Core Four Fun | Location : Earth | TMC |

[11] saving alex's hotdog

"Delucia Cavelle, if you even try and splash me and my hotdog, you are going down." Alex threatened, meaning every word as she bit into the hotdog. Dix rolled her eyes teasingly and let go of the cupped water in her hands, flopping onto a beach chair.

Alex released a happy, relaxed sigh and shaded her eyes from the sun, setting the end of her hot dog down on the napkin next to her. She watched as Jordan and Bear attempted to run around the bottom of the ginormous wave pool and sighed, returning to her hot dog with gusto. Dix flicked through a Typhoon Lagoon article and sat a bit straighter as she read aloud eagerly.

"Okay, so we're in the Surf-Wave pool right now, but there's this water ride called Crush 'n' Gusher. Listen, 'Enter an abandoned fruit-processing plant and prepare for a thrilling water coaster ride down a 400-foot-long tube slide. You get to choose from three different fruit chute-y things, there's a pineapple one, a coconut one, banana one. There's a two person option and a solo ride option as well. Drops, turns, closed and open sections, you even skim across Hideaway Bay at the end!"

Alex took a long draught of her pineapple juice and sent a threatening glare Jordan and Bear's way (they were trying to splash her) and shrugged at Dix.

"Sounds good to me, we've been lazing around at this pool for ages now. And I'm willing to bet Jordan's going to have a sunburn from this morning already."

She was pretty sure she was right, because Jordan was already yowling about his back turning red and sore. Today had been a lazy wake up for the Core Four, yawning and stretching as they untangled themselves from the big pillow-blanket mess over the couches. Luckily, the lightsabers had gone unharmed and the only near incident was when Bear's droid had accidentally zoomed out into the hallway on their way to breakfast.

Alex was pretty sure they had somewhere else to go after lunch, but Dix seemed to really want to go on this ride so they corralled the boys, gave Jordan some aloe vera to stop the worst of the burn and a shirt, then walked over to Crush 'n' Gusher. Alex and Jordan chose to ride doubles with a banana float and Bear and Dix chose the coconut one.

They had to walk up a few flights of slippery stairs behind a jostling line until finally it was their turn. Alex sat in the front of the double and Jordan in the back as the park attendant lazily drawled 'Go.' They pushed off and Alex quickly leapt to holding onto the handles on the side, a gush of water spinning them down the first slope. Alex heard Bear whoop from the other track above them and braced for a bump when they rose and then slammed onto the slide again.

The world darkened for a few seconds as they passed under a covered tube and then shot out under the hot sun again.

"Oh crap!" Jordan swore as he accidentally let go and Alex pulled his arm back on, shaking her head mid-laughter at him.

They rounded a bend on the banana-float around a trio of tall palm trees and laughed as they saw Bear and Dix whizz by, waving as securely as they could with one hand firmly attached to the handle. Alex narrowed her eyes as she saw they were approaching a descent with a slight rise at the bottom. It led to a large pool at the bottom where other rafters were already getting out of.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure it's going to have a slight buMP—" Alex shrieked as they flew into the air and then skimmed into the pool like they were drifting on a car track. Jordan echoed her yelp as they both fell out of the raft and into the chilly water.

Alex surfaced with a gasp, fully soaked compared to the light spray's she'd been getting from the ride earlier. Dix and Bear, dragging their coconut float, waded over towards Jordan and Alex. Both of them were drenched as well, Bear's dark hair plastered against his face, Dix's flaming locks down her back.