"We.... Should go on tour."
B. Wells gave DaVan a surprised look. "Go on tour?"
"Yeah. We gotta expand our audience!"
Brandon sighed. "Where would even go?"
"I mean, your cousins would be happy to house us, right?"
"In Missouri? We don't have an audience in Kansas City. Plus, we need their parents' permission."
"Would it hurt to try?"
The rapper looked at his friend. "I mean, no. But don't you think we should work on getting an audience first?"
DaVan thought about this for a second. "Yeah. You're right. But y'know what? How about we just go over to your cousins' house just for fun? We can't exactly see our parents yet. They're still probably super angry."
"Hmm..." B. Wells said. "That's not such a bad idea. Ven, what do you think?"
"Terra could teleport you over! It'd be awesome! I could come too!"
Terra walked into the room. "What am I doing?"
"Can you get us to Brandon's cousins' house in Kansas? We wanna meet them!"
"Now? Like teleport?"
"Yeah!"
"Well, you should ask them first. And don't you wanna take some stuff too?"
DaVan realized what he was missing. "Oh yeah, I gotta get my mic! I gotta record Turn Up!"
"In front of the kids? How about Don't Want Your Love?"
"Oh, you're right. Maybe that one."
Terra stepped in between the kids. "Guys, you sure you wanna do this?"
"It's actually a great idea." Brandon pointed out. "I haven't seen Caden in forever and Jay and Zeke really want to meet me. Lemme text Caden. I got his phone number from Wyatt. We'll figure it out in a second."
The boy got out his phone and went to his messages. It was still early in the morning for them, but after the first message it seemed that Caden was in fact up.
"What should I say? Wanna see something cool? No, that's a little.... Ooh! Can I... Tell you a.... Secret? That'll keep it between us. Oh, he's typing..... 'Sure'. Ok."
In short, B. Wells told his cousin about Terra's teleporting powers and asked if he wanted him and DaVan (and Ventus) to come over. Because that was the logical thing to say.
And apparently he wasn't too freaked out. Like any person in this day in age, superheroes and anything weird happened all the time. Jay would be amazed, but people Caden's age thought it was fine.
"So, I guess we can come! As long as no one tells my parents. Cause they'd go insane if they found out."
"Understood." Terra replied. "Get your stuff together and I'll teleport you guys."
Evan put his mic and computer in a bag, collecting things to bring to Missouri.
And B. Wells, well he didn't need to take anything except his phone for music videos and family pictures. This was gonna be a day to remember.
Ven had his keyblade with him in case anyone wanted to see magic, but Terra insisted that he not because it could be dangerous. Plus, he could do magic without it. But he brought it anyway.
Once everyone was ready, Terra gathered them all around. "You guys sure you wanna do this?"
"Too late, Caden's expecting us. He's probably told the others already."
"Alright, suit yourself."
Terra tapped his armor, and the kids vanished off to another place.
_____________________________________________
B. Wells, DaVan, Ventus and Terra found themselves in the driveway of the VanGilder house.
"Ok, I'll go up with you, but then I'm gonna go. And when you want to come back, text me and I'll get you."
"Bet." DaVan replied.
They walked up to the door, Brandon feeling a little nervous.
Ven put his hand on his friend's shoulder, using Cure to make him feel better.
"Hey, relax. They're just your cousins."
B. Wells smiled. "Yeah, you're right."
He pressed the doorbell and simply waited.
The few seconds of waiting felt much longer, but Brandon's heart leaped when he saw them.
Caden opened the door with his sister Hailey standing next to him.
"Hey!" He greeted happily.
"H-Hi." Brandon stumbled. "Sorry, we kinda..."
"Yeah, we saw." Caden said, chuckling. "How'd you do that?"
"I have... Tech... That can teleport people." Terra lied... Sort of. He kinda did use tech. Just not completely.
"Makes sense."
"Are your parents home?"
"No, they're at work. But because we didn't have school, we're here. That's why I didn't tell anyone."
"Nice."
There was a bit of uncomfortable silence, before Terra stepped up. "I'm Terra, by the way. I'll be picking them up after they're done. Have fun, guys."
"Ok!" They all replied back.
"You wanna come in?" Haley asked.
"Yeah, sure! Also, this is Evan, and this is Ventus, or Ven for short."
"Nice to meet you guys. All of you." Caden smiled.
