Hey y'all! I'm so glad how well this story is doing, I really didn't expect this. So a few things about this chapter, it may have some historical inaccuracies and technological impossibilities. There is also a character from the Guardians of Childhood novels, so see if you can catch them.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Disney or Dreamworks or William Joyce's Guardians of Childhood Novels.
A steady thumping sound could be heard filling the area around Aster as he clenched his eyes shut and slowly slid to the cabin floor of the flying Dirigible airship, clutching at the railing that was attached to the windows in the small elliptical room. Aster groaned as the airship hit another tough spot of air causing it to rumble and move worryingly.
"Oh yes, I would love to go on an expedition to find Atlantis. I've spent my whole life waiting for this, just expected to go on a boat, not a flying death trap! Why oh why did I agree to board this stupid thing!" Aster moaned out sarcastically still clutching the railing with a death grip. Aster carefully opened one eye and looked out the window hoping that the ride was almost over, but all he saw was the same great expanse of blue green ocean that they have been over for the past few hours. As he tried to see more, the airship hit another spot of turbulence. Aster groaned and clutched the rail even tighter trying to control his rolling stomach. As a way to distract himself he thought about how Mr. De Luna drove them down to a private airfield where the current thing of his despair sat awaiting passengers. Aster had gotten out of the car in shock unable to believe that an airship was on the runway, how the bloody hell does one exist here?! Was the first thing that crossed his mind until another thing crossed his mind.
"Oh hell no! I am not boarding that death trap! It could explode, it could get blown away, it could…I don't know disintegrate in a gray sludge of fabric that dooms us to our death." Aster shouted moving behind the car hoping to put more distance between himself and the death trap. Mr. De Luna got out of the car and raised an eyebrow at him yet also had a small smile on his face clearly amused by Aster's fear.
"And how do you suppose we get to the ship out in the middle of the Atlantic?" He asked leaning his arms on the roof of the car as he stood next to his trusted assistant Mr. Nachtlicht, who grinned at Asters behavior.
"Oh I don't know. A bloody plane perhaps!" Aster answered throwing his arms out.
"We don't want a record of a plane leaving this airfield and the airship, which is named The Moon Clipper, will get us there easily as well as incognito particularly because it is much easier to just carry people in a airship than a plane, which is just plain noisy and more dangerous." He explained already move towards the airship with his assistant carrying his and Asters luggage. Aster stared at them in disbelief as he followed them trying to figure out how any of that made sense.
"Mr. De Luna, this airship isn't exactly incognito, it's a huge floating piece of steel and fabric. A plane is better for staying under the radar, this isn't, and a plane is safer than an airship. How do you even have one?" Aster asked as they got closer to the ship which appeared to be a dark blue with some strange gold, white fabric bellowing on the back and top of it with a clear cockpit hanging at the bottom of the ship.
Mr. De Luna looked back at Aster with an amused smile and quickly explained what was so special about The Moon Clipper, "The Moon Clipper was engineered by my good friend Mr. Nachtlicht here who has been a part of my family since I was a child. This airship is the first of its kind, one capable of actually shielding itself into a disguise as well as traveling much faster than any other airship out there, not even the American military has this technology. It is completely secret which makes it the perfect mode of transportation for us."
Aster glanced at The Moon Clipper still uncomfortable with the idea of entering this floating piece of fabric. "What does it disguise its self with?" He asked raising a thick eyebrow and crossing his arms.
"The moon." Was all Mr. De Luna said as he started to board the airship while Mr. Nachtlicht, a tall pale grey haired man who appeared to be maybe 60 years old but with a youthful aura, just grinned at Aster and beckoned him on board. Aster stood at the foot of the stairs and contemplated the situation, on one hand he could get on this death trap and possible discover Atlantis or he could stay safe on the ground and be an unemployed nut job that no one will hire…yeah he was getting on the airship. He took a deep breath and took the first step to discovering Atlantis. Once everyone was on board and they were lifting up into the dark sky, Mr. De Luna and Mr. Nachtlicht demonstrated how The Moon Clipper was able to disguise itself as the moon. At the pull of some levers and buttons the strange fabric that was attached to the airship became taunt and covered the airship which at first terrified Aster as he was sure that the pilot would not be able to see but he was proved wrong when the fabric proved to be see through yet appear solid to those outside the airship. Aster was amazed at this technology and though he wanted to know how this was possible he felt that he would most likely not be able to understand it and it was most likely a secret.
They have so far been on the airship for a few hours and Aster was starting to regret getting on this death trap but it should be over soon, right? When Mr. De Luna went to find Aster he found him clutching at the railings in a crouched position looking slightly green and he just knew that he was trying not to vomit at the moment.
