Friendship And Hardship

[Chapter 7] - Patterns-A-Plenty

"This is an issue... Have you ever seen a hurricane past its peak? Or a typhoon in this case?" Parker looked behind her, guilty as all hell.
"Past its peak?" Kwazii asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's rare, close to impossible, right?"
"It's happened, but correct. I haven't experienced them since... a while. That's about it."

"The question is, are we in one of those situations?" Barnacles stepped in.
"Why would I bring it up if it had nothing to do with the situation?" She turned back around, passing a hard stare to him. "That's what I thought," Parker said, nodding slowly before flipping on a few switches on what seemed to be a metal box. "And this? This bad boy used to be my dad's, one of the greatest things passed down to me. It's an old radar he used." She messed with other small things before it was fully boosted up.
"What can it do?"
"Track the direction of typhoons and hurricanes. Usually that when the season rolls around, also the strength of the typhoon, it all comes around these colors on the map." She pointed to the dull screen as the bright clusters of colors moved around slowly. "Right there. That's the eye."
"The eye of the storm doesn't usually possess that much power, does it?" Barnacles asked, leaning over her shoulder.
"Correct. Inside the eye, it's calm. The walls built of strong winds that remain right outside of the eye, on the other hand, aren't calm at all."

"What about the affected areas on the map? Are any creatures going to be at risk?" Peso asked.
"That's the main problem," Parker reached for one of her books, skimming through the pages. "I call these my region books. They're all about the types of things to expect in places, such as plants, animals, all that."

...

"Problem is, the typhoon is so far away. We'd never reach it in time. It's all the way in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we're up by the Arctic Circle," she added after a minute of complete silence.
"Who said that?" Barnacles questioned. "I don't recommend getting so down on yourself so quickly, Parker."
"I've got no stations in the Philippines. That's where the typhoon is destined to hit," she stated. "The part of the country that is being affected is mostly wooded area. The forests are already shrinking, this is just making it worse."

"So you're suggesting we just give up before we've started?"
"Don't put words into my mouth. I never said that, nor will I ever," she spat.
"You didn't say it directly, which is what you think I'm accusing you of, and I'm not. Your ideas and thoughts are already headed in that direction."
"No, they weren't. You aren't a psychiatrist. You don't know my thoughts. You aren't in my head or anything. Let me introduce an idea."

Parker pushed herself away from the radar, shuffling over to him. "That idea is something very simple. You and shutting up. Shut down. Let me handle this bit of the mission."

...

"Fine."
"Good."

More silence.

"Is this how you two always are?" Tweak asked.
"All the time. Most of the time it's all for the shits and giggles," she answered.
"Oh?" Barnacles glanced back up at her.
"Hm? What, care to debate?" Parker asked, laughing. She shut down the radar. "Or are you scared?"
"I'm not scared of you, Parker," he stated, laughing along with her.
"No, you aren't. You're scared of what I can do. On that topic, I've come up with a few ideas already of what we can do."

"One idea might fail us though, so we should probably go with plan A," she noted. "And it'd be risky to go back to that side of the coast, you know."
"Why would it be risky?" Dashi questioned.
"Some of the things we've found... aren't good."

"So we head back to the Octopod, and set a course for the Philippines?" Barnacles suggested.
"Captain, if we do that, we may be at risk of crossing paths with the typhoon," Shellington stated.
"Oh gods, you're right. If we take any type of shortcut, we'll be right in the storms path. If we don't, we'll never get there in time!" Parker slammed her fists against the desk.
"Then we'll stay on the outskirts."
"What? Do you know how hard that can be? You don't know about the undercurrents? Trust me with this, I've tried. I've tried both underwater, and on water. It doesn't work."