THE JUNGLE PLANET'S AT RISK

Paloma looked at Pollux terrified and confused. "Pollux. But you were supposed to be-"

"What?" Pollux filled in her sentence for her. "Trapped in that elaborate maze, or did I made you think I was. You see I asked myself why bother facing those complex dangerous trials when your new animal friend here can do it for me" he smiled fiendishly clever.

The Ruthless Rogues restrained Sapphire, Red, Zircon, Terra, and Azalea. They tied their wrists together with strong inorganic ropes.

"Now, give me the gem" Pollux demanded in a civil voice.

"Never!" Paloma refused in a strong voice.

Pollux looked cold serious now. "Perhaps I have not made myself clear." He snapped his fingers as a sign for The Ruthless Rouges job, they know what it means and they know what to do. They threatened Azalea, and not just her, but also Terra, Red, Sapphire and Zircon, with their deadly weapons. They were about to shoot them, but Paloma stopped them!

"Stop! Please! I'll do it!" Paloma pleaded for their mercy on them, even though she knew they had no mercy. Still she was desperate.

"Hold your fire boys" Pollux ordered them. He wants to hear Paloma out.

"If I give you the gem, would you let us go?" Paloma asked, unsure of what to do.

"DON'T GIVE IT TO HIM!" Zircon protested.

"Yeah! He's obviously lying!" Red shouted. "Criminals lie all the time, believe us we know-"

Rough shut them up.

"You have my word" Pollux promised. Or did he?

Paloma didn't had a choice, she had to give it to him. She took the gem from its position and approached Pollux with it to trade it. She gave him the gem. Pollux snatched it cruelly. "Look at its incredibly rare copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, it's even more amazing than the legend described it."

Huh, that's what Paloma said. "Alright you have the gem now let us go!"

"Of course I will release you all" Pollux acted. "I am a man of my word, I'll let you go... down!"

Relic restrained Paloma with inorganic rope. And together with her crew they dragged them to the third chamber's magma cenote. They shoved them into the pit, but luckily they landed on the ground surrounded by the magma, only it won't last long.

"Thank you all so much for doing all the hard work" Pollux thanked them with cruel mockery. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a gem to test." They have left the chamber.

And the others were trapped, again, and they were silently mad and devastated, especially Zircon, her animals were in trouble.

"Don't worry, I'll get us out of this mess" said Azalea, confidently. She sprouted a strong vine from her hands and lassoed it to a stalagmite. Only problem is, all the stalagmites are hot and it caused the vine to burned snapped. It was no use, Azi's powers won't work in this heat. "We're gonna need another escape plan."

"Like what!?" Zircon asked in a silent mad voice.

Sapphire didn't want to start a fight in the pit. "Zircon I'm sure we'll get out of this."

"How?" Paloma asked, feeling guilty. "When this is all my fault."

"You know, you're right. This is all your fault" Zircon said angrily, clearly that's just her anger talking and she just needs to vent it out. "The only reason we did this dumb expedition is to resolve some stupid old goal of yours and now my planet, along with all my animals, are in danger because of you!"

"Zircon!"

"No, she's right, and I'm sorry" Paloma apologized, sincerely. "I'm sorry I got you all into this, none of this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't begged you to take us all this way just so I can write the gem down on my notes. I just wanted to... make a difference."

Zircon relents, but didn't say anything.

This is when Terra stepped in to support. "And you did. You've accomplished becoming an esteemed scientist, even though I've only heard of you for the first, and we've come so far that you've shown some determination on this expedition, even though you're not physically strong, because you wanted to use your scientific knowledge to help people and animals."

"And to help you too" added Paloma. "I didn't just share the offer just for the deal."

"You did all this to complete something from your past. And I will do something to help get us out of this to get that gem back, then to finish this deal, and to get my old memories back." Terra closed her eyes and exhaled, she concentrated really hard to get them out, she did her best to not overdue it or she could cause an eruption. Slowly they felt the ground rising under their feet, they were going up like an elevator, they cheered for Terra.

