Bad Batch Episode: Entombed
Another mission for the Bad Batch. To the five male clones in the group, it was just another Saturday.
For a start though, Omega and Wrecker were searching for stuff in a junkyard.
"Ah. I love a good junkyard." Wrecker smiled.
"You said it," said Comedia.
Having been raised being given hand-me-downs or dumpster diving, she was used to repeating the phrase, "One man's trash is a lucky mare's treasure."
"I'll take a look at the farther parts of this area." Kara said before zipping off.
Wrecker lifted something up.
"We'll definitely find a spare compressor here."
Onega looked through a piece of broken crystal and said, "Among other things."
"You got that right." Wrecker chuckled.
"This looks useful." Zipp said, picking up an old wrench with her mouth.
"See anything, Comedia?" Omega asked as Comedia flew into another part to look for something.
"Ooh! You're never gonna guess what I found."
Comedia came out with what looked like a plush carrot.
"Someone lost a chew toy here."
Comedia chewed the toy in her mouth and started shaking her head around with the toy and growling like a dog, making everyone laugh.
"Comedia!" Zipp sounded disgusted. "You don't know where that thing's been!"
"Be careful, everyone." Mila said. "We don't want anyone getting hurt on broken glass or splinters."
Diamond suddenly whinnied as a glass shattered, just barely missing her.
"Like that."
The group climbed into what looked like an old abandoned ship. Omega looked into what was probably the glove compartment and found some interesting trinkets.
"Here's what we were looking for." Zipp said.
"And in good condition too." Mila added. "A little cleaning, and it should work just fine."
"Well, got the compressor." Wrecker said, looking at Omega. "Find anything good?"
"Check it out," said Omega excitedly.
Diamond sniffed the two things Omega held. One looked sort of like a metal baby rattle of some kind, and the other was about the size and shape of a pocket mirror.
"What are those things?" Diamond asked.
"Let's find out." Omega said.
Meanwhile, back at Cid's parlor, Cid's pirate friend Phee was telling a story to two regulars, Ketch and Bolo. Meanwhile Hunter, Echo, Crosshair, and Tech were sitting at the counter, and Mona was walking around the parlor, playing with her plush duck Squishy.
"Suddenly, I felt its tentacles wrap around my legs, pulling me down into the depths. I had no choice but to fend off the Octomorph. Bare-handed."
Ketch and Bolo were excited, but Echo, Crosshair, Hunter, and Tech were not impressed.
"This story changes every time she tells it." Tech said.
"I'm sure if Teatra were here," said Indira. "She'd say that no one can say Phee doesn't have an active imagination.
"Vanquishing the creature, I swam to the coral cave. And you know what I found?" Phee continued.
"What?!" Both listeners exclaimed.
"What? What was there?" Bolo begged.
"Spit it out!" Ketch practically demanded.
"Only the great Pearl of Novak." Phee said.
Hunter though, rolled his eyes.
"Those two will believe anything," he said.
That was when the scavengers arrived.
"Mission accomplished!" Wrecker laughed. "One compressor, as requested."
Wrecker tossed the compressor over to Tech, and Mila tossed him a kiss to his cheek.
"Ah. Nicely done, Wrecker."
"That's not all we got." Omega said, everyone placing what they found on the table.
"This assortment, however, could have been left at the junkyard."
"If we had, we would lose an opportunity to find a use for these things." Mila said, already brainstorming new inventions. "Some of these are parts I have yet to learn about."
"Easy, quick draw. Let the expert have a look." Phee said.
Mila didn't voice it, but her eyes clearly said that Phee better be talking about the parts and not her man. Phee said she'd take the hint that Tech was taken and she wouldn't try to steal Mila's man, but the latter wasn't so sure she could trust her.
Phee picked up one piece that Tech identified as a broken manifold regulator.
"Thanks, Clone Obvious." Phee said.
Comedia looked in a bigger bucket-like piece of metal, only to get her muzzle stuck in it.
"Uh... a little help?" Comedia said, muffled.
