Ralphie, Tim, and Liz were back at Ralphie's house, having failed to find the bus. Ralphie was lamenting about the fact that they failed, feeling that now there was no way to help Ms. Frizzle. Tim tried comforting Ralphie, assuring him that everything would be all right.
"Look Ralphie, maybe the bus just wasn't there. We can always check out another place some other time."
"But where else would we look?" Ralphie asked as he laid sprawled out on his bed.
"I don't know. We can ask DA tomorrow. Maybe she can help us find somewhere else to search."
"We can't wait until tomorrow." Ralphie then sat up. "The more time we spend looking for the bus, the more time we waste before helping Ms. Frizzle. She might not have a lot of time."
"You don't know that for sure, and do you see any other option? We couldn't find the bus in that lot, and everyone is asleep by now. We can't talk to DA until tomorrow."
"I guess not." Ralphie conceded. "But it still feels like we need to hurry to help Ms. Frizzle. Who knows what could be happening to her."
"I get it, Ralphie. We'll do everything we can to try and help. I promise." Tim said.
"Thanks, man, but are you sure we will be able to find the bus somewhere else?"
"I'm sure, Ralphie. I have a very good feeling that we will find the bus sooner or later."
Tim's words were enough to convince Ralphie that the bus would be found sometime soon. Even if they didn't have much time to help Ms. Frizzle, they would certainly try their best to help her, no matter what they had to do.
Suddenly, there was a noise outside of Ralphie's house. It sounded like it was right outside, and it sounded so familiar too. It sounded like a honk from a vehicle. There was almost no mistaking what vehicle made kind of honk they heard.
"Did you hear that?" Ralphie asked shocked.
"Yes. Could it be?" Tim replied.
The boys just sat in silence for a few seconds. They both thought they knew what made the sound, but it couldn't be, could it? The sound suddenly came back. They had not just imagined it. This time, there was no mistaking the sound.
Liz also got excited as she seemed to think she knew what made the sound too. She got out of her terrarium and hopped onto Ralphie's shoulder. Ralphie got up from his bed and he and Tim went to the window. Ralphie opened the curtain, and there it was. The Magic School Bus. It was right outside, looking as magical as ever. It honked again, this time happily as it had gotten Ralphie's and Tim's attention.
Ralphie and Tim were shocked that the bus was there. How did it find them? How did it get there? Of course, both of them, and Liz, were happy that the bus was there. It was nice to see their old friend again, and it had saved them the trouble of having to try and find it again. All three of them quickly rushed out of Ralphie's house and went to the bus.
"Hello, old friend." Ralphie said.
"Thank God you're here. You have no idea how much we need you." Tim added.
The bus beeped in understanding and opened its doors. Ralphie, Tim, and Liz all entered the bus, and Tim sat down on the driver's seat while Liz hopped on the dashboard.
"Alright, bus. We have some big questions for you." Tim said. "First off, how did you get here and how did you know to find us?"
The bus began beeping a lot. Ralphie and Tim knew that was how the bus communicated, but they couldn't understand it. Of course, Liz could, so she began translating the bus's beeps for them. She couldn't talk, so she did it using body language. Luckily, Ralphie and Tim could understand her.
"So, you're saying that the bus was in the lot all along and woke up as we were leaving because it heard me raise my voice? And after it did, it remembered where I used to live and drove all the way here?" Liz nodded.
"Well, why didn't it let us know it was there before we left? We were getting worried." Tim said.
"It doesn't matter. We have the bus now. We can help Ms. Frizzle."
"Right. Let's not waste any more time."
Tim turned the keys, but the bus didn't start. It just made the sound of an engine not being able to turn on. Ralphie suggested that Tim try again, but after a few more tries, Tim turned to Ralphie and shook his head.
"What's going on?" Ralphie asked.
"I don't know. Bus, what's going on?" The bus began beeping again and Liz translated the beeps.
What's it saying?" Ralphie asked.
Tim turned to Ralphie with tired eyes. "The bus won't start unless we get the rest of the class with us."
"What? Why?"
"I guess this is too big for just the two of us. I mean, we are travelling to Hell. We'll probably need all the help we can get."
"Fair enough. So, we should probably start working on getting everyone back together, right?"
Not right now. It's night. Everyone is asleep. We'll just have to wait until morning to work on getting everyone back together."
"We can't! The more time we spend here, the more time we waste instead of helping Ms. Frizzle!"
"Well, do you want to disturb everyone in their sleep?" Tim took the silence that followed as a no. "Alright then. Let's just get some sleep and then we'll figure this all out in the morning."
"Fine. You can spend the night here if you want."
"Thanks, man. I'll see you in the morning."
The next morning, Ralphie was as energetic as ever. He felt that finally, the mission to help Ms. Frizzle would be underway.
"Come on man, let's start recruiting everyone."
