103 25: SHOCKING REVELATIONS.
Meanwhile, inside the House Of De ViL, standing outside the bathroom, leaned up against the wall, were Lucas and Brandon, who were waiting for Max.
"Man, he's been in there for a long time. How long has it been so far?" Said Lucas.
"One more minute since the last time you asked me." Said Brandon.
"Ugh, what's taking so long?" Asked Lucas.
"When you gotta go you gotta go." Said Brandon.
"Well, i can't sit here and wait any longer. I'm goin in." Said Lucas before entering into the bathroom.
"Wait for me." Said Brandon as he followed after Lucas.
Just as the boys were about to enter into the mens room...
"Hey, guys." Said Max as he came out of the mens room. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Max!" Said Lucas and Brandon.
"Yep, that's my name. Don't wear it out." Said Max.
"Dude, what took you so long? Just how badly did you have to go to the bathroom?" Brandon asked.
"That's not why i was in there." Said Max.
"It isn't?" Said Lucas.
"No. Well, yeah, it is, but it wasn't the reason i stayed in there for so long." Said Max.
"Well, what was the hold up then?" Asked Brandon.
"Come on, i'll show you. Follow me." Said Max.
Lucas and Brandon followed Max from behind as he led them into the bathroom stall. Once inside, Lucas, Brandon and Max stopped in their tracks.
"Wait here." Said Max. The 12 year old walked into the stall and headed over to a drier with a sign taped to it that read 'OUT OF ORDER'. DO NOT USE!' The boy pressed the button on the drier and the wall slid open, revealing a secret room.
"Whoa." Said Lucas and Brandon. The boys went over to where Max was and they all looked into the secret room and saw an endless flight of stairs leading down to a cordoor into another room, with lit torches on both sides of a brick wall leading down the passageway.
"Wow. A secret passageway." Said Lucas.
"I wonder where it leads to." Added Brandon.
"Only one way to find out." Said Max. The American boy took one of the lit torches off the right side of the wall. "Let's go." He walked down the stairs into the secret room and Lucas and Brandon followed after him. The kids soon reached the end of the stairs and saw a tunnel with lit torches on both sides of the brick wall. Max led the boys down the tunnel and they soon came to a stop when they reached some wooden double doors with a lit torch on each side and each door having a black, brass hoop-shaped door handle. They walked up to the doors and looked at each other for a minute before Lucas and Brandon each grabbed a hoop-shapped handle and pulled the doors open. The three kids looked inside.
"Whoa." Said Lucas and Brandon.
The three kids gazed in aw at an ancient Egyptian-like room. It had three different walls. A left wall, a right wall, a middle wall, and ancient drawings and lit torches on all three walls, and two big statues of black dogs from back in the Egyptian days. Behind each statue was a large, golden bowl with lit fire in it.
Max led the boys through the room with his lit tourch.
Brandon stopped in his tracks and looked at the ancient drawings on the wall. They were ancient drawings of people with black and white hair from back in the ancient times.
"Brandon." Said Lucas.
Brandon then went and caught up with the others.
"What is this place?" Asked Lucas.
"If i had to guess,...i'd say we're in some underground room." Said Max.
"Yeah, but what's an underground room doing here in the first place?" Asked Brandon.
"Does that answer your question?" Asked Lucas as he pointed.
Both Max and Brandon looked in the direction where Lucas was pointing and saw a big black rectangle-shaped picture frame containing a drawing that was hanging on the middle wall in front of them. All three kids walked up to where the framed picture was and saw that the drawing inside of it was of a woman wearing a white hooded coat decorated with black spots all over it, with long black gloves that stopped at the elbows, black high heel boots and the coat had a long spotted cape.
"What is that?" Asked Max.
"It looks like a drawing of a spotted fur coat." Said Lucas.
"What's it doing down here in this underground room?" Asked Brandon.
"I don't know." Said Max. "But one thing's for sure...whatever has been going on around here isn't good."
"Hey, wait, there's some writting on here." Said Lucas.
"Really? What's it say?" Asked Brandon.
