A Million Miles Apart
A/N: Hi guys! I'm back quicker than I thought I was gonna be. But that's just good, right? You who love this story think so, right? Not that I know how many of you are out there.
I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!
Chapter 47, Arriving on The Planet of Death
As the Triceraton fleet got closer and closer to the grey planet before them, Zanramon looked out of the window in his private chambers, gripping his hands tightly behind his back, and tried to keep a straight face. But the planet before him was giving him a cold chill that ran down his spine, and there was a strange feeling that twisted itself around in his stomach.
Zerij was a cold, grey and rather naked planet with little vegetation at all. Or, to be more precise, there was very little vegetation on the planet that was still alive. And in those dead woods interspersed between the living patches were a lot of unknown monsters, lurking, looking for something warm and alive to sink their teeth into and turn into the same kind of monstrosity. The biggest creature, the largest reason to stay far, far away from this planet, was the Wendigo itself, able to turn anyone by simply touching them. The thought alone was enough to shake even the bravest men to the bone.
Commander Mozar came into the room and bowed before his leader with his clenched fist over his heart, though the bow was very stiff and mechanical, like it was a motion familiar through much repetition. But there was a different kind of stiffness in his motion this time. A lot could be interpreted by this motion alone: it was begrudging, full of bubbling resentment, and with a hint of disgust on his face that spoke loudly of how the Triceraton truly felt.
Mozar had done this salute many times in the past, and he still resented it just as much as he had done the day that Zanramon had been made Prime Leader of the Triceraton Empire.
"We await your orders, Prime Leader." Zanramon, who still had yet to turn away from the planet looming outside of his window, tightened his fists and closed his eyes, hoping it would help him think with more clarity.
"Have you located the fragment yet?"
Mozar stood up straight and lowered his head, hoping that if Zanramon were to turn around he would not see the look of resentment on his subordinate's face. "No, Prime Leader. The entire planet is contaminated with Black Matter, and our trackers have yet to find the source. But there is no doubt about the fact that it's hidden somewhere in the caverns. We do not know where, but we are willing to look through every tunnel in every cave in those systems to find the fragment." Zanramon grimaced at the lack of new developments, but took a deep breath to stay in control of his emotions, fearing that his own agitation and nervousness might leak into his voice if he spoke right away.
But as he heard what Mozar had to say, his face softened ever so slightly and he turned around to face his commander. "And you will be very wise to do so." He took a few steps away from the window. "Send down your best warriors immediately, and I want a scientist on the team to make sure you find the source of the Black Matter. Once you find the fragment, you will bring it here immediately and destroy every obstacle that might stand in your way. And," Zanramon lowered his voice and walked up to his desk, looking Mozar straight in the eyes, "if you come back to this ship with empty hands, I will make sure you regret the day you were hatched. Is that understood, Commander?" Mozar swallowed and bowed, once again hitting his fist against his chest.
"I understand, Prime Leader." He turned around to leave the room and once his back was turned to his leader, his face turned into a scowl of loathing and bitterness. He clenched his fists tightly to try and repress his urge to destroy the nearest breathing organism- that being Zanramon, of course, and while that fact certainly made the impulse stronger and more appealing, this was not an ideal time to have their leader assassinated- and raised his right arm to talk into the com-link on his forearm.
"All assigned soldiers to their ships immediately. Prepare for takeoff. We will land on the planet in T-minus five minutes." Mozar smirked into the gauntlet as he heard his soldiers answer his orders. Everything was seemingly going according to plan.
However, what Mozar didn't know was that there was another ship also preparing for landing on this seemingly lifeless planet. And they were also dead-set on finding the fragment first. They were just on the other side of the planet.
It all looked very similar to one of the moons back home on Filione- only a lot bigger, obviously. But there was something about Zerij that really sent shivers down my spine and made my stomach clench. I don't know, maybe it was because of everything I had already heard about the planet from the other Salamandarians, but there was something about the aura that surrounded it that really made me feel uneasy in a different sense, in a more physical sense than seeing something heard about in ghost stories.
