Disclaimer: *waves the sign she made around frantically*
A/N: Oh what joy! I'm almost up to 40 reviews! Man am I a happy camper! It's things like this that makes a story worth while. *gleams* On with the next chapter!
Chapter 9: Turn of Events
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"Oh no!"
Gonzo, along with the rest of the crew, gasped as they sailed around the back of Outset and reached the entrance to the cave. They have had their fill of relaxation the night before and had a good night's sleep, despite the fact that it had stormed the entire night. Once morning broke, the pirates wasted no time in getting to Outset to claim the great Jabun's treasure. But as soon as they arrived the next day, the stone slab that had blocked the entrance to the cave was now gone.
The crew hung their heads in dismay. It looked as if someone had beaten them to the treasure.
Tetra was the only one who didn't look surprised by the absence of the stone doorway. She knew who had beaten them to the treasure.
She turned to her broken-spirited crew.
"Cheer up, men." She proclaimed somewhat cheerfully. "There's plenty of other treasure we still have yet to find."
The crew lifted their heads. Her words cheered them up a little and they managed to put on a normal expression.
Tetra looked to Nudge and Niko.
"I want you two to store at least twenty bombs in the cargo bay. We might need them later at sea." She turned to rest of the crew. "The rest of you bring the bombs we are not keeping to the main deck. We can sell them for a little bit of profit."
"Aye-aye, Miss Tetra!" they all replied as they scattered across the
deck.
Once this task was complete, they set sail to find a place to sell their leftover bombs.
After about an hour or two of sailing northeast, the crew spotted a lone ship drifting out in the open ocean. It was a small boat neatly decorated with purple cloth, and on each side of it was a small sign that read "Beedle's Shop Ship".
"Well...that wasn't so hard." Mako stated.
The crew murmured with agreeing statements.
Tetra clung to the railing of the ship as she watched the boat drift with the current.
"Perhaps whoever runs that shop will buy our leftover bombs." She stated out loud. She turned around. "Steer us aside that ship, Gonzo."
Gonzo nodded and turned the wheel to align the ship parallel to the
small boat.
As if it knew they wanted to come aboard, the small boat halted in the waves as the ship came close. The pirates let down a roped ladder and Tetra and Senza climbed on board the tiny, floating shop, while everyone else stayed on the pirate ship. Mako threw another rope down to Senza, who caught it and held it tight to keep the two ships close together.
Tetra waved a gesture up to Nudge.
"You stay here, and I'll see if whoever runs this tub will buy our bombs." she ordered him.
Nudge saluted to her, telling her that he understood her command. With that taken care of, Tetra causally walked into the entrance of the store.
As soon as she entered, she quickly heard a somewhat high-pitched male voice greet her at the door.
"Oh! A customer!" the voice squealed.
Tetra glanced around and saw a tall and skinny man with a long nose start to walk up to her. He had little beady eyes, no shirt on, and short pants that went pass his knees. He quickly grabbed one of her hands and began to shake it frantically as a friendly greeting gesture.
"Welcome to Beedle's floating shop ship!" he howled while still shaking a surprised Tetra's hand. She quickly gave him a look that nearly said "please...don't touch me." He paused after he saw the look she was giving him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss Customer..." Beedle stammered. He released his hold and waved a hand around to show her the shop. "Please, feel free to look around my lovely, little stash of goodies. I'm sure you won't be disappointed." He said gleefully.
Tetra shook her hand like she was trying to get cooties off it or something, then pulled a bang out of her eye.
"I'm not here to buy stuff." She said to him as the bang dropped back
in her eyes.
"Oh?" he sounded, hinting his curiosity.
"Yeah..." Tetra responded, sounding slightly annoyed cause her hair was being stubborn. After stuffing the annoying bang up on her head, she put her hands on her hip and continued. "I'd like to know if I could sell anything to this place."
"Oh of course, Miss Customer!" Beedle replied happily. "I'll be glad to buy stuff off of you! Just show it to me and I'll name the price I'm willing to pay."
Tetra lowered her look, not liking the name he was calling her. But she shrugged it aside and lifted her head.
"Great." Tetra said, pleased with the cooperation this man was showing her. He was acting much better than that creepy bomb shop guy. She turned around and looked over her shoulder. "I'll be right back."
"Take your time, Miss Customer." He replied, waving a hand through the
air.
In just a few minutes, she returned with Nudge, who was carrying one of their barrels full of bombs.
Beedle must have spotted the few sticking up out of the top and he quickly pointed to them, his mouth wide with excitement.
"Are those...bombs?!" he said quickly, almost too quickly for them to make it out.
"Uh...yeah." Tetra quietly said but loud enough for him to hear. "So...how much will you pay for one?"
Beedle scratched his back as he thought.
