Plasma57: When Jahara said she "only knew her for about ten years"? That was Miya.

Luka groaned, wincing as he sat up, holding his head. The airship lay before him, its engines either badly damaged or missing. A gaping hole tore through the engine room, and the windows were shattered. The staircase was down, damaged, and probably wouldn't retract again. He looked around. They had landed in what looked like a cavern, one easily big enough to hold a small village, probably even a few depending on how big it was.

Brave tottered past, swaying back and forth until he sat down. Sena pulled herself up onto a rock, moving her arm carefully. She went over and sat down next to Brave.

She looked up, "Have you seen the others yet?"

"No, but they should be nearby," Luka said. Some of them had to still be on the airship…

Jakata cried out and fell to the ground. He shakily got up, his voice whiney, "I can't find Phoebe."

Sena looked over at him, "Did you even look for her?"

"No."

Ara walked down the staircase, completely uninjured, "The chocolate is safe.

Luka stood up, "Where are the others?"

"Hak and Duran are freaking out, but their families are safe. They're trying to get the communication system to work again."

Sena looked up from her Communicator, "No one is answering."

"Rai is fine," Ara said, unwrapping a chocolate bar, "He wouldn't lose our bet this easily."

"…What bet?" Luka asked.

"That he would die first."

Jakata looked over, "What's the point if only one of you would know when…" his voice trailed off.

Ara shrugged, "His exact words where 'If I die first I don't have to owe you chocolate for the rest of my life'," she turned to Luka, "Sora still has her Link Tai Chi."

Luka didn't respond for a while, "…I can't contact her…."

Phoebe slowly woke as Finn gently shook her. She couldn't see much, aside from the blurry blob she assumed was Finn leaving. She must have lost her glasses. Again. She felt around for them and instead found Miya's backpack. "Miya?"

"Over here," Miya crawled over and gave Phoebe her glasses.

Phoebe helped her stand up and walk over to sit on a rock, "Are you okay?"

"They just gave out again. I'll be fine in a little while," she smiled, "I can still feel my feet." She looked up as Griffin walked over, carrying Yuna.

"No one else is here?" he asked.

"Finn went somewhere," Phoebe said, getting Miya's backpack. She yelped when something inside it moved.

Eowyn climbed out, looking around. "…This never happened before…"

Griffin set Yuna down and gave her his Communicator. "That portal must have separated us. A crash-landing would have thrown us a short distance away."

"Do you think everyone else is safe?" Miya asked.

"If they're in groups they will be. I'm more worried about who attacked us. We need to find the others before they do."

Eowyn nodded, "Especially Jakata. One of the group really doesn't like him. We don't know why."

Griffin looked at her, "How bad will it be if they find him first?"

"Tela might be the only one that can save him," she hung around Miya's shoulders, "She's the only one that would side with him. Her brother wants to see Jakata dead."

"Do you know his strategies?"

"He isn't very nice. He likes to use force over manipulation."

"Griffin…" Phoebe looked up from her Communicator, "I can't contact anyone, or even see where they are."

"Not even Jakata?"

Phoebe shook her head and looked over as Finn came back. Finn gave Griffin a card, causing Griffin to cringe.

"She's somewhere else," Finn said.

Griffin looked at the Negate card, "I hope so…" he stared at the card and looked over at Eowyn, "If you're here, than where's Ave?"

"Sora… Sora!"

Sora slowly woke, the first thing she saw was Ave's face. She let out a blood-curdling scream, scooting away. "Don't do that!" she looked around, "Where's Griffin?"

"I…I don't know…"

Donha, Jahara and Tori sat a short distance away. Jahara sat leaning against a rock with her head back, eyes closed, talking quietly, looking as if she didn't feel good. Rai sat on a rock away from everyone, arms folded, scowling. His expression didn't change as Sora and Ave came back.

Tori looked up from his Communicator, "I think the signal is being blocked. I can't even contact any of you."

"Is that why Rai is pouting?" Sora asked.

"He made a comment and Jahara punched him."

Rai looked over, "I didn't mean it like that!"

Donha looked over at him, "You shouldn't comment on how a woman looks unless it's a compliment."

"But you said the same thing."

Jahara opened on eye, glaring at him, "He was polite."

Rai looked over at Tori, "Did you fix it yet?"

