Leyla and her team were returning back to base after a mission at night, riding on Klaus' steel chariot.
"We've neatly squared away another mission," said Klaus. "I have no doubt that Captain Vangeance will praise our accomplishments when we report back to him."
"I'm sure," said Maple.
"But Leyla…"
"Yes?" Leyla asked, looking up.
"Your wind spirit Sylph, right? That is powerful magic, indeed. You need to learn how to harness that power; if misused can do massive damage."
"I will, sir," Leyla nodded.
They then heard a scream coming from the town they were flying over.
"A scream?" said Klaus.
"I think it came from down there," said Leyla looking down into the town.
"It sounds like someone is in trouble," said Maple.
"Let's go!" said Klaus turning his chariot into the street.
Once on the ground immediately rushed towards a building where they could hear a number of voices.
"Oh, just give it here!"
"Just stop!"
"The voice," said Maple recognising the second voice.
Klaus just blindly rushed into the building towards the voice and opened the door. "A robbery!"
Unfortunately, the door that he had opened with the changing room and standing in the cubicle was Vanessa and a naked Adelaide. Klaus immediately painted with blood shooting out of his nostrils as Adelaide screamed, covering herself up with a towel.
"Adelaide?" Maple blinked.
"What's going on?" Leyla asked.
"You're the ones who came barging in here!" Adelaide snapped, looking completely flushed.
Leyla looked around and realised that they had stormed into a store that was selling swimsuits.
"Swimsuits?" Leyla blinked.
"That's right, swimsuits Golden Girl," said Vanessa. "We're taking a trip, heading to the beach. Adelaide here does not have a swimsuit, so I offered to help her pick one out. Personally, I thought it would be easier if you just borrowed one of mine, but she declined."
"It was nothing but strings!" Adelaide snapped, completely pink-faced. "You expect me to wear that?"
"Oh my, that sounds interesting," said Maple. "So all the screaming we heard earlier…"
"That was when Vanessa started ripping my clothes off without permission!"
"I was helping; it's not like you can try a swimsuit over your clothing. That's the kind of thing you have to be naked for; back me up," said Vanessa turning to the salesgirl.
Salesgirl just gave an awkward chuckle.
"Well, since it seems as if there was no robbery going on, maybe we should leave?" Leyla suggested.
"Here, what do you think of this one?" Vanessa asked, holding up the string bikini, which covered the private areas with seashells.
"Decorating it with little seashells doesn't make it any better!" Adelaide snapped.
Klaus came to and rose to his feet. "Hmm, only a false alarm, then. Trying on swimsuits for a beach trip? Is that what constitutes hard work for the Black Dragons?"
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me, this is for mission!"
"A mission?" Leyla blinked.
"We're going to a Strong Magic Region, which so happens to be at the beach, and it's very top-secret."
"That's lucky; I would love a trip to the beach," said Maple. "Sadly, our next mission starts tomorrow, though, so we're all booked up."
When the Golden Dawn finally left, they continued their search for a swimsuit for Adelaide.
"You really are a tough customer," said Vanessa.
"I wouldn't be if you would choose something that actually covers me!" Adelaide snapped.
"Maybe you would be happy with the one over there?" the salesgirl suggested.
"Which one?" Adelaide asked.
The salesgirl gestured to a bikini on display, which had to be the most expensive one they had.
"It is a bit pricey, of course," the salesgirl admitted.
"I'm not worried about the cost, and it had a certain charm, but I don't know," Adelaide frowned, examining it. "There's still a lot of skin showing, and is it really have to be that shiny?"
"Wear this to the beach, and you're sure to have all eyes on you."
"All eyes?" said Adelaide. 'What about Dak? Will his eyes be on me too? This might actually get a compliment out of him. Not that I care about getting a government from him of all people.'
"So hmm, is this the one you want then?"
Adelaide immediately nodded. "I'll take it! Let's go!" She then quickly pulled out a bag of money. "And keep the change."
"What?" the salesgirl stared, looking at all the gold sovereigns.
The next day everyone was getting ready for the trip to the beach.
