The daily wonderful experience of the Vast Expanse continued to dominate the ship's deck. They were all acting strangely, with Tim and Elliott running behind each other's backs because he had stolen an important paper that Elliott needed.
"Hey, hand over that paper to me! It's important! What if it was intended for Ayuka?" Elliott tried to snare paper as they ran around the ship from the rudder to the pole, but Tim always managed to dodge it. He chuckled and then opened his mouth to reveal his tongue, which irritated Elliott enough that he lunged at Tim's body as the two of them tumbled around on the deck together.
Codey, on the other hand, proceeded to browse through the books in the ship's library cabinet. The yellings from Tim and Elliott's mouths continued to drift around, causing Codey to become increasingly irritated. Meanwhile, Ayuka was conversing with Karisa, the group's newest member.
"I overheard Elder Rai remark that you used to sketch your fantasy maps as a kid. Is it possible for you to show me some if you have any? I'm curious to see how good they are!"
"Huh? Oh, the map illustrations? Sure, I can show you, but I'm not sure you'll be impressed. Some of them are from my childhood and so aren't as nice as the ones I've drawn recently."
"It makes no difference! I'm not disturbed about it because we all had horrible arts when we were young! Besides, I enjoy seeing someone's most prized possessions or historical artifacts!"
"If you insist," Karisa grabbed her luggage and slung it against the ship's deck. "I'm sure they're in here somewhere..." It wasn't long before a gust of wind rushed through, and Karisa smiled as she lifted her bag above her head. It blew it away, and she felt terrified right away. "No, that's the first one I've ever done!"
Tim spotted it as the two boys continued to tumble around on the floor. "I got it!" Tim sprang up to the fence and leapt over after kicking Elliott back.
His body flew through the air, but just as he grabbed for the drawing and was about to catch it, a stronger wind blew, propelling the paper further. His eyes quickly got squiggly, and he fell into the sea at the same time. Others noticed a large splash when they peeked over the ship's fence at him.
"Are you okay?" It wasn't long until Codey rose to his feet and began manipulating the wind. He took the paper back into his hand, grabbed it, and examined it. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Thank you so much, Codey!" Karisa chuckled as she observed Codey descending the stairs and returning the paper.
"You drew it, right? It's fantastic for your first drawing!"
"Do you agree? How thoughtful of you. But, in the end, it was only a sketch of a hypothetical island, so it's not exactly realistic." She felt embarrassed to accept the compliment and rubbed the back of her head.
"In art, realism isn't all that important. The drawing is intriguing and great because of the artist's originality. So it's almost unbelievable that you have such a vivid imagination. The image is just breathtaking. I'm amazed you almost gave up on your ambition to sketch an island and a map of it."
Ayuka noticed bubbles in the water as she leaned over the fence. She was concerned about something. "Can you hear me? Tim?" There was no response, only bubbles. "Why isn't he coming back up?"
Everyone waited in silence for Tim's body to float back up, but even waiting for a few seconds proved futile. He did not act as if he was going to get back up.
"There's something wrong..." Ayuka removed her top into her bra and leaped over the ship's fence without hesitation. "Hey, Ayuka, this isn't the time to be bathing!" Codey screamed, concerned and terrified. "Tim hasn't even begun to swim up the surface! Something isn't right. I'm aware of that."
Elliott's nose bled and a pink heart formed in his eyes. "When you're in your bra, you're so hot! Can you stay like this for the rest of our course?" The love he felt deep within his body was beating outward in his heart.
She dove into the water like a dolphin and sank gently to the bottom. She searched the ocean for Tim's body and came into view of his body, which was fully comatose. He couldn't swim for some reason, despite the fact that he was always successful.
("Is he sinking? He had no wounds that would have prevented him from swimming. So, what's the deal with him being unconscious?") She started swimming full speed down the ocean to avoid putting his life in danger any longer, but she was intercepted by a big underwater beast before she could reach him. It had the appearance of a shark, yet its design was more like to that of a snail.
Its unexpected arrival made her nervous, shook her eyes, and primed her for a fight.