"Weren't you listening?" Tori closed it, "I tried calling the nearest Communicator, even with the SOS. Nothing happened."

"Well, it's the only way we can—" he looked over at Ave, "Ara has a smartphone. You can call her."

"Even if I had it I wouldn't be able to. It's missing, just like some of our cards," he hesitated, "And Eowyn."

Rai turned to Sora, "The Link Tai Chi. Luka almost never takes his off."

Sora felt around her neck, "Oh-oh," she looked up, "It's kind of gone…"

Rai stared at her, "You lost it?"

"Not on purpose, just like when Ara hid it."

"Ara found it because you weren't wearing it. If you were this time we would be able to get help."

"You lost some of your cards," Ave said.

"That's different. I don't wear my cards, even if they were the only one that can help us. Without the Link Tai Chi some of us will die," he glanced at Sora, or at least where she last stood. She was already running away.

Ave turned to follow and glanced back, frowning hard at Rai, "You must understand sometimes you are an idiot."

"You're not staying?" Tori asked.

"Jahara needs to rest and you and Donha can help her if she needs it. And control Rai." He left.

Phoebe helped Miya walk as they followed Finn. Griffin led Yuna with them. Eowyn had returned into Miya's backpack. Occasionally there was clicking and beeping, but she didn't return to confirm any of the Communicators started to work again.

Phoebe looked over at Griffin, "Do you think Jakata is okay?"

"He'll be fine if he's with some of the others. It will be better if he's knocked out for a while. If he knows you're not around he's going to get upset."

Miya looked over, "But Finn isn't upset Sena isn't here."

"Finn can handle it. Jakata is a lot more emotional," he looked over, "I'm more worried about Luka. He's been getting close to losing control during Dragonoid state for almost two months now. If Jahara or Sora aren't around, and if he and Jakata are near each other and he gets too stressed…"

"He's been through it before," Phoebe said, "Won't he be able to control it?"

"I assume he can, but only based on the fact he has a lot more control over when and how long he goes into Dragonoid state than I do."

Ara stared at her smartphone screen, pouting, tapping away.

Sena watched her, holding Brave, "Are you trying to text Ave?"

"No."

Sena looked back. Jakata was walking around the airship, sometimes stopping and looking around, hopeful. Luka sat leaning against the airship, holding his head, wincing, breathing through gritted teeth. He was progressively getting worse. Before he had only gone briefly into Dragonoid state every couple moments and now it was for longer amounts of time every few seconds.

"They're okay, Luka," Sena said.

Luka turned to her, for a second his eyes wild and unfocused. He sat up straighter when Ara grinned, only to slump when she frowned at the smartphone screen.

Sena picked up Brave, who was starting to fall asleep, "I'll ask Hak and Duran if they can talk to anyone yet, or even detect Communicator signals," she walked up the stairs and into the airship.

Jakata stared at where she had gone and turned to Ara, "If they fixed the thingy can they find Phoebe first?"

Luka hissed in pain, going into Dragonoid state. He glared at Jakata, his glare wild and deadly.

"Sora!"

Sora ignored Ave, continuing to blindly run. It wasn't her fault she lost the card! She stumbled over a rock, dangerously close to the edge of a long and very, very deep dark trench. She wind-milled her arms, screaming. Instead of wildly grabbing for Ave's hand she clung to him, sending them both into the trench. It took her a moment to realize they weren't falling. Ave held onto her with one arm, his free hand holding onto the ledge.

"Don't let go! I don't want to die!"

"We won't," Ave looked around for footholds and then up at his hand. The rock kind of strange. He stared at it. It wasn't a rock, unless rocks were a dirty tan, had two empty eye sockets and a big gaping jaw. He screamed. The skull dislodged and sent them into the darkness.

Tori stared at the "compass" in this hand as they wandered around, "Find isn't helping. Everyone shows up but then they disappear," he looked back, "And there are too many of us."

Donha was helping Jahara walk. They had started looking for the others when she felt better, and even though she insisted she was fine Donha still stayed close. Rai was ahead of them, talking about something they had long since lost interest in.

"It could be detecting Rai's cards," Jahara said, "You told it to 'find the others' and sometimes cards consider that to mean other cards."

