The Smartest Kids Alive (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XI

EGHOSA

Music: Departure for Space from Gradius III SNES

While on the way to wherever our next destination is going to be, I got into a pretty good conversation with Heath, Jack, Avery, and Skylar.

"I still think this is so surreal," I say, and Jack nods along with me. "Is this like those adventures you guys told us about?"

"More or less," Avery shrugs.

"We aren't usually assigned to do them," Skylar tells me. "We just kinda end up doing them."

"I honestly still can't believe we were all picked to do this," Heath says. "I mean, you don't just pick any group of people to handle this kind of task. Something must be special about us to have made Dr. Magdon select us specifically."

"Well, I think he did mention at one point that each of us have varied talents, and that when we're all combined, we're practically the perfect team needed for the mission," Jack replies.

That's when I feel the hovercraft beginning to settle down, and I yell to Sam, "Yo, where are we stopping now?"

"The hovercraft said there was something to check out here," Sam yells. "Apparently we're in Portland, Oregon."

We land right in front of an iFLY building. "Ooh! Indoor skydiving!" Avery exclaims, almost jumping up and down in joy. "Can we please go in, Sam?"

"We don't have money, so no," Sam answers.

"There's a sign on the front door that says they're having a special 'free day' for kids today," Skylar observes.

To that, Sam just shrugs and says, "Alright then. Might as well, if that's the case."

A few of us let out cheers as we hop off and walk inside. The only one unenthusiastic about this is Elle, who clutches Tubby as she walks inside, whispering to Sam, "I'm not feeling too great about this..."

MACKENZIE

Music: General Guy's March from Paper Mario

After talking to the front desk people, they let us into one of the skydiving rooms. Except... we're not given any suits or anything. There's just a giant fan below us, and a somewhat bright light on the ceiling. The room is a sky blue color, and the distance between the floor and the ceiling, if I had to guess, is somewhere close to thirty or fourty feet high.

"Um, when are we gonna get our suits?" I yell, hoping someone will answer.

"Oh, you won't be needing those," a familiar voice says from above. We all crane our necks to face upwards at the control room windows, and standing right behind one of the panels is Ms. Higgins.

"You!" Sam growls, clenching a fist at Ms. Higgins.

Unlike last time, Ms. Higgins cuts right to the chase. "Mhm. I must say, I was impressed that you were actually smart enough to escape my mirror maze. Well, you're not going to escape this time."

"Says who?" Jack snorts.

Ms. Higgins just smiles. "Says the fan that's right underneath you." We then proceed to look down, and sure enough, underneath the grating is a fan that's meant to help emulate the feeling of skydiving.

"The blades of that fan are able to rotate up to two hundred miles per hour... which is way more than enough to chop a human into tiny little pieces," Ms. Higgins explains. The way she speaks is mostly casual, as if she's just a teacher giving us a simple lesson on how these fans work.

Elle begins to whimper and hold Tubby close to her. Sam takes notice of this and wraps an arm around her for support. Ms. Higgins also takes notice of this, and mocks her with, "Aw, does the little baby girl need her teddy bear to live this?"