I originally expected this chapter to be shorter, but I was able to throw in more interesting moments than I anticipated.

Li

Once I made my way out of the water, I took off my scuba suit, dried myself off, and (sort of hoping Naija didn't know how to walk) went to sleep in just my underwear. Or rather I tried to go to sleep; after becoming adjusted to aquatic life, the cot inside my tent felt hard and dry. After about an hour of discomfort, I gave up and went for my scuba suit again, not wanting to get any of my clothes wet. After detaching the air tank, which I wouldn't need anymore, I put the suit back on myself.

I lowered myself into the water slowly to avoid waking up Naija and started to look for a place to sleep. Most of the bottom of the cave seemed to be too rocky to sleep on, the only comfortable spot being a nest of plants near the one where Naija was sleeping. I began to position myself against the plants and sleep.

Naija seemed to be a very kind person; somewhat shy, but good-humored and patient. I wondered if it was a strange coincidence that we spoke the same language or if the Verse was just allowing us to communicate clearly with each other. Speaking of such, I wasn't sure if it was because of the Verse, if it was just me, or both, but I felt like I was already starting to fall in love with her. I decided to wait until the morning when we started exploring...what did she call this place...Aquaria and see where things would go from there.

I woke up the next morning to Naija singing Our Song, at which I smiled, remembering that this was the same way I had woken her up the previous day. The Sun was already shining brightly, so after a quick breakfast, we exited the cave to begin our adventure.

"So...where do you want to start?" I asked Naija.

She pointed to two caves on the ocean floor. "I arrived here from that cave," she said, "so I'd like to explore this one, if we may."

"Sounds good to me. Now let's go learn some secrets."

We began to swim towards the cave closer to mine, which turned out to be surprisingly well lit.

"Be careful, there are hostile creatures hidden in the sand," Naija warned me.

As we approached a mound of sand within the cave, I stopped to have a look. Sure enough, I was able to perceive a flat but solid, sand-colored fish. When I slowly moved closer, the fish suddenly leaped off of the sand and almost hit me in the face before floating back downward. I resolved to avoid piles of sand from then on.

We continued to swim through the cave making sure to steer clear of sand and puffer fish. We had only traveled for a few minutes, but I was already getting tired; I was a pretty good swimmer, but Naija had strong legs and was a fair amount faster than I was. I eventually had to hum the Beast Form Song in order to inherit the strength necessary to keep up, only for Naija to transform into Beast Form herself and playfully race ahead. Thankfully, once she was out of sight, I suddenly appeared right next to her, meaning she had used Our Song to help me catch up.

"Thanks," I said to her, smiling. "I'm going to need to exercise more, this is already wearing me out."

"I would not disagree," Naija smiled back. "In the meantime, however, I would be more than happy to slow down for you if you would like."

We continued through the cave at a slightly more leisurely pace, at which point I started to notice the giant starfish all over the walls and plentiful amounts of coral along the floor. It all appeared somewhat normal (at least for a magical ocean world) aside from one object.

"Li, do you know what this strange contraption could be?" Naija asked me, referring to a wrecked, fish-shaped vehicle in front of us.

"I think it's a submarine," I answered. "Humans use them to travel underwater. I guess this is from back when we were studying this island...?"

"I'm intrigued...how can humans travel underwater if they cannot breathe water?" Naija inquired.

"Well, a functional submarine would have a window that seals shut so it can hold air. Also, remember that helmet I was wearing when we first met? That held air and helped me breathe."

"Oh...I suppose I must apologize for removing it, then."

"It's okay, you didn't know." I looked up toward a strong current above us, and then turned back to Naija. "Shall we continue?"

We made our way up to the current and began to ride it, which turned out to be one of the more fun things I had ever done at the island. The current pulled us along at about fifteen miles per hour, and although the cave curved slightly, the current did well to direct us away from the walls. During the ride, Naija gracefully performed a few backflips and rolls, which I couldn't tell were for fun or to show off...but I wouldn't complain either way.

We were both laughing by the time we reached the end of the current.

"That was fun," I commented. "Felt like a roller coaster. Are there many more currents like that in Aquaria?"

"Yes, lots," Naija replied. "And what is a 'roller coaster?'"

"I'll tell you later. Come on, let's keep going." Naija may have been a master swimmer, but I still had quite a lot to teach her about anything non-water related.

We had hardly gone ten more feet when Naija moved in front of me to stop me. "Whoa, is something wrong?" I asked her.

"There is an enemy nearby," she answered, softly holding my shoulders. "Wait here, and if it comes after you, sing the Shield Song."

"Uh, alright," I reluctantly agreed. "Are you sure you don't want me to help you fight? I still remember the Energy Form Song."

"I will be alright, and I would not wish for you to get hurt. This creature hides well."

"Well, I trust you. Good luck," I wished her, moving myself slightly backwards.

