Ohyaho everyone! CJzilla here with another update! In this chapter the Secret Saturdays get a vague distress call. Responding to it, they have no idea what awaits them. Enjoy.

As I trample this city under my claws, alls CJzilla has to roar is this: R&R! Love... hate... Review.

KaliAnn: Thanks for reviewing again. Dr. Grey is dabbling in experimental molecular energy. It will clear up in the incoming chapters.

Bookworm1994: Thanks 1994! Here's another chapter for you.

Amaris Solbes de la Vega: Short but default chapters usually are. I hope you enjoy this fic as much as the last one I wrote. Enjoy.


Chapter 2

Plea For Aid

Thousands of miles to the north west of the Antarctic Circle, the temperature was picturesque on the Pacific Coast of the Untied States of America. It was just a usual Tuesday for a family of six. The Secret Saturdays as they were called, were something of legend within the Secret Scientist community. For the not-so-normal Secret Saturdays, studying cryptids was a family affair. As it turns out folktales aren't just legends, but actual mysteries that need solving. Though living hidden and nonexistent to the public, what the Saturdays do affect all normal people more than they realize. Solomon "Doc", Drew, Zak, Fiskerton, Zon and Komodo Saturday are the only ones standing between you and all the things that go "bump" in the night.

Currently Doc, leader and father extraordinaire, was busy with the newest discovery on one of their oldest conquests: The Cryptid Kur and a map etched into a mystical stone. Drew Saturday, mother and second in command to the Saturday family, was helping her husband translate this newly found symbol.

""Walk"-…um… no; "walking"-… trickery." Drew translated a very old symbol on the aged Kur Stone. The curvy woman with seductive eyes and orange and black jumpsuit held a book in one hand as she tried to make out this rare character. ""Forests of water… walking trickery"…?"

Drew fell silent as her husband spoke her thoughts.

"That doesn't make any sense." Doc stated his chin in his hand. "Ocean-dwelling kelp forests could be considered "forests of water", but there's no way one could walk through them let alone with trickery."

The white-haired woman checked her translation and the symbol.

"Well, after this riddle, the symbol is ancient Inca. Maybe "Forests of water" is the rainforest?" Drew answered her husband. Doc paced a little.

"That would be my second guess." He gave her a faint smile over the thought fogging his face. "But I'd like to be one-hundred percent sure. Most of our findings with the Kur Stone were by accident. You remember the magma lizard of Chili? Or what about the Owl Man? We wouldn't have found out their link to Kur unless it wasn't by accident."

Drew giggled a little before sitting down in her chair and held her hands to her eyes.

"Fine, Dr. Thorough. I'll crosscheck anything about kelp forests and see if we get something." The woman returned, rubbing her tired eyes. Doc stopped his pacing momentarily to watch his wife.

The white-haired woman looked tired and haggard. For the last two weeks, he and Drew had been staring at the Kur Stone, trying to understand riddles and link them to landmarks, cryptids, plants, whatever they could to find the location of the next clue. Though Doc could do this all day and all night, he felt a twinge of guilt as he looked at his wife. Kur and its mystery were getting in the way of his family.

"You know, we've been at this for a couple weeks." The tall black man suddenly said, suddenly feeling how tired his own eyes were. "I see the Kur Stone in my sleep and we seem to be chasing one false lead after another. I can't remember the last time I said a sentence without "Kur" in it."

Drew sighed and closed the book on her lap. Opening her dark eyes, she looked over to her weary husband.

"Maybe we need a break, huh?" She asked, a fatigued lopsided smile on her face. "What do you say you and I get away for a little while?"

Doc walked over to his wife and set a hand on the chair's head-rest.

"And what about our boys and Zon?" The tall black man quirked a brow. Drew laughed a little.

"We call in a babysitter." The woman chirped. "I bet Dr. Beeman would be overjoyed to baby-sit again!"

Doc scoffed playfully before he stretched.

"In light of what happened on that night, Arthur wouldn't step two feet in our direction. Besides, I don't trust Zak and everyone else to behave." He couldn't help but smile. "It's probably best that we take them wherever we go."

Drew giggled.

"Okay." She agreed. "So… Tokyo? What about Calcutta? Is Paris too much to ask for?"

"Paris? Seriously?" Doc's eyes came back to his wife's. The woman sighed and stood.

