Fan Fiction ❯ Chao Music ❯ We are All Going to Die ( Chapter 10 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Made retardedly long in celebration for the 10th chapter!

The band and Iyou go on an expodition to Monument Valley, meeting Kryptic along the way. They stop in the Badlands, where Iyou goes into a hotel to check them in.

Kryptic, being the bad little girl she is, drives away with Bus and straight into a canyon. WATCH THEM SURVIVE!!!!!!11!1

Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 12.20.2005 | Pages: 18 | Words: 12.8K | Visits: 151 | Status: Completed

A/N: Hello everyone! I hope everybody got to catch that last chapter of Chao Music. I don't know why FF.N was screwing up, but then again, I really don't care!

Reviews! Yay!

To Iyou: YAY!

To RavenAries: They do in this, baby! And thank you for your compliment.

To Lupin10: THANK YOU!

To Kakashi-fan116: I didn't know Skippy liked Pluto, either! That was actually the first Disney character that I thought of when I was writing this, but he also happens to be my favorite, too, so maybe that's why. I should've made her do that, shouldn't have I? But then they would've all gotten thrown in jail for along time . . . That wouldn't have been good.

Just to let you guys know, when the Chaos are all singing and stuff, they're not using that adorable little high-pitched crap you here in SA2B. They're singing like normal kids! Thank you and enjoy the new chappie! Because this is the tenth chapter, I'm going to try to make it extra long!

And also, Kryptic teh Foxie, there is a part in this chapter where the Chao talk about their favorite foods. I don't know if your favorite food is blueberry pie, or if you even like it or not, but just go along with it! Please! Thank you!

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Chapter 10: We are All Going to Die: Part Five of the Pointless Adventures!

It was the most fun of times, it was the least fun of times, it was the beginning of a trip, it was the end of a trip, it was the season for rock, it was the season for jazz, it was the season for summer, it was the season for winter, it was the season of love, it was the season of hatred, it was the swarming of fans, it was the crowding of critics, and all in all, it was one hell of a sentence.

The band had all decided to take a road trip out of nowhere, not knowing what all could happen. They figured it would be perfectly OK, seeing that they had a great driver with them and a safe bus.

But what they didn't know is that they had the normal world opposing them.

“I am so pumped about today!” exclaimed Julia as she hopped into Bus.

“Me too,” said Raven. “But you don't see me spazzing out about it all.”

“C'mon, Rae!” said Skippy. “Cheer up! We're not always going to have the time to do something like this!”

“I know,” said Raven. “But it just seems like such a hassle. We live in Minnesota, yet we're all climbing into Bus to drive to the Utah/Arizona border.”

(A/N: Please don't ask me why I chose Minnesota, USA as their home state! It was the first thing that popped into mind!)

“I think it'll be fun,” said Neil as he hopped into Bus. “We'll all be by ourselves for a change . . . well, except Iyou. But that doesn't matter much. And I think it'll be great to be able to see some of the country side and natural attractions the world has to offer.”

(A/N: Yes. I'm a naturalist and oppose big cities. Shoot me.)

“We all ready to go?” asked Iyou, hopping into the driver's seat and putting on his Bus hat.

“Ready!” shouted the band.

“Then let's go!”

Bus flew out of the driveway and down the street, not paying any attention to the trashcans or pedestrians that happened to be there.

“Turn left ahead,” said a robotic female voice from out of nowhere.

“What was that?” asked Julia, somewhat freaked out.

“That's the GPS I made,” said Skippy, pulling out a black device. “I programmed it to navigate us to Monument Valley. It's going to read all the directions outloud.”

“I don't need one of those!” screamed Iyou. “I can do just fine by myself!”

“Turn right on next exit.”

Iyou kept going straight.

“You idiot,” came the robotic voice. “I said right. Turn around, now, you stooge.”

Iyou grumbled. “That is one smart GPS.”

Skippy smiled. “Isn't it though? I programmed it myself!” He pressed a couple of buttons.

“Hey Iyou. Bow to Skippy. He is your lord and supreme,” said the robotic voice once again. “You shall bow to him. Bow, mortal.”

