"Are we there yet?" Guy Diamond groaned. Tekai hit her head repeatedly against the steering wheel, annoyed.

"Guy, that's the 70th time you've asked me that!" Tekai snapped.

"And every time I ask, you don't tell me!" Guy grunted back. 

"Can we throw him overboard now?" Tekai groaned.

"No!" Branch called back.

"Then can I throw myself overboard? It'd probably be better than listening to Guy for another four hours!" Tekai said. 

"Can we at least stop to rest for a bit?" Biggie asked.

"It's only been 3 hours! Besides you guys haven't exactly been doing much," Tekai replied. "Iris, how are we doing with searching?" 

"I don't really know, we've passed some familiar-looking islands that were on the map, but strangely enough no lykars yet," Iris answered. "Keep an eye out for them, if they're shadowed we can follow them." 

***

Hours had passed and everyone was growing tired, the only lykars that had been seen was Spirit and a small pod, but they weren't shadowed and were going to a different place than them. The sun was slowly going down which had them concerned, there hasn't been sight of land for a while now. If they didn't find an island to camp for the night they could be seen as easy prey by predators. The darker it is, the more sharks, lykars and other creatures could come and even with Spirit, she wouldn't be able to fight off a shark by herself. Branch knelt down by the edge of the boat to check on Spirit.

"You okay there, girl?" Branch asked, Spirit tiredly poked her head out of the water.

"I feel like my fins are going to fall off," Spirit yawned, Branch placed his hand on her head.

"We'll find land soon, just hang in there," he reassured her. 

"Are there any islands shown on the map?" Correy asked Iris.

"There should be a few coming up," Iris rubbed her eye. It was getting dark fast. 

"Look!" Smidge pointed out. In the far distance there was a small island crossing their path.

"Finally!" Biggie and Guy Diamond exclaimed in relief. 

"Race you guys there!" Spirit called as she dove deep under the waters. 

"You're on!" Correy pulled down on a nearby rope and the sail opened as wide as it could go. The boat zoomed across the waters, splashing water everywhere. Some of the trolls kept a look out for Spirit. She surfaced by the side of the boat, spitting water at the trolls. 

They reached the island just after Spirit did, she shook off her fur, soaking everyone with water.

"Ha! I win!" Spirit chirped. The trolls smiled and rolled their eyes at her. The island was small and rocky with some patches of sand here and there. There was a large cave in the center of the island, perfect for everyone to take shelter in for the night. When inside, the trolls settled down in the cave and Branch made a fire to keep everyone warm. There was a small lake inside the cave so everyone could have some fresh water to drink instead of the salty ocean. Spirit had dug a shallow hole in the sand that was roughly her size for a nest for her to sleep in, she walked in a circle a few times like a dog before lying down.

"So Spirit, are you excited about seeing your pod?" Iris asked. 

"Definitely!" Spirit replied, her smile soon faded, "I just wish my mom could have been here too, you know so the four of us could be reunited and be a family." 

"Oh, you have a sibling?" Poppy asked.

"I have an older brother, his name is storm," Spirit responded.

"Spirit, your mom would have wanted you to do this." Branch placed his hand on Spirit's paw. "After this, you'll be free. You won't have to worry about hunters coming after you and trying to hurt you. It's where you're meant to be." 

"Alright guys, we might want to hit the hay. We're leaving early in the morning to cover more ground." Tekai stated.

"Hey Spirit," Poppy asked. Spirit turned to the pink troll. "Can we use you as a pillow?" Spirit snickered then smiled. 

"Sure," she said. All eight trolls climbed into the pit that Spirit had made, some lay on top of her back, others nuzzled into Spirit's sides. Either way, they were all comfortable and all drifted to sleep quickly. 

***

Spirit slowly opened one eye, the glow of the moonlight hit her face, forcing her eyes open. She raised her head off of the ground and looked around. The trolls were still asleep around her and on top of her. She decided to try and get some more sleep until a sound hit her ear, it sounded like it was coming from outside the cave. Being the curious lykar she was, she decided to go and see what it was. Spirit awkwardly shifted her body, trying not to wake any of the trolls up or let any of them fall off of her back. When she was positive that all the trolls were out of her way she crawled out of her nest and went to the entrance of the cave. It was such a clear night; The moon's reflection mirrored on the ocean's surface and the sky was full of fields of stars. Spirit had never seen such a beautiful night. She heard the noise again and this time she was certain about what was making it.

