The Gems of Creation: Part 2

by BSting

2-Finale: The Mind of Water

The Storm leader coldly stood with his deadly crystal gun gripped firmly in his paw. “Do you honestly think that you could fool me so easily? Me? A genius?!”

Yielding to his explanation, Cornfield acted plain oblivious. “Fool you? What are you talking about?”

Then Whirlwind looked at Calm, pointing with his weapon of choice and shook his head in disappointment, saying, “You would have been my greatest ally, Calm. After the airship was raided, my soldiers reported a certain document was missing from the airship. Something detrimental to my work on Mt. Aris. Sound familiar?”

His traitor reared onto his collapsed hindlegs, shaking in fear of being executed on the spot. “E-everything I did was only for peace W-whirlwind I swear! Please! D-Don’t hurt me, my lord!”

With her brother’s life on the line, Coral struggled as she tripped over her chains, desperately trying to save her last bit of family, shouting “NO!” several times.

“Use your powers, Coral! You can do it!” Cornfield raved for her in this dire situation.

Raising one foreleg forward, she was about to use her vines and put a stop to the madness. However, Whirlwind drew a shiny remote from the confines of his inner coat pockets, with a red button on it. The moment he pressed it, the world around the poor thief stopped when she saw Calm’s eyes go white, then his body toppled over.

“CALM!” Coral screamed, unable to hold her tears and claws outstretched to her fallen brother. “NOOOOOOOOOO!”

“Oh, cut the theatrics,” the lord of the storm creatures droned in annoyance as he put the remote away. “The puppet is still in this mortal coil.”

“What…” Her words hit a pause as she relived the crippling sight in her mind. “...Did you DO to him, you monster?!”

“Buck!” said the panicking colt as plans were falling apart. WE’RE BUCKED!”

After holstering his crystal gun snugly in his coat pocket, the elite guards leapt off the giant corpse of their prey and reunited with Whirlwind. “Hmmm, I suppose you have the right to know, seeing how it’s your sibling,” the sinister side the storm creatures were notorious for oozed in his words. “It is my greatest achievement after all...”

With his battle-hardened personnel backing him up and leaving no room for any counterattacks, their leader seized the moment to elaborate his diabolical ingenuity. “When my idiotic father was still king, I specially requested he’d see several hippogriff colts and fillies taken hostage during the initial war.”

“...Oh no...” Cornfield said, seeing where this was heading. “But it can’t be…”

“It was beautiful. He believed we’d use them as leverage against Equestria. Little did he realize I had no interest in such political riff raff. Instead, I so loved to play in the kingdom’s laboratories, but every child prodigy needs a few guinea pigs for his experiments. Thankfully, I had a new shipment of friends to play with, as I played with each one.”

Whirlwind knelt down to scoop up the unconscious light blue hippogriff in his paws, like a kid with a beat-up doll. “The brain is an amazing thing and our scientists had recently discovered how to channel magic in specially tuned crystals,” he continued. “But, while my father was infuriatingly content on using the scepter engineered for him to play with the powers of the sun and the moon like it was a TOY, I went for a new kind of science…” He unceremoniously dropped the head of his former servant and pointed to his own temple. “Mind control.”

“Mind control?!” The broken puppet’s sister recalled in disbelief, hearing what she believed to be science fiction. “Y-You mean...”

“That scepter?” The green stallion muttered as it rang a bell in his head. “You mean the Staff of Sacanes! That staff can absorb Alicorn-tier magic!”

Whirlwind jolted a single finger. “INDEED!” he loudly confirmed. “This pony is a smart one. But do you seriously think that’s ALL it can do?” He walked around Calm’s body, staring at his guinea pig while gently kicking it around a bit.

“The scepter’s potential was untapped, unadulterated, I knew it was my destiny to explore its true capabilities. Although, there were some rather unexpected consequences... Many hippogriffs didn’t survive my experiments, involving their skulls being opened as I witnessed what ticked.” He uttered these words with a bit of grief at first, then a smile cracked as he turned to Coral, making his way towards her with a giggle under his breath. “Then, wouldn’t you know it, Calm was the last hippogriff who survived a crystal surgically inserted into the neocortex, opening him to mental suggestive thinking. It’s not perfect, but it’s enough for him to obey. I gave him elation for praising me, and agonizing torment when he resisted.”

