Chapter 13: fun at the lake.

Dez today was enjoying himself. He only saw his friends for a small period once every year. The 3 Empires had a meeting every year and every time they changed city. This year it was the turn for Leven city to hold the meeting. And today was the last day they had together. Every time they come together he’s really happy and has a lot of fun. All these moments with Suki and Ethan are things he will never forget.

Not long after Ethan ran off he came back wearing black shorts with flaming design on them on top of his ultra geek metallic super-tight swimsuit.

Ethan’s music sphere was still floating in midair and playing. Ethan, Dez, and Suki had a goofy moment and were dancing and having fun at the lakeside.

After Dez and his friends sat down to rest for a moment they saw a 7 meter long black fish jump out of the water, performing a perfect arch midair and falling back into the lake making a big splash.

“Amazing."

"What was that?” Ethan's eyes were sparkling.

"That was Gugu, Gugu is one of the biggest fishes we have in the lake."

"What type of fish is that? She is a very beautiful fish?" Ask Suki out of curiosity.

“She is a koi fish. More specifically, Gugu is a long-fin dragon koi. We have 3 of them living in the lake.” Answered Dez

“Can we eat them? I'm sure they taste good too?” two intense gazes turned and looked at Ethan with a lot of displeasure.

"Haha ha. Relax guys I was just joking around, nothing serious really." Ethan was feeling really awkward. Ethan considered himself an epicure. A food connoisseur. A food lover at the highest level. Most of the time the first thing he thinks about is eating and couldn't help it.

“The other fishes in the lake are for sure edible but we just won't do that. And especially we would never do that to the longfin dragon koi's, we don't eat the fishes in this lake. My father says they are good luck charms, and because they are very friendly I came to consider them as my friends.” now Ethan was feeling really bad for asking such a stupid question.

“They are really fun to hang out with, If they like you they can take you on a ride. And besides, they are the only koi’s we have, and they are all female and have not reproduced yet.”

Oceanic lifeforms are normally of epic proportion.

Those who can absorb essence and develop themselves can become behemoths of the ocean. But all other normal marine life like fishes are between 1 to 3 meters long.

“You’re telling me we will be swimming with those big fishes." Suki has never seen a normal fish of that size before.

“Gugu is not the biggest one. The largest one is over 10 meters long and has lived for more than 200 years. I don’t know where my father found them but they seem to not have turned into beasts yet, but still survive for so long. That is why he calls them a lucky charm. Because only luck could have kept them alive for so long.”

Standing up Dez walked into the lake. The water was crystal clear. You had such a good view of all the life in it too.

After swimming a few meters they saw Dez getting pulled underwater. Seeing Dez abruptly disappear got his friends a little worried.

Soon after they saw Gugu jumping out of the water making another arch midair but this time she had Dez riding on her.

She was mostly black with golden markings mixed with emerald green on her top and had long black fins with a green coloration. And had a pair of long red whiskers near her mouth. She was shining like a piece of living jewel.

When they fell into the water. Dez was laughing out loud in a joyful manner.

Then he spoke to his friends.

“Don’t just stand there, come in.”

They swam for about an hour in the lake playing with Gugu and she was doing all sorts of tricks and things. Then she seemed to have gotten tired and swam away.

While Ethan was swimming to the shore to get his yellow duck Suki spoke to Dez.

“ She is so smart. Who taught her all that?”

“My mother isn’t much of a playful person so only my father and I.”

I trained Gugu myself most of the time my father trained Gigi and Gena. They are very smart. And can follow instructions very well.

“And what do they eat?”

“Mostly plants and algae that are at the bottom of the lake, they are a bottom feeder. They eat anything they find there you could say. Sometimes my father gives them some special things he makes.”

Dez brought up the real reason he brought his friends to the lake.

“Do you guys want to jump from that waterfall? ” Dez found the waterfall the most thrilling part of this lake.

“Men it will be a hassle climbing that.” Ethan didn’t appear too eager on doing that right now he was floating on top of his inflatable duck and was having a relaxing time.

“Count me out, I'm relaxing here.” Said Ethan sipping on some lemonade juice.

“Well that’s you’re lost. What about you Suki.”

Ahh….

“I’m not sure, I guess if I’m going with you I can try. I’m not so good at climbing. And that seems like a very steep climb.”