Tech groaned when he saw Comedia in this state. Normally, he was skilled at adapting to stressful situations, but a royal horse who acted more like a jester than a princess was not one he typically anticipated.
"Oh, Comedia! For once, can we get through a mission without you clowning around for five minutes?" Tech placed his hands on the stuck object while Comedia firmly planted her hooves to the floor, and Kara wrapped her arms around the alicorn. "Hold still."
"Wow! It's gotten tight on there. Comedia, try to relax your muzzle." Kara said.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Comedia said, still muffled.
Tech pulled harder, not much progress, aside from Tech losing his balance and falling on his back.
"Ouch!"
Mila helped Tech up and said, "I'll go find something slippery to get that off."
Tech started to pull the metal object from Comedia's nose again, while Phee caught a glimpse of the "pocket mirror."
"What's this thing?" Mona said, looking at the very object and wanting to touch it herself.
"Hang on." Phee said.
Phee picked up the small object and took a good look at it, and from her observation, she uncovered a small part of it that slid off to reveal something.
"These look like coordinate markings."
"Coordinate markings?" gasped Omega.
"Mel, take a look at this." Phee said to a droid.
The droid beeped and approached Phee to scan the object, and it came to a conclusion.
"I was right." smiled Phee. "This is a compass."
"It looks different than the one Mila showed me."
Mila took out a compass she had. Unlike the one Phee held, Mila's used a needle that relied on the planet's natural gravitational magnet.
"This compass is long before our time." Phee explained, then she looked at Mila's compass. "But probably still after yours."
"Hey, this thing is helpful when it's too cloudy to navigate by the stars or sun's position." Mila said, a bit offended. "But what about the coordinates you mentioned?"
"These coordinates are in the Kaldar Trinary system."
Tech looked it up on his tablet, but found nothing.
"I have no record of that system." said Tech.
"Because the best treasures usually aren't found on maps." Phee retaliated.
"There's treasure there?" Omega said happily.
"Like in the pirate story your grandpa read to us?"
"Without a doubt. This compass is a rare find. You've got a good eye."
"Let's go check it out." Omega said to the others. "You heard Phee."
"She says a lot of things." Hunter said, crossing his arms, Mona imitating him.
"I can go alone and take the spoils for myself," said Phee. Then she wrapped an arm around Omega. "Or we go together and split it 50-50."
"Please, Hunter. What if there really is treasure there?"
"Yeah, we're not on a mission." Wrecker said.
"It could be fun." Omega said.
"And dangerous." Citrus said, biting his tail. "I'm still picking burs out of my tail from the last mission."
"I told you those bushes were a bad hiding place!" Diamond scolded.
"The last time we went after treasure, it didn't go as planned."
"Just be glad Pinto didn't bite Hunter for pulling his tail." Indira said.
"You weren't working with a professional then." Phee pointed out
Mel beeped as though agreeing with Phee.
"What do you say?"
"Can we go, Hunter?" Mona practically begged. "Can we? Can we? Can we?!"
"Yeah, can we?" Diamond said, joining in on the childish pleading.
Knowing the youngest ones here were never gonna stop until he said yes, Hunter sighed and reluctantly agreed they could go.
The Marauder was soon on its way to the Kaldar Trinary system.
Omega and Phee both sat back with their feet on Mel as they talked.
"How many uncharted planets have you been to?" Omega asked Phee.
"Too many to count." Phee said. "That's why I need Mel to keep track of all the legends I've chased down over the years. That's the life of a treasure hunter."
"Don't you mean "pirate"?" Hunter said.
"I prefer "Liberator of Ancient Wonders." Phee said.
"Like an archaeologist?" Mona said. "Ooh! Or like the brave adventurer Indiana Jones?"
Mona snapped a jump rope like a whip, having played Indiana Jones with some of the other kids recently.
"You could say that." Phee looked at the two blondes in the room. "Wanna hear about the time I found the Blade of Zakata Par?"
"Yes!" Omega and Mona said in unison. "I do!"
The two girls looked at each other and said, "Jinx!"
Phee chuckled and said, "It's an exciting story."
