Event Collaborative Writing Contest

Dear ladies, gents, and the cats rolling on the keyboards. It came yo my attention that the voting system may be abused. To avoid that, a panel of judges has kindly offered to look at every piece and choose the three best pieces!

 

The sign ups have been closed! Teams will be coming soon!

 

Teams have been announced! It took slightly longer than expected as I needed to get an unbiased person to make the Valor Teams. But without further ado

Team Valor:
Team one: @MarineAurora and @Hraesvelgr
Team two: @DrGetus, @Endrew Swiftwind, and @Strytho
Team three: @⋆SeeU⋆Hime⋆ and @~Nova~
Team four: @BZRich64 and @BraviaryScout
Team five: @HiddenLore and @WolfeyStar

Team Verity:
Team one: @UnstoppableGamer, @ID Zeta, and @Shindou Takuto
Team two: @Torian680 and @SyWry
Team three: @Arc1Dragon and @HeroofFire101
Team four: @POKE and @Rin Litten

Team Acuity:
Team one: @FireSpartan5 and @TheIllusionFox
Team two: @SkittleBox and @Mandriel
Team three: @Azure and @OurLadyOfWonderland
Team four: @ConfettiCat, @Wings, and @Wolf Expert

Happy writing and I look forward to the results!

 

@Hraesvelgr and I will be doing Waterfall for Team Valor.

Spoiler: The Waterfall Secret

“How much farther is this mysterious waterfall you found, Tala?” A brunette girl asked her friend, who was walking a bit behind her. The brunette was balancing on a fallen tree and had to turn her head to the side to look at her friends, who were walking behind her.

“Lila, please watch where you going.” One of the males spoke up as he watched the smaller girl continue to walk on the log, not minding to look where she was going on the tree.

“Joey, you know that I won’t fall. No need to worry.” Lila grinned at her friend while jumping over a small branch that was right in her path.

“Yeah Joey, if anyone is gonna fall is me since I’m not exactly nimble or agile.” Another male voice said, a dozen steps behind his friends a blond boy was making his way across the fallen tree at his own pace, nearly slipping as he said that.

“Don’t worry guys, we’re almost there after the fallen tree is just past the bend up there.” Tala responded to Lila, before she turned around to see how her friends were doing “Also Cory if you need any help don’t be afraid to ask, we know you’re not the best at the athletic stuff.” she said to the blond boy.

“How did you even stumble across this waterfall, Tala?” Joey asked as he tried not to stumble, the tree was more uneven than he thought it would be. “I mean it is not like it is just around the corner.”

“I can hear it!!” Lila yelled as she sprinted ahead of the others. The smaller girl was grinning in excitement as she went around the bend, stopping in time to avoid falling over a few pieces of rock. “It is beautiful, Tala! This will be so cool! We are going to waterfall jump, right?”

“Of course, we are!” Joey called back as he cleared the log and waited to see if Tala or Cory needed help. Lila was jumping up and down at the edge of the plunge pool. It was huge and she couldn’t wait to jump into it. The waterfall was easily 18 feet tall and she wondered briefly why no-one had discovered it before.

The waterfall pond was a large pool. Lila estimated it to be the same size as the outdoor swimming pool closer to the town. But there were no screaming children, no arguing adults, or lifeguards to prevent you from having fun. The water in the pool flowed at a slow speed, softly lapping at the banks. Between the banks and the edge of the trees were lush green grass and wildflowers. The waterfall side was a tall rock side that looked easily climbable. Lila could only describe it as picture perfect.

”I think I’ll pass on the waterfall jumping, I’ll just end up hurting myself,” Cory muttered as he continued his way across the fallen tree.

“Like yeah, we are! Why would I otherwise bothering taking you guys out here, and I found this place while out hiking with my family, didn’t get to explore the area sadly. Is also pretty hot today so I thought it would be a good place to escape the heat.” Tala made her way across the tree to join Lila and Joey.

Cory slowly but surely made his way across the tree, despite not being the most athletic person, he never minded doing this kind of things with his friends. He finally made it across and breathed a sigh of relief, even if he knew he had to cross the tree again to get back.

“Come on, guys! I want to get in the water already. It is way too hot for this time of the year,” Joey complained as he started to take his shirt off to go swimming. Lila didn’t even notice it, being a gymnast meant seeing a lot of males with lesser amounts of clothing.

