"I want a rematch!" Fia announced to Mahi. "Can you show me how to swim faster? I wanna be cool like you."

He's not cool, Viliant reacted at once, forgetting that Mahi had joined them over telepathy.

"Hey! Speak for yourself, little dragon dude." Mahi lowered his head to the same level as Viliant and narrowed his eyes in a glare.

I'm exhausted, Viliant explained, hoping that Mahi could better understand their dire situation over telepathy. His muscles ached from swimming for so long, and castings spells did not help. After Fia had seriously partaken in the race, she had wasted precious energy too. Viliant insisted, We really need to get to land—

Clipping that thought, Fia told Mahi instead, "We really need to get to the next finish line!"

"That's the spirit. Let's go! Just don't cry when I beat you again." Farther south, a second unstable iceberg sloshed over the waves by Mahi's magic. Without any count this time, the adult dragon took off.

"Wait!" Fia whined. "You're supposed to help us learn how to swim better." Though she shouted her loudest, Mahi had already blasted out of earshot.

The only sound that he listened to was the splash of water all around him. Eat my froth! Better luck next time!

Because she stood no chance at winning, Fia paced herself better over the course of this race. She nipped at Viliant's shoulder to encourage him to keep up. Even though he turned over his paddling feet at his desired rate, Fia pretended like they were competing neck-in-neck.

"Come on, Fia! You were so much faster than him last time," Mahi yelled once they got within range. "Both of you were faster…."

Fia stretched out her nose into the cool water to make it there first. It did not matter if Viliant was not racing against her; she still liked beating him. The loose clumps of ice stuck to the small scales of Fia's face. She pawed at the mixture and asked, "What's your element, Mahi Mahi—water or ice?"

The southern ocean had many water dragons that Fia was used to hearing about, but she had more encounters with the ice element in the northern continent. Since the dragonets traversed the waters in between these two regions, Fia did not know what to expect from Mahi.

Enthused by her question, Mahi shouted, "Neither! Both! I'm not a part of the system. The official elements are too rigid for my taste. I'm a slush dragon!"

"Slush?" Fia echoed, learning a new word in her native tongue. Thanks to telepathy, she understood the full meaning without needing Mahi's demonstration. The slush dragon swiped his wing across the water and slapped a wingful of it into her face.

"Slush!" Mahi shouted back.

"Pah." Fia sputtered the water out of her mouth. The scales on her face tingled where the shards of ice struck. "That's… cool," she said, her interest in his element sufficiently doused.

"You better believe it," Mahi replied. His eyes turned distant, reflecting the choppy surface of the water like glass. A note of warning flashed through Mahi's mind. He remarked in a distant tone, "It's cool to stay alive."

Nothing to do with the chilly water that the dragonets bobbed in, a shiver ran down both of their tails. What do you mean by that? Viliant asked, his back spines poked out of the water as they stood on end.

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The temperature around them rapidly changed, as though Fia heated the water to her comfort. Some bubbles drifted to the surface around the three dragons. I didn't do that, Fia clarified, tossing her head to survey the waves.

Without explanation, Mahi dove at Viliant. The slush dragon locked his claws around the smaller, black dragonet and dragged him under.

"Viliant!" Fia shrieked. Her frantic eyes tracked the shadowy shape of the larger dragon that blocked Viliant from view.

Against the hot, salty water, Viliant kept his eyes open. See? he seethed at Fia, somersaulting in the middle of Mahi's dizzying vortex. We never should've trusted him! The constant flips disorientated Viliant which made it hard to keep track of his enemy. Each time that Mahi completed another rotation around Viliant, more slush was left in his wake.

The half-frozen water numbed the dragonet's scales and slowed his thoughts. Ugh. So cold. Viliant could not even escape into the shadows to avoid the deluge of slush. The unbearable, low temperature would only worsen in darkness.

Leveraging it for what it was worth, Viliant reorientate himself around his element. The tumbling dragonet sensed the expanse of shadows toward the bottom of the ocean—so deep that it never seemed to end. In a similar way, he tracked Mahi by the way that his body dimmed the rays of sunlight from above.

The serpentine dragon tucked his broad wings into his body most of the time, but he flung them open to rudder an abrupt turn. Whenever he did this, Mahi's shadow became prominent enough that Viliant could make use of it. These shreds of darkness, Viliant aimed back at the slush dragon's belly.

A high-pitched screech carried underwater. Do you have a death wish or something? Knock it off! Mahi's telepathic command echoed more intensely underwater. I'm trying to save your life over here!

Huh? Viliant did not know what to think about that. Although Mahi sounded earnest, a devious dragon could lie over telepathy like Viliant had practiced with Fia. In the split second needed to make his decision, he doubted his ability to discern the truth. Refusing to trust anyone other than himself and his best friend, Viliant fought against Mahi like his life depended on it.

His blood boiled, and a wave of heat flashed. The edge of Viliant's fear abated, knowing that he could count on Fia to put pressure on Mahi from above. Viliant continued his shadowy assault from below. By the time that he gained the upper wing, Mahi let him float back to the surface.

"Gah!" Viliant gasped, refilling his burning lungs with air. The sunny waters now felt hot to him, energizing his muscles. His livid eyes flashed to target Mahi who drifted over the calm waves like nothing happened.

"Don't look at me like that!" Mahi shouted. His voice broke in what sounded like distress. "Where's the gratitude? If it wasn't for me, you would've just gotten boiled alive!" Without elaborating on the danger, it seemed that Mahi blamed Fia for the perceived danger.

"She would never hurt me—unlike you!" Viliant shouted back.

While the two dragons argued about her, Fia folded her wings over her eyes. She buried her face underwater so that her snout poked out just enough to breathe. I didn't do anything… she whined.

"That little fire-breathing snake dragged you out here, over a thermal vent," Mahi revealed. "The waters get steaming hot! Dragons like me and her can survive out here, but you can't," the slush dragon said with an upward nod to Viliant. The sudden seriousness behind Mahi's intense, blue eyes made Viliant avert his gaze.

"I see," he muttered. Viliant squirmed in the hot ocean which gradually cooled back to its original temperature as time passed. From somewhere in the depths of those waters, a mana vent combusted into heat.

Mahi stretched out his neck at Fia and Viliant's level and told them, "I'm only saying this out of concern as a friend. You two should turn back. You don't have what it takes to make it all the way to Carlinoa Island."

Fia gaped at him with steamy tears in her eyes. "No!" she cried out. "We're almost there. We can make it! We were—" a hiccup broke off Fia's voice, leaving her final thought to trail off, just starting to have fun….

In a shaky voice, Viliant did his best to back her up. "Yeah! Fun…. I thought you were playing around back there."

The lids of Mahi's eyes became hooded out of disbelief.

Since it had become clear to Viliant that they needed Mahi to cross the ocean, he was willing to make a concession. With his chin raised with confidence, Viliant asked a question which made Fia's jaw drop. "Want to play another game?"