"Just-… just throwing it out there." She rested her head on Doc's chest, listening to his heart beat. "Well, if we're taking everyone with us, we might as well pick somewhere fun."

"One bratty eleven-year-old boy with cryptid powers and the exotic creatures he calls friends… Well, that's not exactly theme park material." The man voiced. Drew smiled.

Zak was the quick-witted, adventure-loving eleven-year-old son of Doc and Drew with a special talent for cryptids. With the power to reach into the minds of cryptids by telepathy, Zak Saturday has a special bond with the world's exotic creatures.

Completing their family of six would be Fiskerton, Zon and Komodo. The Fiskerton Phantom, or Fisk for short, is a seven-foot-tall gorilla-cat with glowing red eyes and one of the last remaining to an old cryptid race of Fiskerton Phantoms. Zon, the newest addition to the Secret Saturday team, is a spirited female Ornithocheirous with teal scales, bright pink eyes and a love for the outdoors. Finally Komodo, a bottomless pit of a komodo dragon with a genetically-altered ability to turn invisible whenever he chooses was as loyal as a dog, unless food was in question.

Meanwhile Zak, the eleven-year-old boy of Drew and Doc Saturday was executing a mission of stealth that was so important, the rest of the day's entertainment hinged on it.

Zak heard only his heart beating in his ears as he hid in a shady tree, inside his mom's exotic cryptid plant garden. Even for being up here for only five minuets, his feet were starting to hurt as he balanced on that branch. How Fisk could hang out in trees all the time was beyond him. Speaking of the seven-foot-tall gorilla-cat, the Fiskerton Phantom was patiently crouched beside his best friend, watching the garden below with a sick smile on his furry face. Today's project: scaring Komodo into next Thursday.

Fisk and Zak put a lot of thought into this prank; roughly two minuets… after getting bored with their video game. Komodo had a good scare coming for a long time now. Since the big genetically-altered komodo dragon had the ability to go invisible and visible whenever he wanted, he was always scaring everybody else; sweet revenge was in order. Now Zak and Fisk were poised to scare Komodo at the lizard's favorite sunning spot. Komodo just couldn't resist the sun-crystals that provided light for this underground garden.

"Remember the plan, Fisk." Zak whispered to his best friend and "brother". "When Komodo just starts to lie down, you drop me down from the tree and I'll grab him!"

"Grabimsisubo!" The gorilla-cat gave a thumbs up. Just as those words left Fisk's mouth, the door to the garden opened and in marched Komodo.

Komodo was two-hundred and fifty pounds of ravenous appetite and teeth. Despite being cold-blooded, Komodo could move reasonably fast when he wanted to; our two pranksters has to hit hard and run fast.

Fisk and Zak carefully watched their prey move into position. Komodo walked to an open, grass-covered area. He circled once or twice before lying down and enjoying the artificial sunlight. Zak and Fisk stifled laughter and nodded at each other. Silently and carefully gorilla-cat and eleven-year-old boy slipped out of their hiding place. Their feet barely made a sound as they tiptoed across the grass toward Komodo. Komodo hadn't moved which meant he was completely relaxed. Just as Zak and Fisk were within pouncing range, the boy stopped. Giving his best friend a gesture to stay quiet, the eleven-year-old jumped forward.

Zak stalked forward and was just about to dig his cold fingers into Komodo's ribcage. Then suddenly an ear-shattering alarm slammed through the Saturday base. Fisk, Zak and Komodo jumped ten-feet in the air.

On the other side of the house, Drew was still talking to Doc, trying to arrange a "Saturday-family" friendly break. So far the four, Zak, Komodo, Zon and Fisk, seemed to start trouble wherever they went.

"Okay. How about this:" She gave her husband a warm smile. "We put Kur aside for one evening, get some snacks and watch a movie. Like normal families."

Doc smiled at his wife.

"That sounds great-" Just then the alarms of an emergency, in-coming transmission shrieked through the base. The two adults groaned.

"C'mon." Drew sighed. "Let's go find out the nature of the latest earth-ending catastrophe."

Both adults ran out of the room, leaving the Kur Stone inside the secure room.

Drew and Doc made it to the control room. Seconds later Fisk, Komodo and Zak came running into the room, Zak on Fisk's shoulders. The three boys skidded on the floor and came to a stop in a heap at Drew's feet.

"We're here!" Zak jumped to his feet. "What's the emergency?!"

