Chapters Journey: The Center of Gaea
Me and Crimson were back at the forest gathering roots for the boat. "Sis, when this is all over, I need to back home for a couple days to see you and Mom." I told her.
"Hell yeah, you do." Crimson said. "Mom misses ya, you know." She told me. Then, we saw Quillton run by, Crystal leading him somewhere.
"Quillton?" I asked. Me and Crimson dropped our roots and raced after him. "Quillton, where is she taking us?" I called after him.
"She found your dad!!" He told me. My eyes widened. Crimson looked at me and ran faster. We stopped at a treehouse. A man about 45 or so was going through research. He was blue skinned like me with brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing a dark blue coat, black shirt, black jeans, and black combat boots. His hair was streaked with gray. Crimson was shocked. He turned his head and glanced at us, his eyes widening when he saw me and Crimson.
"Galaxy?" He asked. He ran down the stairs toward me and my sister. "Crimson?" He asked us.
"Dad?" I asked. Dad smiled.
"Hello, son." He said, hugging me and my sister.
"Dad, I thought you were..." I struggled to say. He chuckled.
"Well, apparently not!" Dad said, laughing. "I've been down here trying to find that idol, son." He told me.
"Any luck?" I asked. He shook his head.
"Sadly, no." Dad told me. The he noticed Quillton. "Ah, Quillton!" He laughed. "I worked with your dad." He said. Quillton's eyes widened.
"My..my dad?! " Quillton asked. Dad nodded.
"Yup! Man was he fun to work with!" Dad laughed. "Son, do you have a way out of here?" He asked. I nodded.
"We're just about done with our boat. Dad, come with us, please." I asked him. Dad sighed, and nodded.
"OK, let's go." He smiled. me and Crimson smiled and ran back to the ocean where Sunset was just about done with the boat. She gasped when she saw my dad.
"Is that..." She started before my dad cut her off, shaking her hand.
"Quartz Nebula, scientist." He said. "Now, Galaxy, Crimson, tie those bands together. Quillton, help Sunset with tying that mast." He said. All of us nodded. Soon, the boat was done. Dad smiled. Sunset yanked five big sticks out of the ground.
"We'll use these for oars." She said. Me and Quillton nodded. Quillton got in front of me and Sunset in the back. Crimson and dad got in the middle. We then began rowing the boat out towards the ocean. I looked at the sky. No clouds, meaning the boat trip might actually be the easiest thing here. Of course, our victory was short-lived when the man-eating fish arrived. I was standing up with dad and we were batting away every single one that jumped out of the ocean with an extra stick we picked up. I had been in the Baseball league when I was younger so I knew how to bat. Quillton was tying the bands together tightly so the boat didn't break. Sunset helped me bat away the fish as the sail carried our boat.
"Come on!" I yelled at the fish. "Come get some!" I said as I batted one away. The fish landed back in the water and swam away from our boat. Oh you think that's it? Just man-eating fish? Oh no no no. It gets much worse than that. Pretty soon bigger fish were jumping out of the water, roughly the size of a small house lamp. Batting them away was harder because it required more force to bat at them. One of them had almost bitten Crimson before I caught it in time and batted it over the side of the boat. The boat rocked and came to a complete stop as we hit land. Quillton glanced up. Dad did also.
"This cavern, something's familiar about it." He told us. He was right, something was familiar about this cavern we walked up to. Dad and I walked up to the cave. There was an engraving on the cave. I squinted my eyes to read it. I then put on my black framed rectangle glasses to read it better. It read: "Danger to all who enter. "
"What do you think, son?" Dad asked me. I glanced at the cave.
"The idol has to be here."I told him. Dad nodded, and me, him, Sunset, Quillton, and Crimson ran into it, hoping it wouldn't be booby-trapped.
Journey: The Center of Gaea
As we entered the cave, we were blinded by a brilliant yet very bright light. We came to another ledge. Quillton glanced down. "Well, it seems that there's a magnetic force holding the rocks up." He explained. Me and Sunset nodded. Dad looked towards the edge.
"There's another cave." He glanced at the rocks. "We have to jump across. Crimson, Sunset, you two go ahead of us, then me, Galaxy, and Quillton will follow." Dad said. Crimson and Sunset nodded.
"OK Crimson, nice and steady now." Sunset said. Crimson nodded and tried not to look down. She hated high places. As they got across, my dad and I went next.
"So dad, why did you come down here besides to find the Idol?" I asked him.
"Well, son, I came down to explore." He told me. "The Idol? It's an ancient relic that is worth millions!" He said. "Imagine how rich our family could be." Dad explained.
"Dad, I'm going to be wise here and say donate that wealth to people who are homeless. It's what I'd do." I told him. He sighed.
