SC: Ah-hmm. I'm sorry for getting a slow start on this thing. I want to try and make up for the load of crud that was the last chapter. (throws rocks at last chapter)

I hope this is swash-buckling enough to please you all.

Turbulent Waters

Having freed all of Vaxi Island, Yugi's resistance army has secured a firm power base. The resistance is now gathering its troops to cross over the Gigan-Syip Strait and take a foothold on the mainland. The loss of Kepulia and Vaxi has left the Imperial forces badly shaken. The coast is almost undefended. However, although small in number, General Secmayton leads a unit well-versed in naval warfare. They plan to stop the resistance before it reaches the mainland. Will Yugi find a way to defeat Secmayton's naval unit and reach the mainland?

The resistance was brimming with pride and feelings of success. They had freed an entire island from the Empire's reign. The populace was in high spirits too. Even those that had been unsupportive of the resistance's campaign were now forced to reconsider their opinions. If these young rebels could drive the Empire from a whole island… Everywhere people whispered rumors of what other feats they could achieve. Many people donated their gold, allowing the resistance to restock on items and food before crossing over to the mainland.

"I'm going to miss you, Mom. You too, Dad," said Fizdis, hugging both her parents tightly. The cry of seagulls overhead swirled in with the sea breeze that caressed the land. They were standing on a pier, preparing to board the ship that would take them across the strait.

"We know. We'll miss you too." Her mother kissed her forehead. "We're so proud of you; we want you to keep safe and come back to us. Will you promise us this?"

"Of course, Mom."

The man standing beside her, her father, patted the top of her head. "That's our girl. While you're away, your mother and I are going to move to Makhad. We think things will be a bit quieter out there. When you return, look for us there."

Fizdis nodded. "All right. I–"

"Fizdis! Hurry it up! We're about to leave!" yelled Tristan from the boat. Fizdis gripped her parents one last time and pulled away.

"Bye! I'll miss you!" she told them before turning to the ramp that led onto the boat's deck. Tristan and the rest of the resistance were already on board waiting for her.

"About time," he said once she had boarded.

"Leave her alone, Tristan," called Ryou from the other side of the deck. "At least she has family here that she can spend time with. That's more than you or I can say."

"That's more than any of us can say," Tristan muttered. He saw Yugi standing towards the rear of the ship and walked over to him. "Hey," he said in a quiet voice. "I've been meaning to talk to you. We need to be careful about the crew on the ship. We don't want a repeat of what happened to me…"

"Don't worry. Shimon scoped the boat out ahead of time. He was worried it might be under the control of the Imperial navy, as they've been known to terrorize the area from the sea. People in the village assured him that this ferry has been running peacefully for a long time. I doubt there are any bandits here." As he spoke, Yugi watched a pair of crewmen untie the ropes from the dock. A third pulled the ramp up onto the deck. The boat itself was fairly large; it was designed to carry groups of people and goods back and forth between Vaxi and the Rondeval continent. The five resistance members were its only passengers: everyone in town was taking the day off from business in order to celebrate Kepulia's defeat. Only they continued to press onward. A gust of wind rose up behind them and filled the great sail attached to the mast. Slowly the ship began to pull away from the dock.

"Speaking of Shimon, where'd that guy run off to?"

Yugi chuckled a bit. "He said something about not liking the sea and hurried off below deck to be with the captain. I think he's afraid of getting seasick."

"You'd never know if he was or not: his face is already blue!" Tristan said with a grin. Both boys laughed.

"Bye!" called Fizdis, leaning over the side and waving to her parents still on the dock. "Don't worry about me! I'll keep all these boys in line!"

"Hey!" both Yugi and Tristan said at once. Fizdis looked at them and blushed a bit.

"It was only a joke…"

The wind pushed them forward, and soon they had lost sight of the city behind them. They sailed past a few scattered rocks and sandbars, until their only companion was the open ocean.

"I just love the sea air," commented Ryou as he leaned against the handrail. The movement of his hair in the breeze mimicked the foam on the ocean waves beneath them. "It's so invigorating."

Yugi came and leaned next to him. "Mmm," he agreed. "It's nice to be at peace for once: not hiding from the enemy or fighting or anything." Casually he glanced at his friend's monster gems. "So, Ryou, what about your monsters? Are they doing well?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, I suppose… although they're a bit too crazy for me. I believe Parrot Dragon's favorite activity is to squawk as loudly as possible and see how many people she can annoy; I've never met anyone so attached to sharp objects as Bickuribox… and my last one…"

"What is it? I haven't seen it yet."

Ryou sighed. "I've tried to get rid of it, but the bloody thing keeps following me… It won't leave me alone…"

Yugi asked again, "What is it?"

"Here, I'll show you…" Ryou grabbed one of the gems and held it up. Sunlight sparkled on it before a burst of light came forth and a monster appeared. It had dark purple fur that contrasted with the bright atmosphere around them. Beneath towering ears a pair of googly eyes stared with a dazed look. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth stupidly.

