As promised, Captain Buttonwillow directed Enzo and Xavier to steer the ship at the break of dawn the next morning. Nold had worked through the entire night and went below deck to get sleep after they got moving. Rep and Zalan were awoken by the slight jolt of the moving ship. They made their way to the upper deck.

Captain Buttonwillow wore his beaming smile, though most of his weight was placed against the side of the ship. Rosemary was staying close, waiting for any orders that might alleviate his pain.

“What was it like in the Thalassic Terror?” Rosemary asked.

“A darkness like I have never seen. I was drowning in the night! A glorious memory,” Captain Buttonwillow said.

“You seem kinda relaxed about almost dying,” Zalan said.

“Do not interrupt Captain Buttonwillow McKittrick!” Rosemary snapped. “This is not even your ship!”

“Rosemary, these are our guests. Do not be rude,” Captain Buttonwillow turned to address Zalan’s question. “Why should I be concerned? It was meant for me!” Captain Buttonwillow said proudly.

“Almost dying was meant for you?” Rep asked.

“No, do you not see? The whole experience was mine to have. What is meant to strike you is never going to miss you. And what is not meant for you is never going to make it to you. I am content with being struck when it is meant for me,” Captain Buttonwillow confidently.

“You mean like destiny?” Zalan asked.

“What is destined for you was never not destined for you,” Captain Buttonwillow nodded.

“So you think everything is predetermined?” Zalan said, adding it to his list of eccentricities.

“Far from it!” Captain Buttonwillow held a finger up in correction. “I am in control of my actions. If I am a fool, it is not destiny to suffer from my foolish actions. Things out of my control, however, that is my destiny. The appearance of a Thalassic Terror on our path is not a choice of ours to make. That was destiny.”

Zalan considered the concept, not sure how he felt about it. It sounded reasonable to take consequences for your actions and understand that some things were out of your control. It felt like a comforting thought. Especially the way that the captain put it. Why should he be afraid of destiny, knowing he had no way to prevent it from happening? Zalan decided not to outright reject the concept. Rep was nodding like he was already taking the idea to heart.

“Can you make it part of my destiny to make it to the Island of Remains?” Zalan asked as a joke.

“Ah, a quick learner! Indeed, I will do everything in my power to make sure you arrive safely,” Captain Buttonwillow promised.

“Poniwhale pod off starboard!” Magnolia said, pointing and creating sand bullets to fire.

“How many is a pod?” Rep asked.

“At least three. It could be more, I can not tell from this distance,” Magnolia said.

“Dear Lord, can we have a single day off!” Enzo screamed at the sea.

“Rosemary! Give our unarmed fighters something to fight with!” Captain Buttonwillow instructed, straining to stand at full height. He peered out at the incoming monsters. “If only I had a Ring of Range, I could impale them with ice from his distance.” He sounded like he was implying something.

“I am using mine! You may not have it!” Magnolia said immediately, rejecting his implication. Captain Buttonwillow grumbled and went back to leaning against the ship.

“Here!” Rosemary tossed Rep a wooden spear, already working on Zalan’s. Her arms trembled as she worked. She still hadn’t recovered from all the effort it took to rebuild the ship the day before. The spear she ended up making for Zalan was curved and knobby.

“Any chance you can kill them with sky lightning?” Magnolia called Zalan.

“I don’t think so. I haven’t really figured it out, yet,” he responded.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Well, you can still use your regular lightning!”

Zalan nodded and ran to the right side of the ship. He saw the Poniwhales breaching the water about a hundred feet away. It looked like five to him, but it was hard to tell under the dark sea. He reached out his arms and blasted bolts of lightning. He was pleasantly surprised to see how far his lightning could travel at his higher Wisdom. His power couldn’t reach a hundred feet away, yet, but he felt he could get there eventually. He let out the lightning as a stream, continuously shocking the water in hopes of deterring the incoming monsters.

In moments, the Poniwhales came into contact with the electrified water. They thrashed in the water, clearly affected by the electricity flowing through them. They split, no longer moving as a unit. Zalan couldn’t target them all at once and chased down two with his lightning. He zapped them continuously until they stopped swimming. With a few more strikes, he ensured they were dead before looking for the others. The three remaining creatures targeted the ship from varying angles, charging quickly. One of them spun around to the other side, flanking The Aegeusson.