"All right, gang! We ready to roll out!" Magnus yelled at the top of his voice.
"I am so sorry, my dearest Marie; I wish I could take you along to get a glimpse of the beach," said Gaspar looking at a photo of his sister.
"I wonder which one is stronger, a whale or a shark?" Luck pondered.
"I can't believe that we got the short straw," Ruffnut muttered.
"Yeah, I want to go to the beach," Tuffnut grumbled.
"At least the three of us will be able to express our deep friendship," Gordon mumbled.
They had pulled straws to see who would stay behind to watch the base, and the twins, along with Gordon, got the short straw.
"What the hell do you two think you're doing?!" Magnus yelled at Dak and Adelaide, who were currently sitting on his broom. "Don't just plop your butts on my Crazy Cyclone without asking!"
"Well, I can't really fly, so I kinda had to hitch a ride," Dak reminded him.
"Same here, or did you forget? What an idiot," Adelaide grumbled.
"Oh yeah, Miss Princess, if you're going to be like that, get a ride on somebody else!" Magnus roared.
"A royal is offering to ride with you; you should be more grateful, peasant."
"You're the one who can't fly!"
Dak noticed that Hiccup was missing. "Hey, where's Captain Hiccup? Is he still asleep?"
Tuffnut snickered. "Hiccup, sleeping in, that's a good one."
"Hiccup wakes up at the crack of dawn," said Ruffnut.
"And he said that he was going ahead of us to check on something," said Finral.
"That's our Hiccup for you!" said Magnus and then climbed onto his broom. "All right, Black Dragons, the beach is waiting for us! Crazy Cyclone moving out!"
All of them then took off, making their way south towards the beach, which was located at the seaside village of Rockway. The strong mana in the area kept a warm year-round, making it a popular vacation spot for royalty, nobility and Magic Knight squads alike.
However, since they were located near the border to the Diamond Kingdom, it was still a widely long trip to the seaside resort.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to use your Spatial Magic to get their Finral?" Dak asked.
"This is my first visit to Rockway; you should know by now I can only use my magic to go to places I've been before," said Finral.
Gaspar sighed in annoyance. "What good are you? Flying there like this is a complete waste of time!"
"I'm your superior, damn it!"
"There's a shock," said Vanessa. "I figured that you would make it your life's mission to go to someplace where you indeed to find some babes in bikinis."
"Huh, I've always found half the pleasure in anticipation of it. I've long anticipated this," said Finral with a dreamy look on his face. "Yes, Rockway, here I come! It won't be long now, lovely ladies!"
"Well, it will be much longer; we should be seeing it any second now," said Magnus.
"Seeing what?" Dak asked.
"The ocean, young Dak, I can't wait. I've never laid eyes on it."
"Me neither. We've been flying for a while now. You think it will be much longer?"
"I mean, I think we would have seen it."
"What are you talking about?" Adelaide asked. "You're both staring right at it. You see all that blue?"
True enough, they were coming towards a huge body of water that stretched on as far as the eye could see.
"No way!" Dak stared dumbfounded.
"This is it?" Magnus stared.
"I never knew it was that big."
"It's more incredible than I ever imagined."
"It's the ocean!" they both yelled.
After seeing the ocean, it was little trouble finding Rockway, and another wasted any time changing into their swimsuits.
"Wow, we're really here! The ocean, and it's freaking enormous!" said Dak excitedly. 'This is awesome, so awesome. I wish Ley and everyone back home could see this.'
Adelaide was currently hiding behind a tree in her bikini feeling rather embarrassed. "What's he got that goofy look on his face for?"
She then remembered Rebecca kissing him on the cheek after he rescued her siblings. 'Wait, he's not thinking about that stupid kiss that she gave him, is he? Well, if he is, he should knock it off already. Not that I care, I don't want to kiss him or anything.
Maybe it's time to give that insect a proper eye for this swimsuit. He had better not get the wrong idea, though. I do not want him to want me; I just want to be more appealing than that, Rebecca. Yeah, that's all.'
