Chapter 18: Into the Depths

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

After what had happened with Sem, I expected for the situation regarding Crests to quiet down for a few weeks. Long enough for us all to nurse all wounds, prepare, and pack for actual expeditions when the time came for us to move once more.

The problem… is that we didn’t have that luxury. The first hint that this was the case came four days after the events with the Death Crest, and it came right from Carmesi as she felt a similar ‘disgusted pull’ as when she felt Pulsar’s presence the first time around. The pressure still existed between the two, but had dampened due to how close they have been to each other and how this was simple to suppress with  enough concentration. Yet, at this moment, the pull was stronger, more ‘anger-filled’. The Fox Prime was definitely furious for reasons we could not understand and it took stronger sedatives to place her in a good enough mood to cooperate and answer questions over what had caused this kind of reaction out of her.

We had our answer, and it wasn’t an enjoyable one. A quick scan of the planet completely dominated by water showed no signs of Primes’ life on the celestial orb. Which was  odd due to the certainty of the Fire Crest on this matter. More scans were employed to confirm the results yielded by the first one, but only native animals were caught on  the full spectrum.

By all means, this was an oddity due to the contrasting hints of presence of Primes... and not. A reunion was issued and Adela took it upon herself to lead it, a clear distinction from the previous ones due to how poorly I took care of the last mission. The young Queen was briefed on the matter, nodding quietly and attentively as Archie and I alternated telling her the news. Pulsar was invested on the matter due to the fact the planet was mostly made of water, cold water to be more precise. While this wasn’t something he could control as easily as making or manipulating Ice, it was still something he could manipulate to some degree, putting him in a better mood to his eventual deployment. Despite my sureness in Grace’s fascination for marine life, I was surprised when she didn’t look to… happy of being recruited on the matter.

At first I thought that she wasn’t interested in the situation, and then I realized one thing that I hadn’t really explored with her due to how busy we had all been over studying, training and missions. I forgot to teach her how to swim… but that wouldn’t be too troublesome for the mission due to the fact we had the technology to avoid a very cold and icy bath in the depths of that planet.

“For any possible mission on the planet’s surface, we will use special suits that have been stored within the ship for occasions such as these,” I masterfully added. “They are equipped with features that allow them to move around and stabilize users without requiring any swimming technique.”

I noticed the Gazelle Prime’s curiosity perking at this, her pink eyes flaring renewed interest and… freezing as I flashed a happy grin at her. Her lips twitched, and she moved one of her hands up to prevent a giggle from coming out at that ‘standoff’. The conversation proceeded smoothly beyond that point, with Addie eventually summarizing what we knew of the matter and started to inquire more about the logistics of an eventual search and recovery mission.

“I could dispatch drones to drop signal emitters that should keep the more dangerous predators away while we send a live group to check on the planet for deeper scans,” Archie answered this subject as thoroughly as possible. “I’ve already ruled out the chances of sending drones instead due to the sensibility of the machinery and because… well, we don’t know how any colony deep in the planet might react to drones instead of actual living beings.”

“It would escalate misunderstandings,” Addie agreed and looked at me with a cautious look. “Do you have anything in addition to bring? Anything that would press worry about time?”

I shook my head, well expecting the woman to deliver that jab at this current predicament. At this point I would normally be hard-pressed on raising doubts about a particular issue tied to timing. Mostly because of how minimal our advantage over any Imperial pursuit, it was just correct to be concerned about them jumping us one way or another. Right now we had a couple of days of advantage since we partially crippled their effort, but it would be foolish to assume the chase was over.

We had a distinct advantage, but that was going to motivate a stronger effort from now on. And we had to remain vigilant for any surprises.

“While time is essential, we have the time to do this nice and safe,” I assured with a smug look. “I suppose you were expecting something else… your highness.”

A brief pout passed by her face, but the Coyote Prime held strong and hid away any intention of poking more fun out of me. I was prepared to wage a petty war if needed, and she knew that now more than before. Still, despite the minor victory there, I decided to further explain the matter regarding the mission.

“We will form a small group to decrease the chances of predators eluding the baits and focusing on large congregations of possible preys,” I started to explain, adding some detail to the basis of our current plan. “So… it would be best we keep a distance from each other from becoming the target of any passing sea monster.”

Everyone agreed to this, and soon the formulation of a team was provided and… altered by Adela herself. While the plan was to leave both her and Grace as reserves or reinforcements, the two protested long enough to impose their presence on the mission. So, despite the best efforts to leave someone else beyond Archie behind to keep watch over Carmie, in the end it was decided that most of the crew would join this endeavor. It was us and two more Primes from the other ships that had some experience in handling this kind of underwater operation.