"Oh you're right, son. It does make sense to do that." He smiled. We made it across to the other side, Quillton right behind us. We went through another cavern that read: Chamber of the Idol. Dad and I looked at each other. "OK, here's the plan, Galaxy will go in and grab the Idol then meet us at the geyser that'll take us back to the surface." Dad explained. "The Idol can only be collected by a person who's heart is pure and honest to good, for example, Galaxy and Crimson." He continued. "This place is warming up, like a big oven. So we need to bolt out of here as quick as possible." Dad then turned to me. "Galaxy, if you can get the idol before this place starts to boil, you come out as quick as you can and make a bolt for the geyser." He told me. I nodded. "Right, we'll wait for a few minutes until he comes out." Dad said to the others. They nodded, and I ran in the cave.
My eyes widened as I entered the cave, The walls were a bright white, and the ceiling was a clear blue sky, white pillars were standing everywhere, and in the center, the Idol of Gaea itself. I walked up to it, and two guardian statues turned to me, their eyes turning a bright green and scanning me.
"Galaxy Nebula, you may proceed for the test. " One said in a robotic voice. I walked up to the idol, and it was made to resemble Lauren Faust, the god of everything My Little Pony. I reach out with one hand and picked it up. it was lighter than I thought. I glanced up at it as I held it. Suddenly, everything became clear. My journey to find the Idol wasn't to take it, it was to leave it be, and let it protect this world. I set it back down on it's perch, and the guardians turned around to me, and smiled. "You have passed the test. " They told me. I ran out back to dad, Sunset, Quillton, and Crimson. Dad saw my empty hands.
"Where's the Idol?" He asked.
"Everything's clear now. My quest wasn't to take the idol, it was to just see it, and leave it be." I said. Quillton understood.
"He's right, Mr. Nebula." He said. "Over the years, your son has become quite wise, and he knows to leave the forces of nature....alone." Quillton winked at me. I winked back. Dad was astounded.
"But...all my research, all that time down here..." He said, confused. I patted his back.
"Dad, an artifact like the Idol should stay where it is, and it should be left alone to protect Gaea. That's it's purpose." I told him. Dad sniffed and nodded, then smiled. Crimson hugged me. Then, a violent shake startled us.
"This place is boiling, we need to get to that geyser, now!" Quillton said. Dad, me, and Crimson nodded as we ran to the river where the geyser was supposed to be.
"The water's boiling, how are we supposed to..." Dad asked.
"We need some kind of transport, a raft or something." I said. Then, Sunset was rowing a T.Rex skull down the river, smiling. She stopped next to us.
"Who had dibs on me?" She asked me and Quillton. Quillton pointed to me and I pointed to him. She laughed. "Just get in." She said. Dad hopped in with me and Crimson, Quillton next. We then rowed down the river, hoping for it to lead us somewhere.
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.....
Journey: The Center of Gaea
Quartz Nebula ran, panting heavily as he did. Something was behind him, something big. He came to a ledge and stopped, then jumped it. He grabbed onto the edge of the other side, and pulled himself up, before losing his footing and falling. "Galaxy!!!" He yelled before he fell. I woke up with a start.
"Dad." I sighed. My dad had gone on an expedition and I haven't seen him in ten years. I looked at my clock. 8:00 AM. I opened the blinds of my room and sunlight poured in.
It was humble and quiet here in Ponyville. Well it was quiet until today. Who am I? I'm Galaxy Nebula, son of Quartz Nebula. I also have a little sister named Crimson, but more info on her later. This is the story of how me and my pals found the Center of Gaea. My family is or was a bit weird. Every one of my relatives' names had something to do with a topic from Science, except for my sister. I was named after the topic of Astronomy, the study of stars. Hence why my coat has a spiraling galaxy on the front.
I was TARDIS blue skinned, I always wore a dark blue blazer with a light blue collared shirt, and purple tie with blue and white stripes, dark blue jeans, and blue converse. I had natural messy black hair, and brown eyes, in my 20's and was roughly 5'7. I even had my own car. A black '67 Chevy Impala. Man was it a beast. I work at the Canterlot University.
I'm a professor there. I work along professors Quillton Brooks and Twilight Sparkle. I liked Twilight, but didn't want to admit it. Quillton was roughly 5'10, in his 30's and was white skinned and had bright orange hair, blue eyes, and wore a black three-piece suit with faint grey pinstripes, his jacket having three buttons, rather than the usual two, a dark purple shirt, and a black tie with a purple and blue swirl pattern. He often wore a three buttoned long coat, similar to that of the Twelfth Doctor's from Doctor Who. As our shift ended later that day, I parked my car at my place, went inside, and plopped on the couch. Man was I tired. I heard a knock on my door. It was Quillton. "What is it?" I asked him. He had a very serious look on his face. He handed me a book. "What's this?" I asked.
"Read the title." He said. He had somewhat of a British accent to him. I read the title of the book.