The only real comfort was that I wasn't the only one who felt the same kind of unease. Everyone else was looking out over the planet, and no one seemed too thrilled about landing down there. Starlee stood to my right and Donnie and Jhanna stood to my left, all scanning the grey, seemingly abiotic areas down on the cursed planets sickly surface.
"Well, here we are," Starlee whispered, hugging herself.
I nodded and bit my lower lip and played nervously my fingers. "No one who has ever landed on Zerij has ever made out of there alive. At least not without being scarred to the point of being comatose." Starlee gasped softly and stared up at me, her eyes wide with fear. I realized the implications of what I had just said and shrugged, tried to ease her worry with a small smile. "Or at least, so I've heard. We don't know if it's actually true, right?" Starlee nodded but didn't seem entirely convinced. Jhanna rolled her eyes and smirked teasingly at us; the same smirk that she almost always had on her face and that really drove me crazy.
"Oh, come on, girls. Don't tell me you're gonna chicken out on me now. Mona, you said you weren't gonna back out on us. Ya can't run back home now, you know, Tree Hugger." I narrowed my eyes at Jhanna and scowled testily. Yes, I was scared, but I didn't need this obnoxious street urchin to make fun of me for it.
"Oh, shut up, Bluebell! You don't know anything about me, so don't try to talk so big. And no, I am not going to back down. 'Cause, unlike you, my word actually means something." Jhanna's teasing smirk immediately morphed into an angry glare and she leaned in closer to my face.
"Hey! Are you saying I'm not trustworthy?" I smirked slightly at her, leaning forward myself and meeting her halfway, our noses almost touching.
"I didn't say that. You did." Jhanna growled at me and opened her mouth, surely to scream profanities at me that were highly inappropriate for her kid sister to hear, but Donnie rolled his eyes with a tired annoyance in his posture- he'd had enough of us arguing. He placed one hand on my chest and the other one on Jhanna's and pushed the two of us apart, staring both of us down.
"Okay, knock it off! Both of you. You're acting like children." He turned to Jhanna. "Jhanna, I can understand if you want to motivate others to be brave and do this without feeling so scared, but a good way to go about it is to not insult or make fun of them- it usually doesn't work very well. Trust me, I have experience from the receiving end." She looked down at the floor, her bangs falling over her eyes, and she refused to look up at either of us or acknowledge that she'd made a mistake. Donnie turned to me and my fingers made their way up to my mother's ribbon, which was currently tied around my neck like a scarf, since it didn't work like a hairband anymore.
"And Mona, I understand if Jhanna can provoke and make you angry. And I also know it's hard to just ignore it when somebody insults or makes fun of you like that. Believe me, I know- I have three brothers who are experts on the subject. But when she provokes or teases you, just try to ignore her. She's just looking for a reaction." He leaned in closer to me and smiled wryly, gesturing at Starlee so she would come closer. "And it's okay to be scared, Starlee. Jhanna is scared, too. She's just too proud and stubborn to admit it." Starlee and I laughed at him, but Jhanna glared at Donnie and crossed her arms over her chest, trying to kill us all with her eyes alone.
"I am not scared! I'm not scared of anything." Donnie rolled his eyes at that, and Starlee and I just laughed. Then we heard the Professor clear his throat and we all turned and saw him stand with his arms folded, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Ahem; if we can put a little focus on a big problem, that would be most appreciated. The fragment of the Black Hole Generator is dripping with Black Matter, which is very dangerous to touch or get in any form of contact with. If we find the fragment, how are we to bring it to the ship?"
Donnie smirked and looped a thumb on his belt casually, the other hand reaching into a compartment on the belt. "I'm one step ahead of you there, Professor." Out of his belt he dug out a small metallic device and held it by a long black string. It looked like an amulet; only it was about ten times bigger and uglier than any amulet I'd ever seen. The device was big enough the fill his palm, and looked like a metallic can; most of the top was covered in a big, dark purple sphere, and around that sphere were some kind of lines- lights. It was round, about two inches high from bottom to top, and when Donnie pushed a small button on the side, it opened itself like a locket.
