SEASON 1: CHAPTER 3: The Mersey Monster: Part 1
After spending the night at Cage's old friend, Billy, our trio sets out towards the airport to begin their summer vacation!
It seemed like everyone forgot about the rough day they had yesterday. With Cage behind the wheel, Kyle in the front seat next to him and Chad in the back napping on the table, the car ride was more peaceful than ever.
…Though that peace was about to be interrupted, not by a sudden life threatening situation, but by Chad waking up!
Chad woke up with a big yawn and a big stretch, he rubbed his eyes and took a peek at the road. "We there yet?"
"Nope! Dad says it's still gonna be a few hours of travel even though we set out early in the morning, but we should be on the airplane today!"
"Awh man, I thought if I took a nap I'd wake up already there! It's always worked like that." Said the disappointed Chad, but Cage gave him a smile.
"Well, I got somethin' for you to make the trip go by faster! You should check your bag, your mom left you a little gift in there."
Chad sparkled with both enthusiasm and surprise, the boy took no time to rush towards his duffle bag as he opened it, and inside of it he found a neatly wrapped box.
"Oh man! I wonder what this is, maybe some new cleats?" Chad sat the box down on the table, which made Kyle promptly rush over to sit across from him.
"You gonna open it now?" Kyle asked, to which Chad responded with a nod.
"Yeah, I'm really curious what's inside! My mom never really gave me gifts except on birthdays or christmas, she usually just gets me whatever I need, anyways, let's unwrap it!"
Kyle nodded as Chad unwrapped the gift, it was wrapped in a purple paper with many colorful dots all around and a yellow ribbon. Chad quickly discarded the ribbon and ripped the colorful paper off of the box, once the boy ripped it all off he had a very wide smile on his face, his eyes twinkling with excitement and joy.
"What is it?" Kyle asked, who matched Chad's excitement, Chad quickly flipped the box towards Kyle, which turned out to be a smartphone!
"Wow! That's awesome, Chad! You finally got a phone!" Kyle said with enthusiasm, to which Chad nodded.
"Yeah, man! I wanted one so bad for sooo long! Now I can finally play games and all that stuff!" Chad's face beamed with enthusiasm.
"Woah there, bud! That phone ain't supposed to be for games, alright?" Cage lectured with a smile.
"I gave the idea to your mom that it would be good if you got a phone to keep in touch with her, she wasn't sure on giving you access to the internet yet, but I convinced her by promising you won't goof around on it too much!"
"..But I'm no snitch!" Cage chuckled after a brief pause. Soon enough, a chuckle turned into an upheaval of laughter between the three of them.
Chad looked at the box with a smile on his face, he then looked at Cage with a grateful expression on his face. "Thanks, Uncle Cage!"
"No problem kiddo, you should shoot your mom a text, her number's already in there."
"Will do!" Chad said, he opened the phone and took it out right away, it wasn't a phone that was just released, it already had a few years but it certainly wasn't what some call a 'dinosaur' or a 'relict'. The design itself wasn't anything special, it was a plain black phone, a bit larger than Chad's hand.
"What brand is it, Chad?"
"I think.. It's a Somsong? Is that how you say it?"
"That's good, then!"
"Really? I don't know much about phones.." Chad inspected his phone, he tried to push one of the bigger buttons on the side to turn it on, but to no avail.
Chad grunted in frustration. "Man! Why won't this turn on?!"
Kyle giggled with a smirk on his face. "You gotta hold down on the smaller button, not just press it! Here, let me show you." He reached out for Chad's phone, but the boy stopped him.
"Hold on! I got it!" Chad then followed Kyle's instructions, which proved to be successful! The phone turned on, showing off the Samsung logo.
"Woah, this is awesome, Kyle! Damian always teased me about not having a phone, that'll show him!" Chad said with a large amount of pride in his voice and a smirk on his face, but Kyle shrugged his shoulders.
"You shouldn't care what he thinks, Damian's a total butt!"
"Language!" Cage exclaimed from the driver's seat.
