Authors Notes
Hi all! Clem here writing this chapter ^^
Thank you for the lovely reviews again! They mean a lot ^^
Aztec - I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter and wow you really hit the nail on the head with some words said here. Though I can't really say the specifics as it spoils the chapter ^^
lordgemini - Happy you liked the episode. Sorry to hear about the mixed feelings on Perdi, hope she grows on you though! Yeah, things will be a bit tough but with a nice buildup to it. I feel if it was anyone other than Dwayne they would've recognised Perdi's faults harder but the story would've gone way different lol
Guest - Time to find out what the teacher will be ^^ Glad to see you're excited! You should try making an account really, I'd love to be able to know who's actually reviewing! Up to you though of course
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
A2C7
The sounds of birds could be heard outside. Noah opened his eyes and grumbled at the birds that woke him up.
Doesn't matter what world I'm in, the birds are still annoying.
He noticed that the room was still pretty dark. He glanced over at the other side of the room and checked the clock.
6:21am… Still early eh I doubt I'll fall back asleep.
He could hear the constant snoring of Dwayne as well as Leonard occasionally slurring spells in his sleep.
"Fire.. fireblem.. Fireeddh..dmm.." Leonard drooled a little.
I really hope he doesn't accidentally cast a fireball.
He looked at Dwayne and saw Perdi cuddling with him, also fast asleep.
Noah started feeling a bit of discomfort.
Gh… bathroom… I need it.
He carefully got out of bed and tried his best to get to the bathroom as quietly as he could.
After his trip, he got out of the bathroom and could hear a movement coming from Scarlett's room.
Eh… is she awake?
He tiptoed over and put his ear to the door.
"Come on… come on... I really hate strings…"
Huh…
He knocked on the door lightly.
"Oh? Come in" She said quietly but enough for Noah to hear.
He opened the door and saw Scarlett applying strings to the guitar base.
"Oh, Noah it's you…" She yawned as she continued. "Come in come in." She gestured her hand towards herself.
Noah walked in and closed the door behind him. He just stood there.
"You can take a seat you know…" she said while almost dozing off.
"Ah, thanks." He shuffled and sat down by her. "Why are you awake?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing actually" She gave a weak giggle. "I… I wanted to get Trent's guitar finished before the morning but I don't think I can do it…" She looked down a bit.
"Pfft, you shouldn't rush yourself. Look at you, you're a mess." Noah smirked a little.
She smirked back. "Wow, such nice words" she chuckled a little.
"Yes I know, I'm such a charmer." he let out a little bit of air in laughter. "So mind filling me in on the plan for today?"
"It's much more efficient to tell you all at the same time." She yawned. "And I'm going to go to bed now anyway, I need a quick nap before the rest of you guys wake up. If you're struggling to sleep go for a shower. It's not that loud. You need it anyway, you already stink of BO. Take some clothes in that pile over there. I'm sure you'll look fine in whatever." She smiled and pointed.
"You really aren't going to sugar coat your words huh?" Noah said.
"Not at all. It's not me." She yawned once again before standing up. "Now shoo for now. I'm going for a nap."
"Alright," He stood. "Night I guess." He grabbed some clothes and walked out.
He went for a shower. He stood inside and turned on the water. He suddenly flinched as the water hit him.
Gh! Cold as usual. Hm.
He kept himself in deep thoughts as he washed.
It feels nice having a place that I can actually call something of a home. Beats that forest any day… I do hope the idol collection isn't a waste of time.
He stood there in deep thought, thinking of Emma, Owen, his family for an unknown space of time.
A knock on the bathroom door woke Noah from his daze.
"Huh! What. who's there?" Noah said.
"Oh, Noah! You've been in there for a while. You ok son?" The familiar voice of Dwayne could be heard on the other side.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" Noah turned off the shower and stepped out.
"Alrighty then!" He heard Dwayne's footsteps get quieter as he walked away.
Dwayne's awake… How long was I in there for?!
He grabbed the clothes from earlier and put them on. He stepped over to the mirror nearby and inspected himself.
The clothes he was wearing weren't that far off from his usual gear. He wore a navy blue sweater vest with a white short sleeve top underneath. He wore similar coloured shorts with his usual sneakers on.
Not the worst actually.
