Chapter 20: Sunken Treasures Of Much Value

The next morning with the Wither Team...

Eden padded across the rough dirt of the far side of the island, a plump wild boar dangling from her jaws...looking like a plentiful meal for her teammates to enjoy. She had gotten up early to travel to the far side of the island and do a bit of hunting, as well as patrol the area to make sure that no member of the ferret tribe had decided to sneak into the team's newfound territory. Now upon thinking of the tribe, Eden couldn't help but to wonder what the mischievous little rodents were up to when they weren't battling their enemies...or conspiring to kill their enemies. After the previous night's battle with the Manticore, it was made clear to Eden that Kane and his tribe were still annoyed by her team's presence...despite the fact that there hadn't been much conflict since their second battle. The tigress couldn't help but to give a growl of annoyance upon thinking about that. The Wither Team lived in fear of dying of starvation for a good long week, and that was more than enough to worry about at the time...Eden hoped that the thought of death didn't have to cross anyone's minds again. But unfortunately, due to the presence of the ferret tribe, she and her friends would have to be alert at all times until they found a way off the island. Eden stopped walking and put her kill down, beginning to pick at a patch of fur that had become matted with dirt and dust. The battle with the Manticore had been a messy one, and the tigress had ended up going back to bed with the uncomfortable feeling of being dirty and grimy...much to her dismay. Not having somewhere to clean up was definitely increasing her longing to get to get home. "I'mma have to wash up in the pond by the beach." Eden thought. "Actually, wait...that's where we drink from. Frick!" As she was thinking, Eden suddenly spotted something blue at the corner of her eye...bringing her attention to another small pond in the middle of a group of trees. "Hm...how convenient." The tigress mumbled to herself. She proceeded to bury her kill so there wasn't potential of something stealing it, and padded over to the pond before dipping a paw in. It was a little cold, but it would definitely do the trick...and Eden didn't complain. After standing back up on two legs and jumped right into the pond...only to discover that it was anything but a small pond. Rather that having her paws touch the surface of the bottom when she jumped in, Eden ended up sinking as if she had jumped into the ocean from high in the sky in a helicopter...causing her to immediately retreat back to the surface of the water and jump out in surprise. "What in the name of—" Eden gasped in her thoughts. "That's not a pond!" It wasn't a pond, but that didn't mean that the tigress knew what it really was. She smacked her lips a few times, realizing something even more odd. The water was salty, much like the ocean...and that only boosted her level of curiosity. After padding back over to the water, Eden took in a massive breath of air and held it in her cheeks before dunking her her head into the hole. She noticed that the hole was actually a tunnel, and to what it led down to...she definitely did not know. "They say 'curiosity killed the cat'." Eden thought. "I wonder if I'm that metaphorical cat..." She pulled her head out of the water and briefly closed her eyes, uttering a command to trigger her powers. "Water breathing." The symbols belonging to the Water Element to their usual place on the sides of Eden's head, and her eyes and and stripes began to glow blue. "Here goes nothing!" She said. And she dove right into the hole.

A few minutes later...