Yugi was stunned for a moment. "Dark Rabbit?" he finally said. "A Toon monster?"

"Yes," Ryou said through a heavy sigh. "I've been stuck with him since I got here." The Dark Rabbit blinked for the first time that Yugi had seen since being summoned. It grinned at Ryou, whom rolled his eyes. "Every time I look at it, I think of…"

"…Pegasus?" Yugi supplied. Ryou nodded and shoved Dark Rabbit's finger away. It had been trying to poke him in the shoulder. With a laugh Yugi said, "Then I can see why you'd want to get rid of it."

"Yeah…"

"You two! Sir." A crewman stepped forward and nodded to Yugi curtly. "Our captain wishes to inform you that we are almost halfway across the strait. It should be another two hours or so before we get there. Also, he says there might be a storm coming, so be ready in case one hits us." With that the crewman snapped his heels together and walked away.

"A storm?" Ryou repeated. "That can't be good."

"I just heard about it too," said Fizdis as she came over to their side of the boat. She looked over the side at the water with a bit of uncertainty. "I hope we don't run into one… I'd be scared to be in a storm in the middle of the ocean."

Yugi shook his head. "Don't worry, Fizdis. The sky's still clear, and the ocean looks calm. I'm sure we'll miss it."

The ocean turns to darkness as the clouds turn with the wind.

Now the sky was not so clear, and the ocean not so calm. Dark billowing clouds loomed over them, filling every part of the sky in every direction. Around them the waters churned, almost boiled. Wind blew in their faces and snapped the sails. Rain threatened to spill onto them from the near-black sky.

Ryou gripped the guardrail tightly as a wave rocked their boat. "Now I'm not so sure I like the sea air!" he cried over the wind.

"Me neither!" agreed Tristan. "Man, this storm came out of nowhere! I didn't even see it coming!" The bow of the boat split a wave, sending a salty spray over them. He saw Fizdis huddled in the middle of the deck, practically hugging the mast. He called out to her: "Hey, Fizdis! You okay?"

"No!" she yelled back, keeping her eyes shut. "I hate storms on land! This one's ten times worse!" Fizdis made an "Eeep!" noise as a particularly strong wave rocked them. "We're going to drown, I know it!"

"Fizdis, calm down! We'll be okay!" cried Yugi from the side opposite Ryou. The ship's constant tilting made the guardrail more of a lifeline. Suddenly a roll of thunder boomed overhead and sheets of rain began pouring over them. Everyone was immediately soaked by the penetrating cold water. Yugi's bangs stuck to his face and made it even harder to see through the rain.

"Oh no, not rain!" said Ryou with a hint of panic in his voice. The sky blazed white-blue for a moment as a bolt of lightning raced out of the sky, striking the water on Yugi's side of the ship. "Lightning, too! This could be more dangerous than we thought!"

Yugi didn't hear him. He had suddenly become intent with staring at the water beside the boat, just where the lightning had struck. Why would lightning strike something so low and relatively flat like the ocean when there was a ship with a tall mast not ten feet away?

BOOM! Another thunderclap sounded and lightning came down again. It came on Yugi's side again, hitting the water as it did before. This time, though, for a split second, he saw something beneath the water sparkle with blue sparks before fading into the black water again. His eyes grew wide but before he could ponder it he heard a shriek. "Fizdis!"

"Miss, please! It's only me!" One of the crewmen had his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry for scaring you! It's too dangerous to be up here on the deck! You should come under with the captain!" Fizdis looked up at him and nodded. He helped her back on her feet and led her towards the trap door that covered the ladder to the lower level.

Ryou and Tristan moved to follow them. Yugi turned back to look at the water again. There was nothing visible in the churning blackness. He was about to turn away when the blue sparks returned under the waves. Whirling back around, he had just enough time to see the outline of the shadow before another fork of lightning came down to meet it lighting up the water and brightening the image just barely…

A long, twisting shadow, with a crown of spikes and yellow-beaded eyes…

…A sea serpent?

The crewman had opened the hatch on the ladder and offered for Fizdis to go down first. She thanked him and swung her legs into the hole. As the crewman moved to hold her arms steady, some of the fabric of his uniform moved, revealing a touch of glimmering blue around his neck that sparkled like a jewel. The crewman lowered Fizdis halfway down the ladder, but neither his kindness nor the rain hid the faint smirk that crossed his lips from Yugi.

A flash of rose pierced the darkness. "Seiyaryu!" The dragon appeared with blazing sapphire eyes. A mass of flames shot forth from its beak, unhindered by the pounding rain. The crewman saw it and jumped backward out of its path. Fizdis flailed to grip the ladder before she fell into the hole. She gasped along with Ryou and Tristan.

"Yugi! What the heck was that for?" hollered Tristan. Yugi ignored him and turned back to the water. He stared hard and knew the beast was still there.

