Chapter 11.

The

Clashing

Of

Waves;

Act III,

Part II

"Desperate . . .

Desperate . . .

You're reachin' out,
And no one hears your cry.
You're freakin' out again,
'Cause all your fears remind you . . .

Another dream has come undone.
You feel so small and lost,
Like you're the only one.
You wanna scream,

'Cause you're desperate . . .

You want somebody, just anybody
To lay their hands on your soul tonight.
You want a reason to keep believin'
That some day you're gonna see the light . . ."

"Desperate" – David Archuleta

~X~

SNAP!

Cassie's head whirled around. She was standing in the middle of a forest. What the world? How did she get here?

Her hand unconsciously drifted to her side; she was startled when she looked down she saw her side was totally undamaged. In fact, looking herself over, she saw herself dressed in the same clothes she wore before. Nothing about her was damaged; even her shirt was still in one piece.

She immediately grew disconcerted. Something was not right here . . .

Like for one thing, how did she get here? Where was she? Where were Tuff and Riley? How did she get back in her old clothes? Nothing made sense –

Her thoughts came to a grinding halt when her eyes caught sight of a tree.

She slapped her hands over her mouth to cover the scream that was begging to be let out.

What she saw was something that she never wanted to see again for the rest of her natural life.

How the world was she seeing this again? The only place she could actually picture seeing this was -

No, wait . . . This wasn't just a forest. This was the forest.

The forest where she was attacked.

The forest where that thing almost killed her.

The forest where the –

Wait.

Her eyes widened and her heart beat like it was about to drop out from under her feet.

This was the spot.

This place with this . . . . This was where the monster had –

"How . . . ?" A bone-chilling, deathly low growl rumbled behind her. "How are you still alive . . . ?"

Cassie's blood ran cold. Forget her feet. Now her heart wanted to drop straight through to the ground.

". . . Cassie . . . !"

She slowly turned around; sweat already beginning to break out of her forehead . . .

" . . . Cassie!"

She only took one look at the voice's owner, her heart pumping like it was about to burst from fear . . .

"Cassie!"

Cassie begun to scream as it lunged for her . . . But what was it?

And how did it know her name?!

Unless –

"CASSIE! WAKE UP!"

"SAY SOMETHING, CASSIE! C'MON!"

Cassie felt a powerful lurch pull her out like fish on a strong line, jolting her enough to snap open her eyes.

She felt her chest breathing hard and small puffs of air not nearly compatible size escaping her lips. The horror and fear what she had just seen drove the experience of her near-drowning right back to the surface of her mind.

But everything felt back to normal now. The aching in her head, the sting in her side and the pull in her arm . . . She happily welcomed the pain as an anchor back to reality. What happened was a dream. Only a dream.

Her eyes almost didn't work for a second but once they did, she shut her eyes at the distant but strong glow of the firelight to make sure she wasn't blinded. A few tears leaked out of her eyes but she ignored them, focusing instead on the two sets of worried and relieved identical sea green eyes hovering above her.

Tuff, the first Sharkman right over her, was the first to let out an air of relief. "Thank the Maker, you're awake!"

"Hey," Riley, the other Sharkman, grinned happily next to his brother as he squatted at knee-height with his massive word. "You okay? How you feelin'?"

Cassie only shifted a little once before figuring out that Tuff was holding her to him again; one firm yet slender arm was wrapped carefully underneath her shoulders and held her in place while her head was comfortably nestled against Tuff's shoulder. She had to wonder how he got that tea-spicy, papery smell.

Turning a little dark blue at that thought, she gave a small, tired smile and started to get up. "Alright." She accepted both Tuff and Riley's hands when they offered them to her. "A little tired, honestly, but alright." The Luck Brothers were both extremely gentle with handling her as they helped her to her feet. Tuff made sure to keep his arm around her while holding her right hand and Riley took her left and kept another hand on her elbow as they briefly lifted her up and set her down. Cassie had to smile at their chivalry, which was why she didn't berate Tuff when he kept his arm around her a second longer before taking it off. "I'm just glad to still be standing."

"Aren't we all?" Riley added, leaning on his sword-hilt. Cassie noticed the slight breathlessness to his voice. She would've asked what caused it if she didn't catch sight of what was behind him.

