Theo the Street Kid and the Extraordinary Competition

Chapter 21 - A Potential Bloodbath

  Theo spotted something glimmering in the distance and swam over.
There it was, row after row of giant clams, each one containing one Pearl of Lao Tzu.
He was tempted to swim over and quickly grab a pearl from a clam, but he decided to be cautious. He was afraid that when his hands touched the pearl, the clam would slam shut, trapping or maybe even slicing off both hands.
As he inspected his environment, his mother advice rang through his head, "Slow and steady wins the race. Think carefully before you act."
And so, he stayed put and scanned his surroundings.
Something was off.
Two of the giant clams were empty. Their pearls were on the ground.
A third clam was clamped shut completely and something red was leaking out of it.
Perplexed, Theo swam over for a closer inspection.
He decided to ignore the closed clam and focus on the pearls that had already been taken out.
Could it be this easy? Theo wondered.
Another contestant must have taken the pearls out of the mouths of the clams. But where was he or she? And why were the pearls lying on the sea floor?
He decided the answers to those questions didn't matter. The important thing was that he didn't even have to pluck the pearls out of the mouths of the giant clams. It had already been done for him.
During a brief moment of greed, Theo considered taking both pearls up with him. Each one was probably worth a small fortune and Theo did need the money. But he decided that sacrificing short-term gains for the long-term reward of that salaried position in the royal court was a good idea. Also, Mr. Sotia had said to take only one pearl.
So, he grasped just one pearl and was about to swim up when someone knocked it out of his hands.
He looked at his attacker.
It was Borm.
Theo yelled, "What are you doing? There are two pearls lying here. We can both take one up and cross the finish line."
But since they were deep underwater, Borm couldn't hear him.
Theo knew what his old rival was doing.
Borm had a personal vendetta against him and he would do anything to sabotage Theo. Borm was an opportunist and he would never miss an opportunity to destroy his enemy.
Theo tried to pick the pearl up, but Borm knocked it out of his hand again.
Clearly, he was now doing it out of spite.
Theo didn't even know if Borm cared about winning the Extraordinary Competition.
Theo prepared to fight back.
At that point, Borm, like the senator earlier, tried to detach Theo's oxygen tank, but Theo had already anticipated it, so he moved out of the way.
He had been in so many fights with Borm that he began to recognize and anticipate his nemesis's cheap tactics. Borm always fought dirty and Theo was ready to do so too.
But Theo would rather cross the finish line with the required item, thus ensuring advancement to the next stage, rather than fight with Borm.
Being a small nimble boy had its advantages, so Theo suddenly pushed Borm away with all his might, grabbed a pearl and hightailed it out of there, back to the surface.
Expecting Borm to come after him, Theo glanced down.
Borm was now engaged in a struggle with the monk Anugit over the one remaining pearl that was on the ground.
After thanking his lucky stars and giving his whistle a kiss, Theo pushed upward with a Pearl of Lao Tzu in his hands.
He was on his way to the finish line for the first stage.

***

He was about halfway back up when he noticed strange-looking creatures directly above him.
They were jellyfish and as far as Theo knew, all jellyfish were poisonous.
He knew he had to tread very carefully.
A single sting could put him out of the race, ending his chances of achieving all his goals and fulfilling his dreams.
As he was deciding how to dodge the dozens of jellyfish, he heard a loud melodic sound.
It was a whale song.
He turned to his right: a killer whale or orca was swimming toward him, singing its whale song.
He didn't know much about orcas, but the whale gave him goosebumps.
Was it friend or foe?
He had no idea, but he did know one thing: he had to flee.
With stinging jellyfish above him and an orca as large as a truck slashing through the water toward him, there was only thing place he could go: he had to dive down, then head left, then swim up.
But the orca was swimming too rapidly.
He knew he couldn't dodge it, no matter how quick he was.
Desperate now, he glanced down at his whistle and it began to glow.
Just as the orca was about to slam into Theo, a figure in a white hood materialized, putting itself between Theo and the whale.
As though it had just crashed into a brick wall, the orca recoiled, letting out a sharp yelp.
It was now dizzy from the collision.
Taking advantage of the whale's confusion, Theo dove down, swam to the left and then swam up, avoiding the jellyfish.
Feeling more at ease now, he looked down as he swam, searching for that mysterious figure in the white hood.
But it was gone now.
It was the same figure that had helped him fight off Mr. Joob.
Who was it?
Why and how had it appeared?
 As he pondered those questions, he glanced up.
He could see the sunlight shining down on him.
He was so close to the surface now.
Clutching his pearl, he continued his ascent, but something was blocking his way.
With twelve tentacles flailing around and a giant gaping hole for a mouth, the creature looked like a sea monster from a nightmare.