Live from the Cave!

The Azure Caverns.

A paradise sealed deep underground and home to the legendary Azure Dragon.

Even eons later, he still watches over his domain and vast treasure.

Now, the Azure Caverns have been rediscovered once again by these three brave young explorers, willing to risk it all to brave the Azure Dragon's challenges for a shot at his untold riches!

The road ahead is perilous; all three may not even walk out of here in one piece. But with teamwork, some elbow grease and just a drop of luck, hopefully they'll instead leave here with the Azure Dragon's most prized possession, the Jade Scepter!

Welcome to the Great Azure Treasure Run!

---

"Now, let's begin with the introductions!" Announced the suspicious, tall aqua-haired woman in a tight tuxedo, who just happened to be in this vast space of caves and ruins up top a clear blue reservoir and glittering crystalline walls, past a narrow passageway no adult could fit through.

 "Let's start with... You, the one in the knight helmet! And no other armor!"

"Are we really doing this?" The helmeted one in question, Rin, whispered to her fellow kids dressed in orange jumpsuits.

"Why not? There's treasure!" Beamed Max, the youngest of the three. The one who thought it was a great idea to go deeper into the cave after coming across that obviously suspicious poster and ran into her.

"We were supposed to just scout the outside! The adults do the actual treasure hunting!" She reminded him. "Why would a dragon even live in a cave 20 minutes from town?!"

"Because it's pretty?"

"There isn't even an 'Azure Dragon' in the histor— Gah!" She facepalmed her helmet, giving up on trying to logic with a 10-year-old.

"It's better to play along with her for now," weighed in Mikhail, the other boy who's supposed to share her mental maturity but also joined Max without question. "She definitely isn't ordinary."

Rin glanced back at the adult woman patiently watching them. "As in weird, or a monster?"

"Most likely a..." He flipped through the pages of his pocket-sized bestiary from his backpack. "Dark elemental, yes. They're mischievous spirits who like to play with people who enter their domains. They're generally friendly, as long as you don't try to leave before they've had their fun."

"What happens if you do?"

He shrugged. "Probably kill."

"...Great." Rin scoffed to drown out the pang in her chest.

She glared at the stupid kid who got them all into this mess under the cover of her helmet, and the other slightly less stupid kid who decided to go along with him.

A part of her wanted to just leave them both behind. Unfortunately, she found the Treasure Hunting Guild and its unsanctioned junior division just slightly earlier, enough for the adults to make her leader. God knows what'd happen to her standing if she dared return by herself, having nowhere else to go in this fantasy world.

Maybe she would finally wake up back in Adachi and return to her morning rush to the elevators. But it's been months now since she ended up here, like a dream that missed the cue to end.

A dream that forgot to give her any special abilities, magic, resources, family, friends... Anything aside from regressing into her able-bodied, stupid kid self.

Though at this age, stupid was the kindest, lightest way to describe the girl she was.

Rin sighed and turned to the dark elemental entertainer before them. "Uh, sorry for taking a bit. We're ready now."

The woman shot her hands up into the air. "Never such thing as spending too much time talking it out with the team! Now, please introduce your team, your names, age, role, and your hometown! Loud and clear, for everyone to hear!"

Who's even listening? Rin almost said, but shook her head for now.

"We're the junior division of the Underwood Treasure Hunter Guild. My name is Rin, 10. Team leader. I come from Nih... Nikkoku, across the sea." She muttered through her helmet, this world's stand-in for Japan still weird on her tongue.

"My name is Max, 9. Go-getter!" The cheery brunette chimed. "I live right next to the Guild!"

"And my name is Mikhail, 10. Strategist." The ash-blonde calmly bowed. "I'm from Yarvis, not from around here."

"...Quite the diverse backgrounds for a young cast of explorers, we love to see it! Underwood Hunters!"

"The junior divisio—"

"Not today! You're the stars of this adventure!" The dark elemental woman spirit host thing twirled around in her oddly skin-tight tuxedo before striking a peace sign and winking.

"I am Rete! Your host for today and expert guide to the Azure Caverns! I will be guiding you to various locations here to take on the cave's many challenges before heading to the Altar of the Azure Dragon, where all his treasure is locked inside."

"Can't we just go to the Altar?" Asked Rin.

"Want to go straight to the climax, I see!" Rete jubilantly slapped her knee. "No can do, unfortunately! That Altar's locked tight! And the only way you can get in there is by collecting these!"

A small, deep blue, cylindrical statue that looked like a vaguely slug-shaped dragon suddenly appeared in her hand, pinching it at the base as she held it close for the three to see.

"Cobalt dragon statues! The Azure Dragon left dozens of these around his lair; each one will net you ten seconds in the Altar!"

"Why only ten seconds each?" Rin crossed her arms.

"Well, it must be his idea of security! He can't make it too easy for any intruders!" Rete laughed.

"Isn't that just as inconvenient for him?"

Rete stared blankly. "Well, he... must've had his own master statue! That gives unlimited time!"

"And where would that be, exactly?"

"Aren't these treasures too?" Max's eyes sparkled in tandem with the cobalt statue.

"Uh... Well..."

"Let's not try to poke too many holes in the premise, you two," Mikhail whispered.

"Well! Maybe these have some value as art pieces," Rete recovered quickly from the barrage of questions. "But they're nothing compared to the ones in the Altar! Now, any more questions?

