Alarms were blaring around the ship as Brody made his way through in a frantic dash. Mick and Redbot followed, not really knowing what else to do since Brody hadn't yet seen fit to tell them exactly what "Plan B" for an escape route was.
The doors opened effortlessly and Brody yelled, running straight at a Kudabot, ramming his spear through its chest and running it across the room into the opposite wall. Another two Kudabots were waiting either side of the door, but Redbot grabbed them both and slammed them into each other, before tossing them aside. Brody went to a control console and started to get to work on the controls.
"That security door should have been locked." Mick commented, pointing to the door as they came in. It closed behind them and locked up.
"Thankfully it wasn't." Brody answered, working frantically. "The only other way in here was through the air vents...that's a pretty tight fit."
"Brody, the alarm's been sounded; the whole ship should be on lockdown." Mick reminded him. "I work on the security system daily, I know how it works!"
"Well...just be thankful your system malfunctioned then." Brody told him with a smile. Mick just looked confused, not knowing whether to be happy that they had gotten where Brody intended them to be, or annoyed that he just insinuated that Mick didn't do his job properly! He started to look around, and only then realised where they were.
"Wait...is this...is this the garbage compactor?" Mick asked him. Brody felt something grabbing his leg and looked down seeing one of the Kudabots wasn't quite out. He shook it off his leg, before stomping down hard on its head, obliterating it.
"It sure is." Brody answered. "I think I remember you showing me how this...YES!"
The garbage compactor opened and Mick looked into it, before looking to Brody.
"Brody, you're not seriously thinking...?"
"They have to go into lower orbit to transport competitors to the surface. We'll still be inside the atmosphere." Brody said as he grabbed the Nexus Prism, beginning to struggle with it. "Help me get this in there!"
"Brody..."
"I over-rode the safety protocols, the crusher won't activate until after the exterior hatch opens." Brody continued to explain. "Instead of...you know...crushing us, it'll just push us out! Redbot, help me with this!"
"Brody, we're in LOW ORBIT!" Mick reminded him. "We might not burn, but there's the issue of the fact you won't be able to breathe...oh, and the fact we're about 2,000 kilometres in the air. Last time I checked, humans kind of need to breath and tend not to fair too well with 2,000 kilometre falls!"
"That's what Redbot's for. His rocket boots will be able to keep us from going splat." Brody said as he and Redbot loaded the Nexus Prism into the compactor. "As for breathing...I've been practicing Prana."
"Prana? What the hell is Prana?" Mick asked him.
"It's a ninjitsu breathing technique. It allows a ninja to lower their heart rate and breathing to a level so low they appear dead. It'll allow me to keep my breath until we're low enough to breathe." Brody explained.
"Who taught you to do this?" Mick asked him. "Did your dad teach you?"
"No, I was too young then." Brody told him. "I had to figure it out myself."
"And how long can you...you know...Prana?" Mick asked him.
"With proper training a ninja master can remain in a state of Prana for hours." Brody told him. "So far my record is...seven minutes before I passed out."
"So your plan to escape is based on your ability to practice a breathing technique you've never been taught and can only maintain for seven minutes without passing out, and relying on Redbot's ability to fly carrying both of us." Mick stated, sizing up the situation. "Well, you were right about one thing, I do NOT like this plan!"
They heard an explosion and the door started to buckle. Brody looked to Mick.
"Well it's a bit too late to worry about that now." Brody answered. "So are you going to wait and chance your luck with Galvanax? Or are you getting in the garbage compactor?"
"Fine, but...Redbot, only carry Brody." Mick told them. "Maybe if he only has the weight of one of us to carry, he might just make it without both of you going splat."
"Technically I wouldn't go splat." Redbot chimed in. "I'd make a kind of loud boom I'd imagine."
"Not helping Redbot!" Brody replied as another blast came. Mick just sighed.
"I'll change form, I'll stay in that form until I hit." Mick told him.
"Can you do that?" Brody asked. Mick just sighed again.
"If you're willing to try that ninja thing you just described, I guess I'm going to find out this too!"
Mick climbed inside the garbage compactor, at which he and Brody helped Redbot into the compactor. Brody looked to the door as he heard someone outside.