"How are you doing Mr. Bunnymund?" He asked for once looming over the much taller man. Aster opened one eye and tried to focus on the man before him.
"I want off of this bloody death trap and be on solid ground. Are we there yet?" Aster answered still trying to hold down his lunch.
"Hehe. Don't worry, if you look out the window you could see the ship approaching." He said chuckling.
Aster stilled for a moment and soon opened both eyes and turned to look out the window trying to ignore how high up they were and look for the incoming ship. He could see a large shape down in the water and figured that that was the ship that they were going to land on and he could see that they were getting closer. Yet as they did he saw that the ship was much too small for the airship to land.
"Uh, sir how is this ship going to land? There's not enough room." He asked looking back at Mr. De Luna.
"Oh we're not landing."
"What?"
"We are going to get as close as possible and let down a ladder and then throw the luggage down and climb down the ladder." Aster stared at him.
"Like bloody hell that's going to happen!" He cried clutching at the railing, if possible tighter.
"Then you will never discover Atlantis and will be jobless and known in the history community as a crazy nut job who proved that his grandfather was also crazy." De Luna said nonchalantly already moving back to the pilot. Mr. Nachtlicht could be seen silently laughing as Aster paled even further at his choices.
"Fine. I'll do it." He said just as the airship came to a stop and the door was open causing a strong wind to flow through the area. A few people could be seen throwing down the luggage to the people below as well as securing a ladder above and below. Aster gulped and thought, oh bloody hell, before Mr. De Luna came up to him and asked if he was ready to go. Aster nodded and moved towards the ladder trying to push his fear down. Yet as he was at the edge of the door all that fear came rushing back as well as his nausea. But he pushed it down and hurried to get down the ladder even as it swayed and moved with the harsh wind threatening to flip him off. After a harrying minute of climbing down Aster was on solid ground but before he could celebrate, his nausea came rushing back causing him to run to the edge of the boat to throw up his lunch of carrots. As he threw up his stomach he could hear the ships horn ring out and Mr. De Luna talking to someone and moving away. Ugh… was the only thing that was on his mind as he tried to control his rolling stomach.
Once he had his stomach in control, he heard a rough voice over the speakers on deck make an announcement.
"Attention. All hands to the launch bay. Also to whoever took the letter 'L' from the Motor Pool sign, ha ha, very funny."
Aster stood up straight and looked around the deck seeing his bag on the ground in front of a door with a sign that said launching bay with an arrow. He picked up his bag and entered the door seeing dozens of vehicles and workers. All moving around quickly barely giving him a second glance or a time of day. Though he tried to question the men about what he was supposed to do, none would answer him, so he kept on moving hoping to get someone to answer his questions. Finally he saw someone standing still and seeming to be looking down at a clipboard, they seemed to be wearing a dark coat with the collar up not allowing him to see what they looked like except that they were a brunet.
"Uh, excuse me mate, do you know if I need to, uh, report in or something?" He asked as he fiddled with the strap of his duffle bag. The person stopped reading and turned towards Aster with a very familiar and irritating smirk.
"Yes, Mr. Bunnymund?" Ms. Onyx Sinclair asked.
"Ahh! Uh, it's you." Aster exclaimed but before he could say more a man interrupted calling out to Ms. Sinclair.
"Hey Nightmare, I have a bone to pick with you." He said as he jumped off of a truck that was just lowered down.
"Hold that thought. I have a yeti to deal with" She said before turning to the man. "What is it this time, Phil?"
"You filled my truck close to bursting with nonessentials! Look at all this! Oregano, Cinnamon, cilantro and other crap! What the hell is all of this any ways? And what is this crap?" He cried and lifted up some lettuce practically shoving it up her nose.
Onyx's eyes narrowed as she grabbed the lettuce, "That's lettuce, you abominable snowman."
"Lettuce? Lettuce?!" He growled.
"It's a vegetable that the men need yeti. The men need the 4 basic food groups which is what I supplied your truck with."
"I have your 4 basic food groups! Vodka, cabbage, meat, and sour components!"
Aster stared at the two as they interacted and observed the man known as Phil. He was a fairly large man, really close to his own height but much bulker and appeared to be from Russia if his accent was anything to go by. Before they can continue their conversation though a short alarm could be heard causing Onyx to shove the lettuce at Phil causing him to fall into his truck with a curse.
"All right, yeti. Pack it up and move it out. Bunnymund just follow those men, they'll take you to where you need to go." Onyx ordered as she moved away to her post.