"Shining Plasma!" Seiyaryu obeyed and launched another blast over the railing. The ocean water lessened the force of the attack considerably but the shadow had been close enough to the surface to still get hit. The shadow reared up out of the water with a pained screech that rattled the rain-filled air.

Tristan, Fizdis, and Ryou stared at the beast as it screeched and lashed the water with its tail. "A sea serpent?" asked Fizdis frightfully.

"Not just any sea serpent – a Spike Seadra, a monster that controls lightning," said Yugi sternly, not taking his eyes off the beast. Seiyaryu growled at the monster beside the boat. It had recovered from the hit and was hissing at them, yellow eyes glinting coldly.

Preoccupied with the Spike Seadra, no one noticed the crewman take a few steps back and glare darkly at them all. Turning over the rail of the boat he roared at the waves, "Aqua Breath!" Waves suddenly changed direction as the serpentine neck of another monster broke the surface. It had green scales and a dragon-like face, a Sea King Dragon. Water gurgled in its mouth as it prepared to attack.

Ryou had enough sense to turn around and saw the monster about to fire. He followed its eyes and saw it to be locked on Tristan. "Tristan, look out!" he cried to his friend just as a rushing stream of water was released. Tristan turned but didn't have enough time to react as the water hit him in the shoulder. He was slammed against the mast with the force of the attack. The water died down and he was left sputtering and clutching his shoulder. The attack hadn't even been at full strength and still it felt to Tristan as though a boulder had been thrown at him. "Tristan! Are you all right?"

"I – cough – yeah!" he replied, though he leaned heavily on the mast for support.

Yugi rounded on the crewman. "Seiyaryu!" he began. "Shining–!"

"Ah-ah-ah!" the crewman interrupted, waving his finger in the air. "I wouldn't attack me, or else…"

"AAAH!" Fizdis suddenly shrieked. Still holding on to the ladder, she lurched downward as though the boat itself was drawing her in. "Yugi, help! They've got me!"

"'They?"" Ryou repeated. "Who…?"

"My shipmates. They just want to make sure she's safe from the storm," said the crewman coldly.

"Safe from the storm! You just don't want the storm to do your job for you, Imperial dogs!" snapped Yugi.

The crewman laughed. "I'm not surprised you figured us out. It was a good plan, really: drag you out here where there was no hope of escape, use our monsters to create a storm and lure you below deck…"

"Where I'm sure captivity and or death are waiting for us!"

"Your intelligence man Shimon has been down there the whole time," commented the crewman airily. "Never once did any of you wonder what had become of him." He looked over to the ladder, where Fizdis was no longer visible. "And now I see that the girl has joined him. That makes two. If you three don't follow her, then you'll only hasten her fate."

"AAAH!" Fizdis landed on the dampened planks of the lower deck with a thud. She didn't have time to recover from the fall as the remaining two crewmen were already bearing down upon her.

"Look what we have here..." one of them said through his teeth. A scar like a hook circled his left eye. "Welcome, little Miss. I'm glad you've decided to join us. Your friend here has been awfully lonely down here by himself." He motioned behind him to Shimon. He was tied down to a chair and had been gagged by the veil of his hat.

"Shimon!" cried Fizdis with worry. "Let him go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the scarred crewman said. "I can let you share his fate, though..." Shadows hid their evil grins as the two men loomed over her. One of them put his calloused hands on her shoulders.

Fizdis paled. She felt a shriek rise in her throat, but instead of a sound of fear something else escaped her lips: "Uraby!"

The raptor appeared so suddenly his massive head rammed the scarred crewman in the stomach, sending him flying back past Shimon. Ruby eyes flashed in the scarce light. He hissed defiantly, daring those who had attacked his master to face him instead. Shimon let out a muffled gasp; the crewman behind him stood up and glared. "A monster? My creatures of the sea will have no trouble dealing with the likes of–"

Uraby didn't wait for the crewman to summon the monster from his gem. He leapt forward and knocked the jewel out of the man's hand with his tail. In the seconds following the scarred crewman's shock Uraby pivoted on his toes. With his tail cocked at an odd angle for balance, he raised his left foot high, claws outstretched, and kicked the scarred crewman full in the stomach. He choked, blood coming from his mouth as he fell backwards onto the floor. Uraby placed his foot on the man's chest to prevent his escape. Hissing angrily, Uraby swiped at his face with his claws. The force behind the attack was strong, not only enough to draw bloody lines across the man's face, but enough that when his head moved with the blow it slammed into the floor, made a loud crack, and knocked the man out cold.

The second crewman now looked terrified. He whirled around and stumbled for the ladder. Uraby's fierce eyes caught the movement. In a leap that easily cleared the distance between the two, Uraby landed on bandy legs beside the ladder. Ivory teeth sparkled their song of death for the crewman. "P-Please," he stammered. He backed away with his hands raised defensively. "D-Don't hurt me..."