Cassie felt her blood run cold again. Once again, she saw something that she wished she hadn't.

The monster that had attacked them only moments before was clearly dead, made obvious from the huge tear that separated its left arm, shoulder and side from the rest of the body. Blood festered and pooled from the wound, staining the grass from where it lay akimbo and its already soiled and messy fur, making the goldenrod/gray color almost appear to be dark brown/black. Cassie felt a shudder ride through her at the glazed, empty eyes that lolled in their sockets.

Cassie's hand flew to her mouth, colliding with Tuff as she took an unconscious step back; making him once again put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. Riley and Tuff looked at each other and back at the corpse in dismay. Inwardly, Riley was happy he had cleaned off the now dead beast's blood off his sword with the other knee-patch on his pants while Cassie was still unconscious. After all, since Cassie looked like she wanted to scream now, he didn't even want to think off her reaction when if he hadn't cleaned Jawbreaker.

She didn't scream though, instead, she kept her hand pressed to her mouth, shut her eyes tightly while muttering something like she was counting backwards from ten, and took a deep breath. Finally, she straightened her shoulders and breathed out shakily, "Sorry, I-I just . . . Forgot what exactly happened for a minute."

"Don't worry about it." Tuff gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before letting her go. "At least you didn't faint again."

Cassie gave him a trembling smile. "Ehm, yeah. I guess that's a plus."

"You deserve another for what you did earlier." Riley added with approval, sheathing Jawbreaker. "You're were pretty great back there, what with swinging that tea-kettle and deep-frying that ugly with your tail; THAT was the awesomest part!"

Tuff simply smiled a little at her as well, saying, "That was rather impressive. How did you learn to think on your feet like that?"

Cassie felt herself darkening a little much to her expense. To try not to show her embarrassment, she simply shrugged and said, "When you travel with a guy like Vince, you have to be ready to improvise regarding your surroundings; for me, its simply grab whatever's hard enough to do damage and use it as any kind of weapon that fits. Although . . ." She spotted the kettle out of the corner of her eye and stepped over to it, picking it up with a frown. "Probably using a tea kettle that was brewing the last of Dr. Marlin's medicine was probably not my smartest decision."

"Speaking of which, how's your side?" Tuff asked. "You took a couple of really bad hits to it; the stitches must have all broken by now."

"I don't think so." Cassie said, her hand going to her side, wincing only a little. "A few of them may've been pulled out of place from when that thing swung me up but I think the only thing I've got to worry about now is if I have any new bruises from where it stepped on me." She looked down at it with a puzzled expression. "What really worries me is that I've should've healed by now. Usually wounds like this just go away after a day and a half. What attacked me the first time must have some sort of magic in its teeth to keep it from healing properly."

"Wait, hold on, that reminds me of what that thing said," Riley pointed out. "You, know, about how you're being this so-called "Master's prize", do you know what it was talking about?"

Cassie couldn't help but give him a frown. "No, remember? I've got a huge hole in my memory."

Riley gave a sheepish frown while scratching the back of his head. "Oh, right . . ."

A thought then came to Cassie. "Wait . . ." Both of them looked at her. ". . . Before I woke up, I was dreaming . . . I was in a forest and I was dressed in my old clothes and I was perfectly fine, no injuries at all. But then . . ." Her tail curled around her ankles, once again bearing electric-like bars while her hand went to her chin in thought. ". . . I saw something that scared me. I was just about to run when something growled out, "How are you still alive?" I turned around and began to scream . . . And . . . And . . . ."

What was it? What did she see? What happened after that? Her headache came back full force as she struggled to answer her own questions.

Much to her great annoyance, she received no response from the inner workings of her head. She groaned lightly. ". . . And that's it. I can't recall anything else."

"Huh," Tuff put a hand to his own chin and rubbed at the scruff of red hair there. "You may be right about that bit of magic in that creature's bite; maybe it's doing something to cloud your memory . . ."

"Well, we're not gonna figure it out just standing here." Riley chirped. "Dr. Marlin has gotta be back in town by now. And Cassie definitely needs some more medicine after that beating she got."

"Riley, I'm fine." Cassie lied. Truth be told, her side was starting to burn again, apparently giving her the impression that someone was trying to mash her with a meat cleaver. The aching muscles in her arm, the small burns on her hand and the throbbing temple above her eye weren't helping much either.