"Double Blade Doom Slash!" Ripcon called out, casting out another attack which sent the doors spinning across the room. Brody didn't falter though; he just glared straight at the horned creature, defiantly standing his ground. Ripcon took a quick glance at the scene, seeing the Nexus Prism, Mick and Redbot in the compactor. He levelled a blade Brody's way.
"You'd dare try to steal from Galvanax?" He screamed.
"It wasn't his to begin with!" Brody answered. "Hey, you want to see another ninja trick Ripcon?"
Brody pulled out a small, round, black item and showed it to him. He just smiled, before tossing it into Ripcon's face. It broke, splattering something in Ripcon's face. Immediately his eyes and throat started burning and he started to flail about.
Brody ran to the control panel and hit the controls, before sprinting and diving into the garbage compactor as the mechanism started working. Ripcon only barely recovered enough to see Brody disappearing inside as the compressor came down, blocking any chance he had of getting to him before pushing the waste out of the ship.
"Curse you Rat Bait!" Ripcon screamed in anger, realising at last that Brody had amassed much greater skills than he had ever let him realise. "I'll feed you your own entrails for this!"
In the compactor, the compressor pushed the waste out of the ship, shoving them out of the other side. As they started to free-fall, Redbot clung to Brody, periodically firing his rocket boots to try and control the direction of his fall. Mick watched for a moment, ensuring that Redbot's rocket boots were working before turning his attention to his own predicament. He was now in free-fall, and unlike Redbot didn't have the luxury of rockets to slow him down!
"Alright, think Mick, think." He thought to himself. "Um...something soft and spongy?"
He curled up into a ball, before turning into a massive ball of steel and plummeting towards the ground at an incredible rate. Unfortunately, sometimes when he was panicking, his transformations didn't go QUITE how he intended...and free-falling from low orbit was just one such instance!
Back in Summer Cove High, Principal Hastings was just finishing her tour of the school with Sarah. Sarah didn't really expect such one-on-one attention from the Principal, in fact in pretty much every school she had been to, she found the Principal tended to have very little to do with the students at all, but given the reaction, or more accurately the lack of reaction people had to seeing Principal Hastings around the halls, it looked like she was a pretty common sight around the school. Sarah wasn't sure yet if that was going to be a good thing or a bad thing!
"And last, but not least, over here we have the Shop Class." Principal Hastings told her. "It's a little up in the air at the moment. Our last shop teacher retired to go trek the Amazon or something like that, I wasn't really paying attention, and our replacement..."
"He's turned you down." Sarah said, recalling what she had heard her say. "Which is why you have a student running your class."
"So, have you given any thought to what extra-curricular activities you might like to sign up for?" Principal Hastings asked her. "We have a number of options. Chess club, track and field, camping club, archery club, astronomy club..."
"Um...can I just get a pamphlet or something?" Sarah asked, finding her to be a little pushy. "I might have a look..."
"Well, don't take too long, all the clubs fill up pretty quick." She warned Sarah. "You want to build up that impressive CV as much as possible for your college application."
"Um...yeah, sure." Sarah answered as Hastings gave her a few pamphlets. The bell rang, indicating the beginning of the lunch period. Principal Hastings just smiled.
"Well, that was good timing wasn't it?" She asked as she checked her watch. "Now, I have some calls to make. You can go to your afternoon lessons...or just take a half day; it's really up to you. I don't think anyone expects too much on your first day. If you need anything, you know where my office is."
As she left, Sarah just took a deep breath.
"She's a little full-on isn't she?" Victor said, coming over and putting an arm around her. Sarah felt her skin crawling at his touch again. "You don't need to worry, just stick close to me and everything here will be a breeze."
"Yeah...I think I'm going to find somewhere to have lunch now." Sarah told him. Victor saw her board under her arm and grabbed it. "HEY!"
"Oh, I see we share a hobby!" He responded, trying to find a way to connect with her. "I've been known to shred a half-pipe or two, grind some air, catch some rails..."
"I really don't think..." Sarah started to say as he tossed the board down. Not only did she sincerely doubt that he knew how to hoverboard, considering the fact that as far as she knew she had the only one having created it herself, but having known Chase and Allison as long as she had, she could tell from what he said, he clearly knew nothing about skateboarding either.