He grabbed his old clothes and walked out. He saw that the entire room was now lit up and that all the gang were now awake.
Dwayne was just standing there on the side. It looks like he was waiting for Noah.
Leonard was reading his spellbook and Trent was relaxing on the bed with his arms behind his head.
"Ah, there you are!" Dwayne said as he walked over happily. "Good morning Noah, how did you sleep?"
"Fine. Woke up a bit early though" He scratched the back of his head. "I think i'm still getting used to sleeping here really."
"Oh yeah, it's very weird! I haven't been in a bed without my wife in years. At least I can snuggle up to Perdi now." He smiled brightly as he picked up Perdi from the ground and stroked her.
"Fair enough" Noah blinked and looked at the whole gang. "You guys should get dressed and shower. Long day today."
"On it!" Leonard slammed his book shut and jumped up. "Into the depths of the shower I go!" He walked for a shower.
Noah blinked. "Right. Anyway. Anyone heard from Scarlett?"
Trent shook his head. "Eh, I think she's still asleep."
"Perfect" Noah grumbled.
"Hey man, no rush really. We got all day." Trent said.
"Gh still. I'd rather get out there as soon as possible." Noah grumbled more.
"Oh cheer up bud. It'll be ok" Dwayne smiled.
"Mew" Perdi nodded.
Noah frowned and sat down and went into deep thought again. As he went into deep thought, time passed a bit.
Suddenly a set of fingers snapped in front of Noah's face.
"Hey, Noah!"
He blinked and looked up to see Scarlett standing there. She was wearing her usual outfit of a sweater, shirt and pencil skirt with her hair tied back.
"I'm ready to talk about the plan." She said.
"How long was I out for?" Noah blinked and rubbed his eyes a little. He stood up.
"About half an hour," Trent answered.
Noah looked over at Trent and saw that he was now wearing a grey coat with a black turtleneck sweater underneath and black trousers.
"Quite the look there Trent," Noah smirked.
"I actually like it very much," Trent smiled.
"It is the outfit of a true upcoming bard!" Leonard shouted.
Noah glanced at Leonard who was now in the room.
He was wearing his usual green robes.
"Leonard, do you wear anything else?" Noah asked.
"I must keep the robes on. It's what enchants me with power!" Leonard enthusiastically said.
"I question if that's actually the truth or just your little delusions still talking." Noah frowned and crossed his arms.
"I think he looks fine bud" Dwayne spoke up.
Dwayne was wearing a white polo shirt, a white cap and shorts.
"What.. why do you look like a golfer?" Noah raised an eyebrow.
"Aww don't like the outfit?" Dwayne looked a bit saddened. "I like it! It really brings out the true Dwayne in me" He smiled.
"... Right." Noah just blinked.
"Enough about the clothes Noah" Scarlett demanded.
"Fine fine." Noah frowned.
"Leonard will be wearing something new soon anyway so him wearing his old robes still won't matter." She smirked.
"Something new?" Leonard perked up.
"Well, one of the objectives is to teach you how to swim. So I contacted a swimming teacher for you" She smirked. "There's a local outside pool which you can find her at, I'm sure she will seem familiar to you." She giggled.
"Ooo a quest to the great pond of Aendrikard… I accept it and shall learn a new skill!" Leonard said as he put his staff in the air.
"Well good luck with that Leonard." Noah then looked at Scarlet. "And I guess we will just go for intel correct?"
She started smirking more. "You know what. You can go and swim with him"
Noah blinked. "What? We can already swim." He frowned.
"Not the best but I can," Trent said.
"I might as well get you guys to do a bit of practice just in case you end up rusty. Better safe than sorry you know? Plus you can relax for once guys. Think of it as a break from all the crazy things going on" She smiled a bit.
Noah groaned. "I'd rather just read my book if I wanted to relax." He frowned.
"Well, you're going if you like it or not. Or you aren't coming back for the night." She frowned back.
"Alright, mother" Noah rolled his eyes.
A grumbling was heard.
"Ah! A beast is near" Leonard prepared a battle pose.
"Hahaha! That was just my stomach" Dwayne chuckled. "Would it be possible if we eat first?"
"Sure I'll go grab something quick for you guys and then you can leave to go swimming." She smirked and walked.