She then attempted to take a step from behind the tree but pulled back at the last moment. 'Nope, too embarrassed! But I want him to see me, but I'm too embarrassed! Just do it!'
She then took a deep breath and stepped out of the tree, her face completely pink. "I've got a new swimsuit. Hey, Dak, what do you think?"
"Check it out!" Magnus yelled at the top of his voice, causing Adelaide to hide behind a tree once more. "The rest of you guys have got nothing on me!"
"Is that your swimsuit Magnus?" Dak frowned. Magnus' swimsuit resembled a loincloth. "That's quite a bold choice."
"Sexy, huh?" said Magnus. "Instead of going traditional, I decided to wear a loincloth."
"How lame," said Adelaide shaking her head.
"And now it's time to swim in a sea as big as our Captain's heart!" Magnus announced. "You ready, Dak?"
"Ready! Let's do it, Magnus!" Dak nodded.
"Hey, have you seen my new suit?" Vanessa asked, stepping up to them. "Well, what do you think? Looks pretty good, right?"
"Actually, that's more or less what you always look like," Magnus admitted.
Dak nodded in agreement.
"What would a virgin street punk like you would understand about it anyway?" said Vanessa.
"I'm not a virgin street punk!" Magnus snapped.
"How about a race?" Luck asked, speaking up behind him.
He then used his lightning magic to set Magnus' loincloth on fire. Almost immediately took off running as quickly as he could with Luck close behind.
"That's one way to get fired up," said Dak.
Gaspar was busy making a sand sculpture of his sister when Magnus and Luck ran past.
"Will you stop running around like children!" he snapped at them. He then turned his focus to the magic mirror where Marie was watching. "It's done. Do you like your big brother sculpture?"
"Yes, it's amazing," said Marie. "Will you turn me around? Show me the ocean?"
"Absolutely angle." He then turned the mirror around towards the ocean. "There it is. What do you think?"
"Oh, wow!" Marie beamed. "It's so beautiful."
"Next time, I'll bring you, and we can splash around in the water together," Gaspar promised.
They then watched as Dak stepped into the ocean for the first time.
"Whoa, that's really cold," he said.
"Hey, Dak's there," said Marie. "When you bring me to the beach, will he come along with us?"
Gaspar glared angrily at Dak.
"So, hmm, I've got a new swimsuit Dak," said Adelaide. "Feel free to turn around and check it out if you want."
"Anybody who tempts Marie will die," said Gaspar as he summoned a mirror beside him.
"Hey, Dak!" Adelaide yelled.
"Mirror Magic: Reflected Ray!" Gaspar yelled, finding a beam from his mirror at Dak.
Thankfully, Dak saw the beam and jumped out of the way, much to Gaspar's annoyance. However, he then landed in deeper water and then discovered that he couldn't swim.
"So salty! I can't swear! This is not good!" Dak yelled as he frantically tried to keep himself afloat.
"Come on, will you look at me already?" said Adelaide starting to get annoyed.
Finral was busy observing a bunch of cute girls playing volleyball.
"All yeah, so many bathing suit beauties to choose from. So many…" he said and then promptly rushed over towards them. "It's time to get flirting. All right, Grey, transforming to me. Let's go!"
Grey did what he was told and ran beside Finral towards the girls.
"Now there's twice the Finral to go around," said Grey.
"Okay, here's the plan. We're sexy twins who use witty banter to lure the ladies in. Think you can handle it?"
"Of course, can you?"
Charmy, meanwhile, was attempting to bash a melon with a stick while blindfolded.
"Visualise the watermelon; you can do this," she said. "No one knows food better than you."
Vanessa wasn't too far away, sitting on a deckchair drinking a bottle of wine. "Ahh, wonderful. There's something about the beach that just makes a drink taste better. Move right, Charmy! Just a little bit more, and you should have it!"
Grey then showed up, this time transformed into Vanessa and sat down on the deck chair next to her.
"Oh, hey," said Vanessa noticing Grey. "Aren't you supposed to be helping Finral with his flirting?"