"Watch a master at work!" He declared, before leaping onto it.
"Victor don't!" She called out, but too late as he leapt onto the board, and his foot hit the accelerator. He rocketed off to a loud scream, flailing in a desperate attempt to keep his balance as he went. She rolled her eyes, running after him, hoping that he wouldn't cripple himself, or more importantly someone else!
Elsewhere, a little way from the school grounds, Hayley and Calvin had opted to leave school for lunch. Kody was sitting in the back, his head over the roof, happily letting the wind whip through his fur. Calvin was in the passenger seat, directing Hayley.
"Just up here, take this path." Calvin told her. "Park up just here. So, what do you think?"
"I think we're kind of far from school." Hayley told him. "Don't you think we could have chosen somewhere closer to have lunch?"
"We could, but that would defeat the point." Calvin told her as he got out, heading around the other side to open the door for Hayley. She got out, accepting his hand as he helped her out, before turning his attention to Kody, who leapt out into his arms, only for Calvin to let him down where he ran off to play. Calvin grabbed a picnic hamper from the truck, and pointed a little way up the path.
"So, I figure under the ribbon tree would be a nice place for our picnic." Calvin told her. The Ribbon Tree was a landmark in Summer Cove, one that had stood for as long as virtually anyone could remember. There were all sorts of stories as to when it had been planted, and who had planted it and why, but the truth was that now...no one really knew. The only thing people knew for a fact was that at some point, someone had tied a ribbon to the tree marking some important event in their life, and as a practice it had caught on. Now, there were literally thousands of ribbons tied or pinned to the tree, marking weddings, funerals, births, engagements, graduations, virtually any kind of special occasion you could name.
"So, are you going to tell me why we're here?" Hayley asked him. Calvin just smiled.
"I thought it was guys who were meant to forget these things." He teased her. "Don't you remember what today is?"
"Oh, I remember alright." She giggled, taking his arm as they approached the tree. "I remember it was three years ago today the sweetest, cutest kid I know managed to stammer long enough to finally ask me out."
"Hey, I thought I was pretty smooth!" Calvin stated. Hayley just looked at him witheringly.
"Calvin, I virtually had to ask YOU out!" Hayley told him. "It was so adorable, I just had to let you finish!"
"Well, on that day, I managed to pluck up the courage to ask my best friend if she wanted to try being something more, and I was lucky enough that she said yes." He told her, taking her hands in his. "Which is why...I thought it might be nice to mark the occasion."
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a ribbon, on which was printed the message, 'Hayley and Calvin' along with the date of their first date. Hayley wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled.
"You, Calvin Maxwell, are the sweetest person I've ever met." Hayley told him. "Now, how about we find somewhere to hang this?"
With that, they both started to climb up the tree, looking for a good spot to tie it off.
Back at the school, Preston was in the middle of his act. He had a pretty decent turnout this time...he actually had three kids turn up! Unfortunately, the new girl he had seen hadn't shown up. He was kind of hoping she would, he was hoping for an opinion from someone that didn't know his act, and hadn't heard all jibes about how lame his tricks were. Instead, he just had three kids who didn't really have anything better to do, and were watching him more out of not having any other form of entertainment.
He was holding the deck of cards up, and showing the deck to the crowd, before closing it up.
"And now, I will magically draw out your card!" He stated, beginning to rub his fingers up the sides. He did so, with some theatrics and slowly edging out a card to enhance the mystique of the trick. *The truth was that it was a Svengali deck, a specially designed deck of cards that instead of being exactly rectangular, were ever so slightly tapered at the sides. What this meant was that if the cards were all facing the same way, as they generally were, there would be no difference to any normal deck, but if one card was reversed, then it would stick out a barely-noticeable amount from the others at the corners, meaning that running his fingers up the card, he would pull out the reversed card. When he had asked an audience member to pick a card, while they were inspecting and memorising their card, he simply took the opportunity to turn the deck around in his hand so that when they put it back, it would be reversed and he could draw out easily the chosen card.
