Journey: The Center of Gaea

  The skull shook as Quillton pointed his light to the edge. "Uh oh." He said. "Problem, that's the riverbed. We're running out of water." He told us. The rest of us gulped. "Hold on, this is going to get a little bit...." Quillton said as the skull went off the edge and wedged itself into the two walls of a cavern. "Bumpy." He coughed. Crimson groaned as she sat up. Then, she glanced down.

   "Uh, guys." She said. I glanced down with her.

   "That's not good. That's magma, and it's rising." I told Dad, Sunset, and Quillton. They glanced over the edge. "We're too late for the geyser, guys. We missed it." I said.

   "So what do we do?" Sunset asked. The magma rose slowly. "We need something." She said.

   "Nothing will work, we're done for." I said.

   "But the walls are still wet." Dad told me.

   "That's impossible, it's 122 degrees down here!" I yelled.

   "Galaxy." Quillton said.

    "What?" I asked. Quillton pointed behind me. I turned around and felt the wall. "It is wet. It's cold." I gasped. "There's water behind here." I said. Then I noticed magnesium. "Sunset, how many flares you got left?" I asked her.

   "Three. What's the plan?" She asked as she handed me one. Dad and Quillton kept watching the magma.

   "I'm going to light the magnesium, this time on purpose." I told them, putting the flare to the magnesium after tying myself to a rope a going down. "Ugh! Too wet!" I groaned. I grabbed another, nothing. Sunset handed me the last one. I put it against the wall, nothing. "Too wet down here, I'm going to have to throw it across to the other side!" I called to them. I aimed the flare at the other wall. I chucked it, the magnesium lit, then went out. "Shit!" I said just before the magnesium lit up and begun exploding. "Whoa! Whoa! It's lit! Pull me up!" I said. Crimson pulled me up. "Hey! Watch the teeth! Watch the teeth!" I told my dad, Crimson, Sunset and Quillton. We braced for impact as the water hit the magma and made the combination rise fast like a geyser, shooting us up. Sunset noticed a light.

   "Is that..." She asked. I nodded. The skull flew out of a volcano hole and slid down a mountain, coming to a stop at a tree. The five of us sat up, glancing behind us.

    "That's Mount Everfree." Quillton said. "Huh, how odd." He shrugged before Sunset kissed him. Crimson giggled. Quillton was both shocked and brain dead. "What was that for, dearie?" He asked Sunset. She smiled.

    "Just because." Sunset said, kissing his cheek. Quillton smiled. Then, I noticed my car right where I left it.

    "How long were we down there?" I asked. Quillton checked his watch.

    "2 days." He said, astounded. Then, he reached into my bag. "Galaxy?" He asked as he pulled out a bag full of the gems we found in that one cave.

    "What? I took a few samples." I said. Quillton scoffed.

    "A few samples?" He asked. I smiled.

    "OK, maybe a few pounds of samples, but what do you expect? I'm a scientist's son." I laughed. Quillton laughed and tossed me the bag. Crimson hugged me. Tomorrow she started school again. Dad laughed.

   "Come on Crimson, let's get you home." Dad smiled. I shook Quillton's hand and slung on my bag.

   "See you tomorrow, buddy." I told him. He saluted me. Sunset held his arm, smiling. They followed us to my car so I could drop them off. Quillton decided he'd drive Sunset home. As I pulled up to our house, Mom came running out the door, and she gasped when she saw dad.

   "Quartz?" She asked as Dad got out. "Is that you?" Mom gasped. Dad nodded.

   "Hello, Crystal." Dad smiled. Mom hugged dad and kissed him. "Oh I missed you." Dad said.

   "I missed you too, honey." Mom said, before hugging me and Crimson. "Where did you find him?" She asked me.

   "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I smiled. Mom hugged me again. Crimson smiled. "Welcome home, sweetie." Mom told me. I smiled.

   "Thanks, mom." I told her.

4 months later........

    "Crimson! Hey!" Sweetie Belle called after Crimson. She was now wearing a dark purple blouse, a black skirt, and cream converse, with her pink hair shoulder length. Crimson smiled when Apple Bloom and Scootaloo came up. "So Crimson, we were thinking maybe during the summer you'd like to hang out?" Sweetie Belle asked.

   "Sure thing, girls." Crimson chuckled, hugging them. Then, she heard my car horn, and smiled. I was now wearing a dark blue shirt, blue jeans, and my blue converse. I now had a dark blue mustang and gave Quillton my impala. Crimson ran up to me, smiling. "You used some of those gems to buy that, didn't you?" She laughed as she looked at my suit and car. I laughed.

    "Ready to go?" I asked. She nodded and waved bye to the girls. She hopped in the front seat, rolled down her window, and smiled as I turned on her favorite radio station. I had enrolled as her new science teacher next year, but that's another story.....