Abzû felt worried as they quickly swam over to an unconscious Stephanie, gently picking her up by the shoulders and gently shaking her.
But Stephanie was not waking up from the shakes and noticed something dark blue was leaking from her side, causing Abzû to feel the small spill.
It was a mixture of cool and warm, like a blend of fish and human blood.
Abzû instantly removed their hand from the mixture, realizing more about what was at stake, and quickly looked at their guardian.
The great white shark understood Abzû's worry and gently nipped Stephanie's middle, not biting down but holding her as Abzû approached the others.
They were also unconscious, along with Dippy, and Abzû grew more worried, trying to think of a plan to patch up the wound on Stephanie's side before anything discovered the blood and to rescue the others before it was too late.
As they were looking, something suddenly wrapped around their right hand, and Abzû flinched, moved their hand back, and noticed a bracelet with a gemstone attached to their wrist.
Abzû shook their wrist and tried to get the bracelet off their wrist, but it seemed stuck on them no matter how hard they attempted to remove it.
As they were trying to get the bracelet off, an awkward circle formed from Abzû's attempt, and after finishing the circle, a flash of light happened, and Abzû stopped, looking confused about what that light was.
Looking back at the bracelet around their wrist, Abzû did the same thing again and managed to draw a circle, although slightly shaky, and watched a flash of light before disappearing.
Abzû's face turned to curiosity, and they decided to make another circle to see if they could do something else.
This time, they grasped the wrist of their right hand and made an almost perfect circle, and a bubble appeared after drawing a sky-blue circle.
The bubble popped, and Abzû hurried over to the other humans, doing the same and watching the bubble go over their heads.
After the last human had a bubble helmet, Abzû checked for breathing after some water came out, nodding silently after hearing some breathing, but they were worried for them.
Abzû quickly placed everyone on top of the great white shark and looked around their place, knowing which way was towards Sodor.
But the problem is that getting to Sodor and the nearest hospital would take too long without Stephanie bleeding out.
A whinny perked Abzû's attention from what they were doing, and they glanced over, watching the same horse guiding Stephanie appear and stop in front of Abzû.
The horse gently nipped on Abzû's arm and started guiding them somewhere, and Abzû started swimming, following the horse as the great white shark followed.
The horse released Abzû's arm and dove deeper into another part of the trench, and Abzû followed, diving as the great white shark dove along with them.
A light glow came from the bracelet around Abzû's wrist before another happened, this time from the Zodiac Pocket Watch around Stephanie's neck.
Abzû gently took the Zodiac Pocket Watch off from around Stephanie's neck and watched the petals on the cover glow in synchronization with the bracelet.
The horse then stopped in front of something and whinnied, getting Abzû and the great white shark's attention as they swam up to where the horse was.
A gate made out of water appeared in their sight, and Abzû stopped in front of it, looking up and down the gate curiously.
It did not look like any other gates they had been opening long ago, and this one looked like an elemental gate.
The Zodiac Pocket Watch in Abzû's hand glowed and pulsed, causing the gate to 'read' its pulse, and a click came from it, slowly opening as a rush of water entered the opening.
Abzû and the great white shark swam against the current to keep themselves from accidentally being sucked into it.
Abzû held onto the people on the great white shark and the Zodiac Pocket Watch as the great white shark swam.
Fortunately, the current stopped after a few seconds, and Abzû and the great white shark stopped swimming, looking over at the now-opened gate.
There was some hesitation from Abzû, unsure of what this gate could contain, but knowing it would be the only way to help Stephanie and the group, Abzû swam through the gate, and the great white shark followed behind.
After the two went through the gate, the gate made out of water slowly closed and disappeared into thin air.
A hard shove in the chest suddenly woke Diesel 10 up from his unconsciousness, causing him to cough as he instantly sat up, vomiting ocean water as Pinchy did almost the same, except shaking itself to get the water out.
"Tù!" a female voice exclaimed. "That was too much pressure!"
"Whoops," another female voice winced. "I didn't think I would use that much leverage."
Diesel 10 took a deep but hurtful breath and continued coughing before someone kneeled to him, wearing what looked like a green dress.
"Thare ye gae," a Scottish voice spoke, giving him words of comfort. "Get aw thon water oot o' yer lungs."
After the last of the water came out, Diesel 10 shakily but weakly looked up at who was speaking to him and saw what looked like a humanoid fox with braided red hair and golden eyes who looked like a princess.