"Sorry…" Kyle muttered under his breath, making Chad giggle.
"You do have a little snap afterall, huh! Well, I can't really blame ya, Damian is a pretty tough one to get along with." Chad said as he looked at his phone, browsing the various settings and what not.
"I don't get it, why are you even friends with him?" Kyle said.
Chad took a deep breath in as he set his phone down on the table, and then an exhale, the boy looked out through the window at his side with a blank expression on his face, but shortly after Chad simply gave Kyle a shrug.
"I dunno, he was just nice to me!" Chad said with a smile, leaving Kyle puzzled, the boy wanted to persist in his argument, tell Chad that Damian isn't even nice to him anymore, but Kyle lacked the guts to stick to his guns and voice his opinion, he knew Chad was too stubborn to listen to him.
"Anyways!" Chad exclaimed, picking his phone back up. "I wanna check the place we're going to! It's the Chicago Airport, right?"
The disheartened Kyle nodded his head, Chad clicked away at the screen of his phone. "Let's press… Travel!"
Chad clicked the "Travel" option after searching for the Chicago Airport, what did show up for him was a path leading to the airport, but to Chad's surprise the estimated time was only a little over an hour, instead of the estimated few hours by Cage.
"Hey, Uncle Cage?"
"Yeah?"
"My phone says the airport's only an hour away.." Chad said with confusion in his voice, confusion also showed on Cage's face, he turned his face towards Chad.
"What?!" The man said with pure shock in his voice.
"There ain't a way that thing's working correctly! I always take this route! Billy taught me and your pops the way years ago, and to this day I still use it!"
Chad remained quiet for just a second before replying to Cage. "..Did my dad use it too?"
Cage burst with laughter. "Right! That fool was always goin' his way! Mumbling on about a 'better path' and 'wasted time' like he had a clue! No way Billy would teach us a bad path, I'm tellin' you!"
Kyle and Chad exchanged glances, before Chad replied again. "..Did my dad use a GPS too?.."
Cage hesitated a bit before answering.
"..Maybe, maybe." Muttered the man, causing a dead silence in the entire RV as Chad and Kyle only continued to exchange glances, trying to keep themselves from bursting into laughter.
"..Just give me the damn phone!" Cage said in a defeated, yet frustrated tone as Chad and Kyle both giggled, Chad went over and put his phone on a phone holder, after which he returned to his seat full of pride.
"See, Kyle! We'll be there in just an hour! By the way, where are we even flying first?"
"Liverpool!"
"Oh, oh no.." Chad uttered with a grim look on his face, like someone just drained him dry of all enthusiasm.
Kyle was confused at Chad's expression. "What's wrong with Liverpool, Chad?"
Chad slammed his hands on the table, which caused Kyle to flinch a little. "The club, Kyle! The club! They're our worst enemy!"
"I forgot how passionate you're about football, Chad. But the city isn't that bad!"
Chad rolled his eyes at Kyle. "Oh yea? What even is there in Liverpool?"
But what Chad didn't know is that he just committed a huge mistake, one that will cost him an entire minute worth of lecture!
Kyle's eyes sparkled at the question, and a wide grin found its way on his face.
"I'm glad you asked, Chad! Liverpool was founded all the way back in 1207, but didn't become a city until 1880! Shocking, right?"
Chad lazily nodded his head.
"You see, Liverpool's growth can mainly be credited to its port, which tremendously helped the city during the Industrial Revolution! However nowadays, Liverpool is very well known for its arts and music! The only city that has more art galleries and national museums is London! But the most notable musicians that came out of Liverpool are definitely The Beatles, known as one of the most influential bands of all time! Oh, and there are of course the clubs but, I'm sure you already know about-"
At this point, Kyle realized that Chad was not actually listening to him at all, and instead was laying down on the table, about to drift off into sleep.
With an annoyed look on his face, Kyle decided to play a prank on his friend.
"Oh, and there's a monster in the river!"
This sentence made Chad jump awake! He stared at Kyle with widened eyes.
