Elizia and the Krawk Island Boat Race

      “Keep going, Ace, we can do it!” Elizia panted. BANG! Suddenly an unsuspecting Elizia was thrown forward, almost from the boat. Looking around, she saw a Pink Korbat rowing towards her. He had hit her deliberately, and was trying to do so again! Elizia swerved the boat out of the way, avoiding collision, but also allowing the Korbat to speed past her, a smug look upon his face. “So the cheating has already begun, at the very beginning,” Elizia muttered to herself. She took her frustration and turned it into energy for rowing. She couldn’t allow such dishonest types to beat her.

      Up ahead, the current appeared to be changing. The participants seemed to be being pulled towards a small island off the coast. The pull was strong, and Elizia had to use a lot of energy to fight it. It seemed to be getting stronger, and stronger… Until Ace let out a chirp that sounded more like a shriek, poked his head out under the water, and immediately the boat appeared to be back on course. As Ace pulled his head back out, Elizia could see something in the water, an aquatic Petpet swimming off. It swum towards another boat near hers, went under it, and that boat began being pulled towards the island. Someone had sent their Petpet to do their dirty work. Elizia was getting tired of these dishonest tactics already. “Come on, Ace!” She yelled. “Cheaters never get away with it in the end!”

      A laugh came from next to her. It was Jimmy. “I’m surprised your ‘boat’ is still floating!” He snarled at her. The Krawk aboard his ship was paddling ferociously fast. “See you at the finish line… if you make it!” And Jimmy sped off. This only motivated Elizia to paddle faster, but she couldn’t catch back up to Jimmy. Then she saw it. On the back of his boat were three Tencals, assisting in pushing it along. Elizia was flabbergasted. How could she hope to beat Jimmy honestly when he had such an unfair advantage? From where she sat, Jimmy seemed to be quickly overtaking the other racers in front too. Elizia sighed, and decided she needed to focus. With luck, and skill, she could still catch back up… she hoped.

      Her ship rode the waves easily and gently. For a while she continued this way, paddling on with Ace. Soon, however, cries erupted from ahead of her. Cries of pure fear and anger. She focused her gaze, and Elizia could see an enormous whirlpool swirling in the distance. It had already gobbled up two ships, and another two were caught in it, unable to escape the pull. She could manoeuvre around it, but doing so would use up a great deal of time. And beyond, she could see Jimmy well in front of the thing. It would not slow him down.

      “Elizia!” Came a cry from behind. She turned, and smiled, for Gable was rowing up just behind, Negg rowing behind him.

      “Gable! We can’t get past it. There is a whirlpool in front, and it is only growing bigger and bigger!” Gable looked in terror at the swirling water. He then faced Elizia, and smiled.

      “It is high tide,” he said gently. “Follow me!” He began paddling toward the shore. Elizia couldn’t believe it. What could he plan on doing? He seemed to be rowing in the reverse direction!

      “We can never win this way!” Elizia yelled after him.

      “We can ONLY win this way!” Gable replied. “Trust me!” Elizia took a deep breath. She did trust him. The boy had been nothing but kind to her. Would he really lead her astray now, after all this time? She followed.

      Closer and closer to the shore they rowed. There didn’t seem to be many spectators on this part of the island. In fact, it was almost deserted. Gable pulled to the right, then the left, navigating the currents quickly and efficiently. They seemed to be drawing close to a cay, surrounded by tall, rocky cliffs, with palm trees atop. Elizia still had no idea where they were going.

      The water became shallow. If they were not careful their oars would get stuck in the sand beneath the clear waters. Even so, Gable drew closer and closer. He smiled at Elizia. “It’s open! We can go through!” Go through? Had he not even been sure if this worked? Regardless, he seemed optimistic that his plan would be successful.

      Elizia could see now as they drew closer to the cliff’s edge, there was a cave nestled into the rock face. The waters were rough around it, and plenty of rocks to crash into. She had to paddle carefully. As they approached the dark cave, Ace chirped nervously. Before she knew it, the current was pulling them in…

      It would have been pitch black, had it not been for Negg’s fires. They lit up the way ahead, and gave visibility to the narrow walls around them. They were covered in fluffy green stuff. Elizia immediately knew where they were.

