The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 19: Seasick

Part 1/2

“Uhhh, what was that?” Neddy asked as he began to look around frantically. As soon as his eyes spotted the monstrosity within the water he turned white.

“HOLY GUACAMOLE THAT THING IS HUGE!” Neddy screamed in fear as he flailed his arms in panic. Ruby instantly took her legs out of the water and stood up.

“What is that thing Neddy?!” Ruby yelled as she began to back away slowly. Star stirred in her sleep, curling up into a ball and dozing through the chaos. Samuel’s Raptor made a chattering noise and snarled at the beast. Samuel turned around as a bead of sweat dropped down his forehead.

The beast looked like a giant fish-whale hybrid. It opened its mouth for a second and it didn’t have any teeth, but it still didn’t seem like a good idea to be eaten by it. Additionally it was an albino white and had red stripes on its back. The thing looked to be at least half the size of a blue whale.

“Leedsichthys,” Ben finally said as he clenched his fists tight, “That thing hates rafts. It’s going to destroy our raft if we don’t get away.”

“And how do you know that?” Aurora asked with a sneer.

“Well, do you want to find out if it’s going to or not?” Ben replied wittily.

“Okay, I don’t,” Aurora replied, “Don’t play smart ass with me.”

“I’m just saying dude,” Ben responded with a shrug. Suddenly, a wave launched the raft up a little, and everyone was sent flying into the air, except Samuel.

“WOAH!” everyone shouted as they stumbled around. Ben turned green instantly.

“Wow. That one hurt,” Ben gasped as he clutched his stomach.

“Dude… Don’t tell me you get seasick easily,” Aurora replied with fear.

“Yeah… I do,” Ben replied as he lurched forward with a groan.

“Hold on just a moment,” Samuel announced, “I’m going full speed. This might be a little bumpy.”

Samuel grabbed the lever with both of his hands and pulled with all of his might. The sail expanded and the raft began to move just a little bit faster. Despite this, Ben still seemed sensitive to the sea. He leaned over the water and let loose his stomach, an icky residue floating out into the sea and into the Leedsichthys. The Leedsichthys let out a groan as it passed into its mouth, and it paused for a second to cough it out.

“Ha ha! Look at that, dude!” Neddy shouted in glee as he pointed at the Leedsichthys. Ruby turned around and shouted at Samuel.

“Dude, I think you should try going a little faster! We’re REALLY slowing the beast down!”

“Bro PLEASE, no!” Ben begged as he struggled to regain his composure. Even Aurora let out a little laugh at the commotion.

“Enough,” Samuel said, “Ben, how long until we reach the river Ben?”

Ben turned around for a second, gasping for air.

“We still have a long while away… That Leedsichthys might catch up at any moment now, you know they NEVER stop chasing their prey.”

“Can’t we just dock at the coast or something and just continue going by foot? Clearly the open seas are too dangerous to traverse,” Ruby suggested.

“I’d love to but this thing is one bugger to steer, I don’t want to risk it,” Samuel replied.

“So do we have to kill it?” Neddy asked.

“Seems like the only solution…” Ruby said. She pulled her crossbow out and aimed at the Leedsichthys, “And I’m the only one able to.”

“Go ahead for it, Rubes,” Aurora replied as she moved to the side. Ben did too, and Ruby let the first arrow through. The arrow soared through the air like a lightning bolt, then through the water with ease, and hit the beast with ultimate precision. The beast let out a howl of pain, its albino flesh seeping with blood as it poured out into the sea.

“Go go go! Yes!” Neddy cheered with joy. Samuel’s head jolted back for a second, and his eyes widened as he noticed the same red haze floating around the Leedsichthys’ body as the red haze that he kept seeing on the Footpaw.

“There’s no way that this giant beast could be stalking me on the Island, I would have noticed,” Samuel thought with horror, “There’s something else going on that no one else is aware of… Does it have something to do with…”

“THE DIFFICULTY OF THE PROTOCOL HAS INCREASED. AS A RESULT THE SYSTEM MUST BE UPDATED,” the robotic voice had blared a few hours ago. It didn’t really seem to Samuel that things had gotten more difficult… just more stressful.

“Maybe this is one of the variables,” Samuel thought as he jolted his head back.