"It says 96/00/17." Said Lucas.
"That doesn't make any sense." Said Max.
"It does if you do the math. 96 is short for (1996), 00 is short for (2000) and 17 is short for (2017)." Said Lucas.
"(2017)?" Said Max.
"I don't get it." Brandon said.
"What do you mean you don't get it? It's simple. We're in a fashion house that makes fur cloths, this is a drawing of a fur coat and it's scheduled to be released some time this year." Said Lucas.
"No, i mean i don't get why those other two year dates are written on there." Said Brandon.
"Oh, that. Well, the only thing that i can asume is that this coat was originaly suppose to be out by (1996), but something must have happened, so they moved the date up to (2000), only for stuff to get delayed again, so they moved the date all the way up to this year: (2017)." Said Lucas.
"Hey, smart thinking there, Lucas." Said Max.
"Thanks, i try." Said Lucas.
Brandon: "But how would someone expect to make a coat like this? There are no animals in the world with black spots, except for..."
"Except for London, England's Dalmatian puppy population, who are all missing." Max finished.
A moment of silence ensues as the kids pondered on this dark mystery.
"Oh, come on, guys, let's not be idiots here. I mean are we really gonna stand around thinking this fashion house stole all of London's Dalmatian puppy population?" Said Lucas.
"Look, i know it sounds crazy, but it's the only thing we have to go on at this point. And lets face it. With all the evidence we have, with the all of the Dalmatian puppies of London missing and this drawing of a spotted fur coat,...Well, let's be honest, it's not looking good for this fashion house right now. We have to find those puppies, fast." Said Max.
"But how? How are we gonna find them? We have no idea where to start looking." Said Brandon.
"Well, we know that they're not in London, so they must be in another city or state. The question is...which one?" Said Max.
"There's no time to think about it, Max. We better get the police down here right away and let them take a look at this." Said Lucas.
"Good idea." Said Max.
"Oh, we don't have to, i can just show it to them on my Super 8 camera." Said Brandon.
"You mean it got the whole thing on tape?" Said Lucas.
"Yep, and it's been recording everything this whole time. It even got the drawing on tape." Said Brandon.
"Alright!" Said Max.
"Way to go, Brandon!" Added Lucas.
"Thanks. I don't get that a lot." Said Brandon.
"Hello? Is anyone down there? Hello? Miss Richards? Are you there? It's me, Auto." Came a voice from up above the ceiling.
"Auto?" Max said.
"Who's Auto?" Asked Lucas.
"Beats me." Said Brandon.
Realization hit Max and his eyes went wide. "Auto! As in Lois's car, Auto! He's here!"
"Get real. A talking car? I don't think so." Said Lucas.
"Yeah, get real, Max. How could a car drive inside a building all by itself with no driver?" Said Brandon.
Max looked at the middle wall on the right side where he and the others were standing and saw a metal gray ladder leading up to a hole in the ceiling that had a circle-shaped vent covering it. "Wait a minute."
"What is it?" Asked Lucas.
"Here, hold this." Said Max as he handed the torch to Lucas. The 12 year old boy ran over to the ladder and started climbing up.
"Hey!" Said Brandon and Lucas before they ran over to the ladder.
Lucas blew out the torch's flame, dropped the litless torch on the floor, and he and Brandon started climbing up the ladder, following after Max. "Hey, wait for us!"
Max made his way up the ladder to the circle-shaped vent, with Lucas and Brandon following him from close below. He soon made it to the top and pushed the circle-shaped vent off with his hand, like a lid. He poked his head out from the hole and looked around and saw that his hunch was correct. "I knew it."
"Knew what?" Asked Lucas.
"Let us see." Said Brandon.
"Hello, Master Max. How is it going down there?" Said Auto, the talking car, as he was parked in front of Max, who had his head sticking out of a manhole in the middle of the street, just outside the House Of De ViL.
"Auto!" Said Max with a grin on his face. The boy quickly rushed out of the hole and ran up to the car and hugged him. "Oh, i knew it was you, i knew it, i knew it."
