A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I had to go to some stupid school thing and another stupid school thing and all that jazz, so I APOLOGIZE!

I do not own Naruto. Simple as that.

Chapter Four: Water, Bunnies, and Fights

The boat slowly floated along the waters, surrounded by a thick fog. I leaned against the rim of the boat, looking around at the others lazily. Naruto was currently sitting cross-legged at the front of the small motor boat, his hands on his knees and his eyes squinted, trying to see through the impossibly dense mist, no doubt. Sakura was seated beside Sasuke, looking anxious and wary as her green orbs analyzed any sound, any movement that her senses caught from our surroundings. Sasuke was being his anti-social self, just sitting there and trying to ignore his teammates to the best of his ability. Kakashi's one-eyed gaze was locked on Tazuna, whose head was ducked, his hat shadowing his eyes. The man who was giving us the ride to shore was using the rudder to steer instead of the motor.

"This fogs so thick…you can't see anything," Sakura whispered tensely. I nodded my head drowsily, the gentle rocking of the boat making me immensely sleepy.

"The bridge isn't far. Our destination's just ahead…the Land of Waves," the man directing the boat informed us quietly. Once again, I nodded and closed my purple orbs serenely, absorbing the quiet atmosphere. I really wished Shika was here; than I wouldn't feel so immensely lazy. I mean, there's no way you can feel lazy with Shikamaru around. It was practically impossible with his attitude. I lifted one eye open as the comfortable silence soon turned into a shocked one. And as I lifted my head, I saw why; directly to the right of the boat, a towering and half-built bridge stood its legs half immersed in the water below. Cranes and metal frames were splayed out on the surface of the bridge, but no one was working as of right now. I blinked three times.

"WOAH! IT'S HUGE!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. The man with the rudder glared at him harshly.

"Be quiet; I told you, no noise," he hissed roughly. I turned to him curiously, cocking my head to the side.

Did he really tell us that? When? I wondered briefly, not recalling him saying anything about staying quiet. Actually, the only thing I actually remember since getting on the boat was a large and very annoyed Sasuke glaring at me for some reason; his hair was a vibrant pink and his clothes were a little too tight, looking as if he was suffocating. A sweat drop rolled down the back of my head as realization struck me.

Did I actually fall asleep earlier? Oh well…seeing as Sasuke's hair is not pink, I would say so…

"Why do think we're traveling like this, huh?" the man continued in a hushed voice. His eyes scanned our fogged surroundings anxiously. "Cutting off the motor and rowing; moving through this dense fog so they don't see us?"

I nodded my head, understanding the need to be quiet and stealthy. Naruto covered his mouth with both hands, looking a bit panicked. I heard a muffled, "Sorry!" come from him and I laughed, only to be immediately silence by someone's hand covering my mouth roughly. I looked over at Sasuke and glared at his emotionless expression.

"Be quiet, baka," he muttered. I rolled my eyes but nodded stiffly, expecting him to remove his hand. But he didn't; it stayed in place across my mouth, blocking off any sound that might come from it. I glared again and, once I caught his gaze, I stared down at his hand pointedly. It didn't budge. As a last resort, I pressed my tongue through my lips and drew it across his hand immaturely. It retracted at once and I smiled, bringing my tongue back into my mouth. Sasuke sat across from me, putting his hand in the water before wiping it on his shorts with a scowl directed at me. My smile grew in size, happy I had managed to annoy the boy and get some kind of contact other than fighting. That crush, from the academy, you know? Yeah, it's still intact.

"Mr. Tazuna, before we reach the pier, I need to ask you something: the men, the ninjas, who're after you…I need to know why. If you do not tell us, I will have to end this mission when we reach the shore," Kakashi told our client slowly and demandingly. Tazuna sighed deeply.

"I guess I have no choice but to tell you. No, I want you to know the truth," he whispered determinedly. And as we sat listening, he dove into his explanation of Gato, the shipping and business guy. Apparently everyone knew him, except me, which, in short, means I'm nobody. Wonderful, yeah? Anyways, he explained how not only was this short man an ingenius businessman, but a drug-dealer. He had goons and ninjas working for him. When he gained control of the small Land of Waves, he took it over and as Tazuna said: 'A man who owns the waters, owns our town, our finances, our very lives.'