With the stage and timing set, it was time to go through the preparatory phase before being deployed. The drones took roughly four hours to get the baits dropped, with all systems working optimally. The small devices were created just for this predicament and were calibrated to produce noises that would reverberate in a massive radius and attract the native creatures (mostly predators) within these sections.

Once this first step was over, we all got prepared with our suits, taking a few minutes to get accustomed to some of the commands while the main ship approached the closest the area we were going to explore the most since it was the one that surprisingly enough lacked any major concentration of lifeforms tied to the planet, and we jumped into the large sea. The jump was particularly fun due to the fact I didn’t feel any of the cold tied to the water now surrounding my body, the suit doing a fine job keeping us all warm and protected. We swiftly went for a full immersion, testing the radios and verifying their effectiveness during our descent.

“Can you all hear me?” I asked through the open comms and I got a couple of responses at once.

“I can hear you,” Adela replied, her voice standing out clear.

“Same,” Pulsar joined in and as I was given two more affirmatives by the operatives we dispatched with us, I heard someone humming within the system.

“Grace?”

“Hm? Oh sorry, I was just… looking around. It’s so pretty.”

I chuckled. “Yes, this is a beautiful place.”

Despite the fact I wasn’t too interested in the sea, I would lie if I ever said I didn’t like being subjected to this kind of beauty. This world was filled with water and had so many sea-themed critters that in this area looked fairly peaceful and harmless for us, adding an extra layer of life to this lovely location. Still, we couldn’t linger for too long as we had yet to begin the job. I took one last test by calling Archie, and then we were set to finally start properly.

“Archie?”

“Reading you fine and clear, boss. Radio’s effectiveness is currently at 94%, but I believe it will start to drop the deeper the group goes.”

“Understood, we’ll make sure to contact you frequently to check the effectiveness. Priority is to stop before it drops below 40%.”

“Understood. See you in an hour or so.”

I nodded, closing the ship’s connection and returning to the ‘local comms’. “I suppose we can start now.”

“Yes. Let’s get moving now before the baits stop working.”

Adela took charge of the expedition and proceeded to lead us deeper and deeper as the water started to slowly turn a darker shade of blue the further we rushed through. The area was devoid of major threats, and soon we were given some hope in the form of metallic residue of some old colonial ship created in Prism. Nothing that could give us a proper description of which ship we were dealing with precisely, but still it was a sign we were moving in the right direction. Everything was going fine until I noticed that Gracie was lagging behind. I was one of the last ones to move in the group, so I was the one to ‘pull’ the girl from outright stopping to study the nature all around, and I was worried due to the fact that the pressure was slowly growing unpleasant due to the descent we were going for.

I kept my eye on the Love Crest, making sure she didn’t do anything too silly… and I was glad that I took this approach since I was the only one to notice that something large was tailing us. Not a shark, not a scary monster with sharp teeth meant to shred meat and flesh- this huge fish was something familiar, and yet not.

“We have a whale behind us,” I ultimately pointed out to the rest of the group.

The whale hadn’t taken the baits. This was odd considering the frequency used by the baits should have been more than enough to distract something that big. I figured out that this was no normal whale if it was able to sneak around so quickly, and I studied its current pace. It wasn’t too quick but… this development still concerned me.

“How fast?” Addie inquired and I sighed.

“Modestly fast. I don’t think we can outrun it,” I commented dryly, we need to move to one of the smaller caves for now.”

At least, that was the simplest plan to think about while considering the creature’s current speed. As if it had heard me, I saw the whale picking up pace and doubling the one I noticed it going at early on. It caught my attention, and spiked my dread at how swiftly it was approaching us.

“It’s getting faster,” Pulsar called out and I gritted my teeth. We were moving, using the propulsor within the suits to move as quickly as possible to the nearest small cave around and… we weren’t going to make it.

Grace was moving as quickly as we were, but she was the closest to danger and from the look on her face, she was aware of this too. I wasn’t going to leave her in that situation for too long as I knew I had to stop and get her to pick up speed somehow.

“Adela, can you stun the big fish?”

