The Waters Start to Roar, but the Challenges Continue!

"Welcome back to the Great Azure Treasure Run! And look, the Underwood Hunters got four statues! That's 40 seconds in the Altar already! Brilliant!"

"Did you skip the entire challenge?!" 

Rin's exasperation hit a new level as large whirlpools started to roar in the waters of the Dragon's Cascade. The blackout on the bank lifted by the time they returned to the shore, each with wet statues in hand that were smooth and cool to the touch. 

These definitely had some value with how intricately they were carved.

"I saw the ending!" Rete thumbs-upped. "So how was the challenge, explorers? The boat certainly helped big time, didn't it?"

"Sure did!" Max cheered, once again with no further questions.

Rin had to admit she felt a little thrill when they fished out the final chest in the last few seconds and rowed back to shore as the whirlpools began to take form.

It was a miracle they were even able to get all eight chests, despite magnets constantly latching onto her head as she reeled back, or Max paddling in the wrong direction several times. The chests didn't sink the boat but were by no means light. Still, Mikhail was able to pull one after the next out of the water like a skilled warehouse worker,

Did Rete not see any of that?! Isn't that the part her hypothetical audience would want to see the most?

"Not to worry, I wasn't taking a break!" Rete pulled out a map out of nowhere, decorated with the same loud red font and bombastic sparkles as the poster outside the cave.

"I was replanning our route! Since we have one person who can't swim, that does mean we can't go for many challenges that'd leave everyone getting wet."

"Did many of them involve the reservoir?" Asked Mikhail.

"Correct! The Azure Dragon loves the water after all. But not to worry! There's still plenty of dry locations, and the Altar itself won't have many issues with getting wet!"

"Can't we bring that boat with us?" Rin pointed to the canoe that was still in perfect condition.

"Aha, no can do! It's a bit too big to drag with us now, is it?" She claimed, in spite of magically producing that canoe out of nowhere. "Not to worry! There may be fewer challenges left than planned, but still plenty of opportunity to get statues for the Altar! And I have just the place in mind!"

She began to dart towards the path leading back up the path they came from, slow enough so the three had time to put away the cobalt statues in their backpacks first.

"This way, everyone! To the Lapis Fields!"

---

Flowers.

It was all Rin could focus on as they made their way to the upper levels of the Azure Cavern, a secluded green meadow sustained entirely by the illuminated cavern walls rather than sunlight.

One giant tree stood at the center, next to a small clear pond, but she couldn't focus on it when she was surrounded by a dense medley of flowers in varying shades of blue. They were everywhere.

They weren't purple, pink or white, but it didn't help much with the old, unwanted memories in her stomach.

"What do you think, Shiya-chan?"

And the voices of the past she didn't want to acknowledge.

"Are you okay, Rin?" Asked Mikhail as they made their way to the base of the tree.

"I'm... Fine." She trembled, focusing her attention on Rete and blocking out her surroundings, and whether the flowers were being unavoidably trampled in the process.

"If there's something wrong with this place, we could probably get Rete to change things again."

"It's fine. We already have fewer places to work with for statues," She gritted her teeth. "Drop it." She curtly added when Mikhail looked like he was about to suggest something else.

"Oh dear, is the pollen getting to you?" Mused Rete. "It is the most beautiful, and concentrated green area in the Azure Caverns after all. But not to worry, we got nasal inhalers to curb those allergies!"

"Maybe you should really take off that helmet?" Max insisted yet again. "If you can't breathe, you should just take it—"

"NO! I said I'm FINE!" Rin yelled more pointedly, both of them stumbling back as she did. 

"Just, just tell us what to do." She tried to say softly, noticing a prick in Max's eye as he huddled by Mikhail. She silently cursed the newfound lack of control over herself.

"Uh... If you say so," Rete awkwardly turned attention to the tree. "So the challenge..." She cleared her throat before reinstating her high-spirited fervor.

"Will be a very simple activity! Everyone's favorite pastime activity, and the best way to get a shut-in out of the cottage! Tree-climbing!"

Rete paused to look at the group, particularly at Rin, who kept her arms silently crossed, before continuing.

"What you need to do here is scale the tree, collecting the Cobalt Statues decorating the ends of the branches! Either with your bare hands, or what really makes it fun..."

She pulled out three sets of ropes with a metal prong on the end. "Grappling hooks! Just lob it at the trunk, let it snag, give it a quick tug, and then pull yourself up!" She demonstrated with a single throw, before gently offering it to Rin with a smile. "Here, you take this one."

Rin wordlessly took the hook with a nod, before scaling the trunk of the tree. Max and Mikhail followed suit as they each received their own grappling hook.

"Don't worry about falling, I've padded the ground so it'll be a soft landing!" Rete called out from below. "But I say we have about two minutes before the Azure Dragon realizes his precious decorations are being messed with, and we need to leave immediately. Off you go!"

They each claimed one side of the tree to climb, each in charge of collecting the Cobalt Statues dangling in their third. Rin's side had four to collect.

"Ooh! So close! That's fine, you still got it!" She heard Rete commentate as she heard a few soft thuds from behind, probably Max.

Rin was able to scoot across the naked branches, anchoring herself with the grappling hook to keep her balance as she took the first two cobalt statues by the string holding them up, letting them fall to the ground to collect later.