"And if the bridge is finished, it will cut off his power," Tazuna concluded. Sakura rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"And seeing as you're the Master Bridge Builder, you're getting in this gangsters way," she observed. I snickered at the word 'gangster' being used by Sakura, but kept on track. Sasuke leaned against the rim of the boat.

"Which means the men in the forest…they were working for Gato."

"Mm-hm, yep, they sure were," I agreed blandly. My hand ran through the sand-locks on my head boredly as I stared out at the seemingly endless waters. The fog wasn't thinning and it was a bit unnerving, even though I refused to admit it. It was just fog…

"But don't worry about me! Of course, they'll assassinate me before I even make it to the bridge. And my grandson will cry, 'Granddad, I want my Granddad!' And my daughter will curse the Leaf Ninjas as she lives her life in sorrow…" Tazuna mourned. A sweat drop rolled down my head at the guilt trip he was putting us through and glanced at the others. Naruto and Sakura looked like they were torn. I gave them a half-lidded, disbelieving look.

Leave it to them to fall for it, I thought. Sasuke looked impassive but I saw the tiniest hint of worry in his obsidian eyes. When I caught his gaze, I raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the old man with a roll of my eyes. He nodded, silently agreeing that this was bullshit.

"Well, I guess we have no choice! We'll have to continue on with this mission," Kakashi declared, smiling under that ridiculous mask. I yawned.

"Oh, thank you very much!"

I swear I saw him stick out his tongue and mouth, 'I win.'

"Tazuna, the village is just ahead. We've been very fortunate, no one has seen us," the driver murmured from the back of the boat. Tazuna nodded and whispered, "Nice job," in response. The boat drifted under a large archway, heading into a tunnel. My mind automatically went into panic mode, but my indifferent façade stayed firmly in place. Closed spaces were one of my hidden fears; I hadn't even told my own team about it. It was, along with being all alone, one of my all time weaknesses, so it was bad enough people know of one of them, let alone both. I concentrated on deep breathing, tuning out everything else.

"Kaiya, are you okay?" I knew the voice, but it was kind of far away. I hadn't realized I had closed my eyes until I had to open them to look at the owner of the voice. Sakura had crawled over to me and was now sitting in front of my body, a worried and anxious look adorning her features. My face split into a wide, fake smile.

"Yeah, Sakura," I assured, waving my hands in a dismissive manner. "I'm fine."

She didn't look convinced but when we became bathed in light, something else caught her attention. The Land of Waves was a beautiful place with a large base of water. In the middle were two trees with roots that arched gracefully out of the water before diving back in. The branches hung low with lush leaves and the sun reflected in the waters. This was probably the docking place because many boats were bobbing up and down in the water, each tied to a different pole. The man, whose name escapes me, pulled up to the wooden walkway and stopped. We six stepped out and onto the sidewalk, turning to say goodbye to our escort.

"I can't thank you enough for doing this for us," Tazuna said, bowing slightly. The man nodded curtly.

"Just be careful." And with the final words spoken, he activated the engine and drove off. I glared at the retreating boat.

"Well, that was a rip-off. We would've been better off swimming here if he wanted to be so dang paranoid and go at a snails pace."

Kakashi bopped me on the head before continuing on towards the town, walking on the dirt path. I walked with Sasuke leisurely, staring up at the sky. The raven kept glancing over at me, trying to be discreet, with a look of curiosity on his face. After ignoring it for ten minutes, I sighed sharply and turned to him, catching him in the act.

"No offense, but I'm not a zoo animal. I do not enjoy being gawked at for no reason. Now, if you have a reason for staring at me, I'd love to hear it," I said. The boy stared at me for a second before shrugging, causing an irk mark to appear on my temple. It pulsated as I bonked the air-compacter that he calls a head.

"What the hell? If you're going to gawk at me, Emo Boy, you can at least have the decency to tell me why!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort when suddenly Naruto ran ahead, kunai in hand. We stopped, watching as he threw it in some random direction.

"Over there!"

I tensed, waiting for the ninja to come out, but nothing happened. The already angry irk mark grew and I scowled at my friend, trying to catch his jumpsuit on fire with my eyes. His head kept snapping back and forth, obviously thinking over something.