Hunter sighed and just left the girls to talk. He sat down near where Citrus was laying down, munching on a grapefruit.
"You okay, Hunter?" said Citrus.
"I don't know. Can't help worrying about bringing the kids along sometimes."
"You think I don't feel worried? I'm not a unicorn like my dad. I don't have defense magic to protect myself from dangers. But, if you'd seen the trouble my little brothers have gotten themselves into...you learn how to avoid a lot of crises."
"I thought you were an only foal."
"Nope. I just got a bit of a wild family. When you're the oldest of five brothers and one sister, the pressure's on to be an example and a protector. And when it came to my brothers' roughhousing back home, it fell to me to pull Cherry out of trouble."
Hunter couldn't help feeling intrigued by Citrus when he started telling him more about his family. It turned out Citrus' family was similar to the Batch in some ways. Citrus had a brother named Crisp who, like Wrecker, was very strong, but also had a bit of a problem with authority. Then, there was his brother Ranger, the book worm and brainiac of the bunch. After him, Dijon, who wasn't much of a talker, but was pretty good at sneaking up on people, and snatching snacks. And the youngest brother was Plum, who like Citrus, enjoyed the fruit that fit with his name. Though all of them had different talents, the four younger stallions had a habit of roughhousing, and Cherry, who was still just a filly, often relied on her oldest brother Citrus to keep her safe.
"Now that I got matched with a rider," said Citrus. "I worry about Cherry more every day because I'm not there to protect her, and I fear something bad will happen to her."
In Hunter's eyes, it appeared he and Citrus had more in common that he thought. Despite the fact that Omega was technically older than the Batch, Hunter worried about her just as much as his brothers. If it wasn't worry for Wrecker breaking something, Hunter feared something may happen to Omega if he took his eyes off her even for a moment, and not just because she was a princess, but because she was his sister too. And now that the Heartwoods had chosen him as Mona's godfather when they adopted her, he worried the same way about her too.
"When I did send a letter back home to my family, Mom and Dad gave a little reminder that Cherry won't be a filly forever. Eventually, she's gonna grow and be able to take care of herself, like I did. I was a small colt once, helpless and needing protection, but like any baby, I grew. And Omega's gonna grow too. Who knows, maybe she's not a flower, but a tree."
Hunter didn't quite understand that last bit, but he knew Citrus was right; Omega wasn't going to be a child forever. Someday, she would be a full-grown woman who could take care of herself, and might end up having kids of her own someday. The same went for Mona, who had been denied a proper childhood for almost eight years, and now she was finally getting to be a kid. Right now, Hunter could only hope both girls would be safe on this mission, or rather treasure hunt.
The Marauder soon came to land on an uncharted planet.
"I'm not picking up any signs of civilization whatsoever." Tech said. "Which makes sense considering this land appears to have been razed and left uninhabitable."
"I wonder if this is anything like Abuela's old village after it was attacked." Mila wondered sadly.
Once you've heard Alma Madrigal's tragic backstory with her village being attacked and forcing her and many others to flee just to stay alive, it gives you a lot to think about in regards to taking care of the things you love the most, whether its a child, or a home.
"Who'd wanna hide treasure here?" Echo said.
"Someone who doesn't want it to be found?" Mona said. "Remember how you found me? Would you look for little girls in a prison facility?"
"Kid's got a point." Magenta said.
Suddenly, there was the sound of beeping, which spooked some of the horses.
"Will all of you relax?! It's just beeping." Zipp said, being the only horse not to freak. Being a royal guard, she taught herself not to get spooked so easily like other horses.
"What was that?" Wrecker said.
"The compass just activated." Echo said.
Echo started to move the compass around and found that the compass was telling everyone to go south.
"Let's go!" Omega said, taking the compass and running off.
"Wait for me!" Mona exclaimed, running after the princess.
"Us too!" Buttercup said, she and Diamond ran after the girls.
"Don't run off, niñas." Mila called, going after the children.
"I second that!" Kara said, getting on Strawberry and going after the children. "Omega, slow down!"
"Now they've got the right attitude." Phee said.
"Sticking together or going after treasure?" said Comedia.
