EPISODE 51: Adrift*

The northern coast is where the land and water meet. Sometimes, they clash upon each other, showing off their terrible wrath. Though these elements argue, the sun will be there to quell the fighting. It turns the grey into gold, and forges chaos into order.

There are instances when the land and sea are in perfect harmony, staying still and calm beside each other, staring above the luminous moonlight.

Xavier and I gathered wood to create a raft to Charlotte's island. It was a stroke of luck that his binoculars didn't play with the helicopter's agony. We were able to detect a scrap of the helicopter's engine on the eastern island.

I do pray, however, that the sea shows compassion to us as we pass through her endless territory. On the other hand, mother nature has spared us some logs from its terrible hail storm the other night.

Now one task remains, and that is to create a raft. I have no experience when it comes to woodcrafts, although I assume that all you need to do is to tie up all the logs together.

We brought the plethora of trunks to the northern coast. Some of them are quite heavy while others are a pile of long twigs. There are some trunk,s however, which require the strength of the two of us.

I glanced carefully at how Xavier makes the knot. I then tried to imitate his creations from the evaluations I've gathered. My hands however doesn't seem to know what they're doing for the knot untangles itself every time.

The process was difficult to the point that I've badgered myself. The knot and my hands seem to be angry at each other for not even the slightest cooperation was in sight.

"Here let me help you," Xavier utters. He is willing to give me assistance, and my perspective towards him finally changed. The Xavier I've met before, is different today, in a good way. I am left speechless. The only thing I could do was to watch and learn from his tutorials.

"Make two loops of equal size stacked on top of each other. Take the end of the rope farthest from the two loops.

Pull the loop over and around again so that it is back up on the other side. Repeat this step three to five times depending on the thickness of the rope." Xavier tutors. With another rope, I try to follow him thoroughly yet I still couldn't do it.

The last step is intense, my hand keeps on trembling in order to make sure that the rope would fit on the loop. After enough practice, I was finally able to tie the last two logs together. It took me at least an hour to tie up a pair of logs. During that hour, Xavier has already finished dozens of them.

Now, it is time for the leap of faith. Xavier extends his hand high up to the sky, trying to detect the humidity and the direction of the wind. Both of us pushed the raft to the sea, hoping that it would float.

We succeed with the support of a buoyant force. The only thing we have to do is to cross the sea and perhaps have a safe journey.

I look to the skies and searched the clouds. They seem to be thin and in perfect harmony. The tides are low, and the water is warm yet I fear for what lays deep in the ocean.

A bamboo serves as our raft. We drift from the northern coast and proceed to the eastern island. This is my first time to technically ride a boat. It feels bumpy and nauseous.

As the raft continues to drift, I look unto the azure sea, glancing at my reflection. The last time I've seen myself was two days ago in front of the mirror of the dressing room.

I really want to send out my Pokemons to join me but I fear that it would cause a disturbance on the raft's equilibrium. Me and my Pokemons weren't able to communicate that often because of this sudden incident. Who would do this in the first place, and why would they?

Deepest gratitude to the sea for we have arrived safely on the eastern island. As for the raft, we'll probably leave it on the shore. My moments in the raft will always prevail in my mind.

We heard sudden footsteps coming closer to us. The footsteps seem to be those of a weird two-legged Pokemon. Accompanying the footsteps is a sudden greeting of ecstasy.

Instead of finding Charlotte, she found us. The three of us are able to reunite once more, although it seems kinda disturbing to see Charlotte riding her Doduo.

A spark of hope and a long patience is all we need. Xavier was right, this island offers a bountiful plethora of network signals for us to be able to contact headquarters. Once the distress call is set, we can finally head back safely.