Kakashi stiffened and he glanced to the right, his one eye narrowed. I looked over too, feeling some kind of odd prescense.

"No, over there!"

Following the idiots voice was a kunai and it flew into the trees, hitting something solid with a distinct 'thunk.' I ran over, kunai in hand, but nearly lost it when I saw a white bunny there.

"Eh, it was just a mouse," Naruto stated from his spot on the path.

"Yeah right! A mouse! You're so obvious it's embarrassing!" Sakura screeched.

"STOP TRYING TO SCARE ME, YOU SCRUMPY LITTLE DWARF!"

Tazuna's voice was, by far, the most threatening. I kneeled and picked up the bunny, hugging it softly. Sakura and Kakashi walked over and I pouted, kissing the fluffy ear. With a huff, I stood up and held the bunny out for Naruto to see, my eyes shining with dramatic, unshed tears.

"Look what you did, you freaking DOBE!"

The orange ninja blinked before rushing over. Unfortunately for him, I was still mad and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back into the tree that Sasuke was currently standing beside. He didn't even flinch as the dobe made such hard contact with the tree that it crack and fell backwards. The unemotional Uchiha look down at the swirly-eyed Naruto, than back at me with an eyebrow raised, clearly asking, 'Why couldn't you have done that earlier?'

"Oh no, you don't, dobe! You aren't coming near this little creature," I yelled at Naruto angrily, hugging the bunny closer. With a glance back at it, my eyes narrowed slightly.

It's a snow bunny…but their fur is only white in winter, when the days are shorter and have less sun…So, for this fur to be so pure, it would've had to be bred in captivity. But what's it doing here?

My thinking was interrupted when Kakashi yelled out. I blinked, not catching what he said, but it didn't matter because the next second, I was flat on the ground with some kind of weight on top of me. I lifted my face out of the dirt and coughed, holding the bunny outwards so that it didn't get squashed. Sasuke was lying beside me, giving me an annoyed look.

"Eh? What happened? Why did you do that?"

"Baka!"

I huffed at his name-calling and glanced up, seeing a large sword impaled in a nearby tree. I looked at the angle it was at and determined where it had come from, than gasped.

"I almost DIED!"

"Well, at least you caught on," Sasuke snapped, standing up. I followed his actions, putting the now conscious bunny on the ground. It hopped off without a look back.

"Pardon me, I was thinking!"

"Shocking," he said deadpan. I glared and was about to attack him when a man appeared, landing on the sword. His light purple pin-striped pants went up to his chest, the bottoms covered with some kind of Dalmatian-print leg warmers. His black ninja sandals had some kind of tractions on the bottom. His chest was bare, showing off the light tan he had. His black hair was unkempt and stuck out at odd angles, only further distorted by the way he wore his Mist Village headband; the metal was positioned on the side of his head while it was tied on the opposite side. His arms, from his wrist to his elbow, were covered with the same printed warmers as his legs bore. His face from the nose down was covered in white bandages.

What is it with Jounin and masks, I thought distractedly. The man stared down at us, his eyes glinting with amusement. I saw his eyes dart to Tazuna, than back to us and even though it was the smallest gesture, I already knew that he had been sent to kill the man. With a swift movement, I was in front of our client, my stance defensive. The man's expression grew even more amused.

Naruto rushed forward, causing me to slap my forehead. Luckily, Kakashi stopped him before he attacked this new enemy.

"Get back. You're in the way," he told us firmly. I nodded curtly, trying to grab the other's attention. Unfortunately, they were all focused on the new arrival.

We need to protect Tazuna, I thought desperately, knowing that I couldn't do this by myself. Kakashi brought up his hand to his headband, getting ready to push it up.

"If he's our opponent, I'll be needing this." He pushed up the headband slowly, revealing the scar underneath. It went from his headband, down to his mask as far as I could see, crossing over his eyelid. But his eye was what shocked me. The color was crimson red with three commas surrounding the pupil. My brow creased.

"What's that…?"

"Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan Eye, did I get that right?" the ninja asked. His voice was deep and gravelly, but crystal clear. "It's too bad, eh? But you'll have to hand over the old man."

"Quick, protect the bridge builder…and stay out of this fight. I taught you teamwork, now use it!" Kakashi demanded. No one moved. I was already protecting Tazuna, so I couldn't change anything, but the others were just standing there, gawking.

