Makenna and Ash were unaware of Tracey's disappearance. They instead followed the sprites to Aluna's village section.
While they flew, Makenna excitedly observed her surroundings. She couldn't help herself! She was just too excited!
Ash fumbled with his slingshot the entire way to the village and constantly blew on it.
That eventually got on Makenna's nerves, and she snapped, "Stop fumbling with that thing!" at Ash. "It's making me nervous!"
"You don't understand, Makenn," Ash laughed, "this old baby constantly needs to look good. After all, she's about twenty years old and is working great! Like, watch this." He drew a small bag from his pocket that held tiny stones and began to rapidly shoot them all over the place.
A few hit the sprites and knocked them off their flight pattern.
Ash chuckled and gestured at them, but Makenna merely glared.
One stone hit Ronda, and she peered over her shoulder, growling at Ash.
The young Wizard Fairy continued to launch the stones, but that time, he accidentally hit Makenna with a few of them.
She yelped and protected her face as they pelted her hands. A few of them collided with her wand and knocked it from her hand. By then, Makenna lost her buttons.
"All right, that's it!" she yelled, holding her hand out to Ash. "Hand it over! With your clumsiness, you're going to kill somebody!"
Ash refused to give up the slingshot. He pulled it away from Makenna and shook his head.
"I mean it, Ash!" Makenna yelled. "Give it up!"
"No," spoke Ash. For once, he didn't smile.
The sprites heard them and stopped. They turned and watched the two fairies.
Makenna was finally given no other choice. Sometimes Ash really got on her nerves! She flung her hand forward and grabbed his slingshot. With one hard tug, she ripped it out of his hands.
Ash gasped when she did that.
Makenna prepared to drop his slingshot into a tidal pool under them.
When Ash saw what she was about to do, he gasped and held his hand out to the Metamorphic Fairy. "Makenna, don't do it! Please!" His voice became choked. He reached for the slingshot, but Makenna pushed his face away.
Tears appeared in Ash's eyes, and he shouted, "That slingshot belonged to my sister!"
Makenna froze. Ash's sister? He had a sister?
The Wizard Fairy again shook his head—"Please"—and a few tears ran down his cheeks. "That's the closest thing I have to her, to my entire family. I'm begging you, Makenna."
Makenna still prepared to drop the slingshot. She gripped it so tightly that her hand turned white.
The fairy sprites watched, intrigued.
The look on Ash's face finally stopped Makenna from destroying his most prized possession. She groaned and lowered the slingshot. Makenna sighed and returned it.
He grabbed the slingshot and hugged it to his cheek. A few tears dripped onto it.
Makenna groaned and couldn't help but whisper, "I'm a monster."
As if he heard her, Ash glanced at her out the corner of his eye, and then he slipped his slingshot back into his pocket.
The sprites started to flutter away, and Ash gestured at them with his head. "Come on," he said in a low, stern voice. He gave himself a little more magic and then flew after the sprites again.
At first, Makenna assumed Tracey went ahead and was already waiting at Aluna's village section, only because, duh, he was a ninja, so she thought she was behind. However, she didn't mind. Makenna wanted to share her guilt with herself, not someone else. She felt terrible that she had almost destroyed one of Ash's most prized possessions.
Finally, when she came to her senses, she began to fly after him and the sprites.
Once she was halfway caught up with Ash and the sprites, though, Makenna heard a slight sound. It sounded like a dog whimpering.
Makenna stopped flying and looked over her shoulder. Nothing was there. She was staring at the trashed beach.
After a bit, the Metamorphic Fairy began to fly again, but then, she heard it again—the whimper. She stopped a second time and peered behind her.
Makenna remained quiet for a minute or two, and then she heard the whimper for a third time. That time, she became curious. What was she hearing?
Makenna took herself to the ground and landed on the beach. She dropped her wings behind her and returned to her normal height.
Makenna glanced down the beach and softly called, "Hello?" An ocean breeze passed through her scalp, and she listened for the whimper.
It soon came again, and Makenna gasped, jumping a few feet. She noticed it was coming from the woods in the most trashed section of the beach from the wave.