The beast swam straight at her at full speed. To dodge its weird mouth, she hurriedly swam to the side and stretched her arm outward. However, the shark had already retraced its steps and had Ayuka in its mouth before she could summon her blade. In that split second, she was able to summon her sword by forcing it into the jaw and holding it open while stretching its jaw with her foot.
The shark was aggressive, attempting to bite through her body and even swimming at a high enough speed to push water pressure behind her back, causing her air capacity inside her body to be screwed up.
("What is this abomination? It's abrasive as hell, and its jaw stinks to high heaven! I won't be able to accomplish anything underwater, but I must save Tim!") She felt her body's power ebb away, but she held on tight and continued to hold its jaw open. She was being dragged around like a vortex underwater, unable to accomplish much. She fought hard, but her strength couldn't defeat the shark's jaw, no matter how hard she tried. ("As if I didn't already have enough experience with jaws! Now I'm supposed to cope with yet another?")
The shark was losing focus due to her constant rubbing of her blade against the top of its jawline, so it continued to try to crush her in its jaw. She, on the other hand, grabbed the sword with both hands and sliced over. The blood was able to freely mix with the water. The shark's agonizing roar echoed over the ocean, nearly damaging Ayuka's ears, but the anguish was enough to convince her to let go. She slashed its stomach with another slice and killed it in a flash.
After defeating the shark, she realized there was a larger risk of Tim's life being taken away, so she swam through the sea to Tim's sunken body, which had been lying at the bottom of the ocean. Without wasting any more time underneath, she grabbed Tim's sinking body and swam up to the surface, a serious expression on her face.
On the ship, everything seemed unusual and strange. Elliott stroked Ayuka's shirt against his cheek as he continued to hug him. "Her dress is really nice and warm! I'm hoping I'll be able to keep it!"
"So, what exactly happened down there? Neither of them had made it back to the surface yet?"
Codey sensed something was wrong because of the visible stress on his face, but by the time he tried to follow them, Ayuka had already swum to the surface with Tim's unconscious body.
She grasped up the ladder and hurriedly ascended it. "What happened to him?"
"I'm not sure. He was unable to swim, based on what I saw."
"How? I'm not sure what you're talking about. How could someone forget how to swim in such a short period of time?"
Everyone raced over to see how Tim was doing, and it wasn't long before he puked up all the water in his mouth. "Is it possible for you to hear me, Tim? What went wrong? What caused you to sink?" He stared at them lifelessly for a moment before leaping to his feet.
"Thank you very much, people! I was sure I was doomed!" Despite everything that had happened, he wore a broad smile and feigned embarrassment. "This isn't amusing! What caused this to occur to you?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest. I couldn't swim as soon as I fell into the water. I gave it my all, yet I floated around like a land fish." When Codey heard those words, he immediately remembered what had transpired on Pelwick Island.
~"Your friends. One of them is on the verge of drowning. He's been giving it his all under water, and if he will not get any air, he'll drown. It's not like it matters... Even if he manages to get away, he will be cursed. You never know, it may be a pretty bad curse."~
"Could that be the curse you received after being dragged to the bottom of the lake? Perhaps you've lost your ability to swim in any form of water, and no matter how hard you try, your body won't let you."
"Unable to swim? Are you crazy?! How am I going to get to the pool now?!"
"You're actually concerned about that?! To be honest, you're way too stupid to give a damn about anything!"
"But I adore swimming pools! I enjoy the sea, but I won't be able to go scuba diving any longer!"
"Man, I'm serious! Is it possible to be any more negligent?!"
"Being unable to swim is a logical curse given that this dimension is almost entirely made up of water. This may be a problem, so let's hope we don't run into any underwater foes."
"It's not as if it matters! My fire is worthless underwater, so I'm still useful even if I can't swim!"
"You fool!" Because of Ayuka's wrath, she smacked the top of Tim's head and pinned him to the ground, and an island appeared in front of their eyes. "Guys, take a look! It's an island!"
To be continued...