Ch. 8: South American Search

The 8 heroes look for the third Sun Relic piece in the South American Amazon.

Chapter 8: South American Search 
Brenden, John, Tara, Seth, Scarlett, Anna, Drew, and Frank made it back unscathed, but more importantly, with the second Sun Relic piece. They walked to Tanaka's hut and explained to him what had happened for the last day and a half. 
"Hmm." Tanaka said. "Can I see the Sun Relic piece?" 
Seth nodded and handed the piece to Tanaka. 
"Oh!" Brenden exclaimed. "Here you go." 
Brenden handed Tanaka the two stones. 
"Thank you." Tanaka said. "Now, you all should be heading home." 
"Why?" John asked. "It's not late or anything." 
"Well, you haven't seen your families in a while." Tanaka said. 
"Oh yeah!" Seth exclaimed. "You're right! Bye!" 
"Bye Tanaka." Everyone said. 
Everyone went to their separate houses and talked to their parents. 
"Hi mom." Brenden said. "Sorry." 
"For what?" Brenden and John's mom asked. 
"For not going to school..." Brenden said, embarrassed. 
"What are you talking about?" Their mom said. "You guys had a four day weekend." 
Brenden and John stood in silence for a few seconds and face-palmed. Their mom smiled and went into her room. 
"Whew! I was worried." John sighed. "Do you think anyone else knows?" 
"Probably not." Brenden responded. "Here, I'll text them." 
Brenden ran to his and John's room, grabbed his phone and texted: "I think we forgot that we had a four day weekend." Then everyone spent the rest of their day with their families. 

The next four days were filled with boring schoolwork until Saturday morning, where everyone met up at Green Street and waited for Tanaka, who arrived after a couple minutes. 
"Alright, where's the next Sun Relic piece that's on Earth?" Tanaka asked. 
"We found the pirate captain's journal and it said that there is supposedly a man named Xavier in the Amazon." Tara explained. "It said he had another Sun Relic piece." 
"Hmm..." Tanaka said. "Okay! I'll teleport you guys now!" 
Tanaka shot a portal out of his cane and handed Brenden the two Interdimensional Gate Keys. They waved by and walked in, teleporting them to South America. They looked for a good place to start. 
"We should go around the edge." Brenden suggested. "If he lives in the Amazon, I doubt he would live in the middle of it." 
Everyone agreed and walked around the edge of the forest for a few minutes and eventually found a small house. Frank knocked on the door, and after a few seconds it was answered by a man in an adventurous outfit. 
"Hello." Frank said. "Do you know who Xavier is?" 
"Yes, actually I do." The man said. "Do you need to find him?" 
"Yeah." Frank said. 
"Oh, man. You guys are out of luck." The man said. "He relocated his hut to the complete opposite side of the forest a couple of days ago. Sorry." 
"Okay." Frank politely said. "Thanks anyway!" 
The man nodded and went back inside his house. Everyone turned and started on their long trek to the other side of the giant forest. They walked for three hours and eventually came across a sign with a map on it. Anna took a quick glimpse at it and gulped. 
"Um..." Anna said. "I don't think walking is going to be a good way to get across." 
Everyone stared at the map and saw just how big the forest was. 
"I was wondering when you guys would notice that this was impossible." Drew scoffed. "The Amazon rain forest is over two million square miles of dense forest." 
"Should we ask that one guy for help?" Scarlett asked. 
"No, I've got a better idea." Tara stated. "Brenden, teleport us back." 
"Um..." Brenden said. "Can I ask why?" 
"If we teleport back, we can tell Tanaka to teleport us to the other side." Tara said. "...Are you going to do it or what?" 
"Oh, sorry." Brenden apologized. 
Brenden pressed his finger onto the grey stone, and then the red stone. They talked to Tanaka and told him that they needed to be teleported to another part of the colossal forest. He understood and teleported them as instructed. Once they arrived back in South America, they searched for any kind of hut. 
"I'm hungry." Frank complained. "Did we bring anything to eat?" 
