Treasure Hunting 101

Chapter XVI

Avery

Music: Battlerock Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy

The seven of us find a well-obscured place in the middle of the forest to sit down and have a discussion about what to do. The men have stopped laughing, and now the air is filled with sounds of fires crackling, animals making all sorts of noises, and people screaming in terror.

"Okay, guys, look. I'm really sorry that I was naive and let myself get tricked into giving those items to that man and caused all this," Brea says to us. "But, in my defense, how was I supposed to know he was some evil warlock?"

"It's fine, Brea," Sam tells her. "It would've been better for you to not give in, but you're right. You could've have known."

"What are we going to do?" I ask. "We need those items for the ritual!"

"Like that's the biggest problem on our hands!" Skylar exclaims. "We can't just leave the village like this!"

Before anybody can respond, a familiar voice calls out, "Who's there?" It sounds suspiciously like Mia's voice. Sure enough, Mia and her team come walking through the trees and join us. Our teams are very surprised to see each other here, to say the least.

"Um, what are you guys doing here?" Shanna asks.

"What are YOU guys doing here?" Luke asks in return.

"We WERE here because we were told to come here, but now we're wondering what the hell is going on here!" Mackenzie answers. "Would you happen to know?"

All of us avert our eyes to Brea. While we've forgiven her, that doesn't make us happy with what she did, even if it was an honest mistake. "Would you care to answer that, Brea?" Skylar asks mockingly.

Brea shifts and clasps her hands together. "Yeah, um... we were exploring this mine for one of the clues, and we found this sick old man who needed help, except he wasn't actually a sick old man, and he kinda tricked me into giving him the scepter and jewel that we received in order to get revenge on the village for how Prince Kaori treated the lower-class," she answers sheepishly.

As expected, her response is met with ridicule. Sean and Shanna share a weirded-out look with each other, Mackenzie just shuts her eyes and lets out a long, exasperated sigh, and Mia facepalms and mutters, "Brea, you idiot."

"Look, I know we're in the middle of a competition for this treasure, but can you guys please help us out with defeating the warlock?" Skylar asks Mia's team, even though none of us ever discussed the idea prior to them arriving. Nobody objects the idea, though.

Mia looks at us like we're the craziest people she's ever met. "Um, excuse me, but what makes you think we're going to help you win?" she asks snotfully. I'm one second away from walking up to her and smacking her right in the face for how stubborn she's being.

"Mia, we need those items for the ritual," Elle pleads.

"Well, sorry, but that's not my problem. Tough luck," Mia smirks, turning around and strutting away from us.

"Mia, hold it," Mackenzie calls out, causing Mia to stop. Mia slowly turns to face Mackenzie, and Mackenzie continues with, "If they don't have those artifacts, they can't continue if they're not going to be able to finish. And if they can't continue, neither can we."

"What?!" Mia complains.

"Mackenzie's right," Shanna says, stepping to Mackenzie's side. "We need to at least keep this fair."

Mia shuts her eyes, clenches her fists, and stands there in frustration for a few seconds. Then she stomps her foot angrily and says, "Alright, fine. But just this one time. And don't expect me to be happy about it." She walks back towards us.