With Eruptor as the lamp that lit the dark tunnel surroundings, Chihiro, Flameslinger, and Sunburn trekked down the spanning halls with a slight sense of caution. Everything was serene and quiet, and yet the anticipation from earlier still brewed in their minds.

"Say, Chihiro," Sunburn asked as he looked over at Chihiro. "Where'd you say you find this route?"

Chihiro hummed a tune as she walked down the tracks with her arms held out to keep her balanced.

"Just look for a torch, it's not far from there!" Chihiro peered up and beamed as they all passed by the warmth of torchlight. "And there we are!"

Chihiro hopped off the tracks and gestured ahead to the room dimly lit in warm, flaming tones by the torch. Down below, the metal tracks diverged into twin paths, with the first one branched well past the tunnels and spanned over a warm, open space ahead like a rollercoaster; the second split off into a cavern lit by stark, yellow light with flares of orange and red painted across the walls.

"Here's our track!" Chihiro puffed out her chest as she glazed over the tracks. "Now, we've just gotta find the lever to re-route this thing and we'll be good as gold!" Chihiro grinned, jumped back on the railroad tracks and balanced her way down the second railroad path. "And I'm sure these tracks'll show the way! After all, they usually have a switch somewhere down the tracks, right?"

That song Chihiro hummed resounded around the cavern walls, and her smile refused to leave even after she passed into the cavern. That kind of cheer was so infectious, it made even the stark and lonely atmosphere of the tunnels a little less daunting than usual.

"Stay on the tracks, stay on the tracks, gotta stay, gotta stay, stay on the tracks~" Chihiro sing-songed as she passed further and further into the caves.

Flameslinger chuckled, hopped on the tracks and tip-toed across their metal railing with just enough speed that he could still keep Chihiro's pace, but wouldn't risk melting them underfoot! Behind him, Sunburn hopped around and crept along the rails a bit more clumsily than Flameslinger and Chihiro as he tried to keep balance with four paws.

Eruptor sighed, reluctantly jumped on the rails and walked along as well! He held his arms straight as planks as he tip-toed along the rails, his mouth a wary frown as he watched Sunburn and Flameslinger come into view, but his balance slipped just a tad!

"Whoa, whoa!" Eruptor shouted as he windmilled his arms and swung back and forth, yet finally stomped both feet on the ground and wiped little pebbles from her forehead. "Close one!"

Steam and shrill hisses floated up from the ground below, while Eruptor frowned and looked down. "Is something burning?"

Oh, something was burning, alright! It was none other the tracks underneath him! The lava that made up Eruptor's feet seared against the railroad tracks' metal, and turned them a bright red as they melted underfoot! Eruptor squealed and stumbled back, but breathed a sigh of relief as he examined the tracks. Though they were still red-hot and had round dents in them, at least they were mostly intact!

"Well, hopefully nobody's coming down here anytime soon!" Eruptor remarked with a forced chuckle. He scratched the top of his head as the rails cooled down, but frowned and perked that head of his back up.

Soft grumbles and chatter reverberated around the tunnel, kind of like the sounds that people made when they talked in their sleep! At first it faded out pretty quickly, and it seemed as though it might have been misheard. But, as they all crept further down, it only grew louder and more prominent.

"Eruptor, is that you?" Chihiro asked as she stopped and turned around with her arms still held out wide.

Eruptor just shook his head. "Wasn't me!"

Flameslinger and Sunburn both shook their heads as well, while Chihiro frowned and turned back around.

"And it definitely wasn't me! I'd know." Chihiro's whole face clenched as she scratched her face a bit harder. "Is it more of those minions?"

While Chihiro contemplated, her foot slipped out from underneath her and she conked her head against the wall! Chihiro cried out as she slunk down against the wall and rubbed the nasty bump that formed on her head, but blinked as the chattering noises grew shriller and angrier. Chihiro staggered back up to her feet, crept around the corner ahead and carefully poked her head around the massive, arching entryway that bridged the room ahead with the tunnels below.

As it turned out, none of Kaos's minions were ahead; well, unless he got a colony of sleeping Fire Imps and Lava Kings in the time since they last saw him! The entire colony piled on top of each other like plushies at a toy store, all snug tight as they snored away. More importantly, in the center of the lion's den was none other than a railroad track switch!

