Natural Enemy 1-4A

“Whoooo-hoooo!”

Salt.

Too much of it.

A whole bucket of the stuff slapped him right in the open mouth, drowning out the yell before it could really get legs behind it.

Kai spluttered foam, choking and snorting as white stuff blasted free from his nose and mouth both. Fuuuu- Arms went out wide, spinning like a windmill in the chaos and white noise of it; the uncaring shove of the infinite ocean almost sending him tumbling like a sock in the dryer.

Up was down.

Down was wet.

His soles gripped tight to wax, rough and sticky under ten toes.

There was no grace here, nothing close to it considering that he looked like a sack of potatoes on the board. Arms still flailing to find balance, his center of gravity was all messed up and not just ‘cause of all the extra weight he was carrying around the middle.

But he kept himself standing and the water…

The water wanted to help.

He could feel it the same way he felt his blood in his veins; a pulse in his soles, a hum under his skin with every drop of ocean water on his skin. A million billion trillion gallons of water and potential energy all around him just waiting for permission.

It nudged the board just a little, tiny invisible hands pushing the nose up so he didn’t go full headfirst into the drink. Cheat.

The word hissed loud in his head, almost coming off the spray as his board cut through the water. Just a little. Make the wave bigger.

Kai grit his teeth tight, the taste of brine on his tongue. Nah, don’t be that guy. Don’t be the freak.

Knees locked tight, he let the wave take control as he did his best to keep balance. He didn’t bother pushing, or pulling or commanding the liquid rushing under him as he just rode the wave out. Kai did his best, his path slow, heavy, and clumsy until the white water fizzled into foam and the board scraped off against the shallow sand as he came into shore.

Ankles sunk into the grit as he stepped off his board with a sigh. The beach exploded with sound as he eased off the half-beat up thing someone had given him, salt already cooling on his skin. The smell of spray mixed with charcoal and roast pig and fruity drinks and sweat as everyone screamed and cheered their lungs out.

The Great Wave…

The Great Wave Festival specifically; the second one since he’d been on the island and the first one he was actually a part of. The colors were everywhere — bright reds and yellows with flowers that smelled so sweet they made his head spin.

“Mako! Mako! Mako!”

Kai wiped the water from his eyes as he looked back out at the surf, blinking against the hammer of force that was the island sun as it beat down on his head and everything else. There he is…

Out past the break, Mako was riding, and yeah… yeah, the kid was good.

Crazy good on the water.

For one, he didn’t look like a sack of potatoes out on the waves, his board spraying out a fan of mist that caught the sunlight like shining diamonds as he rode the face of the wave till the very last second.

Perfect.

Undeniably perfect and the crowd knew it too as they roared again, a wall of sound blasting him from all around.

“Mako! Mako! Mako!”

Kai pulled a face as he watched the other boy pull off a spin on his board that he wasn’t sure was even possible on water, but he wasn’t that good of a surfer so… eh? His blue eyes rolled back as Mako finally rode the wave in, gliding down the face of it with a lazy perfect grace that was enough to make him even more jealous. 

His breath hitched, stuck in a throat that felt too tight all of a sudden. Alright, pull it back. He forced his hands open, one finger at a time as he let the anger ghost its way out in a slow breath of a sigh. This ain’t that place anymore. 

This was Kaihua, not the Bad Place.

You’re on Chill Life island, brah. Honestly, it really was different and that thought was enough to help. A year here on Kaihua felt like a whole lifetime somewhere else. Or maybe it was the other way around. That whole life back in Lauderdale felt like it had been crammed into two, ugly years. Whatever.

Point was, time was different here. 

Slower and stretchy, like saltwater taffy.

And most of that time, he was on the water. Surfing. 

Trying to, at least. Kai sighed again as Mako paddled over to him, the skinny pooka-shell wearing long-haired surfer champ as graceful as ever.

Grin wide enough to split his face, the other boy jumped off the board and slapped him on the back.

Hard.

“Sick recovery, Kai!” The grin was blinding bright as Mako shouted loud in his ear, enough to drown out the rest of the crowd. “Thought you ate sand for sure. Almost had the crest too, water cuz!”

Kai blinked back at him as the heat in his gut wavered and washed away, quicker than he knew what to do with. “I…”

He cleared his throat as soon as he cracked, hand rubbing the back of his head as he looked down at his feet. “Yeah, still gettin’ used to the waves, Mako!”

“Nah, cuz, you just gettin’ real heavy!” Mako laughed as he tapped Kai in the stomach. “More pork, less stable. Keep practicin’, cuz!”

With that, the champ jogged off to get his trophy — a custom designed board commissioned from another island by the Chief —as the crowd swallowed him up with even louder and more excited cheers.

Kai stood there, shirtless and salt-encrusted… a loser. He came in dead last, washing out first before everyone else like an idiot. Nobody cares.

Like, not at all; no pity, no pointing, no laughing. Everybody was just cheering and eating and drinking coconuts and other fruity drinks. Huh. Not sure of how to feel, Kai just waded his way through the crowds packing the village, carrying his big board under his arm.

The sun was warm on his shoulders as people waved and smiled as he walked past them.

“Kai! Good showing today!”

“You’ll get ‘em next year, son!”

He gave them a lazy wave back, a half-smile on his face as he lifted a heavy hand. “Yeah, maybe.” The hard thing was that he didn’t want to win next year, he wanted to win now.

“Kai-boy!”

Kai raised his head, the smell hitting him the same time as the sound. Sweet, fatty smoke and the woman that stood next to the fire pit it came from.

“Hey Auntie!” Kai waved at her, his arm suddenly feeling much lighter. The mountain of a woman stood there in a floral muumuu with arms bigger than Kai’s thighs, the woman fanning the smoke with a palm leaf as she glistened with sweat. The smell of her roast pork was a physical thing, a delicious, greasy cloud that made his stomach rumble.

“You look skinny!” She pointed a massive ladle at him, the thing dripping with something thick and brown and juicy, as her voice boomed loud. “I see ribs, boyo! I shouldn’t see ribs!”

Kai looked down at himself, stomach spilling a little over the waistband of his borrowed shorts as he patted the soft dough that covered up any and all ribs. A year ago, sure, but back then he was more bones and sharp angles than anything else. “I dunno, Auntie. Think I’m gettin’ kinda big. Board was groanin’ today.”

“Pah!” She waved the ladle, droplets of sauce sizzling and steaming into the fire. “Nonsense, you a growin’ boy and you need your strength. The sea takes energy, yeah? You come tonight, Kai-boy! I make the sticky pork and the pineapple cake you like!”

Sticky pork. His mouth flooded so quickly he actually had to swallow before he could even talk again. “Seven.” He swallowed again, wiping the back of her mouth. “Wouldn’t miss it, Auntie.”

"You bring the Chief's girl too!” Auntie boomed again. “You don’t bring her no more.”

Kai froze. Lani.

"Uh. Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck again. “Maybe. If I see her."

He wouldn't. Or he’d try not to. Lani was... ehhh, Lani was hard to deal with.

It wasn’t her fault but it didn’t change what it was.

Kai ducked away before Auntie Loa could assign him any chores, putting the board off to the side of Auntie’s house and headed for the treeline of the jungle. Time to practice.