"I was for a little while, but that got old, so I decided to ditch him," said Grey. "A couple of steps to the left, Charmy!"
"No, you need to go right!"
"Left! Left!"
Charmy was ignoring them, focusing on her own instincts. "I've got it. I'm almost there; just another 10 steps!"
Dak finally managed to pull himself onto dry land.
"I thought I was a goner," he said, panting for air.
"Hey, you know this is new," said Adelaide gesturing to her swimsuit.
Charmy then chose that moment to hit Dak hard on the head with her stick, thinking he was a watermelon. The moment the stick struck him on the head, it broke, and Dak was left with a splitting headache.
Dak quickly turned on her. "You can't just go around hitting people with sticks, Charmy. If it had been anyone else now, they would be dead."
Charmy removed the blindfold and smiled innocently as blood poured from the wound on Dak's head. "Oh look, watermelon juice."
"My head is not a watermelon!"
"Hello, don't forget my swimsuit," said Adelaide starting to get annoyed.
Dak then felt someone grasping his shoulder, and when he turned his head, he found Grey had transformed into him.
"Hey, look, transforming into you reminded me how gross being all buff like this is," he said.
"You really need to find some serious users for that Transformation Magic, Grey," said Dak. "You mean you are absolutely wasting it."
"Hey, my swimsuit!" Adelaide yelled.
Dak's eyes then lit up. 'Oh, hey!'
Adelaide's eyes lit up. "Do you like it?"
Dak then ran across the beach. "I know it! This sand is awesome for leg training! Feel the burn!"
At this point, Adelaide was about to lose her top. "You will look at me and my swimsuit! And you're going to do it right now!"
She then fired a shot of water from a finger at Dak, but without her one, she could aim it properly. So it did a U-turn and struck Magnus, who was still running around on fire and doused the flame on his loincloth.
"Geez, you still haven't learned how to control your magic!" Magnus complained. "I mean not that I'm complaining. You did put the flame out."
"Well, I don't have my wand right now, so defensive spells of the only ones I can cast right now," Adelaide admitted proudly.
"You're bragging about that?"
It was then that the string around Magnus' loincloth snapped and what remained of it fell to the ground. Adelaide screened upon seeing his naked body and instantly fired a stream of water from her finger. This time her attack hit her target, which was unfortunate for Magnus as the target happened to his groin.
Luck laughed as Magnus collapsed to the ground.
"Haha, so this is the famous Rockway Beach," said Axel showing up in a pair of Speedos and his two friends from the mixer. "I can hear the ocean calling my name."
"Is now really the time to be relaxing?"
"Yeah, don't you have work to do or something?"
"Well, I've accomplished so much lately," said Axel. "The Wizard King personally awarded me 100 stars. Even Captain Dagur himself praised my efforts. Thanks to me, dozens of innocent children were rescued from an evil, treacherous organisation's clutches. What's the harm of taking a little break to stop and smell the roses?"
"My hello there, ladies; it's lovely today," said Finral approaching a group of very cute girls. "Where did you come from?"
"Home?" they said plainly.
"Home, huh? Well, now that you're here, do you want to hang out?"
"Yeah, no thanks," they said and walked off.
"No, wait! Hold on a second!"
"Some creeper is prowling the beach on unexpected girls," said Axel watching the entire exchange and then turned to his two friends. "Why don't you guys pick out some ladies of your own?"
"What? With you?"
Axel laughed. "I could never do something as vulgar as that. No, I'll simply need backup with you once you've had some success."
'Which basically means he's going to wander over and crash our party and act like he's the one giving us a favour,' they said to themselves in unison.
"Remember, the only reason you're here is because you happen to have a friend among the Magic Knights," Axel reminded them. "I giving you a killer opportunity. Now off you go."
"So, we're doing this?"
"Do we have a choice?"
Axel then noticed both Adelaide and Vanessa. "I see the perfect targets for you right over there. Now don't worry about the boys; go get them."
He then shoved them towards Adelaide and Vanessa.
'You go get them,' they muttered to themselves. "Jerk."