They were lykar calls.

A small group of sea lykars were gracefully swimming through the calm waters. Could these lykars be part of Spirit's pod? It was hard to tell whether they were shadowed lykars like her. Spirit cautiously walked closer to the water, she sat down by the water's edge, watching the lykars jump and listen to them squeak and squeal to each other. One lykar caught sight of Spirit and called out to her. Spirit squealed back. They stuck their tails in the air and waved them, as if asking her to come and swim with them. All the noise coming from the lykars had woken Branch, he stood in the entrance of the cave and watched Spirit on the shore squeaking with the other lykars. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of them. Spirit turned her head to face his direction, looking a little unsure. 

"It's okay, go swim with them," Branch smiled at her. Spirit beamed back and ran into the water to join the lykars. She jumped out of the water higher than she had ever before, weaving in and out of the water's surface, spinning as she dove underwater. She never felt so alive, she was finally where she always wanted to be with the creatures she belonged with. She leaped out of the water one final time, back-flipping and landed on all-fours on top of a rock near the shore; She glanced up at the moon, then back at the ocean. The lykars were starting to leave, some turned around and squeaked at Spirit, offering her to come with them. Spirit looked back at Branch, then at the lykars again. She sat down on the rock she was on as if telling them that she was staying. The lykars gave one last squeal before diving underwater and swimming out of sight. Branch walked over to Spirit, who was still sitting on the rock, looking out into the ocean. Branch climbed up onto the rock with Spirit and placed a hand on her side. 

"They're shadowed lykars, like me," Spirit softly said. Branch looked up at her and smiled.

"You belong with them," Branch said, "we'll go the direction they went in the morning, maybe we'll find the whole pod. Come on, let's get some more sleep." Branch slid down the rock with Spirit following behind. She stopped for a second and looked back at the ocean, then turned back to the cave.

***

"Alright guys!" Spirit chirped, "I let you sleep in for a little bit but now we have to go, I hope you're all ready-" Spirit was cut off to see the trolls still fast asleep. "Oh come on." Spirit then had an idea, she was going to give the trolls a proper wake up call. She stuck her tail into the small lake in the cave then used her flukes to splash the water right onto the trolls. They all were shocked awake!

"AHHH!" They all screamed.

"What time is it?" Tekai yawned. 

"Time isn't a thing for lykars, we just follow the sun until the day ends," Spirit said before changing tone, "And the sun went up an hour ago! Come on let's get going!" She pleaded, wagging her tail and nudging the trolls with her nose.

"Okay, okay," Branch yawned, rubbing his eyes. They all made their way to the boat having to drag some of the other tired trolls. 

"We saw a group of shadowed lykars last night, they went that way," Spirit pointed with her snout in the direction where the lykars left.

"Wait, you saw some wild lykars last night?" Iris asked in awe. 

"Yeah, I woke up and heard them calling. I even went to go swim with them," Spirit explained. 

"Alright everyone, look out for lykars. If they were here then we can't be far," Iris stated. Tekai pulled the rope to open up the sail and started going the right direction. Spirit swam alongside the boat while letting out squeaked and sounds to get any lykar's attention.

Time passed by quickly and strangely enough, there was no sign of lykars. 

"It's been quite a while," Correy stated, "don't you think we would have seen at least a few lykars by now?" 

"I don't know," Iris replied, "We should be seeing them." 

"Maybe the boat is startling them," Branch suggested, "Tekai, slow down the boat a little." Tekai nodded and closed the sail slightly.

"Wait! I think I saw one!" Biggie exclaimed. The rest of the trolls went to the edge of the boat where Biggie was standing. "I swear I just saw a fin come out of the water." Tekai stopped the boat entirely and everyone kept their eyes locked on the water. Spirit poked her head out of the water to see what was going on, she suddenly pricked up an ear, she dove into the water and made some sounds to see if there would be a reply. There was. The small group of lykars that she saw last night were in the distance, dancing in the water.

"There they are!" Poppy pointed at the breaching lykars. 

"We found them!" Branch cheered, all the others joined in. "Spirit, follow those lykars!" Spirit obeyed and disappeared under the water with the boat following her on the surface. After a while of following, Spirit stopped and looked around, confused.

"Where did they go?" Tekai asked, slowing down the boat. Spirit hesitated, looking around trying to find the lykars. She then caught sight of a large formation of islands in the distance. Spirit looked at them curiously. Then swam away from the boat towards the islands.

