This is going to be the very last thing I update this summer, so I'll try not to suck. :p

Also, I know people are going to think I'm a bit of a ditz, but anyone remember Jimmy's godly parent? I'm rather sure it's Demeter, but just checking.

Chapter 4

Marina's POV

I woke from a fitful sleep. Sleeping on the dirt floor of the labyrinth was anything but comfortable. At least Jimmy had been sweet enough to stay by my side. If not for some magical barrier, I would've hugged him. Well, maybe not. It was rather embarrassing to do such a thing in such a serious place.

Rubbing my eyes, I realized everyone else was already awake, except for May. She was still snoring away on her bed. It might've been inappropriate, but I stifled a laugh. Drew and Jimmy were cooking while Lisa and Felicity worked on waking May. Simon was lazily brushing his teeth in the bathroom.

Jimmy was the first to notice me. He left Drew with the orange plopped into the manual juicer, wiped his hands, and came over offering me a toothbrush with some toothpaste. He threw the items pass the barrier and I caught them.

"Morning," he said.

"Good morning. Uh, thanks for the toothpaste and stuff," I replied dumbly. He accepted my lame appreciation and gave me his warm, goofy smile. He left when I started to brush. After making my breath minty fresh, I was handed scrambled eggs with some buttered toast. After he finished juicing, Jimmy carefully threw me a thermos was orange juice. I was starting to get good at catching things. Though, knowing that all I could really do was sit around as everyone tossed me things didn't boost my confidence of my usefulness.

"I know it's still early, but about yesterday. Diaper Boy said you found something." Drew carefully chewed his toast. I gulped, oh, right. I swore a little girl had followed me through, but she disappeared the moment I passed through that opening. Or could it be referencing to the words I found on the wall?

Not knowing which one was more important, I told them. I gave details on the girl, but from what I could remember about the writing on the wall.

"Isn't this just dandy? I think we've got another prophecy." Jimmy expanded his cheeks and deflated them in an instant like a frog. It was kind of cute. I'm sure he could make my heart flutter just by standing there.

"Is it possible to go back?" Drew asked. From what I could see, nothing's closed up, so I could go back to the cave. As much as I didn't want to go back with my wits already scared to death, it was probably for the better. I nodded.

"I'm not sure how well this would work, but I think you should go back to see if the words would appear for you again. Here." A small notepad and pen was tossed in my direction. The first few pages were filled with random notes like grocery lists. I flipped past that until I was at a blank page. In my loopy writing, I wrote what I recalled.

When the two become one

The question was who. There were a lot of us –not that it was smart to bring along enough people to start a party –and it could've been anyone. As everyone prepped to get ready for Level 2, I thought back to the small child. I was sure I had brought her with me. I even remembered how ice cold her hand felt when I held it. There was no way I was just imagining her.

Felicity had been the lone one to stay behind because apparently she "lost" the game. I still didn't really get what kind of sick joke this was supposed to be, but it didn't seem like we had any other choice than to follow it. After bidding a quick goodbye to Felicity, I went back toward the path of the cave. I saw the girl immediately.

May's POV

I foraged my way through another tunnel. If I never saw another cave, it'd be too soon. Now, that I've heard about what's happened to all of us, I was scared. Scared I was going to die, this wasn't just another game you could start over. We only have one life, but it'd be okay as long as one of us made it pass Level 10. At least, that's what the note had said, but if he didn't keep his word. Then, there'd be a lot of problems.

Not dwelling on it because I saw no point in thinking about something I didn't know too much about, I got to the breach. Blinking back, my eyes adjusted. I took a step forward before my eyes had taken in everything and fell.

"Kyaa-!" I kicked up and crawled back onto the surface, coughing out water. I squeezed a few droplets out of my hair as I made an agitated breath. This time I actually let my eyes take the room in. It looked like some kind of underground spring. The water shimmered as a small waterfall spilled into it. A few green mosses and plants were on the walls. Other than that, it just looked pretty to me.

Seeing as there wasn't anything to do but swim, I dove into the slightly cold lukewarm water. Looking under, I couldn't see much. There was lots of water, cave, and moss. That was it. There wasn't anything else. Kicking up for air, I spotted the ceiling.

"Those look like they're going to fall any minute." The top had long spikes with sharp points. The entire ceiling was covered with them. There were ones bigger than I was. Not wanting to stay up a moment longer, I dove back underwater. The weird note had said this was like a game. Maybe I was in the water level like in Mario.

Searching for any sign in the water, I swam circles around the same places repeatedly. The water was clear as could be, the lighting showed everything, and there wasn't anything in the water. So, why in the world could I not find a single thing? I even pressed against parts of the walls that looked like they could be secret switches or passageways.

No luck. At all.

Kicking up for the umpteenth time, I went to sit on the surface edge. I splashed the water with my feet in blinded fury. "If I could hurt water, then I want it to be now."

I laid back my head onto the dirt ground. At this point I couldn't care less how much mud would be caked onto my body. I was exhausted. Panting like a mindless beast, I let the water drip onto the ground. I could feel the layer of dirt latching onto me as I dried.

Prying my body up, I pulled out the small bag with my lunch out. Dipping my hands in the water, I dug in the turkey, lettuce, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, cheddar on white bread. The few other things I'd had the chance to pack were an apple, the sandwich, and a thermos with tap water. The room we were provided lacked the hint of filling it with delicious junk food. Instead, we were stuck with regular food.