"Journey to the Center of Gaea?" I asked. He nodded.
"Look inside the back." He told me as he made sure no one followed him. I opened the back of the book. A note was inside that looked about 10 years old. I took out the note, and read it.
"Galaxy, if you are reading this note, then the time has come where you are old enough to understand something. I found it, son. I finally found it after years of searching. However, I wasn't able to get it without getting killed. I might be dead by the time you finish reading this, but, what I found, it's extraordinary, son. It's the lost Idol of Gaea. It's here, at the very center of our planet. I need your help to get it however, and restore our family name as archaeologists. Sunset Shimmer, the daughter of Crystal Shimmer, knows how to get to the center of Gaea, she can help you out. Her address in on the back side. Don't ask how, I knew her mother. Good luck, son. " I was shocked. My dad was asking me to help restore out family name as archaeologists. Quillton looked at me suspiciously.
"You're not thinking of going, are you?" He asked. I looked at him.
"Quillton, if my dad needs help, then I'm going." I said as I slipped on my blazer. Quillton sighed.
"I was afraid of that." He said. "So how do we check these calculations that your dad left?" Quillton asked me, looking at my dad's journal he left also. I pondered on it.
"I think I know how we can." I told him. He looked at me and smiled a bit.
"We're going to my lab, aren't we?" Quillton asked. I nodded.
"Oh yes! Grab my keys, we're taking my car." I said. He grabbed my car keys and threw them to me. I caught them and stuffed them in my coat pocket. We drove to Quillton's lab. He unlocked the door and rushed to the computers. He switched them on.
"OK, see this here?" Quillton told me, pointing to the numbers. "You've got temperature rises in Canterlot, Las Pegasus, Manehattan, I mean the conditions today are almost the exact same as they were back then in June '05." He said. I was confused.
"Quillton, what's the big deal about June '05?" I asked him. Quillton looked at me seriously. "What?" I asked.
"Galaxy, that's the year your dad went on his exploration and went missing." He told me. "Look, see these numbers here? If this 759 here was a 760, then it would be..." Quillton got cut off as the number changed to the number in the journal. "Exactly the same." He said. I looked at another computer.
"Um, Quill, what are these little blips here?" I asked. He looked.
"Huh? Oh. Don't touch those. Those blips are my life's work." He said as he was typing in calculations. I scoffed.
"These four little blips are your life's work?" I asked. He sighed.
"Three. Three blips." Quillton told me, holding up three fingers. I tapped him in the shoulder and he looked at them.
"See? 1, 2, 3, 4." I said. Quillton's eyes widened.
"Ponyville." He said. We got in my car and drove to his house. "This makes sense." He said as he walked in the door. "Your dad saw the readings 10 years ago and took off to investigate. Now if the conditions are the same today as they were back then, then this might be our only chance to find out what happened." Quillton told me. I nodded. "Now, let's go find this Sunset Shimmer your dad mentioned."
Journey: The Center of Gaea
As me and Quillton drove down the street my dad's note said, we looked at the house numbers. "OK, so, 355 Magic street." Quillton said as he looked around. Then, he saw a bright purple house with the number 355. "This must be it." He told me as I shrugged. We got out of my car and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" A feminine voice answered. The door swung open, revealing a girl who looked no older than 20, with bright orange and red hair, green eyes, and was wearing a purple nightgown with black slippers. She looked roughly 5'7, maybe 5'6. She had bright orange skin as well. She looked at me and Quillton.
"Sunset Shimmer?" Quillton asked. Sunset nodded. "Hi, I'm Quillton Brooks, and this is my assistant, Galaxy Nebula." He introduced us. Quillton always did. We were like the Sam and Dean of Equestria. Sunset shook our hands. "We're here because there has been recent seismic activity around this area." Quillton said. Sunset looked rather shocked.
"There hasn't been any activity that I'm aware of." She told us. Quillton pulled out his laptop and showed her the readings. Her eyes widened. "Oh my god." She whispered to herself. "That's not normal." Sunset said as she looked at the readings.
"Mind if we come in?" I asked her. She nodded. I looked at Quillton the way I always looked at him whenever shit got real. Sunset was flying through her bookshelves in a fury. I almost got whacked in the head with a book as it flew by me. I dodged it just before it did and the book landed with a soft thud. Quillton looked around her living room.
"Well, Ms. Shimmer, you sure keep your house cluttered." He said. Sunset smiled nervously.
"I'm always so busy with my work that I forget to clean." She laughed nervously. I helped her clean up. "Thank you." She said. I smiled.
"I was raised to help people." I told her.
"You must've been raised well." She said. Quillton nodded.
"He was like that when I met him. He'd always go 'Quillton, do you need help?' I tell you, it was cute, somewhat." Quillton said. I made a 'cut it out' gesture to him. He laughed.