"No way! Seriously? You're not pranking me like you did one time with the Blackville Monster, right?!"
Kyle shook his head in disappointment.
"Of course I'm joking! You only listen to me when I say something 'cool', so I mentioned the Mersey Monster! It's not nice to be ignored like that, I never complain when you talk about football." Said the boy, clearly upset at his friend.
Chad's excitement dimmed as he let out a sigh.
"Oh, man.. You're right, my bad Kyle, I'll try to listen better."
Chad gave Kyle a smile after admitting his mistake, which Kyle returned.
"You know, It's not like I made the Mersey Monster up." Kyle said, causing Chad to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"What do you mean? I thought you were joking."
"Well, there is an urban legend about some massive sea creature living in the Mersey river, they say it eats anyone who disrespects the river by throwing stuff like trash into it, but it's probably just a tale so no one pollutes the river." Kyle explained, but Chad wasn't too convinced by it.
"You never know Kyle, we didn't really think about aliens on Earth until yesterday.." Chad said as he looked at the gray device stuck on his wrist.
"Well, I do guess you're right about that." Kyle said with a hint of uncertainty. Despite his young age Kyle understood the world quite well, at least from the scientific point of view, but ever since yesterday his perception of it has been disturbed.
Chad was no different, his ordinary life had also taken a sudden turn, everytime he looked at the green dial on his wrist, he felt a tiny bit anxious, but that lasted only until he remembered what Billy told him.
A smile appeared on Chad's face, one of both excitement and hope, and so he turned to Kyle.
"But you know, Kyle, I got a good feeling about this!" Chad claimed with a huge smile on his face, which spread onto Kyle as well, causing the boy to nod.
Chad then stretched his arms out, before laying back comfortably in his seat, staring out the window.
The young boy spaced out while looking at the trees they passed by, but soon enough Chad's eyelids started to get heavy, and before he knew it, the boy drifted off into sleep.
-AN HOUR LATER-
After an hour, the RV came to a stop upon finally arriving at the Chicago O'Hare Airport, Cage got up from the driver's seat, cracking his back.
"Oh man! You could say the drive here was a.. Pain in the back!" Cage said with a proud look on his face, pointing finger guns at Kyle who was sitting next to him, waiting for a laugh.
Kyle looked at his father as a deafening silence fell on the RV, but as the seconds passed he couldn't keep himself from laughing, and finally broke into a small laugh, which made Cage smile and give his son a quick pat on the back.
"You gotta stop making puns, dad!" Kyle said after finishing laughing, getting up from the passenger seat.
"Is it because it's.. Punfully funny?" Cage broke into laughter at his own joke while Kyle only shook his head, but kept a smile on his face.
"Alright son, you go wake Chad up, I'll go on ahead to take care of some things, you guys just stay in front of the RV, you got that?"
Kyle nodded. "Yep, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything dumb!"
Cage gave a small smile to Kyle, as he walked out of the RV while pulling his phone out.
Kyle walked up to the seat in which Chad fell asleep, the youngsters head rested on the window near the table. Kyle shook Chad's shoulder, which resulted in his eyes slowly opening.
"Huh?" Initially confused, as one is after waking up from a nap. "Where are we?" Chad asked, not recognizing the views outside the window.
"We're at the airport! Dad said he has to take care of something, we're supposed to wait for him outside."
"Huh? Okay." Chad got out of his seat as he followed Kyle to the door, stepping outside.
Once the boys stepped outside, in the distance they saw a large,wide, white building, somewhat similar to a triangle or the letter A in shape.
The view definitely helped Chad in waking up, he was stunned to see the airport for the first time in his life, what also overcame Chad was the innocent childish excitement of a brand new experience that was awaiting him, traveling by plane!
"Oh man, I can't wait until we get on the plane!" Chad said, turning to Kyle.
"You've never flown before, right?" Kyle asked.
"Nope! What about you?"
"My dad took me a few times to visit family in other states, it was really cool but I never actually went outside of the US!"
