LOUD gnawing could be heard even over the chatter of all the humans from the dark corner of the lab where the creature was currently hiding. Ooooooooooooh how it lived to gnaw on things and this beaker was exceptionally gnawable despite it being made of glass. Among the gnawing and glass breaking noises was the subtle sound of something....fizzing?

Beaker all broken now. No fun.

It's jaws needing SOMETHING to chew on, the creature scurried across the floor when it found the PERFECT thing. It looked almost like the leg of the stool it had been devouring earlier only BETTER. Overgrown teeth grinding and it scurried, the creature latched them onto the shoe of a woman and began to gnaw.

*NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM*

Ashley had been getting on her protective gear and followed the others into the lab, her brow furrowed. It was a disaster area in here and they had lots to sort out. It definitely wouldn't be a quick cleanup, especially since they'd need to gather evidence first.

The blonde's gaze flashed to Derek when moved quickly towards a stool, her eyebrows raised, "What in the world was-"

And then she felt a sharp jab and...something was ON HER SHOE.

O______________________O

WHAT.WAS.THAT?!

*SQUEAK*

She fumbled for her wand and said clearly, "Immobulus!"

Uh....GUYS?

Cora didn't get the chance to listen for Derek's answer because some other sound caught her attention. What...was that? Sounded like...something chewing or gnawing or something on something. What was it though?

She looked in that direction and started to walk slowly over there but then something ELSE happened when she heard Ashley. Spinning quickly around to face the other woman, she saw her cast a spell right down at-

What in Merlin's name was THAT?!?!

"Stupefy!" Cora quickly cast, aiming it at the THING gnawing on the shoe.

Derek was still looking around, trying to listen better to whatever sound that was. He wasn't crazy, he COULD hear something somewhere...

He was about to repeat himself so the others could see the marks of the teeth on the legs of the stool he was still holding upside down when Ashley spazzed and made him quickly turn to look towards where she was. His eyes widened when he saw a disturbing-looking thing gnawing on the woman's shoe and he dropped the stool when both women sent spells at... whatever that was.

The young man switched the vial to his left hand and also pulled out his wand, but didn't cast any spell. He pointed his wand at the creature anyway and tightened the grip on the vial.

*nom nom nom nom shoe nom nom nom nom*

It had gnawed off the top of the woman's shoe and was about to proceed on to her toes when there was BRIGHT lights coming from various directions. It did not like lights like these. It could not gnaw on them. And yes, it had tried once. Resulted in it's jaw becoming numb.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"

Flight instincts took over and the creature was now running rampant around the lab, knocking more things over as its teeth clattered together in fright.

Perhaps someone should send for some Creatures experts?

She watched as this little creature thing, what WAS IT?, ran rampant around the lab area. Perhaps this had something to do with what was happening here. But WHAT that was, she didn't know.

Two of the women in the room had introduced themselves to her, so she turned briefly to them. "I'm Temperance Gray, I'm the internal investigations liaison from DMLE."

Her eyes followed the creature around the room, hoping maybe one of these people would know what it was. Or perhaps how to catch it. For now, it was probably best to not let it escape through the open door. Taking out her wand she quickly congured up something that resembled a baby gate to block the door partially but still allow employees to enter.

Jade was going through some of the debris of the lab, grimacing as she waded through some pink stuff whatever it was, when she saw that Ashley was shooting a spell at her shoe! Cora was trying to help her. Derek for some reason wasn't but Jade didn't stop to think why.

She immediately pulled out her wand and said "Immobulus maximus!" while pointing it at the creature who was wrecking the lab anew. The spell helped a little but not much so it was a good thing that Temperance had created a small gate to stop the creature from getting out of the actual lab.

Heart racing a little, Jade continued and said, "Maybe we should get someone from 'Creatures to see what that is..."

The person called Temperance was really introducing herself as the mental creature FLIED around and destroyed even more the lab that was already destroyed?? Was that it?? REALLY???

>_______________>

Derek ignored her completely and for a few seconds couldn't decide what to do with the vial he was holding. When the thing zoomed closer to his head, he automatically pocketed the vial and tried to follow the creature with his wand.