"I made this after I removed that rock from the ship yesterday. I had read about Black Matter when I researched the Black Hole Generator, and decided we needed something to help us remove it from the machine's system. And with this device I can not only track Black Matter, but absorb and contain it. Safe and secure." Starlee looked down at the device with big eyes and an admiring smile; Jhanna looked pretty impressed, too. But neither I nor the Professor or Traximus seemed entirely sure about this thing.
"Um, that's cool, Donnie. But are you sure that it's going to work? I mean, it's not like you've had the chance to test it out. So how do you know it'll work?" Donnie shrugged with a small smile, slammed the device shut and put it around his neck.
"It will. I've triple-checked every single equation and made sure that everything checks out- and it does. And even if it doesn't absorb the stuff, we can still use it to track the piece. But I know it's going to work. I'm one hundred percent confident that it's gonna work." I pressed my lips together and nodded unsurely.
"Alright. I don't know if I want to trust it will work just yet, but if you're sure it will, I'll trust your word. But still, I hope you have some kind of backup plan, just in case it doesn't." Donnie shrugged and fingered a little on the wrapping around his fingers.
"Well, not really. I mean, if my research is true, which I really hope it is, then Black Matter doesn't penetrate through clothing or non-living tissue. Meaning that our suits and gear should be able to carry it without fear of being affected by it." I looked at his half-closed eyes and tilted my head slightly to the side, letting my arms drop to my sides.
"So, we're basically winging it without any form of safety net or idea if it will actually work?" The Professor stepped forward.
"Well, the theory actually bears water. Black Matter was created to corrupt life, and thus only affects tissue from living organisms. It has no affect on dead or inanimate objects. It should work perfectly." Everyone turned to him and looked at him questioningly.
Starlee tilted her head to the side. "How do you know that? I thought most information about everything that was connected to the Black Hole Generator was deleted or destroyed." The Professor's eyes darted from side to side, then he shrugged.
"Well, I am a scientist. I have read about these things before. The Black Hole Generator may be a mystery, but Black Matter is not quite as ambiguous. There has been talk about Black Matter before, but not a lot." No one seemed to fully buy this story, but Traximus took a step forward and reminded everyone that there was no time to waste.
"If I know Zanramon, he is probably here by now. We have to make haste and land on that planet, go down into those caves and find the fragment before they do!" That got everybody moving. Donnie and Jhanna hurried into their spacesuits and Starlee and I picked out one each and some suitable gear. I normally didn't like to wear clothes, but if we were going to be close to Black Matter and it doesn't have any affect on clothes, I might as well put my own safety before my likes and dislikes. Besides, it might actually help to have some bodily protection in case we were attacked or something. Starlee put on a similar suit to the one Donnie had, but obviously not as armored, and it didn't have as much tech on it, and then slid on her helmet. She also put on a belt and put her tablet in the protective pocket and then looked around for a weapon. She perused the shelves that had all kinds of weapons, ranging from ordinary swords and knives to more technological weapons, like guns. She turned to me.
"I don't know how to use any of these. What do you think I should do?" I pushed the button on my turquoise spacesuit's gauntlet and it immediately started to fit itself to my body; then I walked up to Starlee and looked over all the weapons. I hummed to myself and then took a gun off one of the shelves and gave it to her.