"New experiences for both of us, then! Neat! Anyways, what's taking your dad so long? What did he even have to do?"
Kyle shrugged at Chad's question. "I'm not sure, he didn't really tell me, but he was making a phone call when he left."
Thankfully, the boys didn't have to wait long for their answer as they spotted Cage making his way back over to them, holding a piece of paper in his hand.
"Where did you go?" Chad asked.
"Well, I had to make a few phone calls to get this," Cage pointed at the paper, handing it over to Chad and Kyle.
The paper turned out to be a medical clearance for Chad, it read that the device on his wrist was one that is essential to his health and must remain at all times.
"Oh, I get it!" Kyle exclaimed, but Chad didn't follow his friend in that.
"I don't, why do I need this?"
"It's for airport security." Cage explained. "There are check ups when entering the airport, you have to go through a metal detecting gate and get searched by the security, normally stuff like watches get taken off and retrieved after passing through the gate, but since we can't remove what's stuck on your wrist, I thought it would be a good idea to get a permit like this."
"Oh, now I get it! So now we can go inside, right? Let's go!"
Cage made a small laugh seeing Chad's enthusiasm to go into the airport. "Alright! Good to see you raring to go, Chad! Let's start our summer journey, boys!"
And so, after overcoming adversity, Cage, Chad and Kyle were just a few moments away from finally boarding the plane, the only thing left standing in their way is security!
And so the three of them make their way to Terminal 5 of the airport. As soon as they entered, the metal detectors were in their sight.
"Alright Chad, you go ahead first, I'll be right behind you and hand the security guard the paper, alright?" Cage spoke, Chad nodded in agreement.
They made their way over to one of the gates, by which stood a young, chubby security guard with round glasses.
"Good morning, gentlemen!" The guard said in a bit of a higher pitched voice, with a slight british accent.
"Wow! You're british?" Chad said with surprise in his voice.
The security guard laughed at Chad's surprise. "That's right, chap! Born and raised!"
"We're actually headed to Liverpool right now." Cage chimed in. "And here, it's the boy's medical clearance for the thing on his wrist, hope it's no problem." Cage handed the paper over to the security guard.
The young guard took a quick glance at the paper, and then gave a nod to Cage.
"Yep, all good! Enjoy your trip lads!"
Cage took the paper back, thanking the guard.
"Alright, let's get moving kids!"
And so, without any trouble, Cage, Chad and Kyle all passed on ahead.
After the three of them passed, the security guard took his radio out and spoke into it, this time without his British accent.
"Target's destination is Liverpool, sir."
The guard then put the radio back on his belt, observing the trio from a distance.
After a while, it was finally time to board the plane.
"Alright boys, listen up!" Cage exclaimed to Chad and Kyle. "You guys will sit together, while I'll be sitting a bit further away with someone else, alright?"
"Sick! We get to sit together and talk about all the cool stuff without Uncle Cage eavesdropping!" Chad joshed with a smile on his face, to which Cage responded with a stare and a raised eyebrow.
Chad let out a nervous laugh. "J-Joking!" The boy mumbled out, which made both Kyle and Cage giggle a little.
"Alright, no more messing around! Let's get on the plane you guys, we don't wanna miss it do we?"
"Nope!" The boys exclaimed in unison.
And so, all three of them finally boarded the plane, after Cage put their luggage away he said bye to the boys as he took his seat, while Chad and Kyle sat together.
"Window seat, nice!" Chad said. "You sure you don't want it, Kyle?"
"Nah, I already had the window seat once, besides I'm gonna be watching this one YouTube livestream.
Chad grew a little confused. "You can use your phone on the plane? Is that what airplane mode is for?"
"Well, I guess you couldn't use the internet and stuff on the plane and had to turn airplane mode on, but now most planes actually do have WiFi! It's pretty neat."
"Wow..Airplanes are so cool! Anyways, what are you gonna be watching, Kyle?"
Kyle's face lit up at Chad showing interest, though he did expect that he would lose it soon, he's still glad he asked.
