Scott's Campaign against The False Priest

Chapter 1: The Next Adventure

"Over there!" Lizzie called, and Scott lunged for a scarab. Kathrine had been over to talk about her findings while Lizzie was just visiting for a chat, only for Kathrine to accidently knock over the scarab tank right when she was about to leave. Now Scott, Jimmy, Lizzie, and Katherine were scrambling to recover the scarabs and bring them back to their tank. So far, only five were left to catch, excluding the one Scott just caught.

Jimmy tried to catch another, but it managed to slip from his grasp. Thankfully, Lizzie used a bowl to corner the scarab, allowing Jimmy to grab it, "How many more?" Jimmy asked.

"Onyx, Emerald, Sapphire, and Ruby are missing," Scott said, frantically looking around. Each scarab was named after a gemstone or crystal. Onyx in particular had to be found, as she had just laid a clutch of eggs recently.

Scott spotted Ruby skittering about and quickly grabbed him, while Emerald and Sapphire were snatched up by Katherine and quickly placed back into the Scarab tank. "I'm so sorry Scott, I didn't realize how close I was," Katherine said, but Scott waved her off.

"No worries, we just need to find onyx-" Scott searched around, until a voice cut him off.

"Looking for someone?" Scott turned to see Alex at the entrance to the living room, holding Onyx up in his palms.

"Oh thank gods, you're a life saver," Scott said, carefully scooping Onyx up and placing her into the tank. As Lizzie and Katherine bid farewell, Scott turned to Alex, seeing his sha, Buddy, wagging his tail, "What brings you here?" Scott asked.

"Mum got promoted to head Archeologist!" Alex said, hopping onto a nearby couch, "And guess where her first assignment is? Hamunaptra!"

Scott froze with wide eyes while Jimmy looked confused. "Isn't that place buried?" Jimmy asked.

"It is, but mum's leading a team to restore Hamunaptra! I heard the old mummy guy was also there to help," Alex said, "Mum said you were always upset with what happened to Hamunaptra, so I wanted to ask if you wanted to go with us!"

"Really?!" Scott asked, clear excitement in his tone. A honk outside got his attention and he moved to a window, spotting Rick and Evy chatting to one another in their car.

"We're leaving soon, and mum said now was a good time to ask since you just got back from your trip to Peru," Alex said, with Buddy hopping onto the couch.

Scott turned to Jimmy, who already knew what to expect. "Alright fine, I'll go too," Jimmy said, "But only because we didn't get the chance to unpack."

"Is that the only reason?" Scott asked in a teasing way.

"You'd think after a few years together you'd know the answer," Jimmy said with a smirk.

"Ugh, get a room," Alex huffed, while Scott couldn't help a small laugh, "Mum and dad are in the car, there's plenty of room!" Alex hurried out while Scott hurried to the display cases.

While Jimmy headed upstairs to gather their suitcases, Scott carefully placed the Book of Amun-Ra and the Book of Amun-Dei into their travel back, grabbing the key as well as the framed map to Hamunaptra, although the last item was for nostalgia sake. Scott looked to his scarab tank, and realized quickly that going to restore ruins would take far longer than simply searching ruins. Scott grabbed a spare provisions bag and carefully placed all ten scarabs into the bag, as well as Onyx's clutch of eggs.

It didn't take long for Scott and Jimmy to regroup and head out the door. "Good to see you again Scott," Evy said as both Scott and Jimmy got into the very back of the car, letting Alex and Buddy have the middle portion to themselves.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Scott said as Rick began to drive, "Not only am I going back to Hamunaptra, but the chance to restore it?"

"At least someone is happy to be going back," Evy said in a teasing tone, and Scott could guess she was talking about Rick. The rest of the car ride to the airport was spent chatting about Scott and Jimmy's trip to Peru and how Scott's family had not only lived their, but also left artifacts behind that Scott had left in the care of Joey until he could find a safe place to store them. What greeted the group at the airport was a giant, blue zeppelin, the word "Zephyr" painted on the side.

As everyone boarded, Scott looked around in awe. As Rick started the Zephyr up, Scott watched as a car suddenly sped towards them, only to see Jonathan pull up. "Wait on me!" Jonathan called.

Scott couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose as he watched a second car pull up towards Jonathan while Rick lowered the ladder, letting Jonathan on board as the zeppelin took off. "What was that about?" Scott asked.

"Oh the usual," Jonathan replied, taking a seat nearby as he relaxed.

Scott couldn't help but shake his head as he took a seat himself, then heard chittering. Scott opened his spare bag and Emerald came running out, running in circles. "Bit early," Scott chuckled.

"Why did you bring those?" Rick asked.

"Don't know how long I will be gone for, and one of them has a clutch of eggs incubating," Scott replied, "Better to keep an eye on them."

"Are they from the same scarab you found our first trip?" Evy asked.

"Yep, they're Quartz's kids. They can reproduce with each other without causing genetic problems like some ants," Scott said, "Quartz passed not long before our whole trip to Ahm Shere."

"Well at least she had some beautiful children," Evy said, letting Emerald crawl on her hand. Emerald chittered, but made no attempts to bite her. "They're well behaved too, how did you manage that?"

"I guess I tamed them on accident," Scott replied, letting Emerald go back into the pouch.

"Do they have named?" Evy asked.

"Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Onyx, Jade, Prism, and Bismuth are all of Quartz's kids," Scott started, "While Topaz and Pearl are Emerald's surviving daughters of her clutch, and Amethyst is Onyx's oldest." Scott leaned back a bit to get a better view of the window while he and Evy continued to chat. This would be a trip worth remembering.