While the idea of using a bow underwater felt ridiculous, the fact it used Light-magic bolt meant that the liquid wasn’t going to create attrition between the projectile and its target. In fact, since there was no air around to influence the bolt itself, there was no major deviation from its projected destination. The queen was a little surprised by the request, but finally took notice of the situation with the Love Crest. She took her bow, tensing up the string tied to it and materializing a big yellow-colored arrow. The bolt soared swiftly through the water, unfazed by the liquid as it slammed straight onto the head of the beast and exploded in a direct light-based blast. It wasn’t enough to kill or wound, but to deter it momentarily to stop.

It worked… barely. The massive fish was back on the pursuit almost twice as determined than before despite the impact. Surprising and dreadfully so, I managed to get Grace back to the others, but we were still too far from making it. So another decision was made... and it was a risky one. I had trained in both Ice and Fire magic for a while now. While my control wouldn’t matter much considering the setting, I always thought of the chances of mixing these two to force my body to learn how to use Water. So, being put in the circumstance where this risky maneuver had to work or we would all pay a big price, I tried conjuring up both elements in a single palm. It was easier said than done as my hand felt twitchy when it was slowly shared by an uneven amount of Fire Magic and Ice Magic, with red and gray hues alternating between each other before I eventually got through this issue, still draining on my body because of the forceful approach. My hand did start glowing blue through the suit, but before I could do something about it… the beast was slammed away by a sudden marine quake. It was so sudden that it was clearly driven by an artificial decision than a natural one. Someone had to have done it, and it wasn’t me.

I barely had the time to register the fact that, while I had used Water magic, I wasn’t the one that stopped the creature from approaching. It was in that confused moment that I saw something dark and fast rushing at me like a torpedo and… grabbing both me and Grace in the process before bolting away with us. Everything turned in a flurry and high-pressured ‘trip’ that didn’t allow me to move at all due to the strength exerted by the water itself, with the pressure doubling in mere instants due to how intense the pace of our captor was into retreating. My sight darkened and eventually my brain grew too light to keep up on the matter.

I slowly started to close my eyes, my brain barely catching the distraught voices of Pulsar and Addie calling for us as our kidnapper took us deeper… into the unknown.

And it was there, for the first time ever, that I considered how terrible it would be for me to die in such a beautiful place with someone that didn’t deserve that kind of fate. I was tired, confused… and unable to discern that the pink hue that I spotted on the captor was none other than the individual’s hair.

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Training alone wasn’t cutting it for her.

Carmesi had recovered in these few days, and yet she was far from being back to full readiness. Her body was still sore, with some exercises having been forbidden for the sake of completing her recovery process without her incurring any more risk that would worsen her condition and render her unable to properly fight once again for a little more time of ‘boredom’.

The punching bag she was using to relieve any frustration was doing a good job in keeping her from pestering the other occupant of the ship at the moment. She didn’t have anything against Archie, and she really didn’t mind him trying to entertain her… but it would be a lie if she admitted even just barely that she was happy with the entire situation. Water was her enemy- heck, she didn’t even mind staying behind just so she wouldn’t have to show how she would hate that kind of scenario for herself. Why would she love that setting if that much water prevented her power and her own physical abilities to shine properly during combat?

Huffing again, the Fire Crest knew from the outward appearance of the punching bag that even this one was going to collapse soon. Her strength was mostly back and she was itching to go back and get her pace worked up and sharpened to her normal capacity, if not to resume her self-improving exercises. Carmesi was certain that if she managed to match up her speed to her strength she would obtain the maximum impact, so she worked mostly on that by sharpening her skills with her blades. It’s been so long since she gave serious thought about giving more effort with these weapons that she knew she had ‘slacked off’ somehow due to that.

With nobody around to keep a check on her, some basic actions were allowed to begin checking how well she could use her blades compared to when she first joined. Not much, she noticed with a hint of dismay, but it was still something to start working with. And so the Fox Prime began giving attention to this particular element of her training. It wasn’t easy considering how she had to make sure she wasn’t pushing her body too much. For the time being, it was just to check on what moves to add to her existing combat stance and what to replace for faster and stronger attacks for the next fights. It left her distracted, mindlessly lost within the endless and yet so restrained road of self-improvement.

Solo Training itself was something she accepted with delight, mostly because it was something that she was so familiar with that it didn’t feel so unusual or wrong. Yet, despite her early confidence in being able to go through the day without feeling any hint of ‘withdrawal’ considering the others weren’t around proved to be mostly misplaced. As soon as the Fire Crest was done with the first batch of light exercises, she expected for either Theo or Grace to say that she did a good job, or that they were awed by her thinking… or anything of that kind. It was a habit that had grown out of living here for a while now and… and she was almost shocked when she didn’t hear any of that. So much that the young woman actually checked around, stopping and almost facepalming when she realized that she was still alone as the others were out for that mission.

