Camera Doesn't Lie. (boyxboy)

Chapter X.

Nick spied a map of Hollow Bastion encased in a glass next to another booth and looked at it. Ryan followed him.

"What other rides are here?" Nick asked, more to himself than to Ryan.

"Do you think they'd let us take Chester and everything else?" the older model asked. "They might get wet." They had won the Foxy Grandma shirt for Boomer, a T-shirt with the Hollow Bastion logo for Trent, a Batman mask and cape for Zane - Ryan said that he was Zane's favorite superhero - and a snowglobe of the Hollow Bastion Castle for Nathan. Ryan carried Zane and Boomers souvenirs in a plastic bag while Nick carried Trent and Nathan's.

"I think there're lockers we can put them in," Nick said. "I saw some before the Rising Falls there should be some near other rides." There had been a separate wall of lockers before the stairs that led to the Rising Falls.

"There's one of those donut-ring tube rides that follow a river that goes around the park," Ryan suggested, tracing the path of the river with his finger on the map.

"Too boring," Nick said, holding Chester high in the air. He checked his watch while he was at it. 5:15 PM.

"How about we head to the Castle then?" the brunette suggested. "I heard there're some cool waterworks there that happen every fifteen minutes."

"Yeah," Ryan skimmed the side of the map, which listed Hollow Bastion's attractions. "There's supposed to be a watershow or something that happens at the basement of the castle every fifteen minutes."

"Oh, let's go!" Nick said, taking off running.

"Wait, Nick! We have to find a locker first!" he ran after him.

As Nick predicted, there were lockers in front of Hollow Bastion Castle. Like the games, the lockers were activated by points stored on the card which were accessed via a slot. They stored their souvenirs.

A lift took them to the castle gates and the two models quickly looked around. There were only two ways the path went. One towards the gates, which were locked, and a crystal that activated a lift. They took the lift, which-as Nick and Ryan guessed-took them below the castle.

It was only 5:22, so there was still some time before the show began, so they waited.

The basement of the Hollow Bastion Castle was mostly made up of water that they could-surprisingly-- stand on. Nick and Ryan's feet weren't even wet as they stood on the surface of the water. There were small, stone islands that floated just beneath the surface, and there were other stones whose figures towered above them. There were lifts in the basement as well. Two or three large transport lifts, and then several smaller lifts that arrived from above them and crowded in the basement, floating idly.

As the minutes ticked by more and more lifts appeared.

"Ryan, do you hear that?" Nick asked.

"Hm?" the older model placed a hand to his ear. "Oh yeah, I hear it."

The lifts were humming. It was soft at first, but as more gathered it became more apparent. Each had its own tone and it pulsed or harmonized with other lifts that were near it. When the lifts hummed they changed color, some turning blue, others turning pink or purple, green or red. Nick figured each color corresponded to whatever note the lift could hum.

Nick and Ryan assumed this was part of the show.

Promptly at 5:30, the lifts hummed together. As if signaled by the hum, jets of water came shooting from the ground (if one would like to call it a ground, after all, it was made of water) alongside them. The two models were startled at first.