They returned onto the train in less than a few seconds. The portal was always fast, but even after several times of using it, it was still harder for them to get used to the sudden brightness than darkness. The hooded man was already waiting for them in the train, folding his arms across his chest, looking a bit displeased.
“You’re late.” He said as he pulled out the same black and white photo of the girl from his pocket, handing it to Vivian. “This is a gift for you.” he said, not bothering to explain more.
“Unfortunately, you have less time for a break between this world and the next. The next one would be your last, but also longer,spanning three days. The level of difficulty would also increase, but I believe you will be able to find the solution. You have 20 minutes before you start. Good luck.” The hooded man said.
“Well, he didn’t give us any hints of what the next world is going to be, so I guess we cannot prepare for the mission.” Kyle said as he sat down on one of the seats. The girls also decided to sit down and relax for 20 minutes before heading onto their final mission. Finally, it was time for them to go on their last mission. They approached the door marked with a glowing “4” and headed into familiar blinding brightness.
Charlie was sitting on a wooden bench facing a row ofshack was located on a large cliff that directly cut off tothe beach. The waves shone even bluer than the cloudlessn a wooden shack, possibly somewhere near the ocean since there were surfboards and shell decorations everywhere. The air was also filled with the smell of salty waves. Judging by the surroundings, Charlie could guess that this mission was about surfing, or at least related to the ocean. Charlie was alone in the shack, so she decided to go ahead and find Kyle and Vivian.
Like she expected, the shack was near the ocean. The shack was located on a large cliff thatdirectly cut off to the beach. Thewaves shone even bluer than the cloudless sky, lapping on the yellow sand with white foam. The waves that almost reach the horizon seemed extra-large, even from a distance like this. A few seagulls flew from above, giving the amazing scene another taste. This for sure was a perfect beach for surfing. Just as Charlie was about to head to find her companions, a familiar voice shouted out to herfrom below the cliff.
“Charlie! We’re over here!” Vivian shouted, looking up to Charlie from the beach. Charlie’s eyes brightened. This saved a lot of time for her to find them. She found a slope connecting the cliff and the beach and quickly skipped down to meet her companions. “I think our mission this time might be something related to surfing.” Charlie stated as she sat down on the sand with Vivian. Kyle nodded.
“I also discovered some surf boards around and my name tag here says that I’m a coach. Guess I’ll have to play the role of a teacher again.” Kyle said, pointing to a small rectangular tag on his shirt. Kyle’s name and “Surfing Coach” was written on it. Thinking about the outfit, Charlie discovered that she was not wearing her original clothes anymore. This reminded her that almost in every world she wore the same clothes except for this one. Kyle’s clothing also did not change much except for the tag which is used as a hint for what their mission is. In the first world, he wore his suit for racing and Vivian wore a different dress in the second world.
“This mission system is surely detailed.” Charlie thought, pulling her thoughts back. “So, did you guys find anyone or anything else that might be useful for us?” Charlie asked as she stood up to go on with the mission.
“Well, on the back of my name tag, the words ‘sunshine surfing club’ are written, so this might be the club where I work and might be useful in our mission.” Kyle said as he took off his name tag and examined the back.
“The top of the cliff has tons of cabins and houses; the surfing club might be in one of them. Let's go and have a look.” Charlie suggested. The others agreed and headed on to the cliff.
Like Charlie had described, there were all sorts of cabins and seaside houses surrounding the edge of the cliff. There were also lots of people bustling around, some carrying surfboards heading to the ocean and others getting their beach equipment ready, possibly wanting to go to the beach and relax in the sunshine.
The trio found a cabin with a large wooden plank placed on the bottom of the stairs with large letters that spelled out “Sunshine Surfing Club”. They knocked on the door and an old man opened. His eyes lit then frowned as he saw the trio and quickly led them in. “Kyle, I was just wondering where you went. Vivian you too.You two go and meet with your customer by the south side of the beach. He’s carrying a blue and yellow surfboard. Go, quickly.” The old man said in a strong, Australian accent and hurried the two out of the cabin. Vivian apparently was also a coach this time.
The old man turned to Charlie and examined her from head to toe. “Why aren’t you training now?” He said with visible annoyance, “The world competition is the day after tomorrow, what are you doing here wandering around instead of training? You’re gonna’ lose to Nina if you keep going like this.” He said, his frown deepening as he turned to grab a surfboard. “Here you go, try this board this time.” It was a white board with blue patterns on it and it seemed new.