"Och," she gently tsked after seeing Diesel 10's face. "Ye're paler than the moon itself. Ye'll neit some rest tae get yer skin back tae normal."
Diesel 10 said nothing but nodded slowly, already feeling sick from having to vomit ocean water from his body, which felt uncomfortable while being human.
He was about to lay back on the bed when he perked, remembering Stephanie, Diesel, and the others, sitting up slightly as the humanoid fox exclaimed, "Wait a moment! Dinnae stand up! Ye're gaun'ae neit tae rest for a moment."
Diesel 10 looked around his area, as it was a small room that looked like something the humans call a 'hospital,' but he saw what looked like Stephanie, Diesel, and the others lying on their beds, which relieved him.
Dippy was being repaired, buffering out some of the dents on her body, and she was unconscious.
He sighed and laid back on the bed as Pinchy moved upward, looking down at Diesel 10 as he chuckled weakly, gently patting Pinchy's head.
"It's okay, girl," Diesel 10 assured as Pinchy made small noises. "I'm going to be okay."
The door opened, and Diesel 10 looked over, seeing Abzû stepping inside, looking over at Diesel 10 before looking back at the humanoid fox.
"𐎼𐎨𐎫𐎫 𐏂𐎧𐎤𐏀 𐎠𐎫𐎫 𐎡𐎤 𐎠𐎫𐎱𐎨𐎦𐎧𐏂?" Abzû asked.
"They will," A half-rabbit humanoid nodded, placing a hand on Abzû's shoulder. "Wahkan used as many herbs as possible to mend their injuries."
"Herbs?" Diesel 10 asked.
"Plants usit for mendin' injuries," the humanoid fox explained. "Uisually usit for addin' spices tae food an such, but it can be medicinal ower."
"Huh," Diesel 10 gently remarked as Pinchy lay down on his stomach. "I never knew humans used planets for different things."
"You never asked," the half-rabbit humanoid shrugged.
That response made Diesel 10 somewhat silent, glancing away from the three before the humanoid fox stood up, asking, "Syne ye're awake, let's speir aboot yer name."
"My name is Diesel 10," Diesel 10 responded. "And this on my," Diesel 10 paused briefly to think of what part of a human body that is before answering, "Stomach is Pinchy."
Pinchy made a 'hello' noise as the three looked curious about Diesel 10's arm, and the half-humanoid rabbit asked, "Is it always sentient?"
"Yes." Diesel 10 nodded, huffing slightly at Pinchy. "They usually smack me across the head occasionally," he shrugged, patting the top of Pinchy's head. "But I've been stuck with them since."
He looked at the group and asked, "What's your name?"
"A'm Aoiffe," the humanoid fox responded. "The Celtic Guardian o' the Fox Zodiac."
"I'm Tù," the humanoid rabbit responded. "The Chinese Guardian of the Rabbit Zodiac."
"Where are the others?" Diesel 10 asked.
"Wahkan an Diana are gettin' some herbs for her ower thare," Aoiffe responded, mentioning the unconscious Stephanie. "The wound on her side is pretty bad."
Diesel 10 instantly perked up and sat up from his bed, asking, "What happened to Stephanie?"
"The Withered Lover," Tù explained before correcting herself. "The Black Zodiac called the Withered Lover, scratched Stephanie's side with the claws to the point she was bleeding."
She mentioned a hand to Abzû and continued, "Abzû had to carry her and you all here since the nearest hospital would be too long for her."
"Would she be alright?" Diesel 10 asked.
"She will," a gentle voice responded, causing them to look over.
A humanoid woodpecker carrying a basket in her arms filled with different plants and a girl with red hair in pigtails and wearing a nurse's uniform stepped into the room.
The girl approached Diesel 10 and felt his forehead and Pinchy's, asking, "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like I puked out a lot of water," Diesel 10 sighed.
"That's good," the girl nodded. "It means you have gotten all the water out of your lungs."
Diesel 10 felt his chest with his other hand, not liking how the lungs could be filled with water after inhaling.
Sailor John started coming, and the humanoid woodpecker perked up, placing the basket down before approaching him and helping him sit up from the bed.
"Sit up slowly," the humanoid woodpecker gently instructed. "And go slow. Your body is still trying to adjust."
Sailor John silently nodded and rubbed his forehead, feeling a blazing headache pounding in his skull.
The others followed suit, some coughing a little as they helped them, sitting them upward and coughing some excess water from their system.
Stephanie slowly woke up, and the ringing in her ears faded as she sat up, but she stiffened a little when she noticed something wrapped around her middle.