He bent down for his arch-rival to get a good look in his deranged eyes. “And, due to my advancements, I’m able to simply turn off his brain, open him up, reconfigure the crystal’s magic, and give him new commands.”

Coral said nothing, letting her friend do the talking for her. “Just what do you plan on doing to him?” He questioned incredulously. “How will you explain to Novo your deception, huh?”

Whirlwind stayed silent for a few seconds, then stood up straight to whip out a second peculiar device, shaped like a handle and labelled with yellow and black stripes, capped with a button underneath. He popped the top open and pressed the button. A loud rumbling was heard from above as Coral sharply gasped from the worst that may have happened. “Thank you ever so much for reminding me. Novo already knew of my traitorous acts the moment my maps were missing.”

That was the moment that the female hippogriff saw red, shrieking like a hawk and letting her talons and feathers fly. Every beastly instinct told her to strangle the pompous brat, only for the guards to clothesline straight into and pin her against the ground.

“DAMMIT!” shouted Cornfield. He knew they were between a rock and a hard place more than ever.

From the top of her lungs she screeched, and the dome echoed her tormented words. “YOU AREN’T A CREATURE! YOU’RE A DEMON! AN EVIL DEMON BORN FROM THE BOWELS OF TARTARUS!!!”

Coral’s cursing and crying filled the air, as the three guards kept her down, restraining her squirming hindlegs and wings. She would attempt to summon the power received from the Heart of Nature, but they preemptively stomped on her talons, pressing their weight down as she screamed in pain.

“AGH! STOP!” Yelled Cornfield as he covered his ears from the deafening sound of his friend’s suffering.

Whirlwind yanked one of the spears from his soldiers and stood over the bound Coral, holding it above her, poised to execute the troublesome creature once and for all. “There is no stopping me,” he rebuked with a growl. “Hippogriffs, ponies, griffons, dragons and every creature in between will bow to us, the children of the Storm, as their new rulers of this world!”

“CORNFIELD!” The doomed bird shouted in desperation, glancing at him with shrunken irises. “SAVE YOURSELF! TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS! WE NEED TO- AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!” She yelled as more painful pressure was applied to her wing.

The last bastion of hope rested on the young earth pony, who was in a state of mental dismay. “What should I do?” His head repeatedly asked himself as everything grew dark and his nightmares became reality. Then, like a sunlit beam from the dark clouds, a delicate unseen voice cut through the shadows and called out to him.

“Cornfield,” the voice chimed, reverberating deep within.

He looked around, thinking “Who’s there?”

Before Lord Whirlwind raised the spear at its highest, time gradually grinded to a halt. Water flowing around him froze in place and Coral’s frightened face was completely still. Everything had just stopped moving altogether.

“Who... Who’s there?” Despite the phenomenon, when he tried summoning his forelegs, they gained movement in his bewilderment. The grooves underneath his hooves were visible without detriment to them or himself. It was clear he remained unaffected, but nothing made sense from his present disposition. He turned to witness a holy bright light shining from down the stairs in which the mighty giant tortoise once guarded. A feminine voice beckoned him, calling him downward.

“Cornfield.”

Curiously, the colt wandered closer to the opening. Peering at the end of the stairwell, there awaited a door, already opened for him, glowing with a brilliant blue light on the other side.

“Hurry, Cornfield…” The voice called from inside. “You must save her...” With no other option, the stallion moved along the steps, slowly accelerating into a trot once he descended entirely. The middle of the room housed a fountain, shining and white with the water gushing out of it as blue and pure as a cloudless sky. The Mind of Water etched itself inside the middle of a rock pillar, similarly as The Heart of Nature. He gazed at the tilled murals surrounding the fountain, detailed what seemed to be the creation of all things from the very beginning.

“My hatchlings are in danger,” the voice carried on, “as well as the foals of your realm. Please, step onward...”

Completely perplexed by the mystical sacred waters, he pressed onward to seek the truth. The Mind of Water’s form materialized as he drew closer; finding a crystal-like brain composed of two symmetrical lobes. The perfect natural water retained its purity due to the brilliant crystal’s liquid deposit flowing from its foundation.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I gave you during your stay, but my powers are not allowed to bless my own creatures.” There was sadness in the female’s voice, almost like she was in mourning.

Cornfield shook his head around, trying to wake himself up saying “...Is this real? Am I hallucinating?”

