"We're gonna have Atilla call for you guys through the vents and see if you can hear him, okay?" Y/n said. "Got it!" Jed answered. Atilla then got on the ground.
"JEDO! OCTO!" He hollered. "Can you hear him?" Y/n asked. "No, not a bit.." Octavius answered. Y/n then shook their head. "They could be anywhere from here to the intake vent." Larry uttered, kneeling down to the vent again. Dexter climbed into it a little. "What do you see, Dex?" Larry sighed.
"You know he's a monkey, Lawrence. He can't talk." Teddy stated the obvious. "No, but he can fit." Larry realized, and looked up at Nicky, "Nicky, give me your phone." Nicky hesitated a second before giving his phone. "Why?" He asked. "For Dex." Larry answered, walking to find a band or rope of some sort. "I don't understand one thing that's going on here." Lancelot stated.
"Yeah, no, I don't either." Nicky said, following Larry, "Dad, what's going on?"
"I'm uh.. sort of set up to track your phone." Larry admitted, picking up a rope.
"You're 'sort of' set up to track my phone? You track my phone?" Nicky asked, getting a little upset. "Yeah, I'm your dad, I'm looking out for you." Larry answered, tying the phone to the rope.
"No. No. Hold up. 'Spying on', is not the same as just looking out for someone." Nicky exclaimed.
"Chill, dude, he did it with my phone, too, when I was your age." Y/n commented.
"You'll get it back, I promise, but for now, it's going on the monkey's back." Larry explained the plan. He got Dexter to crawl over to him and he put the phone on Dexter's back. "Listen, I need you to go down there and find them, all right? Think you can handle it?" He asked. Dexter gave a salute in response, chittering.
"Jed, Ockie, Tell me when you see Dexter, okay?" Y/n said.
"Got it!"
"You have our word."
Dexter then jumped down into the vents, and started walking through them. Larry followed the tracker, and they all followed him. "Where's Dexter right now?" Y/n impatiently asked. "I think he's right.. here." Larry said, pointing at the screen. Lancelot laughed a little.
"'Right here'. Classic." He smiled and laughed, "Ah, the gift of laughter. Thank you, dangly bells." Everyone made a turn and walked into a white room. There were animals running around and cultural statues prancing about.
"First quest?" Lancelot asked. "Uh, not exactly," Larry answered, still following the tracker. "I thought you were going to Egypt." Lancelot uttered. "We are, but we gotta save my friends first." Y/n explained.
"You talking to us, Gigantor?"
"No, sorry. Just keep walking about."
"That's not how a quest works, a quest is one thing. It's not like, 'Holy Grail and a monkey'." Lancelot pointed out. Larry then looked up at him, "Yeah, well, our guys are missing, and Dexter's gonna find him." He said, as the gang looked around, Atilla dancing with one of the exhibits.
"So, what is your quest? Gold? Fountain of Youth?"
"Magic tablet. It's that thing that Ahk is holding." Larry pointed to Ahkmenrah, who was holding the tablet.
"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to take from him."
"What?" Y/n asked.
"Well, he seems well-toned, and lean... but weak. it would be like... taking candy from a feeble Egyptian baby."
...
"No, we aren't trying to take it, we're trying to fix it." Larry explained, "There's something wrong with it, It's kind of complicated."
"It might be less complicated if you stopped following a chimpanzee." Larry giggled a little at Lancelot's mistake, "He's not a chimpanzee, he's a capuchin." Larry walked a little faster, while Lancelot and Y/n went back to the rest of the gang. "The fool seems agitated." Lancelot commented to Teddy.
"That's often his way. But I assure you, he's no fool." Teddy explained.
"...Is it true, what he says?" Lancelot asked, "The tablet that you carry is magic?" "It is indeed," Ahkmenrah answered, "Everything around you is coming to life for the very first time, all because of this tablet." Lancelot looked around, then back at the gang, after ducking down because of some bird statues.
"Amazing..." Lancelot smiled, before pointing, "So they're not real!"
"They're as real as any of us." Teddy commented.
"Yes, but we're real people! They're just, things! And they don't even know! They must be unbelievably stupid."
"It can be confusing at first."
A frog then started hopping near them. "Hello, frog! Keep hopping! You're real!" Lancelot tilted his head, still smiling.
"Work, damnit!" Y/n tapped their bud multiple times, trying to connect.
"Guys, I think we're gonna have to cut through Asia." Larry exclaimed. Lancelot ran up to him, while the rest stayed behind for a few seconds.
"Not a clue."
"None."
As everyone was walking through Asia, a Garuda stopped them.