Before Aster could reply, he was trapped in a mob of men that were moving to a platform. As they all loaded onto the platform, he could hear the voice from before call out the same message with the addition of a warning about there being a final loading. The platform suddenly moved, lowering the group he was with down and as they came to a stop, he could see the life size version of the sub that was in Mr. De Luna's office and it was as magnificent as he remembered it. As he followed the men off of the platform, he slowed down to better admire the sight that was before him when he was suddenly hit from behind by some cart. He turned around ready to growl at the person that had hit him but as he did he saw that the cart that hit him was filled with a variety of explosives. His eyes widened as he jumped back, hoping to keep the explosives as far away as possible from him.
"Hey, junior. If you're looking for the carousel, they're in the back. Now move out of the way." The man pushing the cart said with an Italian accent.
"Grr. Excuse me mate-" Aster started to growl out but soon stopped as he hit a long cylinder red object. He picked it up and saw that it was dynamite.
"Uh this is dy-dynamite." He said in shock which cause the man to turn around and grab the dynamite from him.
"What else do ya, uh, got in there?" He asked as it was taken away staring at the overfilling cart with a wary eye and some interest.
The man rose an eyebrow at him and said, "Oh just some gunpowder, nitroglycerin, notepads, wicks, glue, fuses, and some office supplies that might come in handy like paper clips. Big ones at least." He winked at Aster and moved away softly chuckling. Aster stared after him in shock before shaking his head and rushing to get to one of the ramps before they closed. As he approached one of the ramps he saw Mr. De Luna talking to a very tall thin figure and as he approached Mr. De Luna saw him and smiled.
"Aster! Where have you been? I want you to meet Commander Kozmotis Pitchner or as he likes to be called Pitch Black. He's the one that lead the Iceland expedition and brought back the Journal." He said waving his hand to the man that was standing next to him. Aster studied the man in front of him and was already pretty intimidated by what he saw. The man was very tall around 6'5, with black slicked back hair though he had a hint of grey at the temples. He appeared to be around 40 years old and honey gold eyes. He was wearing a grey shirt covered by a black jacket and wearing black cargo pants with shining black boots. He also appeared to have a colt strapped to his hip. His skin was pretty pale but had hints of tanned skin and really he looked similar to Onyx which just made Aster a bit more weary of the man.
"Aster Bunnymund. It's a pleasure to meet the grandson of old Alder. I can see that you have the Journal. The drawings are nice but I much prefer a good English novel myself." He said with a slight English accent as he watched Aster fiddle with his open bag displaying the Journal.
"So Aster what do you think? Impressive, right?" Mr. De Luna asked gesturing to everything around them.
"It's incredible sir. When you settle a bet, you really settle a bet." Aster answered taking a look around now that he wasn't being shoved around.
"Well, your grandfather believed that you couldn't put a price on the pursuit of knowledge, and I share that sentiment."
"Well, uh, believe me sir this will be worth nothing compared to what we're going to learn on this trip." Aster said with a smile.
"Yes, I'm sure this will be enriching for all of us." Pitch Black said sending a shiver down Aster's spine as he said enriching.
Before Aster can question this shiver the voice from before could be heard calling out an announcement.
"Attention, all personnel. Launch will commence in 15 minutes."
Pitch looked up as the message finished and turned to Mr. De Luna with a salute. "That's my cue. Mr. De Luna."
"Kozmotis." Mr. De Luna stated saluting back.
As Pitch moved up the ramp Aster could hear him calling out orders to close down the ramps, so he hurried up the ramp and as he did he called out back to Mr. De Luna with a backwards wave, "Good-bye, sir."
Right before the ramp was sealed off Aster heard Mr. De Luna call out saying, "Make us proud." As he moved more into the ship the only thought in his head was, I will make you proud sir, you and grandfather. With that final thought the sub began to sink at the command of Kozmotis Pitchner and his Lieutenant Onyx Sinclair. As the ship submerged, Mr. Manuel De Luna could be seen giving the ship a thumbs up and having his fingers crossed behind his back and whispering, "I hope you keep him safe Alder."
So I hope y'all liked this chapter and since this has been getting such great reviews and getting people interested, I'm allowing y'all to ask me any questions either personal or about the story. So feel free to ask away I will answer any questions. By the way did y'all catch the character?
Now to answer some reviews:
Infinityworlds: Thank you once again for reviewing and I'm so glad you love this story, unfortunatelyJack and Bunny's meeting is still a ways off, but it will be soon.
Noon30ish: Thank you for reviewing and as you could see I am adding extra scenesespeciallywhen they do start the expeditionin the caverns and possibly while they are in Atlantis.
Sexyshewolf: Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad that you like it and I hope you like this chapter too.
Till next time!