Uraby held his sneer firm, but looked over to Fizdis. She seemed to pause in consideration of the crewman's words. After a moment, though, her expression turned stern and she shook her head. Uraby smirked and leapt forward upon the crewman, his claws raking against the wooden floor. The crewman screamed as teeth pierced his neck and shoulder in an arch. After several bloodcurdling seconds the sound stopped. The crewman went limp in the dinosaur's jaws. Uraby let him fall to the ground, licking the red liquid from his leathery lips.

Fizdis stood frozen for a moment, stunned, before the situation came back to her. "Shimon!" she cried. She ran to his side and started fumbling with the ropes. Finally she managed to undo them. Shimon sighed and pulled the gag from his mouth.

"Thank you, Fizdis," he said between breaths of air. "I was afraid I would meet my end down here. They grabbed me the moment I came down here. I'm sorry I was unable to warn you or the others of their intentions..."

"The others!" Fizdis suddenly gasped. "They're still on deck!" Without a word of counter from Shimon she made for the ladder and began climbing it hurriedly.

The boat rocked dangerously as another particularly strong wave swept over them. Around them the storm was growing stronger, with icy winds lashing at their faces.

"You'll meet your end here, Rebels!" declared the crewman. "You have no chance of surviving. (1) If you fight us, you'll lose... and if you try to escape, then the sea will claim the lives of three more foolish souls who dared to defy her waters. Submit, and you join your friends in captivity."

"That's where you'd be wrong," Yugi cut in, smirking. "I don't think Fizdis is as restrained as you might think."

"Why you–" The crewman froze mid-sentence as a fierce growl came from below the deck. "W-What the…?" Even above the roar of the wind one could hear the sickening sound of claws shredding through wood and then a scream that made the rain falling upon them turn colder. When the scream stopped the chilling silence seemed to tell of the incident in volumes. Fizdis appeared from the trapdoor and all eyes jumped to her.

"Yugi! I've got Shimon!" From below her Shimon shouted his wellbeing. "We took care of the ones below deck!"

"So this slimy sea monkey is the only one left!" Tristan hollered. He punched his fist into the opposite palm, preparing for battle.

The crewman took a step back. "Or so you think. Master Secmayton! We must face the rebels in battle!"

"Agreed!" came a voice through the rain. Beside the boat, atop the Sea King Dragon's shell, rode a figure clad in minimal clothes and brandishing a spear. His body bore the wear and tear of the ocean proudly as medals of honor. The resistance members knew him instantly to be the naval general of legend they had heard about.

With churning force rivaling the ocean herself Secmayton raised his spear high and cried out above the storm: "Rise, beasts of the Sea! Declare your power over those bound to the Land! Destroy the rebels!" The waves let out piercing wails to the darkness. All around the ship the heads of marine monsters broke the surface: Spike Seadras crackled with electricity; Roaring Ocean Snakes acted well upon their names. Not all of them were sea serpents: a Fiend Kraken gurgled next to the boat while an Aqua Madoor and Water Magician crested the thrashing waves.

As the monsters encroached upon the ship Secmayton yelled from his protected perch: "You've done well so far for a bunch of squirts. But the sea is where I fight best! As head of the Imperial navy, I will see the fish pick at your bones!"

The resistance moved to the center of the ship, as far away from the monsters as possible, though the distance was far too meager. Their backs were pressed against the mast. "What are we going to do?" cried Ryou frantically. "We can't fight them with our monsters while they're in the sea! They're untouchable!" Fizdis huddled against the mast fearfully.

"Only by land!" Yugi yelled. "We can still fight them!"

"How?" Ryou shot back. The accumulated effects of the bone drenching rain only darkened his desperation.

Yugi left the "safety" of the mast for his dragon. "To the skies! Fight from where they cannot reach us!" Seiyaryu spread its sopping wings and forced its way up. The sky could have well been a second sea, as it was so thick with water.

"Yugi, are you insane? This storm is huge! The winds are too strong! Flying's not safe!" hollered Tristan.

"Then it's a good thing you'll be staying on the ground, eh? Ryou, Shimon, follow me!"

Ryou took one look at Seiyaryu's battle to stay airborne and almost cried. "We'll never survive that…" Shimon didn't question Yugi's command and summoned Kaiser Dragon in an instant. The dragon's shining scales were drenched immediately, making it hard to stay mounted on his back. Still, Shimon climbed aboard and directed Kaiser Dragon to the sky. Sighing in defeat, Ryou summoned his Parrot Dragon.

"SQUAWK!" she snapped loudly. Rain is bad!

Ryou shook his head. "I know, I know… Just follow those two…" Parrot Dragon chirped indignantly but allowed Ryou to clamber on. He was thankful she had a crown of feathers for him to hold on to as the winds started rocking them as soon as they took off. Tilting wildly and feeling the rain's barrage full force, they flew over the sea to where Secmayton stood atop his Sea King Dragon.

