Chapter 6 – Rage Mountain

I remember falling asleep a little later. The heat of the sun reflecting on the sand must have made me very drowsy. I woke up when I heard Klim's voice yelling.

"YAHHHH! Kit Kat's ghost!" he cried.

I brushed my sleepiness away and jumped to my feet. Kit Kat was standing there looking annoyed at Klim. Kit Kat walked over to him and smacked Klim in the side of the head.

"Moron! I'm still alive. Cat's have nine lives. If I was really dead you'd have nine ghosts haunting you right now." He said.

I saw Klim calm down and I relaxed slightly too. Kit Kat spent the next few minutes or so explaining what had happened to him. Finally Klim spoke.

"So you're saying that there are 3 other versions of you running around here?" he said.

"Not in this world. In other worlds. I'll have to deal with them in my own time." Replied Kit Kat.

"When this is all over eh? Well be careful." Said Klim.

"Thanks." Replied Kit Kat.

I was still finding it hard to take in.

"We should hurry then." Said Klim, "We have to get out of here and stop others from getting trapped."

"Right let's go then." Said Kit Kat.

I pulled myself off the ground and started to follow them. I was still lost in thought but I still remembered to check the map I had. The others seemed to start flagging after a while. The sand dunes just kept on going. I was surprised again that I didn't feel tired, it was really starting to freak me out. Just then the desert started to thin out. Grass sprung up through the sand. We were at the edge of the desert now, not far to go I thought. We came to the crest of another dune and there it stood. A giant cone shaped mountain.

"Rage Mountain?" asked Klim.

I nodded at him.

"Where is the next Emerald after this?" said Kit Kat, "Curiosity you know."

Curiosity killed the cat I thought to myself as I answered him.

"Just to the east on a small island." I said looking up from the map.

"How are we supposed to get to an ISLAND!" cried Kit Kat.

He obviously didn't like water.

"Haven't you got a raft in one of those pockets…..or maybe we could use those mattresses?" smirked Klim.

"Enough all ready. Let's deal with this Emerald first. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I said.

Swish! I thought to myself. When I came up with jokes they really were good ones. Klim looked at me funny for a moment.

"Ok then." He said.

We struck out and soon reached the mountain. I raised an eyebrow as we reached it. A small dirt track led up the side of the mountain. Klim set out towards it.

"Well how convenient." He said.

"Wait!" I said.

Klim turned and looked at me.

"What?" he said.

"Doesn't this seem a little too convenient? Why would there be a path here?" I said kneeling down.

I looked hard at the ground.

"It looks like something cut through here." I said.

"Like what?" said Klim, "We're in the middle of nowhere. What could possible be here?"

Klim set off up the path. I glanced over at Kit Kat who appeared to be thinking the same as me and then followed Klim up the path. We made quick progress and soon we were about halfway up. Klim was starting to look scared. Was he afraid of heights? I knew I was but I didn't look down. Soon the path got very narrow and we had to go single file. I walked in the middle between Klim and Kit Kat. Just then something caught my ear. I had the biggest ears in the group being a fox and could hear virtually everything.

"Hey, do you hear something?" I asked.

Klim and Kit Kat stopped to listen. There was a faint rumbling sound in the distance. It started to get louder. I didn't like it. Suddenly a large perfectly spherical boulder came into view as it careered down the path towards us. My face fell. Klim jumped off the edge and grabbed onto the edge of the cliff. I saw Kit Kat take out his yo-yo and lasso a rock before jumping off also. I suddenly had a though. Gathering all my strength I leaped over the edge and spun my tails. I suddenly remembered what had happened last time I had done this back in the desert. I had fallen down that shaft. The pain that had hit me last time happened again. It was almost like someone was pulling my tails out one by one, hair by hair. I almost screamed but managed to hold it in. I fell a few feet with no effect. This is it I thought. I'm going to die. I closed my eyes but then felt myself going up. I slowly opened my eyes. I was hovering, I was actually hovering. The whole thing had taken less than two seconds. The rock flew past and I hovered back onto the path. My tails stung like crazy but that was a secondary problem. Klim was helping Kit Kat back onto the path.

"That was close." Said Kit Kat turning to Klim, "Thanks Klim."

"No problem. Let's just get to the top before another rock comes down." Replied Klim.

We all nodded and ran up the path. It was getting steeper but we had a reason to hurry now. We reached the top very quickly. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"I wasn't expecting this. What we going to do now?" I asked.

"This is going to be tougher than we thought." Said Klim looking over at me.

I looked back at the hole. Yes hole. We were standing on a ridge. The mountain fell away on both sides of us. In front of us it fell into a large bowl filled with lava. Rage Mountain was actually a volcano! I cured myself for not making the connection with the name.

"Hey look there a path!" yelled Kit Kat suddenly.

I looked at where he was pointing. A small path wound its way down into the volcano. The end of it couldn't be seen because of the heat haze and smoke from the volcano.