"No." Anna replied. "We could look for something though." 
Everyone agreed, so they went into the forest and retrieved a few brown pieces of fruit. 
"What are these?" Seth asked. "Huge walnuts?" 
"I'm pretty sure they're passion fruit." John said, cutting one open. 
Everyone ate and returned to looking for Xavier. After a while they came across a small hut. 
"Hello?" Frank said. "Anyone home?" 
No one answered. They decided to go inside and look for anything that might hint at where Xavier is. 
"Well, I know this is Xavier's house now!" Scarlett exclaimed. "Come look at this!" 
They went to Scarlett and saw a desk that said "Xavier's Insect Collection." On top of it were many jars with exotic bugs in them. 
"Ew..." Anna said. "I think I'll check another room." 
Anna walked out and into a different room. 
"So, where do you think he is?" Tara said. "He's obviously not in he-" 
Tara was interrupted by a scream from the other room. They all funneled in and saw a dead body. 
"Is this... Xavier?" Anna asked. 
"Of course it is!" Drew exclaimed. "Who else would it be?" 
"Let's take a look at the body." Tara said. 
Brenden, Tara, John, Drew, and Frank examined the body. They flipped him around and noticed a hole in his stomach the size of a bowling ball. 
"I wonder what could've caused this." Brenden said. "Not to mention who did it." 
"Gee, I do wonder." A voice from behind them said. 
They quickly turned and saw a demon-like person with four arms that was holding the third Sun Relic piece. They all readied their weapons and got into fighting stances. 
"It was you wasn't it!?" Scarlett exclaimed. 
"What makes you believe that?" The demon said. 
"Probably the fact that the Sun Relic piece is in your hand!" Brenden shouted. "Hand it over!" 
Brenden tried to take the piece away from the demon, but it teleported everyone before he could. They were teleported to a large room, but they were separated by very strong transparent walls. From left to right, it was Frank, Seth, Anna, Drew, Scarlett, John, Brenden, and finally Tara. The demon appeared on a monitor built into the wall. 
"Looks like you're all here." The demon said. 
"Rrrgh!" Scarlett shouted. "Who are you?" 
"I'm one of the Dark One's assistants." The demon said. "Or in your case one of Daku's assistants. My name is Kobun, and my job is to make sure you all don't make it out of this dungeon alive." 
The demon broke the Sun Relic piece into eight smaller pieces and teleported them. 
"You all must go through your doors, go through the long dungeon, and retrieve your Sun Relic fragment if you want to live." Kobun said. "Once chubby over here finishes his dungeon, the door for shorty will open." 
"Hey!" Frank and Seth exclaimed. 
"Once all the fragments are retrieved, the doors behind everyone will open." Kobun explained. "They lead to a big room where you must face against me." 
"Why are you doing this?" John asked. "Why can't you just fight us now?" 
"That would be foolish." Kobun said. "It'd be better to weaken you all and THEN finish you off. Trust me, I know strong kids when I see them." 
The door in front of Frank opened. 
"I'd hurry if I were you." Kobun insisted. "After all, it's not like there's anything to EAT in there." 
After a long, maniacal laugh, the monitor turned off. Everyone looked at Frank. 
"Well, good luck bro." Seth smiled. "Don't get killed!" 
"That's reassuring." Frank whispered. 
Frank stepped through the door, and it slammed shut right behind him. The dungeon looked like a thick jungle. 
"Time to teach that Kobun guy that I'm NOT going to die." Frank exclaimed. 

The first thing I saw was a giant hole with no way to get around. 
"How am I gonna get past this?" I sighed. "There aren't any trees over here." 
I looked down the hole and I couldn't even see the BOTTOM. I thought for a while and then thought of something. 
"This is gonna be risky..." I said. 
I charged up and shot multiple vines at the other side and tied them to the side I was standing on. I managed to get across just before the vines snapped. I ran for a while and eventually came across a few demon-things. They were about the size of a human, but they were dark red and had horns. 
