Asahi and Brooke were just a few swims away from the treasure.
One wrong move, and it was over.
Following the sand slope, Asahi was plunging into the darkest depths, holding on to his anger. Brooke kept hold of Asahi, not trying to help him fall.
"Ah, it appears I made a miscalculation." He said, his purple visor shining. "No matter, all tests can be recertified."
And just like that, the evil scuba diver was far beyond their reach. They fought with fists, but lasers cut off the space, forming a barrier around the carrier. Glitters and sparkles shone in between his fingers like shining gold. It's as if the scuba diver were mocking them.
If they ever want to retrieve the treasure, they MUST fight.
"Brooke, let me go!"
Asahi, or rather Brooke, was holding on to the coral embedded in the sandbar. The slope ended with a downward turn, then beyond was the endless blue abyss where no other sandbar could reach.
"Brooke, let me GO! We're so close!"
His white hair fluctuated under water, like the missiles swimming over to him.
Brooke quickly pulled Asahi and threw him back onto the sandbar, smacking sense into him.
It was clear inside her concerned gaze that Brooke valued safety above all else.
"Do you WANT to live?" Her voice sounded grieving, upset even.
Asahi, after careful thought, looked away. He knew he hadn't planned properly.
Thanks to Brooke, the missiles that were heading straight for him narrowly missed, forming explosions that painted the waters orange.
Blasts bound the coral together, assembling craters on the colorful, hardened texture.
Asahi drew a sweat on his face, backing away as the scuba diver jetted upward up to the watery ceiling. The treasure shimmered and sparkled, urging Asahi to do something.
After luring the scuba diver to the shallows of Swallower's Reef, Asahi unsheathed his sword and threw it straight at the enemy. The blade whistled through the water, painting a streak that aimed straight at the helmet. Immediately, water rushed into his suit, and he found himself squirming up to the surface.
"I can't... breathe!"
Asahi shook his head and swam to his sword, sinking up the shallows. Brooke, who couldn't touch land, stayed silent near the sandbar, feeling the treasure fall into her hands.
A smile crept onto her face as Brooke swam away from the small island, into the sparkling waters of the shallows of Swallower's Reef.
There, a pirate ship just barely scraping the surface stood still on the sandbar, pointing directly up with the masts slanting downward.
"Almost... there...can't..."
Asahi shook his head, and after feeling a force grapple onto his body, pushed the scuba diver as far as he could from the sand bar.
"I...it...appears...I...failed..." He said as he felt his body plummet down the ravine. "I... can't even succeed. Once. Sorry, master."
After his final words, the scuba diver pitifully drowned, his body plunging deep into the dark watery abyss.
. . .
Asahi rushed back up to the sunlight, looking for Brooke. But saw the phantoms that disappeared, gathering around her and helping her out. The old man was first in line, then the red-haired girl, who shared a look of worry.
Luckily, she was safe and healing.
When he came across her, Asahi's eyes steered over to her hands.
Cradled tightly in her arms was a shimmering object, beckoning Asahi to come closer.
"She actually... did it," Asahi whispered to himself, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Brooke," Asahi shook her body. "Brooke!"
After shaking her, Brooke's eyelids parted open, revealing a shadow near her.
"You managed to pull it off."
The phantoms surrounding him applauded his and her efforts, with the old phantom patting Asahi on the back.
"You did it, kid." He communicated, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know what you did, but you avenged us from that sick and twisted man. Good work."
Asahi was surprised, just as the phantoms were.
Never would he have thought that she could successfully pull off a maneuver as drastic. Either the scuba diver was weak as all can be, or Asahi grew more powerful.
"So... what now?"
After meeting and conversing with the phantoms, adventuring and exploring the several shipwrecks, Brooke and Asahi waved goodbye with the artifact, heading upward to the stream that would take them back to Coral City.
The stream extended out from the shallows, piercing through the waters and painting a streak of wind over to the warmer waters of Coral City.
Asahi shook his head, worried.
All this time, and he made minimal progress. Sure, meeting phantoms were great and all, and Brooke and Coral too, but it's Primrose whom he cared for the most.
After that rather pitiful death of one of the many henchmen of The Collector, Asahi and Brooke waved goodbye and sat on the current, pushing them through from the shallows of Swallower's Reef, back to Coral City.