Naija moved forward slowly, until a starfish about my size on the wall of the cave suddenly floated forward to block her path and opened an eye on its center; in immediate response to this, Naija activated her Beast Form to prepare to fight. The starfish fired a star-shaped energy blast at her, which she dodged by kicking to the side, and then she swerved forward to latch onto it, aggressively tearing off one of its points with her teeth. She proceeded to throw it against the floor before it could shoot at her again. Without even giving it a chance to get up, Beast Naija tackled the starfish and sliced her teeth straight into its eye, biting a chunk out of it and killing the creature.

I stared wide-eyed as she proceeded to swallow the eye and then transform back to her original form. "Uh...wow," I commented. "That was a fast fight..."

Naija swam back to me. "Perhaps I should have also warned you about how I planned to defeat the creature. If you would rather not watch next time, I will not mind."

"No, it's fine," I insisted. "I guess I just...didn't realize you were so good at killing things or something."

"It should be safe to proceed now," Naija suggested. "There is another current here if you would like to use it."

"Why not?"

We entered a weaker current that provided a somewhat relaxing ride...until the end when we became surrounded by three more one-eyed starfish.

"I'm not going to let these guys gang up on you," I stated firmly. "v u *"

As I transformed, I felt a rush of pure power spread through my entire body, fueling an appetite for destruction. I began to swim sideways, while launching a succession of blue energy sparks from my hands at the nearest starfish. When it sent its own energy star straight at me, I ducked and charged up several attacks at once and, directing them straight at the starfish's eye, released them. As the shots hit their mark, I grinned while the creature collapsed to the floor.

"Li!"

Just as I started to mentally process the fact that Naija was calling my name, a searing pain erupted in my back. I groaned sharply, realizing that one of the remaining starfish must have shot me while I was off guard. While I rubbed my back in effort to dull the pain, I watched Beast Naija finish off the last starfish by shooting the same stars from her mouth. The very next moment, she changed back to normal and rushed over to me.

"Are you alright?" she asked me, appearing very concerned.

"Did you...just vomit those stars back at them?" I asked back, surprised yet again.

"The Beast Form allows use of the weapons of any creatures that are consumed," Naija answered. "Now, please tell me if you are still in pain."

"Fine, it still hurts," I replied, "but I'll be fine."

"You need healing," she insisted. "When a creature dies, the Verse may preserve a fraction of its life essence that, when absorbed, will cure wounds."

As Naija was explaining this, I did notice a small spark of blue light floating in the spot where the starfish had been when I killed it. As I reached out to touch it, I felt it travel through me and extinguish the burning in my back...though noticing that my hand was still on fire, I decided to switch back to my normal form.

"There, all healed up," I remarked, before Naija threw her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Please understand that I absolutely cannot stand to watch you suffer," she told me quietly. "I would much rather suffer myself than allow pain to find you."

I gently hugged her back. "Naija, listen," I explained. "I know you care about me, and I know that I don't know this world as well as you do, but...I don't want you to feel like you have to endure everything on your own. I came with you so I could help you fight and solve problems, and if I don't...I feel like more of a burden than anything else. I'll try my best to stay safe, but I also want to protect you."

Naija moved outward to look me in the eyes. After a few seconds of silence, she closed her eyes and kissed me just as she had when we first met. Once again, I could feel the Verse flowing between us and renewing our bond, but this time we didn't lose consciousness. I allowed Naija to break the kiss when she was ready.

"You were never a burden," she whispered to me. "There was not a moment spent near you when I felt remotely troubled."

"There's nothing I'd rather do right now than be exploring with you," I whispered back, before kissing her in return. This one was slightly shorter than the last, the reason being that I was about ready to continue forward through the cave.

"Now, shall we keep going?" I asked.

"Of course," Naija smiled.

We began to swim forward yet again. When reached a split in the cave, we chose the path that was not a current running towards us, until we came to an area where one wall was entirely covered in crabs. Before I realized what was happening, Naija softly sang the Energy Form Song, nonchalantly killed a crab, and then started to scavenge its flesh without transforming back. It took her a moment for her to notice me watching her while she was eating.

"...I do enjoy crab meat," she explained sheepishly. "Would you like some?"

"Actually, crab does sound pretty good right now," I replied, proceeding to hum the Energy Form Song and hunt my own crab. Conveniently, these crabs were slow and were destroyed quickly. Crab turned out to be a lot crunchier than fish, and had a slightly different flavor, but was still tasty. Now I understood why lobster was such an expensive meal back home.

As we kept snacking, we made our way to the end of the cave, which opened out to another area of the surface of the ocean near the island. "Huh," I remarked. "I've been coming here for eight years, but I've never seen this side of the island."

When our heads broke the surface of the water, I noticed a huge brass tower built into the cliff to our left. "Naija, look," I said, pointing to the tower. "That doesn't look like human architecture. Maybe it's Aquarian?"

Naija began to stare at the tower for a few seconds. "I wonder what race could have constructed something this ornate," she pondered. "There is an entrance down underwater, shall we go inside?"

"I couldn't possibly think of a better idea right now."

With that, we both dove back underwater and began to swim inside.

Got romantic there for a minute, huh?

Once again, thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review.