Sunken Rescue

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean's waves were calm and serene. Even though summer was beginning to wind down, the day was still fairly warm, and as such the water seemed very enticing to many, especially when it is this calm.  As it happened, the waves were calling to a certain wolf-hedgehog hybrid anthro girl, whose boat was slowly moving to a certain spot in the empty ocean before coming to a stop.

With a towel drapped over her shoulder, Kate Brandon came out of the boat's control room and into the sun with a smile on her face. She was on her own extended little "cruise" with her boat, going around the ocean, doing at least one deep sea dive per day, in the hopes of uncovering something new or at the very least, have some fun. So far, her vacation was fairly eventful. In the past two weeks, she made a new friend and learned the location of a beautiful undersea village she was eager to visit again when she had the time.

Today, however, Kate's plan was to dive down and see what she finds.  She looked down at her red two-piece Apnea bikini. A gift to her from her friend S, the bikini extended her previously 5 minute breath hold time to an amazing full hour. With this, she could easily explore the ocean depths like she never could before.

Smiling to herself, she laid the towel down on the deck in preparation for when she resurfaced before heading to the end of the boat, "Alright Kate, let's see what you can discover today."  She said with a smile. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and dove into the water.

As she swam down, a new boat began to approach, close enough to be visible, but far away enough that it didn't seem suspicious. It was a simple, grey speedboat with a single seat in it. Inside the seat was a young woman, about 25 years old. Her pure white hair was frazzled and unkempt, and mildly obscured her red eyes. Her skin was incredibly pale, and she wore a white shirt, white pants, black combat boots, and a brown neckwarmer that extended down her back into a ragged cape. Most striking about her was her right hand, which was entirely mechanical.

The strange woman folded her hands behind her head and reclined back in her seat. Just another of her watching over Kate in secret in case something happened.  She reached into her pocket, pulling out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter.  Lighting one up, she put it in her mouth as she looked up at the sky, "This 'guardian angel' job may be boring, but at least it pays well." She said to herself in a mild German accent.
****
Down below, Kate was swimming deeper and deeper, grinning from ear to ear. She always enjoyed swimming and exploring, and her Apnea swimsuit was a godsend in that regard. With a bubbly laugh, she peformed several cartwheels and corkscrews as she descended, eventually coming to the bottom.

Looking around, Kate could see the fish swimming around her, some eyeing her curiously. She gave them a smirk, "Whblatbl'rble YBLOUBL lblobklingbl atbl? She gurgled jokingly. The fish did not seem to respond in any form to this. Shrugging, Kate swam in a random direction.  After a few minutes, she noticed a mass slowly coming into view.

"Hmbml?"  She swam closer, and her eyes widened as it came into view: An ancient, rotted, sunken galleon, plowed into the earth, a rotted, tattered Spanish flag wrapped limply around the broken mast.

Kate was giddy. This had to be one of the many ships that were sunk in naval battles during the age of piracy and privateering. It looked like it was picked dry, but Kate was an explorer at heart. She had to see inside of it. Grinning, and with a good 45 minutes of air left in her, she swam up to the ship, seeing if there was any way in.

She frowned as she saw that all the portholes were rusted shut, "Dbambnl."  Shrugging, she swam up to the ship's deck to see if there was an opening, and sure enough, there was an open grate leading into the ship's belly. With a smile, Kate descended into the ship's inner workings.
***
Pain. Searing, burning pain. Then, nothing. Then...a dim feeling of awareness, and...hunger. A deep, unending hunger that she HAD to satiate, no matter what. She didn't know how, and she didn't know what she was eating. All she knew was that she HAD to eat. To consume.

Then...a light. The light of a building's ceiling lamp. Her eyes burned and strained. It had been so long since she could see. She moaned as she slowly sat up, looking around groggily.

"Tch...another failure."  She suddenly heard a dark, female voice say. She looked in front of her, "Wha..."  She moaned as she saw two figured shrouded in darkness. She could not tell what they were, but she knew one was male, the other female, "A failure? She seems good to me." The male said in a British accent.

"LOOK at her, you dolt!" The female voice responded sharply, "She is not under our thrall. She is her own person. Such free will is unacceptable for my army!"  The male sighed, "I suppose you have a point. Guards."  Three figures clad in white battle armor walk forward, each one with a single red eye on their face helmet. They aim their rifles, "W...WAIT!!  She cries, holding out her right hand, "?!!" She gasped as she saw her hand was metal, "Dispose of her." The male said, "NO!!"  She screamed before leaping up, her instincts taking over as she pounced one guard, pummeled him, and raced out of the room, "STOP HER!!"  The female figure screamed in fury.
****
"Zzzz...GAH!!"  The woman bolted from her sleep, nearly stumbling off her speedboat. She held her forehead. The same dream again. At least once a damn week, "Gott...I need to ask Charles for some damn Nyquil when I report back." She muttered to herself. She took out her binoculars and looked at Kate's boat. Still empty.  She frowned, "She's been down 30 minutes..." She said to herself. She wasn't worried, she knew about Kate's new breath hold time...and yet she couldn't shake the feeling something was going on.
****
Back in the sunken ship, Kate was marvelling at her surroundings. All around her was rotten, ancient items and furniture from the age of piracy. tattered map scraps floated in the water, rusted cutlasses and flintlock pistols were still hanging on their rotted mantles, and several books, their contents long wasted away, floated aimlessly. Her eyes shimmered at all of this. However, as she turned, she noticed something new. A rotted door that lead to another part of the ship.  Curious, Kate swam to it and pulled don the handle, the door easily opening due to the rust and rotted wooded. Kate swam towards the new room...

...And quickly let out a bubbly scream as she saw the rows of chained, rotted skeletons on either side of the wall! This galleon was a slaver ship!

