Chapter 11: Underneath It All

"What's the problem?" Lava asked, her eyes blinking in confusion. Korbie sighed a little. "Korbie?" Lavagirl asked.

"I kind of…lost the others." Korbi admitted slowly. Kyle, Keifer, and Cami all looked at each other.

"The…others?" Kyle asked slowly.

"Sharkboy, Max, Linus, and Marissa, duh." Korbie said, putting her hands on her hips and rolling her eyes at the incompetent mortals.

"You were with them?" LG asked, suddenly perking up. "Where are they? Are they alright?"

"I just told you, I lost them. I have no idea where they are." Korb sighed. "I think they're fine…" She frowned a little.

"SHARKBOY, SHUT UP!" Max yelled, slapping is hand over his mouth. Sharkboy finally ceased his panicked screaming, not willingly, obviously. "Now take a deep breath." Max instructed. SB mumbled something through his hand. "TAKE A DEEP BREATH!" Max shouted in his face. Sharkboy's eyes widened and he attempted to take a deep breath, but instead just vacuumed Max's hand against his human, non-shark mouth.

"Max, you need to calm down." Marissa said, putting her hand on his shoulder as Max yanked his hand away, wrinkling his nose at Sharkboy's action. Sharkboy shrugged innocently.

"Dude, put your shirt back on." Linus said, tossing the sweatshirt SB had on earlier onto his head. Sharkboy yanked it off and wrinkled his nose down at himself, forgetting that underneath it all, he had always been human. He reluctantly slipped the sweatshirt over his muscular body.

"We need to concentrate, everyone." Marissa said. "We need to find Lavagirl, figure out a way to get you back to normal, get back home, and stop the portal from destroying the world, or whatever it's doing." She nodded.

"I suggest we start walking, then." Linus said with a frown. The four reluctantly began their fifty mile walk to town.

Lavagirl, the twins, Cami, and Korbie were all sitting in Leah…err…Lava's bedroom. Lavagirl was sitting on the bed next to Kyle, hugging a pillow. Korbie was bouncing on the bed in front of them. Keifer was sprawled out on the carpeted floor, and Cami was in the window seat.

"So you dove into the portal, and ended up here?" Lava asked Korbie slowly.

"I've told you a bunch of times, yes!" Korbie exclaimed, jumping one last time before falling back on the bed.

"None of this makes sense." Cami frowned. "If you're in Leah's body, does this mean Leah is in your body?" She asked. LG's eyes widened in realization.

"She must be…she has to be. Souls can't wander aimlessly without a body." She said.

"This can't be good." Kyle decided with a nod.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Sharkboy asked, looking around with narrow eyes.

"Hear what?" Max asked. Suddenly, there was a blast of light farther down the road, then a loud scream. The foursome looked at each other, before running as fast as they could into the trees lining the road.

"LAVAGIRL!" Sharkboy shouted excitedly when he saw his best friends flaming pink hair. Lava spun around and looked at him. She screamed again. Sharkboy stopped running and gave her a weird look. "It's me, Sharkboy." He smiled and nodded. Lava stared at him.

"W-who?" She asked.

"SB…your best friend? Are you okay, Lavagirl?" Sharkboy looked at her strangely.

"Lavagirl?" Lava asked, her brown eyes wide. Sharkboy stared at her, just as she had a moment ago. It was his turn to scream.

"Sharkboy, what is it?!" Max yelled as he caught up to him. Sharkboy may be human, but he was still an incredibly fast runner. Max halted in his tracks at the sight of LG, causing the running Linus to slam into him. Both boys fell to the ground. Sharkboy calmed himself and continued staring at Lavagirl

"Who are you?" He asked, taking a step back.

"I-I'm Leah." The girl in LG's body said nervously. "Leah Grahm. What's going on? Who's Lavagirl?" She paused. "Why am I on fire?!" Sharkboy groaned.

"Lavagirl is…you. Well, the body you're in." Marissa said, jogging over and standing next to Sharkboy. Leah blinked Lavagirl's eyes. "I just don't understand how…"

"The last thing I remember is running into a tree." Leah said, nodding.

"Lavagirl was sucked through a portal…I wonder if she's in your body?" Max asked as he stood up, as well as Linus.

"I live a few miles from here." Leah said with a nod.

"Let's go find my best friend." Sharkboy said, taking his firm SB stance, his eyes gleaming with determination.