The kids walked in, observing the inside of the house.
"Wow, you guys got a nice place."
"Thanks, we try to keep it clean."
And just then, the sound of running feet startled B. Wells as the 7 year old, Jay bounced into the room.
"Brandon!!!" He cheered.
The blond boy ran to his cousin, giving him a big hug.
"Oh! Hi, bud." He greeted, hugging him back. "How're you doing?"
"Awesome!" Jay chirped. "Wait, how did you get here?"
"Magic." Brandon replied, widening his eyes.
"Who are they?" Jay asked.
"These are my friends Evan and Ventus."
"Hi!"
Ven waved. "Hey, Jay."
Zeke walked down the stairs. He saw his cousin and raced to him excitedly. "This is Zeke." Caden introduced.
Brandon shook the boy's hand. "Good to finally meet you."
"You too."
Zeke was introduced to the others too, and all was well.
"So, you guys make music?"
"Yep. We want to go on tour soon." Evan said with hope in his voice.
"We gotta grow our audience first."
"Yeah, and you can stay here instead of going to a hotel!" Jay offered.
"We'll see." Brandon replied. "You guys wanna hear some of it?"
B. Wells pulled up his parts for "Turn Up" and watched as Jay danced around the room goofily.
Zeke laughed. "That's really cool. How do you guys do that?"
Evan set down his bag. "Wanna see?"
"Howww about we put the mic somewhere that isn't in the middle of the room?" Brandon pointed out.
"Good idea."
"I know exactly where to go." Zeke grinned.
He led the guys down to the basement. They had a whole TV with a bunch of games and stuff there. Evan went to set up the mic somewhere near the corner.
Ven sat down on the couch. "So what do you guys do normally when your parents are gone?"
"Well, right now, we're assembling a trampoline for Jay's birthday."
"It was supposed to be a surprise, but they told me early!" Jay added.
"That's awesome!" Said B. Wells. "Maybe we can help with it in a bit."
"Thanks, you'd be a big help."
"I'll be glad to help. How hard can it be?"
"Probably not very, with all of us."
"Alright, I got it!"
Everyone looked over to see DaVan with his computer and his mic ready for him to start recording.
"This is FL Studio where me and B. Wells do most of our tracks."
"He calls you B. Wells?" Zeke asked.
"That's my stage name."
"I like it." Haley complimented.
Evan put his headphones on and started the hook.
Yuh, we riding til we turn up
We riding til we, riding til we turn up
Don't care about no limits, spit that fire til we bun up
Party til the sun up, we riding til we turn up
"Ayyyyyyyy!" B. Wells cheered, vibing hard. "This one's gonna go hard in the shows."
Everyone laughed as DaVan rapped and flowed like he'd never stop. Which he wouldn't.
Already, this was an experience like no other. Caden, Haley, Zeke and Jay were having the best day home all because their cousin teleported over with his friends. And that sentence alone was hard to say.
But it was true. They were there, and nothing could change it.
After a while of dancing and vibing, Evan finished recording and put away the computer.
"You wanna come help with the trampoline, guys?" Caden started.
"Yeah, bet!"
With that, the kids followed the cousins upstairs and outside where their dog, Rocko was running around.
It came down to Caden, Zeke, B. Wells and DaVan assembling the contraption, and Ven and Haley playing with Jay.
With each other's help, B. Wells and his friends put the circular trampoline on the poles and more poles holding the nets up with pool noodles over them to keep them steady.
Brandon had a bit of a hard time putting screws in some of the bottom parts, but Caden helped him figure it out.
Planting it into the ground took a little work too, but with 4 people, it didn't really take long. It was actually going fairly quick. B. Wells and DaVan's help was greatly appreciated.
And Jay seemed to be having fun too, chasing Ven around, playing Tag.
By the time the trampoline was ready, B. Wells looked over at his little cousin who looked super happy.
"It's awesome! Thanks, Brandon!" He hugged the rapper, who laughed, smiling.
"I wasn't the only one, y'know?"
"I know! Thank you, everyone!"
"You're welcome!" DaVan shouted back, unzipping the opening. "You wanna get in?"
"Yeah!"
DaVan and B. Wells watched as the little boy enjoyed his new plaything with joy. They felt a sense of accomplishment after that.
"Y'know, I'm really glad we did this. Even if we can't tour just yet." Evan said.
