Chapter 13

-Cave's Combustion

Markus took the lead of the entire group as his wife aimed their three-sided flashlight. The cave's walls illuminated a bright array of colors. The team swooned at the awesome sight, but Vex's attention was elsewhere. Her mind stayed on the alert, none too impressed with the colorful display. It was beautiful, but it was not something she needed to stare longer than three seconds to acknowledge that. Vibrations raddled up her feet, picking up on everyone's heartbeats. Except for Sterling, who instead emitted a static electric pulse. Which was like a heartbeat, just his CPU, so Vex counted that.

As an esteemed hunter, she had a variety of ways to keep track of people. Usually, each person gave a unique pattern of vibrations in the ground her finely-tuned nerves could pick up on. Even a robot couldn't escape this tactic. So far, she could count eight people, minus herself. The monkey team and their… eccentric flashlight totting guides. Nothing out of the ordinary, she kept her senses sharp.

Otto ran ahead of the group, trying to get a closer look at the rainbow manifesting off the lights' hitting the rocks' surface.

"This is so beautiful… it's like an endless crystal cavern!"

Antauri sighed, remembering the once beautiful planet that housed his order.

"Yes, a proper equivalent to a once beautiful place." His blue orbs studied the dancing colors. It looked like many silhouettes dancing around orbs of fire. Sort of like a tribal dance. "A bittersweet sight indeed."

Chiro placed a comforting hand to Antauris' shoulder. Understanding what his father figure was referring to.

"Don't worry Antauri, all bad things are made right in time."

The silver monkey paused, still surprised to hear such wise words from the young man who he still saw as a little boy. His son, growing from up from the rambunctious fourteen-year-old to a brave man in his mid-20s.

"Never have truer words been uttered," He grasped Chiro's hand, ensuring the orange glove stayed on his shoulder. It brought deep comfort to his sometimes-troubled soul. "Thank you for always being around to remind me of that."

Giving the silver monkey's hand a quick 'I love you,' squeeze, he turned his eyes back to check on the rest of the team. Keeping his hand firmly in Antauri's, he did a fast headcount. Everyone was accounted for, but he had a hard time seeing Vex. The dark monkey's black formless fur and matching cybernetic parts did well in veiling her in the shadows. He could barely see her, except for the glow of her eyes.

"Vex," Chiro gently called out, keeping hold of Antauri's hand. "Would it be okay if you walked a little closer? Just so I can keep an eye on everyone."

Vex sighed and sped up till she was within the range of their flashlights but kept a respectable distance. This seemed to satisfy the group leader as he nodded and shifted his gaze back to the front. Chiro cleared his throat to get their tour guides' attention.

"So, you mentioned that this place has a catacomb? And… a bunch of… living dead things?"

"Yes!" Layla placed the flashlight beneath her face like a camp leader telling her girl scouts a scary story on a camping trip. "They say by every sundown… when the stars are at their highest, midnight strikes the clock, and the ancestors' sing their songs. Lyrics that lull the living the sleep and rile the dead awake. Which is why… whoever came down this cave to slumber have never seen the light of day again."

Sprx paled over, casting a nervous whistle while skootching closer to Nova.

"Y—yea, that sounds lovely. Least we'll be out of here before sundown anyway, right?" The pilot stammered, hoping for a second of reassurance.

"Maybe," Markus teased, "another situation is those who come down here get lost and can travel these tunnels for days. Eventually the lost must sleep, that is when danger finds them." He swished the light to Sprx, scaring the red monkey out of his fur. "Besides, who in the right mind comes into some random cave just to take a nap? Hah!"

Gibson cleared his throat, studying the rock formations of the cave.

"I understand the history of my incorrect assumptions, but I feel more confident to say this… the lack of markings on the hall and hard soil suggest very little activity has ever happened here."

"I… have to agree with Gibson on this one. While I don't condemn people's beliefs… the lack of evidence does not support the legend's claim in this scenario."

"I agree with Gibson and Antauri on this one!" He shivered, feeling his fur crawl. "Not because I understand what they're blabbing about, but because I hope these legends are a bunch of hooey!"