"Are these... Akuma?" I thought to myself. "How did they get-" 
My thought was interrupted by an Akuma trying to claw my face off. I hit it a few times and it disappeared in a black smoke. 
"That's how they die I guess." I thought to myself. 
I finished them off with just a few scratches on my stomach. The next obstacle was a giant wall. I tried throwing a vine and pulling myself up, but the vine snapped halfway up and I fell on my back. 
"Oww..." I moaned. 
I looked around for any other way up and spotted a very tall tree. I managed to climb it and shot some vines to the other side. I was going to run to the other side... until I looked down. 
"I didn't know I was that high up!" I panicked. "No problem, heh heh." 
I ran across, and I was doing well... for a few seconds. The vines snapped, but I managed to pull myself up the wall with my whip before I fell. I climbed over, jumped to a nearby tree, and scurried down. When I got down, the first thing I noticed was a group of Akuma. 
"Hmm..." I thought to myself. "I need to figure out how to take out more than one at a time..." 
I got about three in a line and stabbed through all of them with my whip's sharp end. I then lifted them up and slammed them onto a couple more, killing them all. 
"Huh, guess I should come up with a name for that move." I said. "How about... Vine Crush!" 
I couldn't think of a better name so I stuck with Vine Crush. I did it to a few more Akuma. 
"Vine Crush!" I shouted, killing a few more. 
The next few minutes of looking for the exit were a walk in the park, until I saw IT. It was a giant Akuma with razor sharp teeth and it was holding a huge ball and chain. It swung at me once, but I slid under it and hit the thing a few times. This continued for a few minutes until I tripped on a rock and he actually hit me. The impact sent me flying into the wall and luckily not into a rock. 
"Haven't... been hit that hard..." I muttered. "Since I got back-attacked... by Seth." 
I managed to jump back up to fight. I continued my pattern like before, but this time I was quicker on my feet. I managed to defeat it after a while and it disappeared like the other ones. Once I knew the battle was over, I slumped to the ground. 
"Ugh." I groaned. "This is exhausting. Especially since I'm not the best at anything. I'm definitely not as strong as John or Tara, or as fast as Brenden or Scarlett. I can't support that well like Drew or Anna can, and I can't take a hit like Seth can. I'm just an add-on that no one needs. So what if I can navigate things... or I'm good at persuading people... or I'm the only one who can use a vehicle... or... wait." 
I stood up with a smile. 
"Of course everyone needs me!" I said. "I'm the persuader! The navigator! The element of nature!" 
Thinking about that gave me the energy I needed. Although I am scratched, bruised, and can hardly talk, I feel like NOTHING in this dungeon can stop me! I ran and crossed with another big Akuma. This time I looked for any kind of weak spot. I grabbed a small rock with my whip and threw it at the Akuma's head, staggering it and making it fall. 
"Huh..." I thought to myself. "The head." 
I finished it off with a few whips to the skull. I walked away only to find another obstacle. It was another pit, but this time there were a few giant Venus flytraps. I tried creating a bridge of vines, but the flytraps snapped and ate them. I looked for any other way around. I noticed that there were no trees, but there was a few vines hanging from the roof just out of the flytraps' reach. 
"Oh no." I said. "There is no way I'm doing that." 
I looked around once more, but I couldn't find anything else. 
"Guess I don't have a choice then." I sighed. "Well, here we go!" 
I grabbed onto the first vine and swung to the second, then the third. I would've stopped for a break, but one of the flytraps almost bit my leg off when I tried to. When I swung on the last one, it snapped and nearly all of my body made it, but my left leg fell into a flytrap's mouth, melting off some skin from the acid. 
"Ahhhh!" I yelped, pulling out my leg. "Owowowow! I really wish Anna was here!" 
I wrapped a few vines around my burned leg to keep anything from getting in the wound. 
"Ugh..." I moaned. "I can't give up now." 