"Yeah, after that whole thing with The Daleks, and The Doctor, I needed a break. And hey, I definitely got it."
"Brandon! Come on! Jump with me!"
B. Wells sighed. "Do I have to?"
"He's your cousin." Evan reminded.
"I guess I'll go in."
So Brandon got on to the trampoline and jumped around with the boy, entertaining him and having fun.
Ven stood watching next to Zeke.
"Even in these last couple hours, they seem close already."
"We're family. We're all close, even on the first day."
Caden stood next to DaVan, conversing about how this all came about.
"So, you guys just somehow know magic?"
"It's all cause of Ven. He taught B. Wells magic, and I just kinda got some sort of sonic powers which I just found out is actually way more important now that I met The Doctor."
"Doctor?"
"Long story."
"I've got time."
After a good while of Brandon jumping around with his cousin, he lay down on the surface, tired and laughing. He could tell Jay was tired too, breathing hard.
"Can I sit in your lap?" The 8 year old asked innocently.
B. Wells smiled. "Sure, buddy."
Brandon held the boy gently as they talked about his life in New York and the different situations he'd been in. He felt like he could talk to Jay, because he was a young kid and he'd believe all the magical stuff he told him. Then again, many people would believe it now. But his parents were ones who didn't, so it was nice to discuss it with someone who actually did.
It was the same with Ventus. Zeke was a new friend for him, around his age and very relatable. So when Jay ran up to the boys and said "Brandon knows magic!" Zeke just responded with, "I heard. Ven does too."
"Really?!"
"Yeah, we're magical kids, what can I say?"
"So, all of you guys are basically superheroes now?" Hailey chimed in.
"We've saved the world a bunch of times together." Ven replied proudly.
"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true." DaVan added, clenching his fistful of energy.
"Well, I'm so glad you guys came." Caden finished. "I hope we can do something like this again."
"Hey, maybe one day I can actually come without being in secret!" B. Wells said with hope.
"That'd be awesome."
Brandon looked at his phone, then suddenly realized what time it was. "Whoa! I gotta get back! It's 2:30! Almost time for me to work!"
"Oh, where do you work?" Caden asked.
"The YMCA. I'm at the after school program. Lemme text Terra and we'll be on our way."
In no less than a minute, Terra had teleported to their backyard, waving. "You guys have fun?"
"They built this trampoline for my birthday coming soon!" Jay shouted, jumping up and down like Gasper.
"Sounds pretty eventful. You guys ready?"
"Yeah, I gotta get to work." Brandon informed.
Jay ran up and hugged the older boy. "I love you." He said sweetly.
"Aww, I love you too."
"You're the best."
"Nah, you're the best. Actually, you all are the best. I look forward to seeing you again soon."
"Us too."
The kids said goodbye to their new friends, with DaVan grabbing his stuff from downstairs via teleportation and zooming back off to Rochester.
The VanGilders stood in the yard, smiling.
"That's so cool." Zeke muttered.
"I agree." Haley added. "I hope we see them again."
They definitely would.
___________________________________________
B. Wells zapped over to Fairbanks with Terra, Ventus and DaVan.
"Thanks for getting my speaker and DS for me, Terra."
"Yeah, no problem. Gotta keep the kids entertained, am I right?"
"For real, bruv. DaVan, come to the playground at 4:00. That's when we'll be outside."
"Bet, I'll be there."
So B. Wells went inside the building to see senojfromtheroc sitting at the back table, like always.
"What up, B. Wells?" He greeted.
"Wagwan."
He sat down at his spot and continued his Mario Kart Tour game on his phone.
Everything was quiet. The calm before the storm.
That storm was Nolan and Aurora, walking in shouting and trying to roast each other and failing miserably.
"Breeze, look at this. Y'know what this is?" Aurora asked.
"No."
"It's a baby."
Breeze looked over and sighed. "Yes, it is."
"B. Wells. It's a baby."
"And why would you want me to see this?" Brandon asked.
"I don't know."
Nolan brought his phone over to Breeze. "Hey, I'm playing Plague Inc. You wanna know what my virus is called?"
"What?"
"Cancer!" He cheered.
"That's not funny. Don't say that."
"But it is!"
"No, it's not."
Aurora sat down at one of the tables. "Breeze, I'm bored. What do I do?"
