Storm

Chapter 8

"You tried to steal the Crystal Heart. Why?" She asked.

"We believe that it can freeze time. Long enough for us to defeat Minus."She looked down towards me with a sympathetic look as I gave her a look of desperation.

"What is the matter with your friend? You are allowed to get up now." She said. They both turned around to look at me with confusion. Sharkboy lifted up his hand slightly, gesturing for me to stand up, but when I did I immediately fell back to the floor. Before I could hit the floor, I saw that Sharkboy had caught me with his protective arms around my waist.

"Princess. I know that we must be destined enemies, but please. I don't have that much time. If we lose this planet... I go with it. So, please. We're desperate. We don't have that much time before the darkness has spread across our lovely planet. So I ask you as a leader, as a princess, and as an acquaintance to please let us use your Crystal Heart." I begged.

"My Crystal Heart cannot help you. Only I have the power to use it." She responded.

"Then come with us!" Max exclaimed.

"She can never leave this castle! The crystal is the only thing that protects our kingdom." Her father boomed.

"Please, princess. We're running out of time." I begged once again.

"Perhaps I could give it to you." She reasoned.

"Not without my blessing." Her father said.

"Father, you're smothering me again. But are you worthy to wield it?" She asked as she turned towards Max.

"Yes." He responded.

"The Crystal Heart you stole was a decoy. The true Crystal Heart is somewhere in this room. Choose the correct one, and you may carry it before you."

"Choose that one." Sharkboy said as he pointed to the one closest to him, while holding me by his side. I saw Max turn back towards the Princess as if he had already made his decision.

"It's around your neck." Well done, Max. I thought with a smile on my face. Sharkboy seemed to notice and looked at me strangely.

"Never go for the obvious choices." I whispered towards him as I put a sly smirk on my face.

"Usually, if you snooze, you lose. With Max, you snooze, you win." I giggled slightly as Sharkboy's theory. Max went up to retrieve the crystal as her father did something along the lines of wedding vows. We took the crystal and Started sliding across the ice with Lavagirl as our sled.

"We're almost to the Dream Lair! If we're gonna do this, then we gotta do it now!" I yelled.

"How much time?" Max asked.

"We're out of time!" Sharkboy yelled back.

"What? I can't hear you." We suddenly stopped and Max pointed the Crystal towards the Dream Lair.

"Here it goes."

"Three, two, one...We're out of time." Sharkboy said with disappointment.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It didn't work."

"How could it not work?" I turned around to see Lavagirl breaking the ice and slipping on it.

"I was trying to tell you! Whoa...Only the Ice Princess can use it."

"It's not her fault that her father won't let her leave the castle." Max said.

"Boo-hoo." Lavagirl replied. Sharkboy pulled out his little device and started to scan the area.

"No underwater readings. No anything!" He yelled. I suddenly saw Mr.Electric from across the area that had a strip of water.

"I'll rip your sockets to shreds!"

"Calm down, Sharkboy. He's baiting you." I said while putting a hand on his chest.

"I can't....fight...my instincts!" He yelled, showing his shark teeth.

"No, Sharkboy!" I yelled as I tried to push him back away from the water, but he pushed me to the ground really hard. As I was about to jump into the water, I felt a hand grab my wrist.

"Let him go." I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I saw Mr.Electric pull out a tank of electric eels into the water.

"Swim away, Sharkboy! Swim away!" I yelled. I saw him start to swim away, but he wasn't fast enough, so he went underwater. Max, Lavagirl, and I stared at the water with worry.