"She was somewhere in that direction." Shachi pointed towards the forest so far away. The trees were impossibly to see because of the storm. "A blizzard hit us and we got separated."
"How long did you walk for after you were separated?" Law asked, still trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. He searched for his hat around his quarters.
"Um...maybe twenty minutes? I wasn't keeping track…"
"It's fine, Shachi-ya. We'll find her and bring her back." Law's steady and confident replies eased the engineer's fears a little. He was worried that Summer would freeze out there, all alone with no one to help her. And it was all his fault…
"Bepo, you are the primary lead in this search. Once you find her, make sure she isn't injured. If she is, you'll have to carry her back and keep her warm."
"Aye, Captain." The bear nodded, determined to find his nakama. He turned, exiting the submarine and walking out into the snowy weather. Beside him was the makeshift shelter, but it had been completely knocked over by the high winds and heavy snowfall. The blankets were covered in snow and Pride was nowhere to be seen.
'I wonder where she went?' The bear thought, but he didn't worry too much. She had recovered much of her strength and was used to the extreme climates of the island. Summer, however, was not and was still out there somewhere.
Earlier, he'd been wondering what path he wanted his life to follow after this point. Should he stay with Pride and help her fend off the hunters, living in the wild for the first time in a long time? Or should he stay with his crew and battle the World Government, helping his Captain, his best friend, to become the Pirate King?
The answer used to be blurry, unsure to him. But now, with developments going how they did, he thought he knew the answer. Dismissing Pride from his mind, he ran off towards where Summer had last been seen.
The wind was picking up. It swirled, pushing Summer back and forth as she swayed uneasily on her feet. All she could see in front of her, behind her, to each side and above, was white. The absence of color was almost nauseating. Her headache was still raging hard, pulsing through her skull in a steady beat. She coughed a few times from the cold, thin air.
The sub was nowhere in sight. She'd been walking for at least fifteen minutes, maybe more. It was impossible to count at this point.
"Sh-Shachi!" She weakly called, trying in a vain attempt to find her missing nakama. It was her fault they'd been separated. She had been an idiot and fallen down a freakin' slope. Not even a mountain or a hill, but a measly slope!
"Summer! Where are you?" A voice called somewhere in the white expanse. Her head perked up.
"Here!" Her voice croaked. She waved her arm in the arm, the other cradling her injured knee. Maybe if she moved around they would find her. "Over here!"
"I can smell you, just barely. I'm coming!"
'Ah, it must be Bepo.' She thought in relief. The thought of his warm, soft fur was a comfort. She could no longer feel her skin, but now her worries had eased. If Bepo was here, everything would be alright.
It was a few minutes before Bepo's orange jumpsuit came into view. The storm was so strong and thick that tracking her was this difficult. He spotted her and came over, shielding her from one side of the wind.
"Are you alright? Are you injured?"
"My knee…" She muttered, glancing down at the injury. The bear saw the now crusted blood over her pants, mixed with the fresh flowing stream and hesitantly touched it. Summer winced and he retracted his hand.
"We need to get you back to the submarine so Captain can treat your wound." Nodding, Summer allowed herself to be hoisted up by the bear and into his arms. She immediately felt the warm of Bepo's body heat and her frozen body began to feel the small amount of temperature. She sighed in relief.
"T-thank you…" She whispered before allowing herself to fall unconscious. Unbeknownst to her, he heard and smiled.
Bepo trudged through the deep snow with Summer in his arms, careful not to jostle her injured leg around too much. Blood still trickled from the wound. Some of it got onto his fur but he didn't mind. As long as she was safe, he was happy.
The two were still a mile or so from the submarine. The storm had moved closer to where they had docked, and it was getting worse each second.
A massive roar thundered close to them on the left, and Bepo instinctively took up a defensive position. Summer was still unconscious, so he gently lowered her to the snow. Looking up to wherever the sound had come from, he saw Pride walking in a hostile manner towards them.
"Pride, what are you doing?" Bepo asked, unsure as to what was going on.
"Give her to me. She is weak and won't survive." She growled in return, her hind legs stiff and tense. He narrowed his eyes.
"She's nakama. I won't let you have her."
"I must eat!" She roared, standing on her back legs. "You wanted to help me before. Help me now!" This display of superiority was probably something she'd developed from the wild, but Bepo wasn't intimidated.
"We already gave you the food we had!" Bepo kept a careful eye on Summer in case there was some trick involved.
"I need more!" She growled again, before falling back onto four feet and charging him.
He was hesitant to engage in combat before, simply on the off chance she wouldn't do anything. But now that she had teeth bared and a crazed look in her eyes, Bepo was going to protect his nakama's life with his own.
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