<span style="color: #0080BF">If it hadn't been for nervous energy, Gale might've taken his time on Keiko's back, but he made short work of the task before suggesting that they join their friends. Sometimes he wished he wasn't so bad with girls, and other times he didn't even know he was bad at it. It didn't matter though as he grabbed a beach ball and gave it a solid kick out into the shallows to his friends, smiling as he kicked up water as the tide covered his feet. Iwamura really did have one of the best beaches he'd ever been to in his life.<br/><br/>It took awhile, and a volleyball, and a Frisbee before the group of teens was tired enough to take a break and they brought it in, fixing their towels and unloading whatever food everyone brought from their packs. They laughed and joked, some shared their homemade food with those jealous of how much it looked than a store lunch. Keiko hung around Gale, smiling and laughing, playing her cards, while Gale took it in stride... in a slightly oblivious way. Those that knew rolled their eyes at the two or shook their heads, but it was all in good fun. <br/><br/>Everyone seemed to have had their fill when it was decided they'd try and swim out to the sand bar around the bend away from the beach goers for awhile. At least that was the plan when suddenly everyone heard a voice. With the voice came an almost ringing sensation in Gale's head that felt for a moment like the worst migraine he'd ever felt. </span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FFBF00">"Come to me..."<br/><br/>"I need you..."<br/><br/>"Come to me..."</span></span><br/><br/><span style="color: #0080BF">Gale blinked the pain away and looked up only to see all of his friends standing their, looking like statues was it not for their hair or clothes moving in the wind. Then it hit him, the silence, and he looked around to see everyone immediately visible standing in much the same manner. His brow furrowed before he noticed they all seemed to be focused somewhere and he looked around slowly until he caught what held their attention. A girl...<br/><br/>He stared at the figure of a little girl, blinking a few times as though maybe he was seeing things. He couldn't make out details from where he was, but she was a child, looked like she'd been living in a swamp for some time, and she had an... aura? What's going on here? he thought to himself, stepping forward, the sound of sand shifting beneath his feet almost alien in the quiet that had come over the crowd. It looked like smoke was rising from the girl, as though it was coming from her body. <br/><br/>He took another step forward when the girl turned and began to walk towards the water, the waves seeming to grow fierce and dangerous as she approached. He was about to run out to go get as seeing as no one else was doing anything when he himself stopped and looked as frozen as everyone else. She had walked right out into the churning water, and kept walking... on top of the water.</span><span style="color: #40BFFF"><span style="font-style: italic">That's not possible... </span></span><span style="color: #0080BF">he thought, staring at her with wide eyes as she grew smaller. He could've accepted the smoke as a trick of the eye, a heat mirage or something, but she just walked straight out into water that he'd been playing in no more than a half hour ago. </span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FFBF00">"Come to me..."<br/><br/>"I need you..."<br/><br/>"Come to me..."</span></span><br/><br/><span style="color: #0080BF">Her voice came to again and this time the pain made him fall to his knees, clapping his hands over his own ears as the pain seared through his head again, worse the second time around. He gritted his tooth and remained tensed and still for a moment before it all faded away. He dropped his hands and looked up once more to a crowd of people walking steadily towards the crazy surf. His friends started to walk by him and he stood up, calling out to each of them as they walked. He kept up with them, but they were entirely unresponsive as they headed towards the water. <br/><br/>He grabbed their hands and pulled them back, making them stumble back towards him before continuing forward once more.</span><span style="color: #40BFFF">"Keiko, Keiko! What are you doing?! Answer me!"</span><span style="color: #0080BF">he yelled, walking backwards in front of the girl while she seemed to look right through him. The sound of the water behind him seemed to grow louder as they approached the threatening water. <br/><br/>He heard someone else shout and looked down the beach to see a man seemingly doing pretty much what he was. That made two of them out of any number of other people, but he didn't have time to think of what that meant. Suddenly the man struck the person he was next to, punching them in the stomach, and they fell down into the sand. He looked around himself at his friends wondering how he should feel about hitting any of them before thinking about how many people were walking towards the water. He couldn't save all of them, two people couldn't save all of them. He could feel his heart start to race, the crashing wave seeming louder behind him, his thoughts to rapid to keep up with as he wondered what to do.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #40BFFF"><span style="font-style: italic">You can't save everyone... </span></span><span style="color: #0080BF">he thought, frowning at the words his mother had once told him the first time they'd talked about her losing someone in battle, and again when she'd lost someone in the hospital. That is what she told him, along with a parental lecture on what death means and where people go. Those are the words that came to him now though. He took a breath, his mind suddenly focusing as he looked upon his friends.</span><span style="color: #40BFFF"> "Sorry guys... but I have to try." </span><br/><br/><span style="color: #0080BF">He ran up to each of his friends, all 9 of them, taking a moment to judge his shot before striking each of them in the jaw. He was going for that magical spot, 'The Button', the one that makes even the best fighter drop like a sack of potatoes. And one by one they fell until all his friends were lying in the sand in crumpled heaps. He'd had to hit a couple of the twice. Some of them already had slightly swollen cheeks, and he could feel stinging in his hand and across his knuckles. Despite all the fighting practice he'd had, their really weren't many times he'd fought while not wearing gloves. He shook his hands out and looked around, grimacing at the rest of the people and at how absurd this solution was. He was about to set off punching random strangers in the face, but with best of intentions.<br/><br/>With his own thoughts calmed it occurred to him he could still hear the whispers of the girl, causing him to turn and look out over the water at what was now speck of a person far out in the water bobbing with the waves. He couldn't to her if he wanted, not fast enough to save these people from the waves at least. That was if he could even swim through the rough waters, the whole scene was like something out of a movie where the waves were so bad they were even sinking boats. Instead he looked back at the people, dropping into a ready stance as he prepared himself to race against the clock. <br/><br/>As soon as he took this stance though it was like his heart pounded once insanely, sending a pulse through a body for a second time in the last couple of minutes that almost had him to his knees. He sucked air through his teeth as he righted himself, unsure of what just happened. He wasn't having a heart attack, had never even hinted towards having a heart condition, but whatever that was hadn't felt great. He fell into his stance against, a second pulse coursing through him but hurting much less this time, enough of a difference that he was able to start moving again. He took off towards the front of the crowd, standing between the people and the water, looking at the incoming crowd with dread before steeling his face. it had to be done..<br/><br/>He clenched his hands into tight fists, advancing on the crowd and striking savagely, probably a little harder than he should. Probably a lot harder than he should. But adrenaline and a real life-or-death situation could do that to a person. After each hit though he could feel the toll on his hands, pain shocking through his arms after each hit. He could feel a stinging in his back as well, over each of his shoulder blades, and though it should've seemed weird to him he chose not think about it. If he could see his back he would've seen spots across his skin that seemed to be glowing. They were few and far between, almost like freckles, but made a pattern in his skin. Symbols of some sort maybe? It wouldn't be clear until there were more, but they were there.<br/><br/>He made it through only another 8 or so people before he stopped, shaking out his hands, a desperate look on his face despite his earlier resolve as he looked at the crowd. Maybe he really couldn't save them all...</span>