Rin was about to raise her hand yet again, if it were not for Mikhail blocking her with his own.

"No, no, Mikhail." Rete motioned over to them. "Let Rin ask her question."

She blinked, expecting to be ignored yet again.

Rin wasn't sure if she should be asking this. Actually, this is probably a really bad idea to ask a dark elemental, but...

"If we fail, does that mean death? Or getting crippled?"

Silence overtook the group, broken only by the flowing water of the reservoirs below.

"Rin." Started Mikhail.

"...That's a valid question!" Rete answered, before leaning down to Rin's height.

"There's a little bit of danger," Her bombastic energy faded away for something more candid. "It's never completely zero chance. But not to worry, there are precautions in place to make sure no serious harm comes to anyone. I mean, the Azure Dragon wouldn't want anyone getting hurt in his home, intruder or not!"

She extended her pinky finger out. "Swear on it? It's the highest promise I have! No tricks, no deaths, no ugly twists. We don't need any of that to have some good clean fun."

Rin wasn't sure how to respond except to avert her eyes. She had expected her to vehemently deny any sort of danger, make a thinly veiled threat to stay in line and do as she's told, make her out to be the crazy one, or brush her off as being...

She just didn't expect an honest answer.

"That's the spirit, Rin!" Rete exclaimed as Rin met her pinky with hers, enthusiasm back in force. "Now then, are you all ready?!"

"Yeah!" Two of them yelled, matching her energy. One yelled more awkwardly.

"Come on then, this way!" She started running down a slope towards a body of water without looking back.

The three of them could only follow suit, as for the first time, they were the ones "hunting" for treasure.

---

"Welcome to our first destination, the Dragon's Cascade!" Rete loudly declared as they made their way to an enclosed bank of the subterranean reservoir that faced a waterfall.

Rin panted as she propped herself up with her hands on her knees. It was only a few minutes of straight running down to the lower levels of the Azure Cavern, far from an intense workout, yet it left her gasping for air, the burn in her legs still foreign to her.

The two boys were doing frustratingly fine, Max looking at her like he was judging her for her low stamina.

"Isn't it easier if you took the helmet off?" He asked.

"No." She wheezed.

Judging her for her low stamina.

"This is one of the Azure Dragon's favorite spots in the entire cave. Every morning he came down here to meditate with the ambiance of the waterfall in the distance."

She stared up at the widely fanning waterfall over the pocket of water, before turning her attention to several grey crates at the shallow bed, visible through the crystal-clear surface.

"And like coins to a fountain, he threw in chests containing Cobalt statues, which is what we're after. What you need to do is dive down and try to open those boxes, collecting as many statues as you can!"

"Why are there only 8 chests if he did this daily?" Rin asked as she looked at the chests conveniently arranged in a circle.

"Excellent question!" Rete exclaimed as the surface started to bubble. "That would be why. The pressure underwater here is highly unstable around noon. I say there's only about three minutes before the whirlpools start to form, sweeping away everyone still in the water."

"That doesn't seem—"

"Safe? Not to worry! I'll pull you guys out before there's any chance of that happening!" Rete gave a thumbs up as she pointed her finger at the three. "Now, are there any questions before you start swimming?"

Max raised his hand. "I can't swim."

"Huh?" Rete and Rin both uttered in sync.

"I never learned how." He claimed through his puckered lips.

"That's the first thing they teach at the guild!" Rin retorted. "Did you skip them?!"

He shifted his eyes. "No."

Rin was a second away from putting her hands on him, only barely catching herself and forcibly tucking her arms back before she made contact.

"Oh dear, that means we only have two participants in this challenge?" Rete stroked her chin. "That seems a bit too early to have someone sitting out. Unless..."

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
PLEASE HOLD ON

"Well, would you look at that! There's a boat! You could ride that and do a little magnet fishing!"

"What the heck was that?!" Rin's helmet vibrated as she yelled.

Everything just suddenly turned pitch black, and now there was a red canoe on the previously empty bank. Completely brand new and in pristine condition, with a set of kid-sized oars and fishing rods with large puck-shaped magnets stuck to the side.

"Dark elemental, remember?" Mikhail whispered low. "She controls this whole area."

"I didn't think it'd be like... that?" She barely avoided yelling out. She recognized it as some ancient form of entertainment, but it wasn't old enough for a fantasy world.

"Awesome!" Max didn't question any of it as he happily hopped into the canoe and grabbed an oar.

"I'm making them give him another test when we get back." Muttered Rin.

"Better than getting wet," Mikhail shrugged before making his way into the canoe. "And swimming with the helmet on."

"I can swim with it on just fin—" She suddenly felt a clack on the side of her helmet that started to tilt her neck back. "What the?!"

"Got you!" Max snickered. "Come on, guys, get in!"

"Let go, you stupid—MAX!" Rin thrashed as her head was yanked all the way to the canoe.

"You have to push the boat into the water first." Mikhail calmly made his way over alongside Rin, doing nothing about the magnet line.

"Off you go!" Rete waved them off as their boat finally hit the water, before turning away to nowhere in particular.

"Will our intrepid explorers get their hands on the Cobalt Statues or will they be swept away by the impending currents? Find out after the break!"

"'Break'? We just started!" Rin yelled back before the bank where Rete was went dark again.