Chapter 5-True Power
Soshi was reenergized. He didn't even seem to feel the nippy wind as he flew over the last stretched of the Aria Sea. He was, however, aware that he was approaching Proarctica. A slight noise made Soshi look down. To his amazement, there was a small boat heading the same direction, going slightly faster than he. Seizing the oppurtunity to shave some time off his journey, Soshi dove and alighted as softly as he could on the boat's deck.
Then Soshi began to wonder why this boat was here in the first place. Where was it going? Why was it going there? Soshi got the beginnings of a bad feeling. He snuck behind a few crates on deck, and thought he heard a rumbling sound beneath him. Hundreds, maybe thousands of footsteps. Soshi wondered how that was possible, considering the boat was about a twice the size of his small cave on Isle Soshi. He peered around and saw a shark at the helm of the boat. Soshi's first instinct was pirates. He had landed on a pirate ship, or boat. But upon closer inspection, he noticed none of the things adorning the shark that would give any clue it was a pirate. No bandanna, no skull hat, no peg leg, not even an earring. The only thing the shark did have was a long black-on-the-outside, red-on-the-inside cape, and, Soshi noticed, a golden sword resting in his belt.
"Whatever this boat is doing, he must be in charge." Soshi thought. Then he questioned why this boat was going to Proarctica. There were no jewels or gold or anything, just a barren frozen wasteland, to his knowledge. The only thing of value was valuable only to him. His mother. He wished to see her again and put a stop to this nightmare. Soshi knew it could only get worse from here.
Suddenly, the boat stopped with a thunk. The shark/pirate thing began to turn around. Soshi started to fly away, but quickly decided it would make too much noise. Out of other options, Soshi hid behind the crates and covered himself with his wings, hoping, praying that it wouldn't come his way.
Soshi heard footsteps. Then a clunk. Then more footsteps. He cringed at the thought of being discovered. The footsteps faded slowly away. Taking a chance, Soshi peeked out the side of the crates. He noticed a trapdoor the shark had opened leading downwards into the bowels of the ship. Slowly, carefully, he walked down the creaky steps into a dimly lit room. There was a table full of sharks, much like the one he had seen. He stood and flattened himself against a wall, trying to listen in on the conversation.
"All right. Then it's settled." one of the sharks said. "We'll infiltrate first thing tomorrow."
"But what if someone finds us?" another asked.
"You buffoon! No one travels out here except for you-know-who." shouted the captain, who proceeded to beat up the second shark. "Now, you all get a good night's rest. Tomorrow the hunt begins."
Soshi quickly scrambled up the steps as he saw some of them get up. What were they talking about? What were they infiltrating? Who was "you-know-who"? Soshi's bad feeling rose again. He tried to ignore it and focus on the task at hand. He needed to get inside Proarctica.
Soshi spread his wings and flew to the top of the glacier. Upon landing, he instantly and instinctively took off again and hovered a few feet above the ice. Proarctica was much colder at night. His claws already had frost on them. Nevertheless, he sucked in his breath and plowed through the ice, never stopping until he reached the frozen labyrinth inside.