ALJHLGJFKCBHCDHSGSN

The bloody thing would NOT stop destroying his beloved lab! And he had NO idea what that was - had never been a Magical Creatures expert; besides, he had never SEEN such a thing.

HIS LAB!! ALGHJDNGNCNFBNX

"IMMOBULUS MAXIMA!"Derek yelled at the same time as Jade. STOP, YOU THING.

ALJGNJBDHKFKHNDHJ

Jade was secretly amazed that despite their spells, the creature was still going somewhat strong. She repeated her spell as she waved her wand frantically at the creature.

The creature had to be connect to the pink stuff around the lab. They desperately needed someone from 'Creatures like yesterday-- none of them were qualified to deal with the pink stuff much less the creature.

Having decided that she needed to go and someone who could help them, she edged towards the door still wary of the crazed creature.

O_________________O

Ashley stood, wand at the ready, and gaped as the crazy creature further destroyed the lab. Thank MERLIN she'd noticed it before it'd sunk it's horrifyingly large teeth into her foot. Who knew what kind of diseases something like that could carry. Not to mention, the thing could be contaminated what with all the potions it'd been knocking over all over the lab on its path of destruction.

The blonde watched on as Derek and Jade seemed to have the same thought at the same time, trying to immobilize the creature. She didn't think it wise to throw any more spells out now, agreeing with Jade that they needed the nearest creature expert STAT. Spotting her coworker heading for the door, the blonde called out, "Be careful not to let it out. If we lose it, we'll be in serious trouble." Because by looking at the state of the lab, she couldn't even imagine what other kind of damage this thing could do.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEECH! SCREEEE SCREEE SCREEEEEEEEECH!"

Running around and knocking into anything and everything in its path, the small creature suddenly stopped dead in its tracks and flopped over on its left side as one of the spells finally hit its target. Eyes wider and saucers, pink drool began to seep out of its mouth and onto the floor. A low fizzing noise could be heard as the drool began to eat away at the floor.

Still with his wand held up and a horror expression on his face, Derek stared at the creature as it fell onto the floor and stayed there. When he realised they had finally managed to freeze the thing, he hurried in its direction and stared some more.

"Hurry!" He told Jade as she walked away to get someone from the Magical Creatures Department. Derek honestly couldn't care less what that thing was; right not he just wanted it away from his la--

WHAT! The young man finally noticed its... saliva? and how it was making fizzing noises and HOLY MERLIN was that thing corrosive??? AWAY FROM HIS FLOOR!!! asdfhjlgbxjbdsfhgdkl

Derek levitated the odd-looking creature and kept it hovering over the least important thing in the lab - the stools. After an almost non-existing moment of consideration, he conjured a special type of vial - Merlin, he kind of got excited whenever he had to use those - that wouldn't be corroded... if that stuff was really corrosive. He made the vial float underneath the creature and watched intently as they all waited.

Jade almost got to the door before she noticed how the creature's drool actually ate away the floor!! That was shocking and made her decision to get someone from the relevant department all the more important.

"Guys, try and completely paralyze it so that it can't do any more damage. I'm going to get someone from Creatures so that they can come and help."

She quickly went to the entrance and got out making sure that she hadn't disrupted the protective spells Temperance had put there.

Ella followed Jade all the way through level three and into the lab. Once she was in, she found a lump on the floor and discovered what must have been the unknown creature.

"What in the name of..." Ella trailed off in slight awe... and maybe a little bit of disgust at the corrosive drool. She had her wand out, ready to defend herself and knock the sucker out if it decided to not be paralyzed anymore. Ella crouched down a few feet away from the gnarly looking thing and inspected the creature.

"Do you want to get a sample of that?" she asked the employees in the lab, pointing to the pink drool that was eating away at the floor. She hoped they had indestructible vials to hold it in...

Ella continued to eye the thing. It didn't even resemble any magical creature she had ever seen before. "Do we know what the cause of this was? The explosion?" Maybe whatever chemicals they had in here that exploded had somehow... altered its DNA..? "And do we know what it was before it became... this?"