"Excuse us if my colleague's humor differs from mine." I apologized. "Anyways, as we said earlier, we need to get to the center of Gaea and my dad's note said you were the only one who knew how to get there." I said to Sunset. She nodded.
"Yes, I do. However, it's hard to get there by car, so we'll have to travel by foot." She told us. Me and Quillton nodded.
"Galaxy, mind if I talk to you for a minute?" Quillton asked me. I nodded and followed him outside. "I like her." He told me. I eyed him suspiciously. He had a thing for smart women. "Not in that way." He assured me. "I mean she's smart, intelligent, and maybe even funny." Quillton glanced at her. "Not to mention cute." He told me. "Anyways, we'll have to stay overnight to get a head-start in the morning. I need to check something on the mountain." He said.
"Right, when we get there, what is it you need to check?" I asked him.
"You see dearie, 10 years ago I placed sensors to detect seismic activity over the course of 2 years." He told me. I nodded.
"So I'm guessing you'll need to check it." I guessed. Quillton nodded. Then, he glanced over at Sunset.
"I call dibs." He told me. I was confused until I saw him glancing at Sunset, who was making a cup of coffee.
"Really?" I asked him. "Call dibs on our guide?" I groaned. He shrugged.
"Ah! There it is!" Quillton laughed next morning as we approached his sensor. Sunset was wearing hiking gear. She had on a bright white tank top covered by a dark green jacket, shorts, and hiking boots along with a bag containing all her research.
"What do you need to do?" She asked.
"I have to unlock it." Quillton said as he whipped out his sonic screwdriver. It was bronze and cream with a green emitter and claws at the end. "It's got like a black box thats recorded all seismic activity over the course of two years, dearie. This'll help me and Galaxy find out what his dad was up to when he came here 10 years ago." He told Sunset after pressing the button on his screwdriver. It lit up a bright green. Me and Sunset then saw a bolt of lightning. We jumped.
"Quill, buddy, leave it. We got a storm coming." I told him.
"I almost got it." Quillton said, his screwdriver trying to loosen the sensor. Lightning struck again. Me and Sunset ran for safety. The sensor came free. "Ha ha!" Quillton laughed, putting his screwdriver in his coat pocket. A bolt of lightning struck a few feet from him. "Whoa!" He exclaimed.
"Quillton! Get in here!" I yelled. The lightning followed him. Then I realized why the lightning was following him. "Quill, drop the sensor!" I told him.
"What are you, crazy?! I'm not going to drop it!" He yelled back.
"It's attracting the lightning!" Sunset yelled. "Drop it, Quillton!" She told him. Quillton yelled and dropped it. It exploded as the lightning struck it and he dived in the cave, boulders covering the entrance.
Journey: The Center of Gaea
Quillton coughed as the dust faded. "Is everyone OK?" He asked. Sunset stuck her thumb up, meaning she was good. "Where's Galaxy?" Quillton asked. "Galaxy?" He called. I coughed.
"Over here." I groaned. Sunset and Quillton raced to where I was. "I'm fine, I'm OK." I told them. Then I realized where we were. I stared at the boulders blocking the entrance. "We're stuck aren't we?" I asked. Quillton looked at the boulders, then me. He nodded.
"Big time, dearie." He said. "There's got to be at least 50 pounds of boulders on top of us. Take us about a month to get out of here." Quillton said.
"A month?!" I exclaimed. I pulled out my phone. "Damn it, no signal! Crimson calls when she gets worried about me." I told Sunset and Quillton. They looked at me confused.
"Crimson?" Sunset asked. I sighed.
"My little sister. She's turning 15 in a week, and I told her I'd be there to celebrate her birthday with her." I told them. I scrolled down to her number. No signal. I turned my phone off.
"Hi, this is Galaxy, I can't answer right now, but I'll call you back when I can. " Crimson's phone said. Our mom looked at her.
"Can't reach your brother?" She asked. Crimson shook her head. Her skin was a light crimson color. She was 14 with bright pink hair, purple eyes, and was in a purple t-shirt, black shorts, and had on her favorite purple striped socks. She was at least 5'5, and the cutest girl in her school. They boys that tried to get with her, well, let's say I didn't approve of them. Mom had gotten tired of the boys at her school, so I took on the responsibility to protect my little sis. She tried my phone again. It went to voice-mail. She sighed and decided to leave me a message.
"Hey big bro, it's Crimson. Call me back when you can please? You're not answering and I'm starting to worry." She said into the mic on her phone. She hung up and held her necklace. A bright amethyst gem necklace. I had given it to her for her 8th birthday. She wore it ever since that day. To her, it was special. Our mom hugged her.
"Don't worry sweetie, Galaxy will be back soon." She told her. Our mom's name was Crystal Gem. She was indigo skinned and in her mid 40's with black hair, blue eyes, and was in a black shirt and blue jeans and purple socks. Crimson sighed and turned on the TV.
