Thanks to all
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Kazo familiarized himself with the motion of the vessel, then opened the hatch again after confirming he needn't worry about water splashing in. He then began to dump the leaked water from the cabin. Yeln sat atop the motor, waiting for the water to be cleared. Yeln seemed surprisingly calm for being surrounded by water. After a while, the water was cleared, and Yeln lay on the bottom, watching out the window.
Kazo stood, holding himself up on the hatch and looking out as the submersible drifted in the current. The current was rather swift, and as Steelflame disappeared behind them, Kazo looked at the scenery. Yeln seemed more intent on resting than anything else. They drifted quite a ways. The river led south but turned westward toward the ocean. Kazo had looked up the geographic details of the river, and found that there were no dangerous rapids or falls between Steelflame and the ocean. If there were, he might not've used this route with Yeln in the submersible.
Although Yeln slept most of the way to the ocean, when Yeln was awake, Kazo sometimes powered the motor to move the craft to the side of the river, beaching it a bit, then got out and let Yeln have some fresh air. Kazo found Yeln had often suggested various toys for Kazo to play with him with, and Kazo generally obeyed. Luckily, the current in the river was swift, and it was still daylight by the time the ocean was reached.
The ocean lay ahead. Kazo had navigated into the northern branch of this delta, and continued down. Unfortunately, a segment of the stream was very shallow... the vessel got stuck. Kazo hopped out, moved down to stand outside the bottom of the craft, then dug a small channel for the vehicle to slide upon. Kazo then left the water, afterwards channeling his mana to create a force on the vessel, digging his feet into the sand as he pulled it through the soft sand. The vehicle was freed, and Kazo swam to it, emptied himself of water, then entered the vessel again.
A while later, they reached the ocean. Kazo looked around, scanning the blue horizon, land nearby behind him, to the right of the vessel. Above, clouds gathered. It seemed as good of a place as any to investigate. Kazo entered the cabin, and shut the hatch, sealing it tightly. He then opened the inlet valves for the tanks, two at a time, one on each side. He monitored the sound the air made. As the tank filled, he shut the valve to avoid water spilling into the cabin. Kazo felt the vehicle ease downwards. Yeln mewed, looking out the window. Kazo powered the motor, the spinning propeller leaving small bubbles behind it. The glass of the port shined in the submarine light, beams of light illuminating the small particles in the water as the vessel displaced them.
Kazo smiled as the vessel made it's way downward. He looked upwards through the port. Luckily, he only needed one hand to power the motor, the other pole grounded to the hull. Yeln flopped over, pulling on the rivets with his claws, pulling himself forward while resting on his side. Kazo snickered, and scritched Yeln's other side. Kazo grinned at Yeln. He had once received a copy of a picture taken of him and Yeln together. Kazo powered the motor with one hand, alternately steering and operating the scrubber with the other. Kazo smiled at the thought that, albeit indirectly, he had built the first submarine powered by the decay of heavy elements. The light began to dim down quite a bit, scattered within the waters above. Kazo began to pump air into the tanks, forcing water out, arresting their descent. The sea floor was nearby anyway. Kazo smiled, looking around out the port as he moved past coral and fishes on his way down.
He noted that although this wasn't a common sight, the fishes still seemed to respect this vessel. Perhaps they thought it was a very big fish? Kazo snickered. Eventually, the sea floor dropped off sharply, leaving a dark abyss below. Yeln suddenly stood, "Mew! Meww!" Bubbles began to crawl up the surface of the submersible. Kazo spotted bubbles rising around them. Kazo looked down, the bubbles rising up from below. Kazo turned the vessel, but as it turned, he felt the currents shift. A down shift in coastal waters was creating a current that drove him out to sea. Yeln mewed loudly. Kazo had felt oddly alone as he left for the sea. He stopped the motor, and felt around, sensing the astral plane. A large entity had spotted him, and he sensed he didn't want it's attention...
Kazo turned the submersible again, thrusting out to sea. The bubbles intensified. Kazo heard a laugh seeming to come from nowhere... Yeln hissed upward, "Mrrrrh!" There was a sound almost of a distant explosion. The submersible rocked. Kazo began pumping out the water as fast as he could from the tanks, causing the submersible to rise. More and more bubbles sprayed against the bottom of the submersible, displacing the heavy, cold water with light, hot gas. As gas displaced liquid, the effective displacement of the vessel diminished, but it remained just as heavy.