"Really?" Riley crossed his arms at her. "How many injuries are arguing with you right now?"

Cassie didn't bother giving an indignant response. Riley nodded somewhat smugly. "Uh-huh, I thought so. So, here's what we'll do; you head inside our sub and try to relax, get off you feet for a bit. And after Tuff and I take care of that," Riley jerked a thumb behind him to indicate the now reeking corpse. "We'll head for town and look for the Old-Timer. It shouldn't take us long to find him and get the medicine." He looked at Tuff. "Plan?"

"Plan." Tuff agreed, albeit somewhat surprised at the utter sensibility of Riley's plan.

Cassie, however, wasn't. "No plan!" She exclaimed, both her ears drawn up and her ripple-patterned tail rising behind her. "You both can't just leave me here! I'm coming too!"

"No, you're not." Tuff said firmly.

Cassie snapped her head towards him. Hurt was evident on her face at his hard words before it was swiftly replaced with anger. "I'm not staying here, Tuff. I can help!"

"Cassie, that monster threw you like a rag-doll." Tuff frowned. "Besides, it's too risky having you in the woods now that it's the nighttime." He pointed to the beginnings of the forest. "People have been killed in those woods only paces in front of us, Cassie; that's why Riley and I nearly gave ourselves heart-attacks trying to get you back here before sunset. We can't risk having another ambush like that. This time we were lucky that thing didn't get the drop on us because of my sixth sense, the next time we may not be."

Cassie shoved aside the part of her that agreed to Tuff's logic. She normally would've listened to it but not now. She barely had a say in anything since she was almost monster chow and, injured or not, she would be damned if she didn't get a word in edgewise before the night was through. "I'm going and you can't stop me –"

She almost jumped when Tuff's hands suddenly went to her shoulders once again. She was getting touched a lot by him, wasn't she?

That question quickly evaporated when Tuff stared right into her eyes, firm yet concerned eyes meeting with startled and stubborn orange. "Cassie, listen." He begun, trying not to let his own worry leak out. "I know you're scared, okay? I know you're frustrated about all this, I am too. But going and getting yourself hurt even more than you are now is not going to solve it. Think, Cassie, if this situation was any different, if we were the ones hurt and we wanted to come with you despite what we thought of the danger in doing so, would you let us go?"

Cassie didn't answer right away. She blinked at him and looked down, drawing her ears down and looking at her tail, now showing springs and coils on the fin. They both knew the answer before she said, ". . . No, I, I wouldn't; that'd be terrible if the both of you were risking your lives like that for me." She looked up at him again. "But aren't you both still doing that now?"

"Yes," Tuff nodded his head only once. "But the difference here is that Riley and I are capable of taking care of ourselves if push comes to shove; right now, you don't have that. We can't be worrying about you if you come with us."

"So you're saying I'm weak." Cassie frowned.

"No." Tuff shook his head this time. There were a million things he had to say in regards to that, but simply settled for, "You're the farthest thing from that. But let's not forget you passed out right after you barbequed that dog. You need all the chances of rest that you can get."

". . . Didn't you promise Dr. Marlin that you would stay with me?" Cassie asked softly, unable to look Tuff in the eyes due to how weak she once again felt.

Tuff hesitated, looking at his brother who couldn't look him in the eyes either. He looked back at Cassie and gave another nod, despite knowing she wouldn't see it. "Yes, we did. We promised the Good Doctor that we would keep you safe. And that's what we intend to do." He took his hands off her shoulders and opened up his satchel that, amazingly, wasn't thrown off during the fight. "The sub's defensible enough on its own though; it's got good, sturdy locks and strong metal doors. You'll be safe inside long enough for us to head to town, find Dr. Marlin and get back before anything else happens." He pulled out her knife and its holster, handing it to her.

Cassie took it quietly, staring at it with distant, shameful eyes. All the anger that she had earlier had burnt itself out and left her with a sort of empty, hollow disappointment within herself. So much for not being useless . . .

Her shoulders were touched yet again, this time by a set of thick arms wrapping themselves carefully around her shoulders. She felt a chin rest on-top of her head and, despite already knowing who it was, she looked up to see Riley giving her a surprisingly soft smile. "Hey, it'll be fine. We'll be back before you know it. Besides, I'm sure you could use a little time to yourself anyway, what with us two shark guys bugging ya every two minutes."