Iyou grumbled again. He then smiled, however, as he noticed that if he could just get his hands on that thing, he would be able to throw it out the window and banish it from his life forever!

“Hey Skippy,” said Iyou as he tried to keep his eyes on the road.

“Yeah?” asked Skippy while his friends continued to watch the GPS.

“Can you let me see that thing for a minute?”

“Danger alert,” calmly said the GPS.

“Nice try,” said Skippy, eyeing Iyou ferociously. “I'm not letting you hurt it.”

“Danger alert,” said the GPS once again.

“It's OK, G. You can stop now.”

“Danger alert. Approaching solid object.”

And, sure enough, Iyou drove Bus right into a large boulder.

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“Come on! There's one just a few miles away! I can see it!”

Neil suddenly had a spark of hope as he spotted a diner in the distance. They had currently been walking in a large thunderstorm, rain splattering them everywhere. Luckily, they had packed raincoats on Bus, and were currently making their way towards the nearest sign of life to get help.

“Almost there!” cried Julia as they got further and further to the lights of the . . .

“Truck stop?” asked Raven. “Uh uh. I'm not going in there.”

“Come on!” said Skippy, grabbing Raven by the arm. “Do it! Or we'll all leave you here!”

Raven sighed and continued to walk with the others, not having any idea of what she was going to do once she got inside. She had been in a truck stop before, and she was certain that it definitely wasn't one of the cleanest places in the world.

Iyou clutched his raincoat tighter around him as the wind blew in his face. He didn't know what good it would do but hey, it did something!

Neil sighed. They made it.

He opened the door quickly and immediately coughed. Cigarette smoke was everywhere.

“Great,” said Raven as she walked in, apparently not affected. “Just what we need. Before we know it, one of us is going to get lung cancer and the band will be discontinued.”

“But then we can all sue!” said Julia with cheer in her voice. “My daddy's a lawyer!”

The other four Chao muttered “Yay,” and then continued to look around.

“There's a lot of people here,” said Skippy as he took off his black raincoat.

“No kidding,” said Iyou as he looked from driver to driver. “How long do you think we're going to need to stay here?”

“Until we can get help,” said Neil. “I'll go talk to the manager or something. You guys can go and sit somewhere.”

Neil walked off, leaving the other four Chao behind. Iyou lead the others to a booth way in the back corner.

“I'm scared,” said Julia as she sat down. “I've never been in a place like this before.”

“Well you need to get over it,” said Skippy as he looked around. “Something tells me we're going to be here for a while.”

A waitress randomly walked up to them. “What can I get ya?” she asked in a heavy country accent.

“Uh . . .” Iyou looked at everyone else. “Some water or something?”

“You don't want it,” said the waitress, gruffly.

“OK . . .” Iyou didn't know what to think.

“Say you want the Deluxe,” replied the waitress to the blunt statement. “It's good.”

“Uh . . .” said Raven. “We'll take the Deluxe?”

“Good. Do you want fries or onion rings?”

“Fries.”

“Onion rings. Right.” The waitress then walked off.

“I guess she's trying to protect us from food poisoning?” asked Julia.

In the meanwhile, Raven was busy eyeing a man that was smoking four cigarettes at once.

“That guy just took 28 minutes off his life,” she said as the man took a puff.

Neil walked over and sat down next to Julia. “The manager said that they'll have a tow truck haul Bus down over here and do what they can do at the repair place. In the meantime, we're going to have to do something constructive.”

“We ordered a Deluxe!” said Julia excitedly.

“What's a Deluxe?”

“We have no idea! The waitress suggested it!”

Neil looked at Raven with a confused look on his face. She shrugged in return.

The waitress returned with four steaming plates of some kind of meat and placed them down in front of the Chao that were there when she was there last.

“Dig in,” she said simply as she walked away.

“It's food?” asked Julia, picking at the meat. “I wanted something to drink!”

“Me too,” said Skippy. “I thought it would've been a tropical drink or something.”

