Part 7

Hurricane

The first thing Gentoe experience as he sprinted out of the door was how cool the air was. It's always had been warm back inside, just right for normal comfort, and the sudden chill startled him. His skin shivered, small goose bumps formed along his thick skin. The next strange sensation, which managed to halt his escape, if only temporary, was what lay before him. Down the ramp before him, he saw the world for the first time.

The giant smoky wall, what he only could describe due to lack of such knowledge although he waa sure that was the hurricane, was a massive colossal wall of dark gray smoke swirling far away just above a body of water. The Ocean if he remembers the name correctly was also just as impressed by it size, even though he was sure it was far larger then what he only could currently see. It was the site of this strange landscape, never seen by him nor the others that made him both gape in amazement, and the fear of not knowing what can be dangerous out here, nor neither did his family knew. His pack were just as confused by all the strange sensations, and seeming also to have stopped the chase for the mean time.

Both Link and Mink seemed the most effected, as they both huddle together and fearful of the world before them. They were looking back and forth rapidly trying to figure out why the air was cold. Kisley seemed to be starring at the massive gray wall just as strongly as he were, but she seemed more frighten by that body of water, which turn out large waves from the storm, crashing along the shore producing blocks of spray and turning the sand below. The thunderous sounds of each wave crashing rumbled the landscape, and could be felt it throughout their bodies. Moko, and Mieka only shown a slight amount of confusion to the sights and smells before the reason for why they were out here came back to them.

"Gentoe, please stop and think on what you're about to do, PLEASE!" Cried his mother. She was clearly becoming desperate. He didn't blame her.

"That wall is moving. How that's even possible?" Moko said as the others turn to look at the thing. The wall of clouds seems to have form giant circle around them. They didn't know it, but they were in the eye of the hurricane. Gentoe notice that the storm wall was heading towards them, and so there was little time to decide where to run off to. To his left, the large areas of the beach stretches down and disappear into the wall on that side. The Aquarium building blocked the rest of the view from that way. To his right, and startle by the site, was the city. Zashara was partly obscure by the storm, as torrents of rain and wind washed though the tall buildings, but a good chuck was still visible. Gentoe couldn't see signs of life there. The people probably all taken shelter by the storm. It sounds right that they should anyhow. Then there was the ocean. The waves out there coming in looked quite large, even this far out. He didn't know if he could swim through that, although he was more adapt in swimming then what the others believe of his ability's.

He was still a young pup and will need about a year to grow before he become as a big and strong as his parents, so he would be at the water mercy out there in the deep. The last option he had was to give up, and head back inside. When he turned around to look back to his family, the door he and the others came out had slammed shut by a gust of wind. Mink and Link jumped by the slammed door, and they were trying to open it again, more in due to being frightened by the sights and wanted to go back inside, where it was safe. But the door was locked on the outside.

"We can't get back in." Cried Mink. "Were stuck out here!"

Mieka and Moko gave worry glances towards each other, before again fixing on Gentoe.

"We can find shelter, but we need move fast. That wall will hit us any minute now." Kisely said as she started towards to the right, but quickly halted when the others didn't follow her.

"Guys, we need to get out of here. It's too dangerous." She said strongly. Then the wind picked up, and her voice became muffle. Link and Mink went back to their parents, as their larger bodies help mitigate the wind. Then a much larger gust slammed through and Kisely footing came loose as she fallen over to her side.

"Kisely!" Mieka gasped worrying as she sprinted over and helped her back up, leaving Moko to shelter the brothers. Gentoe had to grip the railing base from the ramp when the gust came. It was quite strong and he almost lost his grip. When the gust was over, he could see that his family patience was finally strained.

"I don't care if you guys go back, but I'm leaving." Gentoe said facing up to the others. They seemed quite displease, perhaps angry now buy his continuous rebellion.