“Given your relationship with Cobalt Coral, you were a fitting candidate for my gifts. My only regret was seeing how afflicted you became, having that much magic trapped in you. I hope you can forgive me.” Cornfield felt a light splish against his foreleg, and noticed the fountain waters had started rippling “Although I wish for The Mind to stay dormant, the gears of time are already in motion. Hence, you must secure it.”

“WHAT?! Are you telling me to absorb your powers like Coral?” the colt shrieked.

A soft titter passed whomever’s lips were speaking to him. “Ah, you are mistaken... I’m not the spirit that houses inside The Mind of Water. I’m simply a forgotten legend...”

“Oh... For a second, I thought this was a real mystical brain thing I was staring at. So, who are you anyway?”

“I cannot extend the length of time any longer than I am able to without reality ripping apart. Please! Take the Mind and save her!”

“Ugh. Fine. The mystery deepens, I suppose…” He stepped into the fountain and reached his hoof out to the stone, but fear of the unknown gripped him “What’s gonna happen if I take it?”

“The gem will infuse on the surface of your head. With deep concentration and meditation, you will be able to fire strong jets of water from your hooves that are able to crack stone. You also can use your hooves to drip water on injuries or cure illnesses with it. Be warned, however. The more you use this power, the more your mind will become dull.”

A scoffing huff brushed through Cornfield’s teeth. “Oh damn, now I can make my own circus: The Pool Colt Cornfield and his Amazing Jungle Bird.”

“...Cornfield... The chains that pull time are beginning to murmur once again...”

“Well, here goes nothing,” He cautiously but urgently pried the gem out of its resting place. “Coral oughta give me one hell of a ‘thank you’ for this.” He held it above him, trying not to think about how this transformation would feel like. Suddenly, a light blinded him until the only thing left was the empty indentation of where the Mind once laid on the rock. He didn’t feel any different and questioned if it even worked, but there was one distinct deformity: the jewel grafted in his skull, meshed within his forehead.

“Ugh…” He gingerly tapped it with his hoof, thinking that it would hurt. “As if things couldn’t get any stranger...” He then noticed the ripples of the fountain moving faster to its original pace. Borrowed time was beyond out. “I-I gotta save Coral!” he shouted to himself and made a break for the staircase above.

Time gained nearly its full momentum as the spear pierced and began digging into Coral’s chest. A sickening grin formed on the evil primate in charge, lusting for bird blood.

“AAAAH!” Cornfield let his battle cry be known and aimed his hooves trying to shoot Whirlwind with his limbs like he was some green wonder from a superhero comic book. He focused his mind with the greatest effort he could put forth, with faith in the mystical entity that entrusted those powers to him. Upon his attack, a light instantly shone from within the jewel.

In the nick of time, his forelegs melted into clear water, blasting out a vicious jet of liquid from his hooves. The dictator thought he heard the desperate cry of Coral’s pathetic colt, but instead found himself pounded onto his chest by the iron fierosity of blue tides from a deadly tundra. He collided into the dome’s walls and crumbled into the floor like a heavy potato sack. “W-What in Equestria...” he gasped, catching his lost breath.

“FOILED ONCE AGAIN, WHIRLWIND!” the cocky pony taunted. The spear went careening elsewhere as Coral took advantage of the situation handed to her. She quickly wrapped two of the stunned distracted soldiers around the neck and jutted thorns, puncturing their arteries. She tossed their bleeding bodies aside with a hearty throw, then focused on the one at her hindlegs, giving him the same treatment. A constricted toss made sure he wouldn’t be getting back up.

“CORAL!” Cornfield, being her knight to lean on, rushed to her side and helped her up.

“Cornfield,” she said, using his body as support. “What the hay did you-” She gasped and her eyes grew wide, seeing what her friend’s forehead achieved. “No way. How in the world did you-”

“I’ll explain later, ok?” The colt glanced over to the cracked walls where he blasted the young storm tyrant, only to find him missing. “Where’s Whirlwind?”

A laser beam fired between the both of them, missing and blasting a smoldering crater into a wall instead. Startled, Coral zeroed in on where the shot had been discharged. The culprit, Lord Whirlwind, hobbled to and lunged for cover behind the literal and metaphorical shell of a giant tortoise. “There’s that bastard!” she answered with a talon pointed out.

“Stop him!” Cornfield galloped in the villain’s direction to try and snuff his evil plans out preemptively. “We can’t let him get away!”

