Here it is! The story I'm sure some people have been waiting for! My take on the next generation of our CID officers! Inspiration credits of the storyline go to the Hound of the Baskervilles and the Hounds of Baskerville. For the characters:
Avinash: Percy Jackson (PJO) and Alec Lightwood (The mortal instruments); Priyanka: Sadie Kane (The Kane chronicles) and Hermione Granger (Harry Potter); Anurag: Ron Weasley (Harry Potter) and Peter Parker (Ultimate Spiderman); Anjali: Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter) and Clarisse La Rue (PJO); Rohit: Jem Carstairs (The Infernal Devices) and Peeta Mellark (The hunger games); Amit: Leo Fitz (Agents of SHIELD) and Leo Valdez (PJO); Mary: Jemma Simmons (Agents of SHIELD) and Calypso (PJO); Mayuri: Thalia Grace (PJO) and Isabelle Lightwood (The mortal instruments); Rohan: Fred Weasley (Harry Potter and Marco (Animorphs); Shruti: Molly Hooper (Sherlock) and Rachel Dare (PJO); UV: Jace Herondale (The mortal instruments) and Hawkeye (Avengers Assemble)
So read on! I'm saying this once, I'm not saying again: I don't own any of the CID characters except for these eleven kids and other OCs that I'll make up in the near future.
If you're listening to this, then congratulations! You're one of the rare guys or girls who'll ever get to know what it's like to be a CID officer's kid.
Mainly you'll get to hear about how we helped our parents solve a case that was found to be bigger than Mount Everest on a growth spurt. How a mountain goes on a growth spurt, you may ask. How the hades should I know?
[Fine Anjali, I'll stop stalling.]
My name is Priyanka Srivastava. And the day it all began was when our class took a trip to entertainment city.
The morning we took that trip, my older brother Anurag had pushed me off the bed in an effort to wake me up rather than just telling me about entertainment city, which would have woken me up faster than you could say, "Gods of Olympus!"
Ah, brothers. How nice it is to have a brother that'll wake you up painfully. Good times.
"ANURAG!" I yelled as I leapt to my feet and raced after him, while he ran to hide from me, laughing all the way. After running about trying to find him, I gave up and retreated to the bathroom. After brushing my teeth, I ran down the stairs to the kitchen to get my coffee - milky and sweet. [Of course I have to run, Anjali. It's my job.]
My mom, Tarika Srivastava chuckled as I got to my coffee cup. "Somebody's excited today." She said, ruffling my hair.
"Of course she is." Anurag called out. "We're going to entertainment city, mom. The entertainment city." He sauntered in, his glasses having been freshly wiped. "Ooh, coffee." He said, eagerly scooping up his mug.
"Our fixer upper." I agreed.
"Please don't tell me you're still obsessed with that movie." Dad said as he walked into the kitchen as well.
"It is not an obsession." I reminded him sweetly. "'Frozen' is an amazing movie that will always be part of my life."
"Dear god, help us all." He muttered as he made his way over to mom. "Good morning, Tarika ji." He said, kissing mom's forehead. She smiled at that.
"So everyone's up!" Mom declared. "You three better get ready fast. Chitrole's coming over for inspection and the last thing we need is his criticism again."
"I'm already ready." Dad said. "Gulp down your coffee, you two and get ready for the trip, or I'm not taking either of you to CID bureau."
Long story short, we did get ready fast, even if Anurag ended up hogging the bathroom for a longer time than me. We didn't have to wear school uniforms or anything, so I put on a green shirt, wore black jeans and even threw in my black puma sneakers. What can I say? I'm a Slytherin.
In a while we got to CID bureau, from where we would catch our bus to school FYI. As we made our way to the bureau, we heard voices.
"Pirates!"
"Ninjas!"
"Pirates!"
"Ninjas!"
"What the hades is going on?" I asked, irritated as we entered the bureau to find our friends Mayuri and Rohan glaring at each other while the others were looking at them, trying not to laugh.
"They're having this argument over which is better: Pirates or Ninjas." Anjali my best mate, told me.
"I say Pirates." Rohan said, crossing his arms.
"I still say Ninjas." Mayuri said, flexing her arms.
"Guys, guys." Rohit said, carefully approaching the two of them. "Arguing over something like this isn't going to be productive. Come on!" He complained as Mayuri punched his arm.
I'd better fill you in on us people, in the case you are completely confused as to who we are. Well, first things first; we're the CID legacies.
Confused? Like I said, we're the kids of the CID officers. Since we are the legacy of the CID (and if you don't know what a legacy is, then shame on you.) we call ourselves the CID legacies. And there are twelve of us legacies.
