The Octonauts and the Overfishing Incident (complete)

Chapter Seventeen

It was Tweak who noticed the sinking body of Cera first. The white fox was frantically struggling in the water as the large ship dropped like a boulder underneath her. She was thrashing madly, trying to reach the surface of the water, her face a mask of fear. Tweak knew she would drown.

"Captain! It's Cera!" she yelled. Tweak was being held up by Peso and Dashi who were each supporting one of Tweak's arms. But the urgency in her voice was difficult to ignore.

The Captain's eyes widened as he registered the terrified fox just twenty metres away. The fish were swimming down to the sandy sea floor, laughing and cheering, glad to be free. All the Octonauts were underwater now. They should be safe now.

But it wasn't over yet.

Tweak met Kwazii's eyes. The pirate was hovering in indecision. "She broke your wrist!"

Tweak nodded desperately. "I know! But we can't leave her!"

The Octonauts were floating now, watching the ship sink and the fish swim to freedom. But it was Tweak who wrestled free of Peso and Dashi's hold and kicked hard, making her way over to the female fox desperately attempting to swim. It obviously hurt to move her wrist but the determination on her face showed she was ignoring the pain.

The Captain wasted no more time. Kwazii swum fast over to Tweak, murmuring to her: "Let us." Then he and the Captain swum over to Cera and grabbed both her arms, kicking upwards to make their way back up to the surface. With the two of them supporting her - the Captain's strength and Kwazii's speed - they were able to break the surface of the now-calm water in no longer than a few seconds.

Cera breathed in a long deep breath, gulping air with ragged breaths. Her pupils were large and dilated, and her tense body radiated fear. Kwazii gave the surfacing Tweak a small smile; the green rabbit swum over to him and gave him a one-armed hug, whispering in his ear: "Thank you."

Peso also surfaced, coming up next to Barnacles and Cera. "She's swallowed a lot of water."

"Will she be okay?" asked Tweak in concern.

Peso thought. "Well, I'll probably need to take her to the Sick Bay. You too, Tweak. You need a cast, and Cera needs rest and medicine to recover."

"Okay. Back to the Octopod it is then," Barnacles said decisively. He turned to the fox held upright by both him and Kwazii. "You'll need to go back underwater with us. We'll get you to the Octopod, and you'll be safe there."

Her eyes widened and she gave a quick shake of her head, pleading with her body language. The former confident cold persona had gone, replaced by a younger girl, fearful and innocent. It was obvious her fear of the water was strong.

"I'm sorry, Cera, but we have to get you to our medic," Barnacles reassured the shaking fox. "We won't let you drown."

"She can have my helmet," volunteered Peso. "Penguins can breathe underwater for a short amount of time anyway."

"Thanks Peso." The penguin obligingly unfastened the helmet collar from around his neck and passed it to Barnacles. The Captain fastened it around the unresisting Cera's neck and pressed the button to engage the helmet, which covered the fox's head with the glass bubble. It was odd seeing her with the familiar blue Octonauts collar that all the Octonauts wore.

"Okay Cera," Barnacles said gently. "We're going underwater now. You'll be able to breathe. It's okay."

The fox gave a barely conceivable nod and her eyes closed tightly. Barnacles nodded to Kwazii to go back underwater. Peso and Dashi resumed their posts helping Tweak swim. And the Octonauts returned underwater back to the Octopod just as the light was beginning to leave the sky.

Cera was barely conscious as they reached the Launch Bay. Peso took the lead and Dashi helped Tweak up to Peso's Sick Bay with Barnacles and Kwazii helping Cera. Tweak wasn't in too much of a bad way, she was laughing and making weak conversation with Kwazii, who was staying close to her while helping the fox as well.

"Help Cera first," Tweak requested to Peso, when she was sitting on one of the chairs in the Sick Bay. Peso nodded and came over to Cera who the Captain had helped onto a bed. His face was expressionless but his eyes were kind.

After Peso had given her some medicine which Cera had taken rather graciously, she thought, given her current circumstances, she curled up on her side and tried to ignore the presence of the two near-strangers in the room. The penguin was bandaging Tweak's wrist in a plaster cast and conversing with her in a soft voice. After that Cera could hear various Octonauts coming into the Sick Bay to check on Tweak or to apparently sign her cast. No one apart from Peso came over to check on her, which Cera guessed was understandable. She could tell they were slightly uneasy with her in the room, and she was slightly uneasy being in the room. But the medicine Peso had advised she take was working well. Making her slightly drowsy. She intended to leave as soon as possible of course. She wasn't welcome here. But she wouldn't leave right now.

Peso was telling Tweak she would be best staying the night in the Sick Bay to which the engineer didn't seem too happy about, but didn't argue too much. It was probably best not to argue too much with your medic. Even if he was the most good-natured and shy person on this ship from what Cera had seen already.

Peso checked on Tweak's wrist one more time, sounding satisfied, then came over to Cera again. She was pretending to be asleep, obviously. Less questions asked then. But the medic wasn't fooled by her light breathing completely. Still, he was kind enough not to 'wake' her and instead pulled the sheet over her shoulders, saying quietly: "Goodnight." Then he left the room.

Cera lay awake, listening with pricked ears and tense limbs to all the unfamiliar sounds of the ship she didn't know, the Octopod and the Octonauts saying good night to each other. And the even more unfamiliar sounds to her: laughter and chatter and friendship. On the ship she had spent half her life on, there had been none of that attitude. She had slept in her chambers alone and worked almost silently all day. The Octonauts seemed so - happy.

And forgiving, which was something that Cera was struggling to understand. The rabbit, the one whos wrist she had broken, had been the one to save her first. Even when she was technically their enemy. Technically she was everyone's enemy right now. But they had helped her. They hadn't let her drown. And that was something Cera couldn't understand.

She didn't know how long she lay there listening to the Octopod power down. The sound of Tweak's gentle snoring which had started pretty soon as the lights went out, the sound of Peso going to bed above the Sick Bay, the sound of the peppy dachshund - Dashi, was it? - bustling around above in the HQ. Did she not need to sleep or something? But eventually, though it would be well past midnight, she fell into a light sleep.

And in the morning she was gone.

A/N) Last chapter coming later! I realised I didn't want to end it just here, plus I want to put in something about Hawkeye at the end, so one more chapter after this.