eight: attacked
Chapter Eight: Attacked
The boat shook violently from side to side, but it was clear they weren't going forward anymore. Of course, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
Cody reached the front of the ship to get a full, close up view of the immense shape blocking their ship's passage. A massive tidal wave, several times the height of the ship, and so wide he could hardly see the end of it, held itself up in front of them. The wave wasn't rearing itself higher, or crashing down, it was just... There. Gigantic. Scary.
Cody almost felt like 'booking it', or more precisely, getting out of there as quick as possible, staring at the thing. He could see no logical reason why it wasn't smashing down on to them and tearing the ship in half. The water still churned inside of it, and a few drips even fell on him from the tip of the wave that was nearly directly above him.
He turned toward Rose and some of her men, who also were at the front, and tried to shout over the roaring wave.
"What's going on?!" Cody couldn't even hear himself speak. He wasn't even sure he had. The tidal wave had suddenly began roaring ten times louder then it was before, the same moment he had opened his mouth to ask about what was happening. He looking up at it's enormous shape, and saw the most unbelievable thing. Something was actually... forming, inside the wave. The water spun with great speed, slowly turning into the shape of what appeared to be a head. Or a face.
Terror struck Cody's heart, as he looked up at the imposing bearded face made entirely of water. It stuck several feet out from the rest of the wave, so it was easily distinguishable. At least, Cody thought it was several feet. From the size of the boat, and the sheer size of the wave, he wasn't even sure how far away the wave was. It felt like it was only ten or twenty feet away though.
Things got worse for Cody. In an almost slow speed, the massive pillars of water that formed his mouth opened and close as it began to speak in the loudest, most booming and commanding voices Cody had ever heard in his life.
"TURN BACK!" The face's voice boomed menacingly. "You shall NOT pass." The great size of the face made him speak at a slower pace, something you would expect of anything that large.
For a moment, the roaring of the water seemed to cease, almost like it was waiting for a response. Cody distinctly heard the sarcastic and crisp voice of Rose, standing next to him.
"Yeah right." Her words reflected her defiance, and not the slightest hint of fear. For a moment, Cody thought a little more fondly of Rose. That even in the face of this great danger, she seemed to not have a second thought about what her actions were going to be.
Cody, on the other hand, felt differently about the situation. It seemed like listening to this guy was a good idea. What could possibly fight a gigantic face made entirely of water? Even considering the idea was preposterous to Cody. Only a day or so ago, he would've been made fun of for a year if he had asked someone in his school that question. Now, it seemed to be the question everyone on board the boat, that was tiny in comparison to it's adversary, was asking themselves.
The Water face roared. But, this time, it wasn't just the sound of the churning waves, holding themselves up in the air. This time, it was really the man in the water, roaring at them. For a few seconds, Cody couldn't think of anything scarier. And then, all of a sudden, he could.
Great blue tendrils of water suddenly burst out all over from inside the tidal wave. They writhed and whipped as they flew towards the boat at a speed Cody couldn't hope to measure. However, the crew of Rose's boat weren't going to just sit still. It seemed they had a few tricks up their sleeves as well.
Cody turned his head to see something possibly more surprising then the event already transpiring; two of the most unimposing men, that he had hardly even noticed until now, did something entirely unexpected. They both took off into the air without any means of propulsion. Quite literally, they flew. Straight up, and within less then a second or two, they were about level with the giant face.
They were both very short, one of the reasons Cody hadn't found them very intimidating. The first one was blonde, blue eyed, handsome man, of about 5 feet or so. He wore a business man's suit, and Cody had recalled him smiling cheesy whenever he saw him. The second one was even less noticeable, for he was the height of a midget, was bald, and wore an average red shirt and slacks.
They flew up almost in formation, one on the left and the other on the right. The midget crouched and pulled his arms back, pressing his hands together, at the very moment they stopped. Cody could hardly believe his eyes. He had seen that pose before. Only in one place had he ever seen that pose before. A television show that until that very moment, he hadn't even considered also existed now in real life.
