After years of being stuck in the dark, she had grown accustomed to the lack of light. Her eyes were able to see the tiniest inkling of light refracting off the most minuscule of gemstones. Even now, as her headlamp washed across the rocky wall ahead of her, she noticed a small twinkle hidden between the stone crevices.

She snapped a mischievous smile, reaching for a jackhammer that was resting beside her. The power exploding from the equipment tore into the wall, throwing chunks of dirt and stone around her. Though her equipment was a modern-day barbaric tool, she utilized it with surgical precision. Each destructive jab from the tool's large spade was carefully aimed so that the gem would survive the excavation.

She ended her digging when the crystal was most visible. She reached for the diamond but found that it was still embedded into the wall. "Yeah, my ripper ain't gonna get that out clean." She looked over her shoulder, her headlamp illuminating the dark cave system. "Ey Carl! Gonna need a hand over here!"

From the darkness, two bright circles popped up. A nerdy robotic voice cutting through the darkness, "Certainly Jacky." The smaller robot made his way down the cave, the sound of his cart's tiny wheels squeaking the entire trip.

Jacky pointed out the diamond she was requesting the retrieval of. He cheerfully began mining away at the stone surrounding the gem, careful not to crack the precious jewel. Jacky palmed the crystal, ripping it off the tiny piece of stone that remained. She let out a sharp whistle at the site, "Look at that. Beautiful ain't she."

"Indeed." Whenever Carl blinked, the light from his eyes would disappear as well. This flashing light allowed the diamond to sparkle in the darkness. "A splendid specimen of a hyper rare llb diamond. A truly extraordinary find." Carl's programmed lisp accented every word, giving him that geekish charm.

Jacky patted the bot on his yellow hat, "You're cute when you're talking geek talk." Carl's facial plates warmed up again, his florescent eyes looking away from the larger woman. "Welp... let's get this back to the cart."

The two walked through the dark caves, silently following a softly illuminated path. As they grew closer to their destination the light from the many torches burned brighter. Leading to a large minecart that sat in the middle of a clearing. Inside the cart were hundreds of crystals and gems they had found throughout their shift. There was an array of varying minerals such as diorite, copper, and malachite sitting with the fine jewels they had found. Jacky tossed the diamond in haphazardly, to Carl's dismay. "Jacky, perhaps we should be more organized in our mineral retrieval."

"Ah organize shmorganize, who cares. That's what the grunts we deliver this stuff to are for."

"I can't even begin to explain what's wrong with that."

Another voice chimed in from the side, "And I don't care." The two miners turned to their boss. The small elderly man prancing towards them. "All I know is that this is another great haul!"

Jacky perked up at his joyful tone, "Okay Mike I'll bite. What's got you so excited?"

Mike tugged at his scraggly white beard. His snickers revealing his giddy mood, "Well let's just say I got a few new toys to play with." Mike couldn't help but giggle to himself, leaving the two workers in the dark. He reflexively curled in on himself, laughing wildly. From beneath his hard hat, a tiny set of yellow feathers tipped the protective gear a bit. Peeking out from beneath the hat was a tiny yellow canary. It's wings gesturing to a position behind them.

Jacky and Carl turned to a darker corner of the mine. Their bodies trembling at the sight hidden in the shadows. Laying against the wall was a giant barrel of Mike's finest explosives. This keg of building leveling powder was currently positioned inside a small plot within the wall. Carl gave a shaky smile, "Dynamike, sir. What do you plan to do with that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Carl and Jacky looked at their boss. A trigger in his hand with a wire rolling down to the ground beneath him. Jacky followed the length of the fuse, noticing that it was linked to the bottom of the mound of gunpowder.

"Holey *drill*," she cried as she accidentally pulled the trigger of her jackhammer. She snatched Carl up in her arms, the two running behind the insane old man.

Dynamike gave a wild smile, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The soft click of the switch was a stark contrast to the massive explosion that followed. The entire mineshaft rattling as the rocks around the epicenter were obliterated and hurled through the cave. Dynamike didn't flinch as several chunks of debris flew past his face. His smile just as bright as when he first entered the shaft.

As the dust settled, Jacky and Carl popped out of their hiding place. The former was frustrated with her boss's constant mayhem and destruction. The latter was just happy he didn't collapse the mineshaft this time. Digging out that night was painful.

Dynamike took a second to inhale the dust and brimstone, "I love my job."

Carl tentatively raised a hand, "Sir... maybe that isn't the most optimal way to find mineral deposits."

"Hogwash! Has it ever failed before?"

Jacky was more aggressive with her response, "You almost trapped us and a whole kilo of emeralds underground last month!"

"Almost." Jacky was growling at Mike's insane thought process. Carl was luckily there to calm her down. "Now let's see what we found?"

The trio took their time moving through the crater. Dynamike placing torches on the walls to ensure that they wouldn't miss anything. For the most part, the only thing they could find was the loose remains of the many minerals that were housed within the stone walls.

Carl was able to dig a little deeper and find a small deposit of iron next to a spot of gold. Jacky followed suit, taking a few chunks out of the walls with her jackhammer. She wasn't paying the most attention to what she was mining, just carefully cutting away at the stone till something popped out at her.