"Here, you can take one of these. I don't think you're ready for any other kind of weapon on these shelves just yet. You could ask Jhanna to show you how to use a sword later." I grabbed my long knife that I had brought with me when we escaped the Triceraton prison and put it in my own belt after finding a sheath, then grabbed a pair of boots and gloves and put them on. This suit, unlike Donnie's suit, already had some protection for the shoulders and wrists, as did Starlee's, but they were probably not as tough as Donnie's, so all the weapons or whatever else here that could help us in a fight was welcomed. Starlee put on a pair of black boots and purple gloves and then we hurried outside again. Jhanna and Donnie had also put on their suits and had their helmets under their arms. Donnie also had his new metallic staff on his back and put a gun in his belt. Jhanna had a sword and a gun in her belt, and was just putting gloves on her hands. Traximus had his axe over his shoulder and looked over us.
"Are we all ready to go?" Everyone nodded and Donnie took the controls and started to fly us closer and closer to the planet, then began our descent. As we got closer we started to see more and more of the nature of this place and what it looked like. Not a pretty sight.
The entire planet seemed to only have a color palette of grey, brown and black. Everything seemed so colorless and dead and it was sickening to see every sort of vegetation- the trees, bushes, riverside plants and everything else- look so dead. A lot of the trees, somehow, still had their leaves on. I don't know how that was possible, but it was still enough for me realize that there was something off with this planet.
As we flew over the forest we saw some buildings that had fallen to the ground, statues that toppled over and broke, and technological achievements that were still up and running, and everything was completely deserted. I took a deep breath and clenched my fists. I had to be brave. I had made a promise to help this strange group save Earth, and I was not gonna back down now. Even it meant stepping into the domain of the Wendigo.
To say that Zerij was creepy would be the understatement of the decade. The whole planet seemed to scream 'I'm evil! Leave while you still can!' at me as we tried to find a good spot to land the ship at. It all looked like something out of a horror movie gone wrong. You know, the kind of horror movies where the characters stay at a creepy cabin in the woods and some supernatural monster comes out to kill them all, one by one. And it didn't make it any easier that I already knew that there was a big possibility that there was some sort of monster in these very woods, lurking around and waiting for us to come down there so it could sink its teeth into our flesh and turn us into living zombies.
After a few minutes of looking around and gazing down on the abandoned civilizations and dead, creepy forests, we finally found a small glen in the woods just big enough to fit our ship and we landed there. The doors opened and the ramp came out for us to walk down on. With our helmets were on and four out of six of us with our hands on our weapons just in case, we all carefully made our way down to the planet's ground. I expected the grass to be dry and sharp like sticks, like it had been on D'hoonib, but it wasn't. It wasn't exactly soft and nice to walk on, like it had been on Filione, but still. It was dry and almost crumbled into dust under my feet. It crunched lightly when we walked. I looked down at my gauntlet and analyzed the atmosphere to see if we would be able to breathe without our helmets on.
"Okay, it seems like there's enough oxygen, so we should be able to breathe here." I brought my hands to my helmet and lifted it off my head. But the moment I got a sniff of the air, I immediately put it back on my head again and started to cough and splutter to get rid of the horrible stink that filled my nose. The others took a step back when they saw how I reacted and Jhanna put her hand on my shoulder.
"What is it, Donnie?! Are you choking? What can we do?" I shook my head and tried to take a few deep breaths and stop coughing.
"No. I just," I cleared my throat and took another deep breath. "The air on this planet stinks. The whole place reeks of dead bodies and rotten flesh. I suggest we keep our helmets on, assuming no one wants to die from the smell alone." No one had that wish. But before anyone could say anything about it, a sudden beeping broke the silence and everyone looked at me. I looked down at the tracker I had built in. I grabbed it and looked at the readings on it. The lights were going off in time with the beeping, and when I took a step forward the lighting got a little faster and the beeping got louder and faster.
"My tracker's got something! I think it's this way- come on!" We all started to go straight forward and I kept my eye on the device in my hands. But as we got deeper and deeper into the woods, the atmosphere started to get to us. Starlee folded her arms over her chest and hugged herself tightly, looking around with fear in her eyes. She shuddered and tightened the grip around herself.
"It's so eerie here. It feels like a nightmare come to life. No wonder no one ever comes around here anymore." Mona shuddered too and picked up her tail, held onto it to calm herself.