"I'm gonna be watching preparations for a science experiment!"
A little to Kyle's surprise, Chad actually seemed to remain interested. "What experiment?"
"Well, there's gonna be an experiment in Liverpool where they try to, like, combine a beetle with some special sort of soundwaves, something like that!"
Chad was very confused at Kyle's explanation, which showed in his expression and tone. "That's.. Weird? Why would they do that?"
Kyle shrugged his arms. "I dunno, I guess it's because The Beatles are from Liverpool, and I heard the lead scientist is a big fan."
"Huh, I see. Still, it sounds like pretty advanced stuff, when is it gonna happen?"
"It actually happens like, two days from now! It takes about a day to reach Liverpool, so if we get lucky, we might see it live!" Kyle said with a smile on his face.
"Sure! By the way, Kyle, can I ask you something?"
"What's up, Chad?"
"How did you even get into science and all that stuff?"
Kyle paused for a second, thinking about his answer, but right before he spoke to Chad again, a full smile appeared on his face.
"I guess it's because of my mom!"
"Your mom?"
Kyle nodded. "Yeah, my mom used to be like a really cool scientist, my dad showed me once some of the things she never got to complete, but I couldn't really understand what was written on them, so now I'm studying really hard to find out, who knows? Maybe someday I'll finish it for her!" The boy said with a glint in his eyes and a wide, bright smile.
Chad was a little taken aback, even though he and Kyle were very close friends, they didn't talk that much about what they want to do in the future, since they are just children after all. Nonetheless, Kyle talking about his mom made Chad feel a little warmth in his heart, he understood exactly what Kyle was talking about.
"Yeah, I get it, I have something like that with football, you know? My dad introduced me to it and taught me how to play, so I always try really hard at it."
"I think it's really cool how you bonded with your dad by doing stuff like that, I bet he'd be really proud seeing you play!" Kyle said, Chad had a large grin on his face.
"And I think it's really cool how you wanna follow in your moms footsteps, I'm sure you're gonna build the biggest robot ever!" Chad said, the two friends laughing together.
The boys then heard the voice of the plane captain, announcing their departure.
"Man, a whole day to get to Liverpool? But I already slept so much! There's no way I can just fall asleep again.." Chad grumbled.
"Well, there's gonna be a layover in Frankfurt from what I know, so we will basically switch airplanes after taking a short break."
"Frankfurt? Oh, in Germany! Yeah, I bet it's a fun city."
"Probably, I actually don't know much about it, so it's gonna be a new experience for me too!" Said Kyle, shortly after that the pilot said the departure begins now.
And so, the plane takes off for Frankfurt!
The Frankfurt Layover will be covered in its own chapter after the "Mersey Monster" Arc.
After several hours spent in Frankfurt, Chad and Co. Finally arrived in the city of Liverpool!
"Frankfurt is not a fun city." Chad said, leaving the plane that just landed.
"Yeah.. I can't believe that thing was so big!" Kyle exclaimed, following Chad
"Man, I'm never eating a hotdog again! Nuh-uh!" Cage declared, walking out of the airplane with their luggage.
And so, our trio find themself right in front of the Liverpool airport, but one question is going through Chad's mind.
"..Where do we even go now?"
"I got a few ideas in mind, I thought we could go visit the Titanic Memorial, from what I know it's only half an hour drive from here, we could get a good look of the city while we drive there, how's that sound?" Cage proposed..
The boys shrugged as they had no better idea, "Is it by the Mersey river?" Chad asked.
"Yeah, it's a pretty good spot! I've been there once and the view was stunning!"
"So that means…" Chad said with a worry in his voice, looking at Kyle.
Kyle looked back at Chad, also with a worried expression on his face. "The Mersey Monster.." The boy said.
Cage had a confused look on his face, before smiling at the boys. "Come on, you can't tell me you think the Mersey monster is in the river, right? There's no way there will be monsters everywhere we go! Besides, I've been there before, and I'm sure I didn't see anything!"