"I've always wanted to have bombs as part of my variety of goods!" he rambled. "I'm willing to pay 20 rupees each. How's that?"
Tetra's eyebrows went up. He was easier to bargain with than a sack of potatoes. It must have been their lucky day.
"We'll take it!" she said quickly.
After going through all the counting and sorting out the details, the pirates were able to earn a good profit of more than 250 rupees. It was enough to make the crew happy at least.
As the pirates aboard the shop ship climbed back up to the main deck, Beedle stood outside his small shop to see them off.
"Thank you so much, pirates!" he called.
Tetra was the last in line to get on the rope ladder, and before it was her turn, she quickly turned to Beedle and spoke.
"If you happen to get another customer...and he has a green hat and outfit...give him the cheapest price you can possible give him. Ok?"
Beedle scratched his head, then pointed to the sky as if he suddenly got an idea in his head.
"Ohhhhhh...I know him!" he suddenly proclaimed.
Tetra paused.
"You do?"
"Yeah!" he replied, waving a hand through the air. "He stopped by here just a few hours ago and bought some bait. Do you know the guy, Miss-" he suddenly stopped short when Tetra interrupted him.
"Which way did he go?" she said rapidly.
Beedle paused then pointed to his right.
"Northeast, I believe...why? Are you acquainted with him?" he questioned as he looked back at the young captain.
Tetra made a face that looked like a half smirk.
"I guess you could say that." she answered. She turned around and began to climb up the roped ladder leading back to her ship. About half-way up, she paused and looked back down at Beedle.
"Just remember to give him your cheapest price next time you see him, ok?" She had to make sure the oddball would remember.
Beedle made a salute and replied.
"Certainly, Miss Customer!"
Tetra frowned. "It's Miss Tetra."
"Ok, Miss Customer."
Tetra rolled her eyes, then went back to climbing up the ladder. Once everyone was on board, they quickly let down the sail and shoved off.
For another hour, the ship sailed further northeast, its destination unknown to everyone on the ship. The only order the crew had received from their captain was to sail northeast until further instructions were made. The crew figured they were on yet another treasure hunt, and its whereabouts were still unknown, even to their captain; so, no one questioned the command and went about their duties.
Everyone on deck remained quiet...
...until a half hour later...
By now, Tetra was growing impatient with all the waiting and not knowing what to do next bit. She sat cross-legged atop one of two flat- topped crates near the entrance to the lower deck, examining her crew and trying to figure something that was bugging the daylights out of her. It was a question that she could not find an answer to ever since the night at Windfall Island.
She glanced up into the now bright orange sky full of pink clouds, feeling the light breeze blowing through her blonde hair.
"What could you possible be up to, Link?" she questioned in her mind. Not only was it bugging her that she didn't know the answer, it was also annoying since she couldn't ask anyone else for an answer. The only person she could ask was Link...and he obviously wasn't with them at the time.
"Darn it!" she thought as she folded her arms across her small chest. "Why do questions always have to be this hard to answer!" She made a frown, thinking it was probably another hard truth about life that she still had yet to learn.
"Miss Tetra!" Zuko suddenly called down from the crows nest.
Upon hearing Zuko's call, practically everyone within hearing distance jumped. They all tried to look for an explanation to his sudden call of attention as Tetra quickly leaped off her perch and climbed up the ladder to see what he wanted.
"What is it?" said Tetra to a pre-occupied Zuko as she took the last few steps off the ladder. He was gazing through his telescope with the most bewildered look she had ever seen him make.
"The horizon..." he answered. "An island...I have never seen before...is rising from it."
Almost automatically, he handed Tetra his telescope so she could see it a bit closer.
After taking the object, Tetra peered through the lens and focused on the silhouette of what looked like a very tall island. There was something about it though that was a little...off.
The island didn't have a shore, or even a beach for that matter. Instead, it had numerous stone pillars jutting directly out of the sea, arranged in a circular pattern and holding up a large stone ring that connected each of them. Serving as one of the stone pillars was a very wide and very large tower that extended past the height of the ring and went on to the sky above, looking like it was reaching up into the heavens themselves.
"What...is that place?" Tetra questioned Zuko in a quiet voice, obviously stunned by how tall the tower was.
Zuko shrugged.
"I have never...seen that particular island...in all our years of sailing...the Great Sea, Miss."
Tetra lowered the telescope and peered out into the ocean, not even showing the least bit annoyance toward the way he talked. Even without the aid of the telescope, the place still looked enormously tall...and they were at least a mile or two away from the thing!
With utmost curiosity, Tetra handed back the telescope and climbed back down the ladder.
"Perhaps the place won't mind a visit..." she said out loud, but mostly to herself. She turned to her crew with a sneaky smile. "Boys...this could be our lucky day. There might be treasure awaiting us inside."
The crew's faces brightened at the sound of treasure. It had been a while since they had acquired real treasure! Ever since Tetra was kidnapped by the bird, they've been doing nothing but sailing around and looking for unreachable goods, so the sound of finally going back to being pirates was somewhat of a relief to them.
Now all they had to do...was get there...
Even after another hour of sailing with the wind, the ship had not reached its destination quite yet. They estimated another fifteen minutes of sailing until they got there, and that was if the wind stayed in their favor. As they drew nearer and nearer, the tower grew taller and larger in both height and width. They were now so close that they could see the fine details of this magnificent structure.
Strange, ancient designs covered the whole tower from top to bottom, while the stone ring was neatly crafted to look like the entrance to an old castle. The combination of the stone pillars and the giant ring created huge arches of rock that hovered high above the waters surface. It looked very old, yet at the same time it looked almost like it hasn't been there for a long time.
Everyone peered at it with wonder and awe, pondering where it came from and how it got there. No one knew a logical answer though, so instead of working up a headache to get one, they concentrated on just getting inside once they got there.
Another burst of curiosity overcame Tetra and she climbed back up to the crows nest to get Zuko's handy telescope, longing to get a better look again. After receiving the item, she peered through its glass lens once again, this time focusing on the stone archways instead of the tower.
Before she could see anything of interest, Tetra suddenly felt the wind pick up almost instantly. It blew as if it was being sucked into an unknown source, getting strong only briefly before dimming slightly again. Then as quick as the strong breeze came, it disappeared.
All was quiet for a moment...until...
Wooooooooooosh!
Tetra and the rest of her crew flailed their arms as the wind suddenly shifted direction and blew a strong gust against the right flank of their ship.
"What the...!" Tetra yelped out loud, struggling to keep her footing and not fall flat on her bottom. She gripped the side of the nest to keep her balance, expecting another gale to come ripping through.
When no such gale came after a few seconds, she looked up, suddenly feeling a light breeze instead of a fierce wind. The wind was just blowing toward northeast...now it was blowing...northwest?
"Since when did wind suddenly change direction like that?" Tetra thought. It was a puzzling act of nature indeed...
Tetra could hear the light moans of one of her crewmembers and glanced over at the other side of the nest. Unlike her, Zuko hadn't managed to keep his footing and was now leaning against the side of it, upside down. His eyes had a certain swirly look in them, making it obvious that his head probably got scrambled during the toss.
Tetra just shook her head at the sight. Her crew never was a graceful bunch, but they knew how to follow orders and when to be serious, so she was satisfied. She quickly turned her attention back to the tower and peered back into the scope, hoping to find out what had caused the wind to change direction all of a sudden. This time she focused on the courtyard of water that the stone ring enclosed.
As she swayed the scope from side to side to get the whole picture, something suddenly slipped out of view behind a couple of the pillars. She hastened to find what had gotten out of range, and quickly spotted it as it left the courtyard of water inside the ring.
It was a small and well-carved boat, red in color and having the head of a dragon as its bow. Its sail looked a little big for such a small boat, yet not too big so that it would tip the whole vessel over. And yet...somehow it looked strangely familiar...
Tetra's expression changed when she saw who was riding the thing.
It was none other than the boy in the green tunic...Link.
"I knew I recognized that boat from somewhere!" Tetra expressed in her thoughts. She lowered her gaze. "But since when did he get a boat?"
She shook her head and looked back into the telescope. She got him back in view as he began to sail with the wind at his back to the northeast. As he started to move, Tetra saw him insert a strange looking object into his pocket that he had in his hand.
"So...you did that, huh Link?" Tetra said quietly, knowing for a fact he couldn't hear her unless she spoke into her necklace. Which reminded her...
Without too much thought, Tetra tossed the telescope back to a still disfigured Zuko and quickly reached into her bandana for her treasured accessory. After pulling it out, the image of Link sitting at the rudder's end of the boat slowing appeared. Tetra cringed...
Link's clothes looked like they had been through a shredder! They were torn slightly in too many places for Tetra's liking and bits of what looked like dried blood could be seen surrounding some of them.
Tetra stared a bit, with both confusion and shock. Why was Link covered with cuts? And where the heck was he going?
With a closer look, Tetra could see his face, which had the most straight and serious expression she had seen him put on. She squinted, knowing that she had seen that look before when they were just shoving off from Outset. It was the look of determination...
Tetra got a half smirk on her face. She could tell just by that expression where he was heading...
~ ~ ~
"Keep it slow, men!" Tetra called to the crew moving about the deck. "I don't want us to be spotted!"
"Y-yes, captain." They replied, stuttering only because it was a tad difficult to keep a large ship like theirs unnoticed, even from a mile or a half a mile away.
They had been following Link's red boat for almost an hour now. The sun was slowly slipping below the horizon, allowing night's dark fingers to reach out over the clouds and bathe the sea with its darkness. The wind stayed calm, ensuring that the night was going to be a clear and quiet one.
It was nights like this that Tetra would just sit out on deck by herself and stare up into the starry sky. It was a good way to keep her soul at ease and think about the things she was hoping to find. Treasure...her destiny...it didn't matter what it was. Time to herself was the only way she was able to find comfort...since she was alone.
She never really had anyone to share her feelings with after her mother was captured. Whenever her crew tried to cheer her up, she would only turn them away. And when someone she didn't even know tried to help, she would, like always, scoff at their face and try to hide her sensitivity behind her attitude. It had worked for seven long years...
But Tetra knew something was afoot. Ever since the day she was kidnapped by that giant bird and dropped on Outset Island, everything had made a complete turnabout. It was as if her whole life was suddenly going down a different road...and she didn't have a map to guide her. All she had as clues, it seemed, were the dreams she'd been having the past week or so. And even those didn't make much sense!
Tetra shook her head to get out of her thoughts. She would not find an answer to any of these questions right now, that was for sure. She needed to focus on what they were currently doing instead of bombarding herself with unanswered questions.
It was a good thing she did...
"Holy goddesses!" she yelped.
Towering almost a mile and a half away was the largest and windiest cyclone she had ever seen! And it came out of nowhere!
Tetra gawked at it with wide eyes, but didn't stay this way too long. She didn't want her ship to get sucked up by the vortex, so she shouted commands to halt the ship and get it ready to turn around if need be. Once this task was complete, Tetra suddenly remembered another fact.
"Link!" she gasped. He was at least a half a mile ahead of them, which made him closer to the tornado than they were. He could get sucked up! Without a moment to waste, she quickly got her hands on a telescope and looked through it to try and find him.
He wasn't in sight at first glance, but a closer inspection revealed him near the base of the violent whirl of air. His boat was caught on the edge of a small whirlpool created at the base of the vortex by the swirling of the wind. And it looked like he couldn't get out!
Tetra shot her head up and spun around to the dumbfounded group of pirates behind her. She lifted a finger and was about to issue a command...when everything almost instantly fell silent.
The sound of rapid wind blowing wildly was now gone, and so was the mist that the vortex was throwing around.
Now as dumbfounded as her crew, Tetra slowly turned back around to see what had happened. What she saw was...nothing.
The cyclone had vanished into thin air! Not even a trace of it remained...like it wasn't even there in the first place.
"That was...odd." she thought. They've been having some strange
weather lately...
But Tetra had a hunch that she knew who could have made the twister disappear. Looking back into the telescope, she eagerly searched for Link's red boat on the waters surface.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally spotted him some distance away from where she last saw him.
He didn't look the least bit fazed by the fact that he could have gotten sucked up and thrown who knows how far and how hard. Instead, he was...talking to something?
Tetra moved the scope up a bit to see what he was talking to, but before she got a good glimpse of it, it shot off into the sky at a blinding speed and out of view. Once it disappeared, Tetra focused back on Link, who was fiddling around inside his pocket for something.
"Now what are you planning?" Tetra said, a little annoyed that she didn't know what the heck he was doing.
Her question was half answered when she saw him pull out that weird long object that she saw him put away at the tower. It was a long, white stick that had two circular handles on both sides of its lower half. It's tip was glittering with tiny sparkles of light.
Tetra had no idea what the thing was...but she didn't have enough time to ponder this thought.
With his back to her, Link made a couple swift gestures to his left and right and also to the sky and his feet. Almost instantly, the sky became windy and the water's surface once again stirred under its wake.
Tetra quickly glanced up. The wind suddenly became so harsh so quick that she could hardly believe what she was seeing.
Another cyclone, this one a little smaller, had appeared out of the blue again! But instead of it being a safe distance away from Link, it had formed directly over him!
In an instant, his small boat was plucked off the ocean surface and spun into the air like a rag doll. It lifted him so high that she had to squint to try and keep her sight on his boat. Then, like a flash of lightning, the whole vortex lifted off the ground and shot through the air toward the northwest, taking Link and his boat with it! In just one second, they were nowhere in sight...
The crew was horrified. It wasn't every day you see a traveler almost get sucked up by a tornado and then captured and thrown by one! It sure did make them feel lucky that they didn't get sucked up themselves.
Of course, Tetra knew he had done that last move on purpose. That weird item he had must have changed the wind, and caused that vortex to take him away.
"Clever kid..." Tetra mused. He must have gotten a few handy objects since she last saw him. "Well...you may have gotten a head start, but we're right behind ya!" She turned back to her crew.
"Get this ship moving again and proceed northwest." She commanded.
"We've got a kid to save!"
A/N: Oh what joy! I'm almost up to 40 reviews! Man am I a happy camper! It's things like this that makes a story worth while. *gleams* On with the next chapter!
Chapter 9: Turn of Events
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"Oh no!"
Gonzo, along with the rest of the crew, gasped as they sailed around the back of Outset and reached the entrance to the cave. They have had their fill of relaxation the night before and had a good night's sleep, despite the fact that it had stormed the entire night. Once morning broke, the pirates wasted no time in getting to Outset to claim the great Jabun's treasure. But as soon as they arrived the next day, the stone slab that had blocked the entrance to the cave was now gone.
The crew hung their heads in dismay. It looked as if someone had beaten them to the treasure.
Tetra was the only one who didn't look surprised by the absence of the stone doorway. She knew who had beaten them to the treasure.
She turned to her broken-spirited crew.
"Cheer up, men." She proclaimed somewhat cheerfully. "There's plenty of other treasure we still have yet to find."
The crew lifted their heads. Her words cheered them up a little and they managed to put on a normal expression.
Tetra looked to Nudge and Niko.
"I want you two to store at least twenty bombs in the cargo bay. We might need them later at sea." She turned to rest of the crew. "The rest of you bring the bombs we are not keeping to the main deck. We can sell them for a little bit of profit."
"Aye-aye, Miss Tetra!" they all replied as they scattered across the
deck.
Once this task was complete, they set sail to find a place to sell their leftover bombs.
After about an hour or two of sailing northeast, the crew spotted a lone ship drifting out in the open ocean. It was a small boat neatly decorated with purple cloth, and on each side of it was a small sign that read "Beedle's Shop Ship".
"Well...that wasn't so hard." Mako stated.
The crew murmured with agreeing statements.
Tetra clung to the railing of the ship as she watched the boat drift with the current.
"Perhaps whoever runs that shop will buy our leftover bombs." She stated out loud. She turned around. "Steer us aside that ship, Gonzo."
Gonzo nodded and turned the wheel to align the ship parallel to the
small boat.
As if it knew they wanted to come aboard, the small boat halted in the waves as the ship came close. The pirates let down a roped ladder and Tetra and Senza climbed on board the tiny, floating shop, while everyone else stayed on the pirate ship. Mako threw another rope down to Senza, who caught it and held it tight to keep the two ships close together.
Tetra waved a gesture up to Nudge.
"You stay here, and I'll see if whoever runs this tub will buy our bombs." she ordered him.
Nudge saluted to her, telling her that he understood her command. With that taken care of, Tetra causally walked into the entrance of the store.
As soon as she entered, she quickly heard a somewhat high-pitched male voice greet her at the door.
"Oh! A customer!" the voice squealed.
Tetra glanced around and saw a tall and skinny man with a long nose start to walk up to her. He had little beady eyes, no shirt on, and short pants that went pass his knees. He quickly grabbed one of her hands and began to shake it frantically as a friendly greeting gesture.
"Welcome to Beedle's floating shop ship!" he howled while still shaking a surprised Tetra's hand. She quickly gave him a look that nearly said "please...don't touch me." He paused after he saw the look she was giving him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss Customer..." Beedle stammered. He released his hold and waved a hand around to show her the shop. "Please, feel free to look around my lovely, little stash of goodies. I'm sure you won't be disappointed." He said gleefully.
Tetra shook her hand like she was trying to get cooties off it or something, then pulled a bang out of her eye.
"I'm not here to buy stuff." She said to him as the bang dropped back
in her eyes.
"Oh?" he sounded, hinting his curiosity.
"Yeah..." Tetra responded, sounding slightly annoyed cause her hair was being stubborn. After stuffing the annoying bang up on her head, she put her hands on her hip and continued. "I'd like to know if I could sell anything to this place."
"Oh of course, Miss Customer!" Beedle replied happily. "I'll be glad to buy stuff off of you! Just show it to me and I'll name the price I'm willing to pay."
Tetra lowered her look, not liking the name he was calling her. But she shrugged it aside and lifted her head.
"Great." Tetra said, pleased with the cooperation this man was showing her. He was acting much better than that creepy bomb shop guy. She turned around and looked over her shoulder. "I'll be right back."
"Take your time, Miss Customer." He replied, waving a hand through the
air.
In just a few minutes, she returned with Nudge, who was carrying one of their barrels full of bombs.
Beedle must have spotted the few sticking up out of the top and he quickly pointed to them, his mouth wide with excitement.
"Are those...bombs?!" he said quickly, almost too quickly for them to make it out.
"Uh...yeah." Tetra quietly said but loud enough for him to hear. "So...how much will you pay for one?"
Beedle scratched his back as he thought.
"I've always wanted to have bombs as part of my variety of goods!" he rambled. "I'm willing to pay 20 rupees each. How's that?"
Tetra's eyebrows went up. He was easier to bargain with than a sack of potatoes. It must have been their lucky day.
"We'll take it!" she said quickly.
After going through all the counting and sorting out the details, the pirates were able to earn a good profit of more than 250 rupees. It was enough to make the crew happy at least.
As the pirates aboard the shop ship climbed back up to the main deck, Beedle stood outside his small shop to see them off.
"Thank you so much, pirates!" he called.
Tetra was the last in line to get on the rope ladder, and before it was her turn, she quickly turned to Beedle and spoke.
"If you happen to get another customer...and he has a green hat and outfit...give him the cheapest price you can possible give him. Ok?"
Beedle scratched his head, then pointed to the sky as if he suddenly got an idea in his head.
"Ohhhhhh...I know him!" he suddenly proclaimed.
Tetra paused.
"You do?"
"Yeah!" he replied, waving a hand through the air. "He stopped by here just a few hours ago and bought some bait. Do you know the guy, Miss-" he suddenly stopped short when Tetra interrupted him.
"Which way did he go?" she said rapidly.
Beedle paused then pointed to his right.
"Northeast, I believe...why? Are you acquainted with him?" he questioned as he looked back at the young captain.
Tetra made a face that looked like a half smirk.
"I guess you could say that." she answered. She turned around and began to climb up the roped ladder leading back to her ship. About half-way up, she paused and looked back down at Beedle.
"Just remember to give him your cheapest price next time you see him, ok?" She had to make sure the oddball would remember.
Beedle made a salute and replied.
"Certainly, Miss Customer!"
Tetra frowned. "It's Miss Tetra."
"Ok, Miss Customer."
Tetra rolled her eyes, then went back to climbing up the ladder. Once everyone was on board, they quickly let down the sail and shoved off.
For another hour, the ship sailed further northeast, its destination unknown to everyone on the ship. The only order the crew had received from their captain was to sail northeast until further instructions were made. The crew figured they were on yet another treasure hunt, and its whereabouts were still unknown, even to their captain; so, no one questioned the command and went about their duties.
Everyone on deck remained quiet...
...until a half hour later...
By now, Tetra was growing impatient with all the waiting and not knowing what to do next bit. She sat cross-legged atop one of two flat- topped crates near the entrance to the lower deck, examining her crew and trying to figure something that was bugging the daylights out of her. It was a question that she could not find an answer to ever since the night at Windfall Island.
She glanced up into the now bright orange sky full of pink clouds, feeling the light breeze blowing through her blonde hair.
"What could you possible be up to, Link?" she questioned in her mind. Not only was it bugging her that she didn't know the answer, it was also annoying since she couldn't ask anyone else for an answer. The only person she could ask was Link...and he obviously wasn't with them at the time.
"Darn it!" she thought as she folded her arms across her small chest. "Why do questions always have to be this hard to answer!" She made a frown, thinking it was probably another hard truth about life that she still had yet to learn.
"Miss Tetra!" Zuko suddenly called down from the crows nest.
Upon hearing Zuko's call, practically everyone within hearing distance jumped. They all tried to look for an explanation to his sudden call of attention as Tetra quickly leaped off her perch and climbed up the ladder to see what he wanted.
"What is it?" said Tetra to a pre-occupied Zuko as she took the last few steps off the ladder. He was gazing through his telescope with the most bewildered look she had ever seen him make.
"The horizon..." he answered. "An island...I have never seen before...is rising from it."
Almost automatically, he handed Tetra his telescope so she could see it a bit closer.
After taking the object, Tetra peered through the lens and focused on the silhouette of what looked like a very tall island. There was something about it though that was a little...off.
The island didn't have a shore, or even a beach for that matter. Instead, it had numerous stone pillars jutting directly out of the sea, arranged in a circular pattern and holding up a large stone ring that connected each of them. Serving as one of the stone pillars was a very wide and very large tower that extended past the height of the ring and went on to the sky above, looking like it was reaching up into the heavens themselves.
"What...is that place?" Tetra questioned Zuko in a quiet voice, obviously stunned by how tall the tower was.
Zuko shrugged.
"I have never...seen that particular island...in all our years of sailing...the Great Sea, Miss."
Tetra lowered the telescope and peered out into the ocean, not even showing the least bit annoyance toward the way he talked. Even without the aid of the telescope, the place still looked enormously tall...and they were at least a mile or two away from the thing!
With utmost curiosity, Tetra handed back the telescope and climbed back down the ladder.
"Perhaps the place won't mind a visit..." she said out loud, but mostly to herself. She turned to her crew with a sneaky smile. "Boys...this could be our lucky day. There might be treasure awaiting us inside."
The crew's faces brightened at the sound of treasure. It had been a while since they had acquired real treasure! Ever since Tetra was kidnapped by the bird, they've been doing nothing but sailing around and looking for unreachable goods, so the sound of finally going back to being pirates was somewhat of a relief to them.
Now all they had to do...was get there...
Even after another hour of sailing with the wind, the ship had not reached its destination quite yet. They estimated another fifteen minutes of sailing until they got there, and that was if the wind stayed in their favor. As they drew nearer and nearer, the tower grew taller and larger in both height and width. They were now so close that they could see the fine details of this magnificent structure.
Strange, ancient designs covered the whole tower from top to bottom, while the stone ring was neatly crafted to look like the entrance to an old castle. The combination of the stone pillars and the giant ring created huge arches of rock that hovered high above the waters surface. It looked very old, yet at the same time it looked almost like it hasn't been there for a long time.
Everyone peered at it with wonder and awe, pondering where it came from and how it got there. No one knew a logical answer though, so instead of working up a headache to get one, they concentrated on just getting inside once they got there.
Another burst of curiosity overcame Tetra and she climbed back up to the crows nest to get Zuko's handy telescope, longing to get a better look again. After receiving the item, she peered through its glass lens once again, this time focusing on the stone archways instead of the tower.
Before she could see anything of interest, Tetra suddenly felt the wind pick up almost instantly. It blew as if it was being sucked into an unknown source, getting strong only briefly before dimming slightly again. Then as quick as the strong breeze came, it disappeared.
All was quiet for a moment...until...
Wooooooooooosh!
Tetra and the rest of her crew flailed their arms as the wind suddenly shifted direction and blew a strong gust against the right flank of their ship.
"What the...!" Tetra yelped out loud, struggling to keep her footing and not fall flat on her bottom. She gripped the side of the nest to keep her balance, expecting another gale to come ripping through.
When no such gale came after a few seconds, she looked up, suddenly feeling a light breeze instead of a fierce wind. The wind was just blowing toward northeast...now it was blowing...northwest?
"Since when did wind suddenly change direction like that?" Tetra thought. It was a puzzling act of nature indeed...
Tetra could hear the light moans of one of her crewmembers and glanced over at the other side of the nest. Unlike her, Zuko hadn't managed to keep his footing and was now leaning against the side of it, upside down. His eyes had a certain swirly look in them, making it obvious that his head probably got scrambled during the toss.
Tetra just shook her head at the sight. Her crew never was a graceful bunch, but they knew how to follow orders and when to be serious, so she was satisfied. She quickly turned her attention back to the tower and peered back into the scope, hoping to find out what had caused the wind to change direction all of a sudden. This time she focused on the courtyard of water that the stone ring enclosed.
As she swayed the scope from side to side to get the whole picture, something suddenly slipped out of view behind a couple of the pillars. She hastened to find what had gotten out of range, and quickly spotted it as it left the courtyard of water inside the ring.
It was a small and well-carved boat, red in color and having the head of a dragon as its bow. Its sail looked a little big for such a small boat, yet not too big so that it would tip the whole vessel over. And yet...somehow it looked strangely familiar...
Tetra's expression changed when she saw who was riding the thing.
It was none other than the boy in the green tunic...Link.
"I knew I recognized that boat from somewhere!" Tetra expressed in her thoughts. She lowered her gaze. "But since when did he get a boat?"
She shook her head and looked back into the telescope. She got him back in view as he began to sail with the wind at his back to the northeast. As he started to move, Tetra saw him insert a strange looking object into his pocket that he had in his hand.
"So...you did that, huh Link?" Tetra said quietly, knowing for a fact he couldn't hear her unless she spoke into her necklace. Which reminded her...
Without too much thought, Tetra tossed the telescope back to a still disfigured Zuko and quickly reached into her bandana for her treasured accessory. After pulling it out, the image of Link sitting at the rudder's end of the boat slowing appeared. Tetra cringed...
Link's clothes looked like they had been through a shredder! They were torn slightly in too many places for Tetra's liking and bits of what looked like dried blood could be seen surrounding some of them.
Tetra stared a bit, with both confusion and shock. Why was Link covered with cuts? And where the heck was he going?
With a closer look, Tetra could see his face, which had the most straight and serious expression she had seen him put on. She squinted, knowing that she had seen that look before when they were just shoving off from Outset. It was the look of determination...
Tetra got a half smirk on her face. She could tell just by that expression where he was heading...
~ ~ ~
"Keep it slow, men!" Tetra called to the crew moving about the deck. "I don't want us to be spotted!"
"Y-yes, captain." They replied, stuttering only because it was a tad difficult to keep a large ship like theirs unnoticed, even from a mile or a half a mile away.