"Let him have it, Parrot Dragon!" Ryou held onto his monster tightly as she launched a breath of flame at Secmayton. At this Secmayton smirked and raised his finger. His Sea King Dragon let loose a blast of rushing water with a screech. The two attacks met in the middle, creating a bubbling, boiling, steaming clash of power, but the water soon overpowered the already rain-weakened fire and drove it back. Parrot Dragon tried to hold the water off but was forced to give up. She pulled back to avoid getting hit.

"Your fire attacks mean nothing to my beasts of the Sea!" Secmayton declared.

"Oh yeah? Flame Gale!" Flames suddenly came rushing from the side of the boat. Secmayton didn't have time to call for a water counterattack and his Sea King Dragon took the blow to his neck. A wave came up and washed over the marine monster, cutting off the attack, but still it had been wounded. Secmayton turned a scowl to the boat where Tristan stood authoritively on deck. "Just because we can't fly doesn't mean we can't fight!" Blackland Fire Dragon hissed as smoke wafted from around his teeth.

Secmayton seethed. "You insolent little–!"

"Shining Plasma!" Brilliant flames split the raindrops to strike Sea King Dragon's back a few inches from where Secmayton was standing. Scrambling back, he turned to see Yugi and Seiyaryu floating several yards above.

"Don't forget about us, Secmayton! We won't be taking you or your storm sitting down!"

Secmayton gave a slight laugh. "I see - these are the wily rebels they say are indefatigable in battle. Fighting up to the last scale, and still presumptuous. It'll be a good thing that your meddling influence will never touch the mainland's shores."

"I'll see you to that," said Yugi darkly. "Shining Plasma!"

"Aqua Breath!" Again the powers of fire and water met, but Seiyaryu's fire was of a different type than Parrot Dragon's had been. Its holy flames were much more resistant to the water fighting against it.

"While they take care of that, how about you and I go at it?" asked Tristan of the crewman. "I'd love to throw you overboard after I've swabbed the deck with you." (2) The crewman rolled his eyes. Tristan was angered at his careless reaction, enough to not see a shadow loom down on him.

SQUELCH! A pair of rubbery white arms wrapped around him and jerked him off the deck.

"Hup!" Tristan suddenly found himself face to face with a giant white squid. It gurgled with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. He flinched and tried to wriggle free of his bindings. "Put me down!"

Fizdis saw the Fiend Kraken holding Tristan and gasped. "Uraby, help him!" she cried. Uraby leapt at the command.

"Oh no you don't!" A surprise blast of water knocked Uraby back onto the deck with a 'WHUMP.' Uraby shook off the blast and scowled, seeing that the attack had come from the Aqua Madoor now standing beside the crewman. "We'll have no cutting in on another's battle!"

"GAH!" Tristan cried out as the Fiend Kraken began tossing him about mercilessly. Dizzy and steadily being crushed by the beast's constricting arms, he finally managed to call for his monster. "Gazelle! Get me out of here will you!" The lion-like monster appeared with a resounding roar. Dusky fur and thick dark mane seeping through with water, it turned flashing yellow eyes onto the squid angrily. Gazelle leapt forward, and planted teeth sharper than the driving rain into the white flesh of his foe, bringing up anthropomorphic paws to hold onto the threshing appendage. With a rattling screech the Fiend Kraken relinquished Tristan. Once his master had cleared the area and was safe from harm Blackland Fire Dragon unleashed a powerful wave of fire. The smell of burning flesh spread with the storm's winds. Enough calamari was made to feed an army. (3)

While Tristan's monsters were preoccupied, the crewman gave the Aqua Madoor its orders. "You know what to do! Drown them!" Aqua Madoor raised his palm as water began bubbling up in it, spilling over onto the deck. Like serpents the water traced a path along the deck to where Tristan stood with his two monsters, and to where Uraby stood a few feet away. Peeling off the deck the ribbons of water fattened into ropes, then widened into chains, all the while encircling the airspace around their targets. The three intended monsters saw this and swiped with tail and claw to break the water's chain, yet the water proved to be too resilient and their attacks deflected harmlessly. Once the water chains had outlined a sphere around each monster, the space in between filled in, creating an orb of water. Again the monsters thrashed but could not break the liquid's barrier.

"Uraby!" Fizdis cried helplessly. She tried to push her hand through to him, and gasped when the water felt solid beneath her touch. "Uraby!" Her small fists banged desperately against the barrier. Within its distorted depths she could see the strained look on Uraby's face as he ran out of air. Gazelle scratched frantically while Blackland Fire Dragon attempted to use its fire, which resulted in taking on a mouthful of water.