“Be careful, that laser magic is nothing to mess with!” She quickly sprinted over to Cornfield, ducking and diving along the way while the monkey made blindfire shots at her. Each laser detonated on contact with the environment, blowing up in smoke and debris. Then, he hastily made for the shallow cusp behind the tortoise’s leg, keeping himself opposed to the upgraded duo as they all encircled the massive corpse.

Cornfield signaled her to flank around him one way while he pressured the other side. As he stepped around knowingly of the threat the self-proclaimed crownhead presented, he fired a warning shot of water around the blind spot; an effort to get his attention away from where Coral was approaching.

“The jig is up, Whirlwind!” the water-controlling stallion announced. “Surrender yourself and we won’t have to harm you!”

Eager to make a retort, Coral kept her beak shut to not give away her position. Whirlwind shouted back, “If I kill you, I get the Mind of Water! If I kill her, I get the Heart of Nature! Come test your abilities on me!”

Cornfield got on his hindlegs and slowly shimmied along the wall of the dome. Although he couldn’t see Whirlwind’s tracks, he checked around the corners and nooks around the long dead monster to make sure the brat didn’t get the jump on him. In need of a fresh strategy, the water colt remembered what that strange voice advised him. “...Strong enough to crack stone...” he reflected. He scanned the area, confirming for sure Whirlwind’s position with the tip of his vision.

As soon as Coral was close enough, she put her years of thievery into play and ducked into a corner of the giant turtle where no creature could see her. Letting her vines roam across the ground, their paths carefully spread as wide as they could to create a snare in waiting. Suddenly, Whirlwind retaliated against Cornfield by shooting into empty space around the corner, being careful, but also giving away his position.

With a clearer idea which way the villain sheltered himself, Cornfield decided now to concentrate his mind even harder, having learned from Coral’s battles as well. A surge of enormous energy flowing through his bloodstream built up inside the ends of his hooves. Weighing them down in fact. Taking a risk in exposing himself, he stood and fired a solid velocity water stream into the ceiling above Whirlwind’s last known location. Well-targeted, the ceiling broke apart as piles of debris fell to its impending victim hiding below.

At the last minute, the monkey dived away from a traumatic injury, only to stumble on the vines below him. They ensnared his legs, preventing him from wiggling free. “I got him, Cornfield!” she yelled and lifted him, leaving him to dangle about. “Sorry, ape. You just lost the war.” She grinned with pride and delighted in watching him hang by his legs. However, in her short sighted view of victory, she didn’t anticipate the ace still in his sleeve as the lord smiled back.

Cornfield could see their victim about to wriggle something out of his coat, giving the colt instant flashbacks to the trauma earlier, and try alerting his friend before she was toast. “CORAL!” her partner warned! “LOOK OUT!”

Without a second to spare and no chances taken, he dashed his way as fast as his hooves could carry him. He managed to dive between them and take the brunt of a fatal laser blazing out the muzzle of Whirlwind’s quickly drawn pistol. The magic pierced a hole straight through his flank. “GAAAAAHHH!!!” Cornfield’s painful cry echoed out as he fell to the bricks, adding his blood with the turtle’s.

“CORNFIELD!” The innate priority of keeping her friend out of harm’s way had Coral dropping the young scientist free in favor of snatching the colt up with her vines and running for his life. The bleeding wound appeared worse than anything he’s absorbed thus far, making her panic further. The moment Whirlwind lifted himself up from the ground, he didn’t think twice about making his swift and opportunistic exit.

As soon as Coral laid her partner down out of the way from any immediate danger, he stopped her from any further action by raising his hoof to her. “Ack... ugh... hold on…” he gagged. “I’ll be fine, see?”

Since his hippogriff friend had yet to understand the nature of his new abilities, he took this opportunity to demonstrate his new life saving power. With his lower half rested on the side, Cornfield focused as he dropped water on his partially flesh stripped flank, while Coral gazed on in a mixture of confused vexation.

When the water seeps into the many injured and torn parts of his flank, the effect Zecora’s potions had on him go underway, reforming all lost muscle and skin. Just like that, he was in perfect fighting shape once again, to his amazement. “Wow, this is VERY reliable after all!”

Astounded, the hybrid complimented his newfound healing solution. “That’s amazing... Imagine that skill wasted on-” Out of nowhere she noticed their main hostile was gone and gasped, “Oh no! Whirlwind!”