"Breathe."
"Other than that?"
"Exist."
"Other than that?"
"Live."
Aurora sighed. "Other than that?"
"Flirt with Nolan."
"Other than that... WAIT-"
"OHHHH! She said it! She said she was-"
"No! I didn't realize what you were saying!"
"Sure you didn't." B. Wells snickered.
"You're in loooooooooooooove!!" Breeze joked.
"No we're not!" Nolan shouted.
At this point, Bryceson walked in and set his set his backpack. "Hi, Bweeze. Hi, B. Wews. Can I pway your fwee DS?"
"Yeah, until we go outside."
"Hi Breeze!"
"Eww, it's Rose!"
Rose, Greyson, Christian and Ethan walked in as well.
"Can I pway Minecraft?" Christian piped up as he walked over to Breeze.
"No."
"What? Why?"
"Did you say 'hi' when you came in?"
Christian hung his head. "...No."
"Exactly."
"Hi, Breeze. Hi, B. Wells."
"What up, Christian?" Brandon replied.
"Hi, Breeze and B. Wells." Ethan said. "Can I play Minecraft?"
"Not yet, we're about to go outside."
Everyone was settled in. Nolan was reading Harry Potter, Aurora was playing UNO with Breeze, Ethan was playing Connect Four with Christian, and Rose and Greyson were playing with the Lincoln Logs at a table.
B. Wells watched all this with content, happy that his job was what it was.
Meanwhile, DaVan and the keyblade wielders went back to The Land of Departure to find The Quagmires waiting for them.
"Hey, guys. Where'd you go off to?"
"B. Wells' cousins' house." Ven replied. "Zeke and I are good friends too. I'm gonna teach him some magic the next time we come. And Jay is super adorable."
"Sounds like a great family." Aqua jumped in, walking in on the conversation.
"They really are." DaVan stated. "Caden really likes our tracks too."
"Where is Brandon?" Duncan asked.
"At work."
"Hope he's having fun."
B. Wells was indeed having fun. He laughed as he watched Ethan lose another game of UNO against the redhead Aurora.
"I suck." He said sadly.
Once it came around 3:50, Breeze stood up and did the rhythmic clap. "Alright, clean up. We're going outside."
The kids lined up, with Nolan getting in line last.
"Breeze, can I get the Gaga ball?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah."
B. Wells picked up his speaker and carried it on his shoulder.
But the guys waited for about 5 minutes because the kids wouldn't stop talking.
After a while, Breeze spoke up. "Waiting on Rose. Waiting on Greyson Ezra Marie Taylor.... Alright, finally. It took you long enough. We ready?"
Bryceson nodded his head, mouth shut.
"Alright, let's go."
Breeze led the kids through the hallway and outside, where B. Wells saw the man himself, Evan Matthew Haggett sitting on the bench.
"B. Wells!" He called.
"Yo, is that DaVan?" Nolan shouted out.
"Sure is."
"He came all the way here?" Senoj added, surprised.
"He has his ways."
B. Wells set up his speaker and pressed play on the "Your New Nickname is Weird" playlist, based off of Greyson's phrase that he'd said to Breeze multiple times.
"Petals" by the one and only senojfromtheroc started, making Breeze perk up, saying "Hey, I know this song."
Ethan walked up to DaVan. "You make music with B. Wells?"
"Yup. He's fire."
"I'm Ethan."
"Oh, yeah. He's told me all about you. I eat pancakes...?"
"You eat MEEEE!" He chanted loudly.
"Alright, Flethan, calm down. Let's play 4 Square Doubles."
4 Square Doubles was a game invented by Ethan, a sort of spin off of the original game, where 2 teams of 2 played against each other until 11, switching places after 2 faults.
Evan joined to be on Ethan's team, and switched with Nolan every 2 faults when he got out. And to be honest, it was really fun.
He got to see what Brandon and Breeze's job was like, and it kinda made him want to apply in Victor too. But he had too much time on his hands anyway, with recording and firefighting and whatnot.
But as Rose and Christian swung on the swings, Greyson, Aurora and Bryceson played Gaga ball with 2 other kids, Aidan and Jace who were brought to the playground by their Mom.
The rappers went ecstatic when "Purple Hat" by Sofi Tukker came on the speaker, as B. Wells already had his purple hat on. The dance was epic.