"Both. Wait up, ladies!" Phee called. She got on Comedia's back and said, " Giddyup, Curly."
"My name's Comedia." corrected the alicorn. "And it looks like you best be ready for a ride!"
"Oh boy," sighed Tech as Comedia took off, running like crazy and bouncing around.
Phee looked like she was having fun though.
The treasure hunters got onto their horses (with the exception of Diamond) and began following the compass.
Omega rode with Kara on Strawberry's back since Diamond was too small for her to ride on her.
The compass beeped faster as the group thought they were getting closer to the treasure. It took them deep into the forest until they got to a mountain, where the compass stopped beeping.
"It's a dead end." Omega said. "Maybe we go around the mountain?"
"Or over it." Strawberry said.
"Need I remind you not all of us have wings?" Citrus pointed out.
"Or... it's telling us to go inside it." Phee said.
"Like a secret passage to a hidden temple?" Mona suggested.
Phee took out a big blade of some kind and used it to move a big rock aside, like a sliding door.
"Big guy, help me move this." Phee instructed.
Wrecker started to move some of the rocks, and then Phee got him to move aside as it sounded like more of the rocks were falling. And to everyone's great surprise... they revealed a door.
"Look! It is a secret entrance." Omega gasped.
"I gotta hand it to you, Phee. You really know your adventures." Mila said.
Everyone started to walk in, Phee leading as she had a lantern. The unicorns also shed a little extra light from their horns, and Kara with her lightsaber.
Inside the cave, the group came across what looked like a room with a lot of geometric shaped patterns in the walls.
Tech did some searching on his tablet again.
"Hunter, these etchings are easily a thousand years old." Tech said.
"Older. Much older." Phee said.
"The archaeologists where I'm from would really have a field day here." Mila chuckled.
"If I'm right, which is always-"
"I doubt it."
Phee glared for a moment and continued. "we are standing in the entranceway to Skara Nal."
"To what?" said Hunter.
"Every pirate out there's heard the legend of Skara Nal. It traces back to the ancients."
"Do they do human sacrifices like in that movie I saw?" Mona asked fearfully.
"Not to my knowledge. But probably."
"Okay, who's been letting Mona watch scary movies?" Hunter glared at the others.
"When you say ancients, do you mean like the Jedi?" Mila asked Phee.
"No. Older."
"Aunt Kara?" Omega looked at her aunt. "Do you know about Skara Nal?"
"Not much off the top of my head, I'm afraid." Kara said. Then she thought for a moment. "Ah, yes! I remember now. My father once said when he was very young, he recalled hearing a tale about the Heart of the Mountain."
"Sounds like the name of a magic relic from an adventure movie." Magenta commented.
"Maybe it moves mountains. Literally." Buttercup said.
"I don't think it did. If it were magic related, Garrett would've taught us about it by now. Probably." Kara said.
"So, what kinda treasure's in there?" Wrecker asked.
"The Heart of the Mountain, like Kara said. And we're going to liberate it."
"Uh, do you think it's booby-trapped in there?" Mona said. "In every movie I've seen when you take treasure from its ancient holding place, a lot of traps go off. Poisonous darts, snakes, bugs, spiked walls that close in, giant boulders!"
"Mona, that's all stuff in movies." Omega said.
"So are super villains, yet Mariverder creates those and liberated many of them from prison." Comedia said.
Everyone shined some light on the walls. There were a bunch of rectangular posts sticking out.
"How do we get in?" Omega said.
"It's a pattern." said Phee. "We need to align the symbols in the right order."
Phee moved the bottom symbol. But the others did nothing.
"Some help would be nice." Phee said.
So, Wrecker pushed another one. Then the whole room shook, and the door the group entered in was shut!
"That's not good!" Hunter said, quickly grabbing Mona.
"Everyone down!" Kara shouted, Force pushing everyone against the walls to avoid getting hit by the rocks.
Mila telepathically pushed Phee and Wrecker out of the way of a big falling rock, and Tech pulled her away by her arm before she could get hit herself.
"I knew a big rock would roll in!" Mona pointed out.
