Paradise Lost (JSAB)

Prochorus

Warning: Strong language up ahead, folks. Some stupid kid makes equally stupid jokes and a bunch of angry siblings scream some worse insults.

Mount Clearwater, 1450 hours

There was someone who needed rescuing.

But they were on the other side of a huge as cliff.

Yeah, uh, how on earth were they going to get through this?

Tetra looked at the purified leaf, the supposed miracle-making Maguffin that apparently should solve all their problems. The leaf of the Tree of Life, a souvenir from a mother they had never met, or so they've been told. 

"Hey uh, help us out and take us to the guy who needs our help?" Tetra meekly requested of the leaf, floating out of their palm. It seemed to almost look at them for a while before floating off. They heard a small explosion and a little flash of light, but nowhere as large as the explosion that took out the wall not too long ago. It was a pretty small, yet strange action, because instead of creating a passage through the stone cliff or something, it destroyed the rock at the bottom of their feet. What was taking out the floor going to do? But hey, a leaf has yet to disobey a request, so it must be doing this for a reason. It created a chasm in the middle of the rock, but looking down at what they saw beneath, they saw that several meters below was just simply lava, and the broken-off rock was sitting on top of it like a little boat. It was big enough for all four of them with plenty of room to spare, but doesn't change the fact that they were much too close to the lava for comfort. But, if the leaf insists...

One by one, the siblings hopped down, and the boat platform thankfully didn't sink or move too much. In fact, it seemed almost as if it was another Neptune, patiently waiting until all of them were on board to move.

...For a few moments, nothing happened. wondering what was happening, the four looked at each other, confused. Were they supposed to paddle themselves, then? but they didn't have anything they could paddle with.

But then, the leaf descended down from the hole in the ceiling- carrying with it several articles of clothing that the four had left behind at their resting places and had forgotten to bring with them. Oh. Thanks! Currently Lumina and Quin were wearing their undershirts which were simple tank tops Tetra and Pi in their short sleeved shirts. The leaf bought Tetra's overalls, Lumina's T-shirt, Quin's dress shirt and Pi's hoodie. How polite! And it did this unprompted, too. Was it because they were using so many leaves that the Tree of Life's beginning to recognise them? Realising that these were its children and helping them out in any way possible? Aaaaw...

Just as they were reunited by the articles of clothing that'll keep them warm for when they left the volcano, the rocky little boat began to move. Obviously, the four all huddled together in the centre in order to avoid the edges of the stone, where there was a few inches worth of difference between safety and lava.

I just realised that I have failed to provide a proper physical description of the area they were travelling in. No worries, coming right up.

They were in a tunnel with a low ceiling, where the ceiling was merely two feet above their heads. beside them on both sides was a couple meters of room before it was just pure rock again, resulting in a very claustrophobic environment that the Quartet felt as if there was the threat of getting stuck and/or being knocked into the lava, but thankfully the voyage seemed pretty smooth so far. Besides, there were a couple patches of tiny cyan mushrooms sprouting along the walls and ceiling, varying in size. The blinding light and sweltering heat from the lava made everyone feel dizzy and light-headed, so they all leaned on each other.