This helped calm the boys a little, the worried expression from their faces fading.
"I guess we can go then, what's the worst that can happen, right? Chad said, to which Kyle nodded.
"Yeah! Also, the lab I told you about is pretty close to the Titanic Memorial, so I think it's actually a really good idea to go over there!"
"It's decided then!" Cage said enthusiastically. "We're going to the Titanic Memorial, and then the lab! Let's go catch a cab, crew!"
Cage, Chad and Kyle all went onwards, shortly after leaving the airport building they managed to find a taxi that was parked near it. Cage packed all of the luggage into the trunk as he sat in the front seat next to the driver, while the boys took the back seat.
The taxi then took off towards the Titanic Memorial, during the ride Cage and the Driver made smalltalk, while Chad and Kyle were unusually quiet, most likely still a little fatigued from Frankfurt.
Chad rested his head on the glass pane of the car door, admiring the streets and buildings of Liverpool as they drove.
Though the style of the buildings was very different from American houses, Chad did notice a similarity in the US and the UK, where the houses next to each other were mostly the same, only having minor changes if any at all.
During the taxi ride they also passed by many churches or synagogues, Chad even saw what looked to be a very old church with a run down wooden roof, but Chad still admired it, because despite the roof the church itself looked very nice and sturdy.
But as the taxi drove closer to their destination, Chad did notice the off-looking modern buildings that often stood between the old and traditional ones, especially the ones that looked to be mainly made out of glass, he wasn't too fond of those.
The taxi didn't take long after that to reach the Titanic Memorial, the sum that they had to pay for the service was much greater than Cage would've anticipated, even Chad who didn't know much about taxi rates was surprised at the price.
But nonetheless, Cage paid the fee and the three of them left the taxi, of course taking their luggage with them.
"Man, 70 pounds! I can't believe that!" Cage said after the taxi drove off.
"I think you got scammed, Dad." Kyle remarked, to which the disappointed Cage replied with a sigh.
"Well, at least we got to the spot! Follow me, boys! You're about to see something awesome!" Cage said with excitement which definitely spread to Kyle and Chad, the two boys eagerly followed the man.
Cage led them to a very open area which was the Liverpool Pier Head; there were a ton of people gathered at the barriers that separated the land and the Mersey, which Chad and the rest approached.
As the three of them walked up to one of the barriers, the sight that graced their eyes was a beautiful pool of water called the Mersey River, it's worth noting that today was a very sunny day, so the usual waters of the Mersey acted like a mirror for the sun, the light that was reflecting off of the sapphire waters of Mersey was almost blinding, both Kyle and Chad alike were speechless at the sight of it, the two boys are sure they've never seen anything quite like it.
"We chose a good day for this, the river is even better than last time I was here!" Cage exclaimed.
Chad and Kyle smiled as they silently agreed with Cage, but suddenly, an idea popped into Chad's mind!
"We should take a photo! It's a good chance, and I want to send it to my mom! She'd love it here!"
"Let's do it!" Cage said, pulling out his phone."Let's all take a group photo with the Mersey in the background, it's gonna look great!" He knelt down to be closer to the boys' height, putting his phone high in the air as Chad and Kyle both smiled into the camera, Chad having a large grin on his face, while Kyle a small, shy smile.
"Alright gang, everyone say 'Mersey!'"
"Mersey!" They said in unity as Cage snapped a photo of the three of them .
He then stood back, taking a look at the photo in his phone. "Woah! I got a talent for this, it looks great!" Cage said, showing the photo to Chad and Kyle
"Yeah, this does look cool! Good thing that Chad's watch isn't in the frame!" Kyle pointed out, to which Chad laughed.
"Yeah, dude! My mom would have so many questions about that." Chad said as he looked at the photo with a smile on his face, but soon after something caught his attention, he squinted his eyes a little.
Kyle caught onto this strange behavior, and questioned Chad. "What are you squinting at, Chad?"
Chad then pointed his finger at the background of the photo, something that looked like a large, black spot in the water. "What's.. That?"