"Booby traps, just like the little one said. Now it's getting interesting."
"Let's just hope there aren't snakes in here too. Or worse, a bunch of bugs." Comedia shuddered at the thought of a bunch of bugs.
"You've just trapped us in here!" Hunter said angrily to Phee.
"Relax. There's always a way out." Phee said. "We just have to find out. It's part of the puzzle."
"Too bad we didn't bring Boba or Gabby along. They've spent more time doing adventures like this together than even I have."
Mona looked up at some of the symbols.
"Why are some of those symbols glowing?" Mona said, seeing something.
"I don't see anything glowing." Hunter said, looking up.
"Neither do I." Mila said.
Mini R2 beeped to say that he could see something when he scanned the area too.
"Mona's right, they are glowing." Strawberry said, looking at the symbol herself.
Curious, Omega looked at the compass again, and she opened it up to find a see-through kind of part. She held it up to one of her eyes, and saw that some of the symbols were glowing.
"They are glowing!" Omega said. "We're aligning the wrong symbols."
"But wait, why can Mona and Strawberry see them but we can't?" Echo said.
"Because this light must be ultraviolet light." Mila said, looking through the compass herself. "UV light is invisible to humans, but not invisible to butterflies or horses. Since Mona is a maricamba, she must be able to see UV light and possibly other things human eyes can't."
"Here," said Phee, approaching Omega with her lantern. "Hold the compass up to my lantern."
Omega did just that. The lines became visible to everyone, and Tech and Wrecker were able to align the correct symbols, which opened another door.
"It's open!" Mona cheered.
"Mel, note the coordinates and wait here." Phee instructed the droid. "Come on, kids. Time to go exploring."
Omega, naturally, was first to follow Phee. Wrecker and Zipp went too.
"My interest is certainly piqued." Tech said, following in, Mila close behind him.
Mona, however, was scared to get down and just hugged Hunter, who was more than fine carrying her as he was last to follow Phee in.
Omega shined some light through the compass in case there were anymore UV light symbols. The horses kept an eye out too, seeing as Mona was a little occupied with Hunter at the moment.
"So, what exactly is the Heart of the Mountain?" Omega asked.
"A rare crystalline stone." Phee said.
"Is it shiny and pretty?" Diamond asked.
"Possibly. Some say it's the key to an ancient power, which makes it worth more than you could possibly fathom."
"And probably all the more reason to make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands." Kara said.
"I have run a preliminary analysis of the minerals in those stone slabs." Tech said. "They predate the Republic. Phee may be on to something."
Except, Omega, Kara, their horses and Phee were quick to notice the guys were falling behind.
"Hey, tough guys. Want to tell your horses to pick up the pace?"
That was when everyone heard a strange sound.
Wrecker shined a light at a hole in the ceiling. At first, nothing seemed to happen, and then this horrible creature jump in and tried to bite Wrecker. The Batch immediately began shooting at it, the unicorns blasting magic, and Omega firing her crossbow.
"It's drooling on me!" Wrecker panicked.
Everyone kept firing until the creature was gone, but then they had a new problem as everyone scattered to fight the creature. The walls started to crumble, and everyone had to get down.
All the girls were on one side, and Hunter too, and the rest of the guys got trapped on the other.
"TECH!" Mila panicked. She quickly began calling and searching for her boyfriend. "Tech! Can you hear me?"
"Echo, Tech, Wrecker, Crosshair, are you okay?" Omega called over her comm.
On the other side...
Wrecker groaned as he picked himself up. Citrus shook himself to get all the dust and dirt out of his hair.
"Pleh!" Citrus spat. "I think I swallowed some dirt."
"We're fine." Echo said. "But there's too much debris. We can't get through."
"Can't Citrus kick through it?" Crosshair suggested.
"A mound of this size?" Citrus said. "We'd need more horsepower, even if I didn't think it would just cause another cave-in."
Tech checked his tablet.
"The readings in here are not as clear, but I can track your position." Tech said. "There are smaller side tunnels throughout. We will navigate a path and rendezvous with you at the other end."