The two of them, regardless of Axel's intentions, wandered over towards Adelaide and Vanessa.
"Hey there, cuties; a great day for swimming, isn't it?"
"Do you have a few minutes to chat with us about how awesome magical girls are?"
"Leave us alone, insects," said Adelaide bluntly.
Axel recognised Adelaide. 'Wait, that's the girl from the Black Dragons. No way, so he must be…'
He then heard a commotion directly behind him and spun around to find Magnus chasing Luck while throwing some fireballs, Charmy trying to whack Dak with a stick while he had a watermelon on his head, while Gaspar trying to blast him with his mirrors.
A split second later, he was struck by Gaspar's mirror beam, followed closely by Magnus' fireballs and then was promptly run over by all five of them. The collision caused him to fly about 10 feet into the air and land in the middle of the ocean.
"Oh boy," said his two friends.
"Any idea what I hit?" Magnus asked.
"Nope," said Luck.
"It felt like I hit something, too," said Dak. He then suddenly remembered why they were at the beach. "Hye, gang! We came here looking for the Magic Stone, didn't we? So what are you messing around for?"
"Like you're one to talk," said Hiccup as he and Toothless approached them.
"Oh, hi, Captain Hiccup," said Dak.
Almost immediately, every single one of the Black Dragons sat around Hiccup.
"Alright, you muttonhead, listen up; while you were all busy goofing off, I was scoring some intel," said Hiccup. "Apparently, the Underwater Temple is beneath the surface of the ocean around here. Unfortunately, the mana-driven covenants are too strong, so even a skilled mage can't normally get near it. The only time when the mana is weak enough to even possibly access it is during a full moon. And if you didn't guess already, the Underwater Temple is on the ocean floor, so any magic together."
Hiccup's eyes then turned towards Adelaide. "So Adelaide, that's where your Water Magic comes in. We're going to hitch a ride on it."
Adelaide looked entirely terrified at the prospect. "But, sir, I need exceptional control over my magic to accomplish something like that. No, I can't do it! Find someone else! If you're all relying on me and I messed up—"
"We die," Hiccup finished. "You blow this, and that's it for us; we'll get swallowed up by the current and drown. This is a top-secret mission that the Wizard King entrusted to the Black Dragons alone; there is no someone else. It is just you, Adelaide. The full moon is a week away; you've got until then to learn how to control your magic. Push past your limits."
Later that night, Adelaide began training; she chose this inclusive spot on the beach so that no one would disturb her or see her if she messed up. She had spent most of her time so far strengthening her only spell.
'Sea Dragon's Lair, currently my only spell. Developing it should be the quickest way to get where I need to be. Still…'
Every time she tried to enhance the power of her spell, it would just fall apart.
'Vanessa taught me some tricks to control my magic, but no matter how many times I try and never seems to go very well. I just don't have the knack for it, and maybe I never will.'
She then gritted her teeth and grasped her wand. 'But that's no excuse; it's no reason to run away. I'll just keep trying until I do it.' She once again cast her spell, and this time, it did seem a lot stronger. 'I did it!'
She then heard something heading towards and a split second later, Dak, through her spell, with several crabs attached to his body.
Once the crabs had been removed from Dak's body, he explained that he, too, was out there training.
"So you're out here training too," said Adelaide.
"Your training?" Dak blinked.
"Please, I'm royalty; we're just naturally perfect."
"Hey, why don't we train together? I can stop your spells if they go crazy; no one will get hurt."
"Yeah, right, as if I would make a mistake like that again," said Adelaide hotly. 'Just the two of us… training.' She wouldn't deny that she didn't like the prospect of training alongside Dak, but she wasn't going to admit it out in the open, especially to him. "Well, fine. If you insist, I suppose training with you would be the absolute worst."
Then they began to hear singing.
"I hear something," said Dak.
They followed the source of the singing and found a girl standing on a rock that overlooks the ocean. She was about their age, each with long red hair tied in a ponytail fastened by a string of seashells.
Her voice was beautiful as she sang in the moonlight.