Non-Existent Riches

Tim and Codey were going through the forest in front of their eyes, both hunting for the treasure, while Tim's thoughts were preoccupied with food, particularly meat.

"How far must I go to gain this so-called food? I've been without it and it's slowly tearing me apart..."

"You'll get your food when we aboard the ship. For the time being I'd prefer if you had your eyes peeled. We never know when the treasure will show up. It could be any second now."

"You're no fun at all. I should've just stayed on the ship and wait for the lunch. Walking out here in the woods will just tire me out."

"Hey, check that out! It's a cliff on which the riches may be."

"If it's food, please tell me. I'm starving."

"There's no way treasure would involve food. It's gold, silver and nothing else. There might be some diamonds, but those are extremely rare."

"We're seriously playing pirates? This sounds like a copied plot from somewhere else."

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you going to disagree? This plot appears to be similar to another tale that exists. It's logical and very visible."

"Shut up! Finding this treasure is all that matters."

Tim paused in his tracks, putting an end to the conversation. He let Codey begin scaling the cliff while his face emanated real passion.

"So, am I supposed to just wait down here? Because standing still is the least fun thing to do."

"For once you should be patient! Believe me, there's no way I'll let something this expensive go! Plus, if I find it, we'll have enough to afford more items across the sea."

Tim crossed his arms behind his neck and kept an eye on Codey's movements as a reaction of his boredom and dissatisfaction.

It passed several minutes.

"So, do you see anything up there?"

It took Codey only three minutes to climb to the summit, and once there, he was greeted with a breathtaking view over the island. His gratitude, on the other hand, didn't appear to be very firm. It seemed pale and dissatisfied, as if he had been let down.

"This was a waste of time. There's nothing up here, not even a smidgeon of it."

Despite the fact that Codey's face had a greedy grin on it and Tim was clueless to it, Codey's hands remained to grip a treasure box.

"Then, shouldn't we get going? I'm still hungry!"

Codey's eyes gleamed with anticipation, and his greed got the best of him. He began to slowly open his chest, but he began to tremble on the spot at that point. His eyes drew together like dots, and his jaw sank to the floor.

The chest was devoid of everything. He took the empty chest, lifted it high above his head, and tossed it over the cliff's edge, his fury and disappointment welling up inside him.

Tim's face was suddenly assaulted by a shadow, which smashed right into him. With its weight, it easily crumpled him on the ground, causing a minor tremor.

However, someone's rage rapidly changed Codey's mind. A enormous bird swooped down from the distance, its massive beak poised to smash his body.

Knowing that if he was struck, he would lose his stance, he acted quickly and seized the bird's neck. The bird carried him into the sky, and the violent winds slammed into Codey, who was already travelling at breakneck speed.

"What's this ugly creature?!"

He clung on the bird, but recognized that continuing in this direction would only lead to him being trapped inside a tall tree. To get away from it, he became solemn and concentrated his attention on the ground. He released grip of the bird's neck and slammed his feet into its gut. It caused it to quiver, which caused the bird to dump him from the sky.

If he fell from such a height, his head would be crushed, so he crossed his hands in front of him to avoid serious injury. "Alteration!" Suddenly, red blocks pieced together like a jigsaw as they appeared behind him, and the same thing occurred in front of the bird.

His and the bird's bodies fell through the two apertures, and their positions were abruptly switched. Codey adjusted his body in the air and stretched his arm above his head as the bird smashed into the earth. Wind enveloped his wrist, causing his boomerangs to activate.

He fixed his gaze on the bird, which had flailed its wings in an attempt to halt itself before hurling the boomerang through the air at high speed. They were spinning fast as it slammed into the back of the bird. With a pulse of wind lifting up, it smashed the bird on the ground.

The force was great, and Codey needed to stay balanced in the air, so he crossed his arms and braced himself for the collision.

It wasn't long until Ayuka and Karisa ran up to the two boys and crossed them.

"Hey, boys! What's going on?"

Ayuka and Karisa immediately assisted Tim in escaping the strewn chest, and then they all turned to face Codey.

"Tim, are you hurt? I can treat you if needed."

"I believe I have fractured my spine. I believe I am in good health. Hello there, Codey! What was the point of that?! Couldn't you just be more careful about where you dump things?!"

"Sorry, I didn't notice you down there; besides, my rage got the best of me, and I didn't have time to look around before I threw it. We shouldn't be too concerned because you're fine."

"Well, everything seems fine now. We've been searching for Elliott and Nina, but there's been no sign of their presence."

"Nope, we didn't see them. I'm sure they're fine, just lost or something."

"Does that sound like "fine" to you? If they got lost we should at least go search for them."

"Why don't we just leave them? Sometimes it's better for them to stay away from us."

"There's no way I'm leaving them alone. They're a part of our group and I won't leave them outside alone."

<Minnerane Island - 8:43 am>

Elliott, Nina, and the man kept digging through the floor in search of wealth. Even though the dirt was bouncing and piling up behind their backs, they couldn't find anything after searching for a few minutes.

"I'm slowly starting to think that this is a dud and there's no actual treasure here."

"I'm positive it is! I've heard so many rumors about it! I am certain!"

Hours passed and the three of them sat in their holes, never finding a treasure box. The sky was dark, and the crickets began to sing gently.

"This is unthinkable! There isn't a smidgeon of treasure on this island!"

"But I have been looking for it for so long that I thought I'd finally found it. Even that, I suppose, is impossible."

"Perhaps going treasure hunting for the useless riches was merely a trick on people."

The branches, then cracked, putting everyone in an anxious state.

"Who's there?!"

Ayuka, who was looking down at the others, stretched the bushes to the side.

"Hey, it's you guys! We've been looking for you on this island for so long. Why are you all sitting down there, who's that and why is there so many holes?"

With dotted eyes, Tim stared over Ayuka's shoulder, perplexed and unsure of what they were doing.

"Maybe they were just hunting for treasure."

Nina greeted them with a smile and a wave. She promptly ascended with the others and informed them of the situation.

"We've been trying to help Aido in finding the treasure, but we were unsuccessful."

"Yeah, there's no treasure. Well, at least not any longer. Me and Tim came across an empty chest at the top of that cliff. Somebody already took it, so the rumors were true."

With his arms dangling in between his legs, Codey said.

"After all these years, stranded on this island. The treasure was already taken?"

"Yeah, it seems so. We were too late, so our stop on this island was for nothing. We really are sorry to disappoint you and I hope you manage to find a different treasure someday. But, right now we really must hurry to the Grim Isle."

"The Grim Isle? You aren't actually planning on visiting that island?"

Karisa was bewildered by the situation and demanded an explanation.

"Huh? Why? Is it bad?"

"The Grim Island is nothing but a bad time. Any human that steps foot on that island go missing. The civilians on that island tend to be overall anxious of living there. Their only hope is a mysterious shadow that hunts down a person who abducts people."

"Well, more the reason to go there and stop it, right guys?"

They looked at Tim, smiled with a caring confirmation and nodded.

"He's right. If we're going there, we'll make sure to stop this havoc going on."

"You sure are a brave bunch of strangers. I hope you'll succeed and provide assistance to those people. They need it."

"Of course we will, Aido! We've helped people so many times and one more time won't stop us."

"I'm sure. Thank you."

Once the time continued to darken the day,

the entire crew boarded the ship. They waved goodbye to Aido and his animal companions before setting sail for their next destination.

The Grim Isle.

To be continued...