"Good. Then we'll keep looking for the treasure."
"Be careful, mi amor." Mila begged, and she glared at Phee.
"What? The treasure's what we're here for." Phee shrugged.
"Well excuse me if in the event I were given the choice of leaving this cave with a jewel or my husband, I'll gladly choose my husband."
"He's not your husband yet."
"That's doesn't make him ripe for the taking."
"Either way, he'll be fine. So will the others. Come on. Fortune awaits."
So, the group went on. However, at least one of the horses became concerned about Mila and her relationship with Tech.
"You sure you're not the jealous type, Mila?" said Magenta.
"I'm not jealous. I just worry sometimes."
Magenta started to wonder then.
"Mila... has someone broken your heart before?"
"What gave you that theory?"
"In my experience, when someone becomes jealous when someone else hits on their significant other, it's usually because they've suffered a nasty case of heartbreak before and they're terrified of facing it again."
Mila almost let tears fall as she thought back to a time when she did have a boyfriend before Tech. But, she decided not to think about that and said they should just focus on completing the mission and getting out of there alive.
"If you ever do need to talk, you can always talk to me." Magenta said.
The girl group suddenly stopped as they heard a creature growling in the distance.
"Stay together, children." Kara said.
"We need to keep moving." Hunter said.
Hunter stepped in first to what looked like a metal tunnel.
"Be careful, Hunter! Step on the wrong thing, it could trigger another booby-trap." Mona warned.
"I'm being careful." Hunter said.
"This is too easy," said Phee, looking into the tunnel.
"Mona, do you see anything?" Mila asked.
"More markings!" Mona exclaimed, pointing upward. "Up there! On the ceiling!"
Omega pointed the light in the compass up at the ceiling, and sure enough there were more markings. Suddenly, Kara sensed danger.
"Hunter, get out of there!" Kara exclaimed, Force pulling Hunter back as the floor started to crumble beneath his feet.
"Looks like we need to find a way to walk across the ceiling." Omega said.
"My thoughts exactly." said Phee.
"You're just making this up as you go," sighed Hunter.
"It's part of the fun."
No one could see it, but they could tell Hunter was rolling his eyes under his helmet.
"Loosen up, Bandana. You're in good hands." Phee said.
"We have almost died three times already."
"If walking on the ceiling's what we need to do." Comedia said, already upside down and on the ceiling. "I can help with that."
That made some of the others laugh.
"I'm not so sure that's going to cut it, Comedia." Mila giggled. "It's a clever idea, though."
While Phee and Hunter were arguing, Omega shined some light on what looked like a symbol that was shaped like the compass. It looked like it was missing a small piece. Something small and circular, but flat too... like the compass. Curious, Omega walked over and placed the compass into the little hole. It was a perfect fit.
To everyone's great surprise, a door opened on the other side of the tunnel. And when Omega turned the symbol around, the cave's markings glowed, and the entire tunnel turned around until the markings were on the floor. But, they had to make sure it was safe to walk on and wouldn't collapse like walking on thin ice, or crumble like the floor (now the ceiling) did under under Hunter's feet. So, Buttercup picked up a big rock and kicked it in like a soccer ball.
Nothing happened.
"It's clear." Buttercup said.
Omega tried to pull the compass out again, but it was stuck.
"The compass! I can't get it." Omega grunted.
"It's served its purpose." Phee said. "Skara Nal's reclaimed it."
Omega sighed and repeated that last line Phee said to herself.
"So, we have to navigate this death trap without it?" Hunter didn't like the thought of that.
"Good thing you have me." Phee smirked.
Hunter sighed.
"Relax, Hunter. You have a Jedi on your team, as well as several mares with a natural born sense of direction." Kara said.
"And one of us is a royal guard, no stranger to danger." Zipp added.
The group walked across the tunnel, following the light of the markings as well as the lantern, hoping they would find their friends on the other side.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Batch, and Citrus continued down their tunnels to meet up with the rest of their friends.
"How much further?" Wrecker groaned.
"Uncertain," said Tech, looking at his tablet. "Something ahead is interfering with my scans."
