Strength in the Ocean

David, Shadow, Ken, Sara, Ashley, and Foxy have stepped off the grass at the edge of the forest and stepped onto a large harbor filled with boats in the ocean. Ashley said, "Whoa. Major change of scenery. I'm going to need a moment."

Foxy said, "Up ahead in that building we can rent a boat that can get us across the ocean to the forest that is home to the castle of darkness."

David said, "Going forward and no turning back. Come on guys." They all walked to the boat rental building.

They entered the building and were met by a handsome boy their own age with blond hair and blue eyes. The boy said, "Hey guy my name is Alex. How many help you?" Ashley blushed.

David said, "Hey man. We would like a boat that can hold all of us and take us across the ocean. Can you help us out with that?"

"How strong are you guys with magic" Alex asked.

Foxy answered for them, "They are are very powerful wizards and witches. More so then many."

"That's great" Alex said. "Then your in luck. Follow me." They followed Alex through the backdoor and onto the docks. After passing a few boats Alex stopped at a white ship. "I just got a call an hour ago that on the other side of the ocean they need this luxury ship. It can sail itself across the ocean but it can't protect itself if it comes under attack. The ocean here is kind of dangerous so you never know what will happen. I was going to hire body guards for the ship but if you think you can handle it the job is yours."

David said, "That sounds like a good deal to me."

"We accept your offer" Foxy said.

Alex said, "Awesome dudes. You can go right now. I'll call ahead."

Ashley touched Alex's arm and asked in a gentle yet suggestive voice, "How about we have dinner first? I would like to hear more about you Alex."

Alex said, "Don't worry about little lady. The ship has a bunch of food on it. Help yourself."

"Come on Ashley" Sara said as she pulled Ashley away from Alex and David and the others walked up the ramp and onto the ship.

Alex called out, "Take care of my beauty you guys!"

Ashley giggled and called out to Alex, "I'll miss you too."

Sara said in a low voice, "He was talking about the ship." She sighed but then smiled deciding to let Ashley have her fantasy. The ship sailed and controlled itself on its own power.

***

David, Ken, Sara, Ashley, and Foxy with the ocean in all directions as far as the eye could see. Ken was resting his head on his arms that were resting on the side railing of the ship and he stood looking depress. David came over to Ken and asked, "Hey little man, you look down, are you okay?

With a sad look Ken asked, "Do you think I'll find my magical animal spirit?"

"You bet I do" David said cheerfully. "I wouldn't be surprise if you got your magical animal spirit today."

"You think so" Ken asked hopefully?

"I know so" David said with confidents.

Ken said, "Your right David. I mean I got my wand when we were crossing the ocean so that means I'll get my magical animal spirit from this ocean."

David nodded and said, "Believe it!"

Ken shouted out across the ocean with high hopes, "Hey magical animal spirit! I'm here for you!"

"That's right Ken" David said with a smile and patted his back."

"Thanks David. I feel better now."

Shadow came out from the door that led to the bottom deck and he said, "Hey guys come and check this out. This ship has a weight room."

"Cool" David said. "Hey guys lets go check it out." David, Ken, Sara, and Foxy walked over to Shadow. David turned around and saw that Ashley was still laying on a deck chair. "Hey Ashley, the rest of us are going to go down stairs to the weight room. Do you want to come?"

Ashley waved her hand without lifting her head and said, "No thanks. I'll stay here and work on my tan."

"Ok. Suit yourself." The rest of them followed Shadow down the stairs and to the next door which Shadow opened to reveal a weight room with a pull up bar, barbells, dumbbells, and step-ups. "Cool. This place has everything we would need."

Shadow said, "This will be good for our training. The stronger we get the more powerful our magic will become."

Ken tugged on David's shirt and asked, "Do you think I'll have a better chance at finding my magical animal spirit if I become stronger?"

"Maybe" David answered. "Lets give it a try.

Shadow walked to the bench with the barbell and said, "I'll use this first." He picked up a forty-five pound plate and placed in on one side of the barbell and did it again for the other side. He laid on the bench, gripped the barbell, took a deep breath, and then he lifted the barbell and began bench pressing.

David picked up two fifteen pound dumbbells and began curling them. As he curled you could see David's biceps contract and bulge slightly.

Sara went to the chin up bar and began stretching while Foxy went to the step-ups and began jumping on and off.

Ken looked at everyone for a minute and then decided to go over to David. Ken asked, "What should I do?"

David stopped lifting and said, "Here try this." He handed Ken the fifteen pound dumbbell and can Ken reached out and took it but when David let go Ken dropped it. Ken bent down and lifted the weight with hand but could only hold it for a few seconds before he had to up it down. He began to pick it up with both hands but David said, "Hold on." He took the dumbbell from Ken and continued, "I think that one is to heavy for you. Why don't you go over to Sara and do chin-ups. You can use your own bodyweight to get stronger."