Senoj started doing the mummy dance from Hotel Transylvania, based off that one cringy meme "Hamburger Cheeseburger Big Mac Whopper".
Everyone laughed as they danced, with Nolan doing the "Nolan", T-posing and bouncing up and down.
It was about 30 minutes before the site phone rang.
"Timeout."
Breeze picked up the phone and held it to his ear.
"YMCA, This is Breeze........ Word, I'll have him right out. We're actually outside right now, on the playground. ... Yeah, I'll get him." He hung up the phone, putting it back in his pocket.
"Christiano Ronaldo!!!"
That wasn't actually his name, just a nickname Breeze had given him.
Christian walked over to the bench to get his stuff as his mom parked her car and signed him out on the clipboard B. Wells brought out to her.
DaVan watched as his friend brought the clipboard back, setting it down and doing that one Nicolas Cage dance from Face/Off.
"Labrinth, let's go!"
The good thing about this job was, it was fun. A lot of hard stuff had happened in the past few days, and Brandon had his own awesome way of dealing with it. This offered a break, a distraction from the hardships of life.
Hunter, Aurora's brother and "Goofy Boy Levi Boy" Russell walked off the late bus and ran to the playground.
"Goofy Boy Levi Boy!" B. Wells called out.
"B. WELLS, PUSH ME ON THE SWING!" He shouted in his crazy tone.
As Brandon started to walk away, Breeze stopped playing for a second.
"Wait... Do you hear that?"
B. Wells and DaVan stopped as well, but they couldn't hear anything.
"Nope."
"I hear something, but I don't know what it is. I can't make it out."
They turned their heads to see Aidan and Jace's mom, holding her head. The backdoor to the school opened, and Mr. Dick, the gym teacher stumbled out, doing the same.
Breeze ran over to the man, helping him up. "You ok?"
Mr. Dick groaned. "The Emergency. It's everywhere. There's no one at the wheel!"
Breeze furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Wheel?"
"The missing aren't missing. They're only departed."
"What? What are you-"
"You have to stop The Emergency!!" He screamed.
"What Emergency?"
Mr. Dick let a single tear run down his face, and after about 10 seconds, he wiped his face. "Breeze? What happened?"
"I-I'm not sure. You kinda... Spaced out for a second."
"I thought I heard something..."
"Y-Yeah, me too."
Everyone had looked over at the event, with Jace and Aidan asking their mom what was wrong.
"Everybody ok?" B. Wells asked.
The kids nodded. "What happened to Mr. Dick?" Ethan whispered.
"I don't know." B. Wells replied. "Aidan and Jace's Mom looked weird too, and Breeze thought he heard something. You hear anything?"
The boy shook his head.
"Maybe the adults were affected." Evan suggested.
"Well, it's passed now. Don't think about it."
After that strange event, nothing was really the same that day. Except, of course the chaotic game of UNO with Goofy Boy Levi Boy. DaVan was even able to join this time, with him going "Loser!" Every time he won. Which wasn't many, because Breeze and B. Wells were smart players.
Stacking cards and reversing got Levi to scream, "WHAT THE HECKIN' HECK???!!!"
And by the end of the day, everything was fine. Mostly.
Because Evan and Brandon couldn't keep their mind off of what happened. What was The Emergency? And why weren't they affected?
Well, back to The Land of Departure it was.
Those boys weren't ready to face their parents yet. But they still had their friends.
Teleporting back, everyone sat at the table, eating dinner.
And this was a day to talk about, for sure. Going to the VanGilders, seeing Goofy Boy Levi Boy go insane, and that one weird moment in the day.
"Yeah, apparently Master Eraqus experienced the same thing." Terra reported.
"I don't remember it." The man insisted. "And if it did happen, my memory of that moment must have been wiped somehow."
"Yeah, it's weird. Well, if it happens again, then we'll know that it's more than just a weird happenstance." Aqua resolved.
Everyone agreed and continued on with their night. This was kind of a new normal for B. Wells and DaVan. There was still more music to record, and they were definitely gonna get it done now.
But then, later that night, something extraordinarily strange came into their lives.
DaVan got out his phone and checked his YouTube. His eyes went wide.
"Yoooo, WHAT?!"
B. Wells ran over and looked over his shoulder to see what the problem was. His jaw dropped.
"Nah... No way."
3895 words.