Cornfield got on his newly healed body to see what’s missing. “Huh?” He couldn’t find him either.

Then she dashed beyond the large lump used as a shield by the evil leader. Alas, he left no discernable trace. With the only way out being the way they had entered, she looked and saw him backing away upstairs. To make matters worse, Whirlwind had lifted Calm over his shoulder, taking him back as he fled. Of course he would not leave without his sworn regards.

“You imbeciles may have won the battle, but the war still continues! I swear on my stupid father’s grave that I will have your Gems soon!” the tyrant loudly proclaimed.

“Where are you running off to, Whirlwind? Huh?” Cornfield taunted as he tagged behind Coral.

“Back to my kingdom, of course! But since you two can’t swim as seaponies without the pearl...” He laughed at a wicked idea brewing in his twisted mind. “Maybe I will just take off and leave you both stranded deep below the sea with no hope of returning! Wouldn’t it be a treat to let you die slowly and come back to pry the gems over your cold dead bodies?!”

Realization struck that, without transforming into seaponies, they were at the mercy of the vehicle which carried them. “Oh, shit!” Coral cursed at her situation.

He kept laughing, certain of victory against his opposers. “So long, you mentally handicapped quadrupeds!” He ran with as much agility he could muster, carrying an unconscious hippogriff and headed for exfiltration by sub.

Cornfield joined alongside his hippogriff friend as they both made a daring break for the winding stairs above. However, their target had quite the head start. By the time they reached the top of the wentletrap staircase, they saw their only trip to dry land sinking into the underwater cavity. Both of the gem-bearers skidded before the hole, huffing and catching their breath. With the bad hand they’ve been dealt, the colt stomped his hoof on the floor. “BUCKING DAMMIT!!”

Still gasping for air, Coral hung her head as sweat dripped and tapped the smooth surface on the floor. With their chances of survival ruined, she felt steaming hot anger boiling inside. Her talons formed a shaking fist and hammered it on the tiled floor hard enough to leave a bloodied scrape. “SHIT!” she erupted with hopeless rage. “That… That bastard stole away my brother and got away with blowing Mt. Aris to Tartarus!”

With nothing left, she sat and hid her face in shame behind her claws, making an effort to avoid the assumption of the massacre taking place on hippogriff land. Not knowing what else to do, Cornfield grabbed her by the shoulders and shook any clues he could get out of her. “This is bad, Coral! Seeing your kingdom means nothing if we can’t find a way out right now!”

As she tried regaining her composure, the fabled gem they sought after reflected a flare of light, bringing the hippogriff out of her anguish and returning a different kind of concern. “How the hell did you get the Mind of Water before anyone else?! One second, you were on my side panicking, the next I saw you charging in gung-ho!”

Cornfield could feel her leer zeroing in on his forehead. “Ah, yeeeeaaaaah… You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, honest.” the colt pleaded as he let her go.

“Oh yeah? Try me!”

“There was a voice that was telling me to do so. I followed and she led me to it,” he shrugged as water kept leaking out from his forehooves.

“What voice? What are you even talking about?” She scoffed and stood up, recalling history as she brushed the feathers on her head back. “You know, you have been REALLY strange before we even arrived at Mt. Aris. How in the world is ANYTHING you did feasible?”

While his female compatriot ran her beak, Cornfield noticed the entire room got darker overtime, the ceiling corals above dimming their luminescence. An odd figure was approaching the both of them, coming into his focus, and he could identify it as an ethereal hippogriff. Her body was shrouded with a clear blue aura, wisps of light spiraled in her wake, plainly showing that she was not like any other creature he’s ever encountered. The crest of feathers from her head dangled long and curled outward before her knees. Her blanked white eyes shined with brilliance, but revealed nothing of her true nature.

The outstanding anomaly drew ever so closer, and Cornfield could not comprehend anything about it. He ended up babbling in incoherent fashion, leaving ignorant Coral to crack wise in her flustered confusion. “What?” she asked. “Are you now speaking in tongues?” With his verbal communication gone haywire, he desperately stuck a frightened hoof over her shoulder at the apparition. She drew her head from the hoof’s aiming gesture, and beheld the pure phantom-like form. Her eyes widened with fear as she lurched back. “A-a-a ghost?!”