“Joey, you always think it is too hot for the time of the year. You came out of the fricking snowy mountains,” Lila turned back to face her friends, standing on the edge of the water. Her bag was safely tucked away against a tree, lest someone knocked her into the water. She leaned forward a bit to scoop up some of the water and was amazed at how clear it was in her hands. “Do you think there are fish in these waters?”

Joey couldn’t resist such an easy target and pushed the smaller girl into the water with a laugh. She gave a loud squeal as she tumbled into the water. A few seconds later she broke through the surface again, sputtering and gasping for air, trying to get her long hair out of her face. As soon as the brunette had recovered enough, she glared at Joey, who just held his hands up in defense.

“Joey, what if there were fish here, you know I hate fish.” She cried out in mock indignity.

Tala followed her friends stopping at the water’s edge to take off her hiking boots; it would take forever for them to dry if she jumped in with them on. Then she jumped in, leaned back to float “This feels great, it was totally worth coming here. Especially since is the hottest day this summer so far.”

Cory sat down beneath a large tree, he wasn’t much of a swimmer, sure he could swim but he wasn’t very good at it, instead, he fished out a tablet from the backpack he’d brought along. He had downloaded a new game he wanted to try out and now seemed like a good time to do it.

“Oh come, Cory, hop in, the water is great,” Tala pleaded as she saw him park himself under one of the trees.

“I think I’ll pass, for now, I’m not much of a swimmer but you guys have fun.” The blond boy muttered as he fired up his tablet.

“This was a great idea, Tala,” Joey shouted as he cannonballed into the water, splashing Lila, who had been trying to climb up the bank. She managed to get out of the water and took off her shoes. She sighed and cursed Joey under her breath. They would take forever to dry, but oh well.

“Cory, are sure you don’t want to come and take a dip? Do you even have a connection here to play that game of yours?” Lila asked as she leaned over to look at what the blond was doing. It didn’t look like anything she had seen before.

“Yeah I’m sure, this game also doesn’t need a net connection to work. Is just one of those cheap free time waste games you can download that I’ve wanted to try for a while now. It is a sort survival strategy game where you have to build a self-suffice colony after arriving at a planet.” Cory explained to Lila as he fired up the game.

“Boo, you’re no fun, Cory,” Tala called out before she climbed out the water and being the tomboy she is, started a cannonball contest with Joey.

“Alright, Cory. Have fun,” Lila gave a small smile before turning back to the two that were making a huge racket. “Hey, weirdos! Let’s go and waterfall jump now before we get too tired!”

“Aw yeah, time to waterfall jump!” Tala exclaimed as she followed Lila up the cliff. The waterfall wasn’t high but it was high enough that the teens could jump from it without harming themselves and they were used to doing these kinds of things.

The tall brunette dived into the water, arms stretched out in front of her, gliding through the water felt great. She stayed under and swam around for a bit before re-emerging behind the waterfall. She looked around and spotted something amazing, she had to show it to her friends.

“Guys, you gotta see this, there’s a cave behind the waterfall!” The girl yelled as she swam as fast as she could back the to shore.

“What?” Joey dove in after his friend, surfacing just inches away from her. “That is so cool! Can we go explore it?”

“Why would a cave be here of all places?” Lila asked as she swum up to Joey and Tala. She quickly lifted herself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool, while looking at her friends. She waved Cory over from his place under the tree, knowing that he would be curious as well.

Cory heard Tala’s outburst but didn’t catch what she was saying then she spotted Lila waving for him to come over.

“Did something happen?” He asked as he walked up to his friends, both Tala and Joey looked like they could jump to the moon with excitement.

“I found a cave behind the waterfall! We should totally explore it.” Tala almost screamed, obviously having a hard time containing her excitement.

“A cave, that’s a rather odd place for a cave to be. You sure is a good idea to actually explore it?” The blond boy asked. A cave could be a dangerous place after all.

“No, is not a good idea, is a brilliant idea! Maybe we’re the first ones to enter that cave in who knows how long. Let’s go!” With that said, Tala headed back to the rock side.

“Wait for me, Tala!” Joey called out, as he rushed to catch up with her. He shared Tala’s excitement and couldn’t wait until they were in the cave. Lila just shook her head before getting up from the edge of the water to follow her friends. She looked at Cory with a bit of concern.