“I don't eat meat,” said Raven as she shoved her plate towards Neil. “Enjoy.”

Iyou grabbed a fork and cut off a little piece. He brought to his mouth. “It taste like feet.”

“What?” asked the rest of the Chao, wondering how Iyou even knew what feet tasted like.

“Let me taste,” said Skippy as he grabbed a small bite. He made a face. “That's disgusting!”

“I think it's good,” said Neil as he continued to chomp more of the meat off. “I must know what this is!”

He motioned for the waitress to come to them and asked what exactly their meal was.

“They're ham hocks,” said the waitress as she left once again.

“What are those?” asked Neil to himself.

“They're meat just above a pig's foot,” said Skippy, showing off his smarts.

“Well no wonder why it tasted like feet,” said Iyou. “It is feet!”

The five Chao laughed insanely, then stopped when they noticed the stares from everyone else.

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“How long have we been waiting?”

Julia looked at her watch. “About three hours.”

Raven sighed as she laid her head on the table. It shouldn't take that long for a tow truck to get somewhere! She didn't know how far they were, exactly, but she didn't care. She just wanted to continue the road trip.

An old western song played from a jukebox as the five all sat there, bored.

“The rain's letting up,” said Julia as she stared at the window.

The rest of the Chao decided to watch the rain, seeing that it was better than to just sit there and let their eyes wander.

The door to the diner opened and a cloaked figure walked in. It went up to the counter and talked to a waitress, who talked back and pointed to the five Chao. The cloaked figure nodded in thanks and walked towards the band, who were wondering who this person was.

“Who do you think that is?” asked Julia as the mysterious person got closer.

“No telling. It could be an assassin or something, but I doubt it. Not out here,” said Neil with confidence.

The cloaked figure reached their table and stood there. The band and Iyou stared back, not knowing what the think. It was then the figure reached into its cloak and pulled out a sharp metallic object.

“AAAAH!” screamed the five Chao, not caring what people were thinking of them.

“Here's the keys to Bus,” said the person in the cloak. “You might want to take them with you next time you leave it just sitting in the middle of nowhere.”

“Kryptic?” asked Skippy as Kryptic lowered her hood. “What are you doing here?”

“I walked after I got a call on my cellphone,” she said. “Apparently, they mistook me for the tow truck company.”

“So that's why it took so long for someone to get here!” said Neil. “It all makes sense now.”

“And I fixed Bus for you guys, also. It only sustained partial damage to the front. A fender bender, if you wish to call it that.”

“So really we could've just backed up and kept going?” asked Iyou.

“Yep.”

The band looked at Iyou, who giggled nervously.

“I expect a reward,” said Kryptic, holding an open hand out to them.

The five Chao looked at it. Raven then looked up. “You can come with us.”

“OK!”

And with that, the six Chao left the smoke-filled diner and climbed onboard Bus, who was patiently waiting in the parking lot.

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“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“SHUT UP!”

Kryptic and Iyou had had the following conversation for about five minutes now. The rest of the Chao were very patient, remembering that they too were once like that. Had it not been for the exhausting experience at the diner, they would've been doing the exact same thing.

“We're only in South Dakota right now. We're still a couple hundred miles from the northern border of Utah,” said Iyou matter-of-factly. “And then we would still have to drive through Utah to the southern border. And don't forget the trip back.”

“Why didn't we just fly?” asked Kryptic as she rolled her eyes.

“Because it was Neil's bright idea to see country side!” said Skippy. “I've been enjoying the country side, alright. This is the fiftieth corn field we've driven past today!”

“Fifty-first,” said Julia as a corn field began to start again.

Kryptic yawned. “Kick this thing into high gear!” she said.

“He could,” said Skippy. “But the speed limit right now is 70.”

Iyou then steered into the shoulder of the interstate and sped at 120, the highest Bus could go.

“Cars are flying by!” shouted Julia as she looked out the window. “I feel like I'm in Indianapolis!”

(A/N: There's a derby held there ever year, if none of you guys get what she's talking about.)

“Go Bus! Go!” shouted Neil as Bus swerved from the left shoulder to the right shoulder, just in time to make the exit.

