Funny to think that the lagoon that Spirit lived at for the first few years of her life was turned into this. When rivered trolls found new lykars around the island they would immediately take them to the lagoon to be trained but no one could call it a lagoon anymore. Not only was it falling apart but it was as if the fear of the many lykars who had their freedom stolen from them had stained the area. Would it ever be the same haven that Spirit used to know?

The rivered trolls led Spirit into a small pen and attached a rein onto her followed by a muzzle.

"Not the muzzle," Clay said from behind them, "I want to see what this sea lykar is capable of." Spirit glared at him and snarled but Clay just smirked at her. A gate was opened in front of her, she was pulled by a rope around her neck held by two rivered trolls, forcing her to swim through it. She found herself in the lagoon. Memories took over her mind as she remembered swimming with her family when she was still a calf, not a care in the world and now she comes back to see that it was just like the concrete tanks. Many rivered trolls gathered around the glass panels to watch Spirit. Tekai, Branch and Poppy tried to see what was happening and Branch gasped when he saw the rein around the lykar's head.
The two rivered trolls holding the rope pulled her towards the side of the lagoon, the rocky edges scratching her side. One of the lykar riders mounted Spirit, she jolted trying to get him off but he knelt down on the back of her neck and grabbed one of the straps on Spirit's rein.

"Ready?" The rivered troll holding the rope asked. The one on Spirit's back nodded, the rope was untied from her rein but Spirit didn't move.

"Oh you want to play do you?" She thought to herself, "fine let's play." And with one beat of her powerful tail Spirit was off like a shot with the rider holding on for dear life, Spirit started getting faster and faster until the rider lost grip of the rein and was hanging on by her dorsal fin which gave Spirit an idea, she swam towards the glass and smacked her back against it which made the rider leg go. Tekai started laughing.

"What? Are you not going to try train her?" Branch asked Tekai.

"Nah, it's way more fun watching them try and fail, now I wish I brought some popcorn." Tekai laughed. A couple of music trolls came to see what was going on, they didn't really understand what was happening but they just watched. The rivered trolls helped the rider out of the water and threw the rope around Spirit's neck and took her back to the same position she started at but this time with a new rider.
He mounted Spirit while another troll tried to untie the rope again but before she could Spirit suddenly swam off dragging both the trolls along with her. She jumped into the air and thrashed her body throwing the two trolls off her back and out of the lagoon. They tried it over and over again but Spirit just kept on throwing the off hitting them against the glass and even smacking them away with her tail flukes. Guy diamond started cheering in his auto-tuned voice followed by Biggie and Smidge. Branch and Tekai walked up to the glass.

"Wow, she's a trickster, isn't she." Branch laughed.

"That's what happens when you try to train a sea lykar." Tekai said. Clay started to get mad.

"Right," he grunted, "when you want something done, you've got to do it yourself." Again, they brought Spirit to the edge and Clay mounted her, one hand on the rein and held his staff in the other. The ropes were dropped and Spirit swam off like a bullet from a gun, jolting her body side to side trying to knock the blue troll off but he didn't loosen his grip. She smacked against the edge of the lagoon but he still held on, she dove down deep, she felt Clay poke her in the side with his staff until she launched herself out of the water and landing belly first into the water. Nothing worked.

"Thought you were tough didn't you?" Clay grinned, he poked Spirit in the side with his staff again. But Spirit wasn't giving up yet. She thrashed her head surprising Clay and started swimming as fast as she could with Clay holding onto Spirit's ears, she quickly dived again, she felt Clay's grip loosen, she spun her head around and grabbed his long, dark green hair in her mouth and started swimming to the surface. She leaped out of the water and threw Clay far into the lagoon.
Something snapped inside of Spirit, she felt that she couldn't control herself, it was more than anger. She swam towards him, circling him.

"Something's wrong, we need to get Clay out of there. She's going to attack him." Branch announced, "Poppy, Tekai get ready to grab Clay with your hair, Guy diamond, Smidge you go with them. Biggie follow me." Branch and Biggie started banging on the glass trying to get the lykar's attention, she tried to ignore it at first but it soon annoyed her so much that she swam to the glass. Once she was distracted Poppy lashed her hair towards Clay.

"GRAB ON!" Poppy called out to him, Clay grabbed onto Poppy's pink hair, the rest helped her pull him to safety. Spirit was still swimming towards the glass and didn't show any sign of slowing down or stopping.

"Er...was this part of your plan Branch?" Biggie questioned.

"Um...more or less." Branch gulped, "RUN!" but before the two trolls could run very far, Spirit rammed head first into the glass panel smashing a hole in it as the wave of water swept Spirit through the hole and onto the shore, the impact of the wave knocked Branch and Biggie over.
They both sat up, trying to recover from the wave. Branch tried lifting himself off of the ground but stumbled over. Spirit shook her head, still sore from ramming into the panel, she looked at Branch and Biggie and she snarled. The two trolls gasped as Spirit lashed towards them but before she could even touch them a rope was thrown around her neck pulling her away from them, rivered trolls riding lykars pinning her down to the ground, they attached a muzzle onto her snout, preventing her from trying to bite the the trolls. Poppy ran towards Branch and Biggie.

"Are you guys alright?" She asked concerned.

"Ow, Head rush." Biggie said as he rubbed the back of his head. Poppy turned to Branch, he looked in pain.

"Ugh, I think I sat on a piece of glass." Branch moaned.