"Yeah, this is so creepy. Don't have to be psychic to get a bad feeling about this place." I stopped for a second and my thoughts flew back to April. April usually got certain vibes about things, so I couldn't help but wonder if she would've gotten the same bad feelings we did right now, or if she would get something else about this place that we didn't. None of us were psychic, so who knows. Jhanna shrugged and looked over her shoulder at the other two.
"Well, that is to be expected, isn't it? I mean, this planet is contaminated with Black Matter, and Black Matter corrupts everything that's alive, right? It really isn't that surprising it managed to turn one the most beautiful and lively planets in the galaxy into a planet of death and destruction." Starlee looked at the sister with big eyes, then down at the ground and shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess." I looked over at the girls and couldn't help but feel a little guilty. They were here on a mission that didn't concern them in the slightest, and it was obvious that both Mona and Starlee were not enjoying any of this. None of these guys should be here; this was my mistake to clean up. They shouldn't be forced to endure something like this because of my mistake. But I also knew I needed their help. Especially now, when I had an injured leg and couldn't fight as well I as I should. And despite the fact that I didn't need a crutch as much now that my leg had the metal protection on it like a brace, I still wouldn't be able to get far on my own.
I was yanked out of my thoughts when the sound of leaves rustling and a sudden prickling in my neck made the ninja in me quickly deduce that someone was watching us. The others had also noticed that someone or something had rustled those leaves and Traximus, Jhanna, Mona and I immediately drew our weapons. Starlee moved in behind Traximus, but her hand flew to the gun that was in her belt. The Professor, however, just looked around, trying to spot where the sound came from and where the one following us was. I placed my hand on his shoulder and pulled him closer to us so we could protect him if someone would attack. But for a long time the only thing we could hear was the sound of my tracker beeping. Other than that, it was eerily quiet.
Suddenly, something came bursting through the woods and screamed like a madman at us, making all of us jump out of our skin. Starlee, who was closest to the spot he came through, let out a loud shriek, dived behind me and grabbed onto my arm tightly. The rest of us gripped our weapons, and Jhanna flew forward with her sword in her hand, but was stopped by Traximus. The man before us was a sad sight.
He didn't look quite like a Salamandarian, but leaned more towards looking like a human. Not as much as Starlee or Jhanna, but close. He had the body of one, but was still very different. His skin was so pale it almost looked green, his face and body were incredibly dirty, he had dark circles around his eyes and he had sunken cheeks and his cheekbones stuck out like sore thumbs. He was so thin that it was a miracle that the clothes he was wearing hadn't fallen off yet; it was disturbingly easy to see his bones in some places, like his legs, arms, stomach and chest. He stared at us with wide, insane eyes and he was breathing heavily and loudly. He stared directly at me and pointed a long, shaky finger at us.
"What... what are you people? Are you a dream? Or are you ghosts, here to haunt us for our mistakes, mock us for our decisions." His voice was quivery and hoarse, and his eyes darted slightly from side to side. I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but my mouth was as dry as a desert and my tongue felt like sandpaper. I looked at the others, trying to see if anyone else could say something, but they just stared this guy. He stared back at us and raised his shaking hands in a peaceful gesture, peering into my eyes.
"I-if you are n-not ghosts, p-please s-speak to me. I-if you have c-come for s-something, tell m-me. A-and if you have a-any mercy in your h-hearts, do me the f-favor of e-ending my existence now. Rather die t-than live a-another m-miserable day in this hell." We all turned to look at each other. The man's voice was jagged and he stuttered a lot, as if his tongue stumbled over some words or he hadn't spoken a word in years. One thing was for sure, though- this man was way over the brink of madness. But he was obviously scared, and the last thing we needed was a problem with the people who lived here. So I put my staff back in the strap on my back and raised my hands, lowering my voice to try and calm him.
"It's alright, friend. We're not here to harm anyone. My name is Donatello, and these are my friends. We are not here to cause trouble, we simply want to find something here, that's all. We're looking for the-" I didn't even get to finish the sentence before he interrupted.