"You did it Terra!" cheered Red. "You got us out."

"Let's not celebrate yet, we still have bad guys to stopped!" Zircon reminded them.

"She's right, we better keep moving" Sapphire agreed with her.

And so they ventured out of the pyramid to stop a corrupt gentleman.

Once outside the mountain pyramid, they noticed the Ferociraps are missing, including the other animals. Zircon can feel it. And not just that, they saw a green beam light in the sky.

"We're too late" said Paloma. "He has already began testing it."

Zircon and Azalea can feel the earth under their feet weakening. A drought was slowly happening, if they don't hurry then the Jungle Planet will be no more.

Red spotted Paloma's backpack in a bush. "Look! Paloma's backpack, over there" he pointed.

Paloma saw where Red was pointing at. "Well done Red, thank you" she thanked him. She ran towards it then picked it out of the bush. She rummaged inside her bag to see what was still in there, maybe those poachers aren't that smart to take everything. She hoped. "Maybe there's still something in here that can help."

But all she found was her boar bristle brush, a cooking pan, a flare gun, and a yoyo.

"Seriously" Zircon said, for the jungle is no place for luxury. "A brush, a cooking pan, and a toy yoyo. The flare gun I get it, but this?"

"Well, there are still a few tweaks I'm working on" Paloma said, embarrassed.

"Well, something is better than nothing" said Sapphire, in a hurry. "They'll have to do, besides that yoyo is not just a toy. I think I can make use of it."

"All right then, let's go save my planet!" said Zircon.

And so they hiked across the nearest hill of the mountain, maybe with a little bit of luck they can spot those polluter vandals toying with the gem's power.

Sapphire's the one with the yoyo, Red's got the flare gun, Azalea's with the pan, and Paloma's got the brush.

"Do we really have to bring these... stuff?" Red asked, skeptical. He didn't see how a brush, yoyo, flare gun, and a pan could help them beat ruthless hunters with advanced weapons.

"I know how this looks Red" Sapphire explained. "But right now we're going to have to improvise if we're going to stop those poachers."

"Cause we're sure to stop them with this" he said, while holding the flare gun, skeptically.

Suddenly they heard a fierce sound.

"What was that?" asked Terra, frightened.

"Looks like Zirc's fellow Ferociraps are the first test subjects to be hypnotized by the gem" Red panicked, while pointing at the rampaging Ferociraps coming towards them.

"You guys run!" said Zircon, bravely. "Find Pollux, I'll hold them off."

And so they ran off to find Pollux and The Ruthless Rogues, while Zircon deals with the hypnotized protectors. Since their under the gem's power there's no trying to reason with them, so she had to fend them off in the most humane way possible. She transformed into a spider monkey, a literal spider monkey, half monkey half spider, with eight spider legs and the upper body of a monkey with eight eyes along with fangs. She fought the Ferociraps, they fought her good what with all the biting and clawing and speed, and Zircon managed to take a hit strong, she took them down first then once they're tired and weakened she can tie them up with her strong sticky spider silk web. She shot web at them, she aimed successfully at them, and the best part is they didn't get hurt, well technically they did but not that hard. Shew left them tied up at the strongest tree, then went to catch up with her friends in the form of a finch moth, so those hunters won't notice her. But what she didn't know is that the Ferociraps are slowly freeing themselves from the web.

Meanwhile Pollux and The Ruthless Rogues used the Malawild to manipulate more animals to their bidding, and not just animals, but also the whole world's ecosystem, the weather, the natural calamity, all the elements.

Pollux held the gem in his grasp, he grinned evilly, thinking he can do anything now that he has the Malawild which has the power to control the forces of nature. "With this gem we will be unstoppable. I now have the power in my palm to control the forces of nature and nothing can stop me!"

"Guess again old friend" Paloma surprised him with her presence. Along with her crew.

