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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 13:13:43 GMT -5
 Wakka put an arm over his face while he clung to the bottom of the ladder. Riku's entrance into the drink caused him to be splashed. It didn't matter though since he planned on getting wet anyway.
'Mystery place, eh?' Wakka thought with a smile as he let himself also drop into the water and then float to the surface. 'I guess that's a good way for him to think of it.'
Not wanting Riku to get the gist of what he wanted to show him too soon the redhead started to swim. He headed as directly toward the setting sun as he could. If he was going to do this then he wanted as much light as possible.
"Been practicing your swimming I hope," he said loudly. "We'll have to go out pretty far."
Riku would know that Wakka and Tidus often swam out as far as they could before coming back, but the pair always said they could find nothing out there on the sea.
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Post by blazingTactician on Aug 13, 2010 13:20:55 GMT -5
"You know it! No one's faster than me!" He started to swim after Wakka, arms and legs propelling him like crazy as he overshot his redheaded friend. The heat of the moment caused him to shoot ahead for a bit, before he slowed his pace, remembering that Wakka was guiding him to this strange spot.
He swam in silence for a time, enjoying the warm waves. Years of practice had given him large stores of energy- he hadn't really done much today, so that helped, too.
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 13:26:14 GMT -5
Wakka had to admire Riku's patience. He was clearly excited to see what was in store, but had remained his usual, prideful self once they had gotten on their way. If it were Tidus he'd have been bombarded by a million questions about where they were going and how long it would take by now, he figured.
After what seemed like quite a while of silent swimming Wakka spoke up again.
"You're faster in the water than me but I think there's one thing I can beat you at out here," he called to the boy.
As he said this the teen came to a halt and began to just tread water. He had been running around with Tidus all day so he wasn't as fresh as Riku, but the water was like a second home to him. He had great confidence in his stamina.
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Post by blazingTactician on Aug 13, 2010 13:31:56 GMT -5
After a while, Wakka called out his challenge. Riku wasn't terribly interested- he was eager to get wherever they were going. Suddenly the redhead stopped and just treaded water.
Riku knew what he was up to- a stamina contest? He stopped, back peddling to where he had overshot Wakka, a curious look on his face. "Come on, we don't have time for this if you want to get back sooner."
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 13:41:42 GMT -5
Wakka shook his head in amusement. Typical Riku, thinking everything was about challenging him. The redhead just grinned at his friend.
"I guess you haven't been thinking things through enough to figure it out, ya!?" he asked before turning to check the sunset again. They were close enough now. If they went any farther they probably wouldn't make it back before his brother and adoptive family started to worry. With that in mind he turned back to Riku. "What I'm trying to say is, I hope you know how to hold your breath."
Wakka stopped talking and exhaled. With his head low he began to breath in slowly, sucking in life-giving oxygen. His head tilted up and back the longer he inhaled, filling his lungs to maximum capacity before finally shutting his mouth to seal it in. It was a pretty impressive breath, actually. Wakka had been practicing and increasing his lung capacity for a while now.
With his body prepared Wakka lifted his right hand out of the water and made a pointing motion directly down a few times. Once his point was across the swimmer ducked under the surface and disappeared, pushing himself lower and lower into the dark waters.
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Post by blazingTactician on Aug 13, 2010 13:46:33 GMT -5
Riku was startled by Wakka's comment. There was something he missed? This wasn't helped by what he said next, which just earned a curious head tilt in return. His eyes widened when he saw Wakka prepare to dive- and he got it in a sudden flash of realization: this place was underwater!
It made sense now that he thought about it. Not many adults had the stamina they did, so naturally the sailors had passed over whatever Wakka had found. Riku wished he had figured that out sooner- but no harm done.
He copied Wakka's preparation, before diving underwater, after his friend.
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 13:52:23 GMT -5
There was just barely enough light for Wakka to go by as he led Riku down. Schools of fish scattered as they passed and small bubbles of air occasionally escaped from their mouthes or nostrils and floated back up toward the surface. How long one could stay underwater was the real issue here, but Wakka had faith in himself and hardly anyone would worry about Riku. The amazing kid knew his limits better than anyone else did, including Wakka, so hopefully neither of them would drown.
It was a quiet descent again though. Unlike the swim out where they simply chose not to talk, now they couldn't Communication would be limited to visible gestures, but Wakka had to devote all of his energy to continue forcing himself downward. He knew the purpose of their dip, but the leader of the little expedition couldn't help but wonder what Riku was thinking now that they had begun this leg of the trip.
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Post by blazingTactician on Aug 13, 2010 14:03:20 GMT -5
It was tough, trying to dive this deep, but Riku could handle it. The rush of water hitting every part of his body slowed him down somewhat, but he worked against the buoyancy, forcing his body down further into the dark.