Ken sighed with slight disappointment but said nodded and said, "Okay." He walked over to Sara as she was doing chin-ups.

Sara dropped down let out a breath and and said, "That makes twelve. Hey Ken did you want a try?"

"David said that I should start here."

"Okay. give it your best" Sara moved aside and Ken stood underneath the bar. He jumped but could only brush the bar with his fingers. "Here let me help give you a lift." She grabbed hold of Ken's waist and lifted him up just enough that he could grab hold of the bar. She backed away to him room. Ken began pulling himself up but couldn't get pass his forehead. He kicked and flailed his legs to no avail and then dropped down. "This may be a little hard for you. How about you try something else?"

Ken sighed and said, "I'm going to check up on Ashley." He left the weight room, went up the stairs, and leaned on the railing of the deck. As he was facing the ocean he said to himself, "How can I get my magical animal spirit if I'm not strong enough? I guess I am a little weakling." Ken had a flashback.

Ken was sitting on a swing looking sad when a football landed in front of himself. A bigger boy came running up and picked up the football. He looked at Ken and asked mockingly, "Aw is the little baby going to cry?"

"Leave me alone you bully" Ken said angerly. While holding the football the bigger boy stepped up to Ken and pushed him off the swing with his free hand.

The boy said, "Your such a weakling." With that he walked away leaving Ken on the ground who was rubbing a tear out of his eye.

As Ken was still dazing across the ocean Foxy came up to him and asked, "What's wrong Ken? You don't seem like yourself."

Ken said, "I was just thinking. What if I'm not strong enough to get my magical animal spirit?"

Foxy said, "You don't have to be physically strong to get your magical animal spirit, just be yourself."

"But Shadow said that the stronger we become the stronger are magic becomes."

"There are different kinds of strengths. Some are physical and tough like what Shadow specialize in and then there is strength of the mind like the power to think of ideas, creativity, and intelligence. All these things you have inside your mind. That is you strength."

"Thanks Foxy" Ken said with a sincere smile.

Suddenly the ship shook a very hard and a loud crashing sound came from below. "What's happening" Ashley asked in a panic as she bolted up from her chair and stood up.

David, Shadow, and Sara came up on deck in a rush. David shouted, "There is a hole in the boat! We're going down!"

Sara said, "We need to fly."

"Good idea" Shadow said. "Sara you and David go into you magical animal forms and the rest of us will ride you guys."

Ken shouted, "Wait! That won't work. It would be a full day to fly to land and they'll need to rest."

Foxy said, "There is usually emergency gillbeans on a boat."

Shadow said, "Let's go to the control room." Shadow ran up to the upper deck and the others followed him. When Shadow opened the door to the control room they could see a box on a wall that said gillbeans. Shadow and the others ran to the wall with the box and Shadow opened it. Inside their was a pouch full of round big black beans. Shadow scooped them all up in one hand and handed one to each.

David asked, "What do they do?"

Shadow quickly explained, "Just put one in your mouth and you'll be able to breath underwater for five hours." David and the others each put their gillbean into their mouths just as the ship leaned to the side and water was now coming into the room.

David said, "My gillbean melted in my mouth."

Foxy said, "Good that means it's working."

Ashley said, "It's like cotton candy." The water rose up above their heads and the entire ship sank under the ocean as well as David and the others.

As the ship was falling deeper into the ocean David said, "Is everyone breathing alright?" Everyone applied that they were.

Sara asked, "How are we going to get to land like this?"

Foxy answered, "We are going to have to get our ship repaired.

"How" Ashley asked.

"We force whoever did this to fix what they broke" Shadow replied.

The ship hit the bottom. David said, "Come on guys lets see what's out there." David and the others walked out of the control and onto the deck. On the deck they could see that they were inside an old time stadium. The stands around the stadium were filled with all kinds of magical sea people, most of them being mermaids and mermen.

Inside the stadium looking angry was a big merman of almost seven feet tall who was blue green in color both in skin and in tail although his skin was more blue and his tail was more green. He had blond hair and a beard. His arms were big and his body muscular and V-shape. In his hand he held a golden trident.

The merman in the stadium shouted, "Who here is disturbing my competition. Who dares to anger me Triton king of all the ocean?!"

Shadow shouted, "We do! Someone broke our ship and whoever did it is going to repair it!" Shadow jumped down from the ship and landed softly on the ground and David and the others followed in suit. They walked up to the big imposing merman, king of all the ocean, Triton.