That something came in the form of a bright green rock within the wall. "Ay look at that emerald!"

Carl joined her to take chunks out the wall and expose the rare gemstone. As he continued to mine, Dynamike took note of the strange coloring. "That is the brightest emerald I've ever seen. At least naturally without any polish."

"Yo, imagine the price we could get for this puppy." Jacky pet Carl's head, "Come on buddy, don't scratch it now."

Carl took special care not to scar this rare find. As they revealed more of the stone, Jacky noticed a strange discoloration within the gem's core. A yellow blemish in what seemed to be a perfect lime-green stone. "Ah, fuzz! Stinkin thing's got some yellow in it."

"Nothing wrong with that." Dynamike's experience shined bright, "The yellow in the stone could be seen as a rare commodity for some buyers.

"No kiddin?"

"Affirmative, for some people, gems with such a specific impurity are actually more valuable than pure gems." As Carl rambled about the price of different gems on the market his pick broke a supporting chunk of the stone causing the gem to fall to the floor.

They all stared in awe at the jewel. It seemed to be giving off a faint light. The yellow splotch in the middle had a strange lightning bolt shape. Jacky reached down to inspect the strange gem. She could feel an odd aura radiating off it, "Ya know what you guys were right..."

She turned so that the stone was on display to both of them. "This thing's pretty neat!"

Within her hand, a jolt of electricity jumped across the stone's surface. They all stared at the gem with wonder. That wonder shifted to fear as a blinding bright light erupted from the jewel. Jacky's scream was the last thing that could be heard as the cave around them turned into a giant flashbang.

~--~

"Okay luv, tell me can ya fell this?" The botanist took a small stick with a triangular rock attached to it. A light tap to the patient's tiny leg gave zero results. He looked up at her with a simple smile and a telling nod. "So, you don't have the typical nervous system, do you?" Now the response was a small shoulder shrug.

As the British villager tried to find an answer to her new patient's strange body another body entered her tent. She turned to see the long red pigtails of Jessie entering, a bowl of meat and vegetables in-hand. "Mrs. Rosa, I have the food you requested."

"Just leave it on that table luv." Rosa was focused on examining the oddity that was Pac. This strange cactus that had wandered into their village alongside Jessie and her friends raised more questions than answers.

"So, what did you find out Mrs. Rosa?"

She looked over her shoulder to see Jessie hyper-focused on the examination. "Nuthin much. Just that he doesn't have any blood, just water. No nervous system or internal organs. He's just a sentient cactus."

Jessie scratched her cheek, "Well I'd say that's strange... but." Jessie pointed to the tiny plant on Rosa's back, "Aren't you used to this?"

Rosa reached her hand back to comfort her pet, "Not exactly. My plant was scientifically engineered to gain sentience by fusing the cells in its body with animal cells. Think of its xylem veins as a nervous system and its phloem veins as a blood system. With that, I was able to cause the xylem veins to cluster into a makeshift form of brain matter. And with time I was able to train it to understand human speech and comprehend basic emotions."

Jessie's head was spinning with the influx of plant science. She was a mechanic, not a botanist. Rosa (noticing Jessie's state) tried her best to move on and explain Pac's situation. She pulled out a small flashlight, "Now look at this. Pac, open wide."

The cactus gladly complied and allowed the girls full view of the inside of his body. Rosa shined her light allowing Jessie to see inside Pac's skull. "What do you see darlin?"

Jessie squinted her eyes, "Nothing."

"Exactly, it's empty. Not a sign of any brain, lungs, stomach, blood vessels, nothing. Nothing. He's empty. Yet..." She had Pac close his mouth. "Pac, what do you call a barren wasteland with little to no plant life yet and an array of deadly creatures out to consume you?"

The cactus gave a thinking motion as it tried to understand her question. He gestured for her to continue. With her gloved hands, she patted the plant's skull, "Your home."

Then on cue, Pac began to clap merrily at the realization of what she was describing. Rosa applauded as well and cooed at the plant's joyful tune. She turned back to Jessie, "See. He has full awareness of what's going on around him. A complete understanding of who he is and what he's doing with his life. Though he lacks a nervous system." She began tickling the cactus' stomach. Though he lacked a voice, his mouth curled upward, and he writhed under her grip. "He's able to feel others touch and giggle at the sensation of tickling. But he also doesn't have any reactionary nerves in his body. So I can't tell if he can or can't feel pain." Rosa put down her light and walked toward the bowl Jessie brought in. "He's a mystery wrapped in an opaque foil of magic and I just can't find the lip to unwrap it with."

Jessie was carefully playing with Pac when she heard Rosa's statements. "Magic?"

Rosa swallowed the veggies she had frustratedly stuffed into her mouth, "I believe it to be magic. I'm not sure. I don't understand it at all. That's why I came to this village, to study the magical properties I was told are housed on this soil." Rosa ran her hands through the giant bush she called her hair. Her tiny plant seeming to pat her lightly to comfort her frustrations. "But with every new discovery, I question the sciences I've studied for so long."