"Kyle immediately caught onto what Chad was suggesting, the two boys went a little pale as Cage looked at them with a confused look.
"What are you both talking about?" The man asked as he looked at the photo himself and saw the same thing as they did. Cage was more confused than worried about the dark spot in the water.
Cage rubbed his chin at the picture, but finally, a lightbulb lit up over his head.
"I got it! That's no Mersey monster, that's just a cloud!"
Chad and Kyle looked at each other with confusion.
"A cloud? But the sky was clear just a second ago!" Chad exclaimed, but Cage pointed to the sky, which prompted the two boys to turn around.
When they looked in the sky, they saw a small cloud that was moving through the otherwise sunny sky.
"That cloud probably just passed by right as we were taking the photo!" Cage exclaimed. "But it looks like the sky is completely clear besides that one."
Chad and Kyle both let out a sigh of relief as their biggest fear turned out to just be a tiny little cloud that passed by.
"Oh man, it got me good!" Chad said, wiping his forehead.
"Yeah, I totally thought it's the monster! But it looks like the Mersey really is monster-free." Kyle said.
"I'm glad we got that sorted." Cage said with a smile. "We should head over to the lab, the experiment is starting soon, right Kyle?"
Kyle's face went into a bit of a shock when Cage mentioned the lab. "That's right! I totally forgot about it, we should hurry before there's only bad seats left!" Exclaimed the worried Kyle, which made Chad giggle.
"Chill out, Kyle! We still got like two hours until that, we can make our way there and get the good seats just in time, right Uncle Cage?"
Cage nodded. "Yeah, we can just take a walk over there and explore the city a bit more, and we'll get there right on time!"
Kyle felt relieved after the reassurance from his friend and dad, so the boy calmed down. "Okay.. Then, let's go!" Kyle ran ahead enthusiastically with his best friend quick to tag along, the two boys running ahead and leaving Cage in the dust.
From the back, Cage looked at the two boys with a proud smile on his face, he was glad that as a father he could see his son, and the son of his best friend get along so well, looking at the backs of the two boys, he can't help but see himself and Chad's dad in their youth.
This sentiment did cause him to space out a bit, as the two boys turned around to him.
"Dad! Come on!" Kyle called out from a distance.
Cage snapped back to reality. "Right behind you, kid!" He called back with a smile on his way, making his way over to the boys.
And so, they made their way through the city!
An hour or so later, Chad, Kyle and Cage have made their way over to the Liverpool Laboratory, it didn't look like much from the outside, the lab seemed like just a big, white square with nothing going for it, but Kyle was extremely eager to be here.
"I can't believe it, I'm finally here!" Kyle beamed with anticipation.
"It doesn't look like much."Chad as he looked at the facility with a raised eyebrow, being slightly let down by the building.
"Never judge a book by its cover, Chad, you'll see once we make it inside." Cage said.
"You've been here before, Uncle Cage?"
"Yeah, Kyle's mom loved this place! It was one of her favorite spots in the world, she always dragged me to vacation here!" Cage reminisced with a smile on his face.
"Let's go inside! They should be starting soon!" Kyle called out as he wasted no time getting into the building, with Chad and Cage following right after him.
Once Chad walked into the laboratory, he was proven right by Cage's words.
The actual inside of the compound was much, much cooler than it's outside. While the primary color was still white, the actual interior was more similar to a mall than a lab, one of the first things that Chad noticed were two escalators that lead to an upper floor, to which many scientists were going to, or coming down from.
He also noticed that the lab had many different "sectors", kind of like how there's multiple stores in a mall, each of these sectors in the lab had a different experiment happening inside of it, one of the sectors that caught Chad's eye was similar to a jungle, with a silverback gorilla inside of it, the gorilla noticed Chad looking at it and stared at the boy, to which he reacted with a wave, but much to Chad's surprise, the gorilla waved back!