"Spirit!" Branch called out, "Where are you going?" Tekai made the boat speed up as they followed Spirit.

"What is she doing?" Iris asked Branch.

"I don't know. Do you think she's found them?" Branch asked back. Iris looked closely as they approached the islands.

"Look!" Iris pointed at the shores of one of the islands. There were nests made out of sand buried near the shores, like the one Spirit made last night to sleep in. "Those are sea lykar nests! They must be here!" The trolls noticed that Spirit had surfaced near one of the largest islands, it was a large sandy island but looked deserted. Tekai stopped her boat on the shore of the large island.

"Stay on the boat," she commanded, "these lykars may not be too happy to see us." Tekai was right. Lykars are usually really social creatures but can get aggressive if they felt threatened and the trolls got the feeling that they weren't supposed to be here on potential lykar territory. Spirit shyly climbed onto the shore, keeping her head low, looking a little nervous.

"It's so quiet," Poppy stated. It was too quiet. The island looked completely empty, nothing but rocky hills and a few old lykar nests.

"Spirit, try calling them," Iris suggested. Spirit nodded and let out a long squeak-like noise, she perked up her ears to try and hear a response. Nothing. She let out another squeal, this time louder than the last one and waited. Still nothing. Spirit started to get worried. Was there anyone here? Spirit let out one more squeal as loud as she could. Branch and Iris looked at each other, they looked doubtful. Spirit looked around in all directions with her ears still pricked up, trying to find something, anything to prove that there were lykars here. She lowered her head and her ears drooped slightly.

"Spirit I-" Branch started but was cut off when Spirit quickly rose her head up, her eyes locked at the hill in front of her.

"Did you hear that?" Spirit asked, her eyes wide. The trolls kept quiet and listened. Nothing at first. But after a moment there was an unmistakable call of a lykar. Spirit's face lifted as she heard it getting louder and louder.

"That's definitely a lykar!" Tekai said. Over the hill, a figure of a sea lykar emerged. It was an ice gray lykar with dark green flippers and flukes, it had green eyes that got lighter around the edge of its eye. It climbed down the hill it was on and cautiously looked at Spirit, its pupils were slitted slightly as it didn't recognize her. It let out a soft, low growl and slowly approached Spirit. The two lykars started to walk around each other, looking up and down each other's bodies. The lykar's pupils started to dilate more as it sniffed her. Spirit then noticed something, the lykar's dorsal fin, it was in the unusual shape of a zig zag. Spirit had seen only one lykar with a fin like that.

"Corkscrew?" Spirit asked cautiously. The lykar was wide eyed as it tilted its head in confusion.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" He asked, confused.

"Your best friend," Spirit smiled. Corkscrew took one more look at her and his face lifted.

"Spirit?" He questioned. "You're...alive?" She nodded. Corkscrew's tail started wagging as he leaped around, excited to see Spirit. "My gosh! It really is you!"

"I've missed you so much, Corky," Spirit said as she hugged him with her neck.

"Did I miss something here?" Tekai whispered to Branch.

"They must have been really good friends when they were at the lagoon. I do remember him in particular, he had a deformed dorsal fin." Branch replied. Corkscrew caught sight of the trolls on the boat and his eyes immediately turned to slits, he snarled and thumped his tail against the ground.

"Spirit, look out," Corkscrew snarled as he stepped in front of her. The trolls were shocked about why Corkscrew was snarling at them. Spirit quickly jumped in front of him and defended the trolls behind her. "What are you doing?"

"They are not threats, they're just trolls," Spirit explained, "the trolls from the lagoon we used to live in." Corkscrew looked at the trolls, who were shaking with fear and hiding behind Spirit's legs. He calmed himself down.

"Sorry about that little guys," Corkscrew apologized as he sat down. "It's just you don't know who you can trust since hunters started wanting to capture us." He then turned to Spirit. "I'm guessing you want to see the rest of the pod, assuming you're staying?" Corkscrew asked. 

"Of course I am!" Spirit replied, excited.

"Wait you guys live here?" Biggie asked, "but it looks so abandoned."

"That's to trick hunters, they'll see this island and think it's just an a pile of rocks and sand," Corkscrew explained as he lead them onto the rocky hills. When they got to the top of the hill, they could see that the center of the island was like a huge, shallow bowl, almost in the shape of a staircase with waterfalls leading down them. At the bottom of the bowl there were a bunch of lakes with with fish for the lykars. Spirit had never seen anything like it. There were sea lykars everywhere, eating fish, floating in the lakes, some weren't even in the bowl and were just enjoying the sun on the surface of the island. They perked their heads up and looked at Spirit and Corkscrew, they looked at Spirit, some lykars recognized her from when they lived at the lagoon.