"Alright, alright. Chill. We'll get everyone together soon. Let's just work on who we should get first."
"Alright, well how about DA?" Ralphie suggested. "We already told her about this, so it won't take too long to get her to join."
"Good idea. We can work from there."
"Right. Now, let's have some breakfast, and then we'll go and talk to her."
After having some breakfast, Ralphie and Tim got Liz, got in Tim's car, and headed over to DA's house. When DA answered the door, the boys wasted no time telling her that they had something important to discuss with her. DA led them to her old room, where no one would bother them. Not that anyone would, since DA had the house to herself at this time.
"Okay, what's going on?" DA asked.
"Well, remember yesterday when we came and told you about Ms. Frizzle being in Hell and we needed to find the bus to save her?" Tim reminded.
"Yeah." DA responded.
"Well, we found the bus, or rather, it found us, and we were ready to go, but the bus wouldn't start. Liz helped us understand the bus, so we could understand that the bus won't take us anywhere until the rest of the class gets together." Ralphie explained.
"So, long story short, we need to recruit everyone for this mission to save Ms. Frizzle. And since we already told you about this, we figured we'd come to you first." Tim finished.
DA stared at the boys with disbelief in her face. "Are you really taking this all seriously? You really think that Ms. Frizzle needs saving?"
"Yes! How could you think that she doesn't?" Ralphie exclaimed.
"Well, do you know for sure if she is in danger?" DA quipped.
"Well, no but..."
"Exactly. You shouldn't make any rash decisions based on a hunch that you have. I know I helped you figure out that magic is needed, but I've been thinking about it ever since, and I concluded that maybe what you guys thought was nonsense."
"But it's probably true. I mean, the bus came to us and needs all of us to be together, so it is most likely going to take us somewhere really important. Not to mention the earrings that Ralphie found." Tim argued. Liz nodded in agreement.
"Those earrings could possibly mean nothing, and if Ms. Frizzle is really in danger, then why can't the bus take you now? If it's urgent, then it should be getting you to her as quickly as possible."
"Like we said. The bus needs the entire class to be together. This is Hell we're talking about. We will need all the help we can get."
"Come on DA! We need you." Ralphie added.
"You do realize that you guys sound crazy right now, right? All this talk of Hell and Ms. Frizzle telling you that she needs help is ridiculous."
"It's not ridiculous. We have to do something!" Ralphie said.
"Guys, think about all of this. You are doing all of this based on a hunch. Doing all these actions that you are talking about is completely ridiculous if there is no actual way of knowing that the Frizz is in trouble."
"I know you would prefer solid evidence" Tim conceded, "but this is the Frizz we are talking about. You know that with her, nothing needs to be explained. You have never questioned any of those magical times that we had with her. Why should you question this?"
DA couldn't think of a response, so Tim continued. "I get how you feel. I doubted Ralphie at first, but now, I'm pretty sure there is some merit to all of this..."
Tim was suddenly cut off when a very loud noise was heard. It sounded like a large boom in the sky. It was accompanied with a very large flash of red light that lit up the room for a second.
"What was that?!" Ralphie exclaimed.
"I don't know! It looked like it came from outside!" Tim stated.
The three of them rushed to the window to see that whatever that flash of red light was had made the entire sky red. Suddenly, a large shadow appeared and began blocking out the sky.
"What's going on?!" DA screamed.
"I don't know. What's up with the sky?!" Ralphie responded.
Suddenly, the entire house began to rumble, as if there was an earthquake. The lights began flickering off and on.
"Whoa! Is there an earthquake?!" Ralphie cried out.
"There shouldn't be! There's never been an earthquake here before!" Tim answered.
Then what's happening?!"
The rumbling grew increasingly violent as the sky continued to darken outside. Then, almost as soon as the entire sky was covered by the large shadow, the house stopped rumbling and the power went out. The three of them began to catch their breaths, still shocked from what had happened. Once they had calmed down enough, Tim took out his phone and turned on the flashlight.
"Is everyone alright?"
"I'm fine. Just a little shook up." Ralphie responded.
"What happened?" DA asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that the sky is now dark, and the power is out after what felt like an earthquake." Tim said.
"It's really weird. What is going on?" Ralphie asked.
"I don't know. We can figure out what went on later. Right now, we should try and get the power back on. It's too dark to see and the flashlight is not very strong."
"Good idea." DA said. "The fuse box is downstairs in the garage. I can go and check it out."
"No, I'll check it out. You guys should stay here and relax a little more." Tim stated.
"Fine with me." Ralphie responded.
"Well, I guess I could use some more time to calm down." DA said.
"That settles it then. I'll see you guys later."
Tim left the room and went downstairs with his flashlight to the garage. Like he said, the flashlight was not very strong, so there was some difficulty in navigating to the garage. When Tim reached the bottom of the stairs, he began making his way to the garage.