I walked for a while longer only to find another group of Akuma. I really didn't want to deal with them, but I had no choice. I Vine Crushed a few of them, only to see that they were guarding another big guy. Before I did my technique for killing the big ones, I finished off all the little ones so they wouldn't get in my way. Eventually I defeated all of them, and so I threw a rock at the big Akuma's head and hit it a few times, killing it. 
"I've gotta be almost done." I said to myself. "I've been in here for a whi-" 
My thought got interrupted by a sharp pain in my back. I turned and saw another group of Akuma. 
"What?" I thought to myself. "I thought I finished them all off! Is there something spawning them?" 
After I defeated the enemies, I looked for anything that might have been creating them. I eventually found a small crack in the ground. After a few seconds, a group of Akuma came out. 
"Huh." I said. "The cracks..." 
After I defeated another wave, I pushed a big rock over the crack, and they stopped spawning as expected. After a while of walking and fighting, I spotted the Sun Relic fragment inside of a glass case, but it was guarded by one final obstacle. 
"Oh no." I said to myself. "Is this even possible?" 
There were three big Akuma, about fifteen small Akuma, flytraps on ALL FOUR WALLS, and the only way to get across was a few wimpy vines. 
"Frank, you can do this." I kept saying to myself. "All your friends are counting on you." 
I doubt it would've worked, but I tried to make a vine bridge. As expected, a flytrap ate it instantly. Before I could figure out a better way to get across, a big Akuma tried to attack me. I quickly dodged his ball and chain and threw a rock at its head. It tumbled off the edge and was eaten by a flytrap. 
"Hopefully that doesn't happen to me!" I thought to myself. 
I finished off all the Akuma that were on my side of the flytraps and tried to think of some way to get across other than the vines. Then it hit me. 
"Wait!" I exclaimed. "Since these giant flytraps aren't in a hole like the other ones, I could probably Vine Crush them!" 
I ran to the side of one that was hanging upside down and impaled it with my whip. I then slammed it down onto the one below it, killing them both. 
"Nice!" I thought to myself. "Only a couple more." 
After I killed the last couple flytraps and the last few Akuma, I obtained the first Sun Relic fragment. Doing so teleported me back to the main room with everyone else. 

"Hey guys." Frank said. "I'm back." 
Everyone looked at Frank and gasped. 
"Frank!" Anna shouted, worried. "Are you okay!?" 
"I'm fine." Frank said. "More importantly..." 
Frank pulled the fragment out of his pocket and showed it to everyone. 
"I got this." Frank said. 
Anna tried to heal Frank, but it wasn't working. 
"What the..." Anna asked. 
"It's probably the walls." Drew said. "Frank, you should rest. You look... REALLY messed up." 
Frank looked at his reflection off of the see-through walls and saw that he had blood and scratches everywhere. 
"Geez." Frank said. "I didn't know it was that bad." 
"Frank, why is your leg wrapped in a vine?" Brenden asked. "Did something happen to it?" 
Frank sighed and took off the vines, revealing his leg that had barely any skin left on it. 
"I... fell in a giant flytrap." Frank said. 
Anna started crying. Even Scarlett shed a few tears. 
"It's fine." Frank said. "Don't worry about me." 
"Flytrap?" John asked. "What was the dungeon like?" 
"It looked a lot like a jungle-type area." Frank said. "Oh! That reminds me!" 
Frank got a serious look on his face. 
"Guys" there are Akuma in there." Frank said. "Also, there are these big ones you need to watch out for. Hit them in the head." 
"Akuma?" Brenden said. "When did they start coming here?" 
"Here's the thing: I don't think that they are real Akuma." Frank said. "When I defeated one, it turned to smoke." 
The door in front of Seth opened. 
"Oh!" Seth said. "Guess it's my time to go!" 
"Good luck dude!" Drew and Frank said at the same time. 
"Don't worry." Seth smiled. "I'll be juuuuuuust fine!" 
Seth stepped into his door, and it slammed right behind him like Frank's. As soon as Seth went into the dungeon, the first thing he saw was a colossal mountain.