Seabound

Master of the Sea

I sat up with a groan and blinked a few times, willing to world to stop spinning around me. As it slowed, the whirling was replaced by a pounding headache. Disoriented, I glanced around before remembering I was in the Explorer's Club. What was left of it, anyways. One wall of the building was completely blown away and furniture was thrown helter-skelter across the room. There was not a soul in sight.

"They left me?" I asked aloud, though there was no one around to hear my lament. "Typical," I scowled, crossing my arms.

My attention was drawn away from my self-pity as footsteps echoed through the floorboards. "Cole?" I inquired tentatively as I identified them.

The footsteps neared and slowed as the Earth Ninja stepped into the room.

"Celine!" he exclaimed, hurrying to kneel beside me. "Thank goodness you're alright."

"Of course I'm alright," I replied a little shortly as I stood up, brushing off his attempts to help me to my feet.

"I'm sorry," he offered. "I wanted to stay and make sure you were okay, but Master Wu said not to."

"Typical," I growled for the second time.

He smiled softly for a moment, "How many times is this now that you've been knocked unconscious and I've had to rescue you? You really oughta start wearing a helmet around."

I shot him a dirty look, to which he responded by laughing.

"We have to go," Cole explained, "Kalmaar's on his way to the harbor and... the others don't know I left to get you." His face flushed slightly as he finished speaking.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

We reached the harbor just in time. Some of the sea serpentine were already attacking the rest of our team, delaying them from reaching Kalmaar and the amulet. As I ran down the dock, Cole detour across a few houseboats, grabbing on a loose rope and swinging into the thick of the fight, taking out two serpentine and sending them sailing into the water below.

As I neared the battle, I spun into spinjitzu, hurling another two serpentine from the dock.

"Fire! Fire!" one of the serpentine, who appeared to be a leader among them, shouted.

I followed his gaze towards another snake barreling towards us on a jet ski of some kind. The dock shook suddenly as the serpentine fired at it, destabilizing the structure. A wall of water erupted from below and sent Kai, Ray, Cole, and I flying off into the sea.

I bobbed to the surface. Pulling down my mask just below my chin I gasped for breath. The water was immensely deep, and the effort of treading water was almost too much for me, seeing as I had literally just had a concussion. I fought to keep my head above water, coughing and sputtering as I inadvertently swallowed seawater. I was mere inches away from a piling, but I just couldn't reach it.

Someone shoved me from behind and gratefully I grasped at the post, clinging to it in an attempt to keep myself from sinking further.

"Ah, crap."

I turned at Kai's voice and noticed that he and Ray and Cole were staring up at the dock, arms lifted in surrender. My own head tilted up to the point of a glowing red trident poking towards me, a scowling serpentine at its base.

"Crap."

Roughly, we were hauled from the marina and tied together back to back with an anchor at the end of the line, before being dragged onto the back of Kalmaar's chariot.