New Bodhum beach was bustling with activity as the members of NORA had come up with a fun tournament. There were two people paired up in three teams total, and it was just Serah's good luck to join her good friend Lebreau. The two females had been underestimated by the men they competed against; Gadot and Yuj had insisted on going easy on the women, as did Hope and Maqui. It wasn't until the third relay race that the other two teams finally went all out—they were all tired of losing. Serah, however, was a tough opponent. Her speed on land was unrivaled, until it came time to swim, and she waded through the water much slower than her opponents.
The grade school teacher nervously gazed back at her raven haired partner after she'd finished paddling to the shore. "Sorry you got stuck with me, Lebreau. I really should have taken you up on those swimming lessons."
The dark haired female had been about to complain about their low ranking on the scoreboard when she thought better of it. It wasn't Serah's fault that she feared large bodies of water. "It's quite alright." She reassured the younger Farron sister. "If I recall correctly, you almost drowned years ago." The fact that her friend could even go in the water was proof that she was brave. "Not everyone can face their fears. You've got guts." She then raised her arm up to enthusiastically clap her hand against the pinkette's.
Serah and Lebreau's hands briefly met in a high five. "Thank you." The teacher bowed quickly to express her gratitude. Thank Shiva the other woman was kind and understanding.
"It's no trouble. They guys won't stand a chance against us, no matter how far behind we are!" The older woman declared confidently. Suddenly, she was pumped and raring to go.
The petite woman found herself grinning back at her friend, and her anxiety slowly dissolved into nothingness. "We need a new strategy since I couldn't exactly pull my weight." She reminded the raven haired beauty. Then, a foolproof plan popped into her head. "Oh, wait! Now I've got an idea!" Serah leaned in close to her teammate and whispered her idea into Lebreau's ear.
The men in the other two groups weren't worried about being defeated—if anything, all four of them had grown cocky. They all began to slack off as if they had everything in the bag, and they'd won already. Needless to say, their carelessness would cost both their partners and themselves some points, just not during this event. The next few swimming races passed by swiftly, with Gadot and Yuj taking the lead, while Hope and Maqui followed closely behind.
The women needed a miracle if they wished to catch up, let alone snag first place. Fortunately, Serah knew exactly what she and Lebreau needed to do. In order to come out on top, the pinkette and the raven haired member of NORA must get perfect scores in the volleyball games to rack up extra points. Extra credit always increased if a group repeatedly won so many times in a row.
Unbeknownst to the male competitors; the attractive females had a few tricks up their sleeves. This particular volleyball game was set up different, as the court had a triangular formation; the net separating the areas for each team, in turn creating an inverted empty triangle in the middle. If anyone should get a clear shot in the middle, their team would earn a goal—it was a refreshing change of pace, as there were more players. Of course, hitting the spherical object passed opponents awarded much more points.
Each team gave their all and made the sport more difficult as the ball whizzed from person to person. Serah almost fumbled the ball, but she quickly passed it to Lebreau. Her teammate wasted no time retrieving the sphere. She tossed it into the air and jumped up, spiking the ball as hard as she could.
Gadot and Yuj hadn't expected the volleyball to soar their way. The partners each jumped up, the fiery redhead narrowly missing the spherical object before he fell forward into the sand while the blunette miscalculated the distance and missed the ball anyway. Their loss earned them the privilege of serving next, so Yuj tossed it to the left, almost successfully earning a goal when Serah stopped the object momentarily to hit it towards Maqui.
Hope and Maqui were more agile so whenever the sphere was thrown or punched in their area, they threw it elsewhere. They were formidable indeed, and things weren't going well for the other teams as the young man seemed to always score from the inverted triangle. Only once did he make a wrong move. When Gadot hurled it his way and he expected his blonde haired teammate to catch and throw the ball, Maqui made a blunder and the volleyball slipped through his fingers. "Relax." The white haired male whispered, briefly placing a comforting hand on his partner's shoulder. "We've got this."
Perspiration trickled down the side of the younger Farron sister's face. Distractedly, she blotted her face with her hand. When she dropped her guard, someone from one of the opposing teams flung the spherical object right passed her and her teammate. It became more obvious as the game progressed that the pinkette's plan to use speed to her advantage just wasn't enough. Lebreau was to stay on offense while Serah focused on boosting her speed without the use of magic—if only she could cast a haste spell on herself, at least then she'd be fast enough.
Being paired up, and facing her allies in a friendly scuffle almost reminded her of the time her ex-fiancé begged her to join his battle team as a Synergist, and she agreed without a second thought. Soon after their departure to take on a flying Cie'th, the young woman found herself struggling to aid Snow Villiers and his comrades. Thin brows knitted together, and azure hues welled with tears as she shook her head, as if to shake away the memories. No. No one could know about that time in the Vile Peaks. Her hero willingly risked his life, and endangered other lives as if they were expendable.
"Heads up!" The older female shouted, startling the grade school teacher from her thoughts.
Serah didn't need Lebreau to prompt her twice for she sprinted towards the volleyball before it could hit the sandy terrain. For the umpteenth time today, she launched the sphere in Hope and Maqui's direction, and something incredible happened. The two young men missed their chance to defend their side behind the net, and the ball bounced into the sand behind them.
"Goal!" the female partners yelled triumphantly in unison.
Following the younger Farron sister's first goal was an arduous game that almost felt like cat-and-mouse. As the sun began to set, the tournament was drawn to a close, and to Serah's surprise, Gadot and Yuj made an amazing comeback, earning first place.
