He heard the Overlord screech as he powered down, seemingly forever. 'They must have rebooted the system.'
Lloyd swallowed; his strength had been depleted immensely, but he could smell fire, and he was not going to make it out alive if he didn't get out of this stupid tube.
With all the strength he could muster, despite the fact he could barely stand, he started banging at the glass, cracking it nearly instantly and with it, his hands cracked too.
He barely felt the pain as the glass finally shattered, knocking the chamber to the ground and freeing him. He knew he wouldn't be able to stand, so he pulled himself from the wreckage on his hands and knees and started crawling to the entrance of the jet, staining the floor and his gi with blood as he did.
He groaned as he moved, every muscle and bone aching as he pulled himself forward away from the sparks and the fires. His eyes threatened to close as the overhead voice spoke.
"Losing altitude. Impact in t-minus, 10, 9," Lloyd managed to pull himself to he knees to pry open the heavy doors, hands smearing them with blood before collapsing to his knees again and continuing to crawl, "8, 7, 6, 5,"
He could see the rocks now that the entrance was open, surrounded on all sides by bright blue ocean rapidly approaching as the voice ahead started to slow and die as it continued to count.
Before he could think, he grabbed the side of the jet and let go, allowing himself to be thrown through the air before his body hit the ocean, his eyes closing on impact.
After a few moments, his body slowly sinking deeper and deeper, he opened his eyes, the salt stinging horrendously. 'I'm alive. I'm free.'
Despite the throbbing of his limbs, he managed to start swimming towards the surface to see if he recognized where he was. After all, he had spent so much time studying the ocean with Nya and if he could find something that gave away where he was, he could eventually find land.
He pulled himself to the surface, taking a deep breath and squinting at the bright sun before starting to think. 'Those rocks… They're just like the ones that lead to the shores of Otshima!'
Lloyd forced himself to swim past the rocks, his lungs throbbing against his ribcage as he did so. Maybe he could get some reception from his comm set if it wasn't completely destroyed and he could make contact with the others in the village.
He'd finally see all of them again. His uncle, his friends, his mom, his dad…'No, dad's gone.'
He couldn't hold back his relief when he saw the bright sandy beach and pushed himself to swim as hard as he could.
When he finally washed up on the shores, he let out a deep cough, his lungs almost rattling against his ribcage. He turned to lay on his back and started to catch his breath, his eyes threatening to close and his hands stinging terribly.
But before he allowed himself to pass out, he heard his comm go off and a voice rang through his head. It sounded like...PIXAL.
"Lloyd, are you there? Do you read me?"
He winced as his hand stung, blood smearing on the side of his face as he reached towards his ear to click the receiver. "I-I'm here. I-I'm alright."
"Son! Where are you?!" His dad's voice asked. 'Dad!"
"D-dad?! You're alive!," he couldn't stop from letting out his excitement, letting in a deep breath before answering his question, deciding to fabricate a small detail in order not to cause any more worry than necessary, "I-I'm not alone, I'm in a remote village."
"Stay where you are, we're picking you up." His father insisted, and Lloyd couldn't hold back his chuckle, the sand starting to itch uncomfortably against the back of his head and neck.
"Good, cause, uh, my golden power is a little spent."
As the others laughed, Lloyd muted his side of the comm briefly so he could hear them but they couldn't hear him as he managed to pull himself to his feet, his whole body aching as he looked at the small rows of houses and shops.
'Time to find some help.'