Shocked and horrified, Kate instinctively swam sharply backward, inadvertently slamming into a heavy bookcase, "GLURBGL!" She gurgled in pain as she shook her head, but her ears perked up as she heard the sounds of the bookcase wobbling and creaking, "SHBLITBL!!" She gurgled as she tried to swim away, but it was too late. The bookcase tumbled forward and crashed down on her, pinning her by the lower body.

"G-GBLURGBLBURBL!!" Kate screamed in pain as she could feel her legs being broken by the wait. She tried to claw forward, to lift the bookcase, but no such luck. She was stuck. And worse, the air she lost from being shocked by the skeletons and from being pinned had brought her air down to only 2 minutes.

"M-Mmmphglb!" Kate put a hand to her mouth as bubbles leaked out, her cheeks bulging and reddening as she tried to keep her air in, "mmmph..."  She looked around, desperately looking for something she could use to pry off the bookcase, but nothing was within her reach.

"MMPHBRBL! GLBURBLBL!!"  Kate clasped her mouth with both hands, but it was no use. She was at her limit.

"GGLUURGLBBLRGLBLBBBBLL!!" Kate put a hand to her neck as she involuntarily began to inhale water. Instantly searing pain shot through her entire body as she desperately thrashed, trying to make any movement from her peril.

Soon, her struggles slowed as her hands floated, her vision blurring, "blbl...h-hbleblp..." She gurgled weakly before her eyes closed...and shortly afterward, opened again. While under normal circumstances, this would be the end, Kate was not a normal girl. Two years ago, she unknowingly drank from the legendary Holy Grail, granting her powers similar to that of the fabled Phoenix Blood. She could regenerate from wounds and could survive otherwise fatal events, drowning among them. However, there was a catch. The Grail's healing powers would only heal serious wounds such as her broken legs once the aggressive stimulus, in this case the bookcase, was no longer hurting her, and when she suffered situations where she would have normally died, like her current drowning, she was paralyzed until she could properly heal.

Kate winced in pain as she weakly clenched her fists, about the only movement she was still capable of. She was trapped, "Sbl-Sblomblenble..."
*****
The woman frowned as she looked at her watch. 50 minutes. This clinched it for her; something was definitely wrong. She immediately dove into the water and began to swim down, her descent being accelerated by her metal arm. Curiously, she did not seem to be losing air. In fact, she didn't even seem to be breath holding at all. As she descended, she could see the slave ship coming into view. She frowned as she began to suspect what had happened.

*Hang on, Fraulein...* She thought as she quickly approached the ship.
***
"Bip...bip...blup..." Small bubbles occasionally escaped Kate's nose as her mind was racing, trying to figure out a plan, *Come on, THINK! I can't be stuck down here forever! There HAS to be a way out!!* Suddenly she heard a "thudding" sound. Footsteps?

"B-Blrp?" She weakly turned her head, and though her vision was hazy, she could make out the white haired woman descending. The woman's eyes widened as she saw Kate's peril and she immediately went to her. The woman dug her hands under the bookcase and began to lift it, the weight causing her to gurgle out foreign curses as she did so, *Is that...German?* Kate thought.

With a final, bubbly yell, the woman lifted up the bookcase and tossed it aside, causing Kate to float in place. She could feel the bones in her legs already beginning to knit back together, but the pain of drowning still kept her from moving. The woman scooped her up in her arms and quickly began swimming for the surface.

Kate looked up at the girl, noticing now that her face was heavily scarred, a long, jagged scar across her left eye, and the area around her right eye bloody and bruised, "Wbhlobl..." She gurgled weakly, "Wbhobl ablrble..."  The woman looked at her and shook her head, "Dblonb'tbl tblablk. Sblavble yblourbl stblengblth."

Kate gave a weak nod as the woman gave a final push, actually LEAPING out of the water and landing on Kate's boat, setting her down gently.

"BLAAUGH! B-BLAAUGH! KOFF KOFF KOFF!!" Kate vomited out the sea water she had swallowed, her strength slowly returning and the blue in her face vanishing. She gasped and coughed as the woman sat on a nearby chair, looking slightly amazed at all the seawater.  Soon, Kate's coughing slowed as her air intake stabilized, "Th-Thanks..." She said with a weak smile, "I owe you one..."

The woman nodded, "...That's enough seawater to drown five men." She said in her German accent, "Do you have Phoenix Blood?"  "N-No, but what I have IS kinda similar, yeah."  The woman nodded as Kate sat down, looking her over. Now able to see clearly, she now realized that this woman seemed very similar to her friend Anna Tremaine, with her pale skin and pure white hair.  The woman gave a small smirk.

"Your face betrays your curiosity. My name is Melina Bernakoff, and yes, I am indeed a zombie."  "A-A..."  Kate blinked in surprise, "A zombie...you mean, a hybrid like-?"  "No."  Melina said, "I am not like Fraulein Anna in that I am both living and dead. I am indeed dead. A zombie. But I was given sentience and free will by the same serum that turned your friend into what she is."

"W-Wow...so, why are you here?"  Melina was silent, before, "My mission is to protect you."  "Protect...me?  From what?"  Melina smirked, "Well, from what you just went through, for starters."  "Oh..."  Kate chuckled sheepishly, "But still, again, thanks for the save."  Melina nodded as Kate stood up, "Hey, I still have a few days left of my vacation. Wanna come with? I mean, actually come with, not watch from the sidelines?"  Melina contemplated this. She was...unused to companionship, but she did want a friend, not simply a business partner like Charles.

Eventually, she nodded, "Very well."  She said with a small smile.  Kate smiled as she extended her hand, and the two shook. Even after the danger, the day had turned out good for both of them.

Kate had made a new friend. And Melina was no longer alone in the world.