“Now approaching South Dakota border,” said the GPS. “Calculating distance . . . Alert. Alert. Gas station ahead. Fill up gas, now. I do not want to have to sit in another empty bus.”

“You heard the lady,” said Skippy. “Stop at the gas station.”

Iyou grumbled and pulled into a truck-fueling place. He realized, however, that Bus was still on cruise control and slammed the breaks down.

The five Chao that were with him all flew forward and slammed into the windshield.

“Gee, guys,” said Iyou. “Buckle up.”

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“Thanks a lot, lady,” said Iyou as he walked from the counter back to the Chao. “The lady said that the nearest hotel is about five miles from here. We should get there by . . . not too far from now.”

“Let's stay in a deluxe hotel!” said Julia as she pulled out a huge wad of cash. “I've got the money!”

“Let's not,” said Raven. “It'll ruin our image as `plastic'.”

The rest of the Chao shrugged, then headed off once again for Bus.

Indeed, thanks to Iyou's extreme driving skills and Bus's extreme speeding skills, they reached the hotel in no time at all.

“I'll go check in,” said Iyou. “And take Bus for a walk while I'm gone, OK? I don't want him to be all neglected feeling and all just because we're leaving him for a hotel.” Iyou then hopped out of the Bus.

“That was different,” said Skippy as he watched Iyou enter the hotel. “So . . . how far are we supposed to take Bus?”

“No idea,” said Kryptic as she surveyed the scenery. “It's pretty flat out here . . . I don't think it'll be too dangerous for us to drive around. If we can get past the width of this interstate, then we could drive in the country side all we want.”

“Where are we, anyway?” asked Raven.

Skippy checked his GPS. “The Badlands.”

“The Badlands?” asked Raven. “That's not flat at all! There's . . . gaps everywhere!”

“What's the harm?” asked Kryptic as she jumped to the steering wheel. “We'll drive slow. And besides, I don't see a gap in site. They must be about . . . 100 miles from here.”

She turned the key and listened as Bus turned on. She then carefully pulled out of the hotel's circular driveway and drove over the width of the interstate. They were now sitting on flat soil.

“Now, where do we want to go?” asked Kryptic. “We can go straight west, or we can go north or south.”

“Let's go west,” said Neil. “I want to at least take a glimpse of the Badlands.”

(A/N: If you have no idea what the Badlands are by now, go to Google Images and type it in. Go on! Do it and be amazed at the wonders of nature!)

Kryptic charged down the open prairie at about 100 miles an hour, enjoying herself to her heart's content.

“See Raven?” asked Kryptic as she turned back to Raven. “No gaps in sight.”

“You might want to take a closer look,” said Raven as her eyes widened.

Kryptic turned towards the windshield and stared in fright.

“KRYPTIC! PUT ON THE BRAKES!”

But the shock of the moment was apparently too much for her, and Bus flew off a ledge and went down, down, down into the depths of the Badlands.

“AAAAH!” screamed the Chao as they watched the Badlands floor come closer to them.

“Aah,” said the GPS as it sensed a decrease in elevation.

And then . . .

CRASH!!!!

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Neil slowly lifted his eyes open. The green seats of Bus were right above him.

He lifted his head and shook it, as if clearing his mind. “Where am I?” he asked.

“OH! HE WOKE UP!”

Four Chao came rushing over to him.

“Are you alive?” asked Julia.

“Of course he's alive, you spaz!” said Raven as she fwapped Julia upside the head.

“What happened?” asked Neil.

“Well, remember?” asked Kryptic. “We were driving, and then I drove us all off the cliff of . . .”

“The Badlands . . .” said Neil to himself. He then climbed out of Bus (who was now upside down, if you couldn't figure it out) and looked up. Worn rocks were surrounding him, as if making fun of the situation that he was in.

“So . . . how long have we been down here?” he asked.

“About an hour, maybe,” said Julia as she looked at her watch. “We found some rain puddles and stuff not too far from here. The only thing is they're not that big . . . And there's about seven of them.”