They had been following Link's red boat for almost an hour now. The sun was slowly slipping below the horizon, allowing night's dark fingers to reach out over the clouds and bathe the sea with its darkness. The wind stayed calm, ensuring that the night was going to be a clear and quiet one.
It was nights like this that Tetra would just sit out on deck by herself and stare up into the starry sky. It was a good way to keep her soul at ease and think about the things she was hoping to find. Treasure...her destiny...it didn't matter what it was. Time to herself was the only way she was able to find comfort...since she was alone.
She never really had anyone to share her feelings with after her mother was captured. Whenever her crew tried to cheer her up, she would only turn them away. And when someone she didn't even know tried to help, she would, like always, scoff at their face and try to hide her sensitivity behind her attitude. It had worked for seven long years...
But Tetra knew something was afoot. Ever since the day she was kidnapped by that giant bird and dropped on Outset Island, everything had made a complete turnabout. It was as if her whole life was suddenly going down a different road...and she didn't have a map to guide her. All she had as clues, it seemed, were the dreams she'd been having the past week or so. And even those didn't make much sense!
Tetra shook her head to get out of her thoughts. She would not find an answer to any of these questions right now, that was for sure. She needed to focus on what they were currently doing instead of bombarding herself with unanswered questions.
It was a good thing she did...
"Holy goddesses!" she yelped.
Towering almost a mile and a half away was the largest and windiest cyclone she had ever seen! And it came out of nowhere!
Tetra gawked at it with wide eyes, but didn't stay this way too long. She didn't want her ship to get sucked up by the vortex, so she shouted commands to halt the ship and get it ready to turn around if need be. Once this task was complete, Tetra suddenly remembered another fact.
"Link!" she gasped. He was at least a half a mile ahead of them, which made him closer to the tornado than they were. He could get sucked up! Without a moment to waste, she quickly got her hands on a telescope and looked through it to try and find him.
He wasn't in sight at first glance, but a closer inspection revealed him near the base of the violent whirl of air. His boat was caught on the edge of a small whirlpool created at the base of the vortex by the swirling of the wind. And it looked like he couldn't get out!
Tetra shot her head up and spun around to the dumbfounded group of pirates behind her. She lifted a finger and was about to issue a command...when everything almost instantly fell silent.
The sound of rapid wind blowing wildly was now gone, and so was the mist that the vortex was throwing around.
Now as dumbfounded as her crew, Tetra slowly turned back around to see what had happened. What she saw was...nothing.
The cyclone had vanished into thin air! Not even a trace of it remained...like it wasn't even there in the first place.
"That was...odd." she thought. They've been having some strange
weather lately...
But Tetra had a hunch that she knew who could have made the twister disappear. Looking back into the telescope, she eagerly searched for Link's red boat on the waters surface.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally spotted him some distance away from where she last saw him.
He didn't look the least bit fazed by the fact that he could have gotten sucked up and thrown who knows how far and how hard. Instead, he was...talking to something?
Tetra moved the scope up a bit to see what he was talking to, but before she got a good glimpse of it, it shot off into the sky at a blinding speed and out of view. Once it disappeared, Tetra focused back on Link, who was fiddling around inside his pocket for something.
"Now what are you planning?" Tetra said, a little annoyed that she didn't know what the heck he was doing.
Her question was half answered when she saw him pull out that weird long object that she saw him put away at the tower. It was a long, white stick that had two circular handles on both sides of its lower half. It's tip was glittering with tiny sparkles of light.
Tetra had no idea what the thing was...but she didn't have enough time to ponder this thought.
With his back to her, Link made a couple swift gestures to his left and right and also to the sky and his feet. Almost instantly, the sky became windy and the water's surface once again stirred under its wake.
Tetra quickly glanced up. The wind suddenly became so harsh so quick that she could hardly believe what she was seeing.
Another cyclone, this one a little smaller, had appeared out of the blue again! But instead of it being a safe distance away from Link, it had formed directly over him!
In an instant, his small boat was plucked off the ocean surface and spun into the air like a rag doll. It lifted him so high that she had to squint to try and keep her sight on his boat. Then, like a flash of lightning, the whole vortex lifted off the ground and shot through the air toward the northwest, taking Link and his boat with it! In just one second, they were nowhere in sight...
The crew was horrified. It wasn't every day you see a traveler almost get sucked up by a tornado and then captured and thrown by one! It sure did make them feel lucky that they didn't get sucked up themselves.
Of course, Tetra knew he had done that last move on purpose. That weird item he had must have changed the wind, and caused that vortex to take him away.
"Clever kid..." Tetra mused. He must have gotten a few handy objects since she last saw him. "Well...you may have gotten a head start, but we're right behind ya!" She turned back to her crew.
"Get this ship moving again and proceed northwest." She commanded.
"We've got a kid to save!"