Legacy number one is Avinash Pradyuman, adoptive grandson of ACP Pradyuman and leader of our gang. Avinash had been six years old when he'd run away from his abusive parents who were later murdered by their business partners for hiding some scandal. ACP uncle had adopted him since they were close to each other during the whole fiasco.
The thing about him is that he's not a rule breaker. Sure, he'll do so according to situation, but most of the time he prefers following the rules. He's rather good looking and we have a close relationship, since I'm his second in command. And I really, really like him, since he can cheer me up with his jokes when I'm down. [Anjali, shut up. Shut up right now. I don't like him that way!]
Then there's me. What can I say about myself? Nothing much of interest. Just the fact I'm a HUGE fangirl. My fandoms are Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Sherlock, Divergent, Hunger Games…yeah, there's a lot.
Legacy number three happens to be my brother Anurag Srivastava. He's the chemistry genius and loves that subject like no other. He's also something of a looker but he's also a tad clueless when it comes to dealing with people of the opposite gender. Small wonder why his flirting attempts with the ladies always go wrong.
Number four is my best friend Anjali Shetty. She's Daya uncle and Shreya aunty's daughter, so that means she's the strongest girl in our gang. She's also a feminist, so she really doesn't like people who make sexist remarks, punching being her final solution to any problem. She has a short temper, which has got her into trouble in school a lot. And I'm probably going to get punched for saying this, but she and Anurag like each other. [Admit it Anjali. You do.] Number five's her more responsible and mature twin brother Rohit, who often plays the role of peacemaker in the gang.
Six and seven are Freddy uncle's son and Pankaj uncle's daughter Amit Phadnis and Mary Nagrath, 'the inventors' as we call them. Unlike Freddy uncle, Amit loves the paranormal and does research on them whenever possible. He can make anything, from origami to paper water bombs and a lot of stuff with pencils, erasers and rubber bands. Don't ask.
Mary on the other hand can make stuff, but she's the mother hen of the group. The best part about her is her compassionate side. She's always ready to hear anyoneout, whether they want to discuss about something or rant about someone. She's scared of blood, but that does not make her a coward in any way. She's also amazing at sketching and painting. We all agree to the fact that if Mary hadn't been around all this time, then all of us wouldn't have survived either from starvation or from what crazy crap we usually come up with.
Number eight is Mayuri Pandey, Sachin uncle and Anita aunty's daughter. And let me tell you something. You do NOT want, under any circumstances, to make this girl your enemy as she is both a dancer and a karate champion who takes offense to sexist remarks. She has a habit of talking back to people who insult her, which sadly has landed her in trouble a couple of times in school.
Number nine is Rohan Shukla, Nikhil uncle and Purvi aunty's son and a prankster. He has a great sense of humor and is the bane of majority of the teachers in our school thanks to all his pranks. He and Mayuri have been best friends since pre-school, so they know each other inside out. He can be a tad rude and tactless at times, but he's a fun guy to hang out with.
Ten and eleven are Shruti and UV Kumar, Rajat uncle and Meghna aunty's kids. Shruti's the older and more mature sibling. She's a whiz at SST and chemistry, so whenever we get into trouble in these subjects (which is more often than not), we get to her for the help we need. UV is younger than her by a year and is a computer expert. As we say, he can be smart when he wants to be. He's Rohan's second best friend and generally when he gets into trouble, he's called Udayveer either by Shruti or by his mom (and in some exceptionally rare cases, his Dad).
The last legacy is Anandmayi 'Anandi' Williams, Mayuri's cousin and Kavin uncle's daughter. She goes to another school (Bhavans) while the rest of us go to DPS. To top it off, she and UV are dating. Don't ask us how that happened.
Now, back to story.
"Mayuri, Rohan, give it a rest!" I told them whilst shaking my head. "Pirates and Ninjas are equally great! Happy?"
"Nope." Mayuri shook her head.
"Absolutely not." Rohan said as well. Thankfully Avinash spared us from further comparisons by looking out of the window and saying, "Hey, our bus has arrived!"
I swear I've never seen anyone move so quickly before. Entertainment city must be that motivating.
It was a rather beautiful day at the park when we got there. The sky was a bright blue, the weather was perfect…nothing indicated any sign of impending trouble.
Now let me tell you something; I'd seen some pretty big amusement parks, but Entertainment City was huge. There were rides everywhere: there were roller coasters of all shapes and sizes; an impressive ride known as the tornado, a roller coaster which chucked you around in your seat as it spun around like a tornado; a giant Ferris wheel; a water ride called the oasis ride; a 'haunted' house and lots of video and simulation games along with laser tag and paintball, to name a few.
