FoR (On Hold)

Chapter 1.8

Sunlight streamed into my room through the open window, causing me to stir in my hammock bed. Yawning, I sat up and stretched. The fresh air woke me up along with the chirping of birds, floating on the breeze.

Sleeping in the hammock across from me was Theo, glasses set on the small table beside his 'bed'. Swinging my legs over the side of the hammock, I stretched again and stood up. I walked over to my friend and prodded him gently in the back. "Hey, Theo. Wake up, dude."

"Mmf..." He grumbled sleepily and rolled over, glaring at me. Theo wasn't exactly partial to early-morning wake-up calls. "What." "We should go down and take a bath like the girls said yesterday." "Girls?" His brow furrowed. "What gi- Oh. Right. Shipwrecked. Okay, give me a minute."

After a few minutes, he came out of our room. I grabbed my new satchel and clothes, and walked out to the creek with Theo. The fresh air smelled tangy and exotic, like alluring flowers and fruit. I inhaled deeply and smiled, taking in my surroundings. Theo, always the inquisitive one, started to observe the fauna and plant life around us.

Leaving him in his own little world, I walked on to the waterfall, bag in hand. Setting the things down on a dry piece of land away from the water's edge, I slipped my shoes off and looked around. The trees provided pretty good cover, and I didn't see anyone, so I removed my clothes and waded into the water. Surprisingly, it was warm and very clean, with little lotus flowers bobbing on the small ripples I made by moving.

After I finished, I climbed back out and dried off, and opened the satchel to use my new clothes. Inside the bag was a neatly folded silvery blue tunic, made of a soft and breathable fabric, with a dark blue sash and belt. Under that, a pair of pants made of a durable silver silk lay along with sandals made of tough leather.

As soon as I put the new clothes on, I felt refreshed, and walked back to Theo, who was still intrigued by the plants. He looked up in surprise. "What are you wearing? It's very exotic." "The girls lent it to me to wear. They've got some for you, too." "Oh really? That's nice of them."

I nodded, and sat down beside him. "It seems nice here. The weather is nice, gorgeous scenery, and good atmosphere. All in all, this is probably more of a vacation than the cruise was." Theo thoughtfully nodded, then stopped and looked at the ground. "As great as it is... I wonder how long we'll be stuck here."

He looked so forlorn, I pitied him. Patting his shoulder, I looked off into the rising sun. "It's okay. We'll get back somehow. I promise." Theo nodded, and kept watching the sun rise in all its glory.

Leaving him to take his bath, I walked back up to the tree village and stepped into the elevator. As I was going up, I spotted the girls on a far off, wide tree branch. Huh. Wonder what they're doing. Squinting to try and see it better, I could kind of make out their individual shapes.

Wait a minute... Are they fighting? They clashed together, using their weapons and striking each other. As far as I can tell, they're definitely fighting for real! What if they hurt each other? Sure enough, as soon as I thought that, Phoenix swung her spear at Echo's head, who barely dodged by leaping backwards.

I grabbed my satchel and ran across to a closer branch to get a better look. Just then, Tigress knocked the wind out of Mist by jabbing her in the stomach with the end of her bow, causing the brunette to stagger backwards, coughing. Suddenly, she tripped over a protruding root, and fell off the branch.

Unable to move, I stared open-mouthed as Mist tumbled over the edge and started to fall. Then, just as she was about to loose all control, Jewel jumped off the edge and grabbed her wrist, then Tigress grabbed Jewel's ankles, Echo grabbed Tigress' ankles, and Phoenix grabbed Echo's. Making a sort of human chain, they grabbed hold of each other and waited to be pulled up.