MONARCH - Discontinued

Chapter 5 - Hello Sea Monster

         The yellow moon reflected off of the dark water, ripples sending it into waves of color. Ava leaned out of the boat, the tips of her fingers scraping the water while Sinbad dramatically unsheathed his sword.

         Ava turned to glance at it, and the blade was glowing a vivid blue, reflecting off of Sinbad's eyes in circles of light.

***

         Sinbad collapsed onto the deck, shivering harshly, his teeth chattering, "How are you n - not c - cold!?" Ava rolled her eyes, sitting down next to him and flicking her tail in his face, causing him to flinch, "It's not that cold."

         "Look around! There's ice in the wa - water!" Sinbad complained, his figure stiff. "Yeah, because I trusted you with a compass," Ava bit back, glaring at him. Automatically Sinbad sat up, his arms crossed and attempting to rub them, "Look I'm sorry, but you never spoke up -"

         "Well maybe you should've told me you can't navigate with a compass! -" the two bickered, Sinbad too busy registering his words to curl up to conserve heat.

         Suddenly water bursts out, reminding Ava of the geysers in Baal. Both turned to look curiously, standing. Ava looked down at the water only to see a large shadow swimming somewhere underneath them.

         Ava wrapped her tail around her leg, reaching out and grabbing Sinbad's ponytail out of fear without noticing, "Look!" Sinbad snapped his gaze to the figure, that was slithering under the waves towards a canoe.

         A canoe with people in it.

         Finally the creature was right under the other pair, and it flicked it's tail, sending the two into the air screaming.

         Ava flinched as the two hit the water, "Sinbad, you take the monster -" "Already on it!" Sinbad interrupted, leaping out of the boat in a strong motion, soaring through the air. Ava stood for a moment, hesitant. What could she do?

         Obviously, she was going to help the two people, but their shadows seemed to be doing fine, swimming away from the monster that chased them. Finally, Ava dived in, everything black for a second.

         She wasn't the biggest fan of water. At least, when she was wearing her clothes.

         Her eyes adjusted rather quickly, and she darted through the water towards the two people, the male carrying the unconscious woman.

         His eyes fell onto Ava, who finally reached them, holding her hands out to suggest that he give her the girl. The man hesitated, the monster whirling closer before twisting the girl out of his grasp, knocking her into Ava, who tried to loop her arms around the taller female.

         Ava swam up to their knocked over canoe, gasping for breath as she broke through the surface. She set the girl onto the flipped canoe, the male breaking up next to her. He turned, facing the monster that rose it's head above the water.

         Ava climbed up onto the canoe, her eyes searching desperately for Sinbad.

         "Follow me!" The blue haired man shouted at the monster, swiftly kicking his way from the canoe. Luckily, the sea monster's eyes only seemed to be on him. The man climbed up onto an iceberg, raising his harpoon determinedly.

         Ava still couldn't see Sinbad. The man leaped greatly, jumping over the monster and thrusting his harpoon into it's neck, the thing roaring in either pain or anger. Ava glanced at the woman beside her, still unconscious.