Tracy Island movie verse POV, 03:30 AM, 4th day since Gords and Als arrival
Pandemonium. It was the only way to describe it.
The alarms were blaring, waking all the inhabitants of Tracy Island up. Red lights flashed angerly throughout the house! Speakers screaming "Intruder alert, intruder alert!". The intruder system had been updated after the Hood had invaded their home a few years ago. It being activated, struck terror into the Islands residents.
Memories of their near demise, jumping to the forefront of their minds.
Sleep addled minds desperately trying to get their bearings. Sheets were thrown off newly awakened bodies, as they flung themselves out of bed. Fear, helping them jump into action.
The sound of feet hitting the floor echoed throughout the house, as a flood of pyjama clad people ran towards the command centre. Desperately wishing to get some answers. Dread taking a firm hold over them.
One after one, they arrived in the command centre. Expressions grave on their faces, with sleep tussled hair.
"What is going on?" Scott demanded, as soon as he entered the room.
His father, Jeff, was a few steps ahead of him, practically throwing himself over the computer. "I don't know yet Scooter, but you will know as soon as I do!".
Brains made it into the room, breathing heavy, after his sprint from his house beside the Tracy's. "Jeff, let me take over! I'm quicker!" he demanded.
Jeff relinquished the controls to Brains and huddled awkwardly behind him, together with his sons. Staring daggers through the computer screens. Willing them to reveal the threat.
Nervous looks were shared around the room.
"I am getting some strange energy readings from the beach!" Brains exclaimed.
"What kind of readings?" Gordon questioned, sounding nervous.
"I can't really explain it, not yet anyway, but it seems to be showing strange energy readings." Brains answered, while hammering away on the computer keyboard.
"Strange like man-made strange, or strange like natural strange?" John inquired.
"I'm not entirely sure." Brains responded.
"Pull up the security footage!" Jeff commanded.
"Why do we have security cameras covering the beach?" Gordon questioned, faint accusation bleeding through his voice.
"Since the Hood attacked us with that particular approach last time!" Jeff answered, perhaps a bit too sharply.
Gordon paled.
"Do you think it is him?" Virgil asked while entering the room, having taken a bit longer to wake up compared to the others, always being a heavy sleeper.
"I don't know! I hope not! But we need to be prepared for anything!" Jeff answered apologetically.
The already tense atmosphere of the room, quickly worsened with that statement. After a few moments, that felt like an eternity, it was interrupted by Scott's frantic call to action.
"The kids! We must get someone down to Gords and Al! They won't know what is going on. They are vulnerable down there. We need to protect them there, as Al can't leave the infirmary yet!" Scott shared his realisation.
Jeff tried to answer his oldest son but was interrupted, before he could finish his sentence "Of course! We should…"
"What the hell is going on, you guys? This better not be another training exercise, Jefferson! I had enough of you, waking me unnecessarily in the wee hours of the morning, to last me a lifetime!". Frank leapt into the room on his long legs. Breathing elevated, looking anxious.
Jeff answered his friend "Intruder alert, we don't know the full situation yet. No exercise this time, unfortunately! But you, my friend, might need some more exercise, if you are breathing so heavily after a short run!". Jeff teased his friend, trying to distract him from the terrifying situation.
"Bite me, Jefferson! Don't you remember the first rule of the military service we did together? Never piss of the medic!" Frank retorted, but the familiar banter seemed to have eased his anxiety a bit.
Frank and Jeff stared at each other, communicating wordlessly. In that scary way, only good, old friends can do. They nodded at each other; the rest of the room oblivious to what had just been communicated and decided between the men.
Jeff turned to face his son "Virgil, could you go with Frank and keep the kids safe in the infirmary?".
"Keep them safe from what?" Frank blurted out.
"Fine dad! But you call me the second you need me! Keep us informed! Please!" Virgil answered reluctantly, the distress of leaving his family to deal with the security alert, clear on his face.
Jeff quickly pulled Virgil into a quick bear hug "Of course, we will! Thank you! Stay safe!".
Jeff turned to Frank "Please Frank! Virgil will fill you in on the way!".
Franks facial expression hardened, revealing the former soldier hiding under the normally kind physician "Is this like another spring break incident?".
"Maybe, we don't know yet. Please Frank!" Jeff pleaded with his old friend.
"FAB!" Frank grabbed Virgil's arm "Let's go, lad. We got some young ones to protect!".
"Be careful! All of you!" Virgil bellowed, as he followed Franks fast pace towards the infirmary.
He was waved off with a chorus of "FAB" from his family.
The rooms attention was turned back to Brains, who was hammering away on the keyboard. Fighting with the computer that normally followed his every whim.
"Something is seriously wrong! I can't get the live camera surveillance feed to work at all! Full reboot of all systems accomplished nothing! That was the last card up my sleeve." Brains frustratedly admitted.
"Do you have any idea of what is causing the interference?" John inquired.
"It must be the energy anomaly!" Brains responded.
"If we can't see it from here, we have to check it out the old-fashioned way!" Gordon suggested.
