. He stared up at Rick with a nervous whimper as feathers began to sprout from his wavy blue and teal dinosaur skin.
“RRRRRRick!” He called in a gruff terrified voice. “Make thissss ssssstop!”
Rick stared down at the pathetic half-dinosaur creature staring up at him and felt a pang of guilt…