"Knew what?!" Said Lucas as he poked his head out of the hole. "Hey, what's up with you hugging that car?"
"I have a name, you know. It's called Auto." Said the white car.
"Whoa, check it out! A talking car!" Said Lucas. "Nice to meet you, Auto, i'm Lucas."
"Yo, Lucas, you'd best be movin' those legs before i bite them." Said Brandon.
"Oh, right. Sorry." Said Lucas. The 9 year old boy climbed out of the hole.
Once he made it to the top, Brandon poked his head out of the hole and looked around and saw where they were. "Wow. This secret passageway goes all the way outside the House Of De ViL. How cool is that?"
"And who are you?" Asked Auto.
"Whoa, a talking car!" Said Brandon.
"I know, right? Isn't it cool?" Said Lucas.
"Yeah, it is." Said Brandon before climbing out of the hole and placing the lid back on it. "So, uh...who are you?"
"My name is Auto. I am owned by a young American lady named miss Lois Richards. And you are?" Said the car.
"I'm Brandon, that's Max and this is Lucas."
"Yes, i know who master Max and Lucas are. It's nice to meet you, master Brandon." Said Auto.
"Nice to meet you too." Said Auto.
"Auto, what's going on? What are you doing here? How did you get here?" Asked Max.
"Simple: I drove myself here." Said Auto.
"You...drove...yourself?" Said Max.
"That's right. You see, i come with two different pilots programed into me. Pilot and autopilot. I can switch to either one whenever i wish." Said Auto.
"That's...kind of scary. But pretty cool, i guess." Said Brandon.
"How did you know we were down there?" Lucas asked.
"Easy. I heard your voices." Said Auto.
"Oh. Enough said." Said Lucas.
"What are you doing here, Auto?" Asked Max.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to help." Said Auto.
"With what?" Asked Lucas.
"Duh, with finding Lois's dog, Moose." Said Auto.
"You know about Moose's disappearance? But How?" Asked Brandon.
"Well, you see, when miss De ViL first handed me over to miss Richards, miss Richards programed the Dalmatian's GPS code into my system for emergancies such as this, so in case he ever got lost, she and i would be able to know where he is at all times." Said Auto.
"So that means that if Moose's GPS code is in your system, then you should be able to find him, right?" Said Max.
"Correct." Said Auto.
"Can you track Moose's exact location for us, please?" Asked Max.
"Not a problem. Just hold on a second." Said Auto. The car's GPS screen then came on inside and the GPS screen popped up, revealing an island and a blue-green bone-shapped collar on it. "Master Max, i've located, Moose."
"Just like that?" Asked Max.
"Just like that" Said Auto.
"Whoa." Said Lucas.
"That was fast." Said Brandon.
"Well, where is he?" Asked Max.
"He's on an island called "DEVIL'S ISLAND." An island that's located far off in the Mexican ocean." Said Auto.
"So Moose is in Mexico?" Asked Lucas.
"That is correct." Said Auto.
"Could you take us there?" Asked Brandon.
"I most certainly can." Auto then opened the front doors and the right back door. "Just hop right in."
The kids went over to the car and got in and the doors closed.
"Wait, how do you plan to get us to Mexico? That's, like, a thousand miles from here." Said Max, who was sitting in the driver's seat.
"Let me worry about that, you just sit back and enjoy the trip." Said Auto.
"But Max is right, Auto. Mexico is a thousand miles away from here. If we were to go in a car, we'd be driving forever." Said Lucas.
"I told you i've got this. Don't worry." Said Auto.
"But don't you need a plane to get to Mexico?" Asked Brandon.
"Brandon's right, Auto. An airplane's the only way you can get to Mexico from here." Added Max.
"That's right." Said Auto. As if on cue, the car floated off the street. The tires disappeared and plane wings grew out on both sides of the car.
"Whoa!" Said Max.
"Check it out!" Added Lucas.
"A hover car!" Said Brandon.
"I told you...i've got this." Said Auto. "Now just sit back, relax...and hold on tight."
The floating car then took off into the stary night sky, with the three kids inside, headed for Mexico.