She lifted her long-sleeve hospital gown a little and saw a bandage covering her scratched right side, but white scars were covering some parts of her body.
Someone approached Stephanie, and she perked up, looking up at who was approaching her, but relaxed after seeing it was one of the Zodiac Guardians, a nurse.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm a little tired," Stephanie responded. "But my side feels a little cramped."
"That's because a bandage is on your side," the nurse softly responded. "Let me have a look at it, though. The bleeding must have stopped at this point. Can you stand?"
Stephanie nodded and gently pushed the blankets to the side, revealing her bare legs as she stepped off the bed, a little shaky from swimming for a long time but standing upright without falling over.
She was wearing pants that covered her legs, but from the bottom of her feet, small white scars covered the bottom.
Stephanie carefully lifted her nightgown, showed the bandage on the side of her body, and watched the nurse kneel to look at it.
"Okay," the nurse nodded. "I'm going to remove it since we have to stitch it up and see if the bleeding stops."
Stephanie nodded, and the nurse started to peel the bandage off carefully but paused as Stephanie heard, "That's weird."
"What?" Stephanie asked, sounding confused. "What's weird?"
"Your injury healed." Stephanie blinked with confusion and used her other hand to feel where the injury was, feeling nothing but smooth skin.
"Oh!" Stephanie perked up with a sigh. "It must've healed quickly."
"You have healing properties?!" the nurse exclaimed as Stephanie pulled her hospital gown down.
Stephanie nodded and explained, "It happens whenever I get injured, like cat scratches or accidentally cutting my hands on rocks," Stephanie showed her hands, as there were small white scratches on her palms. "And it heals up in a few minutes or an hour with only a white scar."
Lieutenant Hammerman was listening to the conversation and even watching, noticing some details about Stephanie.
As she talked to the nurse, he saw a glimpse of what looked like more white scars and a skinny body, but she moved the hospital gown back over it before he could look better.
Are there more healing properties she has?
The nurse walked away with a thoughtful expression, and Stephanie looked over at Lieutenant Hammerman and perked up before walking over to him, though she kept wobbling a little.
"Are you alright, lieutenant?" Stephanie asked, stumbling a little with her feet, but Lieutenant Hammerman caught her from falling over.
"I'm fine." Lieutenant Hammerman nodded, standing on his feet while holding Stephanie to keep her from wobbling. "Did your side heal?"
"Yes, it did," Stephanie nodded with a sigh of relief. "It may have left a scar, but I'm glad it healed, and I don't have to deal with blood."
"Don't mention that," Lieutenant Hammerman quickly responded, shaking his head somewhat disgustedly.
Stephanie noticed and quickly responded, her cheeks blushing a light blue as her ears flicked a little, "Sorry, Lieutenant. It's a bad habit of mine to explain details."
She stopped talking as her ears flicked a little with embarrassment, but Lieutenant Hammerman looked silently concerned for her, seeing that she looked malnourished and had faint white scars on some of her hands.
"Who are your parents?" Lieutenant Hammerman asked.
Stephanie paused slightly but responded, "I don't have any. Sir Topham Hatt is taking care of me back on Sodor. We needed to return once I," she paused, looking over at the desk where the Zodiac Pocket Watch was with the Dust Whistle, and sighed. "Have the pocket watch with me."
She gingerly stood up, but something caused her to wince, and Lieutenant Hammerman noticed, instantly taking her arm and saying, "Sit down. Don't push yourself too much."
So Stephanie sat next to him, sighing as she felt her legs, noticing cramps were coming from her legs, which could be from swimming for a long time.
The woodpecker humanoid approached Stephanie and Lieutenant Hammerman, kneeling to her height, and handed her the Zodiac Pocket Watch and the Dust Whistle.
"Thank you," Stephanie thanked, taking the two items from the humanoid woodpecker.
"You're welcome," she nodded before asking, "What's your name?"
"I'm Stephanie," Stephanie responded. "Stephanie Allen."
"I'm Wahkan, the Native American Guardian of the Woodpecker Zodiac," the humanoid woodpecker responded before mentioning the nurse helping Conrad. "She is Diana, the Western Guardian of the Cancer Zodiac."
Diana looked over and waved before returning to helping Conrad, who was wincing a little from the soreness in his legs.
Over the hours of healing, with the thanks of drinking healing water from Diana, Stephanie and Lieutenant Hammerman talked with each other.
