The Unexpected #1: The Caverns

Chapter 2: The Adventure Begins

"Whoa, where am I?" Cameron asked (it was a rhetorical question)
"Where are you? I'm here too! I'm glad we survived that massive fall but where is everyone else?" Cassy replied suddenly
"Where's a pillow when you need one!" Cameron joked, "Say, your voice seems better, how is that?"
"Hm... I don't know, maybe the fall made my voice fall out of it's hiding place" Cassy answered
"Stop thinking about that and look under you! You landed on me knuckleheads!" A voice from under them called out. They looked under them only to find a girl lying on the ground severely wounded.
"Whoops, sorry. But it's not like we could have controlled it, there was this small crater that turned out to be a small earthquake!" Cameron explained,
"Besides the fact on how we got here, are you okay?" Cassy questioned while pulling the girl up.
"Thanks and I forgive you. My name is Soleil and I was running away from one of those nasty guards. I wasn't paying attention to what was ahead so I guess when I saw rocks falling, I should have stopped..." Soleil explained in a sad mood,
"GUARDS! Did you say GUARDS!" Cassy cried in shock.
"Yeah, and watch out, there's traps all over the place! Guess that leader doesn't want anyone walking and disturbing anything...
"Who's the leader that you're talking about?" Cameron asked,
"I'm not exactly sure but I think his name starts with a J..." Soleil replied.
"Well that's a huge help" Cassy mumbled quietly,
"Well let's not focus on the name right now, which way did you come from before the rocks and us trampled you?" Cameron interrupted,
"Um... I think I came from the left, why?" Soleil questioned.
"I know!" Cassy shouted,
"Okay then, what?" Soleil asked curiously.
"He wants to know if we can go back to where you came and order pizza!" Cassy continued,
"Okay.., no. If guards were chasing you, would you think that they'd still be trying to track you down and probably trap us too? My point is, we should head the opposite way that you came from that way we can hopefully stay out of too much trouble as we try to head back up to the surface," Cameron explained.
"Oh okay! Cassy, do you get it?" Soleil snapped
"I think so... But just in case, can you repeat everything you said up to where you first mentioned the guards..." Cassy replied. They soon heard quick foot steps coming from the left and they had just started explaining everything to Cassy but because Soleil knew who it was, she immediately interrupted,
"Guys, we better run because I think the guards are here!"
"Who's there?" The guard called out,
"RUN!" Soleil repeated loudly. As they ran away, the cavern started to get darker as if they were getting deeper down yet they weren't.
"Guys, it's getting darker, does that mean we're getting further from an exit? Maybe we should have tried to climb up the hole that we fell down!" Cassy asked,
"No, that would never work Cassy, the dirt is too weak and the rocks would break your hand before you got almost anywhere," Cameron explained. Cassy nodded,
"Hey, why's there a torch in the middle of no where? Is there and exit near?" Cameron questioned.
"I don't know but maybe we should leave it alone... It might be a trap!" Cameron explained,
"No it's definitely not," Soleil lied. As they went to grab it, a small amount of strange dust appeared around them and when it finally cleared out, they found themselves stuck in a cage being hung over lava.
"This is an odd image," Cassy said confused,
"It's not an image, it's real life and it's really happening." Cameron explained,
"That's a lie Cameron, Soleil isn't here!" Cassy pointed out,
"Soleil? Where are you?" Cameron yelled,
"Why are you asking, she's not in this cage so why are you even trying?" Cassy asked. With still no answer in the minute, they figured something had happened to her until they finally heard a noise that was coming from below,
"HEY GUYS!" Soleil shouted,
"Soleil, how'd you get down there? You were right beside us when the cage appeared!" Cameron explained,
"I know but you guys were knocked out from the dust and you two are too heavy to carry out," Soleil lied.
"Well then can you show us the way out of this cage?" Cameron asked,
"Yeah, shouldn't you have showed us the way out first?" Cassy interrupted,
"I can't show you the way out!" Soleil yelled,
"What do you mean? You got out did you not?" Cameron replied confused,
"I did but only because..." Soleil started,
"Meow!" A voice called out in the darkness,
"Since when do you speak cat, Soleil?" Cassy questioned,
"That wasn't me! I think someone is here and not for a good reason..." Soleil explained,
"Soleil, what did you do?" Cameron asked in an angry voice. All of the sudden, two giant Cougars jumped out of the darkness and kidnapped Soleil!
"AHHH!" Soleil screamed,
"SOLEIL!" Cameron and Cassy both shouted in shock. As she was being pulled away, the cage snapped and fell right down to the ground where it laid slowly sinking down into the lava!
"So this is how we die? I always thought-" Cassy started,
"YOU ALREADY SAID THAT!" Cameron yelled at Cassy.
They grabbed onto the very top of the cage trying to find an exit.
"These bars won't budge! They're made out of obsidian I think!" Cameron cried, "Why aren't you helping?" Cameron asked,
"I don't want to ruin my nails!" Cassy replied
"Who cares about your nails right now, if we don't get out, you will no longer have nails, or your life!" Cameron explained in a rush. Cassy decided to help and finally, one bar snapped off and fell into the lava,
"WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!" Cameron yelled. As another one snapped, they tried climbing into the top of the cage,
"Where's the exit?" Cassy asked,
"What did you expect, a bridge that leads off to a safe zone?" Cameron replied,
"Yes," Cassy answered,
"I'm afraid that'll never happen," Cameron suggested. Just then, two more Cougars jumped out of the shadows onto the top of the cage. At that point, only the very top of the cage remained above the lava. Almost no space remained when the Cougars were in so it would be very hard to fight back. Cassy punched one cougar in the nose which sent it to the ground and Cameron kicked and head butted the second one.
"Quickly, jump on there backs and grab the collars of them to force them to jump up onto flat surface!" Cameron quickly yelled,
"Okay" Cassy replied. While they jumped on them, the Cougars immediately jumped up with all the weight and just in time because only the littlest bit of the cage remained when the Cougars managed to get up. Once they landed, the cougar threw both of them off and jumped away. Cassy had such a good grip that the leashed snapped off and they forced the cougar to throw up. Luckily enough, Soleil was swallowed by that exact cougar so she came out too.
"Yuck! That cougar's stomach had everything slimy in it, who was controlling them anyways? It's not like they'd do that randomly," Soleil cried,
"Maybe we should look carefully at that collar that it was wearing!" Cassy suggested,
"Good idea and plus, why would a cougar have a collar on it? Cameron asked,
"let's check it out while we're walking, before we get into anymore trouble," Soleil interrupted. As they were walking down, Cassy got all the dust off of the collar and read the owner's piece,
"It's a little cracked but it says, Property of Dr.Javan," Cassy read,
"Who's that?" Cameron asked. Soleil's face went green as if she was lying. What's she hiding?