To them, it had been like the entire world had just been submerged in water. To most of them, there was a feeling of helplessness that came they were unable to swim in water. Kumadori acted quickly and swam upwards. He gasped as soon as he hit the surface. "Oh my! Where is everyone!? Gurin? Lucci? Kalifa", he asked as he looked around for the entire crew.
"Kumadori! Fukurou! Quick, we have to save everyone", Raymond yelled, right before diving. He had submerged along with Fukurou. There were pieces of the ship all over the place and it was clear it would be of no use to them anymore. He quickly swam down and grabbed Lucci and Serenity by the collars. They were the closest to him at the moment. Fukurou swam down and grabbed Borya and Jabra.
"I shall wrangle the rest!" Kumadori hopped onto a wayward board, and used his hair to fish the rest out. He grabbed on to Gurin, Kaku, Blueno, Kalifa, spandam and moira. Everyone managed to gather on a big piece of the helm that was leftover. While it was big enough to stay afloat, it would not travel further than where it was now. "We are safe for now."
"Not quite! The school is still nearby! We were able to survive the first one, but if we get caught in another whirlpool we'll be as good as dead", Fukurou shouted.
"Then let's take to the sky's", Raymond said as he used his moonwalk technique to lift he, Serenity and Lucci into the air. "They might still be able to blast at us, but at least this will stop them from attacking us in the water."
Kumadori and Fukurou both also took to the sky, with their drenched friends. Kumadori looked down towards the water. They are still lurking. Its obvious they wont let us leave without a fight."
"Then lets give them one!" Raymond was about to get ready to reach for his weapons, but he realized he was already holding two unconscious people. "Dang! I won't be much help right now." Not only that, but his weapons had gotten wet.
"Keep an eye on them, we have to keep them at bay", Fukurou said. He narrowly dodged a spout of blue energy coming out of the water. The fish were attacking again, but were attempting to shoot them all down using a force of water.
"D-don't worry, I got it! You can let me go now, Kumadori-San, Gurin said as she shook her head rapidly to shake off the fatigue. We can't fight them like this so we should fly away." Kumadori nodded and let her go. She then transformed into her full Western Dragon form. Kumadori quickly hopped onto her back. "Everyone, grab on", she yelled as she zoomed forward. "Everyone reached up and grabbed onto her.
"Ack! Are we just going to run away", Lucci asked as he too came to.
"We're prolonging our lives! It won't do us any good to fight out here like this! And besides, they aren't even our enemy", Moira replied. "We have bigger fish to fry, so to speak."
"Why didn't we just do this in the first place", Kaku asked.
"Because a boat would have been less of a bother on her. Not only that but less suspicious", Blueno replied.
"Don't worry about it. I don't mind at all, but yeah, we would be easily spotted this way, so we'd better hurry", Gurin said. The sky was also quite muggy just like it was when they were closer to the ground.
"I cant believe we almost got killed by fish...Fish! Though on a positive note, we'll definitely get there faster than we would on Last Hurrah", Serenity said. "I'd say we'll be there in a day and a half. Guess this gives us more time to get to know each other."
"There is nothing more I need to know about any of you", Lucci replied.
"Actually, I am somewhat curios", Kaku added.
"Of course, you are...", Lucci replied somewhat irritated. "Then again, I suppose it would give us a good gauge on what you all can do. We'll need every ounce of strength we can get if we're going to do this. I noticed you apparently have learned some of the six powers training."
"Yes actually! They taught us some of those hidden moves. The training has even helped us in many ways. Although it hasn't been too long, so each of us has trouble with at least ONE of the powers. My finger pistol still needs work", Raymond said.
"Iron body for me", Gurin added.
"I don't really care for the storm leg technique", Moira said.
"And Moonwalk isn't really something I need since I can jump anyways", Borya chimed in.
"It took us years to learn this stuff, yet most of you learned them in almost two years", Lucci asked. "Thats...pretty interesting. Perhaps I was a little hasty with my judgement." Afterall if they saw something in you then you must be at least somewhat formidable."
"Even your compliments almost sound like insults", Borya said.
"Hey look! The stars are coming out again. It almost night", Moira said. This tie it doesn't look so ominous like they did last time. Maybe that's a good sign", she asked.
Jabra looked up at the sky. "I hope so. We could use one right about now".
With an occasional stop at a deserted island here and there, their long journey back to full bloom island had paid off, as they finally saw the brightly lit island come into view in the breezy morning. The foliage swayed back and forth as if the island didn't have a care in the world. The pollen was quite plentiful as well. Which reminded them that they wouldn't be able to stay long.
"As much payback as we owe the two flower things that tricked us, we may have to take a rain check. We can't stay here too long or the strange pollen will affect us again", Raymond said. "To think they dragged us all the way to that useless island from here. Oh well, the Skydancer is a sight for sore eyes!"
Gurin descended towards the previously abandoned vessel. "I'll say! And looks like the rest of our stuff is still here too." Everyone let go of her and landed onto the ship.
"Thanks for the ride! Oh its so good to be back on a reliable ship", Moira said as she hugged one of the support beams.
"Hm? This isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Quite impressive. I can tell it's a bit on the older side, but its been well cared for", Lucci said as he examined the ship.
"Oh, that's right, you and Kaku were shipwrights a few years ago. It was a present from her dad, and one hell of a good one. I could kiss this old ship right about now", Borya said. "Luckily there's still a few more rooms on this baby.
"Were must we go now, Serenity? If the witch's garden is supposed to be so malicious, then how would we go about navigating it? We could end up getting lost, or even shipwrecked again", Kumadori said. He seemed to be fumbling with a bag of some sort. He was intending to make use of an item he recently acquired, before they were taken.
"Lets see...if we go north from here, we'll end up just outside the Witch's square. Once we get to the island closest to it we'll need to go in FULLY prepared. There's no telling when or even if we'll be able to leave. Being overstocked and overprepared would be the best thing to do for this situation. It would also benefit us to do some training even.
"That sounds good to me. The enemy is a monster we can't even comprehend. We need to use that thought to fuel the very best of our skills", Borya said. He cracked his knuckles.
This was it...they had finally found their way back to the ship. Now it was time to head for the Witch's square, where they would finally be able to confront Cannibal.