VII.
Some might say that a little rain never hurt anyone. Others would say that some wind isn't gonna hurt more than mess up your hair cut. And then there are some that think that the last two combined were nothing more than a passing rainy day with a little extra wind. Those guys or gals were not in the same situation that the Eds and the Kankers were on.
"AAAHHH!" Ed clung onto the side of the ship for dear life. "This feels way too much like a rollercoaster!"
"Hang on Ed!" May grabbed him by the hands, pulling him back inside.
"Where did this freaky weather come from?!" Ed asked loudly over the falling rain.
The worst thing that would've happened had befallen the group. A big storm came down on them from out of the blue and they were left to fend off against it. The waves tossed and pushed them closer and closer towards the shore with nothing more than big jagged rocks waiting for them. The ship steered itself against the waves as Ed and May did their best to have the sails tied and strong against the raging wind. Though saying it was easier than doing it. The combination of rain coming down on the sailboat like punches down on them and the seawater covering and getting inside the boat was making every step a slippery hazard.
The three groups were doing everything in their power to keep themselves from meeting a grisly fate. Eddy and Lee were throwing out any water that got inside the boat with buckets and whatever they could carry with their hands, though it felt like a pointless endeavor as every wave seemed to refill them like a bottomless mega drink. Ed and May focused on tying and keeping the sail from flying off of the sailboat, slipping more than once to get it done. And Double-D and Marie were trying to steer the sailboat away from danger and into a safe haven.
"Just our luck! We're getting close to riches and the world just seems to throw us this damn storm!" Eddy snapped, tossing out the water from inside the boat. "And we had just finished preparing th stupid fish!" No later that he said that a fish ended up getting inside his mouth.
"If you got time to complain, you got time to get the water out of the boat!" Lee tossed out another bucket of water as Eddy spat out the fish.
"Sockhead, get us out of this mess!" Eddy snapped.
"The storm is growing fast, Eddy! I'm trying to see where we can go, but it seems the winds wish to keep us from going further out to sea!" Double-D held on tightly to the compass and his navigation charts.
"Please tell me there's a stupid harbor we can get some shelter in, babe!" Marie wrestled with the wheel.
"There aren't any! The cliffs are too steep to make a proper harbor and the rocks are too jagged to properly move them!" Double-D replied. "I'm afraid that this whole area is completely uninhabited by man or beast! Our only course of action will be to head out to see!"
"Please tell me that we can avoid this whole mess, Double-D!" Eddy pointed to the swirling storm above their heads.
The whole sea was being swallowed by the storm and there seemed to be no way to go around it. The waves were getting taller and the sail boat was jumping from wave to wave like a jackrabbit running away from a larger predator. The only way to get away from this mess was to go through the dangerous storm and sail through all the winds, rain and crazy dangerous waves threatening to swallow them whole.
"I'm afraid that we don't have a choice, Eddy." Double-D gulped.
"I swear someone up there has it out for us." Eddy grumbled, tossing out some more water. "Anyone got any better ideas?"
"None!" Lee snapped.
"Whatever you wanna do, do it quickly!" May called as she and Ed hanged on to the sail for dear life.
"You heard them, sockhead! Through the storm and to the island!" Eddy pointed.
"Marie, hard to starboard!" Double-D instructed.
"Aye aye, Double-D!" Marie turned the sail boat into the open sea.
The unnatural strength of the storm was no small adversary for such a small vessel. Yet it managed to go through the rain as it braved deeper into the rampaging storm. It cut through the waves as best it could while it was hit on all sides by the strong winds. And they were only growing stronger and making the waves grow even more so. But through perseverance, the sailboat managed to compete with the ship swallowing waves.
It climbed up high on top of one of the waves before plummeting down a steep fall on the other side. The Eds and Kankers held on for dear life as they tried to keep the sailboat from sinking. The sails and the knots holding them were straining, the steering wheel was barely holding on against the currents, and the passengers/crew of the sailboat were holding on by the skin of their teeth. With Ed biting down on the boat itself to keep himself from flying off.
"Tighten the sail!" Marie called out.
Ed and May held on tightly to the sail, as she had told them. But the wind was too strong for them to hold on forever. May slipped. She looked down at the cold plunging depths of the sea. She could taste the salty water entering her mouth as she got closer to the waves. Only for Ed to grab her from the back of her shirt.
"Ed?" May asked.
In a display of Herculean strength, Ed held the sail and May with only one hand each. The wind was hitting him in his face, pulling back his skin and freezing his body to the bone. But he persevered as he kept on pulling on both his friend and on the sail. He pulled her back into the sailboat as the boat went down in another loop through the waves and the storm.
Ed would've normally thrown himself out to sea if he had to grab hold of any of the Kankers. But after spending time with May and reading comics with her, he was pretty cool with her. She was all the right ways of a comic book and movie aficionado and could keep up with him in terms of strength. Funnily enough, he would've been cool if they watched a few monster movies together. She was certainly more open to those things than Sarah ever was. It was a strange and new sensation with the strong Ed.
Most of the girls he ever hung around with or were even around him were either family or Naz and they all seemed to just be okay with his tastes. Sure, Ed would love to regale everyone with tales of comic book awesomeness and monster movie madness, but they always seemed to be busy or not interested. Or like his sister often said: 'Get those dumb wastes of time and brain cells away from me, Ed!' But May was different. She knew what he liked and was willing to indulge in smart conversation whenever they had free time. The last couple of days had shown him that she was into the things he liked as well as got him interested in things he didn't know he liked in the first place. It was a nice change of pace. He was still one of the Eds, but May had become something of a pal. And Ed knew that he had to protect his friends and pals no matter the situation.
