Cody

"I think we made a big mistake..."

"WE? I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS MAN!"

"HEY! You helped with it!"

"YOU NEVER SAID WE WERE DOING THIS!"

A groan came from the scientist. "Oh yeah... That's what I forgot." He rubbed his head before shrugging. "Well. Surprise I guess." He smiled sheepishly. I shook my head and returned my gaze back onto the countdown. "Some surprise. Next time, just stick with the balloons."

The time ticked down, seeming slow but with the time we had left, it would pass by quickly. "Okay, explain to me one more time, what did yo-" He gave me a glare and even a growl.. "-We do?" Pikalus seemed satisfied with the correction and continued. "Like I told you before, this was to transport us to an Alternate Universe. All of those ingredients you helped gather were for this."

My eyebrows raised. "Wait, you used blueberry pie for this machine?" He chuckled. "Nah, that was just for my lunch. Anyways, like I said before, it going to create a portal but." He paused.

"But?"
"I started it up without adding one of the ingredients in it. Normally it would just not work but this in particular would have been used to stabilize it so now," We both stared down the clock. "It's going to explode in half an hour. Less than that actually now that I WASTED THIS TIME EXPLAINING TO YOU AGAIN!" I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Well, what do we do?"

"We need a stabilizer. A Drake Heart. Putting that in will make it collapse on itself instead of possibly blowing up half of Atlantis. One problem."

My heart dropped. "What's that?" He huffed. "I don't have one. They aren't exactly something you find everyday. Fortunately, I know a guy who can help out."

We moved hastily to the market, where Pikalus said he would be. When we arrived, a strange looking man eyed us. He was older, the wrinkles in his eyes showed it as well as his fading brown color in the thin hair and beard. He wore all blue and gave us an all knowing smile when we approached.

"Well look who it is. Professor Pikalus! Haven't seen you in a while. I was starting to think that you died in some sort of accident. Who's your friend?"

"I'm Cody. You know, the King?"

"Ah! Of course, how could I mistake you for anything else! What might a King and a Mad Scientist need today?"

"Drake Heart. You got one?"

Giving off a hum, he strolled into his small shop and started to look through the shelves and chests, muttering something I didn't catch. "Mind if I ask what it's for? Quite an unusual item there." He just sighed in response. "I need to stabilize something. Do you have one or not, it's pretty important."

After a minute, he came back, shaking his head. "Sorry boys, wish I could help but I musta sold my last one a while ago. Check some other shops." A groan came from him but the Professor thanked him anyways and left hastily.

"Please tell me you have other options." I spoke when I caught up. "I-uh." He paused. "Might have some places I can go to but. If not then half of Atlantis is gone." He looked at me with grave eyes. "I don't know how this will turn out."

The next shop came up and we entered, asking the same questions.

No Drake Heart

And another shop.

No Drake Heart

And another.

But there was no Drake Heart

"How much time left?"
"Ten minutes. Atlantis is doomed."

A low wail rose from my throat. "NO! Atlantis cannot fall like this! I won't let it!" The Professor let out a hefty sigh. "Cody, listen, I know how you get when it comes to these things but we don't have any control any more. I wish I could stop it, I really do but... Without a Dr-"

"Oh hey!" A voice interrupted us. "Fancy seeing you two here." The owner of said voice was none other than Tanith, who was swimming over to us, her snake tail swishing in the water. "Whatcha' getting here?" The question was simple, and yet neither of us answered immediately. A moment passed before her eyes quickly examined both of our faces. "Is something wrong? You're look'n a bit grim."

Professor Pikalus eventually decided to speak. "We really need a Drake Heart, but none of these shops have it." She blinked at the words before responding with, "Perhaps I can help? Come with me." She turned and dashed the other way, towards where she came from. Having no other ideas, we followed. She arrived at her home and yanked the door open, leaving it there for us to enter through.

Upon entering, I noticed a couple of things.

On her couch, a newly knitted purple scarf laid there, looking like it was just made five seconds ago. Her kitchen was a bit of a mess, but somehow she navigated through it, opening cabinets and chests. Some sort of potion was bubbling in the corner, a red glow coming off of it. Various books were piled by her couch as well.

"AH HA!" A loud cry came from the hybrid, returning with something strange in her hand. "This what you need?" The magenta blob like thing was handed over to Pikalus, whose eyes lit up at the sight of it. "Yes! Yes! How did you have this?" She shrugged, leaning against the wall. "I've been saving it for a while because I though I might need it for a potion but if you two need it more, you can have it. I guess I'll just get a new one later."

By the end of her sentence, we were shouting 'Thank You's' and 'Goodbyes' while bolting out and scrambling to the lab. Though normally, it would have taken a while to get there, but adrenaline pumped through our veins, and we arrived within mere minutes. The machine had seconds left on it. I paced back and forth, shaking off the excess energy left over while the Mad Scientist worked on it. The clock was ticking, literary.

"Hurry up man!"

"I'm almost.... DONE!" He screeched as the timer was almost out.

But it didn't stop.

"Why isn't it stopping?" The Royal Scientist squinted his eyes at the reads on the machine, before taking several steps back. "Cody." He said simply. "Take cover." Then he screamed it. "TAKE COVER!" I let out a stressed cry and took refuge under a desk, being joined seconds later by my friend. All other scientists in the lab did the same, but seemed perfectly calm, like they went through this every day.

A loud exploding sound shook the lab, debris flying from where it was to a wide radius. After a moment, we peeked up. The machine was no more, pieces of it were everywhere while the place where it was replaced by an enormous hole.

"I stabilized it enough so it wouldn't take out half of Atlantis but," He took a hissed breath in. "It wasn't enough for it to... Not explode." He huffed loudly in frustration. "I can't believe it! That took so long to create! All those resources were collected over YEARS! It's going to take so long to fix this."

I just stared down the hole, mouth open.

"You really need to work on that."

************

And here's the next chapter! Sorry about the delay but as always, I hope you liked it! Tell me what you think by commenting! Byeeee!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter