First off, let me say this...

I have never been freediving or anything before. I cannot even swim-I sink like a stone.

Literally what little knowledge I have of this comes from watching the people-like Jiggin' With Jordan and his friends-do this kinda thing on YouTube and a few articles online-Wikipedia among other.

Let's just accept that Mako is an experienced freediver, knows what he's doing, and can keep everybody safe? Ok?

Thanks.

"Can't believe ya 'membered to bring your camera, Tea."

The brunette girl smiled at Joey as she shifted the digital camera to one hand. "Is it a bad thing that I want to remember this day? These are also for Miho."

At the confused looks from the males around her, Tea laughed. "She called me when I was heading back to meet you guys. She wanted to ask me to the mall with her, but I told her about our boat plans. She asked for pictures."

"You could have invited your friend. It would have been no trouble." Mako said as he exited the cabin after stopping the boat within passable swimming distance to the shoreline of the cove-genuinely curious as to who this 'Miho' was-but Tea shook her head and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Believe me, she wanted to come, but Miho gets motion sick very easily and a boat, well...always in motion."

"True. Well, I hope that she enjoys the pictures." Mako said with a nod of understanding as he dropped the anchor and made certain that their position was properly secured-nothing could ruin a day out on the sea quite like a bout of seasickness...and he would never wish that in anyone.
Well, he might wish a few things in particular on that crazy American who had attacked Joey weeks ago. He still didn't understand why the blond refused to involve the police if he was being stalked...but all that he could do for now was make sure the sixteen-year-old remained safe from the insane man, and hopefully, that the younger teen would come to his senses eventually.

"Hey Mako, out of curiosity...what kind of stuff do people tend to drop when they're out on the water?" Yugi asked, leaning over the railing a bit as if in hopes of spotting treasure hidden just beneath the gently rolling water. Ryou looked up from his curious perusal of the ocean surrounding the boat-lowering his sunglasses to look over the rims. "I admit, I am rather interested in this as well."

"Ah, well that can be anything from trash up to sunglasses, hats, swim goggles, jewelry, cellphones, cameras, wallets, purses-or any bag really, laptops, tools...I have found two yacht steering wheels before-not at the same time or in the same place, of course." Mako said, counting off items on his fingers to his increasingly surprised audience. "There was a flat screen TV in a river once-still not completely sure how that ended up there, to be honest."

"You have got to be kidding me." Tristan said, turning back to look at the water. "Are people just that klutzy?"

"That...and while accidents or stormy weather do happen, quite often alcohol can be involved on a boat and, well, alcohol does make for more accidents " The fisherman said with a shrug of his bare shoulders. "As the saying goes, "stupidity on the water, just add alcohol"."

Joey tilted his head to one side, regarding the fisherman through his bangs. "How 'bout weapons? Evah find anythin' like that?"

"Plenty of knives, the occasional gun. I could be here all day just with some of those stories." Mako said with a small frown-he did detest finding firearms as the first thought in his head, each and every time that he had found one, was that he had uncovered something that had killed a person.
As if realizing the turn of the ravenette's thoughts, Joey chimed in once more. "What's the coolest thing ya evah found?"

"An heirloom katana that had been lost for twenty years."

Everyone shifted their gazes back to the fisherman...but Yugi was first to speak. "Okay. You have GOT to tell this story. You just cannot leave us hanging after saying that."

"Definitely!" Tea said-to Tristan and Duke's eager agreements. The girl put away her camera into her bag in the cabin. "Please, Mako?"

"Well..." Mako started-the expression on his face reading as 'I don't want to'-before breaking into a grin. "...as you wish, my friends. It is not a thrilling tale, but it is one of my favorites "

The nineteen-year-old moved to sit down on the deck-he could wait a few minutes for the water to warm before diving in, after all-and was soon followed by the group of younger teens. Mako rested a fist to his chin-gathering his thoughts to make certain that he did not mistell the tale. "It was a few weeks after Duelist Kingdom...I was working further south at the time, but-as I did not have this fine vessel-it was proving rather difficult for me to join up, even for the day, with the fishing crews, thus, I ended up taking on more 'recovery diving' jobs. One of these was, on paper, a rather cut-and-dry clean-up around the bottom of a short cliff-face near a beach cove."

