14Chapter 14 The Raging at Sea
The sea was surprisingly calm, almost as if it had just taken a long, refreshing nap. Toadette used an oar to steer the raft in the direction of World 2, which according to Bank was south. However, Sunny disagreed. He said that it was to the west. Not wanting the fighting between the two to get any worse, Toadette decided to compromise and steer the raft southwest.
Bank had offered to take the oar several times. He claimed that he wanted Toadette to relax, but Toadette saw right through him. SHe recognized that he wanted to steer the oar in the direction that he wanted to go. So, Toadette said that she was fine, despite the fact that her arms were getting tired and blisters and splinters were starting to appear on her palms.
After a little bit more rowing, Toadette noticed something odd. In the water, she could see sea creatures swimming about. Most of them appeared to be cheep cheeps. These yellow, red, and green creatures seemed to quickly be moving in the opposite direction that the raft was heading. Almost as if they were trying to escape from something. Toadette pointed this out to Bank and Sunny, but Sunny dismissed it.
"They are probably migrating," Sunny said. "It's that time of year, after all."
"Well, yeah," said Toadette said. "But aren't they going in the wrong direction?"
"Yeah, I think you're right," said Bank. "Normally, in the summer, the cheep cheeps go south, not north."
Sunny just waved his hand nonchalantly to dismiss his crew members' worries.
"You guys are over thinking this," he said. "There is absolutely nothing to..."
Suddenly, something hit the side of the raft, causing it to rock back and forth. It shook so violently that Sunny actually toppled over and fell into the sea. He accidentally spit out the water in Bank's face once he resurfaced, which Bank of course did not take lightly.
"What was that for?!" he screamed at Sunny.
"I'm sorry," Sunny said as he held up his hands. "I didn't mean to do that."
"Oh, you mean like I didn't mean to do this?" Bank took the oar out of Toadette's hand and whacked Sunny right on the head with it.
"Oww!" Sunny exclaimed. Toadette felt bad for him as she saw a bump start to form on his skull. She turned to Bank madly.
"Bank, what is the matter with you?"
Bank gawked at his teammate.
"Oh, you're actually taking his side now?" he asked angrily. "I thought the Toad Brigade was supposed to support each other."
"Yeah, it is. But you know what else it is supposed to do? NOT RESORT TO PETTY VIOLENCE!"
Bank was just about to respond to this when, suddenly, something dragged Sunny below the surface. Toadette gasped when she saw that there were bubbles where the dragon koopa used to be.
"Oh no!" Toadette yelled. "Bank, we need to go after him!"
"What!" Bank asked. "Why? So we can get eaten as well?"
Toadette was so angry that she felt a vein starting to pop in her forehead. If she got any angrier, that vein would definitely explode.
"I thought the Toad Brigade was supposed to hold up bravery, selflessness, and love as its ordeals. Well, right now, you are being a selfish coward Bank."
Believe it or not, Bank actually looked genuinely hurt by that.
"Toadette..."
"No! I don't care whether you are a big fan of Sunny or not. Just because you don't like him doesn't mean that they aren't people in the world who do. And if we don't get Sunny back to Duneshine in one piece, then those friends of his are certainly going to panic."
As she said this, Toadette was stripping off her explorer vest, exposing her pink shirt to the sunny air. She took a deep breath as she stared at the ocean.
"But Toadette, we don't know what's down there!" Bank said.
"Then I will go down myself. It's not a good idea if both of us get into danger."
"Toadette, wait!"
It was too late. Toadette had already dived.
