"Wow," Lukas breathed as they rode over a large... well, ocean of lava, passing several lava falls. It was beautiful, in a really, really dangerous way.
"Yeah," Olivia agreed, looking around, "that's a lot of lava. And fire. And other things that could burn you to death."
Suddenly, Reuben let out a terrified squeal and crouched into his minecart.
Jesse paled. "Oh gosh," she said, quietly.
Ahead of them was a very long, very steep drop.
"Oh, that's a drop," Lukas said, eyes widening, ears flattening against his head, "that is very, very much a drop."
"What are you talking about, new guy?" Axel asked. "What droooH crap! You weren't kidding."
Reuben oinked in agreement.
"Get ready!" Jesse yelled, tightening her hands on the brim of the cart, before the drop took ahold, and her hair flew out behind her like a flag in the wind, eyes wide and mouth open in an almost perfect 'o' as her red eye and green eye took in the landscape.
They reached the bottom and barreled forward, still going at a high speed. Rocketing into a tunnel, a low wall was blocking space for their heads.
"Oh no," Jesse groaned, "who puts this stuff in?!"
They all ducked down with a yelp or a yell, but when they came back up, and Jesse glanced over her shoulder at her friends-
"Watch out!" Olivia shrieked, and Jesse ducked her head just in time.
They rocketed back out of the tunnel and were rushing over the ocean of lava again. They were headed straight for a lava fall. "Okay," Axel squeaked, "so, I'm not the only one who sees that we're running out of track, right?"
"No," Lukas responded.
"Good!"
Jesse leaned out as far as she could when she spotted a lever. "Ohh boy..."
"Jesse!" Olivia shouted, "that switch! Now! Flip it!"
Jesse bit her lip and then leaned out as far as she could, her fingers missing it-
Her other arm flailed out and smacked the switch over, flicking it to the other side and making the minecarts screech to a sudden stop, making all the passengers jolt violently.
Jesse giggled nervously. "Haha, wow! I thought we were going to die there, but, I guess everything's WOAH!" The last part was from the carts starting to move again, but splitting up and taking unexpected turns, everyone yelling.
Jesse found herself alone with an empty cart. For some reason, the one in the back had kept going along her track even though the others split up. She had no clue why whatsoever.
"Um... Axel?" she called into the eerie quietness, "Olivia? Lukas? Reuben? Hello?"
A loud squealing cut through the air, and Jesse twisted to see Reuben squealing in fear as a skeleton towered over him in his cart.
"What in- okay," and Jesse stood up as her cart switched so that she was right alongside Reuben, with her empty cart trailing behind her. "Hang in there, Reuben!" And she whipped out her gold sword, firelight glinting off the blade, before she smacked the sword straight into the skeleton, which turned to her, bow at full draw-
She sliced through the string, releasing the tension, and then slammed it back out of the cart and into the lava below. "Reuben!" she said, relieved, and Reuben let out a happy oink and hopped into Jesse's empty cart.
Well, now it wasn't empty, since it was full of small pink pig, but she was glad it was full.
"Okay, so, I know I said- well, was trying to say- that everything would be okay? Well, I was wrong then, but I have a good feeling about oh ships of the ocean," she groaned as a ghast soared over her head, turning around to face the two of them with two more backing it up.
She groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "God dammit!" she cried out in frustration.
The middle ghast shot a fireball, and Jesse ducked down, squeezing her eyes shut, one hand bracing herself on the minecart and the one holding the sword instinctively blocking. She felt a rebounding feeling on her sword, and opened her eyes just in time to see the fireball hitting the ghast, injuring it.
She looked at her sword, eyes hardening. "Right!" And she straightened up, swinging with her sword and rebounding to hit the ghast again, which killed it and sent it plummeting into the lava below.
As she kept smacking away fireballs, the thought occurred to her that this was like a game of baseball. A very, very deadly game of baseball.
At one point, she nearly fumbled the sword and dropped it from the force of one of the fireballs, but one of her lower arms caught it and passed it back up to Jesse. For once, she was actually really happy about this development.
The other two ghasts fell into the lava below, and Jesse let out a relieved gasp. "Whew- okay- not dead. That's pretty good," and she looked over at her pig, who'd popped back out from where he'd been crouching. "Well, ghasts are officially off my to-see list. Done with 'em. Never need to see them again ahhh crap."
The last two words came from her catching sight of a nearby ghast through a hole in the wall, as they turned the corner to see that ghast hovering near the track, which went up and up... and then ran out entirely.
The ghast shot another fireball, and Reuben let out a terrified squeal and leaped out of the minecart just in time, landing in Jesse's lap as the fireball made contact and sent the cart into the lava. "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad," Jesse repeated over and over, as if it were some bizarre mantra that would save her life, going up the track that would probably send them straight to their doom. All six of her hands tightened on the minecart.
Jesse screamed as the cart vaulted off the tracks, soaring into the open air, right past the ghast- so close that Jesse could probably have touched it if she'd cared to, Reuben squealing in fear as they flew right past the ghast.
And then the cart started obeying the laws of gravity again, and they slammed down onto a set of tracks and abruptly connected to a minecart right in front of them.
Axel, Olivia, and Lukas twisted around to see her.
Jesse was panting in fear, eyes still wide and all six arms clutching the rim of the minecart so tightly that her knuckles her white. "Is... is everyone okay?" she finally panted out.
A short silence. "I mean, I'm not dead," Axel said, turning back to face the front, face pale. "I guess that's pretty good."
"Ditto," Olivia conceded, "ditto on the not dead."
"I can't believe Petra comes down here all the time," Lukas said, his ears flattened against his head, "this place is awful."
After a few seconds, Lukas joked weakly, "your throat's gonna be sore later, Axel."
"Why?"
"I'm just saying, wasn't that you doing all that screaming before? Sounded like you were really shredding your larynx."
"Oh yeah," and Olivia twisted to face the blonde, "I heard that too. Really high-pitched? Sounded kind of like a squeaky piston?"
"What?" Axel asked, "No. Shut up."
"Never mind," Lukas was smiling a little bit, "must've been something else."
"You know those experiences people talk about and reminisce on for the rest of their lives?" Jesse asked.
Everyone twisted to face her again, a confused look on their faces. They nodded slowly.
Jesse's face went deadpan. "This is not one of those. Let's never speak of this again."
"I think I'd be good with that," Olivia agreed.
The minecarts rattled on.
A/N: Huh. Another good stopping point!
Holy crap, another chapter in less than an hour. And an action packed one, too! How?
Toni42: Thanks! But holy crap, I'm doing this. I'm actually doing this somehow! I haven't updated so fast in forever!
Kaos Ruin: Happy birthday!
x.X. A.L. X.x