"Well if it isn't the famous scientist and the wild weed, along with their new doomed loser crew" insulted Rough, laughing maniacally.

"She is not a wild weed!" Paloma defended Azalea.

"And they are not doomed losers!" Azalea defended her new friends.

"Now, now let's not get ourselves into a skirmish messy battle" said Pollux, being all confident and civilized. "Surely we can strike a deal here, especially since I have the most powerful gem in your friend's planet."

"And we have all the weapons, and you've got, uh...nothing" said Ransom, while holding his weapon, and looking at their poor useless desperate choices of self-defense.

"Come now, surely you know Paloma that you have lost in this competition expedition" said Pollux, all snooty. "As a scientist you should be smart to calculate the logic. I have the power to control the calamity of nature, The Ruthless Rogues has the most advanced weapons in their possessions, including your stolen useful belongings, and now you have the useless equipment for your luxurious entertainment like that old toy yoyo you keep playing for distraction amusement."

Paloma felt awkward. But Sapphire stepped in to show him not to underestimate Paloma's favorite toy, cause she can turn it into a powerful weapon. "Then perhaps you need a demonstration" she spun the yoyo like nunchucks then lassoed it to Ransom's weapon, laser gun, causing it to accidentally shoot the wrong way, which is also a sign from Sapphire to not mess with her friends, including her new ones.

Ransom was shocked. "Show off."

"That was a warning" Sapphire said, coolly. "I can do more damage with this toy, so you better watch what you say."

"Plus this isn't just a useless ordinary brush, it's more than it looks" added Paloma, while pointing the bristle brush towards the enemy, then she pressed the tiny button and the brush's bristles turned into sharp spikes.

"Cool" added Red, while pointing the flare gun at the hunters.

"Also we've got our own powerful calamity of nature right by our side" Sapphire was talking about Terra and her powers of force.

Terra wasn't sure if that was a compliment. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

"Let's teach these parasites to respect the green" said Azalea, gripping the pan all tough like, she never knows when she might need it.

Everyone was insulted and angry, they were ready for battle, but Paloma thought otherwise. "Look just return the gem to us and no one gets hurt" she demanded calmly.

"Sure, and maybe we'll throw in a free head massage for your brains so you can think better not to anger The Ruthless Rogues" said Relic, angry. They were about to attack.

But Zircon bugged in first. "Thanks, but we'll pass on the massage!" As a small bug they didn't notice her at first when she flew into the air. Once up she shaped shifted into a Fenine, a fierce feline and a canine mixed together. Then she landed on her feet in the middle of the battle, growling ferociously.

The hunters were shooting at her, but her fur was so tough and indomitable, like the Nemean Lion. Zircon used her razor sharp claws to cut, slice, and dice their weapons, but they still have back up weapons, like laser whip to whiplash electrocute her and restrain her. She needed help, that's when her friends stepped in to save her.

When Pollux was about to use the Malawild again, Paloma was able to stop him! With her spikey brush she knocked the gem out of his grasp with enough force she had in her. The gem flew far, it fell on the meadow grass in a short distance. Pollux ran to it in anger and frustration, but Paloma blocked him with her brush, they fought. Paloma really isn't skilled on fighting techniques, especially with wielding weapons, but she's doing her best to keep Pollux away from the gem. Pollux isn't skilled either with his hands, he's more of a weapon shooter, but instead all he has is a laser dagger. Their fighting hand to hand with sharp implements were sloppy. But Paloma was doing her best out of heart.

Sapphire, Terra, Red, and Azalea were helping Zircon to fight The Ruthless Rouges.

Sapphire was using the yoyo to defeat Ransom in whip combat. So far they were in a tangled situation, their yoyo and whiplash were caught tangled together. Now they were in a tug of war. "Let go!" yelled Sapphire, while pulling her end of the rope.

"Why don't you let go! Your end of the toy hub caught tangled on my whip!" Ransom yelled back, while pulling.

