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The waves crash into Meyaani as her rider guides her through the ocean towards the three rocks. Ni'teya's grip stayed firm, her feet stood on the saddle's two footrests, allowing her to lift herself up, making climbing the waves much easier and quicker.
Neteyam had come with her after all, knowing she'd be the one to know where his brother was. However, as they were passing by, Tuk, Kiri and Tsireya had noticed the two of them swimming away so fiercely, joining in themselves. Kiri took Tuk with her on her ilu, Tsireya riding her own, following Neteyam closely behind without him realizing until it was much too late.
Ni'teya had the three rocks in her sights, she could see her target in the distance, standing atop his Tulkun, seemingly struggling to pull something out of it's fin. She sped up, doing her best to shield herself from the sun that was beaming down from above, keeping her direction as straight as possible. She'd forgotten by now that her wound was already submerged under the water, which wasn't yet allowed to happen. Despite this, the adrenaline in her blood blocked the pain from getting to her, letting it go unnoticed.
"Hey, shitface!" She cries out on the top of her lungs at maximum volume, making sure Lo'ak heard her completely. As she got closer, she could see that he was still pulling the long red rod out from the Tulkun, which she could now see was dug way into it's skin.
Not continuing her insult, Ni'teya hastily jumped off of her ilu, climbing onto the same fin that had been impaled and began to pull just as Lo'ak was doing. Soon after, Neteyam had joined in, that being the moment he finally spotted the other three sheep who'd followed him there. Tsireya and Kiri helped them pull too, Tuk staring off at seemingly nothing, before she let out a fatal yell.
"Look! Sky-People!" She cried, making Neteyam and Tsireya look up and stop pulling for a split second before resuming. Thankfully and luckily for them, the rod was beginning to come lose, it was almost completely out. Kiri had let go by then, seeing as the rod didn't need much more of a pull for it to give way, running to Tuk, pulling her onto her back and rushing to her ilu.
The rod had been removed and the other three clambered to get to their own ilu's, Lo'ak taking Ni'teya's hand and pulling her onto his instead of Meyaani.
Lo'ak held on to Ni'teya's thigh, indicating that he would have to be a lot quicker than the speed with which he started off with, letting Ni'teya prepare. Once he picked up higher speeds, Ni'teya didn't have enough grip at all, causing her to fall onto Lo'ak, clutching to his waist in case she was to fall. She shut her eyes, water splashing every which way, wondering why Lo'ak had taken her with him if he'd be a lot faster without her added weight.
Unexpectedly, out of nowhere, a giant claw swung itself out of the water and into the direction of Kiri and Tuk's ilu, making them have to dive under and hold their breaths, which is what everyone else except Lo'ak did.
Not understanding why he wasn't going under too, Ni'teya yelled into his ear over the noise of the waves and the buzzing of propellers that were getting closer to them, "Go under!"
"You can't", He told her, making her register why he hadn't before. He still thought she couldn't get her wound wet, even though it was already soaked from the journey over.
Just as Ni'teya was about to pinch him, the claw resurfaced and tried attacking the two of them this time just like it had done to Kiri and Tuk, which Lo'ak somehow swerved. "For Eywa's sake, Lo'ak! It's fine now, go under!" Ni'teya screams at him, hitting herself right where the wound was in order to provide evidence that it was fine, as she'd told him. Despite it hurting, she played it off in hopes he'd listen to her.
He did when he had no other choice, the claw was back for more. Lo'ak dove under with enough warning so that they both had a sufficient amount of time to take in one deep breath, knowing they'd be submerged for a long time.
Holding onto her tighter now, Lo'ak guided his ilu through strings of seaweed, souls of fish, anything that would distract the bots that were swimming underwater after them all. They had Neteyam and Tsireya in their sights, trying to navigate towards them to group together, however as they got closer another claw tried to grab Tsireya, causing Neteyam to react quickly by pulling her off of her ilu and onto his instead, out of the claw's reach.
They watched as more drone-like machines were deployed, this time a few that could swim just like them and navigate every which way, making it more challenging for the children to avoid getting caught.
Kiri and Tuk had abandoned the ilu, seeking shelter and air in a flower-like plant which had air pockets in them, allowing them a small rest before having to swim away from a machine again.
Tuk was too slow this time, Kiri watched and reached out to her as she got caught on her leg by one of the drones, desperately trying to get to her little sister before it took her.
Tsireya spotted this, tapping Neteyam and pointing towards their direction, sending him over there to try and rescue them. Kiri had grabbed onto Tuk's arm and had seen Neteyam and Tsireya's ilu swimming towards them, reaching her arm up in hopes that either of them would be able to use it to get them out of the claw's grip. They got faster and faster, all four of them stretching their arms as far as they could possibly go, however the drone was too strong and quick. It swept Kiri and Tuk away with it, pulling them to the surface and trapping them in a net to take them up onto the ship.