The tunnel was unusually long, made of nothing but dirt, sand, and gravel. The further she swam down, the more Eden wondered what lied at the end of the tunnel...and if it was going to be dangerous or not. Knowing the dimension, the tigress wouldn't be surprised if there was some insane water monster lurking in the depths of the darkness that she could currently see...waiting for potential prey to show it's face. Therefore, she kept her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary...and her claws unsheathed in case of a fight. Another moment or two soon goes by, and Eden found herself swimming out of the tunnel...with the light of the sun shining through the surface of the water telling her that the tunnel had simply led out into the ocean. At first, she was a bit disappointed...as the tigress expected a bit more than just something else that gave her access to open waters. But then her gaze fell upon where the sun's light shone the most, and her eyes widened at the sight of what was sitting many lengths before her. It was a stunningly massive sunken ship, sporting a more than a few large holes as well as appearing a bit dark and withered with age...but otherwise looked very much intact. Eden's jaw would've dropped, but not wanting a mouthful of saltwater was what stopped it from doing so. "Holy crap..." the tigress thought. "Apparently, we weren't the only ones who got shipwrecked. But I'm assuming that whoever owned this thing didn't make it out alive." A flash of gold light caught Eden's attention, and she squinted to get a better look at the ship...noticing that there was something hidden inside of it. Letting her curiosity take over once again, the tigress went down deeper and proceeded to approach the ship. Though just as her uneasiness had finally begun to fade, Eden heard a thick, rumbling growl echo fiercely throughout the area. "I wish I could say that sounded good..." She thought. The tigress glanced about, scanning her surroundings for any signs of life. There was nothing, but Eden knew for a fact that this growl she heard was way too loud for it to be a figment of her imagination. Cautiously, Eden continued to make her way towards the gold light shining in the ship...only to be interrupted by that thick growling once again. But this time, it was much much closer. Eden froze for a good split second, and whirled around to face the direction of the sound...her eyes widening at the sight of the horrid source. A absolutely humongous electric eel was effortlessly wading through the water faster than a pair of dolphins at Sea World, with it's massive fizzling maw agape...showing off sharp, bright white teeth. Eden exclaimed something inaudible in surprise, causing bubbles to spew out of her mouth as she dove out of the way of the angry electric beast. The massive eel let out a frustrated roar as it watched it's prey slip from it's grasp, and immediately darted after her again. Eden retreated into a hole on the ocean floor, the eel just barely at her heels...and attempting to squeeze it's way after the tigress, snapping it's electric jaws. Eden flinched as she watched it struggle in the light of her brightly glowing stripes, things could definitely be a hundred times better at the moment. She knew that something would be hiding in the depths of the ocean, why did she let her curiosity get the best of her? At least her water breathing lasted as long as her powers were activated. "Great, now what?" Eden thought. "This thing clearly doesn't plan on giving up any time soon." She took a moment to think about her options to escape, in which seemed to be extremely limited. The eel was determined, but it seriously couldn't be that determined. Eden could wait for it to give up, though that could take a very long time...leaving her with only one other option. The tigress clenched her fists and closed her eyes, as her stripes began to glow even brighter...and the symbols belonging to the Water Element took their usual position. "Elemental power up, Water!" Suddenly in that next moment, a blue battle aura the size of the eel took the shape of a magnificent water dragon and formed around Eden...who shot up from the hole and took the eel with her, causing it to squirm and struggle in the jaws of the water dragon aura. The tigress jerked her head in one direction and made her aura toss the electric beast across the ocean floor. It rolled a good few feet away before squiggling itself back into fighting position and giving a mighty roar. Eden also roared as she zoomed right back into the fray and gave the eel's neck another powerful chomp, taking the creature by surprise. It fought as hard as it could, whipping it's opponent furiously with it's tail in futile attempts to get free. Eden refused to flinch as she tightened her grip and repeatedly slammed the eel on the ocean floor to daze it, hopefully giving it a reason to back down and stop struggling. But to the tigress' unfortunate surprise, the eel retaliated with a single clumsy twirl of it's body...in which dizzied Eden enough to make her let go and go rolling across the sea floor and into the sunken ship. She let out a noisy frustrated growl that almost echoed throughout the area. "Damn!" Her eyes then fell upon the eel, who didn't come rushing back to finish off it's prey like the tigress thought it would. Though her water dragon aura was made of nothing but pure energy, it still provided enough power to make the eel bleed...and that was most likely the reason why it seemed so taken aback. But then in that next moment, it bared it's teeth at Eden and snarled...showing off bright white teeth that fizzled with electricity. Seeing the creature's challenge, Eden pushed herself off the sea floor and torpedoed straight back for the eel. Ready for the attack that time, the electric beast swam above the water dragon aura's snapping jaws and went for the tail. Eden gritted her teeth, feeling the teeth of the eel on her own tail...though her water dragon aura was fortunately preventing her from taking too much damage. It wouldn't hold up for long, however, which is why the battle needed to end...fast. With the eel still hanging on to her tail, Eden proceeded to take it for a ride...swimming around the area of the sunken ship at an insane speed, occasionally slamming her opponent into the sand below if the opportunity had come. Once she felt that the eel was dizzy enough, she whipped her body and flung it away. It decided to retaliate one more time, but was met with a powerful tail slap to the face as soon as it went back in. That finally did the trick, as the massive electric beast gave a cry of distress before retreating back to the dark depths of the ocean. Eden's water dragon aura began to dissipate. "Finally...that was one stubborn eel." She thought. "Now to see that shiny thing in the ship." The tigress waded back down to the ship, the light of the sun shining through the surface of the water getting in her eyes...causing her to squint as she entered the giant wooden behemoth that sat before her. And then...one look. One look was all it took for Eden to immediately know what the shining gold object was. She didn't hesitate to let the words come out of her mouth.
"Oh my freaking god..."

It was the treasure that Bucky was searching for.

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Whoof...sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I have a tendency to get bored with certain stories, and end up losing the motivation to write them. But I told myself that I would finish this one before I post another one, and I plan to stay true to that promise! So stay tuned for the next chapter!

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