Echo tried to contact hunter on his comm.
"Hunter, come in." But he only got static in response. "Comms are down too."
Suddenly, Citrus' ears shot up and he whinnied softly in a panic as he heard a sound of growling in the distance.
"Did you hear that?" Citrus gasped.
"I-It's that thing." Wrecker said worriedly.
"It's in your head, Wrecker." Echo said.
But Wrecker and Citrus weren't so sure.
The group heard something again, and as they came to what appeared to be an exit, they each brought out their weapons, but Citrus got a little crazy.
"Charge!" Citrus shouted, running in, only to see he needed to stop... but he stopped too late.
And Citrus crashed into Zipp, and then it was a whole pile of ponies and Omega and Mona were on top.
"That's gotta hurt." Echo winced.
Wrecker, however was laughing.
"What took you boys so long?" Kara asked, getting out from under Buttercup.
"Phee thinks we're getting close to the treasure." Omega smiled.
"Wait, where's Hunter?" Mona asked, looking around.
And then there was the sound of muffled cries.
"Get off of me!" said the muffled voice from underneath Strawberry, and the strawberry scented pegasus got up to find she'd been laying on top of Hunter when she fell down.
"Oh! Sorry, Hunter." Strawberry said.
Mila helped Hunter up and quickly hugged Tech, relieved to see he was okay.
However, Tech was interested in the door that was in front of everyone.
"What type of puzzle is this?" Tech asked.
"Don't overthink it Brown Eyes," said Phee. She felt around the door to find some kind of handle. "Sometimes a door's..."
Phee pulled the handle, and the door opened.
"Just a door." Mila said. "Eh. Not as fun a puzzle though."
And when the group looked inside, they found a case that looked to hold something purple and shiny.
"Pretty!" Diamond said in awe at the shiny crystal.
"There. The Heart of the Mountain."
Everyone carefully began making their way toward the crystal. It was a beautiful crystal. Phee got the closest, and was about to pick it up... when Mona swooped in and stopped her.
"Wait!" Mona exclaimed. "Don't pick it up! I've seen this before. If you take the treasure, another booby trap will activate. We gotta put something in its place. Something with the same weight."
"Mona's right," said Kara. "If there were booby traps set to keep hunters from getting to the treasure, chances are there's even one for thieves in the event they manage to take it from its place."
"What can we replace it with though?" Magenta asked.
"Mila, do you have anything in your invention bag that might be the same weight as the crystal?" Omega asked.
Mila looked inside her bag and found nothing useful in there besides her usual tools and a bunch of spare parts, none of which were the right size or shape.
"Nope. Comedia, you wouldn't happen to hold any heavy items for making pranks, would you?"
"Uh-uh." Comedia shook her head. "Most of my pranks are fairly lightweight. How about a rock?"
Comedia managed to find a big rock and pick it up with her magic.
"If Mila can use some of her tools to chisel it to the right size, it might work."
Luckily, Mila did have a chisel and a small hammer in her bag, so she gave it a go, and Comedia flew over with the rock, Mila riding on her back.
"You have to put it in as quickly as you take it out." Mona said.
Mila got into position, ready to place the rock while Phee removed the crystal.
The whole room seemed to get tense as the two women got ready to switch on three. If the horses had fingernails, they'd probably be chewing them by now. Phee carefully turned and took out the crystal, Mila quickly placing in the rock. Nothing happened.
"Yes!" Mila whispered victoriously.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound, and the rumbling got worse in mere seconds, shaking everything outside.
The whole room started to move, sending everyone sliding down the floor until the flying horses swooped in and grabbed everyone, and Kara picked Citrus up with the Force.
"I suspect this is not, in fact, a treasure vault." Tech said.
"Um... you think, Captain Obvious?" Magenta said.
"Then what is it?" said Omega.
"Good question." Echo said, Mini-R2 concurring.
No one else could see it, but outside, something sent out a large energy surge that shook the inside and spooked the horses again.
"What the heck was that?" Mila said.
"It just emitted a massive surge of energy." Tech said. "Whatever we are standing inside is highly destructive!"