It was so frustrating to be reminded that now she couldn’t go back to her ‘old roots’ when it came to training as she was actually missing their voices, the fact they were there to help when she needed even though she denied she would need some assistance. It made her so angry, and yet so… happy. It reminded her of the time when that was something she sought. When Carmie was just a child that had started training and she was dismayed by the fact ‘true warriors’ could only achieve full potential on their own. Relying on others was for weakling that didn’t have the spine to make it on their own.

It stuck to her to a fair degree, but with some reservations. Training with others was a good way to not only personally improve, but also have a constantly growing milestone that allowed her to grow more and more as they would. It was still impossible to share a training buddy that fully matched one way or another. Even with someone like Theo around to act as a fellow Fire Magic user that didn’t mean he would ever be able to compete to the fullest. If she was in the setting where she could unleash the full potential of her Crest (which would, of course, burn all around her), she could easily beat him if he wanted to play fair.

Sadly but rightfully so, the Grand Knight isn’t a fair player.

The human just knew what to do or say to get her distracted, to gain the upper hand at times where this kind of short-term advantage over his enemies and gain victory through those. He was sharp, careful, and terribly cunning when it came to winning at all costs. Something that made him one of the best sparring buddies Carmesi could openly praise and the one she felt the closest to if she had to be honest. She could hardly imagine the bleak possibility of him getting killed for something stupid or sudden, the idea sending sharp pain through her chest as it denied her one of the prices she was aiming for right now. Still, he was impressive when it came to fighting dirty and… she found it a good quality of his compared to many posh fighters that had never fought in a proper war.

Not when this centuries-old conflict was more than just some friendly spars and duels. No, every advantage mattered against those that had long defiled the principle of fairness. Plus, it would be foolish to expect their main enemy to be ‘fair’ when it came to other aspects of war. Civilians were possible hostages or even moral damage to inflict on them when it came to killing those. The Emperor didn’t have a filter in that regard, and it was a tremendous element that could only be matched with similar but not completely equal cruelty. Prisoners were allowed to be kept and never executed, either for them to be redeemed, removed from future battle and causing them issues, or even turned as providers of new important information. That was a bit of fairness she could get behind due to how sensible and contrasting it was to the Emperor’s own ruthless nature.

Just as she thought of this, Carmesi took a glance at the hour and hummed. It’s been four hours now since the group had left and she would have thought Archie would have come to her to notify either a success or a failure to see where the Water Crest was hiding. The Fox Prime could feel within her own core that the perfect opposite of her element was within that planet, and she wouldn’t accept any less than a success due to this magic-driven gut feeling of hers.

Still, it was odd how the Spirit had yet to notify her of this matter, making her curious and… slightly concerned on this regard. Maybe there were issues and so they were delaying to make contact back to the base, or maybe they were just taking a little longer than expected to get through the task and were almost done with it. Regardless of that, after a quick shower, Carmie decided to go and check herself with Archie.

The cockpit was particularly quiet as Archie was focusing over a couple of elements tied to the topic that brought her in that room. His attention was mostly aimed over the status of… the suits that were currently being used by Theo and Grace. Nothing that she could spot that would spark major worry, but it left her perplexed he was focusing on just them in that very moment.

“Did something happen?” She asked bluntly, skipping any greeting and gaining the interest of the Nanozell Spirit through her loud voice.

“Nothing… particularly worrying. Only a fright for the Queen and the rest of the group,” The little one explained. “Grace and Theo made contact with the Water Crest after a close encounter with a Whale.”

The Fox Prime blinked in surprise at the double development, but she didn’t stop for a moment to think much about both as she knew that it wasn’t that simple as Archie had put it as. He had a nervous look on his face, one that just clearly and blatantly showed how he was willingly withholding important details on both matters.

“Are they fine?” Carmesi demanded to know, and the spirit paused again, this time keeping quiet for a couple of tense seconds.

“Yes. Their vitals show they are well.”

Despite the seemingly positive news, the Fox Prime could tell that he was once more going around the situation instead of giving her a proper answer. So, instead of just nodding it off and hoping for the best, she pressed on once more.

“Are they fine?” The insistence in her voice seemed to be the main element that cracked the awkward facade built by the spirit as he… sighed and sported an uncertain look.