“Cory, do you want to come or would you prefer to stay here?” She asked softly, not willing to push her less athletic friend into something that he didn’t want to do. The brunette was wringing her hands, on one hand wanting to go after Tala and Joey, on the other, she didn’t want to leave Cory all by himself.

“I better come along since my tablet and phone will provide extra light in there, also I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious. We just gotta be careful while in there.” Cory said as he went back to pick up his bag before him and Lila started following their two energetic friends.

Tala had already zipped back to the rock side to see if there was a way into the cave and it didn’t take her long to find it, there was a narrow ledge with just enough room for a person to creep along it.

“We can get in from here guys!” Tala exclaimed gesturing for her friends to hurry before she disappeared behind the waterfall. With her back against the rock wall, she started creeping towards the cave. Once at the cave entrance, she pulled out her cell phone and used the flashlight function it had. It would drain the battery fast but she knew her friends had theirs too so they could take turns and she’d seen Cory had his tablet as well so she was sure they would have enough light.

“Alright, time to go.” Joey started creeping along the wall, not waiting for any of his friends to start lighting the way up ahead. Before Cory and Lila had even reached the cave entrance, both of their friends had already disappeared into it. Lila sighed but quickly stepped on the narrow ledge, holding her hand out for Cory to help him along. He gratefully grabbed her hand and together the two inched their way into the mouth of the cave, the sounds of the water rushing above their heads clear in their ears.

When they reached the end of the ledge, Lila hopped off with ease. Cory stumbled a bit when he landed, but he quickly regained his footing. The pair started looking for their friends, to see where they had wandered off to. Lila didn’t have to search for long, the voices of her friends, muted due to the water above their heads, were still recognizable. The two quickly headed in that direction finding their friends staring at a smaller waterfall inside the cave. Lila looked closer and was that the water from this fall disappeared under the ground. She had no idea something like that was possible.

“So, do any you have an idea as to how we can proceed?” Lila inquired as she studied the walls, fanning herself with her phone. The heat was still stifling, even in the much cooler cave. Cory had stepped closer to one of the walls and was scrutinizing it. Joey quickly joined him, knowing that if Cory was on the case it was probably the right direction to look at.

“Whoa, look at this!” Joey shouted, pulling the attention from the two girls. They quickly rushed over, crowding the small space. Joey pointed at something that Cory was squatted over.

“Is that crystal?” “Lila bend over to take a look at the piece of glimmery rock. “It sure looks like it. But I don’t think we had crystal deposits here.”

“None that were discovered,” Cory commented as he straightened himself out, allowing Lila to grab the piece of mineral, and pointed at the wall. “It seems that there was a cave in here, but the wall has been weathered so much that it seems as if the wall has never been touched before. However, this used to be a passage in the past.”

“Well, time to start hauling away those stones, right Tala?” Joey started looking at for a point to start working on the wall, oblivious to the others.

“Yeah let’s get these rocks out of the way I wanna see what else we can find.” Tala agreed with her friend as she started hauling stones with Joey quickly pitching in.

Even with all four of them working together it still took the teens a good hour or two to make a hole large enough for them to crawl through.

“Phew, that was rougher than I thought it would be but I think we made a hole large enough for us all to crawl through one at the time.” The brunette had sat down since she needed to catch her breath but the rock hauling hadn’t dampened her adventurous spirit. Joey plopped down next to her to catch his breath since Tala and he had done most of the hauling.

Cory was shining his cell phone’s flashlight through the hole; the old rock fall had only been about a meter thick at most, yet it had still taken all four of them quite some time to clear a hole just big enough for them to crawl through near the top of it.

“You think is safe to crawl through, Cory?” Lila asked while still trying to catch her breath, she’d gone up by behind him to look through the hole as well. She thought she saw something glittering among the rocks, more crystals maybe, but she couldn’t be sure since she knew some common rocks glittered.

“It looks stable enough, and since we cleared the top of the rock fall I think it’ll be pretty safe for us to go through, but is probably best if we do it one at the time just in case.” The blond said, still shining his light through the hole.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s move on then and see what we find.” Tala said as she sprang up, ready for more exploring. Joey agreed as he got up as well.

“Alright then, I’ll crawl through first since I’m already at the hole, then Lila and then one of you two,” Cory instructed before he started making his way through the hole. Coming out safely on the other side he called to Lila giving her the clear to come through as well and soon all teens had come out on the other side.