"Where are you, Galaxy?" Crimson asked herself.
"How do we get out?" I asked Sunset and Quillton as we proceeded down a tunnel.
"Simple, dearie, we find the old mine shaft Sunset said, and we go from there." Quillton told me. I shrugged and moved forward. We stopped at a ledge that Quillton almost fell down. He exclaimed as Sunset pulled him back.
"You're not studying rocks in a lab, Quillton. This is life or death, OK?" She asked. He nodded. I noticed a flare in her bag.
"Hey Sunset, how many of those flares you got?" I asked. She looked in her bag.
"Uh, four, why?" She asked.
"Hand me one." I said. She handed me one. "OK, I'm going to light this, drop it down, and Quill, you're going to count how many seconds before it reaches the bottom." I looked over the edge. "Assuming there is one." Quillton nodded. I lit the flare, and as I was about to chuck it, the rock next to me exploded. We all exclaimed.
"What the hell?" Quillton asked. I ran my hand through the vein. I sniffed it.
"Huh, magnesium." I said, moving my light. "Must run in veins all through these walls." I noticed.
"Magnesium's kind of flamable, isn't it Galaxy?" Sunset asked.
"Yeah." I replied. I then found a glowstick in her bag ant lit it up. "Ha." I said. "Here goes." I dropped it down the edge. Quillton counted.
"1....2..." The glowstick made a faint thud. "Almost three." He told me. I did the math.
"OK, so that's, ooh, 200 feet?" I guessed. "We're going down there. Got rope?" I asked Sunset. She nodded. We hooked ourselves to the rope and propelled down. "OK, all good down here. Way down here." I said. "You guys are coming down right?" I asked. Quillton propelled down next to me. He was smiling. "What?" I asked.
"Galaxy, we haven't had an adventure this awesome in a while, dearie!!" He whooped. He propelled down the ledge further. I sighed and followed him. Sunset was behind me. She almost stumbled. "You alright?" Quillton called. Sunset nodded. That's when I stumbled and lost my balance. "Whoa!" Quillton exclaimed. "Too much weight, too much weight!!" He said, trying to get his feet back on the wall. Sunset pulled out a knife from her bag.
"Galaxy! You're too heavy, I'm going to have to cut you loose." Sunset told me.
"Wait!" I protested. Sunset began cutting my rope with her knife. "Sunset, wait, wait, wait, wait!" I exclaimed as I hit the ground with a soft thud. It was the bottom. "Hey, guys, found it. Bottom's right here." I said. Quillton sighed. "You knew that, didn't you?" I asked him.
"Spoilers, dearie." He smiled. We untied the rope holding us and proceeded into another cave, hopefully leading to that mine shaft Sunset told me and Quillton about.
Journey: The Center of Gaea
As we exited the cave, I noticed a big machine. "What's that?" I asked Sunset. She looked at it.
"Looks like a generator." Sunset said. "I wonder." She flipped the switch and lights flicked on, revealing tons of mine tracks and a few carts. I laughed in delight.
"Oh ho ho. This is it!" I laughed. I read the name of the mine. "Ol' Zeke's mine. Huh, I read about that. Wasn't there some big disaster that happened?" I asked. Quillton nodded.
"Yeah, the death total was about, ooh, 81?" Quillton asked. "Hey Sunset, how many miners got out?" He asked her.
"Uh, one." Sunset said. Me and Quillton were shocked. I hopped in the front cart.
"No, Galaxy, get out of there. Tracks might not be safe and who knows how old..." Quillton was cut off as Sunset pushed forward a hand car.
"Track ahead looks fine. Get in" She said. Quillton hopped into the car behind me. He looked behind him at Sunset who began pushing the cars forward. We were going 5 miles an hour as I got up. I saw a light ahead.
"Hey Galaxy, I wouldn't do that! Doesn't look safe." Quillton told me.
"I think I see something, it's..uh..." I said.
"Please tell me it's daylight, otherwise I don't want to know!" Quillton said. I shook my head.
"Um, no, it's uh, it's not daylight. Oh we're in deep schist." I gulped as the cars surged forward down a hill. I whooped as we did. We went under a tunnel. "Oh I wish there were seat belts on this thing." I said. Quillton looked at my shocked.
"You're worried about seat belts?!" He exclaimed. The cars rolled down the tracks at almost 50 miles per hour. We came to a low tunnel and we ducked. Quillton shot up after. "Watch it!" He yelled at the tunnel. We rounded a corner until I noticed a broken bridge. My eye's widened.
"Sunset!" I called.
"I know." She said to me. Quillton's eyes widened as he saw the bridge.
"Pull the brake! Pull the brake!" Quillton told me. Sunset shook her head.