"Spirit? Is that really Kayla and Kotar's girl?" One older lykar asked. Spirit nodded and smiled at her.

"I think there's one lykar in particular that you'll definitely recognize," Corkscrew smiled as he pointed with his snout at a young female lykar, around Spirit's age, her fur was a slightly darker tone compared to Spirit's and had darker gray feet, she had yellowish-orange eyes with pink around the pupil and had a notch out of the tip of her ear. It was Ali, another old friend from when Spirit was a calf.

"Hey Ali!" Corkscrew called, "look what the shark dragged in!" Ali turned to him and her jaw dropped.

"That little fluff ball can't be Spirit," Ali smiled and ran over to greet her old friend, "I can't believe it, you're alive and you're here!" Ali jumped around with happiness.

"It's good to see you Ali," Spirit said as she pressed her head against her's. Spirit then turned to the trolls and introduced them to Ali. "Guys, this is Ali. She's probably the toughest lykar I know!" 

"I like the sound of that," Tekai said, Ali smiled at her back. 

"She's secretly a big sweetheart," Corkscrew teased. Ali smacked his back with her tail. 

Branch sat on a nearby rock as he watched Spirit reunite with her old friends and played around with the other lykars and introducing some of the other trolls to more old friends of her's.

"Well, we did it," Iris came and sat beside him. "We got Spirit back to the wild, where she belongs." Branch was smiling, but his smile faded and slowly became a frown.

"I'm glad we did," said Branch, he then let out a sigh, "but why do I feel so unhappy?" 

"Branch, it's okay to admit you're going to miss her," Iris smiled, "we all will. Besides, I'm sure she'll come back to the lagoon and visit." 

"As long as she's safe, that's all that matters," Branch smiled back at Iris, then at Spirit. 

The noises of the excitement of Spirit's return soon died quiet slightly.

"You guys seem really surprised to see me...alive," Spirit was a little confused.

"Well, when you and Kayla were captured we didn't really know what to expect. We dreaded for the worst," Ali explained.

"Then I bet Storm and my dad will be happy to see me," Spirit said. Corkscrew and Ali looked at each other and all the lykars around her fell silent. "Guys?" That was when another lykar came forward. Her name was Luna and she was the matriarch of the pod, the leader ever since Spirit was a calf.

"Spirit," Luna sighed, "just after you and your mother were captured, we realized it was no longer safe for us to live at the lagoon, so we left and found this island, a safe paradise for sea lykars where no snatchers or humans could ever harm us. But your father wasn't going to give up on you and Kayla, every few months or so he would travel back to the lagoon with Storm and stay there for a few weeks to look for you, they kept on going and coming back to see if you were there." The trolls looked at each other with concern on their faces.

"Oh, so they must be coming back anytime soon," Spirit said hopefully.

"Spirit, that was years ago," Ali said, Spirit turned to her.

"They...never came back," Luna confessed.

"They're...gone?" Spirit was praying that what Luna was saying wasn't true. Spirit's ears drooped as she back away slightly, tears forming in her eyes.

"But they tried everything to find you, they loved you so much," Luna tried to explain, but Spirit didn't hear a thing. The world around her was spinning, everything seemed like a blur. She shook her head slowly and then turned-tail and ran away.

"Spirit!" Branch tried to run after her, Iris grabbed his tail and tugged on it, stopping him.

"Give her some time," Iris said sadly, Branch watched as Spirit ran away toward the shore of the island. 

Spirit didn't know what else to do but run. She skidded to a stop at the shore, then started pacing back and forth, her mind racing. 

"I...I have no one else left," Spirit whimpered to herself. First her mother and now her dad and her brother. She lay down in the warm sand, closing her eyes, letting her tears fall and trying to calm herself down. "I'm sorry mom, I couldn't get to them." 

Spirit opened one of her eyes and caught sight of something in the distance, she couldn't tell what it was. She got up on her feet and climbed onto a nearby rock, squinting to try and see what this thing was. Whatever it was, it was getting closer and closer to the island. Spirit's heart sunk when she saw what it was. 

A boat.

A hunting boat.

Spirit knew this was bad, she had to go and warn the others.