Lila let out a gasp as she took in the cave they were currently standing in. She quickly took out the crystal that she had stuffed in her pocket and watched it begin to glow with a soft light. The light of the crystal formations embedded in the walls, the ceiling, and even parts of the floor bathed the entire cave in a green light. She slowly reached out to touch one of the crystals next to her and marveled at the smoothness of the minerals. She was pulled back to reality as Joey shouted.

“Look, guys, this is an underground lake, how cool is that?” He was jumping up and down in excitement, waiting to jump in. The only reason he wasn’t jumping in was that Tala was holding him back.

“We don’t know how deep this is you, doofus.” Tala let him fall on the floor and looked at her other friends. Cory seemed to be looking at the walls with interest, while Lila was stifling a laugh looking at a now pouting Joey. The other girl walked over, pulling out some plasters from her shorts pockets.

“You need to be more careful, Joey. Even I can see from a few yards away that you hurt yourself while moving the rocks.” The brunette scolded the dark-haired boy gently while bandaging him up. She gave Tala a wink, when Joey was busy rubbing the plasters, complaining about the fact they were hindering his finger movement. Tala walked over to Cory as the other pair got in one of their routine arguments about the fact that Joey needed to be more careful.

“What are you staring at, Cory? I haven’t seen you so focussed all day.” The green eyed girl inquired as she came to a stop next to the blond. He gestured to a small part of the wall and Tala had to squint to find what Cory meant. “It looks like a craving.”

Her eyes flew open at the implication. Cory was nodding his head furiously, a small grin spreading across his face.

“We’re not the first people to find this cave,” Cory observed as he shined the light across the cave wall, revealing more carvings as well as something that looked like paintings.

“Guys, guys, you gotta come see this, Cory found something!” Tala yelled gesturing wildly at the cave’s wall. It stopped Lila and Joey’s argument and they both ran over to see what the fuss was about, both dropped their jaw when they saw what Cory had found.

“This is amazing Cory! So there have been people in here before but it must have been a long time ago. These carvings and paintings look much like the ones we can see at the museum.” Lila noted looking at the cave wall in awe, she’s turned on her own cell phone light and started exploring the wall further up. Some of the paintings depicted various animals, like rabbits, deer, and mammoths while other showed people doing various activities such as hunting and tanning skins.

“There must have at the very least once lived people nearby this cave if not in it. And judging by how undisturbed it looks; we might be the first people coming here since the people that left these carvings and paintings.” He said as he slowly ran the tablet’s light over the wall, wondering what else they might find in here.

“That’s pretty cool if we’re the first people in here since the people that left all this on the walls,” Joey commented as he walked along the wall with Tala as she was checking it out. One of the carvings they stopped to look at appeared to show people marveling at a large crystal with their arms raised above their head, probably one found somewhere in the cave. Joey had his train of thoughts broken when Lila called out that she’s found something and they went to see what it was.

“Look doesn’t this look like the tool’s we saw displayed in the local museum?” Lila asked as she very gently lifted up something that looked it might be a primitive ax with its head made from some sort of stone bound to a handle made from wood, the handle appeared to have broken half at one point.

“That’s amazing, this proof that some sort of civilization have once been in the cave, and judging by the things on the walls they might have stayed for quite a while. The real question is now, should we inform our local museum about this? People with proper light and equipment might be able to find even more than we have.” Cory said while studying the old tool Lila had picked up.

“We should, it would be a waste to let it just lie here, while we could discover so much more about the people that lived here in this area.” Tala sighed, as she touched a craving with reference. “Would also be the right thing to do in this case.”

Joey and Lila nodded at Tala’s words. Surely, they couldn’t keep this to themselves?

“This is way too much to keep a secret,” Lila muttered as she rose from her spot on the ground, still clutching the broken primitive ax in her smaller hands. Joey reached over and took the tool from her, earning him a small smile from the girl.

“Let’s make some photos to show the museum curator,” Cory suggested. The other nodded quickly and set to work. Lila groaned silently at the thought of having to go outside in the heat again.