Behind her—Makenna didn't notice him—was Ash.
Still small, he rested on a pile of driftwood and watched her the whole time.
Makenna tiptoed toward the woods. While she walked, ocean waves slapped against the surface, and salt water tapped her heels.
Makenna headed toward some ferns and again whispered, "Hello?" Ash followed her, but stayed well out of sight. A few of Aluna's sprites were with him, and one sneezed a tiny sneeze.
Ash faced her and held his finger to his lips, whispering, "Shh."
The sprite nodded and quickly covered her nose and mouth with her hand.
Once she was quiet, Ash turned to Makenna again and slowly nodded. "That's it, Makenna. You're doing great."
Makenna soon reached the ferns that had caught her attention. She again heard the whimper. It sounded much clearer that time, and yep, it definitely came from behind the ferns. Makenna kneeled to them. Sand covered her knees, but she didn't really care. She just wanted to see what the heck the whimper belonged to.
Makenna soon lifted her hands and carefully pulled the ferns apart. She gasped again and then cracked a small smile. Her heart shattered from an overload of cuteness.
Within the ferns, resting on its front and shaking, was a mysterious, dog-like creature. Makenna had never seen something like it before. It was not the typical dog she was used to.
It was the size of a Golden, but looked very different. Starting with its eyes, they were cyan-blue. The creature's body was covered in white fur, and its feet, tail, and floppy ears were pink. It sported two long feelers that looked like wings on its back. Its four legs were fairly short but slender, and its feet were small. Finally, in the creature's mouth were short but sharp fangs.
Makenna knew it had to be a dog of some sort, even though dogs didn't have feelers. "Aluna," she spoke in a sweet voice.
The dog slowly blinked and stared into her eyes.
Makenna couldn't explain how adorable it was. "My name is Makenna Delling," she added. "I'm a Metamorphic Fairy. What are you? Some sort of dog or something?"
The creature continued to shake. For some reason, it appeared to be terrified of fairies. At the sight of Makenna, though, it calmed down a bit.
Behind, Ash smiled and crossed his arms.
Makenna continued to speak with the dog. "Are you hungry? I have some carrots. They're good for your teeth. I feed my dog carrots all the time." She reached behind her and drew a bag of carrots, seemingly from nowhere. Makenna opened it and pulled out one carrot. She offered it to the creature. "Here you go."
The dog sniffed it. After a bit, it stretched its neck and took the carrot out of Makenna's hand. As soon as it swallowed, it smiled, closed its eyes, and nodded.
Makenna could not get over how adorable the dog was. She fed it another carrot, and it accepted. However, something quite strange happened then.
The creature unfolded its feelers and wrapped one around Makenna's wrist.
Makenna shivered, even though the feelers were soft. "What are you doing?" she asked the creature.
As soon as she asked that, she heard Ash behind her. "Ya found her!"
Makenna softly yelled and whirled around. Sure enough, Ash stood behind her at his normal height, the sprites around him.
"What are you doing here?" Makenna frightfully asked.
One of the sprites yelled, "Silvey!" and hurried to the dog-like creature, hovering beside her.
"Silvey?" Makenna asked.
"Congratulations on finding her, Makenn!" Ash spoke, hopping up and down with excitement again. "I knew you could do it!"
Silvey moved her feeler from around Makenna's wrist up to her arm, and she started to sweat.
"What is she doing?" she inquired.
Ash stopped hopping up and down and explained, "Oh, Makenna, ya have it all wrong. When Silvey wraps her feelers around someone, it means she likes them."
"It does?" Makenna asked, studying Silvey.
Ash nodded. "Yes. That's how dogs of her kind show affection."
"Oh," said Makenna, "so she is a type of dog. What type exactly, Ash? I have never seen one like her."
Ash chuckled and held the back of his hand to his mouth. "Of course not. Not from your world. Silvey, Makenna, is what you call a fairy dug, or fairy dog in your case. Fairy dogs are born in the Magic World, grow up in it, and currently make it their home. While they may look a bit different, it doesn't mean they're not just like regular dogs. Silvey watches over Aluna. The sprites found her as a puppy wandering and wounded two years ago. She's a bit nervous around other fairies because her previous owners were very abusive toward her, both physically and emotionally."
Makenna's heart snapped again. "Oh, poor Silvey." She turned to her again and nervously peered down at the feeler around her arm.
After a bit, Silvey removed it and backed away from the fairies and sprites, face flushed.
Makenna sat on her heels and placed her hands in her lap.
Ash soon took her shoulder and asked, "Are you ready to go to the village section, Makenna?"
Makenna sighed and said, "I guess," taking Ash's hand.
He pulled her to her feet. Then, together, they started back down the beach, and Makenna glanced over her shoulder to look at Silvey one more time.
"She'll come," Ash said, urging her forward.
Makenna nodded and released his hand, starting to follow him. The sprites were close on their tail, and Silvey poked her head out of the ferns.
Seeming to sigh, she lowered it and shut her eyes again.
***
While Makenna and Ash were with the sprites and Silvey, Tracey continued his sailing trek to Merlin, except that he had fallen asleep. His right arm rested on the raft's tiller, while his left hand held the rope and stood the paddle up straight. His head rested on it, and he quietly snored.
Evening sunshine turned the ocean water orange like Fanta.
Gina kept a lookout for the Octopus Man's minions and ensured that the raft was sailing in the right direction.
Before long, though, the ocean became rough again, and waves slapped against the raft's side.
Water splashed into Tracey's face, and he snapped awake. "Ah! I'm awake! I'm awake!"
Gina called to him and gestured at the waves.
Tracey finally noticed them and quickly got to work. He leaped to his feet and pulled on the sail's rope. He and Gina sailed over a few waves, but Tracey didn't let the rope slip from his grasp that time. "I can do this," he told himself. "I can do this. I can fight this spell."
Coutarine Island came closer every passing second. More waves were picked up behind Tracey and Gina, and Tracey carefully went over each one. However, one of the largest ones slammed the raft again, and that one ripped the rope out of Tracey's hand again.
He yelled as he flew forward and crashed onto his front on the raft. He almost fell on Gina, but she moved out of the way at the last second.
The sail flapped wildly and freely in the wind. It did a 360° turn, and Gina screeched at Tracey to warn him.
Hearing her, he quickly protected his head with his hands while staying down.
Since no one was steering the raft, it began to drift. It crept away from Coutarine Island and out toward the sea.
Tracey soon dropped his hands and turned his head. Hair blew in his face, and his eyes landed on the paddle. Tracey gasped when he saw it hanging off the edge of the raft. One more jerk threw it off, and the paddle fell into the ocean.
Tracey gasped again. Oh no! This was bad! This was so bad! He glanced at Gina and yelled, "Stay here!"
Gina nodded and wrapped her wings around the raft's mast.
The paddle's wood sucked in water and began sinking.
Before Tracey jumped in after the paddle, though, another wave caused the raft to jerk, and he fell again.
Wind blasted Gina, and she yelled as her wings unhooked from the mast, and she flew into the water next.
"Gina!" Tracey yelled. His eyes left the sinking paddle and rolled over to Gina.
She kicked her webbed feet and tried to swim, but the waves kept crashing into her.
"Gina!" Tracey again yelled. He drew one of his ninja stars and stuck it in his mouth.
Gina coughed and ferociously flapped her wings, but she couldn't lift herself.
Tracey thought fast. With his left hand, he grabbed the main sail's rope, the tiller with his other. He turned it to the left, and the raft turned right toward Gina.
Once he was close enough, Tracey tied the rope around the tiller and hurried to the edge of the raft. Nodding, he inhaled and lifted his hands over his head. Then, just like that, he dove off the raft and landed in the water with a splash.
Coming to the surface, Tracey freestyled toward Gina. "Gina! Don't worry! I'm coming!"
Gina screeched for help.
The wind hit the raft's main sail and steered it toward Coutarine Island.
Another wave crashed on Gina and threw her underwater. Like the paddle, she began to sink.
Tracey followed his fairy instincts and fought Poseidon's spell the whole time. He dove underwater and swam toward his friend, moving his legs like a dolphin.
Green and purple fairy dust exploded around Merlin's apprentice and circled his bare back. Within seconds, faded, green and purple, diamond-shaped wings appeared on it. They weren't real wings, though, but a simulation.
Tracey didn't notice the simulated wings on his back—he was so focused on saving Gina.
The dust-like wings flapped, and Tracey shot through the ocean as fast as a bullet. Confusion flashed across his face. What on earth was happening? He decided to ask that later, because he had more pressing priorities. He had to save his best friend!
The second Tracey reached Gina, he grabbed her and hurried to the surface. Tracey burst his head out of the water, and Gina coughed. She was okay, though, and glanced into her friend's eyes.
Tracey cracked a smile. "Gina! You're okay!" He hugged her, and she hugged him back.
While they hugged, Tracey's eyes landed on his raft.
The wind had changed its course again. The rope flew off the tiller, so now the raft was heading out toward sea again.
Tracey called to it. "Wait! Come back! Gina, hurry to it and grab the rope!"
Gina nodded and let him throw her into the sky. She flapped her heavy wings and flew for the raft.
Tracey had to think. How could he get to the raft without getting hammered by waves and pulled out to sea?
His temporary wings soon answered that question. They flapped and lifted him out of the water. The wings dragged Tracey through the ocean toward the raft and Gina. It looked like he was water skiing without the skis.
The phenomenon was amazing and magical, but Tracey was beyond confused. He had no idea what was going on, but went ahead and let the phenomenon commence.
Tracey put some magic in his shuriken, so every time a wave came toward him and tried to knock him into the ocean, he threw it, and the star sliced through each wave, causing them to break.
Tracey didn't know it, but he had finally reached the reef where Merlin's beach was. His Sensei sat on it with Raeven and Harmony, and they all admired the sunset and the orange water.
Merlin, wearing his sunglasses over his eyes, dug his hands into the fluffy, white sand. "This is such a perfect day," he spoke in a dreamy voice, and Harmony and Raeven nodded with agreement.
Soon, though, they saw Ronda's raft roaming in the reef.
Merlin laughed. "Oh, hey, look at that!" He pointed at the raft. "It looks like somebody is enjoying some crazy evening sailing!"
Raeven and Harmony blinked, watching the chaos curiously.
Tracey's temporary wings soon had him skiing beside the raft. He yelled at Gina, who had made it first and grabbed the rope with her beak, to toss the rope.
At his request, Gina did, and Tracey caught it. Her eyes then landed on his dust-like wings, and they widened.
The wings soon dropped Merlin's apprentice on the raft, and he landed on his front.
He quickly got up and grabbed the tiller again, tightening his grip on the line. He turned a sharp right and yelled, "Bon voyage!" at Gina. "We're coming in hot!" Releasing the tiller, he grabbed Gina again and pulled her close.
Tracey continued to steer toward the beach, but another massive wave crept up on them from behind. "Almost there! Almost there!" he begged.
Where Merlin sat, he lowered his sunglasses and examined the raft. "Who is this, I wonder?"
Raeven and Harmony shrugged and watched, too.
The raft's rudder soon hit the sand, and Tracey immediately jumped off, but he was too late.
The wave crashed into him and Gina, shoving them and the raft onto the beach.
Merlin soon noticed the wave, too, and his eyes widened. His mouth gaped and started to twitch. He quickly lowered his sunglasses and held his hands up like he was reading a newspaper.
The wave slammed into him, Harmony, and Raeven, and he and Raeven flew back. Harmony, on the other hand, planted her feet.
While Tracey, Gina, and the raft crashed into the sand, Merlin and Raeven landed on their butts on it.
Soon, the wave slid back out to sea, but everybody who had been slammed by it was soaked, even Merlin the Great.
Harmony shook seawater off her and peered over her shoulder at Merlin and Raeven.
They sat together in the sand, and Merlin wasn't smiling.
Raeven shook water out of his fur and said to Merlin, "Well, Merlin, that was quite—"
"Raeven?" Merlin interrupted.
"An interesting way to—" Raeven started, but Merlin interrupted again.
"Raeven?"
Raeven shut up.