The Island of Fear (complete)

Chapter 11) Failure Is Not An Option

KateSeleneMelody3OCS

Selene's POV: As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I wished I could take them back. I wished they weren't true. But they were. Captain Barnacles had the same traits as Lupo did before he went insane.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I ran away, unable to look at the captain's expression. I dashed into the trees, holding Derek tight. "Selene, wait!" I heard the Captain call. I didn't dare look back.

Soon, I reached a clearing. There was a boulder in the center of it. I needed to rest, so I sat down on it. "He must hate me now..." I whispered, tears streaming down my face, landing on my lap. Derek looked up at me, his eyes seeming to ask what was wrong.

"Aww...did someone break up with their boyfriend?" I heard a voice say in mock sympathy. I looked behind me and leapt to my feet.

Standing behind me was a black wolf with amber eyes and a smirk.

"Lupo!" I breathed.

isobeljones2000

Tunip's POV: Her eyes were wide as she registered us in our large cage and all the Vegimals. All I could think was: another Vegimal? I thought we were the only ones! No, that thought was secondary to the thought that overlooked all others.

She's beautiful.

"Hello," I said softly. "I'm Tunip. Do you speak our language?"

For a few moments she stared at me, and I thought she didn't speak Vegimalese, then I heard her voice, tentative and pretty.

"Hi. Yes I do speak your language, though I've never met any other creatures like me before. I thought I was the only one." Her skin was totally pitch black and her eyes stood out startlingly because of this fact. 

"No, there's lots of us. Well, about twelve. What's your name?" I asked, feeling oddly confused, as if my mind was clouded over. I shook my head to clear the feeling and lost my balance, falling over. All the other Vegimals giggled, even the girl, and I scowled as Barrot helped me to my feet. Way to make a first impression, Tunip. Make a fool of yourself.

But to my relief, when the female next spoke, it was with a voice that had lost the fear it had been laced with and replaced with a friendly sound. "My name's Eelean. Nice to meet you Tunip." I smiled. A mixture of eel and bean. And now that I could see her a little better despite the cage, she did look the shape of a bean. And the eel part would explain the colour.

"How long have you been here?" asked Barrot beside me. Eelean frowned slightly.

"A few days? Maybe?"

"Have you eaten?" Grouber butted in in his growly voice. Of course. Trust Grouber to think about food.

"Not really..." the girl said. Grouber looked horrified. I almost laughed. Then she continued: "what are you - we - anyway? What species?"

"Vegimals," I answered quickly. She looked satisfied by this answer, her face pondering before breaking out into a smile.

"I like that. It suits us. So, Tunip. How are we planning to escape?"

KateSeleneMelody3OCS

Kate's POV: Thanatophobia. The word feels like a sinking stone in my gut. "Oh..." I say in a small voice. Thoughts buzz around in my head like a tornado. So far, Dashi, Shellington, and I have all been forced to face our fears in one way or another. But Peso... How would the island get him to face his fear?

I shook my head. If Peso was afraid of death, and this island made you face your fears..."Ugh! Stop thinking!" I yelled.

Peso gave me a look. "Are you alright, Kate?" he asked.

I nodded. "I just need to stop thinking about... well, everything really." I muttered.

I thought I saw Peso crack a smile. "Come on." I said. "The sooner we find the Vegimals, the sooner we can leave this island." I murmured.

Peso nodded. We trudged forward. As we walked, I made a promise to myself. Peso was not going to die, not if there was anything I could do about it. He had risked his life to save mine, and I couldn't say that I loved him if I wasn't willing to do the same.

Eventually, we came to a sign over a tunnel. It read "Welcome To L.W. Catacombs." I slapped myself.

"Seriously?!" I groaned. Peso also had seen the sign and had gone as pale as a sheet. "Lets see if there's another way..." I suggested and faltered. Somehow, the tunnel we had just came through had closed up. How is that even possible?!" I shouted.

Peso was shaking. "Kate...we have to go through..." He whispered shakily. I shook my head. "No, Peso. There has to be another way." I reasoned. But as the words came out of my mouth, I knew it was too much to hope for. Still, something else was unnerving me about the catacomb sign. But what?

isobeljones2000

Tweak's POV: I craned to see what Kwazii had pulled off the wall, my eyes widening as I see the camera. Kwazii was looking at it in confusion in his paw, turning it over to study it with his eyes.

"Guess someone's watching us then matey. You were right. Were watching us in any case." My eyes were still wide, but I was not looking at the camera any more, I was looking around at the dark tunnels which suddenly seemed very ominous. Kwazii was still talking.

"We should get Dashi to take a look at this. She might know what it was for and how to dismantle it." 

"Kwazii," I interrupted. The cat looked round at me. "My radio isn't working."

His eyes showed shock as he fumbled straight away with his radio button, pressing it several times to check. The engineer in me took over and I removed the collar from around my neck, emblazoned with the Octonauts logo and containing a tiny little microphone  receiver in the button. I had been very proud of this when I had made it, and it had never stopped working. Sure, if people were too far away to radio, it wouldn't call them, but it had never been dead like this.

"It can't have just failed," I muttered, taking out a screwdriver from my belt of tools. Kwazii looked at me slightly oddly for a moment.

"Er, Tweak? That's a carrot." I mentally facepalm my stupidity, taking a bite out of it anyway and actually taking out a screw driver this time. Carrots always seemed to clear my head.

At first inspection the radio had nothing wrong with it. I had no idea what could be making it fail. And both, at the same time? That just didn't happen.

'Failure', a tiny voice whispered at me inside my head. I shook my head violently, making my ears shudder. Kwazii was too busy looking over the camera in his paw to notice. 

'What if they're in trouble? And your stupid invention is too failed to help anyone,' continued the antagonistic voice. I shook it away.  Failure was not an option. Never an option. Not for me.