Charlie decided to, then took the board and headed to the beach. From the information she just got, she was going to go to a world competition the day after tomorrow and Nina might be a strong competitor she’ll have to beat. She did a bit of surfing a few years ago, but she certainly can’t surf anywaves that occur 10 meters away from the shore, not to mention join competitions. She hoped that she would be able to have amazing surfing abilities like Vivian did during the last mission. This would make it so much easier.
Charlie decided to first warm up then surf in the shallower areas. She did not know if she had the abilities, so she wanted to make sure that if she didn’t, she was safe.The waves lapped at her feet, giving her a cool tingle. The cool wind blew on her face, waves growing larger and hitting her shins. This was when she realized that she did not have a swimsuit or a wetsuit on. She sighed and laid the surfboard on the beach, walking back to Sunshine Surfing to get a swimsuit.
The old man was annoyed but lent her a swimsuit that fits. After Charlie returned to the beach, her surfboard was missing. The board left its original position and was being swept by the waves away from the shore. Charlie quickly ran towards it and tried to grab the board. Each time she tried to reach for it, the wind took it further away from her. After a few tries, she finally grabbed onto the edge of the board and climbed up. She was already far into the ocean and swimming while holding onto the board seemed impossible.
“This was a bad idea.” Charlie thought. Suddenly, a thought came to her mind. Since there were not a lot of people on the beach and the lifeguard probably couldn’t see her, the only way to go back to the shore is either to surf or swim. Since swimming with a surfboard was hard and she didn’t know how to anyway, Charlie decided to try her surfing abilities. It seemed like no other way would work whether Charlie liked it or not. Charlie lowered her position on the board and gaveall hope for whomever she’s representing being able to give her surfing abilities.
As the waves came closer, a strange feeling came to Charlie. She turned to look at the wave directly coming towards her and stepped onto the board quickly as the wave lifted her to the tallest point. She swished and turned as the water continued to move forward, performing with great confidence and techniques. The waves seemed to fit perfectly with her motions, lifting her high then low. Charlie’s body did not seem to be controlled by herself, but rather performing these movements using her instincts and muscle memory. After reaching the shore with almost no effort, Kyle and Vivian came.
“You’re amazingat surfing! That’s so cool!” Vivian exclaimed, running to Charlie. Charlie was also amazed by her own abilities.
“This was probably how Vivian felt like when she was performing.” Charlie thought. She was now completely sure that she was able to surf well and trusted all to her instincts while during the competition. The sun was starting to set, and the trio decided to first grab dinner and then discuss the mission. They headed back to the Sunshine Surfing cabin and Charlie changed back to her original clothes. The old man led them to two cabins next to each other after he heard that they did not know where to live. A small restaurant was next to the cabins, so they quickly ate dinner there and went into one of the cabins to discuss.
“So, did you guys actually teach your client how to surf?” Charlie asked curiously. She did not know if the two knew how to surf or were capable of teaching others.
“Well, we did try our best, but since only I know a bit of surfing techniques which he already knew, our client was disappointed and decided to surf by himself.” Kyle said, “Do you know what the mission is this time?”
“Yes, I think I’m supposed to go to a surfing competition the day after tomorrow and a very strong competitor that I’ll have to beat is named Nina. The old man told me all this, so he might be important in this competition. He might also know more information. From what I see, until now, there might not be an important hint written on a piece of paper like the envelope. If there was, it would appear soon since all the hints did appear during the beginning of the world.” Charlie stated. The rest nodded and fell into silence. During every mission, there was always a stage where the trio did not know what to do and there was no clue. They decided to first let the matter sit and relax until tomorrow morning. Like the last mission, Charlie and Vivian shared a cabin while Kyle had his own. Nothing happened much, but there was an almost unnoticeable tinge in the air that made Charlie somehow uncomfortable.
The next morning was cloudy. Competitors from all over the world started to settle near a hotel next to the cabins. Charlie was called to Sunshine Surfing by the old man just after she woke up to tell her about techniques and rules of the competition.
“Nina is going to come here this afternoon. You will meet up and train together. She said that she wanted to meet the legendary “Queen of Surfing” badly. Be sure not to get hurt before the competition alright?” The old man said, fixing a broken surfboard. Charlie nodded. Nina seemed to admire her and that was great. Charlie headed back and alerted the others of this information. Kyle decided to come up with a plan so they would be more efficient in completing the mission. The plan was to let Vivian go ask the old man more about the competition while Charlie was training, and Kyle would go to Nina’s team to investigate more about Nina.