As they were going, they noticed a fleet of submarines appearing beyond the waters. Asahi's eyes widened in shock as he saw the fleet shooting and destroying residential buildings in Coral City. Purple lasers shot and destroyed it.
"I... knew it," Brooke whispered as they left the current. "They just wanted to distract us. They know what they are searching for. It was all a lure! A trap that we mindlessly stepped into."
"Indeed, it is, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a trap. Merely just an exhibition of merfolk's weakness after all."
"How did you know that we were gone?" Asahi asked, moving his blade.
"Oh, you see. My henchman has warned me about getting killed. So, I took his message, and now..." He snapped his fingers and grabbed a cluster of merfolk into a ball and tossed and cast them out to the deep blue.
"I'm here, ready to add all these people to my collections."
He wore a dark visor with purple markings climbing up, eight golden stars gathered on his collar. His boots scraped the ground, jetpack moving between steps, and his helmet exuded a sinister aura.
(Is this who I think it is?)
Asahi had thought that the scuba diver was another one of his minions.
But now, seeing up close, seeing wretched crooked edges on his armor, it came to a profound revelation.
The scuba diver that he was seeing was the henchman's 'master', The Collector.
"It took you long enough to find out who I am."
He clapped his hands and chuckled, seeing Asahi and Brooke raise their weapons and enter a battle stance.
"Truly, fascinating creatures. You just don't know when to quit." After snapping his fingers, the black submarines shot at all of Coral City, forming and rending bridges and houses into two. Asahi gritted his teeth and rooted his feet on the ground. Brooke prepared her magic, ready to fight. But another face appeared in the midst.
"Truly, fascinating."
Next to his arms was a blonde-haired mermaid with green eyes. Her tail shimmered a dead lavender luminance, getting caught in the purple fire surrounding The Collector's Hands.
"Rather a fine specimen to add to my collection."
Brooke, hands clenched in rage, uttered the name of that victim.
"Coral!"
(CLAP)
"There, there now, since I'm so invested in my work. I'll give you two fascinating creatures a chance."
After tossing Coral and trapping her in a pink bubble, The Collector moved his hands behind his back and snapped his fingers. Asahi and Brooke gritted their teeth in rage, seeing the laser cannons on the submarines retreat.
"Since you're so beautiful, I will allow you to escape with those two currents. If I find the treasure before you, you two die and come into my collection." He laughed and cackled, invested in his own wicked speech. "If you two find the treasure before me, I will let Coral and all of Coral City live in peace and harmony. But I know that is not going to happen."
"Don't trust him." One said, stuck in a cluster. "He's evil!"
"You all just don't know when to shut!" Angrily, he shook his fist and suffocated and pressed the wheel of merfolk together,
After snapping, a jet current appeared near the three, leading northward into the next place.
"Vortex Valley," Brooke muttered as their bodies caught in the current. They were both catapulted away from the city, directly toward a wall of wind and ice.
"One hour, then my time to search for the treasure will come. Good luck."
The Collector turned back and chuckled, clapping his hands and turning upward to the watery ceiling.
"Oh, Queen of Wraileza, are you proud of my works?!"
. . .
(Meanwhile, back in Astait's Frosty depths, far from Coral City.)
Primrose's pink hair flew with the bubble.
Her eyes shimmered with worry and awe as she stared at the watery ceiling. It was just in her reach.
She tilted downward and found the bubble transparent, revealing a white, ancient city beneath her. Staircases led up the water-scraping spires, moving to each corner of the abandoned ancient underwater city.
Surrounding her were drones, keeping watch and holding tightly to the pillar connecting the bubble to the top-most place in the underwater city.
The first thing that came to her mind was...
"Where am I? Where's Asahi?"
After finding herself trapped on the bubble, Primrose stared at the sharks, fish, and other sea creatures dancing in harmony with the violent blue ribbons of water. She pushed the bubble back, but its surface retreated and bounced.
"What's going on? Asahi, are you there?"
As her voice echoes within the blue, Primrose hunched over and closed her eyes, muttering...
"This can't be real. This can't be real. Where am I?"
It was only now that she realized she was trapped.
All she could do now was...
"Almost there, my precious collector."
Primrose's eyes burned with confusion, remembering what happened moments before she was forced asleep.
The scuba diver's grip was strong. Too strong, in fact, she was paralyzed in his hands.
All that she could remember was that evil man carried her to this bubble, keeping her hostage where no one dared to look.
"Asahi, just where are you?"