Jessie rose from her seat beside Pac. She wasn't believing what she was hearing, "Magic is... real?"

Rosa could see the confusion in Jessie's eyes. The apprehension in her voice hitting very close to home. It was the same way she felt when she first discovered this village and the people that lived inside it. She quickly ran for a nearby blanket, "Here watch this. Pac lay down please." The short cactus happily obliged, knowing what would happen next. Rosa placed the cloth over Pac's spiny chest.

She gave a gesture signaling for Jessie to lay her head against the towel. As she rested her head on Pac's chest, she noticed a strange humming escaping where his heart should be. "What is that?"

"Bloomin 'eck if I know. I've tried everything I can here, but I lack the equipment necessary for safe testing. If only I was back at my lab."

Jessie jumped at that information, "You have a lab?"

"Why yes... deep inside the Ardacian Jungle I have a greenhouse where I conduct most of my experiments."

"If you have a lab, that must mean you have electricity and technology. How? How did you gain access to a station this far from civilization?"

Rosa put a finger to her chin, "Hmm... The internet." Jessie's eye twitched at the insulting answer. Rosa couldn't help but chuckle at her disgruntled face, "I'm tugging ya leg luv. Though I am licensed by Niagra's elites to research the vegetation and wildlife hidden deep within the forest. Some of the creatures housed within those trees are truly splendid."

Jessie was getting frustrated, "If you have that kind of access to the outside world, why didn't you allow us to go to your greenhouse and call for help."

The room fell silent. Rosa was silently thinking up a response to Jessie's valid question. What could she possibly say, "It's not safe."

"Not SAFE?!"

"You have to understand. The Ardacian Jungles are a horror show of vicious wildlife and flora that will consume you without a second thought. Even I don't feel comfortable walking through those trees without Bo and his warriors by my side." She looked to Jessie, hoping the girl would accept this explanation. She was glad to see Jessie's mood less hostile and more understanding.

Her heart hurt at the explanation; she wasn't lying about not feeling comfortable alone in the woods. But she withheld some information about her travels through those trees.

Jessie tugged at her graphic tee. It was a little smudged up after the rough day she had yesterday. She looked up to Rosa with pleading eyes, "Can I come with you the next time you visit your lab?"

Rosa gave a small smile, "Of course."

Jessie bit her lip, "And can Colt and Tyler come too?"

Rosa paused for a second, "I'll... think about it." Jessie couldn't make eye contact, trying to accept the information she had been given. "Chin up kiddo. I'll be happy to have more assistants to help me out at the lab."

"More?"

"Well of course. A girl can get lonely stuck inside a glass home in the middle of a dangerous forest."

Jessie's excitement was piqued. Her prior frustrations with Rosa's formerly secret greenhouse now evaporating, "How many assistants do you have? How old are they?"

"Well, I only have one. And she's twenty-two, though..." Rosa took a second to observe Jessie. The younger girl feeling awkward as they stood in silence. "She might not be much taller than you." Rosa readied herself for further questioning, but divine intervention came in the form of an elderly woman entering the tent. She was currently choking on her own voice as she laughed uncontrollably. "Well, you look as spry as a spring chicken. What's got you riled up old-timer?"

She tried her best to talk between exasperated breaths, "The Cal Boys. They've decided to challenge some poor kid to a match."

Rosa perked up, "Ooooh, interesting. Who's the unlucky bairn?"

"The poor boy that just came in from the outside."

Jessie stiffened up, "Tyler!" She pushed past the two adults, running outside to inspect the scene. 'What the heck did you do now?'

She couldn't see anything past the massive crowd of people idling around. Their hoots and hollers drowning out all other sounds in the village. Jessie grew increasingly nervous, what could he be doing that would draw such a crowd? She abused her small stature, brushing through the forest of legs and shoving any bodies that stood in her way.

When she broke through the wall of bodies, she watched as a larger village boy ran up to Tyler. The two colliding in mid-air chest first with ecstatic laughter, her friend's shirt was removed exposing his slim build in contrast to the wider frame of the village boy. As the boys' feet reached the floor another body leaped onto the larger one's back. Jessie smiled softly at the sight of Nita's giddy gaze and playful personality.

She shook these positive vibes quickly. Tyler, Nita, and their new friend could have their little celebration. She needed to analyze the situation. Her stare drifted to the other side of the meadow. A group of boys could be seen loitering with a ball in hand. Their grimaces were full of rage and hatred for the merry troupe of allies across the grass. Jessie assumed that these must have been the Cal Boys in question.

Jessie heard Rosa's voice behind her, "Phew. I thought the tiny bloke was a goner! But they're just playing Brawl Ball."

Jessie shook her head, "That might be worse..."

Rosa's lips curled at her passing comment, "Aww, what's wrong? Scared your little boyfriend's gonna get hurt?"

"He's not my boyfriend," she said with pursed lips. She fixed her eyes on the field. The teams had taken post on opposing sides. She could see the boyish joy brimming from Tyler's golden cheeks. Nita had a sinister snarl across her lips which the new kid quickly shooed away. Jessie softly bit her lip, "Besides... I'm worried what he'll do to them."