We split up into groups. Us girls decided to check out the more extreme rides while the guys went off exploring the shops for snacks. By the time lunch time came around, we'd gone on the tornado, the oasis ride, Taga disco(huge dancing floor which spins and jerks; we had to try and keep standing as the ride went on), laser tag and a rather peaceful river cruise (read: FAKE RIVER) while the guys had gone on other roller coasters and shopped for cotton candy and other snacks. (DISCLAIMER: Under no circumstances are you to try the tornado unless you do not have a fear of heights, you have glasses which won't break even after a forty thousand kilometer drop and if you can walk on the ground after the ride without throwing up)
"Useless, I tell you." Mayuri shook her head at the boys. "We had so much fun, and all you guys did was shop and go on a few measly roller coasters?"
"Well, on the plus side, I got to stock up on my prank supplies." Rohan held up his back pack. "The shops here are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Much better than the stores nearby home. Anyhow, what's the agenda? Do we have lunch, or we go on another ride?"
"I vote for lunch." UV exclaimed. Like most boys, UV Kumar was solely motivated in life by the needs of his stomach.
"No man. We still have time for another ride. Why don't we go in the haunted house?" Anurag suggested. Rohit snorted at the suggestion.
"The haunted house? Utter bull. Aahat creeps me out more than that, and let me tell you; Aahat is ridiculous."
"Well," Avinash spoke thoughtfully. "The girls could use a nice walk. Plus, we could directly go to lunch from there. There's a pizzeria nearby from where we can have our lunch. I vote for the haunted house."
Avinash Pradyuman: Solving crisis's for boys and girls from the age of ten. He had solved the problem for all of us through his tactical approach. [Now what are you laughing at, Anjali?]
The haunted house was ridiculous. From the outside, it looked like Dracula's castle-if the castle had been made from worn out plastic- and inside, was a whole array of wax figures, fake hellhounds, broken robots and a lot of fake and mechanical evil laughter that bounced off poorly hidden speakers. Little kids clung to their mommies and daddies as they shrieked when they saw the fake statues. Us? We walked as we tried not to laugh.
I walked beside Avinash. Avinash was my best guy friend and a close confidante. We could converse with each other easily since we knew each other inside out. Plus he could cheer me up when I felt irritable or sad, so I loved to hang out with him.
"Lovely attempts, don't you think?" Avinash pointed at a clearly fake bloodstain. "They just need to add the ghosts from 'Aahat' to complete the show."
"Pakya ke andar maa ki Aatma." I joked, remembering that rather silly episode 'Possessed shoes'. "Or we could always put Mathew sir. His visage is enough to scare people."
"Bloody Physics teacher. Did you hear what he did to that sixth grader the other day?"
"What did he do?"
"Mathew sir makes a mistake. Sixth grader tries to say the correct thing. Sir becomes a prat and chews out the poor girl pretty badly and then finds out about the mistake."
"Did he apologize?"
"The day Mathew sir apologizes is the day grandpa regrows his hair back." Avinash said, and whistled. "Look at that. The bloodstains look realer and realer by the second."
"Hurry up, slow coaches!" Anjali yelled at us. We looked up to see her at the end of the hallway. The others had overtaken us. "Amit and Mary are long gone! Are you planning on reaching the exit by nine PM?"
We were about to respond, when we heard a loud scream from the end of the hallway. We paled as we ran to the room from where the scream had come from, as the scream belonged to Mary. When we entered the graveyard exhibit, what we saw there made our jaws drop open.
A hellhound the size of a small car glared at us. It had a rather hellish appearance, with red, flaming eyes that looked too real to be fake and had a large amount of blood on its paws and its mouth. It growled at us and sprung at us. Had not Anurag and Anjali pulled us away at the correct time, I swear we would have turned into kibbles n' human bits. The hellhound raced out of the room, its paws leaving bloody paw prints on the smooth marble floor.
We then turned to Mary, who looked white with fear as she covered her mouth with one hand and pointed behind us with the other. We turned around to see the mangled, bloody dead body of our Physics teacher looking vacantly at the ceiling, huge scratches and deep slashes on his arms and chest.
I have to admit, when I had hoped our Physics teacher would leave us all for eternity, I did not expect him to leave this way.
"My god…" Avinash gasped, his eyes widening in shock. Mary whimpered; the pool of blood surrounding the body was huge. Avinash turned to face Mary and Amit, who was supporting her in case she fainted.