"So what do we do to shut it down?" Wrecker asked.
"If removing the Heart of the Mountain activated it, perhaps we must return it to its proper place to deactivate it."
"Do you know how much this is worth?" Phee said. "It's what we came for!"
"And it's also activated a weapon of mass destruction!" Mila pointed out.
"Can't you find a separate kill switch or something?"
"Our ship's out there." Hunter said. "If that thing destroys it, we'll be trapped on this planet!"
Given that their comms didn't seem to work too well in this place, it didn't stand to reason that Omega or Kara's cell phones would work any better to just call for another ship to pick them up.
"Alright, but you owe me." Phee said.
Except, something began to open the door, and it turned out to be none other than the creature that attacked them in the caves earlier. Everyone got out their weapons and started to attack it, but Phee ended up dropping the stone.
"You deal with that!" Phee said. "I'll get the stone."
Phee quickly made her way down into what looked like a bunch of wires, Mila following to help. But the machine shook again and would've sent Phee out the window and to her doom had Mila not jumped in and grabbed her hand.
"I got you!" Mila grunted, pulling Phee and the crystal back on board.
"Thank you," sighed Phee with relief.
"Vamanos. We're not done yet." Mila said.
Meanwhile, poor Mel was on the run from this machine, and the others were busy fighting the creature. Kara threatened it with her lightsaber, and Wrecker grabbed its tail while Comedia sprayed silly string onto the beast's face and Magenta blasted loud music that irritated the creature's ears.
"Shoot the window!" Wrecker shouted to Omega.
So, Omega did shoot some arrows at the window.
"Cease fire!" Zipp said, and Omega obeyed, as Zipp and Buttercup flew to the window and kicked it hard enough to shatter it so Wrecker could throw the monster out the window. "Tech, do something!"
"I am trying, but nothing is working!" Tech said.
The machine was getting closer and closer to the Marauder by the second. Luckily, Mila and Phee returned with a certain artifact.
"Tech! The stone!" Mila called, throwing the stone to her boyfriend.
Quickly, Tech took the stone, and together he and Omega returned it to its place.
The machine stopped, but the crystal started to sizzle and crack.
"That doesn't look good!" Mona exclaimed.
"Hang on to something!" Hunter exclaimed.
Kara quickly grabbed Omega in her arms, Hunter grabbing Mona. And everyone got into duck and cover mode as the machine began to break down probably more violently than when Comedia blew up a tripod in the Crescenda caper.
The machine collapsed, but everyone survived.
"This puts at 0 for 2 in treasure hunting, even with a professional." Tech said.
"We did find the Heart of the Mountain." Omega said. "The legend was real."
"Now that's the right attitude." Phee said.
Daylight soon shined again, and the group made their way back to the ship.
"At least no one can ever activate that thing again." Hunter said.
"So, what you're saying is, it's a good thing we came after all?" Phee smirked.
"I guess it's safe to say the real treasure is that we may have saved many lives today." Kara said. "Including our own, thank the Force."
"Sorry about Mel." Omega said to Phee.
"This happens all the time." Phee said, not sounding upset. "That's why I keep Mel's memory stored on my ship's data bank. I'll have her rebuilt before we head to Vadnay."
"What's on Vadnay?"
"I have a lead on a certain chalice. Very ancient."
"Really?"
"Legend has it the chalice once belonged tot he Kingdom of Elweys, lost over a millennia ago."
Omega was fascinated by the story, but Hunter just rolled his eyes at the thought.
Mona looked up at Hunter and said, "Maybe the next adventure, we will find something of financial value... but at least we got out with an exciting story to tell when we get home, right?"
Hunter chuckled a bit and said, "Why don't we keep this bit a secret from your parents? Keep this as our secret treasure?"
"Okay." Mona smiled.
For now, it was time to get back on the ship to get home and await their next adventure.
(cue "Raiders March" by John Williams theme from Indiana Jones)
Hope you enjoyed the newest chapter of Return of the Doresho. Please review. And be sure to check out my midquel story Switch-Aversary