Mark Maffeo
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MARK MAFFEO



Hot Tub Terror

It had been six months, now since the first encounter between Schnozimo and Doc Harrison in the magical school at Castle Norwood. Six months since that low-down, dirty, crooked toothed, crooked tailed rat had ruined his perfectly peaceful life.

Since then, he had devised numerous ways to catch him or smoke him out. There was the blazing torch he had stuck into Schnozimo's tiny little crack in the stone wall, multiple standard mouse traps, and he even bought a tabby cat whose mottled coat had the coloring of a leopard.

The only results he earned from these attempts were scorch marks on his stone wall, broken traps that did nothing but feed the beast’s belly, and a new furry pet that had absolutely no desire to chase rats at all.

The worst of all these results was the cat. He had originally named the cat Killer, in hopes that the ferocious cat would finish what he had started in trying to destroy Schnozimo. Now, however, he was thinking of changing the cat's name to 'Useless', because that's how the cat acted. Even though the cat had the hunting colors of the leopard, it was no more of a hunter than a ballerina in a tutu. All it did was eat, sleep, and poop everywhere but the litter box. Now there were two furry creatures in his life that he wanted to get rid of.

Schnozimo was still the one that triggered the anger in his soul though. It was time he tried a different tactic. It was time he tried the age old trick of deceit and treachery. Basically, he was going to lie.

He had heard about a relaxing treatment that some outside the magical world used. It was not a spell but rather a piece of equipment called a 'hot tub.' He did a little research and decided he would build one of these 'hot tubs' to lure in his furry foe and offer a truce.

He ordered the parts and after a week of waiting for supplies he went to work putting together a rat size hot tub. His of course ran on magic powders, not that unreliable electricity stuff.

While Doc Harrison was working on this, Schnozimo was actually planning an attack on him as well. He had certainly enjoyed ruining all of Doc Harrison's attempts to catch him, but it was time to make a strike of his own.

He searched through the Doc's medicines reading labels to find the perfect tool for his attack. Sleep medicine, no. Anti-itch cream, no. Vomit inducers, YES. Now this certainly had potential. A liquid that could make a person vomit was perfect really. In medicine it would be used to get rid of a food poisoning. However, in a personal feud it could be used as a TFT. A Tool For Torture!

Schnozimo went to work at night with the tiny little bottle. It was quite simple really because Doc Harrison was known to leave food around daily. He also didn't mind going back to the food to take another bite a day or two later. Schnozimo went around and put the vomit inducer on every scrap of food he could find. He also put it in the cups that were laid out as well.

He was about to head back to his cozy little crack in the wall, when he heard something rather strange. It was a faint bubbling sound. He followed the sound that he caught with his rather large ears to an odd hexagonal container with bubbling water in it. The oddest thing about the container was the large sign that extended from its base. It had one word written in bold letters.

TRUCE

And underneath the word was a small picture that showed a gray blob with whiskers relaxing in the water. Did that mean that he was supposed to get in a pot of boiling water? This guy was stupider than he thought.

Curious though, he did venture closer to check it out. He felt the heat coming off the water, but it was not as hot as he expected. He also noticed that the water was not really boiling but bubbling and moving in streams. He decided to take a chance and test it out with a dip from the end of his crooked tail.

He gasped in a quick sharp breath. It felt... It felt... It felt wonderful! The dull constant ache that he had been feeling since his tail was crushed was now soothed for the first time. He immediately jumped in to enjoy the wonderful warmth on his whole body.

As he lay there, eyes closed, mouth open wide in a peaceful calm, he did not notice the shadow creeping towards him until it was too late.

Clang! Click!

A large metal cage had been closed over the hot tub and then locked shut as it was attached. Schnozimo scurried and splashed furiously trying to get out, but it was useless.

"Moohoohahaha!" Doc Harrison let out a maniacal evil scientist laugh. "Finally! I finally got you! No more bite marks on the hand. No more ruining my life! You are now going to be nothing more than rat soup."

Schnozimo tried biting at the bars, but his enormous nose was so big that he couldn't get it through the bars to bite at them.

"I hope you enjoyed the hot tub," Doc Harrison continued, "because I'm about to turn up the heat."

He reached inside his pocket and produced the magic powder that made the hot tub run. He poured just a little bit more into the motor and the temperature began to rise, causing Schnozimo to sweat.

"Haha! I get to sit back and take my time," he smiled. "I truly am going to enjoy this. This calls for a bottle of bubbly."

He pulled a bottle from a nearby shelf and poured the liquid into a glass that already had something else in it, as well as a few floating particles. This of course did not bother Doc Harrison, because he always mixed drinks. They go the same place anyways he figured.

He drained the drink with a celebratory raise of his glass afterwards. "To conquered foes! I can't believe it took me this long to get rid of a rat anyways. To think, that.... to think that…"

He stopped quickly feeling a concern inside his body. And then before he could say another word he spewed out the contents of his stomach on the floor right next to Schnozimo.

"Whoa, I haven't thrown up like that in years," Doc Harrison said. "A little too much excitement in the thrill of the chase."

Then his face went pale. He looked at Schnozimo, and then ran for the bathroom. Moments later the sounds of his retching could be heard clearly.

Schnozimo wasted no time and stretched his tail down to the lock to feel inside with the crook at the end. He maneuvered it around inside, feeling each of pins and the spring over them. He almost had it, but he just needed....

Aha!! Perfect. There was a bone on the floor that had come up in Doc Harrison's first vomit from his drink. Using the bone and his tail Schnozimo picked the lock and got out of the hot tub, swearing to himself that he would never use one again. That was a close call and it was time to call it a night.

Doc Harrison was not so fortunate to be through with his troubles. First, the dirty little rat came in and bit him on the hand again while he was stretched out over the toilet. Then, he went on vomiting almost every time he ate for an entire week. That was up until he found the small empty bottle of his vomit inducer underneath the laboratory table. He put the bottle on the table and stared at it in his fragile and weak condition.

'No more Mr. Nice Doc.'