Nova, Chiro, and Otto smirked, all three glancing at Sprx. The three barely containing their smiles and snickered. Sprx caught this and angrily scowled while whipping his head away. Crossing his arms for good measures.

"Stop laughing!"

"Come on everyone," Markus poked at Sprx with his walking stick. "Now's not the time to torment the fearful, it's a perfectly natural reaction!" He laughed and shoved Sprx in the front, "maybe it's best if you lead the way. The fearful are also the best alarm system in case something goes down, cause of their hypersensitivity to the darkness."

"Oh thanks, I feel so important now!" Sprx yelled while snatching the flashlight away from him. "And if I'm going to be stuck up front, I get the flashlight!"

Nova, as everyone got ahead of her, couldn't stand the sudden rising temperature. Sweat dripped from her fur as she whipped it from her forehead. She took a deep panting breath, mouth getting dry.

"Hey, Antauri… do you have a thermostat built-in or something? Tell us what the temperature is down here?"

Antauri rolled his eyes.

"I am not a talking thermometer… but yes, it's precisely Forty-five degrees and continues to drop every ten feet we walk." This was probably one of the few times Antauri was thankful to be numb to temperatures. It was getting cold fast.

"Oh? Need some help keeping warm babe?" Sprx smacked his chest, heart floating above his head. "Plenty of snuggle-room up here, heh? Heh?"

"Um, as enticing as that offer is… no thanks, actually… I'm feeling hotter than cold. Wouldn't mind something cool to drink."

Everyone cut Nova sudden looks of total confusion. She shrugged, hands in the air with lips shifted in a flat line bemused look.

"What? I just said I feel a little warm."

"But you're never 'to warm,'… you can't even stand ice cubes in your mouth." Otto gawked at the gold female.

"Perhaps you're developing a fever?" Gibson pressed a concerned hand over her forehead. "I knew I shouldn't have left my medical bag back in the room."

"I'm not sick," she smacked his hand away. "Geez, forget I said anything."

Everyone fell quiet as they got deeper into the caves. Sprx tried multiple times to escape to the safety of behind the group. But the married tour guides kept him in place, much to his annoyance. Chiro felt alright long as Antauri kept their hands tightly entangled. Feeling safe with the fatherly monkey—an emotion he was too embarrassed to admit. Yet proud of it as well.

Frost started to gather on everyone's' hands and feet, except Nova. She huffed, her breath fogging up the air in radius. This heat was stronger than normal, like a boiling sensation so hot it was scorching her own gut. Like a dragon whose own fire melted their insides. It was not from her natural ability to produce flames. Usually, those were caused by her angry moments—but she felt calm here.

Nova glanced back to their one straggling member. Vex's walk was slowing, eyes seeming to be unfocused and lost. She raised her eyebrow and wheeled back till she was walking next to the formless monkey.

"You okay?"

Vex nodded. Nova smacked her forehead and gave a small chuckle.

"Okay, well… at least having a good time?"

Vex blankly nodded. Again. As Nova was about to point out her rudeness, Chiro had also fallen back to greet them.

"Hey, thing 1 and 2, the heck are you guys dawdling for?"

"Just messing with her," Nova slapped Vex's back. "What's the matter? Can't have girl talk back—" A loud rumbling in the rock caused her to pause. "Uh… what was that?"

"I don't know… guys, stop messing with us!" Chiro yelled out to the distancing group.

Vex felt the vibrations rise again. Mind pondering the strange noise before reality struck her. Grabbing Chiro and Nova's arms, she shoved them forward with all her might.

"Dash! Rock corrosion!"

"What? Oh… you mean—" Chiro gasped when a massive rock fell in front of him. Nearly squishing him. "Earthquake!" He yelled when more rocks came tumbling down. "Come on, move!"

As the trio proceeded to catch up, a building size rock had smashed the tunnel in half. Cutting off both groups as they floors caved out. Vex reacted fast by grabbing them both and throwing them all back down another slope. Disappearing into the darkness.

Antauri and the rest gasped and ran towards the rocks that blocked their paths.

"Nova! Chiro! VEX!" His voice echoed through the cracks of the rock before fading into silence.