Disease

Both men were captured thanks to Tomomi. "Okay, so what are we going to do with them?" Kou inquired as he stood still and waited for Tomomi to come to a deduction.

She maintained the silence until somebody called out to them. "Guys, we found you at last!" the two captured men's eyes opened wide for them to shiver. "There's more of you?!"

Ayuka and everybody else reunited, at last, coming straight out from the desert biome. "We've been looking for you for what felt like centuries. What the heck happened, and where's Tim?" Ayuka questioned; each of them was messy and dirty.

"It's good to see all of you!" called Kou, then continued, "Tim has been stuck under that skull. A giant came in a cross with out road and took him there, although, for some reason, the giants haven't harmed him."

Codey didn't believe their words until he saw them for himself and then scratched the back of his head. "What else is in this world? It feels as if we're in a fantasy book or something." He added, and then Karisa shivered from surprise, something seemed to have bothered her.

"Hey, what's up, Karisa? You seem to be shaking?" she blushed from feeling ashamed and then looked aside. "Come on, tell them, Karisa."

Everybody looked at Ayuka and then patiently waited, seeing her that she had nodded. "When we got dragged down through the typhoon, we landed in a village that was isolated." She began to explain.

~ Karisa and everybody else searched the village for people, but no matter how hard they look there wasn't a single life; it was isolated, fully. "Guys, there seems to be a working phone." They followed Karisa inside and searched through stuff while patiently waiting for Karisa to call Elder Rai, and to her surprise, he answered immediately.

"Hey, Rai! It's so good to talk to you!" Karisa told, chuckling, but it wasn't Elder Rai's voice, it was Nina that answered the phone. "Good to talk to you as well, Karisa. How's the voyage coming along with Tim and the others?"

Karisa looked at the phone and didn't comprehend. "Nina?" the moment she mentioned her name, Ayuka and everybody else ran closer and greeted her. They were happy to hear her voice again. "Nina? Whoa, hey! What's going on? I thought you stayed in Golden Wasakona? How come you're answering from Pelwick Island, and where's Rai?"

Nina's voice instantly softened and was nearly impossible to understand.

"Karisa, everyone, I have some bad news. Elder Rai's grown sick, and he's on the verge of death. Right now, Dr. Louree's treating him inside his room. We don't know the cause, but something caused him to create a disease..." talking about it was hard enough for her, but to go into details felt like a nightmare to her, "The people of this island called Dr. Louree and asked for her help to check up the reason behind the disease. We needed to act swiftly and sailed a ship back to Pelwick Island. When we came back, Elder Rai didn't move, but his heart still beats, but neither of us knows if he'll make it."

Others' eyes were frozen as they listened to Nina. "What do you mean, disease? Please, Nina, tell us!" Karisa wondered, holding the phone as hard as a stiff rock. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. People claimed that the disease came out of nowhere. If we had some information, I'd inform you, but how or what type of disease it is, we can't tell; not even for a professional doctor like Louree."

Codey and others looked at each other, waiting for Karisa to continue. "Nina, I can't let Rai die. He did so much for me, he was like a father to me! Please, promise me you'll be able to figure out a cure for that disease." Nina hesitated for a moment and felt nervous. "I can't promise you. If I could, trust me, I would."

"Whatever! I'll take the ship back to Pelwick Island and come check on his condition. Please, make sure to take good care of his health while I'm on a board!"

"If you return home, you won't be able to continue the voyage through the ocean, Karisa," Nina stated, but couldn't finish her sentence as Karisa immediately interrupted. "I don't care! As much as I would love to continue to sail across the ocean, Rai's health is more important to me and I have to be there to support him. Please, Nina, I beg of you!"

"All right," replied Nina, "we'll do our best to keep him stable, but how long will it take for you to return to Pelwick Island?"

"I'm sure Tim and others wouldn't mind a short derail back to the nearest island with a dock. From there I'll board the public ship and hurry back to Pelwick Island. If everything goes according to plan, I should be back at Pelwick Island in around four days. Can you promise me to keep him stable for this long?"

"Okay, I understand. We'll make sure to keep him stable. Please, don't be too late, because neither of us knows how much longer his heart will beat." Karisa thanked her and immediately greeted her goodbye, then dropped the phone in stress.

She turned around and before she could even speak, they understood her. "Yeah, of course. Let's hurry up and find Tim. I'm sure he shouldn't be too far away from where we are. Then we can sail back to the nearest island." Ralphie concluded. ~

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Karisa." Tomomi looked at her, upset. "It's fine, but please, we must take Tim back on board as soon as possible." Tomomi, Kou, and Natan confirmed and agreed to her request, left the two hunters behind, and without wasting any more time, they rushed to the skull to find Tim.

"And that's pretty much it. I hope I didn't make you too sad with that last story." Tim chuckled until he soon heard Ayuka's voice. Both Gogo and Tim looked and became confused. "Hey, guys, you found me." Ayuka immediately stepped closer and ignored Gogo as she called out to him.

"Tim, please, we need to hurry. Elder Rai from Pelwick Island has a disease, and we need to hurry back to the ocean and sail to the nearest island with public transportation." Tim jumped to his feet in an instant and became serious. "Really? I see, we gotta get going, then. Hey, Gogo, I'm sorry to keep it short, but I really have to get going. Would you tell your mother that I had to leave because of health issues?"

Gogo nodded his head. "Yes, Gogo do that. Hurry, save your friend." Tim smiled, knowing that Gogo was a true friend despite being taller. "Thanks a lot. Okay, let's hurry."

Tim and everybody else hurred on back to the shore and make sure they would board Sanguine Rose as soon as possible. The problems in Pelwick Island continued and with their anxiety being close to exploding they made certain to find the nearest island as soon as possible.

They only had one goal; to waste no time and hopefully have enough time for their cracked ship to sail again.

To be continued...