Chapter 1

Snowball!

Brain shivered in the dark, moist enclosure he found himself in. It was small and the stench of human permeated his senses, adding to the vertigo his dizzying panic that had his head in a whirl. His trembled, the tiny mouse was not often removed from his cage, except in the case of experiments. But in those cases, the scientists merely grabbed him by the tail and he was able to see where he was going. The only other time he'd been completely at a loss as to where he was being taken was when he'd first been grabbed by scientists out in the field, the last time he saw his parents.

I don't want this to be the last time I see Snowball, too! Brain shivered, despite the warmth surrounding him. It was stifling. He's my best friend!

The hamster and mouse duo had been playing happily together, their favorite game of chase and tackle. A simple game for simple rodents. It was Brain's turn to be 'it', so to speak, when the cage had been opened and the little mouse scooped up and away. The last thing he saw before the darkness was Snowball's worried face, staring up at him as he was whisked away.

"Is the subject B.R.A.I.N. ready for complete immersion?" A voice penetrated the darkness from above him. He recognized his name, or what he had assumed to be his name for all this time, and frowned. Was this just another experiment? Why didn't Snowball get to come too?

"Yes." White light blinded the mouse momentarily, he blinked rapidly as his eyes welled up. "Initiating gene splicer."

Without any time to figure out exactly where he was, Brain was strapped to a conveyor belt. A pair of scientists loomed over him, their features blurry as his eyes still watered from the onslaught of light. The belt began to move him backwards, away from the humans. He was partially relieved and partially terrified; while he was getting away from one danger, he was approaching another. I wish Snowball was here… he'd know what to do… he wouldn't be afraid… Brain's tail twitched anxiously. He entered a chamber, strange wires and gears buzzed inside it.

"Commence splicing."

Brain looked up, a bolt of electricity shot down at him.

Then there was nothing.

#

"Neurotransmitters are firing. Brain waves appear normal. He's regaining consciousness."

My head… ow…

"The frontal lobe is showing increased activity, but nothing stable. There's no pattern in the electrochemical current."

It feels like it exploded… no, that's not possible, I wouldn't be thinking if my head exploded.

"Should we put the subject B.R.A.I.N. in with the others? Was it not a success?"

B.R.A.I.N.? That's my name but… no, it's a body part. An organ. I think it's what's hurting right now.

"Doesn't look like it. We'll keep him under observation as he grows more lucid. See if any anomalies occur. Go ahead and put him back."

A pair of tired, pink eyes opened at this. Brain's ears perked up as well as he took in what the humans were saying. His head throbbed and felt strangely heavy. A scientist cradled him in the palm of his hand before taking him through a corridor. They entered a strange room, one that the little mouse had never seen before. On either side of the room there were identical cages, huge and filled with other white mice.

The pounding in Brain's head lessened. He peeked over the human's hands, this wasn't his cage. Who were all those mice? And where was Snowball? Agitation swelled up inside him until he felt like he'd burst if he didn't relieve this tension. So he bit down on the lab technician's fingers. Hard.

"Ow! Little sucker!" The man hissed, hurriedly placing Brain in one of the cages. "Need to keep an eye on his temperament…"

Brain glared at the scientist over his shoulder as the cage door clicked shut.

"Look, guys, a newcomer."

His ears twitched in the direction of the sound, little Brain turned his attention towards a group of other white, lab mice all huddled around a food dish. They observed him with calculating looks in their pink eyes, awareness filled them. Brain realized, as his own gaze roved over them, that he was studying them just as carefully. His fur bristled, his nose twitched, yet he straightened his back in an attempt not to appear hostile.

"Where am I?" He asked, although it came out more like a demand. "And who are you?"

"Easy, small fry," the mouse closest to Brain answered, "no need to be all huffy with us." Brain already disliked this mouse. "You're one of the Project B.R.A.I.N. mice. We all are. And this is where we live. Welcome to the club."

The tiny mouse's brow furrowed. "I don't understand. I'm the only B.R.A.I.N. mouse."

Another mouse snorted. "Yeah, right. You thought they'd just do this test on one mouse? Try 28."

"Test?" Brain's wracked his memory for any mentions of a test, but his head still ached.

The first mouse stepped up again. "Yeah, you know that chamber you went through? That was the ACME Gene Splicer/Bagel Warmer. It scrambled your genetic make-up to see if anything would happen. We all went through it. They're trying to improve our intelligence, hence the name Project B.R.A.I.N."

All the information was immediately soaked up into his brain at a much faster rate than he was used to. He reached up a paw to rub at his forehead, startled to find that it wasn't the same as it had been before. It was slightly larger, not by much, but enough for him to take notice. He looked at the other mice, there were about twelve in his line of sight, some seemed to have larger than average heads while others appeared more normal.

"So what's your name, short stuff? I'm Dash." The really talkative mouse pointed to himself then gestured to the other mouse who had spoken. "This here's Pellet. I'd introduce the rest of the gang, but don't want to overwhelm you, I remember what a pain it is after you first come out of that machine. The world's like a whole new place."

Brain bristled again at the mention of his size, the other mice weren't that much bigger than him, save Dash himself, but he seemed abnormally large for their age (providing he was the same age as the rest of the young mice). Letting it go for now, even instincts told him it wouldn't be in his best interest if he angered the hosts of this cage, he nodded and said: "I'm the Brain."

"The Brain?" Pellet sneered. "Someone thinks a lot of himself."