"Take it." I blinked and for a second I forgot what I had just said. Then I looked back at him and raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Uh, pardon?" He nodded frantically and grabbed my arm very tightly for someone who didn't look like he had any muscle mass whatsoever, and he stared into my eyes frantically, full of palpable fear.
"Take it! Whatever it is you want, take it! Just please, don't let us suffer any more than we already do!" I had no idea what to make of this. In a way it was a bit sad to see that inhabitants on this planet had been driven to madness because of all that had happened over the past thousand years. But on the other, it was kinda scary to be around somebody who was obviously mentally unstable. Mona Lisa took a step forward and used a very calm, soothing voice, something I had never heard from her.
"Well, you see, Sir, we don't really know where it is. See, we're on a mission to save our friend's home planet. so we have to try and destroy the Black Hole Generator." He gasped loudly, stared at us like we were crazy, then looked up at me.
"You... you want to destroy the Heart of Darkness?" I nodded slowly, still a little scared of what this man might do, and tried to ease his hand from my arm, to no avail.
"Uh, yeah. The Triceratons want to use it to destroy my home. So we have to find it before they do and destroy it. So if you can help, we'd appreciate it very much." The guy just stared at me for what felt like minutes. Then his eyes filled with tears and gripped my other arm and buried his face in the backs of my hands, started to cry.
"Oh, thank you, boy. Thank you s-so m-much!" I had to fight really hard against the urge to yank my hands away from his grip, but it felt really weird to have a complete stranger cry into my hands like this. "You must be sent from the Aeons to save us. They have finally decided to spare us our misery!" He let go of me and threw his hands to the sky and yelled up at the stars. "Thank you, great Aeons! We have learned our lesson, and we will never take life for granted ever again!" I stared down at the guy in front of us, then looked over at the others, who also stared and then they met my eyes. Starlee took a few steps forward and kneeled down in front of him with a soft smile on her face.
"Yes, we're here to destroy the Black Hole Generator piece. And if you can lead us to where we can find it-" He looked at us frantically.
"I will give you all I have, if you take that horrid piece of evil as far away from our planet as possible!" My eyes widened and I shook my head and held my hands up.
"Oh, no. That's really not necessary. We're not doing this for money-" He cut me off, again, and grabbed my arm.
"I will give you two thousand zemulacks if you take it away from here!" I took a step back as he grabbed me again and tried to smile, despite how uncomfortable I felt.
"Oh, um, well you really don't-" Jhanna shoved her elbow into my side and when I cried out in pain, she took a step forward and stepped in front of me.
"Thank you, kind sir. Your generosity is most appreciated. But if you would be so kind as to show us where you keep this device, we would be grateful." For somebody who didn't know Jhanna, her words must've sounded really genuine and she sounded like she actually meant what she said and her smile also looked real. But as somebody who did know Jhanna, it was pretty obvious to me that she was playing this man's frantic mind and desperation against him to get not only what we wanted, but also the money he was offering. The man climbed up on his feet again and wiped his arm across his face, but only managed to further dirty his face more with his remaining tears.
"I... I c-can't go d-down there. I can't face the horridness of that machine. Please, don't make me go down there!" Jhanna leaned down and placed her hands on her knees and made eye contact with him and gave a scarily convincing sweet smile.
"You don't have to. But if you can show us where we can find it, that would be really great." Her smile widened and she batted her eyelashes at him in an attempt to look cuter. And, I have to admit, she succeeded really, really well. The man pressed his lips together and looked really nervous. Then he took a deep breath and nodded, looking straight into Jhanna's green eyes.
"Okay. I will show you the way to the tunnel that leads to where the fragment lies, but after that you are on your own." We nodded and let him go through us and take the lead and followed him. But as he led us deeper into the woods and the surroundings got creepier and creepier, I grabbed Jhanna's arm and yanked her back and stopped walking to talk to her.