“We're going to have to drink as little water as we can,” said Raven, knowing what to do in situations like this. Years of forced Girl Scouts were paying off.

“What about rain?” asked Skippy. “Any chance it'll rain sometime soon?”

Raven looked up at the sky. “In about a minute, maybe,” she said.

“OK then,” said Kryptic. “Neil and Skippy, try to start getting a fire going. We're going to need it at night and as a distress call.”

Neil and Skippy nodded and set to work, looking for anything they could burn.

“Julia and Raven, try to find any kind of containers we can store water and rainwater in.”

Julia and Raven nodded. Kryptic put her hands on her hips and looked for something she could do.

It was then that she smelled motor oil.

Kryptic walked over to Bus and inspected him. Because he was upside down, she was going to have to climb up if she was going to look at the underside.

Kryptic, who was a great gymnast, hopped up and managed to grab hold on Bus's underside. She hoisted herself up and balanced herself on the thin metal frame.

Something from Bus was leaking motor oil. Perhaps . . .

Yes! A steady flow of motor oil was flowing from one of the compartments! If they were lucky, it would have left a trail for someone to find them!

It was then that the rain came down, washing out her hopes.

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It was already nightfall and the five Chao sat around a large roaring fire that had managed to survive on the wet ground. Had they had marshmallows, it would've been a real treat.

“So . . .” said Raven. “We're in the middle of the Badlands with no hopes of getting back to civilization. I'm with four Chao that are business partners with me, and we're all looking at the face of Death. A real vacation.”

“Lighten up,” said Skippy. “If there's anything I don't want to have to deal with right now, it's your attitude.”

Raven took this as a threat and shut up.

“So, guys,” said Julia as she looked towards Neil and Skippy. “What did you do to get this fire started? All the sticks are wet.”

“Uh . . .” said Neil, looking at Skippy with concern. Skippy nodded. “We sort of . . . burned your bass . . .”

“WHAT?” asked Julia, standing up.

“Chill, chill!” said Neil. “We burned our stuff, too.”

“I DON'T CARE IF YOU BURNED ALL YOUR STUFF! MY HOPES OF STAYING SANE HAVE BEEN DESTROYED!”

“Ah man . . .” said Neil, looking to Skippy. “I told you it was a bad idea.”

“I MEAN, FIRST WE HAVE TO DRIVE OFF A CLIFF, THANKS TO SOME LUNATIC, AND THEN WE HAVE TO FIND WAYS TO SURVIVE BY DESTROYING OUR ONLY MEANS OF FUN! ISN'T FUN A MAJOR FACTOR, TOO?”

Julia then settled down, however, when she realized that no one was paying attention to her.

Kryptic shifted around to where she was supporting herself with her hands and looking up at the sky.

“Have you ever wondered about . . . the sky?” asked Kryptic.

“Uh . . . no.”

“Come on! You've have to have at least something to wonder about! Like how it got blue, or how big it is, or how bright the stars are when you're right in front of them.”

“She has a point,” said Skippy, now also looking into the starry sky. “Look now! There's the Big Dipper!”

He pointed to the sky, and all the Chao stared in fascination.

“And there's Cancer!” said Julia as she pointed to the crab.

“And there's . . . uh . . .” Neil stuttered for the right constellation.

“Orion's Belt,” whispered Raven.

“Orion's Belt!”

The five Chao stared in fascination at the stars.

It was then that they head static coming from inside Bus.

“What's going on?” asked Skippy.

“Maybe the radio's coming on?” asked Julia.

“Can't be,” said Kryptic, holding up the keys. “Bus is off.”

They sat there in silence as the static got louder and fuzzier.

“OH CRIPES!” suddenly shouted Skippy.

“What?” asked Raven.

But Skippy paid no attention and ran inside Bus. The others ran after him, wondering what was going on.

“NO!” shouted Skippy.

The others ran inside to find him kneeling on the floor, looking at something in front of him. The others joined him to the see the GPS, who's screen was showing TV fuzz.