With his wand still pointed at the creature, Derek watched as the levitating vial filled up with that strange stuff. For a few seconds he even managed to ignore his destroyed lab and started to ponder about that corrosive saliva.

If only the creature had appeared somewhere else and NOT his lab, it would've been way better.

Derek turned his head to look at the door when he heard people coming in, never putting his wand away. When the Head of the Magical Creatures Department asked if they knew what it was before it became that thing, Derek resisted the urge to squint a little. Ugh, the explosion. "Not yet." He replied almost dryly. They were all just back from holidays... did she really think Derek would leave any living creature there on its own that whole time?

Did she really think he'd do that? IN HIS LAB?? No. This Ella woman didn't know him at all. "No creature was left here during holidays." And she was aware that they had literally just come back, right? No need to point that out. And Derek also supposed that answered her last question as well.

Finally the creature thing was still, and Jade had a chance to go get a creature expert. Cora wasn't about to let her guard down though, so her wand was still pointed at the thing as Derek levitated it and tried to collect its drool. Gross. The way it had actually affected the floor too...just...gross. What WAS this thing? That was the million dollar question.

And finally Jade was back with the Creatures Department Head. Thank Merlin.

"The explosion seems to be the only possible cause at the moment," she said. What specifically about the explosion, though, was the mystery. What things had combined and mutated to form it? Or... "Unless maybe...maybe this thing was the cause of the explosion somehow? And the explosion turned it into...this thing." Just a thought. She might be totally wrong, but it seemed possible. Nearly anything was possible when they currently had so little go to on though.

Well... he didn't seem very happy. But considering the current state of the lab, Ella could understand why. She listened to the man and also to the woman who tried to help explain what had happened. But it seems no one really knew. "Interesting," she murmured, squinting her eyes and pursing her lips in concentration.

"Well, I will take this little guy back to level five then, if you don't need him any longer. I suspect he won't stay knocked out for too long." Ella stooped over and conjured up metal cage on the floor. She opened the door and waited for the man levitating the creature to help put him inside. "I'll be keeping him in back, in the creature holding room. You all can come back when you need to for more information and work. How does that sound?" she asked. Surely no one would oppose.

Jade bit her lip as she thought of Ella's question. Knowing Derek, there was no way that he would have let in a creature like that into his lab.

Listening to Cora, Jade realized that she had a point though and Jade turned to Derek, "Derek, I know that you keep a list of active experiments and their ingredients. I think that we might find a clue about the explosion and the creature."

Turning back to Ella, Jade smiled gratefully, "Yes, that sounds okay to me. You will be able to determine what the creature is right? I think that would help a lot."

Ashley was just staring at the creature, wondering what it might have looked like before. That is if it did get altered by whatever it had been exposed to in the lab. It was a good thing Derek had collected some of its drool because that would certainly be useful during their investigation.

"Either way, it's definitely a creature I've never seen before. I'd be interested to see what you find out about it," And her eyes traveled up to the woman who was an expert on the subject before traveling back down to her exposed foot. Thank Merlin she brought an extra pair of shoes for the walk home.

She then listened to the others quietly, her thoughts on explosions and what might cause set them off. Could a creature really have caused this and if so, how did it even get in here?

Derek agreed with Cora. The thing was definitely the cause of the explosion, since there was no other way such thing could have happened to his lab. He took very good care of it, mind you.

He looked at Jade when she spoke up and considered what she said. She surely meant they could find what information about what had happened to the creature, that was, right? She knew that sort of explosion would never take place in his lab out of nowhere like that. Right? Right? He gave her a hard stare as if to confirm his thoughts before turning again to the whatever-that-was.

Derek levitated the creature to inside the cage and eyed the vial following it around. With a flick of his wand, the door of the cage closed and the vial came floating towards him, now completely filled with that strange drool. Derek held it up and took a good look at it while the women talked. He nodded his head at Ella when she mentioned them going over to check on things. If he ever wanted more samples of any kind he knew where to find them.