"I found them!" Rai held up a Cardholder triumphantly.

Tori looked back at the compass, "There are still a lot of dots. A cluster might be moving towards us," he looked up, "It's a group of four… like who attacked us…"

Finn stood guard near the opening of the small cave they had found. It was a good place to rest. Occasionally he sensed faintly familiar presences, but he couldn't be sure. With the Communicators not working and with sense of direction completely off, along with being tense, he could just be overreacting.

He did feel as if a fight was happening, but by now it should have either ended or they would have gotten close to it. Sound carried a long way through the cavern. Yuna had been very disappointed when her voice didn't come back, instead just getting further and further away. Because of that, any noise was magnified and warped into unidentifiable sounds.

Yuna slept against Griffin now, and Miya leaned against Phoebe, quiet.

Phoebe looked over at Griffin, "Did you get your Communicator to work yet?"

"Not yet," he had the device connected to his Activator," "I still can't find a channel we can use. There is as new signal, but I can't connect to it. If I change the signal frequency, I might…"

"When you fix it can we call Jakata?"

"When I can," he expression was pained. Phoebe knew he wanted to call Sora first, and yet…

"You don't think Luka will fight him, do you?"

"Jakata is strong enough to take care of himself. The fight would be evenly matched. Jakata left during their fight the other day, maybe about five minutes after you left. If they would fight it would be long enough for anyone nearby to hear it and go help."

"But Luka hates Jakata…."

"Not enough to fatally wound him," Griffin looked up, "He would never do anything that would upset you, even if he does lose control. If he does he'll know you'll get upset if Jakata is hurt badly. At worst he might dislocate Jakata's jaw or shoulder again. It's going to be a lot worse than it actually is, especially when Jakata complains about it."

She wasn't going to argue with that.

Finn got a card out, slowly taking a step forward, focused on the path that sloped downwards. Voices came from that direction, but the distance of the owners was difficult to tell. It was hard enough distinguishing separate voices, although one of them was obnoxious….

Finn watched, tensed. He waited until the voices got louder and then activating Lightning, the attack striking just beyond the slope. There was a scream.

Griffin looked up. He watched, disappointed, as Rai stomped over the slope, his hair and clothes a mess. There was another scream, causing Rai to jump and look back. Miya looked around and leaned against Phoebe again.

Rai glared at Finn, "Why did you attack me?!"

Finn waited until Rai got closer, only adding to the redhead's agitation, "You could have been the enemy."

"You could have at least waited until you saw me!"

Yuna woke up and frowned sleepily at Rai, "You're loud."

Griffin carried Yuna over as Jahara, Donha and Tori approached.

Jahara took Yuna back, hugging her. She looked at Finn and Griffin, "You came from ahead? Did you see Sora and Ave?"

"She's not with you?" Griffin asked.

"She was," Tori said, "Until Rai made her cry."

Rai frowned at him, "I didn't say it like that."

"You blamed her for losing her Link Tai Chi," Donha said, "She would have reacted better if you said it nicely."

Jahara turned to Griffin, "She ran away and Ave went to bring her back. They ran this way and there's only been one path. That was a while ago."

"…She's with Ave?"

"As much as she's going to hate it, she's safe with him."

Miya got up, using the wall for support, "None of you are injured?"

Jahara watched her, "We're all fine. Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm just a little tired. We need to find Ave and Sora."

"Not until we rest. That will give you time to feel better and get our Communicators to work again. It will give a chance for Sora and Ave to come back."

Miya nodded and went to sit back down.

Rai sat near the entrance of the cave, watching, "Ara is redecorating my room, I know it."

"Unless she's distracted by chocolate," Jahara said.

"Then explain how the spider got in there."

"Because you don't clean your room."

"You can get to the bed and find everything if you have to. It's what Ara would call 'organized chaos'."

"No, isn't," Jahara turned, watching as Griffin, Donha and Tori worked on a Communicator. They even had it hooked to an Activator. They had the other Communicators set around in attempt to detect them.

Miya still leaned against Phoebe, looking better than she had earlier. Phoebe had her cards set in front of her, playing various games with them. Eowyn crawled out of Miya's backpack, stretched and went back inside.

Rai stared at the backpack, "Does Miya carry cookies or chocolate with her?"

"Not all the time," Jahara said.