"And here is your card, the three of clubs!" Preston stated, garnering a polite applause from the audience. They really weren't too impressed, they didn't care about the trick or how it was done. They had seen multiple variations on card tricks, so much so that they rarely impressed anymore. In order to make them stand out, he'd need to find some kind of gimmick. He'd once seen David Blaine do a trick where after someone picked a card, he'd throw the deck at a car window, after which the chosen card would appear on the INSIDE of the car window! He still had no idea how he did that, and he was still searching for his gimmick. He looked to his unimpressed audience and realised he was going to have to pull out the big guns.
"Now, for your amazement, the Amazing Presto Chango will now transform himself...Into a DRAGON!" He stated, activating a smoke bomb. When the smoke cleared, he was wearing a dragon costume. There was more polite applause, but then he heard a commotion.
"I CAN'T CONTROL THIS THING!" Victor screamed as he came barrelling towards Preston. The young magician only just pulled back, at which Victor caught him, ripping off the costume, leaving Preston standing in his underwear! This seemed to generate a lot more appreciation than any of Preston's actual tricks, but he was too busy trying to cover up to appreciate this. Victor meanwhile, was continuing on his path of destruction, only now he was unable to see where he was going, which only made the situation worse!
"Sorry!" Sarah called out as she and Monty ran past after Victor. "I'll help clean up, I promise!"
Victor fortunately didn't go too much further. Being unable to see where he was going, he hit a dumpster and tumbled inside. He was just starting to try and extract himself when Sarah, Monty and Preston showed up. Preston was just finishing putting on his suit, re-attaching the Velcro fastenings which allowed his quick change.
"Thanks alit Victor, you just ruined my show!" Preston snapped angrily.
"Ruined your show?" Victor asked sceptically. He looked to Sarah. "I think your board needs a few adjustments."
"I think your BRAIN needs a few adjustments!" Sarah responded. "I tried to warn you not to ride it!"
"I've ridden..."
"I MADE this board! It's the only one there is!" Sarah interrupted him. "You CAN'T have ridden one like it! You also totally ruined this guy's show! You owe him an apology!"
"Apology?" Victor scoffed.
"Believe me, this would be the first time anyone's actually enjoyed one of Preston's shows." Monty said, backing up Victor as he helped him out. Sarah just groaned out loud. It didn't surprise her that Monty would take his side.
"Come on Monty." Victor stated. "Let's get out of here before she creates something else that tries to kill me!"
"Don't think it's not tempting!" Sarah yelled as they left. She looked to Preston apologetically. "I am SO sorry about missing your show. I totally wanted to come, but Mr. More-Peroxide-Than-Braincells-In-His-Head took my hoverboard for a joyride!"
"It's alright." Preston sighed. "He's kind of right. People just don't like..."
Just then, there was a loud bang, and everyone looked up to see what it was. They could see large objects streaking from the sky down towards the Earth. Preston looked nervous, but Sarah's face just split into a bright smile.
"What...what's that?" Preston asked.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out!" Sarah said, clipping on her helmet and throwing down her board.
"Sarah, that stuff is coming down from...from space!" Preston stated. "It might be dangerous! It might be radioactive! It might be alien!"
"That would be SO AWESOME!" She said, her heart racing. She leapt onto her board, and while Preston was looking around at his scattered tricks, thinking he should stay and clear them up, he saw Sarah preparing to rush out into whatever faced her out there. He couldn't let her go on her own.
"Does that thing carry passengers?" He asked, already feeling like he'd regret this decision. Sarah just smiled and gestured behind her.
"Hold on tight Magic Boy!" She told him. Preston felt a little uncomfortable about touching someone he had barely met, but as soon as Sarah hit the accelerator and the board started moving, he was quickly reaching right around her, grabbing her around the waist like his life depended on it as she raced off, not even knowing what she was racing into.
As they weaved between students, racing off into the woods, Sarah could only think about what Preston had said. It could be alien. She had seen aliens before, and it had been one of the greatest adventures of her life. While it was entirely possible that it was something entirely unrelated or totally benign like an aging satellite finally falling from orbit, a part of her hoped that this would be the beginning of a new chapter for her.
A/N: OK, not being a magician, or even to the best of my knowledge knowing anyone in the Magic Circle who can teach me these tricks, I won't always be able to do this, but the passage marked with a * is an actual thing! I have seen and used a Svengali deck. It's a pretty effective and simple trick. If I can, I might just explain some of Preston's other tricks, but in general, I might just leave it up to the imagination.