“Guys, we can go to the museum when it isn’t as hot as it is today, right?” Her question was met with laughter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

“Guys, it is here!” Joey ran up to his friends a few days after they had reported their findings to the local museum. They had congregated in Cory’s house and he and Lila had been fighting a match in one of Cory’s many games. The dark-haired boy was waving a newspaper in his hands, while a huge grin was plastered on his face. As his friends quickly surrounded him, he laid the news paper on the table to show off the head line.

“Waterfall cave paintings discovered by local teens”

A photo of the teens in the illuminated cave was placed underneath the head line before going into the article, that described their adventure and what had been discovered so far. The friends just grinned at each other knowing that nobody at school would be able to have any adventure that would come close to what they had been a part of.

Spoiler: Division of Labor Writing

Orange is MarineAurora
Green is Hraesvelgr

The Waterfall Secret

“How much farther is this mysterious waterfall you found, Tala?” A brunette girl asked her friend, who was walking a bit behind her. The brunette was balancing on a fallen tree and had to turn her head to the side to look at her friends, who were walking behind her.

“Lila, please watch where you going.” One of the males spoke up as he watched the smaller girl continue to walk on the log, not minding to look where she was going on the tree.

“Joey, you know that I won’t fall. No need to worry.” Lila grinned at her friend while jumping over a small branch that was right in her path.

“Yeah Joey, if anyone is gonna fall is me since I’m not exactly nimble or agile.” Another male voice said, a dozen steps behind his friends a blond boy was making his way across the fallen tree at his own pace, nearly slipping as he said that.

“Don’t worry guys, we’re almost there after the fallen tree is just past the bend up there.” Tala responded to Lila, before she turned around to see how her friends were doing “Also Cory if you need any help don’t be afraid to ask, we know you’re not the best at the athletic stuff.” she said to the blond boy.

“How did you even stumble across this waterfall, Tala?” Joey asked as he tried not to stumble, the tree was more uneven than he thought it would be. “I mean it is not like it is just around the corner.”

“I can hear it!!” Lila yelled as she sprinted ahead of the others. The smaller girl was grinning in excitement as she went around the bend, stopping in time to avoid falling over a few pieces of rock. “It is beautiful, Tala! This will be so cool! We are going to waterfall jump, right?”

“Of course, we are!” Joey called back as he cleared the log and waited to see if Tala or Cory needed help. Lila was jumping up and down at the edge of the plunge pool. It was huge and she couldn’t wait to jump into it. The waterfall was easily 18 feet tall and she wondered briefly why no-one had discovered it before.

The waterfall pond was a large pool. Lila estimated it to be the same size as the outdoor swimming pool closer to the town. But there were no screaming children, no arguing adults, or lifeguards to prevent you from having fun. The water in the pool flowed at a slow speed, softly lapping at the banks. Between the banks and the edge of the trees were lush green grass and wildflowers. The waterfall side was a tall rock side that looked easily climbable. Lila could only describe it as picture perfect.

”I think I’ll pass on the waterfall jumping, I’ll just end up hurting myself,” Cory muttered as he continued his way across the fallen tree.

“Like yeah, we are! Why would I otherwise bothering taking you guys out here, and I found this place while out hiking with my family, didn’t get to explore the area sadly. Is also pretty hot today so I thought it would be a good place to escape the heat.” Tala made her way across the tree to join Lila and Joey.

Cory slowly but surely made his way across the tree, despite not being the most athletic person, he never minded doing this kind of things with his friends. He finally made it across and breathed a sigh of relief, even if he knew he had to cross the tree again to get back.

“Come on, guys! I want to get in the water already. It is way too hot for this time of the year,” Joey complained as he started to take his shirt off to go swimming. Lila didn’t even notice it, being a gymnast meant seeing a lot of males with lesser amounts of clothing.

“Joey, you always think it is too hot for the time of the year. You came out of the fricking snowy mountains,” Lila turned back to face her friends, standing on the edge of the water. Her bag was safely tucked away against a tree, lest someone knocked her into the water. She leaned forward a bit to scoop up some of the water and was amazed at how clear it was in her hands. “Do you think there are fish in these waters?”

Joey couldn’t resist such an easy target and pushed the smaller girl into the water with a laugh. She gave a loud squeal as she tumbled into the water. A few seconds later she broke through the surface again, sputtering and gasping for air, trying to get her long hair out of her face. As soon as the brunette had recovered enough, she glared at Joey, who just held his hands up in defense.

“Joey, what if there were fish here, you know I hate fish.” She cried out in mock indignity.