"Your being reckless. You are endangering us and your family. Stop this now and get back here!" Moko snarl out. He never yelled like this before at him. Gentoe had shivered again, but it wasn't from the wind this time. Before, Gentoe would never have done anything dangerous that would upset his parents, but now it was different. He actually wanted them to become angry. That would get them to follow.

"No it's you Dad. It's you and Mom that are being reckless. Letting the Humans and Water Dragons control us like were their pets. I will have none of this!" With that, Gentoe sprinted away towards the beach. Again his parents, including his brothers and sister cried out for him to stop, but as before it was to no use.

"What we're going to do" Mieka asked desperately. She wanted to scream now, seeing her son leaving like this. It was just as bad as her nightmares was recently, where the caretakers came and taken Gentoe and the others away from her, never to be seen again, but this was far worse.

This was happening for real, and no nightmare despite it was in a way. With her body shaking from the fright, she didn't know if she should go after him or sit and cry from frustration.

"We can't let himself get killed out there!' Kisely said just as desperate. Mink and Link nodded in agreement, despite they hated the thoughts of putting their own necks on the line as well. Moko taken that as the answer he needed.

With that he said, "We need to catch him!" and then he ran down the ramp after him. The pup's followed too. Mieka however stood there. She couldn't believe that even they would run off to something so risky and unknown as what this storm could do. It was finally her mothering instincts that gotten her to go after them. She knows they were all going to be in danger. She needed to protect them.

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Gentoe reach to the end of the beach, but he never stop at the menacing body of turning and crashing water before him. He leap into the water and trotted through the shore line. The first wave then crashed into him, and then the undertow pulled him further in. Link jumped in right after him in any vain attempt to stop him with the others just behind him. Gentoe right away started to dogpaddle when it became deep enough, when another wave crashed above him.

He was quickly plunge under by the forces before bobbing back up. Link was swept back from the forces, back to where Mink, Kisely, and Moko were just entering into deeper water. Mieka had also just finally jumped in after them.

"Good, they're following. I hope Oscar was right about this." Gentoe thought as he continues to swim out. He had never been as scared in his short life.

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Link was grasped by Moko awaiting claw forehands when he was swept back.

"I almost had him!" Link said angrily when he retains his senses.

"Let's stay together though this. Gentoe a much better swimmer then we take for granted." Moko said.

"I can catch up to him. I actually know how to use my tail." Kisely commented, picking up her tadpole tail up out of the water, then slamming it back down, causing a loud splash.

"No. The water is too treacherous as it is. Just stay with me. . ."

"And me too." Mieka said as she finally caught up.

"So you finally decided to join us, I thought you wouldn't risk such an endeavor." Moko said smiling.

"I just can't just sit by and watch ya'll get killed. If we do this, it will be us together as one, so wipe that smirk away."

"Oh how I love you when you're angry." Moko added, smiling with more tenacity.

"Yuk!" Link gagged. "I will never fall in love when I grow up." He said in revolution to the sight.

This causes the rest of them to laugh. It seems the mood had finally lightened up for the pack, and this gave the motivation for them to go forth. Moko lead the way, breaking the waves in front of him, while the others following behind in a line with Kisely on Moko’s tail, followed by Mink, and Link was helped along by Mieka. Turns out Gentoe didn't get too far as their fear. He was only a few dozen feet away. Once they gotten past the crashing waves, it became easier to swim, but it wasn"t the rolling giant waves coming to shore that had the young pup stopped, and it almost made the pack ceased swimming as they wonder what to do about it.

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Gentoe floated in the shallows of the ocean, looking up in front of him. His little swim taken no time at all, but the massive wall of gray

smoke from the storm was almost right apone him. The waves started to become larger by the forces from that storm. Gentoe turned around to see if his family was coming along. Sure enough they were, but they seemed more desperate to reach him then fearing the storm. As well they should be.

"I need to stay focus." He thought. It was then that the wall flew past him in an instance. Torrents of rain crashed down, almost like a lake in the air deciding to fall on top of him. The wind howled sharply, slashes of water pumble against the top of his back in stinging jibs. He wrenched by the force of it as he continue swimming outward. This wasn't the first time he thought about giving this foolish act up, but this was the first time he truly felt that he was in danger for his life.

