Seabound

The Calm Before the Storm

Punch. Jab. Parry. Kick. Duck. Roundhouse. My last kick sent the training dummy skittering across the courtyard.

I slowly straightened, breathing heavily, and sweat pouring down my face.

"Celine?"

I whipped around to Lloyd leaning on the portico. Curse him and his soft walking. I really needed to stop working out with both earbuds in.

"What do you want?" I snapped, pulling an earbud out.

"You to take a chill pill," he responded as he walked towards me.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"I swear to the Master if you tell me to let it go," I glared at him.

Lloyd's hand flew up in a defensive gesture. "I wasn't going to say that-"

"It's been three days. Three days! What on earth is he doing that's taking him this long to come back?" I vented as I deliberately walked across the courtyard and set the training dummy up again.

Lloyd inhaled deeply and responded calmly, although I could tell he was nearing the end of his rope. "Celine, it takes 12 hours to fly to Shintaro. Flight there, flight back. That's 24 hours; one day. Given that he took an ancient and deadly artifact, there is no doubt red tape involved. Another day at least. And how many times do I have to say it? He didn't go there for the reason you think he did."

"Can you stop trying to make me feel better? Because it's not working." I straightened the dummy and double-checked that the wraps on my hands were still good.

"You need to stop jumping to conclusions," Lloyd reasoned.

"Not listening." I tossed the words over my shoulder, stuffing my earbud back in, and began punching the dummy again. Left hook. Left uppercut. Right hook. Right uppercut. Counting off a cadence in my head. I was vaguely aware of Lloyd traipsing away behind me and I subconsciously followed the sound of his footsteps. Making sure he was actually leaving.

About five minutes passed before I heard Lloyd again. Groaning internally, I swiveled towards him.

"Now wha-?" My hands flew up almost instinctively to catch the towel that was suddenly hurtling towards my face.

"Clean up if you want. You need to go to the police station."

Master Wu, Benthomaar, Zane, and I had met up with Jay and Nya at the police station where the commissioner met us at the door.

"Please come with me, quickly," he urged before leading us down a hall.

"One of my boys on harbor patrol picked him up," the commissioner explained. "Says his name is... Gelatin or something?"

Benthomaar peered in the window. "Glutinous?"

"Yeah, yeah. That's it. Anyway, he said he needs to talk to you. Something about a giant snake and the end of the world or something," the commissioner commented.

"We'll take it from here, Commissioner," Wu spoke. "Thank you."

As we filed into the room, the commissioner caught my arm. "Who's this?" He inquired. "I mean, I assume she's with you?" His eyes flicked up and down my figure, taking in my ninja gi.

"This is Ce-" Nya started, but cut herself off as I made a slashing motion of my throat. "The Turquoise Ninja," she corrected herself. "She's also the Master of Sound. She kinda specializes in interrogation stuff."