Rep and Zalan were roused by a rapping at the door the next morning. Rep and Zalan both woke up with a start after a restless night of sleep in a moving bed. Zalan tried to roll out of his mattress before realizing the hammock didn’t work like that. Groggily, Rep pulled himself out of his hammock to get the door. Zalan fought to untangle himself from the ropes of the hammock. He ended up slipping and slamming shoulder first into the deck, kicking him straight to being fully awake.

“Yes?” Rep asked, cracking the door open.

“Captain Buttonwillow McKittrick said to wake you for breakfast,” Rosemary informed them dutifully.

“Why do you call him by his full name?” Zalan asked, rolling his shoulder as he sat up.

“Because it is his name,” Rosemary said sharply as though it was obvious. She did an about face and walked back up the stairs with nothing more to say.

“She seems kind of sensitive,” Zalan noted, standing.

“Do you think they have any more Poniwhale meat for breakfast?” Rep asked excitedly.

“No, I’m pretty sure he didn’t cut off enough for there to be any more,” Zalan said.

“Right,” Rep said, his head lowered in disappointment.

They made their way to the upper deck. The sun shone bright on the horizon as it rose, casting its warm rays on the seafarers. Xavier and Enzo were back to moving the ship by means of their Elemental Powers. Rep and Zalan yawned and stretched as they made their way to the captain’s quarters. They were cut off before they could get to the door. Nold was standing in front of them with a peeled orange in hand and his arms crossed.

“Morning,” Nold said testily.

“Good morning, Nold,” Rep replied, trying to move past him. Nold stepped in his way.

“I tried to get into the owner’s quarters last night. Perhaps have a place to try and soothe my aching limbs and bones after saving all of our lives,” Nold said. He raised his eyebrows at the two.

“Yes, thank you for that,” Rep tried to sidestep him again, but was blocked.

“I was told that I could not enter those quarters without your permission. I am trying my best not to create any tension on this vessel for your sake. So, I would ask that you grant me permission to the owner’s quarters. The crew’s quarters are unnecessarily drab. It is the least a teacher could expect from his students,” Nold said.

Rep looked at Zalan with an annoyed frown. He clearly didn’t want to have to invite him within their quarters. Zalan felt similarly, but was really awkward in confrontations.

“We can talk about this later, Nold,” Zalan said.

“Or we can talk about this now,” Nold said, more adamant.

“Later,” Zalan said firmly, stepping around Nold.

Rep followed, pleased to see his friend take his side. Nold watched them with narrow eyes, pursing his lips as they made their way to the captain’s quarters. He ate a slice of his orange and scoffed, shaking his head at Zalan.

The door to the captain’s quarters was propped open. There was an assortment of citrus fruits on the table that rolled slightly with the movement of the ship. An open buffet for all of the ship’s passengers. Zalan looked over the selection with interest and looked to Rep.

“Is this to prevent scurvy?” Zalan asked.

“What is scurvy?” Rep asked, double checking to make sure there was no leftover meat.

“My mom told me about it. It’s a disease.”

“What kind?” Rep picked up an orange once he determined there were no leftovers.

“You know… I have no idea. I just know you get scurvy if you don’t have enough Vitamin C while you’re on a boat,” Zalan admitted.

“What is Vitamin C?”

“It’s in oranges and lemons.”

“But what is it?”

Again, Zalan had no idea, but he didn’t want to keep getting called out like this.

“It’s good for you,” Zalan said. “It’s in fruits and keeps you healthy.”

“Oh, excellent,” Rep said. Zalan was relieved that the line of questioning stopped there.

“Did you sleep well?” Captain Buttonwillow’s voice sprang on them suddenly, startling them both. He was sitting on the hammock above the table in the captain’s quarters.

“Yeah, I slept fine,” Zalan replied, taking a bite of some fruit.

“Excellent! Magnolia said she saw a pod of monsters circling us overnight. They did not strike, but they definitely picked up our scent. She warned me that they may try and ambush us in the coming days!” Captain Buttonwillow said excitedly.

“Oh… what do we do to prepare for that?” Zalan asked.

“I am sure we will be fine. She said she did not even see the manner of the creature, it is possible that the creatures are completely innocuous! Besides, the sun is already out. If the creatures wanted to strike us, they definitely would have done so while we were resting,” Captain Buttonwillow swung himself out of the hammock and onto the table. He narrowly avoided putting his feet in the bowl of food.