"Gordon, it could be dangerous! We don't know what is down there, causing this!" John tried to argue, in order to keep his little brother from throwing himself into danger.
"John, Dad! Hold up! Gordon is right! It is unfortunately the only way to know for sure!" Scott countered, agreeing entirely with Gordon for once.
Jeff looked resigned when he said "I don't like it! But you two are right! It is dangerous to investigate in person. But potentially even more dangerous to just leave it be! Scott, Gordon are you up for joining me on a stroll on the beach?".
"Yes, dad!" Scott answered.
"Anytime! You should know by now that I am always up for the beach, even at three forty AM!" Gordon replied, trying to ease the tension.
"You are seriously going to do this?" John asked rhetorically, continuing after seeing the harsh glint of steel in his family's eyes. John sighed resignedly "Then, I am going with you!".
Scott managed to answer before his dad could "Johnny! Please! We three all have military training. You don't. We don't know what we are walking into!".
Johns' eyes turned to ice. "Exactly! You don't know what you are walking into! It could be something scientific. I am, after Brains, whose expertise is more needed here, the most qualified for scientific analysis. I am coming with you, if you are doing this! I am not taking a no for an answer! That is final!" John declared. His tone of voice was unusually harsh.
John had a stare down with his father, who finally relented with a defeated "Fine!".
Jeff then addressed the rest of the room's inhabitants. "Please stay here with Brains! This room has been fortified since last time!" Turning away from the Kyrano's who had just entered the room and addressing Brains. "Keep working, my friend! We will stay in contact. Call in Lady Penelope and Parker as well. Let our Alan know what is going on. He will probably already have seen the alert at Wharton's.".
"FAB!" Was all he got in response, before Brains continued to hammer away on his keyboard.
"Boys, Let's go!" Jeff exclaimed.
Three determined "FAB!" later, they set off, running towards the beach.
Tracy Island Movie verse POV 03:53 at the beach
Jeff, Scott, John and Gordon arrived at the beach running. Looking franticly around for the intruders, feeling confused when they discovered none. What was going on? What in the world had caused the intruder alarm to be triggered? What was with the strange reedings Brains saw, if it was a false alarm?
Suddenly, they heard an unnatural sound. The family of men were startled but recovered quickly and turned towards it. About ten meters away, they finally saw the culprit. All the four men could do, for a few long seconds, was staring mesmerised at it. They had never seen anything like it! It looked like electricity, from no obvious logical source, gathered into a condensed hovering ball of lightning on the beach.
"Boys! Get back! It might be a lightning ball. It has the potential to destroy everything it touches." Jeff ordered, putting his arms in front of his boys, to protect them, on a pure unconscious parental reflex. Starting to back away slowly from the newly found anomaly.
His sons thankfully followed his orders, walking backwards while still watching the strange ball of light.
The anomaly was radiating a bright yellow sheen, with sporadic lightning discharge, looking like miniature lightning bolts were emitted from it. It was traveling slowly over the sand, heading towards the rocky cliffs on the beach. It was hovering about a meter over the ground and was the size of a basketball. When it moved, floating in the air over the big stone blocks, below the cliff, it destroyed the part of them in its path. Bits of the rocks were broken into pieces. The largest ones were volleyball sized, flung about a meter away from the lightning balls path of destruction. Leaving a blown-out ditch in the massive stone block below its path.
"Wow! Dad, I think you are right! That looks like a lightning ball! A tremendously rare weather phenomenon! How it can cause so much destruction, without even touching anything is impressive! They are so rare that they haven't been studied properly! The scientific community still don't know what causes them! They have been reported all over the world, since at least the eighteen hundreds!" John said while following the lightning balls path, looking spellbound.
"Could that thing be what triggered the intruder alarm?" Scott asked warily, not feeling as excited as his brother.
"Possibly." Jeff answered, still contemplating the danger they found themselves in. It did not matter if it came from mother nature herself or other humans. Jeff was going to protect his family!
All four men could not stop watching the phenomenon, seeming almost enthralled by it. It was dangerous and unknown. But at the same time beautiful. Having an otherworldly feel to it.
Then something even weirder happened. The ball grew, expanding slowly.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Gordon asked anxiously.
"No! Not even close! Nothing I have read about it recorded something like this!" John answered nervously.
"All right! Time for us to move further back! We need to get to a safe distance! Now!" Jeff commanded, eager to get his family out of the danger zone.
The strange weather phenomenon continued to grow.
Scott thought that it kind of looked like a portal. Glimpsing strange shapes inside the phenomenon.
Suddenly, a strong flash of light blinded them. The dark beach light up brighter than during the day for a second. It was followed by a deafening boom, that reverberated over the beach. When the Tracy's could open their eyes and remove their hands from protecting their ears the realised that the anomaly had vanished entirely. Leaving its destruction behind. If that was all, everything would have been fine and dandy, but somehow, the strange phenomenon left something else behind as well.
Three young men, standing side by side on the beach, clad in uniforms.