The next morning was calm and peaceful, but the beach was filled with athletes training. Charlie did not get a chance to train before Nina came, but she did get an important message from Nina. Her team called the telephone in the wooden cabin Charlie lived in and told her that Nina’s going to train with her at 1 p.m. and they’ll meet at the northernmost side of the beach. Charlie agreed and hung up. Vivian by herside was quite confused.
“How did they know the number of the phone in our cabin?” She asked.
“Well, their team is probably related to the old man who gave us this cabin to live in and he probably told the number to Nina’s team if they asked.” Charlie said. There was still an hour until the time of training and the trio decided to get lunch nearby. The only restaurant was inside the hotel where the athletes stayed, so this was also a great chance to get to know the athletes more and understand more about the competition from them.
The restaurant was crowded with athletes just before noon. Top athletes from all sorts of countries bustled around, chatting, and laughing. As Charlie was looking around for empty seats, a young girl called to her, waving.
“Jessica! Here!” She yelled. Charlie was confused and after looking around, she pointed to herself in hesitation. “Yes, I’m talking to you Jessica!” The girl yelled again. Charlie told Vivian and Kyle to find seats by themselves and headed to the girls’ direction through the crowd.
“Hey Jessica! It’s been a long time since we last met!”
The girl said with a cheerful voice, “Do you remember me? I’m Katie, I surfed in the last world competition with you a few years ago in the age group older than you. I’m so excited to see your performance tomorrow!” Katie exclaimed. Charlie laughed quite awkwardly to her enthusiasm.
“Nice to meet you again Katie. I’m also looking forward to your great performance.” Charlie said, smiling brightly. Knowing an athlete in person made it much easier to get information. For instance, just within a minute Charlie knew that her character was named Jessica and Katie were an athlete that she knew before.
“Who are the other two people you’re with? I don’t remember seeing them in the last competition. Are they athletes?” Katie asked, looking towards the direction Vivian and Kyle sitting. Charlie explained that they were her friends and not athletes. Katie followed along and she quickly skipped towards the two’s direction and introduced herself after hearing that they were Charlie’s friend. Katie surely loved to socialize and sat down at their table to eat and talk together after getting permission.
“Nice to meet you Vivian and Kyle!” Katie said.
“Nice to meet you too.” Kyle said, quickly getting into the acting. “I heard from Char... em... her that you’re a great surfer. Would it be possible if you could tell me and Vivian more about surfing and this competition? We’re really curious and she didn’t get a chance to inform us yet. It’ll be great if you could talk to us together.” He spoke.
“Oh! Sure, no problem! I’m glad that you asked. So how about me and Jessica tell you more about this competition first than about surfing? There’s a lot more about surfing than there is to the competition.” Katie answered, quite surprised that Kyle had asked. Kyle and Vivian both turned towards Charlie when Katie addressed her as Jessica. Charlie returned a nod in reply and sat down next to Katie.
“So, this competition is a world competition usually held in Australia, lasting two days. It was createde specially for teenagers and young adults to compete. It’s also held once every two years and I’ve known some very incredible surfers from these competitions. The ladies’ winner in the last competition was Jessica, like you know, and Nina won the one before the lastone.” Katie slightly lowered her voice as she mentioned Nina. Charlie noticed and quickly continued to ask to find more information.
“This time, I’m going against Nina as a main competitor. I don’t remember when she came to the last competition. Could you tell me more about her?” Charlie asked and lowered her voice like Katie did before. Katie’s eyes widened and hesitated. She looked around the restaurant and after making sure Nina wasn’t here, she moved closer to the trio and lowered her voice even more. “Nina’s very dangerous. She’s got a nice demeanor and all, but she gives off a strong atmosphere she’s going to murder you if you beat her or anything. She’s just plain scary. She always smiles fake-like and never shows any other emotions other than that and calmness. She won the competition with almost no effort! Everyone’s afraid of her, but her abilities in surfing is incredible. Almost like you Jessica! I wonder who’s going to win this time.” Katie said, looking genuinely scared of Nina. This surely was a lot of information. Charlie knew that Nina was a strong competitor, but from the old man and Nina’s team, she seemed to like her. But from Katie, she seemed to be very competitive and threatening. She wondered what kind of person she actually was. Just as Katie was about to continue, her phone rang just in time, and she headed to practice. After getting some basic lunch, it was time for practiceand the trio headed to their missions.