Waves beat along the coastline being pushed forth by the forces held within the storm front which was rapidly approaching the bay. Imperial, a large Kodai patched with grays, whites and blacks, shifted her weight from one foot to another as she watched the scene unfold before them.
Picking up on her nervousness, Yume, a smaller yet equally patched cream and black kodai, rested a paw reassuringly on the arm of her taller friend. "You alright there, Impy?" she asked as soft as the howling winds would allow whilst still being audible.
Imperial frowned and snarled half-heartedly. "You know I hate that name. And, well. Yes. I suppose." despite her uncertain words, Imperial's stance did not change - giving away her certainly not okay status.
"I do know, sorry." Yume replied, happy to have been able to distract Imperial even briefly from being lost in her own anxieties.

As if somehow reading the unspoken thoughts of impatience, Nutmeg appeared running towards the two Kodai standing on the beach. She was calling out excitedly, however the winds forbade the words from reaching either Imperial's or Yume's ears.
As Nutmeg finally arrived where they were, Imperial scoffed at her, looking down through slightly squinted eyes. "You do realise there is no way we could hear you from all the way over there, right?"
"Ah, yes, sorry" Nutmeg replied breathlessly, winded from her sprint from the treeline. "I was saying that I received contact from the others. Velma should be here soon with the three hailing from Or'sol - Ashdod, Rita and Rocco!" Nutmeg grinned, trying to picture what Rocco would look like as she had never met them before but was intrigued by the possibilities.
A communicator on Nutmeg's forearm beeped to life and she looked down to check what the message said before conveying to her companions. "Yes! Ashdod says they can see us." and she looked up to scan the area to see if she could see them.
Yume's ears perked up, very intrigued by the odd device Nutmeg carried around with her - however before she could begin a barrage of questions, the other party had arrived and were greeting the dragons happily.
"Thank you all for agreeing to meet with us!" Ashdod started, a wide and friendly smile beaming from her face "We can use all the help we can get for this mission."
"Our sources say that a cargo ship has crashed in this area - we must hurry before other scavengers beat us to it." Rita began, pressing some buttons on her own device which presented the group with a holographic map of the area they were in.
"What is that?" Yume pointed to a golden circle on the map - her claws going through a holographic cliff face and she began to play with it.
"That" Rocco interjected "is the area the ship had last transmitted a signal. The larger area below it is the possible areas where the ship may have drifted to as it sank into the ocean."
Nutmeg beamed, her tail flicking excitedly and her eyes locked with Velma's. "This is going to be fun!"
"That is a huge area..." Imperial finally spoke up, having been observing whilst keeping herself a tad more guarded around the strangers she did not quite trust yet. "How will we possibly find the ship before the storm hits?"
Silence fell on the group as each looked away to consider the options - all of which looked bleak. As if it really hone in the point, a gust of wind ripped past and whipped up loose sand which buffeted the eyes of those standing around.
"You have a point" Ashdod began; her words coming out slow and deliberate as she thought whilst she talked "Maybe we could split up? Cover more ground?"
"I would not feel safe splitting up in this storm..." Rocco spoke, her words carrying quite a bit of weight given her clearly aquatic nature. "Way too risky."
"Could we wait until the storm blows over?" Yume asked, gaining a nodding agreement from both Velma and Imperial.
"If we wait, then we risk loosing the prize to someone else." Rita thought aloud.
"I say we do it!" Nutmeg bounced, beginning to feel impatient. "We can at least start now before the storm worsens - explore what we can underwater, and then bail when it becomes too unsafe."
The group all nodded, some more reluctantly than others.
"If we are all agreed then" Ashdod had to raise her voice to be heard above the winds which were picking up now. "We should set off. We all know what to do, and what we are looking for. Stick together, no one wanders off alone, understood?"

~

Imperial, Yume and Nutmeg took to the skies and started speeding off towards the area the map had indicated. Ashdod, Rita, Rocco and Velma walked further along the beach slightly to find a better place before making their way into the choppy and icy waters. Rocco led the way, closely followed by Velma, as her adeptness in the water became apparent. Ashdod and Rita however seemed to struggle a bit more with being buffeted around closer to the surface. Soon enough all were plunging deeper into the ocean, and further away from the turmoil caused by the storm above. As the sandy ocean floor dipped further and further down, the water became clearer - undisturbed by waves the further down it went.
The dark depths almost crept up to meet the unsuspecting explorers, however Ashdod had come prepared and distributed light devices which could fight away the darkness even a little bit. Luckily she did as it had made the search for the other half of their party relatively easy - Rocco and Rita swam on ahead to meet with the lights advertising where Imperial, Yume and Nutmeg had already began their search, opting to stick closer as a large group rather than explore in smaller fragments.

Yume, seeing the lights appear, had stopped her snaking downwards into the murky depths to greet them. She gestured downwards using her light and pointing her claws - they had managed to spot something deeper down, however they needed to surface for more air. A problem which, despite their incredible swiftness in the water, caused the dragons to need to breathe more often than their companions. Rita, Ashdod and Rocco flashed their lights in acknowledgement and began to swim further down in the direction Yume had indicated. Gesturing to the other Kodai to surface, Imperial led the dragons back up to catch their breath and regroup - needing to battle the storming waves and rain pelting down from above. Lightning flashed across the sky, exciting and enticing Velma, followed closely with the thunderous boom which shook their cores.
"Has anyone seen anything yet?" Yume shouted, begging to be heard above the storm. The winds making the Kodai need to keep moving for fear of being blown out of the sky.
"I may have" Imperial offered "But may have been an odd rock formation. It is hard to see anything down there."
"We may need to explore the depths again once the storm dies down" Nutmeg offered, however she only got a disagreeing look from the other dragons.
"No" Yume started "I do not believe that would help. Even if the skies were clear, it is almost impossibly dark down there."

The pessimism from her companions hurt Nutmeg more than she would care to admit, and more than she would care to feel. Shaking her head, she gestured back down to the incredibly high waves below them, announcing her intention to join the others back in the water. Without giving anyone else time to stop her, she plummeted herself straight down and back into the water.
Imperial looked over at Yume with almost disgust before following Nutmeg back down to the depths - closely followed by both Velma and Yume herself.