Navy eyes glanced around at the curious expressions on his friends' faces-settling for a moment on a pair of chestnut eyes that seemed more intrigued than he would have initially thought. "It started quite normal: deep breath, dive down, collect garbage and debris, surface, repeat ad infinitum. However, during one of the last dives, my flashlight reflected off of something between the cliff-face and what appeared to be old beams of wood. With the need to sate my curiosity at the time, I swam over to investigate and, after moving aside some stray seaplantlife and debris, realized that I was staring at the handle and guard of a sword. Unfortunately, I had to surface quickly for another breath of air-"

"You did not have any kind of scuba gear or anything?" Ryou asked, looking as if he were unsure on how safe freediving was in such cases. Mako merely shrugged his shoulders. "At the time, no. Scuba tanks and respirators are quite a bit more expensive than my budget would allow for-even more so since, at the time, I was trying to save as much money as I could so that I could acquire a boat of my own. But I did have a diving mask-so there was that of course."

Yugi, Tea, and Tristan all nodded in understanding while both Ryou and Joey appeared to be lost in thought-though who could know what either of them were thinking. Duke, on the other hand, looked genuinely curious about this whole affair-if Mako recalled correctly, the green-eyed teen had yet to be informed, by anyone, about the circumstances of the fisherman's past. Well...a story for another time, he supposed. "It took a few dives, but I was finally able to work the sword and its scabbard free of their prison between the cliff-face and the old beam. I surfaced and went to turn in the sword-if anything, such an artifact could have been worth a great deal of money. It took a few days before I learned just what I had uncovered."

"What 'appened?"

"Well, a family came to the docks and were asking for me by name, Joey. When we found each other, the matriarch of the family explained the whole story. You see, my friends, that family's ancestral home once stood atop a small hill near to the cliff that I had been at and, twenty years ago, a terrible storm had swept the coastline...and dragged half of the old home down the hill and into the sea."

"Dear god. Please tell me that no one was killed." Tea whispered-a hand covering her mouth-and Mako nodded. "Thankfully, no. Everyone had evacuated the house to go further inland prior to the storm...but they returned to ruins. The family had been trying to recover heirlooms from the house ever since...and most important to them and their heritage, was that sword. I admit, after hearing the story, I was just grateful to have returned such a piece of their history to them...but the matriarch of the family was adamant that I be properly rewarded for my services to her family-especially as they had given up hope of the sword ever being recovered until they received the phone call about my discovery."

"Not to be rude or anything...but what was this reward?" Yugi asked-he was already picturing the expression on his grandpa's face when he passed along this tale to him. If anything, Grandpa Motou would be eager to swap stories with the fisherman about his 'treasure hunting'. Mako just smiled and held his hands out, gesturing to the boat. "Enough money to purchase this boat...with some left over to repair and upgrade it as I wish. All be it, most of what was left after the initial purchase is in my savings for emergency situations, but still."

"That's awesome!" Tristan said with a quick laugh. "Damn...now you're making me want to learn how to do this diving stuff."

"You and me both." Duke and Tea chimed in at the same time-the pair laughing a bit before Tea smiled. "Jinx. You owe me a soda, Devlin."

"Damnit." Duke grumbled good-naturedly as Joey laughed-not as grand as previously, but still...the fisherman imagined that everyone was happy to hear the blond let out a genuine laugh. He knew that he was. "Admittedly, such boons are a rarity. However, the work is rather steady and can be quite interesting as long as one is careful. Speaking of...I took the liberty of picking up a couple of extra diving masks and such for if anyone would like to join me in the water."

"All of us?" Yugi asked-noticing how Joey had seemingly frozen for a moment at the mention of getting into the water; the tri-color-haired duelist looking more than a little uncertain himself. Tea rested a hand on the shortest member of their group's shoulder-giving him a gentle, reassuring squeeze-before she looked at both duelists in concern.
Mako wondered about that-thinking back to his previous conversation with Yugi in regards to diving to get over the fear he once had towards the sea.

"Oh no. Me and maybe one or two at a time of whoever wishes to go in. It would be far safer to have as many people on the boat as possible so that those who enter the water, will be able to get back out of the water safely." Mako answered-a worried frown creasing his expression at the blond teen's uncertainty...and remaining when the smile that Joey put on to reassure Yugi, did not reach the teen's eyes. "I might pass, actually. Had 'nough saltwater for the year and all, ya know? Next time, 'kay?"

"Of course, my friend." Mako assured-perhaps one day, his friends would tell him what had happened...perhaps Joey would tell him the whole truth...but until then, he would be there for them as much as possible.

"Well...I want to go in. I'm curious." Tea said gently, a small smile on her face. "I just wish I had an underwater camera."

"Now I know what to get you for your birthday." Duke said with a grin, ducking slightly when the girl playfully swatted at him. "And now you've spoiled the surprise, Dice Boy."

