Reeled In

     Towards the end of her life as a student, one of their last major projects was to propose an expedition and put together a team of students from other classes that studied physical planetary science. Being the over achiever that she is, she proposed her first mission to be a study of the aquatic plant life that was found in and around Ye Olde Fishing Vortex; with 16 known sea plants, 39 sea creatures, and a seemingly unknown magical property, there was more than enough study material to go around.

     It had been 6 months of stressful planning and preparation, but they had finally made it to the Vortex. Her crew was not popular among the locals; there was an especially aggressive, young, Yellow Usul that pushed several cases of their research material into the Vortex before she was escorted off the premises. Astraleaf placed her hands on her hips as she supervised everyone setting up their stations. In her peripheral vision, she noticed a Shadow Korbat improperly handling her equipment.

     "Excuse me! What's your name?" She shouted as she whipped around. The Korbat's ears perked up and they looked around. "Yes, you, I'm talking to you." Astraleaf approached the Korbat.

     "OH, me? I, uh… My name? I'm, uh, Rimatim. My friends call me Rimmy though," He sputtered nervously. The thing about Astraleaf is, she gave off a very intimidating vibe with how she held and presented herself, but when she wasn't overridden with the anxiety of a successful expedition that was the make or break of the beginning of her career, she was a very kind and laid back Aisha. No one would have ever guessed that off of their first encounter though; which is why she had very few friends.

     "Well, Rimatim, do you understand how much that microscope you are improperly handling costs? Enough Neopoints that you would only get to stay in the Cockroach Motel for the next 28 days with no extra amenities. Be more careful with the equipment!" Astraleaf scolded. She brushed her shadowy forest-green bangs out of her face before moving down the dock to peer over the edge. Never in her life had she been fishing; she felt a tremor of anxiety start in her fingertips before she looked away from the water.

     As a child, Astraleaf had heard stories of Titanic Giant Squid living in the depth of the Vortex; these stories were usually to scare the Lost Desert children from wanting to travel to Maraqua for reasons unbeknownst to her. The mere fact that she stood at the edge of the dock looking into the fishing Vortex was enough to increase her already high amount of anxiety. Astraleaf took several deep breaths to collect herself before returning to her team to help finish up the preparations.

     The ocean shifted from hues of light blues and teals to deep shades of blue, signifying that the sun was setting over the Maraquan ruins. At this time, the final preparations were being completed and the expedition team was slowly settling in for the evening; quiet murmurs buzzed through the cavern with the quiet chatter among the students. Except, of course, Astraleaf. She was not going to wait until morning to start; too much was on the line for her to even consider taking a break. Astraleaf picked up a fishing pole and attempted her first cast. Apparently, she was much stronger than she thought because her cast landed the hook snagged into some moss on the ceiling of the cave. After a few tugs, she managed to get it pulled away from the moss and with a satisfactory PLOP, landed in the Vortex. Upon her research she had done on Ye Olde Fishing Vortex, she knew it would be hours before something tugged against her line.

     With no sense of time being in an underwater cave beside the changing shades of water, the hours felt like an eternity. It must've been deep into the night when she felt the first pull on her line. Astraleaf jumped to her feet and began pulling against the unknown thing on the end of her pole. What could it be? A void plant? No, no, she hadn't been fishing long enough to catch that. Maybe it was some giant red kelp! Yes, that was a possibility, certainly! As she pulled and reeled, pulled and reeled, and pulled and reeled some more, she felt the excitement build about her first catch ever.

     To her horror, a long tentacle came out of the water. She let out a shriek as she dropped her fishing rod. Astraleaf made her best effort to escape from the Titanic Giant Squid, but she was nowhere near quick enough to outrun the squid– in hindsight, she should've done more Agility training during her year abroad in Shenkuu. This was it. She would never get to complete her expedition or ever achieve her purpose for living. Astraleaf's candle was snuffed out before she had even begun to live…

     Or so she thought…

     As far as Astraleaf could tell, she was still very much alive; however, that would only last as long as she could hold her breath. The speed at which the Titanic Giant Squid moved was between the speed of a Poogle at the Poogle Races and that of a Mortog exploding after being kissed… essentially, with great speed. Astraleaf did her best to at least open her blue eyes enough to get an idea of where they were going. She could see they had exited the underwater fishing cave and zoomed over the bubbling pit toward the direction of Maraqua. The saltwater stung her eyes which made it nearly impossible to keep her eyes open any longer.

     Her head began to buzz. The tip of her nose and ears began to tingle. Astraleaf knew she was running out of air. This was it, she thought, I am done for. It’s like the Squid knew she was close to running out of air because suddenly she could feel the sun and a crisp ocean breeze against her face. Astraleaf took a deep breath and opened her eyes. In the distance, she could see Techo Mountain over on Mystery Island. She could feel herself descending back into the water as they moved further away from Mystery Island. Where could this Squid possibly be taking her? Meridell? Tyrannia? Terror Mountain? Oh, please not Terror Mountain, she pleaded in her thoughts.

     No, not Terror Mountain, you are not equipped for it. A thought was pushed into her head. She opened her mouth to scream, but it filled too quickly with water. She sputtered as she tried to get the cold, salty ocean water to leave her mouth. Water in their mouth made it exponentially harder to hold her breath.

     You spoke to me? She thought as hard as she could to make sure it wasn’t a one-time fluke.

     Well, no, I can telepathically implant this thought into your head. Much simpler than speaking, The Titanic Giant Squid responded.

     Oh, yes, much simpler. Astraleaf couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the squid. Telepathic thought implantation was much easier than speaking. Yeah. Okay.

     She felt herself breach the surface of the water, but it no longer felt like the open ocean. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she was shrouded in mist. “Did– Did you bring me to Shenkuu?” She asked. Astraleaf looked around, but the mist was too intense to see through to make out anything other than her own hands in front of her face.

     Yes. You said you needed more agility training. Now stay out of the ruins. Leave the Vortex alone… The telepathic thought seemed to feel weaker towards the end. Astraleaf was unsure if there was an or else supposed to be added to it or if there was no threat included at all. All she knew was that she had just been abandoned in this thick mist without an idea of where exactly she was besides being at the base of Shenkuu.

     The End.