"No matter what, I got to get us free!" he said, just as a wall of water crashed into him, forcing him underwater.

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When the wall reached and flew past them, the pack was stung by the torrents of water. Then the waves came. No matter how hard he tried, Moko strength couldn't overcome them. After three came past, and almost swept him from the rest each time, a giant forth body of water came and crashed on top of them. Moko was washed away, and Mieka caught him just in time, (For once all day she actually caught someone) but she was pulled along with him.

The pups screamed in fear from the sudden separation, and rushed after them. Then more waves came. Kisely was the next victim, as undertow currents was stronger than her ability to swim. With her tadpole tail slashing about, she was taken away by the waves as the brothers watched her go, till the sheer amount of falling rain shrouded her body until she couldn't be seen anymore.

Link and Mink was holding their claw forehands to keep together. Link was barely able to keep above the water. It was Mink that kept him up.

"No matter what, don't forget we can breathe the water. Used your gills if you go under. Don't let the ocean filled your lungs." Mink shouted. Link nodded in understanding as on Que, a crashing waved smashed into them. Mink loss his grip and was pulled away. Link went under almost instantly.

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"NOOO!" Mieka bellow the loudest scream of her life as they were pulled away from the rest.

"They can't survive without us." She started to swim back with renew energy, but the current was too strong for them both. Ohh if she only knew how to swim with that bloody tail of hers. That's was such a weakness for her being a grown up. She could never figure out how to use the thing. Moko could, and even he couldn't teach her.

"I'm here, stay with me" Moko said grasping around his mate. "The water too strong right now. We will get back to them, I promise." Moko tried to be reinsuring, but to little effect.

"They can't swim in this. They will drown!" She replied in dismay.

"They all know how to breathe the water. If they get too tired they can rest below. They all are old enough to take care of themselves for now." Moko replied, trying to continue his comforting.

"I know. . . but they can't survive out here long without us." Mieka said as she started to cry.

"There there. . . We will find them. No matter what happens we will be united again. They will all grow up as we get old. They will have families as we become their grandparents. We will see this threw, just hang in there. . . ok?"

"Yes. . . I will be tough." She said as her sobbing quieted down. Mieka only had cried once in her life, as a pup when she was taken to the clinic for the first time, when they put that needle into her leg to extract blood. She never would have guess that Gentoe reaction to that would be far worse then what she experience. They were all maturing as the years go by. With new knowledge coming to them every day, they then can teach that information to the pups.

Perhaps it was this that caused such paranoia for Gentoe to become like what he is today. Perhaps his rebellion was also influence to what the world was like outside, yet they never known what it was truly like as they were imprison from it. Well now here they are, in the outside world. They will be known as the first Darjeets beside Mishwi who had venture out into this world. But unlike their fable hero, they will be the first pack to lived out in the wild. Their caretakers will undoubtfully come looking for them later, and that's was inspected but for a later time to come.

All that matters now is reuniting them back together, and start a new life that for a small part of her subconscious really wanted to be out here and free like Gentoe wanted. That and the embraced of Moko was what she wanted more than anything else now. That's all that existed in the universe currently. Moko smiled back fondly. It was just like when she first met him, and how fast they had fallen in loved. For that brief moment, even the water didn't seemed cold, the rain didn't sting, and the wind nor the storm seemed to never existed. It was just Mieka and Moko, mates till the day

they die, and when they get the pups back, the universe would be perfect once more. Then the day dream ended, as their skin tingle sharply to the point of pain, but it wasn't from the rain.

"What the. . ." Moko could only say when a bolt of lightning struck nearby. It was far enough away to deluded most of the energy it contain, but a couple hundred of the volts still managed to reached them. In a befit instance they were shocked. Their muscles seized and tightly contracted, which produce immense pain. They both scream from the split second torture and then it was gone. However Moko seemed to be knocked unconscious by the effect as his grip release from hers. Mikea was still in a fetus position, muscles refusing to relax back into place, and she could do nothing but watch her mate drop down, into the dark ocean abyss below.