"It's what I've always been called." Brain defended with a little white lie. It was, after all, what he always heard the scientists call him and what Snowball called him. He couldn't remember what his parents had named him, his only real recollection of them was the day he was taken and whispers of feelings he felt around them, like safety and comfort. "Mock it if you must, but at least it's something I can be proud of rather than something I'd like to eat."

Several of the mouse snickered while Pellet huffed, effectively shut up for the time being.

Dash grinned. "We like intelligent mice, nothing wrong with a name that boasts of intelligence, Pellet. And speaking of eating, you must be starved. Come have some dinner, Brain, there's plenty."

Placated by the offer of food, Brain stood up and began to approach them on all fours. He just reached the food dish when one of the other mice groaned.

"Oh great. Look who decided to stop trying to communicate with the lint ball."

The group of mice grumbled as a whole, the smallest mouse looking around in confusion. All their heads turned towards the opposite corner of the cage, near the exercise wheel, so Brain followed suit. Another mouse was watching them, a big, dopey smile on his face.

"Is he seriously trying to eat with us again?"

"When will the guy learn?"

"Never. He doesn't have a brain to learn with."

"Dummy."

"Moron."

"Freak."

Brain blinked in astonishment at the obvious alienation of this mouse. So far he had done nothing but slowly approach them, only to stop and duck his head when he saw them staring at him. He pawed at the floor of the cage, his tail flitting back and forth.

Dash sighed and addressed him. "We told you that you can't eat with us."

"I know, but I'm hungry. And Doris is hungry too." The little mouse chirped.

The mice all started laughing. Brain could tell from the tone that they were mocking the other mouse, who seemed to think it was happy laughter because he started laughing along with them, and tapped the mouse next to him, one named Cedar, on the shoulder.

"Who is he? And why can't he eat? Dash just said there was plenty of food." Brain inquired.

Cedar smirked. "Just wait, you'll see."

Brain glanced back at Dash, who was shaking his head. "Oh? Really? Doris is hungry? Well, we don't want Doris to go hungry, do we guys?" The mice collectively shook their heads.

The mouse's smile grew wider, if that were even possible. "Thanks! NARF!" Brain started as a hiccup of sorts wracked the mouse's body as that unintelligible word flew from his mouth. "I'll go tell her it's okay!"

"Yeah you do that." Pellet chuckled.

The dopey little mouse ducked down and pulled something out from under the wood chips lining the floor of their cage. A shiny yellow button was clutched in his paw as he padded over to the group of mice and the food chips on his hind legs.

Dash reached out. "Give her here, I'll give her some of my food pellets."

"Zort!" Another tick shuddered through his body. "Thanks!"

He handed over the button. Brain arched an eyebrow as he realized Doris was the button. He stared at the mouse in disbelief, he honestly didn't think the button was alive, did he?

Dash spun the button in his paws, testing the weight. He tucked his elbows in, flexed his fingers, then tossed the button out of the cage as if it were a Frisbee and watched it sail across the lab until it disappeared under a desk. The mice all erupted in a cheer, shaking Dash's paw and slapping him on the back. Brain rolled his eyes, this seemed a bit excessive for simply tossing a button, but then he saw the outcast mouse in the corner of his eye.

He was staring wide-eyed at the place where the button vanished. His mouth gaping open and his ears flattened against his head. His tail drooped like a wilted flower and his shoulders sagged. He didn't seem to register the cheering at first, but once he did he wrung his front paws together in a very human gesture and bit down on his lower lip with a pair of large, buckteeth.

"But, you said you were going to give her food pellets." He whimpered. "Poit. You did, I heard you."

The mice just kept laughing, no one bothering to answer or give an explanation to the mouse. Sniffling, he shuffled away back to the corner of the cage by the exercise wheel and a cardboard tube. Brain frowned, turning to look at all the other mice as they calmed down.

"Oh man, that was good." Pellet sighed happily.

Cedar nodded. "That'll keep him out of our hair for the rest of tonight. But you know come tomorrow he's going to have some new friend like a peanut shell or a staple."

"I know, that makes it more fun for us."

They all resumed eating except for Brain. He'd lost his appetite.

Long A/N is loooooong.

This was my first PatB chapter fic, if we go chronologically through uploads on DeviantArt (I'm cutcrescentheart on there if anyone hops between both)

I decided to try my hand at an 'origin' story of sorts for Pinky and the Brain. It takes a little from the show, but since there are two different episodes on how Brain was spliced (once with Snowball and once with Pinky) I'm doing my own little spin-off on how Brain gained his intelligence, lost Snowball as a friend, and gained Pinky as one.

So, now to clear up any questions. The gene splicing did work, but like in the show, I'm keeping it so that the scientists have no idea that it worked. They're looking for immediate results, and while Brain's mental capacity has increased, instant knowledge isn't just going to appear. He has to do all the hard work on his own.

Those other mice are jerks! Poor Doris!

I know that Pinky is generally well-liked by everyone in the show and Brain is the one looked down upon, but kids can be bullies to those who are different. Since all these mice went through the same experiment and came out similar, they've banded together to keep out the "weirdo". As of right now they see that Brain is more like them, so they accept him. But little do they know that their future dictator has arrived!

And in Project B.R.A.I.N. I believe Brain just latches onto the acronym as his name, essentially the same thing was done here, but as a child who just misunderstood.
All the other mice children either remember the names their parents gave them or came up with their own names.

I hope this was enjoyable so far ^^ Thanks for reading!