      “The Fungus Cave!” She gasped. She hadn’t stepped foot inside these dark tunnels since she was a young girl, and found the cave, whilst vast, to be quite boring. “What are we doing in here?”

      “A shortcut!” Gable yelled from ahead. It was hard to hear over the roaring waters. “I know these caves inside and out, so just follow me! They will open up on the other side of the island!”

      Elizia sat silently. Was this really okay? Was this not, in itself, cheating? “Gable, are you sure this shortcut is… honest?”

      “Don’t worry about that, Elizia. Participants have been using this shortcut since the very first boat race! I’m surprised Jimmy didn’t know about it!” Jimmy. Elizia thought about how far ahead he must be now. Could they ever catch up?

      The cave’s tunnels tossed and turned, branching off into countless streams. It was a miracle Gable knew where to go, and was fast enough to turn in time. But he seemed to be confident. “We must keep paddling!” He yelled. “No doubt there are other racers behind us who have caught onto the shortcut. And if they approached us a collision at this speed would mean total destruction for our boats!”

      The tunnels seemed to go on forever. How much time had elapsed? It was hard to keep track of such things in this place. The fungus lining the walls seemed to get scarcer and scarcer, until… No doubt about it. Elizia could see light ahead! Gable laughed. “There it is, the exit!” Both Negg and Ace gave a celebratory chirp. Only now Elizia realised how fast they were truly going. She felt like she was on a waterslide, going down… and down… and down…

      Until suddenly, there was light. The sun beamed down, and Elizia squinted her eyes trying to adapt quickly to the new level of light. Once she regained her composure, Elizia looked around. They had just come out of another rock face, what looked like it could be the tallest rock face on Krawk Island. The waves were much rougher here, and the ship bobbed intensively up and down on the water. Elizia turned. Other than Gable, there were no ships anywhere. Could they have been too slow? Could everyone else have simply been too fast? No, that wasn’t it.

      Gable laughed. “We’re in the lead!” No one else is here yet! Come, we better not dither around, or else it won’t remain that way for long. They paddled on. Elizia could see numerous spectators atop the cliff. She wondered if Barney and Spoteye were among them, or waiting at the finish line. She thought about how happy he would be to see her in the lead. Then she turned around…

      From the cave’s mouth they had just come from, ships began flooding out. A lot of them. Then round the corner came the ships who had evaded the whirlpool, and in the front of them all was… Jimmy!

      Gable had noticed too. “Come on!” He cried out.

      Up ahead sat a sign. It read: YOU’RE HALFWAY THERE. They had reached the halfway mark… and they were in the lead! But an increasing number of ships were catching up. Amongst them Elizia could see the Skeith from the beginning, the Korbat that had been deliberately trying to bump into her… And of course Jimmy. No doubt the Krawk had noticed them now. The look of anger and frustration on his face proved that. His Petpet Krawk seemed just as upset.

      Elizia was growing tired now. The intensity of these new waves was starting to take its toll. Ace seemed tired too. Then… “Oh no!” It was Gable. Elizia immediately saw what it was that had him concerned. Up ahead, heading for them, was an enormous wave. Five times the size of their boats, this wave would swallow them whole if they weren’t careful. “We have to ride it!” Gable yelled. Once we get closer, slow down! There were laughs coming from behind the pair of boats. The other competitors had had time to get out of the enormous wave’s way. It was too late for Elizia and Gable to do the same, and so they continued forward and slowed down like Gable had instructed once the wave was upon them. Up the wave, the boats climbed, higher and higher. The wave was incredibly thick as well. They were almost at the peak when, from within the water, Elizia saw two giant black eyes staring into hers, bubbles floating around them. She shrieked in surprise and fell back.

      Before she knew what was happening, she had gone overboard, into the cold, dark water below. She didn’t sink, of course, as her life jacket kept her floating on the surface. From here she could see her ship drifting away, too far ahead for her to grab it, too fast for her to catch up to it by swimming… It seemed as if her run in the race was now over…

To be continued…