Ash's vision returned to her as she felt something or someone pressing against her lips blowing air into her lungs, she shot up coughing up seawater the briny taste filling every corner of her mouth as she coughed it up over the floor of the cavern. Her vision was still hazy, she held her head a splitting headache clearly brought on by the experience, Ash took a few more deep breaths before looking up trying to remember what happened
She looked up and saw two figures; the still hazy familiar form of Guss Tuno timid as ever looking rather frightenedly at her and a taller figure who was seemingly Dark Purple or Magenta but glowing? She was still very hazy so it was difficult to make out. They were in some form of cavern drops of water could be heard falling all around leading Ash to believe they were still deep in the ocean.
Guss gasped and rushed over to her "Ash! You're ok oh thank the force" he knelt down next to her clearly rattled by the experience "I'm so sorry when the cockpit depressurized I just froze I tried to carry to to safety but you're so strong you weighed me down I couldn't move you and I thought you were gonna drown" he was clearly hysterical and Ash wasn't exactly up for taking in all this information now and put her hand up to stop him
Ash shook her head still trying to wake herself up "well clearly I didn't so what changed" Guss nodded and gestured over to the still hazy figure as Ash rubbed her eyes
He answered Ash as the figure came into view "well uh as I tried to carry you suddenly she came and picked us both up and carried us to a uh air pocket in a nearby cave apparently she knows her way around here" Ash looked as the tall muscular form of a Nautolan came into view, by tall Ash meant tall this Nautolan was a good 5-6 inches taller than Ash and Ash was taller than most the people she knew. The glow Ash had been seeing seemed to stem from yellow glowing spots and markings that covered the whole of her head tails clearly having some bioluminescent property, a patch covered one of her eyes as she peered down at Ash with a look of concern on her face. She wore simple clothing fit for underwater travel shorts, a top to cover her chest and wrappings to help her handle the pike she had strapped to her back, at this Ash realised how much her sopping wet clothes were weighing her down and groaned audibly.
As Ash sat up the Nautolan began to speak in Nautila or at least what Ash assumed must be Nautila, Ash looked blankly at her before Guss spoke up "I assume you don't understand Nautila? I uh can translate she says her name is Kho Summec would you like a hand up?" Ash frowned and nodded for once glad Guss had come with her. Kho grabbed Ash's hand and lifted her up effortlessly surprising Ash a lot clearly Kho was strong, Ash was reminded of when Gacen was upset when she could carry him like nothing being on the inverse was a little surprising.
Ash looked Kho up and down she wasn't expecting to find someone like this down here "I uh thanks Kho my name is Ash'shen'tor I'm afraid I'm at a loss for why you would've helped us" she didn't want to seem ungrateful but it was a little suspicious. Guss frowned at her and took a second before translating causing Ash to suspect something "are you changing my message to make it more polite Guss" Guss jumped back at the accusation and began to stammer
He nodded "well maybe Ash but there's no problem in being diplomatic this woman just saved your life there's no need for the third degree" Ash folded her arms but before she could avoid any more 'paraphrasing' Kho spoke directly to Ash
Kho spoke in fairly broken Basic "you… trouble… I… help" she seemed to get confused over the next few words and spoke to Guss
Guss relayed the details "Kho knows a little basic but not enough to talk directly she's trying to say you would've died without her help and regardless of your intentions she doesn't want to see death from the ill prepared" Ash nodded conceding that maybe this person wasn't trying to hurt them but still was annoyed
Ash responded tersely "well it's not my fault we're down here actually it was Guss' idea to dive down here so the ill prepared should be directed at him" Guss clearly hesitated before responding to Kho Ash was almost positive he hadn't translated the majority of the blame being on him
Kho nodded and explained "regardless I saw the vessel you traveled in sink deep into the ocean you will have to come back to Azuria with me or you will surely die" there was a noticeable wimper on Guss' translation of the last part
Ash frowned it didn't seem that complicated to her "as long as you can supply rebreathers to us we should be able to find our way out of here" if they didn't have any rebreathers Ash was going to freak out
Guss translated her message and Kho frowned, they seemed to talk for a second as if explaining something before she responded to Ash "We may have these 'rebreathers' or something of similar capability but it is unlikely you will be able to swim all that way despite your rather athletic form any surface worlder and even myself wouldn't be adapted to swim that far alone" Ash tightened her fists out of annoyance she didn't want to be trapped down here. But Kho wasn't done it seemed "plus the threat of predators that would eat you if you went alone is very high and even with a guard dangerous, I am still unsure how you got here either as there is no exit to the surface except through the depths…" Kho kept going but Ash cut Guss' translating off to give her a revised edit
She was frustrated to say the least "is everything she's saying just more reasons why we can't escape this place quickly" Guss nervously nodded causing Ash to let out a long sigh she was just supposed to scout for Gacen and now she was trapped and useless under the sea nice going Ash nice going
Guss explained "she says there's been no way to swim to the surface except through the deep ocean and well that goes about as well as you'd expect and finding whatever way we arrived here will take a long time as we're very deep under the sea" Ash sighed of course of course! She knew it was no ones fault if they hadn't dived down here they would've surely died but she hated being stuck especially when she'd just found some direction, not only that but Gacen was bound to spiral without a way to communicate with Ash he'd assume the worst and he'd been doing so well lately.