"Your monsters cannot get free," in a sinister voice, looking almost fondly at Gazelle whom had already lessened in his struggles. "Without air they will drown." Orange filaments of light began their slow dance upon Gazelle's jewel. A final burst of bubbles made their fleeting escape as Gazelle opened his fanged jaws in a silent roar. After that he was motionless, floating lifelessly in the orb before being engulfed by the light from his gem. Once he was returned to it the heavy pendant drifted to the bottom solemnly. Several seconds more sent Uraby and Blackland Fire Dragon to the same fate.

"And now, for you two…"

"Photon Stampede!" Shimon declared. He held on tightly as his dragon let loose a barrage of burning spheres. Two of them missed but the third hit one of the Roaring Ocean Snakes that laid in wait around the ship. Every so often he and Ryou would exchange blows with the Imperial monsters, but the real battle was being held between Yugi and Secmayton. Neither the resistance members nor the monsters drifting in the sea dared intrude upon their fight.

Yugi held the advantage, but only barely. He had landed more hits on Secmayton's monster. They had not been at full strength, for even holy fire was weakened by the sheer amounts of water abound. Atop Seiyaryu he was faster, and more mobile. Sea King Dragon was forced to stay in one spot on the surface because of his passenger while Seiyaryu could bank and stall to dodge attacks. Sharp turns could not be as readily performed because Seiyaryu's soaked feathers didn't provide for enough control. Still the rose-colored dragon could maneuver just enough to avoid taking the onslaught of water blasts full-force.

"Hit him again, Seiyaryu! Shining Plasma!" Seiyaryu fired another shot of holy flames heading straight for Sea King Dragon. This time wary of the attack, the marine monster reared itself backward, forearms coming out of the water entirely. Seiyaryu's attack plunged into the ocean and fizzled out. Sea King Dragon splashed back into the water and launched its counterattack of water. The attack was aimed high so Seiyaryu chose to dive beneath it; however, when it did so it found itself in Sea King Dragon's vicinity. A thick, powerful tail collided with the airborne dragon's side. Seiyaryu wheezed; Yugi was knocked askew and had to grip his dragon around the neck to keep from falling into the sea. He prayed he wasn't choking his monster with the action. He wished he had his reins but they were still somewhere on deck, maybe even washed overboard by now.

Before either Seiyaryu or Yugi could recover, Sea King Dragon whipped his tail around again for another strike. This one hit hard as the first, sending both the resistance battlers careening to the right. A moment too late Yugi realized that Sea King Dragon's tail was still in contact with them. It pinned Seiyaryu's wing, impeding upon its flight, and was driving them straight for the place of their defeat.

KA-PLOOSH! Dark water spouted great waves as Secmayton's monster sent them both into the ocean.

"Lord Yugi!" Shimon cried. Kaiser Dragon roared as Shimon dug in his heels, steering the golden serpent above where the two had fallen beneath the waves, searching for signs of the resistance leader and his dragon...

Serpents of water rose like cobras with flaring hoods before Tristan and Fizdis. Without their monsters, they had nothing to shield themselves with.

"I hope you can hold your breath," said the crewman as the snakes lashed forward to make use of their constricting coils. "Although it would be less painful if you just swallowed it outright."

"Crap!" Tristan said as the sphere began to from around him. Fizdis started to cry, her tears lost to the rain.

"Yugi...!"

The dark water was suffocating. Though he wasn't truly that deep, Yugi felt like the entire ocean was pressing in on him. He opened his eyes and instantly felt the burn of the salty water. Even in the few seconds he kept them open to try and see something, nothing was visible but blackness. Vaguely he registered which way was up and began pushing up through the heavy water. Along the way he brushed against something roughly his size and scaled. Yugi recognized it to be the fallen Seiyaryu, unable to fight the water due to exhaustion and injury. Starting to feel the burning of lack of air, Yugi quickly hooked his arm beneath Seiyaryu's neck. With painstaking effort he dragged the weight of two bodies to the surface.

PWOOSH! He broke the surface and drew in great breaths of air. He felt his lungs take on a large amount of seawater but at the moment he didn't care: he pulled Seiyaryu's head above the waves with a groan of effort. The dragon sputtered almost like it was choking, but soon it regained its breath. Seiyaryu was battered but not quite out for the count. Yugi turned his attention away from the two of them just in time to witness Secmayton's decree.

"Attack, Spike Seadra! Lightning Strike!" His Sea King Dragon weakened, Secmayton was commanding another of the Imperial beasts, yet rather than aiming for Yugi the naval commander presumed him drowned and was turning the attack on the two flies circling above him. Waves licked around him as Yugi watched the scene, but between the salt and blackness he could see none of it. A lone sound reached his ears.

"SQUAWK!" THUD. Secmayton had managed to hit Parrot Dragon, sending her and Ryou to crash on the ship's deck. From the sound of the impact they probably weren't going to get up again.

"No! Ryou!" Yugi hollered desperately over the churning waves. His voice seemed small compared to their unified roar. Secmayton, though, managed to hear it, and turned to face him as he tread water beside his dragon.