"We'll all find out in a second, Zak." She looked up to her husband, typing on the controls. Then there was a concerned and confused look on Doc's features.

"Incoming… it's a distress call." He voiced to his family.

"Distress? From who?" Drew ran up to her husband as he was filtering through the strange SOS.

Zak, Fisk and Komodo zipped to the upper platform with their family.

"An SOS from…" Doc paused, waiting for the SOS's signature. Then his eyes widened. "From Antarctica; Dr. Miranda Grey's frequency."

Drew gasped and nearly pushed Doc out of the way as she hungrily read the message's origins. Fisk looked at Zak and quirked a furry brow.

"IsiusGreyismur?" The gorilla-cat whispered to his best friend. Zak nodded.

"Dr. Miranda Grey. You know, the physics and particle mumbo-jumbo specialist." Fisk still looked clueless. "Red hair, keeps in a bun? Seems to have a control and seriousness complex?"

Fisk then placed a face to the name.

"Oh! Umbumisur!" The seven-foot-tall gorilla-cat nodded and gave a thumbs-up.

"Wha-?" Drew's words died in her mouth as she gave her husband a worried look. Doc went back to the message.

"But Miranda's not sending a visual message… It's worded; just like a letter or text." The super-genius quirked a brow. Grunting in frustration, he put the worded message on screen.

The Saturday family quickly read over the short but obviously urgent message.

/SOS to Secret Saturday base of the Pacific Coast. Antarctic SS base, laboratory of Dr. Miranda Grey desperately in need of immediate assistance! Experiment gone catastrophically wrong, resulted in unimaginable and uncontrollable monster. Help desperately needed. Come immediately!/

For once, the control room was silent. The Saturdays stood there, mouths agape, not able to move. Finally Doc broke the silence.

"What in the world-?" The tall black man whispered to himself.

"It's a trap. It's a trap sent by Argost!" Drew stomped her foot. Doc shook his head.

"No. That message had Dr. Grey's frequency on it. But why would she send a text? Why no video feed? Why so low-tech?" The super-genius held his chin. "That part confuses me."

Zak groaned.

"So? Dr. Grey's video messaging was probably damaged by that monster!" The eleven-year-old pointed at the screen. Drew and Doc glanced at each other. "We gotta help her! Why are we standing around?!"

"Sweetie, we have to make sure we're not walking into a trap." Drew stated, her face soft at her son. Then she felt Doc put a hand on her shoulder.

"We have a fifty-fifty chance, Drew. Dr. Grey would come to our help even if we sent a message in a bottle." The man voiced. "It's either a trap or Miranda's really in trouble. I'm not going to risk her life on our suspicion."

Drew gave a soft nod. Doc looked over at his son, gorilla-cat and genetically-altered komodo dragon.

"You have ten minuets to pack all the emergency equipment into the zeppelin." The tall man gave a small grin at his son. "We leave in twenty minuets."

Zak saluted and raced toward the exit, Fisk and Komodo on his heels. As soon as the boys were gone, Doc looked at his wife.

"I'll send a reply. Hopefully Miranda can hold on for a few more hours." He spoke solemnly. Drew shared her husband's concern.

"I've never known her experiments to… backfire so catastrophically." She voiced. Doc shook his head.

"Backfire? No. I bet she did just exactly what she wanted but it got away from her." The super-genius looked back at the flickering message on the screen. "So far, we're the only hope for Miranda."

Minuets later Zak, Fisk, Komodo and even Zon the female Ornithocheirous were throwing rescue equipment as fast as they could into the super-zeppelin. Komodo was making a faint hissing sound, indicating he was quietly laughing at Fisk and Zak, seeing that their prank failed. The gorilla-cat and eleven-year-old rolled their eyes at the snickering komodo dragon as Zon quietly observe the boys.

"Don't look so smug you walking fossil." Zak stuck his tongue out at the big lizard. "Me an' Fisk will get you when you least expect it."

Still Komodo was laughing as he turned invisible and stalked into the blimp, Zon walking after him. Fisk and Zak sighed as they watched the big lizard disappear.

"He is a ninja and cannot be caught." The eleven-year-old shook his head. Fisk made a face.

"Grabimsisubo." The gorilla-cat gave a mischievous smile. Zak laughed.

"But now he's onto us. It's gonna be a lot harder to scare him now." The preteen returned, rubbing his hands together with an evil scheme. "But not impossible. We'll get him soon enough."

