The Water Pistil
The group stood together looking out at the view in front of them. "So, this half is our half huh? It's nice that we got some of the protected side of the island for the boats" Zane said out loud. The group currently, was standing on the beach of Mako Island shortly after it became officially theirs.
The group had come out here to begin preparing their houses on the island as well as setting up their side of the property. The other night after celebrating their purchase Lewis had suggested that since they are already planning on building an "office' on the island they might as well live there too. Half of the group still lived with their parents, so it was a big step forward for them as far as being adults went.
Will had decided to rent out the boathouse he was currently living in, and Lewis rented out his apartment as well. The girls had pooled their resources together and with a little help from their parents, bought out Rikki's house with consent from her father to use as their mainland meeting point. Rikki had a talk with Zane and her father, and plans were made to upgrade the current house to accommodate the group as it currently could not fit everyone comfortably.
Back on the island, the group began to make their way into the forest to look for what would become their new home. "We need to find a suitable location to build our new community." Emma said as she led the group. The brush in the forest was very thick from where they entered, filled with bushes and trees. Eventually the group stumbled upon an animal path that went deeper into the island and decided to follow it instead of more fighting through foliage.
As they were walking, the group was discussing what the most ideal place would be to call home. "It should preferably be a clearing, but unless we decide to cut down some trees, I don't know if we are going to find one." Lewis said from the middle of the group as they kept going deeper.
Bella gave a little gasp and slapped him on the shoulder "Don't even dare suggest that." She said with a serious face. A few seconds later she couldn't keep it up anymore and broke out in giggles. "I'm kidding. But on a serious note, I don't think we should do that."
In front of Lewis, Cleo turned her head to the two, "I agree, I don't think it's right." she chimed in, "Besides we have been walking for a while and have only been going across the island. We still have the center to look around in."
"Ok let's go towards the center then, maybe there is something near the base of the volcano?" Ash suggested. Lewis added in, "Ash has a point. On top of that we may find some natural formations near the base."
Following Ash's suggestion, the group changed course and went towards the base of the volcano. After what seemed like a lifetime for the group but, was only an hour, the group finally approached the base of the volcano. "Do you hear that?" Cleo said, suddenly stopping.
The group paused to listen, "That sounds like rushing water." Bella said. As the group pushed on the sound began getting clearer and easier to hear. At first it was like a low hum but now it was slowly turning into a loud roar. As the group made their way through a row of bushes, they found the cause of the sound.
In front of them was a beautiful waterfall situated near an outcrop of the volcano, cascading down into a crystal-clear blue pool. The waterfall was coming out from the rock in the nook of the outcrop and towered about 100ft above them. The walls spreading out to the sides resulting in a small clearing around the pool up until it reached the forest.
"This is beautiful." Cleo said.
"This was definitely meant for us." Emma chimed in.
"I think we found our home." Rikki added.
The crew immediately divided themselves up to prepare for their new home. Emma decided to dive into the waterfalls pool to see where it leads thanks to Lewis's urging. He argued that it must lead somewhere if there's a constant flow of water and there were no signs of flooding.
Emma agreed with his logic and volunteered to explore as she was comfortable if it ended up getting tight as they didn't know what to expect. Lewis began taking measurements of the surrounding area, marking down places of interest.
Cleo and Bella worked together to build makeshift houses using Bella's crystallization. Cleo created four studio sized buildings in a semi-circle that had a clearing between the houses and the waterfall pool. It was a rough model of a true home, but Zane already said he would discuss with his father about getting real material out here so they can have an actual building.
Will and Zane decided to find a route to create a pathway from the beach to where they were building the houses. They planned on building a dock on the beach so the boys would have a place to dock their boats.
Ash and Rikki left and took the speedboat to work with Mr. Bennett and began finding contractors to develop their new house, Rikki's old home. They also discussed about adding Rikki's café under the Atlantis Inc. umbrella so it would be easier to manage.
Will and Zane arrived at the beach and looked around. "It seems like there's a shoal off the coast over here, this may not be a good spot." Will said noticing the difference in the waves.
"We don't want to go to far, we still don't know the way back to the girls very well yet." Zane answered.
Will sighed, "Your right, it's not optimal, but we could make this place work. Maybe the girls will figure out something for the shoal."
"Alright, I'll start grabbing rocks to mark the beach area, did you mark where we left the woods?" Zane asked.
"Yea" Will replied, turning around, and pointing towards a patch of bushes at the forest's edge. "Right over there."
"Ok we need to mark it better; I'll call Rikki and have her bring back some supplies when she's done with my father." Zane said while running through scenarios in his head. "We have the basic outline now we just need to discuss on the best way to move forward."
