Author's Notes: Wow, has it really been over a month since I updated? Sorry about that. Anyway, this is set during the episode "Scorched Earth," because this scene has both Gi and Ma-Ti in prominent positions so it seemed like it had potential if I just added to it a bit. Hope I did a good job with that, please feel free to review and critique.

We are in deep, deep trouble, Ma-Ti thought, looking down at the water now rising above his knees.

"Ugh, there's gotta be some way to break out of these chains!" Wheeler growled, gritting his teeth as he struggled with all his strength.

"Oh…"

Up in a cage above them and out of their line of sight, Gi glanced down into the pit her friends were trapped in, her face growing pale as the water continued to rise higher and higher around them. Her eyes lingered longest on Ma-Ti, the shortest Planeteer; he was working in a panic to slip his thin wrists out of the manacles holding him, but every few seconds his eyes returned to the water, growing wider as more and more of his legs disappeared beneath its surface.

Once again she saw Zarm's face, his beady black eyes glinting cruelly.

"Look how they do my bidding, eh?" he mused, as the Hydrian soldiers worked below to secure the other Planeteers into his death trap. "They follow me because deep down, humans love destruction."

"You're wrong!" Gi said fiercely, and the spirit could sense the anger bursting out of her. He smirked inwardly.

"Well, if I am, you tell me where that Ring is. Otherwise you can watch the demise of your friends."

His tone had begun light, mocking, conversational, but turned to a low growl as those last words came out. The anger coming from Gi turned to fear, another emotion that Zarm thrived in. He could feel it coming from the others, too, down in that hole, but from his position it was wafting off Gi like a marvelous, putrid perfume. He reveled in it.

His pleasure was cut short when the little one spoke out.

"Do not tell him, Gi!"

Zarm felt a frission of fury towards the little brat, but quietly set his tone back to his usual nasty amusement.

"How ironic that the first to slip under the water will be little Ma-Ti," he growled, pointing, and then suddenly he was gone, his spirit hovering around the scene just long enough to feel the despair wash over Gi again as she fell to the floor of her cage. He laughed to himself—oh, she would tell Baz where her Ring was, he knew she would, because when it came down to it she just cared about her teammates too much to possibly let them die. That was the weakness of all of Gaia's servants: simultaneously bound to her two ridiculous codes, Love and Morality, they each had to pick one in a situation like this, and he could tell Gi was the kind who would pick the former even if it let him get his way.

Especially when it came to Ma-Ti. He could tell she had some sort of special friendship with that one, or at least, a stronger unwillingness to let the poor child die as she helplessly watched. A pity, in a way. The boy had always been his most hated Planeteer, ever since the little mongrel had foiled his plan to get the others under his control.

Ah well. He could always just refuse to release them even when Baz did return with the Water Ring.

If he even got back in time at all…

"Oh, it is no use, I cannot slip out!" Linka moaned, letting her arms splash into the water.

"There has to be some way—"

Ma-Ti kept trying to force the manacles over his hand, heart pounding as the water level rose up to his chest. It wasn't working, it wasn't working—his hands were just too big, the manacles were too small, and the water just wouldn't stop rising. His mind raced, he pulled futilely against the chains—they were all going to die now, and he was going to go first, choking and sputtering in this hole without any way to get out, pathetic and helpless—

"Oh!"

He looked up, Gi's cry startling him out of his thoughts. He couldn't see her, but she was leaning as far out of her cage as she could, staring at them. She shook the bars, panting, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Guys! Hold on, please! Baz will come back to help us, I just know it! Just—"

She suddenly choked and collapsed against the bars, tears streaming down her face. It was useless, there was nothing they could do about it, nothing she could do about it, they were all powerless, no Rings, no chance, no hope. Baz was going to give her Ring to Zarm, or even if he didn't, all her friends were going to die before he got here, and she couldn't do anything but watch, watch as they all died and she was stuck useless in this cage, and—

"Gi!"

Now Gi was the one who was startled, opening her teary eyes. "Ma-Ti?"

The water was up to his collar bone now; he had to crane his neck up towards Gi to keep his chin from breaking the surface. "Do not give up hope, Gi!" he called, even as he forced himself to breathe slowly and deeply to repress his own rising panic. "The General will be back any moment now!"

"But what if he doesn't get back in time? !" she cried, leaning out towards him again. "Or if—"

"You said you trust him, Gi. And I—" Ma-Ti choked for a moment as water splashed his face, forcing him to stand taller as the water reached his neck. "I trust your judgement!"

"Man, I sure you're right," Wheeler muttered, as the surface of the water rose higher up his shirt.

Gi let out a soft sob, but wiped her eyes, forcing down her panic. She acutely felt the insanity of the situation—here she was, the only one who was actually safe, and it was Ma-Ti who was calming her, using her fear to focus his mind away from his own unbearable terror even as the water rose higher and higher up his neck, catching his hair, he tried to stand up on his toes but he couldn't even keep his submerged feet firmly on the ground—

"Hold your breath, Ma-Ti!" Linka called.

He struggled with his chains, working to hold his panic back. "I'll try!"

Just then, there was a noise outside the pit, voices—Ma-Ti couldn't hear clearly, the water was in his ears, and before he could process the muffled sound it had enveloped his face, stinging his eyes—

And then all of a sudden it receded as a huge wave flew out of the hole, and very suddenly gravity and air had returned to the universe, dropping Ma-Ti back onto his feet and allowing him to gasp fresh air into his aching lungs. He panted, nearly collapsing into the waist-deep pool, and before his mind could focus he was splashed in the face by General Baz, who jumped down into their would-be grave and began unlocking the Planeteers's chains one by one.

Ma-Ti forced a wan smile as Baz undid his manacles. "Gi was right about you, General."

Gi was at the edge of the pit down, and as Ma-Ti looked up their eyes locked and the smiles on both their faces grew wider.

Of course Gi was right about him, Ma-Ti thought.

After all, you could always trust Gi when you were in too deep.