"There it is! The switch!" Eruptor exclaimed as he bounded ahead and got a look for himself. "Too bad those lava kings decided to take their nap here. You don't you wanna wake those guys up! They're nasty, trust me, I ran into a couple when I—"

A few of the lava kings groaned and turned in their sleep as if they were getting ready to awaken, and the lava imps that laid on their bellies rolled off and yelped! These tiny actions created an entire ripple effect that caused the entire colony to turn and toss in their sleep!

Chihiro slapped her hand against Eruptor's mouth and shushed them as all eyes turned to the sleeping colony. Those worried eyes turned to relieved ones as the whole colony just grumbled and went back to sleep!

"Phew! Close one!" Chihiro whispered as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "If we got those guys angry, it'd been a pain to fight them all off!"

They all shushed each other once more, and Sunburn flapped his wings as he teleported right over to the switch! Hot sweat trailed down his face as he grabbed the switch with his beak, carefully cracked it, and flinched as it made a soft beep! Sunburn clenched his beak tight as he looked back to the sleeping colony, but once again, they only grumbled in their sleep and turned around. So, he flicked away the sweat and teleported back to the others.

"Alright, that's been taken care of!" Chihiro chirped as she wiped her hands. "Now, let's see if it worked!"

So, they all crept back down the halls and hit the intersection between the two tracks, fully ready to get their journey back on track…

But what they didn't realize was that while they walked off, another figure walked in! Out from the shadows, a slender hand drew the string of a shining, red and purple bow with a chuckle.

"Now, ready, aim," whispered a voice not unlike Flameslinger's as the hand positioned the arrows directly towards where the lava colony slept, "fire!"

With one quick snap, the bowstring plucked and a trio of arrows soared into the lava colony's nap room and exploded! The hand drew back from the shadows as the lava imps and kings alike growled and squealed from the rude awakening, but a small chuckle lingered in the air as someone dashed away so fast that flames formed on the ground below!

Though the mysterious laughter vanished quickly, the cries of the angry, grumpy, and very tired lava colony rumbled throughout the tunnels with such intensity that the ceiling crumbled just a bit, and that included the parts where Chihiro, Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn stood! However, they didn't seem to particularly notice as they all examined the tracks below their feet.

"Yeah, I'd say that's probably lined up and ready to go!" Chihiro chirped as she stood up and nodded with her hands on her hips, "Now come on! Last one back to the train is a—" Chihiro paused as something dropped on her head "—rock?"

"A rock? You usually come up with better than that, Chi!" Sunburn teased as he flicked his tail. "Heat busted your brain?"

Another ferocious roar shook the halls, and once again, the ceiling crumbled and released showers of dust and rock cascaded down below! Everybody coughed as they fanned the clouds away and rubbed dust out of their eyes as Eruptor turned back to the side hallway and grimaced. The stark, yellow light of the side pathway turned harsh and bright amber, all while pounding footsteps sounded ahead.

"Uh, guys?" Eruptor said as he pointed towards the halls. "I think something's going on in there!"

Chihiro brushed the rocks from her head and turned around, hissed and clenched her teeth. The light from the tunnels grew bright and warmer in tune with the rising volume of stampeding noises.

"Hey, Eruptor?" Chihiro said as she bit her lip and whipped back to Eruptor. "You said it would be really, really, bad if those lava kings woke up, right?"

Eruptor paused for a moment, frowned and tightened his brows. "Why are you asking this now?"

Chihiro gulped as the side tunnel's light shifted to a bright, dangerous red and the smells of burnt, molten rock wafted out of its entrance.

"No reason!"

Well, that was a big lie, for there definitely was a reason for that to be asked! Right down the hall, that colony of lava kings and imps awakened at last, and they didn't seem very happy about it! They all wailed and stomped around like cranky toddlers as they stormed through the tunnels, all while lava spewed from their mouths and burned the ground below! The rocky floors turned molten, crystals melted into puddles of goo, but more importantly, the railroad tracks below their feet burned and withered like dead flowers!

"Crap!" Chihiro shouted as the lava colony stormed further. "If they go any further, they'll completely melt the tracks!" Chihiro turned back to Flameslinger, Sunburn and Eruptor. "We've gotta stop them!"

"Well, we can't just fight them right here!" Eruptor exclaimed. "Then the tracks really will get busted up!"

"I know!"

Chihiro signaled to Flameslinger, turned back around and fixed her eyes on the rampaging lava colony. She stomped her feet, grinned and wings formed on her heels, and dashed forward right as Flameslinger beaned the lava colony with a burst of arrows!