As Zak and Fisk shared an evil moment of ominous snickering, Doc and Drew came walking up to the super-blimp.

"Ready to go, everyone?" Doc called out.

"Yep!" The eleven-year-old boy saluted as his parents moved into the zeppelin.

"Yessurmurg!" Fisk saluted with Zak. The scientists gave their son and gorilla-cat a nod.

"Then let's go. Next stop: Antarctica." Doc ushered Zak and Fisk inside.

Doc, Drew, Zak and Fisk walked into the control room. Zon and Komodo were patiently waiting for their family to join them. As everyone sat down in their chairs and buckled in, Drew glanced over at the komodo dragon and teal Ornithocheirous.

"You two aren't going to like Antarctica." The woman said to the two cold-blooded animals. "It's going to be very cold there."

Komodo flicked his tail with little concern as Zon gave the woman a disinterested look. Drew shrugged.

"Everyone buckled in?" Doc passed his eyes back at Zak, Fisk, Zon and Komodo. Komodo and Zon were quietly sitting to the side, bracing themselves for the slight jolt to come.

"You got it pop!" Zak waved from his chair and console.

"Got it!" Fisk garbled, giving a double thumbs-up.

"Drew, please initiate the horizontal thrusts." He voiced. Drew's hands went to her control counter and ran her fingers along six blinking lights.

Drew flicked a switch with her finger-tip and the roar of the thrusters was felt throughout the zeppelin.

"Horizontal thrusts activated." She returned giving her husband a firm nod.

"Engaging automatic launch." Doc pressed a button.

The ship moved with its automatic pilot and began its reposition for air-travel. With little more than a slight jerk, the zeppelin was airborne and flying over the cliffs that lined the seashore. The cryptids, Zak and Drew began moving about now that they were safely in the air. Doc looked back at his family.

"We'll be in Antarctica within two and a half hours." The super-genius voiced to his family. "But in the meantime, everyone needs to have their cold-weather gear and equipment prepared. This is a rescue mission. We don't know what Dr. Grey's situation is, so we need to hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

"Doc…" Drew spoke up. "Keep the com lines open. If we get another message from Miranda, I want to hear it."

Doc nodded.

"If Miranda so much as hiccups, we'll hear it." The super-genius answered. "Don't worry, Drew."

Just then Zak cleared his throat.

"We've just received the weather report for inland Antarctica." The eleven-year-old stated. Drew and Doc looked at their son.

"Go ahead." Doc nodded. Zak turned back to the consol that held the weather readings for Antarctica.

"There's a ginormous storm system moving over our half of the continent. High winds and wind-blown snow; whiteouts expected. A high of five degrees and a low of 45 below." The eleven-year-old shivered. "Woo! I already feel cold just by reading this. What kind of crazy person LIVES there?"

Drew looked at her son.

"Dr. Grey chose Antarctica due to the isolation." She answered.

"There's no better place to perform experiments on physics and particles. There are no living things within many miles to Dr. Grey's laboratory and so nothing could be harmed." Doc added. Then he shrugged. "I suppose you have to be a little crazy to live there. I know I wouldn't keep my sanity very long surrounded by snow and ice."

Zak waved his hand disinterestedly.

"Yeah, yeah. But think of all the sledding and snowball fights we could have! All of the endless snowmen, snow-forts and tunnels!" The eleven-year-old rattled off, smiling at Fisk. "We could shred every snow dune! That would be awesome!"

"Honey? Temperatures drop so low that you're clothes would freeze way before you got to throwing a snowball." Drew giggled a little. "That is if the wind doesn't blow you away."

Fisk and Zak looked at Doc and Drew before they glanced at each other.

"Like I said: what kind of CRAZY person lives there?!" The preteen boy gestured wildly.

"Forsureismu." Fisk folded his lanky arms and nodded in agreement.

"Be grateful, Zak." Doc smirked. "We had the option of Antarctica as our HQ. If the situation was just right, you could be marching with the penguins right now."

Zak stuck out his tongue at his father.

"Yeah well, you two decided not to cast off society completely." The eleven-year-old returned. "Dr. Grey is SO high-strung, she squeaks when she walks!"

Fisk laughed along with his best friend and both crashed to the ground. Doc snickered with his boys and Drew herself fought off a smirk.

"Zak! You know that's not true." Drew shook her head. Zak stopped his laughing to get up from the floor.

