Symmetrical Stranger Things Book Two

Chapter 3: The Pollywog

Dustin entered his home in full Ghostbusters regalia, a ghost trap in one hand and a sack of candy in the other. As he attempts to make a bee-line for his bedroom, his curious mother confronts him. "How was it," she asks. "How was what," Dustin replies. "The greatest night of the year, of course." Dustin's mom gets it.

Whatever he found scourging around in the trash is obviously in that trap. As soon as she asks about it, he shrugs it off, saying the trap is rigged to make it seem like a ghost is actually inside. After Dustin finally got away from his mom and went to his room he tried making space for his discovery.

"I told you to keep quiet." He said walking towards the tank he kept his turtle.

"All you had to do was stay still for one minute." He set the creature down.

He looked at his turtle and took him out of his tank apologizing, "One minute. Sorry, Yertle. Temporary eviction, buddy."

Yurtle had just been evicted out of his own house and was replaced by whatever Dustin had in his prop so Dustin started talking to the little alien looking thing.

"What are you, little guy? What were you doing in my trash? You hungry? Nougat. Go on, eat."

"Too hot? Sorry about that, little guy."

"You like nougat, too, huh? You're pretty cute, you know that? I'm glad I found you."

Dustin started pondering names for the creature then a lightbulb went off, "D'Artagnan. I'm gonna call you d'Artagnan."

Dustin's new reptilian friend is a tadpole of sorts. But this pollywog isn't a recognizable species. Believing he made a new friend with this baby trash monster, Dustin gave it a home in his room, fed it some Three Musketeers bars and even named the thing: D'Artagnan.
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On the ride to school, Will's distracted. He's troubled by his constant trips to the Upside Down. These face-offs between him and that giant shadow monster have continually gotten worse as time goes on. In an attempt to help Will, Bob tells him a traumatizing story from his childhood involving a white-gloved carnival clown named, Mr. Baldo.

Like Will, Bob was haunted by this monster in his dreams. He was plagued with nightmares for months until they suddenly stopped. How? Simple: Bob stood up to the monster.

"This time, I didn't run," Bob said. "This time, I stood my ground. I just looked at Mr. Baldo and his stupid face and said, 'Go way!' Just like that, he was gone. Never saw him again. Easy peasy."

It's clear Bob means well, but Will knows this advice won't serve him well at all. So when he got to school Will tried to put a smile on his face. After scaring the boys with her Michael Myers costume, Max has found herself a part of the group.

Since she's new to the group, and to Hawkins Middle School, she's in the dark about a few things. Namely, Will's disappearance.

She asks Lucas about Will's new nickname, "Zombie Boy." He tries to explain without getting into the crazy minutiae of it all, telling her the town held a funeral after he was missing for a week. He tells Max about the decomposed body at the quarry. This doesn't appease her curiosity at all.

In class, Mr. Clarke teaches a lesson about Phineas Gage, a real-life railroad worker who was involved in a horrible accident resulting in a rod getting lodged in his skull. Referencing this very real case helps to solidify the stakes. It's impossible to not see the correlation between what happened to Gage and what is happening to Will and Celeste.

The railroad worker survived the accident and seemed fine, physically. But according to Mr. Clarke, his injury completely altered his personality. "Friends that knew him started referring to him as, 'No Longer Gage,'" Mr. Clarke informs the class. That name may not be as bad as "Zombie Boy," but it's close.

After doing as much research as possible, Dustin decides it's a smart idea to bring his little reptilian pal to school. He's carrying the Ghostbusters trap and invites Mike and Lucas to the AV club room so he can finally share his new discovery. Unfortunately for Dustin, though, the group isn't too thrilled about D'Artagnan they call him Dart, for short and who could blame them? After their previous battles with the Demogorgon, and Will and Celeste's current issues with the Upside Down, you'd think Dustin would've thought twice before bringing an odd creature like into his life.

Dustin tells them he first thought Dart was a pollywog, but most tadpoles are aquatic and Dart doesn't need water. He then tells the gang that reptiles are ectothermic. They love heat and the sun, yet Dart hates both. Mike and Lucas acknowledge the obvious: This creature has to be connected to the Upside Down. But for some reason, Dustin is holding onto the emotional connection he believes he has with the creature. He names this new species, "Dustonious Pollywogus."
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Meanwhile Hopper has been investigating a case involving rotting pumpkins in a local family farm it seems to be happening around the area he's already been covering for the last two days but it seems odd... strange even. But soon he figured out his investigation led him back to the ominous Hawkins Laboratory where he tells Dr. Owens that grass, crops and trees are all dying within a three mile radius. The phenomena, quite predictably, leads the Sheriff right to Owens' office.

"Whatever is happening is spreading from this lab," Hopper explains. Dr. Owens tells Hopper it's impossible, that the last burn was two days ago. Owens insists the threat is contained but Hopper needs more than that.

"I keep things nice and quiet for you and you keep your crap out of my town," he tells Dr. Owens. "That is the deal. I've done my part. Now you do yours. Convince me."
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But back at school with the kids As the gang discusses Dart and Will's condition, Mike tells Dustin and Lucas that both Will and his sister acquired "True Sight" which is the power of seeing into the etherial plane. It's good to see that ol' Dungeons and Dragons magic hasn't completely disappeared from their minds.

While the boys meet in private about Dart, Will and Celeste, Max is locked out. As Mike suggests Dart is from the Upside Down and it may be best to take the creature to Hopper, Max begins picking the lock to get in. Dustin doesn't want to turn over his new pet to the authorities. It's at this point that the trap starts violently shaking prompting Dustin to set Dart free. And right before everyone's eyes and right as Max gets that door open Dartagnan grows exponentially, sprouts some frog-like legs and makes a run for it.

All the kids ran out in search for dart splitting up Mike communicates with Dustin and Lucas via walkie talkie. Dart is nowhere to be found.

His hunt leads Mike to the basketball court locker room. He's armed with the wooden end of a mop. Instead of finding the creature, Mike ends up face-to-face with Max. They move to the basketball court as Max press him on why he hates her. For Mike, the explanation is simple. There's no room for her in their group.

Mike is the Paladin; Will is the Cleric; Dustin is the Bard; Lucas is the Ranger; El is the Mage, and Celeste is the innocent. But as soon as she presses him for more information on Eleven, Mike changes the subject.

As Max skateboards circles around Mike, offering to be the group's Zoomer, which isn't a real thing, something weird happens somehow Max falls off of her skateboard Mike helps her up but runs out after Max describes what El's powers are but when he leaves he doesn't see anything.

Meanwhile, Will and Celeste (who met up previously) find Dart cornered in the bathroom. After they advise the other boys on their walkie talkies, the creature screams, prompting another Upside Down interlude for the boy and girl. They try to make sense of their surroundings and are immediately pursued by a smoke monster through the school's hallways.

The rest of the gang enter the bathroom right after Dustin conveniently finds his pet, quickly hiding Dart under his hat. Their focus turns to finding Will and Celeste.

After running from the giant shadow beast, Will decides to take Bob's advice. (Celeste does to) If it worked on Mr. Baldo it would work on this giant thing, right? Wrong. Will and Celeste both stop running as they hit the football field and stand their ground to face the monster. After a beat, the beast's giant smoke-like tendrils begins to enter both the boy and girl's bodies through their noses, ears and mouths. It seems that, much like Phineas Cage before them, Will Byers and Celeste Wheeler will never be the same.
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The End of Chapter 3