That, was the preparation position, for a Kame-hame-ha blast. A character from Dragon Ball Z, one of those anime shows famous for having a ludicrous amount of power being thrown around all the time, was floating there in front of him, about to let loose an awesome and terrible blast on his foe.
'What a big DBZ fan wouldn't give to be here right now...' Cody thought with a smile, momentarily forgetting the extreme danger he was facing.
Just then, the water tendrils hit. The two in the air were hit first, likely since they were the closest, and tendrils swirled past him down the deck of the boat. He turned and saw the midget, with a great blue tendril wrapped around him, writhing in mid-air, yelling as he tried to free himself from it's grip. Closer to him was Rose, hacking at a rushing tendril with a large shiny sword he didn't remember her having a minute ago.
Up above him to the left, he saw the blonde one, also struggling while wrapped in the tendrils. Cody gasped as the man's semi-muscular form suddenly burst from the inside, giving way to a giant purple demon-like creature. It had great horns and a devilish tail, and was four or five times the muscle size that the man had previously been. With the man's body and clothes, the tendrils also burst off him, shredding into harmless water that fell into the sea. The creature flexed and roared in anger, and never before had Cody seen such a shocking transformation in real life before.
Cody felt bewildered and overwhelmed by what transpired around him. All on the boat, and even in the air, were people ducking and dodging, fighting and hacking, yelling and screaming, all fighting off these water tentacles. Yet, none of them swerved toward Cody. Not a single flowing tendril turned toward Cody and tried to envelop him. It was like he wasn't even there. He felt like he should dodge, but there was no attack to avoid. He felt like he should fight back, but he didn't know how.
He looked around the floor of the ship, trying to find something he could use as a weapon. But, looking back up at the watery tendrils, coming forth from the enormous wave of water and it's enraged face, the idea of fighting back felt hopeless. How could he hope to harm water, he thought. Wouldn't any attack simply pass right through it?
Nearby him he noticed Maxi, the one who had been on the rowboat earlier, desperately trying to keep a grip on the navigational wheel of the ship. It turned and rocked from side to side violently in tandem with him, while he tried his best to keep it steady.
"I'm not sure how much longer he can take this!" Cody heard Maxi say, which Cody thought Maxi was referring to the ship. "We could go over!" A blue mass of water descended upon his shoulder, and his left arm fell limply off the wheel. Cody wasn't sure if the man yelled in pain or not, but he did catch a glimpse of the man pulling out nunchuks and tearing into the tendril before his view was cut off by another giant snaking tendril directly in front of Cody. The surprise of it as it landed so close to him made him trip and fall backward. He stood up and tried to back up away from it, but he ran directly into a solid form of another snaking tendril behind him. He spun around and stared at it worriedly, and even started to hyperventilate in fear. It seemed nowhere was he safe.
As he spun bewildered at his surroundings, he looked back up for the image of the bald midget, and was disheartened to not see him there. Looking around, he caught sight of him, being pulled closer and closer toward the wave. For a moment, the midget got his arms free, and he ripped and tore at the tendrils that encircled him more and more. He fought to get away, to get out of the hold and to pull himself away from the wave, but to no avail.
The man let out a scream of pain or desperation, Cody wasn't sure which, and he was suddenly pulled a hundred feet or more within seconds. The midget was sucked into the great wide open mouth of the face, and it slammed shut on him.
"Krillin!!" Rose yelled out in fear for her comrade's life. Turning to look at her, Cody saw her forming some kind of symbol with her hand, and her face looked deeply focused. Cody was amazed to see a transparent glow surround her like a bubble, and she closed her eyes. Hearing the rush of wind in his ears, he looked up to see a tendril ten times the size of the rest suddenly crash down on top of her. As one might expect of water, it hit and surrounded her, and Cody lost sight of her inside of it. He nearly lost his balance as it crashed onto the deck, for the wood splintered and smashed due to it's sheer weight.