"NO! That's totally true!" The preteen threw his hands in the air. "You remember the last Secret Scientists' award ceremony you dragged me to? We were sitting at the same table as and I told that joke about the booger and the napkin? Dr. Grey nearly popped a vein! She HATES kids!"

Doc cleared his throat, trying to stop his giggles.

"Zak, that was four years ago. You gotta let that stuff go." The super-genius clapped his hand over his mouth, in attempt to hide his smile. "But that booger in the napkin joke is classic."

"Besides, I think she'll appreciate you more seeing that we're on our way to rescue her." Drew looked up at her husband and let out her smile. "She'll probably be so happy to see you, I bet she'd love to hear the booger joke again."

Zak huffed and sat back down.

"Sure. Right after I show her the cheesy rubber pencil gag." The eleven-year-old returned. "Maybe then she'd be ready for the spitting water synchronization me and Fisk have been working on."

Fisk giggled.

"Grossurisr." The gorilla-cat smiled as he and Zak high-fived.

The Saturdays had no clue what to expect once they made landfall in Antarctica. The SOS message they received from Dr. Grey was not clear on the scientist's health status, what type of monster was created and if it could be stopped. They'd know once they got there.

Three and a half hours later, there was a large ice-pack about a mile from the landmass of Antarctica. Though they were far from Dr. Grey's laboratory, the forceful winds and weather of the icy continent was threatening to rip the zeppelin apart.

"Doc, the wind is getting pretty heavy. We should pull up to where the air is calmer." Drew voiced as the zeppelin bucked and trembled with the turbulent winds. Doc was snapped out of his trance and looked up from his radar.

"Then we'll go higher." The super-genius returned. Nodding at her husband's conformation, Drew pulled the controls on a gradual ascent.

Doc checked the readings of Dr. Grey's laboratory.

"Drew, I know the location of Miranda's lab but I have no power reading." The man shook his head. "No readings from any energy source, not even an electric toothbrush!"

Drew gulped.

"Wha-what do you think, then?" She was almost afraid of the answer as Fisk, Zak, Komodo and Zon joined them, attracted by their voices. Doc shook his head.

"In a word: grim." He responded. "And I mean there are NO energy sources, including the energy signatures of a human body."

Zak's face fell.

"So… should we… go home then?" The eleven-year-old questioned. "Cause if there's no human signatures…"

Doc narrowed his eyes as he looked out the window at the big white expanse that they were flying over.

"No. We fly on. Dr. Grey said there was a monster wreaking havoc. It's our duty to stop it." The man answered. The family fell into a mournful silence.

No life signatures that meant Dr. Grey was… no more.

Then suddenly, the computer chirped with an incoming message.

"We got something coming in." Doc studied the source and his face lifted. "With Miranda's frequency on it."

The tall black man let the message come up on the huge monitor.

/Reading your presence, Secret Saturdays. It is imperative that you do not land. Repeat: do not land! Base is destroyed, communicating from safehouse eight kilometers north-west from laboratory. Rendezvous there. Imperative that you not land your airship here. The monster will attack it!/

The family read the message and instantly their eyebrows shot up.

"Don't land? Well, how are we supposed to-?" Zak questioned. Doc cut him off.

"Drew, I'll send a message back. Prime the Saturday snowmobiles. We're going to have to go directly to the surface." Doc then set to work on sending a message back to Dr. Grey. Drew hopped up from her chair and ran to the cargo hold, Zak on her heels.

"Woo hoo! We're going mobile! SNOWmobile!" The eleven-year-old ran after his mom, Fisk and Komodo on his heels.

As soon as his family, except for Zon was out of the room, Doc could concentrate. He sent the reply.

Dr. Grey, what is the nature of your emergency?

He waited. An incoming message was received. What he saw stunned him.

/Dr. Grey is unconscious and unstable. She was caught when her lab destroyed. She has a fractured shoulder, burns, cuts and has not returned to consciousness since monster attack. No power and Deadbolt is down. I'm the only one down here./

Doc blinked and shook his head. Dr. Grey was alone! She never had visitors and no family. His fingers seemed to move over the keyboard on their own/

Who is speaking?

There was a brief pause as the message was received.

/Annabelle Grey. Dr. Grey's daughter./

Doc's mouth dropped open. Dr. Grey had a DAUGHTER?!


R&R! LONG LIVE ROCK!