Clay stomped over to the hole that Spirit left embedded in the glass and glared at her.

"Tekai!" Clay shouted angrily, Tekai ran over to him, "round up the riders and get the animals to move the rocks to block the hole."

"They're called lykars Clay." Tekai spoke through gritted teeth.

"I don't care, just get them to block the hole!" Clay snapped. Tekai sighed and whistled to call Manta then she went to help the other trolls patch up the hole with rocks.

***
Branch watched Spirit trying to struggle out of the muzzle, she made several squealing sounds as she tried to claw it off of her snout which made Branch cover his ears, he hated to hear a lykar in pain. The sounds coming from the lykar caught Tekai's attention, she climbed up and onto the edge of the lagoon, stuck her hand in the water and started moving her hand around trying to get the lykar's attention, Spirit swam over and looked at the young rivered troll. Tekai looked around to see if anyone was watching her, completely unaware that Branch was, she took out a small knife from her belt and cut the muzzle off of Spirit's rein then she walked down towards the glass panels where Branch was.

"Why did you do that?" Branch asked. Tekai shrugged.

"She deserves better." She replied.

"So what are we going to do with her Clay?" One rivered troll asked.

"We can't keep her here. She's too dangerous. She's a monster. I think that the aquarium over the cliff may be the best place for her." Clay announced. Tekai's big ears pricked up when she heard Clay mention that.

"We can't send her there!" She interrupted, "she belongs in the wild!" One rivered troll stepped in.

"We can't just throw her into the wild without her pod, she wouldn't survive," he said concerned.

"But she doesn't belong in captivity, she deserves to be free," Tekai started.

"Tekai stay out of it!" Clay blurted. Branch looked at Tekai, he saw how hurt she looked when Clay scolded her then he looked at the lykar circling the lagoon and placed his hand against the glass, the words 'she's a monster' echoed in his mind.

"No," Branch spoke, "the kid is right, this lykar doesn't belong in an aquarium." Clay just glared at him.

"We are going to try to train her again in the morning." Clay said.

"It won't work." Branch stated, "she's a wild animal, she isn't going to listen to you, she's not going to wear a rein and act as your horse." Clay was speechless.

"Oh please, it's an animal, it doesn't know anything." Clay rolled his eyes. Branch lowered his eyebrows.

"She is not just a dumb animal, lykars are intelligent, amazing creatures." He said angrily.

"And you think that you can do better to train her?" Clay questioned.

"Better than you are." Clay's eyes widened at Branch's words.

"Very well then," Clay spoke, "if you can get this beast tamed and be able to ride on her back around the perimeter of the lagoon by the end of the next fortnight then we will sail out there and find its pod. However if you don't we will send this lykar to the aquarium. That's only two weeks, It's your call."
Branch hesitated, the truth is that he didn't know if he could tame the lykar but then again he couldn't let her spend the rest of her life swimming mindlessly in circles in a concrete tank.

"Okay, by the end of the next fortnight," Branch agreed.

"Now it might be best to have some back up, which is why-" Clay picked up Tekai by the tail and dropped her next to Branch, "Tekai will be helping you." Branch and Tekai's eyes went wide.

"What?!" They both questioned.

"No, there is no way that I am working with her," Branch stated.

"Couldn't agree with you more big ears," Tekai added, Branch felt a little hurt.

"Well if you fall in the water and this lykar attacks you then who's going to help you?" Clay teased. Branch knew it was best to just agree with Clay, he was already on his bad side and he doesn't want to get on his worst side.

"Fine," Branch groaned. As soon as Clay left Branch and Tekai turned to each other.

"Okay look, this isn't going to work," Tekai said.

"Yeah," Branch replied.

"But then again if you do somehow get attacked-"

"I can't work with some kid," Branch interrupted. Tekai froze and her eyes widened.

"Kid!?" Tekai scolded, "you think I'm just some useless little kid?"

"No Ketai, I know you're a useless little kid," Branch teased, "I mean you're what 11, can't ride a lykar without crashing into anything?"

"Okay first of all my name is Tekai not Ketai, second of all I'm 19, luckily I'm not an old grumpy man like you, and third of all I know more about lykars than anyone in the entire village!" Branch just rolled his eyes and scoffed. Tekai snapped her fingers and before he knew it Manta was behind Branch snarling at him. Branch's ears rose in fear and he tucked his tail between his legs, he screamed as Manta opened his jaws and snapped them at Branch just inches away from his face.

"Ha look at you, you are just a scared little baby," Tekai laughed, "Fine then, I know when I'm not wanted. Who knows? Maybe by the end of the fortnight you'll need one of these." Tekai pointed to her prosthetic leg. She mounted Manta and rode off into the forest.

"What was that?!" Poppy shouted at Branch, "she could've helped you!"

"What? She's a kid she wouldn't have been much help."

"Uh...genius, she is one of the best lykar riders on this side of the cliff"

"Ah well at least I have you."

"Oh no sorry Branch but I'm out of this one, I don't know anything about these lykars, you're on your own." Poppy smiled, she knew how to get under his skin.

"Poppy, I can't do this on my own!" Branch blurted.

"Huh funny that's not what you thought two minutes ago." Poppy smirked as she walked off leaving Branch completely speechless.

"Whatever!" Branch called out to her, "I can do this, it runs in my family!" Poppy laughed as she heard Branch grunting.