Tala followed her friends stopping at the water’s edge to take off her hiking boots; it would take forever for them to dry if she jumped in with them on. Then she jumped in, leaned back to float “This feels great, it was totally worth coming here. Especially since is the hottest day this summer so far.”

Cory sat down beneath a large tree, he wasn’t much of a swimmer, sure he could swim but he wasn’t very good at it, instead, he fished out a tablet from the backpack he’d brought along. He had downloaded a new game he wanted to try out and now seemed like a good time to do it.

“Oh come, Cory, hop in, the water is great,” Tala pleaded as she saw him park himself under one of the trees.

“I think I’ll pass, for now, I’m not much of a swimmer but you guys have fun.” The blond boy muttered as he fired up his tablet.

“This was a great idea, Tala,” Joey shouted as he cannonballed into the water, splashing Lila, who had been trying to climb up the bank. She managed to get out of the water and took off her shoes. She sighed and cursed Joey under her breath. They would take forever to dry, but oh well.

“Cory, are sure you don’t want to come and take a dip? Do you even have a connection here to play that game of yours?” Lila asked as she leaned over to look at what the blond was doing. It didn’t look like anything she had seen before.

“Yeah I’m sure, this game also doesn’t need a net connection to work. Is just one of those cheap free time waste games you can download that I’ve wanted to try for a while now. It is a sort survival strategy game where you have to build a self-suffice colony after arriving at a planet.” Cory explained to Lila as he fired up the game.

“Boo, you’re no fun, Cory,” Tala called out before she climbed out the water and being the tomboy she is, started a cannonball contest with Joey.

“Alright, Cory. Have fun,” Lila gave a small smile before turning back to the two that were making a huge racket. “Hey, weirdos! Let’s go and waterfall jump now before we get too tired!”

“Aw yeah, time to waterfall jump!” Tala exclaimed as she followed Lila up the cliff. The waterfall wasn’t high but it was high enough that the teens could jump from it without harming themselves and they were used to doing these kinds of things.

The tall brunette dived into the water, arms stretched out in front of her, gliding through the water felt great. She stayed under and swam around for a bit before re-emerging behind the waterfall. She looked around and spotted something amazing, she had to show it to her friends.

“Guys, you gotta see this, there’s a cave behind the waterfall!” The girl yelled as she swam as fast as she could back the to shore.

“What?” Joey dove in after his friend, surfacing just inches away from her. “That is so cool! Can we go explore it?”

“Why would a cave be here of all places?” Lila asked as she swum up to Joey and Tala. She quickly lifted herself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool, while looking at her friends. She waved Cory over from his place under the tree, knowing that he would be curious as well.

Cory heard Tala’s outburst but didn’t catch what she was saying then she spotted Lila waving for him to come over.

“Did something happen?” He asked as he walked up to his friends, both Tala and Joey looked like they could jump to the moon with excitement.

“I found a cave behind the waterfall! We should totally explore it.” Tala almost screamed, obviously having a hard time containing her excitement.

“A cave, that’s a rather odd place for a cave to be. You sure is a good idea to actually explore it?” The blond boy asked. A cave could be a dangerous place after all.

“No, is not a good idea, is a brilliant idea! Maybe we’re the first ones to enter that cave in who knows how long. Let’s go!” With that said, Tala headed back to the rock side.

“Wait for me, Tala!” Joey called out, as he rushed to catch up with her. He shared Tala’s excitement and couldn’t wait until they were in the cave. Lila just shook her head before getting up from the edge of the water to follow her friends. She looked at Cory with a bit of concern.

“Cory, do you want to come or would you prefer to stay here?” She asked softly, not willing to push her less athletic friend into something that he didn’t want to do. The brunette was wringing her hands, on one hand wanting to go after Tala and Joey, on the other, she didn’t want to leave Cory all by himself.

“I better come along since my tablet and phone will provide extra light in there, also I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious. We just gotta be careful while in there.” Cory said as he went back to pick up his bag before him and Lila started following their two energetic friends.

Tala had already zipped back to the rock side to see if there was a way into the cave and it didn’t take her long to find it, there was a narrow ledge with just enough room for a person to creep along it.

