Chapter Twenty-Five - Possible
(…)
"Hold on to your teeth!" Marine yelled as the ship rocked violently.
"Whats going on!" Charmy asked holding to a railing.
Marine spun the wheel to level the ship out again.
"A lot of ships have gone down in here before, we should be able to take a direct hit on one of the wrecks but I still don't want to, were gonna be bouncing around like a kangaroo in a coffee joint." She said through gritted teeth.
"Captain, the rigging is swinging hard!" Usagi called struggling with the ropes.
"There must be more then just water currents colliding here, the wind won't be able to do us much good." Marine commented seeing the sail billowing one way then the other all in a few seconds.
"The box is in front of us!" Cream yelled over the winds as they picked up.
"We've got to follow that box, we can sling our way past the whirlpools with luck" Marine thought turning hard to port.
The groans of the boat were loud enough to be heard even as the wind picked up again.
A door flew open as Tails kicked it.
"I've got the engine fixed, try it!" he yelled with a smile.
Marine gunned it and they lurched forward with new power.
"Usagi! Stow that sail or the whole mast is likely to snap off!" Marine yelled.
Usagi simply nodded before bounding as far as he could and starting to climb the rigging to pull in the sail.
Cream couldn't take off in the winds so she began to try and climb as well.
"Marine! This doesn't look good" Tails had joined her.
"Shove it mate, i'm putter er to all she's good for!" Marine bit back.
She pulled to starboard but couldn't get the wheel to turn.
"Bugger won't give..." She breathed struggling.
Tails grabbed a hold and tried to help force the wheel.
The two wrestled with the wheel but there still wasn't a chance.
"Choo" Cheese cried holding to Cream to not be blown away.
"Hold on Cheese... just hold on..." Cream kept climbing, trying to help.
"WE NEED THAT SAIL STOWED OR THIS THING WON'T LISTEN!" Marine bellowed as loud as she could.
Charmy grasped at the railing and tried to move his light frame against the wind.
He too struggled with the wheel trying to help and they succeeded in moving the wheel a little.
"Charmy, help them with the sail" Marine said looking up and seeing Usagi beginning to work on it.
Cream pulled herself onto the sail brace just as Charmy took off.
Her, Cheese, and Usagi struggled with the ropes trying to pull the sail back up and free the ship from the wind.
Charmy was battered by the wind but a brief pause in it's fury got him closer to the sail.
"I've got it!" Charmy yelled beginning to pull the sail up.
The wind resumed it's terror and ripped the bee from his handhold and sent him spiraling toward the water.
"NO!" Usagi cried jumping from the sail with a solitary rope to anchor himself.
He grabbed Charmy as the rope went taught from their combined weight.
"LOOK OUT!" "CHOO" Cream and Cheese cried as the loosened sail began to flail about.
Usagi pulled Charmy up so he too could grab the rope before looking up.
A large timber from the sail swung and crashed into his side.
A resounding "Uah" came as the air was pried from his chest.
The hybrid crashed to the deck with a sickening thud.
No sound was heard from him.
Cream shrieked at his unmoving form.
A large crack pierced the air as the mast itself crashed to the deck.
Cream had just enough time to jump from it and land safely.
Marine fought back the urge to rush to her crew member's aid.
Charmy still grasped the rope in shock.
He landed softly and raced to Usagi's side.
"Can't help... or we're all doomed..." Marine gritted her teeth as the wheel began to give.
Some tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Tails, we need to force the wheel, otherwise nothing will be possible!"
(…)
Marine turned the wheel and the ship shot between two of the whirlpools.
The deadly vortexes pulling at each other propelling the ship between and forward.
The wooden wheel spun franticly for a second before Marine gripped it again sailing through another set of whirlpools, fighting hard to keep their deadly pull in balance.
"Tails, help them... " Marine said seeing Usagi beginging to be lifted by Charmy and Cream.
Tails jumped down to them and in a second was propping up the young hybrid.
"Uah..." Usagi was in clear pain.
"Watch his leg" Charmy said noticing it's odd shape.
"Oh no... it looks broken..." Cream breathed.
The three of them hand to hold on as the ship leaned dangerously to the side.
"HOLD ON!" Marine yelled as she fought with the wheel.
Tails held fast to a rope until the ship righted itself again.
"Tie him to what's left of the mast, we can't have him getting tossed around!" he yelled beginning to go around him with the rope.
Charmy looked around for a minute as the horrid winds ripped past his antenna.
"Charmy, we need your help" Cream called as she held the still unconscious Usagi in place.
"I can smell flower!" Charmy yelled back.
"What does that help!" Tails bit back.
"It means there must be land nearby! Were almost there!" He yelled first to Tails then to Marine.
