The Legend Thief - Part 5: The Cure

Chapter 13: The Hurricane

Shelly bounced down the hatch. A flash illuminated the walls for a moment, and she knew that Raichu had deflected a bolt of lightning. Raichu quickly appeared again, and followed Shell down into the duck.

Bell was already up, turning around the steering wheel at the control panel.

"Shell! I need your help!" Bell shouted. Shell rushed to her side and started pulling levers.

"It looks like a Stage 3 hurricane!" Pichu shouted from the air vent. "We have to go right through the middle of it!"

"Raichu!" Bell called. "Give us more fuel!" Raichu ran to the energy source and opened the cap. He stuck his hand in and powered it with electricity.

"Someone wake up Quinci, Ravisu, and Rudia," Ravisu called. Pichu cannon-balled into the ground, sending Quinci and Rudia 5.29473084 feet up.

"AHHHH!!!" they screamed, face planting into the roof. "What's happening?"

"Hurricane," Pichu answered. Quinci's face whitened with fear.

"What's the probability of survival?" Ravisu asked.

"73.294628362938%," Bell and Raichu answered at the same time. They glared at each other.

"...947365," Bell continued.

"...2846109," Raichu added.

"...3427."

"...32."

"...5."

"...1."

"...6."

"...ei-WOAH!"

The SS Da Huang Ya went over a particularly large wave sending everyone who wasn't holding onto anything to the back of the duck. Shelly slid along the rubbery surface, slick with water and foam from a previous wave. This wave went over the head, drenching everybody with seawater (mostly Raichu).

"Are we gonna drown?" Ravisu asked.

"Nope," Bell answered. "Just super drenched."

"At least seawater is good for wounds," Rudia shrugged.

"Uhhh..." Ravisu said.

"Raichu can get better later (hey!) There are more important things to worry about. The water will mess up the control panel," Shelly commented.

Bell thought about it, "Hmm. Forgot about that variable. We need to keep this duck as dry as possible!"

Rudia got out her charizard and evaporated all the water on the floor. Raichu took out his pidgeot to blow-dry it even more. When a wave came over, Shelly's froslass would create an ice barrier on the air vent. Then Ravisu's swanna would use a gust of wind and push all the water (and ice) out.

"RUDIA!!!" Quinci screeched when she heated the floor. "STOP MAKING THE FLOOR SO HOT! I LOST MY POWERS, REMEMBER? I'M NOT IMMUNE TO BURNS!"

"You never were," Rudia smirked. Everyone covered their mouths with their hands. Quinci opened her mouth to come back with a, well, comeback when she slipped on an evaporating puddle and fell on her butt.

"AHHHHHH!!!" Quinci screamed. "MY BUM IS BURNING! MY BUM IS BURNING!!!" Everyone started laughing.

"WAVE!!!" Pichu yelled. Shelly's froslass created an ice barrier. Shelly looked up. The wave towered over the SS Da Huang Ya.

"WE WON'T MAKE IT!" Shell cried. "PROTECT THE CONTROL PANEL!"

Froslass created an ice shield around the control panel.

"Wait!" Ravisu called. "What about-" The wave crashed down, drenching the friends with salty water. "Us," Ravisu finished. She squeezed the water out of her long hair. Charizard grunted as he evaporated everything.

"Wait a minute," Shelly wondered out loud. "What if we use the hurricane's wind to make us go faster?"

"If we don't do it right we could get sucked into the middle of the hurricane," Bell replied.

"Or we could be thrown way off course," Raichu added. "If the calculations are even 0.001% off, it could ruin the whole operation."

"Are you kidding me?" Quinci rolled her eyes. "We have two of the smartest mathematicians in the world and you're telling me you can't do calculations to the fourth decimal place?"

"Actually," Bell corrected, "it's the sixth decimal place because we are using percentages..."

Raichu grinned, "Letz do this!"

Bell and Shell took the wheel, steering the SS Da Huang Ya to the edge of the hurricane. Raichu shouted calculations (while holding on to the side of ship) and Quinci, Ravisu, and Rudia cheered them on. Pichu pointed out the weather from the air vent.

"It's time," Shelly said dramatically as Quinci, Ravisu, and Rudia went quiet. Bell groaned as she yanked the wheel to the right.

"0.01 millimeters to the right!" Raichu shouted. "Too much! Now 0.003 mm to the left!" This went on for about 5 minutes.

For the first 2 minutes, the tension was high as everyone sat, cross-fingered. Then, after it went on longer, everyone started getting bored.

"Bet $1 that you can't land that water bottle," Quinci bet Pichu.

"Pff!" Pichu scoffed. "I'm part Instinct. Of course I can land a water bottle!" She flipped the bottle and it landed smack on its side. Pichu grumbled in disgust as she handed over a dollar.

"Again?" Quinci asked. Pichu nodded. And the bottle did the exact same thing again and again and again and again...

"I'm starting to doubt you are my sister anymore," Raichu said after the 20th time. She grumbled and handed over $20.

"WE MADE IT!" Bell shouted in delight.

"Uhh..." Rudia mentioned. "I may not be a Mystic or anything, but aren't we gonna crash on that island?"

"AAAAHHHH!!!" Raichu screamed, deafening everyone (except Bell who covered her ears). "WE'RE HEADING TOWARD THE ISLAND AT APPROXIMATELY 104.1948601847583928-" They crashed into the island, throwing them out of the rubber duck and into the wide, sandy beach.