"Hm, I guess I get to see the Sharingan in action. What an honor."

"Sharingan, Sharingan! What is the Sharingan?" Naruto asked wildly, staring at Kakashi for some kind of explanation. But the young Uchiha got to it first.

"The Sharingan…a bloodline trait that runs in the Uchiha Clan; it resides in the eyes. It can comprehend any ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu and return it back on the attacker. But that's only the beginning. There's much more to it," Sasuke stated, staring at Kakashi. The man on the sword chuckled darkly.

"Correct, boy, but you just scratched the surface. The Sharingan can analyze any jutsu to the smallest detail and than copy it," he stated. I looked at Kakashi's back in shock, wondering how he has it if it resides in the Uchiha Clan. My eyes widened as an idea hit me.

Could he be…?

A mist began to form around us, starting thin at first than getting thicker. The man stated how Kakashi was known throughout the Mist Village and that some were actually ordered to destroy him on sight, Kakashi Hatake, the man who copied over a thousand Jutsu; the Copy Ninja.

"Enough talking, I need to exterminate the old man."

At the threat, the others finally formed around me. I grinned.

"About time, gawkers," I muttered under my breath. The Mist-Nin chuckled again and pointed at me.

"You, girl, I like you. You've got spunk. It's such a shame you're on the wrong side," he stated with a tilt of his head. I glared viciously.

"My name's not girl, you stupid jerk. It's Kaiya, remember it," I snapped harshly.

I really hated it when people called me chick or babe or girl. They are NOT my NAME!

He laughed again and disappeared, only to reappear on the surface of the river. With an arm extended upwards and two fingers pressed to his mouth, the mist began to thicken and he once again, vanished.

"He's gone…" Sakura whispered fearfully.

"Zabuza Momochi, the ex-leader of the Hidden Mist Assassination Unit. He's a master at the silent killing technique," Kakashi finally explained. I swallowed loudly, trying to fight the fear that was bubbling inside the pit of my stomach.

"Th-the silent killing technique?" Naruto stuttered. Kakashi nodded.

"Yes, its name is self-explanatory. It happens so quick, you don't even know when you pass from this life." I nodded in understanding. "Well, if we lose, we only lose our lives."

"How can you say that?" Sakura snapped. I smiled lightly at Kakashi, liking him more every minute. But panic finally gripped me when Kakashi disappeared from our view.

"Kakashi?" I called out.

"Stay together. He'll come for me first," his voice came back to us. I sighed thankfully, my body still positioned defensively. The area was clouded with a tense silence and I thought I was going to go crazy. But soon, a blast of chakra revealed the silver-haired ninja and I felt suddenly better.

"Eight points: larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, simply an artery, kidneys, heart…now, which will be my attack point?" a voice mused. Yeah, there goes my suddenly better mood. I couldn't tell where Zabuza was and it scared me. But suddenly, I got an idea. I glanced at Sasuke and saw that he was shaking, his eyes wide with fright. I blinked, wondering what bought on this sudden change in attitude. I nearly slapped him when I saw the kunai he was holding suddenly twist so that it was pointing towards his stomach, but instead of slapping him, I grabbed his wrist. He glanced at me and I shook my head, a worried expression etching into my features, my plan darting from my mind.

"Sasuke, calm down; I will protect you…all of you. I will not allow my comrades to die!" Kakashi promised us. He turned around so he faced us and smiled under his mask, his eyes crinkling at the corners. I gave a weak smile back, but it disappeared when his voice returned.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."

I almost kneeled over from a heart attack when Zabuza suddenly appeared between Tazuna and us. The old man stared at the assassin in fear, but my instinct kicked in. With one fluid move, I jumped over Zabuza and landed beside Tazuna, pushing him to the ground away from the killer. Tazuna's earlier guilt trip ran through my head.

'And my grandson will cry, 'Where's my granddad, I want my granddad!'

My eyes narrowed in determination. I would not allow some poor kid to lose his grandfather because we failed to do our job as ninja. It was unacceptable.

"Get it through your head; you have to kill us to get to the Bridge Builder," I growled at the Jounin. Suddenly, the others were pushed out of the way and Kakashi appeared, stabbing the man in the side with a kunai. But instead of thick blood coming out of the wound, thin water did. My eyes widened.

