On the River Mountains, Zircon was sailing the ship on the calm river towards their destination.
Paloma was sketching her surroundings, as well as writing things down on her diary.
Azalea was sunbathing on the sunlounger, absorbing the ray of the sun's light, like all plants do.
Sapphire was monitoring her holographic map of Zirc's world.
And Red, well... let's just say he's in the corner feeling sea sick, or river sick to be exact. You can tell because his face is turning green than red.
And as for Terra, well she's bored. Looking at the scenery was nice and all, but it's getting old. To make herself busy she decided to practice her powers again. She placed three pebbles on the ground and concentrated on lifting them in the air with her mind, she wanted to do a trick, like skipping the pebbles across the river to the tree hollow over there. But her trick lead to another disaster again, instead of skipping the stones directly towards the tree hollow it aimed backwards braking the ship, leaving three leaky holes behind causing the ship to sink slowly.
"TERRA!" Zircon yelled in anger. She was angry with her for performing her unstable powers on her ship.
"Sorry" Terra apologized immediately. "I'll get that fix."
"No, don't bother with that, let Red do it" Zircon insisted to let Red fix her mistake, for he is a professional. "He's a handyman, he can do it, right Red" She turned towards Red who is throwing up out deck. He didn't look like he's capable of fixing it at the moment.
"I don't know Zirc?" he replied with a dizzy look. "I don't think I have the energy in me to fix it while I'm river sick."
"I'll give you a special healing treatment, a hug"
"You know what I feel better already, I'll patch up those holes right away." Hearing Zircon 'she'll give him a hug' gives him the energy to do anything for her. It makes him more red than green.
Zircon just smiled and said. "Works every time."
"Terra if you wanna do something to entertain yourself find something that doesn't involve using your powers" suggested Sapphire.
"Like what?" asked Terra. "It's too quiet here." That's when Terra got an idea. "Hey, I know how about a song?"
"A song?" said everyone.
"Yeah, some music to pass the time. Any suggestions?"
They all looked at each other curious. "Well music does sooth my animals to relaxation" said Zircon.
"Music won't help me grow but it helps me thrive, and I do love it" Azalea agreed to Terra's idea.
"I could use some fun acoustics" agreed Paloma.
"Same here!" said Red.
"Then I guess we all agree then" said Sapphire. "Do you know or remember any songs from Earth Terra?"
"You mean you wanna hear music from my world?" Terra asked curious.
"Yes, we've grown interested in your planet Terra" said Paloma.
"Yeah, let's hear it" said Azalea.
Sapphire activated her crystal necklace to her holographic tunes. "Here, I managed to download as much as Earth's music as I can, pick one of these songs, if any of them are familiar to you."
Terra looked closely at the holographic list of tunes. So many choices, she thought, how can I decide? Since they're in the jungle maybe she should pick a song about the jungle. She chose the first one titled "Welcome to the Jungle" it has good ring in it. "How about this one 'Welcome to the Jungle' it sounds nice" She pointed at the title song.
Sapphire looked at it intrigued. "Okay, let's hear it" she clicked on it and it started to play.
They all listened. First the melody was a bit odd, then the lyrics came in which sounded unpleasant to them, especially Zircon. Lyrics of "Welcome to the Jungle" (or at least half of it, because Zircon didn't want to listen to it anymore.)
Welcome to the jungle. We've got fun 'n' games.
We got everything you want. Honey, we know the names.
We are the people that can find. Whatever you may need.
If you got the money, honey. We got your disease.
In the jungle. Welcome to the jungle.
Watch it bring you to your knees, knees. I wanna watch you bleed.
Welcome to the jungle. We take it day by day-
"ENOUGH!" Zircon shouted, demanding to shut down that terrible music. "Turn it off! That song's awful! Not to mention offensive!"