"Still alive? You've got quite the endurance, child; however, your friends can't seem to match it… Two of them are drowning, and the third may already be dead." His words sailed upon the ice winds.

Yugi paled. His face filled with both anger and fear at the same time. "No!"

"How about I treat you to a death you can share with all of your comrades!" Secmayton spread his arms out wide, open to the sky. "You can all drown together in the ultimate wrath of the Sea! My dragon!" Sea King Dragon's entire form seemed to rumble with a sudden wave of energy. "Act upon your name: as King of the Sea, unleash its fury!" The ocean was bending, not just around the ship or the dragon but the whole ocean, stretching to the four horizons. Bending, twisting, warping water, pulling itself into a surge…

"TIDAL WAVE!"

The ocean heaved.

It let out all its breath in a single instant, sent it all rushing out to converge upon itself. Yugi literally felt himself fall several feet as the water beneath him drained away to join the uprising; a towering wall of water, taller than the sky itself, built itself to consume three of the horizons, and aimed itself at the fourth, where a helpless ship bobbed with all the strength of a fragile bubble. After several teeming seconds of growing, shifting, the water blasted the tone of its victory before curling down around the bubble. Speed lost definition as it came upon them.

Yugi didn't even have time to react. One instant he was floating atop the water, another he was beneath twenty feet of it, another he was being thrown head over heels in the gushing current. Seiyaryu had long since left his side in the force of the water. His awareness came in flashes; it seemed to him that there were huge gaps between when first he was upside down and then again. Sometime in the middle of it a rogue wooden plank tore its splintery edges into his lower left leg for the salt water to ravage upon. The stray piece of wood told Yugi that the ship had been rent and his friends were caught up in this as well. The thought did not last long in his head or even penetrate his consciousness as deeply as it should have, for the water and constant whirling were already causing him to black out. The last of the air in his lungs was on the brink of depletion.

Something touched him, though not in a way that meant it had been thrown upon him by the waves. This thing was unharmed by the tumbling water and sailed through it as though it were calm as a pond. Yugi could not open his eyes to see the entity nor identify it by touch alone. All he knew was that it was holding on to him, guiding him safely through the water and keeping him from harm's way. Even as the tidal wave began its denouement Yugi lost consciousness in the creature's hold.

A voice came forth within the blackness:

"Yugi! Yugi, come on! Wake up!"

Yugi's heart flickered at this. He knew this voice…

"Don't give out on us, man! Don't die!"

…Tristan…?

"Please, Yugi!"

Ryou…?

The voices continued their plea. Distantly Yugi felt a warm, hard form nudge his shoulder, almost like a beak…

Seiyaryu…

Suddenly everything flew back to him. His eyes shot open and he jerked himself upright with a gasp of air, yet he immediately wished he hadn't as the intake of air made him aware of how much water was in his lungs. A fit of ragged coughs overtook him and he fell back onto the ground.

Those who had called to him now leaned over his choking form. "Yugi! You're alive!" Yugi was too busy coughing to notice who was speaking but he wished they would shut up for a minute. Right now he wasn't sure if coughing up a lung could be classified as "alive." After a few minutes he managed to get all the water out and calm his convulsing lungs. Panting and still laying on the ground, Yugi registered that he was on a sandy beach.

He gripped the sand weakly with his hand. "Land…?"

"Yeah," replied Tristan, putting his hand on Yugi's shoulder comfortingly. "Who'da believed it, eh? How the hell could anyone survive that?"

Yugi let his eyes drift a bit. Everything was slightly blurry, but he wasn't sure if it was the fog or if he had hit his head on something to mess with his vision. He realized the coughing attack had drained him and he felt suddenly tired. "Why do I feel so weak…?"

Tristan's grip on his shoulder tightened a bit. "You got hit the worst by that wave, seeing as how you were already in the water when it hit. Something cut your leg too, I guess while you were underwater. That probably explains why you're so exhausted. 'A combination of near-drowning and blood loss,' I think Mako said. He's gone off to find something to bandage you with, in fact."

Yugi was slightly confused in his bleariness. "Mako…?"

The sound of footsteps crunching through the sand approached them. Tristan and Ryou looked up while Yugi stayed where he was, afraid that moving would make his head spin even more. "Hey, hey, hey!" the voice of the approaching person called. Yugi felt the sand squish as the person sat down beside him. The person peered down at Yugi with a grin that defied the previous mood of the area. "Glad to see that you've woken up finally. And just how am I supposed to make a grand entrance when you finish off the enemy before I can join in?"

Now that he was close, Yugi could squint up at the figure and see his face. "Mako? You're here too?"

"Yep!" he said, laughing and leaning back to look at the sky. "I can't seem to get out!" Turning back to Yugi his expression grew softer. "I heard you were fighting, so I thought I'd lend you a hand. Now though, I'd say you'd rather me lend you a bandage!" he said with a laugh, shifting to look at Yugi's injured leg.