Stephanie answered his questions and showed him the Dust Whistle, although she hesitated to explain further because she had learned a little about his history from one of the rescued villagers.
Lieutenant Hammerman started to learn more about Stephanie's discoveries, seeing that she had found many things before the others had.
She discovered there was more magic to Sodor than itself, even different spells, like the one who was Postman Pat's friend and accidentally cast a 'flying broom spell.'
Dippy was the first to be fixed, as there were some dents on her body and some damage, and Stephanie used the Copper Dust to transform her into a human for the moment.
Dippy's human form resembles a little of a diver, with long, dirty blonde hair in a low ponytail, light ocean green eyes, and fair skin.
Everyone was confused about the spells Stephanie explained, but Stephanie told them that they would see them if she accidentally said the magic words.
Once everyone had been healed, they were given their clothes, which had been washed and dried after being so long underwater and filled with sand from the bottom of the ocean.
They were shown where the bathrooms were, and they entered, dressing in their respectful clothes from the hospital gowns they were in.
Dippy waited outside for them, looking at her body curiously as the four Zodiac Guardians waited.
She had seen a lot of humans around but barely knew much about them, so she did not know much about her human appearance but guessed some of it.
One by one, the group, now wearing their clothes, stepped outside from the bathroom along with Stephanie, but the left side of her clothes was ripped.
"Oh, one more thing," Stephanie spoke, turning to the four Zodiac Guardians, taking out the Zodiac Pocket Watch, and showing it to them. "May you stabilize the pocket watch?"
"Right, right, right," Aoffie facepalmed. "Och, we kept forgettin' aboot thon part."
The four tapped the Zodiac Pocket Watch in Stephanie's hand, and like the ones before, Stephanie got a vision.
The vision showed a user using the Zodiac Pocket Watch, transforming into what looked like a Libra form with a bandage wrapped around their eyes, and walking across a tree over a gap.
The stranger was wearing a suit with a tie and had a cane in his hand, using it for balance as he walked perfectly across the tree.
After reaching the other side, the person stepped off the tree and returned to normal after taking off a tie ornament from their tie.
The stranger looked at the Zodiac Pocket Watch in their hand as the arms of the watch's face twitched and returned to twelve.
After watching the arms return to the twelve, he sighed, muttering, "I need to find an opal to recharge it."
The stranger continued walking after muttering before his foot caught on something and tripped, causing him to wobble before leaning against a tree.
One of his hands pressed something hidden among the tree's bark, causing something to click, and the stranger looked over.
A hidden door slowly opened, and the stranger peered inside, seeing what looked like a rolled piece of paper inside.
He reached inside the secret door and took the paper out, seeing a round golden object inside it hidden underneath the piece of paper.
He removed the two objects from inside and placed the round object into his dress shirt's pocket before unrolling the paper.
His eyes scanned what was on the piece of paper before he grinned after seeing what was on it, rolling the paper back before putting it into his dress jacket.
"Seems like I found something suitable for the museum," he smiled before continuing his adventure through the forest.
The vision ended, and Stephanie blinked, still holding the Zodiac Pocket Watch in her hand, opening it to look at the arms as they were on three.
"There you go," Diana smiled. "The Zodiacs are stabilized for you to use them."
"Thank you," Stephanie thanked, silently confused about who that person holding the Zodiac Pocket Watch and the paper he discovered.
She puts the Zodiac Pocket Watch away before following the four from behind, deciding to figure out some clues into what that vision was.
Dippy was wobbling a little from behind, and Stephanie noticed, gently putting one of her arms over her shoulder and walking together, helping Dippy learn how to use her legs.
P.T. Boomer sees how kind Stephanie is towards Dippy and feels guilty, remembering when his ankle hurt from an adventure and Burnett helped him by putting his arm over his shoulders and walking together.
But he pushed that guilt to the side as they approached what looked like the hospital's exit, and Diana pushed the doors open, stepping into a different room.
More people were inside, and they peeked after seeing Diana, Aoiffe, Tù, Wahkan, Stephanie, and the group.
"Sister!" the group exclaimed, rushing over to the four.
"Careful, careful, careful!" Diana exclaimed before being tackled by Eoghania.
Stephanie took some steps backward as the group hugged the four sisters, hearing small meows from Eoghania as she gave cheek rubs.
"It's been sae long syne A'v seen ye, sister!" Eoghania exclaimed between meows.
"A know!" Aoiffe nodded with a chuckle.
Amelia's small tail wagged as she hugged Diana, Constance, and Isadora before stepping to the side to allow Niú to look at the others.