"Putting aside the dock for now, where's the boundary line for our property?" Will asked Zane.
"Mr. Gringle said they put up stakes where the boundary line is. We should call Ash and Rikki and just tell them to come back here, we need a lot more then just a few supplies." Zane said before pulling out his phone to call Rikki.
After getting in touch with Rikki, the two guys went back to meet with the group to tell them what they had planned. They knew they had to block off the beach to prevent curious people from trespassing on to their side and risk exposure.
Emma dived into the pool and took in her surroundings. The best way to describe the pool was like a sink. Around the edges it was shallow with nice soft sand. As you went deeper the sand made way to solid ground with the occasional rock all the way to where water crashed down.
She had yet to see any sort of tunnel however and pushed towards the downpour of the waterfall. With a quick flip of her tail, she shot through and immediately entered and underwater cave sloping downwards. The cave was a lot bigger than she expected, as she kept swimming, she noticed an irregularity on the far side of the wall.
As she got to the wall, she was able to make out 4 symbols in a + formation with lines dividing the four symbols. The top was a Triangle, the right one was an upside-down triangle with a line through it. The bottom was an upside-down triangle and the left one was a right side up triangle with a line through it. Emma recognized the symbols but couldn't put her finger on how she knew them. She took a mental image of the cave and began making her way back to the surface.
When she got back to the surface, she looked for Lewis to tell him what she had discovered. After searching for a few minutes Emma found Lewis halfway up a tree looking around.
"Are you ok Lewis?" Emma shouted up at him. Lewis heard the noise and looked down to see Emma. Giving her a quick wave, he takes one last swivel and begins making his way down the tree. Once he got to the bottom, he brushed himself off and walked over to Emma.
"Yea I'm fine, I was just scanning the surroundings. What's going on?" he replied.
Emma explained to him the symbols she found, after a few moments of thought Lewis's face suddenly brightened. "Of course! That's why it sounds so familiar."
"What do you mean?" Emma asked
"It's the old symbols for the elements, Regular triangle is fire, Upside down is water, The other two are earth and air. If you think about it, there's got to be a connection between you and the other girls. We should get them over here quickly."
Cleo and Bella were standing at the edge of the pool debating over the style of the houses.
"I'm just saying dome buildings would be easier to construct and we can always improve on them later." Bella said to Cleo.
"But a dome building to fit two comfortably and still function as a house, it would have to be huge." Cleo said waving her hands in emphasis.
Bella sighed, "We aren't exactly building a two-story house here, it's just a simple construction for a bed and living room. We can't exactly construct a fully loaded kitchen out of water."
Cleo sunk her head a bit as Bella's logic crashed her dreams. "Ok then can we compromise? We could do a simple 4 wall house and make it nicer later."
"That's a lot of water, you sure you can handle that?" Bella asked worriedly.
"I can do it; it will be good practice either way." Cleo said with a determined look.
"Alright then, let's begin" Bella said.
Cleo faced the water and reached her arms out. With a twisting motion of her hands, a thread of water begins to emerge from the pool. Cleo focused on this water and pulled it up on land, and expanded it, creating a large square of water.
"Ok put in the correct position and I will harden it." Bella said to Cleo.
Cleon controls the water and moves it to the location of where the first house would be built. After making sure she lined up the water correctly she signaled to Bella who slowly began to congeal the water until it turned into the crystalline structure, they were familiar with.
"Ok, that's one wall down. You okay to keep going?" Bella said to Cleo. Bella more said this out of habit then actual concern., as she knew Cleo barely used her power and was nowhere near a limit.
Cleo rolled her eyes at Bella. "That was ONE wall" she said with a laugh. "Come on, let's keep it going."
Bella laughed along side her and the two worked together to finish up the houses. The walls were relatively easy to build but the roofs required some creativity. Cleo would put the segment of the roof to line up with the wall. Then Bella would de-crystallize the topmost part of the wall until it turned into a gelatinous substance.
Cleo would then lower the roof ever so slightly until both edges melded with another. The hard part was for Bella who had to congeal it just enough so Cleo could still control it while at the same time fusing with the wall.
After repeating this again the basis of the roof was built. Now came the easy triangle shapes to fit in the remaining holes. Cleo and Bella, now fully in a routine, made short work of the remaining two pieces. What they didn't realize however was how much time had passed and wouldn't have realized either if it wasn't for Ash, Will, Zane and Rikki, walking into the clearing.
