I quickly stepped out through another tree just outside of root core, and went to run forward to catch Nick.
I wonder what's wrong with him….
Suddenly, something jumped on me, tackling me to the ground. I let out a small yelp as I was dragged to the earth, and with a thump, my attacker landed next to me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nick whip around with his morpher in his hand, but soon my attention was attracted to my attacker.
"What was that for?" I asked disbelievingly, standing up and brushing myself off.
Adrion smiled from the ground, and soon his kitty ears and tail appeared again.
"If I was Necrolai, you would be dead right now," He pointed out, and I rolled my eyes, but sighed.
"Whatever, come on," I said, walking into root core and not even bothering to wait for my best friend.
"Hey, wait for me," Adrion called, and I heard him scramble to get up. I turned and laughed at him, and began to run forward, only to immediately run into a wall.
"Ow!" I exclaimed, as I fell backwards, but soon fell into Adrion, who fell backwards also.
After two very unattractive 'Oof!'s and several cuss words, I looked up to see Nick standing there, glaring at me with his morpher still in hand.
"Oh, sorry Nick," Adrion offered from behind me, putting his hand on my head, "Didn't see you there,"
Nick just turned his gaze to Adrion, and then walked inside without a word. I followed him with my eyes until he entered root core completely.
"What was that about?" I questioned Adrion, who just shrugged, and hoisted me up into a standing position.
"To the secret of the Fire Heart!" Adrion said, flailing an invisible sword around in front of him. I laughed and rolled my eyes, then entered root core, kitty in tow.
"See?" Chip was saying as he put our half of the scroll up to a mirror, only to show the other half of the map, "And what does that look like?"
"Mount Fuego!" Madi, Vida, Nick, and I all said at the same time, smiling to each other.
"Let's go!" I called, and changed my hoodie into my cloak. I Already had my weird uniform thing on, and with a snap of my fingers, I was now wearing my favorite chucks. I smiled, and headed out the door with the other rangers, grabbing Adrion along the way.
"Alright, we gotta get to the Fire Heart, but we're gonna have to split up to cover that much territory," Nick called to everyone as we walked briskly towards the nearby mountain, "Madi, Chip, you're with me. Emma, Anthony, you're with Vida and Xander,"
"It's Adrion!" Adrion called out to Nick as they walked away, and Nick ignored him and kept walking.
"Wonder what crawled up his butt and died," Adrion grumbled as we walked, and I heard Vida laugh.
"Now I can see why you and Emma are such great friends," Vida called from in front of us as we trudged up the mountain, "You have a mouth that could rival hers!"
I grumbled and pouted as best I could, while Adrion laughed.
"No way!" Adrion called back up to Vida, "You should've heard her rip this guy a new one once! It was hysterical!..."
Soon, I zoned everyone out and began to think.
I wonder why Nick's being so cold now. I mean, it's not like him to hold some petty grudge, and he promised me that he would tell me the next time he was mad at me! I wonder what could've happened….
"V! Em! Adrion! Come quick!"
Xander's voice ripped me out of my thoughts, and I ran towards him along with the others.
"What? What is it?" Vida asked, looking around.
Xander smiled widely, and turned his head to the side.
"See?" Xander said, like I should be noticing something important, "My perfect profile has been restored! I'm back!"
I stared at him in disbelief, along with Adrion and Vida, before the dumbfounded-ness finally wore off, and I punched Xander in the arm.
"Ow, what was that for?" Xander cried out, holding his arm.
"That's for crying wolf!" I answered, and suddenly, Adrion tapped me on the shoulder.
"Emma, look!" He said, and pointed to something farther up on the mountain than us.
"Hey guys, you see that?" I asked Vida And Xander, who nodded, and we all ran towards it.
On a boulder was engraved some type of symbol with a dragon head in it, and as I turned my head, I noticed a cave to the right of it.
I immediately entered, looking around cautiously, and finally noticing two doors. Standing in front of them, I noticed another engraving on the wall.
"Emma!" I heard Adrion call, his voice slightly panicky.
"Here," I called back, looking at the engraving still. Footsteps entered the cave, and Adrion came to stand next to me.
"Don't run away like that, I didn't know where you were!" Adrion scolded, and I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, mother," I replied, and heard more footsteps coming into the cave.
"Be ready for anything," Vida told Xander, who answered with a "Got it,"
I turned to let them know I found something, but saw Xander trip in a rock and trigger a trap, which poured green slime all over Vida.
After a moment of silence, Vida spoke up.
"Ew," She said simply, "Cave slime,"
I rolled my eyes, and with a small spell and a wave of my hand, Vida was slime free and not gross anymore.
"Thanks Em!' She smiled at me, and I grinned back.
"Come look at this," I said to her, and turned back to the engraving.
"The Fire heart is close at hand. For those who find it shall rule the land. But take good care because there is no clue. Is it door number one….. or door number two?" I read off the wall, and turned to my friends.
"Which one-" Xander started, but suddenly, Vida ripped open the first door, only to find a golden chest.
