I have been struck down! Bah! Note to self: Don't read Macbeth in an airplane when a murderer is about. 

You deserved it, stealing my book.

Hey! You miss me though, I can tell.

Not re- 

Pressing submit now.  

Day Three, Part One

A small lizard clambered slowly over a log. Today, the jungle was quiet and serene, with only the hum of insects and the damp pressing of mist. Suddenly, the air roared. Frightened, the lizard skittered away, vanishing quickly into the undergrowth. A sleek silver jet screeched onto the landing runway, grit flying up under its wheels. After a pause, the door slid open and a figure jumped out, landing uncannily lightly on the ground. “Come on, everyone!” called the Explorer, waving their hand at the CBers, still huddled on the plane. “It’s not that far to go!”

Several people hesitated; then scrambled out of the way as a figure pushed her way to the front. Rolling her eyes at the fearful CBers, Nova leapt out of the jet, landing with a metallic thump. “Really, Novelist, it’s not that hard,” she called her CBer. Novelist looked apprehensive, but jumped down anyways, landing slightly awkwardly.

Slowly but surely, the rest of the passengers exited the plane and followed the Explorer through the jungle. The trek was difficult, to say the least. It was humid in the jungle, and there were many plants to be hacked away at. Lemon Banana’s death still hung over a few CBers, but for most of them, it was hard to think about that when Stan was constantly in their faces.

Finally, though, the worn party tramped into the campsite. It was a large clearing, with soft grass underfoot. Hanging from the enormous trees were huts, covered with a thatched roof and connected with bridges. Some were also dug into trees, like a snug hole. All the huts were high above their heads, and a tall, spiraling ladder jutting up in the middle was the centerpoint of all of them. A moment went by, and then Mei-xue said “Well! This was certainly worth it!” The Explorer went to the front of the group, smiling,and gestured to the CBers to gather around her. Pulling out a clean, white sheet of paper from their pocket, the Explorer cleared their breath and addressed the gathered.

“This is the place where you will all be staying, Crystal Falls Campsite! And yes,” they added, winking. “You will see Crystal Falls later. But this will be your place to stay. Now, I have the list of rooms here. Let’s see…” the Explorer scanned the list, reading, and pointed to each house as they said it.

“In the Tapir Room: Spyro, Valerie, Xiao Tuzi, Vikki, and Nova.”

“In the Leopard Room: Golden Spark, Fudimo, September, Dolphin, and Beez.”

“In the Macaw Room: Cortana, Mei-xue, Fred, Hotairballoon, and Wubdub.”  

“In the Canopy Room: Riddler, Fig, Hemin, and Stan.”

“In the Butterfly Room: Dolphin, Novelist, Charles, and Marie.”

Everyone jolted into action and clambered up to their rooms. As soon as they were in, they began to settle in, excited for the adventures to come.

Day Three, Part Two

Dim sunlight streamed through the leaves as the CBers sleepily blinked awake. The previous day had been amazing, marred only by the death of Lemon Banana. In the Tapir Room, Nova sat in the corner, unable to sleep. And she meant unable. As an AI, Nova couldn’t fall asleep like the rest of them. She had entertained herself, though, and hadn’t had a problem with it. As soon as she saw the Explorer walking out from her cabin, stretching, she woke the rest of the room. Xiao Tuzi shook her small, furry head and bounced out of her bed, snacking on a carrot she had saved for the morning.

The next moment Nova heard the Explorer calling them all down. After a short breakfast, the Explorer announced they would be taking a trip to the Crystal Waterfall today. This was met with many cheers and squeals of excitement. Minutes later, the group had all their gear on and was trooping through the rainforest once more. “Are we there yet?” whined Golden Spark, radiating heat like a furnace. She was quickly shushed by Vikki, but soon the cry was set up again. “Oh, yes,” said the Explorer, smiling benevolently as she pushed aside a tree. “We are there yet.”

The Crystal Waterfall was a beautiful sight, with sparkling crystalline water pouring over smooth and slippery gray rocks on its way to the ground. Colorful flowers bloomed all around the falls as it gushed into the pool.

Little did they know it would soon be the resting ground for someone.