“Skippy . . .” slowly said the GPS's robotic voice. “I . . . am going . . . to . . .”

“No, no you're not!” said Skippy. “Just try not to think about it!”

“A white light . . . (KRRZ!) I see . . . a white (KRRZ!) light . . .”

“No, you don't! That's the TV fuzz on your monitor!”

“Fare . . . well . . . (KRRZ!) . . . Skip . . . py . . .” The monitor turned to black.

“NOOOOO!” shouted Skippy.

“Well . . .” said Neil, looking at Skippy. “That was . . . odd . . .”

Kryptic motioned the others outside Bus, where they would be able to leave Skippy in peace.

Skippy followed them, however, dead GPS in hand and solemn look on his face.

“What are you doing?” asked Raven as Skippy headed towards the fire.

“Cremating her,” said Skippy. “It's what she would've wanted.”

“Oh brother,” said Julia as she slapped her forehead.

GPS was soon a pile of melted plastic and ashes. The fire died out, and Skippy scooped the ashes into his hands.

“What are you doing?” asked Kryptic.

“I'm going to let the wind scatter her now.”

Skippy threw his arms into the air, and the canyon wind blew the ashes away.

(A/N: This is getting all too tragic . . .)

Skippy stood there for awhile as he watched the ashes gently fly away. The other Chao bowed their heads in silence.

“OK!” said Skippy, suddenly perked up. “Let's go to bed now!”

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The five Chao sat there, knees tucked into their chest and rocking back and forth.

“How long have we been here?” asked Skippy, eyes bloodshot.

“About five days,” said Raven, face windburned.

Julia got up and headed over to Bus, who too seemed to be sweating from the heat. “Where's all the water?” asked Julia as she searched through the containers.

“It's gone,” said Kryptic. “We used the last of it last night.”

“How much longer until it rains?”

Raven looked up at the sky and saw light-gray clouds slowly drifting towards them. “Maybe a couple of days.”

Julia walked back over to the group, who was still sitting next to a new fire. “Hopefully by then someone will get us. If not, we can survive at least two days without water, right?”

“Yeah. But we may not feel like doing anything.”

Julia sighed and looked ahead at the stone walls. It was so plain looking . . . And the heat made it look like it was breathing.

It was then that she noticed a large, fat cat walking by. She didn't know what kind of cat it was, but it was certainly a cat.

“There's a cat here,” said Julia, squinting.

The others looked in the direction that Julia was looking at.

“It's probably a mirage,” said Raven. “You're overheated.”

“No! For real! There's a cat slowly walking by!”

Julia continued to watch the cat walk by. The cat then looked at her and smiled, showing large and freaky teeth, like that you would see on Courage the Cowardly Dog. The cat then exploded, emitting some large puddle of yellow goop.

Julia gasped.

“What is it?” asked Neil.

“The cat exploded!”

“It's just a mirage,” said Raven. “It's not really there.”

Julia, however, quickly crawled over to where the cat was. The yellow goop was still there as she got closer, so it must've been real! If it was a mirage, it would've disappeared! TV was so useful . . .

Julia stuck her finger into the yellow goop and looked at it. She then brought it to her mouth and tasted it.

IT WAS CHEESE!

“IT'S CHEESE!” shouted Julia as she began shoveling more of the delicious, yellow glop into her mouth.

The four other Chao just sat there with wide eyes as they watched the formerly sane bass guitarist begin shoveling dirt into her mouth.

“Get her away from it,” said Raven.

“But it is something to eat,” said Neil, looking at the ground. He grabbed a wad of dirt and put it in his mouth. “It doesn't taste that good, though . . . Maybe if we picture it as something else, it'll taste better?” He then began to chew. “Mmm . . . It tastes just like chocolate . . .”

Kryptic looked at the ground and shoveled her own clod into her mouth. “Mine tastes like blueberry pie!” She smiled as she chewed.

Raven grabbed a small amount of dirt and put it in her mouth. Her eyes widened. “You're right . . .” she said, absolutely amazed. “This is absolutely amazing!”

All five Chao were soon shoveling dirt into their mouth, enjoying their favorite foods.

