Author's Note: Chapter 13 and I still don't know where I'm going with this. It's not getting any bloody easier. Oh well, I'll be introducing Stef soon, once they get into the caverns. What is she doing down there, you ask? That's for me to know and you to read in a later chapter. Grover and his top-hat friend are coming back soon, we need bad guys. But here you are, enjoy.

"How much further, Data?" Mouth called.

It was about an hour after Mikey had his outburst, and I was still wondering how he could possibly know what he was talking about. I had contemplated what he said. I loved Meghan in her own way? I thought loving her would betray my mom? Maybe. I was just confused right now and would rather not think about it anymore, because if I tried I got all dithery and didn't know what to do with myself.

Data stopped walking and unfurled the map. "Not so much further, guys, I think. Just look out in the water for a claw shaped rock. Apparently it comes out of the water pointy, then hooks at the top."

I smiled at his wording. Not the terminology I would have chosen, but it got his point across well, so everyone just seemed to nod and keep going.

"I see it!" Chunk called, grabbing everyone's attention, and, to continue the metaphor, didn't let go. I say that because he didn't point anything out, or tell us what he saw, he just stood looking out at the ocean.

We turned to face the horizon and were immediately struck by the glare of the sun. I moaned a little and covered my eyes, but I could still see the imprint of the sun. You know, when you stare at a bright light and then you see a spot that seems to float around in the air. It changes color when you blink...when I was little I used to call them "sky plants" because someone told me that they were imprinted into your cornea for a minute or so. I thought they said "implanted" hence "sky plants."

What was I talking about before I rudely interrupted myself? Oh yes.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, I could see the slightly hooked, claw-shaped rock on the horizon.

"We're getting closer!" Data shouted.

-About 20 minutes later-

"I think this is where we're supposed to look..." Data said slowly, alternating glances between his surroundings and the map, which he held at arms' length.

"How do you know?" Brand asked doubtfully.

"Because I just know!" Data told him sharply. "Because I counted out 1,000 paces from where we were perfectly perpendicular to the claw rock!"

"There's nothing here!" Mouth yelled. "I don't want to have to kick your Double-O-Negative ass all the way to Portland!"

"Just ignore him," Andy consoled.

But she didn't know what it was like, now did she? She was a freaking cheerleader. A pretty, slender cheerleader whom everyone loved. She didn't know what it was like to be made fun of, or publicly disliked, or...well...now I'm exaggerating. But anyway, this is where the stereotypical character would say, "I know how you feel." God, I hate it when people say that. It's not true, it never is. Nobody can replicate the kind of hatred or love or devastation one is feeling at the moment.

Oh lord, I am thinking about emotions. I must have a fever or something.

Anyway, Data did not feel like ignoring Mouth, as that is the worst advice you can give to someone. Instead, however, he threw his backpack at the ground and lunged at Mouth, tackling him to the ground and elbowed him in the stomach. Then he rolled the surprised Mouth over on his stomach and delivered blows in sequence to his back, following the natural line of his vertebrae. There was not a lot of power behind them, but I could tell by Mouth's frantic yells of protest that he was not using the flat of his fist, but rather his knuckles.

For the first few seconds everyone simply stood rooted in their respective spots, unable to move, struck by Data's sudden turn to violence. Finally Brand was able to lift his feet out of the metaphorical cement and pulled the tiny Asian kid off of a mussed Mouth, who was clearly as shocked as the rest of us.

I guess you could only handle being called Double-O-Negative so many times.

"Stop struggling!" Brand yelled. He was holding onto Data, who was wriggling to get free. It reminded me of something I had seen at school, in the cafeteria once. There were these two guys fighting, and the lunch ladies had to abandon their posts and fetch a couple of administrators. The administrators were able to pull the guys apart, but they both kept struggling to get at one another. When that spectacle was over, the lunch ladies threw a fit because, in their absence, people were able to sneak up to the "buffet" and steal the food.

"I won't let go until he says..." Data gasped for a breath of air. "Until he says I'm James Bond...(breath)...007!"

"Double-O-Negative," Mouth said weakly. He hadn't stood up yet, he just lay there in a crumpled, defeated form. He had laid back over on his back and instinctively shielded his face somewhat with his hands.

"I...am...separating you two!" Brand yelled. "Luna! You and Mouth go over there!" He pointed to a cluster of thin, scraggly trees up the coast a ways.

I nodded and turned to Mouth, saying, "Can you get up?"

"Yeah." He fought to stand and almost immediately began to sway dangerously. I caught him before he fell. "Good god. I must have twisted my ankle when he knocked me down."

