Treasure Hunting 101

Chapter XXI

Mackenzie

Music: Skyhigh Islands from Super Mario 64: Last Impact

When we arrive back at the park, none of us are really sure what to do at first. There's nowhere left for us to go, and we currently don't know where the other team is at. Dr. Scientist is sitting on a nearby bench reading from a book, and Mia, Sean, Shanna, and I are sitting in a circle in the grass close to him.

"So, what now?" Shanna asks, hoping to lead us to a decision. We already know what has to be done, but nobody's really wanted to have to go through with it. This whole time, we've all just gone along with this whole competition-thing, and knowing now that it was all a complete misunderstanding is not only stupid, but a bit embarrassing, especially for Mia and Brea, who made it competitive to begin with. Mia's already expressed to us how silly she feels about the whole thing.

"I guess we should just call the other team and let them know," I shrug. "It's the best thing for us to do at this point."

"It's the only thing we can do," Mia mutters. She's right; we can't really continue unless we have the artifacts that the other team has, and vice versa.

I call Avery on my phone, put it on speaker, and set the phone down in the middle of our circle. Avery picks up after three rings. "Hello?" she asks.

"Hey, Avery. How are you guys doing?" I ask.

"Fine, I guess. We just found the second jewel down here in Greenland, but we're not sure where to go from here," she replies.

"Well, we do," Mia tells her. "Are the others listening?"

A couple of seconds pass before Avery responds. While we're waiting, we can faintly hear her saying something to the rest of the group. "Now they are."

"Good. We have to call off the competition," Mia says. "Dr. Scientist just told us that we actually just started at two different points in the search, and we were supposed to go through all of that together and use all of the artifacts we've found for the ritual."

"And why didn't he tell you sooner?" Skylar asks, sounding irritated.

"We were wondering the same damn thing," I mumble.

"Because we're idiots and he didn't expect us to be," Shanna replies.

"I never said that," Dr. Scientist blurts out to us. His statement is ignored.

I come up with an idea on the spot. "Okay, so here's what I'm thinking," I say to both my team and the other team. "Let's all meet up at the park near Sam's house. Our team is already there. Once we meet up, we'll gather up all of the artifacts, head to Kaori's temple together, do this ritual-thingy to get the treasure, then split it twelve ways if we can." My team seems to approve of the idea. I get supportive nods and "Mhm"s from my teammates.

"Sounds good," Sam replies.

"How about we only split it eleven ways and give Luke none of it?" Avery laughs.

"Avery, you little-" We don't hear the end of Luke's sentence because I hang up on them before he can finish.

Music: Dupon from Gradius IV

Dr. Scientist stands up, stretches, and lets out a long and probably exaggerated yawn. "Welp, I'm going to go take a walk through the trail," he tells us, nodding towards the trail that's right next to the park. "You kids call for me if the other team show up, alright?"

"Got it," I reply, giving him a thumbs-up.

Dr. Scientist begins walking onto the trail, and for a moment, the rest of us just stay in our seated circle, unsure of how to pass the time. Mia answers that question for us. "Hey, Shanna," she says, grinning at Shanna. "Last one to the swings owes the other person an unprecedented amount of money!"