Sapphire immediately turned off the song, for she too agreed with Zircon, it is awful and rude to nature. Red, Paloma, and Azalea are all in the same page with them. Terra admitted it was a bad choice. "Okay, bad choice. Sorry about that everyone" she apologized to them. She continued scrolling down the list for another song, something that's not so loud and offensive. After searching for a while she found something, a song called "Kiss from a Rose". Maybe Azi might like this song, she thought. "How about this one?" Terra pointed at the title. "It's a jazz song called "Kiss from a Rose" by this guy called Seal. I think you'll like it Azi."
Azalea was intrigued. "Don't know what jazz is, but okay let's give it a try. Hopefully this will not make me wilt."
Sapphire clicked on the song's title and played the music. The melody did sounded good, and the lyrics sounded smooth, that it made Azi sleepy. Lyrics of "Kiss from a Rose":
There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea.
You became, the light on the dark side of me.
Love remained a drink that's the high and not the pill.
But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and, the light that you shine can be seen.
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave.
Ooh, the more I get-
Okay, without saying a word or asking, Sapphire just turned off the music right away. Clearly no one liked it, it just made them yawn and their eyes sleepy. Azi however was unsure about this tune? "Well the song does sound jazzy good, for a lullaby" Azalea tried to sound nice to Terra's home world music. "I'll be sure to bring the melody with me back home if I ever have trouble sleeping."
Ignoring that, Terra made an effort to look for a more swinging song, something upbeat for the journey. After searching carefully for the right song, she finally found it, a song called "Take you to Rio" it's perfect. "This is it!" she exclaimed in excitement. "This is the perfect song for the jungle cruise."
"What is?" Zircon asked, hoping she found something not so upsetting or dull.
"This song is called 'Take you to Rio' by Ester Dean" she explained, while pointing at the title of the song.
"What's Rio?" asked Red.
"Not what, where" Terra explained. "Rio de Janeiro is the only city in the world that has a rainforest inside its city limits: Tijuca National Park. This 'urban rain forest' is a tropical oasis of calm and vast space, gentle murmuring waterfalls and cheerfully chirping birds."
"Right so your world also has a forest that always rains, maybe our worlds are not so different after all" said Azi.
Terra just nodded. "Anyway the point is you'll love this song" she clicked on the song and it started to play. And it's actually not that bad at all, the melody and lyrics are so catchy, and it makes your body wanna dance. The lyrical phrase of:
Let me take you to Rio, Rio
Fly' o the ocean like an eagle, eagle
And we can chill in my gazebo, gazebo
Oh oh oh oh, na na na
Gives you a beat, even Zircon's birds likes it a lot.
Sapphire listened to this melody carefully. "Wow, I can feel the music in this song" she said while tapping her foot.
Zircon was mesmerized by the song, she listened to it with content. "This song isn't bad at all" she said, moving her hip while sailing the ship.
Red just waved his arms in the air, he completely forgot he was river sick. "Wooo! Let's dance!"
And so pretty soon everyone started to dance, Azalea and Paloma joined in with them, Terra turned up the sound and started to move her body, even the birds wanna dance to this song.
While Zircon was dancing and sailing at the same time, she was rocking the boat back and fort while zoning to the song, in fact she was so lost in the music that she wasn't paying attention to the river, she took a wrong turn that sent them off track.
When the music finished, they cheered to Terra for this song. "You were right Terra" said Zircon. "This song is just right for this jungle, even the birds loved it, and their begging me to keep playing it" she turned to her birds and said. "I'll give you the song later, once we've finished with our quest" then she turned to Sapphire with a desperate look "Please tell me you have a copy of that song"
Sapphire smiled with pride. "Way ahead of you" for she already copied the song and gave it to Zircon.
"Thanks, you're a life saver" Zirc thanked her, now her birds can be appeased.
Red, who was tired from all that dancing, felt better than ever, the rocky waters no longer made him sick, he can finally breathe and enjoy the scenery. Speaking of which, he just realized something "Uh Zirc, where are we going?" he asked Zircon, feeling worried.
Zircon was also feeling worried too, she looked around in confusion and realized she sailed the wrong way. "Oh no, I made the wrong turn!"
"Where are we?" asked Sapphire.
Zircon answered with a stunned look. "We're in Savage Stream."