As he was getting closer to the garage, he started to feel a bit uneasy. It was probably just the darkness making him feel nervous, but it felt like something was behind him. He tried to convince himself that he was being crazy and that there was nothing behind him. Unfortunately, it was all in vain, as he still felt like he was being followed, and the feeling increased as he got closer to the garage.
Finally, Tim couldn't take it anymore. He turned around and froze at what he saw. Behind him was a shadowy figure with red, glowing eyes. It looked like a humanoid figure, and it was about a foot taller than Tim. The eyes were hellishly red, and Tim could see malice and fury in them. Tim was shocked at this figure, and after freezing for a second, he turned around and began running. As he ran, he could hear the creature running after him, giving off a demonic shriek. Tim reached the garage and quickly locked himself in. The creature could still be heard on the other side of the door, shrieking that awful, ear-splitting shriek. He planned on just staying in there until he was sure it was safe, if it ever would be.
Meanwhile, DA and Ralphie were upstairs, both trying to keep calm. It was nearly impossible to do, given the strange circumstances that surrounded them. Neither of them was in the mood to chat, so they just sat in DA's room in silence. After a short while, they heard what sounded like footsteps outside the room. They sounded like they were coming towards them.
"Tim? Is that you?" Ralphie called out. There was no response.
"What's going on?" DA asked.
They both got up and went to the door. They could barely make out movement in the dim hallway coming towards them.
"Tim? Is that you?" DA asked. No answer.
Ralphie decided to turn on his phone flashlight to see what was going on. He then wished that he did not. In the hallway was another creature, similar to the one Tim saw. Ralphie and DA's eyes widened at the sight of the shadowy figure. Only a few seconds after the flashlight had pointed its way, the creature let out the same demonic shriek that Tim heard and began running towards the room. DA quickly shut the door and locked it as the creature got closer. When the creature reached the door, it stopped running and continued shrieking. Once it was done, Ralphie and DA stared at each other with wide eyes.
"What was that?!" Ralphie whisper shouted.
"I don't know, but it sure was scary." DA whispered back.
"No argument there."
The shrieking had stopped and Ralphie and DA assumed that the creature was gone. Just before they were going to open the door and check it out, a loud, booming voice was heard.
"Listen to me, mortals! I have come with a message for you!" Ralphie and DA got scared. From the way the voice sounded, it was most likely not good news.
"My boss sent me to give you this warning once! You are attempting to do something that has gotten Him angry! It concerns a certain woman who goes by the name of Valerie Frizzle!" At that, Ralphie and DA became really shocked. This had something to do with Ms. Frizzle?! What could it possibly do with her?!
"You are attempting to remove her from His domain! You are being warned to stop immediately?! If you continue to take action, there will be consequences! You have been warned!" With that, the voice disappeared. A few seconds later, the lights came back on. Ralphie and DA were still in shock. This proved that Ms. Frizzle really was in danger, and now something was trying to stop them. DA didn't want to believe it at first, but now, there was no choice but to believe it.
When the lights came back on, Tim felt that it was now safe to get out of the garage. He took a few seconds to prepare himself, and then carefully opened the door. He was relieved when there was nothing on the other side. The whole ordeal was over. He went back upstairs to DA's room. When he got there, he saw their shocked expressions and became worried.
"What happened?"
"Something came out! It's trying to stop us!" DA screamed.
"What?"
"What she means to say is that there was something in the hallway that gave us a warning." Ralphie responded.
"Wait, was it a shadowy figure with red, glowing eyes?"
"Yes!"
"I saw the exact same thing! It was following me downstairs and chased me into the garage!"
"Really?! Well, whatever it was, it gave us a warning to stop the mission to help Ms. Frizzle!"
"Really?!
"Yes!" DA cut in. "I didn't want to believe it before, but now I do see what you guys were talking about. Those demons or whatever told us to stay away from Ms. Frizzle. That must mean that she is in danger. Now, I do believe that we must save her."
"It's like we tried to tell you." Ralphie said. "Those demons might have told us to stop, but with that kind of warning, Ms. Frizzle must be in real danger. We have to help her."
"Agreed." Tim said. "Like we said, the bus won't take us to her unless the whole group gets together. We have to start working on getting the gang back together."
"Yes, and we have to do it quickly. We don't know how much trouble Ms. Frizzle is in, but it could be big. The longer we take, the more time we waste instead of helping her when she might really need it." Ralphie stated.
"Alright. Let's get started. Who should we recruit first?" Tim asked.
"Maybe we should get Carlos and Wanda." DA suggested. "Carlos told me that he was going to hang out with her today."
"I guess that's a good place to start." Tim said. "Where are they?"
"I don't know. I'll try calling them to see where they are." With that, DA took out her phone and called Carlos. This mission to rescue Ms. Frizzle was well under way.