A water clone!

Zabuza's form transferred into it's element and splashed to the ground around Kakashi's feet. His eyes widened. The real ninja appeared behind the sensei, slicing Kakashi in half with his sword. I, once again, almost had a heart attack, until I saw Kakashi turn into water too. He came up behind the shocked Zabuza, holding a kunai knife to his throat.

Whoa…Zabuza only just created that clone and yet, Kakashi still managed to copy it with the slightest of ease, I thought, astounded.

"Now it's over," the leaf village Jounin stated darkly. I took the time to run over to Sasuke, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him up.

"Come on, Uchiha, this battle isn't finished and we have to protect Tazuna," I whispered harshly. He blinked up at me and nodded, coming out of his stupor. I got Sakura up and in front of Tazuna while Sasuke assembled Naruto. Soon, Tazuna was once again protected.

"Hey, you alright, Bridge Builder?" I whispered worriedly. The man nodded, his eyes trained on me.

"You…you saved me," he muttered. I grinned and bobbed my head up and down, flashing a peace sign.

"Of course I did! It's our job. Besides…" I whispered, changing my playful attitude into one of complete seriousness. "I don't like the idea of some kid losing his granddad because we were too scared to do anything. We're here for you, Tazuna, and we will do whatever it takes to keep you safe."

The other three nodded in unison until Naruto grinned his foxy grin and hugged me. "That was awesome, Kay-chan!"

My face heated up and I smiled modestly with a shrug. "Eh, it wasn't anything too flashy…"

"Nice try, but I'm not that easy to fool," Zabuza declared and I turned my attention back to the fight. My eyes narrowed at the sight of another Momochi appearing behind Kakashi. The Team Seven leader stabbed the ex-Mist Nin in front of him, reverting it back into water. Zabuza swung his sword skillfully and Kakashi ducked to avoid it's sharp blade. The large weapon made a large gash in the ground as it made contact, but all Zabuza did was twirl around and put his weight on the sword, lifting his leg in the air, and kicked Kakashi into the air. The Jounin landed in the water with a splash and Zabuza followed, only to stop when he was the spikes Kakashi had let out. I bit my lip.

"Damn, he found the trap…" I muttered under my breath. Zabuza back flipped into the water and all was still, making my nerves fizzle. Suddenly, I saw Kakashi sensei get trapped into a sphere of dark blue water. It looked dense.

"Oh no!"

One of Zabuza's hands were in the prison, keeping it in place as he turned to us, telling Kakashi that he has to 'exterminate' us. I huffed.

"You make it sound like we'll bend over and die," I commented coolly. He eyed me with amusement and interest before making the hand sign to create clones. I kept my shock hidden that he could perform a jutsu with one hand.

"You don't deserve to be called ninja! When you hover between living and dying so many times it does nothing to you, than you may be called ninja. But to call upstarts like you ninja…is a joke."

He disappeared again, swallowed by the mist, and I swore. With a small noise, he appeared and kicked Naruto back, sending his headband flying. I gasped before facing the now revealed Zabuza angrily. I turned to Sakura, who was a few feet away from me. We had spread out when Kakashi had been caught, giving each other room.

"Hide Tazuna, got it?" I demanded. She looked at me for a second before nodding and grabbing Tazuna's hand, dragging him into the forest. Zabuza made a move to go after them until I tossed a kunai over to him, moving so fast it went unnoticed by him until it cut his cheek. He blinked for a second before turning his attention to me. His foot was placed over Naruto's headband and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Get the bridge builder and run! You can't win this fight!" Kakashi ordered from his prison; his voice was slightly muffled by the water. "He's using everything he has to keep me here. If you run, he can only follow you so far with his clone!"

I glared at him viciously, taking my attention off Zabuza for a moment. "Run away? Not going to happen, Kakashi. No matter what, he will track us down and wipe us out. Sorry, but we aren't leaving you and we aren't running away; not now, not ever."

I turned back to Zabuza only to see him holding Sasuke up by his throat. My eyes widened as he threw the boy to the ground, sending him skidding back. Zabuza, ignoring me, turned to the frightened Naruto as Sakura called out to Sasuke. I watched as Naruto went to turn around, but caught sight of his bandaged hand. I already knew what was going through his head and my eyes softened. His oath of pain, to never run away and let someone else save him, was still clear in my mind too. Naruto stood up and glared at Zabuza before rushing forward.

