The Dex-Terminator

“Dexter's created a monster!”

—Tagline for The Dex-Terminator

The Dex-Terminator
Author	Bobbi JG Weiss and David Cody Weiss
Publication date	October 1, 2002
Published by	Scholastic
ISBN	0439385806
Publication Order
Preceded by Dexter's Ink	Followed by Dr. Dee Dee and Dexter Hyde

The Dex-Terminator is the second of the 6 chapter books published by Scholastic based on Dexter's Laboratory, which was first published on October 1, 2002.

The title is a play on the character Dexter, the occupation "exterminator", and the 1984 film The Terminator.

Summary

A robotic lab rat named Ro-Dent invades Dexter's lab and wreaks havoc. Dexter then finds a way to get rid of the rodent for good, but to make matters worse, Dee Dee decides to make Ro-Dent her pet and a sibling rivalry between her and Dexter embroils.

Plot

It is Saturday. Dexter goes into his lab and gets to work on his inventions and asks Computer to display his schedule of experiments. Computer doesn't respond, prompting Dexter to go into the access panel and spends an entire hour looking at Computer's Motherboard. While crying, Dexter notices a power cable that was chewed in half. Suddenly, more of Dexter's machines became covered in teeth marks, with damaged beakers, crossed power cables, and broken wires.

Worried, Dexter races over to a cage sitting on a pedestal to find that it had been opened and his lab rat, Ro-Dent, has gone missing. Dexter then searches the lab to find Ro-Dent chewing on another power cable between two generators. Angered, Dexter uses a broom to attack Ro-Dent, to which it escapes. Later, Dexter invents a Cheese Bomb to lure out Ro-Dent, to which it goes near the Cheese Bomb. Dexter immediately activates the Cheese Bomb, but notices that Ro-Dent got away as he went to look at the explosion.

On the second attempt, Dexter uses his Hover-Pack and sets up a cage full of food. Dexter calls Ro-Dent over and traps it inside the cage. Immediately after, Ro-Dent chews a hole in the metal and escapes from the cage, leaving Dexter shocked. On the third attempt, Dexter dons his Robo-Suit to track Ro-Dent's location down. He finds Ro-Dent chewing on a chair leg and traps him into a corner. Ro-Dent tries to flee as Dexter fires a Non-Destructo Fiber-Cage on it, leaving Ro-Dent trapped for good.

While Dexter celebrates his victory, Dee Dee enters the lab and sees Ro-Dent trapped inside the cage. She frees it, prompting Dexter to jump up and down in fury. An argument between them ensues, only for Dee Dee to realize her mistake and offer to help Dexter, which he refuses until he caves in. Dee Dee takes a bottle of glue and dumps it on the lab floor, and Dexter uses the Pest Detector to chase Ro-Dent out of hiding and to the puddle of glue. Dee Dee jumps over the glue and knocks Dexter into it, prompting Ro-Dent to laugh at him and scurry off.

Dee Dee later finds a box of Whisker-Lickin' Mousie Treats and uses some of them to form an X on the floor. Dexter then prepares the Molecular Transpositionator to fire at the X. Ro-Dent quickly appears to eat the line of treats, and Dee Dee presses the red button. Dexter is then zapped by the Molecular Transpositionator beam and is teleported to Ro-Dent's cage. One hour later, Dee Dee returns to Dexter's lab carrying a tabby cat named Bruiser and orders him to go after Ro-Dent. Bruiser, now frightened by Ro-Dent's squeaks, races out of the lab then heads back upstairs. Ro-Dent chews a hole in the ceiling to escape.

Dexter and Dee Dee run to the kitchen to find Ro-Dent and herd it out of there before Mom notices. In the living room, Dexter catches Ro-Dent before it started to nibble on Dad's bowling gloves, who comes to get them before leaving for the bowling tournament at the Bowl-O-Rama. Dexter and Dee Dee then run upstairs to Dee Dee's bedroom and find Ro-Dent eating one of her stuffed animals. Enraged, Dee Dee pairs up with Dexter to get rid of Ro-Dent once and for all. She goes to get a vacuum cleaner and lunges at Ro-Dent to suck it up.

In Dexter's room, Ro-Dent hides in the bookshelf just as Mom enters holding a plate of chocolate chip cookies. As Dee Dee continues to chase Ro-Dent down, Dexter rushes to his lab and works well into the next morning on a female robot rat named Ro-Dawn. Dexter wakes Ro-Dent up with the Pest Detector, and it notices Ro-Dawn looking at it. Happily in love, Ro-Dent and Ro-Dawn leave the house. As an apology, Dexter offers to fix up Dee Dee's stuffed pony by inventing her one.

Dexter then goes to his lab to get to work on Dee Dee's toy, but he notices three red ants crawling across his work desk.

Trivia

• In the back of the book, there was a sweepstakes entry page for Dexter's Super Science Challenge, where 25 lucky winners would win either a Dexter's Alien Autopsy or Dexter's Drink Laboratory lab set that ran until January 31, 2003.