Slingshots and sunlight
The Hotel Transylvania party had just climbed aboard an Elite Airways Bombardier CRJ-200 that'll transport them to Houston, Texas. Upon getting onboard the aircraft, the characters can clearly see that the regional jet is a clear downgrade compared to their last flying experience onboard a widebody. The aircraft they're traveling on has a 2 by 2 seating configuration and pretty low ceilings. Also, the seats were pretty packed together and lack a significant amount of padding; pretty typical for an airplane of its class. Anyway, the characters had just taken their seats and let me tell you, they've definitely noticed the qualities I've just mentioned; especially Murray.
"Man! Can't these seats be anymore less comfortable!?" Griffin exclaimed.
"Same here; I can actually feel the frame through here!" Wayne mentioned loudly.
In Dracula's case, his knees actually got crunched close together to his chest because of the small legroom and boy was he pretty aggravated. For Johnny & Mavis, they actually had no complaints about it, which is kind of strange since they first flew to LAX in complete luxury in Business First class. They took their seats onboard the aircraft at row 5, just before the wing. To them, they had ample amounts of legroom and the comfort level was average; pretty typical these days.
Around the same time Griffin & Wayne were making their complaints, the Govt. representative had just stepped onboard and he was quite surprised to hear what he was hearing….well…actually, he wasn't. The reason being is that the government doesn't care about how people feel about any issue once so ever.
"It may not be as comfortable as your last flight down here, but for now until we get to Houston, this'll have to do so please just bear with it." The govt. representative said while trying to assure his passengers.
While everybody else was basically going through a bit of rage right now, Johnny & Mavis were actually settled in quite nicely. Meanwhile, over where Frank was, he was actually settled inside a large wooden box which was just loaded onboard a FedEx Boeing 757-200 (He doesn't know though he's on a freighter…the govt. representative told him he'd be shipped by truck).
Aside from that and back to the others, the main cabin door has just closed and the crew upfront were going through the checklist necessary for departure. At the command of the overhead light, the Hotel Transylvania party strapped themselves in with their seatbelts. After they completed that simple task, the govt. representative came over the intercom.
"Alrighty guys…our crew is just going through some final things, but it shouldn't take long." He began. "Once we get out of here, it should take us around 2 hours and 51 minutes to jet on over to Houston where- "
"Hold up a sec, We're stuck in these uncomfortable chairs for close to 3 HOURS!?" Wayne exclaimed while interrupting the intercom.
"Yep." The government representative said over the intercom. "Besides, you guys are going to be strapped in seats even more uncomfortable later when we get there. So just appreciate these for now."
Wayne just groaned upon hearing that response. Griffin just tried to brush it off and tried to make himself comfortable. After a brief pause, the govt. representative continued his announcement.
"Anyway…as I was saying, it'll take us 2 hours and 51 minutes of flight time and once we get there, you guys will receive an escort to Houston Space Center. Any questions before we get going?"
"Yeah, uh…did you guys pack any snacks onboard?" Johnny asked while raising his hand.
"Of course we did." The govt. representative replied. "My associate will provide you guys with them when we level off at cruise altitude."
"That's great to hear, because I'm STARVING!" Johnny exclaimed.
"Now? You just ate like an hour ago." Dracula called out to the human.
"But it seems like a long time!" Johnny replied.
"Guys, we'll talk inflight service later. Just strap in and enjoy the flight for now." The govt. representative called out over the airplane's intercom.
Once that was done, the govt. representative walked into the CRJ-200's cockpit and informed the crew that everything was ready for departure. Upon receiving the command, the aircraft's CF34-3B1 turbofan engines gradually started up, one by one. The sounds they produced were quite unique, while being quite different from the GENX engines that powered the 787 that brought the Hotel Transylvania party to LA in the first place. After the Hotel Transylvania party had been briefed on the CRJ-200 safety features and the aircraft's engines were fully powered up to idle, everything and everyone was ready to go to Houston.