"Naruto, no!" Kakashi yelled, but the orange ninja paid no heed.

"Aaah, Naruto, what are you thinking?!" Sakura cried. I just realized that she and Tazuna were back in the clearing. I sighed.

I ask her to do one simple thing, I thought, aggravated. But as I turned my attention back to Naruto and Zabuza, I saw what the blonde idiot was up to. Before being thrown backwards, he grasped his headband. When he ended up by his teammates, Sakura scolded him for what he had attempted to do. I very nearly lost it, but Naruto came to before I could. He stood up, tied his headband around his forehead and turned to Zabuza.

"Put this in your BINGO book; there's a ninja in the Hidden Leaf who never backs down. His name is Naruto Uzumaki!"

I saw the dork converse with Sasuke and decided to take my chance on the distracted Zabuza. I placed my hands together and allowed four shadow clones to appear on either side of me. The man turned to me, finally, and scoffed, swinging his sword through each one of us. But I smirked and all of them disappeared. Looking through the leaves of the tree I was hiding in, I saw Zabuza's clone searching for me, but I wasn't about to fight his stupid clone. I jumped from the branch and over to Kakashi's prison, towards the real one. I knew I had no chance, but I knew Sasuke and Naruto were making a plan and I needed to get Zabuza's attention off of them and onto me. I looked at the shocked boys out of the corner of my eye and winked before taking a breath and jumping up. I landed on top of the large sphere, smiling down at Zabuza before ducking to avoid his clone's sword.

"Very good, but…" I said before bringing my leg up with Lee-style speed and kicking the man in the jaw. "Not good enough."

He didn't remove his hand from the prison but his eyes flared angrily as blood seeped out of the corner of his mouth. I landed on the water softly, standing on it just like him with my arms crossed. I was much more skilled than most people knew and it was being used to my advantage here. He was shocked I could move so fast and walk on water, but soon, he created the same hand signs as he did for Kakashi. I didn't flinch as I joined Kakashi in his prison bubble thing. This was exactly what I wanted; the others had time to talk through their plan, so now it was time to use it. I held my breath, trying to keep the water from leaking into my lungs. Kakashi had made some kind of jutsu for him self to keep the water at bay, but I couldn't, therefore I probably wouldn't be able to last too long. Kakashi made sure I was farther away from Zabuza.

"The mission is not to test how brave you are! It's to protect the Bridge Builder! Stay. On. Mission!" Kakashi ordered. I felt the edges of my thoughts becoming hazy as lack of oxygen began to take its toll on me. Naruto turned to Tazuna.

"Bridge Builder?"

"This all happened because of me and my desire to live…I will not let that stand in your way now. Go and save your sensei and friend!" he announced. I grinned happily and waved to the others from my spot, earning a worried look from them. If I could've, I would've sighed.

My thoughts were becoming more hazy and disorientated as Kakashi and Zabuza began to explain the examinations for becoming Genin in the Mist. All I remember was that Zabuza had killed every last student with his own hands and liked it. My mind came back into a little sharper focus when Zabuza attacked Sasuke, sending him to the ground on his back. With his elbow, Zabuza bashed Sasuke into the ground hard, earning yells from the young Uchiha. He stepped on his stomach and pushed down until Naruto caught his attention. I wasn't exactly sure what happened next besides that a large wind shruiken came flying towards the real Zabuza. He caught it easily with his unoccupied hand and I sweat dropped.

That was their plan? Well…this was a rip-off.

But my opinion changed when another shruiken came flying towards him. He jumped over it and the weapon went twirling behind him. I saw Sasuke smirk and wondered why, until the second weapon turned into Naruto with a puff of smoke. My eyes widened and I grinned as he threw a kunai at Zabuza, who had no choice but to remove his hand from the sphere of water. But as I saw the kunai head towards Zabuza, my mind became foggy and my lungs began to scream in pain from not breathing. I opened my mouth, only to fell a rush of water entered it and slid down into my awaiting lungs. I hardly felt it when the water prison was released, sending me into the lake below.