Again, he wondered how to fight such a creature. Cody managed to punch one of the tendrils, but as he had originally expected, his hand passed through it like water, and it was not clear if any damage was done. More tendrils whipped past his head, and he saw one grab a hold of Scar-tooth and drag him fifteen feet across the deck. It was frightening to behold, and Cody wondered if Scar-tooth was still alive as he fell through the hole his body had smashed into the deck of the ship.
Each tendril seemed alive in itself, seeking out it's targets. It reminded Cody of an octopus, except this one seemed to be fighting flies.
"Hahahaha- Foolish mortals! None can withstand OUR will!" The deep voice of the bearded face boomed almost violently.
Cody heard a great explosion, followed by the sound of something like a giant ray gun, firing continously. Looking to the sky, he saw the demon-like man firing an enormous blast of sheer power from his hands, directed at the mouth of the tidal wave. The water roared in what sounded like pain, and it's eyes turned to the demon-man and blasted him with deep red beams from his eyes. It set the muscular purple man off-balance, but it didn't cause him to stop firing his enormous blue and white blast of power.
Wind rushed past Cody's head, and he looked straight up to see a ninja leaping high over his head, drawing a katana and forming odd symbols in the air with his hands. Another man, above him and to the right, also stood floating in mid air, with some ancient yellow-ish scroll floating in the air before him, that he seemed to be reading.
Another sound of wind, akin to what he recalled 'flying' sounding like in television shows, caught his attention to his left, and he turned to see the form of Trunks, also flying, heading for the form of the demon-man. Trunks whizzed his hands around in circles so fast it was a blur, and then yelled a name he recognized.
"Burning.. ATTACK!" Trunks shouted over the sounds of battle. A bright orange stream shot from his hands toward the water face, surrounded in crackling electricity. It's bright light lit the deck with a different glow, and Cody was surprised to see some of the tendrils that had been writhing past him suddenly turn and speed toward their new target, Trunks. It was in this moment that Cody came upon a realization he was surprised he hadn't came upon before. Trunks was from Dragon Ball Z too. Sure, he was a different age then he had ever recalled seeing him in the show, but that attack settled it. Cody had never watched that much of the Dragon Ball Z show, so since trunks looked so different, Cody hadn't recognized him. He smiled with a new found hope.
He turned to see a great water tendril heading straight for him, and his happiness was ripped away. The tendril-like end of it reformed into something more akin to the mouth of a giant worm, rowed with teeth. It was at least six feet high and wide, and it threatened to swallow Cody whole as it soared toward him in high speed. For a moment, Cody thought it was all over. It was only several feet away, and Cody thought for sure, any moment now, he'd be seeing his life flash before his eyes. His mother and father, his raising and childhood, his school and his friends. All the people he hadn't seen in what seemed like ages, and now, likely never would. The good times, and the bad times. Surely, all of that had to flash through his mind at some point now, right?
The gaping blue hole was replaced by another shape. Dyo. He swung with great force at the mouth, and it recoiled away at high speeds, transforming back into a tendril. Cody smiled up at Dyo, glad that he had somehow averted certain death yet again. Dyo stared grimly back. Then, Dyo stopped and looked up. Cody followed suit, certainly something was happening, if it was big enough to draw Dyo's attention.
The attack of Rose's team hit it's peak. The ninja above threw some sort of magical stars that sliced through the features of the water's face. Great balls of flaming fire rained down from the sky upon the position of the wave, steaming parts of it away as it smashed through. The demon man coiled up and released a new, stronger blast, black and surrounded in a bright red glow, yet somewhow, empty. Trunk's stream of energy too, struck the face, and all the attacks converged upon it in a great fury of force.
The face turned skyward and roared painfully.
Then, as he roared, a great white light appeared from deep within him. For a shocked moment, it looked down at the light slowly growing within it, and then the light grew brighter and brighter. The watery tendrils that had shot forth from it, were all suddenly sucked back toward it. It's mouth closed up and it held it's breath, it's cheeks bubbling and growing in size as if trying to keep a massive explosion from escaping itself. Then, reality itself seemed to bend and pull around the waves, like a great black hole. In an immense release of a light, power, and water, the entire tidal wave exploded so brightly that it temporarily blinded them, and with such force that it knocked most of them off their feet.