“I know they are unconscious and that they can’t be reached through radio. They have been brought well below for the devices to not work as they should,” The floating being explained with a serious voice. “The suits haven’t been breached and vitals show they are alright. Right now we only know the Water Crest and possible descendants of the survivors that were aboard the ship we found the pieces of have them in their custody.”

Tension flared at that honest response but… she could tell this wasn’t the worst possible. “How long?”

“Two hours now. I have good reason to believe they will not be harmed.”

“Are you completely sure?”

…

“Y-Yes.”

The uncertainty sure didn’t paint a pleasant response to that remark, yet the Fire Crest couldn’t do much more about it. Trying to go down there herself would just put a wrench in the plans for the others to find where the two have been taken, and she knew that, despite her inner frustration, she couldn’t do anything at the time. Instead of lashing out and behaving childishly, the young woman merely retreated from the cockpit and back to her room, trying to find a good way to stave away the growing sense of worry that was knotting right within her chest. Not an easy task, but definitely one she would better learn to handle more than once with how unpleasant it was now and how high the chances were of this similar situation from happening again.

This truly was a horrible feeling to be forced to handle...

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Grace blinked awake, her pink eyes suddenly gazing over a dark-gray ceiling she was mostly unfamiliar with. The suddenness of her awakening coaxed her body to react actively as she stood up from… what looked to be a medical stretcher. Squinting her eyes as to adjust the sight offered by her visor, she finally got hold of the room she had been brought in. By all means, this was a smaller version of the medical bay… but less sterile and done through makeshift material.

A single individual was there in that room, sitting by the only chair there and looking at her with hands up. A Prime, the old Orca wore the clothes she was familiar with being mostly tied to scientists or doctors. Due to the lack of the usual scientific tools she was quite familiar with, the Gazelle Prime could say this was a medic, one that was slightly frightened by her awakening from the way he was holding his hands up in a submissive way.

“Who are you?” The Love Crest inquired softly, her voice seemingly bringing a slow end to that tense situation as the Orca Prime twitched and eased a little bit at how calm she sounded.

“I-I’m Doctor Lambe. Insen Lambe.”

The girl nodded slowly, thinking about this name before giving hers. “My name is Grace… and I’m the Love Crest.”

She remembered the little explanation from Theo about the fact all Primes knew about them, their duties, their importance and were going to give them utmost support if they weren’t tied to the Empire. Just as she offered her title, the recognition was instantaneous and the man decided to bow his head respectfully.

“T-Then it is Lady Grace.”

Lady… Grace?

Part of her just wanted to go for a solid yes because that technically made her feel close to her childish ambition to be considered something close to a princess. Sure, she was one for Theo and Adela due to her ‘cuteness’, but being called so respectfully by someone else out of her title just felt so nice and… unfair on herself. She had to conquer that respect, or else she wouldn’t be a good ‘lady’ after all.

“Grace will do just fine,” The Gazelle Prime replied with a soft nod. “Still… I don’t see my companion.”

Indeed, where is Theo? And why did she feel so incredibly tense because of this? She was worried, but the extra dread born from the unfamiliar setting didn’t help in that regard. Listening to her words, Dr. Lambe seemed to realize what she was referring to.

“You mean the one that was wearing the same suit as yours… Grace?”

She nodded. “Theo. He is the Queen’s Grand Knight.”

Another big title, and she was sure the already-surprised doctor would have further panicked if she had brought up that the Queen had long planned to present him as her future consort once the war was over. Something that Theo was unaware about for the time being.

‘A little reward once the war was finally over. A sweet way to end it all,’ The Coyote Prime had defined it and Grace couldn’t help but agree. That would be a fun surprise to drop on the young man, especially with how amusing his reactions about this kind of situation tended to be. Still, she had to find him and so she pressed the matter once again.

“I suppose he is around somewhere,” Grace argued. “Can you tell me more about it?”

The doctor nodded quickly, part of his brain seemingly failing to grasp the fact they had brought in this place two important elements in Prism’s culture. “Y-Yes. The- The Grand Knight is currently being investigated by our guardian, the Water Crest.”

That was an interesting piece of information that mattered little right now. Where were they exactly? She asked, and the answer was quite a surprise due to how little she paid attention to the exploration as she clearly remembered something about pieces of ship having been found during their descent.

