"Brooke!" Asahi exclaimed.
"Ah, growing attachment to people that never knew you, I thought that was impossible." The scuba diver menacingly said as he clapped his hands. "Truly, one of the best tests done."
Swiftly, it raised its arm into the air, unleashing several lasers from its gauntlet. They sliced one chunk of Swallower's Reef, pushing Brooke further away from the sandbar. If he wanted to save everyone, Asahi would have to consider his next move carefully.
(What is going on? What does that person want?) Asahi thought as he slowly sank into the blue. Brooke's hair flew backward, falling with a hole made near her heart. Luckily enough, it didn't strike her chest. Just a piece of it flew back.
Right as Asahi reached for Brooke, a grasp clenched his wrist. An arm reached over and pulled up Asahi, launching him and others back to the sandbar. Glowing with taste, the shape of a human being appeared next to the cluster of coral. It had crooked teeth, two monocles, and a straightened hat. Matter in fact, that was the only thing fine about this—his hat.
As Asahi reeled back in confusion, he yelled, bubbles escaping his mouth.
"Who are you?!" His gray eyes darted downward, then up, as he noticed an ethereal glow on his torso. Without doubt, this was a phantom.
"Ah, I guess I am too old for youngings like you." The man said, "Be it Fathomless, a pleasure to meet you two."
Brooke was hurt. Too hurt, in fact, she couldn't speak with her mouth. Asahi leaned over and blocked the old phantom, screaming.
"Don't lay a finger on her."
"I won't kid, just curious." Fathomless chuckled and laughed, pointing and touching Asahi's feet. "Never met a human in these shallows before. Where did you come, might I ask?"
"First, I have two questions." Asahi shook his head. "No, three. Firstly..."
Asahi pointed to his hands.
"How can you touch me?"
Fathomless sighed and brushed his pointy hair.
"Some magic, I guess."
"Two, where are we?"
"Swallowers Reef, kid. Didn't see the sign?"
Closing his mouth, Asahi took time to ponder his last question. The two were laughably obvious, to the point where a baby could understand what they were saying. This conversation led him nowhere. After taking a breather, Asahi asked his last question.
"Three, are there other phantoms like you out there?"
The waters grew silent. Fathomless looked displeased, turning to the walls of coral.
"Alright, guys, come on out. We can't hide it any longer from this kid."
Snapping his fingers, there appeared nine more phantoms, each with distinct ages, heights, and sizes. One had slender gray hair and green eyes; another, a muscular build and a chisled chin. Likely, it was apparent to Asahi that these were the phantoms from the sunken ships in Swallowers Reef.
"Are you all victims of the shipwrecks?"
Silence erupted in the scene.
"No duh." The gray-haired woman said, slapping him on the back of his head. "Who else do you think we were? Random phantoms with no sense of time and place."
"We are DAMN phantoms after all," Fathomless said, slapping Asahi's head as before.
"Enough with the slapping," Asahi screamed before he muttered under his breath. "These people are useless."
The phantoms all gasped.
"Language." Said one as she slapped the back of his head.
"Useless? That's rather harsh."
"What did we do to hurt you?"
"Should have kept your mouth shut."
As conversations bounced back and forth, Asahi stepped forward and apologized maturely.
"Alright, sorry. I'm stupid. I guess you nine are not useless."
Fathomless cracked up a grin. Silence swept, with the phantoms crossing their arms. After moments of quiet, the old phantom scratched his head and slapped his back.
"Ah, screw it all. I knew you had faith in us, kid." After patting him on the back, he pointed to the rest of Swallower's reef. "You want the treasure? Do ya, kid?"
Asahi's gray eyes widened.
"Wait, you know where the treasure is?"
"Kid, I know this place by heart. It's been what, like 340 years or something like that. I can read minds."
(Wow, he's old.)
Asahi shook the thought ahead and turned over to Brooke. Although it was a risk, he decided to ask the phantoms.
"Can you... Heal my friend?"
A red-haired brute nodded her head, stepping forward as her fins expanded on her back.
"With pleasure. I mean, why else would healers be in the seas right now? It's been 50 years since my ship crashed. I drowned in Swallower's Reef, just mere seconds from reaching the sand bar."
"Tragic," Asahi muttered as the bulky woman approached the blonde-haired mermaid. A green luminescence shone on the wound of Brooke, slowly closing the hole made in her torso. The red-haired woman cringed and backed away, feeling a wave of pain in her hand.