Ash rubbed her temples "so what you're saying is we're stuck here for the foreseeable future until Kho's people come up with something" she was just assuming that last part as false hope
Guss nodded "I think so I uh will try to find out a way to get us to th…" Kho seemingly cut him off aware of how the conversation had shifted away from what she was saying "right right Kho says she will attempt to appeal to their leader to find whatever way we made our way through" Ash guessed that was something but still was feeling very defeated
Ash nodded to Kho to at least give her some acknowledgement "ok Kho show us the way to this leader and a place where I won't drown please and thank you" each word had plenty of exasperated frustration on it but clearly none of it came across when Guss translated
Kho nodded and gestured to the both of them "follow…" she managed in Basic before rushing towards a nearby pool in the cavern and diving into it effortlessly
Ash turned to Guss as they started walking "I hate this place… so much already I hope you know that" Guss nodded as they walked towards the pool unsure what to do "it's all fine for you but I can't breath underwater so it's like prison but if I escape I drown" she probably was being a little dramatic but she was very frustrated
Guss looked away clearly feeling bad "I'm sorry Ash I was just trying to keep Risha's plans a secret like she said" Ash's fuming anger did soften at that she knew Guss was trying at least
She sighed "yeah I know I'm sorry I just… was so ready to do some good now we're trapped" Guss nodded seemingly trying to lighten the mood
He smiled "who knows Ash we can still do some good here I've never heard of Dubrillion Nautolans and well the rocks we drilled through seemed kinda manmade I dunno I sense intrigue there and possible allies" Ash nodded almost amused by the idea, it had seemed odd she'd never heard of Nautolans on Dubrillion and the shore line had seemed completely man made.
Ash shrugged "Dubrillion definitely has the resources who knows maybe you're right" they stood at the edge of the pool Kho had jumped into as a few seconds later Kho sprung back up to the surface water splashing everywhere
She looked up at them confused "Languss Tuno, Ash'shen'tor follow here" clearly she'd expected them to go through the water too causing Ash to grimace she hated swimming so much literally anyone else would be better suited for this
Kho dove back under and Ash looked at Guss, he shrugged "well I guess we better get used to this" he dove in after her leaving Ash to take a deep breath, awkwardly shimmy into the water and follow behind the two clear adapted species while she struggled to swim through the water. They followed Kho down and watched as she found another air pocket lower down where they both swam up and out leaving Ash to eventually reach it and surface taking in a deep breath of air while the other two looked at her.
Ash frowned at the two of them "what! I have lungs you don't this is harder for me" a small smile crossed Kho's face as she knelt down offering her hand again
Kho pulled her up and spoke to her directly "can… carry… you? If… needed" Ash frowned at her as even in the broken basic she felt emasculated
Ash shook her head confidently "Oh Kho I'm sure you're strong but I don't think you coul…" before she could finish or even translate Kho had picked her up and seated Ash on her back with only a little strain coming over her face, Kho really was strong.
Ash was left stunned as she looked at Guss "this is how Gacen feels all the time isn't" Guss just nodded putting his thumbs up, from here things went swifter despite Ash's hurt pride Kho and Guss were able to quickly dive between the pools within the cave system eventually reaching a patch of what looked like farmland farming some kinds of mushrooms
Kho explained through Guss' translation "within the caves they farm mushrooms and types of seaweeds apparently, they're not sure where the mushrooms originated from but know they only grow in the air pockets don't you think that's curious Ash" Guss hinted clearly adding to his conspiracy theory, normally Ash wouldn't indulge him but with this she felt it at least gave them direction
Kho led them through the caves until they eventually came to a large glass door where Ash was let down off Kho's shoulders "this… edge… Azuria… Leader… speak… basic… more good" Ash nodded appreciating the effort on Kho's part for it all not to go through Guss' filter
They walked through the door and Ash gasped realising they were walking along a large glass tube surrounded by the Ocean, outside of it she could see the Ocean floor and just how deep they were below the surface Kho had described this as a cavern and she couldn't even see the top. She looked across the Ocean floor and far away she saw the drop to the deep Ocean Kho must've been referring to earlier, to the right though across the ridge of the caves and ocean she could see a vast underwater city she assumed was called Azuria. It was beautiful illuminating yellows and greens covered the city as it stretched across the sediment wall, many many houses and districts made up what was clearly a very organised city.
Ash looked in wonder confused at how all this could be hidden from the world "Kho this place is beautiful" Kho seemed to nod even before Guss translated understanding the sentiment
Kho responded looking upon the Azuria "it's home… come… leader…" she seemed to stumble on the last couple words but Ash knew what she meant, hopefully the leader of Azuria had some answers for her on how to get out of here but to be honest now she was just as curious as Guss on how this vast city had been ignored by Dubrillion or the greater powers of the galaxy...
