The Elusive Treasure
Chapter Three
Yet Another Clue
Meanwhile, at the beach...
"No way! You mean Lars beat us here!?!" Otto demanded as the group climbed out of the hole. "How did he even know about the treasure!?!"
"I have no clue, bro!" Twister replied, just as baffled. "I was sleeping over at your place last night, so he couldn't have gotten to me!"
"Well, I know Lars didn't try anything with me." Reggie said. "I didn't even see him."
"Then how could he have known about the treasure?" Otto asked.
The trio tried to think of something. A few moments passed before a question arose.
"Hey, who had the map last, anyway?" The shorter redhead asked.
"I didn't." Twister answered. The best bros looked at Reggie, who glowered at them.
"Don't look at me! I didn't have the map!"
"Then who did, Reg?!" Otto shouted.
They blinked before turning to Sam, who was dusting himself off.
"Squid!" they all said. The blond looked up with a confused expression. It was clear that he wasn't paying attention to the others.
"Yes?" He shrank back when he noticed the intense glares the two Rockets and Twister were sending him. He sweatdropped and gulped.
"What happened to the map?" Otto started as nicely as possible. Sam gulped again.
The blond stuttered to think. He knew that if he said the wrong thing, he would be in very big trouble. But there was nothing he could say, except the truth, and it was apparent that both redheads and the girl did not want to hear the truth. Gulping one last time, the blond took in a sharp breath.
"Alright! I confess!" He cried, getting on his knees. "Last night, I was doing some research on the treasure and somehow, Lars must've overheard me doing my calculations. When I woke up this morning, I noticed that the map was missing! Panicking, I ran down to the beach with my equipment! But as it seems, we were too late... He must've dug here last night, found the treasure or whatever was inside, and reburied it so that he could trick us! I'm sorry! I had no clue!"
"Squid..." Otto advanced on him with his hands poised to strangle him. "I'm gonna..."
"Chill, Otto!" Reggie yelled, stepping in-between them. "It was an honest mistake!"
"Well, his mistake cost us the treasure!" Otto shouted.
"Yeah!" Twister supplied.
"Look! There's nothing we can do about it!" Reggie shouted, trying to maintain order. "Let's just go to the Shack and try to think about what to do."
Otto and Twister sent one final glare at Sam before sighing. They nodded in agreement and started walking towards the Shack. Reggie helped Sam up and they followed the other half of the group. They soon entered the establishment and walked up to the counter.
"Well, there are the little treasure hunters!" Tito exclaimed. Ray and Rod turned to the dirty crew. "So how'd it go?"
Otto and Twister sent the brunet a glare as they, Reggie, and Sam sat in the remaining stools.
"How did it go!?" The auburn haired skater roared. "We came out empty handed!"
"Uhhh... Otto..." Twister said as he noticed Rod. "You might wanna..."
"I mean, we wasted our time!" Otto continued, ignoring his best bro. "We spent ALL day digging..."
"Ottoman..." Sam tried. Again, Otto ignored him.
"And then we find the stinkin' treasure chest!"
"Otto!" Reggie shouted. She was...you know.
"And then all we find is this stupid note!" He waved Lars' letter. "That says Lars already beat us to the treasure!"
"Actually, he didn't." Otto's head snapped towards Rod, who had spoke up.
"H-He didn't?" He asked with wide eyes. He looked at Twister and the others, who gave him a look that just screamed "We tried to tell ya!"
"Nope." Rod answered, ignoring the looks group gave Otto. "I overheard Lars and his group talking on the way over here. They were heading to the forest."
"The forest!?!" The quartet shouted. Rod answered with another nod.
"We gotta get moving!" Otto yelled, leaping out of his seat. "Thanks a lot, Rod!" He added before dashing out. The others got off their seat and started running in place.
"Yeah! Thanks!" Twister said before running after Otto.
"We totally owe ya one!" Reggie added before following.
"See ya later!" Sam shouted, getting ready to leave.
"Hey wait!" Rod said, making the blond stop and turn to him. "I want to come to. I just gotta see this treasure!"
Sam held a hand to his chin before nodding.
"Why not? It's probably a wild goose chase, but if Lars is going after it, one more person on our side couldn't hurt. C'mon."
The boy grinned as he got off his seat. "Great!" He then turned to Ray and Tito. "Heh, guess I won't be needing that hula burger just yet, after all."
"No prob, little cuz." Tito said. "Have fun!"
"And be careful!" Ray added. The two boys nodded before leaving to catch up to everybody.
Meanwhile, near the exit to the pier...