"If there is any than either Jakata or Ara will find us."

"Not when there's a larger stash on the airship," Jahara said.

"If we melt the chocolate Ara will find us."

"If she finds out you melted the chocolate without her permission she will hurt you."

"…Well…" Rai looked over at Griffin, "Jakata can find us, right? He can find Phoebe if he wants to." Phoebe looked up.

"Not all the time, but if she's threatened or hurt he will."

Jahara narrowed her eyes at Rai, "Do anything and you're going to sleep out on the deck until Ara says otherwise."

"You won't punch me?"

"I will after Luka does."

Rai got up, "I'm going to walk around. Maybe one of the others is nearby." From somewhere else there was a yell, "Like over there." Rai ran up the path where he guessed the yell came from. There was a trench along the path, the bottom hidden by darkness.

The edge was relatively smooth, except for one spot ahead where it looked as if a rock had been there for a while before it fell. Near it holes scattered across the path, some deep enough to trip in. Rai ran along the path, keeping a safe distance away from the trench. The yell had to have come from somewhere around there…

He ran closer to the edge, looking over the side. His foot sank into an indent where the rock had been, throwing him off balance and into the darkness.

Jakata activated Heat, bursting out of the way of Luka's Water attack. He glanced around. Ara was still mostly hidden by rocks, still making faces at her smartphone, and Sena was still in the airship. They were safe, at least for now.

If he kept activating Heat and having it last for a few minutes at a time, Luka would eventually get tired from Tai Chi card use. Eventually. Hopefully soon, because he would only be able to activate Heat a few more times.

He had to use a distance attack or try to get in close and not get chopped by Luka's sword. Out of all the cards he had, none of them would be useful. They would either easily be overpowered or would allow him to get hit and chopped very badly. He twisted out of the way of one Water attack and got hit by the next, the force of it throwing him against the side of the airship.

"Jakata?" Sena looked down over the guardrail.

Jakata ducked, narrowly avoiding well-aimed arrowheads. "Stay down!" he ran out of the way of another Water attack.

Sena joined Ara, "What happened?"

"Luka got mad at Jakata," Ara frowned at her smartphone.

"Aren't you going to help?"

Ara looked up, watched the fight for a moment and focused on her smartphone again, "We all knew this would happen eventually," she stopped Sena from standing up, "Let them be. Let the angry Dragonoid with sling fight."

"But…"

"Luka just needs to take his anger out on something. And that something can be hyper and very obnoxious."

"Luka might kill him."

"…Well, Phoebe is going to need a new boyfriend."

Sora blinked a few times, wincing. She ached all over and her ankle really hurt. She slowly sat up, looking around. It was a lot darker. A dim light source from tiny cracks in the ceiling allowed enough light to see the shapes of what was within a several meter radius. Ave lay nearby on his side, his back facing her, completely still. Sora would have through he was dead, if he wasn't breathing squeakily.

"Sora?" his voice was small, "What's touching my back?" Every word was in a different accent.

"You're scared of a rock?"

"Is it the skull?"

"I don't think so."

Ave slowly breathed out and sat up. He slowly looked around, clicking his tongue every few seconds.

Sora watched him, "Why are you doing that?"

"We're in a cavern, not quite as big as the one before. There might be isolated rocks around us. Behind us is a slope too steep to climb that leads to somewhere open and … somewhere… above us is a hole that leads to another cave or cavern."

Sora blinked, "What?"

"You can't echolocate?"

"No, I can't. Why do you if you can see?"

"Because it's useful when I can't."

"…Okay…" she started to get up and fell back down, yelping.

"Sora?" Ave slowly approached her.

Sora leaned away, "I must have tripped weird."

"You're favoring your right ankle. Can I make sure it's a sprain and it isn't twisted or dislocated?"

"…How bad is a dislocated ankle?"

"If it's ignored long enough the only way to fix it is surgery, and then the recovery time isn't very fun…"

Sora carefully took off her shoe and sock. She froze as Ave brushed his fingers against her ankle. She frowned at him, "Your fingers are cold." That had to be it. His fingers were numbing her skin. That had to be why it didn't hurt so much.

"I know. Cold hands can mean thyroid problems, but I don't have any," he shrugged. "It's a sprain. I don't have any long-lasting materials to make a splint right now. You'll have to stay off if until tomorrow."