"I'm game to dive in. Ryou?" Tristan asked and the albino teen merely shook his head. "While I would...I am not the best swimmer, so...I think that I will pass this go round, if that is all well and good."

"I think I want to try at least." Yugi chimed in, looking out at the water and shoreline of the cove. "You'll make sure I don't drown, right?"

"Absolutely." Mako said with a determined nod-he would not allow any of his friends to be hurt if he could stop it. Duke gave a small shrug. "I'm game to do a dive...though, I don't remember if I packed my eyeliner."

"Geeze...you're concerned about your make-up?" Tristan muttered-earning a light punch to the arm from the ravenette in question. "Don't even, Tristan. Some people have to look presentable to the world."

"Yugi takes less time doing his hair than you do getting ready to leave your place!" Tristan argued back-both males seemingly ignoring Yugi's genuinely annoyed-sounding "Don't drag me into this!"-and Duke snapped back, gesturing at himself for emphasis to his own words. "Perfection like this takes time!"

"You take three hours! Shower, clothes, hair, make-up-and that's just you getting ready for school! In a uniform! And that gets longer if you add your curling iron to the mix!" Tristan practically shouted.

Mako turned away from the new argument-deciding to ignore the pair like everyone else seemed to now be doing-and focus on the rest of his friends. "So...who would like to go in first?"

Tea and Yugi both grinned and got up with the elder teen to go into the cabin and accept their dive masks and flippers. Joey turned his head to watch his friends go into the cabin-only vaguely aware of the bickering duo across from him and of the possessed-by-a-homicidal-ancient-wackjob teenager sitting right next to him.
The blond suppressed a shudder-willing himself to not do anything that could potentially betray that he knew that the tomb robber had returned yet again. The lunatic may not be in control, but-if how Yugi had described things with the pharaoh was any indication-the spirit could be watching.

Mako, Tea, and Yugi emerged from the cabin-Yugi having traded his T-shirt and sandals for a flat lifevest and flippers, and was now struggling with getting the goggles on considering his preferred hairdo. Tea sat down near the edge of the boat to put on the set of flippers Mako had passed to her-the girl having left her own T-shirt, shorts, and sandals inside the cabin in favor of the blue and pink tie-dyed one-piece she'd worn underneath. Like Yugi, she sported a flat lifevest. "Tristan, Duke...I love you both dearly, but would you two idiots please move on to the 'kiss' portion of the 'slap, slap, kiss' relationship?"

Both males snapped their jaws shut mid-insult at the girl's words-earning a burst of laughter from Yugi and a matching pair of amused, knowing looks from both Joey and Mako-the latter of whom was rather pleased that his suspicions regarding the nature of the two's relationship was correct. Ryou just smiled as innocently as could be and slid his sunglasses up to cover his eyes fully. "Just do keep it tasteful and under twenty seconds, would you?"

The pair in question grumbled quietly and sat down next to each other-both mentally blaming the red in their faces on the sun exposure. Tristan held up a hand to accept the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi-who, being the good person that he was, decided to not say a word about how flushed the pair's faces were...even if he was internally laughing his head off. "Thanks, Tristan."

"No prob."

Mako strode over to the edge-fixing his goggles. "Now...no diving in. Just sit on the edge and slide in. Much safer and far less of a shock to your body from the temperature change...and far less chance of startling any sea life. You do not want a fish to slap you in the face-trust me."

Yugi and Tea both fixed their goggles into place and followed the fisherman as he slid himself into the water-all three surfacing long enough to take deep breaths and for the rookie divers to fit their snorkels into their mouths, and for Mako to accept having his trusty harpoon passed down to him by Joey, before the trio headed back under the water.

Joey leaned over the railing to watch-his hands curled around the metal in a white-knuckled death grip. He glanced at the brunette and ravenette still sitting on deck-though both were now turned around to watch the ocean and their friends, said-brunette keeping the Puzzle close to him with the thick chain wrapped around his wrist. A small shudder ran through the blond when he realized that he didn't know where Ryou was...until the albino came up on his other side-leaning down onto his elbows on the railing to watch the trio swimming under the water.

Joey breathed in slowly-this was fine. He was fine.
He really hoped that the small, pleased smile on the other teen's face was a sign that Ryou was happy...and not a sign that the tomb robber had come out to play.

'Really wish I had the ha'poon right now.'

Did anyone see the Duke/Tristan ship coming? I know it's outta left field...but I kinda think it's fun to play with.
No worries, they won't be a focus-think of their relationship as some background flavor for my personal amusement.

Please don't stop watching/reading just because I put it in here.

I'll try to have the finale part of this little arc up as soon as possible. Who knows, might have some forward momentum happen.