[h2]Katalina Hargraves and Ash Marino[/h2]

In the history of bad ideas, Kata was still sure that going to seek clues at the bottom of the very lake they had found her friend dead in last year topped the charts next to dropping bombs on Japan and dropping acid. However, Amy had steered both her and Ash this way, most likely because they both had water related powers. There was something that needed to be found here, and Katalina was hoping she could find it before she ran out of air. 

She hadn’t really tried out this part of her power that much, as she was never really given time to practice making air bubbles for herself. She wasn’t that worried, because she was sure if it did fail her at a spectacular level Ash would help her. Though the lake was creeping her out. She knew that there weren’t fish in it, since it was isolated lake. However, that didn’t explain why the plants in it seemed to have this awful grey hue to them that Kata was sure wasn’t healthy for any plant. It was like the lake itself was having the life slowly draining out of it. [i][color=0076a3]“Like us.”[/color][/i]

She was distracted from her thoughts by Ash putting out her palm flat, the sign for stop. Kata quirked her head over to Ash. [color=0076a3]”What is it?”[/color] Ash, who now seemed to have gills on her neck, pointed down toward what looked like a mound of mud that had significant overgrowth on it. The plants there were black looking. What seemed to have caught Ash’s attention though was an old metal grate. 

Ash started swimming faster toward it, she seemed to be more fish like the deeper into the water they got. She now had webbing between her fingers, and scaling on most of her exposed skin. Kata followed her towards the old metal grate and once the two of them had reached it she looked over at Ash and then back to the grate. She focused her powers, which was difficult while trying to maintain her air bubble, but the grate was soon nudge off by the water around it. [color=0076a3]”Want to go first?”[/color] Ash nodded and swam into the tunnel. Just as Kata was about to follow her in Ash swam back out, and covered her eyes, then pointed in the hole.

[color=0076a3]”It’s dark in there huh?”[/color]  Ash nodded, and then swam back into the hole, slower this time.[color=0076a3]”Guess we’re still going in.”[/color] Kata moved forward, manipulating her bubble a bit so that she could fit through the tunnel. It was long and dark, which made sense for being a tunnel underwater. Though she was starting to feel something she had not felt in some time, claustrophobia. Water was suppose to be her comfort, but this school had now made it her prison. If she lost focus for even a moment…

The two swam along, not even realizing they were going in an upward slope until they reached… [color=0076a3]”Air!”[/color] Kata’s bubble dropped, merging back with the water around her body as her head bobbed in the water. She looked around, trying to figure out where the heck she and Ash were now. It looked like a cave, which seemed weird. Kata didn’t remember there being any mentions of caves anywhere on the school’s grounds before. Kata found her way to the shore and got out of the water. [color=0076a3]”So, I think we might have found what Amy wanted us to find, but what do we do from here?”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“I don’t know”[/color] Ash spoke in a hushed tone, but not because she was whispering from what Kata could tell, but more that she was having issue breathing. After a moment Kata heard Ash take a deep breath of air. [color=00aeef]“Okay, that is better. I can’t see anything, can you? The odd thing is,”[/color] Ash paused. [color=00aeef]“I know exactly where the water is, when I am in it I feel it’s edges. But getting out I lose all of that.”[/color]

[color=0076a3]”Sadly, I can’t really see a lot here. There’s not a lot of light.”[/color] Kata sighed for a moment. [color=0076a3]”I guess we’ll have to explore by feel.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“Yeah, I nodded, but obviously you couldn’t see that.”[/color] Kata could hear Ash then moving out of the water, it sounded like she stumbled a few feet. [color=00aeef]“Okay webbing is cool and all in the water, sucks on the land.”[/color]

[color=0076a3]”I’ll make a note of that.”[/color] Kata put her right hand in front of her, and her left off to the side as she stumbled around the cave for a moment. She wasn’t sure what she was hoping to find until her hand slid along something with a cool familiar texture. The cold metal of a round doorknob. Odd, for a cave, but she’d take it. Out of some odd habit, her hand moved to open the door and turn on the light switch. Before she realized it, her left finger was hitting a switch, illuminating the cave.

[color=00aeef]“Light!”[/color] Ash shouted, and then was standing next to Kata at the door, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sudden bright light. The pair of them looked into the newly discovered room to discover what looked like an almost exact replica of the headmistress’ office, but about 300 years older. Everything was made of wood, which looked like if they sneezed the wood would fall apart into piles. [color=00aeef]“Is this what Amy wanted us to find? Cause this is definitely not what I expected.”[/color]

[color=0076a3]”Well, this isn’t what I expected as well.”[/color] Kata had been in the headmistress’ office once, and to see something that looked it was still there but three hundred years older… [color=0076a3]”How old is this place?”[/color] She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of this place having existed for over three hundred years. How many lives? How many Natalies? Then something caught her eyes. She reached down to just next to the desk and picked up an earring. A little simple sparrow, but Kata knew that well. [color=0076a3]”Ash… [i]she[/i] was here. Natalie was here!”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“What is this place?”[/color] Ash reached out to touch the earring, and then stopped herself, her hand dropping back down to her side. [color=00aeef] “We have to stop this place.”[/color]