The next day, Gustav and Lou visited Paula at the hospital before they headed on to the next town.
"So let me get this straight." Lou said. "You can speak to this girl with your mind, and she wants you to find her friends so they can save the world?" Gustav nodded. "Cool." Paula was sleeping just as peacefully as when Gustav left before but she was excited that Gustav had gained control of his PSI.
"Before you go… to find Ness… I need to… give you something… it is called… PSI Freeze Alpha…" Right then, Paula sent a long series of messages that explained how to use PSI Freeze. "You will learn… more powerful techniques… as time goes on. With PSI Freeze… your journey… to find Ness… will be easier."
"What did she tell you?" Lou asked.
"Just how to make our journey to find Ness and Paula's other friends easier." Gustav answered.
"I guess you won't tell me much more will you?"
"Not really."
"Then let's find Ness and wake up Paula so we can have a normal life again!" Lou shouted. The nurse leaned in the door and said *shhhhhh! *. Lou and Gustav carefully walked outside and went to the southern part of town in hopes that the roadblock was gone, but the police were still in the way. There were people standing in front of the policemen, yelling at the policemen, and even insulting the policemen in hopes that they would unblock the road.
As things began to look worse a large, black van with the name Runaway 5 stamped across came up and stopped at the roadblock. A large head leaned out the window and said *shhhhhh!*. Everyone became very quiet and still. Suddenly, a huge blast of music came out of the van and caused everyone to back away from the sheer volume. Although the music was really good it was just too loud. Then all the doors on the van opened and four members of the Runaway 5 came out, playing their instruments as loud as can be. The policemen began to collapse from the blaring music and even the police cars that were blocking the road were beginning to roll off to the side. Suddenly, the back of the Runaway 5 van burst open and the last member jumped out and began to sing. Then Gustav finally saw that the roadblock was open and he tapped Lou on the head. Lou glanced over and grinned. Both boys ran for the opening and made it out of range of the music just as it stopped. Even from where they were they heard the
loud applause and the roaring of an engine as the Runaway 5 van left town.
Just as Gustav and Lou began to walk south to Eagleland, the Runaway 5 van appeared and screeched to a halt when the driver saw them. Lucky jumped out and called and waved to Gustav and Lou. Both boys rushed over to see what the Runaway 5 were up to.
"Where are you two little guys headed?" Lucky asked.
"Eagleland! We're trying to find a couple friends of ours." Lou exclaimed.
"We can give you guys a lift down to southern Winters and the boarding school down there, but you'll have to be on your own from there."
"Why?"
"No roads, for one. Also, we have a concert at the school there! Imagine! First playing for a funeral and then for a boarding school!" Lucky laughed.
"What is the world coming to?" Cello player said.
"An end maybe, but we'll keep on singing!" Said the keyboarder.
"We'll blow out every eardrum within a mile!"
"Money, that's what's hot, money, that's what we got…" This continued until they finally arrived at the boarding school and the Runaway 5 began to set up for their big concert. Gustav and Lou decided that there wasn't any time to lose, so they said goodbye to the Runaway 5 and continued their journey on foot. But first they stopped at a shop right outside the school before they went south.
"I need some kind of weapon since my Oak bat was squashed." Gustav said. "Maybe the Bionic Slingshot will be a good replacement for now."
"I'll get some gum and two Holmes hats while I'm at it." Lou decided.
"That doesn't leave us with much money…"
"Don't worry!" Lou laughed. "Both my parents work all day since I'm never around and they have very good jobs. They make tons of money and they even gave me my own bank account so money won't be a problem on my journeys."
"Your journeys?"
"Well, I've been traveling longer than you have. I just woke up one morning and felt the need to go out and explore. My parents said they would allow me to go out on my own, but only if I stayed out of trouble."
"My parents acted like that too. They sure are weird."
"But of course! They're parents." Lou bought the bubble gum and put on his Holmes hat. "Let's get going." Lou and Gustav walked down to the riverside of Lake Tess and looked around for a way across. They couldn't find a way across but they did find the Tessie Watching Club, which seemed to have gained a huge amount of members over the years. Now the area was filled with tents and people with binoculars. Gustav walked over to one member and asked about some kind of boat that they could use to cross.
"Boats aren't allowed on Lake Tess. The only way to get across is on top of Tessie's head. And the only way to get on top of Tessie's head is with a bubblegum monkey. The bubblegum monkey visits here once in a while but he is only seen when bubblegum is around." Then the member began to look closely at the water. "I think Tessie is starting to come up now!"
The water turned a strange, glowing white color as one part of the lake began to swell. Then part of the water turned a dark purple color as a giant creature began to emerge. Gustav and Lou walked closer for a better look as Tessie moved toward shore. The bubblegum monkey was on top of Tessie's head and he was leading Tessie to Gustav and Lou. Then Tessie bowed her head and allowed Gustav and Lou onto her back.
"Kechateryacka." The monkey smiled. Lou didn't understand what the monkey had said but Gustav did. "(Gimmie some gum.)" Gustav gave him the whole pack.
"What did he say?" Lou shook his head.
"He wanted some gum, so I gave it to him." Gustav answered.
"Now you can understand animals? This is really starting to get on my nerves." Tessie drifted down the lake until they reached shore again. Tessie bowed her head again and Gustav and Lou got off. They waved as Tessie left.