The face, and the tidal wave, was gone. They had won.
At first, a cheer started to erupt from the people on the boat and in the air, but it was interrupted by the sparse gasps of many of the onlookers. The tidal wave was gone, but there on the front tip of the deck, was Krillin and several more of the crew members Cody didn't recognize, soaked in water. Krillin lifted himself up, choking on water with pained eyes, but none of the others laying there moved.
Cody and the others rushed closer to the bodies to see how they were. The members of the team that had been in the air also landed on the deck nearby. However, just before they reached the fallen forms, another form suddenly fell out of the sky in front of them. Cody thought he heard a crack of broken bones as it landed on the deck, it must've fell from pretty high up, Cody thought. The form was of a man. An old bearded man.
Cody almost thought he recognized the guy.
Cody turned slightly surprised to see an unscathed but drenched Rose fall from the sky and land in a kneeling position not far from the old man. Her body still glowed faintly white, but faded as she stood. Rose stepped forward to reach the frail old man as he limply tried to pull himself off the floor. She leaned in a little closer to speak to him, but it seemed to Cody like she refrained from getting too close. In the deafening quiet that now surrounded the boat, Cody had no difficulty listening to their conversation.
"Had enough?" Rose taunted smugly. The old man chuckled lightly. Cody wasn't sure, but he almost thought that this old man was the face in the water. Rose sure talked to him like he was.
"You can't win. You think you can get away, Rose?" He laughed in a deep but weakened voice. "Make no mistake mortal; all of you will die." Rose pulled out a sword in response. He cackled wildly, and suddenly his entire body seemed to 'wink' out of existence. One moment he was there, and the next he was gone. There was no trace of the old man left in a single moment, as if he was never there. Everyone was still drenched in water, however.
Cody stood confused in the silence, as everyone else did little more then stare numbly as he did.
"Okay guys, I haven't had much to say so far," Cody started, and Dyo scoffed in response. "So I got just one question." Cody paused in deep thought.
"WHAT THE-
-T-R-G-
The boat shook violently from side to side, but it was clear they weren't going forward anymore. Of course, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
Cody reached the front of the ship to get a full, close up view of the immense shape blocking their ship's passage. A massive tidal wave, several times the height of the ship, and so wide he could hardly see the end of it, held itself up in front of them. The wave wasn't rearing itself higher, or crashing down, it was just... There. Gigantic. Scary.
Cody almost felt like 'booking it', or more precisely, getting out of there as quick as possible, staring at the thing. He could see no logical reason why it wasn't smashing down on to them and tearing the ship in half. The water still churned inside of it, and a few drips even fell on him from the tip of the wave that was nearly directly above him.
He turned toward Rose and some of her men, who also were at the front, and tried to shout over the roaring wave.
"What's going on?!" Cody couldn't even hear himself speak. He wasn't even sure he had. The tidal wave had suddenly began roaring ten times louder then it was before, the same moment he had opened his mouth to ask about what was happening. He looking up at it's enormous shape, and saw the most unbelievable thing. Something was actually... forming, inside the wave. The water spun with great speed, slowly turning into the shape of what appeared to be a head. Or a face.
Terror struck Cody's heart, as he looked up at the imposing bearded face made entirely of water. It stuck several feet out from the rest of the wave, so it was easily distinguishable. At least, Cody thought it was several feet. From the size of the boat, and the sheer size of the wave, he wasn't even sure how far away the wave was. It felt like it was only ten or twenty feet away though.
Things got worse for Cody. In an almost slow speed, the massive pillars of water that formed his mouth opened and close as it began to speak in the loudest, most booming and commanding voices Cody had ever heard in his life.
"TURN BACK!" The face's voice boomed menacingly. "You shall NOT pass." The great size of the face made him speak at a slower pace, something you would expect of anything that large.
For a moment, the roaring of the water seemed to cease, almost like it was waiting for a response. Cody distinctly heard the sarcastic and crisp voice of Rose, standing next to him.