"Don't. We won't make it." She said. Her car bumped into Quillton's and mine and surged us forward. We jumped the gap and landed on the other side. We whooped.
"Hey great job, thanks dearie!" Quillton whooped. Sunset smiled. Then, our cars switched onto three different tracks.
"Guys!" I yelled.
"Stay put, dearie!" Quillton told me. Sunset's car bumped and rocked. Quillton groaned as his did.
"Quillton! You alright?" She asked. Quillton's eyes widened.
"Sunset, your track ends." He said. Sunset's eyes widened. "Jump in my car!" He yelled.
"What?!" Sunset exclaimed.
"Just come on!" Quillton told her. Sunset waited for a gap then jumped in Quillton's car. He caught her and her car went over a cliff.
"Quillton, your track ends too!" She gasped. She hooked a rope onto his bag and hers.
"What're you doing?" He asked.
"Showing you how to save someone's life." She sighed as she hooked a pick-axe end to the rail. Quillton and Sunset flew out as the car hit a wall. They landed on the track. Sunset landed on top of Quillton. Sunset coughed from the dust.
"You OK?" Quillton asked her. She nodded.
"Yeah, luckily I had a soft landing." She said as she fell over on her back.
"Thanks, dearie." Quillton said. Sunset patted his shoulder. My car came to a stop next to them.
"That...was...awesome." I laughed. Then I noticed them. "What happened to you two?" I asked.
"Don't ask." Quillton groaned. Then I noticed the hole in the wall. Quillton got up as I walked in. "What're you doing? Don't go in there." He told me. I walked in. "There's a hole in the wall." He said. Sunset groaned. They walked through and noticed me. "Whoa." Quillton said in awe as he noticed the walls. He picked a crystal out of the wall. "Feldspar." He gasped.
"Rubies." Sunset gasped. I gasped.
"Guys, there's more." I told them. They gasped. "Diamonds." I laughed. "Which are formed and found in..." I glanced up. "Volcanic tubes." I said. Quillton looked up.
"This tube could take us back up right?" He asked. "I mean, we're not far from the surface, dearie." He said. I shook my head.
"We're not leaving until we find that idol my dad was searching for." I told Quillton and Sunset. Then, we heard a faint cracking noise. Quillton glanced down. Sunset bent down and wiped off dust from the ground. Her eyes widened.
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is." She said, almost scared. She looked up and Quillton. "Muscovite." She told him.
"Muscovite." Quillton said, worried. I looked at both of them.
"What's Muscovite? I've never heard of it." I told them. Quillton looked at me.
"Well, dearie, Muscovite is a very thin layer of rock in which the slightest change in weight pressure will cause to, uh, shatter. And we're standing on a lot of it." Quillton told me. I looked down. I gulped. "Galaxy, walk towards us very slowly." Quillton said. I moved slowly towards them, slipping my bag on. One of the gems in my bag fell out. I reached out to grab it just before it punctured the Muscovite. It did, causing the floor beneath us to crack. Sunset's chest rose and fell fast. Quillton gasped. Then, he laughed. "It's actually much thicker than I thought." He said before the whole floor shattered beneath us. We fell down the huge pit of darkness, leading to wherever.
Journey: The Center of Gaea
Me, Quillton, and Sunset were screaming as we fell down through the Muscovite. We stopped screaming to look at each other. "We're still falling!" I yelled before screaming again. We linked our hands and fell as a triangle. "Quillton, what's at the bottom?!" I asked Quillton.
"Well, if your dad's journal was right, these tunnels could go down for about hundreds to thousands of miles!" He told me.
"Quartz's journal was not right!" Sunset snapped at him.
"Quill, finish, what's at the bottom?!" I asked.
"His theory was that it probably just ends!" He told me. My eyes widened.
"Ends?!" I exclaimed. "Got any other theories, buddy?!" I asked him. He nodded.
"Well dearie, the walls of this tunnel could've been gently eroded by water which still runs through them providing a huge break to our fall, kind of like a water slide at Splash Down!" He told me.
"Water slide. OK, now that's a theory!" I said.
"Quillton, wouldn't have the water formed stalagmites pointing straight up at us?" Sunset asked him. He nodded.
"Yes dearie, possibility is that we could be skewered too." He told me and Sunset. I almost froze up when he said that. We continued screaming until I felt something cold and wet against my skin. Sunset did too.
"Is that water?" She asked. Quillton nodded.
"Yes! Water." He said.
"Oh, water slide. Water slide!" I prayed. We held our hands together to prepare for impact.
"Here it comes! Hang on!" Quillton said. "GERONIMO!!!!" He yelled as we slid into the water and into a pool of it. We surfaced and gasped for air.
"You had to say that!" I coughed water out of my mouth. Our hair was soaking wet, same as our clothes. Quillton nodded.