Finishing, I stuffed the leftovers in the clear plastic container. Time for Round One Hundred Billion –okay, so it's probably around fifteen, tops. I didn't feel comfortable taking off articles of clothing when someone could be watching me, so the most I'd taken off me was my bandana, shoes, and my top. Thank the gods I had decided to wear this outfit with an undershirt. There wasn't a chance I would agree to strip entirely.

It was around my third dive back that the shaking started. The rumbling had caused me to lose more than half my breath and I had to resurface. I looked up. A spike was hurtling its way toward my head. Panicking, I dove back down with almost no breath. Without choice, I attempted to resurface again, but spikes persistently crashed into the water. I few nearly made me lose a body part.

The lack of oxygen burned my throat. With no choice left, I kicked up. I took in as much oxygen as I could. I was gasping, panting, and whatever other noises you make when you almost drown. When I looked at the ceiling I saw a few spikes left hanging. I swam out of their reach in case of another shaking.

"That's weird." The three spikes left were in corners and the one without it had sunlight shining even more brightly in the corner I must've at least checked ten times. Hesitantly, I swam over to the corner expecting another shaking. When I reached the spot, I saw a slight shimmer.

Diving for –hopefully –the last time, I chased after the shine. It was no wonder I never found it. The small little pebble was hidden away at the bottom in a small innocent crevice. I took the pebble out and I guess it was a switch of some sort because another entrance opened. Not waiting another second in some dingy cave, I headed toward where my friends were.

Dawn's POV

I knew that Lisa had other hunters in that group of hers, but I really hadn't expected someone so scary. Mary really could try not to have a face that yelled, 'bloody murder.' At the moment, I was shopping with the hunters, but wherever we went Mary would scare enough people that we'd be sent to leave.

After the fifth store, I could tell I wasn't the only one annoyed from being kicked out. I should've accepted Misty and Ash's invitation on eating shaved ice. Although, Mary wasn't on the friendly side, most of the other girls were pretty nice. They were cold as ice toward Ash, though.

Rylee was really lean and tan. Her skin made it look like she lived near the beach and surfed every day. She had a really strong build, but she looked so average that she didn't give the menacing aura Mary did. There was that, and she was really good at finding cute clothes before we were thrown out. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have bought anything. Plus, I hate to admit it, but she can pull off Crocs.

"Where to next?" Rylee asked. I shrugged. I would've offered to meet with Ash and Misty, but that would only cause a beaten up Ash.

"Ooh, ooh, there!" Chizu jumped up and down excitedly. I was almost sure she was smaller than Felicity, but it'd have to be a close tie. When I first saw the group, I had automatically assumed that Leslie would be the one I got along with the most, but Chizu was just so excited about everything, I couldn't help but like her.

"Yeah, yeah, calm your tits." Leslie, despite her girly appearance was almost a doppelganger for Paul. She was just so negative. I couldn't see how I liked her in the first place. Although, she did pull off her lollipop earrings like a pro, but I can't say she acted like her clothes. This morning, I stumbled upon a very unlucky spider that was crushed with her white flats with a sparkly strap.

As we headed toward the door a guy approached us. One of those, super-smooth-you-find-in-a-bar type of guy, and his hair was slicked back and black shades covered his eyes. He gave us a million dollar smile. "So, you ladies need someone to carry those heavy bags for you?"

"Get away before I have you in a headlock." Leslie squinted her eyes. I saw Chizu's face twist in disgust, something that didn't seem like her character. Rylee's jaw tightened. Mary grunted.

Mr. Sleazy Cheesy left with an eye roll. It wasn't a wonder why he came to offer, but by the looks on everyone's faces made it seem like they had eaten rotten garbage. After going to the store, we went back to the Pokémon Centre. After the guy had come to flirt with us, they've been wary of every guy that got within a yard of us. Mary even caused a guy to run away with wet pants.

"I know we were supposed to head back, but I'm kind of hungry. Do you guys want to eat first?" Chizu brought up. For a moment we looked at each with puzzled faces. Then, shrugged. There wasn't any reason not to, but the heavy atmosphere was a little unsettling. We got to a café with a table as far away from any guy. Chizu had gone to order for everyone and I rubbed my shoulders. I should've put on sunscreen this morning.

The café was cute from what I could see. The round wooden tables with mosaic middles and matching chairs really set off a relaxing mood. The walls had vine trellises and there were small orb lamps hanging every so often from the ceiling. Chizu came back with five cups. Two had three sugars and cream, one was iced tea, another was a macchiato, and the last one was just straight black. I was mildly shocked when I saw Chizu grab the plain one. I felt my taste buds go sour as I watched her sip it in delight.

After a few lines of awkward conversation, the waitress arrived with the food. Her hair was held into a high ponytail underneath a green visor. She had a phony smile plastered onto her face as she put down the plates of food. Giving the usual, "Thank you, have a nice day." She wiped her hands on the matching vine green apron. Chizu took the first bite out of the small slice of raspberry cheesecake.

"It's like tasting heaven," she moaned as she took another bite. A few people glanced our ways as the teen enjoyed her slice with openly sharing her emotions.

"Uh huh, you have fun with that." Rylee ripped a small piece off her blueberry muffin. I gave a peek at my chocolate cake decorated with a cherry on top. Taking the small silver fork I was provided, I took a bite. I'm sure I let out some ungodly noise because there was no way you couldn't. It was delicious. The cake was light and fluffy, the frosting was thin but still thick, and the small pieces of Oreos they put in set my mouth on a stairway to heaven.

With more than enough people looking at us, I quieted down. That was when I felt a pair of eyes staring into my back.

I'm really unsure of how much time I'll have to update this during school, but it could range from monthly updates to updates every now and then. Sorry. :/ REVIEW!