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“C'mon, c'mon,” said Raven to herself as she furiously rubbed two sticks together. They were running out of wood . . . The only thing left that they could've burned would be Bus itself.

“Come on, Hazel . . .” said Raven as she began talking to her drumheads. “Come on . . . Just catch fire . . .”

Raven was having to burn her favorite drum kit, Hazel; all because of the stupid situation they had gotten themselves into. Now she was going to have to pay the price.

She was glad that she was a lot more fortunate than so many other people were.

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“You think you can actually do it?” asked Skippy.

“Maybe.”

Kryptic was playing around on Bus's radio. She was wearing a headset, which she had managed to make from busted guitar strings.

“Come on . . .”

Kryptic then wore a smile.

“This is a distress call. Repeat, this is a distress call. Trapped in the Badlands of South Dakota. Repeat, trapped in the Badlands of South Dakota. Over.”

Static.

“Please, report. Trapped in Badlands. Roger?”

Static.

Kryptic sighed. “I think I got through, but I don't know for sure.”

“Well, you tried,” said Skippy.

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Julia looked at her watch. 5:18. It would be getting dark soon.

“I GOT IT!” screeched Raven. Hazel had just caught on fire!

It was then that an extremely fast wind blew throughout the canyon. Something was happening . . .

“What's going on?” asked Julia as she saw Kryptic and Skippy run out.

“LOOK UP!” shouted Kryptic as she pointed to the sky. Julia did so and gasped at what she saw.

A helicopter was coming down next to them!

“YOUR SIGNAL GOT THROUGH!” shouted Skippy to Kryptic.

Neil, who had been helping Raven with the fire, ran up with Raven and joined the others.

The choppers slowed down, and the fast blowing wind died down as well.

The door opened and Iyou's head popped out.

“Hello,” he said.

The five Chao shrieked and ran up to him, filled with joy that someone had come. They peered inside to see a man turn to look at them, then nodded in greeting. Someone from the National Park Service.

“How did you get our signal?” asked Kryptic.

“It was received on Iyou's radio,” said the servicemen. “He told the people at the hotel, and they told us, and we were able to trace it. You obviously left your signal on.”

Skippy then looked back at Bus. “I guess we did . . .”

“OH! IYOU!” shouted Kryptic as she leapt for Iyou and gave him a peck on the cheek. “THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH!”

“YAY!” shouted all the other Chao.

“Aw . . .” said Iyou, blushing. “I feel so loved now.”

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“So what are we going to do about Bus,” asked Neil as he sipped on his hot chocolate in the hotel lobby.

“The park rangers said they could have someone haul it out with a crane,” said Iyou. “Other than that, the repairs are up to us.”

“That'll be OK,” said Julia. “We have the money in our bank accounts.”

“Well, that was one experience I will never forget,” said Skippy as he gulped down his cocoa.

“Me neither,” said Kryptic. “It just goes to show how lucky we are. So many people in this world have to go through what we went through everyday. It's a shame, really.”

“Well,” said Julia. “I know I'll never let Kryptic drive Bus again!”

“I was being serious,” said Kryptic as the other Chao laughed. “We really ought to appreciate what we have.”

“Kryptic's right,” said Neil. “We sweated a lot of the little things in life, like having music to listen to and play, or having some form of entertainment. We've got the best thing of all, though: our lives.”

The other Chao nodded.

“Wait . . .” said Raven. “So that means that I . . . I . . .”

“What?” asked Iyou.

“I BURNED HAZEL FOR NOTHING!”

And for the first time in a long, long, long while, Raven cried.

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Wow! That was a long chapter! I just hope that you all enjoyed it!

I want to be able to make all my chapters this long. If you can think of some great pointless ideas for me to expand and stuff, just like this, then please tell me!

Credit goes to Iyou for thinking up the main theme of this chapter, even though only though nine and one-half out of 19 pages were about the whole “trapped in a canyon” thing. But either way, it was good, wouldn't you say?

GO IYOU! (claps hands. Go on, clap your hands!)

Until then!