“Captain! Monsters of the starboard bow!” Enzo’s terrified voice called from outside.

“Or perhaps the monsters waited for us all to wake before striking,” Captain Buttonwillow said without missing a beat. He hopped off the table and ran outside to get a look. Rep and Zalan chased closely behind him.

Zalan and Rep spun around in search of the monsters, but the captain rushed immediately to the front of the boat and looked off to the right. There was activity in the water, an array of white foam and splashes. Zalan could tell that the disturbances were definitely not natural flows of water. It was a ravenous horde of small creatures.

“Piranhas?” Zalan asked.

“Good guess!” the captain said, his eyes on the water. “Piranhas are freshwater fish. These are Slaughterfish!”

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“Oh good, I was worried they would sound intimidating,” Rep said sarcastically.

“Slaughterfish!” the captain announced loud enough for all the crew to hear. “Prepare to be boarded!”

“They’re going to get on board?” Zalan asked, stunned.

“They will first surround the boat in a circle, then jump at us when they think we do not suspect it. They enjoy operating from all angles. They will leap, take a bit of flesh, then jump back to the sea before they are killed. Each bite will be small, but they are relentless so long as they can smell flesh. They will do immense damage to the crew if given enough time,” Captain Buttonwillow explained, climbing up a shroud to get a better vantage point.

The captain began to fire a beam of ice at the water, freezing the uppermost layer of water. The waves in the sea bumped the newly created ice against the ship and cracked it. The captain frowned to himself.

“Well it looks as though I cannot create a shield. The sea does not allow it at my Wisdom. Do you have any ideas?” the captain asked.

“Should we get in the lower decks?” Rep asked.

“No, that would sink us. They would chew through the ship so long as they smelled us, and Rosemary could not replenish the lost wood because they would come in through whatever holes they made and make it impossible to get close enough to repair. In a battle of attrition, they would win.”

Several hundred small monsters thudded against the bottom of the ship. The Slaughterfish had arrived. They began circling the vessel with enough force to make a small whirlpool and The Aegeusson began to spin ever-so-slowly in place. The water splashed turbulently, causing the ship to feel like it was experiencing its own isolated earthquake. The Elemental Ice around the ship shattered to tiny pieces in seconds.

Zalan tried to get a better view of the Slaughterfish. They made the water look like it was boiling with activity. The ones that hopped out looked similar to piranhas to Zalan. It was like a mix of a piranha and angler fish. They had tiny bodies, but huge, bulbous eyes with massive teeth. They wiggled around the ship rapidly, nibbling slightly at the wood as they searched for exact coordinates of its passengers.

“Well this seems pretty easy now that they’re all here. I can just zap them,” Zalan reached out his hand to blast them with lightning. Before he even extended his arm halfway, several tiny fish with teeth as big as their bodies leaped from the water and snapped at his arm. Zalan pulled back, suffering several tiny cuts.

“Do not reach any limbs over the end of the boat now that we are surrounded,” Captain Buttonwillow warned. “How adept is your redirection?”

Zalan frowned as he moved away from the side of the boat. He had never figured out how to redirect his lightning more than a few degrees. He took several steps back and fired lightning, trying to twist it downward. It hit water too far to travel back to the base of the boat. The Slaughterfish were unaffected at the distance.

“A shame,” Captain Buttonwillow said. “Without your esteemed assistance, this will take a while.”

Using his Elemental Power, he formed a stalactite over the water and sent it hurtling downward. He couldn’t even see whether he killed anything. Zalan screamed in pain and felt something tear in his back. Rep grabbed it off and incinerated it. A Slaughterfish had leapt across the entire ship and got a deep bite in Zalan’s upper back.

“They jump this far? Nold, do something!” Zalan called their mentor.

“I am! I have already stopped several Slaughterfish from taking bites out of us by dizzying them in the water! But I cannot stop all of them,” Nold said urgently.

Zalan looked around the ship, trying to figure out what they could do. Rosemary had created herself a wooden spear and was skewering any Slaughterfish that tried to leap down to her. She was still riddled with cuts. Enzo was above in the crow’s nest and looked like he had no intention of coming down to help. Magnolia was firing several tiny bullets of sand into the water to little success. Xavier was trying to match Nold in making fish too disoriented to attack with his Elemental Air.