"That's got to be it," Adrion said, looking at it with raised eyebrows.
"Help me get I out of here," Vida said, and I looked curiously at door number two.
"Wait, I wanna find out what's in this one." I called to my friends, and pulled open the door.
"Emma, don't!" Adrion called, but I already opened the door. Letting out a squeak of surprise, I shut it immediately at the sound of harsh growling coming from inside and back away.
Adrion groaned.
"You never have been lucky," He said, and as soon as he finished his sentence, the door was busted down with a thud, and a giant monster with pointy things on the back of his head came out roaring.
"Adrion, you got a weapon?" I asked him as I summoned my daggers, and he scoffed.
"I spent two weeks in the Underworld, do you really think I don't have one?" He asked, and the monster charged at us.
I yelped as I was thrown out of the cave from the force of the blow, and winced as I hit the ground roughly. Immediately, I stood back up, and raised my daggers again, but not before putting my hood up to block out the sun.
The monster exited the cave, roaring, and began to charge at us again. It immediately swung it's arms towards me. I barely had enough time to react, and brought up both my daggers to block the blow.
Suddenly, a blur of black and light blue hit the monster from the side, and the monster let out a yelp of pain, and began to flail his arms around wildly.
Vida and Xander immediately morphed, and began to attempt to attack the beast, only to get hit back into the ground.
Adrion ran forwards with a sword in his hands, and began to hit the monster repeatedly. My mouth hung open at the speed he was moving.
When I was pulled out of my shock, though, I realized I should probably get in there and help him defeat this guy, and jumped forward, only to have Adrion push me back.
I stumbled backwards, then growled lowly, and rushed forwards again.
I let out an 'Oof!' as I hit the ground again, and stood up.
"Adrion, what the hell was that for?" I yelled to him angrily, as I watched him try to defeat the monster by himself.
"I don't want you to get hurt!" He called back, and I could clearly tell he was running out of breath.
"Don't worry about it, I can help you!" I called back to him, and jumped into the fight again, kicking, punching, slicing, stabbing, and blocking the monster when I could….which wasn't all the time.
Suddenly, the monster hit Adrion hard on the shoulder, spinning him up into the air, and crashing back onto the ground.
I growled at the beast.
I am SO kicking his ass for that….
I leapt back as I faced the monster, and suddenly remembered what I had done in the Underworld.
Maybe I can combine this…..
I charged magic into my arm, and some more into one of my daggers, and flung it towards the beast.
A blur of gray whizzed through the air, hitting the monster directly in the chest, and creating a huge explosion. The monster was flung over the hill from the force of the blast, and another explosion resounded throughout the side of the mountain.
I summoned away my daggers immediately, and walked over to Adrion.
"Hey," I said breathlessly, as I kneeled next to him, "You okay?"
He struggled to get up and didn't respond, so I moved around behind him to help prop him up.
"C'mon Adrion, answer me," I said to him as I finally succeeded in propping him up against my body.
Adrion's head rolled back and landed on my shoulder, but he nodded anyways, taking deep breaths.
I let out a sigh.
"Good," I responded to him, "Take a breather, you fought hard,"
He just nodded again, and kept his eyes closed. I took deep breaths also, but not as hard as Adrion's, realizing now how much harder it was to fight with physical power than magic.
I still didn't know that magic could take that much out of me. I gotta be more careful…
I looked over to Vida and Xander, and smiled slightly as I saw Vida taking care of Xander, too.
They're such good team mates to each other…
"Hey!" Nick's voice rang out across the mountain side, as he, Madi, and Chip all came shuffling up towards us, "We heard an explosion, is everyone ok?"
I nodded, and Adrion nodded slightly also, while Vida helped Xander up.
"Never better," Vida responded, and I rolled my eyes.
That's because you didn't do anything. It was all Adrion, and some of me…..
Chip ran over to where Adrion was resting, and I was struggling to keep him propped up, and smiled at us.
"Are you two, like, together or something?" Chip asked with a devious smile on his face, and I rolled my eyes at him, too tired to retort.
"Not the time, Chip!" I heard Madi call, "You can ask about their love life later, but for now, we gotta get the Secret to the fire heart out of here,"
Chip nodded, and ran to help with the chest, while I shook Adrion slightly.
"Adrion, c'mon, you gotta get up," I said to him, and he didn't move.
"Adrion," I whined, "C'mon! You're squishing me!"
I could've sworn I saw the boy smile as I began to slip on the incline we were on, and from the force of Adrion's body on my own.
I let out a yelp as we rolled down the mountain, only to stop a few feet later where the mountain evened out.
I glared at my best friend, but couldn't help but break out into a smile when I saw him smiling goofily at me.
"Jerk," I mumbled as I stood up, "You faked it!"
Adrion stood up also, and brushed his clothes off.
"I didn't fake it completely," he offered, and I just rolled my eyes at him, my smile still intact on my face.
"Whatever, come on," I said, and began to walk to where the rangers were hauling the chest down.