Chapter 13:SUNK

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"Okay, let's keep calm," said Claire as water continued to pour into her Graven Garb. "Just focus on getting inside the Kelpestrum. Once we've got the mask, I can teleport us back to the gyre with my Shadow Staff."
"And there's our way in!" Draal yelled as his visor started to buckle too.
He pointed his metal arm at a set of giant gills on the Kelpestrum's neck. The slits were each at least ten feet tall, and they fluttered open and closed as the Deep-Sea Troll breathed in and out. Following Draal's lead, the group swam closer to the Kelpestrum's gills.
"Um, are we sure this's gonna work?" questioned Toby.
Before anyone could answer, the gills reopened, and a powerful current sucked them all inside the Kelpestrum. "Everything went dark and topsy-turvy as they passed through the Troll's respiratory system. To Toby, it felt like he was going down the world's most dangerous water-flume ride, but with all the lights turned off. Then, a tremendous flood of seawater deposited Draal, Blinky, Toby, NotEnrique, and Claire's bodies in a heap within the Kelpestrum.
"Ugh," groaned NotEnrique as he shimmied up to share Claire's visor. "Now I know what toilet paper feels like after it's been flushed!"
"Please, no more—URP!—potty talk." Toby belched as he held his queasy stomach. "I'm still not over that taco incident in the gyre. Super—URP!—no bueno!"
The teammates helped one another up—it was a bit of a struggle with their bulky Graven Garb—and got their bearings. The gems on their suits lit up in the darkness, illuminating the air-filled cavern. Blinky held his four hands against the damp algae-covered walls and felt them rise and fall in a steady rhythm.
"We appear to be in his gullet," Blinky marveled. "Now it's just a matter of searching the entire Kelpestrum from stem to stern—over"

"and over again, if need be—until we find that scarcest of Troll relics: the extraordinarily unique Glamour Ma—"
"Hey, are those some over here?" Toby asked, pointing down at, like, ten Glamour Masks floating in the water around his feet.
"Oh. Well, that was remarkably easy," Blinky said.
"Way to go, Tobes!" Claire cheered as she scooped up all the masks before Toby could. "But you'd better let me hold them. No offense."
"None taken!" said Toby, receiving four pats on the back from Blinky, plus two stronger ones from Draal. "Just between us fleshbags, I was feelin' pretty guilty about dropping that last Glamour Mask! I thought I'd really let Jim down and doomed . . . us . . . all. . . ."
Claire, NotEnrique, Blinky, and Draal all squinted at Toby as his voice trailed off and his eyes grew wide. They turned around and immediately saw why he was having trouble forming new words. Dozens and dozens of Volcanic Trolls crept out from the""Kelpestrum's innards, their weapons all trained on the trespassers.
"Volcanic Trolls!" Toby finally said. "I thought these guys only hung around Gatto!"
"I'm afraid they infest all giant Trolls, like mindless parasites," Blinky explained.
Claire handed the masks to Blinky, pulled out her Shadow Staff, and extended it. The handle darkened as she prepared to teleport everyone out of the Kelpestrum.
"Get ready to shadow-jump, gang!" Claire said.
But before she could open a black hole, a Volcanic Troll reached out and snatched the staff from her hands.
"Hey!" Claire and NotEnrique yelled at the same time. "Give that back!"
They went after her Shadow Staff, but several more Volcanic Trolls spilled into the Kelpestrum's gullet, blocking them. Blinky and Draal stood protectively in front of Claire and NotEnrique, while Toby unstrapped his Warhammer from his Graven Garb.
"I already failed my best friend once today," Toby said, his eyes set in determination. "We're getting out of here with these Glam"

"Glamour Masks, even if I have to fight every single, last one of you Volcanic Trolls."
As the mute Volcanic Trolls closed in, Draal cracked his knuckles and grinned. He took another step forward ahead of Blinky and said, "Now that sounds like my kind of escape plan!"

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