The Neptune Challenge (Thomxoc)

Morning

I was woken up by a pesky yellowtail rockfish nibbling on my nose. I swatted it away before groggily sitting up. I looked around the cave at all the sleeping girls. There were so many. Bria was curled up in her hammock like a kitten, Ree was sleeping with her speargun in easy reach. I'm glad I'm not the only one that keeps their speargun close. Lena was sleeping with her mouth open and I know if some boys seen her like that she'd have a meltdown. I looked over to Nere's hammock to find it empty. I crawled out of my hammock and pull my sea suit on before swimming out of the cave and to the surface where I know Nere will be. I find her floating with the dolphins. I pop my head out of the water and give her a smile.

"Morning." I say.

"Morning." She smiled back. I could sense her trying to hide her worry and sadness. I swim over and place a hand on her shoulder giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"You're worried about what people expect out of you because your dad runs the colony, aren't you?" I ask her with a knowing look.

"Sometimes I forget that you're so good at feeling someone's emotions." She chuckles before sighing. "Yeah. Everyone thinks my dad is awesome and great at running things. I'm afraid they expect me to be just like him. That Janni girl wants me to join her Sea Rangers and help fight the Marine Guard and sharks, but I just want to work with dolphins." Nere explains.

"Janni's after you too, huh?" I chuckled.

:You've led us here through many fights and many miles of sea.: Mariah joins our conversation. Me and Nere wince, remembering the dangerous journey our friends and us had to make from the southern sector to reach Nere's father's colony. Along the way we had lost sweet Pani, one of Mariah's granddaughters, and two of our group, Kyel and Sarah. They were all killed by Marine Guard divers sent by the Western Collective to capture or kill us.

:We never would have made it here without your help.: Nere tells Mariah.

:I helped the most.: Sokya declares as she leaps out of the water and lands in her side, dousing me and Nere with a wave.

:I helped too.: Nova says as she swims up beside me and I scratch her melon.

:We helped each other on that journey.: Mariah says as Nere begins to gently scratch her melon. Then Tobin surfaced nearby. He looks over towards us and I see his green eyes light up when he sees Nere and he swims over to us. Sokya and Mariah are quick to rush over to Tobin. All the dolphins in the pod like Tobin.

"Hey, Nere, Zara, y'all are up early." Tobin says with a smile.

"I couldn't sleep in." Nere smiled back at him.

"Same." I nod with a smile.

"Me neither." He agreed. We don't speak a lot as we just float together and watch the skies brighten from gray to lavender to blue.

:Nere!: Someone calls. I sense panic from Nere and a distant pain from the distance.

"Did you hear that?" Nere asks.

"Hear what?" Tobin asked confused.

"I thought I heard someone calling my name telepathically."

"I didn't hear anything, but you have a longer range than I do." Tobin replied.

"I heard it. Someone called you and I could sense pain in the distance but it's gone now." I explained. Me and Nere listen but we don't hear anything again. When the sun touches the tops of the water and burnishes them bright gold, Tobin clears his throat.