~Chapter 2- Bearded Dragons~

Aero and Jirro effortlessly jumped meters into the air at a time, scaling the mountains up to the cavern where the orb was said to preside. Ruben and Temp much more carefully treaded through the terrain of the mountain. They crossed a metal bridge over a stream of lava. Aero and Jirro waited patiently at the mouth of the cave.

"How did you two get so much stronger?" Temp asked as he reached them, "Last year, you didn't even stand a chance against me."

Aero simply said, "We trained a lot."

Temp rolled his eyes. He didn't know what he expected.

The four stood at the mouth of the cavern, illuminated by the flowing lava inside, and they entered. A thin trail of magma ran across the ground. While the others stepped over it, Temp stepped directly into it without a care. Aero and Jirro began to sweat, but did their best to act like the heat wasn't affecting them.

The caverns separated into several paths, but they stayed together. In a dangerous place like this, it'd be unwise to take chances. In the distance, they saw a great lizard-like creature with brown skin and red eyes, staring absent-mindedly at a wall. Under its chin were prickly scales. A bearded dragon. It didn't seem to notice the group as they passed by it.

"It's sort of cool looking!" Aero remarked.

Ruben walked directly up to the bearded dragon, its body dwarfing the boulder-shaped child multiple times over. The beast looked like it was just large enough to swallow a person whole. It continued to stare blankly through the air like a statue, unaware of Ruben's presence.

"Be careful around that thing," Temp warned.

The bearded dragon's eyes drifted down and looked at Ruben. It stooped down, opened its mouth, and an orange light drifted from its mouth. The bearded dragon belched fire. Ruben was unaffected, merely closing his eye-stones as the flames drifted over him.

Ruben turned back to the others, "See. It's harmless."

The bearded dragon opened its mouth wide and lunged forward. The others froze up as Ruben disappeared down its throat. The beast belched fire after completing its meal and stared blankly into the air once more.

Aero, Jirro, and Temp froze... and panicked!

"What do we do? What do we do?!" Aero spouted.

"Should we try to get him out?" Jirro frantically asked, "How could we do that?"

"I mean, we're probably going to have kill the thing!" Temp shouted, "Cut it open and pull Ruben out."

All the while, the bearded dragon sat idly by, paying the three no mind. But then the creature began to convulse. It opened its mouth and violently wretched. In moments, Ruben was vomited from the bowels of the beast, covered in sticky fluids, and the creature scurried away with great speed.

Ruben sat in the fluids, its red irises dilated within its eye-stones.

"Ruben! Are you okay?" Aero asked as they circled around him.

Ruben sat in shock. The boulder child sat up, "I'm so glad I don't have to eat like the rest of you. That was disgusting!"

After Ruben recovered they continued through the caverns. When they came across other bearded dragons, they kept their distance. Temp and Jirro looked over the environment for any sign of the orb. Aero led the way - he had a feeling they were close.

Aero saw a boy farther down into the cavern, wearing ragged and tattered garbs, a leather hood, and a featureless white mask that hid all but his eyes.

Aero gritted his teeth, it was him again.

Aero sprinted through the caverns after the boy. The boy flicked a finger at the cavern ceiling above him, and a purple beam of light was emitted from his finger. As it struck the ceiling, the ground cracked, and magma spewed from it. Aero charged forward and made it through before the lava could strike the ground.

"Aero!" Jirro shouted from behind the lava fall. The falling magma separated Aero from the others.

Aero knew the Masked boy was after the orb too, he had to find it first! The Masked One began to gently levitate into the air and flew, and Aero followed close behind.

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~Chapter 3- Fire Ant~

         Jirro shook his head. What got into Aero there? Out of nowhere, he sprinted further into the cavern, and then the ceiling started to crack. What odd timing.

         Temp ran his hands through the lava spewing from above, "Want me to go after him?"

         Jirro shook his head, "Aero can take care of himself. We'll run into him eventually. Let's keep looking."

         The ground began to rumble. Jirro looked around at the ceiling, in case there was another crack forming in the ceiling. But the rumbling came from something approaching. Several bearded dragons scurried towards the three to investigate the noise.

         The bearded dragons belched fire at the three. Temp jumped in front of the inbound and fire and took the brunt of it. The heat did him no harm.

         Jirro ran towards the creatures, hopping over the bearded dragons to their tails. He gripped one of their tails hard, twisted his waist, and proceeded to toss the creature against a wall of the caverns.

         One of the beasts flicked their tails at Jirro, but he simply caught it mid-swing. He gripped it, and with a mighty throw over his shoulder, he flipped the creature onto its back.

