Chapter 58-Gaia, Part Two

After Gaia fainted, Old-Man F and I carried him into a tent, and set him to bed.  The two of us hit the hay, as well.  Eventually, the sun rose, and Old-Man F and I woke up.  Mary and Gaia woke up quite a bit later, due to the figure of Gaia's wounds and Mary having to heal multiple people.

But eventually, all four of us wake up, and exit our tents.

"How are you feeling, Gaia?"  Mary asks as Gaia slips on his orange chef's jacket.

"I've been better," Gaia grunts, "How are my wounds healed?"

"I-I did it," Mary answers, "I can use my Blood Charge to heal."

Gaia's eyes widen,  "Blood Charge, huh?"  He asks, "That's a rare one.  Thanks."

Mary blushes.  "N-no problem," she replies.

"Alright, now that we're all up, shall we get searching for the Secret Ingredient?"  I ask.

"Yeah, we're close," Gaia answers, "I'll lead you."

And so, the four of us pack up our things, then begin the search for the Secret Ingredient.  Gaia leads us through the desert, until eventually, the sun sets, and the four of us set up camp.  Once the sun rises, the four of us pack up our things and set sail again.  A few days come and go, until eventually…the four of us find ourselves standing outside of a large cave opening made out of sandstone, with a small tree nestled outside of its opening.

"Odd place for a tree, huh?"  I comment.

"Whatever," Gaia replies.

"We're here," Gaia then announces, "From my knowledge of what Rocko told me, this is as far as he got.  From here on out, we're going in blind."

"Old-Man F, check the map," I ordered.

"Right," Old-Man F replies as he pulls out my map.

"Anything?"  I ask.

"Nothing," Old-Man F answers as he slides my map back into the folds of his gi, "The map leads us to this location, but not to where the Secret Ingredient ACTUALLY is."

"Just what is that map?"  Gaia asls as he raises an eyebrow at me.

"I found it when I woke up," I answer, "It leads me to the E-Chargers of the three other original elements."

"I see…" Gaia replies, "Well…let's head in."

And so, Gaia enters the cave, and Old-Man F and I follow, and a timid Mary enters last.

The cave is dark, damn, and noisy, and smells like mold.  It's dusty, too, so dusty that I can barely see or breathe.

"This way, I guess," Gaia says as the cave leads us down a steep declining path.

The path twists and winds and bends, and even rises in some places, but I can tell either way, that we're entering deep into the earth.

"Man, just how deep does this cave go?"  I pant.

"Hopefully not any deeper," Gaia grumbles, "I want to find the Secret Ingredient and get out of here."

I take another step forwards, but then, the ground begins to tremble, and rocks begin to fall from the ceiling.

"Crap, what's going on?!"  I cry as I begin stumbling around.

"Hopefully nothing," Gaia grunts, "But it could be a cave-in."

"A cave-in?!"  Mary yelps.

The ground begins trembling even more, and then, boulders begin to collapse from the ceiling.

Mary yelps as she drops to the ground in fetal position, unaware of the giant boulder about to crash down on top of her.

"Mary, look out!"  I cry as I spring forwards, tackiing the girl out of the way of the collapsing boulder.

"Th-thanks!"  Mary yelps as her eyes widen.

"No problem," I grunt.

The trembling ground intensifies, and part of the cave wall before us begins to shatter and break away, revealing a glowing golden light coming from deep underground.

Gaias eyes widened.  "That…must be it!"  Gaia exclaims as he takes off dashing towards the glowing golden light.

"Gaia, wait!"  I cry as I hold a hand out to him, but it's too late.  Gaia has already set his eyes on something, and NOTHING can stop him now.

"Guys, let's follow him!"  I order as I take another step forwards, but the moment that I do, the ground below us begins to crack.

"Oh crap!"  I yelp.

And then…the ground splits, and Old-Man F and Mary scream as they're sent hurtling through the black abyss below.

"OLD-MAN F!  MARY!"  I cry as I spina round to face my allies.  But before I can take a step towards them, a giant boulder falls from the ceiling, separating myself from Old-Man F and Mary.

"WAHHHH!"  Mary screams.

"GO AFTER GAIA, NOAH!"  Old-Man F shouts.

"Damn…" I grunt as I slam a fist against the boulder.

"I certainly can blast through this thing, but I don't want to risk causing a cave-in…" I say, before turning around to face the direction which Gaia ran off too.

"It looks like I don't have a choice," I sigh, and then, I head after Gaia.