Treasure Hunting 101

Chapter XX

Shanna

Music: Dear Blue from Salamander 2

For the past twelve minutes, we've been wandering through the streets of Bloomington, Minnesota, not very far from the last location we were at. Dr. Scientist is leading the way for us, though he hasn't told us where we're going yet. The rest of us have been passing the time by mostly making small talk, something we haven't had much of a chance to do since this treasure hunt started.

While we're discussing the opportunities we have from our school's first ever musical, Dr. Scientist interrupts us with, "Hey, um, kids? There's something I've gotta tell you about."

"What's the scoop?" Mackenzie asks.

Dr. Scientist fidgets and fingers with the bottom of his lab coat. "Well, me and a few buddies of mine actually hunted for this treasure a few years ago, but we stopped at around this point due to one of my teammates having a family obligation that they needed to attend to," he explains. "And... you kids really shouldn't have made this treasure hunt a competition. Both you and the other team have been doing this wrong this whole time. You didn't take different paths to get to the treasure, you just started at different points in the search."

The four of us look at each other, stunned by what he's telling us. This is news to us. "And you didn't tell us this earlier because...?" Mia asks, crossing her arms.

"Because I thought you would eventually figure it out on your own," he replies. "I thought for sure you'd put two and two together back in Africa, after you guys stopped that warlock."

"So, we're just completing different parts of the search at the same time?" Sean asks.

"Yes. We started at the seventh area of the search, and the other team started at the first one."

"Is that why there were two clues that the other team found at that mine in Africa?" I ask. That was something that had left us confused.

Dr. Scientist nods. "My guess is that the last explorers to try to find Kaori's Treasure left some of the clue sheets behind at the wrong locations while searching for the treasure. After Africa, we were supposed to go to the candy store, then to Greenland for the second jewel, then here for the last two artifacts, which are the red cloth and monkey statue."

By this point, we have arrived at a small shopping center in the middle of Bloomington, specifically behind a small laundromat building. There are a few air conditioning units placed in this region, and a very out-of-place cabinet that's only a little taller than Dr. Scientist. He opens the cabinet door, and inside the cabinet is a dark corridor with spiral stairs leading downward. It would've made more sense for the cabinet to be hiding a secret door instead of just being a secret door itself. Gotta keep things interesting, I guess.

"But, the good news is, that means that once we get through this place--provided nothing bad has happened to the other team--all we have to do is meet up with all the artifacts and we'll be able to perform the Ritual of Pude to get the treasure," Dr. Scientist tells us excitedly. He then gets out a flashlight, turns it on, tells us, "Follow me," and walks into the corridor. Mia, Mackenzie, Sean, and I follow without question.

Sean

Music: Impregnable Fortress from Gradius V

The walk down the spiral staircase, while not super exciting to most, is thrilling for me. Anything could be awaiting us at the bottom. We could just find the artifacts right there at the bottom, or there could be a whole gauntlet we have to go through. Back in Shanna and I's youth, we used to love watching movies of explorers going deep into ancient temples to discover lost secrets, and now we're basically doing the same thing in real life.