Chapter 4! :D

R&R?

What if they don't make it?

I try and shake the thought, but I can't. Let's see, what could save them besides the robot arm in time? There aren't sharks or dolphins, and they don't even have their Creature Power Suits. Candice doesn't have one, end of story. (Aviva's making one for her, and it's going to be light blue.) So, there goes that idea. What- OHHHH. And then it hits me.

The Loch Ness Monster. It may not be real, but it's my only hope!

"Nessie?" I whisper to the water. "Nessie, if you can hear this, my friends are trapped at the bottom of your loch. Please, can you save them? Chris, my adoptive dad's down there. And his brother and his brother's wife. I just came back. They can't go! They just can't! Please, Nessie, if you're real, help!"

The water gives no response. So I run over to Aviva instead. There, on her computer, is Chris, Candice and Martin. Aviva's computer is on a table, and honestly, I really need Nessie to come save my family.

"Oh, Leilani," Chris says. "I wish you didn't have to see this."

"Aren't you glad you didn't come?" Candice asks, managing a slight smile.

"Chris. Candice. Martin," I whisper. "I can't do anything. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Chris looks at me, then Aviva. "Take care of each other, okay? I love you."

"Don't say that," Aviva cries, still working on the robot arm. "I'm almost done!"

"You can't go!" Tears roll down my cheeks.

What is this, the point in The Hunger Games where everyone dies? With the sadness of rebel attacks or Rose Tyler and Doomsday? Or the Battle of Hogwarts? The death of Luke? This can't be! I'm not the girl in the story who loses her family! I'm not even IN a story!

Suddenly we hear a crash, and Martin asks, "What was that?"

"Something hit the sub!" Chris exclaims. "I love you, Aviva and Leilani! Be brave!"

And then the connection shuts off. Natalia grabs me in a hug, and I face towards the loch. Aviva's still working on the robot arm, and I fight back the urge of tears. No... why... I get them back and they're gone... now what do I do? Get a job? It seems like the longest minutes of my life, and then Aviva suddenly breaks down in tears. I know what that means. The ten minutes is up. They're probably... gone.

Be brave, Chris said. Like a heroine from my books/TV shows? I can try to be brave. Everything gets better. In The Hunger Games, Katniss married Peeta and they live happily ever after. Alessandra... help me, please, I think. Suddenly, I feel a reassuring feeling. Like Alessandra and Marcy are both there. I look at the sky, and the clouds clear. The sun shines. Marcy must have done that. Then Natalia breaks away.

"Leilani, I'm so sor- OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Natalia screams, pointing at the loch. "Oh, did I just swear out loud? Crap!"

The amphisub appears, pushing its way out of the loch. The thing keeps it up above the surface. Is it...? Did it...? Oh my god, is this real? The thing pushes it onto the shore, and I see what's done it. And I can't believe my eyes.

"The Loch Ness Monster," I whisper, running over towards it. "Nessie."

Nessie hides under the water until only its (is it a girl or a guy?) head is showing. I pull out my Creature Pod and it seems to shrink under more.

"Shh, no, I'm just going to scan you." I tap a few buttons, and Nessie is scanned. She looks like a female... "Nessie, you're a girl, aren't you? You're not even a monster. And you probably not going to eat me."

"The Loch Ness Monster!" Aviva exclaims, hopping up. "Oh my gosh! You brought them back!"

She and Natalia run over to the amphisub, and I walk out towards Nessie until my shoes are wet. "Nessie, thank you so much. Can we study you? We're your friends. We want to help."

"IT'S THE LOCH NESS MONSTER! GET IT!"

"GO!" I scream, and Nessie immediately goes underwater- deep, deep down, probably. Some bullets fly over the loch, just barely missing her.

"Maria Johnson," I hear Natalia spat. "You're technically on my property. And you're trespassing."

"The lake is a public place," Maria replies. "I saw the monster."

"What monster?" I ask.

"Oh, I don't believe we've met." Maria smiles. "Maria Johnson."

"Leilani Corcovado-Kratt, yes, I'm alive, and Queen of the Wild." I reply. "Get off Natalia's property."

She smiles coldly. "If you insist."

She leaves, and Natalia looks over at me. "You did not just hear me swear, right?"

"Right." I smile. "If you did would you get grounded?"

"Most likely," she answers.

Everyone, honestly, looks shocked. I mean, the Loch Ness 'Monster' just brought up the amphisub from the bottom of Loch Ness. It also just appeared for me. And just when everything looked hopeless, everyone lives. (Just this once, everybody lives! A quote from the Ninth Doctor.) Natalia ans I stand there (kind of awkwardly, too) as Martin and Candice hug, and Chris and Aviva hug.

"You idiot," Aviva says, almost crying. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry," he replies, grabbing my arm and hugging me too.

"I got a scan of Nessie." I look out at the calm, clear lake. "She let me scan her. She's not a monster. She doesn't want to be hurt, though."

"You got a scan?" Candice asks, suddenly interested. "No way. No way!"

"Yeah," I reply, handing her my Creature Pod. "Here."

Candice taps buttons on it, and Martin peers over her shoulder. "Leilani, you did it! Nessie's a girl, and it looks like... She's pregnant?"

"What?" Aviva asks. "No way!"

She runs over, leaving me and Chris together. "So, I guess you're the queen of Loch Ness now?"

"I guess." I laugh. "Her Royal Highness Queen Leilani Corcovado-Kratt of Loch Ness. And the wild."

"Wait, if you're my daughter, doesn't that make you the princess and me the king?" Chris asks, teasingly.

"No." I smirk. "I'm the queen here."

"Of course, Your Highness." He bows, laughing. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

We both laugh and walk over to everyone else.

Okay, again, Nessie is not a proven animal/monster and the story is 100% fiction. (But there HAVE been Nessie sightings, pictures & videos that have not been proven to be a hoax!)