The vessel stopped rising, and began to sink again despite air-filled buoyancy tanks. It began to nose down as water flowed past the tail fins. Kazo powered the motor and attempted to steer his way free from the column of bubbles, but the bubbles seemed to make the propeller quite inefficient as it sliced through the lightly reacting gas. The vessel began to plummet, the bubble-filled waters darkening rapidly. Kazo braced as the vessel nosed down. As a last ditch effort, Kazo tried to push the water back with mana-powered force, pushing himself and the vessel away from it. The bubbles also made it difficult to force water away. Before Kazo could focus himself enough to divert the water... WHANGG!
The vessel seemed to slam down into something, flipping upside down as a result. Luckily, whatever they had hit knocked them free of the bubble stream. Unfortunately, the outlet valves on the buoyancy tanks, once facing down, now faced up, releasing air as a result. Kazo fell backwards, and cought Yeln as Yeln fell. Yeln breathed rapidly, his tail poofed up. Kazo held out one hand, channeling mana to excite the air above it into emitting light. The waters outside were nearly black. Kazo realized, he was far below the depth he had intended to be. The hull was weakened due to the immense pressure. His next thought brought to him awareness of some imminent danger above.
Kazo sensed by the current, and saw by an obstruction to the dim light above, a bounder falling straight down. He sent out pulses of mana to sense it's location. Kazo immediately gathered his mana, and projected his energies out, enveloping the boulder, barely able to fit the boulder in. He then began to push the bolder back up and to the side in an effort to deflect it. The boulder kept going... this only pushed the submersible further downward. WHUMP! The submersible hit a floor. Kazo felt himself pinned to the back of the submersible as he attempted to deflect the boulder, water spraying onto his face... water spraying onto his face? Kazo didn't take long to think about it. WHACK! Another boulder struck the first. THUD! A boulder landed to the left of the submersible, sending up a murky plume of dust into the water. THUMP! The second boulder landed to the right, sending up a few pebbles as well as a plume of dust.
Whatever had happened must've triggered a rock slide... there were more boulders coming down. It occurred to Kazo, maybe the source of the bubbles had nothing to do with it. The spray of water intensified... the pressure and damage together left a panel pulling itself out of its rivets. Yeln purred in an effort of self comfort... then gently nuzzled Kazo, licking him quite a lot, sitting still afterwards. Yeln wrapped his tail around his front paws, head down, pressed against Kazo's arm. Kazo desperately shoved the next boulder into the path of the one behind it, deflecting them both. The third after nearly struck. By the time he could even think about the one after that, it was less than a second away. Kazo sent up a burst of force, 'shutting' his eyes to aid in focus. It was too late. BANGGGGgggg...
Kazo 'opened' his eyes to find himself spinning, drifting in the waters. Bounders were piling up. The hull of his submersible had quite visibly ruptured.
That was just... Yeln?
Kazo swam to the ruptured hull, and began frantically searching.
YELN?!!
Yeln lay motionless, upside down in the torn hull. Kazo immediately picked Yeln up, and swam upwards as fast as he could. He realized... going this fast had detrimental effects, but it was the only way to get Yeln up in time. The waters grew in brightness. Finally, with a splash, he emerged, and held Yeln up into the air. The pressure, the rapid ascent... he dare not consider it. Kazo held Yeln up, and found Yeln wasn't breathing. He forced the water from Yeln's lungs, and blew air into them. Nothing changed. Kazo sensed Yeln was without a pulse. Kazo placed his hands carefully, and shocked Yeln through the chest. It didn't work. He attempted to revive Yeln several times to no avail.
Kazo held Yeln against himself, hands pressed against Yeln's back... he felt very alone. Yeln's soul had already left the body. For an interval of time which he never bothered to measure, Kazo looked down at Yeln's face. Finally, Kazo hugged Yeln's body, slinging it over his shoulder. He began to swim towards shore. He rested his head on Yeln's body, mouth slightly open.
This shouldn't have happened! It couldn't have!
For once, Kazo felt his happiness had left him. He knew the full effect had even yet to sink in. Thinking about it, that laugh... the battle those months ago... he knew who it was, and that entity had been waiting for the right moment. Kazo was the target... but all that had resulted was collateral.
Why did did it have to be kitty? Why Yeln?!
Kazo found that, for once, he had a question he would rather not try to answer. He lacked the drive to think about much at all during those moments... he just wished it could all be undone. Kazo partially 'shut' his eyes as he swam, leaning his head against Yeln's. They had had an adventure together, and had kept eachother company for so long, through thick and thin... and now, Kazo was alone.
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One update I really hope I didn't make any mistakes on... I got emotional here myself when writing this.
[ April 08, 2008: Message edited by: AlanL ]