Storm: Part One

     ******

     "Hi, Nina!" Nina's checkered Kacheek shouted as she splashed in the ocean.

     Nina giggled and watched her pet flounder around. Nina stood on the beach, clothed in her striped blue and black bathing suit and standing three feet from the ocean, in case something happened to her beloved Hary. Nina was a huge worrywart. She admitted it herself. Nina and Hary lived on Mystery Island. Because of that, they usually came to the beach everyday. Nearly every time they got ready to leave for the beach, Hary would beg to go alone. Nina always politely refused.

     Hary was still having the time of her life and Nina was still giggling when something changed. The area Hary had been swimming in was relatively empty before, but now everybody was gone. There was an air of danger.

     "Hary, get out of the ocean!" she shouted.

     Hary disobeyed her, like usual. The Kacheek continued splashing around and having a jolly time.

     "Hary, get out of there right now or else I'll have to come and get you!" Nina angrily shouted.

     Hary continued not paying attention to her frantic owner. Sighing, Nina dove into the ocean. She swam the short distance to Hary and picked her up. This was too hard because Nina could not touch the ground, so she dropped Hary back into the ocean and held her paw.

     "You're going to swim holding my hand, Missy, until we get back to shore or else you'll be in big trouble!" Nina ordered.

     "Fine," Hary grumpily replied.

     The owner and pet started swimming. Nina wanted to swim fast as lightning, but Hary was going at a Slorg's pace.

     "Go faster, Hary."

     Hary went a little faster, but not too much. Suddenly, the water felt colder to Nina and seemed to have a stronger current. She turned around to look for what could be causing it. When she turned back to the front she saw a whirlpool right in front of them! She tried to swim away from it but the current was too strong. With nothing else left to do, she screamed and hugged Hary until they both fell into the whirlpool.

     ******

     Keegan sighed and rubbed his aching temples. A chilly wind blew by, giving a little relief to his headache. Keegan zipped his light jacket up to the top; he should have worn something heavier.

     This is crazy. I'm standing on Mystery Island Beach, the sky is so gray it's almost black, I'm freezing, and a Kacheek and a teenage girl just got sucked into a whirlpool, the shadow Lupe thought.

     Keegan glanced over at where the lifeguard who was on duty when the two poor souls were sucked away was being taken away by the Defenders of Neopia. Keegan had heard he was going to face Judge Hog tomorrow.

     Keegan now looked into the sky. There looked like there was going to be a storm, but not a normal summer storm. During those whirlpools didn't happen and it didn't get freezing cold!

     He had been sent to try and find out why the whirlpool happened, but it was so obvious it seemed like a baby Cybunny could figure it out! The whirlpool was caused by this nearing storm.

     You see, Keegan was a Whirlpoolologist. Basically what he studied was the whirlpool that destroyed Maraqua, but he studied all other whirlpools too. Not too many people were in this field of work, and Keegan was the only one on Mystery Island who was. They were going to send over the fifty other Whirlpoolologists that lived in Neopia, but Keegan thought it was too dangerous to cross the ocean.

     A purple Lupe ran up to Keegan.

     "Keegan, you should go inside. The Neopian Times was just delivered and it said there was going to be a huge storm!" the Lupe, Keegan's younger sister, shouted.

     "Alright, Tasha, let's go," Keegan calmly said.

     Tasha grabbed his paw and they both ran back to their Neohome. The Neohome was nothing too pretty, but it wasn't that shabby either. Home to just Tasha, Keegan, and their petpets Rob and Lily, four rooms was plenty.

     "What did the paper say to do to prepare?" Keegan asked as he opened the door of the brick Neohome and the Lupe siblings stepped in.

     "It said to board up all the windows with wood. When we finish that we're supposed to take a few candles and some food that doesn't have to be cooked and go into the smallest room in the house with no windows," Tasha replied.

     "That would be the closet," Keegan mumbled as he threw his jacket onto the ground.

     Rob, a Harris, and Lily, a Mazzew, ran up to Tasha at that moment. She scooped them both up and hugged them. The two petpets were shivering.

     "They know the storm is approaching," said Tasha, fear in her eyes.

     Keegan hugged his little sister. She sobbed on his shoulder and Rob and Lily shook in between them. Keegan was scared. He did not know what would happen to them. He knew he had to be brave for Tasha's sake, and so he said to his sister,

     "It will be alright, Tashie. We'll be able to get through this. We've been through storms before."

     Tasha lifted her head, tears staining her cheeks and her eyes red. She smiled at Keegan and Keegan smiled back. A rumble of thunder outside brought Keegan to his senses and he knew they had to get ready.

     "Tasha, you're in charge of bringing the petpets, food, and lit candles into the closet. Wait there for me, and do not come out no matter what. I'm going to go outside and get some wood to board the windows," Keegan instructed.

     Tasha put down Rob and Lily and hugged Keegan.

     "Be careful," she said.

     "I will," the shadow Lupe replied, breaking out of the hug and heading towards the door.

     He glanced back right before he opened the door to see Tasha staring at him, her eyes saying that she wasn't sure she would see him alive again. Keegan wanted to run back to her and hug her, but he knew he had to leave. He opened the front door, walked out, and closed it again, leaving his sister behind him.

     He found outside that the sky was even darker than before; now so black it looked like night had fallen early. Every few seconds there was a loud roar of thunder and a streak of lightning. Wind blew so hard that the tree across the street was pulled up from its roots. Keegan was thankful it wasn't raining yet. As if the sky was reading his mind, it seemed to open up and pour water. It didn't even seem like there were raindrops; just waves of water. Keegan stared, transfixed, at the sky for a few minutes before remembering his job.

     "Where could I find wood?" he mumbled to himself, running a paw over his eyes to try and get the water out of them. "I guess I could try the beach."

     Keegan walked to the beach so much it did not matter he could not see anything but the water pouring down; he could have gotten there in his sleep. The wind tried to push him backwards, but he fought it and kept moving forward as fast as he could. He walked straight and then turned right, left, and right again. He knew he was on the beach when the ground beneath him turned from the hard dirt of the road to soft sand of the beach. He attempted to get the water out of his eyes again so he could see if there was any driftwood, but it would not work. Keegan did see a bolt of lightning strike the sand no more than twenty meters away.

     "I need to find the wood and get off the beach quickly," Keegan said to himself.

     He walked forward, trying to feel for wood with his paws. By the time he realized his mistake it was too late, and he was under the water of the cruel ocean.

     Keegan tried to swim up to where the air was, to where he would be saved, but the ocean dunked wave after wave on top of his head, pushing him down below. He felt his body starting to shut down, he felt blackness starting to take over his vision.

     I love you, Tasha, if I don't see you again, don't forget it, Keegan thought, knowing he was about to die.

To be continued...