Chapter 12: Can We Have a Normal Train Ride for Once?
"That was eventful," Beth said as they boarded the train home. They took their seats and a few minutes later were on their way back to the guild. But before they really got anywhere, the train shuttered to a stop. Beth took the leaves she was about to put into her mouth onto her necklace and they grew into the chain, mounting them in place. The mages were about to stand up until the train suddenly went flying off the track, towards the beach.
"Ow," Natsu groaned when they landed.
"What was that?" Happy asked.
"Nothing good," Erza replied.
"Can we have a normal train ride for once?" Beth groaned, thinking about all the trouble trains were without motion sickness.
The mages got up and looked out the window, which was now above them. The other passengers also got up and stared at them with inquiring expressions and fear from the younger ones. Just then the train was moving again, but this time sliding. Everyone fell from the sudden movement. They heard a splash and water started rushing into the train car.
"Close the windows!" Lucy said as she worked on the one nearest to her. Thankfully, there was only a few windows open and they were closed before all the air ran out.
"I don't suppose you have any water-breathing plants, do you?" Gray asked Beth, knowing aquatic plants existed.
Beth thought for a moment before she grew strings of algae and gave them to her friends. Beth then opened a window and grew algae over it to keep the water out. Practicing in the river with Naymmi is really paying off. Beth thought as she put the lily over her nose and mouth and climbed through the algae. The other mages followed her.
The first thing they noticed was that the train was still moving and they had to grab onto the side to stay with the train. The mages swam/climbed to the other cars and saw that they had also closed all their windows, though some cars were filled with more water than others. Once they made it to the engine, the they were bewildered by the fact that the train was being pulled by a seemingly invisible force. The second thing was that the engineer was holding onto the train for dear life and was running out of air. Happy and Natsu grabbed him and started pulling him towards the front car. Beth repeated what she did to their car and helped him inside.
"Thank you," he said gasping for air.
Beth was about to leave when a hand tapped her wrist. She turned and there was a boy standing there. He had spiky dark blue hair, tan skin, and ocean blue eyes. He was wearing a navy blue tee and jeans with slip on shoes of the same color.
"Yes?" she said.
"Can I help you?" he asked. "I'm skilled in water magic and you're a mage so maybe," he trailed off. Beth regarded him for a second and smiled.
"Sure. What's your name?"
"Siprix." Beth handed him some algae. "No thanks, I don't need one." He enforced this by climbing out the window. Beth pulled up her algae and followed. True to his word, he was breathing just fine without a plant.
The rest of Team Natsu glanced at Beth when she came out after Siprix, but she put up a hand saying that it was fine. Turning back to the boy in blue, her eyes widened as she saw Siprix swimming without holding onto the train, and now had fins protruding off of his shoes to help him swim. Natsu tapped Beth on the shoulder and, turning, she laughed. He was looking at her like why does he get all the cool stuff? Beth smiled and grew some leaves supported by oak sticks that she put on her feet and had them grow around her ankles like flippers. She pushed off of the train and swam next to the pink-ette, looking at him with an expression that said is this what you want? The glare she got in return made her laugh. She repeated the flippers with Natsu, and then the others who were smiling and trying to stifle their laughter from the exchange between the two. Beth grabbed hold of the train again as Siprix swam up next to her.
"Take off your algae. I've got you covered," he said. His words sounded a bit distorted underwater, but they were still understandable.
She cautiously took it off of her face and, finding she could breath, used it to tie her hair back.
"The others? Out of plain curiosity," to which the water mage replied with a thumbs up. The others saw and also removed their plants from their faces.
"Is it me or is the pressure getting higher?" Gray asked. He was right, the water pressure was starting to get higher and crush the mages.
"It's getting darker too," Lucy noted.
"How far down are we? And when are we stopping?" Erza asked. No one had an answer.
They just kept moving. Siprix eventually grabbed hold of the train to rest as well. After some time, Beth made her way to the front of the train.
"What are you doing?" Siprix asked, swimming up next to her. She just looked at him.
"Stay behind me. Forest Dragon's Leaf Swords!" The blade-like leaves sprung from her wrists and she pushed off the front of the train, slashing down with one arm. To everyone's surprise, she hit something. A shriek ripped through the water and the train came to a halt.
Everyone stayed frozen for a full minute before the mages started to move. Beth didn't retract her blades. They started to try to move the train back up to the surface, Siprix doing most of the work with his water magic. They almost made it to the surface when another shriek emanated through the water, but the team, plus Siprix, couldn't see anything. Everyone got into a battle stance, Beth making a sword like the ones on her wrists for Natsu due to his fire not being able to work underwater.
They heard another shriek, this one much closer than the last. Then a current of water swept passed them, scattering them. Natsu swing his sword left to right, trying to hit something. Suddenly, something hit everyone into a pile far from the train. Said train was hit hard, sending it onto the shore they were so close to. At least the people are safe. She winced as the sound of the train hitting ground reached her. Okay, that had hurt. But they weren't out of trouble yet. The mages were trying to untangle themselves, albeit failing to. They were also hit with something hard, that sent them down into the ocean.
This act scattered them again, and Beth used her vines to keep everyone together. But the force grabbed them and started pulling them down into the ocean. The force of the pull snapped them all together at once. Everyone hit their heads hard enough to be heard as if they were hitting them on concrete, except Siprix hit Beth's shoulder. The last thing Beth saw before blacking out was Siprix frantically yelling to her and the quick slash of something slicing through the water.
Hey I keep forgetting to add this, but we're in the double digits! Woo hoo! Hope you're all having a good week and have fun over the weekend! Go get 'em tigers!
-ThinMintE