The old ship creaked lowly in the wind but it could barely be heard over the whipping of the sails. It was quite a storm they were caught in, fierce winds battering them from above and violent waves from below, they were getting pummeled from all directions. "The sail!" Tinner yelled. "Get the sail, it's come undone!"

His shipmate Mack rushed, sliding and stumbling, across the slick deck, grabbing for the rope, missing, missing, got it! He was clearly struggling with pulling it right and tying it, but even as he tried he noticed something ahead. "Turn the ship!" he called back frantically.

The light on Tinner's head bobbed every which way as he ran unsteadily toward the wheel, wasting no time with an answer. From there he could see what Mack saw, a forest of tall, pointy black rocks right in front of them; their ancient ship would never survive a crash with those.

He turned the wheel as fast as he could, it seemed never fast enough! His hands slipped on the wet handles and it took a lot of effort just to keep his feet under him. "Hurry, hurry!" he spurred himself on, or maybe he was speaking to the ship itself. He could see Mack running, sliding, rolling across the deck, tying down what he could, redoing ropes that had come undone.

Finally the ship had turned enough to miss the sharp rocks, and with room to spare. Just to be sure, Tinner held tight to the wheel so the raging ocean would have a hard time redirecting them again. "Clear!" he shouted. He glanced down to where Mack had slid against the railing, seeing him turn a worried expression his way and replying, "Not clear!"

Tinner looked up in confusion to see that Mack was right- the tall, spear-like rocks were once again directly in front of them. "What!" he exclaimed in disbelief, getting to work at turning the wheel again. He was sure the ship hadn't turned back toward the rocks, despite the way the waves rocked it.

He soon got an answer to the pressing question of how it had happened. The rocks began to grow, gradually climbing higher into the cloud-laden sky until their bases widened out into a flat surface. They were not rocks at all but the spines of a sea monster.

Tinner let out a scream that was more of a whimper and began turning the wheel even more desperately. Perhaps the monster hadn't noticed them yet amidst this storm but it would if they ran into it!

Suddenly his feet were thrown out from under him after a particularly large wave washed over the ship, his hands slipping from the handles. The wheel began spinning uncontrollably and he let out a strangled, "No..." as he struggled to right himself and get back to it.

Then Mack was there, the wheel creaking as it fought against his steadying hands, and he turned and turned and turned it. Tinner managed to regain his footing and he joined him at the wheel, where they turned it together.

The monster loomed ever bigger before them, covered in lethal spines that would surely sink them. They watched through the stinging rain as the monster's massive tail broke the surface, giving an idea of just how enormous the creature was. "Oh no..." Tinner managed to squeak out before that tail slapped back down into the water, creating a wave much bigger than any the storm had.

Luckily their ship was in the right position to ride the wave and it carried them very far from the sea monster. Mack and Tinner were thrown mercilessly into the railing of the ship, where they both held on for dear life or else end up overboard.

At last the ship slowed down, and so had the storm. It seemed they'd been pushed out from the middle of it to the edge, where the wind and rain were a bit lighter. For a few moments Mack and Tinner simply held onto the railing, staring wide-eyed at each other.

"W-well," Tinner began. "That was a crazy idea." He dragged himself up off the soaked deck and pulled at his equally soaked shirt, which made a loud sucking sound. Mack joined him in standing and replied, "I am called Storm Chaser for a reason." He pulled his hood up for dramatic effect and a bucketfull of water poured over his head. They stared at each other a moment longer before Mack continued, "I'll retie the sails."

Tinner nodded and started heading back toward the wheel; "I'll get us out of this storm." Despite the still present crashing waves, whipping wind, and stinging rain it felt calm compared to earlier. Tinner knew that as long as he sailed with Mack, who called himself Storm Chaser and did indeed chase storms, he would have more days like this in his future.