"Who are these people?" she asked, looking over at Fu with confusion.
Fu gave a low growl as he narrowed his eyes, his tail flicking side to side, and he responded angrily, "Some people I think I know."
The group was surprised at how tall these two were compared to them, while Lieutenant Hammerman was trying his best not to gawk but was more nervous than gawking.
"Uh, Stephanie?" Conrad nervously smiled, looking up at Fu once. "Can you tell them we're friendly?"
Stephanie looked at the two and responded, "They're with me. They, uh, 'joined' me during one of the battles of the Withered Lover."
"They did?" Niú asked while they gave the 'Seriously?' expression.
"Yeah, it wasn't my intention," Stephanie nodded. "I hopped onto Lieutenant Hammerman's warship to escape the Withered Lover but accidentally wound them up in the battle too. They're not more problematic than the ones I encountered."
Some people giggled after Stephanie remarked, and Lieutenant Hammerman's ears turned red while they looked a little hurt, and Fu glared at them but turned around.
"Fine," Fu sighed. "But I will not trust them."
Stephanie nodded as Fu walked away from them along with Niú before Chayton approached Stephanie, asking as she kneeled to her, "What did you do to manage to attract the Withered Lover? Even to swim to avoid the Withered Lover too?"
"Well," Stephanie began before drawing a blue circle as Dippy watched. "Let me show you."
The blue circle transformed into a medium-sized drop of water and landed in Stephanie's palm, and scales appeared all over Stephanie's hand where the water dropped, showing her webbed fingers and claws.
"This happened," Stephanie responded, showing her palm to Chayton.
"WAIT A MOMENT!" Stephanie's wrist was yanked by Isadora, causing her to yelp slightly in pain as she was yanked back, and Dippy wobbled after Stephanie was moved away from her but stayed upright.
Isadora looked at Stephanie's webbed and scale-covered hand as Stephanie was wincing slightly, and she exclaimed, "YOU CAN TRANSFORM INTO A HALF-FISH BEING?!"
"Y-Yes," Stephanie nodded while wincing slightly. "You're squeezing my wrist too hard."
"Sorry," Isadora apologized. "But, you. Can transform. INTO A HALF-FISH BEING?!"
"That's the fact you stated, yes," Stephanie nodded, looking confused.
"Oh, my stars!" Isadora exclaimed. "Do you know who your father is?"
"No," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "I never saw my father."
"Th-Then do you have a memory of him?" Isadora asked. "Do you know what he looked like?"
"I never saw him," Stephanie answered, looking more confused. "Who are you talking about?"
"Isadora!" Constance exclaimed, gently taking her sister by the shoulders and hugging her. "Calm down. You're scaring Stephanie."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Isadora apologized. "I thought she was him."
Stephanie looked confused after Isadora mentioned 'him,' asking, "Who is 'he?'"
"She means one of our missing brothers named 'Cetus.'" Niú explained. "He's the Western Sea Monster Zodiac Guardian."
"Yeah, he was different from us," Amelia nodded. "But he had a lot of optimism and curiosity about everything."
"Do you know where he is?" Stephanie asked.
"No, he just suddenly disappeared," Tatonga responded. "Never leave anything behind except an empty pillow."
After Tatonga answered her question, Stephanie looked thoughtful before Moina knelt at Stephanie's height.
"Can ye help us find Cetus?" Moina asked. "He's important tae the Zodiacs ower."
Isadora gently took Stephanie's wrist after nodding in response to Moina's question and asking, "How can you transform into a half-fish being?"
"I don't know," Stephanie shrugged, gently taking her hand back as it slowly reverted to her normal hand. "Maybe I can figure it out during my adventure to search for magic and find the Black Zodiacs."
"Good idea," Isadora nodded, having a somewhat smirk that made Stephanie nervous. "But let me know if you discover something with your new form, okay?"
Stephanie swore Isadora had stars in her eyes when she discovered, but Stephanie thought, 'Why do I feel like I'm going to be a guinea pig?'
"I have one question," Lieutenant Hammerman said, stepping between Isadora and Stephanie. "How can we get out of this place?"
"Do you mind if I show?" Stephanie inquired, putting her hands behind her back as she gently rocked on her heels.
Lieutenant Hammerman looked at Stephanie with confusion as she flicked her wrist, the bracelet transforming into a staff before becoming a paintbrush.
She drew in front of her a door and finished, turning the drawn knob and opening the door, poking her head through it and outside.