“We don’t have to climb. Do you have an inflatable too?”

“No, I didn’t bring one. Do you have one for me?”

“Well I have only one with me but it’s quite spacious, you can sit with me we can ride it together.” Said Dez taking out an inflatable bed.

“Come get on I’ll take you to a very fun ride”

Together they paddled in the direction of the waterfall and to Suki's surprise, there was a cave behind the waterfall.

Getting there they saw 2 caves going down

“Are you ready for this?” Suki's emotions were all over the place so she only nodded her head

They paddled in the direction of the cave after paddling for a while Suki started to realize the bed was moving on its own in the direction of the cave.

It started slow but soon got faster and faster.

After that, they went fast down into a dark tunnel.

Not knowing what was going on she Screamed and hugged Dez.

Later the tunnel started to bright up, the ceiling was full of glowing moss. Very beautiful green glowing moss giving a soft yet cozy light. You could see moss embellish the caves.

the water that was flowing down at this moment magically started to flow upward. It felt like a water slide but instead of going downwards, it went up the mountain.

”You don’t have to feel embarrassed the first time I tried this I also got scared." Said Dez, while hugging her too.

It didn’t take long for them to reach a big opening and at top speed, seeing the open view Suki had a bad feeling. And true to her feelings, they have shot out the tunnel falling over the cliff.

dropping with the waterfall they went splashing onto the lake.

Going down Suki screamed her heart out grabbing tightly onto Dez. While he was just Enjoying the rush, the adrenaline, and laughing happily.

Seeing the whole thing Ethan couldn’t help himself, he really wanted to join them now.

“Men, I want to try that too. how did you guys get up there so fast?”

“Sure we will do it again anyway just follow us.” Said Dez not taking to heart Ethan’s previous refusal, but Suki was a different person. “What happens to your relaxation and your lemonade?” Ask Suki with sarcasm.

“I can relax and have fun at the same time. Sometimes I doubt you’re smart.” In Ethan’s mind, there is nothing the great Ethan can't do. (Except winning against Dez … for now.) Suki had to be dumb if she couldn’t see that fact.

“Ha, you're questioning My intelligence. When you're screaming like an ugly pig, I’ll just see how relaxed you’ll be. I’ll make sure to take some pictures for our memories.”

“You can take all the pictures you like, for handsome men like me, the more you take the better.”

Ethan was a very prideful person and the thing he had the most pride in was his physique. His manliness and his strong build and muscular body shape. In Ethan's mind, Suki was flattering him.

The result...

Ethan screamed like a dying pig to the slaughterhouse. Ethan had a big heart but was still only 12. And Suki enjoyed every moment of it. Especially when he fell face-first into the water. and Suki took some embarrassing pictures that she will utilize to tease Ethan for years to come even after he had grown up into a respected and honored ruler of his Empire.

The 3 of them enjoyed the ride and loved the adrenaline it gave them. Enjoying it they went up and fell from the waterfall for hours Until the moment Ethan got hungry and wanted to look for something to eat.

"I can take you guys to my dad’s companions' palace. I can take you there and have Raisel get something done for us. She cooks so well even my mother praised her cooking.” The palace was the next stop Dez had planned for the trip he had with his friend today.

"Who is Raisel?" Suki was curious; she had never heard of her in the Selklor family.

"Raisel is one of my father’s soul companions, he used to tell me stories of his adventures and she was one of his first soul companions. My father didn’t like cooking and needed someone to take care of the cooking. So he taught her all he knew about cooking. Later when my father realized she had great talent to be a chef he looked for an expert to give her a cooking class. She is a Spirit Chef on a master level now, she can cook anything into delicacies. everywhere my father went she went too.” The adventure his father went before marrying away sparked a flame in Dez’s heart. And now talking about Raisel made Dez all fired up again.

The palace was above the mountain. Instead of going left in the cave to go down, they went right and came to a stony shore inside the cave. Stepping out of and putting the inflatables away they start to walk into a tunnel.

This tunnel was also very luminous. filled with glowing moss and going much slower this time by walking at a relaxed rhythm they had a better chance to see the caves. It gave a warming feeling to it. The cave ceiling was quite high. with some quite large stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The cave was also very humid.

Seeing the caves brightening up Dez spoke up.

“I present to you my father’s palace.” Said Dez full of excitement.

“Welcome to the Sakura palace.”