The bright being attempted to demonstrate pacifism with an open yielded palm between them, yet her sudden striking appearance left them dumbstruck and distant. “Please, don’t be scared! I’m not a ghost, and I mean you no harm.” Each step she took forward was met with her own kind rapidly pushing the ground away from her.

After the spirit spoke, Cornfield made a stunning revelation. “Wait,” he said. “You’re the voice from that fountain room…” Another good look at the strange hippogriff also brought excitement in his voice. “Now I remember, you’re that ghost I chased after in the wild!” He happily reflected to Coral, “See? I told you I saw something!”

“Please believe me, I had every intention of revealing myself. If those vile creatures you call the storm king’s minions discovered my presence, this world would be in greater peril!”

Getting a grip, Coral precariously stood before her. “Just who even are you?” Coral interrogated, still unsure if this otherworldly figure was trustworthy. “Where did you come from and why are you helping us?”

“I am called Aqua,” the holy silhouette recalled herself as such. “I am known as a sculptor, and it was my grace that sculpted your ancestors so long ago.”

“My ancestors? Are you saying that you created hippogriffs?”

“After my own image, yes.”

Flabbergasted, Coral pointed towards Aqua in disbelief. “T-Then… Then that makes you a… A…”

“God?” Cornfield appended to her sentence.

“No,” the mystical hybrid responded bluntly. “I can’t call myself that. Gods would be all knowing. All powerful. I am limited in what I can do.” Then, she sat up to trace a circle in the air with one talon. Majestic light manifested outside her motion, until it combined and formed a perfect pink pearl out of thin air. It gently floated into her open palm as she gifted it to them. “However, as a sculptor, I can grant you the ability to abandon this doomed place.”

“That’s… That’s the Pearl of Transformation!” the thief exclaimed, taking it into her own talons. “Can you make another?”

“You will have to crack the pearl in half and each partake of its power. I beg of you to go to Mt. Aris and watch over my legacy. Already I am sensing many new souls releasing from their mortal cages.”

That news made Coral’s heart drop and newfound conviction surged as she slammed the pearl down on solid ground, splitting it in two like a ripe coconut. She plucked one half and told Cornfield promptly to take the other. “Just imagine you are going to morph into a seapony with this and it’ll do the rest, ok?”

Gingerly retrieving said item with his mouth, the colt wasn’t quite making sense of what this was all about. “Uh… Ok,” he said while Coral prepared to dive.

“Ready?” she asked, and he took her side in the belief they could return to the surface.

“I’ll pray for the gods to smile victory upon you two!” the hippogriff creator exclaimed. “Keep the Gems of Creation beyond evil’s grasp, and no matter what, do NOT let the four become whole!”

Coral jumped straight into the water, while her friend spit out the pearl fragment and held it between his hooves, before diving in himself. “What was that about? The four of them shouldn’t be together?”

“That’s not important right now!” said Coral, as they swam on top of the water. With a shroud of light, Coral gave up her aerial form and, in its place, acquired her never before seen aquatic body. Gone were the beak, the wings and talons, now she had fins and a pony’s snout. “We need to hurry!”

“Right, I’m with you! So I just think about being a seapony and then I-’' His train of thought derailed as he was suddenly overcome with blinding magic. The colt’s pony hindlegs creased into his body as it obtained the appropriate fins around it. Once the pearl’s magic finished its natural modifications, he examined the major overhaul and shrieked. “Gah! Please tell me this isn’t permanent!”

“Don’t worry! As long as you have that pearl in your possession, you can change at will.” Peeking above the water, she nodded at the sculptor who aided them. “Thank you, Aqua. We’ll do what we can to help the hippogriffs.”

Without another word, the two of them dove down through the entry hole into the deep blue depths of the ocean and kicked their fins to maneuver. Although, Cornfield was not as intuitive with sea movement like the Mt. Aris native. To Coral, it was like riding a bike; she never forgot and easily demonstrated the ideal seapony swimming technique. By watching her, he got into the motions quickly enough for a beginner, fighting with inertia to catch up with her. The gem on his head glinted as they made headway for the penetrating sunbeams high above. It brightened as his thoughts began racing, wondering what could be taking place right now. How many lives were lost? Could they rebuild from the catastrophic damage? Was Silver and Skystar ok? These were all questions burning in his subconsciousness, and the only hope of finding answers was back on land.

For all he knew, things were not going to get any better from this moment forward.

Author's Note:

This is the last chapter before Part 3! Thank you all for the support!