"That was the prefect time to say that, dearie!" He told me. I face palmed and swam towards the rocks. I slid off my right shoe and water poured out. I then slid it back on as he helped Sunset towards the rocks. They fell on their backs. Sunset coughed water out of her mouth.
"Thanks." She said.
"Anytime, dearie." Quillton said. He looked up at the ceiling.
"What is that?" I asked them as I looked up. He squinted his eyes.
"That's just the ceiling of the cave, I think." Quillton told me and Sunset as he slipped on a pair of circular black glasses. He then glanced at the ceiling. "Well then." He said, astounded by the light above us. "Glow birds." Quillton said. "They're bioluminescent as well. These birds that went extinct over at least 50 million years ago. Incredible." Quillton was amazed. I whipped out my phone, and saw I had a signal.
"I have service?!" I asked as I turned it on and went through my contacts. I saw a message. It said: From: Crimson Ink . I checked the message.
"Hey big bro, it's Crimson. Call me back when you can please? You're not answering and I'm starting to worry. " The message said. I sighed. My little sis had tried to call me. I looked at my watch. Above ground, it was at least 11:00 PM. Crimson would be asleep by now. Quillton and Sunset looked at me.
"Crimson?" Sunset asked. I nodded. I checked the time of the message. My eyes widened, for it said Crimson had sent it earlier today .
"Well, we need to find a way out of this cave." Quillton said, just before noticing one of the glow birds flying down towards us. I held out my index finger and it perched on it. Quillton and Sunset gasped.
"Fluttershy taught me how to talk to animals." I smiled before listening to the bird's chirps. I nodded. "OK, this little one here said to go down that cave." I said, point to a cave to my right. Quillton whipped his screwdriver out and scanned the cave entrance. He nodded as the readings agreed with the directions. "Hmm?" I asked as the bird said something else. "You want to come with us and help us out?" I asked her. She nodded. "Alright then, you'll need a name." I said. I then thought of a good name. "Ah, Crystal. Perfect." I smiled. Crystal chirped happily, for that seemed to be her name. She flew off my finger and lead us down the cave, coming out of a bigger exit. Me, Quillton, and Sunset gasped. We were staring at the very center of Gaea.
"The center of the world." Quillton gasped. "Galaxy, Sunset, I give you the Center of Gaea." He said. "Quartz was right!" He whooped. He patted my shoulder. "Your dad was right, dearie!" Quillton laughed in delight. "He was right!" Quillton's voice echoed. Crystal landed on my shoulder and chirped something.
"Crystal tells me that light up there is their sun, but, technically, it's the inner core of the planet." I explained. Then I put on my own glasses. Quillton gasped.
"Since when do you wear glasses?" Quillton asked me.
"Spoilers." I laughed. Quillton muttered something under his breath. We then walked down a ledge towards a huge forest. Meanwhile, Crimson was getting her hiking gear together. Our mom poked her head from the kitchen.
"Going to find your brother?" She asked. Crimson nodded. Mom hugged her and crimson bolted out the door and got on her bike to find an entrance to the Center of Gaea.
Journey: The Center of Gaea
As Crystal led us to the forest, I swiped away the plants that got in the way, but carefully so I didn't hurt the plants either. Crystal was flying a head of us, when she stopped and landed on my shoulder again. "Another bloody ledge." Quillton groaned. "We have to go down, don't we?" He asked. Crystal chirped.
"She said yes." I told Sunset and Quillton. They were still amazed how I could speak to animals like Fluttershy. "Luckily it's only a small jump down." I said as I jumped and landed on my feet. Quillton jumped down next, followed by Sunset.
"Where to now?" She asked as she dusted herself off. Crystal chirped and took off like she was spooked. "What's gotten into her?" Sunset asked. A strange sound startled us. Sunset grabbed Quillton's arm. "What was that?" She asked.
"Something's coming!" I exclaimed. The tree next to us exploded in flames. I read an inscription on a nearby tree. "Cavern of Fear?" I asked. Then, Sunset's head began to get hot and she grabbed it, falling to her knees. "Sunset?" I asked as I raced to her. "What's wrong?" I asked her. Sunset looked at me, then Quillton.
"Now what do you think?" Someone asked. Sunset's eyes narrowed in fear as her demonic self burned down all the trees in her path. Demon Sunset laughed. "You know you can't run from me forever." She laughed. Sunset's fear was her demonic self.
"No." Sunset said. Demon Sunset was confused. "You may be a part of me, but not the me I am now." She said. "Thanks to my friends, they showed me the magic of friendship, and a new path." Sunset told her demon self. Demon Sunset began to shake.
"What's happening?!!" She cried. Quillton looked at her.
"Well dearie, Sunset's gotten over her fear of you and now you are starting to fade away. Basically, bye bye." Quillton said before Demon Sunset let out a scream and burst into dust. I coughed and looked at her remains.