"It... might take some time." She said, struggling to keep the healing process steady. "Just... keep talking. I will find a way eventually."
When he leaned over with Fathomless and all the other phantoms, Asahi sat near a figurative campfire and decided to speak more of his adventures to the victims.
. . .
(Asahi speaks about everything that led him here, from the device in the previous world to the world-shrouding dragon in Linuxinia. He explained everything to the phantoms. Needless to say, they were stunned.)
"And that's why I came here. To save Primrose."
Asahi had finally finished speaking to the victims about all his adventures. The phantoms fell silent in respect, bowing down. While Brooke slowly arose from her wounds, moving her tail.
"So... you're a savior." A mature phantom said, nodding his head with dignity.
"A hero!?" One exclaimed.
"What was the old world like?"
Asahi really wanted to avoid touching on that specific subject. He hadn't recollected everything about his world thanks to Paxon. But now, with The Ruler of Memories by his side, Asahi felt he could speak of his past with ease.
"Uh... well."
Before he could scrape the subject, the red-haired phantom snapped her fingers and rejuvenated Brooke.
"Done." She expressed, pulling Brooke upward.
"What... what happened?"
Asahi immediately rushed to the mermaid and grabbed her hand.
"Doesn't matter. Meet my phantom friends!" He quickly placed them on display like a doll in a window shop. They all waved 'hi' to her, and she immediately reeled back in shock.
"GHOSTS?!"
"Shh, they are our friends," Asahi exclaimed as he felt a weighing emotion press down on him. "They will guide us to that treasure, and we can finally get out of here. Trust me, I have been talking about my past for an hour now."
"It took that long to heal you?" Brooke clamored, her eyes widening.
"Enough yippering and yappering, treasure you want? Treasure you get!"
. . .
With all of that out of the way, and constant chatting came to an end, the phantoms led Asahi and Brooke from the shallows of Swallower's Reef, from the coral forest, moving away from the surface.
As they explored the sunken ships, they found a golden necklace and a silver watch, then a treasure map and more gold.
"I say, take that watch, kid," Fathomless said as all the phantoms gawked at the submerged pirate ship.
"Does it work?" Asahi asked as he stepped out of the tilted hull.
"I don't know, you have eyes?"
Asahi's face turned red in embarrassment.
"O...Of course."
"So then does it work?!" Fathomless said as he gave the watch back to him.
Asahi looked down and saw two hands moving over. It was the accurate 8-hour time clock. And it was pointed at the number three.
"He said we have eight hours until the water-breathing potion lasts."
Immediately, all the phantoms slapped their foreheads.
"Ohh, that makes a lot more sense."
Everyone was, without doubt, stunned by that revelation. Now it all made sense to them. The only reason he could appear underwater for more than five minutes was because of a magical potion Grandpa stole in the past. The phantoms pointed to the watch on Asahi's left wrist and uttered.
"Treasure is beyond that cliff. Say, if you don't find that treasure, you might as well join us."
Asahi shook his head.
"Maybe later in life. When my life comes to an end. We can reunite here, in Swallower's Reef."
After moments of clapping, the phantoms gave him wide smiles and patted Asahi's shoulder.
"It was nice knowing ya, kid." He said as all phantoms gathered in shock and love. "Though our time may be short and our journey may have cut off, we wish you all—
(FLEW)
Suddenly, missiles appeared beyond the cliff.
Asahi and Brooke hurriedly dodged the attack, seeing rockets crash onto the shore. The phantoms had quickly disappeared, leaving behind books and items from the sunken shipwrecks. Asahi gritted his teeth and turned to the shadow eclipsing the shoreline. Brooke almost got hurt again. The phantoms just disappeared, without warning. What was going on and who...
"Ah, it appears my test failed." Two stars perched on his collar, and glowing lasers emerged from his glove. Purple lumiance swallowed his helmet, exuding a menacing, unheard-of cosmic aura.
"Asahi, look out!" Brooke screamed as the evil scuba diver's fists reached Asahi's face.
Immediately, he was taken out, with the scuba diver gathering near the cliff, clasping hold of the sacred treasure.
"Where did you all go?" It was obvious he was talking to the phantoms. "Can you not help us?"
With this and more bad to come, will Brooke truly recover? Or will their journey end here, beneath the waves?
"No." Asahi clenched his fists. "My journey won't end like this."