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Hours later, a small blue body crawled out from the ocean and was sprawl out onto a small beach. The beach was part of a tiny island. Only five palm trees called this small landmass home, in which its palm's was tatter and it branches broken by the hurricane just moments earlier. All were quite again when the storm left; excerpt the coughing of the Darjeet pupling. No matter how hard he tried to fight the waves and breathe though his gills while under the ocean, he still managed to get some water into his lungs.

After a few hacks and sputters he manages to get the water out. He then heavily breathed in the fresh air for a moment recollecting from the events, but the thoughts made him depressed. Gentoe didn't know how he survived the storm, but he consider himself very lucky too be alive. No much of an achievement really, and that's not to do with personal pride. No it was the fact that his family was thrown into this storm by his doing, and for all he knew they were. . .

"No. . . I cannot think that." The thoughts made his yellow slotted eyes to water. Fighting the urge to cry out, he just managed to get to his feet. He was so tired, he almost felled back over. He couldn't stand for long, so with an effort he manage to sit down on his hunches, facing back into the massive body of water he just swam through for the first time in his life. It was still night time, but he knew it was in the morning now.

For how long the events of the evening had taken he didn't know, but the swimming had taken hours. The large moon of this world was out in its full state. He knew it was called that. Some short of celestial body high in the sky among the stars, which also shown brightly from the darkness of space. There were so many stars out there.

Around the middle of the sky, a massively long line of these stars, which even out shined the moon, had taken its place in the heavens. Color of blue and purples showned the outline of this part of the cosmos. The only thing he could recall from memory is that this planet is closer to the galactic center of the galaxy Danner, and therefore people can easily see the center of the galaxy. But neither the moon nor the stars matter much to him right now, despite it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, right up to the day he hatch from his egg and saw his parents for the first time.

No, it was the storm just out into the ocean he was staring at. All the light from the sky allow him to see the entity in its entirety. It was massive, and he couldn't see all of it. Lighting strikes on occasion into the water below along its path, to wherever the weather will take it. Again, the storm brought back all the moments of fighting it, trying to keep above the water while the waves keep crashing down on him, forceing him to exhale all the air out of his lungs so that his gill's could work properly. Each time doing this made his felt he was suffocating over and over again. That alone scare him the greatest. He really felt he was going to drown, and almost did. And then there was his family. . .

He was unsure on their fate. He lost track of them right away, and Link being pulled away below him was the last thing he saw of them. He was using his gills, and still couldn't swim, but he was alive when he spotted him. He didn't know if that were true now.

"Mom. . . Dad. . . where are you?" he cried out into the world. No replied.

"Link, Mink,. . .Kisely?. . ." Again no response. He was alone here. The storm pulled them apart. They wouldn't know where he was and if he was all right too. He and the others were too young to be taught how to keep in touch like Moko and Mieka could with their minds. He and the others were lost now, possibility forever. That causes him to finally give in to the tremendous shuttering his body was producing from his tiredness.

"MOM, DAD, HELP ME. . . PLEeeeASE!. . ." He screamed as the emotions overwhelm his speech and self control. They were likely gone, their souls taken by the ocean. His brother's and sister were likely gone too. He had brought them to their doomed, and so this was his fault, and that's was the greatest truth to this nightmare.

Gentoe finally started to cry. Continuous pleading for his family whereabouts were only answer back by crashing waves. He wished for his parents to come, to cuddle him like they used do when he was only a hatchling. How that used warmed him, comforted him when the night used to scare him as today had. With that, he kept on crying, for how long he wouldn't know. He only finally stooped the tears when he fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion. It would be the first time he ever went to bed, hungry. The felling disturbed him, real life disturbed him. The last thought's before sleep taken him was how he had wished he never had escaped that accursed Aquarium.