The Vast Expanse's waters were illuminated by the blue moon. Tim and his friends boarded their ship with a new crew member, Kou, who became the ship's assistant. His dream of finally setting sail and sailing across the seas had finally come true, and he had been leaning over the ship for a while, enjoying the sights of the starry blue sky and sparkling sea with a nice breeze rushing past his face.
"I've wanted this to come true for so many years and it happened sooner than I anticipated. The fresh wind, the sea animals and the sight of the moon never disappearing from the view is one of the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm still astonished to think that you accepted me onto the ship."
With the whistling of the wind continuously sounding around the ocean and detectable by the people on board, Ayuka was leaned on the ship's fence with her elbow and had her chin pressed against her upturned palm. She stood right besides Kou and with a solemn voice confirmed the wonderful words that Kou had shared.
"Mhm, you're perfectly correct. Before I boarded this ship I felt so strange to be constantly sailing under the opened sky, but now that we've been doing so for a while, it's one of the best things that I could experience..."
Kou and Ayuka gazed up at the starry sky and blushed in the cheeks with relief. They smiled only for their fresh moment to be ruined by a loud thumping noise that swiftly reached their ears. They turned to look and see Elliott and Tim piled on top of each other, biting into the pieces of meat. They slowly looked up to the height of Ayuka and Kou and continued to argue.
"You stole that piece of meat from my plate! Give it back to me, I've been hungry ever since earlier!"
Elliott pulled Tim's cheeks who had his mouth stuffed with meat and never let go of it. They continued to tease each other and even continued to hurl complaints at one another.
"I had to battle that sand dude! I should be eating more after such a tough fight! I had to fight a "Sea Noble" while you just fought some lowlife subordinates! Leave it for me, this meat is tasty!"
They continued to roll and tease one another and irritated Ayuka whose vein began shaking next to her forehead. She yelled out loudly and immediately drove the attention toward her of the two boys who became immobile on the floor, frightened a bit. They were in a strange position, and soon heard Ayuka's gentle voice rise in loudness.
"You two are such babies for when it comes to food! Can't you share the meat just for once in your life?!"
Both of them slowly shook their head and hoped that nothing would've happened, but instead *whack* a loud noise reverberated through the air and heard by everybody on the ship. They ignored it and continued to work on their own hobbies. Karisa continued to sketch the drawing of the Golden Wasakona so that she would put it next to the Grim Isle's map which she had under her map collection. Codey continued to eat the food that Ayuka had cooked outside on the forecastle deck. Ellie continued to rest on the side of the ship's fence and nearly dozed off. Natan had been cleaning the poop deck and Tomomi continued to sleep in the bed in their bedroom to save her energy.
Everything seemed to be normal until the sky above the ship started to act weird. It started to open some sort of a hole very slowly that pulsed out some gentler waves and quickly gathered everyone's attention. Codey pointed it at it from the forecastle deck and called out.
"Guys, look! I think that's the "Multi-Reality Gate" that is opening. It should be opened in the next hour or two, so make sure to drop the anchor so that we don't sail too far from underneath it. When it's opened, Ellie will finally be able to return to his own dimension. Hey, Natan, do you think you could cook us up some sort of a melody? We're preparing for the meal, so come on up to the deck and let's eat together while Ellie's still here."
Natan leaned the broom onto the the side and grabbed his violin case. He start moving up the stairs while quickly agreeing to prepare some melody for everybody.
He came to the top of the deck in the next few seconds as everyone already prepared for the final meal together with Ellie.
They soon began with everyone being quite happy. They were talking to one another, sharing food, drinking variety of drinks and listened to Natan's lovely music he had prepared for them. The stars and the moon shone over their ship and made it look like a variety of colorful fireworks exploding within mid air. The sea animal swam around their ship with some larger dolphins swimming in front of them.
They were happy, and they were laughing.
Karisa picked up the meat on the bone and slowly pushed it toward Tim's mouth who continued to talk to Kou. He didn't act for a few seconds until he suddenly opened his mouth wide and fully ate the mean on the bone in one go. Karisa silently chuckled and smiled next to him as Natan continued to slide the violin bow over the strings.
They partied on for a while longer for the time to quickly pass and for the gate to fully open. It started to release gentle currents of electricity that were caused by the pressure and was soon told about by Elliott.
"Looks like the gate is finally opened fully!"
Codey nodded and noticed Ellie stand up next to him with a smile on his face. He picked up the final piece of meat that he had and bit into it and stretched as he stepped toward the forecastle's deck. They looked at Ellie with a friendly and solemn smile and were happy to have been accompanied by him throughout the Golden Wasakona.
"Well, looks like this is where our companionship ends. I really enjoyed sailing with you through this wonderful journey across the desert, but it's time we say goodbyes! Thank you again for helping me back then, I owe you one!"
"Of course! Come back once you figure a better way to transport between the universes! You've helped us out a lot and it only makes sense for you to return home safely! Make sure to greet your friends once you return!"
"You got it! Good luck on helping Tomomi. She's got a time limit, but that doesn't bother me. I'm sure you'll make it there without problem and get that one cure to stop her illness! Karisa, I hope you'll continue drawing the maps and share them with me once I return! Maybe next them when I come on your ship I might bring some friends or I might even meet some new crew members!"
"Yeah! Same goes for you!"
Codey smiled and shook hands with Ellie, who hopped on top of the ship's fence and surrounded his body with electricity to spring in the air with great speed and accuracy.
"Thanks! Good luck with your training, Elliott. I'm sure you'll become stronger the next time we meet. Anyway, I better get going before I run out of time and I have to continue wasting the space on your ship! Farewell my friends!"
Ellie hurriedly launched in the air as everybody greeted him farewell. They waved and noticed him close in on the gate which was slowly closing. He gave one last look behind with his arm raised up above his head and quickly called one last thing.
"Make sure to say hello to Imiko! You'll learn soon enough what I mean by that!"
Those were the final words that Ellie spoke, and from confusion they noticed Ellie's body enter the large gate that closed upon the moment he transported through it. The silence was the last thing that continued to be alive, but in matter of seconds everybody stayed on the ship with many new information regarding their journey.
"Looks like we're alone for now. Should we get some sleep then? I think we shouldn't be tired for what comes next."
Questioned Ayuka where everybody agreed with her.
"Yeah, I think some rest could be quite useful for tomorrow. Let's just hope that we'll be able to save Tomomi before her time limit. You never know what might cause us trouble or for when it would appear."
Explained Codey and grabbed the final piece of meat where Tim and Elliott instantly jumped into him for taking the final piece.
"That's mine!"
"No, it's mine!"
"You fools! Get off me! I took it first! I'm not some person to ride like a horse! Get off!"
They laughed at them, as the people who remained on the ship were only seven; Tim, Ayuka, Codey, Elliott, Kou, Natan and Karisa.
The journey continues...