ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE Now, this was weird. There was a great big crack in the ground, and it stretched across the area pretty far. Skirting around it, the child sniffed warily at the cavernous opening. Thus far, it wasn't dangerous. Nothing had tried to eat her, or drag her into the depths of the earth. Mama had warned her about creatures that liked to steal away young pups. The water spirits were the most dangerous. She tried to keep her visits to large bodies of water to a minimum. "I ain't scared of you!" She shouted into the abyss. The sound her voice echoed for a moment, and disappeared. Ooooh. It went down! Since it hadn't eaten her, or tried to steal her away, she decided it couldn't be so bad. Careful steps took her into the bowels of the earth. Pebbles skittered down the tunnel with each tentative, sliding step. The dirt was hard packed, but only beneath the layer of rocks and sand that had been kicked loose by each traveller that came down here. She hummed a tune to herself, keeping her mind occupied while she explored. The walls didn't have paintings or carvings in them. Near the top, there had been roots and stuff sticking out everywhere. Nothing touched her, she was too small for that. As she got deeper, there wasn't much. Even burrowing creatures hadn't dared come this deep. That thought gave her pause. Maybe it was time to turn back. What if there was something down here? A soft whimper started to grate at her throat. Tears welled in her eyes. Something was going to eat her, she knew it! There were no living things, that meant it was bad! "Help! Mama! Papa! Help!" She cried, tears beginning to streak down her cheeks. Frozen in place by terror, she started to cry. speech

"I ain't scared of you!" The voice echoed throughout the chamber causing both Jupiter and Amadeus to pause what they were doing. "Think they're talking to us?" On the ground in front of him armed with a sharpened stick, Amadeus shrugged and gestured up at the crack in the roof. "Nah, he or she's just tryin' to work up the courage to climb in." He hopped away and began heading to the river of fire with a look of determination on his face. "Come on." Jupiter hesitated and then followed. A little while later the voice rang out again, this time in a panic. It was a little kid! "Hey!" he yelled, "Are you okay?" He couldn't see whoever it was, but they sounded pretty scared. Maybe a monster was after 'em! To his companion, he said, "Come on, maybe a monster's getting 'em." "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE She was shaking with fear now, imagining a great beast slithering up the tunnel. Slimy tentacles, gaping maw filled with too many teeth. Eyeless, and pale as death. The image, conjured by a terrified mind, had her heart threatening to burst from her chest. The girl couldn't breathe, the walls were too tight. Closing in on her. She let out another frantic, wordless cry. The clatter of something coming up the tunnel towards her had her skittering back. Rump hit the dirt of the tunnel, legs no longer strong enough to hold her up in the face of her fear come alive. The light from behind her hinted at the form of something with lots of arms and legs, all of them different sized. She could see eyes, glinting in the faint light. "Go away! Don't hurt me!" She screamed at the creature, praying that mama or papa came to save her before she was devoured. speech

Aw, man. They sounded really upset! Jupiter picked up the pace, but the closer he got to the entrance the harder it got to navigate. Already he was doing more climbing than running and his legs were beginning to burn. He did his best to ignore the hurt. If he didn't hurry they were gonna get eaten up before he could get there! "Go away! Don't hurt me!" What? He faltered and his hesitation caused him to trip over a root. He landed on his chin and lay still for a moment with his eyes fixed on the tunnel stretched out in front of him. Where they talking to him? Surely not, he was a good guy, not a monster! Jupiter scrambled to his paws and took off again. Somewhere behind him Amadeus yelled, "What if it's another mountain lion?!" The boy might have scoffed had he not been so winded. The monkey had been with him when the big red wolf had tamed the mountain lions, so his worries were silly. "I'll knock it down and make it behave!" Finally! Jupiter hauled himself up onto a ledge (if he'd been a little taller it would have been no more than a step) and lo and behold, there was a pup! ...By himself? Jupiter spun in a quick circle. His gaze searched the surrounding area for signs of danger, and upon seeing none, he craned his head back to look at the ceiling. Oh no, was it invisible?? "Where is it, where is it? Amadeus the monster's invisible!" "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE Someone was shouting. Were they coming to save her? Trembling, half closed throat would allow a strangled cry of "Hurry!" to pass dark lips. The thing was coming closer! Why did it have so many legs? Fearful whimper would escape her, shameless. Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited. For what? For the monster to gobble her up? For the wolf to come save her? Anything, please. "Where is it, where is it? Amadeus the monster's invisible!" Daring to open one eye, the girl found herself face to face with another child. This one was covered in the night sky, like she saw sometimes if she snuck out of the den after bedtime. Wow. A tiny sniffle would be sucked in, and she looked around. Teary, glistening eyes peered about for the beast. It was gone! Lurching to her feet, she sniffled again and felt another whimper leave her. "Oh no! It's gone!" She cried, whirling about in a quick circle. Yep, it was gone. Where did something that big and weird go so fast? Wait. She dared to take a step closer to the boy, and peek behind his shoulder down the tunnel. "It was coming up the tunnel, I saw it!" Frantic, her hackles rose, turning her into the very image of a frightened cat. "I swear! It was just down there!" speech

Well, this was really, really bad! "It was coming up the tunnel, I saw it!" Jupiter spun around again. His brow furrowed. How did it get around him? Maybe it had been climbing on the ceiling? If that were the case then he was lucky. It could have pounced on him! He could have died and never seen it coming! Wow, that was scary. Determined to scare the monster off, Jupiter fixed the empty blackness of the tunnel with his most ferocious glare. Several seconds ticked by as he waited with raised hackles. Finally he relaxed. "I guess it ran away." He puffed his chest out and turned to look at the other child. "That's 'cause it heard me coming." Parroting something Amadeus had recently said to him, he said, "My rep'itation proceeds me." Curiously he eyed the other boy. "Did it chase you down here?" Behind him, Amadeus had finally caught up. His tiny hands clasped the ledge and in one fluid motion he hauled himself over it. For a moment he paused to scoop the dirt out from under his nails; completely unperturbed by the idea of a pup-eating monster. He would have smelled real danger and since he didn't, he wasn't concerned. Let the boy play. "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE ooc. me? Forget about characters? Threads? Pfft, no! I'm sorry The boy looked frightened for merely a moment, and whirled around to stare down the tunnel. His cerulean hackles stood on end, and he stood like papa did when he heard something outside at night. After a second, he seemed satisfied that nothing was behind him. "I guess it ran away." He finally announced, nonplussed. "That's 'cause it heard me coming." Oh wow! Sea foam eyes would widen, shocked. Was he a famous monster killer? "My rep'itation proceeds me." He seemed rather proud, standing there. The pale child wished she could be that brave. Instead, she had been crying in a hole in the ground for her papa. "Did it chase you down here?" The starry boy then asked, quizzical. Hot shame rolled down her back, and she looked down at her toes. Why couldn't she be brave like the boy was? "No.." She mumbled, head shaking just a little. "I wanted to see what was down here, but.. there's nothing alive down here, and I thought maybe it was because there were monsters or somethin'." It was so stupid, now that she said it out loud. So stupid, and he was going to laugh at her now. "And then I was scared a monster was going to come up and eat me, and then one was coming up- and then-" Oh great, she was gonna cry again. Cry like a big baby. Everyone was gonna laugh at her, like the big meanie was saying all the time. She looked up at the boy, hoping he wasn't laughing. "Zhi-" She gasped, choking on her own tongue with shock. A monster! Long limbs and a weird face, and it was cleaning its claws! Getting ready to attack! "Behind you!" She cried, scuttling awkwardly backwards. It failed this time, just like the last time. She fell flat on her butt, and stared in horror at the creature. speech