Where do the Waves Begin? ♢ Solo

Althea shuddered as a fresh wave of nausea racked her body, bringing about even more concerned comments from Elodea.  She was actually getting really gosh darn uncomfortable in that cramped space, but the nymphs didn’t seem to mind at all.  Maybe they just got used to it eventually or maybe they just prefered the open ocean over their homes.  Althea was in no place to ask because she was way too concerned with trying not to throw up.  That is until the ship suddenly was violently jostled to the side, making the motion sickness so bad that the young girl made a hole in the hull to puke out of… with her fist.  But soon, the nausea dissipated completely, meaning that somehow they probably weren’t moving.  But that was pretty difficult on a boat which bobs on the ever shifting water, which meant Blackbeard’s ship had probably been beached.  And as she looked around, the slayer noticed that the nymphs were gone and it looked as if a tornado had ripped through the place.  A huge chunk of the ship was just gone, personal belongings were scattered along the ground, and the whole place was just a mess.  Finding that there wasn’t any use staying, she had kicked the side of the boat to make another hole big enough for her to exit through.

And that was when her suspicions were confirmed, Althea finding that the entire place had been turned on its side.  “Well, I guess that’s one way to travel.”  She said offhandedly before taking in the scents of the air.  Almost immediately, she picked up the trail of the pirates whose strong smell heavily contrasted that of the ocean and flora from the forest farther inland.  But either way she got moving, sprinting after it despite her alternate and delicate choice of clothing.  Soon, the young mage had heard the vices that she assumed was them, ducking into the bushes only a ways away.

“Mutsu, this werse not de deal!”  “Oh, was there a deal?  I’m getting rid of that now.”  The latter’s voice was familiar, Althea recognizing it as the summoner she had fought ages ago.  “That’s not yer choice to decide.”  “What are you going to do about it?  Toodles, I’ll be taking my share of the treasure.”  The female’s voice said before a flash of light filtered through the overgrowth.  A large thump resounded throughout the forest, followed by an agitated shout of several curses.  “THAT DAMNED VIXEN!  How DARE she?!  Men, dern’t just stand there, get ye booty!  The One Piece is somewhere in ‘ere!”  It was then Althea finally caught a sight of where she assumed was meant to be where Divide Island’s treasure was.  A previously underground cove with luminescent water, gold spilling from every nook and cranny.  But what drew her attention what her two partner for the jobs that were tied up and gagged just next to several very short guards.  Althea renowned that she could take all the pirates at once, but jeopardizing Nat and Nadia's’ lives wouldn’t be too great of an idea.  She wouldn’t be fast enough to prevent any of them taking them hostage.  Then where would they be?  But that wasn’t a problem because the blonde knew what she was going to be going for.

All in one motion, the water mage leapt straight into the cove’s opening, slid across the ground deep into the treasure trove, and inhaled.  Now, Althea wasn’t all to used to using the abilities Tethys had taught her, mostly because she had done so in a very short amount of time.  But, something she did know was that if she consumed enough water she could do… something.  She had forgotten what exactly, she’d have to go back and ask.  But either way she did so, and it was good for her that the cove’s water’s luminosity wasn’t just for show.  Then, she let out a satisfied sigh before wiping her mouth.  “Hey, that actually tasted pretty good.”  She remarked, sensing all the magic power she had stored up.  “What are ye supposed to be?”  Yelled a pirate, probably that Captain What’s-his-face who ran the whole shebang.  “Well, my hair is blue, I have scales on my skin… pretty sure this is supposed to be dragon force.”  The young girl replied, moving her ribbon to tie her hair up in a ponytail.  “If you don’t get it, I’m the muscle of the mission.”  This reply didn’t seem to sit well with the pirate captain, his already angry face distorting from the emotion even further.  “Well, what are ye waiting fer, mateys?  ATTACK!”

As the pirates rushed her, Althea summoned up a wave to push them back, and although the spell lacked in its usual size because of how they were indoors, but not the power.  Then, she took one of the few that didn’t completely get wiped out and threw them into the other, leaving an impact where they landed.  Next was an odd one, a towering purple and green furred thing, she had never seen a creature uite like it.  But, the slayer simply punched it, causing it to fall over backwards before she used ts stomach as a trampoline to launch towards the pirate captain.  He attempted to put up a guard, but her punch easily penetrated it.  Then she dealt out a roundhouse kick followed up by a punch to the side of the face.

And that was that, all the pirates taken care of.  Althea quickly untied her job partners, allowing them to stand up and gather their bearings.  “Wow Althea, that was-”  Nat began, only to find the young girl collapsing on the ground, blue air fading.  “Yeah, I’m going to take a nap here.  You guys… do whatever.”

To be honest, she hadn't actually used that much magic power during her fight.  unless it was some sort of battle based on endurance, there would be little to no reason why an individual as heavily geared towards hand-to-hand combat as Althea would ever pass out after punching people.  It definitely wasn't because the site the writer was on changed wordcounts to be universal for a rank and they realized they were way over the mark.  I mean, who in their right mind would sign-up for a job that requires you to write almost 12k words for only a B-rank reward?  I mean, you'd also get the swimsuit or whatever, but that was beside the point.  The true reason that Althea was unable to retain consciousness was due to the immense amount of boating she had to endure earlier.  Sadly, while she was fine with combative stamina -- she knew from experience she could fight for at least ten hours straight before starting to lose focus -- her stamina on moving vehicles was below average.  Curses, the weirdly specific weakness of dragon slayers strikes again!!

1150 // 5562/3500 [WC Reached]