Cassie found herself little surprised at his actions for probably the umpteenth time. He clearly was the kind of person who liked sharing most of his emotions and thoughts through physical touch. That much was obvious what with the kisses on her hand, touches to her face and the small hugs like the one he was giving to her now. Mostly that was just done out of flirting, much to what she quickly found out was Tuff's aggravation, but at this moment, he was giving her comfort. Some solid ground to lean on when it felt like she was starting to go under the surface. Not for anyone else's satisfaction save her own.

She felt at ease, knowing full well of that she barely even knew this man. In a way, this made her think of each time Vince hugged her. They were always so full of energy and were unexpected but made her feel safe and welcomed all the same. In contrast to Tuff's natural scent of teas and books, she made a mental note of Riley's musk mixed of his own additions with motor oil and cologne. A definite boyish smell that she would expect of him . . .

Tuff, however, felt his eyebrow twitch at his brother's clear incapability of understanding "Personal space". Would he never learn? "Riley –"

Riley already knew what his brother was going to say, as expected of the Younger twin brother and immediately begun, "Don't argue with me on this, Tuff," He pointed one finger figuratively at him while still keeping his arms around Cassie. "Cassie is plenty of things, but she's still a lady, and God knows when women need their personal space after dealing with men for so long."

"Says the man who holding on to Cassie like she's a teddy bear." Tuff scowled.

"True." Riley agreed, unintentionally brushing his cheek against Cassie's, much to either her embarrassment or bemusement. "But you get my point."

"I'm not sure I do." Tuff crossed his arms to avoid just reaching out and smacking his brother on the head.

Cassie, staying quiet throughout this whole discussion, looked down at the dagger in her hand, turning it carefully between her fingers as she mulled over their earlier words.

She was mulling on that and trying to figure out what she was going to do. She couldn't just sit here and do nothing while Tuff and Riley risk their necks for her anymore. Tuff was right when he said they were lucky. Who's to say what might happen the next time around? Sure, they were good fighters, but that didn't mean they were indestructible. If one of them got hurt because of her . . .

This "Master" was after her and was willing to cut down anybody who got in his way. He didn't care who as long as he got to her. To him, their lives were forfeit.

No. She didn't want them hurt. She already lost one friend. In fact, she had already lost Faust because of something like this . . . She would not let Riley and Tuff be lost.

But what could she do that –

In that instant, she came to a decision, one that she hated more than anything. Honestly, it made her want to hate herself . . . But she knew it was right.

". . . . . . You both promise that you won't be gone long, right?" She spoke softly.

Tuff and Riley looked at her, almost unsure as to what she said. Cassie raised her head and spoke a little more clearly, "You both promise me that you'll come straight back here? You won't do anything except finding Dr. Marlin and bringing him back here?"

Tuff gave her an affirmative nod. "Of course we will."

Cassie slipped the dagger into the holster and held it to her chest. She held it like one would a cross, in silent reverence and hopefulness. She nearly wished that she had one then and there.

She cast a one final glance to the ground before looking at the both of them. ". . . Alright. Go. Find Dr. Marlin. I'll be alright."

Tuff was a little taken aback by that answer, but nodded one last time in approval. "Okay. I promise we'll be back."

"You can bet on that!" Riley gave her his trademark toothy grin. "When a Quillotian makes a promise, little lady, he keeps it!"

Cassie smiled. "Just . . . Be careful."

"Naturally – OY!" Riley grunted when Tuff reached out and yanked him away from Cassie by his ear.

"C'mon, we need to get started on burying that corpse; it's amazing that no stray Seagullets have come and started pecking at it yet." Tuff rolled his eyes, tacitly ignoring his brother's growls and lame attempts at snapping his teeth at the hand holding the ear. As he began pulling him along to the completely ignored body, he turned to Cassie one last time. "Go inside the sub, lock the door, and, whatever you do, once we're gone, do not come out until we come back."

If he only knew . . . Cassie bit back that thought and gave a noise of agreement before turning around and heading for the sub entrance.

She was quick to step inside and press the small button combination on the wall panel to make the door shut and lock with a "C-clunk!"

