**IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE AT THE BOTTOM, PLEASE READ**

*Smack, smock, smack, clomp, Smack*

The mud and wetlands seeped into the party's shoes, the utter disgust could easily be seen on Weiss' face, if anyone had bothered to look back at her. Ruby was leading the way, holding a map of the swamp with circles and squares, lines and drawings scribbled all over it. Presumably where the location of the first landmark site was supposed to be, they'd already checked four of the several locations. Oobleck was trailing behind Ruby skimming through a couple of the books Ruby had researched through and the ones Blake had brought. Zwei was tromping along behind Oobleck, covered in mud all up his legs. Blake was walking just slightly in front of Weiss.

"Can we like, find dry ground? Please! This is abysmal!" Called out Weiss, frustrated.

"But we might miss the landmark Ms. Schnee, so I doubt that will be an option." Oobleck interjected, he too seemed to be getting annoyed by the irksome noise of the mud in his own shoes and the slippery stones and patches of ground.

It was now Ruby's turn to speak up, "Turning left here. No, wait… right? I think we passed a turn."

"Really, that's just great. Maybe we should take a break for some milk and cookies and take a nap!" Exclaimed Blake sarcastically.

"Really! We have cookies?!" Ruby screamed excited.

"No Ruby I was being sarcastic."

"I think you mean sar-cat-stic." Said Ruby, saddened and angry that Blake had gotten her hopes up.

"Girls, fighting amongst ourselves will solve nothing. We must be off to look for that stone, it shall be the greatest discovery of the century!" soothed Oobleck, trying to relieve some of the tension.

"He's got a point." Said Weiss, emptying the gunk from the inside her boots.

They all quieted down and continued on, backtracking the way they had come and turning right, or what would have been left had they not passed it the first time. The group continued to on for about three more hours.

Dusk started to descend from the tall spruce which she had been hidden in. She eyed the small group with eager glee, flipping from branch to branch and finally landing silently on the murky undergrowth that inhabited the swamplands. Dusk pulled out her scroll. The scroll released a small amount of static interference as it connected.

Dusk whispered into her scroll, "Neon, let's have some fun tonight."

"That was seductive, when and where sweetheart?" Chuckled a quiet masculine voice through her scroll.

"How about tonight, say around the fire hill? I'm guessing they'll be around there by nightfall."

"Whoa whoa, hold on a minute, you're bringing friends? Should I? And how many are there going to be?" Again the voice chuckled at his own jokes.

"Three girls, one old guy, and a cute little fluff ball. And no, I think it'll be more fun for us if we leave it like this." Dusk said, straddling a fallen tree and crossing a branch to avoid walking through the knee deep water beneath her.

"I'll be there, save some of the fun for me. Kay, sweetheart?" Said the voice through the scroll again, this time sounding ominously serious.

"I'll keep in touch and follow them."

Ruby moved a branch away from the path and passed it to Blake, who passed it to Weiss, who let go of it. Resulting in a sound thwack into Professor Oobleck's face. The force of the branch hitting his face made him stumble and take a step back. He heard an offbeat step coming from somewhere behind them. It quickly adjusted themselves.

Zwei turned, puzzled as to why Oobleck stopped.

"Girls, why don't you continue on, I'm afraid I must go and find a gentleman's tree." Oobleck called out to the trio, waving Zwei to continue on with his actual owner and rubbing his own, sore and red, face.

"Profess… He's gone." Started Weiss sullen and annoyed he left so quickly.

"Well when nature calls, nature calls I guess." Replied Ruby.

Blake slowed her pace so that Weiss passed her with Zwei, who was now trailing a short distance behind Ruby. Weiss tried to pick up Zwei but failed to do so, Zwei twirled chasing his short, stubby tail and readying himself to pounce, looking at Weiss, eager to continue playing with her.

"Where is Oobleck?" Asked Blake, "He's been gone longer than he probably should've been." Looking behind them.

"Who knows where that caffeinated maniac went off to? I mean it's been fairly quiet without him hasn't it?" Said Weiss coolly brushing the subject off.

"Guys… I think we found the first landmark! The book said it was a stone that looked like fire, but..." Ruby chimed in.

"But it looks more like a rock with fire spewing out of it, right?" Blake commented, looking at the large volcanic hill before them.

"Yeah, I think this might be it. Oh man, it got hot, huh?" Said a very stifled Weiss.

Then Dusk descended.

*Alright guys and gals, thank you for continuing the support of this short story I've been writing. That being said, I know this chapter was a bit shorter than the first and second, by about 200 words, but hopefully that is alright. And just so you know... I have decided on a consistent update and upload day. It will now be forever on Friday! YAY! It'll probably be up by around 12:00pm Eastern Standard. So in other words noon. If you like it so far, drop a comment or review or whatever it is you want. I'll try to respond to your feedback. *

**IMPORTANT: I am in need of two more character names for Dusk and Neon's team. I will be looking at the reviews/comments for the name suggestions as I don't want to use a poll. So please leave an idea! You will be mentioned at the top or bottom at the next story in an author note (only if I choose yours, if I go and look for my own, I won't mention anyone). Good luck, I hope I get some good suggestions!**