"How bad is it?" asked Yugi. He had not yet seen the damage, only felt the distant throbs of pain emanating from it.

"Not too bad: it's not very deep, just long. It should heal fairly quickly. Here." Mako pulled out a long loop of dried seaweed and began binding it tightly to Yugi's leg. He winced, and yet the pressure it put on the wound helped to relieve it.

"Are you sure using seaweed is a good idea?" asked Ryou nervously.

Mako nodded. "Yup! Not only is it very strong, even while it's dry, the minerals it contains will help it heal more quickly." (4)

A moment of silence passed after that. Yugi was in thought until he voiced the question, "Where are Fizdis and Shimon?"

"A little ways down the shore. Aqua Dragon took them to a different spot on the beach than my other monsters."

"Huh?"

"When you guys were about to get hit by the tidal wave, I was nearby, having been headed for Vaxi Island myself. I could tell by the way the sea roared that a battle was going on, and thinking that it was you I headed there with my water monsters. Then Secmayton ordered the wave and I sent my monsters in to help. They carried you all from the wave to the shore. Kairyu-shin had you and your dragon, Yugi. When he brought you to the surface you were already unconscious. I was afraid you wouldn't make it."

"Well, I did." Yugi sat up and closed his eyes, waiting for his head to stop spinning.

Tristan gave him a worried look. "Hey man, you should still be lying down. You still look out of it."

Yugi opened his eyes again. He managed to give Tristan the look of daring that came upon his face whenever a challenge presented itself to him. "I'll live, Tristan. Don't worry about me." His countenance hardened as he looked to Mako. "And what of Secmayton?"

Mako shook his head. "Poor fool. He thought himself to be safe from the wave because his dragon could direct it away from him. That would have been true, if the Sea King Dragon hadn't taken so many hits in battle. It was too exhausted to control the wave, a wonder it managed to create the thing even. The oceans claimed another soul with that wave."

"Yugi!" The four of them turned away from the grim story to see Fizdis running up the beach waving her arm over her head. "Tristan! Ryou! You guys are all right!"

"Fizdis!" exclaimed Ryou. He waited until she had reached them before continuing. "I'm glad you're safe as well. Where's Shimon?"

"He's coming," she answered as she caught her breath. Her answer hinted that the older man hadn't wanted to go running along the beach like a kid.

Mako looked around at all of them. "Wow, this certainly is a tight group you have here. You're lucky to have your friends with you."

"Why don't you come with us, Mako?" inquired Yugi. "We can sure use your help in the resistance."

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "It's an honor to be asked to stay with you… but I believe I'll have to decline. My monsters aren't of much use to you away from the sea anyway."

"Hey, now–" Tristan began, but Mako stopped him.

"I'll still be of service to you in any way I can. In fact, your presence here denotes that you've liberated Vaxi Island, haven't you?" There was a unified nod around the group. "Well then, if you move on from here, what's to stop the Imperial forces from taking it back when you're not looking? Yugi, let me stay here and patrol these waters, be a guard of sorts: that way the Empire won't just take back the island without a fight!"

Yugi looked at him sternly for a moment. A small smile broke on his face. "You know, you don't need my permission to do anything. If you choose to stay here, then so be it. I'll rest more easily knowing you've got our back."

Mako grinned. "That's the spirit!" He stood and gave a loud whistle to the ocean. A few seconds later Kairyu-shin surfaced, and Mako ran out into the waves to his monster. He scrambled aboard, but not before turning back to Yugi.

"You're getting quite famous in this world, Yugi. I'm sure that Joey and the others have already heard the rumors and are on their way here now." He winked. "Look me up if you need a hand from the sea!" With that Kairyu-shin pulled out to sea, vanishing soon within the mists.

Notes:

(One) – "You have no chance to survive make your time." That's what he should have said.

(Two) – Very punny, Tristan.

(Three) – I couldn't resist the calamari reference; I was hungry, I like calamari, and I don't like Fiend Kraken. What can I say?

(Four) – Made all that up. Don't try it at home.

SC: There you are. Several weeks late, and still a lame ending. Slay me as you will. At least the fight scene was better… I think. (cough) However, I can tell you with utmost certainty that the next chapter will be out in two, maybe three weeks. We're at the "Badlands" chapter guys! I actually have ideas now!

Sorry for those of you who were eagerly awaiting Mako's joint with the resistance, but... he doesn't! Ah ha HA! The reason why is thus: I never use him in the game, so when I'm taking notes I don't write stuff with him in it, which means no plot for Mako. I don't really like him anyway. Sorry to all the Mako fans out there.

Review responses have been now banned from stories. However, I will put some responses on my profile page: thank you's and question answers for now, but if later I get lots of reviewers (which I hope for… please review…) then I'll only post responses for specific questions.

Thanks for reading, and please review!