Magnolia fired her sand bullets in a series like a machine gun, missing several shots as the monsters bobbed erratically through the water. She continued until she ran out of bullets, able to figure out their pattern of movement as she got to her last few projectiles. She was able to kill two of the creatures.

“No more sand! Zalan!” Magnolia called to him as she went about making more bullets.

“It’s on the other side of the ship, I can’t redirect my lightning to get it!” Zalan replied.

“Brace for impact!” Captain Buttonwillow announced.

Nold stepped forward, annoyed and prepared to do something about another delay on their journey. He cracked his gloved knuckles and raised his arms angrily. He stopped, stunned, when Rep bounded past him, jumping to the edge of the ship.

“Enzo! Xavier! Boost me!” Rep demanded.

He dove off the port side, raising his spear high.

“Boost the man!” Captain Buttonwillow demanded of his crew.

Not one to question his captain, Xavier blasted a funnel of air at Rep, jolting him forward toward the oncoming monster. As soon as he dipped into the water, Enzo swelled a wave of water to increase his already impressive speed. Zalan could barely see him, running toward the port side to get a better view. His eyes widened in shock.

Rep was torpedoing forward to the oncoming Poniwhale at least five times his size. Rep pointed the wooden spear expertly to the monster’s head. They collided, Rep avoiding the end of the Poniwhale’s horn. Despite his maneuver, Rep was still hit hard by the large creature’s body. He was tossed aerial and landed on the Poniwhale’s back. The wooden spear poked out of its forehead, but the weapon wasn’t deep enough to kill it. Rep assessed the situation quickly and raised a fist. His hand exploded in flame and he crashed it into the monster’s back, boring a hole into it. The monster cried out and convulsed. Rep then let out a jetstream of fire into the monster’s body, cooking it from the inside.

The Poniwhale was dead, sliding forward in the water until it harmlessly bumped the side of the ship. The crew all stared in shock over the edge of the ship.

“What was that?” Zalan exclaimed.

“Did I get it?” Rep asked, looking over the top of the monster.

“Yeah! You incinerated the thing!” Zalan said. “Why’d you jump off the ship?”

Rep looked down at the Poniwhale, then behind him in a bit of a daze. It looked to Zalan like Rep just realized that he was in the sea. He shrugged to himself and looked back up at the astounded crew.

“I was worried it would hit the boat!” Rep said, a little embarrassed.

“And you have protected this ship wonderfully,” Captain Buttonwillow said proudly. “How would you feel about joining this fine crew! I can pay… erm… relatively well!”

“I am fine with my own crew,” Rep said, nodding to Zalan.

“A man of loyalty,” Captain Buttonwillow smiled at him. He grabbed a rope and tossed it off the side for Rep to climb up.

When he reached the deck, Zalan went over to help him over the top. He beamed at his friend, proud of him. Rep had come into his own. Whatever fears and hesitations he had before would never have allowed him to jump off a moving ship to kill a massive creature like that. Rep was sincerely a confident person.

He tapped his fingers together to check his abilities to track the change in his Experience. Zalan did the same, interested to see his gains. He was shocked to see an increase of 35, sending him to 94 Experience. He was close to hitting Level 8. Rep was at Level 6 and 23 Experience after his kill. His lip twitched marginally.

“I thought I would at least begin to catch up with you if I killed the same monsters you did,” Rep said. “But the fact your lightning struck all the creatures means that you gained all their Experience for your assistance. I only gained from the one I killed.”

“Hey, maybe you’ll get lucky and accidentally kill a thousand Slaughterfish too,” Zalan patted him on the back with some smarmy sarcasm.

“I prefer not to unintentionally stumble into all of my successes, thank you,” Rep shot back, smirking.

“Is there any way I can repay you for saving us the trouble of rebuilding the ship?” Captain Buttonwillow asked.

“I think getting us moving again is all we need,” Zalan said gratefully.

“Wait,” Rep said suddenly. He peeked his head over the side of the ship. “Can we take some freshly cooked Poniwhale for the journey ahead?”

“It is a shame you do not wish to join the crew. I was thinking the exact same thing,” Xavier said, jumping off the side of the ship.

He drew his sword and hacked away at the Poniwhale to gather food for later.