"The Emerald better be down there." Said Klim.

"It is….I can sense it." I replied.

"I dunno…." Said Klim.

"Let's go!" I yelled and leaped over the threshold and into the basin.

I could hear Klim and Kit Kat scrambling down after me. The path wound down and then levelled out next to the basin. The lava was no more than five feet away. It was hotter than a blast furnace down here. I wafted my tails behind me to try and fan myself cool. Just then I saw it.

"LOOK! Over there!" I yelled.

A small stone structure like the one in the jungle and desert stood in front of us. The shrine.

"That's it!" shouted Klim running forwards, "Let's get the Emerald and scram."

Klim neared the shrine but before he reached it he was flung backwards by an invisible force.

"FOOLS!" boomed a loud voice.

Suddenly a huge red creature appeared in front of Klim. It held a large fork and had horns. It was a…..

"A….DEVIL?!" cried Klim.

The creature stabbed forwards at the ground bound Klim. He was quick and in a flash his spear was out and blocking the attack. He twisted his spear and thrust upwards at the creature's torso. The creature dodged the attack and jumped forwards at Klim. I quickly drew my sword and jumped into the fight. Klim dodged to the side and I used the distraction to strike a blow to the creature's leg. It roared and swung round at me. I lost my balance and fell over. The attack came in. I closed my eyes…this was DEFINETLY it! There was a clang and I opened my eyes. Klim had managed to block the attack for me. I leaped up and looked at him.

"Thanks!" I shouted.

"No time for chat. Let's finish this!" he yelled back at me.

It was then that a yo-yo flew over my head. I looked over at Kit Kat….had that been an attack?

"Why won't it work?!" yelled Kit Kat.

Just then I saw a yellow spark crackle across Klim's quills. There was another crackle and Klim drove his spear into the ground. I shook my head as the end came up under the creature scoring a powerful hit. It roared again.

"YOU……YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" it roared and disappeared.

"All right!" cried Klim as he raced towards the shrine. I looked over at Kit Kat. He was standing close to the edge of the lava. Too close…….FAR TOO CLOSE! The whole mountain suddenly shook causing Kit Kat to lose his footing. He was going to fall!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I cried and leaped at him.

I caught hold of his arm and pulled backwards. Kit Kat wobbled and fell backwards onto the ground. I lost my footing and fell on top of him, almost falling in myself. We picked ourselves up and Kit Kat shot me a thank you expression. Just then Klim came running out of the shrine holding a red coloured Emerald. We all turned and ran up the path.

"What was that?!" shouted Kit Kat.

We all glanced over our shoulders to see that the lava was rising in the basin.

"It's going to blow!" screamed Klim.

I ran between them both and held out my arms.

"…….grab on!" I said quickly.

Klim gave me a horrified expression.

"You……you can't be serious!" he said.

"Do you have a better idea?!" I yelled at him.

That must have done it. Klim grabbed my arm. I reached over and grabbed Kit Kat. I increased my running pace and spun my tails. The pain quickly returned. I angled my tails upwards and spun them quicker. Suddenly the pain ebbed away. It started to feel natural. My feet left the ground and very soon so did Klim's and Kit Kat's as their full weight dropped on me.

"WOAH! You….you're actually doing it Lynx!" cried Klim, "Keep it up!"

I didn't need to be told that. I cleared the rim of the volcano and the land fell away under us. I aimed for a small hill a few miles from the volcano and landed as gently as I could. I collapsed to the ground exhausted and turned my head. The volcano was exploding. Jets of red lava shot out of the basin we had been in only moments before. We all watched as if flowed down the west side of the mountain towards the sea. It was then that I noticed a small island just off the coast. It was the one holding the next Emerald. The lava hit the sea and cooled. It hardened to form a large bridge like structure between the land and the island. Cross that bridge when we come to it eh? My joke was actually happening!

"Must be fate." Said Klim with a laugh.

"Yeah I guess." I replied with a few gasps.

"Hey what's the matter Kit Kat?" said Klim.

I looked over at Kit Kat. He was looking totally down.

"I….I couldn't do anything to help you guys with that demon thing. I tried but……I couldn't!" he said.

"Hey don't worry about it." I said getting up, "It's not your fault. Just wait until your back to normal, you'll be ok."

"Thanks." Said Kit Kat with a smile but he still looked slightly down.

"Here take this." Said Klim handing Kit Kat the red Emerald.

Kit Kat looked at it for a few seconds.

"What do I do with it?" he asked.

"Just hold onto it that all. When the time comes you should be able to find its power like we have. THEN you will be able to do the damage." I said to him with a huge smile.

Kit Kat beamed back at me. His spirits had obviously been given a boost by my words.

"Thanks you guys. I owe you one." He said.

"No problem." Said Klim, "Let's just get that next Emerald."

We all turned and headed towards the coast.