Two boys were rolling along the pier. Judging by their attire, they were heading towards Mad Town. The taller of the two was wearing a violet helmet that had plastic bat wings on the sides, as well as pads and a pair of roller blades. The shorter of the two was riding a skateboard. He was wearing a green helmet that had a green turtle's shell pictured on it, as well as pads. They both seemed to be in a heated conversation.
"I'm telling ya, the last one is on the moon!" The taller one said.
"You're lying! How would he get there!?" The shorter one argued.
"Look," The taller boy said, glaring at his companion. "I went down to the blasted door, held up the stinkin' map, watched those special effects for the seventh time, and saw the thing appear on the moon. It's there!"
"Yeah right! You're trying to tell me you went to the Thousand-year Door, held up the map, saw those effects, and the last crystal star appeared where the MOON was?! I don't buy it."
"Iggy, Iggy, Iggy!" The taller one started, losing his patience. "You want me to go home and show you?! If I say the last one's there, then it's there!"
"Izzy, it can't be there! How would Mario survive!?"
"You think I'd know!? It's a game! The plumber's made of paper! What would be so unrealistic about it?!"
Iggy stopped and glared at him.
"There's a limit on even video games, bro!"
"Look, little bro," Izzy started, emphasizing little. "You're really starting--"
"Hey! What's that?" Iggy pointed ahead of them.
"Huh?" Izzy looked at where he was pointing and felt his eyes go wide.
A massive dust cloud was heading towards them and fast! They didn't even have enough time to get out of the way. The siblings were knocked over by the force of whatever caused the cloud. Izzy screamed as he was spun around on his skates. Iggy stumbled around dizzily and stepped on his board causing it to smack his older brother right in the face. They both collapsed on the ground and groaned.
"Hey!" Reggie shouted, grabbing both Twister and Otto by the backs of their shirts. "We gotta go back there!"
"But the treasure!" Otto whined, struggling against her sister's strong grip.
"NOW!!!" she roared. The two went blue in the face and let her drag them back to the brothers.
"Somebody get the number of that truck?" Izzy said. His and Iggy's eyes were two swirls.
"Truck? I thought it was a stampede!" Iggy said as the group walked up to them.
"Are you guys alright?" Rod asked as Otto and Twister helped them up.
"Ugh..." Izzy groaned as his eyes returned to normal. "I've been better..." When he noticed the group, he immediately glared at them. "Hey! What's the big idea running us over like that!?"
"Yeah!" Iggy supplied. "When was it against the law to skate!?"
"Sorry about that." Reggie apologized, rubbing the back of her head. "We were just in a hurry."
"Reg, they're fine! Can we go!?" Otto shouted, running in place.
"What are you guys in such a hurry for?" Izzy asked, sneering at the group, particularly at a certain blond.
"We're hunting for treasure!" Twister shouted. "We gotta beat Lars to the forest!"
"TWISTER!!!" Everybody but the brothers and Rod roared. The trio blinked at them.
"Sorry. It WAS supposed to be a secret!" Reggie said, glaring at Twister, who chuckled nervously.
"Treasure?" Iggy said. The brothers turned to each other.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" They both fell to the ground as they pointed and laughed at them.
"Hey! What's so funny!?" Sam shouted at his rival. Izzy was the first to stop laughing as he stood up.
"Treasure? Please!" He scoffed, crossing his arms. "Don't tell me you believe in the tooth fairy too!"
"Believe what you want! All I know is that we gotta beat Lars there, and NOW!" Otto yelled, running off.
"Wait up!" Twister shouted, dashing after him.
"Otto..." Reggie growled. "Wait for us!" She shouted as she, Sam, and Rod ran after them.
'Hmmmm… A treasure?' Izzy thought, stroking his chin. 'This could be interesting…' He turned to his brother, who was still laughing and sweatdropped.
"Hey! Get up already!" He yelled, kicking his brother.
"Yeow!" Iggy yelped as he got up. "What was that for?!" He glared at Izzy, who only smirked in response.
"We're going on a treasure hunt."
"Huh? But I thought it wasn't real!"
"It's gotta be real if everybody's going after it! And we're gonna get it first!" Izzy replied, rubbing his hands greedily. "Just imagine all the games we could get with all that gold."
"But they're ahead of us." Iggy said. "How are we gonna catch up?"
"Simple. We won't."
"Wha?" Iggy raised an eyebrow. Izzy gave him another devilish smirk.
"We'll follow them, and then when they reach the treasure, we'll grab it right under their noses!" He chuckled evilly.
"Cool!" The younger brother shouted eagerly.
"Let's move!" Izzy yelled, skating out of the pier. His brother followed on his board.
And with that, the hunt was on.