Their tug of war might take a while, same as their arguments.

Rough was battling Zircon in a mindless animal fight. Must be their instincts of being dumb animals. But Relic wasn't going to put up with this illogical fight. He had a more logical idea on how to win the war. He took out a sphere device that can create and control the weather, dark clouds appeared in the sky, overshadowing them, then he programmed it to charge multiple electrical bolts at their enemies.

Azalea tried to throw off the lighting with the pan, but instead she only attracted the lightning with the "metal" pan, which was a bad idea cause metal conducts electricity. It electrocuted her, Azi fell hard to the soft grassy ground, she felt like a cooked vegetable.

"AZALEA!" cried Terra and Red, who were worried for Azalea.

"I'm fine" Azalea responded to them in a cooked gibberish tongue. Her tongue was electrocuted now she can't speak clearly, no one can understand what she's saying.

And since they didn't get what Azalea was trying to say, they just guessed.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna assume you're not fine" Terra guessed.

"What are you two standing around for?!" Zircon yelled strictly, like a military captain. "Fight back!"

"With what?!" Red asked in panic. "All I have is a flare gun with only one shot!"

"And I don't know what to do on a count of you know what" said Terra, hesitant. She doesn't know what to do in a fist to fist combat.

Zircon tried to be supportive while dodging the lightning. "Remember what Sapphire said, you are our calamity of nature, so I wouldn't mind if you started an earthquake because the lightning is spreading bigger!"

Terra still didn't know if that's good advice, but she'll take it for now. "Okay, I'll do it!" And so without thinking she activated her powers, only this time it was worse. The ground began to quake and brake under their feet, lifting them in the sky. The rocks were hovering them, but not too high, they were only off balance and losing concentration, especially Terra, she's too in sink and has lost control of herself. At least Relic's device was failing, he can't strike his enemies with all the rocks floating everywhere. And the Malawild fell to the ground, at least it was now far from Pollux's reach. But now they have to stop Terra's wild bizarre powers.

"Okay Terra, you can stop now" said Zircon, trying to hold her balance through all this quake.

Terra was scared. "I can't! I'm scared!" She froze.

That quake ended Sapphire and Ransom's mindless tug of war conflict. Sapphire spotted the Malawild nearby, she was the one who let go first, then immediately rushed to grab the gem. Once she's got it she threw it at Terra. "Terra the gem! Catch it!" she said, while throwing it at her so she can stabilize herself. Terra heard her and saw her threw the gem at her. The gem was flying towards her, she stretched out her hands to grab it, and with luck she caught it. With the Malawild in her hands it worked! The gem actually worked, it helped stabilized her powers, she felt calmed and collected, and the earthquake stopped, the rocks landed them gently to the ground.

All that shivering fear quaking really had them shaken up, which made them worry and lose their concentration, and Pollux and Paloma fell hard to the ground. Only Paloma had bad luck with the quake, for her foot got stuck in a crack and now she can't get up. She tried pulling her leg out but to no avail, she was really stuck. "I'm stuck!" she yelled.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there!" Terra assured Paloma's safety, while holding the gem in her hands. Now with the Malawild in her possession she feels like she can do anything. But the feeling didn't last long. When she was about to use it again, Ransom snatched it with his whip. The gem was now in his possession.

"Looks like you won't. Not without this" he mocked her, while showing the gem.

"No!" cried Terra.

"Excellent work Ransom" Pollux congratulated him on his thieving skills. "Now give me the jewel."

Before Ransom could toss the gem to Pollux, a flair knocked it out of his hands. It was Red, he shot the only flair with his flair gun.

"I knew saving the one shot for this was important!" he exclaimed victoriously.

The flair didn't hurt Ransom much though, but he was annoyed. "I have just had enough of this!" he said angrily.

"As do I!" Pollux agreed with him.