"Excellent!" Rete cheered. "One minute left!"

The third and fourth statues were just in reach. But as Rin ventured further out to the end of the branches, she was once again struck with the vibrant, flower-filled scenery of the Lapis Fields.

An uncanny view of the flowerbed, looking all too familiar from her particular viewpoint. There was no place to turn her head where she couldn't see them.

"Good job for telling us about this freak's flowers, Rin!" 

A cruel boy's voice from the past suddenly taunted, not Max or Mikhail's.

Rin violently shook her head, almost dislodging her helmet. She didn't need to see it; she didn't want to see it. But the memories forcibly filled her vision, freezing her in place as her heart raced and her breath became short.

"Shiya-chan...? Why...?"

The memory of a pained girl's voice cried out, surrounded by classmates sneering at their target. She was no longer up in the trees collecting statues, but back in Japan, standing with the group, being patted on the back for a job well done.

"Weren't you my... friend...?"

Rin looked away as she questioned pitifully, bloody and bruised, her little space to escape from those kids at school violated.

The place she told only her about.

But Rin was forced to see it all unfold once again, just as the kids forced her to watch as they smashed her little bed of flowers to pieces with their bats, and savor her complete devastation.

Devastation, which quickly gave way as something within her snapped and turned the relish into terror.

A rage that was then directed at her for her part in all this. A cry and pain permanently etched into her.

"YOU LIAR!"

---

"...in! Rin!"

Rin woke up to the sound of her name.

"What?!" She jerked her head around frantically, before calming down. She was no longer at that red-stained park, but at the base of the tree she had just climbed in the Lapis Field. Her body felt sore, but at least she was able to feel them.

"Goodness, you're awake!" Rete was next to her, along with an open case of various bandages and bottles. "You almost had a nasty fall there. All the soft padding wouldn't do much against a head-first collision."

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay..." Rin weakly replied as she felt a soothing burn of ointment cottoned across her face.

...Her face?

"My helmet! My helmet!" She quickly got up, frantically covering her face with her hands as overwhelming dread consumed her.

That Japanese girl underneath with short black hair, that used to love pigtails, was now fully exposed.

"Hey, hey! It's okay! Here." Rete quickly handed her back her knight's helmet. Rin almost pinched her fingers clasping it back on. "I had to make sure there weren't any bruises."

"Where is everybody?" Rin shakily asked, still not fully calm.

"They're waiting outside the field. I figured you needed a moment to yourself." Rete paused. "You don't need to be ashamed, you know? You have a lovely face."

"No, this face isn't lovely! It's..." 

She looked down at the pond, gazing at her helmeted reflection before sighing.

"It's a monster."

Her confession sat between them for a while, no words being exchanged. Until...

"Would you like to tell me what's bothering you?" Rete just asked, as gently as she could.

"I..." Rin hesitated, but the words just spilled out.

"...There was a girl, our age, a long time ago. She loved flowers, like this field. But she was also... different. And nobody liked her."

"Different? In what way?"

"Stuff that didn't matter to anyone but stupid kids!" She snapped again before steadying her breath. "And those stupid kids wanted me to be her friend, and I did. I got close enough that she showed me her special spot at the nearby park where she grew flowers. And she was really weird about it, really obsessive about something with me and those flowers."

"So I told those kids about her spot, and..." Rin choked as she shed tears that she didn't deserve. "They took it too far. She got pushed too far. Nobody came out fine...

"And it was all my fault.

"I spent all my life paying for what I did. Twelve years of not being able to walk. I wanted to apologize and make up for everything, but I wasn't able to ever find her.

"And then I ended up here. Back to being that stupid kid. That evil, senseless little monster who caused so much pain. And for WHAT?!"

Rin punched the ground as hard as she could, unable to stop her tears. It didn't matter if it didn't make sense that she was talking about a story from a decade ago while only being 10 years old.

Rete simply sat next to her, patting her on the shoulder, before speaking.

"...You know, I was like that too, a long, long time ago."

Rin turned to the dark elemental. "You were?"

"Yeah. My friends and I, people didn't like us either. And when two of them did something exceptionally dumb, people REALLY wanted us dead.

"But a nice lady found us. She was supposed to give us what we deserved, but she just saw us as stupid kids who didn't know any better, instead of irredeemable monsters."

Rete flashed a soft smile that quickly faded.

"And then... something bad happened to her, for no good reason. I did my best to move past it, but... I guess you could say there's still a part of me trapped in the past."

She took out a copy of the poster from outside, her fingers hovering over the bold red letters "Real FUN!"

"She told me she loved my performances, encouraged me to keep things fun and free of the ugly things. Probably not doing a good job at that right now, though." She gave a small chuckle before standing up and reaching her hand out.

"Guess what I'm saying is, if we were allowed another chance, can't you have one too?"

Rin looked up at her before taking her hand and pulling herself up.

"...Thanks."

The feeling in her chest wasn't gone, but it helped a little.

"Maybe that could be the real treasure of today!" Rete made a finger gun and rested her chin on her hand, back to her usual enthusiasm.

"I'm taking these statues then." Rin jokingly flashed the two she collected from the challenge.

"Kidding, of course! Can't have a real adventure without real treasure! Now let's go join everyone else!"