Without wasting any time, the pilot in command revved up the engines and the small regional jet turned toward the active on a dime. While the Elite aircraft was heading out, the FedEx aircraft that was carrying the box that contained Frank soon followed behind. The two aircraft taxied in unison while also joining the long lineup waiting for departure to their various destinations. Mavis, who happened to get the window seat again, turned her head towards the window and she caught a glimpse of the action occurring on the tarmac. It was just as busy as it was when she and the rest of the party flew out of Transylvania; but this time, there were more airplanes and carriers instead of all of them being controlled by just one carrier. Immediately after turning away from the window, Mavis and the others heard the following intercom announcement. It wasn't from the govt. representative this time…it was actually from the pilot in the cockpit.
"Good afternoon guys. We're just waiting for our turn to take the runway here so we can get ya on your way to Houston. Uh…just wanted to give you guys a heads up on something before we get going. You see…we have quite a heavy load today that'll…"
"HEY!" Exclaimed Murray while cutting off the Pilot.
Immediately after that occurred, the govt. representative picked up a phone that pages the cockpit. After saying a couple of things into the phone, he hung up and strapped himself back in. After that, the pilot came back on the intercom.
"Okay…sorry about that." He began. "Anyway, the aircraft today is quite heavy and in order to get up into the air…we're gonna have to do a static takeoff. So I recommend that you guys strap in really tightly and also…Heads up for Mavis and Dracula onboard. Once we break through the clouds…you guys might want to close your window shades. Thank you for your attention and welcome aboard your Elite flight to Houston."
After hearing the announcement, Mavis turned toward her boyfriend in curiosity.
"What is that?" The vampiress asked the human.
"The static thing?" Johnny asked in reply.
"Yeah; it's all very new to me." Mavis confirmed.
"Oh those things are gnarly! You'll love it." Johnny replied with a strong grin.
15 minutes later, the Elite Airways aircraft finally had its turn. Upon receiving the command, the pilot revved up the engines so that the regional jet can move slightly onto the runway. After positioning itself, it sat for a little bit, waiting for the all clear to takeoff. While waiting, Mavis turned back to the window and what she saw was quite amazing. On the taxiway on the other side, there was a huge line of various airliners of various shapes and sizes waiting their turn. This gaze was interrupted by the rev-up of the airplane's turbofans. Despite them being revved to full power, the airplane wasn't moving.
"This is weird." Dracula said. "Aren't we supposed to be- "
He was suddenly interrupted by being slammed into his seat. Mavis was caught by surprise with herself being pinned into her seat as well with this sudden change in motion. Everyone was pinned into the seats as the CRJ-200 rocketed down the pavement of the runway at full speed. As they kept going faster and faster, the characters can clearly feel the increasing effect of G-Forces; something that'll be covered in more detail by the Virgin Galactic representative later. Everybody, except Johnny, had faces of surprise and fear. Meanwhile, the human boy had a face of excitement on him.
35 seconds after initiating the powerful rollout, the Bombardier CRJ-200 took to the skies of Los Angeles. While climbing, Mavis turned toward the window once more to catch a glimpse of outside. However, her view was cut short when the aircraft entered the clouds. While climbing through, the small regional jet shook, rocked back and forth like a little toy while it fought the turbulence. 2 and a half minutes later, it managed to break out of the clouds; giving the Hotel Transylvania party a view of the beautiful blue sky. This didn't sit well for both Mavis & Dracula however as they immediately shut their window shades upon seeing the sun outside.
After the takeoff, and while the climbout was still underway, the Hotel Transylvania party calmed down from their surprise of the quick takeoff and settled in for their journey over to Houston.
The others didn't know yet, but the 757 freighter that was carrying Frank just took off after waiting quite a bit for the traffic on the ground to clear. With everybody airborne now and heading away from Los Angeles, it'd be smooth sailing from there for now.
Author's note: Hello everybody! Sorry for the delay in regards to updating this story. Several factors, including a few that were beyond my control, got in the way of Chapter production. However, I'll try my very best to produce more chapters for my stories (This one, and "Sick Days") and also publish new stories whenever I have the time. Also, I'd like to send out a huge thank you to everybody here who has read my works and left reviews on them. I always enjoy reading them and I always like to know what everybody thinks of my work. I'd also like to give thanks for those who gave me various suggestions as well. Who knows, they might make their way into the story as it moves along. ;)
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