"You got be kiddin'! We're supposed to train in a magma field!" Kayson grabbed his head in a panic.
"Here you will find your true potential." The calm voice explained.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rease shouted.
"You shall find out." The voice said fading. Well that didn't help at all!
"Finally extreme training!" Wes shouted sounding totally excited. Basil could only stare at him like a maniac.
"Hey maybe we'll be easier to find your box." Cooper said optimistically.
"Cooper." He said doubtfully.
"Boss, if we just get through it we'll be able to stop this entire mess." Rease said. Kayson nodded thinking about it,
"What do you think Basil?" Basil rubbed the back of his head. The voices did say this was training so once it was done there would be no reason for them to stay. But a magma field?! He hated to think about the kind of training they would receive through this.
"Well nothing's going to change if we just stand here so I think we should continue walking." He answered. Silently taking a breath he took the first step but the ground broke and a short magma burst up. Basil looked back to see Kayson and Miles looked scared of what just happened.
"I'm sure that was just a bad step." He tried to convince but had no luck.
"I sure hope Matt is having better luck than we are." Copper said hitching the covered sword back up his shoulder.
"Something tells me he is." Basil replied.
"Wait. Let me try something." Silva bent down and grabbed a stone and threw it. It landed with a thud and bounced a couple of times before rolling to a stop. "Ok we know that spot is safe."
"That's going to take forever to get anywhere." Rease complained.
"Well it's better than testing it with our feet." Cooper countered.
"Hey Silva, you're element is Ground right? And have you found your partner?" Basil questioned and Silvia nodded. "Well bring it out. It may be able to help us get through this quicker than throwing rocks."
"Alright." Silvia agreed and brought out a box like everyone else's but she had a dark green color. Igniting her ring she slammed into the opening, pointing it towards the open field. There was a spiraling flash of dark green and big horn sheep appeared with green flames coming off its horns and hooves. A small house cat with red flames also showed up.
"Uhh the cat's not mine." Silva said confused by the appearance of two box weapons.
"Bit! What are you doing out of your box?!" Rease shouted at the cat. Bit raised its fur and hissed. Before anyone knew what happened Bit jumped up on Rease's face and started clawing.
"Ahh! Bit that hurts!" Rease shouted trying to pry to the cat off.
"Rease!" Kayson shouted concerned. Bit hopped down and started licking its front paw like nothing happened.
"Rease are you alright?" Kayson asked. Rease's face was covered in red lines but otherwise looked fine.
"No worry Boss, I'm fine." Rease smiled but you still could see the pain.
"That's why I'm a dog person." Silvia muttered.
"What was that?!" Rease challenged rising a clinched fist. Oh no, not again.
"Wait a sec. Cats are quick are on their feet I bet we could use that to help navigate this place." Basil spoke up breaking things up before they get too hot.
"Let's just get moving." Kayson tired of the fighting. Rease nodded in agreement. It was slow going at first but they managed to pick up the pace a bit when the box animals got a better gripping the ground. Aries, the name Silvia gave the ram walked ahead shifting his path when he didn't like something. Bit was tracking another path but had to jump to the side a lot more often when the ground broke. Aries stopped and started pawing the ground bobbing his head like he was irritated by something.
"Aries what's wrong?" Silvia asked but the ram reeled back on its back hooves and smashed the ground with its front. Now Basil was having a bad feeling crawling up his spine. There was sound of rushing water and rock breaking rock. They checked the side to see a giant tidal wave of magma and chucks of rocks came surging at them.
"Magma wave!" Kayson shouted. Everyone turned and started running the other way.
"Aries come back!" Silvia shouted pointing the box towards the running ram behind her.
"You too Bit!" Rease copied her motion. Aries shifted into the dark green flames and rushed towards its open box, Bit's red flames were not far behind. Both boxes closed allowing Rease and Silvia to concentrate on running themselves.
"If we survive this we'll be well trained for anything!" Kayson shouted.
"This is EXTREME!" Wes shouted actually sounding happy.
"That's an understatement!" Basil shouted back.
"I don't want to die!" Miles shouted.
"Funny time to start referring to yourself in the first person." Cooper started laughing.
"Too late! Here it comes!" Kayson stopped and looked back at the huge wave just about to crush them. Basil ducked his head and covered it with his arms as the ground under his feet broke and drew him in the wave.
Brook just got her lunch break when her phone started going off.
"Hello?" She answered it tiredly.
"Doctor Brook Burnish?" A male voice came back.
"Yes?" She answered curiously not recognizing the number or the voice it belonged to.
"This is Mr. Suller, the principle of Scepres Middle School. I regret to inform you that Matt and Basil never showed up and there wasn't a call excusing them. Do you know what happened to them?" He asked. Brook took a seat in the nearest chair feeling lightheaded.
"I don't understand. They both left for school this morning. I don't get why they're not there." She said feeling anxious and scared.
"Should we call the police?" Mr. Suller asked.
"No. I have some friends in the Time Agency I'm sure they would be more than willing to help." Brook said.
"Alright. I'll call you if I learn anything new." He reassured.
"Thank you." Brook said then hung up but quickly started dialing someone else.
"Hadley? It's me Brook. I need your help, Basil and Matt are missing." She spoke as soon as there was a connection.
"Really? That's wired because…um…well…we lost Jesse." He spoke sheepishly.
"What?! You lost Jesse!" She shouted.