"Yeah right." Her words reflected her defiance, and not the slightest hint of fear. For a moment, Cody thought a little more fondly of Rose. That even in the face of this great danger, she seemed to not have a second thought about what her actions were going to be.
Cody, on the other hand, felt differently about the situation. It seemed like listening to this guy was a good idea. What could possibly fight a gigantic face made entirely of water? Even considering the idea was preposterous to Cody. Only a day or so ago, he would've been made fun of for a year if he had asked someone in his school that question. Now, it seemed to be the question everyone on board the boat, that was tiny in comparison to it's adversary, was asking themselves.
The Water face roared. But, this time, it wasn't just the sound of the churning waves, holding themselves up in the air. This time, it was really the man in the water, roaring at them. For a few seconds, Cody couldn't think of anything scarier. And then, all of a sudden, he could.
Great blue tendrils of water suddenly burst out all over from inside the tidal wave. They writhed and whipped as they flew towards the boat at a speed Cody couldn't hope to measure. However, the crew of Rose's boat weren't going to just sit still. It seemed they had a few tricks up their sleeves as well.
Cody turned his head to see something possibly more surprising then the event already transpiring; two of the most unimposing men, that he had hardly even noticed until now, did something entirely unexpected. They both took off into the air without any means of propulsion. Quite literally, they flew. Straight up, and within less then a second or two, they were about level with the giant face.
They were both very short, one of the reasons Cody hadn't found them very intimidating. The first one was blonde, blue eyed, handsome man, of about 5 feet or so. He wore a business man's suit, and Cody had recalled him smiling cheesy whenever he saw him. The second one was even less noticeable, for he was the height of a midget, was bald, and wore an average red shirt and slacks.
They flew up almost in formation, one on the left and the other on the right. The midget crouched and pulled his arms back, pressing his hands together, at the very moment they stopped. Cody could hardly believe his eyes. He had seen that pose before. Only in one place had he ever seen that pose before. A television show that until that very moment, he hadn't even considered also existed now in real life.
That, was the preparation position, for a Kame-hame-ha blast. A character from Dragon Ball Z, one of those anime shows famous for having a ludicrous amount of power being thrown around all the time, was floating there in front of him, about to let loose an awesome and terrible blast on his foe.
'What a big DBZ fan wouldn't give to be here right now...' Cody thought with a smile, momentarily forgetting the extreme danger he was facing.
Just then, the water tendrils hit. The two in the air were hit first, likely since they were the closest, and tendrils swirled past him down the deck of the boat. He turned and saw the midget, with a great blue tendril wrapped around him, writhing in mid-air, yelling as he tried to free himself from it's grip. Closer to him was Rose, hacking at a rushing tendril with a large shiny sword he didn't remember her having a minute ago.
Up above him to the left, he saw the blonde one, also struggling while wrapped in the tendrils. Cody gasped as the man's semi-muscular form suddenly burst from the inside, giving way to a giant purple demon-like creature. It had great horns and a devilish tail, and was four or five times the muscle size that the man had previously been. With the man's body and clothes, the tendrils also burst off him, shredding into harmless water that fell into the sea. The creature flexed and roared in anger, and never before had Cody seen such a shocking transformation in real life before.
Cody felt bewildered and overwhelmed by what transpired around him. All on the boat, and even in the air, were people ducking and dodging, fighting and hacking, yelling and screaming, all fighting off these water tentacles. Yet, none of them swerved toward Cody. Not a single flowing tendril turned toward Cody and tried to envelop him. It was like he wasn't even there. He felt like he should dodge, but there was no attack to avoid. He felt like he should fight back, but he didn't know how.
He looked around the floor of the ship, trying to find something he could use as a weapon. But, looking back up at the watery tendrils, coming forth from the enormous wave of water and it's enraged face, the idea of fighting back felt hopeless. How could he hope to harm water, he thought. Wouldn't any attack simply pass right through it?
Nearby him he noticed Maxi, the one who had been on the rowboat earlier, desperately trying to keep a grip on the navigational wheel of the ship. It turned and rocked from side to side violently in tandem with him, while he tried his best to keep it steady.
