It started with a simple announcement from the teacher during lunch.
"Class, we have an exciting school trip planned to the local cola factory next week!" she said with far too much enthusiasm.
Before she could even finish, Leon raised his hand. "Can we not bring Crimson along?"
MJ, Kai, and Kazuki all immediately chimed in. "We agree. Seriously, teacher, just trust us on this."
The teacher gave them a stern look. "He's coming, and that's final."
"Shit," we all muttered in unison, except for Crimson, who looked happier than a kid on Christmas morning.
The Day of the Trip
When we arrived at the cola factory, Crimson was the first one off the bus. He bolted out like his life depended on it, his eyes lighting up as he spotted the massive pool of cola in the distance. It wasn't even two seconds before he started making a beeline for it.
"Nope! Nope! Nope!" Kai shouted, sprinting after him.
We managed to catch him just in time, dragging him back by the collar like a misbehaving puppy.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Kai yelled, panting.
"But it's a POOL OF COLA!" Crimson said, his eyes wide with wonder. "How can you not want to jump in?!"
Kazuki gave him a deadpan look. "Because we have brains, Crimson."
But Crimson being Crimson, we should have known better. Five minutes later, while we were busy listening to the factory guide drone on about cola history, Crimson slipped away. By the time we realized he was gone, it was too late.
Splash!
There he was, floating in the cola pool like a human soda ice cube, grinning ear to ear.
"CRIMSON!" we all shouted in unison.
He waved at us. "Guys, it's amazing! You should try it!"
"Get out of there, you idiot!" Kazuki yelled, rubbing his temples.
Before we could stop him, Crimson had already climbed out, dripping with cola, and ran straight for the conveyor belts.
The Chaos Begins
The factory was supposed to be a well-oiled machine. Emphasis on "supposed to." As soon as Crimson got near the conveyor belts, he started hopping onto them like they were carnival rides.
"Look at me! I'm cola!" he shouted as bottles whizzed past him.
Leon facepalmed. "This dumbass…"
The next thing we knew, Crimson had grabbed one of the cola bottles and started shaking it like a maniac. When it exploded, spraying cola everywhere, he looked like he'd just won the lottery.
"Oops," he said, giggling.
Kai tried to grab him, but Crimson dodged and climbed onto another machine. This one was filling cans, and Crimson, being the chaotic genius he is, thought it would be funny to stick his finger into the spout. The machine went haywire, spraying cola everywhere and causing a chain reaction that shut down half the factory.
"We're gonna die," MJ muttered, staring at the chaos unfolding around us.
Meanwhile, Kazuki and Leon tried to corner Crimson, but he somehow ended up in the room where they mix the syrup for the cola. Big mistake.
"Don't touch anything!" Leon yelled as Crimson's hand hovered over a big, red button labeled "Emergency Release."
Crimson grinned. "What does this do?"
"DON'T—"
BEEP
A siren blared, and suddenly gallons of syrup started pouring out of the pipes, flooding the room. Crimson, of course, thought this was hilarious and started pretending to swim in it.
The Factory Meltdown
By now, the factory workers were in full panic mode. One of them ran up to us, yelling, "What is wrong with you kids?!"
Kai, trying to play it cool, said, "Uh, field trip?"
"GET OUT!" the worker screamed.
We tried to grab Crimson, who was now climbing a giant stack of cola crates, but he refused to come down. "I'm king of the cola!" he shouted.
Then, as if on cue, the entire stack wobbled and came crashing down. Bottles shattered everywhere, and Crimson emerged from the wreckage covered in cola and still laughing.
"Worth it," he said.
The Aftermath
By the time we finally dragged Crimson out of the factory, we were all soaked in cola, sticky, and utterly humiliated. The factory manager came out, red-faced and fuming.
"You kids are banned for life!" he yelled.
"Fair," Kazuki said, nodding.
As we walked back to the bus, Crimson was still grinning. "That was the best trip ever!"
Leon glared at him. "You're paying for my shoes. They're ruined."
"I'll pay you in cola," Crimson said, laughing.
Kai groaned. "I'm never going on a trip with you again."
MJ, who had stayed silent the whole time, finally spoke up. "Can we just agree that Crimson should never be allowed near anything expensive, ever?"
"Agreed," we all said.
But deep down, we knew that wasn't going to stop him. Chaos was his middle name, and as much as we hated to admit it, we wouldn't have it any other way.