"Has this happened to you?"

"I was playing with my siblings on a trampoline and I got both my feet stuck in the space between the tarp and the frame…"

"Trampolines sound dangerous."

"They are if you're not careful."

Sora carefully put her sock and shoe back on. "How are we going to—" she gaped as Ave activated Whip, having it twist securely around her shoe and above her ankle.

"That should last a few hours."

"I can't move my foot."

"You're not supposed to."

Sora looked around, "How are we supposed to get out?"

"We fell more or less straight down, so…" Ave looked up at a dark circle in the ceiling.

Sora watched him and warily backed away, "Whenever Jakata gets that look…"

Ave clicked his tongue a few more times, "There are two rocks jutting out of the sides up there." He activated Whip, having the single strands much longer and thick than normal, the end disappearing into the darkness above, leaving the rest to hang. He activated Whip again, having a much shorter whip pull the larger one down.

Sora glanced at Ave, "What's that?"

"A slingshot."

Sora stared at it, "Won't that kind of really hurt your back when it snaps you forward?"

"I've taken every precaution to make sure it's completely and painlessly safe."

"You go first, I don't trust it," she pointed at her ankle, "I should be careful. I can't land awkwardly."

"When I know if there's a way out I'll activate Cage and lift you out with a pulley system."

"How will that work if there's nothing for it to connect to?"

"I will think of that," he laid back on the larger whip and had the small one let go. He disappeared into the darkness above.

Sora watched, waiting. Ave's screams gradually grew louder and as he reappeared he activated Close, the card taking affect before he hit the ground, making a deep hole.

Sora stared down at him, "Are you okay?"

Ave squeaked in response and pulled himself out, wincing. "It keeps going on and the two caves are closed off."

"You hurt your back, didn't you?"

"Not as bad as that one time when I went skydiving and misjudged where the tree was."

"You hit a tree?"

He didn't respond for some time, "Yes, let's say that." Every word was in the same accent.

She watched as he moved on arm carefully, "Are you okay?"

"I landed on my arm before, it's just a bit sore."

"How much is 'a bit'?"

"I can't tell from my wrist to my shoulder what hurts more."

"Shouldn't you be worried about that?"

"I would know if it was broken."

Sora looked around, "Maybe Rain would work. This cave would fill up with water and we can just swim out."

"That's going to take a long time."

"A lot longer now with your hole here. Do you have any better ideas?"

"Wait for help."

"No one else is enough of an idiot to willingly walk close enough to fall in, too."

A scream came from above. A light flashed and Rai fell down, barely formed Wings dissolving on impact. He rolled down the slope, groaning.

"…You were saying?" Ave asked.

Rai slowly sat up, frowning, "We've been looking for you two!"

"We didn't choose to fall."

"Oh, so I'm the only one that ran along the edge?"

Sora stared, face blank, "You ran?" she glanced at Ave.

"You fell accidentally?"

"Why would I fall into a pit of death on purpose?"

Rai looked at Ave, "Do you know?"

"She didn't fall on purpose," Ave said, "Stop blaming her."

"I'm not blaming her."

"Your tone is."

Sora nodded.

"So then my tone made her cry."

"That was you."

Rai stared, silent for a short time and warily glanced at Sora, "You're not going to tell Luka, are you?"

"We won't have to," Ave said, "Once Sora gets her Link Tai Chi back Luka will sense emotional distress. He'll know it was you."

"Or you."

"…Maybe," Ave looked up where Rai had fallen from, "Wing won't be able to get us out."

"I've flown out of trenches before."

"The space is too narrow. I would scale the walls, but without secure footholds…" he shook his head, "It's too smooth. A spider-climb, maybe…"

Rai and Sora stared at him blankly.

"Then how do we get out?" Sora asked.

Rai turned to her, "Just combine Cause with Fire."

"I don't need to send us somewhere else."

"I could do it."

"We don't need to be teleported into a rock."

Rai turned to Ave, "You have Smoke and Move."

"I left most of my cards on the airship."

Rai glared at him, "You what?"

"You're blaming again."

"I'm not. My tone is."

Sora stared at him, "It's the same thing."

"No it's not. Can't you use one of your cards to signal the others?"