"Amit, I want you to take Mary out. Get her some ice cream, that works wonders for her. Then call your Dad. Make sure no one else gets inside the haunted house. Notify an adult as well, you get me?"
"Got it boss." Amit and Mary hurried out as Avinash dished instructions out to the rest of us present there. "Mayuri, you and Rohan get to the entrance and wait for our parents. Anurag, Rohit and Anjali, you guys get everyone out of here. UV and Shruti, you guys make sure no one disturbs the area until the officers arrive."
"What about me?" I asked him.
"We follow the paw prints." He started walking in the direction of the paw prints without waiting. I followed him a second later, surveying the area. The hellhound had chosen a remote area for its escape, since the only people there were the janitor and a couple, who were scurrying out in fright. The prints were getting fainter and fainter and finally vanished at a door which led to an exit to the parking lot.
"This was deliberate." I commented.
"How?"
"Let's see. From what I'm seeing, a dog can't open the door on its own so someone must have left it open. It's either that or the janitor was careless. And, the parking area is huge. Even if we had run, we'd have seen a dog the size of a small vehicle running around here by the time we reached, due to the small amount of vehicles. So translation: someone got this dog to kill sir, and whisked it off as soon as possible."
"Good work." Avinash complimented me. My face warmed.
"Thanks. Now let's get back." We ran back the way we came to wait for the CID officers to come. About ten to fifteen minutes later, Mayuri and Rohan came back with Dad, Daya uncle, Shreya aunty, Sachin uncle and Anita aunty and directed them to the fake graveyard.
"Ze crime scene, messiers et madams." UV waved his hand in the direction of the dead body in a horrible fake French accent.
"It's 'monsieurs' and 'madames', UV." Mayuri corrected him. "And that French accent was so bad, even a Hindi student could tell if it was fake or not." UV, being the mature boy he is, stuck his tongue out at her, much to everyone's amusement.
"Ahem." Anita aunty coughed. "What happened here? And who is he?"
We explained everything that had occurred so far, from the haunted house entry to the escape of the hound. When I'd finished explaining my theory about this being deliberate, Dad turned to Daya uncle.
"Daya?" He asked him, an impressed look on his face.
"Yes Abhijeet?"
"I think we should leave the investigation process to our children itself. We just have to follow them and do the hard work of running and catching the killers."
"Exactly, Abhijeet. You children did a pretty fine job today." Daya uncle told us. Anjali grinned at the compliment and Rohit looked proud. Mayuri suddenly looked at the crowd behind her parents. Her facial expression changed into one of disgust and barely concealed annoyance.
"I've had it with that joker!" She stormed into the crowd, leaving Sachin uncle and Anita aunty look at her in confusion.
"Kalsi's trying to flirt with her again." Rohan explained. "After effects can be heard in three, two, one…" We all heard a THWACK! In the background.
"Who?" Anita aunty asked.
"Rohan Kalsi. He's her classmate."
"Never mind. Sachin, call the ambulance and get the body to the forensics lab. You kids are coming back with us." Dad told whomsoever he addressed, and was met with an indignant shout from UV and Rohan on the necessity of food. The issue was settled with take outs from the nearby Papa John's pizzeria.
In the bureau, as soon as the pizza boxes were opened, naturally the conversation went to the murder and the hound.
"Why would anyone want to kill off Mathew sir?" Shruti curiously asked.
"He was rude, insensitive and a jerk. But that doesn't give anyone the right to kill him." A calmer Mary merely picked at her pizza as she said this.
"We're having a two day holiday for mourning." Rohan informed us.
"How about we check out what's really going on tomorrow? I mean, our parents are investigating-" Anurag began.
"Not me." Mary shuddered. "I'm staying at home and working on my history PowerPoint presentation."
"I'd sit this one out for the same reason." Amit said as well.
"Let's not do anything reckless. Why don't we let the grownups handle this?" I suggested.
"We'll think about it later. Now, finish those pizzas!" Rohan commanded as he took a big bite out of his slice.
"That," Mayuri gagged, "Is incredibly disgusting."
As the conversation went to less gruesome topics, none of us gave a thought about the course of events occurring in the future.
So, how was it? A far cry from the universe Poesiariptide has created, but I gave it my best shot. Which character did you like the best? Which scene was your favorite?
As for the names, I borrowed the name 'Rohan Kalsi' from one of the guys in tenth grade in my school. Rohan, if you're reading this or if anyone knowing Kalsi is reading this, then I mean no offence at all.
Rate and Review, my lovelies!