As Zalan surveyed the scene, he saw that at least five fish were in the air at any time. They often missed, but the ones that hit their targets always drew blood. Zalan zapped one out of the air with his power, only for a second one to appear from behind it and take a nibble from his forearm before leaping away. The cut wasn’t deep, but it was immensely painful. Like the edge of an aluminum can scratched him.

“Any ideas?” Rep asked, spinning in a rapid circle to try and not be caught unaware.

“Just one. Cover me while I concentrate and I’ll try some sky lightning,” Zalan said.

Rep nodded, fully trusting Zalan and his plan even when Zalan said he didn’t have full control over the ability. He began circling Zalan to protect him. Zalan breathed in deeply, trying to focus on the sky. He needed to summon lightning from above. He reached out with his mind, trying to pull on the muscle he normally used for his Elemental Power. He had summoned lightning from the sky once before, he knew that it was definitely possible. But he hardly intended to do it the first time. It just happened in a moment of feeling trapped and frustrated. But he felt under the same amount of pressure as he did in the tournament. It was either get rid of the monster fish or use the Homeseeker and run back home before they were torn to shreds.

The pandemonium around him somehow helped him to center himself. No one was putting their hopes on him to save them. They were too busy working out a way to kill the ones that kept biting them. He felt the static building around him, which he knew was a good sign that he was focusing on the right feelings. He strained himself, reaching as high as he could with his power.

He brushed against something in his mind. He pulled on the sensation with his mind muscle.

A massive bolt of lightning cracked out of the sky in a blinding light. It crashed into the peak of the crow’s nest, exploding the tip of the mast and terrifying Enzo.

“What in God’s name was that?” he bellowed, looking for another monster that was attacking them.

Zalan didn’t respond. He had the feeling and didn’t want to let it go. He pushed on the sky, directing the lightning to strike away from the boat. He pulled on the aerial, static-y feeling again. Another momentous stream of electricity slammed down from the sky and impacted the water just next to The Aegeusson. The sky echoed in rumbling thunder as the sounds of the Slaughterfish dissipated immediately as they all died simultaneously. The passengers of The Aegeusson went quiet, not quite believing that they had been saved by the Slaughterfish having succumbed to spontaneous smiting.

Zalan was lightheaded, feeling like the world was a bit brighter than it should be. He raised his arm and realized he was shining. He looked up to Rep who was beaming at him with pride.

“Was that you, Zalan?” Captain Buttonwillow asked, baffled, then saw immediate confirmation. Zalan was glowing a faint white. “Well done!”

Zalan’s body exploded in white light as he gained a Level. The lightheadedness left his body and the few cuts he sustained were healed. To his surprise, the white light on his body didn’t immediately dissipate like it normally did. It grew in intensity. Zalan was affected by another blinding explosion of white light from his body. He blinked a few times, uncertain of why he exploded twice. He looked to Rep for an explanation.

“I think you gained two Levels at once,” Rep said, stunned.

“I thought you could only gain a single Level per monster,” Zalan said, too confused to be pleasantly surprised.

“Yes, but I think you killed several hundred monsters at once,” Rep said.

Zalan tapped his forefinger to his thumb to summon his stats to confirm.

LEVEL: 07

STRENGTH: 07

WISDOM: 11

EXPERIENCE: 59

ELEMENT: LIGHTNING

Zalan’s confusion turned to a fanatic smile.

“Two Levels!” Zalan exclaimed in excitement. “I just gained two Levels!”

The entirety of the ship cheered for him, excluding Enzo who was still trying to piece together why he was attacked up on the crow’s nest. Even Nold was applauding Zalan after having seen him bring lightning from the sky. The mentor approached with a broad smile.

“Excellent showing of your power. If these are the results you can attain when I am in the crew’s quarters, then I suppose I should continue resting there after dark,” Nold said proudly.

“Umm, thanks,” Zalan said, grateful to be done with that argument.

“That was as incredible as it was astounding!” Captain Buttonwillow clapped Zalan on the back. “I have never seen so many Slaughterfish killed at once. How did you do it?”

“Water conducts electricity. I just needed to get enough lightning in the water for it to hit them all. So, I got Rep to help me call lightning from the sky. I didn’t expect it to work so well,” Zalan said.

“Water conducts electricity,” Captain Buttonwillow repeated, not understanding a word. “Amazing. Astonishing. Dare I say, shocking! This is a cause for celebration! What do we have to celebrate with?”

“Umm,” Rep held up an embarrassed hand with a suggestion. “Are Slaughterfish edible?”