"Wow.." He muttered under his breath. "This place is so cool! There's so much happening here! This gorilla just waved at me, there's a monkey with a typewriter there, this dog is floating, and this guy is carrying.." Chad was pointing at many different things in his field of view, which ended up with him pointing at a man eating his lunch, "..A sandwich!"
Cage, who was right behind Chad, had a smile on his face from the boy's enthusiasm. "I told you this place is cool!"
"Yeah, I totally get why Kyle wanted to come here! So, Kyle, where is the cool thing we're gonna watch?" Chad asked eagerly
"It's actually on this floor, we just gotta walk straight past the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, and then we'll be there!" Kyle said,, but Chad's attention got stuck on the word "Tyrannosaurus", the boy's eyes glistening from happiness.
Kyle couldn't help but laugh at his friend's excitement of everything that he used to call nerdy not too long ago, but Kyle was more than happy to show his friend the world of science.
"Alright, come on!" Kyle said, the three of them went on ahead, soon passing the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, at which Chad stared at for a solid minute.
But finally, they arrived in front of a large sliding door, which opened for them and they headed inside.
Inside was a dark tunnel, something akin to when you enter the cinema, at the end of the tunnel however was a very large glass window, from which you could see that the room Chad and the rest are in is actually above where the experiment is gonna take place, most likely for safety reasons.
Down below you could also see a large machine that was pointing at something small and black contained inside a glass box.
"What's that?" Chad asked, pointing at the glass box.
"A hercules beetle!" Replied one of the scientists, beating Kyle to it.
"Oh! Are you one of the scientists, mister?" Kyle inquired, to which the man nodded.
"That's right! It actually just so happens I'm the lead scientist, My name is Ludwig Copteral!" The man said, extending his hand out to Kyle.
Ludwig was a tall, but lanky man with wavy dark blonde hair with a middle parting, he had brown eyes and wore circular glasses, his face had only a few freckles on it, and his jaw was quite sharp, overall, Ludwig would be considered a handsome man.
Kyle didn't waste any time and shook Ludwig's hand, introducing himself. "I'm Kyle, Kyle Walker! This is my friend, Chad, and this is my dad!"
Chad and Cage both greeted Ludwig, after which Chad asked a question.
"So.. What exactly is gonna happen?"
Ludwig didn't keep Chad waiting for an answer.
"You see! What's going to happen is that this large machine you see over there will launch a special sound wave right at that Hercules beetle, and the goal is for the sound wave to sort of combine with the beetle, giving it special properties relating to sound!"
"But if you're here, who's gonna launch the blast, shouldn't it be you?" Kyle asked.
Ludwig shook his head. "You see, down there in the control room is my trusty partner, my brother Xavier Copteral! I left him the duty of launching the device, so I can watch the results from here!"
"I see! That's so cool, Mr. Copteral! But, I do have to ask.. Why a beetle?"
Ludwig grew a smirk on his face as soon as Kyle asked the question. "Is it not obvious, Kyle? The true goal here is to create.." Ludwig paused dramatically, Chad and Kyle both looked at him with suspense, awaiting the answer..
"A Beatle!" Ludwig revealed, which made both Chad and Kyle look at him with a blank stare, while Cage was holding himself back from laughing.
But suddenly, the machine down below started glowing, and everyone's attention turned towards it.
"Ah! It's about to start!" Ludwig exclaimed..
"Finally! I can't wait to see what's gonna happen!" Kyle said with his eyes glued to the glass, everyone intensely staring at the machine that appeared to be charging up.
Suddenly, a countdown was heard in the room they're in.
"5.."
"4.."
"3.."
"2.."
"1.."
And then, the machine fired off!
-FIN-
Author's Note!
Hey guys! Cage here.
It's been a while since Chapter 2, and to be honest with you, that's totally my fault!
I was busy with work and couldn't find the time to apply finishing touches to Chapter 3, but it's finally here!
I'm not gonna promise a set date the chapters will come out at, but I'm definitely going to work much harder to get these out sooner.
And as always, big thanks to all my readers & friends!
Checkout my friend TubularWishes, he's cooking up something great!
That's all, till next time!