"I'm not sure how much longer he can take this!" Cody heard Maxi say, which Cody thought Maxi was referring to the ship. "We could go over!" A blue mass of water descended upon his shoulder, and his left arm fell limply off the wheel. Cody wasn't sure if the man yelled in pain or not, but he did catch a glimpse of the man pulling out nunchuks and tearing into the tendril before his view was cut off by another giant snaking tendril directly in front of Cody. The surprise of it as it landed so close to him made him trip and fall backward. He stood up and tried to back up away from it, but he ran directly into a solid form of another snaking tendril behind him. He spun around and stared at it worriedly, and even started to hyperventilate in fear. It seemed nowhere was he safe.
As he spun bewildered at his surroundings, he looked back up for the image of the bald midget, and was disheartened to not see him there. Looking around, he caught sight of him, being pulled closer and closer toward the wave. For a moment, the midget got his arms free, and he ripped and tore at the tendrils that encircled him more and more. He fought to get away, to get out of the hold and to pull himself away from the wave, but to no avail.
The man let out a scream of pain or desperation, Cody wasn't sure which, and he was suddenly pulled a hundred feet or more within seconds. The midget was sucked into the great wide open mouth of the face, and it slammed shut on him.
"Krillin!!" Rose yelled out in fear for her comrade's life. Turning to look at her, Cody saw her forming some kind of symbol with her hand, and her face looked deeply focused. Cody was amazed to see a transparent glow surround her like a bubble, and she closed her eyes. Hearing the rush of wind in his ears, he looked up to see a tendril ten times the size of the rest suddenly crash down on top of her. As one might expect of water, it hit and surrounded her, and Cody lost sight of her inside of it. He nearly lost his balance as it crashed onto the deck, for the wood splintered and smashed due to it's sheer weight.
Again, he wondered how to fight such a creature. Cody managed to punch one of the tendrils, but as he had originally expected, his hand passed through it like water, and it was not clear if any damage was done. More tendrils whipped past his head, and he saw one grab a hold of Scar-tooth and drag him fifteen feet across the deck. It was frightening to behold, and Cody wondered if Scar-tooth was still alive as he fell through the hole his body had smashed into the deck of the ship.
Each tendril seemed alive in itself, seeking out it's targets. It reminded Cody of an octopus, except this one seemed to be fighting flies.
"Hahahaha- Foolish mortals! None can withstand OUR will!" The deep voice of the bearded face boomed almost violently.
Cody heard a great explosion, followed by the sound of something like a giant ray gun, firing continously. Looking to the sky, he saw the demon-like man firing an enormous blast of sheer power from his hands, directed at the mouth of the tidal wave. The water roared in what sounded like pain, and it's eyes turned to the demon-man and blasted him with deep red beams from his eyes. It set the muscular purple man off-balance, but it didn't cause him to stop firing his enormous blue and white blast of power.
Wind rushed past Cody's head, and he looked straight up to see a ninja leaping high over his head, drawing a katana and forming odd symbols in the air with his hands. Another man, above him and to the right, also stood floating in mid air, with some ancient yellow-ish scroll floating in the air before him, that he seemed to be reading.
Another sound of wind, akin to what he recalled 'flying' sounding like in television shows, caught his attention to his left, and he turned to see the form of Trunks, also flying, heading for the form of the demon-man. Trunks whizzed his hands around in circles so fast it was a blur, and then yelled a name he recognized.
"Burning.. ATTACK!" Trunks shouted over the sounds of battle. A bright orange stream shot from his hands toward the water face, surrounded in crackling electricity. It's bright light lit the deck with a different glow, and Cody was surprised to see some of the tendrils that had been writhing past him suddenly turn and speed toward their new target, Trunks. It was in this moment that Cody came upon a realization he was surprised he hadn't came upon before. Trunks was from Dragon Ball Z too. Sure, he was a different age then he had ever recalled seeing him in the show, but that attack settled it. Cody had never watched that much of the Dragon Ball Z show, so since trunks looked so different, Cody hadn't recognized him. He smiled with a new found hope.
