Kratogenesis

Emerald Rush (XXVI)

When Four woke up the next morning, X looked at them. "Wait, your eyes are still shiny..."

"It's okay, X!" Four got up and ate some chocolate bars.

X looked at their partner with suspicion. Loser was up to something. They were sure of it. This was beyond romance now.

Once breakfast time was over, Four and X just stared at the contestants with a blank expression. Then, X suddenly zipped underground.

"X is hurtling toward Earth's center at 2,763 miles an hour. Oh nooo." Four was still smiling.

"Oh, and the contest is for us to bring X back to you? Gosh, that's predictable." Pillow stretched towards Four, shrugging.

Four imitated a buzzer sound. "Today's challenge is to find the emeralds!"

"Where are they?" Pillow was puzzled.

"Earth's core!" Four smiled. Their smile was short-lived, however. "Wait! That means... I can't let that happen because I must be X's only treasure!" They then went back to their happy demeanor. "So if you find X's treasure before X does, your team is safe. Go!"

Using a special tool that can read people's minds, Golf Ball determined the coordinates where the emeralds were buried: 133, -82, -7.63.

Basketball wasted little time and got digging, and a few seconds later, iance and Physis joined her in the endeavor. Many contestants got down the hole.

After Robot Flower retrieved Golf Ball's rocket, A Better Name Than That got in and dug towards Earth's core using the satellite dish.

"Okay, guys! I know where we should go!" Remote opened the Terminal and hacked her way to where the emeralds were buried. Death P.A.C.T. popped to that place, but something was off. "It's so hot in here, I could..." Everyone burst into flames except for Black Hole.

"You've got to be kidding me." Black Hole was stunned by the fact that his teammates couldn't figure out that Remote's strategy was deadly.

Everyone was digging desperately to find the emeralds, except for Bleh.

Book was trying to tell a complicated magic phrase which would have granted immunity to heat to everyone. After failing several times, Book reassured her teammates. "I can do this, I swear! It worked last time!" She tried – and failed – to utter that phrase again.

"You know what? Screw this." Taco grabbed a shovel and started digging.

"Hey! You can't just leave us here, Miss Mexican Food!" Book groaned.

Taco kept digging. "You figure out that phrase while I dig. Just making everyone's life easier here."

"You think ditching us makes your life easy?!" Book looked at Taco, who was getting smaller to her eyes.

"She's just setting it up for later, Book." Lollipop facepalmed. "No need to jump to conclusions." She sighed.

Book stood there in silence. "Anyway, back to the formula!" Her previous failures did not deter her from trying again.

After a long period of digging, Taco felt a heat wave hitting her. "It's getting hotter." She moved the shovel once more and she was hit by lava. However, she did not seem to care. "I didn't need that formula, anyway!" She chuckled, and then swam to where the emeralds could be. "Aaah, I really needed a hot bath." What should have killed Taco instead made her calmer, as shown by her letting out a sigh of relief. The lava went up the hole Taco had dug before, making a rumbling noise.

"You all hear anything?" Saw was getting suspicious.

"The sound of Taco abandoning us?" Book had her arms crossed.

"Book, cut it out!" Lollipop's reprimand was cut short by a gush of lava emerging from underground. Everyone watched; Four in awe, Bleh in horror.

"Oh, fu–" Book's moment of panic was interrupted by the lava going down and hitting the teammates.

Marker persuaded Fries to let his team submit some cheap plastic green toys and pass them off as emeralds. "Nice emeralds, I love a team that commits forgery–" Four's sudden appearance scared Free Food. "Commits For-Dream Island! You really committed to winning Battle For Dream Island." Free Food was safe.

After some digging, A Better Name Than That found an emerald and got back to the overground to give it to Four. "Hey Four, here's your emerald!" Golf Ball grabbed Four's attention by giving them that shiny gem. Four gasped in glee. "Wowowowowowow! A Better Name Than That, you're safe!"

Team Ice Cube! eventually reached the Inverted Planet and settled in there for a moment. The brief moment of tranquility, however, was not to last, as Spongy's many cannonballs into the pond had created several cracks and made the lava erupt into the Planet. The team quickly rushed out of the place, but Donut and Bomby perished before they could reach safety.

In the meanwhile, Black Hole, Gelatin and Needle had exploited a loophole in Four's task by passing off the emerald given by Golf Ball as their teams', granting them all safety.

Golf Ball gnashed her teeth. "Unbelievable!"

After a while, Match found an emerald and gave it to Four, granting her team safety.

Beep had to fly back to the overground as they noticed that they were going faster than the speed at which Rocky's acid could disintegrate the dirt. At the same time, they noticed that lava was filling up the hallways. After digging and piercing a metal barrier, Woody and Naily fell down.

Snowball grabbed the emerald and exploited the loophole, making Physis safe.

Golf Ball was enraged by the sight. "Are you serious?" She went off the deep end again and bit Snowball's leg, causing him to scream in pain.

"Golf Ball! That's so unsportsmanlike of you!" Four looked at Golf Ball with a sense of disappointment.

Golf Ball then heard an alert from her Underground Factory and rushed to check what was going on. An intruder had entered her laboratory.

Naily and Woody were joined by Cake and Coiny, who decided to check the Underground Factory out. Since the lava was spilling into the room, they looked for a way out. After a while, they discovered a long-abandoned trash chute, but only Woody could fit; thus, he was thrown into the trash chute for safety, going through Roboty's Waterfall and an odd location, before landing onto a black circle with an emerald beneath it.

"Hold on, I got something in my eye." Four rubbed their eye and noticed that Woody was now there. "Oh hey, Woody!" Woody gave Four the emerald he had found. "Beep is safe! That means no mercy for Bleh!"

Eventually, Taco emerged from the lava pit. "Hey, where did everyone go?"

"Most have probably perished in the search for the emeralds." Four looked at Taco, replying nonchalantly.

"Does that include my team?" Taco couldn't see Book, Lollipop or any other teammate around.

Four remembered the gush of lava they had witnessed before. "Yup."

"Oh well." Taco sat on the ground. "I should bathe with lava more often; it calms me down."

"You're right!" Four nodded.

"Hey, Taco! You, like, know about lava baths? Because I, like, totally do!" Match had noticed the two talking about lava baths.

Four, Match and Taco set up a fireproof tub and chilled in the lava. "By the way, how are we gonna restore everyone?"

"Simple, Taco!" Four snapped their fingers, and everything went back to normal. Everyone was now back in the plains, while the three were still chilling in the hot tub.

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Taco shrugged.