Nova stood over the pool, peering into the water. She was sitting under an umbrella of leaves, gazing at her reflection. Footsteps behind her alerted her to the presence of another person. Turning, she looked at them, her face impassive. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?” The murderer said nothing, only reached out and gave her a shove. Nova screamed as she fell, toppling in the water with a splash. The murderer turned and vanished into the forest as quietly as they had come.

Later the group of the CBers discovered the body of Nova in the pool, still crackling slightly. A gruesome lesson of why you should never put electronics in water.

R.I.W., Nova. Rest in Waterfall.

:0

SHE DIED!!!!

AAaaaaaaaaaa

Hmm, are you Jarvis or Will T?

Can robots swim?

Idk. I dont think u can here. 

Day Four

The air, wet with humidity, shimmered with heat as hotairballoon worked. Novelist peeked her head in, eyes still damp. “HAB!” she cried. “Are you done yet?” Hotairballoon looked back at her and sighed.

“No, Novelist,” he said, turning back to work. “I’m not done yet.” He tweaked another wire, then winced as a slight spark of electricity forced him back. After Nova had been thrown in the pool, hotairballoon had dragged her out of the water and set to work to fix her. However, it was not going well. It seemed impossible to fix this broken girl. Novelist had been checking every few minutes to see her AE. Wubdub trailed behind her, cooing sadly.

“Veli, listen,” said hotairballoon bracingly. “I don’t think--” a sudden gust of wind blew his hair into his face. Spitting it out, he and Novelist jumped to their feet and rushed outside. A helicopter was slicing at the air and landing on the landing track. It was painted bright violet, with golden streaks down the side.

September stepped forwards cautiously. “H-Hello? Who are you?” she asked, Cortana next to her. Suddenly the door popped open, and a little black dog jumped out. The Explorer pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “Ah, finally!” she said, grinning brightly.

“Do you know this person?” asked the Riddler. The Explorer laughed a bright peal.

“Of course!” she said . “Don’t you recognize little Nugget?” she said, petting the terrier. “Of course, it’s Leeli!” Everyone cheered as the girl jumped out of the chopper, her braid swinging.

“Hiya, everyone!” she said, waving. “The Explorer--and should I say--”

“HEM-hem!” interrupted the Explorer.

“Oh, right. The--Explorer--invited me here for a great trip in the rainforest!” She picked up Nugget, stroking the happy dog. The Explorer invited her back and pulled out her list.

“Alright, Leeli,” she said. “You are in the… Canopy Room, with the Riddler, Fig, Hemin, and Stan. Alright?” Leeli nodded happily and joined her new roommates. Once more, the Explorer turned and addressed the CBers, AE’s, and CAPTCHAS.

“Everybody! Tomorrow, we go sightseeing! Pack your bug spray and sunscreen! And be prepared for some mysterious jungle cats and shimmering rainbow birds!”

Day Five

"Ii'mm hngy," complained Fig, pleading to Vikki. "Aall weee hadd forr bkft wasa grnl barr." Vikki looekd down at her CAPTCHA, sympathetic.

"I know, Fig," she said. "But there was no time to eat heavy today, remember? The Explorer said we're going sightseeing today! I did grab a few extra granola bars, though," she added, snatching one from her pack and handing it to her eager CAPTCHA, who devoured it whole. Then Vikki turned her attention back to the Explorer, who was talking to the whole group. All she caught was the last phrase "...so make sure you're careful! We don't want to have any more deaths."

"Psst!" Vikki whispered to Mei, who was standing next to her. "What are we doing that shouldn't involve dying?" But Mei was focused on something else, and didn't hear Vikki. Her eyes were boring directly into the Explorer and nothing else.

Marie, standing on the other side of Vikki, told her that it was ziplining, but Mei didn't hear that either. A slight smile curved her lips as she saw the Explorer almost finished speaking.  

Mei had had her suspicions yesterday, but they had only really been confirmed when she had noticed something fall out of the Explorer's pocket. She had realized almost immediately once she had seen it, and was about to make her move.

The Explorer looked around, satisfied, as the CBers all bustled to get ready. She was about to lead the group into the rainforest when a hand shot up from the crowd. She called on it, and saw Mei push her way through the confused CBers until she was standing right in front of the Explorer.