He turned to see a great water tendril heading straight for him, and his happiness was ripped away. The tendril-like end of it reformed into something more akin to the mouth of a giant worm, rowed with teeth. It was at least six feet high and wide, and it threatened to swallow Cody whole as it soared toward him in high speed. For a moment, Cody thought it was all over. It was only several feet away, and Cody thought for sure, any moment now, he'd be seeing his life flash before his eyes. His mother and father, his raising and childhood, his school and his friends. All the people he hadn't seen in what seemed like ages, and now, likely never would. The good times, and the bad times. Surely, all of that had to flash through his mind at some point now, right?
The gaping blue hole was replaced by another shape. Dyo. He swung with great force at the mouth, and it recoiled away at high speeds, transforming back into a tendril. Cody smiled up at Dyo, glad that he had somehow averted certain death yet again. Dyo stared grimly back. Then, Dyo stopped and looked up. Cody followed suit, certainly something was happening, if it was big enough to draw Dyo's attention.
The attack of Rose's team hit it's peak. The ninja above threw some sort of magical stars that sliced through the features of the water's face. Great balls of flaming fire rained down from the sky upon the position of the wave, steaming parts of it away as it smashed through. The demon man coiled up and released a new, stronger blast, black and surrounded in a bright red glow, yet somewhow, empty. Trunk's stream of energy too, struck the face, and all the attacks converged upon it in a great fury of force.
The face turned skyward and roared painfully.
Then, as he roared, a great white light appeared from deep within him. For a shocked moment, it looked down at the light slowly growing within it, and then the light grew brighter and brighter. The watery tendrils that had shot forth from it, were all suddenly sucked back toward it. It's mouth closed up and it held it's breath, it's cheeks bubbling and growing in size as if trying to keep a massive explosion from escaping itself. Then, reality itself seemed to bend and pull around the waves, like a great black hole. In an immense release of a light, power, and water, the entire tidal wave exploded so brightly that it temporarily blinded them, and with such force that it knocked most of them off their feet.
The face, and the tidal wave, was gone. They had won.
At first, a cheer started to erupt from the people on the boat and in the air, but it was interrupted by the sparse gasps of many of the onlookers. The tidal wave was gone, but there on the front tip of the deck, was Krillin and several more of the crew members Cody didn't recognize, soaked in water. Krillin lifted himself up, choking on water with pained eyes, but none of the others laying there moved.
Cody and the others rushed closer to the bodies to see how they were. The members of the team that had been in the air also landed on the deck nearby. However, just before they reached the fallen forms, another form suddenly fell out of the sky in front of them. Cody thought he heard a crack of broken bones as it landed on the deck, it must've fell from pretty high up, Cody thought. The form was of a man. An old bearded man.
Cody almost thought he recognized the guy.
Cody turned slightly surprised to see an unscathed but drenched Rose fall from the sky and land in a kneeling position not far from the old man. Her body still glowed faintly white, but faded as she stood. Rose stepped forward to reach the frail old man as he limply tried to pull himself off the floor. She leaned in a little closer to speak to him, but it seemed to Cody like she refrained from getting too close. In the deafening quiet that now surrounded the boat, Cody had no difficulty listening to their conversation.
"Had enough?" Rose taunted smugly. The old man chuckled lightly. Cody wasn't sure, but he almost thought that this old man was the face in the water. Rose sure talked to him like he was.
"You can't win. You think you can get away, Rose?" He laughed in a deep but weakened voice. "Make no mistake mortal; all of you will die." Rose pulled out a sword in response. He cackled wildly, and suddenly his entire body seemed to 'wink' out of existence. One moment he was there, and the next he was gone. There was no trace of the old man left in a single moment, as if he was never there. Everyone was still drenched in water, however.
Cody stood confused in the silence, as everyone else did little more then stare numbly as he did.
"Okay guys, I haven't had much to say so far," Cody started, and Dyo scoffed in response. "So I got just one question." Cody paused in deep thought.
"WHAT THE-
-T-R-G-