His eyes beheld the underwater world in all of its glory. Fish were everywhere, thankfully just small ones. He'd never seen a shark before, but he wouldn't relish fighting one. Pressing on, he was aware that they were descending deeper and deeper towards the ocean floor, where no light shined.
For some reason, he hesitated. Stopping for a bare second, Riku was apprehensive of the expanse of pure black that awaited them. Remembering that Wakka was watching, however, galvanized him into action, and he shot forward again.
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 14:10:39 GMT -5
Finally, after what felt like hours but was really much shorter, the view of the rocky bottom came before Wakka's straining eyes. They weren't so far from Destiny Islands that the ocean's depths were stretched out below them yet, this was more like just going a little lower down the mostly-underwater mountains who's tips poked out of the sea to form their home.
Wakka swam around just above the surface of the rocks, observing the stones, and shells and sea creatures that lived down here, but he also turned and looked back up. The redhead was waiting for Riku to catch up and to let him have a look around.
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Post by blazingTactician on Aug 13, 2010 14:14:09 GMT -5
Managing to catch up to Wakka, Riku shot down to the ocean floor, marveling at the foot of the mountain. The cartography of the ocean was really something else, but he didn't really understand it- he was pretty bad at oceanology. Looking around, he observed the coral and strange fuana growing here, before turning to Wakka and giving him a curious look, as if to say "Where to now?"
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 14:25:50 GMT -5
Wakka wondered how long they could risk being here before they would have to start their way back up for air, but he was OK for now and Riku seemed ready to go on. By their little bit of light he turned around a few times to get his bearings and spotted something in the distance. The redhead swam his way over toward some outcroppings of rocks, making sure to avoid the little crabs that were walking around below him.
A short time later and he had arrived. Swimming to the other side of it so Riku could see Wakka turned back to face his silver-haired friend. In the rocks below them was a crevasse. A large split in the stone that led down. Deep down, into total darkness.
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Post by blazingTactician on Aug 13, 2010 14:48:50 GMT -5
Maneuvering through the deep, he followed Wakka. He was amazed that his friend had found all of this- it must've taken some serious exploring. Plant life, fish life, all sorts of life flourished down here without the glow of the sun. It was pretty amazing.
Noticing Wakka had stopped, he sped up, catching up to the redhead before noticing the crack. A split in the stone...and a dark abyss beneath. He would have gasped if he could- it seemed to go on for forever, mainly cause he couldn't tell the distance in the dark.
He gestured towards it with his hand and tilted his head, wondering if they were to swim down it.
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 14:53:39 GMT -5
Wakka held his hand out flat toward Riku, essentially signalling a "stay here". After this the redhead slowly tilted himself toward the opening and swam down. Placing his hands along the side of the wall he half-swam half-climbed down inside, slowly making his way lower into the dark.
It was exhilarating, but also dangerous. Even if the sun were directly above them this pit would still be pitch black just a short way down. Riku would lose sight of his friend very quickly with no means of keeping track of him, but then they wouldn't eb able to see each other down there even if they both went together. That was obviously one reason Wakka had directed him to stay put.
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Post by blazingTactician on Aug 13, 2010 14:57:07 GMT -5
Riku would have objected if he could talk. Just sitting around while Wakka had all the fun wasn't what he had come here to do. He fumed for a moment while the redhead went ahead, into the black void.
He slowly realized that his friend was right- in the absolute darkness they wouldn't even be able to see their own body, let alone each other. Swallowing his pride for a time, he hovered, waiting impatiently for Wakka's return. After all, it was the redhead's show.
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Post by The Bilby Guy on Aug 13, 2010 15:06:03 GMT -5
As Wakka descended slowly he reached out and felt his hand brush into something sharp. He jerked it back and held onto the side of it. A little blood was leaking out but he couldn't see that from here. Curiously he reached more carefully and felt the object. It was solid, like a dense rock, but thin. Flat on one side. It seemed to be sticking out of the side of the crevasse wall. The part near the wall was rounded, so Wakka took a hold of it and began to pull.
'I think Riku could use a souvenir,' the diver thought to himself, feeling the object loosen a little with each tug. Eventually he successfully broke it off, allowing a few rock fragments from its exit to fall into the depths below.
Turning his gaze topside Wakka began to swim back out. He needed to go up for more air very soon, so it was probably a good thing he hadn't pushed his luck. When Riku saw his friend re-emerge from the darkness he would find him carrying a meter-long length of something with him. It was an odd growth of red coral, bumpy but almost straight and with sharp edges pointing off of it on one side.
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