"Hey, you walking lava rocks!" Chihiro shouted right as the lava kings swiped the arrows away from their faces. "Bet'cha can't catch me!"

The lava kings growled, turned tail, and bounded after Chihiro as she dashed down the hallways, further and further back into where their little napping crevice was located. A quick glance back showed that Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn held up the rear as the three of them followed after, not that it mattered much; the lava colony was more focused on Chihiro than anything else!

Chihiro made a sharp turn into the crevice, whipped around and breathed heavy, body-shaking breaths as everybody else piled in. With a snap of her fingers, the crevice's entrance completely sealed up with a magic barrier—and now, the real fight could begin!

The lava kings roared and spewed out more lava imps that immediately shot towards Chihiro! Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn all rushed in front of Chihiro with full intentions to attack, but Chihiro just stepped forward and blasted the imps with a gigantic magic laser! Chihiro beamed as the imps were evaporated in the laser's light, yet screamed and jumped back as one of the Lava Kings charged right towards her!

"You might wanna cool down there, buddy!" Chihiro shouted as she summoned a magical water bucket and splashed the lava king with a magical water burst!

The lava king stumbled back and groaned as the water seeped into its cracks, and before it even knew it, its lava cooled and hardened into solid rock! That included the lava that comprised its feet and stuck it to the ground! As the lava king tried to get unstuck, Eruptor freed it with a magma blast that slammed it against the wall! Eruptor grinned as the lava king slunk down, but his eyes went wide as a bunch of lava imps latched onto his feet and started gnawing on them!

"YOWCH!" Eruptor cried as he leaped into the air! As he fell down, Eruptor ran around in circles as he tried to shake them, but it was of little use! Those imps were far too stubborn to be shaken!

So, Flameslinger drew his bow and pointed his arrows towards Eruptor.

"Hold still, Eruptor!" Flameslinger cried as he pulled back the bowstring. "I'll take care of those little pests!"

Eruptor froze in his spot, turned back to Flameslinger and screamed as he stumbled back! "WAIT, NO! DON'T POINT THAT THING AT ME!" Eruptor cried as he flailed his arms. "YOU'LL SHOOT MY EYE OUT!"

Flameslinger plucked the string, and out from his bow swept a flare of arrows that completely wiped the imps away from Eruptor's feet! Eruptor blinked, grinned and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You actually did it!"

"Was there ever any doubt?" Flameslinger asked as he slung his bow over his shoulder.

He bent down and turned towards the crowds of lava imps that ran around the floor. In one swift dash, he ran around them and summoned a circle of fire that evaporated them all with its intense fire. For that matter, he also seriously heated up the room they battled in! It felt less like a tunnel and more like an oven!

"You know," Chihiro panted as she snapped her fingers, "it’s getting hot in here." Chihiro made a weak grin as the barrier trailed down. "Why don't we get somewhere cooler?"

So, they all bolted out the way, but as they left, Chihiro turned back and narrowed her eyes. After all, that flaming pillar Flameslinger created kind of looked like it had a face in it! An angry face, one joined by the vague silhouette of a body—before out from the fire leaped a lava king! Chihiro screamed as the lava king roared and got ready to attack…

But before it could, Sunburn burst forward and tackled it backwards! The lava king was so taken aback that it took the blow head-on and crashed back on the ground!

With the lava king incapacitated, Chihiro flicked her hand and tossed a magical cloud of powder straight in its face! The lava king wailed as it stumbled back up and shook its head, lurched down and clicked its tongue. Its eyes drifted up and down as it sat down on the floor, laid down and went back to sleep!

Chihiro, Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn all shushed each other and tip-toed away from the caverns. Once they were out of range, Chihiro grinned as she leaped onto Eruptor's shoulder, wrapped her arms around Flameslinger and Sunburn's shoulders, and teleported them all away!

In a flash of surprisingly quiet blue light, they all returned back to where the train stopped! Thankfully, they arrived just in time; the train was as shiny and new as it was when they left! Geez, Diggs really worked fast.

Speaking of Diggs, he sat down next to the newly-repaired train and wiped his brow, but the moment he caught sight of them he yelped and jumped to his feet.

"Took you long enough!" Diggs cried as he stumbled up to the conductor's room's door and slammed it open. "Let's get this train rolling!"

That’s just what they did as they all hopped inside! As they took their seats in the passenger's cab, the train veered down the newly-switched tracks and chugged into the depths once more.