Hi!

I hope you liked the last one, this chapter is leading on to a pretty big discovery for this story, which, if you like the idea of it, I might do a couple of other stories about it (most likely one-shots but who knows, it depends on if you like it).

I hope you enjoy!

Ant sighed and lowered his communicator, turning around to see Madeline curled up in one corner of the clam. He was fairly taken aback at this - he had never seen the so-called 'pirate' sit still for more than 2 seconds and he'd certainly never witnessed her be this silent.

"Madeline?" He asked hesitantly, and for a moment, as much he hated to admit it, he almost worried she had somehow been injured.

"What did she say?" Madeline asked, fairly calmly, though her tone suggested a few hints of her usual, boisterous self.

"What?" Ant asked, confused .

"Kaiko, what did she say?" Madeline replied, slightly impatient but still far too subdued to be considered normal.

"Er, they're going to get us out soon," Ant replied, clearly distracted before he asked," Are you okay?"

"What! I'm fine! Why do you care?" Madeline yelled in protest at being asked an 'unnecessary question' and Ant, although he hated being yelled at, was slightly reassured to see a less confusing side of her.

"You might be a terrible pirate and extremely annoying but I still want you to make it out of here alive," Ant pointed out, sitting down in front of her.

"I'm a great pirate!"

Ant rolled his eyes at this but tried his best to let it pass without comment.

"Yeah, sure, well anyway, I've never seen you be quite for this long so clearly something is wrong," Ant said.

Madeline looked up at him before saying," Yeah, you're right, I'm stuck in here with you!" She practically yelled the last part of the sentence, causing Ant to feel a little deaf.

"Well, sorry but in case you hadn't noticed, you're not the only one stuck in here!" Ant yelled back.

"I know! That's why it's so unbearable!" Madeline yelled again, even louder if that was possible.

Ant and Madeline both seemed to settle into a mutual agreement of:

You-don't-speak-to-me-and-I-won't-speak-to-you-but-if-you-speak-to-me-I'll-kill-you

And they both settled into their own, individual corners of the clam, arms crossed in ignorance of each other.

Outside of the clam, Kaiko was having little more success at trying to turn the 'rescue team' into something slightly organised.

Hammerhead and Will had stopped their persistent bickering but they were occasionally mumbling things to one another and neither of them looked particularly satisfied. Fontaine had been sent to get updated readings from the volcano and had disappeared over a large ridge. Finn seemed to have mysteriously vanished shortly after Fontaine's absence but he had last been seen drifting in the general direction of where Fontaine had disappeared over the ridge.

Kaiko was having a hard time dealing with both Hammerhead and her husband as when it came to competitiveness, they were both as bad as each other and for some reason, both men had labelled this situation as a grand tournament judging by their current behaviour.

Suddenly, a small flicker of white came from over the ridge followed by a darker flash following close behind.

Kaiko smiled upon seeing her daughter, though she sighed a lot when she saw the young pirate following her.

Finn seemed to be mostly harmless though Kaiko certainly didn't approve of his insistence on close contact with Fontaine.

"Fontaine! What's going on with the volcano?" Kaiko asked when her daughter had gotten close enough and Finn, who was trailing behind Fontaine, received a steely glare.

For a moment, Will and Hammerhead stopped their quiet squabbling, turned to see their eldest children coming towards them and for a moment, silence ensued, until:

"Finn! What'a'ya doin' helpin' the Nektons!" Hammerhead bellowed when he saw his son, treading water beside the 'Nekton girl'.

"A better question, what is your son doing with my daughter!" Will commented sternly.

"Actually, my sister is stuck in that clam, if you don't want me helping the Nektons, let's say I'm helping my sister," Finn declared.

Hammerhead and Will shared a look and it almost looked like the two of them could unite before the pair started up their bickering but Kaiko chose to ignore it and she repeated:

"What's going on with the volcano, Fontaine?"

"Nothing good," Fontaine said simply," it looks like it could blow at any moment and there's nothing stopping it from coming straight at the clam,"

"Well then, there's only one option, we've got to move this clam - now!" Kaiko declared, determined.

She had to be if her whole family was going to get out of this area alive.

Because they were going to.

They had to.

Sorry, those last few sentences were bit dramatic. Actually, very dramatic but oh well. XD

If you haven't already seen on my profile, I'm self-isolating because I was in contact with someone who has covid-19 so I think over the next few weeks, I'm going to most likely near-finish this story and get a good few chapters and one-shots done.

Thank you so much for reading!

Please review, I'm going to be BORED for 14 days so I need something to cheer me up and reviews ALWAYS do!

Thank you!

Kiwi :)