REACH FOR THE SKY

FYI to readers: Sorry that Kari wasn't in the last chapter, but she WILL appear in this story- don't worry.

Dash was sitting at home with Jack-Jack watching some football when Vi came over and sat down next to Dash. She gave him a look. Dash backed off and scooted away from her.

"No Way! You're not getting the Remote! It's the minor league championship game to decide who goes into the finals that decides who goes into the Super Bowl-type playoff that I don't know what it's called in minor league, and I don't care! I have to see it!" Dash cried.

Vi rolled her eyes and slowly walked away until Dash put down the remote. Then she whipped around and used a force field to make the remote hover over to her. She flipped the TV to channel 645.

"Vi!" Dash whined.

"Oh, come on. You're a sophomore now. Sophomores don't whine." Vi stated. "Besides, it's just the news."

Dash blew a raspberry at Vi, and Jack-Jack followed suit, except he enlarged his tongue so it was giant at her. Vi just shrugged and kept watching TV.

"Welcome to WHO-CARES News Network. I'm Chad Pinta. In today's news, NASA has lost control of the USS Intrepid." The guy on the news said.

"What?" Vi said, setting down the remote. Dash's eyes peered over at it while Vi watched the screen. It showed chaos at NASA and the USS Intrepid, the US's newest rocket, taking off- old archived video.

"The shuttle has refused to respond and all systems have shut down on board the station. It has also dropped a small probe which has penetrated the Earth's atmosphere." Chad said onscreen.

Vi stared intently at the screen. Why wasn't the Intrepid reporting?

Meanwhile, Dash slowly snuck over toward the table, not making a sound on the wooden floors. Dash went, reached for the remote and... got zapped?

"Don't even think about it." Vi said, without having even turned her head. Dash craned closer and saw a force field around the remote. Dash sulked up to his room to watch the game on his small black-and-white TV.

"I wonder what's wrong with that shuttle," Vi wondered aloud.

The next day, at Sky High, Dash was at his locker when Zach approached him.

"Did you see it on TV last night?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, I know. The space shuttle is doomed." Dash said, without showing any interest.

"No, I mean last night. Did you see that Snakes on a Plane late-night movie on NBC?" asked Zach.

"Wasn't that on at 1am last night?" Dash asked.

"Yeah. Since I stayed up all night to watch it, I didn't have to worry about nightmares." Zach enthusiastically reported.

"That explains the dark rings under your eyes." Dash said under his breath.

"But seriously, the Intrepid lost contact with NASA? That's nuts!" Zach said.

"Probably a slight glitch. Hakuna Matata." Dash said.

"Yeah, but guess what I saw last night that even blows your shuttle news out of the water?" Zach asked.

"Let me guess… Arachnophobia?" Dash asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I saw that right before Snakes on a Plane, but this morning, on the early news, guess what happened?" Zach said.

"What happened?"

"You have to guess."

"Let me see… early news… A cow tipped over?" Dash guessed, thinking of the most exciting news possible at 5am.

"Not even close- there was a jailbreak." Zach announced.

"What?" Dash exclaimed.

"Royal Pain is loose!" Zach said.