Chapter 13: Ocean Floor

"Ugh," Beth groaned as she woke up. Opening her eyes, she jerked when she saw she was still underwater. The previous events came back to her and she relaxed and stood up/floated up.

Looking around she noticed the others were still out, but shifting around suggesting that they would wake up soon. Then Beth noticed where she was. It was a temple, sea green in color with pillars supporting the roof and other levels. It looked like a Greek castle. It was very dark, but Beth could see well enough. Fish of all colors, shapes, and sizes swam in between the levels and pillars, while coral, seaweed, kelp, and other aquatic plants grew in between the cracks. She also saw Siprix sitting on the ledge a little ways away from the Fairy Tail mages. She swam over to him.

"Hey," she said. The water mage turned to look at her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Beth sat down next to him.

"Head hurts from where I hit it on someone else's, but other than that I'm fine," she replied. "How long was I out?"

"About a few hours." Siprix stifled a yawn. But it didn't escape Beth's notice.

"You've kept your spell on all of us this entire time," she said more of a statement than a question. He nodded. "Thanks," she said with a smile. They heard groans from behind them turned to see the other waking up. They swam over.

"You guys okay?" Siprix asked.

"Ahh!" Natsu yelled, seeing he was underwater. Then a small "oh" escaped his mouth as he remembered and calmed down.

"We're fine," Erza said.

"Where are we?" Gray asked.

"A temple of some sorts," Lucy said.

"Look at all the fish!" Happy said excitedly. Beth grabbed him before he started chasing some and got even more lost.

"All I know is that we shot down here really fast by some force, and landed at this temple. On the ocean floor," Siprix said. Beth swam over to some plants, and touched one. She shivered, and repeated the process with many other plants. The others looked at her in confusion.

"Well these are all algae, just different species. But the grass is actually seagrass," she said swimming back over to the others. "What I don't understand is how it all grows because they need a lot of light, but it's dark. Oh wait, it's night time, due to the sun setting when we were dragged under the water in the train and then how long we were out." She muttered the last part to herself and finally noticed the odd looks they were giving her. "What?"

"What were you doing with the plants?" Erza asked. They all found it strange that Beth touched a plant and suddenly had all this information on it.

"Oh, that's my magic. As a Forest Dragon Slayer, I have to touch plants to get stronger physically and magically as well as train normally. And I know about the plant then. It's my way of training," she replied. "Either way, how about we get back up to the surface." She started swimming out of the temple.

"Wait Beth-" Siprix didn't get to finish his sentence as Beth was suddenly shot back to them. She crashed into the water mage. "I was going to tell you that we're trapped here. Some sort of water current."

"So how do we get out then?" Gray asked.

"We can go through the temple. Maybe something inside can help us," Lucy said.

"Well that's our only way forward," Gray said.

"Alright!" Natsu said as he swam right into the closest hallway. Everyone else followed him.

The inside was as full of life and colors as the outside. Fish darted past the mages, and some brushed against them. They had to constantly keep Happy from eating all the fish, or at least trying to so they wouldn't get separated. Every door they reached lead to a room that served as nesting grounds or homes to the fish, in many cases both. Siprix even found some turtles nesting in some turtle grass, and others came and went. After about fifteen minutes, they reached an intersection.

"So do we stick together, or do we split up?" Happy asked.

"We split up. It'll go faster that way," Erza said. "Lucy and Gray can go straight, Beth and, what was your name?"

"Siprix."

"You and Beth go right, and Natsu and I'll go left. We all clear on that?" The others nodded and went down their respective halls.

It was a calm swim for everyone. Nothing major happened, only a few surprises from hiding fish. About another fifteen minutes, Siprix started to push off of walls and pillars to keep moving.

"You okay?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, just getting tired. Been at this for a while, you know?" Beth nodded, and swam slower to stay with him.

"If you need help, I can," she said.

"I'm okay for now," Siprix said. Beth looked unconvinced, but let it slide for the time being. A turtle swam under them, tickling Beth with its flipper. She giggled, causing Siprix to smile. The water mage reached into his jeans pocket and he hit a button. He slipped out his hand and continued swimming and pushing off. Beth continued to gaze at the aquatic life around them, always touching a new plant or trying to get close to a fish before it darted away. She turned and spotted a dolphin that was coming towards them. She reached out and the sleek creature nuzzled her palm. Beth gasped, and ran her hand along the dolphin, as it also checked her out. Then a roar sounded through the water. The dolphin instantly darted away and Beth dropped her awe of the aquatic paradise.

"What was that?" she asked. Siprix shrugged and frowned.

The duo swam forward and reached a large room that was three stories high and had multiple hallways connecting to it. The rest of the mages also entered, Erza and Natsu from the middle level across from Beth and Siprix and Lucy and Gray from the top left side. They met in the middle of the room, just as another roar sounded through the room. They formed a circle, backs facing each other. They could hear something shooting through the water at high speeds, but couldn't see anything. Then it stopped, and they finally saw what they were up against.

Anyone want to take a guess? Totally fine if not. Hope you all have a great weekend. Go get 'em tigers!

-ThinMintE