         A bearded dragon lunged at Temp, pinning him to the ground. It went to devour the Mecarne, but he grabbed the beast's jaws and held it at bay. Ruben would've helped if one of the beasts didn't attack it as well.

         Temp torqued on the beast's mouth and twisted it to the side, relieving enough of its body weight off of him that he could slip out from under it and stand. When it tried to lunge again, he kicked it in the snout.

         The bearded dragons realized the three were not to be trifled with and turned tail, scurrying away through the caves.

         "I think those dragons are just defending their home," Ruben said, "Maybe we should go?"

         Temp sneered at the thought, "Not until we find that orb. I don't get paid until we do."

         Jirro narrowed his eyes at Temp, "Maybe Ruben's right, this place is dangerous. But we should at least find Aero before we leave. This orb isn't worth it."

         Temp scowled, "I didn't come here for nothing!"

         "I'll pay you for your trouble... Don't worry."

         The three began to backtrack through the caverns, briefly checking out areas they hadn't investigated yet as they went. They came upon a particularly large pool of lava in an open area, with bearded dragons circled around it. When the creatures saw the three, they hissed at them but didn't dare approach. The dragons were scared of them.

         "I really think we should be out of here," Ruben pressed as they walked.

         Temp chuckled, "What's wrong, kid? Are they making you nervous? Worried one might try to eat you again?" Ruben furrowed his rock brow. Temp looked back and saw the young Densius's irritation, "Sorry kid. I guess it's become a force of habit to talk like that to friends. It's just how everyone was in Ekor's crew. Try not to take anything I say to heart," Temp explained, sounding surprisingly sincere.

         Jirro clicked his tongue and smiled at Temp, "Did you just apologize?"

         Temp rolled his eyes, "Don't get used to it."

         The center of the pool of lava began to rupture, forming a ripple effect through it. The lava violently began to morph; something was moving within it! A shape was starting to become evident within the magma. A massive figure drew near to the end of the lava pool, and the three stepped back quickly, as did the bearded dragons.

         Two curved blades colored orange from the surrounding magma emerged from the pool of lava, followed by a round head with antennae atop it. The head alone was larger than the children or any of the bearded dragons. An oval-like thorax with several thin legs followed the head. At the end was a large bulbous abdomen. The bizarre creature was completely covered in lava and magma.

         It shook its whole body and the lava which covered it was shaken off. Temp stood in front of the others to protect them from an incoming chunk of lava. Two solid black eyes were revealed on the creature's head.

         It snapped its pincers and charged after the three. Ruben and Temp ran out of instinct, but Jirro clenched his fist. A blue light surrounded his fist, and with a punch through the air, a beam of light rocketed towards the creature. The Focus Burst struck the creature... and did nothing. As it drew close, Jirro could feel intense heat emanating off it, and he turned tail to run.

         The three managed to run out of sight of the creature and hid, but it chased them into a dead end of the caverns. It was a largely empty area with only a single small pool of lava to illuminate it. They hid behind a pillar of rock for cover.

         "What is that thing?" Jirro asked from behind cover. He watched the creature linger around the passage they had come through. It was blocking their only way out.

         Temp stared, "I think it's an insect."

         "What's that?" Jirro and Ruben asked in unison.

         "A massive creature that used to populate the world a long time ago. I heard they were hunted to extinction," Temp explained, "This one must've adapted to the heat of Weld Mountain and hid here. I think this one is a Fire Ant."

         Jirro clicked his tongue, "I can't fight this thing. Its body is too hot to get close to, and my Focus Burst didn't seem to harm it at all."

         "You can't fight an insect! They're practically mythical creatures. No one can kill them."

         "Even if we could kill it, I don't think we should," Ruben said softly, "It's just defending its home. If we didn't stir things up, it probably would've left us alone."

         Jirro stared at the Fire Ant blocking their escape and recalled the bearded dragons sitting around the lava pool before. Were they calling the fire ant for help?

         "So, what do we do?" Temp looked to the young Densius with bated breath.

         "We need to escape somehow," Jirro looked around the area, "Which is difficult since it seems to be blocking the only way out."

         The Fire Ant snapped its large pincers loudly, and the sound reverberated through the caverns. Ruben's eyes were fixed on the pool of lava, "Temp, you can swim through lava, right?"

         Temp nodded and followed Ruben's eye line to a pool of lava, "You want me to go in there?"

         "Yeah. See if you can find another way out. Maybe there's a wall we can break through or something."

         Temp nodded and deftly ran to the pool of lava, making as little noise as possible, and dived in. Ruben and Jirro were alone.