"You're the one that has a Fire card."

"I can't aim it straight up. It will fall back down and set me on Fire."

"Just like you did with Sena."

Rai pointed at her, turning to Ave, "She's accusing me."

"From what I understand you did that on purpose. You knew what the music box did and you showed everyone anyway."

"I thought she was the enemy!" he glanced around, "Don't tell her I said that."

"She likely already knows. You don't glare at the first friend you see and attack without reason unless you're under some sort of influence."

Rai turned away. "Whatever. It's not like I blinded her with a Light card."

Ave turned to Sora, "Do you have yours?"

Sora nodded and got it out. She stared. "You keep a compact mirror in your sleeve?"

Rai turned to stare.

"Activate Light by the slope," Ave walked over to the slope, facing the mirror at the glowing sphere. He flickered the mirror in its direction, reflecting the light up the trench. He repeated the action three quick times, waited, and repeated again.

"What are you doing?" Rai asked.

"Creating a signal. Light isn't as strong as sunlight, but it should still work."

"No it—"

"Ave?"

Rai ran over and looked up, "Jahara?! I fell!"

"Did you find Sora and Ave?"

"Yes," Rai said, frowning, "They're blaming me for stuff I didn't do! Can you send Thread down?"

"Are they okay?"

Sora shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing throughout the cavern, "I'm not! I broke my ankle falling into the pit of death!"

Griffin responded, "We'll send enough down for a harness and lift you out."

Sora crawled over as Thread came down.

"Do you want me to tie it around you?" Ave asked.

"I don't trust Rai enough."

"Hey…"

Sora turned to him, "You wanted to go bungee jumping and tested it with a doll. The bungee cord snapped and you tried getting Ara to do it."

Ave finished tying off the harness, having it also be like a swing so Sora could sit instead of dangle. He did the same with Whip, only giving himself a harness, also.

Sora watched as he jumped up into the space above, setting one hand and foot on each side. "What are you doing?"

"If Thread gets cut or snaps for some unseen reason I'll still be able to get you out." He waited until Sora was almost level with him before hopping up, always making sure she wasn't too far away.

Griffin lifted Sora out and hugged her.

Ave sat away from the edge, out of breath. Miya carefully walked over and sat next to him, "Are you okay?"

He nodded, "It was a longer climb than I first thought." He watched as the others brought Rai up. Rai collapsed to the ground, "hugging" it.

Eowyn peeked her head out of Miya's backpack and happily exclaimed a word Miya didn't recognize. Eowyn went to Ave and laid across his shoulders, nudging his cheek.

Rai looked over, "Now can Eowyn take us back?"

Eowyn went inside Miya's backpack and brought out the smartphone and two Tai Chi cards. She stuck the smartphone back in Ave's sleeve and gave the cards to Sora, "Finn found Negate and Link was in Miya's backpack."

She floated a short distance away and grew to her larger size. Griffin set Sora on and climbed in front of her. Eowyn waited for the others before taking off.

Ave brought out his smartphone as it buzzed, staring at the screen that was full of messages, "What…?"

"Ignore those," Eowyn said quickly.

Jakata dove out of the way of another Pierce. The first had come shortly after a Water blast, tearing his cloths and cutting his skin. He ignored the thin red lines. He yelped, backing away as another Water attack cut in front of him.

"Jakata!"

Eowyn landed nearby. Finn jumped off and ran towards the fight, getting a card out. Luka activated Water and Pierce twice each, quickly in succession, creating Water blasts surrounded by and throwing glowing arrowheads, each stream blocking Jakata from moving. Finn activated Ice, freezing one of the Water streams, although that wasn't enough to stop the arrowheads from flying in all directions; the dissolving before they could hit anything, all except for the last one. It cut deep into Finn's arm. Sena and Ave ran over to him and stared at the cut. Ave's face paled.

Luka activated Water, the attack hitting Jakata, slamming him hard against the airship, pinning him there until the attack was over. He fell, unconscious.

Luka winced, going out of Dragonoid state.

Phoebe ran to Jakata's side, "Jakata?" she shook him, than shook him harder, screaming his name over and over. She looked up at Luka, tears in her eyes, "He's not breathing!"

Luka crouched next to her, and checked Jakata's pulse. He turned, "Miya!"