"I think I found another cave." Gustav said.
"I don't want to go through this one, especially after what happened in the last cave I went in." Lou shivered.
"We might not have to." Gustav pointed to a part of the ground that sloped downward to the exit of the cave. "Let's go this way." Gustav and Lou slid down the slope and started walking again, but they came across another cave.
"Guess we have no choice…" Lou shivered. The cave was dark and damp but Gustav could still see. Lou seemed to have trouble noticing the stalactites hanging down.
"*Bonk* Ouch! How can you *thonk* see in here? *Thwack*" Lou sat down to rest. "My head is really sore. Keep an eye out for monsters will you?" Gustav nodded. "Well? Will you?"
"Oh sorry. Of course I'll keep anything away." Gustav chuckled. (For those of you who just became confused, remember that Lou can't see, so he didn't see Gustav nod) After a couple minutes they started walking again until they saw a strange light near an exit. "What is that?" Gustav crept closer.
"Don't leave me here in the dark!" Lou called. Gustav tried to go near the light but something told him to stay back. He went to Lou and helped him to another exit. "What did you find?"
"Some strange light. I couldn't get close to it, though."
"Hey, is that Stonehenge?" Lou said, changing the subject. And so it was. Giant chunks of stone were arranged in a circle and the stones had strange drawings on them. There were a few that were piled on top of other stones but they didn't look too sturdy. A man was standing on the other side of the formation. He saw Gustav and Lou and waved. Then he continued pacing. Gustav and Lou just walked right past him and saw a huge, gray building that seemed to be made of metal.
Gustav knocked on the door and a voice inside said "Coming, coming, I'm coming…" The door opened and an old man stood in the doorway. He had a lab coat on and his white hair was sticking up on both sides of his head. "Hello! Come in and I'll help you get to where you need to go." The old man led Gustav and Lou into the building and toward a large machine. "I call this my Phase Distorter. It will take you into Fourside, which is in Eagleland, and then come back here. Now get in! I don't have all day." As Gustav and Lou got in the man looked at Gustav closely.
"You remind me of a boy that came here before. Now what was his name? I think it was Ness."
"I'm supposed to find a person named Ness!" Gustav exclaimed. "When did he come here?"
"About twenty years ago." Lou and Gustav fell over. "Do you happen to know Jeff? He his my grandson."
"I'm looking for him too."
"Do you know a girl that hangs around with them? I can't remember her name…"
"Paula?" Gustav offered.
"Oh yes! How is she?"
"She's um…"
"Well?"
"She's in a coma at the Fiveson hospital."
"How did she get like that?" The man asked.
"I think she was in some kind of plane crash." Gustav shrugged.
"How old is she now?"
"About my age, actually."
"That can't be! She was your age about twenty years ago! How can this be?" The old man limped over to his TV and turned it on, but it was showing the news broadcast of the crash that was aired two days ago! "That object looks familiar… boy, or um, what is your name?"
"Gustav."
"I'm Lou." The old man ignored Lou.
"Gustav, hand me the remote control over there will you?" Gustav gave the old man the device he had pointed to the TV. "Now watch this!" The man pressed a button and the wreckage on the screen began to glow and come together again. When it was done, it had become a round, gray machine with struts on the lower part for landing. "I don't believe it!" The old man rushed to a drawer and began throwing things out like rusty trumpets and broken antennas until he found a huge blue piece of paper that had white lines all over it. The old man spread it out on a table and weighted it down with the junk he threw out of the drawer. The plans were for a round machine that had landing struts, and a big nose.
"These are my plans for my greatest invention, the Phase Runner! It is a hybrid of my Sky Runner and Phase Distorter. This single machine could travel through time and fly through the air! I never built it, but this is the machine that was in that crash! How could it get there?" The old man looked at Gustav and smiled sheepishly. "I forgot to introduce myself." He extended his hand and shook Gustav's hand. "I am Dr. Andonuts, the famous inventor."
"I heard of you! You built tons of inventions!" Lou exclaimed. "But don't you have an assistant, the Apple kid?"
"He grew up and decided that he had learned enough so he left to invent for Eagleland. His hygiene was pretty bad when he first came but I fixed him up. Speaking of young friends, what happened after the crash in Fiveson?" Dr. Andonuts asked. Gustav and Lou told about Paula's telepathic messages, the adventure on the way to Skylight Point, the ride with the Runway 5 and the strange light Gustav found in the cave.
"That crash shouldn't have put her in a coma. She is a tough girl and it would take more than that to knock her out. Perhaps my PSI journal has something on this."
"I thought you were an inventor!" Lou said.
"I am! But I took a break from inventing to study the strange power called PSI. Oh, donuts! I forgot where I put my journal. Oh well."
"What did you discover when you studied PSI?" Lou asked.
"I discovered that PSI comes from a small gene in a person's DNA, so I created a device that causes the gene to shut down. If they are too dependent on this gene they become very weak and sometimes lose a great deal of energy."
"Why did you invent something like that?" Gustav asked.
"Because Jeff and his friends battled a monster that had terrifying PSI power, and I hoped that if that monster appeared again, the machine could destroy it once and for all. But one day a fat, blond kid stole it and I haven't seen it since."
Continued in Chapter 7