"You aren't coming with?" Trent asked.
"Nah. I got to work on the last parts of your guitar"
"Oh ok," Trent said while trying to contain his excitement.
She went to go get the guys something to eat. After they had their meals they set off out of the infirmary.
"See ya, Scarlett! And behave Perdi!" Dwayne shouted as they shut the door. "Well boys, it's swim time! I haven't gone swimming in years! I do hope the water isn't too cold."
"Great… Swimming" Noah frowned.
"Oh cheer up man. It'll be fine" Trent smiled and started to walk.
"I can't wait to learn new water skills," Leonard followed.
"So just in the middle of town right?" Dwayne asked.
"Correct," Noah replied.
"Goodie!" Dwayne squealed a little.
It was a sunny day today. Not a single cloud in the sky with temperatures quite warm. They walked through a cobblestone path. They saw a couple of signs which pointed to different parts of the town, one of the signs had a painted picture of a swimming pool on it.
"I assume that's where we have to go," Noah said.
"Yay pool time!" Dwayne grinned and dashed forward towards the location of the pool.
"Well, he seems eager" Trent chuckled.
"Yeah…" Noah blinked and continued walking.
As Dwayne continued on he saw a set of stairs going down to a large lower area of the town. "Never seen this part before, how neat" He smiled and walked down the steps. He could see in his view a set of buildings, mostly houses and shops and on the left was the swimming pool which already had a few people in it.
Ooo pretty
As he reached the bottom of the steps he saw that the pool was fenced. He simply opened the fence gate and stepped in.
The pool itself was quite large it looked very deep and had both a section for children as well as a section for people to just chill and the last section for people to practice their swimming, it had a medium-sized slide and 3 diving boards, one that was only a meter tall, another that was about 10 meters tall and one last that looked about 25 meters tall. Dwayne gulped a little at the final one.
He glanced at the water and saw a shadow approaching him from within the water, he stepped back a bit.
Suddenly whatever the shadow was had risen and splashed a bit of water onto him. He jumped back and shivered a little.
Ghh! A little cold!
What he saw was a fair woman with blonde hair and some gills on her neck. She had webbed hands and feed as well. She was wearing a one-piece swimsuit.
"Oh hey, you must be Dwayne, right? It's been a while huh" She smiled at him.
"Wait… you're Bridgette right?" Dwayne rubbed his eyes a bit to process the fish like stuff on her.
"Yes, I am actually!" She chuckled. "I can ensure you that I'm real, so where are the others?"
"Oh, they were behind me earlie-"
"Gahhh don't get me in thereee! Water demons!" a sudden screech could be heard which made Dwayne jump a bit.
In their sight at the front gate, they saw Trent and Noah dragging Leonard into the pool area, with Leonard flailing his arms the best he could.
"It's evil in thereee!" Leonard shouted.
"Guys, what's wrong with Leonard?" Dwayne raised his eyebrows.
"W-we- ghh Leonard stop flailing! Were just talking about swimming and such and Trent mentioned a story he had where he near drowned and Leonard started freaking out" Noah frowned at Trent. "Way to go by the way."
"I-i'm sorry ok. I thought the story would at least show that even if it's too late, there's still hope you know?" Trent looked guilty.
"Yeah well, next time keep your mouth shut." Noah frowned.
Leonard flailed more until he saw Bridgette. "Huh! Fish woman." He stopped struggling and just stared.
"What is he-"
"Don't question it, just let him do what he's doing for now." Noah stopped grabbing him.
Trent nodded.
"Quite the bunch you guys are" Bridgette commented.
Noah perked up a bit and looked at Bridgette. "Oh, it's you, Bridgette."
"Hey Bridgette, glad to see you're ok after all this crazy stuff" Trent smiled. "So your power is fish related? Can you breathe in the water then?"
"Yes, I can actually! It's pretty cool actually." She smiled as she dipped her head into the water and out again. "Ah… Though I can't stay out too long so it's more like I only can breathe in the water now. This whole power stuff is a bit crazy. Scarlett filled me in on the main details."
"How does the fish woman survive then? Do you simply live in the pool?" Leonard asked.
"Please call me Bridgette. However, Scarlett just provided me with a little tool which attaches a container of water to my gills so as long as I have that on I can go wherever I want." She smiled.