"No man left behind!" Ed called out.
"I'm a girl but I love the quote!" May blushed.
May, for her part, felt like she was in one of those very comics, the ones where the hero saved their girlfriend from a stupidly dangerous situation. And she was loving it for all it was worth. True, she now felt more like a pal or a friend than an actual girlfriend. But to have Ed treat her in such a friendly manner instead of running and screaming was a huge step in the right direction for her. The bonding over their shared tastes and all things from comics to movies was a great way to break the ice between them. It felt like she was no longer the boogieman or boogiewoman from his nightmares. Now they were friends and she treasured that more than anything. If only she could reach over and give him a wet, loving, sexy reward for-
"Less flirting and more hanging on for dear life!" Eddy called, clinging on to one of the ropes. "I don't wanna die here!"
"Get your head in the game, May!" Lee added.
"Sorry, sis!" May shook her head free of her dreams, focusing more on the task at hand.
"Seriously, now of all times?" Eddy couldn't believe the amount of bad luck that he had to deal with.
"Tell me about it. It's like herding cats sometimes." Lee grabbed tightly onto one of the ropes as her hair became nothing more than a wet mop on top of her hair. "At this rate there better be a mountain of treasure waiting for us."
"I really hope so. But I wouldn't keep my hopes up." Eddy admitted. "There's always something in the way, and this storm is the latest in a long, long line of craziness coming our way. And trust me, baby, we are not going down that easily!"
"HA! I like that bravado, Eddy!" Lee had to admit it.
Despite everything the Eds constantly had thrown their way, they always found a way to get back on the horse. Lee felt no shame in admitting that sort of thing to herself. It was no secret that her and her sisters didn't have it easy, but they were feared by everyone and no one bothered trying anything on them. But the Eds were not feared, if anything they were often seen as the losers of the cul de sac. She could count the amount of times they had gotten away with it with her two hands, and that was barely. But to see that they always got right back into trying a new scheme after a failure, had a certain endurance to it. No doubt that it was a team effort, but she could see the machinations were all instigated by the shortest Ed.
Eddy might not have been the best at a lot of things, but at the very least he was always down to try another scheme. There was no 'down' in his vocabulary and some would say that it was as much a virtue as it was a pain in the butt to deal with. He always found a way to scam or to start up a new business opportunity for him and his friends. Though, despite Double-D being the brains that made everything work, he was the only one that had a vision and neither of his friends had it. Yet, the last few days, he had to admit that someone challenging him was a new dare that made him gitty for more. And, oddly enough, it was the eldest of the Kankers that did it. Lee surprisingly wasn't as much of a pain as he thought her to be. He still didn't like being bossed around, but a voice that countered his thoughts was a welcoming change.
"Feel free to like it even more if we don't die!" Eddy was swept back to the other side of the sailboat by a wave. "Double-D, please tell me that this is the worst its gonna get!"
"If my calculations are correct, we'll be getting near the edge of the storm in a few minutes." Double-D watched the waves before them, hoping to be right.
"Um, Double-D," Marie said, before pointing to the side.
Double-D followed her finger, spotting what she meant. A large wave climbed up high over them, threatening to come down on them like a bad grade on an exam you forgot to study for.
Double-D's mind went into overdrive thinking on how to save the situation. His eyes landed on the compass and where they were. An idea sparked in his mind.
"Marie, turn the ship facing away from the wave!" Double-D instructed.
"What?! Babe, you serious?! Marie asked.
"Trust me, it is the push we need to get out of this mess!" Double-D argued.
"Back into everything?"! Marie asked.
"Just do what I say, woman!" Double-D snapped.
Marie had been yelled at many times, but there was something different when Double-D yelled at her. It wasn't demeaning or meant to hurt, but it carried something simple that only her mom had managed to pull off: Authority. His words echoed with authority and made her rethink her usually snappy behavior. The sweet nerd had shown off that he had a backbone that he was more than willing to use to stand up to her and others. Under normal circumstances, she would've found it cute, maybe even hot. But at that moment, she knew better than to disagree or go against the ideas of the smartest of the Eds.
"Well, if you say so!" Marie turned the wheel and the boat in tow just as the wave came down.
Double-D felt a little sick at yelling at a lady, Marie was far from a refined lady, but a lady nonetheless. But the situation had called for a louder tone of voice. He'd come to appreciate Marie's input and attitude since their journey had begun and knew she would've helped him to see his plan to fruition. It had been a gamble but it beat the alternative. He just hoped that they managed to make it to where he thought they were headed towards.
The sailboat was pushed forward by the huge wave and the burst of wind that followed. Everyone on board held on tightly as they skipped across the waters and the waves. The bouncing and jumping around on the sailboat was not uncomfortable, but it was better than being drowned. Their eyes focused solely on the horizon before them and whatever was before them.
They couldn't see much thanks to the storm and the clouds and the rain and the salt water hitting them in the eyes. But there was something up ahead from them. It seemed to have risen from the depths of the ocean like a massive rock that had been swallowed long ago only to pop up. They tried to move away from it, but they were going too fast to move away. They were going to hit it dead center.
"Brace yourselves!" Double-D called out.
"Sockhead, if we survive, I'll kill you myself!" Eddy called out as the sailboat reached the strange beach.