On the foredeck of a lone craft in the middle of the ocean, Captain Lin Bei Fong stood alone watching the sunset, her hands folded behind her back. Her crew had just finished picking up some important cargo in the south and was now headed back to make its delivery.

Behind her, members of her crew were idling about on deck. One man, Ting, leaned over to his fellow and whispered, "What does she think she's doing standing there like that?"

His fellow chuckled and said, "I think she's trying to look all resolute, like a real Captain."

Ting scoffed. "Well, good luck with that, Missy. Everyone knows that the only reason she's captain is because she's a Bei Fong. Otherwise, who would make an eighteen-year-old girl captain of a ship?"

"Or in charge of this kind of cargo," the other crewman, Yeng, agreed.

"What's going on?" A couple more guys came over to join the conversation.

"Just talking about the 'Miss Captain'." One or two guys chuckled.

"You wanna talk," one guy spoke up, "how about that armor she wears. What does she think is gonna happen? A fight's gonna break out in the middle of the ocean? What is this, 70 AG?"

That got some laughs.

"How about that telescope? Last time I checked that was the Lookout's job."

"Hey, I know! Why don't you go ask her about it."

"Okay; I've got nothing better to do."

A few of them, Ting and Yeng included, went up to the foredeck and stood behind the captain, grinning at each other.

"Uh," Ting spoke up, "Captain?"

"Yes shipmate, what is it?"

"A few of the guys were wondering… What are you doing up here, with that spyglass and all? You know the lookout's good for that, right?"

"Yes, I am aware," the Captain continued without turning around, though she did set down the spyglass she'd been looking through. "However, I find that I like to keep an eye on the horizon myself. Just because we're in the middle of the ocean doesn't mean we can just assume we're safe."

"Well, to be fair Captain," said Yeng, taking his turn, "we are in one of the best warcrafts that Republic City could afford. It should be able to handle anything we meet."

"Your logic is sound, Yeng, but in context its flawed. The cargo which this ship is carrying is more valuable than anything else on the sea right now. And just because our world is developing rapidly doesn't mean things such as pirates no longer exist."

"Pirates, Captain?"

"Yes."

The crewmen had a difficult time suppressing their laughter, until the Captain finally turned around; then they sobered up quick.

"I realize that you find my methods to be paranoid, but I do not care." She spoke in a commanding voice, very authoritative for a girl of eighteen. "Our cargo is precious, and I shall treat as such. And even if you do not respect me, I'd appreciate it if you respected the position of protection you have all been granted. Now, rather than standing around and mocking me, I suggest you make yourselves useful."

She dished out duties for them and sent them off with a wave of her hand. Lin knew the last part was pushing it a bit, but she was too annoyed to care. It was one thing to talk about her behind her back, but she had managed to catch every taunting remark they'd said. So what if she wore armor? It made her feel protected and capable, and it wasn't as if it was heavy. So what if she watched the horizon? The real reason was that she found their lookout to be of a dubious nature.

Lin looked at the horizon again, trying to brush off the anger she felt. It didn't matter what they thought anyway. She'd made captain of this mission, and nothing could change that. What was important was that the amulet reached home safely. The Wong Shu Amulet was one of the most expensive pieces of jewelry ever discovered, so naturally the buyer had put her in charge of retrieving it along with the rest of a small fortune; who better than his own granddaughter?

Presently she raised the spyglass once more and peered across the waves.

Then she saw it: the huge black hull of a rogue ship rearing upon the waves.

"Damn it…"

Immediately she began shouting orders. The enemy was larger than them, but Lin wasn't about to go down without a fight. When the ship was within a few hundred meters it fired, and the Bei Fong's cargo ship rocked.

"FIRE!" Lin shouted, and they did so, returning the great attack.

The battle continued and soon both ship had gaping holes in their sides. Lin was starting to lose hope when, without warning, lightning split the sky and caught the enemy ship on fire. The Bei Fong crew started rejoicing; but not Lin. She looked up at the sky, breathing unevenly. For though it was a crimson red, her eyes were keen enough to spy great storm clouds rolling toward them.

Lin steeled herself for what was to come.

Soon the whole scene was thrown into chaos. Rain pelted in from the side, crewmen ran around like mad, and the rogue ship continued to limp around, the fire spreading along its rafters.

"Captain," someone, Lin couldn't see who, shouted, "what should we do?"

Lin was currently on the main deck, gripping the side, trying to assess the situation. Then she looked up and saw that the rogue ship wasn't giving up because of a storm, and was still coming for them. Meanwhile her own ship was on the verge of sinking.

"Man the cannons," she said solemnly. "We're still in this."

In the water, Bumi and Bum Ju were bobbing about, trying to avoid getting hit by debris.

"Weep!"

"You're right," Bumi called, "we should probably go back under."

The two slid beneath the water and caught their breath. Before they had a chance to gather their bearings, a huge BANG rung out through the waves.

"Whoa…" Bumi looked up to see black smoke billowing out of the two ships as they began to sink.

On board Lin clung to the side of the ship and shouted orders.

"Get to the life rafts! You," she pointed to a few men, "come with me below deck. We're only going to get the most valuable objects; I won't let the rest of it pull us down."

Only half one or two listened to her, the rest throwing themselves into the rafts. She struggled down into the hold and the two men took the lightest chests. She looked around, panicking, unable to find the box which contained the Wong Shu Amulet. She waved for the men to go ahead as she searched for it.

They did so and before long all the rafts were in the water as the two burning vessels dipped into the sea. The Bei Fong crew watched, waiting for their Captain to emerge, but to no avail. A few began to regret taunting her as they had. With no other choice as the waves continued to toss with the storm, they rowed in the direction of land.

Bumi poked his head above the waves again, looking at the scene. He observed the land-dwellers seemed to have put aside their differences and the two crews had turned their fight against the waves. He also noticed that the armored one he'd observed earlier was missing.

"Where do you think it went?" he asked Bum Ju. The little fish shook it's head and dove again, unconcerned.

Still curious, Bumi followed him and swam to the wreckage.

Inside the hold, Lin had finally found the box and stuffed the amulet inside the bag on her belt. But now she was trapped as water began to flood the hold. The Captain weighed her options and studied the ship's interior. Finally, before she could change her mind again, she reached out and used her bending to tear a hole in the side.

She caught the rush of water and found herself in open water, far below the surface. She looked upward and swam desperately, fighting to keep alive. But it was too far.

As Bumi swam around the wreckage he noticed something shining in the water. There it was! The armored one. He swam over to it and saw that it had run out of air.

Without thinking he grabbed the creature and, once he got a hold of it, made for the surface.

They broke into the open air and the unconscious body in his arms breathed.

"That was a close one," Bumi huffed as he pulled the creature toward a floating piece of the wreckage. He laid it down and sighed as he looked at the pieces of destruction left on the waves. He shook his head and looked back to the creature, at how frail it looked after its dangerous experience.

"Now what?" he asked it.