"Um... yes, Mei?" said the Explorer, though she thought she knew what was about to happen. Mei grinned.

"Explorer," she said calmly, with no hint of what she was about to reveal. "Are you Clouded Leopard?" The Explorer laughed again.

"You got me!" she said, pulling off her hat. Underneath it was a mass of thick, white-blonde hair and two leopard ears. "But how did you know? I thought I had it still a mystery, even when Leeli almost revealed me." Mei smiled triumphantly, pulling a slip of paper out of her pocket and holding it up to Clouded Leopard.

"I had my doubts when I heard you humming Hamilton under your breath the other night, but Owlgirl's on some beach somewhere, and the Riddler's here with us. But I only knew for sure when I saw this." Clouded Leopard glanced down at the slip of paper and groaned. It was a picture of her holding her CAPTCHA, Vixtion.

"I knew I shouldn't have brought that along..." she said, though still in good nature. "Nice sleuthing, Mei." Just then the silence was broken by Marie saying "Well, then, Explorer--Clouded Leopard, can we get going?" Clouded Leopard laughed again and waved her hand, leading the excited group into the undergrowth.

"Hey," said He-min, nudging the murderer. "Can you believe it was Clouded Leopard all along?" The murderer was jolted out of their thoughts as He-min talked to them.

"Oh... no, I had no idea," they said, shaking their head as they replied to the witch. "Hopefully nothing else bad happens... It'd be awful to have murders on your back..."

Day Six

The cloud of mosquitoes that had been gathering by the heads of the CBers buzzed away bug spray was sprized into the air. "Stupid insects," muttered September. Next to her, Fudimo was smiling as he spelled the bugs into bursts of flame one by one. Hemin scowled, and instead began to rid them of the bugs by spelling them away, so they shot through the air and away from the group.

At the head of the group, Clouded Leopard tramped by, humming a tune as she hacked at the swaying vines with ferocity and surprising strength. "Hey," said someone behind her. It was the Novelist, hurrying towards her. Clouded Leopard continued walking, but slowed her pace so she was next to the worried book-lover. "Hey, Cloud, can I ask you about something?" Clouded Leopard nodded, agily leaping over a log and waiting for Novelist to clamber over.

"It's... about Nova," she said hesitantly. "She... she's not going to be fixed, is she?" Clouded Leopard's blue eyes misted over with sadness.

"I'm sorry, Veli," she said, resting her hand on Novelist's slumped shoulder. "Hotairballoon tried, but he couldn't fix her. She's just too complicated, and he's the best mechanically-inclined CBer we have around. But..." Novelist looked up as a small smile came to Clouded Leopard's face. "We have to go on in her memory. Don't you see? If we fall into grief and sorrow, it'll make us weaker. I fear being weaker, because we'll be larger targets for whatever is stalking us."

"Do you think it's one of us?" Noveist asked quietly. Clouded Leopard looked at her.

"I hate to say it, but how else can it be? No one but the CBers were on the plane with us. And someone with something sharp especially." Novelist looked up in surprise as Clouded Leopard continued. "Yes, how else could they have cut open the seat?" She glanced back at Vikki, Golden Spark, and Fig, all of whom were bouncing along and chattering cheerfully. "Vikki did bring a pencil... and Cortana brought a sword. We may need to keep clear of them."

Novelist opened her mouth to reply, but before she could Clouded Leopard's eyes lit up, and she bounded forwards, her tail streaming behind her, and shoved aside a branch. After the CBers had filed past it, she excitedly said "Welcome to the Amazon Ziplines!" Stretching high above them was a tal, wooden tower, not unlike the one in their camp. Reaching out from it were three thick ropes, each going in a different direction. Clouded Leopard led them up the stairs and to the one on the left. "This line goes to leopards' den. And don't worry," she said to uneasy murmurs. "I'll do everything in my power to keep it safe."

She grabbed the first harness and pulled the Riddler forwards. After locking her into it, she pushed her gently along. "There's another tower," she called as the Riddler zoomed away. "We'll meet there!" Soon everyone was zipping along the ziplines, the wind rushing in their faces. Marie and Vikki went along, one after the other, clutching Beez and Fig tightly.

But not tightly enough.

~~

To Be Continued

~~