Genie of the Puzzle

1: the Golden Scarab (and fake feathers)

There was nothing to be seen for miles, except sand.
Well, obviously. It was a desert.

Perched onto a horse, Bakura impatiently waited for someone— more specifically, the treasure they had.

As if on cue, two more horses appeared from the distance and rode closer and closer until they were right in front of Bakura.

Two boys got off of their horses only to be met with complaints.

"You're late." Bakura lowly growled.

"Dude, it's like, the friggin desert." Rex frowned.

Weevil agreed. "Hehe...yeah. There's nothing but sand everywhere. How were we supposed to, like, find you?"

Bakura rubbed his temples, counting to ten so he could fight the urge to suffocate them both. "But do you have it?"

Rex smugly grinned. "We had to win a few duels, but we got it."

"Hehe...yeah." Weevil smiled.
Out of his coat pocket, Weevil revealed half of a gold scarab from inside a plastic bag. "We got the stuff."

Bakura tried snatching it from his hands, but Weevil pulled it away and laughed. "Give us the treasure first, butt munch."

"Huhuh. Yeah. Like, you promised and stuff." Rex frowned.

Quickly the scarab piece was snatched out of Weevil's hands from behind. Marik, in a parrot suit, ran over to Bakura's side, vigorously flapping his "wings" and handed him the plastic bag while making an obnoxious parrot noise.

"The treasure comes after step two." Bakura sneered, and Marik sat back on the horse. "You'll get what's coming to you."

"What's coming to you! Ragh!" Marik repeated. ("Ragh" is the parrot noise. Just making that clear.)

Rex and Weevil stared at Marik, dumbfounded.

Rex said, "What the f*ck?"

Weevil said, "HEhe, yeah. What the f*ck?"

Ignoring them was bliss. Bakura reached into the plastic bag and took the scarab half, attaching it to the one he'd already had. The golden scarab was now complete, but, for some reason, dormant.

Bakura's grin faded as he squinted at his shiny bug. "You had better work." He barked through gritted teeth. "I am not standing here with two prepubescent little wankers and a imbecile in a parrot suit in the middle of nowhere for you to—!"

Immediately it glowed and came to life, speeding off into the distance like the golden snitch.

"After it!" Bakura shouted.

All three horses followed it, galloping and galloping past sand, sand, and more sand. It seemed like the wild goose chase (or should I say SCARAB chase! Hehe...I need friends.) would never end.

Finally, the scarab reached a hill of sand, and split into two again. It flew around the hill and picked two spots to set themselves, remaining there as the sand began to form itself into the head of a sphinx.

Bakura, Marik, Weevil, and Rex all stood and watched from their horses, seeing the Cave of Wonders form itself.

"After all these years...all my searching...it's finally here...!" Bakura couldn't stop the grin forming on his face. "The Cave of Wonders...!"

"Ragh! Cave of Wonders!" Marik repeated, cross eyed.

"Idiots! What are you waiting for?" Bakura gave the two boys a kick in the back. "Go on!"

"You want us to....to go in there?" Rex asked with widened eyes.

Weevil snickered again. "That's what she said."

"That's exactly what I want you to do." Bakura rubbed his temples again. "Legend has it that there are treasures beyond your wildest imagination. Go inside, bring me the puzzle, and the rest of the treasure is yours." He uttered, "But the puzzle is mine."

Rex and Weevil looked at each other, then to the cave. They grinned and began to approach the cave.

"RAgh! The puzzle! Ragh! The puzzle!" Marik cawed. He leaned toward Bakura, whispering in disgust, "Where'd you dig these dinguses up?"

Bakura only hushed him and focused on the cave.

Rex and Weevil were right on the mouth of the cave, looking inside and seeing the long staircase of sand, glowing. Before they could even lean in for a closer look, they were blown away by a strong gust of wind coming from inside.

"WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?" The cave asked in a low, echoing, rasping voice.

"He's Rex Raptor and I'm Weevil Underwood."

Rex laughed. "Wood."

"oh yeah, hehehe."

The Cave of Wonders raised a brow. "Only the diamond in the rough may enter here; the one whose worth lies deep within."

Rex and Weevil looked at Bakura, waiting for another order.

He only said, "What are you waiting for? Go on!"

They looked at each other before taking trembling steps toward the cave entrance. They shivered and quaked, hardly sure of what might happen if maybe they weren't worthy enough to enter.

The creepiest part was that the Cave of Wonders was heavily breathing, audibly.

Finally they made it to the second step of the staircase. It wasn't that far into the cave at all, but hey. Progress.
Both Rex and Weevil released a heavy sigh.

Right then, the cave released a mighty roar, causing the two to scream and scramble for the exit, but they were tripping on the sand and could hardly make it before the cave snapped it's jaw shut, burying them into the sand of the desert.

The cave began to deform back into a hill, the scarab eyes falling out and rolling away. The voice of the cave, however, still echoed, "ONLY ONE MAY ENTER...THE ONE WHOSE WORTH LIES DEEP WITHIN...THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH..."

Marik frowned and hopped off the horse, running over and picking up the scarab pieces. "That's it!" He yelled in a frustrated fuss. He needed a nap. "We are never going to get that stupid puzzle! Just forget it!" He started to rip some of his feathers out. "Look at this! I'm so friggin pissed off that I'm molting!"

"Patience, Marik. Patience." Bakura groaned, taking the pieces from Marik and put them in his pocket. "Those aren't even real feathers, quit pulling them out. You'll ruin your disguise." He glanced at the sandy hill with a scowl. "Besides, Rex and Weevil were obviously less than worthy."

Marik crossed his arms and scoffed. "Oh, there's a big surprise! Why am I not surprised? I think I'm going to have a heart attack and die from not surprised!" He brushed his bangs back from his face. "What are we going to do? We've got a big problem here, a big, big problem!"

"Yes." Bakura trailed, looking out to the sand hill where the cave rose from. "Only one may enter. I must find them...this..."
He huffed. "This diamond in the rough..."