He put his arm around my shoulder and I supported him. We walked (slowly, mind you, it was kind of like a three-legged race) towards the trees.

"Mouth," I said tragically. "You got your ass kicked by a skinny little twit in an all-engulfing trench coat."

I looked at him and he grinned. "I never knew he'd get that angry."

"Me neither," came Mikey's voice, and he supported Mouth from the other side. I was thankful. Mouth was skinny, but heavy. He didn't seem to be making much effort to walk.

We reached the cluster of trees at last, and after settling Mouth down on the ground, he rolled up his pants leg. "Look at it, doc."

I threw up my hands and giggled. "I have no idea what I'm doing. I might do more damage than harm."

"Help," said Mikey.

"What?"

"You might do more damage than help," he repeated.

"That's what I said."

And then the yelling started.

I looked back, and a couple of hundred feet away, back where we had left the rest of the Goonies, we could see a small figure in a trench coat speeding towards us, the rest of the gang screaming and trailing behind.

"Oh my God, not again..." Mikey mumbled, and hoisted Mouth up. "Dammit, Mouth, couldn't you have just told him he was James Bond?"

Mouth shook his head.

We hobbled past the trees and into a ditch-like indentation where I tripped and fell. Which, of course, caused Mouth and Mikey to fall also. I cursed my clumsiness. Dammit, dammit. I had probably hurt everyone which would really suck.

I ignored my pain and saved Mouth from the rabid Data.

Haha.

More like I attempted to stand up but was thrown down again by Data, who once again flung himself over Mouth. In my attempt to upright myself I had formed a sort of bridge over Mouth, and so Data's plan really didn't work all that well. He succeeded in knocking me down, but it did give Mouth a chance to roll out of the way.

It took Data a moment to realize that he was not on top of Mouth, but rather on top of me, and had delivered a rather sharp blow to the space between my collarbone and left breast. Stars burst in front of my eyes for a moment and then I felt myself falling, falling.

God, it couldn't have done so much damage that it knocked me out! I was a bit scared, hoping he didn't accidentally break something, or damage a nerve.

But no, I had really been falling. Because I hit the hard ground. I even bounced a bit, which was quite painful, to say the least.

I love how in stories people always say, "So-and-so ignored their pain and kept going." I've always wondered how people can do that. Maybe I'm just sensitive, but pain is all-engulfing. Take The Shining, for example. At the end, Wendy continues to run and fight after her spine and ribs and who knows what else has been broken. Sure, she's propelled by the fact that she's trying to rescue her kid from an angry spirit, but I still don't see how she's able to run and help Hallorann and not pass out.

Anyway, point made, I am not one to ignore my pain. Rather I laid on the flat, hard ground with my eyes squeezed shut. I didn't feel like moving, it felt like I might shatter if I did so much as lift my hand. I did realize, though, that I was in a bizarre spread-eagled position. That would mean I didn't fall as far as I thought I did.

I could hear the others standing up around me after the first few seconds. "Um, Loony, are you...ok?"

I forced my eyes open and could see the sky. But I was lying in some underground chamber about fifteen feet from the surface. I could see the hole in the ground through which I fell. It was about ten or so feet wide. My first thought was that I was dead and had woken up just as I was being lowered into my grave.

No, that was stupid.

I used a stalagmite to pull myself into a standing position. I didn't hear anything break, and no particular limb was hit with a sudden blast of pain, so I was ok.

Wait. Stalagmite?

"We're in a cavern..." I said dreamily.

"No, duh!" came Chunk's voice. I turned around and saw a semi-narrow passage leading in the direction of the trees and away from the coast. It was just big enough for me to stand up straight in, but Brand, Andy, and Mouth would have to duck. That's sad. I'm shorter than a 12? 13? Year-old.

Mouth! Was he ok?

I glanced around. Mouth and Data were both standing, but refusing to look at one another. Oh well, at least they weren't killing each other.

"It's a sinkhole," I said, fascinated. "I've read about these...some people build a foundation on them, and they collapse, and..." I stopped short, staring down the dark passage.

"So our combined weight made it collapse, then," Brand said.

"I guess," I said. The ground must have been fairly weak for us to have broken through to such a distance. There was little debris on the floor of the cavern from the ground above. The thin layer of grass and dirt had cushioned our fall.

"Well, maybe I was a little off..." Data said, without a touch of guilt or any reference to what he had just done. I wondered if anyone was going to do anything about him. Or if anyone else even remembered, because as soon as Data said that, everyone's faces lit up with realization.

This was the passage to Daniel Bradford. It had to be.

"Let's go!" Mikey said excitedly. He pulled out a lantern from his backpack, and lit it. He took my wrist and started down the passageway.