They reached the dock around noon the next day, despite Genis's doubt. Everything looked peaceful and crowded- the Geyser was a popular tourist spot after all.
"Please tell me that's not a washtub." Raine begged.
Well, mostly peaceful.
"That's a washtub. In you go." Lloyd pushed Raine in and hopped in with her. "Meet you at the Geyser." He said to his parents and friends and began to row the washtub.
Mystera poked her head out of the water and squeaked. Lloyd smiled in return.
Lloyd pulled his washtub into the dock at the Geyser and helped Raine out. The professor proceeded to start molesting the ground, which made Lloyd immediately look away.
Right at Colette and Kratos's washtub.
Which was when he noticed something was wrong.
"Dad! Colette!" Lloyd shouted. Their washtub was taking on water.
A lot of water.
In other words, they were sinking.
Kratos had an arm around Colette's waist, the Chosen trying desperately to stay above the water. Her being the Chosen had caused her to be unable to go swimming even if she went with Lloyd and Genis to the river.
Lack of swimming experience meant one thing.
She couldn't swim.
"Mystera!!" Lloyd called out, but the protozoan did not appear.
"Colette!" Anna shouted, reaching out for the girl from her and Sheena's washtub. Colette reached, but couldn't quite reach the woman's hands. "Sheena, get me closer!"
"I'm trying!!" Sheena shouted, paddling desperately.
Finally, Anna got a grip on Colette's arm and pulled her up into the washtub. The Chosen coughed up the water that had settled itself into her lungs and Sheena and Anna quickly brought the washtub to shore.
"Colette!" Lloyd helped her out of the washtub and onto the dock.
"I'm okay." Colette assured him, "Thank you, Anna."
"It's nothing, Colette." Anna assured her, "I'm just glad you're safe."
Kratos pulled himself up onto the dock as Genis made it there safely as well.
"Let's get up away from this dock." Kratos said, "Then we can sit and rest."
The group agreed, and they headed up to the tourist infested area near the geyser. Taking a seat on the benches, Colette leaned back and looked up at the sky, breathing heavily.
"I think we should stop for awhile." Anna said, "Colette needs to rest. She sucked down a lot of sea water."
Colette shook her head, "No, no, I'm fine!" she assured, "I just want to rest for a minute, then we can look for the seal!"
Lloyd frowned, "Colette…"
"Really, I'm fine!" Colette smiled, "I'm sorry for holding everyone back."
"Stop apologizing!" Lloyd and Anna scolded at the same time.
Colette laughed cautiously.
XXXX
Ten minutes later, they split up to look for the seal. Peeking around sign boards and behind tourists, they looked like an odd group.
"What are we looking for?" Sheena asked Lloyd.
"The Oracle Stone." Lloyd answered.
Sheena blinked.
"Colette can use it to open the seal." Lloyd explained.
"Wait, seal?" Sheena asked, "Colette's the Chosen?"
Lloyd nodded, "Yeah… you didn't figure that out?"
"No…" Sheena blinked.
"Found it!" Genis exclaimed, pointing at the oracle stone.
Colette hurried over, "Awesome!" she grinned at him, placing her hand tentatively on the stone and watching as a bridge of glowing light appeared leading to a ledge where a rock vanished.
"Wow!" Genis grinned, running up the bridge, "This is so cool!"
The rest of the group followed him and they entered the seal. The air inside was humid and sticky, making everyone uncomfortable, and Raine and Colette's hair quite frizzy.
Genis snickered.
"Stop it!" Raine smacked him. "It doesn't look that bad!"
Her hair was sticking up in odd directions, making for a funny sight.
So funny, in fact, that it distracted Genis to the point where he tripped over a clam shell and landed smack on his face in the middle of the walkway.
As he stood up, grumbling, he kicked the shell, "Stupid clam." He said as he vaulted the shell over the edge of the walkway with his foot.
The group kept walking, but then they heard a roar from behind them.
Turning around, they saw that the clam Genis had kicked had teeth.
And friends.
With teeth.
"Run!" Kratos shouted, having no idea how to fight a clam shell. Agreeing, the group took off towards the nearest open door, the angry-clam-shells-with-friends-and-teeth chasing them.
They didn't get a reprieve until they reached an area with two unlit torches. Colette used the sorcerers ring to light them both, and then Genis used an Aqua Edge spell to fill the container with water.
And voila, the platform with the teleporter raised up to their level.
"Is everyone ready for this battle?" Kratos asked.
Of course, he was fine. As always.
The others were fine as well, though. A little tired out from their run, but otherwise just fine.
Kratos nodded, and they headed through the teleporter.
XXXX
"Mana! It's happening again!" Genis said, surprised.
Sure enough, a blue light appeared, and Adulocia and her two Amphitras appeared, weapons at the ready.
"God damn it." Anna cursed, before soaring into battle, Katar at the ready. This was Sheena's first seal battle, or well, seal in the first place, so she whipped out her cards, only to get hit with a large blast of water and sent flying backwards.
"Sheena!" Lloyd shouted, catching her.
"Thanks." Sheena said, uprighting herself, "Never doing that again." She held back and cast, "Pyre seal!"
Lloyd hurried into battle, slashing at the monsters.
"COLD NOSE!" Anna shouted, stabbing her Katar into the Adulocia's face.
"Anna, that is NOT a tech and I don't even know why you would think it would be!" Kratos shouted at her.
"It is so!" Anna pouted, pointing at the Adulocia who was clutching her frozen nose.
Kratos blinked.
"Slippery Paper!" Anna grinned, stabbing the ground.
The Adulocia slipped on a piece of paper that appeared and fell backwards, landing on its butt.
Kratos's eyes widened.
Anna stuck her tongue out at him. "Pink soap!" she shouted, and suddenly everyone near her was healed.
"This is insane." Kratos muttered.
"Dad! Battle!" Lloyd shouted, slashing at the one remaining Amphitra with his swords and causing it to vanish.
"Right." Kratos went back to the battle, and soon enough it was done.
Colette walked up and started to pray, her wings appearing and lifting her into the air as she released the seal, and Remiel descended.
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I AM ON A ROLL.
EXPECT ANOTHER ONE TODAY.
I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M TALKING IN ALL CAPS.
REVIEW PLEASE! KEEP ME GOING!