"Oh, hey guy, We're just passing through." Larry said. The Garuda chattered back. "It's a Garuda from Tibet." Teddy identified. "A Garuda! Okay. Hi, Garuda, how you doing?" Larry asked. The Garuda repeated what Larry said. "Cool, great." Larry tried to walk past, but the Garuda blocked him.
"You know what? We just gotta get through. I don't have time." Larry said. A few seconds of being blocked later, he sighed, "Okay, I'm not gonna play this game with you. I gotta go through, really." The Garuda waved his finger in response, then backing away. Larry and everyone else walked up to the room and looked inside to see a mythical creature sleeping peacefully.
"A dragon." Lancelot smiled.
"No, it's not a dragon, it's a-" Larry looked at the artifact sign, "It's a Xiangliu. Mythical snake demon."
"Looks like a dragon. I say we kill it."
"What? No, It's asleep."
"You're right, not very sporting to kill it when it's asleep. Let's wake it up and then kill it. I shall go first and I shall take the boy."
Larry turned his head, "What are you- No! You're not gonna take the boy." he whispered.
"Why not?"
"Because he's a boy!"
"Larry, there comes a time in every man's life that he must slay his own dragon."
"Not this kid, all right? He still hasn't finished all his thank you notes from his bar mitzvah. He's not gonna slay his own dragon right now, okay? We're gonna go around it. We're gonna go now, so that we don't lose another signal." Larry lead everyone into the exhibits going around the Xiangliu. Y/n then got the signal back, and reconnected.
"Guys, you doing all right?"they whispered.
"Yeah, we fell into a diorama. We can't figure out what it is, though, maybe you could help us." Jed responded.
"...okay, but make it quick, we're in potential danger as of now."
"We'll make it snappy." Octavius said, "So, I recognize the city, but I don't recognize it's name, 'Iiepwop'."
"Iiepwop..." Y/n uttered, "...Are you reading the plaque from the inside of the exhibit? Maybe reading it upside down?" they whispered.
"haha. 'Iiepwop'...Y/n's got a point, Ockie, you sure you're readin' that right, pal?" Jed asked Octavius, as the two were looking at a portrait staue, saying something muffled. Y/n heard rumbling, followed by an explosion.
"Oooh. Pompeii."
"Pompeii?!" Y/n whispered, before quietly speed-walking out of the other side of the room.
"Y/n, where are you going?! Stay here!!" Larry whispered. Y/n didn't look back, and as soon as they left the room, they started running and got their phone out. Larry then got a message.
Y/N: "I KNOW WHERE JED AND OCKIE ARE"
Y/n looked for a map, panicked by the screaming of Jedediah and Octavius. They soon found one, and started running again. "GUYS, DON'T WORRY, I'M GETTING THERE!" Y/n yelled, running their way to the Pompeii exhibit. Jedediah and Octavius then found themselves surrounded and cornered by lava. "Try to make it sooner, we're surrounded!!" Jed said with fear in his voice. Y/n tried to run faster.
"Last round up, kemosabe! Time to slap on the barbecue sauce, boy!" Jed exclaimed. Jed and Octavius turned to each other, "There's something I need to te-" Jedediah said, but stopped talking as the two heard loud thuds. "Huh?" Octavius uttered. "What?" Jed whispered, as the two looked at the creature who came out of the smoke.
"I'M ALMOST THERE!" Y/n hollered.
"Y/n's Dexter's here! He's here to save us!" Octavius said. Y/n slowed a little, hearing this, but was still extremely close.
"NO, NO, YOU WOULDN'T!" Jed yelled.
"He must..." Octavius said.
"MUST WHAT? MUST WHAT?!" Y/n asked. Then, the bud disconnected. Y/n tried not to worry too much, as they made it into the exhibit. They went to the Pompeii diorama to see... uh. anyway.
"Oh, that's what he must..." Y/n uttered, walking up to the diorama.
"We must never speak of what happened here today." Octavius demanded, before Dexter did his thing on the two again. "Come on! That wasn't necessary! It's out!" Dexter mischievously smiled as Jed whined. The two then looked up at Y/n.
"Please tell me you didn't just see that." Octavius muttered.
"Note-to-self; make water - and piss - proof versions of the earbuds." Y/n half cringed and half laughed, picking Jed and Octavius up, attempting to make contact with them as little as possible, due to their state. They walked up to a water fountain, "Here, this might help with getting rid of what your clothes soaked up, and it's smell, too." They pushed one of the buttons and the miniatures got under it a bit. "Again, NEVER speak of this." Octavius said to Y/n as he cleaned his helmet's red bristles, and as Y/n texted Larry that the two were found.
(A/N: IK THAT LAST PART IS A BIT WEIRD BUT I HAD TO, IM SORRY 💀)