"Interesting…" Leonard stroked his own chin.
"Question, so you're going to help us get into the…" Dwayne lowered his voice. "Castle?"
"I'm only here to give swimming lessons for Leonard. I don't really want to get fully involved as I have a life to live here as well."
"Oh, a life?" Trent questioned. "How long have you been here?"
"5 years give or take. First-year was a bit rough trying to get used to everything but really. I couldn't spend all my life worrying you know? I had to take care of myself and here I am" She smiled. "Though I'm not alone though, I have someone you may know just over there" She pointed to a lifeguard post.
They looked over and saw Geoff chilling on the seat. He was wearing red shorts and a yellow shirt.
"I feel this is the first time I've seen him without a cowboy hat on" Noah blinked.
"Hey, babe!" She shouted.
"Huh?" Geoff looked over, "Oh hey dudes and dudette! Sorry, I can't chat, for now, I'll talk when my shift ends!" He smiled and went back to observing.
"Well isn't that nice! Did you appear together then?" Trent asked.
"No actually, we met up about 3 years ago when we discovered each other here. I'm so glad we did though, we even got married last month" She smiled and blushed a bit.
"Wow, congrats!" Dwayne smiled. "I remember my wedding, so much cake, I loved it" He smiled brighter. "So what was the wedding like? Many guests? Great speeches? Good location?" He looked eager.
She laughed a bit. "We can chat and such after the lessons ok? Otherwise, it'll get too late."
"Sounds good" Noah nodded.
"First however you guys should get dressed."
"Oh uh." Dwayne scratched the back of his head. "We don't really have.."
"We don't have the items required to swim." Leonard finished.
"No worries. Scarlett actually gave me the clothes in advance" She pointed to a few bags on the left side of the pool area. "There are a few changing rooms there which you can use! I'll be waiting." She smiled and watched them leave off to get changed.
"Ghh can't I just sit back and watch. I really don't need to swim." Noah grumbled as they approached the changing rooms.
"It's just swimming man. I know back at playa you were mostly reading but just relax a little ok?" Trent smiled.
"Reading is relaxing." Noah frowned.
"Well, it's your choice at the end of the day man." Trent sighed a little and walked into the changing room with the clothes in hand.
Dwayne was inspecting the swimming clothes. "Wow real nylon, this will be comfortable for a man my age" He grabbed one and walked into the changing room.
Leonard just grabbed the first one. "Time to change my inventory!" he dashed in.
Noah rolled his eyes and saw a bunch of chairs near the pool. He strolled over and sat down on one.
He could see Bridgette glance at him and swiftly swim over.
"Not going in the pool huh? Not surprised as it's you, Noah." She looked a little disappointed.
"Eh. I just don't find much enjoyment in exercise in general. As I've said it's not my forte." He sat there deadpan.
"Your loss. Though you may not want to believe it, you've changed since I last saw you." She smiled a little.
"Sure that isn't just time fooling your memories of me." He frowned.
"Well I still do remember you hugging me randomly" She chuckled.
"Lets… not bring that up" He looked away a little.
"It's fine. I'm way over it now. You still got parts of your old self but you've definitely changed and I feel that isn't going to stop." She smiled. "Well if you ever want to come into the pool and swim the offer is always here" She smirked and swam off.
Changed huh… I guess all this much have some effect huh.
Meanwhile, Leonard was in the changing room and just sitting there. His breathing was heavy.
Ok, Leonard… It's only water. You've got this… It would be like last time…
He had a few flashbacks of getting trapped in the sea as a child.
He shivered.
There are people here this time… it's just a pool. It's not the sea…
He clenched his fists.
I must do it for my party.
He stared determined at the door suddenly and clenched his fists harder.
He slammed open the changing room doors.
"The wizard has arrived!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
Everyone in the pool area looked at him in confusion.
He suddenly started dashing towards the pool. As soon as Leonard started running Geoff blew his whistle.
"Leonard! Don't run in the pool area! You could get hurt!" he shouted, concerned.
Leonard didn't listen though. His thoughts of determination and need to face this fear blocked out any outside sounds.
You can do this… you can do this!
He could feel the floor getting increasingly wet as he got closer to the pool. Until suddenly.
He slipped the pool only a meter away.
Everything went black.