"Bonza, just hold on... Captain Marine is the best the seas have ever seen, and it'll tell of her venture through the fields of foam for many years to come!" a gleam of hope was seen in her eye as renewed vigor pumped through her veins.
They surged forward and the whirlpools lessened in number and size.
"Were going to make it..." were the words that hung on all their heads.
"CHOO!" Cheese yelled out in happiness as even the wind started to die.
Just as their celebrations were set to begin, a sharp cracking and ripping was heard.
Nobody had time to react before the entire boat gave a horrendous lurch that launched Marine to the deck below.
She landed in a roll, saving her body from taking the brunt of the assault.
The engine continued to push the ship forward and the cracking grew louder.
"No, we hit a wreck, the ship is gonna go!" Marine said as she pushed herself from the deck floor.
Everyone looked back as the wheelhouse where Marine had been standing began to get farther away.
"She's been split in two... we didn't make it..." Marine was in tears as she punched the deck.
Tails looked out and knew they were in danger, "THERE!" he yelled.
Everyone minus Marine looked and they saw a nearby patch of land.
"We can make it, the wind is weak enough for us to fly." Tails said triumphantly.
He turned back to see Marine jumping from the ship and landing on the other half that was quickly escaping them.
Charmy jumped and raced after her.
"Charmy, STOP!" Tails made him pause for a minute.
"You're a bee, if you get wet you won't be able to fly, let alone swim!" Tails called but saw Charmy look away.
Without a word Charmy took off and continued after Marine.
Tails was about to try and stop him when he looked back at Cream.
"Tails, I can't carry him by myself" She said trying to lift Usagi.
A solum wind blew the four of them landward.
Cream and Cheese struggled to hold on to Usagi as Tails remained silent for the flight.
They all touched down with only a soft whimper of pain from the still unconscious hybrid.
Cream and Cheese panted with their hearts racing.
"Where is Charmy and Marine..." Tails said, his face set hard as he tried not to cry.
He looked back and Cream joined him in seeing the final voyage of the S.S. Ultra-Marine.
It's hull disappeared under the waves and foam that swirled round in near endless struggle.
Only one half of the ship remained and it would soon be gone as well.
"I'm going back for them" Tails said moving forward.
Cream's arm caught on his making him stop.
"No... please..."
Tails just noticed the tears that must have been streaming from her eyes for a while now.
"I don't want you to go..." Cream sobbed knowing it was selfish.
Tails felt his will break and he pulled Cream into his embrace.
"I'm so sorry... I... just couldn't..." Tails let his own tears flow.
As they stood there Cheese joined them in their lament.
Cream shivered for a minute and turned from Tails and back to the ocean.
"Don't look" Tails said trying to get her attention again.
"I heard something..." Cream breathed not moving her gaze.
Tails and Cheese followed her in staring out at the steadily moving sea, so unlike their ordeal.
The sound came again and this time Tails heard it, still faint but getting louder.
A speck appeared from the waves and began to barrel towards them.
They all listened in disbelief as the object came closer.
The sound came again and they all smiled.
"RIPPER!" cried the object as it came closer.
Charmy crashed down with Marine in his arms.
"I had to make sure I grabbed it... or you blokes might be stuck here forever..." Marine said, her wet figure producing the orb from in the wheelhouse.
Tails stared in disbelief before his face erupted in pain.
He fell to the ground as Charmy's fist loomed over him.
His wet frame heaved as he stood there.
"Never. Tell. Me. It's. Not. Possible."
(…)
End of Act Three - Break
(…)
Heh... mein friends... it appears another chapter has gone... and with it the act...
Charmy got to be a hero for Marine, Marine saved the orb for Tails, and Usagi saved Charmy only to get hurt.
Don't worry, the little hybrid is just out of it, not dead...
This chapter... is probably the reason I want to read The Odyssey so much... epic struggle against the seas...
For those that require it, a bit of explaining.
The whirlpools, they all rotate in a set direction.
In this case, there are several, all in a small area.
This means that while one spins one way, another would be forced to spin the other way to counteract it.
This means that there would be two zones between adjacent whirlpools.
A pull zone, and a push zone.
The push zone would have both spinning in a way that the space between them would work against the ship and stop it dead.
The Pull zone would have them both spinning so that it would pull the ship along and give it more velocity, this would aid the engine in breaking free of the whirlpools and on to the next.
Charmy's flight, Bees are natural plagued by water.
Sure, he's big enough that in Frog Forest from Sonic Heroes the rain wasn't a problem but just let me scale this up...
OCEAN IS BIG! Even a large bee by our standards is well... microscopic compared to it.
So if he got too wet from the waves, he would most likely loose flight, then consciousness and well... lets hope he can find one of those old air bubble from Hydro City Zone or something...
…
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough...
(…)
Good Night, Live Life, And You're In Luck, There Is Still More To Come.
- One Psychopathic Maniacal Fox