Tsireya made a hasty decision, clinging on to the net as well after swimming off of Neteyam's ilu, trying to find a way to open it up before it got out of the water. She told Tuk to 'Calm, calm!' as her and Kiri looked for an opening, which didn't reveal itself until Tsireya was being carried away with the net too, above the water.
Lo'ak and Ni'teya hadn't seen this happen, instead they'd been avoiding a particularly annoying drone that was good at swimming, trying to lose it in the reeds by getting off of the ilu and swimming by themselves. They found the air-pocketed plant, getting a quick break before returning back under, exchanging a determined look as they did so.
When they spotted Neteyam, he pointed upwards at the surface, making them realize what had happened to the rest of them. Another drone passed suddenly, causing the three to become separated from each other and deciding to swim off into different directions to lessen the chance of being caught.
Ni'teya stayed within the reeds, as did Neteyam, swimming around every-which-way to dizzy the drone that was on their tail. Another one had gone after Lo'ak, matching his speed and following him into rocky waters.
Once the drone that was following them left, thinking they'd escaped, Neteyam and Ni'teya began to swim in the direction that Lo'ak had headed before they got split up, soon finding him cornered by two separate drones. When Ni'teya tried to swim out from where the two of them were hiding, camouflaged behind a big blue piece of coral, Neteyam yanked her arm back, not allowing her to do so.
They both then watched Lo'ak, having faith that he'd be able to make it out of the trouble he was in safely, but oh how they had misjudged him. He tried to suddenly swim downwards, not noticing that the drones had claws beneath them also, resulting in him being trapped immediately and netted just as Kiri and Tuk had been prior. Ni'teya fought Neteyam's grip, freeing herself and swimming out in anguish, trying to reach Lo'ak.
It was no use, he was already up and out of the water, the two drones following him, on-guard.
Needing air, Neteyam rose to the surface, bringing himself over behind a rock so that neither he nor Ni'teya would be seen when she eventually stopped swimming after Lo'ak. The first thing she did was hiss and grunt, declaring her anger.
Neteyam did something more logical, though. He tapped his communication device that was on his neck, waiting to hear the small beeping noise it made which indicated to him that it was on and that he could get the message through. When it didn't sound, tried he again, then again and once again for good measure. He then copied Ni'teya's method of coping with frustration, slamming his fist down onto the water, creating a splash in front of him.
His device had stopped working due to the water damage, making it utterly useless. That meant that they were stuck there, with no choice but to call their ilu's and rush home to tell the clan what was happening. Atleast, in Neteyam's head.
"Ni'teya, call your ilu, we have to tell my dad what's happened. We have to tell him who they've caught-" He stopped talking when he noticed Ni'teya was no longer beside him. She had climbed her way onto the rock, opening up the large satchel that sat on her back which had in it several green-feathered arrows, resembling that of his own mother's arrows.
"Ni'teya! No- You can't be serious?!" He wailed out, understanding that she was preparing to go directly towards the ship and not away from it like he'd planned.
He follows her onto the rock, yelling at her as he did. "You're crazy! You can't go in there, do you see how many of them there are? They'll skin you alive." He panics, trying his best to convince her not to do what he knew she wanted to, knowing from experience that it was insanely difficult to avert her from her own ideas.
"Not if they don't see me coming." She says, adjusting the knife on her leg and tightening the holster it sat in. Neteyam sighed loudly, rubbing his face with his hands in an attempt to calm down, reminding himself that he mustn't get angry and stay cool.
"You and my brother really annoy me when you do that." He whines out, evoking a smirk to appear on Ni'teya's face, who quickly wiped it off after noticing it herself.
"Fine. Okay, what's the plan?"
Ni'teya turns to look at him, trying to see if he was serious about going with her, checking for hints of nervousness or a bluff. She didn't have time to explain to him the extent of her plan, as it was too detailed. Instead, she shortened it, explaining to him, "Alright, Lo'ak is tied up on the East side of the ship, you go for him. Cut his tie with this-" she cuts herself off, reaching behind her back and pulling out a small but sharp cutting tool, which he had no clue she had on her. "I'm going for the others, they're over to the West." She points.
He nods, locating his little brother with his eyes. "And what if I get caught, too?" He asks, a good and understandable question considering the high chances of it.
"You call me, any call sign will do, I'll be listening. Okay?" She checks, allowing him to pull out of it if he wanted to.
"Got it. If anything goes wrong in there, you leave, understand me?" It was Neteyam's turn to play saviour, to which she responds with a nod.
With that, he ran ahead, calling his ilu and swimming over slowly towards the East side of the ship. He didn't know how exactly he was going to get him, but Neteyam was going to save his little brother.
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.
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