Maqui sprained his ankle, but still put up a good fight alongside his ally Hope. Their team may have been in the lead for most of the competition, but the blonde's mistakes quickly turned the tables on them.
"I hope we play again in the future. Congrats!" The whitette conceded defeat with a hint of bitterness in his tone.
Lebreau stifled a laugh, and then turned her attention to Serah. "That was one hell of a game! You were amazing!" So, they might not have come out on top, but winning wasn't everything. If anything, she and the rosette put up a good fight against the members of NORA. "Let's go home. I'll make something special for tonight." It wouldn't take long to whip up a vegetarian soup and cut more vegetables for a salad.
When nightfall came, an aquatic Flan awoke from the dark depths of the water. It roamed the vast ocean in search of prey—mainly schools of fish. To its annoyance, most of the fish had fled. It gurgled loudly in anger, and concentrated on finding another source of food. Within moments, the creature squealed in delight as it sensed something. Possibly a human. The jellyfish-like monster hurriedly propelled itself forward, using its long black sensors to feel around in the dark, should any prey get in close proximity to it. Once it reached the surface, it found a peculiar island where people resided.
A young girl splashed around near the shore with her friends while the Flan laid in wait. The moment the children swam further out, the monstrosity snatched them up. For a while, it fed on the humans discreetly, never being seen until one little boy located it as it devoured his friend. The child screamed in horror and alerted every one of the Flan's presence. "MONSTER! IT ATE MY FRIEND. MOMMY, HELP ME!"
In a rush, members of team NORA geared up and warned everyone to stay away from the water as the Flan emerged from behind a rock. It howled and lurched forward, pouring sea water at its targets, knocking quite a few humans off their feet before using the water to pull them in. The more the warriors fought it off, the angrier and larger it became. Soon enough, it absorbed so much water that it towered over the puny village.
People were unable to get away when its assault began and it spilled its essence everywhere. It knocked down humans as if they were bowling pins, before it used its jellyfish-like streamers to snatch them up.
Gadot had done his best to fight, his gun firing away at the deep blue Flan, doing very little damage to it. Maqui was right behind the fellow NORA member, his gun aimed and at the ready. Yuj began to cast spells at the Jelly-Flan, in an attempt to give it negative status effects while Hope tried to keep his comrades from dying—casting Curative magic repeatedly.
Lebreau was in charge of getting everyone to safety. She had a feeling her efforts were going to be wasted, but that didn't stop her from trying to help. All the while, Serah stayed by her friend's side.
The raven haired beauty took a defensive stance, much like that of a Sentinel's. "Get everyone towards the meteor's crash site. Fast!" She commanded, earning a sad smile from the teacher.
"But what about you, and—" The pinkette began to protest, but was interrupted by screams that escaped the mouths of many terrified residents.
"Go now!" The former bartender yelled, holding her own even as she lost her footing and fell, the watery gelatinous substance covering her. She was about to attack, when the strange creature opened its gaping mouth as wide as it could go.
Before anyone could even think of escaping, the enormous Flan poured out an immense amount of ocean water over the seaside village. There was no escaping the creature, it intended on destroying anything in its path. Within a few moments, a cyclone formed, pulling the drowning humans towards the gelatinous being. People were engulfed into its waiting mouth, in turn satisfying its appetite. It gobbled up everyone—except Serah.
The grade school teacher used an unusual power to try and steady herself, but she was briefly pulled along anyway. As a last resort, she used the same strange magic to forcefully shove the overgrown predator away. However, she was the one who got knocked out further into the deep blue ocean. How did she end up so far away from home? Would she be able to save her friends, or was she too late? As the thoughts crossed her mind, she tried to keep her head above water, though it was all but hopeless.
With renewed desperation, the younger Farron sister flailed around, moving her arms much like how a rambunctious Chocobo flapped its wings. "L-lebreau!" She gasped out. Her body began to go limp as she fell, and her lungs began to fill with salt water. She wouldn't be able to save her friends, much less save herself. Serah lost consciousness eventually, flailing her hands in one last attempt before a familiar darkness welcomed her.
A handsome merman swam with dolphins toward the shores of an abandoned Isle, the very place he'd go to whenever he needed some time away from the underwater Palace of Paddra. As Noel neared the island, he found something peculiar floating in the water. "Huh. I wonder what this is…" The brunette mused aloud. He examined the hair tie, and decided he wanted to explore the area in which he found such a gorgeous piece of treasure. He delved into the dark waters and began his search, only to find something interesting: a human who had somehow gotten herself tangled in seaweed. "…" He couldn't bring himself to swim away from her, so he did the unthinkable and pulled the pinkette out of the water and onto the shore.
Noel had been about to leave, when he thought better of it. "She's not breathing." He realized, as he shook the human lightly. "Please wake up." If he remembered correctly, land-dwellers needed air to survive. "She couldn't breathe underwater if she tried. I can't just leave her like this." The merman slid into the sand and propped the human onto a smooth rock. He placed his hands over the mortal's chest over and over, but that proved to be useless. "Wake up!" Noel yelled in his Native tongue. His power gathered on his lips and he pressed them to the woman's, breathing life into her.
He pulled back and watched as the stranger coughed up sea water. His heartbeat quickened when her crystalline blue hues fluttered open, looking to him in confusion. "I'm glad you're okay."
The pinkette didn't seem to understand a word the merman was saying. She appeared frightened—probably because she was lost. "No, don't go. I can help you."
