Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 15 - Caught

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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.