This place, this small citadel, had been built with the aid of the first ‘Exile’ Water Crest with the intention of housing the survivors of a forced crash landing on this planet and the creation of a colony that couldn’t be detected by machinery that were usually used to discover life forms. The way this was possible was tied to the ‘outer’ barrier that had been created to facilitate this goal while also allowing for this society to exist without feeling the pressure of their current height and giving the chance to properly grow an agriculture through the old dirt that had been stored and used to start the industry in these lower sections. The barrier itself was created through Water Magic and was sustained by its natural supremacy within the planet. It was self-sufficient from the words of the doctor and made for the best protection from the cold temperatures of the external water, the predators lurking beyond it and… any enemy of Prism trying to find them. It was a prosperous society, but less numerous than the one that Pulsar was born in, mostly because the birth rate had taken a sharp downturn in the last decade and left the entire settlement in a state of slow decay.

Which was bad… but also good since it meant that they could all be taken in by the ships if they set up a proper evacuation. While Grace couldn’t exactly speak of this yet since she wasn’t experienced in diplomacy and didn’t want to say something silly and false by trying to be helpful, she just focused on retrieving Theo. He was the one that knew how to handle this kind of matter, and the faster she was back to him, the quicker they both could work on making that possibility a reality.

With that in mind, the girl quickly demanded to be brought to where the human had been taken, prompting the Orca Prime to call one of the guards by the door and give them the assignment to take her to the ‘Water Temple’. She was unfamiliar with the idea of Crests having their own temples but… then again, maybe it was a tradition that existed only back in Prism. A little castle sounded nice, yet a temple just sounded quite excessive. Sure, their role was tied to the Dragon Gods but it felt incredibly awkward to be so important to deserve a religious center for them to control.

Carmie would probably be disgusted by the idea. A warrior like her wouldn’t waste time behind this kind of silly requirement and perhaps prefer an arena-like setting to exert her reputation instead of a simple temple. Pulsar? He wouldn’t want one too. He wasn’t in touch with religion, and even though that element had been fundamental back in the colony he lived in, that didn’t mean he was completely taken by it. His loyalty to the queen came through the action and the will expressed by her through her Grand Knight, with Theo proving to the Hamster Prime he was more than capable and logical enough to see this purpose in the war to be more than just religious and tied into the matter of survival. It was more material as a purpose, but one everyone could agree on as surrendering wasn’t an option that allowed many to live through capture.

Soon the guard, a male Shark Prime with dark hair and green eyes took her through the entire settlement, with the suited Prime gazing all over the roads and getting glimpses of the entire settlement. It was definitely built through ‘logical construction’. Something she read in some books about architecture but that she had yet to give a chance to expand on. Everything was ruled by perfect angles and cubical proportions rather than suave curved plans and walls. The entire colony was dominated by a strong presence of Primes that were based on ‘sea-faring’ creatures as Theo would define them, with Orcas, Sharks, and Dolphins seeming to be the prevalent sub-species within the entire town.

Eventually, after roughly ten minutes of brief exploration, they arrived at their destination. Grace was quickly surprised by how ‘humble’ the entire temple was. She had read about those old temples with decorations, with paintings, with elegant vases and ceremonial gifts. And yet there was none of that within the large cave-like area she was taken to as the room was barren by any of those elements. The circular room itself had a central lake that seemed to lead outside. By the edge of the lake, two individuals and she quickly recognized one of them, and assumed the identity of the other. Given the clear sight she had over a particular scene, Grace felt confused… and surprisingly enough annoyed. Here she could see Theo, with his helmet put to the side and the upper section of his suit detached as he mirthfully interacted with the Dolphin Prime with long pink hair and orange eyes. She looked fairly young as she laid happily on the ground, her belly exposed by the lack of protection offered by her golden-colored minimal armor she was donning. As the young pinkette’s head rested on his lap, her stomach was quickly ‘targeted’ by a rubbing session that merely gained happy sighs out of whom Grace thought being the Water Crest. This assumption was further legitimized to the fact she didn’t look afraid of being subjected to this to a place that was meant to be important and…

And the Love Crest felt slightly offended that she wasn’t being given the same treatment for some reason. It just felt off that she wasn’t the one that was being treated this nicely and… that wouldn’t do. Pink eyes were soon spotted by the orange orbs owned by the Water Crest, a brief hint of challenge zapping both as they knew they found a worthy opponent in each other due to this matter.

Grace definitely knew at that moment that a rival in the sense of cuddling had turned up in the form of Xeánica, the Water Crest.

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AN

Oh oh! What’s this!? Gracie finally has to worry because someone might steal the title of cutest girl in the ship! Disasters shall happen in the name of cuddles!