Chapter Text
As the Destiny's Bounty flied forward, it almost seemed like they were leaving the sky behind. They all were glad that, atleast half of the group was together once again, and with new companions, no less.
They were crackin' jokes in the air, filling it with old comfort, and some comments about Kai's haircut. After the air's lightening, the serious conversation had to continue.
"And you think all this is tied to these Merge Quake things?" Nya asked Lloyd, deciding to get back on track, distractions weren't exactly welcomed at such an urgent time.
"Maybe. MergeQuakes are like aftershocks of the original Merge, where two realms try to occupy the same space." The blond one crossed his arms. "Elemental powers shut them down, but they're happening more often."
"That's why I went searching for help!" Kai added onto the conversation. "If we don't stop the MergeQuakes, they could destroy everything."
But before anyone else could raise their voice once more, something shook the earth, or, well, more specifically, the boat. It didn't feel like the shockwave that the MergeQuackes caused, but...
"Uh, Sora...?" Arin turned his head to look at said girl "You said you fixed the Bounty, right?" His voice sounded nervous.
"Yeah, I did!" She exclaimed, "But it's, er, kind of difficult to fix something in the dark, y'know.”
Lloyd rushed over to the helm of the ship, trying to redirect it to a safe place so it doesn't actually crash. He spinned it in a panic, but they were way too up in the air to guarantee safety EVEN if they found a safe space to land on.
"Prepare for impact!" Everyone rushed over to try and make the most distance possible, despite the gravity pulling them towards the soon-to-be crash point.
And then, the sound of wood and mechanisms breaking filled their eardrums, the quake of the collision with land and boat expanded through the floor and some of them, who were not ready for it, lost their balance and got knocked over, but thankfully, got caught by some of the structures to not fall into the crash.
Soon after they recovered from the sudden movement, they slowly got up, careful to not break the Bounty even more and get out of the now calmed danger, which at a wrong step, could resurface at any moment.
Arin groaned as he managed to get to safety, the grass caressing his face. He coughed. "Are we alive?" His voice was slightly strained.
"I think we are." Nya responded. "Is everyone else good?"
Everyone else slowly got their consciousness back, and the ones who were the first to get up helped the others to get on their feet as well. "Yup, but the Bounty sure isn't." Kai responded.
They looked back at the now broken ship. It wasn't completely useless, but there is quite a big hole on the front now, which could be pretty dangerous to pilot around, and if they wanted to, it would also be quite inconvenient since some of the electric components weren't also pretty messed up and scattered on the ground.
"Agh, crap..." Lloyd muttered "Sora? Do you think your elemental powers could be able to fix this?"
She was softly petting Riyu while it rested on her lap, checking to see if it was hurt or not before answering. "I mean, I guess I could try and fix the mechanisms but I'm not sure if I can fix the rest of the structure with those powers. It looks pretty messed up."
"Well, we can't really just stay here and do nothing, right?" Nya scolded. "We need to hurry up and fix this as soon as possible! There's places where we need to be."
The group nodded, agreeing with her. "Then I guess we'll have to explore a new area." Arin added.
And they did. They decided to search the zone and divide the group to be able to have more possibility to find good materials to fix the ship with. Nya and Kai went to search the south part and Lloyd and Arin went to search the north one. Sora stayed back with Riyu to fix the mechanisms in the meantime.
This place seemed to be a forest.. filled with bamboo. The green poles seemed to emerge from every bit of earth. Lloyd and Arin looked up at the sky, trying to find the spot where the bamboo stopped growing, but I wasn't visible from their angle.
"Hey, this could be an opportunity to work on your balance!" Lloyd smiled at Arin, going back to his mentor role.
"B-Balance?" He stuttered "But how are we going to reach the top of those things? And aren't they going to break??"
The Green Ninja scoffed confidently "Arin, bamboo plants have very strong roots, don't you know? I doubt they would just break if you just stood on them correctly."
"...Aaand the answer to my first question?" Arin scratched at the back of his neck nervously, he shot an skeptic glance while still trying to still smile politely.
Lloyd rolled his eyes, as if the answer he was asking for was obvious "We're climbing it!"
"Oh.”
Well, to make a long story short, they started to try to get on top of the green, long sticks all by themselves. While Lloyd kind of had a good rhythm going on, Arin was just holding onto the bamboo for dear life like a koala.
Thankfully, with the help of his mentor, they managed to finally get on the top. If taken out of context, the teen could've passed as the star of a circus' balancing act with how much the pole was moving side to side.
Lloyd jumped onto the top of another bamboo, it barely shaked. "C'mon! Follow me!"
As he continued jumping forward, Arin was trying to keep his mask of confidence, which was pretty bad considering he is following his master step by step "Wait, let me catch up...!"
It was like a scene that could be taken straight from a ninja anime series. Slowly, the student was gathering more courage to give a little jump to his steps. Training seemed tough, sure, but it's not like he'll ever have any other opportunity to do this ever again, right?
But only one step wrong and you could be dead... Which is just what Arin thought before he heard a scream being torn from Lloyd as it seemed he stepped on a... a booby trap? On the top of a bamboo????? Whoever put that there must be super paranoid.
"Lloyd!" He yelled back, but when he tried to chase after him, he just remembered the position he was in. He was stuck on top of the middle of a forest. Great.