Four Friends; A Forsaken World [REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

Chapter Twelve: Diving into Avulsio, City of Water Nymphs

Suddenly, the ship's sirens went off. Aquarius quickly head back to the cockpit to see what was going on. The six travelers followed suit.

"What's going on, Aquarius?!" Everblaze asked, her voice filled with stern authority.

"Everyone, get back into the cabin and get into your beds!" the Water Nymph ordered. "There are shadow monsters out here!"

"How the—"

"Just follow, Lizzy!" Kit yelled, pulling the older girl's shirt collar. They ran back into the cabin, slammed the door, grabbed their bags, and braced for the worst in their bunk beds. As soon as they heard a bang, they splashed into the water.

***

As soon as it started, it ended. The ship seemed to be cruising swiftly, even underwater.

"You can open your eyes and get out of bed now." Aquarius announced, from the PA system. "We're taking a shortcut to Avulsio, for everyone's safety. Do not leave the cabin; only Water Nymphs can survive in this water. We also don't want the cabin to be flooded."

Everblaze and Kit ran to the windows and gasped at the sight. Blue sea surrounded them, together with corals and fish swimming around the colorful wildlife. They could see a city in the distance, covered with a sort of force-field barrier to keep the water out. The other travelers ran to the windows and gasped at the sight. 'Beautiful' would be an understatement.

"It's so pretty!" Lizzy gasped.

"And so colorful!" Jian said.

"Everyone, get ready to alight for the first time!" Aquarius's voice said, over the loudspeaker. "I'm gonna drop y'all off at the train station, and from there, I'm off to the Empress' palace to inform her about what happened. So don't forget anything!"

"All our bags, they're packed, right?" Jian asked.

"Oh, wait!" Everblaze opened one of the drawers and pulled out a brown teddy bear with a red ribbon around its neck. "Can't forget Mister Snuggles!"

Puro asked, "Isn't that the same teddy bear—"

"Mister Snuggles has a red ribbon. My explosive teddies have orange ribbons." Everblaze reminded, holding the teddy bear close to her chest. "Anyways, let's go!"

***

After the six travelers arrived at the train station, they took to the streets to, basically, find their way to the Empress's underwater palace. The buildings were tall and sleek, with twisted conical tops and every building looking like a castle or the Princess of Flame's palace. Needless to say, Team Rainbow was amazed at the sights.

"It's honestly so pretty." Jian said, gazing around. "I never thought that I would ever leave Cataracta."

"Yep." Everblaze replied, clutching onto her teddy bear as tightly as she could, "I never thought I would come here in person, too."

"Really?" Puro asked.

Everblaze nodded. "I only saw photos from books and the Inter-Net."

"Honestly, this is a great place." Lizzy said. "Am I right, Faith? Faith?"

Faith was gone. There was a brief moment of panic, before they heard a goofy, yet melodic tune, to the tune of...a pop song?

"Faith?" Puro said, turning back.

The group saw their friend blowing through a yellow plastic kazoo. Upon noticing, the girl took the kazoo out of her mouth and giggled.

"It was ten Power Points. And I always wanted this." Faith smiled. "If I'm gonna be honest, it was worth it."

"My Archon, stop wasting cash on unnecessary stuff!" Puro sighed, face-palming. Did she forget to teach her master money management?

As the travelers walked around the city, they gasped at the architecture and the people. The Water Nymphs seemed to be aliens shaped out of water with a pair of antennae. And there was some diversity, too! Some Nymphs had purple water-like bodies, others had pink, green, aqua...whatever fit them best.

Stalls of food and drink lined the streets, Water Nymphs in the streets, running for a train or to school; in other words, the streets were in much better condition that in Cataracta. Puro saw a few children playing with dolls and toy cars instead of empty plastic bottles with wooden skewers drilled through with bottle caps to act as cars and plastic bags tied together to form dolls. Those were the sights she met in Cataracta, and noticing the difference now, 'stunned' was an underestimation. If Puro could make a comparison, the Water Nymphs of Avulsio had a better life than in Cataracta. At this point, she started to wonder how the Queen could let her citizens live in such disaster, while Avulsio's Empress cared...She felt sick to her robotic stomach after she realized the Queen didn't give a crap about her citizens.

The path to the Palace was lined with different streetlamps with coral decorations and the paths were neater and tidier. Sure, the streets themselves were tidy, just that the road to the Palace was polished and sparkling. The guards recognized the travelers and let them in immediately. As soon as they entered the throne room, they were met with a lady of indescribable beauty. 

***

Hello again, I know this is short, but please expect less updates as I've lost motivation and inspiration for the storyline so I'm going to take a short break. I'll be back as soon as I can, hopefully. 

Luckily, Chapter Thirteen is already ready to post, I just...need...to...edit...

See you in the second filler chapter OR Chapter Thirteen, whichever comes first~