She only hoped that she wouldn't have to keep it that way for long.

After all, once she was sure that Tuff and Riley had gone, she couldn't very well escape the sub by simply smashing one of the windows. That would just be rude.

Her breaking her promise aside, the last thing she wanted was those two mad at her for destroying their property.

Straightening out her vest from where it had been wrinkled, she resolutely turned on her heel and began making her way for the kitchen.

First things first, she needed to find a more suitable weapon. Her dagger wouldn't do the trick anymore and she was certain that the Sharkmen outside didn't have any more spare tea kettles . . .

~X~

Dr. Marlin felt himself trip over probably the thirtieth rock and have his face meet with the cold, unforgiving ground at the same time that night.

With a snarl, he jumped back to his feet with the energy of a youth and irately socked the rock away into the forest with the head of his cane.

Stupid rocks! What was with Mother Nature trying to kill him tonight?

He bet anything that this was probably payback for that one time back when he had to relieve his bodily liquid on one of the trees when he was a clueless teen and couldn't find a bathroom in time. That itself wasn't so bad but it wasn't until he met with the angry faces of the chipmunk family living in that same knothole. That was the last time he let Logai talk him into having a drinking contest with her . . .

Mumbling curses under his breath, he continued to hobble on his way through the forest, making no mind of the rapidly growing sore spots on his person like any sane old man would. He was a doctor on a mission. Lives were at stake after all!

Then again . . . He probably would be going along in his pace a lot better if he had taken the Delivery Pandorian's advice and taken a mouse with him for transportation.

Back at Little Oak Town, right after leaving Dr. Oigi's, he made tracks to find the Mail Delivery Station in such speed, he even amazed himself . . . . After almost collapsing at the front desk and asking the startled receptionist to check his pulse and to make sure it didn't go out on him.

Once he got his second wind . . . And his third wind . . . And his fourth wind, he immediately asked for the most recently available Delivery Boy. More than happy to help, and obviously afraid of him suddenly dying on the spot, the receptionist rushed out and practically drug back a Golden Brown-furred Pandorian male with floral patterned wings. He would've asked what the problem was, were it not for the poke of Dr. Marlin's cane.

The expression on the Pandorian's face when Dr. Marlin then stated firmly that he himself wanted to be delivered to Great Maple Town right then and there would've been hilarious if the situation weren't so dire.

After a strong bout of protest and a shaky agreement on the Pandorian's behalf after Dr. Marlin reached up and hooked him by the back of his neck with his cane, bringing him down to eye level and threatening a total and complete body cavity search with all the trimmings on the spot, the Pandorian swiftly but carefully lifted the Old Doctor in his arms and almost launched the both of them out the door.

Which pretty much led to where he was now; Dr. Marlin made sure to remind himself to send that bat a very generous tip once this was all over.

Not that it mattered much, considering the vital information that he had to give to the Luck Boys that rested in the pages of the journal in his coat.

He was stumbling around in the forest in the start of a very long night, possibly filled with wild animals ready to make a meal out of him, catching stray twigs and leaves in his hair each time he fell, mud on his shoes each time he missed a step and fell in a random puddle, and on top of which he was getting more and more edgy by the minute.

But this was what he got for not figuring out all of this sooner.

The monster. The victims. The connection. He slapped a hand over his face. How did not see this earlier?!

Lo-Lo was right. He really was an idiot.

Any other insults he had in mind for himself fell away from his mind when he heard a twig snap.

Dr. Marlin froze in place, a handkerchief pressed against his face to relieve it of some of the dirt and grime that had made its home there. His eyes grew wide and as all mice would, he flickered his eyes everywhere at once. His ears drew up in alarm with his senses, twitching repeatedly as they searched for the source of the sounds.

A silence filled the air. Dr. Marlin breathed in and out as slowly as he could without being too loud. In and out . . . In and out . . . In and out –

CRACK!

His head whirled to his left the same time as his ear.

That sound . . . Its maker was close.

CRaacckkk!

Very, extremely, uncomfortably close.

Should he run? No, he needed to get to the boys. He had to tell them about –

Rustle!

"YAAAAARRRR!"

"YEAAAGGGHHHH!"

ME: D8 AH! RUN, DR. MARLIN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

'Till next time!