They now looked dead serious. Things are about to get real. Pollux ordered Rough to take Paloma captive, while she's still stuck. He ordered Relic to restart his machine, which he can do it in a flash, and this time with multiple lightning bolts. And Ransom, with no need to hear his command and knows what he's supposed to do, went to retrieve the gem. Everything was happening so fast and scary. That's when Sapphire had to be faster, she ran to retrieve the gem before Ransom could. Zircon and Azalea raced to Paloma before Rough could touch her. And Red and Terra had to stop Relic's weather machine, but how? Without thinking they just charged towards him before he could activate his device again. Their battle was chaotic, until they had to deal with bigger problems.

They stopped what they were doing when they heard a familiar terrifying animal noise. It was the loosed Ferociraps charging, rampaging, towards them. They were terrified. Zircon couldn't calm them down, even if they were no longer under the Malawild's power, they were furious now, they've gone savage. They formed a circle formation surrounding them, closing in on them closer so they can pick them off one by one, only which one of them to eat first? their animal minds thought.

Terra and her friends, Pollux and The Ruthless Rogues, were scared and shaky, they stood their ground and prepared for battle. Only they don't know what to do?

But Zircon does. She had an idea when she spotted the Malawild through the Ferociraps hard galloping, quaking, dusty strode. With her strong legs she jumped over their hasty formation, then landed with a cartwheel to grab the gem successfully. The Ferociraps stopped their formation then gazed upon the Malawild's symbol of glory, that Zircon held in her hand. They immediately charged towards her to get the gem, looks like they're still pretty steamed about protecting it, that's why Zircon knows a safe place for them to cool off. She dashed deeper into the jungle with the gem in her hands, getting the Ferociraps to chase her so she can lead them away from her friends.

Once they were out of sight, they were back to their little brawl. Only this time Terra, Red, Sapphire and Azalea made their first move quick. Actually it was mostly Terra who made the first counter attack, when she managed to successfully use her powers to trap them by restraining their feet stuck like Paloma. By the way she freed Paloma from the closed cracks with her powers. "Thank you" she thanked her.

"And good work on controlling your powers" Sapphire said proudly.

"Yeah, you didn't even used the gem" added Red.

"Oh, I still can't control my powers" Terra confessed. "But I only did it thanks to your belief in me, it wasn't just the gem it was also your support."

"Of course we believe in you" said Red. "I never doubted you for a second."

Sapphire looked at her brother skeptically. She knew he had some doubts about Terra's power, and just by looking at him with her strong eyes she made him tell the truth.

Red, who was scared of his big sister, admit it a little. "Okay, maybe a little bit, but no matter how scary it may seemed I'm always here for you."

Terra and Sapphire smiled.

However, The Ruthless Rouges who were trapped, interrupted their moment.

"How touching" said Relic.

"What an emotional moment" said Rough. "I'm crying here."

"Sorry to ruin your moment, but what about us!?" Ransom complained.

Azalea shut them up by stuffing flowers in their mouths.

Sapphire gave her an approval. "Nice job Azi. And don't worry we won't leave you like this, I'm sure the king and queen will know what to do with you once we bring you to them."

Terra and Azalea worked together again, creating a cage out of mud rocks, strong wood, and strong thick vines holding it together. Containing and caging Pollux and The Ruthless Rouges.

"How does it feel to be trapped like an animal?" Paloma gloated on them.

Pollux just gritted his teeth annoyed in response.

Meanwhile, while Zircon was being chased by the Ferociraps, she lead them to another edge of the cliff canyon with cold deep water bellow. When she jumped off the cliff the Ferociraps followed and jumped off , blindly, along with her into the water. Only Zircon didn't really jumped into the water, she grabbed a branch on the edge of the cliff while watching the Ferociraps plummet into the cold water, splashing it everywhere while roaring in rage.

"That should cool them off for a while" Zircon was certain that a nice dip in the cold water will relax them a little. She then climbed back up to the surface and returned to her friends with the Malawild in her hands.