"No wonder they call this the 'Cavern of Fear.' Let's get out of here." I said. Sunset and Quillton nodded. Meanwhile, one of mom's girlfriends had picked up Crimson and dropped her off at an entrance to the Center of the planet. Crimson waved bye and looked down.
"Here goes nothing." Crimson said. "GERONIMO!!!!! " Crimson yelled as she jumped down the hole. As we progressed onwards through the forest, a small noise came from behind one of the trees. There was my sister, covered in dust. She coughed and dusted herself off. "I have really go to stop jumping down holes like that." She said. My eyes were wide with shock.
"Crimson?!!!!! " I gasped. Crimson turned around and smiled nervously.
"Hey, big bro." She waved, chuckling nervously. Part of me was surprised, but part of me was also worried/paranoid.
"What the actual hell were you thinking?!!!" I said as I walked up to her. "You could've died down here trying to find me!" I said to her. She cringed as I did. I settled down. "Sorry, I'm just glad to see you're alright." I apologized and hugged my little sister. "Does Mom know you..." I asked her. Crimson nodded.
"I told Mom that I was going to find you. So she called up one of her girlfriends to take me here, and when I got here, I thought what would Galaxy do?" Crimson told me. I hugged her again.
"Oh I was so worried about you, sis." I said. She hugged me again too.
"Me? I was worried about you! " Crimson told me. "I tried calling you, but it just went to voicemail." She said, tears running down her face. "Oh Galaxy, I thought you were..." She started crying. I comforted her and held up my finger to Quillton and Sunset saying 'Give us a minute.' They nodded in response and went to go find Crystal.
"Crimson, you know I will always be there for you." I told her. She nodded and sniffled. "You're important to me, sis." I said. She looked up at me teary eyed and smiled.
"Thanks, bro." She hugged me. I hugged her too.
"Right, now let's go find Quillton and Sunset." I told her. She nodded and followed me down another tunnel. As we did, something looked down from us on a ledge. Something vaguely familiar, something that me and Quillton have fought before.
"
Journey: The Center of Gaea
As me and Crimson walked through the vast trees and plants, we found Quillton and Sunset looking up in a tree trying to find a way out of this forest. I waved up to them. They waved back. Crystal was perched on Sunset's shoulder, looking for a way out also. "So let me get this through my head, you came down to the center of Gaea just to find that Idol Dad was talking about and going crazy over?" Crimson asked me. I nodded.
"He wasn't crazy though. He was right about the center of the world." I told my sister. She nodded.
"Fair enough." She said. "So how do we find it?" She asked. Quillton and Sunset jumped down from the tree.
"Well, dearie, it's not that simple." Quillton told her. "We have to go across an ocean and through another 2 or so caves just to get to the chamber where it's hidden, and that could take days." He said. Crimson's eyes widened in fear.
"Days?! " My sister exclaimed. "We have to get out now! I only told Mom that I was going to find Galaxy. I didn't tell her that it would take days to find the thing you're looking for!" Crimson told us. She was going paranoid as she worried about all her family, even me. I gave her a comforting hug. "Not to mention school, either! I go back to school in 3 days!" She yelled. I just had realized she was on Spring vacation.
"Don't worry, sis." I told her. "We'll find that idol and get you back home in time for school." I promised. Then, Crystal flew off Sunset's shoulder and flew fast, all of us running behind her." Whoa! Crystal, slow down, girl!" I yelped as she lead us to an ocean. "An ocean." I said. "We have to go across." I realized. "How are we supposed to get across an ocean if we don't have something to get across it with?" I asked. "We need a log or something, or we could really use a boat." I said. "And we don't have one." Sunset got an idea.
"We can build one." She said. "Crimson, you're imaginative, right?" She asked my sister. Crimson nodded. "Come over here." Sunset said. Crimson ran over. Sunset gave Crimson her notebook and turned to a blank page.
"Now, how do you want it designed?" Crimson asked, a determined smile spreading across her face.
"Keep it steady!!" Quillton called out as we begun to build our boat. Sunset's coat was off and she was in her white tank top. Crimson was helping me gather materials for the boat. One common thing that ran in our family was we were always imaginative, prone to coming up with crazy ideas that could help the world or help get us out of any situation, big or small. My little sister idolized me, and looked up to me. As we were making the boat, Crimson went to go get more materials. She ran back to us carrying them. "Here ya go, guys." She told us. I ruffled her hair. Crimson gave me an annoyed look as she hated when I did that.
"Don't do that!" She told me as she fixed her hair. "Galaxy, you know I hate that!" She said, then laughed. "Love ya, bro." She hugged me. The boat was almost done.
"Blast, we need more roots to bind the wood together." Quillton groaned.
"Me and Crimson will go get some more." I told my best friend. He nodded. "Come on sis." I said. She nodded and ran after me back towards the forest.
