One-shot: The First Step

Light refracted through the translucent crystals on the walls and ceilings of the cave, casting an eerie glow on the cave floor. Topaz held her light in front of her as she carefully, though adroitly, walked through the cave. Though she was a cat, it didn't mean her night vision was perfect, especially in a cave as dark as this. Sometimes she needed a little artificial light.
"Topaz, are you still behind me?" A voice called out from ahead.
"Yes, Larissa, I'm still here," Topaz replied.
"That's good. Now is not the time to get separated. This cave network is so complex, we'd probably never find each other again." Her mentor, Larissa, held up her flashlight, illuminating a short distance in front of her.
Privately, Topaz thought separation could do her some good. Larissa was obnoxiously watchful of her. Though Topaz somewhat disliked her mentor, she resented that they never did what she wanted. Topaz wasn't just interested in treasure and gems; she liked artifacts of power, relics that held great magical or elemental properties.
Unfortunately, they rarely went after things like that. Mostly they did routine archeological work and occasional gem hunting. This was one of the rare exceptions. Larissa had heard a legend about a weapon that was hidden somewhere deep in the cave network. Topaz knew Larissa didn't have a use for it; she would want to sell it. Why did her mentor only see the material and historical value of things?
Eventually, Larissa stopped at a dead end of the cave. She turned excitedly to Topaz.
"I've followed the clues in the legend; this is it!"
"Great!" Topaz forced enthusiasm into her response. She truly was excited to look for the weapon, but it was hard to be enthusiastic when her mentor wanted to sell it.
Larissa approached the wall and examined it. Moments later, a section of the wall shattered as she punched it with her white paw.
"Just as I thought," Larissa remarked. "This part of the cave wall is unnaturally thin. There must be a passage on the other side. Topaz, help me break through."
Topaz walked up to the wall and aimed a kick at it. The wall crumbled where Topaz's boot impacted it, revealing a dark space behind it. It seemed like her mentor only wanted her to do the less adventurous parts of treasure hunting. Topaz knew she still had a year to go in her archeological training, but sometimes it felt as if her whole life consisted of tagging along with her mentor.
Once the two had cleared away a suitable gap, Larissa climbed through, gesturing for Topaz to follow. As Topaz climbed through the gap, she heard her mentor remark, "That's a funny thing to say,"

"What is?" Topaz walked up to her mentor to see what she was looking at. Carved into the stone in front of them in the ancient language was a sentence or two. As Topaz translated it in her mind, her mentor stated the words aloud.
"Four becomes two, and two becomes one." Topaz could hear the mystification in her mentor's voice as she read the inscribed words. As soon as she finished, she turned back to Topaz. "Let's go."
Topaz, walking behind her mentor, rolled her eyes. Why did her mentor never take things like that seriously?
Larissa stopped as they approached a series of tunnels. One turned sharply to the left, two went straight ahead, and another curled off to the right. She examined the map for a moment and padded down the tunnel on the far right, beckoning for Topaz to follow her.

Topaz had no clue how much time had passed when she and Larissa reached a smaller cavern surrounded by golden crystals. As they came out of the second set of tunnels, Larissa pointed out the cavern. "The scythes must be in there!"

Thank you, Captain Obvious, Topaz suppressed a groan. Larissa always had to point out everything and anything that was clearly important. Topaz followed her mentor in without hesitation.

The cave opened up into a high-ceiling chamber, covered in more of the golden crystals. Larissa put her arm in front of Topaz, and silently gestured to a long crack running through the floor. Topaz's gaze traced the crack up the ceiling of the cave to a golden light encased in ornate stone. Farther into the chamber was another identical golden light.

"I think that light corresponds to this one. We can't pass by that light. I think it will send some sort of signal to cause the cave to collapse." She spoke softly, as if her words alone would detonate the signal. "You wait here; I'll go ahead and grab the scythes."

Larissa darted ahead and threw up a grappling hook. After a couple attempts, the grappling hook safely wedged into a crack in the cave wall. She jerked the cord, securing the grapple, and climbed up the cord. She began to swing, waiting until she gained enough momentum to gain the distance she wanted.

This is taking forever! Topaz's paws burned with impatience. I bet I could get over quicker than that! Topaz heard a thud, as her mentor landed after her jump. She wasn't looking in Topaz's direction. Topaz approached the wall and threw up her own grappling hook. After it stuck into the wall, Topaz began to climb up. As Topaz put her weight on the rope, it bobbed. The tabby did her best to ignore it; she was almost at the right height to jump. As she bunched up to leap, the grapple fell out of the cave wall. Topaz let out a yowl as the ground approached, and she slammed into it, sending up a faint cloud of dust. The fall wasn't high enough to injure her, but it was still jarring.

"Topaz?" Larissa turned around, agitation flaring in her light brown eyes. She had removed one of the scythes, and was beginning to break the seal that held the other. When she saw Topaz had landed in the path of the light, a surge of panic passed through her. "I thought I told you to stay put!"

"I'm fine!" Topaz stood up, shaking the dust off her burgundy braid. "What…?" she retorted, seeing the look in her mentor's eyes. She looked at the light, noticing the beam that shot from it to the light on the wall. She nearly fell over again as a vibration shook the floor. "Oh, splat!"

Topaz quickly leapt back as the floor split, forming a deep chasm between her and her mentor. She staggered backwards as the edge of the chasm crumbled beneath her boots. Without even looking, Topaz raced out of the way as the chasm widened, swallowing up most of the cave floor. She turned back, anxious to see if Larissa had the scythe.

Larissa was racing across the remains of the cave floor, the scythe clasped firmly in her paw as she ran. She adroitly dodged and slashed at the debris that rained down from the cave roof. With her free paw, she pulled out her grappling hook and whirled it, still dodging the debris. She threw it, and it clunked off the wall. Her second throw was more precise; the grapple gently slipped into a notch in the wall.

There wasn't time to test if the connection was secure; if Larissa hesitated, she would be buried in debris. She tensed her legs and leaped, using her momentum to swing on the rope. At the apex of her swing, the grapple slid out of the wall.

Larissa let out a screech of panic as she plummeted down towards the abyss. She twisted in midair, barely placing her paws on the edge of the cave floor. The ground cracked beneath the impact of her landing, and the marten managed to hold on with one paw as the ground beneath her disappeared. In her other paw, she gripped the scythe.
Topaz was frozen in her thoughts as she tried to think about what to do to help her mentor. However, these thoughts kept getting shoved away as other ideas entered her mind.
A new idea appeared, just for a split second. A sneer spread across Topaz's golden muzzle as she thought about this idea, then it flickered away just as fast as it had come. That was horrible! She couldn't do that!
"Topaz, help!"
Her mentor's cry for help jolted Topaz into action. As she ran over to Larissa, the idea returned, nagging, pulling at her brain. She tried half-heartedly to push it away as she grabbed her mentor's paw and began to pull her up.
"Thanks, Topaz!" Larissa's boots scrabbled against the narrow chasm edge as Topaz hauled her up. "This might be dangerous work, but the payoff will be great! Just think about the price this scythe will fetch!"

Topaz flinched as a surge of anger flowed through her.
"Yeah," Topaz replied emotionlessly. She pulled Larissa up over the last bit of the chasm edge.  In one swift move, Topaz knocked into her, and wrenched the scythe from her mentor's grasp. With an echoing scream, Larissa tumbled into the chasm, quickly vanishing into the blackness.

Many different emotions were coursing through Topaz's mind, but she didn't have the time to contemplate them. The cave was collapsing, and she had the scythe. Topaz bolted for the cave entrance as the edge she was standing on crumbled seconds after.