With the four of them here the whole group was now present, which was perfect timing for Emma. Running over to Rikki, Emma grabs her and brings her over to Bella and Cleo. The boys, confused by this, walk over to see what's going on.
"Okay so I went and explored the pool and found something that we should definitely investigate." Emma said in her business voice. "I showed Lewis, and he believes it requires the four of us and… well I'll let him explain." Emma trailed off as she realized she didn't quite understand the mechanics behind it and left it to the brainiac to explain.
"Basically, Emma found what looks like the mouth of a tunnel at the bottom of the cave. It appears to have a seal on it which brings me to you four girls." He said as the girls look at one another wondering what was going on.
"The seal based off Emma's description appears to be the symbols of the four Elements, Wind, Fire, Earth and Air." He said knowingly while looking at each one of the girls. "In this case, one of them is obvious who Fire is" As Lewis says this, the girls look at Rikki who already had a smile on her face.
"Well, that one makes a lot of sense, but what about the others? Like me for example, I control wind, but I also control water?" Cleo asked him.
"I have a theory about that." Lewis said proudly. The girls all groaned collectively and then had a short laugh at one another once they realized what they did.
Lewis looked miffed for a bit before Cleo lovingly rubbed his shoulder and beckoned for him to continue. "The best theory I have right now is that the elements are going to be based off your blessings. This makes the most sense when you think about. Bella has a nature-based blessing so she must be earth. Emma and Cleo's were harder but if you look at Emma's blessing, hers is snow and wind. Again, this is all a theory and you girls will need to find out for yourselves."
"Should we test it now?" Bella asked the others.
"Why not, we are here aren't we?" Rikki said clearly amped up.
"We will wait for you at the edge then." Zane said while standing at the edge with the other guys.
"Alright, let's go" Emma said as she dived right in, seconds later being followed by the girls. The group swam in tandem behind Emma as she led the way down. After a few moments Emma finally stopped at the wall. Emma swam over and dragged the girls to their symbols before placing her hand on her symbol.
As soon as she placed in her hand the + lit up on the rock glowing a deep blue before a rumbling suddenly happened. The underwater cave began to shake, small currents being created in the water. The girls quickly grouped together to prevent being separated and waited out the shaking. The shaking only lasted a few seconds before the wall began to dissolve before their eyes, exposing the mysteries behind it.
That mystery turned out to be a very ominous tunnel that led into the darkness. The girls looked at one another before forming a chain holding hands and ventured into the tunnel.
After a few moments of darkness, the tunnel began lighting up a dull blue. The girls felt a sense of déjà vu wash over them, and sure enough moments later they entered a cavern with the same orb that the Core room had.
This one however was slightly different and was formed in the shape of a tear drop. The girls swam over to it and put their hands on it.
"Welcome my children." The voice of Amphitrite could be heard. "I am happy to see that you have resolved your decisions in becoming the next rulers of Atlantis. When I led Atlantis, I had many artifacts that helped my land prosper. This orb that you see in front of you is called the Water Pistil. There is other Pistils and obtaining each one will alter your land and enhance your powers. This cave that you see before you did not exist until you purchased the land, which was an affirmation to the islands nature that you are ready to be the caretakers."
The girls looked at each other in amazement as they grasped what Amphitrite was trying to say, but how do they obtain the other Pistils?
"The other Pistils will come in time when you are ready. As for your powers, you will slowly step into the roles of your Guardians, however while this power comes naturally, the control does not. You must help one another in making each other stronger. As a gift I will bestow you girls an ability lost to the ages for us sea nymphs."
What felt like a slight current washed over the girls, as the briefly glowed before everything returned to normal.
"You will learn in time what the gift is, but for now." A smaller shake occurred, and a hole opened on the other side of the cave.
"This tunnel will lead to the core room, which means you girls have now unlocked three doors. I'm happy to see you striving forward and look forward to your next accomplishments."
With that said the glow from the stone died down and the light from the new tunnel became the only source. Emma swam forward and grabbed the stone. We should probably store this in the treasury for now.
I think it's safe here, we are the only ones who can swim this far down unless someone brings diving gear.
Wait who said that?
I said that.
The girls began looking at each other in confusion as it was a known fact between them that they couldn't talk underwater. Yet now they were communicating with one another as they would on land.
This must be the gift that she was talking about!
So, we can talk to each other in our minds?
That's what it looks like, at least we can underwater but what about on land?
With this said and their job done, the girls made their way back to the surface to the boys what they had discovered.
Sorry for the late delay work got crazy. Hope you guys like the path this is going! We will dive in a little more on what's going on before we dive into the next arc. As always please read and review as it means a lot to me. See you next time!