“We can get in from here guys!” Tala exclaimed gesturing for her friends to hurry before she disappeared behind the waterfall. With her back against the rock wall, she started creeping towards the cave. Once at the cave entrance, she pulled out her cell phone and used the flashlight function it had. It would drain the battery fast but she knew her friends had theirs too so they could take turns and she’d seen Cory had his tablet as well so she was sure they would have enough light.

“Alright, time to go.” Joey started creeping along the wall, not waiting for any of his friends to start lighting the way up ahead. Before Cory and Lila had even reached the cave entrance, both of their friends had already disappeared into it. Lila sighed but quickly stepped on the narrow ledge, holding her hand out for Cory to help him along. He gratefully grabbed her hand and together the two inched their way into the mouth of the cave, the sounds of the water rushing above their heads clear in their ears.

When they reached the end of the ledge, Lila hopped off with ease. Cory stumbled a bit when he landed, but he quickly regained his footing. The pair started looking for their friends, to see where they had wandered off to. Lila didn’t have to search for long, the voices of her friends, muted due to the water above their heads, were still recognizable. The two quickly headed in that direction finding their friends staring at a smaller waterfall inside the cave. Lila looked closer and was that the water from this fall disappeared under the ground. She had no idea something like that was possible.

“So, do any you have an idea as to how we can proceed?” Lila inquired as she studied the walls, fanning herself with her phone. The heat was still stifling, even in the much cooler cave. Cory had stepped closer to one of the walls and was scrutinizing it. Joey quickly joined him, knowing that if Cory was on the case it was probably the right direction to look at.

“Whoa, look at this!” Joey shouted, pulling the attention from the two girls. They quickly rushed over, crowding the small space. Joey pointed at something that Cory was squatted over.

“Is that crystal?” “Lila bend over to take a look at the piece of glimmery rock. “It sure looks like it. But I don’t think we had crystal deposits here.”

“None that were discovered,” Cory commented as he straightened himself out, allowing Lila to grab the piece of mineral, and pointed at the wall. “It seems that there was a cave in here, but the wall has been weathered so much that it seems as if the wall has never been touched before. However, this used to be a passage in the past.”

“Well, time to start hauling away those stones, right Tala?” Joey started looking at for a point to start working on the wall, oblivious to the others.

“Yeah let’s get these rocks out of the way I wanna see what else we can find.” Tala agreed with her friend as she started hauling stones with Joey quickly pitching in.

Even with all four of them working together it still took the teens a good hour or two to make a hole large enough for them to crawl through.

“Phew, that was rougher than I thought it would be but I think we made a hole large enough for us all to crawl through one at the time.” The brunette had sat down since she needed to catch her breath but the rock hauling hadn’t dampened her adventurous spirit. Joey plopped down next to her to catch his breath since Tala and he had done most of the hauling.

Cory was shining his cell phone’s flashlight through the hole; the old rock fall had only been about a meter thick at most, yet it had still taken all four of them quite some time to clear a hole just big enough for them to crawl through near the top of it.

“You think is safe to crawl through, Cory?” Lila asked while still trying to catch her breath, she’d gone up by behind him to look through the hole as well. She thought she saw something glittering among the rocks, more crystals maybe, but she couldn’t be sure since she knew some common rocks glittered.

“It looks stable enough, and since we cleared the top of the rock fall I think it’ll be pretty safe for us to go through, but is probably best if we do it one at the time just in case.” The blond said, still shining his light through the hole.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s move on then and see what we find.” Tala said as she sprang up, ready for more exploring. Joey agreed as he got up as well.

“Alright then, I’ll crawl through first since I’m already at the hole, then Lila and then one of you two,” Cory instructed before he started making his way through the hole. Coming out safely on the other side he called to Lila giving her the clear to come through as well and soon all teens had come out on the other side.

Lila let out a gasp as she took in the cave they were currently standing in. She quickly took out the crystal that she had stuffed in her pocket and watched it begin to glow with a soft light. The light of the crystal formations embedded in the walls, the ceiling, and even parts of the floor bathed the entire cave in a green light. She slowly reached out to touch one of the crystals next to her and marveled at the smoothness of the minerals. She was pulled back to reality as Joey shouted.

“Look, guys, this is an underground lake, how cool is that?” He was jumping up and down in excitement, waiting to jump in. The only reason he wasn’t jumping in was that Tala was holding him back.