"Uh, what was that? I don't want his money; I just want the piece to the Black Hole Generator. And I don't approve of manipulating others to get your way." Jhanna rolled her eyes at me and yanked her arm out of my grip.
"Hey, I was just trying to be smart. He offered to give us money to get rid of that piece. And, in case you hadn't noticed before, we are kind of on a limited budget here. We're gonna need all the resources we can find. And if this guy wants to give us something for doing our job, then I don't see any problems with this." I glared down at her and tried to stare her down.
"I am not doing this for money, Jhanna. I'm doing this to save my planet from destruction." Jhanna rolled her eyes again, more exaggeratedly, this time and placed her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, and we'll see how well that'll go if something on the ship breaks and needs repairing and you don't have any money. Just sayin'." She then turned and jogged to catch up with the others. I let out a heavy breath and walked after her as quickly as my injured leg allowed me.
The disheveled native was really quiet for the entire walk and kept his eyes straight forward, which felt a little awkward. But no one really thought about him, and I looked around the forest and felt my skin crawl. It was so dark and spooky and if the scent was anything to go on, I could only assume that a whole lot of dead bodies were lying around, rotting somewhere around us. The thought was enough to make me sick. But I also couldn't help but wonder how beautiful this planet had been before the Black Hole Generator had been placed here.
The sound of a twig breaking made me stop and look to my right and deep into the woods; what I saw made me freeze, and my breath got stuck in my throat. Deeper into the wood a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared at me from afar, and whoever or whatever it was seemed to be about as tall as, if not taller than, the trees around it. I stared back at the eyes for I don't know how long, and then whatever it was started to walk away, and two tall limbs that I'd assumed were just tree trunks started to walk away, the steps creating loud thuds that echoed throughout the woods. I stared after it, even after I couldn't see it anymore, then hurried after the others.
Eventually the woods opened up and we arrived at a large opening in a mountain, and the man stopped about ten feet away from the opening and turned to us.
"This is as far I dare go. Go through that tunnel, and you'll find it." I nodded and, mostly out of habit, bowed to him.
"Thank you, friend. We really appreciate it." He nodded at me, and then wished us a quick good luck before he ran off into the woods and disappeared. We looked after him for a while, then looked at the cave opening. I took a deep breath and swallowed down the fear that still plagued my brain.
"Well, here we are. No turning back now." I turned to the others. "Let's go. We've got no time to lose." The others nodded and we started to walk into the cave. I looked down at the device in my hand, which was still beeping, but now much faster and louder than before. Starlee took a flashlight from her belt and The Professor's eyes lit up like flashlights. However, we didn't have walk very far before we saw a huge problem in front of us.
Either there had been some kind of earthquake and rocks had fallen from the cave's ceiling, or the inhabitants had used another entrance back in the day when they put the fragment in the caves, but either way, the way through the tunnel and down to the caves was blocked. We ran up to the block and looked it over. Traximus tried to lift some of the rocks and The Professor used his robotic strength to do the same, but none of it worked. The stones were seemingly too heavy for them, or locked in place somehow. Mona groaned and leaned back against the wall of the tunnel.
"Great. What're we supposed to do now?" Jhanna took her gun out of her belt and aimed it at the blockade.
"Well, we could always try to blow it up." The Professor immediately pushed the gun down and shook his head frantically.
"NO! If we cause an explosion down here, chances are pretty high that it will only make things worse. More rocks may fall down and crush us. It's too big a risk." Jhanna lowered her gun and put it back in her belt.
"Alright, then what do we do?" The Professor didn't have a good answer for that question and just started to look over the rocks and boulders. I looked over the big wall and tried to find something, anything, that could help us, when I spotted something. There was a gap in between two big boulders, obviously too big for Traximus to fit through, and it was borderline for me and my shell to fit through, but it was still something. I walked up to the gap and looked it over as closely as I could. It was narrow, but not too narrow. It might work. I turned to look at the girls and Professor.
