Chapter Four: Chase of the Great Tuna...

Lloyd swam through the warm water, checking his gears scanners for the millionth time. "You sure that the ship went down here Z?"

"Positive. If you haven't found it, then it must be somewhere around there. Keep looking. I'll take on the surface crew." Zane's voice crackled over the commlink, prompting a small smile from the young teen.

"Got it." Lloyd turned around a corner...and immediately caught his breath as he spotted a large wooden sunken ship lying on its side. In large print, the words Black Bounty scrawled along the side. "Z? I just found it...now to see if the treasure onboard there is as priceless as everyone claims it is."

Lloyd swam over there, quickly prying loose the door to the hold. Swimming into the hold, he spotted the treasure chest that was covered in barnacles. Grasping it, he struggled to break the chain off for about five seconds before giving up and using his energy blast to blast it open. "That's one way to do that..." He mumbled to himself as he ruffled through the contents. "Nothing's here guys...no wait. There's a gold coin here. Yo Z? How much?" Lloyd held the gold coin up to his mask so that Zane could scan it easily.

"Not worth it. Definitely not Darkley's M.O. Pretty, but worthless." Zane sounded disappointed, which Lloyd could truthfully understand. They were trying to get ahead of them...and yet it was a dead end.

Lloyd sighed, and was about to pocket the coin when the ground began to shake. "Um...guys? What's going on here?"

"My scanners are picking up movement underground in your area..." "I recommend moving out of there...now kid!" Kai interrupted Zane, yelling into the commlink.

Lloyd pocketed the coin and quickly began swimming out of there. Only he hadn't gone too far when... a small form with dark, almost black skin, and black hair popped out from underneath him. Startled, Lloyd backed up a ways, the coin slipping out of his pocket having been improperly secured. "Mindroid's down here!" Lloyd yelled as he dove downwards to grab the coin.

"Mindroid? Isn't he Cryptor's runty nephew that is puny?" It was Cole's voice this time, his voice questioning him.

"Yeah that's the one..." Lloyd found himself holding his arm out to block him easily.

Mindroid, his real name was Marcus Drake, swam back a few paces, clearly infuriated that he was easily thwarted. Lloyd smirked as he flipped the coin...just as a giant tuna swam by, swallowing the coin. Both, Mindroid and Lloyd, darted through the waters, trying to catch up with it. A large fishing net, which was filled with giant tunas, caught the fish, hauling it out of the water. Whirling around, Lloyd took off back to the boat that he knew Jay and Nya were waiting for him on.

…...

"Bad news...they already sold the fish with the doubloon to some fish auction." Jay shoved his hands into his pocket, looking perfectly at ease in the summer's heat, his Australian accent reminding everyone around him that he was born and raised in a desert.

Nya shook her head, her ocean blue eyes sparkling with tension. "Part of me wants to say that Darkley's won't go after the doubloon...but they might have noticed that we were going after it and presume its valuable."

Lloyd nodded, leaning against one of the posts on the docks. "So...we need to get to some fish auction and locate a fish, which looks exactly like all the other fish there, to get a hold of an ancient gold doubloon that ain't worth much." He allowed sarcasm drip heavily from his voice. "That'll be the easiest thing we've ever done."

"Well then, good thing I am visiting here for this exact fish auction that you mentioned." A deep, male voice with a thicker British accent than Zane spoke up from behind him.

Lloyd sprang up, whirling around to look at an elderly man with pale skin that was a smidgen darker than Zane's, and the same bright blue eyes that the brothers had was standing right behind him. The man was wearing a white lab coat, and glasses perched on his nose. His white hair and a few gray streaks in it, and was splattered against his head. He was also holding a suspicious looking suitcase.

Jay bounced forward, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Ooh, whatcha have in the suitcase this time Dr. Julian?"

Dr. Julian, genius and father of Zane and Echo, laughed heartily, before popping the suitcase open. "Metal scanners disguised as a couple of auction participation numbers on a stick. I don't know what they really are called. Zane said you might need them."

"Sweet!" Nya and Jay seized the items out of the suitcase. "Thank you Dr. Julian."

"No problem. And please thank Zane for letting me know. The fish auction is at the top of that mount over there." He pointed to a tall mountain that was in the distance.

….

Lloyd had barely closed the jeep's door behind him as he climbed out of the jeep at the top of the mountain, when it happened. Dizziness washed over him as he buckled over, his legs giving out underneath him... "Guys...something wrong..."

"Lloyd!" Nya and Jay launched forward in an attempt to catch him as everything went black.

…...

When Lloyd awoke fully for the first time, he was lying in a medical tent with someone he didn't recognize watching his every move. She had long orangish-red hair that was pulled back in a high ponytail, and was wearing an orange long sleeved shirt and worn out jeans. Her bright jade green eyes, which looked dull next to his brilliant emerald green eyes with gold flecks. A warm smile crossed her features as she held up a water bottle to him. "You're lucky that I came along when I did. You're friends don't know how to tend to elevation sickness."

"Yeah...thanks for the help. I've got to go now..." Lloyd rolled his shoulders, in an attempt to release the tension that had built up there. Snagging his bag, he flinched as his gadgets fell out and spilt all over the floor.

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. "You're a thief, aren't you?"

Lloyd licked his lip, swallowing hard. "No... I'm more like Robin Hood. I steal from thieves." He scooped his items up, looking her in the eye as he willed her to believe him.

She nodded, understanding flashing across her eyes. "I see. Well, I wish you luck with whatever your up to Robin Hood. I'll leave you to catch up with your Merry men now."

Lloyd couldn't decide if she was joking or not, so he settled on nodding and slipped out of there to find and help his friends. Besides, Kai was gonna kill him for not chaperoning the two lovebirds for however long he was out of it...

…..

Lloyd flipped the gold coin, which he had successfully succeeded in taking from Mindroid and his much taller twin brother, Nindroid, they look exactly the same despite the obvious height difference. Nindroid's real name was Nathan Drake, and he liked to join his dear uncle Cryptor in teasing Mindroid on his height. Turning to the teen that had tended to him while he was out of it, he tossed it to her. "Not worth much unless your really into history. Quite the treasure... I get the feeling that you might know someone into that kind of thing."

"Uh...aren't you into history?" Jay blinked in confusion as he stared at Lloyd in confusion.

Lloyd shrugged, before moving away from her. "I don't want to risk losing it...besides. I get the feeling that she'll enjoy it much more than me."

A/N: Done! Um, yeah...last chapter the final scene was supposed to be the final scene for this chapter. Oopsie on my part. Anyways, thinking things over, the fact that it happened earlier doesn't change when certain things happen that are of direct consequence to Dareth and Pixal being recruited. Also, did anyone recognize the two agents and Chief that recruited them? What about the person who helped Lloyd?

Hope you all enjoyed this little tidbit!

Review!

SkyTalon