“We don’t know how deep this is you, doofus.” Tala let him fall on the floor and looked at her other friends. Cory seemed to be looking at the walls with interest, while Lila was stifling a laugh looking at a now pouting Joey. The other girl walked over, pulling out some plasters from her shorts pockets.

“You need to be more careful, Joey. Even I can see from a few yards away that you hurt yourself while moving the rocks.” The brunette scolded the dark-haired boy gently while bandaging him up. She gave Tala a wink, when Joey was busy rubbing the plasters, complaining about the fact they were hindering his finger movement. Tala walked over to Cory as the other pair got in one of their routine arguments about the fact that Joey needed to be more careful.

“What are you staring at, Cory? I haven’t seen you so focussed all day.” The green eyed girl inquired as she came to a stop next to the blond. He gestured to a small part of the wall and Tala had to squint to find what Cory meant. “It looks like a craving.”

Her eyes flew open at the implication. Cory was nodding his head furiously, a small grin spreading across his face.

“We’re not the first people to find this cave,” Cory observed as he shined the light across the cave wall, revealing more carvings as well as something that looked like paintings.

“Guys, guys, you gotta come see this, Cory found something!” Tala yelled gesturing wildly at the cave’s wall. It stopped Lila and Joey’s argument and they both ran over to see what the fuss was about, both dropped their jaw when they saw what Cory had found.

“This is amazing Cory! So there have been people in here before but it must have been a long time ago. These carvings and paintings look much like the ones we can see at the museum.” Lila noted looking at the cave wall in awe, she’s turned on her own cell phone light and started exploring the wall further up. Some of the paintings depicted various animals, like rabbits, deer, and mammoths while other showed people doing various activities such as hunting and tanning skins.

“There must have at the very least once lived people nearby this cave if not in it. And judging by how undisturbed it looks; we might be the first people coming here since the people that left these carvings and paintings.” He said as he slowly ran the tablet’s light over the wall, wondering what else they might find in here.

“That’s pretty cool if we’re the first people in here since the people that left all this on the walls,” Joey commented as he walked along the wall with Tala as she was checking it out. One of the carvings they stopped to look at appeared to show people marveling at a large crystal with their arms raised above their head, probably one found somewhere in the cave. Joey had his train of thoughts broken when Lila called out that she’s found something and they went to see what it was.

“Look doesn’t this look like the tool’s we saw displayed in the local museum?” Lila asked as she very gently lifted up something that looked it might be a primitive ax with its head made from some sort of stone bound to a handle made from wood, the handle appeared to have broken half at one point.

“That’s amazing, this proof that some sort of civilization have once been in the cave, and judging by the things on the walls they might have stayed for quite a while. The real question is now, should we inform our local museum about this? People with proper light and equipment might be able to find even more than we have.” Cory said while studying the old tool Lila had picked up.

“We should, it would be a waste to let it just lie here, while we could discover so much more about the people that lived here in this area.” Tala sighed, as she touched a craving with reference. “Would also be the right thing to do in this case.”

Joey and Lila nodded at Tala’s words. Surely, they couldn’t keep this to themselves?

“This is way too much to keep a secret,” Lila muttered as she rose from her spot on the ground, still clutching the broken primitive ax in her smaller hands. Joey reached over and took the tool from her, earning him a small smile from the girl.

“Let’s make some photos to show the museum curator,” Cory suggested. The other nodded quickly and set to work. Lila groaned silently at the thought of having to go outside in the heat again.

“Guys, we can go to the museum when it isn’t as hot as it is today, right?” Her question was met with laughter.

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“Guys, it is here!” Joey ran up to his friends a few days after they had reported their findings to the local museum. They had congregated in Cory’s house and he and Lila had been fighting a match in one of Cory’s many games. The dark-haired boy was waving a newspaper in his hands, while a huge grin was plastered on his face. As his friends quickly surrounded him, he laid the news paper on the table to show off the head line.

“Waterfall cave paintings discovered by local teens”

A photo of the teens in the illuminated cave was placed underneath the head line before going into the article, that described their adventure and what had been discovered so far. The friends just grinned at each other knowing that nobody at school would be able to have any adventure that would come close to what they had been a part of.

Spoiler: Plot and general things

We did the plot together and wrote in RP-style for the most part.

Word count is 3.780 words.

Lila and Joey were made by MarineAurora
Tala and Cory were made by Hraesvelgr

Extra info can be found in the relevant thread in the Valor team hub.