Treasure Chest

On the surface, Kaida set the chest safely on Yami's floating body as she tried to wake him. In the water below, Dallas put up a good fight against the wild nokk and Quinn was heading to join him in the brawl. The mermaid swam back over and Des went to challenge her. "How do you feel tangling with me?" She asked.

The mermaid looked Des up and down. "Fine, I doubt you'll be much of a challenge."

"Excuse me?" Des sassed.

"I speak the truth," the mermaid shrugged. "You selkie's don't have many abilities aside from shapeshifting. While us mermaids can use spells." The mermaid swirled her hands together to create a ball of water. "Here is a little example of what a mermaid can do!" She hollered as she threw the water ball at Des.

Des took the hit head on and flew back a few feet. After clearing her head she said, "I'm not impressed. Was that all you've got?"

"Cocky little-" The mermaid gnashed her teeth. "Try this on for size." The mermaid created more of the spheres of water and rapidly threw them at Des. It took all of Des's speed and concentration to avoid being hit by them. "Why are you helping them? You're just a wild selkie with no human to protect."

"Because Jun is my friend," Des replied as she swam around a giant water ball.

"You're really butting into this competition for that?" The balls of water grew as the mermaid grew more infuriated. "My human is as noble as they come. Once this competition is over, he wishes to return to France and create a sanctuary for all the wild creatures living in the Mediterranean Sea." She ceased firing. "Why don't you help us instead? We can even take you back to France with us."

Des didn't take long to respond. "Sorry but my human always taught me to protect my friends and that is what I intend to do!"

"Your human is gone!" The mermaid shouted. "Come with us."

Des clenched her fists. "No."

"I see." The mermaid began making one final ball of water that was larger than all the others. "In that case, you can stay here and sleep with the fishes!"

"My human might be gone, but her teachings still live on in me. Her memory gives me more than enough strength to defeat you!" With a swish of her tail, Des propelled the ball of water back at the mermaid. Des watched as the mermaid flew out of the water and then crashed down into an old building on the sea floor. The boy watching the fight swam down to retrieve his creature before heading for shore.

Des swam up to check on Yami. Kaida turned to her and asked, "Are you finished already? I saw the mermaid get some serious air time."

"She's defeated but her human has probably gone to get reinforcements. We need Yami to wake before anyone else comes."

Kaida pushed against Yami's head. "I've been trying but he's out cold."

"Keep trying, Kaida," Des encouraged.

Although the battle with the mermaid ended swiftly and with little damage, the fight with the nokk wasn't fairing as well. Dallas was exhausted and his body was covered in scrapes from being flung into building after building. Quinn didn't look much better either. Jun observed carefully, trying to come up with some sort of plan. Not only did the nokk's body make it nearly impossible to harm it, but it also had a range of well balanced skills. It was too strong for Dallas, but too fast for Quinn.

The nokk created another whirlpool in the water and sucked Dallas and Quinn right in. Jun's eyes widened. The whirlpool had given him an idea. Jun took Amelia's hand and brought her up to the surface where the two could talk. "I have an idea on how to beat this thing," he said.

"It better work," Amelia stated. "It don't look like Quinn and Dallas have much left."

"If we can have the two of them work together to create a giant whirlpool, it should be strong enough to take that water horse down once and for all."

"But Jun," Amelia said. "In order to do that Dallas and Quinn would have to synchronize their swimming. And if this doesn't work then it could cause more damage to them. Do you really think they can do it after just meeting a few minutes ago?"

"I don't see how we have a choice."

Amelia sighed. "You're right. I'm not getting any better ideas. Let's give it a whirl."

"Pool?"

"Very funny."

The two teens swam back under the water and used hand signals to direct their creatures on the plan of action. Dallas took the lead and began to swim in a big circle around the nokk, creating a small whirlpool. That whirlpool increased in size as Quinn joined in. The whirlpool grew and grew, sucking the nokk into the center, unable to escape. After a few whirls, the whirlpool began rising to the surface uncontrolled. Jun's heart raced when he looked up and saw it was headed straight to where Yami was.

Kaida and Des felt the water around them becoming rough. Des held onto kaida to keep her afloat in the water. "What is happening?" Kaida hollered. The whirlpool came up out of the water and formed into a small hurricane, taking Yami, Des, and Kaida along with the dizzy nokk. Jun and Amelia surfaced on their mythical creatures.

"We have to do something!" Amelia yelled over the wind.

"Like what?" Jun questioned.

The hurricane eventually faded and everyone was free falling back into the water. Dallas and Quinn both charged forward, hoping to catch their friends. "We're not gonna make it!" Amelia stated.

Kaida was nauseous from all the spinning around in the air. Despite that, she grabbed Des and held onto her to protect her from the fall. "If you can hear me, I need you to wake up. Yami!" At the sound of Kaida's plea, Yami's eyes burst open and he spread his wings with a loud roar. With a flap of his wings, Yami flew down and caught the two girls mid air. Jun and Amelia cheered as their friends flew above.

"Hey Kaida!" Jun called out. "Head back to land with the chest! We'll meet you there!"

"Got it!" She turned to Des before having Yami take off. "Do you want to come with?"

"Nah," Des replied. "This is my home, so I'll stay here."

"I understand. Thank you for all your help."

Des bowed then dove off of Yami's back into the water next to Jun. She surfaced then asked, "Will you come back to play with me?"

Jun smiled at the selkie. "I promised you didn't I? I'll bring the rest of my teammates with me next time so you'll have tons of friends."

"Yeah," Amelia joined. "And stop by Australia if you ever get a chance."

"I certainly will." Des waved on as her friends swam back towards the beach. "Bye bye!"

Kaida held the chest tightly to her body. "This is it Yami. Once we get this treasure on land and open it, we'll have won the competition. I wonder, what could be inside?"