Uh oh, Terra doesn't like the sound of that, and even though she knew what that name meant she asked anyway. "Um, just to be sure, what exactly is Savage Stream?"
"Oh, just the rampaging part of the river that leads to a huge waterfall with sharp rocks at the bottom" answered Sapphire, in a coolly voice.
"Good to know."
Red panicked. "What do we do, what do we do!?"
Sapphire calmed her brother. "Let's not panic, panicking will only lead to disaster."
"I have to turn this ship around!" yelled Zircon. She tried to turn the wheel of the ship with all her strength. Azi helped too, with seeds on her hands she grew thick, strong vines then lassoed it to a rock to pull the boat away from the waterfall. Everyone held on for safety, they did their best but to no avail, the waters were too strong. The vines snapped and the wheel that controlled the ship spin out of control so hard that it broke. "The wheel is broken!" cried Zircon. "I've lost control of the ship."
"We're doom!" cried Red, being melodramatic.
"Get a grip Red, we're not done yet!" Sapphire snapped him out of it. They need to come up with another plan fast. Paloma offered to help her. "Perhaps I could be of assistance, I am a mathematician after all."
"Sure, I could use someone who has great brain" Sapphire accepted her offer. Together they worked on a plan on how to survive the waterfall, they studied their calculations quickly and carefully. Till Sapphire had an idea. "Terra I need you to use your powers to quake the riverbed, it will shake the water so hard to make a powerful wave that will carry and flow the ship to shore, safe enough for all of us to survive" she explained.
Paloma agreed with Sapphire's theory. "She's right, an earthquake big enough will cause a tidal wave that will save us from the fall to sharp rocks, do what she says!"
"But I don't know if I can?" Terra said in a panic worry. What if I make an earthquake strong enough to make the ground crack open to unleash magma? she thought.
"Just do it Terra!" demanded Sapphire. "Make a mistake!"
Without thinking Terra did her best to shook the earth. The ground was trembling, water was splashing everywhere. Everyone screamed and hanged on for dear life, for the huge wave to lift them in the air. It was like flowing through a waterslide, the ship was thrown flown by the waves it barely crashed ashore, half of it was smashed into splinters. But fortunately everyone was safe, no one got hurt.
Everyone got up from the crash after regaining their consciousness.
"Is everyone okay?" asked Terra, feeling dizzy after that power rush.
"I think so" answered Sapphire, grunting in pain.
"Same here" said Red.
"We're okay too" said Azi, while helping Lo to get up. She's okay too, just recovering from the crash.
"I'll be fine" added Zircon. "But 'The Lunar Light' isn't, she's gonna need a lot of repairs later on."
"Where are we?" asked Paloma, while scratching her head.
Zircon looked around, scanning the area, soon she realized where they were. "Oh no, that stream took us off course, we're in 'Juniper Jungle' part of the planet."
"That doesn't sound so bad" said Terra.
"Yeah, if you like to eat poison berries, and get scratched by itchy ivy plants, and get hit by spikecones" Zircon explained it to her straight.
"Okay, that does sound bad."
"Can we avoid it?" asked Paloma.
Zircon thought for a moment and had an idea. "Actually we can."
Everyone rejoiced.
"If we can survive it properly."
Okay, now their joy has faded into disappointment, they groaned.
"Here me out guys. This route could actually be a shortcut to the Pyramid, we just have to go straight ahead, avoid the dangerous obstacles, survive one night there, and we're back on track."
"Do you really think we can make it?" said Red, unsure about this.
"Positive, If I can survive this place so can you" Zircon assured him. "Besides we've faced hardships before."
"I'm just glad my backpack survived" said Paloma, who's relived her bag survived the crash. "Everything I need to survive is in here."
"And I'm curious to know what's inside that bag of yours that's so useful for surviving" said Zircon.
Sapphire got her locater map up and running again after the shipwreck. "You're right Zirc. If we take a shortcut through this route we'll reach our destination in no time."
"Thank you Sapphire, come on everyone, I'll lead the way to safety."