Alright, now what? He looked around his messed up lab again. He was almost getting used to the sight now, but that didn't mean he felt any better about it. Far from it.

Ella watched the creature carefully as the man levitated it into the cage. She put a sealing charm on the door, just for extra safety measures and then picked it up, being sure to keep it a good distance away from her side. Didn't want any of that drool disintegrating her nice clothes.

"Well, I'm interested to see what kind of creature this thing is, too. I'll keep you updated, and I expect the same from you lot." She wanted to know what happened here, and how. And with that, Ella gave them each a nod in appreciation and goodbye and let herself out of the lab and headed back to level four with the little demon.

Having finished all the necessary paperwork regarding the explosion, Aron filed it away and then sent a few flying paper airplane memos off to various Department Heads with some further requests and instructions. He figured it was about time to go check on the progress in the lab when his copy of the Daily Prophet arrived on his desk. He only had time to read a few articles before he heard MORE boomage going on in the lab. But a few articles was really all it took.

Holy holly WHAT now?!

Aron entered the lab and stood in the doorway when he saw the Creatures Department Head in there. Oh? Did she think she was like Roxanne and could just come waltzing in here and.... WOOOOOOOOOOAH baby. All he could really do was stare at the creature Derek had just levitated into the cage.

Shaking his head for a moment to stop himself from gawking and the beady eyed thing, Aron removed the rolled up Daily Prophet from his jeans back pocket and handed it to the person nearest him - which just so happened to be Ashley at the moment. "Take a look at this, all of you." His eyes glanced back at the thing for a moment and then to Ella and then back to his employees.

And to think Ashley was worried work would be a bit slow. The blonde's mind was all over the place as she watched the creature curiously, wracking her brains trying to think of what it might be or what it might have been before.

Then Aron appeared and held the daily prophet out to her and the blonde quickly scanned it, her eyes growing wide. They shouldn't be testing on creatures like that. It was barbaric and totally against what Ashley believed in. She also couldn't help but think that setting the creatures free wasn't the smartest decision but yeah, she didn't know what she would have done had she been aware of such things going on. She'd like to think she would have come up with a better plan. One that didn't involve crazy creatures with large teeth who liked to eat everything.

"Well, it looks like whatever happened to that thing wasn't caused by anything in this lab." She said as she handed the paper over to Derek. That was a good thing, yeah?

...Maybe?

Jade looked up as Aron entered the lab. She noted that he looked very harried and carrying the newspaper which he told them to look at and handed it to Ashley who read it and said something about that thing not being caused by anything in this lab before handing the paper to Derek.

Whatever it was-- Jade knew that it wouldn't be good news (when did the papers ever print good news but it might be a great lead for the cause of their lab explosion.

Derek was still studying the vial carefully when Ella left. Once his boss said something, he glanced in their direction, but since Ashley had gotten the newspaper first, he let her read it first. No need for everyone to get their heads together to read it at the same time. Never.

He went back to eyeing the strange substance in the vial when Ashley finished reading and mentioned something about 'this lab'. That made Derek perk up and look over at them again. He got the newspaper Ashley handed to him and his heart skipped a beat as soon as he read the first words of said article. A LAB. Lab. That word got his attention really easily, but the creature rights activists soon made him wonder if things could possibly be related.

He continued to read, still firmly holding the vial. Several other unidentified beasts? Did Aron think...? "Do you reckon..." Derek started, glancing up at his boss, but stopped mid-sentence to resume reading the article.

Once he was done, he looked back up at Aron with a frown, billions of questions and different thoughts spinning in his brain. That thing that had just left his lab in a cage was most definitely not a crup. That would be impossible. Because for Merlin's sake, nothing in his lab would transform a crup into... that... thing! Honestly, it would take a lot of magic to turn anything into that little monster, in Derek's opinion.

But then again, how in the world would any of those creatures get in there? In HIS lab?? Or had it been one of the activists? Nonsense, that couldn't possibly be. The Ministry was highly secured.

............Wasn't it?