"Hey, guys, do you think you could fit through here?" Jhanna, Mona and Starlee looked over at me, ran up to the gap and inspected it. The Professor also came up and seemed to check it over with his scanners. He hummed and leaned closer.
"Hm; it will be narrow. Obviously we can't all go through here." I nodded and placed my hand on the wall and leaned my weight against it.
"No, I know. But it's still better that some of us can get through here and maybe find another, better entrance somewhere else and can contact the rest. Or maybe they'll find the Black Hole Generator piece before the Triceratons do and can get it to safety until we can help. It's better than all of us just staying here." I turned back to the girls. "So what do you think?" They turned to the gap again, then Starlee shrugged and took a step forward.
"Let's see." She took a deep breath and held it, reached one leg in through the gap, so she stood with one leg on both sides of the wall of rocks and boulders, and then gently and slowly slipped through without any problems, other than that her foot hit one rock and she almost tripped. But she regained her balance before she fell and stood straight. She let out the breath she had been holding and then turned to us. She shrugged and gestured at the other girls.
"Come on! What, are you chicken?" The jab was mostly aimed at Jhanna for her teasing earlier on the ship, but I had a feeling she was teasing Mona too. However, Mona seemed pretty okay with it and didn't look like she was too mad about it. Jhanna, however, looked pretty annoyed at her sister and was quick to go after her. It was a little bit tighter for her since she was bigger than Starlee, but she still managed to get through without any problems. And Mona Lisa had an even easier time since she was smaller than Jhanna and more flexible than Starlee. But when the Professor was about to try and go after them, his head didn't hit through the gap and he stumbled back, and would have fallen to the ground if Traximus hadn't been there to catch him. I stepped up to the gap and looked through at the girls.
"Well, looks like you're on your own, girls. We can't go through here." Starlee took her pad out of her belt and pressed on the screen.
"I can try to find another way for you." I shook my head and reached up to take off my tracker.
"No, there's no time! You have to go and find the first piece of the Black Hole Generator and get it back to the ship before the Triceratons find it." I took off the tracker and handed it over to Starlee through the gap. "Here, take this. It should be able to help you find it. And if it doesn't, you should try to find it through your pad." Starlee took the tracker, looked down at it and then up me and nodded.
"We'll find it, Donnie. Don't worry, you can count on us." Jhanna gave me a thumbs up and gestured at Mona and Starlee. "Now come on, let's go!" They started to walk down the tunnel.
"Good luck, girls!" I called out after them and turned to look at Traximus and The Professor. "Okay, so what do we do? Just sit around and wait?" Traximus shrugged and rested his axe over his shoulder.
"I don't see what else we can do. We could try to find another entrance, but there's no telling if it will lead us to the Black Hole Generator. I mean, the man led us here because it was the entrance to the tunnel that leads to it. And even if we found another way in, it wouldn't be smart to be split up like that. We may have a very hard time finding each other again. The best thing we can do for now is to wait and be here if the girls need any help from outside the caves." I let out a heavy breath and just nodded. It was still a pretty bitter blow to my ego. Great start for this mission. I couldn't even get down there and help my friends and get the fragment myself. But whatever, it wasn't important who got the piece. The only thing that mattered was to find it and get it back to the ship. ...But still.
We made our way out of the cave again and The Professor said he was gonna go and place the ship closer to the opening of this tunnel, so when the girls came with the piece, we could bring it onboard faster and not have to run through the woods with a heavy piece of machinery. So while he ran and did that, Traximus and I sat outside the opening and waited. And while we waited, I thought of the girls and hoped they were doing alright down in those tunnels and caves.
A/N: Well, this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it was gonna be. Okay, so this chapter have a few hints for the future of this story. Two, in fact. But if you didn't catch them, you don't have to worry about it, it'll come back and be bigger when it does. If you have any ideas of what those hints might be, and what might happen in the future, please tell me in your reviews.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!